Recaps

At Ichiro Yashida’s funeral, Xiang Qian warned Yukio that Mariko could be in danger if she inherited the Yashida Group, then watched Shingen Yashida’s men attack her. As Logan and Yukio fought off the pursuers, Xiang Qian pulled Mariko into an ice cream shop to hide her.

• Xiang Qian confronted Yukio at the funeral and warned her that Mariko might be targeted if Ichiro Yashida had named her heir.
• Yukio hurried to the funeral pavilion, and Logan followed her while Xiang Qian left the grounds.
• Shingen Yashida’s men attacked Mariko, Logan, and Yukio as they fled the funeral.
• Logan and Yukio stayed behind to fight the pursuers while Mariko ran toward an alley.
• Xiang Qian pulled Mariko into an ice cream shop and told her to stay quiet.

Mariko Yashida sought Xiang Qian’s help after escaping the yakuza pursuing her, while he weighed the risks of getting involved in the Yashida Family’s power struggle. The chapter left Xiang Qian laughing at Mariko’s argument that her conflict with her father could benefit him.

• Xiang Qian’s bodyguards deterred the yakuza from confronting them, and Xiang Qian hid Mariko in a shop corner until the pursuers left.
• Zheng Ge reported that the street was clear, and Mariko refused Xiang Qian’s offer to take her home.
• Xiang Qian said he would not interfere in the Yashida Family’s affairs, so Mariko asked him to find her somewhere safe and offered better cooperation terms.
• Xiang Qian challenged Mariko by suggesting he could hand her over to Shingen, and Mariko countered that Shingen might not honor their agreement and that their conflict could serve Xiang Qian’s interests.
• Xiang Qian laughed at Mariko’s shrewd response as she showed how quickly she was maturing.

Xiang Qian met Stick, a blind warrior opposing The Hand, and questioned him about the organization’s interest in the Yashida family. Stick revealed that The Hand sought to reclaim a powerful weapon from the Yashida family, but Xiang Qian demanded a clear explanation of what it was.

• Xiang Qian warned Mariko Yashida that The Hand posed a greater threat than the yakuza and that her struggle to take over her grandfather’s assets was her own war.
• Stick approached Xiang Qian and Mariko, explained that he had followed two members of The Hand who were watching Mariko, and said The Hand was his enemy too.
• Xiang Qian’s bodyguards found the two watchers, confirmed they were armed, and discovered they had been calling the same number.
• Stick warned Xiang Qian that learning about The Hand would draw him into its centuries-long war, but Xiang Qian revealed that he had already defeated Nobu Yoshioka and nearly a hundred of his ninjas.
• Stick said The Hand wanted to reclaim something from the Yashida family that Ichiro Yashida had occupied for decades, and described it as a weapon of terror capable of overturning the world.
• Xiang Qian challenged Stick’s claim by asking whether the weapon could withstand a nuclear strike, then demanded that Stick explain plainly what The Hand wanted.

Stick told Xiang Qian that The Hand’s Beast had created the Undead Ninja Legion and that a woman who was once Stick’s student had become its new Black Sky. As Elektra was recruited for The Hand’s coming operation and Mariko was settled at Xiang Qian’s hotel, Xiang Qian asked Stick to guide him to Mochizuki Plain.

• Stick explained that the Beast could resurrect people, possess a host as Black Sky, and had once destroyed both Chaste and Hand fighters before The Hand sealed it away.
• Stick told Xiang Qian that The Hand was eager to reclaim Mochizuki Plain because the seal was in danger and it had chosen a woman, formerly Stick’s student, as its new Black Sky.
• Bakuto stopped Elektra from visiting Matt and asked her to join The Hand’s operation because Nobu Yoshioka was unavailable.
• Xiang Qian brought Mariko to his hotel and arranged for his bodyguards to look after her while he left.
• Xiang Qian asked Stick whether he knew the way to Mochizuki Plain.

Xiang Qian traveled with Stick to Mochizuki Plain to investigate The Hand’s activity and the secret beneath its shrine. A drone revealed Dr. Green inspecting an unconscious Wolverine Logan at the pagoda.

• Xiang Qian told Stick he would confront The Hand himself, explaining that the Spear Bureau was constrained from acting further.
• Xiang Qian and Stick reached Mochizuki Plain with two bodyguards and used reconnaissance drones to survey the valley.
• Xiang Qian spotted a heavily guarded pagoda whose wooden exterior concealed a concrete-and-metal structure.
• A convoy arrived at the pagoda, where Dr. Green greeted its passengers and examined an unconscious Wolverine Logan.

Xiang Qian watched The Hand and Dr. Green capture Logan, then realized their deal was linked to Shingen Yashida’s murder. After Mariko reported her father’s death, Xiang Qian chose to meet Ichiro Yashida instead of pursuing Sowande and the Beast’s seal.

• Xiang Qian sent a Spider-Bot into the Pagoda and saw Dr. Green negotiate with Sowande while Logan remained unconscious.
• Dr. Green startled Sowande with her snake tongue, and The Hand injected Logan before he suddenly woke and attacked them.
• Logan fought Sowande, but Dr. Green incapacitated him with her poisonous tongue and had him shackled to a metal platform.
• Dr. Green handed Sowande a wooden box after receiving a call, and Stick identified it as the Beast’s seal and urged Xiang Qian to take it.
• Mariko called Xiang Qian to report that Shingen Yashida had been assassinated outside the estate.
• Xiang Qian suspected Shingen’s murder was part of the deal and told Stick he would meet Ichiro Yashida before pursuing Sowande.

Xiang Qian infiltrated the Yashida family’s Futu to find Ichiro Yashida and uncover his plans, while Logan remained imprisoned inside. After fighting through the guards, Xiang Qian learned that Ichiro was alive and clashed with Kenichi Harada’s elite ninjas as Logan howled from the eighth floor.

• Xiang Qian used drones to set fire to the village and slipped past the distracted guards into the Futu.
• Xiang Qian defeated the entrance guards and fought his way upward, where Dr. Green refused to let him meet Ichiro Yashida.
• Kenichi Harada revealed that Ichiro was alive, learned that Shingen had died, and tried to keep Xiang Qian from reaching the master.
• Xiang Qian shattered two ninjas’ swords with his fiery power, and Kenichi recognized it as a power connected to Kunlun.
• Kenichi joined the fight after Xiang Qian struck more of his subordinates, while Logan’s agonized howl sounded from the eighth floor.

Xiang Qian freed Logan from Ichiro Yashida’s life-draining trap and disabled Ichiro’s Adamantium armor. With Ichiro trapped inside and the building burning, Xiang Qian prepared to kill a man who had already been declared dead and buried.

• Kenichi Harada chased Yukio upstairs, allowing Xiang Qian to defeat the remaining ninjas and destroy the elevator with an Energy Storage Crystal.
• Xiang Qian reached the eighth floor, tore the cables from Logan’s hands, and freed him from the torture frame.
• Logan’s healing factor recovered, while Dr. Green killed Kenichi Harada and continued attacking Yukio; Logan went to help her.
• Ichiro Yashida revealed himself inside the armor and admitted that he had killed Shingen and planned to take Logan’s life force.
• Ichiro charged Xiang Qian, who disabled the armor with an electrical Energy Storage Crystal and trapped Ichiro inside.
• Xiang Qian told Ichiro he intended to kill him, reasoning that Ichiro had already been declared dead and buried.

Xiang Qian seized Ichiro Yashida’s research, escaped Futu as Logan and Yukio fought their way out, and sensed that The Beast had awakened. At The Hand’s base, a ritual raised a shadow over a floating woman whom someone recognized as Elektra.

• Xiang Qian sent Ichiro Yashida’s armor away and dismissed his threats, while Logan and Yukio defeated Dr. Green by throwing her down the elevator shaft.
• Xiang Qian copied most of the laboratory data and fought Logan when he tried to destroy the computer, breaking Logan’s bone spikes before Yukio dragged him away.
• After the power failed, Xiang Qian escaped Futu and watched Logan and Yukio battle through the ninjas outside; a mind-shaking roar announced to Xiang Qian that The Beast had awakened.
• Xiang Qian returned to the parking area, ordered his bodyguard to find Stick’s car, and sent a drone toward The Hand’s base.
• At The Hand’s base, Alexandra and the gathered members performed a ritual around a wooden statue as a shadow rose and a woman floated above it.
• Two people emerged from a wooden hut, and one of them recognized the floating woman as Elektra.

Xiang Qian interrupted the Hand’s ritual, but the Beast possessed the woman and transformed her into Black Sky. He lured Black Sky into a remote forest and fought her, ending the chapter after knocking her into a shallow pool and striking the back of her head.

• Xiang Qian watched Stick infiltrate the Hand’s base and recognized the Beast’s energy flowing from the wooden statue into the unconscious woman.
• Xiang Qian and a bodyguard shot and shattered the statue, disrupting the ritual and causing the newly possessed woman to scream and flee as Black Sky.
• Xiang Qian pursued Black Sky with a drone, then used a portal to bring her to a remote mountain forest and tested whether the woman’s awareness remained.
• Black Sky attacked Xiang Qian with a mental assault and a pounce, but he resisted and fought her while observing her newly acquired abilities.
• Xiang Qian redirected Black Sky’s pounce through a portal into a shallow pool, then struck the back of her head with a Cannon Hammer.

Xiang Qian subdued the Beast in the Soul Realm and explored its memories, discovering the Celestials’ connection to the rules of time and existence. As he began copying the Beast’s research, Eternity appeared and started rewinding the Beast’s life, leaving Xiang Qian face-to-face with the Creator God.

• Xiang Qian knocked Elektra unconscious, drew the Beast’s will into his Soul Realm, and trapped it between two black holes.
• Xiang Qian invaded the Beast’s mind and uncovered its memories of The Hand, its cosmic migration, and the Sacred Beast race’s research into the Celestials.
• Xiang Qian recognized that the Celestials’ mind-bodies wielded the fundamental rules of time and existence, and began copying the Beast’s research records.
• The Soul Realm trembled, and Xiang Qian discovered that the Beast’s mind-body and memories were rapidly shrinking despite its pleas for help.
• Xiang Qian forced his way into the Beast’s mind-body and found a foreign consciousness rewinding its history; he recognized the presence as Eternity.

Eternity erased Beast’s memories after entering Xiang Qian’s Soul Realm, then left without explaining why Xiang Qian and his Soul Universe interested him. Xiang Qian absorbed Beast’s remaining energy, underwent a physical transformation, and woke beside Elektra, whose actions after being possessed led to a night together; by dawn, she attacked him.

• Eternity rewound Beast’s life and explained that Beast should not have seen time’s rules, but he refused to answer Xiang Qian’s questions about the Soul Universe.
• After Eternity departed, Xiang Qian destroyed Beast’s remaining mental body and absorbed its life energy, strengthening his body, soul, and Soul Realm.
• Elektra woke under the influence of residual life energy, and her primal instincts drew her to Xiang Qian; the two spent the night together beside the pool.
• At dawn, Elektra woke with no memory of the night, while Xiang Qian roasted fish and explained that Beast had possessed her and was now dead.
• When Xiang Qian claimed Elektra had initiated their encounter, Elektra angrily struck at the back of his neck.

Xiang Qian defeated Elektra's attack, explained that The Beast could no longer affect him, and discovered he could control the Hand's Undead Ninjas. After killing Sowande, he claimed the twelve ninjas as his own, leaving Elektra wary but beside him.

• Xiang Qian subdued Elektra when she attacked him, then told her The Beast had already been killed and introduced himself as James Zion.
• Xiang Qian contacted his bodyguards and learned the Hand was following them through the mountains.
• Xiang Qian used his Soul Vision to recognize twelve Undead Ninjas and mentally controlled them to kill their drivers and crash the pursuing vehicles.
• Xiang Qian and Elektra confronted Sowande, and Xiang Qian beat him to death when he attacked.
• Xiang Qian commanded the twelve Undead Ninjas to line up and told Elektra that he was their master now.

Xiang Qian used the Undead Ninjas to devastate the Hand’s stronghold, then revived the fallen ninjas by manipulating the Life Candles with the Beast’s energy. After Stick accused him and attacked, Xiang Qian warned him that he would kill anyone who made an enemy of him, leaving Matt and Elektra to face the danger surrounding them.

• Xiang Qian connected to the Undead Ninjas, surveyed the valley, and sent them to ambush the Hand’s forces.
• Alexandra and Bakuto survived the slaughter and escaped into the forest while the Hand’s other members were killed.
• Xiang Qian resonated the Life Candles with Beast energy and resurrected the dead Undead Ninjas.
• Elektra brought the injured Matt and Stick to Xiang Qian, and Stick accused him of being the Beast.
• Stick attacked Xiang Qian with a katana, but Xiang Qian broke the blade, struck him down, and threatened to kill him if he became an enemy.
• Matt explained that he could detect lies through people’s heartbeats and breathing as the Undead Ninjas surrounded the group.

Xiang Qian secretly took Ichiro Yashida to a hidden Kunlun laboratory, where Ichiro died as Xiang dismantled his Silver Samurai armor. Back in Tokyo, Xiang confronted Mariko about the Yashida Group’s collapse, and she prepared to offer him a private bargain to secure his help.

• Xiang Qian left the Hand’s valley and brought the dying Ichiro Yashida and his Silver Samurai armor to his secret laboratory in Kunlun.
• Ichiro Yashida died while Xiang Qian studied and dismantled the armor.
• Xiang Qian returned to the valley, appointed Shen Ran to manage the hidden base, and tasked him with securing the land through Japanese representative Mori Nobuaki.
• Mariko visited Xiang Qian in Tokyo and learned that Ichiro had arranged her father’s murder while pursuing immortality.
• Xiang Qian pressed Mariko to explain how she would rescue the struggling Yashida Group, and she asked Yukio to leave so they could speak alone.
• Mariko began removing her jacket, apparently preparing to offer Xiang Qian a personal bargain.

Xiang Qian negotiated an alliance with Mariko, then met Magik in Limbo and tried to persuade her to visit her brother Piotr in New York. Magik remained jealous and angry about Xiang Qian’s encounter with Mariko, but he shifted her attention toward Piotr as they discussed the visit.

• Xiang Qian rejected Mariko’s attempt to persuade him through seduction and asked her to reconsider what she wanted from their negotiations.
• Mariko realized that Xiang Qian sought political influence rather than financial gain, and she agreed to cooperate with him while asking for safeguards.
• Xiang Qian proposed that he and Mariko discuss the cooperation’s details more candidly, and they began a sexual encounter.
• Magik confronted Xiang Qian in Limbo about failing to react when she tried to teleport to him during his time with Mariko.
• Magik threatened Xiang Qian with her Soul Sword, but he embraced her after she lowered it and asked whether she would visit Piotr with him.
• Xiang Qian told Magik that Piotr had often spoken about her, prompting her to question why he had never come looking for her.

Xiang Qian brought Magik to X-Mansion to reunite with her brother Piotr and discuss the Professor’s future. As Piotr and Magik began reconnecting, Piotr angrily accused Xiang Qian of getting involved with his sister.

• Xiang Qian and Magik arrived at X-Mansion, where Xiang Qian argued with Scott over the intercom before Beast Hank welcomed them inside.
• Xiang Qian introduced Magik to Hank, who was delighted to learn she had come to meet her brother Piotr.
• Piotr arrived and reunited with Magik after ten years apart, while Xiang Qian teased them and then left them alone together.
• Xiang Qian met Jean, who told him the Professor’s health had deteriorated despite his gunshot wound healing.
• Xiang Qian suggested that a Japanese machine might let the Professor gain a stronger body by transplanting another Mutant’s genes, but Jean recognized the procedure would require killing someone.
• Piotr shouted that Xiang Qian was a bastard and should never have gotten involved with Magik, prompting Xiang Qian to glare at him.

Xiang Qian navigated the tensions between Magik, Colossus, and Jean before meeting Professor Xavier to discuss the impending mass production of Mutant Gene Serum. He proposed that X-Mansion supervise the serum’s production, sale, and use to reassure mutants and restrain extremists, and Xavier considered the plan.

• Magik argued with Colossus over Xiang Qian, and Colossus’s insults drew the displeasure of Jean, Storm, and Raven.
• Jean approached Magik in the foyer, where their Phoenix and Limbo powers manifested in everyone’s minds, then invited her to talk privately.
• Xiang Qian slipped away from the gathering and met Mystique outside Professor Xavier’s office.
• Xiang Qian urged Xavier to accept deterrence between mutants and the U.S. government, arguing that mass production of Mutant Gene Serum was inevitable.
• Xiang Qian proposed that X-Mansion supervise every stage of the serum’s production, sale, and use, and Xavier listened as he weighed the proposal.

Xiang Qian warned Professor Xavier and Mystique that genetic technology could eventually prevent new Mutants from being born, while asking the school to supervise Mutant Gene Serum production. At Jean's home, Jean told Magik that she and James were drawn to each other on a soul level and warned Magik that her immortality could leave her lonely after Piotr died.

• Professor Xavier hesitated over Xiang Qian's cooperation proposal and asked for time to consider it.
• Xiang Qian told Professor Xavier and Mystique that researchers had sequenced recessive X-genes and developed targeted drugs that could prevent people from becoming Mutants.
• Jean told Magik that James liked her and asked Magik to examine her feelings for him.
• Jean explained that Magik's status as a Hell Lord would distance her from ordinary people and draw her toward souls like James's.
• Magik protested that she would never leave Piotr, but Jean warned her that Piotr would die while her own lifespan was practically infinite.

Xiang Qian explained his political plans for the Mutant Gene Serum to Professor Xavier before Pepper Potts urgently reported that Tony was missing and in danger from Obadiah. Xiang Qian rushed to investigate, knocked out Wolverine Logan and Cyclops Scott when they tried to stop him, and then entered Jean's room, where he was stunned by what he saw.

• Xiang Qian told Professor Xavier that producing the Mutant Gene Serum could give mutants a role in a new balance of power, while warning that all-out war was another possible outcome.
• Xiang Qian admitted that his country wanted the serum to address its own mutants and gain political leverage, angering Professor Xavier as Mystique agreed that the professor could not remain naïve.
• Pepper Potts called Xiang Qian through the emergency channel and said Tony was missing, Obadiah wanted to kill him, and Jarvis appeared to be shut down.
• Xiang Qian tried to connect to Jarvis and hurried toward Jean's room, but Wolverine Logan and Cyclops Scott confronted him, so he knocked both men unconscious.
• Xiang Qian rushed into Jean's room and stared in shock at what he saw.

Jean teased Magik about her bond with Xiang Qian before Xiang Qian and Magik teleported to Tony Stark's mansion, where they found the guards murdered and Tony near death. Xiang Qian restored Tony's Arc Reactor, and Colonel Rhodes arrived as Xiang Qian urged him to keep his visit secret.

• Jean told Magik that she and Xiang Qian were drawn together by their lonely futures, then teased her while pinning her against a wall.
• Xiang Qian declined Jean's invitation and asked Magik to take him to Tony Stark's mansion because Tony's life was in danger.
• Xiang Qian and Magik found blood on the grounds and more than a dozen murdered bodyguards, leading Xiang Qian to suspect Obadiah Stane.
• Xiang Qian found Tony crawling out of the basement elevator and placed the original Arc Reactor back in his chest, saving his life.
• Colonel Rhodes entered the laboratory, and Xiang Qian asked him to pretend he had not seen him or learned he had come to the United States.

Xiang Qian sent Tony to help Pepper after Obadiah stole the Arc Reactor, then monitored the ensuing battle and prepared to intervene when Tony’s armor ran low on power. The chapter left Xiang Qian aiming an experimental electromagnetic pulse rifle at Obadiah’s giant machine.

• Colonel Rhodes offered Xiang Qian a restaurant job while they joked about his supposed illegal immigration, and Tony insisted on leaving to rescue Pepper.
• Xiang Qian gave Tony a crystal power supply, but stopped his takeoff and had Magik teleport him near the Stark Industries campus.
• Xiang Qian sent Rhodes away to handle the fallout from Obadiah’s crimes, then secretly ordered Jarvis to monitor the campus and the people involved.
• Xiang Qian discovered Obadiah pursuing Tony inside a giant machine, while Pepper remained safe on campus.
• When Tony’s Mark II nearly ran out of energy and Tony refused further help, Xiang Qian opened a portal, retrieved an experimental electromagnetic pulse rifle, and aimed it at Obadiah’s machine.

Xiang Qian helped Tony defeat Obadiah’s giant mechanical armor with an electromagnetic pulse weapon, then discussed the Dark Phoenix’s influence on Jean Grey with Magik. Magik teleported Xiang Qian to the X-Mansion foyer and fled after he teased her.

• Xiang Qian watched Tony and Obadiah climb into the stratosphere, where Obadiah’s armor froze and Tony briefly lost power before using Xiang Qian’s Energy Storage Crystal to stabilize the Mark II.
• Obadiah’s armor landed on the rooftop and resumed attacking Tony, whose Repulsor Blasts and dwindling power could not stop it.
• Tony asked Xiang Qian for help, and Xiang Qian opened a portal behind Obadiah’s armor and fired an electromagnetic pulse projectile that disabled the machine.
• Tony told Xiang Qian he had notified security, while the two discussed the weapon and its potential countermeasures.
• Xiang Qian explained to Magik how the Dark Phoenix affected Jean Grey’s morality and how Jean’s will restrained her.
• Magik opened a portal that tossed Xiang Qian into the X-Mansion foyer, then fled.

Xiang Qian watched Tony Stark reveal that he was Iron Man, then discussed the Mark Armor’s technology and military usefulness with Zheng Xian. Meanwhile, Nick Fury confronted Tony at Stark Manor Villa, where Tony learned that Fury had entered through a high-level security clearance.

• Xiang Qian and Jean watched Tony Stark announce, “I am Iron Man,” and Xiang Qian received an urgent call from Zheng Xian.
• Xiang Qian told Zheng Xian that the Five Elements Laboratory could develop most Mark Armor systems, but a compact energy source remained a major obstacle.
• Xiang Qian argued that military drones and exoskeletons could provide most of the Mark Armor’s combat capabilities more cheaply, and Zheng Xian planned a symposium.
• Xiang Qian stayed with Jean while Tony Stark faced a crush of attention after his press conference.
• Nick Fury confronted Tony at Stark Manor Villa, and Tony discovered that Fury’s security clearance had let him bypass the security system.

Tony Stark refused Nick Fury’s request to hand over Obadiah Stane and let S.H.I.E.L.D. investigate his parents’ deaths, while Xiang Qian presented Zheng Xian with an EMP Rifle as a counter to the Mark Armor. The chapter ended with Zheng Xian catching Xiang Qian in a lie about spending three days in his lab.

• Tony accused Nick Fury of possibly covering up the truth about Howard and his wife’s deaths, and refused to turn Obadiah over for investigation.
• Nick Fury left Tony’s house after warning that he would keep an eye on him, and Tony mocked his single eye.
• Zheng Xian confronted Xiang Qian about disappearing for three days, and Xiang claimed he had been absorbed in research.
• Xiang Qian showed Zheng Xian a portable EMP Rifle and argued that it could counter the Mark Armor more cheaply than developing mechanical armor.
• Xiang Qian compared his approach to Huang Yaoshi breaking the Tiangang Big Dipper Formation, then bragged about sharing Huang Yaoshi’s appeal to women.
• Zheng Xian realized the EMP Rifle had already been developed before Xiang Qian’s disappearance and caught him admitting that his story was a lie.