Recaps

After Zhao Bufan avenged himself, Gao Yunyi recruited him as the main soul of the Ten-Thousand-Souls Banner, strengthening the treasure and granting it new abilities. Gao Yunyi then decided to build a mortal underworld, with Zhao Bufan serving as its chief soul-hooking envoy.

• Zhao Bufan arrived at the mass grave and, intimidated by Gao Yunyi’s black tiger and white Jiaolong, thanked him for granting his revenge.
• Gao Yunyi absorbed the Zhou Family’s mindless Yin souls into the Ten-Thousand-Souls Banner and ordered Zhao Bufan to become its main soul.
• Zhao Bufan agreed and entered the banner, where he merged with it and empowered its soul-based abilities.
• Gao Yunyi considered a world without judgment or reincarnation and resolved to create an underworld bureaucracy himself.
• Gao Yunyi planned to make the Ten-Thousand-Souls Banner the foundation of the underworld, with Zhao Bufan as chief soul-hooking envoy and other Yin souls assigned duties.

After creating the Demon Race, Corpse Race, and Ghost Race, Gao Yunyi traveled northeast toward Liaodong and intervened when mountain bandits attacked a merchant caravan. The swordsman Ximen Changhai recognized Gao’s extraordinary swordsmanship and asked his name, and Gao introduced himself as Gao Yi.

• Gao Yunyi created demons, zombies, and vengeful ghosts, then confined or sent them away to give humanity time to develop.
• Gao Yunyi traveled northeast from Yongping Prefecture toward Liaodong and heard a merchant caravan under attack by mountain bandits.
• A gray-robed swordsman killed the bandit chief and defeated most of the bandits, while Gao Yunyi secretly killed the fleeing bandits with sword strikes.
• The swordsman noticed the dead bandits and realized that Gao Yunyi had killed them, though Gao appeared to have no sword.
• The swordsman introduced himself as Ximen Changhai and respectfully asked Gao Yunyi for his name; Gao answered that he was Gao Yi.

After Gao Yunyi and Ximen Changhai saved Wang Shoucai’s caravan, they agreed to travel with it north to Liaodong. Wang Shoucai’s daughter Wang Zhirou became enamored with Gao Yunyi, and her father began considering him as a potential husband for her.

• Wang Shoucai thanked Ximen Changhai and learned that his other benefactor was called Gao Yi.
• Wang Shoucai invited the two men to accompany his caravan to Liaodong, and Gao Yunyi agreed.
• Wang Zhirou secretly watched Gao Yunyi and blushed when she was struck by his handsome appearance.
• Wang Shoucai questioned Gao Yunyi about his background and marriage plans until Ximen Changhai told him to stop; Gao Yunyi remained indifferent.

The caravan made camp, where Wang Zhirou awkwardly tried to serve Gao Yunyi wine and Ximen Changhai explained that he was traveling north to find a thousand-year-old ginseng root for his dying daughter. Though Wang Shoucai urged him to seek the Azure Profound Immortal Venerable, Gao Yunyi listened without revealing that he was the Immortal Venerable himself.

• Wang Shoucai called Wang Zhirou over to serve wine, and she nervously offered a cup to Gao Yunyi.
• Gao Yunyi declined the wine, leaving Wang Zhirou embarrassed, and she then served Ximen Changhai.
• Wang Shoucai asked Ximen Changhai why he was traveling to Liaodong, and Ximen said he hoped to find a thousand-year-old ginseng root to save his ill daughter.
• Wang Shoucai suggested that Ximen seek the Azure Profound Immortal Venerable and ask for an Immortal Elixir.
• Ximen Changhai said he had searched for the Immortal Venerable for a year without success and had turned to the mountain ginseng instead.
• Gao Yunyi recognized Ximen's anguish but stayed silent about his identity and did not offer help.

As the caravan traveled through the northern snow, Ximen Changhai asked Gao Yunyi to demonstrate the pinnacle of the Sword Dao. Gao Yunyi revealed Sword Qi Manifestation, leaving Ximen Changhai awed and Wang Shoucai afraid to pursue his former plan to marry his daughter to him.

• The caravan continued north through heavy snow, while Wang Zhirou secretly watched Gao Yunyi and Wang Shoucai stopped pressing him about marriage.
• Ximen Changhai asked Gao Yunyi whether he was the vanished Murong Sword Saint and requested a strike to witness supreme Sword Intent.
• Gao Yunyi flicked a finger and sent Sword Qi past Ximen Changhai, cleanly splitting a great pine without harming him.
• Ximen Changhai bowed to Gao Yunyi and said he could die without regret after witnessing Sword Qi Manifestation; Gao Yunyi denied being Murong Wudi and encouraged his potential.
• Wang Shoucai witnessed the demonstration, abandoned his plan to arrange a marriage, and resolved to serve Gao Yunyi respectfully.
• Ximen Changhai stayed awake beneath the broken pine, meditating on Gao Yunyi's Sword Qi as snow gathered on him.

Ximen Changhai mastered Sword Intent after Gao Yunyi’s guidance, and the two traveled with Wang Shoucai’s caravan to Jinzhou Prefecture before parting ways. Gao Yunyi continued deeper into Liaodong, intending to find and destroy a force that might rise there and threaten the Central Plains.

• Ximen Changhai awakened Sword Intent and thanked Gao Yunyi for his guidance.
• Gao Yunyi said he sought wild boar hide, baffling Wang Shoucai, and declined the caravan leader’s invitation and gifts at Jinzhou Prefecture.
• Wang Zhirou watched Gao Yunyi leave but kept her feelings to herself.
• Ximen Changhai set off alone for Changbai Mountain to seek thousand-year-old wild ginseng for his daughter.
• Gao Yunyi continued beyond the pass, hoping to stop a dangerous force from emerging in Liaodong.

Gao Yunyi found barbarians slaughtering a remote village and killed nearly all of them with effortless strikes. He set out to find their tribe with a surviving boy, but killed the guide before they could leave.

• Gao Yunyi followed the scent of blood to a village where barbarians were killing and tormenting its residents.
• When the barbarian leader threatened him, Gao Yunyi killed the leader and slaughtered the attacking barbarians with flicks of his finger.
• Gao Yunyi spared a terrified young barbarian and ordered him to lead the way to his tribe.
• A surviving boy carrying an infant translated Gao Yunyi’s order and offered to guide him because the barbarians had killed his family.
• After the boy joined them, Gao Yunyi decapitated the barbarian guide and prepared to continue with the boy.

Tie Lehun gathered hundreds of thousands of Hezhen beneath Changbai Mountain and urged them to invade Liaodong, dismissing rumors of immortals as Liang propaganda. As he began to command the army south, a colossal White Dragon appeared overhead and shattered his confidence.

• Tie Lehun united the Hezhen tribes and assembled their people at the foot of Changbai Mountain.
• An elder leader warned Tie Lehun that immortals might intervene if the Hezhen attacked Liang Kingdom.
• Tie Lehun dismissed the Azure Profound Immortal Venerable as a lie and urged the Hezhen to seize Liaodong and establish their own country.
• Tie Lehun drew his saber and began to order the troops to march south.
• A dragon roared above Changbai Mountain, and a gigantic White Dragon emerged from the clouds.
• Tie Lehun stared at the White Dragon in terror and could not finish his command.

Gao Yunyi brought Zhang Qishan and his infant younger brother, Zhang Qiling, by dragon to the Hezhen army camp at Changbai Mountain. Khan Tie Lehun defied the Immortal and declared that his warriors would fight, but Bai Suzhen’s Dragon Might overwhelmed the camp and left him facing a seemingly hopeless defeat.

• As they flew toward the Hezhen camp, Gao Yunyi asked the boy’s name and learned he was Zhang Qishan, carrying his younger brother, Zhang Qiling.
• Gao Yunyi and Bai Suzhen arrived above the Hezhen camp, where the sight of the white dragon threw the soldiers into panic.
• Tie Lehun recognized Gao Yunyi as a Central Plains Immortal and asked what guidance he had come to offer.
• Tie Lehun argued that the Hezhen had to fight for fertile lands and declared that even an Immortal could be challenged by hundreds of thousands of warriors.
• When Hezhen archers aimed their bows at the dragon, Gao Yunyi laughed and Bai Suzhen unleashed a roar that swept snow through the valley and forced many soldiers to collapse.

Gao Yunyi and Bai Suzhen attacked the Hezhen forces gathered beneath White Mountain, killing many and trapping the survivors in a Sword Domain. As Tie Lehun protested that his people had not invaded Han territory, Gao Yunyi remained silent, leaving their fate certain.

• Tie Lehun ordered tens of thousands of Hezhen archers to shoot Gao Yunyi and Bai Suzhen, but the arrows fell short of the dragon.
• Bai Suzhen summoned a storm and unleashed a deadly rain of ice spikes on the Hezhen camp.
• Gao Yunyi formed the Clear Sky Sword Domain around the valley, trapping more than a hundred thousand surviving Hezhen.
• Tie Lehun accused Gao Yunyi of unjustly attacking his people, and the survivors begged the Immortal for mercy.
• Gao Yunyi gave no reply and prepared to settle the reckoning with the Hezhen.

Gao Yunyi continued trapping and killing the Hezhen troops in the Clear Sky Sword Domain, resolved to wipe them out despite their pleas for mercy. After noticing Zhang Qishan shivering on the dragon’s back, he descended toward the blood-soaked watchtower, and the valley fell silent.

• Gao Yunyi watched the trapped Hezhen suffer and rejected their pleas, believing their past brutality left them no claim to mercy.
• Hezhen leaders offered their lands and possessions, while shamans prayed in vain for their heavenly god to save them.
• A Hezhen elder, a grieving mother, and soldiers begged Gao Yunyi to spare them, but he remained unmoved.
• Gao Yunyi noticed Zhang Qishan shivering as he held the swaddled infant against his chest.
• Gao Yunyi stepped down from the dragon and descended toward the watchtower, causing the surviving Hezhen to fall silent and look up at him.

Gao Yunyi stood over the defeated Hezhen army while Bai Suzhen carried Zhang Qishan and his infant brother to safety. On the snowy hilltop, Ximen Changhai recognized the Immortal Venerable he had once traveled with and approached Zhang Qishan.

• Gao Yunyi landed on the Viewing Platform and left the trembling Tie Lehun alive for the moment.
• Bai Suzhen carried Zhang Qishan and his sleeping younger brother to a distant hilltop, where Zhang resolved to protect Gao Yunyi.
• Ximen Changhai arrived carrying wild boar hides and meat after abandoning his search for a thousand-year-old ginseng to save his daughter.
• Ximen Changhai recognized Gao Yunyi as the Azure Profound Immortal Venerable and realized the senior who had taught him Sword Intent was the Immortal he had sought.
• Ximen Changhai introduced himself to Zhang Qishan, who asked whether he knew the Immortal Venerable, and Ximen confirmed that he did.

The surviving Hezhen people took the approaching blizzard as a sign that their god had come to save them, but Gao Yunyi erased it with the Light of the Three Realms. After telling them their god was useless, he prepared to end the battle with sword light and Sword Shadows.

• A massive blizzard swept toward the valley, and the surviving Hezhen people believed their heavenly god had sent it to save them.
• Gao Yunyi raised one finger and unleashed the Light of the Three Realms, tearing through the clouds and annihilating the blizzard.
• The Hezhen people’s hope collapsed when they realized the storm had been destroyed by Gao Yunyi.
• Gao Yunyi told the Hezhen people, “Your god is useless,” then declared their time was up.
• Terrifying sword light and Sword Shadows descended over the valley.

Gao Yunyi annihilated the Hezhen people at White Mountain, drove Tie Lehun mad, and killed him before using the Ten-Thousand-Souls Banner to capture the dead tribe’s souls. Ximen Changhai recoiled from Gao Yunyi’s ruthlessness, while Zhang Qishan remained devoted to the immortal who had saved him.

• Gao Yunyi used the Clear Sky Sword Domain and Thousand Illusory Sword Shadow to slaughter the hundreds of thousands of Hezhen people trapped in the valley.
• Tie Lehun broke down after watching his tribe perish, and Gao Yunyi killed him with a Sword Shadow.
• Gao Yunyi summoned the Ten-Thousand-Souls Banner, and Zhao Bufan drew the Hezhen people’s souls into it.
• Ximen Changhai watched in horror and began to question his reverence for Gao Yunyi.
• Zhang Qishan trembled at the scene but remained steadfastly grateful and devoted to Gao Yunyi.

After destroying the Hezhen tribes, Gao Yunyi decided to enter seclusion in Changbai Mountain, but first he revived Zhang Qishan’s baby brother with a Spirit-Stabilizing Pill and gave him a black blade. Seeing Ximen Changhai’s desperation to save his daughter, Gao Yunyi also gave him a pill before departing.

• Gao Yunyi absorbed the Hezhen souls into the Ten-Thousand-Souls Banner and realized their deaths had provided almost no experience or loot.
• Gao Yunyi decided to enter seclusion in Changbai Mountain to wear away his Blood Sha Qi and let the world develop.
• Gao Yunyi found Zhang Qishan grieving over his motionless baby brother and gave him a Spirit-Stabilizing Pill and a black blade.
• Zhang Qishan fed the pill to his brother, who revived, then thanked Gao Yunyi.
• Ximen Changhai begged Gao Yunyi for an elixir to save his gravely ill daughter, and Gao Yunyi gave him a pill before disappearing.

After the Immortal vanished, Zhang Qishan vowed to settle Zhangjia Village at the foot of Changbai Mountain and guard the mountain. Ximen Changhai accepted Zhang Qishan and his baby brother as disciples, founded the Magpie Blade Sect, and planned to return after treating Ximen Chuixue.

• Zhang Qishan told Ximen Changhai how his family was massacred and vowed to move Zhangjia Village to Changbai Mountain to protect the Immortal.
• Ximen Changhai demonstrated his swordsmanship by splitting a pine tree and offered to take Zhang Qishan as his disciple.
• Zhang Qishan accepted, and Ximen Changhai also made his sleeping baby brother a disciple.
• Ximen Changhai named their sect the Magpie Blade Sect after the black saber the Immortal had given Zhang Qishan.
• Ximen Changhai promised to return with Ximen Chuixue after curing her illness and teach the brothers swordsmanship and saber techniques.

After learning that the Azure Profound Immortal Venerable had appeared in Liaodong, Xiao Zhaohuang issued a decree making him the only deity permitted to be worshipped and ordering other temples and Daoist practitioners abolished. She left the Immortal-Worshipping Sect untouched for now, wary of its leader, the Myriad Flowers Fairy, whose devotion to the Immortal rivaled her own.

• Xiao Zhaohuang received a secret report that the Azure Profound Immortal Venerable had destroyed hundreds of thousands of Hezhen troops at Changbai Mountain, and she took comfort in knowing he remained in the mortal world.
• Xiao Zhaohuang issued a decree banning worship of all other gods, ordering temples torn down, and requiring Daoist practitioners to return to secular life.
• Officials and troops enforced the decree across the Liang Kingdom, demolishing temples and crushing resistance as worship of the Azure Profound Immortal Venerable spread.
• Wang Yanan asked Xiao Zhaohuang how to handle the Immortal-Worshipping Sect, whose teachings honored the Immortal but differed from the court’s rules.
• Xiao Zhaohuang recalled the Myriad Flowers Fairy’s intense devotion to the Immortal and ordered Wang Yanan to set the sect aside for now.

Zhang Qingyan led troops to Baijia Town to destroy its River God Temple, but the townspeople resisted fiercely and insisted their god had saved them from a Demon Beast. When Zhang Qingyan saw the River God’s portrait, he recognized a striking resemblance to his big brother.

• Zhang Qingyan received orders to destroy the River God Temple in Baijia Town and force the people to worship the Azure Profound Immortal Venerable.
• Zhang Qingyan surrounded Baijia Town and offered to spare the townspeople if they tore down the temple, but a woman in a red bridal gown and the townspeople refused.
• Zhang Qingyan ordered an attack, but the townspeople fought back for half a day and prevented the soldiers from entering the town.
• A local soldier told Zhang Qingyan that the River God had appeared two years earlier and slain a Demon Beast in the Canglan River.
• Zhang Qingyan had guards bring out the River God’s portrait and froze when he saw that the blue-robed deity resembled his big brother.

Zhang Qingyan halted the attack on Baijia Town and learned that its River God was his big brother, the Azure Profound Immortal Venerable. He was stunned to discover that Lady Baijia had been married to the River God for more than two years, making her his sister-in-law.

• Zhang Qingyan ordered his troops to retreat and asked Baijia Town to send out whoever was in charge.
• Lady Baijia calmed the townspeople and walked alone through the gate to meet the imperial army.
• Zhang Qingyan invited Lady Baijia into the River God Temple and asked her to recount the River God's arrival and departure.
• Lady Baijia's story convinced Zhang Qingyan that the River God was his big brother, so he apologized and called off the temple's destruction.
• Zhang Qingyan asked why Lady Baijia wore wedding robes, and she told him she was the River God's bride.
• Zhang Qingyan realized Lady Baijia was his sister-in-law and marveled that his big brother had been married for over two years.

Zhang Qingyan discovered that Lady Baijia had declared herself the bride of his big brother, Azure Profound Immortal Venerable, without the Immortal’s knowledge. He stopped the planned demolition of the River God Temple, ordered the troops to withdraw, and left Baijia Town to continue worshipping.

• Zhang Qingyan learned that Lady Baijia had offered herself as the River God’s Bride and had waited in the temple since a sacrificial ceremony a year earlier, though Azure Profound Immortal Venerable had never agreed to marry her.
• Zhang Qingyan reassured Lady Baijia that the Immortal might know of her devotion and declared that the temple could remain open and worship could continue.
• Zhang Qingyan told the troops that Baijia Town worshipped Azure Profound Immortal Venerable, ordered them to withdraw, and warned them not to disturb or steal from the townspeople.
• Lady Baijia said she would welcome the Immortal with tea and incense if he ever returned, then told the townspeople that he had protected them.
• Zhang Qingyan instructed his guard to report the truth about the town and insisted he would answer anyone who challenged the decision.

After learning that the Azure Profound Immortal Venerable had taken a bride in Baijia Town, Xiao Zhaohuang prepared to march there but stopped when Wang Yanan warned that the woman was connected to him. She dismissed Zhang Qingyan from the Pacification Investigation Office and wondered what else the Immortal was hiding from her.

• A secret dispatch informed Xiao Zhaohuang that Zhang Qingyan had concealed the news of a woman in Baijia Town who claimed to be the Azure Profound Immortal Venerable's bride.
• Xiao Zhaohuang ordered an imperial procession to Taian Prefecture and threatened to kill the woman, but Wang Yanan confirmed the local River God was the Immortal Venerable and warned that harming his bride could anger him.
• Xiao Zhaohuang abandoned her plan to attack Baijia Town and accused Zhang Qingyan of deceiving his sovereign.
• Xiao Zhaohuang teased Wang Yanan about her feelings for Zhang Qingyan, and Wang Yanan's flustered denial convinced her there was affection between them.
• Xiao Zhaohuang ordered Wang Yanan to tell Zhang Qingyan to leave the Pacification Investigation Office, then wondered how much more the Immortal was hiding from her.