Chapter Summaries

Lu Yuan carried Frey through the thinning mist as she recalled where she had first arrived in the world. He followed her directions toward a possible hiding place, hoping to find wanderers and learn how they preserved their sanity.

• Lu Yuan asked Frey about the Great Tower, but she could not remember its location or the world's boundaries.
• As the mist thinned, Frey warned Lu Yuan that Heretics could spot them and urged him to find somewhere to hide.
• Frey recognized a path near a massive skeleton and directed Lu Yuan toward the place where she had stayed before.
• Lu Yuan headed down the path, hoping to find wanderers who could explain how they survived the world's constant drain on sanity.
• Lu Yuan concluded that carrying Frey prevented her from contacting the ground and being contaminated, though he would need to protect her during fights.

Lu Yuan and Frey found a deserted camp protected from the surrounding flesh by Black Stones. Inside the main tent, they discovered Withered Glory Society members kneeling around the dead wanderer Frey had come to find, and Lu Yuan prepared to act.

• Lu Yuan and Frey followed signs of past fighting to a walled camp made from bones and stones.
• Lu Yuan entered through a collapsed section of the wall and found that the Black Stones covering the ground reduced the sluggish resistance he had felt outside.
• Lu Yuan heard murmuring inside the main tent and detected a weak source of pollution.
• Lu Yuan and Frey looked inside and saw four Withered Glory Society members chanting around the corpse of Frey's missing wanderer.
• Frey recognized the corpse, and Lu Yuan decided to deal with the four members.

Lu Yuan attacked four heretics in their tent and killed three, using the last one's fear to force him into answering questions. He suspected the Black Stone had weakened the tent's connection to the Holy Sovereign, leaving the story with Lu Yuan interrogating the surviving heretic about the camp and the ritual.

• Lu Yuan entered the tent carrying Frey and killed a heretic who recognized the Seed's aura, observing that the heretic's body vanished as it shriveled.
• Lu Yuan killed two more heretics before they could finish chanting, and saw the last heretic's devotion give way to fear.
• Lu Yuan confronted the surviving heretic, who collapsed and begged him not to kill him.
• Lu Yuan suspected the Black Stone had weakened the tent's connection to the Holy Sovereign and hurried to question the heretic before the world could eliminate him.
• Lu Yuan demanded to know how the heretics found the camp and why they had been kneeling before a wanderer's corpse.

Lu Yuan interrogated a heretic and learned that the fog disrupted heretic communications, while they sent messages by manipulating the flesh and blood of the Holy Sovereign’s estate. After killing the captive, he stayed in the tent to consider what he had learned as Frey clung to him in fear.

• Lu Yuan threatened a captured heretic until the man explained that heretics performed the Purification Ritual to transform Wanderers into subjects of the Holy Sovereign or dispel them.
• The heretic revealed that the fog blocked communication between heretics and that they transmitted messages by manipulating the estate’s flesh and blood.
• Lu Yuan killed the heretic by pulling his head and spine from his body, frightening Frey.
• Lu Yuan reassured Frey that heretics were no longer human and urged her not to show them mercy.
• The corpse withered into dry bones, and Lu Yuan reviewed the information he had learned about the fog.

Lu Yuan and Frey left the fallen Wanderer camp and hurried toward another camp as the mist receded and exposed the Land of the Dead Silence. Frey explained how Wanderers passed messages between camps, while Lu Yuan pressed on despite doubting they could arrive before the mist cleared.

• Lu Yuan asked Frey about other camps, and she pointed him toward the camp she had stayed in after her first day in this world.
• Lu Yuan collapsed the tent over the Wanderer's corpse and the Heretics' remains, then carried Frey away from the discovered camp.
• As they ran across the dark red earth, Frey told Lu Yuan that she had been transferred between camps because her first group was too small to protect her.
• Frey explained that Wanderers used Signal Points marked with Black Stones and symbol-carved bone fragments to leave messages for other camps.
• Frey warned that the next camp was far away and they might not reach it before the mist cleared, but Lu Yuan increased his pace and said the Heretics were too weak to catch him.

Lu Yuan carried Frey through the thinning fog while numerous heretics tracked them, and he worried that leading them to the next camp would endanger its occupants. The Blue Knight and Brunkel, badly wounded and stripped of their possessions, continued through the wilderness after recalling the battles that had brought them there.

• Lu Yuan sensed many watchers tracking his movements and confirmed that approaching pursuers could not keep up with him.
• Lu Yuan considered whether to take a detour rather than expose the next camp to the heretics following him.
• The Blue Knight and Brunkel continued through the wilderness and discussed whether it was the lair of the Holy Sovereign.
• The Blue Knight recalled that she and Brunkel had slaughtered the heretics at a sacrificial site in the Quarantine Zone.
• The Northern Territory Tribal Alliance's forces attacked the Blue Knight's group; Brunkel and the Blue Knight killed one Fourth Order fighter and many others but suffered severe injuries, and one of the Three Nuns died.

The Blue Knight and Brunkel, weakened and injured after being dragged into a world that eroded their sanity, were surrounded by Heretics pursuing a mysterious Seed. They charged the Heretics to break through, but the Blue Knight was contaminated after killing their leader as Brunkel fought the remaining attackers.

• The Blue Knight and Brunkel learned that the world’s aura and the Heretics’ blood mist were eroding their sanity, while their injuries and missing weapons weakened them.
• The two women emerged from the fog onto a vast plain of bones and rotting flesh, where Heretics chasing a Seed spotted them and redirected their attack.
• The Blue Knight recognized that escape was impossible and charged the approaching Heretics with Brunkel to break through their ranks.
• The Blue Knight killed the Third Order leader with a hand strike and punch, but contamination from his body surged into her.
• Brunkel fought the remaining Heretics bare-handed and killed several as the others continued attacking.

The Blue Knight and Brunkel were surrounded by Heretics and fought two Fourth Order leaders as a fleshly swamp restricted their movements. Lu Yuan and Frey followed the distant battle and reached a slope overlooking the fight, where the Blue Knight was still battling the Heretic leader.

• The Blue Knight ordered Brunkel to stop pursuing the first Heretic squad when more enemies, including Fourth Order leaders, blocked their way.
• The Blue Knight attacked the Heretic leader, who turned the ground into a swamp that slowed her while his followers surrounded them.
• The Blue Knight traded blows with the leader and injured his chest, but he began healing in his own territory as Brunkel faced a second Fourth Order leader.
• The Blue Knight decided to risk everything and charged the leader again, determined to defeat one of them before she and Brunkel were worn down.
• Lu Yuan and Frey sensed the battle, changed direction, and approached the fighting in hopes of helping Wanderers and questioning them.
• Lu Yuan and Frey climbed a slope and saw two figures fighting, including a Heretic whose power surpassed any Lu Yuan had previously encountered.

Lu Yuan and Frey arrived at a battlefield where the injured Blue Knight and Brunkel were surrounded by Fourth Order heretics and their chanting followers. Lu Yuan rushed in to help, and the Blue Knight and Brunkel stopped a heretic leader from attacking him.

• Lu Yuan recognized the wounded Blue Knight among two ongoing battles and decided to join the fight, while Frey chose to stay with him.
• Lu Yuan told Frey to prepare, then carried her toward the battlefield at high speed.
• The Blue Knight and Brunkel struggled against two Fourth Order heretics as the heretics’ chanting made the ground flesh spread around them.
• A heretic sensed Lu Yuan’s arrival and warned the others, but Lu Yuan killed an outer guard and charged toward another chanting heretic.
• The heretic leader tried to attack Lu Yuan, but the Blue Knight and Brunkel moved to stop him.

Lu Yuan joined the Blue Knight and Brunkel in the heretic stronghold, slaughtering the chanting heretics until their formation collapsed. As the Blue Knight fought a Fourth Order leader, she realized Lu Yuan had become far stronger than she knew.

• The Blue Knight wounded a heretic leader and spotted Lu Yuan arriving with a frail girl on his back.
• Lu Yuan killed the chanting Second and Third Order heretics while mocking their leaders, disrupting the formation.
• Lu Yuan killed five Third Order heretics and six Second Order heretics, causing the formation to shatter.
• A heretic leader broke away from the Blue Knight and struck Lu Yuan, but Lu Yuan blocked the attack without serious injury.
• The Blue Knight seized the leader's exposed flank and continued attacking as she wondered how Lu Yuan had become so powerful.

Lu Yuan slaughtered the fleeing heretics while carrying Frey, then faced a desperate charge from the two Fourth-Order leaders. The Gray-White Text identified one as a grievously injured fanatic devotee, and Lu Yuan stood his ground as both leaders targeted him.

• The Third-Order heretics recognized Lu Yuan as the killer of their companions and fled toward their leaders, but Lu Yuan crushed one heretic’s jaw and tore off his head.
• Lu Yuan killed three Second-Order heretics and pursued the fleeing Third Orders, killing the one at the rear while Frey clung to his back.
• The heretic leader fighting the Blue Knight exploded his flesh, pinned her in a blood-and-flesh whirlpool, and formed a flesh-sack before charging at Lu Yuan with his skeleton.
• The Gray-White Text identified the leader as a grievously injured fanatic devotee who had relied on the Holy Sovereign to reach the Fourth Order.
• Lu Yuan stood his ground as the flesh-sack and skeleton charged toward him, while Frey buried her head against his back.

Lu Yuan confronted a severely injured Fourth Order Heretic Leader while the Blue Knight and Brunkel fought the other leader. Lu Yuan matched the Heretic Leader in combat, and the chapter ended with the second leader preparing to flee as Brunkel moved to stop him.

• Lu Yuan charged the Fourth Order Heretic Leader, determined to test his strength and gain experience.
• Lu Yuan exchanged powerful blows with the Heretic Leader, whose injuries left him struggling to match Lu Yuan.
• The Blue Knight broke free of the flesh vortex and stopped a skeleton from striking Lu Yuan, then let him continue fighting alone.
• Brunkel and the other Heretic Leader paused when they saw Lu Yuan holding his own against a Fourth Order.
• The second Heretic Leader tried to break away and escape, but Brunkel recognized his intent and moved to stop him.

Lu Yuan defeated the Fourth Order Heretic leader by destroying his flesh and crushing the skeleton that sustained him, gaining experience at the cost of some sanity and strength. With another Heretic leader escaped and reinforcements a possibility, Lu Yuan and the others left with Frey to find a safe place.

• The Heretic leader and three Third Orders fled while Lu Yuan stayed to fight the Fourth Order Heretic.
• Lu Yuan tore apart the mass of flesh, then destroyed the Heretic leader's skeleton and gained 10 experience points.
• Lu Yuan noticed his sanity had fallen below 70 and that his body had weakened slightly.
• Brunkel admired Lu Yuan's skill and began considering recruiting him, while the Blue Knight also recognized his growing strength.
• Lu Yuan warned that they should leave before reinforcements arrived, and the Blue Knight and Brunkel agreed to go with him and Frey.

Lu Yuan traveled with the Blue Knight, Brunkel, and Frey through the Land of the Dead Silence while trying to understand why the two Fourth Orders were so badly weakened. The Blue Knight revealed they had been ambushed during a Northern Territory Mission before being pulled into this world, leaving Lu Yuan worried about her body in the outside world.

• Lu Yuan followed Frey's directions while the Blue Knight introduced Brunkel as the Empire's Heretic Cleanser and identified Lu Yuan as a Night Watcher captain.
• The Blue Knight tried to discourage Brunkel from recruiting Lu Yuan, but Brunkel admired him even more after learning he belonged to the Night Watchers.
• Lu Yuan asked why the Blue Knight had come to the Land of the Dead Silence and how she and Brunkel had been so badly injured.
• The Blue Knight said they had been ambushed during the Northern Territory Mission and dragged into the world before their sanity could recover.
• Lu Yuan realized the Blue Knight's body remained outside the Land of the Dead Silence and feared what might happen to it if she died here.

Lu Yuan explained how he and Frey had reached this world and learned that Frey carried a strong scent of Heretics, suggesting she was the Holy Sovereign’s Seed. Brunkel considered using Frey’s importance to their advantage, but Lu Yuan refused, while Frey feared she would bring danger to everyone and be transformed by Contamination.

• The Blue Knight assured Lu Yuan that she, Brunkel, and the nuns were protected, then asked how he had entered the world.
• Lu Yuan recounted the Knight Academy’s recent events and explained that Frey had previously escaped this world, easing the Blue Knight’s and Brunkel’s fears about being trapped.
• Lu Yuan told the Blue Knight they were heading to the camp of the Wanderer who had saved Frey and described the Wanderers.
• Brunkel smelled a strong trace of Heretics inside Frey and concluded that she was the Holy Sovereign’s Seed they had been seeking.
• Brunkel began considering what they could do with Frey’s importance, but Lu Yuan firmly refused, and Frey panicked at the thought of endangering him or being transformed by Contamination.

Lu Yuan defended Frey against Brunkel’s unsupported accusation and led the group toward a Wanderer camp. They reached a much larger camp, but the sight of it made their hopes falter.

• Lu Yuan rebuked Brunkel for accusing Frey without evidence, and Brunkel acknowledged that her conclusion was hasty.
• Lu Yuan kept Frey on his back and led the Blue Knight and Brunkel toward the nearest Wanderer camp.
• Frey guided them along a low slope while Lu Yuan urged the group to reach the camp before Heretics found them.
• Frey spotted the camp beyond a bend, and the group hurried toward it with different hopes for what they would find.
• The group saw a camp with at least three main tents, seven or eight smaller tents, and a tall wall built from bone fragments, and their hopes began to sink.

Lu Yuan, Frey, Brunkel, and the Blue Knight searched a ruined Wanderer camp and found signs that its inhabitants had been purged months or years earlier. They concluded that some Wanderers might have escaped through a gap in the wall and left the camp to follow their trail.

• Lu Yuan and the others found a larger camp covered in blood, and Brunkel estimated that the battle had happened at least six months earlier.
• Brunkel judged that four or five Wanderers had died and at least half might have escaped, giving Frey hope that some people who had helped her survived.
• Lu Yuan led the group into the camp, where they found rotting bodies and evidence that the Wanderers had fought to their last breaths.
• The group searched the wreckage and found stone beds and cooking stoves that suggested the Wanderers had tried to recreate ordinary human life.
• Brunkel pointed out the gap in the wall behind the main tent, and the group decided to follow the trail beyond it.

Lu Yuan and his companions found a Wanderer while searching for a way to contact his people and learn whether sanity could be restored. After the Wanderer recognized Frey and led them onward, he stopped to inspect an inconspicuous pile of Black Stones, leaving them waiting behind him.

• Lu Yuan spotted a Wanderer arranging Black Stones, but the figure fled before the group could catch him.
• Lu Yuan decided to stop the chase and return toward camp, reasoning that the Wanderers were alive and could still be contacted.
• The Wanderer reappeared and recognized Frey, who told the others he had once taken her from the small camp to the large camp.
• The Wanderer sensed something in the distance and led Lu Yuan, Frey, the Blue Knight, and Brunkel onward while repeatedly looking back at something they could not see.
• The Wanderer stopped at an angled stretch of terrain and silently studied a pile of Black Stones.

The Wanderer brought Lu Yuan and the others to his unfinished camp and explained how the surviving Wanderers stayed in contact. Frey revealed how she had escaped the sacrifice, and the Wanderer recognized that she could still return to the real world while he could not; Lu Yuan then asked how long he had wandered and how he resisted losing his sanity.

• The Wanderer explained that four survivors of the fallen Large Camp hid separately and used Signal Points to communicate.
• The Wanderer led Lu Yuan, Frey, the Blue Knight, and Brunkel to his unfinished camp, where they rested.
• The Wanderer asked Frey how she had survived being taken for sacrifice, and Frey looked to Lu Yuan before deciding to explain.
• Frey described how she had been pulled from the sacrifice and returned to the real world before coming back.
• The Wanderer said that Frey and her companions could still return to the real world, unlike him and the other Wanderers.
• Lu Yuan asked the Wanderer how long he had wandered the Land of the Dead Silence and how he resisted the erosion of his sanity.

Lu Yuan and the others questioned the Wanderer about his condition and the world, learning that sanity could recover there but that they needed to leave soon. The Wanderer then discovered that Frey carried a Seed marked by the Holy Sovereign, confirming why the heretics had pursued her.

• Lu Yuan told the Wanderer that he was still human in some respects, while the Wanderer said his group had become inhuman to survive and protect people.
• The Wanderer revealed that he had wandered for an unknown span of time, could not return to his body in the Real World, and had once lived in the Visarion Empire.
• The Wanderer confirmed that sanity could recover in this world, but warned that recovery slowed the longer someone stayed and that their bodies became more connected to it.
• Lu Yuan calculated that he could recover enough sanity to attempt reaching Sanity V without risking his sanity running out.
• The Wanderer sensed the Holy Sovereign's presence on Frey and identified it as a Seed mark, while Frey denied carrying it.