Recaps

Fu Qian stopped Delanlai from torturing a mermaid and questioned him about the Sea of Ashes and his motives. Delanlai revealed that he had saved Lan En to gather the people aboard his ship so he could kill them.

• Fu Qian confronted Delanlai after the giant tree trapped the mermaid in its branches.
• When the mermaid screamed, Fu Qian fired a shot into the water beside it and silenced it.
• Fu Qian introduced himself to Delanlai and said he had come to explore the Sea of Ashes.
• Delanlai explained that anything taken beyond the Sea of Ashes would turn to ash, and warned that even absorbed gains would exact a cost when someone left.
• Fu Qian asked why Delanlai had helped Lan En, and Delanlai said he had saved him to gather the ship's people in one place before killing them.

Fu Qian learned from Delanlai that the Sea of Ashes could distort living creatures and that mermaids who answered a call from its depths might become fishmen. After Delanlai asked Fu Qian for help saving the trapped mermaid, Fu Qian summoned enormous tentacles that smashed the tree and sent the mermaid and its cage plunging into the water.

• Fu Qian questioned Delanlai about the mermaid, the Sea of Ashes, and why Delanlai had followed the group of butchers.
• Delanlai explained that the Sea of Ashes caused unpredictable mutations and that he could no longer communicate with the giant tree he had planted.
• Delanlai told Fu Qian that mermaids sometimes heard a call from the depths and that survivors could be twisted into fishmen.
• Fu Qian warned Delanlai that Lan En and the others might have spotted the mermaid from a nearby hill, and Delanlai decided to stay and help it.
• Delanlai asked Fu Qian for a favor, and Fu Qian summoned two enormous tentacles that smashed the tree, sending the mermaid and its cage into the water.

Fu Qian observed the strange effects of the Sea of Ashes on Delanlai and the mermaid before searching for Lady Ash. He found her playing a harmonica to summon a fish-scaled figure from the sea, whom she recognized as Li Min.

• Delanlai realized Fu Qian seemed connected to the tentacles that attacked and drove everyone into the island, then rescued the mermaid from her ironwood cage.
• Fu Qian returned to the island, reasoning that the frightening display would discourage Lan En's group from seeking revenge and help him study the anomalies.
• Fu Qian searched the island's mountains and found Lady Ash standing alone on a seaside cliff.
• Lady Ash removed her gloves and mask, revealing burn-scarred skin, then played a harmonica over and over toward the sea.
• A disfigured, horned figure covered in fish scales emerged from the water, and Lady Ash called it Li Min.

Fu Qian recognized Lady Ash as Rachel and watched her reunite with Li Min, whose body was failing after she used Ashes to suppress the fire she had swallowed. Rachel brought Li Min Blood Dew, but revealed that a Curse Abyss had marked everyone aboard their ship and forced them to hide in the Sea of Ashes.

• Fu Qian recognized Lady Ash as Rachel, Li Min's old friend from Port City.
• Li Min froze her upper body to stabilize herself and managed to speak with Rachel.
• Rachel offered Li Min three vials of Blood Dew, but Li Min warned that her body was nearing collapse and urged Rachel to leave.
• Fu Qian pieced together how Rachel had helped Li Min escape after her revenge and had been gathering materials to keep her alive.
• Li Min noticed injuries on Rachel's hand and asked what had happened.
• Rachel explained that a Curse Abyss had marked everyone aboard their ship and driven them into the Sea of Ashes for shelter.

Li Min revived herself with Rachel’s Blood Dew and learned that Delanlai had contaminated the ship’s crew before a Divine creature drove them toward the Sea of Ashes. Li Min decided to investigate the creature, but its tentacle struck the cliff as she and Rachel fled.

• Rachel gave Li Min three vials of Blood Dew, which Li Min drank all at once to restore her strength.
• Rachel told Li Min that Delanlai had used the Curse Abyss’s blood to contaminate everyone aboard the ship.
• Rachel described how a Divine creature attacked them and seemed to drive them toward the Sea of Ashes.
• Li Min concluded that the creature might be waiting outside regardless of whether they were marked by the Curse Abyss.
• Li Min entered the water to investigate the creature, but she quickly returned and dragged Rachel away from its tentacle strike.

Li Min and Rachel escaped the Divine creature and hid in a cave, where Li Min concluded it had driven Rachel there as bait to lure another prey. As they waited for the other bait to draw the predator, an unknown figure arrived at the cave seeking shelter.

• Li Min shielded herself and Rachel from the Divine creature's attack, then realized the creature had disappeared without killing them.
• Li Min concluded that the creature had been driving Rachel toward the floating island, and Rachel recalled how its attacks had pushed her group step by step.
• Li Min refused to go deeper or rejoin the others and led Rachel to a secluded cave near the island's summit.
• Li Min reasoned that the creature was using Rachel as bait to lure another prey, so they decided to stay hidden and avoid the others.
• A figure approached the cave through the rain and asked Li Min and Rachel to come inside.

Fu Qian, disguised as Fang Xun, confronted Rachel and Li Min in their cave and pressed them to explain why a powerful creature had appeared in the Sea of Ashes. Li Min suggested it might have come for a miracle, leaving the two women with the promise of a wish and an unsettling conversation with Fu Qian.

• Fu Qian followed Rachel and Li Min to their cave and entered after startling them with a tentacle attack outside.
• Rachel demanded to know who Fu Qian was and why he had followed them, while Li Min questioned when he had arrived.
• Li Min explained that Divine creatures usually avoided the Sea of Ashes and said the creature had seemed to use everyone as bait.
• Rachel challenged Fu Qian for demanding answers from strangers, and Fu Qian offered them a wish in exchange for another explanation.
• Li Min said the creature might have come for a miracle, like the summons that turned mermaids into fishmen.

Fu Qian questioned Li Min about the Sea of Ashes and then accepted her wish to heal her. His attempt to remove her corruption made her condition worsen, and a furious roar sounded in her mind.

• Li Min explained that recurring miracles in the Sea of Ashes might be drawing the merfolk and that something had used Fu Qian and the others as bait to trigger one.
• Fu Qian asked Rachel and Li Min what they wished for, and Rachel first asked him to make the thing outside disappear.
• Li Min chose to risk wishing for her own healing so Rachel might have a better chance to escape.
• Fu Qian activated the Return Edict, causing Li Min's scales and spikes to recede while blisters spread across her skin.
• Fu Qian stopped the edict, but a furious roar erupted in Li Min's mind and she collapsed, curled into a ball.

Fu Qian used Gospel Blast on Li Min, whose corruption and failing body transformed her into a monstrous sunfish before a blue frostfire began rebuilding her head. To keep her from collapsing, he grafted her head onto his shoulder, and Li Min wondered whether the rain over the Sea of Ashes was stopping.

• Fu Qian used Gospel Blast on Li Min, worsening her transformation as Rachel stayed beside her.
• Li Min's blue frostfire began shaping a face, but her body resisted and started to collapse.
• Fu Qian grabbed Rachel to stop her and pulled Li Min's head from her failing body.
• Fu Qian attached Li Min's head to his shoulder, and she regained enough stability to speak.
• Li Min asked whether the rain was stopping.

After Fu Qian helped Li Min survive by fusing with Rachel, the three witnessed a miracle reshaping the sky and sea. Li Min recognized it as the Shattered Crown, a permanent formation that could mean they were trapped in a prison.

• Li Min explained that Fu Qian had severed her connection to the pollution, leaving her fused with Rachel and stronger than before.
• Rachel went outside and saw the sky divided into interlocking regions above the sea.
• Fu Qian and Li Min realized that different parts of the Sea of Ashes had been pieced together around their floating island.
• Li Min identified the phenomenon as the Shattered Crown, a stable miracle that drifts eternally through the Sea of Ashes.
• Li Min warned that if she was right, they had been exiled to a prison.

Fu Qian learned from Li Min that the Shattered Crown warped distance between regions, trapping those inside without clear boundaries or a known way out. He agreed to travel with Li Min and Rachel, then headed toward the poachers to investigate the miracle and gather information.

• Li Min explained that the Shattered Crown connected regions by erasing the distance between them, and that someone had escaped it before.
• Li Min asked Fu Qian to take her and Rachel along, and he agreed after confirming she was being sincere.
• Fu Qian told Rachel and Li Min he was heading toward the poachers to find transportation.
• Fu Qian planned to pressure the groups inside the Shattered Crown to investigate its anomalies and share what they learned.
• Fu Qian reached the poachers as they tried to repair their boat, and Lan En questioned whether he had caused the strange change.

Fu Qian told Lan En’s crew that they were trapped in fragments of the Sea of Ashes, then effortlessly stopped a trident attack. He seized the attacker by the head, leaving the crew horrified.

• Lan En asked Fu Qian who he was, and Fu Qian introduced himself as Fang.
• Fu Qian said Lady Ash had encountered trouble while scouting and that he had agreed to help her.
• Fu Qian explained that a higher power had twisted different regions of the Sea of Ashes together and erased the way the crew had entered.
• Lan En questioned how Fu Qian knew about the phenomenon, and Fu Qian claimed he ran a bookstore and had read about it.
• A trident-wielding crewman attacked Fu Qian, who caught the weapon between two fingers and dodged its invisible strike.
• Fu Qian grabbed the attacker’s head and crushed it with a snap.

Fu Qian detected an unusual fishy smell in a dead crewman’s remains, and Lan En discovered iridescent scales forming on his fingernails. Lan En hurried the crew to search for an escape, while Rachel later told Fu Qian that the Shattered Crown accelerated mutation.

• Fu Qian killed a crewman who attacked him, then sniffed the man’s skull fragment and noticed its flesh smelled unusually fishy.
• Lan En inspected the corpse and found iridescent, scale-like marks on the nails of his right hand.
• Lan En said the changes may have begun after the crew realized their way back was gone, and asked whether the miracle could accelerate mutation.
• Fu Qian urged Lan En to keep the crew busy and search for a way out, so Lan En ordered them to move quickly.
• Rachel visited Fu Qian and reported that the Shattered Crown accelerated mutation from within.

After the ship set sail, Fu Qian joined Lan En’s team and warned them that the waters ahead might be the depths of the Sea of Ashes. He urged Lan En to use his harmonica to scout for danger, and Lan En prepared to play it as the boat stopped before the rainstorm.

• Rachel told Fu Qian that Lan En planned to sail toward the boundary and confirm whether the team could escape.
• Fu Qian explained that killing the dissenting team member had helped Lan En bring the group together.
• Lan En asked Fu Qian for advice as the boat approached the rainstorm marking the edge of the floating-island region.
• Fu Qian warned that the waters ahead could be the depths of the Sea of Ashes, causing the team to reconsider sailing straight in.
• Fu Qian suggested that Lan En use his harmonica to announce their arrival and scout for danger.
• Lan En stopped the boat and took out his harmonica.

Fu Qian and Lan En’s group encountered a growing chorus of mermaid-like voices as they sailed through the Shattered Crown. Fu Qian recognized the singers as fish-men and urged the ship to press on through the direction with fewer of them.

• Lan En played his harmonica to lure a mermaid, but a humming voice answered from the storm.
• More voices joined the song until more than a dozen bewitching melodies surrounded the ship.
• Fu Qian spotted a fish-man through the storm and told the group that only a few were ahead of them.
• Fu Qian warned that even more fish-men blocked the way back, and Lan En ordered the ship to charge through.

Fu Qian warned the crew that the fishfolk’s singing was a distraction, helping them escape the floating island before more than twenty fishfolk pursued their boat. As the chase intensified, Fu Qian offered to jump into the sea and fight, leaving Lan En confused about why he had thought the crew were preparing to help Fu Qian enter the water.

• Fu Qian guessed the fishfolk’s singing was meant to distract the crew, and Lan En sped the boat into the downpour.
• The fishfolk stopped singing, then resumed with a frenzied song as more than twenty of them pursued the boat.
• Lady Rachel realized the group had been surrounded, while Lan En thanked Fu Qian for urging them to leave the floating island.
• Fu Qian observed that the fishfolk shared similar faces, and Lan En explained that a strange power might have gathered so many twisted merfolk.
• A fishwoman sent a swell crashing into the boat, and Lan En called for help while trying to keep the vessel steady.
• Fu Qian offered to jump into the sea and kill a fishwoman, then asked Lan En why he had not already known the crew were there to help him get into the water.

Fu Qian jumped into the water, overwhelmed the pursuing fishfolk, and returned to Lan En’s ship with one captive. As a captured fishfolk attacked a crewman with a gray-mist arrow, Fu Qian turned to question her.

• Rachel realized Li Min had sensed Lan En’s plan and challenged him, prompting Lan En to deny that he meant to use Fu Qian as bait.
• Fu Qian leaped into the sea and created a massive wave that nearly capsized the ship, then returned to the deck carrying a fishfolk.
• Lan En prepared to leave Fu Qian behind, but Fu Qian announced that the crew could continue on.
• Fu Qian examined the captured fishfolk and observed that her skin was tougher and rougher than it appeared.
• The captive fishfolk fired a gray-mist arrow that drove a nearby crewman to tear apart his own face, and Fu Qian asked her to talk.

Fu Qian killed the captured fishman to intimidate her kin, but his brutality only drove them into a fiercer attack. As Lan En’s crew fled the Shattered Crown, an eerie song rang out across the sea.

• Lan En restrained the wounded crewman while Fu Qian explained that the fishman had survived his earlier blow and blamed the crewman’s inattention for the ambush.
• Fu Qian questioned the captured fishman, but she refused to answer and taunted Lan En when he asked how to escape.
• The fishman shrieked to rally her kin, and Fu Qian crushed her skull, discovering that her brain was mutated.
• Fu Qian said he had killed her to intimidate the fishmen, but her kin charged in fury, so Lan En ordered the crew to flee at full speed.
• Fu Qian withdrew to rest while the crew fled, and a strange, melodious song sounded across the sea before they escaped the storm.

Fu Qian and the crew followed a sound that weakened the pursuing fishfolk, but a gigantic ray-like creature ambushed them in calm waters. As the creature attacked the ship with piercing spikes and corrosive slime, Fu Qian prepared to confront it.

• Lan En agreed to steer toward the sound that seemed to frighten the fishfolk so the crew could catch their breath.
• The crew left the storm zone and continued at speed as the fishfolk slowed behind them.
• Fu Qian urged Lan En not to stop, but Lan En slowed the ship after a crewman mocked Fu Qian's caution.
• A huge ray-like creature impaled the broad-faced crewman and swallowed him, then attacked other crew members with its spikes.
• The creature pursued the ship and corroded its hull with emerald slime, prompting Fu Qian to face it.

Fu Qian killed a massive sea creature with his Gospel Blast and a single stomp, then let Lan En decide the ship’s course. The crew reached a forested floating island as the song grew louder.

• Fu Qian asked Rachel whether she recognized the sea creature, and she said she had never heard of it.
• Fu Qian unleashed a Gospel Blast that disoriented the creature, then crushed its carapace and killed it with a stomp.
• Fu Qian returned to the ship and asked whether the crew wanted to keep watching, while Lan En steered them away from the spraying brains.
• Lan En asked whether they should continue in the same direction, and Fu Qian told him to do as he liked.
• The ship sailed on without further attacks until the crew spotted a forest-covered floating island where the song was coming from.

Fu Qian followed the strange singing across a floating island, hoping to find a being perceptive enough to detect the anomaly he carried. He reached a cave and found a mysterious crystalline tail, whose unseen owner told him to leave.

• Fu Qian decided to approach the singer, suspecting it could perceive events across Shattered Crown and sense his anomaly.
• Fu Qian left Rachel aboard the ship and warned Lan En not to harm her unless he was sure Fu Qian was dead.
• Fu Qian crossed the empty island and followed its river to a still lake beside jagged cliffs.
• Fu Qian found a cave and spotted an immense, shimmering crystalline tail extending into it.
• Fu Qian called out and asked where to claim compensation for the song's mental anguish, and the unseen being told him to go back.

Fu Qian met Vivian, a powerful deity's emissary who had lived in the Shattered Crown for ages, and learned she had lured the legendary mermaids into the Sea of Ashes and changed them. Vivian revealed that she was an outsider trapped in the miracle, then showed Fu Qian her enormous, frog-like form.

• Vivian struck Fu Qian with her long, beaded tail, destroying trees and vaporizing his left hand.
• Fu Qian explained that his ship and companions were trapped in the Shattered Crown, and Vivian said she had no desire to leave because the place was her sanctuary.
• Fu Qian learned from Vivian that the Shattered Crown had existed for far longer than he could imagine and that she had been trying to lure mermaids, not humans.
• Vivian said she had restored the mermaids to what they should have been and revealed that she had not been born from the Sea of Ashes' shifting tides.
• Vivian emerged from her cave, revealing a huge frog-like body and a bunched, beaded tail that Fu Qian suspected was made of frog eggs.

Fu Qian met Vivian, a transformed mermaid princess who had become a powerful but tormented mythical creature in the Sea of Ashes. Vivian explained how she entered the sea and completed a ritual, but she did not reveal a way out, leaving Fu Qian to question whether she knew how to escape.

• Vivian apologized for injuring Fu Qian and confirmed that he had killed Salong, while Fu Qian joked about the creature's appearance.
• Vivian asked whether mermaids would still accept her blessing in her current form, and Fu Qian asked how fishmen had escaped the Sea of Ashes.
• Vivian said she could sense fishmen disappearing but did not know how they left, and warned that corrupted fishmen might not be able to help Fu Qian.
• Vivian explained that she had been born as a powerful mermaid-like creature and followed an omen from the Sea of Ashes into the sea.
• Vivian said she had completed a ritual and ascended to a higher existence, but its curse had twisted her into her current form.
• Fu Qian asked Vivian whether she knew how to get out of the Sea of Ashes.

Fu Qian deduced that Vivian had stayed in Shattered Crown to gather mermaids and learned she wanted him to kill them using a special glove to recover the selfhood she had placed in them. Vivian then proposed that Fu Qian become her final vessel in exchange for a secret method of advancing to Second Order through the Sea of Ashes.

• Fu Qian confronted Vivian about knowing how to leave Shattered Crown and staying there deliberately.
• Vivian admitted she had used the miracle to lure mermaids and asked Fu Qian to kill them.
• Vivian gave Fu Qian a glove that could recover the fragments of her selfhood from the mermaids he killed.
• Vivian revealed that she wanted Fu Qian to gather all her selfhood in the glove, wear it, and kill her so she could transfer into him.
• Vivian offered to teach Fu Qian how to advance to Second Order through the Sea of Ashes in exchange for briefly passing through his body.

Fu Qian agreed to let Lady Vivian use his body in exchange for a method that could help him become a divine envoy. Though he followed her instructions, he remained suspicious of the deal and focused on investigating the Sea of Ashes’ strange reaction to his arrival.

• Lady Vivian argued that her offer of a path to becoming a divine envoy was worth the risk and threatened to kill Fu Qian if he refused.
• Fu Qian agreed to the bargain and let Lady Vivian use his uninjured hand as a vessel, while she promised to leave his body within twenty-four hours after they escaped.
• Lady Vivian told Fu Qian to walk near the island while she summoned the fish-people, and he left as her singing resumed.
• Fu Qian reflected that Lady Vivian had shown no concern about the unusual events surrounding his arrival, which made the convenient deal seem suspicious.
• Fu Qian spotted fish-people appearing near the sea and the hunting ship dodging them, then changed course to wait for someone else who might answer the singing.