Chapter Summaries

Xu Le learned to control sublimated fear, while Ai Li investigated him and then arranged an Ancient Ruins mission for him. After accepting the solo assignment and arriving at Office No. 9, Xu Le recognized Ai Li's name and wondered whether she was one of Puppet's lackeys.

• Xu Le controlled his sublimated Fear Aura during Muyue cultivation and discovered that absorbing it made his unripe Fear Fruit grow.
• Ai Li watched Xu Le from a rooftop, but Yi Xiaoya knocked her unconscious, stole her money, and destroyed her camera.
• Ai Li arranged for Xu Le to receive a high-paying exploration mission at the Ancient Ruins in Area 4; Xu Le used Guyinduo Divination to confirm that Li Qingcheng had not arranged it.
• Xu Le accepted the solo mission, while Wang Shu and Li Weisi agreed to take a Gobi Pioneer Mission together.
• Xu Le went to Office No. 9 to report for the mission, met Ai Li, and suspected she was one of Puppet's lackeys.

Xu Le joined Ai Li's assignment to study the Ancient Ruins, where the researchers had discovered a nearly thousand-year-old Guyinduo Tree. After Ai Li brought him to an unexplored area, Xu Le examined a stone tablet and sensed the ruins' master's will.

• Xu Le met Ai Li at the Enforcer Hall, and she took him to the ruins while suspecting he was a spy from the Red Moon Holy Temple.
• Ai Li told Xu Le the assignment concerned a Guyinduo Tree and warned him that project leader Zhang Nuo'an liked Li Qingcheng.
• Ai Li introduced Xu Le to Zhang Nuo'an and backed his request to skip a researchers' meeting and begin work independently.
• Ai Li led Xu Le into the Ancient Ruins and showed him an unresearched area with a broken stone tablet.
• Xu Le touched the tablet without gloves and said he could feel the ruins' master's will through it.

Xu Le touched the fallen Guyinduo Tree and learned that the ruins were Joshua’s tomb, then earned a reward by revealing the tablet’s inscription to Zhang Nuo'an. Back at the Studio, Xu Le activated the Black Staff’s Beacon ability and opened a door to another world.

• Xu Le stopped Ai Li from reporting his words on the stone tablet, then followed her to the hidden Guyinduo Tree.
• Xu Le touched the tree and saw Joshua’s final battle, learned the site was the Tomb of Joshua, and suspected Puppet had drawn him there through Ai Li.
• Xu Le told Ai Li and Zhang Nuo'an that he had deciphered Joshua’s epitaph, received payment, and left the ruins.
• Ai Li tested Xu Le for ties to the Red Moon Holy Temple, then brought him back to the Studio, where Yi Xiaoya greeted her.
• Xu Le examined the Black Staff’s Beacon ability and opened a door leading to the Lightforging World or the Puppet World.

Xu Le entered a colorful realm of the Gundo Mother Tree, where he met Gan and learned about the Land of Fate and its chosen visitors. He concealed what he knew from Gan and realized that, bearing Night Fiend’s power while entering Puppet’s domain, he appeared to be a mole to Wang Shu and Gan.

• Gu Beichen struggled with the Red Moon Holy Temple’s fierce competition, and Gan left him thirty dollars before departing for Zion.
• Xu Le entered a different Mother Tree Realm, found the Gundo Mother Tree, and sacrificed a withered Guyinduo Leaf to nourish his Thunder Fruit.
• The Bell of Fate rang, and Gan appeared, identifying the realm as the Land of Fate and explaining its rules to Xu Le.
• Xu Le questioned Gan about Fruits of Fate, Wang Shu, and people with different fates, while keeping his own knowledge hidden.
• Xu Le concluded that his presence in Puppet’s Land of Fate with Night Fiend’s power made him seem like a mole to Wang Shu and Gan.

Xu Le continued cultivating and researching while Ai Li uncovered Yi Xiaoya’s extraordinary age and family history. After Li Weisi completed a Heart Energy Concealment Device that could absorb Heart Energy and be switched off, Xu Le withheld it from the school and headed to Nevernight City to test it.

• Xu Le returned from the Land of Fate, bought cultivation materials, and caught Ding Ke eating the grilled fish from his ritual.
• Ai Li found records showing that Yi Xiaoya had been listed as Ji Fen’s great-great-great-grandmother and had kept the same appearance for seventy-nine years.
• Wang Shu returned from a profitable mission, and Xu Le told him to use his earnings to upgrade his equipment and prepare to lead a team.
• Xu Le and Li Weisi celebrated Yi Xiaoya’s birthday, then continued developing the Heart Energy Concealment Device.
• Li Weisi completed a working device that absorbed Heart Energy and could be switched off, but Xu Le persuaded him to delay submitting it to the school.
• Xu Le took the device and rode to Nevernight City to test its stability and effectiveness.

Xu Le accompanied Ai Li to investigate a Level 3 succubus outbreak in Zion's nightlife district and tested his Heart Energy Concealment Device during the fight. Ai Li's team killed the succubus, leaving Xu Le to wonder what had gone wrong with an earlier live capture.

• Xu Le promised Ai Li he would return to the Tomb of Joshua in five days, then realized her assignment at the nightlife district involved controlling Heart Energy and responding to succubi.
• After Xu Le received a warning that a Level 3 succubus would appear, he and Ai Li went to an alley, where the Pleasure Witch Rose emerged from a portal.
• Ai Li attacked Rose and, with help from her undercover colleagues, trapped and subdued her while Xu Le tested his Heart Energy Concealment Device.
• Ai Li's team killed Rose and harvested her remains, and Xu Le inferred that a previous attempt to capture a succubus alive had gone wrong.

Xu Le and Golden Toad performed a midnight offering that let Golden Toad advance to Level 4 and earned Xu Le two Water-Style powers from the Water Lord. Ai Li, who had followed Xu Le outside the city to investigate a suspected ritual, revealed herself as the Azure Dragon prepared to leave.

• Xu Le bought meat, liquor, and other offerings, then drove a steam tricycle outside Zion as Ai Li secretly followed him.
• Golden Toad drew an Incantation Seal Formation and summoned the Water Lord, who consumed the offerings and advanced Golden Toad to Level 4.
• The Water Lord asked Xu Le for a Guyinduo Fruit, and Xu Le offered a Lust Fruit in exchange for a blessing.
• The Water Lord granted Xu Le Water-Style Body Strengthening and Underwater Breathing, while explaining that Golden Toad's recognition had enabled the blessing.
• Ai Li's lamp reappeared behind the departing Azure Dragon as she stepped out of the darkness.

Xu Le confronted Ai Li after she witnessed his offering to the Water Lord Azure Dragon and worried she had recognized his Guyinduo Branch of Reality. After calming her and learning she tracked him by scent using a Moon Dog fruit ability, Xu Le reached Zion’s gates with her and began moon-bathing, only to discover Ai Li could absorb Moon Spirits too.

• Xu Le hid his alarm when Ai Li appeared at the offering site, and the Water Lord Azure Dragon departed while Golden Toad reminded Xu Le about promised offerings.
• Xu Le drove Ai Li away from the offering site and questioned what she had seen, especially whether she recognized the Guyinduo branch.
• Ai Li mistook the branch for Guyinduo Forbidden Power, urged Xu Le to stop using it, and agreed to keep his research secret from Zhang Nuo'an.
• Xu Le learned Ai Li had tracked him by scent after eating an Intermediate Creature-Moon Dog fruit, and Ai Li admitted she had sensed his intention to attack her.
• At Zion’s gates, Xu Le prepared a moon-bathing ritual while Ai Li transformed into a Moon Dog and absorbed Moon Spirits herself.

Xu Le assembled a team for a low-risk Pioneer Mission to test Li Weisi’s Heart Energy Concealment Device, while preparing Ai Li to keep his secrets. The chapter ended when Ai Li reacted sharply to Xu Le’s claim that the device could hide Heart Energy even above the warning threshold.

• Xu Le persuaded Ai Li to join a field mission and took Li Weisi’s completed Concealment Device from the studio.
• Gan visited Rose Studio looking for Xu Le, left an address for him, and stayed to talk with Yi Xiaoya.
• Xu Le recruited Wang Shu and Ge Sini for the mission, and Widow Wang Jing joined their team.
• Xu Le gathered Xu Ting and Ai Li at the Enforcer Hall, then set out with the assembled group on a low-risk mission.
• In Ai Li’s car, Xu Le described the device’s ability to conceal Heart Energy above the warning threshold, and Ai Li stopped the car in shock.

Xu Le and his group crossed the grasslands to test the Heart Energy Concealment Device, but found no oddities until they heard singing near a pond after dark. There, Xu Le identified three Ancient Gods and approached them peacefully, leaving him face-to-face with Niulang as Ai Li stood guard.

• Xu Le gave Heart Energy Concealment Devices to Xu Ting and Ai Li, and the group traveled across the grasslands without encountering any oddities.
• After the group camped for the night, Wang Jing used four Blessing Spell Formulas, and a distant song prompted Xu Le to lead everyone toward a pond.
• Xu Le divined that an oddity would appear at the pond, and Wang Shu illuminated its depths with his Golden Radiance Tree branches.
• Xu Le recognized the submerged figures as Niulang, Spirit Moo, and Rain Woman, all Ancient Gods, and stopped the mercenaries from attacking them.
• Niulang calmed Spirit Moo and emerged from the pond; Ai Li blocked Xu Le from approaching, but he introduced himself to Niulang, who said he had forgotten his former name.

Xu Le met Niulang, Rain Woman, and Spirit Moo, learned that Ancient Gods avoided darkness by shedding the Red Moon Spirit, and warned them that Zion’s plains policy would threaten their home. After discussing Rain Woman’s practical abilities and Zion’s treatment of Ancient Gods, Ai Li urged Xu Le to pursue political influence through Zion’s research-contribution system, revealing that Zhang Nuo'an would be one of his competitors.

• Xu Le learned from Niulang that Ancient Gods avoided darkness by stripping away the Red Moon Spirit, while Rain Woman demonstrated her rain-summoning Spell Formula.
• Xu Le warned Niulang that Zion would eventually develop the plains and advised the Ancient Gods to leave, but Niulang refused to abandon their home.
• After the group left the pond and made camp, Xu Le worried that Niulang, Rain Woman, and Spirit Moo would die when Zion’s forces arrived.
• Xu Le proposed that Ancient Gods such as Rain Woman could help humanity with farming, but Ai Li explained that their allegiance to Guyinduo made them impossible for human society to trust.
• Ai Li told Xu Le that Zion’s Progressors’ Conference could award its top research contributor a council seat and encouraged him to compete.
• When Xu Le asked who his competitors would be, Ai Li named Zhang Nuo'an, leaving Xu Le startled.

Xu Le returned to Zion after a successful mission, handed Ai Li the Heart Energy Concealment Device, and learned that Gan had arrived in the city. That night, Ding Ke acted strangely and asked Xu Le to hold him beneath the moon; the next morning, Ai Li called him.

• Xu Le tried to convince Ai Li that her feelings for Zhang Nuo'an were unrequited, while they cultivated together during the night.
• Ai Li led the Pioneer Mission through three safe days of exploration, and the group returned to Zion with moonstone and their reward.
• Xu Le handed his share of the mission money to Wang Shu, and Ai Li returned the Heart Energy Concealment Device to him after guessing his plan to occupy Zhang Nuo'an with research.
• Yi Xiaoya gave Xu Le a card from Gan, who had arrived in Zion to handle family affairs.
• Xu Le visited Li Weisi, learned that he had made another batch of Concealment Devices, then returned home and stayed beside the unwell Ding Ke.
• Ding Ke asked Xu Le to hold him under the moon and asked why he smelled like a dog; the next morning, Ai Li called Xu Le.

Xu Le deciphered Joshua’s account of monstrous angels who had corrupted the Guyinduo Tree, while the ruins continued undergoing strange changes. As Xu Le and Ai Li studied the fifth stele, two guards began transforming into grotesque creatures behind them.

• Ding Ke awoke with white hair, borrowed men’s clothes and money from Xu Le, and left to find meat.
• Ai Li drove Xu Le to the Tomb of Joshua, where he sensed that Guyinduo contamination was spreading and learned that researchers had disappeared after a bloody incident.
• Xu Le quickly deciphered four steles and discovered that their blue starlight gathered on each one after he touched it.
• Xu Le read the fifth stele, which described angels summoned by the Full Moon, Joshua’s battle against them, and the angels’ blood turning the Guyinduo Tree black.
• As Xu Le tried to decide how to report the stele’s contents, one guard ate his own hand and the other developed bulging eyes and a monstrous grin; Ai Li sensed their breathing and heartbeats had stopped.

Xu Le and Ai Li discovered signs of rising Ancient Yin Duo Energy in the tomb and found the Guyinduo Old Tree corrupted. As Xu Le reported his discoveries to Zhang Nuo'an, guards began transforming and attacking, leaving the group under threat.

• Ai Li sensed blood and danger from two guards, while Xu Le's Guyinduo Vision identified them as abnormal humans.
• After Xu Le and Ai Li left, one guard transformed and killed Luo Qiang and an elderly scholar before growing white wings covered in eyes and heading toward the Guyinduo Tree.
• Xu Le noticed blue dust falling from the tomb ceiling and told Ai Li that the Ancient Yin Duo Energy seemed to be spreading.
• Xu Le gave Zhang Nuo'an his reports on five stone tablets and began explaining the fifth tablet's account of ancient powers, Empress Aileen, and Sword's Edge Fortress.
• A guard attacked and killed an elderly Warlock with his tongue, and Zhang Nuo'an's bodyguard sounded the same strange gurgle Xu Le and Ai Li had heard earlier.

Xu Le and Ai Li fought their way toward the tomb’s exit, where the Dark Moon Angel Wang Leming blocked them and Zhang Nuo'an sealed the entrance behind them. Xu Le and Golden Toad defeated most of the Error Guards, then charged at the Angel to help Ai Li.

• Ai Li and Xu Le fought a Level 3 Error Guard as other guards mutated and attacked the survivors.
• Ai Li recognized the Dark Moon Angel as Wang Leming, who attacked her while healing with energy from the Guyinduo Power.
• Xu Le summoned Black Cicada and Living Corpses to help Ai Li hold off the Angel, while Zhang Nuo'an withdrew and sealed the tomb entrance with explosions.
• Xu Le called Golden Toad and combined his golden thunder with Toad’s torrent to destroy most of the Error Guards.
• After Black Cicada was killed by the Angel, Xu Le and Golden Toad charged toward her and began casting Spirit Binding and Sealing Evil.

Xu Le, Ai Li, and Golden Toad fought the Angel and finally destroyed her after her immortality and healing kept her alive through their attacks. Xu Le fed the Angel’s corpse to the Mother Tree, gained new insight into the world’s power, and Chi Xiao asked whether he had killed an angel.

• Ai Li, Xu Le, and Golden Toad attacked the Angel together while she unleashed a barrage of moonlight beams that badly wounded Ai Li.
• Xu Le and Ai Li struck the Angel, but her immortality and healing let her recover and impale Ai Li.
• Xu Le and Golden Toad pinned the Angel down and attacked her until Xu Le’s fear summoned Night Fiend’s power, helping him destroy her for good.
• Xu Le treated Ai Li’s wounds, then killed the injured guard warrior after he drew a gun and tried to shoot him.
• Xu Le carried the Angel’s corpse into the Mother Tree Realm and offered it as nourishment, gaining energy from the Mother Tree.
• Xu Le reflected on the power of Guyinduo and the Red Moon before Chi Xiao asked whether he had killed an angel.

Xu Le absorbed the energy and contamination of the old Guyinduo tree, forming a Spirit Energy pool and a black Angel Fruit while healing Ai Li. After the taint left his body, he told Ai Li they could start thinking about escaping.

• Xu Le discovered the old Guyinduo tree had become contaminated, then used his Guyinduo Branch of Reality to absorb its energy and blood.
• Fate's Foresight showed Xu Le as an angel facing Full Moon, and Night Fiend's influence made him stand against the god.
• Xu Le's overflowing Spirit Energy formed a small blue pool in his soul world, and he channeled energy into Ai Li to heal and strengthen her.
• Ai Li woke and recovered while Xu Le continued absorbing the tree's energy, but the sealed angel blood turned his body black.
• Xu Le guided the tainted blood into his Soul Tree, where it formed a [Guyinduo Fruit - Red Moon - Full Moon - Angel Fruit], and he told Ai Li they could consider how to escape.

Xu Le finished investigating the dead Guyinduo tree, discovered a mysterious booklet, and used its branches to raise his Thunder Fruit to superior grade. With Ai Li, he then blasted and cleared the blocked passage, finally opening a way out of the tomb.

• Ai Li searched the tomb while Xu Le examined the dead Guyinduo tree, found a hidden box of love letters and an unreadable booklet, and harvested the tree's branches.
• Xu Le sacrificed the branches to the Mother Tree, raising his Thunder Fruit to superior grade, and asked Chi Xiao about superior fruits and the Red Moon system.
• Xu Le decided to leave the Angel Fruit uneaten for now and returned to Ai Li, who estimated that no more than six meters of the exit passage were buried.
• Xu Le fired the Lord of Slaughter into the rubble, while Ai Li pried it apart and the Living Corpses carried it away.
• After seven or eight hours of work, Xu Le and Ai Li cleared the passage and breathed in the moonlit air outside.

After escaping the tomb, Xu Le and Ai Li returned to Zion, where Ai Li promised to help him recover his unpaid wages from Zhang Nuo'an. Back at the Studio, Xu Le searched for Ding Ke and discovered that the strange white-haired girl helping him was Ding Ke herself.

• Xu Le and Ai Li rested outside the tomb, then commandeered a construction crew's vehicle to return to Zion.
• Xu Le told Ai Li that he cared more about recovering his payment than securing a fair judgment against Zhang Nuo'an, and Ai Li agreed to help him.
• After returning to Zion, Ai Li left to report on the tomb while Xu Le went home and found the Studio empty.
• Xu Le met a white-haired girl who knew Ding Ke's habits and joined his search for the missing cat.
• Xu Le's Divination repeatedly indicated Ding Ke was nearby, and the girl took his Guyinduo Cards and revealed a White Card-Coin.

Ding Ke taught Xu Le to use Spirit Sight and explained Guyinduo Cards and Red Moon Warlocks while reassuring him that his missing cat was safe. After revealing her name and treating Xu Le to a meal, she drunkenly insisted she was powerful and struggled to find a way to teach him about Forbidden Warlocks.

• Ding Ke taught Xu Le how to use Spirit Sight, and he accidentally sensed her before she warned him that doing so to others was rude.
• Xu Le used Spirit Sight on a Guyinduo Card and received the clear message that Ding Ke would return home that night; Ding Ke explained Fated Guidance and the different powers of the cards.
• Ding Ke knew Xu Le's name and said his cat was safe, then took the Black Staff, turned it into an umbrella, and predicted a sudden downpour.
• Ding Ke introduced herself and took Xu Le to a tavern, where they shared beef, rice, and fire liquor because Xu Le had no money.
• When Xu Le tried to leave, Ding Ke grabbed his hand and drunkenly boasted about her power and the importance of her title as Whisperer.