Chapter Summaries

Hongyun and Nuwa, Houtu, and Xuan Ming held a lavish wedding presided over by Hao Tian, with the Great Dao and the Three Daos as witnesses. After the ceremony, Hongjun gave the three brides Chaos Jade Emperor Marrow bangles, and Hongyun cheekily asked for a gift of his own.

• Hao Tian announced the auspicious hour, and Hongyun led Nuwa and the other two brides into the hall beneath the Zhou Tian Star Formation.
• Hongyun and the three women bowed to the Great Dao and the Three Daos, then to Pangu and Hongjun, before bowing to one another.
• The three women offered Enlightenment Tea to Hongjun, who drank it and welcomed them as his disciples' wives.
• Hongjun presented the three women with jade bangles made from Chaos Jade Emperor Marrow, stunning the assembled guests.
• At Hongyun's prompting, the brides put on the bangles, and Hongyun held out his hand and asked Hongjun where his gift was.

Hong Yun’s wedding celebration was interrupted by Merit from the Three Daos of Heaven, Earth, and Man, followed by an unprecedented descent of Great Dao Merit. The chapter ended with Hong Yun smiling without explaining why the Great Dao had rewarded his marriage.

• Hongjun teased Hong Yun about his marriage and protected him from the guests’ laughter, and Hong Yun bowed to thank his master.
• The Three Daos of Heaven, Earth, and Man sent Merit to Hong Yun, Nuwa, and the three women, astonishing the gathered Saints and Great Powers.
• Yuanshi struggled to understand why the Heavenly Dao rewarded Hong Yun, while Zhunti and Jieyin celebrated the sign of its favor.
• As the banquet was about to begin, Hongjun rose in shock when an even greater phenomenon appeared across the Primordial World.
• Great Dao Merit descended as dark-yellow golden lotuses, compelling countless beings to kneel or bow before Hong Yun smiled without speaking.

Hong Yun and his three wives received Great Dao Merit and a rare response from the Great Dao, leaving the Three Pure Ones and Heavenly Dao shaken. The wedding feast then began, and the primordial wilderness enjoyed nine days and nights of peace as the guests celebrated.

• Hong Yun and his three wives gathered the Great Dao Merit and bowed in thanks, and the Great Dao answered them.
• Yuanshi’s Dao Heart shattered further, so Laozi helped suppress his Inner Demon while Tongtian watched with concern.
• The Heavenly Dao considered making peace with Hong Yun after recognizing it had repeatedly suffered losses.
• Hong Yun invited the guests to celebrate, and Dijiang and the other Ancestral Witches enthusiastically poured wine for Fuxi, the Three Pure Ones, and the Saints.
• Hongjun quietly left the feast, and Hong Yun joined the guests as they toasted him.
• The wedding celebration lasted nine days and nights, during which the primordial wilderness remained peaceful.

Hong Yun’s nine-day wedding banquet brought the Saints and Great Powers together in boisterous celebration. Xi He, Chang Xi, and the Western Queen Mother secretly formed an alliance to pursue him, while Hong Yun remained unaware and continued drinking.

• Hong Yun toasted guests as the wedding banquet grew rowdy, with Tongtian reconciling with Laozi and Yuanshi over drinks and several other guests getting drunk.
• Hong Yun encountered Xi He, Chang Xi, and the Western Queen Mother, who teased him about his marriage and the wives he had chosen.
• The Western Queen Mother suggested becoming Hong Yun’s lesser wife or secret lover, but Hong Yun refused and hurried away to toast another table.
• The Western Queen Mother revealed her booklet, Thirty-Six Strategies for Capturing the Dao Venerable, and persuaded Xi He and Chang Xi to join her pursuit of Hong Yun.
• The three women agreed to make the Western Queen Mother their chief commander, while Hong Yun shivered during a drinking contest with Zhurong without knowing about their alliance.

Hong Yun left Nuwa after sensing that the living being within the Five-Colored Divine Stone was about to be born. At Flower Fruit Mountain, he infused the stone egg with Chaos Demon Ape essence blood and began teaching the creature inside.

• Hong Yun sensed the stone egg’s imminent birth and told Nuwa he planned to intervene in the next Tribulation of Calamity.
• After three days with Nuwa, Hong Yun fled the Floating Island and traveled to Flower Fruit Mountain.
• Hong Yun found the Five-Colored Divine Stone and soothed the instinctively familiar stone egg.
• Hong Yun sealed a drop of Chaos Demon Ape essence blood and sent it into the creature inside to improve its innate foundation.
• Hong Yun began teaching the unborn creature with a mysterious aura and invoked One Thought of Samsara.

Hong Yun used One Thought of Samsara to give the Stone Egg a hundred lifetimes of experience, then passed on Floating Island’s inheritance before the Stone Monkey was born. Sun Wukong emerged with no memories of those lives, while Jieyin and Zhunti recognized him as a destined Buddhist protector and began planning to recruit him.

• Hong Yun used One Thought of Samsara on the Stone Egg, making its inhabitant live a hundred different lifetimes, and then placed the Nine Revolutions Heavenly Merit and Floating Island’s foundational inheritance inside it.
• Hong Yun comforted the Stone Egg, left Flower Fruit Mountain, and said he would meet his disciple again once its merit was complete.
• Three days later, the Stone Egg burst open, and the Stone Monkey’s purple light startled Hao Tian and the gods in Lingxiao Palace.
• Jieyin sensed the Stone Monkey’s birth and, with Zhunti and Tathagata, recognized him as the person destined to answer the Buddhist tribulation and discussed bringing him into Buddhism.
• The Stone Monkey recalled nothing of his hundred lifetimes, then declared that he would be called Sun Wukong.

Sun Wukong discovered Water Curtain Cave and became the monkeys’ king, though he persuaded them to call him the “Monkey Doctor.” As Guanyin arrived at Flower Fruit Mountain to carry out the Buddhist Sect’s plan for him, she heard reading and was stunned when she saw him.

• Sun Wukong jumped through the waterfall to escape the female monkeys and discovered Water Curtain Cave inside.
• Sun Wukong returned to the troop, told the monkeys about the cave, and led them through the waterfall to explore it.
• The monkeys honored Sun Wukong as their king and proposed calling him the Handsome Monkey King.
• Sun Wukong asked the monkeys to call him the Monkey Doctor, and they happily accepted.
• Guanyin arrived at Flower Fruit Mountain to carry out the Buddhist Sect’s plans, heard reading, and was dumbfounded when she saw Sun Wukong.

Sun Wukong taught the monkeys of Flower Fruit Mountain and cultivated the Literary Dao, shocking Guanyin when her attempt to spy on him injured her Heavenly Eye. Guanyin disguised herself as a white monkey to investigate him and was mistaken for a newcomer seeking to join the mountain.

• Sun Wukong held lessons for the monkeys, then studied The Great Learning while reflecting on his many interests.
• Guanyin saw Sun Wukong's powerful Literary Dao radiance through her Heavenly Eye, and its backlash burned her eyes.
• Guanyin concluded Sun Wukong's soul was unharmed and transformed herself into a white monkey to investigate him.
• A black monkey explained Flower Fruit Mountain's identity tags and urged Guanyin to join the troop and meet Monkey Doctor.
• Guanyin let the black monkey lead her toward Sun Wukong so she could investigate him from within Flower Fruit Mountain.

Guanyin visited Flower Fruit Mountain disguised as the white monkey White Throat and questioned Sun Wukong about teaching monkeys to read and the meaning of Buddha. Sun Wukong’s answers drew Literary Dao and Human Dao destiny as well as Buddhist light, leaving Guanyin convinced he was a born Buddha-child.

• Little Black brought White Throat, Guanyin in disguise, to meet Sun Wukong.
• White Throat asked why Sun Wukong taught the monkeys to read, and his reflections drew more Literary Dao radiance and Human Dao destiny.
• White Throat asked what a Buddha was, and Sun Wukong declared that he was the Buddha because all beings could ferry themselves.
• Sun Wukong said that attachment to becoming Buddha was itself an attachment, causing Buddhist light and Buddhist karmic fortune around him to surge.
• Guanyin recognized Sun Wukong as a born Buddha-child and wondered who was guiding whom.

Sun Wukong accidentally recited part of the Heart Sutra, loosening Guanyin’s cultivation bottleneck and prompting her to beg him to accept her as a disciple. Meanwhile, Hong Yun looked ahead to the Human Race’s coming age of the Hundred Schools and summoned his disciples to Floating Cloud Palace.

• Sun Wukong recited part of the Heart Sutra, startling Guanyin and loosening her bottleneck as Buddhist fortune surged.
• Jieyin and Zhunti celebrated the rise in Buddhist fortune, and Zhunti sent Patriarch Bodhi eastward.
• Guanyin asked Sun Wukong to recite the rest of the scripture, but he admitted he had forgotten it.
• Guanyin knelt and begged Sun Wukong to accept her as his disciple so she could learn the Great Dao.
• Hong Yun watched Guanyin through the Hao Tian Mirror, then anticipated the Human Race’s flourishing age of the Hundred Schools.
• Hong Yun summoned Ao Guang, Kong Xuan, and Lu Ya to Floating Cloud Palace.

Hong Yun summoned the Floating Island disciples and teased Lu Ya about his mutual affection with Jin Ling, then announced he would arrange their marriage. After Nuwa asked whether the Three Xiao had anyone they liked, Hong Yun reacted furiously to Bi Xiao’s hint that someone coveted them.

• Ao Guang brought the Floating Island disciples to meet Hong Yun, who praised their cultivation and said he had summoned them to discuss an opportunity.
• Hong Yun exposed Lu Ya’s closeness with Jin Ling, and Lu Ya admitted they were mutually in love after the disciples teased him.
• Nuwa and the other women joined the gathering, and Hong Yun said he would speak with Di Jun, Tai Yi, and Tongtian about arranging Lu Ya and Jin Ling’s marriage.
• Hong Yun teased Ao Guang and Kong Xuan about their romantic entanglements, prompting laughter and Yao Ji to demand an explanation from Kong Xuan.
• Nuwa asked whether the Three Xiao had someone they liked, and Bi Xiao hinted that someone in the Primordial Wilderness coveted them.
• Hong Yun’s expression turned cold as he demanded to know which blonde-haired brat dared covet the Three Xiao.

Hong Yun sent his disciples’ corpses into the mortal world to take part in the rise of the Hundred Schools and spread their teachings among the Human Race. As Laozi, Confucius, and other masters emerged, Hong Yun secretly sent a wisp of his Primordial Spirit into reincarnation.

• Hong Yun told the disciples to send their Three Corpses into the mortal world and become Masters in the coming contest of the Hundred Schools.
• Laozi sent Li Er to Chu and Xuandu’s Good Corpse to Qi, while Yuanshi, Tongtian, and Kunpeng also dispatched their representatives to different states.
• Cang Jie sensed the rise of the Literary Dao and hoped the flourishing age would let him become a Human Dao Saint.
• Li Er was born in Chu and became revered as Laozi, while Kong Qiu was born in Lu and later spread Confucianism with his disciples.
• The various schools arose and debated across the states, with Taoism and Confucianism gaining influence; Confucius’s followers also spread exaggerated tales of his forceful interpretations of propriety.
• Watching the masters emerge through the Hao Tian Mirror, Hong Yun secretly sent a wisp of his Primordial Spirit into the Six Paths of Reincarnation.

The Hundred Schools of Thought flourished across the Human Race as figures from Floating Island founded or shaped major doctrines, while Hong Yun’s earlier schemes continued to affect their reputations. The chapter ended with new changes emerging around Hong Yun’s final disciple.

• Li Er spread Taoism, but rumors that Laozi had plagiarized Hong Yun’s teachings damaged the doctrine’s standing.
• Kong Qiu traveled among the states with his powerful disciples and secured the feudal lords’ support for Confucianism.
• Mo Di developed Mohism, teaching universal love and opposition to aggression while promoting the doctrine among commoners.
• Zhuang Zhou’s praise of Kunpeng in Free and Easy Wandering provoked rejection and mockery from the Human Race.
• Sun Wu wrote The Art of War, while other Floating Island disciples became leading figures in the Hundred Schools, including Guiguzi, the founders of Legalism, Zou Yan, and Gongsun Long.
• New changes emerged around Hong Yun’s final disciple.

Sun Wukong continued teaching the monkeys of Flower Fruit Mountain while Guanyin, disguised as White Fourth, guided him toward seeking immortality. After an old monkey died, Sun Wukong began cultivating with a mysterious technique, while Patriarch Bodhi waited for him at Slanted Moon Three Star Cave.

• Sun Wukong praised Black Third’s work on the free-fall experiment and encouraged him to keep learning.
• Guanyin asked Sun Wukong to explain the scriptures, and he taught her that Buddhism had to be practiced through kind deeds.
• Two hundred years later, an old monkey died, and Sun Wukong led the monkeys in mourning and burying him.
• Guanyin suggested that Sun Wukong cross the sea to seek immortality, but he joked about her motives and said he would think it over.
• Sun Wukong began secretly cultivating at night with a technique that appeared in his mind, and his cultivation rapidly advanced.
• Patriarch Bodhi watched toward Flower Fruit Mountain and waited for Sun Wukong to come to him.

Sun Wukong ignored Guanyin’s attempts to lure him away from Flower Fruit Mountain and cultivated until he reached Primordial Unity Golden Immortal. His breakthrough severed his destined bond with Patriarch Bodhi, who rushed to find him, while Guanyin was shocked by his strength.

• Sun Wukong reached the immortal realm through his own cultivation and dismissed Guanyin’s earlier suggestion that he seek immortality overseas.
• Guanyin, disguised as White Fourth, repeatedly urged Sun Wukong to leave Flower Fruit Mountain and pursue the Dao, but he refused and said he would rather teach the monkeys.
• Patriarch Bodhi waited years for Sun Wukong to seek him out, accepting Human Race outer disciples while Guanyin’s guidance failed to bring the monkey to him.
• After nine years, Patriarch Bodhi calculated that his destined master-disciple bond with Sun Wukong had been severed and hurried toward Flower Fruit Mountain.
• Sun Wukong broke through to Primordial Unity Golden Immortal, and Guanyin froze in shock as she watched his aura flood the mountain.

Sun Wukong revealed that Guanyin had been posing as White Fourth, then met Patriarch Bodhi, who came to take him as a disciple. Bodhi tried to win him over with the Somersault Cloud, but Sun Wukong said he already knew a stronger version.

• Sun Wukong saw through Guanyin's disguise as White Fourth, and she revealed her identity to him and Black Third.
• Patriarch Bodhi arrived at Flower Fruit Mountain and asked Sun Wukong whether he had met a red-haired man in white Daoist robes.
• Sun Wukong said he had never left the mountain, and Bodhi offered to take him as a disciple.
• Sun Wukong refused, explaining that an unseen master had already passed down Merit Techniques and divine abilities to him.
• Bodhi offered to demonstrate his Somersault Cloud, but Sun Wukong said he already knew it and could travel three hundred and eight thousand li in one somersault.

Sun Wukong showed Patriarch Bodhi that he had already mastered and surpassed Bodhi’s movement and transformation arts, then refused to become his disciple, disrupting the plan for the Spread of Buddhism to the East. Meanwhile, the Human Race’s flourishing Literary Dao raised Confucius and other Hundred Schools founders to great realms, while Laozi and Zhuangzi gained little; Cang Jie benefited most of all.

• Sun Wukong demonstrated a Somersault Cloud that traveled more than three hundred and eight thousand li in one flip, astonishing Patriarch Bodhi.
• Sun Wukong displayed the Thirty-Six Transformations of Heavenly Dipper and Seventy-Two Transformations of Earthly Fiend, then rejected Bodhi’s offer to teach him the Great Grade Heavenly Immortal Art.
• Patriarch Bodhi stormed away after Sun Wukong refused to acknowledge him as master, and Guanyin left after realizing Sun Wukong had seen through her identity.
• The Human Race’s Literary Dao fortune surged, and Confucius reached the realm of Sub-Saint as his disciples recited the Analects in Qufu.
• Mo Di, Sun Wu, and other founders of the Hundred Schools absorbed Literary Dao aura and began breaking through, while Laozi and Zhuangzi complained that they had received little benefit.
• Cang Jie, the ancestor of the Literary Dao, gained the greatest benefit from the flourishing of the Human Race’s Literary Dao.

Cang Jie became a Human Dao Saint, further strengthening the Human Race and unsettling the Heavenly Dao, Yuanshi, and Kunpeng. Hong Yun left Floating Island to meet the recovered Thunder Demon God, who had summoned him to explore a new world.

• Cang Jie used the three thousand Human Race characters to establish the Hundred Schools’ Daos and attained the fruit position of a Human Dao Saint.
• Kong Xuan celebrated Cang Jie’s achievement, while the Heavenly Dao blamed Hong Yun for the Human Dao’s growing power and Yuanshi and Kunpeng lamented their own setbacks.
• After powerful figures sent incarnations into Human Race reincarnation, the Western Queen Mother, Xi He, and Chang Xi used the Kunlun Mirror to find Hong Yun’s trace and sent their incarnations toward Qin State.
• Hong Yun sensed a chill, then used the recovered Thunder Demon God’s bead as a pretext to leave Floating Island with his wives’ permission.
• Hong Yun followed the bead through chaos and reunited with the Thunder Demon God, who appeared stronger after recovering from his injuries.
• Hong Yun asked the Thunder Demon God whether he had summoned him to explore a new world.

Hong Yun persuaded the Thunder Demon God to infiltrate an unfamiliar world quietly instead of attacking it outright, and taught him the Breath Concealment Technique. They slipped into the world, where three powerful figures soon detected traces of an intruder and ordered the Divine Realm to put the Outer Realm Devil God on its wanted list.

• Hong Yun negotiated a forty-sixty share for himself and the Thunder Demon God, then refused to accept more than forty percent.
• The Thunder Demon God prepared to attack the unfamiliar world, but Hong Yun urged him to investigate it covertly first.
• Hong Yun taught the Thunder Demon God the Breath Concealment Technique, which the Thunder Demon God began learning over half a month.
• Hong Yun and the Thunder Demon God concealed their auras and entered the world through its Chaos Membrane.
• Three powerful figures detected traces of the Thunder Demon God and ordered the Divine Realm to put the Outer Realm Devil God on its wanted list.

Patriarch Bodhi failed to trick Sun Wukong into provoking the Dragon Clan, so Ao Kuo visited Flower Fruit Mountain and offered him the Ruyi Jingu Bang on Ao Guang’s behalf. Sun Wukong wondered whose will had led to the gift, while Bodhi and Zhunti sensed trouble.

• Patriarch Bodhi disguised himself as an Old Gibbon and urged Sun Wukong to get a weapon from the East Sea Dragon Palace, but Sun Wukong scolded and struck him for suggesting he take one improperly.
• Ao Kuo visited Flower Fruit Mountain, and Sun Wukong and the Dragon King quickly became friendly over a banquet.
• Ao Kuo told Sun Wukong that his elder brother, Ao Guang, had sent him and offered him a weapon.
• Ao Kuo produced the Ruyi Jingu Bang, which stirred an instinctive longing in Sun Wukong, but Sun Wukong hesitated to accept it without merit.
• Ao Kuo suggested Ao Guang had acted on the will of someone on the Floating Island; Sun Wukong asked who, while Patriarch Bodhi and Zhunti felt ominous premonitions.