Chapter Summaries

Chen Changsheng began merging the Twelve Demon Gods with the Demon Realm, triggering the true Great Calamity and falling unconscious. Ouyang revealed his power over the sun and moon and rushed to confront him.

• Ouyang encouraged Chen Changsheng to hurry with his plan, while secretly knowing about and having prepared for it.
• Chen Changsheng unleashed the Twelve Powers and began integrating the Demon Realm with the Twelfth Grade Black Lotus.
• Chongyang warned that the unification would awaken the Demon Realm and unleash the Great Calamity, but Ouyang dismissed her fears.
• The Twelve Demon Gods' power poured into the Black Lotus, ghostly figures appeared, and Chen Changsheng lost consciousness as the Great Calamity began.
• Ouyang removed his White Veil, summoned the sun and moon into his hands, and leaped toward Chen Changsheng.

Ouyang was swallowed by the Twelfth Grade Black Lotus and fought his way through its endless evil ghosts and wronged souls with the world-creation merit in his hands. He charged toward the mastermind behind the calamity, demanding that it return his junior brother.

• Ouyang leaped toward the Twelfth Grade Black Lotus, which swallowed him and appeared as a closed bud while devils from the Twelve Tribes gathered around it.
• Chongyang watched Ouyang disappear and knelt to pray for a miracle.
• Inside the Black Lotus, Ouyang recovered his sight and used the sun and moon, empowered by Chongming's world-creation merit, to purify the attacking ghosts and souls.
• Ouyang endured the corrosive death qi as he battled the seemingly endless horde, wielding the sun and moon as weapons.
• Ouyang charged at the ghosts with two Tang Daos and demanded that the mastermind return his junior brother.

Ouyang fought through the evil ghosts and wronged souls, reached the bronze gate, and entered a cave where Chen Changsheng was imprisoned. After freeing him, Ouyang realized the person before him was an impostor and stabbed him, explaining that the real Chen Changsheng would have urged him to flee.

• Ouyang killed his way through the evil ghosts and wronged souls, reached the bronze gate, and opened it after driving off the remaining spirits.
• Ouyang entered a bright cave and found Chen Changsheng suspended unconscious in the air by White Chains.
• Ouyang severed the chains, caught Chen Changsheng, and gave him spirit liquid to restore his strength.
• Chen Changsheng urged Ouyang to leave the cave, but Ouyang stayed seated and watched him closely.
• Ouyang lunged at Chen Changsheng and pierced his chest with the sun-and-moon blade, saying the real Chen Changsheng would have told him to leave.

Ouyang discovered that Chen Changsheng had become the Devil Ancestor, the force behind the coming final calamity. As they confronted each other, Ouyang explained why he had let Chen Changsheng transform and argued that every cycle of reincarnation could begin anew.

• Ouyang realized Chen Changsheng was pretending to be dead and confronted the Devil Ancestor who had awakened within him.
• Chen Changsheng revealed that he was still himself but was also more than Chen Changsheng, and he pulled the Sun and Moon Tang Dao from his chest.
• Ouyang rejected the Devil Ancestor's claim that they were alike, revealing that he was an Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon and explaining the origins of his unusual power.
• The Devil Ancestor asked why Ouyang had not stopped Chen Changsheng from pursuing Dao Integration with the Three Realms.
• Ouyang explained that learning about rebirth and changing history had convinced him the world had undergone many cycles of reincarnation, then argued that each cycle represented a new beginning.

The Devil Ancestor explained to Ouyang that the Human Progenitor had drawn him into a plan that would let the Devil Race rise while forcing him to integrate with Heaven and Earth. The chapter ended with Ouyang realizing the Human Progenitor’s stratagem would make the Devil Ancestor a guardian bound by the Heavenly Dao.

• Ouyang questioned the Devil Ancestor about why he had supposedly destroyed the world to achieve Dao Integration.
• The Devil Ancestor blamed Chen Changsheng for taking over Zu Yuan’s role and explained that he had made a deal with the Human Progenitor and Demon Ancestor.
• The Devil Ancestor revealed that the Human Progenitor had accepted the Cultivation World’s destruction so long as living beings survived and escaped the Immortals’ control.
• The Devil Ancestor explained that the Devil Race’s rise would make him the sole supreme existence, compelling him to integrate with the Heavenly Dao and preserve all races.
• Ouyang understood that the Human Progenitor’s plan would make the Devil Ancestor a guardian of Heaven and Earth, unable to interfere in the races’ future conflicts.

Ouyang realized that the Human Progenitor’s plan had left an opposing player unaccounted for, and confronted the Devil Ancestor about the death qi within him. The Devil Ancestor’s body dissolved, revealing the Immortal Lord’s death qi as the final player on the chessboard.

• Ouyang questioned whether the Human Progenitor’s plan had truly succeeded, since it had gone too smoothly and Li Taibai had reincarnated as Bai Feiyu rather than Leng Qingsong.
• Worried that the Rebellious Sons on Little Mountain Peak would be sacrificed, Ouyang seized the Devil Ancestor and asked who could possess an Immortal so easily.
• Ouyang accused the Devil Ancestor of concealing death qi and demanded that the Immortal Lord reveal himself.
• The Devil Ancestor stopped resisting and admitted that he had not willingly allowed the Human Progenitor to manipulate him.
• The Devil Ancestor’s body became death qi, which Ouyang recognized as the power of the Immortal Lord and the final opponent in the Human Progenitor’s game.

Ouyang confronted Chen Changsheng, who explained that the world was destined to die and that Ouyang was the one seeking to make it last forever. The revelation left Ouyang confused, while Chen Changsheng remarked that he seemed different from his previous self.

• Ouyang met a black-robed version of himself in a gray, misty space and argued with him about life and death.
• Ouyang forced the figure to change into a woman’s clothes, then beat him when he recognized the face as his own.
• The figure transformed into Chen Changsheng, and Ouyang recorded him posing in women’s clothes before asking what he wanted.
• Chen Changsheng showed Ouyang the River of Time and explained that the world was approaching death through repeated Great Calamities and Reincarnations.
• Chen Changsheng said Ouyang, not himself, was the one trying to make the world last forever, then noted that Ouyang seemed different from his previous self.

Ouyang learned that this was the world's third and final timeline, then revealed he had prepared to confront the Immortal Lord "Death." He used the power of Life to drive Death back by turning himself into all living beings and slowing the River of Time, leaving himself nearly transparent.

• Chen Changsheng told Ouyang that in a previous life Ouyang had tried to change the world, failed, and fallen to him, and Ouyang realized he had been the Human Progenitor.
• Ouyang asked whether the world could restart again, and Chen Changsheng said this third timeline was the final one, opened by the dead masses through Chen Changsheng.
• Ouyang decided to fight because his children were in the world and challenged the Immortal Lord "Death" as Death prepared to descend through Chen Changsheng.
• Ouyang revealed he had anticipated Death's plan and said he had turned himself into all living beings to accelerate the River of Time.
• Ouyang poured out his power of Life, shattered the gray space, and blasted Death's manifested body into fragments, though the effort left him nearly transparent.

Ouyang returned to Chen Changsheng inside the Black Lotus, then used his remaining strength to enter the system space. There, as his body began to break apart, he reunited with Hu Yun.

• Ouyang found Chen Changsheng unconscious inside the Black Lotus and reflected on how the boy had been made a key to the Third World Restart.
• Ouyang tried to touch Chen Changsheng but passed through him, then told him he would give him a proper status as his junior brother.
• Ouyang told the system voice to stop pretending, and his figure disappeared as the Black Lotus fell silent.
• The Devil Race's eleven tribes worshipped the Black Lotus, while Chongyang and the Zhuj iu Tribe watched from afar, prepared to fight.
• Ouyang arrived in the system space, found that his body had stopped dissipating, and called for someone to appear.
• Hu Yun appeared, angrily cursing at Ouyang, and Ouyang turned toward his familiar voice with tears in his eyes.

Ouyang reunited with Hu Yun and explained why he had refused to replace Hu Yun’s name on the Sky-Piercing Giant Pillar. After they acknowledged that the world’s destruction had only been delayed, Ouyang pushed Hu Yun into the River of Time so he could reincarnate, declaring he would handle what came next alone.

• Ouyang and Hu Yun reunited with a bout of roughhousing, then Hu Yun scolded Ouyang for not carving his name onto the Sky-Piercing Giant Pillar.
• Ouyang explained that replacing Hu Yun’s name would have made Hu Yun disappear and would not have saved a world still destined to face another Great Calamity.
• Hu Yun recognized Ouyang as his master, the Human Progenitor, and lamented that their efforts had only postponed the world’s destruction.
• Hu Yun thanked Ouyang for bringing him to this world, and the two realized they could not return through the River of Time.
• Ouyang tricked Hu Yun into falling into the River of Time, sending him to reincarnate while Ouyang stayed behind alone.

After sending Hu Yun back into the River of Time, Ouyang met his previous-life self, who had become the Useless System, and learned how the system and the world's restart worked. Ouyang understood that Lin Feng was a bug in the restart and accepted that he had ultimately schemed against himself.

• Ouyang sent Hu Yun into the River of Time and watched him disappear without saying goodbye.
• Blue-Green Robe and Gray Robe discussed the system, Hu Yun's discovery of Gray Robe, and how the Devil Ancestor had resisted Death.
• Gray-Robed Ouyang revealed that Changsheng's information about the dead had supplied the data behind the system's Attribute Panel.
• Gray-Robed Ouyang explained that Lin Feng's garbled information came from his being a bug in the world's restart, and Blue-Green-Robed Ouyang worked out what had caused it.
• Blue-Green-Robed Ouyang realized that Gray-Robed Ouyang was his previous-life self and concluded that only he could scheme against himself.

Ouyang learned that he was the force of Life, who had entered another world’s River of Time to save his own dying world, while Death repeatedly disrupted his attempts. After gray-robed Ouyang merged into his third-life self, Ouyang received the final reward and a new mission to save the world.

• Ouyang saw how Life created living beings, entered another River of Time, and reincarnated to find a way to save his dying world.
• Life created Li Taibai, established the first generation of the Seven Azure Cloud Disciples, and helped Hu Yun become a native of the world, but Death interrupted the River of Time’s second flow.
• Life used the obsessions of all living beings to begin a third and final cycle of reincarnation, while Death prepared to intervene again.
• Ouyang and gray-robed Ouyang discussed Life and Death’s struggle before gray-robed Ouyang merged into his blue-green-robed self.
• Ouyang received the system reward to step outside the River of Time and unlocked a mission to save the world.

Ouyang sent Little Bie San into the past to become the new Human Progenitor, then transformed himself into a breeze to hold up the River of Time and protect it until the next Great Calamity. Bai Feiyu remained behind, unable to find him, while Ouyang accepted that the world would forget him.

• Ouyang chose Little Bie San as the replacement Human Progenitor and gave him the name Ao San.
• Ouyang sent Little Bie San back into the past, and Diao Mao immediately forgot that Little Bie San had ever existed.
• Ouyang told the possessed Array Ancestor to go with Ao San so Chen Changsheng could seize the Immortal's True Spirit.
• Bai Feiyu left the River of Time and sat in despair in the courtyard, unable to find Ouyang.
• Ouyang vowed to preserve the River of Time, scattered himself into it, and became the breeze that would hold it aloft until the next Great Calamity.

Ouyang lifted the River of Time so that its people could choose and replace their own guides, then bound the timelines of Leng Qingsong, Bai Feiyu, and Chen Changsheng together as the three began to reject their Daos. As Ouyang’s three thousand breezes faded from the world, he reflected that despite all his efforts, he still considered himself a failure.

• Ouyang changed the River of Time, raising its brightest lights so that the people could choose guides and cast them aside when they no longer served all living beings.
• The three thousand breezes found Leng Qingsong, Bai Feiyu, and Chen Changsheng wavering and denying themselves, so a hand tied their timelines together.
• Leng Qingsong stopped resisting when he heard, “After I'm gone, you'll be the eldest!”
• Ouyang’s protective talismans brought the Great Cultivators’ spirits up from the riverbed and gave their severed timelines new branches, allowing them to reincarnate.
• A light belonging to an Eldest Senior Brother intercepted one breeze and vanished, refusing to accept Ouyang’s kindness.
• The three thousand breezes refused the River of Time’s offer to leave a trace, and Ouyang called himself a failure as he slowly disappeared.

After Ouyang disappeared into the River of Time, newborn death qi pulled him into a tiny cube in the Endless Void. There, "Death" explained that Ouyang’s changes to history had made him an anomaly, and Ouyang asked for his Projection Stones so he could remember the people he had left behind.

• After Ouyang vanished, death qi emerged in the River of Time and pulled a speck of azure light into the Endless Void.
• Ouyang awoke inside a cramped cube, powerless and unable to escape, and discovered that the face of "Death" appeared on its wall.
• "Death" explained that Ouyang had made Little Monkey the Human Progenitor to give Chen Changsheng a legitimate place in history, leaving Ouyang himself as an anomaly.
• Ouyang realized that the death qi had removed him from the world because his existence disrupted the timeline.
• "Death" told Ouyang he would remain trapped forever, and Ouyang asked for the Projection Stones from his Storage Space so he could remember everyone.

Trapped in a cramped cell, Ouyang realized the Little Monkey had completed his task and that the altered timeline had erased Ouyang from history. As the River of Time severed its connection to him, Ouyang took comfort in his success but grieved that he had not said goodbye to his disciples.

• Ouyang passed the time in his cramped cell by watching Recording Stones of his disciples and worrying that isolation would drive him mad.
• Ouyang sensed that the Little Monkey had completed his work as the Human Progenitor, aligning the timelines and severing Ouyang's connection to the River of Time.
• Ouyang reasoned that the altered timeline had erased him from history, leaving no one to remember his arrival or departure.
• Ouyang imagined Leng Qingsong becoming the Eldest Senior Brother and the remaining disciples moving up a place in the Azure Cloud Sect.
• Ouyang regretted that he could not say goodbye or watch his disciples reach the summit, then quietly sobbed alone in the Endless Void.

Death reflected on Ouyang’s attempt to awaken all living beings rather than save them himself, then realized their collective will had given the River of Time life. As the River drew Death into itself, he accepted the change and wondered whether it could keep flowing forever.

• Death watched Ouyang imprisoned in a tiny cube and concluded that love had led Life and Ouyang to struggle against fate for those they cared about.
• Death believed Life’s demise would bring the world’s final cycle and waited for everything to return to nothingness.
• Death heard the River of Time roar with the awakened cries of all living beings and realized Ouyang had entrusted them with saving themselves.
• Death understood that Ouyang had used love to give the River of Time life, with the lights at its forefront serving as guides chosen by all living beings.
• The River of Time dragged Death into itself, and he let it pull him in while wondering whether it could flow forever.

The Three Progenitors' rule weakened as resentment and schemes against their clans gathered, while cultivators flocked to a mysterious formation expecting a supreme treasure. The formation vanished after they sought enlightenment, revealing an extraordinary Xiantian being who looked like a monkey.

• Chaos opened into Heaven and Earth, and the Three Progenitors emerged from the Chaos Green Lotus to shape the world before dying on their paths to Attaining the Dao.
• The three clans ruled the races, but their authority waned as tensions grew and a Great Calamity targeting them quietly took shape.
• A Xiantian Grand Formation appeared in a mountain forest, drawing cultivators who sat around it to contemplate its complete Dao.
• The formation vanished after the cultivators' enlightenment, and Heaven and Earth celebrated the birth of a Xiantian being with radiant light and auspicious signs.
• The cultivators saw the newborn figure hanging upside down from a branch by his tail and wondered whether he was a monkey.

Little Bie San received Ouyang’s detailed plan to alter the timeline and sought Heaven and Earth’s acknowledgment in the ancient era. He named himself Ao Can, gained recognition and revealed a Merit Wheel, then became convinced he was Chen Changsheng, the Human Progenitor.

• Ouyang’s memories gave Little Bie San a meticulous plan for changing the future without attracting notice.
• Little Bie San escaped the gathered cultivators’ attention long enough to address Heaven and Earth and declare his name Ao Can.
• Heaven and Earth acknowledged Ao Can after three peals of thunder, and a Merit Wheel appeared behind him.
• Ao Can concluded that he was Chen Changsheng, the Human Progenitor, and resolved to rewrite the future’s tragedies.

Ao Can embraced the identity Heaven and Earth recognized, then cultivated for the first time and rapidly reached the early Golden Immortal stage. Armed with a life-giving staff and golden armor, he challenged the cultivators around him.

• Ao Can replaced his former name with the name Ouyang had given him and resolved to steer history away from tragedy.
• Ao Can began cultivating despite having no prior cultivation, absorbing Heaven and Earth essence as the surrounding cultivators watched.
• Ao Can broke through successive realms and reached the early Golden Immortal stage, shocking the cultivators and prompting some to flee while others sought his favor.
• Ao Can transformed the rope on his head into a staff that poured life force into him and formed golden armor and a red cape.
• Ao Can raised his golden-lit eyes and challenged the cultivators, declaring, "I am Ao Can! Who dares fight me!"