Recaps

The Withered Glory Theatre intervened in Cloud Haze’s rise toward becoming a Man-Made Calamity and transported people from Zhu Youcai’s Company onto a stage. The chapter left Liu Shuai’s group trapped in a performance watched by powerful Calamities, including Bajiao, while the Theatre framed the conflict as a debate over Cloud Haze’s guilt.

• Kou Ying explained that the Withered Glory Theatre could give Cloud Haze the recognition and philosophy needed to become a Man-Made Calamity.
• Liu Shuai ordered the Horizon Team back to base as the Withered Glory Theatre’s fireworks and citywide projection announced its performance.
• The Theatre’s blurred figure snapped their fingers and transported everyone inside Zhu Youcai’s Company onto an enormous stage, where Ye Buyu found herself among the masked audience.
• Two narrators presented opposing arguments about whether Cloud Haze’s followers deserved sympathy or punishment, while Su Wuwei discovered that he could not move.
• The Theatre introduced the Tsunami Lord, Rift Lord, Wind and Thunder Lord, and Bajiao as invited audience members and sponsors, alarming the people onstage.

Zhu Youcai tried to persuade the audience that becoming Believers offered ordinary people a way to gain abilities, while Ye Buyu and Liu Shuai challenged him over the cost and deception. As the audience split over whether the bargain was worth it, Wan Lan angrily warned that Believers became weapons for the Abyss against the Present World.

• The narrator began the performance again, and Zhu Youcai told the audience that Cloud Haze had discovered a way for ordinary people to gain abilities.
• He Min and Si Weijian recognized that Zhu Youcai’s claims could inflame the divide between ordinary people and the Awakened.
• Ye Buyu interrupted Zhu Youcai, exposed the supposed candy as maggots, and challenged him for hiding the cost of becoming a Believer.
• Liu Shuai warned that Believers’ souls were marked by the Abyss, while members of the audience argued over whether they regretted becoming Believers.
• Wan Lan confronted the audience, declaring that Believers chose the Abyss and would become enemies of the Present World.

Wan Lan defended ordinary people and condemned those who treated becoming Awakened as the only meaningful life, while the Narrator revealed that Great Xia’s Azure Dragon Division had attacked the Calamity Lords’ lairs. Su Wuwei then exposed the risk of death for Awakened and challenged the Cloud Haze Believers to face the consequences of their choices.

• Wan Lan argued that ordinary people’s work mattered and refused to let Awakened become weapons for the enemy.
• The Lords praised the young people, while Bajiao pressed the Narrator to continue the performance.
• The Narrator announced that the Azure Dragon Division had attacked the Calamities’ lairs to settle the score for targeting Great Xia’s students.
• The Tsunami Lord and the Rift Lord reacted with alarm, and the teams realized their guardians had taken the fight to the enemy.
• Su Wuwei explained that the River of Forgetfulness could restore only ordinary people caught up in Calamities, while Awakened who died stayed dead.
• Su Wuwei challenged the Cloud Haze Believers for courting danger and expecting others to save them.

Ye Buyu and the audience faced a forced final performance as Zhu Youcai's Believers and the other actors fought for their souls. Outside the theatre, ordinary people and Awakened argued over responsibility and salvation, while Zhang Jian chose to confront Zhu Youcai's group with Zhang Qian.

• Ye Buyu questioned whether she had awakened before or after Little Whale revived her, and Little Whale blamed her for exploiting a revival bug.
• Zhu Youcai urged ordinary people and Awakened to pursue power and self-preservation, promising Believers could control their souls if they grew strong enough.
• The narrator turned the audience into an empty stage and announced that the winning side's Best Actor would take their souls, prompting Zhu Youcai to object.
• Zhu Youcai's group and the opposing actors fought while Calamities cheered, and people watching the giant screens condemned the Present World's infighting.
• Ordinary people told the Awakened they wanted to help save themselves and support them, and Zhang Jian admitted his choices had endangered others.
• Zhang Jian took Zhang Qian toward the stage to attack Zhu Youcai's group, and both were struck down in a flash of blood.

Ye Buyu witnessed the audience’s deaths and learned that she could not heal Believers or save their souls. As Calamities and the Hold Up the Heavens Team fought over the vessel containing those souls, Little Whale revealed that changing the River of Forgetfulness might help—but would turn it into another Man-Made Calamity.

• Zhang Qian died, and her drifting soul was absorbed into the vessel as the audience’s choices turned the theatre into a slaughter.
• The Narrator revealed that only someone with Calamity power could hold a vessel containing Believers’ souls, prompting Bajiao, the [Tsunami Lord], and the [Rift Lord] to seize the thumb ring from Zhu Youcai.
• Liu Shuai asked the Hold Up the Heavens Team to lend him power, and the group joined the struggle for the ring while the surviving audience despaired that their choices could not change their fate.
• Ye Buyu tried to heal the Believers but discovered that her healing harmed them because their souls could not return to the Present World.
• Little Whale explained that the River of Forgetfulness would have to change its system to accept Believers’ souls, then asked whether Ye Buyu wanted to become a Blessed One of the [Whale of Wailing].

Ye Buyu became a Blessed One and interrupted the struggle for the Soul-Bearing Vessel, seizing the thumb ring before the Wind and Thunder Lord could stop her. Her identity was exposed, leaving her surrounded by stunned teams and students who had to figure out how to save her.

• Ye Buyu asked Little Whale to make her a Blessed One so she could take back the thumb ring, and Little Whale warned that acting would expose her power of Calamity.
• Little Whale made Ye Buyu pass out and sent her to witness the Azure Dragon Division's battle before returning her to the Withered Glory Theatre.
• Ye Buyu shot Bajiao, disrupting the struggle and sending the thumb ring flying toward the Wind and Thunder Lord.
• Ye Buyu caught the thumb ring, but the Wind and Thunder Lord attacked; her Flower Edict made him sit down long enough for her to escape.
• The Wind and Thunder Lord yielded the stage to the youngsters as Narrator called Ye Buyu a protagonist from the sky.
• The Hold Up the Heavens Team, the Horizon Team, Liu Shuai, and the Four Symbols Academy students reacted in shock, while Ye Buyu begged them to save her.

Ye Buyu defied the Narrator’s staged drama, killed Zhu Youcai, and shattered the story planned around Cloud Haze. With the audience demanding refunds, the Narrator changed the performance’s title to focus on an extra facing three great Lords.

• The Narrator expanded the stage and suppressed the guests’ strength, but Ye Buyu chose to run rather than fight.
• Ye Buyu sprinted toward Liu Shuai and the others, then killed Zhu Youcai with a powerful stomp when he blocked her path.
• Wan Lan caught the exhausted Ye Buyu as the cast and audience reacted in shock to Zhu Youcai’s death.
• The Borderlands audience complained that Cloud Haze’s story had collapsed and demanded their money back.
• An elegant voice proposed renaming the performance “An Extra's Rise: Facing Three Great Lords from the Start.”

Ye Buyu and the Present World’s allies fought the Void Lords while she tried to cleanse the souls trapped in the vessel. As Bajiao claimed the River of Forgetfulness’s rules could not be changed, Ye Buyu questioned whether they should try changing them anyway.

• Bajiao demanded Ye Buyu hand over the soul vessel, while the Tsunami Lord chained Cloud Haze’s survivors for sacrifice and the Rift Lord attacked Ye Buyu.
• The Wind and Thunder Lord killed the remaining ordinary people, and Ye Buyu drew their souls into the vessel as Liu Shuai tried to guide them to safety.
• Mu Bingge used the Crown to fight the Tsunami Lord, who revealed that Mu Bingge was the Calamity Lord’s princess and urged her to return to the Abyss.
• Ye Buyu secretly erased believer marks from the souls in the vessel, while Bajiao insisted that marked souls could never return and could only be shattered.
• Su Wuwei and Wan Lan rejected Bajiao’s claim that the River of Forgetfulness had influenced their minds, and Ye Buyu suggested they should consider changing its rules.

Ye Buyu refused to control the gathered souls and instead let them choose to become her weapon, unleashing a new power against the Lords. As the Lords tried to crush the miracle, the souls became fully tangible, filling the stage.

• Ye Buyu urged everyone to focus on escaping the Lords rather than changing the River of Forgetfulness, while [Rift Lord] and [Tsunami Lord] attacked her and Mu Bingge intervened.
• When [Rift Lord] struck at Ye Buyu, Little Whale pointed out that she could use the thumb ring, and the souls inside it offered to become her weapon.
• Ye Buyu rejected controlling the souls and scattered her power among them, allowing them to choose to lend her strength.
• The souls gathered behind Ye Buyu and formed a gun, raising her power from Third Tier to Fifth Order as they declared that they rejected the rules.
• The Doomsday Tower registered an impact on the River of Forgetfulness Rules, and Ye Buyu’s combined power collided with [Rift Lord].
• [Tsunami Lord], [Rift Lord], and [Wind and Thunder Lord] tried to suppress the new power, but Ye Buyu defied them and the souls became fully tangible.

Ye Buyu and the others broke through the Lords’ suppression, but the Lords tried to borrow power from the Calamity Lords to strike back. As the group retreated, Su Wuwei’s Butterfly Eggs hatched into moths that carried them toward the exit, while [Rift Lord] pursued them.

• Ye Buyu and the assembled teams pierced the Withered Glory Theatre’s suppression with their collective will, then Wan Lan caught Ye Buyu as she collapsed from her injuries.
• Bajiao urged the Lords to attack, and the three Lords prayed for power from [Abyssal Erosion], [Earthshaker], and [Tempest Fiend].
• Little Whale and Ye Buyu realized the Azure Dragon Division’s attack on the Calamities might prevent the Calamity Lords from answering the Lords’ prayers.
• The Social Security Bureau officer ordered a retreat, and Su Wuwei gave everyone Butterfly Eggs that hatched into moths capable of carrying them through the air.
• [Rift Lord] reached after the fleeing group with a hand of rock, but Lou Guanshan cut it apart with his Mo Dao and vowed to settle the score later.

Kou Ying damaged the [Void Order]'s formation, disrupting Bajiao's attempt to combine the three Calamity powers, while Su Wuwei burned away the [Wind and Thunder Lord]'s attack. Sun Cheng arrived, exposed the [Void Order]'s plan to create a higher-level Calamity, killed Bajiao's body, and sealed the Withered Glory Theatre with her soul in his grasp.

• Kou Ying used [Shadow Judgment] to strike the [Void Order]'s symbol and crack the formation that was combining the three Calamity powers.
• Su Wuwei burned the [Wind and Thunder Lord]'s lightning with golden flames, and the [Wind and Thunder Lord] withdrew his power rather than continue fighting.
• The [Tsunami Lord] decided to withdraw, but Sun Cheng appeared and accused the [Void Order] of planning to merge three Level Nine Calamities into a higher-level Calamity.
• Sun Cheng crushed Bajiao's body with his staff, leaving her soul behind.
• Sun Cheng seized Bajiao's soul and sealed the Withered Glory Theatre, cutting off the outside world's view.

Sun Cheng exposed the decade-long plot linking Bajiao, the [Void Order], and the three Lords, then attacked them as the Social Security Bureau began a coordinated operation. As the White Tiger Division brought the survivors back to the Present World, the Black Tortoise Division moved against Bajiao and the Azure Dragon Division declared war on [Abyssal Erosion] and [Earthshaker].

• Sun Cheng revealed how Bajiao had worked with [Abyssal Erosion] to create Believers, trigger past disasters, and unite three Level Nine Calamities, then crushed most of her soul and attacked the three Lords.
• Sun Cheng sent Chen Ze to take Ye Buyu and the others back to the Present World, where Chen Ze identified himself as a member of the White Tiger Division and explained the theatre operation.
• Chen Ze revealed that the Social Security Bureau had planted Ye Buyu's Thumb Ring to collect the souls of those who died and that the Black Tortoise Division was waiting for Bajiao.
• Bajiao returned to the [Void Order] and was captured by Lan Huaiyu, Ding Ruixue, Zhao Zhe, and Lei Yue of the Black Tortoise Division.
• The Azure Dragon Division confronted [Abyssal Erosion] and [Earthshaker] in the Forbidden Zone and declared, "This is war!"

Chen Ze sent Ye Buyu and the others away before joining the war, while the Present World Union unanimously declared war on [Abyssal Erosion]. As Mo Yi and the Azure Dragon Division fought [Abyssal Erosion] and [Earthshaker], reinforcements arrived to support the assault.

• Chen Ze asked Ye Buyu to bring the others' souls back to the Present World, then left them with Si Weijian and He Min and headed to the battlefield.
• The Present World Union representatives agreed to go to war, and Great Xia's delegate named [Abyssal Erosion] as the target.
• Mo Yi and the Azure Dragon Division fought [Abyssal Erosion] and [Earthshaker] in the forbidden zone.
• [Abyssal Erosion] learned that [Tsunami] could not return and that Sun Cheng had killed the [Tsunami Lord] while Chen Ze had killed the [Rift Lord].
• [Earthshaker] hesitated to withdraw as the Heavenly Fire Society arrived with the Union's directive to wage war on [Abyssal Erosion].

The New Roman Court Knights killed the Flood King and declared war on [Abyssal Erosion], while the Black Tortoise Division found the [Void Order]'s headquarters abandoned. Back at the base, Ye Buyu recounted how a chance encounter with an old classmate had dragged her into the Withered Glory Theatre and reunited her with her team during a crisis.

• The New Roman Court Knights delivered the Flood King's head and declared war on [Abyssal Erosion], prompting [Earthshaker] to retreat and admit they had lost.
• Mu Ruying told Lan Huaiyu to return to her students while the Black Tortoise Division dealt with the evacuated [Void Order] headquarters.
• The teams returned to the Zhaoyang City base and lamented their defeat and the strange secrets revealed by the Hold Up the Heavens Team.
• Ye Buyu explained that a chance meeting with Zhang Qian had led her from a class reunion into a Calamity and the Withered Glory Theatre.
• Ye Buyu admitted she had snatched something during the crisis and reunited with her dispersed team, then complained that she had only wanted to go home and sleep.

After the teachers assured the students that the battle against [Abyssal Erosion] would soon end, Mu Bingge suddenly began absorbing the Calamity’s power. She revealed that she was [Abyssal Erosion]’s chosen successor and urged the teachers to kill her before she became a new Level Nine Calamity.

• Shi Can and the other teachers joined the students in the classroom and told them the operation against [Abyssal Erosion] should end within twenty-four hours.
• Mu Bingge’s Crown shattered as [Abyssal Erosion]’s power erupted from her and began consuming her body.
• Mu Bingge explained that [Abyssal Erosion] had marked her soul years ago and was transferring its core power into her to create a new Calamity.
• Mu Bingge asked Shi Can and the other teachers to activate the base’s weapons and kill her before she became their enemy.
• Wan Lan and Su Wuwei resisted Mu Bingge’s plea, while Ye Buyu asked the teachers whether another way to save her existed.

The Social Security Bureau teachers sealed Mu Bingge’s power and halted her collapse, while [Abyssal Erosion] died in the Forbidden Zone. Mo Yi warned that the Calamity might return through Mu Bingge, and Jiaomu Jiao questioned whether the Azure Dragon Division should investigate the [Whale of Wailing].

• Shi Can rallied the teachers, who activated a formation that sealed Mu Bingge’s power and stopped her body from collapsing.
• Little Whale told Ye Buyu that Mu Bingge was now a Blessed One without a Calamity Lord and explained that Ye Buyu had gained her own power through a hidden connection to the [Whale of Wailing].
• Mo Yi told [Abyssal Erosion] that the Social Security Bureau had prepared for her plans and continued fighting as her body disintegrated.
• [Abyssal Erosion] vowed she would return through the soul fragments connected to Mu Bingge, while Mo Yi suggested that a future Calamity might fight for the [Present World].
• Jiaomu Jiao asked Mo Yi whether the Azure Dragon Division should leave the [Whale of Wailing] alone after it appeared and glanced toward them.

Mo Yi and representatives of the Americas and New Rome discussed [Whale of Wailing], the recovery of [Abyssal Erosion]'s remains, and the reforms sparked by the Withered Glory Theatre. The Bai Ze Division had considered the reforms feasible, but the students’ emergence as their core had taken everyone by surprise.

• Mo Yi ordered the observers to keep tracking [Whale of Wailing] and directed the recovery of [Abyssal Erosion]'s remains.
• Kaitis offered assistance, and he and Gerard argued while the Azure Dragon Division and other groups hauled away the remains.
• Kaitis asked Mo Yi about Great Xia's handling of Mu Bingge and the students, and Mo Yi said they were registered and under observation.
• Gerard asked when the River of Forgetfulness reforms would begin, as the Withered Glory Theatre students had drawn the Doomsday Tower's attention by creating a new power.
• Kaitis and Gerard questioned whether Great Xia had expected the students to become central to the reforms, and Mo Yi said the Bai Ze Division had only deemed the plan feasible.
• Kaitis and Gerard asked whether Great Xia's students followed a normal curriculum.

After Ye Buyu’s group survived the crisis at the Zhaoyang City base, the Principals decided the Hold Up the Heavens Team must prepare for the River of Forgetfulness restructuring on Dead Island. They ordered the students to reach Fourth Tier within half a month, but Ye Buyu objected, fearing what might happen when she advanced.

• The exhausted teachers returned to the base, and they persuaded Ye Buyu to stay in her dorm and sleep while everyone recovered.
• At dawn, Lan Huaiyu and the other Principals discussed Ye Buyu’s unexplained powers and decided the Hold Up the Heavens Team would join the River of Forgetfulness restructuring on Dead Island.
• The Principals entered class and ordered the students to reach Fourth Tier within half a month, assigning them individual advancement plans.
• Ye Buyu protested that she had only recently reached Third Tier and recalled encountering a Blessed One, a Priest, and a Lord at earlier tiers.
• The Principals fell silent as Ye Buyu worried about what she might face at Fourth Tier and on Dead Island.

Ye Buyu and the Hold Up the Heavens Team endured brutal training as the Principals pushed them toward breakthroughs. While her teammates began advancing, Ye Buyu learned that Little Whale was the original body of a Level Ten Calamity, leaving her worried about the danger of hiding it in her Mindscape.

• Lan Huaiyu and the other Principals began half a month of hellish training to help the team prepare to face stronger Calamities.
• The teachers relentlessly battered and tested the team while Mu Bingge helped the Horizon Team and tried to control her sealed power.
• Ye Buyu healed her exhausted teammates and drank a strange pink potion that tasted like white peach.
• Su Wuwei broke through to the Fourth Tier, prompting Wan Lan and Lou Guanshan to resume training while Kou Ying warned Ye Buyu that trouble was coming for her.
• Little Whale told Ye Buyu she could reveal that she was the [Whale of Wailing]'s Blessed One, but must hide that Little Whale was in her Mindscape.
• Ye Buyu realized Little Whale was the [Whale of Wailing]'s original body, a Level Ten Calamity, and questioned why it had made itself at home in her head.

Ye Buyu tried to uncover Little Whale’s true identity, then learned the higher-ups already suspected her connection to the [Whale of Wailing]. Lan Huaiyu began Ye Buyu’s training early, leaving her to support Kou Ying in a fight.

• Ye Buyu threatened to reveal herself to Lan Huaiyu, making Little Whale admit it meant her no harm and would not hurt the Present World, though it wanted Ye Buyu to hold on longer.
• Ye Buyu told Lan Huaiyu that the [Whale of Wailing] had glanced at the Azure Dragon Division because it liked having fun, and Lan Huaiyu sent that explanation to the division.
• Ye Buyu told the principals she could fight at Fourth Tier strength despite not having reached Fourth Tier, prompting Lan Huaiyu and the others to discuss her connection to the [Whale of Wailing].
• Lan Huaiyu started Ye Buyu’s training assignment early and told her to use another source of power, so Ye Buyu summoned her soul gun.
• Ye Buyu shouted for Kou Ying to fight while she backed him up.

Ye Buyu and Kou Ying failed to land a hit on Lan Huaiyu during training, revealing the overwhelming gap between them and the sixth-tier instructor. Ye Buyu recruited teammates to help her try again the next day, while Wan Lan broke through to the fourth tier and joined the plan.

• Ye Buyu used Soul Lock against Lan Huaiyu, but Lan Huaiyu crushed the attack and knocked Kou Ying away with her spear.
• Lan Huaiyu pursued and battered Ye Buyu and Kou Ying, then promised their training would end if they managed to hit her once.
• After enduring more than a dozen failed charges, Ye Buyu asked Su Wuwei to help her fight Lan Huaiyu, and he agreed to join the next day.
• Lou Guanshan and Mu Bingge also volunteered to join the attempt, while Kou Ying told Lou Guanshan to reach the fourth tier first.
• Wan Lan broke through to the fourth tier and declared that she would join the fight against Lan Huaiyu.

The Hold Up the Heavens Team discussed their hidden powers while Lou Guanshan was beaten by Lei Yue, and their encouragement helped Lou Guanshan break through to the next tier. Kou Ying then revealed his power was connected to the [Void Order], leaving the team more open with one another as Ding Ruixue went to join the Horizon Team.

• Su Wuwei, Mu Bingge, Wan Lan, Ye Buyu, and Kou Ying discussed their chaotic fighting and the fears surrounding their powers while watching Lei Yue beat Lou Guanshan.
• Mu Bingge, Ye Buyu, and Su Wuwei encouraged Kou Ying to stop letting fear hold him back, but Lou Guanshan responded by breaking through to the next tier.
• Kou Ying revealed a mark connected to the [Void Order], and the teachers explained that his power came from the Order before it became a Man-Made Calamity.
• Lei Yue told Lou Guanshan that the team might one day live up to its name if they opened up and understood one another.
• Lou Guanshan joined his teammates on the wall, and Ding Ruixue left to spend time with the Horizon Team.

The two teams continued their training against the Four Principals, trying to avoid having their cratered wall kept as a memento. In the final training session, the Hold Up the Heavens Team coordinated an attack on Lan Huaiyu and created an opening for Ye Buyu to strike.

• Shi Can photographed the teams beside the wall, and Lan Huaiyu set a new condition: last fifteen minutes against the Four Principals to save it from being kept.
• Lan Huaiyu pointed out that Ye Buyu was the only member of the Hold Up the Heavens Team who had not reached her goal, but her teammates chose to keep helping her.
• Wei Changming rallied the Horizon Team by warning that the wall could become a meme, and Lan Huaiyu announced a final assessment between both teams at the end of the month.
• The Hold Up the Heavens Team devised a plan to create a brief opening for Ye Buyu, then Su Wuwei, Kou Ying, Wan Lan, and Lou Guanshan attacked Lan Huaiyu together.
• Lan Huaiyu deflected their attacks and broke Lou Guanshan's Earth Armor, then dodged Mu Bingge's water whip and criticized her technique.

The Hold Up the Heavens Team coordinated a series of attacks that briefly struck Lan Huaiyu, but she rejected Ye Buyu’s attempt to waive the Compulsory Cost and defeated them. Lan Huaiyu declared their intensive training over, then reminded them that the battle for the wall was next.

• Lou Guanshan launched Su Wuwei into the air while Wan Lan sent Ye Buyu toward Lan Huaiyu, and the team attacked together.
• Ye Buyu used fragments of Mu Bingge’s Water Mirror to appear behind Lan Huaiyu and struck her spear with her soul-made gun.
• Ye Buyu’s bullets hit Lan Huaiyu with a soul attack, but Lan Huaiyu rejected Ye Buyu’s proposal to waive the Compulsory Cost and knocked her down.
• Lan Huaiyu defeated all six members of the Hold Up the Heavens Team, and Ye Buyu explained the limits of her ability to her teammates.
• Lan Huaiyu confirmed the team had passed intensive training, then brought up the coming battle for the wall.

The four principals crushed the students in a brutal training session, leaving the base partly destroyed and helping several students advance. The next morning, the Hold Up the Heavens Team learned they had to depart for Dead Island to help restructure the River of Forgetfulness because of their past miracles.

• Zhao Zhe, Lei Yue, Mu Bingge, and Ding Ruixue attacked the fleeing students, while Lan Huaiyu demolished half the base with her spear.
• Kou Ying was knocked unconscious by flying rubble, and Chu Lie reached the fourth tier after being struck by lightning.
• Guan Xiaomei and several others advanced during the assault, but the entire team eventually passed out as the principals continued training them.
• Shi Can and the others cleaned up the wreckage, and Ye Buyu woke the next morning believing the hellish training was over.
• Shi Can told the Hold Up the Heavens Team they had to leave that day for Dead Island and the River of Forgetfulness restructuring.
• Mu Bingge questioned why they had been chosen, and Shi Can pointed to the team's role in the Doomsday Tower and Withered Glory Theatre incidents.