Chapter Summaries

Zhenyuanzi helped Hong Yun escape the great powers pursuing his Hongmeng Purple Qi and travel to Mount Sumeru for guidance. Jieyin and Zhunti helped Hong Yun understand that his carefree nature suited the Hunyuan Great Luo path, and he chose to follow it rather than seek sainthood.

• Zhenyuanzi used the Earth Scroll and earth veins to conceal Hong Yun's movements and send him through the Star Gate to Mount Sumeru.
• The great powers spying on Wuzhuang Temple revealed themselves and pursued Hong Yun after the Star Gate's commotion.
• Jiang Yun welcomed Hong Yun on Mount Sumeru and escorted him to Jieyin and Zhunti.
• Jieyin and Zhunti explained the paths to sainthood and Hunyuan Great Luo, urging Hong Yun to choose according to his nature.
• Hong Yun realized he disliked restraint, rejected establishing a sect to attain sainthood, and chose to pursue the Hunyuan Great Luo path.

After speaking with the Two Sages of the West, Hong Yun abandoned his claim to the Hongmeng Purple Qi and chose to pursue the Path to Hunyuan instead. As Kunpeng, Ancestor Minghe, and the other great powers fought over the released treasure, a bell rang and the Purple Qi escaped eastward.

• Hong Yun returned from Mount Sumeru and found Kunpeng, Ancestor Minghe, and other former fellow Daoists surrounding him outside Wuzhuang Temple to demand the Hongmeng Purple Qi.
• Zhenyuanzi arrived with the Earth Scroll to defend Hong Yun, but Hong Yun stopped him and said he had realized his Dao lay within his own heart.
• Hong Yun declared that he was not destined to become a Heaven-appointed Sage and willingly released the Hongmeng Purple Qi back to Heaven and Earth.
• Kunpeng, Ancestor Minghe, and the other great powers attacked one another as they tried to seize the Purple Qi, while Hong Yun and Zhenyuanzi watched from behind the Earth Scroll.
• A clear bell toll stopped the fighting, and the Hongmeng Purple Qi broke free and flew eastward.

The Hongmeng Purple Qi escaped east after Hong Yun gave it up, drawing Taiyi, Kunpeng, Minghe, and other powerful figures into a pursuit. The demons summoned reinforcements as the chase entered witch territory, where Taiyi and Kunpeng targeted Minghe to keep him from claiming the purple qi.

• The Hongmeng Purple Qi broke free and fled east, and Taiyi joined Kunpeng as the gathered powers set off after it.
• Minghe burned his Blood God Spawns to break through Kunpeng’s demonic-fire barrier, while Taiyi and Kunpeng pursued and restrained the others.
• Hong Yun and Zhenyuanzi returned to Wuzhuang Temple after the pursuers left Longevity Mountain.
• Dijun gathered demon reinforcements, left Changxi and Xihe to oversee the Heavenly Cycle Stars Great Formation, and prepared to transmit his forces east.
• The pursuit reached a site west of Buzhou Mountain, where Taiyi and Kunpeng fought Minghe and Kunpeng used the Eastern Emperor Bell and Demon Master Palace to batter him.

Taiyi, Dijun, and the Demon Clan fought the Witch Clan and other powerful figures over the Hongmeng Purple Qi. The Ancestral Witches arrived as the Demon Clan prepared its star formation, leaving the confrontation on the brink of a larger battle.

• Taiyi warned the gathered figures that the Demon Clan reinforcements were coming and used the Chaos Bell to slow them.
• The Hongmeng Purple Qi escaped the seal, but Qiangliang and the Great Witches trapped it with the Twelve Capital Gods and Fiends Banners.
• Taiyi, Styx, and the other powerful figures attacked the Witch Clan, whose Great Witches summoned Ancestral Witch phantoms to defend their formation.
• Dijun, Fuxi, and the Demon Clan forces arrived, and Taiyi and Dijun launched a combined strike against the Witch formation.
• Dijiang joined Qiangliang and the Great Witches, but the Demon Clan's attack shattered their formation and injured several Great Witches.
• Styx and the other powerful figures sided with Dijun as the Demon Clan formed its star formation, then the remaining ten Ancestral Witches arrived in a surge of qi and blood.

The Witch and Demon Clans fought over the Hongmeng Purple Qi as Dijiang led the Twelve Ancestral Witches against Dijun’s forces. The Demon Clan’s Heaven Cycle Stars Great Formation caused heavy Witch Clan casualties, but the Twelve Capital Gods and Fiends Great Array summoned a Pangu Phantom that battered the Demon formation.

• Dijiang arrived with his brothers and confronted Dijun, while Zhujiuyin trapped Ancestor Minghe as he tried to flee.
• Dijiang led the Twelve Ancestral Witches in a charge, forcing Taiyi, Kunpeng, and the Demon Clan’s forces to retreat until Xihe and Changxi arrived with reinforcements.
• Dijun and Fuxi completed the Heaven Cycle Stars Great Formation, whose falling stars killed many Witch Clan warriors.
• The Twelve Ancestral Witches formed the Twelve Capital Gods and Fiends Great Array and summoned a Pangu Phantom.
• The Pangu Phantom struck the Demon Clan’s formation repeatedly, killing or wounding hundreds of Demon Gods.

Di Jun and the Witch Clan prepared devastating attacks with their great formations, but Laozi, Tongtian, and Yuanshi intervened to stop them from damaging the Primordial Desolation World. When the clans refused to yield, the Three Pure Ones and Nüwa protected the central region as Tongtian and Di Jun clashed, leaving the Demon Clan aware of the gap between its power and a Saint’s.

• Di Jun and Tai Yi led the Star Lords in gathering stellar power as the Witch Clan strengthened the Pangu Phantom with fiendish energy.
• Di Jun and Dijiang ordered their formations to unleash their attacks, but Laozi froze both strikes with the Taiji Diagram and demanded the clans stop.
• Laozi proposed that the Three Pure Ones safeguard the Hongmeng Purple Qi, but Dijiang and Di Jun rejected his arrangement and challenged the Saints.
• Nüwa joined Laozi in protecting the central region, while Tongtian and Yuanshi each faced one of the two clans.
• Di Jun sent the Golden Crow formation against Tongtian, who met it with a sword strike; their clash was evenly matched, though Tongtian had not used his full strength.

Yuanshi’s attempt to demonstrate a Saint’s power against the Witch Clan backfired when the Twelve Ancestral Witches strengthened their formation and struck off his crown. Humiliated, Yuanshi prepared to unleash his full strength against them as Tongtian and Laozi tried to stop him.

• Yuanshi attacked the Witch Clan’s formation with the Pangu Banner, causing heavy casualties and provoking Dijiang and the other Ancestral Witches.
• The Twelve Ancestral Witches burned their essence blood to strengthen the formation, and its Pangu Phantom summoned the Three Treasures of Creation before forming an axe from fiendish aura.
• The Pangu Phantom’s axe strike shattered Yuanshi’s Nine Heavens Crown and forced him back, though Vast Righteousness blocked the blow from reaching him.
• Dijiang mocked Yuanshi, while the watching great powers and Demon Clan leaders reacted with shock and admiration.
• Yuanshi put away the disrupted Pangu Banner, summoned the Three Treasures Jade Ruyi and all three corpses, and vowed to exterminate the Witch Clan despite Tongtian and Laozi’s warnings.

Hongjun stopped the battle between the witches and demons, then summoned the Three Pure Ones and warned them that their primordial spirits might be tied to Pangu’s lingering will. He gave them a Heavenly Dao restriction and began questioning what separated them from the Chaos Demon Gods.

• Hongjun appeared on the battlefield, dispersed the witches’ formation, and decreed that demons would rule the heavens and witches the earth, with neither side fighting for one hundred thousand years.
• Hongjun split the Hongmeng Purple Qi into three fragments and moved the demon soldiers and their formation back to the celestial realm.
• Laozi restrained Yuanshi from attacking the Ancestral Witches, and Houtu noticed that the wounded witch warriors had been healed.
• Tongtian said Hongjun had summoned the Three Pure Ones, and the brothers traveled to the Purple Firmament Palace.
• Hongjun showed the Three Pure Ones the Pangu Phantom and warned that Pangu’s complete awakening could take control of their primordial spirits.
• Hongjun placed a Heavenly Dao restriction within the Three Pure Ones and asked how they differed from the Chaos Demon Gods.

Hongjun explained to the Three Pure Ones how Pangu fought the Chaos Demon Gods, created the Primordial Desolation World, and left behind a will that might revive as the world grew. He revealed that he had suppressed the world’s growth and guided the Witch-Demon War to hinder Pangu’s return, then warned that Pangu’s revival would mean the Three Pure Ones’ end.

• Hongjun described Pangu’s plan to create a world as a way to gather its power and break through to the Great Dao, explaining why the Chaos Demon Gods tried to stop him.
• Hongjun recounted how Pangu’s battle with the Demon Gods depleted him, forcing him to use his treasures and body to keep the new world from collapsing into Chaos.
• Hongjun revealed that Pangu’s will remained within the Heaven Pillar and could awaken as the Primordial Desolation World grew, explaining that he had suppressed its evolution and steered the Witch-Demon War to weaken that will.
• Hongjun warned that the Witch Clan and the Three Pure Ones might be contingencies left by Pangu and said they needed to be restricted.
• Laozi asked whether Hongjun’s actions were meant to eliminate Pangu’s will or weaken the Primordial Desolation World, and Hongjun said the two aims were inseparable.
• Hongjun told the Three Pure Ones that if Pangu revived, they would cease to exist.

The Demon Clan and the Twelve Ancestral Witches discussed how to respond to the battle and the Saints’ growing influence, while Hong Yun and Zhenyuanzi reflected on the conflict. At Mount Sumeru, Jiang Yun urged the Western Teachings to prepare for the fall of both clans and humanity’s rise.

• Dijun heard Bai Ze’s proposals to strengthen the Heavenly Cycle Stars Great Formation, counter the Witch Clan’s formation, and seek allies, then assigned Kunpeng to recruit powerful figures including Blood Sea Minghe.
• Dijiang and the Twelve Ancestral Witches prioritized Houtu’s Matters of Reincarnation, allocated resources and manpower to her, and ordered the clan to prepare for the worst.
• Hong Yun and Zhenyuanzi watched the battle at Wuzhuang Temple and discussed Hong Yun’s decision to abandon the Hongmeng Purple Qi while eating Ginseng Fruits.
• At Mount Sumeru, Jiang Yun told Zhunti, Jieyin, Ziwei, and Kong Xuan that the Western Teachings should prepare early for the Witch and Demon Clans’ fall and humanity’s rise.

Jiang Yun reflected on the failure of his plan to unite the Primordial Desolation World and accepted that its factions were driven by strength and the Heavenly Dao’s Great Trend. Jieyin and Zhunti then explained why the Three Pure Ones had turned against the Witch Clan, leaving Jiang Yun with new insight into Pangu’s influence over them.

• Jiang Yun returned to his cave abode and lamented that the Witch and Demon Clans’ conflict had crushed his hopes of building the Primordial Desolation World together.
• Tens of thousands of years passed, and the Witch and Demon Clans kept to limited border conflicts despite mounting tensions beneath the surface.
• Jieyin and Zhunti warned Jiang Yun that the Three Pure Ones had begun stirring up conflict between the Witch and Demon Clans, and that the Hongmen had effectively collapsed.
• Jiang Yun told his teacher that years of secluded reflection had changed his outlook and that he no longer clung to unrealistic hopes.
• Zhunti explained that Hongjun served as the Heavenly Dao’s bearer of responsibility rather than controlling its Great Trend at will.
• Zhunti revealed that the Pangu Phantom had unsettled the Three Pure Ones’ primordial spirits during the Witch-Demon War, which he believed explained their changed stance.

After learning that Hongmen could not resist the Heavenly Dao’s great trend, Jiang Yun accepted a narrower role in protecting the Western Lands, and the Western Teachings began withdrawing their forces to Mount Sumeru. The chapter ended with Jiang Yun reassuring Dragon King Ao Shun that the Dragon race remained safe and that cooperation would continue on revised terms.

• Receiving advised Jiang Yun that Hongmen was dispensable and that Sages should follow the Heavenly Dao’s will.
• Jiang Yun, Receiving, and Zhunti decided to focus on developing and protecting the Western Lands rather than intervening in outside affairs.
• Receiving and Zhunti issued an edict recalling core disciples, rotating outer disciples, suspending major external projects, and returning strategic resources to Mount Sumeru.
• The Western Teachings withdrew personnel and responsibilities from regions overseen by the Dragon and Phoenix races, while strengthening defenses at Mount Sumeru.
• Dragon King of the Northern Sea Ao Shun asked Jiang Yun whether the retreat signaled danger from the Witch-Demon calamity, and Jiang Yun reassured him that the Dragon race remained safe and cooperation would continue.

The Western Teachings recalled their scattered forces to Mount Sumeru, where Jieyin and Zhunti lectured on the Dao for three hundred years. Jiang Yun then visited the human settlement on the Eastern Sea and left behind a perfected Martial Canon, promising to protect it.

• The Western Teachings ordered the Phoenix Clan and distant disciples to withdraw from exposed outposts and return to Mount Sumeru.
• Jieyin and Zhunti lectured their gathered disciples on non-attachment, compassion, and the Dao for three hundred years, helping many gain insights and break through bottlenecks.
• After the lecture, Jiang Yun returned to the human settlement where Huang and Wa had once lived, now a center of worship for the Martial Ancestor and Human Heroes.
• Jiang Yun carved the Martial Canon, including refined cultivation diagrams and methods, onto a jade wall and urged the humans to practice diligently.
• Jiang Yun promised the humans that the Western Teachings would guard their valley and that he would shield them if powerful enemies came.

Jiang Yun gathered his junior brothers and sisters, explained the hidden affairs of the Primordial Desolation World, and prepared to hand more teaching responsibilities to them as he focused on cultivation. With the Wu Clan’s ten-thousand-year deadline approaching, he revealed that the Nine Netherworlds World was about to return and that they would journey there to contend for Earth Dao Saint Positions.

• Jiang Yun returned to Mount Sumeru, saw the disciples training, and summoned his junior brothers and sisters for a gathering.
• Kong Xuan arrived first and revealed that he had reached the Quasi-Saint realm; Medicine Master, Maitreya, Ksitigarbha, Zhao Gongming, the Three Xiao, Black Tortoise, and others joined them.
• Jiang Yun told the group secrets about the Primordial Desolation World and its factions, then said he would gradually hand over teaching affairs as he focused on cultivation.
• Jiang Yun urged everyone to pay more attention to humanity and pass down Western Teachings Dao methods if they wished.
• Kong Xuan noted that the Wu Clan’s ten-thousand-year deadline was nearly over, and Jiang Yun explained that reincarnation could awaken the Earth's Dao and offer them a chance to contend for Saint Positions.
• Jiang Yun said the Nine Netherworlds World was about to return and that Empress Houtu would likely invite the Western Teachings, Zhenyuanzi, and Hong Yun to take part; the group agreed to prepare for the journey.

After nearly ten thousand years, the Nine Netherworlds returned to the Primordial Desolation, restoring its Earth Dao and completing the barrier’s collapse. Houtu led the gathered powers into the underworld to pray to the Earth Dao and open reincarnation.

• The barrier between the Primordial Desolation and the Nine Netherworlds shattered, allowing the two worlds’ origins to merge and their laws to nourish each other.
• Dijiang and the Twelve Ancestral Witches, Jieyin and Zhunti, Jiang Yun and his companions, Zhenyuanzi, and Hong Yun gathered at the portal to the Nine Netherworlds.
• Dijiang thanked the saints and gathered Daoists for helping restore the Nine Netherworlds, while Jieyin affirmed that Houtu was favored by the Earth Dao and destined to preside over reincarnation.
• Houtu led the group through the portal to pray to the Earth Dao and open reincarnation for the souls of the Primordial Desolation.
• The group arrived on a vast underworld plain and saw the restored Nine Netherworlds, including its ghostly starry sky, River of Forgetfulness, and repaired fetal membrane.

Houtu established the Six Paths of Reincarnation with the aid of the gathered immortals and the Nine Netherworlds World. When her sacrifice seemed imminent, the Way of Earth manifested the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk, making her its master and the incarnation and spokesperson of the Way of Earth; the reincarnation system still needed to be fully constructed.

• Empress Houtu connected with the Origin of the Nine Netherworlds World as the Ancestral Shamans, Saint Jieyin, Saint Zhunti, Zhenyuanzi, and Jiang Yun assisted her.
• Houtu prayed to open the Six Paths of Reincarnation, drawing souls and fragments of true spirits from across the Primordial Desolation World into her body.
• As Houtu began to merge with the will of all living beings, the Way of Earth suppressed the transformation and formed the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk.
• The Six Paths Reincarnation Disk entered Houtu and recognized her as its master, stabilizing her body and allowing her to become the Lord of Reincarnation and spokesperson of the Way of Earth.
• Houtu declared the Way of Earth complete and reincarnation established, while the Ancestral Shamans and living beings of the Primordial Desolation World praised her.
• The Six Paths Reincarnation Disk began suppressing the core of the Nine Netherworlds World, but the reincarnation system still needed its remaining details built before it could operate.

Jiang Yun constructed the Nine Netherworlds’ path of reincarnation with Empress Houtu’s authority, arranging its gates, roads, waters, bridge, and spiritual treasures. Empress Houtu then manifested the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk and established an orderly system that wandering souls began to follow.

• Empress Houtu asked Jiang Yun to help organize the Nine Netherworlds, and he erected Ghost Gate Pass to separate the living from the dead.
• Jiang Yun scattered Shore Flower seeds across the wasteland, forming Yellow Springs Road toward the darkness.
• With Empress Houtu’s authority, Jiang Yun drew Weak Water from the heavens, which fused with the Nine Netherworlds’ yin aura to form the Yellow Springs.
• Jiang Yun set the Bridge of Helplessness across the Yellow Springs, created Wangxiang Terrace, and placed the Three Lives Stone beside the way to reincarnation.
• Empress Houtu manifested the true Six Paths Reincarnation Disk and declared the rules that would guide the dead through the Netherworld.
• Countless wandering souls received enlightenment and began gathering along the path of reincarnation.

As the Six Paths Reincarnation stabilized, Jiang Yun’s Inner World resonated with its laws and pushed him toward Hunyuan, but he suppressed the breakthrough to avoid the Heavenly Dao’s retaliation. After unruly spirits exposed a flaw in the new system, Houtu and the others concluded that the Reincarnation Order needed a stage for judging souls and assigning rewards and punishments.

• The completed Six Paths Reincarnation strengthened the laws of Jiang Yun’s Inner World and brought him to the verge of a breakthrough.
• Jiang Yun sensed the Heavenly Dao watching him, suppressed his cultivation surge, and decided to enter Chaos before attempting Hunyuan.
• Several powerful wandering souls devoured weaker souls and disrupted the Yellow Springs Road until Houtu erased them with the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk.
• Dijiang, Daoist Jieyin, and Daoist Zhunti called for rules to manage souls and judge their merits and offenses before reincarnation.
• Houtu agreed that the Way of Earth needed a judgment stage to determine each soul’s destination and administer punishment.

Jiang Yun proposed a comprehensive system for judging souls and maintaining order in the Nine Netherworlds, and Empress Houtu used the Authority of the Way of Earth to bring its framework into being. The halls and offices remained unstaffed, leaving personnel and their allocation for later discussion.

• Empress Houtu asked the gathered Daoists and Ancestral Shamans for advice on Netherworld judgment and the division of responsibility.
• Jiang Yun proposed the Ten Halls of Yama, the Book of Life and Death and Soul-Hooking Brush, the Eighteen Layers of Hell, and an organized force of soul-reaping officials, ghost marshals, and judges.
• Daoist Jieyin and Daoist Zhunti praised Jiang Yun's plan, and Empress Houtu declared that they would proceed with it.
• Empress Houtu gathered the Way of Earth's power to create the Book of Life and Death and Soul-Hooking Brush, and both treasures formed beside her.
• The Way of Earth reshaped the Nine Netherworlds, creating the Eighteen Layers of Hell, establishing the layout of the Ten Halls of Yama, and defining authorities and sites for future officials and ghost marshals.
• The Netherworld Underworld's framework was completed, but its halls and positions remained empty pending further discussion of personnel.

After the Reincarnation Order was established, merit strengthened Empress Houtu, Jiang Yun, and the other contributors. Empress Houtu then approved Jiang Yun’s balanced proposal for dividing authority in the Netherworld Underworld, and the gathered factions accepted her decree.

• Empress Houtu completed the underworld’s core laws and institutions, and the Primordial Desolation World sent down merit to reward the contributors.
• Empress Houtu declared that the new underworld needed officials and invited the gathered powers to discuss how its divine offices should be divided.
• Dijiang demanded that the witch clan take most of the offices, while Zhenyuanzi, Hong Yun, Daoist Jieyin, and Daoist Zhunti argued for roles for their own groups.
• Jiang Yun proposed assigning offices according to each faction’s strengths and requiring all officials to follow the Way of Earth, the Book of Life and Death, and the Reincarnation Laws.
• Empress Houtu decreed that the witch clan would control sixty percent of the authority, the Western Teachings thirty percent, and Zhenyuanzi and Hong Yun ten percent.
• The gathered factions bowed and accepted Empress Houtu’s decree.