Chapter Summaries

The Southern Dipper and Big Dipper Star Lords celebrated the birth of chicks from Great Emperor Ziwei’s White Jade Azure Phoenix and offered prayers instead of rescuing Wude. On the Northern Julu Continent, Chen Wei announced Wude’s supposed death and presented Wuzhiqi and Nine-Headed Bird as newly honored demon allies, while holding Wude’s true spirit.

• South Dipper Star Lord’s fellow Star Lords celebrated the White Jade Azure Phoenix’s offspring and proposed walking to Great Emperor Ziwei’s palace to report the news.
• South Dipper Star Lord urged the Star Lords to pray for Wude, while Big Dipper Star Lord joked that Wude should keep flying west.
• Chen Wei told the assembled troops that Wude had fallen while scouting demon territory, and Commander Wang feigned grief.
• Chen Wei and Wuzhiqi claimed that Wuzhiqi and Nine-Headed Bird had rescued Wude’s true spirit and turned against the demons.
• Chen Wei announced that Wuzhiqi and Nine-Headed Bird would enter the Immortal Register as Merit Demon Kings, then held Wude’s true spirit as he considered whether Wude should live or die.

At the Heavenly Court assembly, the Great Heavenly Venerable declared the deceased Wude a loyal minister and opened his Star Lord position for nominations. Yang Jian recommended Chen Wei, leaving the court waiting to hear whether anyone would object.

• Chen Wei reported that Wude had died while fighting demons in the Northern Julu Continent, while the assembled immortals focused on Yang Jian’s unexpected attendance.
• The Great Heavenly Venerable asked the South Dipper Star Lord whether Wude had acted as a loyal minister, and the South Dipper Star Lord deferred the judgment to him.
• The Great Heavenly Venerable declared all his ministers loyal, including Wude, and thereby settled the matter of Wude’s death.
• The Great Heavenly Venerable said Wude’s Star Lord position could not remain vacant and asked the court to recommend a successor.
• Yang Jian recommended Chen Wei, prompting the other officials to stay silent as Chen Wei suspected Little Ancestor Yang had arranged it.
• The Great Heavenly Venerable asked whether any ministers objected to Yang Jian’s recommendation.

At the Great Heavenly Venerable’s suggestion, Taibai Jinxing proposed retiring the Martial Virtue Star Lord title and elevating Chen Wei to Wude True Lord. Chen Wei tried to refuse, but powerful officials endorsed the promotion, and the story left the appointment all but settled as the South Dipper Star Lord added his support.

• The Great Heavenly Venerable asked the assembled Immortals whether they objected to Chen Wei succeeding as Martial Virtue Star Lord, and Taibai Jinxing spoke first.
• Taibai Jinxing proposed retiring the old title in honor of its fallen holder and naming Chen Wei Wude True Lord instead.
• Chen Wei objected, citing his limited cultivation and lack of seniority, but the Great Heavenly Venerable insisted on holding a vote and approved the proposal.
• Yang Jian and Taibai Jinxing endorsed Chen Wei’s promotion, followed by Nezha and Li Jing.
• The South Dipper Star Lord also supported Chen Wei becoming Wude True Lord, leaving the appointment nearly certain.

After Chen Wei was promoted to Wude True Lord, he waited for the Heavenly Court’s inner circle to approach him. Taibai Jinxing invited him to meet with South Dipper Star Lord and Big Dipper Star Lord, whose praise left their intentions unclear.

• Tongming Hall circulated the decree naming Chen Qingquan Wude True Lord, and two immortal officials envied his rapid rise before flattering him to his face.
• Chen Wei accepted their praise calmly and continued to the Discipline Inspection Court with the heavenly soldiers.
• Ma Muzhi and Chen Wei’s trusted aides registered congratulatory gifts while Chen Wei spent two days waiting for word from the Heavenly Court’s inner circle.
• Taibai Jinxing summoned Chen Wei to the Waterside Pavilion, where he found South Dipper Star Lord and Big Dipper Star Lord waiting.
• Chen Wei respectfully greeted the three elders and stood behind Taibai Jinxing instead of taking the seat South Dipper Star Lord offered.
• Big Dipper Star Lord and South Dipper Star Lord praised Chen Wei as a talented, worthy minister.

Taibai Jinxing pressed Southern Dipper and Big Dipper to return the merit allocation to Chen Wei’s Military Command Office, while the two Star Lords tried to enlist Chen Wei’s support against the demand. Chen Wei dodged their pressure by pretending his wife had summoned him home, leaving Taibai Jinxing to handle the negotiation.

• Chen Wei recognized that Southern Dipper and Big Dipper had come to make peace and answered their praise politely while Taibai Jinxing remained silent.
• Taibai Jinxing used a tea-brewing metaphor to warn the Star Lords and raised the merit allocation retained by the Lunar Mansions Government Office under Wude.
• Big Dipper argued that the office needed the allocation to support its subordinates, but Taibai Jinxing insisted it should be returned in full and let Chen Wei bear any resentment.
• Southern Dipper urged Chen Wei to avoid taking the entire allocation, and Chen Wei faked an urgent summons from Yang Chan about Chen Xiang and the Treasure Lotus Lamp.
• Chen Wei left the meeting and told the Star Lords to follow Taibai Jinxing’s decision, while Taibai Jinxing turned Southern Dipper and Big Dipper’s appeal back on them.

Chen Wei returned home after leaving Taibai Jinxing to negotiate with Southern Dipper and Big Dipper, only to find Chen Xiang wreaking havoc on the Heavenly Court’s cloud road. After catching his son’s real body, Chen Wei brought him inside and found Yang Chan teaching Chen Xiaochan to make tangyuan.

• Chen Wei hurried home to deal with Chen Xiang, who was destroying the cloud road while Heavenly Soldiers watched without intervening.
• Chen Xiang used external incarnations to evade Chen Wei, then attacked him with a growing golden staff and shouted, “Take a strike from Old Chen!”
• Chen Wei caught the real Chen Xiang, scolded him, and carried him back into the residence despite his protests.
• Chen Wei found Yang Chan teaching Chen Xiaochan to make tangyuan, and Chen Xiaochan eagerly invited him to taste hers.

Chen Wei and Chen Xiang were forced to eat Chen Xiaochan’s unbearably sweet tangyuan after she became upset when they failed to praise them. Chen Xiang escaped a second serving by asking to accompany his father to the Camp, and Yang Chan agreed while saving the remaining tangyuan for them.

• Chen Wei praised Chen Xiaochan’s tangyuan and secretly fed one to the reluctant Chen Xiang.
• Chen Xiang struggled to hide his disgust, and Chen Xiaochan pretended to cry when he failed to praise her cooking.
• Yang Chan comforted Chen Xiaochan while Chen Wei insisted Chen Xiang loved the tangyuan and force-fed him a large bowlful.
• Chen Xiang asked Chen Wei to take him on patrol at the Camp, claiming he wanted to learn his duties and serve the Heavenly Court.
• Yang Chan agreed to let Chen Wei take Chen Xiang and said she would keep the remaining tangyuan warm for them.

Chen Wei inspected the Military Affairs Government Office and found its service window still disgracefully inadequate. Sun Immortal Officer blamed the failed improvements on a lack of merit, revealing that Martial Virtue Star Lord had borrowed against the next kalpa’s allocation.

• Chen Wei arrived at the Military Affairs Government Office with Chen Xiang and saw Mortal Realm gods lying on the ground to conduct business through the low window.
• Chen Wei entered the office and ordered Sun Immortal Officer to meet him at the window.
• Chen Wei made Sun Immortal Officer kneel on the tiny cushion outside while the waiting gods watched.
• Chen Wei questioned Sun Immortal Officer about the shabby improvements, and Sun explained that the office had received no merit because Martial Virtue Star Lord had borrowed against the next kalpa’s allocation.

Chen Wei exposed the Lunar Mansions Government Office’s diversion of merit, forcing Sun Immortal Officer to help recover it in exchange for a promotion. As Chen Wei and Chen Xiang left, Chen Wei taught his son about using officials and then boasted about his supposed exploits at Tongtian River.

• Chen Wei amplified Sun Immortal Officer’s confession about the Lunar Mansions Government Office taking the Military Affairs Government Office’s merit, turning the minor immortals against it.
• Chen Wei pressured Sun Immortal Officer into following his orders and appointed him Acting Chief Official, then sent him to demand the merit back from the Lunar Mansions Government Office.
• Chen Wei explained to Chen Xiang that an inactive official could be driven into a corner and made useful.
• A Heavenly General recognized Chen Wei from the Tongtian River battle and praised his command, though Chen Wei barely remembered him.
• Chen Wei exaggerated his battlefield feats to impress Chen Xiang, then changed the subject when his son asked to see an incarnation outside his body.

Sun Immortal Officer went to the Lunar Mansions Government Office to demand the return of merit, but Lian Zhen Star Lord humiliated him before a hall of officials. After enduring the insults, Sun Immortal Officer finally stood up and confronted him.

• Sun Immortal Officer arrived at the Lunar Mansions Government Office, where Lian Zhen Star Lord was presiding.
• Official Li invited Sun Immortal Officer to join a meeting, and he entered the council hall.
• Lian Zhen Star Lord scolded his officials and singled out Sun Immortal Officer as an example of the Military Affairs Government Office’s incompetence.
• Lian Zhen Star Lord mocked Sun Immortal Officer’s abilities, prompting the assembled officials to laugh.
• Sun Immortal Officer slammed the table, cursed Lian Zhen Star, and demanded to know what right he had to criticize him and the Military Affairs Government Office.

Sun Immortal Officer confronted Star Lord Lian Zhen over the Lunar Mansions Government Office’s misuse of Military Affairs funds and demanded repayment. Chen Wei arrived seeking refuge after Chen Xiang collapsed from being forced to eat Tangyuan, while Chen Wei plotted to make Yang Jian try his daughter’s cooking next.

• Sun Immortal Officer berated Star Lord Lian Zhen for draining the Military Affairs Government Office’s Merit and neglecting practical work in the Mortal Realm.
• Sun Immortal Officer invoked his appointment as acting Chief Official by Wude True Lord and dared Lian Zhen to strike him, then sat in the hall and demanded the stolen Merit back with interest.
• Official Li urged Lian Zhen not to be provoked and tried to delay settling the accounts, but Sun Immortal Officer refused to leave and insisted on staying for the meeting.
• Chen Wei and Chen Xiang left their Mansion after Yang Chan and Chen Xiaochan forced Chen Xiang to eat three more bowls of Tangyuan, leaving him collapsed beneath a chair.
• Chen Wei decided to send Chen Xiaochan to Yang Jian’s Daoist Grounds the next time she wanted to make Tangyuan.

Chen Wei confronted Lian Zhen Star at the Lunar Mansions Government Office over unpaid merit, turning the dispute into a clash of authority. When Lian Zhen refused to pay, Chen Wei let Chen Xiang prepare to tear the office apart, leaving Lian Zhen scrambling to stop him.

• Chen Wei arrived with Chen Xiang and ordered Sun Immortal Officer to stand, then reframed the disputed debt as internal resource reallocation.
• Chen Wei demanded that Lian Zhen Star repay the merit owed to the Military Affairs Government Office, but Lian Zhen denied that any debt existed.
• Chen Wei publicly rebuked Lian Zhen Star and insisted that he be addressed by his official title, while Sun Immortal Officer watched in admiration.
• Lian Zhen Star refused to pay and challenged Chen Wei to take the matter to the Southern Dipper and Big Dipper Star Lords.
• Chen Wei gave Chen Xiang permission to show Lian Zhen Star what he could do, and Chen Xiang drew his golden axe as Lian Zhen hurriedly told him to stop.

Chen Wei waited with Chen Xiang at the Lunar Mansions Government Office while Lian Zhen Star sought instructions from the South Dipper and Big Dipper Star Lords. They ordered Lian Zhen to return the Merit, leaving him to cover the shortfall and accept Chen Wei’s actions as a test of their faction’s political stance.

• Chen Wei called Chen Xiang back before the child could strike Lian Zhen Star with his axe.
• Lian Zhen asked the South Dipper and Big Dipper Star Lords for guidance on returning the Merit, while Chen Wei and Chen Xiang stayed at the office.
• The South Dipper and Big Dipper Star Lords told Lian Zhen to give Chen Wei the Merit and avoid provoking him.
• Lian Zhen realized he would have to make up the missing Merit himself and promised to satisfy Chen Wei.
• The South Dipper Star Lord scolded Lian Zhen for objecting to Chen Wei and said the office should prioritize stability.

After reclaiming his merit, Chen Wei followed Taibai Jinxing’s advice to stop pressing his case against the Lunar Mansions Government Office and prepare to investigate Spirit Mountain with the Great Sage’s backing. He returned home to find Yang Jian visiting, where family gifts and a joke appointment for Chen Xiang as deputy chief of the Flying Boat Government Office left the boy eager to become an official.

• Chen Wei reclaimed his share of merit, and Taibai Jinxing advised him to end his dispute with the Lunar Mansions Government Office rather than invite further retaliation.
• Taibai Jinxing told Chen Wei to seek the Great Sage Equal to Heaven’s support at Pure Heart Temple before investigating Spirit Mountain’s merit accounts.
• Chen Wei returned home and found Yang Jian entertaining Chen Xiang and Chen Xiaochan with gifts; Yang Jian ate Chen Xiaochan’s tangyuan without showing how difficult they were to swallow.
• Yang Jian gave Chen Xiang and Chen Xiaochan miniature Flying Boats and asked Chen Wei to approve the Flying Boat Military Affairs Government Office’s memorial.
• Yang Jian promised Chen Xiang that he could become deputy chief of the Flying Boat Government Office, prompting Chen Xiang to ask why he could not be chief instead.

Chen Wei told Xuanzang that the Heavenly Court planned to audit two thousand years of merit transactions between its offices and Spirit Mountain, prompting Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie to criticize how merit from the Journey to the West had been distributed. Chen Wei proposed having Spirit Mountain’s Bodhisattvas and Arhats investigate their own ranks.

• Chen Xiang and Chen Xiaochan visited Pure Heart Temple with Chen Wei and Yang Chan, where Sun Wukong welcomed his disciples and taught them.
• Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing each ate Chen Xiaochan’s tangyuan and struggled to suppress their sweetness by reciting Buddhist scriptures.
• Chen Wei told Xuanzang that the Heavenly Court planned to audit merit transactions between its offices and Spirit Mountain over the past two thousand years.
• Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie complained that they had received less merit than figures who had not fought during the Journey to the West.
• Xuanzang questioned how Chen Wei could investigate Spirit Mountain, and Chen Wei proposed that Bodhisattvas investigate Bodhisattvas and Arhats investigate Arhats.

Chen Wei and Xuanzang agreed to investigate Lingji Bodhisattva over his schemes involving the Yellow Wind Monster, with Xuanzang proposing that Guanyin oversee the inquiry. The plan left Chen Wei startled when Xuanzang accidentally called Guanyin “Sister Guanyin.”

• Chen Xiaochan declared that the Three Realms, including Spirit Mountain, belonged to her Maternal Great-Uncle, and Sha Wujing reflected bitterly on the Great Heavenly Venerable’s authority.
• Chen Wei apologized for his daughter’s blunt words, then named Lingji Bodhisattva as the first target of the investigation.
• Chen Wei explained that Lingji had released the Yellow Wind Monster into the Mortal Realm and later profited by subduing him during the Journey to the West.
• Xuanzang proposed inviting Guanyin Bodhisattva to oversee the investigation, and Sun Wukong worried that this would put her in a difficult position.
• Xuanzang said he would visit Guanyin on Mount Luojia and accidentally called her “Sister Guanyin,” surprising Chen Wei.
• Chen Wei praised Xuanzang’s plan, agreeing that Guanyin should represent Spirit Mountain in the inquiry.

Guanyin Bodhisattva warned Lingji Bodhisattva that Xuanzang and the Heavenly Court were pursuing the merit he had kept, then arranged a meeting with Chen Wei to settle the matter. Chen Wei used the Great Heavenly Venerable’s seal and his case files to force Lingji to return the merit, while Guanyin warned him that investigating the other Bodhisattvas could provoke trouble.

• Guanyin told Lingji that Xuanzang wanted him to return the merit and advised him not to confront Xuanzang because he was not as fast.
• Guanyin invited Chen Wei and Lingji to the South Sea to negotiate Lingji’s repayment.
• Lingji proposed returning the merit under a thirty-seventy split, with only thirty percent going to Chen Wei’s office.
• Chen Wei presented the Great Heavenly Venerable’s seal and his case files, and Lingji agreed to return all the merit voluntarily.
• Guanyin cautioned Chen Wei that investigating other Bodhisattvas could stir up powerful opposition.

Lian Zhen Star complained that Chen Wei was taking merit from the Lunar Mansions Government Office, while its Star Lords waited for an ally from Spirit Mountain. After Chen Wei recovered the merit from Lingji Bodhisattva, an unknown immortal beat the Grievance Drum at his office, and Chen Wei prepared to receive the visitor while recording everything.

• Lian Zhen Star urged the Lunar Mansions Government Office's Star Lords to act against Chen Wei, but South Dipper Star Lord and Big Dipper Star Lord remained silent until buddha light appeared outside the palace.
• Chen Wei reviewed the documents confirming that the merit recovered from Lingji Bodhisattva had been deposited in the treasury.
• An immortal outside Chen Wei's office beat the Grievance Drum and called on Lord Chen to uphold justice.
• Chen Wei ordered Xiao Yan to invite the visitor in politely and told Ma Muzhi and Pang Long to secure the documents and activate the Recording Stones.

Chen Wei investigated a recording that showed one of his six confidants extorting a minor earth god for three hundred thousand years' worth of Merit Gold Bricks. Yang Chan used the Treasure Lotus Lamp to reveal Ma Muzhi's face in the recording, but Chen Wei declared the evidence false and Ma Muzhi innocent.

• A minor earth god beat the Grievance Drum and accused Discipline Inspection Court officials of extortion, presenting a recording of an Immortal Official demanding three hundred thousand years' worth of Merit Gold Bricks.
• Chen Wei gathered Ma Muzhi, Pang Long, Xiao Yan, Chu Feng, Han Li, and Lu Beiwang, and each denied being responsible while offering reasons the crime did not fit their methods or motives.
• Unable to break the Divine Ability concealing the Immortal Official's face, Chen Wei summoned Yang Chan to examine the recording.
• Yang Chan used the Treasure Lotus Lamp to dispel the concealment and reveal Ma Muzhi's face.
• Ma Muzhi protested that he had been framed, and Chen Wei agreed that the recording was a false accusation.

Chen Wei exposed the flaw in the accusation against Ma Muzhi and turned the interrogation against Land God Li, who could not explain how he supposedly possessed three hundred thousand years of merit. Ma Muzhi recast the incident as an investigation into illegal accounts, and Chen Wei ordered Pang Long to show Li what a surprise meant.

• Chen Wei dismissed the Recording Stone as a frame-up and ordered his subordinates to bring in Land God Li without revealing their suspicions.
• Chen Wei questioned Land God Li about his post and salary, and Pang Long calculated that saving three hundred thousand years of merit would take six thousand kalpas.
• Chen Wei challenged Li to explain where the merit came from, then accused him of trafficking in incense offerings and falsely accusing the Censorate.
• Ma Muzhi claimed he had secretly investigated Cangwu Mountain and seized its illegal merit fund rather than extorting Li.
• Chen Wei approved Ma Muzhi's explanation and told Pang Long to explain what a surprise meant to Land God Li.