Recaps

The Jade Emperor’s campaign to claim humanity’s faith provoked Saint Jieyin’s assault on Great Tang, while Zhang Yifan’s allies repelled him and exposed new threats from the Grand Pure Saint and Hongjun. At Zixiao Palace, Hongjun began judging the assembled powers, and the Grand Pure Saint openly challenged his authority.

• Yuan Hong spread claims that Tathagata Buddha had insulted Great Tang, and Li Shimin executed Tang Sanzang and his companions after their return, and recordings of the pilgrims’ account sparked uprisings against Buddhism across the Eastern Tang Dynasty.
• The Jade Emperor’s manifestations spread worship of the Heavenly Emperor across the Four Great Continents, prompting Saint Jieyin to destroy temples, slaughter divine officials, and attack Chang’an.
• First Qilin, the Dragon Ancestor, and the Nine Great Golden Crows confronted Jieyin, but Hongjun intervened and Sect Master Tongtian killed Jieyin after he attacked the Jade Emperor.
• The Jade Emperor learned from the Queen of the Women’s Country that Grand Supreme Elder Laozi had imprisoned women, taken their sons, and revealed a plan involving the Dao of Faith and the Heaven-Smiting Army.
• The Grand Pure Saint awakened a powerful corpse inside an ancient coffin and prepared for war, while Zhang Yifan warned that Hongjun sought to unite the Heavenly Dao Laws and prevent the Primordial Continent’s advancement.
• At Zixiao Palace, Hongjun accused the Grand Pure Saint of disrupting the Journey to the West Tribulation and rebelling against the Heavenly Dao, and the Grand Pure Saint declared that Hongjun was the true sinner and vowed to slay him.

Hongjun declared himself the Heavenly Dao and fought the saints, while the Jade Emperor sought Zhang Yifan’s help and Ksitigarbha emptied hell to pursue Buddhahood. Zhang Yifan punished Ksitigarbha and gathered the powers of the Primordial Continent to impose rules against endangering it.

• Hongjun demanded worship from the Jade Emperor and the saints, then fought them after they refused to submit.
• The Grand Pure Saint severed his Saint position, rallied the Taiqing World’s people as the Taiqing Saint King, and battled Hongjun until a mysterious Golden Robe Wearer helped wound him.
• Hongjun granted Minghe and Zhen Yuanzi sainthood and approved Ksitigarbha’s bid for Buddhahood after Ksitigarbha emptied the Eighteen Levels of Hell.
• The Jade Emperor asked Zhang Yifan to kill Hongjun, but Zhang Yifan rebuked him and urged him to unite the people and prepare to protect the Primordial Continent.
• Zhang Yifan revealed Jianmu as the core for a grand formation, then went with the Jade Emperor to confront Ksitigarbha when he threatened Houtu and the Netherworld.
• Zhang Yifan used the Yellow Springs Lamp and Yellow Springs Road to subdue Ksitigarbha, whipping him unconscious for his threats and insults.
• Zhang Yifan summoned Minghe, Zhen Yuanzi, and Jieyin to his courtyard, where their Saint-level cultivation vanished and they faced his reprimand over failing to stop Ksitigarbha.
• Zhang Yifan condemned Ksitigarbha to death, banned powerful beings from fighting inside the Primordial Continent for a thousand years, and ordered three Saints to dig pits that he ultimately told them to bury themselves in.

The Jade Emperor and Zhang Yifan turned the Saints’ rebellion into a trap, with Yang Jian defeating their forces and the Heavenly Court exposing Hongjun’s schemes. The arc left Hongjun trapped in Zixiao Palace as the Three Realms’ anger gathered against him.

• Zhang Yifan released Minghe, Zhen Yuanzi, and Jieyin from the soil and told the Jade Emperor that they were whetstones for his rise, while the three Saints challenged the Jade Emperor.
• Jieyin gave Randeng the Primordial Violet Qi, and Randeng became a Saint as Yang Jian, Xuandu, and Zhuangzi each attained Hunyuan.
• Jieyin, Minghe, and Zhen Yuanzi stirred opposition to the Heavenly Court through Wu Zhao, a public proclamation, and unrest across Tang, while Wenzhong reincarnated as Di Renjie.
• Yang Jian turned the crowd against Zhen Yuanzi, who lost Wuzhuang Temple and was eventually persuaded by Suirenshi to marry Hei Batian.
• The Western Teachings built a Heavenly Ladder for hundreds of millions of mortals, and Yang Jian used the ensuing battle to defeat Jieyin and Minghe, destroy Randeng’s true body, and drive Xuandu and Zhuangzi away.
• The Jade Emperor appointed Yang Jian Judicial Great Emperor and ordered Taibai Jinxing to reveal Hongjun’s Heaven Sealing Plan, while Jieyin and Minghe were taken prisoner.
• Taibai Jinxing exposed Hongjun and Luohu’s role in the Dragon-Han Initial Tribulation and said the Slaying Three Corpses method had led cultivators down a dead end.
• Taibai Jinxing accused Hongjun of suppressing other cultivation schools and plotting to prevent Pangu’s return, and the Three Realms called for Hongjun’s execution as killing intent surged toward the Heavenly Dao.

The Jade Emperor turned the Primordial Continent against Hongjun, while the Howling Celestial Dog defeated Hongjun’s Eye of Heavenly Punishment and later confronted Yang Mei. Yang Mei’s account of a distant world revealed that Zhang Yifan’s wife, Bai Susu, was known there as the White Emperor.

• The Jade Emperor’s broadcast accused Hongjun of plotting against Pangu’s return, and Taibai Jinxing turned the Three Realms against Hongjun and his allies.
• The Howling Celestial Dog shattered the Eye of Heavenly Punishment, exposed Hongjun as an earthworm, and fought him until Hongjun fled.
• The Heavenly Court executed Jieyin and Minghe, then welcomed five hundred new immortals and opened the Heavenly Ladder to people of every race.
• Hongjun fought the Three Pure Ones and Nuwa in Zixiao Palace, while Yang Mei arrived and learned Zhang Yifan had given them Great Dao-level conical hats.
• The Jade Emperor sent Li Er and Taibai Jinxing through reincarnation, while Wu Zetian took the throne and King Han rebelled with Western Teachings’ support.
• Yang Mei entered Huoyun Cave on Hongjun’s orders to kill the Human Emperors, but the Howling Celestial Dog blocked him until Zhang Yifan arrived and subdued him.
• Yang Mei described a blood-red world where a giant with a necklace of human heads had carried his own severed head, and an Empress named Bai Susu had rescued him from the giants.
• Yang Mei said Bai Susu was revered as the White Emperor in the Shangyang Realm, where people recognized the Seed of the Perfect World on him and asked whether that world had succeeded.