Recaps

Li Qinwu and his companions fought nearly three hundred Third and Fourth Turn Foot-washing Acolytes in the Duel Arena while waiting for the stronger Cultists on Tank Mountain to descend. After Li Qinwu slaughtered most of the attackers, the Cultists tore apart his boxer briefs, and he charged the survivors in a fury.

• Li Qinwu, Yellow Sand, and Swift Shadow prepared to hold off the charging Foot-washing Acolytes until the seven Seventh Turn figures came down from Tank Mountain.
• Li Qinwu and his companions unleashed their skills as the Third and Fourth Turn Cultists attacked, and Li Qinwu killed attackers with brutal punches, elbows, and grapples.
• The Cultists surrounded Li Qinwu and battered him, but he fought through the blows and killed the attackers who restrained or struck him.
• After Li Qinwu headbutted a Cultist to death, the man's grip tore Li Qinwu's boxer briefs into strips, leaving about fifty Cultists alive.
• Li Qinwu straightened his broken nose, spat out bloody tooth fragments, and charged the remaining Foot-washing Acolytes in a rage.

Li Qinwu fought off the Foot-washing Acolytes, killing them one by one despite their brutal attempts to bite and restrain him. He defeated the last attacker by jumping into the air and crushing the man’s head against the ground with his buttocks.

• Li Qinwu killed several Foot-washing Acolytes with throws, kicks, punches, and Twin Winds Piercing the Ears.
• The last few acolytes swarmed Li Qinwu and bit him across his body.
• Li Qinwu crushed one acolyte’s head, killed another by driving his fingers into the man’s eyes, and tore apart two more attackers.
• Li Qinwu jumped high with the final acolyte still biting his buttocks, then crushed the man’s head against the ground as he landed.

Titus learned that a final sacrifice at the Grand Plaza would summon Daemons, so he sent Gadriel to stop it while the main battle continued. At the Duel Arena, Li Qinwu, Swift Shadow, and Yellow Sand faced twenty fifth- and sixth-rank Cultists, then Gadriel and two veteran Astartes arrived.

• Dainar told Titus that seven of eight formation-eye rituals were complete and the last sacrifice was underway at the Grand Plaza.
• Titus ordered Gadriel and two battle-brothers to fly to the Duel Arena and stop the sacrifice.
• The Grand Inquisitor killed a giant man beside the Brass Cauldron, filling it seven-eighths full, and heard a voice urge him to offer one more person.
• Li Qinwu, Swift Shadow, and Yellow Sand finished off the third- and fourth-rank Cultists, then prepared to face twenty fifth- and sixth-rank Cultists.
• Gadriel and two veteran Astartes leaped from a Thunderhawk Gunship into the Duel Arena.

Li Qinwu confronted Gadriel over losing the Emperor’s Bolt Pistol, then organized his team to face twenty Foot-washing Acolytes. After the battle began, Li Qinwu knocked out a Fifth Turn enemy and challenged the strongest fighters, beginning a duel with a Sixth Turn brute.

• Li Qinwu scolded Gadriel for losing the Emperor’s Bolt Pistol, and Gadriel invited him aboard the battleship to apologize once the fight was over.
• Li Qinwu, Yellow Sand, Swift Shadow, Gadriel, and the two Ultramarines veterans agreed to split the twenty Foot-washing Acolytes between them.
• As the cutscene ended, Li Qinwu charged and knocked a Fifth Turn Foot-washing Acolyte unconscious with one Thunder Haymaker.
• Li Qinwu challenged the Foot-washing Acolytes’ three strongest fighters, and a Sixth Turn brute stepped forward to fight him.
• Li Qinwu and the brute clashed while the other two Sixth Turn fighters held back, planning to wait until the duel wore them down.

Li Qinwu fought and killed a hulking man in a brutal hand-to-hand battle, but suffered deep wounds across his back. He then faced the tattooed hulking man and the one-eared hulking man, who joined forces and approached him from opposite sides.

• Li Qinwu traded blows with the hulking man, who grabbed his neck and battered his abdomen before Li Qinwu escaped with a pair of heel strikes.
• Li Qinwu countered the hulking man's knee strikes, lifted him, and slammed him into the ground.
• Li Qinwu pinned the hulking man and repeatedly punched and smashed his head until he died.
• Li Qinwu stood with dozens of deep cuts across his back and took a boxer's stance toward the two remaining men.
• The tattooed hulking man and the one-eared hulking man agreed to attack Li Qinwu together and moved toward him from either side.

Li Qinwu fought One-Ear and the tattooed giant, who kept rescuing each other and wore him down by attacking together. After realizing he could not defeat them by fighting fair, Li Qinwu decided to use dirty tricks.

• Li Qinwu battered One-Ear, but the tattooed giant repeatedly interrupted and knocked him away.
• One-Ear and the tattooed giant teamed up, landing a series of blows that knocked out Li Qinwu’s teeth and sent him crashing to the ground.
• Li Qinwu recovered quickly and realized that neither opponent could beat him alone, but their teamwork kept him pinned down.
• Li Qinwu nearly threw One-Ear, but the tattooed giant kicked at his groin; Li Qinwu blocked the kick, grabbed the giant, and slammed him to the ground.
• One-Ear kicked Li Qinwu away before he could finish the tattooed giant, and both opponents got back up.
• Li Qinwu recognized their cycle of stamina and interruptions, then decided to use dirty tricks of his own.

Li Qinwu fought the tattooed giant and One-Ear, enduring their coordinated assault while waiting for an opening. He incapacitated the tattooed giant and rose to face One-Ear in a one-on-one fight.

• The tattooed giant and One-Ear teamed up to attack Li Qinwu, who traded brutal blows with them and tore off One-Ear’s scalp, ear, and facial skin to escape his hold.
• One-Ear and the tattooed giant battered Li Qinwu from opposite sides, and One-Ear dislocated Li Qinwu’s jaw with a heavy punch.
• Li Qinwu used the force of the punch to spin around and crush the tattooed giant’s throat, then struck his crotch, dropping him in agony.
• Li Qinwu reset his jaw, taunted One-Ear, and charged at him for a one-on-one fight.

Li Qinwu killed One-ear and the tattooed giant with brutal attacks, then checked the other fights and saw that they were still underway. Yellow Sand was holding off three fighters, Gadriel was badly wounded, and Swift Shadow was being kicked around by two Cultists.

• Li Qinwu battered One-ear with punches, shattered his jaw, and killed him with a knee strike to the spine.
• Li Qinwu caught the retreating tattooed giant, threw him to the concrete, and killed him by tearing out his innards.
• Li Qinwu saw Yellow Sand defend against three Fifth and Sixth Turn fighters without attacking.
• Li Qinwu saw two veteran Ultramarines Astartes down beside nine fighters while Gadriel fought the last opponent despite severe injuries.
• Li Qinwu found Swift Shadow curled into a ball as two Cultists kicked him after he had killed one of his three attackers.

Li Qinwu and his allies defeated the Cultists who had been attacking them, but the final Seventh Turn warriors soon surrounded the survivors. Li Qinwu surprised them by drawing a Boltgun and killing all seven, leaving the Blood Trial’s outcome in his hands.

• Li Qinwu, Gadriel, and Yellow Sand killed the Cultists attacking them and rescued Swift Shadow, who passed out after seeing his battered face.
• Gadriel collapsed from his injuries, and Yellow Sand found that his two battle-brothers were alive but in suspended animation.
• Li Qinwu challenged the seven Seventh Turn warriors, who descended from the Tank Mountains to fight him and Yellow Sand.
• While Yellow Sand checked on Gadriel, Li Qinwu produced a golden Boltgun and unleashed a barrage that killed all seven Seventh Turn Cultists.
• Li Qinwu shot the fallen Cultist's head, and it exploded.

Khorne watched Li Qinwu kill his followers in a Duel Arena and recalled how the Blood Demon had engineered the crisis on Thunder Saint Alliance. Grand Inquisitor Oluka had fallen to Chaos and planned to sacrifice millions to summon power through the Brass Cauldron.

• Khorne saw Li Qinwu shoot seven of his followers in a Duel Arena.
• The Blood Demon had arranged for the Death Lord Warband to lure the Tyranids to Thunder Saint Alliance and had hidden the Brass Cauldron on Raesmon.
• As the Tyranids overran Thunder Saint Alliance, Grand Inquisitor Oluka used the Brass Cauldron to empower his aides and stabilize the front lines.
• Over ten years, the Blood Demon corrupted Oluka, who began ordering his cultists to hunt Imperial troops and stage deadly duels.
• Oluka ordered eight Duel Arenas built around the Grand Fortress, intending for 130 million people to produce eight warriors whose blood would summon power into realspace.

Khorne brought the incomplete Blood Demon into realspace and set him against Li Qinwu, who had been marked with one-eighth of the daemon’s power. Blood Demon appeared in the Grand Fortress, punished Oluka for failing to complete the sacrifice, and prepared to confront Li Qinwu.

• Li Qinwu’s Bolt Pistol killed the seven fighters in the arena, disrupting the ritual that was meant to summon Blood Demon with all eight portions of power.
• Khorne used the Brass Cauldron to summon Blood Demon into realspace with only seven-eighths of his power, flooding the chamber with blood and nearly drowning Oluka.
• Blood Demon formed from the blood, revealed himself as a Greater Daemon of Khorne, and greeted realspace with delight.
• Oluka begged Blood Demon for power, but Blood Demon pinned him underfoot and blamed him for providing only seven portions of blood.
• Blood Demon saw Li Qinwu in the Grand Plaza and explained that Khorne had locked the missing eighth of his power onto him.
• Khorne challenged Blood Demon to defeat Li Qinwu and reclaim that power, or lose it permanently while Khorne gave his authority to Li Qinwu.

Blood Demon carved his way out of the Grand Fortress while Li Qinwu received the power of the Duel Arena and Khorne’s blessing. As Khorne’s power drove Li Qinwu toward a bloodthirsty transformation, the God-Emperor intervened with golden power.

• Blood Demon kicked Oluka aside and dug a passage through the Grand Fortress walls, promising to grant him power after his duel.
• After Li Qinwu killed the seven seventh-stage fighters, their accumulated blood energy flooded into him and completed Khorne’s kill mission.
• Li Qinwu’s body grew to three meters as his strength surged, and he warned Yellow Sand not to touch him while the power transformed him.
• Overcome by a violent urge to kill, Li Qinwu called on Neos for help and begged him to prevent his corruption.
• Golden power poured into Li Qinwu after his plea, while the God-Emperor’s interest in him was revealed.

The God-Emperor fought Khorne to protect Li Qinwu, then purified Khorne’s gift and left Li Qinwu with its harmless enhancements. Li Qinwu recovered, found that he had grown taller, and asked Yellow Sand to measure him.

• The God-Emperor focused his power on Li Qinwu and fought Khorne as their energies surged through Li Qinwu’s body.
• Yellow Sand knelt beside Li Qinwu and repeatedly begged the God-Emperor for forgiveness.
• Khorne gave up the struggle but left Li Qinwu one-eighth of the Blood Demon’s power as a gift.
• The God-Emperor removed the power that drove violence and madness, infused the remaining enhancements into Li Qinwu, and departed.
• Li Qinwu got up, noticed he had grown taller, and reassured the still-praying Yellow Sand by joking about his connection to the God-Emperor.
• Li Qinwu inspected his larger body and told Yellow Sand to measure his height.

After receiving the God-Emperor’s blessing, Li Qinwu discovered his body and stats had grown stronger, but a Greater Daemon called the Blood Demon soon appeared to reclaim the power trapped inside him. As the Blood Demon attacked, Li Qinwu opened a Portal and summoned a Knight-Errant of the Spirits, whose Power Lance struck the Daemon.

• Yellow Sand measured Li Qinwu at 2.63 meters tall, and Li Qinwu checked his boosted Strength, Endurance, and Energy stats.
• Li Qinwu tested his new strength while Yellow Sand calculated that he weighed over 800 kilograms.
• A Blood Demon burst through Tank Mountain and demanded that Li Qinwu return his power.
• Li Qinwu used Warp Vision to discover that the Blood Demon’s essence had been weakened, while the Blood Demon realized some of his power was permanently lost.
• The Blood Demon charged Li Qinwu and Yellow Sand, swinging his Rending Blade at them.
• Li Qinwu opened a Portal and summoned a Knight-Errant of the Spirits, whose Power Lance pierced the Blood Demon’s chest and sent him flying backward.

Luca emerged from the Portal in a heavily armored Centaur Knight Mech and charged the Blood Demon, using his new weapons and speed to fight him in the Duel Arena. After the Blood Demon's spear pierced Luca's shield with its bleeding power, Luca circled the arena to build momentum for another lance charge.

• The Iron Skull Archmagos's modifications had combined Luca's Lancer Knight Mech with a Heavy Cannon Quadruped chassis, creating the fast, heavily armed Centaur Knight Mech.
• Luca charged out of the Portal and drove his Power Spear through the Blood Demon's chest, carrying him hundreds of meters and lifting him into the air.
• The Blood Demon hurled his Bloodletter Spear, which pierced Luca's shield and made the adamantium bleed and soften, so Luca threw the shield away.
• The Blood Demon pulled himself off Luca's spear and attacked with his Rending Blade, but Luca kicked him in the chest and sent him crashing to the ground.
• Luca circled the Duel Arena to build speed, then wheeled around and charged the Blood Demon with his Power Lance aimed at his chest.

Luca defeated Blood Demon in the Duel Arena while Li Qinwu rushed the wounded Astartes into the Vault for treatment and attempted to extract Gadriel’s gene-seed. The chapter left Gadriel conscious during the extraction and Blood Demon beheaded, though he vowed to return.

• Luca charged Blood Demon with his Centaur mech, while Li Qinwu brought Yellow Sand, Swift Shadow, Gadriel, and two Astartes into the Vault for urgent treatment.
• Li Qinwu ordered the Tech-Priests to cut open the Astartes’ armor and inject them with Green Needles, and Yellow Sand told him his former Chapter had refused Primaris conversion.
• After Yellow Sand reminded him about gene-seed, Li Qinwu hacked open Gadriel’s chest to extract the gene-seed, while Gadriel began to regain consciousness.
• Luca repeatedly impaled Blood Demon with his Power Spear until the daemon was pinned to the Tank Wall and too weak to fight back.
• Luca lit his Giant Sword with Golden Flame and beheaded Blood Demon in the name of the God-Emperor.

After the Blood Demon’s death stripped the Cultists of their Chaos-given powers, Titus led the Loyalist Faction’s advance toward the Grand Fortress to destroy the Daemon cauldron. There, Li Qinwu and his companions found Grand Inquisitor Oluka, who recognized Li Qinwu as a rising star from his political enemies’ faction and feared he would be kept alive as a political disgrace.

• The Blood Demon died, the Warp Storm swept across the Fortress World, and the Chaos-corrupted lost their supernatural strength as communications and weapons restrictions returned.
• Metaurus ordered the Loyalist Faction to attack with firearms and armored forces, and its troops advanced toward the Grand Fortress while the weakened Cultists offered little resistance.
• Titus handed command to Metaurus, then flew to the Grand Fortress with two elite veterans to locate and destroy the Daemon cauldron.
• An Auspex detected four powerful life signs deep beneath the fortress, including Grand Inquisitor Oluka and Inquisitor Li Qinwu, so Titus ordered his squad underground.
• Li Qinwu, Yellow Sand, and Swift Shadow met Oluka in the underground command room, where Oluka recognized Li Qinwu and realized his political rivals would not let him die.

Li Qinwu honored Grand Inquisitor Oluka’s final wish by destroying his Rosette, then took him into custody. As Li Qinwu prepared to remove the Brass Cauldron, Titus arrived and demanded control of it, leaving both sides poised for a confrontation.

• Li Qinwu asked Oluka about his regrets and last wish, and Oluka asked him to destroy his Rosette.
• Li Qinwu blasted the Rosette to pieces, then cuffed Oluka and took him away without resistance.
• Oluka reflected that he had used the Brass Cauldron to summon daemons and hold back the Tyranids, sacrificing his life and political standing to save the Fortress World.
• Li Qinwu approached the Brass Cauldron to transport it through a Portal, but Titus arrived with two elite Astartes veterans and ordered him to leave it to the Chapter.
• Yellow Sand and Swift Shadow stepped in front of Li Qinwu as Titus and his veterans readied their weapons, bringing the room to a tense standoff.

Li Qinwu stopped Titus and the two Astartes from fighting over the Brass Cauldron by breakdancing, then proposed destroying it aboard his warship with the God-Emperor’s power. Titus considered the plan, and Li Qinwu offered to let Titus and his men guard the cauldron and collect their recovered battle-brothers during the visit.

• Titus insisted on keeping the Brass Cauldron under his control because he feared another Daemon artifact disaster, while Yellow Sand and Swift Shadow refused to surrender it.
• As both sides prepared to fight, Li Qinwu breakdanced to draw their attention and persuade them to put away their weapons.
• Titus said he intended to have the Chapter Chaplain seal the cauldron and hide it deep underground.
• Li Qinwu argued that Blood Demon would eventually reconnect with the cauldron and offered to destroy it beneath the God-Emperor’s statue in his warship’s chapel.
• Li Qinwu promised Titus could escort and guard the cauldron himself, and told him that Gadriel and his two battle-brothers had recovered aboard the warship.

Li Qinwu sacrificed the Brass Cauldron in the Shipboard Cathedral, destroying it and badly hurting the Blood Demon in the Warp. As Titus prepared to visit Gadriel and his battle-brothers, he noticed that the God-Emperor statue’s concrete Power Klaw had become a real golden gauntlet.

• Titus brought the sealed Brass Cauldron to the Shipboard Cathedral and insisted that it be destroyed completely.
• Li Qinwu used the Sacrifice interface, and golden flames consumed the Brass Cauldron while the Blood Demon screamed in the Warp as his artifact burned.
• Titus’s chaplain confirmed that all Warp energy had been eradicated, and Titus thanked Li Qinwu before asking about Gadriel and the other two battle-brothers.
• Li Qinwu searched the floor for the God-Emperor’s promised reward, prompting the Astartes to join the search.
• Titus spotted that the God-Emperor statue’s concrete Power Klaw had turned into an exquisitely crafted golden gauntlet.

Li Qinwu claimed the God-Emperor’s Lightning Claw from a statue, resized it, and discovered a practical use for the supposedly priceless relic. He then began testing it in increasingly outrageous ways, leaving Titus and the Astartes horrified as he prepared to fire it from a Macro Cannon.

• Li Qinwu examined the Lightning Claw on the God-Emperor statue and used Gravity Control to reach it.
• Li Qinwu soulbound the Lightning Claw, resized it to fit his hand, and posed with it and his Power Sword while Titus called the display blasphemous.
• Li Qinwu decided the claw would interfere with his usual fighting style, then mounted it on a lathe and used it to machine an adamantium statue of the God-Emperor.
• Li Qinwu told Titus that the Lightning Claw could cut adamantium with precision and speed, but Titus again protested that it was blasphemous.
• Li Qinwu carried the Lightning Claw into a Macro Cannon firing chamber and tried to load it into the cannon as Titus and several dozen Astartes watched in shock.

Li Qinwu fired the God-Emperor’s Lightning Claw from a Macro Cannon, proving it could pierce a Tyranid Bio-Ship before recalling it to his hand. Later, he teased the waking Gadriel about the missing Emperor’s Bolt Pistol, while Titus and Metaurus chose not to reveal that Li Qinwu could recall it too.

• Li Qinwu loaded the Lightning Claw into a Macro Cannon despite Titus’s protests and fired it at a Tyranid Bio-Ship wreck.
• Li Qinwu enlarged the claw in flight, and it punched a nearly hundred-meter-wide hole through the Bio-Ship before vanishing into space.
• Li Qinwu proposed using the Lightning Claw as a faster projectile, a boarding pod, or a carrier for a nuclear bomb, upsetting the Astartes.
• Li Qinwu recalled the Lightning Claw to his hand when Titus asked how he would retrieve it.
• Gadriel woke in the Fortune’s medical bay, and Li Qinwu teased him about the unrecovered Emperor’s Bolt Pistol.
• Titus and Metaurus kept quiet about Li Qinwu’s ability to recall the Emperor’s items, allowing Gadriel to believe he had lost the pistol and learn from the mistake.

Li Qinwu offered Titus’s crusade an annual supply of equipment for five million people in exchange for Titus presenting a goldenwood table to Guilliman. Titus accepted the arrangement as a way to support the campaign to reclaim the Five Hundred Worlds and introduce Li Qinwu to the Lord Regent.

• Titus told Li Qinwu that he planned to rest and reorganize on the Fortress World while awaiting Ultramarines successor Chapters, then launch a crusade to reclaim the Five Hundred Worlds.
• Titus explained that limited industrial capacity around Macragge made supplying the growing crusade difficult.
• Li Qinwu offered to send a warship each year carrying supplies for five million people, without revealing their source.
• Titus asked what Li Qinwu wanted in return, and Li Qinwu revealed that the tea table was made of goldenwood and asked Titus to present it to Guilliman.
• Titus agreed to send someone to present the table to Guilliman.

Li Qinwu spent the months after Fortress World’s defense amusing himself while waiting for Sigurd’s Recovery Force, then attended Titus’s military parade as the crusade to reclaim the Five Hundred Worlds prepared to begin. The parade left a neighboring Astartes leader astonished by the powerful forces Li Qinwu commanded.

• Li Qinwu posed as the God-Emperor for a statue, but the sculptors secretly replaced it with a proper God-Emperor statue and put a statue of Li Qi E Tu on the victory Triumphal Arch.
• Titus gathered more than a thousand Astartes and their fleets for a parade celebrating Fortress World’s defense and launching a new crusade.
• Li Qinwu attended the parade after Sigurd told him to wait at least half a year for a Recovery Force to collect Grand Inquisitor Oluka.
• Li Qinwu pointed out his Black Little Sword-marked armored units and Fleet Iron Guard to an unfamiliar Astartes Chapter leader.
• Li Qinwu showed the Astartes leader his Knight Mech force, and the astonished leader asked who he was; Li Qinwu introduced himself as an ordinary Inquisitor named Li.

Li Qinwu boosted Titus's expeditionary force by appearing to the troops as the God-Emperor, prompting Titus to launch his campaign amid rumors of rebellion. More than a month later, Ricardo arrived on Sigurd's orders to take the traitor Oluka back to Terra, where Li Qinwu learned Oluka was a Grand Master's direct disciple.

• Titus invited Li Qinwu to address millions of soldiers, and Li Qinwu raised a burning sword and declared the Great Crusade had begun.
• The soldiers mistook Li Qinwu for the God-Emperor, and their morale soared, while Titus faced questions from successor Chapter leaders about whether he planned to rebel.
• Titus launched his campaign to reclaim the Five Hundred Worlds, leaving without saying goodbye to Li Qinwu.
• Ricardo arrived aboard an Inquisition fleet and asked Li Qinwu to hand over the traitor Oluka so he could take him to Terra.
• Ricardo told Li Qinwu that Oluka was the direct disciple of another Inquisition Grand Master.