Recaps

Li Xinge revealed that he had gathered enough Divine Mansion Realm allies to rival the Four Seas Alliance, while the Great Zhou emperor learned that the Devil Master had survived King Ancestor Qin’s final strike with heaven-tier armor. The emperor regretted having allowed Li Xinge to grow into such a threat.

• Li Xinge revealed Sage Xuanji, Old Turtle, and the Night-Blooming Cereus Fairy as new allies, bringing his command to nine Divine Mansion Realm cultivators.
• Sky-Eating Demon Venerable offered to awaken another early-stage cultivator, Blood Abyss Demon Venerable pledged a junior, and Azure Sky Demon Venerable promised to recruit his mid-stage friend, Withered Wood Hermit.
• Li Xinge counted thirteen Divine Mansion Realm fighters available to his side and declared they could match the Four Seas Alliance.
• In Shenjing, Song Wuya reported to the emperor that King Ancestor Qin had burned through his lifespan to unleash the Progenitor Emperor’s divine weapon, but the Devil Master had survived using heaven-tier armor.
• The emperor reacted with disbelief and anger, then lamented that he had raised a tiger that would bring disaster.

The emperor concluded that Li Xinge was the Devil Master and explained to Song Wuya why exposing him would not unite the realm against him. He feared the southern aristocratic clans would instead rally behind Li Xinge, pushing Great Zhou into a disastrous north-south war.

• The emperor told Song Wuya that the Devil Master was Li Xinge, Marquis of Chu, citing their alternating appearances, neighboring territories, and lack of conflict.
• Song Wuya urged the emperor to expose Li Xinge so the aristocratic clans and righteous sects would destroy him.
• The emperor rejected the plan, arguing that Li Xinge's power and control of four provinces made the clans unlikely to risk fighting him.
• The emperor explained that southern clans might support Li Xinge as a counterweight to the Northern People and unite righteous and demonic forces under him.
• The emperor warned that another north-south war could destroy Great Zhou, whose royal deterrence had weakened after King Ancestor Qin fell.

The emperor chose to appease Li Xinge and keep him secret from the Four Seas Alliance so Great Zhou could buy time for its ancestor to reach the Heavenly Human Sacred Realm. After Jiang Hanyuan’s death, the World-Cleansing Evil Cult’s Sacred Venerable ordered his followers to advance their plan.

• Song Wuya urged the emperor to resist Li Xinge, but the emperor explained that he meant to delay conflict until their ancestor completed refining the Heavenly Human Sacred Artifact.
• The emperor told Song Wuya that Great Zhou would let Li Xinge take territory and power while prioritizing the threat of the World-Cleansing Evil Cult.
• Song Wuya reported that the Four Seas Alliance planned to invade Jade Prefecture, and the emperor ordered him to conceal that Li Xinge and the Devil Master were the same person so the two sides would fight.
• The emperor ordered the surplus members of King Ancestor Qin’s lineage sent to the Imperial Mausoleum to help their ancestor make progress.
• A dark figure told the Sacred Venerable that Jiang Hanyuan had died after failing to kill the Devil Master with the Dragon-Slaying Sword.
• The Sacred Venerable ordered his follower to move the plan forward, then returned to his cottage while the dark figure vanished.

After the Devil Master defeated King Ancestor Qin, rumors spread across Great Zhou about the battle and the Devil Master’s strength. Cui Yuan decided the Cui Family needed a powerful patron and chose to join the Marquis of Chu.

• Rogue cultivators in a Yang Province teahouse speculated about the battle between the Devil Master and King Ancestor Qin and compared the Devil Master with the Marquis of Chu.
• Cui Chongshan asked Cui Yuan how the battle had ended, and Cui Yuan told him that the Devil Master had won after forcing Jiang Hanyuan to burn through his lifespan.
• Cui Yuan told Cui Chongshan that the Cui Family could no longer avoid taking sides in the coming age of great contention.
• Cui Yuan rejected the Princess Royal, the Four Seas Alliance, and the Sacred Venerable of the World-Purifying Cult as potential patrons.
• Cui Yuan told Cui Chongshan that the Cui Family would join the Marquis of Chu.

Cui Yuan persuaded Cui Chongshan to abandon their feud with Li Xinge and prepare to submit to him, hoping to secure the Cui Family’s future. At Green Maple Valley, Li Xinge fed captured divine souls to the Three Sha Demon God while Elder Jiang nervously attended him.

• Cui Chongshan objected to submitting to Li Xinge because of their feud, but Cui Yuan rebuked him for putting pride above the Cui Family’s interests.
• Cui Yuan explained that his great-perfection Divine Mansion cultivation could help Li Xinge take Chu Province and strengthen his claim to the south.
• Cui Yuan told Cui Chongshan to prepare a lavish gift and accompany him to pay respects to the future Southern King.
• At Azure Wave Pool, Li Xinge pulled divine souls from the Ten Thousand Souls Banner and fed them to the Three Sha Demon God, healing and strengthening its phantom.
• Elder Jiang trembled and knelt when Li Xinge noticed his fear, then praised his lord until Li Xinge told him to get up.

Li Xinge pulled Old Mo’s soul from the Ten Thousand Souls Banner and discovered that he was the former Corpse Jade Demon Venerable. Old Mo halted the Three Sha Demon God’s attempt to devour him by claiming to know a secret about the Great Zhou Imperial Family and the Heavenly Human Sacred Realm.

• The Three Sha Demon God growled hungrily, and Li Xinge pulled Old Mo’s soul from the Ten Thousand Souls Banner to feed it.
• Old Mo recognized Li Xinge’s late-stage Divine Mansion cultivation and begged for his life as the Three Sha Demon God seized him.
• Old Mo revealed that he was the Corpse Jade Demon Venerable, and Elder Jiang recounted how the Great Zhou Imperial Family had destroyed his body and soul seven hundred years earlier.
• Li Xinge let the Three Sha Demon God continue its attack until Old Mo claimed he had discovered a great secret concerning the Heavenly Human Sacred Realm in the imperial mausoleum.
• Li Xinge ordered the demon god to stop and threatened Old Mo with a fate worse than death if his secret proved false.

Old Mo revealed that Great Zhou’s imperial mausoleum was a blood-soaked underground palace where Jiang Clan descendants were drained to support a Heavenly Human Saint’s transformation. Li Xinge learned that the ruler in the ice coffin was battling an even more terrifying living existence, and suspected Great Zhou had spent six thousand years trying to refine it.

• Old Mo recounted how he entered the Great Zhou Imperial Mausoleum and found Jiang Clan descendants chained up and drained into a Blood Pool.
• Old Mo said a figure in an ice coffin was eating its own descendants to pursue the Heavenly Human Saint realm, and Elder Jiang realized his father and other kin had been sent there as blood food.
• Li Xinge doubted that blood sacrifice alone could create a Heavenly Human Saint and tortured Old Mo with the Three Fiends Spirit Swallowing Flame until he revealed more.
• Old Mo disclosed that another living existence, with an aura like a Heavenly Human Saint, was inside the ice coffin and fighting the old monster.
• Li Xinge concluded that Great Zhou’s scheme was to refine the hidden existence and looked toward Shenjing with a bone-chilling expression.

Li Xinge ordered a search for the strange Great Zhou Imperial Mausoleum in Ji Province, then watched Chixiao advance to Demon Lord great perfection after consuming a nurturing pill. He planned to take Chixiao to the Dragon Palace to meet its mother, but Chixiao wrote a message that left him furious and stunned.

• Old Mo told Li Xinge that the Imperial Mausoleum was in Suiyang Prefecture, Ji Province, and that it seemed to move between locations.
• Li Xinge ordered Old Jiang to have Li Yanjing and Night Owl Hall find the Great Zhou Imperial Mausoleum at any cost.
• Chixiao emerged from the Azure Wave Pool at late-stage innate and late-stage Demon Lord cultivation.
• Li Xinge fed Chixiao a tier-four demonic beast nurturing pill, and Chixiao grew to six hundred zhang and advanced to Demon Lord great perfection.
• Li Xinge decided to take Chixiao to the Dragon Palace to meet its mother, but Chixiao formed words with a water arrow that made Li Xinge lose his temper.

Cui Yuan arrived at Green Maple Valley with Cui Chongshan and offered to submit the Chu Province Cui Clan and all of Chu Province to Li Xinge. He promised to help Li Xinge unite the south and claim the title of King of Chu, leaving Li Xinge to decide whether to accept the alliance.

• Li Xinge struck Chixiao after it called him its mother, then noticed Cui Yuan and Cui Chongshan emerging from a spatial gateway outside Green Maple Valley.
• Cui Yuan saw the Li Family’s powerful fortunes and warned Cui Chongshan to humble himself before Li Xinge.
• Cui Yuan and Cui Chongshan entered Green Maple Valley and bowed to Li Xinge, who questioned whether they had come to settle old grievances.
• Cui Yuan offered to lead the Chu Province Cui Clan and all of Chu Province in submitting to Li Xinge.
• Cui Yuan explained that the realm’s turmoil and his own declining strength left the Cui Clan in need of protection, and offered to help Li Xinge unite the south in exchange for the title of King of Chu.

Li Xinge accepted Cui Yuan’s pledge to bring Chu Province under his rule, and Cui Yuan promised to force the Lin and Qu families to submit or destroy them. After the Cui family departed, Li Xinge called Cui Yuan a calculating old fox and joked that Elder Jiang could become his Grand Eunuch if he became emperor.

• Li Xinge declared that he would accept the Cui Clan and promised it would endure as long as he lived, and Cui Yuan and Cui Chongshan formally pledged allegiance to him.
• Li Xinge questioned whether Cui Yuan could truly offer all of Chu Province, given the Lin and Qu families’ influence there.
• Cui Yuan vowed to make the Lin and Qu families submit or eradicate their lineages, then promised to return with Chu Province secured for Li Xinge.
• Li Xinge escorted Cui Yuan and Cui Chongshan away and, after they departed, remarked to Elder Jiang that Cui Yuan was a calculating old fox.
• Elder Jiang professed loyalty to Li Xinge, who joked that he would make him Grand Eunuch if he became emperor.

Li Xinge rode Chixiao across the Endless Sea Region and reached the Underwater Dragon Palace to pay respects to its lord. After Chixiao’s dragon might forced the guards to their knees, three powerful figures appeared and accused Li Xinge of disturbing the Dragon King’s cultivation.

• Li Xinge woke Chixiao and rode the transformed dragon east toward the Endless Sea Region.
• Chixiao’s royal demon bloodline frightened the sea monsters as they flew for three days through the vast ocean.
• Li Xinge and Chixiao plunged into a giant whirlpool and arrived at the Underwater Dragon Palace.
• Shrimp Soldiers and Crab Generals surrounded Li Xinge, but Chixiao’s dragon might made them kneel in fear.
• Li Xinge announced that the Marquis of Chu of the Great Zhou had come to pay respects to the Lord of the Dragon Palace.
• Three Divine Mansion Realm-level figures appeared above the plaza and rebuked Li Xinge for disturbing the Dragon King’s Pure Cultivation.

Li Xinge confronted three Demon Kings of the Underwater Dragon Palace after they accused him of keeping Chixiao as a plaything. He defeated all three in three punches, ignoring a command from the Dragon Palace’s princess to stop.

• The three Demon Kings recognized Chixiao as a dragon seed and threatened Li Xinge, who called them mongrels.
• The black-armored giant attacked Li Xinge, who caught his spear and gravely wounded him with one punch.
• Li Xinge pursued the sinister old man through his toxic ink and killed him with a punch to the head.
• The bewitching woman fled toward the Dragon Palace and called for Her Highness the Princess, but Li Xinge shattered her ice shield and pursued her.
• A woman’s voice ordered Li Xinge to stop, but he ignored her and punched the bewitching woman’s head apart.

Li Xinge faced the Eldest Princess and several Divine Mansion Realm Demon Kings after she confronted him for attacking her subordinates. When she struck him in her dragon form, he blocked her tail with one hand and slammed her into the seabed.

• The Eldest Princess transformed into a thousand-zhang white flood dragon and demanded that Li Xinge explain himself, while seven or eight Dragon Palace Demon Kings gathered around him.
• Li Xinge said he had disciplined her disrespectful subordinates and joked that she should thank him for helping them.
• The Eldest Princess attacked Li Xinge with her dragon tail, but he stopped the blow with one palm without moving.
• Li Xinge seized the Eldest Princess's tail, swung her through the water, and smashed her into the seabed.

Li Xinge repeatedly hurled the Eldest Princess into the sea until she brought out her natal Dragon Pearl and froze the surrounding waters. Li Xinge summoned the Great Sun Golden Crow mark to counter her, but the battle was interrupted by cries for them to stop.

• The Eldest Princess ordered the Dragon Palace Demon Kings to stand back and fought Li Xinge alone.
• Li Xinge dodged the Eldest Princess’s attacks, grabbed her tail, and repeatedly smashed her into the sea.
• The Eldest Princess realized she could not win through physical combat and brought out her natal Dragon Pearl, freezing the sea for thousands of li.
• The Dragon Palace First Elder warned the Demon Kings to retreat as the Eldest Princess unleashed the Dragon Pearl’s power.
• Li Xinge manifested the Great Sun Golden Crow mark, raising the temperature and melting the ice as someone cried for them to stop fighting.

The Qinghe Dragon King interrupted Li Xinge and the Eldest Princess, drawing her fury and a beating before revealing that Chixiao had hatched. When Chixiao hid in Li Xinge’s sleeve and called him Dad, the Eldest Princess accused him of enslaving her child, and Chixiao declared that she was too fierce and it was scared.

• The Qinghe Dragon King rushed in and urged the Eldest Princess to put away her Dragon Pearl, prompting her to attack him instead of Li Xinge.
• The Eldest Princess pinned the Qinghe Dragon King to the ice and beat him while Li Xinge and the Dragon Palace Demon Kings watched.
• The Qinghe Dragon King revealed that he had lied about Chixiao not hatching and pointed the Eldest Princess toward Chixiao, who was wrapped around Li Xinge’s wrist.
• The Eldest Princess accused Li Xinge of enslaving her bloodline, but Chixiao hid in his sleeve and called him Dad.
• Chixiao wrote that the Eldest Princess was fierce and it was scared, leaving the Qinghe Dragon King frozen in disbelief.

Li Xinge defeated the Eldest Princess and entered the Underwater Dragon Palace to discuss the fate of the Endless Sea Region. At a banquet meant to honor him, the Dragon Palace served a mysterious main course that chilled the hall and caught his attention.

• Chixiao transformed into a giant flood dragon and drenched the Eldest Princess, who swallowed her Dragon Pearl and conceded defeat to Li Xinge.
• Li Xinge told the Eldest Princess he had come to discuss the fate of the Endless Sea Region, and she explained that she governed the Underwater Dragon Palace in her father's absence.
• Li Xinge accepted the Eldest Princess's invitation and followed her into the Underwater Dragon Palace.
• The Eldest Princess hosted a banquet for Li Xinge, where a female Demon King called for a meat course to accompany the wine.
• Shark strongmen brought covered platters of sea-soul mystic ice, and the attendants lifted the silk to reveal their contents, making Li Xinge narrow his eyes.

At a Dragon Palace banquet, Li Xinge turned the Demon Kings’ attempt to humiliate him with a dish of human children into a display of overwhelming power. After rescuing the children and preparing the Red Carp Demon King as seafood, he demanded that the Eldest Princess move on to business.

• The female Demon King served two frightened children on a platter and taunted Li Xinge into eating them or insulting the Dragon Palace.
• Li Xinge said he preferred seafood, swept the children to safety, and seized the female Demon King before the assembled Demon Kings could react.
• Li Xinge gutted the Nine-Lived Red Carp Demon King, removed his spirit fish roe, and sliced his flesh while the Eldest Princess and the other Demon Kings watched in horror.
• Li Xinge ate the fish and roe, praised the dish, and asked the Eldest Princess whether anyone had another dish before they discussed business.

Li Xinge forced the Eldest Princess to back down from a confrontation, then asked the Underwater Dragon Palace to help stop the Four Seas Alliance from attacking Jade Prefecture. The Eldest Princess refused, citing the Dragon Palace’s promise to remain neutral.

• Li Xinge threatened to destroy the Underwater Dragon Palace if its Demon Kings tried to kill him, and the Eldest Princess chose not to risk provoking him.
• The Eldest Princess ordered the wounded Nine-Lived Red Carp taken away, acknowledging that she had provoked Li Xinge first.
• Li Xinge told the Eldest Princess that the Four Seas Alliance planned to seize Jade Prefecture and proposed that the Dragon Palace attack the alliance while its forces were occupied.
• The Eldest Princess refused to help either side, explaining that the Dragon Palace had promised the Four Seas Alliance’s chief Alliance Leader to remain neutral.

Li Xinge tried to persuade the Eldest Princess to break her pact with the Four Seas Alliance by revealing Chixiao’s extraordinary cultivation and promising to raise the dragon to Demon King within twenty years. The Eldest Princess refused, insisting that the Dragon Clan’s honor and her promise mattered more than the benefits he offered.

• Li Xinge mocked the Eldest Princess’s talk of integrity, but she reaffirmed that the Underwater Dragon Palace would not send troops for Great Zhou.
• Li Xinge called Chixiao forward and asked the demons to examine its cultivation, revealing that it had reached Demon Lord Great Perfection in little more than ten years.
• The Eldest Princess and the Demon Kings were astonished by Chixiao’s realm, and Li Xinge promised to help it reach Demon King within twenty years if she sent troops.
• The Eldest Princess said she believed Li Xinge could fulfill his promise, but refused to break her pact with the Four Seas Alliance because the Dragon Clan had to uphold its word.

After the Eldest Princess refused to send Dragon Palace troops, Li Xinge left with the two boys, and the Qinghe Dragon King defied her to join him. A half-saint emerged from the ocean trench, and the Dragon Palace’s people recognized him as the Turtle Chancellor.

• Li Xinge accepted the Eldest Princess’s refusal and left the hall with the two boys.
• Ao Qing rebuked the Eldest Princess, followed Li Xinge, and pledged his service in gratitude for Li Xinge’s care of Chixiao.
• Li Xinge welcomed Ao Qing into his following and prepared to leave the Dragon Palace.
• An aged voice from the ocean trench unleashed a powerful aura that halted Li Xinge and revealed the presence of a half-saint.
• The Turtle Chancellor emerged from the trench, and the Dragon Palace’s residents knelt before him.

The Turtle Chancellor praised Li Xinge’s extraordinary potential and agreed to his request on behalf of the Dragon Palace, revealing that the decision came from the injured Dragon King. After Li Xinge left, the Dragon King confirmed that he saw the makings of a Heavenly Human in him and called him a worthy successor.

• The Turtle Chancellor withstood Li Xinge’s resolve and praised his age-defying foundations, saying he might reach the Heavenly Human Sacred Realm.
• The Turtle Chancellor agreed to Li Xinge’s request, and the Eldest Princess reluctantly accepted after learning the Dragon King had ordered it.
• Li Xinge thanked the Turtle Chancellor, then left with the boy, the girl, and the Qinghe Dragon King.
• The Eldest Princess went to the Dragon Palace’s forbidden abyss, where the Turtle Chancellor reported Li Xinge’s departure to the ailing Dragon King.
• The Dragon King agreed with the Turtle Chancellor that Li Xinge had the makings of a Heavenly Human and called him a worthy successor.

Li Xinge strengthened his forces at Myriad Bone Mountain and ordered a campaign against the Four Seas Alliance, while secretly preparing an infiltration of Jade Prefecture. In Chu Province, Cui Yuan summoned Lin Chiyan and Qu Zhengxin to inform them of something.

• Li Xinge brought two gifted children to Myriad Bone Mountain and ordered them to cultivate under the threat of punishment if they proved useless.
• Sky-Eating Demon Venerable introduced Lu Yangxing to Li Xinge, who promised both men rewards for their service, including lifespan-extending medicines for Lu Yangxing.
• Li Xinge ordered the Snowy Robe Sacred Cult to advance toward Yang Province while covertly sending elite forces into Jade Prefecture.
• Cui Yuan received Lin Chiyan and Qu Zhengxin at a mountain pavilion and said he had summoned them to inform them of something.

Cui Yuan forced the Qu and Lin families to agree to serve the Marquis of Chu, then the Azure Sky Demon Venerable tried to recruit the Withered Wood Hermit into the Snowy Robe Sacred Cult. The Withered Wood Hermit refused, and Qing Tian threatened him with the power of the Devil Master and the entire cult.

• Cui Yuan announced that he would lead the Cui Family into the Marquis of Chu’s service and make all of Chu Province his calling card.
• Qu Zhengxin angrily rejected serving Li Xinge, but Cui Yuan threatened the Qu Family with his Divine Mansion pressure and killing intent.
• Qu Zhengxin relented, and Lin Chiyan agreed that the Lin Family would follow Cui Yuan’s decision.
• The Azure Sky Demon Venerable visited the Withered Wood Hermit and offered him a chance to serve the Devil Master in exchange for help advancing his cultivation.
• The Withered Wood Hermit refused to join, so Qing Tian threatened him and warned him not to oppose the Devil Master and the Snowy Robe Sacred Cult.

Withered Wood Hermit agreed to join the Snow Robe Demonic Cult, while Li Xinge secured the Qu and Lin Families’ loyalty and kept Chu Province’s allegiance secret to lure the Four Seas Alliance into action. As the cult mobilized along the border and the Li Family prepared to respond, the Four Seas Alliance’s Grand Alliance Leader, Ming Tianchen, appeared before its fourteen Divine Mansion experts.

• Azure Sky Demon Venerable pressured Withered Wood Hermit into agreeing to serve the Devil Master, then promised that late-stage Divine Mansion might be within his reach.
• Lin Chiyan and Qu Zhengxin pledged their families’ loyalty to Li Xinge, who told Cui Yuan to keep Chu Province’s allegiance secret so the Four Seas Alliance would not retreat.
• The Snow Robe Sacred Cult mobilized millions of demonic cultivators along the Tai Prefecture–Yang Province border, prompting the Li Family to send experts and troops there.
• Ming Tianchen arrived at the Four Seas Alliance’s meeting hall, where its fourteen Divine Mansion experts rose and bowed to their Grand Alliance Leader.

Ming Tianchen rallied the Four Seas Alliance to invade the Central Plains, judging the Devil Master no threat and trusting the Underwater Dragon Palace to remain neutral. He led the alliance’s vast army toward Jade Prefecture to reclaim their ancestral homeland.

• Ming Tianchen dismissed concerns about the Devil Master and declared that seizing Jade Prefecture was the Four Seas Alliance’s immediate priority.
• Elder Galaxy reported that the Li Family had sent its forces to counter the Snow Robe Demonic Cult, leaving only one early-stage Divine Mansion cultivator to guard Jade Prefecture.
• Ming Tianchen assured Elder Galaxy that the Underwater Dragon Palace would remain neutral because its Eldest Princess had promised not to interfere.
• Ming Tianchen ordered the Sea-Summoning Bell rung, and fourteen Divine Mansion Great Experts emerged as tens of millions of Four Seas Alliance cultivators assembled.
• Ming Tianchen urged the alliance to reclaim its homeland and led its army toward the Central Plains.