Recaps

Cangyuan established the Martial Hall and set the stage for the World of Great Contention as reincarnated powers founded schools among the Human Race. The Great Dao postponed its final judgment, leaving the schools to compete for influence over the next two hundred years.

• Cangyuan helped Duobao establish Mahayana Buddhism and Xiao Bai found the Bailian Cult, then founded the Martial Hall on Penglai and Yingzhou Immortal Islands.
• Cangyuan persuaded Ancestor Dragon to swear allegiance to the Martial Hall and reincarnate as Ying Zheng to help unify the Human Race.
• The Great Dao declared a World of Great Contention, and Houtu allowed powerful cultivators to reincarnate while the Witch Race controlled access to the Six Paths of Reincarnation.
• Li Er, Kong Qiu, Mozi, and other reincarnated figures began lives among the Human Race as new schools and teachings emerged.
• Laozi wrote the Classic of the Way and Virtue, Confucius composed Lun Yu, and Mozi, Bian Que, and Sun Wu established or advanced their own schools.
• A grand debate began at Jixia Academy, where Laozi’s Daoism ranked first, Confucianism second, and Mohism third.
• The pioneers died as the century-long limit ended, and the Great Dao delayed its judgment of the foremost school until its influence on the Human Race could be measured over two more centuries.

Cangyuan guided the rise of Ying Zheng, whose conquests unified the Nine Provinces and whose merit made him a Saint. As the Saints departed beyond the heavens, Cangyuan began restoring the old powers of the Primordial World and prepared Lu Ya to claim the Sun God seat.

• The Three Families destroyed the Zhi clan, and Wu Qi rose from exile to lead Wei’s army before fleeing to Chu, where his reforms ended with his death and revealed that he was Jiang Shang.
• Jiang Ziya returned to the Chan Sect after True Lord Yu Ding sought his reconciliation, while Qin’s decline and rise drew the attention of the great powers.
• Cangyuan had Styx reincarnate as Bai Qi to protect Qin and Shang Yang, and the returning Heaven Monitoring Department wiped out most of Qin’s hostile nobles.
• Ying Zheng was born in Handan as the Heavenly Mandate Emperor, grew up under Zhao Ji’s care, and later took control of Qin after Lu Buwei tried to dominate the court.
• Ying Zheng led Qin’s campaigns to conquer Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, and Qi, then unified the realm through reforms and became the First Emperor through the Fengshan ceremony.
• Human Dao Merit raised Ying Zheng to the Saint Realm, and he sent Heavenly Dao Merit to the East Sea to sever the Ancestor Dragon’s karma while declaring himself Ying Zheng.
• The Saints departed beyond the heavens, while Ying Zheng and Ancestor Dragon later attained the Hunyuan Great Luo realm and established realms beyond the heavens.
• Cangyuan welcomed Jade Kirin, learned that Shi Qilin’s spirit survived through her, and agreed to retrieve Kirin Cliff so Shi Qilin could seek revival.
• Cangyuan advised Lu Ya to claim the Sun God seat by merging with the Sun Star, and Lu Ya went to the Fusang Divine Tree and began connecting his Primordial Spirit to it.

Cangyuan redirected the Buddhist pilgrimage toward the Myriad Phenomena Divine Realm, where the Prehistoric World’s Saints confronted its gods and learned of the wider Realm of the Gods. As Sun Wukong joined Six-Eared Macaque and Yuan Hong, Cangyuan began preparing the pilgrimage and strengthened his World Incarnations.

• Six-Eared Macaque and Yuan Hong sensed the birth of their younger brother, the Lingming Stone Monkey, whose emergence on Flower-Fruit Mountain drew Haotian’s attention before Subhuti and the Heavenly Dao concealed him.
• Cangyuan chose to redirect the pilgrimage to the Myriad Phenomena Divine Realm, opened a Time and Space Gate, and sent Tongtian, Zhunti, and Jieyin through it with Hongjun secretly following.
• Zhunti and Tongtian fought the realm’s gods, while Styx and Ancestor Dragon joined the battle, after Brahman appeared, Hongjun negotiated a pact limiting interference across the worlds.
• Cangyuan questioned the captured Outer Gods and learned about the Eight God Kings and the divine realms, while Zhenyuanzi restored the West’s earth veins and attained the Earth Path Saint Fruit Position.
• Hongjun defeated Luohu and collected his Vital Blood and Heavenly Demon Origin, while Cangyuan gathered materials from Innate Gods and Demons to strengthen his incarnations.
• Sun Wukong met Six-Eared Macaque and Yuan Hong at Square Inch Mountain, and the three became sworn brothers before Cangyuan and Subhuti accepted them as disciples.
• Cangyuan and Patriarch Bodhi named the Stone Monkey Gu Yue Fangyuan and Sun Wukong, while Cangyuan planned a pilgrimage squad and urged Zhunti and Jieyin to train Jin Chanzi.
• Cangyuan revealed that the three monkeys shared one origin, divided and fused parts of it among them, and made each a Lesser Chaos Demon Ape.
• After Great Qin fell and the Great Han eventually collapsed, Cangyuan created thirteen more World Incarnations, bringing his total to twenty-four.

Xuanzang set out for Mount Wuyi with a growing company of powerful guardians, overcoming demons and trials while showing little fear of their schemes. After rescuing a princess and placing her children in Buddhist care, he continued onward and forced Golden Horn to surrender.

• The Eight God Kings recalled their expeditionary armies after learning the Primordial Divine Realm was too powerful, while Zhiming thwarted attempts to trace the Primordial World.
• Li Shimin founded the Great Tang and became emperor as the Heavenly Dao set a scripture-fetching mission in motion, and Guanyin persuaded Xuanzang to travel to Mount Wuyi for scriptures to spread in Wanxiang.
• Li Shimin appointed Xuanzang to lead the Water and Land Dharma Assembly, then sent him west as Tang Sanzang with a passage document and a White Jade Steed.
• Tang Sanzang defeated the Tiger Demon, met Yang Jian and the three monkeys at Five Elements Mountain, and killed six bandits who had boasted of murder and abuse.
• Nezha and Ao Bing joined the pilgrimage, and Tang Sanzang beat the Black Bear Spirit, killed the Pig Demon, and faced Great King Yellow Wind, who ended their encounter by pretending he had won.
• At the Flowing Sand River, Tang Sanzang defeated Poseidon and crossed on his trident, then rejected Guanyin and the other Bodhisattvas when they tested him at a manor.
• At White Bone Mountain, Tang Sanzang recognized Lady White Bone’s disguises, gave her his blood, and named her Bai Zhenzhen before continuing to Bao Xiang Kingdom.
• Tang Sanzang defeated Kui Wood Wolf, returned Baihuaxiu to Bao Xiang Kingdom, and arranged for her children to be raised at Buddhist temples.
• Golden Horn and Silver Horn tried to test Tang Sanzang with their magical duel, but he defeated Silver Horn’s gourd and flattened Flat-Top Mountain, prompting Golden Horn to surrender.