Recaps

Cheng Shi, disguised as Lord Hour Hand, met Long Jing on the Cosmic Clock platform after the God of Merriment summoned him. He frightened Long Jing by accusing him of coming to steal a second hand, then asked what else he wanted.

• Mouth Brother warned Cheng Shi that someone had arrived, and Cheng Shi fell into the Cosmic Clock domain.
• Cheng Shi recognized Long Jing and transformed into an hour hand to meet him.
• Long Jing introduced himself and conveyed greetings from Lord Foolish Play.
• Cheng Shi accused Long Jing of being sent to steal a second hand, leaving the acrobat terrified and speechless.
• Cheng Shi dismissed the accusation as something Lord Foolish Play would do and asked Long Jing what he wanted, while Long Jing feared that any reply would incriminate him.

Long Jing tried to escape Lord Hour Hand’s judgment by presenting a clock’s second hand and arguing that Foolish Play’s theft showed a desire for friendship with time. Cheng Shi accepted Long Jing’s performance as a test passed, then secretly used the Time Deduction Method on him, plunging them both into darkness.

• Long Jing bowed to Lord Hour Hand, offered an ordinary second hand, and claimed he wanted to mend the relationship between Hour Hand and Foolish Play.
• Cheng Shi accused Long Jing of trying to replace Deception and pass off the second hand as compensation for Foolish Play’s theft.
• Long Jing defended himself by insisting Foolish Play meant no harm and promised to persuade him to clarify the misunderstanding.
• Long Jing asked Lord Hour Hand for guidance toward Faith Fusion, and Cheng Shi decided that he had passed the test.
• Cheng Shi circled behind Long Jing, switched back to Destiny, and activated the Time Deduction Method on him.
• The consciousnesses of Long Jing and Cheng Shi sank into darkness as a scene unfolded within the gaps between time’s existences.

Cheng Shi used the Time Deduction Method to meet a Long Jing from another Slice Universe and gave him cryptic advice about their worlds and the jesters. He left Long Jing stunned, urging him to find the other Cheng Shi and join the jesters.

• Cheng Shi activated the Time Deduction Method and found himself facing a different Long Jing on the clock platform.
• Long Jing recognized the weathered Cheng Shi as a version from the deduction and tried to interpret his cryptic remarks as guidance.
• Cheng Shi slapped Long Jing, restrained him, and insisted that he listen before deciding what to do with the information.
• Cheng Shi explained that their worlds and the beings in them might not be the same, while admitting that some of his account was conjecture.
• Cheng Shi told Long Jing to find the other Cheng Shi and join the jesters, warning him not to believe the jesters’ words or doubt their members.

Long Jing met Cheng Shi across a gap in time and revealed that Time had fallen, leaving its believers to share its authority and burden. He passed on his boss’s warning that the answer to the worlds’ lack of hope lay in time, then returned to the present without telling the Hour Hand everything he had learned.

• Long Jing told Cheng Shi that Time had fallen after allowing Destiny to self-destruct and that believers of Time now bore its authority together.
• Long Jing explained that his aged, blind appearance was the consequence of mortals carrying Time’s power, then said his boss believed the answer to the worlds’ fate lay in time.
• Long Jing urged Cheng Shi to live and bring the other version of himself along, while refusing to abandon his own counterpart just to survive longer.
• The exchange ended as Long Jing and Cheng Shi vanished from the Cosmic Clock’s platform, which watched their departure and sighed.
• Long Jing returned to the present, kept the full conversation from the Hour Hand, and thanked him for his guidance; the Hour Hand told him to thank Cheng Shi instead.

Long Jing struggled to decide whether to believe Cheng Shi’s account of time and the reality of other worlds, but he still sought to fuse with time so he could uncover the truth. God of Merriment bestowed a pointer longsword through Cheng Shi, enabling Long Jing to fuse Deception with time and become a pointer actor.

• Long Jing asked Cheng Shi whether the deduction of time was real, and Cheng Shi insisted that the other worlds and their people were real forms of existence.
• Long Jing wrestled with Cheng Shi’s claims and his reluctance to let his opponent become his benefactor, but remained determined to fuse with time and investigate the truth.
• Cheng Shi waited for God of Merriment to respond, since he lacked the authority to grant Long Jing a second faith himself.
• God of Merriment bestowed a pointer longsword through Cheng Shi, but Long Jing’s fusion stalled until Cheng Shi handed him the sword.
• Long Jing took the pointer longsword, fused Deception with time, and celebrated becoming a pointer actor.

Cheng Shi mistook Time for the God of Merriment and blasphemed before realizing his error, but Time let him leave without punishment. Time then spoke with a visiting Deception about a universe facing Nothingness and the experiment, leaving their alliance and the plan unresolved.

• Cheng Shi asked the figure on the Cosmic Clock platform for a weapon, an identity, or help activating his container, believing it was the God of Merriment.
• Deception’s Starry Eyes appeared, and Time answered that the encounter was deception, making Cheng Shi realize he had been speaking to Time and panic over his blasphemy.
• Deception laughed at Cheng Shi’s performance and blew him off the platform with a wind of Nothingness, granting him no reward.
• Deception and Time discussed whether the experiment was truly an experiment and whether the universe would eventually enter Nothingness.
• Time asked which timeline’s Deception had arrived, then explained that his presence could hinder the other Time’s progress; Deception left, and Time concealed his form.

Cheng Shi examined his new status as the Hour Hand and assessed the gods’ factions, deciding that Annihilation and its believers could become targets for covert retaliation. He left himself considering whom to frame for an attack on Annihilation’s believers.

• Cheng Shi woke up bewildered but excited that the time vessel had acknowledged his fabricated Hour Hand identity, giving him three Envoy identities.
• Cheng Shi reviewed the gods, judging Birth, Death, Filth and Decay, Order, and others by their loyalties and usefulness to the Fear Faction.
• Cheng Shi marked Annihilation as an enemy after connecting its arrival to the God of Merriment and recalling the oracle to destroy it.
• Cheng Shi considered secretly targeting Annihilation’s believers to weaken its faith and wondered whom he could blame for the attacks.
• Cheng Shi evaluated Civilization and Truth, concluding that Truth was firmly pursuing the Origin through its experiments.

Cheng Shi reconsidered the gods’ factional positions and the mysteries surrounding their past, then checked the time vessel producing divinity for Hour Hand and Deception. He found that Fool’s Play’s divinity was accumulating unusually quickly and wondered who was spreading its name.

• Cheng Shi judged War’s contradictory behavior and concluded that learning what happened in the Sea of Desire could clarify War’s and Filth and Decay’s positions.
• Cheng Shi reasoned that God of Merriment had seized chaos through deception and might be preparing a response to the Source, while Folly seemed difficult to place in either faction.
• Cheng Shi moved Folly from the Nearness Faction to the neutral faction, Silence from the neutral faction to the Nearness Faction, and placed question marks over Silence and other uncertain gods.
• Cheng Shi checked the time vessel and saw that Hour Hand’s divinity accumulated slowly, while Deception’s rate had increased after the name Fool’s Play spread.
• Cheng Shi wondered whether Poison, Qu Yan, Ai Si, or Long Jing was rapidly spreading faith in Fool’s Play.

Cheng Shi studied Zhen Xin’s historical research and chose the founding of the Nation of War as the setting for a trial to investigate the conflict among the Grand Inquisition, the Tower of Reason, and the forces beneath the earth. When he asked Hong Lin to help, he learned she was hunting Yogg, who had fled after she tried to punch him, and suggested she seek An the Chosen’s guidance.

• Cheng Shi called Zhen Xin, received her compiled history of the Grand Inquisition, and promised to reveal secrets at the coming Jester’s Gathering.
• Cheng Shi chose the founding of the Nation of War for a trial and assigned Hu Wei and Da Yi to investigate its religious conflict after contacting Katarro.
• Cheng Shi asked Hong Lin to help with the trial, but she said she was busy hunting Yogg, who had fled from her and was retaliating against Prosperity’s believers.
• Hong Lin explained that Yogg escaped before her fist could reach him, and Cheng Shi teased her for calling the encounter a fight.
• Cheng Shi advised Hong Lin to ask An the Chosen for Destiny’s guidance, then hesitated to warn her about Destiny and decided to let it keep protecting them.

Cheng Shi entered a fifteen-day Filth and Decay trial and found himself traveling with five teammates in a Grand Inquisition convoy bound for the front lines. As the players recognized one another, Cheng Shi realized that the scarred young man opposite him was his childhood companion.

• Cheng Shi began a Prayer Trial of Filth and Decay, whose objective was to let someone judge and embrace their own desires.
• The trial matched Cheng Shi with five teammates and transported them into a large Iron Law Knights convoy heading toward the Borogao Highlands.
• A teammate identified the group as likely reinforcements sent by the Grand Inquisition to fight the followers of War.
• Cheng Shi observed his five teammates, including a silent woman and several badly disfigured men, and wondered whether the trial was based on appearance.
• A patchy bald teammate threatened another player, and the young man covering his scarred face recognized him as Little Ten.
• Cheng Shi recognized the young man opposite him as his childhood companion.

Cheng Shi reunited with Du Qiyu, who pretended to be their childhood acquaintance Aw-Gua, while both concealed their true thoughts. Their reunion was interrupted by a battle between two players that erased and transformed the forest, and Cheng Shi fled toward the convoy’s route.

• Du Qiyu recognized Cheng Shi as Little Ten, but became furious when he thought Cheng Shi had forgotten him.
• Du Qiyu claimed to be Aw-Gua, and Cheng Shi played along despite knowing the truth.
• A gray-haired player used annihilation to erase the forest and make the bald man opposite him disappear.
• The forest erupted into thorny brambles as the two players fought, prompting Cheng Shi and his teammates to flee the wagon.
• The Iron Law Knights formed defensive groups while the Elemental Judges began invoking Order against the attackers.
• Cheng Shi ran toward the convoy’s projected route, while Du Qiyu and the horse-faced Folly believer disappeared.

Cheng Shi escaped the convoy with Sun Miao, a silent believer from the History School, and tested whether she was a threat before accepting her identity. Sun Miao revealed that they shared a mission to investigate the history of Order and came for the Grand Inquisition, leaving them ready to begin working together.

• Cheng Shi and Sun Miao fled through the convoy, secretly taking down Iron Law Knights as they went.
• Sun Miao identified Cheng Shi using an electronic voice synthesizer, and he revealed his Pointer Warrior disguise before grabbing her by the neck.
• Sun Miao showed Cheng Shi her Decay-branded tongue and explained that she could not control her love of speaking, so she used an auxiliary method to uphold her silence.
• Sun Miao told Cheng Shi that Zhen Xin had assigned the History School a mission to investigate the history of Order and that she had come for the Grand Inquisition.
• Cheng Shi accepted Sun Miao as an ally and asked how they should begin.

Cheng Shi and Sun Miao traded information as they discussed the hostile pair Chun and Lin Xi, learning that they had once been married and both followed Decay. Sun Miao revealed that the History School had sent them to the Sighing Forest to find the Blood Rot Tomb, where their relationship fell apart.

• Cheng Shi recognized Lin Xi, and Sun Miao identified his opponent as Chun, whose ID was Only Carved Rotten Wood.
• Sun Miao told Cheng Shi that Chun was a woman who had been changed by Decay’s curse and had lost her lover.
• Cheng Shi offered information about a problem with Order in exchange for details, and Sun Miao questioned him about it.
• Sun Miao explained that Chun and Lin Xi were former followers of Decay who suffered from the Oathbreak Curse.
• Sun Miao admitted that the History School had spread the news about the Blood Rot Tomb and sent Decay followers to scout the Sighing Forest, prompting Lin Xi and Chun to go there together.
• Sun Miao said the Blood Rot Tomb led to the couple’s separation.

Sun Miao told Cheng Shi how Chun had betrayed her faith to save Lin Xi, only for him to attack her, leaving them fighting ever since. She then explained that the History School freely shaped gossip into stories, which could eventually become accepted as history.

• Sun Miao stopped her account to demand that Cheng Shi trade more Dice for the rest of the story.
• Sun Miao revealed that Chun had stabbed Lin Xi and guessed that Chun had deliberately renounced Decay to provoke Prosperity and save him.
• Sun Miao explained that Chun prayed to Prosperity while Lin Xi drew closer to death, prompting Decay to empower him and rescue him.
• Lin Xi attacked Chun after his rescue, and the two began fighting; Sun Miao said Chun had shared her account with the History School while they searched for Lin Xi.
• Sun Miao told Cheng Shi that the History School embellished gossip and could turn its preferred version into the history remembered by future generations.

Cheng Shi and Sun Miao took a shortcut toward the Borogao Highlands as he tested her knowledge of the Folly believer and her devotion. Their rest ended when Sun Miao noticed a Misty Forest Tree Rabbit eating grass, and its eyes turned red.

• Sun Miao led Cheng Shi away from the caravan toward the Borogao Highlands, arguing the shortcut would save time and bring them closer to clues about Order.
• Cheng Shi questioned why Sun Miao refused his help and asked where the Folly believer had gone.
• Cheng Shi reasoned that the believer should have caught up if he cared about the trial, and challenged Sun Miao to explain his absence.
• Sun Miao fell silent, and Cheng Shi took her renewed devotion as the answer he had been seeking.
• After sunset, Sun Miao pointed out that a Misty Forest Tree Rabbit was eating grass despite supposedly eating only leaves, and the rabbit's eyes turned red.

Cheng Shi pretended not to recognize Du Qiyu, who approached disguised as a Misty Forest Tree Rabbit, while Sun Miao joined them on the way to the Borogao Highlands. Du Qiyu grew wary of Cheng Shi’s behavior and learned that he claimed to be a low-ranked Hunter named Sun Lin.

• Cheng Shi recognized the rabbit as Du Qiyu but pretended to think it was Ah Gua, a Beast Tamer and Follower of Deception.
• Du Qiyu used the rabbit to explain that he wanted to protect Cheng Shi from the shadows, then asked how Cheng Shi had identified him.
• Cheng Shi gave an awkward explanation about the rabbit’s eating habits, making Du Qiyu suspect his childhood friend was more perceptive than he seemed.
• Cheng Shi grabbed the rabbit by its ears and swung it while following Sun Miao toward the Borogao Highlands, prompting Du Qiyu to sever his sensory link with it.
• Du Qiyu introduced himself as Zhao Xiaogua, a Beast Tamer with Ladder rank 2677; Sun Miao identified herself as a Master of Mime with rank 2459.
• Cheng Shi claimed to be Sun Lin, The Final Stroke, with rank 2201, and Du Qiyu reacted with surprise when he learned Cheng Shi was also a Hunter.

Du Qiyu probed Cheng Shi about their childhood and confirmed that Cheng Shi still resented him, while Sun Miao silently watched their uneasy exchange. As the three hurried toward the trial clues, Du Qiyu resolved to keep impersonating Zhao Xiaogua and kill Cheng Shi before the trial ended.

• Du Qiyu questioned Cheng Shi about Old Jia and their orphanage past, and Cheng Shi called his foster father an ordinary yet great father.
• Du Qiyu reminisced about his own privileged childhood and asked whether Cheng Shi still hated Du Qiyu.
• Cheng Shi said he did not hate Du Qiyu, and Du Qiyu recognized the statement as a lie and relaxed, though he remained wary of Cheng Shi and Sun Miao.
• Sun Miao stayed silent as the three hurried onward, and Cheng Shi noticed her Mage-class speed and endurance.
• Du Qiyu concluded that Cheng Shi was still cautious of him and decided to continue impersonating Zhao Xiaogua until he could kill Cheng Shi.

Cheng Shi and Sun Miao reached the Grand Inquisition’s frontline camp, where they planned to obtain uniforms and infiltrate the command area. After Du Qiyu slipped away to pursue his own wish, Sun Miao and Cheng Shi set off together, with Cheng Shi suspecting she had a deeper interest in the state of Order.

• Cheng Shi, Sun Miao, and Master of Mime arrived at the Borogao Highlands and saw the armies gathering for a decisive battle between the Grand Inquisition and the Tower of Reason.
• Sun Miao proposed obtaining Battle Marshal uniforms so they could enter the camp and find the NPCs they sought.
• Du Qiyu ignored the others’ plans, released his fledgling eagles, and secretly infiltrated the Grand Inquisition camp to search for a war-powered item.
• After Du Qiyu failed to return, Cheng Shi and Sun Miao discussed Zhen Xin’s past, and Cheng Shi revealed that Zhen Yi had also grown up in an orphanage.
• Cheng Shi’s teasing reference to Zhen Yi’s verbal tic startled Sun Miao into casting a Silence Domain, then he used the joke to make her head toward the military camp with him.

Cheng Shi and Sun Miao infiltrated Kainlaur’s camp to learn what had gone wrong with Order, but found another intruder negotiating with Kainlaur over a hidden War bow. The intruder gave Kainlaur one day to accept his offer and left after threatening him.

• Cheng Shi and Sun Miao disguised themselves and used Silence to enter the Grand Inquisition’s military camp and approach the main tent.
• Kainlaur dismissed his commanders and revealed that he knew visitors were outside the tent.
• A disguised Battle Marshal emerged from a hidden pit and entered the tent, prompting Cheng Shi and Sun Miao to follow him.
• Kainlaur accused the Battle Marshal of killing Silha and stealing his identity, but the intruder shot an arrow into the emblem behind Kainlaur.
• The Battle Marshal offered to help the Grand Inquisition defeat its enemies in exchange for a great bow hidden on the battlefield, and gave Kainlaur one day to decide.

After Du Qiyu’s bluff left Kainlaur deep in thought, Cheng Shi prepared to question the Chief Judge about Order and war. Before he could begin, Lin Xi made the military camp’s tents vanish in an attack aimed at Cheng Shi, who fled with Sun Miao toward the Forest of Prosperity to meet him.

• Cheng Shi suspected Kainlaur was hiding a secret and prepared to interrogate him about Order’s view of war.
• The main tent and the surrounding tents suddenly vanished, exposing their occupants and triggering an alarm throughout the Iron Law Knights’ camp.
• Kainlaur’s forces issued orders to secure the camp, protect him, and reinforce the eastern defenses.
• Cheng Shi recognized Lin Xi’s undisguised Annihilation aura and realized the attack was meant for him.
• Cheng Shi grabbed Sun Miao and headed for the wooded river valley to confront Lin Xi away from the camp.

Cheng Shi intercepted Chun, who had been pursuing him and Sun Miao, and discovered that she had only attacked to confirm his identity. Chun explained that Hong Lin had called him a good person because he held a grudge against Lin Xi.

• Cheng Shi charged into the river valley with Sun Miao and agreed to tell her about Order if she stayed still and let him fight.
• Cheng Shi vanished and struck the shadow-wrapped pursuer twice, interrupting her attacks and sending her flying.
• Cheng Shi realized the pursuer was Chun rather than Lin Xi and demanded to know why she had followed him.
• Chun emerged from the shadows with blood and withered thorns on her head, revealing the effects of Decay's curse.
• Chun said she knew Cheng Shi and had tested him to confirm his identity because Hong Lin had said he was a good person.
• Chun explained that she considered Cheng Shi good because he held a grudge against Lin Xi, leaving Cheng Shi exasperated.

Chun revealed the terrible price she had paid to wield Annihilation’s power and asked Cheng Shi to help her kill Lin Xi. Cheng Shi agreed to act against the threat during the trial but refused to follow Chun’s plans, and they parted to handle their own affairs.

• Cheng Shi recognized that Chun had been pretending to be Lin Xi to provoke people into becoming allies or enemies, and warned her that her tactics could lead to deaths.
• Chun revealed the dozens of daggers embedded in her abdomen and offered Cheng Shi the chance to stab her as compensation for testing him; he asked for another dagger, and she produced one more.
• Cheng Shi asked how Chun disguised herself as Annihilation, and she revealed the World Destroyer’s Command Flag, an SS-class divine artifact she had obtained from Herobas.
• Chun exposed her chest and revealed that wielding Annihilation’s power had left her dying, then said she wanted to personally deliver the unfinished final blow against Lin Xi.
• Chun said Lin Xi could not resurrect, and Cheng Shi agreed to act against him if he proved to be a threat, while declining to cooperate with Chun’s arrangements.

Cheng Shi removed Chun’s Oathbreak Curse, freeing her Prosperity power and prompting her to leave for another confrontation with Lin Xi. He and Sun Miao then speculated about Lin Xi’s absence while Cheng Shi kept his own powers and methods secret.

• Cheng Shi demanded Chun hand over her Oathbreak Curse as compensation, and Sun Miao insisted that curses could not be deconstructed.
• Chun eagerly accepted Cheng Shi’s offer, and he used Decay’s authority to remove the Oathbreak Curse from her.
• Chun’s Prosperity power surged back, restoring her hair, while Sun Miao questioned Cheng Shi about his supposed curse-deconstruction method and he refused to explain.
• Chun thanked Cheng Shi, left behind her Prosperity healing potions, and departed to pursue Lin Xi.
• Sun Miao warned that Chun’s command flag was extinguishing her vitality, and Cheng Shi wondered aloud what Lin Xi was doing in the Borogao Highlands.

Cheng Shi and Sun Miao discussed Birth while probing each other for secrets, and Sun Miao revealed that a large, secretive organization opposed the gods. The chapter ended with a hooded figure confronting someone in a forest and demanding they choose whether to be an enemy or a friend.

• Cheng Shi and Sun Miao stayed in the river valley while the Iron Law Knights searched the military camp.
• Sun Miao questioned Cheng Shi about Hu Xuan and Birth, but he refused to share what he knew about Zainjil.
• Sun Miao revealed that the History School had discovered a vast, secretive organization hostile to the gods and asked whether Cheng Shi or Zhen Xin was connected to it.
• Sun Miao offered to keep Cheng Shi's secret in exchange for answers and said she could provide him access to the History School.
• A hooded figure stopped beside a decaying tree across the river and warned someone to choose whether to be an enemy or a friend.

Lin Xi recruited Du Qiyu to help him target Cheng Shi, whom Lin Xi identified as the offering demanded by the Lord of Grace. Du Qiyu agreed after discovering Cheng Shi’s hidden strength, but learned that Cheng Shi had fused the faiths of Destiny and Deception, leaving him afraid to betray either side.

• Lin Xi told the young eagle he knew Cheng Shi, revealing that he had recognized Du Qiyu’s companion as Cheng Shi rather than Sun Lin.
• Du Qiyu panicked at the revelation, feared Cheng Shi was hunting him, and tried to persuade Lin Xi to join forces against him.
• Lin Xi destroyed the young eagle, and Du Qiyu sent another one back to ask what Lin Xi intended to do.
• Lin Xi explained that the Lord of Grace had named Cheng Shi as an offering and asked whether Du Qiyu was friend or foe.
• Du Qiyu agreed to help Lin Xi expose Cheng Shi’s deception, then learned that Cheng Shi had fused the faiths of Destiny and Deception.
• Lin Xi warned Du Qiyu that he could never accept betrayal.