Chapter Summaries

Gwyndolin asked the Mage for a car, but the Mage refused and offered to take him on a roller coaster instead. Tony and Rhodey spotted He Shenyan riding one with a woman, but He Shenyan stopped Tony from keeping the footage by threatening to expose embarrassing photos of him.

• Gwyndolin insisted he wanted to drive, and the Mage reminded him that his divine power had destroyed bicycles before offering him a roller-coaster ride.
• Tony showed Rhodey footage of He Shenyan riding a roller coaster with an unknown woman, prompting Rhodey to marvel that He Shenyan appeared to be dating.
• Jarvis revealed that He Shenyan had sent a message warning Tony to delete the footage or have his photos from a special cocktail party shared with everyone.
• Tony ordered Jarvis to delete the recording, while Rhodey tried to learn about the cocktail party and Pepper confronted Tony over his remark about their daughter.
• Rhodey asked Jarvis to record Tony begging Pepper for forgiveness so he could use the footage to make Tony apologize for calling Pepsi toilet cleaner.

He Shenyan offered Gwyndolin a way to leave their dying world, then returned to Firelink Shrine to seek the Ashen One. When the Ashen One was away, He Shenyan planted a sapling for him to find, leaving the Fire Keeper and the others astonished.

• He Shenyan told Gwyndolin that other worlds did not need fire and gave him a hexagonal stone to use when He Shenyan was ready to take him elsewhere.
• He Shenyan returned to Firelink Shrine and asked the Fire Keeper where the Ashen One was, but she refused to reveal his location.
• Ludleth argued that the Hollows resisted because the linking of the fire had caused the Undead to suffer, and said the Ashen One would keep moving forward.
• He Shenyan caused a tiny sapling to grow on the floor of Firelink Shrine, astonishing the Fire Keeper, Ludleth, and the Onion Knight.
• He Shenyan told the Fire Keeper to have the Ashen One touch the sapling when he returned, and said she could call him Mage.

Adar, a village farmer who had never spoken to outsiders because of his father’s instructions, broke his silence to warn a handsome traveler about a dangerous Vastaya. After the traveler left, Adar collapsed as a blue, diamond-shaped mark appeared on his forehead.

• Adar’s neighbor gave directions to a handsome man in a black robe who was traveling to the Placidium, and the man healed the neighbor’s back as thanks.
• Adar remembered hearing that a Vastaya had already wandered near the village and ran through the village to find the traveler.
• The traveler returned, and Adar warned him about the Vastaya despite his father’s command never to speak with outsiders.
• The traveler thanked Adar, said the Vastaya posed little threat to him, and quickly left the village.
• Adar collapsed as a blue, diamond-shaped mark shone on his forehead and then vanished when villagers gathered around him.

He Shenyan healed a wounded she-wolf and helped her clear up a misunderstanding with a Cat-folk hunter by letting them communicate. After the Cat-folk apologized, a hidden nine-tailed woman watched He Shenyan with envy and interest.

• He Shenyan healed a wounded she-wolf and learned that she was being hunted by a group of strangers.
• A Cat-folk hunter threatened He Shenyan, so he had a black bear knock the hunter down and then stopped the bear from attacking him further.
• He Shenyan used magic to let the Cat-folk understand the she-wolf, who explained that another wolf pack had attacked the village and stolen two babies.
• The Cat-folk apologized to the she-wolf and left to search for the true culprits.
• A concealed nine-tailed woman watched He Shenyan play with the animals and wondered what memories she would see from him.

He Shenyan confronted Ahri when she tried to enter his memories and made her experience the suffering she had inflicted on others. He ordered her to find the people whose memories and emotions she had absorbed and return them, and Ahri left at dawn to begin.

• He Shenyan sent the animals away and prepared dinner as Ahri approached his camp.
• Ahri tried to seduce He Shenyan, then pounced on him to search his memories.
• He Shenyan let Ahri witness memories of death and destruction, leaving her horrified.
• He Shenyan revealed that he had also looked into Ahri’s memories and told her to compensate the people she had harmed.
• He Shenyan instructed Ahri to find those people and return what she had absorbed, then disappeared.
• Ahri woke at dawn, drank the warm milk, and left.

He Shenyan reached an Ionian village where the people and its nature spirit were afflicted by a sinister presence. When he confronted the village elder, the elder’s disguise melted away to reveal a monster.

• Lacha noticed the villagers had grown restless and reported his concerns to the village elder, who dismissed him before his consciousness sank into darkness.
• He Shenyan fished with the she-wolf while communicating with nature spirits, and the spirit near the village could only murmur that it was in pain.
• He Shenyan sensed a sickening presence as he approached the village and asked the old man at its entrance how many people he had controlled.
• The old man’s disguise dissolved, revealing a cyan monster, and He Shenyan prepared to investigate it directly.

He Shenyan questioned the village's nature spirit and learned that evil ghosts were eating people, then found the captured villagers in a cave and killed two monsters. He left Lacha and the other villagers protected while he and the she-wolf went to investigate further.

• He Shenyan soothed the village's suffering nature spirit, which told him that evil ghosts were eating people but could not say where they were.
• Lacha woke in a cave and saw two monsters eating Il while the other villagers lay unconscious nearby.
• The monsters argued about keeping the villagers alive for Ah Da's plan to create an endless supply of meat.
• He Shenyan appeared with the she-wolf and destroyed the two monsters with a flash of white light.
• He Shenyan promised to protect Lacha and the other villagers with a spell, then vanished with the she-wolf.

He Shenyan rescued Lacha and the villagers from the mountain demons, then erased Lacha’s memories of the horror. At the temple, Kusho ordered his disciples Zed and Shen to kill a village to balance the demons’ deaths, leaving the brothers divided over the task.

• He Shenyan returned Lacha and the villagers to their homes, then put Lacha to sleep and erased his memories at his request.
• Kusho told Zed and Shen that someone near Tivase had killed a group of mountain demons.
• Kusho ordered Zed and Shen to find the village and kill everyone there to maintain balance.
• Shen protested that the villagers were innocent, while Zed insisted they had to obey Kusho and the sect’s teachings.
• Zed and Shen argued at a mountain pavilion, and Zed repeated that they were going to maintain balance.

He Shenyan learned that Noxians had been causing tension in Placidium, while Shen and Zed were ordered to slaughter an innocent village. Shen refused the order, and Zed left with him, but another masked group arrived after they departed.

• He Shenyan questioned a tea stall owner about recent events in Placidium and heard that Noxians had been wandering around and provoking a local martial artist.
• Shen and Zed watched a peaceful village and struggled with their orders to kill its residents.
• Zed entered a house but only wounded his own hand, leaving the sleeping man alive.
• Shen refused to kill a family and urged Zed to stop the slaughter, then headed back to face punishment.
• Zed followed Shen, and the two argued as they left the village.
• Another group of masked people carrying short blades appeared after Shen and Zed had gone.

After visiting Placidium’s Magic Garden, He Shenyan returned to the Order of the Kinkou and witnessed Kusho reveal the order’s brutal method of maintaining balance. Kusho confined Shen and Zed to the order for a year after they challenged his justification for killing innocent villagers.

• He Shenyan and Mother Wolf visited Placidium’s Magic Garden before returning to the Order of the Kinkou three days later.
• Shen and Zed confessed their doubts to Kusho, who left them without comment until summoning them a week later.
• A Kinkou disciple reported that the order had killed two-thirds of a village, prompting Zed to beat him and Shen to question Kusho.
• Kusho explained that the order killed as many people as demons had eaten to preserve Ionia’s balance and the connection between the spirit realm and material world.
• Kusho ordered Shen and Zed to remain confined to the order for one year.

He Shenyan left Mother Wolf in the care of a consciousness in the Magic Garden and promised to give her a name when he returned. Meanwhile, Lacha found his village’s people murdered and insisted that the crime be brought to light.

• He Shenyan reached Placidium and stopped near the Magic Garden after sensing a threat elsewhere.
• He Shenyan asked the garden’s consciousness to watch over Mother Wolf and promised to name her when he returned.
• The magic around Mother Wolf surged as He Shenyan departed, frightening monks across the city.
• Lacha and the other survivors carried the villagers’ corpses to the village entrance.
• Lacha rejected the fisherman’s advice to rest and demanded that someone investigate the murders.

After burying the villagers, Lacha and the fisherman set out to seek help while the young man left to travel. At the mountain temple, a stranger confronted Zed and Shen, then headed upstairs, declaring that he intended to kill people.

• Lacha, the fisherman, and the young man buried the villagers, and the fisherman explained that he never prayed because he needed his hands free to hold a sword.
• The next morning, Lacha and the fisherman left to find the Provincial Elders Council, while the young man departed to travel.
• Zed encountered a stranger who claimed he could read memories and condemned Zed for killing the villagers.
• The stranger lifted Shen into the air, then set him down and warned both him and Zed to leave.
• Shen tried to block the stranger, but the man swept him aside and walked toward the stairs leading up the mountain.

He Shenyan tortured Kusho over the Kinkou’s doctrine of balance, then killed him after showing him an illusion of Ionia’s destruction. He encountered Kindred, who could not see when he would die, and left to handle other matters.

• Kusho insisted that breaking the balance would bring disaster to Ionia, but He Shenyan dismissed his warning and condemned the Kinkou’s beliefs.
• He Shenyan pulled Kusho’s soul into the Spirit Realm and showed him an illusion of Ionia being devastated, then dispersed the illusion and killed him.
• He Shenyan questioned why the Kinkou order had upheld its doctrine for centuries and wondered whether something else sustained it.
• Kindred appeared, and Lamb said she could not see He Shenyan’s time of death while Wolf tried to hunt him.
• He Shenyan refused to answer Kindred’s questions, and the pair vanished after Lamb promised they would meet him on the day he died.

Lacha and the fisherman traveled through Ionia seeking a spirit caller and a monk to help the dead villagers. In Navori, an innkeeper directed them to a feared scholar who kept a white wolf named Wind.

• The fisherman caught a large fish and told Lacha that his tribe respected wild creatures they had to kill.
• The fisherman explained that spirit callers had become difficult to find after the Order of the Kinkou accused them of harming the connection between the spirit realm and the material world.
• After three months on the road, Lacha and the fisherman reached Navori and asked an innkeeper about monks and spirit callers.
• The innkeeper recommended a knowledgeable traveler whom local practitioners feared, and the fisherman paid him for the information.
• The innkeeper warned them that the scholar's white wolf, Wind, had chased someone who called her a dog.

Lacha and Fisherman sought a spirit caller to learn who had massacred their village, but Zed revealed that the Order of the Kinkou was likely responsible. Fisherman refused to punish Zed because he had not killed anyone, and Zed offered to help arrange rites for the dead.

• Lacha and Fisherman visited Mr. He's black spire and met Zed, who offered to call a spirit himself.
• Lacha told Zed about the massacre of their village and explained that they wanted to discover who was responsible.
• Zed confessed that he had belonged to the Order of the Kinkou and believed the order had committed the massacre, then offered Lacha a knife and asked to be killed.
• Fisherman asked whether Zed had taken part, and Zed admitted he had tried but could not bring himself to kill anyone.
• Fisherman spared Zed, saying he should not kill an innocent man, and Lacha said they still needed a monk to perform rites for the dead.
• Zed offered to help them arrange the rites.

Shen, Zed, Fisherman, and Lacha traveled to the Placidium of Navori to seek a monk willing to perform rites for the sixty-three dead villagers. They reached the temple and were invited inside to wait for its meditating master to awaken.

• Zed suggested seeking Wandering Monks, and Shen identified the Placidium of Navori as a place where many came from.
• Shen revealed that Kusho was his father, offered to answer for the Order of the Kinkou, and vowed to make amends for his father's wrongs.
• Fisherman and Lacha asked Shen to help find a monk to perform rites for the dead villagers, saying they wanted the hatred to end.
• Shen, Zed, Fisherman, and Lacha climbed the snowy mountain to the Placidium of Navori, with Lacha insisting on coming along.
• A monk greeted the four at the temple entrance, told them the Dragon knew what they sought, and invited them to wait for the meditating master to awaken.

A golden Dragon questioned Fisherman, Lacha, Shen, and Zed, offering each cryptic counsel and asking Zed about the scholar who had killed Kusho. After the Dragon vanished and the blizzard over the Placidium of Navori stopped, a monk said he had been sent to perform rites for the dead.

• An old monk appeared and told Zed that the Dragon wanted answers, then urged Fisherman to release his lingering anger.
• The old man asked Lacha to consider becoming a wandering monk and told Shen that Kusho had strayed from the proper path.
• The old man asked Zed about the scholar, and Zed described his power and wisdom while admitting he feared him.
• The old man transformed into a golden Dragon, who gave each of the four a warning or piece of advice before disappearing.
• The blizzard over the Placidium of Navori stopped, and a monk announced that the Dragon had sent him to perform rites for the dead.

Lacha returned to his abandoned village with Zed, Shen, and a monk who agreed to perform rites for the dead. After the monk released the souls of the sixty-three villagers by taking their painful memories into himself, he left for the Placidium, while Lacha remained behind.

• Kedar bid farewell to Lacha and returned to face the dangers awaiting him.
• Lacha, Zed, Shen, and the monk returned to the deserted village, where Lacha spoke to his parents' memory and prepared for the rites.
• At night, the monk performed the rites at the riverside graveyard as animals gathered and the villagers' vengeful spirits rose from their graves.
• The spirits passed through the monk, inflicting the wounds they had suffered in life, before each vanished into a white light.
• The monk revealed that he had absorbed the dead villagers' painful memories into tattoos so they could move on, then departed for the Placidium without asking for payment.

He Shenyan traveled to Shurima to investigate its ancient Ascended and the Void beneath the desert, finding a relic that transformed into a golden ritual cup. After testing several ways to activate it, he discovered that adjusting its handles let sunlight pass through it, revealing that the cup held an unsolved puzzle.

• He Shenyan researched Ionia’s spirit realm while Wind tried to get him to go shopping with her.
• He Shenyan considered the dangers across Valoran, including Shurima’s Ascended, the Void, the Shadow Isles, and Bilgewater’s hidden god.
• He Shenyan bought a brass cup from a Shuriman merchant after spotting it among the stall’s fake relics.
• He Shenyan infused the cup with magic in the desert, transforming it into a large, ornate golden vessel.
• He Shenyan tested magic and blood in the cup, then turned its handles and discovered two holes that let sunlight pass through it.

He Shenyan uncovered an ancient Shuriman tower and questioned the Ascended Nezus about the Ascension ritual, but left before a fight began. He recorded his findings and considered threats across the world, while postponing plans to move the people of Lordran.

• He Shenyan raised a buried tower with the golden cup and summoned an illusory armored woman, who uttered the words “Royal bloodline.”
• Nezus confronted He Shenyan, but He Shenyan stopped him from controlling the sand and resisted his death magic while asking about the Ascension ritual.
• He Shenyan and Wind vanished after He Shenyan warned Nezus, who then entered the tower alone.
• He Shenyan recorded notes on Ascension, the Void, Bilgewater, the Shadow Isles, and ancient demons, and decided Lordran’s relocation would have to wait.
• He Shenyan fed Wind a dragon heart as she neared the end of her transformation.