Recaps

After three days of secluded time with Su Luoyan, Wang Chong reviewed the prosperous regions she governed and agreed to seek an imperial decree to marry her. He left Jiangzhu in charge of Shangzhou and White Province, then traveled with Su Luoyan and her large retinue toward Leizhou, planning to join Gao Gun’s party to Chang'an in disguise.

• Wang Chong returned to Red Camel City with a small force and announced three days of seclusion with Su Luoyan, spending the time composing suggestive poems.
• After emerging, Wang Chong inspected Shangzhou and White Province and found that Su Luoyan had overseen their growth and governance effectively.
• Su Luoyan asked Wang Chong to formally seek her hand, and he proposed obtaining an imperial decree through Gao Gun before proposing to the Su Manor.
• Wang Chong suggested that he and Su Luoyan secretly accompany Gao Gun to Chang'an, and Su Luoyan agreed after he promised to leave Jiangzhu in charge.
• Wang Chong left Jiangzhu with two thousand Wind-Treading Cavalry to govern the regions and departed for Leizhou with Su Luoyan and several hundred attendants and guards.

Wang Chong visited Yuzao in Tongzhou, then checked on the Way of the Yellow Heaven Assembly in Leizhou. After arranging affairs there, he disguised himself and left with Gao Gun’s delegation for Chang’an.

• Yuzao welcomed Wang Chong and Su Luoyan outside Tongzhou, where Su Luoyan saw how greatly Yuzao’s status and bearing had changed.
• Yuzao hosted Wang Chong and Su Luoyan in Tongzhou’s Military Compound and explained that the Wang Clan Martial Canon and the Way of the Yellow Heaven’s texts had strengthened her True Qi.
• Wang Chong stayed in Tongzhou for several days before traveling to Leizhou, where the Yellow Heaven Assembly’s business competition was underway.
• Sun Mingke led the rankings after plundering a mountain stronghold, while Lei Dongtian placed second.
• Wang Chong spent two days arranging matters in Leizhou, then disguised himself and departed for Chang’an with Gao Gun’s delegation of envoys.

Wang Chong and his companions traveled toward Chang'an in disguise while Sun Mingke and Jiang Wenyue sparred and discussed their martial progress. As Wang Chong offered Jiang Wenyue advice, a rider and a large force of horses appeared on the horizon.

• Wang Chong and Su Luoyan traveled toward Chang'an with a small disguised party, bringing Sun Mingke, Jiang Wenyue, and five Wudang Disciples.
• Jiang Wenyue reflected on his new life and hoped to bring his mother from the Turks to the Central Plains.
• Sun Mingke sparred with Jiang Wenyue, defeated him, and wagered a spear art against Jiang's martial progress.
• Wang Chong advised Jiang Wenyue to connect the martial arts he had learned and apply their principles across different techniques.
• A rider on a white horse appeared in the distance, followed by countless galloping horses.

Wang Chong learned that the girl demanding tolls from travelers was his betrothed, Princess Hongluan, and that her father was a fearsome Great Grandmaster sworn brother to Wang Chong’s father. The girl rode away before Wang Chong could speak with her, leaving him wary of offending her powerful family.

• A lively girl in yellow demanded a toll from Wang Chong’s party outside Leizhou, and Wang Chong sent Gao Gun to handle her.
• Su Luoyan told Wang Chong that the girl was one of the five Princesses of Yan betrothed to him by the Empress.
• Gao Gun explained that the girl’s father was Wang Chong’s father’s sworn brother, a Great Grandmaster who had killed another Great Grandmaster.
• Wang Chong learned that the Empress had raised the girl, named Princess Hongluan, and taught her civil and military arts.
• Gao Gun revealed that the girl’s name was Longji, and Wang Chong worried that her father might return and seek revenge.

As the procession approached Chang'an, Wang Chong learned that Third Lord Jiang had repeatedly tried to strip him of his title and humiliate Su Luoyan, so he decided to kill Jiang. After Third Lord Jiang obstructed Gao Gun’s request for Su Luoyan’s marriage and jailed a Su family member, Gao Gun agreed to take Wang Chong with him on a disguised nighttime strike.

• Wang Chong perfected the Earthly Fiend Art during the journey and strengthened his lightness skill and Candle-Bearing Sword Technique.
• Near Chang'an, Wang Chong learned that Third Lord Jiang had petitioned to strip him of his title and had interfered with his residence and Wen Chan’er’s engagement.
• After the procession entered Chang'an, Gao Gun went to court to seek the Empress’s approval for Su Luoyan’s marriage to Wang Chong.
• Gao Gun told Wang Chong that Third Lord Jiang had blocked the marriage, demanded that Su Luoyan be given to a commoner, and had a Su family member imprisoned.
• Wang Chong planned to kill Third Lord Jiang, and Gao Gun offered to guide him there in disguise after teaching him the Thirty-Six Heavenly and Earthly Transformations.

Wang Chong mastered a new form of the Thirty-Six Heavenly and Earthly Transformations and went with Gao Gun to assassinate Third Lord Jiang. As Wang Chong’s killing strengthened his mental power, he sensed a terrifying presence beyond the heavens and sealed his violent impressions inside the Huayan Kasaya.

• Wang Chong combined the Heavenly Dragon Scripture with his studies of the transformations and awakened the Mani Jewel, advancing his martial prowess.
• Gao Gun tested Wang Chong’s progress and was startled when a simple punch’s mental force briefly overcame him.
• Wang Chong and Gao Gun went to Third Lord Jiang’s Residence to kill the powerful Jiang Clan patriarch.
• Wang Chong used mental visions of heavenly and earthly disasters to kill the residence’s watchmen and everyone else in his path.
• As each death increased his mental power, Wang Chong sensed something struggling within a hole above the nine heavens and directed his ferocity and resentment into the Huayan Kasaya.

Wang Chong and Gao Gun slaughtered their way through Third Lord Jiang’s residence and confronted Jiang Zongda, a Great Grandmaster. Jiang Zongda called for the hidden Jiang family fighters to attack, and Wang Chong assigned him to Gao Gun.

• Wang Chong killed his way through the residence while Gao Gun identified several of the victims as members of the Jiang family.
• Wang Chong and Gao Gun entered the rear compound and claimed to be An Dushan and Zhao Feishan when Jiang Zongda challenged them.
• Jiang Zongda appeared and recognized that both intruders possessed Great Grandmaster-level power, though their martial arts and identities seemed mismatched.
• Wang Chong mocked Jiang Zongda for failing to notice the massacre and for boasting about the Jiang family fighters gathered in a hidden chamber.
• Jiang Zongda summoned the other fighters to attack, and Wang Chong told Gao Gun to face him.

Wang Chong broke into the Jiang Clan’s ancestral hall and slaughtered its members while Gao Gun fought Jiang Zongda outside. He battled the experts guarding Third Lord Jiang until Gao Gun called for him to withdraw.

• Jiang Zongda summoned the Empress, while Gao Gun warned that they had to retreat within an incense stick.
• Wang Chong used the True Treasure Sign-Huayan Kasaya to distract Jiang Zongda, then charged into the Jiang Clan’s great hall.
• Wang Chong smashed through the hall wall, killed Wenbian and several others, and discovered that the surviving experts were protecting Third Lord Jiang.
• Wang Chong used the Thirty-Six Heavenly and Earthly Transformations to kill an Innate Realm expert, then fought six Grandmaster Realm experts and seven Innate Realm experts guarding Third Lord Jiang.
• Wang Chong failed to lure the guards away from Third Lord Jiang, until Gao Gun shouted for him to leave.

Wang Chong returned to Chang'an, killed Third Lord Jiang, and risked revealing himself to the Empress by calling her “Mother.” The Empress let him escape and took control of the Jiang Clan, while Wang Chong left the city determined to return openly one day.

• Wang Chong broke off his fight with Jiang Zongda and fled with Gao Gun as the Empress's presence swept toward Third Lord Jiang's Residence.
• Wang Chong doubled back, abandoned his disguises, and called the Empress “Mother” as he passed her; she let him go.
• Wang Chong killed Third Lord Jiang with a punch and escaped while the Empress ordered her people to protect her instead of pursuing him.
• Gao Gun helped Wang Chong reach the city wall and told him he would bring Su Luoyan out to him in a few days.
• The Empress assumed temporary leadership of the Jiang Clan, ended Wenbian's claim to the crown prince title, and granted him the title of Commandery Duke.
• Wang Chong left Chang'an, vowed to return with his head held high, and felt his True Qi nearing a breakthrough.

After leaving Chang'an alone and penniless, Wang Chong was taken in by Princess Hongluan’s band of riders. At Azure Luan Manor, he joined their feast, and Hongluan selected him to spar for the group’s entertainment.

• Wang Chong left Chang'an without money, weapons, or companions and wondered how he would get by.
• Princess Hongluan, riding with several hundred cavalrymen, found Wang Chong and gave him a horse to join her company.
• At Azure Luan Manor, Wang Chong sealed the acupoint of a man who ordered him to tend the horses and walked into the manor.
• Hongluan celebrated her group’s raid on the Prince of Yan’s delegation at a banquet, where Wang Chong ate heartily.
• Hongluan noticed Wang Chong and ordered him to come out and spar.

Wang Chong tried to win a poetry contest at Longji’s gathering, but his moon poem angered her when she mistook its wording for a taunt about Wen Chan'er. Longji recognized him as her childhood fiancé and confronted him privately, leaving Wang Chong bewildered by their past and her old habit of beating him.

• Longji set a literary contest on the bright moon, and Wang Chong recited a famous poem about it.
• Longji took the poem’s reference to Chanjuan as a mockery about Wen Chan'er and ordered Wang Chong beaten.
• After recognizing Wang Chong, Longji had him tied to a tree and revealed that she and Wen Zhengchun had grown up together.
• Longji confronted Wang Chong about pretending not to know her and demanded that he call her elder sister.
• Wang Chong asked why Longji had never visited him in Tongzhou, and she replied that she had not wanted to see him with Wen Chan'er.
• Longji recalled beating Wang Chong as a child because he provoked her despite being older and weaker in martial arts.

Wang Chong returned to Chang'an in secret and disguised himself as one of Longji’s female sword attendants. At the palace, he learned that the Empress had arranged for a marriage envoy to propose to Su Luoyan, and Longji threatened to ruin the match after discovering his feelings for her.

• Longji told Wang Chong to hide his identity, and Wen Qi disguised him as an Emei female disciple.
• Longji left her martial-world followers at Azure Luan Manor and took Wang Chong with her sword attendants toward Chang'an.
• Wang Chong and Longji found Chang'an sealed while the court searched for the assassins of Third Lord Jiang.
• Longji brought Wang Chong into the palace, where he heard the Empress appoint a marriage envoy to propose to Su Luoyan on her son's behalf.
• Longji guessed Wang Chong was involved with Su Luoyan and threatened to go out and spoil the marriage arrangement.

Wang Chong reunited with the Empress, who welcomed him as her son and arranged for Longji to accompany him as a military commander and Marriage-Bestowing Envoy. He stayed in the palace with his sword attendants, unaware of the women waiting at his residence, until Longji found him being bathed by Emei disciples.

• Longji volunteered to serve as Marriage-Bestowing Envoy, and the Empress agreed while appointing Gao Gun as her deputy.
• Wang Chong revealed himself to the Empress, who tearfully welcomed him and asked him to call her Mother.
• The Empress appointed Longji Three-Provinces Military Governor and Female Commander of the Army, and told Wang Chong to stay in the palace until the marriage mission departed.
• Wang Chong spent his days keeping the Empress company while remaining unaware that Chu Qiuzi and the Qingcheng heroines were at his residence.
• Wang Chong bathed with help from Zhou Xiruo and another Emei disciple until Longji entered and looked displeased.

Wang Chong and Longji reaffirmed their marriage after a meddling official tried to make her break off the engagement. Wang Chong secretly killed the official, then left Chang'an with Longji and Gao Gun for Su Manor in Chenzhou.

• Longji told Wang Chong that an official had urged her to marry someone else, and she explained that he had been her father's beneficiary who presumed to dictate her affairs.
• The official forced his way in and urged Longji to reject Wang Chong and choose a match from the Jiang or Wen families, but Longji declared that she willingly accepted the marriage.
• After the man left, Wang Chong killed him with a hair launched by Flying Flowers, Plucking Leaves Hand, and his death was mistaken for a sudden illness.
• Wang Chong stayed in the palace for half a month, then left Chang'an with Gao Gun and Longji for Su Manor in Chenzhou, while Su Luoyan followed with her own party.

Wang Chong tested his increased strength with Longji and her Sword Attendants, then promised to create a martial art for her and taught her the Ten-Thousand-Victory Flower Spear and Brocade Red Phoenix. After Longji enhanced the spear art with Emei’s secret techniques, Wang Chong rejoined the convoy and slipped away to visit Su Luoyan.

• Wang Chong held his ground against Longji and her Sword Attendants in a rope-pulling contest until their combined strength pulled him off his footing.
• Longji asked Wang Chong to teach her a martial art, and he promised to create a unique spear style and internal method for her.
• Wang Chong taught Longji the Ten-Thousand-Victory Flower Spear and disguised the True Treasure Sign · Huayan Kasaya as the Brocade Red Phoenix internal method.
• Longji combined Wang Chong’s spear sequences with Emei’s Cloud-Piercing, Moon-Shattering, Hundred-Turn Flowing-Light Crane-Shadow Spear, expanding the style to a hundred and eight sequences.
• Wang Chong returned to the convoy, informed Gao Gun, and went to meet Su Luoyan, who welcomed him with food and wine.

Wang Chong brought Su Luoyan to the Ten-Thousand-Year Fox Manor and formally proposed marriage to both the manor and the Su Family. He arranged for Shaolin’s Kong Chan and Wudang’s Ku Cha to represent the martial world, and both sects prepared to answer his request.

• The Su Family welcomed Wang Chong, Longji, and Gao Gun outside Chenzhou, while Wang Chong later slipped away to avoid awkwardness with Longji.
• Su Luoyan took Wang Chong to the Ten-Thousand-Year Fox Manor, where the manor mistress greeted them.
• Wang Chong proposed marriage to the Su Family and the Fox Manor, offering gifts and promising to bring Kong Chan and Ku Cha to propose on his behalf.
• The Fox Manor’s mistress agreed to give half the manor’s population as Su Luoyan’s dowry.
• Su Luoyan asked whether Kong Chan and Ku Cha would really come, and Wang Chong assured her he had sent letters.
• Kong Chan agreed to go in person, while Ku Cha and the Wudang elders discussed wedding gifts.

Kong Chan and Ku Cha proposed marriage to the Ten-Thousand-Year Fox Manor on Wen Zhengchun's behalf, bringing Xun Ba and a gift of Wudang's patriarchal stone slabs. The slabs passed into Wang Chong's care, while Gao Gun realized the missing thirty-second slab was already in his possession.

• Kong Chan and Ku Cha arrived in Chenzhou to propose marriage to Su Luoyan for Wen Zhengchun, and Ku Cha brought Xun Ba to apologize and serve Wang Chong.
• Wang Chong welcomed Xun Ba as a martial brother, while Ku Cha took satisfaction in Wudang's growing ties to Wang Chong.
• Ku Cha presented thirty-one stone slabs bearing a Wudang patriarch's martial insights and said the Wen Family had taken the missing slab.
• Gao Gun recognized the missing slab as the one he had taken from Wen Yanqing and decided to send it to Tongzhou.
• The mistress of the Ten-Thousand-Year Fox Manor realized that the slabs were intended for Wang Chong and Su Luoyan, not for the manor to examine.

Wang Chong studied Shaolin’s Dharma-Transmission Kasaya and comprehended the Heavenly Demon Great Law, then helped establish the Way of the Yellow Heaven and expanded its martial teachings. Back in Tongzhou, he discovered that his Heavenly Demon True Qi resonated with the Patriarch’s Stone Slabs, which seemed to seal a mysterious passage.

• Kong Chan presented the Dharma-Transmission Kasaya as a wedding gift for Wang Chong and Su Luoyan, and Wang Chong used it alongside the Correct Explanation of the Four Marks to gain insight.
• Wang Chong comprehended the Heavenly Demon Great Law, which transformed his demonic and Buddhist powers, and his verse helped Kong Chan advance his cultivation.
• Wang Chong left Julai Mountain for Leizhou, appointed and organized Regional Chiefs, and distributed the Way of the Yellow Heaven’s thirty-six martial arts in the Yellow Heaven Martial Canon.
• Wang Chong returned to Tongzhou and examined the thirty-two Patriarch's Stone Slabs with Longji and the others.
• Wang Chong’s Heavenly Demon True Qi activated seven slabs, leading him to suspect that the slabs sealed a passage and that his art could bypass their barrier.

Wang Chong tried to keep peace among his wives while learning about the growing Way of the Yellow Heaven and studying the Patriarch's Stone Slabs. When the slabs responded to his Heavenly Demon True Qi, a strange energy surged into him and began changing it.

• Longji and Wen Chan'er both asked for the stone slabs, but Wang Chong redirected their rivalry by demonstrating the Ten-Thousand-Victory Flower Spear and promising to create a sword technique for Wuzhumuqin.
• Wang Chong arranged a barbecue to calm the women, and Yuzao privately told him that the Way of the Yellow Heaven had grown to two or three hundred thousand followers across the Nineteen Provinces.
• Wang Chong decided to transfer some members of the Way of the Yellow Heaven into his Wind-Treading Cavalry as the fighting around Luoyang dwindled.
• Wang Chong studied the Patriarch's Stone Slabs alone and began breaking through to the ninth level when energy flowed back from the nine slabs and mingled with his Heavenly Demon True Qi.