Chapter Summaries

Lu Tian watched Pingxin send the Witch Clan into the mortal world, where Chiyou imposed Human Race rule on them, then joined Zhenyuanzi’s gathering at Wuzhuang Temple. The Eastern and Western powers assembled, and Zhenyuanzi unveiled an Earth Book array that left Minghe deeply shaken.

• Pingxin opened a passage to the mortal world and sent the first Witch Clan members out, warning them not to conflict with the Human Race.
• Chiyou demanded the Witch Clan submit to the Human Race, then divided them into those who obeyed, resisted, or left for the east.
• Pingxin withdrew with the remaining Witch Clan after relations stabilized, while Lu Tian learned that Zhenyuanzi planned a Ginseng Fruit gathering at Wuzhuang Temple.
• Lu Tian alerted Jieyin, Zhunti, and Styx, and the Western powers set out as Taiqing, Yuqing, Tongtian, and Haotian traveled east to join Zhenyuanzi.
• Zhenyuanzi welcomed the assembled powers, revealed his Earth Book array for tracing the world’s Earth Veins, and brought out nine array sand tables.

Zhenyuanzi challenged Lu Tian and the gathered Sages to comprehend his Earthly Dao formation with their cultivation sealed. Lu Tian repeatedly took the lead, but as the ten-thousand-year limit neared, he and Jieyin were both stuck before the twenty-thousandth diagram.

• Zhenyuanzi presented his terrain-diagram formation and persuaded the assembled powers to seal their cultivation before studying it.
• Lu Tian comprehended the first diagram ahead of the Sages, then surged past the ten-thousandth diagram and drew Zhenyuanzi’s astonished attention.
• The Sages and Haotian caught up with Lu Tian, but he regained the lead and eventually left them far behind as they continued studying.
• Hongjun observed Lu Tian’s progress from Purple Cloud Palace and judged that his comprehension already rivaled his own.
• With one year left in the formation’s ten-thousand-year duration, Lu Tian remained stuck before the twenty-thousandth diagram, and Jieyin was equally unable to advance.

Lu Tian surpassed the Saints in formation comprehension, delighting Jieyin and Zhunti while unsettling the Three Pure Ones. After the other Saints left Wuzhuang Temple, Zhenyuanzi chose to reside in the Netherworld, and Lu Tian began arranging his move.

• Lu Tian comprehended twenty thousand and one formation diagrams before the deadline, surpassing every Saint present.
• Jieyin and Zhunti celebrated Lu Tian's achievement and resolved to help him pursue the Great Dao, while the Three Pure Ones reacted with discomfort.
• Zhenyuanzi steered the gathering away from the Three Pure Ones' embarrassment, then remained at Wuzhuang Temple after they and Haotian departed.
• Zhenyuanzi asked Lu Tian to let him reside in the Netherworld, and Lu Tian offered him a sanctuary and an honorary underworld position.
• Zhenyuanzi accepted Lu Tian's offer, and Lu Tian arranged for Jieyin and Zhunti to help move Wuzhuang Temple and its Ginseng Fruit Tree to the Netherworld.

Zhunti moved Zhenyuanzi’s Wuzhuang Temple and the Ginseng Fruit Tree to the border of the underworld and the Sea of Blood, where Zhenyuanzi settled among the Western-aligned powers. Lu Tian introduced Zhenyuanzi to a secret group communication realm, leaving him impressed by its design and potential.

• Zhunti lifted Wuzhuang Temple and its Ginseng Fruit Tree, while the Three Pure Ones watched Zhenyuanzi’s departure and resolved to strengthen their own disciples through regular exchanges and contests.
• Pharmacist and Black Tortoise welcomed Zhenyuanzi to the underworld, and Ancestor Minghe persuaded him to place Wuzhuang Temple beside the Sea of Blood.
• Zhunti replanted the Ginseng Fruit Tree, and Lu Tian gave Zhenyuanzi several buckets of Three Lights Divine Water.
• Lu Tian passed Zhenyuanzi a secret communication method that let him enter Lu’s World and meet the gathered Western powerhouses and underworld officials.
• Zhenyuanzi examined the realm, praised Lu Tian’s ingenuity, and recognized how useful it could be for communication across the underworld.

Zhenyuanzi helped Lu Tian extract soul fragments from Hou and oversee Nu Ba’s transformation into a Zombie Ancestor. He then subdued the newly awakened Hou Qing and Ying Gou, leaving Lu Tian with two more powerful corpse generals for the underworld.

• Zhenyuanzi agreed to help Lu Tian extract soul fragments from Hou and suggested bringing the other Zombie Ancestors under the underworld’s control.
• Zhenyuanzi used the Earth Book to suppress Hou and extracted three soul fragments for Nu Ba.
• At Spirit Mountain, Zhenyuanzi helped Nu Ba withstand the backlash from Hou’s soul fragment as she began transforming into a Zombie Ancestor.
• Lu Tian and Zhenyuanzi found the corpses of Hou Qing and Ying Gou on ancient battlefields and infused each with a fragment of Hou’s soul.
• After ten thousand years, Hou Qing and Ying Gou awakened as mindless Zombie Ancestors and fought until Zhenyuanzi subdued them with the Earth Book.

Lu Tian subdued Hou Qing and Ying Gou and brought the two Zombie Ancestors under his command, while Haotian sought Hongjun’s help in staffing the Heavenly Court. The Six Sages gathered to discuss sending disciples, and Zhunti pressed for Western Teachings disciples, including Moonlight, to receive prominent positions.

• Zhenyuanzi bound Hou Qing and Ying Gou while Lu Tian sealed each corpse ancestor’s True Spirit with a restriction that placed them under his control.
• Lu Tian returned to the Underworld with the Zombie Ancestors and Zhenyuanzi, then had the corpses suppressed at the bottom of the sea.
• Haotian went to the Purple Cloud Palace and pleaded with Hongjun for help strengthening the Heavenly Court.
• Hongjun summoned the Six Sages and ordered them to send disciples to serve in the Heavenly Court.
• Zhunti offered three thousand novice monks, while Jieyin proposed sending Moonlight and the Western Teachings pressed Haotian to grant him a high-ranking divine position.

Haotian accepted Western Teachings' personnel for the Heavenly Court, but the Sages failed to settle who would fill the Four Imperial Lords' posts. Meanwhile, Lu Tian entered Luohu's inheritance trial and faced a test of his Dao heart as demonic qi overwhelmed him.

• Haotian agreed to appoint Sunlight and Moonlight as Five Elders, then watched the Three Pure Ones demand Four Imperial Lords' posts for Duobao, Guangchengzi, and Xuandu.
• Hongjun halted the Sages' dispute and ordered Haotian to begin running the Heavenly Court with Western Teachings' recruits until the Sages reached a decision.
• Haotian traveled with Jieyin and Zhunti to Spirit Mountain and returned with Western Teachings' monks and Sunlight and Moonlight, who received divine offices.
• After ten thousand years of cultivation, Lu Tian set out to claim Luohu's final inheritance before advancing to Quasi-Saint.
• Luohu gave Lu Tian the God Slaying Spear and challenged him to prove his Dao heart, but Lu Tian's demonic heart began beating wildly and engulfed him in demonic qi.

Lu Tian endured Luohu’s trials, overcame the evil thoughts in his heart, and received the God Slaying Spear and Luohu’s hidden world. He began the Slaying the Three Corpses breakthrough and emerged as a Quasi-Saint with an Evil Corpse, while Zhunti and Jieyin searched for him.

• Lu Tian endured two Kalpas of torment and temptation, then answered Luohu that he sought to build a flourishing Western age with his masters and fellow disciples.
• Luohu acknowledged Lu Tian’s unbreakable Dao heart, gave him the damaged God Slaying Spear and the hidden small world, and returned to slumber.
• As the human age advanced and Yao and Shun rose in the West, Zhunti and Jieyin worried over Lu Tian’s absence and set out in opposite directions to search for him.
• Lu Tian chose to break through by Slaying the Three Corpses and used the World Destroying Black Lotus as the foundation for his demonic cultivation.
• After a thousand years, Lu Tian reached the Quasi-Saint realm and formed an Evil Corpse that matched his own strength.

Lu Tian returned from Luohu’s secret realm as a Quasi-Saint, reunited with Jieyin and Zhunti, and revealed that he planned to advance his true body and three corpses through multiple paths. Back at Spirit Mountain, he defeated Pharmacist in a sparring match using only his Evil Corpse, showing that his strength already stood near the pinnacle of the Quasi-Saint realm.

• Lu Tian entrusted underworld affairs to his Evil Corpse, returned to the Primordial World, and reassured Jieyin, Zhunti, and the other Western Teachings disciples that he was safe.
• Jieyin offered to help Lu Tian obtain treasures for severing his remaining corpses, while Lu Tian privately planned to advance his true body and corpses through multiple methods and fuse them with the Demon Heart Swallowing Heaven Scripture.
• On the journey back to Spirit Mountain, Lu Tian divined that a great flood would precede Da Yu’s rise and decided to leave the matter to Zhending.
• Lu Tian reunited with his fellow disciples at Spirit Mountain, celebrated his breakthrough, and accepted Pharmacist’s challenge to spar in Lu’s World.
• Lu Tian fought Pharmacist using his Evil Corpse, absorbed the World Destroying Black Lotus’s destruction divine light, and defeated him with the God Slaying Spear.

Lu Tian arranged for Zhending and the Dragon Clan to help Yu control the floods, strengthening the Western Human Race as Dao De Tianzun considered how to reverse the east’s decline. At Purple Cloud Palace, Hongjun ordered the eastern Sages to fill the Investiture of the Gods, and Tongtian’s offer to send Jie Sect disciples triggered a furious dispute with Yuanshi.

• Lu Tian told Zhending to lead the Dragon Clan in aiding Yu, the fated final emperor, and Zhending accepted.
• Zhending and the Dragon Clan helped Yu control the western floods, and Yu ascended as leader of the Western Human Race.
• Lu Tian approved placing Dragon Clan members across western waterways, while Dao De Tianzun weighed migration and war as ways to restore eastern fortune.
• Hongjun summoned the Six Sages, revealed the Investiture of the Gods List, and ordered the eastern Sages to provide disciples for the tribulation.
• Tongtian volunteered three thousand outer disciples, while Yuanshi resisted sacrificing his own direct disciples and demanded that Jie Sect bear more of the burden.
• Tongtian angrily challenged Yuanshi and declared that disciples of their sects should rely on their own abilities, with the defeated entering the list.

Hongjun settled the Investiture of the Gods by making the Chan Teachings and Tongtian’s Teachings contend freely, while exempting Nuwa and the Western Teachings from the tribulation. In Lu’s World, Lu Tian urged the Western Teachings to stay neutral and use the Shepherd God List to gain power, but warned that they would fight anyone who threatened the West.

• Tongtian and Yuanshi argued over whose disciples would be sent into the tribulation until Hongjun stopped them and declared that the teachings would contend by their own abilities.
• Hongjun granted Jieyin’s request for Western Teachings members to enter the list in the flesh, then gave the Investiture of the Gods List to Taishang Laojun for the Sages to sign names.
• Yuanshi ordered the Twelve Golden Immortals to seek talented disciples, while Dao De Tianzun considered using the tribulation to challenge the Western Teachings’ growing influence.
• Jieyin and Zhunti gathered the Western Teachings’ leaders and disciples in Lu’s World to discuss how they should respond to the tribulation.
• Lu Tian advised the Western Teachings to remain neutral, use the Shepherd God List to recruit powerful figures into the underworld, and wait until the Chan and Tongtian Teachings were locked in conflict.
• Lu Tian warned that someone might use the tribulation to seize the fortune of the Western Human Race and vowed that the Western Teachings would fight back if challenged.

Lu Tian tracked down Yao Ji and her family, hoping to secure Yang Jian and Yang Chan for the Western Teachings and obtain the future Lotus Lantern. After Haotian ordered Yao Ji’s arrest, Lu Tian intervened as Heavenly Soldiers moved to take her children away.

• The Western Teachings pledged to build a prosperous age for the West, while Haotian discovered that Yao Ji had disappeared from the Six Desire Heavens.
• Lu Tian learned of Yao Ji’s disappearance, sent out a search, and traveled east with the subdued beast Hou to find Yang Tianyou and Yao Ji.
• After three years of searching, Lu Tian found Yao Ji living with Yang Tianyou and their children in Yang Family Village.
• Haotian sent Giant Spirit God and Heavenly Soldiers to capture Yao Ji, who fled with her family before Yang Tianyou was killed and Yang Jiao, Yang Jian, and Yang Chan were caught.
• Lu Tian stopped the soldiers from taking Yang Jian and Yang Chan after knocking True Lord Yu Ding unconscious with the Human Emperor Seal.

Lu Tian rescued Yang Jiao, Yang Jian, and Yang Chan from Yu Ding’s scheme and accepted them as his disciples, then went to the Heavenly Court to explain his actions to Haotian. Haotian agreed to let Lu Tian see Yao Ji, who was brought into the hall.

• Lu Tian found the three Yang siblings after Yao Ji was captured and offered to take them west to study with Western Teachings; they accepted and became his disciples.
• Lu Tian gave Yang Jiao the Immortal Slaying Sword, Yang Jian the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Halberd, and Yang Chan the Red Silk.
• Lu Tian arrived at the Heavenly Court and told Haotian that Chan Sect and Yuanshi Tianzun had used Yao Ji and her children in a scheme; Haotian checked the Haotian Mirror and saw Yu Ding near Yang Family Village.
• Lu Tian asked Haotian for permission to visit Yao Ji and tell her that her children were safe; Haotian agreed on the condition that he accompany them.
• The Giant Spirit God brought Yao Ji into Lingxiao Palace.

Lu Tian reunited Yao Ji with news of her children and negotiated with Nuwa to make Yang Chan their shared disciple. Meanwhile, Yuanshi Tianzun learned that the Western Teachings had thwarted his plan for the Yang siblings and warned the Chan Sect to guard against them.

• Lu Tian told Yao Ji that Yang Jian and his siblings were safe, that Yang Tianyou served in the underworld, and that the children had become his disciples.
• Nuwa asked Lu Tian to let her take Yang Chan as a disciple, and they agreed to teach her together, with Yang Chan training at Spirit Mountain.
• Yang Chan formally accepted Nuwa as a master, received a spiritual treasure, and traveled west with Lu Tian, Nuwa, and her brothers.
• True Lord Yu Ding reported to Yuanshi Tianzun that an unknown attacker had injured him before he could take the Yang siblings as disciples.
• Yuanshi Tianzun suspected the Western Teachings, abandoned the failed plan, and warned the assembled Chan Sect disciples to protect their opportunities.
• Guangchengzi argued that, apart from Lu Tian and Black Tortoise, the Western Teachings posed little threat to the Chan Sect.

As the great calamity approached, Lu Tian learned that Shen Gongbao, a bearer of the Visage of the Flying Bear, had sought to join the Western Teachings. Lu Tian and the Western saints decided to keep their sect out of the conflict and use Shen Gongbao’s identity to bargain with the Chan and Jie Sects.

• Yuanshi gave his Chan Sect disciples spiritual treasures, while Tongtian Jiaozhu urged his Jie Sect disciples to rely on formations against the Chan Sect.
• After Da Yu’s era and the rise and fall of the Xia Dynasty, Yang Jiao and Yang Jian sparred in Lu Tian’s realm before Lu Tian sent them to study their techniques.
• Yang Chan asked about Yao Ji, and Sunlight Venerable told her that Haotian still held her mother prisoner in the Six Desire Heavens.
• Zhending reported that Shen Gongbao had sought to join Spirit Mountain and bore the Visage of the Flying Bear, prompting Lu Tian to ask about Jiang Ziya as well.
• Jieyin, Zhunti, Styx, and Lu Tian agreed not to accept Shen Gongbao and planned to reveal his identity in exchange for a Top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure.
• Lu Tian sent golden talismans to Jade Void Palace and Biyou Palace, and the two saints there were shocked by his message.

Yuanshi Tianzun and Tongtian Jiaozhu exchanged Top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures for a chance to recruit Shen Gongbao, whose Visage of the Flying Bear made him a coveted disciple. After Guangchengzi and Duobao competed to win him over, they agreed to train ordinary mortals for three months and compare their teachings, leaving Shen Gongbao eager to see the result.

• Yuanshi Tianzun offered the Void Box and Tongtian Jiaozhu offered the Golden Phoenix Hairpin, then sent Guangchengzi and Duobao to Spirit Mountain with the treasures.
• Lu Tian brought Guangchengzi and Duobao to Zhending and Shen Gongbao, who learned that he could choose between the Chan Sect and the Jie Sect.
• Guangchengzi and Duobao each gave Zhending a spiritual treasure, and Zhending judged the Jie Sect more sincere, prompting Guangchengzi to argue for the Chan Sect.
• Guangchengzi and Duobao agreed to select an ordinary mortal each and teach them for three months before judging which sect offered better guidance.
• Guangchengzi taught his chosen mortal the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Technique and magical treasures, while Duobao taught his chosen mortal Lightning Law and formations; both accelerated time to provide a hundred years of training.
• When the three months ended, Guangchengzi and Duobao prepared to compete, and Shen Gongbao watched with anticipation.

Shen Gongbao joined the Jie Sect after losing the contest, but the Grand Pure Sage also revealed a second bearer of the Visage of the Flying Bear, Jiang Ziya, and secured the Investiture of the Gods List. As the Sages prepared for the coming conflict between East and West, Lu Tian decided to travel east in person while his Evil Corpse remained in the underworld.

• Shen Gongbao lost to Duobao's lightning and joined the Jie Sect, while Guangchengzi returned to Jade Void Palace in defeat.
• The Grand Pure Sage brought Jiang Ziya, another bearer of the Visage of the Flying Bear, to Yuanshi Tianzun and proposed drawing the Western Teachings into the tribulation.
• The Grand Pure Sage and Yuanshi Tianzun agreed to involve Jiang Ziya in the conflict and reported his existence to Purple Cloud Palace.
• Hongjun summoned the Six Sages and awarded the Investiture of the Gods List to the Grand Pure Sage and the Divine Whip to Tongtian after learning both had accepted a bearer of the Flying Bear's fate.
• Jieyin and Zhunti warned their disciples to prepare for war, and Lu Tian announced that he would travel east while leaving his Evil Corpse in the underworld.

Lu Tian traveled east to strengthen his cultivation and recruit Xiao Sheng and Cao Bao into the underworld, while the eastern sects expanded their influence in the west. The Western Teachings responded by arranging a public Dao discussion at Two Realms Mountain, drawing the eastern Saints’ attention and setting the stage for a doctrinal contest.

• Lu Tian signed in at Wuyi Mountain and obtained the Golden Wheel of Merit, which increased his comprehension of the Buddhist Dao tenfold and brought him closer to severing his Good Corpse.
• Lu Tian recruited Xiao Sheng as a Yama King and Cao Bao as a judge, then left a restriction to save Randeng when Zhao Gongming later drove him to Two Immortals Ridge.
• Zhending reported that Daoists were gaining listeners in western cities, so Lu Tian ordered him to deploy followers to spread the Dharma, monitor the human race, and discipline abusive monks.
• Lu Tian proposed a public Dao discussion at Two Realms Mountain, and Human King Di Yi agreed to host an event inviting the Western Teachings and the eastern Three Sects.
• The announcement drew eastern Mystic Sect figures toward Two Realms Mountain, while Taishang and Yuanshi dismissed the Western Teachings’ challenge as premature.

Zhending led the Western Teachings to a narrow victory over the Mystic Gate at the Dao Discussion Assembly, while Taiching planned to undermine the Western Teachings from within. Lu Tian obtained a Merit Golden Cauldron and learned that Mystic Gate believers had taken over a Western Human city, which was being renamed Che Chi City.

• Di Yi opened the Dao Discussion Assembly at Two Realms Mountain, where Zhending debated Bai He Tong Zi and Huo Ling Sheng Mu into silence.
• The Western Teachings won a slight advantage over the Mystic Gate, gained prestige, and sent believers east to spread their faith.
• Taiching revealed that the Three Sects had followers in the west and planned to exploit the region's divisions while Great Shang remained vulnerable.
• Lu Tian received the Merit Golden Cauldron at Kongtong Mountain and tested it by refining a high-grade Houtian Spiritual Treasure from a phoenix feather.
• Zhending discovered that Mystic Gate followers had displaced the Western Teachings' believers in a western city and were gathering there to establish a sacred land called Che Chi City.

Lu Tian learned that Tongtian had secretly united most of the Eastern Human Race behind Jiang Chuheng, sharply increasing the Jie Teachings’ fortune and enraging Ta Qing and Yuanshi. Ta Qing and Yuanshi agreed to use a hidden network of Western feudal lords to provoke turmoil and turn the Western Teachings against Tongtian, while Lu Tian halted his journey to Golden Ao Island and watched the conflict take shape.

• Jieyin told Lu Tian that the Western Teachings had drawn the Mystic Sect into an encirclement to monitor and eventually assimilate it, then asked whether Lu Tian planned to visit Golden Ao Island.
• Lu Tian saw that the Jie Teachings’ fortune had nearly doubled and learned that over seventy percent of Eastern Human cities and feudal lords supported Jiang Chuheng as co-lord.
• Ta Qing and Yuanshi discovered that Jiang Chuheng had established the Jie Teachings as the Eastern Human Race’s state religion, and Yuanshi urged Ta Qing to join him in cleansing the East.
• Ta Qing rejected Yuanshi’s proposal and revealed that dozens of Great Shang’s feudal lords in the West followed the Human Teachings, proposing that their revolt be blamed on Tongtian to provoke the Western Teachings.
• Yuanshi agreed to cooperate with Ta Qing’s plan, while Tongtian declared that he no longer trusted his brothers and would protect the Jie Teachings.
• Lu Tian stopped in an Eastern city instead of continuing to Golden Ao Island, recognizing that Tongtian’s decisive actions had changed the balance among the sects.