Recaps

Cheng Shi and Qin Xin discussed how to gather enough divine votes to advance the God Creation Plan before Qin Xin revealed that Wei Mu had arrived at the Fire-Keeping Hall. They met Wei Mu’s scouting puppet, whose sharp deductions left them speechless, and Cheng Shi asked whether the sage sold cheats.

• Cheng Shi considered which gods might support his plan to secure succession for Nangong and Li Wufang, but ruled out getting [Folly]'s vote easily.
• Qin Xin explained that Wei Mu, a follower of [Folly], had sent a puppet to the Fire-Keeping Hall, and Cheng Shi asked to meet him.
• Cheng Shi and Qin Xin went with Hope's Flame to Qin Xin's room, where they found Wei Mu's puppet temporarily confined.
• Wei Mu greeted the three Emissaries and deduced their identities, including that the God of Merriment was sheltering the Fire Keepers.
• Cheng Shi tried to correct Wei Mu's deduction, but Wei Mu used the explanation to infer more about [Deception], prompting Cheng Shi to ask if he sold cheats.

Wei Mu deduced that Cheng Shi was resisting his role as a sacrifice and was seeking the answer to [Nothingness], then inferred why he had come to the rebels’ gathering. Cheng Shi uncovered Wei Mu’s method for borrowing the faith of his followers to enhance his reasoning, leaving Wei Mu’s experiments with [Folly]’s authority on the verge of a breakthrough.

• Wei Mu deduced that Cheng Shi was resisting sacrifice and that [Deception] was using his rebellion to draw the gods’ attention toward the answer to [Nothingness].
• Wei Mu reasoned that Cheng Shi had come to the rebels’ gathering for something other than a possible Mask, and Cheng Shi recognized that his deductions were accurate.
• Cheng Shi connected Wei Mu’s Vessel and [Time]’s words, then realized Wei Mu was borrowing power through faith.
• Wei Mu revealed that he had gathered faith by becoming number one on the Path to Godhood and had used it to collect drops of divinity.
• Wei Mu explained that he borrowed small amounts of processing power from believers, and that his research had brought him close to understanding how to assemble [Folly]’s authority.

Cheng Shi revealed the truth of the True Universe and the False Finale to Wei Mu, who then reasoned about Deception and Time’s plans. Wei Mu concluded that they intended to create an Origin.

• Cheng Shi realized that Wei Mu’s faith gave him leverage over other people’s unused mental capacity and persuaded Wei Mu to discuss the Divine Throne and the Assembly of the Gods.
• Cheng Shi asked Wei Mu whether he could match Folly, then used Wei Mu’s competitive nature to draw him into a discussion of the Universe Truth.
• Wei Mu said Folly sought the world’s answer while he sought Cheng Shi’s, and agreed to hear what Cheng Shi knew.
• Cheng Shi told Wei Mu everything he had learned in the True Universe and everything that had happened during the False Finale, causing Wei Mu’s puppet to go still.
• Wei Mu brought his main body through Puppet Strings and explained that he had reasoned out Deception and Time’s intentions: they wanted to create an Origin.

Wei Mu revealed his theory that [Deception] and [Time] were orchestrating a plan to detach the world from [Origin]'s universe experiment. He believed Cheng Shi was being shaped into a substitute for [Origin]'s gaze, and Cheng Shi realized this explained how he could both approach and turn away from [Origin].

• Puppet admitted that he had secretly entered Sun Miao's Rest Area to gather intelligence about the Fire Keepers.
• Wei Mu argued that [Deception] had accepted [Destiny]'s plan to create a sacrifice, but intended for that sacrifice to become a substitute for [Origin] rather than merely draw close to Him.
• Wei Mu proposed that [Deception] was destroying the old world to create a new one beyond [Origin]'s gaze, with Cheng Shi as the crucial sacrifice.
• Qin Xin questioned how the gods could deceive the Creator, and Wei Mu conceded that he could only conjecture about their plan.
• Cheng Shi understood that becoming a substitute for [Origin] would let him protect the world while detaching it from the Creator's experiment.

Cheng Shi learned that [Deception] might be guiding the gods toward the death of the old world so he could become the new world's [Origin]. Unwilling to accept this predicted fate, Cheng Shi decided to seek confirmation and pursue another path with Wei Mu's help.

• Cheng Shi realized that [Deception] had arranged for the old gods to die so the new world's [Origin] could be born, potentially making Cheng Shi [Origin].
• Wei Mu explained that Kraun's Mask might preserve the memory of a god discovering the truth of the universe and the despair that drove the gods to resist [Origin].
• Hope's Flame said they would die and return to [Destiny], leaving behind [Destiny]'s Vessel as a final effort for the new world.
• Cheng Shi wondered whether [Destiny] had rejected [Deception]'s plan or chosen another path, and decided he would not accept his fate without seeking answers.
• Cheng Shi told Wei Mu he would ask the others to confirm the conjecture and called his next attempt another act of folly.

Cheng Shi prepared to leave for the True Universe to pursue another path forward, and Zhen Xin agreed to help despite fearing the risk. When he used the Time Deduction Method to seek a way through [Existence], he unexpectedly encountered [Chaos] being torn apart, which took Zhen Xin’s familiar form and greeted him.

• Cheng Shi told Wei Mu he would return to find him, then went back to the Temple of [Chaos] to meet Zhen Xin.
• Cheng Shi told Zhen Xin he needed to leave for the True Universe, and she demanded to hear his plans for returning safely.
• Cheng Shi admitted he had no reliable fallback, and Zhen Xin agreed to help him despite calling his plan a gamble.
• Cheng Shi used the Time Deduction Method with Zhen Xin to seek a shortcut through the gaps in [Existence].
• Cheng Shi found [Chaos] being torn apart in yellow mist, and it formed Zhen Xin’s figure and greeted him.

Yellow Mist Zhen Xin warned Cheng Shi that the power of [Origin] was a poison that led to a world's destruction, then sacrificed herself to create a Space-Time Storm. Cheng Shi reached the True Universe and began searching for a fellow traveler, where he encountered Big Cat.

• Yellow Mist Zhen Xin told Cheng Shi that [Origin] power brought destruction, not rebirth, and urged him to keep it out of his plans.
• Zhen Xin realized Cheng Shi needed a Space-Time Storm to reach the True Universe and chose to die so he could go farther than her group had.
• Zhen Xin dispersed, destroying her world and creating a Space-Time Storm that swept Cheng Shi into the True Universe.
• Cheng Shi arrived on the Space-Time Dolphin Bridge and set out to find someone with the same destination.
• Cheng Shi spotted a figure at the far end of the bridge and recognized Big Cat.

Cheng Shi met another Hong Lin on the long bridge, where she prepared to enter the battlefield connected to [War] and [Origin]. When their attempt to anchor the world containing Zhang Jizu failed, Cheng Shi continued toward the Gods' Graveyard, determined to search for Old Zhang and protect Cosmos.

• Cheng Shi found Hong Lin on the bridge, and she warned him not to come closer.
• Hong Lin explained that she was on a mission and asked Cheng Shi to send her to her intended battlefield in exchange for helping him find Zhang Jizu.
• Cheng Shi tried to anchor the world containing Old Zhang and the other Zhang Jizu, but Hong Lin sensed that the world or its anchors no longer existed.
• Cheng Shi refused to abandon his search and tossed a die onto the bridge to leave a temporal anchor before asking Hong Lin to send him to the Gods' Graveyard.

Cheng Shi entered the Gods' Graveyard to collect corpses, but a death-triggered trap exposed the presence of another intruder. He discovered that the intruder was Gravekeeper Zhang Jizu, who admitted he could not find his way home.

• Cheng Shi cautiously descended into the Corpse Field to collect corpses for an experiment.
• When Cheng Shi touched a Silent Puppets corpse, an aura of [Death] triggered trembling corpses and booming sounds from the pit.
• Cheng Shi realized the noises were meant to frighten outsiders away and recognized the trap as resembling the defenses in Squinty Old Zhang's Cemetery.
• Zhang Jizu approached Cheng Shi from behind and held a glowing Scalpel to his neck.
• Cheng Shi confronted Zhang Jizu, who confirmed his identity and said he could not find his way home.

Cheng Shi reunited with Zhang Jizu in the Gods' Graveyard, where they discovered that their accounts of the other Cheng Shi's death contradicted each other. Zhang Jizu explained how he became stranded there, and the two began piecing together what had happened in the Trial.

• Cheng Shi confirmed that Zhang Jizu was the living Gravekeeper and teased him about coming to the Gods' Graveyard.
• Zhang Jizu revealed that the other Gravekeeper, who had inherited [Death]'s Divine Authority, had died in the other Cheng Shi's place.
• Cheng Shi told Zhang Jizu that the Outer God in the Trial had been the God of Merriment in disguise, leaving them both shocked by the conflicting accounts.
• Cheng Shi and Zhang Jizu exchanged what they had learned about False Curtain Call and the events surrounding the other Cheng Shi's death.
• Zhang Jizu explained that he had followed the Leaky World Silent Puppet through a Space-Time Storm into the Gods' Graveyard, where he built a trap and waited for a way out.

Cheng Shi and Zhang Jizu gathered gods' corpses for Cheng Shi's experiment to glimpse the future, then Hong Lin revealed that the Divine Throne Cheng Shi had taken repeatedly respawned and had been stolen by many versions of him. Hong Lin took the two men from the Gods' Graveyard, leaving Cheng Shi shaken by what the revelation meant for Predestination.

• Cheng Shi showed Zhang Jizu a piece of the Divine Throne and explained that he had come to gather gods' corpses for an experiment aimed at glimpsing the future.
• Cheng Shi told Zhang Jizu that he rejected the God of Merriment's grim vision of the future, and Zhang Jizu promised to share the burden of finding another path.
• Cheng Shi and Zhang Jizu collected corpses from the pit while Hong Lin arrived and silently guarded them.
• Zhang Jizu confronted Hong Lin, who said she had come to take the two men back because her deal with Cheng Shi was still ongoing.
• Hong Lin revealed that the Divine Throne repeatedly respawned and that many versions of Cheng Shi had stolen it, leaving Cheng Shi shocked.
• Hong Lin swept Cheng Shi and Zhang Jizu out of the corpse pit.

Hong Lin sacrificed herself to unleash the combined power of countless instances of [Origin], but the force failed to break the Experiment Field and vanished. Cheng Shi and Zhang Jizu escaped as the Pig Bridge disappeared, while Yog confronted Herobas before a world on the verge of annihilation.

• Hong Lin told Cheng Shi and Zhang Jizu not to mention her choice, then leaped from the Pig Bridge.
• Countless rainbow streams of light converged into a giant white sun in the True Universe.
• The sun cracked apart before reaching the Creator's Divine Throne, and Cheng Shi and Zhang Jizu leaped from the bridge as darkness returned.
• Yog appeared before Herobas, who demanded that he state his purpose or be annihilated with the world behind him.
• Yog feared that after [Decay]'s Divine Throne became vacant, the mortal who had claimed a Divine Throne would come after him.

Yog sought Herobas as a companion in fleeing the doomed world, but Herobas refused, trusting that [Nothingness] and [Origin] would preserve a future. After hesitating between known destruction and the unknown beyond, Yog used a device left by his other self and was cast into the True Universe.

• Yog recalled how a warning from his other self had revealed other worlds and offered him a way through the spacetime barrier.
• After witnessing Cheng Shi take [Chaos]'s Divine Throne from [Justice], Yog decided the era was too dangerous and asked Herobas to escape with him.
• Herobas rejected the plan, hoping to earn [Nothingness]'s protection and believing [Origin] would bring another era.
• Yog crushed the item and was pulled through a black hole into the True Universe, where he lost consciousness and emerged amid spacetime turbulence.
• Black-hole eyes observed Yog's arrival and concluded that [Origin]'s compressed detonation had briefly paused the experiment's time.

After witnessing countless Hong Lins resist the Creator’s Divine Throne, Cheng Shi returned to the Rest Area and found two Void Gates opening as the Audience Assembly began. Faced with [Deception] and [Destiny], he chose both, intending to use each against the other and seize control of his fate.

• Cheng Shi woke on the Rest Area rooftop, reflected on the Hong Lins’ resistance, and called Zhang Jizu to confirm he had returned safely.
• Zhang Jizu told Cheng Shi that the Audience Assembly had begun, while Cheng Shi saw a Void Gate adorned with mask wind chimes appear.
• A second gate hung with dice appeared, and Cheng Shi nearly entered [Deception]’s gate after mistaking an illusion for the real doorway.
• As the two gates consumed the rooftop, Cheng Shi decided to defy the forced choice and set out to attend both assemblies.
• Fool’s Game chose [Destiny] while planning to use [Deception] against it and take both into his wager.

Cheng Shi arrived backstage at [Deception]'s Audience Assembly and discovered that the God of Merriment's doors had brought him there despite his attempt to choose another path. While six wary swindlers waited in uneasy silence, Long Jing grew increasingly frustrated by the absence of the top players, until strange laughter began sounding from the Mask platforms.

• Cheng Shi found himself behind a transparent curtain overlooking the vast Audience Assembly venue, where six players stood on Mask platforms.
• Cheng Shi realized the God of Merriment had sent him and Shadow Cheng Shi to [Deception]'s assembly through the doors of [Destiny] and [Deception].
• Long Jing recalled hiding beneath the highest Mask to surprise Zhen Xin, but waited as Zhen Xin, Dragon King, and Cheng Shi failed to appear.
• The six swindlers stayed silent and wary, fearing that any of them could become the target of a prank at the assembly.
• Long Jing wondered why the other Clowns were absent, while the swindlers began suspecting Zhen Xin might be hiding beneath a Mask.
• A brief burst of laughter sounded from the Mask platforms, and the gathering fell silent again.

At the followers of [Deception]’s Audience Assembly, rival liars traded insults, fought, and turned the gathering into a bizarre betting spectacle. Watching from behind a curtain, Cheng Shi noticed the bandaged ninth-place man resembled Little Seven and wondered whether he had survived or been impersonated.

• President Gong hid in the shadows after the naked fourth-place man took Long Jing’s platform and asked where the absent President Gong had gone.
• Du Qiyu shot an arrow at the Master of Trickery, then traded taunts with him until they began fighting across their platforms.
• Followers on the fifth and sixth platforms opened a betting pool about whether the naked man wore underwear, and he revealed he was wearing nothing.
• Cheng Shi watched the assembly and questioned why the bandaged ninth-place man, who resembled Little Seven, was still alive.

Zhen Xin returned to the Audience Assembly and announced that the God of Merriment was granting Cheng Shi an audience, but a fake Zhen Xin set off a chaotic confrontation among the swindlers. Cheng Shi identified the impersonator as the Master of Trickery and suspected that the hidden Long Jing might be President Gong.

• Zhen Xin appeared on the highest platform and said the God of Merriment was granting an audience to Cheng Shi, a Fate Weaver.
• The swindlers doubted Zhen Xin's claim, argued among themselves, and attacked her together when smoke filled the venue.
• Naked Mask identified the impersonator as Long Jing, who revealed himself and mocked the swindlers while the real Long Jing stayed hidden beneath the platforms.
• The swindlers searched Zhen Xin's platform, found no clues, and concluded that she had likely already been summoned.
• Cheng Shi saw through the Master of Trickery's impersonation and decoy, then wondered whether the Long Jing hiding below was President Gong.

Long Jing posed as Fool's Game at the Audience Assembly, declaring it an examination of the swindlers' faith and deception. He left them questioning the absent top-ranked figures and where they had gone.

• A swindler suggested that the God of Merriment might be secretly watching the assembly, while Cheng Shi hid behind an invisible Curtain and listened.
• Long Jing appeared as Fool's Game, introduced himself as the examiner, and kicked the Naked Mask man from Zhen Xin's platform.
• The swindlers praised Lord Foolish Play, but Fool's Game told them to remain doubtful and revealed that Long Jing's appearance had been an illusion.
• The swindlers asked Fool's Game where the Magician, the Acrobat, and the Fate Weaver had gone.

Long Jing, disguised as Fool's Game, revealed that a separate Starry Sky had its own Lord of Grace and then challenged the liars to prove their devotion through memories. He left them wondering who would speak first, while Cheng Shi and the fourth-ranked player remained caught up in the performance.

• Fool's Game explained that another independent Starry Sky had a Lord of Grace identical to their own, but that the two worlds had diverged after their creation.
• Fool's Game gave the liars five minutes to move him with their memories, though his explanation consumed part of the allotted time.
• Cheng Shi wondered how Long Jing had knocked the fourth-ranked player off the platform and considered whether [Time] had helped him.
• Long Jing and the fourth-ranked player had secretly coordinated the fall, and the fourth-ranked player had recognized Long Jing's disguise from his expression.
• The fourth-ranked player wondered whether Long Jing was impersonating Fool's Game or Fool's Game was impersonating Long Jing before Fool's Game announced that time was up and asked who would go first.

Long Jing used Fourth Brother’s challenge to strengthen the liars’ belief that he was Fool’s Game, while Cheng Shi wondered whether their faith had produced the aura of [Deception] behind him. As the liars accepted Long Jing as their examiner and competed to move him, Du Qiyu began his attempt.

• Fourth Brother questioned whether players had ever played Fool’s Game, openly casting doubt on Long Jing’s identity.
• Long Jing claimed that Zhen Xin, himself, and Cheng Shi had borrowed Fool’s Game’s identity and were being rewarded or punished in another world.
• Fourth Brother interpreted Long Jing’s answer and the aura of [Deception] behind him as proof that he was Fool’s Game.
• Cheng Shi noticed the aura and wondered whether the liars’ belief had created it.
• The liars began competing to move Fool’s Game, and Du Qiyu said he would try to make him laugh with an amusing story.

At the Audience Assembly, Du Qiyu claimed he had infiltrated the Fire Keepers to turn their resistance against the gods into a joke, but Fool's Game exposed that the organization was protected by the Lord of Grace and appeared to kill him. Cheng Shi revealed that Du Qiyu had faked his death and been sent into the abyss, then suspected that the man posing as Du Qiyu was not Little Seven.

• Du Qiyu told the assembled liars that he had joined the Fire Keepers to infiltrate and ridicule their resistance to the gods.
• Fool's Game cut Du Qiyu off before he could name the organization, then led him to realize a god had been sheltering the blasphemers.
• The liars identified the Lord of Grace as the protector, and Fool's Game appeared to snap Du Qiyu's neck before revealing the Fire Keepers' name and warning everyone not to extinguish another's flame.
• Fool's Game kicked Du Qiyu's apparent corpse into the abyss and resumed the test while the remaining liars stood frozen in fear.
• Cheng Shi revealed that Du Qiyu had secretly given Long Jing an object, allowing Long Jing to fake the killing and send him away from the assembly.
• Cheng Shi inferred that the man posing as Du Qiyu was not Little Seven and decided to find out who he was.

Cheng Shi disguised himself as Fool's Game to question Du Qiyu, but learned that Du believed Fool's Game was Hope's Flame and that Ji Yue had told him to claim allegiance to Fool's Game. The revelation left Cheng Shi suspecting that Hope's Flame had spread the rumor to make him seem like a protector of the Fire Keepers.

• Cheng Shi watched Du Qiyu wait in the void, then transformed into Fool's Game and stepped onto the stage.
• Cheng Shi pressured Du Qiyu with silence, and Du explained that Fool's Game had spared him and sent him to wait there.
• Du Qiyu mentioned his emblem, prompting Cheng Shi to realize that Du was a Fire Keeper and wonder whether he was Xie Yang.
• Du Qiyu told Cheng Shi that Sister Yue had said he was Hope's Flame and advised him to claim he was one of Fool's Game's people.
• Cheng Shi connected Sister Yue to Ji Yue and wondered whether Hope's Flame had started the rumor to make him a sheltering figure for the Fire Keepers.

Cheng Shi recognized Du Qiyu as his old friend Bailing and persuaded her to reveal information despite the God of Merriment’s apparent order to keep silent. Bailing confessed that she had seen Cheng Shi earlier in the Land of Depravity beside the Sea of Desire.

• Cheng Shi removed his disguise and revealed his identity to Du Qiyu, who tried to flee.
• Cheng Shi stopped Du Qiyu and convinced her to turn back, revealing herself as Bailing.
• Cheng Shi suspected the God of Merriment had forbidden Bailing from speaking and urged her to share what she knew.
• Bailing admitted she had lied and said she had seen Cheng Shi earlier in the Land of Depravity beside the Sea of Desire.

Bailing explained that she had secretly watched Cheng Shi in the Land of Depravity as a shapeshifting lark and had been tasked by the God of Merriment with delivering Tria’s [Filth and Decay] Vessel. She revealed that Tria had hidden in her Path of Fate’s Beginning while fleeing [Deception], and that the god killed Tria when Bailing sought help protecting her memories of Cheng Shi.

• Cheng Shi realized the lark he had seen beside the Sea of Desire had been Bailing in disguise, and Bailing confirmed she could take the form of her tamed beasts.
• Bailing said the God of Merriment had ordered her to bring Cheng Shi the [Filth and Decay] Vessel while the Fear Mother Tree was dying, but had forbidden her from explaining the task.
• Bailing revealed that Tria had hidden in her Path of Fate’s Beginning while fleeing the God of Merriment and had remained with her ever since.
• Cheng Shi deduced that Bailing had approached [Deception] after recovering her memories of him in the Trial and fearing they would expose him.
• Bailing recalled that the God of Merriment persuaded her to embrace [Deception] and become a Beast Tamer, then killed Tria in front of her.

Bailing revealed that the Lord of Grace had killed Tria and left her a message for Cheng Shi, though the clue only deepened his confusion. After explaining that she had posed as Little Seven to lure and punish predators, Bailing left to continue her own path as a Fire Keeper.

• Bailing told Cheng Shi that the Lord of Grace had killed Tria before her and entrusted her with the [Filth and Decay] faith vessel and a message for him.
• Cheng Shi questioned Bailing about her Beast Tamer identity and why she had pretended to be Little Seven.
• Bailing explained that she had used the identity to bait cruel people who preyed on players and ordinary people, then punish them.
• Cheng Shi urged Bailing to keep following her convictions without using goodness to justify evil, and told her to return to her path.
• Bailing asked whether Cheng Shi was truly Hope's Flame, and Cheng Shi said that she was too, as was everyone.