Recaps

At a Mid-Autumn banquet, Su Yao asked his disciples about their cultivation and urged them to establish firm foundations without comparing their progress. He also assessed which of his companions were ready to seek the Purple Mansion after his Dharma Banquet.

• Su Yao asked Ren Han, Lu Yuan, and Zichuan to report their progress, and each said he had reached the Qi Refinement Seventh Layer.
• Su Yao reassured Zichuan that his progress on the Great Yang path was exceptional and told him to follow his own path.
• Yang Zhao, Li Xu, Lin Shuang, and Xu Qingluo reported reaching the Qi Refinement Sixth Layer, and Liu Yunhe said their foundations and Law Techniques were solid.
• Su Yao warned the seven disciples not to rush Foundation Establishment or compare their Dao Paths with one another.
• Su Yao told Zhang Ziyan and Liu Yunhe to prepare for Purple Mansion breakthroughs after his Dharma Banquet, and said Han Ziyi, Zhu Xuejie, and Li Siyi would seek breakthroughs within five years.

Su Yao questioned Ren Han about the future he had mistaken for a past life, learning that it was only a Heavenly Governance calculation. Ren Han recounted disasters and political upheaval in Nanzhao, while Su Yao resolved to prevent the predicted events now that he had intervened.

• After the feast, Su Yao kept Ren Han behind and explained how Heavenly Governance produced portents of calculated future events.
• Ren Han realized his supposed past life had been an illusory future and told Su Yao he had cultivated Dui Metal and wielded Resounding White Sound.
• Ren Han described a future of fallen True Persons, disasters across the western regions, and an uprising in Nanzhao led by a miner who gained power after eating a flat peach.
• Ren Han revealed that the uprising ended with Great Qing abolishing Nanzhao's throne and making its ruler the hereditary Duke of Baili.
• Ren Han said Qixia Mountain would be attacked after Su Yao's death in the calculation, and that the South Sea demonic calamity would break out again; Su Yao said his intervention would prevent the predicted attack.

Su Yao reassured Ren Han that Qixia would support him and revealed why he had taught him Cold Qi, while explaining Zichuan’s different circumstances. After Ren Han pledged himself to Qixia, Su Yao checked the spiritual embryo he had been nurturing and found that it would hatch within days.

• Su Yao told Ren Han he would seek a way for him to continue his Dao Path after reaching the Purple Mansion, and explained that he had taught him Cold Qi because he intended to take him in.
• Su Yao explained that Zichuan’s condition involved a True Lord’s designs and that Qixia could not tell him the truth directly.
• Ren Han accepted that Qixia had guarded against the risks of his Heavenly Element nature and pledged himself to Qixia alone.
• Su Yao explained that Qixia disciples could enter the lineage only after reaching the Purple Mansion, then watched Ren Han leave.
• Su Yao checked the three birds in his cave abode, then examined the spiritual embryo nurtured on the divine altar and determined it would hatch within three to five days.

County Magistrate Zheng Qingci weighed whether to attend Qixia Temple's master's Purple Mansion banquet after Lu Mingtang presented gift lists from Langqiong Zhao's clans. Zheng Qingci realized the local families were waiting for his decision, and he accused Lu Mingtang of trying to force his hand.

• Zheng Qingci recalled Zheng Xuanzhi's warning that Qixia Daozi's power would eventually make it unwise to oppose him.
• Lu Mingtang considered how Langqiong Zhao's clans wanted to attend the banquet but were waiting for Zheng Qingci to declare his position.
• Lu Mingtang presented Zheng Qingci with three gift lists from the gentry clans, the Yang and Li families, and the Yin and Wang families.
• Zheng Qingci asked whether Patrol Inspector Yin and Registrar Wang were still in seclusion, and Lu Mingtang said their descendants would attend only with his permission.
• Lu Mingtang asked Zheng Qingci to decide whether the county magistrate's office would attend the banquet and whom it would take.
• Zheng Qingci looked at the gift lists and asked Lu Mingtang whether he was trying to force his hand.

Zheng Qingci faced a dilemma over whether to attend True Person Qingyan’s banquet, while Qixia Temple prepared a lavish welcome for the guests at Golden Ao Mountain. Su Yao learned that Qingzhu had arranged for his old attendants and Daoist Zheng to join him there.

• Lu Mingtang warned Zheng Qingci that skipping the banquet would leave Langqiong Zhao conspicuously absent, then left after reminding him that even Prefect Yang had shown courtesy to Qixia Temple.
• Zheng Qingci realized he had no real freedom to choose whether to attend and suspected the real Lu Mingtang had already been murdered.
• Liu Yunhe welcomed Nanzhao’s household representatives at Golden Ao Mountain, where a Rainbow Bridge carried the guests up to the banquet.
• Su Yao learned that Qingzhu had sent lavish food, treasures, and the Flowing Rosy Clouds Pavilion for the banquet, including provisions for visiting Mysterious Gate cultivators.
• The gray-robed man told Su Yao that Liu Chan, Yingge, Nannuo, Jueming, and Daoist Zheng had come to assist him and would remain on Golden Ao Mountain.

Su Yao received gifts from Qixia Mountain and welcomed a vast assembly of Dao lineages and other powers to celebrate his attainment of the Purple Mansion. As the banquet began, Shan Xian announced that he would seek the Golden Core at the Miao Frontier–Nanzhao border.

• Hu Bugui delivered Qingzhu’s gifts to Su Yao, including Spirit Artifacts, pills, a Sacrificial Earth spiritual object, and a ritual altar.
• Su Yao asked Hu Bugui to tell Qingzhu that Gui Hong should use the Qi of Mysterious Clarity to prepare for seeking the Golden Core.
• Hu Bugui revealed the Flowing Rosy Clouds Pavilion, and envoys from Dao lineages and other powers arrived to congratulate Su Yao.
• The Lesser Yang Dao Lineage from Purple Mansion Continent and the Lesser Yin Dao Lineage from Jade Lake arrived, drawing the guests’ attention.
• As Su Yao approached the banquet, miasma spread across the eastern sky and Shan Xian announced that he would seek the Golden Core.

Su Yao reunited with Daoist Zheng, Nannuo, and Jueming on Golden Ao Mountain after more than twenty years apart. Their gift of two preserved Qixia pears brought back memories of his childhood and the bonds they shared.

• A profound voice erased the Geng Wood miasma that had struck the Soul-Losing Radiant Fire Formation.
• Su Yao went to the rear hall and found Yunsong tending to Daoist Zheng, Nannuo, and Jueming.
• Daoist Zheng explained that he had come after hearing the Dawn-Holding Bell and learning Su Yao was safe.
• Jueming gave Su Yao two pears he had preserved from Qixia Mountain for more than twenty years.
• Su Yao invited Daoist Zheng, Nannuo, and Jueming to stay on Golden Ao Mountain and shared a pear with Daoist Zheng.
• Su Yao bit into the pear and remembered the pear groves and his life on Qixia Mountain.

Su Yao reunited with Daoist Zheng on Golden Ao Mountain while Qixia Temple hosted a lavish Dharma banquet. As distant observers described the disasters ravaging Nanzhao, County Magistrate Zheng Qingci denounced the celebration as defiance of the crown prince’s mourning decree and prepared to act against the temple.

• Su Yao recalled his childhood with Daoist Zheng over a pear and arranged for him to rest on Golden Ao Mountain, assigning Nannuo and Jueming duties at the temple.
• Guests from many powerful sects and realms attended Qixia Temple’s Dharma banquet while Hu Bugui and Yingge served them and Liu Chan welcomed Nanzhao’s powers.
• Two distant observers discussed how Qixia Temple’s gathering contrasted with widespread disasters across Nanzhao, and the older man called the banquet the opening gongs and drums of a great play.
• A report told Zheng Qingci that local gentry families’ younger members had gone to Qixia Mountain while Patrol Inspector Yin and Registrar Wang remained in seclusion.
• Zheng Qingci accused Qixia Temple of violating the crown prince’s hundred-year ban on celebrations and declared that he would enforce the state’s laws against it.

Zheng Qingci tried to enforce the imperial ban against Qixia Temple, but the court offered him no support and Cang Mountain's god defended the local officials. A mysterious power killed two commandants as a warning, leaving Zheng Qingci terrified of what would happen to him.

• Zheng Qingci waited with the county officials all day for imperial backing against Qixia Temple, while the officials hesitated to choose sides.
• True Persons Xuanping, Heyin, and Mujian arrived after the Dharma feast and told Zheng Qingci they had come privately, adding that neither the education inspector nor the court seemed concerned about the celebration.
• Realizing he had been used by the education inspector, Zheng Qingci nonetheless ordered his guards to act against Qixia Temple.
• Xue Min, the mountain god of Cang Mountain, interrupted Zheng Qingci and warned that his royal court would protect the local gentry and native chieftain families.
• A five-colored smoke appeared and a profound voice warned against disturbing Qixia's celebration; the Wu Earth Calamity then reduced Zheng Qingci's two commandants to earth.
• The mysterious voice spared the rest as a warning, and Zheng Qingci regretted ignoring the person who had impersonated the education officer.

After the five-colored smoke appeared, Xue Min immobilized three Purple Mansion True Persons and warned Zheng Qingci that he had acted recklessly. Zheng Qingci chose to die for his official reputation, while observers in the Great Void revealed that the court wanted Nanzhao’s entrenched interests wiped clean.

• Xue Min dismissed the clerks and stopped Xuanping, Heyin, and Mujian from fleeing.
• Mujian protested, Xuanping offered the Luoping Sect’s submission, and Heyin asked Xue Min to warn the Song Household to seal its mountain.
• Xue Min rebuked Zheng Qingci and warned that two of the three True Persons might live, then vanished.
• Zheng Qingci accepted his fate, declared that he had acted alone to uphold the law, and stood ready to die.
• Observers in the Great Void said the court had sent the superintendent of studies and the three True Persons to help Qixia Temple establish its authority, as part of a plan to clear Nanzhao of its old power structures.

After the gathering on Golden Ao Mountain, Su Yao reunited with Daozheng, who teased him about his new role as Qixia Temple’s Temple Master and revealed that someone had injured his eye. Their reunion ended in laughter, though Su Yao vowed to avenge the injury and was left longing for their former days together.

• Su Yao watched five-colored smoky Qi dissipate over the southern shore and guessed that Daozheng had intervened behind the scenes.
• Daozheng appeared after overhearing Su Yao and Jueming, then teased Su Yao about the elaborate gathering and his fondness for showing off.
• Daozheng reminded Su Yao that Qingzhu had arranged the invitations to spare him consequences for decorating the Pear Garden Branch Temple.
• Daozheng struck Su Yao with a pebble after catching him cursing inwardly, and Su Yao noticed the hollow where Daozheng’s left eye had been.
• Daozheng said he had severed his attacker’s arm and would seek Xicheng’s help to make a Law Treasure, while Su Yao vowed to avenge him.
• Daozheng calmed Su Yao’s Sword Intent to protect Mount Lao’s disciples, and the two laughed together.

Daozheng privately warned Su Yao about the dangerous Proclaiming Earth affair and gave him instructions for his work in Nanzhao. After Daozheng departed, Su Yao reflected on the burdens ahead and on Zilin’s seclusion at Golden Ao Mountain.

• Daozheng dismissed Jueming and Nannuo, then sealed the pavilion with layered barriers before speaking privately with Su Yao.
• Daozheng explained how the Proclaiming Earth True Lord’s reincarnation and the fall of Spirit Witch Dao Lord’s Longchuan Heaven had unfolded, warning Su Yao to act cautiously in Nanzhao.
• Daozheng told Su Yao to wait for the reincarnation to unsettle the region and break its old constraints, then drive it out of Nanzhao, with help expected if the True Lord became too powerful.
• Daozheng instructed Su Yao to keep his distance from the Nanzhao royal family, preserve the lineage northeast of Pear Garden, retrieve Witchcraft Dao items from Cibi Lake, and deal with the county magistrate and three Purple Mansions.
• Daozheng teased Su Yao about the Mount Lao disciple in seclusion, then vanished after urging him to dare when circumstances became difficult and to follow his heart when either choice was reasonable.
• Su Yao remained alone in the pavilion, considered his many responsibilities, and hoped his breakthrough might help Zilin in seclusion below.

Su Yao visited Yang Nan at Fengyu Mountain to recruit the Yang Household’s help in killing three Purple Mansion cultivators and Langqiong Zhao’s magistrate, Zheng Qingci. Yang Nan agreed to hold Song Heyin off and took a token instructing him to join Su Yao at Golden Ao Mountain when it lit up.

• Su Yao approached Fengyu Mountain in disguise and entered after displaying the Greater Yin power of his robe.
• He revealed himself to Yang Nan and named Xuanping, Song Heyin, Mujian, and Zheng Qingci as his targets.
• Yang Nan warned Su Yao about the targets’ powerful connections and the consequences of killing a court-appointed official.
• Su Yao used Yang Zhao’s progress at Qixia Temple and the offer of a nearby spirit mountain to persuade Yang Nan to help.
• Yang Nan agreed to hold Song Heyin off and accepted Su Yao’s token, which would signal when to leave for Golden Ao Mountain.

Su Yao sought Ao Xiao’s help to kill four people in the city, but the Lake God refused to get involved in matters tied to Proclaiming Earth or the imperial court. At the Langqiong county office, Su Yao pressed Zheng Qingci to make up his mind, and Zheng answered with a calm rebuke about fate.

• Su Yao used the Prism to examine the secrets within Cibi Lake before asking Ao Xiao for help.
• Ao Xiao refused to interfere in the conflict over Proclaiming Earth or the imperial court, though he promised to notify Su Yao when it was time to open the Purple-Blue Secret Realm.
• Su Yao left Cibi Lake, deciding to seek help from two others instead.
• After five days outside the Langqiong county office, Zheng Qingci remained silent while Mujian and Heyin pleaded for their lives and Xuanping waited anxiously.
• Su Yao asked Zheng Qingci three times whether he had made up his mind, and Zheng finally said the sage’s words about fate had been meant for Su Yao.

Su Yao used the Vermilion Radiance to overwhelm Mujian and Zheng Qingci in the Great Void while Li Chaoxue and Yang Nan kept Xuanping and Heyin occupied. After exhausting Mujian’s defenses, Su Yao struck from behind and pierced her between the brows.

• Su Yao revealed the Vermilion Radiance and struck at Zheng Qingci, then wounded Mujian with Morning Clouds Crossing as she fled into the Great Void.
• Zheng Qingci pursued Su Yao and Mujian, while Li Chaoxue and Yang Nan blocked Xuanping and Heyin and then pursued them into the Great Void.
• Mujian and Zheng Qingci attacked Su Yao with Kan Water, artifacts, and borrowed Human Dao power, but he countered their assaults with his sword and techniques.
• Su Yao used Golden Light Across the Land to appear behind Mujian after her defenses had been worn down.
• Su Yao pierced Mujian between the brows with the Vermilion Brightness Sword.

Su Yao killed Mujian and Xuanping, destroying their bodies and Rising Yang spirits, while Li Chaoxue went to keep Zheng Qingci trapped. Su Yao then flew toward Heyin, leaving Zheng Qingci’s fate unresolved.

• Su Yao destroyed Mujian’s Dharma Body and pierced her fleeing Rising Yang with a filament of rainbow light, killing her in both body and spirit.
• Su Yao trapped Zheng Qingci with Golden Palace Morning Clouds and told Li Chaoxue to keep watch over him.
• Xuanping begged Su Yao to spare him, then fled after attacking with Geng Metal Qi.
• Su Yao intercepted Xuanping, countered his attacks, and used the Forest of All Beings to guide him into a sword strike that pierced his chest.
• Su Yao destroyed Xuanping’s Dharma Body and Rising Yang, then flew toward Heyin.

Su Yao cornered Heyin after Yang Nan and Ni Polu helped cut off his escape, while the two Nanzhao cultivators left to assist Li Chaoxue and Zheng Qingci. Su Yao caught Heyin again with the Transforming Azure Bracelet and offered him a chance to die to spare his descendants, leaving Heyin shaken by the mountain god’s earlier prediction that two of the three would survive.

• Yang Nan and Ni Polu joined Su Yao in blocking Heyin’s escape, and Ni Polu rebuked Heyin for abandoning Li Chaoxue and him when outsiders attacked.
• Yang Nan told Heyin that everyone had chosen their own road and that he accepted whatever consequences followed his choice.
• Su Yao sent Yang Nan and Ni Polu to help Li Chaoxue and watch the county magistrate, then pursued Heyin as he fled.
• Su Yao used the Transforming Azure Bracelet to overtake Heyin and demanded that he take his own life in exchange for sparing his descendants.
• Heyin wondered why Su Yao would kill them over their earlier speculation and recalled the mountain god’s words that two of the three would live.

Heyin realized the Song Household had wronged the Cang Mountain Mountain God and sacrificed himself with his Xun Wind Dao, leaving a life-giving spring breeze across the region. Su Yao kept the palm-leaf fan as payment, returned the other treasures to the Song Household, and flew toward Zheng Qingci.

• Heyin offered Su Yao four treasures and asked him to spare the Song Household, but Su Yao accepted only the palm-leaf fan and said he would return the others as the Mountain God had requested.
• Heyin reflected on his alliance with the Confucian School and recognized that his own greed had endangered his family's generations-long friendship with the Mountain God.
• Heyin used his Xun Wind sword to destroy his Divine Ability, Spirit Platform, and Rising Yang, then dispersed into a gentle spring breeze that nourished the land.
• Su Yao recalled that the Mountain God had asked him to kill Heyin to give the Song Household a chance to survive the calamity, while preserving the old family's keepsakes and granting Heyin dignity.
• Su Yao put away the Xun Wind Pearl, feather robe, and wooden hairpin, kept the palm-leaf fan, and flew toward Zheng Qingci.

Su Yao returned to confront Zheng Qingci, and Xue Min invoked the ruler of Nanzhao’s authority to strip him of his office and honors. Su Yao then killed Zheng Qingci, whose final moments brought him clarity rather than fear or regret.

• Su Yao returned to the battle site, where Li Chaoxue, Ni Polu, and Yang Nan had trapped Zheng Qingci in heavy snow and their abilities.
• Su Yao told Zheng Qingci to wait until his official status was revoked, then asked the others to keep him restrained until a decree arrived.
• Yang Xuanye and Xue Min arrived, and Xue Min declared that the ruler of Nanzhao had authority under Taizu to dismiss Zheng Qingci immediately for treasonous conduct.
• Xue Min stripped Zheng Qingci of his post and scholarly honors, then told Su Yao to execute him before reporting the matter to the crown prince.
• Su Yao drew his sword and killed Zheng Qingci, whose summoned phantom figures dissolved as his body vanished in rosy light.

After Su Yao and his allies defeated Zheng Qingci and the other enemies, a surge of Geng Wood Qi drew them to Wumeng Mountain, where Mo Chen began fusing his five Divine Abilities in an attempt to seek gold. They watched as his dangerous breakthrough began.

• Su Yao thanked Yang Xuanye and Xue Min for their help, then gave Zheng Qingci’s official seal to Yang Xuanye and Heyin’s possessions to Xue Min.
• A vast tide of Geng Wood Qi and miasma erupted southeast, and Xue Min identified Mo Chen as the source.
• Su Yao, Yang Xuanye, Xue Min, Li Chaoxue, Yang Nan, and Ni Polu followed the surge to Wumeng Mountain.
• The group found Mo Chen poised at the boundary between the mortal world and the Great Void, with five Divine Ability orbs behind him.
• Mo Chen drew the five orbs together and began using his golden nature to fuse them.

Mo Chen began transforming his five Geng Wood Divine Abilities into treasures, completing the first two and beginning the third. As the wooden pole formed within the third orb, the surrounding decay started to settle into an ordered rhythm.

• Su Yao identified Mo Chen’s first Divine Ability as Miasma-Filling Haze, and Mo Chen condensed its miasma into a dark green bead that unsettled the observers’ minds.
• Su Yao explained the Treasure Transformation and Gold Seeking Method as Mo Chen held the first treasure and began refining his second Divine Ability.
• Mo Chen transformed Rotten Grass Firefly into a crystal filled with emerald firefly lights, drawing admiration from Su Yao and the others.
• Xue Min identified the third Divine Ability as Erecting Wood to Establish Trust as Mo Chen began refining the third orb.
• Su Yao recognized the wooden pole’s connection to the Ancestor of Law, while the Geng Wood miasma around it began to recede and circulate in an orderly rhythm.

Mo Chen completed the third and fourth Geng Wood Divine Ability treasures, establishing order and changing the world's old rules. He then began forming the fifth Divine Ability, "Renew All Under Heaven," as its light filled the Great Void with vitality.

• Xue Min, Ni Polu, Su Yao, and Yang Xuanye watched as Mo Chen formed the blue-black wooden pole and established trust through law.
• Mo Chen completed the third treasure, whose righteous light suppressed the foul, rotting Qi.
• The fourth cluster split open, and Mo Chen reshaped its ancient lines into an ancient mirror that embodied changing rules.
• Mo Chen approached the fifth cluster, and the power of his four completed Divine Abilities flowed into it.
• Mo Chen's robe crumbled as green lines spread across his skin, and the fifth Divine Ability began to emerge in a pure, renewing light.

Mo Chen failed to gain the Geng Wood Fruition Position, and his corrupted Golden Nature swallowed him before becoming a fiend. A newly appointed judge of the Netherworld sealed the fiend, while signs that Radiant Fire and Geng Metal seekers had begun their attempts sent Su Yao back toward Golden Ao.

• Mo Chen’s five treasures joined with his Golden Nature to reach the Geng Wood Fruition Position, but the gateway rejected him and closed.
• Mo Chen’s Golden Nature turned evil, swallowed him, and became a hundred-zhang fiend as Su Yao, Xue Min, and the others fled.
• A pale man with an old book sealed the fiend and disappeared; Su Yao identified him as a likely new judge of the Netherworld.
• A stream of fire fell toward Nanzhao Royal City while Geng Metal Qi surged north of Wumeng Mountain, signaling that two more seekers had begun.
• Xue Min hurried toward Nanzhao Royal City, while Su Yao returned toward Golden Ao with Yang Nan and the others, leaving the new seekers alone.

Xue Min encountered Mo Yan in the Great Void while hurrying toward Nanzhao’s royal city, but Mo Yan urged him to let the kingdom’s troubles worsen rather than intervene. Their argument over Nanzhao’s rulers and foreign cultivators ended with both men preparing to fight.

• Xue Min sensed the Great Void had grown sluggish and used his mountain god’s scepter to reveal Mo Yan.
• Mo Yan dismissed Xue Min’s concerns about the falling fire and metal-seeking cultivators, arguing that Nanzhao was already rotten and should be left to collapse.
• Mo Yan condemned the sovereign for allowing the court, the Mysterious Gate, and the Confucian School to meddle in Nanzhao, and he accused Xue Min of previously enabling those intrusions.
• Xue Min urged Mo Yan to stand aside or help protect Nanzhao, but Mo Yan called for the board to be overturned and everyone involved to die.
• Xue Min threatened Mo Yan, who summoned the Human Dao Body Divine Ability, Aspects of Fleeting Life, as scarlet light flared from Xue Min’s scepter.

Zhao Shouzhi confronted Prefect Yang Xuanye about the court’s plan to make him the scapegoat in the Proclaiming Earth matter and urged him to flee. Yang Xuanye revealed he had long understood his fate but stayed out of loyalty to the late emperor, and the two prepared to fight.

• Zhao Shouzhi explained that he was acting to protect Nanzhao’s people and urged Yang Xuanye to stop enabling the court’s plans.
• Zhao Shouzhi warned Yang Xuanye that the Proclaiming Earth matter would make him a scapegoat, and Yang Xuanye recalled learning this after Su Yao emerged from seclusion.
• Yang Xuanye revealed that he had considered fleeing but stayed because the late emperor had trusted him to serve the people and watch over Nanzhao.
• Yang Xuanye refused to leave and said he would fight Zhao Shouzhi if necessary.
• Zhao Shouzhi summoned the lights of households, common people, and farming proverbs, while Yang Xuanye manifested his jade tablet, bronze gnomon, and established codes.