Chapter Summaries

Wang Qi observed the growth of the Holy Light God and the Silver Dawn believers while developing a method to control the Divine Dao aura vein connecting him to the deity. By August 19, the god had reached the initial stage of Qi Refinement, Circle Theory was nearing its birth, and Chen Feng had derived the Holy Light God’s characteristic equation.

• Wang Qi monitored six youths as two newcomers joined Silver Dawn, tracking how believers and nonbelievers influenced one another without White Snake’s prior brainwashing.
• Wang Qi used insights from the Divine Dao and the Five Virtues of the Primordial to seize the Holy Light aura vein and attach a piece of Tianyi Spirit Jade as his symbol within Silver Dawn.
• Wang Qi recorded that the newcomers had become shallow believers, the Holy Light God had reached the initial stage of Qi Refinement, and the seven experimental animal souls had transformed into parts of the Divine Dao.
• Wang Qi noted that Du Gui had begun studying Holy Light doctrine and that Circle Theory was close to being born.
• Chen Feng reported that he had derived the Holy Light God’s characteristic equation.

Wang Qi analyzed the Holy Light characteristic formula and discovered that it suppressed the soul’s capacity for branching thought, explaining how the first believers had been brainwashed into an evil cult. He then created a separate heart-demon power called the Thousand Illusion Spell, leaving Chen Youjia and Chen Feng to consider his plan to study it.

• Chen Youjia and Wang Qi simplified the long spiritual energy formula Chen Feng had obtained from Leiyang.
• Wang Qi compared the formula with the soul’s characteristic formula and identified its bifurcation behavior as a feature of chaotic systems.
• Wang Qi realized the Holy Light God’s power suppressed thought-producing bifurcations and connected it to the brainwashing of the eight youths.
• Chen Feng accepted that the group had created an evil cult and suggested studying how to reverse Holy Light corrosion.
• Wang Qi built a memory device using a corroded pig soul and named the resulting independent heart-demon power the Thousand Illusion Spell.

Wang Qi tested the Thousand Illusion Spell and confirmed that it could erode souls and link victims to a divine system, while Chen Youjia confronted him about risking himself. He later observed Circle Theory’s birth and collected a sample, leaving its divine path ready for further study.

• Wang Qi explained that the Thousand Illusion Spell erased divergences in thought and could prepare souls to be rewritten into a divine system.
• Wang Qi and Chen Youjia tested the spell using their transformation belts while Chen Feng watched, and experimental animals became linked to Wang Qi through a divine-path-like connection.
• Chen Youjia reminded Wang Qi that he had promised not to take such risks alone, and Wang Qi could not defend himself.
• Wang Qi recorded observations about the Holy Light God, Du Gui’s study of its doctrine, and the possible formation of Circle Theory.
• Wang Qi used divine-path spells and spiritual restrictions to encourage Circle Theory’s emergence, then sensed its spiritual field evolve into a godlike circuit.
• Wang Qi gathered a sample of Circle Theory and placed it in its symbolic ring.

Wang Qi analyzed Circle Theory’s characteristic equation and created the Dao Heart Pure Yang Mantra, a Devil’s Great Curse that made its victims rigidly certain of their own views. After testing it, Wang Qi and his colleagues discussed how to continue the research despite their funding shortage and the likely suppression of their divine sects.

• Wang Qi split Circle Theory’s characteristic equation into factors and, by comparing its first factor with two Devil’s Curse algorithms, suspected they shared a more fundamental method for eliminating mental divergences.
• Wang Qi tested the new memory module and named its curse the Dao Heart Pure Yang Mantra, which he described as a defensive force born from obstinacy.
• The curse’s spell-spirit avatars appeared as round-faced girls, and Wang Qi introduced Circle Theory’s personification along with its guides, Ba and Flame, to Chen Youjia and Chen Feng.
• Chen Feng proposed publishing preliminary results to secure funding, but Wang Qi and Chen Youjia pointed out that the Immortal Alliance might disband or seize their forbidden divine sects.
• Wang Qi planned to focus the next stage on divine organizations and structures, while Chen Youjia continued optimizing the algorithm and Chen Feng agreed to find more funding.

Wang Qi used Zhen Chanzi to draw Du Gui further into the Holy Light lineage and gave him a cultivation method adapted from the Three Great Benedictions. Du Gui mistook the method for a profound path to the dao, while Zhen Chanzi looked forward to Wang Qi discovering the deception.

• Wang Qi observed that Du Gui had advanced greatly by using the Holy Light spell to heal himself and strengthen his martial arts.
• Wang Qi and Zhen Chanzi used an Illusion Technique to let Zhen Chanzi confront Du Gui through Wang Qi’s body.
• Zhen Chanzi told Du Gui that he had given him Holy Light to help the lineage spread, and Du Gui pledged to uphold its path.
• Zhen Chanzi used Holy Light on Du Gui and placed a cultivation method in his mind.
• Du Gui concluded that the method resembled an ancient path to the dao, unaware that it came from the mental cultivation portion of the Three Great Benedictions.

Wang Qi tested whether Du Gui could connect with the Holy Light God by studying and spreading Holy Light doctrine, while preparing Dragon Clan rune coins to contain his excess mana. He then joined Chen Feng on an Immortal Alliance mission to investigate a region overrun by the Hongyuan Sect and test the coins against its corrupted members.

• After Du Gui failed to sense the Holy Light God, Zhen Chanzi urged him to study Holy Light through the classics and later empowered him with negative entropy, instructing him to debate others and spread the doctrine as the words of ancient sages.
• Wang Qi explained that he wanted to see whether Du Gui’s independent thinking and preaching could influence the Holy Light God, while warning that the Flame of Life was penetrating Teacher Feng’s seal.
• Wang Qi made three coins from Dragon Clan Innate Divine Runes and used them to absorb his excess mana, increasing his combat power.
• After Chen Feng received approval to investigate Hongyuan Sect corruption in the south, Wang Qi joined him as an assistant and hoped to test the Dragon Clan Array against a powerful Hongyuan shaman.

Li You, Chen Feng, and Wang Qi investigated a Hongyuan Sect village while Wang Qi studied the sect’s scriptures and warned that its shamans might be far stronger than expected. After finishing his research, Wang Qi began analyzing Hongyuan doctrine with phase-space calculus.

• Li You urged the group to attack the village before the Immortal Alliance’s five-day deadline, while Chen Feng cautioned him to control his anger.
• Wang Qi explained that his bionic Mechanism Beasts had recorded the villagers’ actions and that the group could wait because the villagers could all be killed and Hongyuan followers could not make offerings at night.
• Wang Qi told Li You that Hongyuan High Priests were Divine Core cultivators and reasoned that the sect’s ranks might extend to Nascent Soul or higher.
• Wang Qi suggested Hongyuan might be a powerful existence that predated its worship as a god, then burned the scriptures after completing his study.
• Wang Qi used phase-space calculus to begin analyzing Hongyuan doctrine, surprising Li You.

Wang Qi analyzed Hongyuan Sect and concluded that it might wield a curse that drove people toward despair and threatened the Immortal Alliance. As the Alliance’s attack on the cult’s stronghold began ahead of schedule, Wang Qi drew his sword and slipped into the night.

• Wang Qi showed Li You and Chen Feng his models of divine doctrines, which revealed that Hongyuan Sect stood opposite to the mainstream divine paths.
• Chen Feng explained that Hongyuan Sect had surged in popularity after a catastrophic winter and famine, and Wang Qi suspected its doctrine was tied to primordial destruction.
• Wang Qi warned that Hongyuan Sect might use a curse resembling the Devil’s Great Curse to weaken people’s souls and undermine the Immortal Alliance.
• An Immortal Alliance traitor attacked the stronghold, and Wang Qi told Chen Feng to protect his soul before Chen Feng hurried off to warn others.
• A seven-colored lightning signal began the Immortal Alliance assault ahead of schedule, and Wang Qi drew his longsword and entered the night.

Li You and the ambush force battled Lin Feng, a Burning Gold Valley disciple who had joined the Hongyuan cult, while Wang Qi infiltrated the village and traced the cultists’ despair to a spiritual function tied to Hongyuan. Lin Feng overcame Li You with radioactive elements in his blood, but a mysterious pink spear struck through his brain, leaving the fight’s outcome unresolved.

• Lin Feng’s Titanium Body let him withstand Yang Chun’s attacks and resist Dong Jiao’s vibration technique, but Li You exploited its vulnerability to magnetic force and signaled the ambush with seven-colored lightning.
• Lin Feng chanted Hongyuan doctrine as Li You demanded to know why he had joined the cult.
• Wang Qi secretly surveyed the cult-controlled village and sensed how the prayers and despair of its inhabitants formed a spiritual pattern linked to Hongyuan.
• Li You suppressed Lin Feng’s Dharma power with electromagnetic attacks, but Lin Feng grabbed him, grounded his electricity, and pinned him down.
• Lin Feng used radioactive elements refined into his blood to threaten Li You, until a pink spear pierced Lin Feng’s brain.

Chen Feng rescued Li You and warned the Immortal Alliance cultivators about the Hongyuan Sect’s soul-contaminating spell as they entered the village. After they defeated the shamans and began digging underground, tentacles erupted from the earth and five Golden Core-level shamans appeared.

• Chen Feng struck Lin Feng with a Dao Heart Pure Yang-infused spear, freeing Li You and leaving Lin Feng unconscious.
• Dong Jiao discovered that the ground beneath the village was hollow, and Chen Feng warned Li You that the Hongyuan Sect’s power could infect souls.
• Li You changed the battle plan, and the Immortal Alliance cultivators entered the village while Wang Qi observed the believers’ growing spiritual energy.
• Li You’s group defeated the shamans aboveground, while Chen Feng used the Soulshake Curse to knock down the armed villagers.
• Dong Jiao dug into the ground, but a tentacle pierced her chest, and the earth collapsed around the cultivators.
• Li You severed the tentacle and Chen Feng treated Dong Jiao as five Golden Core-level shamans emerged from underground.

Wang Qi and the Immortal Alliance cultivators fought five Golden Core shamans and the Hongyuan God’s tentacle monsters after the cult’s destruction transformed the battlefield. Wang Qi survived a priest’s self-destruction, secured a sample of Hongyuan’s power, and activated the Dragon Clan Linkage against the four remaining priests.

• The Hongyuan God’s tentacle monsters and five shamans attacked Li You, Chen Feng, Dong Jiao, and the other cultivators, leaving Li You to face four enemies while Chen Feng treated Dong Jiao.
• Wang Qi realized that the Hongyuan Sect’s followers and shamans formed part of a godlike system, then used Jarvis’s calculations to grapple the lead priest as the battle began.
• Li You and the other Foundation Establishment cultivators engaged the four remaining priests while Wang Qi grappled the lead priest and tore away part of his soul with a jade artifact.
• The lead priest self-destructed, but Wang Qi survived inside the Flame of Life and obtained a sample of Hongyuan’s power.
• Wang Qi’s Dragon Clan coin absorbed the excess Flame of Life, and he activated the Dragon Clan Linkage to confront the four remaining priests.

Wang Qi awakened the dragon clan’s power and joined the battle against the Hongyuan Sect’s Jijiu, turning the fight in the Immortal Alliance’s favor. After he shouted at Chen Feng not to kill the last Jijiu, the reason for his demand remained unclear.

• Wang Qi released Dragon Force, gained a vast supply of Dragon Clan Essence, and manifested a giant ice axe.
• Wang Qi attempted an inherited dragon martial art, snapped his spine, then used the Flame of Life to repair it and adapted the techniques to his human body.
• Wang Qi charged into the fight, cut through the black-cloth defenses, resisted the Sword of the End of Fortune, and killed two Jijiu with his axe.
• Li You and the other Immortal Alliance disciples killed another Jijiu while the last one lunged toward Dong Jiao and Chen Feng.
• Chen Feng caught the last Jijiu’s attack and crushed his arm, but Wang Qi shouted for him not to kill the man.

Wang Qi stopped his berserk Dragon Clan Essence and used the Thousand Illusion Spell to test whether its curse could affect the Vast Yuan divine system. After Vast Yuan destroyed the last priest to prevent the curse from spreading, Wang Qi began questioning whether the Dragon Clan had naturally evolved on Divine Province.

• Wang Qi regained control of himself, cut off the Dragon Clan Essence, and killed a priest with the power stored in his axe.
• Wang Qi told Chen Feng not to kill the last priest and shaped an arrow from Dragon Clan Essence to deliver the Thousand Illusion Spell.
• The curse weakened the priest's connection to the divine system and restored some of his awareness, but a force from nowhere destroyed him and the surrounding divine systems.
• Wang Qi concluded that Vast Yuan had destroyed the priest because it feared the Devil's Great Curse and told Chen Feng what he had observed.
• Wang Qi asked Chen Feng about Dragon Clan fossils and wondered whether the Dragon Clan were aliens or weapons made by an advanced civilization.

After uncovering a mass grave beneath the cult’s village, Wang Qi and his companions finished the campaign against the Xiao East and Xiao West cults and returned to Leiyang. Wang Qi went to meet Feng Luoyi at the branch altar, where Feng invited him to explain the problem he had discovered.

• Wang Qi wondered whether the Dragon Race’s powerful divine abilities pointed to ancient mass extinctions or an extraterrestrial origin, but he set the speculation aside for lack of evidence.
• Junior Brother Zhang uncovered a pit containing countless human and animal corpses, with mutated tentacles growing from the bodies.
• The Immortal Alliance took control of the case, ordered the seven participants to keep it secret, and concluded the campaign after uprooting nearly a hundred cult strongholds.
• Li You thanked Wang Qi and Chen Feng for their work and urged them to continue researching the cults.
• Wang Qi and Chen Feng traveled to Leiyang; Chen Feng sought an institution to examine the Heart Demon Algorithm jade stone while Wang Qi went to the branch altar.
• Wang Qi summoned Feng Luoyi, who brought him to a quiet chamber and asked what problem he had discovered.

Wang Qi asked Feng Luoyi about the Dragon Clan and learned that Divine Land had seen several ancient civilizations rise and fall, while the Ancient Dragon Emperor had survived three extinctions. Feng Luoyi discovered that Wang Qi's Dragon Clan coins were artifacts of the Emperor's Wish Fulfillment technique, leaving Wang Qi to suspect it was studying civilization.

• Wang Qi asked Feng Luoyi why Dragon Clan Spiritual Abilities seemed too powerful to have evolved naturally, and Feng Luoyi said the Immortal Alliance had no answer.
• Feng Luoyi described the successive Ancient Sea God, Demon Race, and Dragon Clan civilizations, warning Wang Qi not to underestimate the Ancient Dragon Emperor.
• Wang Qi showed Feng Luoyi coins that absorbed his mana and Flame of Life, and Feng Luoyi found that their runes were not innate Dragon Clan runes.
• Feng Luoyi explained that the Ancient Dragon Emperor's Wish Fulfillment technique reshaped an object according to its new owner's wishes and could secretly alter artifacts and materials.
• Wang Qi learned that Wish Fulfillment objects had entered the Immortal Alliance and created powerful demon materials, then wondered whether the Ancient Dragon Emperor was researching civilization.

Wang Qi told Feng Luoyi about his Devil’s Great Curse research and learned that Feng had once created a similar soul-infecting spell called the God Plague Curse. Feng agreed to protect Wang Qi’s work in a restricted repository while allowing him to continue researching.

• Feng Luoyi removed the Ancient Dragon Emperor’s restrictions from Wang Qi’s dragon coins, restoring the natural flow of Wang Qi’s Flame of Life.
• Wang Qi tested the Devil’s Great Curse on a calculating device using the Thousand Illusion Spell and Dao Heart Pure Yang Mantra, and Feng Luoyi recognized its similarity to an old technique.
• Feng Luoyi explained that his God Plague Curse could spread through souls, mutate uncontrollably, and erase a person’s self, so he had sealed it away as a threat to intelligent life.
• Wang Qi described his research into the devil’s curse algorithm, his work with Silver Dawn, and his discovery of Hong Yuan’s connection to the curse.
• Feng Luoyi waived Wang Qi’s punishment, ordered him to submit a paper to the Immortal Alliance’s inner-layer repository, and permitted him to continue researching while suppressing the trouble in Divine Capital City.

Wang Qi confided to Chen Youjia and Chen Feng that his rapid cultivation and growing power had distanced him from ordinary people and tempted him to control the Immortal Alliance, though he had rejected that impulse. Chen Feng revealed his plan to take responsibility for their Devil's Great Curse research, but Wang Qi explained that a senior Free and Unfettered Cultivator had already settled the matter, then proposed changing their research plans.

• Chen Youjia found Wang Qi brooding over his changing nature and asked what had been troubling him.
• Wang Qi told Chen Youjia that his power had made mortals' suffering feel distant and that he feared his original heart had changed.
• Wang Qi admitted that he had seriously considered using the Devil's Great Curse to control the Immortal Alliance, but rejected the idea because it would undermine his pursuit of the Dao.
• Chen Feng advised Wang Qi to cultivate Mundane World Refining Heart after their current work and revealed that he planned to submit their Devil's Great Curse paper and accept the consequences.
• Wang Qi said a senior Free and Unfettered Cultivator in Leiyang had agreed to submit the paper under his own name and settle the matter.
• Wang Qi proposed adjusting their research plans and said the recent events had reminded him why he had begun the research.

Wang Qi discussed the immortal-mortal divide with Chen Feng and Chen Youjia, then secretly captured Chen Feng’s thoughts for research. He planned to develop an Anti-Devil’s Curse that could remove the Devil’s Great Curse’s dangers and eventually give every mortal basic magical power.

• Wang Qi explained that economic incentives and long-standing customs had kept mortals from benefiting directly from immortal civilization.
• Chen Feng argued that the divide also arose from human nature and said he had centuries to work toward change.
• Wang Qi used White Snake to extract Chen Feng’s thoughts on morality and profit, explaining that he needed them for his research.
• Wang Qi outlined plans to alter the Holy Light God through its believers and to remove the devil algorithm from Circle Theory through spellwork.
• Wang Qi argued that the Devil’s Great Curse’s hidden danger had to be removed because no one could reliably define what was right across all circumstances.
• Wang Qi revealed his plan to give every mortal an Anti-Devil’s Curse that would provide basic magical power and connect them to the divine way system.

Du Gui visited his younger brother Du Fu, shared food and warmth, and offered to help him cultivate after his own transformation through Wang Qi’s teachings. Wang Qi then examined Du Bin’s heartbroken younger brother Du Chun, secretly replaced his treasured jade pendant, and asked the old man to teach him how to be a person.

• Du Gui warmed Du Fu with Holy Light, brought him charcoal and roast food, and offered to train him using the opportunity he had found.
• Du Gui explained that kindness and sharing had changed his outlook, while Wang Qi observed and recorded the changes from hiding.
• Du Bin found Wang Qi and reported several troubled people in his family, including a younger brother whose engagement had been broken.
• Du Bin led Wang Qi to Du Chun, who had shut himself away after his betrothed joined the Liuyun Sect.
• Wang Qi subdued Du Chun’s consciousness, identified his cultivation history, and replaced the jade pendant he treasured with an exact copy.
• Wang Qi asked the old man to teach Du Chun how to be a person and went with Du Bin to see the family’s chickens.

After Du Chun woke from Wang Qi’s assault, Zhen Chanzi appeared through a forged jade pendant and began grooming him with a plan to steer his cultivation. Meanwhile, Wang Qi tested the God Plague Curse on three vegetative patients, leaving him with a way to combine it with the Devil’s Great Curse into a far more dangerous network.

• Du Chun woke injured and furious, then vowed never to endure another humiliation before a voice spoke from his jade pendant.
• Zhen Chanzi appeared to Du Chun and offered him power, while Wang Qi explained that the pendant projected an illusion and instructed Zhen Chanzi to guide Du Chun toward the Circle Theory and adventures beyond Divine Capital.
• Wang Qi followed Du Bin to five vegetative patients and examined their damaged brains and souls.
• Du Bin signed a consent form, and Wang Qi implanted memory bodies carrying the God Plague Curse into three patients.
• Wang Qi considered how the God Plague Curse could spread through a network built by the Devil’s Great Curse, forming a powerful Heart Devil Trojan Horse.