Chapter Summaries

Fu Qian deduced that the Benevolent Virtue Society might have left Lily’s crown as a taunt, while warning that the culprit could be an infiltrator with knowledge of the Night Watcher base. After leaving the base with Lanaia, he returned to the lab and found Cas waiting for him.

• Fu Qian explained that the crown’s lack of practical value suggested the culprit wanted to mock the Night Watchers, though he could not rule out a frame-up or a connection to Ian’s case.
• Lily asked to be moved to a room with a window, and the Night Watchers granted her request while allowing her to keep the crown.
• Fu Qian left the Night Watcher base with Lanaia after touring it with Yuan Fang, and Lanaia thanked him for his work.
• Fu Qian returned to the lab and found Cas there, who said he had been asked by Fu Qian’s research assistant to watch the door.

Fu Qian discussed the Benevolent Virtue Society’s influence with Cas and heard about the dean’s successful field trip. The conversation ended with Fu Qian asking whether Professor Lisha knew she looked like Kalaodola.

• Cas admitted that membership in the Benevolent Virtue Society made it easier to get things done, and Fu Qian updated him on the Night Watchers’ progress with Lily and the Ian incident.
• Fu Qian explained that the Society’s involvement had muddied the investigation around the Invitation incident and helped keep attention away from him.
• Fu Qian praised Professor Lisha and the Academy’s other instructors, and Cas said he would inspect their progress.
• Cas hinted that he had returned from his field trip with valuable materials, leading Fu Qian to suspect he had taken advantage of a clash between major organizations.
• Fu Qian asked whether Professor Lisha knew she looked like Kalaodola, and Cas said he had not yet visited her.

Fu Qian learned from Cas how Professor Lisha came to possess some of Kalaodola’s flesh and why she wore a black ring around her neck. The conversation ended when Lisha entered the laboratory and noticed Cas.

• Fu Qian recalled meeting Kalaodola in an unreal place and told Cas that she had asked what she was like in the future.
• Fu Qian asked whether Lisha had ever removed the item around her neck, and Cas confirmed she had not.
• Cas explained that he had fused Kalaodola’s flesh with a living supernatural creature and had found young Lisha, whose body was unusually compatible.
• Cas said he had placed a prepared item around Lisha’s neck when unwanted changes began to appear.
• Lisha entered the laboratory, noticed Cas, and froze.

Professor Fu Qian told Professor Lisha and Dean Cas that Wen Li had become a demigod through joint training with Spirit Ash. When Spirit Ash failed to arrive for a planned exchange, Fu Qian suggested they visit instead, and Cas agreed.

• Professor Lisha joined Cas and Fu Qian for tea and credited Fu Qian with the laboratories’ successful cooperation.
• Lisha questioned Fu Qian about recruiting another gifted student from Spirit Ash, and he said the mentors had agreed to joint training.
• Fu Qian revealed that the student had become a demigod, a result confirmed by Professor Weilong and himself.
• Fu Qian noted that Spirit Ash had not arrived for a planned exchange and suggested they go there instead.
• Cas agreed to visit Spirit Ash with Lisha and Fu Qian.

Fu Qian, Cas, and Lisha went to the Spirit Ash Institute after its mentors failed to report back about Wen Li’s suspicious advancement. They found the academy sealed and overwhelmed by psychic residue, and Weilong said the institute had uncovered something but still needed their help.

• Fu Qian, Cas, and Lisha agreed to visit the Spirit Ash Institute and investigate its silence over Wen Li’s strange progress.
• Fu Qian forced open the institute’s locked gate, and Lisha sensed that the building was filled with an unusually foul atmosphere of psychic residue.
• Weilong and Professor Yang appeared to meet the visitors, while Yang examined the damaged gate.
• Fu Qian asked whether the Spirit Ash mentors had found anything, and Weilong said they had and led the group inside.

Fu Qian joined the Spirit Ash Institute’s senior members as they investigated an undetectable presence influencing their minds. He used the Return Edict to intensify the disturbance, hoping the institute’s members would reveal more about the entity and Jade Soul Master’s condition.

• Professor Weilong told Fu Qian and the other visitors that a hidden presence inside the building could enter people’s minds and evade their abilities.
• Weilong realized Fu Qian had suspected the danger since Wen Li’s ability development and had tried to keep her away from it.
• Professor Yang asked Fu Qian to use a stronger stimulus to help them detect the presence, while Weilong explained their reluctance to lift the institute’s restriction.
• Fu Qian activated the Return Edict, triggering an invisible tempest that intensified the effects of the Golden Spiral.
• Fu Qian watched the institute members react and considered whether they could help him learn more about Jade Soul Master’s inner demon.

Fu Qian disrupted the Spirit Ash Institute’s attempt to detect an invisible beast, smashing their contemplative chandelier and urging them to abandon their assumptions. Cas promised the Apocalypse would cover the damage, while Weilong and the others returned to their observation.

• Fu Qian’s Return Edict purified the Golden Spiral, leaving the Spirit Ash Institute’s members feeling empty and unsettled.
• Fu Qian and Weilong told the instructors to focus on detecting the invisible beast through the chandelier’s faint supernatural fluctuations.
• Fu Qian hurled an armchair into the giant chandelier, shattering it, then urged everyone to abandon their delusions and preconceived ideas.
• Weilong questioned Fu Qian’s reasoning, and Cas said the Apocalypse would cover the damage.
• Weilong sat back down without trying to make amends for the ruined chandelier.

Fu Qian had the Spirit Ash Institute members reflect while Professor Weilong and Professor Yang watched for signs of Jade Soul Master’s cognitive corruption. Their efforts produced little, but Professor Yang’s chimes drew out a reaction from Silei, and Weilong used his strange mask to affect him.

• Fu Qian told Professor Lisha she did not need to join the reflection exercise, while Cas examined a clear chandelier fragment.
• Professor Weilong and Professor Yang watched the seated group as they reflected, though Fu Qian warned that their demigod rank might make them less vulnerable to cognitive corruption.
• Professor Yang struck two chandelier fragments together, producing chimes and an electric-like sound in the air.
• Professor Yang called out to Silei, who opened his eyes and said the experience had yielded no insight.
• Professor Weilong asked Fu Qian to pause, then put on a black-and-white weeping mask that immediately twisted Silei’s expression.

Fu Qian watched Silei undergo a transformation during Professor Weilong’s test, while Professor Lisha narrowly avoided the mental shock that followed. Silei described his changed understanding of the self and named his new state “Impermanence.”

• Weilong continued testing Silei, and Fu Qian asked Lisha to search for a chandelier fragment.
• Silei sobbed, triggering a powerful mental shock that nearly overwhelmed Lisha; she saw bloody tears running down his face as he became serene.
• Weilong asked Silei what he had learned, and Silei said the self-forged cage had vanished and that the experience could not truly be explained.
• Weilong told Fu Qian that the ritual’s missing knowledge had mysteriously filled in during a similar process.
• Fu Qian asked Silei whether he was still Silei, and Silei called his new state “Impermanence.”

Fu Qian considered whether Jade Soul Master was hiding his condition or too damaged to act, then struck Silei when he began speaking of transcendence. He left the Spirit Ash Institute with Wen Li while Weilong and the others continued their investigation.

• Fu Qian weighed several explanations for the lottery result and Jade Soul Master's lingering influence, including whether Jade Soul Master had reached the end of the cultivation path.
• Fu Qian questioned Silei, who called communication meaningless and began speaking about transcending everything.
• Fu Qian smacked Silei with half a tabletop, interrupting his speech and leaving him badly injured.
• Fu Qian agreed to take Wen Li with him while Weilong and Professor Yang continued testing Silei and investigating the Hidden Danger.
• Cas praised the Spirit Ash Institute's achievements and said he would arrange compensation for the chandelier.

Fu Qian explained why the Spirit Ash Institute's strange behavior supported the idea that it had encountered an incomprehensible supernatural presence, while noting that Wen Li's unusual ascension would draw even more Night Watcher attention. The chapter ended with Lisha realizing Fu Qian already knew Wen Li and had planned to keep his distance unless the Institute escalated matters.

• Fu Qian asked Lisha why she thought Silei had lost his mind, and she argued that people immersed in mind-related phenomena could easily lose their sanity.
• Fu Qian said the Night Watchers already had reasons to monitor Wen Li, including her unusual constitution and path to godhood.
• Fu Qian asked Cas about Miracle Creatures, and Cas described them as living miracles and said he had once encountered one.
• Lisha suggested Fu Qian had tried to provoke the Spirit Ash Institute by attempting to poach its student, Wen Li.
• Fu Qian revealed that Wen Li was already his person and that he had planned to keep his distance unless the Institute acted aggressively, leaving Lisha stunned and Cas laughing.

Fu Qian returned to the bookstore and used his Messenger to test whether he could communicate with the Pope after his perception was affected. The connection failed, but an uncanny, flexible object shaped itself into a bow in his hand, leaving him with a new mystery.

• Professor Fu redirected Cas and Lisha's attention to Lisha's research breakthrough, and Cas eagerly went with Lisha to inspect it.
• Lisha gave Fu Qian a gemstone before leaving with Cas, while Fu Qian returned to the empty laboratory and put on the Messenger.
• Fu Qian appeared in the bookstore and shot a rust-colored arrow that veiled the sky and revealed a faint Dark Moon.
• Fu Qian tried to tell the Pope that his perception had been affected, but no reply came, confirming that their communication was disrupted.
• A bone-like object covered in dark red appeared in Fu Qian's hand and formed a flexible bow with a grotesque face carved into it.

After losing his Supernatural Perception, Fu Qian received a strange bow-shaped item from Nirgalia, the Witch, through the Dark Moon. He deduced that the Spinal Lock was meant to consume something extraordinary, then spotted Chief Yuan approaching the bookstore as a possible source of food for it.

• Fu Qian used Blasphemous Embrace to contact the Dark Moon and realized that Nirgalia could send him things but could no longer speak to him.
• Fu Qian identified Nirgalia's gift as the Spinal Lock, a bow modeled on Blasphemous Embrace, and guessed that he should send it away rather than use it on himself.
• The Spinal Lock transformed into a crescent and reached toward Fu Qian's hand, leading him to conclude that it was meant to eat something.
• Fu Qian considered feeding the Spinal Lock the remains of a Higher Being or sacrificing Night Watchers, but found those options impractical.
• Fu Qian noticed Chief Yuan of Shangjing approaching the bookstore with her shopping bags.

Fu Qian told Yuan Shan that Wen Li had become a demigod after receiving guidance from the Spirit Ash Institute, and Yuan Shan worried about the dangers and the extra responsibility of watching over her. He reassured her that Su Gao was safe, then asked Yuan Shan to find Eckhart.

• Yuan Shan visited Fu Qian and asked what had happened during his recent trip.
• Fu Qian revealed that Wen Li had become a demigod, shocking Yuan Shan.
• Yuan Shan considered advanced training at the Spirit Ash Institute and worried about the risks Wen Li might face.
• Fu Qian said Su Gao was doing well and asked Yuan Shan to find Eckhart.

Fu Qian asked Yuan Shan to search the Night Watchers' records for Eckhart, learning that the first Night Watchers had fought the Long Night after many people succumbed to despair. After Yuan Shan agreed to investigate in secret, Selena arrived at Fu Qian's shop, where two other customers were already present.

• Fu Qian asked Yuan Shan to research Eckhart, a pre-Long Night believer who had died by suicide.
• Yuan Shan explained that many people had killed themselves during the Long Night, while those who resisted became the first Night Watchers and fought its dangers.
• Fu Qian asked Yuan Shan to keep the inquiry secret even from the Supreme Council, and she agreed to investigate.
• Yuan Shan left Fu Qian's shop, and Selena arrived soon afterward while two customers were inside.

Fu Qian questioned Selena about Taylor’s dream and the strange celestial phenomenon that had desecrated the sun. Selena reported no new effects, and their discussion of the moons led Fu Qian to conclude that the white moon was the original Moon God and that Annalise had inherited its divine position before the Long Night.

• Selena told Fu Qian that Taylor Gullard had not dreamed because his family had forbidden him from sleeping, and the force behind the emblem had not tried to reach him another way.
• Selena asked Fu Qian about the celestial phenomenon, and he said Chief Yuan had also visited to ask whether anyone had been affected.
• Selena said she had noticed nothing unusual and explained that the Red Moon sometimes answered the Blood Clan, while the original moon had not answered anyone for a very long time.
• Fu Qian compared the blue, white, and red moons and concluded that the white moon had been the original Moon God before Annalise inherited its divine position.
• Fu Qian recalled that Annalise had not lived to see the Long Night, though the Dark Moon had appeared during it.

Fu Qian pieced together a theory that Dark Moon’s role in the Long Night connected her to the Blood Clan Progenitor and the Red Moon. He told Selena the Death Master was behind the unusual celestial phenomenon, then claimed he recognized the emblem because he and its owner went way back.

• Fu Qian considered how Dark Moon might have inherited Annalise’s symbols and will, built the star barrier, and later left the world before the Red Moon took her place.
• Selena asked Fu Qian whether he and the Night Watchers knew about the unusual celestial phenomenon.
• Fu Qian showed Selena the emblem of the Death Master, and she recalled the name.
• Selena wondered whether the Death Master was connected to Taylor’s fate and the Blood Clan, while Fu Qian suggested Taylor might simply have crossed paths with the culprit.
• Selena asked how Fu Qian recognized the emblem, and he said he and its owner went way back.

Fu Qian and Selena discussed how the Long Night distorted the names and emblems of ancient Higher Beings, then exchanged information about the Dark Moon and escaped insects. After Selena left to investigate her lead, Fu Qian prepared to visit the Furnace, or the Angel of Peace.

• Selena explained that the Long Night had distorted the emblems and Honored Names of ancient Higher Beings, leaving later generations with little divine knowledge.
• Fu Qian told Selena that mysterious beings claiming to be resurrected ancient vampires worshipped the Dark Moon, which might be linked to the Death Master.
• Selena revealed that she had found a lead on the escaped insects and planned to investigate discreetly.
• Fu Qian let Selena leave, privately intending for her to serve as a guide who would drive the Greedy Worms toward him.
• Fu Qian stood up and decided to head toward the Furnace, or the Angel of Peace.

Fu Qian left Shangjing to investigate the Furnace and find a way to feed the Spinal Lock, while also seeking answers about his lost Supernatural Perception. On the aerial transport, he had a suspicious passenger removed, then received a warning about a leakage incident as a new mission was announced.

• Fu Qian examined the Spinal Lock and decided to take it to the Furnace, where he hoped to find a suitable source of food.
• Fu Qian used Chief Yuan’s pass to board an Aerial Transport bound for a remote destination.
• A young woman in a red trench coat tried to make Fu Qian squeeze past her, but he ordered the staff to remove her because he suspected she was carrying prohibited items.
• The staff cleared the passageway, and Fu Qian boarded without significantly delaying the journey.
• After the transport set off, Fu Qian removed his mask and received a warning about a leakage incident and a notice that a new mission would begin the next day.

Fu Qian entered the Warehouse’s 3-399 containment task, The Unassailable, and discovered that his Inspiration had vanished and his preparation options were severely restricted. The task brought him to the ancient city of Lanfeilai, where he got off a bus and noticed another composed passenger.

• Fu Qian accepted the assignment to recontain 3-399, The Unassailable.
• Upon entering the task, Fu Qian found that his Inspiration attribute had disappeared.
• The Warehouse limited Fu Qian to the King of Prison Break skill, barred him from bringing additional items, and warned that most injuries would not be repaired afterward.
• Fu Qian arrived in Lanfeilai on a cloudy day as one of the city’s visitors, with a guide mentioned in the task introduction.
• After the bus stopped, Fu Qian noticed a freckled passenger with shoulder-length hair and a blue-and-white backpack.