Arc 17The Radiance Fragment

Xu Zhi mastered Midnight’s rules, seized the Radiance Fragment, and became a new kind of existence. After learning the gods had barred access to Mansus, she joined [Cup] in an attempt to break through their blockade, ending as a golden hand descended.

  • Prosthetics infected people with [Cup], while Xu Zhi investigated Lotus City’s chaos and began deciphering Midnight’s rules.
  • Xu Zhi joined [Pride], [Gluttony], and [Jealousy] in hunting [Forge] at Gods Heavy Industries, where she uncovered experiments combining talent circuits and rules.
  • [Cup] ordered the Archbishops to sacrifice Agents and spread war, while Xu Zhi solved [Lamp]’s array puzzle and began comprehending the wooden plaque’s rules.
  • Xu Zhi mastered the plaque’s final rule, completed the [Opening] circuit, and followed the Lost Land’s temptation to a chained Radiance Fragment.
  • Xu Zhi used the Remnant Land and Midnight’s rules to break the fragment’s chains, swallowed it, and gained a Key and a path sustained by Midnight.
  • When [Cup]’s circuit consumed Lotus City’s believers, Xu Zhi resisted [Cup], [Forge], and [Blade] with Midnight’s rules until the moon’s Radiance drove them back.
  • Xu Zhi restored the Spirit Vessel’s body and learned from [Cup] that the gods had made rules to keep her and Xu Zhi out of Mansus.
  • Xu Zhi agreed to help [Cup] exploit the rules’ weak points in Lingzhou City Center, but a golden chain pinned [Cup] as a gigantic hand emerged overhead.
Chapters 401–425 Vol. 5 Read

Ch. 401The Beginning of Chaos 420

Heart's proxy was magically made to forget Cup's plan, while Lotus City's prosthetics triggered a worldwide mass conversion to Cup and plunged the cities into chaos. As reports of proxy deaths and defections further weakened resistance, Xu Zhi observed events from the Lost Land and arrived in Midnight to find that someone had moved the Everlasting Lamp on her grave.

  • Heart's proxy briefly remembered that Cup's ritual circuit was gathering flesh and blood for Him, but a strange influence made her forget what she had seen.
  • A gang member's Lotus City prosthetic broke apart and infected him with Cup, and prosthetics across the world triggered mass conversions and renewed chaos.
  • News spread that Opening and Heart's proxies had fallen, while other proxies were injured or unavailable, and leaders debated their options against Cup.
  • Xu Zhi learned through her Spirit Vessel that prosthetics had turned cities against themselves and suspected Gods Heavy Industries had its own hidden plans.
  • Xu Zhi arrived beside her grave mound in Midnight and noticed that someone had moved the Everlasting Lamp without taking it.

Ch. 402421: A New Breakthrough

Xu Zhi made a breakthrough in copying Midnight’s rules, gaining her first glimpse of logic within the symbols and a path toward understanding them. As she continued training, news that a deity had answered people’s prayers reached the Spirit Vessel and raised the possibility that other attribute deities were active.

  • Xu Zhi found that someone had moved the Everlasting Lamp but left no other clues, and decided to watch for a response on a future visit.
  • Xu Zhi used the [Eye of Secrets] to record far more fragments of Midnight’s rules, then repeatedly practiced inscribing them into the earth.
  • After hundreds of attempts, Xu Zhi successfully inscribed the symbols she knew best and sensed logic and order within them for the first time.
  • Xu Zhi examined the rules inside a [Lamp]-attribute wooden token and anticipated that understanding Midnight’s symbols could let her claim its power independently.
  • Xu Zhi trained continuously over the following days, while news spread that a deity had answered people’s prayers.
  • The Spirit Vessel wondered whether the reported deity was one of the other attribute deities.

Ch. 403Mutation 422

After the Gods sent the reassuring message “There is no need to worry,” the [Cup] summoned its Archbishops to Lotus City, and Xu Zhi prepared to avoid scrutiny over her poor management. As the Archbishops gathered, Xu Zhi questioned Qi Yanxin’s knowledge of her identity and clashed with a nun who wanted control of Lotus City.

  • A secret organization announced that it had reestablished contact with the Gods, who sent the message, “There is no need to worry.”
  • Xu Zhi sensed that the [Cup] was summoning the Archbishops to Lotus City, so she told Qi Yanxin she was leaving and went to hide near the ritual circuit.
  • Xu Zhi suspected Qi Yanxin had realized that the Spirit Vessel was Xu Zhi, but decided to ask her directly the next time they met.
  • A nun Archbishop arrived and challenged Xu Zhi over Lotus City’s disorder; Xu Zhi mocked her and threatened to give the city’s management rights to someone else.
  • The other Archbishops arrived, except Little Aberration, while Xu Zhi sat with her eyes closed and another Archbishop volunteered to preside over the gathering.

Ch. 404His Command

Xu Zhi joined the Archbishops as they summoned [Cup], who ordered them to capture the remaining Agents alive and sacrifice them on the Lotus City Circuit. The Archbishops split into teams to hunt the Agents, with Xu Zhi assigned to accompany [Gluttony] and [Jealousy] to Gods Heavy Industries in Deer Isle to capture Forge.

  • [Pride] took the lead among the Archbishops and organized an exchange of information, while Xu Zhi claimed she knew nothing.
  • The Archbishops summoned [Cup], who ordered them to capture all remaining Agents alive and sacrifice them on the Lotus City Circuit.
  • [Cup] appointed [Pride] to take over Lotus City but did not question or punish Xu Zhi for her failures there.
  • [Pride] divided the Archbishops into teams: his group would pursue Moth, while [Gluttony], [Jealousy], and Xu Zhi would pursue Forge.
  • The team learned that Forge was likely at Gods Heavy Industries headquarters in Deer Isle, and [Pride] urged them to move before the Agents could attack Lotus City.

Ch. 405424 Deer Isle

Xu Zhi and her companions arrived at Deer Isle to find the [Forge] Authority’s proxy, whom [Cup] planned to flush out by threatening the city’s transcendents. Xu Zhi entered alone and headed toward Gods Heavy Industries headquarters while her colleagues drew attention.

  • Xu Zhi considered whether [Forge] had made a deal with [Cup] and concluded that the proxy might be no more than a pawn in a transaction between gods.
  • [Gluttony] proposed slaughtering Deer Isle’s transcendents to force the [Forge] proxy to reveal himself, and Xu Zhi refused to help with the massacre.
  • Xu Zhi descended into Deer Isle, triggering its surveillance alarms and alerting the city to a powerful transcendent’s arrival.
  • Xu Zhi observed Deer Isle’s industrial, steam-inspired architecture and clothing as a translucent defensive barrier appeared overhead.
  • Xu Zhi planned to let [Cup] and [Gluttony] draw attention to themselves while she slipped into Gods Heavy Industries headquarters to explore.

Ch. 406425 [Gods Heavy Industries]

Xu Zhi infiltrated Gods Heavy Industries headquarters and climbed its shifting tower despite its defenses. She found experiments combining talent circuits from different attributes and creatures, then sensed the laboratories concealed an even more disturbing circuit experiment.

  • Xu Zhi entered the tower by using [Sloth] to weaken a metal wall and raced through its shifting interior.
  • Xu Zhi evaded a Bone Nail and ignored a warning as she climbed toward the upper floors.
  • Xu Zhi reached a laboratory floor where suppression weakened her abilities and Bone Nail wounds refused to heal.
  • Xu Zhi examined the talent circuits and discovered Gods Heavy Industries was combining circuits from eight attributes, including [Cup].
  • Xu Zhi found imprisoned test subjects with fused circuits and a boy whose talent circuit had merged with part of a rat's circuit.
  • Xu Zhi sensed that Gods Heavy Industries was conducting an even more disturbing circuit experiment beyond its biological tests.

Ch. 407The Proxy of 426 [Forge]

Xu Zhi uncovered evidence that Gods Heavy Industries was attempting to integrate rules into talent circuits as part of a possible effort to create Radiance. She joined [Gluttony] and [Jealousy] to defeat the [Forge]-attribute proxy hidden inside a Black Tower pillar, and they prepared to take its living Mechanical Heart back.

  • Xu Zhi found scraps suggesting Gods Heavy Industries was studying how to integrate rules into talent circuits and may have been pursuing artificial Radiance.
  • Xu Zhi discovered that [Gluttony] and [Jealousy] were being attacked by white bone nails and learned the [Forge] proxy was concealed inside a rotating load-bearing pillar.
  • Xu Zhi slowed the pillar with her ability while [Gluttony] and [Jealousy] attacked it, enduring the proxy's bone nails and the Black Tower's machinery.
  • Xu Zhi directed the final assault, and [Gluttony] shattered the pillar, ending the effects weakening the Archbishops.
  • Xu Zhi confirmed the [Forge] proxy's steel-and-flesh Mechanical Heart was still beating, and the three Archbishops set out to take it back and report in.

Ch. 408[Lamp]'s Admonition

Xu Zhi followed [Pride] to capture the remaining Agents and secretly met [Lamp], who gave her a puzzle and warned that the Agents’ deaths were not the end. After [Lamp] fought off the Archbishops, Xu Zhi completed the array disk and was stunned by what it showed.

  • [Pride] returned with [Moth]’s corpse and said he had found clues leading to [Blade] and [Lamp].
  • [Pride] captured the injured [Blade], then pursued [Lamp] to an empty Light Institute branch.
  • Xu Zhi slipped away from [Pride] and met [Lamp], who knew Xu Zhi’s secrets and gave her a small array puzzle.
  • [Lamp] said the Agents had prepared contingencies after sealing [Cup] and insisted that death was not the end.
  • Xu Zhi completed the puzzle while [Lamp] fought the Archbishops, then stared in shock at the finished array disk.

Ch. 409The Function of the 428 Core

Xu Zhi learned that the array disk was a key to understanding the wooden plaque’s Rules, while the Spirit Vessel witnessed [Cup] use Lotus City’s circuit to devour agents and prepare for a war fueled by the spreading fog. As other gods warned people away from Lotus City, Xu Zhi decided to study the wooden plaque’s Rules that night and try to escape its control or become its master.

  • Xu Zhi recognized the assembled array disk as a key to the wooden plaque’s Rules, and its solution advanced her understanding.
  • [Cup] ordered the agents placed at the center of Lotus City’s circuit, which invaded and devoured the blood and flesh of the three surviving agents and [Moth].
  • The circuit failed to satisfy its hunger, and [Cup] instructed the Archbishops to spread war and sacrifice more people.
  • The red light over Lotus City faded, its fog spread outward, and gods of other attributes warned people not to approach the city.
  • Xu Zhi decided to comprehend the wooden plaque’s Rules under Midnight and try to sever its connection to her or become its new master.

Ch. 410Mastering [Rules]

Xu Zhi mastered the rules contained in the wooden plaques, transforming her power and gaining control over the plaques and their holders. She discovered that the Lost Land’s energy farm belonged to a god, while an urgent Temptation continued to draw her toward the depths.

  • Xu Zhi spent seven days and nights comprehending the wooden plaques’ rules in Midnight, with her Familiars guarding her.
  • Xu Zhi mastered the final rule-word, and the jungle, mist, and moonlight responded as rule power flooded into her body, circuits, and Familiars.
  • Xu Zhi’s life level rose, making her harder to kill and more attuned to Midnight’s rules, but a powerful Temptation urged her toward the Lost Land’s depths.
  • Xu Zhi gained the ability to sense wooden plaque holders, reclaim or distribute plaques, and collect the energy stored in them.
  • Xu Zhi realized the Named Ones were being raised as part of a god’s farm and felt overwhelming pressure when she considered taking all its energy.

Ch. 411Eight Talent Circuits and the [Key]!

After completing her final [Opening] circuit, Xu Zhi endured a lightning trial in the Mansus that revealed her eight talent circuits forming a key and strengthened her. She awoke from a prophetic dream of a giant golden hand descending from the sky, then followed the Lost Land’s call into a hidden part of the Hunting Grounds.

  • Xu Zhi completed the [Opening] attribute circuit and was pulled into the Mansus, where rule-bearing lightning began striking her.
  • As the lightning tempered her, Xu Zhi saw her eight talent circuits appear as pieces of a key, then collapsed from exhaustion and returned to the Lost Land.
  • Xu Zhi dreamed of chaotic people and a giant golden hand reaching down from the sky, and she concluded the dream foretold part of the coming great battle.
  • After waking fully recovered and stronger, Xu Zhi followed the Lost Land’s temptation toward its depths.
  • Xu Zhi entered a previously unknown place in the Hunting Grounds, where nearby Named Ones wandered with empty eyes but could not follow her inside.

Ch. 412431: Imprisoned?

Xu Zhi followed the Lost Land’s Temptation through chaotic spaces to a white world, where she discovered a ball of light imprisoned by chains made from rules. Recognizing it as a fragment of the same rule she had swallowed, she decided to use her enhanced Remnant Land to take the entire place.

  • Xu Zhi crossed the chaotic terrain and entered a white world with a narrow bridge, where a powerful attraction drew her toward a distant ball of light.
  • The ball of light tempted Xu Zhi with a strange sense of family, but the rule fragment inside her body jolted her back when she nearly stepped off the bridge.
  • Xu Zhi saw the ball of light bound by chains made from rules and recognized it as a large fragment matching the one she had swallowed.
  • Xu Zhi suspected the gods had imprisoned the fragment until its light faded enough for them to seize it, and she resolved not to wait or leave.
  • Xu Zhi decided to use the enhanced Remnant Land to take the entire space and claim the fragment.

Ch. 413Escape from the Scene

Xu Zhi comprehended her first Midnight rule, then used the Remnant Land to seize the imprisoned fragment and escaped into Midnight before the gods could attack. She realized the gods were searching for her inside Midnight, leaving her trapped there with a chance to prepare and pursue the fragment.

  • Xu Zhi spent nearly half a month deciphering a Midnight rule symbol, gaining knowledge, strength, and the ability to sense Midnight more clearly.
  • Xu Zhi used the Eye of Secrets to inspect the restrictive rules imprisoning the fragment and prepared to capture the entire space with the Remnant Land.
  • Xu Zhi summoned Midnight to ease her ability’s sluggishness, enveloped the space with the Remnant Land, and cut off the rules’ signal with [Authority].
  • Xu Zhi withdrew the Remnant Land and escaped into Midnight just before a fatal attack could reach her.
  • Xu Zhi decided to have the Spirit Vessel gather books while she studied more Midnight rules and sought an opportunity to consume the fragment.
  • Xu Zhi sensed the gods stirring up disturbances within Midnight to search for her.

Ch. 414The Rope of World 433

Xu Zhi memorized Midnight’s rules and began comprehending its rope, gaining enough mastery to turn Midnight against the gods’ summoned dead. The creatures returned to their graves, but Xu Zhi nearly exhausted her mind and body in the process.

  • The gods sent extraordinary creatures crawling from their graves in Midnight to attack Xu Zhi, and she ordered her Familiars to hold them off while she studied the rules.
  • Xu Zhi finished memorizing Midnight’s rules and sensed that she had gained a connection to it, then identified where its rule symbols began and ended.
  • Using her familiarity with the whole rope, Xu Zhi comprehended one of its intersections and gained the qualification to move Midnight’s rules.
  • Xu Zhi stopped before overloading herself completely, then used the portion she had mastered to suppress the creatures attacking her.
  • Midnight’s will overcame the gods’ control, and the extraordinary creatures returned to their graves.

Ch. 415Cup-Attribute Transcendent

As Xu Zhi rested and studied Lotus City’s rules, blessed Named Ones continued infiltrating the city while the gods pursued an unknown plan. Gods Heavy Industries created a Cup-attribute Transcendent independent of Cup, who infiltrated Lotus City and drew Xu Zhi’s suspicion as she returned underground.

  • Xu Zhi rested while her Spirit Vessel read the library’s ancient texts, as blessed Named Ones attacked Lotus City and tried to sabotage its foundation circuits.
  • The Spirit Vessel finished reading every book, and the outside world continued researching the mist using information brought back by survivors.
  • Gods Heavy Industries awakened a boy engineered as a Cup-attribute Transcendent who was not controlled by Cup, then declared him a potential hero.
  • The boy entered Lotus City disguised as a believer and rose through a powerful cult toward the foundation circuits.
  • Xu Zhi noticed the boy as he passed, felt that something was strange, and headed underground after sensing Cup’s command.

Ch. 416Time Has Come

Xu Zhi and the Archbishops secretly altered teleportation circuits to bring high-level Transcendents to Lotus City as a sacrifice for [Cup]. When the sacrifice began, Pride was killed to repair a damaged circuit, and Xu Zhi watched the city’s people and the arriving Transcendents dissolve into blood for an unknown purpose.

  • [Cup] ordered the Archbishops to gather high-level blood food within ten days or sacrifice their own flesh and blood.
  • Pride led the Archbishops in secretly modifying teleportation circuits, while Xu Zhi used Sloth to conceal her work in several cities.
  • Xu Zhi experimented on the Little Aberration and used Rules, Authority, and Little Orange's flames to remove part of His presence, causing its Archbishop status to disappear while its power remained.
  • On the tenth day, the Archbishops activated the receiving circuits as crimson sunlight and a warning that the time had come spread through Lotus City.
  • A damaged section of the receiving circuit disrupted the teleportation, so [Cup] killed Pride and used his body to restore it.
  • Transcendents teleported into Lotus City and the city's believers dissolved into blood that flowed into the colossal circuit, leaving Xu Zhi wondering what it connected to.

Ch. 417Invasion

Xu Zhi discovered that the circuit beneath Lotus City was meant to create and reshape something, while the [Cup] consumed the city's believers to activate it. After escaping the Spirit Vessel, she was attacked by the [Cup] inside Midnight and struggled to hold it off as Midnight tried to expel the intruder.

  • Xu Zhi deciphered the circuit's purpose as [Creation] and [Reshaping], though she could not determine what it was meant to bring back.
  • The circuit consumed the remaining believers, and the Archbishops accepted their deaths as offerings to the Lord.
  • As corrosion overtook the Spirit Vessel, Xu Zhi deactivated [Spirit Vessel] and glimpsed an unknown figure entering the underground chamber.
  • Xu Zhi returned to her true body, suppressed the invading [Cup] energy with [Authority], and sensed that it wanted to seize her and the fragment within her.
  • The [Cup] tore through Midnight's aura and attacked Xu Zhi, who used Midnight's rules to bind herself there while the realm began closing the rift.

Ch. 418437: Rebellion

Xu Zhi was caught in a struggle between [Cup], Midnight, and the forces of [Forge] and [Blade], all of which tried to seize her and the fragments she carried. She resisted with her own strength until Midnight suppressed the intruders and brightened, leaving Xu Zhi to realize that she had disrupted the gods’ plans.

  • [Cup] tried to pull Xu Zhi out of Midnight, but Midnight’s shadows attacked and its rules strengthened her chains and abilities.
  • [Forge] and [Blade] joined the struggle, and the competing forces stretched Xu Zhi’s body in opposite directions.
  • Xu Zhi used her physical strength and [Authority] to resist the forces and drag them toward herself, despite her bones breaking and injuries worsening.
  • Xu Zhi’s fused fragments resonated with Midnight’s rules, awakening an immense pressure that silenced every other presence.
  • A full moon rose in Midnight’s starry sky, its Radiance annihilated the demons and monstrosities, and the realm returned to tranquility, brighter than before.
  • Xu Zhi leaned against her grave and concluded that the gods had prepared schemes within Midnight, which her resistance had disrupted.

Ch. 419438 Revival

After enduring the gods’ attacks, Xu Zhi recovered and began studying Midnight’s rules, hoping to learn how to revive her Spirit Vessel. Outside, Lotus City’s disturbance sparked panic as hidden rule-chains gathered in the sky, apparently ready to contain something reviving.

  • Xu Zhi noticed that the gods attacked through rule-bound energy without revealing their true forms, then recovered from her injuries and exhaustion.
  • Xu Zhi wondered how to revive her Spirit Vessel and decided to study Midnight’s rules for answers.
  • Xu Zhi found that she could perceive Midnight’s rules more easily, with the moonlight guiding her as she studied them.
  • People across Lotus City panicked over [Cup], the believers’ deaths, and reports that Transcendents had been teleported into the city.
  • Rule-comprehending Transcendents saw hidden chains gathering in the sky, while an unseen voice said the gods had prepared and there was no need to panic.

Ch. 420You Are Afraid

A blood-eyed woman drained the surviving young man in Lotus City, then found herself trapped by golden rules and chains that prevented her from returning to the Mansus. Meanwhile, Xu Zhi woke from her comprehension of Midnight’s rule and prepared to recover before mastering its final segment.

  • The young man fled Lotus City after the red glow vanished, hoping to escape before his actions were exposed.
  • The blood-eyed woman confronted and drained the young man, then approached the city’s edge.
  • Golden spears and a chain stopped the woman from leaving Lotus City and dragged her back into the real world when she tried to turn translucent.
  • The woman accused those enforcing the rules of fearing her return to the Mansus, and the sky answered with thunder and intensified killing intent.
  • Xu Zhi woke from her comprehension of Midnight’s rule, having reached its final segment, and decided to restore herself before continuing.

Ch. 421Circuit Completion

Xu Zhi tried to master the final segment of Midnight’s rules but found that her body and circuits could not contain the immense power without risking her identity. She opened the [Remnant Land] and poured Midnight’s rule power into it, shaking the chains restraining a larger fragment.

  • As she studied Midnight’s rules, Xu Zhi realized their allure could tempt Transcendents to abandon their bodies in pursuit of pure power.
  • Xu Zhi began comprehending the final symbols, and Midnight’s rules became visible as its wind and clouds stirred beneath the full moon.
  • The rules began weaving Xu Zhi’s body and soul into Midnight, overwhelming her circuits and threatening to make her its vassal.
  • Xu Zhi concluded that her circuits had reached their limit because they were incomplete and needed another fragment to grow.
  • Xu Zhi opened the [Remnant Land] and poured Midnight’s rule power into it, giving the imprisoned fragment a brief chance to breathe and making its chains tremble.

Ch. 422The Right to Play the Game

Xu Zhi shattered the chains sealing a Remnant Land fragment, swallowed it, and underwent a transformation that carried her beyond ordinary extraordinary beings without making her a god. She awakened in Midnight with a new, rule-woven existence and the right to play the game.

  • Xu Zhi poured Midnight's rule power and a trace of Sloth's power into the weakened chains until they shattered.
  • Xu Zhi caught the escaping fragment and swallowed it, where it fused with her body and circuits.
  • The fragment's fusion and Midnight's rules caused a new path to emerge, changing the star chart and stirring supernatural methods across the world.
  • Xu Zhi gained a Key and the end of the path, becoming an existence sustained by Midnight's rules rather than a Named One or a god.
  • Xu Zhi awoke with golden symbols in her eyes and rule-woven flesh, understanding that she would not die as long as Midnight's rules remained intact.

Ch. 423Severance

After consuming a Radiance Fragment and mastering Midnight, Xu Zhi confirmed the fragment’s connection to Radiance, Mansus, and Midnight, then used her new authority to give her dead Spirit Vessel a Lamp circuit and restore its body. She left Midnight as the gods turned their attention toward her, while the Lost Land began to change after the fragment vanished.

  • Xu Zhi realized the fragment she had consumed was a Radiance Fragment that connected Radiance, Mansus, and Midnight, and she prepared to face the gods with her new strength.
  • Xu Zhi dug up the Spirit Vessel, severed her Lamp-attribute circuit, and installed it in the body along with her blood and a rib marked with rules.
  • Xu Zhi restored the Spirit Vessel’s body but left it without self-awareness, hoping it would awaken with a self of its own belonging to Lamp.
  • Xu Zhi blessed the Spirit Vessel to wake soon, then left Midnight and discovered that the Lost Land’s attraction to her had disappeared as its Transcendent energy began to weaken.
  • The Lost Land’s agitated Transcendent creatures calmed when Xu Zhi appeared, while the gods and their rules turned their attention toward her.

Ch. 424443: Deception and Fooling

Xu Zhi confronted the woman who had raised and deceived her, learning that the gods’ rules were meant to keep them both from entering Mansus. The revelation drew the gods’ attacks toward Xu Zhi as well, leaving her caught in the woman’s deliberate trap.

  • Xu Zhi sensed a major supernatural confrontation in Lotus City and flew there, recognizing the rules in the sky as connected to those binding the fragments of Radiance.
  • Xu Zhi met the woman opposing the rules and confronted her over the years of deception; the woman claimed her earlier self had been real but had lacked her memories.
  • Xu Zhi demanded to know the woman’s plan, rejected her claim that they were sisters, and threatened to side with the gods if she withheld the truth.
  • The woman revealed that the gods had created the rules to prevent anyone from entering Mansus, especially her and Xu Zhi.
  • Golden attacks descended on the woman, and the rules also turned toward Xu Zhi after she learned the secret; the woman admitted she had deliberately exposed Xu Zhi to the danger.

Ch. 425Cooperation

Xu Zhi tested the gods’ blockade on entry to Mansus and learned that the woman called [Cup] wanted her help breaking it to pursue ascension. Xu Zhi agreed to cooperate, then watched as [Cup] drew the gods’ rules toward herself in a crowded city, where a gigantic golden hand reached down to strike her.

  • Xu Zhi tried to enter Mansus, but the gods’ golden rules cut off her connection and pinned her in the real world.
  • Xu Zhi learned that [Cup] wanted her to break the blockade so they could enter Mansus and seek the path to ascension, and she agreed to help.
  • [Cup] explained that the artificial rules had weak points and that she would draw the gods’ attention in a crowded place, limiting their power.
  • [Cup] began her attempt in Lingzhou City Center as Xu Zhi watched the rules overhead for their weak points.
  • A golden chain pinned [Cup] in place, the crowd fled from the storm, and a gigantic golden hand emerged from a vortex above her.
Arc 17 of 18