Chapter Summaries

Dongyang and a blind young soldier survived the Battery Camp after a golden Tacet Discord destroyed the attacking tide and flew into the giant statue. Jiyan’s team arrived as the statue began changing and an even stronger Tacet Discord Tide formed across the Norfall Barrens.

• Dongyang and the young soldier prepared to die together when the Blackstone Gun’s Core began to overload.
• A golden, flame-wreathed figure descended, wiped out the Tacet Discords, took the Blackstone Gun, and flew toward the giant statue.
• Dongyang told Jiyan’s arriving assault team that the golden figure had entered the statue, and Tide Sis urged them to activate Drill the Void immediately.
• The statue trembled, the Retroflow Rain intensified, and a new tide formed with more Tacet Discords and several Overlord-Class creatures.

As the Retroflow Rain intensified and the Tacet Discord Tide overwhelmed Jinzhou’s defenses, a strengthened Feilian Ape destroyed the Glacio Rider and pressed toward the exhausted Bell-Ringing Turtle. Inside the city, Lianfeng joined ordinary residents heading to defend the gates as Jinzhou faced imminent collapse.

• Taoqi learned that the Tacet Discord Tide was worsening, the Blackstone Weapons were nearly spent, and the Glacio Rider and Bell-Ringing Turtle were close to exhaustion.
• The deaths on the battlefield gave rise to a powerful Feilian Ape, which shattered the Glacio Rider and advanced against the Bell-Ringing Turtle.
• News spread through Jinzhou that the city was about to fall, and residents began making their way toward the gates to help defend them.
• After his companions left, Lianfeng overcame his doubts and joined the crowd heading for the gates, fearing he would die.

Taoqi and Jinzhou’s defenders faced the Feilian Ape and the overwhelming Tacet Discord Tide, seemingly on the verge of defeat. Golden light then summoned the Ancient Huanglong Army, whose thousand-year-old battle cry sent them charging toward the enemy.

• Taoqi led the soldiers into the Tacet Discord Tide as the Feilian Ape advanced on Jinzhou’s gates, and the city’s residents joined the defense.
• Yinlin, Zhao Wu, Verina, Chang Ye, Yun Ling, and other warriors arrived to help, but the Feilian Ape shattered the Bell-Ringing Turtle and overwhelmed the defenders.
• Golden light rose from the shattered Bell-Ringing Turtle and Glacio Rider, revealing an ancient platform, a bronze bell, and the Ancient Huanglong Army.
• A Bell Ringer tolled the bell and cried that Huanglong would never fall, as the army answered and marched toward the Tacet Discord Tide and the Feilian Ape.

Lianfeng discovered that his memories belonged to the Ancient Huanglong Army and joined the battle against the Tacet Discord Tide. With the ghosts of the Midnight Rangers and other fallen warriors fighting alongside the living, Jinzhou defeated the Feilian Ape and drove back the tide, while Jingming reunited with his brother’s ghost before it faded.

• Lianfeng realized the memories he had doubted were the Ancient Huanglong Army’s past and awakened his power as a Tacet Discord Hunter.
• Lianfeng leaped from the city wall and cut down a wounded Rumbling Tide-Class Tacet Discord.
• The ghosts of the Night Wardens appeared in Flameblooms, and Jingming touched his brother’s ghost as they fought side by side.
• The Huanglong Army, the Midnight Rangers, Resonators, and ordinary people charged together and forced the Tacet Discord Tide to retreat.
• The Feilian Ape shattered into green light, and the survivors celebrated their victory as the ghosts faded away.
• Jingming heard his brother’s remembered words: “Little brother, I have no regrets.”

Jingming received the final letter from the Midnight Rangers and learned that his brother would not return. Years later, Tide Sis and Jiyan fought their way to Dreamless’s statue, broke through its barrier with Drill the Void, and reached its core.

• Jingming remembered growing up with his older brother, who became a Resonator and Night Warden before enlisting in the Midnight Rangers.
• Jingming received a letter and small box from the Midnight Rangers, recalling how his father’s death had also been announced by a final letter.
• Jiyan’s squads cleared a path through the Tacet Discord Tide as Tide Sis and the others advanced toward the statue.
• Jianxin stayed behind to cover the group’s rear, and Yangyang stopped at the Groundwave Barrier while Rover and Jiyan continued.
• Mortefi fired Drill the Void from the Battery Camp, breaking the barrier and damaging the statue.
• Tide Sis and Jiyan climbed the falling rocks to the statue’s chest, where Tide Sis approached Dreamless’s core and said, “Hey, Threnodian! Open sesame.”

Ling An drifted through a sea of consciousness as the Threnodian reclaimed his frequencies, while Tide Sis and Jiyan fought Dreamless inside the giant statue. Tide Sis drew Anihilation from Dreamless and sensed Ling An within her, reaching into her chest to get him back.

• Ling An realized he had lost his body and was dissolving in the sea of consciousness, then resolved to fight against his fate for Tide Sis's sake.
• Tide Sis recognized that the Overlord-Class Crownless before the Eerie Moon was not Ling An and killed it with a single slash.
• The reclaimed frequencies merged into the Eerie Moon, which released Dreamless, and Tide Sis and Jiyan attacked the Tacet Discord.
• Jiyan helped hold off Dreamless as Tide Sis fought to reach the familiar presence she sensed in Dreamless's chest.
• Tide Sis drew Anihilation from Dreamless, felt that its power was familiar, and thrust her hand toward Dreamless's chest while shouting Ling An's name.

Ling An escaped Dreamless’s control by joining with the frequencies of countless dead soldiers and returned as Crownless. He resisted Dreamless’s attempt to crown and command him, declaring that no one could crown him.

• Dreamless tried to sink Ling An into the darkness, but the voices and frequencies of the fallen soldiers carried him back toward the surface.
• Ling An merged with the fallen soldiers’ frequencies, reclaimed his body, and declared himself Crownless.
• Ling An burst out of the Abyssal Herald’s body, reuniting with Tide Sis as Jiyan prepared to face him.
• Dreamless attacked Ling An with its authority and tried to bind him with a crown, but Ling An crushed it and formed a crown of golden flames.
• Ling An defied Dreamless, proclaiming, “I am Crownless! Who can crown me? Who dares crown me!”

Ling An reclaimed the Crown, drove Dreamless back, and fought Tide Sis in a fierce duel inside the statue. Their battle ended when an Odd-Eyed Creature swallowed his spear attack, and Tide Sis grabbed him and insisted he return to Jinzhou with her.

• Ling An drew authority from the Abyssal Herald, shattered her body, and cracked the phantom moon until Dreamless retreated.
• Jiyan realized Ling An and Tide Sis were preparing to settle their own contest and stepped aside.
• Ling An and Tide Sis fought at full strength, matching each other's speed and power.
• Ling An formed a golden spear and hurled it at Tide Sis, but an Odd-Eyed Creature emerged from her Resonance Mark and swallowed the attack.
• The Odd-Eyed Creature told Ling An he smelled good, and Tide Sis clung to him and demanded he return to Jinzhou with her.

After Jinzhou celebrated its victory over Dreamless, Ling An returned to the city and was welcomed as a hero, with his true form explained away as a special resonance ability. A day later, he listened in disbelief as a storyteller recounted a wildly embellished version of his battle.

• Jingming watched the sunset and asked a wounded Midnight Ranger whether it was prettier than the sunset in the Norfall Barrens, but the soldier said they had never had time to notice it.
• Chixia and the others welcomed Ling An, Tide Sis, Jiyan, and Jianxin back to Jinzhou, and Chixia returned Ling An's Miniature Gourd.
• Chixia told Ling An that Changli had explained his form as a manifestation of his special resonance ability, while Jiyan and Taoqi thanked him on behalf of the Midnight Rangers and Changli.
• Ling An joked that defeating Dreamless was something he had taken care of along the way, and the crowd celebrated as the heroes entered the city.
• The next day, Ling An listened from a teahouse corner as a storyteller exaggerated his fight with Dreamless and invented a dramatic speech for him.

Ling An met Lianfeng at a teahouse, where he explained how the dead of Jinzhou had shaped his new Crownless form and how he had taken half of Dreamless's authority. After Lianfeng thanked him for helping him resonate with the Ancient Huanglong Army, Ling An and Tide Sis escaped a crowd, and Ling An told the storyteller to make him sound cooler next time.

• Ling An listened with Tide Sis to a wildly embellished tale about his battle with the Threnodian and teased her about his growing strength.
• Ling An reflected that the sighs of Jinzhou's dead had reshaped him into Crownless and helped him seize half of Dreamless's authority.
• Lianfeng asked whether Ling An could summon the Bell-Ringing Turtle, and Ling An explained that the injured Turtle was recovering.
• Lianfeng thanked Ling An for helping him resonate with the Ancient Huanglong Army, drawing a crowd of patrons around them.
• Ling An and Tide Sis fled the teahouse, and Ling An told the storyteller that his next version should make him sound even cooler.

After Jinzhou’s peace returned, Ling An met Chixia and Yangyang with Tide Sis and confirmed that Baizhi had deduced his identity as the Dark Night Hero. Chixia asked whether Ling An could take human form, and Tide Sis encouraged him to try.

• Ling An and Tide Sis met Chixia and Yangyang at Pan Hua Restaurant to discuss the strange being from Tide Sis’s Resonance Mark.
• Chixia and Yangyang recognized Ling An as the one who had saved Yangyang in Scar’s illusion and learned he was the Dark Night Hero.
• Chixia explained that Baizhi had suspected Ling An was Crownless after noticing a cat was missing near the Tacet Field and recognizing his fighting moves in the Holographic Projection.
• Chixia asked Ling An whether he could transform into a human, and he said he thought he could.
• Tide Sis told Ling An that her tastes had not changed when he asked whether she wanted to see him transform.

Yangyang explained that Rover’s summoned creature was linked to her and could turn consumed energy into her power. After the creature knew nothing about its identity but showed an intense fondness for Ling An, Ling An named it A-Bu.

• Yangyang relayed Baizhi’s findings that the creature was bound to Rover, shared a symbiotic connection with her, and had absorbed power with the same origin as Crownless.
• Rover summoned the creature, which admitted it knew neither its own identity nor Rover’s but could fight and had swallowed an attack from a powerful enemy.
• The creature tried to approach Ling An because he smelled good, while Rover stopped it from eating him.
• Chixia asked whether the creature knew everything that happened inside Rover, prompting awkward reactions before it insisted it slept whenever it was inside her.
• Yangyang suggested naming the creature, and Ling An first proposed Giant Mountain Ultra Overlord before settling on A-Bu.
• A-Bu accepted the name, hugged Ling An, and asked what his name was.

After learning that Jinhsi had gone to Mt. Firmament, Ling An set out for the Wailing Wastes to find the Guide and clear a path through the fog. He gathered Tacet Discords to feed his weakened companions, but realized a full-power strike could destroy the Wailing Wastes and endanger nearby residents.

• At the Border Fortress, Sanhua told Ling An and Tide Sis that Jinhsi had gone to Mt. Firmament and that they needed the Guide at the Wailing Wastes ferry landing to reach her.
• Ling An headed to the Wailing Wastes alone and captured wild Tacet Discords to replenish the Gourd and nourish the Glacio Rider and Bell-Ringing Turtle.
• Ling An reached the fog-covered Wailing Wastes and blasted a clearing through the mist, but the fog returned within half an hour.
• Ling An surveyed the Wailing Wastes from the sky and decided against dispersing all the fog with a full-power strike because it could destroy the area and kill nearby residents.

Ling An met researcher September in the Wailing Wastes and learned that local suppression devices might disperse the fog. As they set out to locate them, Sorrowful Cry appeared in the fog, moving as if something held it back.

• Ling An met September, a researcher searching for a ghost shadow, and helped him locate one.
• September used his Terminal to translate the ghost shadow’s fragmented message while Ling An accompanied him through the Wailing Wastes.
• Ling An learned that the bird-shaped Tacet Discord Sorrowful Cry was believed to cause the Wailing Wastes’ fog, thunderstorms, and marsh whirlpools, but September urged caution before attacking it.
• September explained that restarting suppression devices documented by former Jiting scholars might clear the fog and planned to seek help from Xiangli Yao.
• As Ling An and September headed toward a local residential area to find the devices, Sorrowful Cry appeared in the sky, flying hesitantly as if shackled.

Ling An learned the story of Sorrowful Cry and its lost companion from an old man in a village near the Wailing Wastes. He then joined September to investigate the fog suppression devices, revealing his powerful true form and proving the swamp’s corrosive mud could not harm him.

• Ling An met an old man and his grandson, who told him that a Tacet Discord Tide had killed one of the two Sorrowful Cries and left the survivor plunging into the fog in grief.
• The old man explained how locals once played music on leaves to accompany the birds, and he began teaching his grandson the custom.
• September sent Ling An the coordinates of the three suppression devices and warned him about corrosive mud in the Wailing Wastes.
• Ling An refused September’s Ultrasonic Pulse Chip, transformed into his crownless true form, and walked into the swamp mud unharmed.
• September watched Ling An’s blazing power and realized why the Threnodian had fled from him.

Ling An and September activated the suppression devices in the Wailing Wastes and uncovered evidence that Sorrowful Cry mourned another Tacet Discord. A ghost shadow led them to an old research station, where it delivered a message about being dead and still loving someone before fading away.

• September told Ling An he had been thinking about his wife and wondered whether Tacet Discords could feel emotions.
• Ling An and September activated the first suppression device, but no Tacet Discords appeared because Ling An's presence frightened them away.
• September found logs showing that Sorrowful Cry carried energy-rich substances into the mist and weakened afterward.
• The remaining logs recorded Sorrowful Cry circling and mourning where another bird-shaped Tacet Discord had died, leading September to believe Tacet Discords had genuine souls.
• A ghost shadow guided Ling An and September to an old temporary research station and, through September's Terminal, said it was dead, could not return, and loved someone.

Ling An and September discovered that Sorrowful Cry’s attempts to revive his beloved had created the Wailing Wastes’ strange phenomena. Ling An used the lingering consciousness in the ghostly shadows and the remains to bring the birdlike Tacet Discord back, and the reunited birds embraced in the sky.

• September realized Sorrowful Cry was collecting remains to revive the other birdlike Tacet Discord, and identified the ghostly shadows as her lingering consciousness.
• Ling An walked to the remains while September examined them, and Sorrowful Cry attacked him to protect what he believed was his beloved.
• Sorrowful Cry rose into the sky and plunged toward Ling An in a final attack as September found that the remains held enough energy and consciousness to construct a body.
• Ling An gathered frequencies from the ghostly shadows and called for the birdlike Tacet Discord to stand up.
• The revived bird flew to Sorrowful Cry, and the pair embraced and danced together in the air.

Ling An restored the Wailing Wastes by bringing Sorrowful Cry’s dead mate back as a ghostly figure, and the two birds reunited. He then manifested A Hui’s final obsession for September, leaving September face-to-face with his lost wife’s last words.

• Ling An explained that the dead bird’s lingering frequency had let him manifest her, and Sorrowful Cry reunited with its mate beneath a rainbow as the Wailing Wastes recovered.
• Villagers watched the birds fly together and played leaf melodies as the land’s mist and storms gave way to grass, flowers, and renewed life.
• September told Ling An that his wife A Hui had died during a field study ten months and thirteen days earlier, before they could say goodbye.
• Ling An manifested A Hui’s ghostly figure from her strong lingering frequency, and September approached her in tears.
• A Hui’s ghostly figure repeated her final words to September: “Yueyue, you look so listless. Would you smile for me?”

Ling An helped September say goodbye to his deceased wife and took Sorrowful Cry and its mate into the Gourd as his subordinates. At the ferry landing, he met Changli, who recognized his true identity, and their flirtatious conversation was interrupted by a familiar voice in the rain.

• Ling An left September and his wife to share their final moments, and September thanked him before deciding to continue his research and live well.
• Sorrowful Cry chose to become Ling An's subordinate, and Ling An drew both avian Tacet Discords into the Gourd.
• After parting from September, Ling An went to the ferry landing and sensed a time-related turbulence surrounding Mt. Firmament.
• Changli approached Ling An beneath her umbrella, identified him as Crownless, and introduced herself as Jinhsi's mentor.
• Ling An asked Changli to pick him up and began teasing her, but a familiar voice spoke from behind them in the rain.

Changli, Tide Sis, and Ling An traveled by boat toward Mt. Firmament, where the Fractsidus had imprisoned the Sentinel. As Changli pondered Ling An’s mysterious nature, Tide Sis refused to let her hold him.

• Changli invited Tide Sis and Ling An to travel with her to Mt. Firmament, and Ling An jumped from Changli’s arms into Tide Sis’s.
• On the boat, Tide Sis identified Mt. Firmament as the place where the Sentinel first appeared, while Ling An said he planned to kill the Fractsidus there.
• Changli reflected that Ling An was an unpredictable presence absent from the prophecy and wondered how he had gained such power and a humanlike sense of self.
• Tide Sis noticed Changli watching Ling An and asked whether she wanted to hold him, then proudly answered no.