Chapter Summaries

Li Chen tracked the growing conflict between Che Rong and Yunshan Valley, then learned Feng Mingzhu and You Renzhi had gone to intercept Che Rong. Seeing an opening while the Black Market was left vulnerable, Li Chen planned to stir up trouble there with Wu Ding.

• Wu Ding told Li Chen that Che Rong had betrayed Luo Changshan and was waiting to seize Yunshan Valley, while Li Chen questioned whether the conflict might be a trap.
• Li Chen and his companions stayed in Suyang and monitored events as Che Rong recruited Rogue Cultivators to ambush returning Yunshan Valley disciples.
• Feng Mingzhu left Suyang with deathsworn retainers and You Renzhi to intercept Che Rong after they learned his whereabouts.
• Li Chen reasoned that You Renzhi had joined the expedition because Luo Changshan had offered him human-puppet research, leaving the Black Market without its Master Artisan.
• Li Chen urged Wu Ding to exploit the Black Market's vulnerability and cause further chaos, invoking Wu Ding's past near-sale at the Human Market.

Li Chen disguised himself as an old man and attacked the Black Market’s Human Market, overwhelming its guards with lightning techniques. After killing Steward Xin, he headed toward the dungeon.

• A lookout spotted an old man entering the Human Market, and the man blasted apart its outer courtyard.
• The old man killed two Mechanical Martial Artists with lightning and fought through the market’s guards and modified Battle Puppets.
• Steward Xin learned that a Spellcaster was attacking and suspected the intruder might be seeking revenge for a recent incident.
• Li Chen revealed himself through his divine sense, located Steward Xin and the surveillance room, and broke through the wall.
• Li Chen killed Steward Xin and the Earthly Sha Sect lackeys protecting him, then headed toward the dungeon.

Li Chen destroyed the underground Human Market, freed its captives, and blamed Yunshan Valley for buying people as human materials. After leaving the city under the name Long Aotian, he was pursued by a black shadow.

• Li Chen blasted through the dungeon guards and freed the prisoners, then led them past the fleeing Black Market thugs and Earthly Sha Sect lackeys.
• The rescued captives reunited with their families and friends as Li Chen told the crowd to take them home and introduced himself as Long Aotian.
• Li Chen left the city in disguise, reflecting that he could only do what he could against the widespread Human Markets.
• A black shadow chased Li Chen through the sky as the crowd watched.

Li Chen faced a Foundation Establishment-class Red Owl mecha after leaving the city and tested his strength against its attacks and defenses. Though he knocked it down and battered it with lightning, the Red Owl recovered, forcing Li Chen to recognize the danger of the fight.

• Li Chen identified the Red Owl as a three-star mecha and chose to fight it outside the city rather than flee.
• The Red Owl attacked with Divine Fire Flying Crows, and Li Chen dodged behind a hillside to escape the explosions.
• Li Chen struck the Red Owl with lightning, then charged in and punched its head, sending it crashing into rocks.
• Li Chen unleashed Nine Heavens Divine Thunder, but the Red Owl's protective coating absorbed most of the damage.
• The Red Owl recovered and leaped at Li Chen with its talons, but he dodged and landed on a distant rock.

Li Chen paralyzed the Red Owl mech with lightning, but its Puppeteer found him while searching the burning woods. Li Chen unleashed his full strength and smashed the mech with his Thunder Whip, Nine Heavens Divine Thunder, and Flying Chair, leaving it badly wrecked.

• Li Chen disabled the Red Owl mech with lightning and fled into the woods to avoid being mistaken for Che Rong’s accomplice.
• Red Owl searched the woods with Divine Sense and incendiary missiles, setting the surrounding hills ablaze and discovering Li Chen.
• Li Chen summoned his Floating Balls and Flying Chair, then struck Red Owl’s shoulder with his Thunder Whip and sent it crashing into a hillside.
• Li Chen wrapped the damaged mech in Nine Heavens Divine Thunder, which overheated its armor and disrupted its internal components.
• Li Chen rammed Red Owl’s chest with the Flying Chair, caving in its chest plate and sending spirit mercury spurting from the wreckage.

Li Chen killed the Puppeteer inside the wrecked Mecha, hid the corpse and wreckage, and returned to the city under cover of an alibi. He learned that Wu Ding had exposed the Human Market and planned to relax while the Rogue Cultivators’ unrest disrupted the Earthly Sha Sect’s business.

• Li Chen tore open the damaged Mecha, killed its gravely injured Puppeteer, and stored the corpse and wreckage in his Spatial Storage Compartment.
• Li Chen removed tracking devices from the wreckage before slipping invisibly back into the city and returning to his inner courtyard.
• He Ran explained that he had impersonated Li Chen with the String-Puppet Theater Method while an Earthly Sha Sect steward sought Li Chen’s help.
• Wu Ding told Li Chen that the whole city had learned about the Human Market and that he and others had killed a guard who had ambushed him.
• Li Chen took back the Painted Skin Wu Ding had used, then asked for food as Wu Ding offered Spicy Scorpion and seasonal melons.

Li Chen hosted He Ran and Wu Ding before meeting You Renzhi, who questioned him about his failure to help defend the Black Market. You Renzhi left suspecting Li Chen was mainly waiting for a better offer, but ordered his men to keep watching him.

• Li Chen, He Ran, and Wu Ding ate spicy black scorpions and sweet melon, and Wu Ding had to circulate his cultivation technique to expel the toxins.
• He Ran lamented that he had failed to reach Foundation Establishment, and Li Chen reflected on the uncertainty of life and his old companions' deaths.
• You Renzhi visited Li Chen and asked whether he had heard about the Black Market attack and why he had not intervened.
• Li Chen argued that the attack on the Human Market did not obligate the Skin-Painting Guild to fight, especially against unfamiliar Foundation Establishment cultivators.
• You Renzhi asked Li Chen to help watch over the market in future and offered library access and priority to rare resources instead of the compensation Li Chen had demanded.
• You Renzhi told an Earthly Sha Sect leader that Li Chen was probably waiting for a better price, but ordered the sect's men to monitor him.

Li Chen watched recorded footage of Che Rong fighting the Earthly Sha Sect’s Red Owl units and assessed the strengths and limits of their combat methods. He concluded that Che Rong followed a biological modification path and considered how adaptable Puppet designs could shape his own future work.

• Wu Ding told Li Chen that Earthly Sha Sect lackeys were spying nearby and showed him footage of Che Rong’s fight with several Red Owl units.
• Li Chen saw that Che Rong had been wounded but escaped by using an illusion and leaving a tentacle behind as a decoy.
• Li Chen judged that he could handle a weaker Red Owl alone but would be forced to flee from several units or any of the three piloted by Foundation Establishment cultivators.
• Li Chen identified Che Rong’s likely biological modification path and compared his escape technique to the Flying Head Technique and Blood-Drop Rebirth.
• Li Chen reflected on why versatile humanoid and biomimetic Puppets suited combat and other work better than fixed vehicle shapes.
• Li Chen assessed Che Rong’s enormous body as powerful against weak enemies but vulnerable to opponents of his level, and guessed that his next modification might let him change size and shape.

Li Chen assessed the Red Owl Mecha wreckage and salvaged several valuable components, including an intact Flying Blade Mechanism Device and blood mystic gold. He learned that the rare material could evolve into blood spirit jade, which was said to form the ultimate Puppet, the Dancing Maiden.

• Li Chen and Wu Ding discussed Che Rong’s weakening from repeated battles and the resources and knowledge Puppet Masters needed to prevail.
• Li Chen went to the underground storeroom and examined the wrecked Red Owl Mecha, finding that his Thunder attacks had damaged many of its components.
• Li Chen extracted the sealed Puppet Core’s spirit jade, which he planned to melt down and recover.
• Li Chen salvaged an intact Flying Blade Mechanism Device but found his smaller Keen Warrior Chassis could not power it.
• Li Chen recognized the Red Owl’s claw blades as blood mystic gold, a material that could evolve into blood spirit jade and was linked to Yan Shi’s legendary Dancing Maiden.

Li Chen refined blood mystic gold from the Mecha Red Owl and used it to upgrade his equipment. After remaking the Floating Balls, he began building the electromagnetic cannon he had envisioned.

• Li Chen decided to prioritize weapons over armor and salvaged three blood mystic gold blades from the Mecha Red Owl.
• Li Chen planned to use the metal for Keen Warrior blades, upgraded Floating Balls, the Keen Warrior Chassis, and an electromagnetic cannon called Thunder Dragon Spits Its Core.
• Li Chen used spirit mercury diluted with true water to cleanse and soften the blood mystic gold, then cut it into ingots.
• Li Chen spent several days remaking six Floating Balls, whose improved conductivity extended their connection to more than ten zhang.
• Li Chen melted the old Floating Balls into refined gold ingots for electromagnetic cannon projectiles and began building the cannon.

Li Chen began upgrading the Spirit Essence Furnace and Spirit Pump with blood mystic gold so they could withstand the pressure needed for his Thunder Dragon Spits Its Core attack. After meticulously processing the gold and removing the components from his puppet, he started fusing the material into them.

• Li Chen planned to boost the Furnace's output, remove its Safety Valves, and use the Spirit Pump to build pressure for Thunder Dragon Spits Its Core.
• Li Chen calculated the reinforcement requirements and processed nearly six jin of blood mystic gold into more than sixty bottles of blood-red liquid.
• Li Chen removed the Spirit Essence Furnace and Spirit Pump from his puppet and submerged them in spirit liquid.
• Li Chen began refining and fusing the blood mystic gold into the Furnace and Pump, applying his knowledge of their design.

Li Chen abandoned his attempt to fuse blood mystic gold with refined gold and decided to build a Spirit Essence Furnace and spirit pump from scratch for his Mechanism Puppet. He redesigned the puppet to concentrate its power in an electromagnetic cannon, naming the weapon the Thunder Dragon Cannon, or Thunder Dragon Type-A.

• Li Chen recalled the principles of Spirit Essence Furnaces and recognized that mastering their construction was necessary for advancing as a Master Artisan.
• After struggling to fuse blood mystic gold with refined gold, Li Chen chose to make a custom furnace and spirit pump from scratch.
• Li Chen selected the three-star Tiger Power furnace as the blueprint and began adapting its design for his puppet.
• Li Chen rerouted the puppet's meridians and redesigned its right arm as a guide rail for an electromagnetic cannon that would concentrate the puppet's power into one strike.
• After calculating that the design could produce power comparable to the middle or late stages of Foundation Establishment, Li Chen named it the Thunder Dragon Cannon, or Thunder Dragon Type-A.

Li Chen completed the Keen Warrior Puppet’s Thunder Dragon Cannon and tested its Thunder Dragon Spits Its Core attack. The shot devastated his underground workshop and the street behind his residence, leaving its full penetration power uncertain.

• Li Chen installed the Spirit Pump and Tiger-Force Furnace in the Keen Warrior Chassis, then confirmed that the new hardware operated normally.
• Li Chen arranged salvaged armor, the Fang Tiger Mechanism Beast’s shell, and Blood Mystic Gold as targets to measure the cannon’s power.
• Li Chen loaded a Refined Gold projectile into the Thunder Dragon Cannon and charged it with the Tiger-Force Furnace.
• Li Chen fired Thunder Dragon Spits Its Core, and the projectile struck the targets with explosive force.
• The blast shook the surrounding area and collapsed the rear courtyard and the street behind the residence.

After testing the Thunder Dragon Cannon and paying a fine for the destruction it caused, Li Chen visited Qi Yuetian to learn about Suyang City's strongest fighters. Qi Yuetian shared what he knew, leaving Li Chen to realize that the city held more Foundation Establishment-level threats than he had expected.

• Li Chen recovered the Red Owl Mecha wreckage and broken blood mystic gold from the collapsed workshop, then He Ran, Wu Ding, and You Renzhi arrived to inspect the damage.
• Li Chen apologized to the city authorities and agreed to pay a fine of five thousand Talisman Coins toward repairs.
• Li Chen reflected that he needed a private place to test weapons and felt reassured by the Thunder Dragon Cannon's power, though it still needed improvements.
• Li Chen asked He Ran and Wu Ding how he could learn about Suyang City's experts, and Wu Ding suggested he ask Qi Yuetian.
• Li Chen visited Qishan Valley, where Qi Yuetian served him food and discussed earning wealth through farming and raising poisonous insects.
• Li Chen redirected their conversation to Suyang City's combat strength, and Qi Yuetian told him about its mecha, Battle Puppets, and numerous Foundation Establishment-level fighters.

After learning about Suyang’s powerful war puppets and weighing his plans with He Ran and Wu Ding, Li Chen heard that Luo Changshan had died. Li Chen joined other Foundation Establishment cultivators at the Feng Residence, where Feng Mingzhu proposed they visit Yunshan Valley to pay their respects.

• Qi Yuetian explained the Red Owl, Yaksha, and Fire Thunder Beast war puppet models, along with the powerful legacies and defenses held by Suyang’s Aristocratic Clans.
• Li Chen discussed seeking Feng Mingzhu’s Array Dao knowledge and building a foothold in Suyang with He Ran and Wu Ding.
• Wu Ding told Li Chen that Yunshan Valley Master Luo Changshan had died from his injuries, and He Ran went to gather information.
• Li Chen hurried to the Feng Residence, where he found You Renzhi, Fu Wei, and several other Foundation Establishment cultivators.
• Feng Mingzhu proposed that the cultivators travel together to Yunshan Valley to pay their respects to Luo Changshan.

Li Chen attended Luo Changshan’s funeral at Yunshan Valley and noticed a suspicious dark mark on the corpse. After visiting Qi Yuetian, he learned that rumors pointed to a traitor and that Qi Yuetian suspected danger still surrounded the case.

• Li Chen traveled with Feng Mingzhu and the other Foundation Establishment cultivators to Yunshan Valley, where Lin Peilong welcomed them and led them to the Memorial Hall.
• The cultivators offered incense and condolences, and Li Chen saw Luo Changshan’s corpse and noticed a dark mark on its chin that suggested poison.
• Li Chen visited Qishan Valley and told Qi Yuetian about the mark on Luo Changshan’s corpse.
• Qi Yuetian said rumors suggested a Yunshan Valley traitor had colluded with outsiders to murder Luo Changshan, then warned Li Chen to be careful.

Li Chen and Qi Yuetian discussed the competing forces behind the turmoil in Yunshan Valley after Luo Changshan’s death, while Li Chen questioned how a Foundation Establishment mastermind could control the struggle. As unrest spread through Yunshan Valley and Yunshan Market, a masked stranger appeared and launched an attack on the Market District.

• Qi Yuetian outlined the forces involved in Yunshan Valley’s turmoil, including Che Rong, traitors among Luo Changshan’s followers, and a hidden mastermind seeking the valley’s legacy.
• Li Chen considered why the mastermind would provoke a struggle without enough power to guarantee control, then decided to wait and protect his own interests.
• The chapter described Yunshan Valley’s surrounding settlements, resource sites, and Yunshan Market, whose inhabitants grew anxious after Luo Changshan’s death.
• A hunched stranger wearing an iron-helmet-like mask appeared on a mountain behind Yunshan Market and transformed his right arm into a huge tentacle.
• The masked stranger fired a barrage of azure-lit water spheres at Yunshan Market.

Che Rong attacked the Market District, killing civilians and city guards before disappearing. The next day, Foundation Establishment cultivators gathered in Yunshan Valley to arrange a new Valley Master and recruit attendant elders, while Li Chen found himself unable to influence their plans.

• Che Rong bombarded the Market District with water globes and slaughtered the guards who confronted him.
• Foundation Establishment cultivators gathered in Yunshan Valley and discussed stopping Che Rong and restoring order.
• Li Chen struggled to join the discussion because he had no ties to the Suyang City region.
• Feng Mingzhu and You Renzhi backed Lin Peilong and Pang Zhengting as candidates for Valley Master.
• The cultivators agreed to hold an open recruitment for attendant elders to protect Yunshan Valley and qualify it as a member city-state.

Li Chen watched the Suyang Foundation Establishment cultivators negotiate the succession of Yunshan Valley, recognizing that they planned to divide its leadership while taking control of its most valuable legacy. The gathering appointed Lin Peilong Market Lord, Pang Zhengting Sect Master, and left the Valley Master position with the Yunshan Council of Elders until one of its members killed Che Rong.

• The cultivators distinguished Yunshan Valley’s bloodline, legal, and Dao successions, then debated who should inherit its positions and assets.
• Li Chen realized the outsiders intended to leave Yunshan Market to Yunshan’s heirs while taking control of the inner valley and its Spirit Peak Root Vein.
• Feng Mingzhu backed Lin Peilong and You Renzhi backed Pang Zhengting, preventing the gathering from reaching agreement on leadership and governance.
• The cultivators compromised by appointing Lin Peilong Market Lord and Pang Zhengting Sect Master, with power divided among a council of elders and other parties.
• Feng Mingzhu and You Renzhi agreed that the Yunshan Council of Elders would temporarily control the Valley Master position until a council member killed Che Rong and avenged Luo Changshan.

Feng Mingzhu led the Yunshan Lineage’s negotiations over contracts for Foundation Establishment cultivators, and three rogue cultivators became Attendant elders. Li Chen chose the freer Guest Adviser contract instead, asking the lineage to help him find a resource site near Suyang where he could establish himself.

• Feng Mingzhu explained that Attendant elders had to sign hundred-year Karmic Pacts and swear binding oaths, then the group drafted their duties, benefits, and rights.
• Li Chen weighed the long commitment against the authority and rewards of becoming an Attendant elder, while the others debated the contract’s terms.
• Zhen Zhuo, Lin Jiang, and Mo Yuehe signed Attendant contracts, while the remaining Foundation Establishment cultivators signed looser Guest Adviser contracts.
• Li Chen decided to become a Guest Adviser on the condition that Yunshan help him find a resource site near Suyang.
• Feng Mingzhu approved Li Chen’s request, and Zhen Zhuo, Lin Jiang, and Mo Yuehe agreed to sign his contract as representatives of the lineage.