Recaps

Jiang Dao ordered the captured Eastern Ridge royals and Great Priest Wu Huo’s kin executed so their heart’s blood could fuel a curse against Xiong Li’s bloodline. The curse killed relatives across Eastern Ridge, while surviving descendants plotted revenge against the Li Family.

• Jiang Dao ordered the prisoners executed and their heart’s blood collected.
• Li Jin revealed his loyalty to the Li Family, killed Xiong Ju, and delivered his heart’s blood to Jiang Dao.
• Jiang Dao directed hundreds of Li Family Death Warriors to sacrifice their lifespans and cast a curse targeting five generations of Xiong Li’s kin.
• The curse took hold, killing a hunter and his son a thousand miles away.
• Surviving Eastern Ridge royal descendants gathered in hiding and discussed attacking the Li Family’s branch families in Yang Province.

The Xiong Clan Hidden Lineage sacrificed its prodigy Xiong Lie as a vessel to resurrect Xiong Li, the former Country Lord of Eastern Ridge. After learning that Li Xinge had destroyed the Eastern Ridge Kingdom, Xiong Li vowed revenge.

• Dozens of people died from a curse that caused blood worms to gnaw at their hearts.
• The five elders of the Xiong Clan Hidden Lineage decided to use Xiong Lie to resurrect Xiong Li with the Divine Soul True Fire.
• Xiong Lie learned that his family belonged to Eastern Ridge's royal clan and resisted being used as a vessel, but the chief clan elder threatened his family until he submitted.
• An hour later, Xiong Li awakened in Xiong Lie's body, and the elders welcomed their ancestor's resurrection.
• The chief clan elder told Xiong Li that Li Xinge had killed the Great Priest and destroyed the Eastern Ridge Kingdom, and Xiong Li swore to make Li Xinge pay.

Xiong Lie survived Xiong Li’s attempt to take over his body and discovered that a mysterious golden blood drop had helped him overcome the soul fire and escape the curse. He killed the Xiong Clan’s Great Elder, then found Xiong Family Village devastated by the curse and learned his father had died while his mother, Qing Lian, and Song'er were alive.

• The Xiong Clan elders were struck by a heart-devouring curse, which the Great Elder blamed on the Li Family.
• The curse killed four elders while Xiong Li stayed calm and promised to find a way to break it.
• When the Great Elder approached for help, Xiong Li attacked him, and the Great Elder recognized him as Xiong Lie.
• Xiong Lie revealed that a drop of golden blood had helped him overpower Xiong Li’s Divine Soul True Fire and survive the curse.
• Xiong Lie rushed out of the stone chamber and found Xiong Family Village filled with corpses, then hurried to his home.
• Qing Lian told Xiong Lie that his father had died but his mother and Song'er were safe; Xiong Lie entered the courtyard and saw his mother beside his father's body.

After Xiong Lie learned that his father and the Xiong Family Village had been killed by a bloodline curse that spared him and Song'er, his mother revealed that he was the son of a mysterious man hunted by the Rootless People. She died after giving him a Jade Pendant linked to his birth father, leaving Xiong Lie with a clue bearing the name Supreme Emperor Immortal Palace.

• Xiong Lie questioned his mother about why he and Song'er survived the curse that killed the Xiong clan.
• Xiong Lie's mother revealed that his biological father was a wounded stranger who loved her, then left to seek his ancestral bloodline while fleeing the Rootless People.
• Xiong Lie's mother explained that his adoptive father had claimed the unborn Xiong Lie as his own and tampered with the bloodline test stone, though he had also helped them survive.
• Xiong Lie's mother gave him the Jade Pendant left by his biological father and died, while Qing Lian and Song'er wept.
• Xiong Lie examined the Jade Pendant and found the words Supreme Emperor Immortal Palace engraved on it and the character Li on its front.

After the curse wiped out the Xiong Lie and Wu Huo bloodlines, Jiang Dao oversaw the surviving Li Family deathsworn’s final sacrifice and was promised an Innate Spirit Pill. At the Eastern Ridge court, Li Xinge announced plans to establish Eastern Continent, and the surrendered tribes pleaded for him to become its governor.

• Xiong Lie grieved his mother’s death and demanded to know why his family had suffered, while the curse killed every member of Wu Huo’s bloodline.
• Jiang Dao told the surviving deathsworn that the Li Family would care for their families; they pledged loyalty, killed themselves, and were buried when the cave collapsed.
• Li Xuantong praised Jiang Dao’s service and promised to propose that the Li Family grant him an Innate Spirit Pill.
• Three days later, Li Xinge took his seat in the restored Eastern Ridge royal court and announced he would petition the Son of Heaven to rename the region Eastern Continent and establish a governor’s mansion.
• Li Jin urged Li Xinge to govern Eastern Continent himself, warning that the tribes would become unstable without him.
• Wutu Jie, Shuize Tu, and the surrendered tribal chieftains joined Li Jin in pleading for Li Xinge to oversee Eastern Continent’s military and civil affairs.

Li Xinge accepted the temporary governorship of Eastern Continent and began organizing its government after Yang Province officials and surrendered tribal leaders urged him to take charge. He abolished the tribal system, appointed officials to secure the region, and left the conquered territory under trusted leadership.

• Fu Yu, Wang Tianming, Li Jin, Wutu Jie, and the other officials and chieftains urged Li Xinge to serve concurrently as Governor of Eastern Continent.
• Li Xinge agreed to temporarily govern Eastern Continent, saying he would restore order and help its people rebuild their lives.
• Li Xinge abolished the tribal system in Eastern Prefecture and established nineteen commanderies, and the surrendered chieftains raised no objections.
• Li Xinge appointed Zhao Wujiu Eastern Continent's Chief Clerk and ordered him to organize the Governor's Mansion and stabilize the region.
• Li Xinge appointed Wutu Jie Eastern Continent's Sima, tasking him with military affairs and keeping the tribes peaceful.
• Li Xinge assigned Li Xingyue, Li Jin, Shuize Tu, and Dou Changgeng posts to suppress remnants of the Eastern Ridge Kingdom and oversee the new administration.

Li Xinge revealed that his campaign against Eastern Ridge was meant to gather the Killing Intent needed to empower the Three Sha Demon God. As the demon absorbed the array’s power, Sage Xuanji guarded the cavern and reflected on Li Xinge’s immense potential.

• Li Xinge inspected the Killing Intent flowing into the Fiend Gathering Array and told Sage Xuanji that the deaths of billions and the collapse of a nation’s fortune were his true goal.
• Li Xinge summoned the Three Sha Demon God, and Sage Xuanji recognized it as a great fiend of the Demonic Path.
• Sage Xuanji admitted that he had sacrificed a Middle Thousand World with nine Spirit Devouring Destiny Seizing Arrays to reach the Heavenly Human realm.
• Li Xinge praised Sage Xuanji’s ruthless pursuit of the Dao, then entered the blood-red array and asked him to protect him.
• Sage Xuanji sealed and concealed the cavern while the Three Sha Demon God absorbed the Killing Intent and grew stronger.
• Sage Xuanji recalled a Heavenly Demon Sacred Cult elder who had used a Three Sha Demon God to reach the Great Sage Realm, and judged Li Xinge’s future to be boundless.

Li Xinge broke through to mid-stage Divine Mansion after expanding his divine mansion to 4,400 li, while the Li Family received two million mid-grade spirit stones from Lü Fengxian. In Shenjing, the emperor learned that Li Xinge had requested authority over Eastern Continent and denounced Lü Fengxian, leaving the emperor furious at the Li Family’s growing control over the southeast.

• Li Xinge expanded his divine mansion world to 4,400 li and advanced to mid-stage Divine Mansion as Sage Xuanji congratulated him.
• Lü Fengxian sent two million mid-grade spirit stones to Green Maple Valley, and Li Xuanyong and Li Qinglin began planning how to distribute and manage them.
• Li Xinge sent the emperor a memorial reporting Eastern Ridge’s conquest and requesting that it become Eastern Continent under a governor’s mansion that he would temporarily oversee.
• Li Xinge’s memorial accused Lü Fengxian of provoking an unauthorized border conflict and nearly sabotaging the campaign.
• The emperor erupted in anger over Li Xinge’s request and lamented that nearly half the southeast already bore the Li name.

The emperor arranged a court debate over Li Xinge’s request to govern Eastern Prefecture as well as Yang Province. Prime Minister Wen Zhong opposed breaking the ancestral rule and recommended honoring Li while appointing another governor to Eastern Ridge.

• The old eunuch persuaded the emperor that the aristocratic clans would oppose Li Xinge’s bid to govern two provinces, so the emperor ordered a grand court assembly.
• The emperor convened the officials in Xuanzheng Hall and had Li Xinge’s memorial read aloud.
• Imperial faction ministers argued that granting Li Xinge two provinces would break tradition and destabilize Great Zhou, while his supporters said he was best suited to pacify Eastern Ridge.
• Lord Liu and Lord Chen traded accusations and unleashed their auras until the old eunuch ordered them to stop.
• Wen Zhong said Eastern Ridge needed a strong governor but the ancestral rule against one man governing two provinces must stand, and he proposed giving Li Xinge honors while appointing someone else to Eastern Ridge.

Court officials debated appointing Li Xinge as Governor of Eastern Continent, but the emperor’s plan to block him and install Prince Cheng failed amid widespread objections. Wen Zhong nominated Li Taiming’s son, Li Xuanxian, for the dangerous post, leaving Li Taiming furious.

• Lord Gao argued that Li Xinge should govern Eastern Continent because the newly pacified tribes feared and respected him.
• Wei Jiusi, the Yang Province spokesman, and the Xu Province spokesman supported Lord Gao, while northern province spokesmen objected to Li Xinge’s appointment.
• The emperor abandoned Li Xinge’s appointment and proposed Prince Cheng, but spokesmen from provinces across the realm objected.
• Wen Zhong nominated Li Xuanxian, citing his talent, Divine Mansion Realm strength, and lack of an official post.
• Li Taiming reacted with fury when Wen Zhong proposed his son for Governor of Eastern Continent.

At court, Li Taiming secured Wen Zhongyan’s appointment alongside Li Xuanxian as Eastern Prefecture’s chief administrator, and the emperor approved both appointments. The court then debated how to reward Li Xinge for pacifying the Eastern Ridge Kingdom, with the southern clans petitioning to make him a One-Character Marquis.

• Wen Zhong tried to appoint Li Xuanxian Governor of Eastern Continent, and Li Taiming agreed on the condition that Wen Zhong’s son Zhong Yan accompany him.
• Wen Zhong accepted the condition, and the emperor appointed Li Xuanxian governor and Wen Zhongyan chief administrator of Eastern Prefecture.
• Minister Chen urged the court to richly reward Li Xinge for pacifying the Eastern Ridge Kingdom.
• Minister Yan proposed raising Li Xinge’s rank to One-Character Marquis, while Censor Wang objected.
• The southern aristocratic clans joined Minister Yan in petitioning the emperor to grant Li Xinge the One-Character Marquis title.

At court, the emperor granted Li Xinge the title Marquis of Chu and appointed him to govern Yang Province and command its military and civil affairs. After court, Wen Zhong revealed that the decree also sent Li Taiming’s son and Zhong Yan to the Eastern Prefecture as part of a political maneuver.

• An official suggested naming Li Xinge Marquis of Wu, and the emperor killed him with a golden gourd mace.
• Wen Zhong argued that Marquis of Chu honored ancient Chu’s expansion into the south, overcoming objections from Cui Zhaoming and other Chu Province officials.
• The emperor issued a decree naming Li Xinge Marquis of Chu, Great General of the South, and Governor of Yang Province, with Wu Commandery as his fief.
• After court, Li Taiming confronted Wen Zhong about sending his son and Zhong Yan to the Eastern Prefecture, and Wen Zhong explained how they could observe local conditions and advance the northern clans’ interests.
• Li Taiming departed, and Wen Zhong’s smile faded as he watched him leave.

Li Taiming and Li Xuanxian decided to delay the Eastern Continent governorship to avoid a clash with Li Xinge, then discovered that the Yang Province Li Clan might possess the Ancestor Sacred Artifact. With the Rootless People expected to emerge again in twenty years, they considered staking everything on returning to the Upper Realm.

• Li Taiming told Li Xuanxian that the court had appointed him Governor of Eastern Continent, with Wen Zhongyan as chief administrator, and warned him that Li Xinge would oppose the appointment.
• Li Xuanxian admitted he could not contend with Li Xinge and proposed using his supposed seclusion to delay taking office, which Li Taiming accepted.
• Li Xuanxian recited the Yang Province Li Clan's generation names, leading Li Taiming to suspect that their branch held the Ancestor Sacred Artifact and might have awakened it.
• Li Taiming rejected seizing the artifact, warning that it might not acknowledge their branch and that they could not fight the Rootless People without it.
• Li Xuanxian said the Rootless People had last emerged thirty years earlier, and Li Taiming resolved to stake everything on returning to the Upper Realm before they emerged again in twenty years.

Wen Zhong told Wen Zhongyan that his appointment as Eastern Prefecture’s chief administrator would put him under Li Xinge’s power, but Wen Zhongyan insisted on going anyway. Wen Zhong agreed to send him with several attendants, leaving Wen Zhongyan eager to challenge Li Xinge.

• Wen Zhong told Wen Zhongyan that the court had appointed him chief administrator of Eastern Prefecture under Governor Li Xuanxian.
• Wen Zhong warned Wen Zhongyan that Li Xinge had conquered Eastern Prefecture and would likely keep control through his own people.
• Wen Zhongyan grew jealous and resentful when he learned Li Xinge had been named Great General of the South and Marquis of Chu.
• Wen Zhongyan argued that he had to take the post to protect the Wen Family’s reputation and prove himself, despite the danger.
• Wen Zhong agreed to let Wen Zhongyan go and promised him Elder Fan, another late-stage innate attendant, and two middle-stage innate attendants.
• Wen Zhongyan left the study confident and vowed to see what Li Xinge was made of.

Fu Yu and Zhao Wujiu rallied Eastern Prefecture’s officials and tribal leaders to maintain loyalty to Li Xinge while publicly accepting the court’s appointments. When imperial envoy Song Wuya arrived to deliver the decree, Li Xinge refused to appear, and Song Wuya demanded to know whether he intended to defy it.

• Fu Yu urged Eastern Prefecture’s leaders to accept the imperial decree on the surface while keeping local authority loyal to Li Xinge.
• Wutu Jie and the tribal leaders swore allegiance to Li Xinge, while Zhao Wujiu warned them against disloyalty.
• Song Wuya arrived with the Dragon Tiger Imperial Guard and announced that he had come to deliver the emperor’s decree.
• Song Wuya called for Li Xinge repeatedly, but Li Xinge did not appear.
• Song Wuya unleashed his Divine Mansion aura and demanded to know whether Governor Li intended to defy the imperial decree.

Li Xinge suppressed Song Wuya and accepted the imperial decree naming him Marquis of Chu. The court then presented Wen Zhongyan as acting administrator of Eastern Prefecture, and Li Xinge narrowed his eyes at the arrogant newcomer.

• Li Xinge overwhelmed Song Wuya in a contest of Divine Mansion pressure, forcing the old eunuch to acknowledge his strength.
• Song Wuya delivered the imperial decree investing Li Xinge as the hereditary Marquis of Chu, and Li Xinge accepted it without bowing.
• Zhao Wujiu, the assembled officials, and tens of thousands of soldiers hailed Li Xinge as Marquis of Chu.
• Song Wuya read a second decree appointing Li Xuanxian Governor of Eastern Continent and Wen Zhongyan chief administrator of Eastern Prefecture.
• Song Wuya said Wen Zhongyan would temporarily handle Eastern Prefecture’s affairs, and Wen arrogantly asked Li Xinge to look after the neighboring territory.

Li Xinge publicly forced Wen Zhongyan to kneel for disrespecting him and killed Elder Fan when he intervened. He spared Wen Zhongyan after warning him to address him properly, leaving their feud with Prime Minister Wen unresolved.

• Wen Zhongyan disrespected Li Xinge, and Li Xinge's pressure forced him to kneel and crack the paving stones beneath him.
• Song Wuya pleaded with Li Xinge to spare Wen Zhongyan and consider Prime Minister Wen.
• Elder Fan stepped forward to defend Wen Zhongyan, but Li Xinge killed him and crushed his illusory black figure.
• Li Xinge patted Wen Zhongyan's face and warned him to bow and address him as Marquis of Chu or my lord, then spared him this time.

Li Xinge humiliated Wen Zhongyan and sent the imperial envoys from Shenjing away, then defended his decision to Li Xuantong. As he prepared to return to Yang Province, he entrusted the Eastern Prefecture to Zhao Wujiu and promised to provide materials for Zhao's breakthrough to the Divine Mansion Realm.

• Li Xinge pressured Wen Zhongyan into submission, and Song Wuya arranged for him to be taken away to rest.
• Li Xinge left the square, and the disgruntled imperial envoys departed for the capital to report.
• Li Xuantong warned Li Xinge that Wen Zhong might retaliate, but Li Xinge insisted he would defend his control of the Eastern Prefecture.
• Li Xinge reassured Li Xuantong and praised his service to the Green Maple Li Clan.
• Li Xinge told Zhao Wujiu he would return to Yang Province soon and entrusted the Eastern Prefecture to him.
• Li Xinge promised to prepare materials for Zhao Wujiu to attempt a breakthrough to the Divine Mansion Realm.

Elder Jiang revealed that he was the seventeenth son of the Depraved Crown Prince and explained why his father rebelled against the emperor. The revelation that Great Zhou had secretly sent tens of millions of Imperial clan members to guard the mysterious Dragon Vein left Li Xinge shaken, though its location and purpose remained unknown.

• Li Xinge confronted Elder Jiang, who admitted that he had once belonged to the Royal House.
• Elder Jiang revealed that he was the Depraved Crown Prince’s seventeenth son and had survived his father’s failed rebellion with the help of an Eastern Palace Attendant.
• Elder Jiang said his father discovered that the Royal House’s declining bloodline was caused by an Ancestral System that sent Imperial clan members to the Dragon Vein, from which none returned.
• Elder Jiang recounted how his father grew estranged from the emperor, turned white-haired after a final meeting, and launched a failed palace coup two days later.
• Li Xinge asked what the Dragon Vein was and where it lay, but Elder Jiang said he knew only what the dying Attendant had told him.

Li Xinge spared Elder Jiang after learning that he had concealed his identity, then ordered Night Owl Hall to investigate Great Zhou’s Dragon Vein. Meanwhile, Wen Zhongyan plotted to undermine Li Xinge by secretly winning over the surrendered tribal chiefs.

• Li Xinge worried that the Royal House’s scheme would target him and accepted that he would have to grow stronger step by step.
• Elder Jiang begged forgiveness for hiding his identity, and Li Xinge pardoned him because of his long loyalty.
• Li Yanjing received Li Xinge’s order to investigate Great Zhou’s Dragon Vein at any cost.
• Wen Zhongyan raged over Li Xinge’s humiliation of him and the death of Elder Fan, then regained his composure.
• Wen Zhongyan planned to secretly recruit surrendered tribal chiefs and vowed to make Li Xinge pay.

A senior cultivator recounted how the Blood Spirit Fruit Tree helped the Li Family rise from a poor clan to a powerful family. He left the young cultivator understanding the tree’s importance, while the python that once guarded it remained missing after a Demonic Chaos.

• The Li Family gained several Innate cultivators and strengthened its medicinal garden, where the Blood Spirit Fruit Tree was nearing harvest.
• A young Li Family cultivator asked why the family cared so much for this particular tree, and his Clan Uncle explained how poor the clan had once been.
• The Clan Uncle recalled how the family head and the First Elder defeated the tree’s guardian, a Blood Spirit Flame Python, and used the fruit to secure its protection and support the family’s rise.
• The young cultivator recognized the tree as a symbol of the family’s history, and his Clan Uncle urged him to train hard and honor the forebears’ sacrifices.
• The Clan Uncle said the python disappeared during a Demonic Chaos in the Qinghe Mountain Range and might have died.

A Blood Spirit Flame Python emerged from the medicinal garden’s pool as a powerful Demon Lord, threatening the Li Family cultivators until a family token reminded it of an old bargain. The awakened demon demanded that the Li Family head and Grand Elder come face it before dark.

• A surge of demonic aura erupted from the pool, and Attendant Zhang ordered the garden’s cultivators to hold the demon off while sending for an Innate True Person.
• The Blood Spirit Flame Python burst from the pool and threatened to eat the cultivators, ignoring Attendant Zhang’s appeal to the Yang Province Li Clan.
• The older Li Family cultivator showed the demon a two-dragon token and reminded it that the family head had given it two Blood Spirit Fruits to guard the valley.
• The demon recalled being forced to guard the valley after two humans beat it, and decided to take revenge and reclaim its Blood Spirit Fruits.
• The demon ordered the cultivators to bring the family head and Grand Elder before dark or be eaten.

The Li Family rushed to the Qinghe Mountain Range herb garden after hearing that a newly evolved Blood Wing Flame Python had become a Demon Lord and threatened the attendants. Li Xuanzong beat the python into submission and made it agree to serve the Li Family.

• The Demon Lord threatened Attendant Zhang and the others, then gorged itself on the Blood Spirit Fruits while an older Li Family cultivator went to summon help.
• Li Xuanzong, Li Xingzong, and Li Wu arrived at the herb garden and found the newly evolved Blood Wing Flame Python eating fruit.
• Li Xuanzong stopped Li Wu from fighting the python, saying he would subdue it for the Li Family.
• Li Xuanzong seized the python by its tail, battered it across the ground, and struck it into a crater until it submitted.
• Li Xuanzong asked the injured python to serve the Li Family, and it agreed; he then ordered it to come with him.

Li Xuanzong brought the wounded Blood Wing Flame Python to Green Maple Valley, where Li Xuantong persuaded it to become his mount by revealing his overwhelming strength. The Li Family gained an Innate Realm spirit beast, while a sudden upheaval began in the southeastern mountains of Chu Kingdom.

• Li Xuanzong brought the Blood Wing Flame Python to the Li Family training square, where clansmen discussed eating it and keeping it for its meat.
• Li Xuanzhong and Li Xuantong examined the python, recognized its Blood Spirit Flame Python lineage, and noted its potential to become a flood dragon.
• Li Xuantong asked the Blood Wing Flame Python to serve as his mount, but it refused unless he proved he was strong.
• Li Xuantong released his powerful aura, and the Blood Wing Flame Python accepted him as its master.
• A sudden upheaval shook heaven and earth in the southeastern mountains of Chu Kingdom.

A spatial catastrophe in Chu Province was identified as a possible divine mansion legacy, drawing local powers to the mountains. After two rogue cultivators died testing the dangerous perimeter, Li Dehou proposed using arriving cultivators to find a safe route, while Night Owl Hall sent news of the phenomenon to Li Yanjing.

• A golden pillar erupted from the southeastern mountains, tearing open space and attracting powerful cultivators from across the region.
• Local Innate True Persons gathered at the dangerous perimeter, where Li Dehou guessed that a divine mansion legacy had appeared.
• Two rogue cultivators rushed toward the central area and were swallowed by spatial turbulence, while the others stayed back.
• The Xiong Family ancestor thanked his old family friend for stopping him, and Li Dehou admitted the dead cultivators had served as scouts and removed potential rivals.
• Li Dehou proposed using the lives of weaker cultivators who would soon arrive to test a route into the area.
• Night Owl Hall agents in Chu Province urgently reported the phenomenon to chief administrator Li Yanjing.