Recaps

Lin Qiye caught the escaped female prisoner at the city gate and discovered that she possessed the Eternal Youth Forbidden Ruin, which let her change faces and abilities. After defeating her, he brought her and the monster heads to the tavern to request an audience with Huo Qubing.

• Huo Qubing sensed an unexpected prize nearby while his deputy general and the Confucian-robed scholar wondered where the remaining Evil Spirits had gone.
• Lin Qiye confronted the escaped female prisoner at the city gate, stopped her attempted dash, and learned she could transform her face and body.
• Lin Qiye recognized her ability as Eternal Youth, Forbidden Ruin Sequence 020, the Fifth Royal Ruin.
• The female prisoner changed faces and attacked with fire and sword-like slashes, but Lin Qiye dodged her blows and smashed her unconscious.
• Lin Qiye carried the unconscious prisoner and the monster heads to the tavern, where he introduced himself and requested an audience with the Marquis of Champion.

Lin Qiye subdued a dangerous female prisoner and met Huo Qubing, claiming he had traveled from more than two thousand years in the future. Huo Qubing began to take his claim seriously after Lin Qiye revealed secret knowledge, and the chapter ended with the prisoner’s name: Gongyang Wan.

• Lin Qiye subdued the female prisoner with his physical strength, carried her and several monster heads into the tavern, and met Huo Qubing.
• Lin Qiye told Huo Qubing that he came from more than two thousand years in the future, but his attempt to prove it with Huo Qubing’s future victory over the Xiongnu failed because it had already happened.
• Lin Qiye asked whether the Evil Suppression Department had been established, surprising Huo Qubing because the idea was still secret.
• Huo Qubing invited Lin Qiye to eat and explained that the female prisoner could steal abilities and lifespans by swallowing Extraordinary Individuals alive.
• Lin Qiye asked the prisoner’s name, and Huo Qubing identified her as Gongyang Wan.

Lin Qiye realized the unconscious prisoner was Gongyang Wan, the Evil Suppression Department’s second Chief Official, and learned that Huo Qubing planned to execute her. He joined Huo Qubing’s journey to Chang’an and brought Wu Quan for treatment, but Huo Qubing recognized the injured youth as Emperor of Domination.

• Lin Qiye recognized Gongyang Wan as the woman with Eternal Youth who had led the Evil Suppression Department for two thousand years.
• The scholar explained that Huo Qubing planned to execute Gongyang Wan for devouring Extraordinary Individuals and to reassure others he hoped to recruit.
• Lin Qiye asked to accompany Huo Qubing to Chang’an and persuaded him to help heal his injured junior.
• Lin Qiye returned with Wu Quan on a wooden cart, and the scholar and deputy general discovered the youth had sixth-realm strength.
• Huo Qubing looked at Wu Quan and recognized him as Emperor of Domination.

Lin Qiye and Huo Qubing discussed the future after Wu Quan was placed under a healer’s care. Huo Qubing agreed to help Lin Qiye but gave Gongyang Wan only a few days to prove herself, revealing that he had little time left.

• Zhan Yuwu arranged for Wu Quan to be carried in a grain cart, and Zhong Meng began healing him with vines.
• Huo Qubing asked Lin Qiye about the world two thousand years in the future, and Lin Qiye told him about the Night Watchmen, Great Xia, and the Cthulhu Mythos.
• Huo Qubing promised to help Lin Qiye as a fellow descendant of Yan and Huang.
• Huo Qubing said he would observe Gongyang Wan for a few days before deciding whether to spare her or supervise her Lingchi Execution.
• Lin Qiye asked Huo Qubing to extend Gongyang Wan’s deadline, but Huo Qubing refused and said he had no time left.

Huo Qubing split a disaster-level sandstorm with his power, awakening Wu Quan and revealing their extraordinary connection. Gongyang Wan failed to escape and was forced to swallow the Heart-Returning Gu as Huo Qubing led the army onward.

• Huo Qubing used his Mental Power to tear apart the approaching sandstorm and disperse it.
• Huo Qubing’s power awakened Wu Quan’s King’s Ruin, and Wu Quan recovered and asked Lin Qiye where they were.
• Gongyang Wan sprang from the supply cart and tried to flee, but Huo Qubing stopped her in midair.
• Huo Qubing forced Gongyang Wan to swallow the Heart-Returning Gu and ordered her to address him as My Lord.

Lin Qiye learned more about Huo Qubing and joined the army’s urgent march toward Chang’an after the lack of Black Dog Tooth left them vulnerable to Evil Spirits. As night fell, Lin Qiye noticed the crimson stars seemed closer than before.

• Lin Qiye told Wu Quan that Huo Qubing was the Emperor of Domination, a Human Apex powerhouse, and the oldest founder of the Night Watchmen, then considered why Western Han people spoke like modern people.
• Huo Qubing’s generals warned that without Black Dog Tooth, their weakened Exorcism Array made camping in the wilderness dangerous.
• Huo Qubing ordered the army to abandon seventy percent of its supplies and travel at full speed to reach Chang’an within two days.
• Huo Qubing assigned Lin Qiye to guard the rear, and Lin Qiye accepted before riding to his post.
• As darkness fell, Lin Qiye looked at the sky and wondered whether the crimson stars had moved closer.

Lin Qiye and Wu Quan traveled with the army toward Chang'an as they investigated the growing red stars and the rise of the Evil Spirits. When Mysteries attacked from behind, Wu Quan fought them off while Huo Qubing watched from the army’s center.

• Gongyang Wan asked Wu Quan whether he had the same ability as the Marquis of Champion, and Lin Qiye warned Wu Quan to stay alert and brought him to the army’s rear flank.
• Lin Qiye learned from a soldier that the red stars had appeared about ten days earlier, while Evil Spirits had grown increasingly active.
• A soldier explained that the army used black flags soaked in special materials as an Exorcism Array to repel Evil Spirits.
• An explosion erupted on the army’s western side as Mysteries gathered behind the torch-lit troops.
• Wu Quan crushed weaker Mysteries with his power and blasted the rest with a huge fireball, while Huo Qubing looked back from the army’s center.

Lin Qiye and Huo Qubing led the exhausted army toward Chang'an as crimson stars lingered in the dawn sky. A crimson meteor pursued them, and after Huo Qubing and Wu Quan slowed it, Lin Qiye shattered it—releasing Iridescent Mist with the aura of a Lovecraftian Creature.

• Lin Qiye and Huo Qubing fought off attacks from the Mysteries and drove the army toward Chang'an through the night.
• At dawn, Lin Qiye spotted a fragment of a Crimson Star becoming a meteor and warned Huo Qubing that it was heading for the army.
• Huo Qubing ordered the exhausted soldiers to hurry onward, but the meteor continued to track them.
• Huo Qubing and Wu Quan used their powers to slow and crack the meteor as it descended toward the army.
• Lin Qiye leaped up and shattered the meteor with his fist, releasing Iridescent Mist that swallowed him and the soldiers.
• Lin Qiye sensed the aura of a Lovecraftian Creature within the Iridescent Mist.

Lin Qiye realized the crimson stars might signal a Lovecraftian invasion before Yelander sealed the gods on the moon, then joined Wu Quan in following a rope through the disorienting mist. They emerged to find Huo Qubing’s army and a second Lin Qiye, who called him a counterfeit.

• Lin Qiye suspected the crimson stars belonged to Lovecraftian Gods and concluded that Yelander might not yet have sealed them on the moon.
• Wu Quan emerged from the Iridescent Mist and questioned Lin Qiye, explaining that he was already tied by a rope to another Lin Qiye.
• Lin Qiye and Wu Quan followed the rope through the mist, discovering that its apparent length far exceeded the ropes they had tied together.
• Lin Qiye carried Wu Quan out of the mist and found Huo Qubing, Zhan Yuwu, and Yan Zhong with the army.
• A second Lin Qiye identified Lin Qiye and Wu Quan as the mysterious doubles he had encountered in the mist.

Lin Qiye confronted an impostor who copied his appearance, voice, and memories, then defeated it in battle. The army continued toward Chang'an, while Lin Qiye remained wary of the Iridescent Mist covering the mountains.

• A counterfeit Lin Qiye identified itself as an envoy of a Lovecraftian God, leaving the soldiers uncertain which one was real.
• Zhan Yuwu chose to stand beside Lin Qiye, but the two identical figures continued trading claims about their pasts.
• Lin Qiye challenged the impostor and overwhelmed it with his strength and Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi.
• Lin Qiye beheaded the impostor, whose body melted into a bizarre creature covered in eyeballs and tentacles.
• Huo Qubing ordered the army to avoid the Iridescent Mist and march toward Chang'an, and Lin Qiye followed while watching the mist.

Lin Qiye and the army traveled toward Chang'an, where the strange lack of Evil Spirit attacks and rumors of danger unsettled him. After reaching the city, Lin Qiye joined Huo Qubing as he prepared to enter.

• Lin Qiye questioned why the Iridescent Mist’s impostor had chosen him, then checked that Wu Quan had not been replaced.
• Zhan Yuwu asked Lin Qiye about his powerful physique, hoping to find a way to help the Marquis withstand the cost of his ability.
• The army crossed the final day and night of its journey with only two daytime encounters and no nighttime attacks.
• Lin Qiye, Wu Quan, and Zhan Yuwu reached Chang'an and discussed how its Dragon Qi protected the city from Evil Spirits.
• Huo Qubing arranged for the army to camp outside Chang'an, then invited Lin Qiye and several others to enter the city with him.

Lin Qiye began exploring Chang'an while Huo Qubing went to the Imperial Palace, where he learned that foreign missionaries had been turned away by Emperor Wu of Han. The missionaries decided to stay in Chang'an until the Crimson Stars disappeared, and their Saintess grew curious about the Sleeve Dance Pavilion near their lodging.

• Huo Qubing entered the Imperial Palace to meet the emperor while Lin Qiye, Yan Zhong, and Wu Quan set off to explore Chang'an.
• Eunuch Li told Huo Qubing that Emperor Wu of Han was meeting an envoy from a distant land, and Huo Qubing recognized the departing visitors as foreign missionaries led by a red-haired young woman.
• The missionaries complained that Emperor Wu of Han had rejected their effort to spread the Holy Lord's faith, but their Saintess told them to seek believers elsewhere.
• The Saintess decided the group would remain in Chang'an until the Crimson Stars disappeared and learned that their lodging was across from the Sleeve Dance Pavilion.
• After hearing what the Sleeve Dance Pavilion was, the embarrassed Saintess quietly asked whether she could go inside and look around.

A red-haired girl disguised in a bamboo hat visited Sleeve Dance Pavilion with her missionaries, where she reflected on understanding people beyond rigid doctrine. After she left, Lin Qiye and Yan Zhong took over the neighboring private room, and Lin Qiye avoided the dancing girls by claiming he had a formidable wife.

• The red-haired girl and several missionaries entered Sleeve Dance Pavilion and rented its finest private room without dancers attending them.
• The red-haired girl explained that faith did not mean wearing shackles and urged the missionaries to understand people's needs through their lives and experiences.
• After watching the performances and eating pastries, the red-haired girl ordered the missionaries to move into the neighboring room and prepared to leave.
• Yan Zhong brought Lin Qiye and Wu Quan into the newly vacated private room and enjoyed the attention of dancing girls.
• Lin Qiye refused the dancers and told Yan Zhong he already had a formidable wife, then felt an inexplicable burning sensation rise from his chest after sipping tea.

Lin Qiye pursued Chloe after his Covenant Marks stirred, while Huo Qubing learned that a Crimson Star known as the Death Star was bringing catastrophe to the Han realm. The chapter left Lin Qiye about to speak with Chloe as Emperor Wu of Han and Huo Qubing faced a warning that all living beings would suffer within a day.

• Lin Qiye saw his Covenant Marks glow, spotted Chloe being escorted away, and rushed after her.
• Lin Qiye revealed his Covenant Marks to Chloe and said they needed to talk.
• Huo Qubing told Emperor Wu of Han that Evil Spirits had harassed his army on its return to Chang'an and asked about the demonic star.
• Cai Yuan reported that the previous Imperial Observatory directors, Fang Yi and Chen, had died after divining the Crimson Star.
• Cai Yuan said Chen had warned that the Crimson Star would split the sky and plunge all living beings into misery within a day.

Emperor Wu of Han ordered Huo Qubing to place Chang'an’s troops under his command and guard against the Crimson Star’s danger. At the relay station, Chloe confirmed that Lin Qiye’s Saint Covenants came from her future self and explained how their promises were inevitably fulfilled, leaving Lin Qiye wondering why she had not used one to destroy the Cthulhu Gods.

• Emperor Wu of Han dismissed the frightened Cai Yuan and ordered Huo Qubing to command thirty thousand troops and Chang'an’s Imperial Guards.
• Huo Qubing began to leave, then said he had one more request.
• At the Chang'an relay station, Chloe recognized the Saint Covenants on Lin Qiye and confirmed that she had left them behind.
• Chloe explained that the marks were proof of promises, while her future self held the power that fulfilled them.
• Chloe described how a Saint Covenant inevitably came true through whatever events were necessary, and Lin Qiye asked why her future self had not covenanted to destroy the Cthulhu Gods.

Chloe explained that covenants could affect only their participants and required immense Power of Faith, leaving Lin Qiye dependent on the Second Sacred Covenant to return to the future. When Lin Qiye rushed to a battle at Chang'an's city gate, an expeditionary soldier warned him that the Imperial Guards and people inside the city had been replaced by monsters.

• Chloe explained that covenants could not determine the fate of outsiders and that sending Lin Qiye two thousand years into the past required centuries of faith.
• Lin Qiye concluded that the Second Sacred Covenant was his only possible way back to the modern era and left Chloe as curfew approached.
• Lin Qiye pondered how his actions in the Western Han might affect the future before screams and a fire erupted near Chang'an's city gates.
• Lin Qiye found Huo Qubing's expeditionary army fighting the Imperial Guards and saw soldiers breaking through the city gates.
• Lin Qiye stopped an expeditionary soldier's halberd and asked why the army was attacking, and the soldier warned that the Imperial Guards and people in Chang'an had become monsters.

Lin Qiye watched the army massacre Chang'an’s civilians while insisting that they were monsters, then discovered that the soldiers themselves turned into Willow Branches when killed. He realized the mist’s counterfeits might sincerely believe they were the real people, leaving him with no reliable way to distinguish them without killing them.

• A blood-covered soldier claimed the Imperial Guards were fake and killed one, but Lin Qiye saw only an ordinary corpse.
• Soldiers flooded Chang'an, attacked civilians, and set a house ablaze while believing their victims were monsters.
• Lin Qiye tried to stop the slaughter, but the soldier accused him of being a counterfeit and other soldiers attacked him.
• Lin Qiye killed the attackers, whose bodies transformed into Willow Branches, confirming that the soldiers had been replaced in the mist.
• Lin Qiye killed the soldier he had restrained, and the soldier also turned into a Willow Branch.
• Lin Qiye concluded that counterfeits might believe they were genuine and be impossible to identify without killing them.

Lin Qiye realized that the Crimson Star had manipulated the expeditionary army’s perceptions, turning them against Chang’an’s civilians, while Chloe joined him in fighting the false soldiers. They set out to stop the attackers, but Lin Qiye feared that generals who had entered the Imperial Palace might also have been replaced.

• Lin Qiye concluded that the Iridescent Mist had replaced ordinary people and that the Crimson Star had distorted the soldiers’ perceptions, prompting them to attack Chang’an.
• Chloe saw soldiers slaughter civilians and burned them with her powers, then headed toward a distant blast after sensing something was wrong.
• Lin Qiye killed more than a hundred soldiers with a punch, damaging part of Chang’an because his Forbidden Ruin had not awakened.
• Chloe met Lin Qiye, and he explained that the false soldiers’ transformation was linked to the meteor and a Lovecraftian God.
• Lin Qiye worried that generals who had entered the Imperial Palace might also have been replaced.

Huo Qubing sought Emperor Wu of Han’s approval to establish an independent Evil Suppression Department, but an emergency in Chang’an interrupted their discussion. As Huo Qubing went to respond, Zhan Yuwu stabbed him, accusing him of being a counterfeit, and joined four generals in attacking him.

• Huo Qubing asked Emperor Wu of Han to approve an Evil Suppression Department that would answer only to its Chief Official, warning that future emperors might misuse its power.
• Eunuch Li reported that the expeditionary army had charged into Chang'an, where its members turned into moving willow branches and killed the Imperial Guards.
• Huo Qubing promised to quell the unrest and escorted Emperor Wu of Han back into the palace before heading out with Zhan Yuwu and the others.
• Zhan Yuwu stabbed Huo Qubing and accused him of being a monster who had hidden the real Marquis.
• Huo Qubing survived the strike with the help of the Dark Brocade Clothes and a shadow that bound his wound, then faced Zhan Yuwu and four generals as they attacked.

Chloe used her Wind Blades to wipe out the thirty-thousand-strong replacement army in Chang'an while Lin Qiye headed for the Imperial Palace. There, Lin Qiye met Wu Quan and, unsure whether the youth was real or a counterfeit, decided to keep him close as they entered the palace.

• Chloe told Lin Qiye to leave the replacements to her, then unleashed countless Wind Blades that decapitated the thirty thousand soldiers across Chang'an.
• Emperor Wu of Han watched the blood-red heads drift across the city and asked Eunuch Li whether anyone could truly possess miraculous power.
• Lin Qiye hurried toward the Imperial Palace and encountered Wu Quan, who said Yan Zhong had rushed away after seeing the soldiers' armor.
• Lin Qiye questioned whether Wu Quan saw him as human or as a Lovecraftian Creature, but remained uncertain whether Wu Quan was real or a counterfeit.
• Lin Qiye invited Wu Quan into the palace and decided to keep him nearby rather than risk killing the real Wu Quan.

Lin Qiye and Wu Quan found Gongyang Wan amid the aftermath of a battle inside the Imperial Palace, where she had killed apparent attackers that turned out to be Lovecraftian Creatures. Gongyang Wan swallowed one creature’s remains in hopes of gaining power, and a Willow Branch grew in place of her left arm as she appeared to gain control over it.

• Lin Qiye and Wu Quan entered the Imperial Palace and rushed toward a blast after the fighting outside fell quiet.
• Lin Qiye found Gongyang Wan standing among corpses that melted into foul-smelling Willow Branches.
• Lin Qiye explained that the branches were remnants of Lovecraftian Creatures, but Gongyang Wan swallowed one.
• Gongyang Wan said she wanted the creatures’ power to escape Huo Qubing’s control.
• Gongyang Wan’s left arm burst apart as a Willow Branch grew from the stump and opened an eye that she seemed able to control.

Gongyang Wan discovered that her willow-branch arm let her distinguish impostors from real people, and she bargained with Lin Qiye to help identify them in exchange for Huo Qubing removing her Heart-Returning Gu. Outside the Imperial Palace, Chloe saw a vast, multicolored mist approaching Chang'an.

• Gongyang Wan revealed that she had gained no transformative abilities from swallowing the Willow Branches, but she could see willow branches inside disguised soldiers.
• Lin Qiye had Wu Quan kill the charging soldiers, confirming that they were impostors, and recognized Gongyang Wan’s ability as a way to identify fakes.
• Gongyang Wan agreed to help Lin Qiye find the impostors if he persuaded Huo Qubing to remove her Heart-Returning Gu, and she confirmed Wu Quan was real.
• Chloe returned to the post station after killing the fake soldiers outside and saw an enormous, radiant mist approaching Chang'an.

Lin Qiye, Gongyang Wan, and Wu Quan searched the Imperial Palace for Huo Qubing before discovering that the Iridescent Mist was advancing toward Chang’an. At the city gates, two Huo Qubings appeared, leaving Lin Qiye to confront the possibility that one was a counterfeit.

• Lin Qiye questioned Gongyang Wan about Huo Qubing’s whereabouts, but she said he had left her waiting outside a hall in the palace.
• Lin Qiye found Life-Annihilating Flash Moon damage and blood near a collapsed palace wall, suggesting a fight had occurred where Huo Qubing might have been.
• Wu Quan spotted the Iridescent Mist moving toward Chang’an, and Lin Qiye rushed to the city wall to stop it from entering the capital.
• Huo Qubing, dressed in a black nobleman’s robe, appeared at the wall and asked Lin Qiye to help stop the mist.
• A second Huo Qubing arrived in bloodstained armor, and Lin Qiye realized the mist might have copied the real Marquis.
• Two streaks of light landed behind Lin Qiye, and Gongyang Wan smiled as she saw the two Huo Qubings.

Lin Qiye and Gongyang Wan identified the bloodstained-robed Huo Qubing as the counterfeit while Chang'an was threatened by the Iridescent Mist. Lin Qiye entered the mist with Wu Quan to confront the creature's true body, as Gongyang Wan and Yan Zhong rushed to help the real Huo Qubing.

• Both Huo Qubings urged Lin Qiye to stop the Iridescent Mist, while Gongyang Wan revealed she could identify the real one by who could remove her Heart-Returning Gu.
• The two Huo Qubings attacked, and their matched control over Chang'an's weapons and spear skills left the bloodstained-robed Huo Qubing at a disadvantage.
• Gongyang Wan named the bloodstained-robed Huo Qubing as fake and transformed into a burly, muscular man to join the fight.
• Wu Quan insisted on accompanying Lin Qiye into the mist, and Lin Qiye agreed on the condition that he stay close.
• Lin Qiye and Wu Quan entered the Iridescent Mist, while Gongyang Wan and Yan Zhong charged toward the real Huo Qubing.

Lin Qiye and Wu Quan used the fixed range of Wu Quan’s Emperor of Domination to navigate the Iridescent Mist and locate its true body, an enormous, mobile Willow Tree. Meanwhile, Gongyang Wan joined the two Huo Qubings’ confrontation in Chang'an before a violent disturbance in the mist drew their attention.

• Robed Huo Qubing and Armored Huo Qubing fought, while Robed Huo Qubing used the Heart-Returning Gu to immobilize Gongyang Wan.
• Armored Huo Qubing warned Gongyang Wan that both Huo Qubings could activate the Heart-Returning Gu, and she withdrew.
• Lin Qiye realized that Forbidden Ruins were unaffected by the mist’s distortions and asked Wu Quan to use his four-kilometer ability range as a measuring stick.
• Lin Qiye and Wu Quan searched the mist with fragments of stone controlled by Wu Quan’s Emperor of Domination.
• Wu Quan detected an obstacle, and Lin Qiye led him to the mist’s enormous true body: a Willow Tree carried on countless human legs.
• Lin Qiye spotted human-shaped bulges on the Willow Tree’s trunk as the mist churned violently.