The Number One Demon of the Chan Sect

The Number One Demon of the Chan Sect is a primordial-fantasy and Investiture of the Gods-themed web novel by the author Panda Can't Sing, serialized on Qidian in 2013 and completed in May 2014, with 340 chapters and roughly 2.1 million characters in the main text. The protagonist, Li Qingming, is reborn in the primordial era at the dawn of chaos, transformed into a mutant panda; by chance he devours the Bitter Bamboo, one of the ten innate spiritual roots, gains an ancient inheritance, and acquires a spiritual treasure. He later climbs Mount Buzhou and, at the foot of Mount Kunlun, becomes a disciple of Yuanshi Tianzun, severs his karma, survives the tribulation of taking human form, and becomes the most unconventional 'demon' among the Chan Sect's disciples, setting out on the road to becoming the 'Number One Demon of the Three Sects.' The work's signature pleasure lies in the protagonist's 'research habit' with the Three Pure Ones' treasures: he borrows the Purple-Gold Eight Trigrams Furnace from Taiqing Laozi, the Pangu Banner from Yuanshi Tianzun, and the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation from Tongtian Jiaozhu to study, leaving the Three Pure Ones at a loss between laughter and tears as they join forces to demand their return, while Li Qingming cheerfully says he will study them for ten million years before giving them back. The book runs from the Primordial Calamity through the Calamity of Demons and Monsters, the Great Investiture War, and the Road to Heaven, weaving the rivalry of the three sects, innate spiritual treasures, merit, and fortune into the grand framework of primordial myth, in a light and humorous style that still has no shortage of great battles and intrigue; it is one of the completed older works often mentioned by fans of the primordial-fantasy genre.