Chapter Summaries

Chen Luo, Xie Sansheng, and their pursuers entered Mount Sumeru, where the Buddhist law of All Beings Are Equal disabled supernatural abilities stronger than Jin Guagua's cultivation. After Jin Guagua, Chen Luo, and Xie Sansheng defeated several attackers, a bell sounded and Leiyin Temple appeared on the mountaintop.

• Chen Luo and Xie Sansheng entered the Mustard Seed and found themselves on Mount Sumeru, where Xie Sansheng's hair fell out.
• The Beast Path Master and his group entered Mount Sumeru, and the Sea Ox Great Sage and three Howling Moon Wolf Puppets appeared behind Chen Luo and Xie Sansheng.
• The attackers and Xie Sansheng found their Supernatural Powers disabled, while Jin Guagua struck the enemies with Demonic Art: Star Mountain Fall.
• Chen Luo and Xie Sansheng used physical attacks to defeat two Wolf Puppets, and the Sea Ox Great Sage fled.
• Chen Luo explained that All Beings Are Equal suppressed abilities above Jin Guagua's cultivation but did not equalize physical strength.
• A bell rang, and Leiyin Temple appeared on the mountaintop.

Chen Luo and Xie Sansheng entered Leiyin Temple on Mount Sumeru, where the temple manifested visions shaped by their thoughts. Recognizing the vision as a trap connected to a heavenly demon, Chen Luo shot an arrow at the Tathagata Buddha.

• Xie Sansheng identified Leiyin Temple as one of the places where the Buddha had preached and led Chen Luo toward it.
• Ye Dafu prepared to leave Central Capital for Jingzhou and planned a lottery scheme to promote a new, supposedly rare edition of the Red Dust Record featuring Liu Dongchen’s exploits.
• Xie Sansheng bowed before the closed temple gates, and the doors opened to reveal a hall filled with Buddhas and bodhisattvas.
• Chen Luo realized the temple displayed whatever each visitor imagined and sensed that the Fire Phoenix had detected a heavenly demon.
• Chen Luo drew the True Phoenix Bow and shot a flaming arrow at the Tathagata Buddha inside the temple.

Chen Luo and Xie Sansheng uncovered the mind-demon Evil Buddha’s origins in Leiyin Temple and fought to suppress it with the Ancient Buddhist Sect’s Demon-Suppressing Leiyin. As Xie Sansheng sacrificed his cultivation to hold the Evil Buddha back, Chen Luo began reciting the Heart Sutra again.

• Chen Luo’s True Phoenix Arrow burned away the false Buddha’s disguise, revealing an Evil Buddha born from people’s corrupted wishes.
• The Evil Buddha trapped Chen Luo and Xie Sansheng in illusions, but Chen Luo broke free by chanting the Heart Sutra and invoking the Dragon-Subduing Arhat.
• Xie Sansheng explained that Leiyin Temple had once absorbed and suppressed the poison of worldly wishes, which had become a mind demon after the Ancient Buddhist Sect disappeared.
• The Evil Buddha attacked, and Xie Sansheng transformed into a Buddha body, sacrificing his Great Dao power to hold it back.
• Chen Luo resumed chanting the Heart Sutra as Xie Sansheng’s Buddha body cracked and the Evil Buddha pressed its attack.

Chen Luo discovered that Mount Sumeru and Leiyin Temple were an illusion, then risked his life to pass through the Evil Buddha’s attack and escape it. He and Xie Sansheng reunited in an unknown place, while the fate of the illusion remained unclear.

• Chen Luo recited part of the Heart Sutra, weakening the Evil Buddha and breaking Leiyin Temple’s spell that prevented them from leaving.
• Xie Sansheng carried the exhausted Chen Luo down Mount Sumeru, but the entire temple pursued them through the air.
• Chen Luo noticed that neither they nor the temple cast shadows, and tested his suspicion by attaching a Spirit Attachment Talisman to a thousand-year-old ginseng.
• The ginseng doll passed unharmed through the Evil Buddha’s fist, and Chen Luo concluded that Mount Sumeru, Leiyin Temple, and their surroundings were an illusion.
• Chen Luo stopped defending himself and charged into the Evil Buddha’s fist, emerging in another place with Jin Guagua and the ginseng.
• Xie Sansheng reappeared after cursing the Evil Buddha, and asked where they were.

Chen Luo and Xie Sansheng escaped the illusion and reached the ruins of the true Mount Sumeru, where Chen Luo sensed First Senior Brother had been injured. Elsewhere, the Evil Buddha subdued the Beast Path Master, and a genuine dragon's roar drew Chen Luo toward the source of the injury.

• Chen Luo recognized the wasteland as the true Mount Sumeru and smiled at the Buddha head amid the ruins.
• The Evil Buddha repeatedly trapped the Beast Path Master inside the sinister shrine until the Beast Path Master knelt and pledged himself to the Evil Buddha.
• The Evil Buddha transformed the Beast Path Master into a laughing Buddha and his Beast Puppets into guardian vajras.
• Chen Luo found the pagoda grove's relics exhausted and bowed to it.
• Chen Luo noticed First Senior Brother's Life Bamboo Leaf had been cut, then heard a dragon's roar from the direction its tip indicated and ran toward it with Xie Sansheng.

Xia Chedan’s new position in the Dragon race drew the attention of a Cloud Dragon Guard, who discovered that his token carried the authority of the Dragon Emperor’s heir. Meanwhile, Chen Luo found Lang Feixian injured beside a scripture-made monk and learned the words that had brought the figure to life.

• Xia Chedan welcomed a Cloud Dragon Python Dragon Guard, who asked about the vanished Abbot Island, and Xia Chedan hid what he knew about its recent disappearance.
• The Python Dragon Guard examined Xia Chedan’s True Dragon Token, saw his own token bow to it, and took Xia Chedan to the Cloud Dragon Palace.
• Chen Luo found Lang Feixian injured after he had exchanged blows with a monk whose presence went unnoticed unless directly seen.
• Xie Sansheng explained that the Demented Monk was a human form created from scripture written by an Ancient Buddhist Sect great cultivator.
• Xie Sansheng identified the scripture as “Great Vajra Heavenly Dragon, World-Honored Kṣitigarbha, Prajna Buddhas, Prajna Bamahum,” and Chen Luo recognized the words.

Chen Luo and Lang Feixian found the Demented Monk guarding the Monastic Cell, and Chen Luo’s words clarified the monk’s recognition of his Buddhist path. Chen Luo entered the cell with Xie Sansheng to search for Yun Siyao, but she and Ao Lingling were missing, and Chen Luo focused on the bowl containing water and a stone.

• The Demented Monk recognized Chen Luo’s Martial Dao, Poetic Sword Dao, and Buddhist Dao, and Chen Luo answered his welcome by saying he had come.
• The Demented Monk allowed Chen Luo and Xie Sansheng to enter the Monastic Cell but barred Lang Feixian, who was thrown back when he tried to force his way in.
• Lang Feixian protested the rule, but the Demented Monk invoked a message against giving good things to the Confucian school and refused to let him pass.
• Chen Luo and Xie Sansheng entered the stone house, where they found charcoal marks, a begging bowl, water, and a large stone, but neither Yun Siyao nor Ao Lingling was there.
• Xie Sansheng sensed Buddhist enlightenment in the charcoal marks, while Chen Luo searched the bowl for clues to his senior sister’s whereabouts.

Chen Luo and Xie Sansheng were transported from the stone house into the Sea of Origin, while Lang Feixian fought the Beast Path Master outside. Chen Luo spotted Sixth Senior Sister’s empty chessboard on a distant mountain and hurried toward her.

• The heart-shaped stone in the alms bowl transported Chen Luo and Xie Sansheng away as Demented Monk told Lang Feixian that the house contained a Square Inch Heart.
• The Beast Path Master emerged on a giant elephant and made Demented Monk lose his mind by asking where his other half was.
• Lang Feixian used Confucian sword techniques to keep the Beast Path Master away from the stone house, and the Beast Path Master sent Demon Race Great Sage puppets to attack him.
• Gold Guagua revealed his Devouring Toad Original Form and carried Chen Luo and Xie Sansheng through the Sea of Origin.
• Chen Luo saw that Sixth Senior Sister’s chessboard above a distant mountain had no pieces left, and he urged Gold Guagua to swim there at full speed.

Chen Luo found Ao Lingling and the unconscious Yun Siyao on the island, then began treating her demonic injury with Red Dust Qi. Xie Sansheng explained that a corrupted high monk had split into benevolent and evil halves, and the group realized the monk Yun Siyao killed might not be entirely dead.

• Ao Lingling used his lifeblood to stabilize Yun Siyao and hid her when Chen Luo and Xie Sansheng arrived.
• Ao Lingling mistook Xie Sansheng for a heretical trick and attacked, but recognized Chen Luo’s Martial Dao True Intent and led them to Yun Siyao.
• Ao Lingling recounted how a demon inside the mountain ambushed him and Yun Siyao, leaving her wounded.
• Xie Sansheng found heart-demon power in Yun Siyao and could not remove it, so Chen Luo used his Red Dust Qi to treat her.
• Ao Lingling revealed the demon’s appearance, and Xie Sansheng concluded that the foolish monk outside the stone house was the benevolent half of a high monk whose evil half had become a heart demon.

Chen Luo wrote The Complete Biography of Ji Gong to support the raising of Mount Sumeru, while Lang Feixian fought the Beast Path Lord and his powerful puppets outside the alms bowl. The mountain rose from the Origin Sea, but Jin Guagua reported that something had gone wrong.

• Xie Sansheng explained that the Evil Buddha came from the Demented Monk’s evil thoughts and that Mount Sumeru had to be lifted from the Origin Sea before it could be refined.
• Ao Lingling and Jin Guagua transformed into their original forms and pushed Mount Sumeru upward from beneath the sea.
• Lang Feixian summoned his Wine Sword Immortal Martial Dao True Body and attacked the Golden-Winged Great Peng and Zhu Yan puppets sent by the Beast Path Lord.
• Chen Luo wrote The Complete Biography of Ji Gong, whose Buddhist light enveloped Mount Sumeru as it rose from the water.
• Jin Guagua rushed back and told Chen Luo and Xie Sansheng that something had gone wrong with Mount Sumeru.

Chen Luo severed the heart-demon energy linking the Origin Sea to Mount Sumeru, triggering the sea’s Ancestral Dragon backlash. As the water dragon prepared to attack, Yun Siyao awoke and revealed an Ancestral Dragon Sacred Voice.

• Xie Sansheng explained that the Origin Sea was a Bodhi Land and that heart-demon energy had been feeding on Mount Sumeru through a column of water.
• Chen Luo separated the column of water from Mount Sumeru with pages from The Complete Biography of Ji Gong.
• Lang Feixian destroyed the Great Sage Zhu Yan and Golden-Winged Great Peng puppets, then the Demented Monk repeatedly slapped the Beast Path Master.
• The Origin Sea formed a gigantic water dragon, and Xie Sansheng warned that its attack was the backlash from severing the demonic link.
• Chen Luo shielded Yun Siyao as she awoke, then she manifested a powerful dragon shadow and answered the water dragon’s roar.
• Ao Lingling recognized Yun Siyao’s display as the Ancestral Dragon Sacred Voice.

Yun Siyao awakened the Ancestral Dragon’s sacred voice and began helping Chen Luo refine Mount Sumeru as heavenly rain fell. Outside the stone house, the Beast Path Master dissolved into black smoke, allowing the Evil Buddha to cross over and confront the Demented Monk and Lang Feixian.

• Yun Siyao’s grandfather learned that she had entered the Origin Sea and arranged a secret welcome, but he and the man in white were startled when they heard the Ancestral Dragon’s sacred voice.
• Ao Lingling recognized Yun Siyao’s awakening as the Ancestral Dragon’s Soul and recalled the three inheritances and Yun Aotian’s legendary strength.
• Yun Siyao explained how refining Chen Luo’s True Phoenix Blood Lotus completed the wisdom inheritance and freed her from the seal’s torment, then gained the water dragon’s recognition.
• Yun Siyao sent Chen Luo the mountain-refining method, and he began refining Mount Sumeru while she summoned torrential rain.
• The Demented Monk stopped beating the Beast Path Master, but the Beast Path Master and the other creatures dissolved into black smoke as the Evil Buddha crossed over through him.
• The Evil Buddha restrained Lang Feixian with his heart-demon law and measure, while the Demented Monk explained that a tranquil mind could break its influence.

Chen Luo entered Mount Sumeru’s depths to refine its mountain spirit and witnessed the ancient Buddhas’ Nirvana and the mountain’s collapse. He discovered the spirit was a dead Diting, but its body gave birth to a tiny golden Diting that he lifted into his hands.

• Yun Siyao explained the misunderstanding to the Great Vajra Heavenly Dragon, which stopped obstructing the group and let Chen Luo refine Mount Sumeru.
• Chen Luo followed a water droplet into Mount Sumeru’s heart and saw ancient Buddhas sacrifice themselves while connecting to a dark world.
• Chen Luo mistook Mount Sumeru’s collapse for a trial, but falling rocks crushed his Divine Soul Incarnation.
• Chen Luo awakened in the darkness and found the dead Diting that had been Mount Sumeru’s mountain spirit.
• Chen Luo touched the bulge in the Diting’s abdomen, and a stone emerged; the Diting’s golden energy entered it and produced a tiny Diting that meowed.

Chen Luo learned that the reborn mountain spirit Little Diting had restored two of Mount Sumeru’s abilities: producing Primordial Chaos Qi and preserving willing Demon Race souls in the mountain after death. Yun Siyao named the mountain Mount Fangcun, which Chen Luo planned to plant somewhere so it could grow.

• Yun Siyao watched Chen Luo refine while Ao Lingling, Jin Guagua, and Xie Sansheng left to patrol the mountain.
• Little Diting absorbed a drop of Chen Luo’s brow blood, transformed into a mountain stone, and brought Chen Luo and Yun Siyao into its mountain world.
• Chen Luo showed Yun Siyao that the mountain produced Primordial Chaos Qi and could preserve willing Demon Race souls after death, though its laws were incomplete.
• Chen Luo revealed that Little Diting was sleeping inside the mountain and said they needed to find a place to plant it.
• Yun Siyao suggested renaming the reborn Mount Sumeru and called it Mount Fangcun.

Lang Feixian and the Demented Monk fought the Evil Buddha as Chen Luo refined Mount Sumeru. After the Evil Buddha was defeated, the Formless Heavenly Demon emerged from his Sarira and called for the people inside the alms-bowl world to meet him.

• The Demented Monk confronted the Evil Monk, but the Evil Monk gained the advantage in their clash.
• Lang Feixian merged with the Wine Sword Immortal to become Li Qinglian and attacked the Evil Buddha with his poetic sword art.
• The Demented Monk used a Buddhist incantation to strip away the Evil Buddha's beguiling form, and Li Qinglian wounded him.
• Lang Feixian gained insight, defeated the weakened Evil Buddha, and shattered his golden body, leaving a Sarira behind.
• A faceless Novice Monk emerged from the Sarira, identified himself as the Formless Heavenly Demon, and invited Lang Feixian to join his sect.
• The Formless Heavenly Demon cast Lang Feixian aside and called Chen Luo, Yun Siyao, and the others out of the alms-bowl world.

Chen Luo and his companions questioned the Formless Heavenly Demon while buying time, then launched a coordinated attack. The demon turned their attacks back on them through their hearts, leaving Chen Luo near unconsciousness as an arrogant Dragon's Roar rang out.

• The Formless Heavenly Demon assessed Chen Luo, Yun Siyao, Xie Sansheng, Lang Feixian, Ao Lingling, and Jin Guagua, then explained that the Sage's ritual had sealed his race's innate power and forced them to enter the world through heart demons and believers.
• Yun Siyao secretly urged Chen Luo to drag out the conversation, and the Formless Heavenly Demon offered to spare them if they acknowledged him as their master.
• Chen Luo asked how the Formless Heavenly Demon had passed through Bodhi Land and infected Mount Sumeru, and the demon revealed that an ancestor had left a hidden move after fighting the Buddha.
• Chen Luo signaled an attack, and Cui Shanque, the Bean Marshals, Xie Sansheng, Ao Lingling, Jin Guagua, and Lang Feixian struck the Formless Heavenly Demon together.
• The Formless Heavenly Demon tapped his heart and vanished, transferring the force of the attacks to Chen Luo and the others; as Chen Luo began to lose consciousness, an arrogant Dragon's Roar erupted in his ears.

Yun Siyao awakened the Ancestral Dragon’s Soul and defeated the Formless Heavenly Demon in the Mustard Seed Secret Realm. As she recovered, the Demented Monk regained his clarity, and Ao Lingling warned that Mount Sumeru’s rite would end in one day.

• The dragons emerged from the sea as an ancient roar shook the world and reached the Mustard Seed Secret Realm.
• Yun Siyao used the Ancestral Dragon’s power to purify the Formless Heavenly Demon’s river of desire and burn away his demonic body.
• The Formless Heavenly Demon tried to scatter into countless demonic thoughts, but Yun Siyao destroyed them with Thought Lightning.
• A purified sarira returned to the Demented Monk, who regained his clarity and asked to speak with Chen Luo about Mount Sumeru.
• Yun Siyao weakened after using the Great Vajra Heavenly Dragon’s Will, and Chen Luo stayed by her side.
• Ao Lingling announced that one day remained before Mount Sumeru’s rite ended.

Chen Luo accepted the Mountain Guarding Monk into Mount Fangcun and considered where to establish the mountain. Dragon Marquis Fubo arrived to take Yun Siyao back to the Cloud Dragon Heavenly Palace, and she departed after exchanging a red thread and a Lovesickness Knot with Chen Luo.

• The Mountain Guarding Monk advised Chen Luo to place Mount Fangcun atop the Bodhi Land in the Southern Border, where it could grow and suppress inner demons.
• The Mountain Guarding Monk entered Mount Fangcun, and Chen Luo returned to the sleeping Yun Siyao.
• Dragon Marquis Fubo appeared above Abbot Island and told Yun Siyao to return to the Cloud Dragon Heavenly Palace because her dragon soul had awakened.
• Yun Siyao agreed to go with Dragon Marquis Fubo, explaining that the Cloud Dragon inheritance would help her master the Soul of the Ancestral Dragon.
• Chen Luo embraced Yun Siyao, wrapped the red thread around her wrist, and promised to come for her; she kissed him, called him her Chess Piece, and left him a blue strand of hair tied into a Lovesickness Knot.

Chen Luo traveled west while mourning Yun Siyao’s absence and planning where to establish Mount Fangcun. Meanwhile, Fang Zigu and the Barbarian leaders arranged a joint Curse Killing against Chen Luo, leaving the attack preparations underway as Hantian burned the copy of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

• Chen Luo traveled with Lang Feixian, Jin Guagua, and Ao Lingling after Yun Siyao and Xie Sansheng left, and he considered Great Leaf Ridge as a site for Mountain Planting.
• Fang Zigu told a white-robed monk that the Barbarians would Curse Kill Chen Luo and that Buddhist power would improve the spell’s chance of success.
• Hantian asked Tagu about Chen Luo and ordered him to bring a Moon Race Barbarian Emperor to join the planned attack.
• Hantian’s copy of Romance of the Three Kingdoms burst into flame and burned to ashes.

Chen Luo was trapped in a Buddhist-barbarian killing formation and fought a Blood Sacrifice avatar, but Yun Siyao’s True Dragon Strike destroyed the avatar and broke the curse. Mountain Guarding Monk then killed Jin Qizhi, and Chen Luo woke from the vision beside the carriage.

• Jin Qizhi prepared to kill Chen Luo with a Blood Sacrifice avatar made from two Barbarian Emperors and other sacrifices.
• Chen Luo fought the avatar in a rain-soaked illusion but was overpowered as it surged to Second Rank strength.
• Yun Siyao’s remaining Great Vajra Heavenly Dragon intent became a sword in Chen Luo’s hand, and Chen Luo used it to split the avatar and shatter the curse formation in Barbarian Heaven Hall.
• Jin Qizhi tried to kill the exhausted Chen Luo, but Mountain Guarding Monk emerged from Chen Luo and shattered Jin Qizhi with a Buddhist handprint.
• Chen Luo returned to the carriage scene, realized the confrontation had been a dream, and thanked Sixth Senior Sister toward the east.