Recaps

Bo Yikao came to Chaoge to ask Ye Xuan to release his father, Ji Chang, and brought treasures to win the Human Emperor’s favor. After Ye Xuan summoned him to court, Bo Yikao revealed his three treasures, and Ye Xuan uncovered the cage containing the white-faced ape.

• Bo Yikao waited in Chaoge for over a month while officials rejected his gifts, until Ye Xuan called morning court.
• Huang Feihu stopped Bo Yikao’s Xiqi guards at the palace and escorted Bo Yikao alone to the great hall.
• Bo Yikao begged Ye Xuan to release Ji Chang, then offered gold, jewels, beauties, and three rare treasures.
• Bo Yikao described the Seven-Fragrance Chariot, the Sobering Felt, and a wounded white-faced ape, while Ye Xuan showed interest only in the ape.
• Ye Xuan went to the covered iron cage and tore away its coarse cloth, revealing the creature inside.

Ye Xuan watched Bo Yikao present a savage white-faced ape in Chaoge and turned its attempted attack into an opportunity to recruit it. The ape became a tiny monkey in Ye Xuan’s hand, joining the Twelve Zodiac Animals.

• Ye Xuan ordered the cage opened, while Bo Yikao suggested inviting Su Daji to watch the ape perform.
• Wushuang brought Su Daji to the square, and Ye Xuan pulled her into his arms as Bo Yikao looked on jealously.
• Bo Yikao opened the cage, and the white-faced ape pretended to dance before suddenly lunging at Ye Xuan.
• Wushuang struck the gravely injured ape down, and Bo Yikao knelt to beg Ye Xuan’s forgiveness.
• Ye Xuan used his power to shrink the ape into a tiny monkey and picked it up, welcoming another member of the Twelve Zodiac Animals.

Ye Xuan uncovered the white-faced ape’s connection to the Red-Bottomed Horse Monkey, then challenged Bo Yikao to prove his musical reputation by playing the qin. Bo Yikao impressed the ministers, but Ye Xuan dismissed his performance as ordinary and his fame as hollow.

• Ye Xuan learned through the white-faced ape’s divine sense that it was the Red-Bottomed Horse Monkey’s lover, captured after the two were ambushed in ancient times.
• Ye Xuan hosted a feast for Bo Yikao and the ministers, setting aside affairs of state for the day.
• Ye Xuan urged Bo Yikao to play the qin, offering him a chance to visit his father in Youli City if his performance proved exceptional and threatening punishment if it did not.
• Bo Yikao played a soothing, skillful piece that astonished the ministers and strengthened his confidence in his musical ability.
• Bo Yikao asked Ye Xuan for his opinion, and Ye Xuan called the piece ordinary and Bo Yikao’s reputation empty.

Ye Xuan challenged Bo Yikao’s claim to musical skill and played the guqin to demonstrate a mastery that transported the audience through the life of an unparalleled swordsman. The performance ended in silence, leaving everyone shaken and Bo Yikao’s challenge eclipsed.

• Ye Xuan told Bo Yikao that Sanjiu, Su Daji, and the East Sea Dragon Clan princess all surpassed him in music.
• Ye Xuan challenged Bo Yikao to surpass his own playing, then had Wushuang bring him a guqin.
• Ye Xuan’s music conjured visions of a solitary swordsman who traveled the Primordial World and swept away injustice.
• Ye Xuan’s melody shifted into a clear, purifying sound that severed the listeners’ distracting thoughts.
• The music ended, and the audience remained stunned before finally recovering from the profound performance.

Ye Xuan played the Guangling Melody, humbling Bo Yikao and inspiring the court with its spirit of chivalry. He then performed an even more martial piece that left the officials and generals stirred by visions of battle.

• Ye Xuan named his first piece the Guangling Melody and explained that it celebrated chivalry and defending the people.
• Bo Yikao was left speechless after Ye Xuan asked what he thought of the performance.
• Ye Xuan began another qin piece, immersing the court in visions of armies clashing and soldiers charging into battle.
• Su Daji and Bo Yikao recalled Ye Xuan's fierce poem from their meeting in Jizhou as the music intensified.
• The music faded, but the court remained filled with fervor and resolve for battle.

Ye Xuan played “Ambush from Ten Sides” and “High Mountains and Flowing Water,” stunning the court and earning Wen Zhong’s admiration. After Bo Yikao admitted defeat, Ye Xuan allowed him to visit his father in Youli City, while Bo Yikao left the palace sober despite pretending to be drunk.

• Ye Xuan shifted from “Ambush from Ten Sides” to “High Mountains and Flowing Water,” immersing everyone in the music.
• Wen Zhong praised Ye Xuan, and the court bowed as Ye Xuan named the two pieces.
• Su Daji admired Ye Xuan’s qin playing and said he might enter the Dao through music and become a saint.
• Bo Yikao admitted that Ye Xuan’s playing surpassed his own, and Ye Xuan allowed him to visit his father in Youli City.
• The banquet ended after toasts and Dragon Clan dances, and Bo Yikao left the palace sober, revealing that he had only pretended to be drunk.

Ye Xuan allowed Bo Yikao to travel to Youli to see Ji Chang, believing the young man would soon die and refusing to kill Ji Chang. When Bo Yikao arrived, Ji Chang rebuked him for coming to Chaoge and feared his son had put himself in danger.

• Bo Yikao left Chaoge for Youli, and Ye Xuan told his ministers Ji Chang was not fated to die while Bo Yikao would not live much longer.
• Ji Chang cast an ominous divination in Youli and wondered how Xiqi could stand against Chaoge's growing fortune.
• Bo Yikao arrived with his men and tearfully told Ji Chang he had brought treasures to seek his release.
• Ji Chang grew furious when he learned Bo Yikao had disobeyed his orders, slapped him, and made him kneel.

Ji Chang warned Bo Yikao that entering Chaoge would bring disaster, but Bo Yikao returned to the palace at night to confront Su Daji and demand that she go with him to Xiqi. When she refused, he threatened to rape and kill her, then lunged at her.

• Ji Chang scolded Bo Yikao for coming to Chaoge and urged him to leave before he was killed.
• Bo Yikao reassured Ji Chang that Xiqi was being managed well by Ji Fa, San Yisheng, and Nangong Shi.
• Bo Yikao left with his companions but decided he had to see Su Daji again before departing.
• An Xiqi expert helped Bo Yikao sneak into the palace and reach Su Daji's residence.
• Bo Yikao insulted Su Daji and demanded that she go with him to Xiqi, threatening her when she refused.
• Bo Yikao lunged at Su Daji.

Su Daji exposed and defeated Bo Yikao’s attempt to approach her, and Ye Xuan had him dragged away. The next morning, Wushuang delivered Ji Chang a meal and blood wine from the Human Emperor, leaving him to ask what kind of meat he was eating.

• Su Daji struck Bo Yikao down when he approached her, and Wushuang and Ye Xuan came out to confront him.
• Bo Yikao tried to claim he had only come to ask Su Daji for help, but Ye Xuan threatened to turn him into buns for his father and ordered him dragged away.
• Ji Chang felt troubled in Youli City and worried about his son’s fate in Chaoge.
• Wushuang introduced herself to Ji Chang as Ao Wushuang, the East Sea Dragon King’s daughter and the Human Emperor’s personal maid.
• Wushuang presented Ji Chang with meat and blood wine as gifts from the Human Emperor, and Ji Chang eagerly ate the meat.
• Ji Chang praised the meat’s flavor and asked Wushuang what kind it was.

Ye Xuan offered Ji Chang a chance to return to Xiqi after finishing the meat and wine he had been served. When Ye Xuan showed him the courtyard, Ji Chang recognized the meat as coming from Bo Yikao’s slaughtered guards and feared his son had also been killed.

• Wushuang told Ji Chang that the meat and blood wine were rare delicacies, and Ji Chang ate and drank them eagerly.
• Ye Xuan visited Ji Chang and promised to let him return to Xiqi after he finished eating all the meat drying outside.
• Ye Xuan led Ji Chang into the courtyard, where Ji Chang saw dozens of butchered corpses hanging from racks.
• Ji Chang recognized many of the dead as Bo Yikao’s guards, collapsed retching, and searched the corpses for his son while restraining his rage.

Ye Xuan tormented Ji Chang by forcing him to face the prospect of eating his own son, Bo Yikao, and used the choice to threaten Xiqi’s fortune. Ji Chang was left holding a dagger, unsure what to do and regretting that he had come to Chaoge.

• Ye Xuan taunted Ji Chang with a basin of stewed corpses and urged him to eat so he could return to Xiqi sooner.
• Ye Xuan led Ji Chang into the courtyard and revealed Bo Yikao hanging from hooks through his collarbones.
• Bo Yikao woke and cursed Ye Xuan, who declared that he should be eaten instead of the stewed meat.
• Ye Xuan handed Ji Chang a dagger and urged him to kill and eat Bo Yikao, warning that refusing would leave him to starve.
• Ji Chang stared at the dagger and his son, regretting that he had obeyed the imperial decree and come to Chaoge.

Ji Chang was forced by Ye Xuan to choose between letting Bo Yikao die or keeping him alive for endless torment, and he chose to eat his son so he could return to Xiqi. Ye Xuan watched Ji Chang eat Bo Yikao’s severed arm, then left with Wushuang.

• Bo Yikao urged Ji Chang to eat his severed arm so Ji Chang could survive and return to Xiqi.
• Ji Chang cut off Bo Yikao’s right arm, bound the wound, and began grilling and eating the limb.
• Ye Xuan offered to use magic to keep Bo Yikao alive indefinitely so Ji Chang could eat from him each day.
• Ji Chang refused the offer and chose to finish eating Bo Yikao rather than prolong his suffering.
• Ye Xuan left with Wushuang after watching Ji Chang eat, and Ji Chang knelt to see him off.

Ye Xuan rescued Zhenzhen, the White-Faced Divine Monkey, by severing the golden chains imprisoning her primordial spirit. After telling her that her husband Wuzhiqi had become one of his generals, Ye Xuan invited her to serve him as well, and she agreed.

• Ye Xuan found the injured White-Faced Divine Monkey and cut through the chains binding her primordial spirit.
• Zhenzhen recovered, took human form, and thanked Ye Xuan for saving her.
• Zhenzhen explained that enemies of her husband Wuzhiqi had captured and imprisoned her in Xiqi.
• Ye Xuan told Zhenzhen that Wuzhiqi had become one of his leading generals and recounted how he had rescued him.
• Ye Xuan invited Zhenzhen to join him and offered to summon Wuzhiqi from Northern Darkness; Zhenzhen accepted his offer.

Ye Xuan welcomed Zhenzhen into the Twelve Zodiac Animals and considered the strength of his growing forces. When the Eastern Yi invaded Eastern Lu in force, he summoned Wen Zhong, who offered to lead a campaign against them.

• Ye Xuan introduced Zhenzhen to the Twelve Zodiac Animals, bringing their gathered members to eight.
• Ye Xuan returned to secluded cultivation while Chaoge remained peaceful and Bo Yikao’s disappearance went unmentioned.
• Su Daji brought Ye Xuan a memorial reporting that the Eastern Yi had invaded Eastern Lu and inflicted heavy losses.
• Ye Xuan summoned Wen Zhong, who explained why the Eastern Yi raided Eastern Lu and offered to lead troops against them.

Ye Xuan personally led two hundred thousand troops to Eastern Lu to aid Marquis of the East Jiang Hengchu against the Eastern Yi. After hearing how the enemy’s mounted archers wore down Eastern Lu’s forces, Ye Xuan met his young brother-in-law Jiang Wenhuan and asked him to raise his head.

• Ye Xuan refused Grand Tutor Wen’s offer to lead the campaign, ordered him to manage Chaoge’s supplies, and summoned Huang Feihu with the War Elephant Cavalry.
• Ye Xuan set out from Chaoge with two hundred thousand veteran troops and reached Eastern Lu within five or six days.
• Jiang Hengchu welcomed Ye Xuan, apologized for losing more than a dozen cities, and explained that the Eastern Yi relied on mounted archery and cavalry to wear down his soldiers.
• Ye Xuan stayed with his troops outside the city and returned to Jiang Hengchu’s residence the next morning, where he noticed Jiang Wenhuan trying to look at him.
• Ye Xuan told Jiang Wenhuan to raise his head so he could get a good look at him.

Ye Xuan visited Qingzhou and agreed to let Jiang Wenhuan show him around, only to be brought to the Wind and Moon Pavilion brothel. After dinner and drinks with Jiang Wenhuan, Ye Xuan rejected the woman who approached him while Jiang Wenhuan embraced the other.

• Jiang Hengchu asked Ye Xuan to keep his idle son Jiang Wenhuan by his side so he could learn and become a worthy successor to Eastern Lu.
• After discussing military affairs with Jiang Hengchu, Ye Xuan saw Jiang Wenhuan waiting furtively by the city gate and agreed to follow him.
• Jiang Wenhuan led Ye Xuan to the Wind and Moon Pavilion, where the madam recognized Jiang and arranged an extravagant private suite for them.
• Two women entered the suite and approached the men; Ye Xuan pushed away the woman reaching for him, while Jiang Wenhuan pulled the other into his arms.

Ye Xuan and Jiang Wenhuan visited the Wind and Moon Pavilion, where Ye Xuan recognized Xiao Yue'er as a powerful cultivator and resisted the illusion woven into her guqin performance. He challenged her to play again, leaving their encounter unresolved.

• Ye Xuan stopped Linlin from getting close and asked her and her companion to sing instead.
• Jiang Wenhuan angrily dismissed the two women’s singing and demanded that the madam bring out the pavilion’s top courtesans.
• The madam introduced Xiao Yue'er and explained that the other top courtesan, Hu Feng'er, was away sick.
• Ye Xuan sensed that Xiao Yue'er had cultivation beyond the Heavenly Immortal realm and asked her to play a piece.
• Xiao Yue'er's strange guqin music drew Ye Xuan into a nightmare-like illusion, but he awakened after the performance ended.
• Ye Xuan mocked her failed attempt to ensnare him and asked her to play again until he fell completely into the heart demon.

Ye Xuan thwarted King Yueji’s attempt to bewitch him, then took command of the campaign against the Eastern Yi. As he prepared to lead 400,000 troops, Huang Feihu arrived with Yin Shang’s terrifying War Elephant Cavalry.

• King Yueji revealed that she had lured Ye Xuan to Qingzhou and tried to control him with Heavenly Demon Sound, but admitted defeat and left.
• Ye Xuan let King Yueji go, and Jiang Wenhuan awoke without knowing what had happened.
• After the Eastern Yi forces gathered, Ye Xuan stripped the Marquis of the East of command and decided to lead 400,000 troops against them.
• A force of 10,000 armored riders on giant mammoths charged toward Qingzhou City, frightening the Eastern Lu soldiers and Jiang Hengchu.
• Huang Feihu arrived and paid his respects to Ye Xuan.

Ye Xuan led Yin Shang’s army to confront the Eastern Yi, whose warriors and beast-mounted cavalry posed a serious threat. After reaching Jiaozhou City, he asked who commanded the Eastern Yi army and how capable their leader was, but the general had not yet answered.

• Huang Feihu warned Ye Xuan that the Eastern Yi consisted of more than three hundred tribes and could rival the Seventy-Two Tribes of the North Sea in strength.
• Ye Xuan rallied the warriors by accusing the Eastern Yi of raiding Yin Shang’s homes and supplies, then ordered the army to advance.
• More than four hundred thousand troops marched toward Jiaozhou City, with Huang Feihu’s ten thousand War Elephant Cavalry in the vanguard and Jiang Hengchu’s troops in the rear guard.
• At Jiaozhou City, Ye Xuan learned that four or five hundred thousand Eastern Yi soldiers had gathered fifty li east of the city, many riding tigers, bears, cattle, or horses.
• Ye Xuan asked who commanded the Eastern Yi army and how skilled its commander was, and the general defending Jiaozhou City paused before responding.

Ye Xuan and his commanders faced the Eastern Yi army at Jiaozhou City, where Huang Feihu defeated and killed one of the enemy’s champions. The Eastern Evil King ordered an attack, but two powerful cavalry forces suddenly appeared on either side of the city.

• Ye Xuan learned that the Eastern Yi leaders included the mighty Eastern Evil King and the cunning King Yueji.
• The Eastern Yi army arrived at Jiaozhou City, and the Eastern Evil King demanded the city’s surrender while insulting Ye Xuan.
• Huang Feihu rode out to challenge the Eastern Yi, and a warrior mounted on a bear came forward to fight him.
• Huang Feihu defeated the warrior in dozens of exchanges and killed him with a spear thrust.
• The enraged Eastern Evil King ordered his army to attack Jiaozhou City, but two torrents of steel cavalry appeared on either side.

The Eastern Yi leaders debated whether to attack Jiaozhou City after Chaoge’s cavalry routed their forces, then chose a direct assault. Wang Yong delivered the Human Emperor’s challenge to fight the next day, and the Eastern Evil King vowed to lead the Eastern Yi army against him.

• Chaoge’s giant mammoth cavalry and more than a hundred thousand elite horsemen crushed the Eastern Yi forces, forcing the Eastern Evil King to retreat.
• The Marquis of the East Jiang Hengchu watched the rout from Jiaozhou City and gained confidence in the strength of Yin Shang’s army.
• The Eastern Yi leaders argued over their next move before deciding to attack Jiaozhou City, despite King Yueji’s objections and doubts about the city’s defenses.
• The leaders recalled the power of Chaoge’s cavalry and the warrior who had struck a giant dragon with one palm, killing or wounding about a hundred people.
• Wang Yong arrived as an envoy and presented the challenge, “Borderland barbarians, do you dare fight tomorrow?”
• The Eastern Evil King accepted the challenge and promised to lead the Eastern Yi army into battle the next day; Wang Yong flew away.

The Eastern Yi army faced Ye Xuan’s forces, and King Yueji challenged Yin Shang after the Priest King’s request for a duel was rejected. She killed one general with three arrows, then shot Jiang Wenhuan’s horse out from under him while declaring that she wanted Ye Xuan as her live-in son-in-law.

• The Yin Shang army formed its battle lines, and the Eastern Yi leaders arrived to find Ye Xuan’s forces waiting for them.
• The Eastern Evil King asked to meet the emperor, and Ye Xuan came forward and condemned the Eastern Yi for crossing Yin Shang’s borders.
• The Priest King challenged Ye Xuan to exchange blows, but Ye Xuan dismissed him as an old man relying on Witch Clan tricks.
• King Yueji charged forward to defend the Priest King’s honor and challenged the Yin Shang soldiers.
• King Yueji killed a Yin Shang general with three arrows, then fought Jiang Wenhuan and shot his warhorse, sending him tumbling to the ground.

Zhang Guifang used his Name-Calling Horse-Unseating Technique to help capture King Yueji, and Yin Shang’s army overwhelmed the Eastern Yi Clan in battle. As the Eastern Yi forces began to collapse, the Sacrifice King empowered his soldiers with black smoke that made them immune to injury while it lasted.

• Zhang Guifang called out to King Yueji and knocked her from her white tiger, allowing Jiang Wenhuan to capture her.
• The Eastern Yi Clan charged, and Huang Feihu led Yin Shang’s War Elephant Cavalry and infantry into battle.
• Yin Shang’s heavily armored troops routed the Eastern Yi cavalry, while their mounts panicked and fled.
• The Eastern Evil King warned the Sacrifice King that the Eastern Yi Clan faced destruction if they lost the battle.
• The Sacrifice King raised a black flag and chanted, covering Eastern Yi soldiers in black smoke that shielded them from injury.
• Ye Xuan examined the black smoke, realized the soldiers could not be harmed while it remained, and smiled coldly.

The Eastern Yi Clan’s black mist failed to turn the tide, so the Sacrifice King summoned two Great Witches as their final trump card. Ye Xuan captured both beasts with golden light, leaving the Eastern Yi leaders with little hope of continuing the battle.

• The black mist thinned as Yin Shang’s soldiers kept cutting down the Eastern Yi troops, and the Sacrifice King and Eastern Evil King realized they were losing.
• The Sacrifice King gathered black Qi and opened a rift in the sky, summoning a massive beast and a three-headed serpent that Ye Xuan recognized as Great Witches, including Xiang Liu.
• Ye Xuan enveloped both beasts in golden light and captured them before they could react.
• The Eastern Yi soldiers and their kings were stunned, and the Sacrifice King spat blood as his presence withered.
• The Eastern Evil King considered ordering a retreat, but the Sacrifice King made another move.

Ye Xuan’s Human Emperor providence defeated the Priest King’s curses, and the Priest King died as Yin Shang broke the Eastern Yi Clan’s remaining resistance. After a decisive victory, Ye Xuan received the casualty report in Jiaozhou City and asked about Eastern Lu’s losses.

• The Priest King’s curse and Puppet Curse-Killing Technique failed against Ye Xuan’s Human Emperor providence, and the backlash killed him.
• Ye Xuan recognized that the Priest King’s death ended the Eastern Yi Clan’s last major resistance, and the Eastern Evil King ordered a full retreat.
• Yin Shang’s army won a resounding victory and returned to Jiaozhou City after suffering fewer than five hundred casualties.
• Huang Feihu reported that Chaoge had more than two hundred and ten dead and more than two hundred and eighty seriously injured, with no deaths among the War Elephant Cavalry.
• Ye Xuan asked for the casualty tally from the soldiers of Eastern Lu.