Chapter Summaries

Fu Qian and Aiko explored the decaying Ermu Mansion Palace, suspecting that a powerful force was distorting the building and weakening their perception. Aiko tore through a wall to escape the endless corridor, but another rotting passage lay beyond it.

• Aiko led Fu Qian deeper into unfamiliar corridors and explained that beings who did not normally dream could still be trapped if a powerful force had created the nightmare.
• Aiko revealed that changing into a nonhuman form had not helped her escape, while Fu Qian considered how his Glorious Tyrant might fare against such beings.
• As the corridors continued through repeated turns, Fu Qian and Aiko found that their perceptions were shrinking and the distance through the building was abnormal.
• Fu Qian noticed moss growing on Aiko's wooden left hand, and Aiko tore open the wall to force a new route.
• Fu Qian joined the motionless Aiko in looking through the opening at yet another long, moldy corridor.

Fu Qian and Aiko tried to find a way out of the strange, flesh-like maze while its influence began to erode them. As they continued forward, Aiko revealed the secret behind the Larrea Royal Family’s Divine Human bloodline.

• Fu Qian and Aiko realized that the maze had many passages and that the crying grew louder as their perception weakened.
• Fu Qian showed Aiko the dark green marks on his fingers and suggested they retreat along a path they had already traveled, while he continued ahead alone.
• Aiko caught up with Fu Qian and insisted on going forward, then asked why the Night Watchers worried about the Larrea Royal Family’s newborn heir.
• Aiko explained that powerful Transcendents in the Larrea Royal Family had historically risen without an ascension process, as if a god had descended into them and chosen them to rule.

Fu Qian and Aiko explored an apparently endless corridor while discussing the Larrea newborn’s possible blessing and why the Night Watchers had allowed the family’s dangerous transformation. Fu Qian spotted signs that the corridor had been stretched, but as they continued, a lamp suddenly lit.

• Fu Qian questioned why the Night Watchers had tolerated the Larrea family’s dangerous constitution, and Aiko explained that few newborns had received the blessing in recent years.
• Aiko concluded that the newborn might have become a target of divine power and resolved to find it and check for innate abnormalities.
• After wandering through many corridors, Aiko asked Fu Qian whether their route had an end.
• Fu Qian observed that the lamp brackets grew farther apart and reasoned that the corridor had been stretched, but had a limited number of brackets.
• As Aiko approached another half-closed door, the only visible lamp suddenly lit.

Aiko and Fu Qian encountered Jining after a sensory trap disrupted their perception, and Jining explained that she had mistaken them for dangerous creations. The group established a code to identify allies, and someone inside the half-open door answered Jining’s call.

• Aiko was hit by a sensory attack and shifted into a ghostly form to escape its effects.
• Fu Qian recognized the attack, shouted to signal his presence, and stayed still when a voice called for them to wait.
• Aiko unleashed a wave of cold, then stopped when the newcomer called her by name.
• Jining emerged, apologized for triggering the trap, and explained that she had mistaken Aiko and Fu Qian for threats.
• Fu Qian taught Jining the code words “thunder” and “lightning,” and someone inside the half-open door replied to her call.

Fu Qian, Aiko, and Jining encountered Li He, a sword master who had also been drawn into the strange place, and learned that he and Jining had been heading to see the newborn before the surroundings changed. The group agreed to investigate the newborn, but Fu Qian questioned why Li He and Jining had set a trap, wondering if they had sensed something following them.

• Li He emerged from behind a door, and Aiko recognized the former academy dean as a powerful ally.
• Li He explained that he and Jining had been invited to see the newborn but never reached the banquet before the world around them changed.
• Fu Qian described his suspicion that the missing newborn was connected to the place assimilating everyone inside it.
• Jining agreed with Fu Qian's theory, and the group decided to head toward the newborn.
• Fu Qian asked why Li He and Jining had set a trap, suggesting they might have expected something to follow them.

Fu Qian explained why he had signaled a willingness to communicate, and Jining and Li He revealed what they had learned about the strange place. The group discovered that Jining’s brief mental death halted the force eroding her, though it did not return her to reality.

• Fu Qian told Jining he had called out “Thunder” because he was too weak to fight the unseen trap and suspected it was a test rather than a hostile ambush.
• Jining agreed that his choice was reasonable and admitted that she and Li He had been holding back uncertain conclusions, not acting with malice.
• Li He said they had recognized that the place was eroding them and suspected the newborn’s crying was connected to it.
• Li He explained that Jining used her ability to enter a brief state of mental death in an attempt to escape, but she remained trapped when her will returned.
• Li He revealed that the erosion stopped while Jining was mentally dead.

Fu Qian and the others learned that the cries followed each person and that the erosion stopped during suspended animation, then followed Li He into a luxurious area where real sobbing and the smell of blood came from behind a door. The chapter left them at the threshold of whatever lay inside, with Li He in command.

• Jining explained that the cries grew quieter and the erosion slowed when she moved away from her body in spiritual form.
• Li He said he had sensed something indistinct following them, though he and Jining had not found it.
• Fu Qian suggested Jining use suspended animation again if the group ran out of options, but she refused to leave her fate in their hands.
• Li He led the group through a doorway into luxurious private quarters, where the sobbing became clearer.
• Li He ordered everyone to follow his commands, then opened a door as the sobbing and smell of blood intensified.

Fu Qian and the others discovered a nursery filled with Larrea family members twisted into blood-soaked cradles and infested with gray-white growths. Old Master Li cleared the hostile bodies, and Jining awakened Lui, who began explaining how he had ended up there.

• Fu Qian identified the blood-filled room as a nursery, and Jining recognized most of the bodies as members of the Larrea family who had aged unnaturally fast.
• The cradles turned toward the intruders, but Old Master Li swiftly destroyed their heads with his weapon.
• Jining and Li He identified the sole surviving cradle as Lui, a low-ranking transcendent known for his skill in purification.
• Jining touched Lui's forehead with unstable energy and woke him from his strange state.
• Old Master Li told Lui that he was safe and asked how he had ended up like that.

Lui recovered after purging gray-white threads from his body and told Old Master Li and the others that the Larrea family’s newborn aged rapidly and then reversed its aging. He believed the family had invited a crowd because the child’s condition had suddenly worsened, but his attempts to purify it had failed.

• Lui purified himself and spat out a mass of grayish-white threads that had been wrapped in mucus.
• Lui warned Old Master Li that the Larrea family’s newborn was abnormal and described its aged appearance and hair.
• Lui explained that the child rapidly grew old before reversing its age, and that the process accelerated on the day of the banquet.
• Jining and the others questioned Lui, who said the child seemed mentally like a young child and showed no curse or taint.
• Lui suggested the Larrea family had invited many guests so they could seek help if the child’s condition worsened, then asked Dean Li whether he had noticed anything unusual.

Li He and the others questioned Lui about the failed attempt to lift a curse from the newborn, Benjamin, and learned that Lui had been attacked by something unseen. As Lui began to hear the infant’s strange cries again, something moved inside his abdomen, and Old Master Li cut him open to reveal gray-white hair.

• Lui said he had refused to try lifting the curse again, then silently stiffened and smelled blood before losing his memories.
• Lui revealed that the newborn was named Benjamin, and Fu Qian asked whether the baby had cried.
• Lui said Benjamin’s cries were quiet and strangely pitched, then claimed he could hear them again.
• Lui let out a bloodcurdling wail as something writhed inside his stomach, and Li He warned the team.
• Old Master Li cut open Lui’s abdomen with precision, and a tangle of gray-white hair began to emerge.

Aiko and the others discovered an Immature Form emerging from Lui’s abdomen, apparently molded from his organs and closely connected to him. Aiko used her ability to freeze it while keeping Lui alive, leaving the creature hardened and tree-like inside his wound.

• Lui’s abdomen split open as an Immature Form with gray-white hair and a small body forced its way out.
• Jining’s purification attempt failed, and Fu Qian observed that the creature resembled little Benjamin and seemed formed from Lui’s organs.
• Li He asked Aiko to target the creature, and she agreed to keep Lui alive while stopping it.
• Jining helped immobilize Lui and the Immature Form as Aiko reached into the incision.
• Aiko’s ability hardened the creature and turned its gray-white hair green, leaving it frozen inside Lui’s wound.

Aiko transformed Lui into a human-shaped tree to slow his condition, while Fu Qian connected the crying to the corruption accumulating in their bodies. The group had no lead on Benjamin’s whereabouts, so Fu Qian proposed waiting for another Benjamin to emerge from a corpse and following it.

• Aiko turned Lui’s stomach transformation into a human-shaped tree and warned him not to pull it out.
• Li He told Lui that the place might not be real and that Benjamin could be the key to escaping.
• Lui confirmed that he could still hear the crying, though it had grown quieter, and Fu Qian linked it to the corruption building up in each person.
• Fu Qian theorized that Lui’s close contact with Benjamin had triggered his loss of control and the group’s current state.
• Fu Qian suggested waiting for another Benjamin to crawl out of a corpse so they could follow it.

Fu Qian proposed that the unseen force following the group might be the escaped Tree Infants in another form, and suggested using Lui as bait to draw it out. The chapter ended with Fu Qian arguing that attacking Lui’s mind might threaten what the force was trying to corrupt.

• Li He explained that he had considered waiting to observe the newborn creature but had followed the group’s majority after Anke opposed the idea.
• Fu Qian clarified that he had mentioned a backup plan to reassure the group and said he had another idea involving the escaped Tree Infants.
• Fu Qian argued that the hidden force and the Tree Infants might be the same physical organisms, making them possible to hunt or lure out.
• Li He supported Fu Qian’s theory, and Fu Qian proposed using Lui as bait by targeting the mind the force sought to corrupt.

Fu Qian proposed using the Tyrant's Fist to erode the mental resistance of those affected by the crying, while Lady Jining agreed to weaken their defenses. Lady Aiko volunteered to be the first target, and Fu Qian began the process with a crimson whip.

• Fu Qian argued that the crying implanted a potent life into their wills and asked Lady Jining to help weaken it.
• Fu Qian revealed the Tyrant's Fist, explaining that its phantom whip gradually robbed its targets of sanity.
• Lady Jining agreed that she could weaken mental resistance, and Fu Qian prepared to begin.
• Lui asked whether the loss of sanity could be reversed, but Aiko volunteered to take the risk instead.
• Fu Qian struck Aiko with a crimson whip.

Fu Qian and Jining tested how Jining’s ability amplified Aiko’s suffering, while Old Master Li used a feint to attack a hidden enemy. The chapter left the enemy wounded but its identity and fate unknown.

• Fu Qian whipped Aiko repeatedly as she reported that the blows caused mental torment resembling physical injury.
• Jining shot a snake-like needle into Aiko, amplifying her sensitivity so Fu Qian’s next lash inflicted much greater mental pain.
• Old Master Li ordered them to continue, then vanished and unleashed a barrage of curved swords at a hidden target.
• Old Master Li pierced the target with a long, halberd-like weapon, and blood splashed from the previously empty space.

Old Master Li struck the concealed creature with a supernatural halberd, proving it had a physical body, but it escaped. Fu Qian concluded that the human-shaped plant seeds might inherit power from the newborn Larrea descendant, and Li He asked Jining to track the creature.

• Old Master Li used a hidden halberd to wound the concealed creature, but it escaped before Jining could seize it.
• Old Master Li agreed with Fu Qian that the creature's strength and concealment suggested a connection to the newborn Larrea descendant's power.
• Fu Qian reassured the team that they had not yet shown symptoms, while Aiko reported that her accumulated erosion had diminished.
• Li He asked Jining whether she could track the creature, and she said she could.

Lady Jining revealed that she had secretly marked the Tree Infant and led the group after it, while Fu Qian inferred that she and Li He had coordinated their apparent failure. During the trek, Li He asked to inspect Fu Qian’s Dark Red Ring, and Fu Qian told him it held the power of the Tyrant.

• Fu Qian reasoned that Lady Jining had likely left a hidden mark on the Tree Infant and had only pretended to fail, while Aiko and Lui struggled with the sudden reversal.
• Lady Jining explained that she could track the Tree Infant despite being unable to determine its distance, and Aiko thanked her for taking the lead.
• Lady Jining set out after the target, and the group followed her, including the silent Lui.
• Li He fell behind and asked Fu Qian to examine the Dark Red Ring, and Fu Qian handed it over willingly.
• Li He examined the ring and asked its name, and Fu Qian said it contained the power of the Tyrant.

Fu Qian learned that Stos’s golden mental flames came from a special conceptual domain, which might be connected to the Tyrant title and other golden flames he had encountered. The group reached an empty hall, where Jining found an ornate burial-like dress and put it on.

• Old Master Li said Aiko’s mental changes resembled an effect he had once seen from Stos, a Second Order Transcendent of the Night Watchers.
• Fu Qian recalled Stos’s golden Madness Fire and the Clown’s torture, while Aiko confirmed that Stos had looked after her.
• Li He explained that Stos’s golden flames came from a special conceptual domain and that Stos had borrowed their power.
• Fu Qian thanked Li He and considered asking Stos about the domain, possibly with Aiko’s help.
• Jining warned the group, revealed a long gown hidden behind a curtain, and silently put on the burial-like dress.

Jining found that the dress was a trace connected to the supernatural imprint she had placed on the entity they were tracking, though her attempt to locate it had been warped. The group agreed to keep searching for traces and an exit as the crying grew louder and their corruption worsened.

• Jining explained that she had marked the entity with a Supernatural Item and recognized the dress as a distorted trace tied to her imprint.
• Lui questioned whether the dress gave them any useful information, while his condition and the small tree swaying before him continued to worsen.
• Fu Qian suggested that the surreal dress made it more likely they were outside reality, easing Lui's concern.
• Old Master Li agreed they might not be in reality but warned that dreams and reality were not absolutely separate and that death should remain a last resort.
• Aiko said the crying was growing louder and that multiple entities were involved, so eliminating them would not stop the corruption.
• Jining set off to search for more traces without taking off the burial dress.

Fu Qian questioned Lady Aiko about how the mind-erasing whip affected her, and she believed repeated strikes would weaken the restraint on her bestial nature. Lady Jining found a second trace, a silver-and-blue dagger, and Fu Qian challenged her claim that it matched her outfit by asking whether she could still see after putting it on.

• Fu Qian apologized to Lady Aiko and asked her to describe her experience of being struck by the whip.
• Lady Aiko said another strike would likely worsen her bestial frenzy and weaken her sense of self.
• Lady Jining found a silver-and-blue dagger in a decayed cabinet but could not open it.
• Lady Jining claimed the dagger belonged to her and matched her clothes, but Fu Qian pointed out its color and asked whether she could still see after putting on her outfit.