Chapter Summaries

Ye Xuan compiled influential books on governance, rites, medicine, astronomy, mathematics, and hunting, drawing on later generations’ knowledge to advance the Human Clan. Chaoge’s civil and military officials were astonished by the books and their potential impact.

• Ye Xuan wrote the Human Emperor's Classic, combining major schools of thought into a foundation for the Human Clan's cultural inheritance.
• Ye Xuan compiled the Human Emperor's Rites to teach propriety and moral conduct, promote the people's welfare, and prepare for the eventual abolition of slavery.
• Ye Xuan assembled Shennong's Book of Medicine from medical texts and remedies, creating a guide that could greatly improve the age's medical arts.
• Ye Xuan wrote Fuxi's Classic of Celestial Phenomena to help people navigate, observe stars, forecast weather, and organize farming around twenty-four solar terms.
• Ye Xuan recorded multiplication tables and other mathematical knowledge in Mental Arithmetic, and hunting and fishing techniques in Xuanyuan's Hunting.
• Chaoge's civil and military officials saw Ye Xuan's books and were astounded by their contents and their potential to transform society.

Ye Xuan went incognito with Wushuang and Daji to stroll through a prosperous Chaoge, pleased by the improvements his policies and books had brought to the people. As he watched children marvel at a flying paper bird, he saw how the books had made practical knowledge accessible to ordinary people.

• Ye Xuan stabilized his cultivation for a little over a month before taking Wushuang and Daji into Chaoge in disguise.
• Ye Xuan admired the city's prosperity and reflected on how his policies, better harvests, and educational efforts had improved people's lives.
• Ye Xuan spotted officers from the Northern Expedition sneaking into pleasure quarters and chuckled at their behavior.
• Children marveled at a paper bird flying overhead, and one father promised to make a bird for his child.
• Ye Xuan watched the people treat such inventions as familiar results of the knowledge in his books and revere him as Human Emperor.

Ye Xuan unexpectedly met Wang Yong, a celebrated veteran of the northern campaign, while traveling incognito through Chaoge and played with Wang Yong’s young son. Wang Yong introduced his wife, whose excited pleas for Ye Xuan to protect her husband ended with Wang Yong striking her.

• Ye Xuan recognized Wang Yong in the street and greeted him, then held and played with his son, Wang Shuai.
• Ye Xuan recalled Wang Yong’s fearsome deeds in the northern campaign and how he had chosen to remain with his old general rather than join the War Elephant Cavalry.
• Wang Yong hurried away and returned with his wife, introducing her to Ye Xuan.
• Wang Yong’s wife excitedly praised the chance to meet Ye Xuan and asked him to look after her husband.
• Wang Yong shouted at his wife and slapped her across the face for speaking that way in front of Ye Xuan.

Ye Xuan visited Wang Yong’s tavern, enjoyed the food, and left him a martial inheritance. He then walked through the prosperous streets with two women, reflecting on the people’s happiness.

• Ye Xuan scolded Wang Yong for slapping his wife, then accepted his invitation to dine at the tavern.
• Wang Yong and his wife served Ye Xuan and the two women a feast, and Ye Xuan praised the dishes.
• Wang Yong apologized to his wife, who forgave him and demanded that he serve her that night.
• Ye Xuan left Wang Yong a scroll of the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, a martial art he had recreated but that had not become a cultivation system.
• Ye Xuan strolled through the joyful streets with the two women as one of them praised the golden age under his leadership.

Ye Xuan visited a bookstore in Chaoge and found errors in copies of his own works, prompting him to consider papermaking and movable-type printing. After the shopkeeper angrily defended the books and ordered Ye Xuan and his companions to leave, Ye Xuan calmly asked to buy two volumes.

• Ye Xuan explored Chaoge’s bustling main avenue and entered a bookstore divided into sections for bamboo slips, hides and hemp, and silk scrolls.
• Ye Xuan found errors in a copy of Shennong's Book of Medicine and thought papermaking and movable-type printing were urgently needed.
• The shopkeeper became angry when Ye Xuan pointed out the copying errors and insisted that the Human Emperor’s books could not be wrong.
• Wushuang defended Ye Xuan, while the shopkeeper rebuked her and warned the group to leave before the city patrol arrived.
• Daji stopped Wushuang, and Ye Xuan apologized for his maids’ tempers before asking to buy Shennong's Book of Medicine and Mental Arithmetic.

Ye Xuan and Wushuang argued with a shopkeeper over sample scrolls before a young maid confronted them. A veiled woman apologized and revealed that the maid, Xiao Tu'er, had answered Ye Xuan’s math puzzle incorrectly.

• The shopkeeper explained that Ye Xuan’s scrolls were samples and that the other copies had been reserved, so Ye Xuan agreed to put the books back.
• Wushuang threatened the shopkeeper for refusing Ye Xuan, and a young girl accused her of bullying him and threw a magical treasure at her.
• Ye Xuan sent the treasure back and calmed the dispute as a veiled woman apologized for her maid’s behavior.
• Ye Xuan posed a tree-spacing problem to the maid, who confidently answered ten zhang.
• The veiled woman called the maid Xiao Tu'er and explained that she had been tricked because there were only nine gaps between ten trees.

Ye Xuan answered a riddle posed by the masked woman in white and explained how to solve it, impressing her with his arithmetic. He modestly praised the Human Emperor while Wushuang and Su Daji struggled not to laugh at his self-praise.

• Xiao Tu'er realized her elder sister was right about the distance between the trees and felt embarrassed for arguing.
• The masked woman in white challenged Ye Xuan with the Human Emperor’s chicken-and-rabbit cage problem.
• Ye Xuan correctly answered that there were twelve rabbits and twenty-three chickens, then explained his method.
• The masked woman understood the solution and praised Ye Xuan’s intellect as comparable to the Human Emperor’s.
• Ye Xuan praised the Human Emperor as a heaven-gifted genius, while Wushuang and Su Daji tried not to laugh at his self-praise.

Ye Xuan met a veiled woman in Chaoge and recognized her as Chang'e of Guanghan Palace. After she left, he returned to the imperial palace and considered the Hongmeng Corpse-Driving System's upcoming second-stage tasks.

• The veiled woman praised Ye Xuan and said she would seek his guidance again before leaving with Xiao Tu'er.
• Ye Xuan identified the woman as Chang'e, daughter of Di Jun and Xihe, who lived in Guanghan Palace on the Taiyin Star.
• Ye Xuan reflected that Chang'e, Wushuang, and Daji were renowned beauties of the sky, sea, and land.
• Ye Xuan considered that the system's next tasks might involve the Witch Clan or the Demon Clan and worried about seeking the Ancestral Witches' corpses in Empress Pingxin's territory.
• Ye Xuan returned to the imperial palace to ensure the books he had prepared would be circulated properly.

Ye Xuan presented paper to his ministers as a convenient alternative to bamboo slips and costly writing materials. The ministers praised his invention, and Bi Gan asked whether it would be simple and affordable to produce.

• Ye Xuan summoned his ministers to court and proposed reforming the Human Clan’s bulky, costly writing materials.
• Ye Xuan unveiled a thin, white sheet he called paper and demonstrated that it could be written on clearly.
• The ministers admired the paper and praised Ye Xuan’s past inventions and contributions to the Human Clan.
• Bi Gan asked whether making paper would be complicated or too costly, and Ye Xuan assured the ministers that anyone could learn its simple production steps.

Ye Xuan explained how to make paper and demonstrated movable type printing to the ministers. The ministers understood how the inventions could produce books quickly and accurately, and were left admiring him.

• Ye Xuan dictated the five steps of papermaking while Shang Rong recorded his instructions.
• Ye Xuan explained that errors in books came from widespread illiteracy and mistakes made when copying obscure characters.
• Ye Xuan introduced movable type printing, and Wushuang demonstrated it by arranging reversed character blocks, applying ink, and printing a sheet.
• The ministers recognized that movable type could produce large numbers of accurate books and admired Ye Xuan's invention.

Ye Xuan stopped at Chentang Pass on the way to Flower-Fruit Mountain and discovered that Li Jing’s wife was about to give birth to Nezha. He concealed himself at the Li residence to watch as Li Jing anxiously awaited the birth.

• Ye Xuan traveled overseas with Su Daji and Jiu'er, heading for Flower-Fruit Mountain to seek its immortal stone and gather more monkeys.
• While passing Chentang Pass, Ye Xuan recognized Li Jing’s residence and wondered whether Nezha had been born yet.
• Ye Xuan concealed himself and approached the Li residence, where servants and more than a dozen midwives rushed about in confusion.
• Li Jing grew anxious as his wife cried out during labor after carrying their third child for three years and six months.

Li Jing's wife gave birth to Nezha amid demonic flames, and Li Jing tried to kill the child while his wife protected him. When a servant announced that a Daoist from Golden Light Cave of Mount Qianyuan had arrived to seek a disciple, Li Jing was startled.

• Li Jing waited anxiously as his wife endured a painful labor, then saw red light and fire erupt from the room.
• Li Jing rescued his wife from the burning building and saw a flaming ball of flesh roll outside.
• Li Jing split the ball of flesh with his sword, and Nezha emerged from the flames as a four- or five-year-old child.
• Li Jing raised his sword to kill Nezha, but his wife clung to his leg and pleaded with him to spare their son.
• A servant reported that a Daoist from Golden Light Cave of Mount Qianyuan had arrived to seek a disciple, startling Li Jing.

Taiyi Zhenren arrived at the Li household to claim Li Jing’s newborn third son as his fated disciple, but Ye Xuan appeared and declared the child was already destined to be his disciple. Li Jing welcomed Ye Xuan as the Human Emperor, leaving Taiyi Zhenren displeased as the dispute over the child began.

• Li Jing learned that Taiyi Zhenren had come from the Golden Light Cave of Mount Qianyuan and hurried to welcome him.
• Taiyi Zhenren explained that he had divined Li Jing’s third son was fated to become his disciple.
• Li Jing warned Taiyi Zhenren that his newborn son had stayed in the womb for three years and six months, was born amid demonic fire, and had grown rapidly.
• Taiyi Zhenren said the child’s unusual birth showed exceptional gifts and recalled that Yuanshi Tianzun had ordered the Twelve Golden Immortals to find disciples for the coming Investiture of the Gods tribulation.
• Ye Xuan arrived with two women and told Taiyi Zhenren that Li Jing’s third child was fated to be his disciple, since he had arrived first.
• Li Jing welcomed Ye Xuan as the Human Emperor and ordered tea, while Taiyi Zhenren grew annoyed at being slighted.

Ye Xuan challenged Taiyi Zhenren to wager their magical treasures over who had a fated connection with the Li family's third son. Taiyi Zhenren's own test of cause and effect showed that Ye Xuan had the connection, leaving the old immortal stunned and furious.

• Ye Xuan insisted that the Li family's third son had a fated connection with him and proposed a bet with Taiyi Zhenren.
• Ye Xuan wagered the Sea-Spanning Purple Gold Beam of the South Sea against Taiyi Zhenren's Nine Dragon Divine Fire Cover.
• Taiyi Zhenren accepted and used his method to manifest the power of cause and effect.
• Su Daji worried that Ye Xuan might lose the treasure, while Ye Xuan secretly took her hand.
• Taiyi Zhenren's test showed that the cause-and-effect connection landed on Ye Xuan, leaving Taiyi Zhenren shocked and enraged.

Ye Xuan forced Taiyi Zhenren to confront his failed divination and demanded the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Cover, then accepted a second wager over their treasures. Taiyi Zhenren swore an oath before they began their combat, and the chapter ended as he prepared to use a technique against Ye Xuan.

• Taiyi Zhenren divined again, but the result remained unchanged, confirming that Nezha’s fate had not shifted.
• Ye Xuan demanded that Taiyi Zhenren hand over the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Cover after losing their first bet.
• Taiyi Zhenren proposed wagering all their treasures on a spar, and Ye Xuan accepted despite recognizing the mismatch in their treasures.
• Taiyi Zhenren swore an oath to the Heavenly Dao and flew into the air to fight Ye Xuan.
• Ye Xuan’s words scattered the dark clouds, and Taiyi Zhenren took a deep breath before using a technique.

Ye Xuan effortlessly resisted Taiyi Zhenren’s attacks in Chentang Pass, revealing a strength far beyond the Golden Immortal’s. He prepared to devour the nine fire dragons of the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Cover with his Nirvana True Fire.

• Taiyi Zhenren engulfed Ye Xuan in Mortal Dust Fire, but Ye Xuan’s Yin Dharma Body and Nirvana True Fire left him unharmed.
• Taiyi Zhenren furiously intensified his flames while Ye Xuan strolled through them, then Ye Xuan swept the fire away with a wave of his sleeve.
• Taiyi Zhenren launched numerous magical treasures at Ye Xuan, but they could not cross the three-foot forbidden zone around him.
• Taiyi Zhenren summoned the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Cover, sending nine fire dragons to attack Ye Xuan.
• Ye Xuan opened his mouth and inhaled, intending to devour the fire dragons and strengthen his Nirvana True Fire.

Ye Xuan defeated Taiyi Zhenren without making a move, collected his treasures, and ordered him to surrender the rest before letting him flee. He returned to Chentang Pass and asked Li Jing to take him to his third son, where he saw the young child.

• Ye Xuan swallowed Taiyi Zhenren’s nine fire dragons, making Taiyi realize he was outmatched and flee.
• Ye Xuan demanded that Taiyi honor their wager and hand over his treasures; Taiyi gave them up and escaped when Ye Xuan also demanded his Daoist robe.
• Ye Xuan examined the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Cover and considered the strength of the Twelve Golden Immortals.
• Li Jing apologized to Ye Xuan after the Human Emperor returned safely to Chentang Pass.
• Ye Xuan asked Li Jing to take him to his third son, and Li Jing led him inside to see the young child.

Ye Xuan named Li Jing and Lady Yin’s youngest son Nezha, gave him a collection of treasures, and warned his parents that his brothers were in danger. He then arrived at Flower-Fruit Mountain to seek the sentient stone destined to become a mighty being.

• Ye Xuan met the naked young Nezha and, after joking about names, bestowed the name Nezha at Li Jing and Lady Yin’s request.
• Ye Xuan gave Nezha the Fire-Tipped Spear, Wind Fire Wheels, Universe Ring, and other treasures he had won in a bet.
• Ye Xuan told Li Jing and Lady Yin that Nezha was connected to Nuwa and that he planned to take the boy to her as a potential master.
• Ye Xuan warned Li Jing that Jin Zha and Mu Zha faced mortal danger if they remained close to the Chan Sect, then flew toward Flower-Fruit Mountain with Daji and Wushuang.
• Ye Xuan explained that Flower-Fruit Mountain held a sentient Five-Colored Divine Stone left by Nuwa and said he hoped to bring it into the world early.

Ye Xuan found the Five-Colored Divine Stone on Flower-Fruit Mountain and used his Chaos Creation Brush to hasten the formation of the Intelligent Stone Monkey within it. The stone transformed into the shape of an ape and began to shake violently as its birth approached.

• Ye Xuan told Su Daji and Wushuang that the Five-Colored Divine Stone would give birth to the Intelligent Stone Monkey, then led them to Flower-Fruit Mountain.
• Ye Xuan and the others explored the unclaimed mountain and found the immortal stone at its summit.
• Ye Xuan declared that the stone-born being would become one of his strongest fighters and took out the Chaos Creation Brush.
• Ye Xuan formed a mysterious totem with the brush and pressed it onto the stone, causing it to absorb the totem and the spiritual Qi around it.
• The stone's openings shifted into a face, its outline became ape-like, and it began trembling violently as the immortal embryo neared birth.

Ye Xuan welcomed the newly born Intelligent Stone Monkey, who chose the Sea-Calming Divine Needle Iron and wielded it as a staff. Ye Xuan planned to take him and the newborn Nezha to Empress Nuwa for training, while Nuwa overheard Ye Xuan’s thoughts and took offense at his insults.

• The Intelligent Stone Monkey burst from the immortal stone, leaped through the sky, and affectionately approached Ye Xuan.
• Ye Xuan considered asking Empress Nuwa to train the monkey and Nezha, while privately wondering what gift might please her.
• Empress Nuwa overheard Ye Xuan calling her a silly old woman and warned that she would make him pay if he came to visit.
• Ye Xuan presented three divine rods, and the Intelligent Stone Monkey chose the black-and-gold Sea-Calming Divine Needle Iron.
• The needle transformed into a staff as the monkey swung it with excitement, and Ye Xuan took him away to prepare for Nuwa’s training.
• On Western Spirit Mountain, a Saint suddenly opened his eyes.