Recaps

Xiu Yuan explained that he had been born with the power of two elements, surprising Morax, who proposed another match. They agreed on stakes: Morax would remove his mask if he lost, while Xiu Yuan would reveal a secret if he lost.

• Morax asked Xiu Yuan how he had gained the power of two elements, and Xiu Yuan explained that he had possessed both from birth.
• Morax marvelled at Xiu Yuan's unusual abilities and challenged him to another match.
• Xiu Yuan proposed adding stakes, and Morax suggested that Xiu Yuan remove his mask if Morax won.
• Morax offered to acknowledge Xiu Yuan as his big brother if Xiu Yuan won, and Xiu Yuan added that he would reveal a secret if he lost.
• Morax accepted the terms and declared their agreement sealed.

Xiu Yuan overwhelmed Morax’s flashy Geo constructs with his combined Electro-and-Geo technique, Sudden Rain Thunderrock. The barrage ended with Morax unharmed behind a golden shield, and Xiu Yuan approved of his defense.

• Xiu Yuan dodged Morax’s stone eagles and criticized his flashy but ineffective fighting style.
• Morax summoned giant whales, Rock Sharks, and more eagles to attack Xiu Yuan.
• Xiu Yuan used Sudden Rain Thunderrock, charging countless small stones with lightning to destroy Morax’s creatures.
• Xiu Yuan unleashed a prolonged storm of electrified stones that blasted the battlefield into a crater.
• Morax stood unharmed behind a golden shield, and Xiu Yuan praised his defense.

Xiu Yuan overwhelmed Morax with a series of tactical feints and relentless attacks, then continued tormenting him for days. After five days, Morax finally admitted defeat and surrendered.

• Morax charged Xiu Yuan with his spear, and they fought for more than a hundred exchanges using weapons and elemental power.
• Xiu Yuan feinted with Thunder Flash, used rocks to distract Morax, and trapped him behind a barrage of blade waves.
• Xiu Yuan battered Morax through three more days of fighting, breaking his shield repeatedly while Morax refused to surrender.
• After the fifth day, Morax said he had lost and surrendered.

After five days of being outmaneuvered, Morax admitted defeat and accepted Xiu Yuan as his big brother. Xiu Yuan showed him how he combined Electro and Geo to create Pyro, then began demonstrating his control over it.

• Morax gave up after Xiu Yuan repeatedly thwarted him and agreed to call him big brother.
• Xiu Yuan produced a spark of Electro and a small stone of Geo, then combined them in his fist.
• Xiu Yuan opened his hand to reveal a burning flame, leaving Morax stunned by the transformation into Pyro.
• Morax asked whether Xiu Yuan could use Pyro however he wanted, and Xiu Yuan began a demonstration.

Xiu Yuan showed Morax how he could control fire and promised to teach him elemental fusion if Morax could beat him. Morax accepted a monthly challenge under restrictions, then said he wanted to focus on defeating Xiu Yuan.

• Xiu Yuan demonstrated how he shaped fire into weapons and other forms, making Morax eager to learn elemental fusion.
• Xiu Yuan said he would teach Morax if Morax beat him, but Morax initially gave up because he believed he could not win.
• Xiu Yuan promised to use only Geo in their fights and no Electro-related skills, and Morax agreed to the terms.
• Xiu Yuan limited Morax to one fight each month, which Morax accepted.
• Xiu Yuan asked what they would do next, and Morax said he wanted to focus on defeating him.

Xiu Yuan rejected Morax’s flashy rock creatures and promised to teach him a technique that was both impressive and powerful. He demonstrated a rock barrage that concealed an explosive stone spear, then drew its fragments back together to shatter Morax’s shield.

• Morax showed Xiu Yuan several rock creatures, but Xiu Yuan rejected them for lacking practical strength.
• Xiu Yuan offered to teach Morax a flashy, hard-hitting skill, and Morax eagerly accepted.
• Xiu Yuan told Morax to raise his shield and began bombarding him with rocks.
• Xiu Yuan concealed an explosive stone spear behind the rocks, and its blast cracked Morax’s shield.
• Xiu Yuan called the fragments back from every direction, breaking through Morax’s shield and leaving Morax stunned.

Xiu Yuan explained how his explosive spear was assembled from controllable rocks, then tried to teach Morax the technique. Morax managed to fit a few pieces together but struggled to shape the rest, leaving Xiu Yuan frustrated as he started over.

• Xiu Yuan revealed that his spear consisted of independent rocks that assembled on impact, exploded, and returned for a follow-up attack.
• Xiu Yuan explained the spear’s construction to Morax, who felt overwhelmed by the technique.
• Morax tried the method and successfully fitted the first four rocks together.
• Xiu Yuan guided Morax through shaping a fifth rock, but Morax continued to struggle with the pieces.
• Xiu Yuan rejected Morax’s badly shaped rock and made him try again.

Xiu Yuan taught Morax to craft an elaborate stone spear, leaving Morax humbled by Xiu Yuan’s skill and newly determined to keep a lower profile. Morax named the technique the Demon-Scale Long Spear and resumed working on it.

• Xiu Yuan criticized Morax’s painstaking attempts to make the stone spear, while Morax struggled to complete even a small part.
• Morax learned that Xiu Yuan had invented the technique in about an hour and despaired at being an “average loser.”
• Xiu Yuan goaded Morax into trying again, and Morax admitted he had wanted to test the technique on him during their fight.
• Morax realized Xiu Yuan had devised the skill on the fly and began reconsidering his own arrogance and desire to keep a low profile.
• Morax asked to name the technique, and Xiu Yuan let him choose; Morax called it the Demon-Scale Long Spear.

Xiu Yuan patiently taught Morax to assemble a Demon-Scale Long Spear, and Morax completed his first one after half a month of work. As Morax excitedly practiced with it, Xiu Yuan rested and called him over to discuss something.

• Morax asked Xiu Yuan for help fitting pieces of the spear together, and Xiu Yuan guided him through the work for several days.
• Exhausted by teaching, Xiu Yuan said he was going to slack off, then told Morax that slacking off meant working hard.
• Morax embraced the phrase and kept building the spear alongside Xiu Yuan.
• After half a month, Morax finished his first Demon-Scale Long Spear and celebrated while practicing with it.
• Xiu Yuan rested on the grass, took out his tea set, and called Morax over because he had something to tell him.

Xiu Yuan confronted the Abyss’s growing corruption of his face and his fear of being seen without his mask. He overheard the karmic debts plotting to confront the Abyss during the Archon War, learning that karmic debt resonance could help them gain control of his body.

• Xiu Yuan studied his horribly corrupted reflection by the river and realized he could no longer bear to show his face.
• Xiu Yuan feared that even if the nine reincarnations sent him back, he would be too ashamed to face the people he loved.
• The karmic debts secretly planned to confront the Abyss during the Archon War and use their masters’ resentment to resonate with them.
• Xiu Yuan listened without interrupting, wondering whether the karmic debts might destroy the Abyss or instead overwhelm his mind.
• Xiu Yuan learned about karmic debt resonance and worried that the coming struggle might make him lose control of his body.

Xiu Yuan realized that his Karmic Debt and Abyssal infection prevented him from confronting the Demon Gods, leaving Morax to grow into the responsibility with his guidance. After Morax earned Xiu Yuan’s approval for his tenth weapon, he reminded Xiu Yuan of his promise to teach him something more powerful.

• Xiu Yuan realized that intervening against the Demon Gods would resonate with the Karmic Debt inside him, so Morax would have to shoulder the fight.
• Xiu Yuan understood that guiding the over three-thousand-six-hundred-year-old Morax would be harder than guiding anyone in his previous lives.
• Morax showed Xiu Yuan a bow whose arrows accelerated by shedding part of their tails and split into five in flight.
• Xiu Yuan approved the bow as Morax’s tenth weapon, completing the challenge he had set.
• Morax reminded Xiu Yuan that he had promised to teach him something more powerful after approving ten weapons.

Xiu Yuan showed Morax a powerful skill he had spent three years developing and prepared to use it. Morax watched as Xiu Yuan launched the stone cube skyward and named the move Planet Befall.

• Xiu Yuan led Morax to a cratered area where he had tested a new skill.
• Xiu Yuan revealed a stone cube containing immense power, and Morax was astonished by it.
• Xiu Yuan explained that Morax’s peaceful life had limited his growth, while the Archon War would have pushed him to develop stronger abilities.
• Xiu Yuan tossed the cube into the sky and told Morax the move was called Planet Befall.

After Xiu Yuan demonstrated Planet Befall, Morax asked whether he could learn it and discovered it might take hundreds of years. Xiu Yuan agreed that Morax should give up for now, then asked what he thought of humans.

• Morax recovered from his shock at Planet Befall and found Xiu Yuan calmly drinking tea beside a campfire.
• Morax asked Xiu Yuan whether he could learn Planet Befall and how long it would take.
• Xiu Yuan estimated that Morax would need three or four hundred years if he learned quickly, or about a thousand years otherwise.
• Morax decided the skill was too difficult, and Xiu Yuan agreed that learning it would be unrealistic without a stronger motivation.
• Xiu Yuan asked Morax what he thought humans were like.

Xiu Yuan asked Morax what he thought of humans, and Morax described them as weak, ignorant, and difficult to understand. Xiu Yuan challenged Morax’s view, but Morax remained unconvinced, leaving him needing firsthand experience to change Morax’s attitude toward humanity.

• Xiu Yuan offered Morax tea and asked him to explain why he found humans difficult to understand.
• Morax said humans were weak, ignorant, dependent on food, water, and sleep, and preoccupied with family bonds and romantic love.
• Xiu Yuan reflected that Morax’s indifference would make it difficult to persuade him to protect humanity, a task in Xiu Yuan’s ninth life.
• Xiu Yuan explained that Demon Gods’ immense power made the Archon War necessary to prevent them from developing unchecked as a species.
• Xiu Yuan told Morax that humans were more complicated and stronger than he imagined, but Morax compared them to other animals and disagreed.

Xiu Yuan wagered that he could change Morax’s view of humanity within five years by having him experience human society firsthand. The two agreed that the winner could make three requests, and Morax remained confident that humans would prove dull.

• Xiu Yuan proposed a five-year wager to change Morax’s opinion of humans.
• Morax offered to teach Xiu Yuan Planet Befall as one of his requests if he won, and Xiu Yuan said it could be possible with enough effort.
• Morax enthusiastically misinterpreted Xiu Yuan’s condition as a promise to teach him while he slacked off.
• Xiu Yuan explained that Morax’s experiences as a Demon God had shown him only a narrow view of humanity and that firsthand experience could change his beliefs.
• Morax agreed that Xiu Yuan could make three requests if Morax won, and Xiu Yuan accepted the wager.

Xiu Yuan and Morax stabbed each other so they could enter a human village as wounded strangers, with Morax taking the name Zhongli. The villagers carried them inside and began treating their injuries.

• Xiu Yuan explained that the villagers would be more likely to trust them if they arrived wounded, then stabbed Morax through the kidney.
• Morax stabbed Xiu Yuan through the kidney, and Xiu Yuan told him to live as a human named Zhongli and keep his identity and Geo powers secret.
• Xiu Yuan and Morax staggered toward a fishing village that Xiu Yuan had observed for half a month, planning to stay there for five years.
• When a woman drying salted fish approached them, Xiu Yuan gave their signal and both men collapsed.
• The villagers carried Xiu Yuan and Morax into a room, where an older man ordered the others to fetch water, cloths, bandages, and herbs and began tending their wounds.

Old Master Lian treated Xiu Yuan and Zhongli’s wounds, and Xiu Yuan invented a story to explain their past and his mask. The villagers took pity on them and let them stay, and after three days they were well enough to leave their beds.

• Qing'er chewed the herbs, and Old Master Lian packed them into Morax and Xiu Yuan’s wounds to stop the bleeding.
• Xiu Yuan told the villagers that he and Zhongli were orphaned foundlings whose village had been destroyed, and claimed a fire had burned his face beneath his mask.
• When Xiu Yuan said he had nowhere to go, the villagers offered him and Zhongli a place to stay, and the Village Chief approved.
• The villagers prepared a house for Xiu Yuan and Zhongli, who stayed in bed for three days before Xiu Yuan let Morax get up.

Morax began to feel the warmth of human kindness after villagers welcomed him and Xiu Yuan, but months later the village faced a new threat when an immortal demanded two children’s lives and captured Qing'er. A hotheaded villager set off to confront the immortal.

• Villagers brought food and supplies to Xiu Yuan and Morax, leaving Morax baffled by their generosity.
• An old woman comforted Morax, gave him sweets, and told him to think of the village as home.
• Morax thanked the old woman, tasted a sweet, and felt an unfamiliar warmth as Xiu Yuan watched his attitude toward humans change.
• Months later, Liu Hong told the villagers that an immortal had captured Qing'er and demanded two children as a sacrifice.
• An angry, hotheaded young man grabbed his weapons and went to confront the immortal.

The villagers debated how to rescue Qing'er from the Demon God, weighing negotiation against the danger of fighting or surrendering two children. Xiao Long offered himself in exchange for Qing'er, explaining that her father had drowned saving him and he felt responsible.

• The Village Chief calmed the angry villagers and urged them to consider negotiating with the Demon God.
• Xiao Rou suggested apologizing and bringing food and drink, and several villagers supported her idea.
• The villagers argued over what to do if the Demon God demanded two children, but rejected an attack as too dangerous.
• Xiao Long asked his mother to let him go in exchange for Qing'er.
• Xiao Long explained that Qing'er's father had drowned saving him and that he could not stand by while Qing'er was in danger.

Xiao Long volunteered to go to the mountain to save Qing'er, believing he owed her family for the life her father had saved. After his mother tried to stop him, the Village Chief helped him leave and began explaining the plan.

• Xiao Long remembered how Qing'er's father had died saving him from a flood and decided he could not let Qing'er face danger alone.
• Xiao Long's mother pleaded with him to stay, but he insisted he would go and said he regretted not having been a dutiful son to her.
• A blaze erupted from the mountain, and the Village Chief ordered the villagers to prepare food and weapons.
• Xiao Long signaled the Village Chief, who had a young man knock his mother unconscious so she could not stop him.
• Xiao Long apologized to his mother, accepted a small dagger from the Village Chief, and listened as he began outlining the plan.

The Village Chief, Xiu Yuan, Morax, and the villagers went to confront the Demon God and try to rescue Qing'er. The Demon God rejected their apology and gifts, then erupted in anger when they brought only one child.

• The Village Chief planned to negotiate with the Demon God while villagers prepared to ambush her if needed.
• Morax realized the boy’s willingness to risk his life for Qing'er deserved his admiration.
• The villagers reached the Demon God’s mountain and found Qing'er unconscious beside her.
• The Village Chief apologized and offered food, fruit, and vegetables, but the Demon God dismissed their gifts.
• The Village Chief brought the little boy forward, and the Demon God accused him of playing games and unleashed her flames.

The Demon God captured a village boy, but reassured him that she wanted to play with the children rather than eat them. The boy realized she planned to toss them away when she got bored and became terrified.

• The Village Chief promised to find a second child within half an hour after the Demon God threatened the villagers.
• The Demon God drew the frightened boy close and told him she would not eat him.
• The boy questioned why she had captured the children, and the Demon God said she wanted to play with them.
• The Demon God said she would toss the children away once she got bored, leaving the boy trembling with fear.

Morax spent the day playing with village children after a Demon God cleared up a misunderstanding with the villagers. He wondered what having parents would be like, but found comfort in his bond with Xiu Yuan as they headed home together.

• The Demon God explained that she meant to return the children to their village, and the villagers learned she was kind and refused their offer to become the village's deity.
• A little girl persuaded Morax to join the children at play, and they spent the afternoon together beneath the setting sun.
• After the children went home, Xiu Yuan came to fetch Morax, who realized Xiu Yuan had encouraged the children to invite him.
• Morax imagined what his parents might be like and admitted that the idea of having a family seemed nice.
• Xiu Yuan stayed silent and led Morax home, where Morax felt that having an older brother was pretty nice, too.

After three peaceful years in the village, Morax and Xiu Yuan faced the return of a massive flood. The villagers began evacuating and building defenses as the flood surged around the mountain.

• Ning Ping stumbled into the village and warned that a flood much larger than the one four years earlier was coming.
• The Village Chief realized the villagers could not outrun the flood and ordered the women and children to head west.
• A crash from beyond the mountain announced that the flood had reached them, and Ning Ping urged the able-bodied men to stay and fight.
• The villagers passed their stored flood-barrier bags toward the western edge of the village as towering floodwaters surged around the mountainside.

Morax, Xiu Yuan, and the villagers struggled to hold back a flood so the women and children could escape. The Village Chief ordered the young people to flee when the current weakened, while the elderly villagers prepared to face the coming wave.

• The Village Chief and the elderly villagers braced behind the flood barriers as the torrent struck, and the young people joined them to steady the line.
• Morax and Xiu Yuan resisted the flood using only human strength while the village was swallowed behind them.
• The Village Chief warned that a larger second wave would come and ordered the young people to run when the current weakened, leaving the old folks behind.
• After the villagers had held the line for some time, the Village Chief told those at the back to move forward, claiming the flood would soon weaken.
• The Village Chief and the elderly villagers resolved to face the flood instead of hiding from it again.