Recaps

Zhou An concealed his growing knife skills while fighting Beast Cult threats and secretly training through his constable and kitchen duties. As the Beast Cult vanished, Blood Shadow Gate corpses appeared across An Ding County, and Zhou An pushed his Wok Tossing toward its next level.

• Zhou An discovered that practicing Knife Skills and Wok Flipping triggered his Life System, then killed his aunt’s corpse when it attacked him at home.
• Zhou An fought a shadow creature in an alley after seeing the dead girl Ya Ya, but concealed his role when Division Magistrate Zhang credited the attack to a mysterious knife master.
• Head Constable Xie taught the constables martial arts, while Yu Hang’s tutor Sun Dan revealed his Beast Cult allegiance and tried to force Yu Hang to plant a gray rat in the yamen.
• Zhou An killed Sun Dan, and Yu Hang reported the incident while protecting Zhou An’s identity from Zhang and Xie.
• Zhou An chose the Butchering Ox Technique at Knife Skills level three and killed a Beast Cult Protector who was attacking a wounded Demon Suppression Division member.
• Chef Liu helped Zhou An improve his knife practice through carving, while Yu Hang warned him that Zhang was searching for the mysterious expert.
• Zhang began a quiet investigation of local residents, and the yamen discovered a Blood Shadow Gate member dead from numerous knife wounds.
• Yu Hang explained the Blood Shadow Gate’s shadow techniques, and Zhou An continued training as more bodies bearing its tokens appeared and Wok Tossing neared level three.

Zhou An uncovered Chef Liu’s betrayal, killed the Beast Sect Leader, and kept his identity secret while pursuing skill training. As Yu Hang and the constables investigated the disappearance of Clear Stream Village’s children, Yu Hang grew uneasy about the river.

• Zhou An chose Object Juggling, then discovered Chef Liu fighting Blood Shadow Gate pursuers and learned that Chef Liu had given the Shadow Banner to the Beast Cult’s Sect Leader.
• Zhou An killed Chef Liu with an iron wok and told Division Magistrate Zhang that a mysterious expert had defeated him.
• Zhou An developed Soaring Dragon Steps and chased the Beast Sect Leader after the attack on the Beast Cult’s stronghold.
• Zhou An killed the Beast Sect Leader with Object Juggling, and Division Magistrate Zhang and Head Constable Xie agreed to conceal his identity.
• Zhou An declined to join the Demon Suppression Division, trained his Soaring Dragon Steps and knife skills, and sensed his qi changing as he neared the Second-Rate Expert realm.
• County Magistrate Chen punished Master Xu and Sun BuTou for bribery, then assigned the constables to investigate the disappearance of every child in Clear Stream Village.
• Yu Hang and the constables questioned villagers, heard that the children had vanished overnight, and suspected the Clear Stream River was involved.
• Sun BuTou ordered Niu Er to search the river, then ended the search when nothing was found, while Yu Hang remained uneasy.

Zhou An uncovered the deaths of children in Clear Stream River and learned that Zhang Xiu Xiu and a black-robed accomplice had used the Water Burial Method while targeting him. He defeated Zhang Xiu Xiu during the Great Chu Celebration and left Ye Shuang to take the captured woman to the Demon Suppression Division, while keeping Ye Shuang’s identity secret.

• Zhou An confronted the river’s aberrations, and Feng Ye retrieved the drowned children’s bodies before a Fire Prayer Master attacked and revealed that a black-robed woman wanted Zhou An’s body.
• Zhou An killed the Fire Prayer Master, and Feng Ye’s water mirror showed that she had murdered children to help someone rise and that her black-robed accomplice sought Zhou An’s strength.
• Zhou An reported the incident to the Demon Suppression Division, where Division Magistrate Zhang told him about a Surveillance Division member’s unexplained death and assigned Feng Ye to help investigate.
• Ye Shuang joined the investigation and guided the dead woman’s soul, learning that the Fire Prayer Master and a black-robed woman had arranged the Water Burial Method using children in Clear Stream Village.
• Zhou An learned that Zhang Xiu Xiu had ties to two deaths by water burial and suspected she was the black-robed woman targeting him, while Division Magistrate Zhang asked him to capture her alive.
• During the Great Chu Celebration, Zhang Xiu Xiu used her singing to put the crowd to sleep and attacked Zhou An with copied versions of his abilities, but he disarmed and maimed her.
• Zhang Xiu Xiu formed new limbs from blood and fled, but Ye Shuang froze her in a block of ice, and Zhou An carried her away alive.
• Zhou An pursued Ye Shuang, identified her as Master Ye, and had her confirm Zhang Xiu Xiu was alive before sending her to the Demon Suppression Division and warning her to keep his identity secret.

Zhou An left the yamen, pursued his forging skills, and became entangled in the Crafting Dao Grand Competition when Mi Mo kidnapped Yu Hang. He set out for Yunlai Prefecture to rescue Yu Hang, but an ominous encounter at an empty relay station interrupted the journey.

• Division Magistrate Zhang and Ye Shuang used Zhang Xiu Xiu’s body as bait, but Feng Ye’s attack failed, and Zhou An killed him after learning of the mysterious man behind the Water Burial crimes.
• Zhou An entered Li Gouwa’s memories, uncovered County Magistrate Chen’s crimes, and helped the Demon Suppression Division lure Chen to Clear Stream Village, where Zhou An killed him.
• Ye Shuang left An Ding County, and Zhou An later quit the yamen rather than follow Wu Youde’s orders while Yu Hang resigned to prepare for the Imperial Examination.
• Zhao Blacksmith taught Zhou An about forging disciplines, while Zhou An advanced the Fusion Forging Method and refused repeated invitations to enter the Crafting Dao Grand Competition.
• Yu Hang gave Zhou An the Water Burial Method and left for the selection examination, while Zhou An learned Reading and later reached Level 4 in the Fusion Forging Method.
• Long Xing challenged Zhou An to compete in crafting, but Zhao Blacksmith showed him Zhou An’s seamless ironwork, and Long Xing backed down.
• Mi Mo kidnapped Yu Hang and demanded that Zhou An compete in Yunlai Prefecture, so Zhou An agreed to enter the competition and set out with Qi Shuo.
• During the journey, Qi Shuo told Zhou An about the Miscellaneous Sect and its connection to the Five Elements Burial Sect, and the group reached an empty relay station where an icy wind blew and the lamp went out.