Recaps

As Wu Zetian established the Western Teachings as Wu Zhou’s state religion, Li Bai and his companions led a revolt at the investiture ceremony. Chenxiang and Suirenshi intervened when Samantabhadra turned against the resisters, leaving the National Teacher scorched by Human Dao Power.

• Yang Mei told Zhang Yifan of the Empress’s warning and learned that his courtyard held Chaos Breathing Soil and the Spring of Life, while Bai Susu and the elders vowed to buy time for the new world.
• Wu Zetian made the Western Teachings Wu Zhou’s state religion despite Di Renjie’s opposition, and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva became National Teacher.
• Chenxiang arrived in Luoyang and befriended Li Bai, Li Longji, Gao Shi, and Du Fu, whose cultivation rose after Chenxiang shared Zhang Yifan’s wine.
• Zhang Yifan met the youths, gave Du Fu the courtesy name Zimei, and heard Li Bai and Li Longji agree to pursue their different plans against Wu Zetian.
• Wu Zetian used the investiture ceremony to draw the rebels into a trap, while Li Bai, Gao Shi, and Du Fu faced the execution of their relatives.
• Li Bai defied Samantabhadra at the ceremony, and Chenxiang’s song helped rouse the people of Luoyang to resist the Western Teachings and Wu Zetian.
• Samantabhadra attacked the resisters and fought Taibai Jinxing’s phantom after Li Bai revealed his reincarnation, but Chenxiang erased Samantabhadra’s attack and revealed his ties to Zhang Yifan and the Jade Emperor.
• Suirenshi caught Du Fu when Chenxiang tossed him toward Samantabhadra, then dispelled the Bodhisattva’s attack as Human Dao Power struck and scorched him.

Wu Zetian’s rule gave way to Wu Chongxun’s coup, but Li Longji used the Dragon Martial Army to defeat him and secure Li Dan’s release. As the earthly path and Netherworld advanced, Li Shimin became Empress Houtu’s first disciple.

• Gao Shi rejected Samantabhadra’s offer, inherited Li Er’s Spear Dao through the Howling Celestial Dog, and joined the resistance as Samantabhadra was beaten and Wu Zetian ordered the rebels seized.
• Li Bai staged an attack on Wu Zetian to strengthen Li Longji’s standing, while Di Renjie was imprisoned and Wu Chongxun took control of the court with Samantabhadra’s backing.
• Di Renjie and Li Yuanfang killed Wu Sansi after refusing his offer, then escaped the Heavenly Prison as Wu Chongxun prepared to seize the throne.
• Wu Chongxun assaulted Wu Zetian and confined her, while Li Longji recognized Yun Niang as his teacher and revealed his secret Dragon Martial Army.
• Wu Chongxun arrested Li Dan and surrounded Li Longji’s mansion, but Li Longji exchanged hostages with him and revealed that his army had seized Wu Chongxun’s strongholds.
• Li Longji let Wu Chongxun escort Li Dan home and claim the appearance of a peaceful settlement, while Yun Niang urged him to win the people’s support without relying on her.
• Empress Houtu began teaching the Ghost Cultivation Great Dao, and Li Shimin arrived in the Netherworld, where she made him a Ghost Immortal and accepted him as her first disciple.

Li Shimin helped Houtu build the Netherworld’s cities and army as the struggle over Wu Zhou unfolded, while Tathagata Buddha returned with Heavenly Dao power and revealed the Primordial Continent to the wider universe. The stretch ended with Tathagata overpowering Yang Jian in a battle that threatened to kill him.

• Li Shimin reunited with his former officials in the Netherworld, became a Ghost Immortal disciple of Houtu, and vowed to oppose the Western Teachings after Wu Zetian’s rule endangered the Li clan.
• Houtu established Other Shore City and Yellow Springs City, appointed Li Shimin commander of the Yellow Springs Army, and taught the Great Dao Ghost Cultivation Method.
• Di Renjie persuaded Li Longji to let Wu Chongxun claim the throne, and Li Bai helped expose Wu Chongxun’s murder of Wu Zetian before Li Longji’s forces defeated him.
• Tathagata Buddha absorbed a black-gold remnant in a ruined palace, reached the Heavenly Dao Realm, and returned to find Hongjun battling the Three Pure Ones, Nuwa, and Haotian.
• Black Gold Tathagata persuaded Tathagata to broadcast the Primordial Continent’s location, prompting Zhang Yifan to warn that forces from across the myriad worlds might arrive within a hundred years.
• Tathagata told Buddha Burning Lamp to lead the Western Teachings openly, strengthened his clone, and left the Twenty-Four Buddhist Kingdoms in his care before confronting Yang Jian.
• Tathagata attacked Yang Jian at the Judicial Great Emperor’s palace, and Yang Jian fought back with the Law of Strength while the Howling Celestial Dog tried to protect him.
• Tathagata and Yang Jian wielded their respective Law Pillars against each other until Tathagata shattered Yang Jian’s Pillar of the Law of Strength and Heaven and Earth Dharma Idol, leaving Yang Jian wounded and fearing for his life.

Tathagata Buddha manipulated Li Longji and Yang Yuhuan to raise Great Tang into an immortal dynasty, while Xuandu and Zhuangzi uncovered an ancient corpse and artifact in Taiqing World. The arc ended with the Evil Lord and Old Black Tathagata agreeing to join forces to seize the shattered world.

• Howling Celestial Dog matched Tathagata Buddha’s strength until Tathagata exposed the flaw in his ability, then trapped him and Yang Jian in a formation that drained their Great Dao power.
• Tathagata Buddha recruited the Asura Clan, sent Desire Color Heaven into the human realm as Yang Yuhuan, and secretly influenced Li Longji to turn against Di Renjie and the Heavenly Court.
• Li Longji dismissed Di Renjie and expelled Li Bai, then met Yang Yuhuan, whose Pure Yin Body complemented his Pure Yang Body.
• Yang Yuhuan and Li Longji joined their powers, helping him break through to the Grand Unity Golden Immortal Realm as the first Mortal Immortal Emperor, while the Human Dao and Great Tang’s Destiny Golden Dragon rose with him.
• An Lushan planned to seize the capital of Yan State, while Tathagata Buddha searched for Xuandu and Zhuangzi and discovered a passage to Taiqing World.
• Xuandu and Zhuangzi brought the captive Randeng to inspect a mysterious corpse and unearthed a Great Dao artifact hammer, then Randeng fought the corpse general and survived its explosive destruction, badly wounded.
• Tathagata Buddha healed Randeng, but the Evil Lord emerged from him and fought Old Black Tathagata before proposing that they join forces to seize the shattered world.