Recaps

Xie Yu coaxed Sealed Artifact 3-0771 into studying wind magic, then searched his books for a field suited to researching Sealed Artifacts. He found a knowledge-magic book that mentioned how scholars could become Sealed Artifact researchers, but his handling of it woke the rest of the books.

• Xie Yu encouraged Sealed Artifact 3-0771 to practice the Breeze spell and turned the page for it after it called him Master.
• Xie Yu recalled that knowledge, memory, and dreams belonged to the illusory elements and chose a book about knowledge magic.
• A lonely book told Xie Yu that Weile had kept it and the other books untouched for forty years, and Xie Yu calmed it by praising it.
• Xie Yu found a section about knowledge scholars changing class to Sealed Artifact researchers and began to turn the pages.
• One hundred and thirty lonely books woke up and looked at Xie Yu and the book in his hands.

Xie Yu learned how different magical domains supported sealed artifact research and decided that sealing and storing dangerous artifacts suited him best. After conquering a lonely book and choosing a reward that strengthened his rapport with paper, he began courting four more books, while Sealed Artifact 3-0771 revealed why the old bastard had hurried to kill Kaiming.

• Xie Yu discovered that the lonely books’ Affection rose when he focused on them but crashed when he reached for another, so he won one book over by reading it attentively.
• Xie Yu read about sealed artifact research and found that magicians of the dream, void, geomancy, and water element domains were best suited to sealing and storing dangerous artifacts.
• Xie Yu conquered the knowledge-magic book, chose Friend of Books as his reward, and then turned his attention to four books about dream, void, geomancy, and water magic.
• Sealed Artifact 3-0771 feared Xie Yu would discard it and revealed that the old bastard had rushed to kill Kaiming because their acquaintance increased the risks of impersonation, especially with Kaiming soon taking a public post at the Black Pine City Geomancy Academy.
• Sealed Artifact 3-0771 earned Xie Yu an additional Complete disclosure reward by sharing unknown magical knowledge and details of its past life and experiences.

Roman and his eldest sister visited Kaiming to demand the sealed artifact 3-0771, but Kaiming agreed to return it after Wig Brown’s funeral. Xie Yu learned that Wig had prepared to replace Kaiming and suspected the Brown Family had arranged Kaiming’s academy appointment.

• Roman and his eldest sister visited Kaiming’s clinic, where Roman requested the family’s sealed artifact 3-0771.
• Kaiming said he would return the artifact after the funeral, explaining that it had become agitated and needed to be calmed.
• Roman warned Kaiming to remember the favors the family had granted him, then left with his sister without finding the artifact.
• Xie Yu asked his walking stick about Kaiming’s conversation with Fry and learned Kaiming had been offered a mental health inspector position at Mountain Rock Academy.
• Sealed artifact 3-0771 told Xie Yu that Wig had prepared for a year or two to replace Kaiming, and Xie Yu suspected the Brown Family had influenced Kaiming’s appointment.

Xie Yu sent Sealed Artifact 3-0771 to kill Wig Brown before the Brown Family could claim it at the funeral. After Wig died, Yize detected the artifact’s power around Xie Yu and confronted him, and Xie Yu admitted to killing Wig.

• Xie Yu learned that the Brown Family knew about Sealed Artifact 3-0771 and reasoned that its members would try to claim it at Wig Brown’s funeral.
• Xie Yu sent Sealed Artifact 3-0771 to Wig’s house and told it to kill him before the funeral.
• Wig picked up the talisman doll, which substituted his fate with the already-dead Kaiming’s fate and burned him to death.
• Yize sensed the fate-altering artifact around Xie Yu and saw it fly back to him after killing Wig.
• Yize visited Xie Yu, who told him, “Wig Brown is dead. I killed him.”

Xie Yu told Yize and Fry how Wig Brown had stolen Kaiming’s identity and how Sealed Artifact 3-0771 had killed him. Yize’s investigation exposed a Brown Family scheme to influence the Education Bureau through potions and appointments, while 3-0771’s faith in Xie Yu reached 100.

• Xie Yu explained that Wig Brown had replaced Kaiming’s fate, planned to fake his own death, and was killed after Xie Yu made 3-0771 obey him.
• Yize summoned Fry and sealed the room against divination as Xie Yu revealed the artifact’s role and Fry admitted he had promised Kaiming a public position.
• Yize divined that the Brown Family had used a focus-potion scheme to influence fifteen Education Bureau employees and had manipulated Kaiming’s pursuit of the post.
• Yize explained that Kaiming had been unknowingly drawn into the scheme and warned Fry that accepting the potion would have tied him to bribery and Wig Brown’s planned appointment.
• Yize and Fry left to verify the evidence and investigate the Education Bureau, while Xie Yu told 3-0771 he had acted first because officials would otherwise have delayed confronting Wig Brown.
• Sealed Artifact 3-0771 understood Xie Yu’s determination to protect it and gained 100 Faith in him.

Xie Yu put the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll to work learning magic and found ways to have his cane and fountain pen help him study. He ended the evening by asking his clothes whether they could read, only to discover they did not know what books were.

• Xie Yu ordered the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll to practice magic, but it admitted that clear orders made it feel safer than his encouragement.
• The cane offered to help Xie Yu read, and he recruited it and the gentle fountain pen to study books about magic and Sealed Artifacts.
• Xie Yu ordered the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll to use wind magic to float the pen and cane and turn pages, while the books complained about the cold wind.
• After washing and changing clothes, Xie Yu asked his max-Affection clothes if they could read, and they showed that they did not know what books were.

Xie Yu chose to begin studying Void Magic after deciding Dream Magic would not help him pursue Sealed Artifacts. He learned how spellcasting combined physical actions with mental visualization and successfully cast a small Void Twist before his beginner’s magic dissipated.

• Xie Yu finished reading the Dream Magic book, gained a second [Friend of Books], and chose reward three instead of the book’s permanent Affection or Collector Weile’s secret.
• The [Gentle Fountain Pen] explained that Void Magic could isolate Sealed Artifacts and help with escape, while the [Loyal Solid Wood Cane] described how earth, rock, and water magic could suppress them.
• Xie Yu decided Void Magic suited his goals, and Sealed Artifact 3-0771 agreed while privately wishing to experience being subdued by him.
• Xie Yu read that spellcasting required both physical actions and a distinct mental trajectory, which explained why reciting incantations alone did not produce magic.
• Xie Yu followed the book’s instructions and cast a palm-sized Void Twist, but it dissipated when he could no longer sustain it.

Xie Yu discovered that he could perceive and win over released spells, using their feedback to refine a Void Twist to veteran-level stability. The Education Bureau gave him Sealed Artifact 3-2152, which ate his Void Twist and teleported him out of Fry’s fireball, while Xie Yu demonstrated that he could identify flaws in the spell.

• Xie Yu repeatedly cast Void Twists, followed their advice, and created a stable spell that Lonely Book (Void Magic) assessed as meeting the standard of a veteran Void mage.
• Xie Yu tested Sealed Artifact 3-0771’s spells and learned that released magic could become a target for his ability to perceive and win over magic.
• Xie Yu fed his stable Void Twist to Sealed Artifact 3-2152, the Chapter of Teleportation, which ate it and offered to teleport him in exchange for more.
• Fry threw a fireball at Xie Yu, and the Chapter of Teleportation moved Xie Yu behind him before the fireball exploded.
• Xie Yu identified the fireball’s unstable circulation and uneven temperature, impressing Fry with his assessment.

Xie Yu learned that the grand examination had exposed deep inequalities between provinces and that nobles had gained an advantage, leaving the kingdom’s future uncertain. He then practiced Void magic, befriended an elegant Void Twist, and chose to help it grow permanently.

• Xie Yu explained his knowledge of magic to Fry, and Yize told him that he was Northern Plains Province’s only perfect-score candidate while Southwest Gorge Province had ninety-five.
• Yize revealed that nobles in the capital and Southwest Province had excelled on the same exam, while the kingdom’s official investigation denied any cheating or leaked questions.
• Xie Yu asked whether talented non-noble mages would lose access to mentors, and Yize could not refute his concern that the system was getting worse.
• Xie Yu returned to his room, practiced shaping Void Twists, and used the Chapter of Teleportation to reassure one as it feared being eaten.
• Xie Yu raised the Void Twist’s Affection to 100 and chose Lifelong Entrustment, allowing it to grow permanently, while Sealed Artifact 3-0771 worried about its own fate.

Xie Yu fed the Elegant Void Twist until it grew powerful enough to bend solid objects, then named it Dali. As he fed and spoke with the Chapter of Teleportation, the artifact’s affection rose sharply, while Yize and Fry waited to see whether it would turn against Xie Yu.

• Xie Yu fed the Elegant Void Twist Smooth Void Twists, and it grew large enough to crush the desk and bend a gold coin’s path and shape.
• The Elegant Void Twist demonstrated that it could bend solid matter, and Xie Yu named it Dali.
• The Chapter of Teleportation told Xie Yu about its past users, its hunger for magical arrays, and its fellow Sealed Artifacts at the research institute.
• Sealed Artifact 3-0771 and the Chapter of Teleportation argued, so Xie Yu reassured the artifact and said he trusted it.
• Sealed Artifact 3-0771 used magic to probe the Chapter of Teleportation and urged it to serve Xie Yu sincerely; the Chapter called Xie Yu Master, and its affection rose to 90.5.
• At the Education Bureau, Fry proposed publicizing Xie Yu’s talent, but Yize urged him to wait and see how the Chapter of Teleportation behaved.

The wooden house recalled Kaiming’s death and realized that Xie Yu had turned the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll against Wig Brown. After Roman Brown and the black-robed lady investigated the clinic, the house’s Affection for Xie Yu reached its maximum, unlocking a choice of rewards.

• The wooden house waited for Kaiming to return, then accepted that he and the fake Kaiming were both dead.
• Roman Brown and the black-robed lady arrived at Kaiming Clinic and found traces of two battles involving Wig Brown’s magic.
• The black-robed lady suggested the Sealed Artifact had turned against Wig Brown, and the wooden house connected that possibility to Xie Yu.
• Roman Brown suspected the Pine Nut Chamber of Commerce had taken the Sealed Artifact and angrily knocked over Kaiming’s mailbox and newspaper box.
• The wooden house recognized Xie Yu’s face in the newspaper and became certain that he had made the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll kill Wig Brown.
• Xie Yu received a choice of three rewards after the wooden house’s Affection reached 100, but he was too far away to claim some of them.

Xie Yu won over the Chapter of Teleportation by letting the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll persuade it to abandon its transactional view of serving him. He permanently activated it, then prepared to leave with Yize and the others.

• Xie Yu chose the Friend of the Wooden House option, hoping to learn what had happened at Kaiming's clinic.
• The Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll lectured the Chapter of Teleportation about sincerity, and the artifact reflected on its greed until its Affection reached 95.5.
• The Chapter of Teleportation accepted the doll as its guide, declared that it wanted to stay with Xie Yu, and reached 100 Affection.
• Xie Yu chose Lifelong Entrustment, permanently activating the Chapter of Teleportation and allowing it to use magic.
• The Chapter of Teleportation struggled to create void food, apologized for eating Dali, and praised Xie Yu.
• Xie Yu put on the Chapter of Teleportation and told Yize and the others that he was ready to leave.

Xie Yu demonstrated that he could command the Chapter of Teleportation, then learned that the Education Bureau expected challenges to his perfect exam score. As the Brown Family searched for Sealed Artifact 3-0771, Xie Yu proposed using an interview to expose their alleged crimes and link them to the nobles’ exam cheating.

• Xie Yu ordered the Chapter of Teleportation to transport him to his room and back, proving it would obey his requests.
• Yize warned Xie Yu that skepticism about the exam results and the Bureau’s protection could lead to a hostile interview.
• Yize explained that Wig Brown’s funeral and the concealment of 3-0771 were meant to keep the Brown Family apart from the Pine Nut Chamber of Commerce.
• Yize divined that Roman Brown and Cynthia Brown were heading to the Chamber of Commerce to search for 3-0771, despite his efforts to settle the matter.
• Xie Yu proposed claiming that Wig Brown tried to take his perfect score through life substitution and that the Brown Family was behind the exam scandal.
• Xie Yu challenged Yize and Fry to consider exposing the Brown Family through his interview and destroying its reputation.

Xie Yu persuaded Yize not to obstruct his campaign against the suspected exam cheaters and the Brown Family, despite the risks. Yize arranged official protection and sent applications to the relevant offices, where Xie Yu's special protection was approved.

• Xie Yu explained how the Education Bureau and the suspected cheaters could use the exam controversy to shield the capital, then asked whether Yize would follow if he challenged the Browns.
• Yize recognized that Xie Yu's plan could expose the Brown Family and roil the kingdom, but he feared Xie Yu might abandon it.
• Xie Yu said the nobles' actions angered him and insisted that was reason enough to act.
• Yize refused to support Xie Yu's behavior in principle but agreed not to stop him and promised to seek protection for him.
• Yize sent letters about the Brown Family, temporary transfers of sealed artifacts, and special protection for Xie Yu to offices in Mirror Lake City.
• The Mirror Lake City Administrative Public Security Law approved the special protection application for Xie Yu.

Bai Luo Brown Ilya returned from the capital after earning a perfect score, and his grandfather used the fields to explain how the Brown Family managed its people and plans for the younger generation. The old man revealed that he had arranged to harvest mental and spiritual power through a kingdom proposal, intending to use it to help Bai Luo grow.

• Bai Luo complained about taking the magic apprentice exam and asked about his relatives, and his grandfather said his third uncle was still far from becoming a Magister.
• Bai Luo watched his grandfather clear weeds with wind blades as he explained how crops and weeds could represent people in the family.
• Bai Luo's grandfather warned that the family could fall into ruin if no one tended it, then told Bai Luo that his talent could take him beyond the North Province.
• Bai Luo's grandfather promised him a major gift later that year and said the Mental Supervision proposal would enable the family to collect mental and spiritual power from magic apprentices using their potions.
• Bai Luo's grandfather said he would use the harvested power to help Bai Luo rather than advance himself or Bai Luo's third uncle.

Miu'an learned that Wig Brown had died and Sealed Artifact 3-0771 had vanished, then agreed to take Bai Luo to Black Pine City. Meanwhile, Xie Yu prepared for an interview at the Pinewood Inn and discovered the building had been listening to Yize.

• Miu'an heard that Wig Brown was dead, Sealed Artifact 3-0771 was missing, and the Pinecone Chamber of Commerce was suspected.
• Miu'an criticized Roman's plan to ask for the artifact and allowed Bai Luo to accompany him to Black Pine City.
• Bai Luo asked about the perfect-score candidate and privately called the likely commoner a weed.
• Yize arranged a secure interview room at the Pinewood Inn, while Fry stayed with Xie Yu as he prepared.
• Xie Yu praised the inn, raised its affection, and learned it could sense magical elements and had heard Yize repeatedly say his name.

Xie Yu won over the Pinewood Inn and learned that Miuan Brown had used pure white flames to erase memories during a meeting in the king suite. When reporters arrived, Xie Yu began revealing that Wig Brown had tried to steal his fate with Sealed Artifact 3-0771.

• Xie Yu praised the Pinewood Inn and activated its king suite arrays, raising its Affection to 100 and earning a choice of rewards.
• Xie Yu chose Full Disclosure and learned that Miuan Brown, a Five-Star Magister and patriarch of the Brown Family, had visited Black Pine City five years earlier.
• The inn told Xie Yu that Miuan had used pure white flames to make Seda Yang and former mayor Ruina forget a meeting before coercing them into cooperation.
• Xie Yu connected Miuan's memory-erasing flames to the gaps in his own memory and to the white flames associated with Wig Brown's death.
• When Fengye and other reporters arrived, Xie Yu told them Wig Brown had tried to use Sealed Artifact 3-0771 to replace his fate and soul after his perfect exam score.

Xie Yu recounted Wig Brown’s attempted fate substitution in a newspaper interview, presenting a carefully constructed version that implicated the Brown Family while hiding key facts. As the interview continued, Miuan Brown arrived in Black Pine City with Bai Luo but failed to enter the hotel where Xie Yu was staying.

• Xie Yu told Ms. Fengye that Wig Brown had tried to replace his fate and body, while Yize limited the interview to an account rather than legal testimony.
• Xie Yu used the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll to reenact Wig Brown’s past and described how Wig Brown had targeted him and Dr. Kaiming.
• Xie Yu claimed the doll chose him as its master and that Wig Brown died from its backlash, leaving Fry and Yize impressed by how convincingly he concealed the truth.
• The hotel informed Xie Yu that Miuan Brown had arrived with Bai Luo and tried to book the king’s suite, but had left when it was unavailable.
• Miuan Brown declined to investigate the hotel further and took Bai Luo to handle their other business.

Miuan and his grandson Bai Luo visited Kaiming’s former clinic, where they wrongly concluded that Wig Brown had faked his death and stolen Sealed Artifact 3-0771. Bai Luo sent his father a request for a costly Sage-level divination, then showed interest in Black Pine City’s perfect-score examinee, while the wooden house continued longing for Xie Yu.

• The wooden house watched Miuan and Bai Luo arrive and listened as they discussed Roman Brown and Cynthia’s investigation of Sealed Artifact 3-0771.
• Miuan claimed that Wig Brown had survived, used Kaiming as a puppet, and fled with the sealed artifact, and Bai Luo accepted his explanation.
• Bai Luo proposed spending his own money on a Sage-level divination to locate Wig Brown and the artifact, then sent a letter to his father requesting one.
• Bai Luo asked Miuan to show him Black Pine City’s sights, then picked up a newspaper and asked whether its perfect-score examinee was the person he was interested in.
• Bai Luo said the Ilya bloodline could benefit from splitting off a genius, while the wooden house worried about Xie Yu and waited for him.

Xie Yu finished an interview accusing the Brown Family, while Yize discovered that Miuan Brown had arrived in Black Pine City with someone from the powerful Ilia Family. The chapter left Xie Yu learning that the Ilia Family secretly traded knowledge and memories and had influential ties throughout the kingdom.

• Fengye interviewed Xie Yu about the Browns, then arranged to publish his account while considering the newspaper’s shareholders and distribution ties.
• Xie Yu told Yize that a powerful mind-and-soul Magister had observed the king suite, and Yize went to investigate.
• Fry thanked Xie Yu for helping him and warned that trouble with the Browns could affect Xie Yu’s prospects at academies.
• Yize confirmed that the Magister was Miuan Brown and revealed that the person accompanying him had the surname Ilia.
• Yize explained that the Ilia Family sold and bought knowledge and memories, and that its influence made challenging it difficult.

Xie Yu persuaded Yize to keep the Education Bureau’s investigation against the Brown Family moving despite the possible involvement of the Ilia Family. Meanwhile, Saidaiyang confronted Roman Brown at the Pine Nut Chamber of Commerce and struck him.

• Xie Yu connected the Ilia Family to the legislation that created mental health supervisor posts and explained how the Browns might have repaid the Ilias for their support.
• Xie Yu warned Yize that backing down could let the Brown Family and the Ilias undermine the Education Bureau’s investigation.
• Yize vowed to remove the Brown Family’s identified influence across North Province, and Xie Yu resumed practicing void-domain magic with Dali.
• Yize moved his work to the king suite and began gathering investigation reports while Fry handled related paperwork and errands.
• Saidaiyang angrily denied taking a Sealed Artifact and berated Roman Brown at the Pine Nut Chamber of Commerce before striking him across the face.

Roman Brown and Cynthia attacked the Pine Nut Chamber of Commerce while searching for Sealed Artifact 3-0771, until Miuan Brown stopped them and erased the incident from witnesses’ memories. Bai Luo then received a costly divination revealing that Xie Yu had the artifact at the Pinewood Inn, and a newspaper headline accused the Brown Family of persecuting him.

• Roman Brown attacked Saidaiyang, and Cynthia joined the fight by using a mental shock against the chamber members.
• Bai Luo and Miuan watched from across the street as the conflict escalated, and Miuan eventually intervened to stop Roman and Cynthia.
• Miuan used white flames to make the chamber members and nearby witnesses forget what had happened, then took Roman and Cynthia away.
• Bai Luo’s family ate lunch while waiting for a Sage-level divination, and the result identified Xie Yu as the person holding Sealed Artifact 3-0771 at the Pinewood Inn.
• A waiter offered Bai Luo a newspaper whose headline accused the Brown Family of persecuting Xie Yu and claimed the artifact contained evidence of their crimes.

Bai Luo’s family learned that the Education Bureau had publicized accusations tying Wig Brown to Sealed Artifact 3-0771, and Miuan Brown concluded that Wig had become Xie Yu, North Province’s perfect-score examinee. The chapter ended with Miuan threatening to expose the Brown Family’s secrets, while Bai Luo’s father warned that Miuan had gone mad and offered the fallout as Bai Luo’s coming-of-age gift.

• Bai Luo seized the newspapers in anger after learning that the public already knew Xie Yu had Sealed Artifact 3-0771.
• Miuan Brown read the report and feared that the Education Bureau had deliberately exposed the Browns’ dealings rather than seeking a private bargain.
• Miuan reasoned that Wig Brown had replaced Xie Yu’s life, confessed the Brown Family’s plans to the Education Bureau, and become the perfect-score examinee.
• Bai Luo’s father, Heli Ilia, spoke through their soul connection and told him that Miuan had gone mad and could no longer give him a gift.
• Miuan declared that Xie Yu was Wig Brown and threatened to reveal everything about the Brown Family, while Heli offered the resulting crisis as Bai Luo’s coming-of-age gift.

Xie Yu used the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll’s supposed ability to reveal objects’ pasts to persuade Yize that it could uncover information about the Brown Family. Yize sensed a powerful gaze watching them, so he agreed to leave the hotel and investigate the wooden house at Kaiming Clinic with Xie Yu.

• Xie Yu told Yize that the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll could perceive the past fates of inanimate objects, then claimed it knew Miuan Brown had stayed in the king suite five years earlier.
• Xie Yu used details supposedly revealed by objects in the suite to convince Yize that the doll could uncover secrets, while Yize questioned whether it had been driven mad by an Abnormal State.
• Yize sensed that a powerful being was watching them and decided the king suite was no longer safe.
• Fry confirmed that Miuan Brown had stayed in the suite five years earlier, and Yize accepted the doll’s ability as useful.
• Xie Yu asked to visit the wooden house at Kaiming Clinic to check on Mr. Kaiming’s belongings and investigate the Brown Family’s movements, and Yize agreed to go with him.
• Xie Yu said the Chapter of Teleportation could take two or three people if they fed it more void structures.