Chapter Summaries

Adam was thrown from Tushita Palace after Lord Lao discovered his theft, but he landed safely with a peach pit and a haul of treasures. He wondered where he had landed and reflected on Sun Wukong’s journey in the mortal world.

• Adam took a red gourd of Nine-Turn Golden Elixirs, and Lord Lao told him there were no peaches left at the Peach Banquet.
• Lord Lao threw Adam a peach pit, whose force sent him plunging from Tushita Palace toward the mortal world.
• Lord Lao discovered Adam had stolen elixirs, vessels, a candlestick, a cushion, and the Greater Yang Palm-leaf Fan, while leaving a flawed copy behind.
• Adam recovered from the fall and decided he and Lord Lao were even, then celebrated his stolen treasures.
• Adam questioned whether he was still in Jambudvipa and considered how Sun Wukong’s search for immortality led him to Lingtai Fangcun Mountain.

After arriving in the world below the Thirty-Third Heaven, Adam learned that Fangcun Mountain was nearby and sought out its Immortal master. He reached the Grandmaster’s sermon and asked to become his disciple.

• Adam emerged from the forest and heard people discussing Fangcun Mountain and its students.
• A woman advised Adam to seek instruction at Ten Thousand Dharma Temple, but he asked her to direct him to Fangcun Mountain.
• Adam climbed the mountain, found the sign for Lingtai Fangcun Mountain and Slanting Moon Three Stars Cave, and knocked on the cave’s gate.
• A young attendant brought Adam to the Jade Terrace, where the Grandmaster had stopped his sermon to watch him enter.
• Adam bowed before the Grandmaster and sincerely asked to be shown the Dao.

Adam was accepted by Subhuti as a Fangcun Mountain disciple named Huiming, then settled into mountain life and shared his practical knowledge with the other disciples. Subhuti summoned him to assess his cultivation, and Huiming began explaining the unusual and incomplete path that had brought him there.

• Subhuti questioned Adam about his origins and reason for seeking apprenticeship, then accepted him into his school after discerning a bond between them.
• Adam gave his surname as Fang and received the generational character Hui and the Dharma name Ming, becoming Huiming.
• Huiming adapted to life on Fangcun Mountain, learned from his senior brothers, and taught them practical skills such as castrating pigs.
• Subhuti summoned Huiming to assess his cultivation, but Huiming arrived carrying chicken soup, assuming the Grandmaster wanted it.
• Huiming explained that his cultivation came from grasping the laws of heaven and earth, accumulating Magical Power, practicing the Tai Shang Eighty-One Transformations, and acquiring a mysterious golden object while observing the Nine-Turn Golden Elixir.

Adam asked Subhuti to choose a cultivation path for him, and the Grandmaster taught him the Eight Nine Arcane Art and Grand Celestial Art by beating him with a ruler. Adam emerged battered but pleased, discovering that the beating had also injured his avatar and changed the runes within his body.

• The Grandmaster judged Adam's foundation complete and offered him a choice among three cultivation paths and the side paths.
• Adam considered Subhuti's teachings and asked the Grandmaster to choose for him, saying he wanted to travel abroad without being bullied.
• The Grandmaster beat Adam in the Meditation Chamber, teaching him that enduring a beating was the first lesson in avoiding one.
• Adam emerged after half an hour with injuries, having learned the Eight Nine Arcane Art and the Grand Celestial Art through the Grandmaster's hands-on instruction.
• Adam found that the ruler's Dao resonance had hurt his avatar too, then noticed that the runes within his body had changed again.

Adam studied the Great Dao through a rune and the Grand Celestial Art, then asked Grandmaster Subhuti why his cultivation realm was rising so slowly. The Grandmaster discovered that Adam had already made striking progress in the Eight Nine Arcane Art despite practicing for only a few days and taking no golden elixir.

• Adam realized that cultivating the Grand Celestial Art let him control the rune and focus on particular Great Dao mysteries.
• Adam listened to Grandmaster Subhuti lecture on the Yellow Court Scripture and quickly grasped its insight into pursuing fortune and avoiding misfortune.
• After the lecture, Adam asked when his cultivation would make him immortal, prompting Grandmaster Subhuti to strike him with a ruler.
• Grandmaster Subhuti asked about Adam's progress in the Eight Nine Arcane Art, and Adam said he could freely transform into animals but still struggled with mountains and trees.
• Adam denied taking a golden elixir, leaving Grandmaster Subhuti stunned by how far he had advanced in only a few days.

Grandmaster discovered that Adam's Dao attainment far exceeded his cultivation realm and taught him Nine Breaths Qi Absorption, which improved his ability to absorb vital energy. After explaining that pills might not be enough to raise Adam's realm, Grandmaster began telling him why the Three Realms' calamity cycle had been set.

• Grandmaster summoned Adam to his Meditation Chamber and asked him to demonstrate his cultivation.
• Grandmaster realized Adam had learned the Grand Celestial Art rather than the Primordial Limitless Sutra, then secretly taught him Nine Breaths Qi Absorption.
• Adam used the new breathing method and absorbed heaven-and-earth vital energy much more efficiently.
• Grandmaster diagnosed Adam's problem as excessive Dao attainment for his current realm and suggested using the Nine-Turn Golden Elixir, but doubted Adam's supply would be enough.
• Grandmaster told Adam that a calamity destroyed heaven and earth every 129,600 years and said the cycle's duration had been deliberately set.

Grandmaster explained why the 129,600-year calamity limited Adam’s chance to reach Primordial Unity, then brought him to Qingwei Heaven and taught him the Primordial Limitless Sutra. Adam comprehended the Sutra and formed a Limitless Seal, though Grandmaster recognized that no disciple had previously mastered it completely.

• Grandmaster explained that the Heavenly Court’s growing number of divine positions was limited by the supply of immortal peaches, and that a calamity lasted roughly long enough for those positions to approach their limit.
• Adam realized that the calamity left too little time for him to cultivate along several paths, but he could leave this world and return in a later calamity.
• Grandmaster took Adam through the Thirty-Third Heaven to Qingwei Heaven, where he revealed that Lord Lao had created this world and explained why their teachings could not be discussed below.
• Grandmaster said the Dao De Jing could accommodate many methods but could not fully fuse their powers, then began teaching Adam the Primordial Limitless Sutra.
• Adam witnessed the creation of heaven and earth from the Limitless, understood the Sutra, and formed a Limitless Seal; Grandmaster noted that none of his other disciples had achieved this.

Adam received the complete Primordial Limitless Sutra from Yuanshi Tianzun, explored how it worked with his other techniques, and studied under Grandmaster on Fangcun Mountain for three years. He then took leave and flew toward the Thirty-Third Heaven.

• Adam comprehended the Primordial Limitless Sutra and used it to enhance his magic, while realizing permanent body strengthening still required more resources.
• Yuanshi Tianzun brought Adam back to Fangcun Mountain and invited him to stay for more teachings, and Adam agreed to learn additional skills.
• Grandmaster taught the Diamond Sutra, and Adam listened on Fangcun Mountain for three years.
• Adam knelt outside Grandmaster's Meditation Chamber and announced that he intended to depart, and Grandmaster told him to go.
• Adam used cloud-soaring and mist-riding to fly toward the Thirty-Third Heaven.

Adam visited Lord Lao before leaving for other worlds, apologized for treating the Dao De Jing carelessly, and learned to comprehend its deeper principles. He returned several treasures to Lord Lao as he prepared to depart.

• Adam entered Tushita Palace and told Lord Lao he was leaving, explaining that he had come to apologize for his earlier behavior.
• Lord Lao clarified that Adam had not understood the Dao De Jing and showed him the unfolding and return of the world to nothingness through the pill furnace.
• Adam comprehended the Dao De Jing’s principles, including the evolution of the Three Pure Breaths and the cycle of existence and nothingness.
• Adam thanked Lord Lao and returned the Palm-leaf Fan, then began taking out the gourd, Jade Bottle, alms bowl, and candlestick.

Lord Lao sent Adam flying into another world, where he encountered Wu Tian in the Dark Abyss. After Adam escaped, Wu Tian suggested their fated meeting was not over and offered him the position of Future Buddha.

• Lord Lao used the Lesser Yin Fan to sweep Adam out of the Journey to the West world and into another world.
• Adam realized the fan’s wind had revealed insights into the Four Symbols and the Dao.
• A black-clad man appeared before Adam, startling him, and introduced himself as Wu Tian.
• Wu Tian offered to teach Adam Buddhist doctrine, but Adam rejected the offer and escaped through an illusory doorway.
• Wu Tian watched Adam leave and offered to make him the Future Buddha when they met again.

Adam considered whether to accept Wu Tian’s offer to become Buddhism’s future Buddha or help Wukong and Golden Cicada defeat him, while Wu Tian learned Adam was likely a disciple of one of the Three Pure Ones. After discovering the pilgrimage to the West had ended nearly three hundred years earlier, Adam weighed the two sides’ prospects and rewards.

• Adam suspected Lord Lao had sent him to Wu Tian so he could exploit Wu Tian’s rule and Buddhism’s resources, but he had no interest in becoming Buddha.
• Kinnara Bodhisattva warned Wu Tian that Adam likely belonged to one of the Three Pure Ones, but Wu Tian said he meant Adam no harm and believed their affinity was genuine.
• Adam learned that the pilgrimage to the West had ended nearly three hundred years earlier and realized Wu Tian would soon break free.
• Adam weighed joining Wu Tian to gather resources against helping Wukong and Golden Cicada defeat him, and found the choice difficult.

Adam returned to Wu Tian and offered to help in exchange for cultivation treasures. After learning Wu Tian’s egalitarian Buddhist-and-Mara Dao and powerful techniques, Adam weighed his growing sympathy for Wu Tian against his desire to leave the world.

• Adam searched Tushita Palace and the Three Pure Ones Heaven, found them empty, and returned to Wu Tian.
• Adam offered Wu Tian his help in exchange for treasures that could aid his cultivation, and Wu Tian accepted.
• Wu Tian taught Adam his Dao, which welcomed beings excluded by conventional Buddhism and joined Buddhist teachings with the Dao of Mara.
• Adam judged Wu Tian’s approach more equal and less hypocritical than the Buddhist sect’s, whose own members had violated its rules.
• Wu Tian taught Adam his divine abilities and the cultivation method for the Primordial Black Lotus, explaining that it required a spiritual treasure to reach its full potential.
• Adam considered taking Wu Tian to another world rather than abandoning him, then contemplated the teachings while waiting with Wu Tian for an opportunity.

Adam accompanied Wu Tian to meet Dipankara Buddha, but Dipankara refused to support Wu Tian’s plan to change the world. Adam uncovered Dipankara’s Sharira and gave it to Wu Tian, who entrusted it to Adam for cultivation before heading with him to confront Tathagata.

• Wu Tian and Adam traveled from the Dark Abyss to Dipankara Buddha’s temple, where Wu Tian asked for his support.
• Dipankara Buddha refused to support Wu Tian, and Wu Tian’s darkness overwhelmed the Buddha’s power.
• Adam parted the darkness and revealed Dipankara Buddha’s Sharira, then handed it to Wu Tian.
• Wu Tian recognized the Sharira’s importance to his destiny and gave it to Adam to keep and absorb for cultivation.
• Wu Tian promised Adam access to Mount Lingshan’s treasury and took him to the Great Thunderclap Temple to meet Tathagata.

While traveling to Mount Lingshan, Adam absorbed Dipankara Buddha’s principles from the Sharira and developed a Bodhi Heart Lamp that exposed supposed flaws in his cultivation. After revising it with Wu Tian’s principles and his own methods, Adam accidentally transformed it into a black lotus, leaving him uneasy as Wu Tian led his reunited followers toward Mount Lingshan.

• Wu Tian summoned his disciples and subordinates to join him on the way to Mount Lingshan.
• Adam absorbed the Sharira’s Buddhist power and formed a Bodhi Heart Lamp that revealed moving black worms within him.
• Wu Tian explained that the worms might represent distracting thoughts, hidden injuries, or imperfections illuminated by Dipankara Buddha’s principles.
• Adam realized the lamp judged his cultivation by Dipankara’s standards, then revised it using Wu Tian’s Dao and transformed it into a Golden Lotus Heart Lamp.
• Adam added the principles behind his Golden Lamp Treasure Lotus and Heaven of Others' Joy, turning the lamp into a black lotus with purple-black light.
• Wu Tian reunited with Black Robe, Giant Scorpion, Ying Yao, and his other followers, introduced Adam as a new protector, and led them toward Mount Lingshan.

Wu Tian invaded Mount Lingshan, and Tathagata began entering nirvana to reincarnate. Adam’s chanting sent Tathagata away before he could recite the verse that would have arranged his return, leaving Wu Tian to imprison the Gods and Buddhas and grant Adam access to the treasure vault.

• Wu Tian arrived at Mount Lingshan, defeated Golden Cicada, and faced Tathagata after Guanyin Bodhisattva intervened.
• Tathagata began entering nirvana, but Adam chanted the Rebirth Mantra so loudly that the assembled Buddhists joined in and drowned out Tathagata’s verse.
• Tathagata was forced into reincarnation without completing his plan for Buddhism to find and protect him, and Adam stopped chanting.
• Wu Tian imprisoned Mount Lingshan’s Gods and Buddhas and opened its treasure vault for Adam, who found treasures including Guanyin’s sweet dew.
• Adam used the sweet dew to water a peach pit in his portable universe, and it immediately sprouted into a sapling.

Adam used Guanyin Bodhisattva’s nectar to revive a Peach Tree of Immortality in his universe, then consumed more than a hundred thousand peaches to complete his Golden Core cultivation. He achieved Three Flowers Gather on Crown, Form and Spirit Both Void, though his realm still lagged behind his Dao attainment.

• Adam took all the nectar Guanyin Bodhisattva had kept and poured it over peach pits he had planted in his universe.
• The pits sprouted and grew into an enormous Peach Tree of Immortality, which Adam supported by drawing in planets for its spreading roots.
• Adam counted 129,600 enormous peaches and discovered that their fruit contained a Dao of longevity.
• Adam ate the peaches while reciting the Tai Shang Dan Secrets, using their power to transform his essence, qi, and spirit.
• After consuming more than a hundred thousand peaches, Adam merged his essence, qi, and spirit at the mysterious aperture and achieved Three Flowers Gather on Crown, Form and Spirit Both Void.

Adam had nearly completed Three Flowers Gather on Crown but had not begun Five Qi Return to Origin, so he sought high-quality materials for cultivation. Wu Tian offered to obtain materials from the Heavenly Court and presented Adam with a powerful source of innate fire, leaving him to choose between two dangerous sources of innate water.

• Adam assessed his available Five Element materials and found that he still lacked suitable sources for water, fire, and earth qi.
• Adam brought Wu Tian a peach of immortality and asked for help finding materials to cultivate the Five Qi.
• Wu Tian was astonished to learn that Adam had not cultivated even a single qi.
• Wu Tian recommended Innate Kun Steel for metal qi and offered Innate Breath Soil from the Heavenly Court for earth qi.
• Wu Tian offered Adam a choice between the Heavenly River and the Dark Abyss's Weak Water for water qi, then revealed blazing feathers as a source of innate fire.

Adam accepted Wu Tian’s innate spiritual treasures and began cultivating the five qi on Fangcun Mountain, while Wu Tian prepared him to kill Tathagata’s reincarnated body if needed. After thirty years, Adam had formed only earth qi and made minor progress with wood qi, and he suspected Sun Wukong had benefited from an unfair advantage.

• Adam demonstrated the Fantian Seal and asked Wu Tian how he could repay the five innate spiritual treasures.
• Wu Tian told Adam to focus on cultivating the five qi and said he would give him the Primordial Black Lotus if Adam needed to kill Tathagata’s reincarnated body.
• Adam chose Weak Water for his water qi and warned Wu Tian that Zhu Bajie could withstand its poison.
• Adam chose Fangcun Mountain as his cultivation site, and Wu Tian explained that Zhen Yuanzi’s Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror could locate it.
• Adam used the Creation Card to restore Slanting Moon Three Stars Cave and spent thirty years cultivating, forming earth qi and making minor progress with wood qi.
• Adam calculated that Sun Wukong should not have had enough time to achieve Five Qi Return to Origin and realized that Sun Wukong’s birth had given him an extraordinary advantage.

Adam escaped Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie’s ambush and reported it to Wu Tian, then learned the secret behind the seventeen Sharira and Sun Wukong’s possible path to defeating him. Wu Tian concluded that even if Sun Wukong was the final Bone-Relic Sharira, relying on the other ancient Buddhas’ paths would still prevent him from attaining Primordial Unity.

• The Black Lotus Envoy brought Adam a Black Lotus, but revealed himself as Sun Wukong and attacked alongside Zhu Bajie, who had transformed from the lotus.
• Adam trapped Zhu Bajie in chaotic space, escaped the pair, and urged Sun Wukong and the others to reconsider joining Wu Tian after Tathagata was extinguished.
• Adam reached the Great Thunderclap Temple and told Wu Tian that Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie had tried to ambush him.
• Adam asked Wu Tian about Sun Wukong’s cultivation, and Wu Tian explained that combining the seventeen Sharira could grant Sun Wukong power to kill him but would leave Sun Wukong dependent on other Buddhas’ paths.
• Adam suggested that Sun Wukong himself was the missing Bone-Relic Sharira, and Wu Tian realized this could let him fuse the other sixteen Sharira.

Wu Tian explained that fusing with the Sharira would prevent Sun Wukong from reaching Primordial Unity on his own, while Tathagata gathered allies to attack Wu Tian and reclaim the Sharira. Adam used Ten Thousand Realms of Mortal Dust against Tathagata and concluded that he was not truly Shakyamuni Buddha or Amitabha.

• Wu Tian said he had refined the Sharira Sun Wukong had already fused, and revealed that Sun Wukong later stole the Sharira from the Heavenly Court while Wu Tian kept the eight from Mount Lingshan.
• Wu Tian recognized Tathagata as the one who had revealed Adam's whereabouts, and Tathagata explained that his return in Qiao Ling'er's body had left him without his former golden body and Buddha's seat.
• Tathagata attacked Wu Tian, but Zhen Yuanzi, Emperor Donghua, Sun Wukong, and Gonggong joined the fight against Wu Tian's power.
• Tathagata summoned seven Sharira and tried to use their Buddhist light against Adam, but Adam suppressed them with a black lotus and confronted Tathagata.
• Adam's Ten Thousand Realms of Mortal Dust bound Tathagata in crimson threads and divided his consciousness among countless mortal lives, leading Adam to conclude that Tathagata was not truly Shakyamuni Buddha or Amitabha.