Recaps

Zhang Chongshan regretted defecting to Prison Rock after Helag rejected the Sekiro and Outlast instance concepts he proposed, and he decided he would return to Nine Provinces when he could. Meanwhile, Nine Provinces players began sharing a detailed video analyzing and recreating enemy techniques from Lu Xiu’s Sifu dungeon.

• Zhang Chongshan explained that he had joined Prison Rock casually and regretted finding its instances unimpressive.
• Zhang Chongshan presented Sekiro’s mechanics to Helag, who denounced the instance as too difficult and unsuitable for most players.
• Zhang Chongshan described Outlast, but Helag accused him of being a Nine Provinces spy and demanded that Prison Rock’s leader kill him.
• Zhang Chongshan resolved to return to Nine Provinces through a public vote when the new version began.
• Du Shu of Tingqiao posted a video demonstrating and analyzing the moves of elite enemies and bosses from Sifu’s Slums and Nightclub.

Du Shu demonstrated how the Sifu dungeon’s enemy moves could be used as practical martial arts, and players realized the dungeon was designed to teach them. Inspired by demands for an easier stepping-stone dungeon, Jin Yi committed to improving his proposal, while Sun Yi stayed with his own plan; Lu Xiu praised Du Shu’s insight.

• Du Shu demonstrated how to deflect attacks, exploit weak points, and use short strikes, explaining that the Sifu dungeon taught players to fight without relying on stats.
• Players on the Nine Provinces forums discussed the dungeon’s martial arts lessons and called for a more accessible transitional dungeon.
• Jin Yi recognized an opportunity to build a stepping-stone dungeon and resolved to learn from Lu Xiu rather than fear comparisons with her.
• Sun Yi reconsidered Lu Xiu’s ambitious design but decided to continue developing his original transitional dungeon idea.
• Lu Xiu watched Du Shu’s video and remarked that there was a genius after all.

Lu Xiu reflected on how Sifu had prompted players to study its martial arts and considered building a low-pressure dating-sim instance to test how the System would rate it. Her plans were interrupted when Shen Nian arrived with Jian Li, dressed in a maid outfit and asking to stay the night.

• Lu Xiu watched Du Shu teach martial arts from Sifu and concluded that players needed a difficult push to take the techniques seriously.
• Lu Xiu decided to wait for Sun Yi to make an easier Sifu-like instance while she experimented with a relaxed dating-sim instance.
• Lu Xiu was about to enter the Construction Space when Shen Nian arrived at her door in a maid outfit, accompanied by Jian Li.
• Shen Nian explained that Jian Li had kept watching her after she stopped Lu Xiu from revealing her name, so she had offered to wear the outfit and stay overnight.
• Lu Xiu complimented Shen Nian and let her and Jian Li come inside.

Lu Xiu welcomed Shen Nian and Jian Li into her home, delighted in Shen Nian’s maid outfit, and shared a playful evening with them. Meanwhile, Jiang Qiu demonstrated how Sifu had improved her fighting and learned that Construction Club had released a mimic dungeon of it.

• Lu Xiu asked Shen Nian to pose and call her Master, and Shen Nian gradually went along with her requests.
• Lu Xiu and Shen Nian joked about where Shen Nian and Jian Li would sleep, then both laughed together while Jian Li watched.
• Nine Provinces players discussed Du Shu’s video and began testing Sifu’s enemy moves in reality.
• Jiang Qiu used Sifu-inspired techniques to counter Zhang Fenghua’s attack and knock him back during training.
• Jiang Qiu told Zhang Fenghua that Lu Xiu’s dungeons could help players improve, and Zhang Fenghua received news that Construction Club had made a Sifu mimic dungeon.

Jiang Qiu agreed to inspect Construction Club’s new lower-tier substitute dungeon, Simple Sifu, despite her doubts. After players confirmed that it offered useful practice for Sifu, Jin Yi remembered why he had once wanted to build dungeons and felt joy at having created something players valued.

• Jiang Qiu held back her contempt for Construction Club and told Zhang Fenghua they should inspect Simple Sifu as a possible lower-tier substitute dungeon.
• Construction Club launched Simple Sifu, drawing mockery and distrust from players because of its shameless name and Jin Yi’s poor reputation.
• Jin Yi anxiously awaited the first players’ reviews, reflecting on how he had abandoned his original ideals after repeated failures and turned to exploiting players.
• A tester criticized Simple Sifu’s rigid enemies but praised its widened Neutralize timing and practice value, calling it a qualified substitute dungeon.
• Jin Yi read players’ surprised and positive replies, remembered the first praise he had received for his original dungeon, and felt joy that his work could help players improve.

Shen Nian stayed at Lu Xiu’s residence, observed her relaxed everyday side, and cooked dinner for Lu Xiu and Jian Li. As Shen Nian began to mention the Construction Club’s discovery, a system announcement revealed that a new “Iron and Blood” version would begin in thirty days and all system dungeons would close starting immediately.

• Lu Xiu insisted that Shen Nian keep wearing her maid outfit, while Jian Li entered a dungeon and Lu Xiu returned to the construction space.
• Shen Nian tidied Lu Xiu’s home and watched Lu Xiu repeatedly leave the construction space to relax, eat ice cream, and recover from setbacks.
• Shen Nian saw a forum post about the Construction Club creating a lower-tier substitute dungeon, then set the news aside when Jian Li returned.
• Shen Nian served dinner for Lu Xiu and Jian Li and began to tell them about the Construction Club’s discovery.
• A system announcement gave a thirty-day countdown to the “Iron and Blood” expansion and stated that all system dungeons would close immediately.

After the system announced that all system dungeons would close thirty days early and revealed plans for a cross-realm arena, Lu Xiu learned the change might have been triggered by the new Simple Sifu dungeon. Yan Fushou asked her to create more top-tier dungeons, and she began considering what to build while Nine Provinces prepared for the coming shortage.

• The system announced the early closure of system dungeons, the cross-realm arena, and rewards that included Mythic-level and Root-level skills.
• Shen Nian told Lu Xiu about a Construction Club post introducing a lower-tier substitute for Sifu, and Lu Xiu suspected it had prompted the system's announcement.
• Lu Xiu explained that advance constructor information about arena rewards had inspired her to keep building high-difficulty dungeons after Titanfall.
• Jian Li explained that system dungeons could produce Mythic-grade and Root-grade skills, but fell silent when Lu Xiu asked whether anyone had obtained a Root skill.
• Lu Xiu considered making a new dragon-fighting instance after Shen Nian suggested players would need more than Sifu during the closure.
• Yan Fushou asked Lu Xiu to create one or two more top-tier dungeons, while leaving low-difficulty substitutes to other Nine Provinces constructors.

Lu Xiu abandoned her blocked pretty-girl instance and began turning the Mansion into a horror-puzzle dungeon based on The Witch’s House, planning to have players protect Viola. Meanwhile, players worried about the coming arena and the shortage of open dungeons, while Jin Yi saw an opportunity for the Construction Club.

• Lu Xiu failed to seal her pretty-girl instance after the system judged it lacking survival pressure, then set aside further experiments to build a conventional instance.
• Lu Xiu transformed the Mansion and surrounding grounds into a gloomy Black Forest setting and chose The Witch’s House as the new dungeon’s framework.
• Lu Xiu planned to cast players as a boy who accompanies and protects Viola, expanding the Mansion into a labyrinth while preserving the story’s deceptive reveal.
• Players on the forum identified Lu Xiu’s instances as the reason the system announced a leap in community-instance development and worried that the arena would begin in thirty days while system instances remained closed.
• Jin Yi read the players’ complaints about the Construction Club and concluded that the dungeon shortage created an opportunity for the club.

Lu Xiu weighed whether to add a path that could reverse The Witch's House's tragic ending, and Jian Li's answer helped her decide to build one. Lu Xiu began considering how players could save the innocent Viola, while Shen Nian was left alone with Jian Li's watchful gaze.

• Lu Xiu finished building the basic mansion for The Witch's House and returned to the living room, where Jian Li offered her a chocolate wafer.
• Jian Li used a skill from Ashen Station to dry her hair, and Lu Xiu wondered whether she could customize a skill for her new instance.
• Lu Xiu asked Jian Li whether people would endure terrible suffering for a faint chance to reverse a destined tragedy, and Jian Li said she would choose to fight for that chance.
• Jian Li's answer helped Lu Xiu decide to include a reversed ending in which players could see through the deception and save the innocent Viola.
• Shen Nian came out to get water and found Lu Xiu petting Jian Li's head; after Lu Xiu left to shower, Jian Li watched Shen Nian until she felt uneasy.
• Lu Xiu began considering how to make the new instance's tragic ending more effectively reversible.

Lu Xiu built a branching Witch’s House dungeon centered on Viola, Ellen, and a childhood friend, while the Coordination Bureau prepared to use Sifu to train fighters after system dungeons shut down. Six days later, with players anxious for new content, Lu Xiu finished her dungeon and prepared to test it herself.

• Lu Xiu created the Witch’s House characters and designed endings that let players uncover Ellen’s deception, attempt to save Viola, or seek revenge.
• Yan Fushou ordered Jian Li and Shen Nian to investigate Sifu’s training potential and test Sun Yi’s easier substitute dungeon for frontline use.
• Over six days, players revisited Lu Xiu’s old dungeons, discussed Sifu, and grew anxious as other Architects released no new works.
• Lu Xiu finished building the Witch’s House dungeon and announced that she would clear it to test whether it worked.

Lu Xiu packaged her sixth instance, Witch, under the theme Lies and entered it to verify the experience as Viola’s childhood friend. Inside the forest, she treated the frightened Viola harshly and forced her to lead the way into The Witch’s House.

• Lu Xiu named her instance Witch, set its theme to Lies, and packaged it despite the 50,000 Survival Point stabilization fee.
• Lu Xiu entered the instance in Architect verification mode, briefly lost access to her construction memories, then recovered them in the forest.
• Lu Xiu found Viola beside a rose barrier and ordered her to lead them back toward The Witch’s House.
• A talking black cat pointed them toward a sparkling object, and Viola retrieved rusty pruning shears that could cut through the thinner roses blocking the manor path.
• Lu Xiu kicked open the manor door and threatened Viola into scouting the dark entrance hall.

Viola and Lu Xiu explored The Witch's House, solved a teddy-bear puzzle, and fled from the monster it unleashed. After Lu Xiu blamed Viola for the chase, Viola decided she had probably not discovered the truth about her identity, but resolved to keep observing her.

• Lu Xiu and Viola found a bloodstained room that vanished behind them, and Lu Xiu disappeared while Viola searched the mansion for her.
• Lu Xiu retrieved a small teddy bear, and she and Viola found a puzzle requiring it to be placed inside a basket with a larger bear.
• Viola cut off the small bear's limbs with rusty scissors, causing it to gush blood and twitch before it became an ordinary toy again.
• Lu Xiu forced the bear's remains into the basket, triggering the puzzle's completion and releasing a monstrous version of the giant bear.
• Lu Xiu and Viola ran from the giant bear and escaped into a room, where Lu Xiu blamed Viola for insisting on cutting the toy apart.
• Viola suspected Lu Xiu might have discovered her secret, then concluded she was probably mistaken and decided to keep watching her.

Lu Xiu and Viola navigated the Witch’s House, with Lu Xiu repeatedly risking Viola’s safety while rescuing her from danger and strengthening Viola’s attachment to her. In the mansion’s final room, they uncovered a diary revealing that the purple-haired girl wanted Viola’s body and name, and Viola realized the Soul-Severing Blade might be within Lu Xiu’s reach.

• Lu Xiu and Viola solved the mansion’s puzzles, and Viola’s hostility toward Lu Xiu faded as she grew possessive of her.
• They reached the fifth-floor courtyard, found the purple doll and its head, and opened a passage to the final room.
• Lu Xiu read the diary entry describing a girl who planned to take Viola’s body and live on in it because they were friends.
• A purple-haired, eyeless girl crawled from the shadows, and Lu Xiu fled through the door while Viola followed.
• Lu Xiu turned into a storage room to draw the monster away, leaving Viola to flee down the main passage alone.
• Viola revealed that the monster was her former body and recalled leaving the Soul-Severing Blade in the room before realizing Lu Xiu might find it.

Lu Xiu confronted Ellen, who had stolen Viola’s body, while the real Viola watched from the shadows. After the hunter interrupted the confrontation and threatened Lu Xiu, she knocked him unconscious and prepared to continue fighting Ellen.

• The Witch’s House began collapsing as Lu Xiu returned with the Soul-Severing Blade, and Viola fled the pursuing Ellen toward the front hall.
• Lu Xiu seized Viola, identified her as Ellen, and revealed that she had read Viola’s diary and meant to protect Viola’s body.
• Ellen accused Lu Xiu of betraying her, while the real Viola watched from the hall as Lu Xiu raised the blade against Ellen.
• Viola’s father burst in and aimed his shotgun at Lu Xiu, then turned it toward the eyeless, crawling Viola.
• Lu Xiu used Ellen as a distraction, knocked the hunter unconscious with his shotgun, and advanced on Ellen with the Soul-Severing Blade.

Lu Xiu restored Viola and burned down The Witch's House, staying behind until the dungeon countdown took her away. As Ellen died in the flames, she vowed to find Lu Xiu, while Black Cat emerged from hiding after the fire.

• Lu Xiu used the Soul-Severing Blade to return Ellen and Viola's souls to their rightful bodies, and Viola woke up safe.
• Lu Xiu and Viola dragged the unconscious Hunter out of The Witch's House, but Lu Xiu went back inside alone and locked Viola outside.
• Lu Xiu told Ellen that her suffering did not excuse her crimes, then set The Witch's House on fire.
• As the fire consumed the Mansion, Ellen became fixated on Lu Xiu and vowed to find her; Lu Xiu waited for the dungeon countdown and vanished in white light.
• The burning House collapsed as Viola wept outside, and Black Cat emerged from hiding behind the Mansion.

After clearing the Witch instance, Lu Xiu received an SSS-rank skill and two SS-rank headbands, making her accept the system’s “Heartbreaker” evaluation. The Coordination Bureau was left demanding the promised footage of her run, which the system never showed.

• The system evaluated Lu Xiu as a “Heartbreaker,” rated her Witch instance SS+, and awarded her construction experience, Spirit points, and the Effect and Cause Severance skill.
• Lu Xiu examined the skill and realized it could remove buffs, restrictions, and outside control, strengthening her ability to protect herself.
• The system awarded Lu Xiu experience, Survival Points, attribute points, Ellen’s Red Headband, and Viola’s Black Headband for her clear.
• Lu Xiu inspected the headbands’ skill-stealing and anti-stealing effects and decided she could tolerate the Heartbreaker label for such powerful rewards.
• At the Coordination Bureau, Yan Fushou demanded to know why the system had failed to provide the promised footage of Lu Xiu clearing the instance.

Yan Fushou and the others waited for Lu Xiu’s [Witch] clear-verification footage, but the system never showed it, leaving them to speculate about the dungeon’s lies theme and unprecedented SS+ rating. Players debated whether Lu Xiu could surpass her earlier horror-survival dungeons while Lu Xiu herself examined the rewards she had earned.

• Yan Fushou waited three hours with Jian Li, Shen Nian, Cheng Xiu, Wei Yidong, Fan Lixin, and others, but the system did not show Lu Xiu’s clear-verification footage.
• Shen Nian suggested that the system’s promise to show the footage might itself be a lie, and the others admitted that Lu Xiu’s dungeon could make that possible.
• Wei Yidong proposed asking Lu Xiu whether the rewards were good to estimate the dungeon’s difficulty, and Yan Fushou recognized the suggestion as useful.
• Players on the forum argued over the [Witch] dungeon’s [Horror/Puzzle-Solving/Survival] classification, its [Lies] theme, and its SS+ rating while waiting for it to go live.
• Lu Xiu considered how to wear the two heroine hair ribbons among her rewards, alongside the SSS-rank skill [Effect and Cause Severance].

After clearing her new Witch instance, Lu Xiu equipped matching black ribbons, considered the dungeon’s unusually flexible rewards, and put it online. Players entered immediately, and Wei Yidong was killed by Viola before he could understand what had happened.

• Lu Xiu wore both hair ribbons, changed their colors to match, and gained eight points of Constitution, Plunder, and two skills.
• Lu Xiu noticed the dungeon’s SS+ rating and speculated that its open endings and player-driven choices had raised its evaluation.
• Lu Xiu told Yan Fushou she had cleared the instance but could not inspect its rewards, then released the instance online.
• Players rushed to enter the Witch instance, including Wei Yidong, who spawned beside Viola and followed her toward The Witch's House.
• Viola tricked Wei Yidong into examining the rose wall, stabbed him in the neck, and told him he was not the person she needed.
• Wei Yidong returned to the Coordination Bureau with his memories of the death blurred and angrily wondered how he had died.

Wei Yidong entered Lu Xiu’s Witch instance again and found Viola, while Lu Xiu received a system notice that her own cleared version would be excluded from the online instance’s deduction. Inside the mansion, Shen Nian and Viola solved puzzles and evaded deadly traps, but Shen Nian grew suspicious of how easy everything seemed and wondered what the instance’s SS+ rating and theme of Lies concealed.

• Wei Yidong complained to Yan Fushou that Lu Xiu’s instance was impossible, then entered the Witch instance and saw Viola again.
• Lu Xiu received a system notice that her builder-cleared version would be deduced separately from the online official version until her level-ten function unlocked.
• Shen Nian and Viola found scissors, cut the little bear to fit it into a basket, and triggered a mechanism that opened a door.
• A huge teddy bear chased Shen Nian and Viola through the mansion, but they escaped and continued exploring.
• Shen Nian and Viola avoided deadly rooms and solved puzzles using numerous hints, prompting Shen Nian to suspect that the instance was deliberately too straightforward.

Shen Nian believed she had rescued Viola from the witch and earned the Savior Ending, but Viola’s words and expression revealed that Shen Nian had misunderstood who was deceiving whom. The instance cleared with the evaluation “You are a joke,” and players discovered that rewards differed between clearers.

• Shen Nian found diary entries suggesting the witch wanted Viola’s healthy body, then protected Viola as they escaped the mansion while the witch pursued them.
• Viola’s father shot the witch dead, and Shen Nian believed she had achieved the Savior Ending after bringing Viola safely to him.
• Viola revealed that she had visited the forest before and had a sick friend, making Shen Nian realize that Viola might have been connected to Ellen and that the instance’s truth was not what she had assumed.
• Viola looked at Shen Nian with a mocking smile as she left with her father, and Shen Nian’s attempt to stop them was interrupted by the instance-clear message and the evaluation “You are a joke.”
• Players on the forum debated Shen Nian’s A-rank skill reward, “Don’t Look,” before another player posted a different reward screenshot.

Players from the Coordination Bureau compared their rewards for Lu Xiu’s Witch dungeon and realized their blurred memories hid different endings. Shen Nian suspected the dungeon’s instructions had lied about whose hand they should hold, while Jian Li warned that Viola and the protagonist were suspicious.

• Forum players discussed the wildly different skills awarded for clearing the Witch dungeon, including Cheng Xiu’s S-rank Resentment and Shen Nian’s A-rank Don’t Look.
• Shen Nian, Wei Yidong, and Fan Lixin compared their mocking rewards with Cheng Xiu’s Resentment, while Yan Fushou concluded the results depended on their choices at the ending.
• Jian Li returned with an SS-rank Counterkill skill and said Viola and the dungeon’s protagonist had seemed suspicious, though her memories of the ending were blurred.
• Shen Nian noticed the dungeon’s instructions never identified whose hand players should hold and suggested that the target might have been the crawling monster rather than Viola.
• Shen Nian asked the others to share the Witch’s diary fragments so they could look for clues and test her theory.

Players realized that Lu Xiu’s [Witch] dungeon had tricked them into protecting the Witch after she swapped bodies with Viola, while the real Viola was mistaken for the monster. As players and constructors reeled from the reveal, Lu Xiu discovered that the sealed dungeon had produced two data orbs and wondered what would happen when they merged.

• Players compared the dungeon’s supplementary explanation, skill notes, and diary fragments and concluded that the blond girl they had escorted was the Witch, while the Witch they had pursued was the real Viola.
• Jiang Qiu, Xiao Chi, Jin Yi, Sun Yi, Shen Nian, and other players and constructors reacted in shock as they recognized how the dungeon had misled them.
• Players flooded the forum with complaints after realizing they had helped the Witch return to the hunter, and the system’s clearance evaluation had called them a joke.
• Queenie reconsidered the dungeon’s narrative traps and mental impact, then noted it as a possible breakthrough for the Nine Provinces in the Cross-Realm Arena.
• Lu Xiu entered the construction space and found that the sealed [Witch] instance had produced two data orbs, one large and one small.

Lu Xiu worried that the system’s growing attention might expose her hidden memory bug, then tried to provoke the goddess and was interrupted by Shen Nian and Jian Li at her door. The visitors’ reason for coming remained unclear as Jian Li touched Lu Xiu’s twin-tails.

• Lu Xiu found that the system had revoked her access to the official [Witch] dungeon, so she could not enter to farm the Resentment skill.
• Lu Xiu considered whether the system’s special treatment meant it had noticed her ability to retain memories during dungeon verification, then decided to keep building dungeons and strengthen herself.
• Lu Xiu called the goddess “shorty” and “shorty goddess,” but nothing happened immediately.
• Shen Nian and Jian Li arrived at Lu Xiu’s home, and Shen Nian’s complaint about the dungeon turned into praise when she saw Lu Xiu’s outfit and twin-tails.
• Jian Li touched Lu Xiu’s twin-tails, leaving Lu Xiu asking what the two visitors had come for.

Shen Nian visited Lu Xiu to ask whether the [Witch] instance had a reversible ending, and Lu Xiu confirmed it through a veiled hint. Meanwhile, Zhang Chongshan struggled to describe Prison Rock’s modified dungeon to its prime minister and looked forward to returning to Nine Provinces.

• Lu Xiu tied Jian Li’s hair into low twin-tails while Jian Li sat quietly beside her.
• Lu Xiu hinted that the [Witch] instance had a reversible ending, and Shen Nian realized she could try to complete it without dying.
• Jian Li admired Lu Xiu’s hair, while Shen Nian joined the conversation and agreed that it was fine to look at it.
• Zhang Chongshan told Prison Rock’s prime minister that their dungeon resembled Lu Xiu’s, despite privately thinking its changes had strayed far from her design.
• Zhang Chongshan counted down the days until the new version and imagined returning to Nine Provinces to watch Jian Ning and the Strategy Group’s strongest fighter clash.

Lu Xiu discussed the [Witch] instance’s rewards and difficulty with Shen Nian and Jian Li, then considered how to design a much longer combat instance. Shen Nian and Jian Li entered [Witch] again to pursue its reversal ending, while Lu Xiu stayed behind to rest and sort through her wardrobe.

• Lu Xiu learned that Jian Li had earned the SS skill “Counterkill” and asked both players to share feedback on her experimental [Witch] instance.
• Shen Nian and Jian Li agreed to replay the instance, and Lu Xiu asked whether a combat dungeon requiring over thirty hours for a smooth clear would be too long.
• Shen Nian warned Lu Xiu not to overwork players, then changed her mind about borrowing everyday clothes after sensing Jian Li’s hostile gaze.
• Jian Li touched Lu Xiu’s hair before entering the instance, and Lu Xiu wondered whether the players could overcome the reversal ending’s harsh conditions.
• Shen Nian arrived in the forest facing Viola, resolved to stop the Witch, and wondered how Lu Xiu had designed the reversal ending.