Chapter Summaries

Li Chen tracked a demonic aura with the Combat Body and discovered a Scarlet Fool Lizard instead of the Mystic Ice Python. After the Combat Body blinded the beast, Li Chen summoned Xiao Die and Xiao Ying to join the fight.

• Li Chen used the Spirit Awareness Array and the Puppet Core to trace the demonic energy’s route and guide the Combat Body to a valley.
• The Combat Body suppressed its aura and entered the valley, where a Scarlet Fool Lizard attacked it with a huge fireball.
• The Combat Body endured the flames and stabbed the lizard’s right eye, blinding it and enraging it.
• The Scarlet Fool Lizard formed an illusory fire manifestation, and Li Chen summoned Xiao Die and Xiao Ying onto the battlefield.

Li Chen used the Thunder Dragon Cannon, the Combat Body, and Xiao Ying to kill a Fire Salamander, then salvaged its body for materials. After discovering the cannon had drained his spirit pools, he ordered them replenished, but three Foundation Establishment auras approached as he prepared to leave.

• Li Chen exploited the Fire Salamander’s weakness and used the Thunder Dragon Cannon to wound it with three rapid shots.
• Xiao Ying severed the Fire Salamander’s head with her greatsword, killing it.
• Li Chen concluded that his layered Puppet Master arsenal and folded-space techniques let him surpass ordinary Foundation Establishment combatants.
• Heavenly Pivot warned that the Thunder Dragon Cannon’s spirit pools were low, so Li Chen ordered the resources replenished.
• Worker Bee Puppets dismantled the Fire Salamander and carried useful materials into the base.
• As the Combat Body prepared to withdraw, three auras resembling Foundation Establishment cultivators entered its alert perimeter.

Li Chen met Mo Qingyang and two other members of the Mu Household after defeating a Scarlet Fool Lizard, then accepted an invitation to visit Xiling. Master Artisan Mu Qingmu personally welcomed Li Chen, sensing that his Combat Body concealed unusual power.

• Li Chen allowed Mo Qingyang and two Puppeteers to approach the valley, where they found the aftermath of his battle with the Scarlet Fool Lizard.
• Mo Qingyang introduced himself as a Guest Adviser to the Mu Household and asked Li Chen where he came from.
• Li Chen claimed to be a wandering rogue cultivator and Puppet Master Artisan, and asked Mo Qingyang to introduce him to Mu Qingmu.
• Mo Qingyang welcomed Li Chen’s request and escorted his Combat Body to Xiling City.
• The Mu Household opened its gates to receive Li Chen, and Mu Qingmu returned from outside the city to meet him.
• Mu Qingmu sensed an unusual aura in Li Chen’s Combat Body, as if it concealed a void grotto-heaven.

Li Chen negotiated with Mu Qing over the Scarlet Fool Lizard’s Demon Core and sought the Mu Household’s primordial-energy techniques and mechanism diagrams. Mu Qing offered the Blood-Transforming Pool methods, which used flesh and blood to produce spirit essence for puppets and mechanisms, and explained how they could help create a Fire Spirit Pearl.

• Mu Qing inferred that Li Chen specialized in Capture Shadows, Refine Souls and Awaken Spirituality, and Li Chen praised his insight without revealing his true cultivation path.
• Mu Qing offered about a hundred thousand Talisman Coins for the Scarlet Fool Lizard’s Demon Core, or a larger package for the other materials, but Li Chen requested supplies and primordial-energy techniques instead.
• Mu Qing described the Mu Household’s Blood-Transforming Pool, which extracted spirit essence from flesh and blood for use in puppets and mechanisms.
• Li Chen recognized that the Mu Household wanted the lizard’s Demon Core to help make a Fire Spirit Pearl that could imitate its Flame Dragon Blazing Sun Thunder ability.

Li Chen negotiated with Mu Qing and the Mu Household to exchange his Hundred Ingenious Weapons schematics for their puppet-making methods and skills. As they haggled over the value of their respective offerings, Li Chen studied the materials and discovered that the Mu Household’s extras included ways to use spiritglow origin crystal.

• Li Chen offered Mu Qing the Hundred Ingenious Weapons schematics in exchange for the Mu Household’s Blood-Transforming techniques and other skills.
• Mu Qing agreed to consult the clan elders and arranged for Li Chen to stay as a guest while the elders considered the trade.
• The Mu elders unanimously approved the exchange, and the two sides began negotiating which methods and skills to include.
• Li Chen and the Mu Household argued over the relative value of his complete schematics and their inherited, incomplete skills.
• While studying the materials during the negotiations, Li Chen discovered methods for utilizing treasure ores such as spiritglow origin crystal.

Li Chen studied incomplete methods for processing spiritglow origin crystals and decided they suited his strengths better than the Mu Household’s Blood-Transforming Pool techniques. He revised his trade with Mu Qing to obtain raw spirit crystal ore and then ordered a finished Blood-Transforming Pool core.

• Li Chen learned that the spiritglow origin crystal records were incomplete, but believed he could use the Complete Book of the Puppet Master Order to experiment and develop the techniques.
• Li Chen judged that mineral processing and energy crystals better matched his skills and goals than biological modification, which he had little time to practice.
• Li Chen asked Mu Qing to exchange 150,000 of his allowance for fifteen raw spirit crystals while keeping the other spirit materials unchanged, and Mu Qing agreed.
• Li Chen and the Mu Household completed their trade, exchanging crystal records, materials, and Blood-Transforming Pool methods for Li Chen’s Hundred Ingenious Weapons schematics and biological modification knowledge.
• Li Chen asked the Mu Household to make him a finished Blood-Transforming Pool core in exchange for talisman coins and fine wood.

Li Chen oversaw the Mu Household’s installation of a Type-B No. 3 Furnace for his Blood-Transforming Pool and learned how demon blood and Blood Beasts could supply it. The furnace was installed in his cultivation abode, and Mu Qing offered to sell him a steady supply of Blood Beasts.

• Li Chen continued preparing to hunt the Mystic Ice Python while the Mu Household warned him that the elite True Demon was especially formidable.
• Mu Qing arrived with the Type-B No. 3 Furnace and entered Li Chen’s cultivation abode through the Puppet Chassis’s Void Gate.
• Li Chen showed Mu Qing the prepared foundation, and they installed the Furnace and began fitting its material inlets and conveyor belts.
• Mu Qing poured demon blood into the Furnace and explained its spiritual essence output and the role of demon blood as an accessible fuel.
• Li Chen asked about Blood Beasts, and Mu Qing explained that the Mu Household bred them for blood and offered to supply them.

Li Chen realized the Mu Household promoted Blood-Transforming Pools to expand its Puppet Master business, but he had no money left to buy one. In Xiling City, he used Heavenly Pivot to automate mineral processing, earning praise and establishing a profitable new source of income.

• Li Chen declined Mu Qing's further sales pitch because buying the Blood-Transforming Pool had left him with little ready cash.
• With the Mystic Ice Python still missing in late November, Li Chen began processing stockpiled black iron and heavenfire stone using Heavenly Pivot's four-star intelligence.
• Li Chen sold refined iron ingots and processed heavenfire stone in Xiling City, where their low prices and high quality won widespread praise.
• The Merchants' Association Head and Attendant Elder visited Li Chen at Mountain Forest Villa, paid him, and invited him to supply more goods.
• Li Chen calculated that his operation earned about ten percent profit and told Heavenly Pivot it could now earn money to support him.

Li Chen discovered a deposit of crimson fire copper in the Eastern Victory Continent and established an automated mining site. As Heavenly Pivot demonstrated her ability to manage and manufacture Worker Bee Puppets, Li Chen considered expanding production once he had saved enough Talisman Coins.

• Li Chen searched the forest for mineral veins and found a copper deposit showing signs of spiritual essence.
• Heavenly Pivot analyzed the deposit and identified crimson fire copper formed by nearby volcanic earth veins.
• Li Chen ordered Heavenly Pivot to establish a mining site and begin extraction.
• Heavenly Pivot deployed Worker Bee Puppets and Mechanism Devices to build an automated ore-processing worksite.
• Li Chen considered producing more Worker Bee Puppets, and Heavenly Pivot reported that she had mastered ninety-five percent of their schematics.

Li Chen expanded his mining operation, earning substantial profits by extracting and processing copper with his Puppets. In Xiling City, Mu Qing and Mo Qingyang discussed Li Chen’s success and decided to recruit Puppet Masters who had complained about his competition, while postponing a decision about involving him in another matter.

• Li Chen mined and processed ore for over a month, earning a net profit of more than three hundred thousand Talisman Coins.
• When the surface deposits dwindled, Li Chen used Worker Bee Puppets and Thunderfire Thunderclaps to clear hills and expand the mine.
• Li Chen considered mining for local powers such as the Mu Household but preferred owning a mine himself.
• Mu Qing asked Mo Qingyang what Li Chen had been doing, and Mo Qingyang reported that Li Chen was mining and selling copper ingots.
• Mu Qing concluded Li Chen’s mining profits suggested progress in the Dao of intelligence, but said the Mu Household should wait before recommending him and could instead recruit the Puppet Masters he had driven to complain.

Li Chen amassed wealth from mining and arranged an exchange with the Lan Household to acquire enough spirit stones for a major experiment. After gathering one million spirit stones, he returned to Copper Mountain to begin testing a device that converted the radiance of heaven and earth into primordial energy.

• Li Chen negotiated with Fellow Daoist Lan to trade crimson fire copper for blacksteel and up to five hundred thousand spirit stones.
• Li Chen completed the exchange at the Lan Household’s Market District and withdrew his reserved spirit stones, bringing his total to one million.
• Li Chen returned to Copper Mountain and inspected a large crystal apparatus designed to absorb spiritual radiance and convert it into primordial energy.

Li Chen tested whether a spiritglow origin crystal could convert ordinary light into spiritual energy, but its output fell far below his needs and repeated experiments destroyed costly samples. After spending three years and millions of resources on research, he still could not identify the cause of the low conversion efficiency.

• Li Chen used a Puppet Wooden Soldier to supervise an experiment and found that the spiritglow origin crystal gathered light and produced only a tiny amount of primordial energy.
• Li Chen concluded that the crystal’s conversion efficiency was far below the required level and ordered the experiment repeated.
• Repeated pressure tests cracked the spirit crystal, but Li Chen continued refining experimental pieces in the Magic Cube Maze.
• Over the next three years, Li Chen mined ore and spent more than three million on spirit stones and spirit crystals while researching spiritglow origin crystals.
• Li Chen crushed another ruined crystal core and realized that, despite nearing a breakthrough, he still had not found the cause of the low conversion efficiency.

Li Chen realized he needed guidance to advance his research on Spiritglow Origin Crystals, and Mu Qing invited him to meet Master Artisan Yang of the Creation Sect. At the gathering, Li Chen learned about Yang’s military role and heard of Taiqiu Immortal City and Morning Cloud Celestial Palace, whose name stirred powerful emotions in him.

• Li Chen considered seeking an expert’s guidance after struggling to understand how Spiritglow Origin Crystals worked.
• Mu Qing contacted Li Chen and invited him back to Xiling City to exchange ideas with Master Artisan Yang.
• Li Chen arrived and found Master Artisan Lan, Artisan Yan, Master Artisan Feng, and other cultivators gathered to meet Yang.
• Li Chen asked Master Artisan Lan about Yang and Elder Qi, and Lan explained that Yang served in the Qi Family Army under a full elder of the Creation Sect.
• Master Artisan Lan mentioned that Elder Qi might be recruited by Taiqiu Immortal City and described its territory and relationship with Morning Cloud Celestial Palace, whose name stirred Li Chen.

Li Chen and the other cultivators welcomed Master Artisan Yang, Grand Artisan Qi’s envoy, but Yang dismissed their requests to discuss the Puppeteer Dao Path and went to meet Mu Qing. Li Chen reflected on the contempt some sect members showed rogue cultivators and regretted that he could not ask Yang for advice.

• Mu Qing led the gathered cultivators to welcome Master Artisan Yang and his three Foundation Establishment Puppeteers at the Mu Household.
• Master Artisan Yang greeted Mu Qing warmly but responded coldly to Li Chen and the other cultivators.
• When rogue cultivators asked Yang about the Puppeteer Dao Path, he said he was tired and had important business with Mu Qing, then went with him to the rear hall.
• Master Artisan Lan told Li Chen that Yang looked down on local cultivators, while Li Chen considered why some sect and clan members distrusted rogue cultivators.
• Li Chen said he had hoped to ask Yang for advice about difficulties he had encountered.

Mu Qing persuaded Master Artisan Yang to let him recommend Long Kingdom craftsmen for Grand Artisan Qi’s overdue arsenal commissions. Master Artisan Yang announced a one-day crafting test for anyone who wanted to meet the grand artisan.

• Mu Qing told Master Artisan Yang that the Long Kingdom still could not find the demons and had struggled to complete Grand Artisan Qi’s commissions.
• Mu Qing proposed recommending wilderness rogue cultivators for the work, and Master Artisan Yang agreed to let them try if they proved capable.
• Mu Qing returned to the alchemy gathering and explained that Taiqiu Immortal City’s repeated battles had left its armaments production assignments unfinished.
• Mu Qing invited the gathered craftsmen to travel to Eastern Wingtip Mountain and meet Grand Artisan Qi, while Li Chen considered taking on the work.
• Master Artisan Yang presented a blacksteel puppet component and told those interested to make one within a day.

Li Chen and the other rogue cultivators struggled to decipher a mysterious alloy component in Master Artisan Yang’s test. Li Chen used the Wisdom Core to derive its formula, made a matching component, and discovered new ways to refine blacksteel.

• Master Artisan Yang presented the cultivators with a component and told them to reproduce it without revealing its materials or formula.
• After several hours of failures, one cultivator accused Master Artisan Yang of making the test unnecessarily difficult and left.
• Li Chen considered the cultivator’s criticism but decided to solve the problem, using the Wisdom Core to calculate possible alloy combinations.
• Several more cultivators abandoned the test while Li Chen and three others continued working into the evening.
• Li Chen deduced that the component used four metals and a nested spiral structure, then refined an identical component and several distinctive blacksteel ingots.

Li Chen passed Master Artisan Yang’s alloy test, though Yang suspected him of cheating, and traveled with the other rogue cultivators to Grand Artisan Qi’s headquarters at Wingtip Mountain. Instead of meeting the Grand Artisan, Li Chen received an identity artifact and was left waiting, with Mu Qing offering to show him the city’s market district.

• Li Chen presented several refined alloys, passed Master Artisan Yang’s test, and left while Yang told Mu Qing he believed Li Chen had encountered the material before.
• Master Artisan Yang admitted to himself that the test was meant to make the rogue cultivators struggle, then agreed to take the successful candidates to meet Grand Artisan Qi.
• The next day, the other two rogue cultivators barely passed, and Master Artisan Yang brought all three men and Li Chen aboard a Metal Puppet Bird.
• The group arrived at Wingtip Mountain, where Li Chen saw the Steel Forest, the towering buildings, and the Gold-Iron tower at Grand Artisan Qi’s headquarters.
• Master Artisan Yang assigned the newcomers adjoining rooms and Identity-Recognition Artifacts instead of arranging a meeting with Grand Artisan Qi.
• Mu Qing explained that Li Chen could explore the city and invited him to visit the Market District.

Li Chen explored the Mirage’s Market District and commissioned a trial batch of puppet components before Mu Qing learned that Master Artisan Yang intended to divert work to the Rogue Cultivators through subcontracting. The Rogue Cultivators still had not met Grand Artisan Qi or received direct commissions, and Master Artisan Yang planned to conceal that from them.

• Mu Qing explained that the Mirage was the physical embryonic form of a Sky City as the group toured its Market District.
• Li Chen hired a stall to make ten sensing components for his Worker Bee Puppets and paid a deposit.
• The group browsed the raw materials market, bought spirit materials, and returned to their lodgings.
• When Mu Qing asked about meeting Grand Artisan Qi, Master Artisan Yang said the army was busy and suggested giving the Rogue Cultivators subcontracted work instead.
• Master Artisan Yang proposed telling the Rogue Cultivators that Grand Artisan Qi would not accept them, while secretly profiting from passing commissions to them.

Li Chen and two rogue cultivators reluctantly accepted subcontracted Puppet Master commissions from the Qi Family Army after Master Artisan Yang failed to arrange their promised audience with Grand Artisan Qi. They discovered the work offered valuable knowledge and resources, but planned to seek official status or leave once they understood their options.

• Master Artisan Yang gave Li Chen and the two rogue cultivators subcontracted component commissions and Command Tokens instead of arranging a meeting with Grand Artisan Qi.
• Mu Qing apologized, and the three rogue cultivators recognized that they had little leverage and accepted the tasks despite their resentment.
• After Mu Qing left, the cultivators discussed how the commissions could still provide a valuable livelihood and access to rare knowledge.
• Li Chen found information on spiritglow origin crystals, cosmic Dao knowledge, and advanced Sky City alloy techniques in the Jade Slip.
• The three decided to endure the arrangement for now, then seek Grand Artisan Qi or leave if they could not obtain official status and full contribution points.

Li Chen used Heavenly Pivot to mass-produce Artificial Meniscuses and earned a hundred thousand contribution points. He sought to redeem information about spiritglow origin crystals, but the Merit Officer refused because he lacked Collaborating Artisan status.

• Li Chen assigned Heavenly Pivot to analyze and produce Artificial Meniscuses, then collected materials from the storehouse.
• Heavenly Pivot set up a workshop in the Magic Cube Maze and produced precise components for Li Chen to inspect.
• Li Chen completed more than five thousand Artificial Meniscuses and earned a hundred thousand contribution points.
• Li Chen asked the Merit Officer to redeem information about spiritglow origin crystals, but the officer said he lacked the required Collaborating Artisan status.