Chapter Summaries

Lu Xiu cleared the Dark Souls offline instance by rejecting both primordial serpents’ choices and received an Ancient Lord Soul Shard that evolved Judgment. Back in reality, she found the King’s Scions gone and tried to target the distant king with her upgraded blade, but it concealed itself as she began to draw.

• Lu Xiu was taken to the Kiln of the First Flame, where Frampt and Kaathe urged her to link the fire or embrace darkness, but she attacked and beheaded them instead.
• The kiln shattered, and Lu Xiu cleared the Dark Souls offline instance with a Mythic rating, earning the Chaos Walker title and an Ancient Lord Soul Shard.
• Lu Xiu used the shard to evolve Judgment, gaining stronger perception and intimidation abilities and an expanded blade wave with a Dark Sign effect.
• Lu Xiu returned to the ruined Dark Souls Map, sensed that the bosses had returned to their territories, and found the King’s Scions absent.
• Lu Xiu began drawing Judgment toward the distant king, creating a Dark Sign that swallowed Anor Londo’s false sunset, but the king disappeared from her perception and concealed itself.

Lu Xiu returned from placing the Dark Souls Dungeon, reported that a King threatened Sea City, and planned to strengthen herself and the others through the Bloodborne Dungeon. After soldiers entered the manifested dungeon to observe its devastation, Lu Xiu returned to the Witch Forest, where Jian Li and Shen Nian reflected on their fear for her.

• Lu Xiu abandoned her attempt to strike the King, returned to the Dark Souls Instance Placement Site, and told Gwyndolin to keep the King from advancing.
• Lu Xiu reached the Seventh Defense Line, reassured Jian Li after an awkward reunion, and told Yan Fushou and Chen Fu that the Dark Souls Dungeon blocked the King's Scions for now.
• Lu Xiu warned that the King would eventually break through, urged the other countries to prepare for threats, and planned to launch the Bloodborne Dungeon to raise everyone's mental strength.
• Han Xiao led soldiers into the Dark Souls Dungeon to document its devastation and warned them not to provoke its monsters.
• Back in the Witch Forest, Shen Nian noticed Jian Li searching for mental-strength dungeons and recognized how afraid she had been of losing Lu Xiu.
• Lu Xiu emerged from her shower, and Shen Nian remarked that her legs were fair.

Lu Xiu demonstrated the intimidation of her Crimson King Eyes to Shen Nian, then reassured Jian Li that she could grow stronger after Jian Li admitted she wanted to close the gap between them. Jian Li used her newly plundered Myriad Forms, All Under Control and later considered a decision while Lu Xiu rested on her lap; elsewhere, Rosalind learned that a King-class Monster had destroyed the Third Legion.

• Lu Xiu used intimidation on Shen Nian, who instantly fell to her knees, then bit Lu Xiu's thigh before Lu Xiu pulled her up.
• Shen Nian told Lu Xiu that Jian Li felt she had been unable to help in Sea City and was falling behind her.
• Jian Li used Myriad Forms, All Under Control to suspend and move shower water, then admitted she wanted to become strong enough to face threats like King's Scions.
• Lu Xiu reassured Jian Li that her mental power could improve through Bloodborne and future dungeons, and Jian Li agreed to try them.
• Jian Li touched Lu Xiu's legs, let Lu Xiu rest on her lap, and then opened her skill list as she resolved to act.
• Rosalind heard that the Nine Provinces attributed the frontline activity to a King-class Monster being born and that one had wiped out the Third Legion.

After learning that every country faced a different King-class Monster, Lu Xiu rushed to finish the Bloodborne instance, which opened to players across Vast Firmament. Rosalind and Ulysses prepared to enter it, while unidentified figures approaching the Nine Provinces continued toward the King-class Monster.

• Rosalind learned that the Nine Provinces had confronted a flesh mountain and its mentally contaminating scions, and she ordered Franca to gather intelligence from other countries.
• Rosalind decided to join three legions in hunting Franca’s assassin-type king and to mobilize other races, despite her guard Anna’s warnings.
• Ulysses learned that Red Tide’s king produced powerful physical scions and summoned rival faction leaders to discuss the threat.
• Lu Xiu reviewed reports from other regions, then entered Yharnam to finish testing the Bloodborne instance.
• A region-wide announcement opened Bloodborne in three hours to qualifying players across Vast Firmament, prompting Rosalind and Ulysses to plan to enter.
• Several unidentified figures crossed into the Nine Provinces near Sea City and continued toward the King-class Monster.

Lu Xiu launched the Bloodborne Class Contest Instance, where players had to control their blood and Beasthood Erosion to qualify as Berserkers. Ulysses discovered that death allowed him to revive in the Hunter’s Dream, but after players grouped up to fight, one of them transformed into a hostile beast and began slaughtering the others.

• Lu Xiu entered the instance as its instructor, while players across Vast Firmament noticed its ten-point mental strength requirement and speculated about its purpose.
• Ulysses began the instance in a clinic, resisted a wolf-like beast’s offer of power, and learned that Yharnam Blood granted strength at the cost of rising Beasthood Erosion.
• After a werewolf killed him, Ulysses revived in the Hunter’s Dream, chose a Hunter Axe and handgun, and returned to Yharnam.
• Ulysses met Gong Yu and other players in the graveyard, where they discovered that they could not damage one another and could revive after death.
• The group attacked three townsfolk together, but a Canaan player’s Beasthood Erosion overtook him and transformed him into a hostile beast that attacked the others.

Ulysses and the other players learned that fighting and healing raised Beasthood Erosion, so they adopted a rotation strategy to survive Bloodborne’s monsters. After opening a shortcut, they found an enormous elite monster whose leaping Great Axe attacks scattered the group.

• Ulysses and Gong Yu let two beast-transformed players kill them rather than fight back, then returned to the Hunter’s Dream with the other survivors.
• Ulysses and Gong Yu deduced that the system replaced eliminated players with others at the same stage, and Ulysses organized the group into rotating teams to keep Beasthood Erosion under control.
• The players defeated three Yharnam residents, discovered that Blood Vials increased Beasthood Erosion unless controlled with mental power, and found Quicksilver Bullets that required unguided blood control to create.
• Ulysses led the group toward the far end of the main street, where they opened an iron gate that connected back to the Graveyard and uncovered another passage among wooden crates.
• The group encountered a huge armored elite monster wielding a Great Axe, and its leaping attacks and sweeping strikes overwhelmed them as they fled toward the gate.

Ulysses’s party was wiped out by an elite monster after Zhao Heng demonstrated Gun Parry, then regrouped to practice the mechanic and mental control of blood. In another run, Rosalind’s team defeated the monster when she unexpectedly used Rampage, and she realized the instance could teach players to harness frenzied blood; players across the instance remained at very different stages of progress.

• Zhao Heng used a well-timed Quicksilver Bullet to stagger the elite monster, but Ulysses and the other players failed to coordinate Gun Parries and were killed.
• Back in the Graveyard, Zhao Heng explained that players had to predict attacks and practice Gun Parry and blood suppression, so Ulysses led the group back to the monster.
• Rosalind’s team faced the monster for the fifth time, and Rosalind landed a Visceral Attack that reduced its health and her Beasthood Erosion.
• Rosalind’s Ancestral Bloodline ignited her blood, letting her overpower and kill the monster with Rampage before she suppressed her rising Beasthood Erosion.
• Rosalind explained that players needed to learn mental control before attempting Rampage, and she recognized the skill’s potential for Franca players.
• Players across the instance continued at different rates, with some still fighting the alley monster while others had reached central Yharnam or Oedon Chapel Graveyard.

Lu Xiu watched Rosalind exploit her ancestral bloodline and Jian Li defeat Father Gascoigne alone, while Shen Nian used an unorthodox tactic against a sewer pig. Ulysses and Gong Yu’s team reached the Cleric Beast, where Donovan became entranced by it and began speaking of a man and living wolves.

• Lu Xiu observed Rosalind use her ancestral bloodline to unleash Rampage and considered whether the Frans could eventually tame their bloodline and undergo atavism.
• Jian Li soloed Father Gascoigne with three Gun Parries, then learned to control and suspend her blood energy with mental power.
• Shen Nian led her teammates in defeating a maneating pig with a Visceral Attack, while Lu Xiu watched their messy encounter.
• Ulysses, Gong Yu, Zhao Heng, and their teammates advanced through Yharnam, gained Insight, awakened the doll, and fought their way across a dangerous bridge.
• The team encountered the Cleric Beast at the bridge’s end, and Donovan stood transfixed as the monster stopped before him.
• Donovan spoke in a daze, saying he had seen someone who was looking at him and that many wolves were still alive.

Si Gongyusi's group fought their way through Yharnam, encountered the Cleric Beast, and then faced Father Yulixin, a skilled Hunter whose later phases became increasingly dangerous. Donovan's high Insight caused him to transform into a werewolf, and after the group was wiped out, they revived at the Lamp and chose to avoid the bridge for now.

• Si Gongyusi's group endured a long route through streets, sewers, and a rolling-boulder hazard before reaching the bridge and facing the Cleric Beast.
• The Cleric Beast killed several players, and the group retreated after realizing its size and power made the bridge too dangerous for now.
• The players found a route to Oedon Chapel Graveyard and fought Father Yulixin, who dodged their attacks, used his blunderbuss, and wielded a transforming axe.
• Father Yulixin entered stronger phases, while Donovan's Insight-driven vision and rising Beasthood Erosion caused him to transform into a werewolf and attack his teammates.
• The Cleric Beast and werewolf overwhelmed Si Gongyusi's team, and the surviving players revived beside the Lamp.
• Bai Guang concluded that staring at hidden things likely raised Donovan's Insight until he transformed, so Tian Hezhuangsi's group decided to avoid the bridge and continue along the main route.

The players defeated the Cleric Beast with Molotov cocktails and discovered they could carry the dungeon’s method of controlling vital energy into reality. They then used a little girl’s music box against Father Yulixin, killed him after he transformed, and found a brooch that raised questions about the girl’s missing mother.

• Zhao Heng explained that reaching ten Insight exposed blurry shadows but did not cause severe harm unless players stared at them, and the group prepared to fight the Cleric Beast with Molotov cocktails.
• The players returned to the bridge and used firebombs, weapons, and Gascoigne’s vital-energy control to defeat the Cleric Beast, earning Blood Echoes and a Sword Hunter Badge that opened a Hunter’s Dream shop.
• Zhao Hengsi realized he could sense and control his vital energy without system assistance, and Shu Yun concluded the skill could also strengthen players in reality.
• The group found a little girl’s window, learned that her mother was missing, and received a music box meant to help her father remember her.
• The players used the music box to stagger Father Yulixin, but he transformed into a beast and killed many of them before the survivors brought him down.
• Zhao Heng questioned why Father Yulixin had not recovered his sanity, while the players found a Ruby Brooch bearing Viola’s name beside a female corpse and wondered whether it was the girl’s mother.