Recaps

Shen Le was swept into Li Shimin’s cavalry charge at Hulao Pass and fought through Dou Jiande’s collapsing army. He reached the Qin Prince’s banner to find Qingzhui mortally wounded by five arrows.

• Li Shimin dismissed concerns about Shen Le and asked him to estimate the army’s chances, then offered him a fine warhorse if he rendered great service.
• Shen Le recognized Qingzhui and followed Li Shimin as the Black Armor Army charged Dou Jiande’s disordered troops.
• Shen Le fought through the enemy ranks, using A-Li’s muscle memory and newly surging strength to clear a path toward the Qin Prince’s banner.
• As Dou Jiande’s troops fled or surrendered, Shen Le reached the command banner and saw Qingzhui lying wounded beside Li Shimin.
• Li Shimin said Qingzhui had been struck by five arrows and would not survive.

Shen Le stayed with Qingzhui as it died, then found Five-Metal Essence among the battlefield’s broken weapons and gathered it for his sect. After Li Shimin’s repeated charges left Shifachi dead as well, Lou Yun arrived and tried to take Shen Le back to safety, but Shen Le rode off to collect more essence, leaving Lou Yun to wonder how to explain their search to Li Shimin.

• Shen Le comforted Li Shimin over Qingzhui and watched Li Shimin lead the Black Armor Army into another charge.
• Shen Le found Five-Metal Essence on a broken spear, then gathered glowing metal fragments from the weapons left behind and packed them into a makeshift leather bundle.
• Shen Le caught up with Li Shimin’s unit and saw that its charge had pierced Dou Jiande’s formation; during a later charge, Shifachi collapsed and died after carrying Li Shimin back to Hulao Pass.
• Lou Yun arrived, scolded Shen Le for entering the battle, and examined the Five-Metal Essence he had collected.
• Shen Le refused Lou Yun’s order to return to the fortified city and rode away to gather more essence, while Lou Yun worried about explaining their actions to Li Shimin.

After the Battle of Hulao Pass, Shen Le and Lou Yun explained their mission to Li Shimin and gained his support for collecting Five-Metal Essence and building Evil-Suppressing Porcelain Towers. Their work spread across the realm, but just as Shen Le prepared to rest, a flying-sword message reported an abnormal change at Zhongnan Mountain.

• After scavenging the battlefield and treating wounded soldiers, Shen Le and Lou Yun told Li Shimin they had come to gather Five-Metal Essence and suppress Yin energy with porcelain towers.
• Li Shimin sent Du Ruhui to assist them, and Du arranged for soldiers to collect metal fragments and craftsmen to work at an official kiln.
• Lou Yun surveyed the earth veins while Shen Le oversaw the kiln; after most towers exploded, they successfully fired and activated one near Hulao Pass, which drew in and transformed the battlefield's baleful energy.
• Impressed by the tower's effects, Li Shimin pledged continued support, and the Daoist sect expanded its tower-building efforts across battlefields, mountains, rivers, and other dangerous sites.
• As Shen Le finished preparing a batch of towers for the Central Plains, a flying sword arrived with news of an abnormal change at Zhongnan Mountain.

Shen Le and Lou Yun returned to Zhongnan Mountain and found the Daoist sect fighting a dangerous upheaval that had turned wild animals violent and filled the sky with black clouds. Shen Le used the sect’s porcelain towers to buy time, then led an effort to fire twelve more; their formation finally met the baleful force head-on.

• Shen Le and Lou Yun raced back to Zhongnan Mountain, fought their way past mutated animals, and found the sect sustaining a ritual altar beneath the black clouds.
• Shen Le placed two newly fired Porcelain Towers at ley-line nodes, easing the pressure on the altar and giving the sect seven days to hold out.
• After learning that twelve towers could form an Evil-Sealing Array, Shen Le obtained materials and manpower from the army and organized the sect to produce them.
• Shen Le and the disciples fired twenty-four porcelain towers under urgent conditions, and exactly twelve emerged intact.
• Lou Yun and the disciples placed the twelve towers at the planned ley-line nodes, forming a vast spell-net around the upheaval’s core.

Shen Le and the Daoist sect used twelve Porcelain Towers to contain a tear in the sky, but learned the array needed the military energy of ten thousand troops to hold it safely. He sought help from the Prince of Qin's Residence and learned that Li Shimin had returned to Chang'an because Princess Pingyang was critically ill.

• Shen Le helped the sect activate the Twelve Earthly Branches Evil-Sealing Array, which held the tear's forces but could last only a few months.
• The Sect Master discovered that military energy could strengthen the seal, but the mountain could not house the ten thousand troops required.
• Shen Le and Lou Yun escorted officials from the Prince of Qin's Residence to the mountain, where the clerk wrote a report and advised Shen Le to seek the Prince's help.
• Shen Le went to the Prince of Qin's Residence and learned Li Shimin was away in Bingzhou; Du Ruhui let him inspect the arsenal, but its weapons did not provide enough metal energy.
• A messenger summoned Shen Le to Chang'an after Li Shimin returned, bringing news that Princess Pingyang was critically ill.

Shen Le discovered that Princess Pingyang’s burial goods held enough military spirit to suppress the anomaly at Zhongnan Mountain, so he asked Li Shimin and Chai Shao for her armor and weapons. A Qing supported his request by revealing that the Princess had longed to return to battle, leaving Li Shimin and Chai Shao to reconsider whether her relics should be buried or used to protect Chang'an.

• Shen Le watched Princess Pingyang’s funeral procession and sensed immense military spirit in her armor, weapons, and other burial goods.
• Shen Le asked Li Shimin for the Princess’s armor and weapons to suppress the danger at Zhongnan Mountain, provoking Li Shimin and Chai Shao’s anger.
• Shen Le argued that the Princess’s relics could continue protecting the realm and warned that dark rain and a heavenly rift threatened Chang'an.
• A Qing told Li Shimin and Chai Shao that Princess Pingyang had longed to fight again after the dynasty’s founding and believed she would want her relics to protect Tang.
• Shen Le said the Princess had been forced to stay home against her wishes, and A Qing pleaded for her armor and weapons to be put to use rather than buried.

Li Shimin entrusted Shen Le with Princess Pingyang’s military tally and equipment so they could be used to seal the Heavenly Rift in Zhongnan Mountain. With Li Chunfeng’s help, the sect completed the formation, drove back the aberrant qi, and restored peace to the mountains.

• Li Shimin and Chai Shao used divination to confirm that Princess Pingyang consented to having her military gear used, and Li Shimin sent Shen Le to Zhongnan Mountain with it.
• Li Shimin assigned Li Chunfeng to accompany Shen Le, and Shen Le eagerly welcomed the renowned scholar’s help with the formation.
• Shen Le brought the military tally to the sect, where its white-tiger apparition tore through the black clouds as the disciples prepared the seal.
• Li Chunfeng and the sect devised a formation while Shen Le fired intact pottery warriors and horses for the ritual.
• At sunrise, the sect activated the formation and placed Princess Pingyang’s gear and the pottery figures inside the cliff, driving the aberrant qi away and quieting the corrupted creatures across Zhongnan Mountain.

Shen Le returned from the ancient battlefield and drew the horses Qingzhui and Shifachi before helping the experts plan how to handle the cave’s relics. After he built twelve Porcelain Towers to suppress the mountain’s ominous influence, he used the military tally to lead the terracotta warriors and their carriage out of the cave toward the sunlight.

• Shen Le returned to the cave, reassured the professors, and hurried to record Qingzhui and Shifachi from his memories.
• Shen Le advised the Special Affairs Bureau to leave the mountain’s core suppressing object untouched and to move the cave artifacts cautiously.
• Shen Le made twelve Porcelain Towers in Jingdezhen and activated their formation on the mountaintop to filter the mountain’s Yin filth into Yang vigor.
• The Special Affairs Bureau agreed to use the Porcelain Towers, drained the pool, and placed six towers in the smaller caves and six in the outer hall.
• Shen Le raised the military tally and ordered the terracotta warriors to follow him out, leading them and their grand carriage into the Ancient Residence.

Shen Le moved the living cultural relics to a museum laboratory, then restored and awakened a Porcelain Tower at Zhongnan Mountain, naming it Mountain Warden. He brought the new spirit to Cloud Kun, which excitedly asked whether it was the warship’s close-in defense system.

• Shen Le guided the armored soldiers and other living relics into storage boxes at Chang'an Provincial Museum, while experts and Special Affairs Bureau personnel secured them and installed twelve Porcelain Towers to suppress their spiritual fluctuations.
• Shen Le rebuilt an ancient kiln at Zhongnan Mountain and refired a damaged Porcelain Tower, guiding its restoration as the military tally supplied the essence of the five metals.
• The Porcelain Tower awakened, and Shen Le named it Mountain Warden after learning it could perceive distant objects, suppress and purify harmful forces, and attack with its forty-nine Porcelain Swords.
• Mountain Warden broke the kiln door while demonstrating its attack, then shrank and flew into Shen Le’s hand after agreeing to obey military orders.
• Shen Le carried Mountain Warden to Cloud Kun and placed it on the warship’s deck, where it grew to two meters tall and Cloud Kun asked if it was the close-in defense system.

Shen Le and the crew tested Mountain Warden’s sensory link, flying swords, transformation, combat capabilities, and compatibility with Cloud Kun. Mountain Warden ran low on energy, so they began testing whether Cloud Kun could supply it with power.

• Shen Le linked Mountain Warden’s senses to Cloud Kun, Compass, and Scroll, allowing it to detect nearby objects and identify suspicious buoys and poles.
• Mountain Warden flew out to retrieve objects, demonstrating a range of about thirty-five kilometers, and returned a loggerhead turtle after removing barnacles that concealed a human finger bone.
• Shen Le began transformation tests, but Mountain Warden shrank too far and then collided with Cloud Kun while trying to adjust its size.
• Mountain Warden completed a series of flight and attack tests before running out of energy and asking to rest at a ley-line center.
• Shen Le had Cloud Kun connect an energy conduit to Mountain Warden, and the Porcelain Tower accepted the power supply.
• Mountain Warden used a flying sword to write on a sand tray, resolving how it could communicate, and Shen Le began the maximum power supply rate test.

Shen Le and the naval team tested Mountain Warden’s flying swords, repaired them, and began training Mountain Warden to coordinate with Li Xingtang. After Cloud Kun carried them to a heavily contaminated sea region, Mountain Warden demonstrated that it could clear the yin energy, and the team prepared for an overseas mission.

• Mountain Warden’s flying swords cracked during weapons tests, so Shen Le and Cloud Kun helped repair them while naval personnel recovered the wreckage for analysis.
• Shen Le asked Li Xingtang to teach Mountain Warden to control its swords and use sword light, and Mountain Warden requested more swords that Shen Le would fire himself.
• The team took Cloud Kun offshore to test Mountain Warden against murky yin energy, and Cloud Kun accidentally brought them close to the Korean coast.
• Mountain Warden used an earth vein to purify the seabed, destroying mutated fish and clearing a safe area, though it estimated that purifying the whole region would take months.
• Shen Le ended the test and announced that they would practice coordination before going on a mission, while Cloud Kun excitedly talked about watching foreign exercises and making others lose face.

Shen Le joined Cloud Kun’s mission with a three-ship fleet, where Cloud Kun and Mountain Warden helped protect the vessels during an exercise. The fleet was attacked by underwater Water Gu, and the chapter ended as the dark-green bubbles surged toward a warship’s hull.

• After weighing the risks, the higher-ups approved Shen Le’s request to board Cloud Kun and join the mission.
• Shen Le guided Cloud Kun and Mountain Warden as they prepared to protect the main ship and its escorts.
• Cloud Kun detected an approaching vessel, and a friendly warship drove it away while the two spirits expanded their protective domain over the fleet.
• Cloud Kun sensed numerous living things with foul Yin energy beneath the water, prompting the captain to order scans and alert the other ships.
• A Special Affairs Bureau expert identified the dark-green bubbles rising around a warship as Water Gu, and they suddenly rushed toward its hull.

Shen Le and the ship’s crew repelled a supernatural attack at sea, then used Cloud Kun and Mountain Warden to locate the source and gather spell-energy data from nearby warships. After the captain authorized a strike, Shen Le sent Li Xingtang’s immortal sword toward the marked island.

• Shen Le directed Mountain Warden and Cloud Kun to defend the ship and cleanse the initial gu attack, then warned everyone away from the railings when ghostly phantoms surged from the darkened sea.
• Mountain Warden’s Porcelain Swords destroyed the phantoms and cleared the filthy Yin aura while Cloud Kun searched nearby ships for spell energy and the attack’s source.
• Shen Le and Cloud Kun agreed to wait for orders before striking, and Mountain Warden proposed using Porcelain Swords fitted with Detectors to gather close-range data.
• The Special Affairs Bureau retrieved the Detectors after several hours and celebrated the valuable data, while the captain warned that the naval exercise was nearing its most intense stage.
• Cloud Kun marked a small island as the source of the attack, and the captain authorized a strike; Shen Le ordered Mountain Warden to conceal them and Li Xingtang to attack with his immortal sword.

Mountain Warden and Li Xingtang sent their flying swords on a sea-skimming strike against an island, where Li Xingtang’s immortal sword destroyed an altar and its evil corruption while the Porcelain Swords evaded detection. The swords returned to Cloud Kun disguised as fish, bringing back a tuna for examination.

• Radar operators aboard the large ship and nearby vessels failed to detect the flying swords as they skimmed a meter above the waves.
• Mountain Warden and Li Xingtang’s swords reached the island, where the immortal sword cut apart an altar and killed the people gathered around it.
• The immortal sword dispersed the black smoke and destroyed contaminated objects and corpses, then split the island’s autocannons and radar as they fired at it.
• The sword escaped underwater, and the radar operators learned from Cloud Kun that Li Xingtang’s sword was safe and returning slowly.
• Mountain Warden’s Porcelain Swords disguised themselves as a school of fish, rode inside a tuna, and returned to Cloud Kun with it.
• Shen Le told Mountain Warden to lay out the mission’s flying swords and Li Xingtang’s swords so they could take samples of what they had cut.

After the flying swords returned from their attack on Bald Eagle, Shen Le celebrated with the Special Affairs Bureau and nurtured the swords before the restored Bronze Tripod triggered a surge of power. The golden orb transformed and Shen Le’s spirit rose into the air, leaving everyone aboard Cloud Kun fearing he had become a ghost as he discovered his strength had greatly increased.

• The Special Affairs Bureau celebrated the flying swords’ successful attack, collected fragments as spoils, and prepared the tuna they had brought back.
• Shen Le froze the sashimi to kill parasites, then ate tuna steaks and channeled his power through Mountain Warden and Li Xingtang to cleanse and repair the swords.
• Shen Le sensed the Bronze Tripod restoring itself almost completely, which unleashed a torrent of energy that the golden orb absorbed.
• Nine Talismans formed around the orb before it exploded, sending Shen Le’s spirit out of his body and into a luminous, golden-patterned form.
• The Porcelain Swords and Iron Armor surrounded Shen Le’s body while the crew mistook his glowing spirit for a ghost.
• Shen Le discovered that he could sense Cloud Kun in extraordinary detail, draw power from the world around him, and command seven Porcelain Swords as if they were his own limbs.

After Shen Le’s transformation, he perceived spiritual energy and the ancient seals protecting lands across the world. He discovered that Huaxia’s Heaven-Sealing Sea-Blocking barrier was weakening and resolved to repair it, while the regions across the Pacific were dangerously exposed to chaotic forces.

• Naval officers and Special Affairs Bureau officials watched as Shen Le’s pale golden form condensed above his body, and the captain sent the main ship a video of the event.
• Shen Le sensed spiritual energy flowing through the world and scattered purified auras over the ship, soothing the crew’s strain and injuries.
• Shen Le examined the weakening Heaven-Sealing Sea-Blocking barrier over Shenzhou and vowed to find and repair its damaged sections.
• Shen Le surveyed distant lands and saw that Europe and other regions had varied, aging barriers protecting them.
• Shen Le found the continent across the Pacific largely exposed to chaotic forces and worried that Americans would be unable to contain the dangers.
• Shen Le surveyed barriers around the world and concluded that Yanhuang descendants were better protected.

After emerging from a half-month meditation, Shen Le reported the damaged barriers he had perceived and set out aboard Cloud Kun to inspect them. Near the Wa Kingdom, he found two enormous, corrupted holes in the Sky Curtain and turned away rather than repair them.

• Shen Le recovered from his advancement, noticed he could perceive spiritual anomalies and bodily ailments, and meditated for half a month while Cloud Kun returned to port.
• Shen Le reported his vision of damaged barriers to Special Affairs Bureau officials, who recorded it despite his inability to provide evidence.
• Shen Le asked Cloud Kun to accompany him on a coastal inspection voyage, and the authorities arranged the ship and its crew for his departure.
• Shen Le traveled east with Cloud Kun and the little ones, then located two huge, filth-blackened holes in the Sky Curtain above the waters near the Wa Kingdom.
• Shen Le sensed the suffering trapped in the damaged barrier, considered repairing it, then spat and left without attempting to mend it.

Shen Le tested spell-based camouflage so Cloud Kun could travel openly while disguised as a fishing vessel, but the trial was interrupted by a shark-headed cultivator inviting them to a mirage city. The ship’s disguise still needed to fool supernatural beings as well as ordinary observers.

• Shen Le used metal, sound, heat, and Lan Zhuang’s illusions to disguise Cloud Kun as a fishing vessel for reconnaissance tests.
• Aluminum foil scattered too widely and flashed into flames, but Shen Le extinguished the fire and Cloud Kun’s hull regrew.
• Shen Le and the little ones repeated the camouflage tests, adding simulated engine noise, waste oil, a fabricated wake, and a registered AIS identity.
• Shen Le struggled to turn the camouflage spells into Talismans while the others fished, and Qing Deng’s electro-fishing caused lightning that exposed the ship.
• A giant shark-headed cultivator approached Cloud Kun, recognized the group as fellow cultivators, and invited them to visit a mirage city.

Shen Le met Xuan Yuan, a shark demon who ruled the surrounding waters, and persuaded her to let Special Affairs Bureau agents accompany him to the full-moon sea market. At the appointed time, Xuan Yuan led Cloud Kun and its guests deep underwater, where they found a massive whirlpool.

• Shen Le spoke with Xuan Yuan, learned she ruled the area, and accepted her invitation to visit the sea market.
• Shen Le reassured Xuan Yuan that the Special Affairs Bureau agents were trustworthy, and she agreed to let them join the trip.
• The agents crossed from their speedboat to Cloud Kun with their equipment and gifts, then began measuring the sea and speaking with Xuan Yuan.
• Xuan Yuan led the group along a route that matched Shen Le's planned course and brought them to an ordinary stretch of open sea.
• At the full moon, Xuan Yuan dove beneath the water and led Cloud Kun and the agents toward the sea market's entrance.
• Shen Le and the others saw a vast whirlpool ahead as they traveled through the dark depths.

Shen Le and Xuan Yuan entered the Sea Market through a vast whirlpool and found a bustling marketplace in an undersea canyon. Shen Le began trading with the local demons and asked Xuan Yuan whether the market was near the East Sea Dragon Palace.

• Xuan Yuan and Cloud Kun plunged into the whirlpool, where crushing pressure battered the ship until the Copper Fragment made it vanish.
• Cloud Kun emerged into the Sea Market, an enormous air-filled canyon lit by glowing corals, sea creatures, plants, and crystals.
• Xuan Yuan led Shen Le to the trading plaza and introduced him to Embroidery Lord and Inkshadow Lord, whom he traded spirit jade with for local goods.
• More demons traded with Shen Le, including merfolk, a giant clam, seahorses, Old Turtle, and a sea snake, while Special Affairs Bureau personnel set up a stall on Xuan Yuan's platform.
• Shen Le asked Xuan Yuan whether the Sea Market was close to the East Sea Dragon Palace.

Shen Le learned that the Dragon Palace had vanished and that a dangerous underwater Dragon Gate could strengthen aquatic demons. After hearing reports of a brief, deadly fissure in the East Sea, he persuaded Embroidery Lord to take him near it while Cloud Kun was ordered to return.

• Xuan Yuan led Shen Le away from the Sea Market and revealed an abyss where the Dragon Palace had once stood, but warned that no one could reach its bottom.
• An old turtle and Inkshadow Lord recounted how their ancestors had witnessed the Dragon Palace and its inhabitants vanish, and Shen Le was injured when he probed the abyss.
• Xuan Yuan and the other great demons explained that the remaining Dragon Gate was perilous but offered aquatic demons a chance to grow stronger.
• Shen Le connected reports of a vanished East Sea Dragon Gate to a fissure in the barrier of heaven and earth, similar to one he had encountered near Ryukyu.
• Shen Le offered the demons gifts and asked to observe the fissure from afar, and Embroidery Lord agreed to carry him while ordering Cloud Kun to return.

Shen Le and his companions reached the Dragon Gate, a violent rift in the barrier between heaven and earth. After deciding he might be able to tame some of its energy, Shen Le sealed himself in a rock cave to try, believing Heaven might entrust him with a great responsibility.

• Cloud Kun insisted on joining Shen Le, while the Special Affairs Bureau members refused to leave and prepared to take shelter inside the Ancient Residence if danger arose.
• Embroidery Lord led Shen Le and Xuan Yuan through the dark gorge, where the pressure intensified and the mirage pearl began projecting illusions.
• The group reached the gorge’s edge and saw the Dragon Gate, a chaotic rift that could destroy anything caught in its energy.
• Shen Le recognized the rift’s power from other torn barriers and learned from Xuan Yuan that demons who charged into it had never returned.
• Shen Le asked whether the rift’s energy could be made less violent, then shaped a cave in the rock and settled inside to try for ten days or half a month.

Shen Le studied the damaged barrier between heaven and earth and used intricate runes to weave a grid across its breach, filtering the violent energy into a smaller but gentler flow. Xuan Yuan and the Embroidery Lord rushed to gather spiritual treasures to help him continue repairing it.

• Xuan Yuan and the Embroidery Lord withdrew to watch Shen Le examine the damaged barrier while he held Cloud Kun still.
• Shen Le traced Five Elements runes, causing the seabed cave to change and grow more stable as water, wood, metal, and fire energies took shape.
• After repeated failures, Shen Le completed a Seal rune that briefly stalled the violent energy current, then mastered additional runes to control and guide it.
• Shen Le wove the runes into a grid across the rift, filtering some energy into a gentler flow while strengthening the barrier and blocking most of the excess.
• Xuan Yuan hurried off to gather heavenly and earthly treasures, while the Embroidery Lord offered his coral and ordered others to bring their treasures as well.

Shen Le repaired most of the Dragon Gate rift by weaving and attaching rune patches, while Xuan Yuan and the other sea demons brought him spiritual treasures and supplies. As a destructive torrent erupted from the rift and shattered his repairs, Shen Le poured his power into a phantom atop the Bronze Tripod and tried to merge the barrier before the torrent could break through.

• Xuan Yuan summoned the sea demons to donate spiritual treasures for Shen Le, then delivered her own collection to his cave.
• Shen Le stored the offerings, replenished his energy with Bamboo Marrow Dew, and continued repairing the rift until the barrier was nearly closed.
• As the energy grew more violent, Shen Le began weaving rune patches away from the rift and sewing them onto the barrier, while the sea demons brought him more supplies.
• A chaotic torrent burst from the rift, battered the rune net, and caused Shen Le to spit blood as the repairs began to collapse.
• Shen Le sent his weakened body into Cloud Kun's protection, summoned the Bronze Tripod, and used a golden phantom to call upon the surrounding energy.
• Shen Le formed enormous runes that briefly halted the torrent and shouted for the barrier to merge.

Shen Le repaired the breach in the barrier between heaven and earth, calming the energy that had threatened the Sea City region. After receiving the world's reward and recovering, he emerged to a crowd of grateful sea demons.

• Shen Le wove and anchored a rune-lit net across the breach, stopping the destructive torrent and restoring a gentler flow of energy.
• Xuan Yuan and the other sea demons tested the repaired barrier and celebrated when Inkshadow Lord's tentacle remained intact near it.
• Shen Le finished repairing the barrier, returned to the stone cave, and collapsed from exhaustion as the Silk Skirts and his companions cared for him.
• The world's feedback replenished Shen Le and greatly strengthened his body, true essence, spiritual power, Cloud Kun, Huang Yutong, and Li Xingtang.
• Shen Le emerged from the cave, and the sea demons greeted him with excitement and gratitude.