Chapter Summaries

After attaining Hunyuan, Zhou Ming returned to Pangu Hall and explained to the Twelve Ancestor Witches why he had placed a strand of his Primordial Spirit in a human. He warned that humanity’s Heavenly Dao-appointed status as protagonist could make them puppets for the future Sages unless they gained the strength to protect themselves, and the Witches asked whether they should help.

• Zhou Ming returned to Pangu Hall with the Twelve Ancestor Witches and left the Dao Origin Divine Pearl there for them to study alongside the Fragment of the Jade Tablet of Creation.
• Dijiang asked why Houtu had placed a strand of Primordial Spirit in a newly created human, and Zhou Ming revealed it was his severed Obsession but said the human was not his Avatar.
• Zhou Ming called humanity the Primordial Wilderness’s future protagonist and said its Innate Dao Body gave it great potential despite its weakness.
• Zhou Ming warned that the Heavenly Dao had chosen humanity because it could control them, and that the future Six Sages might divide humanity’s Destiny and Fortune, reducing humans to their puppets.
• Zhurong and Gonggong asked whether the Witches should help humanity, while the other Ancestor Witches looked to Zhou Ming for guidance.

Zhou Ming arranged limited protection for the Human Race and chose Hou Yi to lead the guardians. At Phoenix Nest Mountain, Nuwa told Fuxi that Zhou Ming had demanded the Red Embroidered Ball as part of the bargain for the treasures she needed to create the Human Race, leaving them both wondering what secret value it held.

• Zhou Ming told Houtu to send a Great Witch to protect the Human Race without interfering in its ordinary affairs, and Houtu chose Hou Yi.
• Zhou Ming asked Houtu to have Hou Yi meet him at Pangu Hall before departing, then dismissed the Ancestral Witches and reminded them to attend Nuwa's lecture after a thousand years.
• Fuxi congratulated Nuwa on attaining Sainthood, and Nuwa thanked him for protecting and supporting her.
• Nuwa explained that Zhou Ming had possessed the Breath Soil and Creation Cauldron she needed to create the Human Race, so she gave him the Red Embroidered Ball and fulfilled another condition.
• Fuxi and Nuwa speculated that Zhou Ming had demanded the Red Embroidered Ball for a hidden purpose, and Fuxi urged her not to dwell on the loss.

Di Jun and Taiyi visited Nuwa after she attained Sainthood, intending to test her stance and persuade her to return to Heavenly Court to lead the Demon Clan. Nuwa made clear that she would avoid worldly affairs, leaving Di Jun’s request unanswered.

• Taiyi urged Di Jun to visit Nuwa, and Di Jun decided they should leave for Phoenix Nest Mountain at once.
• Nuwa told Fuxi that she would establish Wa Huang Palace in Chaos and stay out of the Demon Clan’s affairs; Fuxi agreed to welcome the brothers.
• Di Jun and Taiyi arrived at Phoenix Nest Mountain, greeted Fuxi, and paid their respects to Nuwa.
• Di Jun congratulated Nuwa on attaining Sainthood and asked her to return to Heavenly Court to oversee the Demon Clan.
• Nuwa questioned why the Demon Clan’s supposed eager support was represented only by Di Jun and Taiyi, and Di Jun offered to arrange a grand welcome if she agreed to return.

Nuwa told Di Jun and Taiyi that the Dao Ancestor forbade Sages from interfering in the Primordial Wilderness, though she would protect the Demon Clan in a crisis. After they left, Fuxi told Nuwa he intended to return to the Heavenly Court to seek insight into the Great Dao, and she reluctantly accepted his decision.

• Nuwa told Di Jun and Taiyi to manage the Demon Clan themselves and said she would intervene only if it faced a life-or-death crisis.
• Di Jun proposed a grand celebration for Nuwa's sainthood, but she rejected it and urged the brothers to focus on cultivation.
• Di Jun invited Fuxi to return to the Heavenly Court and guide them, and Fuxi said he would consider it before leaving with Taiyi.
• Nuwa asked Fuxi whether he truly planned to return to the Heavenly Court, and he said its changing affairs could help his cultivation.
• Nuwa accepted Fuxi's decision and warned him to be careful, while Fuxi reassured her that he knew what he was doing.

Hou Yi accepted Zhou Ming’s mission to protect the Human Race and deliver them the Innate Gourd Vine, while Zhou Ming set out to visit Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun at Wuzhuang Temple. The chapter ended with the old friends welcoming Zhou Ming and greeting him as a Sage.

• Houtu brought Hou Yi before Zhou Ming, who instructed him to protect the Human Race without interfering in their ordinary development.
• Zhou Ming gave Hou Yi the Innate Gourd Vine, sealed with his power, and said it would lead Hou Yi to its true master among the Human Race.
• Hou Yi agreed to take reliable members of the Witch Clan and deliver the treasure to the Human Race settlement.
• Zhou Ming told Houtu that he planned to visit Zhen Yuanzi and reminded her and the other younger siblings to attend Nuwa’s Dao-listening gathering at Wa Huang Palace in a thousand years.
• Zhou Ming arrived at Wuzhuang Temple, where Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun welcomed him and bowed to him as a Sage.
• Zhou Ming raised Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun and asked them to address him as a fellow Daoist, as they had in the past.

Zhou Ming reconciled his new status as a Sage with his friendship with Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun, then discussed their hopes of attaining Hunyuan. He pointed them toward the Human Race as a possible opportunity, leaving them startled by the implications of Nuwa’s merit.

• Zhou Ming agreed that Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun could call him a fellow Daoist in private and a Sage in formal settings.
• Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun congratulated Zhou Ming on attaining Hunyuan, then lamented that becoming Saints seemed beyond their reach.
• Zhou Ming urged them to strengthen their foundations and seize whatever opportunity might come.
• Zhou Ming asked how they viewed the newly born Human Race, and Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun called it weak and ordinary.
• Zhou Ming reminded them that Nuwa had become a Saint by creating the Human Race, and Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun realized the race must hold great significance.

Zhou Ming advised Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun about their paths to enlightenment, then guided them in a thousand-year discussion of the Dao. Afterward, the three traveled to Wa Huang Palace for Nuwa’s Dao lecture, where Zhou Ming went ahead to visit her.

• Zhou Ming told Hong Yun to pay close attention to the Human Race and revealed that Zhen Yuanzi’s greatest opportunity lay in his Earth Book.
• Zhou Ming invited Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun to discuss the Dao, patiently guiding them through their cultivation questions for a thousand years.
• Zhou Ming, Zhen Yuanzi, and Hong Yun set out for Wa Huang Palace after learning that a thousand years had passed.
• Powerful beings from across the Primordial Wilderness greeted Zhou Ming at Wa Huang Palace and respectfully saw him off as he went to visit Nuwa.

Nuwa and Zhou Ming held a twenty-thousand-year Dao discourse at Wa Huang Palace, then answered the cultivators’ questions. After the guests departed, Zhou Ming and the Twelve Ancestor Witches left for Buzhou Mountain, while Nuwa agreed to visit Pangu Hall when she had the opportunity.

• Nuwa announced that she and Zhou Ming would each expound the Great Dao for ten thousand years, then began her teaching on the Heavenly Dao and Creation.
• Zhou Ming taught the Hunyuan Laws for ten thousand years, completing the discourse.
• Zhunti asked Nuwa how she discovered her opportunity to become a Saint, and Nuwa said each cultivator had to wait for their own destined revelation.
• Nuwa and Zhou Ming answered the cultivators’ questions for several hundred years before ending the gathering.
• The cultivators thanked the Sages and left Wa Huang Palace to digest what they had learned.
• Zhou Ming invited Nuwa to visit Pangu Hall, then departed for Buzhou Mountain with the Twelve Ancestor Witches.

Martial returned to the Human Race tribe and reflected on how difficult it had been to develop a cultivation method suited to humans. He learned that the search for the Five Grains had failed again, but insisted they existed.

• Feng told Martial that Sui Ren Shi wanted to see him, and Martial went to the tribe's meeting hall.
• Martial recalled how he had learned basic cultivation and combat methods from Great Witch Hou Yi, then struggled to adapt them for the Human Race.
• Martial met with Sui Ren Shi, You Chao Shi, and Zi Yi Shi, and told them that progress on the cultivation method remained slow.
• Sui Ren Shi reported that the tribesmen who searched for the Five Grains had returned empty-handed.
• You Chao Shi questioned whether the Five Grains existed, and Martial firmly said that they did.

Wu rejected You Chao Shi’s plan to spend merit reaching the Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm to search for the Five Grains, insisting that the Human Race needed to protect its foundations and grow stronger. He decided to leave the Human Race and seek a powerful master to teach him, despite Sui Ren Shi, You Chao Shi, and Zi Yi Shi warning him of the danger.

• You Chao Shi doubted that the Five Grains existed after tens of thousands of years of fruitless searching and offered to use merit to reach the Grand Unity Golden Immortal realm and search farther afield.
• Wu refused, warning that raising cultivation with merit would damage You Chao Shi’s foundation and potential, and said the Human Race should keep searching while prioritizing its strength.
• Zi Yi Shi pointed out that the Human Race lacked a teacher and a complete cultivation inheritance, and that Wu’s modified Witch Clan method did little for later generations.
• Wu decided to leave the Human Race temporarily and seek a powerful being who could take him as a disciple and teach him.
• Sui Ren Shi, You Chao Shi, and Zi Yi Shi urged Wu not to go, but he stood by his decision and promised to prepare carefully before setting out.
• Sui Ren Shi sighed that the Human Race was still too weak.

Hong Yun and Zhen Yuanzi visited the Human Race’s Ancestral Land to investigate the opportunity Zhou Ming had mentioned, but they saw nothing unusual. When Wu learned that two powerful travelers had arrived, he hoped they might teach him, and the Human Race leaders went to welcome them.

• Hong Yun invited Zhen Yuanzi to visit the Human Race, and the two traveled together to its Ancestral Land.
• Hong Yun and Zhen Yuanzi observed the Human Race’s sprawling settlement and wondered what opportunity Zhou Ming had seen in them.
• The pair approached the tribe and asked a guard for permission to rest there; the guard went to notify Suiren.
• Suiren, You Chao Shi, Zi Yi Shi, and Wu discussed Wu’s plan to leave and seek a master when the guard reported the visitors.
• Wu urged the leaders to welcome the travelers in hopes of receiving their guidance, and they hurried to greet Hong Yun and Zhen Yuanzi.

Wu begged Hong Yun and Zhen Yuanzi to accept him as their disciple and offered the Human Race’s secret treasure to persuade them. When he revealed an Innate Gourd Vine bearing power linked to Zhou Ming, the two seniors recognized it in shock.

• Hong Yun and Zhen Yuanzi entered the Human Race tribe with Sui Ren Shi, You Chao Shi, Zi Yi Shi, and Wu.
• After learning their names, Wu knelt before Hong Yun and Zhen Yuanzi and begged them to accept him as a disciple, but they refused.
• Wu claimed the Human Race possessed a supreme treasure and ran to the Saint Mother Temple to retrieve it, alarming Sui Ren Shi, You Chao Shi, and Zi Yi Shi.
• Wu persuaded the three elders to let him reveal the treasure, and they carried an animal-hide-wrapped object out of the temple.
• Wu uncovered an Innate Gourd Vine, and Hong Yun and Zhen Yuanzi recognized it as bearing power left by Zhou Ming.

Hong Yun and Zhen Yuanzi agreed to stay with the Human Race and preach the Dao three times, then left after tens of thousands of years. Wu resolved to enter seclusion and create a cultivation technique suited to the Human Race.

• Wu offered Hong Yun and Zhen Yuanzi the Innate Gourd Vine in exchange for accepting him as a disciple, but they declined and promised to preach to the Human Race three times.
• Hong Yun warned the Human Race to keep the Innate Gourd Vine safe and not show it carelessly, and Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun stayed at the tribe.
• Hou Yi visited the Human Race, found Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun there, and reported it to Zhou Ming, who sent him back to the Witch Clan's territory.
• After tens of thousands of years and three preaching sessions, Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun left, urging the Human Race to develop and survive.
• Wu announced that he would enter seclusion to derive a cultivation technique for the Human Race, while Suiren, You Chao Shi, and Zi Yi Shi promised to protect the tribe.

After Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun received a small share of Human Race Destiny for teaching the Human Race, they visited Zhou Ming, who explained that the reward would grow as the Human Race prospered. They also reported that Rogue Cultivators had begun hunting Demon Clan members, leaving the Twelve Ancestor Witches surprised by the change.

• Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun sensed Human Race Destiny settle upon them after leaving the Human Race and decided to ask Zhou Ming about it.
• Zhou Ming welcomed Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun at Pangu Hall, where they told him about the Destiny they had gained through their lectures.
• Zhou Ming explained that the Destiny was only the beginning and would increase as the Human Race grew stronger, and he promised to explain the matter to Nuwa if needed.
• Hong Yun told the Twelve Ancestor Witches that Rogue Cultivators had been hunting low-ranking Demon Clan members, prompting them to question why the cultivators had become so bold.

After Zhou Ming hosted Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun for a lecture on the Dao, Di Jun learned that Rogue Cultivators were hunting the Demon Clan for materials and ordered Taiyi to lead a brutal purge. The crackdown terrorized cultivators but drove the hunted survivors to spread the profitable uses of Demon Clan remains even more widely.

• Zhou Ming invited Zhen Yuanzi and Hong Yun to listen as he expounded the Dao in Pangu Hall.
• Bai Ze told Di Jun, Taiyi, Fuxi, and the Demon Clan’s leaders that Rogue Cultivators were hunting their people for flesh, inner cores, fur, bones, and scales.
• Di Jun ordered Taiyi to assemble the elite army and exterminate every Rogue Cultivator involved in the hunts.
• Taiyi led the Demon Clan army across the Primordial Wilderness, killing suspected hunters and destroying groups that sheltered them.
• The brutal purge frightened many Rogue Cultivators, but survivors spread news of the Demon Clan’s valuable remains even more widely.

East Prince Gong welcomed Rogue Cultivators fleeing Taiyi’s purge into the Immortal Court, prompting Taiyi to lead the Demon Clan’s army to Penglai Immortal Island. The two forces clashed, and Taiyi and East Prince Gong fought to a draw, with East Prince Gong taunting Taiyi over losing the Chaos Bell.

• Large numbers of Rogue Cultivators sought protection by pledging allegiance to East Prince Gong, strengthening the Immortal Court and its Myriad Immortals Formation.
• Taiyi learned that East Prince Gong had accepted the Rogue Cultivators and ordered the Demon Clan’s army to attack Penglai Immortal Island.
• East Prince Gong refused Taiyi’s demand to surrender the Rogue Cultivators, declaring that the Immortal Court would protect them.
• Taiyi and East Prince Gong challenged each other and began fighting above the East Sea as their armies clashed below.
• East Prince Gong used his Dragon Head Staff to match Taiyi, then taunted him for losing the Chaos Bell and enraged him further.

Taiyi withdrew from the East Sea after East Prince Gong refused to surrender the Rogue Cultivators under the Immortal Court’s protection. At the Heavenly Court, Fuxi warned Di Jun that East Prince Gong’s confidence suggested the Immortal Court might have a way to resist the Demon Clan’s Great Formation of the Stars.

• Taiyi failed to defeat East Prince Gong, saw the Demon Clan army suffering heavy losses, and ordered a retreat after East Prince Gong refused to hand over the Rogue Cultivators.
• East Prince Gong celebrated the Immortal Court’s victory but recognized that the Demon Clan would retaliate, then ordered the newly joined immortals to cultivate.
• Taiyi returned to the Heavenly Court and told Di Jun what had happened, prompting Di Jun to summon the Demon Clan’s high-ranking members to the Lingxiao Treasure Hall.
• The Demon Saints and Demon Gods demanded an immediate attack on Penglai Immortal Island, while Fuxi remained wary and questioned East Prince Gong’s motives.
• Fuxi argued that East Prince Gong must have confidence in the Immortal Court’s ability to resist the Demon Clan, possibly through a method capable of countering the Great Formation of the Stars.

Fuxi persuaded Di Jun to investigate East Prince Gong’s hidden strength before launching a full attack, then warned that the Heavenly Dao might weaken the Great Formation of the Stars. He proposed refining the Star Cores to secure the array’s power, and Di Jun ordered Taiyi to carry out the plan.

• Fuxi urged the Demon Clan to patrol the Primordial Wilderness, kill Immortal Court cultivators who ventured onto the mainland, and capture others to uncover East Prince Gong’s methods.
• Di Jun approved Fuxi’s strategy and ordered Bai Ze to arrange the patrols and attacks.
• After the other Demon Clan leaders left, Fuxi asked Di Jun and Taiyi whether the Heavenly Dao could weaken the Great Formation of the Stars as well as strengthen it.
• Fuxi proposed that the Demon Gods controlling the Star Banners refine their corresponding Star Cores to gain control of the array and resist outside interference.
• Di Jun approved the proposal and ordered Taiyi to oversee the Star Core refinement.

Fuxi warned Di Jun and Taiyi that someone might be manipulating the Rogue Cultivators to provoke a war between the Demon Clan and the Immortal Court, and Di Jun ordered the Heavenly Court’s treasury opened to strengthen the Demon Clan. The Demon Clan and Immortal Court then escalated their clashes across the mainland, while East Prince Gong treated the fighting as a way to forge an elite force.

• Fuxi told Di Jun and Taiyi that the Rogue Cultivators’ attacks on the Demon Clan might have been orchestrated to spark conflict with the Immortal Court.
• Di Jun declared war unavoidable and decided to spend the Demon Clan’s accumulated resources to cultivate more Quasi-Saints.
• The Demon Clan ordered Immortal Court cultivators found outside Penglai Immortal Island to be killed, and its forces began hunting them across the mainland.
• East Prince Gong sent more Immortal Court cultivators onto the mainland, where they fought bloody battles against the Demon Clan and joined Rogue Cultivators.
• East Prince Gong dismissed concerns about the Immortal Court’s losses and called the fighting a test that would forge survivors into an elite force.

In Pangu Hall, Zhou Ming stopped the Ancestral Witches from treating the brewing conflict between the Demon Clan and Rogue Cultivators as a joke and redirected them to a contingency plan. He arranged for elite Great Witches to refine the Ancestral Witches’ Essence Blood so they could stand in for a missing member of the Thirteen Heavenly Gods and Fiends Array.

• The Ancestral Witches celebrated the trouble coming for the Demon Clan, while Houtu worried that the conflict would bring suffering to innocent beings.
• Zhurong joked about using Nuwa to refine pills and magical treasures, shocking the hall and prompting Zhou Ming and the other Ancestral Witches to rebuke him.
• Zhou Ming told Dijiang and the other Ancestral Witches to select thirteen elite Great Witches from their tribes and bring them to Pangu Hall.
• Zhou Ming explained that each Ancestral Witch would provide a drop of Essence Blood for a Great Witch to refine, allowing them to fill in if an Ancestral Witch could not join the array.
• Dijiang understood the plan and agreed to select the Great Witches immediately.