The Wen sect start to attack the Lotus Pier and its shield formation. The barrier is brought down when Wen Zhuliu kills the Jiang maintaining it and the Wen unleash a barrage of flame arrows that set fire to the Lotus Pier before invading. Yu Ziyuan leads her sons into battle. However, the fight is too huge to handle and Madame Yu decides to put Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng on a boat to safety. She and Jiang Cheng share a tearful goodbye and Yu Ziyuan hands over Zidian to Jiang Cheng. Wei Wuxian is made to promise he will protect Jiang Cheng with his life and the two leave against their will, paralyzed by Zidian and taken away by the currents. They spot Jiang Fengmian on his way back to Yunmeng and Jiang Cheng fears for his safety. By the time they manage to return the place is in ruins. Over 1500 disciplines and cultivators of the sect are dead. When they see their parents dead near Wen Chao, Jiang Cheng acts on impulse and catches the attention of Wen Zhuliu.

The fierce corpses only attack the Wen sect. Lan Wangji calls the technique sinister but deems the demonic cultivator a friend. The deceased Wang Lingjiao starts to attack Wen Chao and Wen ZhuLiu, and the cultivator shows himself. The cultivator overpowers Wen Zhuliu and uses use resentful energy to tear out his golden core, which he smashes. He finally reveals himself to be Wei Wuxian, catching the three by surprise. Wei Wuxian continues using his dark abilities to kill Wen Chao and Wen Zhuliu. With both dead, Lan Wangji warns Wei Wuxian of the price of pursuing demonic cultivation and fears he will not be able to control it. Wei Wuxian has lost his past cheerful self and cannot detect Lan Wangji's act of kindness when the latter offers to take him back to Gusu so he won't have to keep using the techniques. Lan Wangji leaves the battlefield in anguish as Wei Wuxian stays with Jiang Cheng. The brothers successfully take back Lotus Pier. To break the deadlock with the Wen, Wei Wuxian retrieves the iron sword from the Tortoise of Carnage's cave and forges it into the Stygian Tiger Seal.

Jin Ling wakes up in the inn and vaguely recalls last night's events. On the other hand, Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian argue about the latter's misdeeds. However, Wen Ning suddenly appears to protect Wei Wuxian and the three fight outside. Wei Wuxian chases Wen Ning away to prevent him from losing control and runs away too. He gets chased by Fairy and enters an abandoned residence to hide from it. Jin Ling shows up and the two talk for a bit. When he says that Jiang Cheng hates Wei Wuxian to the bones, Wei Wuxian reminiscences about his childhood with Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli. He also apologises to Jin Ling about his actions on Mt. Dafan before Jin Ling leaves. Wen Ning returns to meet Wei Wuxian and the latter starts to remember the time when he protected the Wen sect remnants from everyone else and how he was constantly forced to hand over the Stygian Tiger Seal. Wei WuXian also looks into Wen Ning's memories and discovers that the Jin Sect and Lan Sect had worked together during the past years.

Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen discuss about the connection between the mysterious hand and Ghost General. Back in the abandoned residence, Wei Wuxian regains Wen Ning's consciousness and asks about what happened. However, Wen Ning cannot remember much about his days of being locked up, except the presence of Jin Guangshan and two other people. Wei Wuxian then faints from the effects of the cursed marks and remembers his time in Yiling 15 years ago. Wei Wuxian finds Wen Yuan with Lan Wangji and decides to enjoy a meal with the latter. Although Lan Wangji tries to warn him of the consequences of demonic cultivation, Wei Wuxian reassures that he will not be harmed. Suddenly, trouble arises in the Burial Mound and they rush back to find Wen Ning going berserk. They work together to suppress Wen Ning and successfully regain his consciousness. Wei Wuxian then sends Lan Wangji off and the two share another conversation about Wei Wuxian's decisions. The latter is unwilling to give up on the Wen Remnants but is determined not to lose control, and hence the two part ways. One year later, Jin Zixun ambushes Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning on Qiongqi Way while they are on their way to Jin Ling's one-month anniversary.

The duo uses Empathy and learn about Xiao Xingchen, Xue Yang and Yi City's past.

The group goes to Yunping City, and Wei Wuxian discovers Lan Wangji can't handle his liquor.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji argue with an angry mob of cultivators before a wave of Fierce Corpses interrupts them.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji was led to Yi City, which is empty and in ruins.

Lan Wangji pulls Wei Wuxian out of the water. In an attempt to keep him awake, Lan Wangji plays a song he has composed specially for him, although the latter passes out anyway. Wei Wuxian wakes up in his own room after being saved by Jiang Cheng. He then learns the Lan sect leader has passed away and the Wen sect has taken all the credit for killing the beast. When Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan comes to visit, the family once again has an argument over Jiang Fengmian's unfair treatment to Jiang Cheng. When the parents leave, Jiang Cheng gets angry at his own father for never taking him seriously as a Jiang and recounts how he came back to Yunmeng with great difficulty. Wei Wuxian promises him he is worthy to be the next clan leader and he will be his subordinate, just like their own fathers, easing the tensions between the two. The Wen sect continues with their plan to set Supervisory Offices in every clans. Wang Lingjiao comes to Yunmeng to demand Yu Ziyuan to punish Wei Wuxian with Zidian. Without Jiang Fengmian around, Jiang Cheng is unable to stop her. Wei WuXian silently takes a whipping, hoping the Wen will then be satisfied and leave the Jiang alone. Wang Lingjiao afterwards tells Madame Yu to cut off one of Wei Wuxian's hands, which she seems to agree to until Wang Lingjiao tells her she will head the Supervision Office at the Lotus Pier and be given authority over Madame Yu. Then Madame Yu strikes her for not knowing her place.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji follow the sounds of Fairy barking and are led to a tower. Seeing that a hole is blown on the wall, they enter to start finding Jin Ling. On the other hand, Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen are trying to find Nie Huaisang. Upon entering the tower, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian find a coffin with a sword inside. Lan Wangji then plays Inquiry to ask for Jin Ling's whereabouts. With the replies from the spirit, they find Jin Ling unconscious inside the wall. The tower then starts to crumble and attack. They immediately bring Jin Ling outside. Fairy suddenly senses something and runs off. Lan Wangji tells Wei Wuxian that he will chase after it and will meet up again later. Wei Wuxian then looks at the cursed marks on Jin Ling's leg and wonders what hallucinations he is having from it. He then transfers the marks onto himself, making him hallucinate too. A young Jin Ling gets bullied by other children and Yiling Patriarch Wei Wuxian approaches him. He introduces himself as his uncle from the same discipline. When Jin Ling asks him about his parents Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli, Wei Wuxian recalls the times he spent with the two.

Wei Wuxian faints after the incident at Qiongqi Way and wakes up in his cave in the Burial Mound. When he sees Wen Ning, he beats him up in rage and cries about not knowing what to do. Wen Qing then uses a needle to render him weak and explains that she and Wen Ning will confess their crimes. Even though Wei Wuxian refuses, he is unable to stop them and only wakes up 3 days after. He goes to the Nightless City where the other sects are holding a ceremony to pay their respects to those who had fallen, and to also kill Wei Wuxian and the Wen remnants. Wei Wuxian wants to find out the truth behind the Hundred Holes and a fight ensues. Lan Wangji tries to reason with Wei Wuxian but he is too far gone to listen. Suddenly, Jiang Yanli arrives on the battlefield to find him but gets injured by a fierce corpse. While Wei Wuxian holds her dearly in his arms, Jiang Yanli tells him to stop. The latter did, but Jiang Yanli pushes him away from an incoming attack and suffers the stab in his place. Wei Wuxian goes berserk again and unleashes the power of the Stygian Tiger Seal. Wei Wuxian wakes up from the flashbacks to find himself under Lan Wangji's care. The cursed marks are suppressed and Lan Wangji returns him his Yunmeng bell and temporary flute. Wei Wuxian then enjoys a meal with him to regain his strength. At the table, they then discuss about Wei Wuxian's dream and Lan Wangji suspects that someone else has been behind the deaths in the past. Suddenly, the window opens.

Nie Huaisang enters the room to plead them for him to leave, but Wei Wuxian begins to interrogate him about the tower. On the way there, Nie Huaisang explains that the human-eating tower is in fact just a fabricated rumour to discourage people to enter, and the ruckus are all caused by the swords left behind by the deceased Nie Sect ancestors. When they arrived, they find corpses and a group of black-clad people preparing to attack them. Wei Wuxian engages them while Lan Wangji goes to check the tower. When Nie Huaisang is suddenly targeted, Lan Xichen and Jin Guangshan arrives to aid them. During the fight, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian discover that one of the black-clads is skilled in Gusu's sword techniques and has the Hundred Holes. The zombie hand also appears and Wei Wuxian questions the link with it. After, they find a pair of legs that matches with the zombie arm, sewn into one of the corpses. They then part ways and Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji continues their search for the other parts. The zombie hand points them to a new direction and the two set off West. In town, Lan Wangji tries to ask how Wei Wuxian has died, but the latter refuses to tell. He then finds a pellet drum for sale and remembers how he used to love this toy. In the post-credit scene, Jin Guangyao is up to something in his treasure room and Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian arrives in Yi City, meeting Xiao Xingchen.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji meet a taoist and learn more about Yi City's story.

"Good Brother" breaks free, and they figure out his true identity.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji discover the relationship between the Clan Leaders during the Sunshot Campaign.

As Wei Wuxian continues to look into the past, his true identity is exposed.

Wei Wuxian learns more about Lan Wangji's past, while a horde of Fierce Corpses heads towards the Burial Mounds.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji confront Jin Guangyao in the Guanyin Temple.

Nie Mingjue's Fierce Corpse joins the final battle against the cultivators.

While the world reels from the aftermath of Jin Guangyao's death, Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji, and Jiang Cheng set off on their respective journeys.

Wei Wuxian sneaks out at night again to enjoy his favourite wine, but is caught by Lan Wangji for the second time. As Wei Wuxian does not want to give up, he fights with him and causes them both to fall outside of the Cloud Recesses, which is a rule broken. This causes them to be punished by being beaten. After hearing of a way to relieve the pain, Wei Wuxian joins Lan Wangji in the Cold Spring. Wei Wuxian uses this as an attempt to make friends with him, but Lan Wangji continues to refuse. Later, they hear a strange sound and rushes to defeat the feral zombies that have escaped. Lan Wangji holds up until Jiang Cheng and another disciple comes to give Lan Wangji his guqin, and successfully defeats the zombies. On the other hand, Wei Wuxian does not have a weapon and faces difficulties at his end. While fighting, he sees a rabbit and protects it while running from the zombies. One of them gets too close and resentful energy starts entering his body. Jiang Cheng comes just in time to return him his sword and they defeat the remaining zombies. Jiang Cheng then gets mad Wei Wuxian attempted to harness the resentful energy, which is forbidden and warrents his execution, but Wei promises not to do so again, having resisted its influence.

With the beast angered, the Wen sect escapes and block the cave entrance, preventing anyone else from leaving. Lan Wangji points out there is another opening as there are maple leaves in the pond despite the lack of trees, meaning there's a tunnel connected to the outside in the pond. As the beast returns to sleep, Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng dive into the water to search for the way out. However, Wei Wuxian accidentally awakens the beast when a body surprises him, but Jiang Cheng emerges with good news. Wei Wuxian stays to hold off the beast with a flame array while the others escape. Su She, while attempting to shoot the creature, accidentally shoots him in the shoulder with an arrow, causing Wei Wuxian's powers to weaken faster. The scent of blood incites the beast, which he uses to distract it so Jiang Cheng can help the last few escape. Lan Wangji saves Wei Wuxian, the beast biting his leg, but the two hide from it. However, its thrashing has caused the tunnel to the outside to collapse and those who escaped are attacked by Wen trying to kill them. They tend to each other's wounds and Lan Wangji tearfully confesses about his worry for his family. They decide to wait for three days to regain their strength before attempting to fight the Tortoise of Carnage by themselves. They attempt to fight the beast with the Lan sect's Killer String Technique. When Wei Wuxian dives in to lure the beast, he is drawn to a mysterious sword deep within full of resentful energy. He struggles to control the resentful energy and is swallowed by the monster. Working with Lan Wnagji outside, the kill the beast. However, an unconscious Wei Wuxian sinks through the water, the sword vanishing in the depths of the pond.

Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, and their friend Nie Huaisang, start their education in the prestigious Cloud Recesses to become better cultivators. They meet the top disciple Lan Wangji, whom Wei Wuxian confessed he had angered upon his arrival in Gusu. Due to Wei Wuxian's playfulness, he broke three rules during his first encounter with Lan WangJi, and thus is resented by both the latter and the teacher Lan Qiren. However, despite his mischief, he is shown to be a knowledgeable student, although his solutions involve the use of the forbidden demonic path. He is then punished to copy passages in the Library Pavilion and to be supervised by Lan Wangji, much to Wei Wuxian's dismay as he does not chat with him. One month later, Wei Wuxian finishes the punishment and draws a portrait of Lan Wangji as a farewell gift. But this is just another of his pranks as Lan Wangji was drawn femininely. Wei Wuxian also replaces Lan Wangji's poetry book with an erotic art book, causing a fight to break out in the library as Wei Wuxian teases him continuously.

The disciples of the Cloud Recesses are brought along to Biling Lake to exorcise the water ghouls that had mysteriously appeared recently. While they pass by Caiyi Town, they discover that water ghouls had also arrived in town. The disciples are puzzled as the corpses were not recognised by the locals and appear in a place where they did not drown in. As Biling Lake is overflowing with resentful energy, Wei Wuxian comes up with the idea to harvest these energy to counterattack the water ghouls, causing Jiang Cheng to stop him using the threat of copying more passages. Subsequently, Wei Wuxian discovers a water ghoul hiding below Lan Wangji's boat, causing Lan Xichen to be impressed by his wits. The Waterborne Abyss then starts attacking, causing some boats to capsize. While Wei Wuxian is saving one of the disciples, he is dragged into the water and met with resentful energy up-close for the first time. Thankfully, he is pulled out of the water by Lan Wangji before anything can happen. With the problem at hand finally solved, the disciples start to suspect the Wen sect's malicious intent

Back in the Cloud Recesses, Lan Wangji is reprimanded for sending disciples to search for Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng as it is too dangerous, but Lan Qiren defends his motives. Lan Wangji laments the two are yet to be found, even though Jiang Yanli was safe. Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng take cover in a village, but the former finds Jiang Cheng missing when he returned with food. He rushes back to the Lotus Pier to save a weakened Jiang Cheng and Wen Ning hides them in his room to prevent them from being caught. While Wen Ning's sister Wen Qing originally disapproved, she eventually agrees to heal the brothers and keeps them safely hidden for a few days before Wen Chao returns. When Jiang Cheng wakes up, he reveals his golden core has already been melted and his spiritual energy is gone. To make matters worse, his instability causes him to get defensive against Wen Ning as he is of the Wen sect. Wen Qing then makes him sleep and tells Wei Wuxian to wake him up when he has recovered. Wei WuXian is quickly healed but Wen Qing says the only reason he recovered so fast is that Madame Yu didn't put her full force into whipping him. Wei Wuxian looks at his spiritual energy as he decides to help Jiang Cheng get back his golden core.