Recaps

The Guardian’s Pitch-Black Eyeballs tore through the Flesh spreading across Bronze City while Gray Mist immobilized the Flesh and its Special Individuals. As the Guardian’s power began to weaken, Lu Yuan still had not found the fifth fragment, and he and Klaus feared the underground Flesh had not been destroyed.

• The Guardian’s Pitch-Black Eyeballs overwhelmed the Special Individuals and the Flesh Wall, while Gray Mist held them in place.
• Gray Mist froze the Special Individual attacking the Hooded Night Watcher at Old Assembly Square, and the Night Watcher survived as the creature was destroyed.
• At the Collapse Pit, Gray Mist stopped another Special Individual, allowing the Hooded Night Watcher to strike it and survive.
• Margaret prepared to defend the Church Stone Building as Flesh consumed its lower floors, but Gray Mist immobilized the growth and Pitch-Black Eyeballs destroyed it.
• Margaret concluded that two existences above the Fifth Order had acted together, while the Nuns prayed over the revealed Angel Statue.
• Lu Yuan watched the Guardian’s power fade, and Klaus ordered the residents into the Branch as Lu Yuan worried about the fifth fragment.

Lu Yuan discovered that the Hope tree could potentially help someone reach the Fifth Order, while Klaus weighed who should receive its power. In the Tower of Erudition, Helmut confronted the nobles sheltering there and blamed their dealings with the Grey Covenant for Bronze City’s crisis.

• Lu Yuan found the Hope tree radiating golden light, and Gray-White Text identified it as a growing source of power that might advance someone to the Fifth Order.
• Klaus felt the Hope tree stir the divinity sealed in his amber and considered Guardian, Leike, and himself as possible candidates to receive its power.
• Lu Yuan and Klaus agreed that using the tree would likely destroy it, but they did not know the cost or the best time to act.
• Helmut silenced the nobles sheltering in the Tower of Erudition and revealed that the Empire’s mission took priority over their survival.
• Helmut accused the nobles of letting the Grey Covenant take root in Bronze City through their dealings with it.

As the Flesh Wall overwhelmed Bronze City and Guardian and the Person on the Wall failed to stop it, Lu Yuan connected with the four underground Fragments and prepared to risk summoning the fifth. The chapter left Klaus, Blue Knight, Leike, and the Night Watchers fighting to evacuate residents while the Flesh advanced toward the Branch.

• Helmut warned the nobles that they would die with him if the Empire lost the war, then ended the meeting.
• The Flesh Wall surged upward and spread toward the Tower of Erudition and the Branch, forcing Guardian to abandon his suppression of the wall.
• Guardian and the Person on the Wall attacked the Flesh Wall together, but a Gold-Black Barrier repelled them and left both close to their limits.
• Klaus and Blue Knight defended the Branch while Leike and the Night Watchers evacuated residents underground.
• Lu Yuan connected with the four underground Fragments, sensed the fifth, and prepared to gather the four before forcibly summoning it.

Lu Yuan assembled four fragments into the incomplete Golden Order and discovered that the Person on the Wall held the fifth fragment in the Inner City. As the Flesh overwhelmed Bronze City and advanced on the Tower of Erudition, Guardian and the Person on the Wall prepared to act.

• Lu Yuan sensed four fragments pass through the underground Flesh and emerge from the Copper Pillars, then watched them join into an incomplete Golden Order.
• Lu Yuan used the assembled fragments to locate the fifth piece near the Tower of Erudition and realized the Person on the Wall had taken it.
• Guardian watched the four Flesh-covered walls collapse into the Inner City, sweeping away troops and flooding streets and buildings.
• The Person on the Wall feared the Flesh would reach the Tower of Erudition and told Guardian to make his move.
• Guardian began raising his black aura as the Visitor in the Mist watched the approaching disaster with a lighter mood.

The Guardian and the Person on the Wall fought the endless Flesh, but the corrupted Crown overwhelmed them and Bronze City fell. With his power failing, the Guardian told Arthur to begin; Arthur prepared his last resort with Hilde, revealing that the plan would cost his life and asking her to protect a booklet.

• The Person on the Wall and the Guardian used their powers to hold back the Flesh, but the endless tide overwhelmed their defenses.
• A Crown corrupted by Flesh emerged from a wall and struck the Guardian, while the Person on the Wall shielded him and was badly injured.
• The Guardian’s giant eyeball shattered, and he told Arthur to begin as his body mutated and Bronze City fell.
• Arthur learned the Guardian had failed and told Hilde it was their turn to act.
• Arthur revealed that he had expected to die when he made a deal with a Taboo, then asked Hilde to follow the plan and keep his booklet safe.

Arthur activated the Fourth Fishing plan and entered the Sea of Knowledge, opening a rift above the Tower of Erudition where words poured down and clashed with the tides of flesh. At the Branch, Lu Yuan drew a swarm of hidden Worms of Knowledge to himself while Klaus and Blue Knight continued fighting the advancing flesh.

• Arthur activated the array with Hilde, sending his consciousness into the Sea of Knowledge as his body became its anchor.
• A rift opened above the Tower of Erudition, and words from the Sea of Knowledge poured into Bronze City, corroding the tide of flesh and shaking the tower.
• The Gray-White Skull accused the Guardian of breaking their promise before it was dragged back into the Tower of Erudition.
• The Visitor in the Mist watched the clash from a distant Clock Tower, called the plan interesting, and vanished over Bronze City.
• At the Branch, Lu Yuan sensed a major event in the Inner City as Worms of Knowledge emerged across the Outer City and swarmed toward him.
• Lu Yuan's Worm of Knowledge emerged and drew the swarm to a halt before him, while Klaus and Blue Knight continued holding back the flesh.

Lu Yuan unleashed the Worms of Knowledge against the Abyssal flesh, temporarily stopping its advance and shielding the branch’s thousands of occupants. As the swarm’s hidden power became visible to the defenders, Klaus returned with a medicine bottle called Breath of the Dying and warned that the Guardian was close to falling.

• Lu Yuan gave the Worms of Knowledge permission to feed on the Abyssal flesh, and their swarm formed a River of Light that attacked it.
• The worms gnawed through the flesh and forced it to retreat, but fresh flesh from underground replenished it and created a stalemate.
• The Worms of Knowledge held the flesh outside the branch, temporarily protecting the thousands sheltering beneath it.
• Klaus, Leike, the Blue Knight, and other Night Watchers saw Lu Yuan command the colorful swarm and recognized that it differed from the Tower of Erudition’s Knowledge-Derived Worms.
• Lu Yuan accepted that his power could no longer remain secret and gained experience in several skills as the worms fed.
• Klaus returned to Lu Yuan, said the Guardian in the Inner City could not hold on much longer, and showed him a medicine bottle identified as Breath of the Dying.

Lu Yuan agreed to try to deliver Klaus’s potion to the Guardian and decided to seek help from the Person on the Wall, but he could not reach him. A Pathfinder airship arrived at the Branch, bringing support as the chapter ended with its hatch opening.

• Klaus told Lu Yuan he had planned to drink the potion himself but now wanted to give it to the Guardian.
• Lu Yuan sensed that the Worms of Knowledge could not clear a route through the flesh, but agreed to Klaus’s request because he had other plans.
• Lu Yuan tried to contact the Person on the Wall and, finding no response despite sensing his aura, decided to enter the Inner City himself.
• An enormous Pathfinder airship emerged from the eastern clouds and descended toward the Branch.
• The airship blasted the encroaching flesh away from its landing site, landed, and opened its hatch as two Pathfinders stepped out.

Klaus, Lu Yuan, Green, and the Blue Knight boarded the Sky-Seeking Fortress to enter Bronze City's overrun Inner City and reach the Tower of Erudition. As the airship crossed the wall of flesh, the Tower's Guardian remained trapped and the Sea of Knowledge rift was closing.

• Logan warned Klaus that the airship could enter the Inner City but could not land or return, while Green said the city's inscriptions and the Guardian's anchors were failing.
• Klaus insisted on going to the Tower of Erudition with the Copper-Shelled Potion, and Lu Yuan, Green, and the Blue Knight joined him.
• Lu Yuan directed the Sea of Worms to keep the flesh from spreading without eating until they fell asleep, while Leike stayed behind to command the remaining Insect Tide.
• The group boarded the Sky-Seeking Fortress and saw that dark red flesh had engulfed the Inner City, leaving only the Tower of Erudition protected by gray fog.
• The Person on the Wall failed to pull Lu Yuan into his domain as the golden crown blocked messages and the Sea of Knowledge rift began closing.
• The Sky-Seeking Fortress crossed the wall of flesh and headed toward the Inner City.

Lu Yuan and the others flew toward the Tower of Erudition aboard the Sky-Seeking Fortress while the Worms of Knowledge fed him a surge of experience. As the airship emerged from the fog, they saw that the Inner City had been almost completely buried beneath spreading flesh and roots.

• Green proudly described the Sky-Seeking Fortress and its weapons, while Logan warned that its firepower could not defeat the Taboo existence and said they could only carry Klaus's group to the tower.
• The Worms of Knowledge sent Lu Yuan a surge of experience, filling Pharmacology and Pharmacognosy and unlocking Pharmaceutics.
• Lu Yuan saw that Forbidden Studies had also gained experience, while Sanity and Bronze City's current state remained unchanged.
• As the fog thinned, the airship reached the Inner City and revealed streets, plazas, and buildings buried beneath dark red and dark gold flesh.
• The Blue Knight, Klaus, and Green stared at the vast expanse of flesh and roots spreading through the Inner City.

Lu Yuan and the others flew the Sky-Seeking Fortress toward the Tower of Erudition, where a Flesh Crown watched over the battle between Flesh and the Sea of Knowledge. The airship evaded the Crown’s searching eyes and attacking tendrils, but its inscriptions and gasbag were pushed close to their limits as it sped onward.

• Lu Yuan recognized the enormous Flesh Crown near the Tower of Erudition and sensed a connection between it and the authority in his left eye.
• When an eyeball fixed its gaze on the Sky-Seeking Fortress, Logan activated the Stealth Inscription and concealed the airship from it.
• The Crown sent additional eyes searching, while tendrils rose from the Flesh and forced Logan to steer the airship higher.
• Logan ordered full speed ahead and placed the weapons systems on standby as tendrils reached the airship and mucus corroded its window.
• A tendril struck the gasbag, but the inscriptions burned it apart, and Logan accelerated the Sky-Seeking Fortress beyond the searching eyes.

Logan’s group reached the Tower of Erudition and lowered Klaus, Lu Yuan, and the Blue Knight onto its summit, while the Crown’s attack forced Sky-Seeking Fortress to flee. Lu Yuan accepted the Person on the Wall’s summons and found its damaged head waiting in its domain.

• Logan gave Klaus two signal flares and explained how the group would circle the Tower of Erudition, descend through the Gray Mist, and leave the three of them to proceed alone.
• As Sky-Seeking Fortress passed the Sea of Knowledge rift, Lu Yuan sensed that someone was maintaining it and realized he might be able to take it over, but he chose to wait until he had met the Person on the Wall.
• Green stayed aboard Sky-Seeking Fortress, while Klaus, the Blue Knight, and Lu Yuan descended by rope onto the Tower of Erudition’s summit.
• The flesh Crown fired a golden beam at Sky-Seeking Fortress, whose inscriptions deflected it; Green cut the ropes, and the airship escaped as the Crown searched the sky.
• Lu Yuan consented to the Person on the Wall’s summons and was taken to its domain, where he saw its cracked, deteriorating head emerge from the fog.

Lu Yuan negotiated with the Person on the Wall for the fifth fragment and joined it with the other four to complete the Golden Order. The artifact pulled Lu Yuan into a boundless void, where he saw a colossal crowned figure with an empty space where its central crown should have been.

• The Person on the Wall admitted that he had taken the fifth fragment through the Grey Covenant and had tried to open the Plant World after seeing a future in which Bronze City was destroyed.
• The Person on the Wall offered Lu Yuan the fifth fragment in exchange for a way to survive and a promise that Lu Yuan would stop pursuing him, and Lu Yuan agreed to swear an oath.
• Lu Yuan recited the oath, but its binding power dispersed without leaving a trace on him.
• The Person on the Wall sent the fifth fragment to Lu Yuan, and it joined with his other four fragments to form the complete Golden Order.
• The Golden Order drew Lu Yuan into a boundless void, where he saw an enormous humanoid figure wearing several Golden Crowns and missing the crown at its center.

Lu Yuan learned that the Crown of Ten Thousand Kings was corrupted and failed to control it through the Golden Order. As the Crown attacked the rift in the Sea of Knowledge, Lu Yuan answered the Authority's call and arrived above the unstable sea.

• The City Founder's recording explained that the Golden Order could control the Crown of Ten Thousand Kings, whose integrity maintained the seal beneath Bronze City.
• Lu Yuan entered the Crown's space and found that Flesh had corrupted six of its seven gemstones; the central gemstone remained pure, but the corrupted Crown expelled him when he tried to control it.
• The Crown turned its attention to the rift above the Tower of Erudition and tried to seal it, causing the Person on the Wall's domain to shake.
• Lu Yuan told Klaus he had a way to stop the Crown, then withdrew to the Main Tower and answered the Sea of Knowledge Authority's call.
• Lu Yuan reached the Sea of Knowledge and saw that the rift was shrinking, the sea was collapsing, and the floating text fragments were dimming.

Lu Yuan entered the collapsing Sea of Knowledge Rift and found Arthur Heinz dying after using his soul as its anchor. After Arthur dissolved into the sea, Lu Yuan took control of it and fought the Crown of Ten Thousand Kings to keep the rift open, hoping to buy time for Klaus and the others.

• Lu Yuan stabilized the Sea of Knowledge Rift with his Authority and found Arthur Heinz near death, bound to the sea as its anchor.
• Arthur told Lu Yuan he had sacrificed Tower of Erudition students to keep the rift open and asked him to protect it before his soul dissolved into the sea.
• Lu Yuan took control of the Sea of Knowledge, causing his Sanity to fall while his Forbidden Studies and Sanity Authority increased.
• Lu Yuan used the sea's knowledge fragments to hold the rift open against the Crown of Ten Thousand Kings, which tried to close it.
• The Drowner began showing signs of consciousness, but Lu Yuan focused on keeping the rift open and finding a way to pull the Crown inside for Klaus and the others.

Klaus reached the Tower of Erudition to evacuate Guardian and Hilde as the Sea of Knowledge and the flesh crown battled over the collapsing tower. Arthur had died to complete the fourth fishing operation, and Hilde arrived carrying his final knowledge and the fishing methods.

• Klaus found Guardian transformed into a gigantic black eyeball and urged him to drink a prepared Fifth Order potion, but Guardian did not take it.
• Klaus sent Blue Knight through the Gray Mist to retrieve The Earl, who escaped the underground refuge while the other nobles remained behind.
• The flesh crown grew as flesh surged toward it, while the Sea of Knowledge widened its rift and held the crown back; the thinning Gray Mist and crumbling tower made evacuation urgent.
• Klaus contacted Hilde and believed Arthur had died opening the Sea of Knowledge rift, then asked Guardian to leave with him.
• Hilde found Arthur's body reduced to one remaining hand after he completed the fourth fishing operation, took the knowledge booklet and fishing methods, and set the apparatus to delay the rift's closure.
• Hilde reached the Main Tower and found Klaus trying to pour the potion into Guardian's mouth while Guardian refused to move.

Klaus and the others escaped the Tower of Erudition aboard the Sky-Seeking Fortress while Lu Yuan used the Sea of Knowledge to hold back the flesh. Lu Yuan remained alone before the Crown of Ten Thousand Kings, buying time as his Sanity fluctuated and his Forbidden Studies approached a breakthrough.

• Klaus fired a signal flare, summoning the Sky-Seeking Fortress to rescue the group from the Tower of Erudition.
• The Sky-Seeking Fortress struggled to descend through the flesh, but Lu Yuan and the Person on the Wall opened a passage with the Sea of Knowledge and Gray Mist.
• The Blue Knight, Klaus, Hilde, the Earl, and the Guardian climbed aboard the Sky-Seeking Fortress, and Klaus signaled Logan to take off after seeing Lu Yuan remain behind.
• Lu Yuan crushed the Crown's attacks with a beam of text and hurled the damaged Sky-Seeking Fortress beyond the Flesh Wall, allowing its passengers to escape.
• Lu Yuan faced the Crown of Ten Thousand Kings alone as flesh converged upon it, while the Worm of Knowledge's Sanity feedback helped him endure and his Forbidden Studies experience continued to rise.

Lu Yuan used the Sea of Knowledge to attack the Crown of Ten Thousand Kings, but his knowledge spears could not reach it, and his Sanity and the Person on the Wall’s domain were running out. As the taboo flesh connected to the crown and began consuming the Tower of Erudition, Lu Yuan spread a vast curtain of knowledge across Bronze City, revealing its outline without seriously harming the flesh.

• Lu Yuan attacked the Crown of Ten Thousand Kings with spears formed from the Sea of Knowledge, but waves of flesh blocked them and quickly healed.
• The Person on the Wall recognized that Lu Yuan wielded the Authority of the Sea of Knowledge and realized their survival depended on him holding out.
• Inscribed flesh surged up from below and joined the crown, whose flesh began spreading down the Tower of Erudition and tearing at its foundations.
• The remaining instructors and nobles panicked as the flesh threatened the Tower of Erudition and the Person on the Wall’s shrinking domain.
• Lu Yuan expanded his control of the Sea of Knowledge, sending colored words across the Inner City and dispersing the gray-white mist, but the attacks inflicted little damage.

Lu Yuan and the Worms of Knowledge broke through the inscribed flesh in the Inner City, but a terrible presence began awakening there. In the Outer City, the Guardian abandoned his humanity and became an Eerie, then began collapsing inward as Lu Yuan identified him as the Pale Eye.

• Lu Yuan directed the Worms of Knowledge to swarm the inscribed flesh, tear open a breach, and devour the knowledge within it.
• Klaus, the Blue Knight, The Earl, Hilde, the Guardian, and Leike arrived in the Outer City and sensed a powerful presence growing in the Inner City.
• The Guardian warned Klaus to protect Lu Yuan, returned the Fifth Order potion, and admitted that he no longer belonged to humankind.
• The Guardian's human head withered and fell away as his Black Eyeball became a Pitch-Black Eyeball and transformed into a true Eerie.
• The Guardian's Eerie form emerged through the Flesh Wall, and Lu Yuan's Environmental Perception identified it as the Pale Eye, a Complete Aberration.

Lu Yuan watched the Guardian abandon his chance to preserve his humanity and transform into a Fifth-Order aberration. The Guardian resisted an unknown summons and the pull of the flesh below, then unleashed his power against the Starry Sky flesh in Bronze City.

• Lu Yuan recognized the Guardian as a complete aberration as the giant eye lost its last traces of humanity, while Klaus and the others sensed its growing threat.
• The Guardian's transformation fed Lu Yuan's Forbidden Studies experience, and Lu Yuan struggled to control the Sea of Knowledge Rift while resisting the Crown of Ten Thousand Kings.
• An unknown summons and the familiar flesh below tempted the Guardian, but he rejected both and held onto his hatred for the Eerie creatures.
• The Guardian's giant eye erupted with pale light, and countless pale eyes emerged from the Inner City's Flesh Walls to drain vitality from the Starry Sky flesh.
• The pale eyes froze and withered the Starry Sky flesh, and the Guardian's attack gouged a hollow through its outer sheath.

Lu Yuan used the Guardian’s assault to weaken the Crown of Ten Thousand Kings, but the Worms of Knowledge were overwhelmed by the Starry Sky Flesh’s secrets and had to retreat. As the Guardian lost control to a newborn eerie consciousness, he destroyed it and himself, leaving Bronze City under rain mixed with his remains.

• The Guardian’s white radiance damaged the Crown of Ten Thousand Kings, allowing Lu Yuan to sense that its polluted wills had weakened.
• Lu Yuan sent the Worms of Knowledge through the Crown’s wound, then recalled them when the Starry Sky Flesh’s knowledge threatened to overwhelm the swarm.
• The Pale Eye’s indiscriminate beams struck the Inner City and Outer City, forcing Klaus, Leike, and the others to retreat from the ruins.
• The Guardian realized an eerie consciousness was taking control of him and feared what would happen if it seized the Fifth Order core.
• The Guardian crushed the newborn consciousness with his remaining will, then the Pale Eye split apart and dissolved as he died.
• Dark clouds gathered over Bronze City, and rain carrying black-and-white fragments fell across the Inner City and Outer City.

Leike seized the Guardian’s Fifth Order core and potion from Klaus, then consumed the core to force his own advancement. As his body transformed through unbearable pain, Leike sensed a flaw in his control over his Path.

• Klaus prepared to use the Guardian’s core and potion to become a Fifth Order Transcendent and save Bronze City.
• Leike’s Swarm Insects struck Klaus, dislocated his arms, and stole the core and potion.
• Leike refused to return the items and told Klaus to let him take the risk, arguing that Klaus had a better chance of following an uncorrupted path.
• Leike shattered the core, and the Swarm Insects devoured its pure Fifth Order energy.
• The Swarm Insects mutated as they flooded Leike’s body, whose flesh repeatedly froze, fell away, and regrew; Leike sensed a flaw in his control over his Path.

Leike used his contract with the Person on the Wall to stabilize his transformation and reach the pinnacle of Fifth Order without losing control to the Swarm Insects. With his power still rising, he prepared to enter the Inner City and save Lu Yuan.

• Leike drank the Fifth Order potion, which restrained the Swarm Insects but left him trapped at the early stage of Fifth Order.
• Leike summoned the Person on the Wall and asked him to advance Leike to the pinnacle of Fifth Order while preserving Leike’s control over his pathway.
• The Person on the Wall granted Leike’s wish, causing the Swarm Insects to submit to Leike and allowing his broken body to recover as his power surged.
• Blue Knight and Klaus watched Leike’s transformation, while Leike felt the Swarm Insects beginning to threaten his will.
• Leike focused his Fifth Order aura on the Tower of Erudition and prepared to force his way into the Inner City to save Lu Yuan.

As the Crown of Ten Thousand Kings overwhelmed the Sea of Knowledge, Lu Yuan advanced Forbidden Studies and entered the Hall of Knowledge. There, the Hall recorded his encounters with taboos and opened a hidden passage leading toward the secrets of his pathway.

• Lu Yuan reached the maximum level of Forbidden Studies and confirmed his advancement while the Crown of Ten Thousand Kings threatened to break through the Sea of Knowledge.
• Lu Yuan entered the Hall of Knowledge and saw that the distant halls representing the Deep Sea, Flesh, and Forest Paths had changed.
• A shadow in the Scholar's tower summoned pages that recorded Lu Yuan's past and formed a book containing his knowledge of several taboos, including the Crown of Ten Thousand Kings.
• The book opened a hidden door, and the shadow told Lu Yuan that the Sea of Knowledge's mark bound him to a road watched by gazes from beyond.
• Lu Yuan descended the newly revealed staircase, where he saw strange Inscriptions and seven exhausted-looking statues.

Lu Yuan explored the Forbidden Scholars’ underground Hall of Knowledge and awakened four ancient scholar spirits by touching a statue. The spirits recognized the Drowner attached to his leg as a potential vessel, raising the possibility that they could leave the hall and accompany him.

• Lu Yuan found seven statues in the corridor and failed to open the enormous metal door or summon the Gray-White Text.
• Lu Yuan touched the first statue, illuminating the corridor and releasing four clouds of mist that introduced themselves as ancient Forbidden Scholars.
• Lu Yuan told the spirits that Forbidden Studies had vanished from the outside world and that he had advanced rapidly after about a year of study.
• Oden recognized the Drowner on Lu Yuan’s leg as a vessel capable of carrying a spirit, and the four spirits excitedly considered escaping the hall.