Chapter Summaries

Lin Yu saw through Zhu Qiansi’s imitation and questioned why the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord had sought him out. Zhu Qiansi asked about his Desired Action and revealed that her Karma Threads had glimpsed his ambition and wish to resurrect someone, leaving Lin Yu newly interested in her offer.

• Lin Yu recognized that Zhu Qiansi imitated human reactions by drawing on the pasts she had read through her Karma Threads.
• Lin Yu confronted Zhu Qiansi about her purpose, and she admitted she urgently wanted to communicate and cooperate with him.
• Lin Yu said his Mandatory Task was to make Willow Town manifest in the world, but Zhu Qiansi asked instead about his Desired Action.
• Zhu Qiansi described her former Desired Action and said she would base her offer on Lin Yu’s deeper ambitions.
• Zhu Qiansi revealed that her Karma Threads had glimpsed Lin Yu’s desire to reach the pinnacle of a field and bring someone back from the dead, and Lin Yu sat up with interest.

Lin Yu told Zhu Qiansi that his power was insufficient to take the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord out of the Prison Mountain Realm, but she proposed becoming a lower-ranked identity he could take away. Meanwhile, Xuan Yunzi explained that the demon had merged his identity with Yunzhen’s patriarch, leaving the sealing mission in doubt, and Yunzhen urged him to stay optimistic.

• Lin Yu explained that Zhu Qiansi’s immense power and influence over the Prison Mountain Realm made her too difficult to take away with his current abilities.
• Zhu Qiansi said she had chosen this moment and made Lin Yu her younger sister so she could lower her rank and create a new identity as Zhu Qiansi.
• Zhu Qiansi offered to abandon her cultivation, body, divine ability, and original self in exchange for the chance to go outside the Prison Mountain Realm.
• Xuan Yunzi told Yunzhen that the demon had grafted his identity onto the patriarch’s, potentially letting her create a false past in which she had never been sealed.
• Yunzhen rejected Xuan Yunzi’s pessimism and encouraged him to believe they could still defeat the demon.

Yunzhen encouraged Xuan Yunzi to value his own achievements, and Lin Yu returned from meeting Zhu Qiansi with news of a proposed alliance. She revealed that she had agreed only to mislead Zhu Qiansi, leaving the others wary but still listening to her explanation.

• Yunzhen compared Xuan Yunzi’s survival and techniques to the Taiqing Patriarch’s accomplishments, persuading him not to give up on himself.
• Lin Yu returned to the second floor of Apricot Grove Medical Hall, where she recognized Xuan Yunzi as the Taiqing Patriarch in his current identity.
• Lin Yu told the group that Zhu Qiansi wanted to cooperate with her because she was Zhu Wanlü’s younger sister in the illusion and could help Zhu Qiansi escape the Prison Mountain Realm.
• Snowy Owl, Yunzhen, and Li Nian drew their weapons or gathered power when Lin Yu said she had agreed to Zhu Qiansi’s proposal.
• Lin Yu explained that Zhu Qiansi planned to manipulate Karma Threads to abandon her identity as the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord, then revealed that she had only been teasing Zhu Qiansi and never intended to cooperate.

Lin Yu explained why he refused the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord’s offer, choosing not to risk bringing her into their world or let her escape responsibility for the millions she killed. The group agreed to keep advancing the seal while pretending they knew nothing, though they expected the demon to resist.

• Lin Yu told Li Nian and Yunzhen that he had pretended to accept the demon’s proposal so she would cooperate with the sealing process.
• Lin Yu refused to take the demon away, fearing her Karma Threads ability and believing she had no right to freedom after causing millions of deaths.
• Yunzhen, Gao Shan, and Snowy Owl respected Lin Yu’s decision, and Lin Yu warned that the demon might still reverse the sealing if she noticed their plan.
• Seagull, Snowy Owl, Gao Shan, Yunzhen, and Xuan Yunzi agreed to fight the demon rather than accept her help to clear the Instance.
• Lin Yu told everyone to continue the sealing process as usual and act as though they did not know the truth.

Xuan Yunzi and Yunzhen activated a town-wide talisman formation to capture Zhu Qiansi, while Lin Yu and Li Nian pretended to fight amid the chaos. Li Nian realized both sides were acting on what they knew, and Lin Yu revealed that Zhu Qiansi held the initiative to let them leave the Prison Mountain Realm.

• Xuan Yunzi and Yunzhen completed a talisman formation across Willow Town and gathered outside Apricot Grove Medical Hall with Lin Yu and the Players.
• Xuan Yunzi activated the formation, which linked more than a thousand talismans and drew Zhu Qiansi out of the medical hall.
• Xuan Yunzi exposed Zhu Qiansi's spider form, and she attacked him and Yunzhen with Spider Silk.
• Gao Shan, Snowy Owl, and Seagull joined the fight, but Zhu Qiansi manipulated Willow Town's residents into charging the group.
• Lin Yu and Li Nian pretended to dodge Spider Silk while discussing how Zhu Qiansi knew they understood she was cooperating.
• Lin Yu told Li Nian that Zhu Qiansi trusted her position and held the initiative to let them leave the Prison Mountain Realm.

Lin Yu explained that Zhu Qiansi had fused Willow Town with the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord so both sides could clear their missions at once, and the players received their completion notice. As they were pulled toward settlement, Lin Yu revealed that he had manipulated events and identified himself as Zhu Ming of the Psychology Society, codename Clonazepam.

• Zhu Qiansi revealed her spider form and was pinned by the talisman formation, freezing the Willow Town residents with her.
• Yunzhen and Xuan Yunzi disappeared, and Zhu Qiansi replaced the illusion with the sealed, true Willow Town made of Karma Threads.
• Lin Yu explained that Zhu Qiansi would sever her karma, causing Willow Town and the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord to disappear together and fulfill both mission conditions.
• The players received a mission-completion notice, and Snowy Owl and Gao Shan realized Yunzhen and Xuan Yunzi were gone.
• Lin Yu revealed that he had Zhu Qiansi under his control and confessed that he was Zhu Ming of the Psychology Society, codename Clonazepam.

Lin Yu uncovered Zhu Qiansi’s plan to replace him and escape the Prison Mountain Realm, then deduced her connection to fate and the reason she had chosen him. Zhu Qiansi revealed she had been the Chosen of the God of Fate, Rule, and Change, and celebrated the arrival of someone entangled with the three beings responsible for her master’s fall.

• Lin Yu recognized that Zhu Qiansi had created a hidden final layer and brought him into her mountain cave.
• Zhu Qiansi admitted she intended to replace Lin Yu and take his Player identity rather than leave as his summoned creature.
• Lin Yu explained that he had pretended to choose Zhu Qiansi so he could turn her scheme against her, and deduced she wanted to become his older sister.
• Lin Yu asked whether Zhu Qiansi was a Fragment of Fate or its heir, and she revealed she had been the Chosen of the God of Fate, Rule, and Change.
• Zhu Qiansi declared that Lin Yu carried the causal entanglements of the three beings who had caused her master’s fall and hailed his arrival as fate’s favor.

Lin Yu uncovered Zhu Qiansi’s plan to fuse with him and impersonated the white-clad martial artist she feared to make her reveal her motives. After Zhu Qiansi saw through the deception, Lin Yu proposed that they work together.

• Lin Yu realized Crow, who held the Authority of Change, was the third person connected to Lin Zhao and Shen Bingmiao, and decided to ask Shen Bingmiao about him later.
• Zhu Qiansi explained that she planned to use the slow passage of time in the Prison Mountain Realm to fuse with Lin Yu before the Game interfered.
• Lin Yu revealed that his identity was fake and transformed his face into that of a young girl, startling Zhu Qiansi.
• Lin Yu pretended to be Gu Mo, the white-clad martial artist from Zhu Qiansi’s Fear Lens, and questioned her about her plans and the Fragments of Fate.
• Zhu Qiansi attacked Lin Yu with her Karma Threads, discovered he was an impostor, and accused him of deceiving her.
• Lin Yu laughed after his act was exposed and suggested that he and Zhu Qiansi work together.

Lin Yu pressured Zhu Qiansi to become his servant and leave the Prison Mountain Realm with him, while his allies exposed a Fragment of Fate to draw powerful pursuers. Zhu Qiansi refused his offer and chose to stay and fight those who came for her fragment.

• Lin Yu used Zhu Qiansi's fear of Crow, Shen Bingmiao, and Gu Mo to argue that she had no safe way to kill him or let him go.
• Lin Yu demanded that Zhu Qiansi abandon her cultivation and demonic identity and serve him, but she considered fleeing and hiding instead.
• Old Zheng guided Stiller in channeling Soul Power into an old photograph, causing the Fragment of Fate to reveal its aura, while Hannah sensed powerful beings turning toward them.
• Lin Yu revealed that the exposed Fragment of Fate would draw pursuers to Zhu Qiansi and urged her to leave the Prison Mountain Realm with him.
• Zhu Qiansi rejected Lin Yu's offer and said she would stay and fight those who came for the Fragment of Fate.

After clearing the Escort Mission, Lin Yu and Li Nian clashed with Gao Shan, Seagull, and Snowy Owl over their ties to the Psychology Society and Freedom Alliance. The settlement ended with Li Nian stealing the others’ items, and Lin Yu brought Zhu Qiansi into his world.

• Lin Yu defended himself to Gao Shan, Seagull, and Snowy Owl, while they warned that they would deal with him after leaving the Settlement Space.
• Fei Dao insisted he had not known Lin Yu and Li Nian’s affiliations before the instance, and Lin Yu reminded him to pay the promised reward.
• Snowy Owl confronted Li Nian about her friendship with the Psychology Society, while Gao Shan warned Li Nian not to choose the wrong side.
• Li Nian produced three items belonging to Gao Shan, Seagull, and Snowy Owl, then proposed splitting the spoils with Lin Yu in Jiang City.
• After returning to reality, Lin Yu welcomed Zhu Qiansi to his world, and she thanked him as the Director.

Lin Yu secured Zhu Qiansi and reviewed the new Illustrated Guide permission and his gains from the instance. He resolved to build stronger connections through identities with social panels and examined two new items before leaving the story with plans to expand his options.

• Zhu Qiansi abandoned her chance to resist after sensing a terrifying presence, and Lin Yu stored her once her condition stabilized.
• Lin Yu learned that the Illustrated Guide permission had unlocked, letting him record materials from instance worlds and collect them for later use.
• Lin Yu recognized that his social permissions were limited because he often used false identities and resolved to rely more on identities with social panels.
• Lin Yu reviewed his rewards, including the Soul-Chasing Life-Severing Spear and Signal Arrow Quiver, and considered returning to Ming Zhen Martial Arts School to learn spear techniques.

Lin Yu reviewed the rewards from his recent instance, including a powerful Taiqing talisman and Yunzhen’s Myriad Laws Dao Banner, and assessed his growing collection and strength. He decided to test himself against Good Night, then learned that Gao Shan and Sherlock would arrive in Jiang City seeking his help.

• Lin Yu examined the Superior Taiqing Divine Speed Talisman and Myriad Laws Dao Banner, recognizing their connection to objects he had possessed in the instance.
• Lin Yu promised Yunzhen he would help exterminate demons in the Prison Mountain Realm and put Zhu Qiansi on more difficult and dangerous jobs.
• Lin Yu reviewed his many items and summoned creatures, judged himself formidable despite being outside the Top 100, and considered sparring with Captain Good Night.
• Lin Yu found Sherlock’s messages announcing his arrival in Jiang City and replied with a congratulations sticker.
• Lin Yu read Gao Shan’s message explaining that he and Sherlock were coming to Jiang City because of trouble in an instance and might need May May’s assistance.

Lin Yu used Old Yao’s account to reassure Tycoon and learned that Order and the Night Watcher planned to come to Jiang City, a situation he believed he could control through his identities. He then confronted Shen Bingmiao about withholding the danger of meeting a Chosen of God of Destiny in the Prison Mountain Realm.

• Lin Yu logged into Old Yao’s account and replied to Tycoon’s questions about why Order and the Night Watcher were asking about him.
• Lin Yu convinced Tycoon that Old Yao was innocent, and Tycoon promised to help explain matters to the visiting groups.
• Lin Yu reasoned that Gao Shan, Snowy Owl, and Seagull would need help from Jiang City contacts such as Tycoon and May May, keeping their investigation within his reach.
• Lin Yu called Shen Bingmiao and accused her of knowing he was likely to encounter a Chosen of God of Destiny in the Prison Mountain Realm.
• Shen Bingmiao admitted she had known and explained that warning Lin Yu would have made the encounter certain, because Destiny’s Authority would have awakened the Chosen at the start.

Lin Yu learned that Shen Bingmiao had arranged for Gu Mo to weaken the Chosen of God of Destiny, and heard why the Grandmaster had spared it. He then confronted Shen Bingmiao about her connection to the Crow and its role in killing the God of Destiny.

• Lin Yu realized Shen Bingmiao had arranged his encounter with the Chosen of God of Destiny and asked whether she had involved Gu Mo.
• Shen Bingmiao admitted she had sent Gu Mo to weaken the Chosen of God, who had used nearly ninety percent of its Resurrection Means.
• Shen Bingmiao explained that Gu Mo belonged to the top three Players, had once been strong enough to defeat the Chosen of God, and had spared it by her own judgment.
• Lin Yu learned that Gu Mo treated people from other worlds as less important than people from their own world and intervened most seriously when their society was threatened.
• Lin Yu asked Shen Bingmiao what her relationship with the Crow was and why she had concealed its role in killing the God of Destiny.

After Shen Bingmiao warned Lin Yu that Crow might have played a role in Lin Zhao’s death, Lin Yu decided to remain cautious and went to eat at his hotel’s buffet. There, he ran into Good Night and Paper Kite, who joined him at his table.

• Shen Bingmiao told Lin Yu that Crow had been an unknown variable in the battle against the God of Destiny and might have been responsible for Lin Zhao’s death.
• Shen Bingmiao reminded Lin Yu that their tour would begin the following week, and Lin Yu said he had not forgotten.
• Lin Yu reflected on his encounters with Zhu Qiansi and the God of Destiny’s Chosen, then decided to take things one step at a time rather than ask Crow about the past.
• Lin Yu checked his Zhu Ming phone, found no messages, and went downstairs to the hotel buffet for food and possible Carnival Pendant buffs.
• Lin Yu met Good Night and Paper Kite in the buffet restaurant, and they carried their plates over to join him.

Lin Yu learned that Good Night and Paper Kite were surveilling Li Nian, the Phantom Thief, because she had stolen Kres’s [Siren's Blessing]. They explained that the Order feared the Freedom Alliance would use it to help a Tier 3 expert advance to Tier 4, and Li Nian had not yet handed it over.

• Good Night told Lin Yu that headquarters had assigned him and Paper Kite to surveil someone, and Paper Kite apologized for having suspected Lin Yu.
• Good Night revealed that Paper Kite had been dumped over a year ago, and Paper Kite said his former partner had married someone else.
• Lin Yu said his older sister had died the previous week and offered to help with the surveillance; Good Night then reported that the target had started moving.
• Good Night showed Lin Yu hotel camera footage of Li Nian leaving Room 8082, identifying her as the Phantom Thief.
• Paper Kite explained that Li Nian had stolen Kres’s [Siren's Blessing], one of the Nine Treasures that the Freedom Alliance might need to help a Tier 3 expert reach Tier 4.

Lin Yu realized that Li Nian's stolen [Item] was tied to a Tier 4 advancement and warned her that Order was watching. As Good Night and Paper Kite set out to approach her covertly, Lin Yu followed along after finishing the buffet.

• After hearing Good Night and Paper Kite explain the [Item], Lin Yu suspected Li Nian might not know why it mattered and decided to help her.
• Lin Yu used Zhu Ming's phone to warn Li Nian that Order was watching, and she continued toward the hotel's rooftop garden as if nothing had happened.
• Good Night and Paper Kite decided to check the third floor, while Lin Yu delayed them briefly to finish all the food on the table.
• Good Night led the group outside, arguing that Li Nian might escape over the wall and that climbing up would be more discreet.
• Good Night and Paper Kite pressed themselves against the hotel's outer wall and prepared to climb.

Lin Yu, Good Night, and Paper Kite watched Li Nian, the Phantom Thief, while discussing the mission to prevent the Freedom Alliance from producing another Tier 4 player. Their surveillance took on new urgency when they learned that Li Nian had formed a close connection with the Psychology Society.

• Good Night and Paper Kite used their mobility items to reach the hotel terrace, while Lin Yu secretly teleported there with [Shady Corner].
• The three watched Li Nian relax in the garden and debated whether to capture her, but Good Night explained that the Professor wanted to use her to draw out the Freedom Alliance's prospective Tier 4 player.
• Paper Kite and Good Night received a report that the Freedom Alliance and the Psychology Society had apparently begun openly cooperating, and that Li Nian had a close connection with the Psychology Society.

Lin Yu learned that Order planned to arrest Li Nian because it suspected the Freedom Alliance might cooperate with the Psychology Society and gain a new Tier 4 member. He decided the crisis could test the Freedom Alliance as Good Night and Paper Kite moved to capture Li Nian alive.

• Lin Yu realized Order and the Night Watchers had mistaken his connection to Li Nian as a signal of cooperation between the Freedom Alliance and the Psychology Society.
• Good Night and Paper Kite explained that an alliance between two wanted organizations could overwhelm Order, especially with a dangerous person involved.
• Good Night told Lin Yu that the order was to arrest and detain Li Nian until Order and the Night Watchers arrived the next day.
• Lin Yu suspected Li Nian's calmness meant she had backing from the Freedom Alliance and considered the crisis a chance to test the organization.
• Good Night and Paper Kite jumped into the garden and ordered Li Nian, the “Phantom Thief,” to surrender.

Li Nian’s standoff with Order’s captains ended when Qianhuan revealed himself as the Magician and intervened on behalf of the Freedom Alliance. As the two sides prepared to fight, Lin Yu joined Order, and Qianhuan summoned an unexpected ally from his hat.

• Good Night and Paper Kite attacked Li Nian after deciding her relaxed behavior was suspicious, but their bullets and net struck an illusion that shattered to reveal Qianhuan on the bench.
• Qianhuan said he had come to protect the Phantom Thief, while Li Nian accused Order of shooting at her and rejected their offer to let the incident go.
• Good Night asked whether there was room for negotiation, and Qianhuan raised his cane as the two sides faced off.
• Lin Yu climbed into the garden and took his place beside Good Night and Paper Kite, saying he had to stand against Qianhuan.
• Qianhuan removed his hat, and Lin Yu realized it had appeared behind Order; a formally dressed white rabbit hopped out and announced itself as the BEST MAGIC-BUNNY.