Recaps

Xuande returned to Mount Sumeru and told Jieyin and Zhunti about his travels, including meeting Fuxi and Nuwa on Buzhou Mountain. The three exchanged insights beneath the Bodhi Tree, deepening their understanding of their respective Daos.

• Xuande returned to Mount Sumeru, where Jieyin and Zhunti welcomed him.
• Xuande recounted his travels and described meeting Fuxi and Nuwa in a concealed cultivation ground on Buzhou Mountain.
• Xuande shared Nuwa's and Fuxi's teachings, and Jieyin reflected on how engaging with and withdrawing from the world suited different paths.
• Xuande discussed merit, responsibility, and the wounds of war with Jieyin and Zhunti beneath the Bodhi Tree.
• Jieyin reconsidered Nirvana as a way to ease living beings' suffering, while Zhunti reflected on fate, reverence, and the value of yielding.
• The three exchanged Dao insights until night fell, each leaving with a deeper understanding.

Xuande confessed that he had hidden his true form as the Twelve-Petal Merit Golden Lotus, and Jieyin and Zhunti revealed they had known and accepted him all along. After the three pledged to revitalize the West together, Xuande told them about Rahula’s two treasures and agreed to refine them on Mount Sumeru with their protection.

• Xuande revealed his true form and apologized for concealing it from Jieyin and Zhunti.
• Jieyin and Zhunti said they had known Xuande’s origins and had never blamed him for being cautious.
• Xuande pledged to stand with Jieyin and Zhunti and help revitalize the West, and the three joined hands in solidarity.
• Xuande disclosed that he had found Rahula’s Twelve-Petal Destruction Black Lotus and God-Slaying Spear while repairing the Abyss of Demonic Energy.
• Jieyin warned Xuande that refining the treasures into his path would be dangerous, and Xuande said he intended to complete the process.
• Zhunti offered to protect Xuande while he refined the treasures, then led the three toward a Spiritual Vein in Mount Sumeru’s back mountains.

Xuande secluded himself in Spirit Spring Valley to refine the Twelve-Petal Destruction Black Lotus, while Jieyin and Zhunti guarded the valley. After completely refining it and gaining control of its Laws of Destruction, he rested before beginning work on the more dangerous God-Slaying Spear.

• Jieyin and Zhunti led Xuande to Spirit Spring Valley and set up a ward to protect his seclusion.
• Xuande chose to refine the Twelve-Petal Destruction Black Lotus before attempting to refine the God-Slaying Spear.
• Xuande entered the lotus's Origin Essence and realized that merit and destruction were complementary parts of the Great Dao.
• Xuande infused his will into the black lotus and completely refined it, gaining full control of its Laws of Destruction.
• Xuande stored the refined lotus and began recovering his mental energy and magical power before tackling the God-Slaying Spear.

Xuande refined the God-Slaying Spear by awakening its connection to their shared origin in the Chaos Green Lotus. The spear recognized him and joined the Twelve-Petal Destruction Black Lotus and Merit Golden Lotus in his Primordial Spirit space.

• Xuande recovered from refining the Twelve-Petal Destruction Black Lotus and summoned the God-Slaying Spear.
• Xuande sensed that the spear shared roots with his Merit Golden Lotus and reached out to it without using force.
• Xuande entered the spear’s dark-red Chaos and discovered the Chaos Green Lotus’s root and the spear’s ancient memories of Pangu, the Creation of Heaven and Earth, and Rahula.
• Xuande merged his Origin Essence with the root’s shadow, calming the killing energies and opening a path to the spear’s Artifact Spirit Origin.
• The Artifact Spirit Origin voluntarily connected with Xuande, recognizing him as a being of the same origin.
• Xuande completed the refinement and placed the God-Slaying Spear beside the Twelve-Petal Destruction Black Lotus in his Primordial Spirit space.

After refining the Twelve-Petal Destruction Black Lotus and God-Slaying Spear, Xuande witnessed Hongjun attain Sagehood and the Heavenly Dao emerge across the Primordial Wilderness. Hongjun announced a sermon in Zixiao Palace in three thousand years, and Xuande, Jieyin, and Zhunti agreed to attend together.

• Xuande emerged from seclusion with the two supreme treasures under his control, and Jieyin and Zhunti welcomed him before discussing the treasures beneath the Bodhi Tree.
• Xuande returned to his cave abode and spent ages consolidating his gains from refining the black lotus and God-Slaying Spear.
• Xuande sensed a supreme aura as purple qi spread across the Primordial Wilderness, auspicious phenomena appeared, and the pressure around Buzhou Mountain weakened.
• Xuande recognized that Hongjun had become a Sage and sensed that the Heavenly Dao had emerged and fused with the Primordial Wilderness.
• Hongjun announced that he would expound the Sage's Path in Zixiao Palace in three thousand years, and Xuande, Jieyin, and Zhunti agreed to go together.

After Hongjun announced a lecture at Zixiao Palace, Xuande urged Jieyin and Zhunti to leave early so they would not miss the chance to secure a good place. At Wuzhuang Temple, he invited Zhenyuanzi and Hongyun to join them, and the five agreed to travel together when five hundred years remained before the lecture.

• Hongjun became a Sage and announced that he would lecture on the Sage's Path at Zixiao Palace in three thousand years.
• Xuande recalled that Jieyin and Zhunti had arrived late in the legends and persuaded them to depart with five hundred years remaining before the lecture.
• Xuande, Jieyin, and Zhunti traveled from Mount Sumeru to Wuzhuang Temple, where Qingfeng and Mingyue welcomed them.
• Xuande invited Zhenyuanzi and Hongyun to join the journey, and both agreed to travel with the others.
• The five agreed to prepare and set out when five hundred years remained before Hongjun's lecture.

Xuande and his companions left Wuzhuang Temple five hundred years before Hongjun’s lecture and searched Chaos until they found Zixiao Palace. They arrived first, three hundred years before the lecture, and waited outside its closed gates.

• Xuande, Jieyin, Zhunti, Zhenyuanzi, and Hong Yun spent several centuries discussing the Dao at Wuzhuang Temple.
• Xuande announced that it was time to leave, and the five departed for Chaos.
• Xuande and the others searched the directionless void until they sensed a faint guidance leading them to Zixiao Palace.
• The five arrived at Zixiao Palace first, about two hundred years after setting out and three hundred years before the lecture.
• Zhunti tried the palace gates, but they remained closed, so the five sat down to wait.

Xuande and his companions waited outside Zixiao Palace as the Primordial Wilderness’s great powers arrived to hear Hongjun expound the Dao. The palace gates finally opened, revealing a purple glow and the presence of Hongjun.

• Xuande waited with Jieyin, Zhunti, Zhenyuanzi, and Hong Yun until the Three Pure Ones arrived and took their places.
• Nuwa and Fuxi arrived, greeted Xuande and his companions, and joined them in conversation before sitting nearby.
• Di Jun and Taiyi, Minghe, Kunpeng, King Father of the East, West Queen Mother, the Twelve Ancestral Witches, and Randeng arrived and settled around the palace gates.
• Xuande surveyed the gathered powers as they waited for Zixiao Palace to open.
• The palace gates creaked open, and a purple glow filled the entrance with Hongjun’s profound aura.

Xuande and the other cultivators entered Zixiao Palace, where the six cushions proved to be reserved for those destined to become Sages. Xuande helped Nuwa claim the sixth seat, and Ancestor Hongjun began a lecture that would last three thousand years.

• Xuande, Jieyin, Zhunti, Zhenyuanzi, and Hong Yun tried to sit on the six cushions, but only Jieyin and Zhunti succeeded.
• Laozi, Yuanshi, and Tongtian took the first, fourth, and fifth cushions, leaving the sixth empty.
• Xuande used Merit Golden Light to guide Nuwa to the sixth cushion, where she sat without resistance.
• Xuande accepted that he had no claim to a cushion, while Fuxi showed gratitude for his help and Zhenyuanzi and Hong Yun comforted him.
• Ancestor Hongjun appeared, told the gathered cultivators to sit, and announced that his lecture would last three thousand years.

Hongjun began his three-thousand-year lecture in Zixiao Palace by explaining the cultivation realms from Heavenly Immortal through Grand Unity Golden Immortal. When he sensed the Six-eared Macaque secretly listening from the Primordial Wilderness, he declared that the Dao was not passed on to Six Ears, and the words injured the macaque and severed its cultivation path.

• Hongjun opened his lecture by teaching the foundations of the Heavenly Immortal realm, and the assembled cultivators listened closely.
• Hongjun explained the Mysterious Immortal, Golden Immortal, and Grand Unity Golden Immortal realms, moving many listeners to tears and understanding.
• Hongjun suddenly stopped and declared, “The Dao is not passed on to Six Ears.”
• The Six-eared Macaque, who had been eavesdropping on the lecture from a hidden cave, was struck by Hongjun's words.
• The Six-eared Macaque screamed as blood poured from its ears and its path of cultivation was severed.

Xuande listened as Hongjun completed his lecture on the Dao of the Grand Unity Golden Immortal and announced that his next lecture, on the Dao of the Quasi-Saint, would take place in three thousand years. Hongjun declared the six seats settled, then vanished, and the cultivators departed Zixiao Palace.

• Xuande recalled the warning that the Dao was not transmitted to Six Ears and resolved to stay cautious in the Primordial Wilderness.
• Hongjun lectured for two thousand nine hundred years on the Dao of the Grand Unity Golden Immortal, and Xuande gained clarity about his cultivation.
• Hongjun waited for the Three Thousand Cultivators to awaken, then announced that the lecture had ended and the next one would be in three thousand years.
• Hongjun declared the six seats in Zixiao Palace settled and unchangeable, revealing that their occupants would keep those places at future lectures.
• Hongjun vanished after saying that those with fate could return in three thousand years, and the Three Thousand Cultivators left the palace.

After the first sermon at Zixiao Palace ended, Xuande received thanks from Jieyin, Zhunti, Nuwa, and Fuxi for helping them secure their seats. He and his companions returned to the Primordial Wilderness, where Zhenyuanzi and Hongyun parted ways with the others to go into seclusion before the next sermon in three thousand years.

• The Three Pure Ones, Dijun and Taiyi, Minghe, Kunpeng, the Twelve Ancestral Witches, and the other attendees left Zixiao Palace after the sermon.
• Jieyin and Zhunti thanked Xuande for reminding them to arrive early enough to claim two Cushions.
• Nuwa and Fuxi thanked Xuande for helping Nuwa reach the sixth Cushion and invited him to visit them at Buzhou Mountain.
• Xuande, Jieyin, Zhunti, Zhenyuanzi, and Hongyun left Zixiao Palace and traveled together back to the Primordial Wilderness.
• Zhenyuanzi and Hongyun bid farewell to Xuande, Jieyin, and Zhunti, then flew toward Longevity Mountain to return to Wuzhuang Temple.

After returning to Mount Sumeru, Xuande, Jieyin, and Zhunti entered seclusion and deepened their understanding of the Dao. When the Six-eared Macaque arrived seeking an audience, the three debated whether to receive him despite Hongjun’s decree that the teachings would not be passed to him.

• Jieyin, Zhunti, and Xuande returned to the recovering Western land and agreed to enter seclusion at Mount Sumeru.
• Xuande spent a thousand years in Spirit Spring Valley digesting Hongjun’s teachings and deepening his understanding of merit.
• Xuande, Jieyin, and Zhunti reunited beneath the Bodhi Tree and shared how their understanding of the Dao had advanced.
• Xuande sensed the Six-eared Macaque approaching Mount Sumeru and recognized him as the cultivator who had eavesdropped on Hongjun’s teachings.
• The Six-eared Macaque knelt outside the mountain gate and begged to meet the three True Men, while Jieyin and Zhunti worried that receiving him would offend Hongjun.

Six-eared Macaque searched across the East for a master but was repeatedly turned away because of the Dao Ancestor’s decree. At Mount Sumeru, Xuande argued that the West should take the monkey in, while Jieyin and Zhunti considered his proposal.

• Six-eared Macaque sought discipleship from Dijun, Taiyi, Minghe, Kunpeng, the Twelve Ancestral Witches, King Father of the East, West Queen Mother, and Randeng, but they all refused.
• Six-eared Macaque knelt outside Kunlun Mountain for three years before Yuanshi rejected it; Tongtian briefly offered hope but withdrew after Yuanshi warned him against defying the Dao Ancestor.
• After leaving Kunlun Mountain, Six-eared Macaque went to Mount Sumeru and knelt at its gate, waiting for an answer.
• Xuande urged Jieyin and Zhunti to take Six-eared Macaque in, arguing that the monkey’s sealed abilities and steadfast search for a master left room for hope.
• Jieyin and Zhunti considered Xuande’s reasoning while Six-eared Macaque continued kneeling outside the gate.

Xuande took the Six-eared Macaque as his disciple despite the risk of offending the Dao Ancestor and named him Wuzhen. Wuzhen began learning the Western sect’s teachings, with hope that his sealed divine power could eventually return.

• Jieyin and Zhunti agreed that the Six-eared Macaque might still have a path to cultivation, and Xuande decided to take responsibility for teaching him.
• Xuande sensed that the divine power in the Six-eared Macaque’s ears had been sealed rather than destroyed and explained that he could still cultivate without using it to eavesdrop.
• The Six-eared Macaque swore he would accept the consequences of becoming Xuande’s disciple, and Xuande accepted him and gave him the Dao name Wuzhen.
• Xuande told Wuzhen to build a firm foundation and explained that his divine power’s seal might loosen as his cultivation and Dao heart matured.
• Jieyin and Zhunti welcomed Wuzhen into the Western sect, and he listened to their discussion of the Dao beneath the Bodhi Tree.

Xuande healed Wuzhen’s hidden injuries and left him to recuperate on Mount Sumeru. With eight hundred years remaining before the Dao Ancestor’s Second Sermon, Xuande, Jieyin, and Zhunti set out for Buzhou Mountain to meet Nuwa and Fuxi before continuing to Wuzhuang Temple.

• Xuande used Merit Golden Light to heal Wuzhen’s hidden injuries and told him to recuperate in Spirit Spring Valley.
• Wuzhen meditated for a thousand years as his wounds healed and his sealed divine ability began to revive.
• Xuande, Jieyin, and Zhunti discussed when to leave for the Second Sermon and decided to meet Zhenyuanzi and Hongyun at Wuzhuang Temple.
• Xuande told Wuzhen he would be away for roughly three thousand years, then departed Mount Sumeru with Jieyin and Zhunti.
• Xuande proposed visiting Nuwa and Fuxi at Buzhou Mountain, and Jieyin and Zhunti agreed to the detour.
• The three reached Buzhou Mountain after about a hundred years of travel and found that Pangu’s Pressure had weakened.

Xuande, Jieyin, and Zhunti visited Nuwa and Fuxi on Buzhou Mountain and invited them to travel together to Wuzhuang Temple before the Dao Ancestor’s Second Sermon. The seven gathered at Wuzhuang Temple and prepared to continue their journey to Zixiao Palace together.

• Xuande, Jieyin, and Zhunti arrived at Buzhou Mountain, where Nuwa and Fuxi welcomed them into their cultivation grounds.
• Xuande invited Nuwa and Fuxi to join them on the journey to Wuzhuang Temple, and they agreed after making preparations.
• Fuxi warned Xuande that taking the Six-eared Macaque as his disciple had entangled him in karma, and Xuande said he understood the risk.
• Nuwa and Fuxi departed Buzhou Mountain with Xuande, Jieyin, and Zhunti and traveled with them to Wuzhuang Temple.
• Zhenyuanzi and Hongyun welcomed the five visitors, and the seven gathered beneath the Ginseng Fruit Tree to share tea and fruit before their journey to Zixiao Palace.

Xuande asked Zhenyuanzi for two Ginseng Fruits and gave them to Haotian and Yaochi when the seven arrived at Zixiao Palace for the Second Sermon. The two attendants gratefully accepted his kindness as the seven settled outside the gates to wait for the sermon.

• Xuande requested two Ginseng Fruits from Zhenyuanzi, keeping his reason for wanting them to himself.
• After five hundred years at Wuzhuang Temple, Xuande and the others set out for Zixiao Palace and reached it after traveling through Chaos for two hundred years.
• Haotian and Yaochi greeted the seven at the palace gates, and Xuande offered each of them a Ginseng Fruit as thanks for their service.
• Haotian and Yaochi accepted the gifts and remembered Xuande, while the seven sat outside the gates to wait.
• Hong Yun, Zhunti, Jieyin, Zhenyuanzi, Fuxi, and Nuwa praised Xuande’s thoughtful gesture, and he explained inwardly that he had simply wanted to show the two attendants some kindness.

After three thousand years, the cultivators gathered at Zixiao Palace to hear Ancestor Hongjun teach the methods of proving the Dao. Hongjun explained three methods and began detailing the Method of Severing the Three Corpses, leaving the assembly stirred by the need for Innate Spiritual Treasures.

• The Three Pure Ones, Dijun and Taiyi, Minghe, Kunpeng, King Father of the East, West Queen Mother, Randeng, and Houtu arrived at Zixiao Palace, while the other eleven Ancestral Witches stayed away.
• After the palace gates opened, Xuande and the assembled cultivators entered and took their seats as they had three thousand years earlier.
• Ancestor Hongjun appeared and announced that he would teach the methods of proving the Dao over the next three thousand years.
• Hongjun described Proving Dao with Strength as mastering a law, and Proving Dao with Merit as accumulating merit through good deeds.
• Hongjun taught the Method of Severing the Three Corpses, explaining that cultivators must use Innate Spiritual Treasures as anchors to sever the Good, Evil, and Obsession Corpses.
• The cultivators listened as Hongjun detailed the method, then stirred when he explained the requirement for an Innate Spiritual Treasure.

Hongjun taught the Three Thousand Cultivators the method of Slaying Three Corpses, while Xuande considered its hidden limitations. He appointed King Father of the East and West Queen Mother as leaders of the male and female immortals and bestowed treasures on them, leaving Dijun and Taiyi wary of how the appointments might affect their ambitions.

• Hongjun explained how to sever, nurture, and merge the Three Corpses, while Xuande recalled that the three treasures had to share the same origin for the corpses to merge.
• Hongjun appointed King Father of the East and West Queen Mother as chief of the male and female immortals and gave them the Dragon Head Cane and Purple Sandalwood Pure Water Bowl.
• Dijun and Taiyi recognized that the appointments could complicate their plans to contend for supremacy, and Taiyi urged Dijun to prepare.
• Hongjun announced that his next lecture would be in three thousand years and would expound the Sage's Path.

After Hongjun announced that his next lecture would cover the Sage's Path, Xuande invited six fellow cultivators to Mount Sumeru to study the Method of Severing the Three Corpses together. Beneath the Bodhi Tree, they began debating what it meant to sever the Three Corpses.

• Hongjun vanished after announcing his next lecture, and the cultivators left the Zixiao Palace to seek spiritual treasures and study the method.
• Xuande invited Nuwa, Fuxi, Zhenyuanzi, Hong Yun, Jieyin, and Zhunti to Mount Sumeru to discuss the Dao together, and they agreed.
• The seven returned to the Primordial Wilderness and saw that the West had begun recovering after its Earth Veins were repaired.
• Xuande welcomed the six guests beneath the Bodhi Tree, where they settled in to study the method.
• Fuxi, Hong Yun, Zhunti, and Jieyin debated whether severing the Three Corpses meant eliminating or transcending goodness, evil, and Obsession.

Xuande explained that Slaying the Three Corpses meant separating them into independent avatars and warned that their anchoring treasures needed to share the same origin. The group decided to strengthen their foundations and wait for the Dao Ancestor’s Third Sermon in three thousand years, leaving Hong Yun’s future fate uncertain.

• Nuwa, Fuxi, and the others discussed Xuande’s view that the Three Corpses should become independent avatars rather than be eradicated.
• Xuande warned that the three Innate Spiritual Treasures used to anchor the Three Corpses had to share the same origin or risk conflict and cultivation deviation.
• Fuxi confirmed Xuande’s deduction, and the group thanked him for preventing them from attempting the method with incompatible treasures.
• Xuande advised everyone to wait for the Third Sermon in three thousand years and consider other paths to proving the Dao while strengthening their foundations.
• The companions agreed to prepare together, and Xuande reflected that Hong Yun’s fate might change with their support.

Xuande introduced Wuzhen to his fellow Daoists, who welcomed and encouraged the Six-eared Macaque as his new disciple. Five hundred years later, Xuande and the others traveled to Zixiao Palace for the Dao Ancestor’s Third Sermon, where Haotian and Yaochi greeted them.

• Xuande brought Wuzhen from Spirit Spring Valley to meet his fellow Daoists beneath the Bodhi Tree.
• Zhenyuanzi, Hong Yun, Nuwa, Fuxi, Jieyin, and Zhunti welcomed Wuzhen and offered him encouragement and guidance.
• Wuzhen bowed in gratitude, and Xuande told him to keep recuperating until the Dao Ancestor finished the Third Sermon, after which he would teach him cultivation.
• Five hundred years later, Xuande and the others left Mount Sumeru and traveled through Chaos toward Zixiao Palace.
• Haotian and Yaochi greeted the seven outside the palace gates.

Haotian and Yaochi repaid Xuande’s kindness by warning the seven cultivators that Hongjun would distribute treasures after his sermon. As the cultivators gathered for the second lecture, Xuande recognized that Laozi had reached the Quasi-Saint realm, and Hongjun began expounding the Sage’s Path.

• Haotian and Yaochi told Xuande and the others about the coming treasure distribution at Treasure Distribution Cliff, repaying their past kindness.
• The seven discussed how to prepare for the treasure distribution and thanked Haotian and Yaochi for their warning.
• The great powers gathered outside Zixiao Palace, where Xuande sensed that Laozi had severed a corpse and reached the Quasi-Saint realm.
• The palace gates opened, and the cultivators took their seats inside for Hongjun’s second sermon.
• Hongjun announced that the sermon would last three thousand years and began expounding the Sage’s Path.

Hongjun concluded his lecture on the Sage’s Path by appointing Laozi the foremost disciple of the Mystic Gate and granting him the Taiji Diagram. He also made Jieyin and Zhunti his nominal disciples to repay the Heavenly Dao’s debt to the West, giving them treasures as well.

• Hongjun lectured the Three Thousand Cultivators on the Sage’s Path for nearly three thousand years, while Xuande and the others struggled to comprehend it.
• Hongjun named Laozi the foremost disciple of the Mystic Gate and bestowed the Taiji Diagram on him.
• Xuande recognized the Taiji Diagram as one of the Three Treasures of Creation and noticed that Taiyi held the Chaos Bell.
• Hongjun declared that the Heavenly Dao owed the West a debt of cause and effect because of the damage Luohu had caused during the Dao-Devil War.
• Hongjun accepted Jieyin and Zhunti as nominal disciples and gave Jieyin the Twelve-Petal World-Purifying White Lotus and Zhunti the Vajra Demon Subduing Pestle.
• Hongjun kept his gaze on Jieyin and Zhunti and raised his hand again.