Chapter Summaries

Lin En unleashed raw origin-substance power with Firstborn’s guidance, then helped him destroy a Crimson Secret Cult stronghold and collect its riches. Firstborn warned that Lin En’s corruption could make him a vessel for the Lord of Crawling, but Lin En remained focused on their loot and headed with him to the next target.

• Lin En released the primal power of his origin substance, and Firstborn praised his control while noting the corruption in his mental power.
• Firstborn warned Lin En that using Outer God power could transform his mind and make him a suitable vessel for the Lord of Crawling.
• Firstborn said Lin En was destined to be his princess consort, so Lin En shot him into a pit and resolved to get away from him after they dealt with the Lord of Crimson.
• Lin En and Firstborn searched the remains of a Crimson Secret Cult stronghold, recovering 37,000 Spirit Coins and numerous pieces of origin substance.
• Lin En reminded Firstborn of their seventy-thirty loot agreement and urged him to take them to the next place.

The Firstborn and Lin En destroyed the Crimson Secret Cult’s strongholds in the Spirit Realm, and the Gods' Families concluded that the Firstborn had fallen in love with Lin En. After Lin En left, the Firstborn faced a crimson apparition that had been watching him.

• The Firstborn and Lin En uprooted the Crimson Secret Cult’s strongholds, while Church troops recognized the Firstborn and did not interfere.
• The Gods' Families saw footage of the Firstborn smiling with Lin En and concluded that he had fallen in love, frustrating their hopes of arranging a match for him.
• Lin En collected more than a million Spirit Coins and over a thousand pieces of low-grade Origin Substance, and the Firstborn gave him an additional bag of Origin Substance.
• The Firstborn asked whether Lin En was no longer angry and proposed that they be friends, while Lin En again warned him that he could not bear his children.
• Lin En left, warning that the Firstborn might feel deceived if he learned the truth, and the Firstborn watched him disappear into the mist.
• A crimson apparition appeared behind the Firstborn, who challenged it for daring to show itself; the apparition had come only through an avatar and did not attack.

Lin En learned that Firstborn had disappeared and could not be contacted, leaving Clockwork City exposed to the Lord of Crimson. He warned his allies in the Spirit Realm that they might soon face her and Liu Si without Jiu or Firstborn, but had not yet explained what he came to tell them.

• Lin En discovered Firstborn had been missing for days and could not reach him through the Impression Crystal.
• Jiu said Firstborn had vanished after a night in the Spirit Realm, dismissed him as unreliable, and took charge of matters in reality.
• Lin En suspected the Lord of Crimson might exploit Firstborn's absence and reinforced the Cathedral before returning to the Spirit Realm.
• Lin En told Salgon, Mirror, and Lilith that the Lord of Crimson might invade and that Jiu could not join them in the Spirit Realm.
• Lin En said he had no realistic chance of defeating the Lord of Crimson and Liu Si, and warned his companions that they could die if the enemies tracked them down.

Lin En prepared Salgon, Lilith, and Mirror for the possibility that his vessel would fail during the coming Red Moon Descent, giving each a drop of his blood as insurance. He planned to gamble on stopping the Lord of Crimson through Hana Ye, while his servants left Clockwork City and waited for news.

• Lin En told Salgon and the others to divide his money and leave if he could not return, but Salgon swore he would remain loyal.
• Lin En gave each servant a drop of Outer God's Blood, explaining that it could help him descend into another compatible vessel if his current one failed.
• Lin En considered the uncertainty surrounding Hana Ye's potential loss of control and decided to face the coming Red Moon Descent with his stored origin substance and emotional fragments.
• After Lin En left, Salgon called their departure a strategic withdrawal and warned Lilith and Mirror not to betray their master.
• Lilith said she trusted Lin En to win, while Mirror held her drop of Outer God's Blood and remained silent about her plans.

Mirror visited the imprisoned Tyrael to confront him about his vessel research and reconsidered what made Hana Ye able to bear the Red Moon’s authority. She left Tyrael facing the possibility that Hana’s will, rather than her body, had drawn the Red Moon to protect her.

• Mirror entered the dungeon where Tyrael was imprisoned and reflected on how her revenge had cost her master the means to achieve World-Existence.
• Tyrael recognized Mirror and taunted her about her past as his failed vessel experiment.
• Mirror told Tyrael that reading his memories had not answered all her questions, and challenged his belief that his fleshcraft had produced a perfect vessel.
• Mirror explained that the First-Generation Vessels had borne the Outer Gods’ souls, not their authority, and said Hana Ye’s circumstances could not easily be replicated.
• Mirror proposed that the Red Moon’s authority might have chosen Hana Ye, and asked whether Hana’s will had stirred the Red Moon to protect her.

Mirror confronted Tyrael with the possibility that no such thing as a Perfect Vessel existed, then persuaded him to teach her vessel-making so she could create a body for her master. Tyrael agreed to guide her, and Mirror committed herself to gathering the materials, even if doing so meant killing many people.

• Mirror told Tyrael that a vessel might never be able to steal an Outer God's power and questioned whether a Perfect Vessel existed.
• Tyrael resisted Mirror's conjecture but reconsidered after she reminded him of his own advice to challenge even convincing theories.
• Mirror asked Tyrael to teach her everything he knew so she could create the best vessel for her master, and Tyrael agreed.
• Tyrael explained that vessel-making required specialized equipment and many kinds of human biomass, including dragon blood.
• Mirror showed Tyrael the piece of flesh Lin En had preserved with the Outer God's Blood and asked him to help turn it into an embryo.
• Mirror accepted that gathering the required materials might mean killing many people and declared, "For my master. I can."

Lin En synthesized a powerful second [Flesh] origin substance and several combat origin substances before returning to the Warp. There, Shinsen Saya continued restoring Ophiel, who had regained consciousness and asked about Lin En as Saya struggled to tell her the truth.

• Lin En gambled his resources on a second origin substance and synthesized one with five [Flesh] sequences and the negative sequences [Mental Tear] and [Brain Stone].
• Lin En used his remaining resources to synthesize combat origin substances, including [Beast Transformation], [Intangibility], [Flight], and [Freezing].
• Lin En severed his projection and returned to the Warp above the Rift, hoping Ophiel would recover in time to aid him in the coming war.
• Shinsen Saya nurtured Ophiel's soul in the golden Holy Flame until Ophiel regained her memories and consciousness.
• Ophiel asked whether the Divine Chosen had brought her to Shinsen Saya, and Saya began to tell her that the person Ophiel believed in was not what she thought.

Lin En visited Ophiel while Shinsen Saya treated her shattered soul, and Ophiel recounted how Hua Yin died during a Red Moon Descent. The story left Ophiel still blaming herself for failing to protect her student and Hua Yin’s unborn child.

• Lin En stopped Shinsen Saya from revealing his identity to Ophiel and reassured Ophiel that he would handle matters in Clockwork City until she recovered.
• Ophiel recognized Lin En’s voice and apologized for failing her duty before he identified Yuzhi Liu Si as the person who attacked her.
• Ophiel explained that Yuzhi Liu Si had once asked her to protect his wife, Hua Yin, her former student, and their unborn child.
• Ophiel recalled that a Red Moon Descent struck the Youzhi Family's Castle while she was away, filling it with fleshy vines and frenzied entities from the Spirit Realm.
• Ophiel reached Hua Yin too late and found her dying after she had fought to protect the child she was about to deliver.
• Ophiel said Yuzhi Liu Si returned to find Hua Yin dead and the infant alive, and she continued to blame herself for failing to protect Hua Yin.

Lin En explained the Red Moon conspiracy to Shinsen Saya and learned how the scheme had altered many people’s fates. With the Lord of Crimson’s invasion expected within days, he asked Saya how they could defend Clockwork City despite lacking help.

• Lin En reassured the injured Ophiel that she should not blame herself for the events that had happened.
• Shinsen Saya asked Lin En whether the Red Moon’s vessel was connected to Yan’s student, and Lin En explained that she was the student’s daughter.
• Lin En recounted how the woman from the Red Moon Family had spent centuries preparing vessels and advancing a plan to revive the King of the Red Moon.
• Lin En questioned whether the woman’s scheme might instead enable the Lord of Crimson to ascend and replace the King of the Red Moon.
• Lin En warned Shinsen Saya that the Lord of Crimson might attack Clockwork City within days and asked how they could defend it with so few allies.

Lin En tried to pressure Shinsen Saya into helping protect the people below from the Lord of Crimson, but she overpowered him until she entered her weakened phase and he retaliated. Shinsen Saya then offered to use Yan as an anchor for a brief Divine Descent, though Lin En worried the projection might let her escape his confinement.

• Lin En warned Shinsen Saya that the Lord of Crimson’s rise could unleash chaos across the Spirit Realm, but she demanded to be released.
• Shinsen Saya cut apart Lin En’s tentacles and pinned him with a golden sword, then grilled him for five hours.
• When Shinsen Saya entered her weakened phase, Lin En bound and beat her, insisting she help protect the people below.
• Shinsen Saya offered to place an anchor inside Yan so she could briefly descend into Yan’s body as a projection.
• Lin En questioned whether Divine Descent could free Shinsen Saya, and she angrily clarified that projection was not a transfer.

Lin En returned to Clockwork City after arranging for Shinsen Saya to help Ophiel recover, then discovered a note left for him. That night, the Firstborn attacked the Cathedral and accused Lin En of being an Otherworldly Great Demon who had deceived them all.

• Lin En agreed to Shinsen Saya’s offer to help, while warning her not to expose his identity or attack his vessels.
• Lin En returned to the Cathedral and considered what the Lord of Crimson might have told the Firstborn.
• Lin En found a note hidden in a book and smiled after reading it.
• The Firstborn launched a powerful attack on the Cathedral, and Jiu confronted him in the sky.
• The Firstborn told Jiu and the gathered Clerics that Lin En was an Otherworldly Great Demon who had infiltrated their ranks.

Firstborn accused Lin En of being a demon impersonating the Church’s Divine Chosen and proposed stripping his soul to prove it. Jiu refused to let Firstborn attack Lin En, and the two prepared to fight over their personal grudge.

• Firstborn claimed someone had told him Lin En was an impostor and pointed to the Nine Chimes of the Spirit Bell as evidence.
• Jiu said Lin En had explained that he took possession of Lin Ke’s body to pursue the demon behind the Nine Chimes, and asked Firstborn for proof.
• Firstborn proposed that he and Jiu strip Lin En’s soul from his body and inspect it.
• Clockwork City’s Clerics charged at Firstborn, but Jiu stopped them and declared that Lin En remained the Church’s Divine Chosen.
• Firstborn called his dispute with Lin En a personal matter and told Jiu to stand aside.
• Jiu tore off her Golden Robe, summoned chains of blades, and declared that she had wanted to kill Firstborn for a long time.

Jiu fought Firstborn through the night and was forced to retreat, while Firstborn publicly accused Lin En of being an Otherworldly Great Demon. After testing Lin En with the Church’s sacred flames, Jiu remained deeply suspicious but agreed to keep helping defend Clockwork City.

• Jiu battled Firstborn above Clockwork City until dawn, when he retreated and she struggled to maintain the stalemate.
• Firstborn publicly accused Lin En of being an Otherworldly Great Demon, throwing Clockwork City into further chaos.
• Jiu returned to the Cathedral injured and told Lin En that she had lost her duel with Firstborn.
• Jiu questioned Lin En about Firstborn’s accusation and engulfed him in sacred flames, but they had no effect.
• Jiu demanded Yan’s body, then loosened her grip on Lin En and agreed to help protect Clockwork City.

The Blood-red Eye and Liu Si of Yuzhi discussed how Lin En’s relationship with the Firstborn of God might fracture and whether he would endanger their plans for the Red Moon. At the Cathedral, Lin En noticed Hana Ye’s changing mark and offered to take her away.

• The Blood-red Eye told Liu Si of Yuzhi that the Firstborn of God had publicly declared his love for a woman who was actually Lin En, and predicted that the revelation would turn him against Lin En.
• The Blood-red Eye said Lin En might know their plan to obtain the Red Moon through Tyrael, but believed he would keep it secret to protect Hana Ye.
• Liu Si of Yuzhi insisted Lin En would not truly use Hana Ye’s life to threaten them, leaving the pair poised to begin their operation.
• Hana Ye learned that the Third Attendant had placed Lin En under house arrest and asked why the Firstborn of God might turn against him.
• Lin En removed Hana Ye’s bandage, saw that the crescent mark on her forehead had spread into a blood-red half-moon, and offered to take her to another city.

Mirror gathered 115 bottles of heart blood and equipment to help Tyrael create a vessel for her master. After spending a day and night attempting to produce biomass, she left the dungeon and was confronted by Lilith, who threatened to report her secret work to His Majesty.

• Mirror delivered 115 labeled bottles of blood and biomass-producing equipment to Tyrael in the dungeon beneath Mesijie Street.
• Tyrael instructed Mirror to purify the blood and catalyze biomass as a test of her ability to become a Vessel Master.
• Mirror used the instruments and runes to conduct repeated experiments, salvaging failed materials for reuse.
• Tyrael praised Mirror's skill and warned that vessel creation would lead her toward killing and treating living beings as meat.
• After Mirror worked through the day and night, Lilith emerged from the shadows and threatened to tell His Majesty that Mirror had disobeyed his order to leave Clockwork City.

Mirror tried to prepare a Vessel for Master despite her conscience, but Lilith intervened and warned her not to become a monster. Meanwhile, the Blood-red Eye and Liu Si of Yuzhi planned to seize Hana Ye and bring her into the Ninth Realm as the Red Moon Descent approached.

• Lilith confronted Mirror over sacrificing human lives, then restrained her and took her blade.
• Lilith revealed that she had killed the people Mirror had taken blood from and threatened to kill Mirror if she failed to make a suitable Vessel for Master.
• Lilith gave Mirror a blood-soaked ring and warned her to stop before she became someone everyone hated.
• Lin En remained confined in the Cathedral, and Jiu had recently stopped him from seeking medicine for Hana Ye.
• The Blood-red Eye predicted that Lin En would try to escape with Hana Ye and planned to strike during the resulting conflict.
• Liu Si of Yuzhi urged caution, but the Blood-red Eye said she would bring Hana Ye into the Ninth Realm before the Red Moon Descent and had enlisted several Chaos Great Demons.

Lin En cared for Hana Ye as her fever worsened under the Red Moon’s influence, reassuring her that he would not abandon her. Hana Ye asked him to stay with her, and he climbed into bed beside her.

• Lin En told Hana Ye that the Red Moon’s growing influence was causing her fever and that the mark on her forehead was a bad sign.
• Hana Ye apologized for bringing trouble to Lin En and said he could abandon her if she became too dangerous, but Lin En refused.
• Hana Ye reflected on how cared for she felt with Lin En by her side and accidentally asked if she could call him Daddy.
• Hana Ye stopped Lin En from leaving and asked him to sleep beside her that night.
• Lin En immediately got into bed beside Hana Ye and said she should have asked him sooner.

Hana Ye and Lin En shared a bed, and Hana Ye reassured him that she would still see herself as human even if she became a monster. As she finally drifted toward sleep, the crimson full moon shone on her, and she grew unnaturally cold.

• Lin En got into bed with Hana Ye, who protested but eventually settled beside him.
• Hana Ye asked whether Lin En was a monster, and he insisted he was human despite his mutations.
• Lin En asked what Hana Ye would do if she became a monster, and she declared that she would remain a good person and believed he would not reject her.
• After Hana Ye called herself his little wife, Lin En stripped off his clothes, startling her, then teased her about sleeping naked together.
• Hana Ye wrapped herself in the blanket, returned to bed after threatening to sleep with her sister, and lay awake watching Lin En sleep.
• As Hana Ye imagined a future with Lin En, the crimson full moon shone through the curtain and she grew so cold she felt she might never wake again.

The Red Moon briefly appeared as Hana Ye’s power surged, and Lin En suppressed the shadow within her before the mark on her forehead could become a full moon. Meanwhile, the Lord of Crimson’s plans and Liu Si of Yuzhi’s alliance were revealed, and Lin En discovered that Ophiel had recovered and met the Valkyrie she had long worshipped.

• Lin En saw the enormous Red Moon appear and used his power to calm Hana Ye as the mark on her forehead nearly became a full moon.
• The Red Moon faded, and Lin En realized that Hana Ye’s mark was close to completing its transformation.
• A cloaked girl reminded Liu Si of Yuzhi of their past battle and promised his wife would return if he helped her claim the Red Moon’s authority.
• The girl revealed that countless people were vessels for her lord, including people Liu Si recognized, and said she had more hidden trump cards.
• Lin En returned to his true body and heard that Ophiel had recovered.
• Ophiel met Shinsen Saya and learned that the Valkyrie from her dream was real.

After seven days of healing, Ophiel recovered and learned from Shinsen Saya that the Church might have been infiltrated by demons. When Lin En appeared, his monstrous form revealed that he had deceived Ophiel and gained her trust to infiltrate the Church.

• Shinsen Saya comforted Ophiel and told her that the failures she blamed herself for were not her fault.
• Ophiel asked why Shinsen Saya had lost contact with the Church and vowed to help the Divine Chosen expose its corruption.
• Ophiel praised Lin En for exposing a Crimson Secret Cult bishop and stopping two Great Demons from causing a war.
• Shinsen Saya questioned Ophiel's account by asking whether Lin En had burned, killed, and looted across the city.
• Lin En emerged from the black mist as a tentacled, eye-covered calamity and admitted that he had lied to infiltrate the Church and win Ophiel's trust.