Chapter Summaries

Qin Manjiang’s newly opened eyes revealed the cave as the Eye Realm and exposed the true appearances of Zuo Xian and the people entering the tomb. He recognized little Yang as Bai Yang from twenty years later and greeted him, though little Yang did not recognize him.

• Zuo Xian entered the underground tomb, seeing an ordinary cave while Qin Manjiang saw the Eye Realm.
• Bai Gu, little Yang, the Old Village Chief, and two young men entered through a crack, which Qin Manjiang saw as an opening in the Eye Realm.
• Qin Manjiang saw two people with Bai Yang’s face and perceived the Old Village Chief and the young men as corpses.
• Qin Manjiang recognized Zuo Xian’s true appearance as the Boss’s wife from Moon City’s Aquatic Products Shop and realized she may have recognized him twenty years earlier.
• Qin Manjiang determined that little Yang was the real Bai Yang from twenty years later and told him, “Long time no see... Yang.”

Zuo Xian confronted Bai Gu over the Bai family’s role in the village tragedy, while Yi Lianhai revealed that Zhao Laoda was the village’s only living person and led him toward his house. When the villagers attacked Little Yang, Qin Manjiang caught him, and the child recognized him as hope.

• Zuo Xian told Bai Gu that she and her allies knew how the Bai family had used the [Eye Realm] to manipulate the village and bring the Guanyin Statue there.
• Yi Lianhai told Zhao Laoda that the villagers were corpses with some awareness and that he was the village’s only living person.
• Yi Lianhai said Zhao Laoda’s house was the root of the trouble and took him through the fog toward it.
• The Old Village Chief struck Bai Gu with a rock and ordered Huzi and Heizi to kill Little Yang.
• Little Yang fled from the two corpses, and Qin Manjiang caught him before they could reach him.

Qin Manjiang discovered that Bai Gu could survive decapitation and transform into a grotesque creature, while the Old Village Chief and two villagers rushed deeper into the cave to offer sacrifices to the being beneath Guanyin Village. Zuo Xian left Qin Manjiang to face the approaching Guanyin Incarnation.

• Qin Manjiang understood that the Bai family had used the Guanyin Statue and the villagers’ blood to draw power from the tomb beneath Guanyin Village.
• The Old Village Chief killed Bai Gu, but Qin Manjiang heard Bai Gu’s severed head speak and watched Bai Gu reform from a pool of blood.
• Bai Gu’s new body took on Bai Yang’s expressionless face, which Qin Manjiang alone recognized clearly at first.
• The Old Village Chief and two villagers ran deeper into the cave to offer sacrifices to their god, hoping it would resurrect the dead villagers.
• Zuo Xian stopped Bai Gu by warning that the god would awaken, then left Qin Manjiang as the Guanyin Incarnation approached him.

Qin Manjiang helped Little Yang see the [Eye Realm] and urged him to unite people and destroy the monster that ruled their world. After sending Little Yang outside, Qin Manjiang asked the Guanyin Incarnation whether she knew him, and she answered by gesturing the number three.

• Qin Manjiang comforted Little Yang and, with the Guanyin Incarnation's help, let him see the eyes filling the cave.
• Qin Manjiang told Little Yang the world was inside a giant monster and asked him to lead people to escape and destroy it when he grew up.
• Little Yang worried he could not do it, so Qin Manjiang promised he would meet others and could seek his help.
• The Guanyin Incarnation gave Little Yang a glowing finger and Qin Manjiang sent him outside the village while he went to look for Grandpa.
• Qin Manjiang asked the Guanyin Incarnation if she knew him, and she nodded and formed a three with her fingers.

Yi Lianhai explained how the villagers’ bodies and souls were decaying, and Zhao Laoda agreed to take him to his house to end their suffering. As they crossed the village, Zhao Laoda was bitten by a living corpse, and an unseen worm-like bulge raced beneath his skin.

• Yi Lianhai told Zhao Laoda that the villagers had become sacrifices whose bodies and souls were deteriorating, and they watched one villager collapse and burst apart.
• The living corpse villagers ate the fallen villager’s remains to delay their own collapse, and Yi Lianhai urged Zhao Laoda to help end their suffering.
• Zhao Laoda overcame his shock and agreed to guide Yi Lianhai to his house.
• Yi Lianhai and Zhao Laoda tried to slip past the crowd, but a living corpse spotted them and attacked; Yi Lianhai struck it with his baton, and Zhao Laoda stabbed it before Yi Lianhai finished it off.
• Another living corpse bit Zhao Laoda’s calf, and he fought it off with his dagger before Yi Lianhai pulled him away.
• An unseen worm-like bulge appeared beneath Zhao Laoda’s bite wound, raced up his leg, and vanished without either man noticing.

Qin Manjiang reached the closed eye at the heart of the cavern and endured its overlapping visions of time and space, with the Guanyin Incarnation’s touch easing his pain. He heard fragments of conversations about Fu City and discovered Li Xijiu discussing his future as a baby who might grow up to become Jiang Du.

• Qin Manjiang followed the Guanyin Incarnation toward the largest eye while Bai Gu pursued the Old Village Chief and the two villagers.
• Near the closed eye, Qin Manjiang was overwhelmed by visions and voices from different times and places.
• The Guanyin Incarnation touched Qin Manjiang’s shoulder, easing his pain and letting him hear the voices more clearly.
• Qin Manjiang heard a conversation between Chen Zhiyuan and Yang about Fu City being the last chance and the moment to act.
• Qin Manjiang heard an unfamiliar voice assign someone the task of guiding him back to the upheaval twenty years earlier.
• Li Xijiu wondered whether Qin Manjiang would grow up to become Jiang Du and whether Jiang Du had left a contingency in place.

Qin Manjiang learned that Jiang Du had died after entrusting the future to him, while Yi Lianhai and Li Xijiu were two halves of the same person. As the Guanyin Incarnation lost an arm rescuing Qin Manjiang from the chaotic space, a swarm of elongated eyeballs began converging on the cavern where [It] was.

• Qin Manjiang overheard that Jiang Du had died after creating a blank version of his soul and entrusting the future to the newborn, while Yi Lianhai had split into himself and Li Xijiu.
• The Guanyin Incarnation's right arm broke off as she freed Qin Manjiang from the chaotic space, and Qin Manjiang asked how it could be restored.
• Bai Gu, the old village chief, and another person reached the enormous eye, causing the eyes in the [Eye Realm] to blink and close in around them.
• Qin Manjiang grabbed the Guanyin Incarnation's hand and fled the cavern as a terrible rumbling and stench filled it.
• Living Corpses throughout Guanyin Village burst open as elongated eyeballs emerged and burrowed through the ground toward the cavern.
• Yi Lianhai cut open Zhao Laoda's face and removed an elongated eyeball, but it escaped underground and joined the others heading toward [It].

As Guanyin Village collapsed into a bloody mire, Qin Manjiang pieced together how the Guanyin Statue, the Reservoir corpses, and the entity beneath the mountain were connected. He realized the entity meant to corrupt the Guanyin Incarnation and feared the Reservoir staff were in danger, but a cave-in buried him and the Incarnation.

• Yi Lianhai dragged the terrified Zhao Laoda to the Village Chief’s house to investigate the bargain Old Man Zhao had made with the entity underground.
• The half-destroyed Old Village Chief emerged from the bloody mire, lamented that he had trusted Bai Gu, and accused Guanyin of killing the villagers.
• Qin Manjiang reasoned that the Guanyin Statue had been suppressing corpses buried beneath it, and that the Incarnation’s lost finger had upset the balance and caused corpses to surface in the Reservoir.
• Qin Manjiang concluded that the entity had directed the Old Village Chief to bury the elderly and children beneath the statue so it could corrupt the Guanyin Incarnation.
• Qin Manjiang realized the entity might send the Reservoir corpses to attack the staff, then a bloody cave-in buried him and the Guanyin Incarnation.

Trapped in the Flesh Mire after Guanyin Village’s destruction, Qin Manjiang heard the Old Village Chief explain how the villagers died and were manipulated by the underground God. The Old Village Chief revealed that he had secretly fed the Red Eyeball to Zhao Laoda before dying, while Qin Manjiang remained stuck beside the increasingly human Guanyin Incarnation.

• Qin Manjiang woke in the Flesh Mire beside the Guanyin Incarnation and found the dying Old Village Chief nearby.
• The Old Village Chief asked who Qin Manjiang was, and Qin Manjiang said he did not belong to this world.
• The Old Village Chief explained that the villagers died when the Guanyin Statue released oval eyeballs into their bodies.
• The Old Village Chief said the underground God promised to revive the villagers and ordered him to bury them beneath the statue.
• The Old Village Chief revealed that he had secretly fed the Red Eyeball to Zhao Laoda instead of the Guanyin Incarnation, then died.

Qin Manjiang realized the Red Eyeball in Zhao Laoda’s stomach might be a weapon against God, while Zuo Xian found herself trapped inside the Guanyin Incarnation. Suspecting Bai Gu and Yi Lianhai were still involved, Qin Manjiang called out to Bai Gu for help.

• Qin Manjiang connected his arrival and the surfaced corpses to a disruption of Bai Gu’s plan to flood Guanyin Village.
• Zuo Xian returned to the Guanyin Incarnation but discovered she could no longer leave its body.
• Zuo Xian suggested Yi Lianhai was seeking the Red Eyeball as leverage against God and Guanyin.
• Qin Manjiang concluded the Red Eyeball in Zhao Laoda’s stomach might harm God, too.
• When Zuo Xian asked how they could escape the bloody mud, Qin Manjiang called out to Bai Gu.

Bai Gu emerged from the Flesh Swamp and revealed that the being buried there was White Pupil, distinct from the Bai family's God, the Lord of the Red Pupil. He freed Qin Manjiang and Zuo Xian, removed Zuo Xian's consciousness from the Guanyin Incarnation, and asked Qin Manjiang to take him to It before it fully awakened.

• Bai Gu grew back into a younger form resembling Bai Yang and recognized Qin Manjiang as someone familiar.
• Bai Gu explained that the Bai family could not approach White Pupil because they carried God's aura, and said their God was the Lord of the Red Pupil.
• Qin Manjiang offered to help Bai Gu find White Pupil if he freed them and insisted that the Guanyin Incarnation could not be killed.
• Bai Gu pulled Qin Manjiang and Zuo Xian out of the Flesh Swamp, then removed Zuo Xian's consciousness from the Guanyin Incarnation.
• Bai Gu told Qin Manjiang to take him to White Pupil before it awakened completely.

In the ruined Guanyin Village, Yi Lianhai discovered the Red Eyeball hidden inside Zhao Laoda and reunited with Qin Manjiang, whom he recognized as a man from the future. Bai Gu proposed an alliance to stop It from awakening, and the group prepared to descend toward It.

• Yi Lianhai realized Zhao Laoda was the unusual item’s hiding place and dragged him to the Guanyin Statue, where he encountered Qin Manjiang and Bai Gu.
• Yi Lianhai recognized Qin Manjiang as Jiang Du’s future self, then concluded Jiang Du was truly dead because Qin Manjiang had appeared in his place.
• Bai Gu revealed his identity and urged Yi Lianhai to work with him to stop It from fully awakening.
• After the ground stopped churning, Yi Lianhai identified Zhao Laoda as the item’s host, and Bai Gu tore open his abdomen and retrieved a Red Eyeball.
• Bai Gu asked Yi Lianhai to bring in his people for the descent toward It, and Yi Lianhai agreed to go with them.
• Bai Gu told Qin Manjiang to lead the way down.

Qin Manjiang led Yi Lianhai’s followers into the Cave on Back Mountain to reach [It], despite the blood and corpses covering their path. Inside, skeletal claws began stripping people to their bones, but Bai Gu called the deaths necessary and Yi Lianhai ordered the group to keep moving.

• Yi Lianhai rallied his followers and warned them that the descent could be deadly, but no one withdrew.
• Qin Manjiang led the group through Back Mountain to the Cave, guided by his ability to see through the underground illusions.
• A skeletal claw seized a woman and tore her flesh from her bones before dragging her beneath the bloody mire.
• Another claw skinned a burly man, and the two victims were pulled underground as the others recoiled in fear.
• Bai Gu said the deaths were a necessary defense around [It] and that the group could pass once the deaths reached saturation.
• As the followers began to lose their nerve, Yi Lianhai ordered them to keep moving.

Qin Manjiang and Yi Lianhai led the dwindling group to a fork in the cavern, where the Guanyin Incarnation indicated the right-hand route was safer. They found fourteen skinless figures blocking the passage and demanding fourteen living people to let them pass, revealing that the awakening presence had invited them into a Game.

• Yi Lianhai urged the group onward as skeletal claws dragged people underground, leaving only about thirty survivors at the first fork.
• Qin Manjiang said either route could lead to the [Eye Realm], and the Guanyin Incarnation pointed toward the right-hand passage as safer.
• Qin Manjiang led the group down the right-hand passage, where they encountered fourteen skinless figures blocking their way.
• The skinless figures demanded fourteen living people in exchange for passage, while Yi Lianhai concluded that the presence deep in the cavern had set them a Game.

Qin Manjiang faced a deadly choice in an underground cavern, while twenty years later Yi Lianhai told Mei Sijun that Spirit Pupil holders were endlessly reborn and that Qin Manjiang had traveled back in time at Guanyin Flat Lake. Yi Lianhai believed Qin Manjiang would not return, and revealed that ordinary people like himself were not bound by the dead flow of time and space.

• Qin Manjiang realized the group had to sacrifice fourteen people to pass the ghosts, and that the sealed passage left them no way back.
• In Moon City, Mei Sijun questioned Yi Lianhai’s plan to use him to hold positive emotions and asked why he had been chosen.
• Yi Lianhai claimed he had met Mei Sijun twenty years earlier, when Mei had been known as Snake, and said Spirit Pupil holders were different incarnations of the same person.
• Yi Lianhai told Mei Sijun that Qin Manjiang had gone to Guanyin Flat Lake and traveled back twenty years, where he had tried to stop a flood during the White Pupil God’s revival.
• Yi Lianhai said Qin Manjiang would not return because he was reenacting history, and explained that Spirit Pupil holders were trapped in fixed time and space while ordinary people like him were not.

As the survivors argued over how to choose fourteen people to face the Vengeful Ghosts, Qin Manjiang noticed the ghosts were closing in and warned that time was running out. Bai Gu then revealed that two Gods created their world and that the rules’ chance to survive was a shackle forged by the defeated, white-eyed God to restrain the red-eyed God.

• The survivors split into factions over whether to draw lots or select the weakest fourteen, while Qin Manjiang watched their arguments.
• Qin Manjiang noticed the Vengeful Ghosts drawing closer and estimated that the group had at most twelve minutes to resolve the situation.
• Yi Lianhai said the crowd had fallen into the ghosts’ apparent scheme, and Qin Manjiang questioned why the rules seemed to dictate certain death when the game had never offered no chance to survive.
• Bai Gu said two Gods had created the world: the red-eyed God embodied negative emotions and sought destruction, while the white-eyed God embodied goodness and loved humanity.
• Bai Gu explained that the red-eyed God defeated the white-eyed God, whose final act was to forge the chance to survive as a shackle restraining its rival.

Bai Gu revealed that the Guanyin Incarnation could substitute for fourteen human lives, and the crowd turned against Qin Manjiang to demand that she be sacrificed. Qin Manjiang refused to let them take her and said there was something they needed to clear up first.

• Bai Gu showed the Red Pupil and said he intended to eliminate the god, while Yi Lianhai agreed not to target him before they left Guanyin Village.
• Bai Gu explained that the Guanyin Incarnation could satisfy the Ghostly Entities in place of fourteen people.
• The crowd decided to offer the Guanyin Incarnation and told Bai Gu to arrange it because she belonged to his family.
• Qin Manjiang told the Guanyin Incarnation to hide behind him and resolved to protect her despite the crowd's pressure.
• Bai Gu called for the Guanyin Incarnation to come forward, but Qin Manjiang interrupted and said they needed to clear something up first.

Qin Manjiang argued that sacrificing the disabled woman could not reliably satisfy the Vengeful Ghosts’ exact requirement of fourteen people, buying time as the ghosts approached. He realized the cave’s folded space offered a way to survive, but chose to keep it secret and watch the others face danger.

• Qin Manjiang warned the group that the woman’s flesh and blood could not be measured as exactly fourteen sacrifices, so handing her over might doom everyone.
• Bai Gu admitted he could not quantify how many people the woman could replace, and the group reconsidered using her as a sacrifice.
• Yi Lianhai told everyone to exclude the woman from their calculations and warned that only about five minutes remained.
• Qin Manjiang recognized that the ghosts’ changing distance revealed folded space in the cave, which could shift the Players behind them if they approached at the right moment.
• Qin Manjiang concealed his discovery from Yi Lianhai and decided to let the others face the danger.

Yi Lianhai used hidden subordinates to knock fourteen people unconscious and offer them to the Vengeful Ghost, sending the group into the Eye Realm. There, Qin Manjiang saw a Giant Eye opening overhead and asked Bai Gu whether he knew its pupil color and how to destroy it.

• As the group argued over who should enter the cave, Yi Lianhai ordered his hidden men to knock fourteen older and weaker people unconscious.
• Yi Lianhai’s group carried the unconscious people to the Vengeful Ghost, and the cave warped, transporting everyone to the Eye Realm.
• Yi Lianhai and the others excitedly scattered through the strange, boundless darkness in search of God, while Qin Manjiang, the Guanyin Incarnation, and Bai Gu stayed relatively calm.
• Qin Manjiang spotted a Giant Eye opening above them, and Yi Lianhai asked whether it was there.
• Qin Manjiang told Bai Gu he could not yet see the Giant Eye’s pupil color and asked whether Bai Gu truly knew how to destroy it.

Qin Manjiang resisted the Red Pupil God’s hallucination with help from the Guanyin Incarnation, while Bai Gu took him into the sky to approach the Giant Eye. The chapter ended with Bai Gu trembling as they reached thirty meters from it.

• Qin Manjiang realized the bloodied attackers were an illusion and saw the others slaughtering one another while trapped in hallucinations.
• The Guanyin Incarnation sacrificed her hand to wake Qin Manjiang, and Bai Gu explained that only power on the Red Pupil God’s level could forcibly break the hallucination.
• Bai Gu urged Qin Manjiang to leave the others and guide him toward the Red Pupil God, but Qin Manjiang first tried to save Yi Lianhai.
• Bai Gu took Qin Manjiang upward through the sky, asking him to warn when they were thirty meters from the Giant Eye.
• Qin Manjiang warned Bai Gu when they reached thirty meters away, as Bai Gu shook violently under the strain.