Recaps

Cheng Shi learned that Lele'er was not an emissary of Filth and Decay and that Tria, whose vessel he carried, had died. Afros recounted Tria's compassionate life and miraculous rebirth, while Cheng Shi remained puzzled about her killer and turned to ask about Drachirko.

• Cheng Shi asked Afros whether Lele'er was an emissary, and Afros denied that the Daughter of Prosperity had served her lord.
• Afros recognized the vessel Cheng Shi carried and said Tria was dead, while believing Cheng Shi had not killed her.
• Afros explained that Tria had lived kindly among violent believers and burned herself to death to end their conflict.
• Tria was reborn from the flames as an emissary, and the people called her the Compassionate Lord.
• Cheng Shi wondered who had killed Tria and how her vessel had ended up near Lele'er, then asked Afros about Drachirko.

Cheng Shi questioned Afros about Drachirko and learned that Afros wanted him to investigate Tria’s death. Cheng Shi reluctantly agreed to try if the killer was a demigod, and Afros eagerly offered to answer his questions.

• Afros described Drachirko as the Sin of Desirelessness, a devoted and brutal punisher of ascetics who rejected desire.
• Afros explained that Drachirko despised Tria’s pleasure-seeking nature but likely would not have killed her beside the Sea of Desire.
• Afros asked Cheng Shi to uncover the truth behind Tria’s death, and Cheng Shi warned that the killer might be a true god.
• Afros revealed that he wanted leverage to resist Time and used his knowledge of Cheng Shi’s motives to press him for help.
• Cheng Shi agreed to investigate and try to avenge Tria if the killer was a demigod, and Afros eagerly invited him to ask anything.

Afros explained how his attempt to help the Mirror Walkers attract Memory’s attention led to the creation of the Mirror of Memory and Delusion. He began describing how strengthening their desires pushed the believers toward an extreme.

• Cheng Shi argued that learning why time wanted to destroy another world could reveal its plans, then asked Afros why time had imprisoned him.
• Afros said he believed existence itself had wanted to imprison him after he blasphemed Memory, and recounted becoming a dual emissary in the Fifth Age.
• Afros described meeting the Mirror Walkers, who gathered to pray for Memory, and telling one organizer about Dolgo D’s practice of entrusting objects with prayers.
• The organizer made a massive mirror, which became the prototype of the Mirror of Memory and Delusion, but Memory did not respond to years of prayer.
• Afros said he used a method to solidify the Mirror Walkers’ desires and strengthen their faith, but his intervention led them toward another extreme.

Afros recounted how the Mirror Walker split into conservative and radical factions, whose struggle shattered the Mirror of Memory and Delusion into the Dreamless Mirror and My Nightmare, Your Dream. He then explained that Time imprisoned him before he could influence a group of bards, leaving Cheng Shi to weigh how to help Afros while seeking answers from Time.

• Afros told Cheng Shi that radical Mirror Walkers secretly staged a divine descent, and Memory truly appeared during their collective prayer.
• The conservative and radical Mirror Walkers fought over the newly sanctified mirror and shattered it, each faction taking one fragment.
• Cheng Shi realized that Memory had preserved the mirror's desecration as a memory and understood why Afros had escaped punishment for that event.
• Afros said that centuries later, Time imprisoned him before he could help a group of bards, accusing him of corrupting piety with desire.
• Cheng Shi questioned the fairness of Afros's imprisonment but recognized that he had to stand with Afros in Dolgo D while seeking a way to approach Time.

Cheng Shi questioned the truth behind Afros’s imprisonment and wondered whether the Dreamless Mirror and My Nightmare, Your Dream could be reunited. Afros then led Cheng Shi, the Doctor, and Galiusha to Dolgo D’s new Honest Tribunal, where they found a startling faith experiment.

• Cheng Shi considered whether Time had imprisoned Afros for reasons beyond his alleged crimes and wondered what a completed Mirror of Memory and Delusion could do.
• Afros rejected the idea that he should repent, insisting he had only helped people face their own desires and could not betray his beliefs.
• Cheng Shi told Afros about the Doctor’s abnormality and his plan to bring two believers of Truth to Dolgo D, prompting Afros to take them to the Honest Tribunal.
• Afros restored Wang Weijin and Galiusha’s senses and led the group to the tribunal, explaining that Wei Mu had helped establish it.
• Inside, Wang Weijin recognized the Dagger of Stars and described a convergence of Birth and Filth and Decay, while Cheng Shi saw the Hanged Man of the Apocalypse wearing a Mask.

Afros showed Wang Weijin, Galiusha, and Cheng Shi how Zainjil anchored a time-stretched experiment in Dolgo D. He revealed that he had secretly spread belief in Foolish Play through the experiment, helping the opposing faiths of Birth and Filth and Decay begin to blend.

• Afros explained that Wei Mu had found a temporal entanglement fulcrum on Dolgo D and used it to create an Experiment Field with greatly expanded time.
• Wang Weijin and Galiusha examined the upside-down Zainjil and noticed the Mask covering its face.
• Afros explained that he had placed the Mask on Zainjil and spread the name of Foolish Play among the lives inside the experiment.
• Afros observed that growing belief in Foolish Play had begun blending the faiths of Birth and Filth and Decay.
• Cheng Shi learned that Dolgo D had become a place with countless Foolish Play faithful, where his divine essence had been gaining strength.

Afros explained how the Folly experiment triggered Faith Fusion, while Wang Weijin concluded that Zainjil’s Mask held a path to Truth and secretly approached him. Galiusha exposed the danger by announcing she might consume Zainjil, prompting Wang Weijin to reach for him.

• Cheng Shi questioned Afros’s claim that Deception had caused Faith Fusion, while Wang Weijin wondered whether excluding Deception had hindered the Tower of Reason’s search for Truth.
• Wang Weijin recognized the Mask as a possible key to Truth and resolved to claim the opportunity for himself.
• Afros described how Zainjil’s Mask appeared during the sun-and-moon transition, spreading Folly’s name and beliefs throughout the town as Faith Fusion began.
• Cheng Shi realized Afros suspected his identity as Folly and retreated, while Galiusha and Afros watched Wang Weijin inch toward Zainjil.
• Galiusha asked whether consuming Zainjil would give her his knowledge of the Dagger of Stars and Faith Fusion, and Wang Weijin immediately reached for Zainjil’s scalp.

Wang Weijin revealed his plan to devour Zainjil’s knowledge and use faith synchronization to forge a Dagger of Stars, then attacked and began eating Zainjil. Afros unexpectedly restrained Cheng Shi and Galiusha while leaving Wang Weijin untouched, hinting that the attack was part of a scheme whose purpose Cheng Shi did not understand.

• Wang Weijin used his prepared slices and faith synchronization to plan to obtain Zainjil’s knowledge and recreate the experiment that could make him a False God.
• Wang Weijin confirmed that Zainjil and the experiment were genuine, then threw up a wall of truth and tore off Zainjil’s head to devour it.
• Galiusha retreated as Cheng Shi snapped his fingers, slipped through the shadows, and stabbed Wang Weijin in the waist and abdomen.
• Golis burst through the courthouse roof and bound Cheng Shi and Galiusha with tentacles while deliberately sparing Wang Weijin.
• Afros told Cheng Shi that Wang Weijin’s desire for Zainjil might be beneficial, leaving Cheng Shi anxious about the hidden scheme.

Cheng Shi discovered that the Doctor was actually Wang Weijin, the original body behind the slices, and that he had completed his experiment by absorbing Zainjil’s knowledge. Afros revealed that Zainjil’s murky faith had turned Wang Weijin into a believer of Foolish Play, and that the faith was beginning to affect his slices as well.

• Wang Weijin revealed his body’s hidden arms and explained that he had fused Zainjil’s knowledge, then identified himself as Wang Weijin rather than the Doctor or 0221.
• Wang Weijin tried to kill himself, but Golis’s tentacles restrained him while Cheng Shi mocked his plan and questioned why Afros had let the experiment proceed.
• Afros released everyone and revealed that Zainjil’s faith had been altered by the Mask and his own interference, turning Wang Weijin into a devout believer of Foolish Play.
• Wang Weijin knelt and praised Foolish Play, leaving Cheng Shi stunned that the Doctor had become his believer.
• In prison, Wang Mou heard the Experiment Field’s chants and began praising Foolish Play as Wang Weijin’s faith resonated through their shared slices.

Cheng Shi resolved Wang Weijin’s crisis and learned that the Doctor’s faith in Lord Foolish Play had changed, then returned to the graveyard to retrieve Memory’s artifact. He expected the fake Dragon King to appear, but instead encountered the Doctor at Truth’s gravestone.

• Afros explained that Wang Weijin’s fanatical faith came from Zainjil’s memories and that his intelligence would return to normal.
• Galiusha learned that Cheng Shi was Lord Foolish Play, and Cheng Shi warned her to keep his identity secret.
• Cheng Shi resurrected Zainjil, left Wang Weijin’s slice with Afros, and departed Dolgo D with Galiusha.
• Cheng Shi parted ways with Galiusha and went to Memory’s gravestone to retrieve My Nightmare, Your Dream.
• Cheng Shi bluffed at the graveyard, causing the Doctor to appear instead of the fake Dragon King.

Cheng Shi met the real Doctor, who explained how he had resisted Wang Weijin’s faith and proposed researching faith’s origins. After the Doctor left, Cheng Shi unearthed My Nightmare, Your Dream and tried to draw out the Dragon King.

• Cheng Shi confirmed that the Doctor was real after hearing him praise Foolish Play at the end of every sentence.
• The Doctor credited Cheng Shi with defeating Wang Weijin and discussed researching the fusion of divinity and personality.
• Cheng Shi suggested studying the origin of faith, and the Doctor agreed to begin with the faith of Foolish Play.
• Cheng Shi claimed his companions had delayed their plan to enter Memory's Archive, and the Doctor tactfully left.
• Cheng Shi dug up Memory's gravestone and found My Nightmare, Your Dream buried beneath it.
• Cheng Shi knocked on the mirror and used his shadow to answer himself, claiming the Dragon King had responded.

Cheng Shi tried to use Shadow Cheng Shi to trigger My Nightmare, Your Dream and free the Dragon King, but the mirror did not react. After deducing that the Dragon King had drawn the jesters into a scheme to uncover the mirror’s secrets, Cheng Shi decided to test the artifact on a god and vanished while praying to Deception.

• Cheng Shi had Shadow Cheng Shi face My Nightmare, Your Dream, but the mirror showed no reaction.
• Cheng Shi reasoned that the Dragon King had entered the mirror to pursue its secrets and had deliberately drawn the jesters into rescuing him.
• Cheng Shi rejected returning to Dolgo D or bringing the mirror into a trial, then realized he could try reflecting a god’s desires.
• Cheng Shi chose to pray to Deception rather than Destiny, hoping to expose Deception’s thoughts and leave the Dragon King to take the blame.
• Cheng Shi began chanting to the God of Deception with Dice of Destiny in hand, then vanished.

Cheng Shi brought My Nightmare, Your Dream to the God of Merriment, hoping to use it to help Li Jingming and perhaps earn a reward. The God of Merriment sent Cheng Shi into the mirror, then tossed it into the void and wondered whether anyone dared watch what it contained.

• Cheng Shi discovered that the God of Merriment was still fighting Destiny and worried that using the mirror could endanger Deception.
• The God of Merriment read Cheng Shi’s thoughts and demanded that he take out My Nightmare, Your Dream.
• Cheng Shi claimed he had brought the mirror to protect Deception from Memory’s scheme, then admitted he wanted a reward when the God of Merriment offered one.
• The God of Merriment extracted the mirror from Cheng Shi’s personal space, and the image of Li Jingming warned Cheng Shi to follow one path and find his way out.
• Li Jingming reached through the mirror and pulled Cheng Shi inside, whereupon the God of Merriment tossed the mirror into the void.

Cheng Shi found that My Nightmare, Your Dream contained a maze of the clowns’ memories and explored the scenes at its forks. He watched his own memory of Old Jia naming him, then left without following the path, deciding the maze was no reward.

• Cheng Shi discovered he was trapped in a vast maze whose unbreakable walls bore the mirror’s carvings.
• Cheng Shi found memory phantoms of six clowns at the forks and realized the mirror preserved the memories of those who looked into it.
• Cheng Shi viewed brief scenes from Li Jingming’s, Zhen Xin’s, Long Jing’s, a doctor’s, and Squinty Old Zhang’s pasts without entering their paths.
• Cheng Shi watched Old Jia tell him that he had given him the name Cheng Shi, and he shed a tear before turning away.
• Cheng Shi decided he would not let the maze taint his memories of Old Jia and concluded that entering it was not a reward.

Cheng Shi explored the endless seventh road and discovered that the mirrored wall itself formed a maze, whose center concealed an exit activated by memories. The exit pulled Shadow Cheng Shi through, leaving Cheng Shi’s true body behind and baffled.

• Cheng Shi sent Shadow Cheng Shi down the seventh road, where he found only endless darkness and mirrored walls.
• Shadow Cheng Shi climbed the wall and searched its carvings after Cheng Shi suspected the maze’s exit might lie beyond the road.
• Cheng Shi realized the repeating carvings formed a gigantic maze and guided Shadow Cheng Shi to its center.
• Cheng Shi recited the clowns’ pasts while recalling his own memories, causing the wall at the maze’s center to collapse.
• The power of Memory dragged Shadow Cheng Shi through the opening, while Cheng Shi’s true body remained behind.

Shadow Cheng Shi entered a cavern filled with discarded memories and nearly lost his identity to their overwhelming influence. After Lips of Foolish Play awakened him, Cheng Shi escaped crystallization and realized he was in the world’s memory dump, then began plotting to use it against Memory.

• Shadow Cheng Shi explored a crystal cavern filled with countless ordinary memories and began to crystallize as they overwhelmed his mind.
• Cheng Shi’s true body also crystallized until Lips of Foolish Play screamed, rousing him and allowing him to escape with the smoke in his sleeve.
• Shadow Cheng Shi shattered the crystal coating and regained himself, then thanked Lips of Foolish Play for saving him.
• Lips of Foolish Play explained that the cavern held memories Memory had rejected, and Cheng Shi recognized it as the world’s memory dump.
• Cheng Shi suggested drawing a powerful being’s attention by reciting its true name among the discarded memories, and Lips of Foolish Play cut him off in exasperation.

Cheng Shi crossed the crystal chasm in the memory dump and was blasted out of it by the power of Destiny. He awoke in Qin Xin’s room, where Hope’s Flame mistook his arrival as a message from Deception and revealed an unexpected understanding of its own origins.

• Cheng Shi spent dozens of hours walking through the crystal world and reached the chasm separating the two shores.
• Cheng Shi crossed the chasm, but dense memories seized him when he landed on the far side.
• Cheng Shi’s power of Destiny erupted and blasted him free before he lost consciousness.
• Cheng Shi woke on the floor of Qin Xin’s unfinished room beside the Dreamless Mirror and recognized Hope’s Flame as the Fire Keeper.
• Hope’s Flame introduced itself as Nothingness’s subordinate god and envoy of Destiny, then asked Cheng Shi what Deception had sent him to say.
• Cheng Shi realized Hope’s Flame believed it had not been created or arranged by God of Merriment and wondered whether he had misunderstood.

Cheng Shi met Hope's Flame, who recognized him and tested whether he still wanted to avoid openly associating with Fire Keeper. Hope's Flame revealed its interest in using him to advance the passing on of the flame, and Cheng Shi asked whether he could trust it because they both seemed caught in a divine scheme.

• Candlelight Person recognized Cheng Shi as a Fate Weaver and asked about his shadow-covered appearance.
• Cheng Shi challenged Candlelight Person's claim that Qin Xin might drive him out, and the two ended their probing without a clear winner.
• Cheng Shi realized Hope's Flame had summoned him deliberately and wanted him to help Fire Keeper without revealing their connection.
• Hope's Flame confirmed it intended to recruit Cheng Shi, who agreed to hear it out while considering the competing plans of Destiny and Deception.
• Cheng Shi told Hope's Flame that they seemed to have both been maneuvered into a scheme and asked whether he could trust it.

Cheng Shi questioned Hope's Flame about its intentions, and Hope's Flame asked whether he wanted to become a god. Hope's Flame explained its origins and its role in protecting the Fire Keepers, then chose Cheng Shi as an outside ally to help shield them.

• Cheng Shi refused to offer trust before Candlelight Person explained why they wanted his help.
• Candlelight Person asked Cheng Shi whether he wanted to become a god, explaining that godhood was necessary to enter the gods' game.
• Hope's Flame revealed that it had been born from change severed from Destiny's predetermined will and had protected Xin Xin and the Fire Keepers.
• Hope's Flame said Deception had promised to shelter the Fire Keepers on the condition that they achieved their wishes, or Deception would destroy them.
• Hope's Flame explained that the Fire Keepers could not become gods recklessly without risking their faith and strength, and named Cheng Shi as the ally it had chosen to protect them.

Cheng Shi met Hope's Flame and asked how to escape the Universe Experiment and the Creator's control, only to discover that Hope's Flame knew nothing of the real universe. He suspected God of Merriment had concealed the truth from Hope's Flame because its significance was greater than he had realized.

• Hope's Flame asked Cheng Shi to explain why he had come, and he claimed he sought an answer about escaping the Universe Experiment and the Creator.
• Hope's Flame said it did not understand the Universe Experiment or the real universe and had never heard the Fire Keepers use those terms.
• Cheng Shi realized Hope's Flame knew only its own starry sky and wondered why God of Merriment had guided him to meet it.
• Cheng Shi deduced that God of Merriment had deceived Hope's Flame with an illusion so it would not witness the universe's collapse.
• Cheng Shi concluded that God of Merriment might be concealing Hope's Flame from the source of all things, suggesting Hope's Flame mattered far more than he had thought.

Cheng Shi told Hope's Flame that their universe was an experiment and learned that becoming a god was necessary to reach the real universe. Hope's Flame revealed that Deception's envoy could become a god through the world's belief, leaving Cheng Shi stunned by the possibility.

• Cheng Shi asked Hope's Flame how he understood the world, and Hope's Flame explained the gods' origins, Destiny's plan, and his own vow to preserve the world.
• Cheng Shi told Hope's Flame about the Universe Experiment, the Truth Experiment, and the world's resets, and Hope's Flame believed him after recognizing parts of the timeline.
• Hope's Flame explained that becoming a god was both an entry ticket to the long-table game and a path to the real universe.
• Candlelight Person revealed that Deception's envoy could gain a divine position when people believed he was a god and lose it when they stopped believing.
• Cheng Shi realized the implications of Deception's method and was left stunned.

Cheng Shi realized that Foolish Play had come into existence through his own understanding, while Hope's Flame outlined a path to godhood that Cheng Shi had already followed. He wondered whether his progress was part of a larger plan involving Destiny, then asked Mouth Brother if it was also part of his predetermined fate.

• Cheng Shi connected Deception's words about Foolish Play with Hope's Flame's explanation and realized that Foolish Play had come into existence when he and Mouth Brother named it.
• Hope's Flame explained how Cheng Shi could become Deception's envoy by spreading his divine name, gathering believers, and winning new followers through a public feat.
• Cheng Shi recognized that Hope's Flame had described the path he had already walked and wondered whether Deception or Destiny had predetermined it.
• Cheng Shi questioned whether Mouth Brother was part of the plan, and Lips of Foolish Play insulted him in reply.

Cheng Shi discussed his role as a possible sacrifice in the Creator’s experiment with Hope's Flame, who urged him to distrust the Fear Faction and build his own strength. The chapter ended with Cheng Shi facing the possibility that Deception’s schemes made his situation even more dangerous than he had feared.

• Hope's Flame suspected Cheng Shi might be a lost Emissary of Deception and wondered whether Destiny had guided him toward becoming the experiment’s sacrifice.
• Hope's Flame reasoned that Cheng Shi and his surviving counterparts might be the Creator’s intended experimental result, with Destiny guiding the experiment toward its conclusion.
• Cheng Shi and Hope's Flame agreed that he should enter the game and accumulate power, but Cheng Shi wanted to rely on the Fear Faction while Hope's Flame warned that the gods might not truly oppose the Creator.
• Hope's Flame explained that he could no longer treat Cheng Shi as an ally of the Fear Faction and would instead seek a way to pass on the will to survive.
• Hope's Flame promised to think of a way around Deception’s influence and warned Cheng Shi that, if his suspicions were right, his fear might grow far worse.

Cheng Shi met Hope's Flame in the mirror and discussed retrieving divine authorities with help from Qin Xin. After God of Merriment pulled him back to the divine temple, Katarro told him that Chaos's believers were waiting outside.

• Cheng Shi told Hope's Flame that he planned to go to the real universe to retrieve divine authorities, and she explained how his hope drew him toward her.
• Hope's Flame discussed Fang Shiqing, Qin Xin, and An Mingyu, then offered to arrange for Qin Xin to encounter Cheng Shi in the real universe.
• Cheng Shi and Hope's Flame exchanged information about the gods and the power needed to accelerate the predetermined matters.
• When Qin Xin returned, Cheng Shi left the mirror and was suddenly pulled from My Nightmare, Your Dream by an invisible force.
• Cheng Shi woke in the divine temple, where Katarro said Lord of Grace had summoned someone else and Chaos's believers were waiting to see him.

Hope's Flame sought Deception's permission to meet the Source Beginning and learn its true identity, but Deception refused to let it go. Meanwhile, Cheng Shi suggested that Hu Wei seek a new faith through Folly's Deception after War's power faded.

• Hope's Flame asked Deception to let it meet the Source Beginning, and Deception questioned why it wanted to see the Creator.
• Hope's Flame said it no longer trusted its memories and wanted to learn who it really was, even if it had to ask Destiny.
• Hope's Flame insisted it would go regardless of whether Destiny acknowledged it, but Deception extinguished its light and declared, "I disagree."
• Cheng Shi considered how War's fall had stripped Hu Wei's greatsword and Da Yi's iron spike of their power, leaving them in need of a new faith.
• Cheng Shi advised Hu Wei to seek the envoy of Nothingness, and Hu Wei recognized it as Fool's Deception.