Chapter Summaries

Chu Feng defeated the Saint apparition in the fifth palace and claimed a Saint Core, then left the sixth palace after discovering its warning that only True Buddhas could enter. Back outside the small world, he reunited with his companions and revealed the core, prompting the Golden-Winged Eagle King to wonder whether Chu Feng was close to becoming a Saint.

• Chu Feng dispelled the Saint apparition guarding the qilin skeleton and took its Saint Core.
• Chu Feng stopped Bai Long from entering the sixth palace after finding a stele warning that anyone below the level of a True Buddha would die.
• Bai Long agreed to guard the small world in exchange for Chu Feng protecting him three times, and Chu Feng sent him to find fine spiritual jade.
• Bai Long ordered the Dragon King Temple attendant to tell the lord of Linjiang City to hold the Dragon King Festival, while Chu Feng returned to the inn.
• Chu Feng learned that more than ten days had passed outside during his night in the small world and attributed the time difference to the fallen True God's laws.
• Chu Feng showed his companions the Saint Realm Fire Qilin's core, and the Golden-Winged Eagle King asked whether Chu Feng was close to becoming a Saint.

Chu Feng guided the Golden-Winged Eagle King through Buddhist scriptures, earning True Essence of the Great Dao, while teaching Chen Qianqian chess and painting during their journey. At Bright Moon Gorge, the Golden-Winged Eagle King broke through to Half-Saint and began undergoing tribulation, drawing nearby Nirvana experts toward him; Chu Feng prepared to show Chen Qianqian how a cultivator of the chess path fought.

• Chu Feng promised the Golden-Winged Eagle King Saint Enlightenment Pills and resumed their journey with Bing Yan and Chen Qianqian.
• Chu Feng began teaching Chen Qianqian chess and painting, along with reading and principles, as the group traveled south.
• A year after leaving the Dao-Seeking Academy, Chu Feng learned that Xiao Chen had reached the Fifth Level of the Spirit Nurturing Realm and noted his disciples' progress.
• After the Golden-Winged Eagle King studied Buddhist scriptures in seclusion for forty-nine days, he comprehended a little of the Buddhist Dao's True Essence, earning Chu Feng ten points of True Essence of the Great Dao.
• The Golden-Winged Eagle King broke through to Half-Saint at Bright Moon Gorge, and tribulation clouds gathered overhead.
• Nearby Nirvana cultivators and demon kings flew toward the tribulation, and Chu Feng asked Chen Qianqian if she wanted to see him fight using the chess path.

Chu Feng gave Chen Qianqian a white game piece that let her confront the cultivators spying on the Golden-Winged Eagle King’s breakthrough. After Chen Qianqian killed the intruders and returned their treasures, thunder struck the mountain where the Golden-Winged Eagle King was in seclusion.

• Chu Feng explained that all living beings were pieces on his board and gave Chen Qianqian a white piece to warn the spies to retreat a hundred li.
• Chen Qianqian confronted four demons and three cultivators, and Daoist Master Yellow Brow agreed to retreat while the others stayed.
• King Golden Coin tried to attack Chen Qianqian but found himself bound in place, then begged her to spare him.
• Chen Qianqian dropped her piece, and a streak of Sword Qi killed the four demons and two humans who remained.
• Chen Qianqian collected the six intruders’ storage artifacts and brought them to Chu Feng.
• Thunder struck the Golden-Winged Eagle King’s cave abode, and a bolt of lightning sheared away more than half the mountaintop.

The Golden-Winged Eagle King passed his tribulation and became a Half-Saint, while Chu Feng taught Chen Qianqian a Dao scripture. Half a year later, the group reached Peace Town outside Myriad Demon Mountain, where they began gathering news about the region.

• The Golden-Winged Eagle King survived forty-nine bolts of tribulation lightning, and Chu Feng recited a Dao scripture to Chen Qianqian as spiritual rain fell.
• The Golden-Winged Eagle King emerged as a Half-Saint, learned that Chu Feng was far stronger than he had expected, and celebrated with Chu Feng over drinks.
• Half a year later, Chu Feng and his companions arrived in Peace Town and chose to rest at the Peace Inn before entering Myriad Demon Mountain.
• Chu Feng took the group to dine in the inn’s hall so they could hear local news, where they learned the Thousand-Foot King of Hundred Poisons Valley planned to attack Namo Temple.

Chu Feng and Chen Qianqian followed Rogue Cultivators to Namo Temple, where the Thousand-Foot Demon King’s forces gathered to attack. As Chu Feng watched from above with Chen Qianqian, the six armies surrounded Great Ming Mountain and a revered Grand Abbot arrived in a palanquin.

• After hearing that Namo Temple’s Half-Saint had died, Chu Feng agreed to accompany Chen Qianqian there so she could check on Xiao Wu.
• Chu Feng and his companions followed Rogue Cultivators to a village near Namo Temple and waited while cultivators gathered in the area.
• When the Thousand-Foot Demon King’s army arrived, Chu Feng reassured Chen Qianqian and accepted the Golden-Winged Eagle King’s offer to handle the threat.
• Chu Feng, Chen Qianqian, the Golden-Winged Eagle King, and Bing Yan flew above the approaching forces and saw six armies surround Great Ming Mountain.
• The armies knelt as monks carrying a palanquin announced the arrival of the Grand Abbot.

Great King Thousand Feet led his army to demand Namo Temple’s sarira, while Chu Feng and his companions watched from nearby. After the temple’s mountain-protecting formation repelled Great King Long Arms, Thousand Feet ordered the Myriad Demon Grand Formation raised, and Abbot Xuanbei prepared the monks for battle and an evacuation.

• Great King Thousand Feet drove away the opportunistic onlookers with his Buddhist chanting, while Chu Feng explained his unusual Buddhist-and-demon cultivation to Bing Yan.
• Great King Long Arms struck Namo Temple’s protective formation and was thrown back, then demanded Great Sage Zongming’s sarira on Thousand Feet’s behalf.
• Xuancheng refused to surrender the sarira and revealed that the temple’s formation could not be broken by anyone below the Half-Saint realm.
• Great King Thousand Feet ordered his soldiers to raise the Myriad Demon Grand Formation, darkening the sky over Namo Temple.
• Abbot Xuanbei ordered the warrior monks to prepare for battle and told Dukong to be ready to evacuate the sarira and reincarnated spirit child through the teleportation formation.

Great King Thousand Feet broke Namo Temple’s defensive array and led the demons in an attack as Chu Feng tracked Xiao Wu’s escape. Dukong and Xiao Wu fled north, but Great King Thousand Feet found them and demanded the Great Sage’s sarira.

• Great King Thousand Feet used Great Sage Black Emperor’s tail stinger to break Namo Temple’s array, and the demons attacked as Xuanbei and the other eminent monks fought back.
• Chu Feng marked Xiao Wu with his divine sense as he headed for a teleportation array, then left the battlefield with Chen Qianqian and his companions.
• Dukong and Du'e disguised themselves and the young novice monks; Du'e went west with seven novices while Dukong took Xiao Wu north.
• The next day, Great King Thousand Feet’s monks sealed Dukong’s spiritual power at a tea stall, and he demanded that Dukong hand over the Great Sage’s sarira.

The Golden-Winged Eagle King rescued Xiao Wu and Dukong from Great King Thousand Feet, then swallowed the demon after easily defeating him. After Chen Qianqian and Xiao Wu reunited and parted, news of the Thousand-Foot King’s death reached the five Nirvana Demon Kings ransacking Namo Temple, leaving them uncertain of what to do next.

• The Golden-Winged Eagle King used a single word to break Great King Thousand Feet’s Sanskrit chant and free Xiao Wu and Dukong from its effects.
• Great King Thousand Feet attacked the Golden-Winged Eagle King, but his Buddha palm vanished at a touch, and he fled in demon form.
• The Golden-Winged Eagle King revealed his eagle form and swallowed Great King Thousand Feet, while the lesser demons scattered.
• Chu Feng and Chen Qianqian joined Dukong and Xiao Wu, and Chu Feng revived Xiao Wu.
• Chen Qianqian and Xiao Wu spent several hours catching up before parting, while Chu Feng and the others shared tea with Dukong.
• The five Nirvana Demon Kings heard that Great King Thousand Feet had been eaten, and the news made them question their alliance.

Du'e learned that two powerful Great Sages had entered the Southern Wilds, and their arrival prompted the demon kings to restrain their subordinates. In Cloud Mist City, Fang Mu joined Princess Qinghe’s party on the way to the Cloud Mist Sect, where the disciple assessment began and he hoped to prove his pill-refining skill.

• Du'e heard that Great King Thousand Feet had been killed by a golden-winged eagle and told the inn’s cultivators that two Great Sages from a holy land were involved.
• The demon kings ordered their subordinates not to provoke the two Great Sages, while Chu Feng and his companions continued south toward Qingqiu.
• Princess Qinghe warned Fang Mu and the others to follow Cloud Mist Sect rules and avoid conflicts with the Song Clan’s children.
• Fang Mu told Fang Er he was nervous about joining the sect, then resolved to demonstrate his ability as a pill refiner during the assessment.
• Princess Qinghe led her party to the Cloud Mist Sect’s recruitment assembly, where Elder Chen welcomed her and the assessment registration began.

Fang Mu revealed supreme-grade aptitude and claimed he could refine pills during the Cloud Mist Sect assessment. Elder Chen brought him to Pill Fire Peak to test his skill, and Fang Mu emerged with an enormous black Body Tempering Pill that stunned Elder Chen and Fang Linglong.

• Fang Er qualified as an outer sect disciple, then Fang Mu produced a nine-foot violet-gold beam on the aptitude testing stone.
• Elder Chen learned Fang Mu had reached the Body Tempering Ninth Layer and could refine pills, and offered to make him a nominal disciple if he succeeded.
• Elder Chen took Fang Mu and Fang Linglong to Pill Fire Peak and arranged a quiet refinement room for Fang Mu.
• Fang Mu used his spirit fire to refine a Body Tempering Pill, then carried the large black pill out without dividing it.
• Elder Chen and Fang Linglong stared in shock when Fang Mu presented the enormous pill.

Fang Mu impressed Elder Chen with his pill-refining skill and joined the Cloud Mist Sect as his registered disciple. After Fang Linglong showed him around, he arrived at Pill Fire Peak, where the other disciples learned he had been a Fang Clan servant and began to target him.

• Fang Mu turned a charred pill into nine Body Tempering Pills, earning Elder Chen's praise and interest in taking him as a disciple.
• Fang Linglong escorted Fang Mu through the Internal Affairs Hall, where he completed his admission procedures and received his identity token.
• Fang Linglong took Fang Mu on an immortal crane to Pill Fire Peak and told him to seek her out on Spirit Sword Peak if he needed help.
• Fang Mu told Senior Brother Liu and the others that he had come from Fang Linglong's household, and Junior Brother Jin reacted with disgust and threatened to make life difficult for him.
• Fang Mu collected his residence doorplate and Pill Fire Peak's introductory cultivation technique as his identity spread among the outer disciples.

Fang Mu accepted a demanding pill-refining assignment and entered the cheapest, unstable fire chamber, unaware that Senior Brother Liu and Junior Brother Jin had arranged for him to fail. He completed the work in secret and left after briefly activating the chamber’s fire array, while his enemies waited outside for a mishap that never came.

• Fang Mu accepted an assignment to refine six batches of Body Tempering Pills, while Senior Brother Liu and Junior Brother Jin decided to give him a dangerous fire chamber and watch him fail.
• Fang Mu chose a grade-D fire chamber and began refining pills, unaware that the disciple on duty had sent word of his choice.
• Senior Brother Liu, Junior Brother Jin, and the others waited outside, expecting the unstable earth fire to cause trouble, but Fang Mu did not emerge after three hours.
• Fang Mu refined three batches, each yielding a high-grade Body Tempering Pill, then rested before completing the remaining batches.
• Fang Mu finished with six high-grade Body Tempering Pills and activated the unused fire array to avoid revealing his spirit fire, but the earth fire surged beyond his control before he shut the array off.
• Fang Mu left the fire chamber with the tokens as the group continued waiting outside.

After Fang Mu used the Grade Ding fire chamber, Jin Feng spread a rumor that he had an innate fire spirit physique to draw powerful enemies toward him. Song Zhaoyuan tried to have Fang Mu beaten, but Fang Linglong intervened; Fang Mu then told her he had never used the chamber’s earth fire.

• Senior Brother Qi and Jin Feng tested the Grade Ding fire chamber and concluded that Fang Mu must have controlled its unstable earth fire with an innate fire spirit physique.
• Jin Feng decided to spread the rumor that Fang Mu had a great opportunity hidden on him, while Senior Brother Qi connected the scheme to the Song Clan.
• Fang Mu traded his high-grade Body Tempering Pills for ingredients to make Dao Foundation Pills, but Song Zhaoyuan and his men blocked his way and ordered them to beat him.
• Fang Linglong arrived on an immortal crane and persuaded Song Zhaoyuan to leave Fang Mu alone, though Song warned her against spending time alone with other men.
• Fang Linglong told Fang Mu about the rumor, and Fang Mu denied awakening an innate fire spirit physique, explaining that he had not used the earth fire in the chamber.

Fang Mu revealed his spirit fire to Fang Linglong, then resumed cultivating while hoping to comprehend the Lesser Fate Technique and find his teacher. Meanwhile, Chu Feng and his party reached Qingqiu Royal City, where Great Sage Golden Wing was welcomed as an honored guest and escorted to the royal palace.

• Fang Mu showed Fang Linglong his spirit fire, and she warned him to keep it secret and avoid going out for now.
• Song Zhaoyuan decided not to punish Fang Mu, then compared himself unfavorably with his sister Song Zhaoyi.
• Fang Mu returned to cultivating and resolved to focus on reaching the Dao Foundation Realm before seeking his teacher.
• Chu Feng and his disciples arrived in Qingqiu after a peaceful journey, and Chu Feng reviewed their cultivation progress and his own growing strength.
• Great Sage Golden Wing asked whether Chu Feng had reached the Saint Realm, and Chu Feng teased him that an older brother would always be an older brother.
• A three-tailed fox-clan cultivator welcomed Great Sage Golden Wing and led Chu Feng's party into Qingqiu Royal City toward the royal palace.

Chu Feng and Great Sage Golden Wing visited Qingqiu Kingdom on the academy head’s orders to seek Senior Thousand Illusions, but Bai Yu told them Chu Feng would have to pass four trials first. At the ancestral temple, Chu Feng surprised the four Half-Saint elders by asking to face them together.

• Bai Yu welcomed Great Sage Golden Wing and Chu Feng to Qingqiu, then learned they had come to see Senior Thousand Illusions.
• Bai Yu examined the academy head’s token and explained that Chu Feng would need to pass four trials because Senior Thousand Illusions was away.
• The next day, Bai Yu led Chu Feng and his companions to the ancestral temple, where the four trials were announced as zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting.
• Great Sage Golden Wing eagerly anticipated Chu Feng’s success, while Chu Feng observed the fox immortal statue and met the four Half-Saint elders.
• After the elders introduced themselves as Great Sage Demonic Chess, Great Sage Soul Zither, Great Sage Thunder Calligraphy, and Great Sage Dharma Painting, Chu Feng asked to receive their guidance together.

Chu Feng challenged the Four Elders of Qingqiu to simultaneous contests in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, while Bai Yu watched in disbelief. As the elders competed, Chu Feng painted Bing Yan and prepared to compose a poem, with the contests still underway.

• Chu Feng told the Four Elders of Qingqiu he would challenge all four at once, and they agreed to set their own contests.
• Chu Feng began playing the zither and chess against Great Sage Illusory Zither and Great Sage Demonic Chess while Great Sage Thunder Calligraphy and Great Sage Dharma Painting started their contests.
• Bai Yu marveled at Chu Feng's confidence as Great Sage Golden Wing and Chen Qianqian boasted about his abilities.
• Chu Feng's chess moves put Great Sage Demonic Chess in a difficult position, and his zither music disrupted Great Sage Illusory Zither while creating a vision of mountains and flowing water.
• Chu Feng painted Bing Yan wielding a sword and added a Taiji Visualization Diagram, while Great Sage Thunder Calligraphy's essay produced a literary Dao light.
• Chu Feng decided to borrow a masterpiece from his previous life for his poem and found inspiration in his painting of Bing Yan.

Chu Feng defeated the Four Elders of the Fox Clan in a contest of zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, astonishing Qingqiu Royal City with his mastery of the Dao. The elders conceded, and Chu Feng ended the contest by giving his painting of Bing Yan to her before the gathering turned to celebration.

• Chu Feng wrote a rhapsody that released thirty-nine zhang of literary Dao radiance, and Great Sage Thunder Calligraphy admitted defeat.
• Chu Feng's move on the chessboard erased Great Sage Demonic Chess's creations, prompting him to concede.
• Chu Feng played the zither until Great Sage Illusory Zither's strings snapped, then finished High Mountains and Flowing Water as a divine maiden's sword stroke appeared in the sky.
• Great Sage Dharma Painting burned his own painting and praised Chu Feng's understanding of the Dao of Yin and Yang.
• The Four Elders of the Fox Clan conceded and apologized, then accepted Chu Feng's invitation to drink saint wine.
• Chu Feng gave his painting to Bing Yan, teased Chen Qianqian, and joined the gathering as laughter filled the ancestral temple.

Chu Feng and his companions arrived at Qingqiu Immortal Mountain, where the four Great Sages welcomed them and arranged for them to stay in Great Sage Demonic Chess’s residence. The elders went to notify Great Sage Thousand Illusions of Chu Feng’s visit, and her disciple Bai Tao recognized her token and wondered if the visitor was the shameless fellow from the Dao-Seeking Academy.

• Great Sage Demonic Chess brought Chu Feng and his companions to Qingqiu Immortal Mountain and offered them a place to stay while Great Sage Thousand Illusions remained in seclusion.
• The four Great Sages competed to host Chu Feng, then encountered young foxes who revealed that little ancestor Bai Qian had made Teacher Su faint.
• Great Sage Demonic Chess settled Chu Feng and his companions in his residence, where Chu Feng began brewing tea and teaching Chen Qianqian chess.
• The four Great Sages flew to the immortal mountain behind Qingqiu Village to deliver Great Sage Thousand Illusions’s token to her disciple Bai Tao.
• Bai Tao recognized the sachet and asked whether the visitor was the shameless fellow from the Dao-Seeking Academy.

Chu Feng was summoned by Great Sage Thousand Illusions, who mistook him for a link to her estranged husband and agreed to let Qianqian leave for the Dao-Seeking Academy. She asked Chu Feng to pass on a message to his master, leaving him confused about how his supposedly deceased master was connected to her.

• Bai Tao learned that Chu Feng had defeated the four Great Sages and decided he wanted to meet him.
• After spending seven days exchanging insights with the four Great Sages, Chu Feng followed them to Great Sage Thousand Illusions' cave abode.
• Bai Tao introduced himself as Chu Feng's senior brother, then led Chu Feng inside and warned him not to offend their master.
• Chu Feng called Great Sage Thousand Illusions his master's wife and told her that his master had passed away, but she refused to believe he was dead.
• Great Sage Thousand Illusions agreed that Qianqian could go to the Dao-Seeking Academy after some time, provided she remained without a Dao companion before Nirvana.
• As Chu Feng left, Great Sage Thousand Illusions asked him to tell his master to stop hiding and said that bygones could be bygones.

Chu Feng impressed Bai Qian by painting a crescent moon in the sky and plucking it down for her, winning her over as his disciple. Three days later, he and his companions left Qingqiu Immortal Mountain and headed out to sea.

• Bai Tao asked Chu Feng if he was all right and warned him to stay away from Qingqiu Immortal Mountain, but Chu Feng returned to the village unharmed.
• The four Great Sages told Chu Feng that Bai Qian was Great Sage Thousand Illusions' granddaughter and arranged for him to meet her.
• Bai Qian challenged Chu Feng to pluck down the moon, so he painted a crescent in the sky, seized it, and gave it to her.
• Bai Qian bowed to Chu Feng and accepted him as her master, then agreed to leave with him after three days.
• Chu Feng and his companions departed Qingqiu Immortal Mountain through the teleportation array and set out toward the sea before traveling north.