Recaps

Lu Zhao developed his puppet craft, advanced his cultivation, and faced growing dangers from those seeking flying puppets. After Zhou Ming offered him a place in the Zhou Household through marriage, Lu Zhao warned Shopkeeper Zhou and continued pursuing his own path.

• Lu Zhao created his first Azure-Patterned Rat Puppet, unlocked the First-Tier Puppet Inheritance, and began selling puppets while mining cold iron.
• Lu Zhao reached the fourth level of Qi Refining, accepted a three-year post at Green Vine Ravine, and secured an exclusive puppet-selling contract with the Nine Abyss Pavilion.
• Lu Zhao crafted Frost Rat and Flowing Cloud Sparrow Puppets, bought a Concentration Fruit at auction, and improved his Thousand Threads Technique while earning hundreds of spirit stones.
• Lu Zhao bought a Mystic Water Tortoise-Shell Shield and a Small Thunderclap Talisman after the shopkeeper warned him about suspicious strangers seeking flying-puppet craftsmen.
• Lu Zhao killed Zheng Yuan and Zheng Ping in an ambush, then showed Zheng Ping’s token to Shopkeeper Zhou, who agreed to negotiate with the Zheng Household on Lu Zhao’s behalf.
• Lu Zhao reached the fifth layer of Qi Refining and, after repeated failures, crafted his first Ironwood Guard and gradually improved his success rate.
• Zhou Ming offered Lu Zhao core-collateral treatment if he married a Zhou woman, but Lu Zhao suspected the Zhou Household wanted to bind his puppet-making skills to them.
• Lu Zhao warned Shopkeeper Zhou about Zhou Ming’s proposal and sold him four magical artifacts, prompting the shopkeeper to investigate who had met with Lu Zhao.

Lu Zhao built up his cultivation, weapons, and puppet-making skills as the Zhou Household prepared for war with the Tianfang Zhao Family. He was conscripted into the army and took part in the prolonged siege of the Zhao Family’s Market District as the Zhou forces finally breached its formation.

• Lu Zhao bought Water-Splitting Spikes and a Hundred Waters Dharma Disc, then joined Liu Fengchun, Yin Jiu, and Chen Moyang in hunting the Snake King and claiming the Green Vine Remnant Roots.
• Lu Zhao traded an Ironwood Guard for an Earth Vein Black Tortoise Formation and attended the Little Cloud Terrace Gathering, where he obtained the Thousandfold Overlapping Waves Art.
• Lu Zhao heeded warnings of looming conflict, stocked supplies, and learned that the Zhao Family had raided Zhou Household holdings, prompting the Zhou Household to mobilize.
• The Zhou Household conscripted Lu Zhao into the Hundred Arts Battalion’s Artifact Division, where he was ordered to produce and maintain equipment for the war.
• Lu Zhao marched with the Zhou army to Blue Stone Market and Greenrock Market, then joined the siege that drove the Zhao defenders from Greenrock Market.
• During the long siege of the Zhao Family’s Market District, Lu Zhao crafted puppets, cultivated to the sixth layer, and strengthened the Thousandfold Overlapping Waves Art.
• Zhou Hua offered Lu Zhao a Quasi-Second-Tier Ice Sword Talisman in exchange for taking his youngest son as a disciple, while Zhou Kang urged Lu Zhao to delay his decision and remembered his grandson to him.
• Lu Zhao joined the assault with the Hundred Arts Battalion as the Zhou forces broke through the Market District’s formation, which began sealing the breach while three ninth-level Qi Refining cultivators charged from the flying vessel.