Recaps

Belle helped Ye Shunguang recall his childhood at the mine while Griseo and Liuyin activated the ancient array. As the array unleashed Corruptive Breath and brought divine eyes into view, Liuyin saw Griseo summon Qianjie and Su to fight the Ethereals.

• Liuyin told Griseo she had originally planned to use the ancient array to put Ban Yue on trial for abandoning the mine’s residents during the disaster ten years earlier.
• Belle accompanied Ye Shunguang to his old home, where he remembered his father’s stories about the miners and Huiling Stone.
• An upheaval shook the mine, and Ye Shunguang and Belle saw Corruptive Breath surge from the ancient array.
• Ye Shunguang tried to break through the array’s defenses and reach Griseo and Liuyin, but his attack failed.
• After Griseo undid the seal, Ethereals poured from the array, and she summoned Qianjie and then Su to defeat them.
• Divine eyes appeared in the Corruptive Breath and opened in the sky, dispersing the fog and making the Ethereals tremble.

Griseo lured Primus’s consciousness into the ancient formation, then faced the god as it possessed Sobek and manifested eight dragon-shaped Ethereals above Lemnian Hollow. The chapter ended with Ye Shunguang recognizing the Eightfold Heavenly Dragons from Yunkui Mountain’s highest-level techniques.

• Griseo used The Stars Signet to gather the foul energy and recited a Praise Society prayer, drawing Primus’s consciousness into the formation.
• Primus recognized Griseo, and the ancient formation exploded, releasing Sobek with a wisp of Primus’s consciousness attached.
• Ye Shunguang shielded Belle and Liuyin as Sobek’s power surged, while Griseo used the [Wisdom] Signet to suppress it.
• Griseo expanded her domain and challenged Primus to descend fully, helping it overcome the rules limiting its presence.
• Primus manifested eight dragon-shaped Ethereals above Lemnian Hollow, and Ye Shunguang identified them as the Eightfold Heavenly Dragons.

[Primus] descended on Lemnian Hollow and attacked Griseo with eight dragon-shaped Ethereals, but Hua wielded the Azure Nether Sword and fought them with Taixu Swordsmanship. After Hua proved stronger and began destroying the dragons, [Primus] tried to retreat, and Hua moved to stop it.

• [Primus] sealed Lemnian Hollow and sent Sobek and eight dragon-shaped Ethereals to attack Griseo.
• Belle told Ye Shunguang and Liuyin that Griseo could face the First Lord, and Griseo urged Ye Shunguang to learn from Hua's Taixu Swordsmanship.
• Griseo summoned Hua and the Azure Nether Sword, which Hua took up to confront the dragons.
• Hua cut down one dragon, but it regenerated and the remaining dragons pressed their attack.
• Hua used Taixu Swordsmanship and Inch Force to destroy several dragons while the Signets of [The Stars] and [Wisdom] supported her.
• [Primus] tried to withdraw as its remaining dragons fled, but Hua charged after them and declared that it would not escape.

Hua defeated the five Dragon Ethereals with Taixu Sword God while Griseo protected Belle and Ye Shunguang from Sobek. The First Lord’s fleeing consciousness was destroyed by Hua and Griseo, though Sobek’s massive body remained on the battlefield.

• Hua used Taixu Soul Essence and the Azure Nether Sword to overpower the five Dragon Ethereals as Griseo explained the sword intent to Ye Shunguang.
• Hua invoked Taixu Sword God and annihilated the Dragon Ethereals.
• Sobek attacked Belle and Ye Shunguang with Corruptive Breath, but Griseo cut through the mist and revealed her grown-up appearance.
• Griseo confronted Sobek while Hua prepared to strike, and the First Lord’s consciousness fled toward the white light formation.
• Hua and Griseo pursued the fleeing consciousness and ground it into nothingness.

Griseo gave Belle a way to draw on Ether Energy and grow stronger after Ye Shunguang and Liuyin defeated Sobek. Meanwhile, Mato faced and defeated his Drowned Thinker counterpart in Reverie Town, then headed for the chapel.

• As Hua faded, she handed the Azure Nether Sword to Griseo, who returned to her child form and continued suppressing the blade and its backlash.
• Griseo told Belle that Wise held more power from [Primus] and that Authority alone was not enough, then channeled stored Ether Energy into Belle.
• With Liuyin's support, Ye Shunguang killed the weakened Sobek with one strike.
• Mato sent Wise, Lucia, and Master Ban Yue to pursue Moss while he stayed behind to fight Drowned Thinker Mato.
• After Drowned Thinker Mato taunted him for relying on his companions, Mato fought back and defeated him, affirming that his companions were not burdens.
• Drowned Thinker Mato accepted his defeat and dissolved into light, and Mato walked toward the chapel.

Wise and his companions fought Moss and the Reverie Town residents to destroy the Cocoon and free the trapped sleepers. Mato activated the damaged device despite being burned, dissolving the Dreamscape and its inhabitants, while Yidhari’s oppressive burden began to fade.

• Moss ordered the residents to defend their Cocoon, and Yidhari and Lucia quickly suppressed their poorly trained attackers.
• Wise tried to activate the TOPS device, but Moss shot it and damaged it before it could work.
• Mato picked up the sparking device and activated it despite the electricity burning his arm.
• The Cocoon dissolved, releasing the trapped people as Moss and the other Reverie Dwellers vanished into Ether Particles.
• Wise and his companions confirmed that the sleepers had not become Ethereals, and Yidhari felt the darkness within her begin to fade.

Wise, Lucia, Mato, and Yidhari followed an Ether Rift to the abandoned experimental grounds of Zenis Space City, where Little Lucia challenged them to hide-and-seek. As Yidhari uncovered memories of Defense Force soldiers, Lucia recognized them and grew visibly shaken.

• Ban Yue arrived at the auditorium with a rescue team and told Wise that Zhao had gone through an Ether Rift to pursue another task.
• Wise, Lucia, Mato, and Yidhari crossed the rift and learned from Fairy that they were in Zenis Space City's abandoned experimental grounds.
• Little Lucia appeared and explained that she had survived by winning a game of hide-and-seek, while the other Reverie Dwellers had returned to the Ether Sea.
• Little Lucia invited the group to play hide-and-seek and vanished after promising to explain why she called the Wandering Hunter her dad.
• Yidhari led the group through memories of Defense Force soldiers, and Lucia recognized them before hurrying after Little Lucia's song.

Lucia learned that Little Lucia was the Reverie Dweller formed from her father’s final wish to finish their unfinished game of hide-and-seek. Lucia and her father began one last game together as they prepared to say goodbye.

• Yidhari’s abilities began fading, and Fairy could not contact Griseo or Belle after a surge of Corruptive Breath at the former mining site.
• Little Lucia rejected Lucia’s offer of friendship and led the group to a plaza, where Lucia saw her speaking with her father.
• The past revealed that Lucia’s father became the Wandering Hunter after being corrupted while rescuing people at the Zeneshi Aerospace Test Site, and his final obsession created Little Lucia.
• Lucia understood that Little Lucia was her father’s dream and thanked Yidhari for showing her the truth.
• Lucia and Little Lucia agreed to play hide-and-seek one last time, and the Wandering Hunter emerged from the purple mist.

Lucia, Mato, Yidhari, and Wise fought the Wandering Hunter while Little Lucia turned their battle into a deadly game of hide-and-seek. Wise found her among the Hunter’s duplicates, but she began another round, and a golden speck of Ether light drifted from Wise as he used his power.

• The Wandering Hunter attacked Lucia, but Mato blocked its strike and Yidhari’s hammer blow cracked its Ether Crystal carapace.
• Yidhari realized the Wandering Hunter shared vision and strength with Little Lucia, then attacked her hiding place; the Hunter switched positions to protect her and sent Yidhari flying.
• Little Lucia made the Wandering Hunter vanish into the mist and reappear as several duplicates, punishing Yidhari when she guessed the wrong one.
• Wise used Yunkui Mountain’s Perception Technique to locate Little Lucia beneath a withered tree, allowing Mato and Yidhari to strike her hiding place.
• Little Lucia started another round of hide-and-seek, and a pale golden speck of Ether light floated from Wise as he used his power.

Lucia reunited with her father, the Wandering Hunter, only to watch him dissolve; Griseo then used Lucia’s picture book to let him leave her a final message. Griseo offered Lucia a trade involving a “father,” the rights to a story, and the Night Watchers’ Authority.

• Lucia, Yidhari, Mato, and Wise defeated the Wandering Hunter after repeated rounds of hide-and-seek.
• Lucia recognized the Wandering Hunter as her father and tearfully reached him, but he could not speak and began to dissolve.
• Griseo returned through an Ether Rift and used Lucia’s picture book to weave a story in which her father became a star and left her a final message.
• A tiny thread of light brushed Lucia’s forehead like her father’s touch before she joined her companions and continued onward.
• Griseo asked Lucia whether she wanted to trade a “father” for the rights to a story and the Night Watchers’ Authority.

Griseo explained that she could retrieve Lucia’s father’s soul from the Ether Sea, but doing so would require reclaiming the Night Demon’s Authority. She brought Lucia to meet Thornpear, who revealed that she was Anivia, the Night Demon, and Griseo offered to help her in exchange for a price.

• Griseo explained to Lucia that memories and souls returned to the Ether Sea and that she could retrieve Lucia’s father if Lucia’s people surrendered the Night Demon’s Authority.
• Griseo reminded Lucia of Thornpear and led her through an Ether Rift to find her.
• Griseo and Lucia appeared in an unknown region beyond the Black Wall, where Anivia greeted them.
• Anivia transformed into a Hati, and Lucia recognized her as Thornpear.
• Anivia revealed that she was also the Night Demon from the Night Watchers’ legends, and Griseo offered to help her for a price.

Griseo negotiated with Anivia to reclaim most of her Dreamscape authority while allowing her to remain as the Night Watchers’ guardian, and Anivia empowered Lucia’s staff. Griseo also restored Lucia’s father, then received a message that TOPS and the Municipal Government were waiting at Anywhere Observatory.

• Lucia learned that the Night Demon and Thornpear were avatars of Anivia, and that the Night Demon Curse was a gift and a test for the Night Watchers.
• Griseo offered Anivia a way to enter the waking world in exchange for part of her Dreamscape authority, and Anivia agreed to retain some power as the Night Watchers’ guardian.
• Anivia poured Ether energy into Lucia’s staff, and Griseo reforged it with Soulsteel into a stronger weapon.
• Griseo used the Signets of The Stars and Discipline to restore Lucia’s father, who woke and embraced his tearful daughter.
• Griseo received Belle’s message that TOPS and the Municipal Government had arrived at Anywhere Observatory.

Lucia took the narrator on a late-night adventure, turning a subway ride, a movie theater, and the streets into a fairy-tale journey. After saying goodbye, the narrator fell asleep, while the Night Demon Messenger watched over the room.

• Lucia led the narrator onto the last subway train, pretending it was a giant snake, and comforted them by sitting on their lap.
• Lucia and the narrator arrived at Lumina Square Station and headed to a theater she called Phantom of Time.
• Lucia asked the exhausted villager at the theater entrance for two tickets, and she and the narrator watched Journey to Wonderland.
• Lucia reframed cats fighting and a peace officer as sights from an unknown world and a night demon adventure.
• Lucia said goodbye after walking the narrator home, and the narrator fell asleep as the Night Demon Messenger wished them good night.

Hoshimi Soichiro visited Yunkui Mountain to question Griseo about her return, the Tail-less Demon Blade, and her plans, while Zhao arrived on behalf of TOPS to meet the person behind Liuyin’s resignation. Griseo remained in Weifei Land and left the Municipal Government with the offer to dissolve Lemnian Hollow if it doubted her Pact.

• Wise served Hoshimi Soichiro tea while Griseo listened to his questions about her return and future plans.
• Griseo confirmed she had Tailless and the Azure Nether Sword, and told Soichiro that Frozen Naraka had been given to the Hoshimi Family for Miyabi.
• Griseo said the mayor could be told she would dissolve Lemnian Hollow to reassure the Municipal Government about her Pact.
• Zhao visited Griseo on behalf of TOPS and revealed she had come to meet the person who caused Liuyin to resign.
• Liuyin joined Griseo after Zhao said she would hold on to Liuyin’s resignation and welcome her back if she changed her mind.

Griseo explained that she chose Yunkui Mountain and Weifei Land because their colors felt kinder and warmer. When Funeral Firecrackers announced a neighbor’s death, the community gathered to support his orphaned daughter, while Griseo watched and admitted she could not help everyone.

• Liuyin asked Griseo why she had chosen Yunkui Mountain, and Griseo said Yunkui Mountain and Weifei Land felt warmer and had kinder colors.
• Funeral Firecrackers sounded across Chenghui Plateau, and Griseo told Ye Shunguang that the reason for her question had arrived.
• Yuzuha recognized the firecrackers as coming from Uncle Li’s home and hurried there with Alice, her father, and Mato.
• Red Bean recognized the Funeral Firecrackers and led Tea Immortal’s employees to help, while Ye Shunguang sent Songtao and Wise to bring supplies.
• Songtao and the neighbors found Uncle Li’s grieving daughter, and Yuzuha held her as she cried.
• Liuyin asked Griseo to help the girl, but Griseo said she could not help everyone.

After Griseo blessed Liuyin’s Talent of Listening to the Dead’s Last Words, Liuyin saw a grieving girl’s father’s soul bid farewell to his neighbors and began adjusting to her expanded ability. The story left Liuyin at her new shop, where she had just encountered a lost dead soldier seeking help to return to his pregnant wife.

• Liuyin questioned how the meaning of life could be reconstructed in the face of death, and Griseo said life’s colors showed her the colors of the world.
• Griseo revealed she had blessed Liuyin with The Stars and reminded her that New Eridu’s people had to decide their own path.
• Wise and Mato set off mourning firecrackers, and the girl thanked the neighbors who had supported her as her father’s soul watched over her.
• The girl’s father thanked Songtao and the Yunkui Mountain masters before turning into starlight and departing; Liuyin and Griseo went down to help the mourners.
• After opening Liuyin’s Little Shop, Liuyin asked Griseo for time off after her first job, and Griseo let her rest as she adjusted to her new ability.
• Liuyin encountered a soldier in an old Defense Force uniform who said he had lost his way home and needed to reach his pregnant wife.

Liuyin recounted how she helped Paul, a soldier’s wandering soul, reunite with the son he had never met. After Paul said goodbye to his son and passed on, Griseo asked Liuyin whether she preferred this work or missions for the Black Branch.

• Griseo identified the soldier as Paul, who had died on a Hollow mission and emerged into the living world after the boundary between reality and the Hollows blurred.
• Liuyin visited Paul’s son, Little Paul, and learned he had kept his father’s letter and photograph despite claiming otherwise.
• Paul appeared in Liuyin’s car, and she took him to his grave, where he learned his wife had died but his son was alive and expecting a child.
• Liuyin brought Paul to his son’s home and relayed his words, allowing father and son to share their first and last conversation.
• Paul said he could see his wife waiting for him, then walked away without regrets.
• Griseo asked Liuyin whether she preferred helping souls or taking missions for the Black Branch, and Liuyin joked that it depended on whether she got time off.

Liuyin investigated a haunted former orphanage and helped three child ghosts reconnect with Onne, the friend who had survived the fire fifty years earlier. After the friends reunited and the ghosts let go of their regrets, Liuyin began to understand Griseo’s idea of reconstructing the meaning of life.

• Liuyin and Griseo entered the old orphanage, where Ham, Vite, and Marty’s ghosts demanded that they leave.
• Liuyin stayed overnight, learned that Ham had kept the other ghosts in the house to protect them, and discovered that Onne had disappeared during the fire.
• Liuyin learned from the records that Onne had survived, and Ham told her how he had led his friends toward the locked exit before they were separated.
• Griseo returned with the elderly Onne, who explained that he had accidentally started the fire and escaped by hiding in a trash can.
• Liuyin relayed messages between Onne and the ghosts, and the four friends reunited after fifty years.
• Ham found peace, and the three ghosts embraced Onne before dissolving into white light as Liuyin reflected on Griseo’s Signet.

Hoshimi Miyabi mistook Wise’s martial arts lesson with Yixuan for an intimate encounter and challenged the temple master to a duel over who could stay by Wise’s side. The chapter ended with Miyabi and Yixuan facing off on the temple roof as their companions gathered below to watch.

• Hoshimi Miyabi sensed a powerful fighter near the herbal tea shop and hurried to Whatever Temple, leaving Yanagi, Harumasa, and Soukaku to follow.
• Miyabi burst through the courtyard gate and misunderstood Yixuan’s sweaty martial arts training with Wise, then drew her blade and challenged Yixuan.
• Yixuan teased Miyabi by pretending Wise had praised her, while Wise tried to explain that they had only been training.
• Miyabi and Yixuan agreed to settle their rivalry with a fight, wagering that Wise would accompany the winner on an outing.
• Miyabi and Yixuan took their positions on the main hall roof as Hollow Special Operations Section 6 and Yixuan’s disciples gathered below to watch.

Hoshimi Miyabi and Yixuan faced off for a duel, but Pan Yinhu’s cooking distracted the gathered guests and then the two fighters. The chapter left Yixuan teasing a hungry Miyabi with food and wine instead of fighting.

• Pan Yinhu cooked braised pork, and the guests abandoned their tense anticipation to eat and socialize beneath the persimmon tree.
• Hoshimi Miyabi discovered that Yixuan had fallen asleep standing up and rebuked her for disrespecting their duel.
• Hoshimi Miyabi charged, but Yixuan dodged to the table and began eating, prompting Miyabi to follow and demand that they fight.
• Yixuan kept evading Miyabi’s sword while snatching food and offering her wine and a sweet-and-sour rib.
• Yixuan challenged Miyabi to match her speed as she caught a falling wine jug and drank from it.

Yixuan sparred with Hoshimi Miyabi while demonstrating her drunken martial arts, then shared a mysterious wine that made nearly everyone at the gathering dance uncontrollably. Belle discovered the flask was Burnice’s special blend made by Griseo, while Wise and Ye Shunguang remained among the few unaffected.

• Yixuan dodged Hoshimi Miyabi’s attacks around the courtyard, teaching her to borrow force and demonstrating her elusive drunken style.
• Yixuan drank too much and collapsed, but told Hoshimi Miyabi that combining hardness and softness was the highest martial skill.
• Hoshimi Miyabi drank from Yixuan’s flask and began dancing, while Yixuan cheered her on.
• Pulchra drank from the flask, and Ye Shiyuan, Pan Yinhu, Harumasa, Soukaku, and Tsukishiro Yanagi soon joined the dancing.
• Belle examined the flask and read that it contained mysterious power and was Burnice’s special blend, specially made by Griseo.

A cake fight at Whatever Temple drew in powerful fighters, while Liuyin failed to summon Griseo to stop it. After Griseo arrived, Belle asked her to tell Kosma’s story, and Belle set out to gather a large audience for the presentation.

• Zhao left the empty Black Branch workstations and headed to Whatever Temple after hearing it was lively.
• Belle and Wise led their factions into a battle over the last piece of cake, and Yixuan snatched it as Miyabi and Ye Shunguang joined the fight.
• Liuyin tried to call Griseo for help, but Fairy blocked the signal and the fighters stopped Liuyin from leaving.
• Griseo arrived and found Whatever Temple in disarray after the cake battle.
• Belle asked Griseo to present Kosma’s story, and Griseo agreed to prepare a movie-like presentation with snacks.
• Belle went to gather House of Oddities and the Obol Squad so they could share Griseo’s story with a larger audience.

Griseo shared Kosma’s story, from his lonely childhood and training under Kevin to the losses that shaped him and his death on the moon. Kosma insisted his era and story were long gone, but Belle challenged him by pointing to the future embodied by the children and by Griseo’s retelling.

• Griseo hesitated to tell Kosma’s story, but then used the [Daybreak] Signet to show his past to the audience.
• Kosma tried to become a hero in his hometown, survived the Fourth Honkai Eruption with Kevin’s help, and joined Fire Moth after concealing his origins.
• Kosma grew close to Dystopia and helped care for Griseo, while Dystopia gave him a harmonica that he kept after she and others died.
• Kosma lost the harmonica’s reed and later died on the moon during the Finality War, still carrying the instrument and Dystopia’s feelings with him.
• After watching the story, Belle regretted questioning Kosma about whom he liked and asked Griseo to bring him out so she could apologize.
• Kosma called himself an insignificant remnant of a lost era, but Belle argued that Griseo’s retelling and the birth of children showed his story had not faded away.

Griseo showed Hollow Special Operations Section 6 and the others Sakura’s story, from her work as a MANTIS and Flame-Chaser to her sister Rin’s death and Sakura’s final battle. Hoshimi Miyabi learned that her new sword was modeled after Sakura’s Frozen Naraka, and Griseo invited everyone to choose whose story they wanted to hear next.

• Hoshimi Miyabi and Tsukishiro Yanagi asked Griseo to tell Sakura’s story, and Griseo began the projection.
• The projection showed Sakura’s assassination missions, her transformation into a MANTIS, and her life as a Flame-Chaser bearing the Signets of [Setsuna].
• The story revealed that Rin became a Herrscher vessel and died before Sakura could reach her, while Sakura later died fighting the infected soldiers responsible for Rin’s death.
• After the story left the audience shaken, Hoshimi Miyabi asked to see Sakura’s final battle, and Tsukishiro Yanagi, Harumasa, and Soukaku thanked Sakura for sparing them in Blazewood.
• Griseo told Hoshimi Miyabi that her sword was modeled after Sakura’s Frozen Naraka, then asked whose story the group wanted to hear next.

Griseo told Yixuan and Ye Shunguang the story of Hua, from her ordinary beginnings to her fifty thousand years guarding Shenzhou as the bearer of Mortal Life. After hearing what the signet carried, Yixuan doubted whether Yunkui Mountain could bear its weight, while Ye Shunguang and Hoshimi Miyabi began considering how to obtain one.

• At Yixuan and Ye Shunguang's request, Griseo used Hua's Signet of Mortal Life to show her story, beginning with Hua's ordinary life and her recruitment into Fire Moth.
• Hua became a MANTIS, joined the Thirteen Flame-Chasers as the bearer of Mortal Life, and carried out the Kindling Project in Shenzhou under the name Red Kite.
• Griseo showed Hua protecting Shenzhou for millennia, founding the Taixu Sect, and taking in the Taixu Seven Swords before Divine Voice left her increasingly detached.
• Hua's seven disciples conspired against her, but Suyi secretly hid her body; twenty years later, Hua awoke with much of her memory lost and continued her mission as Fu Hua.
• After Griseo finished, Yixuan questioned whether Yunkui Mountain could bear the signet's burden, while Ye Shunguang wanted one and Hoshimi Miyabi wondered whether to trade her katana for a signet.