Recaps

Hou Niao returned the Earth Spirit Pearl to the Winged People, settled his ties with Anhe, and reunited with his old companions in Jade Capital. He then traveled to the Binxu Desert, joined Gui Team, and began investigating undead activity around Dragon Whisker Ravine.

• Hou Niao, Tan Xiao, and Jia Ye stopped fighting over the Earth Spirit Pearl and returned it with the weakened Winged leader to the Winged People’s tribe.
• Tan Xiao took Hou Niao to Danyang Mountain, where Hou Niao met Xiao True Person and learned that his Anhe cover was no longer needed, though Xiao True Person asked him to help Anhe when he could.
• Hou Niao returned to the Minister of Justice Prefecture, received a promotion, and reunited with Zong Qian, who took him to find Wang Mian in the Minister of Works Prefecture.
• Hou Niao traveled through the Northwest toward Ancient Loulan and joined Sha Jia’s caravan, learning about the desert settlements and the undead that threatened them.
• Hou Niao reached Loulan Oasis and joined Yu Zhengxing’s frontier patrol, taking command of Gui Team with Yuan Shangyuan, Huang Ruyan, and Nan Xiangye.
• Gui Team defeated multiple groups of undead during its patrols, then searched Dragon Whisker Ravine for signs of an underground river and undead activity.
• Hou Niao traced a series of undead sightings to Wang Gandang’s mica starstone mine, where he found the miners’ dead and learned that a streak of sword light had slain many undead.
• Hou Niao escorted the surviving miners to Dragon Whisker Ravine and stationed Gui Team there for ten days while he burrowed beneath the sand to investigate the underground river.

Hou Niao helped defend the Protective Forest, redirected the Water Spirit Pearl into the underground river, and drew Qin and Yue cultivators into the fight against the Undead. After leaving the Northwest, he took a new post and joined Lanruo and Lanting’s journey toward Anhe, where the Wu Sect prepared to ambush him.

• Yu Zhengxing organized the defense of the shelterbelt, and Hou Niao’s Gui Team helped defeat the first Undead Legion.
• Yu Zhengxing enlisted Hou Niao to seek the Water Spirit Pearl, and Hou Niao recruited Lin Xiashi’s help to enter the Flowing Sand River.
• Hou Niao persuaded the Flowing Sand Lord to guide the Water Race and the Qin and Yue cultivators toward the underground river, where the Water Spirit Pearl merged with it.
• Yu Zhengxing’s defenders fought a much larger Undead force, then joined by Lin Xiashi and hundreds of cultivators from beneath the forest belt, broke the Legion and pursued it across the desert.
• Hou Niao brought Yue Sect disciples to see the Protective Forest, then met Gu Sou, who explained that the Spirit Pearls came from beyond the universe and would appear as the Heaven and Earth Shackles opened.
• Hou Niao left the Northwest for Pingliang Prefecture with Xiao True Person’s Fishman Seal and a Jade Slip listing Shanmen outsiders.
• Hou Niao promised Lanruo and Lanting gengjing ore, then secretly boarded their raft to escort them toward Anhe and meet their master.
• Black Daoist learned Hou Niao was traveling toward Anhe and prepared a concealed ambush in Fufeng City.

Hou Niao fought Tang Yan in the Ganling Small World and manipulated its collapse, forcing Tang Yan to ascend and form his core before their duel could be settled. After returning to Pingliang, Hou Niao reconsidered his swordsmanship while Li Shipeng traveled south and Bai Qingqian attended a gathering where Yingtai announced a trial for merchant firms.

• Hou Niao killed the Wu Sect Daoist who had attacked him, escaped the Qi Sect Daoist’s Corpse Puppet Coffin, and reunited with Li Shipeng after Li Shipeng sacrificed his sword to delay Li Laiheng.
• Li Chuping arrived with Shanmen forces, stripped Hou Niao of his Pingliang Commandant post, and later arranged for him to face Tang Yan in a life-and-death duel at Baijun Mountain.
• Tang Yan and Hou Niao entered the Ganling Small World, where Tang Yan used his Dharma Bodies and fire techniques while Hou Niao fought with his flying sword and Body Sword Technique.
• Tang Yan trapped Hou Niao with Same-Origin Joint Cultivation, but Hou Niao revealed that he had accelerated the Small World’s collapse and warned that Tang Yan would soon be forced to ascend.
• Hou Niao used the Ancient Thunder Talisman to hasten the collapse, and Tang Yan survived the heavenly tribulation, formed his core, and emerged with Hou Niao before the Small World sealed itself away.
• Hou Niao and Tang Yan supported a public account that the duel had ended because the Small World changed, while Hou Niao told Li Chuping he had planted a weakness in Tang Yan during the tribulation.
• Hou Niao questioned the limits of his Flying Sword Art and sought leave to travel, while Li Shipeng departed south to study Spirit Pearls and bring Bai Qingqian from Mirage Tower.
• At Mirage Tower’s Sea God Festival gathering, Bai Qingqian and Xiangfei Bamboo discussed travel and trade before Wang Chuquan introduced Yingtai’s Xiang Anshi, who announced a whale-dragging trial to select six firms for a new route.

Hou Niao helped open the Yingtai trade route, reunited with Zhao Xintong, and crossed the Northwest before investigating the abnormal sandstorms threatening the Protective Forest Belt. He and Xiang Anshi headed toward Xunfeng Valley as Daoist elites began a concealed operation there.

• Guan Ruyu used the Three Mountains Stances to pull the great whale twelve zhang, but disguised as Zong Qian, Hou Niao pulled it thirty zhang and won the Silver Sword Firm leadership of the Yingtai trade route.
• Hou Niao revealed himself to Xiang Anshi, arranged for Xiangfei Bamboo to become Yuan True Person's nominal disciple, and prepared to leave Mirage Tower with Bai Qingqian.
• Hou Niao confronted Guan Ruyu for targeting Bai Qingqian and killing two women, then killed him after a duel in which Guan's techniques failed against Hou's flying sword.
• Hou Niao, Bai Qingqian, Xiangfei Bamboo, Xiang Anshi, Nie Yingnan, and Chen Zhaodi traveled to Taihao, where Zhao Xintong's answers at the Autumn Appreciation Convention stirred the academy's succession dispute.
• Hou Niao and his companions crossed the Northwest and reached Loulan New City, where he studied the underground river and strengthened his Water Element Profound Light.
• Yu Zhengxing told Hou Niao that abnormal sandstorms near Xunfeng Valley threatened the forest belts, and Hou Niao chose to investigate despite restrictions on powerful cultivators entering the desert.
• Hou Niao left Loulan New City for Xunfeng Valley, and Xiang Anshi caught up and joined him despite the dangers and uncertain plan.
• Daoist elites Han Tiangang, Huai Liangyou, and Lou Yue monitored Dai Xun's rogue cultivator advance party, intending to use its encounter with the Undead as cover for their own infiltration.