Recaps

Fu Qian convinced Jining and the others to accept his account of his identity and continued leading them toward the source of the crying. As he considered why the group had been drawn into the strange place, he saw Jining’s reflection in a floor-to-ceiling mirror and noticed her vacant eyes.

• Fu Qian realized consensus could help him recover, but major transformations required an anchor, so he decided to keep cooperating with the team.
• Jining judged Fu Qian’s discovery similar to her own, and the group accepted that his account could not be disproved for now.
• Jining chose to move on rather than question Fu Qian further, and he offered to lead the group.
• Fu Qian wondered whether an anomaly at the Larrea family’s newborn celebration had drawn the survivors into the strange place.
• Fu Qian saw Jining’s reflection in a mirror, where her dull eyes blinked with an unsettling vacancy.

Fu Qian answered Jining’s sensory-distortion attack with the moonlit Progenitor’s Glory, proving his strength and easing the group’s suspicions. After Jining and Old Master Li apologized, Fu Qian urged everyone to continue through the dilapidated place.

• Jining used her sensory-confusion technique to test Fu Qian, and he continued forward despite his senses being disrupted.
• Fu Qian called down moonlight on Jining, startling her and prompting Aiko and Old Master Li to ready themselves.
• Jining explained that she had attacked because she distrusted her senses, then apologized to Aiko for the offense.
• Old Master Li acknowledged Fu Qian’s power and apologized for doubting him.
• Fu Qian accepted their doubts as reasonable and urged the group to keep moving.

While traveling through the lifeless land, Fu Qian discussed the Larrea family’s Divine Humans with Old Master Li, who proposed that their supernatural gift came from a face hidden and nurtured in their bloodline. Fu Qian connected the theory to Benjamin’s repeated aging and rejuvenation, leaving the group with a possible explanation for the strange events.

• Old Master Li asked Fu Qian what he knew about the Larrea Royal Court, and Fu Qian said he had little knowledge of them from when he lacked a clear sense of self.
• Old Master Li explained that the Larrea family’s divinity might be bestowed by a higher power rather than inherited as ordinary supernatural ability.
• Fu Qian reasoned that an inherited trait could draw a higher power’s attention and grant the family divinity.
• Old Master Li proposed that the inherited trait was a face that changed as Larrea descendants grew, eventually matching a number that called a higher power.
• Fu Qian suggested that Benjamin’s changing face had repeatedly had chances to match that number, potentially explaining his cycles of aging and rejuvenation.

Fu Qian and the team weighed Old Master Li’s theory about the corruption and debated whether to press on or seek an escape. They followed Fu Qian’s senses to a grand hall and discovered a statue matching their third clue, where Old Master Li offered to investigate.

• Old Master Li proposed that a newborn with a unique constitution had revived a face from an ancient bloodline and linked it to a higher power, causing their predicament and the corruption.
• Fu Qian said they still needed to find the source of the crying to test the theory, while Lui suggested turning back and escaping.
• Aiko explained her backup plan to turn herself into wood and enter the poisonous fog, but warned that it was not feasible unless they had no other choice.
• Lui agreed to continue and suggested looking for something valuable before deciding what to do next.
• Fu Qian led the team through a large archway, where they found an enormous pale-golden statue that matched the third clue.
• Old Master Li volunteered to investigate the statue.

Fu Qian and the others touched the statue and saw Benjamin Larrea clinging to the dome, prompting a task to disrupt the formation of the Divine Human Face. Fu Qian realized the group had been guided here to reveal it, but the ancient vampire began transforming into a face of irresistible beauty.

• Old Master Li volunteered to touch the statue, and Fu Qian explained how to activate it.
• Old Master Li and Fu Qian gazed at the dome and saw a figure clinging to it; Fu Qian recognized Benjamin Larrea and received a new task to disrupt the Divine Human Face.
• The rest of the group touched the statue and saw Benjamin Larrea too.
• Fu Qian concluded that the group had been guided to reveal the Divine Human Face and was being used to help it form.
• The ancient vampire repeated his words about remembered glory, and his face transformed into one of irresistible beauty.

Fu Qian realized the investigation was helping a Divine Human Face manifest, so he tried to redirect the team’s interpretation by claiming the Blood Clan Progenitor was behind the events. He left the team suspecting him of cursing Benjamin and declared that he had taken the Larrea family’s “fruit.”

• Fu Qian understood that the team’s investigation was strengthening the unfinished Divine Human Face and that their mission was a trap that pushed them toward its completion.
• Fu Qian, wearing the Witch’s face, called out to the frail figure and claimed the family would be blessed when the Blood Clan Progenitor awakened.
• The team began to suspect that the Blood Clan Progenitor and Anke’s return were connected to the Larrea family’s bloodline talent.
• Old Master Li asked Fu Qian whether he was responsible for Benjamin’s curse, and the other men’s expressions changed as Fu Qian praised the bloodline tree and claimed its fruit.

Fu Qian revealed that he had used the group to reach the figure hiding in the dome and obtain power, though the figure escaped before he could kill it. The group learned that they were trapped until they escaped by the same method, while Fu Qian’s altered state protected him from the corruption; he then set off alone.

• Aiko asked why Fu Qian had not gone alone, and he watched the small figure flee through a blood-red slit in the dome.
• Jining accused Fu Qian of letting the figure escape, but he admitted he had intended to lure it down and kill it.
• Old Master Li asked how they could leave, and Fu Qian explained that he could not escape without following the rules either.
• Aiko realized Fu Qian was unaffected by the corruption because of his current state, which seemed connected to the face he had encountered.
• Fu Qian announced that he would act alone and walked away, leaving the others behind.

Fu Qian concluded that Lui and the power behind him were engineering the crisis around the progenitor’s return, then left the group to confront the threat alone. At the Ermu Mansion Palace, a Tree Infant attacked him, confirming that the enemy had begun targeting him directly.

• Fu Qian judged Old Master Li and the others to be the group’s resource providers and suspected that Lui was hiding abilities similar to his own.
• Fu Qian left the team and headed to the Ermu Mansion Palace, reasoning that Lui or the force behind him had created the wailing and corruption to shape the group’s understanding.
• Fu Qian stopped on a stone platform when the wailing ceased and found a deep, ragged bite mark on his forearm.
• Fu Qian identified the attacker as a Tree Infant and concluded that Lui’s will had helped direct its hostility toward him.
• Fu Qian suspected his presence had forced Lui to accelerate the return of the progenitor and risk revealing the emerging godhead.

Fu Qian fought through a swarm of Tree Infants and reached the rooftop platform where the giant brain had appeared in his earlier dream. There he encountered Lui and his former teammates, revealing that he had come to the spot expecting Lui to follow.

• Fu Qian activated the Law Remnants to weaken and repel the many Tree Infants pursuing him.
• Fu Qian dodged the Tree Infants' strange attacks as their bites spread cracks across his body and corruption accumulated.
• Fu Qian made his way to the rooftop platform where the giant brain had been in his dream with Xixi Gatsby.
• The Tree Infants vanished when Fu Qian approached an empty chair, and Lui appeared with Fu Qian's former teammates.
• Lui challenged Fu Qian to explain why he had left the group and come there, while Fu Qian thought that he had come to wait for Lui.

Fu Qian and Lui each revealed part of their plans while competing to control the audience’s consensus. Fu Qian left the real nature of consensus unspoken, and Aiko remained wary of both men despite Lui curing the corruption.

• Fu Qian recognized that Lui had regained demigodhood and had taken over the conspiracy narrative to claim the audience’s consensus.
• Lui admitted to being the mastermind and described his former appearance as a disguise, concealing how consensus and the others’ resources had helped him.
• Fu Qian understood that Lui wanted them to compete without exposing consensus, and he did not challenge the arrangement.
• Fu Qian greeted Aiko and asked whether Lui had cured the corruption in her and the others.
• Aiko confirmed the corruption was gone but said the crying had not stopped.

Fu Qian questioned Lui’s explanation of the Blood Order as a process of self-transformation, with Jining identifying the Foolish Tree as a similar example. Lui then revealed that he had told Fu Qian’s teammates what Fu Qian was doing and asked whether they wanted to come see.

• Lui offered to clear the Blood Order from Fu Qian and warned that it could not awaken the Progenitor.
• Lui explained that Blood Order transformed a person into a more advanced version of themselves, comparing it to a tree producing new versions of itself.
• Jining said the Foolish Tree exemplified this kind of transformation, and Lui agreed that Blood Order was the same concept in flesh and blood.
• Fu Qian questioned whether the original self survived the transformation, while Lui insisted that the new form was still the same self.
• Aiko challenged Lui’s claim that Fu Qian’s insight had impressed him, and Lui admitted he had told Fu Qian’s teammates what Fu Qian was doing and asked if they wanted to see.

Fu Qian confronted Lui’s account and answered Aiko’s questions while Lui tried to keep him under pressure. After Fu Qian demonstrated the Tree Infant’s attack on Anke, Aiko noticed that Fu Qian’s Tyrant’s Fist ring had disappeared.

• Fu Qian thanked Li He and the others, and Aiko demanded to know whether the royal heir he regretted losing had fled there.
• Fu Qian denied coming for the royal heir, and Aiko threatened to discover his identity after they left and questioned why he still wore his current face.
• Fu Qian showed Aiko the Tyrant’s Fist ring, prompting Lui to warn that Fu Qian was weakened and outnumbered.
• Fu Qian dodged and swung the Scarlet Whip at empty air, revealing that the Tree Infant had attacked Anke again.
• Fu Qian said the attack demonstrated his answer to Aiko’s question, and Aiko realized the ring was gone.

Fu Qian revealed that Aiko’s ring had been a decoy and used his concealed abilities to overpower her, forcing her to realize he was hiding his true rank. After killing her, he turned his attention to the remaining guests and renewed his invitation.

• Fu Qian attacked Aiko with a Scarlet Whip despite the disappearance of her ring, then tore through her defenses and seized her.
• Fu Qian resisted Lady Jining’s mental assault while Aiko realized the whip came from his own ability, not the ring.
• Aiko deduced that Fu Qian’s mask concealed his extraordinary aura and that he was not a demigod.
• Fu Qian ignored the guests’ attempts to stop him and tore something from Aiko, causing her body and anchored will to collapse.
• The guests recognized that Fu Qian had been pretending to be a demigod, and he turned to face the survivors.

Fu Qian explained how he had used his story and demigodhood to keep Lui from suspecting him, then revealed his strength by attacking the group. He killed Jining and apologized to Li He, who replied that Jining had not allowed him to visit her for years.

• Fu Qian reasoned that Lui had chosen to remain a demigod because his position in the story gave him more room to maneuver.
• Fu Qian explained that he had come to the strange place to gather experience, expose himself as a fraud, and delay Lui's suspicions.
• Jining realized Fu Qian had brought them there on purpose, and Fu Qian attacked as Li He intercepted his first strike.
• Fu Qian's attacks wounded Jining with a curse that struck at her essence, and he crushed her before she could finish warning Li He.
• Fu Qian apologized to Li He and asked him to pass on his regret to Jining, and Li He said she had not allowed him to visit her for years.

Fu Qian killed Lady Jining and Aiko to build consensus, then questioned Lui about the predicament and discovered that Lui’s existence was bound to the Blood Order. The predicament rejected Fu Qian after his return to the Second Order, leaving him unable to use his restored false-god form as he had planned.

• Fu Qian realized that Jining’s and Aiko’s fear and anger had strengthened the consensus about him, and that his mark of the Blood Order had vanished.
• Lui applauded Fu Qian’s decisiveness and said he would investigate Fu Qian’s origins and the events at Ermu Mansion Palace.
• Fu Qian asked whether Jining and Aiko had returned to reality, and Lui said their fates would remain unknown until the predicament ended.
• Fu Qian asked why Lui did not kill him, and Lui explained that he would persist as long as the Blood Order remained.
• Fu Qian sensed that Lui’s existence was tied to ubiquitous corruption and that destroying him would require crushing its source.
• Fu Qian considered becoming the King of Prison Break but sensed the predicament rejecting him after he returned to the Second Order.

The narrator realized the Warehouse restricted how much power could enter, then tried to use Jining’s warning about the King of Prison Break’s Calamity Authority against Lui and Old Master Li. Old Master Li broke through his bottleneck and attacked, while the narrator fought back with a Moonfire warrior’s slowing power and invoked the Blood Clan Progenitor’s face.

• The narrator concluded that the Warehouse had a power limit and that Lui’s advice to improve was another trap.
• The narrator explained that Jining had identified the King of Prison Break’s Calamity Authority as a curse that amplified damage.
• Old Master Li spoke of his convictions, awakened to a higher level, and used his ruined sword to cut down the hidden Tree Infants.
• Old Master Li attacked the narrator, who was pierced through the side, while Lui continued trying to secure a cultural victory.
• The narrator transformed into a Moonfire warrior and repeatedly slowed Li He, then confronted him with the Blood Clan Progenitor’s face.

Fu Qian used the ancient majesty of his assumed identity to deepen Old Master Li’s understanding of the Blood Order and block Lui’s chance to recover. He exposed the royal heir hidden inside Li He, but the heir escaped, leaving Lui to ask how Fu Qian had discovered it.

• Fu Qian denied Old Master Li’s guess that he was Annalise and let Li conclude that the Blood Clan Progenitor’s name had long been wrong.
• Fu Qian mocked the Blood Clan and pureblood vampires, further unsettling Old Master Li and undermining Lui’s remaining chance to turn the story around.
• Fu Qian struck Li He with Sage’s Judgment, revealing the newly born royal heir concealed inside his body.
• The royal heir escaped as its exposed form rotted, and Lui asked Fu Qian how he had found it.
• Fu Qian replied that he had not found out.

Fu Qian helped Old Master Li survive Lui’s attack and confronted Lui about his plans and the Blood Order. The task ended with Lui’s scheme thwarted, and Fu Qian received a blank memoir fragment as a reward.

• Fu Qian explained that he had realized Lui’s hidden attack had targeted Old Master Li rather than himself.
• Fu Qian challenged Lui’s confidence and asked whether he was connected to the Native Council and whose power the Blood Order served.
• The task notification confirmed that Fu Qian had successfully contained No. 1-207, and Lui’s plan collapsed.
• The task evaluation revealed that Lui had tried to use his notebook and the Larrea family bloodline to make a false authority real, but an intruder ruined his plan.
• Fu Qian received 26 Sanity Value and a Blank Memoir Fragment, bringing his Sanity Value to 123 and Inspiration to 99.

Fu Qian examined the Blank Memoir Fragment and realized how Lui’s memoir could turn consensus into reality while trapping its participants in the story. After the task restored Benjamin Larrea’s health and left the world peaceful, Fu Qian received permission to leave the Warehouse and put on the Messenger.

• Fu Qian reasoned that the memoir could make its agreed-upon ending real while absorbing its participants, and wondered whether failing the task would have trapped him too.
• Fu Qian identified Rom as a name linked to the Native Council and speculated about Lui’s previous uses of the memoir.
• Fu Qian inspected the Blank Memoir Fragment and learned that it could start a shared reminiscence for up to twelve participants, with one use remaining in its three-use limit.
• Fu Qian concluded that the fragment’s power could force selected people into a story and permanently record them unless they turned the consensus against its intended outcome.
• Fu Qian noted that Benjamin Larrea had recovered his health and that the Li family and Lord Aiko would find no threat in the newborn, then received notice that his work was complete.
• Fu Qian set the fragment on the table, muttered “Blood Order,” and put on the Messenger.

Fu Qian used the lab’s Art of Inverting Black and White to experience the Blood Clan Progenitor’s full moon and discovered it stirred a vivid memory from his past. The experience deepened his questions about Annalise, Red Moon, and the meaning of the moon.

• Fu Qian reflected on Rom’s demonstration of Authority and considered how it supported his fruit-and-sugar hypothesis.
• Fu Qian entered Liu Shuang’s room in the lab and activated the Art of Inverting Black and White.
• Fu Qian summoned the moonlight and endured its effects until a colossal full moon appeared before him.
• Fu Qian recognized the moon’s warmth from a memory of leaving his hospital bed and seeing a werewolf kneel in a courtyard.
• Fu Qian recalled the attending physician’s words and wondered whether the Blood Clan Progenitor’s symbol had inspired his first dream, while considering Red Moon and Dark Moon.

Fu Qian agreed to help the Night Watchers after Ji Liushuang passed on Dean Li’s request, then went with her to eat at the shop where they had drinks before. There, he recognized the golden-haired server as someone familiar and tried to remember whether the Dragon Peak Inn proprietress was named Sunny.

• Ji Liushuang told Fu Qian that Dean Li had sent greetings and wanted him to represent the academy in helping the Night Watchers.
• Fu Qian agreed to take on the work and told Ji Liushuang she could bring up important matters with him directly.
• Fu Qian and Ji Liushuang went to the shop where they had drinks before, planning to eat until Professor Lanaia could put the bill on the Department of Punishment’s tab.
• A golden-haired server greeted Fu Qian, and he tried to recall whether the Dragon Peak Inn proprietress was named Sunny.

Sunny took a waitress job at the shop after Fu Qian had advised her to come to the Academy, and she quickly became a welcome part of its lively atmosphere. When Professor Lanaia arrived, Fu Qian got her to pay for the meal, then warned her that trouble was coming.

• Sunny, a former Dragon King oathbound, followed Fu Qian's advice and found work as a waitress at the shop.
• Ji Liushuang noticed that Sunny was a mid-tier transcendent, but Fu Qian told her there was no need to worry.
• Sunny won over the regular customers as the shop filled with diners, while Fu Qian and Ji Liushuang enjoyed their meal.
• Professor Lanaia arrived, hesitated at the sight of Sunny, and joined Fu Qian and Ji Liushuang after Fu Qian called her over.
• Fu Qian admitted that he and Ji Liushuang had no money and had been waiting for Lanaia to pay, then wrote that trouble was coming, cracking her glass.

At dinner, Fu Qian told Lanaia that Sunny might be an incomplete, doll-like being who had come to the academy, and he used their conversation to watch her reaction. The discussion ended when Lanaia discovered that Fu Qian had watered down her wine to make her more willing to pay the bill.

• Fu Qian told Lanaia that Sunny seemed incomplete and might be a fragment, puppet, or doll.
• Lanaia questioned Fu Qian's assessment while Sunny listened nearby and served customers.
• Fu Qian argued that Sunny's presence at the shop suggested she had come for the academy, and Lanaia realized he had spoken openly so Sunny would hear him.
• Lanaia asked whether they should take Sunny in for questioning, but Fu Qian said they were already questioning her by watching her reaction.
• Fu Qian revealed that the wine had been watered down, and Lanaia discovered that he had done it to make her more willing to pay the bill.

Fu Qian used a meal with Professor Lanaia to observe Sunny’s reaction and considered how the academy might protect her from the Dragon King’s oath. The next morning, Dean Li Weixuan visited Fu Qian.

• Lanaia warned Ji Liushuang to report Fu Qian if he withheld her wages, and Fu Qian defended his plan to use the stored item to seek sponsorship.
• Lanaia accepted another glass of wine from Sunny and watched her react cautiously to Fu Qian’s presence.
• Fu Qian recalled that Kelson had chosen A'Long as the original and Sunny as the puppet, while Siren secretly kept track of Sunny to protect her and monitor the Native Council.
• Fu Qian reflected that Sunny had come to the academy seeking protection and possible treatment, but he would leave the choice of pursuing a cure to her.
• Fu Qian and Ji Liushuang left after dining with Lanaia, and Dean Li Weixuan visited Fu Qian the next morning.

Li Weixuan asked Fu Qian to examine an unusual item confiscated by the Night Watchers, which might be linked to the victims’ behavior during the Ian incident. Fu Qian agreed to investigate and asked Li Weixuan to help upgrade his laboratory equipment.

• Li Weixuan told Fu Qian that the Night Watchers had accepted the academy’s handling of Ian’s incident without objection.
• Li Weixuan described a confiscated object made of intertwined finger bones that seemed to influence people’s desires, and explained that the Night Watchers wanted the academy to check whether it was connected to the victims’ behavior.
• Li Weixuan said Chang Mo had initially been assigned to assess the object, but he thought Fu Qian was better suited to the task.
• Fu Qian agreed to examine the object, and Li Weixuan arranged for Professor Chang to bring it to him.
• Fu Qian asked Li Weixuan to help upgrade his laboratory equipment.