Chapter Summaries

Fu Qian defeated the Nightmare Guards’ commander and tracked him toward the west district church, hoping to reach the organization’s core members and learn more about the nightmare. The trail led beneath a lake where the church once stood.

• Fu Qian judged that the Nightmare Guards had fought with discipline and skill, then smashed their commander with his crystalline arm.
• The commander’s body shattered into black arcs, and the remaining Nightmare Guards calmly retreated under cover of their arrows.
• Lady Raven asked whether Fu Qian had come specifically to deal with the guards, but he vanished before answering her or the Awakened Ones.
• Fu Qian used Thread of Concern to follow the surviving commander, whom he had deliberately sent back to deliver a message to the guards’ core members.
• Fu Qian reached the former site of the west district church, found a lake in its place, and submerged himself to follow the trail underwater.

Fu Qian tracked the Nightmare Guards to their underground base beneath the shallow lake and met Lady Xia, who recognized him as Dark Moon’s First Apostle. She escorted him to a room of senior members, where he rang the Eternal Clarity of Thought as he began his attempt to make them cooperate.

• Fu Qian used Blood Conquest to reach a stone passage beneath the lake and found Lady Xia.
• Lady Xia identified Fu Qian and invited him to meet the Nightmare Guards after he explained that he had come to check on them and talk.
• Lady Xia warned that the class representative Fu Qian wanted to visit was unavailable, then led him deeper into the underground base.
• Fu Qian entered a room with three Nightmare Guards, and a mustached man asked how he planned to secure their cooperation.
• Fu Qian produced and rang the Eternal Clarity of Thought.

Fu Qian used Eternal Clarity of Thought to overpower the Nightmare Guards and persuade them to talk about their hatred of the stars. Frankie offered to show him the reason firsthand, and Fu Qian accepted.

• Fu Qian used Eternal Clarity of Thought to make the four Nightmare Guards stand, then threatened them with finger-guns before demonstrating that he could not use the bell again for a while.
• Frankie introduced himself and agreed to answer Fu Qian's questions after the guards decided not to attack him.
• Fu Qian asked why the guards hated the stars, and Frankie confirmed that they did.
• Frankie explained that the guards were interested in Fu Qian because he had swallowed a fragment of sublime power that should have destroyed his body and soul.
• Frankie invited Fu Qian to experience the answer firsthand, and Fu Qian agreed to follow him.

Fu Qian questioned the Nightmare Guards about their powers and motives as Frankie and the other leaders led him through their underground base. They confirmed they could not enter the world where the Awakened Ones went, and Fu Qian realized they had been letting the group grow so they could learn about it.

• Frankie led Fu Qian and the others through the vast underground base, where the Nightmare Guards treated the four leaders with deference.
• Fu Qian asked whether the Nightmare Guards had long monitored Lady Raven's group, and Lady Xia said they knew every member and scorned their abilities.
• Fu Qian pointed out that the Nightmare Guards could not use their possession-like power on the Awakened Ones, and Lady Xia explained that they called the power an Advent.
• Fu Qian deduced that the Nightmare Guards could not enter the world the Awakened Ones visited and had tolerated Lady Raven's group to learn about it.
• Frankie confirmed that the Nightmare Guards could not enter the source of the corruption and thanked Fu Qian for understanding their goal.

Fu Qian entered the Fallen Star race’s hidden origin chamber, where Frankie showed him the sacred relics and explained that the Gift of the Stars was tied to their rebirth. The chapter left Frankie placing a strange skull relic on his own head so Fu Qian could witness its effects.

• Fu Qian followed Frankie to a sealed, net-like barrier at the end of the underground corridor.
• Frankie opened the barrier, revealing a chamber with three pools of black currents and two strange objects.
• Fu Qian questioned why the Fallen Star race called the Gift of the Stars corruption, and Frankie said he needed to see for himself.
• Frankie retrieved a soft, translucent skull from one pool and identified it as a sacred relic tied to the race’s rebirth.
• Frankie placed the skull on his own head after Fu Qian asked whether he was expected to wear it.

Frankie used the transparent skull to share a memory of a cult hunter witnessing a massacre and the Celestial Cult’s West District church transformed into a grotesque, collapsing den. The vision ended with Frankie identifying it as his final memory of that nightmare.

• Frankie placed the skull over his head and told Fu Qian to watch until the end.
• Fu Qian experienced a bloodied viewpoint inside a room where two elderly, nonhuman people had been killed.
• The viewpoint’s owner looked out at a distorted, desolate sky and froze in shock.
• The viewpoint’s owner rushed toward the Celestial Cult’s West District church as it crumbled and a mass of flesh moved inside.
• The viewpoint’s owner fell to his knees as eyes began opening in his bloodied hands, and Frankie said the scene was his final memory of that nightmare.

Fu Qian questioned Frankie about the Fallen Star race’s past and learned that their supposed gift from the stars had been corruption designed to breach the barrier between nightmare and reality. Frankie asked Fu Qian what he made of his own experience, and Fu Qian concluded that his current world was a nightmare.

• Fu Qian asked whether Lady Raven and the others had been victims of the same nightmare Frankie experienced.
• Frankie revealed that he and the others had once received the stars’ gift and had served as hunters for the cult.
• Frankie described how nightmares and changes to their bodies made him and the other hunters doubt their faith, until they saw the truth about the stars.
• Fu Qian concluded that the stars’ gift was corruption meant to seep into reality through its recipients, and Frankie confirmed his explanation.
• Frankie asked Fu Qian what he made of his experience, and Fu Qian decided that the world he was in was a nightmare.

Fu Qian questioned the Fallen Stars about their holy relics and the nightmare, then realized that the Lairding they had seen might have come from the past. The instance was expected to end the next day.

• Fu Qian learned that the holy relics had purified the Fallen Stars of the nightmare’s corruption and that a knife could sever their connection to the stars.
• Frankie explained that the relics were missing when the Fallen Stars found them, while Lady Xia said Lairding was now the world’s last surviving place.
• Fu Qian named Fivell, Prout, Olyntel, and Reginald, but the Fallen Stars had never heard of them.
• Lady Xia said the church in the nightmare was about four hundred years old, much older than Fu Qian’s information suggested.
• Fu Qian concluded that the intact Lairding in the nightmare had returned from the past.

Fu Qian deduced that ancient Lairding had been restored to reality and was using its laws to reinterpret the apocalypse and everyone drawn into the city. He told the Fallen Star leaders that the names he had mentioned belonged to the stars’ latest victims, then moved to seize the copper-ringed fish as they asked about the Dark Moon.

• Fu Qian examined the damaged pocket watch and reconsidered the strange details of Lairding, the nightmares, and the World Within the Painting.
• Fu Qian concluded that ancient Lairding had been restored to reality and that its power of interpretation had reshaped the memories and identities of those who became part of it.
• Fu Qian reasoned that the Witch might still be alive and that understanding how she had become part of Lairding could reveal where to find her.
• Lady Xia asked Fu Qian what the names he had mentioned meant, and he said they were the stars’ latest victims.
• Frankie asked Fu Qian to explain the supreme Dark Moon, and Fu Qian approached the pools of origin before reaching for the copper-ringed fish.

Fu Qian was trapped by Lady Xia’s plan to corrupt him with the Fallen Star race’s sacred relic, but he devoured the fish and his own infected arm to unleash Frostburn. He destroyed the relic chamber, then found himself enclosed by black currents as a strange bulge emerged from them.

• Fu Qian caught the fish, and its body began corrupting his copper-ring hand.
• Lady Xia revealed that she had lured Fu Qian to the sacred relic so it could take control of him.
• Fu Qian tore open his chest and bit off his infected arm, swallowing the fish with it.
• Frankie warned the others to retreat as Fu Qian unleashed Frostburn’s frigid curtain and slashing lines.
• The attack shattered the relic chamber, and black currents surrounded Fu Qian like a stomach as a smooth bulge formed within them.

Fu Qian drew out the Nightmare agent by swallowing a copper-ringed fish, but the resulting contamination left him unable to control his body. He questioned the agent, who identified himself as the Messenger and guardian of the Great Ones, and revealed that the missing knife was in his possession.

• Fu Qian's absorption problems intensified after he swallowed the copper-ringed fish, while he waited for the Nightmare agent to appear.
• A featureless figure formed from turbulence and mimicked Fu Qian's pose, leaving Fu Qian sensing himself in two bodies and unable to move.
• The figure spoke through a distorted voice and revealed a gap in the back of its head filled with chaotic material and strange objects.
• Fu Qian asked about the figure's identity and the forces in the nightmare, and it said it was the Messenger and guardian of the Great Ones.
• The agent confirmed that the holy relics in the pool came from other chaotic forces, then drew the missing knife from its body and pointed it at Fu Qian.

The Agent used a sacred relic to make Fu Qian experience their shared wounds and hasten the collapse of his identity. When Fu Qian yielded, the life-draining connection terrified the Agent, and Fu Qian demanded that it find Them.

• The Agent stabbed and carved himself with the third sacred relic, causing Fu Qian to feel the same unbearable wounds.
• The Agent explained that every fragment of divine power was part of his fused authority and that Fu Qian would soon become part of him.
• Fu Qian stopped resisting, and the Agent’s voice and consciousness began to take over.
• The life-draining connection frightened the Agent, who tried to sever it and return Fu Qian’s self to him.
• Fu Qian refused to cut the connection unless the Agent found Them.

Fu Qian forced the agent to help trace the high-order power behind their shared destruction, using the threat of death to make it cooperate. The agent proposed amplifying their depletion to follow the connection, and Fu Qian agreed despite the accelerated danger.

• Fu Qian told the agent to find the source of their destruction and refused to let it stop the bloodletting.
• The agent identified the curse as high-order power from Fu Qian's world and suggested it might be connected to ancient Lairding's return and the Law of Rebirth.
• The agent merged into the gray-white mist and used it to sense the bloodletting's connection, but found the signal too faint to trace in time.
• The agent offered to amplify their depletion so the connection would become easier to follow, warning that death would come faster and could not be stopped.
• Fu Qian agreed to the agent's plan without hesitation.

Fu Qian used the agent as fuel to trace their connection to its source, but the agent was destroyed before he could sever the link. The mission ended with Fu Qian back at the crossroads, where he received his evaluation and rewards.

• Fu Qian planted a tiny tree in his head and burned his sense of self to make the connection to its source clearer.
• Fu Qian traced the connection to a vast darkness filled with law patterns and burning white frost, while the Nightmare agent threatened him and tried to make him stop.
• Fu Qian continued pursuing the source and attempted to send an eyeball through the connection, but the mission-complete notification appeared as the agent's body and consciousness were destroyed.
• Fu Qian returned to the crossroads and received an evaluation explaining the Dark Branch nightmare's origins and the agent's role in preserving it.
• Fu Qian received 20 Sanity Value and a Copper Fish Hook, bringing his Sanity Value to 84 and Inspiration to 99.

Fu Qian used False God Incarnation to reach the Stars Beyond and find the Witch, Nirgalia, who had been defined as fuel by the laws. After he blinked to unleash his drunken, lawless form, he woke in her arms as she laughed and asked whether he loved Mom.

• Fu Qian received the Copper Fish Hook, put it on, and confirmed his connection to the place beyond the stars remained intact.
• Fu Qian used False God Incarnation to cross into the Stars Beyond and found Nirgalia burning as fuel within the Blossoms.
• Fu Qian realized the laws had defined Nirgalia and himself as fuel, and that her frostfire was fading.
• Fu Qian expanded into the Glorious Tyrant, discarded his restraints, and blinked to trigger a drunken state that might disrupt the laws.
• Fu Qian woke in Nirgalia's arms, and she leaned toward him before laughing and asking, "Do you love Mom?"

Fu Qian recovered enough to speak while Pope Nirgalia held him, and learned that she had freed herself from the frostfire and dealt with the immediate threat. As they watched the Law vortex decay beneath a false starry sky, Nirgalia explained the stars’ role in the ancient apocalypse, but neither knew why the world’s shell had reappeared.

• Fu Qian used his damaged vocal cords to speak with Nirgalia, who said his dangerous sacrifice had been taken care of and praised him for surviving.
• Nirgalia turned Fu Qian toward the void so he could see the shooting stars and the crumbling Law vortex.
• Fu Qian realized the stars were not real stars but a false sky created by the Law, and Nirgalia confirmed that the real stars had been destroyed before she became conscious.
• Nirgalia explained that the real stars had broken through the barrier, caused the ancient apocalypse, and left behind traces of their power.
• Fu Qian asked why the shell had reappeared and where it came from, but Nirgalia said she had no clear answer.

Fu Qian explained why he believed the Law had targeted the Witch, whose mother had once been its source. As the World Within the Painting collapsed, the Witch returned his belongings and transferred the power of Blasphemous Embrace to him, then offered to show him the collapse.

• Fu Qian reasoned that the Law had singled out the Witch because of her bloodline and her mother's connection to its power.
• The Witch confirmed that her mother had been the Law's source and that she had found her mother's presence in the World Within the Painting.
• The Witch returned Fu Qian's belongings and let him choose a reward; he gave her Blasphemous Embrace, and she transferred its power to him.
• Fu Qian asked whether the collapse would reach the real world, and the Witch offered to take him to see.

Fu Qian and the Witch strolled through an apparently lifeless, post-apocalyptic Lairding as she helped him resist the corruption. Their conversation revealed that Lairding’s Shadow had become a higher-dimensional existence after the laws collapsed, and it remained unusually resilient even after the laws returned.

• The Witch carried Fu Qian out of the Other Shore and into a deserted Lairding, where he directed her toward the art gallery.
• The Witch recognized that Fu Qian had acted as the Dark Moon Apostle in Lairding’s Shadow, and he accepted responsibility as a Templar Knight.
• Fu Qian explained that the Nightmare Agent had spent its strength searching for the stars’ Other Shore and sacrificed itself before victory.
• The Witch praised Fu Qian’s choice of the Agent and explained that its higher-dimensional nature gave it an unusually complete grasp of the changing world.
• The Witch confirmed that Lairding’s Shadow had become a higher-dimensional existence when the laws collapsed, and that it had been constrained again when the laws returned.

Fu Qian and Nirgalia visited the decaying Lairding art museum, where they examined the World Within the Painting and discussed the Dark Moon, the Law, and the Witch’s approaching death. Nirgalia prepared to travel through the painting to their next destination, warning Fu Qian not to fall in.

• Fu Qian identified the museum as the place where he had appeared in worm form and told Nirgalia he had named Anko as Apostle Number Seven.
• Nirgalia led Fu Qian through the ruined museum to the World Within the Painting, which still bore his bloody handprint and had regained some of its former splendor.
• Nirgalia confirmed the painting had become an entrance and said she had chosen it because the true starry sky would soon gaze upon the world without obstruction.
• Fu Qian and Nirgalia discussed how the Dark Moon might relate to the Law, whether the Law’s return was deliberate, and whether it could draw the departed hunters back to Lairding.
• Nirgalia walked toward the painting to take them to the next place and told Fu Qian to hurry and not fall in.

Fu Qian and the Witch returned to the World Within the Painting, where she examined the Red Moon's ring and discussed its connection to him. At the Dark Moon Church, the Witch realized Fu Qian had found her farewell and made the dangerous connection she had hoped he would avoid, before he demonstrated how relaxed her throne pose had looked.

• The Witch showed Fu Qian the ring the Red Moon had given him and brought him into the World Within the Painting.
• The Witch sensed the ring's concepts of the moon and affection, and Fu Qian explained the Red Moon's strange nature and her claim that he was her child.
• The Witch said the ring's power differed from hers and recalled sensing a similar mark on Fu Qian during their earlier connections.
• At the Dark Moon Church, the Witch realized Fu Qian had found her farewell and connected with her despite her efforts to prevent him from making a sacrifice.
• The Witch asked how relaxed her pose on the throne had been, and Fu Qian showed her by emerging from the Templar Knight's body.