After the war between gods and demons ended, Xuanwei Cangming became the sovereign of the divine realm. His friend and right-hand woman, Chao Youlu, asked to become his empress, but he refused, saying the position was not yet available, and appointed her Kunlun True Lord, responsible for overseeing the ascension of immortals. On the eve of taking up her post, Chao Youlu suddenly died and was reincarnated as a noblewoman in the mortal realm. To guide her back to her divine station, Xuanwei Cangming took the form of an immortal master who taught for three days each year. He also split off an incarnation as Chao Youlu’s sword spirit, staying by her side to protect her at all times. At school, Chao Youlu met her first love, Xu Zijin, and together they weathered a serpent demon’s rampage. But Xu Zijin’s wife and daughter, who lived far away in his hometown, soon showed up and, right before Chao Youlu, his wife threw herself to her death, hoping to use public opinion to force Chao Youlu to marry Xu Zijin. Xuanwei Cangming revealed Xu Zijin’s past through an illusion. To avoid him, Chao Youlu volunteered for the palace selection and became one of Emperor Nan Jingyu’s concubines in name only. She also ruined Xu Zijin’s promising marriage, and he held a grudge against her from then on. The serpent demon escaped the palace and went on a rampage. Chao Youlu wounded it, but let it go again when she learned it was pregnant. When trouble erupted at the border and the emperor’s army proved no match for a mysterious force, Xu Zijin took the opportunity to petition for Chao Youlu to be sent to the front lines to die. On the battlefield, Chao Youlu broke the seal on a dragon that had been suppressed for five hundred years, bringing the war to an end. But the emperor attacked her from behind, and she took the chance to fake her death and escape to an immortal sect to seek the Dao. To strengthen Chao Youlu’s resolve in her cultivation, Xuanwei Cangming used himself as bait, promising that one day they would spend their days together in the divine realm. Chao Youlu mistakenly believed they felt the same way about each other. Just then, the dragon failed its tribulation and was saved by Chao Youlu. Unable to see clearly, it fell for the serpent demon disguised as Chao Youlu, and they made love. Xuanwei Cangming, who had descended in his true form, witnessed the scene and finally understood his feelings for Chao Youlu. His old wounds flared, and he spat blood. Chao Youlu was ambushed by Ziwan, the serpent demon’s daughter, and the two fell together into a time five hundred years in the past. Chao Youlu fell into the sea and was rescued by Xuanwei Cangming. After a brief time together, she disappeared. Moved by the short-lived lives of mortals, Xuanwei Cangming left the homeland of the Dragon God and took on the task of saving the dragon race. Working together, they defeated the Golden-Winged Great Peng and established a new divine realm. When Xuanwei Cangming traveled to the past to find Chao Youlu, he discovered that he himself had been the one who promised her the position of empress. Back in the present, the rampaging dragon was enlightened and ascended, while Chao Youlu finally saw through the mortal world and returned to her divine station. After much effort to win her back, Xuanwei Cangming and Chao Youlu finally confessed their feelings to each other.
