Chapter Summaries

Bai Haorui and Sam rescued civilians from a demon-infested pharmaceutical warehouse and destroyed its viral solution, while Dean and Crowley searched for Death in Chicago. Bai Haorui arrived beside Dean at the pizza place, where he sensed an ancient aura of death inside.

• Bai Haorui and Sam fought demons, freed three factory workers, and escorted them to safety.
• Bai Haorui prepared a True Fire Formation, and Bobby and Castiel set the explosives before the group escaped the warehouse and it exploded.
• Dean and Crowley drove to Death's supposed headquarters, but Crowley found no sign of him and admitted his information had failed.
• Demons ambushed Dean, and Crowley helped him kill them before Crowley spotted Death in a pizza place across the street.
• Dean approached the pizza place, but Bai Haorui arrived, stopped him, and sensed a deathly aura inside that surpassed the other Horsemen's.

Dean met the Death Horseman, who offered him the ring in exchange for promising to let Sam enter Lucifer’s cage. Bai Haorui intervened when Dean hesitated, and the Death Horseman attacked them with death energy that Bai Haorui managed to hold back.

• Dean entered the restaurant alone while Bai Haorui stayed outside and heard the Death Horseman explain that he wanted to be freed from Lucifer’s binding.
• The Death Horseman said he would give Dean the ring and spare Chicago if Dean promised to let Sam enter Lucifer’s cage and stop him.
• Bai Haorui burst into the restaurant and refused to sacrifice Sam, challenging the Death Horseman to find another way to stop Lucifer.
• The Death Horseman released a wave of death energy that weakened Dean and threatened them both.
• Bai Haorui formed a shield with his True Gang and stood firm, protecting Dean from the Death Horseman’s aura.

Dean obtained Death’s ring after agreeing to put Lucifer back in the cage, while Bai Haorui insisted there might be another way besides sacrificing Sam. Back at Bobby’s house, the group weighed the danger to the world against Dean’s fear of losing his brother.

• Bai Haorui refused to sacrifice family, and the Death Horseman gave Dean the ring while insisting Lucifer had to return to the cage.
• Dean and Bai Haorui left the pizza shop with the ring and drove through the rain to Bobby’s house, where Crowley waited outside.
• Dean placed all four Horsemen’s rings on the table and told Bobby that he had promised Death to put Lucifer back in the cage.
• Bai Haorui said Death was truly bound by Lucifer’s spell but might be wrong that only Sam could lure Lucifer into the cage.
• Bobby reminded Dean that Sam had repeatedly risked himself for others and asked whether Dean feared losing the fight or losing his brother.

Dean struggled with the plan to trap Lucifer because it could cost Sam his life, while Bai Haorui offered to risk entering the cage instead. The group agreed to prepare first, leaving the question of who would enter unresolved.

• Sam said he should be the one to lock Lucifer back in the cage because he had released him, but Dean refused to accept that sacrifice.
• Bai Haorui proposed using a formation, True Gang, Samadhi True Fire, and a Soul-Locking Formation to force Lucifer into the cage, offering to enter if necessary.
• Crowley and Bobby urged everyone to focus on preparing with the four rings before deciding who might have to enter the cage.
• Castiel agreed to find the cage's location and opening incantation, and Dean finally agreed that the group should prepare first.
• Bai Haorui reassured Dean that he would protect Sam, and Dean assigned everyone tasks for the next day, including telling Bai Haorui to recover and prepare backup formations.

Bai Haorui reached an abandoned factory in Detroit ahead of Dean, Sam, and Castiel and launched a surprise attack on Lucifer. He trapped Lucifer briefly with a Five Emperor Coin barrier and an Eight Trigrams Soul Suppression formation, but Lucifer shattered the barrier.

• Bobby reported supernatural disasters centered on Detroit, and Dean drove there with Sam and Castiel while Bai Haorui went ahead to investigate.
• Bai Haorui found Lucifer in Nick’s failing vessel at an abandoned automobile factory and attacked him with a flaming peachwood sword, burning his arm.
• Bai Haorui formed a Five Emperor Coin barrier around Lucifer and invoked the Eight Trigrams Soul Suppression formation.
• Lucifer dismissed Bai Haorui’s techniques and blasted away the Five Emperor Coins, breaking the barrier.

Lucifer crushed Bai Haorui after a fierce fight, but Bai managed to burn away part of Lucifer’s essence before Dean and the others found him. Though badly injured, Bai warned Sam and Dean that Lucifer knew about their plan and secretly prepared a forbidden technique as the brothers went to confront him.

• Bai Haorui shattered the Eight Trigrams Soul-Suppressing Formation and attacked Lucifer with his Three Altars true fire, forcing Lucifer to retreat and burning a small part of his essence.
• Lucifer overwhelmed Bai Haorui, broke his peachwood sword, and left him badly injured before vanishing from the factory.
• Dean, Sam, Bobby, and Castiel found Bai Haorui near dawn, treated his wounds, and learned that Lucifer knew about the Horsemen’s rings and their plan.
• Sam insisted on going ahead to confront Lucifer, while Dean told Bai to stay behind; Bai secretly began using the Soul-Burning Art to restore some of his strength.
• Dean and Sam reached the abandoned Detroit hotel, where the door to Lucifer’s room opened by itself and a gust of sulfurous air met them.

Lucifer possessed Sam after Dean failed to open Hell’s Gate, and the Apocalypse began as earthquakes devastated cities around the world. Dean, Bai Haorui, Bobby, and Castiel learned that Lucifer and Michael would face off at Stull Cemetery, and Dean and Bai Haorui set out to reach Sam before the final battle.

• Lucifer revealed that he knew Sam had the Horsemen’s Rings and agreed to fight him inside Sam’s mind.
• Sam began the pact, but Lucifer took control of his body before Dean could open Hell’s Gate and then sealed the gate himself.
• Lucifer vanished, leaving Dean alone as news reports confirmed that catastrophic earthquakes had begun the Apocalypse.
• Dean called Chuck and learned that Lucifer and Michael would meet at Stull Cemetery near Lawrence the next day.
• Dean insisted on going to Sam, and Bai Haorui volunteered to hold Michael off long enough for Dean to reach him.
• Dean, Bai Haorui, Bobby, and Castiel drove overnight toward Lawrence.

At Stull Cemetery, Michael and Lucifer prepared to fight until Dean arrived to speak to Sam, while Bai Haorui, Castiel, and Bobby intervened to protect him. Michael broke through Bai Haorui’s formation and forced him to use a dangerous technique as Bai Haorui tried to keep the archangel occupied.

• Michael and Lucifer met at Stull Cemetery and argued over their past and their orders before preparing to fight.
• Dean crashed into the cemetery in the Impala and asked Lucifer to give him five minutes to speak to Sam; Michael moved to attack him.
• Bai Haorui intercepted Michael with sword qi, while Castiel struck him with a Holy Oil Molotov and Bobby aimed his shotgun at Lucifer.
• Bai Haorui used Five Emperor Coins to form a binding formation and lunged at Michael, but Michael weakened the formation and knocked Bai Haorui back.
• Michael recognized Bai Haorui as a threat and increased the pressure against him, forcing Bai Haorui to activate Burn Gang and Explode Qi to keep fighting.

Bai Haorui fought Michael for three minutes to protect Dean, but Michael knocked him unconscious. Lucifer then killed Castiel and Bobby before turning on Dean.

• Bai Haorui used formations, talismans, and Samadhi true fire to injure Michael and hold him off for three minutes.
• Michael imprisoned Bai Haorui in holy light, but Bai Haorui burned through the restraints with his blood-fueled sword and kept fighting.
• Michael hurled a sphere of light at Bai Haorui, who shielded Dean and was knocked unconscious against a gravestone.
• Lucifer killed Castiel after accusing him of burning Michael, and Dean cried out in anguish.
• Bobby shot at Lucifer, but Lucifer snapped his neck and killed him.
• Lucifer approached Dean and punched him in the face.

Dean’s memories helped Sam resist Lucifer, while Bai Haorui used a Demon-Locking Formation to help Sam open Hell’s Gate. Sam dragged Michael into Hell and pushed Bai Haorui away before the fissure closed, leaving Dean and Bai Haorui behind; Castiel then appeared unharmed.

• Lucifer beat Dean as Dean called to Sam with memories from their childhood and years on the road.
• Seeing the toy soldier in the Impala, Lucifer struggled against Sam, who began reclaiming control of his body.
• Bai Haorui formed a Demon-Locking Formation, and Sam used the Horsemen’s Rings to open Hell’s Gate.
• Michael attacked Sam, but Bai Haorui took the blow; Sam then grabbed Michael and leapt into Hell with him.
• Sam pushed Bai Haorui away and told him to care for Dean and the others before the fissure closed.
• Dean and Bai Haorui remained at the cemetery, and Castiel appeared beside them unharmed.

Castiel revived Dean and Bobby but could not heal Bai Haorui, and Dean chose to go to Lisa and try to live as Sam had urged. Bai Haorui began recovering at Bobby’s while forcing himself toward a breakthrough, determined to rescue Sam and defy God’s plan.

• Castiel returned with renewed power, healed Dean and Bobby, and explained that he could not repair Bai Haorui’s severe injuries or damaged soul.
• Castiel left to take charge in Heaven, while Dean blamed God for leaving Sam in Hell and Bobby urged Bai Haorui not to blame himself.
• Bai Haorui planned to recover at Bobby’s and break through to the next realm, while Dean decided to visit Lisa and live for Sam’s sake.
• Dean reunited with Lisa and remembered Sam’s request that he live well, while Chuck finished writing that the story was far from over and vanished.
• A silent figure watched Dean at Lisa’s home before disappearing, and Bai Haorui meditated in Bobby’s basement, repeatedly striking at the barrier to his next realm.

Bai Haorui spent nearly a year strengthening his cultivation while Dean built a peaceful life with Lisa and Ben. When Dean found signs of a supernatural creature in his garage, he retrieved his hidden hunting weapons, and Lisa caught him with a gun.

• Bai Haorui refined his meridians, divine sense, true fire, peachwood sword, and Five Emperor Coins as he tried to break through to refining spirit and returning to emptiness.
• Bai Haorui remembered Sam's sacrifice and watched Dean from afar, resolving to become strong enough to defy God’s script.
• Dean spent the year working construction and raising Ben with Lisa, though he continued to miss Sam and Bai Haorui.
• Dean found sulfur scent, claw marks, and corrosive residue in his garage, realizing a supernatural creature had come after him.
• Dean retrieved his weapons from a locked chest beneath the bed, and Lisa saw the rock-salt shotgun in his hand.

Dean was attacked by a djinn’s hallucination, but Sam returned and saved him after being gone for nearly a year. Sam introduced Dean to Gwen Campbell and their grandfather Samuel, who revealed that monsters were changing and hunting openly; Dean rushed to check that Lisa and Ben were safe.

• Dean sent Lisa and Ben out, then searched the house with a rock-salt shotgun as the smell of sulfur grew stronger.
• Azazel appeared in a hallucination, and Dean became paralyzed by memories of Hell until Sam injected him with an antidote.
• Dean learned that Sam had returned almost a year earlier and kept his return secret to protect Dean’s ordinary life, sparking an angry confrontation.
• Gwen Campbell and Samuel Campbell arrived, and Samuel told Dean that monsters were behaving in unprecedented ways and that the hunting community was in chaos.
• After Sam said he had sent people to protect Lisa and Ben, Dean drove to them himself and found them unharmed.

Dean learned that Bobby and Bai Haorui had concealed Sam’s return for a year, then chose to leave Lisa and Ben to keep them safe from the monsters pursuing him. As Dean and Sam waited to bait a djinn, Dean was overcome by a guilt-filled hallucination, and Sam drove the creature away with a gunshot, leaving Dean unsettled by Sam’s cold composure.

• Dean confronted Bobby about hiding Sam’s return, and Bobby explained that he wanted Dean to keep the peaceful family life he had built; he also revealed that Bai Haorui had known and remained in seclusion.
• Dean told Lisa he planned to leave for her and Ben’s safety, and Lisa hugged him goodbye while telling him their time together had been happy.
• Dean and the others prepared his house to trap the djinn, while Samuel invited him to join the hunters and Dean remained wary of his resurrected grandfather.
• Dean asked Sam about Hell, but Sam refused to discuss it, and Dean told Bobby he feared something was wrong with Sam.
• While Dean and Sam served as bait, the djinn trapped Dean in a hallucination of Sid, Lisa, and Ben suffering; Sam fired a gun to break the illusion and drove the djinn away.
• Dean rejected Sam’s help and looked at Sam’s unnaturally calm face with growing unease.

After emerging from 357 days of seclusion, Bai Haorui discovered that Sam’s soul was missing a large piece and suspected the resurrected Campbell Family had made a deal with Hell. Dean chose to return to Lisa and Ben, while Bai Haorui stayed with Bobby to recover and investigate the soul mystery, the Campbells, and the monsters’ rampages.

• Dean refused Sam’s invitation to investigate the supernatural cases and decided to return to Lisa and Ben, promising to stay in touch.
• Bobby summoned Dean and Sam back to his house after Bai Haorui emerged from seclusion injured but alive.
• Bai Haorui examined Sam and recognized that a large piece of his soul was missing, then cautioned him to report any unusual symptoms.
• Bai Haorui detected traces of Hell-contract energy when he shook Samuel’s hand and grew suspicious of the Campbell Family’s resurrection.
• Dean chose to leave for Lisa and Ben, while Bai Haorui stayed at Bobby’s to heal and investigate Sam’s soul, the Campbells’ connection to Crowley, and the monsters’ disorder.

Dean reluctantly joined Sam to investigate a series of family massacres linked to a security company, and the brothers found a baby alive at the fifth crime scene. As Sam went to collect witness statements, a friendly-looking woman approached Dean and offered to change the baby's diaper.

• Sam called Dean for help, and Dean eventually agreed to investigate despite wanting to stay with Lisa and Ben.
• Sam examined a crime scene and found no supernatural traces, while linking four massacres to security company Harper-Kane.
• Sam told Dean he had been back for about a year and had been hunting with the resurrected Campbell family.
• Dean and Sam suspected a shapeshifter posing as a security technician, then rushed to a fifth crime scene after learning another family had been attacked.
• Dean rescued the surviving baby boy, and he and Sam cared for him while continuing their investigation at a motel.
• As Sam left to collect witness statements, a middle-aged woman approached Dean and offered to change the baby's diaper.

Dean and Sam brought the shapeshifter baby to the Campbell Family base, where Samuel planned to use the child as bait for the Alpha Shapeshifter. Bai Haorui exposed the trap and joined Dean in opposing it, leaving Sam torn over whether to proceed.

• A shapeshifter attacked Dean and Sam for the baby, then fled after warning that its father was waiting for the child.
• Sam explained that the shapeshifter fathered the babies it stole, and Dean agreed to bring the innocent child to the Campbell Family base despite his distrust of Samuel.
• Samuel took the baby and argued that the Campbell Family should raise and monitor him because his shapeshifter blood could make him dangerous.
• Bai Haorui broke into the base and revealed that its silver nets and chains were a trap meant to use the baby as bait for the Alpha Shapeshifter.
• Dean sided with Bai Haorui, while Sam admitted that he understood the cost of the plan and could not decide whether to support it.

Alpha broke into the Campbell base to reclaim the baby, but Bai Haorui fought him off while protecting the child. Alpha fled after his successive transformations were injured by Bai Haorui’s Daoist arts and true fire, vowing to return for his offspring.

• Alpha’s voice shook the house as he demanded that the hunters hand over his child, and Samuel ordered the baby moved to the basement.
• Bai Haorui blocked a Campbell hunter from taking the baby, then protected the child as Alpha smashed through the front door and attacked the hunters in Chimera form.
• Bai Haorui fought Alpha through his ogre and giant werewolf forms, using his sword, talismans, footwork, and Five Emperor Coins to keep him away from the baby.
• Bai Haorui burned Alpha’s origin soul with samadhi true fire as Alpha changed into an Empusa and launched corrosive needles.
• Alpha fled as black mist, promising to return for the child, and Dean checked that the baby was unharmed.

Bai Haorui sealed the baby’s shapeshifter powers, and Dean arranged for him to live with an ordinary couple while warning that Alpha might return. Afterward, Dean admitted his fear that hunting kept him from having a normal life, but Lisa reassured him that he could be both a hunter and part of a family.

• Dean confronted Sam for using the baby as bait, while Samuel revealed he had promised to deliver Alpha to an unnamed third party.
• Bai Haorui proposed and performed a Soul and Bloodline Seal that locked away the baby’s shapeshifter powers.
• Dean arranged for a kind, childless couple to raise the baby, and Bai Haorui secretly marked the child so he could monitor the seal.
• Bai Haorui warned Dean and Sam that Alpha would return, and told them not to use innocent lives as bargaining chips.
• Dean told Lisa he feared he could not live normally without bringing danger to her and Ben, and Lisa promised to wait for him if he returned to hunting.
• Dean accepted that he could remain a hunter while also building a home with Lisa and Ben.

Sam investigated three bizarre police deaths in East Town and called Dean and Bai Haorui for help, suspecting the cases were connected to weapons from Heaven circulating nearby. Dean left his home with Lisa and Ben to join Sam, and the chapter ended as a pale, trembling Officer Ed Colfax arrived at the morgue to identify a body.

• Sam ruled out spirits, demons, and witches while investigating the deaths, then called Dean and Bai Haorui to join him in East Town.
• Dean initially refused Sam’s request, but packed his hunting gear and left Lisa and Ben to drive to East Town.
• Bai Haorui told Sam he would come, then texted Dean that he was coming along too.
• Sam met Dean at the edge of East Town and took him to the morgue, where they examined the melted remains of Officer Gerald Hutch and the boil-covered body of Officer Toby Gray.
• Sam and Dean discussed the deaths and learned that Officer Ed Colfax, Hutch’s partner and a witness to his death, was coming to identify the body.
• Officer Ed Colfax staggered into the morgue, and Dean approached him with his fake federal badge.