Recaps

As the Iron and Blood update began, Prison Rock players invaded Nine Provinces and targeted Lu Xiu. Lu Xiu and the Strategy Group repelled them, but Zhang Chongshan defected, and Lu Xiu returned home ready to run her dungeon.

• Players struggled through Lu Xiu’s [Outlast], while the Coordination Bureau and Longsword Guild tried to understand the dungeon and its rewards.
• Lu Xiu accepted Zhao Qingdai’s challenge in [Titanfall] and killed her, then defeated Zhao Qingdai, Li Zhong, and Wei Zhe in further challenges.
• The system announced the Iron and Blood update and the Hunt and Watch event, revealing that invading players could kill Builders permanently and expose their instances.
• The Coordination Bureau sent twenty players to defend Nine Provinces as Prison Rock’s invaders descended on Maple Leaf Avenue and shrouded Lu Xiu’s apartment in fog.
• Lu Xiu fought Zane and Thunder, killed both, then defeated Lei with lightning as the Strategy Group battled the remaining attackers.
• Jian Li joined the fight, and the Strategy Group defeated the surviving Prison Rock players, and Queenie swore allegiance to Nine Provinces and offered intelligence about Prison Rock.
• The system announced Zhang Chongshan’s defection to Prison Rock, and Lu Xiu reassured Jian Li before returning to her apartment to prepare to run her dungeon.

Lu Xiu created Sifu, a punishing hand-to-hand combat dungeon that taught players to read and counter enemies. As Nine Provinces players began adapting to it, Prison Rock’s leaders argued over Zhang Chongshan’s intelligence and whether they could reproduce the instance.

• After the special event ended, Lu Xiu decided to train her unarmed combat skills and began building a Sifu-inspired dungeon while Queenie explored her instances under guard.
• Lu Xiu completed and launched Sifu, earning an SS dungeon rating, an SSS first-clear skill called Neutralize, and rewards that could evolve players’ skills.
• Jiang Qiu entered Sifu, struggled with its enemies and aging mechanic, and stormed out threatening to confront Lu Xiu before her secretary stopped her.
• Li Shengkai and Sun Yi asked Lu Xiu how to build a lower-tier hand-to-hand combat instance, and she explained the precise enemy timing and extensive testing behind Sifu’s mechanics.
• Lu Xiu sparred with Jiang Qiu, countered her attacks with Neutralize and elemental aspects, and defended Sifu’s difficulty as training for players under pressure.
• Jiang Qiu apologized for judging Sifu before understanding it and returned to study its enemies, while Lu Xiu told players that the dungeon could evolve skills below S-rank.
• As experienced players began learning from Sifu’s combat techniques, Queenie feared Prison Rock had underestimated it, and Helag called Zhang Chongshan’s intelligence false when asked to imitate the dungeon.

Lu Xiu built and tested Witch, a deceptive horror dungeon whose players mistook Viola for the victim and helped the Witch. After the reveal exposed their mistake, Lu Xiu recruited Shen Nian and Jian Li to test the instance’s difficult reversal ending as the Iron and Blood expansion approached.

• Zhang Chongshan grew disillusioned with Prison Rock, while Du Shu’s Sifu tutorial taught players to use martial arts techniques and inspired Jin Yi to make an easier substitute dungeon.
• The system announced a thirty-day countdown to the Iron and Blood expansion, closed system dungeons, and promised powerful rewards, prompting Lu Xiu to build a new high-difficulty instance.
• Lu Xiu created Witch, a mansion horror dungeon about Viola and Ellen, and cleared it herself, using the Soul-Severing Blade to restore their souls to their rightful bodies before burning down the House.
• The system rated Witch SS+ and awarded Lu Xiu powerful skills and items, while Yan Fushou and others waited unsuccessfully for footage of her clear.
• Players entered the online Witch instance and followed Viola through its puzzles, but Shen Nian’s apparent rescue of Viola ended with the mocking evaluation “You are a joke.”
• Shen Nian, Jian Li, and other players compared their rewards and diary clues, realized they had escorted the Witch while pursuing the real Viola, and flooded the forum with complaints.
• Lu Xiu discovered that Witch had produced two data orbs and that the system had revoked her access to its official version, then invited Shen Nian and Jian Li to help test its reversible ending.
• Shen Nian and Jian Li agreed to replay Witch, and Shen Nian began another run determined to stop the Witch and discover how Lu Xiu designed the reversal ending.

Lu Xiu’s dungeons shaped the City Confrontation War as Nine Provinces gained territory and battle strength through her victories. Her new SSS-rated Dark Souls then unleashed a deadly invasion, leaving Lu Xiu still fighting toward its final area.

• Shen Nian’s repeated attempts to alter the Witch dungeon’s tragedy failed, while Jian Li revealed she had cleared its reversal ending and inspired Lu Xiu to plan linked areas with rest points.
• The Iron and Blood version began, matching Chen Capital against Obsidian City in a territorial war, and Lu Xiu chose to defend Nine Provinces.
• Prison Rock’s players repeatedly chose Lu Xiu’s difficult dungeons, where Nine Provinces fighters used their experience to defeat them and win powerful rewards.
• Lu Xiu launched recapture battles and swiftly defeated Blood Dusk, Aaron, Og, and other guardians, reclaiming areas and reaching first place in battle merit.
• Lu Xiu trained against Artorias, completed Dark Souls, and received a preliminary SSS rating for the instance.
• Dark Souls monsters invaded ongoing arena matches on both sides, overwhelming players who struggled to flee or fight them.
• After the system introduced temporary weapons and an Architect’s Afterimage demonstration, players continued dying to the invaders’ difficult attacks.
• Lu Xiu reached the Kiln of the First Flame after fighting all day, while Yan Fushou learned she had not yet cleared the dungeon.