Recaps

The Xu Family agreed to open the Great Family Competition to invited factions, setting off a scramble across Central Province as the Ye Family backed Ye Chengjun to dominate. Half a month later, the old man mocked Xu Yunting’s assumptions about the Xu Family’s ancestors and explained why he lived like a mortal.

• Xu Ce persuaded Xu Yunting and the Meridian Heads to accept the expanded competition, and Xu Yunting ordered them to recruit young geniuses from across the Divine Continent.
• Kunlun and Penglai contacted the Wang and Lin Families, while the Ye Family Patriarch dismissed the threat and declared that Ye Chengjun could not be defeated.
• Qin Ruoxian told Kong Yue to wait for the person she was expecting, and said Yaochi would compete independently if that person did not come.
• Half a month later, the old man urinated on an unknown grave in the Xu Family ancestral grounds and told Xu Yunting that his brother was buried there.
• The old man rebuked Xu Yunting for judging what he did not understand and said that living like a mortal made his long life meaningful.

Ye Yu completed his divine soul’s transformation and learned that the Xu family had captured the Fat Monk to recruit his strength. The Fat Monk discovered Gu Qianqian’s capture was meant to control him, but Ye Yu warned that a master-servant contract could force him to break his vows.

• Xu Yunting gave the restored Spring Charm Sword to the old man and admitted he wanted to use Xinru’s remnant soul to control Li Daoyi for the Xu family.
• Ye Yu awakened after half a month and completed his transformation into a Law Tier divine soul.
• Ye Yu returned to the Xu family grounds and found the Fat Monk, Gong Jiuxiao, who said the Xu family had captured him and taken Gu Qianqian.
• Ye Yu reassured the Fat Monk that Gu Qianqian would be kept safe to control him, and the Fat Monk resumed eating.
• Ye Yu warned the Fat Monk that a master-servant contract could force him to break his vows, leaving the Fat Monk asking what he should do.

Ye Yu recruited the Fat Monk and learned that his heart demon might stem from an idea he could not let go of, while the Calming Incantation temporarily eased it. As the Great Family Competition began, Ye Yu joined the Xu family delegation heading to Heavenly Abyss, while Xu Yunxi left Yan Shang Cave Mansion despite Po Jun's warning.

• Ye Yu offered the Fat Monk a master-servant contract, and the Fat Monk signed after Ye Yu promised not to force him to break his vows.
• Guan Yunlan confirmed the contract and intimidated the Fat Monk, while Ye Yu explained his unusual position in the Xu family.
• The Fat Monk identified Ye Yu's heart demon as an obsession and gave him a Calming Incantation, which Ye Yu used to suppress it temporarily.
• When the Great Family Competition approached, Ye Yu greeted Xu Yunting and Guan Yunlan as his grandparents and joined their group traveling to Heavenly Abyss.
• Xu Yunxi sensed something from within Yan Shang Cave Mansion and walked out despite Po Jun warning her that she would regret it.

Xu Yunxi sought comfort from Weng Buyu's fortune-telling before departing, while Yan Hongshuang remained in Azure Prefecture. The Xu family arrived at Heavenly Abyss for the Great Family Competition, where Ye Yu stared into the abyss and seemed to see a giant hand reaching for him.

• Xu Yunxi vanished from Po Jun's sight, leaving him laughing alone in Yan Shang Cave Mansion.
• Weng Buyu urged Yan Hongshuang to visit Central Prefecture, but she said she had accepted that her feelings for Ye Yu would come to nothing.
• Xu Yunxi asked Weng Buyu to read the character “feather,” and his reading suggested she wished to protect someone while carrying deep sorrow.
• Xu Yunxi told Weng Buyu that the outcome depended on whether he would let her believe in fate, then left.
• The Xu family arrived at Heavenly Abyss, where Xu Yunting exchanged barbs with Ye Huang before Lin Qingcang called them to drink.
• Ye Yu stood beside Heavenly Abyss and seemed to see a giant hand slowly reaching up from its depths.

Ye Yu rejected Guan Yunlan’s appeal for family affection and waited at the Heavenly Abyss for the Great Family Competition to begin. As the factions gathered, he recognized that the Ye Family had joined forces with the royal clan and warned Fat Monk not to act rashly.

• Guan Yunlan compared Ye Yu’s distrust of family to his fear of the Heavenly Abyss, but Ye Yu said he would rather give up affection than fear losing it.
• Ye Yu failed to contact Murong Xue, then drank with Fat Monk while invited sects arrived for the Great Family Competition.
• Zheng Xiang told Ye Yu to find him in the ancient battlefield, while Kunlun and Penglai openly aligned with the Wang and Lin Families.
• Qin Ruoxian brought Yaochi to the competition but did not join either side, disappointing Xu Yunting.
• As the competition neared, Ye Yu noticed that many Ye Family members had strangely colored eyes and concluded that they had sought out the royal clan.
• Ye Yu told Fat Monk not to act rashly after realizing the other families appeared to have tacitly permitted the Ye Family’s alliance.

Ye Yu entered the ancient battlefield for the Great Family Competition and chose to stay hidden rather than compete for territory. After the Xu family group split from him, he sent out his puppets to scout while a revelation at the Xu family camp shocked Guan Yunlan.

• Ye Yu led Fat Monk into the battlefield, concealed their auras with the Void Sky Cauldron, and headed into a dense forest with members of the Xu family.
• Ye Yu told the group to wait and observe, but a late Void Refining cultivator and others rejected his caution and left to seek territory.
• Ye Yu refused to pursue the competition's rewards, and Fat Monk agreed there was no need to prove himself to the others.
• Ye Yu released his remaining puppets and sent them in several directions to scout the battlefield.
• At the Xu family camp, Guan Yunlan stood abruptly and demanded that Xu Yunting repeat what he had said.

Xu Yunting allowed the royal clans into the Great Family Competition despite Guan Yunlan's objections, while Ye Yu and Zheng Xiang searched the Cloud Thunder Sect ruins for the Illusory Dragon Wind Lightning Body. They reached a statue of the Thunder Emperor after following Lei Dong's compass.

• Xu Yunting told Guan Yunlan that he would sacrifice even her for the Xu family, and she left after urging him to cut his losses.
• Ye Yu searched the ancient battlefield, found Zheng Xiang near a spirit spring, and agreed to help him seek the Cloud Thunder Sect ruins and the Illusory Dragon Wind Lightning Body.
• Ye Yu and Zheng Xiang evaded the Misty Sect's spiritual senses and entered the Cloud Thunder Sect, which the Misty Sect had claimed.
• Zheng Xiang followed a compass guided by Lei Dong's origin power deeper into the ruins, where Ye Yu recognized a statue of the Thunder Emperor.

Ye Yu discovered an inheritance hidden inside a statue in the Cloud Thunder Sect but worried that obtaining it would leave their bodies vulnerable, so Zheng Xiang decided to call on the Dark Hall to take the sect. As they waited outside, three explosions erupted near a resource point where members of the Xu family had been seen.

• Ye Yu found a Sea of Thunder and a throne inside the statue, then told Zheng Xiang that it contained an inheritance.
• Ye Yu warned that the inheritance might be dangerous to pursue and said they would need the Dark Hall's power to secure the Cloud Thunder Sect; Zheng Xiang agreed to summon it.
• Fat Monk reported seeing Xu family members at a spirit spring occupied by the Heavenly Enlightenment Sect, but Ye Yu refused to involve them because they were not controllable.
• Zheng Xiang sent a message with a Dark Hall communication jade talisman, and the group waited as fighting spread across the ancient battlefield.
• Three explosions sounded near the second-grade resource point where Fat Monk had seen the Xu family members.

Ye Yu defeated two Heavenly Qi Sect cultivators to save Wu Yuan, who then asked to follow him and focused on surviving. As Dark Hall members gathered in the forest, Ye Yu sensed Curse Power from a newcomer’s left leg and suspected he was from the Ye family.

• Zheng Xiang predicted that the Xu family’s scattered fighters would lose, and they fled after Heavenly Qi Sect overwhelmed them.
• Wu Yuan crashed down near Ye Yu’s group while fleeing two Heavenly Qi Sect cultivators and begged for help.
• Ye Yu killed the pursuers with Sword Qi and told Wu Yuan to carry their corpses toward Cloud Thunder Sect to provoke conflict.
• After returning, Wu Yuan asked to follow Ye Yu, who agreed, and Wu Yuan reflected on the danger of Central Province and his lack of choice in joining the Xu family.
• Over the next few days, Dark Hall members gathered in the forest, and Ye Yu sensed Curse Power in a newcomer’s left leg and recognized a possible connection to the Ye family.

Ye Yu joined the Dark Hall’s assault on the Cloud Thunder Sect, where the Misty Sect’s defenses turned the raid into a stalemate. As thunder from the sect-protecting formation blocked the Dark Hall’s advance, Zheng Xiang looked to Ye Yu, who only shook his head.

• Zheng Xiang announced a reward of five thousand Dark Points for capturing the Cloud Thunder Sect’s resource site and told Ye Yu to stay near the rear.
• Ye Yu caught a Dark Hall member who had stayed behind and exposed him as a member of the Misty Sect.
• Ye Yu explained to Wu Yuan that he had never trusted him or cared about the Xu Lineage’s rewards, while Fat Monk and Wu Yuan discussed their differing views on ambition and responsibility.
• The Dark Hall attacked the Misty Sect, killing more than fifty people and forcing the survivors deeper into the Cloud Thunder Sect, while the attackers collected their fallen comrades’ Rings of Holding.
• The Misty Sect activated a weakened version of the Cloud Thunder Sect’s protecting formation, and its thunderbolts and coordinated defense stopped the Dark Hall’s advance.
• Zheng Xiang looked to Ye Yu for guidance as the Dark Hall considered retreating, but Ye Yu only shook his head.

Ye Yu followed a divine-soul thread to a hidden forest of Wood and Grass Spirits and discovered the green lotus Ye Chengjun had found in the Changlan Ruins. After sending lesser Demonic Beasts into the forest to investigate, Ye Yu returned to find the Fat Monk confronted by people searching for him.

• Ye Yu admitted to Zheng Xiang that he had drawn the Dark Hall to the Cloud Thunder Sect to locate Ye family members, and Zheng Xiang accepted his answer about being rescued if he had been in danger.
• Ye Yu and the Fat Monk followed Ye Yu's divine-soul thread for a day and night until it disappeared near a barren area.
• Ye Yu found a forest made entirely of Wood and Grass Spirits and saw the green lotus Ye Chengjun had obtained in the Changlan Ruins.
• Ye Yu drove ten lesser Demonic Beasts into the green lotus's range so he could search their souls if they returned, then went back to the Fat Monk.
• A woman holding Ye Yu's portrait confronted the Fat Monk and asked where Ye Yu was, and the Fat Monk said he did not know.

Ye Yu met Qing Yi and learned that Qin Ruoxian had ordered Yaochi to follow his instructions in the Ancient Battlefield, despite the sacrifices she had made to take control of Yaochi. Qing Yi doubted Ye Yu was worthy of Qin Ruoxian, while Ye Yu stayed silent and waited for his Demonic Beasts to return.

• Ye Yu suppressed the Fat Monk's Sanskrit sounds and asked Qing Yi what she wanted with him.
• Qing Yi identified herself and said the Saintess had ordered Yaochi to follow Ye Yu's instructions; she revealed that Yaochi had occupied a Level One resource point.
• Ye Yu told Qing Yi to remain with him while the others returned to defend the resource point, then concealed their movements with a barrier.
• Ye Yu asked after Qin Ruoxian, and Qing Yi said the Saintess had taken control of Yaochi but had sacrificed too much.
• Qing Yi said Yaochi's disciples could die for Ye Yu, then warned that he was unworthy of Qin Ruoxian because he had not overcome his inner demon.
• Ye Yu did not argue with Qing Yi, and the Fat Monk wondered whether Ye Yu wanted to escape the world because he had chosen to live only for himself.

Ye Yu used soul-searching to discover that Ye Chengjun and many powerful cultivators were hiding in a nearby forest, then set the forest ablaze to force them out. As their spiritual net suppressed the Dragon Phoenix Fire, Ye Yu revealed his mastery of human and sword as one and prepared to strike with the Purple Firmament Sword.

• Ye Yu searched the souls of several Demonic Beasts and eventually saw Ye Chengjun cultivating in the dense forest with other Ye family members.
• Ye Yu summoned the Dragon Phoenix Fire and sent it into the forest, drawing out spiritual lights from hidden cultivators.
• More than ten Body Integration Realm cultivators formed a spiritual net to smother the flames, while Ye Yu told the Fat Monk to keep watch.
• The Fat Monk shielded Ye Yu with a Buddhist technique, and Qing Yi offered to protect him before Ye Yu refused.
• Ye Yu revealed that he had reached the realm of human and sword as one, ignited the Purple Firmament Sword with the Dragon Phoenix Fire, and poured Karma power into it.

Ye Yu used Dragon Phoenix Fire to draw out Ye Chengjun, then clashed with him before escaping with Qing Yi under the Void Sky Cauldron’s concealment. He reached the Jade Pool’s resource point, where the others reacted coldly to the black aura between his brows, and he collapsed after spitting up blood.

• Ye Yu strengthened the Dragon Phoenix Fire with Karma power and burned through the spiritual net as nearby cultivators approached.
• Ye Chengjun appeared with the Emperor Flame Sword and fought Ye Yu, whose Haotian Mirror fragments strengthened the Purple Firmament Sword.
• Ye Yu struck Ye Chengjun with green light, then concealed himself and Qing Yi with the Void Sky Cauldron and escaped.
• Ye Chengjun ordered the onlookers to leave, while Lin Qingyue recognized Ye Yu as his mysterious opponent.
• News of the clash spread through the Ancient Battlefield, and Qing Yi led Ye Yu to the Jade Pool’s resource point.
• The Jade Pool cultivators looked coldly at the black aura between Ye Yu’s brows, and Ye Yu spat out blood streaked with green light.

Ye Yu deduced that Ye Chengjun and the royal clans had joined forces to open a hidden place in the ancient battlefield, and he sent Qing Yi to delay them while he went to investigate. The Eastern Palace emerged, but Ye Chengjun revealed that he had been waiting to turn against the royal clans.

• The Cauldron Spirit refused to let Ye Yu control it, and Ye Yu realized he needed to advance his power of Karma to suppress it.
• Ye Yu deduced that Ye Chengjun and the royal clans were seeking a place linked to a copper fragment, then told Qing Yi to disrupt their resource points while he went alone.
• Ye Chengjun ordered an ally to spread news of the royal clans, intending to draw humans to the site and kill the royal clan prodigies.
• The Eastern Palace rose from the ground, and the Jade Spirit Clan prodigy used the copper fragment to open its doors.
• Ye Chengjun glowed with golden light in harmony with the Eastern Palace and declared that the royal clans would die there.

Ye Chengjun trapped the royal clans inside the Eastern Palace while waiting for the Imperial Edict to form, but other major factions stayed away and the barrier eventually broke. As the battle drained Ye Chengjun, Ye Yu joined the field and watched the Ye family sacrifice exhausted cultivators to stall the royal clans.

• Ye Chengjun and the Ye family sealed the royal clans inside a barrier as the Imperial Edict began forming in the Eastern Palace.
• Ye Chengjun learned that few factions had answered his call, while Kunlun, Penglai, and Jade Pool were absent.
• The royal clans broke the barrier, and Ye Chengjun fought their prodigies with the help of the Ye family and the factions that arrived.
• Ye Yu watched as Ye Chengjun defeated three royal prodigies, then collapsed from exhaustion.
• Ye Yu entered the battlefield as the Ye family fed spiritual energy into exhausted Void Refinement Stage cultivators and threw them at the advancing royal clans, causing their Nascent Souls to explode.

Ye Yu fought Ye Chengjun as the Imperial Edict strengthened Ye Chengjun and formed the Human Emperor Seal. As Ye Chengjun neared the Emperor’s recognition, Ye Yu revealed that he, too, had been acknowledged by the Imperial Edict and held a fragment of the Human Emperor Seal.

• Ye Chengjun used Ye family members to buy time by making them detonate their Nascent Souls, but Ye Yu slipped through and attacked him.
• Ye Yu trapped Ye Chengjun’s azure lotus with three Haotian Mirror fragments and clashed with him using the Purple Firmament Sword.
• The royal clans retreated toward the Eastern Palace to seize the nearly completed Imperial Edict, while Ye Chengjun focused on fighting Ye Yu.
• Ye Chengjun’s Imperial Power gradually overpowered Ye Yu’s power of Karma as golden light from the Imperial Edict flowed into him.
• Ye Yu challenged the Void Sky Cauldron’s spirit to act, but it refused, and Ye Chengjun’s Human Emperor Seal continued to take shape.
• Ye Yu revealed a golden fragment of the Human Emperor Seal, showing that the Imperial Edict had acknowledged him as well as Ye Chengjun.

Ye Yu took part of the Human Emperor Seal from Ye Chengjun, escaped the ensuing battle, and hid while suppressing his inner demon. Fat Monk helped him recognize that his past self was still part of him, leaving Ye Yu to accept the cause that had made him who he was.

• Ye Yu took one corner of the Human Emperor Seal, and the royal clans stopped Ye Chengjun from pursuing him as he left.
• After Ye Yu disappeared, the royal clans fled, leaving Ye Chengjun alone with the Imperial Edict's acknowledgment but no complete Imperial Art or Imperial Path.
• Ye Yu hid in a mountain forest with the Void Sky Cauldron's power and used the Calming Incantation for several days to stabilize his inner demon.
• Fat Monk found Ye Yu by sensing the Calming Incantation and asked whether he was all right.
• Fat Monk urged Ye Yu not to deny his past self, and Ye Yu realized that his past and present selves were one whole.

Ye Yu struggled to accept that his past self was necessary for him to advance, then emerged from months of despair by choosing to follow the path of those before him. He awakened Imperial Power and resolved to rule the Divine Continent and make the myriad races submit to him.

• Ye Yu broke down when the Fat Monk told him he needed to accept his former self, and he remained dazed for several months.
• While Ye Yu sat motionless, human forces slaughtered many royal clans, and Ye Chengjun seized most ancient battlefield resource points after defeating the combined heavenly geniuses.
• The Cauldron Spirit confronted Ye Yu, but three Haotian Mirror fragments blocked his way and guarded Ye Yu.
• Ye Yu rose and declared that he would follow the path of those before him, causing Ye Chengjun to sense his heavenly fate slipping away.
• Ye Yu awakened Imperial Power through the Human Emperor Seal, forced the Void Sky Cauldron from his dantian, and erased the Power of Karma and Curse Power.
• Ye Yu declared that he would seize control of the world and make the Divine Continent and myriad races submit to him.

Ye Yu’s fate began transforming toward that of a Heaven’s Mandate Holder as the figure within the Human Emperor Seal confronted the Cauldron Spirit and drove it away. After the figure merged back into the seal, Ye Yu gained the Imperial Art and discovered that Karma and Imperial Power coexisted within him.

• Ye Yu’s Fate Locks began to crumble, and the Cauldron Spirit failed to stop his transformation despite warning that Xu Yunxi might sacrifice herself for him.
• The figure atop the Human Emperor Seal appeared, mocked the Cauldron Spirit for its cowardice and betrayal, and noted that Ye Yu resembled his former self.
• The figure seized the Void Sky Cauldron and cast it through a spatial rift, then the Cauldron Spirit followed, threatening revenge.
• The figure questioned the silent Haotian Mirror fragments, returned to the Human Emperor Seal, and the fragments went back into Ye Yu’s dantian.
• The Fat Monk returned to his seat and decided that other people’s secrets mattered less than keeping his precepts.
• Ye Yu received the Imperial Art and sensed that the black-and-white power of Karma intertwined with the Imperial Power inside him.

Ye Yu’s actions weakened Ye Chengjun’s destiny, while Xu Yunxi hurried toward Central Province after the Cauldron Spirit delivered the Kunpeng spirit to her. The Palace Lord of Azure Heaven stopped her because he owed Ye Yu a favor, but Xu Yunxi broke through his palace and returned with the Void Sky Cauldron pressed against Luo Ying’s brow.

• Ye Chengjun vowed to kill Ye Yu after sensing his destiny weaken, while Ye Yu remained hidden in the ancient battlefield.
• The Cauldron Spirit appeared beside Xu Yunxi, merged the Kunpeng spirit into her, and prompted her to hurry toward Central Province.
• The Palace Lord of Azure Heaven told Xu Yunxi he had met Ye Yu and invited her into Azure Heaven Palace, where she reunited with his disciple Luo Ying.
• The Palace Lord sealed Azure Heaven Palace and tried to keep Xu Yunxi from reaching Central Province, saying he owed Ye Yu a favor.
• Xu Yunxi smashed through the palace with the Void Sky Cauldron, then returned and pressed it against Luo Ying’s brow.

Xu Yunxi discovered that the Palace Lord of Azure Heaven had used her to speak to Luo Ying, who died without waking as he was left overwhelmed by regret. Meanwhile, Ye Yu decided to lead Jade Pool into the Great Family Competition and headed for the Lin family’s resource point.

• Xu Yunxi lowered the Void Sky Cauldron rather than harm Luo Ying, and the Palace Lord of Azure Heaven admitted he had hoped Xu Yunxi would kill his only attachment.
• Luo Ying wept as her decay worsened, and Xu Yunxi condemned the Palace Lord for pretending to give her a choice.
• After Xu Yunxi left, Luo Ying crumbled into ash, and the Palace Lord collapsed in regret beside the empty bronze coffin.
• Ye Yu told the Fat Monk he intended to win the Great Family Competition because he was emperor, then went to Jade Pool’s resource point.
• Ye Yu ordered Qing Yi to take him to the Lin family’s resource point while Jade Pool’s remaining members rested.
• At the Lin family’s resource point, Qiao Linglong asked Lin Qingyue what she was thinking about.

Ye Yu cured Lin Qingyue’s Heavenly Profound Ice Spirit Body and gathered allies to plan a counterattack against the Ye Family. He claimed he would deal with Ye Chengjun, then demonstrated his strength by holding Lu Kong at swordpoint.

• Qiao Linglong tried to comfort Lin Qingyue about the Ye Family’s looming victory, but Ye Yu arrived with Qing Yi and offered to cure Lin Qingyue in exchange for gathering the factions opposing the Ye Family.
• Ye Yu used Dragon Phoenix Fire to break the Heavenly Profound chill afflicting Lin Qingyue, and she sent a message summoning the Wang Family, Kunlun, and Penglai.
• Three days later, Wang Lie, Zhuge Tianlong, and Lu Kong arrived; Ye Yu identified himself as Xu Family’s Ye Yu and called for a counterattack against the Ye Family.
• When the others questioned whether Ye Yu could face Ye Chengjun, Lu Kong mocked him, and Ye Yu instantly pressed the Purple Firmament Sword to Lu Kong’s neck and suppressed his spiritual power.
• Ye Yu asked the stunned Zhuge Tianlong whether he was qualified now.

Ye Yu gathered support from several powers to attack the Ye Family and secure the Xu Family’s position in the Great Family Competition. The alliance seized Ye Family resource points, but Ye Chengjun struck back with overwhelming force as the competition neared its end.

• Ye Yu refused Wang Lie’s offer to join the Wang Family and proposed that the Xu Family take half of the Ye Family’s resource points while the other forces divided the rest.
• Lin Qingyue objected to Ye Yu’s proposal, so Ye Yu excluded the Lin Family; after the other forces agreed, Lin Qingyue accepted, but Ye Yu said she had lost her chance and left with his allies.
• Lin Qingyue later kept the Lin Family out of the conflict, while the other forces remained quiet for several months.
• Three days before the Great Family Competition ended, Kunlun, Penglai, Yaochi, and the Wang Family attacked the Ye Family and took its resource points for the Xu Family and their own forces.
• Ye Chengjun saw the Ye Family’s losses, flew toward the attackers, and unleashed a devastating sword strike that killed many cultivators.
• Lin Qingyue saw that Ye Chengjun had grown even stronger, and a spatial rift opened above the Ancient Battlefield as the competition neared its end.

Ye Yu and Ye Chengjun clashed at the ancient battlefield’s spatial rift, where the other factions watched and waited for an opening. Their powers proved evenly matched, and neither could retreat from their contest for supremacy.

• Ye Yu, Zhuge Tianlong, Wang Lie, and Lu Kong watched Ye Chengjun vent his anger as the spatial rift drew more people toward it.
• Ye Chengjun led the depleted Ye family to the rift to stop Ye Yu from escaping, while Lin Qingyue brought the Lin family there and warned them to avoid conflict.
• Ye Chengjun attacked the gathered factions, but Ye Yu intercepted his sword strike, and the two recognized each other’s Imperial Power.
• Ye Chengjun and Ye Yu charged and exchanged hundreds of blows, matching each other’s strength as the spatial rift stabilized.
• Ye Yu and Ye Chengjun clashed with their Dharma Realm divine souls, found neither could overcome the other, and resumed their standoff under the watchful eyes of the other factions.