Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Xia Lun confronts a young woman at her estate, threatening her with a blade until she answers questions about her work at the Shrine Hall and her contacts in the Temple District.
• She reveals that she serves the blind Shrine Priest, who is her teacher and the only other person working there. Xia Lun suspects the priest is the hidden Secret Art Scholar, likely someone who chose to “see the future.”
• To keep the woman compliant, Xia Lun uses a drop of blood that appears to read her thoughts and can destroy living things. He admits afterward that the mind-reading claim was a bluff, built on his understanding of her character and interrogation tactics.
• Xia Lun and White Line make the woman an unwilling informant, ordering her to touch the priest with a Fracture Point Pocket Watch while its face is open. The test should reveal how the priest reacts, and give them advance warning about his abilities.
• The pair escape unseen. Xia Lun is pleased that the visit has identified their likely target and given them a way to observe him before making their move.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun shows himself to be calculating and intimidating, using fear and psychological insight rather than genuine mind-reading to control the woman. He believes kindness would be mistaken for weakness by someone like her.
• The young woman loses her earlier confidence under pressure. Her thoughts and reactions suggest resentment toward Xia Lun and a history of betraying or exploiting kindness; Xia Lun believes she killed her father because he treated her too well.
• White Line questions Xia Lun’s methods and his plan, revealing uncertainty about her own diminished Intelligence. Their conversation also recalls her former investigative skills and her ability to read the consciousness of the dead with her hat.

Significant themes

• Fear as a tool of control: Xia Lun uses threats and staged supernatural effects to secure obedience and cooperation.
• Kindness, power, and exploitation: Xia Lun argues that some people interpret mercy as weakness, while responding to force with fear.
• Knowledge and risk: The pocket-watch test is a calculated way to probe a potentially dangerous opponent before confronting him.
• Appearance versus reality: Xia Lun’s supposed mind-reading is an illusion, while White Line’s seemingly fantastical hat has a real supernatural function.

Key plot points

• The blind Shrine Priest reads a forbidden account describing the Sun’s origins: it split into three gods—Philos Arne, the Deer of Abundance, and Golden Sand Midnight—while its body became the sun. Boundary Mountain was created to shield the region from dangerous memetic curses beyond it.
• The mummy, associated with Golden Sand Midnight, says the Deer of Abundance has gone silent after choosing an apparently nonhuman Sand Leech host. It also warns that an unidentified Secret Art Scholar may attack before the coming conquerors arrive in twenty-five days.
• The Shrine Priest refuses to advance the High Priest selection, scheduled for sixteen days later. He has foreseen his own death and plans to hide, though the mummy believes they should counterattack.
• Over those sixteen days, Xia Lun’s investment scheme draws in more money. After paying the first dividends, he attracts funds from Sun Priests and slave owners, reaching 800,000 Perth Coins and Merchant rank six. He sends money to the Tree Herders to hire workers and buy supplies, both aiding Green Wall and stimulating investment. He plans to end the scheme after four rounds with a major collapse.
• Xia Lun confirms the Shrine Priest is a Secret Art Scholar, but the Priest disappears, leaving a note saying he will return for the High Priest selection.
• At the Tree Herders’ compound, Derino warns Xia Lun that the market for City of the Dead relics has limits and asks to distribute dividends to Sun Priests. Xia Lun knows from White Line’s listening device that Derino is secretly trying to use him to find Ossis the Dancer, but plays along.
• Xia Lun notices a formerly harsh slave trader collecting his dividends. The man quickly resumes his domineering behavior, using a slave girl’s shoulder as a step into his carriage.

Character developments and interactions

• The Shrine Priest remains composed despite foreseeing his death. He sees the three gods as parts of a once-unified being and insists that language can reinforce their separation.
• The mummy is anxious about the missing Deer, the hidden Scholar, and its own confinement in a dead body. It urges action, while the Priest chooses concealment.
• Xia Lun shows strategic ambition and careful calculation: he uses investment returns, supply purchases, and borrowed-money plans to expand his scheme, while keeping his larger conflict with other Scholars in view.
• Derino presents himself as a helpful mentor to Xia Lun, but is secretly maneuvering to locate Ossis. Xia Lun recognizes the deception and responds diplomatically.
• The slave trader reveals how quickly money changes his mood: delighted while receiving dividends, he immediately returns to treating enslaved people with contempt.

Significant themes

• Identity and unity: The gods’ divided nature, the Priest’s warning about language, and the Sand Leeches’ collective consciousness all explore the tension between individuality and oneness.
• Fate and uncertainty: The Priest’s vision of his death drives him to hide, yet he admits that observing the future alters it.
• Power, money, and exploitation: Xia Lun’s scheme manipulates the city’s economy, while the slave trader’s conduct shows the brutality underlying its wealth.
• Deception and hidden agendas: Characters conceal their intentions, from Derino’s plan to Xia Lun’s larger financial strategy, against a backdrop of an approaching conflict.

Key plot points and events

• A hook-nosed Slave Merchant arrives in the Golden City with money earned from the Tree Herders’ investment scheme, which promises a 50% return in eight days. Though a silver-masked Sun Priest calls it a scam, the Merchant says he has already profited from it—and that the Tree Herders have bought large numbers of Slaves.
• The Tree Herders are reportedly restoring those Slaves’ Free Citizen status and recruiting them, a decision the Priest suspects conceals a plot. The Merchant, focused on profit and social advancement, considers borrowing money to invest more.
• The Merchant reports a possible epidemic in settlements outside the city: infected people vomit unusual worms. The Tree Herders refuse to buy the infected.
• They discuss the Unassigned, Putala, and Derino. The Priest claims the Unassigned’s killings serve Derino’s interests and reveals that Putala has not been seen for more than ten days. Whether Putala attends the night’s selection ceremony may determine whether he is still alive.
• The Priest offers a lead on a wealthy young Shrine Priest’s apprentice as a possible investment. As he leaves, he sees Sand Leeches emerge from the enslaved door guard’s eyes—and notices wormlike growths moving through his own veins.

Character developments and interactions

• The Slave Merchant is shrewd, ambitious, and willing to overlook moral concerns when profit is involved. He challenges the Priest’s confident suspicions with firsthand evidence.
• The silver-masked Sun Priest presents himself as perceptive and cautious, but his certainty weakens when confronted with the Merchant’s earnings. Despite his talk of vigilance, he reacts to the apparent infection with unsettling calm.
• Their conversation moves between business, political speculation, and disease, revealing mutual distrust as well as an ongoing exchange of money and information.

Significant themes

• Greed and social mobility: High returns tempt people to risk their savings and bend the city’s rigid class order.
• Exploitation and power: Slaves and refugees are treated as commodities, even as the Tree Herders’ emancipation effort complicates the Merchant’s assumptions.
• Uncertainty and self-deception: Characters explain events through rumors and conspiracy theories, while concrete evidence of danger goes largely unacknowledged.
• Hidden crisis: The worms in the sick, the door guard, and the Priest suggest the epidemic may already be spreading into the city—and among its powerful inhabitants.

Plot points and events

• During the Golden City’s festival to choose a new Supreme Sun Priest, Xia Lun and White Line prepare to assassinate the Shrine Priest. White Line will shoot from a rooftop if needed; Xia Lun plans to approach during the Vigil for the Dead, when the target visits the previous Supreme Sun Priest.
• Xia Lun moves through the crowded celebration, relying on the disorder to remain unnoticed. He knows the assassination will require a credible way to get close to a powerful Secret Art Scholar.
• The Scarface Elder, a High Mentor of the Tree Herders, meets Xia Lun at the temple entrance and escorts him into the square using his standing with the guards. His apprentice stays behind, drunk and praising Xia Lun’s work strengthening the Green Wall.
• The elder uses a Silence Ritual to speak privately with Xia Lun. He reveals that he knows Xia Lun was once a Savior in another world and says the Golden City will eventually fall, as previous dynasties did.
• The elder then mentions Daoist Huang, explaining that he once met him as High Priest of the First Empire and was instructed to pass messages to someone who had saved a world. He warns Xia Lun that his coming task is dangerous, tells him to collect more remains, and cautions him about “Prime.” He begins to explain what happened when the First Empire fell, but the excerpt ends before he finishes.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun is cautious and strategic: he weighs the risks of White Line’s invisibility ability, plans how to reach the Shrine Priest, and suppresses his impulse to attack when the elder reveals how much he knows.
• White Line is calm and confident in their plan, while remaining ready to provide support.
• The Scarface Elder shifts from friendly mentor and ally to a source of startling, secret knowledge. His revelations suggest a deeper connection to Xia Lun’s past and the larger history of the world.
• The elder and Xia Lun speak with mutual politeness but growing tension; Xia Lun keeps his true reactions guarded, while the elder speaks as if he knows Xia Lun’s identity and mission.

Significant themes

• Hidden histories and fate: The elder’s account links Xia Lun’s past life to ancient figures and events.
• Collapse and survival: The predicted fall of the Golden City echoes the destruction of earlier dynasties.
• Trust and uncertainty: Xia Lun must decide how much to rely on the elder’s cryptic warnings while pursuing a dangerous assassination.
• Strategy amid spectacle: The festival’s chaos offers cover, but the mission’s real challenges are access, security, and the strength of the target.

Plot points

• During Golden City’s fireworks celebration, Scarface Elder reveals that he was High Priest of the First Empire. Daoist Huang taught him the corpse-shedding method, which turned him into a lich, and gave him the task of finding a way to save civilization.
• Scarface recounts the First Empire’s fall: the Conqueror sought immortality, the sun cracked open, and Deer of Abundance, Philos Arne, and Golden Sand Midnight transformed the Moon Servants into a new sun. He later saw Daoist Huang’s heart grow into the Obsidian Obelisk.
• Xia Lun realizes the three entities are linked, and that Dancer Ossis may become far more dangerous if she claims Deer of Abundance’s Deer Head. Such a merger is a warning sign that civilization’s destruction is beginning.
• Scarface asks Xia Lun to save the world, but admits his own schemes—including Green Wall and the Tree Herders—have repeatedly failed. Xia Lun decides not to wait for rescue or hide from his enemies: he will take the initiative and target Shrine Priest.
• At Golden Sand Midnight’s temple, Xia Lun meets Derino and three other high-ranking priests, who appear divided among themselves. White Line warns him that the target should arrive within half an hour.
• One priest, Hulu’en, tests Xia Lun’s reputation and asks about his money. The chapter ends as he presses Xia Lun to confirm that he has roughly 800,000 Perth Coins.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun listens carefully to Scarface, uses Emotion to test whether he is lying, and weighs the danger against the potential reward. He shifts from caution to a firm decision to strike first.
• Scarface Elder reveals his identity and history, driven by grief at watching fifteen dynasties rise and fall. His appeal for salvation meets Xia Lun’s skepticism, though Xia Lun still takes the threat seriously.
• Xia Lun and the priests maintain polite appearances despite hostility. Derino greets Xia Lun warmly, while the other priests scrutinize, scorn, or mock him; Hulu’en probes his wealth.
• White Line supports Xia Lun by tracking the target and reporting his movements.

Significant themes

• Cycles of collapse: Civilizations repeatedly prosper and fall, with greed for immortality serving as a key warning sign.
• Knowledge and uncertainty: Scarface’s testimony clarifies the danger, but neither he nor Xia Lun understands its full supernatural nature.
• Agency versus dependence: Scarface begs for a savior; Xia Lun believes survival requires taking action rather than waiting for help.
• Risk and opportunity: Xia Lun recognizes that confronting powerful enemies could bring extraordinary gains, but the seemingly festive setting conceals an unstable and potentially catastrophic situation.

Key events

• At the Golden Sand Midnight Temple, a gaunt Sun Priest confronts Xia Lun over the money from his Ponzi scheme. High Sun Priest Derino appears to know about the demand and may support it.
• Xia Lun agrees to hand over 700,000 Perth Coins and 80% of his future profits from exploring the City of the Dead, provided the priests withdraw from the selection and support Derino.
• He then claims the venture could yield 20 million Perth Coins and asks the priests for a 1.2-million-coin loan at 8% interest, promising repayment regardless of the expedition’s success. The priests refuse to finance the risk.
• To persuade them, Xia Lun improvises a passionate speech: his real goal, he says, is to expand humanity’s living space by bringing down the Obsidian Obelisk. The old priest responds by arguing that the world’s suffering is unavoidable and that people must gain power to pass their pain on to others.
• When the masked Shrine Priest enters the terrace, Xia Lun activates Heightened Focus and prepares to attack. But the young woman’s Fracture Point Pocket Watch swings against the Shrine Priest’s hand—and its hands do not move backward. Xia Lun realizes something is wrong.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun keeps his composure despite recognizing that the priests intend to take his money. He treats their backing as potentially useful and skillfully uses an invented idealistic motive to influence them, while remaining focused on assassinating the Shrine Priest.
• The High Sun Priests reveal their greed and political calculations. The gaunt priest makes the initial demand; the old priest rejects Xia Lun’s loan proposal and frames suffering as a spur to ambition. Derino is watchful and surprised by Xia Lun’s claims.
• The Shrine Priest becomes Xia Lun’s immediate target, but the watch’s failure to behave as expected triggers alarm just as Xia Lun is about to strike.
• The young woman serving the priests retreats as the financial negotiation grows tense, then inadvertently—or otherwise—brings the pocket watch into contact with the Shrine Priest.

Significant themes

• Power and exploitation: Those at the top seek to claim Xia Lun’s wealth and dictate the terms of his success.
• The cycle of suffering: The old priest presents pain as something people endure until they become powerful enough to inflict it on others.
• Ambition versus ideals: Xia Lun’s stated dream of expanding humanity’s living space contrasts with the priests’ openly transactional view of money and power.
• Uncertainty and danger: Xia Lun’s planned attack is interrupted by an unexplained failure of the pocket watch, leaving the outcome in doubt.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun discovers that the Shrine Priest at the temple is an impostor: his Fracture Point Pocket Watch does not behave as expected, and the “priest” has no Knowledge. The real priest is likely being used as bait.
• Though he recognizes the danger, Xia Lun decides not to abandon his chance to strike at his enemies. Instead, he questions the fake priest about funding and watches for a telltale reaction.
• Xia Lun detects a watcher’s gaze coming from the northwest and deduces that the real Shrine Priest is in a distant tower. He alerts White Line, who agrees to install a camera there.
• In the tower, the real Shrine Priest and Philos Arne—a Red Serpent who shares his divided identity—argue over whether to wait for Xia Lun or use a “Backup Plan” to force him into the open. They decide to activate it.
• The Shrine Priest uses Probability Modification to set off a chain of seemingly accidental events: a man slips into the square, a firework carrier drops his load, and the intruder lights the fuse. The enormous firework launches toward the temple terrace.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun remains cautious under pressure, revising his assassination plan rather than acting impulsively. He turns a public conversation into surveillance, using subtle attention cues to locate the real target.
• The false Shrine Priest serves as bait, while the real priest observes events from the tower.
• The real Shrine Priest is patient and calculating, believing he can read Xia Lun from his expression and that his plan will succeed.
• Philos Arne is more aggressive and impatient. He urges immediate action, distrusts the priest’s judgment, and ultimately persuades him to use the Backup Plan.
• Their exchange reveals that Philos Arne wants to devour the Shrine Priest and the Deer of Abundance, reuniting their divided selves.
• Xia Lun’s request for investment also draws a dismissive lecture from an old priest, exposing the contempt for the poor and vulnerable that contrasts with Xia Lun’s stated cause.

Significant themes

• Caution versus aggression: Xia Lun and the Shrine Priest favor observation and patience, while Philos Arne pushes for decisive action.
• Chance and manipulation: The Backup Plan turns ordinary accidents into a deliberate attack, raising questions about whether probability is truly chance or a form of necessity.
• Power and exploitation: The priest’s defense of the “natural order” and Philos Arne’s talk of enemies reflect a world where the weak are treated as expendable.
• Appearances and misjudgment: Xia Lun hides his intentions, while the Shrine Priest confidently interprets his expression—and may be underestimating him.

Plot points and events

• A disguised Shrine Priest launches a colossal firework at Xia Lun to provoke a reaction and expose him. Xia Lun recognizes the trap and pretends to be terrified.
• Derino cuts his wrist and activates a protective Ritual, shielding the terrace from the blast’s flames. The shock wave still shatters the temple and kills the impostor Shrine Priest; the terrace collapses amid widespread destruction and civilian casualties.
• Xia Lun uses Blood-Drop Rebirth to escape through White Line’s Blood Vial and reappear on a distant street.
• White Line reports that the Red Serpent and the real blind Shrine Priest remain at Full Moon Tower. Though she has explosives in position and can shoot, Xia Lun decides not to attack prematurely, wary of the Shrine Priest’s unexplained powers. White Line moves to cover him as he approaches the Tower.
• At the Tower, Philos Arne suspects Derino is the unknown Secret Art Scholar, but the Shrine Priest identifies Xia Lun instead, citing his unnaturally steady reaction to the firework. The Priest senses Xia Lun approaching.
• The Shrine Priest detonates explosive Rituals planted beneath the Tower, sending it toppling toward the crowded street. He declares the conflict a real war in which defeat means death. Philos Arne, horrified, lunges at him with Snake Bite as the Tower falls.

Character developments

• Xia Lun stays controlled under pressure, concealing his composure and choosing caution over a risky attack. He shifts from escape to an active approach against his enemies.
• White Line shows grim restraint while witnessing the massacre, then calmly supports Xia Lun’s plan.
• Derino demonstrates composure and protective ability by sacrificing his own blood to activate the shielding Ritual.
• The blind Shrine Priest proves ruthless and strategically minded, willing to endanger civilians and bring down the Tower to force a decisive confrontation.
• Philos Arne becomes alarmed by the Priest’s willingness to cause mass destruction and turns against him.

Significant themes

• War and moral escalation: The Priest rejects the idea of a harmless contest, framing the struggle as one where mercy can be fatal.
• Appearance and deception: Xia Lun hides his true reaction, while the characters misjudge one another’s identities and abilities.
• The human cost of conflict: Spectacular fireworks and Rituals are set against horrific civilian suffering.
• Caution versus aggression: Xia Lun weighs the danger of acting too soon, while the Priest embraces overwhelming destruction.

Character interactions

• Xia Lun silently recognizes the impostor Priest’s attempt to expose him, while Derino protects the terrace’s occupants.
• White Line offers Xia Lun the chance to strike, but accepts his decision to wait and provide cover.
• Philos Arne challenges the Shrine Priest’s suspicions and later condemns his plan as the Tower begins to fall.
• The Shrine Priest taunts Philos Arne with his own earlier doctrine about mercy, prompting Philos to attack him.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• As the tower collapses, Xia Lun sees a chance to kill Philos Arne and gain Knowledge. He pushes through the fleeing crowd, intending to climb the falling structure.
• Philos Arne activates Time Reversal, turning the street silver-gray. Xia Lun’s Knowledge protects him from its mental effects, and he can move through the altered space.
• Xia Lun’s sword attack cuts down Philos Arne’s serpent vessel, but Philos Arne’s true form is a mass of Echo that can transfer between physical hosts. Xia Lun learns that destroying a vessel before Philos Arne can escape it is the way to kill him.
• Philos Arne attacks Xia Lun with an Echo strike. Xia Lun counters with his own Echo Attack, spending about three years of his life, then advances while fending off further attacks.
• Xia Lun shoots at Philos Arne with a bullet coated in Black Flame, but Philos Arne dodges and tries to flee by changing vessels. A Ritual—Blockade prevents him from teleporting out of its range.
• Xia Lun reaches the tower and destroys Philos Arne’s serpent body with Sword Technique—Burst. He catches Philos Arne’s escaping Echo in Black Flame, but it survives and transfers to another serpent.
• Xia Lun pursues the new vessel, but Philos Arne’s time-altering power lets him speed away. White Line detonates explosives she planted, blasting him near the edge of the Blockade’s range.
• Injured but not yet defeated, Philos Arne slows time around Xia Lun and tries to cover the remaining distance to freedom. The chapter ends as he prepares to use this advantage against Xia Lun’s ranged attacks.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun shows boldness and tactical adaptability, turning new information from his Mastery-level Wilderness Survival Specialization into a plan. He also accepts a significant personal cost to counter Philos Arne’s attack.
• Philos Arne shifts from confidence to desperation as Xia Lun counters his powers and the Blockade traps him. Even badly injured, he remains resourceful and determined to escape.
• White Line supports Xia Lun remotely, monitoring the fight and detonating her planted explosives at a crucial moment.
• Xia Lun and Philos Arne engage in a direct contest of attacks, counters, and attempted escapes; their struggle is complicated by Golden Sand Midnight’s Ritual—Blockade, which traps Philos Arne as well as limiting movement.

Significant themes

• Knowledge as survival: Understanding the rules behind Philos Arne’s Echo form gives Xia Lun a way to fight him.
• Adaptation under pressure: Both opponents continually revise their tactics as the battle changes.
• The cost of power: Xia Lun’s successful counter requires him to sacrifice years of his life.
• Survival and persistence: Philos Arne repeatedly escapes destruction by changing vessels, while Xia Lun refuses to stop pursuing him.

Key plot points and events

• White Line fires first a large-caliber round, then a rare near-light-speed Paradox bullet at Red Serpent Philos Arne. He survives both by manipulating space around himself, slowing time and creating a dark defensive barrier.
• As Philos nears the edge of Ritual—Lockdown, Xia Lun attacks with a massive Black Flame Spear. Philos’s spatial defenses stop the spear, and he also breaks Xia Lun’s Life Drain connection.
• Confident he has survived, Philos keeps moving toward escape. Xia Lun’s seemingly ordinary Perth Coin then strikes him: Xia Lun’s Weight of Money ability amplifies the coin with the weight of his entire fortune—about 800,000 Perth Coins—crushing Philos’s skull and killing him.
• Xia Lun collects Philos’s Knowledge, but the golden essence resists him and begins flying toward Golden Sand Midnight. Xia Lun recognizes that Midnight had orchestrated the confrontation to use him to kill Philos and claim the Knowledge.
• Xia Lun attacks Midnight through their Echo connection, badly wounding him. But the Heart of Daoist Huang severs the connection, and the Knowledge escapes. Xia Lun believes the twenty-two years he spent have been wasted.
• His Information Panel reveals a consolation: wounding Midnight yielded valuable knowledge, advanced Xia Lun’s Wilderness Survival mastery, and unlocked the “Ritual Apprentice” Special Memory, which may teach him about Ritual—Other-Dimension Crossing.

Character developments

• Xia Lun proves resourceful and composed under pressure. He combines dramatic attacks as distractions with a concealed, financially empowered coin strike, then controls his frustration after losing the Knowledge.
• Philos Arne displays formidable defensive abilities and cunning, but his relief after surviving Xia Lun’s attacks leaves him vulnerable to the unexpected coin.
• White Line acts decisively and risks using an exceptionally powerful weapon, though Philos’s defenses defeat her attempt.
• Golden Sand Midnight is revealed as a schemer who used Xia Lun to eliminate Philos, then tried to claim the resulting Knowledge. Even after being wounded, he can rely on the Heart of Daoist Huang to cut off their connection.

Significant themes

• Cunning over spectacle: Xia Lun’s unassuming coin, rather than his spectacular fire attack, delivers the decisive blow.
• Risk and investment: Xia Lun treats life, power, and setbacks like business decisions, accepting losses and looking for what can still be salvaged.
• Betrayal and hidden agendas: The fight was part of Midnight’s plan, and apparent victories can conceal a rival’s larger strategy.
• The cost and uncertainty of power: Xia Lun spends years of life to gain Knowledge, yet cannot guarantee he will keep it.

Character interactions

• White Line attacks Philos from a distance, while Xia Lun engages him directly with fire and Life Drain.
• Philos counters Xia Lun’s attacks and attempts to escape, but underestimates the coin that kills him.
• Xia Lun confronts Midnight indirectly through their Echo link, wounding him before the Heart of Daoist Huang breaks their connection.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun kills Philos Arne with the coin, gaining 6,500 Memory Points for the kill, intimidating Golden Sand Midnight, and saving thousands by absorbing the flames.
• He recognizes that Golden Sand Midnight has stolen Philos Arne’s Knowledge and Authority, but the battle has also revealed a chance to obtain the Other Dimension Transmigration Ritual. Mastering it could let Xia Lun travel between worlds—and perhaps return to the Pilgrimage world to find Renee—though uncontrolled travel could be dangerous.
• His swordsmanship advances from 4% to 6% Master proficiency. He can now sense how to create Echo Entities with a sword, suggesting a way to fight without continually spending lifespan.
• Golden Sand Midnight is marching on the Golden City with the Conqueror’s army of Withered Dead. It also holds the Obsidian Obelisk, which may be linked to the Black Sandstorm and Xia Lun’s severed Echo connection.
• Xia Lun has 207 years of usable lifespan and plans to spend the time before the invasion strengthening the city and its defenders, raising his Merchant role for stronger buffs, and guarding against Dancer Ossis. He chooses to stay and fight rather than flee.
• White Line apologizes for her missed shots. Xia Lun reassures her that her explosives were crucial; she asks whether he is always fighting monsters like the Red Serpent.

Character developments

• Xia Lun turns a costly, uncertain encounter into resolve: though he lost Knowledge, he sees a new opportunity and commits to risking everything against Golden Sand Midnight. Chaos energizes rather than paralyzes him.
• White Line shows guilt and self-doubt over her performance, while Xia Lun’s reassurance affirms her importance as an ally.

Significant themes

• Risk and uncertainty: Good plans can fail, but chance can also let the weaker side win; Xia Lun embraces unpredictability.
• Sacrifice and responsibility: Xia Lun could escape with his winnings, but chooses to defend the Golden City and its people.
• Power and its price: His Echo Sword is formidable but consumes lifespan, while new mastery may offer a more sustainable alternative.
• Loss turned into opportunity: Golden Sand Midnight’s theft is balanced by Xia Lun’s potential path to interworld travel.

Character interactions

• Xia Lun’s confrontation with Golden Sand Midnight leaves both enemies aware of each other, setting up a direct race toward a final battle.
• He comforts White Line and credits her planted explosives with preventing the enemy’s escape, resisting her attempt to blame herself.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun tells White Line that two similar enemies may remain and that the Conqueror is marching toward the city, making a major battle likely.
• Their Scenario goals are already met. Xia Lun says they could try to cross the Boundary Sea and survive until the end, but White Line refuses to leave him to face the danger alone. He accepts her decision, and they head back to Temple Square to act amid the city’s chaos.
• The city is devastated by fire, with many dead and injured. At Temple Square, the guards decide to make Buster a scapegoat for the disaster, even though he had risked himself to rescue people.
• The Guard Captain and another guard threaten Buster’s family to force his cooperation. The guards drag him to the ruined temple, where a High Sun Priest declares him guilty without a fair hearing.
• The priest reveals that Buster’s execution is meant to serve as a loyalty test for the other guards. As he prepares to kill him, Xia Lun intervenes, ordering him to drop the dagger and hand over a pocket watch.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun remains pragmatic, weighing survival against the danger ahead, but chooses to step into the city’s turmoil and directly challenges the authorities.
• White Line shows loyalty and growing resolve: she insists on sharing the risks rather than benefiting while Xia Lun faces danger alone.
• Buster is portrayed as dutiful and vulnerable. Despite having tried to save lives, he is abandoned by his fellow guards and condemned to protect their positions.
• The Guard Captain and the other guards prioritize self-preservation, using Buster’s family and his misfortune to pressure him.
• The High Sun Priest abuses his authority, treating guilt as whatever he declares and using Buster’s death to intimidate the guards.
• Xia Lun’s intervention interrupts the execution and places him in direct confrontation with the priest.

Significant themes

• Scapegoating and injustice: Buster is punished for a catastrophe he did not cause.
• Loyalty and solidarity: White Line chooses to stand with Xia Lun, while Buster’s fellow guards betray him.
• Power and corruption: The priest and guards manipulate authority to preserve control.
• Chaos as opportunity: Xia Lun sees the city’s disorder as a chance to act openly and change the situation.

Key plot points and events

• Amid the burning ruins of the Golden Sand Midnight temple, the Lean Priest holds Buster at knifepoint and questions Xia Lun about a silver Pocket Watch. Xia Lun claims it and demands it back. After a tense standoff, the Lean Priest returns it.
• Derino suddenly slaps the Lean Priest and accuses him of using the chaos to seize power. He explains that the Lean Priest has put the surviving Temple Guards under arrest while his West Gate troops, family army, and relatives in other units take control of the city.
• The Lean Priest admits his scheme and accuses Derino of planning a purge of his own. Their long-standing rivalry becomes explicit. The Great Leader of the Tree Herders urges them to stop fighting and face the greater threats—the Black Sandstorm and the Withered Dead.
• Armed cavalry arrives, seemingly confirming the Lean Priest’s victory. Derino then claims Xia Lun caused the Golden Fireworks explosion to prevent the priests from dividing the money. Xia Lun denies it. Derino accepts that he has lost, and the Lean Priest celebrates his apparent path to becoming Supreme Sun Priest.
• Xia Lun asks whether the Lean Priest’s relatives are nearby. Derino recognizes the opportunity and urges the others to seize the Lean Priest and his son. As the crowd closes in, Xia Lun unleashes his Aura of Fear.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun remains calm and commanding under pressure. He prioritizes using Golden City’s existing power structure against the undead threat, but steps in decisively when the Lean Priest’s faction moves to seize control. He also shows restraint: because the Lean Priest returned his watch and spared Buster, Xia Lun says he will not kill him.
• The Lean Priest shifts from cautious negotiation to open triumph as his military advantage grows. His ambition and contempt for his rivals emerge, though Xia Lun’s final move disrupts his confidence.
• Derino reveals himself as a sharp political strategist who can identify and explain the coup. He is also implicated in seeking power for himself and possibly purging his opponents, making him less a neutral defender than a rival schemer.
• The Old Priest is caught between the factions and visibly shaken by Derino’s alleged intentions.
• The Great Leader of the Tree Herders hopes for cooperation, but is alarmed by the escalating violence. His reaction highlights how vulnerable the group is amid the political struggle.
• Buster survives the immediate threat, though the Lean Priest’s knife leaves a cut on his throat.

Significant themes

• Power and political opportunism: The temple’s destruction creates an opening for a coup, and each faction pursues its own advantage.
• Distrust and competing schemes: Derino and the Lean Priest accuse each other of plotting, while Xia Lun’s motives remain difficult for others to read.
• Crisis versus cooperation: The looming undead threat makes unity urgent, yet the leaders turn on one another instead.
• Restraint and consequences: Xia Lun distinguishes between those who have harmed him and those who have shown restraint, but still responds forcefully to insult and danger.

Plot points

• Xia Lun unleashes his Aura of Fear across Temple Square, enhanced by White Line’s poison, which intensifies the soldiers’ existing unease. The hostile troops, horses, and priests panic and flee; Xia Lun can then freeze them with a quiet command.
• His Dreadful Gaze takes effect: it lets him track those gripped by fear while draining their maximum Life Force. Under the pressure, the gaunt priest breaks down and confesses that he kidnapped and deliberately infected people with Sand Leeches, which he claims can strengthen bodies and make people more obedient.
• Before Xia Lun can question the priest’s son, the son dies of a stress-induced heart failure. The priest witnesses his death, suffers the same fate, and dies moments later.
• The terrified crowd turns on itself in a violent frenzy, killing soldiers and animals alike. Their deaths further increase Xia Lun’s Life Force. Derino intensifies the bloodshed by declaring the crowd should offer itself to Xia Lun.
• Xia Lun uses Black Flame to halt the remaining survivors. Their fear has shifted into worship. He gains more Life Force, a fourth Blood-Drop Rebirth use, and 1 Legendary Influence by killing Philos Arne and taking his believers’ faith. Derino proclaims Xia Lun the new god, and the crowd praises him.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun gains power and influence, but is shocked by how completely his fear has driven the crowd into slaughter and worship. He is disturbed to realize he may have become an Evil God.
• The gaunt priest loses his composure under Xia Lun’s fear aura and reveals his Sand Leech experiments before dying.
• The priest’s son dies from fear-induced heart failure; his death triggers his father’s collapse.
• Derino, relieved that he chose Xia Lun’s side, celebrates Xia Lun’s power and actively encourages the crowd’s violence and devotion.

Significant themes

• Fear as power and control: supernatural terror can strip opponents of the will to fight, but its effects can escalate beyond anyone’s control.
• The boundary between terror and worship: the crowd’s fear transforms into reverence for the one who caused it.
• Power’s moral cost: Xia Lun’s gains come through mass death and bloodshed, forcing him to confront the role he is becoming.

• The violence at Temple Square ends with Xia Lun in control. After his Aura of Fear drives the soldiers into a frenzied, worshipful mob, Xia Lun weighs whether to kill them or use them. He decides to turn the new cultists into a force for restoring order rather than rely entirely on the temple authorities.
• Derino and the old priest submit to Xia Lun. Derino quickly pledges his loyalty, wealth, and service, then appoints himself Xia Lun’s “First Follower” and begins recording his supposed teachings. Xia Lun assigns him to restore order, warning that the city must be settled by dawn or Derino will lose his head. The old priest is sent to use his family’s soldiers and the dead thin priest’s body to bring the priest’s remaining followers under control.
• Xia Lun challenges the old priest to face his own pain. He tells the priest that hurting the weak will only deepen his suffering and that he must accept his pain rather than pass it on. The priest is shaken into reflecting on how he has helped create the cruel world he once resented, and leaves humbled and determined to obey.
• The Great Leader learns that the Scarface Elder is buried beneath the temple ruins. Xia Lun reassures him that the ancient lich will return, and asks him to prepare a venue for a meeting the next day.
• The source of the crowd’s madness is revealed. At the ruins, Xia Lun finds White Line beside a blower and empty bottles of NW3 nerve agent. She admits she secretly spread extra gas through the square. The toxin magnified fear, anxiety, and anger, explaining the crowd’s bloodshot eyes and extreme reaction to Xia Lun’s Aura of Fear. Rather than reproach her, Xia Lun asks whether she has more, seeing the agent’s potential.
• The group gathers the next day. Order has largely returned, though the city mourns its dead and remains under martial law. At the meeting, Xia Lun announces that the Conqueror and an army of Withered Dead are approaching and may reach the Green Wall within ten days.
  Character developments and relationships: Xia Lun shifts from considering a purge to exploiting the cultists as a political force, while maintaining authority through both assignments and threats. Derino proves an opportunistic survivor, adapting instantly to Xia Lun’s power. The old priest moves from condescending schemer to remorseful subordinate after Xia Lun’s rebuke. White Line’s secret intervention reveals both her recklessness and her usefulness to Xia Lun.
  Significant themes: Fear can be manipulated into collective madness and political loyalty; power can turn institutions into cults; cruelty perpetuates the suffering it claims to escape; and the apparent restoration of order is fragile in the face of a looming catastrophe.

Plot and key events

• Scarface Elder reveals that the Conqueror is Golden Sand Midnight’s weapon, responsible for destroying past civilizations. He identifies himself as the former High Priest of the First Empire, preserved as a Lich.
• Xia Lun announces that the Golden City faces destruction by the Withered Dead. The group debates fleeing, surrendering, or organizing a defense; Scarface Elder warns that escape is effectively impossible and that this may be the final age.
• The leaders acknowledge that resistance seems hopeless: the city cannot organize its population, and public disclosure could trigger panic and unrest.
• Xia Lun rejects despair and declares a plan not only to resist but to kill the Conqueror, destroy the Obsidian Obelisk, and end the recurring cycle of civilization’s collapse.
• His strategy uses economic pressure to consolidate resources and recruit labor: restrict grain supplies to raise prices, expand a high-return “financing” scheme, offer loans secured by slaves, free those slaves as collateral, issue IOUs when coins run short, direct supplies toward the Green Wall, feed recruits to the Tree Shepherds, and eliminate large-scale grain hoarding. He argues that commerce can accomplish this more efficiently than outright robbery.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun shifts from silent observer to decisive strategist. His confidence silences the debate and reveals a ruthless, unconventional approach.
• Scarface Elder urges resistance based on his experience of past collapses, but is surprised by Xia Lun’s bold plan and questions whether its financial scheme is simply theft.
• The old priest initially favors escape and doubts the city can be organized. He explains the practical and political obstacles, then listens as Xia Lun proposes a way around them.
• The Great Leader of the Tree Herders insists on fighting and appeals to unity, but is challenged over the organization’s decline and the limits of idealism.
• Derino first defers to Xia Lun and briefly aligns with the priest’s pessimism. Once Xia Lun’s plan emerges, he quickly grasps its mechanics and supports its logic.
• White Line voices the simplest wish—to survive—underscoring how little confidence the group has in conventional options.

Significant themes

• Resistance versus survival: The characters confront the choice between fighting, fleeing, and surrendering, while Xia Lun insists on a larger goal.
• Leadership and unity: The city’s greatest weakness is not merely the enemy, but its inability to organize its people and resources.
• Human nature and idealism: The debate questions whether shared danger unites people or instead drives panic and self-interest.
• Power of commerce—and its moral cost: Xia Lun turns finance, debt, and supply control into tools of mobilization, blurring the line between strategy and exploitation.
• Cycles of history: The planned destruction of the Conqueror and Obsidian Obelisk represents a possible break from repeated civilizational collapse.

Plot points and events

• An unexpected desert storm brings rain to the Golden City, while the moisture sinks underground and feeds the river beneath it.
• At the Unassigned’s underground headquarters, members clash over whether to begin their slave uprising. A faction led by a fervent woman demands immediate action, fearing rising food prices and the loss of recruits will leave them irrelevant. The new leader argues they should wait: the Green Wall project may collapse, and the Withered Dead threat may be real.
• The dispute turns violent when Sand Leeches emerge from several rebels’ bodies. The woman’s allies attack with copper Ritual discs that burn the parasites, revealing that some of the organization has been infiltrated or compromised.
• Elsewhere, a Slave Merchant and a Sun Priest discuss the Green Wall boom. The Priest sees it as a profitable scam; the Merchant says he sold his lead and bought grain before prices surged. But the Merchant’s granaries have been seized and burned by fire-worshippers.
• The Merchant vomits up Sand Leeches—and a finger with black nail polish, apparently belonging to the Slave girl they had discussed. The scene suggests the parasites have infiltrated the city’s people and institutions.
• At the expanding Green Wall, Scarface Elder reports that supply deliveries are strengthening the defenses against the coming Black Sandstorm. Derino adds that the Withered Dead’s scouts have been spotted and their army may arrive within two days. Xia Lun remains silent, watching the Golden City.

Character developments and interactions

• The Unassigned leader is cautious and strategic, prioritizing the possible threat from the Withered Dead over an immediate revolt. He clashes with the woman over both timing and whether cooperation with the undead compromises their humanity.
• The woman rebel is increasingly desperate and fanatical. She sees delay as a betrayal of the Unassigned’s cause and is willing to accept mutual destruction rather than be left behind.
• The Slave Merchant proves shrewd enough to profit from the grain shortage, but his success collapses when his stores are destroyed. His connection to the infected girl becomes horrifyingly clear.
• The Sun Priest is opportunistic, investing in a project he privately considers fraudulent and laughing at the Merchant’s reversal, despite his own infected, parasite-ridden body.
• Scarface Elder and Derino show confidence in the Green Wall’s preparations, while Xia Lun remains preoccupied and unreadable.

Significant themes

• Freedom versus control: The rebels debate whether the release of Slaves represents real liberation or simply a subtler form of dependence.
• Revolution versus survival: The Unassigned must choose between acting now and preserving strength against a larger threat.
• Greed and speculation: The Green Wall boom drives investment, price shifts, and profiteering, while making the city vulnerable to sudden reversals.
• Infection and betrayal: Sand Leeches spread through bodies and social structures, blurring the line between human and parasite.
• Approaching catastrophe: The storm, the Black Sandstorm, and the Withered Dead’s advancing army create a sense of multiple crises converging.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun remains uneasy despite his preparations. He has failed to locate the missing dancer Ossis, but divination with Daoist Huang’s Eyeball indicates she will not interfere for thirty days. He plans to deal with Golden Sand Midnight first and Ossis afterward.
• The convoy suffers a brief delay when a supply carriage overturns. Derino quickly clears the wreckage, while the Scarface Elder warns Xia Lun that Derino’s ingratiating behavior may conceal a vicious nature. Xia Lun considers him useful regardless.
• Xia Lun reviews his plan to defeat Golden Sand Midnight. He expects the reinforced Green Wall—made of rapidly grown trees, protected by Sun Priests, and resistant to the undead, rituals, and fire—to stop the Withered Dead. That should force Golden Sand Midnight to act personally and reveal an opening.
• White Line reports that members of the Unassigned organization have erupted from wells across the city and are killing people. Xia Lun tells her to protect the transport route and let the cultists fight one another.
• A system notice then reports that a player has lost self-awareness and been consumed by the Deer of Abundance. Xia Lun realizes this likely means Ossis has died, despite his belief that she would remain inactive for thirty days.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun is confident in his strategy and calculated about risk, valuing allies mainly for their usefulness. The sudden notice about Ossis shocks him and undermines his sense of control.
• Derino proves useful by swiftly clearing the blocked convoy route, though the Scarface Elder doubts his trustworthiness.
• The Scarface Elder voices suspicion of Derino; Xia Lun acknowledges the warning but does not pursue it.
• White Line continues handling surveillance and security despite her diminished sharpness. Her urgent report shows the crisis unfolding inside the city.
• Ossis remains unseen, but the notice of her apparent death raises a major mystery: she may have been consumed by the Deer of Abundance.

Significant themes

• Control versus uncertainty: Xia Lun’s careful preparations seem to secure his advantage, but the unexpected report about Ossis shows how quickly events can escape his plans.
• Pragmatism and trust: Xia Lun judges people by their usefulness, while others warn that apparent loyalty may hide danger.
• Life, death, and transformation: The Green Wall’s life force counters the undead, while the Deer of Abundance’s consumption suggests another disturbing form of death and assimilation.

Plot points and events

• During a violent storm, Xia Lun realizes Ossis was not a single body: her consciousness was distributed among people infested by Sand Leeches. The Unassigned uprising killed many of those hosts, weakening her until the Deer of Abundance—whose consciousness she had suppressed—killed her.
• The Scarface Elder warns that the Deer’s head can transform its bearer into an immense, nearly imperceptible force of devastation that drains life from people and surroundings.
• Warning flares reveal the Withered Dead are already approaching the Green Wall. The storm has exposed them by disrupting their mirages and has also stopped the Black Sandstorm.
• White Line reports that the Unassigned have seized the Pure White Wall and threatened the supply depot, while people in the lower city are suddenly being drained dry. Xia Lun suspects the Deer of Abundance is active.
• Faced with simultaneous threats, Xia Lun leaves the Tree Herders’ Great Leader in command of the Green Wall and heads to address the crisis behind the defenses. The Scarface Elder gives him a necklace that can trigger a Golden Arena ritual, creating a lifeless zone intended to prevent the Deer from healing.
• Xia Lun vanishes in black flames, teleporting to the Final Ash Furnace inside the Golden Sun Temple.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun pieces together Ossis’s true nature, then shifts from assessing the situation to making urgent strategic choices. He entrusts the Green Wall’s defense to the Great Leader despite the mounting pressure.
• The Scarface Elder briefly panics at Ossis’s death, then steadies himself and offers long-prepared knowledge and a concrete plan for fighting the Deer.
• The Tree Herders’ Great Leader accepts command with a firm vow to hold the line; his appointment is a test of trust and responsibility.
• Derino initially questions the danger, but recognizes that survival depends on following orders rather than contesting authority.
• The Scarface Elder condemns Derino and others for helping bring about civilization’s collapses by sending people to hunt the Deer of Abundance.

Significant themes

• Crises compounding unexpectedly: Ossis’s death triggers a chain of dangers, with threats arising both at the front and behind the Green Wall.
• Leadership under pressure: Xia Lun must divide responsibilities and act despite incomplete information; others must trust the chain of command.
• The cost of greed and exploitation: The hunt for the Deer is blamed for repeated civilizational disasters.
• Knowledge as a weapon: Understanding Ossis’s distributed consciousness and the Deer’s vulnerabilities offers possible ways to counter otherwise overwhelming threats.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun arrives at the Golden Sun Temple as Unassigned rebels set it ablaze and kill its guards. He uses Black Flame to annihilate the attackers, sparing one guard, then spots the enormous Deer of Abundance advancing on the Green Wall.
• The Deer is a towering mass of Sand Leeches that drains life and is hidden from ordinary observers by a Cognitive Filter. White Line and the Cultists bombard its apparent location with Star Ore explosives, but can’t aim accurately until Xia Lun explains why they cannot see it.
• Xia Lun uses a fire spear to guide White Line’s Ritual: Guidance. Their first coordinated strike exposes the monster’s core: a Deer Head entangled with Dancer Ossis and the Hook-Nosed Merchant. The attack badly wounds it and breaks its concealment, but the Deer heals by draining nearby life and shifts its core.
• Xia Lun’s powerful follow-up spear also fails to kill it. The Deer absorbs the Black Flame, grows stronger, and charges him. Xia Lun retreats toward the Golden Arena, intending to lure it into the trap prepared by the Scarface Elder.
• The Deer’s Sand Leech Strike accidentally destroys the Golden Arena, ruining the Elder’s life-force extraction ritual. Meanwhile, the monster grows into the storm clouds and absorbs lightning; the rain stops, and the Withered Dead begin attacking the Green Wall.
• With the planned strategies failing, Xia Lun realizes the Deer’s repeated energy absorption may have filled its capacity. He cuts open the road beneath it, releasing the Life Force of an underground river. The excess Life Force causes the Sand Leeches to swell and burst, destabilizing the monster and exposing its core.
• Xia Lun leaps toward the exposed Deer Head. His sword lodges in it but does not cut through, so he grabs the creature and activates Life Drain, beginning a direct struggle over its Life Force.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun shifts from confident tactical planning to mounting frustration as the Deer counters his attacks and the arena trap is destroyed. He recovers by observing the monster’s behavior and devising a risky plan based on its inability to stop absorbing Life Force. He ultimately turns its own power against it.
• White Line proves an effective partner, directing the Cultists and operating the guidance Ritual. She follows Xia Lun’s instructions and continues firing even as the situation deteriorates.
• The Cultists and Unassigned clash violently while the city burns. The Cultists’ discipline and Ritual skills help them push back the larger rebel group, though both sides fight with reckless desperation.
• The Scarface Elder’s plan is rendered unusable when the Deer’s attack collapses the Golden Arena, leaving Xia Lun without the intended trap.
• The Deer’s core is linked to Ossis and the Hook-Nosed Merchant, suggesting the monster’s former human components remain embedded within it.

Significant themes

• Greed and excess: The Deer’s strength comes from absorbing energy and Life Force, but its inability to stop makes abundance destructive; too much nourishment becomes fatal.
• Adaptation and observation: Xia Lun’s success depends less on brute force than on studying the monster’s limits and revising his plans.
• Collateral destruction and moral chaos: The rebels’ violence, the monster’s advance, and the coming assault all devastate the city and its people.
• Sacrifice and cost: Xia Lun’s powers consume lifespan, while the Deer’s Decay Aura drains life from everyone nearby. Victory demands confronting the danger of that cost.