Recaps

After the Chaos Forbidden Domain competition ended, Shen Hui learned that the level-ten matches had been little more than formalities and prepared to return home before President Fan Hao summoned him. Fan Hao began a private meeting by raising their agreement about the Giant God Cult and Shen Hui’s creation world.

• Ye Long and Shen Hui complained that the level-nine and level-ten creator matches had featured little action, and President Fan Hao ended the competition.
• Fan Hao told the slot winners to report to their nearest World Association in two days to gather at Outpost One in the Sea of Stars.
• As Shen Hui and Ye Long prepared to leave, President Chi Yan, Ye Yitian, and President Shengnan stopped them; Ye Yitian praised Ye Long’s creation world, while Chi Yan said Fan Hao wanted to see Shen Hui.
• Shen Hui followed Chi Yan to meet Fan Hao, who invited him to sit and then said he wanted to discuss their agreement concerning the Giant God Cult and Shen Hui’s creation world.

Shen Hui discussed the Giant God Cult’s infiltration of the competition with Chairman Fan Hao, who rewarded his progress and explained that Creation Worlds could advance beyond Saint Ascension. Fan Hao left Shen Hui with the revelation that another World Level existed above the one Shen Hui had reached.

• Chairman Fan Hao tested Shen Hui’s knowledge of the Giant God Cult’s infiltrators, and Shen Hui explained why he had kept the information private.
• Fan Hao told Shen Hui to continue gathering information and said the cultists could enter the Chaos Forbidden Domain because they needed to discover the universe’s true nature.
• Fan Hao promised Shen Hui a reward at the supply depot for his progress and previous good deeds.
• Shen Hui revealed that the Lord of Night had told him about the Negative World and the Fallen Gods, and Fan Hao confirmed that the Night Organization had introduced those concepts to him.
• Fan Hao explained that Creation Worlds could advance their World Level as well as their Civilization Level, and said there was a level above Saint Ascension.

Chairman Fan Hao told Shen Hui that the level beyond Saint Ascension was called Divine Transformation and warned him that a stronger Creation World could attract dangers from within and beyond. He sent Shen Hui to collect his things, leaving him to consider the unknown threats that might lie ahead.

• Fan Hao revealed that creators were exploring Divine Transformation, a level above Saint Ascension, and said Shen Hui’s unusual Creation World might represent a new possibility.
• Fan Hao warned Shen Hui that mistakes in building a Creation World’s worldview could cause serious or irreversible consequences.
• Fan Hao explained that creations within some worlds had rebelled against their worlds and caused upheaval, while Shen Hui recognized their similarity to the World Wanderers, who called themselves Transcendents.
• Shen Hui identified Fallen Gods in the Negative World as an external danger to Saint Ascension worlds, and Fan Hao said he sensed even greater, potentially destructive dangers beyond them.
• Fan Hao told Shen Hui to proceed steadily, then invited him to collect his things and rejoin his waiting companion.

Shen Hui visited the World Association's resource warehouse with President Fan Hao and searched its expanded selection for resources suited to his Creation World. He passed on a blank World Will crystal core but found a Negative Expansion and Catastrophization trait card that sparked an idea.

• President Fan Hao offered to register Shen Hui for a World Association points account and let him choose three resources without value restrictions.
• Shen Hui browsed the warehouse's varied Creation World resources and passed over items incompatible with his system.
• President Fan Hao explained the risks of blank World Will crystal cores and suggested Shen Hui try one, but Shen Hui declined.
• Shen Hui spotted a Negative Expansion and Catastrophization trait card and began considering how it could suit his Creation World.

Shen Hui chose a card that could strengthen pestilence in the Death World, hoping to lay the groundwork for Nurgle. He also took an indestructible black stone from the Chaos Forbidden Domain after Raven sensed it was special, and Chairman Fan Hao offered him a blank World Will Crystal Core as compensation for the selection.

• Shen Hui selected a card to enhance pestilence, which he planned to develop as a foundation for Nurgle in the Death World.
• Chairman Fan Hao rejected Shen Hui's request to take additional unwanted items from the warehouse.
• Shen Hui noticed an unusual black stone and sensed through Raven that it was special.
• Chairman Fan Hao explained that the stone had survived the destruction of a ruined world fragment in the Chaos Forbidden Domain.
• Shen Hui chose to take the stone, and Chairman Fan Hao offered him a blank World Will Crystal Core to make up for the selection.

After receiving three resources from President Fan Hao, Shen Hui rejoined his friends and was mobbed by groups hoping to recruit him or make connections. He showed Qingxue, Ye Long, and Xiao Xiangyan a Blank Will World Crystal and offered it to them to test.

• Shen Hui chose a World Crystal that could strengthen a creation world and provide World Origin Power, then left with the three items President Fan Hao had given him.
• At the town square, dozens of people surrounded Shen Hui and invited him to visit their organizations, but Huang Lingheng drove them away by asserting that Shen Hui belonged to the Night Organization.
• Huang Lingheng invited Shen Hui to celebrate with the Night Organization, then left after noticing that Qingxue, Ye Long, and the others were waiting for him.
• Shen Hui joked to Ye Long and Qingxue that President Fan Hao had given resources to help him because he was poor and had no backing.
• Shen Hui revealed the Blank Will World Crystal, which Ye Long recognized from an underground auction, and offered it to Qingxue, Ye Long, and Xiao Xiangyan to try.

Shen Hui offered the Blank Will World Crystal to his companions so they could test its effects, and Ye Long volunteered to attempt a fusion. In Ye Long’s Creation World, Shen Hui guided him through the process, but Ye Long began to suspect Shen Hui had fused with a crystal himself.

• Shen Hui explained the crystal’s benefits and risks, and Xiao Xiangyan, Ye Long, and Qingxue urged him to keep it for himself.
• Xiao Xiangyan and Qingxue declined to try the crystal, so Ye Long agreed to be the first and took it from Shen Hui.
• Shen Hui led the group to Ye Long’s family residence, where they prepared to begin the experiment.
• Shen Hui and Ye Long entered Ye Long’s Creation World, and the crystal began connecting to it.
• Shen Hui told Ye Long to make his Creation World’s will accept the crystal and warned that forcing the fusion could cause the world to collapse.
• Ye Long questioned how Shen Hui knew so much about the process and began to suspect he had already fused with a crystal.

Shen Hui guided Ye Long through merging a Blank Will World Crystal into his Creation World, which nearly collapsed before Nüwa stabilized it. The fusion succeeded, and as Ye Long began telling Xiao Xiangyan about the results, someone knocked at his door.

• Ye Long began merging the Blank Will World Crystal into his Creation World's World Will, despite the world's growing damage and his fear.
• Shen Hui told Ye Long to call on his deity, and Nüwa appeared to stabilize the Creation World.
• Ye Long completed the fusion and sensed that his Creation World had become stronger and might be rebuilt if one of its World Will Crystals were lost.
• Shen Hui and Ye Long left the Creation World, and Xiao Xiangyan asked Ye Long if the fusion had gone well.
• Ye Long announced that he had succeeded, but a knock at the door interrupted him as someone asked why he had not mentioned bringing guests home.

Ye Yinian and Ye Ying tried to draw Shen Hui and Ye Long into a family celebration, but Shen Hui declined and left with his friends. After celebrating, Shen Hui prepared to expand the Death World's worldview, while Qingxue helped him settle down first.

• Ye Yinian and Ye Ying invited Ye Long, Shen Hui, and their companions to celebrate at the family home, but Ye Long said they had other plans.
• Shen Hui politely refused Ye Yinian's offer to help each other in the Chaos Forbidden Domain and left with Ye Long and the others.
• After they left, Ye Ying complained about Shen Hui, while Ye Yinian urged him to avoid underestimating Shen Hui and to focus on winning him over.
• Ye Long thanked Shen Hui for helping him refuse the invitation, and the group celebrated at a hotel owned by Xiao Xiangyan's family.
• Xiao Xiangyan arranged a room for Shen Hui and Qingxue, and later that night Shen Hui prepared to enter the Death World and expand its worldview.
• Qingxue helped Shen Hui calm down, and he then told her he was ready to build his creation world.

Shen Hui visited Death World and discovered that the Foundation was using SCP-999, the Tickle Monster, to purify contaminated potions and treat Dark Erosion Syndrome. He left after seeing the creature being used as a tireless filter for the Unspeakable’s power of deformation.

• Shen Hui manifested in Steam City and followed a crowd to a Foundation distribution point for Light Potions.
• Shen Hui recognized the orange-yellow potion as a substance extracted from SCP-999 and realized it could cure Dark Erosion Syndrome.
• Shen Hui gave his potion to a severely eroded person, who drank it and coughed contaminated blackish-gray fluid into the bottle.
• Shen Hui vanished and appeared at the Foundation headquarters, where workers transported bottles of contaminated potion to SCP-999’s containment chamber.
• Shen Hui watched the Foundation pour the contaminated potion over SCP-999, which absorbed it and produced fresh orange-yellow potion.

Shen Hui surveyed changes across the Death World, including the use of The Tickle Monster to purify contaminated potions and the growing human presence in the Backrooms World. He then observed SCP-682 interacting with increasingly intelligent Shoggoths in the Mountains of Madness as the Elder Things studied him.

• The Foundation continued making The Tickle Monster absorb Dark Erosion power to purify contaminated potions, and he began to change.
• Shen Hui observed poor residents suffering from Dark Erosion Syndrome without access to the cure as they gathered together.
• Investigators formed teams to enter the Backrooms World, while Francis survived and explored its fourth level with three companions.
• The Great Horned Rat communicated simply with his followers, while the Deep Ones continued visiting Innsmouth.
• SCP-682 appeared in the Mountains of Madness, where the Elder Things studied him and he played or communicated with the increasingly intelligent Shoggoths.

Shen Hui used the Tomies’ graveyard and a Disaster Amplification · Trait Card to make pestilence an inerasable World Trait of the Death World. The Pestilence Doctor sensed the change, decided to cure the world by killing those he believed infected, and attacked the D-class personnel in his laboratory.

• Shen Hui observed that the Shoggoths were developing traits like Yog-Sothoth and that his earliest Eldritch Being Hero Units were changing as their Divine Power increased.
• Shen Hui chose the Tomies’ graveyard as the place to begin creating something related to Nurgle and used the Disaster Amplification · Trait Card to amplify pestilence.
• The Death World gained the World Trait Source of Pestilence, making pestilence impossible to eradicate and increasing its spread and effects.
• The Pestilence Doctor sensed the spreading pestilence and decided to cure the world, starting with the humans he believed were infected.
• The Pestilence Doctor attacked the D-class personnel in his laboratory, and an alarm sounded.

Shen Hui used the World Star Core to strengthen the Death World and began creating Nurgle’s Back Garden, a new domain where life would emerge from death. He ended the Tomies’ mass slaughter after it filled a canyon with corpses, then began rewriting the region’s rules.

• The Pestilence Doctor escaped his guards and searched the Foundation for people he believed were infected, prompting an emergency containment response.
• Abomination’s Pestilence grew stronger, and Clan Pestilens sensed that the Death World was becoming a breeding ground for its spread.
• Shen Hui absorbed the World Star Core into the Death World, raising its World Origin Power to sixty thousand.
• Shen Hui ordered the Tomies to fight to the death, creating a canyon filled with corpses and flesh pulp as the foundation for Nurgle’s Back Garden.
• Shen Hui stopped the slaughter, and the surviving Tomies migrated away from the canyon.
• Shen Hui began isolating the region from the surrounding Death World and rewriting its rules with World Origin Power.

Shen Hui transformed a region of the Death World into Nurgle's Garden, where decay nourished strange forms of life, and gained the Cycle of Life and Death trait. He then used the world's remaining resources to establish the concept of Nurgle, which began drawing power from pestilence, death, and new life.

• Shen Hui accelerated time in a region of rotting flesh until it decomposed into a fertile mass that bred pestilence and disease.
• Shen Hui used World Origin Power to create laws that spawned bizarre insects, fungi, and plants from the decay.
• The World Will named the region Nurgle's Garden and granted the Death World the Cycle of Life and Death trait, which let death nourish the garden's growth and create new life.
• Shen Hui decided to use spreading pestilence to establish Nurgle's concept and checked that he had nearly forty thousand World Origin Power remaining.
• Shen Hui poured the remaining World Origin Power and accumulated faith into the Death World, linking pestilence, death, and new life to Nurgle's concept.
• Power began converging on Nurgle's newly established concept.

The Foundation struggled to learn why the Pestilence was spreading while keeping the unstable Pestilence Doctor contained. As outbreaks worsened and remote towns became breeding grounds, the researchers considered releasing him as a last resort.

• The Foundation kept the Pestilence Doctor in a laboratory under constant guard because contact with people he considered infected made him violently agitated.
• The Pestilence Doctor told the researchers that the world was contaminated and suggested destroying it, while presenting his transformed patients as successful cures.
• The researchers failed to get useful answers from the Pestilence Doctor and debated whether the Abomination or an even more terrifying existence was responsible for the outbreak.
• The researchers acknowledged that they might have to follow the higher-ups' instructions and release the Pestilence Doctor if the Pestilence continued worsening.
• City guards warned residents to report infections as streets emptied and remote towns became breeding grounds for the Pestilence.

In a plague-stricken town abandoned by the city, Xiao Ge lost his mother as the survivors’ faith in their former deities collapsed. Desperate people began praying to plague and disease itself, and an invisible force gathered from their prayers.

• Xiao Ge brought his mother pale yellow medicine, but she hid her worsening plague infection and let him drink it instead.
• The city had cut off the remote town, leaving its plague victims to die among the uncollected corpses.
• Survivors brought food to the church and found that Xiao Ge’s mother and five others had died.
• The townspeople began praying to plague and disease rather than the deities they had worshipped before.
• People in other towns joined the prayers, and an invisible force slowly gathered.

As the plague empowered Nurgle and his cult, infected believers transformed into monstrous Nurgle's Chosen. Leaders and cult representatives met in Arkham to discuss the threat and agreed to pursue unconventional ways to stop the plague.

• Plague sufferers and desperate survivors began worshipping Nurgle, strengthening his power and forming the Cult of Nurgle.
• Some infected believers became Nurgle's Chosen, monstrous followers who gained strength and longevity from the diseases consuming them.
• The growing cult and plague drew the attention of city leaders and churches, who gathered in Arkham to assess the crisis.
• The representatives agreed that the plague threatened the established order and that stopping its spread was urgent.
• The leaders planned to continue communicating with Pestilence Doctor and, if necessary, release him under agreed restrictions.
• The group also planned to contact the ratmen, whose plague-associated clan might offer a way to combat the outbreak.

Humanity’s organizations and cults began investigating the plague, while Shen Hui believed it would become part of the Death World’s civilization. After waking, he learned Qingxue would leave that night with the Tarot Club and agreed to help her prepare.

• Humanity’s organizations and cults agreed to investigate the plague, seek help from the powers they worshipped, and cooperate if their efforts failed.
• Shen Hui concluded that the plague and Cult of Nurgle would likely become part of the Death World, which had grown close to becoming a level-eight Creation World.
• Shen Hui woke to find Qingxue at home and learned that Zhang Rou, The High Priestess, had come to visit her.
• Qingxue told Shen Hui that the Tarot Club would gather that night and set out under The Fool’s leadership for the Chaos Forbidden Domain.
• Shen Hui warned Qingxue about the danger, but she insisted on going, and he agreed to contact trusted Tarot Club members for advice before setting out with her.

Shen Hui and Huang Lingheng discussed the Tarot Club’s plans for the Chaos Forbidden Domain and awaited Zhiyue, who arrived with an unexpectedly elderly Tarot Club member. The group gathered at the park, leaving Shen Hui and Huang Lingheng to question who the old man was and whether he could handle the expedition.

• Huang Lingheng told Shen Hui he planned to leave for the Chaos Forbidden Domain with Leng Zimeng without telling the World Association or the Night Organization.
• Huang Lingheng admitted he was worried about Leng Zimeng’s safety and planned to ask The Fool about the Tarot Club’s arrangements at their gathering.
• Huang Lingheng explained that Tarot Club card positions had only one member at a time and that finding replacements would be difficult if a member died.
• Zhiyue arrived with a short, elderly man she said was another Tarot Club member, surprising Shen Hui and Huang Lingheng.
• Qingxue and Leng Zimeng joined the group, and Huang Lingheng asked the old man if he was seeking protection from them.

Zhang Qingfeng, the Tarot Club’s Strength member, met Shen Hui and the other newcomers, teased Huang Lingheng by making him call him great-grandpa, and revealed he was an old acquaintance and sworn enemy of Huang Lingheng’s grandfather. He then told Shen Hui, the Death God candidate, that he could attend the meeting before they left that night.

• Zhang Qingfeng introduced himself as a Tarot Club member and told the newcomers they could ask him questions.
• Zhiyue identified the old man as the Tarot Club’s eighth member, representing Strength.
• Zhang Qingfeng insisted Huang Lingheng call him great-grandpa, then revealed he was an old acquaintance and sworn enemy of Huang Lingheng’s grandfather and had tricked him into the title.
• Zhang Qingfeng introduced himself by name and told Shen Hui he could attend the meeting before they left that night.

Shen Hui and his companions learned more about Zhang Qingfeng’s long-ago membership in the Tarot Club and welcomed his help before entering the Chaos Forbidden Domain. Zhang Qingfeng revealed that he had obtained the Strength seat by killing its previous holder.

• Zhang Qingfeng said he had nearly forgotten being a Tarot Club member and offered to help Shen Hui’s group, explaining that he had declined Huang Luoshan’s invitations to join his organization.
• Shen Hui warned Zhang Qingfeng that powerful Creation Worlds might attract greater calamities in the Chaos Forbidden Domain, but Zhang Qingfeng said his Strength seat meant he had no need to worry.
• Zhang Qingfeng teased Huang Lingheng by calling himself his great-grandfather, and Leng Zimeng led the group to a teahouse while Huang Lingheng complained that the old man was tormenting him.
• At the teahouse, Qingxue asked Zhang Qingfeng about the Tarot Club’s history, and he said he had joined decades earlier as part of a later batch after inheriting the Strength seat.
• Zhang Qingfeng told Shen Hui that he had killed the previous holder of the Strength seat to claim it.

Shen Hui and the others questioned Zhang Qingfeng about the Tarot Club and The Fool, but learned little about their origins. Zhang Qingfeng invited Shen Hui to discuss the Creation World after the matter ahead was settled, and Huang Lingheng secured the same opportunity by calling him Great-Grandpa.

• Zhiyue explained that Zhang Qingfeng's strange remark concerned the inheritance ritual for his Strength Position.
• Zhang Qingfeng said the Tarot Club had no founder he knew of, described The Fool as the one who brought in each generation's members, and admitted he did not know The Fool's identity.
• Zhang Qingfeng told Qingxue that he was not unburdened so much as bereft of people and interests, and that the Tarot Club's goal remained his only concern.
• Shen Hui asked to discuss the Creation World with Zhang Qingfeng later, and Zhang Qingfeng agreed.
• Huang Lingheng asked to join the discussion, and Zhang Qingfeng made him call him Great-Grandpa before agreeing.

Shen Hui and the others followed Zhang Qingfeng to the wilderness ruins, where they learned that spatial rifts pulled at anyone using the power of a Creation World. After safely descending the barrier wall, the group prepared to venture deeper into the ruins.

• Zhang Qingfeng led Shen Hui and the others out of the city toward the wilderness ruins, where the Tarot Club gathering was headed.
• The group reached the barrier wall at night and admired the ruined city and its many spatial rifts.
• Zhang Qingfeng jumped down from the wall in his Creator Form and warned the others to avoid the rifts.
• Huang Lingheng's Creator Form was pulled toward a spatial rift until Zhang Qingfeng grabbed him and told him to leave the form.
• The group descended carefully, leaving their Creator Forms after landing, and Zhang Qingfeng warned that the rifts grew more numerous farther inside.

Shen Hui and his companions reached the Tarot Club’s gathering place in the Wilderness Ruins, where Zhang Qingfeng warned that some members might dislike Shen Hui. The newcomers met the assembled members and began introductions, but the Fool’s whereabouts remained unclear.

• Shen Hui’s group detoured around dense spatial rifts on their way to the Tarot Club’s meeting place.
• Zhang Qingfeng warned Shen Hui that some Tarot Club members might be unhappy with him, though he did not explain why.
• Shen Hui and his companions climbed to the repaired rooftop, where eleven Tarot Club members turned to watch them arrive.
• The Hanged Man began introducing the gathering’s members and identified himself as number twelve, the middle-aged man as number four, the Emperor, and another member as number one, the Magician.

At a Tarot Club gathering, Shen Hui and his companions met the other members, but The Devil questioned whether Shen Hui belonged to the organization. Shen Hui admitted that he was not a member, leaving the room tense as he continued to speak.

• The Hanged introduced the Tarot Club members present, including The Hierophant and The Devil, while several members were absent.
• The Hierophant invited others to join Divine Guidance, and Huang Lingheng recognized the faction from an underground auction.
• Zhang Qingfeng refused to introduce Shen Hui's group, so Zhiyue introduced herself as Justice and named Huang Lingheng as The World, Leng Zimeng as The Tower, and Qingxue as The Lovers.
• The Devil remarked that The Lovers' authority could enhance a lover's Creation World, and Shen Hui challenged her to explain how her own authority would help the team.
• The Devil recognized Shen Hui and questioned whether he was a Tarot Club member, prompting hostile attention from the others.
• Shen Hui admitted he was not a Tarot Club member, freezing the atmosphere, then continued speaking calmly.