Recaps

Chu Tianshu destroyed Yan Tiemu'er’s crimson sphere and killed his remnant soul with a hundred-and-three-zhang Sword Radiance. When Yan Tiemu'er’s ownerless Youdu Edict began responding to the Wangliang Divine Lord, Chu Tianshu called for Baiyu.

• Chu Tianshu found the flaws in the crimson sphere and shattered it by wiping away Yan Tiemu'er’s alien primordial Qi.
• Chu Tianshu pursued Yan Tiemu'er, who had formed a small body from his blood and tried to escape by turning a fallen leaf’s veins into attacking strands.
• Chu Tianshu caught the sword and used Sword Radiance one hundred and three zhang long to destroy Yan Tiemu'er’s remnant soul and cleave a cliff.
• Chu Tianshu examined the blood and lamented that Yan Tiemu'er was not an Evil Spirit, then discovered a half Youdu Edict rising from the remains.
• Chu Tianshu sensed the Wangliang Divine Lord pulling at the edict, seized it, and used a blood talisman to call Baiyu.

As the battle raged, Han Baiyu answered Chu Tianshu’s urgent summons and took the half token from him, while the Arrow God pursued them. Chu Tianshu killed the Arrow God and sent Sanqi back to the battlefield, where its strange power made Chaghan fear that Great Yuan’s fortune had ended.

• Chaghan used swordsmanship shaped by the Yellow River to help Wind Eagle and the others hold off Han Rui, while the armored guards and cavalry fought Diba Deng and the other Yaksha-blooded warriors.
• Chu Tianshu summoned Han Baiyu through her red jade earring, and she left the battlefield with the Blazing Fire Pearl Flag as the Arrow God chased her.
• Han Baiyu caught the half token from Chu Tianshu, and it vanished into her palm as the black Qi searching for it faded away.
• The Arrow God fired three arrows at Chu Tianshu, but Chu Tianshu used Ba People Archery to turn stones into a counterattack that killed him.
• Chu Tianshu sent Sanqi, carrying the Heavenly Eye on the Three-Seven Sword, back to the battlefield, where it attacked the cavalry and alarmed Chaghan.

Zhang Yining defeated Canglang with Taiji while Han Shantong and the others subdued the black dragon, and the rebels won a great victory. As Chu Tianshu and Han Rui discussed what would come next, Han Baiyu and Chu Tianshu's token screens appeared and connected, flooding them with information.

• Canglang questioned Zhang Yining about his fist art, then attacked again and was killed after Zhang's Taiji technique sent him flying.
• Han Shantong emerged from the black dragon's belly, sealed the beast's heart, lungs, and spine in ice, and subdued it with Yu Danxia, Liu Qingsi, and Granny Putuo.
• Zhang Yining and Han Shantong left Yu Danxia and the others to guard the dragon and went to investigate the rebels' battlefield.
• Chu Tianshu returned to the riverbank with Han Baiyu, where Han Rui reported that he had killed the young commanding general and that the rebels had won.
• Han Rui said he would go to Dadu to proclaim the alliance and hold a grand wedding for Han Baiyu, while Chu Tianshu suspected her strange state was a good sign.
• Han Baiyu and Chu Tianshu's token screens appeared and touched, sending information into both their minds.

Chu Tianshu learned how the incomplete winds had destroyed an ancient civilization and understood why the repaired Trade Edict had revealed its record. Han Baiyu discovered she could choose when to leave and return, and reunited with Zhang Yining.

• Chu Tianshu learned that the Trade Edict’s creator had rescued an infant and a small jellyfish from a civilization collapsing under the incomplete turbid wind, leaving behind a pottery cowrie shell.
• Chu Tianshu and Han Baiyu recovered from receiving information about the Silhouettes of the Great Dao, including the transcendent flowing light that might explain the Great Tang world’s abnormal passage of time.
• Han Baiyu asked about suppressing the Wangliang Divine Lord, and Chu Tianshu warned that the being could create fog covering thousands of li for a hundred years and might be too dangerous to fight.
• Han Baiyu explained that her repaired edict let her leave when ready and save chances to return to this world, prompting Chu Tianshu to compare its functions with his own edict.
• Han Baiyu ran into Zhang Yining’s arms and told him she did not have to leave in a hurry.

Liang Baoguo returned to the Great Yuan with his grandson and discovered that a new dynasty had overthrown the Yuan and was restoring order. In Dadu, as the city celebrated Han Baiyu and Zhang Yining’s upcoming wedding, Chu Tianshu accepted part of Zhang Yining’s cultivation foundation and gave him a manual for married life.

• Liang Baoguo sailed toward the Great Yuan with Liang Daoming and a foreign monk, hoping to see his homeland again.
• At port, Liang Baoguo learned that the Great Yuan had fallen and that the righteous army now governed under strict discipline.
• Liang Baoguo traveled through Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Dadu, where he heard of the coming wedding and paid for fireworks bearing Liang Daoming’s name.
• Han Baiyu told Chu Tianshu she planned to return home eventually, but Chu Tianshu urged her to wait until she was stronger.
• Han Baiyu and Zhang Yining transferred a tenth of Zhang Yining’s Heavenly Silkworm Divine Art cultivation foundation to Chu Tianshu.
• Chu Tianshu accepted the gift and privately gave Zhang Yining a dual-cultivation manual as a wedding present.

Chu Tianshu visited the Spirit-Calming Hall, where the others studied the black dragon for insights into martial arts, and collected some of its flesh and blood before setting out on a long journey. He encouraged Yu Danxia to trust her own path and told Han Shantong he could travel with him later.

• Diba Deng, Han Shantong, and Liu Qingsi studied the black dragon’s features for ideas to develop their martial arts, while Yu Danxia watched the fireworks.
• Chu Tianshu praised Yu Danxia for following her own instincts and advised Diba Deng to study the White Dragon Notes before adapting the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms.
• Chu Tianshu announced that he was leaving on a long journey and extracted a lump of the black dragon’s flesh and blood, preserving it with Primordial Qi.
• Yu Danxia and Han Shantong offered to accompany Chu Tianshu, but he told them to help Baiyu first and promised to discuss traveling together later.

Wangliang Divine Lord and the Ghost Mother Clan's high priestess discussed Chu Tianshu, identified his Youdu Edict as the Martial Practice Edict, and considered ways to stop him. They decided they would need allies and began weighing how to exploit the Flame Devil Race's plans in the human world.

• Wangliang Divine Lord told the high priestess that Chu Tianshu had thwarted him and likely possessed the Martial Practice Edict.
• Wangliang Divine Lord explained that the Martial Practice Edict had no corresponding Ghost God and that finding the tiger god Peach Capital's abandoned divine station would be difficult.
• The high priestess recognized that the Ghost Mother Clan could not easily attack Chu Tianshu in the human world and agreed they would need allies.
• The high priestess proposed using the Flame Devil Race, whose territory and influence could let it threaten human lands and seize mortal Fortune.
• The high priestess decided against openly asking the Flame Devil Race for help and planned to act subtly while waiting for an opportunity.

Chu Tianshu returned to the Special Investigation Bureau and refused a safe recuperation trip, volunteering instead to hunt Evil Spirits in the Americas. The American negotiating team learned that he would replace four veteran experts, and Jon angrily declared that he did not believe Chu Tianshu could be their equal.

• The two-headed snake practiced cultivation in Chu Tianshu’s room until he returned and nourished it with drops of vital essence.
• Wei Qidong offered Chu Tianshu a chance to recuperate during a road-opening celebration, but he refused because he wanted to find Evil Spirits.
• Chu Tianshu volunteered to join the mission to the Americas, and Wei Qidong agreed to arrange a meeting with the negotiating team.
• The American team received notice that Chu Tianshu would replace the four veterans assigned to help them.
• Alexis Green suggested that Chu Tianshu’s appointment showed greater sincerity, but Jon rejected the idea and said he did not believe Chu Tianshu could replace the veterans.

Chu Tianshu met the American negotiation team and demonstrated his overwhelming strength by striking Jon, who had challenged him. The shaken negotiators welcomed him to America, and Chu Tianshu looked forward to seeing the experts and Evil Spirits there.

• Bubai questioned whether the little snakes should stay with Chu Tianshu, then left with the operations team after Chu Tianshu told him they were employees free to take part-time jobs.
• Chen Taozhi arrived to escort Chu Tianshu to a meeting with Wei Qidong, Jon, and Alexis.
• Jon warned Chu Tianshu not to underestimate the disasters in the Americas and challenged him to a friendly spar.
• Chu Tianshu crossed the conference room in an instant and struck Jon, breaking his arm and injuring him while reinforcing the room against the resulting gale.
• Jon praised Chu Tianshu’s sincerity, bowed, and welcomed him to America on behalf of the negotiation team and the great American gentry.
• Chu Tianshu wondered what the American experts were like and hoped the Evil Spirits there would be formidable.

Chu Tianshu and the assault team arrived in San Francisco to support the local Audit Bureau, whose ranks had been hollowed out by deaths, defections, and resignations. There, Anthony and Tang Rongfa approached Chu Tianshu to enlist him as a witness in their proposed gathering, and Chu Tianshu noticed that their canes concealed flags containing Spirit Bodies.

• Alexis explained that none of San Francisco's former core Audit Bureau members remained, and the team collected its martial arts armor from a transport plane.
• Chu Tianshu noticed Jon's changed presence and flags with magical qualities among the welcoming party.
• Anthony and Tang Rongfa arrived with Tang's disciples, and Tang warmly greeted Chu Tianshu as a fellow descendant of healers from their homeland.
• Anthony accused the Audit Bureau and military of endangering people and said Chu Tianshu's reputation and strength made him a suitable witness for a safety gathering.
• Chu Tianshu observed that Anthony's cane and Tang Rongfa's walking stick concealed similar flags containing Spirit Bodies.

Chu Tianshu learned how North American practitioners used the Collective Karma Spirit Body Contract to command ghost soldiers and agreed to attend Tang Rongfa and Anthony’s gathering. He set out with them to witness the assembled banners and ghosts.

• Anthony summoned a blue Spirit Body soldier and explained that he kept the dead from becoming Evil Spirits by honoring their contracts and making offerings.
• Tang Rongfa admitted that he also kept ghost soldiers in his cane, and Chu Tianshu reassured him that the practice depended on how its practitioner behaved.
• The narration explained that the Audit Bureau’s Collective Karma Spirit Body Contract let practitioners use their standing and Fortune to command large armies of ghosts.
• Tang Rongfa described the gathering as a chance for prominent families to display their strength, and Anthony invited Chu Tianshu to see their banners and ghost soldiers.
• Chu Tianshu accepted the invitation, and he, Tang Rongfa, Anthony, and Jon prepared to travel to the gathering.

Chu Tianshu traveled with Anthony and Tang Rongfa to inspect Chinatown and learn what the local factions wanted from him. At Tang Rongfa’s temple, Chu Tianshu discovered and extracted a Flame Demon Clan Familiar Puppet from a dying man, leaving the group with their first prize in America.

• Anthony and Tang Rongfa told Chu Tianshu they wanted greater bargaining power with the Audit Bureau and military, along with representative positions in supernatural business.
• The group drove through Chinatown, where Tang Rongfa showed Chu Tianshu the Lord Guan temple that housed his cultivators.
• Chu Tianshu directed Chen Taozhi to the temple’s back entrance, where Tang Rongfa was examining a dying elderly man and found a faint flame inside his stretched soul.
• Tang Rongfa identified the flame as a Fire of the Upper Origin, an intangible Familiar Puppet created by the Flame Demon Clan, and said it was difficult to separate from the man’s thoughts.
• Chu Tianshu summoned a crimson dragon with his palm and pulled the Fire of the Upper Origin out of the soul unharmed.

Chu Tianshu healed Liu Hanqiang after removing the Fire of the Upper Origin, then urged Tang Rongfa and Anthony to supply External Elixir products to their people. The chapter ended with Chu Tianshu agreeing to treat the proposal as their first deal and preparing to judge the group at that night’s gathering.

• Chu Tianshu absorbed the Fire of the Upper Origin and used Mind Power from the Three-Seven Sword to return Liu Hanqiang’s soul to his body.
• Aqing Gong and Tang Rongfa recognized Liu Hanqiang, a former fighter who had persevered despite never opening his aperture.
• Chu Tianshu told Tang Rongfa that Liu Hanqiang had opened his aperture and suggested supporting him with rehabilitation and an External Elixir No. 2.
• Anthony told Tang Rongfa that their organization served millions of people, and Chu Tianshu agreed to pass along a proposal for selling External Elixir products as their first deal.
• Anthony asked about exclusive sales rights and proposed cracking down on counterfeit products, while Chu Tianshu said he would assess everyone at the gathering that night.

Chu Tianshu opened the gathering at Anthony's winery by announcing that he would inspect the assembled faction leaders for Ghost God's agents. The leaders rejected his authority and unleashed the power of their banners, leaving Anthony and Jon stunned by their strength.

• Chu Tianshu and Chen Taozhi watched the faction leaders arrive with ghost soldiers carrying their banners, then went downstairs with Jon and Alexis.
• Chu Tianshu told the guests the meeting was a job interview and said he would root out the Ghost God's lackeys among them.
• A silver-haired man accused Chu Tianshu of trying to suppress the guests and challenged him to prove he was qualified to inspect them.
• Madam Mala fainted amid the guests' anger, while the silver-haired man raised his banner and declared that they would not submit to violence.
• The guests raised their banners together, summoning vast Yin Qi that darkened the estate and caused nearby lights to flicker, while Anthony and Jon realized how powerful they had become.

Chu Tianshu attacked the guests gathered above the estate, identifying hidden Evil Spirits and exposing Madam Mala as a witch. He beheaded her with a three-inch draw of his sword, leaving her soul trapped in her severed head.

• Chu Tianshu appeared among the airborne guests and attacked them with rapid strikes, knocking them from the sky.
• Chu Tianshu told Anthony that six people carried Evil Spirits and that he had frozen them so they could be identified.
• Chu Tianshu exposed Madam Mala's exaggerated fainting as an act and accused her of serving a god as an Evil Spirit.
• Madam Mala transformed into a seductive witch and tried to bewitch Chu Tianshu and the people around them.
• Chu Tianshu drew his sword three inches and severed Madam Mala's head, trapping her soul inside it.

Chu Tianshu forced the estate’s guests to return, exposed their vulnerability, and pressed them to cooperate against the demons while interrogating the captured spies and a Flame Demon witch. The witch revealed a plan to lure the Exorcist Association’s leaders into a Fire Field and exploit the Collective Karma Spirit Body Contract to produce materials for the Flame Demon Clan.

• Chu Tianshu used his voice to summon fleeing guests back to the conference hall and ordered them into their assigned seats.
• Chu Tianshu said the guests had passed an initial check but remained under suspicion, while Anthony distributed a revised proposal for coordinated action against the demons.
• Chu Tianshu used a Soul-Bewitching Mantra to interrogate the frozen spies, who revealed little about their contacts with the Flame Demon Clan.
• Chu Tianshu tortured the witch with resonating silver needles until she agreed to confess.
• The witch revealed she had impersonated Madam Mala to study the Exorcist Association’s leaders and intended to lure them into a Fire Field.
• The witch explained that the Flame Demon Clan hoped to use the Collective Karma Spirit Body Contract to turn contract cultivators into a supply of materials for producing familiar puppets.

Chu Tianshu interrogated the Flame Demon witch about the planned fire ground near San Francisco and trained the gathered ghost-soldier commanders in a coordinated military formation. He left to investigate the three possible sites while forcing the captive witch to record everything she knew about familiar puppets.

• The witch explained that the fire ground required precise timing, terrain, and a formation plate, then revealed three possible sites near San Francisco that would suit the next month.
• Tang Rongfa warned that the witch might have given false locations to mislead them, while Anthony argued that the Flame Demons lacked an insider after Chu Tianshu exposed their spy.
• Chu Tianshu praised the commanders, gave them troop-training methods carved into ice bowls, and assigned Chen Taozhi's assault team the main formation.
• The commanders discovered the methods were written in Chinese, so Chu Tianshu directed Tang Rongfa to help translate them.
• Chu Tianshu told the witch he would investigate the three sites and ordered her to write at least thirty thousand characters a day about familiar puppets, using her tongue if necessary.

Chu Tianshu and Jon entered a town hosting a lumberjack competition, where they found Fang Jun investigating the Flame Demon Clan after the death of Nie Longding’s daughter. Fang Jun revealed the banner she left him and asked Chu Tianshu to assess whether it could help with the investigation.

• Chu Tianshu and Jon arrived in town and noticed the crowds gathering for a lumberjack competition and its related contests.
• Chu Tianshu recognized the disguised Fang Jun among the spectators and led him and Jon into the woods to talk privately.
• Fang Jun explained that Nie Longding’s daughter had sought power from the Flame Demon Clan but destroyed her transformation ritual and died from its poisonous fire.
• Fang Jun said he had come to investigate the town’s suspected role in a Flame Demon Clan plan and to avenge Nie Longding’s daughter.
• Fang Jun revealed the Five Venoms Heaven-Slaying Golden Serpent Banner, which combined gu poison banner arts with curses from the Longhua and Flame Demon lineages.

Chu Tianshu and Fang Jun used the Golden Serpent Banner to search for signs of the Flame Devil Race, while Pastor Xitu and Archmage Xiama discussed their plans to expand the clan’s influence. The chapter left Xiama angrily shutting down any mention of Longhua and its allies.

• Chu Tianshu recognized the Golden Serpent Banner’s power and warned that combining the Flame Demon and Longhua paths carried great danger.
• Fang Jun used the banner to sense for Flame Devil Race arrangements nearby, and Chu Tianshu urged him to search more boldly.
• Pastor Xitu and Archmage Xiama discussed Victor Green’s strength and their plan to send Familiar Puppets to Fusang.
• Archmage Xiama explained that the Flame Demon Clan intended to use the Bear Mountain Clan’s influence in Fusang to build a secret supply of troops and establish puppet production.
• Pastor Xitu mentioned the Longhua God Tree in India, and Archmage Xiama angrily forbade him from bringing up Longhua.

Archmage Xiama detected a powerful spell and ordered the Flame Devil Race members to flee, while Jon fought Pastor Xitu in the redwood grove. Archmage Xiama sensed that revealing his true form before the approaching Chu Tianshu would expose a fatal weakness, and Chu Tianshu appeared as the chapter ended.

• Archmage Xiama detected a high-powered spell, sent seventeen ghost snacks to the Flame Devil Race members, and ordered them to hide in the mountains.
• A silver weapon struck the fleeing Flame Devil Race members, piercing three and knocking the others from the air.
• Pastor Xitu tried to escape through a redwood grove, where Jon ambushed him and they exchanged a fierce series of punches.
• Jon recognized Pastor Xitu's mastery of the Occam Truth Fist, and Pastor Xitu said his villainous nature had turned his practice into a Spirit Realm creature.
• Archmage Xiama approached in retreat and said he sensed that revealing his true form before someone nearby would expose a fatal weakness.
• Chu Tianshu appeared after a redwood moved aside, with an empty sheath hanging at his waist.

Chu Tianshu confronted Archmage Xiama, who summoned the gigantic Spirit Body Puppet Gomorrah to attack him with its Mind Power Field. Chu Tianshu severed one of Gomorrah’s horns, broke through its defenses, and struck the back of Xiama’s neck.

• Chu Tianshu stomped a Spirit Body Puppet as hundreds more emerged from the ground and flew together to form Gomorrah.
• Gomorrah unleashed a Mind Power Field that disrupted Jon and Priest Xitu, while Chu Tianshu countered the force with a red aura.
• Chu Tianshu charged at Gomorrah and severed its right horn with a sword-finger strike.
• Chu Tianshu circled back, blasted through Gomorrah’s tail and Mind Power shield, and struck Archmage Xiama on the back of the neck.

Chu Tianshu subdued Xiama and used golden Li Fire to defeat Pastor Xitu, while Fang Jun confronted the pastor over Nie Hongyao and chose to let go of his past. The chapter ended with Pastor Xitu collapsing after a golden spark pierced his heart and Spirit Body.

• Chu Tianshu sealed Xiama's Spirit Body with Sword Qi and ordered the puppet monster to capture Pastor Xitu's accomplice.
• Pastor Xitu transformed with boiling humors and challenged Chu Tianshu, then recognized Nie Hongyao's banner when Fang Jun arrived.
• Fang Jun accused Pastor Xitu of enabling Nie Hongyao's atrocities, acknowledged his own regrets, and declared that he had let the past go.
• Fang Jun positioned himself behind Chu Tianshu and pronounced Pastor Xitu guilty under the United Nations Superpower Archive Regulations.
• Chu Tianshu shaped the banner's Li Fire into a golden flower and used its petals to halt Pastor Xitu's attack.
• Chu Tianshu flicked the flower's golden center through Pastor Xitu's heart, causing him to collapse.

Grand Duke Xiade met with bear demons and their allies in the Aokigahara Sea of Trees, promising them control of the region and discussing plans to expand their influence. When he sensed Gomorrah had been assembled, he used a puppet to observe it and saw an unknown man standing over a fallen fighter.

• Grand Duke Xiade watched martial artists train in the Aokigahara Sea of Trees while considering which ones to eat.
• Xiong Zuoqu described how the bear demons had gained power by serving the High God and replacing human officials.
• Xiade promised the bear demons that arriving troops and a Familiar Puppet production line would let them control the region and eat freely.
• An old monk urged the group to make human puppets and send them into the neighboring country to seize power and Fortune.
• Xiade sensed that the Fireground Formation Disk had become Gomorrah and summoned a rhinoceros-helmeted Familiar Puppet to view it.
• The puppet's screen showed a fallen, bare-chested man and then an unknown human face appearing close to Gomorrah.

Chu Tianshu used his soul and a nine-syllable mantra to expose his power, alarming Xiade and the other leaders in Fusang. After bringing Xiama’s broken confession back to San Francisco, Chu Tianshu decided to travel to Fusang, and the American experts chose to accompany him despite the military’s reluctance.

• Chu Tianshu’s soul grew larger than Gomorrah, and his mantra caused people watching from Mount Fuji to recite it and suffer injuries.
• Xiade and Xiong Zuoqu realized that Chu Tianshu’s mantra had affected even those who had only repeated it in their thoughts, and they discussed gathering greater strength in Fusang.
• Chu Tianshu returned to San Francisco with Xiama, reported that the old man’s confession was incomplete, and destroyed him after Fang Jun and Jon confirmed the recording had been uploaded.
• Chu Tianshu announced that he was going to Fusang, but Jon tried to persuade him to stay in the Americas and leave the matter to the military.
• Adams and the Exorcist Association members declared that they would travel to Fusang of their own accord, and Alexis and Jon agreed to accompany them.

Siamese brothers Chachai and Chadama considered leaving the Aokigahara Sea of Trees for Baosheng Temple, where they hoped to find work and improve their Bodhisattva Yesu Fist. Their discussion was interrupted when they saw figures jump from airplanes, and Chachai recognized them as ghosts.

• Chadama complained that local Fusang forces controlled the best resources, and Chachai suggested returning to Siam and seeking work at Baosheng Temple.
• Chachai confronted Chadama about his relationship with Kana and announced that the brothers would soon leave the woods.
• Chachai said he hoped to meet Chu Tianshu and receive guidance, while Chadama doubted that martial arts ability alone made him a true master.
• Kana arrived after having another nightmare, and she reacted strangely when Chu Tianshu’s name came up.
• Several airplanes flew over the woods, and figures leaped from them without parachutes.
• Chadama thought he saw the figures multiply, and Chachai identified them as ghosts.