Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Ao Yue suspects Yang Jian and Haotian may be secretly reconciling and preparing to regain power, with Haotian’s daughter Lu’er acting as their go-between.
• Divination reveals Lu’er visited Yang Jian on her own, without Haotian’s knowledge. Ao Yue distrusts the result, believing someone has hidden the truth from him.
• Ao Yue discovers a future romantic complication involving Haotian’s family and decides to let the family deal with it by restoring Yang Jian as Judicial Divine Messenger.
• He intends to make Yang Jian judge cases involving his own relatives, creating a dilemma: either Yang Jian enforces the law and harms family ties, or Haotian intervenes and gives Ao Yue grounds to punish him.
• Gungun warns that targeting those cases alone would make the scheme obvious. He proposes giving Yang Jian wider responsibilities, including dealing with demons, the Demon-Hunting Corps, and roaming zombies.
• Ao Yue agrees, while Gungun insists the plan must be credited to Ao Yue, not himself.

Character developments

• Ao Yue grows more suspicious and politically calculating. He wants a legitimate pretext to remove Haotian, whom he considers untrustworthy, and to keep Yang Jian under pressure.
• Gungun proves more cautious about appearances and political fallout. Though he supports the scheme, he avoids being blamed for repeating it.
• Yang Jian remains absent but becomes the central target of a calculated test of loyalty and impartiality.
• Haotian is treated as a potential threat despite being bound to the Investiture of the Gods List, which leaves him vulnerable to Ao Yue.

Significant themes

• Power and political legitimacy: The rulers seek lawful-looking reasons to eliminate rivals rather than act openly.
• Justice versus family loyalty: Yang Jian may have to choose between enforcing the law and protecting relatives.
• Manipulation and suspicion: Divination is distrusted, and even routine appointments are designed to provoke conflict.
• Repetition and plausible deniability: Ao Yue favors reusing an effective tactic, while Gungun helps disguise its purpose.

Character interactions

• Ao Yue and Gungun jointly speculate about Haotian and Yang Jian, then collaborate on a plan to test and constrain Yang Jian.
• Gungun challenges Ao Yue’s overly obvious proposal and refines it into a broader assignment that appears administratively reasonable.
• Ao Yue’s concern for Bi’an’s authority makes him hesitate; Gungun reassures him that Bi’an’s rank, powers, and salary will remain intact.

Key plot points and events

• Acting on Gungun’s suggestion, Ao Yue reinstates Yang Jian as a third-class Judicial Divine Messenger, citing his service at the South Heaven Gate. Bi’an accepts the staffing change without objection.
• Yang Jian receives the decree and suspects the promotion may be a scheme. He believes Ao Cunxin may have asked Ao Yue to arrange it, and resents what he sees as humiliating charity.
• Yang Chan worries about the decree, but Yang Jian reassures her. Lu’er congratulates him innocently; he restrains his anger at her remark.
• The next day, Yang Jian reports to the Judicial Temple without incident.
• Lu’er tells her father, Haotian, about Yang Jian’s promotion. Haotian is alarmed that she visited the Yang siblings despite his orders and, fearing what renewed family contact might lead to, has her confined to her chambers.

Character developments and interactions

• Yang Jian remains proud and distrustful, interpreting help as an insult, though he shows greater composure than in the past and controls his temper around Lu’er.
• Yang Chan is protective of her brother and suspects the promotion has an ulterior motive.
• Lu’er values family ties and challenges her father’s estrangement from the Yang family. Her sympathy for her aunt and seventh sister also leads her to silently blame Haotian for his own downfall.
• Haotian reveals deep bitterness over his loss of power, blaming his dead sister and daughter rather than himself. His fear of repeating past events turns into an overbearing attempt to control Lu’er.
• Ao Yue advances Yang Jian’s career, setting in motion tensions among the family and Heavenly Court factions.

Significant themes

• Family loyalty versus political estrangement: Lu’er sees kinship as a reason to reconcile, while Haotian treats family ties as a source of ruin and danger.
• Pride and perceived humiliation: Yang Jian cannot easily accept a promotion he suspects was secured through someone else’s intervention.
• Blame and responsibility: Haotian’s resentment shows how refusing self-reflection can deepen old grievances.
• Protection versus control: Haotian claims to act for Lu’er’s safety, but his confinement of her undermines her trust and autonomy.

Plot points

• After losing one daughter, Haotian has the Eighth Fairy, Lu’er, confined rather than risk losing her too. He resigns himself to leaving Yang Jian’s fate alone.
• On the second night of his marriage, Ao Yue intends to work through a stack of official memorials instead of resting with his new consort, Ao Cunxin. She reminds him that dragon custom calls for newlyweds to share their quarters for three nights; mindful of tradition, he goes with her.
• At dawn, Ao Yue leaves without waking Cunxin and finishes his government work. Feeling uneasy about how marriage has changed his life, he wanders into the Endless Starry Sky.
• There he finds Gungun fishing for the Ketu Ferocious Beast in the Silver River. Gungun insists on hauling it in by strength rather than magic, then beats it nearly unconscious. Ao Yue joins him on the beast’s back, and they talk about married life.

Character developments and interactions

• Haotian appears protective but resigned: his fear for Lu’er leads him to restrict her freedom.
• Ao Yue remains dutiful and attentive to rules, but marriage has unsettled him. He admits that having a consort brings responsibilities and emotional complications he had not anticipated, including concern that Cunxin may still think of Yang Jian.
• Cunxin is eager to spend time with her husband and invokes custom to persuade him to leave work and join her.
• Gungun provides a blunt, carefree contrast to Ao Yue. He advises him not to become attached to a concubine, treating concubines as possessions—a view Ao Yue privately doubts. Their easy banter shows familiarity, though Ao Yue believes Gungun cannot understand his feelings because he has never married.

Significant themes

• Duty versus personal life: Ao Yue’s commitment to governing competes with the expectations and demands of marriage.
• Marriage and emotional attachment: Ao Yue discovers that even a relationship he might regard as secondary can provoke real concern and uncertainty.
• Custom and authority: Tradition influences Ao Yue’s private choices, just as Haotian’s authority shapes Lu’er’s fate.
• Contrasting views of intimacy: Gungun advocates detachment, while Ao Yue recognizes that feelings cannot simply be dismissed by labeling a relationship.

Key plot points and events

• In the Divine Hall, Ao Cunxin wakes to find Ao Yue absent again. She learns that he left six hours earlier after reviewing memorials, despite there being no court session that day.
• With no evidence, she concludes he must have another woman and orders her maids to investigate his movements. When they hesitate, she angrily sends them out and prepares to find Ao Yue herself.
• Meanwhile, Ao Yue and Gungun talk in the Endless Starry Sky. Gungun says Dream Demon has suggested Ao Tingxin, the Fourth Princess of the East Sea, as a possible consort.
• Gungun explains that he wants a consort partly because Haotian has a wife and Ao Yue has a concubine, leaving him—now the Heavenly Emperor—the only one of their old trio still unmarried. He also sees the match as a way to strengthen ties between their races.
• Ao Yue cautions that choosing a consort simply to avoid “losing face” is frivolous. But when Gungun asks for his judgment, Ao Yue offers to order the East Sea Dragon King to give his daughter in marriage. Gungun immediately regrets how quickly the plan is advancing.

Character developments and interactions

• Ao Cunxin shows that her jealousy and suspicion remain strong: she treats Ao Yue’s unexplained absence as proof of infidelity and presses her maids to investigate.
• Ao Yue is amused by Gungun’s reasoning but regards marriage as more serious than Gungun does. He nevertheless responds decisively by offering to arrange the match.
• Gungun is motivated by pride and comparison with his peers as much as by any interest in Ao Tingxin. His casual proposal turns serious only when Ao Yue offers to act on it.
• The maids are caught between obedience to Ao Cunxin and fear of investigating the Heavenly Sovereign. Ao Yue and Gungun’s teasing, candid exchange contrasts with the tension in the Divine Hall.

Significant themes

• Jealousy and mistrust: Ao Cunxin’s suspicion escalates despite the lack of evidence.
• Marriage, status, and political alliance: Gungun treats taking a consort as a matter of dignity and a chance to bring the Dragon and bear clans closer.
• Impulsiveness versus seriousness: Gungun makes a major personal decision casually, while Ao Yue points out its weight—and then makes it unexpectedly real with his offer.

• Key events: After reading reader feedback, Old Dream reflects that the recent plot was poorly written. Since the existing material cannot be undone, the plan is to improve what comes next. On the first day of the new month, Old Dream takes a day off to see a movie, clear their head, and seek inspiration before working on the next outline. Updates will resume the following day.
• Character development: Old Dream acknowledges the shortcomings of their writing and commits to doing better, while also recognizing the need to pause and recharge.
• Themes: Creative accountability, learning from criticism, perseverance, and the value of rest in sustaining creative work.
• Interactions: Readers’ comments prompt Old Dream’s self-reflection; no direct conversations occur.

Key plot points

• Gungun mentions taking a consort to Ao Yue, who eagerly recommends Ao Tingxin and offers to arrange the marriage. Gungun panics and backtracks, admitting it was only seeking an opinion and still wants to consider its options.
• In the Depths of Chaos, Houtu and the Six Saints discuss Gungun’s talk of taking a concubine. They worry that it could undermine Buddhist discipline and distract the Heavenly Emperor from governing.
• Tongtian urges Buddhism to expel Gungun, hoping Jiejiao can recruit it. Yuanshi and Laozi also suggest their schools could accept it.
• Zhunti refuses to lose Gungun. To keep it in Buddhism, he proposes creating a Buddhist “way of joy” that would permit partners. The other saints question both the doctrinal change and the lack of restraint.
• Houtu proposes testing whether Gungun is genuinely intent on pursuing women or merely joking. The chapter ends with her announcing a collective trial: “Seven Saints Test the Zen Heart!”

Character developments and interactions

• Gungun is caught off guard by Ao Yue’s serious matchmaking offer. Its apparent interest in taking a consort may be more boastful than sincere, though it also intends to choose carefully.
• Ao Yue treats Gungun’s remark as a real marriage plan and responds with enthusiastic, practical help, while reflecting ruefully on his own experience.
• Houtu takes a protective but stern stance, concerned both for Gungun’s character and for the people it governs. She becomes the driving force behind testing it.
• Zhunti and Jieyin fear losing their Buddha Lord and struggle to reconcile Gungun’s behavior with Buddhist precepts. Zhunti is willing to alter doctrine to keep Gungun in the sect.
• Tongtian, Yuanshi, and Laozi bicker over which teaching could take Gungun in, revealing their rivalry and their willingness to recruit it.
• Nuwa notices that Houtu’s proposal involves everyone, setting up the saints’ joint test.

Significant themes

• Discipline versus desire: The saints debate whether Gungun’s romantic ambitions conflict with Buddhist practice.
• Power and responsibility: Houtu warns that an indulgent ruler could neglect the Heavenly Court and harm all living beings.
• Institutional self-interest: Buddhism’s concern for doctrine competes with its desire to retain Gungun, while rival schools see a chance to recruit it.
• Comic hypocrisy and rivalry: The saints argue over morality while maneuvering to claim Gungun for their own sects.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points

• Houtu proposes that the saints leave their true forms in Chaos to guard the Dao and Devil Ancestors while sending incarnations back to the Primordial World. The saints agree, partly hoping for a diversion involving Gungun.
• Gungun returns to the Heavenly Court with Ao Yue, who heads off looking worn out. Gungun privately mocks Ao Yue’s romantic troubles, then reflects that he should be more careful about choosing a concubine.
• Days later, Gungun wakes hungry, but no attendants respond. When he leaves his sleeping hall, space ripples and transports him to an isolated floating island surrounded by darkness.
• A powerful barrier traps him, and even his World-Destroying Black Lotus and World-Cleansing White Lotus cannot break it.
• Luo Hou reveals that he has escaped, claims to have suppressed Hongjun, and says he has imprisoned Gungun as punishment for harming the Devil Race. He intends to deal with Houtu and the Six Saints before returning.
• Gungun concludes that Luo Hou is the most likely captor and takes some comfort in the possibility that Houtu and the saints remain unharmed. He then sends a fur-clone into the island’s interior to find out who else is imprisoned there.

Character developments and interactions

• Houtu and the saints act together, agreeing to send incarnations to the Primordial World while their true forms remain behind.
• Gungun shifts from complacent amusement to shock and fear when he discovers he is imprisoned. He reasons through who could have trapped him, then cautiously investigates rather than giving up.
• Ao Yue appears exhausted after returning with Gungun, prompting Gungun’s dismissive comments about love and indulgence.
• Luo Hou emerges as the chapter’s threat: he taunts Gungun, frames the imprisonment as revenge, and announces plans against Houtu and the saints.

Significant themes

• Complacency and reversal: Gungun assumes the Heavenly Court is secure, only to be suddenly removed and trapped.
• Revenge and consequences: Luo Hou presents his actions as retaliation for Gungun’s treatment of the Devil Race.
• Uncertainty and survival: Cut off from his allies, Gungun must infer what has happened and search for other prisoners.
• Comic contrast: Gungun’s mundane concerns about food and romance sit alongside a cosmic crisis.

Key plot points

• Gungun’s scouting clone returns with news that seven demonesses are imprisoned on the island. He flies to investigate.
• Finding them chained and silent, he demands to know who they are and why the Devil Ancestor imprisoned them.
• When they refuse to answer, Gungun threatens them with the King of Ten Thousand Gu, a dangerous parasitic creature. The demonesses remain unmoved, and even the eldest welcomes torture or death.
• Gungun gives up, recalls the creature into his Spirit-Binding Jar, and leaves. When the eldest calls him “Dijun,” he falls silent and continues on.
• After Gungun departs, a tiny mosquito watches the prisoners. The demonesses stay motionless until it flies away, then reveal that they were pretending not to communicate.
• They identify the captives as Saints in disguise, including Houtu and Nuwa, and discuss how Gungun’s secrets—such as the Spirit-Binding Jar—may be exposed during their test of his Zen heart.

Character developments and interactions

• Gungun is curious and tries to intimidate the prisoners, but his threats fail against their composure. His reaction to being called “Dijun” suggests the name carries significance for him.
• The demonesses show discipline and solidarity, keeping their true identities and intentions hidden from both Gungun and the observing mosquito.
• Houtu is surprised and angered to learn Gungun has kept the jar secret from her. Another demoness teases her about his earlier secret possession of the World-Cleansing White Lotus.
• The eldest demoness takes a knowing, amused view of the encounter, treating the ordeal as a chance to test Gungun and uncover his secrets.

Significant themes

• Appearances and deception: The prisoners’ helpless silence is a performance masking their awareness and coordination.
• Trust and secrecy: Gungun’s hidden treasures prompt questions about what he withholds from those close to him.
• Power versus resolve: Gungun has a fearsome weapon, but the demonesses’ refusal to be intimidated leaves him unable to control the encounter.
• Testing and discovery: The imprisonment serves as an opportunity for the Saints to assess Gungun’s character and learn more about him.

Plot points and events

• Gungun puzzles over how Luo Hou escaped his sealed tower so quickly and apparently overpowered Hongjun. He also wonders why Houtu and the Saints did not stop him. Unable to divine answers involving Saints, Gungun decides he must rescue himself.
• Searching his collection, he finds the Space-Piercing Ring, a one-use treasure capable of breaking any spatial confinement and opening a passage to safety. It works on the island’s barrier.
• Worried Luo Hou will notice his escape, Gungun creates a lookalike from his blood, fur, and nine-heavens breathing soil. The clone stays behind as a decoy while the real Gungun slips through the passage.
• The clone cannot break the barrier and heads deeper into the island.
• Back in the Primordial World, Gungun asks his good corpse, A Bei, to act as Heavenly Emperor temporarily, then hides in the Northern Black Tortoise Realm, hoping its protective status will deter Luo Hou.

Character developments and interactions

• Gungun moves from confusion and concern to self-reliance, then celebrates his escape—though his caution leads him to use a clone to conceal it.
• The clone is obedient and briefly accepts Gungun’s instructions without question, but remains trapped and investigates the island.
• Gungun delegates the Heavenly Emperor role to A Bei and seeks refuge among the Sacred Beasts.

Significant themes

• Self-preservation and resourcefulness: Gungun relies on his own planning and a forgotten treasure rather than waiting for rescue.
• Uncertainty and hidden power: The unexplained circumstances surrounding Luo Hou’s escape make Gungun wary of what he cannot understand.
• Humor and bravado: Gungun’s grand declarations contrast with his anxious precautions and hurried retreat.

Key plot points and events

• The real Gungun remains hidden in a Sacred Beast’s territory, hoping Houtu and the other Saints will defeat Luo Hou and make the Primordial World safe again.
• On a mysterious floating island, Gungun’s clone finds seven chained witches—actually the Saints in disguise. Mistaking the scene for a romantic opportunity, it offers flowers to one witch and bluntly asks the oldest for permission to mate with his “daughters.”
• Houtu recognizes that the bear is not the real Gungun. She breaks free, reveals her true form, and blasts the clone away. The Saints then free themselves as well.
• Houtu explains that the clone looked and felt like Gungun but lacked its familiar manner. She concludes that the real bear escaped and left the clone behind as a decoy.
• The Saints try to locate Gungun through divination but cannot. They discover that several of them had been concealing its heavenly secrets. After removing their protections, divination still fails, so someone is still hiding Gungun. The chapter ends as Yuanshi suspects that either Nuwa or Laozi is responsible.

Character developments

• Gungun: Revealed as far more cautious and capable than the Saints assumed; it apparently escaped without being detected and left a convincing decoy.
• Clone Gungun: Displays an unexpectedly bold, flirtatious personality, which helps Houtu recognize that it is not the original.
• Houtu: Shows sharp intuition and confidence in her personal sense of Gungun, then takes charge of investigating the escape.
• The Saints: Their surprise at Gungun’s escape gives way to suspicion as they realize they have all been concealing its whereabouts.

Character interactions

• The clone’s blunt proposal shocks Laozi, while Houtu responds by blasting it away.
• Houtu explains her suspicions to the Saints, and Laozi and Yuanshi agree that the clone’s behavior differed from the real Gungun’s.
• The Saints question one another about who still conceals Gungun’s heavenly secrets. Tongtian openly removes his protection; Zhunti and Jieyin deny responsibility; Nuwa denies involvement and points toward Houtu.

Significant themes

• Appearances versus identity: Identical appearance and aura do not guarantee that someone is the original; Houtu recognizes Gungun through its distinctive “feeling.”
• Hidden power and deception: Gungun’s escape and use of a decoy suggest it has concealed more ability than the Saints realized.
• Trust and suspicion: The Saints’ shared secrecy becomes a source of mistrust when their divination fails.

Key plot points and events

• The Saints cannot locate the real Gungun or explain how it escaped Void Island. They suspect the Heavenly Dao may be blocking their divinations.
• Yuanshi questions the injured clone by reading its memories. The Saints witness the real Gungun thank the clone, then slip through an unexplained opening in their spatial barrier and escape.
• The Saints are astonished that a Quasi-Saint could bypass their barrier. Nuwa teases Houtu for not knowing the extent of her own pet’s abilities; Houtu fires back by teasing Nuwa about her battle pet, Soaring Serpent.
• Houtu heals the clone and takes it with her when the Saints leave.
• In the Black Tortoise Realm, the real Gungun senses that its clone has escaped and sees Houtu carrying it. Relieved, Gungun rushes to reunite with her—only for Houtu to punch it into the air before it can speak.

Character developments and interactions

• Gungun is revealed to be resourceful and capable of slipping through a barrier the Saints believed secure. Despite its impressive status and powers, it is terrified of Houtu’s return.
• The clone is confused and helpless, but its memories expose the real Gungun’s escape. Houtu ultimately heals it and takes it along.
• Houtu and Nuwa trade pointed, playful insults: Nuwa mocks Houtu’s lack of knowledge about Gungun, while Houtu counters with a jab about Nuwa’s pet.
• The Saints shift from trying to test Gungun’s resistance to feminine charm to marveling at its hidden abilities.

Significant themes

• Hidden abilities and underestimated characters: Gungun’s escape surprises even the Saints.
• Power and uncertainty: The Saints’ authority has limits when faced with unexplained spatial tricks and the Heavenly Dao.
• Comedy and reversal: Gungun celebrates its safety just before Houtu punches it, turning relief into another mishap.

Key events

• In the Heavenly Emperor Palace, a bandaged Gungun is confronted by Houtu and the Saints after escaping the spatial barrier on Void Island.
• Zhunti accuses him of two offenses: wanting to take consorts despite his Buddhist role, and hiding both a venomous-creature pet and a way through the barrier from Houtu.
• Gungun grudgingly agrees not to take consorts, while privately vowing to do so once he becomes powerful enough. Houtu hears his thoughts and prepares to beat him again.
• When Gungun cries out to Heaven that he has been wronged, Purple Heaven Divine Thunder first strikes near Houtu, apparently warning her. But when he celebrates Heaven’s support and complains again, the thunder strikes him instead, leaving him unconscious.
• Laozi concludes that the Heavenly Dao first protected Gungun, then punished him for displeasing it. The Saints realize something serious has happened and rush toward Chaos. Houtu heals Gungun before following them.

Character developments and interactions

• Gungun remains self-pitying, defiant, and opportunistic: he submits outwardly to Zhunti’s advice but continues plotting to take consorts later. His appeals to Heaven bring an unexpected, painful result.
• Houtu shifts from anger and attempted punishment to concern when Gungun is struck. She can hear his thoughts, which intensifies their comic, contentious dynamic.
• Zhunti tries to mediate and frames Gungun’s conduct as a breach of Buddhist principles and honesty toward his master.
• Laozi interprets the Heavenly Dao’s changing response, while the other Saints restrain Houtu and then abruptly depart with her toward Chaos.

Significant themes

• The Heavenly Dao’s fickleness: its sudden protection and punishment of Gungun seem contradictory and unpredictable.
• Power, authority, and justice: Gungun appeals to Heaven against Houtu, but divine intervention offers no reliable refuge.
• Comedy through hypocrisy and misunderstanding: Gungun’s secret intentions clash with his public surrender, while the Saints’ solemn accusations meet his bewildered complaints.
• A larger looming crisis: the Saints’ sudden flight toward Chaos signals that events beyond Gungun’s troubles require urgent attention.

Key plot points and events

• In the Depths of Chaos, the Divine Tower holding Hongjun and Luo Hou shakes violently as their battle nears its decisive stage. Houtu and the Saints’ returned avatars reunite with their true forms, and the group uses its full power and Dao-acquiring treasures to stabilize the tower and add seven seals.
• The Saints conclude that Hongjun’s struggle affected the Heavenly Dao, allowing his influence to reach the Primordial World. Laozi believes one burst of thunder warned Houtu, while another—sent under Hongjun’s influence—struck Gungun.
• Houtu urges the group to destroy Hongjun and Luo Hou quickly, but Hongjun’s union with the Dao makes that daunting. Zhunti proposes studying the Saint-Felling Pills Hongjun once gave the Three Pure Ones: if they can kill Saints, perhaps their properties could reveal a way to kill Hongjun.
• Laozi gathers the Three Pure Ones’ pills and volunteers to study them first, with the other Saints to examine them afterward and share what they learn.
• At the Heavenly Emperor Palace, Gungun wakes badly injured from both the divine thunder and Houtu’s beating. Feeling unfairly punished for keeping secrets, the bear decides to push for reforms so the Saints cannot keep controlling it.
• Yang Chan arrives, sees Gungun’s condition, and—despite her alarm—privately considers whether this is an opportunity to commit regicide.

Character developments and interactions

• Houtu remains decisive and forceful: she helps seal the tower, recognizes the danger of delay, and backs the search for a way to defeat Hongjun.
• The Saints move from helplessness toward a possible strategy, agreeing to investigate the pills. Laozi takes the lead because of his expertise in alchemy.
• Gungun shifts from misery and resentment to determination. It believes it was entitled to privacy, argues internally that the Saints could have discovered anything they wanted through their own powers, and resolves to seek greater independence.
• Yang Chan reacts with apparent concern but quickly reveals a mischievous, potentially dangerous thought about exploiting Gungun’s vulnerability.

Significant themes

• The limits of divine power: Even Saints struggle to contain Hongjun, whose connection to the Heavenly Dao lets his influence reach beyond his prison.
• Knowledge as a weapon: The Saint-Felling Pills may offer a path to defeating an otherwise nearly invulnerable enemy.
• Privacy and control: Gungun’s grievance highlights the tension between being treated as a subordinate or “battle pet” and wanting autonomy.
• Reform amid danger: Gungun’s injuries and resentment become the catalyst for its resolve to change the power dynamics around it.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• After being wounded in an earlier confrontation, Gungun tricks Yang Chan into seeking help from Taishang Laojun rather than attacking him. Yang Chan overcomes her impulse and obeys; Gungun privately approves of her restraint.
• A few hours later, medicine and spiritual fruit ease Gungun’s pain, though he remains bandaged and injured. He summons the gods to High Firmament Hall and announces sweeping reforms.
• Gungun argues that the Heavenly Court is vulnerable because it has no Saint of its own, especially while the Devil Ancestor remains only temporarily sealed. He dismisses Wen Zhong’s and Bi’an’s suggestions that the Saints or Empress Houtu will protect them, insisting the Court must prepare to defend itself.
• He declares that he intends to attain primordial unity and demands the gods’ help: they must surrender most of their incense offerings, providence, and accumulated merit, while working year-round to earn more.
• His demands expand to include ninety percent of the merit and providence belonging to Buddhism, the Underworld, humanity, the Four Seas, and ultimately every faction and race in the Primordial World. He promises generous rewards after his breakthrough, even offering Maitreya the position of Buddha Lord.
• When the gods begin to object, Ao Yue binds Gungun with the God-Binding Rope and abruptly dismisses the court, pretending the Heavenly Emperor was drunk and that no one heard his proposal.

Character developments and interactions

• Gungun presents himself as a far-sighted ruler preparing for the Devil Ancestor’s return, but his fear of the threat becomes entangled with an extravagant desire to attain the Dao. His earnest rhetoric about serving the world clashes with his self-serving plan to seize its resources.
• Yang Chan shows restraint by following Gungun’s order to fetch help instead of taking advantage of his apparent weakness.
• Ao Yue initially asks how the reforms would work, then becomes alarmed as Gungun’s demands spiral. He ultimately intervenes physically to stop the proposal from provoking the gods and the wider world.
• Wen Zhong and Bi’an challenge Gungun’s reasoning by pointing to the protection offered by powerful outside allies, but Gungun insists that the Heavenly Court cannot depend on others.
• Xiong Zhan is quick to endorse Gungun’s ambition, winning the emperor’s approval. Maitreya, meanwhile, is distressed by the threatened seizure of Buddhism’s resources, though the promised promotion momentarily surprises him.

Significant themes

• Self-reliance versus dependence: Gungun argues that the Heavenly Court must develop its own strength rather than rely on Saints, though his proposed solution is extreme.
• Power and authority: His demand to centralize the entire world’s merit and providence exposes the danger of turning public responsibility into personal ambition.
• Reform and satire: Gungun frames an outrageous power grab as necessary reform and benevolent service, while the gods’ shocked reactions and Ao Yue’s rushed dismissal make the scene comic.
• Fear and ambition: The genuine threat of the Devil Ancestor provides a rationale for action, but Gungun’s fixation on breaking through threatens the stability he claims to protect.

Key plot points and events

• After the court assembly, Ao Yue pulls Gungun aside. Gungun argues that he wants to centralize the Primordial World’s merit and fortune to help himself and Ao Yue break through from Quasi-Sainthood into primordial unity. He claims this would protect the Heavenly Court from future threats, though the plan would require taking resources from gods and other factions.
• Ao Yue questions whether the factions would ever agree. Gungun insists he is determined to attain the Dao, even if he must take fortune from Buddhism, the Underworld, part of the Heavenly Court, and most of the Human Race. His ambition is fueled partly by resentment toward Houtu, whom he believes repaid his past help with hostility.
• Elsewhere, Haotian receives a secret report about Gungun’s proposal. Seeing a chance to exploit public outrage and reclaim authority over the Heavenly Court, he considers moving against Gungun—but hesitates because Gungun controls the Investiture of the Gods List and could kill him. Haotian decides to wait until Gungun actually acts.
• Haotian’s eldest daughter asks to marry Liu Xing, the Food Deity. Haotian rejects the match, declaring her too young and Liu Xing too low-ranking, then has her confined to the Sleeping Hall.
• The secret informant is revealed to be Bo Yikao, a low-ranking Heavenly Court attendant who serves tea and water. He uses a cloak to conceal his dealings with Haotian.

Character developments and interactions

• Gungun reveals that his desire for power is both strategic and personal: he believes greater strength is necessary to defend the world, but also wants to stop being mistreated. His grand threats and self-justifications are undercut by his comic, impulsive manner.
• Ao Yue remains Gungun’s confidant and potential ally. He shares the desire to attain primordial unity but cautions that the proposed seizure of fortune would provoke opposition.
• Haotian is politically opportunistic but cautious, weighing the chance to regain power against the danger Gungun poses.
• Haotian and his daughter clash over her autonomy and marriage. She argues that her love is genuine and that she is old enough to choose; Haotian dismisses her wishes and uses his authority to confine her.
• Bo Yikao is introduced as a hidden political informant, rewarded by Haotian for bringing sensitive court news.

Significant themes

• Power and security: Gungun sees overwhelming cultivation as necessary protection, while others recognize the risks of concentrating the world’s fortune in one ruler’s hands.
• Ambition and self-justification: Gungun frames personal advancement as service to the world, blurring the line between public duty and self-interest.
• Political opportunism and betrayal: Haotian considers exploiting Gungun’s controversial proposal, while Bo Yikao secretly feeds him information.
• Authority versus personal freedom: Haotian’s treatment of his daughter shows how paternal and political power can override individual choice.

Key plot points

• Bo Yikao reflects bitterly on the lowly post he received after the Investiture of the Gods. Determined to rise in the Heavenly Court, he serves Haotian as an informant and has secretly cultivated to the Heavenly Immortal realm.
• After failing to agree with Ao Yue on how to collect fortune, Gungun secretly orders half the Devil Race’s fortune and half of Buddhism’s fortune transferred to itself. Both groups sense the loss, but no one dares oppose their powerful Buddha Lord and Heavenly Emperor.
• Gungun considers taking the Human Race’s fortune once it is unified, then notices demonic energy on its paw. A Bei, its Good Corpse, warns that Gungun’s evil thoughts are growing and that it is close to falling to the demonic path.
• Gungun realizes the World-Destroying Black Lotus it has kept since defeating Kuigang has grown roots. It attacks Gungun and A Bei, then reveals that Luo Hou has been hiding within it.
• Gungun deduces that Luo Hou’s spirit has secretly influenced it and may have been draining its power. It pursues the lotus with A Bei, using the World-Cleansing White Lotus and its Six-Foot Golden Body to counter Luo Hou’s destructive light.
• Under pressure, Luo Hou’s spirit retreats through a spatial passage, promising that the demonic path will rise and the Dao decline in twelve hundred years. Gungun suspects this may replace Wutian’s destined emergence and bring about a Demon Calamity anyway.

Character developments and interactions

• Bo Yikao is ambitious and resentful of his assigned status, but believes patient service and cultivation will eventually earn him a higher rank.
• Gungun shifts from complacent power-seeking to alarm as it discovers the danger inside its own body. Though frightened of Luo Hou, it publicly casts itself as a defender of the Dao and confronts him.
• A Bei acts as Gungun’s perceptive warning and steadfast ally, identifying the demonic influence and helping pursue the lotus.
• Luo Hou is revealed as a patient schemer: he hid a fragment of his spirit in the lotus and manipulated Gungun while preparing for a future return. His taunts expose the uneasy, familiar relationship between them.
• Buddhism’s Buddhas and Bodhisattvas silently resent losing half their fortune but feel unable to challenge Gungun.

Significant themes

• Ambition and corruption: Gungun’s hunger to consolidate fortune leaves it vulnerable to demonic influence.
• Hidden schemes and compromised trust: Luo Hou turns a supposed trophy into a long-term means of concealment and manipulation.
• Destiny and cyclical calamity: Gungun fears that changing one foretold event may not avert disaster, but merely alter who brings it.
• Public duty versus private fear: Gungun’s bold declaration to defend the Dao contrasts with its anxiety about Luo Hou’s power.

Key plot points and events

• Gungun worries that Luo Hou’s True Spirit, now joined with the World-Destroying Black Lotus, may eventually become Wutian—and that the coming calamity could affect him personally.
• When Maitreya, Medicine Buddha, and others ask about the Black Lotus, Gungun claims it was an incarnation of the Devil Ancestor Luo Hou. He explains that he deliberately lured the incarnation out, but was wounded and tainted by its devil energy.
• Gungun says Luo Hou will return in twelve hundred years and vows to fight him for the sake of the Primordial World. His account persuades the Buddhist leaders and onlookers that his earlier actions—including gathering Buddhist fortune—were part of a selfless plan to protect the world.
• He returns to the Heavenly Emperor Palace and orders A Bei to seal it while he enters seclusion to purge the dangerous devil energy.
• Before beginning, Gungun notices his fortune and Vow Power increasing. Races across the Primordial World are building temples to him, submitting to Heavenly Court rule, or offering prayers in gratitude.

Character developments and interactions

• Gungun turns a dangerous encounter into a public image of heroic compassion, concealing that he embellished part of his story. Though pleased by the devotion he receives, he privately worries about being exposed and must urgently confront the devil energy within him.
• Maitreya and Medicine Buddha move from questioning Gungun to admiring and apologizing to him, interpreting his actions as self-sacrifice.
• Crown Prince Changqin and Xiong Zhan sense that Gungun’s behavior is unusual but do not challenge him.
• A Bei accompanies Gungun back and follows his order to guard the palace during his retreat.

Significant themes

• Public image and private motives: Gungun’s strategic deception creates a sincere reputation for compassion.
• Faith, fortune, and political authority: Public gratitude produces spiritual power and helps bring more races under Heavenly Court rule.
• The threat of corruption: Despite the praise he receives, Gungun faces the real danger of falling into devilhood.
• Self-interest disguised as sacrifice: The scene mixes genuine concern for the world with Gungun’s opportunism and comic anxiety.

Key events

• Haotian reflects that Gungun’s proposal to gather the Ten Thousand Clans’ fortune was a trap meant to lure out the Devil Ancestor. Before he can act on his suspicions, Luo Hou appears through a spatial passage, overpowers him, and abducts him. Luo Hou offers Haotian a chance to join the Demon Teaching and eventually regain the Jade Emperor’s position.
• Ao Yue suspects Gungun deliberately staged events to draw Luo Hou out, but remains uneasy and decides to ask him directly.
• Ao Cunxin intercepts Ao Yue and accuses him of sneaking away to meet another woman. He rebukes her and leaves. She briefly accepts her maid’s reminder that it is still daytime, but then decides to visit the Heavenly Emperor Palace herself—and check whether Ao Yue actually went there.
• At the palace, Gungun is trying to expel the demonic energy Luo Hou left in him, while his good corpse, A Bei, guards the entrance.
• A Bei asks Ao Yue to lend the Ancestral Dragon Pearl to help cleanse Gungun. Ao Yue says it is currently in use but promises to lend it in thirty-six days. A Bei thanks him.

Character developments and interactions

• Haotian is revealed as vulnerable and resentful after losing his physical body and being placed on the Investiture of the Gods List. Luo Hou exploits that resentment to recruit him.
• Ao Yue is cautious and suspicious, yet takes responsibility for Gungun’s recovery by offering future help.
• Ao Cunxin remains jealous and distrustful, interpreting Ao Yue’s stern response as evidence of guilt. Her comic exchange with her senior maid shows how quickly she shifts from suspicion to a new plan.
• A Bei acts as Gungun’s protective representative, negotiating with Ao Yue while carefully guarding the palace.

Significant themes

• Manipulation and hidden motives: Luo Hou turns Haotian’s grievance into an opportunity, while Ao Yue struggles to interpret Gungun’s apparent scheme.
• Loyalty and aid: A Bei seeks help for Gungun, and Ao Yue responds with a concrete promise despite the delay.
• Jealousy and misunderstanding: Ao Cunxin’s suspicions create domestic comedy and contrast with the larger political intrigue.

Key plot points and events

• Ao Yue asks A Bei why Gungun publicly claimed it would gather the Primordial World’s fortune to pursue a breakthrough, despite later acting as if the Devil Ancestor’s incarnation was the real threat. A Bei evades the question, telling him to ask Gungun after it recovers. Ao Yue leaves to manage the Heavenly Court while Gungun remains in seclusion.
• Ao Cunxin arrives to visit the Heavenly Emperor, mistakenly assuming A Bei is Gungun’s consort before learning it is Gungun’s good corpse. She hears Ao Yue had recently been there and, already suspicious that he may be seeing someone else, rushes back to confront him.
• Ao Cunxin accuses Ao Yue of infidelity, throws court memorials at him, and addresses him by name. Furious at her disruption of his work and her comparison to Yang Jian, Ao Yue orders her confined at Maitreya’s Buddhist Palace. He insists he did not marry her—he took her as a concubine—and says her status is the only dignity he is preserving for her and the Western Sea Dragon Race.
• As she is forcibly escorted away, Ao Cunxin continues cursing him. Ao Yue seals her mouth, then resumes sorting the scattered memorials and attending to state business.
• Yang Jian hears of Ao Cunxin’s confinement and privately feels she has been treated unjustly, but recognizes that he is now an outsider and cannot intervene.
• Two days pass in Heaven, equivalent to two years in the mortal world. Ying Zheng, King of Qin, wins a major victory over Han, leaving six human states instead of seven.

Character developments and interactions

• A Bei continues guarding Gungun and maintains the comic gap between Gungun’s heroic reputation and its actual motives, though it avoids exposing the truth to Ao Yue.
• Ao Yue remains dutiful and wary of the Devil Ancestor, but his patience with Ao Cunxin collapses when she disrupts his work and challenges his authority. He chooses political order and distance over trying to manage their relationship.
• Ao Cunxin is anxious and suspicious, interpreting Ao Yue’s visit to Gungun as evidence of a possible affair. Her impulsive confrontation escalates into her confinement.
• Yang Jian feels sympathy for Ao Cunxin but accepts that he has no standing to help her.
• The chapter contrasts A Bei’s respectful, lighthearted exchanges with Ao Yue’s explosive confrontation with Ao Cunxin.

Significant themes

• Duty versus personal life: Ao Yue prioritizes governing the Heavenly Court while Gungun is incapacitated and refuses to let domestic conflict derail his work.
• Power, rank, and gendered status: Ao Yue draws a sharp distinction between a wife and a concubine, using rank to justify his authority over Ao Cunxin.
• Suspicion and miscommunication: Ao Cunxin’s jealousy turns an ordinary visit into a confrontation, while Ao Yue’s silence and anger deepen the rupture.
• Large-scale history amid private conflict: The chapter shifts from Heavenly Court drama to Ying Zheng’s victory, signaling the transformation of the mortal world.

Key plot points

• Ying Zheng consolidates power by crushing Lao Du’s rebellion, forcing Zhao Ji to conduct his coming-of-age ceremony, taking control of the army, and removing Lü Buwei.
• He conquers the Six States and reunifies the Human Race under Qin. In the process, he disbands Zhao Jianzi’s Demon-Hunting Legion, assigning demon-slaying to Qin’s army.
• Ying Zheng secures Qi’s surrender with a promise of a 500-li fief for King Jian, then breaks that promise and has him starved on a barren mountain. Dying, King Jian curses Qin to suffer the same fate.
• Ao Yue observes that Qin’s atrocities and harsh rule have burdened it with too much karma to endure. He recognizes Liu Ji, the Heavenly Emperor’s reincarnated divided soul, as a likely future contender, strategically born outside the Six States so he can rise after Qin’s decline.
• In Xianyang, Ying Zheng declares that the realm will be known as Great Qin. Rejecting Li Si’s suggested title of “Supreme Sovereign,” he names himself the First Emperor, envisioning a line of emperors extending for ten thousand generations.

Character developments and interactions

• Ying Zheng transforms from a ruler seeking personal authority into the triumphant unifier of the Human Race. His ambition and confidence are matched by ruthless political pragmatism, most clearly in his betrayal of King Jian.
• King Jian moves from trusting Qin’s guarantee to bitterly regretting his surrender; his final curse foreshadows a future Qin ruler’s downfall.
• Ao Yue understands that Qin’s victory is temporary and acknowledges that Gungun anticipated the dynasty’s eventual collapse. He accepts that Qin’s brief share of unified fortune may still be worthwhile.
• Li Si proposes “Supreme Sovereign” and supports Ying Zheng’s legitimacy, while Ying Zheng insists on creating a new title. The officials respond to his declaration with enthusiastic submission.

Significant themes

• Power and legitimacy: Unifying the realm gives Ying Zheng grounds to claim a title beyond “king.”
• Conquest and moral cost: Qin’s unification is glorious, but massacres, cruelty, and betrayal generate the karma that threatens its rule.
• Foresight and succession: Gungun’s placement of Liu Ji anticipates Qin’s eventual fall and the rise of a successor.
• Ambition and impermanence: Ying Zheng imagines an endless imperial dynasty, even as the narrative signals that Qin will not last.