Chapter Summaries

Ao Can turned the cultivators who had gathered around him into eager followers by recognizing their need for cultivation methods and offering to teach them. His first discourse on the Dao earned merit from Heaven and Earth, and the gathered cultivators began to attain enlightenment.

• The cultivators surrounded Ao Can, begging him to take them as followers or even claiming him as their father.
• Ao Can realized the cultivators wanted access to his cultivation methods, changed into a Daoist robe, and decided to learn about the era through them.
• Ao Can rebuked the cultivators for their behavior, then sat down and announced that he would give them a discourse on the Dao.
• Ao Can taught them a basic Qi Refining Method, prompting Heaven and Earth to send him merit.
• Ao Can shared the remaining merit among the cultivators, and hundreds of them attained enlightenment as an auspicious scene unfolded around the gathering.

Ao Can finished teaching a refined qi-drawing method to hundreds of cultivators and learned that the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin races jointly ruled Heaven and Earth. As he set out to explore the primeval world, Bo Huang met him and invited him to High Heaven to discuss the Dao.

• Ao Can urged the cultivators to spread the method throughout Heaven and Earth, then rejected their pleas to become his disciples.
• The cultivators told Ao Can about the era of the three races, and he realized their rule was declining ahead of the coming Immortal Era.
• Ao Can vanished from the gathering and appeared atop a cloud to explore the primeval world.
• Bo Huang, a Three-Legged Golden Crow at the peak of the Golden Immortal realm, approached Ao Can after witnessing his emergence and preaching.
• Bo Huang invited Ao Can to High Heaven to discuss the Dao, and Ao Can accepted.

Bo Huang eagerly befriended Ao Can and learned later-age Demon cultivation methods from him, revealing himself to be a guileless and vulnerable future Demon Ancestor. To keep Ao Can interested, Bo Huang disclosed that a treasure tied to the Three Progenitors’ Origin Power would emerge in the Kunlun Mountain Range.

• Bo Huang welcomed Ao Can to his Sun sanctuary and taught him how to control Sun True Fire.
• Ao Can taught Bo Huang future Demon cultivation methods, and Bo Huang absorbed the lessons through his Celebratory Clouds.
• Ao Can warned Bo Huang that releasing his Celebratory Clouds around a new acquaintance left him vulnerable, but Bo Huang admitted he would simply die if attacked.
• Bo Huang worried Ao Can would stop teaching him and revealed that the Phoenix Race had told him of a treasure emerging in the Western Lands’ Kunlun Mountain Range.
• Bo Huang said the three races were concealing the treasure because it was linked to the Thirty-Six-Petal Chaos Green Lotus.

As the three clans searched Kunlun Mountain for the Thirty-Six-Petal Chaos Green Lotus, Ao Can recognized the chance to claim it and consulted his future-written guide. He found the strategy he had prepared for this moment: “Two Peaches Kill Three Warriors.”

• After the Three Progenitors sacrificed themselves, resentment toward the three clans grew and rivalries among them intensified.
• The three clans gathered experts to search Kunlun Mountain for the Thirty-Six-Petal Chaos Green Lotus and secrets of the Three Progenitors' Origin Power.
• Ao Can realized he knew where the lotus was and what it held, but saw that his current strength could not contend with the clans directly.
• Ao Can asked Bo Huang for a quiet meditation room and studied the Complete Guide to Altering the Timeline.
• Ao Can found the historical anecdote “Two Peaches Kill Three Warriors” in his guide.

Ao Can enlisted Bo Huang to help spread a rumor about the Thirty-Six-Petal Chaos Green Lotus as part of a plan to unite the demons. Bo Huang feared the plan would get them killed, and Ao Can left him wondering whether he could become the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Demons.

• Ao Can found Bo Huang and asked whether he wanted to unite all demons and end divisions between races.
• Bo Huang panicked at the dangerous talk, so Ao Can cast a Heavenly Blindness Grand Formation to conceal their conversation.
• Ao Can told Bo Huang his plan to spread the rumor that whoever obtained the Thirty-Six-Petal Chaos Green Lotus would obtain Heaven and Earth.
• Bo Huang pleaded to abandon the plan, saying he wanted to survive more than pursue his ambition to unite the demons.
• Ao Can suggested Bo Huang could become the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Demons, and Bo Huang responded, "Huh? Me?"

Ancestral Dragon, Phoenix Ancestor, and Primordial Qilin argued over uniting the Three Clans while seeking the Thirty-Six-Petal Chaos Green Lotus and the Three Progenitors’ Origin Power. Their secret was broadcast across the Sun, directing all of heaven and earth toward the Kunlun Mountain Range and leaving Phoenix Ancestor blamed for the leak.

• Ancestral Dragon and Phoenix Ancestor tried to set aside clan disputes, but Primordial Qilin insisted he would be the Three Clans’ leader.
• The guards reported that the secret of the Thirty-Six-Petal Chaos Green Lotus had spread throughout heaven and earth.
• The Three Clan Leaders learned that Bo Huang’s Daoist Arena had been emptied and that two lines of red text were displayed on the Sun.
• The Three Progenitors saw the Sun turned dark green and read that whoever obtained the lotus would obtain all under heaven, with the Kunlun Mountain Range named as its location.
• Primordial Qilin and Ancestral Dragon accused Phoenix Ancestor of responsibility because the Three-Legged Golden Crow fell under his authority, while Bo Huang sneezed beside Ao Can.

Ao Can drew Bo Huang into a scheme against the three clans, then used their attack on the Sun to inflame the search for the Thirty-Six-Petal Chaos Green Lotus. As cultivators gathered at Kunlun and fought the clans’ forces, Ao Can declared that everyone outside the three clans was their ally.

• Bo Huang recalled how Phoenix Race disciples had mocked him and claimed his Sun for their cultivation, prompting him to ask Ao Can to explain his plan.
• Ao Can denied responsibility for events on the Sun and pointed out that Ancestral Dragon, the Phoenix Ancestor, and Primordial Qilin had extinguished it with a joint attack.
• Cultivators rushed toward Kunlun Mountain Range after the clans’ attack confirmed rumors about the Thirty-Six-Petal Chaos Green Lotus.
• The three clans barred outsiders from Kunlun, provoking notable races and even their former allies to clash with their forces.
• Ao Can told Bo Huang that everyone outside the three clans was now their ally.

Bo Huang confronted Ao Can after learning that his plan at Kunlun would destroy the Xiantian Three Clans and plunge Heaven and Earth into calamity. Bo Huang chose to oppose Ao Can to protect all living beings, earning Ao Can’s respect.

• Bo Huang worried that Ao Can would abandon him after using him to spread the three clans’ secrets, but Ao Can urged him to travel east while he went to Kunlun.
• Ao Can revealed that the Kunlun affair would end the Xiantian Three Clans’ place as the protagonists of Heaven and Earth and might make them vanish altogether.
• Bo Huang warned Ao Can that destroying the three clans would bring slaughter and suffering to countless beings.
• Bo Huang released his Sun True Fire and declared that he would oppose Ao Can rather than let him scheme against Heaven and Earth.
• Ao Can resisted Bo Huang’s flames and began to take him seriously for putting all living beings before his own safety.

Ao Can subdued Bo Huang and argued that the killing tribulation against the Xiantian Three Clans arose from their lost support and the beings of Heaven and Earth choosing to resist their rule. He left Bo Huang to decide whether to stand with the three clans or with him and the other beings.

• Bo Huang attacked Ao Can with a Golden Crow made of Sun True Fire, but Ao Can absorbed it with Heaven and Earth in the Sleeve.
• Bo Huang tried to detonate his Demon Core, but Ao Can touched his Dantian and left him unable to move.
• Bo Huang accused Ao Can of engineering the killing tribulation, while Ao Can argued that he had merely exposed the three clans' loss of popular support.
• Ao Can explained that the beings of Heaven and Earth had willingly gathered against the three clans, making the Great Calamity unavoidable.
• Bo Huang asked what should be done, and Ao Can asked him to choose between the Xiantian Three Clans and the beings of Heaven and Earth.

Ao Can’s Puppets provoked the cultivators gathered outside Kunlun Mountain into breaking the Xiantian Three Clans’ blockade, igniting a vast killing tribulation. As the slaughter spread through the mountain range, Ao Can realized its karma would fall on him and learned that Kunlun Mountain itself was the Thirty-Six-Petal Chaos Green Lotus.

• Hundreds of Ao Can’s Puppets incited the gathered cultivators to defy the Xiantian Three Clans’ blockade of Kunlun Mountain.
• The cultivators charged into the restricted area, scattered the guards, and clashed with the Three Clans’ forces.
• The fighting turned Kunlun Mountain Range into a bloody battlefield as the killing tribulation drove cultivators to slaughter one another.
• Ao Can watched from outside the mountain range and recognized himself as the mastermind who would bear the tribulation’s karma.
• Ao Can realized that Kunlun Mountain was the Thirty-Six-Petal Chaos Green Lotus, which needed the deaths of living beings to reveal itself.

The Thirty-Six-Petal Chaos Green Lotus appeared during the battle at Mount Kunlun, then absorbed Ancestral Dragon, Phoenix Ancestor, and Primordial Qilin to bloom. Ao Can realized the Heavenly Dao had used the conflict to bring about the Three Clans’ downfall, as the battle resumed with the Three Clans in retreat.

• The Thirty-Six-Petal Chaos Green Lotus emerged from Mount Kunlun and absorbed the slaughter’s tribulation, renewing the Three Clans’ strength and sending the creatures of Heaven and Earth fleeing.
• Ancestral Dragon, Phoenix Ancestor, and Primordial Qilin rushed to the lotus, believing it held the Three Progenitors’ Origin Power.
• The lotus trapped the three Clan Leaders, drained their Bloodline Power, and absorbed their bodies as bloody liquid.
• Ao Can watched from outside the Kunlun Mountain Range and realized the Three Clan Leaders were the Three Progenitors’ Origin Power and that the Heavenly Dao had orchestrated the scheme.
• The lotus bloomed, the Three Clans’ cultivators lost heart and fled, and the creatures of Heaven and Earth turned to pursue them as the battle grew more brutal.

Ao Can watched the Thirty-Six-Petal Chaos Green Lotus give birth to a middle-aged man who immediately reached the Sage Realm and brought the killing tribulation to an end. After resisting the man’s pressure and refusing to kneel, Ao Can was left wondering why the stranger’s empty, mocking eyes seemed familiar and could see through him.

• Ao Can watched the Thirty-Six-Petal Chaos Green Lotus bloom and reveal a purple, nine-sectioned earthworm within it.
• The earthworm transformed into a middle-aged man and rapidly advanced to the Sage Realm, becoming the first cultivator besides the Three Progenitors to do so.
• As Heaven and Earth celebrated the man’s birth, his pressure forced countless creatures, including Great Luo cultivators, to kneel, but Ao Can stood firm with his staff.
• The middle-aged man declared that the killing tribulation would recede, the three races would withdraw, the eight directions would gain guardians, and he would preach the Dao in three hundred years.
• The middle-aged man vanished after meeting Ao Can’s gaze, and Ao Can collapsed, shaken by the familiar eyes that seemed to see through his secrets.

Ao Can watched the Thirty-Six-Petal Chaos Green Lotus scatter its seeds, claimed its stalk as the White Jade Ruler, and wondered what the Immortal Lord’s arrival meant for his plans. After Ao Can left to strengthen himself for the era ahead, the Array Ancestor and Artifact Ancestor discussed why Zhen had helped him.

• After the middle-aged Cultivator vanished, the Thirty-Six-Petal Chaos Green Lotus broke apart and sent seven lotus seeds flying across Heaven and Earth.
• Ao Can watched the seeds depart, then transformed the lotus stalk into the White Jade Ruler and sensed that something about it was missing from his memory.
• A White Jade Light flew away, and Ao Can realized it held the Chaos Green Lotus’s fundamental power and would become the next era’s greatest Heavenly Prodigy.
• Ao Can resolved to cultivate for three hundred years so he could compete to become one of the forty-nine Immortals, then nodded to the concealed watchers and vanished.
• The Artifact Ancestor questioned why Zhen had helped Ao Can, and Zhen promised to refine him a Dao Artifact decorated with Flying Crane Patterns.

Ao Can and Bo Huang traveled through Heaven and Earth as Ao Can pursued his plans, and Ao Can visited Tu Mountain to confirm that Tu Yun would help him prepare for the next great calamity. As they left, the Immortal Lord announced that the appointed three hundred years had passed and summoned those seeking the Dao beyond chaos.

• Ao Can and Bo Huang reached the Great Luo Realm while traveling through the chaotic world left by the Xiantian Three Clans' killing calamity.
• Ao Can searched the Extreme Western Land for traces of the Twelve Demon Gods and entered Tu Mountain, while Bo Huang followed reluctantly to keep watch over him.
• Tu Mountain's fox demons surrounded Ao Can and Bo Huang, but Tu Yun appeared after Ao Can declared that she should know he would come.
• Ao Can told Tu Yun that she would eventually meet Hu Yun and help him face the next great calamity, and Tu Yun accepted that she had to aid him.
• As Ao Can and Bo Huang turned to leave Tu Mountain, the Immortal Lord summoned those wishing to hear the Dao beyond chaos.

Ao Can and Bo Huang traveled into Chaos to attend the Sage’s sermon and reached a palace where forty-eight meditation cushions represented coveted seats. As Great Luo cultivators fought over them, Ao Can protected Bo Huang’s place and gave him a cushion of his own.

• Ao Can left Tu Mountain with Bo Huang and entered Chaos, where they searched among the Great Luo cultivators for the Sage’s Daoist Abode.
• Ao Can and Bo Huang found the palace, took meditation cushions, and Ao Can warned Bo Huang not to surrender his seat.
• The Artifact Ancestor and Array Ancestor recognized Ao Can and proposed an alliance to protect their cushions.
• A black-robed cultivator seized Bo Huang and his cushion, but Ao Can bound the attacker and stopped him by mentioning Zhuyin’s eyes.
• Ao Can drove the black-robed cultivator away and handed Bo Huang a meditation cushion, telling him to sit on it.

The Daoist ended his sermon, announced his integration with the Heavenly Dao, and set new laws for the clans and Immortals. Ao Can recognized the Daoist’s nameless title as familiar and stared at him in shock, while the Daoist smiled faintly.

• The Daoist imparted the Dao to the Great Luo cultivators, while Ao Can and the Devil Ancestor failed to comprehend it.
• Ao Can spoke with the Devil Ancestor, who admitted he could not understand the Dao and asked about Zhuyin’s Origin Power.
• The Daoist ended the sermon, declared that he would become the Heavenly Dao, and confined the surviving members of the Three Clans to their appointed realms.
• The Daoist decreed that only he and forty-eight others could hold the exalted station of Immortal, and said one became an Immortal by entrusting one’s True Spirit to the Dao.
• Ao Can asked the Daoist’s name, and the Daoist said he had neither name nor appellation, prompting Ao Can to stare at him in horror.

The Sage completed Dao Integration, leaving Heaven and Earth renewed and its cultivators racing to claim the limited Immortal Positions. After sending Bo Huang away with eight meditation cushions, the Sage met Ao Can, inscribed a saying on his White Jade Ruler, and left him to ponder its meaning.

• The Sage merged with Heaven and Earth, restoring order and beginning a new era as the Great Luo cultivators mourned and departed to pursue Immortal Positions.
• Bo Huang collected nine meditation cushions, but the Sage reappeared, kept one, and sent Bo Huang outside with the remaining eight.
• Ao Can asked the Sage to appear, then asked whether the Sage knew him; the Sage instead requested to inspect Ao Can's White Jade Ruler.
• The Sage inscribed the words “All have a beginning; few can see it through to the end!” on the White Jade Ruler and returned it to Ao Can.

Ao Can confronted the Sage about the vital person or thing missing from his memories, but the Sage said he had to seek it out himself and offered a cryptic clue. After the Sage vanished, Ao Can returned to his world resolved to discover what he had forgotten.

• Ao Can demanded to know whether the Sage had tampered with his memories, then knelt and begged him to reveal what he had forgotten.
• The Sage told Ao Can that the forgotten one was destined to be forgotten, urged him to search for the answer himself, and said the chess pieces truly directed the game.
• The Sage traveled to another River of Time, recognized that it grew stronger instead of moving toward death, and entered it.
• Ao Can crashed into Bo Huang, watched the Sage's palace vanish, and bowed to honor the Sage as his master.
• Ao Can resolved to find what he had forgotten by following the Sage's words.

Ao Can guided Bo Huang toward his own ambition, then continued shaping the age of great contention and became the Human Progenitor. As the Great Calamity approached, he left to take a little boy from Tu Yun, glimpsed Ouyang across ten thousand years, and vanished into the past.

• Ao Can encouraged Bo Huang to pursue his dream of uniting the Demon Race, and Bo Huang resolved to seek his own path.
• After the Xiantian Three Clans fell, Ao Can helped shape the age of great contention and became the Human Progenitor.
• Ao Can witnessed the rise of Immortals and a white-robed Sword Cultivator before the Immortals were slain and Heaven and Earth folded.
• Ao Can left seclusion and told Chongming he would bring back a junior brother.
• Ao Can met Tu Yun outside Tu Mountain and took the vacant-eyed little boy into the yellow sand.
• Ao Can glimpsed Ouyang across time, wept, and disappeared into the past with the little boy.

After reading Ouyang’s farewell letter, Leng Qingsong vowed to return from the chaos and avenge his elder brother, but his poor sense of direction left him crawling near death. He found a palace that restored him and discovered it was the Place Where the Dao Began.

• Leng Qingsong searched the chaos for a way back and reread Ouyang’s letter, learning that Ouyang had banished him to keep him from intervening in his plans.
• After the letter vanished, Leng Qingsong vowed to return and destroy the world if his elder brother was gone.
• Leng Qingsong wandered the chaos for countless years, became exhausted and corrupted by Chaos Qi, and kept crawling forward for the sake of revenge.
• Leng Qingsong found a magnificent palace, climbed its White Jade Steps, and recovered his strength.
• The palace doors opened to reveal a hall filled with remnants of Laws, and Leng Qingsong recognized it as the Place Where the Dao Began.