Recaps

Zhang Yuan rose through battle while helping defend and evacuate Fengtian County City, then witnessed its surrender and the deaths of his comrades. Five years later, he had returned to Luyang Prefecture and was supporting the survivors as the story turned to Young Master Tao’s question about Yu Ceng.

• Zhang Yuan fought Yan soldiers and advanced through Chaos, then saved Young Master Tao and helped feed the starving defenders with Hu Chunniu’s medicinal soup.
• Zhang Yuan learned the Mountain Yue Saber Technique from Yu Lin and helped Duan Hong lead wounded soldiers and civilians out of the besieged city.
• Zhang Yuan fought to protect the evacuees, then returned to help Yu Lin face Yan experts and witnessed Yu Lin’s death after inheriting his sealed Xiantian True Essence.
• Zhang Yuan took Yu Lin’s armor and rallied the defenders, then fought off Yan assaults with Zhao Changming until the city faced nine Xiantian Realm warriors.
• Zhang Yuan stayed behind so Zhao Changming could lead the remaining troops out, challenged Ouyang Xu, and reached half-step Xiantian before Bai Shaoting and Han Xiao intervened.
• Han Xiao surrendered Fengtian County City to secure peace, and Zhang Yuan returned to Luyang Prefecture with the record of his fallen comrades’ merits.
• Five years later, Zhang Yuan supported Chen Wu, Hu Chunniu, and the surviving members of his old company while living in a more prosperous Luyang Prefecture.
• Zhang Yuan visited the ailing Young Master Tao at Yulin Academy, where Tao asked whether killing Yu Ceng had caused trouble.

Zhang Yuan led a bandit-suppression mission, uncovered a Buddhist relic, and rose to acting commandant of the Martial Guard Bureau. After the Tang Family humiliated Chen Wu, Zhang Yuan destroyed the family, while Tang Wenshang escaped and Zhang Yuan met the Black Cavalry.

• Zhang Yuan refused to become the mountain strongholds’ common master and instead urged Yao Gao and Fang Dahe to build a merchant caravan, while Zhao Family agents and Kong Baitang pursued their own plans.
• Zhang Yuan led the Black Robe Guards against river bandits in Yong'an County, then fought Buddhist Cultivators who attacked the ships and pursued them to Guangyuan Stockade.
• Zhang Yuan killed the Buddhist Cultivators, recovered a Buddhist relic, and gained strength from it, but rejected the chance to change his cultivation path.
• After Qian Mu prepared to leave, Zhang Yuan became acting commandant of the Martial Guard Bureau and demanded a Dismissal Letter for Chen Wu so Chen Wu could join the border army.
• Zhang Yuan took Chen Wu to the Tang Family to apologize, but after Tang Wenbo demanded money and threatened them, Zhang Yuan summoned the Black Robe Guards and ordered an assault that wiped out the Tang Family compound.
• Zhang Yuan gave Chen Wu Lord Yu Lin’s battle blade and taught the Martial Guards that strength and killing earned fear and respect, while news of the purge spread across Luyang Prefecture.
• Qian Mu warned Zhang Yuan that Tang Wenshang had escaped, and Wang Qinian took Zhang Yuan to meet the Black Cavalry after his failed operation damaged his prospects.