Chapter Summaries

Sonia fled after realizing she feared the demands of a real relationship with Ash, but he found her and held her hand as she told him how she won Meteor Tribulation. Diya joined them and intertwined her fingers with Ash’s too, while Sonia’s question about the Watcher’s face left her seemingly reassured.

• Sonia ran from Ash, reflected on her fear of deepening their relationship, and found an Unforgettable Wood branch on a rooftop.
• Ash caught up with Sonia and explained that the Trial had made him live with Mirror Master, Silver Lamp’s other half.
• Ash intertwined his fingers with Sonia’s and asked her to tell him how she won Meteor Tribulation.
• Sonia described nearly triggering Co-birth and learning Tello Zan’s Hidden Hand Secret Blade before the battle.
• Diya joined them, took Ash’s other hand, and listened as Sonia continued her story.
• Sonia asked Diya whether she could clearly see the Watcher’s face, and Diya confirmed that she could.

Ren Xiu and Youling fought Phantom Frank and discussed how the Bluefire cult had turned distorted rumors and people’s hopes into faith. Ren Xiu refused to trust Youling outright but chose to trust the Observer’s judgment, leaving Youling to warn him that her allies never fare well.

• Ren Xiu and Youling battled Phantom Frank, the Bluefire Knights commander, whose body proved to be a monster made from three Bluefire cultists.
• Youling explained that Xie Zhi had gathered distorted rumors about Frank, who had become a symbol of hope for believers weary of the cult’s strict rules.
• Ren Xiu killed Phantom Frank and challenged Youling’s account, while she described how hope without results could become poisonous and turn into regret.
• Ren Xiu admitted he could not personally place his trust in Youling but said he believed in the Observer’s judgment, reasoning that Youling had not actually fought him.
• Youling took Ren Xiu’s hand and warned him that those who cooperated with her never came to a good end.

Igula learned that the Nature Sect sought immortality by becoming an intelligent Great Law, while Vesir and Watcher fought through another Trial and a Saint Domain opponent appeared. The Bewitching Maiden emerged as a Saint Domain Freya, whom Ash recognized from his memories, setting up a difficult battle.

• Harvey returned with the Dark Serpent Twins after helping wipe out the Nature Sect, and he gave Igula books about the Mist White Thought Great Method.
• Igula explained that the Nature Sect aimed to become an intelligent Great Law, and the Dark Serpent Twins proposed using the sect's Great Law embers to stimulate the Abyss.
• Vesir and Watcher cooperated to defeat a Trial phantom, while Vesir questioned her guarded partnership and imagined how Ash would fight alongside You Lan.
• A tremor shook the underground space before a Saint Domain Artificer entered the Trial, unsettling Watcher.
• Ash found You Lan sitting on the ground, and she revealed that the Trial opponent was a Saint Domain-level Freya from her memories.

Freya, Annan, and Siffrin fled the Spider Tower coalition across Time Continent with the unformed Blank Concept, hoping to reach Star Hall and escape their pursuers. Cornered at a mysterious garden, they found the Heroic Soul Legion could not enter, and Danzel identified the barrier as the work of the Drama Poet.

• Freya drove the sports car through three days and nights of pursuit, using its upgraded Refraction Curtain and Variant Wheel to survive the coalition's attacks.
• Freya, Annan, and Siffrin planned to reach Star Hall, where they hoped to obtain the Six-Colored Anchor and safely return to reality.
• The group caught up to the White Bull's boundary and found their path forward blocked by the Silent Domain, with the Heroic Soul Legion closing in behind them.
• Freya drove into an unmarked garden and led the others into its cottage; the pursuing Commanders were stopped by an invisible barrier.
• Empress Danzel tested the garden gate, then told the assembled Commanders that the barrier belonged to the Drama Poet.

Freya, Siffrin, and Annan were trapped in the Drama Creation Room and created a tragic fairy tale about a Princess, a Prince, and a wedding. Elsewhere, Ash and Mirror Master defeated a Holy Domain Trial Phantom, and Mirror Master admitted she might feel remorse for Silver Lamp.

• Freya, Siffrin, and Annan learned that they had to create a work before they could leave the Drama Creation Room, then Veela rang the Work Bell.
• Freya wrote a tale in which the Princess met the Prince, faced dangers with a Witch and other allies, and tried to save him from marrying the Demon King.
• At the wedding, the Prince welcomed the Princess, but a Longsword pierced her and she died; Death Knell Black Crow later told the Prince that his killing intent was beyond his control.
• Siffrin painted the wedding scene, and the group wondered whose story their works had depicted.
• In the Underground Hall, Watcher killed a Trial Phantom with a thrust through its heart, unsettling Vesir.
• Ash and Mirror Master defeated the Mirror Master Trial Phantom, and Mirror Master said she might feel remorse for Silver Lamp.

Ash and Watcher reunited in the Cicada Pupa Hall, where Ash explained why he would take responsibility for killing Silver Lamp and vowed to stop her in the next hall. After leaving the Trial, Ash confided in Watcher about his feelings for Sword Maiden and Witch, leaving Watcher to listen to his romantic worries.

• Ash and Watcher reunited in the Cicada Pupa Hall, while You Lan returned to Vesir and the teams were restored.
• Ash told Watcher that he would bear the burden of taking lives himself and protect his younger brother from that responsibility.
• Ash warned Vesir that he would stop her from passing the Divine Fire Trial, and Vesir left through the Light Gate with You Lan.
• Ash and Watcher reached the Rest Room together, where Ash asked whether Witch might also like him and worried about hurting her and Sword Maiden.

During the Void Realm expedition, Sonia advanced her Sword Art Faction to the Holy Domain, while Ash struggled to understand the team’s new intimate but unspoken arrangement. On the Trial’s final day, Ash faced a replica of Bange, but Watcher stopped him from drawing his sword and stepped forward to fight instead.

• Sonia’s Ripple Sword Spell Spirit reached Three-Winged, confirming her advancement to a Saint Domain Artificer.
• Diya obtained the Suspended Thread Spell Spirit and embraced Ash, while Sonia and Witch showed jealousy over his affection.
• Vesir explained that Sonia and Witch had tacitly advanced their relationships with Ash to “Lover Not Yet,” and Ash promised not to hurt them.
• Ash and Watcher entered the final day of the Trial, where Phantom Bange appeared and challenged Ash to a duel.
• Ash began to draw his sword against Phantom Bange, but Watcher struck the blade and told Ash he did not need to draw his sword.

Ash and the Watcher fought through the Trials, and Ash tried to prepare them both for the guilt of killing replicas while planning a future together after escaping Senluo. At the Cicada Transformation Hall, Silver Lamp entered a pod and forced the others to choose who would become the final material for their evolution.

• Ash let the Watcher handle the replica fights and repeatedly tried to reassure him that the replicas were only temporary creations.
• Ash told the Watcher he planned to return to Gospel, visit Star Country, and find a way for them to reunite in reality; the Watcher said he would follow him.
• Ash told the Watcher that Liss and the Isu Imperial Palace felt like home to him, and promised the Watcher he could always come home to him too.
• Ash and the Watcher entered the Cicada Transformation Hall, where Vesir and You Lan were waiting and single-person Cicada Transformation Pods rose from the floor.
• The Trial rules revealed that participants had to enter the pods for the Divine Fire Inheritance while leaving an equal-level Trial body behind as evolution material.
• Silver Lamp entered a pod and sealed it, leaving Ash and the others twenty-nine seconds to choose who would become the final material.

Igula uncovered the origin of the Circle Round Cicada Sect’s Perfect Twins experiments, while Ash’s group faced a deadly choice between two Cicada Transformation Pods. The Watcher sacrificed his chance to survive with Ash, and he and You Lan were caught in a fate-fusion Miracle as Ash fell into the Earth Abyss.

• Igula told Harvey and the Dark Serpent Twins that the Circle Round Cicada Sect’s Perfect Twins concept came from Gospel’s fate-stacking Miracle, which could let one person carry another’s fate and gain the ability to contain a Divine Spirit.
• With one Cicada Transformation Pod already occupied by Silver Lamp and only one place left, the Watcher struck Ash and sealed him out of the pod, choosing to stay behind with You Lan.
• Ash recovered too late to enter and fell into the Earth Abyss alongside Vesir, while the Watcher told You Lan that Ash’s midterm trial had passed and that he stayed to protect his younger brother.
• White mist formed into ribbons around the Watcher and You Lan as a Destiny Twins fusion Miracle began, and both of them dissolved into mist.

Ash and Vesir entered the Final Trial after the Cicada Transformation left them with the ability to foresee each other’s actions, and they discovered that the Divine Fire transformed them without harming them. The statues then released a flood of Gilded River water that swept them upstream, while Ash realized he had no Gate of Truth connecting him to the river.

• Ash and Vesir fought after leaving their Cicada Transformation Pods, then stopped when their perfectly overlapping foresight made it impossible for either to injure the other.
• Ash and Vesir argued about death, loss, and the Twins before agreeing to continue into the Final Trial together.
• Ash and Vesir passed rows of statues depicting former Legendary Arcanist participants and reached a torch burning with seven-colored Divine Fire.
• Ash and Vesir foresaw themselves touching the Divine Fire, which burned through their perceptions and transformed them into glasslike figures without injuring them.
• The statues cracked apart and released a flood of Gilded River water that swept Ash and Vesir upstream toward the Cicada Transformation Pods.
• Ash deduced that Silver Lamp and the statues were connected to the Gilded River through their Gates of Truth, while he had no Gate of Truth of his own.

In the Twins Palace, Igula discovered that the experiment aimed to create spellcasters who could resonate with Void Wonders and connect to the Gilded River. In the river, Ash and Vesir met revived Legends, who revealed their plan to attain eternal life by consuming part of Square Round Cicada.

• Igula explained that the Twins Experiment pushed spellcasters’ talents to their limits so they could resonate with Void Wonders and gain extreme Time Talent through the Divine Fire Trial.
• Ash and Vesir were swept into the Gilded River, where sealed Legendary Arcanists revived and asked what had happened outside.
• Vesir and Ash learned that the Legends had joined Square Round Cicada’s experiment because they were near death and needed forty-two Arcanists to perform the Cicada Chirp Cannibalism Ritual.
• Ash told the Legends that the Great Cataclysm had devastated the world and Senluo remained in a chaotic era of sectarian warfare.
• Skadi revealed that the ritual would awaken Square Round Cicada and let the Legends attain eternal life by eating part of it, then rushed toward the cry in the river with the others.

Ash and the Trial participants encountered the Square Round Cicada in the Gilded River and discovered it devoured anyone who approached. As they tried to escape upstream, the Legends turned on one another and then attacked Ash and Vesir, who were forced to fight together.

• The Orc Legend bit the Square Round Cicada, broke a tooth, and was consumed as the cicada grew larger.
• Ash, Vesir, Silver Lamp, and the Legendary Arcanists fled upstream, but the Gilded River’s temporal erosion halted their progress until Ash and Vesir joined hands and pressed on.
• Meis attacked another Spellcaster, sending him toward the cicada; the cicada ate him, and the river’s current slowed.
• At a later bottleneck, the Fishman Legend attacked Ash while the Bearman Legend confronted Vesir, and the two Legends targeted the group’s weakest members.
• Ash joined Vesir’s fight against the Bearman, then Vesir helped him fend off the Fishman, and they ended up fighting shoulder to shoulder.

Ash pieced together how Silver Lamp accidentally restarted the abandoned Cicada Chirp Project and realized that the Legends intended to attack Square Round Cicada for a chance at eternal life. The attack appeared to wound it, but its cries killed the nearby Legends, leaving Meis to wonder whether it could cast spells.

• Ash concluded that Silver Lamp had sought Nightfall’s Divine Fire System without knowing about the Cicada Chirp Devouring Plan, and that the Great Cataclysm had left the Eternal Life plan unfinished for over two hundred years.
• Meis urged the Legends to stop fleeing and attack Square Round Cicada, arguing that even escaping the Gilded River would only leave them facing death in the changed world.
• Meis led nearly ten Legends in attacking Square Round Cicada, and their weapons and combat skills opened wounds that spilled juice.
• Square Round Cicada chirped twice, healed its wounds, and turned the attacking Legends and others nearby into dry bones.
• Meis reappeared beside Ash and the survivors and asked whether Square Round Cicada could cast spells.

Igula and the others learned that Square Round Cicada had been subjected to experiments intended to awaken its Wisdom, while Ash and Vesir witnessed its time-and-Fate spell as they struggled through the Gilded River. Ibrahim’s failing will drove him to attack the others, but Ash and Vesir escaped his grasp and continued toward the front.

• Black Crow explained that the Grey Fox Legacy came from a limb of Square Round Cicada, and Igula deduced that experimenters had tried to make the Great Law awaken Wisdom.
• Igula gave up analyzing the files, but the Dark Serpent Twins began to suggest that they still knew something.
• Skadi explained that Square Round Cicada had reversed its injuries and aged its victims instantly by manipulating their Fate, while Meis estimated its power and the Gilded River Water it consumed.
• Meis defeated a Legend and let Square Round Cicada stop to eat him, while Ash and Vesir continued swimming ahead.
• Ibrahim’s will gave out, and he attacked the Trial participants before grappling with Mo Yu and grabbing Ash and Silver Lamp.
• Ash severed Mo Yu’s hand tendons, and Vesir crushed Ibrahim’s wrist and ulna, freeing Ash and Silver Lamp as Square Round Cicada ate Ibrahim and Mo Yu.

Ash and Vesir struggled upstream through the Gilded River as Gina’s elegy weakened the spellcasters and Square Round Cicada manipulated the current to feed. After the group strengthened their wills and several Legends were swept away, they spotted torches marking the end of the Trial passage and the river’s source.

• Ash nearly gave in to Gina’s despairing elegy, but Vesir held him close and described their imagined life together until he regained his will.
• Square Round Cicada grew larger and used its connection to Gilded River Water to control the current, making progress upstream increasingly difficult.
• The spellcasters voiced their hopes and plans to strengthen their wills, but Kasnas was swept toward Square Round Cicada and drowned in the river.
• Vesir began to weaken, but Ash stayed beside her, helping her regain her resolve as they struggled forward.
• Meis cheered when torches appeared ahead, revealing the end of the Trial passage and the source of the Gilded River.

Ash and the Spellcasters discovered that the palace had recreated the Gilded River’s rules, trapping everyone inside its channel. As only Ash and Vesir continued toward the slope, Vesir asked Ash how he planned to kill her.

• Vesir used knowledge from the Void Realm to win a bet with Ash and claimed he owed her one favor.
• Meis reached the river’s edge but was repeatedly swept back because the Gilded River had no beginning or end and would not let anyone leave from either end.
• Meis explained that the palace had imitated Time Continent to make the Gilded River’s rules take effect, and the other Legends failed to escape as well.
• Skadi said the Gilded River’s rules would end if the river disappeared, but another Legend said that would require everyone to die and all Gates of Truth to close.
• After the other Spellcasters were carried back toward the Square Round Cicada, Ash and Vesir remained in the river, and Vesir asked, “Ash, how do you plan to kill me?”

Ash and Vesir reached the slope at the end of the Gilded River, but the Square Round Cicada still threatened to devour them. As Ash searched for a way out, Vesir hinted that her unusual blood might let her command the creature.

• Vesir told Ash that his Gate of Truth had never opened and urged him to kill her so the Gilded River would be cut off.
• Vesir admitted responsibility for hundreds of thousands of deaths, but Ash refused to kill or torture her.
• Vesir and Ash reached the slope, where she drew Ash's sword but chose not to use his owed favor or attack him.
• Ash realized that cutting off the Gilded River would not stop the Square Round Cicada from eating them, and he considered whether they could command it as Spellcasters.
• Vesir said the Square Round Cicada was both a Great Law and a Spell Spirit, then suggested she might have a way to command it because her blood was not red.

Ash and Vesir tried to use Silver Dragon Blood to command Square Round Cicada, but Vesir lost too much blood before the creature responded. Ash offered his own blood to keep her going, and she drank from his wounds as they continued their attempt.

• Vesir explained that her Silver Dragon Blood contained traces of her soul and could be used to command Spell Spirits through the Gilded River.
• Vesir cut her wrist and poured Silver Dragon Blood into the river, but Square Round Cicada showed no clear response.
• Vesir lost so much blood that she collapsed, while Ash noticed his Blood Seed was transferring his life energy to her.
• Ash cut his wrist and offered Vesir his blood, and she drank from the wound while refusing to remove her mask.
• Vesir bit Ash's finger and continued drinking, and Ash struck her to stop her from hurting him before she licked and tended his wound.

Ash and Silver Lamp remained trapped by the Blood Seed’s curse as it drained his life energy into her and drew the Square Round Cicada closer. Silver Lamp offered to reveal her face, but instead covered Ash’s eyes and forced him to choose between killing her and letting her love him to death.

• Ash realized the Blood Seed was draining his life energy into Silver Lamp and restricting his ability to resist.
• Silver Lamp told Ash that his life energy would keep flowing into her and urged him to hold her tighter.
• Ash and Silver Lamp discussed what they would do in Eternity, with Silver Lamp promising to find him if they were separated.
• Ash asked Silver Lamp to remove her Mask, and she covered his eyes as she lifted it.
• Silver Lamp restrained Ash, kissed him, and placed his hand over her heart, telling him to kill her or let her love him to death.

Ash and Silver Lamp survived the collapse of the Gilded River passage, escaped the Miracle Trap, and gained partial control of the Square Round Cicada. Silver Lamp left after telling Ash that her name belonged only to her, while Igula and the others found Ash beside the newly opened passage to the surface.

• Silver Lamp kissed Ash and made him taste her Silver Dragon Blood, telling him to remember its flavor as iron rust, lemon, and sweet orange.
• The Gilded River drained away, driving the Square Round Cicada toward Ash and Silver Lamp as tremors shook the passage.
• A Miracle Trap tried to pull the Square Round Cicada back into the wall, but the collapsing dome broke the seals on Ash and Silver Lamp's Spell Power.
• Ash and Silver Lamp used their Holy Domains and discovered that they could both control the Square Round Cicada, which split into a square cicada for Silver Lamp and a round cicada for Ash.
• Silver Lamp flew away after refusing to reveal her real name and telling Ash that Silver Lamp belonged only to him.
• Igula and the others entered through the collapsed dome, and Ash told them that everything that had happened was just an illusion.