Recaps

Shen Le reached the museum holding the Chime Bells’ matching rack and arranged access to its collections by posing as an art foundation representative. After learning the rack’s pieces were split between an exhibition and the storeroom, he entered the museum with Anderson Virche and discovered that Anderson had mistaken the ancient bell stand for Warring States bronze figures.

• Shen Le fled a dangerous alley, crossed beneath the traffic, and spotted dense black clouds hanging over the area.
• Shen Le located the Chime Bells’ matching rack inside the museum’s new building and learned that two pieces were exhibited while two were stored underground.
• Anderson Virche approached Shen Le, and Shen Le introduced himself as Lawrence Shen of the Tracing Light Foundation.
• Anderson offered to arrange a supervised visit to the storeroom and exhibition areas in exchange for a possible cultural-artifact trade.
• The next morning, Anderson guided Shen Le to the exhibited bronze figures, which Shen Le recognized as parts of a Spring and Autumn bell stand.

Shen Le offered spiritually charged artifacts to Anderson while negotiating for bronze treasures at the museum, then left town with a suspicious box Anderson had given him. After reaching a new city, Shen Le sensed a dangerous intruder in his hotel room, and a streak of sword light burst through the door ahead of him.

• Shen Le inspected the museum’s bronze figures and identified the pieces he wanted while Qing Deng and Huang Yutong located its surveillance and spiritual detection equipment.
• Shen Le showed Anderson a whale horn, a sinister clay figurine, and a deep-blue scale, which captured the old man’s intense interest.
• Shen Le exchanged contact information with Anderson and accepted a catalog and a small box that the spirits warned contained something evil.
• Shen Le departed with the box, which Huang Yutong swallowed; the spirits contained and examined it while Anderson discovered his own detector could no longer sense his treasure.
• Shen Le drove to another city, checked into a hotel, and sensed a cold, restrained presence inside his room.
• Qing Deng plunged the hotel into darkness as Shen Le prepared to attack, but a streak of sword light burst through the door first.

Shen Le and his spiritual artifacts swiftly subdued four armed intruders who attacked his hotel room, then staged a false escape and transported the captives underground. He began questioning them about who had sent them.

• Shen Le raised a barrier as seven Porcelain Swords disarmed and disabled the four intruders, while Qing Deng cut off their electronics and the Silk Skirts and Lan Zhuang restrained them.
• Shen Le inspected the ruined room and learned that no spiritual traps or tracking marks were present, while hotel security approached.
• Shen Le used Xiao Ling and Lan Zhuang to create a false impression that the intruders had escaped through the window, then had the Mud Figurines collect the captives and their equipment.
• Shen Le used the Earth Escape Art to take the captives deep underground and formed a room where he could question them.
• Shen Le asked the four immobilized men who had sent them.

After interrogating the captured intruders, Shen Le learned they had been hired to rob him and suspected Anderson Virche had commissioned the attack. He tracked the bronze bell racks to a location near Anderson's estate and confronted him, only for armed guards to burst into the room.

• Shen Le used Hidden Abyss to interrogate the intruders, who revealed that an intermediary had hired them to take everything he owned and leave no survivors.
• Shen Le decided Anderson Virche was the likely client, stripped the intruders of their belongings, and buried them and their stone coffins underground.
• Shen Le took the intruders' van and used the Chime Bells to locate the relocated bronze bell racks near Anderson's home.
• Shen Le entered Anderson's estate at night while his companions prepared to monitor its security systems and defenses.
• Shen Le appeared in Anderson's study and confronted him, but armed guards shattered the wall and aimed their guns at Shen Le.

Shen Le confronted the mercenaries and the mysterious blond man who tried to seize his antiques under the authority of an organization called the Sanctuary. After defeating the blond man’s supernatural restraints and taking the antiques, Shen Le learned the Sanctuary’s apparent religious identity, leaving their conflict unresolved.

• Shen Le disabled the gunmen’s spiritual barriers and weapons, then questioned Old Anderson about who had summoned them and arranged the teleportation arrays.
• Shen Le opened Anderson’s safe, found Chinese artifacts, and prepared to take them before a powerful field suppressed spiritual energy throughout the villa.
• A blond man arrived, claimed to represent an organization enforcing supernatural-item regulations, and attacked Shen Le with a technological network of radiant chains.
• Shen Le disrupted the chains with metal and wood powers, injured the blond man, and transported the safe and its contents into the Ancient Residence space.
• The blond man identified his organization as the Sanctuary, and Shen Le concluded that its members were Jews.

Shen Le killed the Sanctuary’s employer and escaped the villa by faking a magical departure to Diagon Alley. He continued searching for the bronze chime-stand fragments, unaware that the Sanctuary was preparing for him at his next destination.

• Shen Le killed the blond man and Old Anderson, then destroyed the estate’s electronic records and erased its energy fluctuations while sparing the household staff and mercenaries.
• Shen Le staged his escape through green flames by shouting “Diagon Alley,” then used Earth Escape to reach his truck and leave the area.
• Sanctuary operatives questioned the surviving mercenaries and discussed whether to cooperate with Shen Le, but he had already changed his identity and driven away.
• Shen Le reached the Art Institute of Chicago and bought bronze fittings and plates that brought his collection of chime-stand fragments to one-third.
• Shen Le headed toward the East Coast to find the remaining fragments, while Sanctuary operatives gathered at a major museum and prepared to watch anyone seeking bronze artifacts.

Shen Le evaded Sanctuary’s surveillance while sightseeing around Big Apple City, where spiritual sight revealed both the city’s grandeur and its hidden corruption. After getting lost at night, he found himself in a squalid street where despair was gathering into an evil spirit, and he wondered why the people there did not fight back.

• Calvin ordered Sanctuary to maintain its watch at the Metropolitan Museum and expand its search across Lower City and Midtown after Shen Le failed to appear.
• Shen Le, disguised as a Germanic-looking tourist, explored Financial Street and sensed a vast, dark-golden mass of greed and hatred above the financial district.
• At Ground Zero, Shen Le sensed the grief and fear left by the disaster alongside a pure golden force of courage, sacrifice, and remembrance.
• Shen Le visited Brooklyn Bridge, admired the skyline, and saw black corruption seeping beneath the Bald Eagle’s shining feathers.
• After dark, Shen Le got lost in a neglected street filled with homeless people, foul odors, and signs of violence.
• Shen Le used spiritual sight and saw filth, resentment, and despair gather into a malicious shape in a dark alley, then questioned why the people there did not resist.

Shen Le escaped his pursuers through Big Apple City’s sewers and fled the city, then began preparing to counterfeit the Qing Tea City museum’s chime-bell rack fragments. The chapter left him studying how to replace the genuine artifacts while Mr. Calvin dealt with the failed pursuit and its casualties.

• Shen Le’s ordinary request for help from a police officer exposed him as suspicious, and armed pursuers soon surrounded him.
• Shen Le knocked out the first group without using spiritual power, took two pistols, and escaped into the subway while more pursuers followed.
• Following Hidden Abyss’s directions, Shen Le lured the pursuers into the sewers, where they encountered a giant crocodile and fought it.
• Shen Le fled past the crocodile and the grisly sewer remains, swam through the river, and left Big Apple City aboard Cloud Kun.
• Shen Le checked the Qing Tea City museum’s stored chime-bell rack fragments and began forging copies to replace the originals.
• Mr. Calvin berated the pursuers for losing Shen Le and demanded confirmed results before approving their compensation.

Shen Le stayed on an uninhabited island, where he and his companions worked on aging hundreds of bronze replicas while Calvin prepared defenses for his expected return. After sightseeing across Bald Eagle Country and sensing the power guarding the White House, Shen Le hoped he could take what he needed and leave unnoticed.

• Calvin questioned the museum experts, then ordered a wider search for bronze artifacts and a trap around thirteen bronze figures.
• Shen Le used his knowledge and memories to devise aging treatments for bronze replicas on an uninhabited island.
• Lan Zhuang, Xiao Ling, Zhong Xiaomei's Mud Figurines, Cloud Kun's paper figures, and the Silk Skirts joined Shen Le to speed up the work.
• Shen Le woke to find nearly three hundred bronze fragments treated and promised his helpers instruments, ship models, and Broadway shows as rewards.
• Shen Le changed identities while touring Tea-Dumping City, Big Apple City, and the capital, but the spiritual pressure and giant bird kept him from approaching the White House.
• Shen Le observed Bald Eagle Country's providence and hoped to take what he wanted without alerting anyone.

Shen Le infiltrated the Indian Museum and replaced the chime bell frame fragments with replicas before escaping through the Potomac River. After Calvin’s team connected the thefts to the bell frame, Shen Le learned that the remaining pieces had been moved into a guarded storeroom and realized his next attempt would likely become a major battle.

• Shen Le used the Indian Museum’s ancient aura to conceal himself underground and reached the museum after it closed.
• Shen Le and the little ones replaced the museum’s bell frame fragments with replicas, then fled through the Potomac River while the Bald Eagle attacked.
• Mr. Calvin ordered an investigation, and his team identified the stolen items as small or fragmentary bronze artifacts replaced with replicas.
• Calvin’s team narrowed down the target’s interest to chime bell frame fragments and moved related pieces into a dedicated storeroom.
• Shen Le sensed through the Chime Bells that the remaining artifacts had been moved and realized he would likely face a difficult fight.

Shen Le infiltrated the Metropolitan Museum to retrieve fragments of an ancient bell rack, overcoming its layered magical defenses and collecting several hidden artifacts. He reached the largest storage box, where a powerful spell trapped and crushed him as someone ordered him to surrender.

• Shen Le spent two days surveying the museum, locating the bell-rack fragments and mapping its magical defenses with help from the little ones.
• Shen Le used Earth Escape to enter the museum while a temporary double triggered an alarm, and Qing Deng disabled the surveillance cameras.
• Shen Le reached the underground storeroom, dispelled the anti-concealment light and nanite mist, and Azi absorbed the resentful spirits.
• Shen Le collected a storage box containing bell-rack parts, trapped two werewolves in softened concrete, and knocked three mages unconscious with lightning.
• Shen Le collected more storage boxes before a powerful spell activated around the largest one, pinning him in place as someone shouted, “Hands up! Surrender!”

Shen Le fought through the Sanctuary’s traps beneath Big Apple City as he raced toward the final cache of bronze standing figures. He used Dragon Lord’s flag to break through the citywide holy-light attack and reached the Sanctuary’s heavily sealed final trap.

• Shen Le escaped the museum storeroom by smashing through the floor, then discovered the tunnels below were protected by an anti-escape field and a spatial maze.
• Shen Le resisted infrasound and electromagnetic attacks with help from Xiao Ling and his earth domain, while Qing Deng and Azi dealt with the wraiths.
• Li Xingtang, the immortal sword, and the Porcelain Swords defeated the werewolves and vampires ambushing Shen Le as he continued through the tunnels.
• The Sanctuary gathered holy power from crosses and church bells across Big Apple City, forcing Shen Le’s allies and Five Elements Spirit Domain back.
• Shen Le unleashed the water-element power of Dragon Lord’s flag to counter the holy light and rushed through the last three kilometers to the Sanctuary’s final trap and bronze standing figures.

Shen Le reached the Federal Reserve’s underground gold vault and retrieved the seven Chu bronze figures, but the vault’s wealth and national destiny overwhelmed him and his companions. As the bald eagle spirit prepared to finish them, Shen Le used a branch from Hidden Abyss to awaken the city’s suppressed anger, and the black vapor erupted.

• Shen Le found the seven Chu bronze figures in the gold vault and took them along with their cabinet, triggering a curse that began turning his arm into dark gold.
• Shen Le rang the Chime Bells and declared that he had come to bring the ritual vessels home, breaking the curse’s hold on him.
• Calvin activated the vault’s final defense, unleashing the gold’s power and a bald eagle spirit that attacked Shen Le and his companions.
• The bald eagle shattered the Water-Gathering Flag, injured Shen Le’s allies, and left Shen Le badly wounded against the vault wall.
• Shen Le raised Hidden Abyss’s wooden branch and called on the city’s oppressed people and their buried anger; after he shouted, “Are kings, nobles, generals, and ministers born to their station?!”, the black vapor exploded.

Shen Le destroyed the Bald Eagle’s spiritual form by unleashing the accumulated suffering and resentment beneath Big Apple City, healing his companions as the city’s supernatural defenses collapsed. He escaped by river with Cloud Kun, and the Dragon Lord arrived to take them home with all the clock-frame components.

• Dragon Lord sensed Shen Le’s battle and watched as purple lightning struck Big Apple City’s landmarks and black vapor rose from underground.
• The suffering and resentment of the city’s dead engulfed the Bald Eagle, while black fire spread to Calvin and those connected to him.
• Shen Le’s companions healed in the falling rain as the land’s power and the city’s defenses were consumed, exposing it to supernatural threats.
• Shen Le flooded the underground vault and escaped down the Hudson River aboard Cloud Kun with the Artifact Spirits.
• A bizarre creature attacked the boat, and Shen Le drove it off with lightning before resting while Cloud Kun carried them toward the sea.
• Dragon Lord lifted Shen Le and the others through space, confirmed Shen Le had recovered every clock-frame component, and announced they would go home.

After returning from Bald Eagle Country, Shen Le reported the supernatural disasters and denied taking anything from the underground gold vault. He spent months restoring the Chime Bells and their frame, which rang by themselves and sent colored light into the sky once completed.

• Shen Le reported his mission to Gu Yulin and the director of Shanghai's Special Affairs Bureau, while Little Oil Lamp prepared an illustrated account of what they had witnessed.
• Shen Le warned the bureau about supernatural threats and insisted he had taken no gold from the underground vault; Little Oil Lamp confirmed that his identity had been concealed.
• The director asked Shen Le to seek the bureau's help when he needed to gather power for Chu's gods, and Shen Le left to begin restoring the bell frame.
• Shen Le and his helpers catalogued and repaired hundreds of bronze fragments while he arranged special drying for the timber and carefully restored the frame.
• As Shen Le finished the frame and hung the Chime Bells, they rang on their own and sent colored light into the sky.

Shen Le witnessed Chu Kingdom’s officials dispute the resources for King Huai’s funeral, while divinations and the High Shaman’s observations revealed the kingdom’s decline. Sent to find Qu Yuan for a ritual hymn, Shen Le left Ying Capital and saw King Huai’s coffin arrive amid the people’s cries for his soul to return.

• Shen Le entered the chime bells’ memory and watched General Qu, Jin Shang, and Zilan argue over how many chariots and horses should be buried with King Huai.
• King Qingxiang deferred the funeral decision to the gods, and the High Shaman proclaimed that both a lavish and a simple burial foretold great calamity.
• The High Shaman told Shen Le that the gods had long stopped sending revelations and sent him to ask Qu Yuan to write another ritual hymn.
• Shen Le left Ying Capital for North Han and saw its gaunt, despondent people and signs of widespread decline.
• King Huai’s coffin arrived in Ying Capital, and the crowd followed it, crying for their king’s soul to return.

Shen Le traveled from Ying Capital to find the exiled Qu Yuan and deliver the High Ritual Shaman’s request for new sacrificial hymns. After Qu Yuan rejected the idea of using songs to win the gods’ favor, Shen Le persuaded him to preserve Chu’s gods and traditions in writing, and Qu Yuan began composing as divine visions filled the hut.

• Shen Le left Ying Capital after witnessing the people mourn King Huai of Chu and traveled through villages devastated by war and hardship.
• After asking around north of the Han River, Shen Le found Qu Yuan living beside a bleak river and presented the High Ritual Shaman’s request for new hymns.
• Qu Yuan took Shen Le to a local earth-god shrine, where the weary villagers performed a lifeless sacrifice and questioned whether their gods still watched over them.
• Qu Yuan rejected the request and threw down his bamboo slips, but Shen Le argued that Chu’s gods and songs deserved to be preserved for future generations.
• Qu Yuan agreed to write, and as he composed the sacrificial hymns, visions of gods, flowers, music, and the Xiang River appeared around the hut.

Shen Le and the chief shaman used Qu Ping’s Nine Songs in a great sacrifice, and the Chu gods answered with visions and blessings. King Qingxiang mistook the divine appearance for a guarantee of safety, and decades later Qin invaded Chu as the chief shaman faced the kingdom’s defeat.

• Shen Le brought Qu Ping’s sacrificial hymns to Ying Capital, and the chief shaman overruled the shamans who opposed using them.
• At the New Year sacrifice, Shen Le and the chief shaman performed Nine Songs, drawing a radiant appearance of Eastern Sovereign Taiyi and other gods.
• As they sang National Mourning, Shen Le saw the spirits of fallen Chu warriors rise, regain their forms, and ascend; the chief shaman told King Qingxiang that the gods had seen them.
• King Qingxiang declared that divine protection made Chu safe, then neglected the people, defenses, and army while devoting himself to sacrifices.
• Twenty years later, Qin invaded Chu, and reports announced its crushing defeats and the fall of Yan City to Bai Qi.
• The white-haired chief shaman closed his eyes and resigned himself to Chu’s fate, knowing the gods could not win its mortal wars.

As Qin forces captured Ying Capital, Shen Le and the High Shaman performed a desperate sacrifice that summoned Chu’s gods, who fought the gods of Qin and the Central Plains. The sacrifice continued as Chu’s gods fell, until Chiyou noticed the ancestral temple’s bells and shattered them.

• Qin troops breached Ying Capital after burning Chu’s royal tombs, while the king and his court fled and the High Shaman chose to remain in the ancestral temple.
• Shen Le stayed with the High Shaman and struck the chime bells as the old man sang the Nine Songs, summoning Chu’s gods.
• The gods of Qin and the Central Plains overwhelmed Chu’s divine host, destroying the Lord of the Clouds, the Lord of the East, and the Directors of Fate as fighting spread through the city.
• The River Earl and Mountain Ghost joined Chu’s defense while Qin soldiers battered the ancestral temple’s gates.
• Chiyou noticed the ringing bells and shattered the largest chime bells with a single glance.

Shen Le continued the final rite as the Qin army entered Ying Capital and Chu’s gods fell. Qu Yuan and the Dragon Lord intervened, and the chapter ended with the Dragon Lord drawing the warriors’ heroic spirits into the rain as Haotian’s power overwhelmed the water curtain.

• The Chime Bells shattered, and the dying High Shaman asked Shen Le to continue singing; Shen Le put on the ritual robe and mask and took up the surviving mallets.
• Shen Le changed the melody’s starting note to compensate for the destroyed bass bells and sang Chu’s final elegy as the Qin army advanced and Chu’s gods died.
• Rushou wounded Lord Xiang and prepared to strike Lady Xiang, but the Dragon Lord arrived and shielded the two gods.
• The Dragon Lord fought Rushou, Chiyou, and Haotian’s power while Qu Yuan sang the elegy from the Miluo River and Shen Le joined him.
• As Haotian’s golden light broke the Dragon Lord’s water curtain, the resulting raindrops enveloped the warriors’ heroic spirits and drew them toward the Dragon Lord.

Shen Le relived the fall of Chu through the Chime Bells as the Dragon Lord and Lady Xiang defended the kingdom’s people and its heroic spirits before the Qin gods. After the vision ended, Lady Xiang confirmed the bells were the originals and said more preparations were needed before they could be played to awaken Lord Xiang.

• Shen Le struck the Chime Bells and watched the Dragon Lord and Lady Xiang summon the waters to defend the Ying Capital while Chu’s heroic spirits resisted the flood.
• The Dragon Lord shielded Lord Xiang from Rushou’s axe, then withdrew into the river as ancient deities drove the Qin gods away.
• Qin soldiers seized Shen Le and carried off the Chime Bells while he sang of Chu’s lost gods and people.
• Shen Le returned to the Studio, where the restored bells and the little ones helped him recover from the vision.
• The next day, Shen Le brought the bells to the Xiang Mountain Secret Realm, where Lady Xiang confirmed their identity and said they needed to do more before playing them to awaken Lord Xiang.

Shen Le negotiated a New Year's gala slot for a Chime Bells performance intended to awaken Lord Xiang, then sought help creating a new dance. After Shen Le healed the lead performer’s knee and played the Chime Bells for him, the performer found inspiration and agreed to choreograph again.

• Shen Le persuaded the officials and Mango TV representatives to reserve a satellite venue for his program, with its highlights shown during the New Year's gala.
• Shen Le offered the dance company generous compensation, but its lead performer said he had no inspiration left for new choreography.
• Shen Le healed the lead performer’s old knee injury and asked him to watch a Chime Bells performance for inspiration.
• Shen Le performed in ritual robes as Lan Zhuang and Scroll projected scenes from Chu’s history and the fall of its gods.
• The lead performer, moved to tears, told Shen Le he had an idea and would try choreographing a new dance.

Shen Le led a live performance of the Nine Songs at Lady Xiang Shrine to gather faith and awaken Lord Xiang. The ritual awakened Lord Xiang and ended with his reunion with Lady Xiang, while their released divine power swept outward and changed heaven and earth.

• Shen Le began the ritual performance with the restored Chime Bells as dancers, musicians, and a nationwide audience joined the ceremony.
• The performance gathered powerful faith, causing spiritual energy to rise, mist to spread, and the crystal sealing Lord Xiang to crack.
• Lord Xiang’s awakening stirred waterways across the region, and the Dragon Lord left the Secret Realm to control the water veins.
• Shen Le performed National Mourning, summoning the memories of Chu’s fallen heroes and driving the crystal to break open.
• Lord Xiang awoke and reunited with Lady Xiang, whose combined divine power sent ripples through the Secret Realm and transformed the world before Lady Xiang Shrine.

Shen Le completed the Nine Songs ritual as the Xiang Mountain secret realm overlapped with the mortal world and Lord Xiang and Lady Xiang appeared before the crowd. After the deities withdrew, the Chime Bells awakened and spoke to Shen Le, while a greater change began beyond the human world.

• The Xiang Mountain secret realm appeared above the Lady Xiang Shrine, revealing its mountains, flowers, and ancient Chu inhabitants to the performers and television viewers.
• Lord Xiang and Lady Xiang manifested over the shrine, and the Special Affairs Bureau scrambled to contain the incident while the director ordered the broadcast to continue.
• Shen Le played the final movement of Nine Songs as dancers and secret-realm inhabitants celebrated together, and Lord Xiang and Lady Xiang withdrew after blessing the land of Chu.
• The secret realm vanished, but the Chime Bells rang by themselves and a voice awakened within them.
• Shen Le welcomed the Chime Bells back to Chu, Cloud Dream, as a greater change began at the boundary of the real world and a deeper dimension.

Lord Xiang and Lady Xiang’s awakening strengthened the barrier protecting Chu and calmed the region’s spiritual energy, while the enormous energy surge alarmed the United States. After receiving an American diplomatic demand for an explanation, Huaxia officials decided to deny that any weapons test had occurred and describe the event as a natural phenomenon under investigation.

• Special Affairs Bureau monitoring stations reported that the Xiang gods’ power strengthened the barrier of heaven and earth, stabilized spiritual veins, and lowered abnormal readings across Chu.
• Pentagon analysts detected an energy burst over the Dongting Lake area and concluded that it was powerful but non-destructive, while generals argued over whether Huaxia had tested a new weapon.
• The United States sent Huaxia a formal diplomatic inquiry demanding an explanation for the energy burst and warning of its potential effect on regional and global security.
• Huaxia officials discussed how to respond and chose to deny any weapons test, offering geological activity or unusual meteorological conditions as possible explanations.