Chapter Summaries

Tongtian regained the second level of the Sage realm and confronted Yuanshi, Zhunti, and Jieyin for attacking his disciples and Golden Ao Island. He overwhelmed the three Saints with the Four Immortal Slaying Swords and the God-Slaying Spear, while Jieyin tried to excuse the Western Saints’ involvement.

• Nuwa watched as Tongtian returned to the second level of the Sage realm, shocking the three Saints outside Golden Ao Island.
• Tongtian berated Yuanshi, Zhunti, and Jieyin for bullying his disciples and attacking his Mountain Protection Formation.
• Jieyin tried to withdraw and claimed that the Western Saints had been forced to come by Yuanshi, but Tongtian refused to listen.
• Tongtian attacked the three Saints with the Four Immortal Slaying Swords, and Yuanshi countered with the Pangu Banner.
• Tongtian added the God-Slaying Spear to his assault, overpowering the three Saints and wearing down Jieyin’s Twelve-Grade Golden Lotus of Merit.
• Jieyin pleaded that the Western Saints had only lightly reprimanded one of Tongtian’s disciples and had meant no harm.

Tongtian overwhelmed Yuanshi, Jieyin, and Zhunti, then trapped them in the Immortal Slaying Sword Formation. He entered the formation to test a new divine ability on the three Sages.

• Tongtian fought the three Sages with the Four Immortal Slaying Swords and God-Slaying Spear, forcing Kunpeng and Minghe to abandon hopes of attaining Sagehood and making Taishang and Nuwa marvel at his strength.
• Yuanshi proposed calling the fight even, but his attempt to excuse the Western Saints’ attack on Duobao only enraged Tongtian further.
• Jieyin and Zhunti tried to retreat, but Tongtian trapped all three Sages inside the Immortal Slaying Sword Formation and unleashed Sword Severance.
• Jieyin and Zhunti raised golden and seven-colored bells for protection while Yuanshi struggled to defend himself with the Pangu Banner.
• Tongtian entered the sword formation and announced that he would use the three Sages to practice his new divine ability.

Tongtian shattered the Two Western Saints’ defensive bells with the Dao-Slaying Heavenly Sword and demanded their treasures and Yuanshi’s Wuji Apricot Yellow Flag in exchange for sparing them. After wounding Jieyin with the God-Slaying Spear, Tongtian forced him to hand over the Eastern Green Lotus Treasure Color Banner, and Yuanshi also threw over his flag.

• Tongtian’s Dao-Slaying Heavenly Sword destroyed the Two Western Saints’ defensive bells, and Zhunti and Jieyin knelt to beg for mercy.
• Tongtian demanded the Eastern Green Lotus Treasure Color Banner from the Two Western Saints and the Wuji Apricot Yellow Flag from Yuanshi.
• Jieyin tried to substitute three Houtian Spiritual Treasures, but Tongtian attacked him with the God-Slaying Spear and wounded his abdomen.
• Jieyin handed the Treasure Color Flag to Tongtian, who stored it in his Purple Mansion.
• Yuanshi hurled the Wuji Apricot Yellow Flag at Tongtian, who caught it.

Tongtian defeated Yuanshi, Jieyin, and Zhunti, then returned to Golden Ao Island and assured his disciples he could protect the Interception Sect through the coming Great Calamity. After months of teaching them the Great Dao, he examined the Nine-Patterned Peach and wondered whether refining it could raise his cultivation to the third realm.

• Tongtian took Yuanshi's Apricot Yellow Flag and dismissed the three Saints, who left without forcing him to sign the Investiture of the Gods.
• Tongtian's defeat of the three Saints shook the Primordial World, and Taishang and Nuwa departed after witnessing the battle.
• Back on Golden Ao Island, Tongtian comforted Duobao and revealed to Wudang and the other disciples that he had become a Great Dao Saint.
• Tongtian established a new Mountain Protection Formation, gave his disciples treasures, and told them to cultivate while he handled the Great Calamity.
• Tongtian expounded the Great Dao to his disciples for several months, then went to Biyou Palace and considered whether refining the Nine-Patterned Peach could raise his cultivation to the third realm.

Tongtian refined the Nine-Patterned Peach and advanced to the third realm of the Great Dao Saint, then tested a simplified formation with three of the five flags. He turned his thoughts to the coming calamity and remembered that Houtu, a Saint trapped in the Netherworld, might also be involved.

• Tongtian decided to strengthen himself and the Interception Sect to prevent the disaster that had destroyed his disciples in the original calamity.
• Tongtian refined the Nine-Patterned Peach over several months and broke through to the third realm of the Great Dao Saint.
• Tongtian subdued the Eastern Green Lotus Treasure Color Banner and the Central Wuji Apricot Yellow Banner, then formed a simplified Innate Five Elements Grand Formation with three flags.
• Tongtian found that the incomplete formation could not withstand a Saint's power and returned the three flags to his Violet Palace.
• Tongtian remembered that Houtu, one of the Twelve Ancestral Witches, had attained Sainthood after establishing the Netherworld and was trapped there.

Tongtian chose to learn Earthly Path Sublimation and traveled to the Netherworld Palace to propose an alliance with Houtu. He promised to free her from the Heavenly Dao’s restraints, and began demonstrating his method inside the Palace of Pingxin.

• Tongtian chose the option that granted him Earthly Path Sublimation instead of the treasures offered by continued seclusion.
• Tongtian realized the divine ability could raise the Netherworld Palace’s Heaven and Earth Karma Position beyond the Heavenly Dao’s control.
• Tongtian traveled through a spatial gate to the Netherworld Palace and met Houtu in the Palace of Pingxin.
• Tongtian proposed an alliance, but Houtu initially refused because the great tribulation would not threaten the Netherworld Palace.
• Tongtian promised to free Houtu from the Heavenly Dao’s oppression, then sealed the Palace of Pingxin from other saints’ divination as he prepared to demonstrate.

Tongtian gave Houtu the Earthly Path Sublimation method in exchange for her help, and she quickly learned it so she could reclaim her freedom from the Heavenly Dao. Tongtian revealed that he shared her grudge against the Mystic Gate, then left the Netherworld and reflected on Hongjun’s betrayal of the Interception Sect before noticing a battle ahead.

• Tongtian offered Houtu a fragmentary projection of Earthly Path Sublimation, and she agreed to help him in exchange for learning it.
• Houtu cultivated the method and realized she could use it to escape the Heavenly Dao’s suppression.
• Houtu asked whether Tongtian feared she would act against the Mystic Gate, and he said he also held a grudge against it before leaving the Netherworld.
• Tongtian recalled how Hongjun had sided with Yuanshi and the Chan Sect against the Interception Sect during the Investiture of the Gods Tribulation.
• Tongtian noticed a battle taking place ahead as he traveled through the great wilderness.

Tongtian chose to subdue Lu Ya and used his Saintly power to reveal that Zhunti had lured the ten Golden Crows into the prehistoric world, causing the Witch-Demon conflict. Lu Ya learned the truth and asked Tongtian to accept him so he could fight the Western Teachings.

• Tongtian chose the option to subdue Lu Ya and received Pangu’s Nine Forms of Heaven-Opening.
• Lu Ya killed the great demon, and Tongtian emerged and restrained him with Saintly might.
• Tongtian recognized Lu Ya as a Golden Crow and explained that Zhunti had lured the ten Golden Crows into the prehistoric world.
• Tongtian showed Lu Ya the past, and Lu Ya learned that the Western Teachings had helped spark the Witch-Demon war to gain power.
• Lu Ya asked Tongtian to accept him and vowed to fight the Western Teachings.

Tongtian appointed Lu Ya as the Interception Sect’s Seventh Immortal, then mastered the Nine Forms of Heaven-Opening in the Chaos. After receiving a system option to explore the Chaos for a treasure-finding compass or return for a low-grade Innate Spiritual Root, Tongtian chose to explore.

• Tongtian accepted Lu Ya as the Interception Sect’s Seventh Immortal, gaining a powerful ally who bore a grudge against the Western Teachings.
• Tongtian received the Nine Forms of Heaven-Opening and brought Lu Ya back to Golden Ao Island, where Duobao took charge of settling him in.
• Tongtian traveled to the Chaos and cultivated until he mastered the Nine Forms of Heaven-Opening, though he could currently use only the first four moves.
• The system offered Tongtian a Spiritual Essence Sensing Compass for exploring the Chaos or an Enlightenment Fruit for returning to the primordial land.
• Tongtian chose to explore the Chaos, and the compass appeared in his Violet Palace.

Tongtian followed the Spiritual Essence Sensing Compass to a giant chaos beast and obtained a Primordial Dao Comprehension Stone and Great Dao Divine Marrow, which raised his cultivation to the peak of the third stage of the Great Dao Saint realm. On his way back to Golden Ao Island, he encountered Daoist Yang Mei and asked whether he was exploring the chaos.

• Tongtian followed the compass to a giant Quasi-Saint peak beast and killed it with the God-Slaying Spear.
• Tongtian found a Primordial Dao Comprehension Stone and a pool of Great Dao Divine Marrow where the beast had shattered.
• Tongtian refined both treasures in a sealed cave and reached the peak of the third stage of the Great Dao Saint realm.
• Tongtian set off for Golden Ao Island and encountered a mysterious Daoist who revealed himself to be Yang Mei.
• Yang Mei recognized Tongtian as a Great Dao Saint and praised him for destroying his Heaven's Way Sage Dao fruit.
• Tongtian asked Yang Mei whether he planned to venture through the endless chaos.

Houtu used Earthly Path Sublimation to make the Earthly Path rise against the Heavenly Path, shaking the Primordial Land and provoking the Heavenly Path to manifest. The Heavenly Path struck the Underworld with black lightning, but Houtu dismissed the attack.

• Daoist Yang Mei told Tongtian that he was waiting for an impending tribulation, then departed without explaining further.
• Houtu unleashed Earthly Path Sublimation in the Underworld, causing tremors that spread throughout the Primordial Land.
• Jieyin, Zhunti, Yuanshi, Nuwa, Taishang, and Hongjun sensed the disturbance, while Hongjun saw Houtu's actions through the Heavenly Path.
• The Heavenly Path manifested as Houtu completed the final step of Earthly Path Sublimation, raising the Earthly Path to contend with it.
• Tongtian returned to the Primordial Land and watched as the enraged Heavenly Path sent black lightning toward the Underworld.
• Houtu treated the black lightning with disdain as it struck the Underworld.

Houtu continued strengthening the Earthly Dao in the Underworld and resisted the Heavenly Dao’s punishment. After Taishang failed to stop her, Hongjun confronted Houtu, who was powerful enough to face him with the Earthly Dao’s strength.

• Houtu used the Earthly Dao to withstand the Heavenly Dao’s Zixiao Divine Thunder while continuing to strengthen it.
• Hongjun ordered Taishang to stop Houtu, and Taishang attacked her with the Taiji Diagram.
• Houtu repelled Taishang’s attacks and sent him flying 108,000 li despite his using the Linglong Pagoda and Taiji Diagram together.
• Hongjun arrived at the Underworld and confronted Houtu, who prepared to fight him with more than sixty percent of the Earthly Dao’s power.
• The Saints were shocked that Hongjun had intervened, but none dared approach.

Tongtian chose to provoke a battle at Yuxu Palace and disguised his attack on the Netherworld as Yuanshi’s work. Houtu destroyed Kunlun Mountain, then gravely wounded Yuanshi in battle before Hongjun rescued him.

• Tongtian chose the hidden option to incite a battle at Yuxu Palace and went to the Chan Sect.
• Tongtian imitated Yuanshi’s aura and attacked the Netherworld, destroying countless souls while Houtu fought Hongjun.
• Houtu flattened Kunlun Mountain, and Yuanshi mistakenly blamed her for attacking it and rushed to the Netherworld.
• Yuanshi joined Hongjun against Houtu, but Houtu’s Netherworld Dao power overwhelmed his attacks and defenses.
• Houtu shattered Yuanshi’s protective treasure and gravely wounded him with a palm strike.
• Hongjun carried the wounded Yuanshi a thousand miles away as Houtu pursued him.

Houtu completed the Earthly Dao’s enhancement and gained enough power to break free from the Heavenly Dao’s suppression, leaving her in a stalemate with Hongjun. Meanwhile, Tongtian possessed a Chan Sect disciple and used him to slaughter Witch Clan members at Buzhou Mountain before fleeing.

• Hongjun tried to persuade Houtu to stop enhancing the Earthly Dao, but she refused and fought him with its power.
• Hongjun attacked Houtu with the Heavenly Dao’s support, but neither could overcome the other as the Earthly Dao’s enhancement neared completion.
• The Earthly Dao’s power poured into Houtu, completing its enhancement and making her stronger than Hongjun.
• Tongtian possessed an obscure Chan Sect disciple, traveled to Buzhou Mountain, and killed more than a hundred members of the Witch Clan before fleeing.
• Hongjun acknowledged that the Heavenly Dao could no longer suppress the Earthly Dao.

Houtu and the Earthly Dao forced Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao to accept that they stood on equal footing, then Houtu retaliated against a Chan Sect Daoist who had slaughtered Witch Clan members. Yuanshi returned to Kunlun Mountain humiliated and vowing revenge, while Tongtian resumed secluded cultivation with the treasures he had acquired.

• Hongjun sued for peace as the Heavenly Dao and Earthly Dao reached a stalemate, and the Earthly Dao showed Houtu an image of Chan Sect members slaughtering the Witch Clan.
• Houtu found and killed the Daoist, searched his spirit, and confirmed he belonged to the Chan Sect when his spiritual light entered the Investiture of the Gods.
• Yuanshi confronted Houtu over the Daoist's death, but Houtu struck him down and warned him to keep the Chan Sect from attacking the Witch Clan.
• Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao withdrew, and Yuanshi returned to Kunlun Mountain, restored it, and vowed to fight Houtu to the death.
• Tongtian returned to Golden Ao Island and Biyou Palace to resume secluded cultivation, keeping his alliance with Houtu secret and examining the Primordial Creation Spring.

Tongtian cultivated the Pangu True Body and used the Primordial Creation Spring to advance to the fifth realm of the Great Dao Saint stage. As the great tribulation approached, Hongjun worried that the Earthly Dao’s escape from Heavenly Dao control meant the tribulation would be more mysterious and dangerous than he had expected.

• Tongtian studied the Pangu True Body scroll and cultivated until the true body fully manifested, amplifying his strength enough to break through to the fourth realm of the Great Dao Saint stage.
• Tongtian refined the seven drops of Primordial Creation Spring and advanced to the fifth realm, then withdrew his overwhelming pressure before it could damage Golden Ao Island.
• Tongtian declared that he now had the strength to face the great tribulation and looked toward the sky as it approached.
• In Zixiao Palace, Hongjun pacified part of the Heavenly Dao’s will and worried that the Earthly Dao’s escape from its control would make the great tribulation unpredictable.

Yuanshi discovered that Tongtian had plotted against the Chan Sect and considered how to retaliate. When the Saints gathered at Zixiao Palace to discuss the approaching great calamity, Tongtian revealed his fifth-level cultivation and seriously wounded Yuanshi.

• Yuanshi traced the attacks on the Chan Sect to Tongtian and vowed to return the favor, but decided he could not challenge him directly or rely on Taishang.
• After ten years of secluded cultivation, Tongtian stabilized his cultivation at the fifth level as the great calamity drew near.
• Hongjun summoned the Saints to Zixiao Palace, where Tongtian arrived and waited silently with the others.
• Yuanshi accused Tongtian of arranging Houtu's attack, and Tongtian admitted it and mocked Yuanshi.
• Tongtian's aura forced Yuanshi back, then Tongtian struck him with the God-Slaying Spear and seriously injured him.

At Zixiao Palace, the Saints were shocked to learn that Tongtian had reached the fifth realm, and he humiliated Yuanshi and the Two Western Saints before Hongjun intervened. Hongjun then announced that the great tribulation had arrived and produced the Investiture of the Gods.

• The Saints reacted with shock and fear when they realized Tongtian had reached the fifth realm of the Great Dao Saint level.
• Tongtian mocked Yuanshi for losing and complaining, then attacked Jieyin and Zhunti when they criticized him; the three hid behind Hongjun.
• Tongtian stopped his attack and mocked Yuanshi, Jieyin, and Zhunti, while Taishang and Hongjun called for order.
• Yuanshi, Jieyin, and Zhunti secretly considered targeting the Interception Sect's disciples instead of fighting Tongtian directly.
• Hongjun announced that the great tribulation had arrived and brought out the Investiture of the Gods.

Hongjun presented the Investiture of the Gods, prompting Taishang, Yuanshi, Zhunti, and Jieyin to compete for it while Tongtian stayed out of the dispute. Hongjun revealed that the Investiture belonged to the Great Calamity’s Responder, whose identity would be announced by celestial phenomena.

• Hongjun brought out the Investiture of the Gods and said one of the Saints had to safeguard it.
• Taishang and Yuanshi argued that the Investiture should be entrusted to them, while Tongtian made no effort to claim it.
• Zhunti and Jieyin asked Hongjun to give the Investiture to the Western Teachings, claiming their sect was too weak to survive the Great Calamity without it.
• Hongjun said the Investiture belonged to the Great Calamity’s Responder, and that celestial phenomena would mark the person’s appearance.
• The Saints realized they could not identify the Responder yet, since the heavenly secrets were obscured.

After Hongjun announced that the Tribulation Responder’s appearance would signal the great tribulation, the major sects dispatched their disciples to search for him. Tongtian instead planned to exploit Shen Gongbao and chose a reward for secretly arranging his entry into the Chan Sect.

• Tongtian kept Hongjun’s Flying Bear Enters Dream secret while the saints left Zixiao Palace to seek the Tribulation Responder.
• Taishang sent Xuandu into the prehistoric world to train and search for the Tribulation Responder.
• Yuanshi dispatched the twelve Golden Immortals, led by Guangchengzi, to find the Tribulation Responder and recruit him into the Chan Sect.
• Zhunti and Jieyin ordered the Western Teachings’ great demons to search across the prehistoric world.
• Tongtian considered using Shen Gongbao to further his plans, recalled that Jiang Ziya might appear in Chaoge City, and prepared to set out.
• Tongtian chose to secretly arrange for Shen Gongbao to become a Chan Sect disciple in exchange for a Formation Dao treasure and the Eye of Chaos.