Chapter Summaries

Xu Zhi learned that Gods Heavy Industries had been researching altered talent circuits and a mysterious pattern that let certain Lamp test subjects devour one another’s circuits. The supervisor showed her the pattern, and Xu Zhi recognized it as a tiny piece of the Lamp circuit inside her own body.

• Xu Zhi established an Oath Circuit with the supervisor in exchange for his information.
• The supervisor explained that Gods Heavy Industries studied Circuit Genetic Engineering and had tried to mimic the Cup’s ability to grant power without passing through Mansus.
• The supervisor said Lamp test subjects could devour one another’s circuits because their altered circuits contained fragments of a mysterious pattern.
• The supervisor revealed that the researchers had recently pieced together a larger fragment of the pattern after years of experiments.
• Xu Zhi examined the holographic pattern and recognized it as a tiny corner of the Lamp circuit within her body.

Xu Zhi destroyed the underground research institute, then used the Spirit Vessel to undergo a ritual that revealed Lotus City would soon face destruction by the mist. She entered a trial for the [Cup]-attribute Archbishop position and continued climbing the endless Blood-Red Stairway despite exhaustion.

• Xu Zhi confirmed that the research institute's records were destroyed, had the remaining researchers and guards killed, and escaped before the facility collapsed.
• Xu Zhi reflected on the mysterious fragment fused with her and resolved to investigate the prophet who had guided her to the laboratory.
• Xu Zhi controlled the Spirit Vessel during a cult ritual in Lotus City, and the [Cup] existence granted it power and warned that the mist would bring the city's destruction.
• Xu Zhi learned that passing a trial could let her take command of Lotus City, then found herself before the Blood-Red Stairway to becoming an Archbishop.
• Xu Zhi climbed the flesh-and-blood steps without stopping as time slowed and her strength waned, determined to claim the [Cup]-attribute Archbishop position.

Xu Zhi completed [Cup]'s trial and advanced her Spirit Vessel to [Archbishop], gaining immense power and the ability to perceive [Cup]-aligned rules. When the Mist Season arrived far earlier than expected, she went to investigate the spreading mist and worried about Qi Yanxin and Lotus City.

• Xu Zhi endured nearly ten days of climbing and entered the blood-red hot spring, where [Cup]'s gift transformed her Spirit Vessel and formed an Archbishop foundation.
• Xu Zhi emerged as an [Archbishop], restrained her newly overwhelming aura, and discovered that she was [Sloth] among six Archbishops, while Little Aberration's devoured Archbishop had been [Greed].
• Xu Zhi tested her new abilities, learned that Archbishops could glimpse [Cup]-aligned rules, and recalled the warning that Lotus City would be destroyed.
• Xu Zhi heard the Mist Season alarm and sensed nearby [Cup] believers preparing for it, while realizing the god had mistaken her for a genuine believer.
• Xu Zhi worried that the Light Institute might not have evacuated Qi Yanxin before the mist arrived, then left the warehouse to investigate as mist began rising less than two hours after the alarm.

Xu Zhi investigated the ritual transforming Lotus City’s residents into [Cup] believers and found signs that the city’s foundations had been prepared for the event long ago. After retrieving her blade and returning to the Lower District, she discovered Qi Yanxin still living rationally in her dormitory.

• The fog descended, and Xu Zhi sensed its slight suppression before a red ritual enveloped Lotus City and began transforming its residents into [Cup] believers.
• Xu Zhi flew through the city’s levels and found that Lower District residents retained some reason, while those above were becoming ordinary believers; she also realized [Cup] was influencing her thoughts.
• Xu Zhi reached the council tower and found that the chairman and Lotus City’s most prestigious Named Ones had disappeared, then suspected that the city’s founding and the Chu family might be tied to [Cup].
• Xu Zhi went to Gods Heavy Industries, found its core personnel had evacuated, and recovered her blade from a laboratory.
• Xu Zhi returned to the Light Institute and found Qi Yanxin still in her dormitory, retaining her rationality and tending the greenery used for sustenance.

Xu Zhi investigated why Qi Yanxin had stayed in Lotus City and secretly visited her under the name Xu Ling, finding that Qi Yanxin retained her human habits and concern for Xu Zhi despite becoming a believer. As Lotus City's crisis forced Xu Zhi to revise her plans, news broke that the Winter-aligned Agent had died and that other cities had asked the Agents in the Lost Land to intervene.

• Xu Zhi inspected Qi Yanxin's dormitory and concluded that Qi Yanxin had chosen to remain in Lotus City rather than evacuate.
• Xu Zhi knocked on Qi Yanxin's door while posing as Xu Zhi's friend, proved her identity with private details, and was invited inside.
• Xu Zhi observed Qi Yanxin's unchanged habits and emotions, then grew suspicious because Qi Yanxin seemed unaffected by becoming a believer of [Cup].
• Xu Zhi watched reports about the Lotus City upheaval and decided to upgrade all her Familiars, including Little Aberration, and pursue more power.
• A news report confirmed that the Winter-aligned Agent had died, and other cities had sent intervention requests to the Agents still in the Lost Land.

Xu Zhi watched the turmoil in Lotus City while her Familiars completed their advancement into Named Ones and developed abilities suited to her needs. She left to find more prey for Little Aberration, whose possessiveness and unexpected TV-inspired affection amused and exasperated her.

• Xu Zhi monitored Lotus City's factional struggle as its believers united in ignoring outsiders, while the lower-level cult she had once stayed with rose toward prominence.
• After about a month of evolution, all the Familiars except Little Aberration reached Named One, with their titles tied to the names Xu Zhi had given them.
• Little One gained shapeshifting and concealment, Xiao Zhen gained extraordinary speed and a chance to instantly kill Named Ones, and Doggie learned to change size and became a formidable close-combat fighter.
• Little Aberration grew jealous of Xu Zhi's attention to the other Familiars and asked to eat more prey so it could drive them away.
• Xu Zhi recognized Little Aberration as true Greed and explained that Greed could consume the aura and energy of other Archbishops, then set out to find it more food.
• Little Aberration asked Xu Zhi for kisses after she promised to find prey, revealing that it had picked up the phrase from watching TV.

Xu Zhi hatched and raised her seventh Familiar, Little Orange, a flame with powerful destructive abilities that could also strengthen her talent circuits. After raising the Little Aberration to Archbishop, she concealed it and hurried into the depths of the Lost Land, hoping its leaked Examiner aura would draw the organization behind the Examiner into conflict with [Cup].

• Xu Zhi's seventh Familiar emerged as a living [Forge]-aligned flame, and she named it Little Orange.
• Little Orange burned supernatural energy and talent circuits, helped Xu Zhi's circuits grow, and advanced by consuming [Forge] cores.
• Xu Zhi decided to enter the Lost Land's depths after raising the Little Aberration to [Archbishop], despite the risks of the deeper layers.
• After the Little Aberration advanced, its Archbishop and Examiner auras briefly leaked, and Xu Zhi concealed it before heading into the depths.
• Xu Zhi intended the Examiner aura to attract the organization searching for [Cup] and provoke a clash between them.

Xu Zhi crossed a strange path in the Lost Land, collected all eight attribute plaques from a thatched hut, and entered an uncanny forest resembling Midnight and Mansus. The forest’s powerful temptation led her into an illusion, and she realized she could no longer find the way back as she heard someone ahead.

• Xu Zhi rode Doggie deeper into the Lost Land and found a vast forest of identical trees beyond the mountains.
• The path to the forest stripped away her external possessions, so Xu Zhi entered a thatched hut beside it.
• Xu Zhi took the [Lamp] plaque, then used supernatural energy and help from her Familiars to collect the other seven plaques despite the hut’s restrictions.
• Xu Zhi entered the forest, mistook it for Mansus under the force of its temptation, and Little Aberration caught her when she stumbled.
• Xu Zhi discovered that the forest stretched behind her instead of the path and hut, then heard a faint sound from ahead.

Xu Zhi learned that the Lost Land rewarded supernatural beings for killing others with the same attribute, and that collecting wooden plaques could be tied to ascension. After discovering her unusual collection of plaques made her a formidable hunter, she headed toward nearby fighters and sent her Familiars into battle under the pretense of objecting to their two-against-one fight.

• Xu Zhi stopped a Light Institute woman who tried to flee, subdued her, and learned that killing supernatural beings with the same attribute could increase one's power in the Lost Land.
• The woman explained that wooden plaques were an entry ticket to a rumored path to ascension, and Xu Zhi concealed that she had collected plaques of every attribute.
• Xu Zhi released the woman, then decided she wanted to test the Lost Land's power and warned that the next person she met might not be allowed to leave.
• Following Temptation, Xu Zhi found two people with Blade and Forge attributes attacking a lone person with the Blade attribute.
• Xu Zhi called the two-against-one fight immoral and ordered Doggie and her other Familiars to attack the group.

Xu Zhi and her Familiars killed three Named Ones and absorbed the supernatural energy released through their wooden plaques, rapidly strengthening her [Moth] attribute. She questioned what [Radiance] truly accepted and whether the [Cup] had once been closest to its door, then discovered her domain had expanded.

• Xu Zhi guided her Familiars to kill two teamed opponents and the person they had ambushed, using the [Eye of Secrets] to reveal their talent circuits.
• The dead released energy that flowed into Xu Zhi’s [Blade] and [Moth] plaques; she passed the [Blade] energy to her Familiar and absorbed the [Moth] energy.
• Xu Zhi realized the plaque energy was unusually pure and ownerless, and it strengthened her [Moth] circuit enough to bring it level with the [Lamp].
• Xu Zhi considered that [Radiance] might accept the brutal competition in the Lost Land and wondered whether the [Cup] had been closest to Radiance’s door before its disaster.
• After digesting the energy, Xu Zhi’s supernatural level rose and her domain expanded.

Xu Zhi entered the Great Dream after the Lost Land’s energy tempted her, and discovered that her growing strength let her travel much farther through Mansus than expected. She returned to the Lost Land with her suspicions confirmed and found her domain beginning to mend, while concluding that Radiance did not judge supernatural beings by human morality.

• Xu Zhi absorbed energy that tripled her domain’s range, then Mansus pulled her into the Great Dream as the Lost Land’s temptation intensified.
• Xu Zhi grew stronger with each step through Mansus and passed one hundred steps without meeting a barrier.
• Xu Zhi realized that receiving energy shared with her Familiar may have doubled her distance through Mansus, giving her far more chances to find keys and doors than other Named Ones.
• Xu Zhi returned to the Lost Land after reflecting on her discovery and found its temptation had weakened.
• Xu Zhi sensed that her domain’s thunder had lessened and its shattered land had begun to mend, then concluded that Radiance did not care about humanitarian principles.

Xu Zhi hunted stronger Named Ones to absorb their energy and strengthen herself before Midnight arrived, reaching what she called Level 3. Midnight then trapped her in a forest where the trees and buried dead turned hostile, leaving her surrounded by supernatural dangers.

• Xu Zhi discovered she could use the wooden token to transfer energy to her Familiars and reclaim energy she had granted within the Lost Land.
• Xu Zhi sent her Gyrfalcon to find prey and hunted stronger Named Ones, collecting two [Lamp]s and three [Moth]s while her Familiars grew exhausted.
• Xu Zhi judged her strength to be Level 3 after her domain and personal power increased, then rested beneath the sunset and recovered alongside her Familiars.
• As the moon rose, the forest trees turned black and Midnight engulfed Xu Zhi, making the mark in her palm burn.
• Xu Zhi used Xiao Zhen to evade the pursuing trees and shadows while Nightmare warned that Midnight's buried dead could attack her.
• A rotten hand emerged from the soil beside Xu Zhi, and she sensed that the figure crawling out was a supernatural being.

Xu Zhi used her [Lamp] attribute to create an Everlasting Lamp and sacrificed a nearly identical Spirit Vessel to appease Midnight. After Midnight began treating her as dead and stopped pursuing her, she used the Eye of Secrets to glimpse the rules filling its night sky, then retreated when the sight overwhelmed her.

• Xu Zhi made a crude Everlasting Lamp that repelled Midnight’s shadows and skeletons, though its protective radius began to shrink.
• Xu Zhi created a Spirit Vessel matching her body, scent, and soul, sacrificing nearly half her flesh and part of her mental strength.
• Xu Zhi sent the Spirit Vessel into the darkness, where Midnight mistook her for Xu Zhi and buried her beneath a new black tree.
• Xu Zhi’s mark faded, the awakened corpses returned to their graves, and Midnight began treating her as dead and ignoring her.
• Xu Zhi used the Eye of Secrets to look at Midnight’s sky, saw countless silver symbols, and shut her eyes when the sight overwhelmed her.

Xu Zhi realized that the symbols she had seen were fragments of [Rules] and that one had become the core of her innate circuit. She concluded that her circuit was a rule circuit, which explained why she could form both [Lamp] and [Moth] circuits, and recognized that the underground laboratory had been researching in the right direction.

• Xu Zhi struggled to understand the rule symbols she had seen and wondered how other Transcendents comprehended rules.
• Xu Zhi recalled the patterns in the fragment from when she had formed her [Lamp]-attribute circuit and recognized that they felt like [Rules].
• Xu Zhi inferred that a fragment of a rule had been inscribed into her innate circuit, making it unlike ordinary attribute circuits.
• Xu Zhi concluded that her rule circuit allowed her to establish both [Lamp] and [Moth] circuits.
• Xu Zhi realized the underground laboratory had glimpsed a fragment of the rules through its research.

Xu Zhi struggled to draw a fragment of Midnight’s rules, suspecting she needed to comprehend the complete rules before she could reproduce them. Meanwhile, Lotus City’s believers consolidated their power and outsiders hesitated to intervene, leaving the city’s response pending the [Proxies]’ return from the Lost Land.

• Xu Zhi realized she could possess the circuits in her body because she had already integrated them, though incompletely, and decided to study Midnight’s rules despite the difficulty.
• Xu Zhi tried to draw a fragment of Midnight’s rules from memory but found an invisible obstruction kept her from reproducing it.
• Xu Zhi persisted in practicing the fragment’s opening portion, accepting that understanding a replicated rule’s shape would take time.
• Believers established a hierarchy in Lotus City, where victors consumed defeated rivals and their subordinates submitted, allowing the city’s forces to consolidate.
• The red light formed a barrier around Lotus City, and the strongest believer on the lowest level gained influence by holding its key.
• Cups and other Archbishops began revealing themselves across cities, while outside factions delayed deciding how to investigate Lotus City until the [Proxies] returned from the Lost Land.

As the other [Proxies] sent Heart to investigate Lotus City, Xu Zhi attempted to inscribe a [Heart] circuit in Lost Land. She ignored a mysterious force and thunderous warning as she committed all her recovered [Lamp] energy to the final stroke.

• The cities agreed to purge the [Cup] within their borders and then attack Lotus City, while believers fled there and the cities investigated its defenses.
• At a meeting, the [Proxies] discussed the missing Archbishop in Lotus City, and Heart agreed to investigate after another Proxy warned that a dream had shown them in terrible condition.
• Two Proxies secretly agreed that an opportunity had arrived after Heart and the others left the meeting.
• Xu Zhi began experimenting with a [Heart] circuit after failing to inscribe a fragment of [Law] in her mind and noticing an extra tree remained in daylight.
• Xu Zhi nearly completed the [Heart] circuit, then resisted a crushing force and poured all her recovered [Lamp] energy into [Authority] to make the final stroke.

Xu Zhi completed her [Heart] circuit, gained a new ability to perceive and memorize rule symbols, and sent her Spirit Vessel to investigate Lotus City’s changing situation. As the Spirit Vessel sensed an Agent infiltrating the city and prepared to leave, an unfamiliar girl knocked on the dormitory door.

• Xu Zhi completed the [Heart] attribute circuit after thunder resonated with the power she had left in Mansus, and her spiritual power increased.
• Xu Zhi saw and memorized the rule symbols in the [Lamp] wooden plaque, then assigned their analysis to her Spirit Vessel while she went hunting.
• The Spirit Vessel observed that Lotus City’s fog and combined seasons were intensifying conflicts, while incoming outside believers replenished the city’s growing ranks.
• The Spirit Vessel sensed an Agent had entered Lotus City alone and decided to investigate what the Agent was doing.
• The Spirit Vessel told Qi Yanxin she was going out, but an unfamiliar young girl knocked on the dormitory door before she could leave.

Xu Zhi met the agent who had infiltrated Lotus City and cautiously negotiated with her while trying to learn what she knew. The agent finally began explaining how Xu Zhi’s Lord had been dealt with, revealing that the first step had been to seal Him.

• Xu Zhi recognized the young visitor as an agent and let her into the home after Qi Yanxin suggested they talk.
• The agent said she had come to investigate why Lotus City had changed, while Xu Zhi insisted she did not know what had caused it.
• Xu Zhi proposed that they take turns asking questions, and the agent agreed as transcendent energy recorded their exchange.
• Xu Zhi asked how the agent and her allies had killed her Lord and confirmed His death.
• The agent said killing a god was not easy and revealed that they had first sealed Him.

Xu Zhi revealed that she was the previous Archbishop Sloth, learning that the agents believed the old [Cup] had died and a new one had emerged. After she let the agent leave Lotus City, the [Cup]'s eye appeared at the city barrier, revealing that Lotus City was a trap for outsiders.

• Xu Zhi told the agent that her name was Sloth, suffering a bloody backlash and forcing the agent to reconsider what she knew about the [Cup].
• The agent explained that her side believed the [Cup] had died after escaping the seal, based on their surveillance measures.
• Qi Yanxin asked Xu Zhi to let the agent leave, and Xu Zhi agreed despite worrying about the danger to Qi Yanxin.
• The agent hurried toward the city boundary, where the red light twisted into a vortex and the [Cup]'s enormous eye appeared.
• The agent realized Lotus City was a trap and cage for superhumans who did not belong to the Cup, and that no one should come there.

The [Heart]-aligned agent tried repeatedly to escape [Cup]'s corruption in Lotus City and realized [Cup] was using her body as feed and ritual material. She destroyed her body to deny Him that resource, but awoke in her other true body with her [Heart] circuit stained by blood.

• The [Heart]-aligned agent charged through the scarlet eye, survived its mutations, and emerged back in Lotus City rather than outside.
• She tried again to escape, but each attempt returned her to the starting point and deepened the corruption in her mind and talent circuit.
• The agent realized [Cup] was harvesting her regenerating flesh and blood to nourish the enormous red circuit and possibly use her body in a ritual.
• She ended her life and destroyed her body, dispersing it into motes of attribute energy as the giant eye watched.
• The agent awoke in her independent second true body, where her pink [Heart] circuit had been stained with blood.