Chapter Summaries

After Cheng Yu’s role as Niu Ba ended, Nyarlathotep praised his schemes and sent him into his next role: playing himself. Cheng Yu emerged in a wilderness crater, uncertain what it meant to act according to his own true nature.

• Cheng Yu’s consciousness left Niu Ba behind and entered a dark space, where Nyarlathotep greeted him.
• Nyarlathotep praised Cheng Yu for displaying the three conceptual portraits and stirring up events, then gave his performance a score of eighty.
• Nyarlathotep revealed that they were inside the Eternal Heavenly Dao’s space and told Cheng Yu to follow his true nature and deepest desires in his next role.
• Nyarlathotep flicked Cheng Yu’s forehead and declared that his next character was himself.
• Cheng Yu climbed out of a crater in the wilderness, checked himself and his information, and wondered what it meant to play himself.

Cheng Yu learned that Yunyangzi’s three ink paintings had inspired the True Knowledge Sect, whose growth had thrown Humankind and Monsterkind into conflict and forced them to cooperate. After receiving Yunyangzi’s perfect character score, Cheng Yu wandered the wilderness and began speculating that his next task involved the theory of the three selves.

• The system explained that Cheng Yu earned three Legendary achievements and one Gold achievement, including Weird Ancestor, because Yunyangzi’s paintings had caused upheaval across the Eternal True World.
• The system recounted how experts found Yunyangzi’s remains and paintings on Verdant Micro Mountain, founded the True Knowledge Sect around him, and failed to contain its spread.
• The system credited Cheng Yu as a Peace Ambassador because Humankind and Monsterkind had joined forces to suppress the sect.
• Cheng Yu received Yunyangzi’s character score of 100 and a message thanking him for returning the master’s remains and accompanying Yunyangzi on his travels.
• Cheng Yu pondered the hints about playing himself and wondered whether the relationship between the true self, ego, and superego held the key to his next task.

Cheng Yu considered how to follow his true desires for the God of Amusement’s task and decided that he most wanted to find shelter and grow stronger. After reaching a village in West Sea Prefecture, he created a small estate and weighed four ways to advance to Legendary.

• Cheng Yu reflected on the Three-Self Theory and worried that letting his true self dominate could drive him toward beastlike behavior.
• Cheng Yu cleared his mind and realized he wanted to settle down and level up.
• The System told Cheng Yu that he was in the heart of West Sea Prefecture on the Eastern Continent and directed him south toward a settlement.
• Cheng Yu reached a village, created a small estate with the Infinite Technique, and prepared to cultivate.
• Cheng Yu considered breaking through to Legendary using the Breakthrough Formation, his own insights, Shen Yu’s insights, or the System Marketplace.

Cheng Yu studied Shen Yu’s Legendary breakthrough, then had the System isolate the space around him so he could attempt his own breakthrough without interference from the Eternal Heavenly Dao. His first Infinite Technique simulation revealed the Rule Network and the lethal process required to forge a Rule Body.

• Cheng Yu reviewed Shen Yu’s memories of breaking through to Legendary and learned that the process incorporated the Myriad Heavens’ rules into the body.
• Cheng Yu asked the System to connect the System Space to the Chaos Sea and isolate the space within three paces, paying a little over three million currency.
• Cheng Yu used the Infinite Technique to simulate an incomplete breakthrough and briefly glimpsed the Rule Network World.
• Cheng Yu realized that a Legendary breakthrough required the soul to forge a Rule Body before the original body dissolved, with both body and soul at Dual Gold Five.

Cheng Yu attempted to break through to Legendary by prying rules from the Rule Network and forging them into his soul, but the agony and his wavering consciousness caused the attempt to fail. His body vanished while his soul survived under the Big Shot’s protection, leaving him to question the nature of the breakthrough and search for answers before trying again.

• Cheng Yu entered the Rule Network and began prying at its rules, while the System’s title protection negated contamination from unknown rules.
• Cheng Yu endured repeated agony and managed to fuse rules into his soul, but doubting himself let his first thread escape.
• Cheng Yu continued gathering rules until his consciousness regained clarity and he realized his body had disappeared and his Rule Body was less than a tenth complete.
• The System explained that Cheng Yu’s breakthrough had failed and that the Chaos Sea’s order would have swallowed an ordinary Gold, but the Big Shot’s protection had preserved him.
• Cheng Yu abandoned the idea of buying a new body and pondered the Rule Network, the Chaos Sea’s order, and the principles behind becoming Legendary.

Cheng Yu realized that advancing to Legendary through the New Era’s rules could make him a puppet of the Lord of the New Era, and the System issued him a quest to follow Big Shot’s path instead. The System instructed him to prepare Big Shot’s Aura and Parchment for a prayer to Tawil-at-U'mr, leaving Cheng Yu uneasy about what might happen.

• Cheng Yu suspected the Chaos Sea’s rules had been established by the Lord of the New Era and that ordinary Legendary advancement would place him under that being’s control.
• The System issued the additional quest Legendary of the Great Old Ones, directing Cheng Yu to incorporate Big Shot’s rules and become a vessel for the Void’s archetypal worlds.
• Cheng Yu questioned why the System had withheld the quest, and the System explained that he needed to uncover part of the Chaos Sea’s truth himself to trigger it.
• The System told Cheng Yu to place one bead of Big Shot’s Aura on the Parchment, with the Door Seal facing upward.
• The System prepared to teach Cheng Yu a prayer to Tawil-at-U'mr, warning that it did not know whether the Avatar still existed in the New Era.

Cheng Yu summoned Tawil and entered the Void to pursue advancement to Legendary, where capturing void rules began eroding his consciousness. As Cheng Yu lost himself to the rules, another figure emerged from a silver door before Tawil.

• Cheng Yu followed the system’s instructions, used the Door Seal and Galaxy Glass Ball, and recited Tawil’s invocation.
• Tawil recognized Cheng Yu as the keeper of the appointment and said his request to transcend the Primordial Mother of Life’s ranks had been ordained.
• Cheng Yu dispersed his soul into the Void and began capturing scattered void rules to shape his rule body.
• Cheng Yu captured more rules, but their pleasurable influence gradually consumed his awareness until he resembled a Mayfly Monster.
• A silver door appeared before Tawil, and a figure emerged from the white mist as Tawil greeted the keeper of the appointment.

Cheng Yu struggled to become a Void Legendary at the boundary between reality and the Void, first evading a mayfly-like Rule Being before turning its predatory nature against it. When a more powerful mass of rules arrived and trapped him, he changed his soul’s shape and began devouring it in a desperate contest.

• Cheng Yu fled the mayfly-like Rule Being while absorbing unstable Void rules, but the creature bit off his hand and he realized the erosion had made him sluggish.
• Cheng Yu studied how the creature digested rules, shrank to a head, entered its body, and began consuming it from within.
• Cheng Yu weakened the mayfly-like creature and rebuilt more of his Rule Body, but a vast writhing mass of rules arrived and began consuming it.
• The mass bound Cheng Yu and started draining his body, so he transformed his soul into a toothed mass and fought back by devouring it.

Cheng Yu completed his breakthrough to Legendary by repeatedly devouring the rules inside his opponent, though the process left his True Form grotesquely misshapen. After returning to the Eternal True World, he paid the System to restore his original appearance.

• Cheng Yu realized he had to absorb enough Void rules to complete his Rule Body in one conscious leap, so he plunged into his opponent and repeatedly tried to devour its rules.
• Cheng Yu kept attempting the breakthrough despite repeated failures, repairing his cracking soul and continuing until his consciousness became consumed by the act of devouring.
• Cheng Yu returned to the Eternal True World and asked the System whether he had advanced to Legendary.
• The System confirmed Cheng Yu had become a Void Legendary and showed him his misshapen True Form.
• Cheng Yu paid the System twenty-five million currency to restore his True Form to its original appearance.

Yog explained the rare traits of Cheng Yu’s Void Legendary status while warning Shub not to get involved with Nyarlathotep’s plans. After reaching Legendary, Cheng Yu learned what his new powers allowed, exchanged his achievement for currency, and checked his updated status.

• Shub asked Yog about Void Legendaries, and Yog said they differed from ordinary Legendaries mainly in their labels.
• Shub pointed out that Void Legendaries could use their domains as projection points for the endless Void, but Yog said neither projections nor shattered nodes could be changed by them.
• Yog warned Shub that Nyarlathotep would not follow her plan and advised her to stop getting mixed up with him.
• Cheng Yu asked the System about Void Legendary abilities, and it explained that he could enter other universes freely, wear down ordinary Legendary domains, and kill pan-universe consciousnesses without disrupting their universes.
• The System awarded Cheng Yu the achievement “At Last, Legendary,” which he exchanged for currency before checking his updated status panel.

Cheng Yu, unsure what to do now that his old goals had fallen away, went to Seaside City and decided to visit a brothel. He paid for a quiet place and followed Lian'er inside, leaving his next pursuit undecided.

• Cheng Yu reflected on his lack of purpose and went to explore a nearby village, where locals eyed him warily because of the True Knowledge Sect's past attacks in West Sea Prefecture.
• Cheng Yu traveled to Seaside City and recognized that its streets formed part of a large formation powered by powerful cultivators.
• Cheng Yu heard a brothel's invitations and remembered being turned away from one when he had played Yunyangzi because he had no money.
• Cheng Yu entered the Jade Pavilion, paid the madam with Origin Stones, and asked for somewhere quiet.
• The madam sent Lian'er to lead Cheng Yu to the quietest spot in the brothel, and Cheng Yu followed her inside.

Cheng Yu visited a brothel in Seaside City, gathered intelligence about the coming arrival of Shen Bai, and reflected on how he had helped bring the Heaven-United One into being. He left the larger questions about the God of Amusement aside and called for music and dancing.

• Cheng Yu surveyed the brothel and learned about Seaside City's preparations for Shen Bai, the Demon Race White King's visit to Humankind Territory.
• Cheng Yu heard that Shen Bai was a powerful Half-Demon whose talent and virtues made Humankind both hopeful and wary of his arrival.
• Cheng Yu recalled arranging Shen Qian's marriage to the Heavenly Dao's Avatar so she would bear the Heaven-United One, Shen Bai.
• Cheng Yu considered that Shen Bai might unite the Myriad Races and usher in a new era, while questioning whether the God of Amusement's plans would allow that future to unfold.
• Cheng Yu set aside his doubts, drank his fruit wine, and ordered the attendants to start the music and dancing.

Cheng Yu visited a brothel intending to use his money to free someone as part of his attempt to play the role of a savior. He offered to buy Lian'er’s freedom and give her money to live as she pleased, and her consciousness showed a slight tremor.

• Cheng Yu lavishly tipped the girls attending to him while deciding he wanted to save someone working in the pleasure trade.
• Cheng Yu identified Lian'er as a likely candidate because she seemed more skilled at charming customers than the other girls.
• Cheng Yu saw that Lian'er's outward warmth concealed coldness in her soul.
• Cheng Yu offered to buy Lian'er's freedom and give her money so she could leave and live on her own terms.
• Lian'er's consciousness trembled slightly as Cheng Yu urged her to accept his offer.

Cheng Yu stayed at the brothel, where he treated Lian'er and the other women generously while gathering news from their customers. After six months, he still had no larger purpose in mind and decided to continue enjoying brothel life for the time being.

• Cheng Yu learned that Lian'er had been forced into prostitution after her official father was exiled and that repeated broken promises had made her wary of patrons.
• Cheng Yu told Lian'er he found her body distasteful but respected her soul, and said he had not come to the brothel for sex.
• Cheng Yu spent the next six months as the brothel's biggest customer, paying for better comforts and rewarding the women lavishly.
• Cheng Yu asked the women to share recent news they had heard from customers, using their reports to learn about events in the Eternal True World.
• Cheng Yu decided to keep enjoying his comfortable life in the brothel until he grew tired of it.

On New Year's Eve, Cheng Yu watched the fireworks with Lian'er and reflected on his aimless life and memories of Niu Ba. He gave Lian'er New Year's money and wished her well if she someday found a new life.

• Cheng Yu asked Lian'er why the city was so lively, and she told him it was New Year's Eve.
• As fireworks filled the sky, Cheng Yu remembered holidays from his past and wondered how Niu Ba was doing after ten thousand years.
• Lian'er held Cheng Yu's hand and told him he was not alone, but he responded by drinking and reflecting on how people changed over time.
• Cheng Yu gave Lian'er a banknote as New Year's money and wished that she would someday find a new life and grow up safe and healthy.

Cheng Yu learned that Shen Bai would soon pass through the city, prompting intense security and a crackdown on the man who had once pursued Shen Qian. As Cheng Yu considered leaving, he noticed that a deaf and mute maid's soul was unusual.

• A girl told Cheng Yu that Shen Bai might soon pass through the city, and Lian'er rewarded her for the information.
• Cheng Yu learned that Human Emperor Qin Shuo had ordered the arrest of Shen Qian's former lover to reassure Shen Bai and protect relations between Humankind and the Demon Race.
• Cheng Yu decided he would leave the city rather than endure its heightened security.
• A young deaf and mute maid entered Cheng Yu's room, ignored the money he offered, and left.
• Lian'er explained that no treatment had cured the maid, and Cheng Yu sensed that the girl's soul was unusual.

Cheng Yu learned about the little deaf and mute girl’s tragic past and bought her freedom, then left the brothel with her. He also freed Lian'er and urged her to experience the world before deciding whether she still wanted to find him.

• Cheng Yu learned that the girl’s parents had died after fleeing the True Knowledge Sect’s upheaval, and that the brothel had reduced her to menial work after discovering she could not hear or speak.
• Cheng Yu paid the madam to free the girl and Lian'er, then told Lian'er she did not owe him her company or need to mistake gratitude for love.
• Lian'er asked to stay with Cheng Yu, but he told her to see the world first and gave her a rune on her hand that would help her find him.
• Cheng Yu left the brothel with the girl, while Lian'er watched him disappear into the crowd.
• The system mocked Cheng Yu for playing the role of Lian'er's savior, and he privately described an even more depraved way he could have manipulated her feelings.

Cheng Yu took in a mute and deaf girl with a mysteriously pure soul, whom he named Snow Spirit, and stayed at a farmhouse to study her. After healing her physical defects, he watched her soul begin to change and started teaching her to speak and care for herself.

• Cheng Yu examined the girl's unusual soul and found it pure, structurally reflected in her body, and lacking the faculties for speech and hearing.
• Cheng Yu healed the girl's physical defects but left her soul untouched, then chose to observe her at the farmhouse.
• Snow Spirit explored sounds around the farmhouse, while Cheng Yu noticed small spots of color appearing on her soul and tracked their fluctuating changes.
• Cheng Yu taught Snow Spirit words, and she learned to say his name, her own name, and “food.”
• Cheng Yu began cooking a meal himself as part of teaching Snow Spirit, and reflected on how exhausting raising a child was.

Cheng Yu continued teaching Snow Spirit basic words and concepts through everyday activities and demonstrations. He left her to try cooking for herself, offering only a few hints.

• Cheng Yu taught Snow Spirit simple phrases and reflected on the difficulty of helping her understand the world.
• At mealtime, Cheng Yu used bowls of food to teach Snow Spirit the word “more.”
• Cheng Yu demonstrated fire, roasting, and burning, and Snow Spirit repeated the words after him.
• When Snow Spirit said she was hungry, Cheng Yu encouraged her to cook for herself and followed along to watch.

Over two years, Snow Spirit learned to cook and care for the farmhouse while Cheng Yu relaxed and guided her. After teaching her about a peach sapling and respecting private belongings, Cheng Yu read a letter from Lian'er and concluded that his efforts to save her had succeeded.

• Cheng Yu had Snow Spirit cook while she worked on her homework, and he bickered with the System over whether he was exploiting her or training her.
• Snow Spirit showed Cheng Yu the peach sapling she had planted, and he explained how seeds grew and promised to help care for it.
• Cheng Yu spent his days relaxing in the rocking chair while Snow Spirit handled chores around the farmhouse.
• Snow Spirit brought Cheng Yu a letter from Lian'er and admitted she had opened it; Cheng Yu told her not to touch others' private belongings without permission.
• Cheng Yu read Lian'er's letter and thought that his efforts to save her had worked.