Recaps

Zhang Yuan presided over Great Heng’s court in disguise, using his Celestial Person power to make the officials accept him as emperor. Minister Pei then abruptly denounced him as a false emperor and summoned three Dust-Dyed Realm Celestial Persons, leaving Zhang Yuan ready to test his abilities against them.

• Tan Chengcheng told Zhang Yuan that the Great Heng Empress would not attend, so he had to preside over court himself.
• Zhang Yuan demanded that the officials kneel, and his pressure forced Minister Pei to bow and the assembled officials to recognize him as their emperor.
• After briefly submitting, Minister Pei denounced Zhang Yuan as a false emperor and called on Senior Wenren, Senior Deng, and Senior Lu to subdue him.
• Deng Qiuzhi, Wenren Shangzhi, and Lu Danyan entered the Golden Throne Hall, and Zhang Yuan prepared to test [Penetrating Heaven's Subtleties] against them.

Zhang Yuan faced three Celestial Persons who came to kill the Great Heng False Emperor, but the First God Cult Master intervened to protect him. As Wenren Shangzhi pursued them, Zhang Yuan revealed his identity, leaving Wenren shocked to learn that the False Emperor was Zhang Yuan.

• Wenren Shangzhi, Deng Qiuzhi, and Lu Danyan demanded that the False Emperor surrender, and Zhang Yuan refused to be intimidated.
• The First God Cult Master appeared and declared that Zhang Yuan was under his protection; Lu Danyan withdrew, but Wenren Shangzhi and Deng Qiuzhi stood their ground.
• The First God Cult Master carried Zhang Yuan away in black mist, and Wenren Shangzhi pursued them through the Great Void.
• Wenren Shangzhi destroyed the black mist and confronted Zhang Yuan, who stood suspended in the air using Miasma Wind and Clear Qi.
• Zhang Yuan removed his concealment, and Wenren Shangzhi realized the Great Heng False Emperor was Zhang Yuan before demanding that he hand over Ao Xiu.

Zhang Yuan used [Penetrating Heaven's Subtleties] to borrow Xiao Yuanjun's mystic wonders and challenge Wenren Shangzhi. He wounded the Celestial Person Perfection True Dragon with a sword strike, but Wenren Shangzhi remained alive.

• Zhang Yuan summoned Xiao Yuanjun's Dharma Form through [Penetrating Heaven's Subtleties], while Wenren Shangzhi assessed the borrowed power and chose to fight.
• Wenren Shangzhi rushed Zhang Yuan with a punch, but Zhang Yuan used [Dusk Veil] to meet it head-on and cracked a bone in his own fist.
• Zhang Yuan drew the [Primordial Form-Converging Sword] and used [Dusk Veil] and [Myriad Forms Transformation] to strengthen a strike against Wenren Shangzhi.
• Zhang Yuan followed his sword attack with [Yellow Springs Arrival], breaking Wenren Shangzhi's scales and badly wounding his arms.
• Wenren Shangzhi was hurled into a mountain in Great Heng and realized Zhang Yuan had another mystic wonder.

Zhang Yuan failed to kill Wenren Shangzhi, whose body kept fighting even after Zhang severed his head. Qin Tianyi seized the head and fled, with Wenren Shangzhi in pursuit and Zhang Yuan following to see what Qin was after.

• Wenren Shangzhi regenerated from Zhang Yuan's attacks and struck back with a spear, but Zhang used the Northern Profound-Devouring Nether Capital Banner to weaken it.
• Zhang Yuan severed Wenren Shangzhi's head with the Primordial Form-Converging Sword, but Wenren Shangzhi kept fighting and pinned the blade in his hand.
• Wenren Shangzhi punched at Zhang Yuan, whose Sun-Moon Seven-Hue Robe blocked the blow with its divine radiance.
• Qin Tianyi arrived, grabbed Wenren Shangzhi's severed head, and fled while Wenren Shangzhi pursued him through the Great Void.
• Qin Tianyi demanded Wenren Shangzhi's frozen spear in exchange for his head, and Zhang Yuan followed them in his Golden Carriage.

Zhang Yuan pursued Qin Tianyi with Wenren Shangzhi after revealing [Penetrating Heaven's Subtleties] to reassure the watching [True Lord Ceased Light Punishes Thoughts]. The chase ended at an ancient True Dragon Palace, where Qin Tianyi proposed that they explore its great opportunities together.

• [True Lord Ceased Light Punishes Thoughts] watched Zhang Yuan depart and concluded that [Penetrating Heaven's Subtleties] could not threaten a True Lord.
• Zhang Yuan kept his distance behind Wenren Shangzhi and explained to Chi Guanguan that he was dueling with Ji Guang across the void.
• After two days and a night, Qin Tianyi, Wenren Shangzhi, and Zhang Yuan landed together at an ancient palace.
• Qin Tianyi returned Wenren Shangzhi's head, which Wenren Shangzhi reattached before looking at the palace.
• Qin Tianyi identified the palace as a South Sea True Dragon Palace from the Elder Era and said that great opportunities lay within.

Wenren Shangzhi, Qin Tianyi, and Zhang Yuan gathered at an immense Elder Era True Dragon Palace, where three layers of restrictions blocked the way to its treasures. Zhang Yuan began removing the sword-qi restriction with Chi Guanguan’s help, leaving the palace’s secrets still unknown.

• Wenren Shangzhi recognized the mountain-sized palace as an Elder Era South Sea Dragon Clan site and suspected a Great Yi Immortal had left it.
• Qin Tianyi proposed that the three share the palace’s fortune and explained that he had suppressed its thunder restriction, leaving a sword-qi barrier and Dragon Clan formation.
• Chi Guanguan told Zhang Yuan that the palace likely held a great treasure, and Zhang Yuan set aside his grudges to pursue it.
• Wenren Shangzhi stepped aside for Zhang Yuan to handle the sword-qi restriction.
• Zhang Yuan drew the sword qi from the palace’s mark into his [Lamp-Lighting Oil-Adding Pill] while Chi Guanguan prepared to help suppress it.

Zhang Yuan, Qin Tianyi, and Wenren Shangzhi removed the Traveling Palace’s restrictions but could not break into it. Tan Yaozheng, the Great Heng Dynasty’s Fifth Princess, appeared and offered a way inside, leaving the three to ask what she had in mind.

• Zhang Yuan subdued the Sword Qi at a cost, and Qin Tianyi promised him first choice of a treasure or opportunity they found.
• Wenren Shangzhi used a drop of South Sea True Dragon blood to remove one corner of the Traveling Palace’s formation.
• Qin Tianyi’s thunderbolt and Wenren Shangzhi’s full-strength punch failed to breach the palace, while Zhang Yuan said his remaining Sword Qi was too weak.
• Tan Yaozheng emerged from a thicket and claimed national fortune would protect her within Great Heng’s borders.
• Zhang Yuan, Qin Tianyi, and Wenren Shangzhi attacked Tan Yaozheng, but her national-fortune barrier blocked their strikes, and they asked her to explain her method.

Zhang Yuan and his companions entered the True Dragon Palace after Tan Yaozheng’s divine shovel carved a tunnel through its walls. Inside, they found mountains of treasure and an ancient fire dragon corpse, which demanded Wenren Shangzhi’s body to revive itself; Wenren Shangzhi defied it and vowed to kill it.

• Tan Yaozheng revealed that her shovel was a Divine Artifact of the Great Heng Founder and used it to dig a tunnel into the Traveling Palace.
• Wenren Shangzhi entered the tunnel first, followed by Qin Tianyi, Zhang Yuan, and Tan Yaozheng.
• As they walked, Zhang Yuan asked Chi Guanguan whether Tan Yaozheng was real, and Chi Guanguan confirmed that she was.
• The group entered a vast, lamp-lit hall filled with treasures and found the corpse of an enormous crimson True Dragon.
• The dragon corpse opened one eye, demanded Wenren Shangzhi’s body to revive itself, and prompted Wenren Shangzhi to vow to cut off its head.

Wenren Changguang awakened in the Traveling Palace and tried to possess Wenren Shangzhi, but Wenren Shangzhi defeated him in a clash. After claiming the fight was only a test and offering a Jade Slip, Wenren Changguang fled, leaving Zhang Yuan, Qin Tianyi, and Wenren Shangzhi in pursuit.

• Wenren Changguang unleashed his draconic might and attacked Wenren Shangzhi with [Dragonflame Sky-Splitting Claw].
• Wenren Shangzhi answered with a vastly larger dragon claw and sent Wenren Changguang crashing into the palace wall.
• Wenren Changguang realized Wenren Shangzhi was a fellow South Sea True Dragon and claimed his attack had been a test before offering him a Jade Slip.
• Wenren Changguang put away the Jade Slip, smashed through the Traveling Palace, and fled from the mountain.
• Zhang Yuan and Qin Tianyi chased Wenren Changguang, and Wenren Shangzhi followed them.

Zhang Yuan pursued Wenren Changguang and learned that True Lord Ceased Light Punishes Thoughts wanted to ambush the True Dragon for his treasures. As Nether Bureau Ghost Deities closed in, a streak of tricolor light raced toward Wenren Changguang.

• Zhang Yuan mistook Tan Yaozheng for Ji Guang and grabbed her, but True Lord Ceased Light Punishes Thoughts manifested in a flame and proved Tan Yaozheng was not him.
• True Lord Ceased Light Punishes Thoughts asked Zhang Yuan to lure Wenren Changguang to Heaven-Reaching City for an ambush, and Zhang Yuan agreed in exchange for the jade slip.
• Chi Guanguan explained that Ji Guang could manifest through fiery emotions because of his golden position, and Zhang Yuan rejected cultivating the heartless dao to stop him.
• Zhang Yuan increased the Golden Carriage's speed, overtook Qin Tianyi, and continued pursuing Wenren Changguang as Nether Bureau Ghost Deities approached.
• Wenren Changguang spotted a streak of tricolor light hurtling toward him at extraordinary speed.

Zhang Yuan pursued Wenren Changguang toward Heaven-Reaching City, where the First God Cult prepared to capture the dragon for his Qi-Blood. The Eastern Sunken Pavilion’s proprietor reassured the First God Cult Master that their Holy Son was alive and likely back in the capital.

• Zhang Yuan repeatedly rammed Wenren Changguang with the Qi-Radiance Golden Carriage, leaving the dragon covered in bleeding holes as Wenren Shangzhi followed with Qin Tianyi.
• Wenren Shangzhi resolved to kill Wenren Changguang and take his Core Pellet to help his revived daughter Wenren Xixiang recover.
• Wenren Changguang reached the skies near Heaven-Reaching City, sensed a Great Luo within, and tried to retreat.
• The First God Cult Master sent Tan Duanchang and Deputy Cult Master Gao to subdue Wenren Changguang and obtain his Qi-Blood and Conceptual Image for the First God Dharma Body.
• The First God Cult Master asked about Zhang Yuan, and the Eastern Sunken Pavilion’s proprietor assured him that the Holy Son would not die easily and should have returned to the capital.

Wenren Changguang arrived above Heaven-Reaching City and was surrounded and killed by cultivators seeking his True Dragon body. His soul was seized by the Nether Bureau, while the young man in a Confucian Robe recognized the weapon that had killed him as the Dragon-Slaying Blade.

• Celestial Persons in Heaven-Reaching City saw Wenren Changguang and rushed to attack him for his valuable True Dragon body.
• Deng Qiuzhi struck Wenren Changguang into the mountains, and Zhang Yuan and the others surrounded him above the resulting magma lake.
• Deputy Cult Master Gao demanded most of Wenren Changguang's flesh and blood, and Lu Danyan asked for the Dragon Horns.
• Deputy Cult Master Gao used the Dragon-Slaying Blade to sever Wenren Changguang's head and kill his body.
• A Ghost Deity hand pulled Wenren Changguang's soul into the Great Void before the cultivators could destroy it.
• The young man in a Confucian Robe identified the Dragon-Slaying Blade and reflected that the First God Cult's hidden patron was growing anxious.

After Wenren Changguang was killed, the Celestial Persons around Heaven-Reaching City hesitated over who would claim his corpse. Wenren Shangzhi tried to use his South Sea Dragon Clan ties to take it, but Zhang Yuan challenged him, and the two prepared to fight.

• The assembled Celestial Persons held back after Wenren Changguang died, while Zhang Yuan and Tan Yaozheng concealed themselves and watched for the first move.
• Wenren Shangzhi and Qin Tianyi arrived, and Wenren Shangzhi claimed Wenren Changguang as an ancestor of the South Sea Dragon Clan and threatened anyone who obstructed him.
• Tan Duanchang and Deputy Cult Master Gao misread Wenren Shangzhi's signal and backed away, frustrating him.
• Zhang Yuan challenged Wenren Shangzhi's claim to the corpse, and Qin Tianyi immediately backed Zhang Yuan.
• Zhang Yuan activated his abilities and struck at Wenren Shangzhi with his sword, turning their staged confrontation into a potentially real fight.

Zhang Yuan, Wenren Shangzhi, and Qin Tianyi each took valuable parts or materials from Wenren Changguang’s dragon corpse before escaping, while the other Celestial Persons stripped what remained. The First God Cult Master received the dragon’s qi-blood and planned to retrieve the Holy Son before performing a rite to forge their Lord’s torso in three days.

• Zhang Yuan wounded Wenren Shangzhi with a sword strike, and Qin Tianyi attacked as Wenren Shangzhi moved toward Wenren Changguang’s corpse.
• Wenren Shangzhi extracted Wenren Changguang’s core pellet and escaped into the Great Void, while Zhang Yuan took a Jade Slip from the dragon’s right foreclaw and departed.
• Qin Tianyi gathered dragon scales and condensed magma into true dragon fire before leaving.
• Lu Danyan took the dragon horns, Tan Duanchang and Deputy Cult Master Gao collected most of its qi-blood, and Deng Qiuzhi took the tail and head as the others claimed the remaining scales.
• Tan Duanchang and Deputy Cult Master Gao delivered the qi-blood to the First God Cult Master, who ordered them to retrieve the Holy Son and prepare a rite to forge their Lord’s torso in three days.

Wenren Shangzhi returned to the South Sea Dragon Palace with Wenren Changguang’s core pellet and learned that the South Sea Dragon Clan would soon provide limbs for the First God Cult’s dharma body. He gave the pellet to his reborn daughter Wenren Xixiang, who planned to recover her cultivation and avenge herself on Xiao Yuanjun.

• Wenren Shangzhi arrived at the South Sea Dragon Palace and met with three Dragon Lords.
• Wenren Shangzhi explained that Wenren Changguang had died in an encirclement and offered his core pellet for examination.
• Dragon Lord Vast Sun Against the Light confirmed that Wenren Changguang could not be revived, returned the pellet to Wenren Shangzhi, and said the clan would soon finish forging the dharma body's arms.
• Wenren Shangzhi gave the core pellet to Wenren Xixiang so she could cultivate again.
• Wenren Xixiang vowed to avenge herself on Xiao Yuanjun, while Wenren Shangzhi gently suggested she choose a different cultivation path.

Wenren Shangzhi warned Wenren Xixiang to abandon her former path and forget vengeance, while Zhang Yuan returned to safety and examined the Jade Slip from Wenren Changguang. Chi Guanguan deciphered it as a scripture on refining buildings and identified the True Dragon Palace’s likely material.

• Wenren Shangzhi advised Wenren Xixiang to cultivate a different path and never speak of her former enemy again, and she agreed.
• Zhang Yuan returned to his courtyard, reviewed the recent events, and suspected [True Lord Ceased Light Punishes Thoughts] was helping the First God Cult resurrect the First God.
• Zhang Yuan used his conceptual image on the Jade Slip, which filled the bedroom with unfamiliar Buddhist scripture he could not read.
• Ao Xiu admitted she could not decipher the scripture, but Chi Guanguan recognized it as instructions for refining buildings.
• Chi Guanguan explained that the scripture named East Gate Mountain Fengshui Stone as a material likely used to build the True Dragon Palace.

Zhang Yuan learned that east gate mountain fengshui stone was an exceptionally durable building material, then considered how to escape the Great Heng Empress’s plans. Tan Yaozheng delivered Ji Guang’s threat, summoning Zhang Yuan to a ritual outside the city in three days.

• Zhang Yuan asked Chi Guanguan about east gate mountain fengshui stone, but she said the scripture offered no clues beyond the meaning hidden in its name.
• Zhang Yuan discussed the Great Heng Empress’s advantage with Chi Guanguan, who said she could help him escape if necessary.
• Tan Chengcheng and Tan Yaozheng arrived and said the Great Heng Empress had summoned them to Spring-Returning Hall.
• Tan Yaozheng relayed Ji Guang’s warning that Zhang Yuan’s secrets would be exposed unless he attended the dharma body refinement ritual.
• Tan Yaozheng told Zhang Yuan to meet outside the city where the True Dragon fell, three days later.

Zhang Yuan agreed to meet Ji Guang in three days because Ji Guang threatened to expose his secrets, and he decided to take Tan Chengcheng with him. Meanwhile, Tan Yaozheng visited the Eastern Sunken Pavilion, where its shopkeeper revealed that the Great Heng Founder had awakened inside her.

• Zhang Yuan told Tan Chengcheng he would meet Ji Guang in three days and postpone answering the Great Heng Empress's summons.
• Zhang Yuan asked Tan Chengcheng to leave Heaven-Reaching City with him, and Tan Yaozheng teased her before leaving for the Eastern Sunken Pavilion.
• Tan Yaozheng asked the pavilion's shopkeeper for information about Zhang Yuan in exchange for answering his question.
• The shopkeeper asked whether Tan Yaozheng was herself, his incarnation, or the Great Heng Founder, then explained that the Founder's consciousness had awakened within her.

Tan Yaozheng learned that Zhang Yuan was an unaffiliated Otherworlder and warned him about trouble outside the city. When Zhang Yuan and Tan Chengcheng left to investigate the First God Cult, Tan Yaozheng joined them despite his refusal, and he confronted her after she caught up with their Golden Carriage.

• The young man in the Confucian Robe told Tan Yaozheng about Zhang Yuan and advised her to go with him to see the commotion outside the city in three days.
• After three days refining Sword Qi, Zhang Yuan dressed as the First God Cult's Holy Son and left with Tan Chengcheng disguised as his attendant.
• Tan Yaozheng appeared outside the hall and insisted on joining them, then killed a First God Cult member to take his black robe.
• Zhang Yuan and Tan Chengcheng flew away in the Golden Carriage without Tan Yaozheng, but she caught up with them outside Heaven-Reaching City.
• Zhang Yuan seized Tan Yaozheng by the neck and demanded to know who she was and why she was following him.

Zhang Yuan discovered that Tan Yaozheng was the Great Heng Founder, a Divine Master who had awakened through one of her incarnations. After learning Zhang Yuan was the First God Cult’s Holy Son, Tan Yaozheng agreed to travel there with him, believing she would have to obey him.

• Zhang Yuan used Sword Qi to wound Tan Yaozheng when she ordered him to let her go, but she escaped by shifting through Great Heng’s national fortune.
• Zhang Yuan identified Tan Yaozheng as the Great Heng Founder, and she confirmed that she had awakened through Tan Yaozheng after ruling out her other surviving incarnations.
• Tan Yaozheng explained that she had chosen Tan Yaozheng over Tan Chengcheng because Tan Chengcheng’s karmic ties made her uncertain whether Tan Chengcheng was still her incarnation.
• Tan Yaozheng demanded that Zhang Yuan obey her, but he said he was the First God Cult’s Holy Son and described its powerful Cult Master.
• Tan Yaozheng agreed to accompany Zhang Yuan to the First God Cult and concluded that she would have to obey him there.

Zhang Yuan traveled with Tan Yaozheng and Tan Chengcheng to the magma pool where the First God Cult was preparing to refine its Lord’s Dharma Body from Wenren Changguang’s remains. He arrived just before the ritual was due to begin, where a hostile candidate Holy Son mocked his Foundation Establishment cultivation.

• Zhang Yuan disguised the [Heng Emperor Founder Sword] as an ordinary artifact and flew toward the magma pool, while Tan Yaozheng and Tan Chengcheng followed by shifting through space.
• Zhang Yuan and the two women reached the magma pool at dusk and found Wenren Changguang’s dragon skeleton stripped of its scales, hair, and hide.
• The First God Cult Master decided to begin the ritual without waiting if Zhang Yuan failed to arrive by sunset, while Deputy Cult Master Zheng’s candidate Holy Son complained about him.
• Zhang Yuan arrived with Tan Yaozheng and Tan Chengcheng, greeted the Cult Master and Deputy Cult Masters, and drew the sinister youth’s attention.
• The sinister youth mocked Zhang Yuan’s Foundation Establishment aura and blamed his late arrival on traveling too slowly by flying sword.

Zhang Yuan arrived at the First God Cult’s ritual and was appointed to take the hostile Yu Lian under his command. As the cult began reconstructing the First God’s dharma body, Zhang Yuan resolved to interfere with its resurrection.

• Yu Lian mocked Zhang Yuan’s low cultivation, but Zhang Yuan calmly declared that Yu Lian would serve under him.
• Deputy Cult Master Zheng supported Zhang Yuan’s order, and Yu Lian reluctantly agreed while plotting to attack him later.
• As night fell, the First God Cult’s disciples gathered to welcome their Lord’s descent, and Chi Guanguan explained that the cult was completing the dharma body.
• The First God Cult Master released True Dragon qi-blood and the Great Heng Founder’s divine power to revive the dragon bones.
• The First God Cult Master rearranged the revived bones into a giant frame as flesh and blood began growing over it.

Zhang Yuan confronted the newly revived First God, whose restored body reached the peak of Celestial Person perfection. Unable to rely on his own strength to kill the giant, Zhang Yuan summoned the Heavenly Army Night-Cutting Goddess, [Qiming], to lend her sword.

• The First God Cult Master summoned the First God's missing head, and it joined the giant's body as the giant revived.
• Zhang Yuan left the First God Cult followers and flew before the giant, intending to thwart [True Lord Ceased Light Punishes Thoughts]'s plans.
• The giant opened his eyes, searched for [True Lord Ceased Light Punishes Thoughts], and questioned Zhang Yuan about his identity and his connection to Ji Guang.
• Zhang Yuan introduced himself as the leader of the Righteous Dao and declared that he had come to slay the giant.
• Zhang Yuan called upon the Heavenly Army Night-Cutting Goddess, and a golden phantom appeared to ask whom she should slay.

Zhang Yuan summoned the [Heavenly Army Night-Cutting Goddess], who used his [Heng Emperor Founder Sword] to slay the Thousand-Zhang Giant with a single strike. The sword shattered in the attack, and the Goddess left after cutting off her mystic connection.

• The [Heavenly Army Night-Cutting Goddess] warned Zhang Yuan that her strike would shatter any pre-heaven supreme treasure, so he replaced the [Primordial Form-Converging Sword] with the [Heng Emperor Founder Sword].
• The Thousand-Zhang Giant attacked Zhang Yuan with a crimson slaughter beam while Tan Duanchang and Deputy Cult Master Gao expected Zhang Yuan to die.
• The [Heavenly Army Night-Cutting Goddess] guided Zhang Yuan to unleash a golden sword strike that split the beam and cleaved the Thousand-Zhang Giant in two.
• The [Heng Emperor Founder Sword] shattered, and Tan Yaozheng realized that her waist sword had been destroyed.
• The [Heavenly Army Night-Cutting Goddess] dismissed Zhang Yuan’s interest in her immortal sword and left after severing their mystic connection.

Zhang Yuan’s sword strike split First God’s Dharma Body, but First God survived and mistook Zhang Yuan for Ji Guang. As Zhang Yuan hid with Tan Chengcheng and Tan Yaozheng, two Great Void Passages opened and strange body parts were delivered from the Dust-Dyed Realm.

• The Heavenly Army Night-Cutting Goddess left after cleaving First God in half, while the First God Cult’s leaders waited calmly.
• First God secretly restored his Divine Sense and began knitting his split head and torso back together.
• First God called Zhang Yuan Ji Guang, and Zhang Yuan angrily denied the accusation before fleeing into concealment.
• Zhang Yuan returned to Tan Chengcheng and Tan Yaozheng and told them to lie low while First God recovered.
• Two Great Void Passages opened, and Wenren Shangzhi emerged carrying two legs while a blood-colored hand tossed out two arms from the other passage.