Chapter Summaries

Zhang Jingcheng became the Ten Absolute Sect's new sect master while Zhang Ming investigated reports that the Five Poisons Cult had been destroyed and considered the danger to Yang City. Days later, the patriarchs of the Four Great Families arrived at the sect and called out the Ten Absolute Sect's patriarch, leaving their intentions unclear.

• Zhang Jingcheng displayed Grandmaster-level strength, won the sect master selection without fighting, and took the position with Zhang Ming's support.
• Zhang Ming learned that the Five Poisons Cult had been wiped out and suspected King Guang, deciding to monitor Liangguang while avoiding a premature choice of sides.
• The major Martial Saint powers investigated the Five Poisons Cult's destruction, but King Guang had erased traces that could reveal what happened.
• Several days after Zhang Jingcheng's succession, the patriarchs of the Four Great Families appeared above the Ten Absolute Sect and called for its patriarch, prompting alarm among the sect's Grandmasters.

Disguised as the Ten Absolute Sect's ancestor, Zhang Ming drove off four Great Grandmasters who proposed an alliance, then worried that a fight would have exposed him. Jiang Zhuang watched the encounter and, convinced the ancestor was bluffing, fed on human hearts while plotting to grow stronger.

• Zhang Ming faced four Great Grandmasters from Jiangnan's great families and refused to explain his actions.
• The four proposed an alliance after the Five Poisons Cult was wiped out, but Zhang Ming rejected it and threatened to fight them.
• The four left without fighting, and Zhang Ming admitted he might have been exposed if they had exchanged blows.
• Jiang Zhuang watched the confrontation and suspected the Ten Absolute Sect's ancestor had become stronger or found a way to extend his life.
• Jiang Zhuang ate preserved hearts and praised the Blood Demon Sect's cultivation method, believing that more blood would help him break through.

Zhang Ming expanded the Yellow Turbans and tested a method to activate the pineal glands of aging Warriors seeking to break through to Grandmaster. In the depths of his Laboratory, he inspected hundreds of artificially activated brains and confronted the Human Brain Computer’s uniquely responsive central brain, which he called his Ancestor.

• The Yellow Turbans grew to several hundred thousand followers, including most of the Ten Absolute Sect’s lower-ranking and ordinary Warrior disciples.
• Zhang Ming led four innate-limit Warriors into separate rooms, where he placed them in secret-medicine pools and sent them into hypnotic scenarios to try to trigger breakthroughs.
• Zhang Ming inspected hundreds of brains whose pineal glands he had activated slightly as research for connecting brains in parallel in the Human Brain Computer.
• The central brain reacted to Zhang Ming’s arrival by thrashing against its container, and Zhang Ming addressed it as his Ancestor.

Zhang Ming continued developing the Human Brain Computer by clearing the Ten Absolute Sect ancestor’s preserved brain, while reflecting on the limits of [Ignite Comprehension]. Three of four Ten Absolute Sect Warriors became Grandmasters and joined the Yellow Turbans, leaving the last breakthrough unsuccessful.

• Zhang Ming used the Emotion Clearing Technique repeatedly to erase the Ten Absolute Sect ancestor’s remaining consciousness and prepare its brain for the Human Brain Computer.
• Zhang Ming estimated that the Human Brain Computer was eighty percent complete and the Spirit Splitting Technique forty percent complete, and wondered whether his Golden Finger was meant to create a stronger one.
• The first Ten Absolute Sect Warrior to emerge had become a Grandmaster, and Zhang Ming used the Dopamine Mind Control Method to make him join the Yellow Turban Cult.
• Two more rooms opened, revealing that three of the four Warriors had successfully become Grandmasters.
• Zhang Ming told the three new Grandmasters that their sect ancestor and current sect master were Yellow Turban Celestial Masters, then tasked them with strengthening the sect’s Yellow Turban forces and following their sect master’s arrangements.

After Zhang Jingcheng discovered that Ten Absolute Sect disciples had been disappearing, he sought help from Zhang Ming, who traced the trouble to a Blood Demon Sect-style blood pool beneath Suiyun Peak. Zhang Ming recorded the pool’s techniques and pondered why no devil cult Martial Saint had ever appeared in martial history.

• Zhang Jingcheng learned that Innate disciples and a Grandmaster had vanished, suspected Jiang Zhuang was involved, and rushed to the back mountain to find Zhang Ming.
• Zhang Ming scanned Suiyun Peak with his powerful intent, found several abnormal points, and told Zhang Jingcheng he would handle the accidents.
• Zhang Ming traveled to an underground chamber on Suiyun Peak and found a blood pool surrounded by signs of the Blood Demon Sect.
• Zhang Ming studied and memorized the blood pool’s preservation and refinement techniques, then identified the sect that had inspired its construction.
• Zhang Ming recalled the Blood Demon Sect and other devil cults that used human remains and desire as cultivation resources, and wondered why none had produced a known Martial Saint.

Zhang Ming considered ways to develop a new martial path before confronting Jiang Zhuang in the Underground Fortress. After poisoning and suppressing Jiang Zhuang, Zhang Ming left him helpless and unconscious.

• Zhang Ming reflected on his slowed progress as a Great Grandmaster and wrote down ideas for new martial paths drawn from nature rather than demonic cultivation.
• Zhang Ming sensed Jiang Zhuang returning and waited beside the blood pool instead of hiding his entry through the pit.
• Jiang Zhuang mistook Zhang Ming, disguised as the Ten Absolute Sect's old ancestor, for someone seeking the Blood Demon Sect's inheritance and offered to trade its lifespan method for five Grandmaster corpses.
• Zhang Ming triggered poison already inside Jiang Zhuang and trapped him with overwhelming Great Grandmaster Momentum.
• Jiang Zhuang's Vital Energy rapidly drained as the poison and pressure overcame him, and he lost consciousness.

Zhang Ming consolidated his younger brother Zhang Jingcheng’s control of the Ten Absolute Sect while investigating the Blood Demon True Scripture taken from Jiang Zhuang. He concluded that the scripture was bait set by an unknown Martial Saint and began preparing the sect’s defenses against the person behind it.

• Zhang Jingcheng blamed Jiang Zhuang for the sect’s deaths, secured authority over the Ten Absolute Sect, and received support from newly advanced Grandmasters and the Yellow Turbans.
• Zhang Ming studied Jiang Zhuang’s preserved brain and recovered memories revealing the Blood Demon True Scripture and information about the Blood Demon Sect.
• Zhang Ming concluded that the Blood Demon Sect and related Demonic Path organizations were likely bait designed to cultivate powerful targets for an unknown Martial Saint.
• Zhang Ming examined the scripture’s hidden blood-crystal siphoning and estimated that its stored energy would grow as its practitioners matured.
• Worried that killing Jiang Zhuang had disrupted the angler’s plans, Zhang Ming left the laboratory to fortify the surrounding terrain and prepare the Ten Absolute Sect’s defenses.

Zhang Ming strengthened Terrain Advantage against a possible Martial Saint while King Guang struggled with a string of attacks on his plans and forces. After his fortune recovered enough, King Guang used the Heavenly Fate Pearl to identify who had been targeting him.

• Zhang Ming replied to Li Yan while withholding sensitive information about the Ten Absolute Sect and continued building defenses for Terrain Advantage.
• Zhang Ming constructed a vast Gathering Yin Zombie Array, stored energy for weapons, and built underground passages to the sea for escape and access to Electric Ray demons.
• King Guang returned from destroying the Five Poisons Cult without finding its treasure and spent most of his fortune investigating what had happened.
• King Guang prepared to invade Shu Land, but his grain stores were burned, important figures were assassinated, and vital industries were destroyed.
• King Guang sent Great Grandmasters after the suspected attackers, but three of them died without a sound, leaving him fearful that a Martial Saint might be involved.
• After his fortune recovered, King Guang burned it through the Heavenly Fate Pearl to discover who had been opposing him.

Huang Xin used the karmic connection he had built with King Guang to find him and kill him before he could escape. Huang Xin captured King Guang’s head and discovered an unharmed sphere among the remains.

• Huang Xin sensed King Guang using fortune to identify him and used their deepened karmic connection to locate him in Liangguang.
• King Guang realized Huang Xin could find him, fled his cave, and abandoned his accumulated treasures.
• Huang Xin caught up with King Guang and struck him down with Flowing Light Slash before he could explain himself.
• Huang Xin sealed King Guang’s consciousness in his severed head and noticed an intact sphere among the pieces of his body.

Huang Xin used the Heavenly Fate Pearl to absorb King Guang’s memories and decided to take his place, beginning plans to conquer Shu and Jiangnan. Meanwhile, Zhang Ming successfully activated his human brain computer and connected it directly to his will.

• Huang Xin learned that the Heavenly Fate Pearl could use fortune and discovered that his own fortune was about one-third of King Guang’s.
• Huang Xin burned fortune to absorb every memory from King Guang’s preserved head.
• Huang Xin transformed to look like King Guang and announced that his army would enter Shu in three days before moving on Jiangnan.
• Zhang Ming initiated the first test run of his human brain computer after more than a year of work.
• Zhang Ming successfully activated the brain computer’s central cores and connected its high-energy distortion field to his mind.

King Guang’s forces rapidly pacified Shu Land while the Great Zhou court assembled an army under the Duke of Wu and fortified Jiangnan. At the Ten Absolute Sect, Zhang Ming agreed that its Great Grandmasters would be compelled to join the imperial forces, but he predicted the court’s army would eventually be defeated.

• King Guang raised a rebellion against the emperor and conquered Shu Land in a month, defeating or winning the surrender of its rebel forces and powerful clans.
• The Great Zhou court appointed the Duke of Wu to command five hundred thousand Armored Soldiers, who traveled to Jiangnan and built defensive lines.
• After restoring order in Shu Land, King Guang regrouped his army and prepared to advance on Jiangnan.
• Duke of Wu demanded that Jiangnan’s martial forces join the campaign and that all its Great Grandmasters report to the army.
• Zhang Jingcheng asked Zhang Ming how the Ten Absolute Sect should respond, and Zhang Ming agreed that they had to participate.
• Zhang Ming judged the imperial army poorly equipped, undermanned, and corrupt, and predicted that King Guang’s forces would defeat it unless a miracle or Martial Saint intervened.

Zhang Ming ignored the Duke of Wu’s message and focused on studying the Demon Beast electric rays, using his Human Brain Computer to accelerate his research. He expected to complete the Electric Ray Art within a month and aimed to develop energy-based techniques beyond simple physical combat.

• Zhang Ming told Zhang Jingcheng to retreat if his task became impossible, then dismissed the Duke of Wu’s message as unimportant.
• Zhang Ming examined a Demon Beast electric ray’s blue-crystal electric organ and considered how its transformation complicated the Electric Ray Art.
• Zhang Ming connected to his Human Brain Computer, which processed his research at roughly the same capacity as [Ignite Comprehension] and could run continuously.
• Zhang Ming predicted he would complete the Electric Ray Art within a month and reach Current Propulsion.
• Zhang Ming entered the laboratory to continue his experiments, preferring to develop elegant energy attacks such as an electromagnetic cannon over hand-to-hand combat.

King Guang’s victories brought Jiangnan and Southern Jing under his control, while Zhang Ming’s Ten Absolute Sect submitted and gained territory. As Zhang Jingcheng urged Zhang Ming to expand their power, Zhang Ming explained that he would wait for greater strength and for another condition before pursuing the world.

• King Guang’s army defeated the court’s resistance, and Duke of Wu defected, allowing King Guang to occupy Jiangnan and then Southern Jing.
• Zhang Ming advised Zhang Jingcheng that the Ten Absolute Sect should submit to King Guang rather than challenge the court’s Martial Saints.
• King Guang rewarded the Ten Absolute Sect’s submission by expanding its territory and placing nearby cities under its rule.
• Zhang Jingcheng urged Zhang Ming to expand the sect’s domain gradually, but Zhang Ming asked him whose world they hoped to rule.
• Zhang Ming told Zhang Jingcheng that the world belonged to the strong and that defeating the court’s Martial Saints would not alone ensure better rule for the common people.

Zhang Ming told Zhang Jingcheng that Menliang City was meant to cultivate people capable of stabilizing and improving the world, while Huang Xin secretly used the Heavenly Fate Pearl to strengthen King Guang’s regime. After sensing an unexplained loss, Zhang Ming suspected something had happened involving King Guang and called for more intelligence.

• Zhang Ming told Zhang Jingcheng that he needed to wait for Menliang City to cultivate enough talent to lead the world, and Zhang Jingcheng realized the Yellow Turbans’ education efforts were part of a larger plan.
• Zhang Ming said he preferred to seize power while reforming society, rather than taking the risk of delaying progress until afterward.
• In Jinling, Huang Xin inspected the Heavenly Fate Pearl and celebrated the fortune accumulated by King Guang’s forces.
• Huang Xin considered whether he could kill Zhang Ming, but his eagerness abruptly vanished as he prepared to burn fortune through the pearl.
• Zhang Ming sensed that something had changed, searched the area with his intent, and found no immediate cause for his unease.
• Zhang Ming suspected the disturbance was connected to King Guang and decided the Yellow Turbans should gather more intelligence.

Zhang Ming tested his new Electric Ray Art by transplanting cloned electric organs into ten Innate Martial Artists. All ten surgeries succeeded, and the subjects began cultivating the art, leaving Zhang Ming with a successful first trial.

• Zhang Ming gathered ten Innate Martial Artists and explained that the new Electric Ray Art required transplanted electric organs to reach its full power.
• Zhang Ming used his improved Dopamine Mind Control Method to secure the volunteers’ eager consent, then led them into the operating room.
• Zhang Ming transplanted cloned electric organs into the first subject and used Earth Marrow to heal the surgical wound.
• The first subject successfully cultivated the Electric Ray Art, producing powerful blue lightning through his body.
• Zhang Ming completed the other nine transplants, achieving a one hundred percent success rate as all ten subjects began cultivating the art.

Zhang Ming tested the power of newly trained electromagnetic martial artists and learned that their Martial Saint-tier techniques let Innate Warriors rival Grandmasters. Months later, as King Guang and the imperial court prepared for war, Zhang Ming suspected King Guang’s widespread temples and reforms had a hidden purpose and wondered if he was a transmigrator.

• Zhang Ming watched two disciples use electromagnetic techniques to devastate the mountains, then called them back and told them to keep practicing.
• Zhang Jingcheng was astonished that the fighters were still Innate Martial Artists, and Zhang Ming explained that their exceptional cultivation method and martial skills accounted for their strength.
• Zhang Jingcheng asked to learn the techniques, and Zhang Ming agreed after further testing confirmed they had no adverse effects.
• Over several months, King Guang consolidated the southern provinces, while the imperial court gathered forces in the north and both sides prepared for conflict.
• Zhang Ming examined intelligence reports about temples built for King Guang throughout the south and suspected they served a purpose beyond worship.
• Zhang Ming wondered whether King Guang was a transmigrator.

Zhang Ming investigated an ordinary-looking King Guang Temple, then reviewed the latest findings from five of the Ten Absolute Sect’s laboratories and corrected their research plans. He reflected on the long effort to train researchers and organize his many projects, just as circumstances began to improve.

• Zhang Ming used the Earth Magnetic Movement Art to travel to a small town and inspect its King Guang Temple, but found nothing unusual inside or out.
• The heads of the Second through Sixth Laboratories presented their research reports to Zhang Ming.
• Zhang Ming pointed out errors in the reports, warned the Third Laboratory against rushing into large-scale human experiments, and ordered the researchers to keep improving their cultivation.
• Zhang Ming told the laboratory heads to address his feedback and return with improved reports the next month.
• After they left, Zhang Ming recalled how he had trained researchers to help study his many projects, and noted that events had begun to take a turn for the better.

Zhang Ming used the Memory Transfer Technique to train researchers and expand his laboratories, then planned improved biological computers. With the Spirit Splitting Technique’s experiments showing promising results, he began cultivating it himself in a specially prepared room.

• Zhang Ming used selective memory transfers to train several hundred researchers and establish the Second through Sixth Laboratories.
• Zhang Ming planned weakened Human Brain Computers for the laboratories and considered cultivating a giant organism as a future computer.
• Zhang Ming prioritized the Spirit Splitting Technique, whose research had advanced after the Human Brain Computer project increased his research capacity.
• Zhang Ming inspected a Grandmaster test subject whose rapidly shifting personalities were part of the experiment and judged the results ready for a trial.
• Zhang Ming prepared himself and the cultivation room, then began practicing the Spirit Splitting Technique, confident after extensive simulations and successful experiments.

Huang Xin conquered the Great Zhou capital, took the throne as Emperor Guang, and secretly eliminated the imperial family’s Martial Saints. After celebrating with his confidantes, he prepared to use the Heavenly Fate Pearl to grow stronger.

• King Guang’s army broke through the Heaven River defenses, captured the northern provinces, and encircled the capital until the old emperor died and the gates opened.
• King Guang entered the capital and became the new emperor, while Huang Xin continued to disguise himself as Emperor Guang.
• Huang Xin visited the imperial clan ancestral temple, killed three of the four old ancestors, and controlled the fourth.
• Huang Xin learned that his vast fortune could help him advance beyond Martial Saint, then summoned his confidantes to the palace and spent the night with them.
• At dawn, Huang Xin took out the Heavenly Fate Pearl and began to command it to burn his fortune.

Zhang Ming sensed that Emperor Guang was draining some power from the people or territory he covered and decided to investigate Great Zhou’s capital. Before going, Zhang Ming began a breakthrough to Martial Saint by attempting to imprint his consciousness on his cells and subconscious.

• Zhang Ming felt an inexplicable force draining something from him and suspected Emperor Guang was responsible.
• Zhang Ming connected Emperor Guang’s new temples in the southern provinces to a possible faith-based power and inferred that Great Zhou might be within the scope of what was being drained.
• Zhang Ming decided to travel to the capital but chose to reach Martial Saint first for greater confidence.
• Zhang Ming assessed his growing combat power and concluded his body and intent had long exceeded the level of Great Grandmasters.
• Zhang Ming reasoned that branding his cells and subconscious with his consciousness could let him regenerate from a drop of blood, marking the Martial Saint breakthrough.
• After resting and restoring his condition, Zhang Ming began the breakthrough.