Chapter Summaries

The Federation assembled a team to enter Cloud City and struggled to choose a leader. Ye Yan provoked the candidates into fighting, then returned to his companions, convinced that the humans would die once they entered the city.

• The Federation selected four extraordinary individuals from the capital and Lin Zizhen from Brocade City to enter Cloud City.
• The team introduced themselves, then argued over whether the capital's Lamp-attribute extraordinary individual should lead them.
• Ye Yan suggested they settle the leadership question by fighting, and his words stirred several candidates into battle.
• Ye Yan retreated to his companions, and a woman who had been dozing asked whether he had used his ability on the humans.
• Ye Yan denied using his ability, while his companions urged him to end the farce because the humans would die in Cloud City.

The Federation team entered Cloud City through a misty gate and began investigating its darkness and powerful supernatural energy. Xu Zhi followed them under her cloak, studying the three Archbishops as Aberrations gathered ahead.

• The Federation superhumans ended their meeting after a brawl and prepared to enter Cloud City in combat uniforms.
• A mist gate appeared, and the ten-person team crossed into Cloud City, where darkness and dense supernatural energy greeted them.
• The team walked deeper into the city after leaving a device behind to alert them if Xu Zhi arrived.
• Xu Zhi secretly followed the group from a rooftop and used the Eye of Secrets to analyze the three Archbishops.
• The [Lamp] attribute superhuman warned the team that at least five Aberrations were ahead, and scarlet eyes appeared in the fog.

Xu Zhi studied the three Archbishops’ [Cup] abilities as Federation fighters struggled against Cloud City’s Aberrations. Ye Yan saved a [Lamp] attribute fighter only to menace him, until Xu Zhi arrived with a Silver Wolf and greeted the group.

• Xu Zhi examined the red threads of [Cup] energy in the three Archbishops and began deciphering how their abilities worked.
• Federation extraordinary individuals were pushed back by Aberrations, while three newcomers refused to help and two fighters were killed.
• Ye Yan decided to provoke the [Lamp] attribute fighter by exposing him to [Cup] energy, then killed an Aberration that was about to attack him.
• The Federation fighters realized Ye Yan could easily kill them too, and he approached the [Lamp] attribute fighter as the others watched tensely.
• Xu Zhi arrived through the mist with an enormous Silver Wolf and asked whether the group had run into trouble.

Xu Zhi fought Ye Yan while the other two Archbishops supported him with mental attacks. She used moths and her hidden allies to create an opening and target Ye Yan, wary of his ability to slow everyone within his magnetic field.

• The three Cup-attribute Archbishops attacked Xu Zhi with simultaneous mental abilities, briefly slowing her and disrupting her thoughts.
• Xu Zhi drew her Tang sword and blocked Ye Yan’s strange, hard-to-read attacks while mocking his reliance on his companions.
• Ye Yan activated a magnetic field that slowed Doggie and weakened the movements, reactions, thoughts, and supernatural abilities of those nearby.
• Xu Zhi released dozens of moths, drawing the Archbishops’ attention and giving Little One and Xiao Zhen a chance to attack Ye Yan.

Xu Zhi fought Ye Yan while the Familiars distracted him, using his arrogance to land a blade wound that healed unusually slowly. As Ye Yan pressed his attacks, Xu Zhi revealed that the time was right and ordered him to kneel, forcing him to his knees.

• Xiao Zhen and the other Familiars attacked Ye Yan, while his magnetic field weakened their speed and power.
• Ye Yan's accomplice trapped Xu Zhi with a mental attack and [Cup] energy, but Xu Zhi pretended to be immobilized and stabbed him when he rushed in.
• Xu Zhi's blade inflicted a wound that healed slowly and caused Ye Yan intense pain, while the Federation superhumans fled the battlefield.
• Ye Yan attacked Xu Zhi frenziedly as his pride and self-control deteriorated, and Xu Zhi retreated when she decided the moment had come.
• Xu Zhi told Ye Yan to kneel, and he dropped to his knees as his pride and arrogance shattered.

Ye Yan transformed after reflecting on his defeat, awakening a vast array that let him attack Xu Zhi from anywhere within its range. As Ye Yan and the other Archbishops pressured her, Xu Zhi rushed directly at him, preparing to try an untested move.

• Xu Zhi sensed something unsettling in Ye Yan's chaotic Cup energy and retreated instead of attacking him.
• Ye Yan reconsidered his shallow understanding of Pride, and his energy boiled as he underwent a painful transformation.
• A red pillar and a kilometer-wide array appeared around Ye Yan, who rose with a steadier aura and thanked Xu Zhi.
• Ye Yan used the array to launch attacks from any direction while the other Archbishops slowed and confused Xu Zhi.
• Xu Zhi struggled against the combined attacks, then rushed toward Ye Yan with a calm expression and an untested plan.

Xu Zhi defeated Ye Yan by triggering a conflict between his [Cup] power and her [Moth] power, then used [Lamp] cores to expose and destroy the blood-red staircase sustaining him. Ye Yan died as gray moths poured from his body.

• Xu Zhi let Ye Yan's attack tear into her left shoulder so she could close in and seize his head.
• Xu Zhi planted [Moth] energy inside Ye Yan and guided it into conflict with the [Cup] power circulating through his body.
• Ye Yan lost consciousness, and the formation he maintained collapsed, but a miniature blood-red staircase appeared in his mind and began stabilizing him.
• Xu Zhi forced [Lamp] and [Moth] cores into Ye Yan, using the [Lamp] energy to open a path for [Moth] to corrupt the blood-red staircase.
• The staircase turned gray and shattered, and Ye Yan fell to his knees, stopped breathing, and released countless gray moths from his body.

Xu Zhi outmaneuvered and severely injured [Sloth] despite her exhaustion, then discovered that [Lust] had fled. With her supernatural energy running low, the fight was not yet over.

• A hidden attacker stabbed at Xu Zhi while [Sloth]'s inertia ability hindered her, but Xu Zhi blocked the dagger and resisted [Lust]'s shadow ability.
• Xu Zhi decided to disable the Archbishops by severing their heads and limbs and destroying their hearts while conserving energy to destroy their Foundations later.
• With help from the black cat and [Moth], Xu Zhi tricked [Sloth] into teleporting into the path of her blade.
• Xu Zhi cut off [Sloth]'s head, crushed her heart, and severed her limbs, leaving [Lust] as her only remaining opponent.
• Xu Zhi turned to confront [Lust] and discovered that he had run away.

After defeating the Federation’s Archbishops, Xu Zhi recovered in Cloud City, arranged for the surviving Federation agents to leave, and planned to collect the rest of her payment in a week. She returned home with Sloth’s remains and prepared to choose a new Familiar while recovering, leaving Lust at large but confident she could find him.

• Xu Zhi rested, replenished her extraordinary energy, and found she could not store Sloth’s body because he was not completely dead.
• Lin Zizhen approached Xu Zhi and returned the suitcase of cores; Xu Zhi told him and the other survivors to leave Cloud City and said she would visit the Federation in a week to collect the remaining payment and discuss something with its decision-makers.
• Lin Zizhen and the two other survivors left Cloud City and were met by Federation agents, who questioned them about the battle and the team’s losses.
• Xu Zhi rested, decided not to pursue Lust until she had recovered, and relied on her Authority to track him throughout Cloud City.
• Xu Zhi had her Familiar carry Sloth’s remains home and planned to choose a new Familiar while she recuperated.

Xu Zhi questioned why the Archbishops had been so weak, and Narrator concluded that their insubstantial foundations were part of a wider anomaly affecting the world. Narrator warned that time might be running short and urged Xu Zhi to grow stronger, leaving her reluctantly facing the possibility that she would have to find a way forward herself.

• Xu Zhi asked Narrator why the Archbishops seemed weaker than expected, and Narrator told her to keep Ye Yan’s corpse and capture Lust without killing him.
• Narrator listed strange deviations, including the mist and Midnight rift in Cloud City, Xu Zhi gaining and removing an Archbishop’s foundation, and the Archbishops’ foundations seeming unreal.
• Narrator suspected that the world was obscured by a fog of deception and said that the supreme being of the Cup attribute might be planning something.
• Xu Zhi rejected Narrator’s pessimism and insisted that she was not going to become a world-saving hero.
• Narrator said Xu Zhi was currently the strongest supernatural being and urged her to level up, then told her to rely on her own special ideas while it investigated.

Xu Zhi examined the Game Console’s suspicious behavior and chose Cursed Speech as her new Familiar, which bound itself to her throat. Narrator then returned with news about Ye Yan and warned that things had gotten worse.

• Xu Zhi considered why Narrator had pretended the Game Console was under maintenance and listed the mysteries she needed to investigate.
• Xu Zhi selected Cursed Speech, a special Familiar that attached itself to her throat.
• Xu Zhi inspected Cursed Speech’s abilities and learned that it could use cursed words, but would die if her throat were pierced.
• The Game Console flickered and displayed garbled text before Narrator announced that it had figured out Ye Yan’s situation and things had gotten worse.

Xu Zhi and the Narrator investigated Ye Yan’s defective Archbishop foundation and reasoned that the supreme existence of the Cup attribute had arranged false foundations because the true Archbishop paths were already occupied. Xu Zhi’s theory about His effort to prevent a new supreme existence from emerging drew a deadly gaze from a distant presence.

• The Narrator told Xu Zhi that Ye Yan’s Archbishop foundation had been made from a fragment of a true foundation and was a defective imitation.
• The Narrator suspected the other Archbishops’ foundations were also defective products created by the supreme existence of the Cup attribute.
• Xu Zhi considered why He would create false Archbishops and learned that the current Archbishop paths had already been occupied.
• The Narrator explained that the supreme existence had fallen with the Cup rules and could return as those rules rebuilt themselves.
• Xu Zhi guessed that He was trying to prevent a new supreme existence from rising and eating Him, and the Narrator warned her not to speak recklessly.
• Xu Zhi sensed a distant gaze filled with killing intent and feared its owner would discover and kill her.

Xu Zhi learned that the supreme being of the Cup attribute was pursuing a dangerous goal beyond resurrection and resolved to hurry after Lust. Meanwhile, Lin Zizhen returned from Cloud City with a sealed file and considered whether serving Xu Zhi could advance his position.

• Xu Zhi learned that the Cup supreme being was reviving, that its defective Archbishops were part of a larger plan, and that her interference had deepened its grudge against her.
• The Narrator warned Xu Zhi to gain strength quickly, and she decided to rest for half a day before setting out to capture Lust.
• Lin Zizhen and the other two survivors endured questioning by the Federation after leaving Cloud City.
• Lin Zizhen's superior gave him a sealed document envelope that higher-ups had authorized him to read after resting.
• On his way home, Lin Zizhen considered leaving the Federation to work for Xu Zhi and saw her control over Cloud City as a possible path to advancement.

Xu Zhi tested whether Little Aberration could absorb the false Archbishop foundations and confirmed that Lust’s foundation was the same as Wrath’s. After feeding it the other Archbishops, she began preparing to trade Cloud City passes with the Federation and planned to tell Zhong Lingfan about the passage and the dangers facing the world.

• Xu Zhi captured Lust in Cloud City and brought him to Little Aberration to test whether it could absorb his foundation.
• Little Aberration consumed Lust, including his foundation, without problems, proving that Lust and Wrath had the same foundation; it gained five levels but remained level 49.
• Xu Zhi decided to feed the other two captured Archbishops to Little Aberration but keep Yu Shenwei alive as a possible lead to the source.
• Xu Zhi admitted that she had always viewed Yu Shenwei as a tool and had deliberately avoided forming a friendship with her.
• Xu Zhi explained that she could now create unlimited Cloud City entrances and planned to trade one-use passes with the Federation.
• Xu Zhi decided to tell Zhong Lingfan about the Cloud City passage and the dangers threatening the world.

Xu Zhi consulted Zhong Lingfan and Shen Jinwen about negotiating with the Federation now that she could control Cloud City's restrictions, then went alone to discuss terms. She brought Lin Zizhen into the meeting with the Federation's leaders, setting him up to assist in future dealings.

• Xu Zhi told Zhong Lingfan and Shen Jinwen that she could control Cloud City's restrictions and asked what terms she should demand from the Federation.
• Zhong Lingfan advised Xu Zhi to charge ten high-grade Attribute Cores per pass and offer the Federation an exclusive buyout; she also asked to leave Cloud City to bring in her family and visit the Federation's supernatural laboratory.
• Shen Jinwen declined Xu Zhi's offer to go outside, while Zhong Lingfan explained that her research fulfilled her ideals rather than feeling like work.
• Xu Zhi gave Zhong Lingfan and Shen Jinwen passes with unlimited time and uses, then went to meet the Federation's leaders after reaching an agreement on the terms.
• Lin Zizhen greeted Xu Zhi outside Cloud City and escorted her through Federation security to the meeting room.
• Xu Zhi invited Lin Zizhen into the meeting, and he saw the decision as an opportunity to prove his sincerity with intelligence from top-secret files.

Xu Zhi negotiated with Federation officials over increased payment for dealing with the Archbishops and demanded ownership of Cloud City. After proving she controlled entry and exit, she gave the Federation ten minutes to decide whether to accept her terms.

• Xu Zhi told the Federation representatives that the payment for dealing with the Archbishops needed to increase because there had been three instead of two.
• Xu Zhi offered to halve the added payment if the Federation made Cloud City independent and placed it under her personal ownership.
• After the officials refused, Xu Zhi claimed Cloud City was already her private property and that she controlled who could enter or leave.
• Xu Zhi gave the Federation a wooden Cloud City Pass, and a test confirmed that it let one person enter or leave Cloud City once.
• Xu Zhi gave the Federation ten minutes to accept her terms or lose access to Cloud City.

Xu Zhi negotiated Cloud City’s ownership and access-pass arrangement with the Federation, securing a costly deal without making concessions. After Lin Zizhen joined her, she brought him to Cloud City and turned her attention to increasing her strength so she could explore Midnight.

• Xu Zhi left the Federation representatives to deliberate, then returned and said Cloud City access would be limited to one thousand passes every half month.
• Xu Zhi set the price at ten high-grade Attribute Cores per pass and demanded a buyout fee when the Federation offered to purchase all the slots.
• After two hours of talks, Xu Zhi finalized a deal for the Federation to announce Cloud City’s ownership change in three days and deliver the Cores in exchange for passes.
• Xu Zhi agreed to make Lin Zizhen her subordinate and brought him back to Cloud City after he packed his things.
• Xu Zhi assigned Lin Zizhen to handle Federation matters under Zhong Lingfan’s guidance, then returned to her room to focus on advancing her strength and exploring Midnight.

Xu Zhi refined Attribute Cores and absorbed one, experiencing a vision of the far side of the moon as the Black Fog surged around her. Unable to absorb more energy until she advanced, she learned she would need to enter Midnight to find the remains required for a ritual, and planned to go at the darkest point of night.

• Xu Zhi learned that the Game Console could refine Attribute Cores and prepared cores for herself and her Familiars.
• Xu Zhi ate a refined Moth Attribute Core and saw gray moths circling a pale moon on what she sensed was its far side.
• The Black Fog around Xu Zhi surged and was absorbed as the Game Console flickered, and Xu Zhi woke feeling too full to absorb more energy.
• Xu Zhi realized she needed a higher-tier creature’s remains and a ritual array to advance within the second stage.
• The narrator told Xu Zhi that Midnight held suitable remains and warned her to enter through the city-center rift, leave immediately if discovered, and go when the night was darkest.

Xu Zhi prepared higher-level Lanterns while Zhong Lingfan reported on the Federation’s losses in Cloud City and proposed a guide-service partnership. Zhong Lingfan also warned that Cup-attribute believers were drawing connected arrays across the Federation, and Xu Zhi ordered the situation monitored.

• Xu Zhi forged Lantern cores and learned that adding her blood would link a Lantern’s effects to her abilities.
• Zhong Lingfan brought Xu Zhi missing materials and reported that Federation teams in Cloud City were suffering heavy losses.
• Zhong Lingfan proposed a Guide Program that would let Federation visitors pay Cloud City residents for help navigating the city.
• Zhong Lingfan reported that Cup-attribute believers were drawing connected arrays across the Federation, and Xu Zhi suspected the work served Him.
• Xu Zhi told Zhong Lingfan to monitor the arrays and said she could find more Federation contacts if Lin Zizhen died.

Xu Zhi entered Midnight with a newly forged Lantern, intending to investigate the Federation believers’ plans, while the Narrator warned her not to use the Eye of Secrets or lose herself. She encountered the original form of [Nightmare], which recognized a familiar scent on her.

• Xu Zhi forged a black-and-gold Lantern and discussed the Federation believers’ plans with the Narrator, who urged her to be careful and disrupt their schemes.
• The Narrator warned Xu Zhi to avoid using the Eye of Secrets in Midnight and to rely on herself without losing herself.
• Xu Zhi entered Midnight through Little Aberration’s roots and passed an enormous, cold presence without looking at it.
• When a voice followed her, Xu Zhi switched from [Cup]-attribute light to [Lamp]-attribute light, making the presence cry out in pain.
• The Black Cat appeared ahead of Xu Zhi, recognized her, and asked why she smelled like [Nightmare].