Chapter Summaries

Tyrael revealed that the Crimson Secret Cult created Hana Ye as a vessel meant to bear the Red Moon’s authority and help the Lord of Crimson become an Outer God. He explained that Hana’s birth cost her mother’s life, and warned Lin En that the Lord of Crimson would descend when the next Red Moon Disturbance opened the way to the Red Moon’s corpse.

• Tyrael told Lin En that the vessel factory had been shut down after they created a promising vessel, and that Hana had shown near-perfect compatibility and summoned the Red Moon ten years earlier.
• Tyrael revealed that the Crimson Secret Cult sought to make a vessel capable of bearing the former King of the Red Moon’s authority, and that a special door near the corpse opened only at certain times for the Red Moon Family.
• Tyrael explained that the Lord of Crimson had visited the corpse twenty years earlier and brought back samples used in their attempts to create a Red Moon Vessel.
• Tyrael said nearly a hundred vessels had failed, including one that could host the Lord of Crimson but could not bear the Red Moon’s divine status.
• Tyrael recounted how his mentor, a woman from the Red Moon Family, used the remaining corpse samples in her body and gave birth to Hana Ye, dying during the process.
• Tyrael warned Lin En that the next Red Moon Disturbance might open the door, and that the Lord of Crimson would descend rather than miss the opportunity.

Lin En learned why the Crimson Secret Cult had returned Hana Ye to the real world: her fear could summon the Red Moon and kill everyone nearby. Tyrael revealed that Hana Ye’s father was a formidable former Exorcist who had once fought the cult, leaving Lin En wary of the powerful figure’s possible allegiance.

• Lin En asked Tyrael why the cult had sent Hana Ye back instead of keeping her in the Spirit Realm, and Tyrael explained that her emotions could summon the Red Moon.
• Tyrael said Hana Ye had once summoned the Red Moon in the fourth level of the Spirit Realm, killing every living creature in Clockwork City until her father calmed her.
• Tyrael explained that the cult left Hana Ye alone in the real world because another incident could attract the Church and other factions.
• Tyrael told Lin En that Hana Ye’s father was not a cult member and had nearly destroyed the Crimson Secret Cult before the Lord of Crimson intervened.
• Tyrael identified Hana Ye’s father as the White Killing God, a former Exorcist Association Vice President who had fought his way to the eighth level of the Spirit Realm.
• Lin En considered the danger of Hana Ye’s father potentially siding with the Crimson Secret Cult and concluded that the situation was troublesome.

Lin En and Tyrael entered the sealed first-generation Vessel factory known as Hunger Cave. Inside, Lin En discovered the horrific maternal hosts used to mass-produce Vessels.

• Tyrael brought Lin En to a spatial node in the Spirit Realm and used his blood to open the route to the factory.
• Tyrael led Lin En through a passage and opened the ancient stone door to Hunger Cave.
• Tyrael knelt and declared that the factory now belonged to Lin En and that he would serve him.
• Lin En saw pregnant women fused into the fleshy walls of the cave, many connected to tubes and still carrying gestating creatures.
• Tyrael explained that the women had been abducted and implanted with Origin Substances so they could serve as maternal hosts for mass-producing Vessels.

Lin En learned how the Factory used living Mothers and recycled human bodies to manufacture Vessels, and discovered that at least ten thousand had been planted in Clockwork City to host invading Weirds. Tyrael then revealed a chained figure who had produced Vessels compatible with Great Demons but unable to bear the Red Moon’s divine status.

• Tyrael explained that the Factory used Mothers to produce Vessels and recycled defective products and abducted people as fuel.
• Lin En saw the living Mothers, the mass of human remains in the Nutrient Pool, and the brutal process that accelerated and tested the Vessels.
• Tyrael showed Lin En teenager-sized Vessel embryos suspended in cocoons and revealed that at least ten thousand Vessels had been sent to Clockwork City as hidden hosts for Weirds.
• Tyrael led Lin En to a chained figure and said she had produced Vessels compatible with Great Demons but unable to bear the Red Moon’s divine status.

Lin En visited Tyrael’s Factory and learned that its core was a captive Divine Scion transformed into a breeding machine. He gave Tyrael a drop of his true body’s blood, and Tyrael identified four compatible materials for a new Vessel.

• Tyrael explained that the chained woman was a Divine Scion, captured centuries earlier and modified into the Factory’s breeding machine.
• Lin En asked whether the woman remained conscious, and Tyrael said she retained only basic consciousness and biological instincts.
• Tyrael requested flesh from Lin En’s current Vessel, but Lin En instead offered a drop of corrupt blood from his true body.
• Tyrael tested 325 materials against the blood in the Factory and found four that could resist its corruption and meet the requirements for Vessel manufacture.
• Tyrael showed Lin En the four candidates: Red Dragon biomass, Blood essence, modified human-race biomass No. 161, and human-race biomass No. 11.

Lin En ordered Tyrael to use the Factory’s mother host and the flesh from Lin En’s first Vessel to create a new body. As the embryo neared completion, the Factory’s nutrient supply was disrupted, and the Vessels outside awakened and spoke in the voice of Calamity.

• Lin En asked Tyrael about the risks of creating a Vessel by fusing materials, and Tyrael explained the risks of blood collapse and a lack of will.
• Lin En gave Tyrael flesh from his first Vessel and ordered him to create a new body quickly as a test of his loyalty.
• Tyrael activated the mother host, injected Lin En’s blood and the materials, and began gestating the embryo while Lin En restrained himself from intervening.
• Tyrael brought the embryo close to completion by redirecting nearly all the Factory’s nutrients to the mother host.
• A crash shook the cavern, the nutrient tubes stopped working, and the Vessels outside fell from their cocoons and awakened.
• The awakened Vessels spoke in Calamity’s voice and accused Tyrael of betraying him.

The Lord of Crimson revealed that she had prepared safeguards in the Factory and began destroying it after Tyrael betrayed her. As the vessel’s gestation came under threat, Lin En reassured Tyrael and called on Mr. Mogans and Commander Nero for protection.

• The Lord of Crimson confronted Tyrael through the surveillance system and sent her legion to attack the Factory.
• The Lord of Crimson’s forces damaged the Factory, cutting off the mother’s nutrient supply and threatening the vessel’s gestation.
• Tyrael activated a procedure that sacrificed the mother’s body to power the vessel.
• The Lord of Crimson tried to turn Tyrael against Lin En, but Lin En promised Tyrael a future as his chief vessel master.
• Lin En took out the Impression Crystal and asked Mr. Mogans and Commander Nero to protect him.

Lin En’s ambush against the Lord of Crimson turned into a race to stop her from descending through a hidden vessel in the Factory. After discovering that her vessel was beginning to strengthen, Lin En prepared to unleash his power without the protection of the Factory’s reality anchors.

• Lin En revealed that Mogans and Nero had followed him to the Hunger Cave, forcing the Lord of Crimson’s forces to divide their strength to fight them.
• Tyrael searched the Factory’s surveillance feeds and found a red-haired vessel resembling Hana Ye absorbing nutrients in the Underground Storage Room.
• Tyrael recognized the girl as a vessel he had made for the Lord of Crimson and warned that she could project substantial power through it.
• Tyrael explained that Reality Anchoring could stabilize the Factory, but its effects would benefit both Lin En and the Lord of Crimson.
• Lin En told Tyrael to turn off the Reality Anchoring, removed his rings, and prepared for his body’s final dance.

Lin En confronted the Lord of Crimson in the Vessel Factory, provoking her so he could trigger a collapse of reality and take her with him. He froze her with [Time Stop] as the space around them shattered.

• Lin En asked Tyrael to send him to the Lord of Crimson, accepting that he would not return from the fight.
• The Lord of Crimson absorbed stored Spore Vessels to restore her power as she walked through the underground passage.
• Lin En emerged from a fleshy conduit and showed her footage of her separated avatar, provoking her with the humiliation.
• The Lord of Crimson charged at Lin En, and he pushed his power beyond the Vessel's limits to fracture the surrounding space.
• The Lord of Crimson tried to retreat, but Lin En used [Time Stop] and trapped her as reality collapsed beneath her.

Lin En used a reality collapse to drag the Lord of Crimson through the Spirit Realm’s layers before the Warp recalled him to the Great Rift. After he taunted her and vanished, she ordered a costly attempt to descend in her true body, while Lin En watched his new Vessel begin to form and wondered if she would return.

• Lin En broke free of the Lord of Crimson’s control and used his power to pull them through the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Layers of the Spirit Realm.
• The Lord of Crimson attacked Lin En as they fell, but his Vessel continued to collapse until the Warp recalled him from the Eighth Layer.
• Before vanishing, Lin En taunted the Lord of Crimson by claiming he had only one Vessel and would return to speak with her avatar.
• The enraged Lord of Crimson ordered her forces to use a Sacrificial Magic Formation to summon her toward the Ninth Layer, even if reality collapsed.
• Lin En returned to the Great Rift and watched his new Vessel take shape while wondering whether the Lord of Crimson would come back.

Tyrael accelerated the Vessel’s growth as the descended Weird prepared a ritual to summon the Lord of Crimson directly. With only two minutes left before the Vessel was complete, the Lord of Crimson opened a Rift into the Factory and called out for Lin En.

• Tyrael saw the Weird inscribe a Magic Formation and realized they intended to summon the Lord of Crimson through a Rift.
• With no response from his master, Tyrael used the mother’s essence to speed the Vessel’s growth, risking her bloodline contaminating it.
• The Weird gathered the Factory’s biomass to fuel the ritual while Mogans and Nero fought their way through the Factory’s defenses.
• The Lord of Crimson’s Magic Formation activated, draining the offerings and opening a Rift that shook the Second Layer of the Spirit Realm.
• The Lord of Crimson’s hands gripped the Rift as her voice called out for Lin En, though the offerings could not support her full descent.

Lin En underwent his second-stage advancement just as the Lord of Crimson attacked, then emerged as a colossal monstrosity and overwhelmed her. Reality collapsed around the flesh factory, and Lin En carried Tyrael and the unconscious crimson phantom into the Warp.

• The Lord of Crimson broke into the flesh factory and charged the mother, while Tyrael believed everything was lost.
• Lin En accepted the second-stage advancement from inside the mother’s belly and burst out as a vast, tentacled monster.
• Lin En caught the Lord of Crimson’s punch, overpowered her with his corruption and Divine Status, and mocked her for forcing him to emerge early.
• Mogans, Nero, and the others reached the factory as the surrounding space shattered and the entire area collapsed into the void.
• Lin En’s tentacle saved Tyrael during the fall, and Lin En led him through the Warp while carrying the unconscious Lord of Crimson.

Lin En captured a second severed piece of the Lord of Crimson’s will after a dangerous clash, naming her Little Red Number Two. He showed her the first Little Red in the black-mist prison, leaving Number Two devastated by what was happening to her other part.

• Lin En reflected that the Lord of Crimson’s main body had nearly destroyed his new Vessel, but celebrated capturing another piece of her will and gaining a new Vessel.
• Lin En awakened the captured Crimson Shadow, restrained her attacks, and explained that he had severed her from her main body.
• The Crimson Shadow tried to destroy herself, but Lin En stopped her and named her Little Red Number Two while boasting that he would collect more pieces and combine them.
• Lin En carried Little Red Number Two to the black-mist prison and showed her the first Little Red, whose distressed state left Number Two horrified.

Lin En used the Origin Substance to make one version of the Lord of Crimson docile, then forced Number Two to watch him satisfy her through a wall of black mist. He left Number Two confined and promised to deal with her after she adjusted to captivity.

• Lin En explained that negative Sequences had weakened Little Red’s intelligence and will, making her obedient and dependent on him.
• Lin En restrained Number Two and brought her to watch him enter Little Red’s room.
• Little Red eagerly begged Lin En to satisfy her, while Number Two screamed and struggled behind the soundproof black mist.
• Number Two blacked out from the shock, then woke to see Little Red being attended to just inches away.
• Lin En collected the maximum Emotional Fragments from both girls and returned to Number Two, promising to leave her alone for now and later make her a Vessel.

After reaching Calamity Rank 3, Lin En gained Dream Invasion and improved abilities before returning to the Spirit Realm in a new vessel. He and Tyrael landed in a deadly blizzard, where Lin En found the mother barely alive beneath the snow.

• Lin En reviewed his improved abilities and received Dream Invasion upon reaching Calamity Rank 3.
• Lin En returned to the Spirit Realm through a rift and felt the power of his new vessel.
• Lin En discovered that he and Tyrael had landed in a freezing, snow-covered region and asked Tyrael to identify their location.
• Lin En and Tyrael searched the area for useful supplies.
• Lin En found the mother buried in the snow with dangerously weak vital signs.

Lin En transformed back into Lin Yin and contacted Firstborn for help after falling into a freezing region of the Spirit Realm. Firstborn identified it as the Eighth Layer and set out to retrieve her.

• Lin En realized the worsening blizzard could trap him and that ordinary Impression Crystals could not reach anyone.
• Lin En used his Origin Substance to transform into Lin Yin, then contacted Firstborn with the special Impression Crystal.
• Firstborn asked whether Lin Yin had agreed to marry him, and Lin En stomped on the crystal before picking it up and asking for help.
• Firstborn identified Lin Yin's location as the Eighth Layer and warned her not to use her power.
• Firstborn ended the call, asked the Ice Lord for the key to his forbidden zone, and prepared to rescue Lin Yin.

Lin En encountered a storm-dwelling creature in the Eighth Layer and hid as Firstborn warned him not to use his Outer God powers. As mountains rose like giants and the one he had been sheltering inside awakened, Lin En was left clinging to its nostril as the rock in his hand broke.

• Lin En saw a beast at the center of a vast storm and was swept into the air by its suction.
• Firstborn told Lin En to hide, avoid drawing the creature’s attention, and never use his Outer God powers in the Eighth Layer.
• Lin En sheltered in a hole in a mountainside while the blizzard raged and waited for Firstborn to reach him.
• Lin En heard enormous footsteps and watched distant mountains rise as giants and march toward the storm.
• The mountain beneath Lin En awakened, revealing that his shelter was inside its nostril, and he clung to it as the rock in his grip crumbled.

Lin En and his companions were rescued from the ice giants by Firstborn, who tried to lead them out through the blizzard. When they found themselves trapped in a loop, Firstborn confronted the unseen Snow Demon and asked it to let them leave.

• Lin En began falling through the blizzard, but Firstborn caught him and rescued the falling Tyrael and the Mother.
• Firstborn explained that the awakened ice giants were ancient servants of the first Ice Lord, then shattered one with a single punch.
• Firstborn cleared a safe path through the storm and led the group onward, but they eventually returned to where they had started.
• Firstborn realized someone was preventing their escape, raised a blue-glowing emblem, and asked the Snow Demon to open the way.

Lin En survived the freezing attack of a strange white catlike creature and woke to find Firstborn had defeated it and returned to human size. Firstborn offered Lin En the creature’s severed tail as a free defensive item, but Lin En refused because free things cost the most.

• A white catlike creature attacked, freezing Lin En’s blood and leaving Tyrael and Firstborn gravely injured as Lin En was forced back into the Warp.
• Lin En returned to his body and found the blizzard gone, Tyrael missing, and the Ice Giants shattered across the plain.
• Firstborn shrank from a colossal silver-rune-covered giant and told Lin En he had driven the creature away and lifted the cold from their bodies.
• Firstborn offered Lin En the creature’s snow-white tail, sealed with a silver rune and carrying a piece of origin substance, as a trophy and defensive item.
• Lin En asked whether the tail was free and refused it, saying free things cost the most.

Firstborn explained that the Snow Demon was a vessel for the Ice Lord, a True God who still slept beneath the snowy mountain. He revealed that other True Gods might also remain alive and that the Gods' Families periodically sent Ability Users into the domain as living sacrifices.

• Lin En rejected Firstborn's gift and asked what the Snow Demon was.
• Firstborn explained that the Snow Demon was a First Generation vessel that had once hosted the Ice Lord, and warned that it might awaken the sleeping god if it sensed the Lord of Crawling's power in Lin En.
• Firstborn revealed that some True Gods survived the ancient war and remained asleep, including one beneath the snowy mountain.
• Firstborn told Lin En that twelve other places in the Eighth Layer might also shelter sleeping gods, and that he was investigating why they were secretly gathering power.
• Firstborn revealed that the major Gods' Families regularly sent Ability Users with origin substance into the God's Domain as living sacrifices.