Chapter Summaries

Qi WuHuo used the Soaring Heavens Palace seal to impersonate the Jade Emperor as the Judicial Great Celestial Venerable pressed his plans to seize True Martial and consolidate power. When Qi WuHuo fully claimed the seal’s authority, the Heavenly Book changed the Jade Emperor’s title, leaving the Record Keeper Immortal Official stunned.

• Qi WuHuo used the seal and his Taiyi Cultivation Body to imitate the Jade Emperor’s aura while Zhang Xiaoyu coached him.
• The Judicial Great Celestial Venerable confessed his supposed faults, then urged the Jade Emperor to punish Great Emperor Dongyang and order True Martial’s capture.
• Qi WuHuo and Zhang Xiaoyu recognized that the Judicial Great Celestial Venerable was using the Heavenly Court’s laws and authority to advance a ritual and replace the Jade Emperor as the center of its order.
• The Judicial Great Celestial Venerable demanded to lead an army against True Martial, and Qi WuHuo’s anger rose as Zhang Xiaoyu restrained himself.
• Qi WuHuo rejected the Judicial Great Celestial Venerable’s attempt to mark the seal, took its control to one hundred percent, and declared, “How dare you!!!”
• The Heavenly Book added and combined new titles for the Jade Emperor, naming him Supreme Jade Emperor, Great Heavenly Venerable Who Grants Absolution, Supreme Emperor Above the Firmament of the Nine Heavens.

Qi WuHuo and Zhang Xiaoyu defused their confrontation with the Judicial Heavenly Venerable, then shared ancient wine and sealed a pact to become brothers and share the honored title of Jade. After returning to the mortal world, Qi WuHuo remembered Great Dao Lord Yuchen’s request to deliver a sword.

• Zhang Xiaoyu’s counsel helped Qi WuHuo rebuke the Judicial Heavenly Venerable, who withdrew after being offered a chance to seek one of the vacant Four Emperor seats.
• Zhang Xiaoyu praised Qi WuHuo’s bearing, returned the seal to him, and invited him to choose a treasure from the Haotian Treasure Vault.
• Qi WuHuo chose the Earth-Leaving Flame Light Banner and an ancient wine flask, while Zhang Xiaoyu explained that the Haotian Mirror, Book of Heaven, and Sky-Covering Banner were forbidden by ancient oaths.
• Qi WuHuo and Zhang Xiaoyu drank the wine, agreed to protect each other for sixty years, and drunkenly stamped a pact naming Qi WuHuo the Jade Capital and making them brothers.
• Qi WuHuo returned to the mortal world and recalled Great Dao Lord Yuchen’s instruction to deliver a sword as a letter of introduction.

Qi WuHuo returned to the Three Pure Dao Ancestors, presented the Eight Treasures Ruyi Glazed Bottle, and reported that he had found Empress Nuwa’s body beneath the sea of blood. He then revealed that his bloodline had reached the source of the Innate Human Race and that he had mastered the Qi of Man, leaving Yuqing Primordial Celestial Venerable stunned.

• The green-shirted spirit secretly examined Qi WuHuo’s robe and restored the traces of blood to it before Qi WuHuo went to wash and pay his respects.
• Qi WuHuo presented the Eight Treasures Ruyi Glazed Bottle to Yuqing Primordial Celestial Venerable, who told him to reach the Earth Immortal realm within a hundred days.
• Qi WuHuo told the Three Pure Dao Ancestors that he had met Empress Nuwa and found her body beneath the sea of blood, and they discussed how he could eventually return her soul to it.
• Taiqing Moral Celestial Venerable explained that Qi WuHuo’s blood carried powerful traces of Empress Nuwa and the Innate Human Race, and Qi WuHuo admitted he had used up the breath-soil.
• Qi WuHuo revealed that Zhu Rong’s Qi, Gonggong’s Qi, Empress Nuwa’s blood exchange, and the breath-soil had brought his bloodline to the source of the Innate Human Race.
• Qi WuHuo manifested the Qi of Man and announced that he had mastered his second Qi, leaving Yuqing Primordial Celestial Venerable’s composure frozen.

Qi WuHuo manifested Human Dao Qi, and Yuqing Primordial Celestial Venerable planned his path to becoming an Earth Immortal. When WuHuo revealed the swords and technique he had learned beneath the Sea of Blood, an inherited will took control and set him against Shangqing Great Dao Lord.

• Yuqing Primordial Celestial Venerable praised WuHuo for manifesting Human Dao Qi and ordered him to cultivate the remaining Five Qi before descending the mountain.
• Supreme recognized WuHuo’s Innate Human Race bloodline as the successor to his unfinished cultivation method, while Shangqing Great Dao Lord waited eagerly to hear what his disciple had gained.
• WuHuo drew two swords, but struggled against the will embedded in the technique he had received beneath the Sea of Blood.
• Shangqing Great Dao Lord welcomed the chance to face the mysterious swordsman’s move, not realizing the technique came from Great Dao Lord Yuchen.
• WuHuo lost control, invoked the Tribulation Sword, and declared that he used a sword learned from Great Dao Lord Yuchen to pay his respects to Shangqing.

Qi WuHuo witnessed Shangqing Great Dao Lord suppress a sword challenge from his past self, then received lessons in swordsmanship and learned that Shangqing planned to leave that past self guarding Nüwa for now. After the Three Pure Ones teased one another about their embarrassing pasts, Qi WuHuo went to Yuqing’s courtyard at night and was asked why he had come.

• Qi WuHuo used the Spirit Charm to unleash a sword bearing Shangqing’s past self’s challenge, but Shangqing shattered it and sent the mountain flying with a sweep of his sleeve.
• Shangqing recognized the sword as a challenge he had arranged in his youth, explained its techniques to Qi WuHuo, and offered to teach him sword forging.
• Supreme and Yuqing teased Shangqing about his youthful exploits, and Shangqing retaliated by threatening to reveal their own embarrassing pasts.
• Qi WuHuo admitted he already knew about the others’ pasts, prompting Supreme and Yuqing to seize Shangqing and invite him for a private chat.
• Shangqing declined to fight his past self because Nüwa still needed protection beneath the Sea of Blood, and he planned to confront him after Qi WuHuo brought Nüwa back.
• Qi WuHuo visited Yuqing’s courtyard after midnight and knocked three times; Yuqing answered by asking what he had come for.

Qi WuHuo rejected Yuqing Primordial Celestial Venerable’s offered divine powers and received instruction in the foundations of the Great Dao. Yuqing helped him prepare to become an Earth Immortal, and Qi WuHuo began creating his own Inner Scenery World as the coming tribulations drew closer.

• Qi WuHuo visited Yuqing Primordial Celestial Venerable at midnight and asked to learn the orthodox Dao.
• Yuqing offered Qi WuHuo powerful methods, including Brahma Qi Filling the Void and the Karma Cycle, but Qi WuHuo refused them and said he wanted the Great Dao.
• Pleased with Qi WuHuo’s understanding, Yuqing passed on the foundations of his Dao and warned that the coming tribulations would involve Qi WuHuo.
• Yuqing used purple qi and several treasures to help Qi WuHuo gather the five qi and explained that he must create his own Inner Scenery World to become an Earth Immortal.
• Qi WuHuo began cultivating in the air while Yuqing, Shangqing, and Taishang watched and considered what kind of world he would create.

Qi WuHuo struggled to open his Inner Scenery World until he realized he had to compress Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire into the primordial One, then split them apart with his own power. As the Three Pure Ones sealed the breakthrough, the azure-robed young man predicted a future opportunity for the Little Medicine Spirit, and Qi WuHuo finally raised his hand to strike with the True Talisman of Controlling Heaven's Creation.

• The Three Pure Ones sealed the world around Qi WuHuo as he began his breakthrough, while Di Ting and the Little Medicine Spirit noticed the disturbance.
• The azure-robed young man teased the Little Medicine Spirit about eating its buried fruits, then promised it a great future opportunity and described divination as reading the traces of every raindrop.
• Qi WuHuo formed Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire with the five elements and five Qi, but stopped when he could not bring himself to let the world expand.
• Qi WuHuo recalled his teachers' teachings and understood that all things had to collapse into the One before erupting into Heaven and Earth.
• Qi WuHuo compressed the elements into a single point, invoked the True Talisman of Controlling Heaven's Creation, and brought his hand down like an axe.

Qi WuHuo opened an immense Inner Scenery World and stabilized it with the Medicine Spirit’s power and a celestial tree rooted among the stars. As the Three Pure Dao Ancestors prepared to confront the green-robed man, he revealed that he was Fuxi.

• Qi WuHuo used the Taiyi Cultivation Body and the Three Lights Divine Water to open an Earth Immortal Inner Scenery World containing countless stars and worlds.
• Great Emperor Ziwei recognized that a Daoist of the Three Pure Ones had reached the Earth Immortal realm and sent for the Northern Emperor’s Son to bring congratulations.
• Di Ting became distressed after the green-robed artifact spirit hinted at Bai Ze’s fate, then struck his head against a pillar.
• The green-robed artifact spirit sent the Medicine Spirit to Qi WuHuo, whose Inner Scenery was collapsing because the Bodhi sapling could not sustain its Five Qi.
• The Bodhi Tree’s power and the Medicine Spirit’s arrival helped stabilize Qi WuHuo’s Inner Scenery, forming a vast celestial tree that connected its stars and worlds.
• Qi WuHuo and the Three Pure Dao Ancestors turned their weapons and attention toward the green-robed man, who declared, “I am Fuxi.”

The Three Pure Ones confronted Fuxi, who surrendered and offered conflicting explanations for his return. Tai Shang kept him under seal, while Fuxi told Qi WuHuo that he had waited ten thousand years for a chance like him.

• Fuxi revealed himself to the Three Pure Ones, and they attacked him together while Supreme sent Qi WuHuo far away to the South Sea.
• Fuxi surrendered to the Three Pure Ones, and Qi WuHuo returned after learning to ride clouds and control the wind.
• Fuxi gave four possible reasons for appearing, including protecting Qi WuHuo’s strength and carrying out a plan through his own death.
• Qi WuHuo suggested Fuxi wanted the Three Pure Ones to keep him close, and Tai Shang agreed to house and seal him.
• Tai Shang questioned whether Fuxi was truly himself or an incarnation of the Great Dao, and Fuxi challenged him to consider whether the distinction mattered.
• Fuxi apologized to Qi WuHuo for drawing him into the struggle and said he had waited ten thousand years for a chance like him.

Qi WuHuo prepared to seize the opportunity to stabilize his Inner Scenery World and enter the Earth Immortal realm as the Buddhism and Daoism tribulation began. Meanwhile, the Three Pure Ones’ senior disciples set out to settle a New Year’s dispute, and Great Master Xuan Du discovered Fuxi bound by the Great Dao.

• Qi WuHuo continued cultivating under the Primordial Celestial Venerable’s guidance, and his Inner Scenery World neared stability as the New Year approached.
• Qi WuHuo sensed Buddhist energy stir the sword formation protecting the Medicine Master Buddha’s reincarnated body and realized the moment could stabilize his Inner Scenery World.
• Qi WuHuo headed toward the triggered formation as the Buddhism and Daoism tribulation began and his Human Dao Qi stabilized, reaching the Earth Immortal realm.
• Great Master Xuan Du, Great True Lord Tian Peng, and Great Unity Salvation Heavenly Venerate exchanged messages about their planned New Year’s contest and hurried toward the mountain.
• Great Master Xuan Du found Fuxi playing chess in the courtyard, recognized the golden talisman chains binding him to the Great Dao, and heard Fuxi greet him.

Fuxi confronted Xuan Du and calmly stopped him and two other Daoist disciples from attacking, while the three argued over who would claim WuHuo as their younger brother. Meanwhile, Guanyin set out to meet Medicine Master Lapis Lazuli Light Tathagata but encountered Qi WuHuo, who had seized the Golden Mane Roarer’s weapon.

• Xuan Du asked Fuxi whether he could bring Mother back, and Fuxi said he did not know.
• Great Unity Salvation Heavenly Venerate and Heavenly Marshal Tian Peng recognized Fuxi, and the three senior Daoist disciples prepared to attack him.
• Fuxi reversed their techniques, injured them slightly, and warned them not to fight during the human New Year.
• The three disciples argued over who would look after WuHuo, and Fuxi said he did not know where WuHuo was.
• Guanyin saved a child from drowning and changed their appearance before setting out to meet Medicine Master Lapis Lazuli Light Tathagata.
• The Golden Mane Roarer’s cudgel flew into Qi WuHuo’s sleeve, and Qi WuHuo introduced himself to Guanyin.

Qi WuHuo stopped Guanyin from taking Medicine Master by debating Buddhist teachings and questioning the motives behind the search, then drove off the Golden Mane Roarer. After Guanyin left, an Earth God told Qi WuHuo about an abandoned newborn, and a Phoenix cried out in the mountain forest.

• Qi WuHuo debated Guanyin about emptiness, the provisional, and the Middle, leading Guanyin to understand a new teaching and accept that he could not advance.
• Qi WuHuo questioned why the Buddhas sought Medicine Master and urged Guanyin to visit the Bodhi Tree before deciding what to do.
• The Golden Mane Roarer attacked Qi WuHuo, who swept him away to Lesser Sumeru Mountain with his sleeve.
• Guanyin and Bodhisattva Lingji discussed the teaching and named the scripture the Heart Sutra.
• An Earth God told Qi WuHuo that a newborn had been abandoned among wild beasts, and a Phoenix cried out nearby.

Qi WuHuo sensed the birth of an extraordinary figure as phoenixes appeared, then found the child whose Human Qi was restless. At the Bodhi Tree, Guanyin discovered the truth about the Buddha lineages, warned Medicine Master Buddha’s allies, and learned Qi WuHuo’s identity as Supreme Xuanwei.

• Qi WuHuo calmed the Earth God after two phoenixes appeared and took him toward the child whose birth had drawn the birds.
• Guanyin visited the Bodhi Tree, where its memories revealed that the Buddha lineages had taken the Buddha’s teachings and rewards without embracing his solitary practice.
• Guanyin left the Buddhist ancestral ground and warned Moonlight Illumination Bodhisattva and Sunlight Illumination Bodhisattva to protect Medicine Master Buddha’s reincarnation from the Buddha lineages.
• Moonlight Illumination Bodhisattva told Guanyin that Qi WuHuo had persuaded Medicine Master Buddha to enter nirvana and bore the Daoist title Supreme Xuanwei.
• Guanyin recognized Qi WuHuo as Supreme Xuanwei True Person, the Nine Heavens Patrol Envoy and True Martial, the Responsive One.
• Qi WuHuo reached the village with the Earth God and found the child whose Human Qi was restless.

Qi WuHuo rescued an abandoned infant protected by the mountain beasts and returned him to his mother, Yan Zheng, who named him Qiu. As shifting fortunes gathered around the child, Qi WuHuo promised to wait for him at the Capital City's Treasury Chamber for sixty years.

• Qi WuHuo found a newborn surrounded by beasts in a mountain cave, while the old Earth God watched in awe.
• Qi WuHuo fed the child Spiritual Liquid and waited for his destined encounter as the Earth God and Mountain God joined him.
• Yan Zheng struggled through the snow to find her child, and Qi WuHuo stopped the storm and returned the infant to her.
• Qi WuHuo gave Yan Zheng a talisman and relayed the mountain beasts' suggestions for the child's name.
• Yan Zheng chose the name Qiu and said she would return to her parents to raise him.
• Qi WuHuo pointed Yan Zheng toward the Capital City's Treasury Chamber and promised to wait there for Qiu for sixty years.

Qi WuHuo investigated Qiu’s birth family, intervened to protect the child, and realized that human fortune and tribulation were advancing his cultivation. He returned to Mount Jinzhou having reached True Lordhood, where he announced his breakthrough to his senior brothers.

• Qi WuHuo explained to the Earth God that he could not see the child’s future, then set out to find the child’s birth family.
• At Qiu’s family residence, Qi WuHuo overheard the elders plotting to eliminate the child and silence Yan, so he sent Prince Qin a proposal to exclude the family from the new emperor’s selection.
• After Qi WuHuo formed a causal connection with Prince Qin, his Inner Scenery World stabilized, and he understood that human fortune and tribulation were tempering his Taiyi Cultivation Body.
• Qi WuHuo’s presence stopped a brewing Buddhist-Daoist fight, and he recognized that the Six Realms were facing a great tribulation.
• Qi WuHuo traveled back to Mount Jinzhou, where his senior brothers sensed his powerful aura and witnessed his Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown and Five Qi Facing the Origin.
• Qi WuHuo greeted Tian Peng, Great Unity Salvation Heavenly Venerate, and Great Master Xuan Du, then declared that he had attained True Lordhood.

Qi WuHuo’s teachers explained the risks and promise of the cultivation he had gained by entering the tribulation, then charged him with saving the living, restoring order, and holding to his Dao. The Three Pure Dao Ancestors sent him down the mountain as the great tribulation approached.

• Great Master Xuan Du, Heavenly Marshal Tian Peng, and Great Unity Salvation Heavenly Venerate learned of Qi WuHuo’s extraordinary deeds and realized he may have completed several Great Grade rituals.
• Listening Truth struggled to hide his connection to Qi WuHuo from the three first disciples, who questioned him about the young Daoist.
• Supreme explained that Qi WuHuo’s Taiyi Cultivation Body had made him a True Lord, while warning that relying on it could cut off his path to a Great Dao of his own.
• Qi WuHuo told the Three Pure Dao Ancestors that he had entered the tribulation willingly because his ties to the mortal world and its suffering made retreat impossible.
• Dao Ancestor Tai Shang, Yuqing Primordial Celestial Venerable, and Shangqing Great Dao Lord each charged Qi WuHuo to face the coming calamity, restore order, and uphold his original heart; he promised to do so.
• The Three Pure Dao Ancestors gave Qi WuHuo a new Daoist robe and told him his cultivation was complete and he could descend the mountain.

Qi WuHuo delivered New Year greetings from the mortal world to Empress Nuwa, whose message persuaded Fuxi to abandon plans that would have caused widespread slaughter. As Guanyin arrived seeking Qi WuHuo, Fuxi secured her promise to help any Square Inch Mountain disciple who entered Buddhism return to Daoism, and she reported that Crown Prince Li Hui had ascended the throne with the Buddhas' aid.

• Qi WuHuo spent New Year's Eve with Shangqing Great Dao Lord and the other Dao Ancestors, painting the mortal world and carrying the painting and gifts to Empress Nuwa.
• Empress Nuwa told Qi WuHuo to warn Fuxi against his plan, and she sent Xuan Du comfort and asked Fuxi to care for the mortal world.
• Qi WuHuo relayed Nuwa's warning and her greeting to Fuxi, who accepted the message and let go of his plan to bring her back through massacres.
• Fuxi removed the measures he had placed in Qi WuHuo's Inner Scenery World and gave the little Medicine Spirit a New Year's couplet.
• Guanyin thanked Qi WuHuo, and Fuxi obtained her binding promise to help a Square Inch Mountain disciple return to Daoism if he joined Buddhism.
• Guanyin told Qi WuHuo that Crown Prince Li Hui had ascended the throne with the Buddhas' aid.

Li Hui took the throne and faced a Buddhist monk who urged him to claim supreme power by believing the people owed him for his past lives. As Buddhist monasteries spread and exploited new laws, Li Zhai marched on Capital City, destroyed temples, and began the ruthless campaign that earned him the title Wu Zong.

• Li Hui ascended the throne and told the Buddhist monk that temples could be built only under his realm’s laws.
• The monk argued that the previous Human Emperor had fallen because his power came from the people, then tempted Li Hui to believe his exalted position was repayment for past lives.
• Li Hui issued laws that exempted Buddhist monks from taxes and corvée labor, prompting monasteries to multiply and state revenues to collapse.
• An old monk sent his young disciple away with a robe of transmission, but other monks killed him while searching for it.
• Li Zhai turned his army toward Capital City, tore down temples, and ordered monks to return to lay life or be killed.
• Li Zhai destroyed a Buddha statue and burned a monastery, defying the monks’ threats of retribution as he began the campaign later remembered as Wu Zong’s rise.

Qi WuHuo watched Buddhism and Daoism draw the Mortal World toward a conflict over Human Dao Destiny while Li Zhai advanced on the capital and prepared to settle matters with Li Hui through a contest. When the Dharma debate approached and the people faced a turning point, Qi WuHuo finally descended the mountain on the Azure Bull.

• Guanyin Bodhisattva told Qi WuHuo that Buddhist leaders planned to use Human Dao Destiny to appoint gods, then left to try to stop them.
• Li Zhai marched toward the capital, purged corrupt temples, and rejected his deputy’s claim that he had betrayed his country and people.
• Buddhist experts attacked Li Zhai, but Lü Dongbin arrived, drove them off, and began protecting him.
• Li Hui proclaimed Li Zhai a traitor, and the two sides agreed to decide the struggle through a contest of destiny and a debate between Buddhism and Daoism.
• Li Hui yielded to Buddhist pressure to involve sixteen Bodhisattvas, while messengers raced to summon Qi WuHuo before the debate.
• Qi WuHuo stepped into the air, mounted the Azure Bull, and descended the mountain as Di Ting recognized him.

Qi WuHuo descended on a green ox as purple qi poured across the sky, while Lü Chunyang faced sixteen Buddhist challengers in the Capital City. After Lü Chunyang won three matches before a hidden attack left him wounded, Qi WuHuo’s arrival shattered the Buddhists’ forces and decided the contest before he reached the city.

• Di Ting watched the mountain’s courtyards disappear until only Qi WuHuo’s courtyard remained, then left for the City of Wrongful Deaths as the Three Dao Ancestors departed in different directions.
• Qi WuHuo rode his green ox down the mountain, gathered the sunrise’s purple qi into his sleeve, and sent it streaming across the sky toward the Capital City.
• Sixteen Buddhist monks and Bodhisattvas challenged Lü Chunyang to contests in their strongest disciplines while Li Hui and the assembled crowd watched.
• Lü Chunyang won three contests, but a scorpion sent by the old monk stung him repeatedly and disrupted his concentration; Li Zhai killed it as Lü Chunyang fell wounded.
• Qi WuHuo’s purple qi swept over the Capital City, shattered the Buddhists’ light and manifestations, and sent the Bodhisattvas, arhats, and other monks flying.
• Qi WuHuo arrived above the Capital City on his green ox, carrying the Eight Sceneries Palace Lantern, and met the old monk’s gaze.