Recaps

After receiving word that Jué was about to awaken, Lu Guan secured permission to leave Stardust Academy and head to Jinzhou, where he would help prevent a crisis. He said goodbye to his colleagues and students, while Dania and Sigelika strengthened their bonds with him before his departure.

• Lu Guan apologized to Sigelika for a despicable trick and realized Dania had led her astray.
• After Shorekeeper contacted him, Lu Guan obtained Lacerta's approval to leave Stardust Academy and travel to Jinzhou.
• Lu Guan told Chisa that Jué was about to awaken and urged her to remain at the academy to protect research on the threat beneath Darkhollow.
• Lynae delivered Lady Xu's Dagger from Professor Mornye and wished Lu Guan a safe journey.
• Lu Guan told Lu Hes that the person he was waiting for was returning and promised to pass along his message to her.
• Lu Guan reassured Dania and Sigelika that he could face Jué, and their affection and bond effects increased.

Jiyan learned that a disciplined Tacet Discord legion was moving toward the northwest, while Lu Guan flew toward Jinzhou. Yangyang was ambushed and surrounded while scouting, but Lu Guan arrived to save her and unleashed his Domain Expansion against the horde.

• Jiyan ordered Yangyang to observe the Tacet Discords moving northwest and report back without acting rashly.
• Lu Guan flew from Lahai-Roi toward Jinzhou and worried about Jué, Rover, and the Fractsidus.
• Yangyang discovered the Tacet Discords were moving in coordinated formations, but their frequencies disrupted her communications.
• The Tacet Discord legion detected Yangyang, surrounded her, and wounded her as she repeatedly failed to escape.
• Lu Guan arrived, blasted open the encirclement, and joined Yangyang against the disciplined Tacet Discord horde.
• Lu Guan activated Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine to attack the Tacet Discords.

Lu Guan rescued and treated Yangyang after she was injured by Tacet Discords, then brought her to General Jiyan’s troops. At Jué’s statue, a captured green-haired woman questioned why Jué had gone mad and wondered whether the Desolation could revive the dead.

• Lu Guan treated Yangyang’s injuries, carried her toward camp, and teased her while retrieving her hat.
• Jiyan found Lu Guan carrying Yangyang, learned Lu Guan had treated her and dealt with the Tacet Discords, and escorted them back to camp.
• At Jué’s stone statue, an illusory figure drained the captured green-haired woman’s Resonance ability and declared plans to spread war across Huanglong and beyond.
• The green-haired woman wondered whether the Desolation had enthralled Jué and whether it could bring the dead back to life, then resolved to escape first.

Lu Guan proposed a solo decapitation operation against Jué after Jiyan explained the Threnodian’s threat and its ties to war. After Lu Guan went alone, Yangyang and Jiyan saw his powerful attack tear open Jué’s Airwave Barrier.

• Jiyan told Lu Guan that Jué grew stronger from war and had avoided fighting directly, while Lu Guan asked whether Jiyan was ready for an endless conflict.
• Lu Guan proposed that he and Jiyan attack Jué together, but Jiyan urged him to wait for reinforcements and complete preparations.
• Lu Guan left alone to confront Jué and seek intelligence, intending also to draw out Phrolova.
• Jiyan told Yangyang that Lu Guan had gone to find Jué, and Yangyang worried that her cousin had put himself in danger.
• Yangyang recognized the purple beam that struck Jué’s Airwave Barrier as Lu Guan’s attack, and Jiyan realized its power was beyond anything he could withstand.

Lu Guan invaded Jué’s base in the Norfall Barrens and fought the Crownless, then summoned Mahoraga when the battle escalated. After Jué brought in Dreamless, Lu Guan used Dimensionality Reduction Strike to turn the battlefield two-dimensional, leaving the enemy fighters unable to respond.

• Lu Guan surprised Jué at his base, blasted away his energy body with Hollow Technique: Purple, and forced Jué to awaken early.
• Jué sent the Crownless to fight Lu Guan, who stopped time with The World and redirected the Crownless’s spear back into it.
• Lu Guan summoned his tamed Mahoraga, and the two fought the Crownless while Mahoraga adapted to its attacks and recovered from severe wounds.
• Jué brought Dreamless into the fight, making it two-on-two against Lu Guan and Mahoraga.
• Lu Guan used Dimensionality Reduction Strike to turn the fighters two-dimensional, and Mahoraga adapted while the Crownless and Dreamless were left unable to fight effectively.

Lu Guan drew Jué into a battle, using Mahoraga and a formation of Tacet Discords before revealing King Crimson. After turning the tide with time erasure and his techniques, he taunted Jué as their fight continued.

• Lu Guan left Jué to fight Mahoraga while he searched for Phrolova, and Jué struggled against the summon’s adapting attacks.
• Jué summoned Retroact Rain and formed Tacet Discords into a Resonance Circuit, whose illusory figure kicked Lu Guan out of a spatial rift and badly injured him.
• Lu Guan healed himself and declared that the fight had entered its second round, then revealed King Crimson and its time-erasure ability.
• Lu Guan used King Crimson to land a fully charged Hollow Technique: Purple on Jué’s illusory figure, then countered its war-saber strike with Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue.
• Lu Guan stood over the illusory figure and taunted Jué, claiming he would have defeated Jué at the Battle of Clouded Cliffs.

Lu Guan escaped Jue, found and punished Phrolova inside the statue, then returned to the Midnight Rangers' camp. He reassured Yangyang and prepared to brief Jiyan on what he had learned about Jue.

• Lu Guan taunted Jue, inferred that Jue had collected multiple Desolations and could control Tacet Discords, then vanished to escape.
• Phrolova broke free from her chains inside the statue, but Lu Guan found her, beat her, and used Cursed Speech: Modified to make the town's destruction replay in her mind whenever she tried to resurrect its people.
• At the Midnight Rangers' camp, Jiyan learned that Jue had not been defeated and ordered the personnel to prepare for battle.
• Yangyang feared Lu Guan had died, but Lu Guan returned safely and teased her until she bit him for plucking one of her feathers.
• Lu Guan told Jiyan he had gathered information from his fight with Jue and asked to discuss it inside the tent.

Lu Guan told Jiyan about the Threnodian and learned that the Sentinel Jué’s condition was unknown, so he decided to return to Jinzhou and see Jinhsi. On the way, his teasing feud with Yangyang escalated into a staged kiss and a photo that Lu Guan accidentally sent to his mother.

• Lu Guan told Jiyan that the Threnodian could use Tacet Discords and rule-based skills, and Jiyan said a fighter on the Sentinel’s level might be needed.
• Jiyan admitted he did not know how Sentinel Jué was faring and suggested Lu Guan ask Jinhsi in Jinzhou.
• Lu Guan agreed to return to Jinzhou with Yangyang so she could recover away from the front lines.
• Lu Guan and Yangyang argued about his family register and teased each other until Yangyang kissed him and took a photo to threaten to send to his parents.
• Lu Guan snatched Yangyang’s terminal, but her bite made him accidentally send the photo to his mother, Yu Lan, who replied with a shocked reaction image.

Lu Guan and Yangyang's mothers misunderstood their relationship, and Lu Guan kissed Yangyang before she stopped him and stormed off. After discovering that the bond was boosting Suisui, Chixia, and Baizhi's affection, Suisui decided to go to Jinzhou and pursue Lu Guan herself.

• Lu Guan and Yangyang explained their accidental photo and relationship to their mothers, but both mothers continued to misunderstand.
• Lu Guan apologized to Yangyang and kissed her; she slapped him, told him he had gone too far, and hurried toward Jinzhou City.
• Lu Guan discovered that his Oath with Sigelika had strengthened the bond, causing affection increases from Yangyang to also raise Suisui, Chixia, and Baizhi's affection.
• Suisui brooded over the photo of Yangyang and Lu Guan, then decided she would make the first move and searched Huanglong's Jinzhou documents for a reason to go there.

Lu Guan carried Yangyang into Jinzhou after she sprained her ankle, where Changli teased them about their relationship and Lu Guan scolded Yangyang for blaming him. Yangyang reminded him of an old childhood promise he had forgotten, and Lu Guan decided to take her home before visiting Jinhsi to ask about Sentinel Jué.

• At Jinzhou's gate, Lu Guan showed the guard Jinhsi's token and was allowed into the city with Yangyang.
• Changli greeted them and teased Lu Guan about Jinhsi's token and his relationship with Yangyang.
• Lu Guan joked about Yangyang's sprained ankle, then reprimanded her for refusing to accept her mistake and shifting blame onto him.
• Yangyang asked Lu Guan whether he remembered their childhood promise, but he did not understand what she meant.
• Yangyang concluded that Lu Guan had never cared about the promise, while Lu Guan resolved to take her home and then visit Jinhsi about Sentinel Jué.

Lu Guan learned that Jinhsi had been missing from the Frontier Court for almost a week, then returned home to find Yangyang upset over his forgotten childhood promise. After he explained that he had remembered the promise and teased her about it, Yangyang realized he had understood her feelings all along and condemned him as an inherently evil demon.

• Lu Guan asked Sanhua where Jinhsi was, and Sanhua revealed that Jinhsi had been out of contact for almost a week.
• Lu Guan left the Frontier Court and returned Yangyang home, where she cried over the childhood promise she believed he had forgotten.
• Lu Guan treated Yangyang's sprained ankle and asked why she was upset, eventually prompting her to mention what he had said when he was seven.
• Lu Guan remembered telling the elders that he wanted to marry a girl like Yangyang, then admitted he had understood her feelings and had been teasing her.
• Lu Guan said Yangyang was no longer his type because he preferred petite girls, and Yangyang called him an inherently evil demon.