Chapter Summaries

Chen Luo learned that his Kirin bloodline would remain in its Small Kirin form until he mastered a rule, and Kirin King urged him to pursue the Primordial Kirin’s rule of Heaven and Earth. In the Netherworld, Zhong Kui began recounting Chen Luo’s deeds to its queen, while Chen Luo returned to Snow Brocade Village and suffered the indignity of being sent to the children’s table.

• Kirin King explained that Small Kirin could not assume a full Kirin form or control the Kirin Domain until mastering a rule, and that Chen Luo could choose which rule to pursue.
• Kirin King encouraged Chen Luo to seek the Primordial Kirin’s rule of Heaven and Earth, then revealed that a Small Kirin could use the Kirin Divine Ability Kirin Delivering a Child; Chen Luo recoiled from the idea.
• In the Netherworld, Ying Gou was grounded for a year, and Zhong Kui told its queen that his master was Chen Luo, the Martial Ancestor.
• After Zhong Kui defended Chen Luo and the queen asked to hear about his achievements, he began his story with his birth as a Tamed ghost.
• Back in Snow Brocade Village, Chen Luo found nothing in the Kirin Heart’s forbidden grounds, and his elder siblings laughed when they learned he was still a young kirin.
• At the banquet, Gan Tang’s warning kept others from forcing Chen Luo to drink, but he was sent to the children’s table and watched the Garlic Demon and Cucumber Spirit’s antics.

Chen Luo returned from the Kirin Domain and wrote The Butterfly Lovers, whose popularity brought him a surge of Red Dust Qi and struck at the Fang Family’s doctrine of arranged marriage. As the Fang Family planned its response, Ao Lingling brought Chen Luo a reply from Wutong Forest.

• Chen Luo told the Kirin King about the strange power in the Kirin Tomb, and the Kirin King claimed it was high-level Heavenly Demon energy before sending Chen Luo back toward Mount Fangcun.
• Chen Luo decided to write The Butterfly Lovers to build his cultivation and counter the Fang Family, then created Book Spirit butterflies that could preserve the Spiritual Light of deceased lovers and guard those left behind.
• The Butterfly Lovers spread through Great Xuan, moving readers to tears and causing chaos at academies, teahouses, and the Great Xuan Civil Gazette.
• Ye Heng and Yan Baichuan discussed Chen Luo’s plan to reach Nine Thousand Li, while Fang Huaji and the Fang Family elders planned to counter the story’s attack on Parental Command and Matchmaker’s Words.
• Chen Luo felt the Red Dust Qi from the story accelerating his cultivation, and Ao Lingling told him that Wutong Forest had replied.

Chen Luo discovered that he could not open the Nine Thousand Li flower forest without risking his soul, then traveled to Wutong Forest to visit the Azure Dragon Emperor. The Emperor welcomed him, sent Essence of Sun and Moon to repay the Demon Race gifts Chen Luo had gathered, praised his handling of the Elephant Race, and recognized the mysterious egg Chen Luo had brought.

• Chen Luo learned that the Azure Dragon Emperor’s gift list was actually a demand for visiting presents, so he arranged for Fang Huaping to supply the costly goods.
• Chen Luo realized that opening the Nine Thousand Li flower forest required either reaching the proper cultivation or borrowing Power of Heaven and Earth from the books’ original world, leaving him to consider taking the dangerous Nine Thousand Li step.
• Chen Luo asked the Spirit of the Illusionary Realm about opening the Nine Thousand Li flower forest early, but it warned that his soul could collapse without the proper power.
• Chen Luo traveled toward Wutong Forest, visiting Demon Race settlements and accepting gifts in exchange for Wutong Leaves before distributing half his haul among his escort.
• Jianjia brought Chen Luo to meet the Azure Dragon Emperor, who repaid the gift-givers with Essence of Sun and Moon and advised Chen Luo to preserve his reputation among the Demon Race.
• Chen Luo showed the Azure Dragon Emperor the egg that had collected the Reincarnation Rule, and the Emperor recognized it as the egg the Kirin King had stolen from his tree.

Chen Luo learned that the Ancestor Egg held the dormant evolution power of a dead Great Thousand World, then entered its chaos with the Azure Dragon Emperor’s help to refine it into his divine soul. He succeeded in opening the Nine Thousand Li Flower Forest and prepared to return to the Bamboo Forest to open Dao Nine Thousand Li.

• The Azure Dragon Emperor explained that the Ancestor Egg was a dead chaos whose evolution power could be stirred by powerful Dao-rules, and revealed that only a Lord of the Dao could fully use it.
• The Azure Dragon Emperor sent Chen Luo into the chaos and urged him to establish the root of a world within himself and give birth to the Qian-Kun Guide.
• Chen Luo connected the Dream Flower Forest to the chaos through the Spirit of the Illusionary Realm, risking the collapse of his divine soul to refine the chaos.
• The Nine Thousand Li Flower Forest absorbed the chaos’s power, and its mist dispersed as Chen Luo opened the complete Nine Thousand Li Flower Forest.
• The Azure Dragon Emperor confirmed Chen Luo had succeeded, and Chen Luo announced he would return to the Bamboo Forest to open Dao Nine Thousand Li.
• The Azure Dragon Emperor gave Chen Luo a fruit that could imitate a Third Rank Great Sage’s aura and create the illusion of a bloodline breakthrough.

After reaching the Third Rank Great Sage realm, Chen Luo returned to Great Xuan and reunited with his senior brothers, then prepared to open the Dao Nine Thousand Li. The chapter ended with major figures across Great Xuan receiving word that the opening would begin in three days.

• Chen Luo broke through to the Third Rank Great Sage realm at Mount Fangcun, while Feng Nanzhi realized he might soon leave Southern Wilderness.
• Chen Luo gave Ao Lingling First Rank True Dragon Essence Blood and left Mount Fangcun sealed before secretly departing for Great Xuan.
• Lang Feixian and Bamboo Forest Old Seven welcomed Chen Luo at the Bamboo Forest, where he reunited with Song Tui Zhi and shared news from Southern Wilderness.
• Lang Feixian explained that someone with Half-Saint-level power had injured the original master of Chen Luo's three Immortal Bean Dao Lords, and he agreed to notify the Daoists.
• Chen Luo set a date three days later to open the Dao Nine Thousand Li, and Lang Feixian warned him that others might interfere.
• Messenger Bluebirds informed Yan Baichuan and Sima Lie of the planned opening, and both prepared to witness it.

The author explained how Journey to the West would be adapted in the novel, arguing that its worldview would follow the original while presenting the story chiefly from the perspective of ordinary people. The chapter ended by teasing how Chen Luo and Bai Ze would introduce the work and how its characters and religious factions would respond.

• The author said Journey to the West would draw on the original book, with limited changes such as Tang Sanzang falling in love in the Women's Country section.
• The author argued that Journey to the West was not historically banned and would be readily accepted in the Idle Books World.
• The author rejected interpretations that the original simply praised Buddhism or Daoism, and instead described it as expressing the will of ordinary people.
• The author said Journey to the West borrowed the outward trappings of Buddhism and Daoism without challenging their core doctrines, and was treated as popular entertainment.
• The author teased that characters in the Idle Books World would develop their own interpretations and raised questions about Chen Luo, Bai Ze, Sun Wukong, and the Buddhist sects.

Chen Luo opened the Martial Dao’s Nine Thousand Li by using the Book of Buddhas and Demons to test the Heavenly Dao, while hostile forces tried to stop him with attacks from several directions and the Azure Dragon lineage’s Sin Order. Great Xuan’s people and clans bore witness for Chen Luo, the Sin Order dissolved, and the Martial Dao reached Nine Thousand Li; Lang Feixian then set out to confront the Azure Dragon lineage.

• Chen Luo prepared to open Nine Thousand Li and explained how the Mortal World Martial Dao would unite Red Dust Qi with the divine soul, while Lang Feixian and the other senior brothers agreed to support him.
• Seventh Senior Brother and Song Tui Zhi severed their principles from the Confucian Sect Great Dao and merged them into the Martial Dao, strengthening Chen Luo before he began.
• Chen Luo recited the opening account of the cosmic cycles from Journey to the West, and the Seven-Colored Great Dao appeared as he stepped into the void to face the Heavenly Dao’s scrutiny.
• Lu Fang Weng and Ouyang Yongshu blocked two Great Bodhisattvas, Human Race Half-Saints held off the northern barbarians, and Feng Nanzhi rejected the wolf clan’s request for aid and ordered an attack on Wolf Lu’s forces.
• Cang Liu and Tagu arranged for the Azure Dragon lineage to use the Dragon Race Sin Order against Chen Luo, but Emperor Ye Heng and people across Great Xuan gathered their Destiny and Popular Support to bear witness for him, dissolving the order.
• The Heavenly Dao resumed its scrutiny, Chen Luo completed the Nine Thousand Li Great Dao, and Lang Feixian recovered to the Seeking Summit before flying toward the Origin Sea to attack the Azure Dragon lineage.

Chen Luo opened the Martial Dao to Nine Thousand Li, established its final realms, and received a great lifespan blessing from the Heavenly Dao. After the world celebrated the new path, Chen Luo set out to write a book about reaching Nine Thousand Li and slaying dragons.

• Lu Fang Weng and Ouyang Yongshu repelled two Great Bodhisattvas, while Fan Xiwen, Wang Banshan, and Zeng Gu forced the Barbarians to withdraw.
• Ye Zhan learned that Chen Luo had reached Nine Thousand Li, and the Fang Family acknowledged that its conflict with Chen Luo could not be reconciled.
• Lang Feixian and Li Changgu headed toward the Azure Dragon Sea to avenge the Azure Dragon lineage's attempt to obstruct Chen Luo's Dao.
• Chen Luo spread the teachings of Seven Thousand Li as the Divine Connection Realm, Eight Thousand Li as the Heart-Calming Realm, and Nine Thousand Li as the Unity Realm; the Heavenly Dao granted lifespan to martial artists.
• Chen Luo challenged Bai Mo to write a Nine Thousand Li book, and Bai Mo answered that he had been waiting for Chen Luo to open the Dao.
• After returning to the Bamboo Forest, Chen Luo learned that Lang Feixian had gone after the Azure Dragon lineage and went to write a book called Nine Thousand Li—to slay dragons.

Li Changgu and Lang Feixian confronted the Azure Dragon lineage at Yuan Sea, while Chen Luo wrote the first chapter of Journey to the West and caused the Heavenly Dao to create rules binding the Sea Clan to human law. The new Dragon Slaying Platform checked the dragons’ threats and gave the Department of Deviations authority over Sea Clan members beneath the Dragon King level.

• Li Changgu and Lang Feixian fought their way through Yuan Sea until Dao Venerable Zhang Wumeng stopped Azure Dragon Yong’s attack and barred Dragon Kings from leaving the sea without human permission.
• Azure Dragon Yuan threatened to keep the Azure Dragon lineage at sea and kill ten million humans, and Li Changgu inferred that the lineage was trying to draw the Human Race into conflict while seeking allies among the barbarians.
• Chen Luo wrote the opening chapter of Journey to the West, recounting Yuan Shoucheng’s prediction and the Azure Dragon King’s execution on the Dragon Slaying Platform.
• Chen Luo’s completed manuscript evolved new Heavenly Dao rules that established the Dragon Slaying Platform in Yuan Sea and made Sea Clan members protected by the Heavenly Dao subject to human law.
• The new rules gave Cheng Nanshan authority to judge Sea Clan members beneath the Dragon King level, while Li Changgu and Lang Feixian taunted the Azure Dragons over their new constraints.

Chen Luo completed the second chapter of Journey to the West, but its Power of Evolution vanished instead of triggering a visible Heavenly Dao phenomenon. Zhong Kui then returned from the Netherworld and revealed that Chen Xuan was there.

• The Cloud Dragon Dragon Emperor agreed to support Yun Siyao’s junior brother after the Dragon Slaying Platform restricted the Azure Dragon lineage.
• Ye Heng learned that Lang Feixian had declared revenge against humanity, then received a second report announcing the Dragon Slaying Platform and Minister Wen’s new authority over maritime law.
• Cheng Nanshan proposed establishing the Maritime Patrol Division, and officials across Great Xuan rushed to read the first chapter of Journey to the West.
• Xiang Jixuan and the martial artists discussed Journey to the West’s effects, while Chen Luo privately considered its Red Dust Qi, Qi of Motion and Stillness, and power of Salvation.
• Chen Luo finished writing the chapter about King Tang’s journey through the Netherworld, but its Power of Evolution dispersed without a visible effect.
• Zhong Kui appeared before Chen Luo and told him that Chen Xuan was in the Netherworld.

Chen Luo learned that Chen Xuan had entered the Netherworld and went to the Azure Dragon Emperor for a way to reach her without endangering his martial path. After preparing a wooden body and enlisting allies to guard it, he began writing Journey to the West’s true first chapter, whose opening stirred a sign of great prosperity among the Ape Clan.

• Zhong Kui told Chen Luo that Chen Xuan had fought through Buddhist Land of the Netherworld, escaped wounded after a Great Bodhisattva intervened, and remained missing.
• Seventh Senior Brother stopped Chen Luo from entering the Netherworld recklessly and directed him to seek the Azure Dragon Emperor’s help at Wutong Forest.
• The Azure Dragon Emperor explained that Chen Luo could enter the Netherworld safely if he created a rule linking the two realms, and gave him sariras and a seed for a wooden body that would keep his martial path safe for up to ten years.
• Chen Luo chose to plant his wooden body at Mount Fangcun, while the Kirin King, Bai Yan Yan, and Bamboo Forest Old Seven arranged protection and preparations for his journey.
• Chen Luo’s second Journey to the West chapter caused a sensation across Great Xuan, prompted the Sacred Hall to make the book a subscription article, and left Ye Heng complaining that he had received no extra lifespan.
• After the wooden body grew, Chen Luo took control of it and began writing Journey to the West’s first chapter; thunder rang out, and the Ape Clan Holy Monarch announced a Sign of Great Prosperity.

White Ink’s The Legend of Monkey spread through the Southern Wastelands, and demons discovered that it hinted at a path to longevity and could strengthen bloodline cultivation. As Jun Ji Kingdom and the Azure Ox Clan moved to support White Ink, Chen Luo quietly headed for Wutong Forest.

• A Golden Monkey demon revealed that White Ink’s new story starred the Handsome Monkey King, and a Great Sage Golden Monkey announced that its first chapter held a secret about the Ancestor Demon Realm.
• The Nine-tailed Fox and two Fox Race Ancestor Demons discussed the story’s promise of longevity, its Daoist path, and the monkey’s search for Patriarch Subhuti.
• Jun Ji Kingdom’s Ape Race discovered that reading the chapter produced bloodline aura they could battle to strengthen their connection with their Ancestor Demon.
• The Ape Lord ordered Shi Man’er to focus on reaching the Great Sage Realm, while a Jun Ji Ancestor Demon offered White Ink three great favors and allowed qualified monkeys to take the surname Sun.
• The Azure Ox Clan decided to send the manuscript to the Daoist Palace and strengthen its ties with Mount Fangcun, while Niu Dafa privately recognized White Ink’s high standing in the Daoist School.
• Chen Luo quietly left Mount Fangcun and headed toward Wutong Forest.

Chen Luo entered the Nether Land to search for Chen Xuan and learned about its major powers while following Great Feng officials out of the White Lotus Pure Land. The chapter ended when a Great Feng registrar detected Chen Luo and attacked, just as the space before Chen Luo warped.

• Chen Luo accepted the Azure Dragon Emperor's warning and entered the Nether Land through a path of reincarnation formed from twenty-seven sariras, with Zhong Kui accompanying him.
• Chen Luo and Zhong Kui found themselves without a clear destination or a way to contact King Ying Gou, then hid when several black-eyed figures approached.
• Zhong Kui explained the Nether Land's major powers, including the White Lotus Pure Land, the Central Bhadrapala Pure Land, the Great Feng Dynasty, and the Blood Sea.
• Chen Luo watched Lord Wang trade a porcelain bottle containing 16,704 divine souls with Arhat Xiuyuan for Resurrection Flowers, then followed Lord Wang's group out of the White Lotus Pure Land.
• At a ruined temple, Lord Registrar sensed Chen Luo and hurled his brush at him as the space before Chen Luo warped.

Chen Luo rescued Xie Bian and Fan Wujiu from a corrupt Netherworld scheme and arranged for them to help him seek an introduction to King Ying Gou. As they traveled toward Da Feng, Chen Luo discovered he could effortlessly create vast quantities of high-quality Nether Land merit.

• Soul Catcher Envoy Xie Bian and Fan Wujiu confronted the Registrar over his soul-trafficking scheme, but Chen Luo and Zhong Kui intervened to save them.
• The Registrar self-detonated after a Royal Title apparently destroyed evidence, but Chen Luo found the hidden ruined temple and helped Fan Wujiu capture Wang Wuyong.
• Wang Wuyong confessed that he had trafficked 8,047,066 Da Feng souls for 43,086 units of merit, though he claimed not to know which Royal Title was behind the scheme.
• Xie Bian explained how Nether Land merit worked, and Fan Wujiu offered to take Chen Luo to Da Feng and help him contact King Ying Gou.
• Chen Luo discovered that he could condense Nether Land merit and expanded a small cloud into a mass worth at least ten thousand units, astonishing Fan Wujiu, Xie Bian, and Wang Wuyong.

Chen Luo accompanied Xie Bian and Fan Wujiu into Da Feng to investigate Wang Wuyong’s dealings with the White Lotus Pure Land, where the Garrison King Lai Junchen attacked them to conceal his crimes. When Lai Junchen’s royal palace descended, Chen Luo awakened the Power of Evolution and summoned his own Netherworld Palace, leaving Lai Junchen’s palace shattered.

• Chen Luo entered Da Feng with Xie Bian and Fan Wujiu and learned how its royal lords and Garrison Kings wielded authority.
• The group reached Qiping County, where Wang Wuyong led them to the county office to retrieve evidence of his bribes.
• A skeletal royal lord appeared, killed Wang Wuyong, and tried to bargain with Xie Bian and Fan Wujiu before threatening them.
• Chen Luo refused to stand aside, defeated the royal lord’s attacks, and let Zhong Kui capture and devour his summoned ghost.
• Fan Wujiu identified the royal lord as Iron Prison King Lai Junchen, who revealed his Original Form and summoned his royal palace to trap the group.
• Chen Luo’s Power of Evolution awakened and formed the Netherworld Palace, which descended and shattered Lai Junchen’s palace.

Chen Luo’s illusory Netherworld Palace led Lai Junchen to accuse him of rebellion, but Emperor Xuan granted him the title King of Fengdu and revealed that she was Xuanyuan Mingkong, the Qilin Emperor and his senior uncle-master. She agreed to help search for Chen Xuan, while Chen Luo’s questions about the Netherworld and his return remained unanswered.

• Chen Luo’s Netherworld Palace crushed Lai Junchen’s arms, and Lai Junchen tried to summon other Seal Kings to capture him as a rebel.
• Wang Xiaojie and Li Yuanfang arrived, but Shangguan Zhaorong delivered Emperor Xuan’s edict naming Chen Luo King of Fengdu and ordered Lai Junchen stripped of his title and imprisoned.
• Shangguan Zhaorong escorted Chen Luo, Fan Wujiu, and Xie Bian to Emperor Xuan, who revealed she was Xuanyuan Mingkong, the Qilin Emperor and Chen Luo’s senior uncle-master.
• Emperor Xuan learned that Chen Luo was searching for his elder sister, Chen Xuan, and promised to coordinate the search while warning that returning to the mortal world would be difficult.
• Chen Luo explained that his nine-thousand-li Dao and Power of Evolution had produced the Netherworld Palace, and Emperor Xuan took his Journey to the West manuscript to study it.
• Chen Luo wrote down questions about the Qilin Emperor’s death, the purpose of the Netherworld Court, his return, and Chen Xuan’s whereabouts.

Chen Luo learned why the Netherworld’s ghosts suffered and heard the Qilin Emperor explain that the River of Life and Death was failing. She revealed her plan to use her phoenix bloodline’s Life and Death Rule to replace it and asked Chen Luo for help.

• Fan Wujiu and Xie Bian escorted Chen Luo to Mountain Moon Tower, where Li Bi and Wen Feiqing hosted him and several other kings to hear news of the Human World.
• Chen Luo asked why the Netherworld’s kings retained their memories and learned that the question involved Ancestor Liu and the Ancient Buddhist Sect; Li Bi and Wen Feiqing explained that ghosts faced eventual assimilation into the Netherworld.
• The Qilin Emperor scolded Chen Luo for drinking at Mountain Moon Tower, assigned Wen Feiqing a year without salary, and ordered Chen Luo to live in the Eastern Palace.
• The Qilin Emperor explained that Ancestor Liu’s Willow Leaf Mark protected souls crossing the River of Life and Death, and described how the Jianmu had once governed the cycle of life and death.
• The Qilin Emperor revealed that the River of Life and Death was losing its vitality and that she planned to use her Life and Death Rule as the Netherworld Heavenly Dao to restore the cycle.
• The Qilin Emperor assured Chen Luo that she would survive the transformation and asked him to help her with the problems she had encountered.

Chen Luo learned that the Qilin Emperor needed his new books to help connect the Netherworld to the Heavenly Dao and strengthen the Life and Death Rule, so he began writing in the human world through his wooden body. His chapter on Sun Wukong unexpectedly granted Chen Luo the Seventy-two Transformations and Somersault Cloud, while the Azure Dragon Emperor feared they would lose out.

• The Qilin Emperor ordered Chen Luo to establish Great Fengdu's Yin Yang Division and write books whose Heavenly Dao traces and readers' vitality could support the Life and Death Reversal.
• After returning to the Eastern Palace, Chen Luo found that he could not write Elegant Script in the Netherworld, so he transferred his consciousness to his wooden body at Mount Fangcun.
• Chen Luo learned that four days had passed in the Netherworld while only three had passed in the human world, and he instructed Ao Lingling to coordinate simultaneous distribution of his articles.
• Chen Luo wrote Sun Wukong's training under Subhuti, including the True Marvelous Formula of Manifested and Esoteric Perfect Penetration, the Seventy-two Transformations, and the Somersault Cloud.
• The Power of Evolution surged into Chen Luo's wooden body and gave him the Seventy-two Transformations and Somersault Cloud, while monkey hair appeared on his hand.
• Wutong Ling and the Azure Dragon Emperor noticed the ape phantom on the wooden arm, and the Azure Dragon Emperor sighed that they seemed to have lost out.

Hou Wangzu discovered that Hou Sailei had begun comprehending Somersault Cloud from The Legend of Monkey, while Chen Luo clarified the book’s new Divine Abilities and wrote another chapter. The Daoist Sect began investigating the longevity method revealed in the story, and golden Buddhist clouds approached Dafeng.

• Hou Wangzu learned that Hou Sailei had gained the beginnings of Somersault Cloud after reading about Sun Wukong, then heard that Hou Saiyin was behaving strangely.
• Chen Luo sorted out the limits of Somersault Cloud and Seventy-two Transformations, then started writing the next chapter of The Legend of Monkey.
• Great Sages across the Southern Wasteland learned that Ape-Monkey Clan prodigies were comprehending the new Divine Abilities, and Feng Nanzhi complained that Chen Luo favored the monkey clan.
• Ancestor Demons debated the longevity method in the manuscript and considered following the Heaven's Dao, while Great Ancestor Tàhuǒ admitted he did not understand it.
• Mr. Xiyi directed Zhang Wumeng and Zhang Pingshu to study the longevity formula and arranged for the Dao Palace to work with the Azure Ox to draw ancestral demons onto the path of Heaven.
• Chen Luo finished writing as golden clouds bearing Buddhist chants flew toward Dafeng from the Netherworld.

Chen Luo finished a new Sun Wukong chapter, then returned to the Netherworld after sensing a signal from his true body. There, Bodhisattva Yixing told him that his sister Chen Xuan was alive and had been rescued by a mysterious force whose name was Purple Cloud Palace.

• Chen Luo revised Sun Wukong’s adventures at the Dragon Palace and in the Netherworld, then wrote Grand White Golden Star recruiting him to Heaven.
• Chen Luo returned to his wooden body in Fengdu after Ao Lingling supported it, and learned that Bodhisattva Yixing had arrived from the Central Bhadrapala Pure Land.
• Shangguan Zhaorong took Chen Luo to a charity burial ground, where Yixing and the other monks used Buddhist chants to draw Netherworld Death Qi from ghost citizens.
• Yixing led Chen Luo and Shangguan Zhaorong into a golden lotus, where Chen Luo asked about his sister Chen Xuan.
• Yixing said Chen Xuan’s life was not in danger and that a mysterious force had rescued her from the White Lotus Pure Land; he identified the name he heard as Purple Cloud Palace.