Chapter Summaries

After completing The Shepherd God's Prisoner, Fu Qian reviewed the mission summary and event recap, learning how the Holy Grail had used him to counter the Pure White Angel. He left the recap wondering what had made the Angel target him sooner than expected.

• Fu Qian received a mission summary explaining Lawrence's research, the Pure White Angel, and the Holy Grail's attempt to avoid a catastrophe.
• Fu Qian received Sanity Value and Blind Sight as rewards, then chose to review the event recap.
• Fu Qian saw that Snake Foot's flesh-and-blood backlash and the team's carefully selected abilities had helped the Holy Grail's plan misdirect Scrooge and the others.
• Fu Qian learned that the Holy Grail had used him as a second layer of insurance, and that he had killed the Sage after the Sage briefly cheated death.
• Fu Qian realized the Pure White Angel had killed him earlier than in the previous events and suspected that his role had accelerated the Holy Grail's awakening.

After completing the Holy Grail mission, Fu Qian examined his reward, Blind Sight, an eyeball that made him unobservable and could draw him into a perilous, god-proof drunkenness. He began to suspect that wealthy women were converging around him and activated the mark on his wrist to investigate.

• Fu Qian concluded that his presence had helped the Holy Grail evade the Pure White Angel, though the Warehouse had captured the Grail when it tried to erase itself.
• Fu Qian received Blind Sight, a special item that made him unobservable when worn and could send him into an irreversible drunkenness if shattered.
• Fu Qian attached Blind Sight to his left eye and considered its risks and potential usefulness against gods.
• Fu Qian reasoned that the Pure White Angel had targeted the Holy Grail because their conflicting authorities threatened one another.
• Fu Qian prepared to send Liu Shuang a Weaver's Limb Tip as compensation for her broken sword, then wondered whether wealthy women were mysteriously converging around him.
• Fu Qian set down his belongings and activated the mark on his wrist.

Fu Qian reconsidered Lady Xixi’s inheritance and contacted her through a supernatural connection after deciding not to use her business card. When she asked him to turn back time because she had gotten up too late to change before sunrise, he used Clear Dream to create darkness in her room.

• Fu Qian suspected that Lady Xixi’s inheritance and Liu Shuang’s circumstances might be connected to the world’s supernatural legacies.
• Fu Qian returned to his living room, found Lady Xixi’s business card, and chose to contact her through the voice in his consciousness instead.
• Fu Qian saw Lady Xixi in her cramped, lavish private room as she watched the sunrise and explained that she had gotten up too late to finish changing.
• Fu Qian activated Clear Dream remotely and drew Lady Xixi into a dream while maintaining their connection.
• Fu Qian darkened the dream’s sky with clouds, plunging Lady Xixi’s room into darkness.

Fu Qian helped Lady Xixi confront her suspicion that she was an actress, then toured the Gatsby estate and discovered her fascination with weapons. The chapter ended as Lady Xixi showed him a lifelike bronze helmet she feared and asked him to guess what made it special.

• Lady Xixi thanked Fu Qian after accepting that her suspicions were true, and Fu Qian guided her to draw the curtains and change clothes.
• Fu Qian ended Clear Dream, and Lady Xixi recovered and invited him to tour her estate and collection.
• Fu Qian explored the extravagant Gatsby estate with Lady Xixi and found no supernatural aura in its grounds.
• Lady Xixi showed Fu Qian a collection room filled with armor and weapons, revealing her interest in them as she handled a battle-axe.
• Lady Xixi showed Fu Qian a lifelike bronze helmet she had feared since childhood and asked him what made it special.

Fu Qian watched Lady Xixi put on the Human-faced Helmet, which was actually called the Bronze Lady, and heard the supernatural murmurs it carried. After the frightening experience, Lady Xixi offered Fu Qian a reward, and he asked for the Bronze Lady as he put his research expedition on hold.

• Lady Xixi explained the Bronze Lady’s rumored power, then put it on her head without hesitation and froze in the dark.
• Fu Qian heard chaotic, supernatural muttering through Lady Xixi and told her to take off the helmet before it harmed her mind.
• Lady Xixi removed the helmet in a panic, scratched her face, and ended the tour to tend to her injury.
• Lady Xixi messaged Fu Qian to offer payment or a collectible, and Fu Qian asked for the Bronze Lady.
• Lady Xixi agreed to have the Bronze Lady delivered before the day after tomorrow, and Fu Qian decided to rest at home instead of continuing his research expedition.

Fu Qian met Qin Mingze, Tan Ying, Pei Yanqing, and Wu Qingyu for dinner, where they teased him about his new private-consultant work and discussed Lady Xixi’s condition. He noticed that Tan Ying’s bracelet was now on Pei Yanqing’s wrist and privately treated the discovery as a test of her unusual traits.

• Fu Qian joined the group and explained that he had spent the day resting after listening to his neighbor Grandma Liu lecture him.
• Qin Mingze and Tan Ying teased Fu Qian about his odd social circle, while Tan Ying and Qin Mingze described their tiring trip to an art exhibition.
• Qin Mingze asked about Fu Qian’s new client, and Fu Qian clarified that he was counseling Lady Xixi.
• Tan Ying asked whether Lady Xixi had improved, and Fu Qian said her condition had worsened after the previous night’s treatment.
• Tan Ying revealed that her bracelet was on Pei Yanqing’s wrist, and Fu Qian privately noted that he had been testing Pei Yanqing’s unusual trait.

Fu Qian considered whether the bracelet he had tainted with demigod blood had affected Pei Yanqing and whether Supernatural Items were somehow drawn to him. Lady Xixi contacted him to deliver her payment, and Fu Qian invited her to join the gathering.

• Tan Ying explained that she had lent Pei Yanqing the bracelet because wearing it made her feel calmer and more at ease.
• Fu Qian wondered whether Pei Yanqing's exposure to his Law Remnants made her distinct to Supernatural Items and whether a Law of Convergence drew such items toward him.
• Lady Xixi messaged Fu Qian to arrange the payment and said she could wait while he made his way there.
• Fu Qian called Lady Xixi, who thanked him and described the collectible as one of her most precious possessions.
• Fu Qian told the group that Lady Xixi had returned to pay him and invited her to join them, leaving everyone surprised.

Lady Xixi joined Fu Qian, Tan Ying, and Qin Mingze for dinner, where conversation shifted from art to the fate of Director Xu and his son. When Lady Xixi asked whether Fu Qian had caused their downfall, he admitted it and described his role in bizarre terms, which she enthusiastically praised.

• Lady Xixi arrived at the dinner and joined Tan Ying, Fu Qian, and the others, then discussed art and her broad knowledge of it.
• Qin Mingze told Fu Qian that Director Xu had apparently gone to keep his son company after both men suffered disastrous fates.
• Fu Qian claimed Director Xu had needed psychological counseling and described the father and son as having completed their family tradition.
• Lady Xixi directly asked Fu Qian whether he had caused what happened to the Xu family, and he admitted that he had.
• Fu Qian described using Heavenly Light Manifestation and watching someone sink into the Negation of Negation, and Lady Xixi applauded him.

Fu Qian accepted a suitcase of money from Lady Xixi after openly claiming responsibility for what happened to the Xu father and son. Lady Xixi decided to stay in Lin City and observe what he did with the Bronze Lady, while the others tried to make sense of Fu Qian’s strange behavior.

• Lady Xixi paid Fu Qian a large consulting fee, and he accepted the suitcase without inspecting it.
• Fu Qian told the others to make money by standing where the money was, prompting Young Master Qin and Little Yu to praise his unconventional advice.
• Tan Ying offered to arrange a place for Lady Xixi to stay, and Lady Xixi chose to remain in Lin City for a few days.
• Lady Xixi asked Fu Qian whether she could see what he did with the Bronze Lady, and he welcomed her to stay.
• Tan Ying suggested Fu Qian had pretended to share Lady Xixi’s outlook as a form of counseling, but Fu Qian insisted he stood by his actions against the Xu father and son.
• Wu Qingyu warned Fu Qian not to get himself killed over making money.

Fu Qian put on the Bronze Lady helmet and entered a supernatural vision of a ruined palace courtyard. He found headless bronze figures and rows of kneeling statues, then wondered whether an evil god or its offspring waited in the direction they faced.

• Fu Qian examined the Bronze Lady helmet at home and put it on, triggering its supernatural effect.
• The helmet enveloped Fu Qian’s head, and a sobbing voice muttered, “It fell off... Grow another one...”
• Fu Qian found himself in a barren courtyard facing three headless bronze statues dressed like noblewomen.
• Fu Qian climbed onto a platform and saw hundreds of faceless, deformed statues kneeling along a palace-style corridor.
• Fu Qian recognized the statues’ pose from the mollusks in Old Town and suspected an evil god or its offspring lay ahead.

Fu Qian found Lady Xixi among the Bronze Ladies and realized she had been drawn into the strange place as well. After she recovered from her surprise, she insisted on joining him to find the Bronze Ladies’ leader, partly because she had wanted to visit him.

• Fu Qian found Lady Xixi kneeling among the statues in a palace-like hall and helped her stand.
• Lady Xixi recognized Fu Qian and said she had thought the strange place was a dream.
• Fu Qian suspected Lady Xixi had been brought there because her blood had touched his helmet.
• Lady Xixi realized the figures were Bronze Ladies rather than statues, while Fu Qian said he intended to find their leader.
• Lady Xixi asked to accompany Fu Qian and admitted that visiting him had been part of her reason for coming.

Fu Qian and Lady Xixi explored the Bronze Lady’s ornate building while Lady Xixi recounted a childhood experience of repeating days and a hand that remained injured. Their conversation ended when Fu Qian spotted something interesting ahead.

• Fu Qian and Lady Xixi walked through the building, admiring its unfamiliar royal-style architecture and passing rows of kneeling figures.
• Lady Xixi asked what they planned to do, and Fu Qian said they were going to make trouble.
• Lady Xixi described seeing two versions of her mother during a thunderstorm, then experiencing three identical days in which nobody responded to her.
• Lady Xixi said she cut off her hand with a hand axe on the third day, but the wound persisted afterward and the axe had disappeared.
• Lady Xixi explained that she had never told the story outright before and had shared it to make the trip more interesting.
• Fu Qian stopped and pointed out that something interesting had arrived ahead.

Fu Qian and Lady Xixi investigated the hall’s bizarre remains and discovered a gigantic flesh-and-blood brain above the ceiling. Fu Qian proposed that it had grown from a human brain, then revealed movement beneath its cortex as he considered where the escaped head had gone.

• A lump of flesh fell through the hall ceiling, screamed, and fled around a corner, and Fu Qian identified it as the missing head.
• Lady Xixi and Fu Qian went up to a platform and found a colossal brain among gilded pillars.
• Fu Qian pointed out a crushed bronze-colored body beneath the brain and suggested that an expanding head had burst open and released it.
• Lady Xixi asked where the escaped head had gone, and Fu Qian revealed countless bumps moving beneath the brain’s cortex.

Fu Qian and Lady Xixi found the source of the illusion: a giant brain surrounded by severed heads trying to burrow inside it. Suspecting the brain held a hidden secret that required mental abilities to retrieve, Fu Qian used his Gospel Blast, leaving the illusion's fate uncertain.

• Fu Qian explained that the lumps of flesh were alive, and Lady Xixi watched as they burst out of the giant brain and tried to crawl back inside.
• Lady Xixi returned after retching and asked what the grotesque spectacle represented, and Fu Qian described it as a desire for profound communication.
• Fu Qian concluded that the giant brain was the illusion's core and that something alluring was hidden inside it, but worried that brute force might destroy the fragile illusion.
• Fu Qian realized the screams might contain a clue requiring mental abilities, then recalled his unused Gospel Blast reward.
• Fu Qian invoked Gospel Blast against the giant brain with a thunderous shout.

Fu Qian stabilized the illusion by unleashing the Gospel Blast, which solidified the enormous brain and surrounding flesh and allowed him to retrieve a bronze circlet from inside. Lady Xixi treated the revelations as part of a staged production, and Fu Qian asked how she felt now that she had seen through the supposed conspiracy.

• Fu Qian used the Gospel Blast to quiet the brain and flesh masses, which solidified like the headless corpses and stabilized the illusion.
• Lady Xixi examined the brain and briefly appeared to question her past experiences, but then insisted the events were a setup by the production crew.
• Fu Qian reached into the solidified brain and pulled out a bronze circlet that he recognized as a Supernatural Item.
• Lady Xixi guessed that she was meant to wear the circlet, but Fu Qian told her she could not.
• Fu Qian held the circlet near his head and asked Lady Xixi how she felt after seeing through the conspiracy.

Fu Qian persuaded Lady Xixi to stop obsessing over uncovering the truth and sent her out of the illusion. He tested the Bronze Headband, suspected it required a bloodline connected to Senior Ji Feng, and planned to stay long enough to show Liu Shuang around the laboratory; the next day, Xixi visited him with Tan Ying, seeming refreshed and changed.

• Fu Qian told Lady Xixi that she could keep the truth of her beliefs to herself and gain an advantage by leaving the guessing to her imagined audience, then ended the illusion.
• Fu Qian found the Bronze Headband did not accept him as a candidate and suspected it required a special bloodline, possibly one connected to Senior Ji Feng and the Ji Clan.
• Fu Qian decided to stay for a few more days and show Liu Shuang around the laboratory, reasoning that the headband might be activated by someone with the right bloodline.
• The next morning, Xixi arrived at Fu Qian's home with Tan Ying and said she had found him mostly by following a feeling.
• Xixi told Fu Qian he could call her Xixi, and Fu Qian noticed she seemed different from the day before.

Lady Xixi visited Fu Qian before leaving, and he later entered Containment Scene 2-002 after receiving a warning about the Oath Dragon. The mission required him to keep the Oathbreaker alive until dawn, and he found himself beside a headless corpse in a wasteland shop.

• Lady Xixi visited Fu Qian, said she was leaving that day, and joined him for lunch with Tan Ying.
• Fu Qian saw Lady Xixi off at the airport, then put on the Bronze Headband and activated the mark on his wrist.
• Fu Qian entered Containment Scene 2-002 and chose to bring support items instead of his weapons.
• Fu Qian arrived at a shop in the wasteland, where the mission required him to ensure the Oathbreaker survived until dawn.
• Fu Qian noticed a headless corpse lying at his feet as his senses returned.

Fu Qian arrived at the legendary little inn disguised as Ji Ping, after discovering a headless corpse in a guest room. He joined the gathered hunters to identify the Oathbreaker, accepting an invitation from Gerard of the Siren Group.

• Fu Qian found a freshly killed, headless body in a guest room as two people hurried toward it.
• Fu Qian used Blood Conquest to slip past the investigators and enter the inn’s main gathering place.
• The golden-haired proprietress told Fu Qian that lodging was free and warned him to watch the people around him.
• Gerard invited Fu Qian to sit with his group, and Fu Qian recognized him as a member of the Siren Group who owed him money.

Fu Qian entered Dragon Peak Inn under the name Lu Ming and faced questioning from Gerard, who suspected him and demanded to see his concealed right hand. Just as Fu Qian opened his fist, two people burst through the back door announcing that something had happened, and Fu Qian claimed that someone would bleed after all.

• Fu Qian accepted Gerard’s invitation to sit with his group and introduced himself as Lu Ming.
• Gerard questioned Fu Qian about his purpose and his hidden right hand, while Fu Qian claimed he was maintaining world peace and said his right hand made people bleed.
• Gerard’s companion prepared a black iron glove, and Gerard challenged Fu Qian to show his hand.
• Fu Qian slowly placed his clenched fist on the table and began to open it under the inn’s watchful eyes.
• Two figures rushed through the back door shouting that something had happened, and Fu Qian clenched his fist again and told Gerard that someone would bleed.

Fu Qian used his knowledge of the recent murder to provoke Gerard and became a suspect when the Siren messengers reported finding a dead scout. After trading accusations with Amir of the Ji Clan, Fu Qian refused to explain himself and sat beside Lady Nora and Old Man Tir, where the innkeeper tossed him a bottle of wine.

• Fu Qian had been monitoring the area and predicted the Siren messengers' return after they discovered their murdered scout.
• The messengers reported that the victim had been attacked from behind and beheaded, and Gerard decided Fu Qian was unlikely to have committed the killing.
• Amir urged Gerard to interrogate Fu Qian, while Gerard and Amir exchanged accusations about the Siren and Ji Clan deaths from the previous year.
• Gerard demanded an explanation from Fu Qian, who refused, said he felt too guilty to drink, and invited Lady Nora to buy him a drink.
• Lady Nora called to the innkeeper, who tossed Fu Qian a bottle of wine.