Chapter Summaries

Fang Yun learned that the faith of all beings protected him from Emperor Land’s foul qi, while Four-Legged Black Snake revealed the dangers and treasures tied to its source. After hearing about the All Beings Spring, Fang Yun decided he wanted to go to the Source of Foul Qi despite Four-Legged Black Snake’s objections.

• Four-Legged Black Snake offered to take Fang Yun hunting silver fireflies, then tested how much foul qi Fang Yun had absorbed.
• Four-Legged Black Snake’s Divine Sense Seeds revealed that Fang Yun had no foul qi, while three of his own flower petals were tainted.
• Four-Legged Black Snake explained that the faith of at least a billion beings could dispel foul qi and that Fang Yun’s immense following likely protected him.
• Four-Legged Black Snake described the All Beings Spring in the dangerous Source of Foul Qi and the treasures carried by Great Wilderness Azure Dragon.
• Fang Yun insisted that he wanted to go to the Source of Foul Qi, despite Four-Legged Black Snake admitting he had tried to lure him elsewhere.

Fang Yun learned that reaching the Source of Foul Qi meant entering the Genesis World-Extinguishing Dragons’ lair, and he weighed obtaining the All Beings Spring against the danger of confronting them. He heard that the Emperor Race was losing ground to the dragons and their seemingly unkillable leader, then saw Hundred-Winged Tortoise-Dragon arrive with Di Gan, Di Lan, and other Emperor Race children.

• The Four-Legged Black Snake explained that the Source of Foul Qi lay beneath the Genesis Tree, inside the dangerous spacetime currents where the Genesis World-Extinguishing Dragons lived.
• Fang Yun learned that the All Beings Spring could greatly empower his literary world, but obtaining it would alert the dragons and might require defeating them.
• The Four-Legged Black Snake warned Fang Yun that the Genesis World-Extinguishing Dragons held the advantage in their war against the Emperor Race, led by the powerful World-Extinguishing Emperor Dragon.
• Fang Yun questioned how the Emperor Race could defeat a foe that could not be killed and could retreat to its protected lair, while the Four-Legged Black Snake explained the barriers to attacking the Genesis Tree.
• Hundred-Winged Tortoise-Dragon descended over the Great Empty Sea as Di Gan, Di Lan, and other Emperor Race children waved to Fang Yun and the Four-Legged Black Snake.

Fang Yun reached Di Ji’s residence and endured the Saint Ancestor’s powerful Sacred Way Rhythms as he approached. He entered the stone house under further pressure and found himself facing the vast Myriad Worlds Mountain Range.

• Fang Yun returned to the Emperor Race Tribe with the Four-Legged Black Snake, who astonished the children by showing them the Mysterious Tortoise Shell and Amber Qilin.
• Di Lan told Fang Yun that Di Ji was waiting for him, and Fang Yun left the Mysterious Tortoise Shell with the Four-Legged Black Snake to guard.
• The Four-Legged Black Snake let Great Sage Di Ting examine the shell, gaining his protection and the goodwill of the other Great Sages.
• Fang Yun was repeatedly thrown back by the force around Di Ji’s stone house, but he persisted for three days until he reached its entrance.
• Di Ji summoned Fang Yun inside, where Fang Yun struggled forward under the Saint Ancestor’s immense pressure and saw the Myriad Worlds Mountain Range.

Fang Yun met Di Ji in his stone house to ask for the Gou Emperor Armor, which he needed to return to his own time. After Fang Yun understood how Di Ji perceived the world, Di Ji agreed to let him take the armor.

• Fang Yun entered Di Ji's stone house and saw the Saint Ancestor amid immense Primordial Power.
• Fang Yun greeted Di Ji and asked to borrow the Gou Emperor Armor on behalf of an old acquaintance from Emperor Land.
• Di Ji said he could not see Fang Yun, whose presence lay beyond his perception across time, and Fang Yun explained what he had learned about the armor.
• Fang Yun realized he needed to understand the essence and laws Di Ji perceived rather than appearances, and recognized how this insight could guide his path to Saint Enfeoffment.
• Di Ji agreed to let Fang Yun take the Gou Emperor Armor, and Fang Yun thanked him.

Fang Yun learned that he could not take the Gou Emperor Armor until the Genesis World-Extinguishing Dragon Race was destroyed, and Di Ji told him only to wait. He discussed improving the Emperor Race’s Ten-Sage Battle Formation with Di Lan, then began demonstrating a different spear technique.

• Fang Yun asked Di Ji when he could take the Gou Emperor Armor, and Di Ji said it would be after the Genesis World-Extinguishing Dragon Race was destroyed.
• Fang Yun asked what the Emperor Race would do next, but Di Ji simply told him to wait; Fang Yun then left the stone house.
• Di Lan asked Fang Yun about his conversation with Di Ji, and Fang Yun told him that Di Ji had said, “Wait!”
• Fang Yun told Di Lan he needed to help destroy the Genesis World-Extinguishing Dragons so he could return home, and Di Lan said the Emperor Race would treat him as one of their own.
• Fang Yun watched ten young Half-Sages train in the Ten-Sage Battle Formation and told Di Lan that its spear techniques had shortcomings.
• Fang Yun enlarged his body, took an Emperor Race spear, and demonstrated the formation’s direct thrusts before preparing to show Di Lan his technique.

Fang Yun taught the Emperor Race a new way to fight and introduced them to the soft spear, which Di Han quickly mastered. Di Han ordered everyone below Great Sage to train with soft spears after seeing how much the weapon could improve his strength.

• Fang Yun sparred with Di Lan and showed him how thinking while fighting could give Half-Sages an advantage.
• Fang Yun suggested that the Emperor Race use soft spears, and Di Han authorized him to develop them with the armory.
• Fang Yun taught the adolescent Half-Sages to use the new weapons, but they struggled to adapt.
• Di Han began training and grasped the soft spear's techniques in one day, surpassing Fang Yun's skill.
• Di Han demonstrated the weapon's power and ordered everyone below Great Sage to practice with soft spears.

Fang Yun taught the Emperor Race the Soft Spear and was invited to join a hunt against Wildlings and savage monsters. While the young Half-Sages trained, he gathered jade to make a Mountain-Shaped Jade Artifact for the coming hunt.

• Di Lan invited Fang Yun to join the next hunt, and Fang Yun agreed while insisting that Four-Legged Black Snake come too.
• Di Lan said the hunting party would catch the Wildlings and savage monsters south of the Emperor Land after practicing the Soft Spear for a few days.
• The Emperor Race's young Half-Sages trained with long spears while Fang Yun stayed in the Primordial Stone House and tended the vegetable patch.
• Fang Yun demanded jade from Four-Legged Black Snake as compensation and selected pieces to make a Mountain-Shaped Jade Artifact.
• Four-Legged Black Snake said he had dug the jade from places where the Wildlings lived.

Fang Yun crafted mountain-shaped jade artifacts and discovered that each could absorb sacred sense only from the person whose heavenly aspect had been imprinted into it. While Di Lan tested his storm-shaped artifact, Fang Yun discovered that his miniature literary star had vanished, then calmed himself and went into the stone house to reconsider the loss.

• Fang Yun carved ten Red-Pattern Jade Artifacts and found that they absorbed all the sacred sense he could give them.
• Di Lan could not infuse Fang Yun's artifacts, so he made a new one by imprinting his Time Storm heavenly aspect into blood-rune jade.
• Di Lan successfully infused his storm-shaped artifact with his own sacred sense and saw a miniature tornado form on its surface.
• Fang Yun discovered that the miniature literary star in his Literary Palace had disappeared and struggled to control his shock and anger.
• Fang Yun sent Di Lan to test the artifact, soothed the worried Four-Legged Black Snake, and entered the stone house to cultivate.
• Fang Yun reflected that he had controlled his emotions despite the loss and decided to change how he viewed the missing literary star.

Fang Yun calmed his anger over the miniature Literary Star’s disappearance by examining his emotions and reconsidering the treasure’s importance, then discovered his literary guts had nearly reached the fourth realm. After five days of cultivation, he emerged and found the young Half-Sages had improved their battle formation as Di Lan called him to join a hunt.

• Fang Yun examined his anger and realized it came from fear of losing the miniature Literary Star, then used Memory Reversion to confirm it had vanished after he entered Emperor Land.
• Fang Yun accepted that the loss was not fatal to his future, set aside his distress, and resolved to focus on improving himself and helping the Emperor Race prepare for war.
• Fang Yun discovered that his literary guts had grown more crystalline and were close to entering the fourth realm, eternal immortality.
• Fang Yun spent five days and nights cultivating and restoring his Divine Sense while the Four-Legged Black Snake stayed nearby.
• Fang Yun saw that the young Half-Sages had mastered their spears and improved the Ten-Sage Battle Formation’s combat effectiveness by at least twenty percent.
• Di Lan flew over and excitedly called Fang Yun to go hunting.

Fang Yun joined the Emperor Race’s hunt of the Wildling Tribe and was put in charge of disciplining its adolescent Half-Sages. The chapter left him overseeing their chaotic attempt to form ranks, while several youths still refused to take the task seriously.

• Di Lan told Fang Yun that the Red-Pattern Jade Artifact doubled the power of Time Storm attacks, and Fang Yun agreed to join the hunt with Di Han leading.
• All 106 adolescent Half-Sages and ten Great Sages traveled with the Hundred-Winged Tortoise-Dragon to a concealed location behind a mountain.
• Fang Yun urged Di Han to organize the adolescents into ranks, warning that their lack of discipline could make them panic in battle.
• Di Han empowered Fang Yun to grow to twenty-five feet tall and ordered the adolescents to obey him.
• Fang Yun told the adolescents to form ranked lines, but while the top squad quickly complied, the other squads remained disorganized and two youths continued fooling around.

Fang Yun taught the Emperor Race youths the need for discipline and unity before battle, then guided Di Han and the Great Sages in planning their attack on the Wildling Tribe. The chapter ended with the Emperor Race studying Fang Yun’s battle plan before their assault.

• Di Han whipped the two Half-Sages who had turned around, and Di Ming carried them back to the tribe for treatment.
• Fang Yun explained to the Emperor Race youths that discipline, obedience, and unity would help them survive battle.
• Di Han reassured the youths by promising to catch them a Companion Star Beast, and the youths’ hostility toward him faded.
• Fang Yun asked Di Han to prepare a battle plan, and Di Han admitted that the Great Sages had little experience planning ordinary battles.
• Di Han formed a sand table of the Wildling Tribe, and Fang Yun taught the Emperor Race how to plan attack routes, contingencies, and timing.

Fang Yun taught the Emperor Race sages a detailed battle plan and led them toward a surprise attack on the Wildling Tribe. The young Half-Sages struck first, but the tribe’s Great Sage and an eight-legged beast emerged as the battle began.

• Fang Yun explained the battle plan to the sages, answered the young Half-Sages’ questions, and was named their Teacher.
• Fang Yun asked the Great Sages to agree to an additional task before the attack, then had everyone review the plan once more.
• Fang Yun led the Emperor Race toward the Wildling Tribe, while Di Han left the young Half-Sages to advance ahead of the Great Sages.
• The young Half-Sages used the river to bypass the sentries and attacked the Wildling Tribe in ten teams.
• The attack alerted the tribe, and the residence of its sole Great Sage exploded as a seven-zhang-tall Wildling and an eight-legged beast charged out.

Fang Yun’s contingency plan turned the Wildling Great Sages’ surprise attack against them as the Emperor Race teams coordinated their counterattack. The Emperor Race defeated the ambush, spared noncombatants, and demanded the surviving Wildlings surrender.

• The Eight-Legged Tiger Bull appeared and trapped four Great Sages behind his One-Realm Black Mountains, but the Emperor Race teams followed the countermeasure Fang Yun had planned and rehearsed.
• The first team used blood-rune jade and synchronized attacks to withstand the Wildman Great Sage’s hammer strike and charge at him.
• The second and third teams redirected their assault toward the Eight-Legged Tiger Ox Great Sage, blasted apart his saint body, and seized some of its fragments before he could reform.
• After three breaths, the four Great Sages broke through One-Realm Black Mountains and attacked the Wildling Tribe’s strongest Half-Sages while sparing its women, children, and elderly who had not attained sainthood.
• Di Han called on the surviving Wildlings to kneel and beg for mercy, warning that attackers would die.

Fang Yun led the Emperor Race to defeat the Wildlings and offered their tribe peace in exchange for resolving its final source of instability. The Wildman Great Sage accepted the offer, urged his people to live on, and burned himself to ash, leaving the tribe grieving and the Sages to search for threats.

• The Emperor Race’s squads overwhelmed the Wildman Great Sage and the Eight-Legged Tiger Ox Great Sage, then four Great Sages killed the Eight-Legged Tiger Ox Great Sage.
• Fang Yun honored the Wildman Great Sage and promised peace for his tribe once it resolved its final source of instability.
• The Wildman Great Sage accepted Fang Yun’s offer and told his people to resist deceit but avoid futile battles if the Emperor Race kept its oath.
• The Wildman Great Sage burned himself to ash, and the Wildlings wept as some young Half-Sages felt compassion for them.
• The Emperor Race’s Great Sages searched the tribe, found cellars, captured several Wildlings, and discovered treasures but no potential threats.

Fang Yun rebuked the Emperor Race Saints for neglecting basic precautions after battle, then organized them to secure the Wildling tribe and review their mistakes. He explained that they needed to extend their analysis beyond the battle and anticipate future threats, leaving the Saints to consider his principle of Myriad Laws Interconnection.

• Fang Yun scolded the Emperor Race Saints for failing to treat the wounded, inspect corpses, search buildings, patrol, sort spoils, and review the battle.
• Fang Yun ordered the Half-Sage captains to assign tasks, and the Saints searched the tribe, inspected bodies, guarded the area, and inventoried the spoils.
• A supposedly dead Wildling Half-Sage ambushed an Emperor Race Half-Sage before the others chased him down and killed him.
• Di Han ordered the young Half-Sages to record what happened and follow their teacher's instructions in future battles.
• Fang Yun led the captains through a post-battle review and concluded that the Emperor Race lacked planning skills because the living beings of the era had not fully evolved them.
• Fang Yun taught the Saints that battle analysis must include Extended Deduction of future enemies, reinforcements, dangers, and opportunities, guided by Myriad Laws Interconnection.

Fang Yun taught the Emperor Race saints about Myriad Laws Interconnection and how to build systems of knowledge, then explained why the Emperor Race should spare and support the Wildlings. Di Han vowed to report Fang Yun’s strategy to the Saint Ancestors and recommend him as the clan’s teacher.

• Di Han, Di Lan, and several Emperor Race saints grasped Myriad Laws Interconnection, while Fang Yun explained that others first needed to develop foundational systems in areas they understood.
• At Di Han’s request, Di Lan deduced that the Wildling Tribe had more than ten Half-Sages and traded with nearby strange beasts, so the Emperor Race should also deal with the Eight-Legged Tiger-Cow Tribe.
• Fang Yun praised Di Lan’s deductions, and Di Lan proudly accepted the recognition.
• Fang Yun explained that the Emperor Race should preserve weaker Wildlings and support their tribe to gain resources, intelligence, allies, and future administrators.
• Di Han promised to report the strategy to the Saint Ancestors and recommend that they enfeoff Fang Yun as the clan’s teacher.

Fang Yun earned the Emperor Race's recognition as a peerless strategist, and Di Han made the Wildling Tribe vassals under the new name Weapon Race. After Fang Yun laid out a plan to assimilate them and expand the Emperor Race's influence, he led a force against the Eight-Legged Tiger-Cow Tribe.

• Di Han explained that Fang Yun's abilities merited the title of Emperor Race Tutor, and the Sages recognized the value of his contributions.
• Di Han placed the Wildling Tribe under the Emperor Race, and Fang Yun supported naming them the Weapon Race.
• Fang Yun proposed educating and assimilating the Weapon Race, bringing more Wildling tribes under control, and using military victories to strengthen their loyalty.
• Di Han had the Sages rehearse Fang Yun's plan, answer their questions, and divide up their next operations.
• Fang Yun and Di Han led six squads of Half-Sages to attack the Eight-Legged Tiger-Cow Tribe, where the Emperor Race won a sweeping victory.

After the hunt, Fang Yun warned the Emperor Race that its enemies were secretly uniting and taught them to manage the Weapon Race as well as fight. He became an instructor with Great Sage authority, agreed to spar with the Star Shepherd, and discovered that the Emperor Race children were plotting to take revenge.

• The young Half-Sages discovered that Emperor Land tribes were secretly joining forces, and Fang Yun rebuked them for killing the Eight-Legged Tiger Bulls without questioning any prisoners.
• Di Han returned with four Great Sages after tracking down survivors, and Fang Yun advised the Emperor Race to relocate the Weapon Race after excavating the nearby Red-Patterned Jade Mines.
• Di Han summoned the Hundred-Winged Tortoise-Dragon, and the Saints returned to find the Emperor Race children sulking after repeated losses to the Star Shepherd.
• The Great Sage Conference appointed Fang Yun as an instructor with authority equal to a Great Sage, and he agreed to spar with the Star Shepherd to learn Star Script.
• Di Gan and the other children plotted to take the Hundred-Winged Tortoise-Dragon to the Seven Linked Stars, then went to Di He’s stone house and burst into tears.

Fang Yun made the Emperor Race prepare a detailed plan for its journey to the Seven Linked Stars after the children secured permission to seek revenge on the Star Shepherd. He left the tribe’s sages, children, and Four-Legged Black Snake drawing up and rehearsing plans under threat of punishment.

• Fang Yun apologized to the two young Half-Sages, who admitted their mistakes and asked him not to leave them behind next time.
• Fang Yun buried Sainthood-rank flesh and blood in the vegetable garden, and Four-Legged Black Snake grew jealous and pissed on the green vine again.
• Di Gan told Fang Yun that the Saint Ancestors had agreed to take the tribe to the Seven Linked Stars to seek revenge on the Star Shepherd, and Di Lan confirmed it.
• Fang Yun insisted that the tribe make a travel plan, and Di Lan and Di Han gathered the Half-Sages and Great Sages to prepare one.
• Fang Yun ordered the children and sages to draft, check, and rehearse their plans, then told Four-Legged Black Snake to do the same or face hunger and a whipping.

Fang Yun had the Emperor Race draw up and refine a detailed battle plan before the Hundred-Winged Tortoise-Dragon carried them safely through the storms and Void. They reached the Seven Linked Stars, where the six red planets opened ominous fissures as they approached.

• Four-Legged Black Snake began drafting a plan after Di Han threatened him, while Di Gan was beaten for submitting a plan that only said they would go “pew” and come back “pew.”
• Fang Yun asked Di Lan what had mattered most in their previous battle plan, and Di Lan identified unexpected situations and ways to handle them.
• Fang Yun reviewed the revised plans, and Di Han combined them into a course of action that let the Emperor Race finish preparations a day early.
• Di He authorized the Hundred-Winged Tortoise-Dragon to depart, and Di Han left three sages behind to guide the Ice Clan in mining red-pattern jade.
• The Hundred-Winged Tortoise-Dragon carried the Emperor Race through the storms above Emperor Land and across the Void while Fang Yun studied her Spatial Transposition.
• The group reached the Seven Linked Stars, and the six red planets split open to reveal dark fissures that made Fang Yun feel threatened.