Recaps

Ji Jue joined a covert mission into Deepdark that exposed Anvil Elder’s plan to complete a world-ending Artifact. After breaking the Doomsday’s endless cycles and reaching Transcendence, Ji Jue helped defeat the Artifact, while the Old Woman’s final gift reshaped the world and left him to decide how to act in the present.

• Filthy Mire summoned the Great Evil to corrupt Ji Jue, but Ji Jue defeated him, earned his master’s badge, and later rejected Yellow Beard’s recruitment offer while giving him Siegfried’s Ring.
• Jiang Tongguang recruited Ji Jue for a deniable mission to infiltrate Deepdark and assassinate Bei Gong, and Ji Jue prepared alongside the Association’s operatives.
• The artisans entered Deepdark and fought through deadly traps to reach Bei Gong’s Workshop, where they destroyed its defenses and discovered that Bei Gong was already dead.
• Anvil Elder revealed his plan to elevate Bei Gong’s creation into a Holy Fool’s Artifact, while Heavenly Furnace drew Ji Jue and the Embers Zhi Fu Decision participants into the Melting furnace to disrupt it.
• The craftsmen fought through repeated apocalyptic cycles, but the Doomsday Theory consumed Despina and elevated Ji Jue as the Principle of Tragic Work took hold.
• Ji Jue broke out of the endless cycles, attained Transcendence, and seized the Principle of Tragic Work before joining the craftsmen’s creations into a blade that erased the apocalypse and burned Anvil Elder’s work away.
• Carrion Eater reversed the Principle of Tragic Work and gave her final gift to the world before returning to Superior Virtue, while Ji Jue confronted Anvil Elder and caught the light she left him.
• The Association mourned the Old Woman and began reforms, Heavenly Furnace went after Deepdark, and Ji Jue was crowned Crown Master before placing his reforged crown at the Celestial Pivot monument.

Ji Jue advanced his Mohist defenses and launched Coast’s prosthetic and port projects while refusing to yield control of the Seven Cities to Wild Bazaar. He backed Ling Shuo’s bid to take over the illicit businesses, with An Ran’s killings crushing the opposition, and the arc ended as rival kingpins considered how to answer Ling Shuo’s coming banquet.

• Ji Jue trained Yan Fei and Inayat, learned Mo Defense from Heavenly Furnace, and defeated Inayat’s Wolf’s Mouth by breaking its lock-on.
• Ji Jue recruited Lou Feng to develop the External Control Module, sparred with Lou Yanyue, and crossed the threshold of [Mo Shou].
• Ji Jue launched prosthetic trials, planned the Coast Prosthetic Games, and won approval from Lü Yingyue to reopen Quancheng Port.
• After Wild Bazaar withheld Coast’s payments, Ji Jue refused to compromise and disabled the serial codes on goods held by delinquent chambers.
• Ji Jue backed Ling Shuo’s ambition to become boss, while Gold Hair Boy returned to New Spring and left his territory for Ling Shuo to manage.
• Ji Jue reunited with An Ran, gave him the sword Lihen, and sent Coast’s security group to help Tong Hua while An Ran stayed away.
• Ling Shuo ordered a purge of his rivals, and An Ran killed the Wild Bazaar leaders who gathered to oppose him, breaking through his boundary after being mortally wounded.
• Ling Shuo seized control of the remaining five cities, while Satria, Caruso, and William considered their response to his invitation to a banquet meant to assert his authority.

Ling Shuo consolidated Seven Cities’ power while Ji Jue defeated the leaders who tried to kill him and uncovered a Wild Bazaar struggle for influence. Ji Jue’s destruction of Iron Hook District forced East City to retreat, leaving Ling Shuo to collect debts as the larger conflict over Wild Bazaar’s rules remained unresolved.

• Ling Shuo asserted his leadership at his birthday banquet, where Lutzwan exposed a plot against him before poison killed him and a summoned Katu Naha attacked the guests.
• Ji Jue and An Ran destroyed Katu Naha, and Ling Shuo secured the guests’ support before taking up a Northern Frontier supply contract and registering Seven Cities Wild Bazaar.
• Ji Jue’s pressure over disaster-beast appraisals forced Satria and Caruso to accept a contest, but their duel became an assassination attempt that Ji Jue and his allies survived.
• Ji Jue learned that Wild Bazaar branches were competing for influence and agreed to help Chen Xingzhou win an election as Satria’s forces attacked him and Ling Shuo.
• Ji Jue killed Dead Sentry, captured Waste Ruins, and escaped Barren Reef with An Ran and their allies, while Satria returned to Iron Hook District under Lord Han’s protection.
• Ji Jue unveiled his Raven drone system at the Coast Product Expo, then broadcast a missile bombardment that destroyed Iron Hook District while Satria and Himawan escaped.
• Wild Bazaar headquarters stripped Satria of his Spokesperson privileges, and Meng Fengzuo found East City’s network exposed after its contacts abandoned him.
• Meng Fengzuo delivered Iron Hook’s contracted materials, including the Flowing Light Golden Spring, as Ling Shuo reclaimed debts and the Chieftains refused to shield Wild Bazaar branches from the consequences of their violence.

Ji Jue and Ling Shuo’s trade empire became entangled in the Wild Bazaar election and a widening West Sea conflict. As Ji Jue fought the factions at sea, Ling Liu’s curse struck Seven Cities, and Paradise assembled a Cursed Armor Legion.

• The Wild Bazaar announced a week-long vote to select twenty cross-faction Spokespersons, while Ji Jue secured Chen Xingzhou’s support and used Seven Cities to draw Han Hui’s attention toward the West Sea.
• As branches changed Spokespersons and armed clashes spread, Ji Jue’s booming weapons business supplied Seven Cities’ allies, and Ling Shuo armed Qiao Saike’s Shattered Reef forces with a loan and advanced equipment.
• Ji Jue visited the An Family to help An Ran escape its restrictions, and An Ding recognized An Ran’s strength, removed him from Hunter Finger, and named him head of a new Blade Tooth An Family.
• Chen Xingzhou united branches through a regional investment alliance, but Han Hui launched the Vast Sea Alliance and East City’s campaign of sabotage threatened Seven Cities’ trade routes.
• After Ogao warned that William was in danger, Ji Jue refused to send missiles but forged a sword of Blazing Light and sent it across Stone Page, killing Satria and helping William survive.
• Seven Cities declared war on the West Sea powers, formed an alliance with Stone Page, Shattered Reef, and Coral Land, and Ji Jue sailed alone aboard the Prosperity into hostile waters.
• The Xu Family and Meng Fengzuo’s forces attacked Ji Jue with curses and inherited techniques, but he endured their assault, completed Rebirth Form: Nine Forms, and charged the gathered challengers.
• Ling Liu unleashed a curse using Ling Shuo’s biological parents, but Ling Shuo rejected his offer to return to Ash Port, and meanwhile Nomad left Kavochi behind, and Paradise prepared its Cursed Armor Legion for deployment.