Chapter Summaries

Chapter summary

• Houtu tells the Ancestral Witches about a strategy for dealing with Saints Zhunti and Jieyin. Though she admits Lin Tian devised it, Dijiang insists the plan must be credited to Houtu so the Saints won’t target Lin Tian, whose power is still limited. The other Witches agree to keep his involvement secret.
• Dijiang and the eleven other Ancestral Witches spend a hundred years refining their approach. Its main steps are to defend the Witch Clan’s base, raid the Western Religion’s home while its leaders are absent, and seize a chance to strike Zhunti and Jieyin.
• Returning to her tribe, Houtu finds Lin Tian relaxing with Nine Phoenixes, while Chang’e serves him moonlight-infused Spirit Jade Grapes and Kong Xuan and the Golden-Winged Great Peng entertain him in bird form. Though Houtu has come to confront him, Lin Tian offers her a grape; its sweetness—and her embarrassment at accidentally licking his finger—distracts her from her rehearsed complaint.
• Lin Tian teases her inwardly as a “little bunny,” despite her fierce appearance. He then asks whether she came because something important happened, prompting Houtu to remember why she sought him out.

Character developments and interactions

• Dijiang shows strategic judgment and loyalty: he recognizes Lin Tian’s likely role but protects him by keeping his name out of the plan.
• Houtu contributes to the Witches’ preparations, yet remains shy and easily flustered around Lin Tian. Her stern, combative intentions quickly give way to appetite and affection.
• Lin Tian remains relaxed and playful, using food and teasing to disarm Houtu.
• The Ancestral Witches demonstrate that they can plan carefully as well as fight, while their meeting shows their unity and trust.

Significant themes

• Strategy alongside strength: The Witches prepare a detailed plan rather than relying only on force.
• Loyalty and protection: Dijiang shields Lin Tian from the consequences of confronting two Saints.
• Comic contrast: Houtu’s formidable reputation clashes with her bashful reactions to Lin Tian.
• Affection and domestic comfort: The grape-feeding scene turns a planned confrontation into a playful, intimate exchange.

Key plot points and events

• The Ancestral Witches decide to seek Lin Tian’s help and order Nine Phoenixes to move the Witch Clan and the humans into Pan Gu Hall, securing their base before taking further action.
• The Houtu Tribe’s enormous city—refined by human cultivators into a Houtian spiritual treasure—is transported along with them. Other Witch Clan members marvel at its size, and even Zhurong envies it.
• Pan Gu Hall accommodates hundreds of millions of residents by creating dozens of Great Thousand Worlds. The Ancestral Witches assume this is a display of Pangu’s power, unaware that Lin Tian secretly controls the hall.
• The mass relocation alarms the Primordial World, including the six Heavenly Dao Saints. They gather in Lingxiao Hall to discuss the Witch Clan’s intentions.
• Tongtian dismisses the concern and wants to return to teaching his new disciples. The chapter then shifts to Primordial Heavenly Venerable’s contemptuous thoughts about Tongtian’s choices and his pride in his own Chan Sect disciples.

Character developments and interactions

• Houtu leads Lin Tian to Pan Gu Hall for the Witches’ planned appeal, but she fails to notice that he has been steering events—and even forgets that she had been angry with him. She privately regards herself as superior to him in cultivation, while Lin Tian continues to think of her as silly.
• Nine Phoenixes responds promptly and obediently to Houtu’s order.
• Zhurong shows unusual restraint during the Ancestral Witches’ long deliberations, though his suggestions mostly involve fighting or killing.
• The Ancestral Witches display a new instinct for caution by protecting their people first, while secretly rationalizing their interest in obtaining spiritual-treasure cities as altruism toward humans.
• Tongtian remains relaxed about the Witch Clan’s movements and focused on his disciples; Primordial Heavenly Venerable silently scorns his teaching choices and boasts about the superior origins of his own followers.

Significant themes

• Prudence versus impulsiveness: The Witches take precautions before acting, though their reputation for rashness remains.
• Hidden power and mistaken credit: Pan Gu Hall’s extraordinary response is Lin Tian’s doing, but the Witches attribute it to Pangu.
• Pride and rivalry: The Ancestral Witches covet the city while denying it, and the Saints’ gathering reveals their unease and sectarian judgments.
• Power’s ripple effects: Even a relocation is politically significant when carried out by the Primordial World’s dominant clan.

Key plot points and events

• The Heavenly Dao Saints meet to discuss the Witch Clan’s withdrawal into Pan Gu Hall. Zhunti proposes that, with the Witches gone, the Saints should spread their teachings among the other races and take control of the vacated territory.
• The Saints interpret the move as the Witches conceding the Primordial World. Yuanshi secretly intends to avenge his past humiliation by eventually destroying them.
• Nuwa worries that the Human Race might withdraw with the Witches, weakening her position, and wants to keep humans outside. The Saints then argue over the abandoned Eastern territories: Zhunti and Jieyin seek land for the Western Religion, while Taishang and Yuanshi reject their claim. Nuwa also asks to protect the Qingqiu Nine-Tailed Fox Clan and other races.
• Tongtian suspects the Witches are not truly retreating: their proud nature and lack of a public announcement suggest they may be preparing for war. He keeps silent because the Saints are divided, and relations with his brothers have deteriorated.
• Inside Pan Gu Hall, the relocated Witches and humans settle into its Great Thousand Worlds. They cannot attain the Dao there as they could in the Primordial World, but regard the stay as temporary. Houtu tells Lin Tian that the Witches are planning a major move.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhunti and Jieyin act opportunistically, seeking to expand the Western Religion into the Witches’ former lands.
• Yuanshi remains consumed by resentment toward the Ancestral Witches and plots revenge; Taishang opposes the Western Saints’ territorial demands.
• Nuwa becomes anxious about the Human Race’s fate and seeks to preserve her influence by separating it from the Witches.
• Tongtian proves more perceptive than the other Saints, but chooses silence amid their rivalries and his estrangement from Taishang and Yuanshi.
• Houtu explains the Witches’ intentions to Lin Tian but is embarrassed to face him, still hiding that she can hear his private thoughts.

Significant themes

• Political opportunism: The Saints treat the Witches’ apparent withdrawal as a chance to claim land and spread their doctrines.
• Misreading appearances: Most Saints assume the Witches are surrendering, while Tongtian recognizes signs that their move may conceal a plan.
• Old grudges and division: Yuanshi’s desire for revenge and the brothers’ strained relationships weaken the Saints’ unity.
• Power and legitimacy: The argument over territory exposes competing claims of authority, religious expansion, and protection of other races.

Plot and key events

• The Twelve Ancestral Witches invite Lin Tian to help them raid Mount Sumeru, the Western Religion’s headquarters, and punish the Saints Zhunti and Jieyin for repeatedly scheming against the Witch Clan.
• Lin Tian eagerly agrees, excited by the prospect of another treasure-plundering adventure. He and Zhu Jiuyin help plan the route and attack.
• Lin Tian uses the Chaos Bell to conceal the group’s heavenly secrets and karmic traces, making them impossible for even Saints to divine. The concealment also avoids raising suspicion because they depart from Pan Gu Hall, which already hides their presence.
• The Witches set out for the Western Lands. Houtu carries Lin Tian as they travel.
• On arrival, Lin Tian sees a barren region with depleted earth veins, weak vitality, and living beings confined to small oases. Rather than restoring the land, they passively recite the Western Religion’s scriptures before images of Zhunti and Jieyin.
• Lin Tian questions the Saints’ claim that they have spent ages repairing the Western Lands. Houtu senses that the land itself is grieving, and the Witches grow angry. Zhurong erupts in fury, but Lin Tian asks him to calm down.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Tian reveals an unexpectedly energetic, adventurous side: he accepts the raid immediately and contributes actively to the planning. His enthusiasm surprises both Houtu and Dijiang.
• Houtu is pleased by Lin Tian’s cooperation and carries him during the journey. She and the other Witches share his dismay at the Western Lands’ condition.
• Dijiang reacts with suspicion and amusement at the contrast between Lin Tian’s reputation as a lazybones and his current enthusiasm.
• Zhu Jiuyin serves as the group’s strategist, working with Lin Tian on the plan.
• Zhurong responds to the Western Lands’ ruin with explosive anger, while Lin Tian tries to restrain him.
• The Ancestral Witches’ shared reverence for Pangu and love for the Primordial World strengthen their outrage at what they see as the Saints’ neglect.

Significant themes

• Concealment and strategy: The Chaos Bell allows the Witches to act without alerting their powerful enemies.
• Greed and adventure: Lin Tian treats treasure hunting like a game and relishes collecting spoils, even when most are not useful to him.
• Hypocrisy and responsibility: The apparent devastation of the Western Lands casts doubt on Zhunti and Jieyin’s claims that they have been repairing it.
• Respect for the land: The Witches’ grief and anger reflect their deep connection to the Primordial World and its well-being.

Key plot points

• After securing former Witch Clan and some Demon Race territory, Zhunti imagines the Western Religion becoming the Primordial World’s dominant power.
• Lin Tian and the Twelve Ancestral Witches reach Mount Sumeru to investigate Zhunti and Jieyin’s supposed restoration of the western earth veins.
• Lin Tian discovers that the Saints have not repaired the region: they appear to have concentrated its remaining earth veins at Mount Sumeru, leaving the surrounding lands barren. They have also restricted the mountain’s spiritual energy.
• The Western Religion’s promise of bliss is revealed as a means of extracting worshippers’ willpower. Only a rare few can earn entry to Mount Sumeru; most remain trapped in hardship.
• Houtu asks whether they should destroy Mount Sumeru or merely take its treasures. Lin Tian chooses to plunder the mountain and destroy it, while Houtu worries that doing so could extinguish the western region’s last remaining vitality.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhunti is triumphant and overconfident, convinced his territorial gains will secure the Western Religion’s future supremacy. His private thoughts expose both his ambition and the shortage of capable disciples.
• Lin Tian sees through the Saints’ claims and decides to strike at the foundation of their power rather than settle for a superficial raid. His confidence suggests he believes he has considered the consequences, though he says nothing yet to reassure Houtu.
• Houtu is disgusted by Mount Sumeru’s luxurious inequality and by the imprisonment of Celestial People, but remains cautious about the consequences of destroying the mountain. After overhearing Lin Tian’s thoughts, she also learns that Ksitigarbha will later challenge her authority over reincarnation and vows revenge.
• The Ancestral Witches increasingly look to Lin Tian for direction. Zhurong eagerly supports destroying Mount Sumeru, while Dijiang and Houtu hesitate.

Significant themes

• Exploitation disguised as salvation: The Western Religion promises spiritual reward while using believers’ devotion to enrich its Saints and sustain an exclusive paradise.
• Power built on suffering: Mount Sumeru’s splendor is presented as the product of the western world’s deprivation.
• Foreshadowing and foreknowledge: Lin Tian’s knowledge reveals the future rise of Buddhism and Ksitigarbha’s attempt to gain influence over reincarnation.
• Destruction versus preservation: The group must balance punishing the Saints against protecting the western world’s last source of life.

Plot points and events

• Lin Tian proposes using his Chaos Bell alongside Houtu’s earth-law power to contain Mount Sumeru’s earth veins while breaking the mountain apart. They intend to redistribute its spiritual energy across the Western Lands, restoring vitality and earning Heavenly Dao merit.
• The Twelve Ancestral Witches immediately attack. Lin Tian seals Mount Sumeru and its heavenly secrets inside the Chaos Bell, while Zhurong and Gonggong combine their fire and water laws to destroy the Western Religion’s protective formation.
• Ksitigarbha confronts the Witches, boasting of Saint Zhunti’s authority and demanding they withdraw. Houtu kills him with a single blow, then openly declares her intention to slaughter the Western Religion.
• Maitreya tries to flee but crashes into the Chaos Bell and dies. The remaining disciples panic: some beg for mercy, some lash out at one another, and others freeze.
• Zhurong and the other Ancestral Witches begin a sweeping assault, killing the Western Religion’s followers with their elemental and law-based powers.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Tian proves both strategically minded and practical, turning the assault into a plan to restore the Western Lands rather than simply destroy them.
• Houtu shifts from controlled cooperation to open, uncompromising violence after Ksitigarbha’s challenge. Her blunt declaration exposes the Witches’ true intent.
• Ksitigarbha mistakes Zhunti’s assumptions about the Witch Clan for certainty and overestimates the protection a Saint’s reputation offers him.
• Maitreya is overwhelmed by fear and attempts to escape, only to be stopped by Lin Tian’s Chaos Bell.
• Zhurong relishes the attack and disparages the Western disciples for failing to fight back. Gonggong and Zhurong’s normally opposing water and fire powers work together to break the formation.
• The Witches act in concert, while the Western disciples’ confidence in their Saints collapses once Ksitigarbha is killed.

Significant themes

• Hubris and false security: The disciples assume that a Saint’s status will protect them, but their confidence proves misplaced.
• The gap between reputation and reality: Zhunti’s mistaken belief that the Witch Clan has retreated has encouraged Ksitigarbha’s reckless defiance.
• Destruction and restoration: Lin Tian frames the attack as a way to renew the Western Lands, though the assault itself becomes a massacre.
• Different responses to danger: The Witches embody fierce solidarity and combativeness; the Western disciples respond with panic, surrender, or confusion.

Key plot points and events

• The Twelve Ancestral Witches and Lin Tian finish wiping out the Western Religion’s followers on Mount Sumeru. Dijiang has also stripped the mountain of its spiritual treasures, leaving it barren.
• Dijiang and the other Witches agree to guard the site and prevent Saints Zhunti and Jieyin from interfering. Houtu prepares to destroy Mount Sumeru’s foundations, with Lin Tian supporting her.
• Lin Tian rings the Chaos Bell, ending its concealment of the attack. The sound reveals the Witches’ presence to powerful beings across the Primordial World and exposes the scale of their assault.
• Zhunti, who had recently claimed the Witch Clan was relocating to Pan Gu Hall and had divided up its supposedly vacant territory, realizes he was deceived. Unable to attack the Witches’ new refuge without risking immense karmic backlash, he rushes to Mount Sumeru instead.
• Zhunti expects to kill the Witches and Lin Tian, and believes he has a hidden defense on Mount Sumeru. Its accumulated faith power forms a golden body with Quasi-Saint strength. The chapter ends as the Chaos Bell rings again and Houtu recognizes the danger.

Character developments

• Houtu shows restraint toward the Western Religion’s weaker followers, saving her strength for the Saints. She then takes the lead in suppressing Mount Sumeru’s earth veins, revealing her formidable power and resolve.
• Dijiang indulges in looting Mount Sumeru before resuming a solemn leadership role and promising to protect Houtu and Lin Tian.
• Lin Tian chooses not to compete with Dijiang for treasures and uses the Chaos Bell to reveal the attack, accepting that the destruction is too significant to hide.
• Zhunti shifts from triumph and political maneuvering to fury when he discovers the Witch Clan’s true plan. He remains confident in his own power, but his faith-built golden body is weaker than the Saint-level weapon he had intended to create.
• Zhurong openly promises to protect Houtu and Lin Tian, teasing Houtu with his blunt reference to Lin Tian as her man.

Significant themes

• Deception and reversal: The Witch Clan’s apparent retreat was cover for a coordinated strike against the Western Religion.
• Power and its limits: Saints possess immense strength, but karmic consequences and protected sanctuaries constrain their actions.
• Consequences becoming public: Lin Tian’s bell exposes an attack whose scale can no longer be concealed.
• Greed amid conflict: Dijiang’s comic enthusiasm for looting contrasts with the Witches’ larger strategic purpose.

Character interactions

• Dijiang reports Mount Sumeru cleared and entrusts the next step to Houtu and Lin Tian; the other Witches agree to guard them.
• Houtu asks her elder brother to protect Lin Tian, prompting Zhurong’s emphatic promise and Houtu’s embarrassed, exasperated reaction.
• Lin Tian and Houtu coordinate: she suppresses the mountain’s earth veins while he uses the Chaos Bell to reveal the operation.
• Zhunti’s plans and assumptions are upended by the Witches’ attack, setting up a confrontation between him and the group.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Tian rings the Chaos Bell while the Twelve Ancestral Witches rush to protect him from a Quasi-Saint threat.
• The bell’s destructive ripples erase Zhunti’s thought-formed golden body, despite its Quasi-Saint strength and defensive mudra. Lin Tian recognizes it as a future Buddhist foundation that Zhunti had intended to develop into Amitabha Buddha.
• Observers across the Primordial World are astonished that the Chaos Bell can destroy a Quasi-Saint so easily in Lin Tian’s hands. Taishang Laozi and the Primordial Heavenly Venerable reconsider the power of their own supreme treasures.
• Zhunti and Jieyin arrive. Enraged by the loss of his golden body—and the Dao path it represented—Zhunti vows to kill Lin Tian and the Ancestral Witches, then destroy the Witch Clan and Human Race members sheltering in Pan Gu Hall.
• The Witches’ plan requires Houtu to suppress Mount Sumeru’s earth veins while Lin Tian uses the Chaos Bell to destroy the mountain and return its stolen spiritual essence to the Western Lands. This leaves the other eleven Ancestral Witches unable to summon the Pangu True Body Phantom, so they must face both Saints without it.
• The eleven Witches accept the danger rather than consider surrender. Zhunti claims he can defeat them within ten breaths.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Tian remains calm under pressure and demonstrates the Chaos Bell’s overwhelming power. His irreverent inner thoughts contrast with the seriousness of destroying Zhunti’s carefully prepared asset.
• The Ancestral Witches are stunned by Lin Tian’s feat, then explain it to themselves as proof of the strength of Pangu’s bloodline. Their pride grows, and their resolve to fight to the death becomes clear.
• Zhunti shifts from anger over his lost creation to open threats against Lin Tian and the Witch Clan. Jieyin remains silent but watches Lin Tian coldly.
• Taishang Laozi and the Primordial Heavenly Venerable privately reflect on whether they have fully mastered their own supreme treasures.

Significant themes

• The danger of underestimating Lin Tian and the Chaos Bell.
• Bloodline, inherited power, and collective identity, highlighted by the Witches’ pride in Pangu.
• Sacrifice and loyalty: the Witches choose resistance despite knowing they lack their strongest formation.
• Escalating conflict between the Witch Clan and the Western Religion, now focused on Mount Sumeru and the fate of its earth veins.

Key plot points and events

• Zhunti and Jieyin launch a surprise attack on Dijiang, Lin Tian, and Houtu, intending to kill the Twelve Ancestral Witches and Lin Tian before they can act.
• Dijiang’s space law and Zhu Jiuyin’s time law slow the Saints, while the other Ancestral Witches prepare to join the fight. The Saints expect to break free within three breaths.
• On the third toll of the Chaos Bell, the Saints pause in disbelief: Lin Tian, though apparently only a Great Encompassing Golden Immortal, has rung it again soon after using it to kill Di Jun.
• The bell’s power makes Mount Sumeru crack. Spiritual light pours from its fissures—the earth veins Zhunti and Jieyin spent countless ages gathering and restoring for the Western Lands.
• The chapter ends as the damage to Mount Sumeru threatens the foundation of the Western Religion.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Tian remains enigmatic: his displayed cultivation seems far too low to explain his feats, and even the Saints cannot account for his repeated use of the Chaos Bell.
• Dijiang and Zhu Jiuyin coordinate their laws to hold off Zhunti and Jieyin, buying Lin Tian time. The other Ancestral Witches stand ready to risk everything.
• Zhunti and Jieyin reveal their ruthlessness through their coordinated ambush. Their confidence turns to shock as the bell threatens the mountain they have spent ages rebuilding.
• Nuwa watches Lin Tian with surprise and questions how the Human Race she created could produce such a powerful cultivator. She also resents that humans live among the Witches and that Lin Tian married Houtu.
• The Three Pure Ones watch with amusement, pleased to see Zhunti and Jieyin embarrassed after Zhunti previously offended them.

Significant themes

• Power versus appearances: Lin Tian’s modestly displayed cultivation conflicts with his extraordinary accomplishments.
• Sacrifice and defiance: The Witches prepare for a final, potentially fatal stand against the Saints.
• Pride and humiliation: The Saints’ certainty is shaken, while their rivals enjoy their loss of face.
• Restoration and vulnerability: Mount Sumeru embodies the Western Saints’ long labor to repair the Western Lands—and is now at risk of destruction.

Key plot points and events

• Lin Tian’s third toll of the Chaos Bell shatters Mount Sumeru, exposing the earth-vein energy Zhunti and Jieyin had gathered there over countless ages.
• To prevent the energy’s destruction—and the resulting karmic catastrophe—Lin Tian suppresses space, time, karma, and the elements, then commands the energy to disperse and merge back into the Western Lands’ depleted veins.
• The land begins to revive: barren regions flourish, oases expand, and the Western Lands’ spiritually dulled inhabitants show signs of renewed vitality.
• The Heavenly Dao rewards Lin Tian and the Ancestral Witches with merit. Lin Tian gathers his share into a radiant Merit Golden Wheel.
• Lin Tian claims two treasures left after Mount Sumeru’s destruction: the Eight-Treasure Merit Pool and the World-Destroying Great Millstone.
• Zhunti, furious over the lost merit, Mount Sumeru, the treasures, and the destruction of the Western Religion’s promising disciples, loses control and nearly succumbs to demonic rage. Jieyin intervenes to calm and protect him.

Character developments and interactions

• Lin Tian acts decisively but carefully, restoring the Western Lands while avoiding the karmic consequences of letting the earth-vein sphere explode. He then taunts Zhunti with a polite apology that makes his victory especially humiliating.
• The Ancestral Witches, led by Dijiang and Zhu Jiuyin, see their goal of restoring the Western Lands nearly fulfilled. Their earlier willingness to sacrifice themselves is no longer necessary, and they receive some of the Heavenly Dao’s merit.
• Zhunti is devastated and enraged by the loss of his religious foundation, accumulated merit, treasured artifacts, and disciples. His fury threatens to turn him into a demon.
• Jieyin acts as Zhunti’s stabilizing force, using Buddhist power and the Six-Sense-Purifying Bamboo to suppress his heart demon. He also grieves the loss of disciples such as Maitreya and Ksitigarbha, whom he and Zhunti had hoped would become Quasi-Saints.

Significant themes

• Restoration versus exploitation: Lin Tian returns stolen earth-vein energy to the land, undoing the harm caused by Zhunti and Jieyin’s accumulation of it.
• Power and consequence: The destruction of Mount Sumeru could have brought immense karmic punishment, so Lin Tian’s restraint matters as much as his strength.
• Humiliation and loss: Zhunti’s public collapse contrasts sharply with the reverence normally accorded to a Saint.
• Interdependence: The Western Lands’ recovery revives both the environment and its inhabitants, showing how spiritual vitality sustains life.

Key events

• Jieyin is furious after Lin Tian used Heavenly Dao merit to erase the Western Saints’ control over the Eight-Treasure Merit Pool, then took and refined both that treasure and the World-Destroying Great Millstone. He blames Lin Tian for Zhunti’s distress and vows to kill him.
• Protected by the Chaos Bell, Lin Tian privately criticizes Houtu and the other Ancestral Witches for failing to exploit the Saints’ distraction. Houtu hears his thoughts and announces that she will kill a Saint for him.
• Lin Tian realizes Houtu can hear him, but keeps up the pretense. He is deliberately encouraging the Witches to fight the relatively weak Saints: he expects the battle to strengthen them, while remaining ready to intervene if necessary.
• Houtu tells Dijiang she wants to kill a Saint. Dijiang and the other Witches enthusiastically agree, then swiftly form the Twelve-All-Heaven Baleful God Formation and summon a phantom of Pangu’s true body. Jieyin is stunned that they dare challenge two Saints.

Character developments and interactions

• Jieyin shifts from anger over his losses to murderous resolve, but is distracted by Zhunti’s condition when the Witch Clan mobilizes.
• Lin Tian appears lazy and uninvolved, yet carefully manipulates events to give the Witches a chance to grow and potentially eliminate the Western Saints. His thoughts reveal that he has noticed Houtu’s unusual ability to hear them.
• Houtu misunderstands Lin Tian’s private remarks as a cue to act, then boldly takes charge. Her excitement over the prospect of killing a Saint spreads to the other Ancestral Witches.
• Dijiang and the Witches quickly turn Houtu’s proposal into a united plan, displaying their shared warlike nature and practiced coordination.
• Lin Tian’s thoughts leave Houtu bewildered by unfamiliar references, while Houtu’s confident declaration leaves Lin Tian amused by how poorly she conceals her ability.

Significant themes

• Power and opportunity: Lin Tian urges the Witches to exploit the Saints’ moment of weakness rather than wait for a safer opening.
• Hidden manipulation: Lin Tian’s apparent passivity masks his strategic influence over the coming conflict.
• Pride and escalation: Jieyin’s desire for revenge and the Witches’ confidence push the confrontation toward open war.
• Comedic misunderstanding: Houtu acts on Lin Tian’s unspoken thoughts, while Lin Tian knowingly lets her believe her secret remains hidden.

Summary

Key plot points

• The Twelve Ancestral Witches summon the Pangu True Body Phantom in the western lands to confront Saints Zhunti and Jieyin. Their display frightens the watching cultivators, and Demon Race forces hesitate to occupy the lands abandoned by the Witch Clan.
• Taishang chooses not to intervene, seeing the battle as a chance to test the Saints and learn who supports the Witches. Yuanshi is tempted by the chance to avenge his past humiliation at the Witches’ hands, but ultimately also holds back. Nuwa remains focused on separating Lin Tian from Houtu.
• Furious that the Witches have wrecked the Western Religion’s plans and fortune, Jieyin sacrifices the Six-Sense-Purifying Bamboo, transferring its essence into Zhunti and restoring his clarity.
• Houtu, controlling the Pangu phantom, strikes during that opening. The punch combines the Witches’ laws to pin both Saints in place and shatters Zhunti’s Wrathful Wisdom King body, badly harming him.
• Houtu presses the attack, but Jieyin blocks the next punch with the Azure Lotus Banner. Houtu recognizes its resemblance to other treasure banners she gave Lin Tian and suspects the banners form a powerful Five Elements set. She reaches to seize Jieyin’s banner, prompting his furious protest.

Character developments and interactions

• Houtu proves both tactically sharp and relentless: she exploits Jieyin’s sacrifice to strike Zhunti, then immediately seeks to take Jieyin’s defensive treasure for Lin Tian’s protection.
• Jieyin shows loyalty to Zhunti by sacrificing a prized spiritual treasure to restore him, then shields him from Houtu’s follow-up attack.
• Zhunti is restored from near cultivation deviation but suffers a major setback when his severed Wisdom King body is destroyed.
• Taishang and Yuanshi refrain from joining the fight for different reasons: Taishang wants to observe and investigate, while Yuanshi restrains his desire for revenge.
• Nuwa’s attention remains on Lin Tian, whom she senses is unusually significant.

Significant themes

• The Witches’ raw collective power challenges the authority of the Heavenly Dao Saints, unsettling even powerful onlookers.
• Strategic restraint and observation contrast with Houtu’s decisive aggression.
• Loyalty and sacrifice appear in Jieyin’s effort to protect Zhunti.
• Treasures carry political and personal stakes: Houtu sees the banners as a possible means of safeguarding Lin Tian and strengthening the Witch Clan’s position.

Chapter Summary

Saint Jieyin’s Vajra Demon-Subduing Pestle proves unable to damage the Pangu true-body phantom summoned by the Twelve Ancestral Witches. At Zhunti’s suggestion, the two Saints fuse into a gigantic, two-faced Buddha golden body, wielding four Innate Spiritual Treasures and protected by the Twelfth-Grade Merit Golden Lotus.
The Buddha golden body’s treasures and mastery of Heavenly Dao laws let Zhunti and Jieyin attack relentlessly while resisting the phantom’s blows. Though the Witches have recently grown stronger through Heavenly Dao merit and their phantom remains extraordinarily durable, observers believe they are losing and will eventually be defeated. Lin Tian privately considers giving the phantom an axe to even the odds.
The battle prompts other powerful figures to reflect on the meaning of strength and the path to enlightenment. Zhen Yuanzi wonders whether sainthood is truly the only route to the Dao. Minghe, still frustrated by his failed attempts to gain sainthood, mocks the Witches and considers taking advantage of the battle to curry favor with the weakened Saints. Taishang Laozi concludes that Zhunti and Jieyin have the advantage and considers adapting their fused manifestation into a technique of his own, glancing toward his brothers Yuanshi and Tongtian.

Character Developments and Interactions

• Zhunti and Jieyin reveal a powerful joint technique and bring out their full arsenal, shifting the battle in their favor.
• The Twelve Ancestral Witches continue resisting despite being outmatched in appearance, their strength reinforced by recent merit.
• Lin Tian recognizes the imbalance in weapons and entertains a way to strengthen the Witches’ side.
• Zhen Yuanzi voices doubts about the belief that only Saints can attain the highest realms.
• Minghe reveals his envy of sainthood and his opportunistic streak.
• Taishang Laozi observes the Saints’ technique as a possible model for his own cultivation.

Significant Themes

The chapter contrasts overwhelming power with the possibility of alternative paths to enlightenment. It questions whether sainthood is the sole measure of spiritual success, while also highlighting how perception can differ from reality: the Witches appear to be losing, though their defenses remain formidable. Envy, ambition, and strategic opportunism shape the reactions of those watching the battle.

Key events

• Zhunti and Jieyin believe their Buddha Golden Body will eventually defeat the Twelve Ancestral Witches, since the Saints can keep attacking while the Witches’ Pangu True Body Phantom must tire.
• Their confidence and greed grow as they imagine seizing the Witches’ many treasures and using victory to restore and expand the Western Religion.
• Houtu catches them off guard with Chaos Divine Thunder. The Twelfth-Grade Merit Golden Lotus shields them from a potentially devastating blow.
• Lin Tian silently realizes the Witches need a weapon. Houtu hears his thoughts and understands that the summoned Pangu Phantom should wield Pangu’s axe.
• Houtu calls, “Axe, come!” A phantom of the Heaven-Opening Axe appears. The Taiji Diagram and Chaos Banner react, but their owners suppress them. Lin Tian lets the Chaos Bell fly into the phantom’s hand, where it becomes the axe’s haft and makes both weapon and phantom more solid.
• Houtu threatens to hack the two Saints apart. Zhunti and Jieyin lose their confidence, but convince themselves the axe is only a phantom and prepare to fight on.

Character developments and interactions

• Houtu shifts from worrying that the Pangu Phantom may be overwhelmed to recognizing how it can fight more effectively. Lin Tian’s private criticism and suggestion help her realize the answer.
• Lin Tian supports the Witches indirectly, offering the Chaos Bell to strengthen the axe without openly directing them.
• Zhunti and Jieyin move from smug certainty and thoughts of plunder to alarm and anger when the weapon appears. Their shared thoughts reflect their close coordination and greed.
• The Three Pure Ones react to the summoned axe: Taishang Laozi and the Primordial Heavenly Venerable suppress their treasures rather than let them answer its call.

Significant themes

• Overconfidence and greed create vulnerability: the Saints’ fixation on victory and treasure distracts them, giving Houtu an opening.
• Ingenuity can overcome disadvantages: the Witches cannot use treasures conventionally, but can channel their power through Pangu’s summoned form.
• Power tied to legacy: the axe’s call awakens a connection between Pangu, his divine weapons, and the great treasures associated with him.
• The battle remains uncertain: the strengthened axe changes the balance, but the Saints still believe they can withstand it.

Plot points and events

• Zhunti and Jieyin’s Buddha Golden Body transforms, wreathed in crimson flames and spreading with dark, mysterious markings.
• Lin Tian observes the change while sheltering beneath the Creation Qian Kun Cauldron. Nuwa recognizes the cauldron as hers and realizes Houtu must value Lin Tian greatly to have given him such powerful treasures.
• The Chaos Bell’s fusion with the Pan Gu Axe phantom awakens Houtu’s inherited bloodline. She discovers Pan Gu’s supreme Nine World-Opening Axes and decides to demonstrate the technique.
• Houtu strikes before the transformed Buddha Golden Body can complete its preparation, controlling the Pangu True Body Phantom through her mastery of earth law.
• The axe releases Pan Gu’s ancient aura, alarming Yuanhuang and awakening other ancient beings across the Primordial World.
• Zhunti and Jieyin find that they cannot escape the axe’s lock. Believing they can survive one strike, they pour their power into five Innate Spiritual Treasures and the Western Religion’s Immovable Wisdom King Seal.
• As the axe falls, the Saints are drawn into a vision of primordial chaos, where Pan Gu’s strike shatters chaos and the Three Thousand Great Dao Laws. Zhunti and Jieyin are caught in its destructive aftermath.

Character developments

• Houtu gains a profound ancestral inheritance and eagerly uses it—not only to attack, but to prove to Lin Tian that she is clever. Her decision to strike first shows both confidence and practical battlefield judgment.
• Lin Tian remains observant and wry, recognizing the Western Saints’ ingenuity and relying on the treasures Houtu has entrusted to him.
• Nuwa grows more curious about Lin Tian after seeing how generously Houtu protects him.
• Zhunti and Jieyin move from preparation to desperate resolve, choosing to face an attack they cannot evade.

Significant themes

• Inherited power and ancestral legacy: Houtu’s bloodline carries Pan Gu’s world-opening axe art.
• Action over hesitation: Houtu attacks rather than waiting for her opponents to finish their ultimate technique.
• The overwhelming scale of ancient power: The axe’s aura and vision of creation surpass ordinary defenses and even the Saints’ combined protections.
• Trust and loyalty: Houtu’s gifts to Lin Tian signal how important he is to her.

Character interactions

• Houtu seeks to impress Lin Tian, putting her newly gained inheritance to use in front of him.
• Nuwa watches Lin Tian and reflects on Houtu’s unusual generosity toward him.
• Zhunti and Jieyin coordinate their defenses, combining treasures and their secret seal to withstand Houtu’s strike.
• Yuanhuang’s recognition of Pan Gu’s aura connects the battle to the Primordial World’s oldest beings.

Plot points and events

• Houtu directs the Pangu True Body Phantom to strike Zhunti and Jieyin with the phantom Pan Gu Axe. The axe seems to pass harmlessly through their Buddha Golden Body, leading onlookers to wonder whether the attack failed.
• Blood rain then falls throughout the Primordial World, including the Thirty-Three Heavens. The droplets cannot be caught and vanish on contact with the ground, alarming many creatures.
• Taishang Laozi deduces that Zhunti and Jieyin have fallen. The Buddha Golden Body gradually cracks and dissolves, confirming that the axe stroke killed both Saints.
• The Twelve Ancestral Witches collect the five Innate Spiritual Treasures belonging to Zhunti and Jieyin, erasing the Saints’ imprints. Their Pangu phantom grows noticeably weaker afterward.
• Primordial Heavenly Venerable believes the Witches have made a fatal mistake by lingering to seize the treasures. He expects the Saints to resurrect through the Heavenly Dao and anticipates the Witches’ deaths.

Character developments and interactions

• Houtu remains in command of the Pangu phantom, directing it first to kill the Saints and then to claim their treasures.
• Taishang Laozi responds to the blood rain with calm deduction, identifying the likely cause before the fall is visibly confirmed.
• Tongtian interprets the event as proof that the Witches honor their Pangu heritage. He refuses to change his inclusive Dao path despite Primordial Heavenly Venerable’s repeated criticism.
• Primordial Heavenly Venerable dismisses the Witches as foolish and insists Saints cannot truly die while the Heavenly Dao survives. His contempt gives way to eager anticipation of the Witches’ presumed fate.
• The Twelve Ancestral Witches gain a fearsome reputation: witnesses now regard their ability to kill Saints as an unprecedented feat and a reason never to provoke them.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: The axe looks illusory and harmless, yet its delayed effect is fatal.
• Power and hierarchy: The Witches overturn the presumed supremacy of Saints, though the Saints’ connection to the Heavenly Dao may complicate that victory.
• Ideological division: Tongtian’s openness toward non-human beings clashes with Primordial Heavenly Venerable’s elitism.
• Victory and overconfidence: The Witches’ triumph may be temporary, while the Heavenly Venerable’s confidence in resurrection leaves the outcome uncertain.

Summary

Key plot points

• After the Twelve Ancestral Witches use the Pangu True Body Phantom to kill Zhunti and Jieyin and erase their imprints from five Innate Spiritual Treasures, the two Saints do not resurrect as expected.
• The Heavenly Dao Saints realize something may have happened to the Primordial Spirit imprints that normally allow Saints to return from death. Alarmed, they consider attacking the Phantom—but no one dares confront its phantom Pan Gu Axe.
• Dao Ancestor Hongjun summons the four Heavenly Dao Saints—Taishang Laozi, the Primordial Heavenly Venerable, Tongtian, and Nuwa—to the Purple Heaven Palace.
• Houtu guides the Pangu True Body Phantom toward Mount Buzhou. Its passage inspires awe among the beings of the Primordial World, who bow and treat its footprints as sacred.
• Lin Tian lounges on the Phantom’s shoulder with the five treasures taken from Zhunti and Jieyin. He reflects that the Ancestral Witches have destroyed the Western Religion, its base at Mount Sumeru, and its fortune-anchoring treasures.
• Lin Tian believes Zhunti and Jieyin will eventually revive, but their True Spirits were badly injured, delaying their return. If they revive without becoming stronger, Houtu could kill them again repeatedly.

Character developments

• The Primordial Heavenly Venerable shifts from confidence to concealed fear. He repeatedly tells himself to wait for the formation to end, avoiding a direct fight with the Pangu True Body Phantom.
• The other Heavenly Dao Saints share his concern: the apparent failure of Zhunti and Jieyin to resurrect threatens the Saints’ belief that they are effectively immortal.
• Houtu and the Ancestral Witches emerge as a formidable force, having defeated two Saints, destroyed their religious stronghold, and seized their treasures.
• Lin Tian remains relaxed and observant, treating his unexpected windfall with amusement while understanding the deeper consequences of the battle.
• Zhunti and Jieyin, though absent, are portrayed as having lost nearly everything: their disciples, sanctuary, treasures, and religious lineage.

Significant themes

• The limits of immortality: A Saint’s resurrection depends on the Heavenly Dao, but even that safeguard may be disrupted or delayed.
• Power and fear: The Saints’ status does not protect them from hesitation when faced with overwhelming force.
• Consequences of schemes: Zhunti and Jieyin’s attempt to manipulate the Witch Clan ends in the destruction of their own religion and resources.
• Fortune and religious foundations: The loss of the Merit Golden Lotus signals the collapse of the Western Religion’s established fortune.

Character interactions

• The Ancestral Witches’ attack leaves the Heavenly Dao Saints watching warily rather than retaliating.
• Houtu’s control of the Pangu True Body Phantom enables the Witches’ victory and places Lin Tian in possession of the spoils.
• Hongjun’s summons interrupts the Saints’ standoff, while Lin Tian privately considers how Houtu could exploit the delay in Zhunti and Jieyin’s resurrection.

Key plot points and events

• After Houtu kills the Heavenly Dao Saints Zhunti and Jieyin with the Pangu True Body Phantom, she keeps the formation intact and parades it back to Mount Buzhou. Lin Tian thinks this is a clever way to deter anyone who might attack the weakened Witch Clan, though Houtu privately admits she mainly wanted to show off—and then convinces herself Lin Tian’s interpretation was her true plan.
• The Phantom finally dissolves at Mount Buzhou, leaving the Twelve Ancestral Witches exhausted. The Chaos Bell returns to Lin Tian, bringing with it an inheritance of Houtu’s axe technique: the Nine World-Opening Axes. Lin Tian recognizes it as essentially the same technique he has seen in Pangu’s inheritance and wonders about the naming.
• Houtu, refreshed by the power of the Earth Law, approaches Lin Tian, apparently hoping to use her new inheritance to make a personal request of him. She becomes flustered imagining what might happen, but does not reveal what she wants.
• Dijiang thanks Lin Tian and offers him access to the Witch Clan Treasury. He then goes to bring the Witch Clan and Human Race back from Pan Gu Hall, since the Primordial World offers better conditions for future generations.
• Zhurong also thanks Lin Tian, urges him to be patient with Houtu, and promises to bring him treasures after recovering. Xuanming silently watches the pair, eager to learn what Houtu intends to ask.

Character developments and interactions

• Houtu is proud of her victory and delighted by the attention, yet tries to present herself as strategically brilliant. Her thoughts reveal a playful, embarrassed interest in Lin Tian.
• Lin Tian remains amused by Houtu’s self-deception and gains a valuable Pangu technique through the Chaos Bell, though he questions its supposedly distinct name.
• Dijiang and Zhurong show gratitude and offer Lin Tian practical support, while also hinting that they see his relationship with Houtu as something requiring patience.
• Xuanming remains outwardly composed but is intensely curious about Houtu’s private intentions.

Significant themes

• Power as deterrence: The fading Phantom still serves as a warning because others cannot know whether it can strike again.
• Pride and self-justification: Houtu’s desire to show off is recast in her own mind as strategic wisdom.
• Inheritance and repetition: Lin Tian’s discovery that the Nine World-Opening Axes resemble Pangu’s known technique raises the possibility that ancient inheritances overlap or are named inconsistently.
• Kinship and gratitude: The Ancestral Witches respond to Lin Tian’s help with thanks, gifts, and concern for Houtu’s future.

Plot points and events

• Houtu realizes she accidentally voiced an embarrassing thought about Lin Tian and discovers he heard it through his inner commentary. After a brief bout of despair, she decides to keep the incident quiet by intimidating her brothers—and eventually Lin Tian—into silence.
• The witches and humans gather at Mount Buzhou for a huge celebration. An enormous airborne city draws the Ancestral Witches’ envy, as they wish their own tribes had one.
• Lin Tian spots a plump black-and-white creature among the arriving crowd and recognizes it as a Primordial World Iron-Eating Beast.
• He meets Chiyou, a Human-Witch Hybrid who calls the beast his mount, despite having carried it overhead while running. Lin Tian claims the beast is too dangerous for Chiyou and offers him a Qiongqi instead, hoping to raise the Iron-Eating Beast himself.

Character developments and interactions

• Houtu quickly recovers from embarrassment and returns to her confident, forceful manner, already planning how to silence anyone who might tease her.
• Lin Tian recognizes Houtu’s likely solution and stays out of the matter. He is also amused by Chiyou’s unconventional idea of a “mount.”
• Chiyou treats Lin Tian with reverence, while the Iron-Eating Beast remains absorbed in eating. Houtu and Xuanming follow Lin Tian to inspect it and find themselves inexplicably tempted to pet it.

Significant themes

• Comedy and embarrassment: Houtu’s attempt to erase her verbal slip contrasts with her formidable reputation.
• Strength as problem-solving: Houtu’s instinct is to settle awkwardness with her fists.
• Unexpected value and perspective: Lin Tian sees hidden significance in a creature the others consider ordinary.
• Community and status: The celebration brings the tribes together while the Ancestral Witches compare their own prospects with the impressive floating city.

Plot points and events

• Chiyou readily gives Lin Tian the iron-eating beast, reflecting Lin Tian’s immense prestige among the Witch Clan, humans, and people of mixed heritage.
• Dao Ancestor Hongjun summons Taishang, Yuanshi, Tongtian, and Nuwa to the Purple Heaven Palace. He has awakened from his struggle with the Heavenly Dao after sensing the phantom Pan Gu Axe.
• Hongjun’s original plan was for the Witch and Demon Clans to destroy each other, Mount Buzhou to fall, and the Human Race to rise—events that would help him weaken and ultimately control the Heavenly Dao.
• Instead, the Witch Clan mastered the Twelve-All-Heaven Baleful God Formation, defeated the Demon Race, absorbed and purified earthly killing intent, and became the dominant power. The Human Race is also drawing close to the Witches.
• The Twelve Ancestral Witches invaded Mount Sumeru and defeated Zhunti and Jieyin. Their Western Religion was destroyed, and the damaged western earth veins were restored, further strengthening the Heavenly Dao and complicating Hongjun’s plans.
• Concerned that events have veered far off course, Hongjun calls his four remaining Heavenly Dao Saints to discuss the situation. They arrive and congratulate him, mistakenly assuming his manifestations indicate a breakthrough; he tells them to rise.

Character developments

• Lin Tian is established as a revered and powerful figure whose influence spans the Witch Clan and humanity.
• Hongjun is revealed as a patient but increasingly frustrated planner. Though he believes himself nearly untouchable, the Witch Clan’s rise and the Pan Gu Axe’s appearance make him wary and threaten his long-term ambitions.
• The four Saints remain deferential to Hongjun, responding to his presence with awe and formal respect.
• Zhunti and Jieyin are shown as having suffered a decisive defeat: their bodies and spirits were damaged, their religious lineage destroyed, and their schemes exposed.

Significant themes

• Fate versus disruption: Hongjun’s carefully engineered Heavenly Dao plan is being overturned by unforeseen developments.
• Power and restraint: Even Hongjun hesitates to confront the Witches because of the danger associated with Pan Gu’s axe.
• The cost of manipulation: Hongjun’s schemes to exploit conflict and damage the world’s foundations are undermined when the Witches restore what was harmed.
• Changing allegiances and order: The Witch Clan’s dominance and growing bond with humanity threaten the established path toward rule by the Daoist Saints.

Character interactions

• Chiyou’s easy handover of the beast to Lin Tian demonstrates the respect Lin Tian commands.
• Hongjun orders Haotian and Yaochi to receive the four Saints; the attendants answer with ritualized obedience.
• The Saints greet Hongjun with reverence and praise, while Hongjun’s restrained response hints that his true concern is not a cultivation breakthrough but the collapse of his plans.