Recaps

The Monkey King emerged from the Crimson Stone Egg and led the apes of Monkey Mountain, discovering that his body could recover from any injury or death. After the old clan leader died, the Monkey King set out to find immortals and a way to spare his people from death, and he reached a town to ask the guards where he could find one.

• The Black Bear found the Crimson Stone Egg, grew enormous through the winter, and dropped it while fleeing the Monkey Clan’s stone barrage.
• The Monkey Clan claimed the egg as its totem and grew stronger for generations until it hatched into an ape, who named himself the Monkey King.
• The Monkey King discovered he could regenerate after being torn apart, burned, frozen, or otherwise killed, and declared himself indestructible.
• After the old clan leader died, the Monkey King vowed to find immortals and a way to overcome death for the Monkey Clan.
• The Monkey King left Monkey Mountain, traveled west for several months, and asked the guards outside a town where he could find an immortal.

The Monkey King endured decades of rejection while seeking a teacher and the art of longevity, until the yellow ox on Green Cloud Mountain directed him to a True Immortal in the East Sea. After repeated setbacks at sea, he rescued a stranded little whale, which returned with its family and carried him toward the deep sea.

• The Monkey King wandered for years, seeking immortals among humans, demons, and sects, but the Celestial Court’s immortal registry system barred him from cultivation.
• At Green Cloud Mountain, the yellow ox tested the Monkey King’s immortal body and learned that he had been born from a Crimson Stone Egg.
• The yellow ox refused to take the Monkey King as a disciple but gave him directions to a secluded True Immortal beyond the Eastern Divine Continent.
• The Monkey King crossed the land to the East Sea and struggled for years against currents, storms, and a playful little whale that repeatedly carried him back to shore.
• The Monkey King dug a channel to free the stranded little whale, and the whale later returned with two others and carried him toward the deep sea.

The Monkey King learned to cultivate under Zhou Yi, rose to great power, and returned to Monkey Mountain after being sent away with a warning and the Heaven Severing Art. There he found his former followers gone and exactly forty-eight thousand stone monkeys scattered across the mountain, and suspected they might be resurrected.

• The Monkey King spent half a year imitating the whales’ ripple spell with blood and qi until he formed a crimson protective membrane, then continued east with the whale family.
• The Monkey King reached Longevity Temple, where Zhou Yi refused to teach him directly but accepted him as an attendant and named him Sun Changsheng.
• Sun Changsheng comprehended cultivation techniques and spells from Zhou Yi’s recitations, advancing from Qi Refinement to Nascent Soul and then cultivating his Primordial Spirit over the following centuries.
• Zhou Yi sent Sun Changsheng back to Monkey Mountain, warned him to avoid the Celestial Court and keep Zhou Yi’s name secret, and gave him the Heaven Severing Art.
• Sun Changsheng returned to Monkey Mountain and found his former subordinates missing and the forty-eight thousand stone monkeys scattered across the mountain; he gathered them and suspected they could be brought back to life.

Sun Changsheng taught the Monkey Clan cultivation on Monkey Mountain, but a dying Bear Demon’s memories and the Blood Sea Sutra shook his Dao heart. When Jiazi Star Lord Ao Kun’s gods searched the mountain, one of them discovered Sun Changsheng’s hidden monkey demons, leaving their secret exposed.

• Sun Changsheng gathered the Monkey Clan, subdued its chief, built Longevity Temple, and began teaching Daoist scriptures and cultivation methods.
• Over a hundred years, the Monkey Clan developed into a community of demon cultivators, while Sun Changsheng gained insight and advanced his cultivation.
• A wounded Bear Demon fled into Monkey Mountain as Jiazi Star Lord Ao Kun and the Grand Duke Department pursued him; the Bear Demon detonated his blood shadow and died after reaching Sun Changsheng.
• The Bear Demon’s remnant soul merged with Sun Changsheng, revealing the Blood Sea Sutra and memories that made Sun Changsheng fear his origins were connected to the demonic path.
• Ao Kun demanded to inspect Monkey Mountain, and Sun Changsheng reluctantly opened its formation; an Orthodox God then reported seeing monkey demons hidden by an illusion formation.

Sun Changsheng fled Monkey Mountain after Ao Kun investigated his unregistered monkey demons, then sought refuge and counsel from the yellow ox before hiding the Monkey Clan underground. Meanwhile, Zhou Yi returned to Xuan Yuan Mountain and disguised himself as a child, where Ling Weizi recruited him as a disciple.

• Ao Kun questioned Sun Changsheng about his inheritance, warned him against secretly transmitting Dao teachings, and chased a blood shadow Sun Changsheng created to distract him.
• The Demon Subduing Marshal found Monkey Mountain empty and ordered Sun Changsheng and his 8,400 unregistered monkey demons placed on the wanted list.
• Sun Changsheng visited the yellow ox at Green Cloud Mountain, discussed the Blood Sea Sutra and his fear of being rejected by his master, then moved the Monkey Clan to an underground cultivation ground.
• Sun Changsheng resolved to use the Blood Sea Sutra to awaken the stone monkey.
• Zhou Yi returned to Xuan Yuan Mountain after learning that three Human Immortals had ascended, disguised himself as Niu Shitou, and accepted Ling Weizi's offer to take him as a disciple.

Zhou Yi joined the declining Xuan Yuan Sect and began cultivating while Ling Weizi tried to keep him from entering the Celestial Court’s Dao Academy. Elsewhere, Sun Changsheng used livestock blood to revive stone monkeys, and Xuan Jing warned Zhou Yi that the sect might soon disappear.

• Ling Weizi brought Zhou Yi to Xuan Yuan Mountain, claimed the sect’s ancestor had been sworn brothers with the Heavenly Master, and urged him to restore the sect’s former glory.
• Xuan Jing, Xuan Xu, and Xuan Yu proposed sending Zhou Yi to the Dao Academy in exchange for spiritual resources, but Ling Weizi refused and gave Zhou Yi the Daoist title Xuan Yi.
• Zhou Yi swore not to enter the Dao Academy, joined the Xuan Yuan Sect, received one thousand Spirit Stones and a body-refining scripture, and began cultivating in seclusion.
• Sun Changsheng posed as a merchant to buy livestock, then fed their blood to forty-eight thousand stone monkeys in his cavern, hoping to revive them without provoking the Celestial Court.
• Four months later, Zhou Yi had reached the eighth level of Qi Refinement, and Xuan Jing privately warned him that Ling Weizi’s claims were fabricated and that the sect’s inheritance might soon be lost.

Zhou Yi learned that the Celestial Court was weakening sects and drawing their disciples into its service, then resolved to help Xuan Yuan Sect endure. He secretly arranged a succession of fortuitous opportunities for its disciples, leaving Xuan Xu with a chance to form a core, Xuan Jing with rare spirit items, and Xuan Yu advancing toward Qi Refinement Perfection.

• Xuan Jing told Zhou Yi that he had become a Celestial Court informant to preserve Xuan Yuan Sect, and Zhou Yi refused to leave the sect or join a Dao Academy.
• Zhou Yi concluded that the Celestial Court was steadily consolidating control and decided to secure several hundred years of stability for Xuan Yuan Sect.
• Xuan Xu found a Millennial Spirit Horse hidden in an ancient grave on his family's land and brought it back to the sect.
• Xuan Xu offered the Spirit Horse to Xuan Jing, but Xuan Jing refused and urged him to use it to form a Golden Core; Zhou Yi revealed that he had planted the treasure.
• Zhou Yi planted Seven-Colored Immortal Lotus Seeds in an old statue, which Xuan Jing later found and returned to the sect.
• Xuan Yu's cultivation rose to Qi Refinement Perfection after a white-bearded immortal appeared in her dreams and clarified her cultivation technique.

Zhou Yi accepted Zhou Xin’s offer to become a Celestial Court official in exchange for helping monitor the Xuan Yuan Sect, then discovered that Ling Weizi’s plan to obtain Golden Core treasures would lead to his death and warned Yellow Ox to collect them first. Meanwhile, Sun Changsheng’s sermon in Tanruo City revealed him to Fading, who suspected that Sun Changsheng was the reincarnation of Eldest Senior Brother.

• Xuan Yu taught Zhou Yi the Profound Origin Mystic Classic, unaware that she was repeating what he had taught her in a dream.
• Zhou Xin recruited Zhou Yi as a Celestial Court official and asked him to prevent Xuan Yuan Sect cultivators from forming cores; Zhou Yi agreed after negotiating for more life-extending pills.
• Ling Weizi returned with a child named Xuan Li, praised Zhou Yi’s cultivation, and proposed secretly gathering two Golden Core spiritual treasures.
• Zhou Yi divined that the treasures were bait set by the Celestial Court to kill Ling Weizi, so he told Yellow Ox to collect them and turn them in for a reward.
• Sun Changsheng preached in Tanruo City, and Fading recognized his immense karmic burden and Buddhist understanding as signs that he was Eldest Senior Brother reincarnated.

Fading recognized Sun Changsheng as the reincarnated Sanzang and reported his discovery to Dajue Arhat, who planned to strengthen him with an Arhat Relic. Dajue revealed that he intended to provoke a catastrophe to relieve the Celestial Court’s growing resource crisis, leaving Fading horrified by the scale of his scheme.

• Fading encountered Sun Changsheng in the city, mistook him for his reincarnated Senior Brother, and invited him to Lingshan, but Sun Changsheng declined and returned to protect the Monkey Clan.
• Fading rushed to Lingshan and told Dajue Arhat that Sun Changsheng was likely the reincarnated Sanzang.
• Dajue Arhat proposed using an Arhat Relic to raise Sun Changsheng’s cultivation to Void Return, while Fading warned that the relic would damage his Dao Path.
• Fading learned that Dajue Arhat wanted Sun Changsheng to overturn the Celestial Court and create a catastrophe, then confronted him over the plan.
• Dajue Arhat argued that population growth and rising demand for incense and cultivation resources threatened a future collapse, and proposed reducing the population by hundreds of millions to avert it.

Dajue Arhat and the other Human Immortals planned to avert a greater calamity by sacrificing people every few thousand years, and they identified Sun Changsheng as the person meant to meet the calamity. The Heavenly Emperor invited Sun Changsheng, the Heavenly Master's reincarnation, into the Celestial Court, where Sun accepted a Ninth Rank post and chose to guard the Heavenly Prison.

• Dajue Arhat told Fading that the three teachings planned to trigger smaller calamities to delay the great calamity, and Fading agreed not to obstruct them.
• Mingzhen Zi divined that Sun Changsheng was the Heavenly Master's reincarnation and sent Dajue Arhat a reply after devising a way to leave some leeway.
• The Minister of Revenue raised concerns about divine descendants taking Dao Academy places, then reported that he had found the Heavenly Master's reincarnation.
• The Heavenly Emperor ordered Gu Xiao to invite Sun Changsheng to the Celestial Court, and Gu Xiao found him preaching to the Monkey Clan.
• Sun Changsheng went with Gu Xiao to the Celestial Court, where the Heavenly Emperor appointed him to a Ninth Rank post.
• Sun Changsheng asked to guard prisoners, and the Heavenly Emperor made him a Ninth Rank warden of the Heavenly Prison.

Sun Changsheng accepted his appointment as Heavenly Prison camp superintendent while the Celestial Court treated him as the Heavenly Master's reincarnation. After a year of learning prison life and visiting the yellow ox, he began negotiating with a Qiongqi prisoner for Spirit Stones, while Zhou Yi speculated about the source of Sun Changsheng's past-life karma.

• Sun Changsheng learned from Zhu Xian that his supposed previous life had served in the Celestial Court, then accepted the Heavenly Emperor's order to work in the Heavenly Prison instead of reopening the Heavenly Master's Residence.
• Bai Suixin introduced Sun Changsheng as his senior brother and the Heavenly Master's reincarnation to Hao Siyu and the prison officials, who showed him the roster and explained the prison's eighteen levels.
• Sun Changsheng hosted a banquet for his colleagues and learned how prison officials exploited inmates, manipulated punishments, and took advantage of faulty cell formations.
• Over the following year, Sun Changsheng inspected and transferred prisoners, attended banquets with Celestial Court gods, then visited the yellow ox, who reassured him that any recovered past-life memories would not change who he was.
• Sun Changsheng returned to the Celestial Court and offered a Qiongqi prisoner in the twelfth-level prison Spirit Stones, while Zhou Yi guessed that a Void Return Realm cultivator had mistaken Sun Changsheng for the reincarnation of a great demon.

Zhou Yi continued protecting Xuan Yuan Sect while the Celestial Court suppressed core formation, and Xuan Yu accepted a dangerous reincarnation spell from a dream visitor. In the Celestial Court, Sun Changsheng obtained an ancient scripture for Huayang Zi’s celebration, then was dragged into a pill furnace where an Arhat Relic fused with him and transformed him into a Human Immortal.

• Zhou Yi ground up the pill Zhou Xin gave him instead of using it to sabotage Xuan Yu, while Xuan Li later left Xuan Yuan Mountain to continue his family line.
• An Old Daoist appeared in Xuan Yu’s dream, warned that she would inevitably fail at core formation, and offered a risky Buddhist reincarnation method; Xuan Yu asked him to cast it.
• Sun Changsheng rose to prison commandant, collected blood essence from prisoners, and obtained an ancient scripture from Xian Kong for Huayang Zi’s millennium celebration.
• At Huayang Zi’s banquet, Sun Changsheng drank heavily and accidentally crashed into the Immortal Pill Hall, where he discovered an Arhat Relic being refined.
• The Arhat Relic pulled Sun Changsheng into the furnace, shattered, and poured its inheritance into him as his 48,000 Blood God Clones merged with his body.
• Sun Changsheng combined Daoist arts, demonic Blood God Clones, and Buddhist inheritance, attained Human Immortal, and emerged from the furnace.

Sun Changsheng emerged from the pill furnace as a Human Immortal, while the Celestial Court’s leaders planned a great calamity and the Heavenly Prison’s inmates escaped. Mistaking Sun Changsheng for the reincarnated Blood Demon Child, the Celestial Court’s rulers arrived to confront him as he faced tens of thousands of freed prisoners.

• Xian Kong escaped his cell after the Heavenly Prison’s formations cracked, then joined Yin-Yang Dao Lord and other prisoners in releasing thousands of inmates.
• At Heavenly Pool, the Heavenly Emperor and the three Imperial Lords agreed to launch a great calamity and send Orthodox Gods to confront Sun Changsheng.
• Demonic clouds and Buddhist light appeared over the Celestial Court, and Mingzhen Zi and Shoushan Gong realized that Blood Demon Child had reincarnated through Sun Changsheng.
• Sun Changsheng emerged from the pill furnace as a Human Immortal, learned of Blood Demon Child’s past, and decided to leave the Celestial Court and return to the mortal world.
• Sun Changsheng reached the Heavenly Prison, where tens of thousands of escaped inmates knelt before him, and the Imperial Lords and True Gods accused him of freeing them.

Sun Changsheng fought the Celestial Court after realizing its True Gods had framed him, and his battle devastated the court and left the Divine Continent threatened by the aftershocks. He entered the only surviving palace, the Hall of Celestial Glory, and confronted the Heavenly Emperor, claiming the destruction had forced three Human Immortals to ascend.

• Sun Changsheng attacked Huayang Zi and the Celestial Court’s formation, then slaughtered thousands of Orthodox Gods as his Blood Demon Child nature grew stronger.
• Ji Shan used the Arhat Relic to calm Sun Changsheng, but Sun Changsheng seized and swallowed him before spitting him back out weakened.
• Sun Changsheng created 48,000 Blood God Clones, overwhelming the Celestial Court’s forces until Shoushan Gong, Dajue Arhat, and Mingzhen Zi arrived.
• The three Human Immortals attacked Sun Changsheng, who unleashed a vast blood sea and destroyed the Celestial Court’s palaces with bloody rain.
• Sun Changsheng and the Six Dragon Rings detonated their mana, shattering the Celestial Court’s protections and nearly unleashing catastrophic aftershocks across the Divine Continent.
• Sun Changsheng entered the surviving Hall of Celestial Glory and told the Heavenly Emperor that the three Human Immortals had been gravely injured and would have to ascend.

Sun Changsheng survived the Celestial Court’s destruction and left after the gods and three sects halted their fight, while the Heavenly Emperor plotted to rebuild by cooperating with demons. Fading rejected the Celestial Court’s hypocrisy and entered Nirvana, and the chapter ended with Zhou Yi receiving an upsetting message from Niu'er.

• Sun Changsheng struck the Heavenly Emperor but stopped fighting when the three Human Immortals intervened and the Heavenly Emperor’s remaining gods urged restraint.
• Sun Changsheng refused to associate with the demons he had freed, while the surviving demons returned to the Heavenly Prison.
• The Heavenly Emperor persuaded the Celestial Court’s gods to work with demon lords to create mortal calamities and restore their incense offerings.
• Fading denounced the Celestial Court’s hypocrisy, transformed into a demon, and burned himself away in Nirvana.
• Zhou Yi watched Xuan Yu survive her tribulation and condense her Golden Core, then received a message from Niu'er and angrily cursed Sun Changsheng.

After leaving Xuan Yuan Mountain, Zhou Yi settled in Chongshan County, where he investigated a demonic disturbance at the Yu Residence and uncovered a scheme involving the Land God and the Limitless Ghost God. The surviving conspirator revealed ties that led Zhou Yi to suspect the Celestial Court had revived the old wild-god methods.

• Sun Changsheng told the Yellow Ox how he and the Heavenly Emperor had crippled the Three Immortals and killed most of the Celestial Court's gods, and the Yellow Ox informed Zhou Yi.
• Angered that Sun Changsheng's actions might implicate him, Zhou Yi left Xuan Yuan Mountain and spent ten years enjoying life in Chongshan County.
• After sensing demonic qi, Zhou Yi visited the Yu family and gave its head a jade talisman before a revenant calling himself Third Master Yu arrived to take revenge.
• Third Master Yu exposed Seventh Uncle's past crimes, killed his soul, and attacked the Yu family, but the Land God drove him off and claimed the family's relics.
• Zhou Yi learned that the Land God and Li Shitou had staged the attack to obtain the Yu family's treasures, with Li Shitou acting under the Limitless Ghost God's guidance.
• After hearing Li Shitou's account, Zhou Yi suspected the Limitless Ghost God was connected to the Celestial Court and reflected that the Celestial Court had cut off mortals' path to immortality.

Over five centuries, Zhou Yi returned to Xuan Yuan Mountain, saw Ling Weizi through his final years, and helped the Xuan Yuan Sect rebuild under Xuan Yu’s leadership. After a long period of cultivation, he fused his True Dragon Body with his Xiantian True Human body and gained exceptional aptitude.

• Zhou Yi returned to Xuan Yuan Mountain and discovered that Ling Weizi had extended his life by a few years and that Xuan Yu had become the Land God of Chongshan County.
• Ling Weizi arranged for Xuan Yu to receive her divine post and taught Zhou Yi how to recruit disciples without openly violating the Heavenly Laws.
• Five years later, Ling Weizi died, and Xuan Yu became sect master while Zhou Yi became deputy sect master.
• Xuan Yu rose to become the Seventh Rank Vice Prefect of Huai Ning Prefecture, allowing Xuan Yuan Sect disciples to fight nearby demons under rules Zhou Yi established.
• Zhou Yi stepped down as deputy sect master as the sect grew, and it eventually expanded to more than three hundred disciples.
• After a thousand years of effort, Zhou Yi fused his True Dragon Body with his Xiantian True Human and absorbed spiritual energy with extraordinary ease.

After eight thousand years of cultivation, Zhou Yi gained an innate foundation and learned that the three Human Immortals would soon ascend, leaving the Celestial Court without its final restraint. A century later, Yellow Ox underwent the Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation as Sun Changsheng defended him from the Celestial Court’s True Gods.

• Zhou Yi refined his innate foundation, scattered the resulting lightning tribulation, and decided to repay the Mending Heaven Sect by preserving its teachings when it declined.
• Zhou Yi met Zhao Zhi at Spring Breeze Pavilion, where Zhao Zhi told him the three Human Immortals were preparing to ascend and leave the Celestial Court unrestrained.
• Duke Shoushan, Mingzhen Zi, and Dajue Arhat ascended, and the Heavenly Emperor issued laws that barred Orthodox Gods’ descendants from entering Dao Academies for five generations.
• A century later, Yellow Ox’s tribulation began above Green Cloud Mountain, and he swallowed the seven-colored lightning as Sun Changsheng stood by him.
• Holy Sun Emperor Lord ordered the Celestial Court’s True Gods to stop Yellow Ox, but Sun Changsheng refused to abandon his sworn elder brother, and the gods attacked them.

Sun Changsheng and Yellow Ox fought off the Celestial Court gods as Yellow Ox completed his tribulation and became a Demon Saint. The Celestial Court recognized Yellow Ox’s territory and title, while Zhou Yi learned of his breakthrough and planned to return to Green Cloud Mountain after more secluded cultivation.

• Sun Changsheng used his Blood God Doppelgangers to trap the Celestial Court gods in a formation while he fought nine True Gods with the God Smashing Cudgel.
• Yellow Ox endured the eighty-first tribulation strike, recovered from his grievous wounds, and attained the Demon Saint realm as the gods fought over objects from another world.
• Yellow Ox demanded two Innate Spiritual Objects from the Celestial Court, and Holy Sun Emperor Lord agreed to provide them and recognize Yellow Ox’s claim.
• In the year 1726, the Celestial Court granted Green Cloud Mountain’s surrounding territory to Yellow Ox and named him the demon race’s first Demon Emperor.
• Zhou Yi learned that Yellow Ox had become a Demon Saint and decided to remain with the Xuan Yuan Sect for about another century before returning to Green Cloud Mountain.

Zhou Yi commemorated Xuan Yuan Sect’s flourishing history at its three-thousandth-anniversary celebration, where he discovered that Yang Jin descended from his old friend Xuan Li. After the celebration, Zhou Yi avoided taking on sect duties and settled in the Scripture Pavilion, where Yang Jin found him asleep and drunk.

• Zhou Yi attended Xuan Yuan Sect’s anniversary celebration and praised the sect’s growth under Tong Xuan’s leadership.
• During the sect competition, Zhou Yi recognized Yang Jin’s flying sword and learned that Yang Jin was Xuan Li’s descendant, then refused to take him as a disciple.
• After the competition, Tong Xuan restored the sect’s ancestral system with Xuan Yu’s approval, and Zhou Yi chose to guard the Scripture Pavilion rather than oversee a major hall.
• Yang Jin visited the Scripture Pavilion to borrow books and found Zhou Yi sprawled asleep with a jar of Spiritual Wine.

Zhou Yi spent his final years guiding Yang Jin through Daoist scriptures before faking his death and returning to Green Cloud Mountain. Disguised as a mortal youth, he joined Azure Cloud Temple’s disciple selection and revealed a wood-attributed Heavenly Spirit Root.

• Zhou Yi advised Yang Jin on cultivation and assigned him scripture readings and lengthy reflections, which Yang Jin continued for ten years despite falling behind his peers.
• Yang Jin eventually established his foundation and became a Spirit Treasure Hall steward, but he kept visiting Zhou Yi with stories and books as Zhou Yi grew old.
• Zhou Yi gave Yang Jin two protective magical treasures, ordered him to burn two hundred copied scriptures after his death, and told him to keep his impending passing secret from Xuan Yu.
• Tongxuan announced that Patriarch Xuan Yi had died, and Yang Jin gave Xuan Yu Zhou Yi’s farewell letter while claiming only ashes remained.
• Zhou Yi escaped by feigning his death, returned to Green Cloud Mountain as a mortal, and went through Azure Cloud Temple’s karmic light, which revealed his wood-attributed Heavenly Spirit Root.

Zhou Yi joined Azure Cloud Temple as the Heavenly Spirit Root disciple Chang Yi, rapidly advanced to Golden Core and Nascent Soul, and eventually became the seventh-generation Heavenly Master. Over a century, the Celestial Court’s influence expanded across the Eastern Divine Continent, while Zhen Gu passed the temple leadership to Zhou Yi and praised the first-generation Heavenly Master—who was Zhou Yi himself—as a True Immortal.

• Zhenzhi accepted Zhou Yi, disguised as Tang Xuan, as his disciple and gave him the Daoist name Chang Yi after bringing him to Azure Cloud Temple.
• Zhou Yi chose the Supreme Mystery Scripture, established his foundation two years later, and reached Golden Core after twelve years, surviving a powerful lightning tribulation.
• Over the following century, the Celestial Court expanded its power through widespread worship and new laws, while mortals gained protection and cultivators faced tighter restrictions.
• Zhen Gu brought Zhou Yi to the Celestial Master's grave and passed the position of seventh-generation Heavenly Master to him.
• Zhen Gu praised the first-generation Heavenly Master as a True Immortal who had returned to the immortal realm, while Zhou Yi silently listened beside his own grave.

Zhou Yi received the Celestial Master inheritance, became the seventh-generation Celestial Master, and formed an alliance of sorts with the Demon Saints while the Heavenly Court watched him warily. Ten years later, he continued reducing his karmic burden, while Yang Jin and Zhao Yao prepared to send their children without spirit roots to live among mortals.

• Zhen Gu gave Zhou Yi the Sun Concealing Robe and Mysterious Heaven Divine Shuttle, which Zhou Yi refined and accepted as inherited treasures.
• After learning of Zhou Yi’s innate foundation, the Heavenly Emperor rejected Ao Kun’s proposal to investigate him directly and ordered Bai Suixin to congratulate him instead.
• Zhou Yi killed the devils pursuing Yang Jin and Zhao Yao, then learned through soul search that they had sought to capture Zhao Yao for her mysterious constitution.
• At the enthronement ceremony, Zhou Yi became the seventh-generation Celestial Master and received a congratulatory message and Spirit Transformation treasure from the Heavenly Emperor.
• Sun Changsheng, the yellow ox, and Zhou Yi swore brotherhood, while Zhou Yi continued doing good deeds over the next ten years to reduce his karmic burden.
• Yang Jin and Zhao Yao arranged mortal identities for their children, Xuan’er and Sisi, who had no spirit roots, and Yang Jin suggested having another child.

Yang Xuan grew up without a spiritual root but developed inexplicable, immense strength, eventually setting out with his black dog to explore the mountains. At a demon strength contest, he revealed a strange ability to grow larger and overpower the silver-backed ape, then challenged the watching demons.

• Zhao Yao gave birth to Yang Xuan, who had no spiritual root but displayed unusual strength from infancy.
• Yang Xuan grew at an extraordinary rate, learning to crawl, walk, and speak far earlier than normal, while Yang Jin and Zhao Yao found no sign of past-life memories or awakened wisdom.
• As Yang Xuan grew older, his strength continued increasing without training, and he eventually wandered into the mountains with his black dog.
• Yang Xuan reached a demon wrestling gathering, caught the black bear thrown from the arena, and met Sun Dali and the assembled demon kings.
• Yang Xuan entered the strength contest and initially struggled against the silver-backed ape, then grew to more than twelve chi tall and hurled it away.
• Yang Xuan stood on the arena and challenged the other demons to face him.

Yang Xuan won the Green Cloud Mountain strength contest, earned a black iron staff, and embraced a life of feasting with his demon friends despite his inability to cultivate. Meanwhile, Zhou Yi accumulated merit in Linyang County before discovering that a disciple of the Unforeseen Ghost God had abducted Yang Xuan and Yang Si; Yang Si later returned to Green Cloud Mountain.

• Yang Xuan defeated a two-headed tiger demon, an elephant demon, and a wolf demon, then won the contest and received a black iron staff from Sun Dali.
• Yang Xuan celebrated with the demons, drank for three days, and told Yang Jin and Zhao Yao that he wished to stay with them despite having no way to cultivate immortality.
• Yang Xuan began visiting demon friends around Green Cloud Mountain and rode a Golden Eagle between their feasts.
• Zhou Yi posed as an old Daoist, wiped out Linyang City's criminal Beggars' Sect, and spent a month helping the city's residents while accumulating merit.
• Zhou Yi killed a black-robed Daoist who was pursuing Yang Xuan and Yang Si, learned the man served the Unforeseen Ghost God, and noted the enemy as a source of merit.
• Half a month later, Yang Si returned to Green Cloud Mountain more than twenty years after leaving it.