Recaps

Zhou Yi recorded his life in diaries to keep his memories and sense of self intact as decades passed and his power continued to grow. After witnessing Great Zhou decay into famine and corruption, he killed the Guangxi Emperor, took the throne, and began a purge and sweeping reforms.

• After Zhou Ping'an founded the Zhou dynasty, Zhou Yi began writing diaries to preserve his memories and guard against his growing detachment.
• At Emperor Ping'an's request, Zhou Yi split North Pacifying City with one sword, then grieved as his relatives and old acquaintances died over the years.
• Zhou Yi regularly reread his diaries and visited the Zhao family's ancestral graves as Great Zhou passed through successive reigns.
• During the Guangxi era, Zhou Yi saw starving refugees and widespread decay, then killed the Guangxi Emperor and declared that he wanted to be emperor.
• Zhou Yi proclaimed himself emperor as Zheng Tong, purged half the officials, rebuilt the Eastern Depot, and imposed land reforms across the realm.
• Ten years later, Great Zhou had returned to prosperity.

The Sixth Prince and Prince Kang conspired with nobles and officials to overthrow Emperor Zhengtong, aided by a ghostly being that forced them to raise troops at dawn. Meanwhile, Zhou Yi continued personally governing Great Zhou and ordered an investigation into the Governor of Suzhou’s ties to the Lu Family.

• The Sixth Prince met Prince Kang and other masked conspirators at Nameless Manor, where they agreed to rebel against Emperor Zhengtong over his plans to abolish their privileges.
• The Sixth Prince revealed that he had found a being said to rival the Old Ancestor, and a ghostly presence entered the hall and killed several conspirators.
• The ghostly being ordered the survivors to raise troops at dawn and lure the Imperial Guards from the palace, threatening them with a Soul-Devouring Curse if they disobeyed.
• Prince Kang and the conspirators discussed justifying a new sovereign by claiming Emperor Zhengtong had usurped the throne, citing Minister Cui’s account of the late emperor’s origins.
• At the Hall of Diligent Governance, Zhou Yi approved the Hengchang Trading Company’s railway project in Suzhou and ordered the Eastern Depot to investigate the Governor of Suzhou’s possible crimes and dealings with the Lu Family.

Zhou Yi left the Hall of Diligent Governance and met Old Lu in the abandoned Cold Palace, where his former attendant’s betrayal led to their long-delayed reunion. Old Lu revealed that he had sworn to Heaven to kill Zhou Yi, leaving their confrontation poised to begin.

• Zhou Yi ordered the Imperial Guards to help fight the city fires and promised compensation for the people’s losses.
• Zhou Yi went to the Cold Palace with Little Lu and questioned him about his family and their prosperity.
• Zhou Yi confronted Little Lu over his betrayal, and Little Lu confessed that a demon had threatened his clan and forced him to steal palace secrets.
• Old Lu possessed Little Lu and attacked Zhou Yi, who killed Little Lu with true qi before Old Lu revealed himself.
• Old Lu asked why Zhou Yi remained emperor, and Zhou Yi explained that keeping busy with state affairs slowed the changes in his mind and self.
• Old Lu declared that he had sworn to Heaven to kill Zhou Yi, and more than a hundred tortured heads emerged from his black mist.

Zhou Yi defeated Old Lu’s ghostly attack, but Old Lu then invaded his Spirit Soul with the memories of dozens of people. As Old Lu tried to seize Zhou Yi’s body, a mysterious green branch unleashed ancient memories that swept away the invading identities, and Zhou Yi returned with his True Qi transformed into Mana.

• Old Lu revealed that he served Heaven’s Will and attacked Zhou Yi with ghost faces, but Zhou Yi destroyed him and shattered the clouds over the palace.
• Old Lu reappeared inside Zhou Yi’s Spirit Soul, explaining that he was a lingering memory attached to Heaven’s Will and began eroding Zhou Yi with other people’s memories.
• Zhou Yi struggled to distinguish his identity as memories of heroes from many lifetimes flooded his mind.
• Old Lu rushed toward a bright spiritual spark in Zhou Yi’s Spirit Soul, hoping to devour it and gain eternity.
• The spark revealed itself as a green branch whose tens of thousands of years of memories swept away the invading memories, and Zhou Yi returned with Mana.

Zhou Yi returned to Jiuzhou with the power to command Heaven and Earth and discovered that Han Chao had inherited the golden corpse’s Corpse Immortal legacy. Zhou Yi and the yellow ox attacked Han Chao, but his corpse qi let him rapidly regenerate.

• Zhou Yi offered sacrifices on the Vast Continent, gained immense merit, and opened a passage between worlds.
• Zhou Yi shared his merit with the yellow ox, the Spirit Ginseng Child, and Kunlun Grotto-Heaven’s jujube tree and grapevine, which became Qingfeng and Mingyue.
• Zhou Yi tested his new authority over Heaven and Earth by traveling instantly to Jiuzhou and entering its corpse-qi-shrouded lands.
• Zhou Yi encountered Han Chao, learned that Han Chao had taken the golden corpse’s cultivation, and challenged him over abandoning his oath to continue humanity.
• Zhou Yi and the yellow ox struck Han Chao with divine wind, divine light, and a charge, but Han Chao repeatedly regenerated from the corpse qi.

Zhou Yi killed Han Chao, purged the Nine Continents of corpse demons and corpse qi, and spent more than nine hundred years restoring the land. A message from the Reincarnation Compass then revealed that its transmigrator had died before reaching the realm needed to activate it, though Zhou Yi found the returned world's cultivation system intriguing.

• Zhou Yi used his Jianmu flying sword to defeat Han Chao, tracked him across the Nine Continents, and called down tribulation lightning to destroy the corpse demons and prevent Han Chao from possessing them.
• Han Chao detonated his Void Return Spirit Soul, but Zhou Yi used his merit treasures to contain the blast and eliminate him.
• Zhou Yi absorbed the Nine Continents' corpse qi and estimated it would take seven or eight hundred years to cleanse the land; he sent the Reincarnation Compass into the void and began secluded cultivation.
• More than nine hundred years later, the corpse qi had dissipated, forests had spread across the Nine Continents, and plants and animals had begun forming the first Demon Race.
• Zhou Yi received the compass's report that its transmigrator had lived for a thousand years in his first life but died before reaching the realm that could trigger the compass, and he examined the world's unusual cultivation methods.