Recaps

Fu Qian helped expose the truth behind the blessing and the Ancient Dragon, then returned to his research and recruited Ji Liushuang as an assistant. He set out for the Sea of Ashes, where a dangerous voyage ended with a stranger capturing the mermaid on a giant plant.

• Fu Qian uncovered that Sunny was a puppet and that A'Long was the Ancient Dragon Kelson sought, but Kelson killed A'Long and left Sunny alive.
• Fu Qian learned how Sunny had become a walking corpse, sent her to deliver a message to Kelson, and received the Dimensional Poison gauntlet after the mission succeeded.
• Fu Qian repaired the research tower's clock and taught Ji Liushuang to connect to its time-loop barrier, then hired her as a research assistant.
• Ji Liushuang tested the Bronze Headband and heard that the Divine Path was broken, while Fu Qian considered what the message implied about advancement beyond the First Order.
• Ji Liushuang told Fu Qian she had been put in charge of the Gospel Group, and Fu Qian left for the Sea of Ashes after receiving Yuan Shan's invitation to inspect the Night Watcher base.
• Fu Qian secretly boarded Lan En's boat and watched the crew capture a mermaid, whose blood attracted a huge sea creature that attacked them.
• The creature drove Lan En's group onto a gray-white island, while Fu Qian followed a thread to find the mermaid hiding nearby.
• The mermaid's tail split into blue and red tails before it swam toward the depths, but a stranger caught it in enormous woody tentacles grown from a seed.

Fu Qian joined Rachel, Li Min, and Lan En’s crew as they navigated the Shattered Crown and fought the mutated fishfolk and other sea creatures. He then met Vivian, who offered him a path to Second Order in exchange for helping her reclaim her selfhood and letting her use his body, but Fu Qian grew suspicious and waited for someone else to answer her song.

• Fu Qian rescued the mermaid from Delanlai’s tree, then discovered that Rachel was secretly meeting Li Min, whose body was collapsing under the Sea of Ashes’ pollution.
• Fu Qian severed Li Min’s connection to the pollution and fused her with Rachel, after which Li Min identified the surrounding phenomenon as the Shattered Crown.
• Fu Qian joined Lan En’s crew and explained that the Shattered Crown had trapped them, while the crew began showing signs of mutation.
• Lan En sailed toward the storm boundary, where the crew encountered a swarm of fishfolk, and Fu Qian captured one, but her attack and death provoked the others to pursue them.
• After escaping the storm, the crew was attacked by a huge ray-like creature, which Fu Qian killed before they found a forested island where a song was coming from.
• Fu Qian followed the song and met Vivian, who revealed that she had transformed mermaids into fishfolk and wanted him to collect fragments of her selfhood so she could transfer into him.
• Fu Qian accepted Vivian’s bargain and let her use his hand as a vessel, but after seeing fishfolk approach the ship, he changed course to wait for someone else drawn by her singing.

Fu Qian uncovered the truth behind Vivian, Ninianni, and the Sea of Ashes, then returned to the Night Watchers and met Henry Campbell in Night Holy Capital. Henry tasked him with finding Midas, and Fu Qian and Yuan Shan began their search through Yuan Shan’s contacts.

• Fu Qian followed the Thread of Concern into a hidden part of the Sea of Ashes, found Ninianni and the exhausted mermaid, and learned how Vivian’s attempts to protect Ninianni had led to the fishfolk and Ninianni’s curse.
• Fu Qian used Return Edict to transform Ninianni’s body, then found Vivian and revealed that destroying the glove had killed the pure self she had kept inside it.
• Fu Qian learned that Vivian was Goto Hi, who had consumed Vivian while seeking ascension, and uncovered the hidden face and force behind her deception before defeating Goto Hi and separating her from Vivian in a dream.
• Fu Qian followed a whale’s call, retrieved the Crystalline Sun from inside the whale, and left the Warehouse before meeting Yuan Shan and traveling with her to Night Holy Capital.
• Yuan Shan brought Fu Qian to her teacher Henry Campbell, who questioned him about the city and its hidden Night Watchers headquarters.
• Fu Qian revealed his contact with Rainbow of Yao Bian and showed Henry the lantern, then Henry agreed to explain the taboo in exchange for help finding Midas, the Rat who had stolen his good fortune.
• Fu Qian and Yuan Shan chose to investigate through her personal contacts, and Yuan Shan introduced Fu Qian to Moxi, who recognized the name Mr. Midas.

Fu Qian and Yuan Shan tracked down Midas, whose luck came from the belief of his followers, while Henry warned them about the Rainbow of Yao Bian. Fu Qian retrieved and consumed a metallic egg, reached Second Order, and left with Yuan Shan to continue the search for Midas.

• Yuan Shan and Fu Qian questioned Moglin, Coridia, Alan, Shaman, and Ross while following clues about Midas’s recent appearances.
• Midas met Fu Qian and offered him compensation through a guided lucky streak, but Henry ended the betting and revealed that Midas existed through his believers’ minds.
• Henry explained that the Rainbow of Yao Bian was an ancient deity that had tainted him, and warned Fu Qian against seeking to oppose it with taint.
• Fu Qian returned to the Red Moon and dove into the Blood Lake, where he found a metallic-blood-filled egg among layers of decaying phoenix-like bodies and took it.
• Red Moon repaired Fu Qian after he escaped the lake, and Yuan Shan later recognized the egg’s contents and warned him to return it.
• The Warehouse sent Fu Qian into a Midas containment mission in Night Holy Capital, where he drank the egg’s metallic liquid and his body healed as he advanced beyond flesh and blood.
• Fu Qian confronted Henry at the church, endured Henry’s full-power attack, and explained how he had encountered the Rainbow of Yao Bian through his lantern.
• Henry agreed to reveal the Rainbow of Yao Bian’s secret in exchange for help finding Midas, and Yuan Shan joined Fu Qian in the search after realizing the egg had completed his advancement to Second Order.