Recaps

Shen Le found the correct Talisman configuration and used it to restore the wooden ship’s planks. After the ship was assembled, it shuddered as black qi enveloped it.

• Shen Le tested successive batches of crystal panels until the third batch revealed the correct Talisman configuration.
• The powered crystal boat glowed with five colors, grew to two meters, then shrank when Shen Le stopped it before the panels broke.
• Shen Le told Lan Zhuang to keep everyone away while he repaired the wooden ship’s planks with mental power.
• The restored planks began jumping, but the Buddhist Shrine’s bell quieted them and Myriad Strands of Black Hair lifted them from the racks.
• Shen Le ordered Compass to direct the assembly, and Little Ink Marker, Scroll, and Myriad Strands of Black Hair rebuilt the ship around its keels.
• The completed ship shuddered as fierce wind rose and black qi enveloped it.

Shen Le brought the wooden ship back together, but it shook violently and could not be controlled until he used the Copper Fragment to calm it. He realized the ship needed to be dismantled again so he could replace its missing iron fasteners, and asked Doctor Senior Brother for help with the repair details.

• Shen Le watched the reassembled ship thrash around the workshop and leaped aboard to restrain its wheel before the rudder damaged the scaffolding.
• Shen Le tried to control the ship with his internal energy, but only made it sway harder until the Copper Fragment quieted it.
• Shen Le ordered the robe-skirts to dismantle the ship again because its planks had been fitted together without nails, and the Buddhist Shrine rang in protest.
• Shen Le estimated that much of the ship’s original iron fittings had rusted away and worried over the many types and placements of nails needed to rebuild it.
• Shen Le sent a message to Doctor Senior Brother asking for guidance on restoring the ship.

Shen Le researched the ancient ship’s nail holes, ordered traditionally hand-forged ship nails, and arranged to desalinate and restore the existing nails. After the custom equipment finished processing them, he found the nails were too weak and wondered if he had to learn blacksmithing.

• Doctor Senior Brother explained that his team studied how to preserve iron nails, not how ancient ships used them, and advised Shen Le to survey the planks and compare the remaining nail holes.
• Shen Le used Little Ink Marker, Compass, Scroll, and the Special Affairs Bureau’s equipment to scan the ship planks, create 3D models, and record the nail holes and spacing.
• After calculating the ship’s nail requirements, Shen Le ordered Old You to find veteran nailmakers in Fujian and commission a large batch of hand-forged nails.
• Shen Le examined the corroded nails and found that their interiors were still dense, but they needed dehydration, desalination, and derusting before reuse.
• Shen Le obtained custom subcritical-water desalination equipment, and half a month later the restored nails arrived, but he worried they were too weak and asked whether he had to learn blacksmithing.

Shen Le tried to learn blacksmithing so he could restore old ship nails without losing the spiritual aura they carried. After he and Alloy Master discovered that the forge’s heat destroyed that aura, Shen Le sought expert help but found no reliable way to reforge the nails intact.

• Old You arranged a forging room and installed modern equipment after Shen Le decided he needed to forge the nails himself.
• Alloy Master arrived, demonstrated his blacksmithing knowledge, and taught Shen Le to operate the forge by making a nail together.
• Shen Le tried heating the old nails and found that the forge’s heat destroyed their spiritual aura.
• A Special Affairs Bureau artifact forger said fire would burn away the nails’ power and suggested asking specialists in Miao territory or western Hunan.
• The Special Affairs Bureau warned that the aura was too weak and the nails were ordinary iron, so its experts might produce only one usable nail from a hundred catties.

Shen Le studied how to refine Yin-tainted ship nails and discovered that fireballs from the Copper Fragment Talisman could dislodge and preserve their black qi. After struggling to increase his forging output, he unleashed a massive fireball that melted his forge and left nearby workers staring at him in shock.

• Shen Le rejected methods involving Yin-tainted substances or long periods of exposure and concluded that carefully controlled, attribute-less fire might refine the ship nails.
• Shen Le tested the Copper Fragment’s fireball Talisman and found that its flames forced black qi out of ship nails without destroying it.
• Shen Le discovered that he had to personally heat and forge each ship nail with Talisman flames before it could hold the black qi again.
• Shen Le labored for seven days but increased his daily output only slightly, then decided to unleash more of his power at once.
• Shen Le hurled a bowl-sized golden-red sphere into the forge, collapsed the furnace into molten metal, and fled outside as workers checked on him.

Shen Le's fireballs proved too dangerous for his forge and the beach, so he accepted the Special Affairs Bureau director's offer to practice at its cleared training ground. He began testing his attack on targets, but quickly melted one and jammed the target track.

• Shen Le's forge melted, and the renovation crew advised him to consult the Special Affairs Bureau about a specialized training ground.
• At the beach, Shen Le launched an unexpectedly far-reaching fireball and used talismans to stop it from setting the weeds alight.
• The Special Affairs Bureau director offered Shen Le exclusive use of the training ground, and Old Sea Turtle urged him to practice there instead of frightening the sea creatures.
• Shen Le arrived at the empty training ground, learned how to operate its equipment, and selected iron targets with fixed positions and Level 4 ballistic protection.
• Shen Le hit the first target with a fireball, then melted it so thoroughly that it jammed the track before he could begin the next row.

Shen Le rapidly improved his firepower at the Special Affairs Bureau’s training grounds, then finished forging the ship spikes and assembled the wooden boat. When its black mist touched him, he was transported to a filthy wilderness that appeared to have been devastated by a flood.

• The Special Affairs Bureau director investigated Shen Le’s melted targets and ordered Zhuxi Town’s security tightened as Shen’s combat skills advanced.
• Shen Le spent two days practicing at the training grounds, hitting and melting targets at increasing distances and through multiple iron plates.
• Shen Le forged ship spikes for half a month, then used Myriad Strands of Black Hair to assemble the wooden boat.
• Shen Le kept the Copper Fragment pointed at the boat’s rudder, and the boat remained still until he left the workshop.
• The boat’s black mist touched Shen Le and transported him to a wilderness covered in mud, weeds, rotten wood, and dead animals.

Shen Le followed a young doctor in blue through a plague-stricken village, where the doctor treated survivors despite scarce supplies. After the doctor returned to the county town, its people thanked the Medicine King Bodhisattva for their survival instead of the doctors who had risked their lives to help them.

• Shen Le reached a village devastated by mud and disease, where he found homes filled with the dead.
• Shen Le watched a young man in blue treat sick villagers and study their symptoms and medical records.
• The young man stayed in the village for seven days, saving those who recovered and watching others die.
• The young man returned to the county town with a half-empty medicine chest and accumulated medical records.
• Shen Le saw townspeople carrying offerings to thank the Medicine King Bodhisattva for their survival.

Shen Le watched the county and surrounding regions respond to successive epidemics with elaborate offerings and rituals. After the townspeople invited plague spirits aboard a decorated ship to send it away, everyone fled at the cry that attackers were coming, leaving the ship abandoned on the shore.

• Shen Le saw physicians offer free clinics while local gentry debated staging ceremonies to repay the gods after the flood.
• Shen Le watched epidemics continue to devastate the region despite the offerings, and the provincial gentry organized grand rituals with Daoists from Longhu Mountain.
• Shen Le followed a vast procession carrying a decorated wooden ship toward the shore for a plague-expulsion ceremony.
• The Taoist priests completed the ritual and the townspeople moved the ship across the land toward the water.
• Someone shouted that attackers were coming, and the townspeople and priests fled, leaving Shen Le alone with the ship carrying the invited plague spirits.

Shen Le discovered that the ancient warship carried the suffering, plague-tainted power of those who had died aboard it, so he ordered Qing Deng to contain it and began restoring the vessel. After three days of labor, he recovered its jute caulking and started preparing replacement material.

• Shen Le learned that the warship had been sunk during the Chenhao Rebellion and realized Wang Shouren had led the campaign, but the ship could not return him to the battle.
• Shen Le heard the dead trapped in the warship cry out in pain, and Qing Deng used lightning to drive the ship's black aura back into its hull.
• Shen Le asked Qing Deng to keep the aura sealed because it might carry plague and endanger Zhuxi Town.
• Shen Le found that the ship's scattered consciousness could only repeat that it was in pain, then decided to restore the vessel in hopes of reaching it.
• Shen Le spent three days separating jute from the old caulking, then mixed the recovered fibers with tung oil and lime while Lan Zhuang joked about his labor.

Shen Le worked to seal the ship’s hull and experimented with using Talismans to restore its vast expanse of damaged lacquer. His practice revealed that Water-Repelling Talismans could dangerously dry out living beings, and he ended the chapter determined to master combat and defensive spells.

• Shen Le sealed gaps in the boat’s hull with jute, tung oil, and lime, while Little Ink Marker organized the Artifact Spirits to help safely pack the material into place.
• Shen Le tested ways to repair the ship’s faded lacquer, but his Flame Talisman made it curl and crack, and his Water-Repelling Talisman dried the Fish Glue too aggressively.
• Shen Le practiced controlling the Water-Repelling Talisman until the landlady arrived with food and found him absorbed in his work.
• Shen Le accidentally cast the spell on the landlady, drying her makeup; she warned him that using it on people could be deadly.
• After the landlady left, Shen Le ate and resolved to master offensive spells and learn a powerful defensive spell.

Shen Le restored the Ancient Ship’s lacquer paintings, cable, and hard sails using spells and growth magic. After Doctor Senior Brother saw Shen Le dry the cable with a Talisman and blocked him, Shen Le finished raising the sails, and the ship lifted as if ready to sail.

• Shen Le perfected steam softening and worked with Ink Marker and the Skirt Ladies to repair the ship’s lacquer paintings.
• Shen Le cleaned the palm-fiber cable, revived it with a healing spell, and dried it with a Water-Repelling Talisman.
• Doctor Senior Brother warned Shen Le not to heat the cable, then saw his Talisman dry wet ground and told him never to touch museum artifacts.
• Shen Le restored the ship’s damaged bamboo sails by practicing on bamboo sleeping mats and using Growth Spells to weave the sail pieces.
• The Skirt Ladies and emerald vines raised the sails, and the Ancient Ship shuddered and rose as if riding the wind.

Shen Le painstakingly restored the wooden ship’s lanterns, dolls, and other paper objects, while Qing Deng kept the awakened figures under control. Once he returned the final crate of paper ingots to the ship, it began sinking through the Water Manor, leaving Shen Le beneath a dark sky enclosed by walls of jade water.

• Shen Le tried to communicate with the wooden ship but realized its damaged spirituality needed to be restored by repairing its decorations.
• Shen Le and the women in silk skirts restored the lanterns and dolls, while his junior martial brother helped identify paper for patching the lanterns.
• The repaired dolls and paper figures began staring and moving, so Shen Le called Qing Deng to frighten them into behaving.
• Qing Deng struck the paper Persian cat with lightning, but Shen Le stopped it and repaired the cat after apologizing to Qing Deng.
• After half a month, Shen Le returned the repaired figures and the final crate of paper ingots to the wooden ship, which sank with him into the depths of the Water Manor.

Shen Le relived the wooden boat’s past in the Dragon Lord’s Water Mansion and discovered it still contained plague qi and suffering that prevented it from being used. His attempt to activate its size-changing power failed, and after Little Oil Lamp’s lightning damaged a lantern, Shen Le decided he needed outside help to purify the boat.

• Shen Le was pulled through the Water Mansion in the wooden boat and saw the Dragon Lord lift it, soothe the suffering spirits aboard, and cleanse much of their black qi.
• Shen Le examined the boat’s power pathways and found functions for preserving it, housing spirits, and changing its size, along with a possible route or teleportation function.
• Shen Le tried to activate the size-changing power, releasing black wind and cries from the boat, while Little Oil Lamp struck it with lightning to contain the disturbance.
• Shen Le realized the boat still held enough plague qi that it could not be safely used until fully purified, despite the centuries of cleansing it had received.
• Shen Le asked Little Oil Lamp to purge the boat’s resentment, but its lightning caused a paper lantern to burn, so he repaired it and considered seeking outside help.

Shen Le sought help purifying a wooden ship filled with powerful resentment, but the Flower Demons and Buddhist monks could not cleanse it quickly. Daoist Qingyue identified the ship’s origin and promised to consult other sects, while revealing that he was also searching for a missing flying sword.

• The Landlady said her Flower Demons could not purify the ship and sent Shen Le to consult Yuantong Zen Temple’s resident monk, Nengqian.
• Shen Le found Nengqian comforting a girl whose kitten had died, then brought him to inspect the ship; Nengqian’s prayer beads broke as he chanted for the paper figures.
• Shen Le contacted Renlun, who sent his junior martial brother Renhuai; the two monks concluded that forty-nine similarly cultivated monks would need to chant continuously for three years to deliver the spirits.
• Shen Le asked Daoist Qingyue to inspect the ship, and Qingyue identified it as a Divine Firmament Pestilence-Expelling Boat-Sending Ritual that had summoned spirits on an immense scale.
• Daoist Qingyue offered to consult the Maoshan Sect and Dragon Tiger Sect, then revealed that he was searching for a flying sword from the Golden Triangle Secret Realm.

Shen Le sought a way to cleanse the wooden ship’s accumulated death qi without destroying it, and Maoshan experts proposed using the Little Oil Lamp’s lightning with a Five Thunder Peach Wood Sword. The Little Oil Lamp mastered the method and proved it could weaken the ship’s black qi, but the sword broke after one strike, leaving Shen Le wondering how to strengthen the technique.

• Daoists from Longhu Mountain and Maoshan Sect failed to cleanse the ship with their rites and suggested either destroying it or holding a costly Grand Luotian Rite.
• A Maoshan Taoist recorded the Little Oil Lamp’s lightning and consulted a group of experts, who recommended combining the Five Thunders through a peach wood sword.
• Shen Le ordered peach wood sword blanks, and the Little Oil Lamp tested them with lightning until it found that hundred-year-old wood could withstand repeated strikes.
• The Little Oil Lamp mastered the Five Thunder cycle, and Shen Le used the resulting sword to channel lightning into the wooden ship, dispersing some black qi.
• The peach wood sword broke after one strike, and the Little Oil Lamp asked whether an enhanced version of the Five Thunders existed.

Shen Le and Little Oil Lamp searched for ways to strengthen the Five Thunders and tested whether electricity from different sources could produce distinct elemental lightning. They confirmed Water Thunder, Earth Thunder, and Wood Electricity, but still needed to identify Metal Thunder and find a stronger power source.

• After Little Oil Lamp rejected cultivation aids and the Special Affairs Bureau's Magic Artifacts, Shen Le asked electrician Xiang Yang for advice on increasing its lightning output.
• Xiang Yang suggested testing electricity from different kinds of power plants, so Shen Le took Little Oil Lamp to a small hydropower station.
• Little Oil Lamp absorbed power near the generator and charged the Peach Wood Sword with Water Thunder, but complained that the station was too weak.
• A Special Affairs Bureau agent took Shen Le to solar-powered exercise equipment, where Little Oil Lamp identified Earth Thunder, then to a wind-powered streetlamp, where it identified Wood Electricity.
• Shen Le realized they still needed Metal Thunder and asked how they could find it.

Shen Le took Little Oil Lamp to Dragon Roc Nuclear Power Station to find the Metal Thunder needed to temper the Peach Wood Sword, then arranged a high-voltage test to draw power from an entire generator unit. The test began destroying the swords in sequence, and Shen Le insisted the breaker had not tripped.

• Shen Le asked the Shanghai Special Affairs Bureau director to arrange visits to large power plants, and Little Oil Lamp chose Witch Mountain Hydropower Station before settling on Dragon Roc Nuclear Power Station for the first test.
• A week later, Shen Le arrived at Dragon Roc Nuclear Power Station, where Little Oil Lamp confirmed that its electricity was the Metal Thunder it needed.
• Shen Le learned that Little Oil Lamp needed power on the scale of an entire generator unit, so the Special Affairs Bureau agent and plant staff worked through the necessary approvals.
• Shen Le stood before a 220 kV substation, placed Little Oil Lamp and one hundred Peach Wood Swords near the switch, and had the plant staff close it.
• Lightning struck the Peach Wood Swords one by one, and Shen Le told the alarmed plant staff that the breaker had not tripped.

Shen Le took Little Oil Lamp to power stations so it could learn to control lightning and forge Five-Thunder Peach Wood Swords. As Little Oil Lamp consumed electricity and experimented at Witch Mountain Hydropower Station, its growing power frightened a creature in the distant snowy mountains into fleeing.

• Little Oil Lamp struck Peach Wood Swords with nuclear-powered lightning, destroying many before it improved its control; a Special Affairs Bureau man was knocked unconscious when he tried to extinguish a burning sword.
• Shen Le and Little Oil Lamp traveled from Dragon Roc Nuclear Power Station to Witch Mountain Hydropower Station, where Shen Le warned it not to interfere with the dam's controls or other generators.
• Little Oil Lamp used the hydropower station's electricity to strike Peach Wood Swords, accidentally making some grow branches, leaves, or flowers before it began producing blades infused with silver lightning.
• Little Oil Lamp consumed electricity at full power for half an hour, spreading an oppressive presence that made a black creature in the distant snowy mountains flee north.

Shen Le took Little Oil Lamp to the world's largest wind turbine, where it demanded to be carried to the top to absorb electricity. After Little Oil Lamp struck a Peach Wood Sword, a bird demon stole it and was immediately killed by lightning.

• Shen Le reached the Huaneng 18-MW Wind Turbine and learned how enormous it was.
• Little Oil Lamp insisted on getting closer to the generator, so Shen Le flew up through the tower and then climbed onto its swaying top with a safety rope.
• A wind farm worker secured Little Oil Lamp and a Peach Wood Sword near the turbine's upper opening.
• Little Oil Lamp absorbed electricity and struck the Peach Wood Sword with lightning, but a bird demon swooped down and stole it.
• Shen Le hesitated over whether to attack the bird demon, and Little Oil Lamp struck it dead with another bolt of lightning.

Shen Le had Little Oil Lamp process his Peach Wood Swords at several power plants, using a wind turbine and a thermal power station to complete more of the Five Thunders. He arrived at the Mogao Caves Solar Thermal Power Station with only twenty-three swords left, just as the local Special Affairs Bureau reported unexplained disturbances nearby, and Little Oil Lamp volunteered to search for the threat.

• A bald eagle demon tried to steal Shen Le’s Peach Wood Sword, but Little Oil Lamp struck it down with lightning; the Special Affairs Bureau identified it and accepted it after Shen Le declined to keep it.
• Shen Le summoned stronger wind to speed up a turbine, helping Little Oil Lamp process Peach Wood Swords before traveling to the Tuotuo Power Plant.
• Little Oil Lamp processed more swords with thermal power, but its fire lightning charred many of them; Shen Le realized he needed to complete the Five Elements cycle to preserve their spirituality.
• Shen Le flew by cargo plane to Mogao City and saw the solar thermal power station’s mirrors concentrating sunlight around its tower.
• The local Special Affairs Bureau warned Shen Le that nearby detectors had recorded abnormalities and suffered damage, while Little Oil Lamp offered to search the city after getting its fill of electricity.

Shen Le brought Little Oil Lamp to the solar power plant, where it absorbed earth-element electricity and endured a Thunder Tribulation to complete its transformation. Just as it began processing the Peach Wood Swords, the hidden demon attacked it, and Shen Le rushed to help.

• Shen Le and the Special Affairs Bureau team reached the solar power plant, where Little Oil Lamp began absorbing electricity from the turbines.
• Little Oil Lamp formed a five-element cycle, triggering a Thunder Tribulation that disrupted the plant's pumps and drew an old demon toward the facility.
• The demon hid underground and planned to steal Little Oil Lamp after the tribulation, while Little Oil Lamp eagerly absorbed the lightning and flew into the thunderclouds.
• Little Oil Lamp absorbed the tribulation lightning and emerged with a milky, jade-like sheen, then promised to process the Peach Wood Swords without damaging them.
• As Little Oil Lamp began working, the demon attacked it with black wind, and Shen Le charged in with a fireball while plant staff warned him to protect the equipment.

Shen Le and Little Oil Lamp fought a Black Wind Monster above the Mogao Grottoes Solar Power Plant while trying to keep the battle from damaging the facility. Shen Le lured the monster to the receiver tower, where Little Oil Lamp focused the heliostats’ reflected sunlight on it.

• Shen Le urged Little Oil Lamp to draw the Black Wind Monster away from the plant, while Special Affairs Bureau agents called for reinforcements and kept civilians under cover.
• Shen Le realized the monster feared the heliostats’ concentrated sunlight and asked the driver to adjust the mirrors, while Little Oil Lamp said she needed time to control them.
• A Special Affairs Bureau drone tore through the monster’s black wind, revealing a shriveled humanoid figure at its center, and Little Oil Lamp struck the exposed monster with lightning.
• The Black Wind Monster attacked Shen Le with poisonous yin wind, but he countered with fireballs, wind barriers, and Cleansing Spells before agreeing to buy Little Oil Lamp two minutes.
• Shen Le drew the monster toward the receiver tower’s summit as two Special Affairs Bureau agents tried to distract it from below.
• Shen Le leaped from the tower while using wind to drive the monster upward, and Little Oil Lamp turned all 12,000 heliostats to focus sunlight on it.

Shen Le and Little Oil Lamp purified and awakened the wooden boat with Five Elements Divine Lightning, but the vessel suddenly shrank and dragged Shen Le into a dark green waterway. The chapter leaves him swept away with the boat, with no clear way back.

• Shen Le and the Special Affairs Bureau confirmed the Black Wind Monster was nearly dead, then sent it away for study while Little Oil Lamp returned to eating electricity.
• Little Oil Lamp used the power plant’s electricity to forge peach wood swords, though many exploded during the process.
• Shen Le rushed back to Shanghai and used unstable peach wood swords to cleanse the wooden boat’s black aura before channeling lightning through its wheel.
• The boat’s hidden spirit began to grow as the lightning purified the vessel, and the repaired talismans inside it lit up.
• The wooden boat activated, shrank with Shen Le aboard, and leaped into an emerald wave that pulled them into a dark green waterway.

Shen Le was carried to the Dragon Palace by the newly awakened wooden boat spirit, Cloud Kun, and met the Dragon Lord, who welcomed him and let him keep the boat. The Dragon Lord then asked Shen Le to repair a far more powerful damaged boat, but Shen Le’s spiritual sense was torn apart when he examined it, so the Dragon Lord suggested he practice on other objects in the Water Palace.

• Cloud Kun told Shen Le that it had been built to lead a fleet and had carried him toward the Dragon Palace because it felt compelled to go there.
• The boat plunged into a vast underwater realm, where Shen Le saw an enormous azure dragon before the currents carried him to shore.
• Qing Li welcomed Shen Le and Qing Deng, brought Cloud Kun into the palace, and guided Shen Le through the Water Palace to the Dragon Lord.
• The Dragon Lord offered Shen Le fruit and tea, examined Cloud Kun, and told Shen Le to take the boat with him because it had bonded with him.
• The Dragon Lord showed Shen Le a badly damaged wooden boat to repair, but Shen Le’s spiritual sense was shredded when he tried to inspect it.
• The Dragon Lord closed the box and suggested that Shen Le look around the Water Palace for other things to practice repairing.