Chapter Summaries

Zhezhi finished a painting of Ling An and Tide Sis, while Tide Sis hinted at her uncertainty about how long she could stay in Jinzhou. The next day, Ling An sensed that Tide Sis was hiding something and worried that a storm was coming, but Yinlin offered him her support and invited him to explore Peach Blossom Village.

• Zhezhi completed and sold her painting of Ling An and Tide Sis for fifty thousand Shell Credits.
• Tide Sis told Ling An she might not remain in Jinzhou much longer, and he promised to spend the Moon-Chasing Festival with her.
• The next day, Tide Sis went with Xiangli Yao to address the third Anomalous Wish and left Ling An in Peach Blossom Village.
• Ling An wondered how much of Tide Sis's memories and strength had returned and sensed that danger was approaching.
• Yinlin revealed that she knew Ling An was the Crownless and reassured him that people like her stood behind him.
• Yinlin invited Ling An to check out a crowded stall with her.

Ling An and Yinlin visited the Huaxu Academy’s Moon-Chasing Festival stall, where challengers struggled to defeat the holographic Crownless. Yinlin entered the other version of the challenge and was matched with four teammates, one of whom Ling An recognized as Jiyan.

• Ling An explained that the stall’s Holographic Projection challenge rewarded winners with his figurines, but no team had cleared it.
• Baizhi revealed that the festival offered two holographic Crownless challenges of similar difficulty, based on Ling An’s two forms.
• Yinlin volunteered to challenge the other version and agreed to let Baizhi match her with teammates from other trial sites.
• Yinlin entered the Holographic Projection using her actual appearance and met the four Resonator Phantoms on her team.
• One teammate introduced himself as Azure Dragon, and Ling An recognized his voice as Jiyan’s.

Jiyan, Jinhsi, Changli, Yinlin, and Hound assembled for the Moon-Chasing Festival’s Holographic Projection: Crownless challenge, with several of them recognizing one another despite using codenames. The challenge began against Ling An’s second-form Crownless, who declared that time was his to command and froze the holographic space.

• Jiyan entered the challenge under a codename, and Dongyang recognized his voice outside the screen but kept his identity quiet.
• Jinhsi and Changli joined Jiyan, Yinlin, and Hound, then realized that most of their teammates were familiar acquaintances.
• Ling An watched the team assemble and privately dubbed them the Jinzhou Payroll Squad.
• Baizhi activated the Moon-Chasing Festival challenge, revealing it as Holographic Projection: Crownless: World's Suspension.
• Ling An appeared in his second form on a throne, declared that time was his to command, and plunged the holographic space into stasis.

Jinhsi countered Crownless’s time-stopping power with restoration while Changli, Jiyan, and Yinlin attacked him. As Crownless trapped Yinlin and prepared a killing blow, Hound finally intervened and struck back with a powerful lightning attack.

• The crowd watched as Crownless froze the five Resonator Phantoms, but Jinhsi used restoration to counter his stasis and protect her companions.
• Changli, Jiyan, and Yinlin launched a combined assault while Jinhsi maintained the protective field and Hound held back.
• Crownless fought off the attackers and struck Yinlin, who used Suspended Strings to shield herself before Baizhi’s buffs strengthened the group.
• Jiyan and Changli realized Crownless’s stasis power was building through each exchange, and Jinhsi urged the group to finish the fight quickly.
• Crownless trapped Yinlin with stasis and aimed a killing blow at her, but Hound charged in, deflected his fist, and attacked with lightning.

Jiyan, Jinhsi, Changli, Yinlin, and Hound coordinated against Ling An’s holographic Crownless and gained the upper hand. Ling An left before the fight ended, then reunited with Yinlin, who had collected her reward and questioned him about his many secrets.

• Jiyan organized the team, with Yinlin watching Crownless from a distance, Jinhsi weakening his stasis, Changli and Jiyan engaging him, and Hound supporting them with lightning.
• The crowd watched the five Resonators gain the upper hand, while Ling An noted that Jinhsi’s restoration power had disrupted Crownless’s stasis.
• Ling An left the crowd and walked through Peach Blossom Village, thinking about the Moon-Chasing Festival and whether Changli would attend.
• Ling An returned to the puppet show stall and found Yinlin there with a figurine she had won after the battle.
• Yinlin said Ling An’s true form differed from what she had seen before and asked when she would learn all his secrets, but Ling An hoped she never would.

During the Moon-Chasing Festival in Jinzhou, Ling An joined Rover and their friends for a group photo celebrating their victory over the Threnodian. Changli accepted Ling An’s invitation and stepped into the welcoming crowd, leaving everyone gathered together in a moment of happiness.

• Ling An arrived at the festival gathering, where Chixia, Rover, and their friends waited to take a family photo.
• Taoqi, Yuanwu, Danjin, Lingyang, Jianxin, Zhezhi, Verina, Encore, and Aalto joined the group, while Mortefi prepared the camera.
• Rover told Ling An that one person was still missing and urged him to invite her.
• Ling An found Changli and brought her to the gathering; she felt warmth as she saw everyone welcoming her.
• Chixia arranged the group, Mortefi set the camera, and everyone called out their festival greeting as the shutter clicked.
• Ling An looked at the smiling faces around him and wondered if this was what happiness felt like.

During the Moon-Chasing Festival, Ling An and his companions learned that a complete Threnodian had awakened in Rinascita and received a plea for help. Ling An and Tide Sis set out for the Border Fortress, while Ling An wondered how they could face an unknown enemy in an unfamiliar land.

• Chixia proposed that everyone take a group photo together every year, and Mortefi learned from Xiangli's robot that the laboratory was in an emergency.
• Mortefi, Yuanwu, and Taoqi hurried toward Jinzhou as a massive tremor shook Peach Blossom Village.
• Aalto announced that a Threnodian had awakened in Rinascita, and Tide Sis explained that it was a complete Threnodian unlike the wounded Dreamless.
• Jinhsi reassured Jinzhou's people, then urgently summoned Yangyang, Rover, Ling An, and the others to the Border Fortress after receiving Rinascita's plea for help.
• Tide Sis and Ling An left for the Border Fortress, and Chixia entrusted Ling An with the group photo as he considered the danger ahead.

Ling An and Tide Sis traveled from Jinzhou to Rinascita after learning that a Threnodian of domination had awakened there. They reached the Tower of Heaven and discovered that millions of Tacet Discords above Overlord-Class were attacking the city, leaving Rinascita's crisis far worse than expected.

• Changli explained that most Huanglong Magistrates planned to watch from the sidelines, while Tide Sis volunteered to go to Rinascita and Changli left to seek support.
• Ling An agreed to accompany Tide Sis, and Jinhsi warned them to be careful before they departed Jinzhou.
• Ling An and Tide Sis crossed the ocean on Sorrowful Cry, reaching Rinascita's territory after thirteen days of flight.
• Ling An killed an aquatic Tacet Discord that attacked them near the Tower of Heaven, then met a blonde girl named Lan, who said the local good friends had become bad friends.
• Ling An and Tide Sis saw tens of millions of Tacet Discords above Overlord-Class surging toward the city beneath the Tower of Heaven.

Ling An, Tide Sis, and Lan reached Rinascita’s main city as a vast Tacet Discord Tide advanced under the revived Threnodian Touch of the Old Days. Lancelot welcomed the visitors and revealed that Rinascita’s sovereign had been fighting the Threnodian for thirteen days and had predicted their arrival.

• Ling An and Tide Sis found Lan alone on Companion Island, where she had been separated from her family while escaping the Tacet Discords.
• Lan guided Ling An and Tide Sis toward the main city, and Ling An sensed that a stronger power controlled the approaching Tacet Discord Tide.
• The group reached the city beneath the Tower of Heaven, where a guard admitted them after Tide Sis identified them as helpers from Jinzhou.
• Lan explained that the tower sheltered nearby Echoes from Touch of the Old Days, and Lancelot introduced himself as the person currently responsible for Rinascita.
• Lancelot revealed that Rinascita’s sovereign was fighting Touch of the Old Days and had foretold the visitors’ arrival.

Ling An and Tide Sis joined Rinascita’s knights in defending the main city from an enormous Tacet Discord Tide. As the battle continued, Ling An summoned powerful Echoes and discovered the knights’ unusual method of fighting, then tried to awaken the frequencies of fallen Tacet Discords.

• Lancelot told Ling An and Tide Sis that Rinascita’s sovereign had prophesied the Outlander would help destroy the Threnodian, then ordered reinforcements to the western line.
• Ling An and Tide Sis reached the western defense and saw Rinascita’s knights and their Echo companions battling an overwhelming tide of Overlord-Class Tacet Discords.
• Ling An summoned six powerful Tacet Discords and charged into battle alongside Tide Sis, who wielded a dark purple scythe.
• Lancelot revealed Rinascita’s method of fighting by merging his strength with a Tacet Discord phantom, and other knights followed his example.
• Ling An noticed the scattered frequencies on the battlefield and called, “Spirits of the fallen, awaken!”

Ling An and Lancelot’s forces struggled against the Tacet Discord Tide as a Threnodian’s authority unleashed a storm, but the Tower of Heaven shielded the defensive line. After the knights regrouped and Lan reunited with her father Gawain, a giant tentacle struck, devastating the troops and wrapping itself around the tower.

• Ling An resurrected fallen Tacet Discords and sent them charging into the tide, but a storm severed his control and turned them against the defenders.
• Lancelot warned the forces to retreat as Ling An sensed a powerful Threnodian across the sea; the storm stopped at the Tower of Heaven, and Lancelot said the tower resisted the deity’s authority.
• Lancelot thanked Ling An for rescuing Lan, then identified the Tower of Heaven as the Jade Pillar That Calms the Sea and Subdues Thunder in Huanglong’s records.
• Lan ran to her father Gawain as the knights reformed their defensive line, and Lancelot praised Gawain for protecting their homeland.
• A colossal tentacle swept toward Rinascita’s main city and struck the troops near the tower; Ling An escaped with Tide Sis and Lan, then saw the tentacle coiled around the Tower of Heaven.

A Threnodian’s tentacle attacked the Tower of Heaven, and Lancelot and hundreds of knights died trying to defend it. Rinascita’s sovereign arrived, cut the tentacle apart, and recognized the Threnodian’s aura in Ling An as anguished cries sounded nearby.

• Lancelot and the knights charged the tentacle constricting the Tower of Heaven while Ling An attacked it and Tide Sis tried to stop Lan from wandering toward the ravine.
• The tentacle pierced Lancelot and hundreds of knights, but they kept advancing until their wounds killed them.
• Lancelot died after asking Ling An to protect the sacred tower, and Ling An grieved as Tide Sis flew toward the tentacle.
• Rinascita’s sovereign descended from the sky and severed the tentacle with a single slash.
• The sovereign asked Ling An and Tide Sis whether they were injured, then recognized the Threnodian’s aura in Ling An as Tide Sis urged them to discuss what to do next.

Soran Notia revealed that Rinascita’s ancient records described a way to destroy the Touch of the Old Days, and proposed that she and Ling An attack it while Rover traveled through the Holy Tower to the World Beyond. Ling An left to verify the plan with the Knights, confirming the tower’s role as a passage for an outsider before asking about Soran.

• Soran Notia asked Ling An and Rover to help Rinascita and learned that Lancelot had died.
• Soran explained that they needed to shatter the Touch of the Old Days’ core and send Rover through the Holy Tower to retrieve a power from the World Beyond.
• Soran proposed confronting the Threnodian with Ling An while Rover traveled to the World Beyond, but Rover said they needed time to consider.
• Ling An and Rover left the tower and agreed to ask others about the situation separately.
• Ling An questioned a guard near the tower, who confirmed that Rinascita’s records described it as the stairway by which an outsider had once descended.
• Ling An asked the guard what he knew about Soran.

Ling An learned about Rinascita’s sovereign Soran and discovered that the fallen Grand Commander Lancelot had been her lover. He and Tide Sis then considered whether the Tower of Heaven could lead her back to the World Beyond to reclaim lost power.

• A guard told Ling An that Rinascita’s sovereign drew strength from the legendary Sun-Devouring Whale and inherited the name Soran.
• Ling An visited the newly made graves and learned from a Knight Captain that Lancelot and Soran had been lovers, though Soran had not visited his grave.
• Tide Sis told Ling An that Rinascita’s ancient texts recorded her arrival from beyond the heavens, possibly through the Tower of Heaven.
• Ling An and Tide Sis considered that the tower might take her back to the World Beyond, where she could reclaim her lost power.

Ling An and Tide Sis agreed to help Soran destroy the Threnodian, and Tide Sis began her perilous return to the World Beyond to recover her power. As Soran and Ling An headed for the Boundless Sea Horizon to face the Touch of the Old Days, Ling An learned that its Heart of Domination was its weakness and plunged toward the enemy.

• Ling An and Tide Sis agreed to join Soran's plan to destroy the Threnodian, and Soran told Tide Sis that she had to return to the World Beyond to reclaim her power.
• Tide Sis embraced Ling An, asked him not to die, confessed that she had always liked him, and was carried upward through the Tower of Heaven.
• Soran and Ling An set out for the Boundless Sea Horizon as Rinascita's forces gathered to defend their homeland.
• At the Boundless Sea Horizon, Soran explained that the Touch of the Old Days could be gravely wounded by destroying its Heart of Domination and that its authority could not affect Ling An.
• Ling An gripped his spear and plunged toward the enormous enemy beneath the sea.

Ling An fought the Touch of the Old Days alongside Soran beneath the sea while Rinascita's knights battled the Tacet Discord Tide at the shore. Dreamless appeared over the sea and sent the Abyssal Herald after Ling An, who faced it in battle while waiting for Tide Sis to return.

• Ling An charged into the sea and found the colossal octopus-like Touch of the Old Days, fighting off its Tacet Discord subjects.
• Soran joined Ling An underwater and urged him to seek the Heart of Domination as their clash sent a tsunami toward Rinascita's Main City.
• Ling An saw a phantom purple moon above the sea and realized Dreamless had appeared in Rinascita.
• The Abyssal Herald emerged from Dreamless, absorbed its purple power, and challenged Ling An while Soran remained occupied with the Touch of the Old Days.
• Ling An charged at the Abyssal Herald, declaring that it should return to him.

Jué warned Jinhsi that the reawakening crisis threatened to begin the Lament, prompting Jinzhou to evacuate and prepare its ultimate weapon. As Ling An nearly defeated Dreamless, the Touch of the Old Days seized the Abyssal Herald and dragged it into the Abyss, and Ling An pursued it into the creature’s shadow, where he encountered a shocking sight.

• Jué told Jinhsi that prophecy showed only darkness and ordered her to evacuate Jinzhou while it went to face the crisis.
• Jinhsi announced the danger, and Chixia, Yangyang, and Jinzhou’s Resonators began evacuating citizens as Mortefi and Baizhi prepared Drill the Void.
• Ling An, believing he was about to defeat Dreamless and claim the remaining authority, hurled his spear at the exhausted Abyssal Herald.
• The Touch of the Old Days seized the Abyssal Herald with a tentacle and dragged it into the Abyss, while Soran attacked the shadow to open a path for Ling An.
• Ling An pursued the Abyssal Herald through the opening and followed its lingering annihilation power into the Touch of the Old Days, where a sight stopped him cold.

Ling An destroyed the supposed Heart of Domination, only to realize it was the Sun-Devouring Whale and that he had undone the protection tied to Tide Sis’s power. Tide Sis discovered that the World Beyond was a prison prepared for her by Ling An, while the whale’s released frequencies flowed to Soran, who revealed her true intentions.

• Soran urged Ling An to destroy the Heart of Domination, and he overcame his hesitation and struck it with his spear.
• Tide Sis crossed into the World Beyond seeking her promised power, found herself trapped in a cage, and realized Ling An had imprisoned her.
• Ling An recognized that the Heart of Domination was actually the Sun-Devouring Whale, whose existence protected Tide Sis through the Sun.
• The whale cried out and burst into frequencies that swept past Ling An and rushed toward Soran.
• Soran laughed, straightened her attire, and told Ling An he could now have an audience with her.

The Touch of the Old Days revealed that she had manipulated Ling An into killing the real Soran and banished Tide Sis beyond their world. After absorbing the Sun-Devouring Whale, she dominated Dreamless and her own full-strength body to become a three-in-one life-form.

• The Touch of the Old Days revealed that she had secretly inhabited Soran's body and used Ling An to destroy the real Soran, whose heart was the Sun-Devouring Whale's core.
• The Touch of the Old Days told Ling An that Tide Sis had been banished beyond their world and crushed him with her power.
• She absorbed the Sun-Devouring Whale's shattered frequencies as tremors devastated Rinascita and shook Jinzhou, and the Tower of Heaven collapsed.
• The Touch of the Old Days merged her immense power into Soran's body, transforming it into a grotesque form.
• She fully dominated the dying Abyssal Herald, Dreamless, and her own body, becoming a three-in-one life-form as the phantom moon shattered.

Ling An faced the Touch of the Old Days, the origin of the Lament, and Jué sacrificed itself to give him the full authority of reversal. Ling An then burned away his own existence to hold the enemy back while waiting for Tide Sis to return.

• The Touch of the Old Days began taking Ling An's remaining war authority, leaving him unable to resist.
• Jué arrived with the Heavenly Sword, interrupted the attack, and merged its temporal power into Ling An, dying in the process.
• Blood rain fell across Jinzhou as Sanhua, Jinhsi, Jiyan, and the Midnight Rangers learned of the Sentinel's death and prepared for battle.
• Ling An used stasis and reversal repeatedly, burning away his existence to delay the Touch of the Old Days.
• The Touch of the Old Days tried to make Ling An despair and join it, but Ling An insisted they had always been different.