Chapter Summaries

After nine years in seclusion, Qi WuHuo remained inside the Treasury Chamber while Fuxi and the others waited for the right moment. As rumors of the Master's death reached the aging Human Emperor Li Weifeng, he ordered Feng Shan at Mount Tai, determined to unite the Hundred Schools of Thought and prepare humanity to defend itself.

• Fuxi told Empress Nuwa and the others that Qi WuHuo would emerge when the time came, though Human Dao Destiny had already reached its limit.
• Li Weifeng granted his longtime minister permission to retire, then angrily rejected rumors that Qi WuHuo had died.
• Li Weifeng sensed hostile immortals beyond the Destiny Great Formation and recognized that the mortal world's defenses still lacked a final step.
• Li Weifeng summoned the gods of Human Dao Destiny and ordered them to begin Feng Shan at Mount Tai.
• Li Weifeng called on the Hundred Schools of Thought to gather for debates over the Dao and have their seats ranked as the Three Teachings, the Nine Schools, and the Hundred Schools.
• Li Weifeng declared that humanity must forge its own hearts and defenses, then vowed that Heaven should let him win for once.

Li Weifeng completed the Nine Cauldrons Great Formation and summoned the Hundred Schools to Mount Tai, while the Buddhist sect and Heavenly Court received rumors that True Martial Demon Queller had lost his cultivation. The Buddhas and the Judicial Great Celestial Venerable saw a chance to attack, but Manjushri Bodhisattva and Guanyin Bodhisattva recognized that the sixty-year cycle had reached the moment Wu Huo had prepared for; Li Weifeng set out to perform the Feng Shan ritual.

• Li Weifeng's command spread across the Human World, and the Hundred Schools' masters and disciples began gathering beneath Mount Tai.
• A monk who had watched Wu Huo for nine years returned to the Buddha Kingdom and reported that Wu Huo had lost his cultivation, along with the discovery of Buddhist power within the Human World's destiny.
• The Buddhas celebrated the news and planned to enter the Human World, with [Namo Joyful Sound and Light Tathagata] proposing they cooperate with Heavenly Court forces to break through its limits.
• The Judicial Great Celestial Venerable rejoiced at Wu Huo's apparent downfall, while Jade Emperor Zhang Xiaoyu worried about him and restrained himself from acting rashly.
• Manjushri Bodhisattva recalled that Wu Huo had said the Buddhas arrived sixty years too early, and Guanyin Bodhisattva sensed that he was inviting them into a trap now that the cycle had passed.
• Li Weifeng left the imperial palace as the Nine Cauldrons Great Formation was completed and the Hundred Schools set out, preparing to perform the Feng Shan ritual.

Li Weifeng completed the Fengshan Ceremony at Mount Tai, then refused the immortality offered by the Investiture of the Gods and severed his own name from it. He decreed that no Human Emperor could ever become a god, leaving the ceremony’s witnesses to watch his sword shatter after his final act.

• Li Weifeng visited Li Qiongyu, asked her to remain in the mountains and cultivate, then left to tell the Daoist Master he would face what awaited him at Mount Tai.
• Great True Person Ming Xin welcomed Li Weifeng to Mount Tai, where the Hundred Schools of Thought gathered and the Fengshan Ceremony began.
• The Nine Cauldrons united Human Dao Destiny, and the Investiture of the Gods unfurled before Li Weifeng with his name and achievements at its head.
• Li Weifeng stabbed the Investiture of the Gods and decreed that no Human Emperor could ever ascend to godhood.
• Li Weifeng cut his name from the Investiture of the Gods, rejected eternal life, and declared that even the gods must stand beneath humanity.
• Li Weifeng’s sword shattered as the people, gods, Buddhas, and masters of the Hundred Schools watched in solemn silence.

After completing the Feng Shan rite, Li Weifeng left Mount Tai with Mingxin and died in the Capital City after reliving their youth through the Yellow Millet Dream. His death weakened the formation over the human world, and Li Zhai entered it alone.

• Li Weifeng decreed that the next Human Emperor would be chosen through a contest of Human Dao destiny, then asked Mingxin to take him home.
• As Mingxin carried Li Weifeng toward the Capital City, Li Weifeng reminisced about his youth and his dreams of wandering the world.
• Mingxin cast the Yellow Millet Dream, returning Li Weifeng to a childhood meeting with the young Mingxin in Central Province Prefecture City.
• Li Weifeng died at the age of eighty-one, and Mingxin carried his body through the city as children sang nearby.
• Li Zhai poured out his wine on Mount Tai, mounted the Kirin Beast, and entered the formation as Li Weifeng's death caused its power to disperse.

The Hundred Schools of Thought repelled the immortals and gods attempting to enter the Human World, revealing how far human strength had grown. As the battle escalated, the Judicial Great Celestial Venerable sent a sword toward Mount Tai, and Human Dao Destiny began forming the image of Qi WuHuo to face it.

• Jade Emperor Zhang Xiaoyu and Empress Houtu chose not to intervene as the immortals and gods descended toward the Human World.
• The Hundred Schools of Thought shattered the immortals’ first attack with Human Dao Destiny, leaving the heavens stunned.
• The disciples realized that their years of training against Qiu had made them far stronger than the immortals they had once revered.
• The Hundred Schools joined forces at Mount Tai and met the immortals’ renewed assault with their schools’ literary veins and Human Dao Destiny.
• The Judicial Great Celestial Venerable sent a powerful sword toward Mount Tai, and Human Dao Destiny gathered into the apparent likeness of Qi WuHuo to intercept it.

Master Qiu and Li Zhai rallied the Hundred Schools and the spirits of legendary human generals to fight the heavenly forces, while the Buddhas moved to reclaim the Nine Stone Tablets. As the human realm remained peaceful below, someone emerged from seclusion and greeted Old Green Ox.

• Golden Human Dao Destiny took the form of Master Qiu, who caught the Judicial Great Celestial Venerable's sword and joined the Hundred Schools.
• Li Zhai arrived with his spear and called upon the Investiture of the Gods, summoning legendary generals and armies to fight beside the living.
• Master Qiu swept the Heavenly Soldiers away with Human Dao Destiny, and the assembled human forces charged into battle against the immortals and gods.
• The Buddhas entered the human realm to reclaim the Nine Stone Tablets while the conflict among the Six Realms intensified.
• Old Green Ox watched ordinary life continue in the Capital City, then heard someone emerge from behind him and address him as Uncle Niu.

Qi WuHuo, wearing his old blue Daoist robe, left the Human World on Old Green Ox’s back after promising his followers one final sermon. At Hangu Pass, the Sixteen Buddhas halted before the approaching old Daoist and his ox.

• Qi WuHuo said he had loose ends to settle before the Human Dao’s kalpa and accepted Old Green Ox’s offer to carry him.
• Xi Men Da Chong and the people of the Human World gathered to bid farewell to Qi WuHuo, who promised to expound on the Dao one more time.
• Qi WuHuo invited Ming to come with him, while [Yin] felt a painful stirring of memories and followed.
• Old Green Ox carried Qi WuHuo, Ming, and [Yin] out of the capital as the people called, “We send off the Teacher!”
• The Sixteen Buddhas arrived at Hangu Pass intending to enter the Human World openly, but stopped when they saw Qi WuHuo approaching on Old Green Ox.

Qi WuHuo passed through Hangu Pass and destroyed sixteen Buddha lineages, while Ming and the Golden Cicada found enlightenment through their meeting. As Buddhist schools flourished within the Human Dao, Qi WuHuo broke through to a higher realm.

• [Namo Joyful Sound and Light Tathagata] led the Buddhas in attacking Qi WuHuo, but their power failed and they were driven out of Hangu Pass.
• [Namo Joyful Sound and Light Tathagata] begged Qi WuHuo to spare the Buddhas, but Qi WuHuo scattered their cultivation and declared that slaying the Buddhas was not slaying the Dharma.
• Sixteen lotus ponds in the Western Heaven Buddha Kingdom withered as Qi WuHuo dissolved the sixteen Buddha lineages.
• Ming welcomed the Golden Cicada into his home and recognized the parallel between the Daoist who had visited at his birth and the monk who arrived near the end of his life.
• The Golden Cicada plucked a Winter Plum Blossom, and Ming attained insight as Zen Buddhism and Consciousness-Only blossomed within the Human Dao.
• Qi WuHuo sensed the Buddhist flowers blooming on the Imperial Pure Tree, gathered the Three Flowers and Five Qi, merged with a descending Daoist figure, and broke through.

Qi WuHuo reunited his Primordial Spirit and Primordial Qi avatars, reached the peak of the True Lord realm, and refused to become a Great Emperor before his Primordial Blood avatar returned. As the battle between the Hundred Schools and the immortals threatened to ignite a war between the Human World and the Celestial Realm, Qi WuHuo arrived alone on a path of purple qi and erased their attacks.

• Old Green Ox realized that Qi WuHuo’s achievements in the Human World had been accomplished by his Primordial Qi avatar while his Primordial Spirit protected the world.
• Qi WuHuo absorbed his Primordial Spirit avatar and rapidly rose to the peak of the True Lord realm, but dispersed the Great Grade Dao Fruit because he wished to attain the Imperial Pure Realm first.
• Qi WuHuo saw the battle on Mount Tai through his Dharma Eye, declined to use the Gouchen Sword, and severed the sky with a sword gesture.
• The Jade Emperor, the Judicial Great Celestial Venerable, the Sovereigns, and Empress Houtu prepared to intervene as the fighting between the Hundred Schools and the immortals escalated.
• Qi WuHuo’s purple qi swept across Mount Tai and erased the attacks, then he walked alone toward the Celestial Gate as the immortals and the Hundred Schools watched.

Qi WuHuo returned to the Human World, halted the fighting, and guided the Hundred Schools and the immortals to settle their conflict through three debates on the Dao. After giving one final sermon and reciting his five-thousand-word scripture to every living being, he vanished, leaving the scholars to lead the way themselves.

• Qi WuHuo appeared amid the purple qi, and the Hundred Schools of Thought saluted him as their Master while Judicial Great Celestial Venerable recognized that his Dao Fruit had been dissolved and suppressed his urge to attack.
• Qi WuHuo stopped the renewed fighting and proposed debates on the Dao; the Leader of the School of Military won the first, Zhuang Zhou conceded the second, and Master Qiu drew the third.
• The immortals agreed to meet the Hundred Schools again on Mount Tai in sixty years, then withdrew from the Human World.
• Qi WuHuo sat among the purple qi and gave his promised final lecture, then recited the five-thousand-word scripture he had completed.
• Purple qi enveloped the Human World, and Qi WuHuo vanished; the scholars mourned his departure and realized they now stood at the front.

After Qi WuHuo helped halt the Calamity Cycle, Zhang Xiaoyu consolidated power in Heaven and descended to the Human World to meet him. As Heaven prepared for Qi WuHuo’s return, the Three Pure Ones and the Northern Emperor’s Son waited for him.

• Zhang Xiaoyu used the aftermath of the Human World’s victory to capture, punish, and recruit Immortals and Gods, then planned to divide his new divine generals with Qi WuHuo.
• Zhang Xiaoyu created an avatar to remain in Heaven and descended to the Mortal World to find Qi WuHuo.
• The Judicial Great Celestial Venerable enlisted the current Laojun to help kill Qi WuHuo, promising to aid him in finding a hidden chamber in Doushuai Palace containing Dao Ancestor Tai Shang’s book and sword.
• The Great Unity Salvation Heavenly Venerate, the Great Master Xuan Du, and Heavenly Marshal Tian Peng discussed Qi WuHuo’s rising strength and remembered that their teachers had waited for him to pay his respects.
• The Northern Emperor’s Son heard that Qi WuHuo might be returning and wondered whether he was coming back.

Qi WuHuo left the Mortal World after entrusting Empress Nuwa’s return to Fuxi and sharing the Dao with later generations. He climbed Mount Tai, where Zhang Xiaoyu revealed himself as the Jade Emperor and welcomed Qi WuHuo into the Heavenly Palace.

• Old Green Ox celebrated reaching the Emperor Realm, while Qi WuHuo sent Empress Nuwa’s spirit back to the Taiyi Realm and heard Fuxi promise to create a safe opportunity to restore her.
• Qi WuHuo attended Li Weifeng’s funeral, answered Li Qiongyu’s question about eternal life, and said farewell to the young Dragon Maiden before leaving the Mortal World.
• Qi WuHuo spread the Great Dao scripture; Mingxin and Yin recorded its final Spirit Charm, and Yin later remembered something and watched the southern sky.
• Golden Cicada died beside the grave of the butterfly, promising to meet the young Daoist again in a future life, while the young Daoist chose to remain in the Mortal World.
• Qi WuHuo reached Mount Tai, regained his youthful appearance, and met Zhang Xiaoyu, who revealed that he was the Jade Emperor and personally led Qi WuHuo toward the Heavenly Palace.

Qi WuHuo met with Zhang Xiaoyu in the Soaring Heavens Palace, accepted half the spoils from Mount Tai, and confirmed that he would leave the Heavenly Court after helping defeat the Judicial Great Celestial Venerable. As Qi WuHuo departed with Wang E, Great Master Xuan Du arrived and challenged him to a spar, wagering the position of Supreme First Disciple.

• Wang E stopped Old Celestial Lord from entering the Soaring Heavens Palace and told him that True Martial was meeting with the Jade Emperor inside.
• Qi WuHuo told Zhang Xiaoyu that he would not recruit the Hundred Schools of Thought or stay in the Heavenly Court once his work was finished.
• Zhang Xiaoyu gave Qi WuHuo half of the spoils from Mount Tai and offered him residences and staff in the Heavenly Court.
• Qi WuHuo agreed to return after defeating the Judicial Great Celestial Venerable, then left the palace with Wang E as his guard.
• Great Master Xuan Du pinned Wang E beneath the Purple Gold Eight Trigrams Furnace and challenged Qi WuHuo to spar, wagering the title of Supreme First Disciple.

Qi WuHuo reached Great Luo Heaven after the three first disciples of the Three Pure Ones tested his abilities and welcomed him into the mountain gate. He entered the temple and bowed to Yuqing Primordial Celestial Venerable, Taiqing Moral Celestial Venerable, and Supreme Pure Spirit Treasure Celestial Venerable.

• Great Master Xuan Du tested Qi WuHuo with Six Ding Divine Fire, and Qi WuHuo suppressed the flames before returning his cultivation to the True Lord realm at will.
• Heavenly Marshal Tian Peng challenged Qi WuHuo with the Yuqing Talismanic Method, and Qi WuHuo defeated his countless incarnations with the True Talisman of Controlling Heaven's Creation.
• Great Unity Salvation Heavenly Venerate tested Qi WuHuo with the Shangqing Tribulation Sword, and Qi WuHuo countered with the Execution sword technique using the sheathed Gouchen Sword.
• Great Master Xuan Du freed Spirit Officer Wang and told Qi WuHuo that the Three Pure Dao Ancestors had been waiting for him; the three senior disciples congratulated him and cleared his way.
• Holy Mother Taiyuan escorted Qi WuHuo through Great Luo Heaven, then stopped and sent him to meet the Three Pure Celestial Venerables alone.
• Qi WuHuo entered the Daoist temple and bowed to Yuqing Primordial Celestial Venerable, Taiqing Moral Celestial Venerable, and Supreme Pure Spirit Treasure Celestial Venerable.

Qi WuHuo returned to the celestial realm after sixty years, and the Three Pure Dao Ancestors welcomed him while debating how he should continue his cultivation. After he explained his plan to rescue Empress Nuwa and recover his Primordial Blood avatar, Supreme announced that the Three Pure Ones would publicly recognize him as their shared disciple once he entered the Great Grade.

• Supreme, Primordial Celestial Venerable, and Shangqing Great Dao Lord praised Qi WuHuo for returning after sixty years and reaching the peak of the True Lord realm.
• Shangqing Great Dao Lord invited Qi WuHuo to travel with him, while Primordial Celestial Venerable urged him to cultivate in Great Luo Heaven for a thousand years or more.
• Qi WuHuo told Supreme that he had come to rescue Empress Nuwa and described the Sea of Blood and Fuxi's warning about a period of absolute safety.
• Qi WuHuo said he would retrieve his Primordial Blood avatar and let his cultivation break through naturally after the Three Pure Ones avatars reunited.
• Supreme proposed that, after Qi WuHuo entered the Great Grade, the Three Pure Ones would reopen the assembly of the Six Realms and publicly declare him their shared disciple.

After Qi WuHuo met with the Three Pure Dao Ancestors, Tai Shang explained how refining the Taiyi Realm could give his Primordial Spirit incarnation Great Grade power. Qi WuHuo visited Ziwei Palace and reunited with Yun Qin after sixty years apart, while Great Emperor Ziwei of the North Pole watched and snapped his brush.

• Shangqing Great Dao Lord agreed to announce Qi WuHuo as the Three Pure Dao Ancestors’ shared disciple and insisted their contest four hundred years later would still take place.
• Tai Shang told Qi WuHuo that the Three Teachers could free Empress Nuwa’s true spirit and later help him sever her link to the Taiyi Realm so he could refine it.
• Qi WuHuo left Great Luo Heaven and traveled to the heavens of Ziwei of the North Pole, where Star Lord Zuo Fu welcomed him and said Great Emperor Ziwei of the North Pole was occupied with Fuxi.
• Great Emperor Ziwei of the North Pole declined to meet Qi WuHuo, while Star Lord Zuo Fu guided him to Yun Zhiyi and Weaver Girl.
• Yun Qin arrived and rushed into Qi WuHuo, and he told her, “I’m back...”
• Great Emperor Ziwei of the North Pole watched Qi WuHuo and Yun Qin reunite, then snapped his brush.

Great Emperor Ziwei summoned Qi WuHuo to Ziwei Palace while Qi WuHuo reunited with Yun Qin after sixty years apart. Yun Qin bit his shoulder, stirring his Dao heart, and Ziwei opened their meeting by asking when he planned to discuss serious matters instead of becoming Dao companions with Yun Qin.

• Great Emperor Ziwei destroyed his ruined painting, then ordered Star Lord You Bi to bring Qi WuHuo to Ziwei Palace.
• Qi WuHuo reunited with Yun Qin at the Star River, and Yun Zhiyi angrily tried to attack him before Yun Qin and Star Lord Zuo Fu restrained him.
• Yun Zhiyi and Weaver Girl discussed Yun Qin's cultivation and the Green Ox's breakthrough to the Emperor realm while Qi WuHuo and Yun Qin shared their reunion.
• Star Lord You Bi arrived to summon Qi WuHuo, and Yun Qin bit his shoulder before he left.
• Great Emperor Ziwei received Qi WuHuo at Ziwei Palace and asked when he would discuss serious matters rather than become Dao companions with Yun Qin.

Qi WuHuo discussed becoming Dao companions with Yun Qin with the Great Emperor Ziwei of the North Pole, who urged them to settle the conflict with the Judicial Great Celestial Venerable first and warned him about the Great Emperor Changsheng of the South Pole. After weighing his stalled plans to rescue Empress Nuwa and confront the Judicial Great Celestial Venerable, Qi WuHuo learned that Zhang Xiaoyu had drawn his enemy to the Soaring Heavens Palace.

• Qi WuHuo told the Great Emperor Ziwei of the North Pole that he would seek his blessing to become Yun Qin's Dao companion after resolving his current affairs, and the Northern Emperor advised them to leave the Heavenly Court together afterward.
• Yun Qin explained to Yun Zhiyi that she had bitten Qi WuHuo's shoulder after learning the move from Bai Hua Xiu, and Weaver Girl later explained its meaning to her.
• Old Green Ox celebrated attaining the Emperor realm with Old Yellow Ox and Kui Niu, who asked whether human cowgirls were any good.
• Qi WuHuo welcomed many visiting immortals and considered his blocked plans to rescue Empress Nuwa, reclaim his Primordial Blood avatar, and deal with the Judicial Great Celestial Venerable.
• Old Celestial Lord delivered the Jade Emperor's scroll telling Qi WuHuo that the Judicial Great Celestial Venerable had arrived at the Soaring Heavens Palace for a game of chess, and Qi WuHuo turned toward the palace.

Qi WuHuo and the Jade Emperor arranged to test Judicial Great Celestial Venerable’s methods, while Judicial assumed the Jade Emperor’s chess invitation was a trap and grew furious over a proposed Tian Shu Institute appointment for True Martial. When Judicial confronted Qi WuHuo at Soaring Heavens Palace, Qi WuHuo struck him on the forehead with the broken chessboard, leaving the watching immortals stunned.

• Qi WuHuo planned to probe Judicial Great Celestial Venerable’s strength before deciding how to deal with him.
• The Jade Emperor invited Judicial Great Celestial Venerable to Soaring Heavens Palace for chess, then proposed giving True Martial Demon Queller an equal rank in the Tian Shu Institute.
• Judicial Great Celestial Venerable lost his temper and shattered the chessboard, while the Jade Emperor pretended to fall to the floor.
• Qi WuHuo entered Soaring Heavens Palace, insulted Judicial Great Celestial Venerable, and provoked him into reaching for his sword.
• As the Jade Emperor restrained Judicial Great Celestial Venerable, Qi WuHuo brought the broken chessboard down on his forehead, stunning everyone present.

Qi WuHuo publicly clashed with the Judicial Great Celestial Venerable, exposing his formidable strength and their shared history over a Dao Fruit. After the immortals departed, the Jade Emperor revealed his plan to bring down the Judicial Heavenly Venerable and offered Qi WuHuo a supreme treasure to help kill him.

• Qi WuHuo smashed a Go board over the Judicial Great Celestial Venerable's head, then blocked his sword strike with the Gouchen Sword.
• The Judicial Great Celestial Venerable recognized his former Dao Fruit in Qi WuHuo's power, while Qi WuHuo claimed he had picked it up.
• The Jade Emperor brokered an outwardly peaceful end to the confrontation, and the immortals left to gossip about Qi WuHuo's strength and audacity.
• After the palace doors closed, the Jade Emperor explained that he had tampered with the Go pieces to provoke the Judicial Great Celestial Venerable into attacking him in public.
• Qi WuHuo advised the Jade Emperor to eliminate the Judicial Great Celestial Venerable quietly and use a Venerable God title to conceal the killing.
• The Jade Emperor offered Qi WuHuo an unsurpassed supreme treasure, saying it could cripple the Judicial Great Celestial Venerable and make killing him possible.