Chapter Summaries

Lu Ban, Xiya, and Bao Bao entered a dangerous gap between moments in time and met giants trying to stop an Outer God from awakening. The giants explained that they were using the Taviel Time Anchor to intervene in the foreign realm, and planned to suppress the pollution and save the world.

• Lu Ban and Xiya found that the orange-yellow wind was polluted, while Bao Bao called it fresh air.
• A giant appeared and warned Lu Ban, Xiya, and Bao Bao to leave the dangerous area.
• The giant led them to a beach where other giants were exhausted or motionless as pollution spread.
• The oldest giant mistook Lu Ban and Xiya for subjects of Yang's experiments, then said an Outer God was about to awaken.
• The giant explained how the Taviel Time Anchor fixed actions into a foreign realm's timeline.
• The giant declared that they would lower the pollution, return the Outer God to confinement, and remove the Anchor to save the world.

Lu Ban and Xiya learned from Old Song that he was the last scholar in the region and that the giants had used the Taviel Time Anchor to hold back contamination for about seven thousand years. As the giants continued fighting the awakening Outer Gods, Lu Ban thought of the Glorious Realm.

• Old Song returned to Lu Ban and Xiya, introduced himself, and explained that the contamination had stabilized but the real battle was beginning.
• A giant told Old Song that Chen had died protecting his squad from contamination, leaving Old Song as the region's only scholar and barring him from the front line.
• Old Song explained that scholars maintained the Taviel Time Anchor, which let the legion spend centuries within a brief anchored moment to contain contamination.
• Old Song described how people at different Anchor Points could be unable to affect one another, prompting Lu Ban to reconsider his plan to rescue Trist.
• Old Song estimated that the giants had been fighting within the anchored time for about seven thousand years, and Lu Ban thought of the Glorious Realm.

Lu Ban and Xiya spoke with Old Song about the Glorious Realm’s methods for suppressing contamination and learned that Lullaby only temporarily puts it to sleep. The group faced the uncertain future of Harmony Island, while Lu Ban withheld what he knew about the Glorious Realm’s eventual destruction.

• Lu Ban asked Old Song whether he and his people came from the Glorious Realm, then explained that he and his companions were descendants from the future, not experimental subjects.
• Xiya told Old Song that they had come to help and asked how his people dealt with contamination.
• Old Song explained the contamination activity levels and said divinely bestowed equipment could suppress lower-grade contamination with higher-grade contamination.
• Old Song revealed that Lullaby temporarily subdued Outer God-level contamination but that his people still sought a way to eradicate it completely.
• Lu Ban considered telling Old Song about the Glorious Realm’s destruction but decided to withhold it, while Old Song described the possibility of abandoning and sealing the foreign realm if they failed.

Lu Ban and Xiya learned that Old Song’s group had spent seven thousand years containing the Outer God’s pollution, while Yang’s experiment aimed to shrink the giants. Lu Ban investigated the Taviel Time Anchor, but his transformed octopus exploded after touching it.

• Old Song explained that the pollution had been stabilized but still needed to be fully contained, and covered Lu Ban and Xiya with a material that isolated it.
• Old Song told Lu Ban and Xiya that Yang’s experiment had been designed to reduce the giants to the size of little people for conserving resources and exploring ruins.
• Old Song returned to the ship, and Xiya worried about how long Lu Ban and she might have to remain in the time anchor.
• Lu Ban examined the protective cover and a storage device, then sent a transformed fist toward the Taviel Time Anchor to inspect it.
• Lu Ban’s octopus touched the silver nail, heard frenzied whispers, and exploded.

Lu Ban survived an explosion caused by contamination from the octopus and gained knowledge about the Taviel Time Anchor. He concluded that Harmony Island was being sacrificed to sustain the present and had been judged beyond saving, just as Old Song returned.

• The octopus burst into flames, and its contamination traveled through its connection to Lu Ban, causing his head and body to explode.
• Xiya tasted a piece of Lu Ban before he reassembled, and Lu Ban realized he had lost a small amount of flesh.
• Lu Ban summoned silver bubbles that showed strange visions and revealed knowledge of the Taviel Time Anchor.
• Lu Ban explained that the anchor consumed Harmony Island's future to maintain the present and concluded that the island had been abandoned as unsalvageable.
• A huge shadow fell over Lu Ban and Xiya as Old Song returned.

Lu Ban and Xiya learned that Old Song planned to abandon Harmony Island because its danger had exceeded the Glorious Realm’s ability to contain it. After Xiya revealed that Harmony Island still existed in their future, Lu Ban proposed an effort to make the foreign land savable.

• Old Song confirmed that Harmony Island had exceeded the Hegra Limit and said the Glorious Realm could not justify risking its people and artifacts to save it.
• Xiya challenged Old Song’s decision, comparing Harmony Island’s fate to the Night Country and asking whether doomed worlds were not worth saving.
• Old Song explained that survival, not morality, governed the Glorious Realm’s choices in foreign lands threatened by the Old Ones.
• Old Song said he had been containing pollution and asked whether Lu Ban and Xiya knew Harmony Island’s future.
• Xiya revealed that people still lived on Harmony Island in their future, where sacrifices kept the pollution from spreading.
• Lu Ban offered to help bring Harmony Island’s danger back within a range where it could be saved.

Lu Ban and Xiya accompanied Old Song’s team to inspect the Deep Well containing the Outer God’s contamination. They reached the black pillar at the island’s core, where a rumble came from within, and Old Song said the Outer God was sleeping there.

• Lu Ban persuaded Old Song to take him to the core, and Xiya joined them for the inspection after nightfall.
• Old Song gave Lu Ban and Xiya protective suits, and the team traveled through the mutated forest while a device tracked the growing contamination.
• A giant used a flamethrower to clear the writhing plants ahead of the group.
• Old Song explained how Deep Well technology folded space to contain the contamination around the island’s core.
• The team reached the black pillar, and a rumble sounded from inside after Old Song said the Outer God was sleeping there.

Lu Ban and the others reached the edge of the Deep Well, where strange sounds and a flashlight exposed them to escalating pollution. Old Song led the group into the absolute darkness, and his flashlight revealed their surroundings.

• A rumbling from the Deep Well caused pollution to affect Lu Ban and Xiya, while the ground transformed into a sticky, crawling sludge.
• Old Song used a black stick to repel the mutated ground and guide the group onward.
• At the Deep Well's edge, Lu Ban noticed black hairs growing on his skin under the flashlight's light.
• The giants left two people guarding the equipment, then Lu Ban and the others entered the Deep Well with flashlights and staffs.
• The absolute darkness disrupted Lu Ban's senses until Old Song switched on his flashlight and illuminated their surroundings.

Lu Ban, Xiya, and Old Song entered the Deep Well and crossed from its quiet Escape Zone into the polluted Buffer Zone. The Buffer Zone’s monsters and a rising tide of blood turned toward them as they advanced.

• Old Song explained that the Deep Well consisted of the Escape Zone, Buffer Zone, and Well Bottom, and warned that reaching the Well Bottom meant there was no escape.
• The group reached the Buffer Zone, where Old Song used his rod to create a barrier against the spreading black fog.
• Lu Ban saw faces and patterns in the pollution, which began to mutate him, while Xiya closed her eyes and Old Song reversed Lu Ban’s mutation with his rod.
• Lu Ban saw the Buffer Zone’s red sun, flesh-made monsters, and trees, then watched a Great Serpent emerge from the sun’s dripping pus.
• A gigantic tide of crimson blood surged toward the group as the Buffer Zone changed with the giants’ arrival.

Lu Ban, Xiya, and Old Song entered the Deep Well and crossed from its empty Escape Zone into the polluted Buffer Zone. Old Song explained the Well’s regions and protected the group, but their arrival provoked the creatures around them, which unleashed a surge of blood.

• Old Song explained that the Deep Well expanded inward and was divided into the Escape Zone, Buffer Zone, and Well Bottom.
• The group reached the Buffer Zone, where Old Song used a rod to create a protective barrier against the black fog and its pollution.
• Lu Ban saw haunting faces and patterns that began to mutate him, while Xiya closed her eyes to avoid exposure.
• Old Song reversed Lu Ban’s mutations and showed him the Buffer Zone, including its red sun, flesh monsters, and human-limbed trees.
• The red sun formed a gigantic Great Serpent, and the trees turned toward the group as a tide of scarlet blood surged at them.

Lu Ban and the giants endured rapidly intensifying pollution in the Buffer Zone while Old Song collected data and blasted the monsters spreading toward them. As Lu Ban’s body collapsed under the Crimson Sun’s influence, he was carried away and began to wonder whether someone had gone missing.

• Old Song explained that their arrival had drawn pollution toward the Buffer Zone, then used a Pistol-shaped Prop to destroy the advancing monsters.
• The giants set up Square Boxes to survey the space, and Old Song determined that the pollution core still needed to be suppressed as the counter showed only nine hundred seconds remained before the protective limit was exceeded.
• Lu Ban and Xiya began mutating under the Crimson Sun, while Old Song continued collecting data and clearing monsters; Xiya sealed off her cognition to resist pollution.
• Lu Ban collapsed into bubbling meat paste, and Old Song kept monitoring the data while firing at the grotesque creatures filling the Buffer Zone.
• After roughly a hundred seconds, Lu Ban felt himself being carried away and wondered whether three people had entered the Deep Well.

After the pollution at the Deep Well overwhelmed the team’s calculations, Lu Ban sought Bao Bao’s help to prevent the world’s destruction. Bao Bao revealed that human seals could not truly restrain the beings within the Deep Well and asked what benefit she would receive for helping.

• Xiya used the ultraviolet lamp to suppress her mutations, though the pollution continued to damage her body and sanity.
• Lu Ban recovered his human form, and Old Song warned that the world could no longer pay the cost of sealing the pollution.
• Lu Ban said a third companion might be able to reverse the outcome and called Bao Bao out of the sea.
• Bao Bao explained that human seals were insignificant to the beings inside the Deep Well and asked Lu Ban what she would gain by helping.

Lu Ban persuaded Bao Bao to try to keep the awakening Outer God sealed, hoping to prolong Harmony Island’s existence. Before he learned whether she succeeded, the Deep Well suffered a catastrophic contamination leak, and Old Song ordered an evacuation while leading a squad toward the core.

• Lu Ban argued that delaying the Outer God’s awakening would let life and human struggles on Harmony Island continue, and Bao Bao agreed to speak with it.
• Lu Ban warned Xiya that her contamination had taken deep root and offered her a peaceful place to retire, but she said everyone died eventually.
• A deep roar came from the Deep Well, and crimson light rose from the island as the giants’ contamination counters began ticking rapidly.
• Old Song recognized that containment had failed and ordered everyone to board the ships and evacuate.
• Old Song led Second Squad toward the core to buy time for the others to escape.

Bao Bao drove the Corrupted One away, but the Deep Well collapsed and unleashed a tide of contamination across the island. Old Song and the others found their escape vessel could not leave the Time Anchor, so they prepared to fight the monsters.

• Bao Bao told Xiya and Lu Ban that she had driven the Corrupted One away and expected them to let her watch the aftermath.
• Black sludge poured from the red sun and spread across the island, creating rapidly multiplying Corrupted Ones.
• Old Song fired at the monsters, while Lu Ban's Speech Bullets and a giant's flamethrower failed to stop them.
• The Glorious Realm vessel and Taviel Time Anchor failed to escape the high-contamination zone, leaving Old Song with no choice but to eliminate the monsters.
• Old Song summoned missiles carrying weapons and armor, preparing his companions to fight.

As the Corrupted Ones overwhelmed Harmony Island, Lu Ban realized that only Purifying Fire could stop them, though bringing it would doom the island and those he cared about. The pale flame consumed the monsters and the world itself, leaving Old Song fallen on the beach as the Taviel Time Anchor stopped and the sky began to change.

• Old Song transformed his armor and weaponry, but his attacks only destroyed the Corrupted Ones briefly before they re-formed.
• Lu Ban recognized that the pale Purifying Fire could burn the Corrupted Ones as the giants of the Glorious Realm were driven back and devoured.
• Lu Ban understood that Bao Bao had brought him here to witness him create Purifying Fire and complete the cycle of fate.
• Old Song unleashed his weapons against the advancing Corrupted Ones, but the tide swallowed him and his forces.
• A pale, many-colored flame appeared and purified the Corrupted Ones, then spread to the earth, sea, air, and sunlight.
• Old Song fell onto the beach as the Taviel Time Anchor stopped, the sky split open, and the pale flames consumed everything.

Lu Ban witnessed Old Song’s death as the Cleansing Flame consumed Harmony Island, then learned that Xiya planned to become its fuel and establish the Harmony Island Grand Shrine. The Divine Cherry Tree sprouted, leaving Lu Ban to carry the story of its beginning into the future.

• Old Song asked whether the sacrifices would lead to victory, and Xiya told him that the future had defeated the pollution before he died in the Cleansing Flame.
• The Crimson Sun went dark, but Corrupted Ones escaped across the world as the Cleansing Flame spread over Harmony Island.
• Xiya revealed that she would use her soul to control the Cleansing Flame and asked Lu Ban to establish the Harmony Island Grand Shrine, using painful souls and shattered hopes as fuel.
• Xiya walked toward the island’s center as the flames parted, and the Divine Cherry Tree sprouted and covered the island in blossoms.
• Lu Ban recognized the site of the future Harmony Island Grand Shrine while Bao Bao recited a waka beneath the falling petals.

Lu Ban and Bao Bao returned to Harmony Island after Bao Bao purged the Corrupted Ones with cleansing fire, and Lu Ban began organizing survivors around worship of the Divine Child. They found the capital engulfed in disaster, where the king died after falling under the Corrupted Ones’ influence, and Lu Ban declared that the people should serve the Divine Child instead.

• Bao Bao’s cleansing fire destroyed the Corrupted Ones, and a Divine Cherry Tree spread across the island as Axiang and the sailors prostrated themselves.
• Lu Ban told the sailors that the monsters were Corrupted Ones and that Bao Bao was a Divine Child who could control cleansing fire, then proposed building a shrine.
• Lu Ban and Bao Bao returned to Harmony Island’s harbor, where they learned that a disaster had devastated the capital.
• Bao Bao transported Lu Ban to the burning capital, where they encountered the fleeing royal convoy and Lu Ban ordered survivors to gather and go to the seaside.
• The king clawed out his own eyes and died, after which Lu Ban declared that the world would have no more emperors and that everyone should serve the Divine Child of the Wa Island Grand Shrine.

Lu Ban reflected on the Wa Island Grand Shrine’s rise amid the Corrupted Ones’ devastation while Bao Bao played the solemn Divine Child. After sharing dinner with a gifted young shrine maiden, Bao Bao revealed she intended to befriend her before choosing her as the next Divine Child and crushing her hopes.

• Lu Ban had moved people toward Wa Island and concentrated power in the Grand Shrine as the Corrupted Ones devastated the world and its population.
• Bao Bao relaxed with Lu Ban in the Divine Child’s residence, explaining that she enjoyed acting out the consequences of her choices.
• A young shrine maiden brought dinner, and Bao Bao ordered her to eat with them.
• The shrine maiden told Lu Ban that her supernatural gifts had led to her selection as one of Bao Bao’s attendants.
• Bao Bao asked the shrine maiden to return and stay the night, then told Lu Ban she wanted to form a close bond with the girl before making her the next Divine Child and turning her hope into despair.

Bao Bao and Lu Ban watched a storyteller exaggerate the Divine Child’s exploits, while Bao Bao grew close to the little miko and asked her to become the Divine Cherry Tree’s successor. After the miko agreed, Bao Bao confessed to Lu Ban that she regretted choosing her, though she accepted it as the meaning of her existence.

• A storyteller embellished tales about Bao Bao’s heroism, and Bao Bao complained that the rumors were ruining her image.
• The little miko soothed Bao Bao with an offer of dango, revealing how close the two had grown.
• Lu Ban reflected that Bao Bao’s friendship with the miko was groundwork for sacrificing her to Xiya and the Divine Cherry Tree.
• Bao Bao asked the little miko to become the Divine Cherry Tree’s successor and protect the world, and the miko agreed.
• After the little miko fell asleep, Bao Bao told Lu Ban she regretted choosing her but called the choice the meaning of her existence.

Lu Ban completed his mission after witnessing Bao Bao deceive herself into accepting the little witch’s death, then gained a new understanding of gods, Old Ones, and the foreign realms. He concluded that saving his world from corruption required him to become a director who could write its ending.

• Bao Bao watched the tower burn and admitted that she had personally sent the little witch to her death, while Lu Ban realized how deeply she had immersed herself in the story.
• Lu Ban completed the Witnessing the Sprout mission and chose to return with Bao Bao.
• As clear flames carried them away, Lu Ban watched the witches’ suffering nourish Xiya and saw the world eventually vanish in A Sigh.
• Lu Ban understood that Old Ones were viewers and players of foreign realms, while Outer Gods like Bao Bao acted as their directors, screenwriters, and actors.
• Lu Ban decided he had to become a director and seize control of his world’s script so he could write its ending and protect it from corruption.