Recaps

Li Yan investigated Zhao Qingxu’s schemes, helped expose the corruption of the dragon vein, and returned to Qiankun Academy as the Steam Engine reshaped the capital. The arc ended with the search for stolen blueprints revealing Prince Hai’s involvement and Luo MingZi finding an escort slaughtered by an unknown force.

• Li Yan exposed the Pan Peach Gathering’s theft of children’s Innate Qi, but Zhao Qingxu escaped as the Nine Gates Yin Ruins destabilized and the Chang'an Ghost Market appeared.
• Li Yan and the Twelve Yuan Chen tracked Kong Hui to Kuai Dayou’s tunnels, while the emperor’s forces uncovered corruption spreading through Great Xuan’s dragon vein.
• Li Yan captured Kong Hui, who revealed Zhao Qingxu’s connection to Qiankun Academy before destroying his body and Yin Soul without explaining his full plan.
• Li Yan returned to Qiankun Academy, learned of Jianmu’s link to the Heavenly Realm, and discovered that the emperor intended to unveil a divine artifact there.
• Li Yan learned that the Five Paths General had allied with Erlang Zhenjun against those controlling Jianmu, then helped expose the leak of plans for the Iron Ox Cart.
• Emperor Xiao Qixuan unveiled the Steam Engine, and Li Yan learned that its bronze core circulated Innate Gangsha Two Qi and that the court planned to establish shrines for it.
• Li Yan and his companions worked at the academy, reforged his Thousand Thoughts bracer with Thunderfall Profound Gold, repaired the Five Directions Fengdu Banner, and built Sha LiFei’s firearm.
• Luo MingZi’s forces captured Wu Anfu and foreign buyers negotiating for Steam Engine blueprints, but Wu Anfu revealed that Prince Hai had obtained them, and Luo MingZi found an escort dead with strange smiles.

Li Yan and his companions exposed Zhao Qingxu’s attempt to corrupt Sui Lun True Monarch’s statue, then left the capital to investigate the Jianmu Demon Man and the Ghost Opera Troupe. In Jinan, they found Kong Shangzhao’s father imprisoned after the Yansheng Duke’s murder and discovered that his Human Soul had been stolen.

• Luo MingZi and Tian Hua traced the massacre and child-snatching plot to Dongying agents working with Zhao Qingxu, while You Er guided Tamayori Hime Kantsuki’s group to a church hideout.
• Wang Dao Xuan and his companions followed the missing men into the Nine Gates Yin Ruins, freed Kong Shangzhao, Lin Yu, and Kuai Dayou, and found that Zhao Qingxu had taken the Peach Mountain Wood.
• The authorities stormed the church and captured Tamayori Hime Kantsuki’s group, while Li Yan suspected Zhao Qingxu was targeting the unborn Sui Lun True Monarch and helped prepare the statue’s accelerated consecration.
• Li Yan uncovered Zhao Qingxu’s demonic aura hidden in the statue’s spiritual materials, stopped the corruption plot, and captured the demons with the Five Paths General.
• After the capital’s consecration ceremony, Li Yan, Wang Dao Xuan, Sha LiFei, Kong Shangzhao, and their companions sailed south to pursue the Jianmu Demon Man and the Ghost Opera Troupe.
• In Jinan, the group learned that Yansheng Duke had been murdered and that Kong Shangzhao’s father, Shopkeeper Kong, was accused and held in prison.
• Li Yan and Wang Dao Xuan broke Shopkeeper Kong out and discovered that his Human Soul had been taken, while Wang Dao Xuan planned a Three Yin Soul Return Altar to save him.
• Zhao Tong confronted Li Yan and Kong Shangzhao at the Jiangzhe Merchant Guild, but found no sign of Shopkeeper Kong as Wang Dao Xuan warned that they needed to recover his soul quickly.

Li Yan and his companions uncovered conspiracies on Mount Tai and in Yangzhou while pursuing threats tied to the netherworld. The arc ended with the city’s fog lifting and Japanese pirates and river bandits attacking the docks together.

• Li Yan helped restore Mount Tai’s balance by entering the Divine Palace, where he gained the authority to command the netherworld and secured Erlang Zhenjun as the new Prefect.
• Li Yan’s group traveled toward Jinling, but Japanese pirates’ attacks blocked the waterway near Yangzhou and threatened the city’s granaries.
• Li Yan investigated Yu Hailin’s possessed son, identified the Jinhua Cat Demon, and pursued it to Wang Maode’s banquet, where the demon was killed.
• The Ghost Opera Troupe trapped Yangzhou in a formation, and Li Yan identified the Netherworld Stage as its source while Wang Dao Xuan and Lu San confronted Zhu Suanpan and Ying Ling.
• Li Yan destroyed the formation’s eye and summoned Marshal Wen to trap the transformed Hundred Ghost Infant Fiend as Zhu Suanpan tried to make it self-destruct.
• Wang Dao Xuan broke the Netherworld Stage’s hold on the Yin Souls, while Xu Zhenshan killed Cui Erwa at the City God Temple and rallied the surviving fighters.
• As the fog lifted, Lu San saw Japanese pirates and local river bandits attacking the ships together and suspected an inside traitor had joined them.

Li Yan uncovered Lei Yin’s plots in Jinling and joined the effort to stabilize the land’s veins, while the Ghost Opera Troupe abducted his allies to lure him into Hongxiao Workshop. He rescued Lu San from the illusion realm, but the cult escaped with the Underworld Writ as Hundred Bones True Man cursed him and prepared to attack.

• Li Yan destroyed the Snake Sect’s curse at Zhangjiawan, but learned that Lei Yin had risen at Taihu Lake and was marching on Jinling with the Yangzhou Cauldron.
• Li Yan discovered the Cocoon Clothes Cult’s role in the weavers’ curse and Tian Chiliarch’s murder, while Zhou Yinyao recruited him to help protect the Dragon Offering Ceremony.
• Ghost Opera Troupe attacks shook Jinling, but Li Yan and the Twelve Yuan Chen helped escort the Da Li Bronze Bell to Qixia Mountain for the ceremony.
• Zhou Dayong killed Fifth Master Xie at the royal palace banquet, and the Ghost Opera Troupe then attacked the Commandery Commandant Office and abducted Wang Dao Xuan and Lu San.
• Li Yan traced Hongxiao Workshop to a Secret Realm connected to Lock Dragon Well, while Kong Shangzhao’s party prepared to disrupt its formation.
• Li Yan entered Hongxiao Workshop’s illusion as Luo Yuan, but Kong Shangzhao destroyed the bronze mirror at Lock Dragon Well and weakened the realm.
• Li Yan broke the illusion, rescued Lu San from the cult’s ferry, and signaled Sha LiFei’s warships, but the cult escaped with the Underworld Writ.
• Hundred Bones True Man and the Ghost Opera Troupe prepared to attack Li Yan, while Hundred Bones True Man’s curse raised red skull-shaped marks on Li Yan’s arms.