The Founder of Diabolism

For many years, cultivation clans had failed to summon the Yiling Patriarch Wei Wuxian, whom was believed to be killed by his brother Jiang Cheng. However, he is finally incarnated into the body of Mo Xuanyu through a sacrificial ritual, who was a young man full of hatred for his abusive family members. While Wei Wuxian carries on to exact revenge on the Mo Family as per request, he meets the new generation of the Lan sect and finds himself in a zombie mystery. When the situation is deemed too difficult to be defeated alone, Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi call for help from any nearby seniors, ultimately attracting the attention of Wei Wuxian's long-time acquaintance.

After Lan Wangji successfully stops the mysterious arm, Wei Wuxian escapes to prevent being spotted by him. He arrives at the nearby Mt. Dafan and meets another young disciple, Jin Ling from the Jin sect. The two have a heated argument which causes Jiang Cheng to come by. Wei Wuxian then learns that Jin Ling is the nephew of Jiang Cheng, whom was left orphaned because of Wei Wuxian's past mistakes. Due to being in Mo Xuanyu's body, Jiang Cheng was unable to recognise Wei Wuxian until the latter starts using his demonic abilities to save everyone from the escaped arm, which summons the Ghost General Wen Ning. While he suspects Wei Wuxian, the latter plays dumb and acts as the notorious cut-sleeve Mo Xuanyu to prevent his cover from being blown. As Lan Wangji also has the same suspicion, he protects Wei Wuxian and even offers to take him back to Gusu when Wei Wuxian speaks of his liking for him, catching Wei Wuxian by surprise. At the end of the episode, the timeline changes to twenty years ago, starting the flashbacks of Wei Wuxian's teenage years.

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

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.

While the disciples learn about Lan sect's history, the topic of love raises a question towards Jin Zixuan about which lady he thinks is the fairest. Wei Wuxian comments that Jin Zixuan will choose his fiancee Jiang Yanli, but Jin Zixuan badmouths her. As her brothers, both Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng gets offended and Wei Wuxian starts a fight with him. The fight causes their father Jiang Fengmian to personally come to Cloud Recesses to bring Wei Wuxian home. Back at Yunmeng, Wei Wuxian is finally reunited with his adoptive family, but his mother Yu Ziyuan despises him, mostly due to Jiang Fengmian's favouritism over an adopted son. The situation gets worse when the marriage is called off and Yu Ziyuan blames it on Wei Wuxian, despite Jiang Fengmian's reasoning. Yu Ziyuan subsequently argues with Jiang Fengmian, straining their relationship further. Wei Wuxian overhears the argument and blames himself for the disputes between the two pairs. He apologises to Jiang Yanli but she insists that love should not be forced if not mutual. One year later, Jiang Cheng returns to Yunmeng after finishing his studies. As the brothers talk, Jiang Chen tells him an archery tournament between the cultivation clans will be held in the Nightless City - the home of the Wen Sect.