Chapter Summaries

Beichen Heng took Mei to a seaside restaurant and asked her to settle the unpaid balance the old man had left there. Mei paid and, after Beichen Heng admitted he was hungry and asked her to treat him, sat down to eat with him.

• Beichen Heng invited Mei to follow him and led her through the night to a seaside restaurant.
• Mei said she had no appetite when she thought Beichen Heng had brought her there to eat.
• Beichen Heng explained that the old man had left an unpaid tab and asked Mei to settle it.
• Mei handed Beichen Heng her unlimited black card to pay the bill.
• Beichen Heng told Mei he was hungry and asked her to treat him to a meal, and she agreed.
• Mei sat beside the brazier as grilled fish and stewed rice were served.

Beichen Heng told Tsuyi the message her great-grandfather had wanted him to pass on: she deserved rest and the freedom to live as a girl her age. Remembering the sacrifices she had made to meet her family’s expectations, Tsuyi finally let herself cry by the sea.

• Beichen Heng and Tsuyi walked along the beach after dinner, teasing shrimp and crabs as they spent time together in silence.
• Tsuyi recalled visiting the seaside with her great-grandfather, and Beichen Heng told her he had seen her childhood photos and heard stories about her.
• Beichen Heng admitted that Tsuyi’s great-grandfather had urged him for years to become the Raiden Clan’s live-in son-in-law, then shared his message that Tsuyi should rest and enjoy life beyond her duties.
• Tsuyi remembered waiting alone at an amusement park after her father failed to keep his promise, and how she had hidden her disappointment to avoid burdening him.
• Tsuyi cried by the water as Beichen Heng quietly gave her space.

As Izumo collapsed under the Black Sun’s corruption, Beichen Heng was turned into an experimental subject, then escaped Kyoto’s research institute and rescued its captive test subjects. Injured and still hiding with children and other fugitives, he found his path blocked by Raiden, Wàngchuān Guardian, Mei.

• The Black Sun erupted, and Izumo’s clan heads sent Beichen Heng to Kyoto to be studied as the sole successful human turned into a demon.
• Beichen Heng endured accelerated experiments as Raiden, Wàngchuān Guardian, Mei accompanied him during weekly consultations.
• Serum T-995 briefly protected recipients from Black Sun corrosion, but many later lost control, and the institute subjected unstable patients to brutal experiments.
• Beichen Heng destroyed the A3 District research institute’s defenses and helped captive test subjects escape to settlements outside Kyoto.
• After evading pursuers, Beichen Heng returned to a hidden camp of children and other fugitives and told Aunt Meijiang to prepare to leave.
• Raiden, Wàngchuān Guardian, Mei emerged from behind a machine and identified herself to Beichen Heng.

Raiden, Wàngchuān Guardian, Mei helped Beichen Heng and the children escape Kyoto after he admitted he was dying and questioned the research institute’s work. As they traveled through the rain, Beichen Heng and Mei spoke about his possible transformation into a ghost and whether the Black Sun could ever be defeated.

• Raiden, Wàngchuān Guardian, Mei told Beichen Heng she had come to take him and the children away, and he used Zhi’s pleading look to persuade her to relent.
• Beichen Heng collapsed after pulling Mei aside, revealed that he was dying, and asked what would happen to the research institute; Mei said its research would be suspended and admitted she did not know whether its work had been wrong.
• With the Raiden Clan’s help, two bridges in Kyoto were blown up to divert pursuers, and Mei escorted Beichen Heng and the others out of the city in a supply truck.
• During the rainy night journey, Beichen Heng asked Mei whether she would kill him if he became a ghost, and she said she would.
• Mei asked whether their struggle against the Black Sun could end, and Beichen Heng said one exception could be enough to overcome the lack of precedent.

After reaching the northern edge of the Izumo Twelve Provinces, the narrator stowed away on a research fleet bound for the fallen Northern Continent. He helped the fleet defeat Frost Susano-o, then discovered that Mobius had been watching him and wanted to make him her lab rat.

• After resting in the settlement, the narrator left alone carrying the Edict Blade "Chi" and traveled north to Changyun Harbor.
• The narrator stowed away aboard Captain Dunn's research fleet, led by Mobius, as it crossed the Ferry Ocean toward the Northern Continent.
• Frost Susano-o attacked the fleet in the Ice Vortex Sea, and Gana Mitama appeared and dragged one ship and its crew beneath the waves.
• The narrator struck Frost Susano-o with flames from the Edict Blade "Chi," helping the fleet destroy the blizzard god, while Gana Mitama fled.
• The narrator returned to the supply compartment, but Mobius stopped him and revealed that she had watched him with hidden cameras and planned to make him her lab rat.

Beichen Heng and Mobius retrieved the Divine Art of Six Remembrance, Do Not Guard from the ruined research base, then faced deadly evil gods on the return journey. With most of the team dead and Beichen Heng badly wounded, Mobius prepared to operate on him as the survivors’ best chance of getting home.

• Mobius recovered the intact Divine Art of Six Remembrance, Do Not Guard and asked Beichen Heng to join her research, but he refused to return with the fleet.
• On the journey back, the group encountered several evil gods, and Beichen Heng fought through Chitori-no-Ame’s corrosive rain until his flames burned it away.
• After the battle, Mobius found Beichen Heng barely human and noted that only six of the original thirty-two team members remained.
• Mobius proposed a modification operation as their slim chance of survival and brought Beichen Heng to an operating table.
• Beichen Heng asked about the operation’s success rate and noticed Mobius was injured, leaving him alarmed as she prepared to begin.

After Mobius successfully fused the genes of Frost Susano-o and Chitori-no-Ame into you, you returned to Old Port and spent half a year helping her research while gathering infected people to relocate to the Northern Continent. You secured Raiden, Wàngchuān Guardian, Mei’s support and learned that a girl had tended your parents’ graves for four years, then claimed she was your daughter-in-law.

• Mobius told you about her childhood and her determination to make humanity evolve after witnessing her father’s corruption.
• You returned to Old Port a month later, and Mobius stayed on the Northern Continent with you to observe your recovery.
• For half a year, you served as Mobius’s lab rat and assistant, gathering materials and absorbing the genes and Divine Arts of evil gods.
• At nineteen, you told Mobius you planned to bring people who had taken T-995 serum to the Northern Continent, and she agreed as long as it did not disrupt her experiments.
• You visited Raiden, Wàngchuān Guardian, Mei, who had become head of the Raiden Clan branch and matriarch of the Twelve Houses of Izumo, and she agreed to help with your plan.
• You visited your parents’ graves and learned that a young girl had maintained the Red Well for four years; you left two chrysanthemums and told your parents that the girl was their daughter-in-law.

The chapter recounted how the protagonist established Yomi on the Northern Continent and led its rapid growth into a powerful organization. As Mobius pursued a way to preserve Izumo civilization from the Black Sun, the protagonist turned toward cooperating with the Twelve Houses and learned that the revived Izumo Sword Festival would offer the edict blade Blaze, with Mei rumored to compete.

• The protagonist ferried people afflicted by the Black Sun to the Northern Continent and founded Yomi, becoming its Emperor after suppressing dissent.
• The protagonist used Beichen Clan assets and borrowed funds to restore the Northern Continent's infrastructure and economy.
• Mobius expanded fusion surgery to ordinary people, creating Fusion Warriors who helped Yomi stabilize and reclaim territory.
• Mobius began researching Six Remembrance, Do Not Guard, to create a spiritual Adam capable of preserving the memories and emotions of Izumo civilization.
• The protagonist decided to cooperate with the Twelve Houses to hunt for a suitable god and learned that the Izumo Sword Festival was returning after six years.
• The festival's champion would receive Blaze, and rumors claimed Mei would compete and that the event could become a contest for her hand in marriage.

At the River Lethe Sword Festival, Beichen Heng competed under the name Yomi and advanced to the final against Raiden Tsuyi. After defeating her with mastery of nearly every sword school of the Twelve Houses, he was asked to remove his mask.

• A masked swordsman named Yomi entered the River Lethe Sword Festival and attracted attention with his chaotic but deadly swordsmanship.
• Yomi defeated opponent after opponent, and the watching families recognized techniques from the Twelve Houses in his fighting style.
• Beichen Heng and Tsuyi met in the final, where Tsuyi recognized his disguise but did not expose him.
• The two fought using powerful, rapid sword techniques, and the clans noticed Yomi wielding their inherited styles.
• Yomi defeated Tsuyi, who admitted her loss, and an audience member called on him to remove his mask.

Beichen Heng revealed his identity at the clan gathering and used Takama-ga-hara to subdue the swordsmen surrounding him. As the clan heads blocked Matsuga Heimon from intervening, demons infiltrated among the crowd knelt before Beichen Heng, revealing him as their Emperor.

• Beichen Heng removed his tengu mask and revealed himself to the gathered clans, while the Raiden elders regretted how they had once treated him.
• Matsuga Heimon ordered swordsmen to surround Beichen Heng, but Mei guarded his side as Beichen Heng prepared his Divine Art.
• Beichen Heng unleashed Takama-ga-hara, forcing most of the swordsmen to their knees and cracking their blades under its pressure.
• Himejima Zenji held Matsuga Heimon at swordpoint, while several clan heads sided with Beichen Heng to prevent the conflict from escalating.
• Matsuga Heimon ordered the remaining swordsmen to attack, but they voluntarily knelt before Beichen Heng, revealing themselves as demons from Yomi who submitted to their Emperor.

After Yomi and the Twelve Houses of Izumo formed closer ties, the Emperor backed Tsuyi’s leadership and helped introduce fusion surgery. The chapter ended with Tsuyi, Mobius, and the younger house members celebrating New Year at the Beichen Clan’s ancestral grounds, where Tsuyi wished for the Emperor’s safety.

• The Emperor and the Twelve Houses of Izumo agreed to exchange resources, and he later supported Tsuyi during council meetings as her influence grew.
• The Emperor and Tsuyi persuaded the house heads to accept Dr. Mobius’s fusion surgeries, which elite swordsmen underwent using evil gods from their decree blades.
• Tsuyi met Mobius in her laboratory, and the two gradually grew closer through the Emperor’s mediation and team-building events.
• The Emperor invited Tsuyi, Mobius, and younger members of the Twelve Houses of Izumo to spend New Year at Chiba River, where Sakurai Satsuki dressed Mobius and Tsuyi in yukata.
• The Emperor gave Himejima Yūta a sword manual about overcoming love, then took photos with the guests while keeping an especially close pose with Tsuyi.
• At the New Year celebration, the Emperor prayed for everything to go smoothly, while Tsuyi wrote a wish for his safety and well-being.

After years of god hunts and failed attempts to find a future where Izumo survived the Black Sun, the narrator grew privately pessimistic while the Northern Continent campaign ended in victory. At the banquet, Mei claimed the favor the narrator owed her and asked them to go somewhere with her.

• At twenty-two, Yomi and the Twelve Houses of Izumo launched their counteroffensive on the Northern Continent, where the narrator fought evil gods and heard the dead accuse them through Divine Art’s backlash.
• During the war, the narrator helped Dr. Mobius in her laboratory and constructed mind-bound world bubbles, but every world they calculated was destroyed by the Black Sun.
• After two years, the Northern Continent god hunt ended at great cost, and the narrator listened to survivors celebrate while doubting that Izumo’s blades could save the world.
• Mei joined the narrator by the victory-banquet bonfire, drank from their wine jar, and reminded them of the favor they owed her.
• Mei asked the narrator to come somewhere with her as repayment for that favor.

Tsuyi took the protagonist to an abandoned amusement park, where she comforted him during a Ferris wheel ride. Later, after discovering a possible way to change the fate of Izumo and another world, he planned to risk his life in a final gamble.

• Tsuyi brought the protagonist to the ruined amusement park, shared her daifuku with him, and helped him try its broken attractions before they rode the Ferris wheel.
• Tsuyi let the protagonist rest his head on her lap and comforted him, and he realized she had brought him there to make him happy.
• At age twenty-five, the protagonist studied world bubbles and found one where a lone person had threatened the Black Sun, though that civilization still seemed doomed.
• After the god-hunting war ended without Mobius finding Spiritual Adam, the protagonist spent time with Mobius and Tsuyi, then announced that Yomi had found the final evil god.
• The protagonist asked Mobius to fuse the Divine Art of “Six Memories, Never Guarded” into him, explaining that he intended to sever the world's connection to the evil god and risk his own death.

Mei prepared to join the hunt for a dragon-like evil god, but Mobius warned that Izumo had only three years left. Beichen Heng connected Izumo’s people through a shared dream to carry their memories and emotions, then headed toward the Tamazaki sea to gamble on a way to disrupt the Black Sun and give two civilizations a chance to escape into space.

• Mei and Sakurai Satsuki discussed their hopes for after the war before an alarm announced that an evil god had appeared in an uninhabited region of Izumo.
• Mei saw that the crimson-and-white dragon-like evil god had dark-gold eyes she recognized, while Mobius arrived and told her they had little time.
• The evil god used sound, memory, emotion, and dream-related Divine Arts to put everyone on the planet to sleep and connect them in a shared dream.
• Beichen Heng inherited the memories and emotions of Izumo’s people, then traveled to a sea of blue Tamazaki blossoms as his hair turned white.
• Beichen Heng gambled that severing the shared memories and emotions could awaken the authority needed to disrupt the Black Sun, while Izumo prepared ecological arkships to send two civilizations toward the stars.

Beichen Heng confessed his fears at a soldier’s grave before Mei confronted him as he prepared to die. Mei killed him with the imperial blade, and the simulation ended with her alone in a colorless world, reciting a haiku.

• Beichen Heng poured sake at an unknown fallen soldier’s grave and admitted he had kept his plan secret because he feared giving the two civilizations false hope.
• Beichen Heng began digging his own grave, and Mei found him and demanded to know whether he wanted her to help bury him or become his executioner.
• Mei accused Beichen Heng of deciding her fate for her, then confessed that she had come because she loved him and would collect every debt he owed.
• Mei drew the imperial blade and pierced Beichen Heng, holding him as she sang while his warmth faded.
• The world turned black and white, and Mei stood among the corpses with Nothingness as the simulation ended.

After completing a simulation, Bai Heng spent his rewards on weapons and a swordsmanship manual, then learned that his edict blade Chi was nearing the end of its reforging on the Xianzhou Zhuming. As he prepared to meet Yunli at the upcoming martial exhibition and wedding, he created a group chat with Ruan Mei, Jingliu, and Silver Wolf and immediately went quiet.

• Bai Heng gained Genetic Modification and 400 attribute points, which he distributed evenly between Stamina and Endurance.
• Bai Heng found that the shop listed his edict blade Chi as already owned, then bought Chi, the edict blade Lie with Skyfire Judgment, and a Comprehensive Sword Dao Manual.
• Bai Heng contacted Jing Yuan, who reported that Chi was nearing the end of its reforging at the Flame-Wheel Forging Palace and that Yunli had concerns about the blade.
• Jing Yuan told Bai Heng that Yunli would visit the Luofu for the martial exhibition ceremony, which would take place around Bai Heng and Ruan Mei’s wedding.
• After Jade created a Penacony assault group chat, Bai Heng created One Big Happy Family with Ruan Mei, Jingliu, and Silver Wolf, sent a meme, and stopped responding.

Bai Heng arrived in Penacony for the Harmony Gala, where the Interastral Peace Corporation’s team planned to pressure The Family while he stayed out of sight. After checking into the Daydream Hotel, he received a call from Brownie, who had apparently tracked his arrival.

• Bai Heng, Aventurine, Topaz, and Jade shared their coordinates, while Jade prepared a Stellar Battleship fleet near the Asdana System.
• Bai Heng outlined the team’s roles: Aventurine would create an opening, Jade would lead negotiations, Topaz would manage the project, and he would serve as a deterrent.
• Diamond assigned Topaz to work closely with Bai Heng, partly because he hoped their relationship might influence Bai Heng’s future away from the Xianzhou.
• Bai Heng headed to Penacony, hoping to see Firefly and wondering about Mei after noticing the name Yomi among the Gala’s connections.
• Bai Heng checked into the Daydream Hotel and received a call from Brownie, who had likely seen his arrival in Penacony’s system.

Bai Heng spoke with Silver Wolf before meeting Aventurine and Veritas Ratio, who joined him for drinks in Penacony. At the bar, they watched a Robin Family dream-bubble trial based on a Xianzhou fable, which ended with a merchant facing a strange challenge from a Fool.

• Silver Wolf asked Bai Heng about Ruan Mei and their group chat, then complained after he ended their call to greet visitors.
• Aventurine introduced Veritas Ratio to Bai Heng, and the three men went to a bar before entering the dream.
• Bai Heng ordered a Moment of Awakening cocktail while Aventurine and Ratio chose drinks of their own.
• A bartender explained that the Robin Family was testing a dream bubble inspired by a Xianzhou fable and livestreaming participants for data.
• A Fool returned a battered axe to a Pepeshi merchant, then challenged him to defeat the Fool with it as the merchant stared in confusion.

Guests complained about Fran’s Dream Bubble until the Daydream Hotel lobby manager soothed them with an explanation and compensation. Bai Heng entered the Dream Bubble and found a way to obtain all three axes, then challenged the Fool to the second trial.

• VIP guests repeatedly failed the Dream Bubble’s trials, prompting complaints that reached a Daydream Hotel lobby manager.
• The lobby manager described the Dream Bubble as an adult fable about honesty and resilience, then offered guests free Glass Manor drinks and a discount.
• Bai Heng reserved a Dream Bubble experience after Ratio dismissed the scenario as too boring and Aventurine suspected another path existed.
• Inside the Dream Bubble, Bai Heng asked to examine the axes, dropped all three into the wine pool, and honestly told the Fool he had dropped them all.
• After receiving all three axes, Bai Heng challenged the Fool to defeat him in the second trial.

Bai Heng and Aventurine tested absurd interpretations of the dream bubble, with Aventurine revealing an Aeon-level form and refining Mr. Fool. The Tavern crowd was left stunned, and Bai Heng and Ratio admitted they had still been too conservative.

• Bai Heng presented his interpretation of the dream bubble in the Tavern after striking Mr. Fool with an axe.
• Aventurine dropped an axe into the liquor pool, then jumped in himself before Mr. Fool could finish speaking.
• The liquor pool transformed the star sea, and three versions of Aventurine emerged: ordinary, Preservation Emanator, and Preservation Aeon.
• Aventurine revealed his Aeon-level power, seized Mr. Fool, and refined him while reciting a verse about wagering people, fate, and heaven.
• Bai Heng and Ratio said they had still been too conservative as the Tavern fell silent.