Chapter Summaries

Xiao Yu and the Earl of Monte Cristo led their combined human and undead party into the underground ruins beneath the temple. As they reached a crossroads, Xiao Yu grew suspicious of the earl’s motives but had not yet learned what lay ahead.

• Xiao Yu met the Earl of Monte Cristo and his twenty adventurers inside the temple, and both groups lowered their weapons.
• The Earl of Monte Cristo invited Xiao Yu’s group to join his party and led the forty-person team to a headless statue concealing the entrance.
• A mage used Transmute Rock to Mud on the statue’s knees, and the party pushed its base aside to uncover the passage.
• The Earl of Monte Cristo led the group down into the ruins, while Xiao Yu questioned whether he had truly learned about them from Andrew’s soul fragment.
• Big Water Cunt suggested the earl might want their equipment, and Xiao Yu reconsidered his assumptions about the earl’s motives.
• The party reached a crossroads with a broad passage ahead and smaller paths branching to either side.

Xiao Yu and the Earl of Monte Cristo led their groups through ruins where Dragonspawn statues came to life and attacked. After defeating the Dragonspawn, they found level-42 equipment from Sky World, far beyond War of the Gods’ level cap.

• The Earl of Monte Cristo used Insight to guide the group through a passage, and Xiao Yu warned his followers to stay alert and hold formation.
• The group entered a hall of Dragonspawn statues, which broke out of their stone shells and attacked, killing several adventurers and two skeleton warriors.
• The Earl of Monte Cristo’s group tried Grease and Burning Hands, but the flames enraged the Dragonspawn and caused more casualties.
• Xiao Yu suggested using ice spells to crack the Dragonspawn’s scales, and the group then buffed their weapons with Magic Weapon and killed the creatures.
• The Earl of Monte Cristo looted a Dragonspawn war spear requiring level 42, revealing that the ruins contained equipment from Sky World.

Xiao Yu’s party fought through the ruin’s halls and reached a mural that appeared to recount the Council of Sages’ final days. He recognized himself and Medivh among the traitors and wondered whether the Earl of Monte Cristo was also connected to the Council, while the mural’s sealed-away figures remained unaccounted for.

• The party split the dragonkin equipment, followed Insight’s trail, and entered a hall where the skeletal floor rose into hordes of undead.
• Xiao Yu and the others retreated to the passage and used divine spells to destroy hundreds of undead, then continued through the ruin.
• The party defeated a gigantic golem by turning the floor into mud and trapping it, then cleared the smaller golems with enchanted weapons.
• In the vast fourth hall, Insight’s light vanished before a huge wall carved with a mural depicting the Council of Sages, their battles, two betrayals, and an apparent attempt to survive the world’s destruction.
• Xiao Yu identified the mural’s figures as Naiser, Shen Yuan, Merlin, Lilith, Kairoz, Ner’zhul, and Alodi, and wondered whether the Earl of Monte Cristo had once belonged to the Council.
• Xiao Yu decided to have Old Li check on Naiser, Shen Yuan, and Merlin, then focused on figuring out how to open the wall.

Xiao Yu found Kairoz, Ner'zhul, and Alodi trapped in a stasis barrier, then left while You Can't See Me followed Earl of Monte Cristo. Earl of Monte Cristo broke the barrier by sacrificing his group’s possessions, and Alodi and Ner'zhul recognized him as Naiser.

• Xiao Yu deciphered the Council of Sages runes and opened the hidden wall, revealing Kairoz, Ner'zhul, and Alodi frozen inside a golden barrier.
• Xiao Yu warned his party away from the barrier, then left and secretly tasked You Can't See Me with watching Earl of Monte Cristo.
• Earl of Monte Cristo explained that the barrier was an absolute stasis space and had his subordinates throw their belongings into it until it weakened.
• The barrier vanished, and Alodi killed Earl of Monte Cristo's six naked subordinates with Chain Lightning.
• Ner'zhul seized You Can't See Me and made him disappear, while Alodi identified Earl of Monte Cristo as Naiser.

Xiao Yu suspected that the Earl of Monte Cristo was connected to Naiser, so he left the ruins to check whether Naiser was still imprisoned. After seeing Naiser behind bars with a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, Xiao Yu remained uneasy and decided he needed to find Medivh.

• Xiao Yu paid You Can't See Me to keep quiet about the Earl of Monte Cristo and hurried back toward town with Chenghong Moli.
• Xiao Yu killed a Dark Wanderer in the ruins and absorbed its Soul Fire Fragment, learning Dual-Wield Weapon Specialization +1.
• Xiao Yu logged out and confirmed through Chenghong Moli that Naiser was still in prison, then arranged to visit him.
• Naiser calmly told Xiao Yu that he might be the one who was locked inside, and Xiao Yu noticed Naiser was reading The Count of Monte Cristo.
• Xiao Yu saw a green-eyed crow that reminded him of Medivh and decided to find him.

The Moha Religion’s elders launched the War of the Gods, a yearlong contest to choose a deity image that could become the Future God, and debated whether faith could create real divine power. Shen Yuan returned and secured permission to enter the contest with only Lesser Divine Power.

• The chair opened the meeting at the Future God Temple and reported that the Miracle Plan was progressing as the church spread its slogans and implanted code in players’ accounts.
• The chair explained that elders would create deities and compete for followers over a year, with the winning image becoming the prototype for the Future God.
• Elder Spencer questioned whether the Power of Faith existed, and the chair argued that shared beliefs and miracles could build faith and prove the theory.
• Joshua Li challenged the God-Creation Faction’s plan, and the chair agreed to resign in favor of the Descent Faction if the Future God failed to appear, provided they did not disrupt the Miracle Plan.
• Shen Yuan entered the hall and claimed his experiment was at least half successful; the elders let him join the contest with Lesser Divine Power.
• The chair declared the War of the Gods officially begun.

Xiao Yu used Insight to search for Medivh and concluded that he might be hiding in the Astral Plane, then learned that the War of the Gods would begin the next day. After reviewing its faith rules, he discovered that the system counted the Blasphemers as his faith and ranked him as a Saint.

• Xiao Yu cast Insight to find Medivh, and the spell’s trail pointed straight into the sky, leading him to suspect Medivh was in the Astral Plane.
• A face in a dead tree contacted Xiao Yu and invited him to a Blasphemer elders’ meeting the next day, saying he had qualified for the inner circle as a Blasphemous Saint.
• The system announced that the War of the Gods would begin the next day, and Xiao Yu agreed to attend the Blasphemers’ meeting to learn more.
• Xiao Yu read the Faith System rules, including the follower ranks, divine power levels, and faith leaderboard, and wondered whether the Moha Religion sought to make players more devout.
• Xiao Yu checked his own faith status and found that his faith was the Blasphemers and his rank was Saint.

Xiao Yu attended a gathering of Blasphemous Saints in Lazarus, where the Blasphemous Prophet revealed a prophecy about ending the gods’ reign. The chapter ended with the Earl of Monte Cristo proposing a plan to bring about the gods’ destruction.

• Xiao Yu accepted the Blasphemous Prophet’s remote summon and arrived in Lazarus, the Free City.
• Xiao Yu joined a conference with seven Blasphemous Saints, nine Blasphemous Elders, and the Blasphemous Prophet, where he recognized the Earl of Monte Cristo.
• The Blasphemous Prophet described a prophecy that a Blasphemous Saint would end the gods’ reign and free people from their deception.
• The Blasphemous Prophet said faith was both the gods’ greatest strength and their greatest weakness.
• The Earl of Monte Cristo said he had thought of a plan that might achieve the prophecy’s goal.

The Earl of Monte Cristo proposed that the Blasphemers create the Creator God as the focus of a new faith, and the Blasphemers voted to begin the Creator Project. The prophet then taught the seven Blasphemous Saints Divine Power Seizure, which Xiao Yu learned from runes in a secret chamber.

• The Earl of Monte Cristo outlined a plan to recast the Blasphemers as followers of the Creator God and attract believers with a rewritten version of the Words of Blasphemy.
• The prophet called for a vote, and most elders and Blasphemous Saints, including Xiao Yu, agreed to begin the Creator Project.
• The prophet announced that the elders would devise the Creation Religion's doctrine and explained that Blasphemous Saints could learn Divine Power Seizure.
• The prophet led the seven players into a secret chamber, where Xiao Yu learned Divine Power Seizure from the runes on the wall.

Xiao Yu learned that Astral Plane Communication could help him reach someone in the Astral Plane, but obtaining it would mean infiltrating a temple of Mystra or finding her hidden artifact. After paying Luren Jia for the information, Xiao Yu left Lazarus, while the Earl of Monte Cristo secretly bought the same information and King's Return messaged Luren Jia about their conversation.

• The prophet gave the seven Blasphemous Saints insignias that let them command ordinary Blasphemers and teleport to Lazarus, then left them to explore the city.
• Lei Qianjun, Black Wild Rose, Wang Xiaoer, Wuming, and Luren Jia introduced themselves, while Xiao Yu and the Earl of Monte Cristo were baffled by their reputations.
• Xiao Yu paid Luren Jia 10,000 vouchers to learn that priests of Mystra could use Astral Plane Communication and that the Goddess of Magic's temple might hold the Mirror of the Astral Plane.
• Xiao Yu decided he would pursue the spell or artifact despite the danger of confronting Mystra, paid Luren Jia, and left the group.
• The Earl of Monte Cristo paid Luren Jia 100,000 vouchers to learn what Xiao Yu had asked, and King's Return privately asked Luren Jia whether the Earl had questioned him.

Xiao Yu gathered a forty-five-thousand-strong undead army to attack Mystra’s temple in the Mage Alliance’s territory. He brought his forces to the temple and ordered them to prepare for battle.

• Xiao Yu returned to the Burying Ground and told Chenghong Moli that he planned to attack Mystra’s temple.
• Xiao Yu created a human alt in the Mage Alliance and scouted the temple, learning it had several hundred defenders, including mages, priests, and Arcane Guardians.
• Xiao Yu decided to overwhelm the temple’s defenders with numbers and assembled the undead forces and players under his command.
• Xiao Yu led an army of forty-five thousand undead to the temple and ordered his servants to attack.

Xiao Yu led an Undead assault on Mystra’s temple, but the temple’s mages and Arcane Guardians repelled the army and forced a costly retreat. After spotting Esmeralda among the defenders, Xiao Yu contacted her and arranged to meet in person.

• Xiao Yu taunted Mystra’s guardians in the name of Naraku as his Undead army advanced on the temple.
• The temple’s mages unleashed Meteor Storm and other powerful spells, destroying the first waves of Undead while Arcane Guardians held the gates.
• An undercover agent warned Xiao Yu that Mystra’s followers could replenish their spell slots and that reinforcements were returning, so Xiao Yu ordered a retreat.
• Temple mages pursued the retreating army, and Xiao Yu spotted Esmeralda on a flying carpet casting Blizzard against the stragglers.
• Xiao Yu’s army returned to the Burying Ground after losing fifteen thousand troops, and he messaged Esmeralda to arrange a meeting.

Xiao Yu met Esmeralda to ask for help learning Astral Plane Communication, but their reunion turned intimate before a crow lured him into a poisoned tunnel. He collapsed after breathing green gas, unsure whether he would survive.

• Xiao Yu asked Esmeralda to help him learn Astral Plane Communication so he could find someone in the Astral Plane, and she agreed to learn the spell.
• Esmeralda asked Xiao Yu whether he had a girlfriend, then invited him to her place, and they became intimate.
• Xiao Yu noticed a crow with green eyes tapping at the hotel window, and it beckoned him to follow.
• Xiao Yu followed the crow through the city to a dark tunnel and entered after it.
• Xiao Yu found a pipe releasing green gas, tried to escape, and collapsed as the poison left him unable to breathe.

Xiao Yu survived a gas leak after a crow led him into danger, then asked Esmeralda to locate Medivh through the Astral Plane, but she could not find him. The crow returned with a strange warning, and Esmeralda invited Xiao Yu out that night.

• A maintenance worker rescued Xiao Yu from a gas pipeline, and Xiao Yu went to the hospital before returning home to rest.
• Xiao Yu logged into the game and met Esmeralda, who took him to the temple observatory.
• Xiao Yu asked Esmeralda to find Medivh, but her search of the Astral Plane found no trace of him.
• Xiao Yu left the game, and the crow appeared at his window and scratched the words “Drop dead!” into the glass before vanishing.
• Esmeralda called Xiao Yu and invited him to go out that night, and he agreed.

Esmeralda took Xiao Yu to the House of the Gods, where a prayer gathering seemed to grant worshippers real power. When Xiao Yu called Old Li to report a suspected cult, the club’s host killed the agents with a divine spell and had Xiao Yu seized.

• Esmeralda led Xiao Yu to the House of the Gods, where they answered questions about War of the Gods to enter.
• Xiao Yu joined a prayer session and felt a sacred presence, though he suspected mass suggestion or a trick.
• Xiao Yu called Old Li and reported that the club might be a Moha Religion base recruiting followers.
• Old Li arrived with agents and confronted the host, who claimed a god had granted him power.
• The host cast Divine Punishment Spell, burning Old Li and the agents to ash.
• The host revealed that the god had foreseen Xiao Yu’s actions, and the crowd surrounded and seized him after he surrendered.

Xiao Yu was captured by the Moha Religion and brought to a luxurious villa, where its leader, Mr. Forrest, explained why the group planned to create a god. Forrest said Xiao Yu would be kept there for a year as a witness while the plan unfolded.

• Two men blindfolded Xiao Yu, took him out of the city by flying car, and brought him to a villa.
• Mr. Forrest welcomed Xiao Yu to dinner and said the Moha Religion had captured him because calculations showed he might ruin its plan.
• Forrest explained that the group was pursuing a God-Creation Plan because its members had already achieved ordinary human goals and wanted a more ambitious challenge.
• Forrest told Xiao Yu that the Moha Religion had three factions, whose plans involved creating a god, bringing one down, or mastering the will of the Great Universe.
• Forrest said Xiao Yu could stay at the estate for a year without internet access, and Xiao Yu accepted that he had no choice.

Xiao Yu realized that his comfortable life in the manor was a virtual world designed to keep him trapped, and he escaped by killing himself inside the simulation. He and Chenghong Moli woke from their gaming pods, and Old Li prepared to act against the Moha Religion.

• After months in the manor, Xiao Yu grew increasingly hungry and weak despite exercising and eating lavish meals.
• Xiao Yu dreamed that a crow tore his hand loose and a voice warned him that his time was running out, prompting him to suspect that his life was an illusion.
• Xiao Yu stabbed Forrest and then himself, awakening at the War of the Gods login screen before exiting the game.
• Xiao Yu found that he and Chenghong Moli had been trapped in gaming pods for months, and he forced open her pod and called for help.
• After National Guard Bureau agents arrived, Xiao Yu explained that the manor and its events were part of a virtual world arranged by the Moha Religion, and Old Li said they would now make their move.

Xiao Yu learned from Old Li that Shen Yuan and Naiser had been freed and that the War of the Gods was nearing its end, with the Moha Religion suspected of preparing a God-Creation Plan. He agreed to return to Earth Online 2.0 after resting, but first asked Old Li to find a mage who could use Astral Plane Communication so he could contact Medivh.

• Old Li told Xiao Yu that Shen Yuan and Naiser had escaped with powerful backing, and that the National Guard Bureau was tracking them for a chance to arrest them.
• Old Li reported that the God of Light, the God of Eternity, and the Creator God were the last gods standing in the War of the Gods, and warned that the Moha Religion might use the final victory to launch its God-Creation Plan.
• Old Li asked Xiao Yu to return to the game and investigate the Moha Religion, promising safeguards against him being trapped again; Xiao Yu agreed after resting.
• Xiao Yu asked Old Li to find a mage capable of Astral Plane Communication so he could contact Medivh, and Old Li agreed while asking him to return to headquarters afterward.
• In the flying car, Xiao Yu asked Chenghong Moli what had happened to her in the game, but she avoided answering and unconsciously took his hand, leaving him uneasy.

Xiao Yu returned to War of the Gods and reunited with Medivh, who explained how he survived the game’s destruction and revealed that Azathoth and the Overlord had survived too. The chapter ended with Xiao Yu planning to gain control of Azathoth and track down the Overlord.

• Old Li brought Xiao Yu to the National Guard Bureau, where he met Fashen Wushuang, a powerful mage who could use Astral Plane magic.
• Xiao Yu logged into War of the Gods, found that the God of Eternity had taken over the Burying Ground, and learned he was no longer the Underworld Dynasty’s guild leader.
• Fashen Wushuang used Astral Plane Communication to locate Medivh and Astral Plane Descent to bring him into the Temple of Magic.
• Medivh explained that he had survived the game’s destruction by banishing his soul to the Astral Plane, and that he had helped Xiao Yu escape Earth Online 2.0.
• Medivh revealed that Azathoth had survived the formatting and grown stronger, and said Xiao Yu might be able to control him through brainwave authentication.
• Medivh told Xiao Yu that the Overlord had also survived and entered the Astral Plane, though Medivh had lost track of its location.

Xiao Yu learned that his Azathoth character still existed and gathered a team of Legendary experts to help him reach it in the Chaos Domain. After Medivh teleported the group there, the Earl of Monte Cristo tracked their destination and ordered his guild to pursue them.

• Xiao Yu told Old Li that Azathoth had survived, and he asked for a team of Legendary experts to help him reach the character in the Chaos Domain.
• Old Li gathered twenty top players, including thirteen who had reached the Legendary realm, and joined Xiao Yu's group.
• Medivh used a spacetime beacon and Mass Teleport to send the group to the Chaos Domain.
• The Earl of Monte Cristo's mage traced Medivh's teleport to an unknown chaos zone, and the Earl ordered his guild to pursue them.