Chapter Summaries

Cheng Yue sought the Phoenix Race’s Undying Volcano so he could try refining artifacts, but the Phoenix Race demanded that he take another of their members as a disciple. He rejected their reasoning about Kong Xuan and continued toward the volcano, leaving the dispute unresolved.

• Zhenyuanzi, Hongyun, and Cheng Yue cultivated while Nuwa watched the human race, and Cheng Yue sent her to receive Fuxi.
• Cheng Yue studied the Daoist Canon’s artifact-refining method, then summoned Ao Caizhu and asked her to guide him to the Phoenix Race’s Undying Volcano.
• Ao Caizhu led Cheng Yue toward the Phoenix Race, hoping he would give her a Divine Treasure after he tried refining one.
• At the Phoenix Race, Cheng Yue and Ao Caizhu noticed many flying creatures gathered there, and Phoenix Race members tried to stop them from reaching the Undying Volcano.
• A Phoenix Race elder offered Cheng Yue use of the volcano if he accepted another Phoenix Race member as a disciple, but Cheng Yue refused and argued that Kong Xuan’s Yuan Feng bloodline made him part of the Phoenix Race.

Cheng Yue used a star’s materials and the Undying Volcano’s earthly fire to begin forging artifacts while Ao Caizhu explored the Phoenix Race. After Ao Caizhu brought him a Phoenix Race rooster to roast, Luan Feng emerged from the volcano, and Cheng Yue made her stay as a helpful host.

• Cheng Yue plucked a star from the sky, extracted minerals from it, and created a replacement star before starting his work at Undying Volcano.
• Ao Caizhu explored the Phoenix Race, caught an arrogant rooster, and brought it to Cheng Yue, who killed it and buried it in a lotus leaf beneath the volcano to roast.
• Phoenix Race members warned Cheng Yue that his work might disturb the ancestor in the volcano, but he slapped the emerging luan bird back inside.
• Luan Feng emerged as a girl in green, froze under Cheng Yue’s aura, and agreed to let him use the volcano’s earthly fire.
• Cheng Yue told Luan Feng to stay nearby in case he needed anything, and Ao Caizhu announced that the roast chicken was ready.

Cheng Yue used Undying Volcano to refine a shield for Ao Caizhu, then suspected the volcano’s power came from Pangu. Luan Feng failed to persuade him to take her as a disciple and followed Ao Caizhu toward the Dragon Race, while Yinglong sensed Ao Caizhu’s return.

• The Phoenix Race elders recognized Phoenix bloodline in Cheng Yue’s roasted chicken, and he told them he had eaten a rooster that insulted him; they promised to discipline their clansmen.
• Luan Feng explained Undying Volcano’s nirvana properties, and Cheng Yue refined a shield from its lava and gave it to Ao Caizhu.
• Cheng Yue asked Ao Caizhu to find rare minerals, then rejected Luan Feng’s offer to become his disciple and warm his bed.
• Cheng Yue explored Undying Volcano and suspected its strange power was connected to Pangu, but decided to focus on cultivation and the human race.
• Luan Feng offered Ao Caizhu Phoenix Blood Stones while trying to learn how she became Cheng Yue’s disciple, but Ao Caizhu refused and continued toward the Dragon Race.
• Ao Caizhu wondered whether the Dragon Race had Dragon Blood Stones, and Yinglong sensed her arrival and flew out to meet her.

Ao Caizhu met Yinglong and asked for rare Dragon Race materials to help her master refine artifacts. In the Dragon Tomb, the dragon souls gave up their hoarded treasures and empowered Ao Caizhu before she fainted, leaving Yinglong to gather the materials for her.

• Ao Caizhu told Yinglong that her master needed artifact materials and asked him for Dragon Blood Stone after explaining that Luan Feng had offered Phoenix Blood Stone.
• Yinglong led Ao Caizhu through the East Sea toward the Dragon Tomb and told her the Dragon Race could not protect the Sea Race from the Witch Clan.
• Yinglong guided Ao Caizhu into the canyon, where the dragon souls mocked him and initially refused to hand over their collections.
• Yinglong explained that Ao Caizhu had become a disciple of a Great Power whose strength surpassed the Heavenly Dao, and the dragon souls offered rare materials and a Five-Clawed Golden Dragon's corpse.
• The dragon souls sent streams of light into Ao Caizhu, who fainted, while Yinglong gathered the donated materials and planned to take Dragon Blood Stone as well.

After leaving the Dragon Tomb, Cheng Yue found a new source of earthfire in the deep sea and prepared to refine Star Iron there. Yinglong also learned that Dragon Race Lost Souls might survive through the human martial soul cultivation method, while Ao Caizhu awakened and watched Cheng Yue begin forging.

• Yinglong found Ao Caizhu covered in protective scales and gave the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon's soul hope that the Dragon Race could still produce a Dao-ascended being.
• Cheng Yue decided the Phoenix Race's Undying Volcano had been depleted by his refining and prepared to find another volcano, while Luan Feng remembered Kong Xuan and recognized Cheng Yue's connection to her.
• Yinglong brought Cheng Yue the requested materials, received a Dragon Race secret art, and told him about a strange earthfire in the deep sea.
• Cheng Yue learned that the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon had volunteered to become an artifact spirit and suggested Dragon Race Lost Souls could survive among humans through martial soul cultivation.
• Yinglong led Cheng Yue, the dragon soul, and Ao Caizhu to the deep-sea volcano, where Cheng Yue placed Star Iron into the flames to begin forging.

Cheng Yue refined a Dragon Bone Sword from the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon’s bones and Dragon Race materials, using Chaos Spiritual Energy to give it a faint Innate aura. As the sword neared completion, he told Yinglong he planned to lend it to the human race for a time and later return it.

• Cheng Yue refined a mid-grade Postnatal Spiritual Treasure shaped like a star and gave it to Ao Caizhu as a surprise-attack weapon.
• Cheng Yue refined several treasures, including a top-grade Postnatal Spiritual Treasure shaped like a Gatling gun, before beginning work on the dragon bone.
• Cheng Yue transformed the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon’s bones into a sword and added Dragon Blood Stones, dragon sinews, scales, and Chaos Spiritual Energy.
• Yinglong and Ao Caizhu watched as the sword gained an Innate aura, while the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon endured the flames and the surrounding cold.
• Cheng Yue dispersed thunderclouds above the ocean and explained that the sword might become an Innate Spiritual Treasure if refined again in the Universe Cauldron.
• Cheng Yue told Yinglong that the human race would use the sword for a time and that he would retrieve it and return it to the Dragon Race later.

Nuwa assigned Fuxi to lead the rescued humans, then set out to confront Gong Gong after hearing that his floods had repeatedly destroyed human tribes. Fuxi formed a new tribe, and as he guided the humans, he began establishing rules for marriage.

• Nuwa told Zhenyuanzi that the Demon Race had captured and planned to slaughter humans, and said she would deal with Di Jun and Tai Yi after the great calamity.
• Nuwa put Fuxi in charge of the rescued humans, and he led them away to establish a new tribe and urged them to learn cultivation and avenge their suffering.
• A human elder asked Nuwa for help against Gong Gong's repeated floods, and Nuwa left to confront him.
• Zhenyuanzi advised Hongyun not to rely on Primordial Violet Qi, but Hongyun continued pursuing it, determined to attain the Dao first.
• Fuxi led the humans onward, taught them survival skills, and introduced rules governing marriage.

Nuwa investigated the human race’s migration across the Primordial World and found that Gong Gong had accidentally flooded human settlements in Witch Clan territory. Bored by the suffering caused while the Wu-Yao War remained suspended, she tried to undo Hongjun’s formations but was stopped by Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao, then left considering a more secretive plan.

• Nuwa confronted Gong Gong about the humans killed by his flood, and he agreed to warn his clan not to harm future human migrants.
• Nuwa surveyed the Primordial World, found humans spread across nearly every region, and observed Zhu Jiuyin comprehending the Dao through the changing day and night.
• Nuwa told Golden Phoenix she wanted to undo Hongjun’s great formations and headed for the Heavenly Court.
• Hongjun appeared with the Eye of the Heavenly Dao and ordered Nuwa not to interfere because the time had not come.
• The Heavenly Dao took control of Hongjun’s body, and Nuwa retreated after realizing she could not defeat it without her Master.
• Nuwa left planning to secretly undo the Witch Clan’s formation first and consider the Demon Race’s formation later.

Nuwa secretly studied Hongjun’s formation near the human tribe while Hongjun struggled to find a safe path for Laozi to attain the Dao. After Hongjun questioned Tongtian about Proving the Dao by Force, he and the Heavenly Dao considered establishing a Daoist teaching, but Hongjun still lacked a workable solution.

• Nuwa concealed her identity among the humans and studied Hongjun’s grand formation, while Hongjun failed to detect her plans.
• Hongjun warned the Western disciples not to insult Nuwa’s master, then refused to tell them their opportunities to attain the Dao.
• Hongjun urged Laozi to seek his opportunity among the humans, but Laozi feared Nuwa would kill him and explained that the humans were necessary to his path.
• Hongjun visited Tongtian, who said he wanted to attempt Proving the Dao by Force; Hongjun advised him to attain the Dao through his opportunity first.
• Hongjun reconsidered using Laozi’s Human Teachings to bargain with Nuwa, but doubted it would work and asked the Heavenly Dao about establishing a Daoist teaching.

Hongjun and Heavenly Dao abandoned plans to interfere with the human race directly, while Cheng Yue returned from forging a Dragon Sword and urged Hongyun to establish Buddhism as a path to Sagehood. Hongyun was left considering the proposal, with Cheng Yue promising to help if trouble arose.

• Hongjun and Heavenly Dao decided Laozi would establish a great sect without involving the human race to preserve the Heavenly Dao Saints.
• Cheng Yue completed a Dragon Sword from a Five-Clawed Golden Dragon’s bones, then left the undersea volcano with Ao Caizhu to check on the human race.
• Cheng Yue found Nuwa missing and left to search for her after learning Zhenyuanzi did not know where she had gone.
• Cheng Yue told Hongyun that establishing a race or a great sect were possible routes to Sagehood, then suggested he establish Buddhism.
• Cheng Yue promised to support Hongyun and told Zhenyuanzi to teach him the Buddha-related knowledge in the Daoist Canon.

Cheng Yue agreed to let Nuwa secretly dismantle a Demon Race formation, then returned to his South Sea dojo and accepted its transformed inhabitants as boy servants. Nuwa summoned Zhenyuanzi to help with the formation while Zhenyuanzi finished explaining Buddhism to Hongyun and left him behind.

• Cheng Yue left Hongyun and Zhenyuanzi after Hongyun agreed to consider pursuing Sagehood, then found Nuwa studying a Demon Race formation.
• Nuwa told Cheng Yue she wanted to dismantle the formation and exploit the resulting conflict; Cheng Yue approved but told her to keep his involvement secret and inspect any essence blood carefully.
• Cheng Yue returned to his South Sea dojo, accepted the transformed inhabitants as boy servants, appointed their strongest member to lead them, and gave them the human written language and instructions.
• Nuwa sent a golden phoenix to summon Zhenyuanzi to the area near the human race and Zhu Rong so he could help dismantle the formation.
• Zhenyuanzi finished explaining Buddhism to Hongyun, then departed to attend to Nuwa's summons, leaving Hongyun behind.

Hongyun chose Cheng Yue’s plan and began comprehending Buddhism, while Nuwa and Zhenyuanzi secretly studied Hongjun’s grand formation among the human race. Their investigation suggested the formation was created by the Heavenly Dao, and Nuwa confirmed that their sect would eventually clash with it.

• After Zhenyuanzi left, Hongyun decided to follow Cheng Yue’s plan and began comprehending Buddhism, gathering golden light around himself.
• Nuwa summoned Zhenyuanzi in disguise and asked him to investigate the grand formation Hongjun had established between the territories of Zhu Rong and She Bi Shi.
• Zhenyuanzi studied the formation with the Book of Earth and the Daoist Canon while Nuwa began learning formations beside him.
• Zhenyuanzi suspected the formation was the Heavenly Dao’s handiwork and told Nuwa that their sect would eventually fight the Heavenly Dao if they proved the Dao by force.
• Zhenyuanzi concluded that the formation likely used the terrain as its foundation, but admitted he had not yet found its formation eye or a way to break it.

While Zhenyuanzi and Nuwa continued studying the Heavenly Dao’s formation, Hongyun began a Buddhist transformation in the Holy Mother Temple. Cheng Yue followed a summons to Mount Sumeru and found a strange sealing formation around Luohu’s remnant soul, while Yangmei tried to keep the seal from being disturbed.

• Zhenyuanzi studied the Earth Membrane and realized it could form a Heaven-and-Earth Grand Formation, but he and Nuwa still could not break the Heavenly Dao’s formation.
• Hongyun’s hair began falling out as Buddhist light and a flickering Buddha phantom appeared around him in the Holy Mother Temple.
• Cangjie told the Four Human Ancestors that Buddhism could endure, attain Sainthood, and forcibly convert others, so they decided to expel Hongyun if he attained the Dao.
• Cheng Yue’s split soul followed a summons to Mount Sumeru and discovered a strange purple aura beneath the Daoist temple within a formation.
• Yangmei sent a concealed willow-branch avatar toward Mount Sumeru, fearing that disturbing the seal around Luohu would upset the balance of Yin and Yang.
• Cheng Yue entered the formation and recognized traces of spatial power before an unseen voice told him it had been a long time since anyone’s Primordial Spirit had reached that place.

Cheng Yue encountered the weakened Demon Ancestor Luohu and learned that Yangmei had saved him on the Great Dao’s orders. Cheng Yue agreed to protect Luohu and promised to help restore him, leaving Luohu hopeful of recovering his former strength.

• Luohu tried to recruit Cheng Yue as his disciple, then backed down after Cheng Yue revealed his Primordial Limitless Grand Unity Golden Immortal cultivation.
• Luohu admitted that he had considered possessing Cheng Yue, and explained that his incomplete Primordial Spirit and True Spirit left possession as his only way to escape.
• Cheng Yue told Luohu that Hongjun had become a Heavenly Dao Saint and that one of his disciples had attained the Dao as a Primordial Grand Unity Golden Immortal.
• Yangmei appeared, revealed that he had saved Luohu on the Great Dao’s orders, and explained that he had hidden Luohu in a sealed space.
• Cheng Yue offered to conceal Luohu from the Heavenly Dao and promised to help restore him when he returned.

Cheng Yue learned more about Luohu’s past and considered using him to irritate Hongjun, but the Great Dao’s presence warned him to act carefully. He returned to his Dao field, then checked on his disciples and found Nuwa and Zhenyuanzi studying a heaven-and-earth formation.

• Yangmei told Luohu that Cheng Yue might be able to revive him and explained that Luohu’s battle with Hongjun had been driven by their plan to use the Heavenly Dao to prove the Great Dao.
• Cheng Yue sealed the space, considered restoring Luohu’s cultivation to provoke Hongjun, and felt the Great Dao’s powerful presence when he questioned whether it still existed.
• Cheng Yue returned to his island, gave his servant a list of the accounted-for people, and infused the Dao field’s Cushions with Divine Abilities for cultivation.
• Cheng Yue visited Fuxi’s tribe and judged that Fuxi had nearly completed the work needed to become ruler of the human race.
• Nuwa and Zhenyuanzi continued studying a heaven-and-earth formation after Cheng Yue told them that any formation could be broken.
• Cheng Yue checked on his disciples and then headed toward the Moon Star sisters, who were traveling to the human race.

Cheng Yue took Xihe and Changxi beyond the Primordial World to roam Chaos, while Hongjun sought the Heavenly Dao’s help with the coming Witch-Demon conflict. At the Holy Mother Temple, Hongyun finished his initial study of Buddhism and hoped to ask Cheng Yue how to prove the Dao.

• Cheng Yue persuaded Xihe and Changxi to leave the Moon Star with him, saying he would leave an avatar behind in the Primordial World.
• Cheng Yue explained his intention to prove the Dao by force and told Xihe to cultivate on the Sun Star when she had the chance.
• After Cheng Yue departed, Hongjun considered acting in the Primordial World and asked the Heavenly Dao for a way to help the Demon Race against the Witch Clan; the Heavenly Dao said it would handle the matter.
• Hongjun accepted the Heavenly Dao’s assurance and concealed himself, while the Buddhist light at the human race’s Holy Mother Temple faded.
• Hongyun told Golden Phoenix he had gained a preliminary understanding of Cheng Yue’s Buddhist teachings and planned to ask Cheng Yue about proving the Dao when he returned.

Hongyun established Buddhism with Pingxin’s help and attained sainthood, taking the opportunity Zhunti and Jieyin had expected to claim. Primal Heavenly Venerate then established the Chan Sect and became a Sage, while Laozi, Zhunti, and Jieyin remained unable to attain Dao.

• Hongyun accepted Pingxin’s Reincarnation Jade Ring in exchange for protecting the Witch Clan.
• Hongyun established Buddhism above the human race, absorbed its merit, and attained Dao as a Saint.
• Zhunti and Jieyin realized Hongyun had taken their opportunity to establish Buddhism, and Hongjun regretted failing to stop him.
• Primal Heavenly Venerate established the Chan Sect with the Pangu Banner suppressing its fortune and became a Sage.
• Hongjun sighed over Laozi, Zhunti, and Jieyin, who still lacked a way to attain Dao.

Yuanshi became a Sage and vowed to take revenge on Nuwa, while Hongjun tried to recruit Hongyun after Hongyun also attained Sagehood. Hongyun refused and sought out Kunpeng, offering him a place in Buddhism instead of killing him.

• Yuanshi became a Sage, told Nuwa he would seek revenge after mastering his new power, and settled down to stabilize his cultivation.
• Laozi entered seclusion to pursue Proving the Dao by Force, while Hongjun worried that the lost opportunities for Sagehood had disrupted his plans for the Two Sages of the West.
• Hongjun asked Hongyun to become his disciple, but Hongyun refused and returned toward the human race.
• Kunpeng learned that Hongyun had become a Sage and fled into the North Sea, then tried to escape toward the human race.
• Hongyun stopped Kunpeng and offered him a place in Buddhism instead of killing him, and Kunpeng agreed.

Hongyun established Buddhism’s dojo in the North Sea and announced that he would preach the Dao there in a hundred years. As the news spread, cultivators headed for the North Sea, including a pale-faced Quasi-Sage seeking an opportunity and Duobao, who stopped to teach a human tribe.

• Hongyun made Kunpeng Buddhism’s vice leader, raised his cultivation to the peak of the Quasi-Sage realm, and chose Kunpeng’s North Sea as Buddhism’s dojo.
• Hongyun formed an island in the North Sea, and the North Sea Dragon King agreed to the dojo and sent aquatic beings to help build it.
• Hongyun warned Kunpeng that the Dragon Race was protected by a powerful senior, and Kunpeng wondered whether that senior would accept him as a disciple despite his past with the Demon Race.
• Hongyun announced that he would preach the Dao in the North Sea in a hundred years, then began teaching Kunpeng about Buddhism.
• A pale-faced Quasi-Sage sensed an opportunity in Buddhism and flew toward the North Sea, while Duobao traveled there through Human Race and Witch Clan territories.
• Duobao agreed to teach cultivation to a human tribe that had settled far from the Human Ancestral Land and could not easily return for instruction.

Duobao avoided Randeng by sheltering among humans, then chose to lead them from their struggling tribes to the Human Ancestral Land. After a difficult journey, they arrived, where Duobao faced the human Ancestors and felt envious of their cultivation.

• Duobao taught humans cultivation as he traveled, while Randeng spotted him and threatened to capture him for his treasures and spiritual roots.
• Duobao invoked Nuwa’s protection, and Randeng waited for him to leave the humans until the approaching sermon deadline forced Randeng to depart for the North Sea.
• Duobao decided the humans would fare better at the Human Ancestral Land and persuaded them to travel there with him.
• Duobao led the humans south, gathering more travelers along the way and invoking Nuwa’s name when threats arose, though some people died during the journey.
• Duobao and the bedraggled group reached the Human Ancestral Land, where the human Ancestors regarded him curiously and he envied their cultivation.