Recaps

After Ren Yisheng's body died, Zhang Xuezhou discovered his soul had entered a jade pendant and sought a way to bring it back. In the other world, Zhang learned the Return to the Aperture Technique, drew the attention of Ning Cheng, and left Fuping County as mounted forces approached.

• Ren Yisheng died, and Zhang Xuezhou determined that his three souls and seven spirits had left his body.
• Ren Yisheng's Yang Corporeal Soul entered Tuer Kalanduo's Soul Jade, where he told Zhang Xuezhou and the Rens that he could not return to his body or escape the jade.
• Zhang Xuezhou negotiated with Tuer Kalanduo over Ren Yisheng's belongings and Mental Strengthening notes, then crossed into the other world.
• Zhang Xuezhou reunited with Rong Tianding and Rong Li, learned that his parents had been missing for over three years, and returned to Fuping County to seek Dong Zhongshu's help.
• Bodang had Dong Zhongshu, Zhao Liang, and their companions arrested, and Wang Yanchong later imprisoned them after refusing their request to see Li Guang.
• Dong Zhongshu taught Zhang Xuezhou the Return to the Aperture Technique and the Southern Brightness Fire Technique, then sent him to challenge Li Jiao near Shanggu Commandery City.
• Zhang Xuezhou provoked the people of Shanggu Commandery with carved insults, but Ning Cheng marked him with a tracking technique and pursued him.
• Unable to remove Ning Cheng's mark, Zhang Xuezhou decided to leave the Northern Border, while mounted soldiers pursued him and riders with a great crimson banner approached Fuping County.

Zhang Xuezhou fled to Suiyang City and became trapped in the King of Liang’s tomb, where he survived the formation and escaped with Ning Cheng’s help. He reunited with his imprisoned companions, arranged to guide Li Jiao’s army, and returned to the real world to record techniques and examine his Kunpeng Combat Technique reward.

• Zhang Xuezhou evaded Ning Cheng’s pursuers, crossed into Liang Lands, and entered Suiyang City, where he gained admission to Liang Garden by carving “I love the Prince of Liang” into marble.
• The King of Liang took Zhang Xuezhou to Fengxi Marsh, where a ritual linked him to Emperor Jing and the King of Huainan, and the three rulers battled as Zhang witnessed their struggle through the Tomb Scripture.
• Zhang Xuezhou helped Emperor Jing recite the Tomb Scripture, and a red sword destroyed the King of Liang’s white-dragon form before the wounded prince died and left Zhang the Ring of Method Control.
• Zhang Xuezhou studied the Fuxi Physiognomy School’s Acupoint-Fixing Technique while Hongku sought advice from the Dao Lord, and he eventually interrupted the tomb formation and cut toward an exit.
• Ning Cheng and the other pursuers found the sealed tomb, and Zhang Xuezhou squeezed out through the entrance before the Dragon-Sealing Stone closed it again.
• Zhang Xuezhou reunited with Li Jiao, agreed to guide the Northern Frontier Legion through the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, and joined the group heading to Fuping County to free his friends.
• Ning Cheng challenged Colonel Bodang’s account of the jailed merchants, and Zhang Xuezhou found Dong Zhongshu and the others alive before asking Dong to guard his body for seven days.
• Zhang Xuezhou returned to Western Capital City, wrote down several techniques while Tuer Kalanduo photographed his notes, and found that the Kunpeng Combat Technique’s requirements made it impractical for him to learn.

Zhang Xuezhou secured weapons, blood preparations, and research materials while seeking ways to advance his family and help Ren Yisheng. After returning to the Northern Border, he traded his knowledge of the mountain routes for Li Guang’s help, escaped their journey, and fell under suspicion among demon birds.

• Zhang Xuezhou learned that the Kunpeng Combat Technique had reached his genetic limits and promised to seek techniques that could give Ren Yisheng a body.
• Zhang Xuezhou accepted the Infinite Gun, arranged crane blood supplies, and discussed hunting mutated creatures in the Qinmeng Ruins.
• Tuer Kalanduo supplied research materials, and Zhang Xuezhou and Zhang Manqian planned research to reduce their dependence on outside blood serum suppliers.
• Zhang Xuezhou filmed Hou Renying’s scenes and accepted the larger role of Zuo Lengchan for its greater share of broadcast profits.
• Zhang Xuezhou selected five stones for research with the Black-Tipped Chickens, obtained twenty blood preparations, and asked Ren Anran to relay his interest in visiting Qinmeng.
• Zhang Xuezhou agreed to guide Li Guang toward the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains after Li Guang treated Dong Zhongshu and Zhao Liang and began teaching him the Supreme Purity True Technique.
• Zhang Xuezhou surrendered the Deer-Slaying Blade and escaped, while Li Guang approached the Xieluosi River Holy Land and shot at a white fox after she removed her protective garment.
• Zhang Xuezhou claimed kinship with a dead crow messenger, but demon birds surrounded him and a giant demon crane descended before he could finish his excuse.

Zhang Xuezhou reached the Sacred Land, helped Zou Bugui treat the wounded Tiger Strength Demon King, and broke through to the Consciousness Creation Realm. The Exalted One enlisted Zhang and the other masters to alter the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains formation, leaving Zhang flying toward its central acupoint to measure it.

• Zhang Xuezhou arrived at the Sacred Land with Lingyu as Li Guang's attack left the demons afraid, then met the Venerable One, whose Yang Corporeal Soul had taken form.
• The Venerable One sent Zhang Xuezhou to help Zou Bugui refine Longevity Pills, while Zou warned Zhang about Jin Chang and taught him Yin-Yang School techniques.
• Zou Bugui and Zhang Xuezhou gave the injured Tiger Strength Demon King an oversized Longevity Pill, then Zhang persuaded the Goat Strength Demon King to provide treasures and help him break through in exchange for treatment.
• With medicine and Emperor Jing's luck, Zhang Xuezhou broke through to the Consciousness Creation Realm as the Dao Lord and Nine Spirits Primal Sage arrived to discuss changing the mountain formation.
• Zhang Xuezhou proposed that the Exalted One exchange his Yin and Yang Eyes for the Dao Lord's and Nine Spirits Primal Sage's treasures, helping the masters agree to work together.
• The Exalted One revealed that Li Guang had attacked the secret realm's gate, and the masters led Zhang Xuezhou and Zou Bugui beneath the Geomagnetic Primal Light to draw the hidden realms together.
• Zhang Xuezhou used the Exalted One's colored glass to study the formation, located its major acupoint between the three hidden realms, and asked the masters to measure the distance to its inscriptions.
• Nine Spirits Primal Sage gave up 1,632 hairs to make a measuring rope, and Zhang Xuezhou flew toward the formation's center with it as the others hoped he would survive.