Recaps

Nahida announced that the Akasha would be shut down and that she would change how the Akademiya selected its Sages, while Setaria waited anxiously to learn her own fate. After Cyno refused her request to leave for the desert, Yucheng joined her at the meeting, where an official accused them of bringing in an outsider and called for their arrest.

• Nahida announced that the Akasha would be shut down because it restricted curiosity and relied on people's dreams.
• Nahida said the Akademiya's Sage selection process would change to prioritize scholarship over status and connections.
• Setaria decided to leave the Akademiya and teach in the desert, but Cyno refused her request and said Nahida had already decided what would happen to her.
• Yucheng sat beside Setaria at the meeting, surprising her by appearing at the internal Akademiya gathering.
• An official accused Setaria of bringing an outsider into the House of Daena and called for guards to arrest her and Yucheng.

Nahida appointed Alhaitham Acting Great Sage and handed him the task of selecting new Sages. The meeting was interrupted when Afshin confronted Setaria, reigniting an old grudge over how she had rejected him and he had stolen her academic work.

• Nahida overawed the scholars arguing over Akademiya positions and assigned Alhaitham to choose candidates for the vacant Sage posts.
• Nahida announced Alhaitham’s appointment as Acting Great Sage, and he reluctantly accepted.
• Afshin shouted at Setaria for causing a disturbance and bringing an outsider into the House of Daena.
• Setaria remembered how Sahar and Afshin had discriminated against her, stolen her academic work, and later sought her forgiveness after she became Azar’s secretary.
• Afshin saw Setaria’s fall from favor as a chance to avenge the humiliation of having once kowtowed to her.

Sahar and Afshin tried to have Setaria arrested by accusing her of treason, hoping to protect Sahar’s prospects of becoming a Sage. Nahida revealed that Sumeru City’s guards would now answer to Cyno, giving him full law enforcement authority.

• Sahar saw Setaria as a threat to his bid for Sage after Afshin confronted her at the Akademiya meeting.
• Afshin accused Setaria of bringing a foreign spy into the Akademiya and betraying Sumeru, and Sahar ordered the guards to arrest them.
• Cyno told Sahar that Sumeru City’s guards no longer followed his orders.
• Nahida announced a new military system for Sumeru City, placing its guards under Cyno’s command with Asfand as his deputy.
• Cyno gained authority over both the Matra and Sumeru City’s guards.

At the Akademiya meeting, Alhaitham and Nahida revealed Setaria’s role in rescuing Lesser Lord Kusanali, stopping Sahar and Afshin from having her arrested. Yucheng then exposed Sahar and Afshin for stealing Setaria’s graduation thesis, and Nahida’s question about Afshin’s thesis title made their guilt clear.

• Cyno refused Sahar’s request to arrest Setaria and the foreign spy.
• Alhaitham credited Setaria with secretly providing intelligence on Azar, and Nahida revealed that Setaria had also ended the repeating Sabzeruz Festival.
• Yucheng revealed himself as Inazuma’s Regent, and Nahida explained that he had helped defeat Scaramouche and saved Sumeru City.
• Yucheng accused Sahar of taking Setaria’s thesis and passing it off as Afshin’s, while Sahar and Afshin denied the charge.
• Nahida asked Afshin for the title of his graduation thesis, and his inability to answer exposed the plagiarism.

Cyno punished Afshin and Sahar for academic plagiarism and began a systematic review of the Akademiya's thesis repository. Nahida appointed Setaria to lead the Western Support Plan, a policy to expand education and development in the Desert.

• Cyno had Afshin and Sahar arrested and announced a review of the Akademiya's thesis repository, with the approval of Nahida and Alhaitham.
• Nahida comforted Setaria and nominated her as the Sage of Rtawahist, but Setaria declined the position.
• Setaria explained that she wanted to return to the Desert to improve education for its people.
• Nahida acknowledged the Desert's long-standing hardship and promised funding, admissions opportunities, and promotion incentives to support its development.
• Nahida named the policy the Western Support Plan and placed Setaria in charge.

Nahida announced a major plan to develop Sumeru’s desert region, but the Akademiya’s Sages worried that funding it would harm their Darshans and that the harsh environment made success unlikely. Iskandar argued against rushing into the investment, leaving Nahida to consider his concerns.

• Setaria accepted responsibility for the desert development plan and pledged herself to Nahida’s cause.
• The Akademiya officials recognized that the plan would direct substantial resources toward the desert, potentially reducing funding for the Six Great Darshans.
• Iskandar, the Sage of Vahumana, asked Nahida to reconsider the plan and explained that scarce water, barren soil, and shifting sand made development difficult.
• Iskandar offered Vahumana’s students and teaching materials to support desert education but opposed allocating Akademiya funds to broader western development.

Setaria and the scholars agreed that the desert’s harsh conditions made economic development difficult, so they favored establishing libraries and classrooms. Nahida then revealed that Yucheng could transform the desert into a forest, leaving Alhaitham worried about what the Inazuma Regent expected in return for his help.

• Setaria considered possible industries for the desert and concluded that its limited resources made development difficult.
• The scholars agreed with Iskandar that building libraries and classrooms in desert settlements would be more practical than large-scale investment.
• Nahida announced that Yucheng could turn the desert into a forest and was willing to help Sumeru.
• Yucheng grew two trees through the Akademiya’s platform, astonishing the gathered scholars.
• Alhaitham wondered what Yucheng wanted from Sumeru and feared that the Regent was about to demand repayment for his contributions.

After the Divine Return Conference, Sumeru began implementing its new policies while Alhaitham adjusted the Akademiya’s work practices. Recovering in Avidya Forest, Lumine and Paimon learned that Tighnari had also refused a Sage position.

• Iskandar’s objections faded after Yucheng’s feat, and news of the conference spread across Sumeru as the Divine Return Conference became a landmark event.
• Alhaitham maintained his strict working style as Acting Great Sage, then introduced reporting guidelines that improved efficiency throughout the Akademiya.
• Tighnari allowed the recovered Lumine and Paimon to go out, and Collei gave Lumine a letter from Nilou inviting them to a Grand Bazaar banquet.
• Lumine and Paimon asked Tighnari about the changes in Sumeru, and he revealed that he had refused Sage Nafis’s proposal for him to become Sage of the Amurta.

Lumine gathered Sumeru’s friends for Nilou’s victory banquet after discovering that Nilou had failed to notify most of the guests. The celebration ended with Nahida and Yucheng arriving at the Grand Bazaar.

• Tighnari explained that he had no interest in becoming a sage, described Cyno’s new military authority, and said Azar and his accomplices were undergoing reform through labor in Aaru Village.
• Lumine and Paimon visited Nilou and learned that almost no one had received her invitation to the banquet, so Lumine spent two days inviting guests across Sumeru.
• Lumine found Azar working the soil in Aaru Village and reflected that her travels had once again brought major changes to a nation.
• Nilou’s victory banquet went ahead, bringing together Alhaitham, Cyno, Tighnari, Collei, Kaveh, and their friends to celebrate Sumeru’s changes and recount the Operation to Save the God.
• Nahida and Yucheng entered the Grand Bazaar, surprising the theater staff and guests.

Yucheng brought Nahida to the Grand Bazaar’s celebration, where he revealed that his wife had been cured of archon residue using help from the gods of Liyue and Mondstadt. Paimon said she could arrange the same help for Collei, leaving Collei, Tighnari, and Cyno hopeful about finding a cure.

• Nahida joined the Grand Bazaar celebration with Yucheng, and the crowd enthusiastically welcomed her.
• Yucheng went to the stage and explained that he and Nahida had been discussing cooperation between Sumeru and Inazuma.
• Yucheng noticed Collei’s archon residue and told Tighnari and Cyno that his wife had been cured of the same affliction.
• Yucheng said the cure required a jar of thousand-year-old Osmanthus Wine for Barbatos, making Collei, Tighnari, and Cyno despair at first.
• Paimon said she knew Barbatos and offered to ask him to help Collei, while Cyno agreed to search the Akademiya for suitable wine.

Nahida joined the celebration banquet and thanked the people who had helped save her, promising to seek a cure for Collei’s Eleazar. Yucheng then raised Nilou’s unspoken hope that the Akademiya would lift the Art Ban, leaving Alhaitham to answer.

• After Nahida finished greeting her people, she joined Yucheng and the others on the Zubayr Theater stage.
• Nahida thanked the group for risking their safety to rescue her and called them the heroes who saved a god.
• Nahida apologized to Collei for her illness and promised to ask the Geo Archon and Anemo Archon to cure her Eleazar.
• Cyno, Alhaitham, Kaveh, Dehya, Candace, Rahman, Nilou, and the others responded to Nahida with thanks and reflections on their roles in the rescue.
• Yucheng asked Alhaitham when the Akademiya would revoke the Art Ban, voicing Nilou and the Zubayr Theater’s hidden purpose for hosting the banquet.

At the victory banquet, Nilou asked Alhaitham to repeal Sumeru’s art ban, but he explained that the Akademiya’s rules and the decree’s recent passage made immediate reversal impossible. The request sparked an argument with Kaveh, while Nahida sympathized with both sides, leaving Nilou’s hope of keeping Zubayr Theater in Sumeru unresolved.

• Alhaitham told Nilou that repealing the art ban required a vote under Akademiya regulations and should not be rushed.
• Paimon questioned why Alhaitham could not make an exception, but he insisted that changing the decree had to follow the rules.
• Kaveh accused Alhaitham of abandoning Nilou and Zubayr Theater, and Alhaitham answered that he supported repeal but would not act outside proper procedures.
• Nahida praised Alhaitham’s respect for regulations but said she personally wanted to help Nilou.
• Nilou apologized for disrupting the banquet and explained that the Inazuma delegation had offered Zubayr Theater a place to perform, though many members hoped they could remain in Sumeru.

Nilou chose to honor her promise to go to Inazuma despite the possibility that Sumeru would abolish its art ban, and her resolve inspired many Zubayr Theater staff to follow. Nahida then asked Alhaitham to do something beneficial for Sumeru before leaving his position as Acting Great Sage.

• Yucheng offered to burn the agreement if Nilou and Zubayr Theater no longer wanted to go to Inazuma.
• Nilou firmly declared that she would go to Inazuma, even if she had to perform as a street dancer and rely on Yucheng for help.
• Moved by Nilou's resolve, many Zubayr Theater staff said they would go to Inazuma with her.
• Nahida, Alhaitham, and Cyno felt ashamed and angry about the art ban forcing the theater staff to seek a living elsewhere.
• Nahida asked Alhaitham to do something beneficial for Sumeru before he stepped down as Acting Great Sage.

Nahida promised the people of Sumeru that the Art Ban would be abolished, then joined Yucheng in preparing for a future meeting with Ei. The next day, Alhaitham approved the unexpectedly lenient diplomatic terms, formally establishing a strategic partnership between Inazuma and Sumeru.

• Nahida apologized to the people of Sumeru and promised the Art Ban would be abolished by the time they returned from Inazuma.
• Alhaitham and Cyno accepted responsibility for helping overturn the policy, while Nahida asked Yucheng to look after the Sumeru travelers.
• Yucheng invited Nahida to meet Ei, and Nahida said she would bring homemade Date Honey as a gift.
• Alhaitham reviewed the diplomatic Letter of State and discovered that its terms were unexpectedly lenient toward Sumeru.
• Yucheng nodded when Alhaitham asked whether he had gotten what he wanted in Sumeru, and Alhaitham signed the Letter of State.
• Inazuma and Sumeru formally established a strategic partnership, and Alhaitham became known as the Akademiya's most legendary Great Sage.

Yucheng demonstrated his power in Aaru Village by flooding part of the desert and instantly growing a vast forest, stunning the Akademiya scholars and desert residents. He then announced that they would move on to the next location, while those who witnessed the miracle viewed him with awe.

• Lesser Lord Kusanali, Alhaitham, Cyno, Yucheng, and their party arrived in Aaru Village to begin the Western Support Plan.
• Candace worried that the Akademiya’s plans might disrupt Aaru Village and the descendants of King Deshret.
• Yucheng used Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique to pour a huge torrent of water over the desert.
• Yucheng used Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence, causing a forest several kilometers wide to grow across the soaked sand.
• Yucheng said they would go to the next place, as the onlookers regarded him with growing awe.

Yucheng transformed much of Sumeru’s desert into forest, earning worship and sparking debate among Akademiya scholars over what kind of god he was. In the Land of Lower Setekh, he discovered a force tied to the third Skyfrost Nail, while Nahida found a mysterious emerald heart whose flame seemed connected to her forgotten memories.

• Yucheng created forests and brought localized rain to parts of the desert, winning the villagers’ support and unsettling the reforming Azar and his companions.
• Akademiya scholars argued over whether to call Yucheng the Forest Tree God, Tianyu God, or Human God, while Yucheng chose to preserve the areas around King Deshret’s monuments.
• When Yucheng and Nahida tried to transform the Land of Lower Setekh, Yucheng sensed an underground force draining the new forest’s vitality, and Nahida identified the area as the Goddess of Flowers’ territory.
• Yucheng recognized the force as the power of the third Skyfrost Nail, which had turned the Goddess of Flowers’ rainforest into desert.
• Nahida experienced a brief disconnection and revealed an emerald heart with a small flame, which she had found in the Sanctuary of Surasthana and could not remember.
• Yucheng recognized the flame’s significance, looked toward the source of the forest’s lost vitality, and said, “How could I have forgotten you?”

Yucheng and Nahida followed the heart’s resonance into the Land of Lower Setekh, where they encountered the Dendro Dragon Apep. Apep attacked them, but a mocking voice interrupted the confrontation by calling her the Wenut King.

• Nahida sensed that the heart resonated with a place northwest in the Land of Lower Setekh, and Yucheng decided to follow it.
• As Yucheng and Nahida crossed the desert, Nahida sensed a powerful presence nearby and suspected it was Apep.
• Apep appeared through the sandstorm and ordered Yucheng and Nahida to leave her territory.
• Apep sent sharp sand cones at them, and Yucheng protected them with the Wood Release: Hōbi Technique.
• A voice behind Apep mocked her as the Sand Dragon King and Wenut King.

Yucheng and Nahida confronted Apep, whose power absorbed Yucheng’s Wood Release, and tried to persuade the weakened dragon to accept help. After Apep declared its intent to destroy Sumeru and the Seven Nations, Yucheng summoned Zhongyuan from a teahouse in Liyue, leaving the waiter to report that someone had skipped out on the bill.

• Yucheng attacked Apep with Wood Release, but Apep absorbed the trees and Chakra from Deep Forest Emergence.
• Apep sensed unfamiliar energy in Yucheng and became hostile toward him.
• Nahida offered to save Apep, but Apep rejected her and vowed revenge against Sumeru and the Seven Nations.
• Yucheng challenged Apep for targeting Inazuma and mocked it for not confronting the Heavenly Principles.
• Yucheng used a summoning technique to bring Zhongyuan from Heyu Teahouse, where a waiter reported his sudden disappearance as skipping the bill.

Azhdaha was enjoying Liyue Harbor’s pleasures while Hu Tao and Zhongli were away, until Yucheng’s Summoning Contract teleported him to Sumeru. There, Apep challenged him, and the two ancient dragons prepared to fight.

• Second Master Fan dismissed a waiter’s complaint about Zhongyuan’s unpaid bill and told him to keep Zhongyuan’s seat and refreshments ready.
• Azhdaha continued enjoying Liyue’s food and entertainment, charging his expenses to Wangsheng Funeral Parlor while Hu Tao and Zhongli were away in Inazuma.
• An irresistible summoning force pulled Azhdaha from Heyu Teahouse to Sumeru, where he found Apep, Yucheng, and Nahida.
• Azhdaha recognized Yucheng and learned that Nahida had also signed a Summoning Contract with him.
• After Yucheng told Azhdaha that Apep had insulted him, Azhdaha transformed into a colossal dragon and faced Apep as their battle threatened to begin.

Azhdaha and Apep clashed in the Land of Lower Setekh, arguing over the Dragon Race’s place in the world before trading powerful attacks. With Yucheng’s help, Azhdaha gained Susanoo armor and prepared to settle which dragon was stronger.

• Apep scolded Azhdaha for serving Morax and signing a contract with a human, while Azhdaha mocked Apep and defended accepting the new world order.
• Apep blasted Azhdaha with sandy-yellow energy, but Azhdaha’s defenses held and he countered with a massive desert tsunami.
• Apep split the tsunami with a sword strike, while Yucheng warned Azhdaha not to draw energy from the ley lines because strange Elemental Lifeforms clung to him.
• Yucheng covered Azhdaha in blue-violet Susanoo armor, destroying the Elemental Lifeforms and boosting Azhdaha’s power.
• Azhdaha challenged Apep to a fight to determine who was stronger.

Azhdaha defeated Apep, but Nahida stopped him from finishing the weakened dragon and tried to persuade him to accept help. Yucheng reframed Nahida’s offer as a practical way for Apep to survive and preserve his chance to take revenge on the Heavenly Principles.

• Azhdaha gained the upper hand over the weakened Apep and knocked him down, but Nahida stopped him from attacking further.
• Yucheng used Sage Art: Gate of the Great God to pin Apep down and disrupt his elemental energy.
• Nahida urged Apep to put aside his prejudice, explaining that they shared an enemy and that Forbidden Knowledge had ravaged his body and soul.
• Apep admitted that he had embraced Forbidden Knowledge and remained defiant toward Nahida, Azhdaha, and Yucheng.
• Yucheng advised Nahida to seem less selfless, then told Apep that accepting treatment was his best chance to survive and someday seek revenge on the Heavenly Principles.

Yucheng and Nahida entered Apep’s inner world to use the Seed of Fire to restore the Heart of the Oasis, but Apep’s corrupted subjects attacked while Nahida channeled its energy. Yucheng summoned Susanoo to protect her and prepare to fight the monsters.

• Apep admitted that it sensed Nahida had the Seed of Fire, then opened its mouth to let Yucheng and Nahida enter its inner world.
• Yucheng and Nahida found Apep’s desolate inner world and learned that restoring the Heart of the Oasis could gradually heal the dragon.
• Nahida used the Seed of Fire to channel Dendro energy into the Heart of the Oasis, shaking the entire space.
• An infected Oasis Watcher and numerous mutated elemental lifeforms attacked Yucheng and Nahida as Nahida continued channeling.
• Yucheng shielded Nahida inside a four-armed Susanoo and raised its Chakra Blades to face the attackers.

Nahida and Yucheng restored Apep’s Heart of the Oasis, freeing Apep from forbidden knowledge’s corruption. Apep revealed how King Deshret became entangled with forbidden knowledge and reaffirmed its solitary opposition to the Heavenly Principles, leaving Azhdaha furious at Apep’s criticism of the dragons.

• Susanoo slaughtered the monsters inside Apep while Nahida used the Seed of Fire to restore the Heart of the Oasis and revive the space.
• Apep’s scales turned green, the Gate of the Great God was absorbed, and Apep’s renewed Dendro energy brought life to the desert.
• Nahida told Apep that Sumeru would no longer threaten it, and Apep said it felt peace again but would remain separate from humanity.
• Apep revealed that Nab-Malikata helped Akhmar obtain forbidden knowledge, and that Apep swallowed him after his kingdom fell, absorbing his elemental energy and the Apocalypse.
• Apep explained that it would follow the Dragon King’s will and oppose the Heavenly Principles alone, while rejecting forbidden knowledge as a path to victory.
• Apep disparaged the dragons who had grown close to humans, prompting Azhdaha to challenge it to another fight.

Yucheng told Apep that the Seven Archons had grown less obedient to the Heavenly Principles and revealed that he and his allies might oppose them. Apep sought to recruit Yucheng into the Dragon Race’s camp, but Yucheng refused and suggested that Apep join his instead.

• Apep argued that Azhdaha had only defeated him because his Heart of the Oasis had failed and Azhdaha had gained new armor.
• Yucheng explained that the Heavenly Principles had not appeared for five hundred years and that the Seven Archons’ allegiance had subtly shifted.
• Apep realized that gods and humans might join his campaign against the Heavenly Principles and asked Yucheng where he stood.
• Yucheng cited his ties to Beelzebul, Buer, Barbatos, and Morax, and said his side would oppose the Heavenly Principles if a chance to overthrow them arose.
• Apep invited Yucheng to join the Dragon Race’s camp, but Yucheng refused and urged Apep to join his camp instead.
• Apep silently looked toward Azhdaha, who irritably asked what Apep was looking at.

Yucheng persuaded Apep to join his faction and sign a Summoning Contract, while Nahida agreed to help find Apep’s surviving subjects in Sumeru. The Aranara began searching the Rainforest, and Apep froze after realizing it could not read the contract it was asked to sign.

• Apep questioned what it would gain by joining Yucheng, and Yucheng argued that working together offered a better chance against the Heavenly Principles.
• Apep agreed to sign a Summoning Contract on the condition that Yucheng help return its surviving subjects to their homeland.
• Apep explained that its subjects had likely adapted into Elemental Lifeforms resembling Fungi, and Nahida offered to have the Aranara search for them.
• Nahida sensed that Apep’s subjects might be in danger and sent a message through the Rainforest, prompting the Aranara to begin searching.
• Yucheng gave Apep the contract, and Apep realized it could not read any of the writing on the scroll.