Recaps

Hu Ze marched to the Sacred Capital to defend Emperor Kangping, while Li Chen used Tang Taibai’s fame to build influence and experiment with worship-based power. As the princes’ rebellion advanced, Hu Ze and Li Chen turned the campaign against Prince Gong by taking Beautiful Prefecture City.

• Hu Ze defeated Prince Yong’s defenses with his Avatar, then Prince Yong conquered Bamboo Province as the imperial court fell into crisis.
• Hu Ze gathered demon and scholar forces, marched to the Sacred Capital, and accepted Emperor Kangping’s appointment as Great General while declining command of the War Dragon Army.
• Li Chen arrived in the capital as Tang Taibai, spread his poetry and classics among scholars, and became known as the Poetry Immortal after writing poems about Hu Meiniang.
• Hu Meiniang tried to punish Tang Taibai, but Hu Ze persuaded her to spare him and exile him from the capital, while learning that she carried an Insect Race child.
• Li Chen’s farewell poetry drew vast literary qi and helped him break through in cultivation, after which he developed and tested a meme that caused bees to generate prayer power.
• When five princes advanced on the Sacred Capital, Hu Ze took command of a campaign against Prince Gong, and Li Chen’s forces rapidly captured more than a hundred cities.
• Li Chen and Hu Ze’s Avatar killed the Earl of the Beautiful River, appointed King Demon Dragon as Lishui’s Orthodox God, and seized Beautiful Prefecture City in a night raid.
• Prince Gong learned that his city had fallen while he marched toward the Imperial Capital and accused Hu Ze of deceiving him.

Li Chen and Hu Ze overthrew rival princes, survived the rebels’ summoned War Lord Huang, and returned to reinforce the Sacred Capital. As the coalition prepared another divine assault, Hu Ze began investing Li Chen as Crown Prince Jin’s Dharma-Protector Deity.

• Hu Ze’s forces defeated Prince Gong, and Hu Ze imposed levies on Li Prefecture’s clans while Li Chen put the captured wealth and workers to use.
• Li Chen killed Prince Yi and helped Hu Ze’s troops seize Flower Mountain Mine, freeing its abused workers and stripping the mine.
• Li Chen and Hu Ze defeated a coalition trap at Prince Gu’s camp, killing Wang Ran and Men Zhong before retreating to reinforce the Sacred Capital.
• The Rebel Princes’ Coalition Army summoned War Lord Huang at Bloodfang Pass, where the deity’s New Moon law split Hu Ze’s Avatar apart despite its evasive arts.
• Li Chen revealed that Hu Ze’s shattered body was a puppet, then led an assault that destroyed the enemy’s Magic Arrays and weakened War Lord Huang until allied experts defeated him.
• Hu Ze’s army won at Bloodfang Pass at great cost, and Li Chen began repairing his Avatar as Hu Ze prepared divine reinforcements and ordered evacuations from threatened cities.
• As the rebel princes prepared to summon War Lord Huang again, Hu Ze began investing Li Chen as Crown Prince Jin’s Dharma-Protector Deity.

Li Chen helped Hu Ze defeat the Rebel Princes’ Coalition Army, then used court politics and Tang Taibai’s influence to oppose Hu Meiniang as she seized power with demon and martial forces. The arc ended with Master Han discovering Li Chen’s identity and Li Chen challenging the Second Sages to find a way for their rival Daos to work together.

• Li Chen established divine positions for his Mutated Dharma Body and followers, then Hu Ze used it to defeat War Lord Huang and drive Prince Ning’s coalition forces from the battlefield.
• Li Chen refined the Demon God Eye, while Hu Ze gained court authority and began sweeping the realm in Emperor Kangping’s name.
• Hu Meiniang gave birth to Long Youjin, and Emperor Kangping’s illness led to the infant’s enthronement as Emperor Chongdao and Hu Ze’s appointment as regent.
• Hu Meiniang turned against Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan, while Li Chen supported the officials and used Tang Taibai’s “Song of Everlasting Regret” to rally opposition to her.
• Hu Meiniang’s forces attacked Confucian scholars, and Li Chen learned that she was bringing Demon Kings into the palace as Yang Wuji and the Flaming-Mane Emperor Venerable advanced on the Sacred Capital.
• Li Chen awakened the Great Qian Deities to defend the city, but the Demon Race and martial artists overwhelmed the Confucian defenders until Master Han arrived and reversed the devastation caused by the Flaming-Mane Emperor Venerable.
• Hu Meiniang’s faction seized the Sacred Capital and persecuted officials, while Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan helped their disciples escape toward East Zou.
• Li Chen met Master Han, Sage Lin, and Sage Qi at Bamboo Head Mountain, where Master Han exposed him as the Puppet Dao Master and Li Chen argued that the Puppet Dao could encompass Confucian methods.

Li Chen seized control of the Great Qian court through Hu Meiniang’s downfall, then used the Deer Terrace project to advance the Puppet Dao and prepare for conflict with the Confucian powers. He began spreading Neo-Confucianism through Hu Ze’s Avatar as Fang Yuan arrived in the capital.

• Hu Ze returned to the Sacred Capital, disciplined Hu Meiniang’s government, and launched purges against abusive soldiers and martial sects.
• Li Chen absorbed the Four Great Sacred Spirits’ origins, reached a Dao Fruit, and defeated Hu Meiniang after Emperor Chongdao stripped her of her title and authority.
• Li Chen and the Puppet Masters killed King Qinggu and spread rumors blaming Hu Meiniang, while Hu Ze helped arrange for her to leave Kunning Palace for the Deer Terrace.
• The court approved the costly Deer Terrace project, which Li Chen planned to use to recruit skilled artisans and eventually build a Sky City.
• As East Zou’s influence grew and the Puppet Masters began a war in the Central Sea, Li Chen and Pan Ning resolved to seize the Deer Terrace and plunder the Sacred Capital before the army arrived.
• Hu Ze’s Avatar taught Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan Neo-Confucian principles and the Song of Righteousness, while Li Chen planned to spread the doctrine through the White Meme and Confucian Sect.
• Fang Yuan accepted the imperial summons to serve as Imperial Tutor and arrived in the capital, where Hu Ze’s Avatar welcomed him.