Chapter Summaries

Tao Yu escaped Qilingus with Fors and Xio, then was ambushed by Qilingus on Minsk Street and wounded him with Chronostasis - Time Control. He fled before the World Will’s warning could force him to risk using that power again.

• Fors used her Traveler Pathway ability to teleport Tao Yu and Xio away from Qilingus, spending one stone from her bracelet.
• Tao Yu left Fors and Xio to return home and prepare for the Beyonder gathering, while they considered reporting Qilingus to the authorities.
• Tao Yu sensed Qilingus disguised as a homeless man waiting in an alley and pretended to be affected by the Creeping Hunger’s madness.
• Qilingus attacked Tao Yu with wind blades and rushed him, but Tao Yu used Chronostasis - Time Control to stab him in the chest.
• The World Will warned Tao Yu not to use Chronostasis - Time Control again, and the wounded Qilingus fled while Tao Yu hid his bloodstained dagger in the Corpse Hiding Mirror.

Tao Yu joined the Tarot Club and learned that the members were investigating Qilingus, whom he had already wounded in Backlund. After exchanging information about the Gnosticism Society and the Witch Church, he was left unsettled by Mr. Fool's suggestion that male members of the Witch Church might become Demonesses.

• Tao Yu entered the Gray Fog space, met Justice, Hanged Man, and Sun, and learned the names they used at the Tarot Club.
• Justice told Hanged Man that the group had found Qilingus's trail in Backlund, though he had killed their investigator.
• Tao Yu revealed that he had encountered Qilingus, wounded him with a limited-use item, and kept some of his blood.
• Tao Yu offered Qilingus's blood in exchange for information, and Hanged Man explained the Gnosticism Society's likely connections and the Witch Church's beliefs and goals.
• Mr. Fool suggested that male members of the Witch Church might become Demonesses, leaving Tao Yu worried about the implications for the Assassin pathway.

After the Tarot Club, Tao Yu developed a ritual that temporarily strengthened him with black mud and used the power to test Mr. A. He escaped when Mr. A prayed to the True Creator, then headed toward the Breeze dance hall to pursue his next target.

• Tao Yu gave Alger Qilingus's blood and learned that Alger planned to bring Emperor Roselle's Diary to a future Tarot Club gathering.
• Tao Yu performed a ritual invoking himself and discovered that black mud could temporarily strengthen his body and powers.
• Tao Yu left Qilingus's blood at the agreed tavern, then went to Mr. A's gathering place to test Mr. A's strength.
• Tao Yu's shadows overwhelmed Mr. A's defenses, but a coin weakened Tao Yu's attack and Mr. A began praying to the True Creator.
• Tao Yu escaped into the shadows and headed toward the Breeze dance hall, intending to target the hidden organization's members.

Tao Yu used Eve’s anger over the Aurora Society’s attack to obtain the Sequence 7 Witch formula, then answered Alger’s request by hunting Qilingus. After Tao Yu killed Qilingus and fled from a powerful newcomer, another formidable pursuer arrived, leaving Tao Yu struck by how dangerous Backlund’s hidden powers were.

• Pandatia praised Eve’s rapid potion digestion, promised to apply for her Sequence 5 ingredients, and asked her to bring Tao Yu to meet her.
• After the Aurora Society attacked the Breeze Ballroom, Eve visited Tao Yu and, angered by his apparent injuries, gave him the Sequence 7 Witch formula as compensation.
• Tao Yu received prayers from Miss Justice and Alger about Qilingus, agreed to help in exchange for a diary copy and information about potion ingredients, and traveled to intercept him.
• Tao Yu ambushed Qilingus by the Tussock River and killed him despite the Sun pathway power released by Creeping Hunger.
• A bronze-skinned, weary-eyed figure appeared and took Qilingus’s corpse and belongings into the Spirit World, so Tao Yu fled; another powerful figure then approached as lightning.

After fleeing Backlund, Tao Yu traveled to Tingen to lie low and look for potion materials, but he discovered that the contact he was meant to meet had been caught up in a police investigation. At a local Beyonder market, he found two useful ingredients and realized someone might have been watching him.

• Tao Yu read a newspaper report crediting a duke's bodyguard with killing Qilingus, then told Eve he planned to leave Backlund and accepted a low-risk support assignment in Tingen.
• Tao Yu arrived in Tingen and found detectives cordoning off No. 15 Orlsner Street, where he had expected to meet Baron Khoy's widow, Madam Sharon.
• Tao Yu visited the Dragon's Bane Bar's hidden Beyonder market and bought Shadow Lizard Scales and Golden Mandrake Juice.
• Tao Yu noticed that someone seemed to be watching him after he purchased the two potion ingredients.

Tao Yu was approached by Tingen’s official Beyonders, who questioned him in a dream about his ties to a suspicious organization and his past as an Assassin. After Klein confirmed his answers through divination, Dunn treated him as a potentially cooperative informant rather than an immediate threat.

• Tao Yu decided to cooperate with Tingen’s officials if possible and prayed to The Fool in case he had to miss the next Tarot Club meeting.
• Dunn drew Tao Yu into a dream and questioned him about why he came to Tingen, his organization, Madam Sharon, and whether he had killed innocents.
• Tao Yu told Dunn he had not killed innocents and had become a Beyonder because he wanted to live freely without becoming someone he disliked.
• Dunn ended the dream, and the Night Watchers surrounded Tao Yu in the market as he woke and surrendered.
• Klein divined that Tao Yu’s answers in the dream were truthful, and Dunn decided to take him to an empty room for further discussion.

Tao Yu spoke with the Night Watchers about helping them against his former organization, while Klein and Leonard told him about a dangerous con artist they were pursuing. Klein realized the con artist’s “bomb” was inside Mei Gao'ou'si, and Tao Yu also sensed something terrible about her as the chapter ended.

• Tao Yu asked whether helping the Church of Evernight could earn him a salary, and Klein said useful information would be rewarded.
• Tao Yu offered to help the Church oppose his former organization, insisting he was willing to risk his life and had chosen the Witch Pathway himself.
• Leonard told Tao Yu that the Night Watchers were looking for a con artist who had claimed to hide something dangerous in Tingen.
• Klein spotted Mei Gao'ou'si, the pregnant victim of the con artist, and his spirituality warned him that looking at her would kill him.
• Klein realized the fetus inside Mei Gao'ou'si was the con artist’s “bomb,” while Tao Yu sensed a repulsive presence like his own black mud.

Tao Yu warned Dunn that Mei Gao'ou'si carried a gestating Evil God's Child, and the Night Watchers prepared to confront the threat. Klein stayed behind to delay her, but she mortally wounded him and resisted his final attack, leaving him dead at Dunn's feet.

• Leonard told Tao Yu that Mei Gao'ou'si carried a gestating Evil God's Child that was feeding on the city's negative emotions, then sent him to warn Dunn.
• Tao Yu reached Black Thorn Security Company and told Dunn what he had learned about Mei Gao'ou'si.
• Dunn ordered the ordinary staff to evacuate and took a silver urn Sealed Artifact as he set out to face the danger.
• Tao Yu performed a ritual and prayed to the Fool, but received no response.
• Klein held Mei Gao'ou'si in place despite being pierced through the chest, then used a sunlight talisman to injure her before she flung his corpse toward Dunn.

Dunn fought the Evil God's Child after Klein died, until Inns Zangwill stole Saint Selena’s Ashes and Tao Yu arrived to seize control of the battle. After Klein’s funeral, Tao Yu visited the wounded Dunn, who explained that he had faced death because he was the strongest person in the city.

• Dunn used Saint Selena’s Ashes to restrain the weakened Evil God's Child while waiting for help to arrive.
• Inns Zangwill severed Dunn’s wrist, took the Ashes, and tried to escape, but Tao Yu attacked him with blades of ink.
• Tao Yu sealed and partly digested the Evil God's Child, then left as Leonard and other Beyonders arrived; Klein remained dead.
• At Raphael Cemetery, Tao Yu watched Klein’s siblings and Leonard carry Klein’s coffin and reflected on the team’s willingness to protect ordinary people.
• Tao Yu visited Dunn in the hospital and thanked him for arranging the main ingredient for Sequence Seven, Witch.
• Dunn admitted he feared dying but had stepped forward because he was the strongest person in the city, and he warned Tao Yu against relying on powerful Beyonder items.

Tao Yu traveled to Backlund, drank the Witch potion, and disguised his increasingly feminine appearance while continuing his work as an informant. At the Tarot Club, Mr. Fool praised Mr. Fate for his role in stopping the Evil God's Child in Tingen, while Alger apologized for involving him in the fight against Qilingus.

• Tao Yu decided to continue infiltrating the organization suspected of serving as a front for the Demoness Sect in exchange for information rewards from the Church of Evernight.
• Tao Yu drank the Witch potion, gained new abilities, and subtly altered his face and clothing to appear more androgynous.
• Tao Yu visited Fors and Xio, paid them for information about the Assassin Pathway, and learned that Miss Justice had not contacted them recently.
• Tao Yu attended the Tarot Club, where Alger offered diary pages and apologized for asking him to help eliminate Qilingus.
• Mr. Fool praised Tao Yu for stopping the descent of an Evil God's Child in Tingen, and Tao Yu realized that Mr. Fool's Blessed One had been the powerful man he encountered.

At the Tarot Club, Mr. Fool revealed that Mr. Destiny had prevented an Evil God's Child from descending, then shared common knowledge about Extraordinary Traits and Pathway advancement. After the gathering, Tao Yu read Emperor Roselle’s diary and learned more about Mr. Door and the War of the Four Emperors, drawing dangerous attention as he considered what the revelations meant.

• Mr. Fool announced that Mr. Destiny had prevented an Evil God's Child from descending, and Tao Yu said his method came with a cost.
• Mr. Hanged Man handed over copies of six diary pages, and Mr. Fool explained the Law of Indestructibility of Extraordinary Traits and commissioned the club to investigate the Secret Cult.
• Mr. Fool explained that Sequence 4 Beyonders could switch to an adjacent Pathway without going mad, and offered sacrifice and blessing as a way to pass materials to Miss Justice.
• Tao Yu manifested the diary pages and read that Mr. Door had tried to persuade Roselle to perform a ritual to bring him back to the real world.
• Tao Yu read about the War of the Four Emperors, the victory and later madness of Death, and the Pale Disaster, then sensed an unusual force trying to influence him.

Tao Yu deduced that the God of Death had gone mad after consuming Beyonder Characteristics from non-neighboring Pathways, then worried that the Primordial Demoness might block his advancement. He discovered his supposedly dead fellow countryman Klein living nearby as Detective Sherlock, and the two revealed their real names before going out to eat.

• Tao Yu reasoned that the God of Death had consumed the other three emperors’ Beyonder Characteristics and paid for it with madness, and he wondered whether a true god could advance by absorbing neighboring Pathways.
• Tao Yu decided to finish digesting his Instigator potion before considering another profession, though he worried about how he could act like a Witch.
• Tao Yu saw a familiar figure near his home and found a new neighbor’s sign reading Sherlock Detective Agency.
• Klein, now living as Detective Sherlock, invited Tao Yu inside and said a great being had resurrected him in exchange for becoming that being’s blessed.
• Tao Yu recognized Mr. Fool’s role in Klein’s resurrection, and he and Klein introduced themselves by their real names, Tao Yu and Zhou Mingrui.
• Tao Yu and Klein agreed to go out for a meal, with Klein insisting on treating him.

After Klein and Tao Yu shared an expensive meal, Klein took a commission from Ian to investigate the disappearance of his former employer, detective Zeruel Victor Lee. Tao Yu then joined Fors at a Backlund occult club, where he hoped to advance his Witch potion and noticed another young Beyonder.

• Klein paid for dinner and the carriage ride home, then met Ian waiting outside his house with Tao Yu.
• Ian hired Klein to confirm what had happened to Zeruel Victor Lee, offering five Gold Pounds upfront and future help or information in exchange.
• Tao Yu asked Fors to help him enter occult clubs, and she brought him to the Mystic Explorers Club in Backlund's North Borough.
• Fors told Tao Yu that strange full-moon whispers and worsening headaches were tormenting her.
• At the club, Tao Yu met its occult enthusiasts and sensed a young woman with long dark green hair was a Beyonder.

Tao Yu tested ways to digest his Witch potion at a mysticism club, then learned that fear could help more than handing out charms. Over dinner, he discussed his ambitions and Klein’s hunt for the people responsible for the tragedies that had taken innocent lives.

• Tao Yu sold mystical charms at a club, where a proud young woman openly revealed her Beyonder knowledge while praising his work.
• Tao Yu found that spooky stories helped digest his potion slightly, then invited Klein to dinner and showed off his wealth.
• Klein told Tao Yu that he had found Zeruel’s body and learned that the Brave Man Bar offered gray-market services.
• Tao Yu suggested spreading a rumor about a disaster in Backlund to provoke fear, but Klein warned that it could hurt poor residents and attract official Beyonders.
• Klein explained that he pursued the wanted criminals not for personal revenge but because their actions had caused Old Neil to lose control and killed innocent people.

Tao Yu warned Leonard that the Aurora Society and Demoness Sect might be planning a dangerous operation in Backlund, then joined Klein at Mr. A’s Beyonder gathering. The gathering left Tao Yu wondering whether Xio had accidentally attracted Mr. Fool’s attention.

• Eve offered Tao Yu an organizational mission, but he refused and asked about the Sequence Six Demoness formula and materials instead.
• Tao Yu warned Leonard about a possible Aurora Society and Demoness Sect operation in Backlund and requested the Sequence Six Demoness Beyonder Characteristic as his reward.
• Tao Yu met Klein, who declined to sell information about Ian, and invited him to Mr. A’s Beyonder gathering.
• Tao Yu and Klein attended the gathering with Xio and Fors, where Tao Yu bought Beyonder materials and Klein sought his next potion formula.
• Fors explained that Xio wanted an exorcism because she had accidentally recited a mysterious being’s honorific name, prompting Tao Yu and Klein to wonder whether it was Mr. Fool.

After Klein survived an assassin tied to the Intis Ambassador, Tao Yu proposed hiring someone to kill the ambassador and took Klein to Mr. A. Mr. A accepted the contract without asking why, leaving Klein stunned as he realized the Aurora Society was willing to take the job.

• Tao Yu returned to Klein’s house after hearing a fight and found Klein standing over the body of an attacker who had ambushed him.
• Klein used Dream Divination and discovered that the dead attacker was connected to the Intis Ambassador, then planned to handle the matter through official channels without exposing himself to the Church of Evernight.
• Tao Yu brought Lawyer Jurgen to get Klein released from the station, where Beyonder agents had interrogated him.
• Tao Yu suggested hiring an assassin to eliminate the Intis Ambassador and offered to cover the cost.
• Tao Yu took Klein to Mr. A’s gathering place and put out the assassination contract, and Mr. A agreed after considering how the killing could benefit the Aurora Society.

After Tao Yu and Klein negotiated with Mr. A, Tao Yu attended the Tarot Club and read Roselle’s diary, drawing conclusions about divine Pathways and the forces tied to them. The chapter left Tao Yu convinced that Mr. Fool’s power shielded the club from dangerous corruption, while he continued to wonder about the origins and relationships of the gods.

• Tao Yu paid Mr. A a thousand Gold Pounds upfront to have the Demoness Sect dealt with, while Mr. A sought a Sequence 4 formula and took the blame for the job on the Aurora Society.
• Tao Yu told Klein that Military Intelligence might search him because an ambassador had become involved, so the two agreed to keep their distance temporarily.
• Tao Yu attended the Tarot Club, where Justice asked Sun for information about dragons and Mr. Fool offered her a Sequence 8 formula on credit.
• Tao Yu read Roselle’s diary and learned that Charon was a Sequence 2 Angel, the Fate Pathway was separate from the Seer Pathway, and Sequence 1 included the Snake of Mercury.
• Tao Yu connected the True Creator’s enemies to neighboring Pathways and wondered whether the three orthodox gods could be descendants of the Original Creator.
• Tao Yu read that the Church of Life controlled the Monster and Apothecary Pathways, recalled the blood nest on the moon, and concluded that Mr. Fool’s power protected the club from corruption.

Tao Yu made Nightmare Charms and continued digesting his Witch potion while Klein hired a highly concealed bodyguard after learning he might face danger. Klein taught Tao Yu divination rituals, and Tao Yu prepared to watch for trouble as Klein returned home.

• Tao Yu made Nightmare Charms and gave them to members of the mysterious-hobby club, where they became popular for inducing exciting nightmares.
• Tao Yu warned Heijor to keep her Beyonder identity secret and stop taking things from club members, and his lecture helped digest his potion.
• Klein visited Tao Yu and explained that the Military Intelligence Department had stopped following him, though he remained unsure about the ambassador and had divined that danger was coming.
• Klein told Tao Yu he had hired a concealed bodyguard for one thousand Gold Pounds for three days, and Tao Yu tried but failed to detect her.
• Tao Yu asked Klein to teach him divination rituals, stayed up practicing them, and told Klein to make noise if anything happened while Tao Yu kept watch.

Tao Yu was attacked by Rosago, a hired Sequence 5 who tried to control him and turn him into a puppet. With Klein’s help, Tao Yu survived Rosago’s assault, and Klein shot Rosago dead before finding Tao Yu alive in the ruins.

• Tao Yu experimented with divination and repeatedly drew ominous predictions about an unknown man’s future.
• Police Captain Facin visited Tao Yu, revealed himself as Rosago, and used spirit threads to immobilize him.
• Tao Yu attacked Rosago with Black Flame, but Rosago transferred the damage to a paper figurine and escaped the flames.
• Rosago’s puppets attacked Tao Yu, while a resentful soul disrupted Rosago’s control and the resulting battle destroyed Tao Yu’s rented house in an explosion.
• Klein arrived and emptied his gun into Rosago’s head while Rosago was occupied, killing him.
• Klein dug through the burning ruins in search of Tao Yu, who appeared behind him battered but alive.

After surviving an attack by two Beyonders, Tao Yu passed Leonard intelligence about the Demoness Sect and the Aurora Society and negotiated with the Church of Evernight over his spoils. Sharron visited him in the hospital, and they agreed Tao Yu could keep the two Beyonder Characteristics he had claimed.

• Tao Yu presented the explosion as an attack by assassins and told detectives he was an informant for the Church of Evernight.
• Leonard visited Tao Yu, who reported that the Demoness Sect had hired the Aurora Society to assassinate the Intis Ambassador.
• Tao Yu described the attackers’ strange, stiff movements and said he had escaped using Mirror Substitution, while leaving Rosago out of his account.
• Leonard offered Tao Yu a place in the Church and help with his expenses; Tao Yu declined to join and asked to trade the Sequence Six Characteristic for Demoness Pathway materials.
• Sharron visited Tao Yu to discuss dividing the spoils, and she agreed he could keep the Sequence Six and Sequence Seven Characteristics from his attackers.