Recaps

After learning an immortal sword-refining formula from the repaired silk, Shen Le offered its spells to the Special Affairs Bureau and sects in exchange for Five-Metal Essence. By morning, a Daoist had arrived asking to inspect the silk, while Shen Le still hoped to obtain enough materials to refine his sword.

• Shen Le finished reading the silk’s memories, learned an immortal sword-refining formula, and accepted his senior brother’s token and warnings in the memory.
• Shen Le told the Special Affairs Bureau that the silk contained flying-sword refinement methods and asked them to arrange a sale or exchange for Five-Metal Essence.
• The Bureau circulated a photo and spell transcription to evaluate the techniques, while Shen Le typed out additional spells he had learned.
• Alloy Master offered Shen Le Five-Metal Essence by spitting out a ball of silver-white material, which made Shen Le recoil.
• Shen Le spoke with a sect representative, vouched for the sword techniques, and urged the sect to authenticate their possible connection to its cultivation method.
• The next morning, an old Daoist came to Shen Le’s door and asked to look at the silk scroll.

Shen Le fired forty-nine Xing Kiln porcelain flying swords with Five-Metal Essence in an ancient kiln, proving they could be made into controllable weapons. He left the Special Affairs Bureau hoping to produce more by consulting the newly awakened porcelain bottle, while the distant Porcelain Demon sensed trouble.

• The old Daoist failed to draw anything from the silk scroll, and Shen Le offered to make improved Porcelain Swords using Five-Metal Essence.
• The Special Affairs Bureau secured Five-Metal Essence and arranged to use the ancient kiln, despite the local researchers' concerns about protecting the excavated site.
• Elder Zheng arrived to oversee Shen Le's firing and insisted on staying until the batch was finished.
• Shen Le fired forty-nine Porcelain Swords, controlling their formation as the flames rose inside the kiln.
• The swords emerged successfully, and Shen Le told the Special Affairs Bureau to ask the porcelain bottle for the firing formula and kiln details.
• The Porcelain Demon shivered in the Secret Realm, wondering who was trying to fleece him.

Shen Le passed the porcelain flying-sword project to Mr. Zhao after the Special Affairs Bureau found that his mass-produced swords had promising properties. He then answered Cloud Kun’s call for help and learned that the ship had defended an underwater mission successfully but wanted stronger weapons and greater mobility.

• The Special Affairs Bureau tested Shen Le’s porcelain flying swords and found them comparable to entry-level metal swords in several areas, while they resisted corrosion and radar detection and could be mass-produced.
• Shen Le refused to develop tougher ceramic formulas and introduced the Bureau’s experts to Mr. Zhao, who agreed to research and test-fire new porcelain swords.
• Shen Le returned to trying to repair the Porcelain Tower, but it remained unresponsive, so he rested until Cloud Kun called for help after a mission.
• Shen Le visited Cloud Kun at the naval port and confirmed that the ship was undamaged after working with Sea Street Wanderer to repel underwater attacks.
• Cloud Kun and the fleet commander described its lack of offensive options and mobility, so Shen Le gave Li Xingtang seven porcelain flying swords and heard Cloud Kun ask for a giant sword it could ride.

Shen Le and a gathering of experts explored how to make Cloud Kun fly as a flying sword, but their calculations showed that a sword capable of carrying the ship would need to weigh at least one ton. Shen Le proposed testing a smaller sword with Cloud Kun in a reduced form, leaving the group with a possible first step toward flight.

• Shen Le joined experts from the Special Affairs Bureau, research institutes, and Mount Shu to discuss Cloud Kun's need for rapid aerial mobility.
• Cloud Kun insisted that it wanted to fly fast and fight effectively, then chose a fifty-ton test configuration after watching footage of its trials.
• Daoist Qingyue argued that Cloud Kun did not need to change into an aerodynamic shape if sword radiance could form around it.
• Shen Le, Li Xingtang, and Daoist Qingyue tested three immortal swords and combined the results with tests from other sects.
• The experts calculated that carrying Cloud Kun would require a flying sword weighing at least one ton, which they considered nearly impossible to forge.
• Shen Le suggested making a smaller sword and testing whether Cloud Kun could fly in a reduced form.

Shen Le brought Cloud Kun and Li Xingtang to the Great Vortex Secret Realm, where he taught them to control flying swords while investigating a rise in spiritual energy. Cloud Kun eventually learned to fly several porcelain swords, but its first attempt to lift the ship shattered most of them.

• After Li Xingtang's immortal sword flew unexpectedly and triggered the base's air defenses, the commander asked Shen Le and Cloud Kun to take supplies to the Great Vortex Secret Realm.
• Shen Le sensed the rising spiritual energy in the Secret Realm, investigated the repaired rift, and patched two smaller holes nearby.
• Li Xingtang learned to fly the immortal sword, but repeated attempts to carry Cloud Kun failed, so Shen Le began teaching Cloud Kun through meditation and resonance.
• Cloud Kun learned to lift and control porcelain flying swords, then used one to catch fish for dinner.
• Cloud Kun arranged six swords around its hull and briefly lifted the ship into the air, breaking three swords and cracking the other three.

Shen Le tried several materials and designs to make flying swords capable of carrying Cloud Kun, then repaired the Porcelain Tower enough to locate its original kiln. He traveled to Zhongnan Mountain near Chang'an, where the landscape reminded him of places connected to Monkey and the old sword immortal.

• Shen Le fired successive batches of Porcelain Swords, but Cloud Kun could not fly with them at its preferred size, and the experts proposed using an array of many swords.
• Shen Le considered using the Porcelain Tower to coordinate the flying swords, then helped Mr. Zhao practice sword art so he could forge Porcelain Swords more efficiently.
• Shen Le stopped firing swords for Cloud Kun and added five-metal essences while firing the damaged Porcelain Tower, stabilizing its broken swords but leaving its inner channels unrepaired.
• Shen Le used the Porcelain Tower and Copper Fragment to identify a direction near Chang'an and Zhongnan Mountain, then traveled there to search for the kiln where the tower originated.
• Shen Le recognized that the mountain valley and deep pool resembled places where Monkey and the old sword immortal had taught him swordsmanship.

Shen Le discovered an ancient underground burial hall and removed a stone outer coffin, triggering a mountain-wide crisis. After using the Bronze Tripod to suppress the awakened anomalous beings, he began sealing the enormous void beneath Zhongnan Mountain and collapsed from exhaustion.

• Shen Le followed the Porcelain Tower's guidance through a hidden underwater passage and found a hall filled with ancient armor, weapons, and lifelike horse figures.
• The Porcelain Tower led Shen Le to a tiny chamber, where he examined and photographed a double-layered stone coffin before transporting it to the Ancient Residence with Huang Yutong.
• Removing the coffin shook the mountain, so Shen Le poured power into the Copper Fragment, which manifested as a nearly complete Bronze Tripod.
• Shen Le sensed dark anomalous beings stirring across the surrounding mountains and even as far as Chang'an, then used the Bronze Tripod's golden halo to force them back down.
• Shen Le realized the coffin and the artifacts had been guarding a vast void, and he began patching it with spiritual power and spiritual liquid until he collapsed.

Shen Le exhausted himself sealing a breach in the heavens and restoring the stone coffin that suppressed Zhongnan Mountain. When the restored coffin pulled him into a memory, he continued the Porcelain Tower’s journey north and encountered a song about a bandit resisting the government troops in Liaodong.

• Shen Le repeatedly used spiritual water and fruits to patch the breach, then carried the stone sarcophagus to stop the dark things beneath the mountain from stirring.
• After gathering more supplies, Shen Le repaired the worn carvings on the eighteen slabs of the stone outer coffin and restored the broken lotus petals on the inner stone coffin.
• The repaired coffin strengthened Zhongnan Mountain’s suppression, sealed the breach against the sinister wind, and allowed Shen Le’s rough patch to begin healing.
• Shen Le tried to learn what lay inside the coffin, but it pulled him into a memory instead.
• In the memory, Shen Le traveled northeast from Luoyang, fought demons and ghosts, and heard a song about an armed man resisting government troops in Liaodong.

Shen Le watched Zhang Xutuo’s troops defeat Wang Bo’s rebel army on Mount Tai, then performed a rite to disperse the battlefield’s black-red vapor. Afterward, Zhang Xutuo introduced himself and asked Shen Le’s name.

• Shen Le recognized the song about Wang Bo and discovered that the battle was taking place near a Changbai Mountain by Zhangqiu, not the famous Changbai Mountain in Jilin.
• Shen Le watched the government army’s cavalry charge break Wang Bo’s rebel formation, and soldiers cried that Wang Bo was dead.
• Shen Le showed the pursuing soldiers his jade token and magic, then learned they served Deputy Prefect Zhang and had fought Wang Bo’s rebels.
• Shen Le followed the junior officer toward the camp and began chanting over the corpses, raising a black-red vortex that carried the battlefield’s vapor toward the sky.
• Zhang Xutuo arrived with armored cavalry and asked Shen Le for his name.

Shen Le performed rites on Zhang Xutuo’s battlefield, dispersing the black qi and delivering the fallen soldiers’ souls. After sharing a meal and discussing the suffering that drove the people to rebel, Zhang Xutuo asked Shen Le to join his army and accompany it in delivering the dead.

• Shen Le recognized Zhang Xutuo and offered to soothe the battlefield’s lingering resentment, so Zhang Xutuo assigned soldiers to assist him.
• Shen Le chanted the Mantra of Rebirth and used his Porcelain Sword to destroy black qi that attacked a soldier.
• Zhang Xutuo invited Shen Le to eat in the camp, where they discussed the rebels’ hardships and Zhang Xutuo’s loyalty to the emperor.
• Shen Le warned Zhang Xutuo that the tide of events could not be reversed and that he should adapt to preserve himself and the people.
• Zhang Xutuo asked Shen Le to join his army, learn from him, and accompany the soldiers in delivering the dead.

Shen Le searched Zhang Xutuo’s battlefield for spiritual materials, strengthened his sword with the aura in a fallen warrior’s hammer, and climbed Mount Tai, where he found a mysterious golden stele that overwhelmed him. He continued north through a ruined countryside, followed the smell of meat to a house, and suddenly unleashed spells at the ragged men inside.

• Shen Le politely refused Zhang Xutuo’s offer to join his army, and Zhang sent ten cavalrymen to help him search the battlefield.
• Shen Le found a fallen warrior’s hammer whose aura was not quite refined metal essence, and his treasured sword absorbed the remaining essence after cutting the hammer open.
• Shen Le bid Zhang Xutuo farewell and climbed Mount Tai, where he found a blank stone stele surrounded by powerful golden light that nearly forced him to the ground.
• Shen Le traveled north through abandoned roads and ruined post stations as hunger grew, then followed the scent of meat to a ruined house.
• Shen Le found several ragged men inside the house and abruptly attacked them with Palm Thunder and Heavenly Lightning, Earthly Fire.

Shen Le used the stone coffin to purge hostile yin entities from the Zhongnan Mountain region, then guided an archaeological team to a hidden underwater passage. When a streak of white light attacked a diver, Shen Le caught it and prepared to examine it.

• Shen Le returned from a memory of famine and cannibalism, then reported the grotto and its artifacts to his advisor.
• Shen Le fed heat to the stone coffin, which released white light that destroyed yin entities and cleared half the Zhongnan Mountain region.
• Shen Le led Professor Han and the archaeological team to the pool, where researchers used an unmanned underwater vehicle to discover a submerged passage.
• Shen Le sensed a buried strip of white light and located an ancient road leading from the pool toward a valley.
• A streak of white light shot at a diver, and Shen Le stepped in to catch it.

Shen Le captured a half tiger tally identified as Princess Pingyang Zhao’s, then discovered that moving it made the cliff shake, so he ordered it kept nearby while the site was investigated. After checking the hall’s safety, he brought the scholars and students inside to study the artifacts, while Professor Han questioned whether Princess Pingyang might be buried there.

• Shen Le subdued the struggling half tiger tally, and the professors identified it as Princess Pingyang Zhao’s military tally.
• Shen Le and Special Affairs Bureau personnel secured the tally in layered containers, but Shen Le stopped them from carrying it away after sensing that it resonated with the cliff and triggered tremors.
• Shen Le entered the hall, operated the Bureau’s instruments, and told the scholars he would bring them inside once the site was judged safe.
• A professor dived into the hall to leave recording equipment, and Shen Le then opened the Ancient Residence and brought the teachers and students inside.
• The scholars dispersed to examine and catalogue the artifacts, while Professor Han asked Shen Le whether Princess Pingyang might also be buried there.

Shen Le and the archaeologists discovered that the cave’s burial procession matched Princess Pingyang Zhao’s recorded funeral, but they evacuated when the cave began to shake. After Shen Le rescued everyone, the artifacts came to life beneath a fierce white light and turned toward him.

• Elder Meng and the researchers compared the cave’s artifacts with the Old Book of Tang and identified them as Princess Pingyang Zhao’s funeral procession, though they found no coffin.
• Elder Meng decided the artifacts should be left undisturbed until they could be properly protected, and Shen Le agreed that changing the site was too risky.
• When the cave began shaking, Shen Le carried Elder Meng into the Ancient Residence, while Professor Han and the others organized the evacuation.
• Shen Le used Silk Skirts and Mud Figurines to control the crowd and bring everyone inside safely.
• After the Ancient Residence was shrunk into a bracelet bead, white light filled the cave and the terracotta soldiers, horses, and ceremonial objects came to life, then stared at Shen Le.

Shen Le used the tiger tally to stop Princess Pingyang’s armored procession from attacking him, then repaired its weapons as the soldiers moved aside. When an imperial grand carriage appeared, he asked to bring out an expert, and the chapter left the professors arguing over who should go.

• Shen Le recorded the approaching procession and used the tiger tally to halt the armored soldiers, who then opened a path for him to inspect their ranks.
• The soldiers presented their damaged weapons, and Shen Le repaired several with metal energy and spiritwood while documenting the process.
• A pure white grand carriage emerged from the hall, and Shen Le used the tiger tally’s power to persuade the soldiers to step back so he could summon help.
• Shen Le sent a Special Affairs Bureau man to fetch one carriage expert, but no one came out, so he asked Huang Yutong to relay the request inside.
• The professors argued over whether wood, silk, or metal fittings needed the most expertise, while someone warned Old Meng not to go outside.

Shen Le guided Professor Guo in restoring the Tang leather carriage while keeping the armed soldiers calm. After repairing its structure, ornaments, and leather, Shen Le disappeared in a beam of white light.

• Shen Le welcomed Professor Guo, the selected expert, and escorted him toward the carriage while using elemental powers to keep the armored soldiers from attacking.
• Professor Guo identified the carriage as a leather carriage and warned that it should be restored without dismantling it.
• Shen Le repaired the wheels and structural components with spirit metal, then restored the golden phoenix and luan bells under Professor Guo's guidance.
• Shen Le sprayed Silk Fibroin Solution onto the carriage's damaged leather and used a healing spell to mend it.
• The carriage trembled after the leather was restored, and a beam of white light enveloped Shen Le, making him vanish.

Shen Le vanished from the cave and was pulled into a memory of a mass grave, where he encountered Dou Jiande. Back at the Ancient Residence, Professor Guo and the others were trapped without him, while its attendants assured them that Shen Le was safe.

• Professor Guo returned to the Ancient Residence without Shen Le and told the gathered professors that Shen Le had suddenly disappeared.
• Professor Han tried to leave to search for Shen Le, but the Ancient Residence’s gate stopped her, leaving everyone to wonder how they could escape.
• A faceless attendant used a microphone to tell the group that Shen Le was fine, and the professors divided tasks while they waited for news.
• Shen Le awoke in a memory among mass graves, flew north, and was nearly struck by an arrow.
• Dou Jiande introduced himself, invited Shen Le to visit his camp at Gaoji Marsh, and grabbed his wrist when Shen Le hesitated.
• Shen Le’s magic faltered under Dou Jiande’s military aura, but he broke free and agreed to follow the cavalrymen.

Shen Le visited Dou Jiande’s settlement in Gaoji Marsh and performed a rite to soothe the spirits of refugees who had died on the journey. When Dou Jiande and another Daoist tried to recruit him, Shen Le fled after warning Dou Jiande to keep his original purpose and submit to a future ruler.

• Shen Le followed Dou Jiande by boat through Gaoji Marsh and saw the orderly village and its trained farmers.
• Dou Jiande asked Shen Le to advise his rebel forces, but Shen Le said he could only help with ghosts and dangerous places.
• Dou Jiande led Shen Le to a graveyard, where Shen Le performed a rite that drew away the lingering dark qi as villagers mourned their dead.
• After the rite, Dou Jiande asked Shen Le to help his people, and an unknown Daoist also urged Shen Le to join Dou Jiande.
• Shen Le warned Dou Jiande against abandoning his goal of bringing peace and told him to submit to a future king if possible.
• Shen Le flew away after warning Dou Jiande, “Beans in a cow's mouth; such power cannot last!”

Shen Le escaped Dou Jiande, but after witnessing a marauding army terrorize a village, he used his magic to destroy its leaders and help the villagers and refugees survive the night. With the survivors facing starvation and looking to him for help, he flew back toward Dou Jiande to find them a way to live.

• Shen Le flew away from Dou Jiande, who knelt and made an oath as Shen Le departed.
• Shen Le spent the night in a tree near a village, then woke to bandits forcing villagers from their homes and looting their food.
• Shen Le struck the bandit king and his leading men with lightning, then used flying swords and further magic to rout the marauders.
• Shen Le let the villagers take vengeance while refugees fled the burning camp, but the survivors had too little food to last.
• When the villagers and refugees begged Shen Le for help, he promised to find them a way to live and flew back toward Dou Jiande.

Shen Le helped Dou Jiande suppress bandits, rescue refugees, and escort them to Gaoji Marsh, then briefly considered supporting him. At Gao Shida’s banquet, the resentment of the dead overwhelmed Shen Le, so he fled into the lake and escaped.

• Dou Jiande caught Shen Le as he tried to leave and persuaded him to help escort the refugees.
• Shen Le used thunder, wind, and his flying sword to rout the bandits while Dou Jiande’s cavalry restored order and persuaded villagers and refugees to travel to Gaoji Marsh.
• Shen Le helped organize the refugees’ three-day journey to Gaoji Marsh and used magic to protect them along the way.
• At a banquet, Gao Shida offered Shen Le a red robe and suggested he become Imperial Preceptor, triggering a surge of resentful qi that entangled Shen Le.
• Shen Le tore off the robe, fled the banquet, and plunged into the lake to wash away the resentment before escaping.

Shen Le returned to Zhongnan Mountain as the Taoist sect withdrew from the turmoil engulfing the realm, then proposed spiritual porcelain as a lasting way to suppress the growing demonic miasma. The sect master approved the plan and ordered Shen Le to develop a prototype Demon-Locking Porcelain Tower within three years.

• Lou Yun found Shen Le by the lake, told him the sect was recalling its disciples, and took him back to Zhongnan Mountain after Shen Le asked to watch a decisive battle in a few years.
• On the journey, Shen Le saw widespread demonic miasma and learned that the sect could not save every battlefield, so it planned to wait until the realm was pacified before acting.
• Back at the mountain, Shen Le helped the disciples subdue a Ghost King and studied records of their attempts to seal ghosts and stabilize the land.
• At the public council, Shen Le argued that the sect needed Formations to absorb and transform the baleful Yin energy, while True Person Qingxu described the requirements for a lasting, widely available material.
• Shen Le proposed using spiritual porcelain for the Formations, and True Person Qingxu ordered him to lead a team in testing it and design a prototype Demon-Locking Porcelain Tower within three years.

Shen Le and the Daoist disciples developed spiritual porcelain and began building experimental Demon-Locking Porcelain Towers. After his fellow disciples helped assemble the first towers, Shen Le started the firing, but Senior Martial Brother Mingli heated the kiln too fiercely and a tower collapsed.

• Lou Yun found fine, spiritually charged porcelain clay, and Shen Le and the sect's alchemists and refiners spent over half a year perfecting spiritual porcelain.
• Shen Le proposed a three-dimensional formation design for a Demon-Locking Porcelain Tower, and the disciples argued over competing designs and prototypes.
• Shen Le labored to shape porcelain-tower components until Lou Yun summoned the other assigned disciples to help carve and keep the blanks moist.
• Shen Le assembled and glazed the components, then asked Senior Martial Brother Mingli to control the kiln's heat.
• Senior Martial Brother Mingli ignited a fierce blaze before the porcelain blanks had dried, and a crash signaled that at least one tower had collapsed.

Shen Le struggled through repeated failures to fire a Porcelain Tower that could absorb and suppress Yin baleful energy. After more than a year of experiments, he produced a working prototype and tested it successfully, leaving him wondering whether he would need to open a porcelain factory to build more.

• Shen Le repeatedly fired and discarded Porcelain Towers as cracks, uneven glaze, and warped Formation pathways made them fail.
• Shen Le proposed protecting the core Formation patterns during firing, and the disciples devised several protective-shell plans that improved the results.
• Shen Le fired a working seven-story Demon-Suppressing Tower after months of further experiments and help from his fellow disciples.
• Shen Le and the disciples tested the tower in a valley filled with Yin baleful energy, where it absorbed and slowly converted the energy without collapsing.
• Elder Xuanming praised the tower's established principles, while Shen Le imagined building towers across the Divine Province and wondered if he needed a porcelain factory.

Shen Le and the Daoist disciples expanded their Porcelain Tower production until they ran out of the five-metal essence needed for Porcelain Swords. When Shen Le learned that Li Shimin and Dou Jiande were still facing off near Hulao Pass, he persuaded Lou Yun to take him there, then used his skills treating wounded soldiers to establish a camp on Guangwu Mountain overlooking the pass.

• Shen Le helped the Daoist disciples use spells to mass-produce porcelain components and expand the Porcelain Towers, but their supply of five-metal essence ran out.
• Lou Yun told Shen Le that Li Shimin and Dou Jiande had been facing each other near Hulao Pass for months, and Shen Le insisted on going to watch the battle.
• The sect leader approved Shen Le’s trip, so Lou Yun escorted him from Zhongnan Mountain toward Hulao Pass and warned him to stay away from danger.
• Shen Le and Lou Yun bought medical supplies and posed as traveling healers, allowing them to enter a military camp near Hulao Pass.
• Shen Le treated wounded soldiers for several days and earned permission to care for them in a tent on Guangwu Mountain, where he could watch the area before Hulao Pass.

Shen Le and Lou Yun were treating wounded soldiers near Hulao Pass when Shen Le’s knowledge of the coming battle drew Li Shimin’s attention. After being welcomed into Li Shimin’s camp, Shen Le was mistaken for a gifted military talent and ended up riding with the Black Armored Cavalry as they charged out of the pass.

• Shen Le predicted that the battle would begin soon after seeing the warhorses grazing by the Yellow River, and Li Shimin overheard him.
• Li Shimin invited Shen Le and Lou Yun to his camp after they introduced themselves as Daoists Mingde and Mingrui of Zhongnan Mountain.
• At a banquet, Shen Le admitted that he had come to see the Prince of Qin, and the generals decided to test his riding and weapon skills.
• Shen Le’s body remembered how to ride and fight from horseback, impressing the generals, who dressed him in armor and placed him near Li Shimin.
• The gates of Hulao Pass opened, and Shen Le found himself charging out with the Black Armored Cavalry despite wanting only to watch.