Recaps

Lu Chen accepted the Matchmaker God's commission to reunite him with Meng Po and borrowed a City God's rank to enter the Netherworld. He secured Great Emperor Fengdu's conditional support, but still needed Meng Po's agreement and protection against the Northern Pole Exorcism Office.

• The Matchmaker God sent Lu Chen a confidential commission asking him to arrange a meeting with Meng Po.
• King Yama explained the lovers' punishment and warned Lu Chen that reuniting them would violate Heavenly statutes.
• Lu Chen obtained the Profound Yin Puppet-Proxy Great Method from Plague Lord and recruited Giant Spirit God, Many-Hearing Heavenly King, and King Who Upholds the Nation to capture Zhao Wuya.
• Lu Chen confronted Zhao Wuya, heard his account of immortals using incarnations as human elixirs, and consumed him with the Plague Emperor Banner.
• Lu Chen possessed Zhao Wuya's Dharma body, borrowed Li Qingyuan's City God rank, and entered the Netherworld with Xie Qingyi and Fan Rusong.
• Lu Chen revealed his identity to King Yama and persuaded him to arrange an audience with Great Emperor Fengdu.
• Great Emperor Fengdu allowed Lu Chen to use the City God's dharma body and promised to open the Netherworld gates after Lu Chen vowed to bring half the mortal world's incense offerings there within three years.
• Great Emperor Fengdu promised an Underworld Marriage Envoy post for Matchmaker God if Lu Chen succeeded and advised Lu Chen to seek a powerful Heavenly Court department's support.

Lu Chen arranged for the Matchmaker God and Meng Po to reunite and marry in the Netherworld, then used the Northern Pole Exorcism Office’s response to draw the Earth Division Evil-Quelling Court into battle. The fighting remained unresolved as Huo Luo Fire Chariot Wang Lingguan arrived in the Netherworld.

• Lu Chen secured Marshal Yang’s support by promising to help the Earth Division Evil-Quelling Court gain standing in the Heavenly Court, while Marshal Yang arranged for the Tai Sui Grand Marshals to perform an evil-quelling rite in the Netherworld.
• Lu Chen told the Matchmaker God that the Netherworld gates were open, and the Matchmaker God agreed to risk heavenly punishment to see Meng Po, and Lu Chen then revealed his identity to Meng Po and arranged their reunion.
• The Matchmaker God entered the Netherworld despite the Jade Emperor’s Thorn Heavenly Edict, and he and Meng Po exchanged wedding vows as the Northern Pole Exorcism Office descended to arrest them.
• Marshal Yang and Yin Marshal invoked the evil-quelling rite to block the Northern Pole Exorcism Office, and Great Emperor Fengdu opened the Heaven-Connecting Other Shore so the armies could fight without damaging the Netherworld.
• Yin Marshal battled Deputy Marshal Tianyou, Marshal Yang fought Black Baleful General, and the Tai Sui Grand Marshals clashed with the Northern Pole Exorcism Office’s Heavenly Dippers and Earthly Fiends as more than a hundred Heavenly Court powers observed.
• Lu Chen sensed that the Northern Pole Exorcism Office was holding back a trump card, and Huo Luo Fire Chariot Wang Lingguan appeared through a golden tear in the Netherworld sky.

Lu Chen helped Matchmaker God and Meng Po escape heavenly punishment through reincarnation, then returned to the Heavenly Court’s schemes and uncovered Hu Sanniang’s connection to the Myriad Transformations Bureau. Promoted to Prefectural City God, he sought authority in the Imperial Horse Office while investigating a possible larger design.

• Lu Chen used talismans and the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King's Binding Demon Rope to capture Wang Lingguan, but the Great Heavenly Venerable's thunder punishment appeared to kill Matchmaker God and Meng Po.
• Lu Chen's plan preserved the pair's soul essences for reincarnation into the Ma and Wang families, and Venus Star told Lu Chen that the Jade Emperor had supported the plan and sentenced him to serve as a guilty strongman.
• Lu Chen submitted the Matchmaker God's token, received a Promotion Rank Ticket, and agreed to enter a secret-realm project for a sixth-rank heavenly treasure.
• Emperor Yang appointed Li Qingyuan Prefectural City God of Jiang Province, and Lu Chen used the Red-Fate Dharma Robe to expose Hu Sanniang's role in Li Qingyuan's murder and her knowledge of a Myriad Transformations Bureau envoy.
• Lu Chen refined Hu Sanniang into his Plague Emperor Banner, took office in Qianjiang City, and ordered her to prepare the City God Street for a Divine Club.
• Lu Chen suspected the Great Heavenly Venerable was steering him toward the Myriad Transformations Bureau, while Broom Star reported that the Northern Pole Exorcism Office had frozen their merits.
• Lu Chen used his merits to pursue the Horse-Handling Director post and planned to leverage the Imperial Horse Office's control over Heavenly steeds against the Northern Pole Exorcism Office.
• Broom Star described the Great Sage's disappearance and refused an Office of Fate clerk's warning to abandon Lu Chen, wondering whether Lu Chen's guilty-strongman status served a deeper purpose.

Zhao Wanliang’s suicide plot pushed Lu Chen toward breaking three families’ temples, and Lu Chen sought divine support while preparing a Blessing Black-Yellow Grand Rite. He founded the Spirit Void Sect to train ritual helpers and produce talismans, ending with his first public talisman sales outside the Lu Clan Temple.

• Zhao Wanliang poisoned the other clan heads and arranged his own death to force Lu Chen to challenge three families alone or target the Sun family.
• Lu Chen chose to prepare for breaking three families’ temples and proposed a Blessing Black-Yellow Grand Rite to obtain merit and negotiate with their deities.
• Lu Chen secured varying degrees of support or noninterference from immortals, but his guilty status restricted his contact with other gods.
• Lu Chen tested his followers’ spiritual roots and arranged for Sun Yourong to join him as a fellow disciple rather than accept him as her master.
• Lu Chen established the Spirit Void Dharma lineage, conferred registers on its disciples, and began teaching them rituals and talisman crafting.
• Lu Chen obtained divine approval for his disciples’ talisman work and sought heavenly help when their training progressed too slowly.
• Broom Star brought Lu Chen Illuminating Powder through help secretly arranged by Dipper Mother, Primordial Sovereign, and Lu Chen used it to improve his disciples’ learning.
• Lu Chen produced talismans and opened a stall outside the Lu Clan Temple, where President Zhang hesitated over buying one to reduce his late father’s sins.