Recaps

Cheng Shi and Sun Miao found evidence that the Lawful Compliance Faction secretly supplied the Tower of Reason and recruited its scholars, including Therius. They left with Montrani as their next lead, while Kainlaur’s disappearance remained unexplained.

• Cheng Shi and Sun Miao discovered that Kainlaur had vanished, and Sun Miao suspected Lin Xi had taken him to draw Cheng Shi into a scheme.
• Cheng Shi abandoned the search for Kainlaur and examined the Chief Judge’s residence for clues.
• Cheng Shi and Sun Miao found decades-old records showing that the Lawful Compliance Faction had sent war supplies to the Tower of Reason.
• Cheng Shi and Sun Miao uncovered invitation letters sent to Tower of Reason scholars and found Therius’s reply among them.
• Cheng Shi told Sun Miao to investigate Montrani, where Therius had conducted his experiments, and admitted he did not know where the former Judge had gone.

Cheng Shi and Sun Miao investigated Chief Judge Kainlaur’s tent and uncovered clues that the Iron Rule of Order had changed, along with a possible link between Essares and Lidyaala’s death. Sun Miao then revealed that she was also the vice president of the Worship God Society, which she used to gather information for the History School.

• Sun Miao found a log showing that Kainlaur had avoided reporting to the Iron Rule of Order, and she inferred that he suspected Order had changed.
• Cheng Shi found an arrowhead bearing Essares’s name and connected it to Lidyaala, prompting Sun Miao to reconsider Lidyaala’s investigation and death.
• Sun Miao explained that Essares had died at home and that Altare later ruled the Grand Inquisition alone before its decline continued.
• Sun Miao revealed that she was the vice president of the Worship God Society and used it as an information-gathering network for the History School.

Cheng Shi learned about the leaders and changing fortunes of several major organizations from Sun Miao. He persuaded her to consider using an item to retrace the arrowhead’s past, offering to reveal the complete story of Order if the arrowhead’s history disappointed her.

• Sun Miao told Cheng Shi that Meng Youfang, known as The Gods Forgot Me, led the Worship God Society and believed he could reclaim a divine throne.
• Sun Miao described the Order Alliance’s founder, Square and Round, the Rationality Association’s warrior leader, and the Nature Sect’s uncertain future under Eternal Day.
• Cheng Shi asked Sun Miao whether she had an item that could retrace the past of the Fine Iron Arrowhead.
• Sun Miao hesitated because the item could only be used once, so Cheng Shi offered to tell her the complete story of Order if the arrowhead’s history did not interest her.
• Sun Miao asked whether he meant it, and Cheng Shi assured her that he Never Lie.

Cheng Shi and Sun Miao used Memory's Time's Notebook to witness the past surrounding Essares's murder. The dream left Lidyaala confronting Kainlaur and accusing him of framing her, with a crossbow aimed at him.

• Sun Miao used a page from Memory's Time's Notebook and took Cheng Shi into the past through the Fine Iron Arrowhead.
• In Kato Court, Cheng Shi and Sun Miao saw Lidyaala arrive at Essares's residence and find him already dead, with the arrowhead bearing his name in her hand.
• Lidyaala escaped the Iron Law Knights and suspected Kainlaur had framed her using technology from the Tower of Reason.
• Cheng Shi and Sun Miao skipped ahead through the pursuit until Lidyaala confronted Kainlaur in his room.
• Lidyaala drew a crossbow with the arrowhead engraved with Essares's name and told Kainlaur to declare her murder charge before its mechanism clicked.

Kainlaur told Lidyaala that Altare had killed Essares and argued that Order had abandoned its believers, so he was trying to save their faith by creating a new Order. The confrontation ended when he revealed a broken branch identified as the Fear Mother Tree, prompting Cheng Shi to recognize Lele'er.

• Lidyaala accused Kainlaur of arranging Essares's murder, but Kainlaur denied killing him and claimed Essares had been framed.
• Kainlaur told Lidyaala that Order had abandoned its believers and argued that they could create a new Order to fulfill its will.
• Lidyaala accused Kainlaur of wanting to make himself the new Order, and he answered by placing a broken branch on the table.
• Cheng Shi and Sun Miao recognized the branch as belonging to the Fear Mother Tree, and Cheng Shi identified it as Lele'er.

Kainlaur revealed that Lidyaala’s birth rite had been tainted by Filth and Decay, and he argued that Order itself had become corrupted. After Lidyaala touched the branch to examine its memories, she and Kainlaur entered a space Cheng Shi and Sun Miao could not observe, leaving the truth of their encounter unknown.

• Kainlaur showed Lidyaala a branch of the Fear Mother Tree, prompting her to accuse him of serving Filth and Decay.
• Sun Miao explained that a rainforest tribe’s birth rite was a tender shoot blessed by Prosperity, and concluded that Lidyaala was Essares’s child.
• Kainlaur said the birth rite had been intended for him but reached Lidyaala by accident, then gradually mutated into a branch of the Fear Mother Tree.
• Kainlaur claimed the branch had amplified his fear of Order, while Lidyaala insisted he had surrendered to desire and needed to be brought to his senses.
• Lidyaala touched the branch and entered a memory space with Kainlaur, while Cheng Shi and Sun Miao remained unable to witness what happened there.

Cheng Shi used the Memory Sea Insight to enter a memory of Kainlaur and Lidyaala traveling through the Land of Depravity, then followed them toward the Sea of Desire despite the danger. There, Lele'er sensed Cheng Shi and the strange divine nature he carried, while he froze in terror.

• Cheng Shi struck the Fine Iron Arrowhead with the Memory Sea Insight and entered the dream of Order as an unseen observer.
• Kainlaur led Lidyaala across the Land of Depravity toward the Sea of Desire and explained that living beings' desires kept its waters from drying up.
• Cheng Shi hesitated at the Sea of Desire, then put the Door Key in his mouth and followed Kainlaur and Lidyaala through the fog.
• Cheng Shi caught up with the pair and saw the withering Fear Mother Tree, where Lele'er noticed him and fixed her gaze on him.
• Lele'er sensed that Cheng Shi was connected to the fates of her family and carried unfamiliar divine nature, while Cheng Shi froze in fear.

Cheng Shi witnessed Kainlaur sacrifice Lidyaala to create a bow intended to restore Order, then found himself trapped before Lele'er, who had stripped him of fear. Lele'er mistook him for Garuda and learned that Garuda had died, eaten by Mother of Prosperity.

• Kainlaur shot Lidyaala with an arrow of fear beneath the Fear Mother Tree, and she died as a new Dread Demon formed from her fear.
• Kainlaur explained that Lidyaala's blood would string his Startled Bow and vanished with it and the Fine Iron Arrowhead.
• Cheng Shi realized the memory had not released him, but Lele'er infused him with radiance that erased his fear.
• Cheng Shi asked Lele'er if she was dying and told her Garuda was gone, while dismissing the Dread Demons as ugly.
• Lele'er mistook Cheng Shi for Garuda and learned that Mother of Prosperity had eaten Garuda as compensation for Lele'er's rebellion.

Cheng Shi confronted the dying Lele'er, who scattered her Dread Demons and explained that she had once invited Garuda to join her in fear, but Garuda never answered. Lele'er blamed Garuda's mother for their lost chance and wondered about her people as she faced death beside the Sea of Desire.

• Cheng Shi pressed the bewildered Lele'er to speak, and she sent her Dread Demons flying into the sky over the Land of Depravity.
• Cheng Shi used a flashlight to spotlight Lele'er and jokingly offered to witness her last words for a fee.
• Lele'er said she had invited Garuda to share in fear by merging a tender branch with her divinity, but Garuda had not responded.
• Cheng Shi realized Lele'er had mistaken the invitation's failure for Garuda's rejection and chose not to correct her belief that Garuda's mother had swallowed her.
• As the Dread Demons departed, Lele'er admitted she was lonely and wondered whether her people were well, while Cheng Shi criticized her for abandoning them.

Cheng Shi questioned Lele'er about her fall and learned that someone unknown had pushed her into the Sea of Desire. He nearly succumbed to its call, but the Door Key gave him new fear and stopped him; he then wondered whether Order had entered the Sea of Desire in the same way.

• Cheng Shi asked Lele'er whether she regretted becoming the Fear Mother Tree, and she said someone other than Garuda had pushed her into the Sea of Desire.
• Lele'er began to wither as an unknown force affected her, and Cheng Shi saw that the path toward the Sea of Desire was clear.
• Cheng Shi charged toward the Sea of Desire, but the Lips of Foolish Play questioned him as he abruptly stopped and turned back.
• Cheng Shi spat out the Door Key, whose cut beneath his tongue restored his fear and saved him from the Sea of Desire's pull.
• Cheng Shi retreated and asked Mouth Brother whether Order had lost her fear upon entering the Sea of Desire, leading to the creation of fear—Order.

Cheng Shi escaped the Sea of Desire and returned to find Lele'er dead beneath the withered Fear Mother Tree. He considered taking the tree, but the Lips of Foolish Play mocked him as he raised an ax.

• The Lips of Foolish Play warned Cheng Shi that dying in the Sea of Desire could transform them into strange beings, and Cheng Shi realized his connection to the sea was driven by greed.
• The Lips of Foolish Play explained that Kainlaur had a Lord of Grace's protection, while Cheng Shi questioned why the God of Merriment had not rescued him.
• Cheng Shi returned to the Fear Mother Tree and found Lele'er dead, reflecting on how quietly an Envoy could fall.
• Cheng Shi noticed that a sparrow he remembered seeing was gone, then wondered whether he could take Lele'er's withered tree.
• Cheng Shi pulled out an ax, but the Lips of Foolish Play mocked him by comparing his tree-felling plan to Yugong moving mountains.

Cheng Shi found a Filth and Decay container in Lele'er's canopy and struggled to resist taking it, fearing it would draw him toward the Sea of Desire. After suspecting the Lord of Grace had given it to him, he claimed it and turned back toward the Fear Mother Tree, still hoping to take Lele'er's corpse for firewood.

• Cheng Shi struck Lele'er's ankle with an axe, cracking the giant tree and dislodging a Filth and Decay container.
• Cheng Shi waited for danger to pass, then grabbed the container and fled from the Sea of Desire.
• Cheng Shi realized the container absorbed the desires of those nearby and could turn its finder into a Filth and Decay herald.
• Cheng Shi asked Mouth Brother and Brother Ear whether he could keep the container, and Brother Ear suggested the Lord of Grace wanted him to infiltrate the Sea of Desire.
• Cheng Shi addressed the Lord of Grace, decided to accept the container, and put it in his bag.
• Cheng Shi turned back toward the Fear Mother Tree, still considering taking Lele'er's corpse to warm Fishbone Hall.

Cheng Shi destroyed the rotting Fear Mother Tree and secretly claimed a second container of Prosperity before escaping the dream. Back in the dream, Lidyaala had died, and Cheng Shi kept his discoveries hidden as the others prepared to investigate her death.

• Cheng Shi struck the Fear Mother Tree again, causing it to explode into lights and reveal a container of Prosperity.
• Cheng Shi blamed his Lord of Grace for the container, grabbed it, and used the Thorn Weeping Ceremony to return beyond the dream.
• Starry Eyes appeared above the Land of Depravity, challenged the presence in the Sea of Desire, and vanished after Nothingness began to spread.
• Cheng Shi returned to the dream as Kainlaur awoke, while Lidyaala lay dead beside the withered remains of the Fear Mother Tree.
• Sun Miao saw through Cheng Shi's act and urged him to listen to the Chief Judge for answers about Lidyaala's death.
• Cheng Shi concealed that he had obtained two containers and privately celebrated his haul.

After the dream revealed Kainlaur’s actions, Cheng Shi questioned Sun Miao about the other woman and Order. Sun Miao shared her history with the woman, and Cheng Shi was left wondering whether Folly’s strange behavior had any explanation.

• The dream ended after Kainlaur stored his bow, collected Lidyaala’s crossbow and arrowhead, and carried away her corpse.
• Sun Miao asked Cheng Shi to explain Order, and he asked whether he could trust her before probing her connection to the other woman.
• Sun Miao revealed that she was herself and the History School’s vice president, while the other woman remained alive in a half-awake, half-controlled state.
• At Cheng Shi’s request, the Master of Mime explained that she belonged to the Worship God Society and had investigated Sun Miao after suspecting his religious loyalties.
• The Master of Mime said she had tested Sun Miao by revealing secrets, but Sun Miao refused to expose them, disappointing and angering her.
• Cheng Shi reflected on Folly’s shared faith and wondered whether there was an answer to its foolish act.

Cheng Shi and Sun Miao reconsidered where to find Kainlaur, while a War Legion night raid revealed that a Kainlaur was overseeing the Grand Inquisition’s left wing. Lin Xi and Little Seven suspected the figure was the real Kainlaur and set out toward the battlefield, wary that a Fate Weaver was waiting in ambush.

• Cheng Shi told Sun Miao about Order’s division and suggested they stop searching for the kidnapped Kainlaur, since another Kainlaur might appear when the trial required him.
• On the third night, the War Legion attacked the junction between the Grand Inquisition and the Tower of Reason, but the central camp’s commanders calmly prepared their defenses.
• Cheng Shi and Sun Miao learned that Chief Judge Kainlaur had anticipated the attack and gone to the left wing, so they hurried there.
• Little Seven accused Lin Xi of releasing Kainlaur, but Lin Xi revealed that the captive was dead and suggested the Kainlaur at the left wing was real.
• Lin Xi told Little Seven that a Fate Weaver might be waiting in ambush, then left for the battlefield with him following.

Du Qiyu tried to force Kainlaur to hand over a giant bow, but his threat collapsed when Kainlaur vanished and Du Qiyu realized he had been deceived. Lin Xi confronted him at the left wing, revealing that he had traveled through the Void and arrived before Du Qiyu’s Beast Tamer.

• Du Qiyu reached the main camp ahead of the other Beast Tamers and found Kainlaur directing the battle.
• Du Qiyu controlled retainer knights to threaten Kainlaur and demand the giant bow, warning him to use forbidden arts against unfamiliar visitors.
• Kainlaur disappeared in a burst of smoke, and Du Qiyu lost contact with one of the knights he controlled.
• Du Qiyu realized Little Ten had likely deceived him by making the events on the left wing appear real.
• Lin Xi arrived beneath the highlands before Du Qiyu’s young eagle and mocked the Beast Tamer for traveling through reality instead of the Void.
• Du Qiyu hid inside a giant tree and furiously struck its inner wall.

Cheng Shi took Kainlaur’s place to uncover Little Seven’s plans, while Kainlaur wondered whether Order still had a future. After capturing one of Little Seven’s tamed beasts, Cheng Shi reflected on their past and concluded that Little Seven had likely lied about his life.

• Cheng Shi and Sun Miao traveled with Chun to the left-wing camp, where Cheng Shi disguised himself as Kainlaur and repeated the commander’s prepared battle orders.
• Sun Miao questioned Kainlaur about how his military skill had failed to prevent the Grand Inquisition’s decline, and Kainlaur asked whether the strangers could see the future of the Grand Inquisition and Order.
• Cheng Shi told Kainlaur that the Grand Inquisition had no future and that Order’s future was probably in him, then left the tent in disguise.
• Sun Miao warned Kainlaur not to trust Cheng Shi’s words and offered to trade information for a suitable price.
• After scaring Little Seven away, Cheng Shi captured one of his tamed beasts in the Molten Coffin and reflected that he no longer hated Little Seven.
• Cheng Shi suspected Little Seven had lied about his wealthy upbringing and wondered whether he enjoyed his devotion to Deception.

Cheng Shi and Chun followed clues from Little Seven’s dead Beast Tamers while Lin Xi’s plague threatened Order’s camp. After their tracking tools ran out of leads, Sun Miao identified Lin Xi’s location at the battlefield ravine before the Borogao Highlands’ front line.

• Chun told Cheng Shi that Lin Xi had brought a plague to Order’s camp, forcing Cheng Shi to seek a way to stop him.
• Cheng Shi used Little Seven’s soul-erased Beast Tamer to ask Chun to track their enemy, and she followed the Sinister Bone Compass.
• Chun and Cheng Shi found several old Beast Tamer corpses beneath the Borogao Highlands, then met Sun Miao at the corpse of a young eagle.
• Chun tried several tracking tools but found no traces beyond the corpses, leading Cheng Shi to suspect Little Seven was deceiving them.
• Sun Miao used an electronic beeper to report that Lin Xi was in the battlefield ravine before the Borogao Highlands’ front line.

Sun Miao deciphered the corpse markings and identified Lin Xi’s likely hiding place, while Cheng Shi arranged for her to watch for the Beast Tamer as he went to confront Lin Xi. Lin Xi prepared his trap, but Cheng Shi and Chun reached him before he had finished.

• Sun Miao explained that the corpses spelled “mountain hollow” in the Grand Inquisition’s script, and she and Cheng Shi discovered that Chun could read it too.
• Sun Miao warned that Lin Xi’s death could leave a plague source on the battlefield, and Cheng Shi asked her to keep the Beast Tamer from interfering in his fight.
• Sun Miao accepted the deal and considered whether Zhen Xin or Zhen Yi might trade secrets about Cheng Shi’s past.
• Du Qiyu watched for Cheng Shi while Lin Xi planned how to face his approaching enemies and set his traps.
• A bird warned Lin Xi that Cheng Shi and a long-haired man had arrived from the northeast, and Lin Xi was shocked to hear that Chun’s hair had grown back.

Du Qiyu tried to steer Cheng Shi and Chun into Lin Xi’s traps while concealing his own motives, but Cheng Shi refused to follow his directions. Chun said she could endure Lin Xi’s plague traps and planned to confront him directly.

• Du Qiyu sent a Misty Forest Tree Rabbit ahead of Cheng Shi and Chun, but Cheng Shi led Chun around it.
• Du Qiyu dispatched an avian Beast Tamer to guide the pair and revealed that he was Little Seven, claiming he had approached Lin Xi to help Cheng Shi.
• Cheng Shi mocked Du Qiyu’s pleas and questioned whether his apparent betrayal was another deception.
• Cheng Shi kept moving toward Lin Xi and asked Chun whether she could handle the traps.
• Chun said she could endure the plague, watch for traps of annihilation, and drive the dagger into Lin Xi’s heart during their clash.

Cheng Shi and Chun confronted Lin Xi in the valley, where Lin Xi planned to sacrifice them to annihilation. Cheng Shi exposed Lin Xi’s divided loyalties and created an opening for Chun to stab him with the dagger tied to their past.

• Du Qiyu warned Lin Xi that Cheng Shi and Chun were approaching, but Lin Xi stayed beneath the Rotten Wood and told the bird to test them if it was so eager.
• Chun charged through the Decay traps while Cheng Shi destroyed the forest’s plants to prevent Lin Xi from using them as sacrifices to annihilation.
• Lin Xi triggered a blast that stripped the valley of life, then emerged and demanded that Cheng Shi and Chun surrender as sacrifices.
• Cheng Shi questioned Lin Xi’s loyalty to both Decay and annihilation, then evaded Lin Xi’s attack and pointed out that Lin Xi had no devotion to Decay left.
• Cheng Shi used his authority to create an opening, and Chun drove a familiar rusted dagger into Lin Xi’s chest.

Cheng Shi and Chun cornered Lin Xi, but Lin Xi’s hidden trump card brought Herobas into the fight. Cheng Shi used Deception and the Filth and Decay container to pose as Afros, then confronted Herobas as Golis’s resentment returned.

• Chun stabbed Lin Xi with the rusted dagger, while Cheng Shi stripped away Lin Xi’s faith in Decay and left him unable to use his power.
• Chun attacked the apparently trembling Lin Xi, but Cheng Shi realized Lin Xi was baiting her and warned her too late.
• Herobas emerged, erased Chun and Golis’s resentment, and took back the command banner.
• Cheng Shi opened a gate to the Abyss of Desire, used the container of Filth and Decay to disguise himself as Afros, and challenged Herobas.
• Golis’s resentment returned as Cheng Shi, disguised as Afros, faced Herobas.

Cheng Shi impersonated Afros to drive Herobas away, then faced Afros’s demand for an explanation about the vessel. After Herobas left and Cheng Shi shut the door on Afros, Lin Xi woke and learned that Cheng Shi intended to deal with him next.

• Cheng Shi used Afros’s appearance and Golis’s resentment to confront Herobas, who revealed that Afros was Time’s prisoner and had been implicated in the Mirror of Memory and Delusion’s shattering.
• Herobas withdrew rather than attack Afros’s apparent prisoner, then left the trial after noticing someone near the Borogao Highlands.
• Afros spoke to Cheng Shi through the door and asked whether he had attacked someone to obtain the vessel, but Cheng Shi slammed the door shut.
• Cheng Shi discovered that Chun had not returned to the trial and saw Lin Xi wake up after Herobas had departed.
• Cheng Shi told Lin Xi that he had grafted Herobas’s path of annihilation onto the hall of death and threatened that Lin Xi was next.

Cheng Shi defeated and killed Lin Xi after confronting him with the possibility that Chun had tried to save him. Just as Cheng Shi returned to the trial, Chun appeared alive and asked why they were alive.

• Cheng Shi mocked Lin Xi’s despair and told him that his life had lost its meaning through betrayal.
• Lin Xi insisted that Chun had betrayed him by abandoning her faith and joining Prosperity, and he rejected Cheng Shi’s suggestion that she had been saving him.
• Cheng Shi asked Lin Xi for his last words, then killed him with three bolts of lightning and turned to leave.
• Chun fell back into reality in front of Cheng Shi, alive, and asked why they were alive.

Destiny intervened to punish Herobas for blasphemy, then returned Chun to Cheng Shi. After learning that Lin Xi was dead, Chun took her own life and asked Cheng Shi not to resurrect her, leaving him to carry on in memory of the people who had lived.

• Destiny dispersed the annihilation power around Chun and told her she had come to punish the blasphemous, not to save her.
• Destiny confronted Herobas, who annihilated himself and escaped to his Lord of Grace, Annihilation.
• Destiny let Herobas escape as a warning to Annihilation, then sent Chun back to Cheng Shi.
• Cheng Shi told Chun what had happened, including that Lin Xi had died, and began to answer her question about life.
• Chun stabbed herself with Lin Xi's dagger, asked Cheng Shi not to resurrect her, and gave him the items from her personal space.
• Cheng Shi honored Chun's wishes as she died, then walked away determined to live for the memories of those who had existed.