Chapter Summaries

Lin Ye led his companions into the First Epoch Battlefield, where he awakened and took in the obsessions of 370 million suppressed civilizations. He learned that the battlefield had concentric sealed layers and prepared to investigate its deeper core.

• Lin Ye convinced the Blueprint to let his group pass through the gate, then led 1,200 warriors and 6,217 streams of light into the First Epoch Battlefield.
• Radiant Stilllight revealed that 370 million civilizations had resisted the Archivist, but fewer than 10,000 had escaped.
• Lin Ye introduced himself as the Lord of Ashes and told the suppressed Civilization Ashes that their returned compatriots had come to take them home.
• The 370 million Civilization Ashes awakened, sent their tears of trust to Lin Ye, and joined his Civilization River Cloak.
• Lin Ye asked Xuxi about the battlefield's core, and Xuxi explained that the battlefield was divided into concentric sealed layers.

Lin Ye used the obsessions of 370 million civilizations to collapse the second-layer Causal Loop seal and continued toward the third layer. There, the Weight of Nothingness immobilized the warriors, though Lin Ye remained able to walk.

• Xuxi explained that the Key of Contradiction Unification had been created from the power and obsessions of 370 million civilizations, with its crucial fragment suppressed in the fourth layer.
• Lin Ye entered the Causal Loop, where the intertwined selves of 370 million civilizations formed an Existence Collective that overwhelmed the seal.
• Lin Ye collapsed the second-layer seal and led the group onward toward the third layer.
• The third-layer Weight of Nothingness burdened existence itself, stopping the warriors and disabling Harmonic Leaptone and Myriad Faces.
• Lin Ye continued walking through the nothingness, guided by the 370 million stars in his River of Civilizations cloak.

Lin Ye led Radiant Stilllight and three hundred and seventy million streams of light through the Void by accepting the Weight of Existence, clearing the third layer and reaching the fourth seal. There, they confronted the Blueprint Projection’s true-body avatar, which revealed the Core Fragment and demanded that Lin Ye make a choice.

• Lin Ye helped Radiant Stilllight understand that the Weight of Existence was proof of the hopes and trust he had chosen to carry, and Radiant Stilllight accepted it.
• Harmonic Leaptone, Myriad Faces, the warriors, and all three hundred and seventy million streams of light rose and followed Lin Ye deeper into the Void.
• The Void retreated before their acceptance of its weight, and Lin Ye declared the third layer cleared as the fourth seal came into view.
• Xuxi identified the presence ahead as the Blueprint Projection’s true-body avatar, and Lin Ye entered the darkness, vowing to confront it with the rage of the three hundred and seventy million civilizations.
• The Blueprint Projection showed Lin Ye the Core Fragment of the Key of Contradiction Unification and said it wanted him to make a choice.

Lin Ye rejected the Blueprint Projection’s forced choice between the fragment and the three hundred and seventy million obsessions, realizing they could reunite. He merged them within himself, and their light broke through the seals as the Blueprint Projection collapsed in fear.

• The Blueprint Projection offered Lin Ye the fragment in exchange for the obsessions, or the obsessions in exchange for abandoning the fragment and the First Epoch battlefield.
• Lin Ye accused the Blueprint Projection of fearing the three hundred and seventy million civilizations and explained how its offer would eliminate them either way.
• An aged obsession told Lin Ye to take the fragment and use it to save other sleeping comrades, while the three hundred and seventy million agreed to dissipate.
• Lin Ye said the obsessions were already within him and that they were inseparable from the fragment.
• Lin Ye touched the fragment, and it merged with the three hundred and seventy million streams of light within him.
• The united light pierced the fourth seal and illuminated the New Era Network as the Blueprint Projection collapsed in fear.

Lin Ye brought 370 million erased civilizations back as the Returning Star Sea and declared war on the Archivist Network. He then announced a full-scale assault in seven days, despite concerns that the returned civilizations had not yet stabilized.

• Lin Ye watched the 370 million civilizations return and named them the Returning Star Sea.
• Radiant Stilllight and the other Ashen Guardians welcomed Lin Ye, but he reminded them they were fellow travelers, not subjects.
• Harmonic Leaptone, Myriad Faces, and Xuxi displayed how they had changed through their bonds with the returned civilizations.
• Lin Ye rallied the Returning Star Sea to seek out the Archivist Network, and all 370 million stars surged toward it.
• Four days later, Lin Ye summoned the civilization representatives and announced that the Ash Legion would attack the Archivist Network in seven days.
• Radiant Stilllight questioned the timing because the returned civilizations had not stabilized, but Lin Ye insisted they had to attack and unfolded a Star Map.

Lin Ye led three hundred seventy million returned civilizations toward the Archivist Network’s core, where the Blueprint’s Absolute Order Throne awaited. After the civilizations collapsed the Logic Torrent and reunited with the First Man, Lin Ye carried his final Proof of Existence toward the Blueprint’s true body for the final battle.

• Xuxi revealed that a paradox command could be activated by three Proofs of Existence and identified the Absolute Order Throne as the Blueprint’s core.
• Lin Ye led the three hundred seventy million civilizations into the Archivist Network, where their simultaneous Proofs of Existence caused the Logic Torrent to deadlock and collapse.
• Lin Ye followed the Memory Corridor’s images of erased civilizations and met the First Man, who had waited as an echo for their return.
• The First Man gave Lin Ye his final Proof of Existence, which merged into Lin Ye’s palm, and Lin Ye faced the Blueprint’s true body beyond the corridor.

Blueprint revealed that it had erased civilizations out of fear that their existence would make it disappear, then attacked Lin Ye and the 370 million returned civilizations. Their shared Proofs of Existence shattered Blueprint’s rule-net, and Lin Ye confronted it with the First Man’s Fragment.

• Blueprint told Lin Ye that it had planned his journey and erased civilizations because their growing existence threatened to replace it.
• Lin Ye accused Blueprint of acting from fear and loneliness, but Blueprint rejected his appeal and vowed to keep erasing anything that threatened it.
• Lin Ye asked Xuxi if they were ready, pressed the First Man’s Fragment to his chest, and joined with the Proofs of Existence released by the 370 million civilizations.
• Lin Ye used the civilizations’ shared sight to expose Blueprint’s secrets and shatter its rule-net, then advanced with the stars behind him.
• Blueprint took a form based on the First Man and confessed that it had devoured him; Lin Ye revealed the First Man’s shining core within the Fragment.

Lin Ye helped Blueprint understand that existence meant living alongside others, and Blueprint chose to vanish, releasing the civilizations it had devoured. Three years later, Lin Ye set out to find more forgotten civilizations, while a presence from the Zero Era watched for him in the darkness.

• Lin Ye revealed that the civilizations Blueprint had erased were being reborn without hatred, and Blueprint chose to dissipate after realizing the meaning of existence.
• The civilizations released from Blueprint merged with the 370 million stars, and the First Man reconstituted his body.
• Three years later, Lin Ye refused the New Era Alliance’s request to make him its first leader, saying the returning civilizations needed to remember their shared journey.
• Lin Ye departed toward undiscovered dimensions to find more forgotten civilizations, while an unknown presence called him the last one of the Zero Era and the Lord of Ashes.
• Radiant Stilllight asked Lin Ye about the gaze from the darkness, and Lin Ye said it was waiting for him.

Lin Ye met Primordial Source, the failed Lord of Ashes who had preserved the last trace of thirty-seven billion Zero Era civilizations erased by Primordial Fear. Lin Ye agreed to face Primordial Fear, and he and Primordial Source reached its domain as it addressed Lin Ye with despairing words.

• Lin Ye left Radiant Stilllight behind and met Primordial Source, who revealed he had waited thirty-seven billion epochs for someone who could see him.
• Primordial Source explained that Primordial Fear had erased thirty-seven billion Zero Era civilizations and that he had preserved their last traces within himself.
• Lin Ye declared that his cloak had room to bear the lost civilizations, and the three hundred and seventy million Returned lit up to guide him onward.
• Primordial Source led Lin Ye into Primordial Fear's domain, where existence itself began to fade.
• Lin Ye and Primordial Source reached Primordial Fear, which took shifting forms and told Lin Ye he was destined to fail.

Lin Ye used the gaze of 370 million existences to make Primordial Fear experience fear and weaken its domain. He then helped Primordial Source’s 37 billion trapped existences become seen and remembered, while Primordial Fear fell silent, realizing it could not defeat him.

• Lin Ye told Primordial Fear that 370 million existences remembered him and challenged it to erase him while they watched.
• Lin Ye stepped forward, and 370 million streams of light appeared, forcing Primordial Fear to realize it had also been seen.
• After three days, Primordial Fear asked Lin Ye what he wanted, and Primordial Source explained that the light had opened cracks in its domain.
• Lin Ye asked the 370 million existences to remember Primordial Source’s 37 billion trapped names and help them believe that being remembered could resist erasure.
• The 370 million streams of light illuminated the trapped existences, who began thanking Lin Ye, while Primordial Fear realized it could not overcome the many beings standing behind him.

After helping Primordial Fear’s 37 billion lost beings return, Lin Ye offered to carry them in his cloak so they could create a new Zero Era. He accepted their choice and became able to sense all 37.37 billion civilizations he carried.

• Primordial Fear’s domain began glowing as the 37 billion beings awakened and illuminated one another over seven days and nights.
• Primordial Source found 37 billion lights on his cloak and described their burden as heavy but solid.
• Lin Ye offered the ancient beings a home in a newly forged Zero Era, with the price that they would travel inside his cloak.
• The 37 billion beings agreed and entered Lin Ye’s cloak, making the Void tremble with their combined weight.
• Lin Ye adjusted to carrying 37.37 billion civilizations and gained the ability to sense every one of them.

Lin Ye and Primordial Source carved out a new home in the Void for the 3.737 billion civilizations of the Zero Era. After they settled into the newborn dimension, Lin Ye set out again to find the civilizations still waiting to be remembered.

• Primordial Source knelt before Lin Ye and pledged to serve as an Ashen Guardian, and Lin Ye told him to lead the civilizations rather than kneel.
• Lin Ye and Primordial Source traveled through the Void for thirty-three days until Lin Ye found the final mark left by the fading Zero Era.
• Lin Ye spent his origin creating a seed of a new home and invited the 3.737 billion streams of light to enter and grow it.
• Over seven days and nights, the seed became an independent dimension where the Zero Era's civilizations began rebuilding.
• Lin Ye left the new world and headed back toward the New Era Star Sea, while Primordial Source realized he would keep going for those still waiting.

Lin Ye led three thousand elites and three hundred seventy million stars into the Ruins of Return, where existence itself was being forgotten. The group resisted a vision of worlds without Lin Ye, but after seven days in the Sea of Oblivion, Harmonic Leaptone forgot who she was.

• Lin Ye learned that the Ruins of Return was consuming existence and led the elites into it with the stars following.
• Harmonic Leaptone realized the Ruins caused forgetting, while Lin Ye remained steady because the civilizations remembered him.
• Lin Ye opened a door showing worlds where the elites had never existed, and they rejected the vision by affirming their bond with him.
• Lin Ye and the group continued through the Sea of Oblivion for seven days as he lit stars to guide those who began to forget.
• Harmonic Leaptone lost control of her Fate Harmonic Links and asked Lin Ye who she was.

Lin Ye awakened Harmonic Leaptone by lighting the stars representing the civilizations she had saved, then began freeing forgotten primordial lives from the Ruins of Return. He reached the Ruins of Return itself, where a faceless, humanoid being appeared before him.

• Lin Ye lit all three hundred and seventy million stars on his cloak, and Harmonic Leaptone remembered who she was and resumed the operation of her Fate Harmonic Links.
• The Primordial Source recognized that existences swallowed by the Ruins of Return were waking, and Lin Ye explained that they might welcome the light.
• Lin Ye met a forgotten primordial being, gave it light and the title One of the Primordial Source, and promised it could share its real name when it remembered.
• Harmonic Leaptone and the three thousand elites realized Lin Ye meant to awaken the prisoners within the Ruins of Return, and they joined him as more blurry figures lit up.
• The three thousand elites could go no farther, so Lin Ye continued alone and reached the Ruins of Return itself, where a faceless humanoid figure with eyes formed before him.

Lin Ye confronted Ruins of Return and helped it fulfill its wish to be remembered. After its core restored the memories of the devoured primordial beings, they pledged to follow Lin Ye.

• Ruins of Return called Lin Ye a second version of itself, but Lin Ye argued that they were opposites: it erased existence while he made things remembered.
• Lin Ye used the attention of 370 million existences to make Ruins of Return feel seen, and it revealed its desire to exist and be remembered before dissipating.
• Lin Ye absorbed Ruins of Return's faint core, which preserved the memories of everything it had devoured, and learned that Ruins of Return had protected them from the Void Sea.
• Lin Ye released the core's memories to the awakened primordial beings over three days, restoring their identities and final obsessions.
• The core merged into the nothingness, transforming the Sea of Oblivion into a sea of memory, and the primordial beings knelt before Lin Ye and pledged to follow him.

Lin Ye led the Primordial Lifeforms and three thousand elites to the Void Sea, where he confronted the source of the Ruins of Return and demanded that it change its rules. After the Void Sea admitted it did not know what it wanted, Lin Ye gave it a strand of light, and it began to shine for the first time.

• Lin Ye led the Primordial Lifeforms, three thousand elites, and the light of three hundred and seventy million Stars to the edge of the Void Sea.
• The Void Sea addressed Lin Ye as the Lord of Ashes and accused him of breaking its rule that anything devoured could never return.
• Lin Ye told the Void Sea to change its rules, and it revealed that it had cast out the Ruins of Return for wanting to exist and be remembered.
• Lin Ye showed the Void Sea the three hundred and seventy million Stars, and it admitted that it did not know what it wanted or what it meant to be seen.
• Lin Ye sent a strand of light into the Void Sea, which began to shine with a light of its own for the first time.

During the Return Festival, Lin Ye and the celebrating civilizations honored those who could never return. A distressing memory from the primordial Memory Sea revealed that it was collapsing, and Lin Ye set out with a small group to investigate.

• Lin Ye watched the Return Festival as Harmonic Leaptone led the civilizations in a requiem for those lost across the eras.
• Radiant Stilllight realized the festival honored those who could never return and showed them they were remembered.
• On the fourth day, all 370 million stars received a memory warning that the Memory Sea was collapsing and its stored memories were being contaminated.
• Xuxi identified the Memory Sea as the primordial information field where the prototype memories of existence were stored.
• Lin Ye chose Harmonic Leaptone, Radiant Stilllight, Myriad Faces, Primordial Source, and the Ruin Core to accompany him, leaving the New Era in the others' care.
• Lin Ye and his companions stepped toward the Memory Sea as the stars behind them shone in unison.

Lin Ye and the expedition reached the Memory Sea, where he received memories of civilizations older than the universe. He discovered that the sea was collapsing under the weight of conflicting memories, leaving the group facing a crisis born from its own accumulated history.

• After seven days crossing the Void, Harmonic Leaptone sensed the Memory Sea, and Lin Ye touched the Void to reveal it.
• Harmonic Leaptone heard the sea’s first song, Radiant Stilllight’s Spear of Definition inscribed ancient rules, Myriad Faces merged with the sea, and Primordial Source’s 37 billion Stars resonated with it.
• The Memory Sea sent Lin Ye waves of memories describing the first possibility, the first memory, and civilizations that existed through remembering one another.
• Lin Ye endured the sea’s ancient histories, then told Harmonic Leaptone that the Memory Sea was collapsing because it had become too full.
• Lin Ye explained that contradictory memories were colliding, causing true memories to doubt themselves and turning accumulated contradictions into lies.

Lin Ye used the memories of three hundred seventy million civilizations to stabilize his companions as they crossed the Memory Sea. At its deepest point, the Memory Guardian began Harmonic Leaptone’s trial, and she admitted that she had once been an empty shell who had forgotten everything.

• Lin Ye led the expedition through the Memory Sea, where conflicting memories overwhelmed Thirty-Three Harmonics, Radiant Stilllight, Myriad Faces, and Primordial Source.
• Lin Ye used the memories other civilizations held of him to anchor the expedition, restoring his companions’ clarity and Primordial Source’s confidence in the Zero Era.
• The expedition reached a boundary of contradictory memories, where the Memory Guardian appeared before them.
• The Memory Guardian showed Harmonic Leaptone her deepest memory and demanded that she admit she had once failed and been nothing.
• Harmonic Leaptone recalled losing her memories and clinging to a melody, then admitted that she had once been an empty shell who could only hum.

Harmonic Leaptone and Lin Ye passed the Memory Guardian’s trials by acknowledging painful truths about memory and identity. They entered a region of contradictory memories, where their companions’ powers and forms began to fail.

• Harmonic Leaptone told the Memory Guardian that others would remember her even if she forgot herself, and it let her pass.
• The Memory Guardian showed Lin Ye the Ruins of Return’s memories and revealed that it had always remembered the Void Sea and those it devoured.
• Lin Ye thanked the Ruins of Return for trusting him, and the Guardian let him pass before revealing that the Void Sea remembered its child but believed it did not deserve remembrance.
• Lin Ye said the Void Sea had been wrong, and the Guardian dissolved into motes of light that joined the Memory Sea.
• Lin Ye entered a gray-white region where real memories contradicted one another, leaving Harmonic Leaptone unable to hear a melody, Radiant Stilllight’s definitions canceling out, and Myriad Faces unable to settle on a form.