Chapter Summaries

After surviving the First Tribulation of the Deva Path Reincarnation Tribulation, Basara consumed three more Chakra Fruits and offered Yu a place in his clan. Yu refused to abandon his people or his freedom, and Basara prepared to fight him.

• Basara survived the First Tribulation, gained Dao Communion, and consumed the fourth, fifth, and sixth Chakra Fruits.
• Yu arrived through Kamui and saw that Basara had already overcome the tribulation.
• Basara invited Yu to join his clan, promising to share rule of Takamagahara and treat the godfolk of Reed Plain Country as equals.
• Yu rejected Basara's offer, saying he would not abandon his people or live beneath the Progenitor Gods.
• Basara condemned Yu and challenged him to settle their disagreement through strength.

Yu fought Basara, who used his communion with the Heavenly Dao and a series of calamities to overwhelm him. Yu severed Basara’s connection long enough to gain the upper hand, but Basara summoned thousands of past versions of himself, leaving Yu in danger.

• Basara used Dao Communion Art to scatter Yu’s Great Fireball and wound his Diamond Body, then claimed he had transcended the four notions of self, humanity, sentient beings, and lifespan.
• Yu challenged Basara’s claim to have escaped those notions, making Basara doubt his enlightenment before he unleashed five calamities against Yu.
• Yu used Shikigami: Causal Severance to cut Basara’s synchronization with the Heavenly Dao and struck him with a Great Infinite Lord God Rasengan.
• Basara countered with his own Great Infinite Rasengan, but Yu’s attack prevailed and drove Basara toward the horizon, damaging his divine body.
• Basara activated Death Butterfly Imprint and revealed that it had created 1,801 real versions of him, prompting Ryushiki to call for Ikaruga.

Madara joined Yu against Basara, who wielded Amenominaka’s spacetime strings and then unleashed the Five-Direction Calamities. Yu unsettled Basara’s communion with the Deva Path and broke through his attack, but Basara staked his life on a world-destroying sphere as Yu invoked Nirvana Without Remainder.

• Madara arrived from the Space-Time Dimension and destroyed the butterflies that had not yet transformed, while Yu helped him fend off Basara’s All-Killing Red Bones.
• Basara attacked Yu with Amenominaka spacetime strings that assimilated matter, but Yu copied the technique and Kamui helped his strings hold Basara’s at bay.
• Basara unleashed the Five-Direction Calamities, while Yu used Dragon Abyss Palm to resist and Basara’s doubts about shedding the four notions disrupted his communion with the Deva Path.
• Yu shattered Basara’s calamities and charged him, prompting Basara to sacrifice his Amenominaka shikigami and thirty-six worlds to form a sphere capable of destroying Heaven Beyond Heaven and Takamagahara.
• Yu declared that he carried the world’s fate and invoked Great Lord Divine Art-Nirvana Without Remainder.

Yu sacrificed his Great Lord God divinity to unleash a World-Destroying Rasengan against Basara, and their clash devastated Takamagahara. Yu defeated Basara’s self in the Seventh Space-Time, but Basara revealed that six other selves remained before a terrifying power descended and he addressed the Hannya King.

• Yu entered Nirvana with Remainder, drawing power from the Gion Monastery to strengthen his World-Destroying Rasengan, while Basara unleashed his First Rasengan of Creation.
• The collision froze Heaven Beyond Heaven, and Yu used Kamui to free Madara so he could evacuate the survivors from Takamagahara.
• Madara destroyed the six Heavenly Gods manifested through Death Butterfly Imprint and fled with the survivors, while the ensuing blast annihilated Takamagahara and Kankuro.
• Yu and Basara faced each other in Basara’s Ever-Still Light Pure Land, where Basara admitted that Yu had defeated only one of his seven selves.
• Basara questioned Yu about the source of energy behind multiversal unicity, then an immense external power swallowed his Pure Land, and he called upon the Hannya King.

Chapter Summary: “Heaven-and-Earth Showdown Comes to a Close”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Basara’s innate Pure Land is overwhelmed by darkness as a manifestation of Yamato Takeru’s Hannya King appears. Basara explains that Isshiki’s seven spacetime realms divide Shikigami into seven portions, meaning the Yamato Takeru possessed by Basara is only one fragment.
• The Hannya King demands that Yu surrender Amenonakanushi’s Shikigami, promising to spare him. Yu refuses and attacks, combining Susanoo with Shock Release and Dragon Abyss.
• The attack fails completely. Yamato Takeru’s immense defensive power destroys both Susanoo and Yu’s Shikigami, while Yu survives only because of his Diamond Body.
• Basara reveals that his uncle has undergone the Deva Path Reincarnation Tribulation twice and that Yamato Takeru benefits from a perfected Dharma-Identical Body and a Diamond Body stronger than the theoretical Twelfth Stage. Yu realizes the overwhelming gap between them.
• As Basara dissolves, he urges Yu to submit and join his clan. Yu rejects the offer, declaring that surrendering his freedom would make it impossible for him ever to stand tall again.
• Yamato Takeru unleashes the Prajna Palm. Its force tears apart the spacetime of Reed Plain Country and pursues Yu through a massive wormhole.
• Facing certain death, Yu reflects on his life, remembering his transformation from a disappointed young man into a powerful but once-reckless figure who eventually found love, family, friendship, and a purpose protecting all living beings.
• Yu sees Yang Yan in his final moments and expresses his love and regret. She answers that she will follow him in life or death.
• At the last instant, a Yomotsu Hirasaka opens and a white ribbon pulls both Yu and Yang Yan away. Youtan Poluo then attacks from the Netherworld with the Corpse Qi Underworld Wave, destroying the Prajna Palm and rescuing them.
• Two mysterious supreme wills reveal that the rescue was unexpected but that their larger plan succeeded: a “neutron star” has been planted beside Youtan Poluo and can be detonated later. They announce that a great war spanning all spacetime is approaching.
• Yu awakens in the Pure Land, badly injured but alive. Tongtong playfully revives or tends to him with a dew-covered willow branch, while Subichini confirms that he is in the Pure Land.

Character Developments

• Yu demonstrates absolute resistance to coercion. Even when faced with certain death, he refuses to sacrifice his freedom or dignity by joining Basara’s clan.
• His near-death reflection shows how far he has matured. He recognizes that his earlier ambition and recklessness were transformed by the bonds he formed and by his responsibility toward others.
• Yu’s feelings for Yang Yan become fully acknowledged. He remembers her as the most unforgettable person in his life and openly expresses his love before believing he is about to die.
• Basara remains Yu’s enemy but displays genuine admiration and sympathy. He respects Yu’s courage and even grieves that Yu and Youtan Poluo must suffer, though he is unable to save them.
• Yamato Takeru is established as an overwhelmingly powerful divine weapon, protected by a Diamond Body far beyond Yu’s current ability to withstand.
• Youtan Poluo reveals her willingness to violate an agreement and risk intervention from a higher power in order to save Yu, emphasizing the depth of her attachment and her importance in the coming conflict.
• Yang Yan confirms her unwavering devotion to Yu, promising to remain with him even in death.
• Tongtong provides a lighthearted contrast after the battle, signaling Yu’s survival and the temporary return of safety.

Significant Themes

• Freedom versus submission: Yu chooses death over surrender, asserting that dignity and independence are more valuable than survival without freedom.
• Love and human bonds: Yu’s memories show that his greatest achievements are not power or conquest, but the relationships that gave his life meaning.
• Sacrifice and responsibility: Yu accepts death after spending his life fighting for others, yet the sacrifices of those who love him ultimately prevent his death.
• Powerlessness before higher forces: The battle emphasizes the enormous hierarchy of power surrounding the spacetime realms and shows that even Yu’s strongest techniques are inadequate against Yamato Takeru.
• Fate and larger conspiracies: Yu’s rescue is connected to a vast strategic plan involving Youtan Poluo, the Basaras, and an impending war across all spacetime.
• Hope after apparent death: The chapter moves from despair and farewell to rescue and awakening, ending the volume on survival while foreshadowing greater turmoil.

Character Interactions

• Yu and Basara engage in a final ideological exchange: Basara advocates submission as practical survival, while Yu insists that freedom is worth any cost.
• Yu confronts Yamato Takeru directly but is decisively defeated, establishing the terrifying strength of the Hannya King’s manifestation.
• Yu and Yang Yan share an emotional farewell in which both confess their enduring love and promise not to abandon one another.
• Youtan Poluo intervenes without directly appearing, using the Netherworld’s power to save Yu and Yang Yan despite the risks.
• Tongtong’s playful treatment of Yu contrasts with the preceding tragedy, while Subichini calmly explains that Yu has been brought to the Pure Land.
  Ending: Yu survives the Heaven-and-Earth Showdown and awakens in the Pure Land, but the revelation of an approaching war across all spacetime sets up the next volume, Primordial True Relic.

Chapter Summary: Tale of the Progenitor Gods, Pure Land

Key Plot Points and Events

• Yu and Yang Yan arrive in the Pure Land, the Netherworld’s highest sacred realm. Unlike Yomi, it is a peaceful paradise where souls enjoy freedom from reincarnation’s suffering. Those with unfinished desires may choose rebirth, with priority access to the favorable paths of Deva, Asura, or Human.
• The chapter reveals the reason Yang Yan disappeared after the battle of Yellow Springs. Sahachi of the Ōtsutsuki clan struck her with the Amanokahokaka Shikigami, erasing her presence from everyone’s perception. Its additional rule, Unspeakable, caused misfortune to anyone who revealed the truth to the affected person.
• Sahachi intended to use the technique to frame Yu, but Subichini killed him before he could complete the plan. Even Yu, despite his bond with Yang Yan, eventually forgot her.
• Yang Yan continued following Yu invisibly, acting as his devoted companion throughout his daily life and military campaigns. Yu’s temporary ability to perceive her during a near-death experience resulted from his altered mental state and the Hannya King’s Progenitor God power entering his body.
• On their seventh day in the Pure Land, Yu and Yang Yan reunite fully and resume their romantic relationship.
• Subichini explains that the Pure Land’s plants, rivers, and landscapes house the souls of the dead. The bliss they experience is said to be tens of thousands of times greater than physical pleasure, making most souls unwilling to reincarnate.
• Tongtong accidentally crushes a flower containing a soul. Yu touches the resulting butterfly and witnesses that soul’s twenty-seven mortal lives. Moved by its fate, he allows it to merge with the earth, where it becomes a pine tree.
• The chapter foreshadows that this pine tree will later become the key to overcoming Yu’s final battle.
• The Netherworld’s Eight Messengers suddenly arrive together, signaling a major event. Datsueba tells Yu that Tongtong’s mother wishes to meet him.
• Yu realizes that Youtan Poluo, supreme ruler of the Netherworld and a being comparable to the Root King, is finally prepared to summon him formally.

Character Developments

• Yu finally regains Yang Yan and finds emotional peace after the trauma of war, separation, and forgetting her. His encounter with the butterfly soul also shows his compassion and growing ability to perceive the significance of individual lives.
• Yang Yan shifts from an erased and helpless presence into Yu’s openly restored lover. Her devotion during the period when Yu could not remember her emphasizes the depth of their bond.
• Subichini continues to serve as a guide and protector, explaining the nature of the Pure Land and helping Yu understand its inhabitants.
• Tongtong remains playful and mischievous, but her connection to the mysterious summons reveals that she is closely tied to Youtan Poluo.
• Youtan Poluo remains offstage, but her immense authority and relationship to Tongtong become increasingly important.

Significant Themes

• Love overcoming oblivion: Yu and Yang Yan’s reunion demonstrates that their bond survives even supernatural memory erasure and enforced separation.
• Memory, identity, and perception: Yang Yan’s existence is erased from collective awareness, raising questions about whether a person can remain real when no one remembers them.
• Death as peace rather than punishment: The Pure Land is portrayed as a genuine paradise, contrasting with the suffering of reincarnation and the horror of Yomi.
• Cycles of life and the meaning of reincarnation: Most souls prefer eternal bliss, while only those with powerful ambitions or unresolved convictions choose to return to the mortal world.
• Fate and delayed significance: The soul that becomes a pine tree illustrates how seemingly minor events may later determine the outcome of major struggles.
• Foreshadowing and impending revelation: The arrival of all Eight Messengers indicates that Yu is approaching a crucial confrontation or revelation involving the Netherworld’s supreme deity.

Character Interactions

• Yu and Yang Yan: Their restored intimacy and shared happiness form the emotional center of the chapter.
• Yu and Subichini: Subichini explains the Pure Land’s nature while teasing Yang Yan about its overwhelming bliss.
• Yang Yan and Subichini: Their exchange is playful and flirtatious, with Yang Yan reacting shyly to Subichini’s provocative description of the Pure Land.
• Tongtong and the group: Tongtong’s prank disrupts the courtyard and accidentally reveals the spiritual nature of the Pure Land’s plants.
• Yu and the butterfly soul: Yu briefly connects with the soul’s memories, responds with compassion, and helps it take on a new form as a pine tree.
• Yu and the Eight Messengers: Their arrival creates tension and anticipation. Datsueba delivers the summons that confirms Yu must finally meet Tongtong’s mother, Youtan Poluo.

Yu met Youtan Poluo in the Pure Land and asked her about the Progenitor Gods and the limits of divine power. She explained that the One True Gods had merged with the Great Dao but had not transcended it, and that a Supreme God might be able to travel between worlds.

• The Eight Envoys led Yu and Tongtong to an open clearing, where Youtan Poluo manifested a vast Yama Dharma Body.
• Youtan Poluo created a Form Body resembling Uzuki Yangyan, startling Yu, then greeted him as the Eight Envoys paid their respects.
• Yu thanked Youtan Poluo for helping him and asked her to explain the Progenitor Gods.
• Youtan Poluo explained that fourteen Progenitor Gods existed across seven spacetime continuums and that they endured as long as the Heavenly Dao did.
• Youtan Poluo said she and Hanging Root had reached the One True God realm by merging with the Great Dao, and suggested a Supreme God might cross between Yu's original world and this one.

Youtan Poluo explained the One True Gods and their Divine Domains, warning Yu that becoming humanity’s One True God would be extraordinarily difficult. Yu insisted Mitsuki Country would be his Divine Domain and persuaded Youtan Poluo to show him some sincerity, leaving with her as Tongtong stopped Yang Yan from following.

• Youtan Poluo revealed that the Creation Bell had rung on the day Yu crossed into this world, and Yu realized she and Root King had known of his arrival.
• Youtan Poluo explained that Root King was heaven’s One True God, she was earth’s, and Yu could attain humanity’s rank through the Great Lord God of Reed Plains.
• Youtan Poluo told Yu that a One True God was invincible within a fixed Divine Domain, and Yu chose Mitsuki Country as the place where he would attain his Dao.
• Yu asked Youtan Poluo to help him ascend, then demanded sincerity after complaining that she expected him to work without rewarding him.
• Youtan Poluo agreed to take Yu with her, while Tongtong stopped Yang Yan from following and said the matter concerned her existence.

Chapter Summary

Plot and Key Events

• On the Naraku River in the Pure Land, Yu questions Youtan Poluo about the origins of Shinto, the Divine Tree, and the Chakra Fruit. She explains that the fruit was not essential to achieving immortality, but served as a shortcut that overcame the limitations imposed by the Soul Rings.
• Youtan Poluo reveals that her foundation was equal to Root King’s, but she pursued the fruit to accelerate her progress and to exploit the Ōtsutsuki Clan’s growing dependence on the Rinnegan.
• She explains that her Yama Dharma Body allowed her to control life and death within the Netherworld. By synchronizing it with the Rinnegan, she could make the Ōtsutsuki invoke her power and thereby place their lives under her authority.
• She clarifies that the Chakra Fruit does not expand a person’s inherent capacity; it only unlocks what is already present. Death from consuming the fruit results from insufficient capacity, while Karma can alter and expand that capacity. Ryushiki humorously assumes Youtan Poluo’s praise refers to him.
• The group arrives at Paradise Island, Youtan Poluo’s secluded cultivation realm. She seals the island away from the outside world and brings Yu into a sparse dwelling.
• Instead of teaching Yu how to become the One True God, Youtan Poluo reveals that Tongtong was conceptually created as the daughter of both herself and Yu. Tongtong’s continued existence depends on Yu surviving.
• Youtan Poluo prevents Yu from escaping by disabling his space-time techniques. She then begins transforming her body and declares her intention to alter Yu’s sex rather than consummate a conventional relationship.
• Yu panics, rejects the situation, invokes his promise to remain faithful to Xue’er, and begs Ryushiki for help. Ryushiki disconnects, leaving Yu helpless as the chapter ends.

Character Developments

• Youtan Poluo is further established as extraordinarily knowledgeable, calculating, and willing to manipulate others to protect Tongtong. Her past experimentation with the Chakra Fruit reflects both ambition and strategic thinking.
• Yu demonstrates a stronger grasp of Shinto’s principles but remains emotionally overwhelmed by Youtan Poluo’s revelations and coercive actions. His loyalty to Xue’er is emphasized.
• Ryushiki continues his transformation from subordinate into an increasingly cheeky and independent character, though he abandons Yu at the worst possible moment.
• Tongtong gains greater metaphysical significance: she is not merely Youtan Poluo’s daughter, but a conceptual existence tied directly to Yu’s life.

Significant Themes

• Innate potential versus acquired power: The Chakra Fruit cannot create capacity, only unlock or realize what already exists.
• Shortcuts and destiny: Immortality and divine power can be reached through different paths, though shortcuts may carry severe limitations or consequences.
• Life, death, and existence: Youtan Poluo’s power and Tongtong’s origin challenge ordinary ideas of birth, parentage, and mortality.
• Manipulation and control: Youtan Poluo’s control over the Ōtsutsuki—and now Yu—shows how knowledge and metaphysical power can override personal freedom.
• Comic relief amid cosmic revelations: Ryushiki’s banter and sudden abandonment of Yu contrast with the chapter’s serious theological and existential revelations.

Important Character Interactions

• Yu persistently questions Youtan Poluo, prompting her explanations about the Chakra Fruit, Karma, and the Soul Rings.
• Yu and Ryushiki exchange teasing insults, with Ryushiki proudly interpreting Youtan Poluo’s comments as praise.
• Youtan Poluo confronts Yu with the shocking claim that he is Tongtong’s other parent, turning their intellectual discussion into a deeply personal conflict.
• Yu attempts to reason, escape, and appeal to both Youtan Poluo and Ryushiki, but Youtan Poluo remains in control and Ryushiki ultimately refuses to intervene.

Yu endured Youtan Poluo’s assault and learned more about her plans for the Rinnegan and the Deva Path Reincarnation Tribulation. She brought him to a mysterious door, promising that someone unexpected waited beyond it.

• Youtan Poluo humiliated Yu and revealed that Tongtong was their daughter, while Yu vowed to get revenge once he regained his original form.
• Youtan Poluo explained how she used Naraka Path Pain’s power against the Ōtsutsuki, placed the Outer Path technique in the Rinnegan, and chose Jia Ermi and Teacher Ubiji as pawns.
• Yu asked about the First Tribulation of the Deva Path Reincarnation Tribulation, and Youtan Poluo explained the Formless Tribulation and the distinction between Conditioned and Unconditioned Dharma.
• Youtan Poluo led Yu through a door on the shore and told him someone unexpected was waiting beyond it, leaving him apprehensive about who he would find.

Chapter Summary: “Running Toward Each Other”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Riu enters Jeta Grove, a beautiful bamboo-filled sanctuary where Youtan Poluo tells him that someone is waiting for him deep inside.
• He suspects the mysterious “gift” is connected to Obito, possibly even Obito’s soul.
• Riu repeatedly triggers a trap-like battle technique called the Dark Thunder Scenario, which transports him into preset combat spaces and forces him either to answer questions or fight black monsters.
• The monsters’ questions become increasingly personal and absurd:
  • Riu truthfully identifies himself, but the answer is rejected.
  • He denies being afraid of mirrors, though he privately admits he fears confronting the guilt surrounding Obito’s stolen identity and life.
  • He gives deliberately provocative answers about his romantic experiences, only to discover that some answers are impossible to satisfy.
  • He correctly answers that the woman he loves most is himself, suggesting that self-preservation or self-love may be the hidden standard.
  • When questioned about saving his wives, he points out the false premise.
  • The final monster asks an embarrassing question involving bodily urges, causing Riu to destroy it immediately.
• After the trial, Riu sees an undignified but unmistakable sign that someone has deliberately laid a “sweet trap” for him. Overcome with emotion, he rushes forward.
• Because Jeta Grove is symmetrically arranged, Obito is approaching from the opposite direction and undergoing a parallel trial.
• The chapter ends with the two finally meeting and embracing. Riu calls him “Tobi,” while Obito enthusiastically shouts, “Banzai!”

Character Developments

• Riu: His confidence and overwhelming strength remain clear, as he destroys each monster with ease, but his emotional vulnerability becomes increasingly exposed. He feels deep guilt over taking Obito’s life and fears being confronted by his own reflection and the moral consequences of his actions. Despite his anxiety, his longing for Obito ultimately overcomes his caution.
• Obito/Tobi: He remains physically absent for most of the chapter but dominates the emotional and narrative focus. The trials appear to reflect his personality, humor, or will, suggesting that he is preparing a teasing yet affectionate reunion for Riu.
• Youtan Poluo: She acts as the enigmatic guide who directs Riu toward the encounter while warning him that reaching Obito will not be easy.

Significant Themes

• Guilt and identity: Riu’s fear of the mirror symbolizes his anxiety that, beneath his heroic actions, he remains someone who took another person’s identity and future.
• Truth versus self-deception: The questioning trials expose the gap between Riu’s spoken answers and his private feelings. His refusal to admit fear contrasts with his genuine emotional turmoil.
• Humor amid emotional pain: The absurd questions and slapstick obstacles undercut the serious themes, reflecting the playful nature of Riu and Obito’s relationship.
• Reunion and acceptance: Riu ultimately stops resisting the encounter and runs toward it, accepting both the pain and joy associated with seeing Obito again.
• Mutual longing: The symmetrical trials show that both men are actively moving toward one another, making the final embrace a shared emotional resolution rather than a one-sided pursuit.

Character Interactions

• Riu and Youtan Poluo interact briefly, with her cryptic warning heightening his suspicion and anticipation.
• Riu engages in repeated confrontations with the black monsters, treating their questions as psychological games and responding with a mixture of honesty, irritation, sarcasm, and violence.
• The central interaction is the final reunion between Riu and Obito/Tobi: after their parallel journeys through the grove, they embrace, signaling affection, reconciliation, and the restoration of their bond.

Yu reunited with Tobi and learned that Youtan Poluo had arranged Shikaku Nara’s death and kept him in the Pure Land. Youtan Poluo directed Yu to undergo the First Tribulation at Jeta Grove, where Yu realized that the Formless Tribulation required him to let go of attachment and trust his innate nature.

• Yu joyfully reunited with Tobi, then was astonished to find Shikaku Nara alive in the Pure Land.
• Shikaku explained that Youtan Poluo had kept him from reincarnating and had secretly caused his deaths across multiple timelines.
• Youtan Poluo revealed that he had given Tobi a soul and rebuilt his body so Tobi could enter the Pure Land.
• Yu thanked Youtan Poluo, and they exchanged teasing remarks before Youtan Poluo instructed Yu to begin the First Tribulation at Jeta Grove.
• Youtan Poluo explained that Yu’s insistence on undergoing the tribulation in Reed Plain Country reflected attachment, and Yu realized that he himself was reincarnation.
• Youtan Poluo vanished with Shikaku and Tobi, leaving Yu to face the Formless Tribulation at Jeta Grove.

Chapter Summary: The Originator’s Tale: The Five Aggregates Are Empty

Key Plot Points and Events

• At Jeta Grove, Yu undergoes the first stage of the Deva Path Reincarnation Tribulation: the Formless Tribulation.
• The tribulation manifests as countless blazing aggregates of wind, lightning, water, fire, and earth. Yu’s techniques—Susanoo and Yamato Takeru—are ineffective, while even his Diamond Body can barely endure.
• Realizing that brute-force resistance is impossible, Yu seeks to understand the tribulation’s true meaning: shattering forms by recognizing their emptiness.
• Yu understands intellectually that emptiness means releasing attachment rather than destroying the self, but he struggles emotionally. His identity, divine status, powers, loved ones, and mission are all attachments that have shaped his life.
• This creates a paradox: he must let go of attachment, but the desire to let go is itself another attachment. As the tribulation intensifies, his body is destroyed until only his golden skeleton remains.
• At the point of death, Yu enters a spiritual realm and encounters a mysterious version of himself previously known as “The Never-Surrendering Me.”
• The figure reveals that he is Yu’s Buddha-nature, or innate true nature/divinity.
• Through their dialogue, Yu realizes that letting go does not mean abandoning his identity, relationships, or responsibilities. It means accepting their arising and passing without clinging to them.
• Yu accepts that all things emerge and disappear through causes and conditions, and that even his resistance and unwillingness are part of this process.
• His Buddha-nature merges back into him. Yu releases his attachment to the names “Riu” and “Uchiha Riu,” while still choosing to fulfill his purpose: giving the world a final answer.
• In the physical world, the Five Aggregates become empty. The tribulation manifestations collapse, and Yu’s destroyed body completely regenerates.
• Yu emerges with a calm, joyful clarity born from enlightenment rather than from gaining power.

Character Developments

• Yu evolves from someone defined by identity, power, resistance, and the desire to protect others into someone capable of acting without being bound by attachment.
• He confronts the fear that releasing his attachments would mean losing himself or becoming equivalent to death.
• Yu ultimately recognizes that letting go does not erase who he is. His past attachments contributed to his present self, but they do not possess permanent or absolute reality.
• His encounter with Buddha Yu represents the integration of his own innate wisdom. The former “Never-Surrendering Me” is revealed not merely as a source of perseverance, but as the enlightened nature already present within him.
• Yu’s final state is not emotional detachment or indifference. He still intends to protect the world and fulfill his mission, but he will do so without clinging to identity, outcomes, or fear.

Significant Themes

• Emptiness and non-attachment: Forms, identities, and experiences lack permanent independent existence. To see their emptiness is to stop clinging to them, not to destroy them.
• The paradox of attachment: Yu’s strength and accomplishments came from his attachments, yet those same attachments now obstruct his enlightenment.
• Identity and the self: Names such as “Riu” and “Uchiha Riu” are treated as temporary designations rather than fixed realities. The self exists conventionally, but not as an unchanging essence.
• Dependent origination: Everything arises and perishes according to causes and conditions. Acceptance of this process is presented as the path beyond suffering.
• Acceptance versus passivity: Letting go does not mean abandoning responsibility. Yu can release his attachment to outcomes while still choosing to act when action is necessary.
• Death and rebirth: Yu’s willingness to accept even his own destruction allows him to overcome the tribulation and be physically reborn.
• Inner enlightenment: The Buddha-nature is not an external savior but an aspect of Yu himself, revealed when his delusions and attachments fall away.

Character Interactions

• Yu and the Five Aggregates: The tribulation physically and spiritually attacks him, forcing him to confront the limits of resistance and the nature of attachment.
• Yu and Buddha Yu: Their conversation forms the chapter’s central philosophical exchange. Buddha Yu challenges Yu’s fear of death and insistence on controlling outcomes, teaching him that true freedom comes when he no longer clings even to the act of letting go.
• Yu and his former identities: Yu reassesses “Riu” and “Uchiha Riu,” concluding that these identities are useful names but not permanent truths.
• Yu and Buddha Yu’s union: Their fist bump and subsequent merging symbolize Yu’s realization that wisdom and enlightenment were always within him, rather than something external he needed to obtain.

After overcoming the Formless Tribulation, Yu learned from Youtan Poluo that the No-Dharma Tribulation required turning conditioned dharma into unconditioned dharma. As Yu prepared to face the next stage, Ryushiki offered him Ōmononushi’s power on her own initiative.

• Youtan Poluo discussed Yu’s understanding of emptiness and explained why Basara’s claims revealed his attachment to appearances.
• Youtan Poluo introduced the No-Dharma Tribulation, which required overcoming attachment to all dharmas, and revealed that the Netherworld Eight Envoys were Earthborn Progenitor Gods.
• Youtan Poluo explained conditioned and unconditioned dharma and gave Yu examples of how the second tribulation applied to individual existence.
• Tobi jokingly twisted Youtan Poluo’s teaching, so she slapped him into the sky.
• Yu prepared to use his saved Chakra Fruit and call on Ryushiki for Ōmononushi’s power, but Ryushiki had already offered it to him.

Yu copied Chakra Fruits with Ōmononushi, but Youtan Poluo warned that doing so drained her heavenly Dao and urged him to save his strength for the No-Dharma Tribulation. As the tribulation began, Yu faced a perfected version of himself and learned that he could survive only by escaping conditioned dharma.

• Yu used Ōmononushi to copy three Chakra Fruits, but Youtan Poluo stopped him and explained that the technique drew power from her heavenly Dao.
• Youtan Poluo told Yu that the three fruits could prepare him for his second tribulation and urged him to take Hanging Root's heavenly Dao after becoming a Progenitor God.
• Yu absorbed the copied fruits, and Youtan Poluo brought Shikaku and Tobi into Jeta Grove before choosing to stay and help him through the No-Dharma Tribulation.
• A beam of tribulation light descended on Jeta Grove and formed a version of Yu whose powers and techniques were more refined than his own.
• Youtan Poluo explained that Yu could not defeat the perfected version through growth and had to break his attachment to conditioned dharma; Yu prepared to face the tribulation.

Void Yu overwhelmed Yu with a Great Fireball that transformed into taijutsu, prompting Youtan Poluo to explain Yu’s attachment to dharma. Void Yu then revealed a refined Dragon Abyss Palm attack that turned into an illusion concealing a real strike.

• Void Yu’s Great Fireball absorbed Yu’s flames and transformed into taijutsu, slamming Yu into the ground when he tried to absorb it.
• Youtan Poluo blocked the attack with Gangqi Seal and helped Yu recognize that he was struggling with dharma attachment.
• Youtan Poluo warned Yu that attachment to dharma could bind him, while Yu reflected on how pervasive that attachment was.
• Void Yu gathered eighteen compressed golden dragons with his Dragon Abyss Palm and merged them into a powerful strike.
• Void Yu’s Eighteen Dragon Abyss Palms became an illusion concealing a real Dragon Snipe Kill as Youtan Poluo braced for the attack.

Void Yu killed Youtan Poluo’s form body and overwhelmed Yu with Yomotsu Hirasaka, but her corpse poisoned him with Yellow Springs Affliction before he could finish Yu. Yu awoke in his Intrinsic Pure Land, where Youtan Poluo’s guidance helped him glimpse how to attain unconditioned dharma.

• Void Yu killed Youtan Poluo’s form body, then extracted her Yomotsu Hirasaka shikigami while Yu’s Dragon Snipe Kill failed to harm him.
• Void Yu used Yomotsu Hirasaka to attack Yu from inside his body and bring him to the brink of collapse.
• Youtan Poluo’s corpse grabbed Void Yu and infected him with Yellow Springs Affliction, leaving him rooted in place as his body began to break down.
• Yu opened his eyes in his Intrinsic Pure Land and found Youtan Poluo there in Rin’s form.
• Youtan Poluo told Yu that unconditioned shikigami could not be stolen and reminded him of the difference between seeking the Great Lord God and becoming it.
• Yu felt the first hint of understanding about unconditioned dharma, and Youtan Poluo urged him to go on.

Chapter Summary: The Tale of the Progenitor, the Flaw of the Deva Path

Key Plot Points and Events

• At Jeta Grove, Void Yu uses Zengpo Jiali, his innate Rinne Tenseigan technique, to manipulate entropy and eliminate the Yellow Springs Affliction.
• Rather than merely curing the poison, Zengpo Jiali erases the underlying law that allows the affliction to exist, causing the Yellow Springs Affliction to disappear from the entire world.
• The chapter explains that Ōmononushi governs the creation and destruction of matter, while Zengpo Jiali governs the creation and destruction of dharma—laws, principles, and natural truths. Together, they form the progenitors of the Law of Arising and Ceasing.
• Yu returns from the Intrinsic Pure Land and confronts Void Yu. Void Yu insists that Yu is doomed to lose, claiming to possess all of Yu’s abilities while surpassing him in power.
• Yu reveals that he still possesses the Great Lord God’s divine power, despite his godhood having been erased. He explains that his former identity as the Great Lord God was conditioned and temporary, whereas the Great Lord God becoming part of his unconditioned nature cannot be destroyed.
• Void Yu attempts to absorb this divine power through Yomotsu Hirasaka. Although his strength increases, the process exposes the ugliness of his overwhelming attachment to power.
• Yu realizes that Void Yu represents not merely a temporary tribulation body, but his own Dharma Attachment—his former obsession with attaining power and perfecting all dharmas.
• As Yu’s attachment weakens, Void Yu begins to dissolve. However, Void Yu uses Zengpo Jiali to create a new, independent dharma that does not rely on Yu’s attachment or the Deva Path.
• This technique, “Zengpo Jiali: Dharma-Born,” stabilizes Void Yu’s existence and allows him to be reborn beyond his original status as a tribulation body.
• The chapter ends with Void Yu challenging Yu to determine whether Conditioned Dharma or Unconditioned Dharma is the superior truth. Yu accepts, recognizing that their confrontation may lead to the final breakthrough for both.

Character Developments

• Yu demonstrates a deeper understanding of Unconditioned Dharma. He recognizes that true transcendence is not a particular power or state, but freedom from attachment to dharma itself.
• He also confronts his former nature by observing Void Yu’s greed and acknowledging that this is how he once appeared when consumed by the pursuit of power.
• Void Yu is revealed to be the embodiment of Yu’s Dharma Attachment and desire for absolute perfection. Though destined to disappear when Yu abandons that attachment, he refuses to accept impermanence and uses Zengpo Jiali to create an independent existence.
• Void Yu evolves from a simple tribulation opponent into a being capable of challenging the very relationship between conditioned and unconditioned existence.

Significant Themes

• Conditioned versus Unconditioned Dharma: Conditioned phenomena arise and cease, while unconditioned reality neither arises nor disappears.
• Attachment and transcendence: Enlightenment requires more than recognizing illusion; it requires relinquishing attachment to all dharmas, including spiritual power and identity.
• Existence and nonexistence: The chapter explores where matter, laws, and order originate, presenting the Deva Path as the source of creation and destruction.
• Impermanence and resistance: Void Yu’s refusal to accept his temporary nature reflects the universal struggle against entropy, death, and dissolution.
• The flaw within creation: Although the Deva Path governs all dharma, its reliance on Shikigami creates a vulnerability. Void Yu exploits Zengpo Jiali to create a dharma outside the Deva Path’s control.
• Self-confrontation: The battle is ultimately an internal conflict between Yu’s present understanding and his former obsession with power.

Character Interactions

• Yu and Void Yu: Their exchange is both a philosophical debate and a personal confrontation. Void Yu mocks Yu’s limitations, while Yu calmly identifies him as the embodiment of his own former attachment.
• Void Yu and the Great Lord God’s power: Void Yu tries to seize Yu’s divine power, but the unconditioned nature of that power prevents it from being truly consumed.
• Yu and his past self: Through Void Yu, Yu recognizes and judges his former greed, while also accepting that defeating this aspect of himself requires detachment rather than simple force.
• Void Yu and the Deva Path: Void Yu resists being treated as a disposable tool of the heavens and exploits the Deva Path’s dependence on Shikigami to secure his own continued existence.

Yu used unconditioned Dharma to transform Susanoo’s Yata Mirror into full-body armor, liberate the stones from Void Yu’s control, and make them immortal godfolk. Void Yu resolved to kill Yu and claim his divine seat, then invoked the Amaterasu Shikigami’s forbidden power with Kotoamatsukami and Tsukuyomi.

• Void Yu’s Diamond Transformation made the stones pierce Susanoo and strike Yu with enormous force, but Yu’s thoughts turned the Yata Mirror into armor that reflected them.
• Void Yu increased the stones’ weight, but Yu liberated them, severing Void Yu’s control and making the stones his immortal godfolk.
• Void Yu attacked the stones in anger, but they remained unharmed as Yu explained that they would endure while he remained immortal.
• Void Yu decided to kill Yu, take his divine seat, and master unconditioned Dharma through the Deva Path Reincarnation Tribulation.
• Void Yu used Kotoamatsukami and Tsukuyomi on the Amaterasu Shikigami, commanding it to open the Ninth Heavenly Gate and release its primal forbidden power.

Chapter Summary

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Void Yu transforms the black flames in his palm into a powerful Shikigami resembling Amaterasu Omikami, revealing that Amaterasu exists across all seven parallel space-times.
• Using Kotoamatsukami, Void Yu controls Amaterasu and extracts her Divine Heart. He explains that Amaterasu’s original power had been sealed by the Deva Path because her heat was powerful enough to scorch it.
• Void Yu activates “Amaterasu: Heaven Gate: Open,” using the Heaven Gate not as a martial technique but as a divine Shikigami art. This allows Amaterasu to reclaim the six copies of herself from the parallel space-times and draw upon the Deva Path’s reserve power.
• Yu attempts to preserve his own Amaterasu by binding her with divine power and reconnecting their severed Divine Tendril. Void Yu counters with Susanoo, illusion techniques, and the Dragon Snipe Kill, cutting the binding ribbon.
• Yu’s Amaterasu merges into Void Yu’s empowered Amaterasu, restoring her to a complete and vastly stronger form. A red V-shaped mark appears on her forehead, and her power surpasses even the previously terrifying Hannya King.
• Through Tsukuyomi, Void Yu controls Amaterasu’s external manifestations. She spreads flames across space-time, reducing it to dark nothingness and threatening to burn the entire Pure Land.
• Youtan Poluo’s Rin Form Body organizes the Netherworld Eight Envoys to open the Hell Gate and divert the flames into Avici Hell, since her true body cannot intervene without exposing the other Pure Lands to attack.
• With his body and divine armor nearly destroyed, Yu consults his Ten-Tails, Toka. Rather than immediately seeking a counterattack, he enters Wuwei: Immovable Zen Meditation to consolidate his new insights while surrounded by Amaterasu’s flames.

2. Character Developments

• Void Yu demonstrates a deeper understanding of Shikigami origins, parallel space-times, and the Deva Path’s reserve power. His goal is not merely to control Amaterasu but to restore her primordial, unrestricted form and use her as a weapon capable of annihilating the Pure Land.
• Yu is forced into a defensive position as his Amaterasu is severed from him and absorbed by Void Yu’s version. Despite the crisis, he remains composed and prioritizes protecting the souls in the Pure Land over his own survival.
• Amaterasu evolves from a restricted Shikigami into her complete divine form, gaining power that exceeds the Hannya King’s. Her desperate cry for help and subsequent merging with Void Yu’s Amaterasu emphasize her loss of independence and connection to Yu.
• Youtan Poluo acts pragmatically, recognizing the limits imposed on her Form Body and choosing to protect the Pure Land’s inhabitants by redirecting the flames rather than risking a larger catastrophe.
• Toka continues to serve as Yu’s spiritual companion and supports his decision to return to meditation, reinforcing their long-standing partnership.

3. Significant Themes

• Power and restraint: Amaterasu’s immense original power was sealed because it threatened even the Deva Path, raising questions about whether unrestricted power can ever be safely controlled.
• Identity and unity: The merging of Amaterasu’s manifestations across parallel space-times suggests that scattered copies may still represent one underlying being, while also showing how unity can be imposed through domination.
• Sacrifice and responsibility: Yu remains concerned about the karmic consequences of allowing innocent souls to perish, even while facing near-certain destruction.
• Knowledge versus brute force: Void Yu succeeds through his understanding of Shikigami mechanics, reserve power, and illusion techniques, whereas Yu turns to meditation and insight rather than simply meeting overwhelming force with force.
• Cosmic balance and political restraint: Youtan Poluo cannot freely intervene because doing so would expose the other Pure Lands to attack, showing how larger strategic concerns limit even divine power.

4. Character Interactions

• Void Yu and Amaterasu: Void Yu controls and physically empowers Amaterasu, extracting her Divine Heart and forcing her transformation into her complete form.
• Yu and his Amaterasu: Yu desperately tries to maintain their connection after Void Yu severs the Divine Tendril, but ultimately loses her when Void Yu cuts the binding ribbon.
• Yu and Void Yu: Their confrontation combines direct combat with advanced techniques. Yu’s Susanoo blocks Void Yu’s initial sword strike, but Void Yu uses “Eye Into Illusion” to bypass the defense and destroy Yu’s restraint.
• Yu and Youtan Poluo: Yu asks her Form Body to help contain the flames and protect the Pure Land, while she questions whether he has any means of resisting Amaterasu’s power.
• Youtan Poluo and the Netherworld Eight Envoys: She joins them in managing the spreading blaze and directs them to assist in diverting it into Avici Hell.
• Yu and Toka: They agree to resume Immovable Zen Meditation, with Yu using the moment of crisis to organize his insights rather than simply seeking immediate victory.