Chapter Summaries

Lin En used the Evil Spirit Wizard and the Lich as bait to draw out the person who placed a bounty on Hana Ye. The person arrived as Headless Knight · Mordred, a powerful Crimson Secret Cult officer, and Lin En prepared to test his projection’s strength.

• Lin En told Salgon to prepare to ambush whoever had placed the bounty on Hana Ye.
• After more than two hours, Headless Knight · Mordred arrived at the Grand Graveyard, and Salgon recognized him as a powerful officer of the Crimson Secret Cult.
• Salgon warned Lin En that Mordred was a formidable great lord and cautioned him not to release too much power from his frail vessel.
• Lin En decided to use Mordred to test how much power his projection could unleash through the vessel.
• Mordred asked the Evil Spirit Wizard where the person he wanted was, and Lin En instructed the wizard to demand the Spirit Coins first.

Lin En refused the headless knight’s offer to exchange Spirit Coins for Hana Ye and challenged him after surviving his attack. The headless knight recognized Lin En’s extraordinary Holy Flame and strength, while Lin En invited him to push his body to its limits.

• Lin En accepted one-third of the Spirit Coins but told the Evil Spirit Wizard to invite the headless knight into the Tomb to retrieve Hana Ye himself.
• The headless knight attacked the Tomb with his lance, and Lin En escaped aboveground with Hana Ye as the Tomb exploded.
• Salgon emerged to defend Lin En, but Lin En ordered him to stand down and questioned the headless knight about the bounty on Hana Ye.
• The headless knight charged Lin En, who stopped his lance with both hands without stepping back.
• Lin En dropped Hana Ye and challenged the headless knight to make him go berserk, saying he would count it as the knight’s win.

Lin En fought the Headless Knight in the Grand Graveyard, dodging his charges and healing from a severe wound while gradually learning his attack patterns. The Knight revealed that he had been buying time to summon a Mutated Blood Demon from the Third Layer, which then attacked Lin En.

• The Headless Knight charged Lin En, wounded his chest, and watched as Lin En quickly healed.
• Lin En praised the Knight’s speed and experience, then challenged him to show his full strength.
• The Headless Knight used the Flight Sequence to attack Lin En repeatedly from the air, but Lin En dodged and adapted to his movements.
• The Knight stopped attacking and revealed that he had been using their fight to buy time for a [Summon].
• A gigantic Mutated Blood Demon appeared above the Grand Graveyard, and its flesh spikes thundered toward Lin En.

Lin En emerged from the dust after devouring the Headless Knight’s summoned Blood Demon and challenged the knight with a Holy Flame blade. Meanwhile, an archbishop in the Second Layer sensed the Valkyrie’s presence and flew toward the blood-red mist.

• Salgon rescued Hana Ye from the Headless Knight’s attack as the summoned Blood Demon’s flesh spikes battered the area.
• The Blood Demon trembled, then was dragged into the dust by Lin En’s black tentacles and devoured, severing the Headless Knight’s connection to it.
• Lin En emerged under the Holy Flame, admitted the knight’s summon had forced his rampage, and declared that the knight would still die.
• The Headless Knight charged Lin En, who formed a gigantic Holy Flame blade and said he had secretly learned the Valkyrie’s move that had killed him 15,321 times.
• An archbishop in the Second Layer sensed a trace of the Valkyrie’s presence in the blood-red mist and flew toward it.

Lin En forced the Headless Knight to reveal that the Secret Cult had arranged Hana Ye’s abduction because she might be a [Vessel], but the knight was killed by a hidden mechanism before he could explain further. Lin En rescued Hana Ye and asked Salgon what the term could mean.

• Lin En defeated the Headless Knight and claimed to be the Valkyrie’s master, then burned him until he confessed that the Secret Cult had ordered Hana Ye’s abduction.
• The Headless Knight said the cult wanted to bring Hana Ye to the Spirit Realm discreetly and reported that a bishop had called her a [Vessel].
• An unseen force caused the Headless Knight to explode before Lin En could question him further.
• Lin En freed Hana Ye and questioned her about being a [Vessel], while she protested that she had no idea what the cult wanted from her.
• Salgon explained that a [Vessel] could serve as a body for a higher being’s descent or for a dead soul’s return.

Lin En realized Hana Ye was genuinely overwhelmed by the day’s horrors and comforted her after she broke down over his teasing threat to abandon her. The attempt ended with Hana Ye fainting at his monstrous funny face, then clinging to him after waking, while Salgon and the others remained shocked by the demon’s affection.

• Lin En questioned Hana Ye about leaving her behind or handing her over, and she began crying that she was useless and a burden.
• Lin En held Hana Ye, apologized for frightening her, and promised he would not abandon her.
• Lin En tried to cheer Hana Ye with a silly face, then transformed his face into a monstrous visage that made her faint.
• Hana Ye woke up and clung to Lin En, privately accepting his comfort while insisting she was not doing so because she liked it.
• Salgon and the others stared at Lin En comforting his wife, so Lin En snapped at them and they dropped to their knees in apology.

After rescuing Hana Ye, Lin En approved Salgon’s proposal to build a powerful organization loyal to him and appointed Salgon to lead it. Two undead Liches then asked to join, and Lin En said they might be allowed.

• Lin En asked Salgon about the Crimson Secret Cult’s headquarters, but Salgon explained that its members were kept from knowing the location until gatherings began.
• Salgon proposed creating a force in the Spirit Realm devoted to Lin En and pledged to establish a Divine Cult for him.
• Lin En decided that an organization could handle threats and gather emotional fragments, then authorized Salgon to establish it and act as his representative.
• Salgon accepted Lin En’s command with intense devotion, reaching his limit for emotional fragments from Lin En.
• The Evil Spirit Wizard asked whether he and the Lich could join, and Lin En said it was possible despite Salgon calling them trash.

Lin En recruited the Evil Spirit Wizard and the Lich in exchange for their savings, then set them to work making money under Salgon’s supervision. After counting his spoils and inspecting the Headless Knight’s seven-sequence origin substance, Lin En asked Salgon how to return to the real world.

• Lin En welcomed the Evil Spirit Wizard and the Lich into his faction after learning they had roughly fifty thousand in savings.
• Salgon threatened the pair, bound them with talismans and a Deathbone Mark, and ordered them to make money for Lin En.
• Salgon sent the Evil Spirit Wizard and the Lich away, then told Lin En he would monitor them and remain at his side.
• Lin En counted his haul, including 63,100 Spirit Coins, and lamented the Headless Knight’s destroyed valuables.
• Lin En examined the Headless Knight Mordred’s tier-two origin substance, which had seven sequences, four of them negative.
• Lin En asked Salgon how he could return to the real world.

Lin En learned how rifts and the Red Moon allowed Evil Spirits to travel between the Spirit Realm and reality, then set out with Salgon to find a rift. On the way, Lin En sensed a follower, and a golden figure dropped from the blood mist.

• Salgon explained that ordinary Evil Spirits could use rifts to reach higher Spirit Realm layers, while powerful beings faced severe restrictions when entering reality.
• Salgon described how the Red Moon weakened reality’s veil and could let deep-layer abominations invade, though the Great Sun quickly ended such opportunities.
• Lin En agreed to follow Salgon to his old territory to search for a rift, despite Salgon’s uncertain assurance that Lin En’s Vessel could withstand the crossing.
• After they traveled across the wasteland for about a dozen minutes, Lin En sensed that someone was following them.
• Lin En called out to the unknown follower, and a golden figure plunged from the blood mist above, forcing Salgon to brace himself with his scythe.

Lin En met Ophiel, an armored Divine Attendant who had followed the aura of his Holy Flame, and learned she was Hana Ye’s Auntie Yan. Ophiel remained suspicious of Lin En’s connection to her god as he claimed to be an ordinary ability user.

• Ophiel appeared before Lin En and Salgon, and Salgon identified her as the Armored Angel and one of the Valkyrie’s Seven Divine Attendants.
• Salgon tried to cover Lin En’s escape, but Lin En knocked him down and questioned Ophiel about following him.
• Ophiel lowered her armor and apologized, and Hana Ye recognized her as Auntie Yan, her eldest aunt’s teacher.
• Ophiel questioned why Hana Ye was in the Spirit Realm and why Lin En’s Holy Flame carried her god’s aura.
• Lin En realized the Valkyrie’s Origin Substance had attracted Ophiel and asked whether she would believe he was an ordinary ability user.

Lin En convinced Ophiel that he was chosen by the Valkyrie, revealing her true name and claiming he had been sent to investigate the Holy Church. He warned that a demon had breached the Warp and that the Valkyrie's power was waning, leaving Ophiel shaken and under scrutiny.

• Ophiel suspected Lin En was the Valkyrie's chosen because his Holy Flame had unusual purity, and Lin En encouraged her to believe it.
• Lin En recited the Valkyrie's secret true name, Shinsen Saya, prompting Ophiel to kneel and apologize for doubting him.
• Lin En claimed the Valkyrie had awakened his Holy Flame and sent him to investigate abnormalities in the city.
• Ophiel explained that the Nine Chimes had sounded and the Great Sun had appeared smaller; Lin En said a demon had breached the Warp and that he had pursued it.
• Lin En confirmed he had encountered the demon during the Reality Collapse in South City but had failed to subdue it.
• Lin En told Ophiel that the Holy Church was rotten within and that he had been tasked with monitoring its members and reporting any corruption to the Valkyrie.

Lin En made Ophiel confess her failures and regrets, then comforted her by claiming the Valkyrie forgave her. Ophiel broke down in his arms, while Shinsen Saya sensed something unsettling from afar.

• Lin En challenged Ophiel to consider whether the Church had become corrupt and whether her own conscience was clear.
• Ophiel confessed that her negligence had allowed a great demon to invade Clockwork City, that she had made agreements with Spirit Realm powers, and that she had failed to avenge a student.
• Ophiel admitted she had been afraid to pursue the demon into the Spirit Realm because Clockwork City needed her, and she wept over falling short of the Valkyrie's example.
• Lin En comforted Ophiel and claimed the Valkyrie understood and forgave her, while Salgon watched in awe and took notes.
• Ophiel clung to Lin En and confessed her feelings as he promised to convey her repentance to the Valkyrie.
• Shinsen Saya sneezed in a dark room and felt as if someone had lured away her children.

Ophiel returned to camp and announced that Lin En was the Valkyrie's Divine Chosen, granting him authority to oversee the Church. Lin En admitted to Hana Ye that he had been bluffing, then continued with Salgon toward the rift to the first level.

• Ophiel ordered the clergy to meet strict standards and warned that Lin En, appointed as the Valkyrie's Divine Chosen, would oversee the Church.
• Salgon marveled at Lin En becoming director of a Tribunal Office empowered to investigate the Church, and Lin En punched him for repeating himself.
• Hana Ye asked whether Lin En was truly the Valkyrie's Divine Chosen, and Lin En told her he had been bluffing and scolded her for not letting Ophiel take her back to the real world.
• Lin En reasoned that his new identity and Ophiel's endorsement would help him move through human society and give him leverage over the Valkyrie.
• Salgon announced that his former territory and the rift leading to the first level were close, and offered to guide Lin En there.

Lin En and Hana Ye followed Salgon into his strange territory in the Spirit Realm, where a drunken skeleton foretold their fates. The skeleton said Hana Ye’s fate was “Loneliness,” but recoiled from reading Lin En’s fortune, leaving the characters “Stars” scattered in Spirit Coins.

• Salgon explained that his territory was a street in the Spirit Realm called Get Lost and Die Street, and led Lin En and Hana Ye toward his lord’s hall.
• Hana Ye tripped over a skeleton, screamed, and hid in Lin En’s robe while Salgon stomped on the skeleton for frightening her.
• The skeleton predicted that Salgon and his skeletons would die soon, said Lin En would be fine, and warned that Hana Ye might be better off dead.
• Lin En paid the skeleton to read Hana Ye’s fortune, and the skeleton wrote “Loneliness” and told her to look ahead instead of up.
• After Lin En paid far more for his own fortune, the skeleton cracked his skull, returned the coins, and refused to read it; Hana Ye saw that the coins formed the word “Stars.”

Lin En discovered that a fortune-telling skeleton had left behind a ninth-tier origin substance and had foretold that Lin En would become a star. The skeleton vanished completely, leaving its identity and past a mystery.

• Hana Ye told Lin En that she had never seen stars, making him question whether her world had any.
• Lin En shook the skeleton, which collapsed and warned that Lin En would become a star and bring calamity before dissolving into sand.
• A ninth-tier origin substance with the sequence [Omen] appeared where the skeleton had vanished.
• Salgon revealed that he had called the skeleton Old Bones or Old Fraud and had never learned its real name.
• Salgon recalled that the skeleton had once said its fortunes described people's fates a thousand years in the future.
• Lin En told Salgon that the skeleton had predicted he would someday become a star in the sky.

Lin En and his companions found a rift back to the Spirit Realm’s First Layer, and Lin En crossed safely after suppressing his aura with Holy Flame. As Lin En prepared to return to reality, Salgon asked whether Lin En had taken him in because he saw potential in him, and Lin En admitted he had only been bored.

• Salgon told Lin En that legends described an Outer God resembling him, the Lord of Crawling, who had destroyed the sun during the ancient war.
• Lin En teased Hana Ye, who headbutted him in response.
• Salgon found a Lesser Spirit Realm Rift and crossed through it to check that it was safe.
• Lin En used Holy Flame to suppress his aura and crossed the rift with Hana Ye, arriving in the First Layer without causing a collapse.
• Lin En considered obtaining two stronger vessels so he could safely descend into the Spirit Realm as his calamity level rose.
• Salgon asked whether Lin En had chosen him for his good qualities, and Lin En said he had taken him in because he was bored.

Salgon proposed recruiting two powerful, unaffiliated lords to establish Lin En’s Divine Cult, claiming he knew how to secure their allegiance. Lin En agreed to accompany him and gave him two hours to make good on his promises.

• Lin En praised Salgon, raising his loyalty and fanaticism toward his master.
• Salgon presented a map and proposed recruiting White Rose Mirror and Thorn Witch Lilith to build the Divine Cult’s power base.
• Salgon claimed he could win White Rose Mirror’s allegiance within an hour and Lilith’s within ten minutes.
• Lin En agreed to go with Salgon and gave him two hours, while Salgon promised to kill himself if he failed.

White Rose restored a dead child as a puppet and guarded her territory in the Spirit Realm. Lin En arrived with Salgon’s plan to bring her under his command, and announced that he would become her master.

• White Rose shaped soil and flesh into a new body for Little Anna and sent her into the ruined church.
• White Rose buried herself in the ground after killing a Terror Demon that had entered her territory.
• Lin En and Salgon watched White Rose from a ruined tower, and Salgon explained that he had prepared a plan to make her surrender.
• White Rose sensed an intruder, attacked the surrounding buildings and ground with telekinetic force, and searched for the hidden presence.
• Lin En appeared behind White Rose, introduced himself, and declared that he was about to become her master.

Lin En fought White Rose at the Church and proved far stronger than her, even stealing the porcelain flower from her chest. While she kept him occupied, Salgon followed the ghost children she was protecting, intending to present her to Lin En as a gift.

• White Rose summoned dozens of clay puppets and ordered them to attack Lin En, but he destroyed them effortlessly.
• White Rose vanished and attacked Lin En with stone spikes and an enormous earth sword, then relentlessly struck at him with rapid attacks.
• Salgon watched from a sealed cellar as over a hundred ghost children left the Church for an underground shelter, realizing White Rose had been protecting them.
• Lin En dodged White Rose's attacks, took the porcelain flower from her chest, and tucked it into his robe.
• White Rose demanded to know what Lin En wanted, and he again asked her to pledge loyalty, threatening to unlock her defeat CG.

White Rose used blood replicas, mirror images, and other Sequences to fight Lin En, but his tentacles overwhelmed her defenses. As she slowed his attack with [Time Lag], she invoked [Curse: Instant Death] against him.

• White Rose trapped Lin En with invisible threads and used his blood to create a replica.
• She multiplied the replica through [Puppet Mirror Image] and ordered the copies to attack, but they were weak because they had copied his vessel rather than the source of his power.
• Lin En broke free and used his tentacles to crush the replicas, seize White Rose, and smash through her earth defenses.
• White Rose escaped with [Shifting Form] and fought back with [Telekinesis], then used [Time Lag] to slow Lin En's tentacles.
• White Rose met Lin En's gaze through the tentacles and activated [Curse: Instant Death].