Chapter Summaries

Bai Jin learned that the Saints were leaving the Great Desolation and that his Grandmaster had left rather than merged with the Dao, leaving Bai Jin to serve as Dao Ancestor. The chapter ended with Empress Nuwa and Empress Pingxin chasing Bai Jin after discovering he had given them matching gifts.

• An Outer Realm bard told tavern patrons an exaggerated tale of the Great Desolation’s victory, while Bai Jin, Shi Ji, and Gu Liang listened and recalled the true cost of the war.
• Bai Jin joined the Saints in chaos, where they announced they were leaving to travel and confirmed that Grandmaster had already departed after the war.
• Bai Jin discovered that Grandmaster had tricked him into becoming Dao Ancestor and learned he could leave only after finding a successor to merge with the Dao.
• Empress Nuwa and Empress Pingxin revealed matching royal outfits made from gifts Bai Jin had given them, then chased him when they confronted him about claiming each gift was unique.

Bai Jin visited his two Martial Uncles to secure protection before leaving Mount Kunlun amid the War between Wu and Yao. Taishang lent him the Taiji Diagram, while Primordial Lord of Heaven praised his answers but lamented his limited potential as a white crane.

• Bai Jin reviewed his plan to curry favor with his Martial Uncles and told Wudang he was going to pay them respects.
• Wudang told Duobao that Bai Jin had gone to visit the Martial Uncles, and Duobao criticized him for neglecting cultivation.
• Bai Jin answered Taishang's questions about the Way of the Saint, then asked for a treasure to protect him outside the mountain.
• Taishang gave Bai Jin the Taiji Diagram for protection, and Bai Jin hurried to Yuqing Palace.
• Bai Jin answered Primordial Lord of Heaven's question about a saint and said he only wished to serve his Master and Martial Uncles.

Bai Jin sought protection from his two Martial Uncles and Sect Master Tongtian before leaving the mountain, gaining the Pangu Banner and Taiji Diagram. After Tongtian blasted him into a lake for asking to borrow the Immortal Slaying Sword Formation, Bai Jin comprehended a sword technique and thanked his Master.

• Bai Jin asked Primordial Lord of Heaven for a protective treasure, and he gave Bai Jin the Pangu Banner.
• Bai Jin visited Sect Master Tongtian, answered his questions about seeking the Dao, and asked for more treasures despite already carrying the Taiji Diagram and Pangu Banner.
• Tongtian blasted Bai Jin into a lake after Bai Jin asked to use the Immortal Slaying Sword Formation.
• Bai Jin experienced a vision of chaos being split by a sword and comprehended a sword technique that opened Heaven and Earth.
• Holy Mother Wudang congratulated Bai Jin and invited him to walk with her.

Bai Jin left Mount Kunlun intending to find treasures and a mount for Tongtian, but he got lost in the Primordial World and met Houtu by a campfire. Houtu asked what Bai Jin thought was wrong with the world created by Father God, and he kept his knowledge of reincarnation to himself.

• Holy Mother Wudang told Bai Jin that Tongtian had originally planned to take him as a mount, so Bai Jin flew off to find mounts for his Master and Martial Uncles.
• Bai Jin set out to find the Treasure Dropping Coin and the Big Red Robe Mother Tree at Mount Wuyi, but he lost his way in the wilds.
• After wandering for a month, Bai Jin spotted a campfire and approached the woman sitting beside it to ask for directions.
• The woman introduced herself as Houtu, and Bai Jin greeted her as the great compassionate Empress Houtu.
• Houtu described her sense that something was wrong with the seemingly perfect world, but Bai Jin chose not to tell her what he knew.

Empress Houtu sent Bai Jin to Mount Wuyi, where he fought six Demon Court cultivators and discovered the trapped dragon Ao Guang. Bai Jin entered Ao Guang’s sealed cave and found the Big Red Robe Mother Tree.

• Empress Houtu transported Bai Jin to Mount Wuyi after he asked her for directions.
• A cultivator attacked Bai Jin with a spear, and Bai Jin killed him before defeating six Demon Court cultivators with his Immortal Slaying Myriad Sword Art.
• Bai Jin heard a dragon’s roar and answered Ao Guang’s call for help, entering a sealed ripple before Ao Guang could warn him to stay outside.
• Bai Jin found himself trapped with Ao Guang in a karst cave and recognized the glowing tree there as the Big Red Robe Mother Tree.

Bai Jin and Ao Guang discovered that the Innate Undying Space held the Treasure Dropping Coin, which Bai Jin claimed after naming it and answering its question about money. He learned that using the treasure traded away fortune and merit, leaving him uneasy about its cost.

• Bai Jin told Ao Guang they were trapped in an Innate Undying Space that nurtured an Innate Spiritual Treasure, while Ao Guang revealed the Demon Race was forcing the Dragon Clan to join its attack on the Wu Clan or face subjugation.
• Bai Jin struck the Big Red Robe Mother Tree’s barrier with the Qingming Sword, and the barrier revealed a rain of copper coins that Ao Guang eagerly claimed as his own.
• Bai Jin offered Ao Guang a chance to subdue the treasure if he could name it, but after Ao Guang listed many weapons, Bai Jin identified it as the Treasure Dropping Coin and broke its defense.
• Ao Guang rushed for the Treasure Dropping Coin, but Bai Jin stopped him, sent him crashing into a wall, and claimed the treasure for himself.
• The Treasure Dropping Coin asked Bai Jin what money was, and after he defined it as a medium of trade, it merged into his body and revealed that its use spent fortune and merit to purchase other magical treasures.

Bai Jin enlisted Ao Guang to take him to the East Sea to find the Kui Ox, while Daoist Duobao met Tongtian’s new disciples on Mount Kunlun. The Three Pure Ones prepared to receive Daoist Jieyin and Daoist Zhunti, whose party arrived at the mountain.

• Bai Jin left the Innate Undying Space with Ao Guang and asked him about the Kui Ox on Liubo Mountain.
• Ao Guang agreed to lead Bai Jin to the Kui Ox after Bai Jin threatened him with an immortal sword.
• Daoist Duobao left his palace on Mount Kunlun and met Holy Mother Wudang and Holy Mother Jinling, learning that Tongtian had accepted new disciples.
• The Three Pure Ones summoned their disciples and told Duobao to care for the visiting Western disciples.
• Daoist Jieyin and Daoist Zhunti arrived at Mount Kunlun with their disciples, and the Three Pure Ones went forward to welcome them.

Jieyin and Zhunti visited Mount Kunlun with five Western disciples, who joined Duobao and the other disciples to discuss the Dao. Tensions rose over their differing teachings, and the chapter ended with Duobao reconsidering the Western Dao after Ksitigarbha explained his notion of nothingness.

• Jieyin and Zhunti greeted Taishang, Yuanshi, and Tongtian, then entrusted their five disciples to Duobao.
• Nuwa arrived, and Taishang invited the group to a pill-tasting gathering on the back mountain.
• Duobao welcomed Medicine Master, Ksitigarbha, Mahasthamaprapta, Sunlight, and Moonlight, and the disciples began discussing the Dao.
• Medicine Master healed a wounded bird, then gave his own flesh to a golden eagle to ensure both animals survived.
• Ksitigarbha endured Shi Ji's attacks without moving and explained that nothingness overcame change by remaining unchanging.
• Duobao privately acknowledged that the Western Dao was interesting.

Jieyin and Zhunti sought guidance from the Three Pure Ones on how to become Saints and learned the paths each had grasped. Meanwhile, Bai Jin persuaded Kui Ox to return with him to Mount Kunlun as Tongtian’s mount, leaving the two traveling across the sea.

• Zhunti asked Taishang, Yuanshi, and Tongtian about the Way of the Saint, and they each described their own path.
• Jieyin and Zhunti realized the Three Pure Ones had understood their respective Daos and admitted they could not compare.
• Bai Jin persuaded Kui Ox that becoming a Saint’s mount would bring him status and protection, and Kui Ox agreed to go with him.
• Bai Jin rode Kui Ox toward Mount Kunlun and asked whether other unusual oxen belonged to his kind.
• Kui Ox dismissed oxen as lowly creatures, and Bai Jin described them as belonging to the same scientific classification.

Bai Jin and Kui Ox witnessed the Demon Race threaten the Dragon Race over the Nine Dragon Agarwood Carriage, then visited the East Sea Dragon Palace. After learning the carriage’s history, Bai Jin urged the Old Dragon King to fight, claiming he would lead an assault on the Demon Court.

• Kui Ox absorbed much of the lightning as Bai Jin hid beneath the sea, where they watched Bifang Demon God demand the Nine Dragon Agarwood Carriage within three days or face war.
• The Old Dragon King recognized Bai Jin as Ao Guang’s rescuer and invited him and Kui Ox to the Dragon Palace.
• The Old Dragon King explained that the Nine Dragon Agarwood Carriage had been Ancestral Dragon’s vehicle and that the Demon Emperor wanted it as a sign of submission.
• Bai Jin decided the carriage would make a suitable gift for his Second Martial Uncle and loudly urged the Dragon Race to resist the Demon Race.
• Bai Jin declared that he would lead the charge against the Demon Court and restore the Dragon Race as rulers of heaven and earth.

Bai Jin persuaded the Old Dragon King to entrust him with the Nine Dragon Agarwood Carriage, claiming he would keep it safe from the Demon Race. After Bai Jin departed with it, the Old Dragon King planned to tell the Demon Race that a thief riding an ox had stolen the carriage.

• Bai Jin declared himself family to the Dragon Race and persuaded the Old Dragon King to let him protect the Nine Dragon Carriage.
• The Old Dragon King brought Bai Jin to the treasure vault and explained that the carriage could only be commanded by its nine dragon souls.
• Bai Jin took the Nine Dragon Agarwood Carriage and exchanged tearful farewells with the Old Dragon King.
• Ao Guang objected that his father had given away the Dragon Race's inherited treasure and warned that Bai Jin might dismantle it.
• The Old Dragon King said the Azure Dragon Saint Venerable had approved the handover and planned to tell the Demon Race that a little thief riding an ox had stolen the carriage.

Bai Jin and the Kui Ox faced the Demon Race after the Old Dragon King passed the Nine Dragon Carriage to Bai Jin and shifted the blame onto him. Bai Jin defeated Bifang with a prepared Taiji Diagram and set off for Mount Kunlun, while Ao Guang moved to loot the fallen demons.

• The Old Dragon King told Ao Guang that the Dragon Race would deny responsibility for the Nine Dragon Carriage and let the Demon Race pursue Bai Jin.
• Bifang and thousands of Demon Race experts confronted Bai Jin and the Kui Ox at sea, demanding the Nine Dragon Carriage and their submission.
• Bai Jin used the Qingyun Sword's Heaven-Opening Sword to kill Quyang and dozens of demons in one strike, then collapsed from the mana cost.
• Bifang pretended to spare Bai Jin because he was from Mount Kunlun, then attacked him with a claw of divine fire.
• Bai Jin used a Taiji Diagram to absorb Bifang's attack and send the fire back, badly wounding Bifang and forcing him to flee.
• Bai Jin and the Kui Ox headed for Mount Kunlun, while Ao Guang rushed to loot the dead demons.

At Mount Kunlun, the Shangqing disciples debated the Dao and compared treasures with Medicine Master, Ksitigarbha, and the other Western disciples. The West turned the contest around by emphasizing the affection behind their master-made treasures, leaving Shangqing Peak feeling overshadowed.

• Holy Mother Wudang ended the discussion of the Dao and proposed that the disciples compare treasures instead.
• Shi Ji, Dingguang Immortal with Long Ears, Sunlight, and Moonlight each presented an Innate Spiritual Treasure, while their Western counterparts offered ordinary items and conceded the rounds.
• Holy Mother Jinling challenged Mahasthamaprapta, who revealed that his wooden staff had been given to him by his master; Jinling destroyed her own whisk, and Mahasthamaprapta claimed a slight edge.
• Ksitigarbha and the other Western disciples explained the care and effort their master had put into making their treasures, shifting attention from their low value to their sentimental worth.
• Daoist Duobao called the two kinds of value impossible to compare and ended the contest as a draw, while the Shangqing disciples privately felt they had been suppressed.

Bai Jin returned to Shangqing Peak and joined the tense gathering as Western disciples challenged the Shangqing disciples to a Dao discussion. He invited their masters to watch and began presenting Taishang with a gift, leaving its nature unrevealed.

• Tongtian sent Bai Jin to Youquan Waterfall, where the disciples of Shangqing Peak and the West were gathered.
• Bai Jin greeted Holy Mother Wudang, Jinling, and the other disciples, while Daoist Duobao corrected how he addressed Jinling.
• Holy Mother Wudang told Bai Jin that the Western disciples had come to challenge them, and he learned that they had been discussing the Dao.
• Bai Jin invited the masters and martial uncles to observe the disciples' discussion, and Tongtian agreed.
• The Three Pure Ones, Jieyin, Zhunti, and Nuwa appeared beside the waterfall, and Bai Jin offered Taishang a gift he had brought back.

Bai Jin presented tea and a magnificent carriage to his Martial Uncles, earning their praise and strengthening Primordial Lord of Heaven’s favor toward him. The chapter ended with Primordial Lord of Heaven accepting the carriage and agreeing to take on Bai Jin’s karmic enmity with the Demon Race.

• Bai Jin performed Taiji Boxing with tea leaves from the Big Red Robe Mother Tree and offered the prepared tea to his Martial Uncles.
• Primordial Lord of Heaven supplied Three Lights Divine Water, and Taishang bestowed Samadhi True Fire so Bai Jin could brew the tea.
• Taishang, Primordial Lord of Heaven, and Jieyin praised the tea, while Tongtian scolded Bai Jin for focusing on pleasures instead of cultivation.
• Bai Jin told Primordial Lord of Heaven that he had obtained the Nine Dragon Agarwood Carriage from the East Sea Dragon Clan and had been pursued by demon gods.
• Primordial Lord of Heaven accepted the carriage and declared that he would take on Bai Jin’s karmic entanglement with the Demon Race.

Bai Jin presented Tongtian with the Kui Ox as a mount and explained that his gifts to his master and Martial Uncles repaid their kindness. He agreed to discuss the Dao with the Western disciples, and Moonlight opened with a teaching on emptiness that left Shangqing Peak’s disciples struggling to respond.

• Bai Jin summoned the Kui Ox and offered it to Tongtian as a mount, and Tongtian gladly accepted.
• Bai Jin praised Tongtian, Taishang, and Yuanshi for their guidance and said he had brought gifts to repay their kindness, impressing them and unsettling Mahasthamaprapta and the other Western disciples.
• Mahasthamaprapta asked Bai Jin to discuss the Dao, and Bai Jin agreed despite Yuanshi’s warnings about the differences between their teachings.
• Moonlight presented his understanding that all beings and phenomena were empty, leaving the Shangqing Peak disciples unable to readily refute him.

Bai Jin challenged the Western disciples’ understanding of the Dao with two slaps and a lesson about an overflowing cup. Medicine Master recognized the Western Dao in Bai Jin’s parable, while Mahasthamaprapta and Ksitigarbha remained to be tested.

• Bai Jin slapped Moonlight after Moonlight asked him to discuss the Dao, then challenged his anger by asking how an empty world could produce such a temper.
• Sunlight explained the Pure Land and Saha, but Bai Jin fell asleep and slapped him when he finished.
• Sunlight attacked Bai Jin in anger, then realized he was sinking into Saha and thanked Bai Jin for guiding him back to the Pure Land.
• Bai Jin filled a cup until water spilled over and told Medicine Master that his mind was too full of his own thoughts to receive the Dao.
• Medicine Master recognized the Western Dao in Bai Jin’s parable.

Bai Jin defeated the Western disciples in the discussion of the Dao, named their teachings Zen, and gave Ksitigarbha and Mahasthamaprapta poems that they treated as guidance from a half-teacher. After Jieyin and Zhunti departed, Tongtian appointed Bai Jin Head Outer Sect Disciple and summoned him to leave with the Kui Ox.

• Medicine Master, Mahasthamaprapta, and Ksitigarbha admitted defeat to Bai Jin.
• Holy Mother Wudang praised the wisdom in the Western path, and Bai Jin named it Zen and explained its meaning.
• Bai Jin gave Ksitigarbha and Mahasthamaprapta different poems, and both bowed to him as their half-teacher.
• Tongtian challenged Zhunti's intentions, and Jieyin and Zhunti left for the West with their five disciples.
• Nuwa departed, and Tongtian named Bai Jin Head Outer Sect Disciple with status equal to a personal disciple.
• Tongtian told Bai Jin to bring the Kui Ox and follow him.

After Bai Jin impressed the Three Pure Ones by defeating the Western disciples in a debate, Tongtian explained that Zhunti had arranged rites to bind Bai Jin to the West. Bai Jin visited Yuanshi and received praise and an invitation to hear the Dao in three days, while Duobao received Tongtian’s counsel to put his Dao into practice.

• The disciples praised Bai Jin after the Three Pure Ones departed, and Duobao sent them away before Wudang took Jinling on a tour.
• Tongtian told Bai Jin that Zhunti had arranged for Mahasthamaprapta and Ksitigarbha to perform rites to form master-disciple karma and draw him toward the West.
• Tongtian dismissed Bai Jin’s request to be punished, kept him as Head Outer Sect Disciple, and sent him to visit his Martial Uncles.
• Tongtian criticized Duobao for letting the Western disciples suppress his fellow disciples and advised him to practice his Dao.
• Bai Jin thanked Yuanshi for the Pangu Banner, received praise and an invitation to hear the Dao in three days, then hurried toward Taiqing Hall.

Bai Jin trained his Taiji Boxing under Taishang’s guidance for a month until it became a divine ability. He then hurried to Yuqing Peak to find Yuanshi, only to learn that his Second Martial Uncle had entered seclusion, and befriended Bai He the Attendant.

• Bai Jin visited Taishang, who named the tea tree Taiji Tea and corrected Bai Jin’s Taiji Boxing by striking him whenever his movements were wrong.
• Bai Jin practiced under Taishang for a month until his boxing formed a Taiji Diagram and transformed into a divine ability.
• Bai Jin realized a month had passed and that he had missed the lecture he had promised to give his Second Martial Uncle.
• Bai Jin went to Yuqing Peak and learned from Bai He the Attendant that Yuanshi had entered seclusion and would not receive visitors.
• Bai Jin gave Bai He an immortal sword and invited him to visit Shangqing Peak, asking him to send word when Yuanshi emerged from seclusion.