Chapter Summaries

Li Chen confronted Luo Changshan, who revealed that he had survived by replacing his brain and taking over Che Rong's body. As Luo Changshan overwhelmed Li Chen in battle, Li Chen prepared a projectile containing an injectable solution to test whether Qi Yuetian had deceived him.

• Li Chen recognized the creature emerging from Che Rong's corpse as Luo Changshan and realized he had used a brain replacement to survive.
• Luo Changshan explained how he had controlled Che Rong and lured investigators toward the secret chamber.
• Luo Changshan knocked away Li Chen's blood mystic gold sphere, blocked his lightning with an azure barrier, and shattered his Gang Essence Shield with a punch.
• Li Chen summoned Armored Warrior Puppets and attacked with the Keen Warrior Chassis, but Luo Changshan smashed several puppets and continued to overpower him.
• Li Chen realized Luo Changshan wanted his younger body, then encased a vial of injectable solution in melted black iron to make a projectile and test whether Qi Yuetian had deceived him.

Li Chen used Qi Yuetian’s Blood Essence Secret Potion to weaken Luo Changshan, then killed him with the fully charged Thunder Dragon Spits Its Core. After checking the scattered remains for signs of survival, Li Chen noticed a faint trace of energy from an intact ring.

• Li Chen used his Puppets to distract Luo Changshan while preparing his attack.
• Li Chen struck Luo Changshan with Nine Heavens Divine Thunder and fired a projectile containing the Blood Essence Secret Potion, which weakened his flesh.
• Li Chen charged the Thunder Dragon Cannon as his Puppets restrained Luo Changshan, then destroyed Luo Changshan’s head with Thunder Dragon Spits Its Core.
• Li Chen examined Luo Changshan’s remains to ensure he was dead, then spotted an archaically patterned ring giving off a faint trace of energy.

Li Chen discovered that a Divine Traversal Beacon led to a guarded lair and suspected it was connected to Luo Changshan. After preparing for another confrontation, he went to Qishan Valley to ask Qi Yuetian for a replacement secret potion and poison to use against puppets and modified creatures.

• Li Chen identified the object he found as a Divine Traversal Beacon and sensed a giant octopus guarding the passage within it.
• Li Chen returned to Ironstone Tower, ordered his retainers to prepare supplies, and rested before investigating further.
• Li Chen told his retainers to watch for spies and asked He Ran and Wu Ding to monitor Crouching Tiger Hill and report anything unusual in Yunshan Valley.
• Li Chen traveled to Qishan Valley to seek Qi Yuetian's help after using up the Blood Essence Secret Potion in his fight with Che Rong.
• Li Chen asked Qi Yuetian whether he had another similar potion and requested a batch of Flesh-and-Blood Poison for use against human puppets and modified creatures.

Li Chen asked Qi Yuetian to prepare large quantities of cheap, volatile poisons for an undisclosed plan involving a hidden lair, and traded him automated Worker Bee Puppets to help produce them. Their exchange left Qi Yuetian pursuing a way to keep the body itself eternally young, while Li Chen recognized that many paths could lead to longevity.

• Li Chen decided to use oxygen-consuming firestarter powder and poisonous gases to clear Luo Changshan's lair, then asked Qi Yuetian for a large supply of volatile, fire-resistant poison.
• Qi Yuetian agreed to extract toxic substances from poisonous insects in Qishan Valley and develop suitable formulas, though he questioned Li Chen about their intended use.
• Li Chen offered Qi Yuetian Laborer Puppets and supporting programs to automate work in the valley in exchange for the poison.
• Li Chen installed Worker Bee Puppets for gardening and animal husbandry, and Qi Yuetian requested methods of the Skin-Painting Art as further compensation.
• Qi Yuetian explained that he wanted to use Poison Dao and Medicine Dao to reverse aging from within, and Li Chen reflected that every path could lead to longevity.

Li Chen bombarded the hidden passage with poisonous substances, weakened its monsters, and broke into a sealed chamber containing a brain linked to the octopus. Records there revealed that Luo Changshan had used brain transplantation and parasitism to move his soul and will between organisms in pursuit of a longer life.

• Li Chen prepared incendiary and poison gas bombs and fired rockets through the Beacon Spirit Ring into the hidden passage.
• Li Chen poisoned the passage for a day and night, leaving the octopus sluggish while the other monsters could no longer move.
• Li Chen sent Puppets to the sealed chamber, dismantled its fortified wall, and broke the crystal holding the brain.
• The brain withered and the octopus collapsed after Li Chen's Puppet struck the crystal.
• Li Chen found Luo Changshan's experimental records and learned that he had used brain parasitism to transfer his soul and will among organisms.

Li Chen read Luo Changshan’s records and learned that the old Master Artisan had altered his brain to control multiple Biological Puppet Chassis, but lost most of his memories and fell into an unending sleep. He also discovered that Luo Changshan’s Brain Insect threatened Zhen Zhuo, Lin Jiang, and Mo Yuehe, though Li Chen’s earlier actions had left it badly weakened.

• Li Chen realized that Luo Changshan had modified his brain into a structure capable of controlling multiple Biological Puppet Chassis.
• Li Chen learned that the brain modification cost Luo Changshan most of his memories, leaving him unable to distinguish himself from Che Rong without outside records.
• Li Chen discovered that Luo Changshan had replaced part of Che Rong’s brain and planted the Beacon Spirit Ring to take over his body.
• Li Chen found that Luo Changshan had set a Brain Insect trap for intruders who entered the Spirit Vein Spring Eye, putting Zhen Zhuo, Lin Jiang, and Mo Yuehe in danger.
• Li Chen identified the Brain Insect as the strange octopus and realized his poison and destruction of the last main brain had already left it in a miserable state.

Li Chen uncovered Luo Changshan’s plan to use Brain Insects to secretly parasitize people across Yunshan Valley and learned that Feng Mingzhu had also obtained the method for refining main brains. He warned Crouching Tiger Hill, eliminated two newly matured Brain Insects, and began studying the threat, while the wider danger in Yunshan Valley remained unresolved.

• Li Chen read records describing how Luo Changshan’s main and sub-brain insects could control hosts and create a hidden Parasite Legion throughout Yunshan Valley and Yunshan Market District.
• Li Chen discovered that Feng Mingzhu had obtained the method for refining main brains, leaving him uncertain about Feng Mingzhu’s intentions.
• Li Chen summoned He Ran and Wu Ding, warned them about Brain Insects, and examined them for signs of parasitic infection.
• Li Chen quietly checked Crouching Tiger Hill’s residents and found that a married couple who had moved from Yunshan Market District were parasitized.
• Li Chen secretly killed the couple’s recently matured Brain Insects before they fused with their hosts’ brains.
• Li Chen concluded that he could not yet address the wider threat in Yunshan Valley and began studying the Brain Insects’ system and techniques.

Li Chen chose to conceal the danger posed by Luo Changshan while quietly stirring up a rumor to make Zhen Zhuo and the others search the Inner Valley. After sorting through his stolen treasures and knowledge, he studied Luo Changshan’s theory of spiritual informationization and the Brain Deconstruction Technique.

• Li Chen decided not to expose Luo Changshan outright, choosing instead to hide himself and focus on his own development while keeping others wary.
• Li Chen spread a rumor that Luo Changshan had hidden a treasure hoard near the Spirit Vein Spring Eye in Yunshan Valley’s Inner Valley.
• Zhen Zhuo, Lin Jiang, and Mo Yuehe secretly began investigating the Inner Valley in search of the rumored treasure.
• Li Chen finished sorting the gains from Luo Changshan’s lair, including a Divine Traversal Beacon, valuable materials, and jade-slip legacies.
• Li Chen studied Luo Changshan’s Secret Art, which treated the mind, will, and True Spirit as information that could be compressed and shifted between states.

Li Chen studied Luo Changshan’s annotated Capture Shadows, Refine Souls manual and recognized it as a major foundation for understanding spiritual intelligence and advancing his own craft. He also found useful puppet techniques and components among Luo Changshan’s belongings, resolving to master the manual and pursue the grand artisan path.

• Li Chen examined the Capture Shadows, Refine Souls manual annotated by Kong Jinqiu and connected it to the spiritual principles behind Luo Changshan’s Brain Deconstruction technique.
• Li Chen concluded that the method explained how spiritual templates and power formed puppet intelligence, and he resolved to study it as the foundation for advancing his craft.
• Li Chen reviewed Luo Changshan’s notes and judged that his limited mastery of spiritual intelligence might have contributed to the failure of his reincarnation.
• Li Chen discovered the Golden Wind Wave refining method and learned that it required suitable foundations or materials to convert primordial energy.
• Li Chen found processed true demon organs prepared as transplantable puppet components and sealed them away for possible future use.

Li Chen graded his Apprentices’ mechanical assignments before continuing work on the Magic Cube Maze, his fortified secret base. He introduced the Wooden Soldier Puppet Dolls Xiao Die and Xiao Ying, intending to build them new bodies and upgrade them into Three-Star Sword Guards.

• Li Chen assessed the Apprentices’ components, assigned grades, and told An Yuanxi to have the excellent work displayed in class.
• An Yuanxi, Zhong Zhang, and Lin Ruyi visited Li Chen with their assignments, and he graded each Apprentice’s work.
• Li Chen sealed the tower’s top floor and entered the Magic Cube Maze to refine his secret base and consider reshaping its spatial cells.
• Li Chen reflected that buying a Space-Splitting Blade and modifying the maze would cost millions, which he hoped to fund by selling treasures from Luo Changshan’s legacy.
• Xiao Die and Xiao Ying entered the inner chamber as Wooden Soldier Puppet Dolls, and Li Chen planned to make new bodies for them and upgrade them into Three-Star Sword Guards.

Li Chen activated Heavenly Pivot, the new intelligence in the Magic Cube Maze, and continued planning research into artificial intelligence. At Qishan Valley, he repaired faulty irrigation equipment and learned that Qi Yuetian had once been coerced into aiding Luo Changshan and Feng Mingzhu’s reincarnation scheme, though he secretly developed a potion to counter Brain Insect parasitism.

• Li Chen activated the central control core, named its intelligence Heavenly Pivot, and learned it was still an immature Three-Star experimental core.
• Li Chen reflected on developing the Puppet Sisters’ simulated emotions and planned to compare their growth with Heavenly Pivot’s.
• After receiving Qi Yuetian’s message about faulty irrigation equipment, Li Chen traveled to Qishan Valley and fixed the signal problem caused by its geomagnetic field.
• Li Chen asked Qi Yuetian about Luo Changshan and Feng Mingzhu’s Brain Deconstruction Technique and Soul Possession plans, then revealed that he had taken down Luo Changshan except for his Main Brain.
• Qi Yuetian admitted that Luo Changshan and Feng Mingzhu had forced him to share knowledge, and explained that he had secretly developed a Secret Potion to counter Brain Insect parasitism.

Ten years after destroying Luo Changshan’s reincarnation scheme, Li Chen developed his Puppet technology and expanded his mining operation while the elders of Yunshan Valley dealt with the remaining parasitic threat. He was shocked when news arrived that Feng Zhengliang had suddenly reached Foundation Establishment.

• Qi Yuetian revealed that he had secretly helped Li Chen defeat Luo Changshan and exchanged Poison Dao research for copies of two techniques.
• Li Chen returned to Crouching Tiger Hill and planned to cultivate Craftsmen, develop combat puppets and technology, and build his own path from Luo Changshan’s knowledge.
• Li Chen spent five years learning Capture Shadows, Refine Souls, then integrated it into his mechanical systems and began manufacturing three-star Puppet Cores.
• Over ten years, Li Chen expanded his Worker Bee Puppet workforce and stayed hidden as Zhen Zhuo and the other two elders resolved Yunshan Valley’s parasitic crisis.
• Li Chen received news that Feng Zhengliang had suddenly reached Foundation Establishment and wondered how it was possible.

Li Chen maintained his body in a spirit pool for unattended cultivation and prepared to attend Feng Zhengliang’s Foundation Establishment celebration. Feng Zhengliang’s breakthrough bewildered Suyang’s clans, who had expected the Feng Household to decline after Feng Mingzhu’s death.

• Li Chen checked his spirit-pool cultivation setup and told Xiao Die and Xiao Ying to continue refining their chassis.
• Wu Ding was astonished to hear that Feng Zhengliang had reached Foundation Establishment, and Li Chen suggested visiting to verify the news.
• He Ran told Li Chen that the Feng Household would host a banquet in half a month, and Li Chen agreed to attend with He Ran and Wu Ding on behalf of Crouching Tiger Hill.
• Suyang’s clansmen gathered to discuss Feng Zhengliang’s breakthrough and wondered whether his past wastrel behavior had concealed his talent.
• The clan elders questioned how Feng Zhengliang could reach Foundation Establishment after wasting so much time on gambling, womanizing, and other diversions.

Feng Zhengliang secretly absorbed magic power from a servant while cultivating a technique that worried his father, Feng Tiande. At the Suyang City celebration, Li Chen noticed that Feng Zhengliang’s aura strangely resembled Feng Mingzhu’s, leaving him shocked as the guests dispersed.

• Feng Zhengliang killed a servant by absorbing his magic power, then told Feng Tiande that his cultivation was progressing smoothly.
• Feng Zhengliang asked about inviting guests to Suyang City and suggested that rogue cultivators might provide him with more magic power and spiritual sense.
• Li Chen, He Ran, and Wu Ding arrived in Suyang City for Feng Zhengliang’s celebration, where guests confirmed that he had reached Foundation Establishment.
• Feng Zhengliang told guests that Feng Mingzhu was unwell, and Li Chen saw the frail patriarch and judged that he had little time left.
• Li Chen noticed that Feng Mingzhu’s magic power aura closely resembled Feng Zhengliang’s and was shocked by the discovery.

Feng Zhengliang revealed that the Feng Household was using ancestor Feng Mingzhu’s preserved body to inherit his power, while city clans weighed the threat of Feng Zhengliang’s new Foundation Establishment cultivation. Xiao Yicheng secretly hired a Foundation Establishment cultivator to carry out a gamble against Feng Mingzhu and then hurried back to his compound.

• Feng Zhengliang manipulated Feng Mingzhu’s body and argued that turning the ancestor into a human puppet could further benefit the Feng Household.
• Feng Tiande scolded Feng Zhengliang for treating their ancestor’s remains carelessly, then left in anger.
• Xiao Yicheng and other clan heads discussed whether Feng Zhengliang’s Foundation Establishment cultivation and Feng Mingzhu’s legacy made the Feng Household too powerful to challenge.
• After the others left, Xiao Yicheng revealed his grudge against Feng Mingzhu and his ambition for the Xiao Household to take Suyang’s city leadership.
• Xiao Yicheng gave a precious payment to Senior Lin, signed a contract for him to act against Feng Mingzhu, and hurried back to his lineage’s compound.

After returning to Crouching Tiger Hill, Li Chen halted blacksteel production because the hill was running short of spirit stones and focused on Worker Bees instead. He returned to the Magic Cube Maze to refine a new Four-Star Puppet Core combining sentient intelligence with mechanical architecture, aiming to unlock computational space and expand his forces’ capabilities.

• Li Chen, He Ran, and Wu Ding returned to Crouching Tiger Hill, where mining and Worker Bee production had helped build a sprawling industrial city.
• Zhong Zhang reported that the Ironworks lacked spirit stones, so Li Chen suspended blacksteel production and redirected it to Worker Bee materials.
• Li Chen explained that a spirit stone shortage was not Crouching Tiger Hill’s only limit, since puppet maintenance costs and his ability to control the swarm also constrained expansion.
• Li Chen entered the Magic Cube Maze and learned that Heavenly Pivot had completed a ritual refinement task.
• Li Chen began refining a new black-crystal Puppet Core that combined sentient intelligence architecture with mechanical intelligence, seeking to achieve Four-Star capability and computational space.

Li Chen reflected on studying Cosmic Dao space and considered seeking the Feng Household’s Array Dao knowledge to advance his research. As he prepared to leave Suyang, a spy reported that Feng Mingzhu was suspected to have been assassinated and declared dead.

• Li Chen concluded that careful study of predecessors’ records and experiments could help him overcome his cultivation bottleneck and develop his own Dao Path.
• Li Chen considered approaching Feng Mingzhu to exchange knowledge for the Feng Household’s Array Dao materials.
• Xiao Die brought Li Chen tea and reported that his plan to prepare for leaving Suyang was nearly complete, with only seven percent remaining.
• A spy in Suyang City sent Li Chen word that unrest had broken out and Feng Mingzhu was suspected to have been assassinated and declared dead.

Li Chen learned that Feng Mingzhu had died in an assassination meant for Feng Zhengliang and discussed with Qi Yuetian whether Feng Mingzhu had sacrificed himself to empower his descendant. The Feng Household later confirmed its patriarch’s death to Li Chen, and Suyang City began to face growing unrest.

• Li Chen’s scout reported that an assassin had killed Feng Mingzhu while targeting Feng Zhengliang, who was also injured.
• Li Chen contacted Qi Yuetian, who speculated that Feng Mingzhu had either possessed Feng Zhengliang or sacrificed himself to strengthen him.
• Li Chen considered how Feng Mingzhu’s death might affect the Feng Household and focused on the Array Dao knowledge and Divine Ability Mechanism Devices he hoped to obtain.
• Heavenly Pivot told Li Chen that a Feng Household envoy had requested an audience.
• A Feng Household Clan Elder informed Li Chen that Feng Mingzhu had died and invited him to pay his respects.

After Feng Zhengliang survived an attack involving a Godslaying Arrow, Li Chen returned to Suyang City as rival clans gathered and tried to win his favor. Rumors then spread attacking Feng Zhengliang and the Feng Household, while the city’s factions waited for the household to respond.

• Feng Tiande scolded Feng Zhengliang for risking his life and using their ancestor’s remains to block the Godslaying Arrow, and the two argued.
• Li Chen returned to Suyang City and sensed that powerful cultivators and armed forces had gathered as the Feng Household prepared for danger.
• The head of the Xiao Household brought Li Chen valuable spiritual essence materials, and other aristocratic clan members followed with gifts and questions about the city’s situation.
• Li Chen realized that Feng Zhengliang’s injury had encouraged rival lineages to challenge the Feng Household’s authority because Feng Zhengliang lacked Master Artisan status.
• Rumors accusing Feng Zhengliang of misconduct and questioning his legitimacy spread through Suyang City, as the factions waited for the Feng Household to act.

Feng Zhengliang tried to silence rumors about the Feng Household by brutally punishing commoners, but his violence shifted public attention onto him. He then clashed with Xiao Yicheng’s merchant businesses, giving Xiao Yicheng a chance to exploit his growing reputation for tyranny.

• Feng Tiande warned Feng Zhengliang that rumors about the Feng Household could signal that its enemies were preparing to act, but Feng Zhengliang decided to punish the gossipmongers.
• Feng Zhengliang had guards seize commoners discussing the rumors and dragged them behind his Chariot until they were killed.
• After learning that Aristocratic Clans were behind the rumors, Feng Zhengliang ordered his men to burn down a street and planned to confront the clans.
• Feng Tiande found that the city had fallen silent, while Li Chen recognized that Feng Zhengliang’s brutality had redirected public attention away from the Feng Household.
• Xiao Yicheng welcomed the damage Feng Zhengliang was doing to the household’s reputation, then learned that Feng Zhengliang had beaten Shopkeeper Pei and smashed shops on Merchant Street.
• Xiao Yicheng ordered his steward to take him to the scene of the clash.