Chapter Summaries

The Dragon-Phoenix-Kirin ancestors discussed a path to transcendence and agreed to pursue it despite the sacrifices and conflicts it could entail. They began planning how to gain the myriad races’ submission without seeking hegemony.

• Zu Huang and Ancestor Phoenix worried that Di Jun and Eastern Emperor Taiyi could thwart their plans because of their strength as Three-Legged Golden Crows.
• Ancestor Dragon explained that Di Jun and Eastern Emperor Taiyi were Star Gods born from the Sun Star, so the Three-Legged Golden Crows would endure even if the two fell.
• The First Ancestor Qilin assured Ancestor Phoenix that Fellow Daoist White Tiger would not interfere and explained the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin races’ connection to the Three Daos of Heaven, Earth, and Man.
• Ancestor Dragon urged them to follow the path the Ancestor of the Dao had revealed, and Ancestor Phoenix and Zu Huang agreed to proceed.
• The four ancestors began discussing how to become sovereigns of birds, beasts, and scaled creatures while pursuing Dao attainment rather than hegemony.

As the Primordial Land’s growing population and dwindling resources drove the races into war, Wen Xuan recognized the conflict as a natural tribulation of heaven and earth. Some peaceful races fled to the Primordial Starry Sky, where the Star Gods, including Di Jun and the others, were surprised to see them arrive; the Three Heavens then appeared before the Star Gods.

• After more than ten yuanhui of growth, the Primordial Land’s races fought over territory and resources, and Wen Xuan awakened to understand the causes of the renewed slaughter.
• Wen Xuan reflected that tribulations were cycles of heaven and earth, and wondered what choices the myriad races and the Dragon-Phoenix-Kirin would make.
• As war spread even into the northern Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, peaceful races defended their ancestral lands rather than join the fighting.
• A message spread that races could escape the tribulation by settling in the Primordial Starry Sky, and some clans led their people there.
• Di Jun, Xihe, the Ziwei Star God, and the other Star Gods wondered how the newcomers had crossed the Milky Way’s seal.
• Azure Heaven, Cyan Heaven, and Yellow Heaven appeared before Di Jun and the others and greeted them.

Azure Heaven, Cyan Heaven, and Yellow Heaven delivered Di Kun Dao Ancestor’s plan to Di Jun and the other Star Gods, explaining that it could bring intelligent life to the Primordial Starry Sky and help it evolve independently. The Three Heavens revealed that fulfilling their duties and advancing on their paths depended on the presence of many living beings in the starry sky.

• Azure Heaven told Di Jun that Hong Yan and Zi Shu had brought the Three Heavens on Di Kun Dao Ancestor’s orders and transmitted the plan to the assembled Star Gods.
• Di Jun and the others examined the message, and Di Jun concluded that the plan could let the Primordial Starry Sky evolve on its own and eventually develop a Dao of its own.
• Xihe explained that the starry sky had too few intelligent beings, and that its Star Spirits and star beasts could not reproduce like the races of the Primordial World.
• Yellow Heaven explained that Azure Heaven inspected the world, Cyan Heaven governed good and evil, and he embodied the changes of heaven and earth.
• Yellow Heaven said the Three Heavens had been trapped by the Milky Way’s seal and needed enough living beings in the starry sky to fulfill their duties and attain the Great Dao.

The Three Heavens agreed with the Star Gods to open most of the Primordial Starry Sky to beings fleeing the Primordial Land, while making the stars safer and suitable for cultivation. More races moved into the starry sky as calamity and slaughter worsened on the Primordial Land.

• Azure Heaven explained that the Three Heavens could help all Daos manifest across the stars, benefiting both the Star Gods and the beings who settled there.
• The Purple Star Emperor, Eastern Emperor Taiyi, and others planned the migration and announced that Star Gods would choose which races could live on their stars.
• After a hundred years of planning, Di Jun and the others reserved Taiyang, Taiyin, and Purple Star from general settlement, allowing only virtuous beings onto Purple Star.
• The Three Heavens traveled through the starry sky and made the myriad Daos manifest, strengthening the stars, shielding their inhabitants, and transforming stellar spiritual energy into Innate Spiritual Energy.
• More Primordial World Beings, including members of the Elf race and the Winged People, moved to the starry sky as Calamity Qi and slaughter spread across the Primordial Land.

The elves and Stone People repelled Wolf Clan scouts while defending the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains’ core region. Meanwhile, the Witch Clan sent captured souls to Hell, where some members answered its summons and became its first enforcers.

• The elves and Stone People ambushed and killed the Wolf Clan scouts who had pushed into their territory.
• Eileen argued that the elves should drive the foreign creatures out, but the leading elf explained that yielding territory would help the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains avoid the Kalpa of Calamity’s backlash.
• As Calamity Qi spread through the Primordial Wilderness, the Witch Clan captured fighting souls in the Earth Dao World and imprisoned them in a city near Pangu Hall.
• One Witch Clan member began testing whether the gates of Hell would accept captured souls, and the others followed, easing pressure on the city.
• The Eighteen Levels of Hell filled with souls, and some Witch Clan members heard its summons and entered to become Hell’s enforcers.

The Dragon, Qilin, and Phoenix Races suppressed the myriad races and restored order to the Primordial Land, then their leaders declared supremacy over their respective races. Heavenly Dao Merit descended and the Calamity Qi began to recede, as Ancestor Dragon flew toward the Heavenly Dao.

• The Qilin and Phoenix Races emerged from their ancestral lands to suppress the beast and avian races, while the Dragon Race joined the fighting across the waters.
• The Dragon Race quelled repeated aquatic conflicts and established water veins, helping the three races suppress the myriad races over ten thousand years.
• Ancestor Dragon declared the Dragon Race supreme over the scaled and armored races, and the aquatic beings roared in response.
• First Ancestor Qilin declared the Qilin Race supreme over the beast races, and the beasts bowed to him.
• Ancestor Phoenix declared the Phoenix Race supreme over the avian races, and the avians gathered in the sky before her.
• The Eye of the Heavenly Dao appeared and Merit descended as Calamity Qi began to dissipate, then Ancestor Dragon flew toward the Heavenly Dao.

Ancestor Dragon transformed into dragon veins to strengthen and connect the Primordial Land, while Ancestor Phoenix, Zu Huang, and First Ancestor Qilin reshaped its fire veins and helped restore its vitality. The Heavenly Dao's Merit descended, granting forty percent to the Dragon Race and thirty percent each to the qilin and Phoenix Race.

• Ancestor Dragon turned into dragon veins, connecting the continents, burying most of the Bottomless Fissure, and raising the land's spiritual energy.
• Ancestor Phoenix and Zu Huang entered the Immortality Volcano, causing volcanoes and earthfire to emerge across the Primordial Land.
• First Ancestor Qilin transformed into Qilin Cliff and vowed that the Qilin race would protect and restore the land.
• The qilin and phoenixes gathered at their sacred sites, spreading life and helping the damaged land recover.
• The Heavenly Dao's Merit descended, with forty percent going to the Dragon Race and thirty percent each to the qilin and Phoenix Race.

After the Kalpa of Calamity, Nuwa traveled through the Primordial World and saw how war and resource use had reshaped it. In the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, she observed races living in harmony with nature, which deepened her thoughts about the incomplete Human Dao, though she still could not see how to act.

• The Dragon-Phoenix-Kirin three races withdrew from the Primordial World and took on its protection as the myriad races continued to struggle for supremacy.
• Ten thousand years passed, and the surviving races were powerful while the Primordial World regained vitality from the fallen beings.
• Nuwa left Mount Zhou after the Kalpa of Calamity and traveled across the Primordial World, reflecting on how its races still depleted resources to continue their lineages.
• Nuwa entered the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains and observed the Elves gathering resources sustainably, the Gnomes and Goblin race mining ore, and the Stone People using crushed stones to strengthen their mountains.
• Nuwa recognized these races’ way of living in harmony with nature as close to the Human Dao, but a lingering fog still kept her from understanding it clearly.

Nuwa met Miao Chu above the Ancestral Vein of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains and learned that the Elves and related races were deficient because their desires and spiritual vitality were constrained. Understanding that the Seven Emotions and Six Desires were essential to completeness revealed her path to sainthood, and she flew east to pursue her opportunity.

• Nuwa wandered unconsciously until she arrived above the Ancestral Vein, where Miao Chu greeted her beside the Primordial Life Ancient Tree.
• Nuwa praised the Elves as beautiful and nearly perfect, but Miao Chu explained that the Elves, Stone People, and other races were flawed and lacked a future.
• Miao Chu showed Nuwa that the Elves' unchanging nature and limited desires kept their spiritual vitality bound, while the Seven Emotions and Six Desires drove other beings to grow and pursue their goals.
• Nuwa reflected on the lives of the myriad races and understood that desire and the balance of emotions were necessary for completeness, revealing her path to sainthood.
• Nuwa thanked Miao Chu, promised to seek completeness for the Elves, Winged People, and others, then flew east toward her opportunity to attain sainthood.

Nuwa learned how to create true living beings by observing animals, then used Breath Soil and the Innate Gourd Vine to create the human race. She finished with one hundred and twenty-nine thousand human figures.

• Nuwa failed to bring her first clay creatures to life until she studied mice and created a living mouse with the Law of Creation.
• Nuwa created animals including cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, and snakes, and after twelve creations understood what she was meant to make.
• Nuwa gathered Breath Soil, Creation Divine Water, Three Lights Divine Water, and pure earth qi, then formed a man and a woman.
• Nuwa molded three hundred and sixty clay people by hand, then used the Innate Gourd Vine to create more until one hundred and twenty-nine thousand human figures stood before her.

Nuwa created the Human Race and became a Saint through the merit she received, then protected the humans and opened a small world in Hundun. She established Wa Sovereign Palace there and announced that she would expound the Dao in ten thousand years.

• Nuwa brought the clay figures to life, creating the Human Race, and received Heavenly Dao merit that helped her become a Saint.
• Nuwa announced her future Dao lecture and protected the Human Race with a barrier, declaring that no living being could harm them for ten kalpas.
• Nuwa entered Hundun and used the Innate Gourd Vine and Red Embroidered Ball to open and stabilize a small world.
• Nuwa drew on the Heavenly Dao's other laws to stabilize the world and created a palace at its center.
• Nuwa entered Wa Sovereign Palace and announced that it would open in ten thousand years for all living beings to hear the Dao.

Nuwa expounded the Great Dao of Creation at Wa Sovereign Palace and explained that cultivation paths should be understood rather than blindly copied. She revealed that Di Kun Dao Ancestor may have used a profound Three Corpses method, possibly attaining the Dao through his sacrifice to become Reincarnation, then ended the lecture.

• After ten thousand years, countless beings entered Wa Sovereign Palace and gathered outside its central hall to hear Nuwa expound the Dao.
• Nuwa taught the Great Dao of Creation for three thousand years, using her Mana to demonstrate its mysteries.
• Tongtian asked how Nuwa had attained sainthood, and she said she had relied on Merit while cultivating the Dao Fruit of Grand Unity.
• Nuwa said Di Kun Dao Ancestor's path had also involved a Three Corpses method unlike Hongjun's, and warned the beings not to copy another cultivator's path blindly.
• Laozi asked about Di Kun Dao Ancestor's method, and Nuwa said its conception surpassed good and evil and might have included his sacrifice to become Reincarnation.
• Nuwa ended the lecture, and the gathered beings bowed before leaving Wa Sovereign Palace.

Di Kun completed his role in establishing Reincarnation and entered it, after which Houtu took his place as its ruler and organized the Underworld. Reincarnation began sending souls toward rebirth, and the Underworld’s influence spread through five guarded gates and into the inhabited stars.

• Di Kun watched the Human Race flourish, then dissolved into Reincarnation and declared that he had concluded his Causality and ceased to exist.
• Reincarnation appeared throughout the world and began drawing souls from the Earth Dao World toward rebirth.
• Houtu stopped the overwhelming flow of souls and entered Reincarnation to suppress it and establish order.
• Houtu declared herself Empress Pingxin, separated Yin and Yang, and assigned the Witch Clan to serve as Underworld enforcers.
• The Earthly Dao concealed the Underworld’s connection to the Primordial Wilderness, and five guarded Ghost Gate Passes appeared before vanishing from sight.
• Streams of light flew from the five Ghost Gate Passes into the Primordial Starry Sky and descended upon inhabited stars.

Wen Xuan contemplated how Causality, Reincarnation, and the other Great Dao laws were connected, then realized that his Dao of Civilization did not express his own path. He defined his Dao as observing heaven and earth, inheritance, and everyday human life, and the chapter ended as his perfected Dao of Civilization began to crack.

• Wen Xuan saw how Reincarnation connected severed threads of Causality and strengthened the Immortal and Demon Daos.
• Wen Xuan realized the Immortal and Demon Daos and Reincarnation spread through Hundun alongside the Great Dao.
• Wen Xuan reflected on how Di Kun and Shen Yuan had sought emptiness by giving up their Dao fruits and former identities.
• Wen Xuan recognized that he had built the Dao of Civilization from what he witnessed in other beings, rather than from his own Dao.
• Wen Xuan declared that his Dao lay in observing heaven and earth, inheritance, and everyday human life, completing his Dao of Civilization as cracks appeared across it.

Laozi completed a ten-thousand-year journey through the Primordial Wilderness, observing living beings and gaining a clearer understanding of his Great Dao. At the East Sea, he entered the Human Race’s settlement and began observing their lives.

• Laozi observed creatures’ thoughts, actions, and outcomes as he traveled, while his three corpses went to the starry sky, the Underworld, and the Four Seas.
• Laozi subdued his good corpse and self corpse, clarified his Dao heart, and grew less concerned with attaining sainthood.
• Laozi saw the Elves divide into tribes, the Winged People split over peace and war, and the Goblins, Gnomes, and Elemental Spirits change.
• Laozi reached the East Sea, saluted the heavenly curtain, and passed through it without resistance.
• Laozi saw Human Race settlements along the shore, calmed the stirring Primordial Violet Qi in his sea of consciousness, and began observing them.

Huaxu gave birth to Fuxi on Lei Ze Mountain, and he grew at an extraordinary rate before returning with her to her former tribe. Using his observations and cleverness, Fuxi improved the tribe’s fishing and water storage, eventually succeeding in making pottery.

• Huaxu gave birth to a remarkable child and named him Fuxi.
• Fuxi rapidly grew, learned all of Huaxu’s knowledge, and secretly visited her former tribe to observe its people.
• The tribe gradually accepted Fuxi and allowed Huaxu to return.
• Fuxi wove fishing nets from vines after watching spiders, giving the tribe more food.
• Fuxi developed pottery after observing rainwater hollow a stone and refining his attempts to copy it with mud.

After becoming chief of the Lei Ze Tribe, Fuxi learned from Tomb to build protective earthen walls and spread the method among the tribes. He later identified and cultivated the Five Grains, bringing food security to the people and raising his reputation to its peak.

• Fuxi became chief and searched for a way to prevent stone houses from collapsing in heavy rain.
• Fuxi met Tomb, who showed him how earthen walls resisted water and impacts, and taught him how to build them.
• Fuxi organized the Lei Ze Tribe to build a large earthen wall, which protected the tribe from wild beasts.
• Fuxi’s methods spread among tribes along the East Sea, and more tribes joined him or traded for his knowledge.
• Fuxi followed birds to discover edible grass seeds, experimented with them, and named five foods the Five Grains.
• Fuxi distributed the seeds, taught the tribespeople to plant and prepare them, and his reputation reached its peak.

Fuxi traveled among Human Race tribes to teach them how to cultivate the five grains and find the right planting times. At the Luo River, a Black Tortoise delivered the River Chart and Luo Writing, and Fuxi became absorbed in studying and recording the patterns of the world.

• Wise people from other tribes sought Fuxi's help because their knowledge of planting times was unreliable.
• Fuxi traveled through tribes along the East Sea, teaching cultivation methods for a hundred years.
• Fuxi passed the Luo River and received a scroll from a Black Tortoise.
• Fuxi learned that the scroll was the River Chart and Luo Writing and saw the world's cycles and transformations within it.
• Fuxi spent days drawing and writing by the river, while visitors watched from afar and left him undisturbed.

Fuxi created the Innate Eight Trigrams and the twenty-four solar terms, earning Merit and reaching the Quasi-Saint realm. Laozi realized the Human Race could help him become a Saint, while Pingxin explained to the Ancestral Witches why she had left the Witch Clan and why they must not endanger Reincarnation.

• Fuxi announced the Innate Eight Trigrams and established the twenty-four solar terms, giving the Human Race knowledge of the changing seasons.
• The Human Race praised Fuxi, and Heavenly Dao sent down Merit that raised him to the Quasi-Saint realm.
• Fuxi sent the River Chart and Luo Writing into the heavens, then departed to help the Human Race.
• Laozi observed the Human Race's resourcefulness and concluded that taking them as his foundation could make him a Saint, but a spiritual message stopped him from acting.
• Zhu Rong and the other Ancestral Witches asked Pingxin whether Di Kun had manipulated her, and Pingxin explained why she had left the Witch Clan to guard Reincarnation.
• Zhuojiu Yin accepted Pingxin's reasoning, and the Ancestral Witches agreed to remain in the Underworld and avoid causing her worry.

Wen Xuan entered the River of Time and crossed into the universe of his previous life, reclaiming the many timelines tied to his true beginning. He emerged into Chaos, attained the Great Dao as Zhou Jun, and declared his title Taixuan.

• Wen Xuan used the power of the Three Daos to break through Mount Zhou’s blockade in the River of Time and traveled back to the moment his True Spirit first appeared.
• Wen Xuan rejected the chance to become the most ancient existence and instead followed his True Spirit through a dangerous spatial-temporal passage into the universe of his previous life.
• Wen Xuan viewed his former life as Zhou Jun and revealed countless timelines in which Zhou Jun died by accident, his soul vanishing each time.
• Wen Xuan reclaimed the timelines, and a River of Time emerged through Chaos, linking it to various universes.
• Wen Xuan stepped out of the River of Time and expounded the Dao for ten thousand years, causing Calamity Qi in the Primordial Wilderness to dissipate and its spiritual energy to increase.
• Zhou Jun declared that he had been born in the Primordial Wilderness as Di Kun, returned to nourish it with his body, and attained the Great Dao under the title Taixuan.