Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• As the demon army catches up with the battered human fleet, Iron Pillar leaves the ships to hold them off. He gives Wang Qi supplies for the wounded and tells Xi Feng he may not return.
• Using the Human Dao system, Iron Pillar temporarily raises his cultivation to Peak True Immortal and confronts the demon vanguard. Though badly outnumbered, he endures their attacks and reveals extraordinary toughness.
• Iron Pillar unleashes Primordial Baleful True Form, growing to gigantic size and merging his Seventy-Two Blood Sabers into a colossal blade. Driven by memories of fighting imperial soldiers in his previous life, he tears through the demon ranks and kills several powerful demons.
• His life force dwindles, so he gives himself over to the Blood Saber’s Baleful Qi. Losing his reason and becoming a half-human, half-demon fiend, he fights on for more than ten days.
• When Iron Pillar kills the Rat Demon, the Sun-Swallowing Demon King finally intervenes, defeats him, and takes the Blood Saber and Heavenly Net and Earthly Web. The demon king then withdraws rather than press on toward the fleet.
• A pursuing demon tries to attack the ships, but Feng Xu arrives, kills it in tiger form, and continues south.

Character developments and interactions

• Iron Pillar makes a deliberate sacrifice to protect the fleet, displaying courage, loyalty, and tremendous combat power. His battle becomes entangled with memories of his former life; ultimately, his resolve to fight comes at the cost of his sanity and bodily transformation.
• Wang Qi shares a familiar, teasing exchange with Iron Pillar, but Iron Pillar’s departure turns their banter into a poignant farewell.
• The Sun-Swallowing Demon King is calculating and self-interested: he lets other Demon Kings wear Iron Pillar down, then steps in to seize the treasures. He leads his clan away afterward, despite the other demons’ resentment.
• Feng Xu appears as a second formidable protector, rescuing the fleet from a final attack and showing that Iron Pillar is not the only human capable of confronting powerful demons.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and duty: Iron Pillar accepts near-certain death to give the fleet a chance to escape.
• Power’s cost: His extraordinary strength depends on exhausting his life force and surrendering to destructive Baleful Qi.
• The persistence of past trauma: Memories of his previous life shape how he sees and fights the demons, blurring past and present.
• Human resilience and underestimated strength: The demons’ surprise at Iron Pillar—and later Feng Xu—challenges their belief that humans are weak.

Key plot points and events

• Feng Xu returns to the fleet carrying Iron Pillar’s body, found after the wolf demon’s death. Iron Pillar’s body has been cleansed of Baleful Qi, but he is still dead; Yunfeng explains that Iron Pillar held off the entire Demon Race army until his power and life force were exhausted.
• Wang Qi confronts Feng Xu for arriving too late. Feng Xu explains that he can temporarily reach the highest cultivation level among humans—and that Iron Pillar once possessed the same ability.
• Yunfeng asks Feng Xu to rescue hundreds of thousands of humans trapped near the coast. Feng Xu refuses, judging the Demon Race’s encirclement too dangerous.
• The Human Dao system and Merit Mall have merged. As Feng Xu reflects on Iron Pillar’s fate, he questions whether the Heavenly Dao manipulated events and whether he must oppose it to protect the Human Race. He also realizes he cannot follow the Immortal Dao’s cultivation path without submitting to the Heavenly Dao.
• Unable to get guidance from the Great Dao, Feng Xu finally resolves to head south. When Yunfeng insists on joining him, Feng Xu refuses, urging him to recover and continue leading the Great Wilderness.
• Feng Xu travels alone, aware that his temporary power-up costs fortune and that the Human Race’s reserves are shrinking. He considers the Heaven-Hanging Ruler and its possible transformation into the Hongmeng Measuring Heaven Ruler.
• Six months later, disguised as a wolf demon, Feng Xu infiltrates the Demon Race camp and asks for its king. The Sun-Swallowing Demon King, unable to master the Baleful Qi in the Seventy-Two Blood Sabers, comes out to greet him as “Brother Zhufeng.”

Character developments and interactions

• Feng Xu moves from grief, guilt, and uncertainty toward decisive action. He accepts the danger of challenging the Demon Race, but remains conflicted about his role in the struggle between the Human Dao and Heavenly Dao.
• Iron Pillar is revealed as the previous holder of Feng Xu’s unique power. His sacrifice deepens Feng Xu’s sense of responsibility and raises questions about the Heavenly Dao’s intentions.
• Yunfeng is physically frail but steadfast as a leader. He pleads for the coastal humans and offers to accompany Feng Xu, but accepts Feng Xu’s argument that the Great Wilderness still needs him.
• Wang Qi voices the survivors’ anger and frustration at Feng Xu’s delayed return.
• Feng Xu’s disguise and the guard’s fearful deference show how he exploits demonic hierarchy to enter the enemy camp. The chapter ends with the Sun-Swallowing Demon King mistaking him for a familiar ally.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and responsibility: Iron Pillar’s final stand and Feng Xu’s decision to go south force the surviving leaders to confront the cost of protecting humanity.
• Fate, authority, and rebellion: Feng Xu wrestles with whether the Human Dao has been undermined by the Heavenly Dao—and whether he must resist the order governing the world.
• Leadership and limits: Yunfeng and Feng Xu both feel responsible for others, yet recognize that neither can save everyone alone.
• Power and its price: Feng Xu’s temporary cultivation boost consumes scarce fortune, while the Human Race’s declining reserves make every use of power consequential.

Plot points and events

• Feng Xu visits the Sun-Swallowing Demon King, Zhufeng in disguise, offering a technique to refine baleful qi in exchange for roughly fifty thousand human captives and the chance to attach himself to the king’s power.
• He teaches Sun-Swallowing a modified, incomplete Nine-Turn Origin Art. It lets the king draw baleful qi from his Blood Saber and may help him reach Golden Immortal, but prolonged use will damage his body and make him increasingly violent.
• Feng Xu warns that the saber’s baleful qi is limited and suggests cultivating it from living beings instead. He intends this advice to corrupt Sun-Swallowing and eventually turn him against the other demons.
• Feng Xu escorts the humans north, then reveals his identity and directs them toward the Great Wilderness. When he learns that hundreds of thousands more humans are trapped near the Sea Estuary, he heads south to help.
• After more than six months of travel, Feng Xu reaches the Sea Estuary and witnesses the demons’ brutal treatment of humans. He spreads rumors that Sun-Swallowing is secretly cultivating baleful qi to use the plains and Nearshore as a source for his breakthrough.
• To give the rumors apparent proof, Feng Xu corrupts a dead demon, Zhufeng, with baleful qi and arranges for other demons to find the corpse.
• The rumors alarm demons across the Nearshore and plains. The Three-Headed Evil Flood Dragon sends the Silver-Armored Demon King to investigate. Evidence that Sun-Swallowing possesses a Fiendish Weapon and has gained Feng Xu’s instruction fuels suspicion, and other Demon Kings begin searching for the Baleful Corpse.

Character developments and interactions

• Feng Xu shifts from rescuing one group of captives to orchestrating a larger political crisis. He manipulates Sun-Swallowing with flattery and a dangerous cultivation method, then uses rumors and staged evidence to turn the demons against him.
• Sun-Swallowing is drawn in by Feng Xu’s praise and promises of a Golden Immortal breakthrough. He accepts the technique and begins using baleful qi, unaware of its long-term harm or Feng Xu’s intent.
• The Three-Headed Evil Flood Dragon is wary of the rumors’ source but fears their implications. His three heads voice suspicion, uncertainty, and practical concern before he sends an investigator.
• The Silver-Armored Demon King, a crab demon who had been overlooked in the Dragon Palace, investigates Sun-Swallowing’s territory and reports back with evidence that he possesses treasures and Fiendish Weapons.
• Dashan, A-Da, and their companion secretly leave the fleet to assist Feng Xu. When they encounter the rescued humans, Dashan chooses to help those immediately in front of them.

Significant themes

• Manipulation and ambition: Feng Xu exploits Sun-Swallowing’s desire for power, while the king’s own ambition makes him vulnerable.
• The cost of power: Baleful-qi cultivation offers rapid advancement but gradually harms the body and corrupts the user.
• Rumor as a weapon: Feng Xu turns uncertainty and partial truths into political unrest, demonstrating how fear can destabilize an alliance.
• Cruelty and responsibility: The demons’ abuse of human captives contrasts with Feng Xu’s efforts to rescue them, though his broader plan risks drawing even more beings into conflict.

Chapter Summary: “Rescue”

Key plot points

• The Sun-Swallowing Demon King, actually Feng Xu in disguise, confirms his control over baleful qi by infecting the Silver-Armored Demon King. Silver Armor returns to the Three-Headed Evil Flood Dragon, then goes berserk and spreads the corruption among nearby demons. The Flood Dragon kills him and concludes that Sun-Swallowing is using baleful qi to weaken the coastal demons while nearing the Golden Immortal realm.
• The Three-Headed Flood Dragon orders nearly all coastal demons to attack Sun-Swallowing. A small force remains behind to guard the formation imprisoning more than 200,000 humans, under the Mysterious Immortal Silver Fang.
• Disguised as a lesser demon, Feng Xu secretly plants baleful qi at critical points in the formation, gradually weakening it. When Silver Fang discovers the corruption, he tries to identify the culprit by slaughtering the lesser demons and imprisons the survivors.
• Silver Fang begins taking his frustration out on the trapped humans. Feng Xu reveals himself to stop him, but struggles against Silver Fang’s cultivation, terrain advantage, and powerful water-based abilities.
• Feng Xu uses the momentum from a blow to strike the weakened formation with his ruler. The prison breaks, and the freed humans join the fight. Feng Xu traps Silver Fang with baleful qi, strikes him with the Heaven-Hanging Ruler, and consumes his primordial spirit after the humans restrain it.
• Meanwhile, at Jadewater Lake, the injured Yunfeng is told by Feng Ling that he must rest. He refuses to be distracted, determined to break through despite his incomplete recovery. He believes the Human Race needs a Mysterious Immortal and feels responsible for having sent a child—Feng Xu—to risk his life.

Character developments and interactions

• Feng Xu shows patience and strategic skill, weakening the prison covertly before revealing himself only when Silver Fang threatens a human. His choice to use baleful qi reflects growing resentment toward the burdens placed on the Human Race.
• Silver Fang proves a formidable and ruthless opponent. Unable to find Feng Xu, he attacks the lesser demons indiscriminately and threatens a human, prompting Feng Xu’s intervention.
• The Three-Headed Flood Dragon reacts to the threat in three distinct ways: one head urges immediate action, another calls for further investigation, and the central head ultimately orders an assault on Sun-Swallowing.
• Feng Ling cares for Yunfeng and tries to stop him from risking a breakthrough while injured. Yunfeng remains calm but resolute, framing his decision as a sacrifice for the survival and future strength of his people.

Significant themes

• Rescue and collective resistance: Feng Xu’s actions free the prisoners, who then help defeat their captor.
• Oppression and responsibility: Yunfeng feels he has failed his people and sees the Human Race’s need for strength as his burden.
• The cost of power: Baleful qi can weaken enemies but threatens widespread destruction; Yunfeng’s attempted breakthrough also risks his life.
• Strategy versus force: Feng Xu wins not through superior strength alone, but by patiently weakening the formation and choosing the right moment to act.

Plot points and events

• A large coalition of sea demons and land-demon defectors, led by the Three-Headed Flood Dragon, marches on Sun-Swallowing’s territory. They accuse him of cultivating baleful qi, killing demons, and betraying them during an earlier fight against a human.
• Sun-Swallowing dismisses their accusations and leads his smaller army into battle. Wielding the Blood Saber, he initially overwhelms his opponents, but the Three-Headed Flood Dragon and other greater demons join forces against him.
• Gravely wounded, Sun-Swallowing unleashes his baleful qi, corrupting several demons, and transforms into a colossal python. Outnumbered, he continues to fight as the battle rages.
• Meanwhile, Feng Xu escorts the rescued survivors toward the Great Wilderness. He reunites with Dashan and A-Fei, but remains anguished over the roughly 300,000 people who died. He leaves the survivors in their care and returns east to stop Sun-Swallowing from advancing toward Golden Immortal.
• Feng Xu infiltrates the battlefield in disguise. Sun-Swallowing absorbs the baleful qi of nearby demons and forms a cocoon in an attempt to break through. The coalition attacks and shatters it, believing him dead—but an enormous maw suddenly emerges from the mist and swallows Red Armor.

Character developments and interactions

• Sun-Swallowing is defiant and formidable, but his reliance on baleful qi and his ambition to break through make him increasingly dangerous. He rejects the coalition’s moral accusations and fights desperately against their combined forces.
• The Three-Headed Flood Dragon leads the coalition, first challenging Sun-Swallowing over his crimes and later coordinating attacks when Sun-Swallowing attempts to break through.
• Feng Xu remains burdened by the massacre despite rescuing tens of thousands. Rather than returning directly to safety, he risks going back to undermine Sun-Swallowing’s cultivation.
• Dashan and A-Fei welcome Feng Xu and reassure him, while Dashan takes responsibility for the rescued people after Feng Xu departs.
• The demon leaders’ exchange reveals lingering resentment over a previous battle and the disputed capture of a powerful Dharma Treasure.

Significant themes

• Consequences of power and ambition: Sun-Swallowing’s pursuit of greater strength through baleful qi threatens both his enemies and himself.
• Moral conflict and hypocrisy: The coalition condemns Sun-Swallowing’s violence, though its own leaders have a history of failure and self-interest.
• Duty amid grief: Feng Xu’s rescue efforts cannot undo the immense loss, but he continues acting to protect others.
• Uncertain victory: The coalition’s apparent triumph over Sun-Swallowing is immediately unsettled by his sudden attack on Red Armor.

Key plot points and events

• The Sun-Swallowing Demon King absorbs the black mist and baleful qi, breaks through to Golden Immortal, and devours several demons—including the Three-Headed Evil Flood Dragon and other former allies.
• He captures Feng Xu, who tries to bluff his way out by claiming to be a disciple of the Three Pure Ones. The demon king sees through the claim and demands Feng Xu’s method for controlling baleful qi.
• In the Western Wilderness, Yunfeng forces a breakthrough by drawing on his bloodline’s essence, becoming the Human Race’s first Mysterious Immortal. His achievement boosts Feng Xu’s cultivation as well.
• Feng Xu reaches the Mysterious Immortal realm and unleashes the divine ability Heaven and Earth Manifestation, then wields the transformed Heaven-Hanging Ruler—now the Hongmeng Measuring Heaven Ruler—to kill Sun-Swallowing.
• Feng Xu turns to the battlefield, where he destroys the demon forces across the plains and coastal waters. Three years later, he returns to the Great Wilderness and asks the Mountain God to reseal the Seventy-Two Blood Sabers. The human survivors still need to be settled.

Character developments

• Feng Xu grows from a resourceful infiltrator into a formidable defender of humanity. Victory comes at a psychological cost: he admits he did things he hated and became someone he did not like.
• Yunfeng sacrifices his bloodline essence to achieve the Human Race’s first Mysterious Immortal breakthrough, helping Feng Xu turn the tide.
• The Mountain God welcomes Feng Xu back with pity and caution, recognizing the change in him.
• Wang Qi, moved by Feng Xu’s stand, vows to become strong enough to protect himself. He leaves his former life behind and becomes a cow demon.
• Sun-Swallowing becomes more powerful through the demons’ infighting and corruption, but is ultimately killed by Feng Xu.

Significant themes

• The cost of survival and resistance: Humanity’s victory follows immense casualties and demands painful sacrifices from Yunfeng and Feng Xu.
• Power and moral compromise: Feng Xu’s triumph saves his people but leaves him ashamed of what he had to become.
• Abandonment and injustice: The chapter condemns the apparent indifference of the Sages while ordinary people endure slaughter and oppression.
• Resolve and self-determination: Feng Xu’s defiance and Wang Qi’s vow both express a desire for the Human Race—and individuals—to choose their own future.

Character interactions

• The demons’ betrayal and fear turn them against one another, while Sun-Swallowing treats former allies as prey.
• Feng Xu and Sun-Swallowing engage in a contest of deception and coercion before Feng Xu’s power overtakes the demon king’s.
• Yunfeng’s breakthrough directly strengthens Feng Xu, linking their sacrifices in the battle for humanity.
• Feng Xu’s declaration that those who harm humanity will perish inspires the displaced people who witness it, including Wang Qi.
• Upon Feng Xu’s return, the Mountain God responds with concern, while Feng Xu asks him to seal away the weapons that helped secure victory.

Plot points

• After returning safely, Feng Xu learns that Yunfeng has called a massive gathering of the Human Race. He urges Bai Hao to hurry to the Central Wilderness.
• Yunfeng reveals that his breakthrough to Mysterious Immortal consumed most of his origin essence and ended his own cultivation path. Though Feng Xu regrets the sacrifice and the many deaths in the war, Yunfeng says it helped secure the Human Race’s future and asks Feng Xu to take responsibility for leading it.
• Feng Xu visits Feng Yuqi at Yushan Academy and gives her an extensive education-reform plan: revised curricula, stricter examinations, new subjects, a research group, and illustrated books based on his travels. He offers to prepare the new teaching materials himself, though the reforms will leave the educators with years of work.
• Feng Xu tells Yuqi she should be with someone else rather than wait for him. She is hurt and rejects the suggestion; afterward, she explains that she waits because she wants to understand the different world he carries in his heart.
• At the autumn assembly, Yunfeng addresses more than three million people and proposes choosing a Human Ancestor to unite and guide the race. Feng Xu is startled: he had expected Yunfeng to announce a successor as Lord, not create a new ancestral role.

Character developments and interactions

• Yunfeng accepts the cost of his sacrifice and shifts from ruling the Human Race to arranging its future leadership. He trusts Feng Xu to carry the burden forward.
• Feng Xu feels guilt over the war’s casualties, especially Iron Pillar’s death, and doubts his ability to care for those close to him. At the same time, he takes initiative in rebuilding society through education.
• Feng Yuqi is devoted to her work and candid about its demands. Her sharp teasing with Feng Xu gives way to visible hurt when he tries to release her from waiting for him; she remains drawn to his unfamiliar perspective.
• Their exchange blends affection and humor: Feng Xu’s awkward attempt to make Yuqi move on ends with her ordering him out, while the teachers nearby witness the tension and then complain about the workload.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and responsibility: Victory brings a future for the Human Race, but at a heavy cost, and leadership means bearing that cost.
• Collective unity and identity: The proposed Human Ancestor is meant to end the fragmentation exposed by the calamity and give humanity a common leader.
• Rebuilding through education: Feng Xu’s reforms present teaching, research, and shared knowledge as foundations for long-term progress.
• Personal devotion versus public duty: Feng Xu’s concern for Yuqi clashes with his belief that his responsibilities will make a life with him difficult.

Key plot points

• Feng Xu is proclaimed the Human Ancestor after Yunfeng praises his strength and service during the calamity. With the Great Wilderness natives overwhelmingly supporting him, Feng Xu establishes a new political and social order.
• He creates a hierarchy of leaders, divides the territory into fifteen districts, and disperses newcomers among local tribes to encourage integration and limit unrest. He also defines social duties and customs, then establishes the Ritual Bureau to promote the order and distribute resources and the Security Bureau to maintain safety and defend the people.
• That night, a falling star leads Feng Xu to the Chaos Bead, a Primordial Treasure.
• Ten years later, grieving Yunfeng’s recent death and exhausted by his responsibilities, Feng Xu retreats to a mountain. Sifu and Yunfeng’s young son, Yun Tian, find him and ask to become his disciples. Feng Xu agrees to teach Sifu powerful divine abilities and Yun Tian the practical wisdom of understanding the world and improving people’s lives.
• Feng Xu meets Fang Daoyun, a reclusive tribal chief and exceptionally gifted Primordial Dao Embryo. They play Go; Fang wins the second game and carves a vastly larger board, giving Feng Xu a new companion for the game.

Character developments and interactions

• Feng Xu moves from celebrated leader to tireless administrator, then seeks solitude after Yunfeng’s death. Despite his weariness, he accepts the boys as students and finds companionship with Fang.
• Sifu is an exuberant, physically imposing teenager eager to learn Feng Xu’s giant-form powers. He brings Yun Tian to Feng Xu and helps explain the boy’s fierce expression.
• Yun Tian is shy but determined. Inspired by his father’s account of Feng Xu’s work, he wants to learn how to make life better for everyone.
• Fang Daoyun appears modest and uninterested in high office, but reveals formidable intelligence and confidence through Go.
• Yunfeng is absent but remains influential through Feng Xu’s grief and Yun Tian’s admiration of him.

Significant themes

• Order and integration: Feng Xu’s reforms aim to unite newcomers and locals, though their implementation will take time and face resistance.
• Service and leadership: The chapter presents leadership as demanding work directed toward public welfare.
• Loss and renewal: Feng Xu mourns an old friend while taking on new students and forming a new friendship.
• Legacy across generations: Yun Tian’s wish to serve others carries forward Yunfeng’s values, while Feng Xu’s teaching offers a path for the next generation.

Key plot points and events

• Yuntian demonstrates a document-copying machine to Yunfei and Dashan, impressing them with its ability to reproduce pages quickly. He explains that copying by hand is still used to help people learn.
• A messenger reports that two strange, powerful creatures attacked the Human Race hunting party, stole its prey, and badly injured its captain, A-Da. The creatures did not kill or eat anyone.
• Yuntian inspects the injured hunters, hears their description of the attackers, and discovers five settlements of half-human, half-beast figures to the north. Recognizing them as Witches, he orders the tribes’ guards strengthened and calls the commanders to a gathering in seven days.
• The chapter reveals that the Human Race has grown to over two hundred million people. Feng Xu’s redistribution of fortune has increased the people’s cultivation speed, and several Mysterious Immortals have emerged, including Yuntian.
• At Mistveil Peak, Feng Xu and Fang Daoyun discuss Go, the Human Race’s disadvantaged position, and the dangers created by prosperity: complacency, social disorder, powerful clans, and the monopolization of resources. Their conversation is interrupted when Lin Feng announces that the Witches have attacked.

Character developments

• Yuntian is shown as capable and cautious: he reacts swiftly to the hunting party’s injuries but avoids provoking the Witches before understanding the threat.
• Feng Xu demonstrates long-range concern for the Human Race, recognizing that internal inequality and complacency may pose a greater danger than external enemies.
• Fang Daoyun serves as a thoughtful interlocutor, questioning Feng Xu’s views while considering both internal problems and outside threats.
• Yunfei acts as Yuntian’s loyal bodyguard and messenger, though he initially underestimates the danger posed by the Witches.

Significant themes

• Prosperity can breed instability: comfort may lead to idleness, disorder, and entrenched power among wealthy clans.
• The Human Race’s vulnerability: its late arrival leaves it at a disadvantage, and strength alone cannot guarantee security.
• Preparedness and restraint: Yuntian chooses to gather information and coordinate a response rather than rush into battle.
• Progress and learning: technology can make work more efficient, but traditional practices may still have educational value.

Character interactions

• Yuntian shares the copying machine with Yunfei and Dashan, who react with curiosity and excitement.
• The injured hunters report the Witches’ strength and unusual restraint to Yuntian, prompting him to investigate.
• Yuntian gives Yunfei firm instructions to summon the commanders, while Yunfei questions whether the gathering is necessary.
• Feng Xu and Fang Daoyun debate strategy and the Human Race’s future over Go, revealing their differing emphases on internal and external threats. Lin Feng’s arrival turns their discussion into an immediate crisis.

Key plot points

• News arrives that several Witch Tribes have appeared in the Northern Wilderness and injured members of human hunting teams. They have not yet launched an attack, and there is no evidence they eat humans.
• Feng Xu leaves the response to Yun Tian, who plans to summon the commanders to the Central Wilderness. Feng Xu believes Yun Tian should gain experience and that tensions may still be eased.
• Feng Xu and Fang Daoyun discuss the Witches and the Demon Race. Fang describes the Witches as fierce and contemptuous of the weak, but says they eat beasts and demons—not humans—while the Demon Race eats anything. Feng Xu sees the Witch situation as both a danger and a possible way to relieve the Human Race’s internal troubles.
• Yun Tian returns to the settlement with Bai Hao and reunites with his old teacher, Sifu, a playful Kui Ox. Sifu is surprised by Yun Tian’s rapid advancement to Mysterious Immortal.
• At the Academy, Feng Xu lectures on artifact refining. He explains its three stages, then introduces research into the microscopic “Saha World” and more precise methods of manipulating matter. He organizes two cooperative research groups, one led by a top student and the other by an experienced factory craftsman.
• Just as the groups prepare to plan their work, a distant explosion interrupts them.

Character developments and interactions

• Feng Xu stays calm about the Witches’ arrival, delegates leadership to Yun Tian, and turns the crisis into an opportunity for both political strategy and scientific progress. His playful confidence also shows during his Go match with Fang Daoyun.
• Yun Tian is now the Great Wilderness Lord and has advanced quickly, but remains on familiar, affectionate terms with Sifu.
• Sifu is introduced as a powerful, cheerful Kui Ox who enjoys playing with fierce beasts and treats Yun Tian like a child, ruffling his hair despite Yun Tian’s protests.
• Fang Daoyun offers cautious observations about the Witches and the Demon Race, then respectfully accepts Feng Xu’s lesson about strategy.
• Bai Hao accompanies Yun Tian and Sifu, adding dry comic commentary to their reunion.

Significant themes

• Caution and diplomacy: The Witches may be dangerous, but the Human Race need not rush into conflict.
• Leadership through delegation: Feng Xu lets Yun Tian handle the developing situation as a chance to grow.
• Turning crises into opportunities: The Witch presence may help resolve human internal problems.
• Knowledge through inquiry: Feng Xu argues that the Dao can be approached through careful study—even the microscopic nature of matter—and organizes collaboration between scholars and craftspeople.

Feng Xu discussed using the Witches' threat to reform human society with Yun Tian, then prepared for an assembly of tribal commanders. As the commanders gathered, Yun Tian defended Qing Xuan's hands-off leadership, while Hong Tao grew resentful of Qing Xuan's success.

• Feng Xu explained the destructive-power experiments to Yun Tian and considered Yun Tian's proposal to move clans out of the Great Wilderness to enable reforms.
• Feng Yuqi scolded Feng Xu over the noisy experiments and ordered the laboratory moved within a hundred days.
• Feng Xu, Yun Tian, and the others began discussing arrangements for the assembly.
• Two days later, Hong Tao arrived at the Central Wilderness Tribe, and Yun Tian reminded him of the raised literacy requirement for commanders.
• Hong Tao complained that Qing Xuan neglected his duties, but Yun Tian defended Qing Xuan's results and advised Hong Tao to delegate more.
• At the temporary camp, Hong Tao saw Qing Xuan meditating at peak Mysterious Immortal and sat down angrily.

Yun Tian secured the commanders’ agreement to begin a gradual migration away from the Witches, offering tribes greater independence in exchange for spreading across the Great Wilderness. As Qing Xuan read the Dao De Jing, he became the Human Race’s first Golden Immortal, drawing the attention of a white-bearded elder at Kunlun Mountain.

• Yun Tian rejected calls to attack the Witches and proposed sending half the Human Race east, west, and south in a permanent, gradual migration.
• Yun Tian offered migrating tribes independent households, limited tribute, and the chance to become Lords, winning the commanders’ approval.
• Yun Tian divided the commanders’ migration plans, distributed printed books, and led a hunting party to seek friendly relations with the Witches.
• Qing Xuan received the Dao De Jing from the youth leading the ox and became absorbed in reading it.
• Qing Xuan broke through to become the Human Race’s first Golden Immortal, and a white-bearded elder at Kunlun Mountain declared that he shared a bond of fate with him.

Feng Xu went to the Witch Tribe to make peace and defeated the War Shaman, then persuaded the Witches to agree to cooperate with the humans. He also explained how cooking meat could preserve its nourishment while removing harmful baleful energy.

• Feng Xu arrived at the Witch Tribe with seven companions and a giant deer, proposing peace to the War Shaman.
• Feng Xu defeated the War Shaman in hand-to-hand combat by disrupting the circulation of his cultivation art.
• Witch warriors attacked, but Sifu survived a powerful punch and returned unharmed, earning the Witches' respect.
• Feng Xu and the War Shaman negotiated an agreement for humans and Witches to build settlements, hunt, and work together.
• Feng Xu cooked a meal and explained that cooking meat removed baleful energy while preserving nourishment, and that the humans could help make blood medicine.

Yun Tian discussed the unfinished migration and his plans for spreading writing with Fang Daoyun, while Feng Xu inspected the first human-Witch settlement and wrote the Book of Changes. The chapter ended with a bloodied man in the Northern Wilderness standing over two corpses and accusing them of adultery.

• Yun Tian told Fang Daoyun that the migration and alliance with the Witches were not yet secure, and explained why he had begun spreading writing among humans.
• Feng Xu inspected the first tribe where humans and Witches lived together, saw seven newly built houses, and stayed through the snowfall with Yun Fei.
• The battle witch proposed that Feng Xu marry his younger sister, but Feng Xu refused and changed the subject to body tempering.
• Feng Xu wrote the Book of Changes during three days of snow while Yun Fei recorded the visit and the book's creation.
• A bloodied man in a Northern Wilderness tribe stood over the corpses of a man and a woman and shouted that they were adulterers.

Feng Xu and Yun Tian confronted growing social problems in the Northern Wilderness when Bu Xing killed his wife and her lover after catching them in adultery. With the Human Race’s first murder case raising difficult questions about punishment, Feng Xu planned a public hearing and called for establishing the rule of law.

• Yun Tian and Feng Xu discussed tribal disputes, idleness, and the need to strengthen the Human Race against a possible war between the shaman and demon races.
• A messenger summoned Yun Tian and Feng Xu after Bu Xing killed his wife and her lover.
• Feng Xu heard the officials argue over Bu Xing’s punishment, then announced that he would handle the case publicly the next day.
• Dashan explained that Bu Xing had killed the pair after finding them committing adultery, and Feng Xu confined Bu Xing under guard.
• Yun Fei argued for leniency while A-Da demanded severe punishment, and Feng Xu postponed the decision until the hearing.
• Feng Xu and Yun Tian concluded that the case exposed the need to establish the rule of law before more people resorted to killing.

Yun Tian judged Bu Xing for killing two adulterers and used a supposed appeal to Empress Nuwa to establish his sentence and advance institutional reforms. The trial ended with Bu Xing spared from death, while Feng Xu realized that an unseen power had controlled the wooden tokens.

• Yun Tian charged Bu Xing with defying the Ritual Bureau, murdering his kin, and acting unfilially, then explained why the killings threatened the Human Race.
• Bu Xing's mother begged to take his punishment, and Yun Tian blamed incomplete institutions before proposing that Empress Nuwa decide the case.
• Feng Xu tried to secretly manipulate the wooden tokens, but all three casts landed one faceup and one facedown, sparing Bu Xing from execution and requiring him to serve ten years of penal labor.
• Feng Xu concluded that Empress Nuwa had controlled the tokens and promised to renovate the Divine Temple, while Yun Tian announced reforms and ordered the people to observe the rites.
• After the crowd dispersed, Feng Xu and Yun Tian went to discuss reforms, while A-Da and Yun Fei approached A-Tu and competed to escort her home.

Yun Tian drafted reforms to reorganize the Great Wilderness’s land, government, labor, and military systems, then worked with Feng Xu to restore a temple to Nüwa. Feng Xu also began training Yun Tian to control seventy-two stone swords and urged him to understand the essence of the Sword Dao.

• Yun Tian rejected Yun Fei and A-Da’s requests for leave, summarized their conclusions, and presented a plan for restructuring the tribe.
• Yun Tian assigned temporary ministry posts and set priorities for revising criminal laws, appointing local chiefs, building offices and prisons, and registering the population and farmland.
• Yun Tian and Feng Xu found the ruined temple to Nüwa, rebuilt it, and discussed Feng Xu’s inability to control the wooden tablet during the earlier judgment.
• Feng Xu proposed a winter Spring Festival for the new year and sacrifices to Nüwa and the Ancestors.
• Feng Xu brought Yun Tian to a valley and instructed him to temper his foundation by controlling seventy-two stone swords without refining them.
• Feng Xu demonstrated the sword formation and explained that Yun Tian needed to understand a sword’s essence rather than follow a conventional sequence of Sword Dao stages.

Feng Xu lectured the Northern Wilderness on the Book of Changes, then discussed the Dao with Qing Xuan and Fang Daoyun. The chapter ended with A-Tu asking Feng Xu for guidance as he prepared to take new books to Wenxuan Pavilion.

• Feng Xu spent eight days explaining the sixty-four hexagrams and their philosophies to the Northern Wilderness crowd.
• Qing Xuan asked Feng Xu about the Dao De Jing, and Qing Xuan revealed that he had reached the Golden Immortal realm thanks to Feng Xu's writings.
• Qing Xuan let the boy Qing Feng stay with Feng Xu, who gave him the Book of Changes and the Dao De Jing to study.
• Fang Daoyun discussed the Primordial Bagua with Feng Xu, who recorded their discussion in the Record of the Great Wilderness.
• A-Tu asked Feng Xu to answer her questions, and he invited her to accompany him to Wenxuan Pavilion.