Chapter Summaries

Lin Tian’s forces crushed the Buddhist army after Medicine Buddha’s false orders ruined its alliance with the Demon Race. The Buddhist Sect’s retreat became a rout, while Saint Zhunti watched helplessly from confinement as the battle threatened to destroy his years of work.

• Lin Tian’s aura and the Bull Devil King’s command sent the Buddhist army into a panic, and Tathagata ordered his disciples to retreat.
• The Buddhist disciples blamed Medicine Buddha, then killed Sunlight and Moonlight Bodhisattvas when they tried to escape.
• The Bull Devil King’s Demon Race Army pursued and slaughtered the fleeing Buddhist disciples.
• Zhen Yuanzi, Shennong, and the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors arrived with the Human and Witch forces, blocked the Buddhist retreat, and attacked.
• Tathagata fought to buy time for his disciples to escape as he realized the Buddhist Sect’s fortune was fading.
• Saint Zhunti watched the Buddhist rout from confinement and raged at Medicine Buddha and Tathagata, while Cult Leader Tongtian laughed at his misfortune.

The allied forces of the Human Race, Demon Race, Witch Clan, and Wutian's Devil Race massacred Spirit Mountain's Buddhist Sect. Zhen Yuanzi and Wutian wounded Buddha Tathagata, but Tathagata's Buddhist radiance suddenly surged, leaving the battle's outcome uncertain.

• Buddha Wutian killed a Quasi-Saint Buddha with the God-Slaying Spear and joined the assault on Spirit Mountain's forces.
• Yuchi Gong led Jixia Academy's Human Race experts in slaughtering Buddhist disciples as the allied armies overwhelmed them.
• Buddha Tathagata fought Shen Nong and Zhuanxu, driving Shen Nong back despite the Buddhist Sect's collapsing forces.
• Zhen Yuanzi challenged Tathagata, who declared that surrender would only leave his followers to be killed.
• Zhen Yuanzi attacked Tathagata with the Earth Book while Wutian struck him with the God-Slaying Spear, severely wounding him.
• Tathagata's weakened Buddhist radiance suddenly surged with dazzling power.

Lin Tian destroyed Buddha Tathagata and the Buddhist army, then sensed a Demon Realm invasion and ordered the allied forces to the Chaos Border. As the other armies departed, Bull Devil King stayed behind to finish clearing the battlefield.

• Buddha Tathagata gathered the Buddhist Sect's light to unleash Tathagata's Divine Palm, while Lin Tian charged him with a great seal.
• Lin Tian shattered the divine palm and killed Buddha Tathagata, whose death caused the Buddhist disciples to lose their will to fight.
• The allied forces slaughtered the Buddhist disciples as Lin Tian reflected on the threats posed by the Heavenly Court and the Demon Realm.
• Lin Tian sensed demonic qi in Chaos and ordered the Human Race, Demon Race, Witch Clan, and Wutian's Devil Race to rush to the Chaos Border.
• Nine Phoenixes led the Witch Clan away, froze Bull Devil King when he complained, and left him to order his forces to finish off the remaining Buddhist disciples.

A vast alliance of Demon Realm factions arrived outside the Primordial World, intent on conquering the Three Realms and competing for the God-Slaying Spear. Hei Du and Leng Yi assembled their forces, leaving the invasion poised to begin.

• After Nine Phoenixes departed, Yuchi Gong and Buddha Wutian led the Human Race and Devil Race away, while the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors followed Lin Tian toward Chaos.
• A demonic passage opened at the boundary of the Primordial World, and Hei Du and Leng Yi emerged with more than a hundred Quasi-Saint-level devils.
• Huang Shi urged Hei Du to release the army and seize the chance to conquer the Three Realms while the Saints remained sealed away.
• Hei Du produced the Demon Capital's Spatial Demon Ring, and Leng Yi summoned the Demon Cave's experts before the other factions assembled their armies.
• Leng Yi praised the Devil Emperor's artifact-refining skill, and Hei Du boasted that the Devil Emperor's treasures had never failed or been breached.

Lin Tian appeared before the invading Devil Race army and destroyed the Demon Ring, then confronted its leaders. Hei Du attacked him and was badly injured by the Kongtong Seal, leaving the other leaders to decide whether to intervene.

• Lin Tian emerged after shattering the Demon Ring and identified himself to the Devil Race leaders.
• Hei Du declared the Devil Race’s plans to conquer the Human Race and claim part of the Primordial Land, then charged at Lin Tian.
• Leng Yi recognized Lin Tian’s strength and watched as Hei Du attacked without support from the other leaders.
• Lin Tian evaded Hei Du’s Demon Axe and struck him with the Kongtong Seal, sending him flying with broken horns and serious injuries.
• Huang Shi asked whether they should intervene after Hei Du went berserk, but the other leaders remained silent.

Lin Tian battered the Devil Race with the Kongtong Seal while Daoist Hongjun prepared to leave the Purple Heaven Palace and join him. As Hongjun’s Dao essence reached Lin Tian, Lin Tian recognized his identity as the Vine Dao Venerable looking down upon this plane.

• Lin Tian repeatedly struck Hei Du with the Kongtong Seal until the Devil’s screams faded and the Devil Race was nearly wiped out.
• Daoist Hongjun watched Lin Tian’s battle and recalled their agreement to converge across the Primordial Worlds of parallel planes.
• Hongjun sent his Creation, Purple Heaven, and Heavenly Dao essence through Chaos to guide the Vine Dao Venerable’s Original Self into this plane.
• Lin Tian sensed the incoming Dao essence, and a seed in his heart took root and sprouted.
• Lin Tian realized he was neither the Human Sovereign nor a figure bound to the Journey to the West Calamity, but the Vine Dao Venerable supreme across all worlds.

Lin Tian regained his identity as the Vine Dao Venerable and annihilated the invading Devil Race with the Hongmeng Fierce Bird Battle Diagram. The Six Great Saints sensed the slaughter, and several were injured when they tried to see its source.

• Lin Tian recovered his memories as the Vine Dao Venerable after his human shell transformed into a spirit vine.
• The Devil Race attacked Lin Tian, but a black bird emerged from his leaf and formed the Hongmeng Fierce Bird Battle Diagram.
• Lin Tian unleashed the diagram's slaughtering light and annihilated the entire devil host in the Chaos Void.
• The Primordial Heavenly Venerable and the Grand Supreme Elder Lord were injured when they looked toward the slaughter.
• Lady Nuwa's divination collapsed, and she suspected the terrifying aura came from Lin Tian, while Daoist Tongtian also fell after gazing into the void.

Daoist Jieyin and Daoist Zhunti’s attempt to observe a terrifying presence in the void destroyed their spirit treasures and drove them beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens. Lin Tian reunited with Daoist Hongjun, who offered Red Boy’s sealed true spirit as the next path for Lin Tian to forge in the Journey to the West Calamity.

• Daoist Jieyin and Daoist Zhunti’s spirit treasures exploded as they watched the upheaval in the void, wrecking their Dao Field and blasting them beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens.
• Daoist Jieyin and Daoist Zhunti sealed their senses and stayed outside the Primordial World, fearing the presence was tied to their deep grudges.
• Lin Tian destroyed the Devil Race with the Hongmeng Fierce Bird totem, returned to his Daoist Qingjing form, and greeted Daoist Hongjun.
• Daoist Hongjun recognized the vast gap between their powers and heard Lin Tian’s plan to enter the Primordial World, reopen the Gate of Ten Thousand Worlds, and reshape the Journey to the West Calamity.
• Daoist Hongjun gave Lin Tian Red Boy’s true spirit, sealed in a Fire Spirit Stone, as the Demon Race’s vessel and the next Great Dao for Lin Tian to cultivate.

Vine Dao Venerable Lin Tian entered the Great Dao River with Daoist Hongjun’s Great Daos and began confronting the limits preventing him from attaining myth. He opened a fissure and returned to the Primordial World of his Original Self, carrying the Rivers of Time and Fate.

• Lin Tian took the Fire Spirit Stone, drew Daoist Hongjun’s three Great Dao phantoms into his Spirit Vine body, and stepped into the Great Dao River.
• Lin Tian reflected on his human origins and recognized that his attachment to being human and a Spirit Vine obstructed his path to myth.
• Lin Tian resolved to experience existence as different races and release his fixed identities to become nothingness, one, and the myriad.
• The River of Time and the Serpent of Fate joined Lin Tian’s Great Dao traces as he traveled through the Great Dao River.
• Lin Tian opened a fissure to the Primordial World of his Original Self and returned carrying the Rivers of Time and Fate.

Lin Tian returned to his Original Self's Primordial World after reaching the brink of the Mythic, while mysterious higher beings discussed whether to subdue or destroy him. His disciples welcomed him, and he surveyed how the world and their cultivation had grown during his absence.

• Mysterious higher beings watched Lin Tian approach the Mythic and considered subduing or destroying him.
• Lin Tian returned to his Original Self's Primordial World through a fissure above the Great Dao River.
• The Six Human Sovereigns, the Primordial World Saints, and other Spirit Vine Dao Lineage disciples gathered to welcome him.
• Lin Tian froze the Great Dao River and observed that his world had expanded more than ten thousandfold and its inhabitants had advanced in cultivation.
• Lin Tian's disciples, all Great Dao Saints who had touched the Mythic's ceiling, waited for him to resolve their doubts.

Vine Dao Venerable Lin Tian revealed his origins and sent an avatar into the Journey to the West world, where he arrived as Red Boy alongside Bai Suzhen. He condemned Buddhism’s demon-slaying narrative and explained that many demons in the story were not evil, while powerful figures associated with Buddhism committed great atrocities.

• Lin Tian told his Spirit Vine School disciples that he had originally been a demon and urged them to recognize their origins as they approached myth.
• He scattered traces of the Great Dao of Fate over his disciples, then sent an avatar through the Gate of Ten Thousand Worlds into the Journey to the West world.
• Lin Tian arrived at Fire Cloud Cave, severed his memories of his Original Self, and took the place of Red Boy.
• Bai Suzhen asked Lin Tian why he was grinning, and he said the Journey to the West was about to begin and they should interfere with it.
• Lin Tian argued that humans and demons could both be good or evil and listed unaffiliated demons who were killed despite causing little harm.
• Lin Tian contrasted those demons with powerful Buddhist-associated demons who committed atrocities, claiming Buddhism escaped accountability by blaming the Demon Race.

Lin Tian continued building Spirit Vine City, drawing demons and powerful Daoists as Spirit Stone mining spread across the Three Realms. Zhen Yuanzi arrived to investigate the city’s concealed fate and asked Lin Tian for a Cave Abode, but Lin Tian’s question about enlightenment left him speechless.

• Lin Tian told Jingwei that he planned to build more cities along the Journey to the West route before the pilgrimage began.
• Zhen Yuanzi traced the Spirit Stone upheaval to Spirit Vine Mountain and found a grand city filled with shops opened by Daoists and Demon Sages.
• Zhen Yuanzi failed to divine the city’s future because the Heavenly Secrets had been concealed, and he decided to buy a Cave Abode.
• Zhen Yuanzi recognized the children at Lin Tian’s sales office, then asked Lin Tian to give him a Cave Abode.
• Lin Tian demanded to know Zhen Yuanzi’s identity and challenged him with a question about whether he had attained enlightenment, leaving Zhen Yuanzi stunned.

Lin Tian’s question about enlightenment shattered Zhen Yuanzi’s composure, but Lin Tian’s argument that living beings could actively improve their world restored his resolve. Zhen Yuanzi thanked Lin Tian for awakening him and laughed with him, leaving their relationship on friendly terms.

• Lin Tian’s question about enlightenment struck at Zhen Yuanzi’s regret over missing a Saint Position, and Zhen Yuanzi’s emotional outburst destroyed Lin Tian’s cave abode sales office.
• Lin Tian protected himself and his companions with the Black Origin Water-Control Banner, then urged Zhen Yuanzi to change the Heavenly Dao’s Great Trend rather than passively accept it.
• Lin Tian argued that the world’s decline could be reversed by its living beings, and Zhen Yuanzi recalled how much spiritual energy and prosperity the world had lost.
• Lin Tian warned that continued decline could end in destruction, prompting Zhen Yuanzi to reconsider his belief that the Heavenly Dao’s Great Trend was fixed.
• Zhen Yuanzi bowed to Lin Tian and thanked him for awakening him, then teased Lin Tian about no longer calling himself “this exalted one.”

Lin Tian persuaded Zhen Yuanzi to open a shop in Spirit Vine City, turning his stock of ginseng fruits into a valuable draw for the Three Realms. Zhen Yuanzi left to recruit the Queen Mother of the West, while Lin Tian, Nuwa, and Bai Suzhen sampled the fruit and joked that the Longevity Immortal Palace was a fruit shop.

• Zhen Yuanzi praised Lin Tian's plan to reward diligence through trade and offered to sell his ginseng fruits in Spirit Vine City.
• Lin Tian gave Zhen Yuanzi a prime shop near the Taishang Alchemy Pavilion in exchange for a bundle of ginseng fruits.
• Zhen Yuanzi named his shop the Longevity Immortal Palace, and Lin Tian explained that its fruits could help immortals delay the Five Decays of Heaven and Man.
• Lin Tian asked Zhen Yuanzi to invite the Queen Mother of the West to open a shop, and Zhen Yuanzi agreed before departing.
• Nuwa and Bai Suzhen each ate a ginseng fruit, and Nuwa asked whether the Longevity Immortal Palace was a fruit shop.

Lin Tian explained how his city and Spirit Stone mining could help the Three Realms survive the decline of spiritual energy, shocking Minghe and Kunpeng with his vision. He showed them rare treasures in his secret chamber, including a Chaos God-Devil Heart and a Black Origin Water-Control Banner he had found by cracking open a stone.

• The Bull Devil King, Princess Iron Fan, Minghe, and Kunpeng visited Lin Tian and were stunned to find him eating Zhen Yuanzi’s ginseng fruit like ordinary fruit.
• Lin Tian told Minghe and Kunpeng that the Grand Supreme Elder Lord, Yun Zhongzi, and many Demon Saints had bought cave abodes, and explained that Zhen Yuanzi had left to invite the Queen Mother of the West.
• Lin Tian described how the Three Realms could counter declining spiritual energy by working diligently to mine Spirit Stones, prompting Minghe and Kunpeng to reconsider the Heavenly Dao’s purpose.
• Lin Tian warned that dwindling spiritual energy could bring the Dharma-Ending Calamity and the Twilight of the Gods, then said his city and mining efforts were meant to change that fate.
• Lin Tian led the visitors into his secret chamber and showed them a Chaos God-Devil Heart containing Great Dao Laws.
• The Bull Devil King asked about the Black Origin Water-Control Banner, and Lin Tian said he had found it by cracking open a stone, astonishing Kunpeng.

Lin Tian showed Kunpeng and Minghe the rare treasures he had found and explained that he planned to auction them in five hundred years to encourage Spirit Stone mining and restore the Three Realms’ spiritual energy. He left them eager to open shops in Spirit Vine City and compete for the treasures.

• Lin Tian displayed his treasures, and Kunpeng was so shaken by Lin Tian’s fortune that Minghe had to snap him out of his daze.
• Lin Tian said he would auction the treasures in five hundred years, after factions had time to mine Spirit Stones and bring their currency into the market.
• Lin Tian demonstrated how a Supreme Spirit Stone could release spiritual energy and explained that mass mining could avert the Dharma-Ending Calamity.
• Kunpeng asked for a shop to sell Northern Nether refining materials, and Minghe claimed another for Asura Realm specialties.
• Lin Tian offered shops in the best location to Minghe and Kunpeng and said he would save one for the Queen Mother of the West; Minghe named his shop the Asura Immortal Palace.

Lin Tian arranged properties in Spirit Vine City for Minghe and Kunpeng, including an Asura Pavilion and shops for Asura Realm goods and Northern Nether materials. Holy Mother Wudang reunited with Bull Devil King and took a shop, and Zhen Yuanzi later arrived with the Queen Mother of the West.

• Lin Tian persuaded Minghe to bring Asura women to Spirit Vine City and open the Asura Pavilion, while Kunpeng established the Northern Nether Immortal Abode.
• Minghe and Kunpeng left to prepare their businesses and plan to pursue Lin Tian's four auction treasures and the Great Dao Laws.
• Holy Mother Wudang arrived, reunited emotionally with Bull Devil King, met Lin Tian, and accepted a shop without paying.
• Lin Tian complained after the guests ate most of Zhen Yuanzi's ginseng fruit, and Bai Suzhen asked what his curse meant.
• Zhen Yuanzi brought the Queen Mother of the West to Lin Tian's cave abode sales office in a grand carriage drawn by seven qilins.

Lin Tian welcomed the Queen Mother of the West, received three Yellow Center Plums, and prepared for the auction of rare treasures. Ten years later, Spirit Vine City opened to crowds of merchants and cultivators, and Lin Tian arranged servants for the City Lord's Mansion.

• The Queen Mother of the West chose a residence called Langfeng Immortal Garden and paid Lin Tian with three Yellow Center Plums.
• Lin Tian refused to let Nuwa and Bai Suzhen eat the plums, warning that they could destabilize their cultivation.
• Ten years later, Spirit Vine City opened, and immortals and demons poured in to claim residences and shop.
• Lin Tian walked through the city with Nuwa and Bai Suzhen, then led them to the City Lord's Mansion.
• Lin Tian paid the Asura Pavilion to send a hundred asura women to serve as maids in the mansion.

Lin Tian established order in Spirit Vine City, where Tathagata and other Buddhist leaders arrived to assess its growing influence and shops. After buying Nine-Turn Golden Elixirs, Tathagata joined Xuandu and Great Emperor Zhenwu at the stone market, where Lin Tian personally greeted them and provoked Guanyin.

• Lin Tian consulted Demon Saint Bai Ze, appointed Great Demons to keep order, and required everyone in the city to obey the same rules regardless of race or faction.
• Tathagata, Guanyin, Wenshu, Puxian, and Randeng entered Spirit Vine City and discussed how its many factions and businesses complicated Buddhism’s plans for Journey to the West.
• At the Taishang Alchemy Pavilion, Xuandu offered Nine-Turn Golden Elixirs for ten million Spirit Stones each, and Tathagata bought five.
• Xuandu invited Tathagata’s group to the Spirit Vine City Stone Market, where Great Emperor Zhenwu joined them and described the five courtyard tiers and their prices.
• Lin Tian arrived in the fifth-tier courtyard and mocked Guanyin, making Nuwa and Bai Suzhen laugh, before Xuandu identified the Buddhist visitors.

Lin Tian guided the Queen Mother of the West to gamble on a costly stone, and she uncovered an intact Chaos Spirit Treasure. The discovery made the crowd envious and left the Queen Mother of the West delighted with her new offensive weapon.

• Xuandu, the Great Emperor Zhenwu, and Tathagata examined the rare stones and the four treasures Lin Tian had reserved for auction.
• The Queen Mother of the West arrived, greeted Lin Tian warmly, and agreed to let him choose a stone for her.
• Lin Tian picked a thirty-million-Spirit-Stone Chaos One-Horned Ghost stone, and the Queen Mother of the West paid him with three Yellow Zhongli fruits.
• The Queen Mother of the West opened the stone while Guanyin watched angrily after the Queen Mother of the West stopped her attack on Lin Tian.
• Yun Zhongzi identified the revealed iron rod as an intact Chaos Spirit Treasure, and Lin Tian estimated its value at no less than a top-grade Innate Spiritual Treasure.