Recaps

Hu Xiaotian survived attacks at Azure Cloud Manor and escaped Western Sichuan’s political schemes while uncovering Li Tianheng’s rebellion and a secret alliance between Great Yong and Shajia. The arc left him preparing to leave and confronting Zhang Ziqian about the missing Prince of Zhou.

• Feng Xingyun attacked Azure Cloud Manor in search of justice for Wen Boyuan, and Hu Xiaotian fought him before escaping the burning ruins with Yan Nujiao and Xue Lingjun.
• Du Tianhuo and Miao Yinghong pursued Hu Xiaotian’s group, but Hu Xiaotian killed them and helped Yan Nujiao and Yan Boguang survive Miao Yinghong’s poison.
• At Li Tianheng’s birthday banquet, the Prince of Zhou denounced the court and announced an alliance with Li Tianheng, while Li Honghan’s men bound Hu Xiaotian and Liang Yinghao.
• Hu Xiaotian escaped, discovered that Xi Yan had impersonated the Prince of Zhou, and learned that an assassin had fled the banquet on a Snow Eagle.
• Hu Xiaotian overheard Huo Ge and Xue Shengjing agree to an alliance between Great Yong and Shajia, then rescued Visa by taking Xue Lingjun hostage.
• Hu Xiaotian returned to his hideout, told his companions about the alliance and the false Prince of Zhou, and ordered preparations to leave Western Sichuan.
• Zhang Ziqian told Hu Xiaotian that the Imperial Court had ordered his group killed and defended Li Tianheng’s break with Great Kang, but Hu Xiaotian demanded to know where the Prince of Zhou was.

Hu Xiaotian escaped Shajia’s ambush, uncovered more secrets about his family, and returned to find Xu Fengyi dying and Great Kang in crisis. After her death, he resigned to mourn and began investigating the emperor’s pursuit of immortality while weighing Qiqi’s plan to divide the realm.

• Hu Xiaotian treated the poisoned Prince of Zhou, learned that Li Tianheng and his father had planned Western Sichuan’s independence, and left the province with his companions.
• At Hexagon City, Hu Xiaotian and his companions ambushed the Shajia riders, defeated Duoji’s forces, and escaped after Visa used her Soul-Seizing Art.
• Hu Xiaotian met Old Beggar at Huan Cai Pavilion, learned the God-Demon World-Ending Fist, and questioned him about his family and the missing Cinnabar Cauldron Chapter.
• Hu Xiaotian helped Liu Kuohai avenge his family by killing Wan Tingchang, then raced back to the Kang Capital after learning that Xu Fengyi was dying.
• Visa used the Soul-Seizing Art to reveal that Hu Buwei had conspired with the Xu Family and that Old Madam Xu had concealed the truth about her own birth.
• Hu Xiaotian challenged Long Xuan'en over the Western Sichuan mission, but returned home to find Xu Fengyi dead and began mourning her.
• Hu Xiaotian resigned to observe mourning, established Fengyi Manor, and proposed that Qiqi divide Great Kang into fiefs so its people could survive the crisis.
• Hu Xiaotian and Yang Lingqi discussed the emperor’s secretive Imperial Mausoleum project, and Hu Xiaotian remained determined to discover what it concealed.

Hu Xiaotian left the Kang Capital for Eastern Liang Commandery, where he took charge amid a refugee crisis and built a local force. After a Great Yong caravan was attacked, Great Yong demanded that he surrender the commandery, and Hu Xiaotian rejected the demand as its army threatened to advance.

• Hu Xiaotian learned from Xu Lingkong that his father was in the Fragrant Kingdom and that Long Xuan'en’s conflict with Chu Fufeng had begun over the power and cost of the Heavenly Secrets Bureau.
• Hu Xiaotian allied with Li Yuncong, learned that Long Xuanjiao’s son Yang Longjing was Hu Buwei’s child, and recovered the War Sage Formation Diagram and a treasure map with Qiqi beneath Misty Mountain.
• Hu Xiaotian prepared to leave the Kang Capital, said farewell to Qiqi and Huo Shengnan, and set out for Eastern Liang Commandery with Liang Dazhuang and others as the Tang family planned to join him.
• At Xiasha Port, Hu Xiaotian found merchants’ guards blocking refugees and ordered the Guard Corps disbanded so the refugees could enter the commandery.
• Hu Xiaotian recruited refugees into an army, established a Refugee Camp and Children’s Hall, and cracked down on boatmen smuggling people across the Yong River.
• Hu Xiaotian operated on Hong Lingxue to remove a twisted ovarian cyst, then learned that twelve members of a Great Yong caravan had been killed.
• Yu Tianxing warned Hu Xiaotian that Great Yong might use the caravan killings as a pretext to claim Eastern Liang Commandery, and Hu suspected the attack had been orchestrated by Xue Daohong.
• Liu Yuncai delivered Tang Boxi’s demand that Hu Xiaotian surrender Eastern Liang Commandery, but Hu tore up the letter as Great Yong threatened to send its army.

Hu Xiaotian defended Eastern Liang Commandery, defeated Tang Boxi, and took control of Wuxing Commandery and its navy. As Great Yong prepared another assault, he set out with an elite force to seize Eastern Luo Granary.

• Hu Xiaotian rejected Liu Yuncai’s demand to surrender Eastern Liang Commandery, recruited Yu Tianxing to plan its defense, and enlisted Zhu Ba’s Beggar Gang members.
• Hu Xiaotian and Yu Tianxing prepared pontoon bridges, fire rafts, and river defenses as Tang Boxi led Great Yong’s fleet and army toward Xiasha Port.
• Hu Xiaotian’s forces ambushed Tang Boxi’s fleet, captured Tang Boxi, and secured the surrender of the remaining Great Yong troops.
• Hu Xiaotian confronted Zhao Dengyun in Wuxing Commandery, where Zhao Wusheng killed Zhao Dengyun and pledged his support to Hu Xiaotian.
• Ji Feihua gave Hu Xiaotian a ledger of court leverage and former subordinates, then left after warning him about his engagement to Qiqi.
• Hu Xiaotian rejected a retreat from Eastern Liang Commandery and planned to trade 11,300 prisoners for grain before targeting Eastern Luo Granary.
• Hu Xiaotian assigned his forces to seize Eastern Luo Granary and spread rumors that helped civilians leave Eastern Liang Commandery.
• Hu Xiaotian led a thousand elite warriors toward Eastern Luo Granary as Qin Yangming advanced on Eastern Liang Commandery and grew suspicious of the defenders’ lack of resistance.