Chapter Summaries

Fu Qian used the Bliss Potions to exploit the Ancient One’s influence and glimpsed a higher-dimensional web that connected consciousnesses. He then plunged back into the First Heaven in a new body in the City of Sin, leaving him wondering who now occupied Brother Repentant’s body.

• Fu Qian waited for the Ancient One’s influence to surface, then immersed himself in the Bliss Potions to make the invading will reveal something.
• Fu Qian’s consciousness rose beyond the Joy Factory and perceived a web-like structure where his different identities and wills formed parts of a greater whole.
• Fu Qian understood that approaching this higher plane weakened his independent will and gave the One Behind the Scenes an opening to influence him.
• Fu Qian fell through the Joy Factory and the True Realm of Bliss, briefly seeing Brother Repentant’s body in another coffin before entering a new body.
• Fu Qian woke in the City of Sin as a young man holding a heavy golden hammer and wondered who had taken over Brother Repentant’s body.

Fu Qian learned more about the will that had possessed him and Brother Repentant before a veiled woman and Godo confronted him over a forgotten vow. He agreed to destroy the Brotherhood’s five Incense Burners, then smashed the veiled woman’s head with the Golden Gourd Hammer.

• Fu Qian concluded that the possessing will was constrained by the Third Heaven and that Brother Repentant’s karma made him vulnerable to possession.
• A veiled woman told Fu Qian that it was time to leave, then asked whether he had forgotten his promise.
• Godo arrived and accused Fu Qian of betraying the veiled woman, whom he called Madam.
• Madam said Fu Qian’s assignment was to go to the Brotherhood and destroy its five Incense Burners, and Fu Qian asked Godo to show him the way.
• Godo warned that traitors would be punished, and Madam raised a barbed whip before Fu Qian struck her head with the Golden Gourd Hammer.

Fu Qian forced Godo to lead him toward the Brotherhood, then stopped at the church to investigate the powers tied to the Realm of Ultimate Bliss. He awakened a hostile presence within himself and remained still as it began to warp his will.

• Fu Qian killed the masked lady with his golden melon hammer, and Godo recognized him as Lu Ming, who was supposed to have been punished.
• Fu Qian made Godo lead him by carriage and learned that the Brotherhood had only just heard about him.
• Fu Qian ordered Godo to stop at the church, where Godo waited outside.
• Fu Qian entered the church and sensed that the master of the White Head Church had ties to the Realm of Ultimate Bliss.
• Fu Qian awakened a hostile presence that began to distort his will, but he did not move.

Fu Qian visited a church to provoke the Seed of Ecstasy inside him, but its influence remained confined to his mind. On the way to a Brotherhood stronghold, he offered Godo cryptic guidance about transcendence, then demanded a way into the place where the Incense Burner was kept.

• Fu Qian provoked the Seed of Ecstasy at a church, but gained no extraordinary change to his body.
• Godo asked Fu Qian why he would kill him when reincarnation would only add to Fu Qian’s sins.
• Fu Qian invoked the madam’s death and spoke of sins, the Karma Burden, and the need to devour the black lotus, prompting Godo to seek more understanding.
• Godo stopped the carriage at a Brotherhood stronghold and asked whether he could share Fu Qian’s words with others.
• Fu Qian grabbed Godo by the neck and demanded to know how to reach the Incense Burner without alerting the guards.

Fu Qian entered the Brotherhood’s Incense Hall through a secret passage and found Brother Repentant alive amid the bodies of the Brotherhood’s leaders. He pieced together how another will had taken over Repentant and slaughtered them, while his own identity continued to waver under the influence of his desires.

• Fu Qian persuaded Godo to show him a secret passage into the Incense Hall, then went on alone as his sense of identity began to falter.
• Fu Qian opened the hatch and found the hall in disarray, with incense burners toppled and more than ten bodies scattered across the bloodied floor.
• Fu Qian recognized the dead Brotherhood leaders and found Brother Repentant alive, sitting wounded in a corner.
• Brother Repentant questioned Fu Qian, then confessed that he did not know why he had killed anyone; Fu Qian told him he believed him.
• Fu Qian examined the reduced mirage above the hall and concluded that a powerful will had taken over Repentant during his torture and killed the Brotherhood leaders.

Fu Qian reasoned that Your Excellency Stomach’s influence might let him oppose the Ancient One and help transform the Realm of Ultimate Bliss. He confronted Brother Repentant about the murders, but an attack on him was blocked, revealing that the man was likely the Ancient One in disguise.

• Fu Qian concluded that Your Excellency Stomach was trying to encroach on the Realm of Ultimate Bliss and that its power could help him fight the Ancient One.
• Fu Qian told Brother Repentant that the dead had not been killed by him, but had died because of Fu Qian.
• Fu Qian approached Brother Repentant with his golden melon hammer, then struck the Incense Burner when his attack was disrupted.
• Brother Repentant dodged and stabbed Fu Qian in the abdomen with the thick-browed man's Murderous Weapon.
• Fu Qian suspected the Ancient One had interfered and explained that he had tested Brother Repentant by seeing whether he could kill him.

Fu Qian confronted the suspected Ancient One, discovered that the Stomach had corrupted him, and confirmed he was the mission target. Fu Qian struck first and completed the mission, containing No. 1-002.

• The suspected Ancient One questioned Fu Qian about his motives and threatened to make him suffer as a bug.
• Fu Qian reasoned that the Ancient One's irrational behavior came from the Stomach's corruption, which had secretly influenced him for thousands of years.
• The Ancient One admitted he had mistaken his apparent resistance to the Stomach for having escaped its influence, but refused to cooperate with Fu Qian.
• Fu Qian ascended beyond the Ancient One's reach, identified him as the target, and explained that mathematics showed why the Ancient One could not catch up.
• Fu Qian struck the Ancient One with the Golden Gourd Hammer, completing the mission and containing No. 1-002.

Fu Qian used his insight into the Realm of Ultimate Bliss to transcend its endless layers and kill the Ancient One with a true Dimensional Strike. With the mission objective destroyed, he ended his own life and received the mission evaluation.

• Fu Qian connected Xilaliya’s treatment philosophy and the tortoise-and-rabbit paradox to his idea of a blank delight that bypassed the Realm of Ultimate Bliss’s endless layers.
• Fu Qian revealed that he had spent the encounter simulating ultimate delight and using his connection to Your Excellency Stomach to strengthen his resonance with the realm.
• Fu Qian gained a perspective from beyond the Nine Heavens and confirmed that the Ancient One was the mission objective.
• Fu Qian struck the Ancient One with Dimensional Strike, killing him and erasing him from every heaven.
• Fu Qian smashed his own head with the Golden Gourd Hammer, and the mission evaluation appeared.

Fu Qian reviewed the mission results for the Realm of Ultimate Bliss and examined his special reward, World Poison. He considered using the one-use dagger to bind even a Divine creature to an oath, then looked toward the Warehouse.

• Fu Qian checked his mental state after the mission and found that the Realm of Ultimate Bliss had left him unharmed.
• The Warehouse summary revealed that Eckhart had tried to claim heaven as his own before Fu Qian killed him, and awarded Fu Qian 24 Sanity Value and World Poison.
• Fu Qian inferred that Eckhart had been corrupted by Your Excellency Stomach and that the cleanup had removed the threat from heaven.
• Fu Qian read World Poison’s description and realized that striking a Divine creature with it would destroy the target and bind it to an unbreakable oath.
• Fu Qian wondered whether the dagger could let him turn a Higher Being into his own godly tool, then looked at the Warehouse.

After completing his mission, Fu Qian examined a strange reward and found a similar mirror in Warehouse’s box linked to the Realm of Ultimate Bliss. He rested at the Academy of Revelation laboratory until Professor Lisha arrived with news that the Institute of Curses situation seemed resolved, leaving Fu Qian asking what had happened.

• Fu Qian decided not to use his one-time opportunity on Warehouse and inspected the thin, sacred blade-like reward he had received.
• Warehouse announced that Fu Qian had completed his mission, and he checked the restriction on the delight in his mind before giving up on activating his wrist mark.
• Fu Qian opened box 1-002 and found a warped gold-trimmed mirror whose thin, sacred appearance and unusual colors resembled his reward.
• Fu Qian returned the mirror to its box, put on the Messenger, and went to rest in the laboratory director’s quarters.
• Professor Lisha woke Fu Qian and told him the situation at the Institute of Curses seemed to have been resolved; Fu Qian asked whether there had been any discoveries and how dangerous it was.

Professor Fu discussed his recovery and exchanged suggestive banter with Professor Lisha before Ji Liushuang returned to the laboratory. Liushuang said she had resolved a family matter and brought Professor Fu the Axe of Rebellion.

• Professor Fu told Professor Lisha that his dangerous assignment was nearly finished but kept its details confidential.
• Professor Lisha teased Professor Fu about his bloodstained clothes and suggested giving him something to wear, then abruptly changed the subject when Ji Liushuang approached.
• Professor Fu confirmed that Ni Huayuan had brought someone from the Spirit Ash Institute to see him, as Professor Lisha had predicted.
• Ji Liushuang returned after two days away and told Professor Lisha that she had handled a family matter.
• Ji Liushuang said Professor Fu had already helped her and brought him a box containing the Axe of Rebellion.

Fu Qian opened the mysterious hand axe that Ji Liushuang had brought from her family and considered testing it because of its strange history and connection to her mother. Ji Liushuang volunteered to help with the test, and Fu Qian agreed to take her and Professor Lisha to gather materials.

• Ji Liushuang delivered the locked case containing the hand axe to Fu Qian without having opened it.
• Fu Qian used Ji Liushuang’s key to open the case, and Professor Lisha was disappointed to find an ordinary-looking axe inside.
• Ji Liushuang explained that the axe had come from her family, renewing Professor Lisha’s interest in Fu Qian’s plans for it.
• Fu Qian examined the axe and reflected on its strange history, including its connection to Ji Xue and the senior who had sought it.
• Ji Liushuang volunteered to help test the axe, and Fu Qian agreed to take her and Professor Lisha to get materials.

Fu Qian obtained more of Professor Kalaodola’s divine flesh to test how it reacted to Ji Liushuang’s hand axe. The flesh transformed and lunged at Ji Liushuang, leaving the experiment’s danger unresolved.

• Professor Fu asked Professor Lisha to submit an application for more of Professor Kalaodola’s flesh, and she reluctantly agreed.
• Fu Qian decided not to test the axe by striking Ji Liushuang or swallowing it, despite the risk of erosion to divine flesh.
• Professor Lisha retrieved five times the previous amount of flesh and warned Fu Qian to contain any loss of control.
• Fu Qian carved a groove into the flesh with Ji Liushuang’s hand axe, causing it to freeze briefly before writhing into a serpent-like shape.
• The transformed flesh suddenly lunged at Ji Liushuang.

Fu Qian, Professor Lisha, and Liu Shuang debated why the snake emerging from Kalaodola’s divine flesh targeted the women but ignored Fu Qian. After the snake returned to the flesh, it turned translucent and revealed a baby inside, suggesting why it had sought women.

• The snake lunged at Liu Shuang and then Professor Lisha, but Fu Qian dodged both attacks.
• Fu Qian complained that the snake was discriminating against him, while Lisha suggested it might prefer weaker supernatural beings.
• Liu Shuang proposed that the snake targeted women, and Fu Qian agreed, citing previous female victims and the axe’s effects.
• The snake curled up and plunged back into the mass of flesh, which began to writhe and turn translucent.
• Fu Qian saw a baby inside the flesh and connected it to the snake’s preference for women.

Fu Qian concluded that the hatchet induced pregnancy and might be tied to the Ji Clan’s succession, preserving the clan-head lineage and perhaps giving Ji Feng a path back. As the divine flesh formed a fetus, Liu Shuang began to grasp what the discovery could mean for her mother and father.

• Fu Qian considered whether the hatchet was simply a fertility aid or had a special attraction to the Ji Clan, and connected Ji Xue’s past behavior to possible psychological influence from the acting clan head.
• Fu Qian theorized that Ji Feng had used the hatchet to continue the Ji Clan’s bloodline or leave himself a chance to return from the Unseen Hill.
• Fu Qian watched the transformed divine flesh develop into a fetus while Liu Shuang stared at it in shock.
• Fu Qian linked the hatchet’s effects to the Ji Clan’s strict rule that the eldest child inherit, regardless of gender, and reasoned that it might preserve the clan-head lineage.
• Professor Lisha asked whether the divine flesh could create life, and Fu Qian replied that it induced life.

Fu Qian tested the enchanted axe on the divine flesh in a placenta, then returned it after the human-shaped mass dissolved. As he walked with Ji Liushuang, she reflected on her mother’s mysterious pregnancy and the possibility that her absent father had never existed, while Fu Qian reassured her before heading deeper into the academy.

• Fu Qian used the axe to animate the flesh inside the box, but the human-shaped mass struggled, deformed, and dissolved as the magic faded.
• Fu Qian returned the box to Professor Lisha, who left to put it away and monitor the area.
• Fu Qian asked Ji Liushuang how old her mother had been when she gave birth, and Liushuang said Ji Xue had been her current age.
• Ji Liushuang recalled that she and her mother looked alike, that she had been unhealthy as a child, and that Ji Xue had called her pregnancy and elopement wonderful while never regretting giving birth.
• Fu Qian suggested that Liushuang remained the fruit of her mother's love whether or not there had been another person in the story, then directed her back to the lab and walked deeper into the academy.

Professor Fu visited the Spirit Ash Institute to ask about Wen Li’s progress and renew his offer to her. After provoking Professor Weilong with his Return Edict, Fu Qian left suspecting the institute had made remarkable progress with her in just two days.

• Professor Fu arrived at the Spirit Ash Institute, where Professor Weilong greeted him and asked about his investigation at the Institute of Curses.
• Fu Qian asked how Wen Li was progressing and reminded Weilong that his offer to her still stood.
• Professor Weilong said Spirit Ash would not risk a young person's future and had made no significant progress yet.
• Fu Qian activated the Return Edict, dispelling the institute's malaise and provoking Weilong, then asked him to pass his offer on to Wen Li.
• Fu Qian left and suspected Weilong's composure meant Spirit Ash had made rapid progress with Wen Li.

Fu Qian entered the Sword Pavilion with permission and climbed its floors, taking swords as he went. At the top, he unleashed a sword storm that destroyed the hall, and the weapons in his hands disintegrated into sand that began consuming his arms.

• Fu Qian covered his bloodstained clothes with a curtain after wrecking a building at the Spirit Ash Institute, while Old Man Weilong ordered the onlookers to leave him alone.
• The Sword Pavilion doorkeeper welcomed Fu Qian and said Dean Li had granted him access to every floor.
• Fu Qian inspected the returned original sword and collected two more swords as he climbed the pavilion.
• Fu Qian posed with three weapons at the top floor and unleashed a storm of blades that tore through the hall and its relics.
• A blade touched a short sword in the chaos, and the weapons Fu Qian held turned to sand that swallowed his hands and arms.

Fu Qian used the Messenger and the Return Edict to test whether the Jade Soul Master had influenced the Spirit Ash Institute, then triggered a powerful force at the Sword Pavilion. He returned to the Warehouse with the strange connection still present, while the Sword Pavilion’s damage had been undone.

• Fu Qian returned to the Warehouse after the Sword Pavilion’s power began destroying his arm, but the missing hand had not grown back.
• He suspected the Jade Soul Master was connected to the lingering bond, his missing hand, and the Spirit Ash Institute’s sudden progress.
• Fu Qian reasoned that the Institute’s rapid advances and Wen Li’s achievements might mean its members had fallen under the Jade Soul Master’s influence.
• After the Institute’s visitors revealed their remarkable progress studying Liliana’s legacy, Fu Qian used the Return Edict and continued investigating around the Academy.
• At the Sword Pavilion, Fu Qian invoked an outrageously powerful force and put the Messenger back on.
• Fu Qian returned to the Warehouse and found the fourth floor of the Sword Pavilion restored as though it had never been damaged.

Fu Qian realized the Jade Soul Master had made him a heart demon and bound them into a deathmatch, with the academy as their battleground. As the academy’s surroundings grew more idealized, Fu Qian discovered that the broken window ledge was made of mushroom-like mycelium.

• Fu Qian inspected the restored Sword Pavilion and found the short sword had returned to an ordinary iron blade, though his lost hand remained missing.
• Fu Qian connected the academy’s strange power and restoration to the exile he had experienced in Akons and suspected the Jade Soul Master was trying to refine the academy.
• Fu Qian realized the Jade Soul Master had entered the game, bound them together as heart demons, and made escape equivalent to defeat.
• Fu Qian noticed that his trip to the Warehouse had shifted the balance further toward the idealist side and brightened the heart-demon label on his forehead.
• Fu Qian snapped a piece off the window ledge and found layers of mushroom-like mycelium inside it.