Chapter Summaries

Evenson agreed to visit Kamar-Taj after Klayya revealed her need for help building a team as Shadow Sorcerer Supreme. Meanwhile, Wilson Fisk arrived seeking a cure for Vanessa, who had been poisoned and remained unconscious.

• Klayya invited Evenson to visit the Three Great Sanctums, and he agreed after she insisted.
• Klayya privately hoped Evenson would help her meet people and choose a core team for her role as Shadow Sorcerer Supreme.
• Moira called Sarolas to report that Wilson Fisk had arrived with a woman who was close to dying.
• Sarolas explained that Fisk wanted the Twins to save Vanessa, who had been poisoned at a charity dinner and remained unconscious.
• A doctor told Fisk that only one place could completely cure Vanessa.

Fisk doubted Gospel Company’s medicines but reconsidered after the doctor explained that they had helped keep Vanessa alive and that the company likely had more advanced treatments. He decided to take Vanessa to Gospel Company himself and ask Madam Gao to arrange an introduction.

• Fisk grew furious when the doctor recommended Gospel Company, whose medicines he had believed were counterfeit and dangerous.
• The doctor reminded Fisk that Gospel Company’s products had drawn no reports of harm and said patients often requested them by name.
• The doctor explained that Gospel Company’s yellow medicine had helped Vanessa survive and suggested the company was holding back its best treatments while building its reputation and gathering clinical data.
• Fisk decided to transfer Vanessa to Gospel Company and visit it in person.
• Wesley began arranging the transfer, and Fisk agreed to inform Madam Gao, who had dealt with Gospel Company before.

Fisk brought the poisoned Vanessa to Gospel Company, where Moira placed her in a life-support pod and Evenson agreed to help after the Eredar Twins refused. Madam Gao waited anxiously beside Fisk, regretting that she had ordered Vanessa poisoned to restore order to the Hand’s detergent business.

• Fisk took Vanessa to Gospel Company, and Moira put her in a life-support pod before reporting the situation to the Eredar Twins.
• The Eredar Twins declined to get involved, but Evenson offered to save Vanessa, saying Fisk would have to pay heavily.
• Hubbs staged a collision with a Porsche, and Tripsy collected a thousand dollars from the driver.
• Fisk and Madam Gao waited beside Vanessa as she remained near death in the life-support pod.
• Madam Gao recalled that she had arranged Vanessa’s poisoning because Fisk’s relationship with her had disrupted the Hand’s detergent business.

Madam Gao and Wilson Fisk sought Evenson’s help to save Vanessa from a strange poison. Evenson said he could keep her alive, then asked Fisk to decide how much she was worth to him.

• Madam Gao joined Fisk’s visit, worried that he would anger the powerful women backing Evenson and ruin their chance of getting help.
• Evenson entered dressed unusually, and Madam Gao recognized his formidable power and greeted him with deference.
• Madam Gao explained that Vanessa had been poisoned and asked Evenson to save her, while Fisk struggled to speak through his anxiety.
• Evenson assured them Vanessa would not die but said he would not save her for free.
• Evenson asked Fisk how much Vanessa was worth to him and what she meant to him.

Evenson saved Vanessa by transferring a bodyguard’s life force into her, then got Fisk to pledge everything he had in exchange for saving her. He urged Fisk to move his assets into a secure account to protect their value and keep Fisk useful if the vigilante exposed his crimes.

• Vanessa’s life-support pod alarmed, and she began convulsing as Fisk rushed to her side.
• Evenson extracted a bodyguard’s life force and transferred it to Vanessa, stabilizing her while Madam Gao watched in alarm.
• Fisk declared that Vanessa was his everything and promised Evenson access to all he owned if she was saved.
• Evenson warned that the vigilante could expose Fisk’s crimes and ruin his assets, then told him to transfer them into a secure account.

Fisk balked at Evenson’s offer to shelter his fortune, warning that transferring his assets could expose the recipient to federal scrutiny. Evenson brought in Stephanie Malick, whose family influence persuaded her to arrange protection, though she required Fisk to leave some assets available for the FBI to investigate.

• Fisk recalled his early attempt to build a fortune through safe accounts and reduced sentences before turning to underground fights and gangs, and he told Evenson that transferring his assets could implicate the recipient.
• Madam Gao stayed silent as Fisk questioned whether Evenson could keep the assets safe from the FBI.
• Evenson called Stephanie Malick into the room and introduced her as Gideon Malick’s eldest legitimate daughter.
• Fisk and Madam Gao recognized the Malick family’s influence, while Stephanie barely remembered Fisk and initially resisted helping him.
• Evenson reminded Stephanie that his company had helped with her family’s business, and she agreed to make calls and arrange the transfer.
• Stephanie told Fisk to leave some assets for the FBI to investigate before she left to make the calls.

Evenson secured Fisk’s assets and loyalty with a contract backed by Mephisto, then restored Vanessa by removing the poison from her body. He left Fisk with a new task: pursue Dr. Strange’s mortgage through normal procedures while keeping him free to travel.

• Stephanie’s intervention through the Malik family reassured Fisk that his assets would be protected from the FBI, and Fisk agreed to transfer them as part of the deal.
• Evenson summoned Mephisto to prepare a contract, and Fisk signed it after learning the demon had written it.
• Evenson drained a bodyguard’s life force to remove the poison from Vanessa, then warned Fisk that he could take her life just as easily.
• Evenson told Fisk to collect the debt on Dr. Strange’s apartment after his car accident left him unable to work.
• Fisk agreed to follow normal collection procedures and send bank employees to Dr. Strange’s door daily, while keeping him off the credit blacklist.

After completing the deal that cost him his power, assets, and territory, Fisk thanked Evenson for curing Vanessa. Evenson challenged Fisk’s ambition to improve Hell’s Kitchen and outlined a political strategy that left Fisk treating him as a teacher.

• Fisk helped Vanessa out of the life-support pod and thanked Evenson before preparing to take her home to recover.
• Evenson asked about Fisk’s ambitions, and Fisk said he wanted to transform Hell’s Kitchen into a better place.
• Evenson criticized Fisk for not doing enough and suggested using clean-record underlings as political candidates and training others to rise through the police force.
• Fisk realized the potential of Evenson’s strategy, and Madam Gao called Evenson Fisk’s teacher.
• Fisk bowed to Evenson and thanked his new teacher, leaving Evenson speechless.

Evenson left his work in Moira’s hands and took Kreia on a vacation to Hong Kong, where a street-side dispute led him to fight a gang. He returned with Kreia to the Hong Kong Sanctum to avoid the police, but her ominous warning left the consequences for tomorrow.

• Moira offered to have Agent 47 kill Daredevil, but Evenson told her to keep watching him and focus on her Black Badge Division duties while he prepared for a long vacation.
• Evenson and Kreia visited Hong Kong, but Evenson skipped entering the Sanctum at first and took Kreia out to enjoy local food and practice his fluent Chinese.
• Brother Fly and his gang collected protection money from a food-stall owner, then insulted Evenson as they left.
• Evenson knocked down Brother Fly’s three lackeys and beat Brother Fly, then fled with Kreia to the Sanctum to avoid police because he had entered Hong Kong without a passport or visa.
• Kreia scolded Evenson for causing trouble and ominously told him he would find out what happened the next day.

Evenson woke in the Hong Kong Sanctum to find its mages training in martial arts, where Klayya explained the sanctum’s traditions and introduced him to her Senior Disciple Sister, Li Lin. Li Lin knocked out Brother Fly and called a protected, plump mage to exchange moves, setting up a confrontation.

• Evenson woke at 4:30 a.m. and found Hong Kong Sanctum mages practicing punches and rolling across gravel under Yin Sheng’s supervision.
• Klayya explained that Hong Kong Sanctum’s combat strength and seniority customs distinguished it from the New York and London sanctums.
• Li Lin arrived with Brother Fly, whom she punched unconscious after he insulted Evenson and Klayya.
• Klayya told Evenson that Li Lin ran the White Rose Barber Shop chain and was one of Hong Kong’s Nine Dragons One Tiger and the strongest person in the Hong Kong Sanctum.
• Li Lin challenged the protected, plump middle-aged mage to exchange moves, and he tried to bluff his way out of appearing afraid.

Evenson watched Li Lin defeat Wong with the Baji Quan technique Fierce Tiger Climbing Mountain, then learned about her family lineage and the hardships that led her to inherit a barber shop and a criminal side business. The chapter ended with Li Lin and Klayya trading barbed remarks and glaring at each other.

• Li Lin overwhelmed Wong with a brutal combination that shattered his protective spells and left him unconscious.
• Klayya identified Li Lin's finishing technique as Fierce Tiger Climbing Mountain and revealed that Li Lin descended from the martial artist Li Shuwen.
• Klayya explained how Li Lin's grandfather and his disciple One Line of Sky came to Hong Kong, where One Line of Sky raised Li Lin and passed on Baji Quan and the White Rose Barber Shop.
• Klayya recounted how Li Lin inherited Three Rivers Water's side business after leaving his son and the walled city, whose leaders were later scattered and arrested.
• Li Lin approached Klayya and mocked her, and the two exchanged pointed remarks about how they had changed.

Evenson helped settle Li Lin’s dispute over Wong by offering a reconciliation banquet, while Klayya and Li Lin resumed their usual insults. After Li Lin left with Brother Fly, Wong asked Yin Sheng to help him transfer to a library administrator post so he could avoid being beaten in sparring.

• Klayya and Li Lin traded insults, and Klayya explained that their arguments had a no-hitting rule.
• Li Lin confronted Evenson over Wong’s beating, and Evenson apologized for the misunderstanding.
• Klayya explained that Brother Fly had demanded protection money and insulted them, reigniting her argument with Li Lin.
• Evenson offered to host reconciliation wine, and Li Lin accepted before taking Brother Fly away.
• Wong asked Yin Sheng to recommend him for a library administrator opening, and Yin Sheng agreed to pass the request to the higher-ups.

Evenson attended a reconciliation banquet with Li Lin and Brother Fly, then heard Li Lin explain why she planned to leave the underworld and pursue her ancestor’s martial arts. He demonstrated a technique that pulverized a roast chicken’s bones without damaging its meat, leaving Li Lin impressed by his hidden strength.

• Evenson arrived at Li Lin’s chosen restaurant, where the staff welcomed her as Senior Disciple Sister and Klayya explained Li Lin’s standing in martial and underworld circles.
• Brother Fly apologized to Evenson over drinks, and the two settled their dispute before Li Lin sent Brother Fly away without letting him eat.
• Li Lin told Klayya and Evenson that she planned to leave the underworld and run the White Rose Barber Shop, citing the police crackdown on gangs.
• Evenson offered to help Li Lin expand into Hell’s Kitchen, but she declined and said she wanted to travel the mainland to master Wu Er Da and challenge prejudice in the Li Clan Sect.
• Evenson pulverized the bones inside a roast chicken with a gesture, and Li Lin recognized him as a formidable hidden master.

Li Lin sought to learn the legendary Wu Er Da, and Evenson revealed that his magic could reproduce the techniques she wanted. He insisted that teaching her required a formal bond, so Li Lin knelt and accepted him as her Master.

• Evenson explained that Wu Er Da depended on precisely guiding force into an opponent, and Li Lin admitted she had failed to master either version of the technique.
• Li Lin said she had traveled from Hong Kong hoping to find martial arts masters, then asked Evenson how he had dissolved the roast chicken's bones with a finger point.
• Evenson revealed that his sorcery could damage the body from within and even cause death through shock, while urging Li Lin to use magic to verify her martial path.
• Li Lin asked Evenson to teach her how to control force, and he said the rules of passing down teachings required a formal relationship.
• Li Lin helped Evenson into the grandmaster's chair, kowtowed three times, and offered him wine, declaring that she would call him Master.

Evenson and Klayya arranged Li Lin’s apprenticeship to secure her loyalty and influence for Klayya’s possible succession as Sorcerer Supreme. After Li Lin completed the ceremony, Brother Fly warned that armed people had surrounded them and jammed their phones.

• Evenson explained to Klayya that Li Lin’s fighting skill, ties to the Hong Kong Sanctum, and control of its finances made her a valuable ally.
• Evenson and Klayya agreed that Li Lin’s lifelong wish could help bring her under Klayya’s banner.
• Li Lin completed the apprenticeship ceremony and bluntly told Klayya she would not call her Mistress.
• Brother Fly reported that a crowd had surrounded them, and Li Lin ordered him to summon the brothers.
• Brother Fly said the attackers had brought a signal jammer, leaving their phones unable to connect.

Evenson stopped Jin Duoyu’s Black Hand gang from threatening Li Lin and forced Madam Gao to apologize, though her gift of Jin Duoyu’s head disgusted him. As the group left the restaurant, Evenson spotted a S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft carrying his teleportation array and decided to investigate its arrival in Hong Kong.

• Klayya tried to take Li Lin through a portal, but Evenson persuaded Li Lin to stay and let their underlings handle the confrontation.
• Jin Duoyu demanded that Li Lin sign over the White Rose Barber Shop’s turf, and Evenson recognized his group as The Hand and contacted Madam Gao.
• Madam Gao ordered Jin Duoyu’s men to withdraw and sent his head as an apology, which Evenson accepted as a warning that the incident must not happen again.
• Evenson, Klayya, and Li Lin left the restaurant without paying, and Evenson complained that The Hand had spoiled his hopes of seeing Hung Hing and Tung Hing fight.
• Evenson recognized a S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft by the teleportation Magic array installed on it and went to find out why Coulson’s team had come to Hong Kong.

Coulson's team investigated Chen Haoran's kidnapping in Hong Kong, exposing Skye's ties to Rising Tide Organization and the Centipede Project's experiments on Chen. After Chen turned hostile and attacked Coulson and Melinda, Evenson arrived and effortlessly stopped his flames, offering him a chance to talk.

• Agent Guan reported that Chen Haoran had been kidnapped after S.H.I.E.L.D.'s cybersecurity system was breached by Rising Tide Organization, prompting Coulson's team to review Skye's loyalty.
• Skye identified Miles Rhydon as the hacker, but secretly warned him and met him before Melinda caught them together; Rhydon later admitted selling Chen's information to Lena for one million dollars.
• Lena and the Centipede Project used Chen Haoran as a test subject, draining his platelets to study how his body resisted overheating and explosion.
• Coulson and Melinda found Chen in the laboratory, but he killed Agent Guan and attacked them after his experiments left him physically injured and mentally changed.
• Evenson arrived as Chen unleashed fire, froze and dispersed Chen's fireballs, then told him he could either talk or face the consequences.

Evenson tried to persuade Chen Haoran to join S.H.I.E.L.D., but learned that Chen had killed Agent Guan and could not be offered a place. When Chen refused to surrender, Evenson called on Li Lin to fight him, and she met Chen’s flames with her spear.

• Chen Haoran rejected Evenson’s recruitment pitch, denounced S.H.I.E.L.D.’s monitoring, and vowed never to submit again.
• Melinda refused to let S.H.I.E.L.D. recruit Chen, and Coulson revealed that Chen had killed Agent Guan during the rescue.
• Evenson gave Chen one last chance to surrender, but Chen chose to fight for his freedom instead.
• Evenson called Li Lin his disciple and sent her to confront Chen, while Li Lin briefly tested Melinda’s martial arts skill.
• Chen hurled a fireball at Li Lin, who dodged it, drew her Zhangba Six Harmonies Spear, and shattered his next fireball with a thrust.

Evenson explained how Li Lin became his disciple and joked with Melinda and Coulson while they questioned his arrival in Hong Kong. He agreed to stop in London, where Coulson and Melinda asked him to investigate Dr. Selvig after he was found behaving erratically in public.

• Evenson told Melinda that Li Lin had become his disciple to use Magic to verify her martial arts, not to study Magic itself.
• Evenson admitted he had arranged Chen Haoran's fight partly so he could watch a martial arts hero battle a superpowered person.
• Coulson and Melinda confronted Evenson about entering Hong Kong, and he explained that a portal had brought him there from Kamar-Taj's New York outpost.
• Evenson said he would leave Hong Kong the next morning and stop in London using his unexpired tourist visa.
• Coulson showed Evenson a news clip of Dr. Selvig stripping naked and shouting about a catastrophe at Stonehenge, and Melinda asked Evenson to assess whether Loki's control had left him with aftereffects.

Li Lin defeated Chen Haoran in a spear fight, and Evenson ordered her execution of him after he refused arrest. Later, Evenson confronted Coulson over releasing Rhydon, and Skye rushed in to stop him from killing Rhydon.

• Evenson provoked Li Lin into attacking Chen Haoran, who fought back with fire but was overwhelmed by her spearwork.
• Chen Haoran heated and broke Li Lin's spearhead, but Li Lin pierced his shoulder with the bare shaft and brought him down.
• Evenson signaled Li Lin to kill Chen Haoran, and she pierced his throat; Evenson defended the killing as mercy, while Coulson objected.
• Evenson accepted Li Lin as his apprentice and planned for her to settle in New York, then learned Skye had made a serious mistake during the mission.
• Evenson angrily confronted Coulson for releasing Rhydon and said he could find and kill him, prompting Skye to burst into the office and object.