Chapter Summaries

Sakyamuni attained enlightenment beneath the Bodhi Tree and established Buddhism. Confucius sought Laozi’s counsel on restoring the Rites of Zhou, then left resolved to keep teaching despite the difficulty of changing the world.

• Daoist Jieyin and Daoist Zhunti sent golden light into Sakyamuni, who awakened to the true path and vowed to establish Buddhism and deliver all sentient beings.
• Confucius traveled from Lu State to Luoyi to ask Laozi how rites could restore order amid the Zhou Dynasty’s decline.
• Laozi told Confucius that rites changed with the times and that Great Unity would come only when people saw their Buddha-nature and laid down violence and resentment.
• Confucius left Laozi’s archives, saying that although the Way would not be practiced, his generation would still do what it knew could not be done.
• After Confucius departed, Laozi revealed that Confucius’s hidden soul was a wisp divided from Tongtian Cult Master and reflected that the new world’s future could not be decided by one person alone.

A stone monkey with a Primordial Dao Fruit was born on Flower Fruit Mountain, drawing the attention of the Heavenly Court. After watching generations of monkey companions die while he remained immortal, he decided to seek immortals and learn how to preserve life.

• A youth emerged from the strange stone atop Flower Fruit Mountain, transformed himself into a golden-furred monkey, and joined the monkey troop.
• The Hao Tian Mirror showed the birth to Zhang Bairen, Taibai Jinxing, and Hongtian, who chose not to interfere with the newborn monkey’s karmic path.
• The golden-furred monkey became the Handsome Monkey King and lived with the troop through many seasons.
• After seeing his companions grow old and die while he remained unchanged, the monkey felt grief and fear of being left alone.
• Remembering an old monkey’s advice to seek immortals and visit the Dao, he announced that he would leave to learn the art of living forever.

After a storm wrecked his raft, the golden-furred monkey was rescued by Ye Feng, who named him Sun Wukong and joined him on the journey to Patriarch Bodhi. The two were accepted into Li Shou’s sect, but Ye Feng noticed that its gate bore the name Fengling Yueying Sect.

• A violent storm destroyed the golden-furred monkey’s raft, and Ye Feng rescued him on the shore.
• Ye Feng told the monkey about seeking Patriarch Bodhi and named him Sun Wukong.
• Ye Feng took Sun Wukong to Spiritual Platform Fangcun Mountain, where Li Shou accepted them as disciples.
• Li Shou told Hu Fangyuan and Yang Tianyou that Sun Wukong and Ye Feng were coming to his mountain.
• At the cave gate, Sun Wukong entered eagerly, while Ye Feng realized the couplet named the sect Fengling Yueying Sect.

Ye Feng and Sun Wukong entered Fangcun Mountain and discovered a sect filled with wildly diverse, bizarre cultivation disciplines. Li Shou formally welcomed them as disciples, with Sun Wukong becoming Ye Feng’s senior brother, while Ye Feng wondered how to use his system’s skill points.

• Ye Feng recognized the Fengling Yueying Sect name at the gate and learned Li Shou and his second senior brother had written the couplet.
• Ye Feng entered Fangcun Mountain’s vast grotto-heaven and saw disciples practicing martial arts, Literary Dao, cooking, spirit-stone excavation, and mechanical array deduction.
• Li Shou summoned the disciples to the Dao-Seeking Platform and announced that Ye Feng and Sun Wukong had joined his tutelage.
• Li Shou asked which of the newcomers would be senior brother, and Ye Feng chose to be the junior brother.
• Sun Wukong accepted the senior-brother role and promised to look after Ye Feng, who returned his salute and considered which cultivation path to pursue.

After seven years of doing chores on Fangcun Mountain, Sun Wukong and Ye Feng were tested by Li Shou on their understanding of longevity and their willingness to learn. Li Shou struck Sun Wukong three times and left, while Ye Feng was left wondering why the master had not asked what he wanted to study.

• Yang Tianyou told Ye Feng that nearly everyone on Fangcun Mountain except Sun Wukong was a transmigrator, including himself.
• Sun Wukong tended the peach grove while Ye Feng organized the Scripture Repository, and both spent seven years in menial work.
• During Li Shou's sermon, Sun Wukong fell asleep against Ye Feng's shoulder, and Li Shou later asked them what they sought and how they understood longevity.
• Ye Feng described longevity as endless life joined with an unfading True Spirit and Dao Heart, earning a trace of Li Shou's approval.
• Li Shou offered Sun Wukong several paths of cultivation, but Sun Wukong rejected each one as unsuitable.
• Li Shou struck Sun Wukong three times with the Hongmeng Measuring Heaven Ruler and left, prompting Ye Feng to wonder why his own studies had not been discussed.

After Sun Wukong interpreted Li Shou’s three knocks as an invitation to visit at the third watch, he brought Ye Feng along to seek instruction. Li Shou taught Sun Wukong the 72 Earthly Transformations and Somersault Cloud, and Ye Feng the 36 Heavenly Transformations and Nine Revolutions Profound Technique; three years later, Sun Wukong had reached Primordial Unity Golden Immortal while Ye Feng had reached Refining Void and Merging with Dao.

• Sun Wukong woke Ye Feng and explained that he believed Li Shou’s three knocks meant he should visit the hermitage at the third watch.
• Sun Wukong and Ye Feng went to Li Shou’s hermitage, where Li Shou invited them inside and heard their request for guidance.
• Li Shou taught Sun Wukong the 72 Earthly Transformations and Somersault Cloud, then gave Ye Feng the 36 Heavenly Transformations and Nine Revolutions Profound Technique.
• Sun Wukong and Ye Feng returned to their lodgings, then began practicing their new teachings after dawn.
• Over three years, Sun Wukong mastered his skills and reached Primordial Unity Golden Immortal, while Ye Feng reached Refining Void and Merging with Dao.
• Sun Wukong reassured Ye Feng that he would have his back as Ye Feng continued practicing.

After Li Shou sent Sun Wukong away to be tempered by the world, Ye Feng parted from him and traveled to Hangu Pass to await a Sage. There, Ye Feng discovered that hundreds of people claiming to be Yin Xi’s relatives had been given false karmic ties so they could get close to Laozi.

• Li Shou told Sun Wukong to return to Flower Fruit Mountain, and Sun Wukong and Ye Feng took their leave of him.
• Sun Wukong returned toward Flower Fruit Mountain while Ye Feng headed south to seek the Sage who was traveling west.
• At Hangu Pass, Yin Xi complained to Ye Feng about a flood of supposed relatives and old friends demanding to see him.
• Ye Feng calculated that the claimants’ karmic links to Yin Xi had been deliberately fabricated by systems to help them approach the Sage Taiqing.
• Yin Xi realized that the sudden surge in supposed relatives had begun after news spread that the Sage would emerge and travel west.

Laozi arrived at Hangu Pass, where Ye Feng and a crowd of transmigrators confessed their origins and asked to learn from him. After revealing that a great calamity was coming and the world no longer needed saints, Laozi invited Yin Xi westward and manifested the Dao De Jing for the transmigrators to study.

• Laozi arrived at Hangu Pass on an azure ox as Yin Xi, Ye Feng, and a crowd of transmigrators welcomed him.
• The transmigrators admitted they came from different worlds and had traveled to meet Laozi, leaving Yin Xi and the guards bewildered.
• Laozi said a great calamity was approaching and that heaven and earth no longer needed saints, prompting Ye Feng to question how the world could endure without them.
• Laozi recited the opening lines of the Dao De Jing, and his words led the transmigrators to reconsider their understanding of the Prehistoric World and its changing Dao.
• Laozi invited Yin Xi to accompany him westward and promised the transmigrators a scripture.
• Laozi manifested the Dao De Jing in the air, and the transmigrators began memorizing and comprehending its words.

After Laozi’s teaching helped Ye Feng become a True Immortal, he explored the mortal world before ascending to the Heavenly Court. There, Great Emperor Hongtian assigned him to the Tianhe Navy while preparing successors for a coming war against Bengtian.

• Ye Feng broke through to True Immortal, and Laozi recognized him as Miaoqing’s disciple and advised the transmigrators to explore the world.
• Ye Feng and his fellow transmigrators scattered across the states, and Ye Feng settled in Lu State as the Contention of a Hundred Schools took shape.
• After decades in the mortal world, Ye Feng ascended to the Heavenly Court when his merit and cultivation reached perfection.
• Hongtian assigned Ye Feng to begin as a heavenly soldier in the Tianhe Navy and build military merit.
• Hongtian told Jinhuang that he was preparing successors to uphold the Heavenly Court if he fell in the coming conflict with Bengtian.

Sun Wukong rejected Black and White Impermanence’s attempt to take him to the Underworld, then decided to confront Yama and alter the Book of Life and Death for his monkey clan. He opened a way to the Netherworld and leaped down to demand an explanation.

• Sun Wukong woke to find Black and White Impermanence trying to seize his soul because his allotted mortal lifespan had ended.
• Sun Wukong rejected their claim that his name remained in the Book of Life and Death and crushed the Soul-Snatching Chain.
• Black and White Impermanence attacked Sun Wukong, but he beat them and threw them into the cave wall.
• Sun Wukong told the monkeys he would settle the matter and change the Book of Life and Death so the clan could live forever.
• Sun Wukong used the Ruyi Jingu Bang to open a passage to the Netherworld and leaped down to confront Yama.

Sun Wukong stormed the Underworld after its messengers tried to claim his soul, defeating its forces while Chen Tian ordered the powerful Underworld officials not to intervene. Chen Tian confronted him and showed him the Book of Life and Death, where Sun Wukong discovered his allotted lifespan was 342 years.

• Ox-Head and Horse-Face saw Sun Wukong approach Ghost Gate Pass and fled to warn Great Emperor Fengdu.
• Sun Wukong fought his way through the Underworld, while the Ten Kings of Yama struggled to stop him.
• Chen Tian learned that Sun Wukong had reached the City of Wrongful Deaths and went to confront him.
• Sun Wukong accused Chen Tian's messengers of trying to claim the soul of an immortal monkey.
• Chen Tian retrieved the Book of Life and Death and showed Sun Wukong the record assigning him a lifespan of 342 years.

Chen Tian explained that Sun Wukong’s hidden cultivation had kept the Book of Life and Death from recognizing his immortality, then erased his name and the Flower Fruit Mountain monkeys’ records. Sun Wukong returned home to celebrate, while the chapter ended with concern over Heavenly Court’s response and a report of his rampage before Zhang Bairen.

• Chen Tian explained that Sun Wukong’s method of evading the three calamities had concealed his cultivation from the Book of Life and Death, leaving his mortal lifespan recorded.
• Sun Wukong asked Chen Tian to protect his monkey descendants, and Chen Tian erased Sun Wukong’s entry and every record related to Flower Fruit Mountain’s monkey clan.
• Sun Wukong thanked Chen Tian, promised to send peaches as an apology, and returned to the living world with Black and White Impermanence.
• Back at Water Curtain Cave, Sun Wukong announced that the monkeys no longer needed to fear the Book of Life and Death and ordered a celebration.
• An old long-armed monkey worried that Heavenly Court would retaliate, while a report of Sun Wukong’s havoc in the Underworld rested on Zhang Bairen’s desk.

After Sun Wukong caused havoc in the Underworld, the Jade Emperor granted amnesty and summoned him to serve in Heaven. The chapter leaves Sun Wukong happily taking up the low-ranking Bimawen post while Ye Feng agrees to help with his paperwork.

• Zhang Bairen accepted Taibai Jinxing's proposal to recruit Sun Wukong and sent him to the Lower Realm with an offer of an immortal post.
• Taibai Jinxing persuaded Sun Wukong to ascend to Heaven, where he admired the Heavenly Court and agreed to serve the Jade Emperor.
• When the court found no vacant divine posts, Hongtian recommended the Imperial Horse Stables, and Zhang Bairen appointed Sun Wukong Bimawen.
• Ye Feng told Sun Wukong that Bimawen was an unranked horse-raising post, but Sun Wukong decided to stay and learn about Heaven.
• Sun Wukong asked Ye Feng to sort the stable's documents, and Ye Feng agreed to handle paperwork but refused to feed or brush horses.

Ying Zheng sent Xu Fu and three hundred fangshi east to seek the medicine of eternal life, suspecting the strange talents gathered in Qin were agents of the Heavenly Dao. Xu Fu’s expedition found the immortal islands of Fangzhang and Yingzhou, and a Rogue Cultivator carried their ship to Fangzhang to consult its master and the Eight Immortals.

• Ying Zheng questioned Xu Fu about the strange, seemingly unkillable talents and ordered him to lead three hundred men east in search of the medicine of eternal life.
• Xu Fu and the delegation sailed across the East Sea and asked an old fisherman about immortal mountains.
• The old fisherman said Fangzhang and Yingzhou housed Rogue Cultivator lords and the Eight Immortals, while Penglai was controlled by the Tongtian Cult Master’s Jie Sect.
• A Rogue Cultivator arrived, found the delegation’s fate and karma unusually chaotic, and agreed to take them to Fangzhang’s island master and the Eight Immortals.
• The Rogue Cultivator lifted the ship with a clear wind and carried Xu Fu and the delegation toward Fangzhang as the transmigrators argued about the world they had entered.

Chen Xuan persuaded Ying Zheng to use an elixir that would put him in feigned death, allowing him to escape the Human King's limits and reclaim the Ancestral Dragon's cultivation. Ying Zheng agreed to take the medicine, while Xu Fu was left to wonder what would happen to Great Qin.

• The Eight Immortals refused Xu Fu's request for an elixir of immortality until Chen Xuan intervened and offered medicine that would place Ying Zheng in feigned death.
• Chen Xuan invited the transmigrators to stay on the island and learn from him or the Eight Immortals, and more than two hundred chose to remain.
• Xu Fu returned to Xianyang Palace with the jade bottle and explained the medicine's effects to Ying Zheng.
• Chen Xuan appeared in the palace and revealed that he knew Ying Zheng was the Ancestral Dragon, then explained that feigned death could free him from his Human King status.
• Ying Zheng agreed to take the medicine so he could resume cultivating and later reclaim power.

After Ying Zheng died, the Qin dynasty fell while Sun Wukong grew frustrated with his low-ranking Heavenly Court post and returned to Flower Fruit Mountain. He proclaimed himself the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, and Zhang Bairen approved the title, assigned him to watch the Flat Peach Garden, and promoted Ye Feng to heavenly general.

• Ying Zheng was sealed in an ice coffin inside Mount Li, while Xu Fu stayed behind to guard him as the Qin dynasty collapsed under Huhai and Zhao Gao.
• Sun Wukong complained to Taibai Jinxing that serving as Bimawen was beneath him, then quit the Imperial Horse Stables and returned to Flower Fruit Mountain with Ye Feng.
• Sun Wukong proclaimed himself the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, and Zhang Bairen approved the title and appointed him to watch the Flat Peach Garden.
• Sun Wukong asked Zhang Bairen to promote Ye Feng, and Ye Feng was made a heavenly general in the Tianhe Garrison Department.

Hong Tian left the New Heavenly Court in the Chaos Bead and returned to the dying Prehistoric World, where the Saints were preparing for Bengtian’s arrival. Lingbao Tianzun chose to enter the Chaos Bead and pass down his Daoist Tradition.

• Hong Tian visited Ye Feng at the Heavenly River, then secretly gave Sun Wukong a spark of spiritual light while watching him train his monkey descendants.
• Hong Tian entrusted Zhang Bairen with the affairs of the Heavenly Court and asked him to keep an eye on Ye Feng, then told Jin Huang he was leaving Spirit Mountain in his care.
• Hong Tian returned to the Prehistoric World and crossed its deadly formations to reach Zhang Hao and the gathered Saints at the edge of Chaos.
• Lingbao Tianzun said he wanted to pass down his Daoist Tradition in the Chaos Bead, and Hong Tian approved.
• Lingbao Tianzun transformed into a streak of clear light and flew toward the Chaos Bead.

Lingbao Tianzun gave Mao Ying and his brothers scriptures that helped them heal and cultivate, while Sun Wukong enjoyed the Flat Peach Banquet and carried its food toward Flower Fruit Mountain. On his way back, he saw famine-stricken people in the Lower Realm and was shaken by their suffering.

• Lingbao Tianzun appeared before Mao Ying on Juqu Mountain and passed him the Great Cavern Scripture and Yellow Court Scripture to share with his brothers.
• The Three Mao True Lords used the scriptures to heal many people, and their teachings spread around Maoshan.
• Yao Chi invited Sun Wukong and Ye Feng to the Flat Peach Banquet, where Sun Wukong ate heartily and packed up food to take home.
• Sun Wukong left for Flower Fruit Mountain with a full Universe Bag, but saw drought, famine, and starving people below.
• Sun Wukong was stunned by the misery of the mortal world and wondered how it had become so desperate.

Sun Wukong discovered that the rain he summoned for drought-stricken people caused drought elsewhere, and confronted Zhang Bairen over the suffering and injustice in the mortal world. Rejecting the Heavenly Court’s explanations, he resigned and returned to Flower Fruit Mountain, vowing to act against every injustice he encountered.

• Sun Wukong disguised himself as a Daoist and brought rain to disaster victims, but noticed that another village dried up as the rain fell.
• Sun Wukong tested the phenomenon in several places and saw drought fall more quickly on poorer regions while wars ravaged the mortal world.
• Sun Wukong flew to the South Heaven Gate and demanded that Zhang Bairen explain the mortal world’s suffering.
• Zhang Bairen said that the Heavenly Dao balanced resources and blamed human greed and corruption, suggesting Buddhist teachings as a remedy.
• Sun Wukong accused the Heavenly Court of neglecting its duty, resigned his post, and returned to Flower Fruit Mountain to confront injustice himself.
• Zhang Bairen watched Sun Wukong leave and lamented that one cudgel and a passionate heart could not change the Three Daos.

Sun Wukong tried to impose justice across the Four Great Continents, but his actions brought disorder, and greed corrupted his own followers. After human rulers appealed to Heaven, Zhang Bairen ordered Yang Erlang and Ye Feng to capture Sun Wukong and bring him back alive for trial.

• Sun Wukong used force to redistribute land and wealth, punish corrupt officials, and restrain warring nations, but his interventions caused unrest and hardship for ordinary people.
• Sun Wukong discovered that his demon kings were exploiting people and keeping unfair shares, so he killed several ringleaders and redistributed their loot.
• Human kingdoms sent anguished memorials to Lingxiao Treasure Hall, accusing Sun Wukong of ruining their order and livelihood.
• Zhang Bairen ordered Yang Erlang to lead heavenly troops and divine officials to seize Sun Wukong, while warning them not to kill him or harm Flower Fruit Mountain’s inhabitants unnecessarily.
• Yang Erlang asked Ye Feng about Sun Wukong’s temperament, and Ye Feng said Sun Wukong was pure-hearted but stubborn and had gone down the wrong path.