Chapter Summaries

Griseo offered Yixuan the Signet of Mortal Life as a way to modify the Azure Nether Sword, while Yixuan and Obol Squad prepared to investigate Major General Lorenz’s unauthorized operation. The chapter ended as Isolde sensed a murderous presence and received a message summoning Bishop Merelaka to the mountain behind Chenghui Terrace.

• Griseo proposed replacing the Azure Nether Sword’s two conflicting powers with her own, and Yixuan realized the plan could eliminate its backlash.
• Griseo warned that Ether Corruption would remain a risk but gave Yixuan the Signet of Mortal Life to study and comprehend.
• Yixuan recognized that Griseo’s power resembled the Ether Sea and agreed to take her to Yunkui Mountain after their business was done.
• Wise and Obol Squad showed Isolde recordings from a damaged Bangboo, leading them to suspect that Major General Lorenz had launched an operation without her approval.
• Isolde ordered Ghostfire and Obol Squad to move out while she organized an assault, then stopped after sensing murderous intent and hearing a summons for Bishop Merelaka.

Twelve years after Hollow Zero erupted, Isolde revealed to Yixuan why she had joined the Praise Society: the Obsidian Battalion had died protecting a rail line that carried corporate property, and Yijiang had rescued her squadmate Orpheus. Griseo intervened as Yixuan confronted Isolde over the suffering she had caused in Weifei Land.

• During Hollow Zero's eruption, Isolde led the Obsidian Battalion's vanguard to protect a rail line while Orpheus arrived late and joined the deployment.
• Isolde comforted Joy before Agamemnon Squad went to battle, and the special trains continued carrying civilians out and supplies in.
• At the Lemnian Hollow, Isolde told Yixuan that Lorenz's deception had cost her comrades their lives and driven her to seek revenge through the Praise Society.
• Isolde revealed that Yijiang had rescued the unconscious Orpheus, and challenged Yixuan to kill Lorenz despite her sister's connection to him.
• Griseo stepped out and dispersed Yixuan's golden technique as the confrontation escalated.

Griseo stopped Yixuan from killing Isolde and used [Discipline] to redirect her toward the Praise Society while leaving her desire for revenge intact. Griseo promised to protect Chenghui Plateau from the coming threat in Lemnian Hollow, and Yixuan agreed to trust her.

• Griseo stopped Yixuan from attacking Isolde and warned Isolde not to harm more innocent people.
• Griseo used [Discipline] to make Isolde thank Yixuan for the intelligence and leave to begin her operation against the Praise Society sooner.
• Griseo explained that Isolde had already accepted she would die in pursuit of revenge, so her instincts remained despite her altered memories.
• Yixuan admitted that Isolde’s revelations had stirred her hatred over her sister Yijiang’s death, but she would not endanger Yunkui Mountain for personal revenge.
• Griseo assured Yixuan that the First Lord’s descent would be difficult and promised to go to Yunkui Mountain and protect Chenghui Plateau if necessary.

Griseo visited Whatever Temple and learned how Yunkui Mountain was rebuilding after the Old Capital fell while struggling with tight finances. After sharing dinner with Yixuan’s disciples, she received a message that her blood relative had asked for help.

• Yixuan brought Griseo to Whatever Temple and explained Yunkui Mountain’s losses and its agreement with the Municipal Government to curb TOPS’s influence.
• Yixuan asked Pan Yinhu to prepare a special dinner, but the disciples’ limited funds left the meal meager.
• Pulchra and Ye Shiyuan joined the table, and Griseo joked that Belle had grown thinner, prompting the disciples to show concern for her.
• Griseo praised the meal and produced roast duck and flatbreads, easing the awkwardness and bringing everyone together.
• Griseo received a plea for help from her blood relative.

At Whatever Temple, Belle and the others saw that Wise’s distress message was a joke: he was sharing chips with Obol Squad during their nighttime tradition. Belle then connected him to Fairy’s coordinates for a mission against the Praise Society, while Griseo’s return remained a secret.

• Wise sent Whatever Temple a distress message claiming the Defense Force was tormenting him, so Belle and the others rushed to see what was happening.
• Griseo showed everyone Wise joining Trigger, Syd, Orphie, and Soldier 11 on the observation deck for Obol Squad’s secret chip-sharing tradition.
• The group at Whatever Temple realized Wise was safe, and Yixuan praised her disciple while Belle teased her brother.
• Belle connected to Wise and sent him Fairy’s blind-spot coordinates in Lemnian Hollow so Obol Squad could target the Praise Society.
• Belle told Wise to stay at camp and continue working with Obol Squad, while assuring him that someone would handle the Darkboxes in Weifei Land.
• After the call, Belle and Griseo agreed to keep Griseo’s return from Wise for now.

As Darkboxes buried across Weifei Land released Sacrificial Ghosts, the evacuation collapsed into panic. Griseo’s domain helped Yixuan locate and destroy every Ghost, ending the immediate catastrophe.

• Yixuan watched Isolde help evacuate Chenghui Plateau while Griseo explained that her domain covered the main city but could not yet detect the sealed Darkboxes.
• Lucro and Radiant Crystal Meike’s managers entered the VIP evacuation passage, where a security guard turned away a mother carrying her child.
• Isolde watched Lorenz celebrate the Defense Force’s advance and recalled the battle from twelve years earlier, vowing that it was not over.
• Darkboxes exploded throughout Weifei Land, releasing Sacrificial Ghosts that sent the orderly evacuation into chaos.
• Griseo spread her domain across the city, and Yixuan used it to find and destroy the Sacrificial Ghosts.

Yixuan and the Yunkui Mountain disciples cleared Chenghui Plateau while Obol Squad uncovered Isolde’s revenge against Radiant Crystal Meike and Major General Lorenz. Ghostfire chose to keep her squad focused on protecting civilians, while Yixuan and Griseo watched from the cliff as Isolde’s plan moved toward its end.

• Yixuan ordered Chenghui Plateau’s citizens to evacuate and led her disciples in dispersing the Sacrificial Ghosts’ Ether mist.
• Isolde told Ghostfire that Radiant Crystal Meike and Major General Lorenz had betrayed the Obsidian Battalion, and that she had killed Lucro and planned to kill Lorenz.
• Wise warned Ghostfire that revenge could make her and the rest of Obol Squad rebels, and Ghostfire ordered the squad to continue clearing Ethereals for the citizens’ safety.
• Yixuan and Griseo discussed Isolde’s betrayal and revenge, with Griseo explaining that she wanted to help Isolde once and prevent casualties from the Darkbox.

Ghostfire confronted Lorenz about the massacre, but Isolde shot him after Ghostfire lowered her weapon and fled toward the Lemnian Hollow. As the Hollow’s Ether activity surged and Fairy lost the ability to chart a route, Yixuan confronted Isolde inside while the Praise Society prepared to open the Final Domain.

• Ghostfire demanded that Lorenz answer for the twelve-year-old bloodshed, but she lowered her gun rather than risk the Obol Squad and the Proxy.
• Isolde shot Lorenz from the ship, exchanged fire with his adjutant, and sailed toward the Lemnian Hollow as Ghostfire ordered the scene secured and requested reinforcements.
• Fairy warned that Ether activity and Miasma in the Lemnian Hollow were nearing dangerous levels, and Wise learned that Fairy could no longer calculate a route through it.
• Inside the Hollow, Sarah’s followers operated Miasma-gathering devices around a towering structure to reach the Final Domain.
• Yixuan confronted Isolde near the tower, but Isolde said she could not turn back and thanked Griseo for her kindness.

Griseo sealed Lemnian Hollow and let Yixuan fight Isolde, who transformed into the Desecrator to pursue her revenge. After a prolonged battle, Hua used the mightiest sword strike of the [Mortal Life] legacy to cut through the Desecrator’s dark sea and the otherworldly space.

• Griseo told Isolde she had sealed Lemnian Hollow so Isolde would be remembered as an avenger, then stepped aside for Yixuan.
• Isolde stabbed herself and absorbed the tower’s Corruptive Breath, transforming into the Desecrator and summoning corrupted soldiers and the dead.
• Yixuan fought the Desecrator while Griseo watched and concluded the Corruptive Breath was not enough to summon the First Lord.
• Griseo told Yixuan to begin, and Yixuan unleashed her techniques against the Desecrator in a prolonged battle.
• As the Desecrator sent a towering wave of Corruptive Breath crashing toward Yixuan, Hua appeared and used Taixu Sword God to cleave through the wave and the otherworldly space.

At Isolde’s disciplinary meeting, Ghostfire remembered her past as Orpheus and the lessons Isolde had taught her. The memory ended with a mortally wounded Orpheus refusing a clone body and asking Isolde to promise to be a good person.

• Sarah held a memorial for Mei Ruolake and announced that she would succeed him as priest of the Praise Society.
• A newly appointed colonel condemned Isolde’s betrayal at an Obsidian Battalion disciplinary meeting, while Ghostfire listened and recalled receiving Isolde’s confession letter.
• Ghostfire remembered how Isolde had questioned young Orpheus about whether a soldier should obey unjust orders and urged her to be a good person.
• During the fall of the Old Capital, Isolde tried to save the gravely wounded Orpheus by offering to transfer her consciousness into a clone.
• Orpheus refused to take the clone’s future and asked Isolde to promise to be a good person.

Ghostfire read Isolde’s letter confessing how she avenged the soldiers who died because of Lucro and Lorenz, and grieved over her friend’s death. At Whatever Temple, Yixuan enjoyed the pampering of her disciples, who believed she had been gravely wounded in Lemnian Hollow.

• Ghostfire went to Isolde’s old quarters and read the letter Isolde had left for her.
• Isolde’s letter revealed that she had joined the Praise Society, inherited a bishop’s power, and staged Lucro and Lorenz’s deaths to expose their crimes.
• Ghostfire wept over Isolde’s confession and remembered Isolde grieving over Orpheus’s death years earlier.
• At Whatever Temple, Pulchra fanned Yixuan while Ye Shiyuan served her tea and Pan Yinhu brought crystal dumplings.
• Yixuan’s disciples pampered her because they believed she had been gravely wounded while stopping the Praise Society’s plot in Lemnian Hollow.

Yixuan returned to Yunkui Mountain to pursue a way to save Ye Shunguang while Ye Shiyuan took charge of Yunkui Mountain’s duties. In the Lemnian Hollow, Griseo showed Belle and Wise a phantom of Teacher Carlos and tested the mysterious power within Wise, but had to stop when it overwhelmed him.

• Yixuan told Ye Shiyuan she was returning to Yunkui Mountain to address the Azure Nether Sword’s backlash and possibly save Ye Shunguang.
• Ye Shiyuan promised to handle Yunkui Mountain’s duties while Yixuan was away.
• Griseo recreated Teacher Carlos’s final words from a Corruptive Breath node, revealing his questions about the Praise Society, [Primus], and the Final Domain.
• Griseo explained that Belle and Wise’s power was connected to the gate to the Final Domain and asked to test it before they left Weifei Land.
• Wise volunteered for the test, but the power inside him surged beyond control, forcing Griseo to stop as Belle caught her brother.

Griseo introduced Yunkui Mountain's group to Yu-Gi-Oh! and demonstrated a duel against Fairy. The match left Yixuan eager to play, while Wise and Ye Shiyuan began studying the rules and chose Fairy's dragon deck.

• Griseo explained the game to the group and started a duel against Fairy using the simplified rules.
• Fairy summoned Blue-Eyes White Dragon and attacked Griseo, who used Dark Boundary to summon Dark Magician.
• Fairy summoned Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon and destroyed Dark Magician, but Griseo countered its next attack with her Magician Girls and destroyed the dragon.
• Yixuan grew eager to try the game, while Wise and Ye Shiyuan studied the rules and chose Fairy's deck.

Griseo defeated Fairy after surviving Deep-Eyes White Dragon and countering with Gandora-X and Dark Magician. Wise challenged Fairy on the highest difficulty and was defeated by its Trickstar burn deck before he could play a card, while Belle asked to duel on easy mode.

• Fairy summoned Deep-Eyes White Dragon, but Griseo survived its attack with Magician's Protection and began her counterattack on her next turn.
• Griseo summoned Gandora-X the Dragon of Demolition, destroyed the monsters on both fields, and reduced Fairy's Life Points to 2,500.
• Griseo revived Dark Magician with Monster Reborn and won by attacking Fairy directly.
• Wise challenged Fairy on the highest difficulty, and Fairy used a Trickstar deck to reduce his Life Points to zero before he could take a turn.
• Wise left the virtual space and crouched in a corner, while Belle asked Fairy to duel her on easy mode.

Belle formally became Yixuan’s disciple before Yixuan returned to Yunkui Mountain, where Griseo sensed that Lu Hengzhou and many others were hiding something. Yixuan gathered the mountain’s disciples and began investigating, suspecting their secret involved Ye Shunguang.

• Yixuan held Belle’s apprenticeship ceremony and left her and Wise to look after Whatever Temple.
• Yixuan returned to Yunkui Mountain with Griseo and learned that Ye Shunguang had gone down the mountain without permission.
• Griseo sensed guilt in Lu Hengzhou and warned Yixuan that many people on the mountain were lying to her.
• Yixuan ordered the disciples who remained on the mountain to gather at the Founders’ Hall the next day.
• Yixuan reviewed records of the mountain’s residents and suspected that everyone was concealing something about Ye Shunguang.

Yixuan uncovered that Lu Hengzhou had secretly orchestrated Ye Shunguang’s rise as the Azure Nether Swordmaster and confronted him before Yunkui Mountain’s disciples. She declared that she would purge the sect of those who had betrayed it, while Griseo and Hua looked around the mountain.

• Yixuan reviewed Ye Shunguang’s records and realized that her discovery of the Azure Nether Sword had been too convenient to be an accident.
• Griseo told Yixuan that Lu Hengzhou and thirty-seven disciples had secretly arranged for orphans to test the Azure Nether Sword, and that Lu Hengzhou had planned Ye Shunguang’s selection.
• Yixuan concluded that Lu Hengzhou had treated Ye Shunguang as a tool and questioned whether she had failed to command respect as sect master.
• At the Founders’ Hall, Yixuan confronted Lu Hengzhou about scheming to make Ye Shunguang the Swordmaster and concealing it from her for ten years.
• Yixuan declared that she would purge Yunkui Mountain of those who had betrayed it.
• Griseo and Hua sat on the hall’s roof, admired the scenery, and set off to look around.

Griseo and Hua visited Yijiang’s grave, and Griseo’s Signet of [Discipline] revealed memories of Yijiang and Yixuan’s lives together. The vision ended with Yixuan finding her sister too late after the Old Capital fell, leaving Hua to explain the meaning of their names while Griseo remained confused.

• Griseo touched Yijiang’s gravestone, and her Signet of [Discipline] brought Hua and her into a vision of the past.
• As children, Yijiang and Yixuan tried to steal buns to ease their hunger until an old Daoist brought them to Yunkui Mountain.
• Yijiang and Yixuan grew into outstanding disciples, but their master died after using the Azure Nether Sword to defeat a High-Risk Ethereal.
• Yijiang told Yixuan that the sword consumed its wielder’s senses, memories, and life, but she continued using it to protect others.
• As the Old Capital fell and Hollow Zero erupted, Yixuan reached Yijiang only after her sister had sacrificed everything to the sword.
• The vision froze on Yixuan kneeling among the ruins, and Hua explained the meanings of the sisters’ names while Griseo said she did not understand.

Hua explained why Yijiang’s Li Fire Hexagram might offer a chance for her soul to return, then comforted a guilt-ridden Yixuan. Griseo left Yunkui Mountain the next morning, intending to deal with the Azure Nether Sword and the First Lord.

• Hua told Griseo that Yijiang had grown stronger after her loved ones died and suggested her soul might still linger because Hollows could record souls.
• Griseo agreed that Yijiang’s uncertain fate could hold a glimmer of hope, then returned to Yunkui Mountain that night.
• Hua found Yixuan drunk and listened as she blamed herself for failing to uncover Lu Hengzhou’s scheme and Ye Shunguang’s memory loss.
• Hua challenged Yixuan’s assumption that Ye Shunguang was unwilling to bear the cost of the Azure Nether Sword, helping her reconsider her guilt.
• Yixuan watched Griseo leave the next morning after Griseo said she would handle the Azure Nether Sword and the First Lord.

Griseo rushed to Reverie Town after Wise's protective mark sensed a lethal threat and saved him from a Humanoid Ethereal and the power within him. Wise and Griseo found Lucia and two versions of Mato at the exit, where Drowned Thinker Mato left for the depths of the Hollow.

• Griseo sensed Wise's protective mark activate and teleported to Lemnian Hollow.
• Wise fled a Humanoid Ethereal through the fog as golden patterns appeared on his body and drained the Corruptive Breath around him.
• Griseo arrived in time to shield Wise and suppress the golden power, while an unfamiliar voice inside him warned that it could not be held back forever.
• Wise suspected the voice belonged to Pelois, then followed Griseo toward the exit to find Mato and Lucia.
• Wise found Lucia with Mato and his Reverie Dweller; Drowned Thinker Mato warned them that the Hollow was not a game and walked back into its depths.

Yuzuha, Wise, Mato, Lucia, and Griseo deduced that dream-enhanced Corruptive Breath had created the Reverie Dwellers and that the real townspeople were dreaming elsewhere, with the auditorium likely holding the key to saving them. Back at Whatever Temple, they met Ban Yue, who had come at Yixuan’s request to help with the group’s problems.

• Yuzuha reunited with Griseo and learned that Lucia’s search for urban legends had not gone well.
• Griseo explained how dreams could amplify Corruptive Breath, and Wise concluded that the real townspeople were dreaming while the apparent residents were phantoms.
• Lucia reminded Wise and Mato that the auditorium might contain something vital to the Reverie Dwellers, and the group planned to seek help from Whatever Temple.
• Lucia warned the group not to fall asleep, then Mato dismissed her warning as one of her urban legends.
• Wise and Griseo returned to Whatever Temple, where Belle introduced Ban Yue, who had arrived on Yixuan’s request to help them.
• Wise and Belle began telling Ban Yue about the crisis in Reverie Town.