Chapter Summaries

Zhao Si and the old captain discussed the Lands Between’s influence beyond the mist as the Golden Ram’s Horn sailed toward it. The ship entered the dense mist, rose above the sea on its balloons, and encountered an unseen presence in the water.

• The old captain told Zhao Si that people on other continents saw visions of the Lands Between and that captains with Golden Compasses were highly respected.
• Zhao Si asked about the ship’s small crew, and the old captain explained that its mechanisms and faith-powered sailing made it easier to operate.
• A lookout spotted mist ahead, and the old captain ordered the crew to furl the sails and release the ship’s four balloons.
• Helena, Malenia, Ranni, and Melina were swallowed by the mist as the Golden Ram’s Horn shuddered and leaped above the water.
• Zhao Si glimpsed an enormous dark shape in the mist, and the old captain warned that breaking through it was only the first hurdle.

Zhao Si and the crew descended from the sea waterfall and continued sailing through the mist, where the old captain told them about a real ghost ship. Zhao Si became eager to find it, while Sikatiya considered recruiting ghost ships to help guide lost souls.

• The Golden Ram's Horn flew over the sea waterfall, then descended safely back onto the water.
• As the voyage through the mist grew dull, the old captain told the crew that a ghost ship really appeared and vanished in those waters.
• Sikatiya explained that souls lost at sea were difficult to guide, and Melina suggested recruiting ghost ships to help her.
• The old captain recounted how a red, rotten two-masted ship had plunged through a whirlpool and vanished, with no crew aboard.
• Zhao Si eagerly imagined capturing the ghost ship to study it and make it sail itself.

Zhao Si entertained the others with a story about Sekiro, a one-armed ninja traveling with the Divine Child of Rejuvenation. As they sheltered from rain in a mountain cave, Wolf confronted a band of approaching bandits and silently killed them all.

• Zhao Si told a tale about Wolf, also called Sekiro, and his prosthetic arm and journey with the Divine Child of Rejuvenation.
• Wolf sheltered with the Divine Child of Rejuvenation in a cave while she slept and he worried about their dwindling food and difficult journey.
• Wolf heard bandits approaching the cave and left to confront them in the rain.
• Wolf stalked the bandits and killed them one by one with Kusabimaru.
• Wolf killed the last bandit and began searching the bodies for anything useful.

Wolf and the Divine Child of Rejuvenation left a starving village and sought alms at a roadside inn, where Lord Takeda offered to cover their expenses and showed interest in the nun. Outside, the Red Guard identified the massacre as Wolf’s work and set out to capture the legendary immortal ninja as a gift for their lord.

• After the rain stopped, Wolf and the Divine Child of Rejuvenation traveled from the mountain to a starving village, where villagers mistook her for a bodhisattva and begged her for help.
• Wolf led the Divine Child of Rejuvenation away from the villagers and continued to a roadside inn, where he asked the owner for alms.
• Lord Takeda offered to pay for their food and lodging, and Wolf and the Divine Child of Rejuvenation accepted while remaining wary of the samurai’s attention.
• Takeda asked the Divine Child of Rejuvenation to visit his family’s Buddhist hall, making his interest in her apparent.
• A Red Guard patrol examined the dead bandits, concluded Wolf had killed them, and resolved to capture the immortal ninja for their lord.

Wolf and the Divine Child of Rejuvenation rested at a remote inn, where Wolf learned that Takeda was the son of the local daimyo. After a murder sparked a search and Red Guards surrounded the inn, Wolf hid with the Divine Child on the roof and waited to see what would happen.

• A veiled shamisen player arrived, and Wolf listened as Takeda and his companions talked about the nobles’ hunting grounds.
• Wolf asked the innkeeper about Takeda and learned that he was the son of the local daimyo and distantly related to the lord of Kai.
• Wolf took the exhausted Divine Child of Rejuvenation to a secluded room, where they rested until evening.
• After someone cried murder, Wolf carried the Divine Child and their luggage out the window and hid with her on the roof.
• Red Guards and the noblemen’s guards surrounded the inn while Takeda learned that Inoshishi Tarō had been killed.
• Wolf told the Divine Child to wait as he considered the danger of escaping through the cordon.

Wolf rescued the Divine Child of Rejuvenation from Yūjo, who warned him that an overlord from another world was coming to the Land of Reeds. Meanwhile, Zhao Si and Malenia fought a giant sea beast aboard the Golden Ram's Horn as they neared the Land of Reeds.

• Wolf descended into the inn, used Lazuli Sacred Flame and his prosthetic tools to fight through the hair-covered rooms, and found Yūjo holding the Divine Child of Rejuvenation.
• Wolf severed and burned Yūjo, but her floating skull revealed that an overlord from another world would soon arrive and asked him to join the Oni Gods in resisting the outsider.
• Yūjo vanished after admitting she had tried to lead Wolf onto Shura's Path, and Wolf carried the unharmed Divine Child of Rejuvenation out of the inn.
• At sea, Zhao Si hooked a giant creature with his anchor and hauled it toward the Golden Ram's Horn while Malenia cut apart its nine serpent heads with Waterfowl Dance.
• Zhao Si used a massive blade of Ghostflame and Black Flame to kill the sea beast, and the old captain said the ship would soon reach the waters of the Land of Reeds.

Zhao Si and the Golden Ram’s Horn reached the Land of Reeds, where the Hinokami blocked the coast. Ranni used her Dark Moon to extinguish a passage through the flames, letting the ship enter as terrified locals witnessed the spectacle.

• Zhao Si ordered the old captain to find a beach after they emerged from the mist near the Land of Reeds.
• The Golden Ram’s Horn encountered a wall of Hinokami flames that encircled the coast, and the old captain warned that the local deities might be rejecting them.
• Zhao Si refused to turn back, while Helena, Melina, Malenia, and Ranni came onto the deck to assess the fire.
• Ranni summoned a Dark Moon that struck the Hinokami and extinguished enough of the flames for the ship to pass.
• The old captain steered the Golden Ram’s Horn through the gap as coastal residents fled in fear and watched the ship arrive.

Zhao Si and his companions landed in an unfamiliar coastal village, where the villagers mistook him for a god and welcomed him with offerings. The group settled in the village chief’s home, leaving the villagers frightened and unsure how to please their divine guest.

• The Golden Ram's Horn dropped Zhao Si and his companions ashore, and they followed a trail to a nearby village.
• The villagers knelt at the entrance, and Zhao Si approached the village chief and used Ash’s silver threads to understand his language.
• The village chief explained that the villagers believed Zhao Si was a god, and Zhao Si asked him to arrange somewhere for the group to stay.
• Zhao Si and his companions crowded into the village chief’s home while the villagers remained too frightened by Monster Horse to sleep.
• The village chief’s wife offered Zhao Si virgin boys and girls, then adults, but Zhao Si refused, leaving the village chief worried that nothing would satisfy him.

Zhao Si and his companions learned that a village’s prosperity depended on sacrifices to the monster calling itself the Great God Gu Feng. When the monster punished the village for seeking help from Zhao Si, he attacked the shrine and forced the creature to reveal that it was a sentient mole cricket named Miranda Sprout.

• Zhao Si and his companions discussed the village’s sacrifices and decided to leave the mountain deity alone unless it harmed them or someone asked for help.
• Ranni observed that the villagers seemed well-fed and concluded they were prospering under the mountain deity’s protection.
• The village chief climbed to the shrine to ask the shrine maiden about Zhao Si’s arrival, but Miranda Sprout grew enraged and sent black smoke to wither crops, kill livestock, and take the villagers’ children.
• Zhao Si charged up the mountain, crushed the shrine maiden, and tore apart the shrine to confront the monster inside.
• Miranda Sprout revealed its insect-like form and named itself the Great God Gu Feng, but Zhao Si punched it and learned its real name.

Zhao Si defeated the Miranda Sprout and used a towering pillar of fire to announce that he would wage war on the demons and monsters of the Land of Reeds. The monster escaped as a severed head to spread his warning, while Shimazu Yoshihiro and Shimazu Iehisa investigated the strange fire in Satsuma Province.

• Zhao Si smashed the Miranda Sprout, burned its black smoke with the Giant's Flame, and used gravity to drag it out of the ground.
• Zhao Si twisted the Miranda Sprout's sickle and arms, tore its body in two, and burned its human torso and insect body on the mountaintop.
• Zhao Si spared the Miranda Sprout's head and ordered it to warn the demons and monsters that he would attack their strongholds and claim the Land of Reeds as his territory.
• The Miranda Sprout's head burrowed away and began rallying other monsters, while powerful monsters in Osaka Castle prepared to join Asai Chacha and Ishida Mitsunari against Tokugawa Ieyasu.
• Shimazu Yoshihiro and Shimazu Iehisa saw the pillar of fire from Satsuma Castle Keep, and Shimazu Iehisa said he had sent people to investigate.

Wolf and the Divine Child of Rejuvenation learned that the Red Guard had recovered the black Mortal Blade, Open Gate, and were drawn into Date Masamune’s investigation. Meanwhile, Zhao Si’s party met Shimazu Yoshihiro, who wanted to learn whether Zhao Si’s power could be useful to him.

• Wolf and the Divine Child of Rejuvenation reached Oshu and heard that the Red Guard had been killed and an ominous black odachi had gone missing.
• Wolf realized the stolen weapon was Open Gate, which the Red Guard had dug from Isshin Ashina’s grave, and hurried to leave Aoba Castle with the Divine Child.
• Date Masamune stopped Wolf and invited him to his residence to discuss matters connected to him; the Divine Child agreed to go.
• Shimazu Yoshihiro invited Zhao Si’s party into his castle after seeing the pillar of fire, hoping to assess Zhao Si’s potential usefulness.
• Zhao Si’s party speculated about the invitation while Zhao Si looked forward to eating a free meal.

Zhao Si confronted Shimazu Yoshihiro over the harm caused by a monster and destroyed part of the castle to force the Shimazu clan to serve him a feast. Meanwhile, Date Masamune questioned Wolf about the Black Mortal Blade and explained how local gods had tracked his movements.

• Shimazu Yoshihiro entered the room and considered an alliance with Zhao Si’s group, while Ranni, Melina, Helena, and Malenia ignored him and discussed flowers and food.
• Zhao Si blamed Shimazu Yoshihiro for a child’s death and damage to the villagers’ fields, then demanded compensation and an elaborate meal.
• When samurai blocked their exit, Zhao Si twisted and broke their swords, then used a Gravity Collapse Wave to demolish the Tenshu’s watchtower and damage the castle.
• Shimazu Yoshihiro knelt and agreed to Zhao Si’s demands, and the Shimazu clan began preparing a feast.
• Date Masamune told Wolf that he knew about the Mortal Blades because local gods who had fled to his domain had reported on Ashina and Wolf’s whereabouts.

Wolf demonstrated the Mortal Blade for Date Masamune, and Hattori Hanzo recruited him to pursue the stolen black Mortal Blade while Date escorted the Divine Child of Rejuvenation to Edo. Elsewhere, Zhao Si and Malenia shared a tender moment beneath a cherry tree, and Malenia revealed Miquella’s relationship questionnaires after Zhao Si confessed his feelings.

• Date Masamune had a condemned prisoner try to draw the Mortal Blade, and the sword killed him as soon as it was unsheathed.
• Hattori Hanzo revealed that Kōga and Saika were suspected of stealing the black Mortal Blade and proposed that Wolf investigate it with him.
• Wolf agreed to Hanzo’s employment arrangement, while Date Masamune agreed to escort the Divine Child of Rejuvenation to Edo.
• Zhao Si finished a long banquet at Shimazu Yoshihiro’s home, then walked in the courtyard with Malenia and carried her on his shoulders beneath a cherry tree.
• Zhao Si told Malenia that he liked her, and she showed him relationship questionnaires that Miquella had prepared before they set sail.

Zhao Si and Malenia completed Miquella’s relationship questionnaires and agreed that they could accept a future together, including the possibility of having no children. Ranni dreamed of a blood-soaked moon and a dying figure who begged her to save Amaterasu, then woke convinced their journey would be difficult.

• Zhao Si and Malenia filled out Miquella’s dating and compatibility forms, reflecting on how much hardship they had already faced together.
• Malenia admitted she feared having children because her Scarlet Rot or other afflictions might be inherited, and Zhao Si accepted the possibility of a life without children.
• Zhao Si and Malenia shared a tender moment and agreed they had time to discuss their future together.
• Ranni dreamed of a ruined, blood-covered moon where a dying figure begged her to save his sister, Amaterasu.
• Malenia found Ranni awake in the morning, and Ranni told her the dream made her think their journey would not be easy.

Ranni told Malenia about her dream of a dead moon god pleading for Amaterasu to be saved, and the group decided to keep investigating the Land of Reeds while dealing with its monsters. After leaving the Shimazu clan’s territory, Zhao Si and the others rode north and reached a waterfall where nearby residents had been falling ill.

• Ranni and Malenia concluded that the Land of Reeds’ gods might be unable to solve their own crisis, and Malenia asked whether they should help.
• Sikatiya warned Melina that the Underworld was malfunctioning and souls could not find their final resting place, possibly explaining why monsters grew stronger by eating them.
• At breakfast, Ranni told Zhao Si about her dream of the dead moon god and his plea to save Amaterasu.
• Zhao Si decided the group would continue sightseeing, follow any signs or guidance they encountered, and eliminate monsters along the way.
• Zhao Si and the others left the Shimazu clan’s territory and rode north after Shimazu Toyohisa volunteered to become Zhao Si’s disciple and was restrained by Shimazu Yoshihiro and Shimazu Iehisa.
• The group reached a waterfall whose nearby villages and towns had recently been plagued by illness, exhausting the old monk who treated them.

At Wangxiang Temple, Zhikong vanished in a bloody incident as illness and disappearances spread around Looking River Waterfall. Zhao Si’s group arrived at Wangchuan City, where they sensed a deadly imbalance, and Malenia rode ahead after detecting disease.

• Wangxiang Temple’s monks treated an epidemic with herbal medicine while Wuxiu rebuked Zhikong for suggesting they charge more.
• While praying alone at night, Zhikong saw Fudo Myoo appear monstrous and vanished in a burst of blood, leaving only a shoe behind.
• Wuxiu found the bloodied hall, and warrior monks searched the temple but found no intruders; people around Wangchuan City continued disappearing as the illness spread.
• Zhao Si’s group joked and teased one another as they traveled toward Wangchuan City.
• Zhao Si, Malenia, and Melina sensed that life around the waterfall was near a deadly threshold, and Melina warned that someone’s interference with life and death could produce a calamity.
• Malenia sensed disease and galloped ahead to investigate.

Malenia and Zhao Si investigated a deadly illness around Wangxiang Temple and discovered a red-lacquered coffin sealed beneath the lake. The creature inside reassembled after Malenia sliced it apart, revealing a massive, monstrous koi.

• Malenia questioned a fisherman, who told her that a strange illness had spread and people were disappearing.
• Malenia sensed something unusual in the lake while Zhao Si learned that the sick could not afford the temple’s increasingly expensive medicine.
• Helena, Melina, and Ranni stayed behind to help the sick while Zhao Si went to investigate the lake with Malenia.
• Zhao Si dove to the lake bottom and pulled a talisman-bound red-lacquered coffin from the silt.
• Malenia used Waterfowl Dance to cut the coffin and its contents into pieces, but worms reassembled them into a giant koi-like monster.

Zhao Si and Malenia discovered that a giant carp spirit had been poisoning the lake and Zhao Si destroyed it with three kinds of flame. After helping cure the sick, the group entered the temple to investigate why its warrior monks had taken someone inside.

• Zhao Si held the giant carp spirit captive while Malenia examined its parasite-filled blood and sensed that the lake was improving.
• Zhao Si explained how the carp had swallowed the Divine Dragon's urine, grown immortal, and poisoned people through parasites in its blood.
• Helena and Melina treated the sick with Incantations while Melina sent away people who remained after treatment hours ended.
• Zhao Si burned the carp spirit with Ghostflame, Black Flame, and Giant's Flame, then left its roasted body for animals and passersby.
• Malenia told Zhao Si that warrior monks had taken someone into the temple, so the group went inside and found the monks unusually untroubled by their presence.

Zhao Si investigated a temple that seemed to lack any real sacred power and learned from the disfigured Monk Wuxiu that deaths and disappearances had plagued it after Zhikong died. After hearing that Fudo Myoo had foretold his arrival, Zhao Si decided to investigate the bloodstains left in the Main Hall.

• Melina, Ranni, and Zhao Si found no divine power in the temple, while Malenia sensed nothing unusual about its monks.
• Zhao Si noticed the monks watching the group and suspected the temple's strange behavior was connected to reports of a giant carp, medicine sales, and abductions.
• Zhao Si asked a monk to take him to Monk Wuxiu, then barged into Wuxiu's meditation room when the old monk did not answer.
• Monk Wuxiu revealed that Zhikong had died, people nearby had disappeared, strange cries had sounded at night, and Wuxiu himself had become half alive and half dead.
• Monk Wuxiu told Zhao Si that Fudo Myoo had dreamed of Zhao Si arriving to cleanse the temple's sins.
• Zhao Si chose to investigate the bloodstains from Zhikong's death in the Main Hall, and Malenia and the others agreed to join him.

Zhao Si and his companions uncovered Zhiyuan’s plot at Wangxiang Temple, defeated him and Blue Monk, and learned the dragon scale had driven the temple’s corruption. Elsewhere, Ibaraki Dōji fitted a newly forged blade to his severed arm and planned to send the black Mortal Blade to a noble in Osaka Castle while Wolf and Hattori Hanzo pursued the ninja carrying it.

• Zhao Si, Helena, and Malenia waited in Wangxiang Temple’s main hall while Ranni and Melina searched the pond and faced red-eyed monks.
• A possessed Fudo Myoo effigy attacked Helena, and Malenia and Zhao Si destroyed it before Zhao Si charged into the Inner Sanctum.
• Blue Monk emerged and attacked the monks, while Zhiyuan revealed that he had transformed his master, Reverend Wuming, using a dragon scale.
• Zhao Si killed Blue Monk, tore the scale from Zhiyuan, and learned that the master and disciple had devoured the missing people; Wuxiu lamented the temple’s destruction.
• A Miranda Sprout’s message reached Ibaraki Dōji, who attached a blade forged from monks’ bones and relics to his severed arm and ordered the black Mortal Blade sent to Osaka Castle.
• Ibaraki Dōji ordered the tanuki to distract the eastern provinces while Wolf and Hattori Hanzo continued pursuing the Kōga and Saika ninja.