Recaps

The Buddha stood before the Three Lives Stone and witnessed the memories of his birth and fragments of all living beings’ happiest moments. As the Netherworld’s ghosts bowed, a beast emerged from the stone and transformed into a large white dog, leaving the Heaven-Eroding Lord convinced Li Boyang had shaped it after himself.

• Wu Yao explained that the Buddha would have to pass the Three Lives Stone’s trial and relinquish his obsession with rebirth to reach the Bridge of Helplessness and drink Meng Po’s Soup.
• The Buddha stepped up to the Three Lives Stone, which showed him the events of his life in reverse, including the extraordinary signs surrounding his birth.
• The stone continued to reveal fragments of the happiest moments shared by all living beings, leaving the Buddha and Wu Yao uncertain about what he was seeing.
• Wu Yao sensed the Great Emperor of Fengdu’s incarnation in the clouds as the Three Lives Stone trembled.
• The Buddha saw a fierce, nine-featured beast emerge from the stone, and it transformed into a large white dog that the Heaven-Eroding Lord recognized as modeled after himself.

Chisongzi and Wu Luo traveled from the Hundred Lands Mountain Range toward the South Sea, where Wu Luo explained Lord Lingguang’s rule and seven subordinate gods. They witnessed those gods and a vermilion firebird suppress a malicious black mist, though the threat remained beneath the sea.

• Chisongzi and Wu Luo crossed the mountain range and observed how undeveloped the southern coast and the Spring God’s territory remained.
• Wu Luo told Chisongzi that Lord Lingguang was a newly born Spring God tied to the Four Spirits of Heaven and Earth and destined to become a Great Heavenly Deity.
• Wu Luo explained that Lord Lingguang’s seven subordinate gods maintained the balance between the South Sea and the mountain range.
• Chisongzi and Wu Luo saw Wings Fire Serpent battle a black mist that began imitating its form.
• Well Wood Hound, Ghost Metal Goat, Willow Earth Roe Deer, Star Sun Horse, Extended Net Moon Deer, Chariot Water Earthworm, and a vermilion firebird appeared and suppressed the mist, but the danger remained in the ocean depths.

After her nirvana, Lord Lingguang discussed the South Sea’s mysterious black mist with the Great Chun Tree God, who suggested it resembled the mist of Black Cloud Marsh. Meanwhile, Fu Kui resisted his Heart Demon’s urging to suspect Miaoshan, but the demon pressed him to seize a powerful South Sea artifact.

• Lord Lingguang asked whether the origin of the black mist had been discovered, while the Great Chun Tree God noted that it resembled the mist associated with Black Cloud Marsh.
• The Great Chun Tree God suggested someone might be trying to use Guifang methods to become a ghost god, and Lord Lingguang questioned why anyone would do so in the present era.
• On Mount Putuo, Fu Kui’s Heart Demon accused him of suspecting Miaoshan because she had left the South Sea and retained her anger and hatred.
• Fu Kui admitted he felt doubt but said he trusted Miaoshan’s choices and believed she had her own plans.
• The Heart Demon claimed Miaoshan was ideal prey for demon kings and urged Fu Kui to seize the South Sea divine artifact, a vase forged by the Dao Ancestor that could swallow the waters of the Four Seas.

Ox-Head and Horse-Face realized that a monster had trapped them in the Mutton-Fat Jade Purifying Vase to steal their page of the Book of Life and Death. Ye Ming asked Wu Yao and Diting for help finding the missing page, and Diting located it in the South Sea with an unborn Heavenly Demon ghost god.

• Ox-Head and Horse-Face argued inside the vase, then realized the monster had deliberately lured them in to take their page of the Book of Life and Death.
• Ye Ming told the Heaven-Eroding Lord that Ox-Head and Horse-Face had been missing for nearly half a month and that Fengdu had lost contact with their page.
• Ye Ming visited Wu Yao and asked whether Diting could find the missing page.
• Diting said the page was in the South Sea, held by a Heavenly Demon ghost god who had yet to be born.

Mara trapped Miaoshan and revealed his plan to enter the Netherworld, become a Yin Deity, and steal the Yin Son of Heaven’s power. Miaoshan refused to yield as Mara prepared to wear her down and kill more living beings.

• Mara watched his name appear in the Book of Life and Death, which would grant him access to the Netherworld and the right to reincarnate.
• Mara accused Miaoshan of disrupting his ritual, while Miaoshan condemned him for turning the South Sea nonhumans into a ghost god body despite promising to spare them.
• Mara explained that he had trapped Ox-Head and Horse-Face and intended to replace Miaoshan, pose as her, and join the Ghost City of Fengdu as a Yin Deity.
• Miaoshan said Mara would fail, but he declared that no one else could interfere and vowed to wear her down.

Li Boyang explained to Wangshu why Xiluo’s future attainment of the Dao of Divine Spirits would draw opposition from powerful beings across time. He planned to use the Sun Star to attain the Dao and draw attention away from Xiluo, but first needed to discover the intentions of an unexpected being.

• Li Boyang examined the Sun Star’s primordial warmth as life began to emerge naturally throughout the Yunmeng Jade Pool Realm.
• Wangshu asked whether Li Boyang planned to attain the Dao through the Sun Star, and he said Xiluo’s approaching Dao attainment made him seek to divert some attention from her.
• Li Boyang explained that Xiluo’s future title as the Queen Mother of the West and her authority over divine spirits would invite rivals, enemies, and other Dao attainers to obstruct her.
• Wangshu recognized the danger of the struggle over Dao Paths, while Li Boyang advised her that strength and good connections would both matter when she pursued the Dao.
• Li Boyang looked toward the South Sea and said an unexpected being had intervened, so he first needed to uncover their intentions.

Xiluo reshaped Jade Pool Heaven as she prepared to attain the Dao, drawing upon the gods bound to her Jade Pool Heavenly Book. Zhenwu arrived from the future and revealed that he had eradicated the enemies of his era, leaving Xiluo to wonder what his Dao attainment would unleash.

• Xiluo used her dream-based Dao-attainment method to reshape Jade Pool Heaven into a realm of jade terraces, lakes, and immortal peach trees.
• Indra observed Xiluo nearing her Dao attainment and saw gods she had summoned through the Jade Pool Heavenly Book gather to assist her.
• Zhenwu descended from the future in a form Xiluo had not seen before.
• Xiluo warned Zhenwu that revealing his identity could expose his younger self to future enemies.
• Zhenwu said he had no enemies left after exterminating the fiends, monsters, and hostile Dao attainers of his era.
• Xiluo wondered whether Zhenwu was even more dangerous than Zhuang Zhou as he anticipated killing more fiends and monsters.

Fu Kui agreed to go to Great Xia and support its reforms if Chisongzi and Wu Luo helped save Miaoshan, the mistress of Mount Putuo. The three set off toward the South Sea’s sea eye, and Chisongzi caught up with Fu Kui and Wu Luo as they raced ahead.

• Fu Kui used divination to learn why Chisongzi and Wu Luo had come and offered to help Great Xia if they saved Miaoshan.
• Fu Kui said Miaoshan was near the South Sea’s sea eye and proposed they leave at once to find her.
• Fu Kui transformed into Rushing Thunder and raced across the sea, while Wu Luo pursued him through a mirror-surface dimension.
• Chisongzi rode the wind and thunder, drawing Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi as he caught up with Fu Kui and Wu Luo.

Mara confronted Miaoshan as Fu Kui, Wu Luo, and Chisongzi arrived to stop him. Mara captured Wu Luo and revealed his colossal true form after Chisongzi struck him with a Heavenly Tribulation, leaving the battle escalating across the South Sea.

• Miaoshan recognized that Fu Kui, Wu Luo, and Chisongzi were approaching, while Mara mocked her and prepared to attack them.
• Fu Kui warned Wu Luo and Chisongzi that Mara had become a ghost deity and should be treated as a Heavenly Deity-level Yin Deity.
• Mara formed gigantic black hands from the sea mist and captured Wu Luo, while Chisongzi and Fu Kui escaped his grasp.
• Chisongzi summoned a Heavenly Tribulation that struck Mara's hand and caused him pain, but Mara tightened his grip on Wu Luo.
• Mara gathered the black mist, rose amid towering waves, and revealed his enormous four-armed true form.

Mara broke through the Heavenly Tribulation and fought Fu Kui and Chisongzi, but Wu Luo escaped his grasp and joined forces with Chisongzi. Together they trapped Mara inside Wu Luo’s weapon-filled inner world, where a giant made of divine weapons formed to attack him.

• Mara broke through the Heavenly Tribulation in a monstrous form and fought Chisongzi and Fu Kui.
• Mara turned on Fu Kui, who summoned a thunder domain and battled him to a stalemate.
• Chisongzi appeared from Mara’s shadow and forced Mara to close his eyes with a lethal attack.
• Wu Luo stabbed through Mara’s palm and escaped as Chisongzi empowered him with Yuan Qi.
• Wu Luo and Chisongzi opened Wu Luo’s inner world, where a hundred-weapon giant formed to face Mara.

Li Boyang confronted the Lord of Mount Tai’s youthful incarnation and learned that the Mara in the Six Desire Heavens was not released to obstruct Xiluo, but to help the Netherworld Lord seek a place there. The Lord of Mount Tai offered to sever the incarnation’s ties to his true body in exchange for access to the Dao of Primordial Beginning and other Dao attainers’ insights, and Li Boyang accepted his sincerity.

• Li Boyang used his Heavenly Eye to identify the Lord of Mount Tai behind the black Qi surrounding the Mutton-Fat Jade Purifying Vase.
• The Lord of Mount Tai explained that Mara was a real demon king from the Six Desire Heavens whom he had given a new identity, not a pawn released to hinder Xiluo.
• The Lord of Mount Tai asked Li Boyang for an identity that would let him reside in the Six Desire Heavens and pursue Dao attainment.
• Li Boyang realized the Lord of Mount Tai sought insights from the Dao of Primordial Beginning and other Dao attainers to advance his Dao of Life and Death.
• The Lord of Mount Tai offered to sever the incarnation’s connection to his true body, and Li Boyang believed he was not trying to obstruct Xiluo.

Li Boyang negotiated with the Netherworld Lord over support for Xiluo’s realization of the Dao of Divine Spirits, while refusing to be drawn into a direct conflict before the Queen Mother of the West was born. The Netherworld Lord agreed to help as Li Boyang’s friend in exchange for powerful identities and protection for his future reincarnation, including becoming Kṣitigarbha.

• The Netherworld Lord offered Li Boyang the page of the Book of Life and Death and the support of his Yin Deities, but Li Boyang said those terms were insufficient.
• Li Boyang asked the Netherworld Lord to restrain Netherworld Dao realizers who might interfere with Xiluo, while he handled the other threats himself.
• The Netherworld Lord asked why Li Boyang would not publicly support Xiluo, and Li Boyang said the time had not come before the Queen Mother of the West was formally born.
• The Netherworld Lord agreed to help as Li Boyang’s friend and demanded authority in the Six Desire Heavens, standing in the Netherworld, and freedom to travel through the Three Realms.
• Li Boyang promised the Netherworld Lord’s future reincarnation powerful identities across the mortal world, Heavenly Realm, and Fengdu, including the title of Kṣitigarbha and access to the Dao of Primordial Beginning.

The Netherworld Lord agreed to Li Boyang’s terms and entered reincarnation, while a youth from another spacetime created the Avici Path to give the Asuras a new identity. The chapter left Li Boyang curious about whether the youth could defeat Zhenwu and whether the Nine Prisons and Nine Springs would become the Eighteen Levels of Hell.

• The Netherworld Lord accepted Li Boyang’s deal, abandoned his identity, and entered the Six Paths of Reincarnation, causing upheaval across the Three Realms.
• A youth emerged from the mire in the Nine Prisons and Nine Springs, drew the Yuan Tu and Avici swords from a blood lotus, and set out to attain the Dao of Slaughter.
• The youth created the Avici Path as a sea of blood, allowing Asuras from the Six Desire Heavens to become members of the Asura Clan without losing their memories.
• The Netherworld Lord tacitly accepted the new path, and Li Boyang chose not to interfere after divining that it might lead to the Eighteen Levels of Hell.
• Li Boyang wondered whether the youth could prevail over Zhenwu.

As Xiluo prepared to attain the Dao, a mysterious figure named Dong Jun appeared and burned the era’s boundaries with True Solar Fire, preventing Dao attainers from interfering. Dong Jun defeated the future One God and declared that he and the Queen Mother of the West jointly presided over the Path of Spirit, demanding to be called King Father of the East.

• The Netherworld’s Dao attainers stayed quiet and used the murky river of time to rewrite their origins, while Dao attainers elsewhere focused on the present era and Xiluo’s Dao attainment.
• A white-haired figure with a bird’s head and tiger’s tail appeared, and Xiluo and Zhenwu could not identify him or divine his future.
• The figure unleashed True Solar Fire that scorched Dao attainers trying to cross into the era, leading many to mistake him for Hao Jun.
• The figure introduced himself as Dong Jun and summoned an ancient sun whose origin no one could trace.
• The future One God tried to crush Dong Jun, but Dong Jun pierced his palm with a ray of light before he could descend.
• Dong Jun declared that he and the Queen Mother of the West jointly presided over the Path of Spirit and told everyone to call him King Father of the East.

Dong Jun wielded the Pure Yang Sword to repel the Dao attainers trying to stop Xiluo from attaining the Dao, until they feared its ability to pursue and kill them across time. Watching from the Great Yin Star, Wangshu resolved to study artifact refinement, while the surviving Dao attainers wondered who Dong Jun truly was.

• Dong Jun revealed his Pure Yang Sword and challenged the remaining Dao attainers to attack.
• The Pure Yang Sword transformed into a golden dragon and independently pursued attackers through different eras, killing some permanently and driving others to retreat.
• Wangshu watched Li Boyang attain the [Dao of the Sun] and saw Dong Jun's swordsmanship inspire her vision for her own Dao attainment.
• Wangshu decided to learn artifact refinement so she could forge a divine artifact to support her [Dao of Great Yin].
• The Dao attainers speculated that Dong Jun was an alternate identity of a powerful figure, but none could identify his true self.

As Xiluo faced the conceptual backlash of attaining the Dao, Zhenwu and the gods recorded in the Jade Pool Heavenly Book fought off intruders in Jade Pool Heaven. As the Peaches of Immortality ripened, outsiders including Wu Yang and a Gandharva raced to seize them, triggering another battle.

• Xiluo used the Baleful Force of the Five Punishments to suppress the calamities arising from the Dao of Divine Spirits.
• Zhenwu exposed a Dao attainer controlling a Mahoraga, and the two began fighting.
• The gods recorded in the Jade Pool Heavenly Book fought evil entities, demons, and outsiders within Jade Pool Heaven.
• Wu Yang infiltrated Jade Pool Heaven through a gateway opened with the Witch Mountain Cauldron and waited for a Peach of Immortality to ripen.
• A Gandharva rushed to seize the first ripe Peach of Immortality, drawing Wu Yang and other outsiders into a battle.

Xiluo completed her breakthrough and recognized that the [Heavenly Mandate Divine Ability] had chosen her as its agent after Li Boyang resisted its influence. As Li Boyang appeared and the [Dao of Immortals] was declared ready to be born, Xiluo questioned whether the Heavenly Mandate was truly this world's will or a Dao attainer from another era.

• The first Peach of Immortality ripened, revealing three kinds of peaches that granted immortality and powers corresponding to the ranks of gods, Heavenly Deities, and Great Heavenly Deities.
• The Peaches of Immortality raised fears that Xiluo could use the [Dao of Divine Spirits] to create new gods beholden to her, contrary to the Dao Ancestor's intentions.
• Li Boyang appeared before the Dao attainers and declared that the [Dao of Immortals] was ready to be born.
• Xiluo absorbed Jade Pool Heaven's Yuan Qi, advanced to Refining Spirit and Returning to Emptiness, and gained a view beyond the river of time.
• Xiluo realized that the [Heavenly Mandate Divine Ability] chose and influenced its wielders, and concluded that it had selected her after Li Boyang guarded against it.
• Xiluo asked whether the being behind the [Heavenly Mandate Divine Ability] was the world's Heavenly Mandate or a Dao attainer from another era.

Li Boyang’s suspicions about the Heavenly Mandate led him to follow Xiluo as she confronted the Primordial Spirit behind it. The entity revealed itself as the Immeasurable Great Kalpa, a calamity born to control and destroy the gods, and offered to make Xiluo their supreme ruler.

• Li Boyang recognized that Xiluo’s choice to visit the Six Desire Heavens did not fit her usual nature and suspected the Heavenly Mandate Divine Ability was influencing her.
• Xiluo deduced that Jade Pool Heaven and the Flat Peach Trees would let the Heavenly Mandate create and control new gods while reshaping heaven and earth’s fundamental order.
• Xiluo concluded that the Dao attainers opposed her because the future gods who benefited from the Peaches of Immortality would threaten their interests.
• The Primordial Spirit denied being the Heavenly Mandate or the future Queen Mother of the West and explained that it was a law born from abnormalities in Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi.
• The Primordial Spirit revealed that it was the Immeasurable Great Kalpa, a catastrophe formed from accumulated Great Kalpas and tasked with controlling, weakening, or eliminating the gods.
• The Primordial Spirit claimed it had never interfered with Xiluo’s will and promised to help her become the true lord of all gods.

Xiluo rejected the Heavenly Mandate’s imposed Dao of Divine Spirits and attained her own Dao in the Yunmeng Jade Pool Realm. The Will of the Heavenly Mandate was reset with Jade Pool Heaven, becoming a demon king called Queen Mother of the West and leaving the gods under the threat of a future Great Kalpa.

• Li Boyang’s theory that Heaven and Earth could nurture a will was confirmed, and Xiluo deduced that the Heavenly Mandate feared losing the existence Wu Yi had helped awaken.
• Xiluo struck her own Primordial Spirit with the [Power of the Five Punishments], severing the Heavenly Mandate’s control and causing Jade Pool Heaven to collapse.
• Xiluo opened the [Heaven and Earth Ring] to the [Yunmeng Jade Pool Realm], where the [Jade Pool Heavenly Book] and [Diagram of Mountains, Rivers, and the Land] created a heaven and earth for her to attain the Dao.
• Xiluo caught the [Jade Pool Heavenly Book] and entered the Yunmeng Jade Pool Realm, while the Primordial Beginning Heavenly Demon reset the Will of the Heavenly Mandate and Jade Pool Heaven.
• The Will of the Heavenly Mandate returned as the demon king Queen Mother of the West, and Dao attainers suspected that Dong Jun might be an incarnation of the Dao Ancestor.

Li Boyang established Heaven Beyond Heaven as a gathering place for Dao attainers and a seat for teaching the Dao, naming its palace complex Purple Firmament Palace. Li Xuandu arrived as his disciple, and other Dao attainers began appearing, including Zhuang Zhou in disguise and Minghe.

• Li Boyang stabilized the center of Heaven Beyond Heaven, transformed the Jade Disc of Creation into a vast palace complex, and recreated Flying Peak within it.
• Li Boyang raised a stele engraved with twelve talisman incantations and named it Purple Firmament Palace, leading the Dao attainers to realize he intended to teach the Dao there.
• Li Xuandu arrived and greeted Li Boyang as his master, while Li Boyang explained that karma and affinity determined when Dao attainers reached Heaven Beyond Heaven.
• Zhuang Zhou appeared in a palace shaped like a Kunpeng, disguised himself as Kunpeng, and greeted Li Boyang and Li Xuandu.
• Minghe arrived in a blood-lotus black palace, mocked Zhuang Zhou's disguise, and introduced himself to Li Boyang.

Zhenwu arrived at the Purple Firmament Palace in time to hear Li Boyang explain the changing generations of gods and how Dao Proving Ones could transcend history. As the goddess Xihe learned that her path to the future required breaking the river of history’s inertia, she recognized that she and the Three-Legged Golden Crow were trapped in their own era.

• Zhenwu entered the Purple Firmament Palace and listened as Li Boyang began preaching about the Great Dao that transcended time.
• Li Boyang described how Ancient Gods arose from primordial strength, then gave way to a second generation of gods who used wisdom to master natural forces and become Great Heavenly Deities.
• Dao Proving Ones who interfered with the distant past faced historical backlash, while intelligent Ancient Gods remained trapped unless they could break history’s inertia.
• Xihe arrived at a Sun Palace with a Three-Legged Golden Crow and wondered whether her power to harness the sun made her a Dao Proving One.
• Xihe concluded that she needed to develop a Dao of her own, and the Three-Legged Golden Crow explained that they would have to prove other Dao Paths in their era and break spacetime’s inertia to reach the future.

Li Boyang explained how divine spirits had lost their advantage to cultivators and announced that the Queen Mother of the West and King Father of the East would establish heavenly laws to reward or punish the gods. As the Dao attainers considered whether to accept the new order, Wu Jun appeared in Heaven Beyond Heaven and challenged Li Boyang’s plan.

• Li Boyang described how the evolution of gods and the spread of Qi refinement had allowed cultivators to outnumber and eventually surpass divine spirits.
• Li Boyang declared that the Queen Mother of the West and King Father of the East would reshape heaven and earth, assigning gods duties and using Heavenly Tribulation and Peaches of Immortality to punish or reward them.
• Xihe recognized that the new Dao of Divine Spirits would spread across eras and offer Dao attainers a path to longevity, though accepting it would mean accepting restrictions.
• The little Golden Crow explained that cultivators who were no longer pure gods could choose whether to follow the heavenly laws.
• Wu Jun appeared as a Three-Legged Golden Crow and questioned whether the new order would create another group of unrestrained beings called immortals.

Li Boyang explained his pursuit of fairness through the Method of the Celestial Person as Xiluo attained the Dao of Divine Spirits and became the Golden Mother of the Jade Pool. The King Father of the East revealed his plan to hasten the rise of cultivators by using Xiluo’s power to overcome the limits on their lifespans.

• Li Boyang said immortality was open to all living beings who pursued the Dao, while divine spirits who rejected their duties could also become cultivators.
• Xiluo attained the Dao of Divine Spirits, transforming the Yunmeng Jade Pool Realm into a domain reflecting her vision.
• A new divine spirit appeared in the [Jade Pool Heavenly Book] as Sovereign Lord Donghua, followed by Xiluo as the Golden Mother of the Jade Pool.
• Xiluo told the King Father of the East that all living beings were poised to become the world's protagonists, and he agreed that more change was needed to make that future real.
• The King Father of the East transformed the Jade Pool Realm and proposed that Xiluo use her ability to extend cultivators' lives so they could defy heaven and change their fate.

Wu Yang and the Six Witches of Kaiming fought Gandharva after it followed her through a gateway from the Six Desire Heavens, while Miaoshan received a Jade Pool Invitation that promised longevity and freed her from Mara’s influence. The chapter ended with Mara fleeing as Ox-Head and Horse-Face pursued him.

• Wu Yang emerged from a gateway clutching a Peach of Immortality, which rotted away as Gandharva followed her into the mortal world.
• Wu Peng warned the Six Witches of Kaiming that Gandharva was behind Wu Yang, and the siblings fought the demon king while Wu Yang examined the remaining fruit pit.
• Wu Yang urged her brothers to stop Gandharva from returning to the Six Desire Heavens, suggesting its flesh and blood might preserve the Peach of Immortality.
• Miaoshan received a Jade Pool Invitation, which removed Mara’s faces from her body and revealed that invitees would attend the Jade Pool Grand Assembly and receive three Peaches of Immortality.
• Ox-Head and Horse-Face escaped the Mutton-Fat Jade Purifying Vase, and Mara fled as Ox-Head and Horse-Face chased him.

Three years after the Peach of Immortality Grand Gathering, Xiluo focused on spreading the Elixir of Immortality and planted Langgan Jade Trees on Bronze Island. As Muzheng, Qingfu, and Xiang Yao guarded one tree, Xiang Yao suggested that Li Xi could help Muzheng rebuild his body, prompting Qingfu to ask whether Xiang Yao was finally willing to see his daughter.

• Three years after the Peach of Immortality Grand Gathering, legends about the Peaches of Immortality spread, while the Hundred Lands Mountain Range knew the peaches had been grown at Xiluo's suggestion.
• Xiluo focused on producing Elixir of Immortality and transplanted Langgan Jade Trees, placing the first batch on Bronze Island under the Hanging Silk Lady's care.
• Muzheng complained about guarding the Langgan Jade Tree, while Qingfu drove away nesting birds and reflected on how Li Boyang's teachings had changed her.
• Xiang Yao urged Muzheng to listen to Li Boyang's cultivation teachings and rebuild his body, but Muzheng refused because he wanted Qingfu to keep seeing his suffering.
• Xiang Yao told Muzheng that Li Xi could mold him a new body, and Qingfu asked whether Xiang Yao was finally willing to see his daughter.