Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• After the Great Xia Dragon Guards read the imperial decree outside Long City, everyone is shocked to learn that Ji Fengming has been appointed Commandery Governor of Shangtang Commandery, despite expecting him to become only the chief instructor of Hongzhou City’s Bureau of Records.
• Ji Fengming initially suspects a mistake and fears accepting such an enormous responsibility without any apparent qualifications or backing.
• The Dragon Guards confirm that the decree is indeed meant for him. He must travel to Shangtang within ten years, complete the handover with the former governor, receive the official seal, and gain recognition from Great Xia’s national fortune before officially taking office.
• Eighteen Dragon Guards remain behind to protect him, revealing that Ji Fengming has powerful and mysterious support. Their presence causes the local officials to realize his importance and immediately begin flattering him.
• Officials who previously slighted or offended Ji Fengming rush to apologize and seek his favor, hoping he might help advance their careers once he becomes governor.
• Ji Fengming returns home with Count Zheng, Uncle Ke, his attendants, and Xuandu. He thanks Xuandu and kneels in gratitude, recognizing that the appointment must be the result of Xuandu’s influence.
• Xuandu explains that he has merely given Ji Fengming a stage on which to prove his abilities. If Ji succeeds, Xuandu will reward him; if he fails, their relationship will end.
• Xuandu then departs dramatically by mounting an ox and flying into the sky, leaving Ji Fengming deeply shaken and determined to perform well enough to win Xuandu’s continued favor and perhaps become his disciple.
• After several years of preparation, Ji Fengming leads more than half of Long City’s officials and their families toward Shangtang Commandery under the Dragon Guards’ protection. Their journey takes only a few months through the Guards’ extraordinary abilities.

Character Developments

• Ji Fengming moves suddenly from a minor official with no visible backing to a prospective ruler of a vast commandery. His initial fear and disbelief gradually turn into ambition and determination.
• He becomes more aware of the immense power of the Great Xia court and the dangers of pretending to possess authority he does not truly have.
• His reverence for Xuandu intensifies. He now views Xuandu as a near-immortal figure capable of transforming his fate with a single word and hopes to become his disciple.
• Xuandu reveals himself as a powerful benefactor and tests Ji Fengming rather than directly managing his future. He gives Ji an opportunity but makes clear that success depends on Ji’s own performance.
• Count Zheng and Uncle Ke sincerely congratulate Ji, though their complicated expressions suggest surprise at his sudden rise and the dramatic change in his status.
• The Long City officials shift from indifference or hostility to fear, respect, and eager submission once Ji’s backing becomes clear.

Significant Themes

• Sudden elevation and political power: Ji Fengming’s appointment demonstrates how quickly status can change when supported by powerful forces.
• Opportunity versus ability: Xuandu provides Ji with a position, but Ji must prove that he can govern effectively and turn opportunity into real achievement.
• Hidden backing and social hierarchy: The officials’ immediate change in behavior exposes the importance of connections and the fear inspired by political authority.
• Humility and ambition: Ji is overwhelmed by his appointment yet quickly becomes ambitious, hoping his achievements will earn Xuandu’s approval and further advancement.
• The vastness of the Great Xia Empire: Ji’s fear emphasizes the enormous scale of the commandery and the extraordinary burden of governing it.
• Mortals influenced by higher powers: Xuandu’s mysterious intervention suggests that Ji’s political rise is part of a larger plan connected to the coming age of prosperity and resistance against the gods.

Important Character Interactions

• The Dragon Guards and Ji Fengming establish the legitimacy of the appointment, answer his formal questions, and promise to protect him until he takes office.
• Ji and the local officials experience a dramatic reversal in their relationships as former rivals and acquaintances rush to curry favor with him.
• Ji, Count Zheng, and Uncle Ke share a private moment of mutual support, with the two elders genuinely pleased by Ji’s success.
• Ji and Xuandu have the chapter’s central exchange: Ji expresses profound gratitude, while Xuandu challenges him to prove his worth through his future governance.
• Xuandu’s supernatural departure leaves a lasting impression on Ji and strengthens his resolve to succeed in Shangtang Commandery.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Ji Fengming travels to Shangtang Commandery to assume the position of Commandery Governor. His journey is unexpectedly peaceful, and the vastness of Great Xia—and the world beyond the Nine Provinces—greatly expands his understanding of the setting.
• Realizing that Long City was only a “beginner’s tutorial,” Ji Fengming’s ambition is reignited. He resolves to achieve political success in Shangtang Commandery, gain the mysterious young man’s approval, and secure a path toward immortality.
• After completing the official handover and receiving recognition from Great Xia’s National Fortune, Ji Fengming gains a powerful aura of authority and protection from supernatural forces.
• He places trusted associates from Long City in important positions and spends his first decade studying Shangtang Commandery’s administration, factions, and political conditions while cautiously building alliances.
• With Count Zheng’s guidance, Ji Fengming employs political manipulation and the Thirty-Six Stratagems: winning over some factions, provoking rivalries among others, and intimidating the rest. Within three to five years, he controls more than half of the commandery’s political forces.
• Once firmly established, Ji Fengming introduces sweeping reforms:
  • Livelihoods: population censuses, incentives for childbirth, land reclamation, handicrafts, and commerce.
  • Administration: streamlined bureaucracy, performance evaluations, internal examinations, and merit-based recruitment.
  • Military: simplified organization, improved training, upgraded weapons, and the distribution of the Training Soldiers Method.
  • Commerce: intercity trade, free-market policies, investment incentives, industrial zones, and the establishment of Great Xia’s first bank.
  • Industry: training skilled personnel, textile machinery, mining, petroleum refining, steam engines, railways, and industrial development.
  • Culture and education: inexpensive paper, academies, scholarships for poor children, recruitment of famous scholars, and the first publicly accessible Imperial Examination System.
• Over fifty years, Shangtang Commandery becomes the most prosperous region in Qing Province, its power and economy rivaling an entire province.
• Ji Fengming’s accomplishments attract the attention of Great Xia’s highest authorities. Emperor Yu rewards him with cultivation techniques, immortal pills, and spiritual treasures, then appoints him Governor of Qing Province to rule on behalf of the Human Emperor.

Character Development

• Ji Fengming evolves from a cautious, insecure official seeking merely to survive into a confident and highly capable administrator. He abandons unrealistic youthful dreams of becoming a natural-born cultivator and instead focuses on political achievement, practical reforms, and securing powerful allies.
• His political intelligence grows rapidly as he learns to manipulate local factions and apply knowledge from his former world to this era.
• Count Zheng becomes Ji Fengming’s most important political adviser, using his experience as Long City’s former lord to help Ji Fengming navigate Shangtang’s complicated power structure.
• Ji Fengming’s trusted subordinates from Long City prove unusually capable, quickly mastering their new responsibilities and becoming an effective administrative team.
• Emperor Yu changes from a distant ruler into an admirer and patron of Ji Fengming, recognizing his achievements and entrusting him with greater authority.

Significant Themes

• Ambition rekindled through expanded horizons: Learning how vast Great Xia and the wider world are transforms Ji Fengming’s sense of possibility.
• Practical ability over innate talent: Though Ji Fengming lacks cultivation aptitude, his administrative skill, political judgment, and modern knowledge allow him to achieve extraordinary results.
• Reform and modernization: The chapter emphasizes how education, infrastructure, industry, commerce, bureaucracy, and military organization can transform an entire region.
• Political strategy and power consolidation: Ji Fengming’s rise depends not only on good policies but also on alliances, manipulation, intimidation, and carefully managed factional conflict.
• Merit replacing tradition: His reforms challenge rigid systems by promoting talent, examinations, performance, and opportunity for people outside established aristocratic circles.
• Nation-building: Shangtang’s transformation demonstrates how one capable leader can reshape society and strengthen the larger state.

Character Interactions

• Ji Fengming relies heavily on Count Zheng for advice while gradually taking control of Shangtang’s local officials and powerful clans.
• Local aristocratic families initially distrust and fear Ji Fengming because of his mysterious rise and unknown connections, but his political methods eventually bring many of them under his influence.
• Ji Fengming’s Long City associates work closely with him, forming the administrative foundation for his reforms.
• He brings scholars, craftsmen, military officers, and other specialists into his projects, using their talents to develop education, industry, and government.
• Emperor Yu ultimately validates Ji Fengming’s achievements by granting him treasures and appointing him Governor of Qing Province, marking his transition from a provincial official to one of Great Xia’s most important administrators.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Ji Fengming’s residence receives the Human Emperor’s rewards: an official seal, valuable treasures, the Nine Revolutions Primordial Art, and a Six Revolutions Golden Core.
• He has been appointed Governor of Qing Province, greatly delighting Count Zheng and his other trusted aides, who expect their own status to rise alongside his.
• Unlike his aides, Ji Fengming remains calm and largely indifferent to the rewards. Decades of governing have changed his values; he now believes political achievement and the blessings of Great Xia’s national fortune are superior to conventional cultivation.
• His prosperous rule over Shangtang Commandery has brought peace, industrial development, and enormous merit. This national fortune has made him powerful enough to intimidate even Grand Unity Golden Immortals.
• Ji Fengming explains that he once pursued immortality but abandoned it after repeatedly failing to find an opportunity. He now intends to become immortal through merit and political achievement instead.
• Count Zheng repeatedly urges him to examine the Nine Revolutions Primordial Art. Though skeptical, Ji Fengming finally agrees to look at it once.
• At first, the mysterious Dao Patterns appear completely incomprehensible to him. However, a sudden sense of familiarity arises as he turns the pages.
• Ji Fengming becomes immersed in the text, drawing vast amounts of Innate Spiritual Energy into his body. His aura rapidly reaches the level of a Human Immortal.
• The resulting disturbance alarms the immortals of Shangtang Commandery. They rush to protect him just as lightning and thunder announce the arrival of his Human Immortal Tribulation.

Character developments

• Ji Fengming: Demonstrates his transformation from an ambitious seeker of immortality into a calm, pragmatic ruler who trusts merit and national fortune more than cultivation. His unexpected comprehension of the Primordial Art reveals that he may possess an extraordinary hidden talent or connection to it.
• Count Zheng: Remains enthusiastic and deeply invested in Ji Fengming’s advancement. As both a trusted aide and Ji’s father-in-law, he persistently encourages him to accept the opportunity he once would have ignored.
• The trusted aides: Their joy reflects their dependence on Ji Fengming’s success and their belief that his promotion will elevate their own positions.

Significant themes

• Merit versus cultivation: The chapter contrasts the arduous, dangerous path of traditional cultivation with Ji Fengming’s belief that governing well can produce even greater power and longevity.
• The power of governance: Prosperity, social stability, and technological progress generate national fortune strong enough to rival or surpass the strength of high-level immortals.
• Unexpected destiny: Ji Fengming dismisses the cultivation manual as impossible for him to understand, yet instinctively begins comprehending it, suggesting that fate or hidden potential may override his assumptions.
• Humility and irony: The man who believes he has no talent for cultivation accidentally reaches the Human Immortal realm simply by “taking one look.”
• Human advancement: The chapter emphasizes the significance of improving ordinary people’s lives, presenting industrial development and public welfare as sources of supernatural power.

Important character interactions

• Count Zheng and the aides celebrate Ji Fengming’s promotion and urge him to value the Emperor’s gifts.
• Ji Fengming explains his philosophy of governance to them, defending his rejection of cultivation.
• Count Zheng’s personal relationship with Ji—as his father-in-law—allows him to continue pressing the reluctant governor.
• Ji finally accepts the manual out of consideration for Count Zheng’s feelings, leading directly to his sudden breakthrough and the arrival of the tribulation.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Count Zheng reveals that Ji Fengming became a Human Immortal immediately after reading the Human Emperor’s “Nine Revolutions Primordial Art” once.
• Ji’s sudden breakthrough triggers a powerful Seven-Nine Human Immortal Tribulation, astonishing the gathered Human Race immortals. They worry because he began the tribulation without pills, treasures, formations, or other preparations.
• The immortals cannot assist directly, since interference would cause the Heavenly Calamity to expand dramatically and potentially make it far more dangerous.
• Ji Fengming calmly assures everyone that he can handle the tribulation. His immense merit and nearly transformed official National Fortune, appearing as a double-horned python, protect him.
• He effortlessly overcomes the Human Immortal Tribulation. His cultivation then continues advancing at an impossible speed, with successive tribulations for the:
  • Earth Immortal Realm
  • Celestial Immortal Realm
  • True Immortal Realm
  • Mystic Immortal Realm
  • Golden Immortal Realm
• Within roughly ten days, repeated Heavenly Calamities appear over Shangtang Commandery, attracting powerful Human Race figures and independent experts from across the Primordial Wilderness.
• Once the truth is discovered—that Ji advanced simply by reading the cultivation technique—the observers are left utterly bewildered.
• Great Master Xuandu, who had previously judged Ji to possess no extraordinary cultivation talent, becomes especially alarmed and confused when Ji reaches the Golden Immortal Tribulation in only a few days.

Character Developments

• Ji Fengming: Demonstrates astonishing cultivation comprehension and advancement, rising from an apparently ordinary cultivator to the brink of the Golden Immortal Realm. His immense merit, official fortune, and previous contributions to the Human Race are emphasized.
• Count Zheng: Is shocked and helplessly explains that Ji’s breakthrough began immediately after reading the technique. His own relatively slow cultivation makes Ji’s progress even more incomprehensible.
• The Human Race immortals: Shift from panic and disbelief to awe as Ji easily survives each tribulation. Their respect for him deepens, reinforcing his reputation as the Human Race’s greatest sage.
• Great Master Xuandu: Experiences genuine surprise and concern. His earlier assessment of Ji’s limited talent is contradicted by Ji’s unprecedented cultivation speed, leading him to question what hidden secret or anomaly is at work.

Significant Themes

• Unprecedented genius and miracles: Ji’s ability to cultivate at impossible speed extends his reputation for accomplishing feats thought impossible.
• Merit and National Fortune: His contributions to the Human Race—industrial development, lighting, transportation, and improved living standards—have accumulated immense merit and protective fortune.
• The danger and impartiality of Heavenly Tribulations: Tribulations are portrayed as unavoidable tests governed by Heaven, where outside assistance can worsen the danger rather than provide help.
• The limits of conventional understanding: Even powerful immortals and Xuandu cannot explain how Ji can advance so rapidly, suggesting that ordinary cultivation rules may not apply to him.
• Public service creating power: Ji’s political achievements and efforts to modernize the Human Race are directly linked to his rising status, fortune, and protection.

Character Interactions

• The gathered immortals anxiously discuss Ji’s sudden breakthrough and debate how to protect him, but ultimately remain unable to intervene.
• Count Zheng explains the bizarre sequence of events to the crowd, emphasizing that Ji only read the technique once before beginning cultivation.
• Ji reassures the frightened immortals himself, displaying confidence in his ability to survive the tribulation.
• The immortals praise Ji’s merit and National Fortune, connecting his protection to his service as Shangtang’s governor and future Governor of Qing Province.
• Xuandu observes Ji from the shadows and mentally compares Ji’s current performance with his previous assessment, becoming deeply alarmed by the contradiction.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Great Master Xuandu is astonished by Ji Fengming’s sudden and extraordinary breakthrough, unaware that Ji Fengming was originally a fragment of the Heavenly Emperor’s True Spirit sent into reincarnation.
• The Two Shakya of the Western Lands had secretly strengthened Ji Fengming by embedding spells, laws, divine abilities, and other foundations within him. His prosperous administration of Shangtang Commandery also earned him immense Fortune Aura and National Fortune.
• After obtaining the Human Emperor’s Nine Revolutions Primordial Art, Ji Fengming’s hidden potential is activated. His cultivation rapidly rises, breaking through to the Golden Immortal realm and continuing upward at an astonishing speed.
• Xuandu intervenes and seals Ji Fengming’s breakthrough momentum, warning that forcing the advancement further could be dangerous.
• Xuandu reveals his identity as an Ancestor of Humanity. Ji Fengming, realizing that the mysterious young man he had respected was actually Xuandu, is deeply shocked and moved.
• Recognizing Ji Fengming’s political achievements, character, and immense future potential, Xuandu offers to accept him as a Personal Disciple rather than merely a Registered Disciple. However, he first intends to seek Saint Taiqing’s approval.
• Ji Fengming is appointed governor of Qing Province, while Xuandu returns to Shouyang Mountain.
• Saint Taiqing deduces that Ji Fengming is an “Anomaly of the Primordial Wilderness,” a figure whose existence is absent from the normal flow of history and whose choices could drastically alter the future.
• Taiqing ultimately approves accepting Ji Fengming as a Personal Disciple, but warns that the Human Sect must ensure Ji Fengming’s “blade” does not one day turn against it.

2. Character Developments

• Ji Fengming: His hidden cultivation foundation and extraordinary destiny are revealed. Despite being nearly a century old and previously failing to cultivate immortality, he rapidly ascends after receiving the correct technique. His humility, administrative ability, and loyalty earn Xuandu’s recognition. He also becomes aware of the true identity of the person who had guided his fate.
• Great Master Xuandu: Xuandu shifts from merely observing Ji Fengming to actively wanting him as a disciple. He sees Ji Fengming as a potential pillar of the Human Sect and perhaps even someone capable of rivaling Emperor Yu.
• Saint Taiqing: Though initially unfamiliar with Ji Fengming, Taiqing recognizes him as an unpredictable anomaly. His approval is cautious: he acknowledges Ji Fengming’s potential benefit to the Human Race but remains wary of the threat he could pose to the Human Sect.
• The surrounding immortals and officials: They move from witnessing Ji Fengming as an impressive mortal administrator to treating him as a figure with extraordinary destiny after seeing his cultivation breakthrough and learning of Xuandu’s interest in him.

3. Significant Themes

• Destiny versus choice: Ji Fengming’s life has been secretly shaped by powerful beings, yet his future still depends on the choices he makes as an anomaly.
• Hidden potential and sudden ascension: Long-term accumulation of fortune, merit, resources, and secret preparation can remain dormant until the right cultivation method awakens it.
• Political achievement as a path to cultivation and power: Ji Fengming’s governance of Shangtang Commandery generates immense fortune, demonstrating that service to the Human Race can directly strengthen one’s destiny and cultivation.
• The danger of unpredictable talent: Extraordinary individuals may bring great prosperity, but because their futures cannot be predicted, they may also threaten existing powers.
• The Human Sect’s weakness and need for allies: Xuandu hopes Ji Fengming’s acceptance will revitalize the Human Sect, which has remained relatively insignificant among the Human Race.

4. Character Interactions

• Xuandu stops Ji Fengming’s dangerous breakthrough, then praises his years of governance and acknowledges his accomplishments.
• Ji Fengming kneels and asks to become Xuandu’s disciple. Xuandu responds by offering him the more prestigious position of Personal Disciple, pending Taiqing’s approval.
• Ji Fengming and the surrounding officials react with awe after learning that the mysterious young man is actually the Ancestor of Humanity.
• Xuandu reports to Saint Taiqing, asking whether Ji Fengming should be accepted into the Human Sect.
• Taiqing and Xuandu discuss Ji Fengming’s status as an anomaly and the possible consequences for both the Human Race and the Human Sect.
• Taiqing gives permission for Ji Fengming to become Xuandu’s Personal Disciple, but his final warning introduces the concern that Ji Fengming may eventually become a weapon against the Human Sect.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Great Master Xuandu accepts Ji Fengming as his Personal Disciple, making him a direct second-generation disciple of the Human Sect and the heir to Xuandu’s spiritual lineage.
• Xuandu holds an enormous disciple-taking ceremony in Qing Province. Leaders from the Human Race, Heavenly Court, Underworld, Demon Kingdoms, Witch Clan, Mystic Gate, Western Teachings, and various ancient races attend, demonstrating the Human Sect’s influence.
• The ceremony also serves as a public warning: anyone who harms Ji Fengming will face the Human Sect’s retaliation.
• Xuandu gives Ji Fengming three powerful Innate Spiritual Treasures for protection and uses the Divine Ability Dream of Yellow Millet to teach him centuries’ worth of cultivation knowledge within a single dream.
• Ji Fengming proves to be an extraordinary genius, rapidly mastering Laws, Divine Abilities, spells, and cultivation principles after only brief instruction.
• He presents Xuandu and Saint Taiqing with a copy of the Tao Te Ching, a text Taiqing had not yet created. Taiqing is greatly pleased and rewards Ji Fengming with numerous treasures, pills, and medicines.
• After several decades, Ji Fengming returns to Qing Province as its governor and immediately begins sweeping reforms across administration, governance, military affairs, economy, education, and public welfare.
• Over the next century, he brings Qing Province fully under his control and transforms it into an industrialized society modeled on Shangtang Commandery.
• Qing Province’s economic growth dramatically strengthens the Human Race’s foundations and Fortune Aura, eventually contributing more than half of the Human Race’s total Fortune Aura.
• Impressed by these achievements, Emperor Yu appoints Ji Fengming Governor of the Nine Provinces, granting him authority over all Great Xia officials except the emperor.
• Ji Fengming begins extending industrialization throughout the Nine Provinces, intending to spread technological civilization across the mythological world.

Character Developments

• Ji Fengming rises from a capable governor to a protected disciple of the Human Sect, a Golden Immortal at Perfection, and one of the most politically powerful figures in Great Xia.
• His exceptional intelligence and comprehension are revealed: he can infer complex cultivation principles, master Divine Abilities quickly, and even create or reproduce knowledge beyond what his teachers possess.
• His political confidence grows alongside his cultivation. With the Human Sect’s backing, he is no longer restrained by local aristocratic powers and can impose sweeping reforms.
• Great Master Xuandu becomes deeply attached to Ji Fengming, viewing him as an unprecedented prodigy and taking extensive measures to protect and educate him.
• Saint Taiqing recognizes Ji Fengming’s value after receiving the Tao Te Ching and responds with favor and generous rewards.
• Emperor Yu increasingly trusts Ji Fengming’s ability to strengthen Great Xia, ultimately granting him supreme authority beneath the emperor himself.

Significant Themes

• Talent and destiny: Ji Fengming is portrayed as an extraordinary “variable” capable of influencing the broader course of the Primordial Wilderness.
• Protection through status and power: Xuandu’s public ceremony establishes Ji Fengming’s identity and deters enemies from attacking him.
• Reform versus entrenched interests: Ji Fengming’s modernization disrupts officials, aristocratic clans, and local elites, but his authority prevents them from resisting.
• Industrialization and progress: Technology, economic development, education, and governance are presented as forces capable of transforming even a mythological civilization.
• Knowledge and inheritance: Ji Fengming receives the teachings of Xuandu while also giving the Tao Te Ching back to the Human Sect, suggesting a cycle of teaching in which disciple and master enrich one another.
• The rise of human civilization: Ji Fengming’s reforms strengthen the Human Race and Great Xia, making human society increasingly influential in the Primordial Wilderness.

Important Character Interactions

• Xuandu and Ji Fengming establish a close master-disciple relationship based on admiration, trust, and mutual benefit.
• The various factions attend Xuandu’s ceremony to show respect for the Human Sect and acknowledge Ji Fengming’s newly elevated status.
• Ji Fengming’s presentation of the Tao Te Ching surprises both Xuandu and Saint Taiqing, leading Taiqing to reward him.
• Emperor Yu and his ministers recognize Ji Fengming’s achievements in Qing Province and formally empower him to govern the entire Nine Provinces.
• Ji Fengming’s confrontations with Qing Province’s officials and powerful clans are largely indirect but central: his reforms strip away their influence while his Human Sect affiliation prevents retaliation.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• After Ji Fengming becomes Governor of the Nine Provinces, the Human Race’s strength and national fortune rise dramatically.
• He launches a ruthless reform campaign against imperial clans, powerful families, immortals, and other entrenched forces. His methods include executions, exterminating clans, and destroying opposition to ensure Great Xia’s policies are enforced.
• Although Emperor Yu is disturbed by Ji Fengming’s brutality, he ultimately allows the reforms, accepting Ji’s argument that deep social change requires bloodshed.
• Over roughly three hundred years, Ji Fengming transforms Great Xia from a backward, tribal society into an increasingly modern and industrialized civilization. Cities develop advanced infrastructure, transportation, communications, weapons, abundant food production, and improved public safety.
• The population expands rapidly, causing Great Xia’s National Fortune and the Human Dao Origin to surge.
• This growth alarms the Heavenly Dao Saints, who fear that the Human Race may eventually escape their control. However, they hesitate to act because Ji Fengming is a disciple of the Human Sect, and his policies have greatly increased the Human Sect’s fortune and influence.
• Ji Fengming then proposes registering every cultivator in Great Xia, from powerful Daluo immortals to ordinary Qi Refiners. He also demands that immortals be taxed and placed under state regulation.
• All temples and shrines receiving human Incense Power—including those connected to Heavenly Court, the Underworld, and local gods—must also be registered and supervised by Great Xia.
• Declaring that only gods who genuinely benefit humanity deserve worship, Ji Fengming begins the “Mountain-Pushing Temple-Demolishing War,” personally leading forces to inspect the realm and destroy noncompliant temples.
• Immortals, gods, and independent cultivators become outraged, viewing the policies as an unacceptable attempt to control and exploit beings who consider themselves superior to humanity.
• Resistance spreads throughout the Nine Provinces, setting the stage for a major calamity that threatens Great Xia’s existence.

2. Character Developments

• Ji Fengming develops from a powerful reformer into an uncompromising nation-builder. He prioritizes long-term human strength, order, and independence over tradition, personal relationships, or the anger of powerful immortals.
• His governing philosophy becomes increasingly authoritarian: he believes opposition must be eliminated completely so that old systems cannot return.
• Emperor Yu proves pragmatic and politically restrained. Though troubled by Ji Fengming’s violence, he recognizes the effectiveness of the reforms and allows him broad authority.
• The Heavenly Dao Saints shift from indifference to concern as the Human Race’s power grows. Their hesitation reflects their conflicting interests: they fear human independence but benefit greatly from the Human Sect’s increased fortune.
• The immortals and gods are forced to confront a new relationship with humanity. Rather than being unquestioned recipients of worship, they are now expected to serve, register with, and obey the human state.

3. Significant Themes

• Reform through violence: The chapter argues that dismantling entrenched privilege may require ruthless measures, especially when powerful groups resist change.
• Human progress and modernization: Industrial development, technology, public infrastructure, and social stability allow humanity to overcome its former weakness despite short lifespans and limited cultivation potential.
• State authority versus religious and supernatural power: Ji Fengming attempts to place immortals, gods, temples, and religious institutions under government control.
• The value of worship and service: The chapter challenges the idea that divine beings deserve worship automatically, asserting that authority should be tied to actual contributions to society.
• The danger of unchecked success: Great Xia’s rapid rise attracts the attention and fear of higher powers, suggesting that prosperity itself can provoke disaster.
• Control versus independence: Both the Heavenly Dao Saints and the immortals seek to preserve their influence, while Ji Fengming works to make humanity self-reliant and politically sovereign.

4. Character Interactions

• Ji Fengming and Emperor Yu: Their relationship is defined by tension and reluctant cooperation. Emperor Yu questions Ji’s bloody methods, but Ji argues that ruthless action is necessary to prevent old powers from recovering. Emperor Yu ultimately permits the reforms.
• Ji Fengming and the Human Race: He acts as both protector and authoritarian ruler, improving ordinary people’s lives while imposing strict control over elites, cultivators, and religious institutions.
• Ji Fengming and the Human Sect: As a disciple, he spreads its teachings and greatly increases its fortune, creating a bond that prevents the Saints from immediately opposing him.
• Ji Fengming versus the immortals and gods: His registration, taxation, and temple policies transform a previously voluntary relationship into one of state supervision and compulsory service, provoking widespread hostility.
• The Saints and Great Xia: The Saints observe the Human Race’s rise with fear and interest, but their dependence on the Human Sect’s benefits prevents them from taking decisive action.
  The chapter ends with the Mountain-Pushing Temple-Demolishing War triggering unified resistance from supernatural factions, foreshadowing the catastrophe that will threaten Great Xia.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• In the Heavenly Court’s Lingxiao Treasure Hall, the Heavenly Emperor notices that the court’s incense offerings and Fortune Aura are declining.
• Day Patrol God reports that Ji Fengming, Great Xia’s foreign king, has launched a movement in the Human Realm based on “Equality of All Beings.”
• Ji Fengming’s policies include:
  • Destroying immortal shrines and temples.
  • Rejecting the idea that humans should worship distant, unresponsive immortals.
  • Requiring all immortals, spirits, monsters, and Loose Immortals active in the Nine Provinces to register with Great Xia.
  • Making them submit to the Human Emperor’s jurisdiction, pay immortal taxes, and obey government mobilization.
  • Allowing humans to worship only deities who actively benefit the Human Race.
• The Heavenly Court’s immortals are enraged, arguing that humans voluntarily built temples and sought divine protection, so they have no right to later control or insult the gods.
• The Heavenly Emperor declares that the Human Race’s actions threaten the dignity and authority of the Heavenly Court.
• Some immortals initially call for war, but concerns arise because the Human Race is protected by powerful National Fortune, making it difficult for even high-level immortals to attack its leaders.
• The Heavenly Emperor reveals that he possesses Heavenly Punishment authority and receives a Heavenly Dao Stone from the Dao Ancestor. The stone can temporarily offset Great Xia’s National Fortune.
• He appoints Yang Jiao as Grand Marshal and orders him to lead an army against Great Xia.
• A massive force—including 300,000 heavenly soldiers and generals, later swelling to approximately 500,000 troops—descends toward the lower realm.
• Cultivators and other factions across the Primordial Wilderness watch eagerly, treating the coming conflict as a test of Great Xia’s National Fortune versus Heavenly Court’s power.

2. Character Developments

• Ji Fengming is portrayed as a radical reformer and defender of human independence. He challenges the traditional hierarchy between gods and humans and seeks to place supernatural beings under human political authority.
• The Heavenly Emperor shifts from concern over declining offerings to open hostility. His pride and sense of heavenly authority drive him to punish Great Xia and defend the Heavenly Court’s prestige.
• The Heavenly Court’s immortals reveal deep resentment toward the Human Race. They believe their previous aid was voluntary and that human worship created an unfair expectation of divine protection.
• Yang Jiao receives a major military promotion and becomes the Heavenly Court’s principal commander in the confrontation.
• The Dao Ancestor indirectly influences events by providing the Heavenly Dao Stone, suggesting that higher cosmic powers support the Heavenly Court’s intervention.

3. Significant Themes

• Religious authority versus political sovereignty: The chapter asks whether gods who are worshiped by humans should remain independent or be subject to human law.
• Reciprocity and obligation: The immortals insist that worship was initiated by humans and did not create an obligation for gods to answer every prayer. Ji Fengming’s movement rejects this one-sided relationship.
• Human autonomy and equality: The slogan of Equality of All Beings challenges the established divine hierarchy and asserts that humans should determine their own destiny.
• Pride and legitimacy: The Heavenly Court views the destruction of temples and registration demands as attacks on its dignity rather than merely administrative reforms.
• Power versus protection: The coming battle will test whether Great Xia’s National Fortune can withstand the Heavenly Court’s Heavenly Dao-backed authority.
• Institutional conflict: Both sides are transforming spiritual influence into formal systems—Great Xia through registration and taxation, and Heaven through military enforcement.

4. Character Interactions

• Day Patrol God informs the Heavenly Emperor and the assembled immortals about Ji Fengming’s policies, triggering the court’s outrage.
• The Heavenly Emperor and the immortals collectively debate how to respond, with most advocating military retaliation.
• The Heavenly Emperor addresses Yang Jiao, entrusting him with the Heavenly Dao Stone and command of the punitive expedition.
• He also mobilizes Wang Lingguan, Juling Shen, the Northern and Southern Dipper forces, and the wind, fire, thunder, and water divisions to support Yang Jiao.
• The wider cultivation world does not intervene directly but observes the confrontation, anticipating a decisive clash between Heavenly Court authority and Great Xia’s human-centered order.

Chapter Summary

Plot Points and Major Events

• Heavenly Court forces descend on the capital of Great Xia in enormous numbers—approximately one million immortals and gods, including Heavenly Court soldiers, generals, Loose Immortals, and other Primordial Wilderness cultivators.
• Their leader, Yang Jiao, announces that he has come to “quell rebellion.” The Heavenly Court demands that Great Xia:
  • Revoke its new policies targeting immortals,
  • Restore the temples of gods and immortals,
  • Apologize to the immortal factions,
  • Hand over the King of the Nine Provinces, apparently regarded as the Human Race’s greatest benefactor.
• Emperor Yu is initially confused by the Heavenly Court’s aggression but quickly realizes the confrontation stems from Great Xia’s reforms under Ji Fengming, particularly the Immortal-Binding New Policy.
• Emperor Yu recalls how Ji Fengming’s reforms registered cultivators, imposed control and taxes on immortals, purged corrupt forces, and destroyed temples whose deities exploited the Human Race’s incense offerings without contributing to its welfare.
• Although Emperor Yu had once worried that these policies would provoke the powerful immortals, Great Xia’s prosperity and centralized strength ultimately proved their value.
• Emperor Yu refuses to apologize or reverse the reforms. He mocks Yang Jiao, pointing out that the Heavenly Emperor himself has not appeared and that Yang Jiao is only a Grand Unity Golden Immortal.
• Yang Jiao responds by reading an imperial edict condemning Great Xia as rebellious and attacks the capital with his spear.
• Emperor Yu remains confident that Great Xia’s National Fortune will suppress Yang Jiao. The National Fortune manifests as a massive Azure Dragon and reaches out to crush him.
• The chapter ends at a cliffhanger: instead of proceeding as Emperor Yu expects, the attack causes his confident smile to freeze in shock.

Character Developments

• Emperor Yu is portrayed as a confident and increasingly powerful Human Emperor. His authority and faith in the Human Race have grown alongside Great Xia’s prosperity. He also demonstrates political maturity by acknowledging his former hesitation over Ji Fengming’s reforms while recognizing their success.
• Ji Fengming is established as the architect of Great Xia’s transformation. His aggressive institutional reforms, registration of cultivators, and destruction of exploitative temples have strengthened the Human Race but provoked the immortal world.
• Yang Jiao appears as a forceful and aggressive representative of the Heavenly Court. Unlike the more refined Yang Jian, he is characterized by a fierce temperament, strong killing intent, and willingness to attack directly.
• The Heavenly Court is presented as arrogant and threatening, believing its authority is sufficient to force the Human Race to submit. However, its decision not to send the Heavenly Emperor or a Quasi-Saint suggests either confidence, hidden motives, or underestimation of Great Xia.

Significant Themes

• Human independence versus immortal domination: Great Xia’s reforms challenge the traditional hierarchy in which cultivators and immortals stand above ordinary humans.
• Centralized governance and social reform: The chapter emphasizes the benefits and dangers of bringing powerful, independent cultivators under state control.
• Prosperity through upheaval: Ji Fengming’s reforms cause conflict and resistance, but they also produce unprecedented technological, economic, and population growth.
• National destiny as power: Great Xia’s National Fortune functions not only as a symbol of civilization but also as a tangible force capable of defending the Human Emperor.
• Arrogance and underestimation: Both sides view the other as incapable of posing a serious threat. The ending hints that the Heavenly Court—or Yang Jiao specifically—may possess an unexpected advantage.

Character Interactions

• Emperor Yu’s attendants report the Heavenly Court’s invasion, highlighting the scale of the crisis and the urgency of the confrontation.
• Emperor Yu directly challenges Yang Jiao’s legitimacy, questioning why the Heavenly Emperor has not come personally.
• Yang Jiao demands submission and restoration of the old order, while Emperor Yu firmly rejects every condition.
• Their verbal confrontation escalates into open combat when Yang Jiao attacks the capital.
• Emperor Yu relies on Great Xia’s National Fortune to defend him, but the unexpected result of the Azure Dragon’s attack leaves the outcome uncertain.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Yang Jiao arrives in Great Xia’s imperial capital and reveals that the National Destiny Golden Dragon cannot suppress or even detect him. His Mid Grand Unity Golden Immortal aura remains completely unaffected by Great Xia’s national fortune.
• His presence immobilizes the capital’s Golden Immortals, hundreds of thousands of guards, elite soldiers, and countless civilians. The Human Race’s greatest defensive advantage proves useless against him.
• The chapter explains that Great Xia had become overly dependent on national fortune after Emperor Yu’s past victory over Saint Taiqing. Believing the nation untouchable—even by the Heavenly Dao Saints—Great Xia gradually neglected individual cultivation and relied almost entirely on its national power.
• When Human Race immortals attempt to stop Yang Jiao, he kills hundreds with a single sweep of his eighteen-foot spear and sends many others crashing through the city. His Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique makes him impervious to their spells and magical treasures.
• Yang Jiao advances through the capital along a path of destruction, repeatedly demanding that Emperor Yu either fight or surrender.
• Emperor Yu refuses to submit, declaring that the Human Race has no sovereign who surrenders. He draws all of Great Xia’s national fortune into himself and commands the National Destiny Golden Dragon to attack Yang Jiao.
• However, the golden dragon cannot perceive or harm Yang Jiao. With Great Xia’s ultimate defense rendered ineffective, Yang Jiao announces that he will capture the Human Emperor personally.

Character Developments

• Yang Jiao is established as overwhelmingly powerful, fearless, and ruthlessly determined. As the Heavenly Court’s Judicial Heavenly God and a commander associated with punishment and killing, he shows no hesitation in slaughtering anyone who obstructs him.
• Emperor Yu remains proud and defiant despite the destruction of his capital. His refusal to surrender demonstrates his loyalty to the Human Race and his belief in the dignity of the Human Emperor, but his confidence in national fortune is severely shaken.
• Great Xia’s officials and immortals shift from disbelief to panic. Their helplessness exposes how unprepared the Human Race has become for a threat that bypasses national fortune.

Significant Themes

• Overreliance on external power: Great Xia’s dependence on national fortune weakened its cultivation tradition and left its people vulnerable when that power failed.
• Pride and complacency: Past victories caused the Human Race’s leaders to assume that no enemy could challenge them, leading them to disperse many of their strongest protectors.
• Individual strength versus collective authority: Yang Jiao’s personal power overwhelms the entire capital and neutralizes the symbolic authority of Great Xia’s national destiny.
• Defiance and sovereignty: Emperor Yu’s refusal to surrender emphasizes the Human Race’s determination to preserve its dignity, even in an apparently hopeless situation.

Character Interactions

• Yang Jiao repeatedly confronts Emperor Yu, offering him a final choice between battle and surrender.
• The imperial officials and soldiers attempt to defend their ruler, but Yang Jiao effortlessly cuts through their resistance.
• Emperor Yu responds to Yang Jiao’s assault by unleashing the National Destiny Golden Dragon, creating a direct clash between the Human Emperor’s authority and Yang Jiao’s mysterious ability to ignore national fortune.
• The confrontation ends with Yang Jiao moving directly toward Emperor Yu, preparing to seize him by force.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Yang Jiao launches a direct assault on the Great Xia capital, attacking the Human Emperor, Emperor Yu, and the gathered civil and military officials.
• Empowered by descending starlight and the Law of Slaughter, Yang Jiao cuts through the officials who try to stop him, killing or incapacitating many.
• Emperor Yu summons the National Destiny Golden Dragon to suppress Yang Jiao, but Yang Jiao is able to evade it. He refuses to fight the dragon head-on and instead continues attacking the surrounding officials.
• Yang Jiao argues that the Human Race provoked the Heavenly Court by attacking celestial immortals and destroying Heavenly Court temples and statues. He insists that immortals are free to help humanity or not, and that assistance should not be treated as an obligation.
• Ji Fengming, the King of the Nine Provinces, arrives and attacks Yang Jiao with powerful sword techniques. Yang Jiao accuses him of being responsible for the conflict and reminds him that Great Xia initiated attacks against the Heavenly Court.
• Ji Fengming claims Yang Jiao is betraying the Chan Sect by serving the Heavenly Emperor, but Yang Jiao rejects the accusation, saying the disaster resulted from Ji Fengming’s own schemes and ambition.
• Yang Jiao and Ji Fengming engage in a devastating battle. Ji Fengming uses numerous spiritual treasures, including Innate Spiritual Treasures, while Yang Jiao relies on his indestructible body, spear, and body-cultivation abilities.
• Ji Fengming seemingly destroys Yang Jiao’s head with the Vajra Bracelet, but Yang Jiao regenerates instantly. At the same time, Yang Jiao’s spear pierces Ji Fengming’s heart.
• Yang Jiao overpowers Ji Fengming, pins him down, and threatens to destroy his Primordial Spirit. He declares that Great Xia’s excessive ambition and attempt to interfere in immortal affairs caused the current disaster.

Character Developments

• Yang Jiao: Demonstrates overwhelming strength, fearlessness, and loyalty to the Heavenly Court. He remains calm under pressure and shows no hesitation in killing those who oppose him. His regenerative body and mastery of body cultivation establish him as nearly impossible to defeat.
• Emperor Yu: Displays anger and resistance but is unable to control the situation. Although he possesses the strength of a Grand Unity Golden Immortal and commands the National Destiny Golden Dragon, he cannot effectively restrain Yang Jiao.
• Ji Fengming: Reveals himself as a major instigator of the conflict and a proud, ambitious leader. His confidence in Great Xia’s National Fortune and spiritual treasures collapses when Yang Jiao survives his strongest attack and defeats him.
• The Human Race: Is portrayed as politically overreaching. Its leaders have moved beyond governing humanity and attempted to challenge the Heavenly Court’s authority over immortals and the wider Primordial Wilderness.

Significant Themes

• Authority and jurisdiction: The central dispute concerns whether the Human Race has the right to command or judge Heavenly Court immortals.
• Consequences of ambition: Yang Jiao repeatedly emphasizes that Great Xia’s attempt to test and interfere with the Heavenly Court brought disaster upon itself.
• Freedom versus obligation: The Heavenly Court’s refusal to help humanity is framed as a choice, not a duty. Yang Jiao rejects the idea that immortals must serve human interests.
• Power and legitimacy: The National Fortune of Great Xia, once viewed as an overwhelming force, proves ineffective against Yang Jiao, exposing the limits of human authority.
• Karma and responsibility: Both sides invoke karma, but Yang Jiao insists that the Human Race—not the Heavenly Court—is responsible for the consequences of its actions.

Character Interactions

• Yang Jiao confronts Emperor Yu, challenging the Human Emperor’s justification for opposing the Heavenly Court.
• Emperor Yu accuses Yang Jiao of creating lasting enmity with the Human Race, but Yang Jiao responds that the conflict began with humanity’s attacks on celestial immortals.
• Ji Fengming confronts Yang Jiao and accuses him of betraying the Chan Sect; Yang Jiao counters that Ji Fengming’s schemes caused the crisis.
• Their argument escalates into a fierce duel, ending with Yang Jiao physically defeating Ji Fengming and placing his life and Primordial Spirit under threat.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Yang Jiao confronts Ji Fengming, King of the Nine Provinces, and the Great Xia Court. Though furious enough to kill him, Yang Jiao restrains himself because Ji is a second-generation disciple of the Human Sect and because the Heavenly Emperor warned him not to provoke the Human Race too severely.
• Ji Fengming defends Great Xia’s actions, arguing that National Fortune is necessary to restrain immortals and protect humanity from chaos. He also claims that immortals who benefit from humanity’s incense offerings and fortune should serve the Human Race in return.
• Yang Jiao reveals that Great Xia’s campaign to unify and regulate the immortals of the Nine Provinces is actually a challenge to the Heavenly Court. By destroying temples and shrines and demanding that Heavenly Court immortals register under Great Xia’s administration, the Human Race is testing whether it can interfere with the Heavenly Court’s authority.
• Yang Jiao explains that Great Xia’s unprecedented prosperity, population, civilization, and technology have caused its National Fortune to increase dramatically, fueling its ambition to challenge the Heavenly Court and possibly dominate the Primordial Wilderness.
• The Heavenly Court cannot openly massacre the Human Race because humanity is the Protagonist of Heaven and Earth, and the Heavenly Dao Stone cannot withstand the karmic consequences of such an attack. Yang Jiao therefore acts alone, using the threat of the Heavenly Court’s forces to intimidate Great Xia.
• Yang Jiao warns that the Human Race’s arrogance has already provoked dissatisfaction among Saints and ancient powers. If its ambition grows further, it may lose its privileged position and fall catastrophically.
• Ji Fengming invokes his identity as a personal disciple of Great Master Xuandu and threatens Yang Jiao with the Human Sect’s retaliation. Yang Jiao dismisses the threat, reminding him that Ji previously attacked the Human Sect by attempting to tax and govern its immortals.
• Yang Jiao demands that Ji either surrender or face the destruction of Great Xia’s capital by a million heavenly soldiers and generals.
• He also condemns Great Xia’s reliance on technology, arguing that its inventions cannot threaten even Earth Immortals and have encouraged humanity to pursue comfort and indulgence rather than cultivation and the Dao.
• The chapter ends with Ji Fengming realizing that Yang Jiao may genuinely kill him, despite the political consequences.

Character Developments

• Yang Jiao is portrayed as stern, politically aware, and willing to bear infamy to restrain Great Xia’s growing arrogance. Though he possesses murderous anger, he deliberately limits the Heavenly Court’s response to avoid causing a karmic disaster.
• Ji Fengming shifts from defiant political spokesman to frightened captive. His confidence weakens when Yang Jiao refuses to be intimidated by his Human Sect background and places his life directly at risk.
• Emperor Yu appears increasingly alarmed as Yang Jiao’s threat exposes Great Xia’s vulnerability without the protection of National Fortune.
• The Human Race and Great Xia are characterized as powerful and prosperous but increasingly arrogant, ambitious, and dependent on technology rather than cultivation.

Significant Themes

• Unchecked ambition and arrogance: Great Xia’s growing prosperity has led it to challenge powers far older and stronger than itself.
• Political and cosmic authority: The confrontation centers on whether the Human Race or the Heavenly Court has the right to govern immortals within the Nine Provinces.
• Limits of power: National Fortune gives humanity extraordinary protection, but it does not make Great Xia invincible or immune to karmic consequences.
• Tradition versus technology: Yang Jiao argues that technological progress has distracted humanity from cultivation and confused what should be its primary path.
• Restraint and responsibility: The Heavenly Court’s refusal to massacre humanity demonstrates the importance of considering karma, cosmic balance, and humanity’s special status.
• The danger of overreaching: The chapter’s central warning is that a powerful group may lose everything if it mistakes temporary prosperity for absolute dominance.

Character Interactions

• Yang Jiao and Ji Fengming: Their exchange is a direct confrontation between Heavenly Court authority and Great Xia’s human-centered ideology. Ji appeals to justice, humanity’s needs, and his Human Sect status, while Yang Jiao answers with accusations of rebellion and overreach.
• Yang Jiao and Emperor Yu: Yang Jiao demands surrender from the Human Emperor and emphasizes that, without National Fortune, Great Xia is defenseless.
• Yang Jiao and the Heavenly Court’s soldiers: Yang Jiao uses the army’s threatening presence to pressure Great Xia, while preventing them from actually launching a massacre.
• Yang Jiao and the Human Sect: Although Ji invokes the Human Sect for protection, Yang Jiao argues that Ji’s own actions have already alienated it by attempting to interfere with and tax its immortals.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Yang Jiao confronts Ji Fengming, demanding to know under what identity he intends to face him. Ji Fengming cannot answer, since both his roles—the King of the Nine Provinces and a disciple of the Human Sect—conflict with his current intervention.
• Yang Jiao challenges the Human Emperor, Emperor Yu, to fight. With hundreds of thousands of Heavenly Court soldiers, numerous powerful generals, and supporting Loose Immortals surrounding Great Xia, the Human Race realizes it cannot win without suffering catastrophic losses.
• Yang Jiao states his conditions: Emperor Yu must go to Huoyun Cave, while Ji Fengming must return to the Human Sect and abandon involvement in the mortal world.
• Great Xia’s officials and citizens desperately oppose the demand, fearing that the Human Race will collapse without its two central protectors. However, Yang Jiao argues that Great Xia brought the disaster upon itself by destroying Heavenly Court temples and accumulating Karma.
• Emperor Yu ultimately agrees to leave. He disperses his Fortune Aura and renounces his position as Human Race Co-Lord before departing for Huoyun Cave. His departure causes the people of the Nine Provinces to experience profound grief and emptiness.
• Ji Fengming initially resists returning to the Human Sect, but Yang Jiao makes clear that refusal means battle. Ji Fengming agrees only after Yang Jiao promises that the Heavenly Court will not deliberately massacre or punish the Human Race. He swears an oath and leaves for Shouyang Mountain.
• Before departing, Yang Jiao tells Great Xia’s leaders that Emperor Yu’s descendants may eventually inherit the throne, suggesting that the absence of a Human Emperor does not mean the end of the dynasty. His cryptic remark—“How could there be a crown prince for thousands of years?”—becomes especially significant.
• As Yang Jiao flies away, the National Destiny Golden Dragon suddenly awakens and attacks him. It severely injures him, though Heavenly Court figures rescue him before further harm occurs.
• Emperor Yu and Ji Fengming realize that they have been deceived: the Heavenly Court did pay a price for its actions, using a mysterious method to conceal that fact from the National Destiny Golden Dragon.

Character Developments

• Yang Jiao appears confident, ruthless, and in control while forcing Great Xia to submit. He presents himself as enforcing Karma and protecting the Heavenly Court’s authority, but his sudden panic when the Golden Dragon attacks reveals that he concealed important information.
• Emperor Yu shifts from resistance to reluctant sacrifice. Recognizing that continued defiance could destroy the Human Race, he willingly abandons his throne and accepts confinement in Huoyun Cave to protect his people.
• Ji Fengming is trapped between his loyalties to the Human Race, Great Xia, and the Human Sect. Though furious and humiliated, he accepts exile from the mortal world after securing Yang Jiao’s promise not to retaliate against the Human Race.
• Great Xia’s officials and citizens display intense loyalty to Emperor Yu and Ji Fengming, fearing that their removal will leave the Human Race defenseless.
• The Heavenly Court is revealed to have manipulated perceptions surrounding the conflict, hiding its true losses or costs from the National Destiny Golden Dragon.

Significant Themes

• Karma and accountability: Yang Jiao insists that national power and destiny cannot erase the consequences of provoking the Heavenly Court.
• Sacrifice for the people: Emperor Yu gives up his throne and authority to prevent the destruction of the Human Race.
• Political legitimacy and identity: Ji Fengming’s inability to determine whether he is acting as a king or a disciple highlights the conflict between personal loyalty and institutional authority.
• Deception and hidden costs: The apparent victory of the Heavenly Court is exposed as incomplete, suggesting that powerful forces can manipulate even the perception of destiny.
• The fragility of power: Great Xia’s seemingly overwhelming National Fortune fails to protect its leaders, while the Heavenly Court’s dominance proves dependent on schemes and concealment.
• Dynastic succession: Yang Jiao’s statement about there being no crown prince for thousands of years hints that Emperor Yu’s descendants may inherit power, though the future of Great Xia remains uncertain.

Important Character Interactions

• Yang Jiao and Ji Fengming clash over Ji Fengming’s right to intervene in Great Xia’s affairs.
• Yang Jiao confronts Emperor Yu directly and forces him to choose between resistance and submission.
• Emperor Yu and his officials argue over whether he should abandon the Human Race; despite their pleas, he chooses to sacrifice his position.
• Ji Fengming negotiates with Yang Jiao for the Human Race’s safety before accepting his return to the Human Sect.
• The National Destiny Golden Dragon’s attack exposes the deception behind Yang Jiao’s apparent victory and causes Emperor Yu and Ji Fengming to recognize that both they and the Human Race were manipulated.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Yang Jiao is revealed to have been gravely wounded, exposing that the Heavenly Court’s apparent ability to ignore Great Xia’s National Fortune was a deception.
• Emperor Yu and Ji Fengming realize they were manipulated into withdrawing. Had they resisted longer, Yang Jiao’s method might have failed and the Human Race could have avoided the disaster.
• Although both want to return and reclaim Great Xia, an instinctive fear of the Heavenly Dao prevents them from acting. They suspect the Heavenly Dao itself may have been involved in the Heavenly Court’s scheme.
• Once the National Destiny Golden Dragon recovers, it retaliates against the hundreds of thousands of Loose Immortals assembled outside the capital. Under its suppression, the Loose Immortals are massacred, including hidden Grand Unity Golden Immortals.
• Emperor Yu enters Huoyun Cave and greets the human sages. Rather than blaming him for falling into the trap, Fuxi comforts him, causing Emperor Yu to become deeply emotional.
• Ji Fengming returns to Shouyang Mountain and asks Saint Taiqing why Yang Jiao was able to bypass Great Xia’s National Fortune.
• Taiqing explains that Great Xia had accumulated Karma by attacking Heavenly Court immortals, toppling their temples, and destroying their sacred mountains. Haotian combined this Karma with the Heavenly Court’s Fortune Aura, temporarily allowing Yang Jiao’s power to overcome Great Xia’s National Fortune.
• Ji Fengming realizes that his own actions created the opening the Heavenly Court exploited, making him feel responsible for the Human Race’s suffering.
• Taiqing tells him that he has already been eliminated from the struggle and warns that his haste nearly caused his death. Haotian spared him and Emperor Yu partly because he did not wish to create an irreconcilable generational feud with the Human Race.
• Ji Fengming eventually remains on Shouyang Mountain to cultivate. Over time, the Nine Provinces gradually move from division toward reunification.

Character Developments

• Emperor Yu: Experiences profound regret over being deceived and worries that no capable successor can preserve Great Xia. His despair is softened by the compassion of the human sages, especially Fuxi.
• Ji Fengming: Suffers a major collapse in confidence. His belief that his foresight and transmigrator status made him capable of controlling events is shattered when he learns that his own actions created the Karma used against the Human Race. He becomes humbled, remorseful, and withdrawn.
• Fuxi and the human sages: Demonstrate sympathy rather than condemnation, emphasizing solidarity with Emperor Yu after his failure.
• Saint Taiqing: Acts as both teacher and stern critic. He explains the Heavenly Court’s method and warns Ji Fengming never to underestimate the ancient powers of the Primordial Wilderness.
• Haotian: Is portrayed as an independent and increasingly autonomous ruler. Though he schemed against the Human Race, he deliberately stopped short of annihilating it or creating permanent generational enmity.

Significant Themes

• Scheming and counter-scheming: The chapter presents conflict as a contest in which every faction manipulates others, while even the Heavenly Dao may be pursuing its own hidden plans.
• Karma and responsibility: Personal actions produce consequences that can later be weaponized. Ji Fengming’s past attacks directly enable the Heavenly Court’s assault.
• Limits of foresight and arrogance: Ji Fengming’s confidence in his exceptional status is destroyed by the realization that ancient powerful beings are far more experienced and complex than he assumed.
• The inevitability of rise and decline: Taiqing emphasizes that the Human Race’s eventual decline would have occurred even without Ji Fengming’s intervention. Prosperity and division are temporary phases within a larger historical cycle.
• Compassion amid failure: Fuxi’s acceptance of Emperor Yu shows that loyalty and understanding can matter more than blame after a disastrous mistake.
• The autonomy of powerful figures: Haotian’s refusal to completely destroy the Human Race demonstrates that he is no longer merely an instrument of the Mystic Gate and now acts according to his own judgment.

Character Interactions

• Emperor Yu and Ji Fengming: Share shock, grief, and helplessness after recognizing the Heavenly Court’s deception, but neither dares return to Great Xia.
• Emperor Yu and the human sages: Emperor Yu humbly seeks refuge in Huoyun Cave, where Fuxi welcomes and consoles him instead of reproaching him.
• Ji Fengming and Saint Taiqing: Ji Fengming repeatedly asks for an explanation and a way to reverse the disaster. Taiqing answers him calmly but sternly, explaining the role of Karma and forcing him to confront his mistakes.
• Ji Fengming and his own past choices: His realization that his campaign against Heavenly Court temples caused the crisis becomes the chapter’s central internal conflict.
• Human Race and the Loose Immortals: After the National Destiny Golden Dragon recovers, the Human Race launches a devastating counterattack, completely overwhelming the gathered Loose Immortals.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• After Emperor Yu and Ji Fengming leave public life, Great Xia enters centuries of warlordism. Rival kings support different descendants of Emperor Yu, each seeking control of the Human Race.
• The Nine Provinces fragment into hundreds of states. Prolonged warfare devastates the population, economy, agriculture, trade, education, archives, cities, and the general standard of civilization.
• Political and religious legitimacy become central causes of conflict, with each state competing to claim Human Race orthodoxy and the position of Human Race Co-Lord.
• “Technology,” once developed under Great Xia, is increasingly condemned as useless and harmful. Emperor Yu’s son Qi eventually orders its complete destruction, including books, tools, craftsmen, and anyone associated with it. Human civilization regresses from an industrial level to an agrarian one.
• Qi reunifies the Nine Provinces and becomes Human Race Co-Lord, but Great Xia remains weakened. He lacks Emperor Yu’s ambition and Ji Fengming’s strategic brilliance, and must share power with powerful clans and nobles.
• Qi’s cultivation error shortens his life and damages his health. His later instability causes further disorder, though hereditary succession preserves the Xia dynasty because rulers still fear the hidden influence of Emperor Yu and Ji Fengming.
• Subsequent emperors become increasingly corrupt and incompetent. Great Xia suffers from tyranny, extravagance, military defeats, and internal and external crises.
• As Great Xia declines, the “Black Bird descends upon Shang”: Great Shang rises and leads a coalition of states against Xia, signaling the approaching replacement of the dynasty.
• Meanwhile, the Heavenly Emperor Haotian’s ten-thousand-year deadline arrives. He summons the Saints to the Heavenly Court, but none respond. Even his personal envoys are ignored.
• Furious, Haotian appeals to the Dao Ancestor. Hongjun summons all the Saints to Zixiao Palace, where Haotian sits beside him, apparently seeking support against the Saints.
• Hongjun reprimands the Saints for ignoring his earlier command to help staff and stabilize the Heavenly Court. The chapter ends as Zhunti begins explaining why the Saints believe they were wronged.

Character Developments

• Qi: Demonstrates enough ability to reunify the Human Race but proves inferior to Emperor Yu as a visionary ruler. His hostility toward technology becomes one of the most destructive policies of the era. His cultivation mistake and resulting decline worsen Great Xia’s instability.
• Emperor Yu and Ji Fengming: Though absent, their reputations continue to influence politics. Their hidden authority discourages outsiders from overthrowing the Xia bloodline.
• Successive Xia emperors: Gradually become decadent, foolish, and oppressive, accelerating the dynasty’s collapse.
• Haotian: Becomes increasingly frustrated and confrontational after the Saints repeatedly refuse to obey him. By appealing to Hongjun, he attempts to force their cooperation.
• Hongjun/Dao Ancestor: Publicly supports Haotian and asserts authority over the Saints, revealing his willingness to intervene directly in Heavenly Court affairs.
• The Saints: Their united refusal to answer Haotian suggests resistance to his authority, though they become cautious once Hongjun summons and reprimands them.

Significant Themes

• The cycle of division and reunification: The Human Race repeatedly fragments through war before being consolidated under a new ruling power.
• The rise and fall of dynasties: Great Xia’s decline follows the pattern of initial strength, hereditary continuity, corruption, and eventual replacement by Shang.
• The destruction of knowledge: Political fear and ideological prejudice lead to the deliberate eradication of technology, causing severe civilizational regression.
• Power and legitimacy: States fight not only for territory but also for recognition as the Human Race’s orthodox rulers.
• Authority versus resistance: The Saints’ refusal to serve Haotian highlights the limits of his power, while Hongjun’s intervention demonstrates the greater authority of the Dao Ancestor.
• Historical consequences of poor leadership: Qi’s limitations, later emperors’ corruption, and the suppression of innovation combine to weaken Great Xia over generations.

Character Interactions

• Rival rulers and noble families compete through different descendants of Emperor Yu, creating prolonged political conflict.
• Qi clashes ideologically with technology and its supporters, ordering their suppression and elimination.
• Great Shang unites multiple states against the declining Great Xia.
• Haotian repeatedly summons the Saints, but they collectively ignore him.
• Haotian then approaches Hongjun for assistance, producing the unusual scene of the two apparent enemies appearing together before the Saints.
• Hongjun confronts the Saints over their disobedience, while Zhunti begins pleading their case, setting up a dispute over the Heavenly Emperor’s authority and the Saints’ obligations.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• The Heavenly Emperor demands that the various Saint factions provide three million immortals to fill official positions in the Heavenly Court.
• Zhunti and Jieyin plead that the Western Lands Teachings are too impoverished to provide such a number. They explain that the Western Lands remain barren because of ancient calamities and that their sect has fewer than a million immortals.
• The Heavenly Emperor mocks their claims of having countless Buddhist kingdoms and beings, while the Dao Ancestor, Hongjun, silently pressures the Saints to comply.
• Most of the Saints refuse or claim they lack suitable disciples. Saint Taiqing of the Human Sect, however, offers to send a manifestation to serve in the Heavenly Court.
• Taiqing separates his Good Corpse, Taishang Laojun, who greets the other Saints and then travels to the Heavenly Realm to establish his own world and assist the Heavenly Court.
• Unsatisfied with receiving only one official, the Heavenly Emperor declares that either the Dao Ancestor must provide justice or the Chan Sect must take responsibility for the missing three million immortals.
• This openly targets Venerable Yuanshi and exposes the deep hostility between Yuanshi and Haotian.
• Yuanshi threatens to kill Haotian, but Haotian dismisses him, claiming Yuanshi lacks the strength to defeat him.
• Hongjun suppresses the confrontation and orders Yuanshi to allow Haotian to state his case.
• Haotian then challenges Yuanshi’s legitimacy as a Saint who follows the Heavenly Dao and the greater trend, accusing him of openly defying heavenly authority.

2. Character Developments

• Haotian / the Heavenly Emperor: Becomes openly confident, domineering, and confrontational. He no longer behaves like a subordinate or puppet beneath Hongjun. His control over the Heavenly Court’s fortune, advanced cultivation, and mysterious backing have given him the confidence to challenge even major Saints.
• Taishang Laojun: Is introduced as Taiqing’s Good Corpse and accepts a role in the Heavenly Court. His arrival provides the Court with an important divine official and demonstrates the Human Sect’s formal cooperation.
• Venerable Yuanshi: His long-standing hostility toward Haotian becomes impossible to conceal. He reacts with fury and threatens violence, but is forced to restrain himself by Hongjun’s authority.
• Hongjun / the Dao Ancestor: Attempts to maintain control over the dispute and preserve order among the Saints. Though irritated by Haotian’s arrogance, he allows Haotian to present his accusations and places responsibility on Yuanshi if Yuanshi is at fault.
• Zhunti and Jieyin: Emphasize the weakness and poverty of the Western Lands Teachings, presenting themselves as unable rather than unwilling to meet Haotian’s demand.
• The other Saints: Remain cautious and detached, avoiding involvement in the escalating conflict.

3. Significant Themes

• The rise of Heavenly Court authority: The Heavenly Court is no longer portrayed as a weak or symbolic institution. Its power, fortune, and Haotian’s backing make it a force capable of confronting the Saint factions.
• Authority versus sectarian independence: Haotian insists that all Saints and sects must submit to the greater order of Heaven, while Yuanshi represents a powerful individual resisting that authority.
• Political negotiation and hypocrisy: The Saints use excuses and carefully worded explanations to avoid providing disciples, while Haotian exposes the gap between their public claims and actual strength.
• Changing power dynamics: Haotian’s transformation from a minor attendant into a powerful Heavenly Emperor shocks the Saints and signals a broader shift in the balance of power.
• The greater trend and heavenly law: The central dispute turns on whether Yuanshi, as a Saint who claims to uphold the Heavenly Dao, has the right to oppose the Heavenly Court’s demands.

4. Character Interactions

• Zhunti and Jieyin with Hongjun: They plead for understanding, explaining the Western Lands Teachings’ lack of resources.
• Haotian with the Western Lands Saints: Haotian mocks their claims of having innumerable followers and rejects their excuses.
• Taiqing and Hongjun: Taiqing offers Taishang Laojun to serve the Heavenly Court, and Hongjun approves the arrangement.
• Haotian and Yuanshi: Their exchange is openly hostile. Haotian demands that Yuanshi’s Chan Sect solve the shortage, while Yuanshi threatens to destroy him. Haotian responds with contempt.
• Haotian and Hongjun: Haotian pressures Hongjun to judge the matter fairly, insisting that he will continue demanding officials unless Yuanshi is held accountable.
• Hongjun and Yuanshi: Hongjun forces Yuanshi to remain silent and submit to the hearing, warning that he must bear responsibility if Haotian’s accusations are justified.
• Haotian’s final accusation: Haotian publicly rebukes Yuanshi for allegedly opposing the greater trend, turning the dispute from a personnel shortage into a direct challenge to Yuanshi’s standing and principles.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• In Zixiao Palace, Haotian publicly confronts Venerable Yuanshi over the Chan Sect’s hypocrisy and the crimes of the Twelve Golden Immortals.
• Haotian accuses Yuanshi of failing to uphold the Chan Sect’s doctrine of enlightening all beings and instead protecting disciples who repeatedly harmed the Human Race.
• He recalls that the Twelve Golden Immortals slaughtered countless humans on the East Sea Coast, accumulated enormous Red Dust Tribulation Aura and karmic debt, and later attacked the Human Race again after Emperor Yu became its common ruler.
• Haotian claims he once offered them a chance to enter the Heavenly Court, serve as officials, gain merit, and gradually cleanse their karmic burdens. Yuanshi rejected the proposal and insulted Haotian’s envoy.
• Haotian demands either:
  1. The Twelve Golden Immortals die to atone for their crimes, or
  2. They enter the Investiture List and serve in the Heavenly Court until their Red Dust Tribulation is cleansed.
• Yuanshi becomes furious and nearly attacks Haotian with the Pangu Banner, but the Dao Ancestor suppresses both sides and orders them to show restraint.
• To resolve the dispute, Hongjun declares that Yuanshi will control the Investiture List and be responsible for filling the Heavenly Court’s vacant divine positions.

Character Developments

• Haotian: Displays increasing confidence, boldness, and political authority. He openly challenges a Saint before the Dao Ancestor and frames his demands as a defense of justice, the Human Race, and the Heavenly Court.
• Venerable Yuanshi: Is portrayed as proud, image-conscious, and fiercely protective of his disciples. His anger grows as Haotian exposes the Chan Sect’s hypocrisy, but he ultimately submits to Hongjun’s authority.
• Saint Taiqing: Intervenes briefly to cool the confrontation but avoids taking responsibility for the Chan Sect’s karma. His silence suggests caution and deep political calculation.
• Hongjun, the Dao Ancestor: Reasserts absolute authority over the gathered Saints. He prevents open conflict and imposes a solution that forces Yuanshi to take responsibility for the Heavenly Court’s staffing crisis.
• The Twelve Golden Immortals: Though absent, they are central to the conflict. Their repeated violence against the Human Race has left them burdened by severe karma and Red Dust Tribulation.

Significant Themes

• Justice versus sectarian protection: Haotian argues that Saints must uphold universal justice rather than shield their disciples.
• Hypocrisy and moral accountability: The Chan Sect’s teachings are contrasted with Yuanshi’s actions, especially his failure to punish disciples who harmed innocent people.
• Political power and authority: The confrontation shows Haotian asserting the Heavenly Court’s authority while Hongjun reminds everyone that the Dao Ancestor remains supreme.
• Karma and redemption: The Twelve Golden Immortals’ crimes must be repaid, either through death or service and merit accumulation.
• Public reputation versus true conduct: Yuanshi’s dignified image is undermined by the accusation that he preaches righteousness while protecting wrongdoers.

Character Interactions

• Haotian and Yuanshi: Engage in a hostile public confrontation, with Haotian attacking Yuanshi’s character and Yuanshi struggling to restrain his rage.
• Haotian and Taiqing: Haotian challenges Taiqing to accept responsibility for the karma, but Taiqing remains silent rather than defend Yuanshi.
• Haotian and Hongjun: Haotian initially resists Hongjun’s pressure but quickly yields when faced with the Dao Ancestor’s killing intent.
• Hongjun and Yuanshi: Hongjun forces Yuanshi to accept responsibility for controlling the Investiture List, effectively turning him from defender of his disciples into the person responsible for staffing the Heavenly Court.

Summary

• In Zixiao Palace, the Saints initially accept Hongjun’s proposal that Yuanshi oversee the Investiture List and appoint officials for the Heavenly Court. Their discussion quickly becomes a heated quarrel between the Witch and Demon races, particularly between Xing Tian and Kunpeng. Yuanshi silences them with his authority, showing that even the contentious factions fear and respect him.
• Yuanshi questions whether he can fulfill Haotian’s demand for three million immortals to staff the Heavenly Court. Hongjun intervenes and persuades Haotian to reduce the requirement to one million. Haotian agrees only because the request comes from Hongjun, making clear that he still considers three million the proper number and is not genuinely willing to compromise with the Saints.
• The Saints attempt to negotiate the number down even further, suggesting one hundred thousand immortals. Haotian becomes furious, condemning the Demon Saints for taking advantage of his concession to Hongjun. He argues that one hundred thousand people would be useless unless they were all Grand Unity Golden Immortals, and mocks Lu Wu by suggesting he contribute himself as the equivalent of one hundred thousand immortals. Lu Wu is embarrassed and retreats from the argument.
• Hongjun formally orders the Saints to gather one million immortals among themselves and leaves the allocation of the quota to the various sects. He commands Yuanshi to preside over the Investiture of the Gods, entrusting him with the Investiture List.
• After Hongjun departs, Haotian provocatively suggests that he should control the list, joking that he would not immediately write down all the Saints’ disciples. Yuanshi rejects the suggestion, insisting that the task belongs to him. Haotian responds with a knowing smile and says nothing further, signaling that he remains suspicious or potentially threatening.
• Yuanshi proposes that the sects contribute according to their populations, with larger sects providing more people. He exempts the Human Sect because it has few disciples and because Taiqing has already sent his Good Corpse, Taishang Laojun, to the Heavenly Realm. The other Saints do not object, partly because the Human Sect’s small size makes the exemption reasonable and partly because Taiqing’s power commands respect.

Character Development and Interactions

• Yuanshi demonstrates authority, restraint, and confidence. He suppresses the Witch-Demon argument, accepts Hongjun’s command despite doubts, and firmly refuses Haotian’s attempt to interfere.
• Haotian appears forceful, calculating, and resentful. He accepts the reduced quota only to honor Hongjun, aggressively defends the Heavenly Court’s needs, and subtly threatens the Saints by joking about controlling the list.
• Hongjun acts as the mediator and ultimate authority, reducing the quota from three million to one million and assigning Yuanshi responsibility.
• Lu Wu and the Demon Saints are humiliated when their attempts to reduce the quota anger Haotian. Their interaction highlights the tension between the Heavenly Court and the Saints.
• The Witch and Demon factions remain openly hostile, with their dispute showing that old rivalries persist even in a formal gathering of Saints.

Significant Themes

• Authority and hierarchy: Hongjun’s command overrides the Saints’ disputes, while Yuanshi’s status is enough to silence the quarrel.
• Political bargaining and factional interests: The allocation of immortals becomes a struggle over which sects and races will bear the cost.
• Power versus numbers: Haotian insists that a large Heavenly Court is necessary, dismissing suggestions that a much smaller force would be adequate.
• Trust and suspicion: Haotian’s joke about filling the list with the Saints’ disciples exposes mutual distrust between him and the major sects.
• Factional conflict: The chapter emphasizes continuing tensions among the Witch, Demon, Heavenly Court, and various religious sects despite Hongjun’s attempt to impose order.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Venerable Yuanshi signs the Investiture List on behalf of the Chan Sect, placing several thousand Outer Disciples on it while sparing the Twelve Golden Immortals.
• The Heavenly Emperor condemns Yuanshi for sacrificing lesser disciples to protect his favored students. Yuanshi defends himself by claiming that these disciples had weak fortune and limited potential, and that becoming Heavenly deities would give them a better chance to gain merit and continue cultivating.
• Sect Master Tongtian signs tens of thousands of Interception Sect disciples onto the list, selecting followers guilty of serious crimes and even including a Grand Unity Golden Immortal. His willingness to surrender so many disciples surprises the other Saints.
• Nuwa contributes several hundred elderly, weak, or disabled members of the surviving Demon Race, explaining that she is helping only out of respect for their teacher and will not tolerate further pressure.
• The Demon Saints also contribute hundreds or thousands of names each.
• The Witch Clan refuses to sign anyone because its members lack Primordial Spirits and cannot leave behind True Spirits after death. Chi You and Xing Tian argue that if the list could revive the dead, they would willingly submit the entire clan.
• Candle Dragon readily contributes thousands of Flood Dragons, impure-blooded Dragon Clan members, and affiliated outsiders.
• Pingxin says the Underworld is understaffed and suggests that their teacher create a separate list to help fill its vacancies. Yuanshi abandons the argument.
• The Two Sages of the West strongly resist contributing disciples, claiming that the Western Lands are impoverished, barren, and short of talent. They insist the Investiture List is an Eastern affair and even ask others to help restore the West’s damaged earth veins.
• The Heavenly Emperor mocks their hypocrisy, pointing out that the Western Sages frequently exploit the East but now deny responsibility when asked to contribute.

Character Developments

• Yuanshi is shown as calculating, ruthless, and unapologetically protective of his favored disciples. He presents sacrificing Outer Disciples as an act of mercy and practical guidance, but the Heavenly Emperor exposes the selfishness behind his reasoning.
• The Heavenly Emperor acts as Yuanshi’s outspoken critic, directly challenging the Saints’ hypocrisy and favoritism.
• Tongtian demonstrates strict impartiality by sacrificing even valuable disciples who have committed serious offenses, contrasting sharply with Yuanshi’s protection of elite followers.
• Nuwa remains detached from the political struggle but asserts her independence and authority. Her contribution is limited and carefully chosen.
• Chi You and Xing Tian emphasize the fundamental difference between the Witch Clan and other races: without Primordial Spirits, they cannot participate in the normal cycle of death and heavenly appointment.
• Candle Dragon appears pragmatic and cooperative, surrendering lower-status or impure-blooded members without hesitation.
• Pingxin prioritizes the needs of the Underworld and refuses to let it be treated merely as another source of personnel.
• The Two Sages of the West reveal themselves as evasive and defensive, using the West’s poverty as justification for avoiding responsibility.

Significant Themes

• Hypocrisy and moral justification: Yuanshi disguises self-interest as benevolence, while the Western Sages use hardship to avoid contributing.
• Power and sacrifice: Lesser disciples, criminals, outsiders, and weakened races are treated as expendable resources by the powerful.
• Unequal value of disciples: The Saints’ decisions expose how cultivation level, lineage, status, and personal favor determine who is protected and who is sacrificed.
• Regional rivalry: The East-West divide becomes central, with the West portraying itself as neglected while the Heavenly Emperor accuses it of exploiting the East.
• Different forms of existence: The Witch Clan’s lack of Primordial Spirits highlights that not every race can benefit from the Investiture List or reincarnation-based systems.
• Authority and coercion: Although the signing is presented as a collective duty, Yuanshi’s scrutiny and the Saints’ reactions show that participation is driven largely by pressure and political power.

Character Interactions

• The central confrontation is between Yuanshi and the Heavenly Emperor, who openly accuses him of protecting his favored disciples at the expense of disposable followers.
• Yuanshi and Tongtian interact briefly, with Yuanshi accepting Tongtian’s massive contribution without criticism.
• Yuanshi pressures Nuwa, but she responds with a firm warning not to challenge her limited contribution.
• He then turns his attention to the Demon Saints, who comply under pressure.
• Chi You and Xing Tian explain the Witch Clan’s inability to participate, forcing Yuanshi to drop the issue.
• Pingxin rejects the expectation that the Underworld should provide personnel and proposes a solution favorable to her own domain.
• The chapter ends with the Heavenly Emperor ridiculing the Two Sages of the West, exposing the tension and hypocrisy underlying the negotiations.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Haotian demands that every Saint contribute disciples to the Investiture of the Gods, following the Dao Ancestor’s order to provide one million divine officials for the Heavenly Court.
• The Two Sages of the West, Zhunti and Jieyin, theatrically claim that Western Teachings are too poor and understaffed to help. They insist that all their accumulated Merit has been spent repairing the Western Lands’ Earth Veins.
• Haotian sarcastically offers to accept the Two Sages themselves onto the Investiture List in place of their disciples. When they reject the idea, he angrily reminds them that no Saint can evade the Dao Ancestor’s decree.
• Yuanshi intervenes and argues with Haotian, accusing him of arrogance. Haotian retorts that completing the Heavenly Court is a responsibility shared by every Saint and warns Yuanshi that he will be held accountable if the task fails.
• Yuanshi forces the Two Sages to contribute names. They first provide only a few hundred low-level followers, infuriating him. Under threat of Yuanshi attacking the Ultimate Bliss World with the Pangu Banner, they reluctantly add tens of thousands more.
• Even after these contributions, the list contains fewer than one hundred thousand names—far short of the required million.
• Other Saints defend themselves by claiming that their forces are too small, their foundations too weak, or their own organizations too important to sacrifice. The Witch Clan openly refuses to contribute.
• Zhunti hints that he has a way to solve the shortage but repeatedly pretends to hesitate because the plan may offend powerful people. After Yuanshi angrily demands that he explain, Zhunti finally prepares to reveal his scheme.

2. Character Developments

• Haotian becomes increasingly forceful and confrontational. He no longer behaves like a subordinate to the Saints, using the Dao Ancestor’s decree as authority to pressure them and threaten consequences.
• Zhunti and Jieyin are portrayed as manipulative and shamelessly evasive. They use exaggerated suffering and claims of poverty to avoid contributing, while secretly protecting their own followers.
• Yuanshi shifts from coordinator to enraged enforcer. His frustration grows as every faction offers excuses, and he directs his anger especially toward the Two Sages of the West.
• The other Saints reveal their unwillingness to sacrifice their own forces for the Heavenly Court. Their excuses expose the political tension and lack of unity among the various factions.
• Zhunti emerges as a schemer, deliberately baiting Yuanshi into demanding his supposedly dangerous solution.

3. Significant Themes

• Political maneuvering and hypocrisy: The Saints claim loyalty to the larger order but prioritize their own sects and disciples.
• Burden-sharing and responsibility: The chapter questions whether powerful figures should be exempt from collective obligations simply because fulfilling them is inconvenient.
• Victimhood as manipulation: The Two Sages use exaggerated misery to avoid responsibility, prompting the chapter’s central criticism of “playing the victim.”
• Authority versus resistance: Haotian invokes the Dao Ancestor’s command to challenge the Saints’ independence and force them to serve the Heavenly Court.
• Sectarian self-interest: Every group protects its own strength, showing how difficult it is to unite the Primordial Wilderness under one political project.

4. Character Interactions

• Haotian and the Two Sages: Haotian mocks their excuses and proposes listing them personally, while they respond with forced smiles and emotional appeals.
• Haotian and Yuanshi: Their exchange becomes openly hostile, with Haotian refusing to submit and Yuanshi accusing him of arrogance.
• Yuanshi and the Two Sages: Yuanshi threatens them with direct violence, compelling them to provide far more names than they initially intended.
• Yuanshi and the other Saints: He demands that they contribute more, but they collectively resist and insist that they lack sufficient forces.
• Yuanshi and Zhunti: Their confrontation allows Zhunti to introduce his mysterious plan, which is poised to become the next major development.