Recaps

Shen Le restored the bamboo slips from the lacquered box, and their spiritual light carried him back to ancient Cloud Dream Mountain. There, he witnessed the aging Ghost Valley Hidden Lineage disciples reckon with the peace that had made their sacrifices and skills obsolete, while Xin mourned his dead companions.

• Shen Le restored and sorted more than a thousand bamboo slips, triggering a golden light that swept him back to Cloud Dream Mountain.
• Shen Le encountered several elderly Hidden Lineage disciples lamenting that a peaceful realm no longer needed their covert skills.
• Xin and the others recalled their comrades Yang, Shi, and A Su, who had died on dangerous missions.
• Xin reflected that he had survived by being assigned minor tasks, while his companions died pursuing the Hidden Lineage's purpose of bringing peace.
• Xin concluded that the world which had needed them was already gone, then returned to weaving straw sandals and quietly mourned the names on the bamboo slips.

Shen Le recorded his visions of the bamboo slips for Professor Hu, then explored the golden light in the ceramic urn and recognized it as a dangerous sword technique. Unable to decipher the warped mud-gilt tablets, he sought help from Gu Yulin and Li Xingtang, and repairing one gold-painted board revealed a possible way to learn the technique.

• Shen Le described his artifact memories to Professor Hu, who cross-checked the details and urged him to record everything for archaeological research.
• Shen Le used his newfound sense of the bamboo slips to bind more than a thousand scattered slips into fifty volumes, which the Silk Skirts carried off to be documented.
• Shen Le approached the golden light in the ceramic urn with his spiritual power and concluded that it tested or identified whoever came near it.
• Shen Le tried to counter the golden light with swordsmanship but was repeatedly struck by its unpredictable attacks.
• Shen Le examined the mud-gilt tablets, recognized their figures as a damaged set of martial arts moves, and sent photographs to Gu Yulin and Li Xingtang for help reconstructing them.
• Shen Le replenished the gold-painted board with earth-element energy, restoring it until it straightened and revealed a tiny figure performing a sword strike.

Shen Le restored the gilded clay tablets, awakening their metallic aura and learning an ancient assassination art from the figures depicted on them. After arranging and filming the tablets and demonstrating the techniques, he prepared to investigate the ceramic urn for whatever remained inside.

• Shen Le carefully restored the gilded clay tablets, balancing their earth, fire, and metal forces as their metallic aura grew stronger.
• After restoring the final tablets, Shen Le watched the Storage Boxes' tempered glass shatter and received ancient swordsmanship instructions through the golden light.
• Shen Le followed the figures' movements, performed the techniques, and arranged the tablets in a resonant sequence that awakened their golden energy.
• Shen Le photographed the tablets and recorded himself demonstrating the Crouching Walk and dagger techniques while the Silk Skirts filmed.
• Shen Le thanked the Silk Skirts and said he would try to draw out whatever was inside the ceramic urn.

Shen Le fought the golden light inside the ceramic urn, damaged a Storage Box, and carefully transferred a spiritually dangerous broken dagger and silk roll for examination. When he photographed the silk, he found four unfamiliar characters that he somehow felt he could understand, and rushed to ask Professor Hu what the artifact was.

• Shen Le used the martial techniques he had learned from the gilded clay tablet to approach and duel the golden light, which withdrew after a sword cry cracked the Storage Box.
• Shen Le replaced the damaged Storage Box and was scolded by Professor Hu, who asked him to write about the clay tablets and warned him to protect the lacquered box.
• Shen Le tried to move a broken dagger from the ceramic urn, felt its dark aura cut his mental power, and carefully lifted it together with the fragile silk beneath it.
• Shen Le transferred the dagger and silk into safe storage, then measured and examined the dagger, finding that it was high-carbon steel with a mysterious organic substance along its edge.
• Shen Le photographed the silk roll in darkness and discovered four unfamiliar characters at the edge of the image, then hurried to Professor Hu for an explanation.

Shen Le struggled to restore a broken dagger, but it rejected his attempt to forge a replacement. Examining the silk that had supported it, he discovered the complete outline of the dagger and began forging a new one from that pattern, while scholars identified the artifact in Professor Hu’s photograph as the Dukang Map.

• Professor Hu consulted several experts about the unfamiliar writing in Shen Le’s photograph, and one expert rushed over to identify it.
• Shen Le entered the Ancient Residence and tried to determine how to restore the broken dagger and the damaged silk.
• Shen Le forged a replacement dagger, but the broken dagger shattered it into steel grains and showed its anger.
• Shen Le examined the silk and found a complete dagger outline traced into it by metal aura.
• Shen Le copied the outline and began forging a dagger to match it, while scholars crowded Professor Hu’s room and named the artifact the Dukang Map.

Shen Le sought Professor Li’s guidance on restoring the Dukang Map, whose dangerous artifacts and historical traces made ordinary conservation methods risky. As Shen Le resonated with the silk manuscript, he discovered that the map had been newly drawn for Jing Ke’s assassination attempt and had absorbed the dagger’s presence, leaving him immersed in echoes of the event.

• Shen Le asked Professor Hu for help deciding how to restore the Dukang Map, and Professor Hu summoned textile-restoration specialist Professor Li.
• After reviewing videos of the artifacts’ dangerous effects, Professor Li agreed to advise Shen Le and explained how to preserve historical traces while removing harmful damage.
• Professor Li suggested scanning the map and its traces before cleaning, and Shen Le began restoration work in the laboratory.
• Shen Le worked through the night, using his mental power to resonate with the map instead of examining its threads and dust one by one.
• Shen Le heard the silk’s original imprint, then sensed that the map had been newly drawn for the assassination attempt and deeply marked by Jing Ke’s poisoned dagger.

Shen Le used the Cleansing Spell and a Spirit Gathering Array to restore the Dukang Map, while Professor Li watched in astonishment. The revived map revealed the lingering shadow of the dagger from Jing Ke’s assassination attempt, and Shen Le hurried to repair the broken dagger.

• Professor Li watched Shen Le sit motionless for two hours before dust and other residue began to lift from the Dukang Map.
• Shen Le carefully cleaned the map with the Cleansing Spell, preserving traces from the Qin palace while removing later contamination.
• Shen Le arranged spirit jade and pearls into a Spirit Gathering Array, then poured silk fibroin solution over the map using his powers.
• The map absorbed the solution as spiritual energy flowed through it, and Professor Li heard echoes of Jing Ke’s attempt to assassinate the King of Qin.
• Shen Le lifted the restored map and showed Professor Li a platinum-white patch that held the dagger’s shadow.
• Shen Le sensed the broken dagger resonating with the map and rushed to repair it.

Shen Le restored the broken dagger by forging a replacement section that the relic absorbed, then built a handle from jujube wood and black-dyed silk cord. When he tested the completed dagger, the world suddenly flipped upside down.

• Shen Le sketched the dagger from the marks on the Dukang Map and forged a replacement blade that matched the broken relic's measurements and metal composition.
• Shen Le activated the Spirit Gathering Array, and the broken dagger absorbed the newly forged section, becoming whole but still lacking a proper handle.
• Professor Zhou confronted Shen Le about restoring the dagger completely, but Shen Le showed him that the relic had absorbed the new metal by itself.
• Shen Le collected particles from the Dukang Map, and Professor Hu's tests identified the handle wood as jujube while Professor Li arranged for black-dyed silk cord.
• Shen Le fitted the jujube wood handle and wrapped it with black silk cord, then gripped the finished dagger and thrust it forward, causing heaven and earth to flip upside down.

Shen Le experienced the dagger’s memories as Qin Wuyang and accompanied Jing Ke to meet Ying Zheng, where Qin’s national fortune overwhelmed him and left him unable to move. As Jing Ke took the Dukang Map and began to unfurl it, Shen Le saw Yan State’s fortune burning around him and a cold gleam appear.

• Shen Le endured the Madam Xu Dagger’s extreme cold and realized he was reliving Qin Wuyang’s role in Jing Ke’s assassination attempt.
• Shen Le resolved to help Jing Ke kill the King of Qin, believing the dagger could pierce even armor.
• Shen Le and Jing Ke traveled to Xianyang Palace, where Shen Le marveled at its architecture and ceremonial bricks.
• Ying Zheng appeared beneath the black tiger of Qin’s national fortune, which froze Shen Le in place.
• Jing Ke explained that Wuyang was frightened because he had never seen the Son of Heaven, then took the Dukang Map as Ying Zheng ordered.
• Jing Ke unfurled the map, and Shen Le saw Yan State’s fortune burning around him as a cold gleam emerged.

Shen Le survived the Madam Xu Dagger’s memory of Qin Wuyang’s failed attempt to reach Jing Ke and awoke in the laboratory, where he discovered the dagger had been fully restored. He began learning to control the power within a spirit jade and concluded that repairing the dormant artifacts might prepare him to repair the Dragon Palace’s magical boat.

• In the dagger’s memory, Shen Le fought his way up the palace steps as Qin Wuyang but was grievously wounded before he could reach Jing Ke and the King of Qin.
• Shen Le threw his dagger-axe toward the battle, then heard that Jing Ke had been slain before the memory ended.
• Back in the laboratory, Shen Le accidentally stabbed Huang Yutong with the awakened dagger, treated the wound, and made a jujube-wood sheath for it.
• Shen Le sensed that the dagger’s spirituality now flowed through its blade, hilt, and silk cord, then practiced the fluid movements its power inspired.
• Shen Le tried to control the golden light inside a spirit jade, managed to guide part of its power, and decided he needed to repair more dormant artifacts before attempting the magical boat.

Shen Le recorded his memories of Qin Xianyang Palace for Professor Han, then attempted to retrieve a powerful iron artifact from the ceramic urn. After a fierce struggle with its platinum-white radiance, he subdued it and lifted it into the Storage Box, leaving the rotten wood artifact for later.

• Shen Le drew Qin Xianyang Palace from the Madam Xu Dagger's memories and answered Professor Han's questions about the palace and the events surrounding Jing Ke.
• After three days, Shen Le sent information about the Madam Xu Dagger, the broken dagger, and the Dukang Map to the people who could make replicas.
• Shen Le used a robotic arm to approach a rotten iron lump in the ceramic urn, but its platinum-white radiance erupted and attacked him.
• Shen Le fought the radiance with his spiritual power, then used what he had learned from the Dragon Lord's dharma boat to absorb and subdue it.
• Shen Le lifted the iron artifact into the Storage Box and inserted a scanning probe into the urn to search for traces of its original appearance.

Shen Le struggled to identify and awaken a corroded iron artifact, then called Alloy Master for help and discovered that the artifact needed to eat materials. After it finally reacted to two iron sheets borrowed from the Dragon Palace, Shen Le sent Qing Li photos and videos to identify their origins.

• Shen Le examined and preserved the corroded iron lump but could not determine its original shape or awaken its spirit.
• Professor Xu showed Shen Le restoration studios and storage rooms, teaching him not to force the reconstruction of artifacts whose forms were unknown.
• Shen Le tried spiritual methods and asked Little Oil Lamp, Huang Yutong, Zhong Xiaomei, and their helpers to communicate with the lump, but none succeeded.
• Shen Le summoned Alloy Master, who sensed that the lump was hungry and advised feeding it until it recovered its original form.
• The lump ignored metal samples and magical materials until Shen Le borrowed miscellaneous Dragon Palace treasures and saw it bite two iron sheets.
• Shen Le pulled the iron sheets from the lump and sent Qing Li images and video, asking her to identify their age and former use.

Shen Le discovered that the lump of junk iron sought weapons tied to his own people’s desperate resistance against the Japanese, and he enlisted Gu Yulin and the Special Affairs Bureau to find them. After the iron consumed a box of damaged relics, it grew larger, leaving Shen Le to continue searching for what it needed.

• Shen Le searched for metals across the Dragon Palace, universities, parks, and Alloy Master’s institute, but the lump of junk iron rejected them all.
• Near the national flag square, the iron reacted intensely to metal objects, forcing Shen Le to keep it away from the flagpole and other structures.
• At a museum, the iron ignored most exhibits but became desperate to reach rust-covered chopping sabers inscribed with “Kill the Japanese, eliminate the traitors!”
• Shen Le understood that the iron wanted objects used by his own people in a particular battlefield’s fight against the Japanese, and he called Gu Yulin to request damaged items.
• The Special Affairs Bureau gathered scrap weapons and metal relics from villages and local exhibits, and the lump of junk iron consumed them and rapidly grew in size.

Shen Le restored a mysterious iron artifact by feeding it relics of resistance fighters, then discovered it was Zhang Liang’s Bolang Mace. He witnessed Zhang Liang’s failed attempt to assassinate Qin Shi Huang, which struck a decoy carriage, and the story left Zhang Liang’s later exploits still ahead.

• Shen Le fed the scrap iron relics from fighters who had resisted Japanese invaders, restoring it into a heavy, gleaming object.
• Shen Le tested the object, found it weighed thirty kilograms, and failed to identify it with the help of several professors.
• Shen Le connected with the artifact’s memories and witnessed Zhang Liang grow up as Qin conquered Han and the other states.
• Zhang Liang used his family’s wealth to seek assassins and arranged for a strongman to forge a 120-jin iron mace.
• Shen Le recognized the artifact as the Bolang Mace and saw Zhang Liang’s men launch it at Qin Shi Huang’s carriage, only to hit a decoy.

Shen Le restored the Great Iron Mallet’s spiritual aura and learned its history, but his passing-grade mastery could not control the Dragon Palace Dharma Vessel’s golden light. He began restoring the final rotten wood artifact, only to find its golden light resisted his growth spell and could not be moved.

• Shen Le examined the Great Iron Mallet’s spirit and learned how it passed from Zhang Liang’s failed assassination attempt into Ghost Valley’s keeping.
• The Madam Xu Dagger and Great Iron Mallet joined their golden lights, which Shen Le guided into spirit jade and blended with his metal energy.
• Shen Le tried to move the Dragon Palace Dharma Vessel’s golden light, but it still resisted him despite his improved understanding.
• Shen Le tested the rotten wood and bamboo artifact, then found that its golden light blocked his growth spell and tore apart his mental power when he tried to move it.
• Shen Le set the Madam Xu Dagger and Great Iron Mallet beside the trough, and their three beams of golden light gathered into a cloud, leaving the rotten wood apparently unguarded.

Shen Le restored the bamboo and wooden sticks from the jar, then the three collections of artifacts combined their power and pulled him into memories of the Qin-era rebellions. He learned that the ordinary sticks had absorbed the enduring metal qi of the people who resisted oppression, and their power surpassed that of famous weapons.

• Shen Le used growth spells and nutrient solution to restore several sharpened wooden sticks and a bamboo pole, but he could not activate them.
• Shen Le placed the restored sticks alongside the Madam Xu Dagger, Dukang Map, and Great Iron Mallet in the earthenware jar.
• The three masses of golden light merged with a blood-tinged light from the laboratory chest and plunged Shen Le into a vision of the Qin-era rebellions.
• Shen Le witnessed Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rally the starving and oppressed to rebel, while ordinary people wielded sharpened sticks and raised bamboo poles as banners.
• Shen Le realized that generations of rebellion had infused the sticks with metal qi, giving them a power that surpassed the famous weapons.

Shen Le learned to move the golden light damaging the Dragon Palace Dharma Vessel and successfully removed a tiny fragment, then tested ritual altars and treasures to increase his power. The experiments improved his abilities but left the repair on a timescale of a thousand years, so the Dragon Lord proposed finding better methods.

• Shen Le used his growing resonance with the golden light to transfer a strand from one piece of spirit jade to another, then left the university with the artifacts and returned to the Dragon Palace.
• Shen Le drew a tiny strand of golden light from the Dharma Vessel into spirit jade, exhausting himself in the process, while Qing Li sealed it.
• Qing Li welcomed Shen Le with a banquet and gave gifts to Huang Yutong, Zhong Xiaomei, the silk skirts, and Little Oil Lamp.
• Shen Le tested thirty ritual altars and various treasures, finding that his power could be amplified but remained insufficient to repair the vessel quickly.
• The Dragon Lord estimated that transferring all the golden light would take a thousand years and encouraged Shen Le to seek better methods, comparing the problem to advances in genome sequencing.

Shen Le restored the pottery urn with Azi’s guidance, but it remained too weak to develop consciousness. He then sought Professor Jiang’s help with the waterlogged lacquer chest, whose restoration required extensive documentation and scientific analysis.

• Shen Le restored the pottery urn under Azi’s instructions, but Azi said it needed to grow much longer before it could become self-aware.
• Shen Le discovered that water seeped from the lacquer chest when lightly pressed and brought Professor Jiang to examine it.
• Professor Jiang ordered Shen Le to document the chest thoroughly and investigate its wooden base and construction methods.
• Shen Le used his growth ability to produce a sample of the chest’s wood, then worked with Professor Jiang to identify its material and likely construction technique.
• Professor Jiang directed Shen Le to scan the lacquer film and ash layers, and Shen Le recorded the layers’ composition and pigments.

Shen Le investigated why the severely decayed lacquered box remained intact and discovered that metal aura supported its structure. After consulting Lan Zhuang and Professor Jiang, he learned to restore the Wood Base without expanding it beyond the lacquer’s limits, and successfully stabilized a practice fragment.

• Shen Le found that dense metal aura from the Madam Xu Dagger, the Bolang Mace, and the Daze Village Wooden Weapons reinforced the lacquered box, but worried it could clash with the wood and lacquer during restoration.
• Shen Le asked Gu Yulin to bring Lan Zhuang, which examined the box and advised him to repair the wooden core first while it watched for trouble.
• Shen Le tested growth spells on lacquerware fragments, but the expanding wooden cores cracked and detached their lacquer films.
• Professor Jiang explained that lacquerware was coated after its wooden core had dried, and told Shen Le to calculate the wood’s dimensions at each stage and restore it to its original dry size.
• Shen Le gathered wood and restoration data for nearly a week, then repeatedly adjusted his growth spell and mental control until a fragment regained strength without changing size or damaging its lacquer film.

Shen Le tested methods for dehydrating waterlogged lacquerware without damaging its spiritual power, then began restoring the lacquer chest using vacuum freeze-drying and a carefully controlled wood-base repair. The chest survived both stages intact, leaving only the lacquer layer to be filled in.

• Shen Le rejected slow dehydration, solvent exchange, and permeation reinforcement, then tested room-temperature and heated vacuum drying and found that both damaged the lacquerware's metal-element power.
• Shen Le found that vacuum freeze-drying preserved the fragments, and discovered that extracting 4% of their moisture first prevented damage from freezing.
• Shen Le compared repair sequences and determined that the lacquerware should be dehydrated before its Wood Base was restored.
• Shen Le cleaned the lacquer chest, freeze-dried it over several days, and confirmed that its shape and lacquer film remained intact.
• Shen Le restored the Wood Base with growth spells, nutrient solution, divine weapons, and mental power, then prepared to fill in the lacquer layer.

Shen Le repaired the lacquer chest with spiritual energy, awakening a vision of Marquis of Liu Zhang Liang meeting the Ghost Valley Hidden Lineage. The chapter left Shen Le watching Zhang Liang examine a roster of Hidden Lineage disciples and trying to understand their history.

• Shen Le prepared lacquer materials, applied primer inside the chest’s cracks, polished them, and bonded the damaged black lacquer film back into place.
• Shen Le painted the chest’s vermilion patterns, guided by the metallic energy within the cinnabar, while Professor Jiang watched from the observation room.
• The chest erupted in flames of spirituality, and Professor Jiang panicked until Silk Skirt, black hair, and an electronic voice calmed him.
• Shen Le saw a vision of Marquis of Liu Zhang Liang receiving the Dukang Map and discussing the suffering of the Ghost Valley Hidden Lineage with the old assassin Xin.
• Zhang Liang opened a wooden chest and examined the roster of Ghost Valley Hidden Lineage disciples as Shen Le tried to piece together their connections.

Shen Le witnessed Zhang Liang end the Ghost Valley lineage’s inheritance and seal its artifacts away, then returned to the laboratory as their restoration awakened the lacquered chest’s Artifact Spirit. The newly awakened spirit appeared as a sword phantom, and Shen Le realized it could provide the metal energy needed by the Dragon Palace Dharma Vessel.

• Zhang Liang revisited the Madam Xu Dagger, Dukang Map, Bolang Mace, and wooden weapons, recalling their history and channeling golden energy into the weapons he selected.
• Zhang Liang read the Ghost Valley Hidden Lineage records and told the disciples that the Hidden Lineage and his own literary branch would end, allowing them to leave or remain in peace.
• Zhang Liang placed the lineage’s records, martial arts, and treasured artifacts into a lacquered chest, declaring that its inheritance could await a future time of unrest.
• Shen Le came back to himself in the laboratory as the restored lacquered chest glowed and drew the artifacts into itself.
• A sword-shaped Artifact Spirit awakened above the chest and asked where it was, while Shen Le recognized its metal-element energy could serve the Dragon Palace Dharma Vessel.

Shen Le named the newly awakened sword spirit Hidden Abyss and enlisted it to help repair the Dragon Lord’s Dharma Vessel. At the Dragon Palace, Hidden Abyss absorbed the vessel’s golden energy and drew the three divine weapons into the work, beginning to guide the energy into spirit jade.

• Shen Le explained the passage of more than 2,200 years to the silent sword spirit and named it Hidden Abyss.
• Hidden Abyss watched a brief history of China and said it would fight if foreign enemies invaded, then tried to return to sleep.
• Shen Le persuaded Hidden Abyss to help remove the stubborn metal-element energy damaging the Dragon Lord’s Dharma Vessel.
• Shen Le traveled to Poyang Lake, where Qing Li and the water demons prepared an altar and spirit jade for the repair.
• When Shen Le opened the seal slightly, Hidden Abyss absorbed the golden light and awakened the three divine weapons around the lacquered chest.
• Hidden Abyss distributed the golden energy among the weapons and began directing it into the spirit jade, prompting the assembled group to celebrate its progress.

Shen Le and the Dragon Palace’s water demons worked to remove the golden light clinging to the damaged magic vessel, and Shen Le gained a breakthrough that accelerated the process. As the hull began repairing itself, Shen Le continued weaving protective formations around it despite his exhaustion, until a sword called for his help so it could see the other side.

• Qing Li organized the water demons into an assembly line to carry filled Spirit Jades away and bring fresh ones while Hidden Abyss guided golden light from the vessel.
• After studying the golden light for forty-nine days, Shen Le shaped it into a weapon and gained insight into the ancient will behind the strike that had damaged the vessel.
• Shen Le helped remove the remaining golden light, and after eighty-one days the vessel’s exposed Building Tree branches began growing under a rain of growth Talisman power.
• Qing Li placed Formation nodes made from Copper of Mount Shou and Jade of Kunshan, while Shen Le wove yuan magnetic energy and Ming Dynasty Xia light into the vessel’s protective formations.
• Exhausted, Shen Le heard a sword call for help so it could see the other side.

Shen Le completed repairs to the dharma vessel, then joined the Dragon Lord’s journey beyond the heavens to seal the water eye. As the vessel crossed the water eye, Shen Le saw the world barrier from outside and the violent spiritual energy surging against it.

• Shen Le repaired the dharma vessel’s hull and formations, and it rose from the lake as a giant vessel before a golden beam struck it in an illusion of a battle between the Dragon Lord and a massive force.
• The Dragon Lord gathered the Dragon Palace’s waters into the vessel, while Qing Li reassured Shen Le that water from Pengli Marsh would replenish the palace barrier.
• A crystal containing the Dragon Lord’s brother rose from the lakebed, and the Girl in White Dress arrived and clung to it as the Dragon Lord told her he was recovering.
• The Dragon Lord appointed Qing Li to govern the Dragon Palace while he went beyond the heavens to seal the water eye and gather vital essence.
• Shen Le asked to accompany the Dragon Lord, who agreed and transported him aboard the dharma vessel.
• The vessel plunged through the water eye and reached the world barrier, where Shen Le saw chaotic colors and violent spiritual energy surging from beyond it.