Recaps

Ouyang met Dharma, the First Abbot of Great Spirit Mountain Temple, who revealed that he was Ouyang’s Fourth Martial Uncle. Dharma explained that Buddhism’s turmoil was a tribulation meant to expose and resolve its problems, then hinted that he had guided Hui Zhi and may have given him the secret technique he used.

• Ouyang encountered the golden Buddha on a lotus platform and teased him about being Hu Yun’s wife.
• Dharma introduced himself as the First Abbot of Great Spirit Mountain Temple and revealed that he was Ouyang’s Fourth Martial Uncle.
• Ouyang kowtowed to Dharma and tried to get a first-meeting gift, but Dharma slapped his hands away.
• Dharma explained that Buddhism’s upheaval was a tribulation and a test of whether it could continue to exist.
• Dharma said he had separated Hui Zhi’s goodness after the monk’s return from the Azure Cloud Sect, then hinted that he might have given Hui Zhi the secret technique he comprehended.

Dharma revealed that Ouyang’s Fifth and Sixth Martial Uncles had inherited Buddhism’s legacy and that all three Martial Uncles had died after undergoing Dao Integration. He gave Ouyang a mysterious gift and charged him with carrying out the plan to merge Buddhism into the Daoist Sect, leaving Ouyang to propose dividing Buddhism’s household with Hui Zhi.

• Dharma told Ouyang that the Buddhist Sutra’s legacy had passed to Ouyang’s Fifth and Sixth Martial Uncles, who had both undergone Dao Integration.
• Ouyang learned that Dharma had also died, then questioned why he had to carry out the plan to merge Buddhism into the Daoist Sect.
• Dharma urged Ouyang to find his own path and gave him a first-meeting gift from the three Martial Uncles.
• Ouyang returned to the Main Hall with the gift and realized his Martial Uncles had left him a difficult problem.
• Ouyang walked between Dongxu Zi and Hui Zhi and suggested they stop arguing and discuss splitting up Buddhism’s household.

Ouyang challenged Hui Zhi’s leadership and claimed he was Buddhism’s Holy Son, provoking the monks in the Great Hero Hall. The Twelfth-Grade Merit Golden Lotus appeared above Ouyang, leaving the assembly stunned and suggesting Buddhism had chosen him.

• Ouyang openly called for Buddhists to leave with him, arguing against Hui Zhi’s actions and confronting the division within the temple.
• Hui Zhi and the white-browed monk rejected Ouyang’s challenge, while Dongxu Zi offered to leave and warned that no one could stop him.
• Ouyang claimed the venerable Dharma had promised him the title of Buddhist Holy Son, and the monks angrily mocked him.
• The Twelfth-Grade Merit Golden Lotus bloomed above Ouyang, displaying its recognition of him before the shocked assembly.
• Ouyang arrogantly demanded to know who still doubted him, while the monks wondered whether he truly was the Buddhist Holy Son.

The monks learned that Ouyang had gained the Twelfth-Grade Merit Golden Lotus’s recognition, making him a possible successor who could restore Buddhism. Hui Zhi accepted Ouyang as the next Great Abbot, and White-Browed Kongtiao proposed shaving Ouyang’s head and making him a monk.

• The chapter recounted how two Buddhist sages founded Buddhism and how the first abbot prophesied that the Golden Lotus’s chosen one would lead Buddhism back to glory.
• Ouyang mocked the monks after the Twelfth-Grade Merit Golden Lotus appeared above his head, while Hui Zhi struggled with resentment and a black Lotus Platform took root beneath his Divine Soul.
• Hui Zhi suppressed the Lotus Platform and calmly proposed that Ouyang become Buddhism’s Great Abbot, despite the monks’ objections.
• Ouyang asked whether he could expel Hui Zhi after becoming abbot, and Hui Zhi replied that he could practice wherever Buddha remained in his heart.
• White-Browed Kongtiao invited Ouyang to have his head shaved and become a monk, leaving Ouyang astonished.

Kongtiao invited Ouyang to become a monk and lead Great Spirit Mountain Temple, hoping he could counter Hui Zhi’s radical faction. Hui Zhi threatened to leave, throwing the temple into turmoil, and Ouyang ended the uproar by rejecting the role and berating the monks.

• Kongtiao asked Ouyang to shave his head, join Buddhism, and preside over Great Spirit Mountain Temple after seeing the Twelfth-Grade Merit Golden Lotus above him.
• The conservative faction saw Ouyang as a potential rival to Hui Zhi, while Hui Zhi privately regarded him as a threat.
• Hui Zhi challenged Kongtiao’s stance and announced that he would leave Great Spirit Mountain Temple.
• Hui Zhi’s followers erupted in protest and considered building a separate temple for him.
• Ouyang shouted down the crowd, called them a disgrace to Patriarch Bodhidharma, and said he did not want to become a monk.

Ouyang rejected becoming Buddhism’s First Abbot, while Dongxu Zi proposed allowing Buddhism to spread east in exchange for splitting the religion. The chapter ended with Dongxu Zi declaring that Buddhism must split.

• Ouyang insisted that he would never become the First Abbot, but Hui Zhi suspected he was pretending to be modest.
• Ouyang tried to knock the Twelfth-Grade Merit Golden Lotus off his head, then grabbed Dongxu Zi’s beard and demanded to know whether he had planned this.
• Dongxu Zi restrained Ouyang, drove a protesting monk from the Main Hall, and told Kongtiao that he would discuss Buddhism’s internal matter.
• Dongxu Zi proposed sending monks with Ouyang to persuade him to join Buddhism and to protect the Golden Lotus, while allowing Buddhism to spread east.
• Dongxu Zi announced that Buddhism must split, fixing his gaze on Hui Zhi.

Dongxu Zi forced the Great Spirit Mountain Temple to allow Buddhist cultivators to travel east with Ouyang, splitting the community. Hui Zhi remained in control of the temple after conservatives departed, while Kongtiao withdrew to prepare for secluded cultivation.

• Dongxu Zi proposed splitting Buddhism as a condition for Ouyang and the monks to travel east, and Hui Zhi weighed the threat against his ambitions.
• White-Browed Kongtiao agreed to let Buddhist cultivators leave, and Hui Zhi demanded that those who left no longer be recognized by the Great Spirit Mountain Temple.
• Kongtiao chose to stay and named Ci Hang to lead the departing monks, then Dongxu Zi and Ouyang left the hall with Ci Hang following them.
• Fewer than forty monks left with Ci Hang, taking their disciples and granddisciples and comprising about a tenth of Buddhism's strength.
• Kongtiao withdrew to his meditation chamber, while Hui Zhi remained behind and privately rejoiced that no one could restrain him.

Dongxu Zi challenged Ouyang to question whether his own beliefs were any more righteous than Hui Zhi’s and Ling Feng’s, arguing that killing Hui Zhi would leave Ouyang responsible for Buddhism’s followers. He urged Ouyang to build his strength and find loopholes in Heaven’s rules instead of acting prematurely.

• Ouyang left the Great Hero Hall with Dongxu Zi and a crowd of monks following him, then asked whether Dongxu Zi feared the three Buddha Venerables.
• Dongxu Zi used a barrier to speak privately with Ouyang and asked whether Hui Zhi’s pursuit of his Dao was any less valid than Ouyang’s.
• Dongxu Zi explained that Hui Zhi and Ling Feng both followed their convictions, and questioned whether killing was enough to make one a devil.
• Ouyang asked whether his greater strength gave him the right to kill Hui Zhi, but Dongxu Zi warned that doing so would leave Ouyang responsible for rebuilding Buddhism.
• Dongxu Zi told Ouyang to learn patiently, strengthen himself, and seek loopholes in Heaven’s rules.

Dongxu Zi led Ouyang and the Conservative Faction monks from the Great Spirit Mountain Temple to the Azure Cloud Sect, where they prepared to settle the monks at Questioning Sword Peak. He told Ci Hang to carry on the hopes of his masters, and Ci Hang named their new path Zen Buddhism.

• Dongxu Zi discovered that Buddhism had removed the Spirit Stones from its Teleportation Gate and made Ouyang supply stones he had pried from the Azure Cloud Sect’s Sect-Guarding Grand Formation.
• Dongxu Zi activated the gate and left for the Azure Cloud Sect, while Ci Hang and the monks bid farewell to the Great Spirit Mountain Temple and followed with their believers and disciples.
• At the Azure Cloud Sect, Ouyang proposed settling the monks on Questioning Sword Peak, and Dongxu Zi agreed to divide the peak between them and the girls from Penglai Immortal Mountain.
• Dongxu Zi inspected the golden cicada in Ci Hang’s wooden box, identified it as a relic formed after Ci Hang’s Eldest Master passed into nirvana, and urged Ci Hang to honor his masters’ hopes.
• When Dongxu Zi asked Ci Hang to choose a new name for their path, Ci Hang declared, “Zen Buddhism!”

Dongxu Zi explained to Ouyang that the world’s many peoples and paths could not be governed by a single principle, and that the rules people relied on had been discovered through painful trial and error. He ended by revealing that the cost of restoring order after the Immortals fell was the loss of five of the Seven Azure Cloud Disciples of old.

• Ci Hang asked Ouyang for his opinion on Buddhism, and Ouyang agreed clumsily before Ci Hang requested a place for his group to settle and revise their scriptures.
• Dongxu Zi took Ouyang to a pavilion and showed him a map that revealed how tiny the Azure Cloud Sect’s territory was within the vast world.
• Dongxu Zi explained that the Human and Demon Races occupied an enormous, partly unexplored world with many different paths and principles.
• Dongxu Zi recalled surviving the chaotic era after the Immortals’ fall, when he met his master and senior brother and eventually became part of the Azure Cloud Sect.
• Dongxu Zi told Ouyang that only he and Uncle-Master Su remained of the Seven Azure Cloud Disciples of old.

Ouyang spoke with Dongxu Zi about the coming Great Calamity, the sacrifices of those who came before, and the future of his junior brothers. He left urging Dongxu Zi to live and entrust the future to the younger generation, while Dongxu Zi watched him go and disappeared with the map.

• Dongxu Zi questioned whether Ouyang's junior brothers' paths could be accepted as justice, and Ouyang answered that strength would decide whose way prevailed.
• Dongxu Zi took the Twelfth Grade Golden Lotus of Merit from Ouyang and learned that Ouyang had chosen one of Dongxu Zi's future disciples to inherit it.
• Ouyang asked when the Great Calamity would come, but Dongxu Zi said no one knew its timing or nature.
• Ouyang warned Dongxu Zi not to rush off to die and said those who came before should no longer have to die for those who came after.
• Dongxu Zi watched Ouyang leave, praised his words, seized the map, and vanished.

Hu Tutu worried that her senior brothers would reject her if they learned she was a Qingqiu Spirit Fox, while Chen Changsheng tried to understand her sudden distress. The Tibetan fox revealed that Hu Tutu carried the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox bloodline, whose innate divine ability was Future Prediction.

• Chen Changsheng noticed Hu Tutu had lost her appetite and asked what was troubling her, but she denied anything was wrong.
• Hu Tutu secretly hurried to her godmothers' place, fearing her senior brothers would discover she was a demon and reject or harm her.
• Chen Changsheng asked Leng Qingsong and the Tibetan fox about Hu Tutu's worries, and the Tibetan fox explained that she feared her identity would be exposed.
• The Tibetan fox said Hu Tutu was an inheritor of the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox bloodline and revealed that its divine ability was Future Prediction.

The Tibetan Fox explained that the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox could change the future and revealed her ancestor’s role in the fall of the Immortals. Ouyang, Leng Qingsong, and Chen Changsheng learned that the ancient catastrophe began with a war among the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin races, while the Fox secretly helped Li Taibai become an Immortal.

• The Tibetan Fox claimed the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox could change the future, though it admitted it did not know how the ability worked.
• Ouyang returned, and Leng Qingsong and Chen Changsheng were relieved to see him safe.
• Chen Changsheng told Ouyang that Hu Tutu was troubled because she feared her fox-demon identity would be exposed.
• The Tibetan Fox said the birth of the previous Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox had brought about the Immortals’ fall.
• The Tibetan Fox recounted how the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin races fought, were suppressed by the Immortals, and were divided into the myriad races.
• The Tibetan Fox revealed that the first Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox helped Li Taibai attain the Dao, enabling him to slay the Immortals.

Ouyang learned that Hu Tutu carried the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox bloodline, a secret that could make powerful factions target her. He warned Chen Changsheng and Leng Qingsong to protect her and not scheme against her, then reassured a fearful Tutu that he would forgive her even if she had lied to him.

• Ouyang connected the altered history of the Immemorial Era and Li Taibai’s campaign against the Immortals to the system he carried.
• The Tibetan Fox warned Ouyang that revealing Hu Tutu’s Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox bloodline would bring attacks from the Demon Race, Human Race, Devil Race, and Immortals.
• Ouyang told Chen Changsheng and Leng Qingsong to look after Tutu and never use their schemes against her.
• Hu Tutu returned nervously and explained that she had come back early to see Ouyang and had not skipped lessons.
• Ouyang embraced Tutu, told her he would forgive her even if she lied to him many times, and she began to sob.

Hu Tutu revealed her fox form to Ouyang after fearing he would reject her, but learned that everyone already knew she was a fox. The chapter ended with Hu Tutu joining dinner in her red fox form, while the Tibetan Fox watched with relief.

• Ouyang comforted Hu Tutu as she cried and promised that she would not be driven off Little Mountain Peak.
• Hu Tutu revealed her fox ears and tail to Ouyang, who accepted her without concern.
• Ouyang told Hu Tutu that he and the others had known she was a fox for a long time, and Hu Tutu realized she had worried for nothing.
• Ouyang stroked Hu Tutu's tail, then apologized when she protested; she blushed when he called her cute.
• Hu Tutu took her usual place at dinner as a red fox, while the Tibetan Fox watched her with comfort.

After the Protective Talisman warned Ouyang that Xiao Bai was in mortal danger, Ouyang and his senior brothers rushed east to find him. Hu Tutu stayed behind with the Tibetan Fox, who revealed that he was Hu Yan, the Fox Clan’s legendary Great Demon Cultivator, and offered to train her.

• Hu Tutu enjoyed her new life at Little Mountain Peak as Ouyang worried about the great calamities threatening the Primordial World.
• Ouyang sensed the true essence returning from Xiao Bai’s Protective Talisman and realized Xiao Bai faced a life-or-death ordeal.
• Ouyang summoned Liang Zai and rode him east with Leng Qingsong and Chen Changsheng to rescue Xiao Bai.
• Hu Tutu tried to follow, but the Tibetan Fox stopped her and revealed his true name was Hu Yan.
• Hu Tutu recognized Hu Yan as her Fox Clan great-grandfather, and he urged her to cultivate under his guidance so she could help her senior brothers.

Ouyang rushed to Xiao Bai’s aid while passing over the Tang State, where Wang Xiaoming had taken the throne after the Great Zhou conquered the capital. Xie Xinzhi staged his death and returned to Ling Feng, leaving the new emperor behind as he prepared to begin his next undertaking.

• Ouyang sensed Xiao Bai’s protective talisman activate and hurried toward him with Leng Qingsong and Chen Changsheng.
• The group saw the Tang State engulfed in war as Zhou forces seized the capital and raised the Zhou Dragon Banner.
• Wang Xiaoming became emperor, while Xie Xinzhi refused the throne and warned him that worldly power left him a pawn of cultivators.
• Xie Xinzhi took Wang Xiaoming’s sword and cut off his own head, leaving Wang Xiaoming bewildered.
• Xie Xinzhi awoke before Ling Feng, who asked whether they could begin now that Xie Xinzhi’s mortal affairs were settled.

Ouyang, Chen Changsheng, and Leng Qingsong tracked Bai Feiyu to a coastal city after his protective talisman shattered, only to find him safe and drinking tea. At the East Sea, Bai Feiyu revealed that he had taken in a little boy who called him Master, and Ouyang suspected the child was Nezha.

• Ouyang, Chen Changsheng, and Leng Qingsong reached Bai Feiyu's estate and found him unharmed.
• Ouyang questioned Bai Feiyu about the shattered protective talisman, prompting Bai Feiyu to fly toward the East Sea.
• Bai Feiyu used the Heaven-Measuring Ruler to part the sea and expose the seabed, where a little boy was gathering sea creatures.
• The little boy called Bai Feiyu Master, and Bai Feiyu explained that Heaven and Earth Purple Qi had brought the child to him.
• Ouyang suspected the boy was the notorious child who had returned his bones and flesh to his parents, then asked whether his surname was Li.

Ouyang reunited with Bai Feiyu and discovered that Jiang Xiaotong was the reincarnation of Li Taibai's Sword Tassel. After the group returned to the city, Ouyang teased Bai Feiyu about his cultivation and left him with a joke written in his God-Sealing Treasure Book.

• Jiang Xiaotong introduced himself to Ouyang, who recognized him as the reincarnation of Li Taibai's Sword Tassel and questioned why Bai Feiyu had not taken him as a disciple.
• Ouyang found his broken protective talisman around Jiang Xiaotong's neck, and Bai Feiyu scolded the boy for risking his life to catch a Foundation Establishment Realm hairtail for his mother.
• Bai Feiyu ordered Jiang Xiaotong to recite the Yellow Court Scripture a thousand times, then told the group how he had followed a sensed opportunity to the East Sea.
• Chen Changsheng reminded Bai Feiyu that he and another senior brother had bet Ouyang would lose because Bai Feiyu's cultivation would fall to Golden Core before returning to the mountain.
• Ouyang wrote “God-Sealing Bang Bang Bang” in Bai Feiyu's God-Sealing Treasure Book and departed with his companions, while Bai Feiyu smiled at the inscription and wondered about writing a book.

Ouyang, Chen Changsheng, and Leng Qingsong returned to the Azure Cloud Sect, where they found Hu Tutu packing her treasured keepsakes. Ouyang decided to take her back to Green Mound Mountain in the Ten Thousand Demon Nation, and Chen Changsheng understood that Hu Tutu feared growing up and losing the attention she enjoyed as the youngest.

• Ouyang told Chen Changsheng and Leng Qingsong that the protective talismans he had made were better than the paper figures, making them cherish the talismans more.
• Ouyang teased Hu Tutu by taking her pinwheel, and she bit his arm after he returned it.
• Ouyang told Hu Tutu that Bai had a disciple and that she would become a martial aunt, prompting her to run to her room in anger.
• Chen Changsheng explained that Hu Tutu might fear losing affection if she stopped being the youngest, and he described how she had spent years collecting and treasuring odds and ends.
• Ouyang said he would take Hu Tutu home to Green Mound Mountain after she had been away for two or three years.

Ouyang and Little Mountain Peak learned that Hu Tutu had been blamed and ostracized by the Qingqiu Fox Clan since a disaster at her birth. As they approached Green Mound Mountain, Ouyang decided the visit would not be a peaceful family reunion.

• Hu Tutu asked Ouyang whether the Fox Clan would still remember her, and admitted she wished they would forget her so she could return with a new identity.
• Hu Tutu told Ouyang, Chen Changsheng, and Leng Qingsong that the clan had called her a jinx and blamed her for a disaster that killed half the Fox Clan.
• Ouyang learned that Hu Tutu had grown up without her parents, enduring the clan’s coldness and bullying until Hu Yun gave her a name and a loving home.
• Chen Changsheng cheered Hu Tutu with dancing paper foxes while Leng Qingsong prepared to confront the Fox Clan over how they had treated her.
• Ouyang vowed to make the Fox Clan answer for its treatment of Hu Tutu and reassured her that no one could hate someone so adorable.

Niu Er recalled how his live-in-son-in-law plan had strengthened the Fox Clan and worried about Hu Tutu, who had been away for two years. When Hu Bing arrived with a tiger army and demanded Hu Tutu as his concubine, Niu Er faced a threat to the Fox Clan’s future.

• Niu Er reflected on how the Fox Clan had recruited powerful live-in sons-in-law to make up for its lack of strength.
• Niu Er thought of Hu Tutu, while a foul-mouthed Guanguan bird distracted him and a flock of birds flew away with an unfamiliar blue-green bird.
• Niu Er rushed toward an explosion and found the Tiger Clan surrounding Green Mound Mountain.
• Niu Er greeted the Tiger Clan’s Third Prince, Hu Bing, with deference.
• Hu Bing demanded that the Fox Clan hand over Hu Tutu as his concubine, and Niu Er refused to accept the demand.

Hu Bing recalled how he had befriended Hu Tutu as a child, then hurt her with cruel words about her mother and left without apologizing. Now he returned to Green Mound Mountain to take her away and make amends, threatening to spill blood if Niu Er refused.

• As a bullied child visiting the Fox Clan, Hu Bing rescued Hu Tutu from foxes who mocked her and received a little white flower from her.
• Hu Tutu followed Hu Bing and shared food and wine with him, but he angrily told her that her mother was dead when she said Grandpa had told her otherwise.
• Hu Tutu began hiding from Hu Bing, and he left Green Mound Mountain without apologizing despite seeing her watch him go.
• In the present, Hu Bing demanded that Niu Er hand over Hu Tutu and threatened to make rivers of blood flow across Green Mound Mountain if he refused.

Hu Bing led the Tiger Clan in an assault on Green Mound Mountain, demanding Hu Tutu be made his concubine. As the Fox Clan’s defenders prepared to fight, Leng Qingsong arrived and stopped both sides, leaving Hu Bing wounded and the two forces facing his swords.

• Niu Er gathered Green Mound Mountain’s demon cultivators to resist Hu Bing and the Tiger Clan forces.
• Hu Bing learned Hu Tutu had gone to the Azure Cloud Sect, then attacked Green Mound Mountain with a lightning saber strike.
• Niu Er met Hu Bing’s attack with his Mountain-Cleaving Axe, and the two forces charged toward battle.
• Niu Er, Black Bird, and Turtle prepared to unleash their innate divine abilities as the Tiger Clan army advanced.
• Leng Qingsong split the black cloud with Green Lotus Sword Intent, pierced Hu Bing’s shoulder, and warned both sides that anyone who moved would die.

Ouyang and his companions intervened in the clash between the Fox Clan and Tiger Clan, trapping both sides in Chen Changsheng’s formations while Leng Qingsong held them at swordpoint. When a lightning tiger challenged Leng Qingsong, Ouyang destroyed it and ordered everyone to surrender.

• Ouyang revealed that he and his companions had arrived earlier, then sent Leng Qingsong and Chen Changsheng into the fight at the critical moment.
• Chen Changsheng activated the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams Formation, trapping the fighters and Leng Qingsong, who broke free of its control.
• Chen Changsheng layered the Heavenly Blindness Formation over the first formation, disrupting heaven’s workings and weakening Leng Qingsong.
• A lightning tiger phantom emerged from the Tiger Clan and attacked Leng Qingsong, whose sword intent held it back despite his struggle.
• Ouyang shattered the lightning tiger with a giant hand and ordered everyone to squat down with their hands on their heads.