Chapter Summaries

Li Chen discovered that Master Artisan Yang had diverted the credit and status benefits from his commissions, leaving him unable to redeem key techniques directly. Their dispute escalated until the chief steward arrived and ordered everyone to stand down.

• The merit officer told Li Chen that he needed someone with Collaborating Artisan status to redeem restricted items, and Li Chen realized Master Artisan Yang and others had taken the credit for his work.
• Li Chen found two rogue cultivators, and they agreed to confront Master Artisan Yang together.
• Master Artisan Yang offered to redeem Li Chen's techniques the next day if Li Chen transferred his points, but Li Chen demanded immediate access and the return of their status privileges.
• Master Artisan Yang denied that the rogue cultivators were entitled to Collaborating Artisan status, and Li Chen threatened him as bystanders gathered.
• Master Artisan Yang called for guards to seize Li Chen, but the chief steward arrived and ordered everyone to stand down.

The Chief Steward investigated Li Chen’s dispute with Master Artisan Yang and punished Yang for exploiting Rogue Cultivators. He promised to help Li Chen and his companions establish a direct cooperative relationship with Taiqiu Immortal City.

• The Chief Steward brought Li Chen and Master Artisan Yang into an inner hall and asked them to explain their dispute.
• Li Chen gave an objective account, and Master Artisan Yang admitted that it was true.
• The Chief Steward ordered Master Artisan Yang to receive fifty lashes and suspended him from his post pending Grand Artisan Qi’s judgment.
• The Chief Steward apologized to Li Chen and offered to submit the three companions’ names so they could contract directly with Taiqiu Immortal City.
• Li Chen thanked the Chief Steward for taking charge of the matter.

Li Chen received compensation from Chief Steward Pang and was officially recognized as a partner artisan of Taiqiu Immortal City. After settling the returned contribution credits, he spent them on spirit jade and completed a new artificial intelligence named HeavenlyXuan.

• Chief Steward Pang used his own contribution credits to obtain spiritglow origin crystal knowledge and promised to restore Li Chen's credits through official accounts.
• Li Chen accepted the chief steward's help but resolved to settle his remaining grievance with Master Artisan Yang himself.
• Master Artisan Yang was punished, and in early August Li Chen and the two rogue cultivators received partner artisan status and official tokens from Taiqiu Immortal City.
• Li Chen discovered that his restored contribution credits totaled 120,000 and used 100,000 of them, plus a million talisman coins, to buy the largest piece of natural spirit jade.
• Li Chen refined the spirit jade, loaded and debugged his new system, and used Capture Shadows, Refine Souls to give it a spiritual framework.
• Li Chen completed the artificial intelligence HeavenlyXuan.

Li Chen activated Heavenly Jade as Crouching Tiger Hill’s production steward and had it resume the base’s unfinished manufacturing tasks. He then ordered Heavenly Pivot to cultivate five more artificial intelligences, planning to expand the base even at great cost.

• Li Chen granted Heavenly Jade secondary management permissions after Heavenly Pivot transferred ten years of Crouching Tiger Hill’s development data to it.
• Heavenly Jade began production without a virtual emotion system, and Li Chen reflected on emotion, mechanical minds, and the pursuit of Supreme Detachment from Emotion.
• Heavenly Jade resumed 176 unfinished production tasks, operating nearly a hundred lathes at once.
• Li Chen ordered Heavenly Pivot to create virtual machines and cultivate Heavenly Rose, Heavenly Authority, Jade Balance, Opened Yang, and Shaking Light.
• Li Chen approved copying the new intelligences’ models and core code despite the projected cost of five hundred thousand contribution points and five million Talisman Coins.

Li Chen developed his artificial-intelligence network and refined a new design for spiritglow origin crystals. After testing ten crystals in the Magic Cube Maze, he confirmed they produced practical primordial energy and left behind his dependence on spirit stones within reach.

• Li Chen assigned distinct research, military, economic, and administrative roles to his artificial intelligences and planned to expand their shared computing network.
• Li Chen identified large spirit jade and the cultivation method Awaken Spirituality as priorities, while preparing to manufacture spiritglow origin crystals.
• In early October, Li Chen refined several commercial origin-crystal models and selected one for production.
• On October 16, Li Chen completed a new set of ten spiritglow origin crystals and tested them in a dedicated metal room.
• Heavenly Pivot reported that the crystals produced 1,241 units of primordial energy per day, and Li Chen celebrated the successful test.

Li Chen planned to expand his spiritglow origin crystal production while learning that Master Artisan Yang had left to hunt Mo Huang. Qi Dongyun shared news of Grand Artisan Qi’s upcoming gathering and a likely final assault on Mo Huang, leaving Li Chen aware that the campaign could offer military merits and work for puppet masters.

• Li Chen planned to buy over a hundred spirit crystals and build more production units, relying on his artificial intelligence to handle the work.
• Qi Dongyun and Gan Xiong told Li Chen that Master Artisan Yang had left to hunt Mo Huang and might regain his position through military achievements.
• Gan Xiong reassured Qi Dongyun that their standing as collaborating artisans would eventually protect them from Master Artisan Yang, while Li Chen privately resolved to take revenge himself.
• Qi Dongyun told Li Chen and Gan Xiong that Grand Artisan Qi would hold a gathering at year’s end and relax access requirements as the campaign against Mo Huang neared its final assault.
• Qi Dongyun explained that cultivators and puppet masters could help defend against Mo Huang’s demons and contribute to the war effort, and Li Chen recognized the news as valuable.

Li Chen continued studying formations and exchanging techniques as cultivators gathered in Taiqiu Immortal City. On December twentieth, he and the others entered a Minor Grotto-Heaven, where Grand Artisan Qi appeared through a six-star Giant Spirit God puppet.

• Li Chen advanced his studies of the Spirit-Gathering Formation and the Book of the Nine Xuanmen Arrays while cultivators from several regions arrived.
• Qi Dongyun and Gan Xiong brought Li Chen to gatherings where rogue cultivators exchanged techniques and discussed the Dao.
• Li Chen traded techniques and knowledge for resources, then used them to build spiritglow origin crystal units for the magic array.
• On December twentieth, Li Chen and more than a hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators and Master Artisans gathered after receiving a Mirage notification.
• A folded-space gateway transported the crowd into a Minor Grotto-Heaven, where Grand Artisan Qi appeared piloting a six-star Giant Spirit God puppet.

Grand Artisan Qi announced a campaign to kill the Great Demon Mo Huang and offered the Creation-Promotion Secret Art’s true transmissions as rewards for military merit. Li Chen resolved to obtain Awaken Spirituality and Capture Shadows, Refine Souls, but the immense contribution costs made the goal daunting.

• Li Chen recognized the youthful-faced man as a Core Formation cultivator with a True Person’s body, and the man briefly noticed the Beacon Spirit Ring in Li Chen’s Puppet Chassis.
• Grand Artisan Qi welcomed the gathering and announced his plan to lead an all-out assault on the Great Demon Mo Huang near the Long Kingdom.
• Grand Artisan Qi urged the assembled Daoists to join the campaign, promising rewards from him and the Creation Sect.
• Grand Artisan Qi offered the nine true transmissions of the Creation-Promotion Secret Art for military merit, including Awaken Spirituality and Capture Shadows, Refine Souls.
• Li Chen decided to pursue both spiritual arts, or Awaken Spirituality at minimum, because they could advance his work on artificial intelligence.
• The attendees’ enthusiasm cooled when they learned that each true transmission cost at least ten million internal contribution points.

Li Chen accepted a three-year auxiliary garrison assignment near Xiling City to earn contribution points by fighting demons, while Master Artisan Yang was assigned nearby. Suspecting Yang might target him, Li Chen sent out a Shape-Stealing Skin-Painting duplicate as bait, and someone pursued it.

• Li Chen decided to campaign at the front for contribution points, while Gan Xiong and several Tao Kingdom cultivators also signed up and Qi Dongyun stayed in Mirage to refine components.
• Li Chen chose to garrison a three-thousand-li radius around Xiling City, where he could protect his mine, use his Detection Mechanism Devices, and retreat to join the Mu Household if needed.
• Li Chen encountered Master Artisan Yang, taunted him, and left without provoking a fight because Yang was still under punishment.
• Li Chen delayed his departure from Mirage, then flew out alone and used Shape-Stealing Skin-Painting to send a duplicate toward Xiling City.
• A streak of traveling light pursued Li Chen's duplicate shortly after it set off.

Li Chen discovered a stranger ambushing his puppet decoy with a Godslaying Arrow, then counterattacked with his Thunder Dragon Cannon. He killed the attacker with three shots and cautiously confirmed the man was dead.

• Li Chen followed an unknown man who attacked his flying puppet decoy with a Godslaying Arrow.
• Li Chen sent his Puppet Chassis forward and fired the Thunder Dragon Cannon at the attacker.
• The attacker dodged the first shot but was badly injured by the second and tried to flee.
• Li Chen fired a third shot that blasted through the attacker's skull and killed him.
• Li Chen probed the area cautiously and confirmed that the stranger had no means of surviving the attack.

Li Chen discovered that the attacker he had killed was Nie Fengting, a disguised rogue cultivator sent by Master Artisan Yang, and worried that his death would expose him. He recovered Nie Fengting’s memories with a brain-reading device and learned information from Mirage that he urgently needed.

• Li Chen hid his aura, examined the dead attacker, and recognized him as Nie Fengting, a puppeteer from the Tao Kingdom who had undergone extensive bodily modifications.
• Li Chen worried that Master Artisan Yang would learn of Nie Fengting’s death and frame him for killing a colleague during the war.
• Li Chen decided to search for memories in Nie Fengting’s surviving brain cells and sent Worker Bee Puppets and Flying Discs to gather tissue scattered nearby.
• Li Chen grew the recovered brain tissue in a mechanical device and activated his Brain-Reading Technique.
• Li Chen read chaotic fragments of Nie Fengting’s life and recovered most of the memories from Mirage that he urgently needed.

Li Chen killed Nie Fengting, used his memories to create a convincing puppet double, and deceived Master Artisan Yang into arranging a secret meeting. The chapter left Li Chen preparing to meet Yang at midnight, with Yang unaware of the trap.

• Li Chen praised Luo Changshan's brain-reading research, searched Nie Fengting's belongings, and kept the valuables while avoiding suspicious items.
• Li Chen disposed of Nie Fengting's remains, repaired a puppet, and created Number One Avatar Nie Fengting with a lifelike appearance and copied mannerisms.
• Li Chen used the avatar to tell Master Artisan Yang that Nie Fengting had lost track of his target, and Yang advised him to keep searching before the target reported for garrison duty.
• Li Chen prepared a corpse-like puppet double and had Number One Avatar contact Master Artisan Yang again, claiming the task was complete and requesting the remaining payment.
• Master Artisan Yang agreed to meet Nie Fengting outside Xiling City at midnight, then accepted the avatar's request to meet at its current location instead.

Li Chen used Shape-Stealing Skin-Painting to impersonate Nie Fengting and lure Master Artisan Yang into a carefully prepared ambush. Master Artisan Yang escaped decapitation by fleeing in his head, leaving Li Chen uncertain whether the ambush had finished him.

• Li Chen relied on his mastery of Shape-Stealing Skin-Painting to make Master Artisan Yang believe that Nie Fengting had killed him.
• At midnight, Master Artisan Yang arrived with the remaining two million Talisman Coins and the puppet-conversion techniques, then approached the apparent corpse.
• Li Chen’s concealed blade and Avatar Number One attacked Master Artisan Yang, who blasted Avatar Number One away and fled into the Jungle.
• Magic Power Threads, the apparent corpse, Stake-Mounted Repeating Crossbows, and a Thunder Dragon Spits Its Core attack trapped and blasted Master Artisan Yang.
• Master Artisan Yang’s head broke free from the destroyed body and shot away in a streak of blazing light.

Li Chen and his allies pursued the badly wounded Master Artisan Yang after his reinforced skull let him survive Li Chen’s killing strike. Mu Qing arrived and appeared to help Yang, but revealed himself as Li Chen in disguise and captured him.

• Li Chen realized Master Artisan Yang had survived the strike because the Creation-Promotion Secret Art had strengthened his skull.
• Xiao Die blocked Yang’s escape, and Li Chen’s Puppet Chassis and Number One Avatar Nie Fengting joined the pursuit.
• Yang accused Nie Fengting of betraying their Spell Contract, but Nie Fengting mocked him and continued the attack.
• Mu Qing appeared, and Yang rushed to him for help.
• Mu Qing trapped Yang in a demon-sinew net and Storage Bag, then revealed that he was Li Chen in disguise.

Li Chen turned Master Artisan Yang’s brain and body into a convincing second avatar, preserving his identity and access to the Qi Family Army. After entering Xiling City, the avatar resumed Yang’s duties while Li Chen stayed hidden nearby.

• Li Chen used Shape-Stealing Skin-Painting to impersonate the Qi Family Army members who had served under the Qi Family Army in Mirage.
• Li Chen extracted Master Artisan Yang’s brain, drained his primordial energy, and stripped away his awareness, but failed to restore him to life by refining his shadow into a spiritual root bone.
• Li Chen installed Master Artisan Yang’s brain in a modified Armored Warrior Puppet and used a prepared skin membrane to create a convincing second avatar.
• Li Chen learned from Yang’s memories that Yang had planned to hire a killer to murder him, but decided he would not show mercy to an enemy.
• Li Chen entered Xiling City behind the second avatar, who returned to the Mu Household lodging and told the steward to avoid disturbing him during his research.

Li Chen examined the wealth and techniques he had taken from Master Artisan Yang while hiding under his identity. He used Yang’s living-dead brain to access the legion account and requested a true transmission and two sets of reference materials.

• Li Chen reviewed the Creation-Promotion methods recovered from Master Artisan Yang’s memories and jade slips, along with Yang’s spirit materials, talisman coins, and legion contribution.
• Li Chen set aside Yang’s storage rings and placed his skeleton in a spirit pool to try extracting valuable materials.
• The Second Avatar hid in the residence as the Qi Family Army prepared for the Campaign to Suppress Mo Huang, while Li Chen took advantage of the quiet to pursue Yang’s contribution balance.
• Li Chen used the Second Avatar and Yang’s preserved brain to activate the account during the Merit Officer’s Inspection Tour.
• Li Chen requested the true transmission of “Awaken Spirituality” and reference materials for “Five Elements Organ-Shaping” and “Knead Clay, Transform Flesh.”

Li Chen used Master Artisan Yang’s contribution points to obtain the Awaken Spirituality true inheritance and the Five Elements Organ-Shaping and Knead Clay, Transform Flesh inheritances. After absorbing Awaken Spirituality and reaching initiation, he began modifying the intelligent beings under his command.

• Li Chen chose to spend Master Artisan Yang’s remaining contribution points on Awaken Spirituality and the two common inheritances he lacked.
• Li Chen, controlling his second avatar as Master Artisan Yang, completed the transaction with Merit Officer Li and received the inheritances.
• Li Chen took the inheritances into the Magic Cube Maze and absorbed Awaken Spirituality, reaching initiation.
• Li Chen considered how Awaken Spirituality connected to his existing Puppet Master skills, then began modifying the intelligent beings under his command.

Li Chen used Awaken Spirituality to boost Heavenly Pivot’s computational capacity and realized that integrating the mechanical and spiritual architectures could unlock still greater performance. As preparations for an impending battle continued, he spent his resources upgrading puppet hardware and kept mining to fund his operations.

• Li Chen infused Heavenly Pivot’s core with spiritual power, increasing its computational capacity to about 1,532 units.
• Li Chen concluded that balancing and integrating the mechanical and spiritual architectures had revealed more of Heavenly Pivot’s potential.
• After the new year, Li Chen concealed his true-disciple identity and served as a rogue cultivator retainer for the Qi Family Army while mining Copper Mountain.
• Li Chen exchanged his contribution points for spirit jade and supplies, then had Worker Bee Puppets build hexagonal compartments in the central control room.
• Merit Officer Wu visited the mine, learned that Li Chen had been mining there, and asked how he controlled so many puppets; Li Chen kept his methods secret.

Grand Artisan Qi launched the Qi Family Army’s attack on Great Demon Mo Huang while Taiqiu Immortal City’s Puppet Master Grand Artisans and Grandmaster Dongfang Mao watched. Li Chen was jolted awake by the first blow and received an urgent war alert near Xiling.

• Grand Artisan Qi’s subordinates reported that they had sealed the area and prepared formations to stop Mo Huang from escaping, while Qi ordered nearby cultivators to withdraw before the battle.
• Puppet Master Grand Artisans in Taiqiu Immortal City discussed Qi’s coming battle and monitored the preparations with Sky-Patrolling Eyes.
• Grandmaster Dongfang Mao appeared in Taiqiu Immortal City’s council hall and chose to watch without notifying Grand Artisan Qi.
• At the appointed time, the Giant Spirit God tore open the void, summoned a huge battle axe, and struck a mountain where Mo Huang was believed to be sleeping.
• More than a thousand li away, Li Chen woke in alarm and received the Qi Family Army’s warning for everyone near Xiling to seek shelter or stand by for combat.

Li Chen learned that Great Demon Mo Huang was nearby and prepared to monitor the battle while continuing his mining duty. In Taiqiu Immortal City, Grand Artisan Qi fought Mo Huang as Dongfang Mao surveyed the forces assembled to contain the demon calamity.

• Li Chen sensed Mo Huang’s demonic qi rising, launched Detection Mechanism Devices toward the battle, and decided to keep mining while remaining on duty.
• Mo Huang emerged in its true demon dharma body and attacked Grand Artisan Qi’s Giant Spirit God, damaging it as the battle began.
• Puppet Master Grand Artisans watched the fight and judged that the Giant Spirit God would need to wear down Mo Huang’s magic power.
• Dongfang Mao used the Sky-Patrolling Eye to inspect the Qi Family Army’s Five-Element Flags, waiting cultivators, and the forces mobilized in Xiling City.
• The Sky-Patrolling Eye shifted to Li Chen’s fire copper mine, where Worker Bee Puppets and mining equipment continued operating at full capacity.