Recaps

Bai Zhu and Unma fought off Skinbags in the cultivation room, but the creatures regrouped and formed a monster that confronted Unma. It accused her of being afraid, and she faced the guilt she had buried beneath her work.

• Bai Zhu used a fire-edged blade and Kidō to drive back the Skinbags while Unma activated the cultivation pods’ protective systems.
• Unma released isolation gel to trap golden particles, and Bai Zhu sealed the room with Dankū and forced the creatures into the center.
• The seven Skinbags appeared defeated, but their particles escaped beneath the Reiatsu walls and more flowed into the room through cracks and pipes.
• The particles bypassed Bai Zhu and gathered beneath Unma, forming a large canine monster that spoke in the voices of the people connected to her work.
• The monster told Unma she was afraid, and she remembered the children, researchers, and others she had treated as assets or sacrificed.

Bai Zhu discovered that the golden-particle aggregate feared his blood and learned it could copy Nen abilities, while Netero organized a response to contain it. The military rejected the lockdown and sent armed squads to arrest Bai Zhu, as the aggregate addressed him as Zhang Ye.

• Bai Zhu used Hainawa to pull Unma from danger, then found that his blood stopped the golden particles and made them retreat.
• Unma told Bai Zhu that the children in the cultivation tanks had called her Mother and left her unable to move.
• Bai Zhu baited the particles into an incinerator with a bloodstained cloth and discovered a tracking chip hidden in his shoe.
• Netero warned Bai Zhu that the particles recorded and shared Nen abilities, then ordered Hunters to contain Totorro Port and summon the Gatekeeper Giant Squid.
• Robson falsified a report blaming Bai Zhu for the disaster, and the fleet commander rejected the Association's lockdown request and dispatched three armed squads to arrest him.
• The golden-particle aggregate copied Bai Zhu's sword movements and called him Zhang Ye.

Bai Zhu fought the Slender Hound as it overran the experimental zone, while Unma tried to evacuate the incubators through an underground transfer line. With the passage collapsing and the monster adapting to his attacks, Bai Zhu released Bankai—Ryūmon Hōzukimaru!

• Bai Zhu lost contact with Milluki after the golden particles severed the locator’s connection, then ordered Unma to start the incubator transfer line.
• Unma activated the transport tracks as the Slender Hound breached the cultivation room and gained access to the Royal Succession Project’s systems.
• The Slender Hound smashed through the room and blasted Bai Zhu into the maintenance level while the transfer tracks and defenses began to collapse.
• Bai Zhu used Kidō and his blade against the monster, but the particles evaded and reassembled around his attacks.
• Bai Zhu chose to risk drawing out greater power, activated Ryūmon Hōzukimaru, and swung at the Slender Hound as it bit down.

Bai Zhu fought Slender Hound through the maintenance level while rescuing Unma and trying to protect the remaining cultivation tanks. Trapped when the exit was sealed, he released both blade names and activated Bankai, leaving the result of the attack unknown.

• Bai Zhu used Ryūmon Hōzukimaru and Kaidō to fight Slender Hound, which copied his movements and attacked with shadowy dog legs.
• Bai Zhu carried Unma toward the maintenance exit, but Slender Hound sent golden particles after the cultivation tanks and forced him to turn back.
• Bai Zhu used both blade names to drive the particles from the tanks and told Unma to find Piyu and Morel if he lost consciousness.
• Slender Hound sealed the exit with a high-pressure stream of gel, and Bai Zhu began drawing his Reiatsu into his blade as Unma took cover.
• Bai Zhu activated Bankai, gaining a patterned Shihakushō and two Tang blades.

Bai Zhu used his remaining Reiatsu to stop Slender Hound from escaping and destroyed it with a devastating slash that cut across Totorro Port and the Caspian Sea. With his swords and Shihakushō crumbling and his Reiatsu exhausted, he collapsed, while Morel continued sealing the city.

• Unma cleared a route through the underground facility as Slender Hound scattered into golden particles to escape.
• Bai Zhu used the Coiling Dragon Shihakushō to pull Slender Hound’s particles back together, then dodged its final attack.
• Bai Zhu touched his rust-covered Tang sword to Slender Hound and unleashed a slash that destroyed the creature and cut through Totorro Port and the Caspian Sea.
• The fleet commander ordered all units to withdraw, and Netero watched the slash reach the far shore of the Caspian Sea.
• Bai Zhu’s Reiatsu reached zero, his swords and Shihakushō crumbled, and he collapsed.
• Morel replaced the Smoke Soldiers destroyed by Bai Zhu’s slash and kept the city sealed.

Unma tried to harvest Bai Zhu’s blood for the Seed Urn, but Piyu stopped her and carried Bai Zhu out of the facility. Outside, Piyu and Shuto saw a controlled crowd converging on the hospital as gunfire and alarms erupted.

• Unma abandoned any intention of helping Bai Zhu and prepared to draw his blood for Benjamin’s Companion Nen Beast.
• Piyu burst into the chamber, kicked Unma aside, and destroyed the blood collection tube and needles.
• Piyu photographed the scene for the Hunter Association, then carried Bai Zhu away and warned Unma to prepare compensation.
• Piyu emerged from the rift with Bai Zhu, where Shuto waited, and the two heard gunfire from the harbor.
• Piyu and Shuto saw expressionless people pouring golden particles from their faces as they converged on the hospital.

Piyu and Shuto rescued the unconscious Bai Zhu and fought their way through a city overrun by immortal Husks. Trapped in a traffic booth by hundreds of attackers, they sought help from Morel and discussed calling Milluki to bomb the area.

• Piyu and Shuto found Bai Zhu near the Royal Family Hospital and escaped through streets filled with Husks that reformed after being shot or crushed.
• Morel told Piyu to head for the northern commercial district and warned that Smoke Soldiers could travel through drainage pipes.
• Bai Zhu woke, asked where Unma was, and learned from Piyu's recording that Unma had tried to draw his blood; Piyu demanded fifty billion for saving him.
• Bai Zhu tried to return to the hospital but collapsed when his Reiatsu remained at zero, so Piyu dragged him toward the northern commercial district.
• Husks armed with guns and axes attacked the group, forcing Piyu, Shuto, and Bai Zhu to barricade themselves in a traffic control booth.
• Piyu tried to contact Morel while Bai Zhu suggested asking the chairman whether they had found the Buddha or sending Milluki to drop Roses on the area.

Piyu and Shuto confronted the military lockdown while Husks infiltrated the soldiers, and Morel took control of the chaos with his Smoke Soldiers. As the Association and military began a joint quarantine, a huge signal approached from the Caspian Sea, and Bai Zhu realized the creature’s real body might still be waiting for him.

• Piyu presented her Hunter License and demanded the military cooperate, but the commander refused and ordered Bai Zhu’s arrest based on Robson’s edited report.
• Shuto identified duplicate IDs and an unnaturally motionless soldier, then Husks opened fire and caused the military line to collapse into chaos.
• Morel arrived with Smoke Soldiers, subdued the Husks, rescued the living soldiers, and carried Bai Zhu on a makeshift stretcher.
• Piyu showed the commander footage of Unma preparing to draw blood from Bai Zhu, prompting him to accept a temporary joint quarantine zone.
• Hunter Association teams and the military organized citywide screening and containment, while Tech Hunters restored Robson’s raw report data and the commander ordered Robson’s command ship secured.
• Reports revealed that the giant creature near the Chimera Ruins would not move and that a signal far larger than the previous Devouring Cluster was approaching from the Caspian Sea; Bai Zhu said its real body might be waiting for him in the sea.

Bai Zhu realized the Slender Hound likely grew stronger through fear and learned that Pariston had escaped after the battle. He and Piyu planned to flee toward the Chimera Ruins, which Bai Zhu believed were a safe zone, and consider using Milluki’s Roses if the city could not be saved.

• Bai Zhu recovered slowly from using Zanka no Tachi and reasoned that the Slender Hound’s true power came from fear, which spread through the panicking city.
• Bai Zhu asked Morel where Pariston was, and Morel admitted that Pariston had slipped away during the chaos.
• Piyu suggested contacting Netero because Pariston had likely gone to report to the Chairman, so Morel headed to the temporary command center.
• Bai Zhu got off the stretcher and told Piyu they needed to escape to the sea and find the Gatekeeper near the Chimera Ruins.
• Bai Zhu proposed calling Milluki to use Roses if the situation became impossible, and Piyu agreed to wait for Morel before making their escape.

Bai Zhu and Piyu learned that the Fear Incarnation could regenerate as long as anyone in the city was afraid and could not be harmed by physical attacks. They fled toward the harbor but were trapped by the monster, until the Gatekeeper Giant Squid rose from the sea and struck it.

• Bai Zhu and Piyu decided to leave the city and head for the harbor while Bai Zhu recovered.
• Morel told Bai Zhu and Piyu that Pariston had revealed the monster was the Fear Incarnation, which regenerated from fear and resisted physical attacks.
• Bai Zhu and Piyu reached the breakwater and saw the Fear Incarnation blocking the route to the Chimera Ruins with a huge golden tentacle.
• The Fear Incarnation copied Gela Jiang's TUBE ability, attacked with water harpoons, and trapped Bai Zhu and Piyu behind spreading isolation gel.
• The Gatekeeper Giant Squid emerged from the sea and struck the Fear Incarnation's golden tentacle.

Bai Zhu and the others regrouped at the harbor as Milluki stood atop the Gatekeeper Giant Squid and the golden creature called out their names. The chapter ended with Milluki claiming the creature recognized only Bai Zhu while projecting Bai Zhu’s photo into the sea mist.

• Bai Zhu tried to leave the harbor, but Piyu stopped him and pointed out Milluki standing on the squid’s head.
• Morel arrived with Shuto, who had rescued an injured little girl from the hospital, and Piyu explained that the Creation Society had implanted foreign Nen in her.
• A vast shell creature rose from the sea and called out the names of Milluki, Ging, Gela Jiang, Piyu, Morel, and Bai Zhu.
• Piyu realized Milluki’s signal lures had exposed him, while Bai Zhu shouted for him to get down.
• Milluki turned around and showed Bai Zhu’s enlarged ID photo on his terminal, then said the creature recognized only Bai Zhu.

Bai Zhu and the others fought the Gatekeeper Giant Squid’s golden monster as they learned it could copy Nen abilities but struggled to adapt. The monster sent golden particles toward the city’s shelters and tunnels, and with Bai Zhu too injured to fight, Piyu and Shuto prepared to return and help defend them.

• Milluki explained that the Gatekeeper Giant Squid had awakened after Bai Zhu split open the Caspian Sea, and that it seemed to recognize Bai Zhu’s power.
• The squid attacked the golden monster, which copied Gela Jiang’s water-based Nen technique but mishandled the changing currents and damaged itself.
• The golden monster called Bai Zhu’s name through its human faces, frightening soldiers and spreading golden particles through the harbor water.
• Bai Zhu noticed the particles entering drainage outlets and canals, while Piyu detected more signals underground.
• Headquarters reported that thousands of empty shells were digging into civil defense tunnel entrances and golden particles had reached ventilation ducts.
• Piyu and Shuto decided to return to the shelter to help, while Bai Zhu admitted that his injuries left him unable to fight.

Bai Zhu and the others realized the golden monster was drawing the Gatekeeper away from the Chimera Ruins, where a sealed entity was pushing open a giant stone door. The Gatekeeper turned back to defend the ruins, but the door continued to open, revealing an enormous creature inside.

• Ging deduced that the golden monster was using the chaos in the city to lure the Gatekeeper away from the Chimera Ruins.
• Milluki discovered a stone door beneath the ruins and saw it shift with pulses from whatever was pushing against it from inside.
• The golden monster scattered particles toward the ruins, but Gela Jiang redirected several streams while the Gatekeeper tore apart the monster at the cost of shrinking.
• Bai Zhu realized the Gatekeeper had left the ruins only because his slash, empowered by Zanka no Tachi, had drawn it out.
• The stone door split open as golden particles pulled at its edges, and Milluki's searchlight revealed an enormous head behind it.

As the golden monster used infected people to repair itself and chaos overwhelmed the city, Bai Zhu learned the Stone Gate identified him as a sealer and accepted the mission to enter the ruins. He prepared to confront Hecatos as the Smoke Prison faltered and an unidentified airship crossed the cordon.

• The Gatekeeper attacked the golden monster and blocked Gela Jiang’s rescue route, while golden particles from collapsing Skinbags flowed through the drains to replenish the monster.
• The infection spread past 150,000 as the northern cordon collapsed, and Morel sealed the city inside a Smoke Prison despite military demands that he abandon its outer districts.
• Piyu deciphered the Stone Gate’s inscription, learning that the Gatekeeper maintained the lock, the being inside fed on panic, and someone carrying an otherworldly flame could seal the gate.
• Bai Zhu’s system assigned him a mission to stop Hecatos from reclaiming his complete body, and he chose to enter the ruins while Morel stayed behind to hold the city’s cordon.
• Milluki confessed that he had used Bai Zhu’s photo to lure the Gatekeeper away, and Bai Zhu reassured him as an unidentified airship crossed the cordon and three breaches opened in the Smoke Prison.
• Bai Zhu’s Reiatsu continued recovering, his Zanpakuto inventory became available again, and he drew a battered Asauchi.

Netero arrived by airship and used the 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva to crush the sea monster and halt the contamination across the city, while warning that the particles would gather again. As the group turned toward the ruins, the Stone Gate began opening faster, revealing bones and a scarlet surface beyond it.

• Netero arrived above the harbor and told the others to head for the ruins while he held off the threat.
• Netero crushed the golden sea monster with the 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva, scattering contamination particles across the harbor and city.
• The Gatekeeper's tentacles restrained the monster, and contamination readings across the city fell to zero as Piyu kept the shelters locked down until the particles were verified safe.
• Netero warned that the particles would regroup in three minutes, so Morel redirected Smoke Soldiers to help contain the contamination while military teams continued verification.
• Bai Zhu watched Netero's display of strength and Ging's continued focus on the ruins, then Milluki reported that the Stone Gate was opening faster.
• Milluki's Mechanical Fish passed through the widening gate and recorded layers of bones before the footage revealed a scarlet surface.

Bai Zhu, Netero, and the Hunters contained the golden monster while Morel’s team rescued survivors and seized evidence from the hospital. Ging found a hidden passage beneath the Stone Gate, and the group prepared to enter as golden particles began rushing toward it.

• Netero used Guanyin’s palms to keep the golden monster’s particles from reforming across the harbor and city, allowing Morel’s Smoke Prison to contract and Hunters to rescue survivors.
• Piyu gave Netero evidence of Unma’s blood collection and falsified reports, while Morel’s Smoke Soldiers stopped military officers from escaping the hospital with servers.
• Ging analyzed the Stone Gate and identified a narrow maintenance passage beneath the Old Trench, requiring Gela Jiang to control its currents, Piyu to open its locks, and Milluki to maintain contact with the Mechanical Fish.
• Bai Zhu teased Ging for analyzing instead of fighting and told him to take point inside the ruins; Netero joked that Ging’s reports could be improved by cutting off his resources.
• Golden particles evaded Netero’s strikes and the Gatekeeper’s tentacles, moved toward the hidden passage, and triggered an alert on Milluki’s terminal; Ging headed in with the others.

Bai Zhu and his companions rode the Gatekeeper through the Caspian Sea toward the Chimera Ruins, fighting off gold-particle-infested sea creatures on the way. They reached the Stone Gate just as a giant crowlike creature emerged and fixed its eye on them.

• Bai Zhu persuaded the Gatekeeper to carry him, Milluki, and Piyu, then chose the main entrance after golden particles blocked the narrow passage.
• The Gatekeeper enclosed them in a bubble and descended, while Milluki's equipment detected gold particles spreading across the seabed.
• Piyu, the Gatekeeper, Milluki, and Gela Jiang fought through attacking fish and sea beasts as they advanced toward the ruins.
• The Gatekeeper broke through the final school of fish and reached the nearly open Stone Gate, where the seal was failing under impacts from behind it.
• A giant crowlike creature forced its way through the gate, opened its eye, and unleashed an oppressive pressure on the group.

Bai Zhu's system analyzed low-tier Kidō during Hecatos's invasion, while the creature behind the Stone Gate attacked the group through fear and black crows. As the Gatekeeper weakened and the gate opened wider, Bai Zhu combined Ryujin Jakka and Hozukimaru into a Guan Dao and prepared to enter the ruins.

• The giant eye behind the Stone Gate focused on Bai Zhu, and the system's Kidō analysis advanced, unlocking low-tier spell deduction and revealing detailed Reiatsu routes.
• The creature's cry caused Milluki to imagine a monster and summon black crows, while Piyu and the Gatekeeper fought them off and Bai Zhu knocked Milluki out of his trance.
• Bai Zhu warned Ging and Gela Jiang to keep their distance, and they withdrew to seal the waterways and defend the ruins' perimeter.
• As the gate opened and black crows overwhelmed the bubble, Milluki reported that the Gatekeeper's life signal had fallen to fifty-nine percent.
• Bai Zhu combined Ryujin Jakka and Hozukimaru into a flaming Guan Dao, then declared that he would enter the gate and settle accounts with the creature.

Bai Zhu misunderstood the Gatekeeper’s attempt to get him to restart the Stone Gate’s lock and charged into the ruins alone. He landed face-first in Hecatos’s buried city, where the bird’s cries made him think it was mocking him.

• The Gatekeeper used its tentacles and inscriptions to force the Stone Gate partly shut, while Hecatos’s black mist and golden particles affected Milluki and Piyu until the Gatekeeper shielded them in a bubble.
• The Gatekeeper pointed Bai Zhu toward the palm print beside the gate, but Bai Zhu mistook its gestures for a command to attack Hecatos and ignored Piyu’s garbled warning to return.
• Bai Zhu used spiritual power to protect himself from the seawater and particles, then entered the ruins as Hecatos withdrew its feather-bones and the Stone Gate slammed partly shut behind him.
• Bai Zhu fell onto the altar floor, recovered his Guan Dao, and saw Hecatos chained across a buried city surrounded by kneeling skeletons.
• Hecatos cried and bobbed its head at Bai Zhu, who accused the bird of looking down on him.

Hecatos transformed and confronted Bai Zhu, revealing that Zhang Ye had used its power to maintain a continent-wide lockdown and that Bai Zhu was now the new maintainer. Hecatos demanded that Bai Zhu repay Zhang Ye’s debt, then used the city’s chains and skeletons to attack him.

• Hecatos shrank into a humanoid form and approached Bai Zhu, weighing him down with its pressure.
• Hecatos gathered voices from the Stone Gate and asked whether Zhang Ye was dead, then identified Bai Zhu as the new maintainer.
• Hecatos explained that Zhang Ye had killed the city’s residents and used its power to seal the inner city and protect settlements across the continent.
• Bai Zhu rejected Hecatos’s attempt to blame him for Zhang Ye’s actions and pointed out the harm Hecatos had caused to people outside.
• Hecatos tightened the city’s chains, raised the skeletons, and wrapped cables around Bai Zhu’s legs, insisting that Zhang Ye’s successor had to repay his debt.

Bai Zhu questioned Hecatos about Zhang Ye’s actions and learned how the city’s people, Hecatos, and a network of seals contained Chimera creatures across the continent. Hecatos offered Bai Zhu its copied abilities in exchange for cutting a damaged steel cable, and Bai Zhu approached the cable to ask where to strike.

• Bai Zhu lowered his weapon and made Hecatos explain when Zhang Ye had arrived and how he had sealed the continent.
• Hecatos described Zhang Ye’s decades-long effort to clear Chimera creatures along the coast, while Bai Zhu connected the account to Zhang Ye’s diary.
• Bai Zhu examined the rings on the skeletons and challenged Hecatos about how the city’s residents had died and contributed to the seal.
• Bai Zhu pieced together that Hecatos powered a continent-wide blockade network while remaining imprisoned, and recognized the danger of damage to its nodes.
• Hecatos offered Bai Zhu its copied abilities if he cut a damaged cable, and Bai Zhu walked to the altar and asked where to cut.

Bai Zhu uncovered Hecatos’s trap and used the city’s sealing cables to restrain it, but Hecatos fought back with stolen abilities and dangerous attacks. After the system absorbed Hecatos’s mental assault and advanced Bai Zhu’s Kidō Analysis, Bai Zhu charged toward the altar through a renewed flock of golden crows.

• Bai Zhu realized Hecatos had lured him into attacking the cable and that the seal’s mechanism would redirect the force against him.
• Bai Zhu used Ryujin Jakka’s flames to activate the city’s sealing patterns and bind Hecatos to the altar, then drove the blade into its palm when it tried to imitate his flames.
• Hecatos trapped Bai Zhu with Skre’s Shadow Fists and attacked through mirrors with Hetori’s corrosive ability, but Bai Zhu escaped using Bakudō #4: Hainawa.
• Hecatos sent black mist into Bai Zhu’s mind, but Bai Zhu’s system isolated the foreign rules, absorbed the mist, and raised his Kidō Analysis progress to forty-one percent.
• Bai Zhu blasted through Hecatos’s golden crows with Hadō and ran along a steel cable toward the altar as the destroyed crows reassembled behind him.

Bai Zhu fought Hecatos through the inner city but was overwhelmed after Hecatos escaped his final trap. Ging arrived through the maintenance door and intervened just as Hecatos was about to kill Bai Zhu.

• Bai Zhu used the altar's cables to trap Hecatos, but Hecatos escaped by shrinking his limbs and then split into hundreds of crows to break free of Bai Zhu's binding art.
• Milluki saw Bai Zhu's life signs continue to drop as the Gatekeeper battered the sealed Stone Gate, while Piyu tried to reach another entrance.
• Piyu and Milluki discovered that Ging had passed through the maintenance door and reached the inner-city altar.
• Hecatos trapped Bai Zhu, knocked his Asauchi away, and raised his palm to kill him.
• Ging arrived, caught Hecatos's wrist with a steel cable, and told Bai Zhu to make room.

Ging and Bai Zhu fought Hecatos in the mirror-filled city while trying to reach the seal’s core. After Ging saved Bai Zhu from Hecatos’s feather barrage, they found themselves far from the altar, still needing to cross half the city.

• Ging pulled Hecatos away from Bai Zhu, and the two searched for the seal’s core as Hecatos attacked through mirrors and shadows.
• Ging used wind and ice to freeze the mirrors, then learned that Hecatos could copy abilities after observing them three times.
• Ging varied his attacks to exploit Hecatos’s incomplete copies while Bai Zhu found that the chains around Hecatos converged on a low platform behind the altar.
• Ging blasted open a passage to the platform, but Hecatos spread its wings and unleashed a blanket of feather arrows across the city.
• Ging pulled Bai Zhu out of the barrage, saving him but leaving them at the edge of the inner city, far from the altar.

Ging and Bai Zhu fought Hecatos through a city covered in corrosive feathers and mirrors, aiming to reach the altar and restart the sealing convergence point. Ging broke Hecatos’s wing by baiting it into copying three different Nen routes, while Bai Zhu reached the altar’s outskirts and began analyzing the sealing formula.

• Ging confirmed that the sealing convergence point still worked, but warned Bai Zhu that Hecatos had learned to copy spatial transfer.
• Ging drew Hecatos into copying three different routes for his punches, causing its Nen flows to collide and snap one of its bone wings.
• The broken wing dragged the city toward the altar, shortening Bai Zhu’s route to the sealing point.
• Bai Zhu crossed two streets using a light rope, his Asauchi, and repeated small bursts of Hadō No. 1: Thrust while dodging feather arrows.
• The system reclaimed Hecatos’s black mist and began analyzing a route compatible with the sealing formula, revealing the sealing operation lines to Bai Zhu.