Chapter Summaries

Kong Xuan left with Daoist Zhunti for the Western Sect after striking Jiang Ziya, while Cult Master Tongtian deployed his Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation against the Xiqi army. With the army devastated and morale broken, Jiang Ziya decided to ask his master for help.

• Daoist Zhunti pressed Jiang Ziya to apologize to Kong Xuan, but Kong Ling arrived and offered the Phoenix Clan a share of the army's merit instead.
• Kong Xuan slapped Jiang Ziya before the assembled troops, then agreed to visit the Western Sect with Daoist Zhunti.
• Guiling revealed that she had stalled Zhunti while Cult Master Tongtian spread the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation's killing Qi across the battlefield.
• Jiang Ziya led the Xiqi army in a panicked retreat as the killing Qi killed many soldiers and left the surviving generals badly shaken.
• Jiang Ziya proposed asking his master to intervene against Cult Master Tongtian's formation.

After Cult Master Tongtian set up the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation and slaughtered Xiqi's troops, Celestial Venerable Yuanshi sought allies to face the formation. He won the Western Sect's support, leaving the final battle alliance in place.

• Jiang Ziya told Celestial Venerable Yuanshi that Cult Master Tongtian had set up the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation and killed more than a hundred thousand soldiers.
• Celestial Venerable Yuanshi agreed to go confront Tongtian, while Grand Pure One Laozi promised to intervene if Tongtian had truly gone mad.
• Celestial Venerable Yuanshi traveled to the Western Sect and praised Jieyin and Daoist Zhunti's accomplishments and resources.
• Celestial Venerable Yuanshi promised the Western Sect that it would rise after the war and gain influence over the Human Race, winning Jieyin and Zhunti over.
• Jieyin and Zhunti pledged to act against Cult Master Tongtian if Celestial Venerable Yuanshi asked, forming the final battle alliance.

Celestial Venerable Yuanshi arrived to calm Xiqi’s army and examined Cult Master Tongtian’s Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation, whose killing Qi had devastated the surrounding land. After giving Jiang Ziya the Pangu Banner to protect the army, Yuanshi confronted Tongtian, who entered the formation and challenged him to follow.

• Celestial Venerable Yuanshi reassured the frightened Xiqi forces, and Jiang Ziya helped calm the troops.
• Celestial Venerable Yuanshi took Jiang Ziya above the battlefield and saw the vast, deadly Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation.
• Celestial Venerable Yuanshi gave Jiang Ziya the Pangu Banner to protect Xiqi’s army from the formation’s killing Qi.
• Cult Master Tongtian emerged and angrily ordered Jiang Ziya to leave, then confronted Celestial Venerable Yuanshi over the war and the deaths of Jie Sect disciples.
• Cult Master Tongtian entered the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation and invited Celestial Venerable Yuanshi to enter and face him.

Cult Master Tongtian trapped Celestial Venerable Yuanshi in the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation and overwhelmed him with its attacks. As the formation shook the Primordial World, Grand Pure One Laozi prepared to intervene, while Jieyin and Zhunti resolved to join the Chan Sect against Tongtian.

• Jiang Ziya and several generals activated the Pangu Banner, shielding the Western Zhou soldiers from the formation's killing intent.
• Celestial Venerable Yuanshi used Chaos Sword Qi and the Jade Purity Casket to enter the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation, where Tongtian's attacks forced him onto the defensive.
• Cult Master Tongtian rejected Yuanshi's appeal for reconciliation and unleashed the formation's full power against him.
• Grand Pure One Laozi watched Yuanshi disappear into the formation and prepared to join the battle, though Ancestor Hongjun remained in seclusion.
• Jieyin and Zhunti decided to support the Chan Sect and help suppress Tongtian and break the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation.

Cult Master Tongtian’s Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation trapped Celestial Venerable Yuanshi and began stripping away his merit, while Grand Pure One Laozi hesitated outside rather than enter. Guiling, Jinling, and Zhao Gongming confronted Laozi as the battle between the Sages continued.

• Celestial Venerable Yuanshi called for Grand Pure One Laozi, Jieyin, and Zhunti to join the fight after becoming trapped in the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation.
• Grand Pure One Laozi arrived and used the Pangu Banner to protect Jiang Ziya and the Xiqi army, but feared entering the formation.
• Cult Master Tongtian attacked Celestial Venerable Yuanshi with Sword Qi and Killing Qi, rejecting Yuanshi’s accusation that he was striking to kill.
• Grand Pure One Laozi claimed Yuanshi and Tongtian were merely catching up, though he could not see what was happening inside the formation.
• Guiling, Jinling, and Zhao Gongming confronted Grand Pure One Laozi, and Guiling mocked him for being unable to see into the formation.

Guiling publicly challenged Grand Pure One Laozi’s Dao and exposed her claim that his One Qi Transforms into the Three Purities relied on the seven emotions and six desires. Laozi attacked her, and Guiling, Zhao Gongming, and Jinling fought his three forms while Jiang Ziya worried over the battle.

• Guiling rejected Grand Pure One Laozi’s Dao as unorthodox and argued that the Human Race belonged under Nüwa, Fuxi, and the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.
• Guiling claimed Laozi’s One Qi Transforms into the Three Purities used lust, irritability, joy, and hatred, leaving the crowd and Laozi astonished.
• Grand Pure One Laozi grew angry and unleashed three forms to attack Guiling, while Zhao Gongming and Jinling joined the fight.
• Guiling fought Laozi’s true body, Zhao Gongming trapped two clones with his Sea-Calming Divine Pearls, and Jinling faced the remaining clone.
• Guiling used her inner world and divine hammer to withstand Laozi’s attacks as Jiang Ziya realized his side had no one ready to fight.

Jieyin and Zhunti entered the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation after making a deal with Haotian and using the Jade Disc of Creation to shield themselves from its killing intent. They found Celestial Venerable Yuanshi badly weakened, and he asked them to break the formation quickly.

• Grand Pure One Laozi used the Wind-Fire Futon and Taiji Diagram to gain the upper hand against Guiling, Zhao Gongming, and Jinling.
• Jieyin and Zhunti arrived, and Jiang Ziya welcomed them as they prepared to enter the formation.
• Zhunti used the Seven Treasures Miaoshu to clear the mist around the formation and reveal its intricate, deadly structure.
• The chapter revealed that Haotian had promised to support the Western Sect in exchange for Jieyin and Zhunti's help, and had given them the Jade Disc of Creation.
• Jieyin and Zhunti entered the formation with the Jade Disc of Creation protecting them, and Celestial Venerable Yuanshi asked them to break it quickly.

Cult Master Tongtian unleashed the full Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation against Celestial Venerable Yuanshi, Jieyin, and Zhunti, while Celestial Venerable Yuanshi devised a way to break it. Grand Pure One Laozi entered the formation, but Jieyin and Zhunti still refused to split up, leaving the Sages unable to carry out the plan.

• Jieyin and Zhunti entered the formation and used the Jade Disc of Creation to defend themselves, but realized they lacked a way to break it.
• Celestial Venerable Yuanshi called for his disciples to take the four swords while the Sages attacked the formation from four directions.
• Cult Master Tongtian battered Celestial Venerable Yuanshi with his Hunyuan Horsetail Whisk as the Chan Sect disciples failed to reach their master.
• Grand Pure One Laozi froze his opponents outside and entered the formation, followed by Guangchengzi, Chijingzi, and Yuding True Person.
• Guangchengzi and Chijingzi fled behind Grand Pure One Laozi for protection, while Jieyin and Zhunti continued refusing to separate and break the formation.

Cult Master Tongtian’s Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation trapped the four Sages and left Celestial Venerable Yuanshi near defeat. After Yuanshi offered his war merit and Sun and Moon Pill Furnace to persuade the others to act, Tongtian shifted his attacks toward Grand Pure One Laozi.

• Celestial Venerable Yuanshi urged the four Sages to break the formation, but Grand Pure One Laozi could only defend himself and the Chan Sect disciples with the Taiji Diagram.
• Jieyin and Zhunti stayed together beneath the Jade Disc of Creation’s protection because they feared splitting up inside the formation.
• Cult Master Tongtian struck Celestial Venerable Yuanshi with a powerful Sword-Ray, destroying his Good Corpse and Evil Corpse and severing his arm.
• Celestial Venerable Yuanshi offered Jieyin and Zhunti all the merit from the Investiture of the Gods War and promised Grand Pure One Laozi the Sun and Moon Pill Furnace.
• Jieyin and Zhunti considered Yuanshi’s offer as Cult Master Tongtian redirected his murderous intent toward Grand Pure One Laozi.

Cult Master Tongtian opened a passage through the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation so Wen Zhong’s Yin Shang army could fight Jiang Ziya’s Xiqi forces, while Tongtian continued battling the Sages. As the armies clashed, Tongtian spotted a flaw in Grand Pure One Laozi’s defenses and prepared to attack him with two swords.

• Jiang Ziya tried to rush into the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation after seeing Celestial Venerable Yuanshi gravely injured, but the Xiqi army stopped him.
• Wen Zhong arrived with the Yin Shang army and asked Cult Master Tongtian to open a passage so his forces could fight Xiqi.
• At Tongtian’s command, Zhao Gongming and Jinling constructed a passage through the formation, and Wen Zhong led his army through it.
• Shen Gongbao, the Three Xiao Ladies, and other Yin Shang experts joined the battle, while the Six Monsters of Mount Mei helped rout Xiqi’s forces.
• Cult Master Tongtian spotted a flaw in Grand Pure One Laozi’s defenses and summoned the Green Duckweed Sword and the Withered Wood Sword to attack him.

Cult Master Tongtian disrupted Grand Pure One Laozi’s Taiji Diagram with vitality and withered-wood energy, leaving the Chan Sect’s Golden Immortals trapped between the diagram and the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation. The diagram collapsed, and a Sword-Ray pierced Laozi’s chest, leaving him unable to fight.

• Cult Master Tongtian sent the Green Duckweed Sword into the Taiji Diagram, throwing its yin-yang energy into chaos.
• Guangchengzi, Chijingzi, and Yuding True Person tried to flee the diagram but were wounded by the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation and forced back inside.
• The three disciples shifted into the yin half of the Taiji Diagram, where Sha Qi drained their vitality and left them gravely injured.
• Grand Pure One Laozi evaded Tongtian by darting between the diagram’s two poles, unable to save the trapped disciples.
• Tongtian’s swords spun vitality and withered-wood energy through the Taiji Diagram until it collapsed.
• Laozi unleashed his horsetail whisk, but a Sword-Ray pierced his chest; he spat blood, lost his fighting strength, and fell.

Cult Master Tongtian pressed his attack on Jieyin and Zhunti, while the Yin Shang army gained the upper hand outside the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation. A mysterious piece of dead wood disrupted the formation and restored the trapped Sages, who charged to break free.

• Cult Master Tongtian demanded that Jieyin and Zhunti surrender the Jade Disc of Creation, and the two Sages chose to withdraw from the fight.
• Celestial Venerable Yuanshi and Grand Pure One Laozi despaired as the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation continued to threaten them.
• Grand Preceptor Wen's Yin Shang army pushed through west of Golden Rooster Ridge and gained control of the battlefield.
• An ethereal voice sent a piece of dead wood into the formation, causing it to tremble and restoring vitality to the Sages.
• Celestial Venerable Yuanshi recognized a likely intervention by Ancestor Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao, then led the four Sages in a charge to break the formation.

A mysterious power destabilized Cult Master Tongtian’s Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation, allowing the Sages and Golden Immortals to attack its four swords. Cult Master Tongtian recognized Grand Pure One Laozi’s deception and fought to stop him, but Laozi’s Chaos Gourd began drawing in the sword and Tongtian’s spiritual essence.

• A piece of deadwood drifted into the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation, and its arrival caused the formation and the world to waver into chaos.
• Celestial Venerable Yuanshi rallied the attackers as the four Sages and the Golden Immortals rushed toward the formation’s four swords.
• Cult Master Tongtian realized Grand Pure One Laozi had entered with his true body and was heading north to attack the Azure Dragon, so he turned his assault on Laozi.
• Grand Pure One Laozi used a yellow Chaos Gourd to draw away the killing intent and Immortal-Slaying Sword, and its pull began affecting Cult Master Tongtian’s three souls and seven spirits.
• Cult Master Tongtian unleashed a storm of swords against Laozi, rejected his accusation that Tongtian had fallen into the Devil Dao, and intensified his attack as Jiang Ziya watched from outside the formation.

As the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation devastated the battlefield, its outer defenses were breached and its four divine beasts were removed, but a hidden core formation emerged. Cult Master Tongtian unleashed its swords of yin and yang and the five elements, leaving Guangchengzi, Chijingzi, and Yuding True Person gravely wounded.

• Jiang Ziya ordered the Xiqi and Great Zhou army to retreat as Grand Preceptor Wen Zhong led Yin Shang in pursuit.
• Grand Pure One Laozi captured the northern Azure Dragon, and Guiling plugged the resulting gap with her inner world.
• Jieyin and Zhunti captured the western White Tiger and southern Vermilion Bird, while Celestial Venerable Yuanshi swallowed the Black Tortoise.
• After the clouds cleared, the Sages discovered a hidden core formation beneath the four poles, formed from yin and yang and the five elements.
• Cult Master Tongtian launched swords from the core formation, and Guangchengzi, Chijingzi, and Yuding True Person were struck and badly wounded.

Cult Master Tongtian trapped the Sages in the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation and overwhelmed their defenses. He destroyed Grand Pure One Laozi’s Law Artifacts, absorbed him into the formation, and then severely wounded Daoist Jieyin before turning on Daoist Zhunti.

• Guangchengzi and the other Chan Sect Golden Immortals gathered and formed a defensive formation, but the Yin-Yang Five Elements Sword Formation suppressed them.
• Cult Master Tongtian attacked Grand Pure One Laozi with the formation’s swords, destroying his Law Artifacts and absorbing him into the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation.
• Jieyin and Zhunti found themselves trapped and unable to escape the formation.
• Jieyin used the Seven Treasures Miaoshu to try to make a safe zone, but the Withered Wood Sword cracked it and pierced his head, severely wounding him.
• Cult Master Tongtian turned on Zhunti and attacked with the fused Immortal-Slaying Swords, while Zhunti countered with the Western Sect’s palm-leaf fan and its flames.

Cult Master Tongtian broke through Zhunti’s wind-and-fire defense with a water sword, then withdrew the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation before its power ran out. Xiqi celebrated and counterattacked, while Wen Zhong obeyed Tongtian’s warning and retreated because the formation’s final killing move had yet to erupt.

• Cult Master Tongtian found Zhunti’s weakness and pierced him with a water sword, defeating him.
• Cult Master Tongtian withdrew the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation and left before karmic backlash could reach him.
• Grand Pure One Laozi, Jieyin, Zhunti, Yuanshi, and the three Golden Immortals awoke and believed the formation had been broken.
• Jiang Ziya and King Wu of Zhou led the Xiqi army in a counterattack against Wen Zhong and the Yin Shang forces.
• Wen Zhong received Cult Master Tongtian’s warning about the formation’s final killing move and ordered his troops to retreat.

Jiang Ziya found that the missing Xiqi vanguard had been caught in a hidden teleportation formation, where Cult Master Tongtian’s lingering Sword Qi slaughtered the soldiers. While Guiling gathered their possessions, Cult Master Tongtian helped Yin Shang evacuate, and King Wu of Zhou led Xiqi to Chaoge without meeting resistance.

• Jiang Ziya halted the pursuit on Golden Rooster Ridge after discovering that more than half his army had vanished, and he ordered his troops to camp and observe.
• Jiang Ziya summoned the Rooster Patriarch to record the supposed breaking of the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation.
• The missing soldiers were trapped in a space above the battlefield, where Cult Master Tongtian’s Sword Qi slaughtered them as Guiling collected their treasures and bodies.
• Cult Master Tongtian returned to Yin Shang to help evacuate its people to another planet, where they planned to pretend they had been defeated and withdraw quietly.
• King Wu of Zhou ordered Xiqi to pursue the retreating Yin Shang army, and his soldiers advanced unopposed to Chaoge.

Jiang Ziya halted the Xiqi army outside Chaoge as panic over Tongtian’s Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation swept the Primordial World. After the formation was broken and the war resumed, the wounded Sages struggled to understand how it happened until Hongjun appeared at the sound of a bell from the Purple Firmament Palace.

• Jiang Ziya sensed something amiss near Chaoge and stopped the Xiqi army at the city gates.
• Rumors about Tongtian’s deadly sword formation spread, driving ordinary people to flee, abandon their work, or travel to witness the battlefield.
• After hearing that the Tongtian Sword Formation had been broken, people returned to find their crops withered and streams empty, while Jiang Ziya’s men blamed Tongtian.
• Tongtian learned that Nüwa had sent Daoist Wen to destroy the crops and realized he had been framed, but he soon let go of his anger.
• The Investiture of the Gods War resumed as a conflict between Western Zhou and Yin Shang, while Yuanshi, Jieyin, and Zhunti lamented their injuries and wondered how the formation had been broken.
• A bell rang from the Purple Firmament Palace, and Hongjun appeared.

Ancestor Hongjun revealed that Cult Master Tongtian had withdrawn his Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation after grievously injuring his opponents, then ordered him to withdraw Yin Shang to a new world. King Zhou and his people staged a retreat as Western Zhou invaded Chaoge, leaving Jiang Ziya to find the palace empty.

• Ancestor Hongjun told Celestial Venerable Yuanshi that Cult Master Tongtian had withdrawn the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation himself, damaging Yuanshi's, Jieyin's, and Zhunti's Dao hearts.
• Ancestor Hongjun ordered Cult Master Tongtian to withdraw from the contest and take Yin Shang's people to the new world Nüwa had found.
• Cult Master Tongtian sent Shen Gongbao to tell King Zhou that Yin Shang's defeat was certain but its people could escape by faking their deaths.
• King Zhou agreed to the plan and instructed his ministers and generals to put up a brief resistance before retreating.
• Jiang Ziya led Western Zhou's full assault into Chaoge, but Yin Shang's retreating soldiers vanished and he found King Zhou's palace deserted.

Jiang Ziya pursued King Zhou to the Star-Picking Tower, where King Zhou appeared to die with Daji in the fire. Shen Gongbao secretly replaced them with lookalike corpses and escaped, while Jiang Ziya returned to Ji Chang with the bodies and arrived at the palace gates.

• Jiang Ziya learned from a wounded maid that King Zhou had escaped through a secret passage leading to the Star-Picking Tower, then followed her to its entrance.
• Jiang Ziya and his army surrounded King Zhou, Daji, and Shen Gongbao at the Star-Picking Tower after King Zhou sent his trusted followers away.
• King Zhou set the tower ablaze and leaped from it with Daji, while Shen Gongbao secretly substituted two lookalike corpses and fled with them to a new world.
• Jiang Ziya's aides found two unrecognizable bodies in the ashes, and Jiang Ziya ordered them carried to Ji Chang as proof of King Zhou's death.
• Jiang Ziya and his aides reached Ji Chang's palace, and a gate guard sent a soldier to inform the king.