Chapter Summaries

Qian Renxue witnessed the sea and vowed to defeat Tang San before seeking greater power, while Stelle urged Firefly to set the ocean ablaze and was refused. The Sky Screen awarded Dan Heng the complete power of the High Elder and Stelle unlimited Soda Douzhi, leaving Firefly politely drinking the unpleasant-tasting treat Stelle gave her.

• Qian Renxue saw the sea for the first time, realized she could not move its waters with her current Soul Power, and vowed to eliminate Tang San.
• Stelle asked Firefly to perform a sea-igniting spectacle, but Firefly refused because it could harm sea life and people on boats.
• The Sky Screen announced the inventory rewards: Stelle received unlimited Soda Douzhi, Kafka received Stelle's matching Trash Can Pom-Pom Cake, and Dan Heng received the complete power of the High Elder.
• Dan Heng tested his new power and made the sea churn, resolving to use it to protect his companions.
• Stelle summoned Soda Douzhi and shared it with Firefly and little Cyrene, and Firefly drank hers while telling Stelle it was delicious.

Stelle gave Firefly and Little Cyrene soda douzhi, then fed ten cups to Little Ika, which trembled in distress after swallowing them. Cipher despaired over the lack of a ticket reward that could help her summon Aglaea, until the Sky Screen announced its next legendary scene: the true Negative World Titan.

• Little Cyrene tried Stelle's soda douzhi, spat it out, and choked, while Firefly said she treasured anything Stelle gave her.
• Stelle wondered whether feeding soda douzhi to Little Ika could make it grow huge, and Firefly agreed it might become a moving island.
• Stelle fed Little Ika ten cups of soda douzhi, and it trembled painfully after swallowing them.
• Cipher saw that Stelle had received soda douzhi instead of a ticket and worried she would never summon Aglaea.
• The Sky Screen revealed the Top 6 scene as the story of a trickery demigod who was the true Negative World Titan.

Cipher hoped the Sky Screen’s reveal about her calling Aglaea “Mom” would earn her a reward that brought Aglaea to her world, while viewers on Douluo Continent mistakenly concluded Cipher had stolen the Spark of Burdened World. The screen showed Stelle meeting Cipher before heading to the Tree Court, then began revealing a scene from a thousand years earlier featuring young Cipher and Aglaea.

• Cipher blushed at the Sky Screen’s words, then hoped her reward would summon Aglaea into her world.
• Viewers on Douluo Continent interpreted Cipher’s title as proof that she had taken the Spark of Burdened World, while Ning Rongrong guessed she had inherited it to stop the Flame Reaver.
• Stelle received Cipher’s invitation to hunt for treasure in Stycosia and went to meet her at the Styx with Mimi.
• Cipher disguised herself as the Flame Reaver to startle Stelle and Mimi, then Phainon invited Stelle to special training at the Tree Court.
• Stelle used her power of time to help Cipher prepare for the treasure hunt before accompanying her to meet Phainon.
• The Sky Screen shifted to Cloudstone Market a thousand years earlier, showing Aglaea beside a young, cat-eared Cipher.

As a child, Cipher brought Aglaea a chest of treasure and tried to buy expensive clothes, but Aglaea questioned how she had obtained it. Aglaea ultimately gave Cipher a pair of precious, magically blessed golden boots to help her avoid being caught again.

• Cipher arrived at Aglaea’s workshop with a chest of jewels and offered to buy the most valuable clothes.
• Aglaea admired a sapphire but questioned Cipher’s claim that she had won the treasure in a bet, noting that her Golden Thread detected no lie.
• Aglaea uncovered Cipher’s cat ears and challenged her explanation that she had left no evidence.
• Cipher angrily started to leave when Aglaea said the treasure could not buy Golden Weave’s most expensive garment.
• Aglaea offered Cipher golden boots blessed by Zagreus, explaining that they let their wearer move swiftly and silently, and urged her not to get caught again.

Cipher recalled how Aglaea gave her golden boots when she was young, then confronted Bartrus after he claimed the boots lacked Zagreus's divine power. While Cipher and Bartrus searched for treasure, they discovered that Aglaea had been monitoring her through a Golden Thread Nymph, and Cipher recognized her presence.

• Cipher tried on the golden boots Aglaea offered, but they were too large, so Aglaea told her to wear them when she grew.
• Bartrus mocked Cipher for believing the boots held Zagreus's divine power, and Cipher threatened to throw him into the Styx.
• Cipher asked Bartrus whether he was satisfied with the story of how she met Aglaea, then warned him not to defend her.
• Cipher and Bartrus searched for treasure and pulled a Golden Thread Nymph formed from Aglaea's golden threads out of Bartrus.
• Cipher confronted the nymph and identified Aglaea as the one using it to watch her.

Aglaea pleaded with Cipher to return to Okhema and help the Chrysos Heirs, but Cipher only agreed to consider it before they parted on seemingly final terms. Watching the transmission, Qian Renxue reconsidered her plans against Tang San and turned back toward Spirit City to seek reinforcements.

• Aglaea used the Golden Thread Nymph to ask Cipher to return to Okhema and help the Chrysos Heirs complete the Journey of Flame-Chasing.
• Cipher told Aglaea to stop watching her, then said she would consider returning before the Golden Thread Nymph vanished.
• Cipher quietly bid farewell to Aglaea after the transmission ended.
• Qian Renxue watched Aglaea’s methods and reconsidered her belief that she had to fight Tang San openly and alone.
• Qian Renxue ordered the boatman to turn back toward Spirit City so she could find reinforcements from Spirit Hall.

Yu Xiaogang and the others mocked Cipher and Aglaea as thieves while sailing toward Sea God Island, as Castorice wrote more absurd fanfiction about Anaxa and Aglaea. The Sky Screen revealed Cipher’s secret connection to the Titan of Trickery and then showed a wounded, golden-blooded Cipher at Aglaea’s tailor shop a thousand years earlier.

• Yu Xiaogang, Oscar, and Tang San condemned Cipher for stealing and Aglaea for buying stolen goods, before Ma Hongjun spotted an island in the distance.
• Castorice excitedly wrote a story about Anaxa and Aglaea having a baby, while Phainon, Dan Heng, and Feng Jin discussed her increasingly wild plots.
• Feng Jin spotted Zhu Zhuqing stranded at sea and used a rainbow bridge to lift her to safety.
• The Sky Screen revealed that Cipher had secretly kept the Titan of Trickery alive, and Cipher decided that returning to Okhema might be worthwhile.
• The Sky Screen showed the entrance to Aglaea’s tailor shop a thousand years earlier, where a wounded Cipher appeared with golden blood flowing from a gash on her cheek.

Aglaea comforted the wounded Cipher, learned that she was a Chrysos Heir, and invited her to stay in the Weaving Workshop. Cipher accepted for one day, while the viewers wondered why she later left Aglaea and her home for centuries.

• Cipher revealed her golden blood and condemned herself as a thief and liar unworthy of being a Chrysos Heir.
• Aglaea offered Cipher clothes, warmth, and a place to stay while she healed, assuring her she did not need to explain her wounds.
• Aglaea told Cipher she understood that she had stolen to survive and trusted her because Cipher loved the Weaving Workshop.
• Aglaea revealed that Cipher had often passed by the workshop but felt unworthy of its Golden Weave sign.
• Cipher agreed to stay for one day, warning Aglaea that she would not be able to chase her away after the time was up.
• The viewers concluded that Aglaea had once given Cipher a home and wondered why Cipher later left and stayed away for centuries.

Caenis and the Purifiers used a deaf and mute girl’s safety to break Aglaea’s resistance at Cloud Marble Heavenly Palace. As Aglaea accepted her impending departure, the Purifiers crept toward her with daggers, and she wondered whether Zephalia’s distant wind would ever stop for her.

• Caenis surrounded Aglaea and threatened the ordinary people below while accusing her of being too weak to stop the crimes Caenis had committed in Okhema.
• Aglaea read Caenis’s thoughts with her Golden Threads and discovered that Caenis planned to threaten a deaf and mute girl Aglaea had once helped.
• A memory showed Aglaea returning the girl’s Astragalus Stone bracelet, while a Purifier secretly watched them; Caenis then threatened to have the girl blinded.
• Caenis’s threat left Aglaea with little will to resist, and she reflected on her thousand years of guiding people and her decision to let go.
• As Aglaea looked down at the people in the bath and recalled Zephalia, Caenis signaled the Purifiers to approach her with daggers.

Qian Daoliu concluded that Aglaea had deliberately arranged her death to push Phainon toward leadership and hoped to bring Cipher back to Okhema. Qian Renxue vowed not to let the Spirit Hall Worships sacrifice themselves, while Phainon accepted that Aglaea’s plan had succeeded and continued watching the Sky Screen with Zhu Zhuqing and the others.

• Qian Daoliu reasoned that Aglaea had cooperated with the Senate’s plot, chosen death to make Phainon grow, and hoped Cipher would return to Okhema.
• Qian Daoliu urged Qian Renxue to become a sun for Douluo Continent, and she vowed to do so.
• Golden Crocodile Douluo and the other Spirit Hall Worships promised to protect Qian Renxue, while she insisted that none of them should sacrifice themselves.
• Phainon realized Aglaea had deliberately chosen death to steel his resolve and believed her plan had succeeded in helping him persuade Cipher to return.
• Zhu Zhuqing asked whether anyone knew why Cipher had left Aglaea, and Feng Jin told her to keep watching the Sky Screen for the answer.

Cipher recalled her early days with Aglaea, when she considered stealing a legendary gemstone to help the poor and refugees. Aglaea affirmed Cipher’s compassion and potential, but told her that a lie could never become truth, even if many believed it.

• Several days after Aglaea’s death, Cipher stood on Dawn Cliff and remembered Okhema as it had been centuries earlier.
• Cipher asked Aglaea about rare treasures and learned that a fragment called the Gem of the Whole World was hidden on Dawn Cliff.
• Aglaea guessed that Cipher planned to steal the gemstone and sell it to help the poor and refugees.
• Cipher admitted she wanted to be worthy of Aglaea’s faith, though stealing was the only way she knew to help others.
• Aglaea reassured Cipher that she had unique value and was destined to bear the divine office of Trickery.
• Cipher asked whether a lie could become true if enough people believed it, and Aglaea answered that it could not, though a well-intentioned lie might be more noble than cold honesty.

The Sky Screen’s account of Cipher’s childhood generosity moved people across Douluo Continent, including villagers who recognized her as the mysterious provider of their famine relief. Meanwhile, Tang San sneezed on the way to Sea God Island, knocking Yu Xiaogang into the sea, and Spirit Hall’s consecrators arrived with Qian Renxue, making a confrontation seem inevitable.

• People across Douluo Continent learned that young Cipher had stolen from the rich to aid the poor, and praised her kindness and sacrifice.
• An old woman in a drought-stricken village realized Cipher had delivered the supplies that saved her family, and the villagers knelt to thank the Phantom Thief Kitty.
• Tang San sneezed aboard the narrow plank, causing Yu Xiaogang to fall into the sea, while Tang San vowed to punish anyone who spoke ill of him once he became Sea God.
• Ma Hongjun pulled Yu Xiaogang from the sea, and Yu Xiaogang spotted Spirit Hall’s consecrators approaching aboard a ship.
• Tang San used the Purple Demon Eye to identify Qian Renxue on the ship’s bow as the two sides faced an imminent battle.

Phainon asked Cipher to protect the Spark of Burdened World from Caenis and the Flame Reaver while he led the others to reclaim the sky’s flame. A thousand years earlier, Cipher learned that the Dawn Machine was meant to last only three hundred years and realized she had a chance to become a hero, hinting that she would keep Okhema’s sun lit for centuries.

• Phainon asked Cipher to guard the Spark of Burdened World while he and the others went to the City of the Sky, and Cipher agreed.
• Cipher warned Phainon that the Flame Reaver was waiting for a chance to attack Okhema after Aglaea’s Golden Thread defenses weakened.
• A thousand years earlier, Cipher infiltrated the Priest Academy to steal the Gem of the Whole World and overheard the High Priest say the Dawn Machine would watch over Okhema for only three hundred years.
• Cipher realized that the Dawn Machine’s continued operation was her chance to become a hero.

The Sky Screen’s viewers recognized Cipher’s secret sacrifice to keep the Dawn Machine running, while Tang San used her example to argue that his own deceptive methods had protected the people. He remained surrounded by enemies at sea, trying to persuade Bo Saixi to spare him.

• People concluded that Cipher had maintained the Dawn Machine for centuries while enduring separation from Aglaea, and that the world still misunderstood her as a troublemaking thief.
• Qian Daoliu and Spirit Hall’s forces confronted Tang San’s group on the way to Sea God Island, where Bo Saixi arrived and attacked them with a massive wave.
• Tang San’s companions joined forces to block Bo Saixi’s attack, leaving Tang San trapped between Sea God Island and Spirit Hall’s powerful leaders.
• After seeing Cipher’s story on the Sky Screen, Tang San compared her thievery to his hidden weapons and claimed his actions had protected the two empires and Sea God Island.
• Tang San urged Bo Saixi to acknowledge his supposed sacrifices and spare him, while he remained outmatched by the forces surrounding him.

Yu Xiaogang urged Bo Saixi to ally with Tang San against Spirit Hall, but Qian Daoliu rejected his attempt to provoke a conflict. The Sky Screen then revealed that a thousand years later Cipher had defeated the Purifiers and prepared to confront the Flame Reaver at the Other Shore of the Styx.

• Yu Xiaogang warned Bo Saixi that Sea God Island would be threatened if she did not help Tang San become a god.
• Bo Saixi considered using Tang San to secure a path to the Sea God's power and protect Sea God Island.
• Qian Daoliu told Bo Saixi not to believe Tang San and Yu Xiaogang's attempt to sow discord, and said their goals no longer required them to fight.
• Tang San tried to turn Qian Daoliu's words into an insult against Sea God Island, but both factions fell silent and looked toward the Sky Screen.
• The Sky Screen showed Cipher a thousand years later, after she had lured out and defeated the Purifiers while guarding the Spark of Burdened World.
• After hearing a Titan fall, Cipher left her hiding place and greeted the Flame Reaver, whom she had lured to the Other Shore of the Styx.

Cipher taunted the Flame Reaver and fled with Kephale's Core Flame, using a fake Core Flame to trick him and escape. She rode an elevator upward, where the Flame Reaver was nowhere to be seen, and began devising another scheme.

• Cipher provoked the Flame Reaver by mocking his inability to retrieve the Core Flames without help.
• Cipher ran through ancient stone gates and found the Flame Reaver waiting ahead of her.
• Cipher offered him a fake Core Flame disguised as a clay jar, then fled when it burst into smoke.
• Cipher continued to taunt the Flame Reaver as she raced toward an upward elevator.
• Cipher reached the upper level without seeing the Flame Reaver and started forming a new plan.

Cipher tricked the Flame Reaver with a false Spark of Burden, then lured him higher into the Sky Screen. There, she confronted him and challenged him to a sparring match.

• Cipher disguised herself as Phainon and used a fake Spark of Burden to send the Flame Reaver down in the elevator.
• Cipher remembered Aglaea asking why she planned to go to Dawn Cliff and telling her she hoped the golden boots would not be used to flee.
• Cipher ran higher through the Sky Screen, recalling that she no longer ran to escape pursuit.
• The Flame Reaver appeared ahead of Cipher and insisted that destiny and an unbreakable cycle bound them.
• Cipher mocked the Flame Reaver, then aimed her finger-gun at him and challenged him to spar.

Cipher distracted the Flame Reaver with clones and decoys while Phainon and the others secured the Spark of the Sky. The Flame Reaver defeated Cipher, but she had protected the real Spark of Burden and bought the others time to return safely to Okhema.

• Cipher challenged the Flame Reaver and used her speed, clones, and taunts to keep him occupied.
• Cipher realized the Flame Reaver had stolen her Coin of Fluttering, but he still could not stop her from producing another fake Spark of Burden.
• The Flame Reaver impaled Cipher and took what he believed was the Spark of Burden, only for the object to turn into an empty clay jar.
• The enraged Flame Reaver struck at Cipher, and the Sky Screen went dark.
• Viewers learned that Cipher had used the decoy to protect the true Spark of Burden and delay the Flame Reaver until Phainon and the others could return to Okhema.

Cipher deceived Okhema into believing the Dawn Machine would shine forever, using her power of trickery to sustain the city for more than seven hundred years. As Cipher lay dying, Aglaea recognized her as Zephalia, Amphoreus’s unsung hero, and reached out to take her home.

• Cipher, disguised as Atticus, announced Fros’s death and told Okhema that the Dawn Machine would protect the city forever, then proposed a hundred-day banquet to strengthen the people’s faith.
• The people of Douluo Continent realized Cipher’s lie had become reality because her trickery made deeply believed falsehoods true, extending the Dawn Machine’s life by more than seven hundred years.
• Wounded by the Flame Reaver, Cipher explained that she had left Okhema because Aglaea could have exposed her lies, and apologized to Atticus and Aya.
• Cipher recalled that she had kept Kephale’s Core Flame safe and yearned for Aglaea to speak to her once more.
• Aglaea approached the dying Cipher and called her Zephalia, recognizing that she had saved everyone and bought mortals a thousand more years.
• Cipher reached for Aglaea’s hand, smiled with relief, and closed her eyes.

Cipher died believing Aglaea had welcomed and praised her, but the illusion vanished with her, revealing the truth of her lonely sacrifice. As the lie sustaining Okhema collapsed and the world darkened, viewers mourned the thousand years Cipher spent protecting Aglaea and the city.

• Cipher died before the cold door, and her imagined Golden Thread Nymph and vision of Aglaea disappeared, revealing that the nymph was ordinary and Aglaea was absent.
• The Dawn Machine turned dark red, and a wave of destruction spread across Okhema and the Amphoreus Continent as buildings grew transparent and the sky went dark.
• The Sky Screen played young Cipher and Aglaea discussing whether a lie believed by everyone could become truth.
• Bibi Dong watched Cipher's death and reflected on how painful it must have been for Cipher to stay apart from Aglaea for a thousand years.
• Ah Yin realized that Aglaea had died long before Cipher and that Cipher's final vision of her was an illusion, but took comfort that Cipher had died peacefully.