Chapter Summaries

Fu Qian entered the White Tower Arena to compete in the tournament, intending to reach the final and kill Bai Jinting during the award ceremony. After Bai Jinting opened the event and read the rules, the competition was finally about to begin.

• A Priestess guided Fu Qian to a preparation room and offered him weapons and armor, but he chose only a lightweight white mask.
• Fu Qian noticed three other competitors in the room, including a nervous young man, a golden-haired young woman, and a competitor in ornate black armor.
• Bai Jinting descended into the arena in an iron-cage elevator and welcomed the crowd to the Ring Archipelago and the White Tower Arena.
• Fu Qian considered using the tournament to get close to Bai Jinting, gather evidence of his crimes, and kill him at the award ceremony.
• Bai Jinting delivered a lengthy speech and read the competition rules before the host announced the tournament's start.

Fu Qian dominated his first arena match and watched the spirited young man win one fight before dying in the next. In his second match, Fu Qian struck before the countdown ended and destroyed both his opponent and the referee, thrilling the crowd.

• Fu Qian defeated his armored opponent by stomping the arena and blasting him into a crater.
• The spirited young man narrowly won his first match, then was burned to death after a transcendent opponent mangled his arm.
• Fu Qian entered his second match and realized the rules did not forbid attacking before the countdown finished.
• Fu Qian stomped the arena, killing his opponent and the referee as the stands cheered.

Fu Qian defeated Veil in the third round after testing himself against her swordsmanship and dodging her hidden ice attack. He left the spectators silent with an icy glare after they complained that he had not destroyed another arena.

• Fu Qian returned to the preparation room after demolishing the arena, where Priestess and Veil greeted him.
• Veil defeated her transcendent opponent in under two minutes, displaying precise skill with two rapiers.
• Fu Qian and Veil were paired in the third round, and Fu Qian matched her speed to study her swordsmanship.
• Fu Qian evaded Veil's concealed icy attack, and Veil surrendered before the referee declared Fu Qian the winner.
• Fu Qian glared at the noisy spectators, and the section he watched fell silent.

After winning his matches, Fu Qian drew the attention of the powerful demigod Ebu and received a visit from Veil, who asked him to find her missing younger sister. Ji Ping then invited Fu Qian to join the Rebirth Club, giving him a possible source of information as he prepared for his next move.

• Fu Qian left the arena after his three matches and spotted Bai Jinting and the demigod Ebu in the stands, recognizing Ebu as a major threat to his mission.
• Veil visited Fu Qian in his room and asked him to search the archipelago for her missing younger sister.
• Veil gave Fu Qian her pendant to pass to her sister and asked him to convey that her family missed her.
• Ji Ping visited Fu Qian and invited him to join the Rebirth Club, leaving him a snake-shaped badge.
• Fu Qian decided he could use the club to gather information for his next move.

Fu Qian explored the Ring Archipelago with the Priestess and went to the Rebirth Club after learning its location. Inside the club, a centaur attacked him, but Fu Qian caught its spear and tore it from its grasp, prompting a woman's moan.

• The Priestess guided Fu Qian around the outskirts and explained the White Tower, the Limb-Grafting Laboratory, and the island's work opportunities.
• Fu Qian showed the Priestess the Rebirth Club emblem, and she directed him to the club on Island Five.
• Fu Qian entered the club, where dried corpses and a centaur filled a silent, decaying bar.
• The centaur attacked Fu Qian with its spear, but Fu Qian caught the spear between two fingers and wrenched it away.
• A woman's moan rang out as the centaur staggered back.

Fu Qian met Ji Ping and Jenny at the Rebirth Club, where Ji Ping invited him to join and explained the club’s approach to limb grafting. Fu Qian remained wary, suspecting the club had unusual access to the laboratory.

• Ji Ping welcomed Fu Qian and revealed that the illusion had been connected to the gray eyeball in his palm.
• Jenny appeared in her modified form, and Fu Qian returned her spear and commented on her appearance and grafting limits.
• Fu Qian asked why Ji Ping had invited him, and Ji Ping offered him membership in the Rebirth Club.
• Ji Ping explained that the club treated limb grafting as a path to new forms of life and promised members many choices and repeated attempts at fusion.
• Fu Qian dismissed Ji Ping’s claims inwardly but suspected the club had significant control over the laboratory.

Fu Qian rejected Ji Ping’s invitation to join the Rebirth Club, then waited through the tournament’s matches as Ebu watched him. The organizers sent him into a staged special bout against a Forbidden Crocodile Demon, leaving him facing the enormous beast in the arena.

• Fu Qian made Ji Ping wary by silently rejecting the Rebirth Club’s badge and leaving the bar, while Ji Ping told an elder he believed Fu Qian was not on Ebu’s side.
• Fu Qian returned to the tournament and decided he would not join the Rebirth Club, though he intended to make use of its influence.
• The host announced that Fu Qian had received byes in both rounds and would face a special opponent, while Ebu watched him from the stands.
• Bai Jinting selected Fu Qian’s opponent, and the staff dropped a huge box into the arena.
• The box burst open to reveal a giant Forbidden Crocodile Demon, which roared at Fu Qian.

Fu Qian defeated the Crocodile Monster in the rigged arena, then provoked Ebu into revealing his demigod power before Bai Jinting stopped him. Fu Qian returned to normal, satisfied that he had made his strength and willingness to challenge a demigod visible.

• The Crocodile Monster charged Fu Qian, whose Air Bullet barely damaged its tough hide.
• Fu Qian transformed into a giant, endured the strain on his Sanity Value, and slashed open the Crocodile Monster’s belly.
• Fu Qian dodged the monster’s attacks, pinned its jaws, and tore its head apart before raising part of it toward Bai Jinting’s box.
• Ebu summoned a storm of lightning that destroyed the Crocodile Monster and closed in around Fu Qian.
• Bai Jinting nodded to Ebu, who stopped the attack and sat back down, allowing Fu Qian to shrink to his normal size.
• Fu Qian was pleased that he had made a spectacle of the fight and shown he would stand against a demigod.

Fu Qian met Lu Ming, leader of the Rebirth Club, who showed him the limb-grafting laboratory and offered him a dangerous graft said to grant demigod power. There, Fu Qian discovered that the boatwoman was Veil’s sister and delivered her pendant, but she angrily rejected the message and provoked him.

• Lu Ming apologized for the Rebirth Club’s earlier conduct and demonstrated the power of his grafted reptilian arm.
• Lu Ming took Fu Qian to the laboratory’s storage room and complained about limits on how much of the body could be grafted.
• Lu Ming showed Fu Qian a writhing bundle of tentacles and offered it as a graft that might raise a Transcendent to demigod status.
• The boatwoman revealed her clawed graft, and Fu Qian recognized her as Veil’s sister from a photograph and pendant.
• Fu Qian relayed Veil’s message, but the woman rejected it, threw down the pendant, and angered Fu Qian.

Fu Qian met with Lu Ming of the Rebirth Club, learned about the club’s history and conflict with Ebu, and touched the mysterious tentacle they hoped he would fuse with. As Fu Qian left, he realized Ebu had been watching and had reacted to the marks the tentacle left on his hand.

• Fu Qian recognized that Lu Ming and the beast-claw woman had arranged for Veil’s younger sister to approach him, unnerving them with his displeasure.
• After the woman left, Fu Qian asked Lu Ming whether the Rebirth Club could help him fuse with the tentacle, and Lu Ming said the fusion might help him reach demigodhood.
• Fu Qian questioned Lu Ming about his conflict with Ebu, and Lu Ming explained that the club had helped build the Archipelago but had been increasingly constrained by Ebu’s opposition to grafting.
• Fu Qian touched the tentacle in its box, then pulled away when it crawled across his hand and began spreading toward his wrist.
• On his way back by boat, Fu Qian saw blue marks and sensed that Ebu had been watching him and reacted to the tentacle’s contact.

Fu Qian used the spreading corruption on his right arm to defeat the Black Knight in the semifinal and advance to the final. Ebu realized Fu Qian and the corruption had partially fused, but when she looked toward his waiting room, he had disappeared.

• The Priestess escorted Fu Qian to the White Tower, where the blue marks had spread up his arm and Ebu reacted with intensified hostility.
• Fu Qian faced the Black Knight in the semifinal, slipped past his shield, and kicked him from behind.
• The Black Knight discarded his shield and attacked with his greatsword, so Fu Qian unleashed tentacles from his right arm and smashed him into the arena's edge.
• Fu Qian advanced to the final and knocked the Priestess unconscious after she stared nervously at his corrupted arm.
• Ebu concluded that Fu Qian and the corruption had partially fused, then noticed that Fu Qian had vanished from the waiting room.

Fu Qian infiltrated the laboratory to take the bluish-purple tentacle, but Lu Ming and Kikuchi confronted him and revealed that they had planned to use him as an experimental subject. Fu Qian defeated them both, leaving Kikuchi beneath Lu Ming as something snake-like writhed inside Lu Ming’s abdomen.

• Fu Qian entered the laboratory in disguise and forced his way through its security doors to reach the tentacle’s storage box.
• Lu Ming trapped Fu Qian with ice and revealed that he and Kikuchi had been keeping watch on him as part of an experiment.
• Kikuchi and Lu Ming attacked Fu Qian with ice and Blasphemous Fire, but Fu Qian charged through their attacks and wounded Lu Ming with an Air Bullet.
• Fu Qian struck Lu Ming, shoved the bluish-purple tentacle into his abdominal cavity, and dragged him toward Kikuchi.
• Fu Qian wounded Kikuchi and slammed him into a wall, then threw Lu Ming onto him as Kikuchi tried to persuade Fu Qian to cooperate.
• Kikuchi noticed something snake-like moving inside Lu Ming’s abdominal cavity.

Fu Qian drove Lu Ming and Kikuchi into a monstrous fusion to draw Ebu away, then used the distraction to attack Bai Jinting at the White Tower. After crushing Bai Jinting, Fu Qian returned to the preparation room without receiving any message about success or failure.

• Lu Ming and Kikuchi fused into a mass of flesh, and Fu Qian used his whip to drive them into madness in the laboratory storeroom.
• Fu Qian escaped as the fused creatures burst aboveground and caused chaos, then concealed himself and waited for Ebu to arrive.
• Ebu appeared at the laboratory to confront the creatures, giving Fu Qian an opening to head for the White Tower.
• Fu Qian bypassed the White Tower’s defenses, reached Bai Jinting’s viewing stand, and crushed him underfoot.
• Fu Qian returned to the preparation room, where the Priestess remained unconscious and no success-or-failure message appeared.

Fu Qian discovered that the White Tower and the island had transformed into a nightmarish scene, with a colossal monster battling Ebu and guards mutating across the streets. He encountered Veil, who was trying to reach the Rebirth Club to find her sister, and asked where she planned to go.

• Fu Qian found Bai Jinting alive in his seat and knocked the Priestess unconscious after she began acting strangely.
• Fu Qian left the White Tower and saw a blood-red moon, gray-white mist, and Ebu fighting an enormous tentacled creature near the laboratory.
• Fu Qian spotted the beast-clawed girl among the creature's many heads and watched it swallow fleeing people before leaving the battle.
• Fu Qian met Veil on a bloodstained street and learned that guards had pursued her after she tried to sneak into the Rebirth Club to find her sister.
• Fu Qian discovered that the guards had mutated, then asked Veil where she had planned to go, and she answered that she was heading to the Rebirth Club.

Fu Qian reached the Rebirth Club with Veil, found its members transformed into a grotesque creature, then hurried to the White Tower after learning Old Man Ebu had destroyed the laboratory monster. He found the Tower overrun by beastified spectators and confronted Bai Jinting, who guessed Fu Qian had come to kill him again.

• Fu Qian led Veil to the Rebirth Club, where he killed the transformed creature and Veil identified Jenny’s hair among its heads.
• Fu Qian told Veil to hide, then rushed to the central island as Old Man Ebu finished killing the laboratory monster.
• Fu Qian claimed he had dealt with the contamination inside him and learned that Ebu could not explain the blood moon.
• Fu Qian went to the White Tower, fought through its transformed spectators, and reached Bai Jinting’s stand.
• Bai Jinting recognized Fu Qian and guessed that he had come to kill him again.

Fu Qian confronted Bai Jinting in a dreamlike version of the archipelago, where Bai explained how he founded it and gained a mysterious being’s protection. Bai claimed he could not be killed there, but Fu Qian attacked him again, leaving their confrontation unresolved.

• Bai Jinting calmly showed Fu Qian the bloody chaos below the White Tower and described founding the archipelago as a source of test subjects for human modification.
• Bai Jinting said he rejected the Rebirth Club’s offer of immortality after gaining the attention and protection of a great being, and that Ebu later helped him resolve problems.
• Fu Qian deduced that they were in a special dream after his attempt to spread a dream failed.
• Bai Jinting claimed that killing him would return Fu Qian to the same moment and that neither killing him nor escaping the dream would work.
• Fu Qian fired Air Bullets at Bai Jinting, blowing him to pieces again.

Fu Qian repeatedly killed Bai Jinting in the repeating death dream until Bai Jinting died for good, but the dream continued and the great being's attention shifted to Fu Qian. Fu Qian suspected he had become the new King of the White Tower and rode the cage-like elevator toward its summit.

• Fu Qian repeatedly returned to the fight and killed Bai Jinting, counting each death as the nightmare reset.
• After dozens of deaths, Bai Jinting tried to escape, but Fu Qian explained he would kill him 999 times to test the limits of his protection.
• Fu Qian killed Bai Jinting 138 times, and the dream finally stopped resetting, leaving Bai Jinting dead.
• A mysterious presence focused on Fu Qian and connected him to the dream, leading him to wonder whether he had become the new King of the White Tower.
• Fu Qian rejected suicide as too risky and rode the cage-like elevator toward the top of the White Tower.

Fu Qian altered the White Tower Codex and destroyed the dream’s defining symbol, completing the containment mission and escaping Ebu’s attack. The Warehouse confirmed his success and awarded him Mythical Form and Transcendence.

• Fu Qian found Bai Jinting’s office in disarray, where a mass of snake-women rampaged around the indestructible White Tower Codex.
• Fu Qian reasoned that the Codex’s rules had shaped the Ring Archipelago and attracted the being behind the dream.
• Fu Qian added a rule making the White Tower Company solely responsible for interpreting the Codex, causing the dream to shatter.
• The mission completed as Fu Qian returned to the stands among the dead, and Ebu attacked him after discovering Bai Jinting’s death.
• Fu Qian vanished to the Warehouse, where the mission evaluation confirmed the King of the White Tower had lost his special power and granted Fu Qian rewards.

After completing his mission, Fu Qian examined two new skills and found a sinister crown in the Warehouse. He ran into Pei Yanqing and He Xian at a supermarket, grew suspicious of their coincidental meeting, and intervened when a young man passed them.

• Fu Qian collected the Transcendence and Mythical Form skills, weighing their strategic uses and costs.
• Fu Qian found the black-and-red crown stored as 2-088 in the Warehouse.
• Fu Qian met Pei Yanqing and her roommate He Xian while shopping, and Pei Yanqing thanked him for bringing her back.
• Fu Qian suspected Pei Yanqing had been drawn to the supermarket without realizing it and wondered whether his presence was affecting the world.
• Fu Qian threw a pack of cola at a young man passing the women, knocking him down before he sprang up and ran away.

Fu Qian used Law Remnants to incapacitate five young men who ambushed him, then learned the next day that the incident had been reported as a mysterious flash of light. At work, he received a new containment assignment in Shangjing: find the stolen Blood of Thorns before the Night Watchers do.

• Fu Qian noticed the would-be phone thief’s group following him and let them lead him to an abandoned bridge.
• Five men surrounded Fu Qian, and the man in the white coat taunted him before they attacked.
• Fu Qian activated Law Remnants, flooding the bridge with brilliant light and leaving all five men dazed.
• Fu Qian left by another route, and the next day he read that the five witnesses had been found mumbling, “So bright!”
• Fu Qian began his workday and received an assignment to enter Shangjing’s Containment Scene and find the stolen Blood of Thorns before the Night Watchers.