Chapter Summaries

Yin Fei offered to die in Flower Mantis’s place and explained her divided nature as both a Night-Wandering Woman and a Guhuo Bird. She revealed that Wu Yi was her abandoned child and that her self-taught attempt to manifest a Primordial Spirit had caused Qi Deviation, leaving her fate in Li Boyang’s hands.

• Yin Fei asked Li Boyang to release Flower Mantis and offered her own life in exchange, praising Li Boyang’s care for the Hundred Lands Mountain Range and its creatures.
• Yin Fei explained that her Night-Wandering Woman nature cherished young creatures while her Guhuo Bird nature urged her to plunder beauty, and that she had struggled to restrain herself.
• Wu Yi called Yin Fei his mother and accused her of killing his birth mother and people before possessing and later abandoning him.
• Yin Fei said Wu Yi had been one of the many children she abducted, though his extreme temperament had made him more distinctive than the others.
• Li Boyang saw Yin Fei’s bifurcated spiritual light and recognized that she had reached the threshold of the Primordial Spirit, but her disordered state had caused Qi Deviation.
• Yin Fei asked whether her condition was called Qi Deviation and insisted that Li Boyang should now understand she had been telling the truth.

Yin Fei chose death at Li Boyang’s hands, hoping to escape the Guhuo Bird’s instincts and save Flower Mantis. After her death, Li Boyang’s divination revealed that she had intended to destroy all Guhuo Birds and that her death had begun a cataclysm engulfing the gods.

• Yin Fei asked Li Boyang to spare Flower Mantis and kill her, offering to reveal the truth behind the Witch of the Huai River’s death.
• Li Boyang recognized that Yin Fei could not choose death herself because of the Guhuo Bird’s instincts, and killed her.
• Xiluo questioned whether Yin Fei might have faked her death, but Li Boyang dismissed the idea and suspected she wanted to take the other Guhuo Birds with her.
• Li Boyang used the Heavenly Mandate Bone Plastron and realized Yin Fei had believed he could kill all the Guhuo Birds.
• Li Boyang’s divination showed that the Guhuo Bird’s death had started a cataclysm that would engulf all the gods.

Li Boyang met Wu Yi at the mountain summit and learned how Great Xia’s Witch Kings inherited the burden of hearing the prayers of all living beings. Wu Yi explained why he had sought Li Boyang as a successor, but began to wonder if Li Boyang was instead a sage who could usher in a new era like the first Witch King.

• Li Boyang and Xiluo climbed to the summit, where they found Flower Mantis beside a stone stele and Wu Yi waiting.
• Wu Yi withdrew the pressure he had placed on Li Boyang and said he had expected to find a successor but had found a partner.
• Wu Yi explained that Witch King candidates had to endure the prayers of all living beings, and described how Great Xia selected and trained potential successors.
• Wu Yi recounted how he became a godlike figure, nearly succumbed to the voices of his worshippers, and was invited by the previous Witch King to join the succession.
• Wu Yi said he had traveled to meet Li Boyang because he seemed like an ideal successor, but Li Boyang’s growing influence made Wu Yi consider him a sage in the mold of the first Witch King.

Wu Yi explained that the Witch King carried the accumulated power and wisdom of his predecessors, and urged Li Boyang to become his successor. Li Boyang rejected joining the collective, while Wu Yi revealed that the Witch King’s struggle with the gods had repeatedly brought ruin to humanity and remained unresolved.

• Wu Yi described the first Witch King as a true Human King and explained that becoming a Witch King meant enduring the voices of all living beings.
• Wu Yi told Li Boyang that each Witch King passed his power and wisdom to his successor, making the current Witch King a collective of those who came before.
• Li Boyang refused to become part of the Witch King collective, preferring to explore the unknown on his own.
• Li Boyang questioned why Wu Yi sought a successor so soon, and Wu Yi challenged him to understand Great Xia’s history.
• Wu Yi recounted how the gods repeatedly threatened Great Xia and how successive Witch Kings restored order, while humans beyond Great Xia continued to suffer from the conflict.

Li Boyang confronted Wu Yi about a divined cataclysm and learned that Wu Yi planned to use nine divine cauldrons to build a barrier against the gods. The chapter ended with Li Boyang warning that the Witch King’s unchecked power could become a human-made Great Heavenly Deity.

• Li Boyang told Wu Yi that he had divined a calamity tied to Great Xia and possibly set in motion by Wu Yi.
• Li Boyang explained that Xiluo’s vision meant she was caught up in the calamity, so he had decided to risk intervening for the Hundred Lands Mountain Range.
• Li Boyang revealed that the calamity had changed into a cataclysm targeting all gods, with himself among its sources.
• Wu Yi explained that successive Witch Kings had cast nine divine cauldrons and planned to use them to suppress the Nine Provinces and bar the gods.
• Li Boyang warned Wu Yi that the Divine Land Barrier would leave the Witch King unchecked and could create a human-willed Great Heavenly Deity.

Wu Yi rejected the idea of human supremacy as a concern for future Witch Kings and revealed that he, not Li Boyang, was the source of the catastrophe involving the Guhuo Birds. As Li Jingshu and Yue waited below, they discussed Lu Huaijin and the mountain people's approach to education.

• Wu Yi told Li Boyang that humanity first needed to rise before anyone could worry about the Great Heavenly Deities, and said bringing about that rise was his duty as Witch King.
• Wu Yi said he had abandoned the successive Witch Kings' plan to use the Nine Cauldrons to suppress the Nine Provinces and identified his adoptive mother, Yin Fei, as a key variable behind the catastrophe.
• Wu Yi explained that Yin Fei believed Li Boyang was the catastrophe's source and could help her find release, while she had failed to realize Wu Yi himself was the source and had reasons to seek revenge on the Guhuo Birds.
• In Li Household Village, Li Jingshu worried that Wu Yi and Li Boyang might reach an agreement, but Yue believed their relationship was not as peaceful as it seemed.
• Yue and Li Jingshu discussed Lu Huaijin, and Li Jingshu explained that village children received basic instruction from her and learned other skills from separate teachers.

Wu Yi revealed that he planned to disrupt heaven and earth’s Primordial Essence so no new gods could be born, using the Way of the Celestial Person and the power of the Witch Kings. Li Boyang realized how his choices and Yin Fei’s death had transformed the planned great tribulation into a cataclysm aimed at destroying all gods.

• Wu Yi told Li Boyang that he wanted to destroy all gods by disrupting the Primordial Essence that gave rise to them.
• Li Boyang and Xiluo questioned how Wu Yi could accomplish such a plan and warned that it would destroy the order of heaven and earth.
• Wu Yi explained that Yin Fei’s Primordial Spirit had shown him how mortals could gain power rivaling gods, then displayed nine strands of spiritual radiance behind his head.
• Li Boyang reconstructed how Wu Yi’s Divine Land Barrier plan, his own decision to oppose fate, and Yin Fei’s death had caused the great tribulation to become a cataclysm.

Wu Yi revealed that he had perfected Yin Fei’s Primordial Spirit method and challenged Li Boyang to test his new strength. Li Boyang unfurled the Diagram of Mountains, Rivers, and the Land, and two figures plunged into it as the painted world transformed.

• Wu Yi showed Li Boyang his ninefold Primordial Spirit method, perfected from Yin Fei’s inheritance and represented by nine Witch Kings reborn as Innate Deities.
• Wu Yi challenged Li Boyang to serve as a whetstone, and Li Boyang agreed to face him with the Diagram of Mountains, Rivers, and the Land.
• Li Boyang told Xiluo not to interfere, while Wu Yi immobilized her and Flower Mantis with a Witch Law Immobilization Incantation.
• Li Boyang unfurled the Diagram of Mountains, Rivers, and the Land, darkening the sky above the mountain.
• A white figure and a crimson figure shot into the sky and entered the diagram, causing its painted world to transform.

Wu Yi and Li Boyang fought inside the complete Diagram of Mountains, Rivers, and the Land, summoning powerful manifestations and deploying divine artifacts. The battle escalated into a clash between Wu Yi’s Taotie form and Li Boyang’s Shadow Baleful Intent Dharma Aspect, while their forces fought across the painted world.

• Li Boyang used his paintbrush to dim the sun and summon a Heavenly Dog, which fought Wu Yi’s fifth Witch King incarnation.
• Wu Yi’s second Witch King incarnation created a matching paintbrush and summoned a golden toad from the moon.
• Li Boyang used his red-hide Silk Fur Robe to entangle the golden toad and the fifth Witch King, then hurled the God-Binding Cord at the other Primordial Spirits.
• Wu Yi struck the God-Binding Cord’s golden flood dragon and transformed into a Taotie, devouring rocks and streams.
• Li Boyang manifested a gigantic Shadow Baleful Intent Dharma Aspect, and it clashed with Wu Yi’s Taotie as the other battles continued.

Li Boyang and Wu Yi fought at full strength inside the [Diagram of Mountains, Rivers, and the Land], forcing Li Boyang to reveal his Yang God and draw the Divine Firmament Sword. The battle left off as Wu Yi prepared to face Li Boyang’s newfound union of Qi and spirit.

• Xiao watched the battle in shock, while Li Jingshu used the [Heavenly Eye Divine Ability] to follow it more clearly and felt reassured by how fiercely Li Boyang fought.
• Bound by Wu Yi’s Body Immobilization Technique, Xiluo cursed as Li Boyang’s Shadow Baleful Intent Dharma Aspect attacked Taotie with guns, cannons, and evolving mechanical weapons.
• Wu Yi set Taotie ablaze with Sha Qi flames, destroying the Shadow Baleful Intent Dharma Aspects and revealing his true body at Taotie’s head.
• Wu Yi challenged Li Boyang to show his real ability and reveal how his Primordial Spirit differed from Wu Yi’s.
• Li Boyang manifested a Yang God supported by his own Black and Yellow Qi and drew the Divine Firmament Sword, which threatened Wu Yi’s nine Primordial Spirits.
• Li Boyang explained that essence, Qi, and spirit had to unite to make a true Celestial Person, while Wu Yi said he would study the other paths later if he survived the battle.

Wu Yi used the Spirit Division Method and the Witch Kings’ shared knowledge to transform his nine primordial spirits into Yang Gods, overcoming their vulnerability to sunlight. After both he and Li Boyang stopped fighting, Wu Yi declared that the catastrophe Li had foreseen could no longer be prevented.

• Li Boyang sent his Yang God into battle, and Wu Yi used Tie to intercept it while his nine primordial spirits began constructing bodies.
• Li Boyang restored the sunlight, weakening Wu Yi’s Yin Deities, and attacked with his Heavenly Eye while Wu Yi recognized their vulnerability.
• Wu Yi’s nine primordial spirits reasoned that they needed genuine physical shells, then reforged their bodies with Yuan Qi and became Yang Gods.
• The nine Yang Gods’ power strengthened Wu Yi’s main body, and Li Boyang was so shocked that he stopped attacking as Wu Yi also withdrew his attacks.
• Wu Yi told Li Boyang he had given up his chance to defeat him and that the catastrophe Li had divined could no longer be stopped.

Wu Yi and Li Boyang confronted the catastrophe foretold by divination as Li Boyang attempted to perfect his essence, Qi, and spirit into a Golden Core. Wu Yi broke through to Refining Spirit and Returning to Emptiness, leaving the Hundred Lands gods facing his overwhelming power while he approached the Undying Spring God.

• Wu Yi declared that his divination showed the catastrophe had become inevitable, but Li Boyang insisted he would seize the remaining chance to change fate.
• Li Boyang returned his Primordial Spirit to his body and revealed his ambition to perfect essence, Qi, and spirit, though Wu Yi noticed his fleshly body could not yet bear that power.
• Wu Yi broke the [Diagram of Mountains, Rivers, and the Land] and unleashed a vast surge of Yuan Qi, which Li Boyang's Black and Yellow Sword Qi swept away.
• Wu Yi broke through his limits and manifested countless incarnations, terrifying the gods across the Hundred Lands Mountain Range.
• Wu Yi appeared before the Undying Spring God, teased him about his refusal to advise the first Witch King, and identified his own state as Refining Spirit and Returning to Emptiness.

Wu Yi reached Refining Spirit and Returning to Emptiness, then awakened the nine Witch King Cauldrons to sever the connection between heaven and earth. As the world’s order collapsed and most gods lost their power or existence, the surviving Heavenly Deities faced Wu Yi’s split spirits.

• Wu Yi broke through to Refining Spirit and Returning to Emptiness, and Li Boyang challenged him with the Divine Firmament Sword.
• Wu Yi sent a split spirit to the Heaven-Reaching Tower and revealed it as the Jianmu Cauldron, the first Witch King Cauldron.
• Wu Yi awakened the other eight Witch King Cauldrons across Great Xia, causing the gods to realize he was severing the link between heaven and earth.
• Heaven and earth split into chaos, and newly born Innate Deities dissolved while other gods weakened toward mortality.
• The surviving Heavenly Deities retained a faint connection to Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi and prepared to face Wu Yi’s split spirits.

The Heaven-Eroding Lord followed Gouxing into the Ruins of Kunlun to learn what she knew about the Witch of the Huai River, but Wu Yi’s disruption of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi left her helpless. Wu Yi’s Primordial Spirit killed Gouxing and declared the age of humanity, while the Heaven-Eroding Lord and Huoji survived.

• The Heaven-Eroding Lord searched the Ruins of Kunlun and called for Gouxing, hoping to learn where the Witch of the Huai River’s soul had gone.
• A hole opened in the secret realm’s sky as Wu Yi’s upheaval disrupted Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, and the Heaven-Eroding Lord restored his connection through his Taiji Diagram.
• The Heaven-Eroding Lord found Gouxing collapsed and partly transformed, while the unconscious Huoji preserved himself by circulating his Life Primordial Qi.
• Wu Yi’s eighth Witch King Primordial Spirit appeared and condemned Gouxing as a failing source of the Guhuo Birds.
• Wu Yi’s Primordial Spirit killed Gouxing and proclaimed that the age of humanity had begun, leaving the Heaven-Eroding Lord and Huoji alive.

Wu Yi abandoned his body and unleashed his scattered Primordial Spirit to kill deities and force the world into a new order, triggering a catastrophe. Li Boyang used the Taiji Diagram to balance his essence, Qi, and spirit, halting the world’s collapse and preserving hope for those beyond Great Xia; he ended the chapter observing Wu Yi’s spirits as the Unseen warned off beings threatening him.

• Wu Yi told Li Boyang that he would change the world’s order, then the Diagram of Mountains, Rivers, and the Land shattered and Li Boyang emerged.
• As deities died and Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi ran wild, Li Boyang recognized that the resulting disasters could destroy the world beyond Great Xia.
• Li Boyang transformed into a towering Red-Haired Ghost God, summoned the Taiji Diagram from Guifang, and used its power to balance his essence, Qi, and spirit.
• Li Boyang calmed the turbulent Yuan Qi across the Hundred Lands Mountain Range and wherever his divine image was enshrined, slowing the calamity and leaving living beings a chance to survive.
• Li Boyang’s Heavenly Eye tracked Wu Yi’s scattered Primordial Spirits, and the Unseen stopped fierce beings from descending on him.

Nearly half a year after Wu Yi’s attack on Heaven, Li Boyang and Xiluo discussed the worsening natural disasters and the consequences of Wu Yi’s actions. Li Boyang concluded that the Hundred Lands Mountain Range’s balanced Yuan Qi was helping restore order, while the ancient beings Wu Yi had targeted were likely suffering too.

• Xiluo ended her long silence with Li Boyang and explained she had been angry because he had not trusted her, while expressing concern about his worsening sleep and the voices he heard.
• Xiluo urged Li Boyang to abandon his pursuit of the Golden Core and focus on becoming Yunmeng Marsh’s god as the disasters outside grew worse.
• Li Boyang described how rising seawater was flooding inland and threatening crops, fisheries, groundwater, and coastlines beyond what ordinary flood control could manage.
• Xiluo worried that Wu Yi might still be alive and cause trouble from his body on Flying Peak, but Li Boyang reassured her that Wu Yi could no longer spare attention for it.
• Li Boyang explained that Wu Yi had overturned the existing order and that the ancient beings he had glimpsed were likely faring no better than Wu Yi.
• Li Boyang reflected that the Hundred Lands Mountain Range’s stable Yuan Qi was helping restore order to Heaven and Earth, though Wu Yi had recognized only the Federation of the Xia and a few gifted individuals as humanity.

Li Boyang finished restoring the Diagram of Mountains, Rivers, and the Land, which now showed locations far beyond the Hundred Lands Mountain Range. He demonstrated that it could display real-time scenes across the map, including Li Household Village and the ruined Guifang Kingdom.

• Li Boyang reflected on the strange voices he heard and the villages destroyed after gods lost their protection.
• Li Boyang explained that the Human-Faced Fish had used the River Chart to record waterways, helping expand the Diagram of Mountains, Rivers, and the Land.
• Xiluo asked about the rift valley and how the restored Diagram compared with the Taiji Diagram.
• Li Boyang displayed a real-time view of Li Household Village, showing its residents working, studying, and guarding the nearby hills.
• Li Boyang shifted the Diagram's view to the ruins of Guifang Kingdom, where the Roaring Heaven Clan had vanished.

Li Boyang remembered the gourd vines behind Chi’s shrine and watched as the spirits they had nurtured came to fruition. When the Ginseng Doll told One-Horned Incantation that the vine had borne fruit, he rushed toward it in excitement, using Li Boyang’s Riding Clouds and Driving Mist Divine Ability.

• Li Boyang brought the Diagram of Mountains, Rivers, and the Land back to the Mountain God Reservoir and recalled the gourd vines Chi had planted behind her shrine.
• The chapter explained that the hardy vines had secretly nurtured spirits, and that villagers treated the reservoir with special care because of Chi and its protective Human-Faced Fish.
• One-Horned Incantation rested in the village stream while the villagers tolerated his wandering as long as he returned home at night.
• The Ginseng Doll told One-Horned Incantation that the gourd vine had borne fruit and that his child was about to be born.
• One-Horned Incantation carried the Ginseng Doll uphill at a gallop, inadvertently using Li Boyang’s Riding Clouds and Driving Mist Divine Ability.

One-Horned Incantation arrived at Mountain God Reservoir to see Chi and the ginseng child, and the chapter recounted how a stolen gourd vine became an innate deity after absorbing Ba Jun’s vitality. Li Boyang had agreed to help it grow, but its eventual birth remained uncertain amid the upheaval in heaven and earth.

• One-Horned Incantation reached Mountain God Reservoir, where Chi surfaced and greeted him.
• The chapter revealed that Ba Jun had persuaded One-Horned Incantation to steal the Witch of the Huai River’s gourd vine, which drained Ba Jun’s vitality and helped bring about her defeat.
• After escaping Ghost God Cliff with the vine, One-Horned Incantation learned from Chi that it was alive and had become an innate deity by absorbing Ba Jun’s essence.
• Chi offered to care for the vine while One-Horned Incantation sought Li Boyang’s help, prompting him to submit and later explain his request after helping quell a flood.
• Li Boyang agreed to provide for the vine, while the narration noted that the innate deity’s birth could face unforeseen dangers as heaven and earth’s order changed.

Li Boyang and the others reached Chi’s shrine, where they learned that the gourd vines had entered defense mode. Chi revealed her mastery of the Yin-Yang Talisman Incantation, and Li Boyang offered to teach her at Flying Peak; the group then followed her through the vines toward the shrine to discover what had stirred his spiritual perception.

• Ginseng Doll eagerly recognized Li Boyang, then traded insults with Xiluo until Li Boyang stopped their bickering and asked how they could pass the defensive gourd vines.
• Chi changed into human form and revealed a Taiji-patterned dress that showed she had mastered the complete Yin-Yang Talisman Incantation.
• Li Boyang praised Chi’s growth, thanked her for guarding the Mountain God Reservoir, and invited her to attend individual lessons at Flying Peak each afternoon.
• Chi approached the shrine, and the gourd vines withdrew to open a shaded path for the group.
• The group entered the cool passage through the vines, while Li Boyang wondered what had happened to the gourds to stir his spiritual perception.