Recaps

Shen Le and the Temple Keeper questioned Old Sea Turtle about the Compass and the sunken ship, then made a deal to investigate a nearby surge of Yin energy. The Special Affairs Bureau team found an immense concentration beneath the sea, entered a fog, and sent a desperate call for help.

• Old Sea Turtle said he knew the pirate leader Tianbao Zai but did not know the captain of the ship, and he denied sensing resentment from the ship when it was salvaged.
• Old Sea Turtle complained that humans had destroyed his long-used nest, and the Temple Keeper offered to build artificial reefs and protect stretches of beach he chose.
• Old Sea Turtle revealed that a vast expanse of resentment had recently risen nearby, so he agreed to guide the Special Affairs Bureau team in exchange for cultivation medicine and reefs at three locations.
• The Special Affairs Bureau team sailed out to survey the area while Shen Le continued making Old Sea Turtle's shell bed.
• The team detected Yin energy hundreds of times denser below the surface and found a hole or crack where its concentration exceeded a thousand times the surface level.
• Old Sea Turtle descended with the survey equipment, after which the team reported fog, uncertainty about their location, and a cry for help.

Shen Le searched for the missing ship and Special Affairs Bureau personnel after they vanished near the coast, but conventional and supernatural searches found no trace of them. Using the Copper Fragment and Compass underwater, he glimpsed a stormy place filled with ships, yet failed to locate the missing vessel and wondered if repairing the Compass further could help.

• The Special Affairs Bureau lost all contact with its ship and crew, and Shen Le worried that his attempt to deal with Old Sea Turtle had led to their disappearance.
• Old You searched the nearby waters with Old Sea Turtle’s wife but could not find him, and Shen Le joined the Bureau’s renewed search.
• The Bureau’s divers, the Temple Keeper, the ghost, and Shen Le found no explanation for the disappearance in the surrounding waters.
• Shen Le used the Copper Fragment and Compass underwater, creating a vortex as he reached out with his thoughts.
• Shen Le glimpsed many ships caught in a stormy, unfamiliar place, but his meditation broke before he could find the missing ship.
• After Shen Le could not reproduce the vision, the bureau chief asked whether improving the Compass might strengthen his search.

Shen Le restored the compass enough to absorb much of the resentment in the museum, then used it to relive Tianbao’s memories of joining the Red Flag Gang. The memories ended with news that Brother Long had died.

• Shen Le used Doctor Senior Brother’s supercritical CO2 process to treat shipwreck wood, then applied it to the compass and found that its spiritual nature remained intact.
• The strengthened compass absorbed resentment from the museum’s bones, weapons, and Star-Guiding Board, but could take in only a little from the shipwreck in the tank.
• Shen Le meditated with the compass and witnessed Tianbao, a thirteen-year-old orphan, meet Sister Long and join the Red Flag Gang.
• Tianbao trained as a sailor, rose to captain his own ship, and became Brother Long and Sister Long’s adopted son.
• Someone announced that Brother Long had died, shocking the Red Flag Gang.

Shen Le witnessed Tianbao help Sister Long take control of the Red Flag Gang, then learned how the couple’s resistance ended in betrayal and death. He used the Compass to locate the Special Affairs Bureau’s missing research vessel trapped beyond a dark curtain, and the Bureau opened a way for it to escape.

• Tianbao returned with Old Toad’s head and backed Sister Long’s claim to lead the Red Flag Gang, securing her command with the support of his men.
• Tianbao helped Sister Long reform the gang and turn its attacks toward foreign ships, but the Qing Dynasty allied with the Portuguese to crush the pirates.
• Tianbao and Sister Long accepted amnesty, only to face suspicion and suppression before their ship was destroyed by supposed allies.
• Shen Le realized the dead pirates wanted the court’s betrayal avenged and contacted the Special Affairs Bureau after replenishing his spiritual energy.
• Shen Le used the Compass to reveal the dark curtain surrounding the missing research vessel, and the Special Affairs Bureau opened a gap through which the vessel escaped.

Shen Le and the rescuers found the missing people, then helped the Special Affairs Bureau measure and attack the vast Nether Sky Curtain. The curtain endured a massive missile barrage, and Katyusha rocket launchers began firing as the chapter ended.

• The rescuers reunited with the missing people, who described being trapped in a stormy realm of ghost ships and credited Old Sea Turtle with protecting them.
• Shen Le used the Compass to probe the Nether Sky Curtain and discovered that it stretched beyond his reach, while Drones vanished inside it.
• The Special Affairs Bureau launched a missile barrage that weakened the curtain and destroyed many ghost ships, but failed to clear the area.
• Shen Le watched two ships fire Katyusha rockets into the curtain and began singing the Katyusha song.

Shen Le and the fleet cleared the gray-black curtain with thermite weapons, then searched for lingering danger beneath the sea. When a Mazu Temple ceremony could not reach the stubborn spirits, Shen Le told them how China had changed, and the gray-black presence vanished.

• The fleet tested rockets, shells, torpedoes, and other weapons against the curtain until thermite warheads from unmanned obstacle-clearing boats burned it away.
• Shen Le used the Compass and Copper Fragment to sense lingering gray-black lights on the seabed, which he suspected were spirits capable of drawing netherworld power.
• A powerful Mazu Temple Keeper performed a ceremony to deliver the spirits, but some remained fixed to the seabed.
• Shen Le asked the Temple Keepers to lend him their power, then shouted news of Hong Kong and Macau's return and China's strength across the sea.
• The ships played footage and the national anthem as a gray-black wave rose, passed through the golden light, and swallowed the remaining darkness.

Shen Le absorbed energy while meditating at sea, cleared the ancient shipwreck artifacts of dark energy, and repaired the Compass. He then met Gui Tianran and another sea turtle, who asked him to take in their young child.

• Shen Le meditated aboard the boat and used the energy around him to break through the Chong and Dai Meridians.
• Shen Le returned to the museum and used the Compass to remove the dark energy from the shipwreck artifacts.
• Shen Le repaired the Compass overnight, and it pointed him toward Gui Tianran and another sea turtle.
• The female sea turtle offered Shen Le two Seaweed Bags and asked him to let her young sea turtle come with him.

After Shen Le agreed to visit Little Sea Turtle at a protected reserve, he returned home with spiritually infused pearls and entered Heavenly Fragrance Restaurant’s mysterious storeroom to choose an item. His search ended when the proprietress warned him away from a bright red bridal veil, but he touched it anyway, and the short blade resting on it slid from its sheath.

• Shen Le refused to raise Little Sea Turtle at home, so the Special Affairs Bureau arranged for the turtle to live at Huidong Sea Turtle Reserve while Shen Le visited once a month.
• Gui Tianran and his wife agreed to cooperate with the Special Affairs Bureau and offered Shen Le pearls and other marine gifts.
• Shen Le brought home a bag of spiritually infused pearls, shared them with the little ones and Ah Lu, and promised the proprietress at Old Street at least ten pearls.
• The proprietress of Heavenly Fragrance Restaurant led Shen Le through a door shaped like a Landscape Painting into her vast storeroom and invited him to take anything he liked.
• Shen Le used his Spirit Eye and touched the stored objects, but the Copper Fragment gave no response until he reached a Red Bridal Veil.
• The proprietress warned Shen Le not to touch the Red Bridal Veil, but he did, and the Short Blade on top slid out of its sheath with a faint ring.

Shen Le brought home a damaged Wedding Dress and a Short Blade, hoping to restore them and awaken their spirits. After he carefully cleaned and stored the blade, it broke out of its case and attacked him, while the other household spirits offered to beat it up.

• Shen Le insisted on buying the damaged Wedding Dress and Short Blade from the proprietress, trading the pearls Old Sea Turtle had given him.
• The proprietress packed the items and gave Shen Le a bottle of Bigu Elixir, and he learned her storeroom was inside a Landscape Painting.
• Shen Le returned home, where Ah Lu used the pearls' Water Spiritual Energy and drenched him with a precisely aimed shower.
• Shen Le documented the Wedding Dress and Short Blade, cleaned and oiled the blade, and placed it in a temperature- and humidity-controlled Storage Box.
• The Short Blade burst open the Storage Box and tracked Shen Le as he dodged, while Little Ink Marker and Little Oil Lamp offered to beat it up.

Shen Le calmed and began repairing the spirited short blade, but it pulled him into a memory of an old street where a butcher’s daughter, Lin Ya'er, quietly courted a poor young scholar. The scholar finally recognized her feelings and told her he would not let her down.

• Shen Le soothed Little Oil Lamp and coaxed the short blade into its scabbard before promising to restore it patiently.
• Shen Le measured and stored the Wedding Dress, then repaired the short blade’s scabbard, wooden hilt, and copper parts with Zheng Mo’s help.
• The short blade’s glow transported Shen Le into a memory, where he watched Lin Ya'er skillfully sell pork and repeatedly give extra food to a young scholar.
• Granny Huang teased Lin Ya'er about liking the scholar, while Lin Ya'er worried that a butcher’s daughter could not be a suitable match for him.
• The young scholar returned and told Lin Ya'er that he understood her feelings and would not let her down.

Shen Le witnessed the Short Blade’s memories of a young couple separated when Miss Lin’s father died, then began researching and preparing to restore the Wedding Dress. The Special Affairs Bureau arranged laboratory access in exchange for visits to Little Sea Turtle, and Dr. Qin gave Shen Le a Phoenix Coronet that had belonged with the dress.

• Shen Le watched Miss Lin leave by boat after her father died and her uncle tried to force her into marriage, while the young man promised to marry her after passing the county-level exam.
• Shen Le decided to restore the Wedding Dress and ease the pain bound to the Short Blade, so he studied textile conservation and asked the Special Affairs Bureau to arrange laboratory access.
• The Special Affairs Bureau provided Shen Le with a lab two days later in exchange for weekly visits to Little Sea Turtle.
• Shen Le examined garment samples and documented the Wedding Dress’s fibers, pigments, adhesives, contaminants, and mold as he planned its restoration.
• Dr. Qin warned Shen Le that the Wedding Dress had once tried to wrap itself around him, then gave Shen Le the Phoenix Coronet he had bought with the dress.

Shen Le carefully cleaned and wet-washed the ancient Slow Curtains as practice for restoring the Red Wedding Dress. When he brought out the Horse-Face Skirt, the wedding garments swarmed around him, then fell quiet at a fragrance from the Makeup Box, whose rainbow light outlined a woman's figure and made him fear the bride's soul was still attached to the dress.

• Shen Le found the grimy, spiritually powerful Slow Curtains in the Old Mansion and asked Little Ink Marker to take them down.
• Shen Le documented the curtains, vacuumed them over two days, and tested cleaning methods on three small patches.
• After the tests showed that diluted Glacial Acetic Acid worked without fading or damaging the silk, Shen Le washed the curtains and laid them flat to dry.
• Shen Le took the Horse-Face Skirt from the cabinet, and the wedding garments flew out and tried to wrap themselves around him.
• A delicate fragrance stopped the garments, which assembled themselves and sat beside the table as the Makeup Box opened and cast rainbow light over them.
• Shen Le saw the light outline a tall, athletic figure and worried that the young bride's soul remained attached to the Red Wedding Dress.

Shen Le calmed the Red Wedding Dress with Lan Zhuang’s help and began documenting and cleaning its garments in preparation for a careful repair. After discovering the Horse-Face Skirt’s damaged twisted gold thread was made with an unusual silk core and adhesive, he sought a replacement and learned the proprietress could introduce him to a Silkworm Demon who could spin gold thread.

• Lan Zhuang soothed the Red Wedding Dress, and the Compass confirmed that no ghost was attached to it.
• Shen Le promised to repair the Red Wedding Dress patiently, and Lan Zhuang relayed that it would wait as long as he kept working on it.
• Shen Le inspected the wedding garments, then documented and cleaned the Horse-Face Skirt, whose embroidered hem had lost most of its gold thread and seed pearls.
• Shen Le examined the broken thread and learned it was twisted gold foil wrapped around a silk core with an adhesive layer, then tested its composition in Binhai.
• Dr. Qin could not provide replacement thread, but the proprietress offered to introduce Shen Le to a Silkworm Demon who could spin it from gold.

Shen Le searched for historically appropriate gold thread and practiced the delicate steps needed to restore the Red Wedding Dress. After his supernatural helpers failed to sew, he meditated with the Copper Fragment, which finally activated and revealed two designs.

• Shen Le rejected the Silkworm Demon's gold silk because its construction and demonic energy made it unsuitable for restoring the Red Wedding Dress.
• Old You found Qing Dynasty gold thread in a costume studio, and Shen Le ordered him to buy as much as possible in several sizes and ply counts.
• Shen Le practiced straightening damaged damp fabric and carefully unpicking stitches while recording the textile's construction.
• Shen Le asked his magical companions for help with embroidery, but Little Ink Marker, Little Puppet, the Compass, and the Makeup Box could not assist; Little Oil Lamp activated the computer, where Dongfang Bubai embroidered remotely.
• Shen Le meditated with the Copper Fragment and repeatedly traced its two known designs until it lit up with them again, signaling that it was casting another spell.

Shen Le discovered that the Copper Fragment had given him a Healing Talisman and a second talisman that sharpened his mental control, letting him mend the Slow Curtain with hydrolyzed silk protein. With Lan Zhuang identifying matching threads, he found an efficient way to repair the damaged fabric.

• Shen Le drew and activated the first talisman, then discovered it healed a cut on his hand and helped grass grow by consuming its reserves.
• Shen Le tested the Healing Talisman on the torn Slow Curtain and learned that hydrolyzed silk protein could join its broken threads permanently.
• Shen Le found that repairing one centimeter of the tear with the Healing Talisman was exhausting and slow.
• Shen Le activated both talismans together and discovered the second improved his precision and control.
• Shen Le asked Lan Zhuang to mark matching thread ends, then used both talismans and hydrolyzed protein to mend five centimeters of the tear efficiently.

Shen Le perfected a silk fibroin method for repairing the Slow Curtain, then discovered bloodstains on the Red Wedding Dress's Brocade Jacket. After confirming the stains with Luminol, he wondered how to clean the garment without removing them.

• Shen Le used mental power and Silk Fibroin Solution to repair the Slow Curtain so flawlessly that the Red Wedding Dress was impressed, though it noted the method could not restore embroidery.
• Shen Le began cleaning the Brocade Jacket and noticed patches and droplets on its lining that looked like blood.
• Shen Le called Gu Yulin for Luminol Reagent, and Gu Yulin rushed over after worrying that a recent crime had occurred at Shen Le's home.
• Shen Le tested the suspected stains with Luminol and a UV Lamp, confirming that they were blood.
• Shen Le wondered what had happened to the Red Wedding Dress's owner and how he could clean the jacket while preserving the bloodstains.

Shen Le investigated the bloodstains on the Red Wedding Dress and learned that the blood belonged to a man while the tissue fragments belonged to a woman. After preserving the stains and cleaning most of the outfit, he was swept into a vision of Border Town centuries in the past.

• Shen Le asked the Red Wedding Dress whether it wanted its bloodstains removed, then called his advisor for guidance on testing them.
• Shen Le asked Gu Yulin to arrange DNA testing and a crime scene investigator, who took samples after Shen Le carefully opened the Brocade Jacket.
• Gu Yulin told Shen Le that the blood belonged to a man and the tissue fragments to a woman, reassuring him that the Pork Beauty's blood was not on the dress.
• Shen Le decided to preserve the bloodstains until the Red Wedding Dress's memories and Artifact Spirit were complete, then cleaned and reshaped the outfit's garments.
• The Red Wedding Dress emitted a burst of red light that enveloped Shen Le and transported him to Border Town centuries in the past.

Shen Le witnessed a memory of the Wedding Dress’s owner leading a caravan through drought-stricken territory, where she protected the travelers from bandits. After safely completing several shipments, she returned to the small city where she was born and stood before the scholar.

• Shen Le saw the Wedding Dress’s owner buy flatbreads for a starving old man and his children in a poor, dusty town.
• The young woman led her caravan onward through drought-damaged fields and warned her guards to prepare for bandits.
• She ordered the wagons linked into a defensive circle when she sensed danger, then refused the Black Wind Stronghold boss’s demand for the goods and for her.
• The young woman used her slingshot to knock down the bandit leader and his strongest men, forcing the bandits to flee.
• After escorting several shipments safely, she returned to her birthplace and stood before the scholar.

Shen Le repaired the wedding garments by guiding needle and thread with his mental power, then realized his laptop still associated his technique with Dongfang Bubai. He was left protesting that he had not trained himself into Dongfang Bubai.

• Shen Le watched Miss Lin return to the scholar, accept his proposal, and leave again to earn money for their future home.
• Shen Le began repairing the red wedding dress set, using his mental power to mend the gold embroidery on the slow curtain.
• Shen Le used spiritual perception to guide an embroidery needle through the fabric and repaired the curtain’s broken gold threads and cloud patterns.
• Shen Le resewed the brocade jacket and trousers, restored their silk batting, and repaired damaged fabric with matching thread and silk fibroin solution.
• Shen Le’s laptop opened and replayed a video of Dongfang Bubai throwing silver needles, prompting him to insist that he had not trained himself into Dongfang Bubai.

After spending a week studying and practicing embroidery to map the Red Wedding Dress’s patterns and stitches, Shen Le refused to continue and went to Sea Turtle Bay to rest. During meditation, his sharper mental power accidentally shaved a chunk off Old Sea Turtle, leaving him alarmed.

• Shen Le researched embroidery tutorials, traced the Horse-Face Skirt’s patterns, and practiced stitches to identify the techniques used on the Red Wedding Dress.
• After seven or eight days, Shen Le finished marking the patterns and stitches but refused to embroider more, despite the Red Wedding Dress and Short Blade’s protests.
• Little Puppet tried to comfort Shen Le with a mournful song, and Shen Le escaped when his phone rang.
• Shen Le accepted Old Sea Turtle’s invitation and traveled to Sea Turtle Bay to visit Little Sea Turtle and meditate.
• Old Sea Turtle noticed Shen Le’s power had become sharper, and Shen Le accidentally shaved a chunk off him while meditating.

Shen Le discovered that Old Sea Turtle was covered in barnacles and hidden creatures carrying sinister Yin energy, so he cleaned and purified the turtles. Old Sea Turtle revealed that he had found the energy on a strange island in the East Sea and offered Shen Le an unusual object from there.

• Shen Le scraped barnacles off Old Sea Turtle and had a Special Affairs Bureau agent help clean Female Sea Turtle.
• Old Sea Turtle explained that the barnacles gathered vital energy and that he benefited from the energy they collected.
• Shen Le sensed creatures hidden beneath Old Sea Turtle's skin and pulled them out with his spiritual power.
• Shen Le summoned Qing Deng, who used an electric net to remove the remaining Yin energy from Old Sea Turtle, Female Sea Turtle, and Little Sea Turtle.
• Old Sea Turtle admitted that he had entered a strange island in the East Sea while searching for something to help pay for the child's tuition.
• Old Sea Turtle tossed Shen Le an unusual object he had found on the island, and Shen Le's gaze sharpened.

Shen Le traced the Red Wedding Dress’s spiritual light to a buried grave on an uninhabited island and uncovered objects connected to a young woman who had gone missing at sea. He marked the grave and asked Old Sea Turtle to search the sea for more clues, while carrying two mysterious objects back to repair.

• Shen Le recognized the spiritual light on Old Sea Turtle’s find as the same light he had seen on the Red Wedding Dress and asked to be taken to where it was found.
• Female Sea Turtle carried Shen Le across the water to the island, where he followed Old Sea Turtle’s trail and discovered signs of an abandoned settlement.
• Shen Le and Old Sea Turtle dug up a burial pit containing household objects, a crude puppet, a harpoon, and two objects bearing spiritual light.
• Shen Le suspected the pit was a cenotaph for the missing young woman, but found no inscription or identifying evidence.
• Shen Le asked Old Sea Turtle to restore the grave and search the sea for similar objects, promising to visit the little one for each useful find.
• Shen Le prepared to repair the two mysterious objects and learn what had happened to the young woman.

Shen Le restored the damaged bridal garments and embroidered the Horse-Face Skirt, finding that the work improved his spiritual control and Talisman drawing. As he nearly finished, he used his Thunder-Guiding Metal Chopstick during a Peony Flower Demon’s tribulation, and his embroidery needle was caught in the lightning.

• Shen Le asked Old You to buy damaged Sea-Salvaged Porcelain and metal objects for practice, then stored his two new artifacts safely.
• The Red Bridal Veil fussed over the new finds, and the Short Blade sensed that the rod-shaped object was a weak, sleeping companion.
• Shen Le arranged pearls around the Phoenix Coronet with a Moonlight Spirit Gathering Array, then soothed the Horse-Face Skirt and reinforced the garments with Silk Fibroin Solution.
• Shen Le restored the Horse-Face Skirt’s embroidery, steadily improving his needlework, spiritual control, and Talisman drawing.
• When the proprietress brought a Peony Flower Demon to undergo a Thunder Tribulation, Shen Le guided the final lightning bolt with his Metal Chopstick and realized his Silver Needle had been struck by the tribulation.

After the Thunder Tribulation changed the Embroidery Needles, Shen Le learned to control them with far greater ease and used five at a time to finish the Horse-Face Skirt in one night. He then entered the Red Bridal Veil’s memory and saw its young owner struggle with embroidery before her housekeeper scolded her, leaving Shen Le troubled.

• The Embroidery Needles scattered after absorbing the Thunder Tribulation’s power, and Shen Le found that his mental power controlled them more easily than before.
• Shen Le practiced flying the needles in formations and tried to measure their speed, but Little Oil Lamp’s phone camera failed to capture them.
• Shen Le used five needles at once to embroider the Horse-Face Skirt, finishing it in one night.
• Shen Le returned to the Red Bridal Veil’s memory and watched its owner repeatedly knot and break her thread while trying to embroider.
• The young woman gave up, but her housekeeper urged her to continue, warning that refusing to embroider would shame the young master who had arranged her adoption and marriage.

Shen Le watched the story of Lin, a former chief escort pressured to act like a refined young lady before marrying her scholar fiancé, A-Heng. As famine and rebellion spread, their wedding day arrived amid growing uncertainty about their future.

• The steward's wife pushed Lin to embroider a bridal veil and behave like a proper young lady, until Lin escaped over the wall to find A-Heng.
• Lin learned that A-Heng had moved into a mansion, then overheard him firmly defend her against his granduncle's doubts about their marriage.
• A-Heng welcomed Lin and joined her for a night walk, where they discussed rising rice prices, refugees, and the dangers outside the city.
• After escorting Lin home, A-Heng worried that turmoil might prevent him from going to the capital for the imperial exams.
• Rice prices soared, refugees gathered outside the city, and a rebel army looted a neighboring county before Lin and A-Heng's wedding day arrived.