Chapter Summaries

Xuan Yuan’s army suffered a disastrous defeat after charging into Chi You’s Profound Yin Great Array, and the survivors gathered to seek a way to break it. Xuan Nu explained that the array’s baleful energy could be weakened with Jade Pure Divine Thunder, leaving Xuan Yuan to ask what solution she had in mind.

• Xuan Yuan led his soldiers and allied Immortals into the Profound Yin Great Array while Ma Xiaoling and Yuan Tiangang waited outside.
• More than ten days later, the battle ended with most of Xuan Yuan’s army fleeing and Xuan Yuan badly wounded; Li Shimin had saved him and unknowingly received some of his blood.
• Xuan Yuan asked Guang Chengzi and the others how they could break the array, but they admitted they had no answer.
• Yinglong suggested that the Mysterious Lady of the Nine Heavens might know how to defeat the formation, but Xuan Nu said it had grown too powerful after absorbing baleful energy in two battles.
• Xuan Nu explained that the array could be weakened with Jade Pure Divine Thunder, but Guang Chengzi said the Daoists could not unleash enough of its power.
• Xuan Yuan asked Xuan Nu to reveal the solution she had already considered.

After the Kui Niu Drum failed to break the Profound Yin Great Array, Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan reconsidered Feng Hou’s suggestion to seek help from two Rogue Cultivators. He went to their residence and requested an audience.

• Mysterious Lady of the Nine Heavens proposed hunting a Kui Niu and making its hide and bones into a drum to disperse the Formation’s baleful aura.
• Feng Hou reminded Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan that two Rogue Cultivators had offered to break the Formation, but Xuanyuan chose to try the Kui Niu Drum first.
• The tribe hunted a Kui Niu and made a drum, whose thunderous power dispersed some mist and baleful aura but failed to break the Profound Yin Great Array.
• Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan asked whether any other method could break the Formation, but everyone shook their heads.
• That night, Xuanyuan went with Feng Hou to the two Rogue Cultivators’ dilapidated residence and requested an audience with them.

Yuan Tiangang and Ma Xiaoling left the Xuan Yuan Tribe after deciding they could no longer help, and Feng Hou explained to Xuan Yuan how his treatment of them had driven them away. Xuan Yuan admitted his mistake, then learned that Yinglong had a way to deal with the Profound Yin Great Array.

• Yuan Tiangang told Xuan Yuan that he and Ma Xiaoling were leaving because they could not help with the situation.
• Ma Xiaoling and Yuan Tiangang departed on the Eight-Clawed Divine Dragon, shocking Yinglong and leaving Xuan Yuan stunned.
• Feng Hou criticized Xuan Yuan for neglecting and disrespecting the two visitors, and Xuan Yuan admitted he had been wrong.
• A messenger reported that Yinglong had a way to deal with the Profound Yin Great Array, and Xuan Yuan called the others to discuss it.

Yinglong identified Ma Xiaoling’s Dragon Scale Rod as a weapon containing an Eight-Clawed Thunder Dragon whose Innate Divine Thunder could weaken the Profound Yin Great Array. Xuan Yuan admitted he had neglected Ma Xiaoling and Yuan Tiangang, while the two prepared a mountain residence and waited for the others to seek their help.

• Yinglong told the camp that the Eight-Clawed Thunder Dragon’s power could disperse baleful energy and weaken the array enough to break it.
• Guang Chengzi urged Xuan Yuan to find Ma Xiaoling and Yuan Tiangang, and Xuan Yuan admitted he did not know where they had gone after treating them poorly.
• Yuan Tiangang explained to Ma Xiaoling that the Dragon Scale Rod’s power would make the camp come looking for them, and advised them to find a suitable home first.
• Ma Xiaoling told Yuan Tiangang about her Immortal Artifact palace, and they moved Spirit Veins to a mountain, set up their residence, and moved inside.

Ma Xiaoling and Yuan Tiangang discussed their plan to break the Profound Yin Great Array and the dangers posed by the Witch Clan. Yuan Tiangang revealed the Dragon Clan’s hidden strength, leaving Ma Xiaoling unsettled and questioning how he knew so much.

• Ma Xiaoling returned with Yuan Tiangang carrying the Sky-Swallowing Toad, which had withstood the Dragon Scale Rod’s power.
• Yuan Tiangang told Ma Xiaoling to break the array but avoid joining the battle, warning that the Witch Clan might target them.
• Ma Xiaoling asked why Xing Tian targeted Haotian instead of the Dragon Clan, and Yuan Tiangang explained that the Dragon Clan’s true power far exceeded its public reputation.
• Ma Xiaoling admitted the world felt unfamiliar and terrifying, then asked Yuan Tiangang how he knew about events that had not happened yet.
• Yuan Tiangang replied that Ma Xiaoling only believed those events had not happened yet.

Ma Xiaoling discussed the hidden arrangements behind the Journey to the West Tribulation with Yuan Tiangang and resolved to become an Immortal, then faced her Immortal Ascension Thunder Tribulation. Meanwhile, Xuan Yuan and Feng Hou located the people they were seeking by following the thunder.

• Ma Xiaoling asked whether she could take part in the Journey to the West Tribulation, and Yuan Tiangang said the opportunities had already been divided up.
• Ma Xiaoling suggested that returning ancient powers could disrupt the Journey to the West Tribulation, then said she would cultivate to become an Immortal.
• Three days later, Ma Xiaoling's Immortal Ascension Thunder Tribulation began, and she charged directly into the descending lightning as Yuan Tiangang watched in shock.
• Xuan Yuan, Feng Hou, and their companions searched the mountain range, while Feng Hou explained that a powerful expert had concealed the group's location.
• After hearing thunder from the east, Feng Hou divined and confirmed that the people they sought were at the site of an Immortal Ascension Thunder Tribulation.

Yuan Tiangang refused Xuan Yuan and Feng Hou’s request to help break the Ninety-Nine Mysterious Yin Great Array, warning that its gathered baleful energy could form Divine Sha and Ancestral Witch Projections. He returned to guard Ma Xiaoling as Feng Hou reported that the group had failed to persuade him.

• Xuan Yuan and his companions arrived near the Thunder Tribulation, where Yuan Tiangang told them Ma Xiaoling was undergoing it and tempering her body.
• Xuan Yuan asked Yuan Tiangang and Ma Xiaoling to help break a Formation, but Yuan Tiangang refused to get involved.
• Feng Hou privately asked Yuan Tiangang what it would take to secure his help, and Yuan Tiangang explained that the Formation’s growing Divine Sha made entering it too dangerous.
• Yuan Tiangang said breaking the Formation was impossible for them and returned to guard Ma Xiaoling.
• Feng Hou told Xuan Yuan that Yuan Tiangang had refused outright because he feared something would go wrong, leaving Xuan Yuan to ask about their earlier circumstances.

Feng Hou explained that the Profound Yin Great Array had grown powerful enough to condense Ancestral Witch projections, leaving Xuan Yuan’s people with few options. After Ma Xiaoling survived three days of Thunder Tribulation, Xuan Yuan asked her and Yuan Tiangang for help, but she revealed that the Formation had already condensed Divine Sha.

• Feng Hou told Xuan Yuan that the Profound Yin Great Array had grown stronger and might already be forming Ancestral Witch projections, which made the cultivators unwilling to help.
• Xuan Yuan agreed to seek Ma Xiaoling’s help and waited while she endured three days of Thunder Tribulation and recovered from its effects.
• Xuan Yuan and Feng Hou entered the small estate and found Ma Xiaoling seated with Yuan Tiangang in an unusual palace surrounded by rare plants and a peach tree.
• Xuan Yuan pleaded with Ma Xiaoling and Yuan Tiangang to help the Yanhuang Tribe break the Formation.
• Ma Xiaoling said she could not simply interfere and revealed that the Profound Yin Great Array had already condensed Divine Sha.

Ma Xiaoling sensed that a dangerous Divine Sha had condensed inside the Formation and negotiated with Xuan Yuan and Feng Hou for the Demon-Slaying Sword in exchange for helping them break it. After Xuan Yuan and Feng Hou left to seek the sword, Ma Xiaoling and Yuan Tiangang discussed Jiang Zhen’s warning and the possible Ancestral Witch Projection, while Yuan Tiangang insisted the Formation could be countered by a powerful trump card.

• Feng Hou learned from Ma Xiaoling that the Divine Sha had condensed and feared the Formation could bring enormous trouble.
• Xuan Yuan and Feng Hou asked Ma Xiaoling and Yuan Tiangang to help break the Formation, offering Feng Hou’s Innate Bagua Diagram and Primordial Eight Trigrams.
• Ma Xiaoling demanded the Demon-Slaying Sword, explaining that the Ancestral Witches had forged it to suppress powerful members of the Demon Race.
• Xuan Yuan and Feng Hou agreed to seek the sword and left, while Ma Xiaoling told Yuan Tiangang that Jiang Zhen had said it was in the Chan Sect and could be found in the Secret Realm.
• Ma Xiaoling confirmed she had sensed an ancient Witch Clan aura in the Divine Sha, and Yuan Tiangang said the Formation might be countered by a great trump card.

The Twelve Golden Immortals entered the Formation and confirmed that it had condensed a projection of Xuanming, the Ancestral Witch of Rain. After Yuan Tiangang reported the discovery to Jiang Zhen, Jiang Zhen descended into the Underworld to discuss an important matter at Pingxin Palace.

• Xuanyuan told Guang Chengzi and the Twelve Golden Immortals about the possible Ancestral Witch Projection, and they entered the Formation to investigate.
• A huge skeletal beast resembling Xuanming drove the Twelve Golden Immortals out of the Formation, and Yinglong warned Xuanyuan that the Ancestral Witch Projection made breaking the Formation more difficult.
• Guang Chengzi told Xuanyuan to retrieve the Demon-Slaying Sword and invite two people back, and Xuanyuan agreed.
• Ma Xiaoling gave Yuan Tiangang Jiang Zhen's strand of hair so he could leave the Secret Realm and report the discovery to Jiang Zhen.
• Yuan Tiangang used the hair to reach Jiang Zhen and recounted what had happened, and Jiang Zhen left a clone behind before descending into the Underworld.
• Jiang Zhen appeared at Pingxin Palace, where a voice welcomed him and asked why he had come.

Jiang Zhen told Pingxin that the Secret Realm had revealed the Profound Yin Great Array gathering enough baleful energy to form Divine Sha and summon Xuanming Ancestral Witch’s phantom. He urged Pingxin to help revive the Ancestral Witches, arguing that all twelve could reclaim a greater role in the Underworld, and left her questioning whether Pangu had intended them to create it together.

• Jiang Zhen told Pingxin about the Secret Realm and the changes to the battle between the Yellow Emperor and Chi You.
• Jiang Zhen revealed that the Profound Yin Great Array had gathered baleful energy and produced Divine Sha and Xuanming Ancestral Witch’s phantom.
• Jiang Zhen described Sun Wukong’s changed fate, Nezha’s restored talent and breakthrough, and the Interception Sect immortals’ reincarnation into the Lower Realm.
• Jiang Zhen asked Pingxin whether she wanted to bring back the Ancestral Witches and argued they could help govern and expand the Underworld.
• Pingxin asked whether the Underworld had originally been meant for all twelve Ancestral Witches to create together, and Jiang Zhen questioned why Pangu had made them.

Jiang Zhen explained to Pingxin that the Twelve Ancestral Witches had been meant to govern the Underworld and natural laws alongside the Three Pure Ones, then proposed reviving them with their preserved Essence Blood. After Pingxin agreed to help, Jiang Zhen said they would seek Tongtian as an ally and claimed he could break the Saint-Slaying Pill.

• Jiang Zhen told Pingxin that the Twelve Ancestral Witches had been destined to govern the Underworld and the world's natural changes, but had strayed from their intended role.
• Jiang Zhen proposed adding the Twelve Ancestral Witches' Essence Blood to the Profound Yin Great Array to revive them, and Pingxin revealed she had preserved twelve drops.
• Pingxin agreed to accompany Jiang Zhen and sent forth Houtu, who carried the twelve drops of Ancestral Witch Essence Blood.
• Jiang Zhen said they needed an ally and proposed approaching Tongtian, noting that Tongtian had suffered after the Battle of the Investiture of the Gods.
• Jiang Zhen claimed he could break the Saint-Slaying Pill and suggested that Tongtian's reincarnated Interception Sect Disciples could help persuade him to cooperate.

Jiang Zhen explained to Houtu that the Fierce Beasts came from Chaos Demon Gods and that conflicts over Fortune shaped the rise and destruction of ancient races. He left her with a broader account of how Innate Demon Gods sought power and competed to prove the Dao.

• Houtu questioned whether Tongtian could be found, and Jiang Zhen argued that he was not necessarily sealed in the Purple Heaven Palace.
• Jiang Zhen suggested Hongjun had incurred karmic debts to the Three Pure Ones and asked Houtu to reconsider the world’s cycles of prosperity and destruction.
• Jiang Zhen described how the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin races rose during the Fierce Beast Kalpa despite lacking the advantages of the Witch Clan.
• Jiang Zhen told Houtu that Pangu’s descendants were Innate Divine Beings, while the Fierce Beasts had been transformed from Chaos Demon Gods’ flesh and blood.
• Jiang Zhen explained that the Three Primal Races gained help from other Innate Demon Gods, then competed with them for Fortune as they approached sainthood.

Jiang Zhen told Houtu that the Heavenly Dao had manipulated events across successive eras, provoking the Dragon-Phoenix Tribulation and later the conflict between the Witch and Demon clans. He left Houtu considering whether the current Journey to the West era would lead to another demon-related calamity.

• Jiang Zhen explained how several Innate Demon Gods and Demon Ancestor Luohu helped trigger the Dragon-Phoenix Tribulation and the war between righteousness and demons.
• Jiang Zhen argued that Chaos Qi and Chaos Spiritual Qi gradually vanished as the Primordial World changed, and that Houtu's generation were Pangu's direct descendants.
• Houtu admitted that the Ancestral Witches and Di Jun and Taiyi had not originally sought dominion over heaven and earth.
• Jiang Zhen said the Heavenly Dao had stirred conflict between the Witches and Di Jun and Taiyi, leading both sides to form their clans and eventually fight.
• Jiang Zhen recalled the decline of the Witch, Demon, and Three Pure Ones' sects before asking Houtu what would follow Journey to the West; Houtu answered, "Demons!"

Jiang Zhen explained to Houtu that the Three Pure Ones’ paths had been wrongly arranged and that Tongtian might oppose the Heavenly Dao if freed from his restrictions. They found Tongtian at Biyou Palace on ruined Golden Ao Island, where Jiang Zhen revealed that the Interception Sect disciples’ True Spirits had been recovered and reincarnated.

• Jiang Zhen told Houtu that Spiritual Qi might disappear after the demonic calamity and that the Three Pure Ones’ roles had been diverted from their intended paths.
• Houtu agreed to accompany Jiang Zhen to find Tongtian at Biyou Palace.
• Jiang Zhen and Houtu arrived at ruined Golden Ao Island and found Tongtian meditating as a stone statue in Biyou Palace.
• Tongtian recognized Jiang Zhen’s Eternal Dao and Houtu’s restored Ancestral Witch body, then asked why they had come.
• Jiang Zhen gave Tongtian the whereabouts of his Interception Sect disciples and explained that their True Spirits had been retrieved and reincarnated, shocking Tongtian.

Jiang Zhen told Tongtian he planned to test whether the Kalpa was manipulated by reviving powerful figures and cutting off heavenly secrets. After identifying the Saint-Slaying Pill as flesh, Essence Blood, and Law from a Poison Gu Demon God, Jiang Zhen said he could remove it and devour its Law Force.

• Jiang Zhen shared Houtu’s revelations with Tongtian and proposed testing whether the Kalpa had been engineered.
• Jiang Zhen proposed reviving the Ancestral Witches, Di Jun, and Taiyi, while freeing the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin clan leaders from their predicaments.
• Tongtian agreed to help Jiang Zhen cut off heavenly secrets so the Ancestral Witches’ revival would go unnoticed.
• Tongtian said he had been unable to remove the Saint-Slaying Pill, and Jiang Zhen examined it.
• Jiang Zhen identified the Red Pill as a creation of a Poison Gu Demon God’s flesh, Essence Blood, and Law, and explained how its Law had entered the Jade Plate of Creation.
• Jiang Zhen said he could remove the pill from Tongtian and devour the Law Force within it.

Jiang Zhen removed the Gu insect from Tongtian and led Tongtian and Houtu to the Secret Realm to pursue the revival of the Twelve Ancestral Witches. They entered Ma Xiaoling’s palace, where Tongtian and Houtu examined the formidable Formation.

• Jiang Zhen used his Law of Spacetime and devouring power to destroy the red pill and kill the Gu insect inside Tongtian.
• Jiang Zhen told Tongtian and Houtu that he planned to revive the Twelve Ancestral Witches, then seek the incomplete True Spirits of the Demon Emperor and Eastern Emperor and the ancestors of the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin clans.
• Jiang Zhen, Tongtian, and Houtu went to the Secret Realm, where Tongtian recognized Yuan Tiangang as a reincarnated Star God and explained his past.
• Jiang Zhen opened a rift, and he, Tongtian, Houtu, and Yuan Tiangang entered the Secret Realm and arrived at Ma Xiaoling’s palace.
• Jiang Zhen told Ma Xiaoling not to interfere with the matter or the Formation, and said the Formation would be broken within twelve days at most.
• Tongtian and Houtu examined the Formation and marveled at its power.

Jiang Zhen and Tongtian examined Houtu’s Formation, which could revive the Twelve Ancestral Witches if strengthened with enough baleful aura and their Essence Blood. Jiang Zhen took Tongtian to destroy a corrupted world for its baleful aura, leaving them poised to gather more from another world.

• Tongtian praised Houtu’s Formation and warned that others would try to stop her from reviving the Twelve Ancestral Witches.
• Houtu recalled how the Chan Sect’s intervention had broken her earlier revival attempt and contributed to the Interception Sect’s calamity.
• Jiang Zhen explained that the Formation had grown stronger by absorbing baleful aura from wars and upheavals, but Tongtian and Houtu agreed it still lacked enough aura.
• Jiang Zhen asked Houtu to guard the Formation while he and Tongtian traveled through the Ten Thousand Worlds to destroy worlds and collect baleful aura.
• Jiang Zhen explained that one world’s people had caused a zombie outbreak through their experiments, and Tongtian shattered that world with the Qingping Sword.
• Jiang Zhen gathered the baleful aura produced by the world’s destruction.

Jiang Zhen and Tongtian searched for Sha Qi, destroying several corrupted worlds before finding a promising Minor Thousand World where fiction had become reality. Tongtian entered the Martial Arts World to explore its swordsmanship and look for someone worthy of inheriting his Sword Dao.

• Jiang Zhen and Tongtian destroyed another zombie-infested Minor World and collected its Sha Qi.
• After destroying seven or eight planets, Jiang Zhen and Tongtian decided their Sha Qi Beads were insufficient and continued searching.
• Jiang Zhen and Tongtian discovered a Minor Thousand World that was a Martial Arts World with Comedic Martial Arts and many Sword Cultivators.
• Tongtian agreed to explore the world, while Jiang Zhen explained that its different flow of time made a short visit possible.
• Tongtian chose to seek promising swordsmen in Mingzhou and Qinzhou because none of his disciples had inherited his Sword Dao.
• Jiang Zhen and Tongtian arrived in Mingzhou to ask how its people judged the swordsmen rather than using Tongtian's powers to learn everything instantly.

Jiang Zhen and Tongtian visited an inn to learn about Great Ming’s famous swordsmen and discuss how Tongtian might attract a disciple. Bai Zhantang named several renowned swordsmen and began recounting the story of Fang Baoyu, leaving his account unfinished.

• Jiang Zhen and Tongtian entered an inn and booked two rooms, where Jiang Zhen explained that they should follow local customs and learn from Bai Zhantang.
• Jiang Zhen offered Bai Zhantang a silver fragment and asked him about Great Ming’s famous swordsmen.
• Bai Zhantang described Feng Qingyang, Jing Wuming, and Quick Sword Ah Fei, noting their skills and cultivation realms.
• Bai Zhantang told them that Xue Yiren had once been called the greatest swordsman under heaven and was rumored to have reached the Heavenly Human Realm.
• Bai Zhantang began recounting how Fang Baoyu became known as the Spiritual Child of the Sword after a swordsman from Fusang challenged Great Ming’s sects and the Marquis of Purple Robes fought him.