Chapter Summaries

Chen Wei began mediating a dispute between the Finance Department and the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions when Yang Chan arrived to discuss official posts for her unborn children. Ma Bide watched the privileged proceedings and began doubting how easy it was to get by in the Heavenly Court.

• Chen Wei invited Ma Bide to listen in on the confidential meeting about the Finance Department withholding merit salaries from the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions.
• Chen Wei decided the Government Office would act as a firm but discreet mediator between the two sides.
• Yang Chan arrived and said the Great Heavenly Venerable wanted to give her unborn children minor third- or fourth-rank immortal posts.
• Chen Wei and his subordinates began brainstorming impressive official titles for the children while Ma Bide reconsidered his expectations for life in the Heavenly Court.

Yang Chan arrived at the Censorate and used her pregnancy to clear the room so she could speak privately with Chen Wei. As she urged him to protect himself and revealed she had informants inside the Government Office, Chen Wei realized she had come because she knew about his troubles.

• Yang Chan's arrival persuaded Pang Long, Ma Muzhi, and the other trusted subordinates to leave the meeting and find titles for her unborn children.
• Outside, Ma Muzhi advised Ma Bide to keep Government Office matters secret and sent him on an assignment using the office's Auspicious Cloud.
• Chen Wei embraced Yang Chan and promised to be careful, while worrying about the Finance Department, the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions, and Yang Jian.
• Yang Chan told Chen Wei that the Great Heavenly Venerable wanted them to visit Tongming Hall and encouraged him to share his troubles with her uncle.
• Chen Wei suspected Yang Chan had deliberately come at a crucial moment, and she admitted that she had planted informants in the Censorate to monitor him.

Chen Wei accompanied Yang Chan to Lingxiao Palace, where the Great Heavenly Venerable and Taibai Jinxing discussed the difficult Heavenly Treasury falsification case and hinted at a way to pressure the Finance Department. Before they left, the elders agreed to appoint Yang Chan’s unborn twins as third-rank Immortal Officials.

• Chen Wei put Yang Chan’s warning about spies aside and accompanied her to Lingxiao Palace, rehearsing how to address the Great Heavenly Venerable respectfully.
• Yang Chan urged the Great Heavenly Venerable to help Chen Wei with his case, while Chen Wei insisted he felt no pressure handling it.
• Taibai Jinxing recalled that Chen Jiugong of the Finance Department had once altered a ledger while drunk, then dismissed the story as old gossip.
• Yang Chan asked the Great Heavenly Venerable and Taibai Jinxing to choose suitable offices for her unborn twins.
• Taibai Jinxing proposed third-rank appointments for the twins, and Chen Wei readily approved.

Chen Wei visited Yang Chan at his mansion, but Yang Jian took her back to Guanjiangkou to protect her pregnancy. Chen Wei then went to meet Chen Jiugong, where he tried to discuss errors in the Heavenly Court’s old accounts over tea and noodles.

• Chen Wei brought Yang Chan to his mansion, where she fed Kun and Big Yellow Immortal Pills.
• Yang Jian arrived, scolded Yang Chan for traveling while pregnant, and whisked her away to Guanjiangkou.
• Chen Wei chose a basket of immortal fruit and visited Chen Jiugong’s mansion, skipping the queue of officials bearing gifts.
• Chen Jiugong recalled his past connection with Taibai Jinxing and warned Chen Wei that the Finance Department’s affairs were no longer under the Star Lord’s jurisdiction.
• Chen Wei said Taibai Jinxing wanted advice about clerical errors in old accounts, but Chen Jiugong denied knowing anything about them and invited him to eat noodles.

Chen Wei pressured Chen Jiugong to help resolve the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions’ dispute with the Finance Department over withheld merit stipends. After Chen Wei invoked the Great Heavenly Venerable’s praise, Chen Jiugong agreed to smooth the way.

• Chen Jiugong defended his refusal to help by citing Heavenly Court rules and claiming he had never dared spend a single cent.
• Chen Wei hinted that he knew about an old Finance Department accounting error and suggested the Discipline Inspection Court might investigate it.
• Chen Jiugong acknowledged the old case and said Star Lord Taibai had once accepted his report without punishment.
• Chen Wei explained that the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions wanted the Finance Department and their camp to coordinate over the withheld merit stipends.
• Chen Wei said the Great Heavenly Venerable had praised Chen Jiugong as kindhearted and incorruptible, and Chen Jiugong agreed to help smooth the matter over.

Chen Wei secured the Finance Department’s agreement to quietly resolve the paperwork dispute, then learned that his unborn children had been appointed third-rank Lingguan. Hoping to use their new status to help settle matters with the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions, he went to their compound, where Kang Jinlong challenged him to spar.

• Chen Wei and Chen Jiugong agreed to discreetly smooth over the dispute as a paperwork misunderstanding, preserving both sides’ face.
• Ma Muzhi brought Chen Wei the Great Heavenly Venerable’s decree appointing his unborn children, Lingguan Yunzhen and Lingguan Yunyi, as third-rank Immortal Officials.
• Chen Wei rewarded Ma Muzhi and ordered three thousand years of merit distributed among his colleagues to celebrate the appointments.
• Chen Wei decided to invoke his children’s prestigious titles when negotiating with the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions and headed to their compound.
• Chen Wei found the Lunar Mansions sparring, and Kang Jinlong called him out to demonstrate his skills in the ring.

Chen Wei accepted Kang Jinlong’s challenge and fought Mao Ri Star Lord, whose attacks and quick concession were staged to avoid offending Chen Wei’s powerful allies. Kang Jinlong then sparred with Chen Wei and helped him save face, leaving Chen Wei to wonder whether Sun Wukong’s Havoc in Heaven had been an act too.

• Chen Wei agreed to spar with the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions and appeared in military armor with three powerful magical treasures.
• Mao Ri Star Lord fought Chen Wei with deliberately ineffective attacks, then conceded after fewer than ten moves.
• Kang Jinlong realized Chen Wei had learned Sun Wukong’s martial techniques and invented an excuse for Mao Ri Star Lord’s poor performance.
• Mao Ri Star Lord pretended he had been weakened by a demon-slaying mission, and Kang Jinlong challenged Chen Wei to a sparring match.
• Chen Wei recognized Kang Jinlong was holding back, withdrew from the match, and received praise from the watching immortals.
• Chen Wei wondered whether Sun Wukong’s Havoc in Heaven had also been staged.

Chen Wei reconciled the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions with the Finance Department and announced that his unborn children had been appointed Lingguan. He persuaded the Star Lords to accompany him when he went to Guanjiangkou to fetch his bride, intending to bring them along to face Yang Jian, and then considered recruiting the Great Sage as well.

• Chen Wei told the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions that the Finance Department was ready to negotiate over their unpaid Merit, and Jiao Mujiao agreed to meet with them.
• Chen Wei revealed that the Great Heavenly Venerable had appointed his unborn children Lingguan Yunzhen and Lingguan Yunyi, earning the Star Lords' praise.
• Chen Wei asked the Star Lords to support him when he went to Guanjiangkou to fetch the Third Holy Mother as his bride.
• Jiao Mujiao and the other Star Lords promised that the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions would accompany Chen Wei, unaware that he hoped to bring them into a confrontation with Yang Jian.
• Chen Wei considered adding the Great Sage to his group of helpers.

After resolving the dispute between the Finance Department and the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions, Chen Wei enlisted Taibai Jinxing to help him fetch Yang Chan from Guanjiangkou. Taibai agreed to join the procession and gave Chen Wei his Command Token to invite more powerful allies.

• Chen Wei reported that the Finance Department and the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions had agreed to meet and settle their dispute.
• Chen Wei told Taibai Jinxing that he wanted to fetch his pregnant bride, Yang Chan, from Guanjiangkou with Taibai’s support.
• Chen Wei revealed that the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions and the Great Sage Equal to Heaven would join him, startling Taibai Jinxing with the size of the procession.
• Taibai Jinxing agreed to accompany Chen Wei and advised him to request an Imperial Decree from the Great Heavenly Venerable before setting out.
• Taibai Jinxing offered to teach Chen Wei’s children and gave him a Command Token to invite the Eight Immortals of the Upper Cave and Third Prince Nezha.

Yang Chan learned that Chen Wei was going to seek an Imperial Decree and marry her, while Yang Jian prepared to test whether Chen Wei could withstand his opposition. Chen Wei gathered prominent immortals to join the wedding procession, and Yang Jian began making his own deployments.

• Yang Chan received Chen Wei's message that he was heading to Lingxiao Palace to request an Imperial Decree and would come marry her at Guanjiangkou.
• Yang Chan called her uncle for help with the wedding, while Yang Jian finished crafting protective Longevity Locks for his unborn nephews.
• Kang Anyu reported that Chen Wei had settled a dispute in the Heavenly Court and was rallying the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions, Third Prince Nezha, the Eight Immortals of the Upper Cave, and Taibai Jinxing.
• Kang Anyu said Chen Wei also planned to invite Sun Wukong, and Yang Jian decided to let the wedding proceed only if Chen Wei could endure the consequences.
• Yang Jian ordered Kang Anyu to record his deployments as Chen Wei set out, unaware of the spectacle awaiting him.

Chen Wei sought the Great Heavenly Venerable’s approval to marry Yang Chan and give their unborn children a legitimate birth. The Great Heavenly Venerable ordered a vast, unarmed Heavenly Court retinue to escort Yang Chan from Guanjiangkou and told Chen Wei to invite Sun Wukong, leaving him to wonder what lay behind that request.

• Chen Wei hurried to Lingxiao Palace after telling Yang Chan the good news, then waited while the Four Great Celestial Masters finished reporting.
• The Great Heavenly Venerable privately acknowledged that Yang Chan could no longer bear the stigma of an unmarried mother and ordered Chen Wei to take a huge contingent of immortals and Heavenly Soldiers to bring her back as his bride.
• The Great Heavenly Venerable stressed that the procession must go unarmed and in ordinary clothes, and reminded Chen Wei to keep matters harmonious with Erlang.
• Chen Wei accepted the decree and called the Great Heavenly Venerable “Uncle” after being told to use Yang Chan’s form of address.
• The Great Heavenly Venerable instructed Chen Wei to invite Sun Wukong to the wedding because the monkey shared a destined bond with the children, and Chen Wei wondered at the implication.

Chen Wei asked Xuanzang and his disciples to help him fetch the Third Holy Mother as his bride under the Great Heavenly Venerable’s decree. Sun Wukong agreed to go and began preparing a gift, while Zhu Bajie resisted joining the expedition to Guanjiangkou.

• Xuanzang scolded Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie for eating watermelon without dignity, and Sha Wujing warned that trouble was coming.
• Chen Wei explained his appointment as a Lingguan and asked the group to accompany him to Guanjiangkou to fetch the Third Holy Mother.
• Zhu Bajie tried to flee, but Sun Wukong grabbed him, and Xuanzang decided the whole group would go.
• Sha Wujing stopped Zhu Bajie from objecting, and Sun Wukong praised Chen Wei’s bold plan to bring the gods to Yang Jian’s gate.
• Sun Wukong recalled his battle with Yang Jian and offered Chen Wei another treasure for the journey.

Sun Wukong gave Chen Wei a Seven-Colored Auspicious Cloud so he could keep his promise to marry the Third Holy Mother. Chen Wei led a hundred thousand unarmed Heavenly Soldiers and Generals toward Guanjiangkou, where the Meishan Brothers blocked their way with a suspicious wedding gift.

• Sun Wukong gave Chen Wei a Seven-Colored Auspicious Cloud and urged him to prepare for the wedding.
• Chen Wei took command of the assembled Heavenly forces and led them toward Guanjiangkou to fetch the Third Holy Mother.
• The Meishan Brothers stopped the procession and presented Chen Wei with a formal hat on Yang Jian’s behalf.
• Nezha warned Li Jing that Yang Jian’s gift signaled ill intent.

Chen Wei endured the crushing weight of Yang Jian’s Red Ceremonial Hat and continued toward Guanjiangkou, impressing the watching gods and Buddhas. Yang Jian then confined Yang Chan to her boudoir after discovering she had dressed for the wedding, insisting Chen Wei pass every trial first.

• Chen Wei accepted Yang Jian’s Red Ceremonial Hat and used Sun Wukong’s body-tempering technique to withstand its immense weight.
• Kang Anyu resumed leading the army toward Guanjiangkou as the gods and Buddhas marveled at Chen Wei’s strength.
• Yang Jian watched Chen Wei endure the hat’s pressure and vowed to test him further.
• Yang Chan appeared in full bridal attire and urged Yang Jian to honor the wedding decree without more trials.
• Yang Jian sent Yang Chan back to her room, sealed the rear residence with formations, and forbade her from leaving until Chen Wei passed every trial.

Chen Wei’s wedding procession reached Guanjiangkou, where Yang Jian’s men laid a wine formation to test the groom. Chen Wei turned the challenge into a feast for the army, but the endlessly replenishing Immortal Brew left the formation unbroken, and Taibai Jinxing hinted that Sun Wukong’s Peach Banquet past held the key.

• The Heavenly Court’s slow wedding procession frightened demons across the Four Great Continents, who feared the unarmed host signaled a major operation.
• At Guanjiangkou, Kang Anyu revealed rows of Immortal Brew vats arranged as a formation meant to get Chen Wei drunk.
• Chen Wei declared that Yang Jian had provided the wine to reward the army and ordered the immortals and soldiers to drink together.
• Zhu Bajie rushed into the formation to drink, and Chen Wei joined him, but the empty vats refilled with wine.
• Lü Dongbin recognized an ever-renewing array and explained that its secret lay within the wine and that the formation could not be beaten by drinking alone.
• Taibai Jinxing told Sun Wukong that the wine came from the Peach Banquet, prompting Wukong to lament that his old debts had caught up with him again.

Chen Wei, Lü Dongbin, and Sun Wukong broke Yang Jian’s Wine Formation and discovered an Imperial Decree Fragment tied to the old Peach Banquet. Sun Wukong apologized for his past havoc, dissolving the fragment, while Chen Wei realized the Great Heavenly Venerable and Yang Jian may have arranged the situation to settle old grievances.

• Chen Wei asked Sun Wukong to help him reach Guanjiangkou, and Sun Wukong recruited Lü Dongbin to break the Wine Formation.
• Lü Dongbin and Chen Wei found the formation eye, and Sun Wukong sealed its spring with the Golden Cudgel.
• A fragment of the Imperial Decree for the ruined Peach Banquet emerged, revealing the source of the formation’s lingering power.
• Taibai Jinxing suggested Sun Wukong had to resolve the karma from his past actions, and Sun Wukong apologized to the decree before it dissolved.
• Chen Wei suspected the Great Heavenly Venerable and Yang Jian had set up the situation to settle the grievances from Havoc in Heaven.

Chen Wei and the Heavenly army broke Yang Jian’s Wine Formation after the immortals covered up their drunkenness by calling it an illusion. As the army resumed its journey, the Howling Celestial Dog and Guanjiangkou’s spirit beasts blocked the road to demand wedding gifts.

• Jiao Mujiao and Zhu Bajie blamed their drunken behavior on an Illusion Formation, and the other immortals joined their story to save face.
• Chen Wei praised Yang Jian, then ordered the army to drink all the remaining Immortal Brew, breaking the Wine Formation.
• The Meishan Brothers sent Kang Anyu to confirm that the formation was the second of five trials, leaving three more ahead.
• A black mist brought the Howling Celestial Dog and Guanjiangkou’s spirit beasts to block the army’s path.
• The Howling Celestial Dog demanded a generous wedding gift, rejected the immortals’ offerings as scrap, and insisted that requesting a lucky gift was customary.

Chen Wei and the immortals overcame Howling Celestial Dog’s blockade with a performance by the Eight Immortals, but Chen Wei was suddenly snatched away by a black shadow. The heavenly forces stayed behind in confusion as Taibai Jinxing urged them to keep playing and wait.

• Chen Wei stopped the immortals from fighting Howling Celestial Dog and asked what treasure he wanted, but the dog refused to cooperate.
• Sun Wukong prompted Han Xiangzi to use his flute, and Han Xiangzi invited the other Eight Immortals to perform together.
• The Eight Immortals played “Drunken Wind, Carefree Song,” enchanting the spirit beasts and making Howling Celestial Dog roll blissfully on the clouds.
• Chen Wei declared the third hurdle cleared and prepared to thank the Eight Immortals.
• A black shadow swooped down and carried Chen Wei away, and Taibai Jinxing told the panicked heavenly troops to keep playing music and wait.

Chen Wei was swept into a perilous confrontation with Yang Jian, finding himself powerless in a mortal body beside Yang Chan and their newborn twins. When Yang Chan urged him to flee, he returned to protect her and challenged Yang Jian as the halberd struck.

• Taibai Jinxing reassured the Eight Immortals that Chen Wei would survive, and they continued playing music to repay Yang Jian for once letting them cross the sea.
• The Heaven-Sweeping Cloak transported Chen Wei to a thatched cottage, where Yang Chan urged him to run because Yang Jian had found them.
• Chen Wei discovered that his immortal robe and Golden Immortal powers were gone and that he was holding Yang Chan and his two newborn children.
• Yang Jian arrived with the Grass-Headed Gods and Meishan Brothers, and Yang Chan told Chen Wei to take the children and escape with the Treasure Lotus Lamp.
• Chen Wei left the children inside, returned to stand in front of Yang Chan, and defied Yang Jian as his halberd came crashing down.

Chen Wei confronted the Yang Jian in the illusion, refusing to let him execute Yang Chan and their children. He baited the Justice Heavenly Deity into striking, but Yang Jian hesitated with his blade at Chen Wei's neck.

• Yang Jian stopped his halberd above Chen Wei's head and asked if he was afraid.
• Chen Wei threw a clod of dirt at Yang Jian and accused him of abusing his authority and violating Heavenly Court procedures.
• Chen Wei continued mocking Yang Jian and insisted that the real Holy Manifestation True Lord would protect Yang Chan.
• Yang Chan pleaded with Yang Jian to spare her family after the babies began crying.
• Chen Wei stepped toward Yang Jian's blade and dared him to strike, then taunted him when he hesitated.