Chapter Summaries

Zhang Ming continued overseeing the Town Martial Division and questioned Hou Zhong about his long-unhealed injuries before heading out to sea in search of electric rays. After finally finding a school, he guided them to a deserted island and stayed behind to care for them.

• Zhang Ming visited Hou Zhong with wine and indirectly warned him against acting recklessly while asking about injuries that remained unhealed for more than ten years.
• Zhang Ming spent several more days searching the seabed for water-and-electricity-type Pokemon.
• Zhang Ming identified a school of electric rays with his Momentum and used the Dopamine Mind Control Method to guide them toward shallow water.
• Zhang Ming told Old Li to leave supplies on the deserted island and return at noon each day, then watched the fishing boat depart.

Zhang Ming used Demon Blood Fruits and the Dopamine Mind Control Method to strengthen and tame a school of electric rays, planning to study them later. After several days, he decided to leave the rays to grow and return to Menliang City to give his younger brother a prepared treasure.

• Zhang Ming fed Demon Blood Fruits to the sixteen electric rays and observed their bodies begin to grow stronger.
• Zhang Ming planned to combine the fruits, beast-taming records, and the Dopamine Mind Control Method to make the rays completely devoted to him.
• Several days later, Zhang Ming sparred underwater with the now over-three-meter-long electric rays and saw how much their strength and intelligence had improved.
• Zhang Ming concluded the rays' favorability was maxed out, gave them another Demon Blood Fruit each, and decided to return to Menliang City with a treasure for his younger brother.

Zhang Ming returned to Menliang City, tested his perfected Dopamine Mind Control Method on Jin Gu and the Town Martial Division’s constables, and rewarded the constables for their work. Xu Yuanlong remained puzzled by Zhang Ming’s preparations and planned to investigate the deserted island himself.

• Xu Yuanlong reviewed reports about Zhang Ming’s unusual devices, medicinal supplies, and stay on a barren island, then decided to inspect the island himself.
• Zhang Ming returned to Menliang City and confirmed that Jin Gu had prepared twice the requested supplies.
• Zhang Ming used the Dopamine Mind Control Method on Jin Gu while praising him and promising martial medicines, noticeably strengthening Jin Gu’s attitude toward him.
• Zhang Ming imprinted the method on all sixty-six constables at the Town Martial Division and gave a speech promising rewards.
• The constables cheered when Zhang Ming announced rewards, and he had chests of gold, silver, and jewels brought before them.

Zhang Ming rewarded his constables and used the Dopamine Mind Control Method to turn informants from several factions into loyal agents who would pass along intelligence he chose. Meanwhile, Zhang Jingcheng returned to Menliang City with Luo Lan and Zhu Miaoyin after surviving a dangerous mission, and planned to introduce them to Zhang Ming.

• Zhang Ming distributed gold and silver rewards to the constables, strengthening their cohesion while noting several suspicious members.
• Zhang Jingcheng returned from the pirate-hunting mission with Luo Lan and Zhu Miaoyin, and said they would stay in Menliang City so Zhang Ming could help them improve their cultivation and Martial Skills.
• Several constables confessed that they were informants for different factions, including the City Lord's Manor, the Ten Absolute Sect, and the Imperial Dark Guard.
• Zhang Ming learned that the Imperial Dark Guard had sent its informant to assess the Menliang City Garrison and monitor the Ten Absolute Sect and the city.
• Zhang Ming forgave the informants, ordered them to pass on only the intelligence he supplied, and rewarded them after using the Dopamine Mind Control Method to secure their loyalty.

After seeing the Dopamine Mind Control Method brainwash spies, Zhang Ming considered making bolder plans. When his younger brother Zhang Jingcheng returned with his two wives, Zhang Ming gave them Earth Marrow as a test of their intentions, leaving Zhang Jingcheng to decide whether to return to them and face the test.

• Zhang Ming reflected on the Dopamine Mind Control Method's power and began considering more reckless plans.
• Zhang Ming welcomed Zhang Jingcheng, who introduced his wives, Luo Lan and Zhu Miaoyin, and explained that he had chosen to be with both of them.
• Zhang Ming gave Luo Lan and Zhu Miaoyin jade bottles of Earth Marrow as gifts.
• Zhang Jingcheng followed Zhang Ming and protested that testing his wives was unfair because they truly loved one another.
• Zhang Ming insisted that he had to test them as the eldest son of the Zhang Family and urged Zhang Jingcheng to return to them and face the outcome.

Zhang Ming visited Xu Yuanlong and used gifts and flattery to improve the City Lord’s opinion of him, beginning his grand plan. He then prepared to use a miniature Gathering Yin Zombie Array and an operation to help Zhang Jingcheng reach the peak of the Innate Realm within a year.

• Zhang Ming visited Xu Yuanlong at the City Lord’s Manor and presented him with ten thousand taels of silver, winning his favor.
• Zhang Ming returned to the Town Martial Division, where Zhang Jingcheng said he believed Lan'er and Miao'er would pass Zhang Ming’s test.
• Zhang Ming led Zhang Jingcheng to a strange, bloodstained room and revealed that his promised gift was there.
• Zhang Ming knocked Zhang Jingcheng unconscious, laid him on the white bed, and arranged instruments into a circular array.
• Zhang Ming used his blood to complete a miniature Gathering Yin Zombie Array and prepared to operate on Zhang Jingcheng.

Zhang Ming explained that he had given Zhang Jingcheng an autonomous Cultivation Method and used an array during his recovery, then promised to let him study arrays after he pursued the Sect Master position. Zhang Ming later considered how to use Xu Yuanlong’s favorability and official support to extend his influence across Menliang City.

• Zhang Jingcheng woke in a room covered with strange objects and learned that Zhang Ming had knocked him out.
• Zhang Ming explained that the objects formed an array and that the Cultivation Method inside Zhang Jingcheng’s body would strengthen him automatically.
• Zhang Ming told Zhang Jingcheng to focus on reaching Grandmaster and becoming Sect Master of the Ten Absolute Sect, while promising him books on arrays later.
• Zhang Ming visited the Town Martial Division training grounds and used his favorability-raising method to strengthen the constables’ loyalty.
• Zhang Ming planned to gain Xu Yuanlong’s favor and status-backed support so he could influence Menliang City, and wondered whether an amplifier could help him reach more people.

Zhang Ming reviewed his growing influence and research progress, then devised two ways to multiply his ability to work: a Human Brain Computer and the Spirit Splitting Method. He decided to pursue both plans at once, leaving his other research to fall further behind.

• Zhang Ming strengthened his ties with City Lord Xu Yuanlong, made the yamen constables utterly loyal, and helped his brother and sisters-in-law improve their martial skills.
• Zhang Ming mastered most of the Ten Absolute Sect techniques and Cultivation Methods his relatives knew, allowing him to pass as a member of Wuji Peak.
• Zhang Ming considered recruiting researchers or creating clones, but dismissed both as impractical for now.
• Zhang Ming conceived a Human Brain Computer by removing interference from a person's brain and using it as a computing core.
• Zhang Ming devised the Spirit Splitting Method to separate his thoughts into additional versions of himself without creating separate bodies.
• Zhang Ming decided to research the Human Brain Computer and Spirit Splitting Method simultaneously, despite the likely years of work and delays to his other projects.

Chen Chen abandoned his plans for an ordinary life and devoted himself to helping Great Teacher of Benevolence Zhang Ming build an ideal kingdom. Zhang Ming had spread the Yellow Turban doctrine through Menliang City and begun shaping the city’s administration according to its teachings.

• Chen Chen resolved to follow Zhang Ming and help create the Yellow Heaven Kingdom rather than settle for a quiet life as a landlord.
• Zhang Ming preached to a large crowd in Menliang City, whose listeners praised Yellow Heaven and the Great Teacher of Benevolence after he left.
• Zhang Ming reflected that his plan to influence Menliang City’s upper ranks and common people was nearly complete, with the Yellow Turbans serving as his chosen method.
• Zhang Ming adapted the Yellow Turban doctrine to promote kindness, hard work, confidence, and belief in reincarnation and moral repayment, while concealing followers’ deep loyalty to him.
• Many Menliang residents and some Ten Absolute Sect disciples had accepted the doctrine, and Zhang Ming expected the disciples to spread it to their hometowns.
• With Xu Yulong’s cooperation, Zhang Ming began taking part in Menliang City’s administration and building the ideal kingdom described by the Yellow Turban doctrine.

Zhang Ming examined the newly built underground Laboratory, where he had preserved living human brains for his Human Brain Computer research. He admitted that key challenges remained and visited the enormous bioelectric organ of his half-Demon Beast Electric Ray.

• Zhang Ming reflected that his Dopamine Mind Control Method had only made Old Master Hou Zhong friendlier, since Grandmaster experts resisted its effects.
• Zhang Ming surveyed the underground Laboratory and saw living human brains preserved in glass cabinets.
• Zhang Ming explained that his team had developed techniques to extract brains intact and maintain their vitality, but he still had no solution for clearing their thoughts and distractions.
• Zhang Ming struck a brain's glass cabinet and wondered whether the preserved brain still contained its owner's consciousness or soul.
• Zhang Ming entered another room and examined the enormous bioelectricity-generating organ of his half-Demon Beast, the Electric Ray.

Zhang Ming used an Electric Ray’s organ to build and test a crude Electromagnetic Cannon, then considered how to improve its power with better projectiles, coils, and battery storage. He set aside plans to reproduce electric organs within the Hundred Beasts Art until his Human Brain Computer and Spirit Splitting Technique research made progress.

• Zhang Ming removed the electric organ from the largest Electric Ray, knowing it would survive and regrow the organ with Demon Blood Fruits.
• Zhang Ming tested the electric organ’s current on himself and found it barely affected his strengthened body.
• Zhang Ming used his intent to charge and fire an iron bead with a hand-crafted Electromagnetic Cannon, piercing the stone floor and burying the projectile more than ten meters underground.
• Zhang Ming judged the cannon too weak for use against Grandmasters and noted improvements to its projectile, coils, structure, and electricity supply.
• Zhang Ming considered storing electricity in batteries and using it to power stronger attacks, then postponed research into an electric-organ cultivation method until his other projects advanced.

Zhang Ming realized that developing the Spirit Splitting Technique required knowledge of souls and will, and his thoughts turned toward the Ten Absolute Sect. In Liangguang, King Guang used the Heavenly Fate Pearl to identify the Five Poisons Cult as his next target, though he could not understand why it mattered.

• Zhang Ming considered how the Human Brain Computer might help with the Spirit Splitting Technique and concluded that he needed broader research on souls and will.
• King Guang recalled how the Heavenly Fate Pearl had failed to reveal anything about the destruction of the Hundred Beasts Sect, prompting him to expand his forces over the past year.
• After inspecting his ten-thousand-strong Divine Martial Army, King Guang burned fate to ask the Heavenly Fate Pearl where he should strike next.
• The Heavenly Fate Pearl named the Five Poisons Cult, surprising King Guang because he considered it weaker and less important than the other major forces in Liangguang.
• King Guang reviewed the Five Poisons Cult's reputation and history, then asked the Heavenly Fate Pearl what it possessed that he urgently needed.

Huang Xin decided to investigate the Five Poisons Cult’s destruction, suspecting King Guang sought a hidden treasure there. As the cult came under attack, Chen Zheng fled toward its treasury to loot it, where he found that someone had already killed several disciples and entered ahead of him.

• Huang Xin recalled that King Guang had destroyed the Five Poisons Cult and wondered what object he had been searching for, then resolved to get involved.
• Several days later, a mysterious force attacked the Five Poisons Cult and besieged its Cult Master and patriarchs.
• Chen Zheng asked Elder Yao what to do, then chose to escape the battle and raid the cult’s treasury.
• Huang Xin also planned to take advantage of the fighting while the attackers and cult battled.
• Chen Zheng reached the treasury cave and found corpses outside and dozens more dead inside, including Innate Realm experts and Grandmasters.

Huang Xin confronted Chen Zheng in the Five Poisons Cult treasury and discovered that Elder Yao had taken over Chen Zheng’s body. Huang Xin unleashed the Heavenly Demon Dismantling Great Method, drawing King Guang toward the battle.

• Chen Zheng used the Invisibility Technique to enter the treasury and seek its resources.
• Huang Xin sensed Chen Zheng, struck at him, and exposed him when he dodged and lost his invisibility.
• Elder Yao took control of Chen Zheng’s body, and Huang Xin realized he was facing a different person.
• Huang Xin identified Elder Yao as an old Body Seizure monster and unleashed the Heavenly Demon Dismantling Great Method.
• King Guang saw the energy flare, suspected a Martial Saint had appeared, and rushed toward it with the Heavenly Fate Pearl.
• Huang Xin amplified his strength and shouted for Chen Zheng to die.

Zhang Ming reunited with Zhang Jingcheng in Menliang City and learned his brother still wanted to become the Ten Absolute Sect’s sect master despite the patriarch nearing death. Zhang Ming revealed he had known about the succession crisis for a year and began explaining a three-step plan, starting with helping Zhang Jingcheng become a Grandmaster.

• Zhang Ming welcomed Zhang Jingcheng back to Menliang City and praised him for reaching the innate limit and winning the Ten Absolute Sect’s grand tournament.
• Zhang Jingcheng recounted his rise in the sect, while Zhang Ming listened and reflected on his stalled research.
• Zhang Ming asked Zhang Jingcheng whether he remembered their plan for him to become sect master.
• Zhang Jingcheng warned Zhang Ming that the Ten Absolute Sect’s patriarch was nearing death and other forces might be watching for a chance to interfere.
• Zhang Ming admitted he had known about the patriarch’s condition for a year and began laying out a three-step plan, starting with helping Zhang Jingcheng become a Grandmaster.

Zhang Ming explained his plan to help Zhang Jingcheng reach Grandmaster, then impersonate the Ten Absolute Sect's patriarch so Zhang Jingcheng could become sect leader. After a dangerous experiment in an underground Laboratory, Zhang Jingcheng successfully broke through and proposed using the method to win the loyalty of other Warriors.

• Zhang Ming told Zhang Jingcheng that hypnosis and an array could activate the pineal gland and give him a high chance of breaking through to Grandmaster.
• Zhang Ming proposed that after Zhang Jingcheng's breakthrough, he would deal with the Ten Absolute Sect's patriarch and impersonate him to support Zhang Jingcheng's rise to sect leader.
• After several days of examinations, Zhang Ming began the experiment with Zhang Jingcheng in an underground Laboratory in Menliang City.
• Zhang Ming hypnotized Zhang Jingcheng and activated the Gathering Yin Zombie Array, while Zhang Jingcheng endured hours of pain and struggle.
• A powerful force destroyed the array and its equipment as Zhang Jingcheng broke through to Grandmaster, and Zhang Ming congratulated him.
• Zhang Jingcheng suggested using the breakthrough method to recruit Warriors at the innate limit and strengthen his influence in the sect.

After the battle at the Five Poisons Cult, Chen Zheng, King Guang, and Huang Xin recovered from their injuries and reflected on what had happened. King Guang learned why the others had attacked him, while Huang Xin set his sights on King Guang’s fate and accelerated his plan to claim the Huang Family leadership.

• Chen Zheng recovered in a cave in the Northwest Desert and vowed to take revenge on the two men who had defeated him.
• King Guang recalled how the blond Martial Saint and a Five Poisons Cult youth had turned against him, then used the Heavenly Fate Pearl to learn why they attacked.
• Huang Xin recovered at the Huang Family estate and concluded that King Guang’s fate was a valuable power he intended to seize.
• Huang Xin decided that all those opposing his becoming family head must die within one month.

Zhang Ming poisoned and killed the Ten Absolute Sect's ancestor, then transformed himself into the ancestor's likeness. He set out to find Zhang Jingcheng and plunder the Ten Absolute Sect's collection for the Spirit Splitting Technique.

• Zhang Ming received Zhang Jingcheng's letter revealing the Ten Absolute Sect ancestor's secluded location.
• The Ten Absolute Sect ancestor considered trading Zhang Jingcheng's life to the Li Family for a life-extending secret art.
• Zhang Ming's Super Mixed Corpse Poison infiltrated the underground palace and killed the ancestor within seconds.
• Zhang Ming collected the ancestor's corpse and preserved his head in mysterious liquid for his Human Brain Computer project.
• Zhang Ming changed his appearance and voice to impersonate the ancestor, then planned to visit Zhang Jingcheng and search the Ten Absolute Sect's stores.

Zhang Ming summoned Ten Absolute Sect’s Grandmasters and announced that Jiang Zhuang would be dismissed, with the strongest member of the younger generation to become sect leader in three days. The factions reacted with shock and hostility, while Zhang Jingcheng emerged as the clear successor; Zhang Ming silenced objections with his Great Grandmaster pressure.

• Zhang Ming summoned the sect’s Grandmasters to the main hall, and Zhang Jingcheng concluded that his elder brother had succeeded in his plan.
• Zhang Ming surveyed the Grandmasters and recognized the rival factions led by Suiyun Peak and Jiang Zhuang, Wuji Peak, and the neutral members.
• Zhang Ming announced that Jiang Zhuang would be dismissed and that the strongest member of the younger generation would succeed as sect leader in three days.
• The Grandmasters recognized Zhang Jingcheng as the likely successor, while Wuji Peak celebrated and Suiyun Peak’s faction reacted with dismay and hostility.
• A Suiyun Peak Grandmaster challenged the decision, and Zhang Ming pressured the hall with his Great Grandmaster presence before asking who else objected.

Zhang Ming confirmed Zhang Jingcheng as the Ten Absolute Sect’s next sect master and searched the sect’s records for material to fuel the Spirit Splitting Technique. Jiang Zhuang began plotting a desperate response, while Zhang Jingcheng privately rejected Wuji Peak’s claim that he was one of their own and thought of his brother and the stars beyond this world.

• Zhang Ming dismissed Jiang Zhuang as sect master, appointed Zhang Jingcheng to succeed him, and left the Grandmasters to discuss the pressure of his presence.
• Zhang Ming examined the Ten Absolute Sect’s treasures, took interest in the Yellow Millet Fruit, and searched its records for fuel for the Spirit Splitting Technique.
• At Suiyun Peak, Jiang Zhuang rejected his followers’ suggestions and decided they had only one path left to stop Zhang Jingcheng from taking the position.
• Han Tan warned Zhang Jingcheng to stay alert for Suiyun Peak’s retaliation and assured him Wuji Peak would support him.
• After leaving Han Tan’s study, Zhang Jingcheng reflected that his master and fellow disciples had treated him differently after his brother helped him grow stronger, and wondered about the universe and its stars.