Chapter Summaries

Professor Lisha told Fu Qian and Liu Shuang how a fragment from the Forbidden Zone let her reassemble the first bat skull into the living Bone Horseshoe Crab. The creature had appeared when she finished assembling it, leaving Fu Qian struck by the possibility that the process could create a pure soul.

• Fu Qian asked Professor Lisha how she had obtained the Bone Horseshoe Crab, and she admitted Spirit Ash had angrily confronted her over the last Forbidden Zone expedition.
• Lisha explained that after returning from the Forbidden Zone, she tested the bat skull but could not restore the spirit around it.
• Lisha said a dimming bone fragment from the creature they had crushed in the Forbidden Zone naturally broke the original bat skull into pieces when she brought them together.
• Liu Shuang guessed that Lisha had reassembled the fragments into the creature in the box, and Lisha confirmed it.
• Lisha described how the Bone Horseshoe Crab appeared and came to life after she completed the assembly.

Professor Lisha presented her theory that the bone spirits were fragments of an original body whose spirit could assemble into new forms and gain divinity, and Fu Qian considered what the theory might imply. He suggested the process could resemble an alternative path to godhood, while warning that following it would likely end badly, and Lisha noted the Spirit Ash Institute was focused on a young Tier Four Mental System Transcendent.

• Professor Lisha explained that bone spirits shared an essence, could be dismantled and reassembled, and might gain divinity through the original body's authority.
• Fu Qian praised Lisha's theory, proposed that assembling the bones in the huge pit might restore a Body of a Deity, and asked Ji Liushuang for her opinion.
• Fu Qian approved a joint project between their labs and suggested the bone spirits' progression could resemble an alternative path to godhood.
• Fu Qian warned Lisha that anyone attempting to follow that path would probably meet a bad end.
• Lisha said the Spirit Ash Institute was focused on a young Tier Four Mental System Transcendent, and Fu Qian invited the girl to join them when she arrived.

Professor Lisha joined Fu Qian’s laboratory after bringing him a box and a bone shard connected to the meteor shower investigation. The appearance of a magnificent crown left her wondering whether it was tied to the incident and where she had seen it before.

• Professor Fu told Lisha that he had become a temporary consultant for the Night Watcher investigation team and that the next person in charge might visit the laboratory.
• Lisha asked about the Institute of Curses, and Fu Qian said he could not discuss its situation without permission from the person in charge.
• Lisha said Dean Cas was away doing field research and admitted she did not know when he would return.
• Fu Qian returned the box and bone shard to Lisha, then invited her to rest and write a report; she instead asked to stay at the laboratory.
• Lisha inspected the laboratory’s upgraded equipment and asked how Fu Qian had secured the resources, then noticed a magnificent crown where the box had been.
• Lisha studied the crown and said she felt she had seen it somewhere before.

Fu Qian used a distinctive crown to draw Professor Lisha into discussing the Larrea family and the suspected supernatural contamination surrounding the Blood Wedding. Their conversation was interrupted when Su Gao arrived at Fu Qian’s door, concealing her presence and carrying a restrained aura.

• Lisha recognized the crown’s design as connected to the Larrea family, and Fu Qian refused to reveal its origins.
• Lisha explained Cas’s theory that the Larrea bloodline’s power contaminated people at Don Juan’s wedding, twisting the women’s wills and possibly contributing to Don Juan’s unnatural death.
• Lisha added rumors that Don Juan’s wife went mad after giving birth, while Fu Qian considered whether the Warehouse’s will had influenced the wedding’s outcome.
• Lisha began asking what the Larrea family had to do with the meteor shower, but a knock interrupted her.
• Fu Qian invited the unseen visitor inside, and Su Gao appeared in black with her aura deliberately restrained; they solemnly greeted each other.

Fu Qian welcomed Su Gao and Professor Lanaia, revealing that Su Gao was the Night Watcher investigating the earlier incident and that Lanaia had been invited to coordinate. The visitors and the others sorted out their misunderstandings, and Fu Qian invited them inside.

• Su Gao arrived at Fu Qian's location, leaving Professor Lisha unable to sense or judge her strength.
• Fu Qian called out to someone hiding in the darkness, and Professor Lanaia emerged, asking how he knew she was there and what duty he expected her to perform.
• Fu Qian explained that Su Zhiyan had told him Lanaia was coming, then invited both visitors inside and asked Ji Liushuang to fetch drinks.
• Fu Qian introduced Su Gao as the client for his temporary consulting job and introduced Professor Lisha and Ji Liushuang to her.
• Su Gao apologized to Professor Lanaia for mistaking her for someone suspicious, and Lanaia explained that she had made the same mistake about Su Gao.
• Lanaia realized Fu Qian had deliberately said strange things to unsettle her, and Fu Qian invited both guests to come in and rest.

Fu Qian, Su Gao, Lanaia, and Professor Lisha cleared up a nighttime misunderstanding after a disturbance brought Lanaia back to the academy. Su Gao planned to use Fu Qian’s laboratory as her base while awaiting the council’s decision about the discovery beneath the Institute of Curses, and Fu Qian offered her an experiment that needed a volunteer.

• Su Gao concealed her presence and alerted Fu Qian that someone was following her, and he guessed the watcher was Lanaia.
• Fu Qian pulled Su Gao into the laboratory, where Lanaia explained she had returned to investigate a reported noise after being called away from her post.
• Professor Lisha claimed the noise came from a joint experiment with Fu Qian, and Su Gao offered to help at the Institute of Curses and disclosed the suspected death of a high-ranking Transcendent below it.
• Su Gao asked to have her supplies delivered to Fu Qian’s laboratory, and he agreed before saying he needed a volunteer for an experiment.

Su Gao agreed to help Fu Qian with an experiment, while Lisha explained Dean Cas's theories about bloodline inheritance and cultivation talent. After Lisha returned the crown and offered future support, Lanaia departed as dawn approached, and Fu Qian hoped the academy would remain quiet.

• Su Gao agreed to volunteer for Fu Qian's experiment while she awaited the Council's response.
• Fu Qian asked Lisha about Dean Cas's belief that bloodlines affected the inheritance of Supernatural Power, and Lisha described his interest in the Sword Participation Institute.
• Lisha returned the crown to Su Gao and confronted Fu Qian for misleading her about its connection to the Institute of Curses.
• Fu Qian let Lisha keep the crown, and she offered to provide technical support if he needed it.
• Lanaia prepared to leave as dawn neared, and Fu Qian asked whether anything unusual had happened at the academy besides the meteor incident.

Fu Qian tested whether Su Gao could control a dream and open a passage beyond it, hoping to learn how outsiders were treated by the world. Su Gao vanished through a dark doorway, leaving Fu Qian to conclude that outsiders faced serious prejudice, while she remained asleep in the lab.

• Fu Qian asked Su Gao to enter a dream and control it without letting it collapse.
• Su Gao entered the unstable dream and, with Fu Qian watching, gradually gained control over it.
• Su Gao found a door behind the curtains, opened it, and stepped into a pitch-black void.
• The dream shifted to a bright morning, and Su Gao vanished; Fu Qian sensed that outsiders were treated with serious prejudice.
• Fu Qian ended the dream and found Su Gao asleep at the table, so he let her rest.

Fu Qian observed Su Gao enter a boundless darkness in her dream, where she seemed welcome while he was rejected, before their dreams split apart. He then began the containment scene for 2-001, an isolated Siren Group island that also served as a prison.

• Fu Qian watched Su Gao open a door in the dream and step into a vast darkness that seemed deeper than ordinary mist.
• The darkness rejected Fu Qian as an outsider, and Su Gao's dream separated from his, leaving him in an amusement park while she slept soundly.
• Fu Qian considered testing Su Gao with the umbilical cord but chose to let her rest until it was safe.
• Fu Qian received a task to recontain Virgo, number 2-001, and entered its Containment Scene.
• The scene placed Fu Qian on an isolated Siren Group stronghold where prisoners were held underwater and mermaid songs offered them brief comfort.

Fu Qian arrived at an underwater prison and found himself trapped in heavy, restrictive armor alongside a talkative roommate. He left his helmet sealed and ended the conversation by repeating his roommate’s complaint.

• Fu Qian regained his senses in darkness and discovered that metal armor covered his body, with spikes at his neck and a chain restricting his movement.
• Fu Qian opened the helmet’s mouth latch and mused about the Sirens, the Night Watchers, and whether prison meals were mostly seafood.
• Fu Qian’s roommate told him to be quiet, then later tried to draw him into conversation and explained how prisoners adjusted to their restraints.
• Fu Qian stayed silent as his roommate coaxed him to speak, then replied, “You’re too noisy.”

Fu Qian questioned his fellow prisoner about Siren’s underwater prison and learned that it lay in a suspected Forbidden Zone surrounded by a lifeless sea. Their conversation ended when someone unlocked the cell and approached, warning them not to resist.

• Fu Qian stole his fellow prisoner’s words and took the lead in questioning him.
• The prisoner said he had been held for four or five months and described how Siren’s prison made time and experience feel unreal.
• The prisoner explained that the prison sat on an island surrounded by a freezing, lifeless sea that might be a Forbidden Zone overseen by the Night Watchers.
• Fu Qian kept asking questions as the prisoner grew suspicious about when Fu Qian had arrived and who he was.
• A cell door unlocked, and an unfamiliar newcomer confirmed there were two prisoners before warning them not to resist as the restraints were released.

Fu Qian and two rescuers freed him and his cellmate from their restraints in the underwater prison, where a mysterious Scarlet Fever curse was spreading. After revealing his disguise as Old Master Lu, Fu Qian learned the rescuers were affected too, and they prepared to leave to meet others outside.

• A woman and another rescuer removed Fu Qian's restraints and freed his cellmate from his helmet and armor.
• Fu Qian's cellmate recognized that the rescuers were inmates, and Fu Qian revealed he had been disguised as Old Master Lu.
• The woman warned that the prisoners had little time to relax and showed them frost spreading from the cell door.
• The rescuers revealed that Scarlet Fever had spread throughout the prison and was marked by dark red lines appearing on their arms.
• The rescuer urged Fu Qian and his cellmate to leave and join the others waiting outside.

Fu Qian discovered that Scarlet Fever had spread through the underwater prison as a supernatural cold overtook it. He joined a group searching for a way out, only to learn that the sea above had frozen as well.

• Fu Qian recognized the red lines on his body as Scarlet Fever and saw that his cellmate was also infected.
• A black-haired woman freed Fu Qian and led him into the frost-covered corridor to join the others.
• Fu Qian learned that Scarlet Fever had spread through most of the prison and that the cold left them little time to escape.
• Fu Qian's cellmate caught up and asked whether the route to the surface remained open.
• The black-haired woman told them the way back was gone and the sea had frozen over.

Fu Qian and the survivors crossed a frozen passage toward a meeting point while Scarlet Fever worsened and the dangers inside the prison grew. After a Scarlet Angel escaped its cell, a powerful man named White destroyed it with fire.

• Fu Qian received an updated mission to find Virgo La Nina before the four Apocalypse Knights descended.
• The black-haired Lady led the group through a frost-covered passage and explained that infected prisoners behind its cell doors had become dangerous.
• A Scarlet Angel broke out of its cell and began transforming as the group passed.
• White emerged from behind an ice pillar and burned the Scarlet Angel to nothing.

White led Jill and the others through the prison after destroying a strange creature, while the group questioned Fu Qian’s suspicious presence and White’s failing memory. White eventually confirmed that he had assigned Fu Qian to the same cell as the scholar, and Jill urged the group to keep moving.

• White destroyed the strange creature, and the black-haired woman warned that doing so could spread the contamination further.
• White showed that Madam An was infected and introduced Jill, Li, the scholar, and Fu Qian, whom he did not recognize.
• Fu Qian called himself Sinner, and the scholar challenged White about placing them in the same cell.
• White recalled assigning Fu Qian to that cell, easing the group’s suspicions about him.
• Jill urged everyone to continue onward and asked White which way to go.

White led the group toward a passage on the second-to-last level that connected the prison to the island, while the group discussed Scarlet Fever and the possibility that it had been deliberately spread. The infected prisoners began stirring in their cells, and White revealed a spark at the wall only ten steps away.

• White proposed going deeper, and the group followed him toward a passage leading directly to the island.
• White told Jill that the passage was on the second-to-last level and said the Siren had no way to suppress Scarlet Fever.
• White argued that the infection had likely been spread deliberately, and An suggested An Jing could be responsible.
• White said the Night Watcher would not interfere with what happened on the island, and Madam An admitted her connection to An Jing.
• Prisoners began striking their cell doors as An asked how far the passage was, and White said it was about ten steps away before a spark drifted from his fingertips to the wall.

Fu Qian and the survivors followed White through a hidden passage into a darker level of the prison, where they found one of White’s people in severe distress. White approached the injured man after confirming he was one of his own.

• Fu Qian praised the flame trick as it blasted through an ice-enchanted stone wall and revealed a hidden stairway.
• White led the group down the stairs, while Fu Qian reflected on the curse affecting him and his reasons for staying with the survivors.
• A scream echoed through the lower level, and White led the group toward its source.
• At a fork in the corridor, Li broke through an undecorated wall and revealed a badly twisted man in prison clothing.
• Jill identified the man as one of White’s people, and White confirmed it before approaching him.

Fu Qian and the group encountered a grotesquely mutated prison guard, which Fu Qian destroyed, then explained that the creature had contained two people. White led them to a door-shaped opening blocked by a cold, crystalline wall that seemed to conceal an endless sea.

• Jill observed that the blood-covered prison guard's body was less decayed than expected, and White called out to it.
• The guard convulsed and a Scarlet Angel rushed toward White, but Jill restrained it until Fu Qian smashed it apart.
• Fu Qian sensed that destroying the Scarlet Angel had not removed the oppressive presence seeping into the surroundings.
• Jill asked Fu Qian what had happened, and he said the monster had been two people.
• White led the group to a door-shaped gap in the wall, where they found a crystalline barrier resembling an endless deep sea.

Fu Qian and the group discovered that the passage to the island had vanished, leaving them trapped as Scarlet Fever spread. As they considered relying on Old Master Lu, Madam An suddenly attacked White with crimson strands, leaving the group facing a new danger.

• Fu Qian and the others found a towering black wall of frozen seawater where the passage to the island should have been, and White confirmed there was no other route through it.
• The scholar suggested taking their time to search for another exit, but Li warned that he, Jill, and White might not survive long enough to do so.
• Fu Qian said he could withstand Scarlet Fever for more than two hours but could not cleanse it for the others, and he revealed that the Return Edict had failed against the curse.
• White questioned Fu Qian about his motives, but Madam An suddenly seized him from behind as crimson strands burst from her body and entangled him.

Madam An merged with White, whose transformed body claimed the survivors were not suffering ordinary corruption but were surrounded by a special Supernatural Power. As the group struggled to understand his explanation, he revealed that he was An and that White was dead.

• Madam An grabbed White’s hand, and their bodies began merging as Jill warned Li to stay away.
• The Scholar urged the survivors to run, but the joined figures spoke calmly and said they did not need to devour or merge with anyone.
• An White told the group that their condition was not corruption and urged them to take control of their true selves.
• Fu Qian sensed that the transforming figure’s divinity was rising, while Jill questioned what he was.
• An White declared that he was An and that White was dead, then twisted White’s head off and said he had failed to control an impulse at the beginning.