Chapter Summaries

After becoming a demigod, Fu Qian discovered that he could hear thoughts connected to him and view the memories behind them. He used the [Messenger] mask to escape the voices, then explored the other world and unexpectedly encountered Yuan Shan.

• Fu Qian heard Xu Meng’s resentment and saw a scene revealing Xu Meng’s thoughts, then realized his demigodhood let him perceive thoughts connected to him.
• Fu Qian viewed thoughts from Tan Ying, Qin Mingze, and Wu Qingyu, and found that focusing on them brought their memories into view.
• Fu Qian entered the Warehouse and put on the [Messenger] mask, which stopped the voices when he returned to the bookstore world.
• Fu Qian waited in the bookstore world, heard no voices, and decided the world might be an undisturbed refuge before going out to explore.
• Fu Qian strolled through a nearby mall and unexpectedly saw Yuan Shan carrying shopping bags.

Fu Qian met Yuan Shan in Shangjing, where she discovered he had advanced to demigod and asked him to help keep the city safe. Later, he used the Blasphemous Embrace to darken the sun, silencing Qin Mingze’s distracting voice, and entered its colorless state.

• Fu Qian met Yuan Shan while she was shopping, and she realized he had advanced to demigod in less than two months.
• Yuan Shan explained how difficult Promotion Rituals were and asked Fu Qian to help protect Shangjing when needed.
• After leaving Yuan Shan, Fu Qian heard Qin Mingze complain about work and his fading enthusiasm for becoming a lawyer.
• Fu Qian used the Blasphemous Embrace to fire a rust-colored arrow at the sun, shrouding it in haze and cutting off Qin Mingze’s connection.
• Fu Qian saw that the item had made him nearly transparent for twenty-four hours and considered whether its colorless state could prevent interruptions.

After the sun seal ended, Fu Qian entered the Warehouse and was assigned to recontain the White Porcelain Doll. In a dark forest, he joined an expedition team hiding near an injured spider-like creature as porcelain dolls began emerging from its body.

• Fu Qian learned that Blasphemous Embrace’s color-draining side effect lasted the full twenty-four hours, then entered the Warehouse after it wore off.
• The Warehouse assigned Fu Qian to recontain the White Porcelain Doll, Designation 2-090, and sent him into its Containment Scene.
• Fu Qian found himself in a foul-smelling forest beside a huge, crippled spider-like creature and followed a man’s warning to hide behind a tree with the expedition team.
• Fu Qian sensed an unnatural influence in the forest but steadied himself before the man announced that something was approaching.
• A strange sound rang out, and the unseen attackers tore apart the spider-like creature’s armor as lifelike white porcelain dolls crawled from its body.

Fu Qian watched Delin’s team capture a White Porcelain Doll and bring it to Miyamoto and Mr. Luo for inspection. Mr. Luo confirmed that the doll met their requirements, crushed it, and Miyamoto hired Delin’s team to keep collecting them.

• Fu Qian learned that finding the perfect White Porcelain Doll was the mission objective as the dolls tore apart a spider monster.
• Delin trapped one distracted doll in a transparent net, and his team lured it into an iron box.
• Delin handed the box to Miyamoto, whose associate Mr. Luo examined the doll.
• The doll suddenly attacked Mr. Luo, but he caught it and crushed it after confirming that it met the requirements.
• Miyamoto agreed to pay Delin’s team extra for every doll they collected, dead or alive.

Fu Qian watched Delin’s team debate their dangerous expedition and sensed an unknown observer near camp. The next morning, dense life force caused the team’s hair to grow and fused two members together, prompting Mr. Luo to warn them again to keep their distance.

• Delin reassured his team that their employer was only a wealthy small business, then told them to begin the expedition in earnest the next day and keep an eye on Mr. Luo.
• During the night watch, Fu Qian sensed a person secretly observing the camp, and Mr. Luo emerged from his tent and looked in the same direction.
• The next morning, the team discovered that their hair had grown dramatically overnight, and Mr. Luo attributed it to the dense life force in the region.
• The team’s only female member and a muscular man emerged from a tent fused together, and Mr. Luo used a dark glow to separate them.
• Mr. Luo warned Delin’s team that the region blurred the boundaries between living things and that keeping their distance was essential.

Fu Qian’s group ventured onto scorched ground to capture a creature as bait for the territorial puppets, but Fu Qian sensed they were being watched. The puppets appeared beside the captive and attacked the team, leaving Delin and the others startled by their unexpected arrival.

• Mr. Luo separated two people who had fused together, though both lost some life force in the process.
• Fu Qian’s group set out to capture a creature as bait, and Miyamoto struck up a conversation with Fu Qian about his unchanged hair.
• Delin led the team to a barren stretch of scorched earth and chose a huge crab-like creature to use as bait.
• Fu Qian warned Delin that something was watching them, then counted down as the attack began.
• Puppets appeared beside the captured creature and tore off the lower legs of three team members, shocking Delin and the rest of the group.

Delin's team was ambushed by organized dolls, and Delin transformed and went berserk before Mr. Luo calmed him. After the attack, Fu Qian admitted he had sensed the dolls approaching, while the team questioned why he had stayed out of the fight.

• After Fu Qian warned him, Delin ordered the team to retreat as dolls emerged and tore apart three teammates, injuring another.
• Delin transformed his arms and fought alongside the balding archer and the other team members, who froze several dolls with ice.
• Delin transformed into a hulking giant, destroyed a doll, and attacked the giant beast while the dolls fled; Fu Qian kicked one into Delin's path.
• Mr. Luo used his voice and a black light to calm Delin, and the team later smashed a four-armed doll after Mr. Luo examined it.
• The balding archer asked Fu Qian how he had noticed the dolls, and Fu Qian said his senses were sharp; the conjoined twins' sister challenged him for not fighting.

After a disastrous mission in which Delin lost control of his transformation, Fu Qian realized the forest was affecting supernatural abilities and secretly told Delin about the feeling of being watched. Back at camp, another team member suddenly died in a grotesque transformation, leaving the survivors facing a new threat.

• Fu Qian concluded that the place was distorting flesh-related abilities after Delin's transformation nearly consumed his body.
• Delin canceled the day's plan and asked Miyamoto to return to camp, but Miyamoto remained unconcerned about the losses.
• Fu Qian told Delin that he had sensed someone watching them since the previous night, and Delin asked him to keep it secret.
• A muscular team member began screaming and thrashing at camp, and Delin and the others struggled to restrain him.
• The man's head exploded into a writhing mass of cauliflower in front of the horrified team.

After a seed sprouted inside a team member and killed him, Delin’s team debated abandoning the commission, while Fu Qian chose to stay. Miyamoto warned that the dolls could track anyone who had touched their companions’ bodies and urged the survivors to work together, leaving Delin’s team to reconsider their plans.

• Fu Qian and Mr. Luo concluded that a seed had sprouted inside the dead team member, and Mr. Luo explained that the dense life aura had caused it to grow.
• Delin’s battered team discussed abandoning the commission, and Fu Qian said he would stay to complete his mission even if they left.
• Miyamoto entered and warned that the dolls held grudges and could track people who had touched their companions’ bodies.
• Miyamoto asked Fu Qian to join his people if the team left, and Fu Qian calmly agreed.
• Miyamoto proposed that everyone rest and prepare for a possible attack that night, offering help from his people without reducing the reward.

Fu Qian explained that Delin’s team had little real choice but to remain with Miyamoto or risk becoming bait if they left. After the group strengthened the camp’s defenses, an injured man transformed and a crimson doll burst from his chest, attacking Mr. Luo.

• Delin revealed that Fu Qian had seen someone watching the camp, and Fu Qian warned the team that both staying and leaving could make them prey.
• Delin reached another temporary agreement with Miyamoto, whose people helped guard the camp and set traps.
• An injured team member fell unconscious, and Mr. Luo used his black light to examine him.
• A flesh-and-blood vortex opened in the injured man’s chest, and a crimson doll burst out and slashed Mr. Luo’s palm.

After the blood-red doll attacked Mr. Luo and fled, Fu Qian followed it into the forest, where he found ancient buildings and several dead locals. The doll escaped again after Fu Qian struck it, and he began disguising himself as one of the locals.

• The blood-red doll wounded Mr. Luo, evaded his counterattack, and escaped while the camp members discussed its unusual behavior.
• Fu Qian secretly left camp and tracked the doll deep into the forest, where he found ancient stone buildings, several corpses, and a frightened little girl.
• The doll attacked Fu Qian, but he closed his eyes to counter its apparent ability to mislead attackers and struck it with Tyrant's Fist.
• The doll fled after the blow, and Fu Qian noticed plantlike patterns on the dead locals and faint marks on the girl's face.
• Fu Qian chose the corpse with the least complicated patterns, changed into its clothes, and began altering his face.

Fu Qian followed the young girl’s scent through a swamp-filled Forbidden Zone and discovered that its inhabitants included monstrous Tree Spirits. As he fought a Tree Spirit guarding the girl’s hiding place, a bell rang from a nearby island, a white tree lit up, and the girl emerged beside him.

• Fu Qian explored the rotting swamp settlement, tracked the young girl’s scent, and found a relatively clean building where she had likely hidden.
• A Tree Spirit questioned Fu Qian, denied that the girl was inside, and attacked him when he tried to enter.
• The Tree Spirit fired explosive fruits at Fu Qian, filling the area with greenish-yellow mist.
• A bell rang from deep in the swamp, stopping the Tree Spirit’s attack as a leafless tree on an island glowed white.
• A group approached with a bell-ringer at its head, and the young girl quietly appeared beside Fu Qian.

Fu Qian witnessed the Sacred Tree’s pilgrimage, learning how White Spirits formed and how their owners could die when the dolls were destroyed. He questioned a wary girl about the Mad Spirit and White Spirits, then realized Miyamoto, Mr. Luo, and the others had known about the dolls’ free-hunting periods.

• Fu Qian watched the Sacred Tree’s light make locals’ White Spirits emerge and take shape, while he and the girl beside him showed no reaction.
• Fu Qian saw a newly formed White Spirit return to its owner, then watched three corpses—including one with four arms—get dumped into the swamp.
• Fu Qian followed the girl into her house and asked about the Mad Spirit, which she said had once been a White Spirit that ate its master.
• The girl explained that the Sacred Tree’s daily light helped White Spirits grow and that they sometimes left their owners to hunt on their own.
• Fu Qian connected the free-hunting periods to Miyamoto, Mr. Luo, and the others’ knowledge of the dolls.

Fu Qian learned from a girl about the villagers’ failed expeditions, their worship of the Sacred Tree, and the forbidden island. After waiting for the guards’ dolls to leave, he used Clear Dream to slip past a guard and approach the island.

• Fu Qian questioned the girl about her life, the missing expeditions, the Sacred Tree, and the island that people said ate anyone who approached.
• The girl realized Fu Qian came from outside and asked what the world beyond was like; he warned her to hide for her safety.
• Fu Qian suspected Miyamoto belonged to a larger organization that had stopped the expeditions and discovered the dolls’ secret.
• Fu Qian watched the island guards and waited until their palm-sized dolls crawled away.
• Fu Qian used Clear Dream to get around a guard unnoticed, then turned the ring off after passing him.

Fu Qian reached the forbidden island and discovered a deep underground excavation beneath the White Tree. After the tree began splitting his perception, he descended into the tunnels, where a Snake Person attacked him and his unstable body transformed further.

• Fu Qian crossed the swamp island and found that looking at the White Tree caused his mind to feel as if it were splitting.
• Fu Qian discovered concentric rings of uneven black stone walls around a dark opening and descended into the underground passage.
• Fu Qian reached a blood-red natural cave with numerous excavated passages and spotted a woman-shaped figure.
• The figure revealed herself as a Snake Person and lunged at Fu Qian, who struck her with an Air Bullet.
• Fu Qian saw that the attack had cost him part of his index finger, and his remaining finger transformed into a black-red tentacle as he fired again.

Fu Qian investigated the strange singing that was draining his Sanity Value and discovered that Multi-Brain Sister was hiding nearby, creating illusions of Snake People to lure him. As she charged, he aimed an Air Bullet at her.

• Fu Qian killed the Snake Person and noticed that his Sanity Value fell while strange Snake People appeared and vanished through the passages.
• Fu Qian followed and attacked two Snake People, then led them in circles while tracking how the singing affected his Sanity Value.
• Fu Qian deduced that the singing grew stronger as he approached its source and narrowed down the singer's location by mapping his route.
• Fu Qian stomped through the floor, stopping the singing and revealing Multi-Brain Sister, who had created the Snake People illusions.
• Multi-Brain Sister charged at Fu Qian, and he fired an Air Bullet at her.

Fu Qian killed Multi-Brain Sister and tracked the underground corruption to an ink-black stone, absorbing its mist and entering what he believed was a true Demigod state. He returned to the surface at dusk, ready to get down to business.

• Fu Qian killed Multi-Brain Sister by stomping her and found a ruby ring on her corpse.
• Fu Qian used his Sanity Value loss to track the source of the underground distortion through the tunnels.
• Fu Qian tore through a rock wall and uncovered an ink-black stone containing swirling dark red mist.
• Fu Qian touched the stone, endured a violent transformation, and absorbed the mist as the corruption underground weakened.
• Fu Qian returned to the surface at dusk, able to use his powers without restrictions.

Fu Qian tracked the Mad Spirit and watched Mr. Luo rescue it from the White Porcelain Dolls. Mr. Luo revealed that he had come for the Mad Spirit and would not let the priest’s forces damage it.

• Fu Qian found two dead sentries and recognized the melted hole in one corpse as the Mad Spirit’s handiwork.
• Fu Qian followed the sounds of battle and saw the Mad Spirit fleeing from the bell-ringer and three White Porcelain Dolls.
• The bell-ringer trapped the Mad Spirit in a gray cage while two dolls attacked it with green-flame spears.
• Mr. Luo appeared, destroyed the two attacking dolls, and pulled the Mad Spirit from the cage.
• Mr. Luo told the priest he had come for the Mad Spirit and fed it a fragment of a doll.

Mr. Luo revealed that Miyamoto’s family had been bringing people to the area for a purpose beyond harvesting casting materials, then attacked Miyamoto’s men when they tried to take the Mad Spirit. Miyamoto realized he had misjudged Mr. Luo and stopped himself from asking about the deeper goal.

• Mr. Luo fed the shattered doll to the Mad Spirit, which briefly gained green flames, then shattered the priest’s gray barrier.
• Miyamoto arrived with armed subordinates and offered Mr. Luo a reward in exchange for the blood-red doll.
• Mr. Luo refused to hand over the doll and killed Miyamoto’s surrounding men with fiery whips from the Mad Spirit.
• Miyamoto offered to triple Mr. Luo’s reward, but Mr. Luo accused his family of failing to understand their role in the area.
• Mr. Luo explained that Miyamoto’s predecessors had brought exploration teams there and that the priest’s group had killed the latest one.
• Miyamoto began to ask about Mr. Luo’s real goal, then stopped himself when he realized that knowing too much could be dangerous.

Mr. Luo revealed that he had lured teams to the island to harvest supernatural dolls and had nearly synchronized with the Mad Spirit. Fu Qian emerged, discovered his task had changed to destroying the Perfect White Porcelain Doll, and watched as Mr. Luo headed toward the Sacred Tree.

• Mr. Luo told Delin that he had deliberately wounded himself to mark the doll with his blood and had used previous teams as bait, none of whom survived.
• Mr. Luo explained that the dolls were high-ranking supernatural creatures and attacked the group with green-flame spears, damaging the priest's doll.
• Fu Qian entered the battle and pointed out that Old Man Ailei had been caught in the crossfire beside them.
• Mr. Luo revealed that he had synchronized with the Mad Spirit to about seventy or eighty percent and demanded that Fu Qian step aside.
• Fu Qian approached the Mad Spirit, and his task updated to destroying the Perfect White Porcelain Doll.
• Mr. Luo brushed aside the priest's attack and headed for the Sacred Tree, saying he had planted it himself.