Chapter Summaries

Fu Qian disguised himself as Zha Yingjun and used his invitation to attend an elite art salon, where he began making connections. He left Jose’s attempt to discuss art hanging by revealing that he was not interested.

• Fu Qian tied up the unconscious Zha Yingjun, changed his appearance and clothes, and took the invitation from his home.
• Fu Qian considered the Night Watchers’ efforts to maintain social stability and the possibility that ancient gods were returning.
• Fu Qian presented Zha Yingjun’s invitation at a secluded villa and entered the art salon, where the guests noticed he seemed unfamiliar with the crowd.
• Julie greeted Fu Qian warmly and offered to introduce him to her friends, and he agreed.
• Jose introduced himself and praised Fu Qian’s supposed interest in art, but Fu Qian replied that he was not interested.

At the salon, Fu Qian claimed the strange blue moon was supernatural and linked it to the Blood Clan Progenitor, provoking the guests. Selena took him upstairs, where he revealed that he recognized her as a figure from history.

• Jose challenged Fu Qian about attending an art salon despite his lack of interest in art, and Fu Qian said he was interested in history and astronomy.
• Jose asked Fu Qian to explain the strange pale blue Dark Moon, and Fu Qian claimed a moon-associated deity had briefly obscured the sun with Supernatural Power.
• Fu Qian declared that he was a transcendent and identified the Blood Clan Progenitor as being symbolized by the moon, startling the guests.
• Selena appeared, asked Fu Qian to rest upstairs, and led him away while Julie stayed behind.
• In the upstairs room, Selena questioned why Fu Qian was unsurprised to see her, and he answered that she was history herself.

Fu Qian questioned Selena about the Blood Clan and its Progenitor, Annalise, then offered her the Abyss Notebook to help investigate whatever was troubling her. Selena began using it while Fu Qian faced away.

• Selena said she had come to the salon and hinted that the Gulad family was plotting something amid internal disagreement.
• Fu Qian revealed the Abyss Notebook and asked Selena about the Blood Clan's history and beliefs.
• Selena confirmed that the Blood Clan revered only its Progenitor, whose name was Annalise, and that the moon was her symbol.
• Fu Qian asked whether Annalise had fallen silent during the Long Night, but Selena ended the questions without answering.
• Fu Qian suggested Selena study more and offered her the notebook and a pen, promising not to peek.
• Selena hesitated, then began using the notebook as Fu Qian turned toward the wall.

Fu Qian discovered that Selena’s notebook confirmed the Blood Clan Progenitor Annalise had perished, then left the salon after drawing the host and guests’ attention. He returned Zha Yingjun home and ended Clear Dream, wondering at the strength of Zha Yingjun’s attachment.

• Fu Qian saw Selena write that Annalise had truly perished, and Selena confirmed that recent events had made her question the accepted belief.
• Selena returned Fu Qian’s notebook, then left the salon while the host and guests watched her cautiously.
• Fu Qian left the salon and returned to Zha Yingjun’s apartment, where Zha Yingjun was still bound and unconscious.
• Fu Qian adjusted his appearance, freed Zha Yingjun, and woke him with a snap of his fingers.
• Zha Yingjun went home while struggling with a powerful urge to doubt his decision, then heard a snap that made the world feel real again.
• Fu Qian ended Clear Dream and wondered whether Zha Yingjun’s attachment was unusually strong.

Fu Qian inspected the bookstore after Zha Yingjun’s dream became unstable and found Su Gao calmly managing a crowd of admirers. After Yuan Shan returned with news about the Gulad family’s business, she revealed that the city administrator had rejected a proposal for a potion called Night of Nights.

• Fu Qian left Zha Yingjun after the man’s emotions settled and went to inspect the bookstore.
• Fu Qian found more than ten customers gathered around Su Gao, praised her despite her selling no books, and closed the store early.
• Yuan Shan arrived and told Fu Qian that the Gulad family had targeted Gan Zuoxun after the new city administrator rejected one of their proposals.
• Yuan Shan explained that Night of Nights was a supernatural potion that boosted male sexual performance and required regional sales permits.
• Fu Qian compared Night of Nights’ regulatory situation to Quicksilver Storm in Dunis, prompting Yuan Shan to react tensely.

Fu Qian, Yuan Shan, and Su Gao concluded that the Gulad family changed its plan after Fu Qian desecrated the sun, possibly in response to a dark moon linked to Annalise. With reinforcements still delayed, Fu Qian suggested killing Embo.

• Yuan Shan asked why the Gulad family's business conflict with Gan Zuoxun could have led Embo to Shangjing, and Fu Qian pointed her toward Su Gao for an opinion.
• Su Gao reasoned that the celestial phenomenon Fu Qian caused had forced the Gulad family to change its original plan.
• Fu Qian agreed, and Yuan Shan concluded that the family had altered its methods rather than abandoned its goal.
• Fu Qian brought up Annalise, explaining that the dark moon appearing during both celestial phenomena might have affected the Gulad family.
• Yuan Shan worried that the family might have received a revelation from Annalise and asked Fu Qian what they should do; he suggested killing Embo.

Fu Qian gave Yuan Shan three strategies for dealing with Gulad, and she chose to make the group believe she would kill someone rather than wait for reinforcements or kill Embo outright. Yuan Shan took Fu Qian and Su Gao to dinner at Grantham’s residence, where the Gulad representative welcomed them.

• Fu Qian advised Yuan Shan that she could kill Embo, bluff Gulad into believing she would kill someone, or wait for reinforcements; Yuan Shan chose the bluff.
• Fu Qian told Su Gao that Embo was likely involved because Gulad’s highly hierarchical group had taken such a risky action.
• Fu Qian reasoned that his notebook had crossed eras and that Annalise had existed, then decided he would not return the notebook.
• Yuan Shan drove Fu Qian and Su Gao to Grantham’s private residence in Shangjing for dinner and noted that Gulad’s people were scattered nearby.
• Grantham greeted Yuan Shan, Fu Qian, and Su Gao, then invited them inside.

Yuan Shan confronted Grantham over Shangjing’s unrest and announced that she would visit Embo the following night, while Fu Qian and Su Gao silently reinforced the pressure. After dinner, Fu Qian argued that the deadline could divide the Gullard Family and give its dissenters time to act, as the dark red night sky hinted that trouble was coming.

• Yuan Shan asked Grantham whether Embo had arrived in Shangjing and said she would visit him herself the next night.
• Yuan Shan urged the Gullard Family to help protect Shangjing, and Grantham promised that the family would do its part.
• Fu Qian agreed with Grantham, while Su Gao’s silence added to the pressure at dinner.
• After dinner, Yuan Shan said Grantham was stubbornly protecting his family’s interests and doubted that her strategy had worked.
• Fu Qian explained that the deadline could expose divisions within the Gullard Family and give its dissenters influence.
• Fu Qian watched the dark red sky and predicted that the night could become lively.

Fu Qian warned Yuan Shan that Grantham might help Embo attempt his advancement that night, despite the Night Watchers’ threat. As they drove, Su Gao noticed something strange about a supposedly drunk man, who suddenly composed himself with eerie precision.

• Fu Qian told Yuan Shan that Su Gao’s silent presence had strengthened their threat to Grantham, and Yuan Shan sincerely thanked her.
• Fu Qian explained that Grantham might encourage Embo to make one last attempt at advancing to the Second Order, especially on the full moon.
• Yuan Shan admitted she had positioned some people but lacked time and reinforcements to prepare properly.
• Su Gao noticed something unusual on the street, and Yuan Shan and Fu Qian saw a man abruptly lose all signs of drunkenness and carefully straighten his clothes.

Yuan Shan, Su Gao, and Fu Qian discovered that an elegant ordinary man had been affected after taking an extraordinary drug called Night of Nights. They headed to find Embo, while Fu Qian wondered whether the drug had caused the abnormality or merely triggered it.

• Yuan Shan pulled the strangely composed man from his car and used her demigod pressure to question him, but he continued behaving elegantly and tried to kiss her hand.
• Su Gao confirmed that the man was an ordinary person, and Fu Qian deduced that he had taken an extraordinary drug to keep up with a life of excess.
• The man admitted taking Night of Nights, and Fu Qian told Yuan Shan to leave him and drive them to Embo.
• Yuan Shan condemned Gulad and his people for illegally using an ordinary person, while Fu Qian explained that he recognized the drug's effects from an earlier experience.
• Yuan Shan realized the drug had spread among a small circle, and Fu Qian questioned whether the abnormality had triggered a reaction to it or the drug had caused the abnormality.

Yuan Shan, Fu Qian, and Grantham investigated the silent, graceful pedestrians filling the vampire district as Grantham confessed that illegally distributed supernatural potions had caused their full-moon transformation. Yuan Shan suspected Grantham was concealing a more dangerous plot involving Embo, and the group set out to follow the pedestrians toward the source of the abnormality.

• Yuan Shan drove Fu Qian and another companion back to the vampire district, where silent pedestrians walked with unnatural elegance.
• Yuan Shan confronted Grantham outside Grantham Manor, and he admitted that the Gullard Family had illegally distributed supernatural potions that affected people during the full moon.
• Yuan Shan realized Grantham was using the potion incident to deflect suspicion from a possible Promotion Ritual and asked where Embo was.
• Grantham claimed Embo had not responded and explained that the affected civilians had gained a vampire-like connection to the full moon that might fade by sunrise.
• Yuan Shan agreed to follow the pedestrians with Grantham to find the source of the abnormality.

Yuan Shan, Fu Qian, and Grantham followed the crowd to Embo’s empty villa, where Fu Qian questioned Grantham about the crimson moon and the Blood Clan Progenitor. They watched people’s dark impulses spread through the area as the moonlight intensified, leaving Fu Qian to wonder if this was the true Night of Nights.

• Yuan Shan ordered Grantham to abandon the car and follow the crowd toward Embo’s home.
• Yuan Shan, Fu Qian, and Grantham found Embo’s villa empty, with a silent crowd gathering nearby under the crimson moon.
• Fu Qian asked Grantham about the moon’s color and whether its unusual state could be connected to the Blood Clan Progenitor.
• Fu Qian pointed out a young man crawling on all fours, rubbing against another person, and cutting his face until blood poured out.
• Yuan Shan confronted Grantham about the harm, while Fu Qian observed more people crawling and described their dark desires as flowing through the area.

Fu Qian, Yuan Shan, and Grantham confronted a crowd overwhelmed by dark desires during the Night of Nights, and the blood-red moon intensified the disturbance. Fu Qian discovered another presence in the darkness, leaving its nature and the danger to the crowd unresolved.

• Fu Qian described the crowd’s chaotic behavior as dark desires flowing between people, while Grantham argued that the full moon was amplifying their darker sides.
• Yuan Shan used Dimensional Strike to immobilize the afflicted crowd and demanded that Grantham explain how to stop the disturbance.
• Grantham said they could only contain the crowd until the full moon passed and claimed that Embo might know more, though Embo was missing.
• The moon turned blood-red, the darkness surged, and a person tore open their own throat while appearing delighted.
• A winged Intermediate Tier figure arrived but went mad and was thrown back before reaching anyone.
• Fu Qian tore a patch of darkness from the air and told Yuan Shan and Grantham that something else was present.

Fu Qian and Yuan Shan fought the strange shadows linked to the blood-red moon while Grantham struggled to control the mutating vampires. Fu Qian used the Law Remnants to purify the dark dregs, revealing a monstrous figure that claimed to be the one he was seeking.

• Fu Qian identified multiple strange projections connected to the blood-red moon, and Yuan Shan released her restraints to face them.
• Grantham used phantom bats to restrain the frenzied people, then killed a mutated vampire when it attacked again.
• Su Demigod cut down a shadow, while Yuan Shan and Fu Qian concluded the projections depended on a connection sustained by flowing dark dregs.
• Fu Qian proposed purifying the dregs, and Grantham admitted he did not know how to break the powerful connection.
• Fu Qian activated the Law Remnants, melting the dark tide until it condensed into a towering monster that claimed to be the one he was looking for.
• Fu Qian interrupted the monster and identified it as capital.

Embo subdued the people affected by the red moonlight, welcomed Yuan Shan, Fu Qian, and Su Gao into his estate, and explained that his advancement had made him Gulad’s divine envoy. As Yuan Shan weighed how to respond to Gulad’s violations, Fu Qian asked Embo what the Ancestor had revealed to him.

• Embo absorbed the dregs of the Law Remnants and confined the red moonlight to the estate, leaving the affected people asleep and recovering.
• Embo invited Yuan Shan, Fu Qian, and Su Gao inside and revealed that he had become a divine envoy of Gulad.
• Yuan Shan demanded an explanation, while Embo described the night’s events and admitted Gulad had mishandled illicit drugs.
• Grantham acknowledged Gulad’s management failures and backed Embo, whose new rank had united the clan behind him.
• Yuan Shan considered whether to punish Gulad, and Fu Qian interrupted to ask Embo what the Ancestor had told him.

Fu Qian provoked Embo by asking whether the Blood Clan Progenitor had told him to come to Mom, then realized he alone had heard the Progenitor’s gentle voice. As Embo unleashed his Mythical Form and Red Moon power, Selena was forced out of hiding and appeared under the crushing pressure.

• Embo refused to reveal the Progenitor’s message, and Fu Qian asked whether it had been “Come to Mom.”
• Embo transformed into his Mythical Form, declared Fu Qian an enemy of the Blood Clan, and threatened him for blaspheming the Progenitor.
• Fu Qian recalled hearing the Progenitor whisper to him and realized no one else had heard the same words or lost Sanity Value.
• Embo rose and unleashed the Red Moon’s power, causing everything ordinary in the room to rapidly decline and forcing Yuan Shan, Su Gao, and Grantham to struggle against the pressure.
• Selena emerged from the shadows after the Progenitor-like aura disrupted her concealment, and Embo addressed her by name.

Embo trapped the group in a warped space and gravely wounded Selena, then offered the Gullard Family’s sacrifice of two demigods as a reason for the Night Watchers to overlook his rise to divine envoy. As Yuan Shan weighed whether to accept, Fu Qian began outlining three possible strategies.

• Selena defied Embo and accused him of relying on her talent because he lacked the ability to lead the Gullard Family himself.
• Embo warped the surrounding space with moonlight and declared that the family’s future was before them.
• Embo attacked Selena with moonlight needles, piercing her wings and gravely wounding her.
• Embo offered two demigods in exchange for his advancement to divine envoy, and Grantham confirmed that every Gullard Family member accepted the outcome.
• Yuan Shan considered whether to accept Embo’s offer and looked to Fu Qian for advice.
• Fu Qian cleared his throat and said there were three strategies: the best, the middle, and the worst.

Fu Qian laid out three strategies for dealing with Embo, and Yuan Shan chose to reject his proposal and fight. Embo’s claim that he first received the Progenitor’s revelation one month earlier reminded Fu Qian of the day he first synchronized with Shangjing.

• Fu Qian explained that the worst strategy was to attack Embo, the middle strategy was to accept his proposal to sacrifice Selena, and the best strategy was to consult the Night Watchers’ superiors while protecting the public.
• Fu Qian warned that Embo would likely escape if the Night Watchers accepted his proposal and later became strong enough to kill him without risk.
• Selena questioned Embo’s claim that the Progenitor had acknowledged him, but Embo insisted that he had received revelations and authority from the Progenitor.
• Fu Qian asked Embo when he first received the revelation, and Embo answered that it was a month ago on the full moon.
• Yuan Shan chose the worst strategy, and Fu Qian realized that Embo’s first revelation had occurred on the day he synchronized with Shangjing.

Yuan Shan attacked Embo and trapped him inside a protective cocoon, but Embo countered her attacks and tried to kill the wounded Selena before Su Gao intervened. As Embo faced Su Gao and dismissed the others’ chances, Fu Qian announced he was adding unknown variables to the outcome.

• Yuan Shan refused Embo’s proposal and enclosed the room in a cocoon, then attacked him with illusory spears.
• Embo evaded Yuan Shan’s first strike, caught and broke one of her spears, and explained that his power had changed how he understood strength.
• Embo attacked the wounded Selena, but Su Gao blocked him with her curved sword and injured his wing.
• Embo praised Su Gao’s perception and combat ability, then told her and Yuan Shan to give up because the outcome was decided.
• Fu Qian answered Embo that he was adding unknown variables to the predetermined outcome.

Fu Qian answered the Red Moon’s call and glimpsed a possible connection between it and Hamadus before the entity told him not to lose himself in lies. The Red Moon’s power over Embo then vanished, letting Su Gao and Yuan Shan capture him.

• Fu Qian decided to answer the Red Moon’s call, hoping to learn about the Blood Clan Progenitor and take control of the situation.
• The Red Moon appeared before Fu Qian, called him its child, and told him not to lose himself in lies before disappearing.
• Fu Qian noticed the Red Moon’s markings reminded him of Hamadus and realized the Red Moon had withdrawn the power it lent Embo.
• Embo tried to escape through Yuan Shan’s barrier, but Su Gao struck him down and Yuan Shan trapped him.
• Fu Qian told Yuan Shan that his backup duty was done without explaining what had happened.