Chapter Summaries

Gu Changqing repeatedly swung the Heaven-Opening Divine Axe, drawing on the law of force while replenishing his strength with wine from the Wine God Gourd. After stopping and remarking that he had comprehended less than a tenth of the law, he saw Dijiang arrive on Golden Ao Island with the other Ancestral Witches and Houtu.

• Gu Changqing swung the Heaven-Opening Divine Axe as the laws of myriad Daos gathered around him, while wine from the Wine God Gourd poured into his mouth.
• Tongtian, Nuwa, and Houtu understood that Gu Changqing was drinking to replenish the immense blood qi and magic power each axe swing consumed.
• The laws around Gu Changqing grew into an inscrutable torrent before receding as he finally stopped swinging the axe.
• Gu Changqing looked at his palm, said he had comprehended less than a tenth of the law of force, and took another drink.
• Dijiang arrived at Golden Ao Island with Zhu Jiuyin, Zhurong, Gonggong, and the other Ancestral Witches, while Houtu followed behind them.

The Twelve Ancestral Witches bowed to Gu Changqing after sensing Pangu’s Heaven-Opening intent, and he denied being Pangu’s reincarnation while warning that Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao were changing. The Heavenly Dao then appeared through Hongjun and confronted Gu Changqing for awakening power and trying to alter its predetermined course.

• Dijiang and the other Ancestral Witches arrived at Golden Ao Island and solemnly bowed to Gu Changqing, recognizing Pangu’s presence in his Dao.
• Zhurong asked whether Gu Changqing was Pangu reincarnated, and Gu Changqing denied it, saying the Dao could be comprehended by anyone.
• Gu Changqing said the Primordial World’s problems had to be resolved before Pangu’s true spirit could return, and warned that Hongjun was no longer Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao was becoming a person.
• The Heavenly Dao’s cold presence descended and rebuked Gu Changqing for awakening his power and attempting to change its predetermined course.
• Hongjun emerged from the Heavenly Dao’s light with golden eyes and an aura linked to the Primordial World, while the Elder of Chaos trembled behind him.

Hongjun surrendered his last shred of self to become the Heavenly Dao Incarnation, which attacked the Twelve Ancestral Witches and declared Gu Changqing an enemy of Heaven. As heavenly punishment descended, Gu Changqing took up the Heaven-Opening Divine Axe and invoked Pangu’s example.

• The Elder of Chaos explained that Hongjun had sacrificed his humanity and become the Heavenly Dao Incarnation.
• Dijiang and Zhurong attacked the Heavenly Dao Incarnation, but it repelled Zhurong with a glance.
• The Heavenly Dao Incarnation bound the Twelve Ancestral Witches with Heavenly Dao Laws and overruled Zhu Jiuyin’s attempt to stop time.
• The Heavenly Dao Incarnation declared that Heaven and earth needed no change and targeted Gu Changqing with heavenly punishment.
• Gu Changqing grasped the Heaven-Opening Divine Axe and said that, like Pangu, a living being could still open the heavens.

Gu Changqing used the Dao of Beginning to strike at the Heavenly Dao, while Houtu, Nuwa, and Tongtian joined forces to stop its World-Destroying Palm. His third axe strike summoned Pangu’s phantom, and Gu Changqing realized he had become the vessel for Pangu’s will.

• Gu Changqing’s first axe strike opened a fissure beyond the Primordial World and froze the Heavenly Dao Laws.
• Gu Changqing’s second strike shattered the Heavenly Dao Laws, prompting the Heavenly Dao Incarnation to unleash its World-Destroying Palm and drain power from living beings.
• Houtu, Nuwa, and Tongtian summoned the Earth Dao, Human Dao, and Interception Sect’s power to halt the Heavenly Dao’s palm.
• Gu Changqing’s third strike widened the fissure and summoned Pangu’s phantom.
• Gu Changqing understood that Pangu’s will had returned through him as the vessel for the Dao of Beginning.

The Heavenly Dao Incarnation tried to consume the Primordial World and all living beings, but Gu Changqing realized the Heavenly Dao had arisen from living beings and used the Heaven-Opening Divine Axe to sever its bond with the world. Hongjun regained his own will and gave Gu Changqing the Heavenly Dao origin, and Gu Changqing struck at the Incarnation as the story left the battle unresolved.

• The Heavenly Dao Incarnation absorbed the Primordial World’s origin and the fortune of living beings, while Houtu, Nuwa, and Tongtian debated whether to destroy Heaven and Earth to stop him.
• Gu Changqing recalled Pangu’s creation of Heaven and Earth and declared that the Heavenly Dao had arisen because of living beings, not the other way around.
• Gu Changqing used the first axe stroke to sever the Incarnation’s connection to the Primordial World and the second to wound him, revealing Hongjun within the golden giant.
• Hongjun regained his clarity, tore the Heavenly Dao origin from himself, and threw it to Gu Changqing.
• Gu Changqing caught the origin, understood that he needed to cut away the Incarnation’s selfish desires rather than destroy the Heavenly Dao, and swung his third axe stroke at the Incarnation’s brow.

Gu Changqing defeated the Heavenly Dao Incarnation and restored its scattered origin to the Primordial World, while Hongjun admitted his error and vowed to return his borrowed authority. With heaven and earth balanced again, Gu Changqing announced that he still had to reopen the Gate of Heaven.

• Gu Changqing cleaved the Heavenly Dao Incarnation in two, and its origin returned to the Primordial World, restoring the land, stars, and drained living beings.
• The Elder of Chaos caught the fallen Hongjun, who acknowledged his defeat and said he would return his Heavenly Dao authority before becoming an ordinary cultivator.
• Gu Changqing jokingly asked the Elder of Chaos to lend him the Chaos Bead for brewing wine, and the Elder angrily refused.
• Houtu, Nuwa, and Tongtian reacted to the restored balance, while Gu Changqing told Tongtian he had one more task.
• Gu Changqing drained his Wine Gourd and declared that he would reopen the Gate of Heaven.

Gu Changqing reestablished balance among the Human, Earth, and Heavenly Daos, then spoke with Pangu, who left him his final Dao Fruit before departing to open another world. With the Primordial World transformed, Gu Changqing set off toward Chaos, intending to borrow the Chaos Bead from the Elder of Chaos.

• Gu Changqing opened a gateway in the sky and restored the Three Daos as equal powers that balanced one another.
• Tathagata ordered Vulture Peak closed for a hundred years and forbade Buddhist disciples from forcibly converting living beings.
• Pangu appeared beyond the gateway, entrusted Gu Changqing with his final Dao Fruit, and departed to open another world.
• The Primordial World settled into a new order as Hongjun withdrew, the Buddhist School began anew, and the Journey to the West became a trial for living beings to choose their paths.
• Gu Changqing announced that he would borrow the Chaos Bead from the Elder of Chaos and strode into Chaos with Tongtian, Houtu, Nuwa, the Twelve Ancestral Witches, and Jie Sect Disciples.