Recaps

Fu Qian led the group back to investigate the fleeing Golden Holy Garment wearer, and the Sage Old Man agreed it was likely one of their own. When Scrooge appeared to attack Fu Qian, Fu Qian claimed Scrooge was turning into a living corpse, though the others could see no evidence.

• Ess deferred to the Sage Old Man, who allowed the group to return and investigate after Fu Qian insisted he had been acting normally.
• Charlotte spotted the fleeing figure again, stopped before pursuing too far, and reported that it wore a Golden Holy Garment and seemed to be avoiding them.
• Fu Qian suggested the figure might be one of their own who had transformed, and the Sage Old Man agreed there was probably no need to fear an ambush.
• Scrooge began objecting while staring at Fu Qian, but Fu Qian struck him with an uppercut before he could finish.
• Fu Qian told the group Scrooge was turning into a living corpse, though Charlotte and Ess saw no signs of it, and he accused Scrooge of attacking him.

Fu Qian and Scrooge discovered that the Holy Grail had deceived them into seeing each other as living corpses, causing Scrooge to attack Fu Qian. The Sage confirmed the Holy Grail was nearby but still weak, and the group prepared to approach it.

• Scrooge accused Fu Qian of turning into a living corpse, but the Sage swept the room with an invisible current and cleared their heads.
• Fu Qian proposed that the Holy Grail had made everyone see each other as living corpses, including the person who had fled, and Ess agreed with his explanation.
• Fu Qian and Scrooge recognized that they had both been deceived, though Fu Qian had interrupted Scrooge's attack with a punch.
• The Sage confirmed the Holy Grail had altered their perceptions and explained that its concealment and ability to copy powers showed it was nearby, while its influence remained limited.
• The Sage said Insight would prevent further deception, praised Fu Qian, and led the group to approach the Holy Grail.

Fu Qian learned how the Blind Eye Academy created its altered eyes and how the Holy Grail Cult descended from the Academy. When the team reached the weeping statue, the Sage sent Fu Qian ahead to open it, placing him in the path of the countless eyes despite a danger the team had not understood.

• The Sage explained that the Blind Eye Academy’s pursuit of knowledge led it to create new eyes that granted greater sight but cost their users independence.
• The Sage said that the Holy Grail Cult preserved the Academy’s ideals by using the Golden Cup to control the supernatural, and that the team’s armor came from those cups.
• The team returned to the chamber with the weeping statue, where the Sage used his golden staff and the Holy Grail flooded their minds with information.
• Fu Qian stepped forward as five rays of light targeted him and the Sage, while the others were ignored.
• The Sage told Fu Qian to approach the statue and open it, and Fu Qian walked into the gaze of the countless eyes.

Fu Qian opened the hidden staircase beneath the statue and reached the Blind Eye Holy Grail in Bell Tower Hall. After he entered, his mission changed to making himself the Grail’s sole anchor point.

• Fu Qian took Brother Round Card’s Golden Shield and went beneath the statue while the Sage Old Man watched.
• Following the Sage Old Man’s instructions, Fu Qian tapped two hollow spaces in a precise rhythm and opened the spiral staircase.
• The Sage Old Man ordered Fu Qian to descend alone while Ess and the other two waited for his signal.
• Fu Qian found the grotesque Blind Eye Holy Grail beneath an intricate, broken clock and entered Bell Tower Hall.
• Fu Qian received a new mission: make himself the Blind Eye Holy Grail’s sole anchor point.

Fu Qian questioned why the mission required him to surrender his abilities, then learned the Star Clock Tower was directly above the hidden chamber. He suspected the tower’s opening could let him see the light beyond it and hinted that moving the dial might reveal more.

• Fu Qian wondered why the Warehouse had taken away his abilities and items, suspecting that the Holy Grail mission concealed a threat he could not defeat by force.
• The Sage Old Man summoned Ess, who entered and admired the Holy Grail while confirming that it knew she was aware of its existence.
• Ess identified the structure above them as the Star Clock Tower, and Fu Qian recalled its history and considered that the chamber might lie beneath the landmark.
• Fu Qian inferred that the largest star on the dial opened onto the darkness outside the chamber and said he wanted to see the light shining through the tower.
• The Sage Old Man grew wary as Fu Qian suggested moving the dial to see what would happen.

Fu Qian deduced that the Star Clock Tower’s design exposed the Blind Eye Holy Grail to the starry gods to control its effects, and the Sage Old Man confirmed his theory. As Fu Qian tried to use the lever and seize the Grail, the others were suddenly killed, but his mission failed and his Golden Shield split apart.

• Fu Qian theorized that the Holy Grail was kept in check by exposing it to the starry sky, while the Academy used outsiders as tools to protect its members.
• The Sage Old Man confirmed that a barrier blocked the gods’ gaze and said the clock face had to be adjusted before they could remove the Holy Grail.
• Scrooge entered, and the Sage explained the Academy’s plan to use the Grail to restrain Transcendents; Fu Qian approached the golden lever with his shield.
• Scrooge fired a dark red beam at Fu Qian, but Fu Qian deflected it and reached for the lever as the Sage summoned Charlotte.
• Charlotte screamed, then Ess, Scrooge, and the Sage all lost their heads; Fu Qian released the lever and rushed toward the Holy Grail.
• Fu Qian received a mission-failed notification, and his Golden Shield split in two before he could reach the Grail.

Fu Qian realized that an invisible being had killed the Sages and broken his shield, and suspected it was another mission target. He reentered the containment scene and cut a diamond-shaped piece from his skull, uncovering an eye that could connect the Blind Eye Academy to the outside.

• Fu Qian reviewed his death and concluded an invisible attack, not the Holy Grail's rays, had killed him and the three Sages.
• Fu Qian suspected an unseen being was concealing itself and might be an anchor he had to eliminate.
• Fu Qian reasoned that the Holy Grail's resistance to being understood might let it target the hidden being.
• Fu Qian spent one Sanity Value to reenter the containment scene and began solving the puzzle without cutting off his finger.
• Fu Qian cut a diamond-shaped piece from his skull and found a small, intricate eye embedded in the bone.

Fu Qian tried to make himself a Tool Person for the Blind Eye Holy Grail, hoping it would draw the Grail into conflict with the unknowable entity protecting it. After removing his eyes, he seemed to gain the Grail’s attention, while the Sage decided to keep him in the group.

• Fu Qian failed to fully surrender his sense of self through the puzzle, but noticed that the strange feeling of contact with the Grail remained.
• After the puzzle ended, Fu Qian told the Sage he had somehow known an impossible answer and hinted that his origins were unknown.
• Fu Qian reasoned that the Sage might use him and the being behind him as cannon fodder, then dug out both his eyes to follow the Blind Eye Academy’s belief in seeing with the True Eye.
• In the underground ruins, Fu Qian stood blind as the Grail appeared to recognize him as a qualified Tool Person.
• Ess recoiled at Fu Qian’s bloody face, and Scrooge suggested disposing of him, but the Sage said they should not give up on him lightly.

The Sage’s team continued through the underground ruins, relying on the blinded Left Hand’s heightened perception to find a hidden bridge and passage. Snake Foot transformed into something like a living corpse and attacked Charlotte, but the Round Card’s Golden Shield stopped him before his body disintegrated.

• The Sage insisted that Left Hand remain with the team, and Left Hand said he felt great despite losing his eyes.
• Snake Foot destroyed a living corpse with his dark ability, and Left Hand revealed an invisible bridge by scattering ashes across it.
• The Round Card and Snake Foot overcame more living corpses, allowing the team to enter a hidden passage.
• Left Hand noticed Snake Foot fleeing, and the team caught up with him as he began to resemble a living corpse.
• Snake Foot attacked Charlotte with a black snake, but the Round Card blocked the strike, and Snake Foot’s body crumbled apart.

The expedition discovered that the Holy Grail had transformed Left Hand and granted him powers that could erase fate and restore the dead. Sage led the group to Bell Tower Hall to stop Left Hand, but Left Hand vanished with the Holy Grail after severing Sage’s hand.

• The team found Snake Foot transformed into a living corpse, and Left Hand admitted he had noticed Snake Foot falling behind.
• Scrooge shot Sage, but Sage revived; Left Hand then struck Sage with a beam from his empty eye socket, revealing that the Holy Grail had changed him.
• Charlotte and Scrooge broke Left Hand’s shield and destroyed half his body, but Left Hand restored himself and walked away; Sage returned and said Left Hand’s existence had briefly been erased.
• Sage persuaded the group to pursue Left Hand, and they found him at the Hall of Statues as five shadows appeared overhead.
• Sage entered Bell Tower Hall alone, signaled the others, and tried to adjust the dial while Left Hand approached the Holy Grail.
• Left Hand severed Sage’s hand and vanished with the Holy Grail.

After completing The Shepherd God's Prisoner, Fu Qian reviewed the mission summary and event recap, learning how the Holy Grail had used him to counter the Pure White Angel. He left the recap wondering what had made the Angel target him sooner than expected.

• Fu Qian received a mission summary explaining Lawrence's research, the Pure White Angel, and the Holy Grail's attempt to avoid a catastrophe.
• Fu Qian received Sanity Value and Blind Sight as rewards, then chose to review the event recap.
• Fu Qian saw that Snake Foot's flesh-and-blood backlash and the team's carefully selected abilities had helped the Holy Grail's plan misdirect Scrooge and the others.
• Fu Qian learned that the Holy Grail had used him as a second layer of insurance, and that he had killed the Sage after the Sage briefly cheated death.
• Fu Qian realized the Pure White Angel had killed him earlier than in the previous events and suspected that his role had accelerated the Holy Grail's awakening.

After completing the Holy Grail mission, Fu Qian examined his reward, Blind Sight, an eyeball that made him unobservable and could draw him into a perilous, god-proof drunkenness. He began to suspect that wealthy women were converging around him and activated the mark on his wrist to investigate.

• Fu Qian concluded that his presence had helped the Holy Grail evade the Pure White Angel, though the Warehouse had captured the Grail when it tried to erase itself.
• Fu Qian received Blind Sight, a special item that made him unobservable when worn and could send him into an irreversible drunkenness if shattered.
• Fu Qian attached Blind Sight to his left eye and considered its risks and potential usefulness against gods.
• Fu Qian reasoned that the Pure White Angel had targeted the Holy Grail because their conflicting authorities threatened one another.
• Fu Qian prepared to send Liu Shuang a Weaver's Limb Tip as compensation for her broken sword, then wondered whether wealthy women were mysteriously converging around him.
• Fu Qian set down his belongings and activated the mark on his wrist.

Fu Qian reconsidered Lady Xixi’s inheritance and contacted her through a supernatural connection after deciding not to use her business card. When she asked him to turn back time because she had gotten up too late to change before sunrise, he used Clear Dream to create darkness in her room.

• Fu Qian suspected that Lady Xixi’s inheritance and Liu Shuang’s circumstances might be connected to the world’s supernatural legacies.
• Fu Qian returned to his living room, found Lady Xixi’s business card, and chose to contact her through the voice in his consciousness instead.
• Fu Qian saw Lady Xixi in her cramped, lavish private room as she watched the sunrise and explained that she had gotten up too late to finish changing.
• Fu Qian activated Clear Dream remotely and drew Lady Xixi into a dream while maintaining their connection.
• Fu Qian darkened the dream’s sky with clouds, plunging Lady Xixi’s room into darkness.

Fu Qian helped Lady Xixi confront her suspicion that she was an actress, then toured the Gatsby estate and discovered her fascination with weapons. The chapter ended as Lady Xixi showed him a lifelike bronze helmet she feared and asked him to guess what made it special.

• Lady Xixi thanked Fu Qian after accepting that her suspicions were true, and Fu Qian guided her to draw the curtains and change clothes.
• Fu Qian ended Clear Dream, and Lady Xixi recovered and invited him to tour her estate and collection.
• Fu Qian explored the extravagant Gatsby estate with Lady Xixi and found no supernatural aura in its grounds.
• Lady Xixi showed Fu Qian a collection room filled with armor and weapons, revealing her interest in them as she handled a battle-axe.
• Lady Xixi showed Fu Qian a lifelike bronze helmet she had feared since childhood and asked him what made it special.

Fu Qian watched Lady Xixi put on the Human-faced Helmet, which was actually called the Bronze Lady, and heard the supernatural murmurs it carried. After the frightening experience, Lady Xixi offered Fu Qian a reward, and he asked for the Bronze Lady as he put his research expedition on hold.

• Lady Xixi explained the Bronze Lady’s rumored power, then put it on her head without hesitation and froze in the dark.
• Fu Qian heard chaotic, supernatural muttering through Lady Xixi and told her to take off the helmet before it harmed her mind.
• Lady Xixi removed the helmet in a panic, scratched her face, and ended the tour to tend to her injury.
• Lady Xixi messaged Fu Qian to offer payment or a collectible, and Fu Qian asked for the Bronze Lady.
• Lady Xixi agreed to have the Bronze Lady delivered before the day after tomorrow, and Fu Qian decided to rest at home instead of continuing his research expedition.

Fu Qian met Qin Mingze, Tan Ying, Pei Yanqing, and Wu Qingyu for dinner, where they teased him about his new private-consultant work and discussed Lady Xixi’s condition. He noticed that Tan Ying’s bracelet was now on Pei Yanqing’s wrist and privately treated the discovery as a test of her unusual traits.

• Fu Qian joined the group and explained that he had spent the day resting after listening to his neighbor Grandma Liu lecture him.
• Qin Mingze and Tan Ying teased Fu Qian about his odd social circle, while Tan Ying and Qin Mingze described their tiring trip to an art exhibition.
• Qin Mingze asked about Fu Qian’s new client, and Fu Qian clarified that he was counseling Lady Xixi.
• Tan Ying asked whether Lady Xixi had improved, and Fu Qian said her condition had worsened after the previous night’s treatment.
• Tan Ying revealed that her bracelet was on Pei Yanqing’s wrist, and Fu Qian privately noted that he had been testing Pei Yanqing’s unusual trait.

Fu Qian considered whether the bracelet he had tainted with demigod blood had affected Pei Yanqing and whether Supernatural Items were somehow drawn to him. Lady Xixi contacted him to deliver her payment, and Fu Qian invited her to join the gathering.

• Tan Ying explained that she had lent Pei Yanqing the bracelet because wearing it made her feel calmer and more at ease.
• Fu Qian wondered whether Pei Yanqing's exposure to his Law Remnants made her distinct to Supernatural Items and whether a Law of Convergence drew such items toward him.
• Lady Xixi messaged Fu Qian to arrange the payment and said she could wait while he made his way there.
• Fu Qian called Lady Xixi, who thanked him and described the collectible as one of her most precious possessions.
• Fu Qian told the group that Lady Xixi had returned to pay him and invited her to join them, leaving everyone surprised.

Lady Xixi joined Fu Qian, Tan Ying, and Qin Mingze for dinner, where conversation shifted from art to the fate of Director Xu and his son. When Lady Xixi asked whether Fu Qian had caused their downfall, he admitted it and described his role in bizarre terms, which she enthusiastically praised.

• Lady Xixi arrived at the dinner and joined Tan Ying, Fu Qian, and the others, then discussed art and her broad knowledge of it.
• Qin Mingze told Fu Qian that Director Xu had apparently gone to keep his son company after both men suffered disastrous fates.
• Fu Qian claimed Director Xu had needed psychological counseling and described the father and son as having completed their family tradition.
• Lady Xixi directly asked Fu Qian whether he had caused what happened to the Xu family, and he admitted that he had.
• Fu Qian described using Heavenly Light Manifestation and watching someone sink into the Negation of Negation, and Lady Xixi applauded him.

Fu Qian accepted a suitcase of money from Lady Xixi after openly claiming responsibility for what happened to the Xu father and son. Lady Xixi decided to stay in Lin City and observe what he did with the Bronze Lady, while the others tried to make sense of Fu Qian’s strange behavior.

• Lady Xixi paid Fu Qian a large consulting fee, and he accepted the suitcase without inspecting it.
• Fu Qian told the others to make money by standing where the money was, prompting Young Master Qin and Little Yu to praise his unconventional advice.
• Tan Ying offered to arrange a place for Lady Xixi to stay, and Lady Xixi chose to remain in Lin City for a few days.
• Lady Xixi asked Fu Qian whether she could see what he did with the Bronze Lady, and he welcomed her to stay.
• Tan Ying suggested Fu Qian had pretended to share Lady Xixi’s outlook as a form of counseling, but Fu Qian insisted he stood by his actions against the Xu father and son.
• Wu Qingyu warned Fu Qian not to get himself killed over making money.

Fu Qian put on the Bronze Lady helmet and entered a supernatural vision of a ruined palace courtyard. He found headless bronze figures and rows of kneeling statues, then wondered whether an evil god or its offspring waited in the direction they faced.

• Fu Qian examined the Bronze Lady helmet at home and put it on, triggering its supernatural effect.
• The helmet enveloped Fu Qian’s head, and a sobbing voice muttered, “It fell off... Grow another one...”
• Fu Qian found himself in a barren courtyard facing three headless bronze statues dressed like noblewomen.
• Fu Qian climbed onto a platform and saw hundreds of faceless, deformed statues kneeling along a palace-style corridor.
• Fu Qian recognized the statues’ pose from the mollusks in Old Town and suspected an evil god or its offspring lay ahead.

Fu Qian found Lady Xixi among the Bronze Ladies and realized she had been drawn into the strange place as well. After she recovered from her surprise, she insisted on joining him to find the Bronze Ladies’ leader, partly because she had wanted to visit him.

• Fu Qian found Lady Xixi kneeling among the statues in a palace-like hall and helped her stand.
• Lady Xixi recognized Fu Qian and said she had thought the strange place was a dream.
• Fu Qian suspected Lady Xixi had been brought there because her blood had touched his helmet.
• Lady Xixi realized the figures were Bronze Ladies rather than statues, while Fu Qian said he intended to find their leader.
• Lady Xixi asked to accompany Fu Qian and admitted that visiting him had been part of her reason for coming.

Fu Qian and Lady Xixi explored the Bronze Lady’s ornate building while Lady Xixi recounted a childhood experience of repeating days and a hand that remained injured. Their conversation ended when Fu Qian spotted something interesting ahead.

• Fu Qian and Lady Xixi walked through the building, admiring its unfamiliar royal-style architecture and passing rows of kneeling figures.
• Lady Xixi asked what they planned to do, and Fu Qian said they were going to make trouble.
• Lady Xixi described seeing two versions of her mother during a thunderstorm, then experiencing three identical days in which nobody responded to her.
• Lady Xixi said she cut off her hand with a hand axe on the third day, but the wound persisted afterward and the axe had disappeared.
• Lady Xixi explained that she had never told the story outright before and had shared it to make the trip more interesting.
• Fu Qian stopped and pointed out that something interesting had arrived ahead.

Fu Qian and Lady Xixi investigated the hall’s bizarre remains and discovered a gigantic flesh-and-blood brain above the ceiling. Fu Qian proposed that it had grown from a human brain, then revealed movement beneath its cortex as he considered where the escaped head had gone.

• A lump of flesh fell through the hall ceiling, screamed, and fled around a corner, and Fu Qian identified it as the missing head.
• Lady Xixi and Fu Qian went up to a platform and found a colossal brain among gilded pillars.
• Fu Qian pointed out a crushed bronze-colored body beneath the brain and suggested that an expanding head had burst open and released it.
• Lady Xixi asked where the escaped head had gone, and Fu Qian revealed countless bumps moving beneath the brain’s cortex.

Fu Qian and Lady Xixi found the source of the illusion: a giant brain surrounded by severed heads trying to burrow inside it. Suspecting the brain held a hidden secret that required mental abilities to retrieve, Fu Qian used his Gospel Blast, leaving the illusion's fate uncertain.

• Fu Qian explained that the lumps of flesh were alive, and Lady Xixi watched as they burst out of the giant brain and tried to crawl back inside.
• Lady Xixi returned after retching and asked what the grotesque spectacle represented, and Fu Qian described it as a desire for profound communication.
• Fu Qian concluded that the giant brain was the illusion's core and that something alluring was hidden inside it, but worried that brute force might destroy the fragile illusion.
• Fu Qian realized the screams might contain a clue requiring mental abilities, then recalled his unused Gospel Blast reward.
• Fu Qian invoked Gospel Blast against the giant brain with a thunderous shout.

Fu Qian stabilized the illusion by unleashing the Gospel Blast, which solidified the enormous brain and surrounding flesh and allowed him to retrieve a bronze circlet from inside. Lady Xixi treated the revelations as part of a staged production, and Fu Qian asked how she felt now that she had seen through the supposed conspiracy.

• Fu Qian used the Gospel Blast to quiet the brain and flesh masses, which solidified like the headless corpses and stabilized the illusion.
• Lady Xixi examined the brain and briefly appeared to question her past experiences, but then insisted the events were a setup by the production crew.
• Fu Qian reached into the solidified brain and pulled out a bronze circlet that he recognized as a Supernatural Item.
• Lady Xixi guessed that she was meant to wear the circlet, but Fu Qian told her she could not.
• Fu Qian held the circlet near his head and asked Lady Xixi how she felt after seeing through the conspiracy.