Lord of the Mysteries Reading Guide: Start at Chapter 1

Start Lord of the Mysteries at chapter 1 and read straight through. There's no prequel, no prologue to skip, and no later "real start" that makes the opening optional, even if you've seen the donghua. The decisions that matter come later: where to pause, where the main story ends, and when to start the sequel.

The official English edition sits on Webnovel as Lord of Mysteries, with no "the", by Cuttlefish That Loves Diving, translated and edited by CKtalon and AtlasStudios. On October 15, 2026 its catalog listed the book as Completed at 1,432 chapters. That total includes side stories, which is the first thing to sort out.

Lord of the Mysteries Reading Guide: The Order at a Glance

The author published the novel on Qidian in eight parts. Webnovel keeps the same chapter numbers but splits Part One into two volumes, so from Volume 3 on, Webnovel's volume number runs one ahead of the author's part.

Qidian titles each part. We left the titles out on purpose: past the first one, they hint at where the protagonist ends up.

Screenshot: Webnovel catalog for Lord of Mysteries, October 15, 2026

Why Chapter 1 Is Not Optional

The first chapter is the hook. Zhou Mingrui wakes at a desk under a crimson moon with a splitting headache, a brass revolver lying next to his pen and a notebook open in front of him. Once his borrowed memories let him read the script, its line says "Everyone will die, including me." Then he walks to a cracked mirror and finds a wound in his temple, with brain matter still moving inside it. You won't get that scene back by starting anywhere else.

Readers who came from the donghua ask the same question anyway. The official Lord of Mysteries site lists the first season as Lord of Mysteries: The Clown, released worldwide on June 28, 2025. When a donghua-only viewer asked r/LordofTheMysteries whether the first volume was worth reading, the top reply from u/ChaosPLus was blunt: "Donghua changed some bits from the story, not really story breaking, but I'd say 100% read the first volume." u/n0rmal_redditUser, who liked a storyline the show mostly cut, put it more simply: "personally i would read from chapter 1." Our novel vs donghua comparison goes through what changed.

The Slow Start, and Where to Judge It

Part One is slow, and the fans say so themselves. The newcomer who opened a "slow start" thread on r/LordofTheMysteries had read 13 chapters and wrote that "people say after 200 chapters it gets good". The replies split that in two. u/AbyssWalker9001 said "the actual story starts to pick up a bit around the 50s or 60s iirc", with a bigger lift near 190. u/BlazingArc admitted "I dropped it like every 25-50 chapters because world building was boring to me" before deciding the detail paid off.

That gives you two fair checkpoints. The first comes around chapter sixty: if the investigation and the household detail still bore you there, the book's method isn't going to change for you. The second is the end of Part One. On Qidian, the author's end-of-part note sits between 213 and "Land of Hope", so that's the clean place to stop or commit. Stopping halfway through a part leaves you nowhere.

Where to Read It Officially

Webnovel is the official English home. Signed out on the website on October 15, 2026, chapters 1 to 40 loaded in full. Chapter 41 stopped after a few paragraphs with a prompt to download the Webnovel app. Past that point you're reading in the app, where paid chapters run on Coins and Fast Pass; our Webnovel coins and Fast Pass guide covers what each one costs you.

Screenshot: Webnovel, Lord of Mysteries chapter 41, signed out, October 15, 2026

Print adds a third numbering system. The official site says physical editions are out in nine languages, English among them. Readers report that the English print run splits each online volume into three books: one r/LordofTheMysteries post is titled "Just finished the third physical book, aka the first online volume", and the donghua viewer above already had "the first volume of the faceless arc since the English novel release is in 3 parts." When someone says "volume 2", ask which kind they mean.

Lord of the Mysteries Reading Guide: Avoiding Spoilers

• Pathway charts. They're the classic trap. In an r/noveltranslations thread on which pathway is strongest, one reply links the fan wiki's pathway page under the warning "WARNING spoiler". Our Sequences explainer is written to stay spoiler-safe.
• Reddit tags. Posts on r/LordofTheMysteries carry volume tags such as [V1] and [Lotm V8]. With three ways of counting volumes in play, a tag that matches your number can still be ahead of your chapter, so read threads tagged below where you are.
• The catalog. Webnovel lists every chapter title to the end. Jump to your chapter by number instead of scrolling past titles you haven't reached.

After the Main Story Ends

Chapter 1394, "A New Journey", ends the main story. On Qidian it's followed directly by the author's two-part completion note, posted on May 1 and 2, 2020. The rest of Webnovel's numbered list is extra material: "An Ordinary Person's Daily Life" in eight chapters, "In Modern Day" in 28, and a two-chapter bonus called "That Corner". Read them after the ending, in catalog order.

Then there's the sequel, Lord of Mysteries 2: Circle of Inevitability, by the same author and translated and edited by CKtalon. Webnovel lists it as Completed at 1,181 chapters, and its synopsis is a single line: "Sequel to Lord of Mysteries." Finish the first book before you open it. When you get there, our Circle of Inevitability verdict covers what the free first volume shows and why readers split on its new lead, Lumian. The author's newer serial, Radiant Blade of the Wilderness, is still running; our Radiant Blade of the Wilderness review says whether to start it now or wait.

Our Take

Read it in order, start at the start, and give Part One its full length before you quit. Fans recommend the opening to donghua viewers too, and the slow first stretch is the price of everything after it. Bookmark by chapter number rather than by any volume label, because Webnovel, Qidian and the print books each count volumes differently. If you're still unsure after the first part, our Lord of the Mysteries review covers whether the rest is worth it.

Related Reading

• Lord of the Mysteries Review
• Lord of the Mysteries Sequences Explained
• Lord of the Mysteries Donghua vs Novel
• Novels Like Lord of the Mysteries
• Webnovel Coins and Fast Pass Explained
• Reverend Insanity Reading Guide
• My House of Horrors Reading Guide

References

• Lord of Mysteries catalog on Webnovel
• 诡秘之主 catalog on Qidian
• Lord of Mysteries 2: Circle of Inevitability on Webnovel
• Official Lord of Mysteries site: overview