Chapter Summaries

Lin Tian’s messengers invited demon kings to join Flower-Fruit Mountain’s rebellion against Heaven, while the Bull Devil King pretended to be injured to avoid joining. Several other demon kings arrived for a feast, where they praised Lin Tian and the monkey’s victory, and the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey King asked why the Bull Devil King and Lion-Camel King were absent.

• Lin Tian woke the demon kings outside the Water-Curtain Cave by dumping the waterfall’s water on them.
• Monkey Thirteen reached Thunder Accumulation Mountain and invited the Bull Devil King to join Flower-Fruit Mountain’s rebellion against Heaven.
• The Bull Devil King feigned an injury to refuse the invitation, then decided to investigate Flower-Fruit Mountain and call himself the Great Sage Who Pacifies Heaven.
• The monkey demons tallied more than fifteen thousand sets of Heavenly Soldiers’ armor and weapons among their spoils.
• The Roc Devil King, Golden Snub-nosed Monkey King, Macaque King, and Flood Dragon Devil King arrived at Flower-Fruit Mountain, and Lin Tian hosted them at a feast.
• The Roc Devil King praised Lin Tian and the monkey’s victories, and the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey King asked why the Bull Devil King and Lion-Camel King had not come.

Lin Tian hosted four demon Wangs, who pledged support to Flower-Fruit Mountain and adopted Great Sage titles, then returned to seclusion to strengthen his combat abilities. He studied the first of the Seven Hongmeng Swords and witnessed a vision of its Primordial Separation strike.

• Lin Tian learned that the Lion-Camel King and Bull Devil King would not attend, leaving four demon Wangs at the feast.
• The Roc Devil King, Flood Dragon Devil King, Macaque King, and Golden Snub-nosed Monkey King took Great Sage titles and promised to support Flower-Fruit Mountain.
• Lin Tian suspected the Flood Dragon Devil King feared him because of a connection to the Elder Demon Court and the Spirit Vines.
• After the guests departed, Lin Tian ordered the Black Bear Monster and the monkey to train their forces, then entered seclusion at One Origin Residence.
• Lin Tian used a jade slip to enter a simulated Hongmeng and watched a Daoist demonstrate the first of the Seven Hongmeng Swords, Primordial Separation.

After Lin Tian received a vision of the Heavenly Dao Sword, the Heavenly Court learned of his defeat of Red Pine Master and Bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta. The Jade Emperor heard proposals to either attack Flower-Fruit Mountain again or grant Sun Wukong the title of Great Sage Equal to Heaven, while Great Emperor Gouchen planned to obtain two treasures that could counter Lin Tian.

• Lin Tian repeatedly recalled and simulated the sword stroke from his vision after the Primordial World vanished.
• Marshal Tianyou told Great Emperor Gouchen that Red Pine Master had disappeared inside the Pure Yang Immortal Gourd and that Lin Tian had defeated Bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta.
• Great Emperor Gouchen decided Lin Tian posed a serious threat and began planning to acquire two treasures from the Heavenly Emperor's Treasury.
• Li Jing reported the defeat at Flower-Fruit Mountain to the Jade Emperor and recounted Sun Wukong's demand for the title of Great Sage Equal to Heaven.
• Celestial Master Zhang urged the Jade Emperor to send another army, while Venus Star proposed granting Sun Wukong the title and summoning Lin Tian back to heaven.
• Venus Star argued that another expedition would risk heavy losses, and Celestial Master Zhang fell silent after suggesting Great Emperor Zhenwu as a possible commander.

The Heavenly Court debated whom to send against Flower-Fruit Mountain before the Jade Emperor ordered Venus Star to summon its two demon kings. Bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta returned from defeat, while Lin Tian strengthened his mountain and advanced his cultivation, ending the chapter focused on learning to perceive the world’s tangled threads of karma.

• Zhang Daoling proposed Zhao Gongming, Doumu Primordial Lord, and Great Emperor Gouchen as candidates to confront Flower-Fruit Mountain, but the Jade Emperor ordered Venus Star to summon the two demon kings instead.
• Bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta emerged from the Eight-Treasure Merit Pool, blamed Ksitigarbha King for his losses, and sent a Novice Monk to report to Maitreya Buddha.
• Lin Tian fed Bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta’s recovered Buddha Body to the Dutian Baleful God Banner, helping Ancestral Witch Xuanming become forty percent materialized.
• Lin Tian continued studying the Seven Hongmeng Swords and cultivating his transformations and Dijiang’s traversal art, while compiling Ancestral Witch abilities into the Dijiang Scroll.
• Lin Tian cultivated Foreknowledge of the Future and perceived how karma connected lives through countless threads, finding that tracing future events was especially difficult.

Lin Tian divined that a white dragon connected to his karma would appear, and learned that Ao Luan had come to Flower-Fruit Mountain to reclaim the Golden Cudgel and Dragon Palace Treasury. As Ao Luan fought the Black Bear Monster, Lin Tian recognized her as a nine-clawed white dragon with the potential to become a Quasi-Saint.

• Lin Tian's divination revealed that the monkey's likely future was to become the Victorious Fighting Buddha, while his own fate remained unclear.
• Ao Guang learned that Ao Luan had returned from the Ancestral Dragon Forbidden Grounds as a Great Unity Golden Immortal with the Kunwu Sword, and she soon set out for Flower-Fruit Mountain.
• A monkey spirit reported that Ao Luan had wounded Generals Beng and Ba and was fighting the Black Bear Monster, so Lin Tian went to see the karmic matter for himself.
• Sun Wukong told Lin Tian that Ao Luan demanded the Golden Cudgel and the Dragon Palace Treasury back, and insisted that neither should be returned.
• Lin Tian watched Ao Luan press the Black Bear Monster and used the Spirit Vine Divine Eye to identify her as a nine-clawed white dragon with the potential to become a Quasi-Saint.

Lin Tian watched Ao Luan defeat Black Bear Monster, then gave the bear a stronger halberd after his weapon broke. Ao Luan confronted Sun Wukong over the Sea-Stabilizing Needle, but Lin Tian intervened when her sword strike threatened the monkey, and she turned her challenge toward him.

• Ao Luan defeated Black Bear Monster with a powerful sword strike, breaking his Sky-Piercing Halberd and injuring him.
• Lin Tian gave Black Bear Monster the God-Slaying Halberd, and the bear happily accepted it as his new weapon.
• Ao Luan demanded that Sun Wukong return the Sea-Stabilizing Needle, but he refused and taunted her.
• Ao Luan attacked Sun Wukong with the Kunwu Sword, and Lin Tian appeared to block both her sword qi and the monkey's Golden Cudgel.
• Ao Luan recognized Lin Tian and told him to move aside until she had dealt with Sun Wukong.

Lin Tian challenged Ao Luan to withstand one sword stroke, wagering the Dragon Palace Treasury and the monkey’s Golden Cudgel against her becoming his disciple. After his Demon Emperor Sword overwhelmed her, Ao Luan accepted defeat and tried to join his tutelage, but Ao Guang intervened, wary of tying the Dragon Clan to Flower-Fruit Mountain.

• Lin Tian offered to return the Dragon Palace Treasury and the monkey’s Golden Cudgel, and give Ao Luan the Desolate Rain Mace, if she endured his sword stroke; if she failed, she would become his disciple.
• Lin Tian drew the Demon Emperor Sword and struck, plunging Ao Luan into a disorienting chaos until the dragon phantom on her Kunwu Sword bit her wrist and restored her senses.
• Ao Guang arrived with aquatic soldiers and officers, saw Lin Tian’s sword at Ao Luan’s neck, and pleaded with him to spare her.
• Lin Tian withdrew his sword, and Ao Luan told Ao Guang that she had wagered to become Lin Tian’s disciple if she lost.
• Ao Luan asked Lin Tian whether he would teach her the sword stroke, then kowtowed and declared herself his disciple.
• Ao Guang stopped Ao Luan from bowing and, concerned that the Dragon Clan would be drawn into Flower-Fruit Mountain’s conflict with the Heavenly Court, bowed to Lin Tian.

Ao Guang postponed Ao Luan’s apprenticeship with Lin Tian until she reached adulthood, while Venus Star arrived with an imperial decree inviting Lin Tian and Sun Wukong back to Heaven. Sun Wukong accepted the officially recognized title of Great Sage Equal to Heaven, and the three reached the Southern Heavenly Gate.

• Ao Guang persuaded Lin Tian to let Ao Luan return for apprenticeship when she came of age, then left with her for the Eastern Sea.
• Venus Star arrived with an imperial decree inviting Lin Tian and Sun Wukong back to the Heavenly Palace, though Sun Wukong initially tried to flee.
• Venus Star explained that the Great Heavenly Venerable had pardoned Sun Wukong and promoted him to Great Sage Equal to Heaven, while granting Lin Tian five thousand pieces of Heavenly Spirit Jade.
• Sun Wukong eagerly agreed to return to Heaven, and Lin Tian arranged for the Black Bear Monster and the Four Great Monkey Generals to manage affairs during their absence.
• Lin Tian, Sun Wukong, and Venus Star reached the Southern Heavenly Gate, where the Four Heavenly Kings quietly stood aside when they saw Lin Tian.

The Jade Emperor reinstated Lin Tian as Vine Dao Venerable and appointed Sun Yukong Great Sage Equal to Heaven, leaving both free to enjoy themselves in the Heavenly Court. At a feast hosted by the Wood Virtue Star Lord, Lin Tian recognized a suspicious jade bowl as a magical treasure just as the drunken Sun Yukong noticed it too.

• The Jade Emperor appointed Sun Yukong Great Sage Equal to Heaven and restored Lin Tian to his post as Vine Dao Venerable.
• Lin Tian passed his sun-raising duties to the Solar Star Lord, while he and Sun Yukong spent their days socializing around the Heavenly Court.
• Great Emperor Gouchen gave Marshal Tianyou a mist-shrouded white jade bowl and instructed him to deliver it secretly through a trusted immortal official.
• Sun Yukong invited Lin Tian to the Wood Virtue Star Lord's feast, where they drank heavily from an old jar of wine.
• A servant brought out the jade bowl, Lin Tian sensed its magical power, and Sun Yukong asked what it was.

The Wood Virtue Star Lord’s Demon-Sealing Bowl shattered, freeing nearly a hundred demons and devils who rampaged through the Heavenly Palace. As the monkey and celestial soldiers fought to contain them, Lin Tian suspected the chaos concealed another plan and discovered the Heavenly Court Treasury had been breached.

• The monkey accidentally shattered the Demon-Sealing Bowl, releasing nearly a hundred powerful demons and devils into the Heavenly Palace.
• The monkey attacked the escapees, and Kui Wood Wolf arrived with ten thousand celestial soldiers to help surround them.
• Lin Tian noticed the Wood Virtue Star Lord had disappeared and suspected the disturbance was meant to distract the Heavenly Court from the treasury.
• Lin Tian reached the Heavenly Court Treasury and found the Golden and Silver Generals unconscious and the doors open.
• Lin Tian entered the treasury and saw an intruder who had broken the restrictions on five altars.

Lin Tian confronted an Azure-Robed Daoist stealing from the Heavenly Court Treasury, then secretly took the three treasures the thief had left behind. At the Hall of Miracle Mists, Li Jing accused Lin Tian of taking all five missing treasures and urged the Jade Emperor to search him.

• Lin Tian attacked the masked Azure-Robed Daoist, who absorbed and returned his sword qi before escaping with the Heaven-Covering Net and Sun-Shooting Bow.
• After the thief fled, Lin Tian pocketed the Pure Meditation Cushion, Yin-Yang Transformation Furnace, and Kongtong Seal, then picked up the thief's severed sleeve.
• Lin Tian woke the Golden-Armored and Silver-Armored Divine Generals and claimed an Azure-Robed Daoist had robbed the treasury.
• The Silver-Armored Divine General escorted Lin Tian to the Hall of Miracle Mists, where he reported that five treasures were missing.
• Li Jing accused Lin Tian of stealing the treasures and asked the Jade Emperor to order a search of him.

Lin Tian attacked Li Jing after Li Jing accused him of stealing from the treasury, then produced a sleeve fragment that pointed to a high-ranking Heavenly Court official. The Jade Emperor ordered an investigation and questioned the Wood Virtue Star Lord about the demons released from his residence, while Lin Tian noticed gaps in his account.

• Lin Tian bound and burned Li Jing with his Solar True Flame after suggesting that Li Jing be searched, and the Jade Emperor intervened before Li Jing died.
• Lin Tian apologized for acting rashly and revealed half a sleeve he had cut from the treasury thief.
• Venus Star identified the sleeve as material from a Seamless Heavenly Garment, and the Jade Emperor ordered an investigation while rewarding Lin Tian.
• Kui Wood Wolf reported that demons had emerged from the Wood Virtue Star Lord's residence and that the Great Sage Equal to Heaven had helped contain them.
• The Wood Virtue Star Lord claimed Wukong had accidentally broken his Demon-Sealing Bowl, and Wukong admitted he had done so while drunk.
• Lin Tian noticed that the Wood Virtue Star Lord had not explained where the powerful Demon-Sealing Bowl came from.

Lin Tian accepted that the Jade Emperor had assigned Wukong to oversee the Flat Peach Orchard and discovered that one of the treasures from the Heavenly Emperor’s Treasury was the dangerous Kongtong Seal. He visited Wukong at the orchard, where Wukong began showing him its peaches and revealed that he was pleased with his new post.

• Lin Tian persuaded the Jade Emperor to forgive Wukong for overturning the Demon-Sealing Bowl, and the emperor assigned Wukong to tend the Flat Peach Orchard.
• Lin Tian examined the three treasures and recognized the seal as the Kongtong Seal, deciding to hide it until he was powerful enough to handle its risks.
• Lin Tian spent several days cultivating, then traveled to the Flat Peach Orchard to visit Wukong.
• Wukong welcomed Lin Tian and led him into the orchard, where Lin Tian observed its powerful spatial defenses and flourishing peach trees.
• Wukong sent the earth god and laborers to inspect the northeastern corner, then told Lin Tian that the Jade Emperor had given him a wonderful assignment and described the outer orchard’s peaches.

Lin Tian toured the Flat Peach Orchard with the monkey and ate four nine-thousand-year Flat Peaches, gaining magical power but failing to break through to the Great Luo realm. The monkey revealed he had released Spirit-Devouring Insects to conceal the missing peaches as an infestation.

• The monkey showed Lin Tian the orchard’s three varieties of Flat Peach trees and explained their effects.
• Lin Tian exposed peach pits buried beneath a nine-thousand-year tree, then ate a peach and took its pit with purple soil to plant at Flower-Fruit Mountain.
• Lin Tian ate three more nine-thousand-year Flat Peaches, while the monkey ate two, and Lin Tian cultivated in the orchard.
• After an hour of meditation, Lin Tian found that the peaches had loosened his Great Luo bottleneck but had not enabled him to break through.
• The monkey released a Spirit-Devouring Insect into a Flat Peach tree and told Lin Tian he would blame missing peaches on an insect infestation.

Lin Tian and the monkey secretly consumed all the ripe nine-thousand-year flat peaches, greatly increasing their cultivation. While investigating the missing Heaven-Covering Net and Sun-Shooting Bow, Lin Tian learned of their power and history but remained wary of confronting them before he grew stronger.

• Lin Tian and the monkey used Spirit-Devouring Insects as scapegoats while stealing all eighteen ripe nine-thousand-year flat peaches from the orchard.
• Lin Tian gained ninety thousand years of magic power and neared the great luo realm, while the monkey reached the middle great unity golden immortal stage and strengthened his body by absorbing the peaches naturally.
• The Jade Emperor reinforced the Heavenly Court Treasury after two thefts, but Lin Tian learned nothing new about the Azure-Robed Daoist or the missing treasures.
• Lin Tian studied the Heavenly Palace records and discovered that Hou Yi had forged the Sun-Shooting Bow with Fusang wood and Xuanli's dragon sinew, alongside the space-sealing Heaven-Covering Net.
• Lin Tian learned that the final Setting Sun Arrow had been lost, but he resolved to avoid using the All-Heaven Baleful God Formation unless necessary and to keep his trump card hidden until he reached quasi-saint status.

Lin Tian realized his connection to this Primordial World had ended and prepared to ascend to another plane, leaving Sun Wukong behind. Sun Wukong discovered Lin Tian had vanished behind a shroud of azure mist and grew agitated as he tried to see where his senior brother had gone.

• Lin Tian sensed that his destined connection to the Primordial World had ended and decided to leave without confronting Daoist Hongjun.
• Lin Tian sent Sun Wukong a message saying he was ascending, leaving a strand of divine sense behind, and granting him permission to claim the Spirit Vine School and its titles.
• Sun Wukong heard Lin Tian's message while cultivating the Thirty-Six Heavenly Gang Transformations and realized his senior brother was leaving.
• Sun Wukong rushed from Water-Curtain Cave and found Lin Tian's cave abode hidden behind azure vines and mist, while the Black Bear Monster asked whether Lin Tian was in trouble.
• Sun Wukong enlarged his body and tried to see through the mist, wondering whether Lin Tian had left the world for another plane.

Lin Tian ascended from Flower-Fruit Mountain, leaving Sun Wukong grieving as their bond and Lin Tian’s traces faded from the Primordial World. Before Lin Tian departed, Hongjun sent him the Spiritual Bright Stone Monkey’s true intent and entrusted him with a warning about the Upper-Realm Chaos Demon Gods; Lin Tian then crossed into the river of dimensions, leaving Sun Wukong to follow his destined history.

• Sun Wukong mourned Lin Tian’s departure and pleaded for their shared memories to remain, while Lin Tian’s aura and traces rapidly vanished from the Primordial World.
• Hongjun recognized Lin Tian’s presence, sent a Spiritual Bright Stone carrying Sun Wukong’s Spiritual Bright Stone Monkey true intent, and urged Lin Tian to keep it safe.
• Lin Tian appeared in the azure mist, accepted the Spiritual Bright Stone Monkey’s true intent, and warned Hongjun that the Upper-Realm Chaos Demon Gods would bring down the Journey to the West Calamity and threaten the Primordial World.
• Lin Tian entered the river of dimensions and looked toward Sun Wukong, but chose not to speak to him or change his destined course.

Lin Tian returned to his Primordial World after obtaining Sun Wukong’s true essence, only to find the world’s history and natural laws lost in chaos. He restored the world to its state before the Journey to the West Immeasurable Calamity, then sensed a resonance from the monkey beyond the Gate of Ten Thousand Worlds.

• Lin Tian carried Sun Wukong’s true essence back through the River of Dimensions to his Primordial World.
• Ghost Chariot and the Little Beast Emperor welcomed Lin Tian and reported that the world had fallen into unobservable chaos while history reached the Journey to the West Immeasurable Calamity.
• Lin Tian looked across the world and saw that Mount Sumeru had become lush again while earth, water, wind, and fire remained disordered.
• Lin Tian sent a strand of spirit vine law into the world, restoring it to the state he had left before the Journey to the West Immeasurable Calamity.
• Lin Tian sensed a resonance belonging to the monkey beyond the Gate of Ten Thousand Worlds and chuckled.

Lin Tian entered a Primordial World whose familiar history and flourishing Human Race concealed an underlying anomaly. The Little Beast Emperor could not identify its source, while Ghost Chariot used his silence origin law to reveal a strange change spreading across the Four Great Continents.

• Lin Tian's spirit vine law merged into the Primordial World, which welcomed him with heavenly and earthly phenomena.
• Lin Tian asked the Little Beast Emperor and Ghost Chariot to examine what was unusual about the world after chaos gave way to clarity.
• The Little Beast Emperor recognized that this world's Human Race and Spirit Vine teachings differed from those Lin Tian had established, but he could not find the cause.
• Lin Tian reflected that replacing Pan Gu as the opener of heaven and earth would mean staking everything to cross the Great Dao's restraints, and that he could not yet confront Pan Gu.
• Ghost Chariot connected his silence origin law to the Primordial World, suppressing all sound as gray-white spread across the Four Great Continents.
• Ghost Chariot's power resonated with the Great Dao, raising towering waves in the dimensional river above Lin Tian, Ghost Chariot, and the Little Beast Emperor.

Lin Tian confronted the Primordial Wild Dragon, a Chaos Demon God of the Upper Realm who had seized control of the Primordial World. He left his four Dharma Aspect True Bodies to hold the enemy at Mount Sumeru and ordered the Little Beast Emperor and Ghost Chariot to guard the River of Dimensions, even if they had to destroy it.

• Ghost Chariot’s silence origin law pierced the chaos concealment around the Primordial World, revealing the Primordial Wild Dragon at Mount Sumeru.
• The Primordial Wild Dragon reflected Ghost Chariot’s attack and declared that the lower world’s intruders had committed a crime.
• Lin Tian sent out four Dharma Aspect True Bodies, which formed the Executioner Immortal Sword Formation around Mount Sumeru to trap the Primordial Wild Dragon.
• Lin Tian told the Little Beast Emperor and Ghost Chariot to guard the River of Dimensions and destroy it if the Primordial World fell to the Chaos Demon Gods of the Upper Realm.
• The Little Beast Emperor pledged to defend the river even at the cost of his life, while Ghost Chariot vowed to detonate himself and destroy the plane if the formation failed.