Recaps

Dart stopped Shadow and Bai Suoyi from fighting Lu Xiao and learned that Lu Xiao’s humanity was nearly gone and his curse had erupted. Shadow explained that he and Bai Suoyi wanted to take Lu Xiao back to question the Omniscient Mirror, but Dart remained wary as Shadow asked him to return with them or hand Lu Xiao over.

• Bai Suoyi broke Lu Xiao’s arm and attacked him again while Shadow prepared to use his ability, but an unseen voice stopped them and froze Lu Xiao.
• Chainsaw Man rushed toward Lu Xiao, but Dart appeared behind him and restrained Lu Xiao with his tentacles.
• Dart recognized that Lu Xiao had gone mad, while Shadow realized Dart was on their side and said they wanted to take Lu Xiao back for treatment.
• Shadow explained that Lu Xiao’s humanity was disappearing and his curse had erupted, then said they needed to question the Omniscient Mirror to save him.
• Shadow identified himself as a Pioneer and introduced Bai Suoyi as C02’s former leader and the Director’s father, then asked Dart to hand over Lu Xiao or come with them.

Dart refused to return Lu Xiao and demanded that Shadow bring the Omniscient Mirror before he would continue talking. While Bai Suoyi fetched it with the Prison Doctor, Dart’s tentacles entertained Lu Xiao and seemed to help restore his humanity; Dart then asked the mirror whether Shadow’s account was true and what the answer would cost.

• Dart refused to go with Shadow or hand over Lu Xiao, and demanded that Shadow bring the Omniscient Mirror.
• Shadow sent Bai Suoyi to fetch the mirror and the Prison Doctor, then stayed behind while Dart’s tentacles played with Lu Xiao.
• Shadow noticed Lu Xiao’s human emotions returning as Dart shaped his tentacles into toys and Lu Xiao laughed.
• Bai Suoyi returned with the Omniscient Mirror and the Prison Doctor, who tried to flee after seeing Dart.
• Dart asked the Omniscient Mirror whether Shadow and the others had told him the truth and what price the answer would require.

Dart asked the Omniscient Mirror how to restore Lu Xiao and learned that the Source of Pollution could be removed from his face and would not affect Lu Xiao. After the mirror showed a vision of a colossal threat from the Depths, Dart chose to pass the mask to Lu Xiao rather than ask about his own fate.

• Dart paid one tentacle to learn that Shadow and the others had not lied about wanting to take Lu Xiao for treatment.
• Dart asked how to bring Lu Xiao back to his senses, and the Omniscient Mirror told him to put his mask on Lu Xiao.
• Shadow asked how to protect Lu Xiao from the Source of Pollution, but the mirror demanded Shadow's heart as payment.
• Dart paid another tentacle and learned that he could remove the mask by peeling off his face and that the Source of Pollution's traits would not affect Lu Xiao because it had been separated from Him.
• Dart peeled off his face and separated the Source of Pollution into a mask, which urged him to put it back on.
• The Omniscient Mirror showed a vision of a gigantic wave of monsters and blood-colored lightning approaching a dam, and Dart declined to ask about his ending as a tentacle carried the mask toward Lu Xiao.

The Source of Pollution took possession of Lu Xiao and offered to preserve his humanity if Dart brought it into the depths of the Dark Prison. As the group traveled, Lu Xiao regained lucidity, but the Prison Doctor warned that his curse was worsening and would eventually rot his internal organs.

• The Source of Pollution possessed Lu Xiao and bargained with Dart, promising to keep Lu Xiao lucid and preserve his humanity in exchange for a journey into the depths.
• The Omniscient Mirror urged the group to hurry, and Dart summoned a huge winged fish to carry them toward the Dark Prison’s depths.
• The Prison Doctor declined to go at first, but Shadow decided to bring him along, and the group boarded the fish.
• Lu Xiao vomited black slime, which restored his face, and then emerged from his frenzied state as the slime covered patches of decay.
• Dart and the Prison Doctor removed Lu Xiao’s rotting flesh as it appeared, and the Prison Doctor explained that the curse would spread faster and eventually rot his internal organs.

Shadow, the Prison Doctor, and Dart debated how to save Lu Xiao from the Curse, with godhood emerging as a dangerous last resort. As they headed into the depths, Shadow revealed his plan to fulfill Lu Xiao’s Deification Ritual and asked the Gambler to protect Huaxia if he died, prompting the Gambler to suspect he intended to break the Wager.

• The Prison Doctor said he had witnessed the Curse erupt in another creature and argued that Lu Xiao should become a god rather than decay into mindless flesh, but Shadow warned that Lu Xiao could go mad without his humanity.
• Dart agreed that Lu Xiao could become a god if no other solution emerged, offered to watch over him until the Gate stopped working, and leaped down to stand guard by the dam.
• Shadow said Lu Xiao had already begun his Deification Ritual, which required him to kill a true Deity alone and eat Them whole, and considered making himself Lu Xiao’s target or sending Lu Xiao after the Pope.
• Shadow contacted the Gambler through a face formed from his blood and asked him to help Huaxia if Shadow died.
• The Gambler noted that the Wager should prevent Shadow from dying and asked whether he planned to break it, while the Pope’s true body listened from across the room.

Shadow planned to break his Wager with Gambler and help Lu Xiao complete his Deification Ritual, while Lu Xiao's body continued to rot. After Shadow paid the Omniscient Mirror with Lu Xiao's discarded rotten flesh, it said the solution was to stop interfering with Him.

• Shadow warned Gambler that he might die and asked him to look after Huaxia, leaving Gambler unable to get guidance from fate.
• Gambler calmed down under the Pope's holy light, then began shuffling cards to find out what Shadow was doing.
• Shadow told Bai Suoyi he was the only one who could help Lu Xiao complete the ritual and admitted he had used Temptation on Gambler.
• Prison Doctor stopped Chainsaw Man from cutting away Lu Xiao's rot with his chainsaw, fearing the curse would erupt elsewhere.
• Shadow asked the Omniscient Mirror how to stop Lu Xiao's rot and paid with the discarded rotten flesh.
• The Omniscient Mirror answered that they should stop interfering with Him and questioned Prison Doctor's limited knowledge of Apotheosis.

The Omniscient Mirror explained that Apotheosis transformed a being into a rule itself, while Shadow and the others watched Lu Xiao’s body decay as his consciousness returned. The chapter left them questioning whether Lu Xiao’s transformation was beneficial or something they needed to stop.

• Lu Xiao regained awareness but could not remember the Prison Doctor, who confirmed he could respond to others.
• The Prison Doctor asked the Omniscient Mirror about Apotheosis, and the Mirror challenged whether the pig he had treated was truly afflicted by it.
• The Omniscient Mirror explained that the pig had been a rule’s appearance and that Apotheosis could be both a blessing and a curse.
• The Omniscient Mirror told Shadow that beings on the Apotheosis Path became rules themselves, unlike deities who remained bound by rules.
• Shadow wondered whether Lu Xiao’s transformation should be stopped, and the Omniscient Mirror warned that a rule might feel no pity for humanity.

Lu Xiao rose in a decayed state and treated Chainsaw Man as a new acquaintance, recreating the first meeting described in the script. Shadow, Bai Suoyi, and the Prison Doctor followed the script’s next steps, leaving Shadow terrified that someone was controlling their actions.

• The Omniscient Mirror told Shadow that rules could retain emotions and suggested Lu Xiao might want to become one.
• Lu Xiao stood up with most of his body rotted and asked the others who he was.
• Lu Xiao’s leg joint broke when he tried to walk, and Chainsaw Man repaired it, prompting Lu Xiao to call him a polite friend.
• Shadow and Bai Suoyi recognized that Lu Xiao and Chainsaw Man’s meeting matched the script, so Bai Suoyi lay down for the next planned operation.
• The Prison Doctor prepared to treat Bai Suoyi but found no anesthetic, and Shadow feared that their choices were being controlled.

Shadow and the Prison Doctor tried to keep Lu Xiao following their planned script while they restrained and operated on Bai Suoyi. Lu Xiao missed the intended cues, but eventually noticed that the Prison Doctor had not given the patient an anesthetic.

• Shadow and the Prison Doctor agreed to follow the original script, and the Prison Doctor asked Lu Xiao to restrain Bai Suoyi.
• Lu Xiao tied Bai Suoyi up, while the Prison Doctor injected himself with a Sedative to calm his fear.
• The Prison Doctor cut open Bai Suoyi's abdomen, but Lu Xiao watched without delivering the line the script expected.
• Shadow prompted Bai Suoyi, who struggled and said the wrong lines, forcing the Prison Doctor to improvise.
• The Prison Doctor explained that an anesthetic could ease the pain, and Lu Xiao finally pointed out that he had forgotten to inject the patient.

Lu Xiao helped the Prison Doctor operate on Bai Suoyi after knocking him unconscious, then asked the Prison Doctor to teach him medicine. The surgery succeeded, but the Prison Doctor regretted agreeing after Lu Xiao’s questions stretched it to four hours.

• The Prison Doctor explained that he could not operate without anesthetic, and Shadow urged him to save the badly injured Bai Suoyi.
• Lu Xiao knocked Bai Suoyi out with a chop to the neck, and Shadow prompted Bai Suoyi to pretend he had fainted.
• The Prison Doctor praised Lu Xiao’s idea, and Lu Xiao asked him to teach him medicine.
• The Prison Doctor removed necrotic tissue and stitched Bai Suoyi’s wounds while explaining each step to Lu Xiao.
• After the four-hour operation, the Prison Doctor regretted agreeing to teach Lu Xiao because his explanations had prolonged the surgery.

Shadow worried that Lu Xiao’s restored lucidity and altered memories could lead to disaster, but the Omniscient Mirror warned him not to interfere with Lu Xiao’s destined course. Shadow decided to abandon Shuns’s script and introduce himself and Bai Suoyi honestly as Lu Xiao’s former teammates.

• Bai Suoyi celebrated his recovery while Shadow realized they were being carried toward the Dark Prison’s depths and could not follow Shuns’s script.
• Shadow worried that Lu Xiao’s new memories might conflict with his original memories and drive him insane if they returned.
• Shadow approached the Omniscient Mirror, which told him Lu Xiao’s course was set and that Shadow had already paid for an answer with the rotten flesh carved from Lu Xiao’s body.
• Bai Suoyi introduced Shadow to Lu Xiao as his captain, then silently warned him that Lu Xiao had already met Dart and the script could no longer continue as planned.
• Shadow introduced himself as Liu Guang, codename Shadow, and told Lu Xiao that he and Bai Suoyi had once been his teammates.

Shadow told Lu Xiao that the Dark Prison was his home, and he and Bai Suoyi decided to stay beside him rather than interfere with his course. Shadow then brought Lu Xiao toward the Depths to meet the Source of Pollution, where they arrived above a foul-smelling island enclosed by a wall of flesh and blood.

• Shadow introduced himself to Lu Xiao, who had lost his memories, and told him his name and that the Dark Prison was his home.
• Bai Suoyi questioned Shadow's decision to abandon the script, but Shadow explained that Lu Xiao seemed to be correcting its course himself and that the Omniscient Mirror had advised them not to interfere.
• Shadow and Bai Suoyi agreed to stay with Lu Xiao as a team, and Shadow promised that Lu Xiao would be part of his memories from then on.
• Shadow planned to take Lu Xiao to the Depths to complete a deal with the Source of Pollution before bringing him to another world.
• The whale-like fish carried them above an island surrounded by a towering, lightning-lit wall of flesh and blood.

Lu Xiao, Shadow, Bai Suoyi, and Chainsaw Man descended to the Depths to search for Lu Xiao’s master, while the Prison Doctor refused to follow. At the Flesh High Wall, living sand covered Lu Xiao, who enjoyed the sensation as Chainsaw Man built a sandcastle around him.

• The Prison Doctor warned the group that the Flesh High Wall marked the Depths, but Lu Xiao said they had to go down to find his master.
• Lu Xiao and Chainsaw Man jumped from the giant fish-like creature, and Shadow and Bai Suoyi followed; the Prison Doctor stayed behind, afraid of encountering a lunatic.
• The group examined the hundred-meter wall of writhing flesh as a bubble burst and released grayish-white mist inside it.
• Living sand-like creatures crawled over Shadow and the others, but Lu Xiao enjoyed them gnawing at his rotting flesh.
• Chainsaw Man piled the living sand around Lu Xiao and formed a sandcastle over a meter tall, leaving Lu Xiao’s head exposed.

Lu Xiao and the others encountered the mad Zhang Chu, who claimed to have become an immortal and carried them toward his flesh-made grotto-heaven. Zhang Chu recognized Lu Xiao as someone who had obtained an opportunity he left in the mortal world, then peeled the skin from Lu Xiao’s face.

• Lu Xiao regenerated after Chainsaw Man used sand to remove a patch of rotting flesh, while Shadow urged the group to find the master of the Source of Pollution.
• A blood-red, flesh-like bolt appeared, and Zhang Chu emerged holding two shriveled heads and demanding to know whether he looked like an immortal.
• Lu Xiao asked what an immortal was, and Zhang Chu declared that he had achieved enlightenment and made the two heads float beside his own.
• Zhang Chu restrained everyone with masses of flesh and carried them through the air toward a towering wall, calling the flesh platform his immortal power.
• Zhang Chu recognized Lu Xiao as someone who had obtained an opportunity he had left in the mortal world, then peeled off Lu Xiao’s facial skin, which became black liquid in his palm.

Zhang Chu gave Mask to Lu Xiao, then maimed Chainsaw Man when he attacked and entered a cave. Shadow fought off a bout of madness and followed the others inside, where they found Zhang Chu carefully removing a bulletproof vest that might have belonged to Taoist.

• Zhang Chu gave Mask to Lu Xiao, saying he would reclaim it once Lu Xiao became an immortal.
• Chainsaw Man attacked Zhang Chu, who blasted away his right shoulder with a blood-red lightning strike and spared his life.
• Lu Xiao reattached Chainsaw Man's arm and warned him not to provoke Zhang Chu again.
• Murmurs drove Shadow toward madness, but Bai Suoyi struck him back to his senses and he chewed off his own hand to recover.
• Shadow, Bai Suoyi, Lu Xiao, and Chainsaw Man followed Zhang Chu through the cave and found him folding away his bulletproof vest.
• Shadow and Bai Suoyi suspected the vest was the one Taoist's son had delivered to him.

Shadow questioned Zhang Chu about his deceased fellow Daoist and learned that the cultivator had been extraordinarily talented but died before becoming immortal. Shadow suspected the person had served as the Prison Plan’s original operative and, like Lu Xiao, had their existence erased.

• Shadow worried that damage to Zhang Chu’s body armor might destroy his last shred of humanity, but Zhang Chu explained that it was a magical treasure given to him by a fellow Daoist.
• Lu Xiao asked what a fellow Daoist was, and Zhang Chu said it meant a like-minded friend who cultivated the Dao alongside him.
• Shadow and Bai Suoyi realized Zhang Chu had met someone in the Depths, though Bai Suoyi said the Taoist was the Prison Plan’s only known operative.
• Shadow carefully asked Zhang Chu how he had met his fellow Daoist, easing Zhang Chu’s brief wariness by framing the question as curiosity about a cultivation tale.
• Zhang Chu described his fellow Daoist as an unparalleled prodigy who nearly became immortal within three hundred years but died at the final step.
• Shadow suspected the fellow Daoist had been the Prison Plan’s original operative and that their traces of existence had been erased, while Zhang Chu mourned the many gifted cultivators who had fallen on the road to immortality.

Zhang Chu ate the two shriveled heads he had treasured, and his emaciated body regained its vitality. Shadow and Bai Suoyi recognized the heads as Creators and knew that eating one came with a price; Zhang Chu then saw a road to immortality open before him.

• Zhang Chu said he would understand what an immortal was after holding a feast and offered Lu Xiao, Shadow, and Bai Suoyi the dragon head and phoenix head.
• Lu Xiao and the others refused to eat, so Zhang Chu devoured both shriveled heads himself.
• Zhang Chu's body filled out and his appearance returned to health, leaving Lu Xiao regretful that he had not eaten.
• Shadow and Bai Suoyi recognized the heads as incomplete Creators made by Doctor Li and knew that eating a Creator meant inheriting its authority at a price.
• Zhang Chu heard celestial music, saw a road to immortality, and announced that he was leaving to become an immortal.

Zhang Chu began climbing an apparent Immortal Path, while the flesh he vomited up trapped Lu Xiao and the others inside the cave. As Zhang Chu reached the top, Lu Xiao saw the staircase’s endpoint, and Zhang Chu found himself before the Southern Heavenly Gate.

• Zhang Chu froze after taking his first step, then vomited up flesh that spread through the cave and pinned Lu Xiao, Shadow, Bai Suoyi, and Chainsaw Man in place.
• Shadow prepared to tear out his heart to activate his abilities, but Bai Suoyi stopped him and urged him to wait.
• Lu Xiao saw a staircase made of flesh beneath Zhang Chu, with hands that wrapped around his legs as he climbed toward the cave ceiling.
• Zhang Chu vomited up another mass of flesh, which struck and destroyed the upper half of the cave; Lu Xiao then saw someone waving at the top of the staircase.
• Zhang Chu ignored the celestial maidens who clung to him and reached a magnificent gate labeled Southern Heavenly Gate.

Shadow explained that the staircase was a ritual meant to make Zhang Chu inherit the Creator’s authority, while the Creator planned to consume him first. With Zhang Chu unable to see the trap, Shadow gave Lu Xiao his heart so Lu Xiao could use the Eye of Truth to stop the Creator.

• Lu Xiao told Shadow that he alone could see the staircase covered in blood and pale arms, and Shadow identified the Creator waiting at its end as a contingency planning to possess Zhang Chu.
• Shadow explained that inheriting the Creator’s authority would bind Zhang Chu to the island, and that the staircase appeared to be a ritual the Creator wanted to interrupt by eating him.
• Bai Suoyi suggested that Lu Xiao use his Eye of Truth to suppress the Creator’s ability, though Lu Xiao did not know how to activate it.
• Shadow removed his own heart and urged Lu Xiao to eat it so he could experience a deity’s power and try to use the Eye of Truth.
• Lu Xiao accepted Shadow’s heart after Bai Suoyi confirmed it, while Bai Suoyi thought he should begin the Deification Ritual.

Lu Xiao helped Zhang Chu see through the Creator’s illusion, and Zhang Chu destroyed the stairway and devoured the Creator. After thanking Lu Xiao and Shadow, Zhang Chu recognized Shadow as the one who had crawled out through the dog hole and remarked that he had dared to return.

• Lu Xiao ate the heart and fixed his gaze on the Creator, allowing Zhang Chu to see through the illusion.
• Zhang Chu recognized that the Red-Lacquered Gate was the Creator’s open mouth and realized pale hands had been keeping him from walking into it.
• Zhang Chu unleashed his Thunder Magic, destroyed the stairway, and struck down the Creator.
• Zhang Chu walked across his tentacles and ate the Creator.
• Zhang Chu thanked Lu Xiao, then recognized Shadow as the one who had crawled out through the dog hole.

Zhang Chu reunited with the group, punished Shadow over a supposed dog hole, and burned the rot on Lu Xiao’s neck while claiming to recognize him. He then spoke to an unseen Daoist Friend at the flesh wall, leaving Lu Xiao to ask who this fellow was.

• Zhang Chu held Shadow by the collar and spanked him for allegedly digging a dog hole, while Shadow asked where the hole was.
• Zhang Chu carried the group to the flesh wall and pointed out a depression that Shadow suspected had been dug by someone escaping the prison.
• Zhang Chu struggled to remember who Lu Xiao was, then struck the rot on Lu Xiao’s neck with red lightning as repayment for helping him.
• Zhang Chu spoke to his Daoist Friend at the wall, saying the Path to Immortality had been a conspiracy and that he had eaten the would-be Creator.
• Shadow pieced together how the Creator had tried to use Zhang Chu’s ascension ritual, then hesitated to question him after remembering the beating.
• Lu Xiao asked Zhang Chu who his Daoist Friend was.

Shadow tried to learn why Zhang Chu had been waiting, but Zhang Chu could not remember what he was supposed to do after Lu Xiao arrived. When Lu Xiao introduced himself, Zhang Chu recognized his name and reacted with shock.

• Shadow pretended to be Zhang Chu's old fellow Daoist, but Zhang Chu recognized him as the boy who had dug through the dog hole and said he could not reveal what he knew.
• Zhang Chu explained that a fellow Daoist had told him to wait for Lu Xiao, then admitted he had forgotten what came next.
• Lu Xiao and Shadow tried to prompt Zhang Chu with a passphrase, but Lu Xiao misunderstood Shadow's instruction and told Zhang Chu to introduce himself first.
• Zhang Chu introduced himself, and Lu Xiao politely gave his own name as Lu Xiao, Xiao as in Grin.
• Zhang Chu widened his eyes and stammered in surprise when he realized Lu Xiao had arrived.

Lu Xiao’s name triggered Zhang Chu’s fragmented memories, and Zhang Chu revealed that the Prison had fallen as the Flesh High Wall collapsed and its imprisoned creatures escaped. Bai Suoyi explained how long-term memory wear and tear had erased Zhang Chu’s recollections, and Shadow sent a warning to Gambler.

• Zhang Chu panicked after learning Lu Xiao’s name and said a fellow cultivator had warned him that Lu Xiao’s arrival meant the Prison had fallen.
• The Flesh High Wall collapsed into pus, the mist dissipated, and deformed creatures surged away across the ocean and through the sky.
• Shadow pressed Zhang Chu for more information, but Zhang Chu could not remember what the fellow cultivator had told him.
• Bai Suoyi explained that Zhang Chu’s memories had been lost through severe wear and tear caused by his endless pain and repetitive surroundings.
• Shadow formed a magic circle from his blood and told Gambler that the Prison had fallen.

Shadow told Gambler that the Prison inside the Dark Prison had fallen, forcing Gambler to accelerate his plans and order the Pope to reclaim the Church and retrieve the remaining Holy Relics. After Zhang Chu gave Lu Xiao a bloody eyeball left by a fellow Daoist, Shadow identified it as the second Eye of Truth.

• Shadow reported the Prison’s fall to Gambler, who ordered him to return to the Present World and told the Pope to retake control of the Church and retrieve the remaining Holy Relics.
• The Pope agreed to act while Gambler said he would deal with the Clone.
• The Pope’s Clone prayed to his master, received abundant divinity, and vowed revenge on Gambler and War.
• Zhang Chu remembered that a fellow Daoist had left something for Lu Xiao and retrieved a bloody eyeball from a mass of flesh and blood.
• Lu Xiao accepted the eyeball, and Shadow identified it as the second Eye of Truth.

Lu Xiao received a second Eye of Truth and, following Shadow’s instructions, tried to implant it himself. The eyeball went into his socket backward, leaving Shadow to point out his mistake.

• Bai Suoyi recognized the eyeball as another Eye of Truth, while Shadow wondered whether Zhang Chu’s Daoist Friend had given one to Doctor Li.
• Bai Suoyi told Lu Xiao to transplant the eyeball, and Shadow instructed him to replace his right eye with it.
• Lu Xiao gouged out his right eye and pressed the new eyeball into the socket.
• Lu Xiao asked Shadow why he could not see, and Shadow told him he had put the eye in backward.