Recaps

Ouyang met the sorrowful monk Hui Zhi in the Sea of Flowers and learned that they were in the Nine Hells, where the divine souls of cultivators burdened by sin and karma came. As Hui Zhi explained the realm, Ouyang wondered whether he too was a divine soul.

• Hui Zhi told Ouyang that he had killed himself, and Ouyang tried to console him before nearly slapping his soul into oblivion.
• Ouyang and Hui Zhi traveled together through the Sea of Flowers, though Hui Zhi did not know where they were headed.
• Ouyang suspected Hui Zhi might be connected to his mission and repeatedly asked to kill him, but Hui Zhi refused.
• Hui Zhi explained that the Sea of Flowers lay in the Nine Hells, where only the divine souls of cultivators burdened by sins, cause and effect, and karma could arrive.
• Ouyang asked whether Hui Zhi was a divine soul, realizing the Nine Hells might contain the beings he struggled to fight.

Ouyang learned from Hui Zhi that cultivators who reach Soul Departure enter the Nine Hells after death, while others reincarnate in the Mortal World. As Ouyang questioned the world’s order and its cost to cultivators, he glimpsed a vast chessboard and declared that the closer one was to the Mortal World, the farther one was from the Dao.

• Ouyang asked Hui Zhi whether cultivators came to the Nine Hells after death, and Hui Zhi explained that only beings who had reached Soul Departure could enter.
• Hui Zhi said those without divine souls reincarnated in the Mortal World, while cultivators in the Nine Hells had to wash away their karmic burdens to reach the Land of Bliss.
• Ouyang challenged the fairness of the system, and Hui Zhi explained that the Mortal World was bound by karmic burdens and that cultivators feared becoming entangled in mortal life.
• Ouyang reflected that cultivators might be less free than mortals and wondered whether Heaven and Earth selected talented people only to use them.
• Ouyang saw a vast chessboard in his mind, steadied himself, and declared, “The closer to the Mortal World, the farther from the Dao!”

Ouyang noticed that something inside him was draining away and realized the Flowers of the Other Shore had taken his emotion of joy. He fought the flower spirit, captured its white radish form, and confronted it about stealing his joy.

• Ouyang felt his true essence drip into his Dantian as his mind grew calmer, then decided to test the rules of the Nine Hells.
• Ouyang entered the Sea of Flowers with Hui Zhi following, and the Flowers of the Other Shore opened a path before them.
• Ouyang challenged the unseen presence to treat them as guests, prompting the flowers to form a giant face that ordered them to leave.
• Ouyang used the Hemp Rope to fend off the face's petal attacks, seized control of the petals, and struck the face down.
• Ouyang bound the fleeing spirit, revealing it as a humanoid white radish, then accused it of secretly draining the emotion of joy from him.

After the Flowers of the Other Shore stripped away Ouyang’s joy, he became the ruthless, calculating “Tyrant” of his childhood and confronted the flower spirit Other Shore. Hui Zhi’s soul was restored, and after frightening Other Shore by eating its severed arm, he announced that he would follow Ouyang wherever he went.

• Ouyang regained his true essence and deduced that Hu Yun had arranged the journey to the Nine Hells to resolve his having a surname but no given name.
• Ouyang threatened Other Shore with a Tang Dao and wounded it, revealing that the flower spirit feared being killed.
• Other Shore’s scream began to shatter Hui Zhi’s divine soul, but Ouyang touched his forehead and restored him with Buddhist power.
• Ouyang handed the injured Other Shore to Hui Zhi, who introduced himself gently before tearing off and eating the flower spirit’s arm.
• Hui Zhi asked Ouyang what he planned to do next, then declared that he would go with him wherever he went.

Ouyang and Hui Zhi reached the River of Forgetfulness, where Ouyang pondered how to escape the fate Dongxu Zi and Hu Yun had planned for him. At the Three-Life Stone, Hui Zhi was revealed to possess great merit.

• Hui Zhi absorbed the Flower of the Other Shore's source power while the weakened flower spirit explained that a river spirit ferried the dead and the Three-Life Stone judged their karma.
• Ouyang decided he would not let anyone, including himself, dictate his fate, and he and Hui Zhi headed toward the Three-Life Stone.
• Ouyang and Hui Zhi bypassed the waiting Divine Souls, and Hui Zhi stood before the Three-Life Stone.
• The Three-Life Stone shone with golden light, astonishing the white radish and revealing Hui Zhi's great merit.

Hui Zhi’s golden light calmed the Divine Souls at the Ferry Crossing, revealing him as a Great Merit-Bearer. When Ouyang approached the Three-Life Stone, it exploded and unleashed chaos, prompting White Radish to recognize him as the legendary Peerless Great Demon.

• Hui Zhi radiated golden light before the Three-Life Stone, calming the River of Forgetfulness and the waiting Divine Souls.
• White Radish questioned how Hui Zhi could be a Great Merit-Bearer, while Ouyang suspected the false label on Hui Zhi’s status had disappeared and considered what his death meant.
• Hui Zhi descended from the Three-Life Stone, stepping over reverent Divine Souls, and told Ouyang there were no problems.
• Ouyang approached the Three-Life Stone, and its surface flashed with many colors as the sky darkened and the River of Forgetfulness surged.
• The Three-Life Stone exploded, a vast whirlpool formed in the river, and White Radish declared that the Peerless Great Demon had come to the Nine Hells.

Ouyang confronted the giant Lord of the River of Forgetfulness, whose death energy overwhelmed the way station. After discovering that his True Essence could counter it, Ouyang struck the creature and seized its tongue, then faced its renewed attack with a True Essence blade.

• The Lord of the River of Forgetfulness emerged as a colossal frog-like creature, and its death energy swallowed the way station's Divine Souls except those protected by Hui Zhi.
• Ouyang realized his life-awakening True Essence countered the Nine Hells' death energy and lashed the creature with the Hemp Rope.
• The creature struck at Ouyang with its tongue, but Ouyang caught it and shouted for the Lord to rise, making it stumble toward him.
• Ouyang released the tongue, causing the Lord to fall back into the river, where it raised the waters to attack him.
• Ouyang formed a Tang Dao from True Essence, aimed it at the Lord's eye, and commanded it to kneel.

Ouyang used his life-filled True Essence to frighten and overpower Catfish Toad, the Lord of the River of Forgetfulness, in the Nine Hells. As Hui Zhi declared Ouyang his senior brother, Ouyang restrained Catfish Toad and demanded that he kneel or have his legs broken.

• Catfish Toad sensed the power of life in Ouyang's Tang Dao and tried to flee into the River of Forgetfulness.
• Ouyang caught Catfish Toad with a hemp rope and dragged him down onto the river, then beat him into submission.
• Hui Zhi called Ouyang his senior brother and reflected that his own past obsession had led him to the Nine Hells.
• Ouyang realized his True Essence countered the dead creatures of the Nine Hells and suspected Catfish Toad recognized its power.
• Ouyang stood on Catfish Toad's upper jaw and threatened to break his legs unless he knelt and behaved.

Ouyang questioned Catfish Toad about a powerful Daoist it had once encountered and learned how the Daoist’s power had transformed it into the Lord of the River of Forgetfulness. He asked which Daoist had worn blue-green robes, but Catfish Toad said neither had.

• Ouyang used the Hemp Rope to capture Catfish Toad, made it absorb the death qi, and brought it ashore.
• Ouyang questioned Catfish Toad and the Flower of the Other Shore’s flower spirit, then told the flower spirit to keep his joy for now.
• Catfish Toad recalled two Daoists crossing the River of Forgetfulness long ago, when the Great Daoist gave it devouring power and set it on the path to becoming the river’s lord.
• Ouyang wondered whether his quest might involve correcting another period in time and asked which Daoist wore blue-green robes.
• Catfish Toad answered that neither Daoist wore a blue-green robe.

Ouyang learned that souls crossed Mount Naihe after the River of Forgetfulness, then decided to cross the river with Hui Zhi using his hemp rope. The White Radish returned to its place guarding the Flowers of the Other Shore as Ouyang and Hui Zhi prepared to continue.

• Ouyang deduced that the young gray-robed Daoist seen by the catfish-toad had probably been Hu Yun as a child and that the elder Daoist was likely Hu Yun’s former master.
• The catfish-toad explained that souls climbed Mount Naihe to take Heart clouds toward the Land of Ultimate Bliss, though he did not know what lay there.
• Ouyang asked whether another River Lord had come before the catfish-toad, who said he had devoured a Rascal Snake to become the river’s lord.
• Ouyang chose to cross the River of Forgetfulness with Hui Zhi, and his hemp rope stretched across the river and returned after securing itself on the far bank.
• The White Radish explained that he could not leave his guarded territory, then shriveled back into a Flower of the Other Shore and returned Ouyang’s absorbed joy as golden light.
• Ouyang’s cold expression faded, and he joked that he had thought he looked cool.

Ouyang and Hui Zhi crossed the River of Forgetfulness and climbed Mount Naihe, which appeared to Ouyang as a small dirt slope but to Hui Zhi as a mountain of blades and flames. At the summit, Hui Zhi mistook the sea of clouds for the Buddha’s land of ultimate bliss.

• Ouyang and Hui Zhi crossed the River of Forgetfulness on the catfish-toad and saw Mount Naihe ahead.
• Ouyang realized Mount Naihe looked like a small dirt slope to him, while Hui Zhi saw a terrifying mountain of blades and lava.
• Ouyang climbed the slope with ease, and Hui Zhi transformed his Buddha Light into a hundred-handed Buddha to follow him.
• Ouyang waited at the summit as Hui Zhi climbed through the mountain’s trials in the time it took to drink a cup of tea.
• Hui Zhi reached the summit, saw the vast sea of clouds, and asked whether it was the Buddha’s land of ultimate bliss.

Hui Zhi was lured by the Heart Cloud’s illusion of a Buddhist paradise, but Ouyang snapped him out of it and learned that the mist concealed a deeper deception. Ouyang called out to the cloud formation, which answered, leaving the identity of the grandmaster unresolved.

• Hui Zhi saw an illusory Western Paradise and nearly followed a cloud into it, but Ouyang grabbed his collar and stopped him.
• Ouyang slapped Hui Zhi until he broke free of the illusion, and Hui Zhi thanked him for saving him from the delusion.
• Hui Zhi explained that the Heart Cloud preyed on cultivators’ deepest desires and suspected the Nine Hells was a vast deception hiding the truth beyond the clouds.
• Ouyang compressed True Essence into a ball and launched it into the sky, drawing the clouds together into an enormous face.
• Ouyang asked the cloud face, “Sonny?” and it answered, “Yeah!”

Ouyang and Hui Zhi discovered that the Nine Hells held fallen Great Cultivators’ divine souls captive on a Sky-Piercing Giant Pillar. As Hui Zhi prepared to destroy the pillar, Ouyang recognized that his Hemp Rope might have come from it and shouted Li Taibai’s name from the cliff.

• Ouyang ordered the face in the clouds to gather the clouds, revealing a ruined city and the Sky-Piercing Giant Pillar below them.
• Ouyang saw a divine soul wrapped into a mummy by a tentacle and hung on the pillar, while Hui Zhi explained that Great Cultivators were imprisoned there by their own Dao.
• Hui Zhi became a wrathful vajra guardian and urged Ouyang to topple the pillar and free the captive divine souls.
• Ouyang noticed that his Hemp Rope resembled the pillar’s tentacle and suspected that Hu Yun had taken it from there.
• Ouyang walked to the cliff’s edge and shouted, “Li Taibai, I fucked your mother!”

Ouyang suspected that the towering pillar in the desert was Li Taibai, who had become the backbone of Heaven and Earth, and wondered why the Sword Immortal later trapped Divine Souls in reincarnation. Xian Yi and the Sword Cultivators attacked Ouyang as an Immortal Reincarnation, then summoned their patriarch, Li Taibai.

• Ouyang shouted Li Taibai’s name at the towering pillar and recalled witnessing him hold up Heaven and Earth after slaying the Immortals.
• Hui Zhi realized Ouyang seemed to know Li Taibai, whom Buddhist scriptures condemned as a great demon.
• Xian Yi arrived with over a dozen Sword Cultivators, recognized Ouyang, and accused him of trespassing in the Land of Dao's Slumber.
• The Sword Cultivators charged, but Ouyang repelled them with Qi Burst.
• Xian Yi gathered the Sword Cultivators’ Immortal Spiritual Qi and summoned their patriarch from the pillar, revealing Li Taibai’s phantom.

Ouyang faced Xian Yi and the white-robed Sword Cultivators after they summoned Li Taibai’s apparition to kill him. The apparition recognized Ouyang and dissolved after he greeted it, and Ouyang ordered the Heart Cloud to restrain the Sword Cultivators before telling Xian Yi that he was his eldest uncle.

• Xian Yi summoned Li Taibai’s apparition and ordered it to slay Ouyang.
• Li Taibai’s sword stopped at Ouyang’s neck, and Ouyang greeted him as Xiao Bai.
• The apparition dissolved into mist, which flicked Ouyang on the forehead before vanishing.
• Xian Yi and the white-robed Sword Cultivators drew their swords and prepared to fight Ouyang.
• Ouyang ordered the Heart Cloud to restrain the Sword Cultivators and subdued Xian Yi with Green Lotus Immortal Qi, declaring that he was Xian Yi’s eldest uncle.

After Ouyang’s immortal spiritual qi convinced Xian Yi that Ouyang was the reincarnation of the Sword-Forging Clan’s patriarch Ou Yezi, the clan’s leader apologized and invited him to Sword-Forging City. Ouyang agreed to inspect the clan, taking Hui Zhi with him.

• Ouyang’s immortal spiritual qi made Xian Yi recognize him as someone acknowledged by Li Taibai, and Xian Yi concluded that Ouyang was Ou Yezi’s reincarnation.
• Xian Yi tried to atone for attacking Ouyang by taking his own life, but Ouyang stopped him.
• Xian Yi ordered the Sword Cultivators with him to kowtow to Ouyang and invited him to Sword-Forging City.
• Ouyang recalled his past visit to the Sword-Forging Clan and grew curious about how it had changed.
• Hui Zhi agreed to accompany Ouyang, and Ouyang set off with Xian Yi to inspect the Sword-Forging Clan.

Ouyang and the Sword Cultivators traveled through the ruined Desert to the Sword-Forging Clan, where he learned that the place had once been the Immortal Realm and that Great Cultivators were trapped in illusions after Li Taibai killed the Immortals. He realized Li Taibai’s plans sought to reopen the Immortal Path, leaving the story with Ouyang understanding that the world still depended on the Immortals it had fought.

• Ouyang asked Xian Yi why Li Taibai had trapped Great Cultivators in endless illusions, and Xian Yi said he would explain at the Sword-Forging Clan.
• As they crossed the Desert, Xian Yi explained that its ruined cities had once housed the dead who worshipped the Immortals.
• At the Sword-Forging Clan, Xian Yi said the clan had escaped the illusory Dao through Ouyang and his master, while Hui Zhi challenged him over the souls bound to the sky-supporting pillar.
• Xian Yi explained that Great Cultivators touched by the Dao had nowhere to go after the Immortals died, so Li Taibai kept them in illusions; Hui Zhi cursed the Dao in anger.
• Ouyang realized Li Taibai had arranged for Leng Qingsong to reopen the Immortal Path and for Bai Feiyu to prepare for God-Sealing, and concluded that the world could not do without an evil dragon.

Ouyang learned that Li Taibai’s victory over an Immortal had left him bearing the Dao and imprisoning countless divine souls to prevent a catastrophe. After considering whether change was worth its cost, Ouyang renewed his resolve to find a better path and carry Li Taibai’s unfinished struggle forward.

• Ouyang went with Xian Yi to the Sky-Supporting Pillar and reflected on how Li Taibai’s slaying of an Immortal had made him the world’s backbone.
• Xian Yi explained that Li Taibai bound divine souls to the pillar to keep them from becoming wandering ghosts and causing a catastrophe.
• Ouyang doubted his role in Li Taibai’s fate, then remembered Leng Qingsong, Chen Changsheng, Bai Feiyu, Hu Tutu, and Xiao Feng.
• Ouyang decided that he would seek a better way to change the world rather than accept the Immortals’ rule.
• Ouyang patted the pillar, regained clarity in his Dao heart, and vowed to continue Li Taibai’s unfinished work as his Eldest Senior Brother.

Ouyang arrived in the Sword-Forging Clan’s city and was recognized as the reincarnation of their revered lord. At the Divine Hall, the aged clan leader tested Ouyang with a secret phrase, and Ouyang remembered their old connection.

• Ouyang and his companions landed in the Sword-Forging Clan’s city, where Xian Yi explained how the clan survived and why it remained in the Land of the Nine Hells.
• Xian Yi announced that Ouyang was the lord’s reincarnation, and the clanspeople gathered around him in awe and confusion.
• Xian Er invited Ouyang to the Divine Hall, while Xian Yi stopped Hui Zhi from following and nearly provoked a fight until Ouyang calmed him.
• Ouyang entered the Divine Hall and saw a lifelike statue of Li Taibai, then met the frail current clan leader.
• The clan leader asked Ouyang for their secret phrase, and Ouyang remembered it and replied, “Call me clan leader!”

Ouyang reunited with the Sword-Forging Clan’s old Clan Leader, whom he had met in the Elder Ancient Era, and heard how the Nine Hells fell into chaos after Li Taibai slew the Immortals. The old man revealed that the mummified Divine Souls were overburdening Li Taibai, and Ouyang began to suspect that a Daoist from Hu Yun’s generation had devised the system holding them there.

• Ouyang recognized the old Clan Leader as the stubborn Sword-Forging Clan member he had met during the Sword Immortal’s Good Friend side quest.
• The old Clan Leader explained that he could not die in the Nine Hells and said he had survived since the Elder Ancient Era.
• The old Clan Leader recounted how Li Taibai’s killing of the Immortals caused the Nine Hells to collapse, leaving Great Cultivators’ Divine Souls trapped and driving many mad.
• The old Clan Leader told Ouyang that centuries of wars had filled the Nine Hells with Divine Souls and placed an enormous burden on Li Taibai.
• Ouyang inferred that a Great Daoist from Hu Yun and Dongxu Zi’s generation had devised the method of hanging the mummies, then asked the old Clan Leader if they had met thousands of years earlier.

Ouyang learned that he had not been the person who brought Hu Yun to the Nine Hells in the past, but grew more suspicious that Hu Yun’s master had planned events around him. The Old Clan Leader explained that Hu Yun and his master had transformed the Nine Hells, leaving Ouyang with more questions about the mysterious grandmaster.

• Ouyang asked the Old Clan Leader whether Ouyang himself had traveled back in time to bring Hu Yun to the Nine Hells, and the Old Clan Leader said this was their first meeting since the Elder Ancient Era.
• The Old Clan Leader relayed the message, “The chess player can only be a spectator. It is the chess pieces that truly direct the game!”
• Ouyang wondered whether Hu Yun’s master had set events in motion and resolved to question Dongxu Zi about the mysterious grandmaster after returning to the Azure Cloud Sect.
• Ouyang asked why Hu Yun and his master had come to the Nine Hells and how they had resolved the problem of having a surname without a name.
• The Old Clan Leader recalled that the Nine Hells had been chaotic before the two arrived, with ruined cities and souls devouring one another.
• The Old Clan Leader took Ouyang’s rope and said that the Nine Hells had become what it was through Hu Yun’s master’s handiwork.

The Great Daoist Ao Can discovered how to calm the Nine Hells’ masterless Divine Souls and sacrificed himself to establish a new order there. His disciple, the Little Daoist, was left behind as Ao Can became Mount Naihe and the Sky-Supporting Pillar took on its new role.

• The old clan chief explained that the Sword-Forging Clan had spent ages slaying rampaging Divine Souls, whose remains formed the River of Forgetfulness.
• Ao Can rejected the old clan chief’s offer to guard the Nine Hells and insisted he could resolve its plight and give the Little Daoist a name of his own.
• After contemplating beneath the Sky-Supporting Pillar, Ao Can vowed to create the Nine Hells Ultimate Bliss, and Heaven sent Dark-Yellow Qi in response.
• Ao Can gave the Little Daoist half of a rope and asked the old clan chief to pass on his message about chess pieces governing the game.
• Ao Can dissolved into starlight that formed Mount Naihe, while the Sky-Supporting Pillar bound the remaining Divine Souls in illusions and the characters Hu Yun appeared upon it.

After learning how Hu Yun’s master sacrificed himself to give Hu Yun a place in the world, Ouyang discovered that he could gain a name only by erasing Hu Yun’s. Ouyang was left facing the choice of securing his own existence or allowing his master to disappear forever.

• The Great Daoist integrated with the Dao of the Nine Hells, bringing order to the realm and strengthening its Sky-Piercing Giant Pillar.
• Hu Yun received his name and a cultivation technique from the pillar, then left the Nine Hells as a Sea of Flowers grew by the River of Forgetfulness.
• The Old Clan Leader told Ouyang that he had to cross out Hu Yun’s name before he could write his own, and that erasing it would make Hu Yun cease to exist.
• Ouyang realized Hu Yun had arranged his sacrifices and plans to help Ouyang remain in the world, but he struggled to accept the price of taking his master’s place.

Ouyang struggled with Hu Yun’s plan to make him erase Hu Yun’s name and take his place, then discovered a seed inside the Hemp Rope that suggested another path. A vision of his grandmaster and the Heart Cloud gave Ouyang a sudden understanding, though he was pulled back before he could see the whole game.

• Ouyang realized Hu Yun had arranged for him to erase Hu Yun’s name and replace it with his own, and he raged against the sacrifice and the choice.
• Ouyang nearly decided to destroy the Sky-Piercing Giant Pillar, but recognized that Shenjing Zi had anticipated the impulse and stopped himself.
• The Hemp Rope nuzzled Ouyang and revealed a round seed inside its body.
• Ouyang connected the seed and the Heart Cloud to a possible way for Hu Yun to survive, then called out to his son.
• Ouyang saw his grandmaster beneath the Sky-Supporting Pillar and glimpsed an azure chess piece representing himself, gaining sudden clarity before returning to reality.

Ouyang placed himself on the Nine Hells’ cosmic chessboard and used the Heart Cloud to build a modern city for Divine Souls. He declared it a refuge where all were equal and no Immortal would be worshipped, then assigned the Sword-Forging Clan to manage it.

• Ouyang learned from his exchange with the Grand Ancestor that the beings placing pieces could not control their choices, and decided to make his own moves.
• Ouyang declared that he would build a city, then used the Hemp Rope to drag the Heart Cloud down beneath the Sky-Piercing Giant Pillar.
• Ouyang poured his True Essence into the Heart Cloud and shaped it into a modern metropolis using the Life-Bound Dream Mu Yunhai had given him as its blueprint.
• Ouyang declared the city a refuge for Divine Souls where all were equal and no Immortal would be worshipped.
• Ouyang told Fan Rubin that the Sword-Forging Clan would serve as the city’s Urban Management Brigade.