Chapter Summaries

Tang Qi persuaded Bell Deer and Malin to accept a plan for the Ebony Forest based on helping its afflicted residents accept themselves and selling beautiful dreams to outsiders. After Malin reconciled with Bell Deer and the outpost’s survivors prepared to relocate, Tang Qi asked Quinn to join his Hag Gathering.

• Tang Qi presented proposals for ideological education and dream tourism to help the Ebony Forest’s afflicted residents and change outsiders’ perceptions.
• Bell Deer and Malin considered the plan, and Bell Deer agreed to the pact while Malin agreed to return to the Mother Tree without promising to change herself.
• Bell Deer and Malin renewed their bond and acknowledged that the Phlogiston Sea still threatened the Ebony Forest.
• The meeting ended with both sides agreeing to relocate the outpost’s survivors to the Ebony Forest.
• Tang Qi asked Quinn whether she wanted to join his Hag Gathering, surprising her.

Tang Qi and Quinn formed a hag gathering by having Tang Qi’s clone count as a second member, avoiding the need to create and raise a child. The gathering granted them shared spells, and Tang Qi discovered that the Hag’s Eye made him a sixth-ring spellcaster.

• Quinn explained that the gathering needed three hags and suggested creating a curseborn child, then transforming her into a hag.
• Tang Qi created a permanent clone, attuned it to the Hag’s Eye, and showed Quinn that the eye counted him and the clone as separate gathering members.
• Quinn attuned to the Hag’s Eye, and the gathering formed, giving Tang Qi and Quinn shared spells and spell slots.
• Tang Qi read the Hag’s Eye’s new description and learned it held charges that could cast gathering spells even when its members were far apart.
• Tang Qi realized the Hag’s Eye let him cast the sixth-ring Mind’s Eye and celebrated his newfound power.

Tang Qi discovered that his failed attempt to kill Kandelian had left him cursed, causing his spells to misfire and preventing him from feeling aggression toward anyone. Hubble Hall explained that the curse had become a Curse Binding that could only be broken by fulfilling its condition, leaving Tang Qi to consider traveling to the Southern Great Wall to kill Kandelian.

• Wendy remembered that she had brought Hubble Hall south to deliver Catherine's letter, while Hubble revealed he was carrying a magical robe for his sister.
• Tang Qi's Lightning Bolt misfired twice and struck him, and the others treated his injuries and investigated the cause.
• Tang Qi realized he could not feel aggression toward anyone and remembered the Revenge Curved Saber cursed him after he failed to kill Kandelian.
• Dawn's holy light let Tang Qi cast spells again, but it did not remove the feeling that he was being watched from the south.
• Hubble Hall explained that Tang Qi's curse had become a Curse Binding and that he might have to kill Kandelian to break it, prompting Tang Qi to consider going to the Southern Great Wall.

Tang Qi prepared to travel south toward the Southern Great Wall while his companions and the Beastfolk chose their own paths. After Quinn’s strained parting, Tang Qi dreamed of a mysterious dancer and woke from a Dream Sending Spell, realizing that someone had reached him through a lingering connection.

• Tang Qi refused to take Anbi south, put her to sleep with [Sleep Spell], and thanked Rod for donating supplies for the Beastfolk.
• Wendy and Hubble Hall departed with Anbi and Rod, while Hubble Hall gave Tang Qi a Prismatic Robe that he attuned to in place of his Revenge Curved Saber.
• Shivana rejected Tang Qi’s offer to remain in a dream and returned to the Beastfolk, while Quinn decided to accompany Tang Qi rather than return to Ebony Forest.
• Quinn threatened to leave the Gathering unless Tang Qi brought her three hundred tragedies by the next year, then withdrew to her room.
• Tang Qi dreamed of dancing with a mysterious woman whose heart scar reopened, then woke from a Dream Sending Spell and realized she had gotten rid of the father but kept the child.

Tang Qi set out toward the Southern Great Wall after receiving Ebony Forest’s gifts, while considering his relationships and the people waiting for him. He contacted Catherine, promised to return, and ended the chapter with new abilities granted for saving the forest.

• Tang Qi fed several magical items from Ebony Forest’s gifts to Yiwu and kept the more useful treasures, including a Lucky Stone, Color Roses, and Fairy Dust.
• Tang Qi reflected on the Ring of Fidelity, his reluctance to commit, and the Message Stone Catherine had sent him.
• Tang Qi used the Message Stone to tell Catherine that Anbi was traveling north with Wendy, and Catherine asked what he would do before telling him she would wait for him.
• Tang Qi wrote in his diary about Markwen’s courage, Ebony Forest’s sense of family, and the home he hoped to return to.
• Tang Qi gained the Fairy Singing Voice and Plague Antibodies feats as rewards for saving Ebony Forest.

In Wheat Ear Town, bard Punk promoted Tang Qi Weinberg’s Wasteland Guide while helping refugees from Wind Sand Islet and describing the dangers of the Road to Prison. After exposing a mercenary band’s collusion with bandits, he watched a mysterious armored priest seek companions to hunt them, and Anbi found the priest familiar.

• Punk sold a pirated copy of Tang Qi Weinberg’s Wasteland Guide to refugees from Wind Sand Islet, then gave their old man the guide and a Dragon Gold City guide for free.
• The Wind Sand Islet refugees described fleeing north after beastfolk cut off the city’s trade routes, while locals discussed the Great Wall’s fall and the war.
• Punk defended his choice to help refugees, saying he would not disgrace his reputation as Tang Qi’s student, and explained how some mercenaries colluded with bandits to manufacture demand for escorts.
• Punk identified Monka Battlecry and the War Hatchet as mercenaries implicated in the deaths of 110 caravan travelers, and said they had fled into the wilderness after their crimes were exposed.
• A heavily armored priest asked a local mercenary to join a bandit-hunting party, but the mercenary feigned a knee injury and fled.
• Anbi narrowed her eyes and said the armored priest looked familiar.

Arthur met Anbi and Wendy in Wheat Ear Town and asked them to help eliminate the War Hatchet, a mercenary company allied with bandits. He argued that the company’s suspicious behavior after the Southern Great Wall fell might be connected to the disaster, but the group had not yet decided whether to act.

• Arthur reflected on the difficult choices he had faced while trying to bring peace to people across the continent.
• Anbi recognized Arthur as a priest who had traveled through the Twilight Forest with her brother, Tang Qi, and asked him about the bandits along the road home.
• Arthur showed Wendy and Anbi a map of suspected bandit hideouts and proposed that Wendy help him confront the War Hatchet.
• Arthur explained that the War Hatchet had thirty professional mercenaries, but said he could use a blessing to hinder most of them.
• Arthur argued that the War Hatchet’s alliance with weaker bandits made little sense financially and that the company had begun operating along the Road to Prison soon after the Southern Great Wall fell.

Hubble Hall helped Arthur and Wendy suspect that a tavern informant was leaking their plans to the War Hatchet mercenaries. Anbi identified the likely informant as Punk, and the chapter ended with her pinning him in an alley.

• Hubble Hall encouraged Wendy to investigate the bandits, and Wendy agreed while prioritizing Anbi's safety.
• Arthur explained that the bandits had repeatedly evaded the adventurers tracking them, and Hubble Hall suspected a tavern informant was revealing their movements.
• Hubble Hall reasoned that the informant would be discreet, idle, and present in the tavern for long hours.
• Punk reported to a shadowy figure that the priest had only been drinking and seeking companions, then received a gold coin for watching him.
• Anbi recognized Punk as the person who fit the informant's traits and knocked him down in an alley.

After capturing Punk, Arthur and Hubble Hall questioned him and uncovered doubts about the War Hatchet’s supposed collusion with bandits. Anbi tracked Monka’s scent to a nearby cave, and Arthur decided they would wait until twilight before approaching.

• Anbi attacked Punk, but Wendy stopped her so Arthur and Hubble Hall could question him.
• Under Arthur’s Domain of Honesty, Punk admitted that Monka had recruited him after the War Hatchet massacred a caravan and later ordered him to spread rumors about collusion with bandits.
• Hubble Hall suspected Monka had spread the rumors to conceal the real truth, and the group considered using Punk to lure the mercenaries into an ambush.
• Anbi tracked Monka’s scent from Punk’s gold coin through the forest to a cave a few kilometers from Wheat Ear Town.
• Arthur told the others to wait until the first ray of twilight appeared before approaching the cave.

Arthur and his companions waited in a concealed cabin near the mercenaries’ cave, hoping to attack with divine guidance. After they subdued a patrolling mercenary, the company discovered them and destroyed their shelter, leaving them under attack as Arthur continued praying.

• Anbi detected a mercenary and his dire wolf approaching the hidden cabin, and Hubble Hall used a [Sleep Spell] to knock the drunken mercenary unconscious.
• Anbi killed the dire wolf before it could howl, and Wendy helped drag its corpse and the bound mercenary into the cabin.
• Hubble Hall discovered divination magic on the mercenary and decided not to wake him, while Anbi buried the blood to conceal their presence.
• The mercenaries searched for the missing John and eventually found the group when a Spellcaster dispelled the cabin’s concealment.
• Anbi dodged arrows and retreated into the pit, while Wendy shielded Anbi and Punk and Hubble Hall protected himself as the mercenaries advanced.
• Arthur remained kneeling in prayer as Hubble Hall called out for help and the lantern-bearing mercenaries drew closer.

Wendy, Hubble Hall, and Anbi fought Monka Battlecry's War Hatchet mercenaries in the fog while Arthur remained behind praying. The battle left Wendy immobilized but protected by a heroic spirit, while Anbi was injured after infecting Monka and was knocked off his back.

• Wendy charged Monka Battlecry, but his mechanical hatchet arm blasted her into a tree and the mercenaries attacked her armor's weak points.
• Wendy escaped the attackers with a magic item and wounded the Third Ring Spellcaster with her Flame Tongue sword while Hubble Hall used Grease Spell against the mercenaries.
• Monka's chain-linked hatchet knocked Wendy to one knee, and another Spellcaster immobilized her with Human Stasis Spell.
• Anbi ambushed the Spellcaster and disrupted his concentration, while a heroic spirit emerged from Wendy's armor to fight beside her.
• Anbi leaped onto Monka and bit his neck, infecting him with the Beastification Curse, but Monka slammed her against a tree and knocked her loose.

Wendy and her companions defeated Monka’s mercenary band, but a hidden spell killed the mercenaries before they could reveal their secret. Hubble Hall found a damaged Aether Barrier in the cave and realized the Southern Great Wall had collapsed from within.

• Monka stayed awake through Arthur’s dream spell, but surrendered when he saw Wendy’s powerful equipment and admitted the mercenaries had been waiting for information about something hidden in the cave.
• Monka began to reveal that the hidden object belonged to the Great Wall, but a Guardian Inscription caused his head and the sleeping mercenaries’ heads to explode.
• Hubble Hall identified the spell that had killed the mercenaries and searched the cave despite his uneasy instincts.
• Hubble Hall opened a locked black box and found a damaged, many-sided prism that he identified as one of the Southern Great Wall’s Aether Barriers.
• Hubble Hall told Wendy that the barrier’s damage meant the Southern Great Wall had collapsed from within, rather than being breached by the Beastfolk.

Hubble Hall explained that the damaged Aether Prism amplified psionic power and that spice could awaken psionics at the cost of severe mental corruption. After Wendy connected the mercenaries’ brain explosions to a possible conspiracy against the Great Wall, the prism was assigned to Tang Qi Weinberg, who was told only he could repair it.

• Hubble Hall explained how the Aether Prism used psionics to sustain the Great Wall’s barrier and how spice could awaken psionic abilities while corrupting the mind.
• Wendy realized the mercenaries’ exploding brains might have been caused by psionic inscriptions and suspected someone had sabotaged the prism and arranged a cover-up.
• Hubble Hall told Wendy that the mercenaries had hidden the prism while waiting for their companion and that he had reported the matter to his grandfather.
• Hubble Hall received word that the Starlight lord wanted the group to escort the prism south and hand it to Tang Qi Weinberg so he could help uncover the truth.
• Hubble Hall relayed Stella Starlight’s message that only Tang Qi could repair the Aether Prism, leaving Tang Qi confused about why she had chosen him.

Tang Qi led the beastfolk and goblin refugees across the Gray Mountains while Shalti watched with growing curiosity at how he kept the group united. In the Gravel Zone, Tang Qi discovered that the vanishing rocks were more than illusions when his foot found no support and he began to fall.

• Tang Qi recorded his duties, then organized the beastfolk to prepare for a weeklong crossing of the Gray Mountains.
• Tang Qi guided the group along a merchant-recommended route, and Shalti wondered how he had earned the beastfolk’s cooperation.
• Tang Qi played a marching song to lift the travelers’ spirits while Shivana, Dawn, Houke, and other beastfolk hunted nearby wild boars.
• Tang Qi noted the hazards of the steeper Gravel Zone as a beastfolk slipped and knocked two others down the slope.
• Tang Qi tried to demonstrate a safe foothold, but the rock beneath his boot vanished, leaving him falling despite his [True Sight].

Tang Qi discovered that the Gravel Zone’s sudden gaps and headaches were caused by hidden Gray Oozes, while using Fairy Dust to fly the Rift Roar tribe’s women and children over the dangerous path. After the tribe smashed the exposed oozes, Tang Qi suspected their behavior concealed a further danger.

• Tang Qi fell on the rocky slope, and Shalti used [Entangle Spell] to stop him and Dawn from sliding farther.
• Shalti explained that travelers often suffered headaches and misjudged their footing in the Gravel Zone, so Tang Qi used [Fairy Dust] to teach the tribe’s women to fly with their children.
• Tang Qi noticed a rock’s outline shifting, realized it was alive, and Yiwu struck it with a Gravity Orb.
• Tang Qi identified the hidden creatures as Gray Oozes and ordered the Beastfolk to smash them with the flat sides of their axes.
• The Beastfolk destroyed more than a hundred exposed Gray Oozes, and Tang Qi wondered why they had followed the group before attacking only after being discovered.

Tang Qi waited in the Gray Mountains for the fog to clear, suspecting that an intelligent creature was behind the Gray Oozes’ strange behavior. A caravan led by Beltolan Ifrak arrived seeking shelter and guidance, but Tang Qi discovered through True Sight that its members were disguised Snakefolk.

• Tang Qi explained to Shalti that he believed the Gray Oozes had been influenced by a nearby psionic being and used the camp’s noise to lure its hidden master out.
• Tang Qi concealed the tribe’s green skin and greeted a caravan emerging from the fog, claiming that his group were mercenaries from Dragon Gold City.
• Beltolan Ifrak introduced himself as a merchant transporting rye to Wind Sand Islet, while his sister Bella proposed that the caravan and Tang Qi’s group travel together.
• Tang Qi welcomed the caravan into camp but recognized beneath their disguises that the visitors were Snakefolk.

Tang Qi traveled ahead with Bell and Bella’s disguised Snakefolk caravan, recognizing their deception while they tried to drug and enslave his group. He and Dawn revealed they had resisted the ambush, and Bell ordered the Snakefolk to attack Dawn.

• Tang Qi sent Shivana, Shalti, his double, and the remaining group to follow later while he went ahead with Jilago and several Beastfolk.
• Tang Qi identified Bell and Bella’s group as Pureblood Snakefolk, and the Snakefolk offered the travelers spiced wine laced with a drug.
• The Snakefolk used an illusory landscape to lead the group off the proper route, while Tang Qi pretended the drug had incapacitated him.
• Bella dropped her disguise and announced that the Snakefolk intended to collar the travelers and enslave them.
• Tang Qi stood up and revealed that he had known about the deception from the beginning; Dawn also rose, having only pretended to be drugged.
• Bell ordered the Snakefolk to attack, and Tang Qi said they only needed to fight Dawn.

Tang Qi exposed Bella and Bell’s plan to raise an army of slaves and seize Wind Sand Islet, then decided to bring them there for a reward. The story shifted to Leon Lionheart, imprisoned in the Gloom Cavern for 131 days, as a primordial snakefolk announced that the opportunity he had mentioned was near.

• Tang Qi found Bella’s antidote, cured the poisoned beastfolk, and questioned Bella and Bell about their kidnappings.
• Bella used nods and shakes to confirm that the snakefolk had been capturing slaves for half a year to raise an army and seize Wind Sand Islet.
• Tang Qi learned the snakefolk numbered about one thousand and chose to take their leaders to Wind Sand Islet for a reward rather than attack their cavern.
• Bell revealed that a shackled lion had seen through the snakefolk’s disguise spell, prompting Tang Qi to connect the clues to Leon Lionheart.
• Leon Lionheart sneezed in the Gloom Cavern, where he and Night Wind had been imprisoned for 131 days, and a primordial snakefolk told him his opportunity was close at hand.

The Deep Pit Lord prepared to use the [Aether Prism] to reclaim Wind Sand Islet, but an explosion and a sudden beastfolk assault disrupted his plans. The chapter ended as he raised the prism against a golden [Supreme Holy Slash].

• The Deep Pit Lord told Leon to prepare for their expedition and threatened a slave, but Leon stopped him from killing the man.
• A rose-scented powder and exploding alchemical oil filled the caves with fire, and the Deep Pit Lord used the [Aether Prism] to suppress the flames and drive the powder out.
• The Deep Pit Lord led more than two hundred snakefolk outside, where he found that a hazy barrier blocked his connection to the mammals' thoughts.
• Beastfolk emerged from the stone forest and attacked the snakefolk, prompting the Deep Pit Lord to raise the [Aether Prism] against a golden [Supreme Holy Slash].

Tang Qi’s ambush let the beastfolk and their allies overwhelm the snakefolk, until the Deep Pit Lord used the Aether Prism to unleash immense psionic gravity. Yiwu proved immune to the prism, reclaimed it, and ended the power crushing the battlefield.

• Tang Qi used Color Roses, Mercy of Dreams, and the stone forest to conceal the beastfolk before they attacked the snakefolk.
• Dawn and Shivana fought the Deep Pit Lord while Shalti’s fog and the beastfolk’s healing and ferocity drove the snakefolk back.
• The snakefolk’s escape route was sealed by a boulder, and the Deep Pit Lord decided to confront the attackers alone.
• The Deep Pit Lord used the Aether Prism to manifest psionic power, crushing everyone beneath immense gravity and demanding their surrender.
• Yiwu floated to the prism, resisted its power, and tapped it, collapsing the starry network and causing the Deep Pit Lord to fall.
• Yiwu returned with the prism to Tang Qi, who said its creator, Her Highness Eve Edel, could not be bound by her own creation.