Chapter Summaries

Lin Yu, Chen Le, and Li Nian explored the palace’s main hall in the ruins of Mu Continent’s lost civilization, where they found a huge instrument with a dagger-shaped slot and a motionless corpse on a throne. Lin Yu realized that Li Nian and Chen Le could not see the corpse.

• Li Nian took a carved wooden comb and a damaged folding fan from the palace storeroom.
• Li Nian led Lin Yu and Chen Le through the palace toward its main hall, explaining that she had already searched the other rooms.
• Li Nian revealed that a limited-use summon had helped her open the main hall’s enormous doors on her last visit.
• Lin Yu entered the hall and saw a large ringed instrument with a dagger-shaped slot, along with a massive throne platform.
• Lin Yu examined the dead, fish-gilled man on the throne and sensed the dense death energy surrounding his body.
• Li Nian and Chen Le discussed the throne’s value, and Lin Yu realized neither of them could see the corpse.

Lin Yu, Chen Le, and Li Nian activated an apparatus that used the Nine Treasures to reveal the locations of others. The device identified two more treasures in the Pure Ruins, one inside a sea beast and the other likely in a Sea People vault.

• Li Nian tried to cut the jade throne free, but Lin Yu stopped her and told Chen Le to place the dagger in the apparatus first.
• The dagger was drawn into the apparatus, activating its disk and rings and releasing energy that Chen Le and Lin Yu sensed might be related to Authority.
• The apparatus sent glowing strands toward Chen Le’s four treasures and four distant locations, with two strands stopping at the locations of other treasures.
• Lin Yu and Li Nian touched the strands and sensed the treasures’ locations, while Li Nian was startled by the feeling of her soul splitting.
• Lin Yu sensed that one treasure was inside a sea beast, and Chen Le concluded that the other was probably in a Sea People settlement’s vault.

Lin Yu and Chen Le located two more of the Nine Treasures in the Nether Void Realm, including one hidden in a Sea People's vault, while they debated exploring the facility's inheritance. Lin Yu left Li Nian in Chen Le's cage and approached the corpse on the jade throne, sensing it react to him.

• Li Nian explained that the Sea People operated vaults where Players could deposit valuable Items, and Chen Le confirmed the facility had located another Nine Treasure there.
• Lin Yu concluded that obtaining the two treasures in the Nether Void Realm would leave only the treasures held by Li Hua and the person who had placed a bounty on Director.
• Lin Yu urged Chen Le to study the facility's inheritance while he explored the palace, then asked Chen Le to keep Li Nian from wandering.
• Chen Le trapped Li Nian in a mesh enclosure, and Lin Yu gave her his phone and quietly explained that he was about to take a risk alone.
• Lin Yu approached the corpse on the jade throne with White Bone Flowing Light, and the corpse's fingers trembled as he wondered what it had been.

Lin Yu spoke with the self-aware corpse of Tuke Aisalamata, a high-ranking figure from Mu Continent's Lost Civilization, and questioned how he could remain conscious without a soul. As Tuke gradually became more coherent, Lin Yu tested whether he knew his true identity by telling him to call him Zhu Ming.

• Lin Yu confirmed that Chen Le was absorbed in receiving the legacy information and that Li Nian could not see clearly, then approached the corpse.
• The corpse awakened on the Jade Throne, apologized for contacting Lin Yu, and said that communication between the living and the dead was taboo.
• Lin Yu questioned how the corpse could retain self-awareness without a soul, and the corpse identified himself as Tuke Aisalamata, listing his many titles.
• Lin Yu joked by reciting an absurdly long name and title, and Tuke repeated it fluently as his speech and expressions grew more natural.
• Lin Yu introduced himself as Zhu Ming and suspected that Tuke might not know he was actually Lin Yu.

Lin Yu questioned Tuk about his strange existence and the assassination that had killed him a thousand years earlier. Tuk revealed that the killer had extracted the bloodlines of the Mu Kingdom’s royals and consuls to condense a new authority, though its exact nature remained unclear.

• Lin Yu learned that Tuk had gradually regained awareness within his corpse and might be an unusual being with memories rather than the original Tuke Aisalamata.
• Lin Yu explained that Tuk had no soul and was not an undead, while acknowledging him as a self-aware life-form.
• Lin Yu questioned whether Tuk’s assassination had been meant to leave him in his current state, but Tuk said the killer had succeeded in taking what he wanted.
• Tuk revealed that his royal bloodline had vanished and that the killer had sought the bloodlines of all the royals and consuls.
• Tuk said the killer intended to condense a new authority through a sacred ritual, likely one related to imperial power or innate nobility.

Lin Yu learned that Tuke wanted him to end his unnatural existence in exchange for one-third of the [Azure Sea Sky Dome]. Tuke explained that Lin Yu had to find the artifact within the royal capital’s original fate, and suggested that Lin Yu’s ability to break taboos would help him do so.

• Lin Yu questioned Tuke about his unknown assassin, who Tuke believed had tried to extract his bloodline and condense an Authority.
• Tuke asked Lin Yu to let him truly die, explaining that he had no soul and could not end his own existence.
• Tuke offered Lin Yu the one-third of [Azure Sea Sky Dome] in his possession, and Lin Yu agreed to help.
• Lin Yu asked how to destroy Tuke and what would happen to the ruins; Tuke said shutting down [Azure Sea Sky Dome] would let the city and its dead return to their destined end.
• Tuke told Lin Yu that [Azure Sea Sky Dome] lay within the royal capital’s original fate and said Lin Yu could find it because he had broken a taboo before.

Lin Yu realized he had wrongly assumed Tuk sent the SOS note, and his careless revelation triggered the pain imposed on Tuk by the God of Shadows and Nightmare and Pain. The deity dragged Lin Yu into a nightmare, where she addressed him as “Xia Yue.”

• Lin Yu asked Tuk whether he would leave the ruins with him, but Tuk chose release because his former life and loved ones were gone.
• Lin Yu mentioned the puppet and the SOS note, and Tuk said he knew nothing about either.
• Lin Yu realized the note had likely come from another trapped Player and that he might have broken its warning not to tell anyone.
• Tuk writhed in pain as a shadow torture blade emerged from his body, and Lin Yu realized the God of Shadows and Nightmare and Pain was watching them.
• The deity seized Lin Yu before he could reach Chen Le and pulled him into a nightmare where his calls for help went unheard.
• The God of Shadows appeared before Lin Yu and told him he might never awaken from the nightmare, calling him “Xia Yue.”

Lin Yu, disguised as Xia Yue, entered the God of Shadows’ nightmare and found himself in a recreation of Xia Yue’s elementary school days. He prepared to face whatever childhood fear the dream held, but the chapter ended as children cheered in the corridor.

• Lin Yu realized the God of Shadows had mistaken his identity and planned to exploit Xia Yue’s fears, so he decided to act frightened while concealing his confidence.
• The God of Shadows praised Lin Yu’s composure, then used his power to transform the darkness into a colorful dreamscape.
• Lin Yu found himself in an empty elementary school classroom, appearing as Xia Yue did as a young girl.
• After the God of Shadows did not respond, Lin Yu packed his schoolbag and prepared to leave for home.
• Children’s cheers sounded from the corridor, and Lin Yu remarked that the nightmare was finally beginning.

Inside Xia Yue’s nightmare, Lin Yu relived the childhood incident that had made the school pond a source of fear. After Xia Yue fell into the water while protecting a dog from bullying boys, a thunderclap brought Lin Yu to the pond’s edge, where the dog and the boy lay floating in the water.

• Lin Yu found himself unable to access his usual enhancements or Item Space while trapped in Xia Yue’s childhood body.
• He approached a group of boys tormenting a yellow dog in the school pond and ordered them to stop.
• Xia Yue drove the boys back, allowing the dog to escape, but the ringleader hit it with a stone.
• Xia Yue shoved the ringleader and struggled with him until she fell into the pond and began to drown.
• A thunderclap left Lin Yu standing at the pond’s edge in the rain, while the dog and the boy floated in the water.

Lin Yu, acting as Xia Yue inside the God of Shadows’ nightmare, recognized the scene as a crafted horror sequence and calmly investigated the bodies. After discovering Xia Yue had deliberately drowned the boy, he dismissed the nightmare’s threat, but the corpse suddenly attacked him.

• Lin Yu noticed the nightmare had jumped forward in time and admired the God of Shadows’ horror-film-like presentation.
• Lin Yu suppressed Xia Yue’s fear and said the childhood-shadow scene would not break him.
• Lin Yu entered the pond and examined the drowned boy, finding marks that showed Xia Yue had held him underwater and killed him deliberately.
• Lin Yu taunted the God of Shadows, but the boy’s corpse opened its eyes, grabbed his throat, and cried, “Pay with your life!”

Lin Yu resisted the drowned boy’s attack and told the God of Shadows that its scare had failed because it misunderstood his fear. He explained that he feared the disorienting freedom he felt after killing someone without guilt, as well as the fragility and irreversibility of death.

• The drowned boy’s corpse grabbed Lin Yu by the throat, but Lin Yu dismissed the attack as a predictable scare he had provoked.
• Lin Yu taunted the God of Shadows, saying its authority did not include fear and that it did not understand fear itself.
• The God of Shadows asked why Lin Yu believed it did not understand fear, and Lin Yu challenged its assumptions about his nightmare.
• Lin Yu explained that he feared discovering he felt no guilt after killing someone, which shattered his sense of order and left him lost.
• Lin Yu said he also feared how fragile life was and how death could not be undone, recalling the puppy whose death he could not reverse.

Lin Yu confronted the God of Shadows in a Nightmare and learned the god wanted to break him into becoming a servant, not kill him. The God of Shadows began a new Nightmare, warning that he could make nightmares real, and Lin Yu sank with him into the pond.

• Lin Yu deduced that the God of Shadows had interrupted his near-death experience because the Nightmare could not kill him, and the god admitted he wanted Lin Yu to submit and become his servant.
• Lin Yu learned the God of Shadows had only supplied the weapon used in the ancient Nether Void Realm assassination, without helping plan it.
• The God of Shadows revealed that Fluoxetine had praised Lin Yu to him, prompting Lin Yu to blame her for drawing the god's interest.
• The God of Shadows dismissed Lin Yu's confidence in resisting false nightmares and declared that he could turn nightmares into reality.
• The mud beneath Lin Yu's feet vanished, and he and the God of Shadows began sinking into the pond together.

Lin Yu faced a nightmare about Xia Yue’s father’s funeral that shifted into visions of Xia Yang’s possible deaths, exposing his fear for his family. He accused the God of Shadows of threatening him, but the god revealed that people close to Lin Yu among the Players could still be in danger.

• Lin Yu awoke in a funeral hall and recognized the scene as Xia Yue’s father’s funeral, which he considered a sad memory rather than a nightmare.
• The God of Shadows said the funeral was only the opening of a nightmare, and a bell transformed the scene into Xia Yang’s funeral as Lin Yu reached his current age.
• The God of Shadows showed Lin Yu imagined dangers threatening Xia Yang, including accidents, the Psychology Society, and monsters in an Instance.
• Lin Yu stopped the images and argued that the God of Shadows could not directly harm his family in his world.
• The God of Shadows agreed that he could not affect uninvolved people there, then warned that Lin Yu’s friends and family among the Players were vulnerable.

The God of Shadows showed Lin Yu nightmares of the Freedom Alliance members dying and revealed that a Destiny Fragment empowered his visions. Lin Yu refused to submit and warned that another god would oppose the God of Shadows.

• The God of Shadows transformed the mourning hall into a room filled with mannequins and wax figures of people Zhu Ming knew.
• The God of Shadows showed Lin Yu visions of Xiao Yun and the God of Cookery dying, claiming the nightmares could become real.
• Lin Yu rejected the threat, and the God of Shadows made the mannequins turn toward him with threads converging on a spindle.
• The God of Shadows revealed that the spindle was a Destiny Fragment he had corrupted with shadows and incorporated into his nightmares.
• Lin Yu refused to submit, saying he would find a way to defeat destiny and that the God of Shadows would face another god.

Lin Yu challenged the God of Shadows in his nightmare and summoned Fang Qing by borrowing Director's [Guest Appearance Invitation]. Fang Qing threatened to self-destruct with the 'Game' Authority unless the God of Shadows left the Nether Void Realm and took his Divine Kingdom back to the Divine Realm.

• Lin Yu decided to provoke the God of Shadows as Zhu Ming would and claimed another god could offer him more than the God of Shadows.
• Lin Yu revealed that he could summon Fang Qing by borrowing Director's [Guest Appearance Invitation] and activated the ability through his Fraudster class.
• Fang Qing emerged through a pixelated breach and learned that the God of Shadows had threatened Lin Yu with nightmares of the Freedom Alliance's deaths.
• The God of Shadows sent shadow-tainted puppets to attack Fang Qing, insisting she was too weak to challenge him in his Divine Kingdom.
• Fang Qing threatened to self-destruct with the 'Game' Authority unless the God of Shadows left the Nether Void Realm, and her countdown began at 99.

Fang Qing negotiated with the God of Shadows to send Lin Yu out of the nightmare and agreed to a match using only the Nightmare Authority. Back in the Nether Void Realm, Lin Yu reunited with Chen Le and Li Nian and recounted his encounter with the God of Shadows.

• Fang Qing demanded that the God of Shadows release Lin Yu and reduce the likelihood of the nightmarish futures involving her friends.
• The God of Shadows sent Lin Yu out in exchange for a match with Fang Qing, and Fang Qing stopped her Authority's self-destruction.
• Lin Yu woke beside Tuk's fading corpse and realized it was a phenomenon created by an Authority rather than a physical body.
• Chen Le and Li Nian told Lin Yu they had found inherited Tail Race spells from the Lost Kingdom of the Nether Void Realm.
• Lin Yu told Chen Le and Li Nian that the God of Shadows had dragged him into a nightmare, where Fang Qing had negotiated his release.
• Lin Yu refused to let Chen Le or Li Nian enter the nightmare to reach Fang Qing.

Lin Yu decided to help Tuk shut down the ruined city’s [Azure Sea Sky Dome] in exchange for claiming it, and Chen Le and Li Nian agreed to go with him. As the city’s puppet-like inhabitants froze, Chen Le prepared to use his Fishing Rod for a Fishing Revelation.

• Lin Yu explained that Tuk had asked him to shut down the ruined city and that the [Azure Sea Sky Dome] would be his reward; Chen Le and Li Nian agreed to help.
• Li Nian told Lin Yu and Chen Le that the [Azure Sea Sky Dome] was on the top floor of a tall building and that she had sensed the citywide barrier coming from there.
• Lin Yu, Chen Le, and Li Nian left the Palace and found the city’s puppet-like passersby frozen, with their energy threads flickering visibly.
• Chen Le took out his Fishing Rod and said he would use his Fishing Revelation skill to catch something at random and learn what was happening.

Chen Le demonstrated his [Super Fishing Rod], explaining that it let him fish through a world-crossing authority, while the group discussed their advancement prospects. Lin Yu hinted that he might have already completed his Tier 3 Rank Advancement Trial, leaving Chen Le and Li Nian stunned.

• Chen Le cast his bait into an invisible river connecting the Ten Realms and explained that his Fishing Rod drew on an unclaimed authority.
• Chen Le and Li Nian discussed how Old Wu, Yu Yang, and Zhu Ming might accommodate authorities and advance through the tiers.
• Li Nian insisted that she would pass her upcoming Tier 3 trial and joked about becoming a god, while warning Lin Yu to prepare carefully for his own trial.
• Chen Le noted that Lin Yu’s Tier 3 trial might be approaching or already finished, and Lin Yu’s reply left Chen Le and Li Nian asking if he had really completed it.

Chen Le caught a huge golden fish with his Fishing Rod, but it vanished and left behind a pale-gold orb. Li Nian suspected the orb was the legendary [Desire Orb] from the Prison Mountain Realm.

• Lin Yu kept the details of Zhu Ming's future [Exclusive item] secret, while Chen Le offered to help and Li Nian fretted about falling behind in rank.
• Chen Le hauled a towering golden fish through the Fishing Rod's portal-like surface as Lin Yu and Li Nian watched.
• The fish turned into golden particles and disappeared, leaving a small orb and Chen Le devastated at the loss of his catch.
• Lin Yu showed Chen Le a video of the catch, lifting his spirits, and picked up the orb for the group to examine.
• Li Nian suggested the orb had taken the form of the fish Chen Le most wanted to see and guessed it was the [Desire Orb] from the Prison Mountain Realm.

Lin Yu, Chen Le, and Li Nian connected the [Desire Orb] to the Six Desires Demon Lord and considered whether desire was shaping the strange city around them. They reached the high-rise containing the [Azure Sea Sky Dome], where Lin Yu realized the building was normally filled with water, but Li Nian still had to guide them onward.

• Li Nian explained that the [Desire Orb] was tied to the Six Desires Demon Lord, whose Authority of desire could reveal and manifest people's deepest wishes.
• Lin Yu suspected that the motionless residents were manifestations of desire, while privately recalling that the being seeking his help might be a Player in danger from an even greater power.
• Chen Le, Li Nian, and Lin Yu agreed to proceed cautiously, and Li Nian led them toward the high-rise holding the [Azure Sea Sky Dome].
• The group entered the towering high-rise and found a directory listing only eight floors, despite its enormous interior.
• Lin Yu deduced that the high-rise was normally filled with water for the Tail Race, and asked Li Nian how to proceed upstairs.