Chapter Summaries

Fu Qian answered Lady Xixi’s question about what parents meant to the self and claimed nine more sets of clothes as his reward. After returning to his bookstore and changing into one, he met with Yuan Shan, who had come to share new information.

• Fu Qian suggested that even the worst parents could shield their children from the fear of death, and Lady Xixi praised his answer.
• Fu Qian asked Lady Xixi for nine more sets of clothes, and she agreed to have them made and delivered without his name attached.
• Fu Qian returned home, received the clothes, changed into an outfit, and activated the mark on his wrist.
• Yuan Shan arrived at Fu Qian’s bookstore and was surprised to find him dressed neatly and preparing tea.
• Fu Qian asked why Yuan Shan had come so early, and she said she had heard new information to share with him.

After learning that An Jing had assassinated several Siren officials, Fu Qian discussed the escalating conflict with Yuan Shan, who warned him to stay cautious. Yuan Shan also asked his opinion about Wen Li visiting the Spirit Ash Institute, and Fu Qian supported the visit despite her concerns.

• Yuan Shan told Fu Qian that several Siren officials had been assassinated across different locations and that An Jing was likely responsible.
• Fu Qian and Yuan Shan agreed that the Night Watchers would stay out of the conflict as long as it did not cross the boundary between supernatural and ordinary people.
• Yuan Shan warned Fu Qian that the conflict could affect him because he and Su Gao had been near related events, though Shangjing was unlikely to be heavily affected.
• Yuan Shan told Fu Qian that the Spirit Ash Institute had invited Wen Li to visit and exchange knowledge about her ability.
• Yuan Shan said Wen Li wanted to accept but worried that leaving would be a way to keep others from being constrained by her; Fu Qian encouraged the visit as a chance for Wen Li to improve.

Fu Qian let Wen Li decide whether to accept the Spirit Ash Institute’s invitation and considered how to align his identities with the Night Watchers. After returning to Half-step Moon, he tried offering Red Moon an ancient Higher Being’s umbilical cord, but she showed no interest.

• Yuan Shan agreed to let Wen Li decide about the invitation and said she would help Wen Li recover before then.
• Fu Qian reassured Yuan Shan that he felt well, and she left after checking on him.
• Fu Qian closed the bookstore for the day, went to the Warehouse for the special reward, and returned to Half-step Moon.
• Fu Qian showed Red Moon the umbilical cord, but it remained unchanged, so he put it back in the Warehouse.
• Fu Qian sat in Red Moon’s armchair, and a beige tablecloth with an unusual pattern appeared before him.

Fu Qian visited the Institute of Curses to check on Professor A Kai’s research and learned that A Kai had created a powerful decay miracle. A Kai led Fu Qian to experience it firsthand.

• Fu Qian visited the Institute of Curses and found Professor A Kai looking more powerful than before.
• Professor A Kai told Fu Qian that his research, inspired by the story of Huo, had produced a new miracle.
• A Kai described how the miracle began as a tiny point and spread into an invisible sphere that caused anything inside it, including Supernatural Items, to decay.
• A Kai said the miracle spread without limit unless dispelled and had given him extraordinary feedback, bringing him closer to becoming a demigod.
• A Kai led Fu Qian to see the miracle in action.

Fu Qian examined Professor A Kai’s Seed of Death and found that it caused both rapid withering and a deep, lingering fear. He concluded that fear of withering drove the miracle’s deadly effect.

• Professor A Kai showed Fu Qian the Seed of Death growing within a marked-off area near the Institute of Curses.
• Fu Qian inspected the sphere’s boundary and saw it reduce a stone pillar and nearby objects to dust.
• With Professor A Kai’s permission, Fu Qian placed his finger inside the sphere and felt his flesh rapidly die as fear took hold.
• Professor A Kai explained that his own pinky had withered after a brief exposure eight hours earlier, while the fear remained.
• Fu Qian said the fear caused the withering and described the miracle as someone fearing death so much that they frightened themselves to death.

Fu Qian explained to Professor A Kai that the decay miracle was a curse tied to a higher being, not merely fear, and A Kai connected this idea to a former dean’s claim that miracles were true stories. Fu Qian questioned who the story’s subject could be, then grabbed A Kai and activated the Return Edict to address the experiment’s lingering effects.

• Fu Qian proposed that fear and decay were linked, and that the miracle was a curse affecting both him and A Kai.
• A Kai raised objections, while Fu Qian explained that the curse tainted the Primal Self and manifested as fear.
• A Kai recalled Lady Nepheli’s claim that miracles were true stories and speculated that their incantations might reveal those stories.
• Fu Qian wondered whether a Higher Being, rather than Huo, was the subject of the miracle’s story.
• Fu Qian grabbed A Kai by the head and activated the Return Edict to deal with the experiment’s remaining effects.

Fu Qian dispelled the high-ranking curse affecting Professor A Kai and himself, then considered what the miracle revealed about Higher Beings and the Death Master. The Seed of Death was gone, and A Kai turned to document the project’s findings.

• Fu Qian scratched A Kai’s head to test whether his reconstructed Return Edict could dispel the curse, and A Kai chose to let him remove it rather than study it further.
• Fu Qian quickly dispelled the curse on both A Kai and himself, though his injured fingertips still needed time to recover.
• A Kai thanked Fu Qian and resumed the project, promising to share any new discoveries with him.
• Fu Qian reflected on whether the miracle was connected to the Death Master and how dead Higher Beings might still respond through their names and authorities.
• A Kai reported that the Seed of Death was gone, and Fu Qian advised him to rest and write a report.

Professor Fu welcomed Lita to his laboratory, where she thanked him for helping her and Veil. After Lita contacted Veil, she told Professor Fu that Lady Ji wanted him at the Sword Participation Institute, and he agreed to go, suspecting the Night Watchers had news about the reward.

• Professor Fu met Lita, asked whether her hand had healed, and invited her to his laboratory.
• Lita told Professor Fu that Veil had been allowed to audit classes at the Sword Participation Institute after meeting one of its instructors in the Sword Pavilion.
• Lita thanked Professor Fu for saving her and helping her sister, and explained that she had been wandering the academy while Veil attended classes.
• Lita contacted Veil, then returned to say that Lady Ji wanted Professor Fu at the Sword Participation Institute.
• Professor Fu immediately set off, suspecting the Night Watchers had news about the reward.

Professor Fu met Ji Liushuang at the Sword Participation Institute, where she explained the Night Watchers’ response to their report and showed him their reward. The reward was the dangerous sealed weapon known as the Sword in the Stone, whose immense power came with a deadly curse.

• Professor Fu reached the Sword Participation Institute and met Ji Liushuang, who praised the work done to renovate the lab.
• Ji Liushuang told Professor Fu that Chief Yuan and Aiko had discussed their report with Professor Chang while he was away.
• Ji Liushuang revealed that the Night Watchers had given her the Sword in the Stone as a reward for their previous contributions.
• Ji Liushuang explained that the sword could harm high-tier transcendents and resist corruption, but its recorded owners had turned into stone-like corpses.
• Ji Liushuang said the Sword Participation Institute had once asked to keep the sword, but the Night Watchers had refused.

Ji Liushuang asked Fu Qian whether she should accept the Sword of the King, whose power and symbolic importance could strengthen her control of the Gospel Group. After Fu Qian assured her its reward had already been earned, she accepted the sword, then told him that Lady Aiko wanted to meet him about the anomalous personnel.

• Fu Qian examined the Sword of the King and recognized its divine quality and formidable power.
• Ji Liushuang explained that the sword's reward signaled the Night Watchers' support for her leadership of the Gospel Group, but she worried it was payment for future service she could not provide.
• Fu Qian told Ji Liushuang the price had already been paid, and she accepted the sword.
• Ji Liushuang demonstrated that each swing made the sword deadlier but increased its weight until she could barely control it.
• Fu Qian asked about Lady Aiko, and Ji Liushuang said she wanted to meet him to confirm the situation with the anomalous personnel.
• Fu Qian agreed to meet Lady Aiko.

Fu Qian met with Aiko and the Night Watchers to discuss the investigation into the White-Headed Holy See. He revealed that he had glimpsed golden fire alongside it, a clue connected to Old Man Stos.

• Ji Liushuang led Fu Qian to meet Yuan Fang, who welcomed them into the room where Aiko and Chang Mo were waiting.
• Fu Qian greeted Aiko, who thanked him for helping correct the Night Watchers’ mistaken judgment and acknowledged the risks he had taken.
• Aiko asked Fu Qian whether he had sensed a higher will acting independently within the White-Headed Holy See illusion.
• Fu Qian said he had glimpsed golden fire in addition to the Holy See, and thought of Old Man Stos, who controlled the Madness Fire.

Fu Qian used his account of the golden flames at the White-Headed Holy See to suggest that a hidden will had caused its destruction, drawing Aiko and the others into a discussion of an ancient Higher Being. He decided to bring Stos into the inquiry, since Stos knew about the flames and had not yet visited the academy.

• Fu Qian considered the golden flames and recalled that Stos had described them as coming from a special conceptual domain.
• Fu Qian told Aiko, Chang Mo, Liu Shuang, and the others that a force behind the golden flames might have destroyed the White-Headed Holy See.
• Aiko connected Fu Qian's account to the possibility that a Higher Being's will had been guiding events.
• Fu Qian inferred that Aiko was concerned about the Night Watchers missing an ancient threat and decided to invite Stos to the academy.

After Aiko and Yuan Fang left, Ji Liushuang asked Chang Mo to store the Sword in the Stone so instructors at the Sword Participation Institute could study it. Chang Mo agreed to keep it secure, and Ji Liushuang took the day off to handle something in Fu Qian’s lab.

• Aiko thanked Professor Fu, said she would stay to monitor the affected people, and left with Yuan Fang after Chang Mo promised the academy’s cooperation.
• Chang Mo thanked Professor Fu for his help and asked Ji Liushuang where she had put the sword.
• Ji Liushuang said she had drawn the Sword in the Stone and could manage about three swings before it became too heavy.
• Ji Liushuang asked Chang Mo to keep the sword so it would not attract attention and other instructors could study it.
• Chang Mo agreed to let instructors examine the sword in the room and said Ji Liushuang could retrieve it whenever she wanted.
• Ji Liushuang asked for the day off to deal with something in Professor Fu’s lab, and Chang Mo approved.

Fu Qian returned to the academy and took Ji Liushuang out to eat, where she told him what had changed during his absence. After learning that An Jing had launched a major attack on the Siren and that Ji Liushuang had heard nothing from her family, Fu Qian reassured her as Jia Keke approached with a likely warning from Angui.

• Professor Chang Mo left Fu Qian and Ji Liushuang together, and Fu Qian invited Ji Liushuang to lunch.
• Ji Liushuang rode a tram with Fu Qian and described the academy's winter and Snow Trees.
• Fu Qian praised Ji Liushuang for sharing the Sword in the Stone with a mentor from the Sword Participation Institute.
• Ji Liushuang updated Fu Qian on Lita, Veil, Professor Lanaia, and Sunny.
• Fu Qian told Ji Liushuang that An Jing had carried out a major retaliatory operation against the Siren, and Ji Liushuang said she had heard nothing from her family.
• Jia Keke hurried toward Fu Qian and Ji Liushuang, and Fu Qian guessed that Angui had sent a warning about Ji Liushuang's safety.

Jia Keke brought Angui’s warning that An Jing had retaliated against the Siren, but Ji Liushuang remained confident the Gospel Group’s work would continue unaffected. After they went to Jia Keke’s home for privacy, Fu Qian gave her a drawing and asked for her help.

• Jia Keke told Ji Liushuang and Fu Qian that Angui had warned her to stay on academy grounds because An Jing’s attacks on the Siren could lead to escalating conflict.
• Ji Liushuang asked Jia Keke to thank Angui and assure him she was safe and the Gospel Group’s operations would not be affected.
• Fu Qian asked Jia Keke to recommend a nearby restaurant, and she invited him and Ji Liushuang to her home instead.
• Ji Liushuang explained that Angui had supported her appointment of Jia Keke as assistant, and that she trusted Jia Keke and hoped to earn her trust in return.
• Fu Qian drew a pattern and handed it to Jia Keke, saying he needed her help with something.

Ji Liushuang agreed to use An Jing’s help to search for the hand axe, honoring their unspoken understanding over Ji Yicheng’s death. Back at his laboratory, Fu Qian considered how to reach the Group Unconsciousness and activated Clear Dream to test why he never seemed to dream.

• Fu Qian showed Ji Liushuang a drawing of the hand axe and asked her to give An Jing a chance to help find it discreetly.
• Ji Liushuang accepted the request and handed the drawing to Jia Keke to pass along.
• After lunch, Fu Qian returned to his laboratory and began thinking about an original research idea.
• Fu Qian considered whether self-hypnosis could let him reach the Group Unconsciousness and wondered why he never dreamed.
• Fu Qian activated Clear Dream in the dark laboratory.

Fu Qian tested whether leaving the tower or taking on the identity of an ancient Higher Being would let him explore the Mind World through his dream. Both experiments failed to overcome an invisible barrier, and he ended the chapter by activating Mythical Form to investigate further.

• Fu Qian walked through the edge of his Clear Dream and found that the dream shaped a staircase beneath him, keeping him from falling into the unknown.
• Fu Qian ended the first test, removed the Emissary Mask, and picked up the umbilical cord in the Warehouse.
• Fu Qian put on the mask again and entered the dream with the umbilical cord, but the scene remained centered on the tower as a baby's wail and supernatural presences gathered around it.
• Fu Qian descended a grotesque, mucus-covered staircase and concluded that identifying as an ancient Higher Being had not let him break through the dream's limits.
• Fu Qian wondered what the barrier had to do with his Sanity Value, then activated Mythical Form.

Fu Qian used the Red Moon to enter the suspected Graveyard of Gods, where the Tide battered his body and armor far more fiercely than before. He reached the strange borderland and grabbed a bubble linked to an unusual presence.

• Fu Qian found that transforming into the King of Prison Break revealed no connection to the Mind World or the Group Unconsciousness, then used Return Edict to return to Half-step Moon.
• Fu Qian recreated Senior Liliana's Hideout in a dream, and the Red Moon opened a passage into the possible Graveyard of Gods.
• Fu Qian explored the empty building and concluded that it was likely a remnant of a Higher Being in a Lawless Land monitored by the Night Watcher.
• Fu Qian crossed the wilderness as the Tide rapidly damaged his body and armor, then used Return Edict and False God Incarnation to resist its effects.
• Fu Qian followed a connection through the Tide into the iridescent borderland and reached for a bubble.

Fu Qian entered a strange circular building in the Realm of Fallen Gods, where the tide had stopped and Red Moon warned him to leave. He ignored the warning and continued deeper, where an armored guardian blocked his path.

• Fu Qian entered a bubble that led to a bright, windowless circular building and noticed the tide had vanished.
• Red Moon sent Fu Qian a warning to leave, but he chose to investigate the place because of its possible connection to Akons's gods and the umbilical cord.
• Fu Qian checked his remaining time and health, then hurried deeper through the building while memorizing its layout.
• An armored figure with a giant shield and pole hammer struck Fu Qian and stopped his advance.
• Fu Qian realized the armored figure was more than a decoration and let his damaged gauntlet disappear, exposing his fist.

Fu Qian fought through the self-repairing Plain Knights and the building’s crushing passage, then found a prisoner in an open cell. Disguised as the White-faced Man, he startled the prisoner, who shut the cell door instead of welcoming him.

• Fu Qian punched through a Plain Knight’s shield and discovered that both the knight and the surrounding walls repaired themselves.
• Fu Qian used Blood Conquest to pass the guards, enduring severe injuries as he crossed a damaging passage into the deeper part of the building.
• Fu Qian found a prisoner sitting in an unlocked cell while Plain Knights patrolled nearby.
• Fu Qian entered the cell and revealed a long bone knife to the prisoner.
• Fu Qian disguised himself as the White-faced Man and said “Severing,” prompting the startled prisoner to slam the cell door shut.