Chapter Summaries

Ye Kong entered the Demon Suppressing Pagoda and killed an Abyssal Demon general, using the Alms Bowl to refine the demon and improve his cultivation. He then asked Shi Luo to send him more demons, and Shi Luo raised the challenge by releasing several.

• Ye Kong entered the Demon Suppressing Pagoda for the fifth time and confronted an Abyssal Demon general whose cultivation had been crippled.
• Ye Kong used the Thousand-Hand Tathagata Palm and Buddha-Demon Lion's Roar to defeat and kill the Abyssal Demon general.
• Ye Kong collected the demon's remains with his Purple Gold Alms Bowl and used Merit Pure Light and Buddha energy to improve his arts and nourish his Spirit Meridians.
• Ye Kong obtained the Forbidden Divine Art Bodhi Self-Sacrifice Technique and worried that he might be forced to use it.
• Ye Kong asked Shi Luo to let him fight more evil demons, and Shi Luo released several more from the Demon Prison.

Ye Kong defeated four evil spirits in the Demon Suppressing Pagoda, strengthened his cultivation, and advanced Supernatural Footwork into a Great Divine Art. After Shi Luo sent him to train on the Spiritual Road, Ye Kong set out carrying supplies and instructions to conceal his ties to Great Spiritual Mountain.

• Ye Kong used his golden body, vajra pestle, and Purple Gold Alms Bowl to kill four evil spirits and absorb their Buddha energy.
• Ye Kong reached the late Spiritual Power Sensing Realm and late Physical Body Heaven-Reaching Realm, while Golden Body 360 advanced to major mastery.
• Ye Kong used Merit Pure Light to advance Supernatural Footwork to a Great Divine Art and the Bodhi Self-Sacrifice Technique to half-step minor mastery.
• Ye Kong told Shi Luo he wanted to visit the Five Great Academies and train on the Spiritual Road.
• Shi Luo opened a spatial gate, gave Ye Kong a Mustard Seed Bracelet with training supplies, and urged him to travel discreetly as a disciple of Lesser Spirit Temple.

Ye Kong and Master Jinjiu searched the Spiritual Road for a Land of Guardianship and encountered Wen Qingxuan and Xiuling. Ye Kong disguised himself as Shi Luo and paid the women with two Spirit Beast essences to guide him, then followed them while keeping his real identity hidden.

• Ye Kong and Master Jinjiu spent five days searching for a Land of Guardianship before Master Jinjiu caught the scent of two women nearby.
• They saw Wen Qingxuan watching as Xiuling fought and killed a wounded Fire Cloud Tiger, and Ye Kong recognized Wen Qingxuan.
• Ye Kong told Master Jinjiu to hide two of its heads and introduced himself to Wen Qingxuan and Xiuling as Shi Luo, a lay disciple of Jialan Temple.
• Ye Kong offered Wen Qingxuan and Xiuling two high-level Spirit Beast essences in exchange for directions to a Land of Guardianship.
• Wen Qingxuan agreed to guide Ye Kong on the condition that he stay ten zhang away, and Ye Kong followed her and Xiuling while checking directions with his telescope.

Ye Kong traveled with Wen Qingxuan and Xiuling toward the Land of Guardianship, joking about their guidance and probing Wen Qingxuan about her background. After exposing her connection to the Wen Clan, he reached the Land of Guardianship and left the two women behind.

• Wen Qingxuan admitted that she and Xiuling had never visited the Land of Guardianship, but said they had maps and would find the way.
• Ye Kong pretended his unfamiliarity with the route came from Buddhist teachings, and Wen Qingxuan teased him for acting foolish.
• Ye Kong said he hoped someone would try to collect protection money so he could collect it from them, startling Wen Qingxuan with his righteous-looking manner.
• Ye Kong recognized Wen Qingxuan's connection to the Wen Clan and brushed aside her spear before heading toward the Land of Guardianship.
• Ye Kong used Supernatural Footwork to leave with Master Jinjiu, while Wen Qingxuan vowed to fleece him if they met again.

Ye Kong and the Golden Lion dog confronted the Shi Brothers, who extorted youths at the Land of Guardianship and had killed dozens of people. Ye Kong and the dog killed them, while Wen Qingxuan recognized the dog’s roar as resembling the Golden Lion Tribe’s.

• Ye Kong and the Golden Lion dog discovered that Shi Jingtian and Shi Hao were collecting protection fees and that their victims’ bodies lay on a nearby slope.
• Shi Jingtian demanded Spirit Essences from Ye Kong and threatened to take the Golden Lion dog as collateral.
• Shi Jingtian attacked Ye Kong, who shattered his axe and killed him with a single blow.
• The Golden Lion dog enlarged and smashed Shi Hao to death, and Ye Kong sensed Merit Pure Light entering his Mustard Seed Bracelet.
• Xiuling trembled after witnessing the killings, while Wen Qingxuan wondered why the dog’s roar sounded like the Golden Lion Tribe.

Ye Kong confirmed that his Merit Buddha Bowl could grant merit for killing cultivators burdened by severe sins and began imagining a reputation as a Great Thousand Philanthropist. At the City Lord's Mansion, he teamed up with Wen Qingxuan and Xiuling to take missions, while Master Jinjiu revealed that it was a Golden Lion from a Lower Plane, not the Golden Lion Tribe.

• Ye Kong confirmed that killing cultivators guilty of slaughtering innocents or destroying continents could earn merit through the Merit Buddha Bowl.
• Ye Kong and Master Jinjiu headed to the City Lord's Mansion, hoping to find a guide because they could not navigate the Spiritual Road.
• Wen Qingxuan and Xiuling entered the City Lord's Mansion and encountered Ye Kong again after seeing his strength at the city gate.
• Ye Kong asked Wen Qingxuan and Xiuling to guide him on missions, and they agreed to split the gains sixty-forty, with Master Jinjiu receiving the Spirit Beast corpses.
• Wen Qingxuan recognized Master Jinjiu's roar as resembling that of the Golden Lion Tribe, and Master Jinjiu clarified that it was a Golden Lion from a Lower Plane.

Ye Kong and Master Jinjiu watched Xiuling kill a Myriad Longevity Stone Turtle, then Ye Kong put Wen Qingxuan to work gathering firewood for a meal. At Great Spiritual Mountain, Shi Zhen revealed that he had also indulged Ye Kong, shocking Shi Luo with the discovery that the Mountain Lord was one of the boy’s backers.

• Xiuling used the Fire Cloud Tiger’s essence soul to break through to Level Three Spiritual Body, and she and Wen Qingxuan refined Ye Kong’s travel payment.
• Master Jinjiu coached Xiuling as she battered a Myriad Longevity Stone Turtle with her axe, then finished it off and urged Ye Kong to cook it.
• Ye Kong teased Wen Qingxuan into gathering firewood while he prepared the turtle, and she chopped down a tree with her spear.
• Shi Zhen watched Ye Kong prepare the turtle and asked Shi Luo to assess his cooking, but Shi Luo praised his cultivation techniques instead.
• Shi Zhen admitted he had been looking forward to Ye Kong making him meat soup, and Shi Luo realized the Mountain Lord had helped Ye Kong get away with his misbehavior.

Ye Kong and Wen Qingxuan learned about the deadly Life and Death Trial Ground, then argued over the Wen Clan’s involvement in exploring ancient ruins. The chapter ended with Ye Kong trying to sell Wen Qingxuan a Jialan Temple training agreement and recruit her as a Lay Buddhist Disciple.

• The Dark-faced Male Instructor announced that the Life and Death Trial Ground would allow no more than thirty survivors, killed a would-be deserter, and described Ji Xuan’s success in the previous trial.
• Ye Kong and Wen Qingxuan discussed the Five Great Academies, and Ye Kong said he was interested in the Heavenly Sovereign connected to the North Cang Continent.
• Ye Kong accused the Wen Clan of grave robbing in the Ancient Sacred Abyss, leaving Wen Qingxuan stunned when she realized her family had taken part.
• Ye Kong defended exploring the Ancient Sacred Abyss as a way to preserve lost inheritances and fight the Outer Domain Evil Tribe.
• Ye Kong presented Wen Qingxuan with a Jialan Temple Directed Training Agreement for Cultivators, and she recoiled at the idea of becoming a Lay Buddhist Disciple.

Ye Kong entered the Life-and-Death Trial and used his Great Majestic Heavenly Dragon attack to kill a group of Black-Armored Crocodiles that had eaten Spiritual Road youths. He assured Master Jinjiu that the deaths had not shaken his state of mind, then followed the scent of wolves and Little Wen.

• Ye Kong entered the trial and summoned Master Jinjiu to track nearby Spirit Beasts.
• Master Jinjiu led Ye Kong to Black-Armored Crocodiles feeding on the bodies of Spiritual Road youths.
• Ye Kong unleashed Great Majestic Heavenly Dragon and wiped out the crocodiles and everything in their path.
• Master Jinjiu checked whether Ye Kong was distressed, and Ye Kong explained that he had killed the crocodiles to test his Demon-Falling Staff.
• Master Jinjiu smelled wolves and Little Wen nearby, and Ye Kong set off with him.

Wen Qingxuan killed all five Gale Wolves and Ye Kong teased her about imagining a future in which he was expelled from Great Spiritual Mountain. After reminding her that he would honor their training agreement, Ye Kong began preparing the wolves for a meal and told her to gather firewood before they looked for Xiuling.

• Wen Qingxuan chased down and killed the five Gale Wolves with her Lightning Whirlwind Spear.
• Ye Kong and Brother Lion arrived, and Ye Kong joked that Wen Qingxuan looked fiercer than the wolves.
• Jinjiu revealed that a great monk of Great Spiritual Mountain had judged Ye Kong to have Heavenly Sovereign potential, prompting Wen Qingxuan to give up on recruiting him for her family.
• Ye Kong caught Wen Qingxuan fantasizing about him being expelled and becoming her lackey, then warned that such thoughts could breed Xin Mo.
• Ye Kong started skinning the Gale Wolves and told Wen Qingxuan to gather firewood so they could eat and then find Xiuling for her training.

The five academy deans argued over Sacred Spirit Institute’s efforts to recruit geniuses and Heavenly Saint’s plans to advance the institute’s standing. The confrontation ended with Tai Cang warning that Sacred Spirit Institute could face consequences if it broke the Spiritual Road’s rules to protect Ji Xuan.

• Heavenly Saint praised the Spiritual Road’s geniuses, and Tai Cang accused him of using Sacred Spirit Institute’s subordinates to recruit them despite already reserving Ji Xuan.
• Tian Song and Tang Qiu defused the dispute, but Heavenly Saint criticized North Cang Spiritual Institute’s poor competition record and revealed his ambition to replace it among the Five Great Academies.
• Tai Cang said North Cang Spiritual Institute would perform better in the next competition, while Heavenly Saint mocked his confidence.
• Wu Tianwang warned Heavenly Saint not to break the rules to protect Ji Xuan if he clashed with Shi Luo, recalling that he had not interfered when his granddaughter was bullied.
• Heavenly Saint admitted he might intervene to save Ji Xuan, and Tai Cang warned that life and death in the Spiritual Road were to be left to fate.
• Heavenly Saint angrily asked whether Sacred Spirit Institute would perish if it did not listen to Tai Cang, who replied that it was hard to say.

Ye Kong trained Wen Qingxuan in combat and gave her a powerful pill while concealing how cheaply he had acquired it. The chapter left Wen Qingxuan recovering from the pill and Master Jinjiu considering a visit to the Golden Lion Tribe to obtain Divine Beast Essence Blood.

• Ye Kong sparred with Wen Qingxuan, knocked her into a boulder, and criticized her for losing focus.
• Ye Kong gave Wen Qingxuan an Elixir, and she took it while thanking him despite her anger over their agreement and IOU.
• Ye Kong told Wen Qingxuan not to worry about the Buddhist Sect's elders and condemned those who used the Buddha's name to oppress others.
• Wen Qingxuan swallowed the Gold-Striped Pill, whose effects brought her a faint Phoenix Cry.
• Master Jinjiu recognized the pill as a Phoenix Plume Golden Pill, and Ye Kong explained that it was worth far less than Wen Qingxuan's IOU.
• Master Jinjiu considered visiting the Golden Lion Tribe to seek Divine Beast Essence Blood from his powerful relatives.

Ye Kong stabilized Wen Qingxuan after a painful medicinal reaction and told her that her weak physique needed harsh training. When he offered her a choice between enduring his lessons or paying to refuse, she chose the lessons, and he began with a plan to boil her in a medicinal bath.

• Wen Qingxuan suffered as the Phoenix Plume Golden Pill burned through her body, so Ye Kong fed her a Jadeite Pill and used Buddha energy to balance the medicines.
• Ye Kong guided the medicinal powers for half an hour while Xiuling waited with water, then left Wen Qingxuan to recover.
• After bathing, Wen Qingxuan asked Ye Kong whether he thought her talent was poor, and he told her she was weak compared with him and the monks he knew.
• Ye Kong offered Wen Qingxuan either harsh training or an IOU for three hundred Supreme Spirit Liquid, and she chose the training.
• Ye Kong brought out a huge medicinal cauldron and told Wen Qingxuan to gather firewood so he could boil her in a medicinal bath.

Ye Kong put Wen Qingxuan through a painful medicinal-broth treatment while explaining how he and his eldest brother Lu Shengjun had earned their reputations as Spiritual Mountain’s notorious troublemakers. The chapter ended with Ye Kong settling down for a nap as Wen Qingxuan remained sealed inside the cauldron.

• Ye Kong finished preparing medicinal broth and persuaded Wen Qingxuan to enter the cauldron for treatment, with Xiuling putting on the lid.
• Wen Qingxuan screamed in pain inside the cauldron while Ye Kong and Master Jinjiu rested nearby.
• Ye Kong told Master Jinjiu that his eldest brother Lu Shengjun was famed for stealing from the Medicine King Institute and Bodhi Institute and leaving IOUs behind.
• Ye Kong explained that Lu Shengjun was privately called the Great Sage of Balancing Accounts because he had rearranged the institutes’ books and acted as a middleman for the Heaven-Reaching Ape Tribe.
• Ye Kong recounted how Lu Shengjun stole his grandfather’s Monkey Wine and was left unable to digest its medicinal effects, then asked Master Jinjiu to wake him when Wen Qingxuan’s cauldron was ready.

Ye Kong, Xiuling, and Master Jinjiu completed a ten-day medicinal bath that greatly strengthened Wen Qingxuan, who emerged healthy and more powerful. Ye Kong began imagining how to profit from the formula, then told Wen Qingxuan to test her new strength by sparring with him.

• Ye Kong tended the cauldron while Xiuling supplied firewood and Master Jinjiu fanned the flames for ten days, during which Xiuling drove off intruders and Master Jinjiu ate attracted Spirit Beasts.
• On the eleventh morning, Xiuling opened the cauldron, releasing a powerful medicinal fragrance and a vision of a giant bird in green flames.
• Ye Kong recorded his medicinal bath formula and its results in a booklet as his thirteenth practical record.
• Wen Qingxuan emerged from the cauldron healthy, taller, and far stronger, then asked Ye Kong for guidance.
• Ye Kong examined Wen Qingxuan, imagined future profits from the formula, and asked her to spar with him so she could get used to her increased strength.

Ye Kong trained Wen Qingxuan in spear fighting until she refused to continue, then proposed turning her complaint against him into a public spectacle that would win resources and improve Great Spiritual Mountain’s reputation. He left her considering the scheme and declared that once he reached the pinnacle, no one in the Buddhist Sect would be able to oppose him.

• Ye Kong and Master Jinjiu drove Wen Qingxuan to refuse another round of training after she had been knocked down thirty-five times.
• Ye Kong healed Wen Qingxuan and pitched a plan to stage a public complaint and misunderstanding that would earn them cultivation resources and rehabilitate Great Spiritual Mountain’s reputation.
• Ye Kong offered to make Wen Qingxuan an official disciple and described a dramatic story in which she would report corruption within the Buddhist Sect.
• Ye Kong called for reform against corrupt forces within the Buddhist Sect and said he would make Spiritual Mountain great again.
• Wen Qingxuan questioned the scale of the forces Ye Kong might provoke, but he vowed that none could stand against him once he reached the pinnacle of the Great Thousand World.

Ye Kong left the Life-and-Death Trial and entered the final Spiritual Road, where he reflected on potential opportunities and his past life on Blue Star. At Great Spiritual Mountain, Lu Shengjun and Mountain Lord Shi Zhen discussed Ye Kong’s ambition to make Spiritual Mountain great again, and Lu Shengjun realized what his junior brother intended.

• Wen Qingxuan questioned whether Ye Kong’s lofty ideals were genuine, while Ye Kong covered Master Jinjiu’s mouth when he joked about swindling her family.
• The instructors ended the trial, and twenty-nine survivors gathered at the gate; Wen Qingxuan ranked first with 150 points, while Cauldron Cook ranked second with 65.
• Ye Kong gave Wen Qingxuan a tracking jade stone, entered the final Spiritual Road, and emerged onto a vast grassland with Master Jinjiu.
• Ye Kong considered whether to approach Luo Li, rejected the idea as too much trouble, and recalled his life on Blue Star fifteen years earlier.
• In the Myriad Buddha Hall, Lu Shengjun and Mountain Lord Shi Zhen discussed how Ye Kong might make Spiritual Mountain great again, and Lu Shengjun grasped his junior brother’s intent.

Lu Shengjun confronted Mountain Lord Shi Zhen over corruption on Spiritual Mountain, accusing Buddhist institutions of hoarding resources and sheltering monks who used bloodshed to cultivate. He revealed that two hidden Heavenly Sovereigns had escaped after his Apotheosis Battle and concluded that Shi Zhen had concealed them, leaving Shi Luo shaken as the Great Ape King arrived.

• Lu Shengjun accused Spiritual Mountain’s institutions of diverting tributes and treasures into private hands, while Shi Luo defended the monks and Shi Zhen questioned how Lu Shengjun learned the details.
• The Great Ape King of Heaven arrived at Spiritual Mountain after Lu Shengjun summoned him with the Purple Gold Heaven-Reaching Bell.
• Lu Shengjun recounted how his junior disciple’s reports led him to investigate Buddhist cultivators and uncover Jialan Temple monks using living beings’ blood to advance their cultivation.
• Lu Shengjun said he killed more than a hundred Earth Sovereigns and countless Supremes, but two masked Heavenly Sovereigns escaped after one blocked his Apotheosis Battle.
• Lu Shengjun accused Shi Zhen of being the only person capable of hiding the two Heavenly Sovereigns, while Shi Luo struggled to accept the charge.

The Great Ape King of Heaven confronted Shi Zhen and Xuanjie over Lu Shengjun’s ordeal, then secured permission to take his grandson away. Shi Zhen expelled Ye Kong and Master Jinjiu from Spiritual Mountain alongside Lu Shengjun, leaving Ye Kong bewildered by his sudden dismissal.

• An old monk, Xuanjie, calmed Lu Shengjun and Shi Luo, then invited the Great Ape King of Heaven and Shi Zhen to share tea.
• The Ape King questioned Shi Zhen about the two Heavenly Sovereigns, and Xuanjie revealed they were imprisoned in the Deep Prison of the Bodhi Institute.
• The Ape King asked to take Lu Shengjun home, and Shi Zhen agreed that his hundred years of training were complete.
• Shi Zhen pulled Ye Kong and a dog from a spatial rift, expelled Ye Kong from Spiritual Mountain, and ordered him never to return.
• Ye Kong accepted his expulsion while privately planning to return and seize power, and Shi Zhen also expelled Master Jinjiu.

After Ye Kong’s expulsion from Spiritual Mountain, Shi Luo ordered the Vajra Institute to descend the mountain and slay demons. One year later, Ye Kong led a squad of Sky-Reaching Apes to seize a suspicious Bodhi Tree, which revealed itself to be a Demon Tree.

• Shi Luo issued a decree sending Earth Sovereign cultivators of the Vajra Institute down the mountain to subdue demons, declaring that they could execute those who harmed living beings.
• Shi Luo told the monks to remember the words “Kill to protect life; sever karma, not people,” and led them to leave Spiritual Mountain and slay demons.
• Ye Kong settled in the Heaven-Reaching Ape Tribe’s territory and formed the Mountain and Forest Recon Squad after defeating young apes who challenged him.
• Ye Kong and Lu Hou’s squad found a Bodhi Tree surrounded by violent Spirit Beasts, and Ye Kong warned the apes that the tree felt strange.
• Ye Kong struck the Bodhi Tree while fighting off its attacks and the Spirit Beasts, then had Lu Hou and three other apes attack its trunk.
• The Bodhi Tree unleashed purple-black demonic qi, and Ye Kong recognized it as the aura of the Outer Domain Evil Tribe and realized the tree was a Demon Tree.