Chapter Summaries

Fu Qian learned that Black Doctor had gained the power to cross into Unseen Hill through a hallucinogenic poison after being called by the prison’s will. After Black Doctor explained his connection to the Death Angel and the Prophet, Fu Qian seized him again and prepared to attack with Madness Fire.

• Black Doctor spread the fog around himself and explained that contact with it caused a poison-induced hallucination that brought people into the prison.
• Fu Qian connected Black Doctor’s ability to Ji Feng’s will and asked how Black Doctor had obtained the poison’s formula.
• Black Doctor said he had tried to connect with the prison and had been called, and that he learned the name Death Angel through a special perception.
• Fu Qian thanked Black Doctor, ignited Madness Fire, and seized him by the throat despite Black Doctor’s warning that he had no antidote.

Fu Qian forced the Black Doctor to reveal an antidote, then killed him with the Madness Flame after securing it. Fu Qian drank the antidote and returned to the mission’s starting point, while Amber remained in Unseen Hill.

• Fu Qian used the Madness Flame to make the Black Doctor reveal a hidden bottle of antidote.
• The Black Doctor warned that the dose could save only one person, but Fu Qian burned him to ash.
• Fu Qian told Amber the Black Doctor’s claims about Akasha might be unreliable and left her to search Unseen Hill.
• Fu Qian drank the antidote and vanished from Amber’s side.
• Fu Qian returned to the mission’s starting point, a lively place lit by neon signs.

Fu Qian returned to the Unseen Hill and suspected Ji Feng had sent him back to the mission’s starting point. After finding no sign of the Lord or the Death Angel, he put on Mirror Armor and entered the restaurant where Catherine was working, leaving the story with him waiting there in disguise.

• Fu Qian returned to the road where his mission began and wondered whether Ji Feng had been watching him and deliberately sent him back.
• He recalled Black Doctor’s warning about the Death Angel and considered what the supercriminals and Ji Feng might be planning.
• After failing to encounter the Lord or an agent of justice, Fu Qian donned Mirror Armor and knocked on the restaurant’s door.
• Catherine let the masked Fu Qian inside, and he sat at a different table and ordered sausage.
• Catherine went to prepare the food, while Fu Qian looked up into the air before she returned.

Fu Qian unexpectedly encountered Akasha, the missing demigod and Spider Silk Queen, at the restaurant and greeted her as an old acquaintance. After Catherine brought more food, Fu Qian invited Akasha to explain why she had come.

• Fu Qian recognized a gray shadow on the restaurant chandelier and caught its emerging claws with his fingers.
• Akasha appeared from the shadow, and Fu Qian identified her as the missing demigod he and Crystal had been searching for.
• Akasha commented on Fu Qian’s changed appearance and studied the face beneath his armor.
• Fu Qian mentioned Crystal and Amber, then asked Catherine to bring another two portions of sausages.
• Fu Qian told Akasha she did not need to fight or reminisce and encouraged her to speak freely about her reason for coming.

Akasha warned Fu Qian that the Darkest Night was coming and dawn would never return to the Unseen Hill. Fu Qian accepted her offer to team up, leaving their next move centered on his plan to uphold justice.

• Akasha admitted she had watched Fu Qian and Amber in the Unseen Hill and apologized for what had happened with Crystal.
• Akasha told Fu Qian that the Darkest Night was coming and that dawn would never return to the Unseen Hill.
• Fu Qian asked whether the coming darkness was connected to his arrival, and Akasha said it might be but offered no definite answer.
• Akasha hinted that Fu Qian could join her, and he accepted her offer to form a team.
• Akasha asked what they would do next, and Fu Qian said they would uphold justice.

Fu Qian agreed to take Akasha with him and arranged a carriage ride after Catherine gave them directions. As Akasha pressed close during the journey, Fu Qian noticed that her scent had changed and asked if that was why the crystal could not detect her.

• Akasha asked where Fu Qian planned to go and decided to accompany him, while he suspected the locals were pursuing a wider plan to plunge Unseen Hill into Eternal Night.
• Fu Qian suggested they take a carriage, and Akasha agreed after he asked Catherine for directions.
• Catherine pointed them toward a nearby carriage, then stayed behind at the restaurant to watch for the Darkest Night.
• Fu Qian and Akasha found a carriage, and Akasha squeezed in beside him and complimented his scent.
• Fu Qian remarked that Akasha smelled different than before and asked if that explained why the crystal could not detect her.

Fu Qian rode a carriage with Akasha while reasoning that her team might be trying to use him to further its plan in Unseen Hill. He chose to follow Ji Feng’s advice and let the carriage decide where to go, then told Akasha to get off when it reached a bar.

• Fu Qian realized Akasha’s supernatural scent helped her conceal herself and that she could track Crystal through the egg while avoiding her.
• Akasha asked where they were going, and Fu Qian said they would see where the carriage took them.
• Fu Qian considered why Akasha had approached him and concluded that her team might want to use him, an outsider, to disrupt Unseen Hill.
• Fu Qian decided to follow Ji Feng’s advice and test the carriage’s connection to Unseen Hill’s will.
• Fu Qian told Akasha to get off when the carriage reached a bar.

Fu Qian brought Akasha to a bar in Unseen Hill because it reminded him of a past encounter and might hold clues about Ji Feng. As they sat down, Fu Qian explained why he had killed Black Doctor and revealed that someone on the other side had been watching them.

• Fu Qian took Akasha to a lively bar he remembered from a failed mission and wondered whether Ji Feng knew about the false history tied to it.
• Akasha dismissed two men from their table, and they left without resisting her.
• Akasha asked Fu Qian why he had killed Black Doctor instead of preserving the way back through the door.
• Fu Qian asked whether Akasha would have gone with him if he could travel safely between both sides.
• Fu Qian said keeping Black Doctor alive might have made Akasha feel more in control, then confirmed that someone on the other side had been watching them.

Fu Qian and Akasha waited at a bar as the Darkest Night was set to begin, and Akasha identified a watcher as Holler, the Emissary of Ashes. Holler joined them and traded barbed remarks with Fu Qian before Fu Qian asked Akasha when the lord would arrive.

• Fu Qian chose to give up using the Black Doctor’s antidote in exchange for testing Ji Feng and drawing the Old Acquaintance into sharing information about the Darkest Night.
• Akasha told Fu Qian that someone was watching them and identified the watcher as Holler, the Emissary of Ashes, an acquaintance of Crystal’s who was close to the Prophet.
• Holler came over, accused Fu Qian and Akasha of talking about him, and sat down to drink.
• Holler recognized Fu Qian from their previous encounter after noticing that he had changed clothes, while Fu Qian teased him about having hidden outside.
• Fu Qian asked Akasha when the lord would arrive.

Fu Qian brought up the Lord to provoke reactions and learned from Huo Le that the Lord had recently tried to recruit him. The conversation was interrupted by Crystal’s sudden arrival, after Huo Le contacted her.

• Fu Qian asked Akasha about the Lord, and she said he should arrive before dawn.
• Fu Qian told Huo Le he had gone through the door and killed the Black Doctor, prompting Huo Le to crush his wine bottle.
• Huo Le revealed that the Lord had visited shortly before Fu Qian arrived and had invited him to work together.
• Huo Le said the Lord had warned him that things were dangerous, and Fu Qian explained that the Lord had recently thrown something at his head.
• Crystal appeared, and Huo Le admitted he had contacted her because she had been looking for Fu Qian.

Crystal arrived at Lord Huo’s gathering and confronted Akasha about the strange egg that had appeared on her, while Fu Qian confirmed that Lord Andir had gone through Unseen Hill’s door and returned. As Lord Huo revealed that the Lord had recently visited him, his glass shattered in his hand and gray blood emerged from his palm.

• Crystal arrived and Lord Huo told her that Fu Qian and his companion had entered and returned from behind Unseen Hill’s door.
• Crystal confirmed that Lord Andir had gone through the door, and Fu Qian defended himself when she accused him of losing something of hers.
• Crystal asked Akasha to explain the egg, but Akasha apologized and refused to explain it yet.
• Lord Huo left the discussion, and Fu Qian asked Akasha about Catherine and when the Lord had left her restaurant.
• Lord Huo said the Lord had visited him shortly before the others arrived, then crushed his glass and drew gray blood from his palm.

Fu Qian’s suspicions about Lord Andir’s visit led Holler to discover he had been poisoned, though he could not explain why. Holler erupted into violence at the bar, and Akasha struggled to contain him before Crystal pierced him with an ice spear.

• Holler tested his blood and realized he had been poisoned after Lord Andir invited him for a drink.
• Fu Qian questioned whether Andir was responsible and speculated that the poison might be something Andir had gained by targeting Catherine.
• Holler lost his temper and attacked Akasha, breaking her bone claw and unleashing a howl that stunned the bystanders.
• Akasha fought back with phantom threads that cut Holler, but he charged on through his injuries.
• Crystal struck Holler from behind with a long ice crystal spear.

Crystal wounded Holler to remove the parasitic eggs infecting him, but the bar’s customers soon succumbed to a spreading black-and-white phenomenon. Fu Qian suspected his presence had triggered the Gray Descent and a special reaction from Unseen Hill, while Akasha departed, praising Lord Andir.

• Crystal pierced Holler with a spear and explained that she was trying to purge the creatures infecting him through threads.
• Holler removed the eggs from his wounds, confirming Crystal’s warning, while Akasha allowed him to purge them.
• Akasha said she had come to the bar because Lord Andir was interested, and Fu Qian admitted he liked the atmosphere.
• Customers began collapsing as a black-and-white effect spread through the bar and swallowed the three demigods.
• Akasha laughed and praised Lord Andir before leaving, while Fu Qian connected the phenomenon to Gray Descent and Unseen Hill.

Fu Qian concluded that Ji Feng might be deliberately bringing Eternal Night to Unseen Hill, and he followed the spreading Gray Descent with Holler and Crystal to investigate. They headed toward a crowded place to find out what the people behind the phenomenon were trying to do.

• Fu Qian suspected Ji Feng was willingly causing Eternal Night and that the Gray Descent might be its form.
• Fu Qian heard a young person crying as the Gray Descent spread, while Akasha said goodbye and vanished with her web.
• Fu Qian asked Holler to take responsibility for the damage and led him and Crystal toward a crowded place.
• Crystal recognized that people were becoming nodes for the spreading Gray Descent, while Holler proposed clearing a safe zone.
• Fu Qian rejected Holler's plan, and Crystal argued they should find the group behind the phenomenon and stop it.

Fu Qian crossed into Gray Descent, where an ambusher attacked him and his presence triggered another outbreak of its infection. Realizing the zone was spreading faster and could soon doom the mission, he crossed back out to act.

• Fu Qian entered Gray Descent and saw that it had already swallowed several people, though the residents of Unseen Hill seemed resigned rather than alarmed.
• An unseen attacker sent a building spire and other projectiles at Fu Qian, who caught the spire with tentacles and hurled it at the attacker’s hiding place.
• Fu Qian exposed the disguised attacker, ignored his plea for peace, and killed him with an Air Bullet.
• Another onlooker became infected, and Gray Descent began spreading rapidly from the new point.
• Fu Qian judged that the infection could soon cover all of Unseen Hill and returned across the boundary.

Fu Qian reached the Prophet’s Building and found Gray Descent spreading from the Gate of Freedom as the people nearby surrendered themselves to it. Heller arrived wounded and searching for Crystal, then attacked Fu Qian after hearing his suggestion that she might emerge from the door.

• Fu Qian reached the Prophet’s Building and saw Gray Descent spreading from the Gate of Freedom.
• A headscarf-wearing woman described the danger she sensed, then deliberately fell to the ground as Gray Descent approached.
• The people around the building stayed still as Gray Descent reached them and they began dropping to the ground.
• Heller arrived drenched in blood and said an ambush had separated him from Crystal.
• Fu Qian told Heller that Crystal might emerge from the Gate of Freedom, and Heller attacked him.
• Fu Qian blocked Heller’s blow and criticized him for acting unlike a true Emissary of Ashes.

Fu Qian exposed the Lord’s disguise and mocked him while the Gray Descent consumed Unseen Hill. The Lord prepared another attack as Fu Qian caught a massive block of ice and crushed a spike beneath his mirror armor.

• Fu Qian deduced that the man impersonating Haller was a fallen Emissary of Ashes, while the Gray Descent overwhelmed the people around them.
• The Lord revealed his true appearance and questioned whether Fu Qian was really an outsider, and Fu Qian called himself Ballard before covering his head with mirror shards.
• Fu Qian caught a gigantic block of ice falling from the sky and inferred that the Lord had gained power from the night.
• Fu Qian mocked the Lord for lingering after his failed sneak attack and stomped a giant spike into pieces as the Lord prepared another move.

Fu Qian forced the Lord to explain his revelation and his shadow-mark ability, which could let him take Huo Le’s identity and status as Emissary of Ashes. When Crystal arrived carrying Huo Le’s battered body, “Ballard” attacked the Lord, whose wounds began healing as if his damage were being converted into recovery.

• Fu Qian stopped the fleeing Lord and demanded to know what revelation he had received.
• The Lord explained that he had been instructed to act as a champion of justice and gained power by playing that role.
• The Lord revealed that he had marked Huo Le, letting him control Huo Le’s shadow, copy his abilities, and potentially take his title as Emissary of Ashes.
• Crystal arrived with Huo Le’s mangled body and asked how the mark could be removed; the Lord said it could not be removed.
• “Ballard” attacked the Lord, and the Lord’s wounds began healing rapidly, prompting Fu Qian to suspect Death Angel’s involvement.

Fu Qian recognized that A'wei, now known as the Death Angel, had empowered the lord as part of the Eternal Night plan, giving him a regenerative ability and a way to mark others. As the lord fought Crystal, Huo Le transformed into a huge creature and grappled him, but the lord’s electric armor began tearing everything apart.

• Fu Qian realized A'wei had been hiding behind the lord and had used his blessing to give him an overwhelming ability to recover from attacks.
• The lord confirmed he had intended to mark Fu Qian, then fought Crystal while Fu Qian watched without intervening.
• The lord endured Crystal’s attacks and advanced on her, saying that the Prophet was dead and implying that he and others had to accept their place.
• Crystal refused to let the lord mark her, and the lord surrounded himself with electric armor streaked with dark gray.
• Huo Le transformed into a gigantic creature and wrapped his many arms around the lord, but the lord’s electric armor erupted and tore apart whatever touched him.

Fu Qian agreed to help the crystal deal with the lord, then used Holler’s transformation as inspiration to try swallowing him. A mysterious hand abducted the lord instead, and Fu Qian followed the Thread of Concern to Sage's Lake, where he found the clown relaxing.

• The crystal apologized to Fu Qian and begged him to help, and he agreed on the condition that the lord release Holler.
• Fu Qian told the lord he would kill him, then grew into a giant and transformed his arm into a toothed maw.
• The lord escaped Fu Qian’s grasp with his lightning ability, but an unseen hand used a black sack to abduct him.
• Fu Qian tracked the Thread of Concern to Sage's Lake and found the clown lying in a familiar lounge chair.