Chapter Summaries

Wang Qi overwhelmed Li Jijiu, Zhai Difeng, and Lin Zongdi by deploying waves of plant demons against their monster army. He strengthened his forces with Di Liu Jiang and rang his bell as the remaining enemies faced defeat.

• Wang Qi’s plant demons clashed with Li Jijiu’s corpse monsters, while Zhai Difeng and Lin Zongdi struggled to survive amid the toxic, chaotic battlefield.
• Wang Qi poured diluted Di Liu Jiang into the soil and transformed three enormous trees into treants that charged into battle.
• Li Jijiu found that his limited supply of corpses could not keep pace with Wang Qi’s seemingly endless plants and their destructive attacks.
• Zhai Difeng and Lin Zongdi weakened as the plant demons pressed their assault, and Zhai Difeng realized the enemy monsters were running out.
• Wang Qi used Di Liu Jiang to summon life-giving rain that strengthened his plant demons and helped them subdue the remaining monsters.
• Wang Qi noticed Zhai Difeng watching him, smiled, and rang his bell, making the three men fear that death was near.

Wang Qi confronted the three battered Ancient Method Golden Core Cultivators and announced that he intended to capture Li Jijiu alive. After defeating and disabling Li Jijiu, he turned on Zhai Difeng and Lin Zongdi, declaring that he would spare neither of them.

• Wang Qi approached Zhai Difeng, Lin Zongdi, and Li Jijiu, then said he had come to capture Li Jijiu alive.
• Li Jijiu invoked the protection of his High God and charged Wang Qi with renewed divine power.
• Wang Qi evaded Li Jijiu, cut him down, and used Holy Flame and holy light to keep him alive.
• Wang Qi severed Li Jijiu's arms and destroyed his acupoints, leaving him unable to fight or escape.
• Zhai Difeng and Lin Zongdi tried to retreat, but Wang Qi moved toward Zhai Difeng and said he would spare neither of them.

After capturing Li Jijiu, Wang Qi contacted Feng Luoyi, who brought in Liu Yi of the Immortal Alliance’s Dark Department to investigate the captive’s connection to an Outer Dao demonic idol. Li Jijiu hinted that the ancient Demon Race had been exterminated by World Cleansing Envoys, leaving Wang Qi troubled by what he had learned.

• Wang Qi killed Lin Zongdi as he prepared to self-detonate his Golden Core, then dragged the restrained Li Jijiu toward Divine Capital City.
• Wang Qi met Feng Luoyi in the Myriad Immortal Illusion Realm and recounted his journey, including capturing a Hongyuan Sect Jijiu.
• Feng Luoyi examined Li Jijiu and summoned Liu Yi, a specialist from the Immortal Alliance’s Dark Department.
• Liu Yi showed Li Jijiu a fragment of an Outer Dao demonic idol, and Li Jijiu recognized it as a sacred artifact of world cleansing.
• Liu Yi explained that the ancient Demon Race had sealed away the Outer Dao demonic idols rather than worshipping them, and Feng Luoyi ordered him to take Li Jijiu for questioning.
• Before Liu Yi knocked him unconscious, Li Jijiu claimed that World Cleansing Envoys had exterminated the ancient Demon Race, leaving Wang Qi pondering the civilization’s fate.

Feng Luoyi explained the Holy Infant Sect’s immense power and warned Wang Qi not to draw conclusions from incomplete knowledge, then reviewed Wang Qi’s cultivation and discussed his immortal artifacts. He left Wang Qi with cultivation tasks and hinted that the artifacts contained an After Tomorrow’s Will originating from Wang Qi.

• Wang Qi considered whether Hong Yuan had caused the Ancient Demon Race’s extinction, but Feng Luoyi warned him that he lacked enough information to judge.
• Feng Luoyi showed Wang Qi records revealing that Li Jijiu had been the ordinary mortal Li Jiugen five years earlier, and explained how the Holy Infant Sect could raise believers into powerful shaman-priests.
• Feng Luoyi hinted that the Holy Infant Sect’s rise coincided with ruinous losses to Mount Luofu Mystic Clarity Palace and the Emperor-Grade Heaven-Splitting Dao, then changed the subject.
• Feng Luoyi examined Wang Qi’s Foundation Base, found it flawless and upper first grade, and planned his future cultivation.
• Wang Qi showed Feng Luoyi the immortal artifacts Mathematics and Discrete, and Feng Luoyi promised to arrange replicas and improve the artifacts while assigning Wang Qi tasks involving his Foundation Base and the Middle Ages inheritance.
• Feng Luoyi asked whether Wang Qi would let him refine the artifacts even if they contained an After Tomorrow’s Will originating from Wang Qi.

Feng Luoyi explained how Wang Qi’s Yin Yang Yao had left behind algorithms that gave his calculators a rudimentary After Tomorrow’s Will, and encouraged him to study it. Before returning to the Divine Capital, Wang Qi was told to report his safety, settle the missing-person case, and arrange for the Immortal Alliance to acquire a research artifact.

• Feng Luoyi explained that the calculators had absorbed algorithms left by Wang Qi’s consciousness and that he could apply for funding to study their artificial intelligence.
• Feng Luoyi clarified the difference between consciousness arising from a complex system and After Tomorrow’s Will painstakingly written by hand, and said Wang Qi’s calculators could help him study thought and souls.
• Wang Qi began planning to recruit Chen, Bo, Chen Feng, and Wu Chengdao to help research the calculators.
• Feng Luoyi asked Wang Qi to lease or trade the Di Liu Jiang-converting water vat to the Immortal Alliance and told him to visit Chen Feng and close his missing-person case.
• Wang Qi removed Zhen Chanzi’s ring and asked why the ring’s remnant soul was unaffected by the calculators; Feng Luoyi explained that the soul did not participate in their operation.

After reaching Foundation Establishment, Wang Qi flew into Divine Capital and found Chen Feng chanting the Holy Infant Sect’s Song of Salvation from the Origin of Dao. Wang Qi attacked Chen Feng’s sect emblem, but Chen Feng opened his eyes and overwhelmed him with an inexplicable wave of regret.

• Wang Qi tested his new ability to fly and admired Divine Capital from above.
• Wang Qi found Chen Feng’s home warded and used a four-dimensional trajectory to enter the courtyard.
• Wang Qi recognized the triple-ring emblem on Chen Feng’s forehead and heard him chanting the Song of Salvation from the Origin of Dao.
• Zhen Chanzi identified the chant as the Holy Infant Sect’s orthodox cultivation method and warned Wang Qi about its connection to the sect.
• Wang Qi launched a Sword Light at Chen Feng’s brow, but Chen Feng opened his eyes and drowned Wang Qi in regret.

Wang Qi fought Chen Feng and Chen Youjia after mistaking them for members of the divine path, then learned that Chen Feng was an authorized researcher using a divine-path technique. The misunderstanding ended, and Chen Feng asked Wang Qi to explain his sudden Foundation Establishment and absence.

• Chen Feng’s Regret Illusion Technique struck Wang Qi with memories of his first great regret, but Wang Qi’s sword still grazed Chen Feng and shattered the talisman on his forehead.
• Chen Youjia intervened to protect Chen Feng and defeated Wang Qi’s three-dimensional sword techniques with her higher-dimensional sword art.
• Chen Feng separated the fighters with his Illusion Technique and stopped Chen Youjia from continuing the battle.
• Wang Qi demanded an explanation, and Chen Feng showed him an authentic Immortal Alliance permit for divine-path research.
• Chen Feng removed the Telepathy Bottle that had been giving him a divine-path aura, and Wang Qi realized the apparent threat was a misunderstanding.
• Chen Feng asked where Wang Qi had been and how he had reached Foundation Establishment without preparation, and Wang Qi called the story complicated.

Wang Qi learned that Chen Feng and Chen Youjia had used external memory modules to simulate divine-path cultivation, and Chen Feng explained why the method aided research while avoiding changes to their own Foundation Bases. After Wang Qi recounted his recent Foundation Establishment and encounter with a Hongyuan shaman-priest, Chen Feng questioned the origins of the Hongyuan deity and proposed renewing their contract.

• Wang Qi discovered that Chen Feng and Chen Youjia's divine auras came from external memory modules rather than divine-path cultivation.
• Chen Feng explained that the modules let researchers experience cultivation methods without altering their own Foundation Bases, and described his special Telepathy Bottle.
• Chen Feng confronted Wang Qi for attacking him before asking what was wrong, and Wang Qi defended his decision by citing Chen Feng's Flame of Life.
• Wang Qi described his Foundation Establishment and his fight with a Hongyuan shaman-priest, while withholding Teacher Feng's rescue and Zhilong Zhenren's request.
• Chen Feng doubted that a Hongyuan deity could have gathered enough worshippers unnoticed and argued that the Holy Infant Sect had destroyed the ancient gods.
• Chen Feng told Wang Qi that, now that he had reached Foundation Establishment, they could renew their contract.

Wang Qi joined Chen Feng’s empirical research department as his deputy after signing a contract that gave him access to research plans and materials. He then realized Chen Feng had included the agreement to gain access to Zhen Chanzi’s knowledge, and asked Chen Feng to explain the divine path.

• Chen Feng offered Wang Qi a revised contract with independent research rights and access to the department’s research plans and collaborative materials.
• Wang Qi signed the contract, and Chen Feng welcomed him officially into the empirical research department.
• Wang Qi and Chen Feng shook hands and declared themselves comrades, though Chen Feng did not understand the word or the handshake.
• Wang Qi realized Chen Feng had signed the contract to access Zhen Chanzi’s knowledge, and Chen Feng admitted that the old man’s knowledge was legally Wang Qi’s property.
• Wang Qi asked Chen Feng to explain the principles of the divine path.

Chen Feng explained the origins and principles of the Divine Path, from humanity’s primitive worship to the later practice of turning faith into an external religious system. He began illustrating how systems could absorb spiritual energy, leaving Wang Qi questioning the implications of Chen Feng’s example.

• Chen Feng recounted how primitive Divine Path cultivation helped early humans grow stronger, unite, and establish settlements.
• Chen Feng described the sudden rise of mature cultivation methods around eighty thousand years ago and the legend of an immortal transmitting the teachings to the first Human Emperor, Yuan.
• Wang Qi and Zhen Chanzi discussed the lack of reliable historical evidence for the immortal’s teachings and the vanished Kunlun Immortal City.
• Chen Feng explained that the primitive Divine Path converted gathered thoughts into divine power and heroic spirits, while later Divine Path cultivation turned faith into a religious system that could sustain a god.
• Chen Feng had Chen Youjia flick Wang Qi on the forehead to demonstrate how interactions formed a system, prompting Wang Qi to make a remark about Myriad Laws wanting a Dao companion.

Chen Feng explained his theory that the Human Dao could harness the thoughts and everyday lives of humanity to generate immense cultivation power without requiring religious devotion. He revealed that he had developed the theory himself, leaving Wang Qi impressed and Chen Youjia to point out that Chen Feng’s heretical ideas were one reason people disliked him.

• Chen Feng explained how religious systems gathered spirit energy through believers’ thoughts and how the Divine Dao used the human heart.
• Chen Feng argued that the broader Human Dao could yield far more power than the Divine Dao, and Wang Qi calculated that its potential could equal hundreds of Mahayana cultivators.
• Wang Qi worried that drawing on the Human Dao might brainwash humanity and undermine the doubt essential to scientific cultivation.
• Chen Feng said the Human Dao existed naturally and could be used without creating a religion or imposing its restrictions.
• Wang Qi asked for writings on the theory, and Chen Feng revealed that he was its author.
• Chen Youjia told Wang Qi that Chen Feng’s willingness to rebel against established Daoist teachings was one reason people disliked him.

Chen Feng persuaded Wang Qi that the Holy Infant Sect’s Triple Pure Land supported his theory that divine power came from a religious system, then proposed researching a new Human Dao cultivation method. Wang Qi agreed to examine the work, but the chapter left him confronting the scale of Chen Feng’s research data.

• Wang Qi questioned the basis for Chen Feng’s theory that religion functioned as a system, and Chen Feng cited the Holy Infant Sect’s Triple Pure Land as evidence.
• Chen Feng explained that he wanted to study the Human Dao with Wang Qi and Chen Youjia and use its laws to develop a new cultivation method.
• Chen Feng warned Wang Qi that divine-path research was taboo and that the Human Dao was difficult to model mathematically.
• Wang Qi asked to see the research results, and Chen Feng handed him a volume of data while Chen Youjia showed him her probability-theory notes.
• Wang Qi reviewed the volume and recognized that Chen Feng’s data presented the real difficulty.

Wang Qi considered how to adapt social-science theories to the Divine Land and proposed that Chen Feng study data from a partial copy of his consciousness. After delivering the School of Numbers of the Middle Ages inheritance and clearing up his disappearance, Wang Qi turned to Unforgiving Taoist's manuscript.

• Wang Qi discussed with Chen Feng how social-science theories and mathematical methods would need to advance before their research could produce regular results.
• Wang Qi offered Chen Feng the computing artifacts Discrete and Mathematics, explaining that they contained data from part of his consciousness.
• Chen Feng and Chen Youjia examined the artifacts, while Wang Qi took Discrete to Chen Feng for observation and left to handle other matters.
• Wang Qi transcribed the School of Numbers of the Middle Ages inheritance from Zhilong Zhenren's jade slips into a computing artifact.
• Wang Qi delivered the jade slips to the Myriad Dharma Sect's Divine Capital outpost and reported to the branch altar that ruins had trapped him.
• Wang Qi returned to his room and prepared to study Unforgiving Taoist's manuscript, Misty Palace's core supreme art.

After studying Misty Palace’s research, Wang Qi discovered that the Misty Unfixed Cloud Sword used probability-cloud Sword Qi and successfully performed the technique. His unpracticed strike then turned against him, piercing his heart and leaving him unconscious as a small white flame appeared on his chest.

• Wang Qi reviewed Misty Palace papers and spells to connect Quantum Mechanics theory with cultivation techniques.
• Wang Qi realized the Misty Unfixed Cloud Sword’s key was Sword Qi spread as a probability cloud, and compared it with Da Xiang Xiangbo Gong.
• Wang Qi performed the sword art, spreading Sword Qi across every possible trajectory of his strike.
• Wang Qi questioned whether the observer effect revealed a fundamentally probabilistic world, then opened his eyes and triggered the Sword Qi.
• The Sword Light pierced Wang Qi’s heart and knocked him unconscious, while a tiny white flame appeared on his chest.

Wang Qi woke in Chen Feng’s laboratory after nearly dying from the Misty Unfixed Cloud Sword he had attempted to master. Chen Feng and Chen Youjia realized he had wounded himself, and Chen Feng gave him the sword manual in exchange for twenty years of unpaid work.

• Wang Qi woke strapped to an experimental table as Chen Feng and Chen Youjia watched over him.
• Chen Feng and Chen Youjia mistook Wang Qi’s sword wound for a suicide attempt because it had been caused by his own weapon and mana.
• Wang Qi explained that he had tried to master the Misty Unfixed Cloud Sword from a single formula, and Chen Feng praised his achievement despite the near-fatal failure.
• Wang Qi revealed he lacked the ten thousand merit points needed to exchange for the first-layer sword manual.
• Chen Feng calculated Wang Qi’s debt, obtained the manual from the Immortal Alliance branch altar, and demanded twenty years of unpaid work in return.

Wang Qi received the Misty Unfixed Cloud Sword formula from Chen Feng after agreeing to repay the cost through his future salary. He sought Feng Luoyi’s help for his injuries, but Feng punished him by sealing his mana and forbidding him from using arts for a month.

• Chen Feng gave Wang Qi a Telepathy Bottle offering either ten thousand merit points or the first-layer Misty Unfixed Cloud Sword formula, and Wang Qi accepted the formula.
• Wang Qi met Feng Luoyi in the Myriad Immortal Illusion Realm and explained how he had learned and practiced the sword formula until he injured himself.
• Feng Luoyi agreed to transfer merit points to Wang Qi in installments and fined him for memorizing other sects’ sword dao formulas.
• Feng Luoyi also punished Wang Qi for secretly learning forbidden arts and disregarding his safety by sealing his mana and forbidding him from using arts for one month.
• Wang Qi returned to the Empirical Division on foot, unable to circulate his mana.

Wang Qi escaped the Empirical Division to live among the young demon beasts while working out a mathematical research plan. He began laying the foundations of probability theory and left a page of major laws of large numbers whose proofs could greatly raise his standing in the Myriad Dharma Sect.

• Wang Qi returned to Chen Feng, and the incoming merit points eased the Empirical Division’s financial crisis.
• Wang Qi moved into the Enlightenment Master lodging to avoid Feng Luoyi and Chen Youjia while he lacked mana.
• Wang Qi was overwhelmed by the mischievous young demon beasts until Hu Buxue pulled him free.
• Wang Qi explained to Hu Buxue that he was planning research on probability theory, chaos, and the pseudo-artificial intelligence in the ring.
• Wang Qi wrote down several major laws of large numbers, including the Khinchin and Markov laws, and considered how proving them could advance his academic standing.

Wang Qi completed his mathematical planning and studied the first layer of the Misty Unfixed Cloud Sword before returning to Shenjing. There, preparations concluded for the empirical division’s July research project on the pseudo-After Tomorrow's Will.

• Wang Qi organized the mathematics he knew and found that the Gottingen Sect had set aside the Bourbaki school program, leaving him concerned about carrying foundational research alone.
• Wang Qi studied the Misty Unfixed Cloud Sword and learned that its Sword Qi spread as a probability cloud whose possibilities could be guided into a killing strike.
• Wang Qi left Hu Buxue and the little demons, promising to return for their unified enlightenment ceremony in August.
• Wang Qi returned to Shenjing, while Chen Feng reduced empirical trials and prepared for research into the pseudo-After Tomorrow's Will.
• In July, several figures projected themselves into Chen Feng's study after preparations for the major project were complete.

Wang Qi gathered researchers from the Myriad Dharma Sect, Yangshen Pavilion, and Thousand Machines Pavilion to examine the pseudo After Tomorrow’s Will stored in his calculating devices. The group began their analysis by entering a shared dream connected to the Myriad Immortal Illusion Realm.

• Chen Feng greeted Shang Nancheng, who recognized Wang Qi and praised his work on mathematical logic and consciousness.
• Wu Chengdao arrived and discussed the promise of Wang Qi’s law of completeness with Shang Nancheng.
• Wang Qi invited Bo Xiaoya, and she joined the group of six researchers assembled to analyze the pseudo After Tomorrow’s Will.
• Chen Feng called the analysis to order, and Wang Qi revealed the immortal artifacts Mathematics and Discrete that stored the chaotic pseudo After Tomorrow’s Will.
• Wang Qi touched both devices as Chen Feng created a field linking consciousness and illusions, and all six entered the same dream.

Chen Feng guided Wang Qi and the others through a dream where Wang Qi confronted a duplicate formed from his After Tomorrow's Will. After determining the duplicate lacked a true self, Wang Qi chose to turn it into a mechanical artifact spirit, and Wu Chengdao and Shang Nancheng began discussing how to build it.

• Chen Feng brought Wang Qi, Chen Youjia, and the others into Wang Qi's dream, where two versions of Wang Qi faced each other across an invisible wall.
• Shang Nancheng identified flaws in the duplicate's memories, and it dissolved into spiritual light, confirming that Wang Qi was the original.
• Shang Nancheng and Wu Chengdao explained that the After Tomorrow's Will could dream but lacked complete consciousness and self-identification.
• Wang Qi decided to make the After Tomorrow's Will a mechanical artifact spirit that would assist him with precise calculations.
• Wu Chengdao and Shang Nancheng began discussing the Humanoid Mechanism and other methods for constructing the artifact spirit.