Recaps

Shen Le examined an unusually elaborate old ink marker and used Spirit Eye to discover what made it different. Meanwhile, Gu Yulin and Zhang Bingxin investigated a reported zombie incident and found that the ink lines in a couple’s home carried unusually high energy; the homeowner said they had sold their old ink marker that day.

• Shen Le unpacked a chest of well-kept woodworking tools and found an ink marker shaped like a lion, fitted with a Devil's Work Ball.
• Shen Le activated Spirit Eye with the Copper Fragment and spotted what distinguished the ink marker.
• After repeated false alarms, Gu Yulin and Zhang Bingxin received a report about a home covered in ink lines and hurried to investigate.
• Gu Yulin and Zhang Bingxin measured high energy levels in the ink lines, especially around the bed, dining area, and sofa.
• Gu Yulin asked the homeowner about their old ink marker and learned that they had sold it that day.

Shen Le examined the black mist around the Ink Marker and decided to repair it in hopes that it might gain intelligence like Xiao Ling. While inspecting the tool, he discovered that its tiny Devil's Work Ball was badly damaged and began trying to identify its wood so he could replace it.

• The two senior martial brothers left the residential complex and went to the Police Station to ask for help tracing the Ink Marker’s buyer.
• Shen Le used his Spirit Eye to study the black mist around the Ink Marker and wondered whether it might become evil or intelligent.
• Shen Le decided to repair the Ink Marker, finding worn paint, scratches, a damaged lion-head carving, and a faulty reel.
• Shen Le discovered that the Devil's Work Ball was cracked and missing pieces, and realized he lacked the skills to carve a replacement.
• Shen Le removed the Scroll Rod, ordered supplies to restore its rusty metal parts, and examined the tiny Devil's Work Ball to determine its wood type.
• Shen Le concluded that he would need precision scales to weigh the Devil's Work Ball accurately.

Shen Le tried to identify the wood in the Devil's Work Ball and learn how to make one so he could repair the Ink Marker himself. After arranging DNA testing for a wood sample and researching carving techniques, he still lacked crucial details and called his senior sister for help.

• Shen Le borrowed access to a precision balance through Shi Guangbing and learned that the Devil's Work Ball weighed 0.6867 grams and had a volume of about 0.85 cubic centimeters.
• Shen Le calculated the ball's density but could not determine its wood type, so he contacted his senior martial brother about testing a sample through a forestry research project.
• Shen Le photographed the ball, made rubbings and a plaster mold, collected a small sample, and mailed it to his senior martial brother.
• Shen Le searched academic papers and online videos for instructions on making a Devil's Work Ball, but found only incomplete information about its carving process.
• Shen Le called his senior sister for emergency help after he could not figure out how deeply to carve the ball.

Shen Le asked his Senior Sister for help figuring out how to make a Devil's Work Ball, then bought practice supplies at the market while looking for ways to earn more money. There, he recognized a couple arguing over a pair of shoes, and the wife recognized him as a customer from the day before.

• Shen Le explained the Devil's Work Ball problem to his Senior Sister, who offered to have a junior student make a model and calculate it.
• Shen Le sanded the Ink Marker, complained about the paint dust and the lack of air conditioning, and decided to look for ways to make money.
• Shen Le visited the market, bought wooden balls, masks, sandpaper, and other supplies, and chose not to buy an industrial dust mask from an unfamiliar shop.
• Shen Le watched a woman argue with a shoe shop assistant until she got a refund for her husband's shoes.
• The woman spotted Shen Le and asked whether everything was all right at his place.

Shen Le refused the Maoshan Taoist Duo’s request to surrender his carpentry toolbox after they warned that it might be linked to supernatural Ink Lines. Back home, he worked on the Ink Marker while Xiao Ling watched, leaving the marker cleaned and its rusty scroll rod soaking in rust remover.

• Shen Le encountered the Maoshan Taoist Duo, who said a household’s recurring Ink Lines might be connected to an old carpentry toolbox and asked whether he had bought one.
• Shen Le refused to hand over the toolbox, reasoning that the Ink Marker had caused no trouble and that he could protect himself; he added Gu Yulin on WeChat after Gu offered to help him obtain chemicals.
• Shen Le ate at the Heavenly Fragrance Restaurant, brought Xiao Ling home, and told her to stay safe while he worked.
• Xiao Ling pulled herself onto Shen Le’s workbench to watch him repair the Ink Marker, and he warned her to avoid the corrosive rust remover.
• Shen Le cleaned the Ink Marker and soaked its rusty metal scroll rod in rust remover until the rust loosened and the metal beneath appeared shiny.

Shen Le repaired the Ink Marker with Xiao Ling’s help, and the restored tool triggered a memory of a young craftsman learning to carve a Devil’s Work Ball. As Shen Le watched and practiced alongside him, the memory shifted to a spacious factory, leaving him wondering whether the Copper Fragment was showing him two memories.

• Shen Le cleaned and treated the Ink Marker’s rusty rod, then reassembled it and tested a straight ink line.
• Xiao Ling wound the silk thread and helped Shen Le thread it through the Ink Marker.
• The Ink Marker triggered a memory of Ai Jun struggling to carve a Devil’s Work Ball under his grade-eight master’s instruction.
• Shen Le watched Ai Jun carve and imitated his hand movements, realizing how much practice the work required.
• The memory shifted from a cramped house to a spacious factory, and Shen Le wondered whether the Copper Fragment had shown him two memories.

Shen Le witnessed the Ink Marker’s memory of Ai Jun proposing to Chang Hong, then returned to the Old Mansion and continued restoring the artifact. He left the Ink Marker’s grime in its wooden cracks untouched rather than risk damaging it.

• Shen Le watched Ai Jun receive an Advanced Producer medal at a factory commendation meeting and propose to Chang Hong with the Ink Marker.
• Chang Hong agreed after Ai Jun revealed a Lead Weight fitted with a three-layer Devil's Work Ball, showing his skill.
• Shen Le returned to the worktable and realized that his memory-induced zoning out had worried Little Puppet.
• Shen Le cleaned the Ink Marker and decided not to scrape grime from its cracks because doing so would damage the wood.

Shen Le tested solvents to clean grime from the Ink Marker, then turned to finding Jujube Wood to repair it. He compared ways to obtain the wood and, after Xiao Ling objected to the expensive lathe, settled on buying a bracelet.

• Shen Le tested several reagents on the grime and used acetone to clean the Ink Marker, taking precautions against its fumes and letting the wood dry slowly.
• Shen Le learned from the Forestry Research Institute that the Devil's Work Ball was made of Jujube Wood, but he could find no suitable piece in the mansion.
• Shen Le searched Taobao and found listings for lightning-struck Jujube Wood, including a review joking about using nuclear power to strike it.
• Xiao Ling asked Shen Le whether he was buying clothes for her, and he showed her three options for obtaining Jujube Wood.
• Xiao Ling chose the Jujube Wood bracelet over the costly miniature lathe, and Shen Le agreed to buy it.

Shen Le painstakingly restored and repainted the Ink Marker while Xiao Ling made a mess with the paints. Later, he overheard the couple who had sold him the marker arguing about a cheap ceiling job, and the Ink Marker began bouncing in his backpack.

• Shen Le repaired the Ink Marker’s damaged wood and carved replacement fur into its missing areas.
• Shen Le painted, polished, and waxed the Ink Marker over several days while Xiao Ling played with paint and accidentally splashed him.
• Shen Le passed day laborers waiting for work and considered asking them to repair the mansion if needed.
• At a pork trotter rice shop, Shen Le overheard Xiulan berating Zheng Xiaohua for charging too little to install a ceiling and reminding him of the burdens she had carried alone.
• Shen Le felt the Ink Marker bouncing in his backpack and hurried to keep it from causing trouble.

Shen Le caught Ink Marker secretly striking the arguing couple with ink lines, then used the Copper Fragment to see a memory of a factory worker couple facing unemployment in the late 1990s. The memory ended with the wife leaving for renovation work in Binhai while her husband stayed home to care for his father and child.

• Ink Marker secretly marked the couple's backs with crossed ink lines as they left the shop, and Shen Le took it back to his workbench to demand an explanation.
• Shen Le touched the Copper Fragment to Ink Marker and entered a memory of a middle-aged worker packing woodworking tools into a Tool Box after his factory closed.
• The worker's wife told him that Boss Wang had offered her renovation work in Binhai for twenty yuan a day, with meals and lodging.
• The worker decided to stay home to care for his ill father and young child while his wife went to earn money.
• The wife put on her canvas tool bag and left with the Ink Marker, smiling confidently as she reminded her husband that she had been the more skilled worker.

Shen Le received a CAD plan for making a Devil's Work Ball, but struggled to mark a wooden sphere by hand. The Ink Marker marked its poles with surprising skill, then fell silent as Shen Le tried to explain the next steps, leaving him unsure whether it could help further.

• Shen Le received the modeling files from his Senior Sister and downloaded the CAD instructions for the Devil's Work Ball.
• Shen Le tried to figure out how to mark the North and South Poles on a wooden ball without a CNC machine or a way to pin it.
• The Ink Marker swung its Lead Weight and Silk Thread to pierce the wooden ball and mark two intersecting lines that identified its poles.
• The Ink Marker fell still, and Shen Le picked it up and showed it the CAD file, explaining how to mark the remaining circles.
• Shen Le watched for a response from the Ink Marker, but mist around it stayed motionless and the Silk Thread only moved with his breath.

Shen Le struggled to carve a three-layer Devil's Work Ball, first practicing on soft wooden balls and then attempting the much harder Jujube Wood Bead. As his finger hurt from carving, he wondered whether the Ink Marker might already count as repaired.

• Shen Le drew lines on a practice wooden ball until he saw that the Ink Marker had made a perfectly marked ball of its own.
• Shen Le used an Electric Drill to try carving the ball, but repeatedly cut through its layers and ruined his attempts.
• Shen Le switched to hand tools and, after several days of practice, made a rough three-layer Devil's Work Ball with rotating inner layers.
• Shen Le began carving the Jujube Wood Bead, but its hardness made the blade dig into his finger.
• Shen Le worried that carving the bead would injure his hands and wondered whether the Ink Marker was already repaired enough.

Shen Le discovered that channeling warmth into his right hand eased the pain of carving and helped him finish a Jujube Wood Bead. When the Ink Marker sprang to life and led him away from home, it brought him to the couple who had sold it to him, where he heard them arguing about divorce.

• Shen Le tested the Copper Fragment and found that guiding warmth into his right hand eased his pain and improved his grip while carving.
• Shen Le repeatedly practiced the technique as he worked through the night and the next day, eventually shaping a Jujube Wood Bead.
• When Shen Le fitted the bead onto the Lead Weight, the Ink Marker sprang up and pointed toward the outside of his house.
• The Lead Weight tugged Shen Le outside and led him through several streets toward a familiar place, despite repeatedly trying to pull him through walls.
• Shen Le recognized the place as the home of the couple who had sold him the Ink Marker and heard the woman demand a divorce from Zheng Xiaohua.

Shen Le followed a quarrelling couple home after the Lead Weight insisted on watching their dispute. Once the mediators left, the Lead Weight escaped his backpack and covered their doorway with Ink Lines.

• Shen Le watched a wife demand a divorce while listing her husband's failures at home, as the crowd took sides.
• Residents' committee volunteers escorted the couple into their building, and the Lead Weight urged Shen Le to follow them.
• Shen Le listened outside the apartment as the wife recounted years of grievances and neighbors tried to mediate.
• After everyone left, the Lead Weight burst out of Shen Le's backpack and darted across the family's doorway, leaving a crisscrossing mess of Ink Lines.
• Shen Le grabbed the Lead Weight and tried to drag it back.

Shen Le was confronted by the police after the Ink Marker left ink lines on a couple’s door, then used the Copper Fragment to enter a memory of an elderly woman caring for her late husband’s handmade tools. The memory revealed that the couple in the apartment were their son and daughter-in-law, and Shen Le watched as the woman recalled the stories behind each tool.

• Shen Le pulled the Ink Marker and Lead Weight away from the apartment door and hurried home after hearing the residents inside.
• The Special Affairs Duo messaged Shen Le about the toolbox, but he ignored them and went back to working on the Jujube Wood Devil's Work Ball with Little Puppet’s help.
• Shi Guangbing called Shen Le and told him the police had found him on surveillance footage near the door covered in ink lines.
• Shen Le shook the Ink Marker, pressed the Copper Fragment against it, and entered a memory featuring an elderly woman and her late husband’s portrait.
• The elderly woman carefully maintained her husband’s tools and described the memories behind the Alien Compass, Planer, Chisel Knife, and other designs.
• Shen Le realized the couple arguing in the apartment were the elderly pair’s son and daughter-in-law after hearing the woman mention Xiaohua.

Shen Le learned the Ink Marker's memories of the devoted couple who had owned it and found that the memories had improved his carving skills. He carefully recreated the damaged outer layer of the Devil's Work Ball, leaving the rest of the restoration to finish.

• Shen Le watched a memory of the Ink Marker’s former owners, including the old woman teaching her grandchild to carve and telling how her husband had made the wooden ball to propose.
• Shen Le realized the Ink Marker had witnessed the couple’s life together and suspected it was angry at the couple who had sold it and now argued constantly.
• Shen Le noticed that the memories had made his carving more skillful and continued smoothing the Jujube Wood Devil’s Work Ball.
• Shen Le filled the original Devil’s Work Ball with glue and woodworking powder, then made a silicone mold of its dragon pattern.
• Shen Le repeatedly carved and compared a wooden replacement piece until it fit seamlessly into the damaged outer layer.
• Shen Le planned to remove the packed woodworking powder and carve the second layer before waiting for the Ink Marker to revive and the Copper Fragment to reward him.

Shen Le finished repairing the Devil's Work Ball with Xiao Ling's help and attached it to the Lead Weight. The Ink Marker seemed to come to life, but its first reaction was to strike Shen Le in the forehead.

• Shen Le carefully sanded the Devil's Work Ball while Xiao Ling helped with chores and later used her Silk Threads to hold its tiny layers in place.
• Shen Le spent hours sanding, polishing, and waxing the ball until its layers spun freely.
• Shen Le attached the repaired ball to the Lead Weight, put it in the Ink Reservoir, and waited for the Ink Marker to awaken.
• The Lead Weight flew up and hit Shen Le in the forehead before settling back into the Ink Reservoir, revealing that the newly awakened Ink Marker had a bad temper.

Shen Le was struck by the Ink Marker again and then saw a memory of its owners arguing over whether to spend money on their son’s schooling or Zheng Xiaohua’s back surgery. The memory ended with his wife insisting that he receive the less painful minimally invasive procedure.

• The Ink Marker repeatedly hit Shen Le on the forehead with its Devil's Work Ball, while the other tools’ auras began to stir.
• Shen Le was pulled into a recent memory of the boy who had once held the Ink Marker.
• Zheng Xiaohua insisted on paying a sponsorship fee to send their son to Yucai Middle School instead of vocational school.
• His wife argued that the money should go toward Zheng Xiaohua’s needed back surgery and warned that the family could not afford to waste it on school fees.
• Zheng Xiaohua proposed cheaper open surgery, but his wife insisted he get the minimally invasive procedure.

Shen Le relived the Zheng family’s memories of carpentry and the conflict over their son’s wish to become a carpenter, then received a flood of carpentry skills from the copper fragment. The next morning, he found Zheng Xiaohua and a younger man at his back door, though he had expected the air-conditioner installers.

• Shen Le remembered pushing for his grandfather to have minimally invasive surgery and reflected on the hardships behind the Zheng family’s argument about their son’s future.
• The Zheng couple argued over whether their son should study or learn carpentry, and the mother smashed the Ink Marker he had been holding.
• Shen Le received decades of the Zheng couple’s carpentry memories and skills, leaving him dizzy as the copper fragment grew and gained another raised line.
• After putting off investigating the fragment’s new function, Shen Le answered a call about his air conditioners and went to the back door.
• Shen Le recognized Zheng Xiaohua and a younger man who resembled the boy from the memories, and invited them inside.

Shen Le watched Zheng Xiaohua and his son install the air conditioners, then performed CPR when Zheng suddenly collapsed. Zheng survived and was taken to the hospital, where his wife tearfully thanked Shen Le and reconciled with him.

• Zheng Xiaohua and his son carried in and installed the two air conditioners while Shen Le offered them cold drinks.
• After drinking his cola, Zheng suddenly clutched his chest and collapsed, so Shen Le sent his son to call an ambulance and began CPR.
• Shen Le pressed the Copper Fragment against Zheng's chest while continuing CPR until the paramedics arrived and restored Zheng's heartbeat with an AED.
• Shen Le took the Ink Marker to the hospital and found Zheng recovering, while Zheng's wife thanked him and regretted their recent fight.
• Zheng's wife promised not to scold him again and leaned her forehead against his hand as she cried.

Shen Le let the Ink Marker try to help a struggling married couple, but ruled out its grand furniture ideas because he could not plausibly give them such large gifts. The Ink Marker organized the woodworking tools to make a small picture frame, which Shen Le helped redesign before it set to work.

• Shen Le wondered how the couple’s relationship could improve, and the Ink Marker announced that it had an idea.
• The Ink Marker proposed making a bed and then a wardrobe, but Shen Le rejected them as impractical gifts.
• Shen Le gave the Ink Marker two Chinese Fir blocks and ordered it to make something small enough to give as a recovery present.
• The Ink Marker directed the Chisels, Planers, saws, and Hammers to build a picture frame, impressing Shen Le with its ability to coordinate the tools.
• The Ink Marker planned to carve the couple’s wedding photo and the grandparents’ photo into the frame, but Shen Le objected to the eerie design.
• The Ink Marker changed the carvings to lilies and mandarin ducks among lotus flowers, then began making the frame without Shen Le’s further help.

Shen Le used a carved picture frame to help Zheng Xiaohua and his wife reconcile, then arrived late at Heavenly Fragrance Restaurant to find two men fighting. The owner calmed them with Xiao Ling’s song and collected their money before approaching Shen Le with the bills.

• Ink Marker helped Shen Le finish an exquisitely carved picture frame in less than a day.
• Shen Le gave the frame to Zheng Xiaohua and his wife, who recognized its carvings as techniques taught by their parents and agreed that Zheng Xiaohua would teach Linlin carpentry.
• Shen Le used his Spirit Eye to see the frame blending the couple’s auras and calming the tension between them.
• After realizing he was late, Shen Le took Xiao Ling to Heavenly Fragrance Restaurant, where two large men were fighting and smashing furniture.
• The restaurant owner sang while holding Xiao Ling, calming the fighters, then collected more than twenty thousand yuan from each of them.
• The owner picked up the money and approached Shen Le, leaving him worried about the restaurant’s damage bill.

Shen Le received 43,500 yuan from the boss lady in exchange for restoring the Heavenly Fragrance Restaurant’s old furniture within a month. He brought the furniture and lumber to his mansion and discovered the payment was a huge windfall.

• The boss lady gave Shen Le 43,500 yuan and hired him to restore the restaurant’s tables, chairs, and cabinet within about a month.
• Shen Le accepted the job, and the waitresses carried the furniture and lumber to his mansion.
• The waitresses toured the mansion’s garden and pond before leaving.
• Shen Le struggled to count the cash, then used an ATM to learn the total was 43,500 yuan.

Shen Le put Zheng Mo to work repairing a batch of furniture while the Copper Fragment awakened a new ability. In a strange space filled with colored auras, Shen Le discovered that his Internal Energy let him catch and merge matching auras.

• Shen Le sorted the damaged furniture and lumber, then tasked the Ink Marker with repairs and promised to revive its companions sooner.
• Shen Le explained names to the Ink Marker, which chose Zheng Mo as its name.
• Zheng Mo began repairing the furniture while Shen Le used the Copper Fragment to enter a strange space filled with colored auras.
• Shen Le used his Internal Energy to catch the auras and discovered he could merge two matching ones.

Shen Le experimented with the Copper Fragment’s energies and discovered that mustard-yellow light strengthened his cultivation. He then used his Spirit Eye and cultivation to reconnect the aura in a repaired chair, repeatedly restoring his Spirit Eye as he worked.

• Shen Le tested different kinds of energy and found that mustard-yellow light entered his body and strengthened his meridians when guided by his cultivation method.
• Shen Le noticed that the Ink Marker’s repair had left the chair’s aura disconnected at its replaced leg.
• Shen Le tried to pull the aura into the new wood, then successfully transferred it by rubbing the chair leg while channeling heat flow through his fingertips.
• Shen Le’s Spirit Eye faded after a short time, so he cultivated to restore it before returning to the repair.
• Shen Le repeated the cycle several times until he had connected and evened out the aura throughout the chair leg.