Recaps

Gao Yunyi froze and slaughtered the Thunderclap Battalion’s charging cavalry while Prince Ning’s Heir watched in rapt admiration. As soldiers fought over whether to flee the city, a majestic cry suddenly halted the clash at the gate.

• Gao Yunyi froze the charging cavalry’s horses and killed the fallen riders with his Blazing Sun Sword Qi, leveling up as he fought.
• Prince Ning’s Heir admired Gao Yunyi’s power, while his guard abandoned him and tried to escape alone.
• Routed soldiers reached the city gate, where an officer enforcing General Chen’s orders refused to let anyone leave.
• The fleeing soldiers charged the gate, and the guards fought back until a majestic cry rang across the sky and stopped the battle.

Gao Yunyi and Xiaobai slaughtered the soldiers in Heyang County, and Gao Yunyi rejected Prince Ning's heir's offer before killing him. Two hours later, General Chen returned with captured commoners and found the city devastated and the heir's head hanging at the County Yamen.

• Xiaobai attacked the soldiers at Heyang County's gate with a gale and green flames, killing the fleeing men.
• Gao Yunyi used his skills and pills to kill the soldiers throughout the city, gaining experience and building up a terrifying aura of blood Sha Qi.
• Prince Ning's heir offered to share the realm with Gao Yunyi, but Gao Yunyi rejected the recruitment quest and killed him.
• Gao Yunyi reached level 19 after killing the heir.
• General Chen led several hundred captured commoners into the city and found the streets filled with corpses and the County Yamen surrounded by ice and frozen soldiers.
• General Chen saw Prince Ning's heir's familiar head hanging from the ruins of the County Yamen gate.

As the dying Liang Emperor Xiao Chengqian prepared to settle Great Liang’s succession, Eldest Princess Xiao Zhaohuang reflected on how he had forced her into a rivalry with her nephew, Xiao Chengchen. She believed neither Xiao Chengchen nor her brother Xiao Yuanheng could rule well, and feared the court would destroy her once her nephew took the throne.

• The Liang Emperor lay dying in Yangxin Hall as ministers and nobles gathered to witness the succession.
• Xiao Chengchen waited to inherit the throne and resented Xiao Zhaohuang for competing with him.
• Xiao Zhaohuang recalled that she had never wanted the throne but had taken up arms and gained power at her father’s command.
• Xiao Zhaohuang judged Xiao Chengchen unfit to rule and feared that his accession would bring her and her followers to ruin.
• Xiao Zhaohuang concluded that the Liang Emperor had been wrong to expect her to sharpen Xiao Chengchen into a capable ruler.

As the Liang Emperor prepared to seal the succession edict naming Xiao Chengchen heir, Xiao Wenhan arrived with news of an Immortal and an elixir said to revive the dead and prolong life. The Liang Emperor halted the seal, his eyes brightening at the promise of renewed life.

• The Liang Emperor dictated an edict entrusting the throne to Xiao Chengchen and calling on Xiao Zhaohuang to help safeguard Great Liang in times of turmoil.
• The Liang Emperor took up the Imperial Jade Seal while Xiao Chengchen eagerly awaited the transfer of power.
• The Liang Emperor reflected on his reign and told Xiao Zhaohuang that he hoped she would not blame him.
• An attendant announced that Xiao Wenhan had arrived with an Immortal Elixir from Heyang County, claiming it could revive the dead and prolong life.
• The Liang Emperor stopped the seal just short of the edict and reacted to the announcement with renewed hope.

The imperial court erupted over Xiao Wenhan’s alleged pursuit of immortals, but the dying Liang Emperor tried to summon him. Xiao Zhaohuang overruled Xiao Chengchen’s attempt to claim a succession edict, while Wang Zitao urged the imperial eldest grandson to use Xiao Wenhan’s audience as a pretext to eliminate the Eldest Princess’s faction.

• Ministers denounced Xiao Wenhan and demanded that he be punished for neglecting his duties and deceiving the throne.
• Xiao Chengchen ordered Xiao Wenhan thrown out, but Xiao Zhaohuang reminded him that he had no authority to issue commands before the succession edict was sealed.
• The Liang Emperor struggled to speak, and Xiao Chengchen wrongly announced that he had ordered the succession edict proclaimed.
• Xiao Zhaohuang seized Xiao Chengchen and tossed him aside, then heard the Liang Emperor call for Xiao Wenhan and ordered him summoned to an audience.
• Wang Zitao told Xiao Chengchen to let Xiao Wenhan present the elixir and then accuse him and the Eldest Princess’s faction of treason if it failed.
• Xiao Chengchen fell silent as Wang Zitao left, taking his silence as consent to a plan against the Eldest Princess’s faction.

Xiao Wenhan presented an Immortal Elixir to the Liang Emperor, hoping to earn favor and restore his family’s former status. After the emperor appeared to die, Xiao Wenhan feared his whole family would be executed, unaware that the emperor was beginning to recover.

• Xiao Wenhan entered Yangxin Hall and presented the red pill he had obtained in Dingzhou to the Liang Emperor.
• Xiao Zhaohuang doubted Xiao Wenhan’s claim but gave the pill to her dying father after seeing his desperate longing.
• The Liang Emperor showed no immediate response and appeared to stop breathing, prompting the ministers and eldest imperial grandson to mourn him.
• Xiao Wenhan collapsed in despair, believing the emperor’s death after taking the pill would doom his family.
• The Liang Emperor’s color and vitality began to return as his withered skin grew plump again.

After the Liang Emperor revived from apparent death, he praised Xiao Zhaohuang and summoned Xiao Wenhan to explain how he obtained the Immortal Elixir. Xiao Wenhan recounted Zhang Huaimin’s account of the Immortal, leaving the court stunned by the tale.

• Xiao Chengchen’s supporters urged him to ascend the throne, but the Liang Emperor suddenly coughed and sat up alive.
• Xiao Zhaohuang knelt before the Liang Emperor, who praised her for saving his life and promised to make amends.
• The Liang Emperor summoned Xiao Wenhan and promised him a generous reward for presenting the Immortal Elixir.
• Xiao Wenhan described how rumors led him to Heyang County, where Zhang Huaimin gave him the Immortal Elixir and told him about the Immortal.
• The ministers listened in silence as Xiao Wenhan recounted the Immortal’s miracles and departure on a crane.

The Liang Emperor rewarded Xiao Wenhan and Zhang Huaimin for securing the Immortal Elixir and ordered Xiao Wenhan to find the Immortal. After the court’s power struggle settled in the Eldest Princess’s favor, Xiao Zhaohuang returned to her residence and practiced alone at the training ground.

• The Liang Emperor restored Xiao Wenhan’s family title, granted him wealth and farmland, appointed him surveillance commissioner of Ji Province, and tasked him with bringing the Immortal to the Capital.
• Xiao Wenhan credited Zhang Huaimin for helping obtain the elixir and asked the Liang Emperor to reward him.
• The Liang Emperor promoted Zhang Huaimin to Assistant Prefect of Dingzhou and granted him gold, Cloud Brocade, and farmland.
• The imperial eldest grandson’s faction kept silent as the Liang Emperor’s survival and Xiao Zhaohuang’s influence left them vulnerable to a purge.
• Xiao Zhaohuang returned to her residence, dismissed most of her servants, and practiced halberd fighting and horseback archery alone.

Xiao Zhaohuang feared that the Immortal Elixir had awakened dangerous ambition in Father Emperor, while Gao Yunyi recovered from his killing spree and prepared for Foundation Establishment. After upgrading his equipment, Gao Yunyi hid a weapon and pill in a cliffside cave as bait for someone daring enough to jump after them.

• Xiao Zhaohuang recalled Father Emperor's plan to build a towering Immortal-Welcoming Tower and wondered what the Immortals were like.
• Gao Yunyi finished dispelling his Sha Qi after twelve days of meditation and began the Foundation Establishment Pill Quest at level 19.
• Gao Yunyi sorted his spoils, crafted equipment and pills, and enhanced his Azure Mystic Sword to +4 and his other gear to +3.
• Gao Yunyi equipped a critical-hit necklace, hid his titles, and checked his improved character stats.
• Gao Yunyi blasted open a cliff face, placed a ring weapon and a Spirit-Gathering Pill in the cave, and challenged anyone seeking the treasures to jump down after them.

Gao Yunyi found the Purple-Accumulating Dragon Ginseng on Mount Qingcheng and arrived at a scene resembling The Return of the Condor Heroes. After the Crane King killed the gray condor to keep another bird from joining Gao Yunyi, Gao Yunyi decided to choose the white python instead.

• Gao Yunyi rode Xiaobai to the Purple-Accumulating Dragon Ginseng, where a white python and a gray condor were preparing to fight over it.
• Gao Yunyi recognized the scene as resembling Yang Guo’s encounter with a snake and a condor in The Return of the Condor Heroes, and considered taking one of them as a spirit pet.
• The Crane King guessed that Gao Yunyi was choosing between the two beasts and killed the gray condor with a peck to the neck.
• Gao Yunyi decided to choose the white python after seeing the Crane King’s jealous attack.

Gao Yunyi collected the Purple-Accumulating Dragon Ginseng, accepted a quest for a Marrow-Washing Jade Lotus far away, and used a Spirit-Feeding Pill to evolve the white python. He named the python Bai Suzhen and renamed the Crane King Maybach Crane before leaving them on the mountain.

• Gao Yunyi collected the Purple-Accumulating Dragon Ginseng and completed his quest for 600 experience points.
• Gao Yunyi accepted a quest to collect a Marrow-Washing Jade Lotus, then discovered its destination was more than a thousand kilometers away.
• Gao Yunyi gave the white python a green pill, which caused it to writhe in green flames as it transformed into a huge creature.
• The white python completed its evolution, and Gao Yunyi judged that its bloodline and aptitude surpassed Xiaobai's.
• Xiaobai struck the newly evolved python, which lowered its head and submitted to the crane.
• Gao Yunyi named the white python Bai Suzhen, ordered it to wait on the mountain, and renamed the Crane King Maybach Crane.

The Liang Emperor learned that Prince Ning had rebelled and ordered Eldest Princess Xiao Zhaohuang to suppress him. The court feared the Immortal who had annihilated Prince Ning’s cavalry, while Xiao Wenhan mourned the slain magistrate of Heyang County.

• An eight-hundred-li emergency dispatch reached the palace, reporting Prince Ning’s rebellion and the slaughter in Heyang County.
• The Liang Emperor condemned Prince Ning and ordered Xiao Zhaohuang to bring him back alive so he could punish him himself.
• Court officials believed the report that the Immortal had killed more than a thousand cavalrymen, and Xiao Zhaohuang considered how powerless the throne would be against him.
• Xiao Zhaohuang accepted the decree to quell Prince Ning’s rebellion, and the court assembly ended without acknowledging the magistrate who had died defending Heyang County.
• Xiao Wenhan wept and mourned Brother Huaimin.

Gao Yunyi searched the Kunlun Jade Pool for the Marrow-Washing Jade Lotus but found it missing, then learned that people lived in the remote mountains. The chapter ended with a temple’s holy son watching suffering pilgrims climb toward him, unaware that Gao Yunyi had discovered their presence.

• Gao Yunyi reached the Kunlun Mountains on the Maybach Crane and sent it to patrol the sky while he descended to the Jade Pool.
• Gao Yunyi searched the entire Jade Pool and found no Marrow-Washing Jade Lotus, leading him to suspect someone had already picked it.
• The Maybach Crane called out from above, and Gao Yunyi realized that people were living in the remote Kunlun Mountains.
• Countless slaves struggled through the blizzard toward a temple, while many who fell or collapsed were left behind to die.
• The temple’s holy son stood above the pilgrims beside his armored guard and regarded them as unworthy of his attention.

Gao Yunyi confronted the Divine Temple's Holy Son over the stolen Marrow-Washing Jade Lotus, while the Holy Son's Armor Slave was paralyzed by Gao Yunyi's overwhelming presence. After the Holy Son refused to surrender the lotus, Gao Yunyi struck him with lightning.

• The Divine Temple's Holy Son stood in a snowstorm with his Armor Slave when Gao Yunyi appeared beside him unnoticed.
• Gao Yunyi asked whether the Holy Son had taken the Marrow-Washing Jade Lotus, which the Divine Temple had harvested for the Holy Son's ascension.
• The Holy Son ordered his Armor Slave to kill Gao Yunyi, but the Armor Slave could not move under Gao Yunyi's pressure.
• The Holy Son panicked, revealed that he would not give up the Immortal Lotus, and called Gao Yunyi an impostor.
• Gao Yunyi decided to kill the Holy Son, and lightning struck him from the sky.

Gao Yunyi killed the Holy Son and freed the armored slave with heavenly lightning, then faced the Holy Temple Guards who rushed out of the temple. In the temple's secret chamber, the grand elder revealed his plan to sacrifice the Holy Son and Immortal Lotus to make an Immortal Elixir, just as an explosion shook the chamber.

• Gao Yunyi struck the Holy Son with heavenly lightning, killing him and gaining 100 experience points.
• Gao Yunyi used lightning to destroy the armored slave, gaining another 80 experience points.
• Holy Temple Guards rushed out and charged Gao Yunyi after finding the Holy Son gone and an unknown man outside the temple.
• The grand elder waited in a hidden chamber and planned to refine the Holy Son and Immortal Lotus into an Immortal Elixir so he could regain his youth and rule the temple.
• The grand elder took out the box containing the Immortal Lotus, and an explosion outside shook the secret chamber.

Gao Yunyi broke into the Divine Temple’s secret chamber, took the Marrow-Washing Jade Lotus, and killed the Grand Elder after absorbing his poison. He received a nearby location for the next Foundation Establishment ingredient, the Myriad Flame Crystal Core, and left with much of the chamber’s treasure.

• Gao Yunyi tore through the secret chamber’s steel doors and demanded that the Grand Elder hand over the Marrow-Washing Jade Lotus.
• The Grand Elder offered the black box, then released deadly poison from it, but Gao Yunyi inhaled the black mist without harm.
• The Grand Elder began bargaining for an Immortal Elixir, but Gao Yunyi killed him before he could finish and gained 105 experience.
• Gao Yunyi opened the black box and found the Marrow-Washing Jade Lotus frozen inside thousand-year-old ice, completing the second ingredient task.
• A new task sent Gao Yunyi to collect a Myriad Flame Crystal Core, and he saw that its location was near the Kunlun Mountains.
• Before leaving, Gao Yunyi swept more than half the gold, silver, and treasures in the secret chamber into his backpack.

Gao Yunyi entered the Tubo princess’s bedchamber to obtain the Myriad Flame Crystal Core, and the princess willingly gave him her necklace. After completing his mission, he offered to kill her father and make her queen, but she refused and insisted that she loved her father and did not want the throne.

• The little princess woke from a nightmare about her father forcing her to marry and found Gao Yunyi standing in her bedchamber.
• Gao Yunyi asked for the Myriad Flame Crystal Core, and the princess removed the necklace her father had given her and handed it over.
• Gao Yunyi took the genuine crystal core from the necklace and received confirmation that his mission was complete.
• Before leaving, Gao Yunyi offered to kill the princess’s father and make her queen, but she anxiously refused.

Gao Yunyi let the little princess of Tubo choose a wish, and she asked to touch his face. After he granted her wish and vanished, she decided she no longer wanted to marry.

• Gao Yunyi stopped pressuring the little princess of Tubo and asked her to name a wish he could fulfill.
• The little princess of Tubo shyly asked to touch Gao Yunyi’s face, and he approached her despite finding the request embarrassing.
• The little princess of Tubo touched Gao Yunyi’s cheek, then withdrew her hand when he asked if she was finished.
• Gao Yunyi repaid his karma, vanished in a shimmer of light, and left the little princess of Tubo convinced the encounter was real.
• The little princess of Tubo vowed to defy her royal father’s order and said she no longer wanted to marry.

Gao Yunyi neared Dingzhou City to collect the Moonlit Silver Crystal and complete the Foundation Establishment Pill quest, while deciding he wanted time to enjoy life after reaching Foundation Establishment. In Dingzhou, Eldest Princess Xiao Zhaohuang arrived to suppress Prince Ning’s rebellion and questioned Prefect Su about the mysterious Immortal.

• Gao Yunyi learned that the Moonlit Silver Crystal was located in Dingzhou City and continued toward it on Maybach Crane.
• Gao Yunyi planned to refine the Foundation Establishment Pill, advance to Foundation Establishment, and take a break from quests.
• Eldest Princess Xiao Zhaohuang entered Dingzhou City with her Phoenix Plume Guards while her army camped outside the city.
• Xiao Zhaohuang asked Prefect Su about the Immortal amid the refugee crisis caused by Prince Ning’s rebellion.
• Prefect Su identified gray-robed followers aiding refugees as members of the Immortal-Worshipping Sect under the Myriad Flowers Fairy.

Eldest Princess Xiao Zhaohuang learned how the Immortal-Worshipping Sect had spread through Dingzhou and questioned Prefect Su about the Myriad Flowers Fairy and the Immortal’s powers. Hearing that an immortal treasure could only prolong a dying person’s life, she began to fear for her ailing imperial father as Gao Yunyi flew toward Dingzhou City.

• Xiao Zhaohuang learned that Li Wanhua, the Myriad Flowers Fairy, founded the Immortal-Worshipping Sect as an emissary of the Immortal, and realized Prefect Su had joined it despite his denial.
• Prefect Su told Xiao Zhaohuang that Li Wanhua had gone to Heyang County and that Protector Xue, a former county yamen adviser, was overseeing the sect in her absence.
• Prefect Su described how the Immortal had rescued Li Wanhua and given her an immortal treasure, prompting Xiao Zhaohuang to question whether the benevolent Immortal meant to threaten her family’s rule.
• Prefect Su said Li Wanhua’s treasure had saved Left Thousand Commander’s elderly mother but that she had died the previous night after living more than two months longer.
• Xiao Zhaohuang wondered how long her imperial father could live, while Gao Yunyi continued flying toward Dingzhou City.

Gao Yunyi discovered that the mission target had moved back to Heyang County and turned the Maybach Crane around. There, the Eldest Princess Xiao Zhaohuang met the Myriad Flowers Fairy, whose Precious Pearl miraculously healed a dying beggar.

• Gao Yunyi realized the Moonlit Silver Crystal had moved and flew from Dingzhou City back toward Heyang County.
• Xiao Zhaohuang went undercover to Heyang County and watched the Myriad Flowers Fairy help survivors of the slaughter.
• The Myriad Flowers Fairy began treating a beggar with infected wounds while Xiao Zhaohuang waited nearby.
• The Myriad Flowers Fairy used the Precious Pearl to bathe the beggar in green light, and his severe injuries rapidly healed.
• Xiao Zhaohuang stared in disbelief as the dying beggar recovered before her eyes.

The Eldest Princess, Xiao Zhaohuang, witnessed the Myriad Flowers Fairy heal a wounded beggar with the Precious Pearl and learned that her imperial father had already recovered through the Immortal’s Immortal Elixir. Following the Fairy to the Immortal Shrine, she saw the scorched trench left by the Immortal’s sword and found Zhang Huaimin’s stuffed remains enshrined there.

• The Myriad Flowers Fairy healed a beggar with the Precious Pearl and sent her followers to carry him to the relief home.
• Xiao Zhaohuang introduced herself as Great Liang’s Princess Who Guards the Nation, and the Fairy explained she could not kneel to anyone except the Immortal.
• Xiao Zhaohuang said her imperial father had recovered through the Immortal’s Immortal Elixir, and the Fairy rejoiced at the news.
• The Myriad Flowers Fairy left to continue her work rebuilding the place where the Immortal had descended, and Xiao Zhaohuang followed her.
• Xiao Zhaohuang saw the huge scorched trench the Immortal’s sword strike had carved through the shrine and street.
• Inside the Immortal Shrine, Xiao Zhaohuang saw townspeople worshipping the straw-stuffed, human-skin remains of Zhang Huaimin.

Eldest Princess Xiao Zhaohuang challenged the Myriad Flowers Fairy to test the strength granted by the Immortal, but the Fairy’s floating Precious Pearl defeated the Princess before she could even attack. The chapter left Xiao Zhaohuang injured and astonished in the County Yamen courtyard.

• The Myriad Flowers Fairy lifted the County Yamen’s collapsed gate beam with ease, and Xiao Zhaohuang learned her strength had surged after she took the name Li Wanhua and received the Essence-Restoring Pearl’s Immortal Method.
• Xiao Zhaohuang challenged the Myriad Flowers Fairy to a private spar and provoked her by suggesting the Immortal might be disappointed if she lost.
• On the way to the rear courtyard, Archivist Han introduced County Magistrate Zhang Huaimin’s grieving daughter, and Xiao Zhaohuang promised to petition the court to grant Zhang Huaimin posthumous honors.
• In the rear courtyard, the Myriad Flowers Fairy summoned the Precious Pearl to float around her as Xiao Zhaohuang charged with a saber.
• The Pearl struck Xiao Zhaohuang back, shattered her saber, and left her injured while the Myriad Flowers Fairy remained untouched.

Myriad Flowers Fairy met with Eldest Princess Xiao Zhaohuang, then ordered the Immortal Church to aid refugees, investigate the Immortal, and spy on Prince Ning's Residence. Xiao Zhaohuang suspected the Fairy was hiding her true nature and ordered her watched as she rode back to deal with the rebellion, while the Immortal was still on the way.

• Eldest Princess Xiao Zhaohuang defeated Myriad Flowers Fairy in a sparring match and invited her to study martial arts, but Myriad Flowers Fairy did not answer.
• After Xiao Zhaohuang left, Myriad Flowers Fairy ordered a believer to reassure Xue Protector, find the Immortal, expand refugee relief, and infiltrate Prince Ning's Residence.
• Alone in the hall, Myriad Flowers Fairy revealed her longing for the Immortal and said Xiao Ya missed him.
• On the ride to the army camp, Xiao Zhaohuang told her guards that Myriad Flowers Fairy's flawless kindness seemed like an act and that the Immortal could not have changed her nature.
• Xiao Zhaohuang ordered clever men to secretly watch Myriad Flowers Fairy until she had put down the rebellion.
• The Immortal was still driving the Maybach Crane and on the way.

Gao Yunyi descended on Maybach Crane before Xiao Zhaohuang’s army to reclaim the mission treasure, which the princess had forged into her sword. Xiao Zhaohuang resisted his enchanting presence, but Gao Yunyi took the Nation-Guarding Divine Sword, leaving her stunned.

• Gao Yunyi found Xiao Zhaohuang’s marching army and brought Maybach Crane down from the sky.
• The giant golden bird’s arrival panicked the troops and overwhelmed Xiao Zhaohuang with its terrifying presence.
• Xiao Zhaohuang nearly succumbed to Gao Yunyi’s enchantment, then stabbed her thigh to break free and reaffirmed her resolve.
• Gao Yunyi recognized the moonlight silver crystal in Xiao Zhaohuang’s sword and made the Nation-Guarding Divine Sword vanish into his hand.
• Xiao Zhaohuang cried out at the loss of her sword, then fell silent when she saw it with Gao Yunyi.