Recaps

Shen Le led eighty men to Snake-Coiled Island and launched a night raid on the pirates’ stronghold. After killing the pirate chief and forcing the gang to surrender, he offered the captives a chance to earn their lives by providing useful information.

• County Magistrate Zhou entrusted Shen Le with rescuing the captives, and Shen Le sailed out with eighty men and modified boats.
• Shen Le used a sextant and other measurements to navigate north, rejected a captive’s false directions, and identified Snake-Coiled Island by its terrain and strange aura.
• Shen Le surveyed the island, landed secretly at night, killed a watchman, and overheard pirates suspecting that someone had revealed their plans.
• Shen Le split his men to surround the camp and attack the chief’s quarters, where firecrackers helped his men kill the Sea-Mixing Flood Dragon.
• The pirates surrendered, and Shen Le promised to spare those who earned merit by revealing information, including who had guided the gang ashore.

Shen Le uncovered evidence that the Wang Family had aided pirates and used it to build a case before the county magistrate. After the Wang Family was arrested and its property confiscated, Shen Le acquired its shipyards and a prime Chinese fir forest, preparing to begin shipbuilding and maritime trade.

• A pirate accused the Wang Family of directing the raid, but Shen Le challenged him to provide proof.
• An older pirate led Shen Le to a hidden map bearing the Wang Family seal and revealed that the family had given a maidservant to the pirate chief.
• Shen Le rescued the maidservant, protected the women and children, and brought witnesses and evidence to the county magistrate.
• Shen Le's teams gathered testimony and records linking the Wang Family's shipyard, steward, and associates to the pirates.
• After the evidence was corroborated, the county magistrate ordered the Wang Family arrested and its property seized.
• Shen Le bought the Wang Family shipyards and a tract of Chinese fir forestland at a low price.

Shen Le returned from ancient Cao Wei with cultural texts and recordings but no cultivation techniques, then searched the Khentii Mountains for the lost Yanran inscription. After days of fruitless searching, he finally sensed a fierce, blade-like aura and saw a radiance shooting skyward.

• Shen Le sent the Special Affairs Bureau his records of ancient texts and inventions, including his transcription of Guangling Melody.
• Shen Le told Gu Yulin he had failed to find Ge Xuan, Ge Hong, and the inscription at Mount Langju Xu, and the Copper Fragment pointed toward Yizhou.
• Gu Yulin urged Shen Le to stay nearby until a major event, promising to try to arrange a live viewing, so Shen Le agreed not to cross the strait for now.
• Shen Le traveled to the Khentii Mountains and searched archaeological sites and peaks for the Yanran inscription, but found nothing for days.
• As Gu Yulin repeatedly called him back, Shen Le began a long earth-vein traversal and sensed a sharp, battle-filled aura beneath the mountains.
• Shen Le emerged, circled two peaks, and saw a fierce radiance rise toward the clouds.

Shen Le searched Mount Langju Xu for evidence of Huo Qubing’s Fengshan ceremony and realized the key relics might be buried underground rather than carved into the cliffs. After finding artifacts in the valley, he brought them to university experts and claimed a national archaeological team should verify the site.

• Shen Le climbed Mount Langju Xu and searched its cliffs, but found no inscription and identified the exposed rock as unsuitable for carving.
• Shen Le recalled that Huo Qubing had performed a Fengshan ceremony, which involved burying an inscribed jade tablet, and tried to descend into the mountain but was repelled by a powerful aura.
• Shen Le searched the valley beyond the aura’s boundary, uncovering weapon and armor fragments, pottery, and human and animal remains.
• Shen Le collected several artifacts, marked the locations of the others, and hurried to the Capital City to attend a grand ceremony.
• Shen Le showed his finds, photographs, and detector readings to his advisor and the archaeology department chair, then argued that a national archaeological team should conduct the excavation publicly.

Shen Le led a joint archaeological team through the Khentii Mountains to the summit, where the researchers uncovered a Han Dynasty inscription. The discovery confirmed that their expedition had reached the end of the trail Shen Le had traced, though what awaited them next remained unknown.

• Shen Le guided the team along a trail of Han-era artifacts and identified the mountain summit as the likely site of the major discovery.
• Shen Le led the group uphill, but Huang Yutong could not expand into a shelter there, so the team set up tents near the summit.
• The professors organized a search of the summit while Shen Le watched for a supernatural response and wondered why the mountain tolerated the researchers digging.
• A student found a buried object with ground-penetrating radar, and Shen Le began clearing the frozen ground before the team took over the excavation.
• After working through the night, the head of the Archaeology Department lifted a mud-covered slab, and the team read an inscription identifying Qubing, a Han Dynasty general, and celebrated their discovery.

Archaeologists uncovered Huo Qubing’s Heaven-worship inscription on Mount Langjuxu, while Shen Le watched its supernatural radiance remain calm. When officials tried to move the artifacts to Ulaanbaatar, the inscription’s power erupted and declared that it would stay on the mountain, where the Han Dynasty stood.

• The excavation team uncovered and cleaned a stone inscription whose writing identified Huo Qubing and the fourth year of Yuanshou, while the team’s instruments burned out near its supernatural power.
• News of the discovery sparked fierce debate online over whether the artifact should remain in Mongolia or be brought to Huaxia, and officials sent a special plane to discuss the matter in Ulaanbaatar.
• The archaeologists found additional fragments and possible ritual remains, while Shen Le monitored the site and sensed that the newly unearthed objects shared the inscription’s intense radiance.
• A Special Affairs Bureau agent suggested that the artifact might want to return to Huaxia, but Shen Le refused to invent a supernatural demand and continued watching it.
• Days later, the department head announced plans to move the inscription to a museum in Ulaanbaatar, and Shen Le sensed the mountain and clouds begin to tremble.
• Shen Le seized the packed artifacts and carried them back to the summit, where the inscription’s radiance appeared to everyone and the department head heard it declare that it would remain where it stood.

Shen Le tried to persuade the Fenglang Juxu Inscribed Stone to leave the summit so researchers could study it, eventually using a ritual offering and burning a detailed explanation of the necessary equipment. The stone followed him to the foot of the mountain, where Shen Le began absorbing a powerful current of energy as joint preservation plans were announced.

• The old professor asked the silent stone to come down the mountain, but the backpack remained immovable and detection devices burned out.
• Shen Le explained the research methods and equipment the researchers would need, but the stone did not clearly agree to move.
• A Special Affairs Bureau agent relayed advice to use ritual offerings, so the team built an altar and Shen Le read a prayer while burning his research papers.
• After Shen Le cast the divination blocks and took the result as agreement, he lifted the backpack and carried the stone down the mountain.
• The vehicle sank under the stone's weight near the mountain's foot, and Shen Le ordered the team to build a laboratory there.
• Shen Le handed over the backpack and fell as a powerful current of energy entered his body, while officials announced that the stone would remain on the summit for preservation and exhibition.

After meditating for half a month, Shen Le woke to find the Special Affairs Bureau building a road and museum for the Inscription Commemorating the Sealing of Mount Langjuxu. He helped communicate the stele’s preferences, approved the mock exhibition, and tried to leave, but the Bureau insisted he depart Mongolia through legal channels.

• Shen Le woke after half a month of meditation and learned that crews were building a route up the mountain for a museum.
• A Special Affairs Bureau guard explained that the stele had rejected being kept at the mountain’s foot for years, so the Bureau had chosen a safer trail and was improving it into a farm track.
• Shen Le cleared the smoky room and read the Bureau’s questions aloud to the stele, learning that it wanted a single-tier, eight-sided altar with its resting place beneath it.
• Shen Le stayed another seven days while the Bureau completed a mock exhibition hall, then translated the stele’s request for a statue of General Huo Qubing.
• Shen Le asked to leave, but the Special Affairs Bureau told him to exit the country legally if he wanted to return in the future.

After returning home, Shen Le discussed plans with Gu Yulin for traveling across the strait, then used the Copper Fragment to locate scattered pieces on the far shore. His earth-vein technique failed over water, so he called Cloud Kun for a ride as Cloud Kun insisted on bringing companions.

• Shen Le left Mongolia, returned to Zhuxi Town, and laughed as Gu Yulin recited bureaucratic meeting language.
• Gu Yulin described three travel plans, and Shen Le rejected an official identity and a civilian cover before joking that he would swim across.
• Gu Yulin warned Shen Le not to provoke the Celestial Master Zhang lineage or other forces, and urged him to prioritize coming home safely.
• Shen Le received travel supplies, packed his companions, and used the Copper Fragment to find scattered pieces near five mountain ranges across the strait.
• Shen Le tried to travel there through the earth veins but was spat back out after entering the sea, so he called Cloud Kun for a ride.
• Cloud Kun arrived and insisted on accompanying Shen Le, offering to bring Lan Zhuang, Compass, and Scroll along.

Shen Le searched Treasure Island for ceramic fragments and discovered that a walled compound and points in the mountains seemed to obstruct the island’s earth veins. After escaping guards at the compound, he suspected foreign structures were locking down the true dragon vein and vowed to tear them down.

• Shen Le realized earth-vein teleportation could not cross the strait, tested his spatial teleportation talisman, and traced obstructions in the earth veins around Treasure Island.
• Shen Le sent Gu Yulin a map of the blocked points, then traveled across the Chianan Plain and located five ceramic fragments.
• Shen Le ate at a night market, checked into a hotel, and retrieved three fragments before teleporting to the walled compound for another.
• Guards spotted Shen Le at the compound, so he escaped underground as they searched for him and discussed calling in foreign specialists.
• Shen Le sensed that the compound and mountain obstructions were clogging the earth veins and suspected they were nails locking down the island’s true dragon vein.

Shen Le was attacked after a hotel cleaner discovered him, then uncovered a coordinated team of armed agents and subdued them while trying to learn who had exposed him. He told Gu Yulin he needed a new identity but refused to leave, intent on retaliating against the foreign officials who ordered the attack.

• Shen Le asked Compass and Scroll to map and mark suspicious locations on the island, then used them to record the place he had tried to enter.
• A hotel cleaner found Shen Le emerging from the floor and shot at him, so he blocked the bullets and restrained her before sensing a more powerful attack drive him underground.
• Shen Le detected armed agents in the hotel and a sniper in a nearby building, then used Little Oil Lamp to overload the hotel and strike down the agents and sniper.
• Shen Le captured the agents in an underground pit, restored one prisoner's strength, and forced him to answer questions by threatening to cut and heal him repeatedly.
• Shen Le called Gu Yulin for a new identity after learning the foreigners had targeted him, but he refused to return and vowed to retaliate against those who ordered the attack.

Shen Le retaliated against the foreign operatives who targeted him, recovered a ceramic shard, and began destroying their strongholds to free the island’s earth veins. After sealing off numerous mountain tunnels, he reached the largest stronghold and found himself unable to move.

• Shen Le collapsed the courtyard compound, buried its occupants, and recovered the ceramic shard he had come to find.
• Shen Le interrogated Richard Portman and learned that the operatives belonged to ATROC, also called the Eye of Typhon, and worked under the Department of Energy.
• Shen Le had his companions restrain the prisoners and store them in the Ancient Residence for the Special Affairs Bureau, then discovered that clearing the courtyard stronghold had restored the flow of the earth veins.
• Shen Le found a reinforced underground tunnel complex and sealed most of its exits, trapping the equipment stored inside while leaving a narrow passage open.
• Shen Le searched the mountains and sealed fifteen or sixteen more strongholds before reaching the largest one, where he suddenly could not move.

Shen Le used the Copper Fragment to connect with Treasure Island’s mountain range, overcome the foreign cultivators’ earth magic, and retaliate by crushing their bunker. He then searched the island’s underground network and damaged several supernatural “nails,” while Gu Yulin and the Shanghai Special Affairs Bureau director tried to find a way to bring him back.

• Shen Le invoked the Copper Fragment and drew power from Treasure Island’s mountain range, freeing himself from the earth magic blocking his path.
• Shen Le discovered that the mountain’s backlash had wrecked the attackers’ bunker and injured its occupants, then shut the steel doors and crushed the foreign cultivators inside.
• Shen Le sensed that the earth veins had cleared some supernatural “nails” and moved through the island’s underground facilities, recording what he found while avoiding most of them.
• Shen Le destroyed a metal nail on a mountain ridge and fled after another nail exploded when he touched it.
• Gu Yulin told the Shanghai Special Affairs Bureau director that Shen Le had gone looking around and retaliated after being attacked, as the director asked how they could contact him and bring him back.

Shen Le destroyed targets across the island while officials tracked the explosions and worried about his safety. After returning with superpowered prisoners and intelligence, he handed everything over to the Special Affairs Bureau and went to sleep.

• Gu Yulin and the Shanghai director concluded that Shen Le might be behind the explosions and asked the Doll Cabinet to check on him through Ah Lu, which confirmed he was unharmed.
• The command center tracked successive blasts moving north across the island, identified several destroyed facilities, and arranged a reception team in case Shen Le needed rescue.
• Shen Le advanced through the mountains, destroyed underground targets, recorded facility details with the Compass and the Scroll, and captured traitors and their Magic Artifacts.
• Shen Le called Gu Yulin from the northern end of the island, returned almost immediately, and asked whether the Bureau could hold the prisoners he had brought back.
• The Special Affairs Bureau director picked Shen Le up and brought him to a secure compound, where Shen Le handed over the Compass and the Scroll before going to sleep.

After reporting his attacks and discoveries to the Special Affairs Bureau, Shen Le stayed home to restore a spiritually powerful pottery residence assembled from ancient fragments. His first repairs failed to awaken it, so he made replacement pieces from clay and spring water in the Secret Realm and hoped this attempt would work.

• Shen Le reported the attacks and the locations he had destroyed, attributing his discoveries to the earth veins, then told Gu Yulin he planned to stay home and restore the pottery fragments.
• Shen Le measured the fragments, sent them to his Doctor Senior Brother for desalination, and assembled their 3D-printed replicas into a model of a detailed pottery courtyard residence.
• Shen Le scanned and dismantled the model, created molds for its missing parts, and fired replacement pieces from refined kaolin.
• Shen Le desalinated and bonded the original fragments with Fish Maw Glue, but the new and old pieces would not share their spirituality, so the repair failed.
• Shen Le tried making the replacements himself, then gathered spiritually charged clay and spring water from the Secret Realm and prepared to try the repair again.

Shen Le struggled to restore the Ancient Pottery House fragments, discovering that the replacement pottery’s spirituality would not harmonize with them. After learning that nearby soil could be compatible, he tested porcelain clay from the Yue Region and found the batch near East Money Lake matched best, leaving the fragments eager to merge with it.

• Shen Le repeatedly adjusted the clay mixture and glue, but his newly fired pottery components resisted joining the Ancient Pottery House fragments.
• Shen Le consulted restoration experts and Mr. Zhao, who explained that nearby clay could work, though more precise restoration might require soil from near the original mine.
• Gu Yulin stopped Shen Le from traveling, explaining that the revival of spiritual energy had caused a surge of dangerous strange phenomena and left the Special Affairs Bureau badly understaffed.
• Gu Yulin arranged for others to collect porcelain-clay samples, and Shen Le found that the batch from near East Money Lake had the closest spiritual affinity to the old pottery fragments.
• Shen Le placed the fragments in the compatible clay, and they trembled and burrowed toward it.

Shen Le entered the Pottery House’s memories and awoke as the Shen Family’s Third Brother during the Jin Dynasty, where he learned that his father’s death and a disastrous lost fleet had left the family in crisis. He went to confront the clan elders as they argued over debts and whether to seek protection from the Zhou Clan of Wuxing.

• Shen Le restored the Pottery House, scanned and photographed it, then entered its memories before he could save his edits.
• Shen Le awoke during his father’s mourning and learned from Fifth Uncle and Seventh Brother that he was expected to fast as a display of filial piety.
• Shen Le ate the congee Fifth Uncle brought him and searched his memories, discovering that the family had prospered in business and that the Jin Dynasty’s Tai'an era had begun.
• Shen Le overheard the clan elders arguing over a lost fleet, unpaid debts, and whether to sell land, petition the prefect, or submit to the Zhou Clan of Wuxing.
• Shen Le declared that he could not stand aside as the principal heir and entered the elders’ meeting, where one elder ordered him back to the mourning hall.

Shen Le used a claimed ancestral dream to take charge of the Shen Family after his father and most of the fleet were lost to pirates. After examining the bodies and wrecked warship, he concluded the missing cargo ships were probably hidden near the attack site and ordered the clan to compensate the fallen soldiers’ families, gather sailors and vessels, and refit its warships.

• Shen Le claimed an ancestor had appeared in his dream, proved his supposed knowledge by reciting unfamiliar sea routes, and persuaded the elders to let him lead the family.
• The elders reported that pirates had destroyed the fleet’s escort, killed Shen Le’s father and most of their men, and left the Shen Family facing official punishment and heavy compensation demands.
• Shen Le examined the bodies and damaged warship, then concluded that the attack had happened near shore and that the missing cargo ships were likely hidden nearby.
• Shen Le ordered the clan to compensate the fallen soldiers’ families, gather every capable sailor and usable vessel, and refit the warships.

Shen Le refitted the Shen Family’s ships with Splash Boards and Bed Crossbows, then used wind, tides, and sailors’ knowledge to identify Flower and Bird Mountain as the pirates’ likely hideout. He rallied the family to sail there and rescue their captured compatriots.

• Shen Le chose the Sand Ships for refitting after inspecting the family’s vessels and hearing about their weaknesses in rough seas.
• Shen Le designed Splash Boards to stabilize the ships and Bed Crossbows to arm the fleet, ordering craftsmen to build the parts in parallel.
• The Shen Family’s craftsmen worked through the night, and within two days they had armed and upgraded the Sand Ships and Juexi Single-Net Boats.
• Shen Le consulted veteran sailors and helmsmen, who identified Flower and Bird Mountain as a likely pirate refuge with a sheltered harbor and freshwater streams.
• Shen Le concluded the fleet could reach Flower and Bird Mountain with the spring tides and called on the Shen Family to sail out, defeat the pirates, and rescue their compatriots.

Shen Le lured the pirates into an ambush at sea and defeated their boats with bed crossbows and fire. After interrogating the captured pirates, he learned the captives and stolen goods were hidden at Flower and Bird Mountain, and led the fleet there to rescue their people.

• Shen Le drilled the sailors through the night and used mint-coated tea pills to keep them awake while they tracked the cargo ship.
• After the cargo ship raised a red flag, three pirate boats approached it near a reef-filled channel, and Shen Le ordered the fleet to advance in formation.
• The cargo ship revealed its concealed bed crossbows and badly damaged one pirate boat, while the Sea-going Red Hares attacked the other two with flaming oil jars.
• Shen Le's ships surrounded the pirates and forced the survivors to surrender, losing only two sailors to minor injuries.
• Shen Le interrogated the prisoners, learned that the captives and stolen goods were at Flower and Bird Mountain, and ordered the fleet to sail there.

After the commandery blocked the Shen Family from filling the vacant county commandant post, Shen Le redirected the clan toward self-sufficiency, military preparedness, and trade with Langya Prince's Manor. The family’s porcelain won interest at the manor, opening a path for further business.

• The Zhou Clan sought to delay the Shen Family’s appointment to the county commandant post, and the commandery governor stalled the nomination.
• Shen Le accepted that the Shen Family would not get the post and asked the county magistrate for compensation, substitute positions, and rewards for the dead.
• Shen Le ordered the clan to educate its children, strengthen ties with tenant farmers, stockpile food, and shift its businesses toward farming, salt, and livestock while improving its workshops and shipyard.
• After Emperor Hui of Jin died, Shen Le sent three ships north, and Shen Yue led a trading party to Langya Prince's Manor with fine goods and white porcelain.
• Shen Yue delivered more porcelain for the prince’s birthday and learned that the manor wanted a reliable supply from South of the Yangtze.

Shen Le and the Shen Family gained the Langya Prince's Manor's trust by arranging shipments of goods and moving the manor's valuables south. When Wang Dao asked how to evacuate at least a thousand people from Langya to Jianye quickly, secretly, and safely, Shen Le proposed a three-route plan centered on the Shen family's seagoing ships.

• Shen Yue negotiated with the Langya Prince's Manor to carry brocade, rice, and other goods, accepting a gold deposit and manor attendants to supervise the purchases.
• The Shen Family transported northern goods south and returned with brocade and grain, after which an older official asked Shen Yue to secretly move the manor's valuables to Jianye.
• Shen Yue told the official that the Shen family's ships could not carry a thousand passengers without being refitted, but said Shen Le could devise a solution.
• Shen Le was summoned from near Mount Tai and met Wang Dao, who asked him how to move at least a thousand people south.
• Shen Le proposed dividing the evacuation into an inland decoy route, a protected middle route for core retainers and important goods, and a covert sea route for the most vital people and supplies.

Shen Le persuaded Wang Dao to send Sima Rui and key members of the Langya Prince's Manor south by sea, then led their ships safely from Langya to Jianye in less than twenty days. Wang Dao recognized Shen Le's importance and urged Sima Rui not to let him get away.

• Shen Le explained to Wang Dao that refugees and refugee leaders could threaten the great families, and argued that a fast sea voyage could bring the Prince's core group to Jianye ahead of the main migration.
• Wang Dao agreed to support the voyage, and Shen Le presented a prepared plan to refit the ships; Wang Dao promised the Wang residence would provide the necessary people and supplies.
• Several days later, Shen Le led Sima Rui, Wang Dao, and their guards aboard ships at a hidden harbor and ordered the fleet south toward Jianye.
• Shen Le navigated the fleet across the sea and into the Yangtze River, using scouting boats to avoid shoals and currents while Wang Dao marveled at the ships' steadiness.
• The fleet reached Jianye in less than twenty days, and Wang Dao told Sima Rui that Shen Le was extraordinary and must not be allowed to leave.

Shen Le tried to restore the Pottery House by rebuilding and firing it, but the old and new ceramic pieces still failed to fuse. After using the fragments to locate the area where it had originally been fired, he stepped out at night and noticed points of light appearing.

• Shen Le reflected on how he had guided the Shen Family through the Yongjia Southern Migration and helped it grow while avoiding political conflicts.
• Shen Le recorded and disassembled the Pottery House, rebuilt it, and fired it in a kiln, but it collapsed when he removed it.
• Shen Le rebuilt the Pottery House and fired it with spiritual flames, but cracks still formed between its old and new ceramic pieces.
• Shen Le used the fragments to seek the Pottery House’s original kiln and traveled toward the location indicated by a point of light.
• Shen Le stepped out of his vehicle after sunset and saw several points of light appear.

Shen Le and Gu Yulin helped a local Special Affairs Bureau employee subdue a haunted bus, and the pottery-house fragments led Shen Le toward an ancient kiln site. The chapter ended with Shen Le sinking underground as he entered the mountain region, leaving the local employee to ask Gu Yulin whether Shen Le was alive.

• Shen Le saw pale lights drawn to his pottery-house fragments and followed them to a haunted bus, while Gu Yulin called a local Special Affairs Bureau employee for help.
• The employee and Gu Yulin surrounded the bus with talismans and ritual equipment, but the bus awakened and attacked before Shen Le calmed it with a tap of his wooden sword.
• The employee captured the bus's phosphorescent lights in an incense burner and took them to a Yue King Temple, where the lights vanished into its main incense burner.
• The employee drove Shen Le and Gu Yulin past local sites and explained that a nearby military compound could shelter people from supernatural dangers.
• Shen Le sensed that the pottery-house fragments' kiln was nearby, thanked the employee, and walked into the mountains until his body sank underground.
• The local employee grabbed Gu Yulin and asked whether Shen Le was alive.