Recaps

Wang Lingguan descended into the Netherworld to seize the Matchmaker God and Meng Po, while Great Emperor Fengdu refused to intervene. Lu Chen stepped between Wang Lingguan and Meng Po Pavilion and challenged him, leaving the outcome uncertain.

• Tianyou Vice Marshal revealed that the Northern Pole Exorcism Office had anticipated the Earth Division Court’s interference, while Wang Lingguan’s arrival kept Yin Marshal and Marshal Yang occupied.
• Lu Chen learned from Wheel-Turning King that Wang Lingguan’s golden whip could destroy souls and spirits, but Great Emperor Fengdu cut off their message and declined to act.
• Wang Lingguan ordered the Matchmaker God and Meng Po to surrender, and the Matchmaker God prepared to face him until Lu Chen called for them to stay inside.
• Lu Chen confronted Wang Lingguan outside Meng Po Pavilion, drew mocking laughter from the watching gods, and declared that he refused to move.

Lu Chen challenged Wang Lingguan to land three lashes, betting that his Talismans for Sweeping Away Calamity could withstand them while he closed the distance. After blocking two increasingly powerful strikes, he prepared to face the third as the watching immortals marveled at his talismans.

• Lu Chen asked Wang Lingguan to withdraw his troops if he survived three lashes, and Wang Lingguan accepted while dismissing the bargain.
• Lu Chen used his Talismans for Sweeping Away Calamity to block Wang Lingguan’s first strike and stepped thirty feet closer.
• Lu Chen invited Wang Lingguan to deliver the second lash and covered himself with more talismans.
• Wang Lingguan struck with half his strength, but Lu Chen’s talismans again repelled the blow and sent force back along the golden whip.
• The Plague Emperor relaxed, while the Lunar Star Lord recognized Lu Chen’s gamble.

Lu Chen survived Wang Lingguan’s full-force third lash with help from an unknown clear radiance, then used the Binding Demon Rope to restrain him. The Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King realized Lu Chen had used his rope.

• Lunar Star Lord suspected someone had amplified the talismans and watched as Lu Chen revealed a box containing more than a hundred of them.
• Wang Lingguan unleashed his full strength against Lu Chen, destroying most of the talismans and devastating the Bridge of Helplessness and Meng Po Pavilion.
• A mysterious clear radiance protected Lu Chen from Wang Lingguan’s attack, and Great Emperor Fengdu recognized that the hidden figure had appeared.
• Wang Lingguan was thrown back by the talismans’ counterforce and threatened Meng Po and Matchmaker God while Lu Chen vanished into the thunderfire.
• Lu Chen emerged and bound Wang Lingguan and his whip with the Binding Demon Rope.
• The Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King recognized the Binding Demon Rope and realized Lu Chen had used his.

Lu Chen captured Wang Lingguan with the Binding Demon Rope, turning the battle in the Netherworld against the Northern Pole Exorcism Office. Just as the enemy retreated and the assembled immortals prepared to celebrate, the Great Heavenly Venerable’s overwhelming presence descended.

• The immortals realized Lu Chen had used the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King's Binding Demon Rope to capture Wang Lingguan, though many mistakenly believed the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King had lent it to him.
• Lu Chen handed the bound Wang Lingguan to Marshal Yin, who praised him and rewarded him for helping suppress the calamity.
• With Wang Lingguan captured, Marshal Yin, Marshal Yang, and the Jiazi Grand Marshals overwhelmed Tianyou's deputy marshal and Black Baleful General.
• Marshal Yin cursed Wang Lingguan and let the Northern Pole Exorcism Office retreat, while Tianyou's deputy marshal vowed to report the marshals to the Great Heavenly Venerable.
• The Netherworld shook, the Ghost Gate Pass shattered, and violet-gold lightning filled the sky as Lu Chen recognized the Great Heavenly Venerable's arrival.

The Great Heavenly Venerable ordered Matchmaker God and Meng Po executed for violating heavenly law, and Lu Chen watched as they endured sixty-four bolts of divine lightning. They vanished in the final strike, but Lu Chen confirmed the number matched what he had been counting.

• Great Emperor Fengdu and the Netherworld gods prostrated themselves as the Great Heavenly Venerable’s decree condemned Matchmaker God and Meng Po to execution and summoned the other involved immortals for judgment.
• Boil Uncle and Sending Sister pleaded helplessly while Lu Chen watched and counted each bolt of lightning striking Matchmaker God and Meng Po.
• Matchmaker God and Meng Po endured the punishment together, and the sixty-third bolt restored their youthful appearances before they exchanged vows.
• The sixty-fourth bolt annihilated Matchmaker God and Meng Po, leaving no trace of them and causing Sending Sister to faint.
• After the sea of lightning dispersed, Lu Chen collapsed and confirmed that exactly sixty-four bolts had fallen.

Lu Chen’s plan to reunite Matchmaker God and Meng Po had depended on them dying under the final heavenly thunder and using the moment afterward to escape their immortal lives. After their deaths, Lu Chen revealed that he had won the gamble and recalled how he had persuaded Matchmaker God to accept the plan.

• Matchmaker God and Meng Po perished under heavenly punishment, and Yin Marshal led his companions back to Heaven to accept punishment.
• Lu Chen rode toward Wheel-Turning City, convinced that he had won his wager by surviving the final thunderbolt’s fleeting ownerless opportunity.
• Three days earlier, Lu Chen told Matchmaker God that his plan required him and Meng Po to die and return to mortal life through reincarnation.
• Lu Chen explained that the Supreme One had granted Matchmaker God the rank of Envoy of Netherworld Marriage to gamble on Lu Chen’s fate, but that immortal status would still prevent the lovers from remaining together.
• Lu Chen proposed that Matchmaker God and Meng Po shed their immortal identities, preserve their memories through reincarnation, and renew their bond as mortals.

Lu Chen and Matchmaker God agreed to risk a plan that would let Matchmaker God and Meng Po die, reincarnate, and continue their bond. Matchmaker God entrusted Lu Chen with his vital soul and essence, while the scheme depended on the Jade Emperor’s thunder striking them exactly sixty-four times.

• Matchmaker God agreed to give up his celestial registry and gamble on Lu Chen’s plan to reunite him with Meng Po.
• Lu Chen explained that the Tai Sui Department’s Yin Marshal and Marshal Yang would help hold off the Northern Pole Exorcism Office while he arranged for the pair to appear dead.
• Matchmaker God suggested that the Great Celestial Venerable’s punishment could provide their deaths, and described how exactly sixty-four bolts of Violet Firmament Divine Thunder could leave a remnant soul capable of reincarnation.
• Lu Chen accepted Matchmaker God’s interpretation of the plan and promised to count the thunderbolts carefully so neither too many nor too few struck them.
• Matchmaker God said Meng Po’s offices could pass to successors, then handed Lu Chen his vital soul and essence and thanked him.

Lu Chen revealed that Matchmaker God and Meng Po had survived the Great Heavenly Venerable’s apparent divine punishment as soul essences, and brought them to the Wheel-Turning King to enter reincarnation. The king sent them to be reborn into two friendly, prosperous families in Benevolence City, while Lu Chen prepared to explain how he had saved them.

• Judge Cui praised Li City God for defeating Wang Lingguan and discussed the expected punishment for Lu Chen with him.
• Lu Chen asked Judge Cui to take him to the Wheel-Turning King, who also believed Matchmaker God and Meng Po had perished.
• Lu Chen opened two jade boxes and revealed the soul essences of Matchmaker God and Meng Po.
• The Wheel-Turning King summoned a Child-Giving Granny and ordered her to send the soul essences into reincarnation in the Ma and Wang families of Benevolence City.
• The Wheel-Turning King explained that he had chosen prosperous, unrestrictive families for the pair, then showed Lu Chen and Judge Cui the arrangements through a Mystic Mirror.

Lu Chen revealed that Valiant General had predicted the Great Celestial Venerable’s sixty-four thunderbolts and arranged for Matchmaker God and Meng Po to reincarnate without karmic ties. The Wheel-Turning King and Judge Cui concluded that Lu Chen was the Great Celestial Venerable’s incarnation, while Lu Chen wondered what the supreme ruler was plotting through him.

• Lu Chen showed the Wheel-Turning King and Judge Cui that Matchmaker God and Meng Po’s soul essences had entered reincarnation as unusually clean blank slates.
• Lu Chen explained that Valiant General had instructed him to count the thunderbolts and seek the Wheel-Turning King if exactly sixty-four fell.
• The Wheel-Turning King and Judge Cui realized that Valiant General had anticipated the thunder punishment and believed the apparent deaths were part of a planned deception.
• The Wheel-Turning King declared that Lu Chen was likely the Great Celestial Venerable’s incarnation and rejoiced that he had not made an enemy of him.
• Lu Chen concluded that the Great Celestial Venerable had secretly supported his successes and questioned why the sovereign had built a scheme around him.

Lu Chen learned that the Wheel-Turning King planned to seek Clerk Lu’s help with a future matter, then watched Meng Po and the Matchmaker God begin new lives in neighboring families. After returning to Cloudtop Manor, Lu Chen found Xiao Qing and Xiao Ru immobilized and came face-to-face with the unexpected Venus Star.

• The Wheel-Turning King told Lu Chen that he wished to befriend General Weiwu because he hoped to ask Clerk Lu for help with a future, still-secret matter, and gave Lu an eighth-grade heavenly treasure.
• The Wheel-Turning King showed Lu that Meng Po and the Matchmaker God’s soul essences had entered the Ma and Wang family’s unborn children, and the three offered blessings to the infants.
• Lu Chen left the Netherworld for Jiangdu, while the Wheel-Turning King and Judge Cui agreed that Lu’s strength meant they no longer needed to fear acting as they pleased.
• Lu Chen returned to Cloudtop Manor and found Xiao Qing and Xiao Ru frozen and seemingly lifeless beside his physical body.
• Venus Star appeared in the living room and told Lu Chen he had been waiting for him.

Lu Chen met Venus Star, who explained that the Jade Emperor had allowed Matchmaker God and Meng Po to reincarnate and revealed that Lu Chen’s elaborate scheme had not outsmarted Heaven. Venus Star then admitted that he had saved Lu Chen from Wang Lingguan’s lash and suggested that Lu Chen might be his incarnation.

• Venus Star confronted Lu Chen over impersonating the City God, and Lu Chen returned to his body and welcomed him inside.
• Venus Star explained that the Heavenly Court’s laws forbade divine love, but the Jade Emperor had spared Matchmaker God and Meng Po so they could reincarnate and pursue mortal love.
• Venus Star told Lu Chen that the Jade Emperor had understood and cooperated with his plan, then questioned why Lu Chen had gone so far as to seek a Heavenly Matchmaker.
• Lu Chen revealed his suspicion that he might be the Jade Emperor’s incarnation, and Venus Star explained that the silver radiance during Wang Lingguan’s lash had come from him.
• Venus Star told Lu Chen that he might be Venus Star’s incarnation, leaving Lu Chen stunned.

Venus Star showed Lu Chen a vision of his past life as a horse bandit and explained that his bond with the Great Heavenly Venerable earned him the Horse-Fodder Registrar position. He said Lu Chen’s scheme against the Matchmaker God had prematurely cut short his good fortune, but Wondrous Daoist Hermit then claimed Venus Star was deceiving him.

• Venus Star told Lu Chen that his fate with the Great Heavenly Venerable came from a karmic bond five hundred years earlier, not from being an incarnation.
• Venus Star showed Lu Chen Zhang Bairen’s descent to the mortal realm, where a young shepherd boy misdirected him toward horse bandits.
• Zhang Bairen withstood the bandit chief’s blows, then tested the man’s desire to become an immortal by making each step toward him cost him years of life.
• The bandit chief died taking the final step, and Zhang Bairen promised to fulfill his wish in a future life after his sins were cleansed.
• Venus Star explained that the bandit leader was Lu Chen in a former life and that his Horse-Fodder Registrar post fulfilled Zhang Bairen’s promise, while his plot against the Matchmaker God had cut short his prospects.
• Wondrous Daoist Hermit eavesdropped from a hotel rooftop and warned Lu Chen not to believe Venus Star.

Venus Star revealed that Lu Chen’s powers remained a mystery to him and warned him to cherish his bond with the Jade Emperor. He then delivered the Jade Emperor’s decree punishing Lu Chen as a guilty strongman under the Heavenly Bureau of Peril, leaving Lu Chen wondering whether the game was still underway.

• Venus Star questioned Lu Chen about his mysterious powers, and Lu Chen claimed they might have been bestowed secretly by the Great Heavenly Venerable.
• Venus Star urged Lu Chen to behave uprightly and said he could ascend to the Heavenly Court after a hundred years of merit.
• Venus Star read the Jade Emperor’s decree sentencing Lu Chen to serve as a guilty strongman for secretly arranging a meeting between the Matchmaker God and Meng Po.
• Venus Star explained that Lu Chen belonged to the Heavenly Bureau of Peril and needed one hundred thousand merits to clear his karmic sins.
• Venus Star said he would conceal Lu Chen’s City God dharma body, then departed as Xie Qingyi and Fan Rusong noticed Lu Chen’s return.
• Lu Chen wondered whether the game was still underway after hearing about the Heavenly Bureau of Peril and Pure Source Wondrous Dao True Lord.

Lu Chen completed the task of bringing Matchmaker God and Meng Po together, then went to report to the City Lord's Manor. Meanwhile, Wondrous Daoist Hermit and Venus Star discussed their hidden plans, and Venus Star's interruption provoked the Immortal Lord to destroy a thousand years of his cultivation.

• Lu Chen wondered whether Venus Star's talk of fated ties and his guilty-strongman punishment were part of a larger design, but decided to stop speculating.
• Lu Chen told Xie Qingyi and Fan Rusong that Matchmaker God and Meng Po had met and gotten together, then sent them back to the Netherworld.
• Lu Chen set off for the City Lord's Manor to submit his assignment and pursue his Lu Family's advancement.
• Venus Star found Wondrous Daoist Hermit and asked why he had intervened in Lu Chen's affair with Matchmaker God and Meng Po.
• Wondrous Daoist Hermit and Venus Star discussed how their plans had been shaped by Heavenly Court's pressure and how Lu Chen's suspicions might benefit him.
• Venus Star reminded Wondrous Daoist Hermit that he had promised not to interfere, and Wondrous Daoist Hermit struck him down, erasing a thousand years of his cultivation.

Lu Chen completed the Matchmaker God’s assignment and received a Promotion Rank Ticket, bringing him close to entering the Great Clans. Yu Feng explained that advancement to fifth rank requires Lu Chen to commit to a single cultivation path, and Lu Chen had not yet decided which one to choose.

• Wondrous Daoist Hermit warned Venus Star that Lu Chen’s actions could disrupt the foundation Venus Star had spent a century building, then departed.
• Lu Chen submitted the Matchmaker God’s token to the Spirit Terrace Clerk, who promised to process his reward quickly after Lu Chen gave him a fourth-rank heavenly treasure.
• Yu Feng began scolding Lu Chen for bribing the clerk, but accepted a fifth-rank fire-path heavenly treasure and invited Lu Chen to share tea.
• Lu Chen revealed that the Matchmaker God had rewarded him with a Promotion Rank Ticket, and Yu Feng realized it would let Lu Chen advance toward becoming a Great Clan.
• Lu Chen asked Yu Feng about reaching fifth rank, and Yu Feng explained that spiritualists must choose one cultivation path and focus on it after advancing.

Lu Chen agreed to Yu Feng’s secret-realm development project but refused to let him enter without paying a sixth-rank heavenly treasure, then considered consulting the heavens about his cultivation path. As Lu Chen prepared to advance to a great clan and choose a temple to break, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King uncovered a powerful captive in his pagoda and greeted him as the Great Sage.

• Lu Chen told Yu Feng he had not decided between the Plague Path and the Netherworld Path, then agreed to the secret-realm project but demanded a sixth-rank heavenly treasure for entry.
• The Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King learned that Giant Spirit God and the Four Heavenly Kings had helped Lu Chen and received chests of Heavenly Gold, then warned them not to act without permission.
• The Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King recounted how Lu Chen’s matchmaking scheme ended with the Matchmaker God and Meng Po erased by the Great Celestial Venerable, and heard that Lu Chen had tied up Wang Lingguan.
• Suspecting a scheme involving his Seven-Treasure Exquisite Pagoda, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King entered its seventh floor and found the Great Sage imprisoned behind a wall.
• Lu Chen finished reporting the Grass Temple Village mission at Jiangcheng No. 3 High School and left after the director marveled at his impending promotion to a great clan.
• Lu Chen considered which family’s temple to break, then spotted a familiar figure and recognized Student Li.

Lu Chen reunited briefly with Li Ruoyi before heading to the South City Factory, while Great Emperor Fengdu settled the dispute over Li City God by approving his promotion and restricting travel between the Heavenly Court and Netherworld. As Lu Chen prepared to return home, he sensed an urgent summons.

• Lu Chen spoke with Li Ruoyi, who said she worked at the North City government office, and watched her leave.
• Great Emperor Fengdu asked Zhang Heng and Yang Yun to weigh Li City God's punishment, and Yang Yun argued that Li City God deserved a reward.
• Great Emperor Fengdu approved Yang Yun's proposal to promote Li City God to Prefectural City God and ordered all immortals and gods to report before traveling between the Heavenly Court and Netherworld.
• Lu Chen met with Zeng Rou and Wang Zhidong at the South City Factory and urged them to keep expanding the market.
• As Lu Chen prepared to go home, he sensed an urgent call summoning him.

Lu Chen received the Red-Fate Dharma Robe and ten thousand immortal merits from the Matchmaker God, who had entered reincarnation with Meng Niang. He asked Broom Star to verify the merits and bring him records about the Imperial Horse Office, then began studying the robe’s divine abilities.

• Broom Star told Lu Chen that the Matchmaker God had left him a jade box containing a letter and the Red-Fate Dharma Robe.
• The Matchmaker God’s letter thanked Lu Chen for helping him and Meng Niang, bestowed the robe’s four divine abilities, and credited Lu Chen with ten thousand immortal merits.
• Broom Star explained that immortal merits could be exchanged for official posts, and agreed to verify Lu Chen’s balance and copy a register of available posts.
• Lu Chen asked Broom Star to bring the Imperial Horse Office documents, and Broom Star delivered a chest of ledgers before leaving for the Office of Fate.
• Lu Chen noticed that the Myriad Transformations Bureau supplied much of the Imperial Horse Office’s fodder at higher prices, suspected possible kickbacks, and then began examining the Red-Fate Dharma Robe’s powers.

Lu Chen discovered the Red-Fate Dharma Robe’s powerful abilities, then learned the Netherworld would not punish him for his recent actions. Emperor Yang invested him as the Prefectural City God of Jiang Province, leaving Lu Chen to turn a chilling gaze on Hu Sanniang.

• Lu Chen examined the Red-Fate Dharma Robe’s abilities and began nourishing the treasure with his spiritual power.
• Emperor Yang arrived at City God Street with an underworld army and ordered Hu Sanniang to fetch Li City God.
• Lu Chen entered Li City God’s dharma body and met Emperor Yang, who said his actions against Wang Lingguan were justified but rebuked him for concealing the Binding Demon Rope.
• Emperor Yang issued a decree investing Li Qingyuan as the Prefectural City God of Jiang Province and bestowed a golden seal and jade register.
• After Emperor Yang departed, Hu Sanniang congratulated Lu Chen, but his sudden, cold stare made her smile freeze.

Lu Chen forced Hu Sanniang to confess that she had helped Zhao Wuya kill Li Qingyuan, then learned that a concealed Heavenly Court envoy had secretly met with Li Qingyuan. Hu Sanniang could not identify the envoy’s divine department, leaving Lu Chen poised to uncover the next part of the secret.

• Lu Chen used the Red-Fate Dharma Robe to detect Hu Sanniang’s deception and confronted her with Zhao Wuya’s account of Li Qingyuan’s murder.
• Hu Sanniang admitted that she had been Li Qingyuan’s concubine and had poisoned his tea so Zhao Wuya and his allies could kill him.
• Hu Sanniang explained that Zhao Wuya’s son, Zhao Jindu, had been regarded as the incarnation of a great immortal before he was made into a Human Pill.
• Hu Sanniang revealed that a disguised Heavenly Court envoy had met privately with Li Qingyuan, who addressed him as Lord Divine Envoy.
• Lu Chen asked which Heavenly Court department the envoy’s token represented, but Hu Sanniang had not yet answered.

Hu Sanniang revealed that a divine envoy from the Heavenly Court’s Myriad Transformations Bureau had helped Zhao Wanliang, and Lu Chen realized the bureau connected to Spirit Cypress Immortal. After sparing Hu Sanniang, Lu Chen questioned how he could trust her and proposed confining her in the Plague Emperor Banner.

• Hu Sanniang told Lu Chen that Li Qingyuan had visited the Zhao family after meeting a divine envoy, and that secret treasures had enhanced Zhao Wanliang’s spiritual nature.
• Hu Sanniang explained that the Four Duty Merit Officers had revealed the treasures’ purpose and identified the token’s plant pattern as belonging to the Myriad Transformations Bureau.
• Lu Chen recognized the bureau as the domain of Spirit Cypress Immortal, while Hu Sanniang begged him to spare her and admitted she had withheld the information from Zhao Wuya.
• Hu Sanniang explained that she betrayed Zhao Wuya because he had cursed her and because she believed his bid for power was doomed, then pledged her loyalty to Lu Chen.
• Lu Chen agreed to spare Hu Sanniang but asked how she could earn his trust, then summoned the Plague Emperor Banner and offered to put her inside it.

Lu Chen took control of Qianjiang City God Street as Prefectural City God and began reshaping its administration. After turning Hu Sanniang into a plague ghost while preserving her consciousness, he left her in charge of the street and planned to make it a divine meeting place for deities of the Three Realms.

• Lu Chen refined Hu Sanniang into the third plague ghost in his Plague Emperor Banner, preserved her consciousness, and placed her under his control.
• Lu Chen traveled with Hu Sanniang to Qianjiang City God Street, assumed office with his Prefectural City God Seal, and declared seven days of free expenses for its inhabitants.
• Lu Chen assigned the fawning Left and Right Judges to work in the privy, then reassured the Five Paths General and other former allies that he had made peace with General Lu.
• Lu Chen gave Hu Sanniang a City God Token to travel between the Jiangdu and Qianjiang City God Streets and ordered her to prepare the street for a Divine Club.
• Lu Chen reflected that Zhao Wuya had become Prefectural City God as he had wished, though only through his death.

After inspecting the City God Hall, Lu Chen suspected that the Great Heavenly Venerable was guiding him to uncover a plot to harvest mortal merit, and he concluded that Wood Virtue Star Lord might be responsible. Broom Star then reported that the merit they had earned had been intercepted, leaving Lu Chen demanding to know who had taken it.

• Lu Chen decided not to appoint a Jiangdu City God yet and told Hu Sanniang to build relationships with the Four Duty Merit Officers.
• Lu Chen traced the chain of events around Madam Zheng’s death and suspected that the Great Heavenly Venerable was steering him toward the truth about the Myriad Transformations Bureau.
• Lu Chen reasoned that Wood Virtue Star Lord might have harvested mortal merit and that the Plague Lord had intervened to protect Madam Zheng.
• Lu Chen waited to see whether events would confirm his theory about the Great Heavenly Venerable’s scheme.
• Broom Star urgently told Lu Chen that their earned immortal merit had been intercepted, and Lu Chen asked who had taken it.

After the Northern Pole Exorcism Office froze the Matchmaker God’s immortal merits, Lu Chen planned to gain control of the Imperial Horse Office and use its authority to counter them. Broom Star agreed to redeem the Horse-Handling Director position and investigate suspicious dealings tied to the Myriad Transformations Bureau, while Lu Chen wondered where the Horse Guardian had gone.

• Broom Star told Lu Chen that the Northern Pole Exorcism Office had frozen the Matchmaker God’s merits and tried to seize Lu Chen’s five hundred merits, while several officials received punishments from the Thunder Department.
• Lu Chen asked Broom Star to find a vacant Imperial Horse Office position with real authority and learned that the Horse-Handling Director position cost one thousand merits.
• Broom Star advised Lu Chen to redeem the Horse-Handling Director position, explaining that the role managed the office’s daily operations and the leasing of Heavenly Court steeds.
• Lu Chen accepted Broom Star’s thousand merits and planned to use the office’s control over steeds to make the Northern Pole Exorcism Office wait for its requests.
• Broom Star reported suspicious fodder and provisions accounts, and Lu Chen warned him that immortals in the Myriad Transformations Bureau might be causing trouble in the lower realm.
• Lu Chen told Broom Star to win over Imperial Horse Office officials and asked where the Horse Guardian had gone.

Broom Star explained the history of the Horse-Tending Official and shared clues about powerful figures and the West Ward Sect, prompting Lu Chen to consider a future trip to Xiangnan. In the Heavenly Court, Broom Star defended his choice to serve Lu Chen despite the stigma of Lu Chen’s guilty-strongman status, and suspected the title might carry a deeper purpose.

• Broom Star told Lu Chen how the Horse-Tending Official, later called the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, fought the Heavenly Court and then disappeared, and described later changes involving Buddhism and Pure Source Wondrous Dao True Lord.
• Lu Chen asked Broom Star to invite his master and Lord Jun Cai to visit, as he planned to turn Qianjiang City God Street into a place for deliberations before destroying temples.
• Lu Chen suspected the Great Sage’s disappearance, the failed mission, and the founding of the West Ward Sect were connected, but decided he was not ready to travel to Xiangnan.
• At the Office of Fate, Broom Star accepted a jade plaque for a higher Horse Officer rank after lending out his immortal merit.
• An Office of Fate clerk urged Broom Star to abandon his service to Lu Chen, warning that Lu Chen’s guilty-strongman status would deter other immortals.
• Broom Star rejected the clerk’s advice, argued that immortals might seek Lu Chen’s help, and wondered whether the guilty-strongman title had a deeper purpose.