Chapter Summaries

Aaron concealed his strength at Snow Vulture Temple while Drolma and rival Dharma Kings maneuvered around him. When the temple’s Underworld trial began, Emptiness opened a crack leading into the Underworld.

• Drolma warned Aaron that Sangji and Tashi would target him during the Underworld trial, and Aaron agreed to join forces with her while privately doubting her strength.
• Drolma reported Aaron’s agreement to Great Might Dharma King, then sent a spider to carry news to Mahayana, pursuing her own ambitions.
• Sangji challenged Aaron with the White-Bone Contemplation, but Aaron countered with the Immovable Wisdom King; a Red-Robed Monk ended the confrontation and sentenced Sangji to seven days of meditation.
• Mahayana Dharma King and Great Compassion Dharma King praised Aaron’s progress but resolved to kill him during the Underworld trial rather than act inside the temple.
• Aaron and Husky joined Drolma, Sangji, and Tashi at the trial gathering, where Emptiness activated a prayer wheel and opened a crack into the Underworld.

Aaron entered the Underworld through the River Styx, survived its memory-cleansing waters, and rode off to search for the Chosen of the Lord of War. Tashi and Sangji followed his trail, unaware that a tiny black spider had attached itself to them.

• Aaron realized the prayer wheel opened the passage to the Underworld, then let the skeletal beast swallow him.
• In the River Styx, Aaron preserved his body and memories while other disciples were dissolved, then emerged onto the shore with Husky.
• Aaron reflected on the dangers of the Underworld and used his lute +3 to summon a skeletal horse, riding away from the portal with Husky following.
• Tashi and Sangji arrived, learned Aaron had gone away from the exit, and set out after him with a Tibetan mastiff tracking his trail.
• A tiny black spider crawled onto Tashi and Sangji without their noticing.

Aaron traveled through the Underworld toward the Bone Lock Cold Grove, killing Sangji and Tashi when they caught up with him. Tashi’s death summoned Vipassi Buddha, who transformed into the Charnel Grove Protector, and Aaron recognized clues connected to the War God’s Chosen and Drolma.

• Aaron rode through Vajra Flame Cold Grove and considered how to reach the War God’s Chosen in Bone Lock Cold Grove.
• Sangji and Tashi caught up with Aaron, while Tashi’s mastiff attacked Husky.
• Aaron killed Sangji with a Flame Fist empowered by Order Strike, then gained a level as an Esoteric Sect Monk and increased his Strength.
• Tashi summoned Kachoma Dakini and threatened Aaron with the Lord of Tombs, but Aaron killed him with an Order Strike-enhanced palm.
• Kachoma Dakini’s skeletal form connected with the charnel grounds, summoning Vipassi Buddha, who transformed into the Charnel Grove Protector.
• Aaron recognized that Kachoma Dakini was linked to the Bright Buddha Mother and understood new clues about the War God’s Chosen and Drolma.

Aaron forged Great Sun Divinity, secretly concealed it as the Buddha-nature of Silent Secret Master Buddha, and gained a glimpse of Great Sun Tathagata’s divine kingdom, Secret Treasury Heaven. After witnessing the gods’ counterattack against the Esoteric Sect, he confronted Drolma and began binding her to him with a Curse Binding.

• Aaron realized the native gods’ main goal was to resurrect the Goddess of the Weave and that the Underworld had become the focus of the gods’ plans.
• With soul power from Charnel Grove Protector, Aaron forged Great Sun Divinity, advanced to Lesser Divinity, and concealed his new divinity as the Buddha-nature of Silent Secret Master Buddha.
• Aaron learned that Secret Treasury Heaven was Great Sun Tathagata’s divine kingdom and saw visions of the Mind Flayer Empire and native gods attacking the Esoteric Sect across the Astral Plane.
• Aaron watched Charnel Grove Protector leave, destroyed the spiders left by Sangji and Tashi, and summoned Drolma from hiding.
• Drolma asked Aaron for initiation, and he agreed to plant a Curse Binding that would prevent her from betraying him or revealing information about him.

Aaron empowered Drolma with a secret mantra that strengthened her and bound her to him, then left her to complete her trial. He found a War Sovereign chosen nearly consumed by the Nirvana True-Word Mantra and tried to wake her with a blow from his lute.

• Aaron used secret mantra truths to bind Drolma and advance her Peacock Demon Devouring Mantra into the Peacock Swallows Heaven Mantra.
• Drolma devoured the vital blood energy from Sangji and Tashi's corpses, but Aaron warned her against being consumed by desire.
• Aaron opened a portal and left Drolma to become a core disciple of Snow Vulture Temple; she resolved to use her new mantra to devour a Dharma King.
• Aaron arrived in Southern Bone-Lock Frostwood and found a War Sovereign chosen girl nearly overcome by the Nirvana True-Word Mantra.
• Aaron struck the girl on the head with his lute in an attempt to wake her.

Sith’s adventuring party discovered that the Chosen they sought was trapped in Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva’s divine realm, and they launched a raid to rescue her. Aaron freed Lystalin, but the party’s assault on the realm ended as Sith struck at Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.

• Anthony located Lady of the Weave’s Chosen inside a divine realm and identified its occupant as a deity of moderate divine power.
• Sith ordered Anthony to gather intelligence and seek support, while the party resolved to attempt the rescue despite the danger.
• Aaron freed Lystalin, the War Sovereign’s Chosen, and opened a portal for her to return to the Material Plane.
• Anthony brought the floating city into the divine realm and used its Godslaying Mythal to trap the intruders inside for three hundred seconds.
• Anthony summoned golems and elemental legions, the barbarian and Moon Chanter cleared a path through the Divine Listening Hounds, and Sith attacked Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva with Evil-Breaking Slash.

Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva overwhelmed the defenders of Anthony’s floating city, while Lystalin chose to sacrifice herself to resurrect the War Sovereign. The War Sovereign formed a new divine body and returned to life.

• Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva caught Sith’s Star of Radiance, killed the Legendary Barbarian with a death ability, and struck Sith down while Diting killed the Holy Priest.
• Aaron told Lystalin that she could escape through a portal, but she chose to stay and help revive her lord so he could save the adventurers and the Weave Goddess’s chosen.
• Lystalin opened her War Domain, and the War Sovereign used her body, divinity, and divine power as materials for his resurrection.
• The War Sovereign gathered the War, Soldier, Strategy, and Competition portfolios, drew on faith and the ongoing astral war, and resurrected as a god of Powerful Divine Power.

Aaron tricked the newly resurrected War Sovereign into opening a portal into Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva’s divine kingdom, where the War Sovereign became trapped in battle. While the gods fought, Aaron rescued the Goddess of the Weave’s chosen and sent Sith to the Material Plane, then turned his attention to the floating city as the Charnel Grove Protector attacked.

• The War Sovereign rejected the adventurers’ mission and opened a portal that Aaron secretly redirected into Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva’s divine kingdom.
• Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva attacked the trapped War Sovereign, while Sith and Anthony searched for the Goddess of the Weave’s chosen.
• The War Sovereign’s battle with Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva shattered the dungeon prison, revealing the chosen sealed inside a purple crystal.
• Aaron used Shadow Traverse to reach the dungeon, killed most of the Ditings, and broke the crystal so Sith could carry the chosen away through a portal to the Material Plane.
• The Charnel Grove Protector broke through the floating city’s mythal and killed Anthony, while the War Sovereign realized that Vipassi Buddha and Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva had been holding back.

After passing the Underworld trial, Aaron joined Snow Vulture Temple as its Buddhist Son to gain access to its fundamental scriptures, while Drolma became the Great Might Dharma King’s disciple and then devoured him with the Peacock Swallows Heaven Mantra. The chapter left Aaron beginning his study of the Mahaprajnaparamita Great Bright Mantra Sutra.

• Drolma returned from the Underworld and accepted the Great Might Dharma King as her master, becoming his direct red-robed disciple.
• Aaron emerged from the fading portal, passed the trial, and was formally recognized as Snow Vulture Temple’s Buddhist Son.
• The Great Might Dharma King questioned Drolma about the Underworld, punished her, and performed an empowerment ritual.
• Drolma transformed into a peacock demon, then used the Peacock Swallows Heaven Mantra to overcome and devour the Great Might Dharma King, reaching the legendary level.
• Abbot Emptiness offered Aaron the temple’s fundamental scriptures, and Aaron chose to study the Mahaprajnaparamita Great Bright Mantra Sutra.

Aaron learned the Great Sun Tathagata Secret Mantra and sensed that the Weave had returned, signaling the Goddess of the Weave’s resurrection and the coming final battle. He reached Dazen Gorge and asked Grise and Wendy to lend their strength to his godhood ascension ritual.

• Drolma succeeded Great Might Dharma King as Wonderful Sound Dharma King and supported Maitreya’s access to the fundamental scriptures, so Abbot Emptiness granted Aaron the Mahaprajnaparamita Great Bright Mantra Sutra.
• Aaron studied the sutra, advanced his mantras until he comprehended the Great Sun Tathagata Secret Mantra, and kept his Great Sun divinity hidden.
• Aaron sensed the Weave’s revival and left Snow Vulture Temple, concluding that the Goddess of the Weave had returned and the final battle was near.
• At Dazen Gorge, Mary demonstrated that she had regained spellcasting because the Weave had been rebuilt, while Grise voiced her desire to avenge the goddess.
• Aaron arrived through the teleportation portal and asked Grise and Wendy to support his godhood ascension ritual.

Aaron joined the gods’ war council in the Pantheon, where Ao revealed himself and the gods prepared for a final battle against Great Sun Tathagata. Back in the Northern Wasteland, Aaron planned to use the War portfolio to rise in divine rank, and Oak Father offered him Nature Divinity and an ancient Law and Sun portfolio to strengthen him.

• Aaron entered the Pantheon, took his divine throne, and met the Goddess of Twilight and Vampires and a giant god.
• Oak Father called the gods to begin the final divine war and distributed their assignments and strategic plans.
• Oak Father introduced Ao, whose consciousness manifested in the Pantheon and whose presence made the gods bow.
• Aaron returned to the Northern Wasteland and prepared to perform his godhood ritual using the War portfolio.
• Oak Father warned Aaron that the gods needed certainty and a suitable moment, then offered him Nature Divinity and an ancient Law and Sun portfolio.

As wars consumed the Crystal Wall System, Aaron began his ascension ceremony in the Far Northern Wasteland and became a true god, drawing power from the conflicts around him. He saw the great divine battle nearing its outbreak as his new God of War portfolio connected him to its vast destruction.

• The Lord of the Nine Hells and Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva struck at one another as demons and devils continued their war across the Abyss and Hell.
• The Mind Flayer Empire fought the demons in the Astral Plane, but Godspawn reinforcements forced the mind flayers to summon armies from the four Elemental Planes.
• Aaron watched the Crystal Wall System's gods and the Esoteric Sect gather for a decisive battle, where Oak Father attacked Great Black Heaven and powerful Buddhas and elemental sovereigns appeared.
• Aaron held his ascension ceremony in Dazen Gorge, with Wendy leading prayers before a small gathering of Kimo People and Dawn Remnants while Husky stood watch.
• Aaron became a true god and drew strength from wars throughout the Crystal Wall System, seeing battles on the Frozen Great Rift, at the Abyss-Hell border, in the Astral Plane, and on the divine battlefield.

As the allied forces battled the Esoteric Sect, Augustus tried to stop a new god from ascending, but Husky and the Fierce Wolf-Head Vajra Protector fought him off. The Shadow Sovereign then revealed himself as Namo Akashagarbha Dharma Buddha, killed the Goddess of the Weave, and plunged the allied armies into crisis as Sith ordered a retreat.

• Sith noticed prayers and divine power from the north as a new God of War began ascending, and the Esoteric Sect sent Augustus and an elite squad through a portal to stop it.
• Husky transformed into a dragonwolf, summoned a wild legion, and battled Augustus while their forces clashed with the Esoteric Sect squad.
• Augustus invoked the White-Robed Dragon Queen Earth Mother, but Husky summoned the Fierce Wolf-Head Vajra Protector, who helped him overpower the ancient black dragon.
• The Oak Father realized the Buddha of Shadow was missing and warned of the Shadow Sovereign, but the warning came too late.
• The Shadow Sovereign stabbed the Goddess of the Weave and revealed that he was Namo Akashagarbha Dharma Buddha, causing her death and the fall of her floating city.
• With the Weave gone and the allied camp under attack, Sith ordered the forces to retreat to the Frozen Grand Canyon.

Aaron ascended to become a Greater Deity as the Lord of the Nine Hells fell and Hell collapsed. Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva became the Hell-Not-Empty Accomplishment Buddha, while Silent Secret Master Buddha concealed a trap that left Namo Akashagarbha Dharma Buddha surrounded by powerful enemies.

• Vipassi Buddha left the Battlefield of the Gods to aid Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, and Namo Akashagarbha Dharma Buddha joined their attack on the Lord of the Nine Hells.
• Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva and Namo Akashagarbha Dharma Buddha defeated the Lord of the Nine Hells, and the Nine Hells collapsed into the Abyss.
• Aaron gained enough war primal force to ascend to godhood and immediately advanced to Greater Divine Power, choosing the Lord of the Sun class.
• The Abyss's power transformed Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva into the Hell-Not-Empty Accomplishment Buddha after he completed his Great Vow.
• Silent Secret Master Buddha concealed the changed Abyss and trapped Namo Akashagarbha Dharma Buddha, while Aaron revealed Vipassi Buddha as Charnel Grove Protector.
• Aaron and three other Powerful Divine Powers surrounded Namo Akashagarbha Dharma Buddha as the demon armies' allegiance shifted.

As Aaron’s intervention turned the Material Plane battle against the Esoteric Sect, he and his allies slew several powerful Buddhas in the Battlefield of Gods. The Scarlet Sun then blazed across the worlds, revealing that the final battle against Great Sun Tathagata was about to begin.

• The allied defensive line began to collapse as Sith fought the Esoteric Sect, but Bright Buddha Mother’s oracle made Abbot Emptiness turn Snow Vulture Temple’s forces against the Esoteric Sect, prompting other armies to defect as well.
• Aaron killed Namo Akashagarbha Dharma Buddha in the Abyss and brought Hell-Not-Empty Accomplishment Buddha and Charnel Grove Protector to the Battlefield of Gods.
• The four Elemental Lords and Oak Father killed Great Black Heaven by trapping him in a temporary world formed from earth, fire, wind, and water.
• Aaron used his Storytelling skill and domains against the battling gods, then destroyed White-Robed Dragon Queen Earth Mother and Fierce Wolf-Head Vajra Protector through their Seeds of the Great Sun.
• Sith and the allied army defeated the remaining Esoteric Sect forces and celebrated victory, but the Scarlet Sun suddenly illuminated the worlds as Great Sun Tathagata’s power emerged.
• Aaron told Oak Father that the final battle had begun and invited him and the other gods to ascend with him to Secret Treasury Heaven to slay Great Sun Tathagata’s true body.

Wendy completed the apotheosis ritual and became the first Pope as Aaron’s divine kingdom rose into the Astral Plane and attacked Great Sun Tathagata’s hidden divine kingdom. After Great Sun Tathagata revealed a colossal true body and devastated the gods, Aaron gathered the remaining elemental sovereigns’ divinity, broke through to Greater Divinity, and summoned his future self to confront the Scarlet Sun.

• Wendy received divine grace, cast Sacred Barrier over Dazen Gorge, and told the believers that Aaron had become a Powerful Divine Power and would end the Chaos of Saints.
• Aaron sent four Buddhas to guard the Astral Plane, then used the Great Sun Tathagata Secret Mantra to locate and enter Secret Treasury Heaven.
• Great Sun Tathagata revealed that he had remained in the present, then exposed his true body as a vast Buddha whose attack killed two elemental sovereigns and overwhelmed Oak Father.
• Aaron turned himself and the surviving Wind and Earth Elemental Sovereigns into concepts within his story world, then persuaded them to lend him their divinity.
• Aaron converted his divinity into Great Sun Divinity, broke through to Greater Divinity, and summoned his future self, who swallowed the Scarlet Sun with countless black holes.

Aaron destroyed Great Sun Tathagata across the timelines, restored the crystal wall system, and prepared to return to his original homeland. Ten years later, the Kingdom of Stories was founded, and Louisa, Drolma, and Grise glimpsed Aaron in the parade crowd.

• Aaron resurrected through Great Sun Tathagata and, with Ao's help, destroyed the Buddha's incarnations across the timelines.
• Sith celebrated the Scarlet Sun's fall, then died from the wounds and exhaustion he had endured in battle.
• Aaron used the stripped Secret Source to revive Oak Father, while Ao appointed four Buddhas as temporary elemental sovereigns.
• Aaron declined to become the crystal wall system's creator god, leaving an avatar as its Lord of Order before setting out to find his original homeland.
• Ten years later, Wendy proclaimed the founding of the Kingdom of Stories, and Louisa, Drolma, and Grise saw Aaron wave to them before vanishing into the crowd.

Aaron, an incarnation of the spiritual Creator Yao, awakened inside a virtual reality game based on the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl story and freed Ning Chen from the game’s restraints. After Aaron’s possession caused Ning Chen to destroy the game world, Aaron emerged in the real world of 2077 Blue Star and began investigating his new surroundings.

• Aaron, disguised as Old Huang the ox, told Jintong that his sister-in-law would split the household and that he could find a wife by visiting the river.
• Jintong claimed the old ox as his share of the family property, and Aaron led him to the river, where they secretly watched seven fairies arrive to investigate game anomalies.
• Aaron broke Jintong’s spiritual shackle, restoring the employee Ning Chen’s memories, then possessed him and transformed him into a powerful minotaur.
• Ning Chen’s body battled the Heavenly Court’s forces, swallowed its soldiers, and struck the High Heaven Treasure Hall, causing the game world to shatter.
• Aaron emerged from Ning Chen’s virtual reality helmet in Blue Star, learned that Ning Chen faced dismissal and an enormous debt, and divined that he had arrived in a parallel world in 2077.

Aaron investigated rumors that aliens had given Blue Star its virtual reality technology, then entered the martial-arts game Sword Moves the Jianghu to explore it. He arrived in Seven Mysteries Town, where he met another player who explained the limits of the game’s NPCs and quests.

• Aaron watched Professor Adam Smith argue that aliens had supplied Blue Star’s virtual reality technology and confirmed the claim with a simulated coin toss.
• Aaron decided to investigate through a game, chose Sword Moves the Jianghu, and spent 10,000 Alliance credits on a month of play.
• Aaron entered the game as Wave Over Heaven, arrived in Seven Mysteries Town, and received basic swordsmanship, copper coins, and a rusty iron sword.
• Aaron bought three steamed buns at an eatery and recognized its lively waiter as a real person playing an advanced NPC.
• Aaron met the player Jin Dayong, who explained that beginner towns had many advanced NPCs while nearby Peach Blossom Village had few useful quests.

Aaron explored Seven Mysteries Town, then intervened when Master Zhang’s men beat the waiter Big Dog and the player Dugu Jian. He defeated Black Three with basic swordsmanship he called the Spilled Water Sword Art, while Jin Dayong and the others realized Aaron was an exceptionally skilled player.

• Jin Dayong offered Aaron sect and guild tokens, then pitched a dubious cheat, but Aaron rejected both offers.
• Aaron saw the waiter Big Dog secretly give his mother a steamed bun, then later watched Master Zhang accuse Big Dog’s younger brother of stealing meat buns and order Big Dog beaten.
• Dugu Jian tried to stop the beating, but Black Three knocked him down, and Master Zhang’s men attacked him.
• Jin Dayong stepped in and fought off several thugs, but Black Three struck him with a staff and left him badly injured.
• Aaron drew his sword to protect Jin Dayong and used precise basic swordsmanship to sever Black Three’s fingers.
• Aaron named his technique the Spilled Water Sword Art, and Jin Dayong explained that Aaron’s skill came from extraordinary combat awareness rather than cheating.