Recaps

Bai Zhu's group infiltrated the Creation Society's compound and discovered that its Black Gate had been altered to let something inside contact the outside. After spotting the Silver Candle Envoy and confirming guarded exits and a dangerous monster, Bai Zhu prepared to attack the fortress.

• Haro led Bai Zhu's group through a drainage channel and past the checkpoints while Palm tracked patrols and Knov opened passages.
• Piyu identified the Black Gate's inscriptions and explained that the Creation Society had changed its sealing system into channels connected to the outside.
• Bai Zhu spotted the Silver Candle Envoy moving D1 pills into the fortress, but Piyu stopped him from attacking before they found the exits and other targets.
• Milluki sent mechanical insects to scout the fortress and found a fast, corrosive monster guarding it; the group confirmed two underground exits.
• Bai Zhu praised Palm, drew Hozukimaru, and stepped onto the trestle bridge to begin the assault.

Bai Zhu and his companions launched a noisy frontal assault on the fortress, where the Silver Candle Envoy attacked him with Flame Light and unleashed six monsters. Bai Zhu remained inside the beam as one of the creatures struck at his head.

• Bai Zhu rejected Piyu's plan to sneak into the fortress, and Milluki agreed to charge through the front gate with him.
• Milluki carried Bai Zhu's powerful speakers while Bai Zhu picked an entrance song, and they marched toward the fortress as Gela Jiang asked about the speakers.
• The music disrupted the fortress's workers and guards, and the Silver Candle Envoy recognized Bai Zhu and fled toward an emergency passage.
• Bai Zhu intercepted the Silver Candle Envoy, who attacked with an iron whip and then trapped him in a pillar of white light using Flame Light.
• The Silver Candle Envoy activated a mechanism that released six monsters, and one tore through the light to strike at Bai Zhu.

Bai Zhu used Ryujin Jakka to burn through the coordinated Mushroomheads and pursued the Silver Candle Envoy, killing him before he could escape. The fortress shook as the Black Gate began activating, leaving Bai Zhu and the others facing a new threat.

• Bai Zhu discovered the Mushroomheads feared fire and used Ryujin Jakka to burn them while Gela Jiang and Knov contained their spores.
• Piyu and Palm determined that the Mushroomheads were coordinating to protect the fleeing Silver Candle Envoy, and Bai Zhu pursued him through the side door.
• Bai Zhu caught the Silver Candle Envoy at an emergency gate and killed him after rejecting his offer of secrets.
• Milluki confirmed the dead man was the Silver Candle Envoy, while Haro reacted to the flames outside the battlefield.
• A red dot on the system map raced toward the Black Gate, the fortress shook, and the gate's inscriptions began lighting up.

Bai Zhu raced toward the Black Gate as fungal transformations and broken control devices unleashed Orcs across the Underground City. Milluki and the others retreated into the fort, while Bai Zhu continued toward the gate amid the spreading chaos.

• Bai Zhu abandoned looting and rushed toward the Black Gate as system warnings and tremors intensified.
• Haro transformed as a fungal mass erupted from his arm, and Knov trapped him inside a separate room with his ability.
• Orcs broke free of their control devices, attacked the Holy Church forces, and charged toward the Raw Material Zone fort and the city center.
• The Mushroomheads broke their restraints and attacked the fort, while Milluki blasted one back with exploding mechanical insects.
• Milluki ordered everyone into the fort as Orcs advanced, and Gela Jiang and Piyu helped shut the iron door behind the retreating group.

Milluki, Piyu, and their allies fought the Orcs and a corrupted Holy Knight inside the fortress while pursuing Golden Candle Envoy and a mysterious black box. They reached the transport track by the Black Gate and rushed after the envoy.

• Milluki helped the Creation Society guards defend the fortress from the Orcs, while warning that their alliance would likely end once the threat passed.
• Palm saw that the Holy Knights were being overtaken by fungal growth and that Golden Candle Envoy was escaping through a hidden tunnel with a black box.
• Piyu persuaded Knov to open a spatial gate so the group could pursue Golden Candle Envoy, while Gela Jiang stayed behind to defend the breach.
• A corrupted Holy Knight broke through the wall and attacked the group, but Milluki lured it away with a heat-emitting Mechanical Flying Insect.
• Palm located Golden Candle Envoy's group at a transport track beside the Black Gate, and Milluki led the others in pursuit.

Bai Zhu investigated the Black Gate, discovered that something behind it could sense and answer him, and learned that forcing it open would risk draining his Reiatsu and disabling his abilities. He headed toward the fortress to find someone who could open it, where he encountered the wounded Golden Candle Envoy carrying a cracked black box.

• Bai Zhu touched the Black Gate and temporarily stabilized its seal, but the gate drained much of his Reiatsu before he pulled free.
• Bai Zhu knocked on the gate and discovered that the target behind it responded, split into overlapping markers, and tracked his movements.
• Bai Zhu rejected forcing the gate open after the system warned that a breach could drain his Reiatsu and disable his abilities.
• Bai Zhu found fungal fluid and Artificial Nen Sigils guiding living matter and Nen toward the gate, then left to seek the Golden Candle Envoy and the acting Holy Seat.
• A black object reached through a crack in the gate and marked an inscription as explosions erupted near the fortress.
• Bai Zhu reached the fortress and found the wounded Golden Candle Envoy clutching a cracked black box that sounded like a beating heart.

Bai Zhu and his allies fought the Golden Candle Envoy and the regenerating Holy Seat Proxy as the Black Box pulled the Soul King's Pen component toward the Black Gate. Bai Zhu reached the Envoy, but the box cracked open and thrust a black spike at him.

• The Golden Candle Envoy dragged the cracked Black Box toward the Black Gate while Gela Jiang and Milluki tried to stop her, and Bai Zhu used Fushibi to track her shifting position.
• Knov and Piyu battled the Holy Seat Proxy in a corridor, with Knov cutting away its regenerating limbs while Milluki used Mechanical Flying Insects to locate its shifting core.
• The Golden Candle Envoy pulled a blood thread from her abdomen and connected it to the Black Gate, drawing the Soul King's Pen component closer and forming a human face on the Black Box.
• Bai Zhu cut through a Fungalized Orc and charged toward the Golden Candle Envoy, who loosened her grip as the Black Box's pulse quickened and a black spike shot toward him.

Bai Zhu and Gela Jiang stopped the Golden Candle Envoy from activating the Black Box, but she shed her empty skin and escaped as a blood figure. They pinned her and the Box down again just as the Holy Seat Proxy broke free of Knov’s restraint.

• Bai Zhu used Shitotsu Sansen to pin the Black Box and halt its pulsing while Gela Jiang struck the Golden Candle Envoy with a Water Blade.
• Bai Zhu slashed the Golden Candle Envoy, revealing that her body was an empty skin and her blood had formed a new body around a bony core.
• The blood figure seized the Black Box and raced toward the Black Gate, but Gela Jiang used water and blood to restrain it.
• Bai Zhu pinned the Black Box with Shitotsu Sansen again while Gela Jiang held the blood figure down.
• The Holy Seat Proxy broke through Knov’s final spatial line as Piyu planted her foot on its outstretched arm.

Bai Zhu defeated the Holy Seat Proxy by cutting apart its fungal body and shattering its core, then kept the Pope's surviving head alive and sealed it against escape. He tied the head to his belt as a guide and turned toward the Black Gate.

• Piyu identified the Pope's face as the Holy Seat Proxy's real body and warned Bai Zhu not to touch it.
• The Holy Seat Proxy attacked Bai Zhu with fungal spears, but his Reiatsu shielded him as he countered with rapid Shunpo and sword strikes.
• Bai Zhu cut down the Proxy's limbs and body, then shattered its bony core, leaving only the Pope's head.
• Bai Zhu bound the head with Bakudō #4: Hainawa and sealed its neck with Ittō Kasō to prevent it from parasitizing him or exploding.
• Bai Zhu tied the Pope's head to his belt and said it could guide them to a way through the Black Gate.

Bai Zhu's group captured and sealed the Golden Candle Envoy's blood creature, then learned from the Pope's head that the real entrance was inside the Black Box. As Orcs broke through the fortress, Bai Zhu led the group toward the Black Gate with the box, still needing to learn how to open it.

• Bai Zhu, Gela Jiang, and Knov forced the blood creature into a sealed medicine jar, and Bai Zhu suppressed it with a golden seal before Knov stored it away.
• Bai Zhu healed Gela Jiang and retrieved the Black Box from the Black Gate platform.
• The Pope's head told Bai Zhu's group that the real entrance was inside the Black Box, but it could not explain how to open it.
• Orcs broke through the fortress perimeter as the walls shook under their attacks.
• Bai Zhu picked up the Black Box and led the group onto the transport tracks.

Bai Zhu used the broken spike embedded in a sealed heart to open the Black Gate and entered alone. Inside, he found only darkness, though the red dot on his system map hovered 0.1 meters in front of him.

• Bai Zhu learned from the Pope that the spike in the Black Box both suppressed the entity behind the Black Gate and could open the gate.
• Bai Zhu released the golden nails pinning the Black Box, and Piyu examined the heart, spike, and fungal threads binding them together.
• Bai Zhu recognized the broken spike as a piece of Pen Tongue and struck the Pope for breaking it.
• Piyu explained how the spike could connect with the gate, while Knov offered to move the others away through a spatial entrance and Bai Zhu refused.
• Bai Zhu pressed the spike against the Black Gate, opening a narrow passage, then entered alone after handing Milluki the box and the Pope's head.
• Bai Zhu found only darkness beyond the passage, while his system map showed the red dot directly in front of him at a distance of 0.1 meters.

Bai Zhu fought an invisible guardian in the distorted passageway while Milluki learned how the monster hunted and warned the others. Knov stayed behind with the Black Box as Bai Zhu discovered the space followed hidden rules, though the guardian still wounded him.

• Bai Zhu was struck by an unseen force in the passageway and warned Milluki, Piyu, Knov, and Gela Jiang to stay outside.
• Milluki tortured the Pope's head until it revealed that the guardian hid in spatial layers, targeted people carrying outside power, and attacked near its targets.
• Bai Zhu saw a disembodied eye appear near his blade, then Milluki warned him that the monster was targeting his power and that the Black Box could suppress it.
• Knov tested his spatial ability, sent Milluki, Piyu, and Gela Jiang to the Fourth Dimensional Apartment, and kept the Black Box with him as the pressure in the passage temporarily vanished.
• Bai Zhu tracked the guardian's red dot through a stone pillar and beneath his feet, dodged its next attack, and noticed his blood sliding toward the darkness along an invisible slope.

Knov found a way to make a stable path through the ruins, while Bai Zhu used Ryujin Jakka to correct the distorted space as he fought his way forward. After Knov reached a wall of eyes and waited for them to recede, his spatial lines were hijacked and opened a passage to a crimson door, leaving him and the Pope trapped in a suspected lure.

• Knov learned from the Pope that a Golden Candle Envoy could neutralize the ruins' distortions, then used his Spatial Shield to create a stable path through the passage.
• Bai Zhu dodged an attack from the hidden enemy, realized the ground was made of invisible spatial slopes, and used Ryujin Jakka's flames to stabilize a safe route.
• Knov followed his spatial nodes toward Bai Zhu but encountered an upside-down wall covered in eyes, and the Pope warned him to stay still with his eyes closed.
• After the eyes sank into the wall, Knov's spatial lines broke free and formed a passage to a dark crimson door that whispered from within.
• The Pope opened his eyes and told Knov they had fallen for a trap.

Knov was drawn toward the Red Door while Bai Zhu and the Pope failed to stop him from being taken. After Knov resisted long enough to save the Pope and the Black Box, Bai Zhu learned that the Red Door’s victims never returned and that the God of Bullshit had not appeared yet.

• Knov walked toward the Red Door as its influence made him intangible and stopped his ability from working.
• Bai Zhu dropped in and tried to attack Knov, but his blade and hands passed through him.
• Bai Zhu urged Knov to think of Milluki, Piyu, Gela Jiang, and Palm, and Knov threw the Pope’s head and the Black Box out of danger before disappearing into the Red Door.
• The Red Door vanished, and Bai Zhu questioned the Pope, who explained that the eyes controlled their victims and that no one who entered had returned.
• Bai Zhu realized the God of Bullshit had not appeared and blamed Zhang Ye for leaving him with more trouble.

Bai Zhu rested in the shifting ruins, searched Zhang Ye’s diary, and pressed the Pope for information about the eyes and its god. He followed the path to a response from Gao Mao’s heart and prepared to face him.

• Bai Zhu rested, recovered Reiatsu, and found that Zhang Ye’s diary described the Evolution Seal but gave no details about the ruins.
• Bai Zhu concluded the Pope was the real body and questioned it about the eyes, its god, and the mycelium that kept it alive.
• The Pope tried to speak, but the mycelium tightened around its neck until Bai Zhu used Reiatsu to loosen it.
• Bai Zhu followed the flame-scorched trail through the spatial distortions while the Pope watched him navigate the ruins.
• Bai Zhu reached a stone wall, knocked on the black box, and heard Gao Mao’s heart answer from beyond it.

Bai Zhu studied Zhang Ye’s murals and concluded that Gao Mao had entered the ruins on its own before Zhang Ye built a seal around it. He opened the hidden entrance and was carried down a corridor toward Gao Mao, with the heart in his Black Box beating faster as he approached.

• Bai Zhu burned away the mycelium covering the mural and examined Zhang Ye’s drawings of a sealing network built around a powerful monster.
• Bai Zhu saw that a bodiless cluster of eyes appeared after Zhang Ye left, and reasoned that the eyes had entered the ruins rather than been sealed there by Zhang Ye.
• Bai Zhu concluded that Zhang Ye built the ruins because he could not defeat Gao Mao and used the seal to pin it inside.
• Bai Zhu placed his feather pen on the stone platform, opening the wall and revealing a corridor that carried him forward.
• Bai Zhu raised his Asauchi as the corridor closed behind him and the Black Box’s heart beat faster near Gao Mao.

Bai Zhu met Gao Mao, the God of Bullshit, and learned that the hearts and Orcs in the ruins were not part of the threat he had assumed. Gao Mao agreed to help retrieve Bai Zhu’s captured friends in exchange for games and appliances, then led him toward the danger below the room.

• Bai Zhu found Gao Mao in the living room and learned that the child was the God of Bullshit.
• Gao Mao revealed that it had given the Pope a heart to help people survive Zhang Ye’s restrictions and that it had not created the Orcs.
• Bai Zhu asked Gao Mao to rescue his captured friends and promised to bring it game consoles and household appliances.
• Gao Mao said the captured friends were alive but would have to hold out on their own, then opened a crack in the floor.
• Bai Zhu gripped his Asauchi as red light and crashing sounds came from below, and Gao Mao told him to keep up.

Bai Zhu followed Gao Mao into a silent red storage room filled with people frozen like wax figures, where he found Knov among the captives. As Bai Zhu reached to examine Knov, Gao Mao furiously warned him not to touch the figures.

• Bai Zhu entered the Red Door with Gao Mao and cautiously followed it through the cold, silent red mist.
• Gao Mao said the place was a storage room for toys taken by a dog.
• Bai Zhu and Gao Mao discovered numerous frozen figures, including members of the Creation Society, Orcs, Hunter Association members, and people from an ancient era.
• Bai Zhu recognized Knov among the figures and approached him to check his condition with Reiatsu.
• Gao Mao stopped Bai Zhu with a furious warning not to touch the frozen people.

Bai Zhu learned that touching the wax figures attracted Big Dog, but Gao Mao turned him into one to hide him among the collection. The dog-shaped apparition searched the figures and stopped in front of Bai Zhu, leaving him frozen under its nose.

• Gao Mao stopped Bai Zhu from touching Knov and warned him to stay away from the figures.
• Gao Mao and Bai Zhu smashed wax figures, and Gao Mao swallowed the fragments.
• Gao Mao waved at Bai Zhu, turning his body into a wax figure and leaving him able to move only his eyes.
• Gao Mao told Bai Zhu telepathically that his friends were still alive and warned him not to struggle or use Reiatsu.
• Big Dog emerged from the red mist and searched the collection for disturbed figures.
• Big Dog stopped in front of Bai Zhu and sniffed him as Bai Zhu feared that any movement would make it attack.

Bai Zhu and Gao Mao disguised themselves as wax collectibles to avoid Big Dog, which drained Knov's Nen while holding him. Bai Zhu lost consciousness, and when he awoke, Knov's spatial ripples had broken and Big Dog had stirred.

• Big Dog inspected Bai Zhu and Gao Mao but failed to recognize them beneath their disguises.
• Big Dog picked up Knov and licked him, drawing out his Nen as his body turned waxy and the red mist thinned.
• Gao Mao warned Bai Zhu not to move, explaining that Knov would remain alive while the spatial ripples on his chest held.
• Bai Zhu briefly cracked his wax disguise with Reiatsu, drawing the attention of nearby eyes, then suppressed his power.
• Bai Zhu lost consciousness, and when he awoke, Knov's ripples had broken and Big Dog had woken up.

Bai Zhu and Gao Mao escaped the big dog’s collection with Knov, whom Bai Zhu tried to heal despite the spatial force devouring his Kaidō. At the exit, the red mist stopped and the dog returned, trapping them inside.

• The big dog inspected the wax statues, nearly discovered Bai Zhu and Gao Mao, then urinated on them before disappearing into the red mist.
• Bai Zhu shed the wax coating and used Kaidō on Knov, but the space in Knov’s chest swallowed most of the healing power.
• Gao Mao dragged Bai Zhu away from the collection, and Bai Zhu carried Knov while continuing to heal him as they fled.
• Gao Mao admitted it had brought Bai Zhu in to help kill the dog, but said Bai Zhu was too weak and the dog became more troublesome after feeding.
• As Bai Zhu and Gao Mao reached the exit, the red mist froze, surged toward them, and brought back the dog; Gao Mao grabbed Bai Zhu’s fingers and told him to stay quiet.

Bai Zhu and Gao Mao fled through the red mist as the huge dog caught up and attacked. Gao Mao carved out a mushroom-protected Safe Zone, and Bai Zhu prepared to use Dual Bankai as Knov began to waxify again.

• The red mist intensified, and Gao Mao warned Bai Zhu that the huge dog was pursuing them.
• The huge dog appeared ahead of Gao Mao and attacked, but Gao Mao dodged and sent spore monsters against it.
• Gao Mao grew a ring of mushrooms that blocked the red mist and created a Safe Zone.
• Bai Zhu realized he could carve out his own domain with Dual Bankai, but the technique would rapidly drain his Reiatsu.
• The huge dog smashed through part of Gao Mao's mushroom barrier, and Bai Zhu unleashed a vast power as Knov began to waxify.

Bai Zhu unleashed Bankai and used Zanka no Tachi to summon a Skeleton Army against Big Dog, while Gao Mao tried to restrain the beast. After Big Dog overwhelmed the skeletons and wounded Bai Zhu, Gao Mao's mushroom spores sent Bai Zhu's Reiatsu surging, and he charged into the red mist for a final strike.

• Bai Zhu activated Bankai and summoned the Dead Realm's skeletons with Zanka no Tachi: Minami—Kaka Jūmanokushi Daisōjin.
• Big Dog crushed the skeletons and attacked Bai Zhu with Spatial Blades and its tail, while the red mist began breaking through the Dead Realm.
• Gao Mao used mushroom roots and fungal creatures to hold Big Dog back as Bai Zhu's Reiatsu and the Dead Realm rapidly weakened.
• Gao Mao's spores clouded Bai Zhu's mind, but his Reiatsu suddenly surged and the dragon patterns on Ryūmon Hōzukimaru lit up.
• Bai Zhu and the remaining skeletons charged Big Dog as it unleashed Spatial Blades, and Bai Zhu brought his blade down toward its head.

Bai Zhu and Gao Mao fought Big Dog by severing the red mist threads that sustained its body, but Bai Zhu collapsed when the One-Eyed Owl appeared and his spore-enhanced healing failed. Knov opened a Black Gate that took Bai Zhu away as Big Dog and the red mist reclaimed the battlefield.

• Bai Zhu identified the red threads sustaining Big Dog and severed them while Gao Mao and the Skeleton Army Formation helped constrain the phantom.
• Bai Zhu pursued Big Dog through the fog, cutting more threads despite repeated wounds that his mycelium rapidly healed.
• A snow-white One-Eyed Owl appeared in Bai Zhu’s vision, disrupting his Reiatsu, the system interface, and the mycelium’s healing.
• Bai Zhu collapsed as Big Dog attacked, and a black spatial door opened beneath him and pulled him away.
• Zanka no Tachi fell and the Dead Realm receded as the Black Gate closed; Gao Mao turned toward Knov, who rose from the ground.

Bai Zhu recovered from his wounds in the Fourth Dimensional Apartment, but Gao Mao dragged him back to the red-mist battlefield and kept Knov under its control. Gao Mao sent Knov to contain Big Dog while Bai Zhu prepared to fight, leaving Knov’s fate uncertain.

• Big Dog repeatedly smashed and scattered the regenerating green-skinned giant while Gao Mao hid behind Knov and used him as protection.
• Bai Zhu woke in the Fourth Dimensional Apartment, where Milluki and Piyu had bandaged him after he fell through a hole in the ceiling.
• Gao Mao pulled Bai Zhu back into the red-mist space and revealed that it had cured Knov but was controlling his movements.
• Bai Zhu restored his injuries with green light, then demanded that Gao Mao return Knov instead of using him as a hostage.
• Gao Mao sent Knov toward Big Dog, and Knov used his spatial ability to block its attacks and spread an incorporeal space across the ground.