Chapter Summaries

Lin Zhu spent fifty thousand Merit and withstood Reincarnation’s backlash to revive Yuchi Gong, restoring hope and resolve to the Great Tang after the devastation at Ironwall Pass. The Tang court pledged to prepare for renewed conflict with Western Heaven, while Lin Zhu turned his thoughts to returning to the Heavenly Court and confronting his old allies there.

• Lin Zhu suppressed Reincarnation’s backlash with his Dao long enough for Yuchi Gong’s soul to return to his restored body.
• Yuchi Gong awakened alive, and Li Shimin and the Tang soldiers celebrated his revival and thanked Lin Zhu.
• Li Shimin ordered honorable burials, compensation for the victims’ families, strengthened frontier defenses, and preparations for war against Western Heaven.
• Lin Zhu realized reviving Yuchi Gong had cost exactly fifty thousand Merit and reflected that the many ordinary mortals killed could not simply be brought back.
• Li Shimin, Yuchi Gong, and the Tang officials bowed to Lin Zhu in gratitude, and Lin Zhu accepted their thanks before planning to return to the Heavenly Court.

Li Shimin revealed that Great Tang had spent five centuries building its strength and preparing to challenge Western Heaven’s influence, then declared total war on the Tianzhu Buddha Kingdom. As the imperial war proclamation spread across Southern Jambudvipa, cultivators, demons, and Daoist sects mobilized for the campaign.

• Li Shimin rejected Lin Zhu’s advice to return to Chang’an and declared that Great Tang would fight Tianzhu until one side was destroyed.
• In Wind Snow City, Li Shimin told Lin Zhu that Great Tang had used his cultivation method to grow powerful over five hundred years and had secretly prepared for war.
• Li Shimin explained his policy of admitting qualified beings of different races and factions as citizens, governed equally under Tang law, and said he intended to extend that policy into conquered Tianzhu lands.
• A general reported that Great Tang had established Wind Snow City as its forward command center, gathered troops and supplies, and sent its war proclamation throughout Southern Jambudvipa.
• After the proclamation spread, cultivators, demon clans, and Daoist sects across the land gathered forces and set out for the western border.

As Great Tang prepared to attack the Tianzhu Buddha Kingdom, Lin Zhu stayed at Wind Snow City to pressure Western Heaven while weighing the risks of intervening personally. Li Shimin questioned whether mortals mattered to gods and Buddhas, and Lin Zhu began revealing the suppressed history of the Primordial Wilderness.

• The old fisherman transformed his rod into a dragon-headed cane and departed on Escape Light as Great Tang’s forces gathered for war.
• Li Shimin outlined Golden Lotus Fortress’s defenses and discussed ways for the Western Expeditionary Army to overcome it.
• Lin Zhu chose to remain at Wind Snow City and wait for Western Heaven to respond, judging that it faced mounting pressure over Golden Cicada Child and Sun Wukong.
• Li Shimin asked Lin Zhu whether mortal lives and struggles had meaning in the eyes of gods and Buddhas.
• Lin Zhu explained that mortals had once reached greater heights and began recounting the Primordial Wilderness, when the Witch Race and Demon Race ruled heaven and earth.

Lin Zhu told Li Shimin that the Investiture of the Gods Tribulation had weakened the Human Race’s fortune and reduced its emperors to Sons of Heaven, framing the fall of Shang as a struggle for power among gods and sects. Li Shimin feared Western Heaven’s actions against the Tang might repeat that pattern, and Lin Zhu left him to consider what to do in the present.

• Lin Zhu explained that the Human Race once flourished under Human Emperors whose fortune rivaled the Heavenly Court, before the Investiture of the Gods Tribulation scattered that fortune.
• Lin Zhu said Mother Nüwa sent the Three Demons of Xuanyuan Tomb to beguile King Zhou while Jiang Ziya and the Zhou rulers helped set the tribulation in motion.
• Lin Zhu described how the Jie Sect was devastated, the Western Sect gained power, and the Human Race lost its status as a force able to control its own destiny.
• Lin Zhu compared King Zhou’s fall to Sun Wukong’s Havoc in Heaven and suggested that both stories might have been shaped by hidden hands.
• Li Shimin asked whether Western Heaven’s support for the Tianzhu Buddha Kingdom and its violence against Tang might repeat the old pattern; Lin Zhu remained silent.
• Lin Zhu urged Li Shimin to stop dwelling on fixed history and decide what to do in the present.

Lin Zhu encouraged Li Shimin to resist those who manipulated people’s fates, but an urgent report revealed that the Tianzhu Buddha Kingdom was advancing on Wind Snow City with more than three hundred thousand troops and Buddha- and Arhat-level forces. Lin Zhu sent Li Jing out as a sacrificial vanguard to test the enemy while he restored the Merit Golden Lotus and kept his true forces hidden.

• Lin Zhu told Li Shimin that he would fight anyone who treated living beings as pawns, giving Li Shimin the resolve to resist the forces controlling their fates.
• A scout reported that more than three hundred thousand Tianzhu Buddha Kingdom troops were approaching Wind Snow City, accompanied by powerful Buddhas and Arhats.
• Lin Zhu suspected the enemy was trying to lure him into intervening and chose Li Jing, a Western Heaven Envoy, to test their intentions and strength.
• Li Jing accepted the vanguard order, believing he could defect to the enemy or escape and turn the mission to his advantage.
• Lin Zhu explained to Nezha and the others that he planned to use Li Jing to disrupt the enemy while they restored the Merit Golden Lotus and concealed their elites beneath the Sky-Covering Talismans.

Lin Zhu surveyed the immense Great Tang and Tianzhu armies as both sides prepared for war, then watched Li Jing set out as a reluctant vanguard. A Buddhist trap seized Li Jing and dragged him into Tianzhu’s army, where White Lotus Boy and two powerful Kings awaited him.

• Lin Zhu sensed White Lotus Boy hiding within the Tianzhu army’s protective Buddha Light and recognized the threat of a trap.
• Yuchi Gong led Great Tang’s elite soldiers out to challenge Tianzhu’s Vajra Monk corps while Lin Zhu and his hidden allies watched from above Wind Snow City.
• Li Jing approached the battlefield, abandoned his plan to surrender, and challenged the Tianzhu army while announcing his allegiance to Great Tang and Lin Zhu.
• As Li Jing crossed Wind Snow City’s protective barrier, golden Buddhist runes trapped him and dragged him into the heart of the Tianzhu army.
• White Lotus Boy revealed that he had been waiting for Li Jing, with the Eastern Conqueror of the Three Worlds King and another powerful King beside him.

The Buddhist Sect deployed powerful reinforcements and ordered its secret weapon, Indra, to kill the first person to emerge from Wind Snow City. When Li Jing was trapped and Indra prepared to strike, Lin Zhu recognized the supposed Buddhist guardian as an Asura general, leaving the secret weapon’s identity and allegiance exposed.

• Tathagata dispatched Wrathful Victory Ming King, Vajra Yaksha Bright King, other Buddhist experts, and a black-smoke-shrouded secret weapon to support the Tianzhu Buddha Kingdom and restrain White Lotus Boy.
• White Lotus Boy overruled the Bright Kings’ objections and ordered the secret weapon to kill the first person who emerged from Wind Snow City.
• Li Jing stepped outside the city’s protective array, where White Lotus Boy’s hidden sealing formation ensnared him and dragged him toward the Tianzhu army.
• The being in the black smoke revealed himself as Indra, a Half-step Quasi-Saint who claimed to serve Ancient Buddha Ran Deng and raised his Vajra Pestle to kill Li Jing.
• Lin Zhu recognized Indra as one of Ancestor Minghe’s Four Great Demon Generals, while Li Jing cried out in shock upon seeing him.

Indra tortured Li Jing with golden lightning and the Soul Devouring Jade Crystal Dagger, ignoring Li Jing’s claims that they were fellow disciples and Lin Zhu’s attempts to explain his status. The chapter ended with Indra continuing the execution while Li Jing cursed Lin Zhu and Nezha remained turned away.

• Li Jing recognized Indra and pleaded for mercy, claiming that Ancient Buddha Ran Deng had made them fellow disciples.
• Indra bound Li Jing in Pure World Thunder Light and threatened Lin Zhu, demanding that he surrender and take refuge in Buddhism.
• Indra used the Soul Devouring Jade Crystal Dagger to cut Li Jing and poison his body and divine soul.
• Lin Zhu tried to stop Indra, first claiming Li Jing was Ran Deng’s disciple and then explaining that he was a Buddhist envoy and Nezha’s father.
• Indra rejected Lin Zhu’s explanations and intensified Li Jing’s torture, while Nezha continued facing away from the battlefield.

Indra tortured Li Jing to death on the battlefield, while Buddha Tathagata and Ancient Buddha Ran Deng watched from Spirit Mountain and argued over the fallout. As Nezha faced complicated feelings about his father’s death, Guanyin reported that Ao Lie had mysteriously vanished, adding a new crisis to the Western Sect’s troubles.

• Indra ignored Li Jing’s pleas and tortured him until his True Spirit was extinguished, while Nezha watched from the clouds.
• Ancient Buddha Ran Deng condemned White Lotus Boy’s reckless command but publicly declared that Li Jing had deserved his death.
• Buddha Tathagata warned Ran Deng that the war could force the Western Sect to negotiate with Lin Zhu within two days.
• Guanyin Bodhisattva reported that Ao Lie had vanished from Eagle Stream Ravine, and Tathagata ordered her to lead a search.
• Nezha looked upon Li Jing’s remains with little satisfaction and suppressed his sorrow as Indra turned toward Lin Zhu’s hidden position.

Lin Zhu marked Li Jing’s death with a funeral performance before withdrawing into Wind Snow City, leaving Indra uncertain about pursuing him. Indra then boasted to the Buddhist commanders that he had ignored Lin Zhu’s warning about Li Jing’s ties to Ancient Buddha Ran Deng, only to learn that the warning might have been true.

• Lin Zhu had the Ninth Heaven Prison sound suonas and beat gongs and drums to see Li Jing off, while Indra mocked him for not seeking revenge.
• Lin Zhu led Nezha and the others back into Wind Snow City, and Indra chose not to pursue them into the city’s defensive array.
• Indra returned to the Indian army’s tent and boasted to White Lotus Boy and the assembled Buddhist leaders about killing Li Jing.
• Indra revealed that he had dismissed Lin Zhu’s claim that Li Jing was Ran Deng’s disciple and had intensified Li Jing’s torture.
• Wrathful Victory Ming King and Vajra Yaksha Bright King told Indra that Lin Zhu’s claim was likely true, leaving Indra stunned and fearful.

Indra learned that he had killed Li Jing, his fellow disciple, after mistaking the situation on the battlefield, but White Lotus Boy refused to accept responsibility and ordered him to challenge the enemy again. As Indra headed back toward Wind Snow City, Tianzhu launched its long-planned assault, including a surprise force aimed at the city’s flank and rear.

• Wrathful Victory Ming King revealed that Li Jing was Ancient Buddha Ran Deng’s disciple and a Western Heaven envoy, leaving Indra horrified that he had killed his senior brother.
• Indra confronted White Lotus Boy and the others for failing to warn him, but White Lotus Boy blamed Indra and ordered him to explain the killing to Ancient Buddha Ran Deng.
• White Lotus Boy ordered Indra to challenge the enemy again, while Wrathful Victory Ming King and Vajra Yaksha Bright King voiced cautious support and privately doubted the boy’s command.
• Indra suppressed his anger, mounted the Six-Tusked White Elephant, and flew toward Wind Snow City to fight again.
• Tianzhu sent more than 1.2 million Buddhist Soldiers into a major assault and dispatched 300,000 troops around Wind Snow City to attack its flank and rear.
• Great Tang’s million-strong army, including guards, cultivators, martial artists, and Demon Race warriors, prepared to meet the invasion.

Yuchi Gong led a charge that rallied the Tang army, but the Indian Buddhist forces sent 300,000 cavalry around the battlefield to breach Wind Snow City's rear wall. As the cavalry flooded into the city, they found a calm teacher and ordinary people gathered for a lesson, and the Indian general ordered his soldiers to kill them.

• Yuchi Gong leaped from Wind Snow City's wall and carved a devastating gap through the Indian Buddhist formation, inspiring the Tang army to press forward.
• The Indian commanders sent 300,000 cavalry to attack Wind Snow City from behind while Yuchi Gong and the Tang army were trapped in the battle.
• Yuchi Gong spotted the cavalry and warned the city, but the Indian general used a cracked black Vajra Pestle to blast open the rear wall.
• The Indian cavalry charged into the apparently empty city and encountered a teacher holding a lesson for ordinary townspeople near the breach.
• The Indian general dismissed the teacher and his students as harmless and ordered the cavalry to slaughter everyone in the city.

The teacher revealed himself as the Return to Emptiness Snow Wolf King and unleashed his hidden defenders against the invading Tianzhu Cavalry. As the Wolf King and his students massacred the enemy, the cleaning woman and farmer demonstrated the deadly arts they had learned in Great Tang.

• The teacher turned his emergency defense lesson into a combat exercise, and the cleaning woman, old farmer, and little girl eagerly volunteered to fight.
• The teacher transformed into the silver Snow Wolf King, whose Return to Emptiness aura terrified the Tianzhu general.
• The Snow Wolf King intercepted and killed the Tianzhu general, then attacked the leaderless cavalry and urged his students to earn bonus points.
• The cleaning woman used the Qingfeng Family's Geng Metal Shadowless Sword to kill over a thousand cavalrymen and said she was protecting her home rather than seeking revenge.
• The old farmer used his Farmer's Three Fists to crush and scatter the cavalry, then praised the power of the technique he had learned from the teacher.

Wind Snow City’s hidden cultivators trapped the invading Tianzhu Cavalry and devastated their ranks, turning the surprise attack into a rout. The Silver Wolf summoned the surrounding wolves to pursue the fleeing soldiers.

• A cook, an elderly swordswoman, a farmer, and other hidden experts slaughtered the leading Tianzhu cavalry and threw the invasion into chaos.
• More than a hundred cultivators dressed as vendors and laborers blocked the breach, revealed their resolve to defend Great Tang, and struck the packed cavalry with a giant blade that erased at least ten thousand soldiers.
• The surviving Tianzhu Cavalry lost formation, and panic, fleeing horses, and trampling turned their retreat into a bloody rout.
• The Silver Wolf told his students to pursue the routed enemy as a practical exam and bonus question.
• The Silver Wolf howled beyond Wind Snow City, and countless wolves across the mountains, plains, and forests answered.

The Snow Wolf King summoned the northern wolf clans to crush the fleeing Tianzhu soldiers, while the survivors rushed toward the breach and found a group of seemingly frail elders waiting outside. As several hundred soldiers charged the elders, an old Daoist flicked his palm at them.

• The Snow Wolf King’s wolf clans arrived in a vast tide and pursued the fleeing Tianzhu cavalry, while Great Tang soldiers cheered the reinforcements.
• The wolf packs, the farmer, the sweeping aunt, and the butcher-chef slaughtered thousands of fleeing soldiers as the survivors abandoned their horses, weapons, and armor.
• About a hundred thousand surviving Tianzhu soldiers reached the breach, where they found an old scholar and fifteen or sixteen elderly figures blocking their way.
• The Tianzhu soldiers mocked the elders and several hundred charged them, but the sleepy old Daoist asked his companions’ permission to silence the attackers.
• The old Daoist released his battered iron sword and flicked his palm toward the charging soldiers.

Immortal Nanli and several other ancient experts slaughtered the routed Indian soldiers with their strange powers, while a charred dwarf-like elder gathered the survivors back at the city breach. The remaining soldiers charged him, and a general prepared to unleash a Purple Firmament Demon-Slaying Thunderbolt.

• Immortal Nanli killed over a thousand soldiers with a glance, and a soldier identified him as a legendary master from Dragon Tiger Mountain.
• The old woman released deadly green mist that reduced soldiers to bones, then froze thousands more with Ice Crystal.
• The gourd-carrying elder swallowed soldiers in quicksand, while cherry blossom petals from the Cherry Blossom Blood Princess silently sliced others apart.
• As the surviving soldiers fled toward Wind Snow City, the charred dwarf-like old man used one step to return them to the breach and pack them together.
• The soldiers rallied and charged the dwarf-like old man, while a general revealed an Arhat's Purple Firmament Demon-Slaying Thunderbolt and prepared to use it.

Daoist Huaxia revealed himself as the ancient guardian who had endured heavenly tribulations for Huaxia, then rejected the Indian army’s plea to negotiate. He opened a vast chasm beneath the battlefield and swept more than two hundred thousand defeated soldiers into its depths.

• An Indian officer hurled a Purple Firmament Demon-Slaying Thunderbolt at the dwarf elder, but the elder absorbed its lightning without injury and dismissed it as impure.
• An aged Indian monk recognized the elder as Daoist Huaxia, the Favored One of the Heavenly Dao who had repeatedly endured tribulations to protect Huaxia.
• The Indian soldiers lost their will to fight and knelt to beg for mercy, while the Great Tang powerhouses bowed respectfully to Daoist Huaxia.
• Daoist Huaxia declared that the defeated army had no capital for negotiation, prompting some soldiers to launch a desperate final attack.
• Daoist Huaxia opened a massive fissure that swallowed the Indian soldiers within its reach, then commanded the chasm to close.

Daoist Huaxia annihilated India’s surprise force and saved Wind Snow City, turning the tide of the battle as Great Tang routed the Indian army. After learning that India had lost over six hundred thousand troops and that Great Tang’s volunteer forces were rapidly growing, Li Shimin ordered preparations for a wider war and declared his intention to destroy India Buddha Kingdom and expand Great Tang’s rule.

• Daoist Huaxia sealed the earth over more than two hundred thousand Indian soldiers and declared that those who violated Huaxia deserved to be buried beneath it.
• News of the annihilation raised Great Tang’s morale and shook the Indian army, while Yuchi Gong led the Tang forces in a fierce counterattack.
• Yuchi Gong’s spearhead broke through India’s left flank, forcing the Indian army to retreat and giving Great Tang a decisive first victory.
• The battle report showed that India had suffered more than six hundred thousand losses while Great Tang had lost fewer than one hundred thousand, and the Indian grand general learned that millions of volunteers were mobilizing for Great Tang.
• Li Shimin ordered the army to reorganize and prepare for further fighting, then declared that Great Tang would destroy India Buddha Kingdom and claim its territory.

Lin Zhu watched Great Tang prepare to defeat Tianzhu, then received Jiao Mowang and Ao Lie, who offered to join the battle. He accepted Jiao Mowang’s support but refused Ao Lie’s request, leaving Ao Lie to accept his decision and wait for Journey to the West.

• Lin Zhu concluded Tianzhu’s army was near defeat and anticipated that White Lotus Boy would send Indra to provoke him.
• The Abyssal Golden Turtle reported that Jiao Mowang had arrived with a young man calling himself Bie Longma, whom Lin Zhu recognized as Ao Lie.
• Jiao Mowang offered to bring his demon allies into the battle and fight under Lin Zhu’s command.
• Ao Lie confessed his past wrongdoing and asked to fight Tianzhu’s forces to atone for the slaughter of Great Tang’s people.
• Lin Zhu refused to let Ao Lie fight because of the danger and the consequences for the Dragon Clan and its relationship with Western Heaven.
• Ao Lie swore he would bear the consequences alone, but Lin Zhu stood by his refusal, and Ao Lie accepted it.

Lin Zhu learned that the Six-Eared Macaque wanted to meet him, then rushed to the battlefield when Ao Lie challenged Indra despite their enormous gap in power. Indra captured Ao Lie and threatened to torture him, and Lin Zhu arrived as the fight turned dangerous.

• Ao Lie rejected Jiao Mowang's invitation and departed, while Jiao Mowang revealed that the Six-Eared Macaque had asked to meet Lin Zhu.
• The Abyssal Golden Turtle reported that Ao Lie had gone to the front lines to face Indra, and Lin Zhu's system assigned him the Dragon Soul Redemption quest.
• Ao Lie accused Indra of atrocities and attacked him, but his sword could not pierce Indra's defenses, and a lightning strike injured him.
• Ao Lie returned with dirty tricks that enraged Indra, who seized him in a giant lightning hand and threatened to refine his soul with Buddhist fire.
• Lin Zhu appeared above Wind Snow City and fixed his gaze on Indra as Ao Lie struggled in his grasp.