Chapter Summaries

Jia Xiu discovered a way to identify Devil Race members by comparing the fixed time values in their signal feedback, advancing the anti-Devil Race spy plan. Margaret then revealed that Becky was a wanted criminal among the nobility because she had married a devil.

• Jia Xiu rebuilt the detection spell to capture signal feedback processes and confirmed that its final signal results matched the old version.
• Jia Xiu found that each race had fixed segment durations in its feedback signals, while Devil Race disguises retained durations different from humans.
• Jia Xiu tested the discovery against several Devil Race members and recorded the results in the Magic Grimoire, concluding that more tests were needed.
• Margaret told Jia Xiu that she had identified Becky by asking her mother, who recognized her from Margaret's description.
• Margaret revealed that Becky was secretly wanted among nobles because she had married a devil.

Jia Xiu learned that Becky had married the Devil Archduke Baimon after fleeing her wedding, and suspected that her presence at the Unity Society manor was connected to a larger conspiracy in Gawad. The next day, he visited the manor under the guise of offering free medical examinations, aiming to get closer to Becky and investigate its humanoid demons.

• Margaret told Jia Xiu that Becky had fled her wedding with Baimon, an Archdevil who had later sent her family a letter and a recording of their wedding.
• Jia Xiu heard that Baimon had supposedly fallen in love with Becky after communicating with her through nightmares, though he doubted the story and considered what Becky was doing at the manor.
• A quest prompt appeared and confirmed Jia Xiu's suspicion that the manor's activities concealed a deeper secret; he decided to use Becky as a lead and conduct experiments on the demons there.
• The next day, Jia Xiu visited the Unity Society manor and told its leader Paula that he wanted to provide free physical examinations and healing for its residents.

Jia Xiu treated the manor residents while secretly testing their races and asking about Becky, but learned little about the manor’s secrets. When the children disappeared, he realized his unusual interest in the Unity Society could make him the prime suspect.

• Paula watched Jia Xiu treat the manor residents and agreed to receive healing herself; Jia Xiu secretly used the spell to test whether she was human, and his results confirmed that she was.
• Jia Xiu tested other residents and found that their signal characteristics matched the races they claimed to be.
• While treating residents and chatting with them, Jia Xiu heard that Becky was the Archdevil’s wife and was widely considered kind, though rumors about their romance varied.
• After healing the patients, Jia Xiu discovered the manor residents were searching for the missing children and feared he would be blamed for their disappearance.
• Elizabeth told Jia Xiu that she smelled a strong scent of blood.

Jia Xiu followed Elizabeth’s scent of blood to a grain cellar, where he uncovered a murdered child inside a trapped Elastic Force Sphere and found evidence of a hidden ritual. The discovery suggested a larger conspiracy, and a message carved on the child’s body advanced Jia Xiu’s quest to 5/100.

• Jia Xiu joined the search for the missing children while a Horned Devil watched his movements from above.
• Elizabeth detected young human blood near a grain cellar, and Jia Xiu brought Margaret to uncover its source.
• Margaret levitated the millet and revealed a hidden Elastic Force Sphere containing a child’s corpse and a blood-drawn ritual with fresh organs.
• Jia Xiu spotted a fire spell trap beneath the sphere and told Margaret to keep away while they waited for the manor’s people.
• Jia Xiu read the inscription, “May you find peaceful sleep in the dark night,” and his quest progress rose to 5/100.

After a child was found murdered in the Unity Society’s estate, Jia Xiu and Margaret stayed to investigate while Justina sought information on the ritual and its inscription. Paula arrived with an unusually subdued Flame Demon and insisted the murder be reported, leaving Jia Xiu to offer a divination mage’s help as the inquiry continued.

• The Unity Society sealed off its estate after a child was found dead in the grain cellar, and Jia Xiu and Margaret were kept at the scene.
• Margaret offered to stay behind so Jia Xiu could protect their experiment, but Jia Xiu chose to investigate the murder and its unusual spell.
• Jia Xiu prayed to Justina and asked her to have a Holy Light follower search Church records for the phrase and ritual clues.
• Paula arrived with a subdued Flame Demon that inspected the Resilient Sphere, then insisted Jia Xiu report the crime and its outcome.
• Paula questioned Jia Xiu and Margaret about their discovery and skills, and Jia Xiu offered to bring in a divination mage.

Jia Xiu persuaded Mia and the others to investigate a child’s ritualistic murder at the Unity Society’s manor, while learning that Gawad was on the brink of wider conflict. Mia’s prophecy could not identify the killer exactly, but it revealed a detailed profile that rapidly advanced Jia Xiu’s task.

• Jia Xiu convinced Mia and the others to join the investigation after admitting that the Sect Master had assigned him the task.
• At the inn, the innkeeper warned Jia Xiu that the murder might ignite a revolt against Gawad’s gangs as residents and abandoned half-Demons prepared to seize their assets and flee.
• Jia Xiu’s group went to the manor, where he introduced Mia to Paula and Mia examined the preserved murder scene.
• Mia concluded that resurrection, speaking with the dead, and an accurate prophecy were impossible because the killer had countered common methods and the scene offered too little information.
• After leaving the scene, Mia described the killer’s height, habits, background, personality, and magical abilities, causing Jia Xiu’s task progress to rise quickly.

After Mia identified traits of the likely culprit, Jia Xiu sent Elizabeth’s swarm of bats to search Gawad while the squad rested. Justina then revealed that the Devil Race ritual was most likely connected to a Dream Demon.

• Mia explained that the culprit’s movements suggested a human, possibly a mixed-blood, and listed the traits she had deduced.
• Jia Xiu decided to search everyone in Gawad, and Mia objected to his brute-force approach.
• Jia Xiu asked Elizabeth to use her bat swarm to find people matching Mia’s traits, offering her apples as payment.
• Elizabeth sent thousands of invisible bats across Gawad and left one behind to share discoveries with the squad.
• Jia Xiu received a divine revelation from Justina that the Devil Race ritual was most likely a Dream Demon.

Jia Xiu learned that the Dream Demon sought to save living beings by trapping them in peaceful dreams, then received the book about it from Justina through his first formal prayer. The book revealed that a murderer in Gawad was following a ritual involving kidnapped children, but the bloody killings and the manor’s secret did not match the ritual’s instructions.

• Justina explained that the ancient Dream Demon avoided conflicts because it wanted to deliver all living beings from suffering by placing them in endless dreams.
• Justina said she had gained the divine power to transmit objects and persuaded Jia Xiu to pray so she could bestow the book on him as her first divine gift.
• Jia Xiu received the book in golden radiance and read its account of the Dream Demon, finding a marked section on its summoning ritual.
• Jia Xiu realized the ritual required pure hearts and that its first sacrifice in Gawad had been placed in a grain cellar, matching the murderer’s actions.
• Jia Xiu found that the ritual required more sacrifices over time, giving the remaining children a chance to survive if the murderer was caught.
• Jia Xiu noticed that the ritual did not call for mutilation and questioned why the murderer’s killings and the manor’s secret were involved.

Jia Xiu investigated the second suspected Dream Demon sacrifice in Gawad while the city descended into chaos and its gangs went to war. Mia’s findings pointed toward the leading suspect, but Paula contacted Jia Xiu and demanded to know whether the prophecy identified a human culprit.

• Jia Xiu learned that Gawad’s gangs had gone to war after another child suspected of ritual sacrifice was found in a villa on Sulfur Street.
• Jia Xiu questioned Elizabeth, learned that she was tracking several possible suspects, and decided to inspect the second sacrifice scene with his group.
• Jia Xiu and his companions reached the sealed villa, where Mia examined the ritual and discovered additional clues.
• Mia asked Elizabeth whether any tracked suspects matched the new conditions, and Elizabeth identified the one who already matched nearly all of them.
• A Unity Society thug gave Jia Xiu a communication crystal, and Paula asked whether the prophecy identified a human as the culprit.

Jia Xiu gave Paula a false location to protect the real target, then led his group to the kidnapper’s house and broke inside. As they prepared to enter the basement, one of the captive children, Little Jack, escaped his cage but was caught by the kidnapper.

• Paula demanded the location of the human responsible for the missing children and offered Jia Xiu a reward in exchange for his cooperation.
• Jia Xiu gave Paula a false address, and Margaret teleported the group to the house Elizabeth’s bat had tracked, using a flash of light to evade the gang enforcers.
• Jia Xiu and his companions entered the unusually neat house and found a concealed basement entrance, then planned to send Margaret in first, followed by Elizabeth if needed.
• In the basement, the kidnapper drugged the seven remaining captive children and settled into his chair after completing his ritual.
• Little Jack picked the cage lock and crept toward the basement exit, but the kidnapper asked where he was going.

Jia Xiu and his companions rescued Little Jack and the other children from a necromancer’s basement, then overwhelmed the culprit’s defenses and prevented him from dying or detonating a bomb. The necromancer survived, leaving the group able to question him.

• Little Jack tried to escape, but the necromancer caught him and threatened to make him the next sacrifice.
• Jia Xiu’s group arrived, and Margaret’s giant fireball struck the necromancer and freed Little Jack.
• Jia Xiu found the other children alive in a cage and examined the ritual materials and the badly modified necromancer.
• The necromancer raised corpses, but Margaret soaked and destroyed them with water and chain lightning.
• The necromancer poisoned himself, but Jia Xiu and Mia treated him so they could question him.
• Ram dismantled the basement bomb with a hammer after it told him it did not want to explode.

Jia Xiu and his companions rescued children and investigated a necromancer who had experimented on himself using a ritual book supplied by Paula. As Bubu escorted the children toward the manor, Unity Society members led by Paula intercepted him, leaving Jia Xiu to decide how to respond.

• Margaret and Mia helped stabilize the necromancer, while Ram’s blunt criticism of his embedded devices made him convulse again.
• Jia Xiu ordered Bubu to lead the rescued children back to the manor, and Bubu escorted them on foot.
• Jia Xiu examined the ritual book and found that its instructions for summoning Dream Demons differed from the Holy Light Church’s records.
• Margaret detected that Paula had told the necromancer about the book, and Jia Xiu suspected she had deliberately pushed him toward dangerous experiments.
• Bubu reported that Paula and other Unity Society members had stopped him and demanded the children, so Jia Xiu told him not to act while the others headed over.

Jia Xiu’s group returned the children to Becky and confronted Paula, who ended their cooperation after paying the promised reward. Jia Xiu discovered the ritual siphoned Dream Demon power toward no designated target, leaving the true culprit unknown, then received a surveillance signal of Paula speaking with the Unity Society’s Flame Demon.

• Jia Xiu’s group left Frankenstein immobilized under a surveillance spell and found Bubu holding Paula and several children in the street.
• Jia Xiu persuaded Bubu to release the children, and Becky took them to the safe house after her Pit Fiend guard agreed they could stay in Gawad longer.
• Paula questioned Jia Xiu’s identity, paid him the promised gold for capturing the murderer, and ended the Unity Society’s cooperation with his investigation.
• Jia Xiu studied the ritual array and found that it siphoned off Dream Demon power without naming any recipient, leaving the mission only halfway complete.
• Margaret reported a signal from the surveillance spell, and Jia Xiu heard Paula speaking with the Unity Society’s Flame Demon.

Jia Xiu investigated Paula’s role in the failed Dream Demon ritual and learned that the Flame Demon who co-founded the Unity Society also suspected her. When Jia Xiu suggested the Devil Race might be involved, the Flame Demon attacked him, but Jia Xiu’s teasing voice revealed the apparent corpse was not what it seemed.

• Margaret and Jia Xiu heard Paula urge the Unity Society to execute the necromancer and use him to redirect public anger, while Margaret suspected Paula wanted the Dream Demon’s power stored inside him.
• The Unity Society publicly executed the necromancer, but Gawad grew more chaotic as Devil and Demon gangs fought, withdrew, and left the city’s Devil Race residents exposed to widespread looting.
• After the innkeeper fled, Jia Xiu prepared to visit the Unity Society, but its Flame Demon leader summoned him alone to a cemetery.
• The Flame Demon asked Jia Xiu to reveal whether Paula had sabotaged the society, and Jia Xiu said Paula had supplied the ritual book and pushed to execute the necromancer.
• Jia Xiu suggested someone from the Devil Race might have orchestrated the ritual, and the Flame Demon suddenly stabbed him with a spear of flame.
• The Flame Demon prepared to burn Jia Xiu’s apparent corpse, but Jia Xiu’s voice teased that the person who looked most like a villain was not necessarily the culprit.

Jia Xiu and his companions trapped the Flame Demon in an illusion and an oxygen-blocking barrier, then attacked it while Jia Xiu provoked it. The Flame Demon was left confused and injured as Bubu and summoned elementals closed in, while Jia Xiu’s healing spell made its ears grow back backward.

• The Flame Demon discovered that Jia Xiu’s corpse and surroundings were an illusion, then broke free by unleashing a firestorm.
• Jia Xiu taunted the Flame Demon about its defeat and its sacrifice to the Dream Demon while his barrier increased the magic cost of its flames.
• Bubu charged the Flame Demon after it tried to use Flash, and the resulting magic drain left it dazed and prone.
• Bubu’s greatsword cut off the Flame Demon’s ears, while a water elemental and an earth elemental joined the fight against it.
• Jia Xiu used a healing spell to regrow the Flame Demon’s ears backward, leaving it bewildered.

Jia Xiu and his allies subdued the Flame Demon after its nightfall power surge proved useless against Elizabeth’s illusion. As Jia Xiu wondered why the mission had not ended, he sensed intense danger and ordered everyone to retreat.

• The Flame Demon tried to pierce Bubu’s armor, but Bubu’s enchanted half-scissors severed its hand and Jia Xiu’s Healing Spell twisted the regrowth into a useless mass.
• Jia Xiu explained his plans for a more dangerous version of his tumor-inducing spell while Margaret recoiled at the prospect.
• The Flame Demon regained its strength after night fell and transformed into a giant of fire, but Jia Xiu revealed that his group had also been waiting for darkness.
• Elizabeth trapped the Flame Demon in an illusion beneath an enormous red moon, and Margaret confirmed that it stood frozen.
• Jia Xiu wondered why the mission had not settled after the Flame Demon was subdued, then sensed intense danger and told everyone to get back.

Jia Xiu and the others discovered that the Flame Demon had died after a mysterious power descended, and Jia Xiu rushed to study its body. He found the Dream Demon's demonic power in its brain and realized it had caused the strange changes, then asked how to extract the brain for research.

• Jia Xiu ordered everyone to retreat and seal off the Flame Demon when he sensed a powerful, gloomy magic descending on it.
• Elizabeth confirmed that the Flame Demon was dead, and Jia Xiu hurried to reach its body despite the defenses still surrounding it.
• Jia Xiu examined the Flame Demon's chaotic magical reactions and noticed that its body was turning to pus unusually slowly, especially around its head.
• Jia Xiu had Bubu split open the Flame Demon's head and found the Dream Demon's demonic power in its brain.
• Jia Xiu asked whether anyone knew how to extract the brain so they could study it.

Jia Xiu studied the Flame Demon’s brain to understand how the Dream Demon had slowed its return to the Abyss, then used the Sect Master’s Little Black Room to record and rewind the spell. He inferred that the magic trapped the Flame Demon in a dream before Mia interrupted with news that Paula was leading a fight at the manor.

• Jia Xiu asked Margaret, Bubu, and Elizabeth for help studying the Flame Demon’s brain, but the demon’s liquefaction suddenly accelerated.
• The Sect Master told Jia Xiu that residual consciousness remained in the brain and that he could map it into the Little Black Room, so Jia Xiu pulled the brain free and was transported with it.
• Margaret, Elizabeth, and Bubu waited outside the graveyard and began playing Noble Duel while Jia Xiu researched the brain in the Little Black Room.
• Jia Xiu recorded the brain’s changing spell, rewound the process, and inferred that the Dream Demon’s magic had trapped the Flame Demon in a dream and delayed its return to the Abyss.
• Mia told Jia Xiu that Paula was leading people in a fight at the manor, startling him.

Jia Xiu realized Paula was leading looters toward Becky and the children so the Pit Fiend would kill them, and he rushed to stop the massacre. Elizabeth’s illusion failed against the Pit Fiend, and Margaret’s teleportation was halted by an unseen barrier, leaving the group unable to reach the safe house.

• Mia told Jia Xiu that Paula had led a crowd toward the safe house, and Jia Xiu realized Paula intended to provoke the Pit Fiend into killing the looters.
• Jia Xiu persuaded Margaret, Bubu, and Elizabeth to intervene, and they teleported to Mia and Ram’s location near the manor.
• Mia reported that Paula and the crowd were nearing the safe house, while Elizabeth revealed she could see them from afar.
• The crowd reached the underground shelter, and the Pit Fiend burst through the door and sent the looters into a panic.
• Elizabeth said an unknown force had blocked her illusion spell, and Margaret’s attempt to teleport the group closer stopped against an invisible barrier.

Jia Xiu and Margaret were trapped outside a barrier while a Pit Fiend slaughtered civilians, and Jia Xiu could not decipher the barrier’s base-four spell. After the barrier’s creator killed the Devil and incited the survivors to attack Becky, Paula revealed that she had engineered the chaos to provoke conflict between the Devil Race and humanoid races, then vanished.

• Jia Xiu and Margaret discovered that an unfamiliar barrier blocked their way, while the Pit Fiend massacred people inside it.
• Jia Xiu traced the barrier to its source but found its spell written in indecipherable base-four code, and Bubu failed to break it by force.
• A beam of light killed the Pit Fiend, after which Elizabeth reported that Paula was urging survivors to attack Becky.
• Paula approached Jia Xiu, admitted she had orchestrated events to provoke a conflict between the Devil Race and humanoid races, and disappeared with the barrier.
• Jia Xiu cursed Paula, and Margaret urged the group to check whether Becky could still be saved.