Chapter Summaries

Dongfang Mao noticed Li Chen’s automated mining operation and investigated the rogue cultivator’s rapid rise and unusual Puppet Chassis. When he tried to divine Li Chen’s secrets, his calculations failed amid complete chaos.

• Dongfang Mao and the Grand Artisans observed Li Chen’s Worker Bee Puppets mining and processing ore without nearby Puppeteers, and they recognized the operation as coordinated swarm intelligence.
• An attendant told Dongfang Mao that Li Chen was a Grade B, Fourth Rank Collaborating Artisan serving the Qi Family Army through the Mu Household’s introduction, and Dongfang Mao reviewed his rapid advancement.
• Dongfang Mao redirected the Sky-Patrolling Eye to Li Chen’s Puppet Chassis and watched it open a Void Gate to take in a Worker Bee Puppet carrying metal and ore.
• Dongfang Mao suspected Li Chen had turned the Puppet Chassis into a portable Minor Grotto-Heaven and tried to divine its secrets, but found that Heaven’s secrets were chaotic and impossible to calculate.

Dongfang Mao failed to divine Li Chen’s fate and became fascinated by the efficiency of his Worker Bee Puppets, learning that Li Chen had come from White Rock Ward as a self-taught Craftsman. As Grand Artisan Qi drove Mo Huang back in battle, the bustling scene around Li Chen kept drawing attention.

• Dongfang Mao used his Celestial People bloodline ability to calculate Li Chen’s fate, but found it impossible to discern.
• Dongfang Mao restored the main view to Grand Artisan Qi’s battle and opened smaller views of the surrounding activity.
• Dongfang Mao studied the Worker Bee Puppets’ coordinated work and recognized the value of their near-optimal efficiency.
• Dongfang Mao calculated that Li Chen came from White Rock Ward and had been granted Craftsman status by the Creation Sect.
• Dongfang Mao asked an attendant to obtain the Observatory Court’s records on the 'Swarm of Bees Technique.'
• Grand Artisan Qi attacked Mo Huang with the Giant Spirit God, while the Grand Artisans cheered and continued glancing at Li Chen’s busy production scene.

As Mo Huang fought Grand Artisan Qi, the approaching Demon Calamity mutated creatures across the wilderness into demonspawn, and warnings went out to cities in the Long Kingdom and Tao Kingdom. Xiling City faced the first attacks, while a silverback azure wolf became a true demon after devouring its kin and flew toward a distant city.

• Grand Artisan Qi battled Mo Huang as Li Chen continued mining, while Grandmaster Dongfang watched from his throne.
• Puppet Master Grand Artisans detected surging demonic qi and ordered warnings sent to cities throughout the Long Kingdom and Tao Kingdom.
• Demonic qi mutated birds, beasts, insects, and plants into demonspawn, which gathered toward food and Mo Huang's aura.
• Mu Qing and Mo Qingyang's defenders at Xiling City shot down the first wave of demon birds without activating the Grand Formation.
• A silverback azure wolf mutated into a true demon, killed and devoured several Demon Hunters, then flew toward a distant city.

During the demon calamity, Li Chen defended his mining district while continuing to mine and found that killing the attacking beasts brought lucrative rewards. He turned his position into a fortified post and welcomed nearby Demon Hunters, hoping their pursuers would bring more demons to fight.

• Li Chen received Mirage’s orders to hold his frontline post and adjusted his Detection Mechanism Devices as demons flooded the forest.
• When frenzied beasts attacked his mining operations, Li Chen deployed his Armored Warriors and used Divine Fire Flying Crows to redirect the herd, then sent Xiao Die and Xiao Ying to fight climbing monsters.
• Li Chen killed over a hundred demons and had Worker Bee Puppets harvest their valuable materials, discovering that the kills also earned Qi Family Army contribution points.
• Li Chen deliberately bombarded the mountains to fortify his position and draw in more beast herds while keeping the mine running.
• After the Qi Family Army asked Li Chen to shelter three nearby Demon Hunters, he invited other stranded rogue cultivators to bring their pursuers to his position.

While Grand Artisan Qi fought Mo Huang, Li Chen sheltered refugees and soldiers in his Magic Cube Maze and persuaded them to work on puppet components. He used lifelike Mechanism Puppets and staged conversations to make the newcomers believe others had already taken the job, and they began processing spirit materials.

• Mo Huang summoned demons to attack Xiling City and the Five-Element Binding Formation as its fight with Grand Artisan Qi wore it down.
• Li Chen welcomed fleeing rogue cultivators and Qi Family Army soldiers to his mine and offered to pay them by the piece for making puppet components.
• The newcomers entered the Magic Cube Maze, where Li Chen and his mechanical maids presented a safe, well-equipped workshop.
• Li Chen secretly controlled puppet dolls disguised as fellow cultivators, using their simulated personalities to reassure and persuade the newcomers.
• The newcomers set down their weapons and began processing and ritually refining spirit materials.

Li Chen considered how his Skin-Painting Art and artificial intelligence could eventually support a virtual society, but he decided that advancing his cultivation and craftsmanship came first. As he reflected on the vast divide between cultivators and ordinary people, he tested visiting Puppet Masters’ skills, traded for techniques, and offered to buy their contribution points.

• Li Chen considered using painted-skin puppets and virtual personalities to create a simulated society, but he postponed the plan until he advanced to Core Formation and Puppet Master Grand Artisan.
• Li Chen resolved to focus on cultivation and craftsmanship, recognizing that a large city required stronger foundations and that becoming a Grandmaster could distance him from the people of Crouching Tiger Hill and White Rock Ward.
• Li Chen reflected on how high-level Puppet Masters treated lower-level cultivators and ordinary inhabitants as resources, while those with potential joined sects, Mirages, Sky Cities, or the Star Sea.
• Li Chen tested the visiting low-level Puppet Masters, ruled most of them out, and traded resources or techniques with the two who had passable sacrificial refining skills.
• Li Chen offered to buy the visitors’ contribution points at a rate ten percent higher than Mirage’s, and they agreed after considering the deal.

Li Chen considered how to spend his contribution points as the Giant Spirit God and the Qi Family Army fought Mo Huang. Grand Artisan Qi killed the Great Demon and sealed its true core, while Grandmaster Artisan Dongfang remained missing.

• Li Chen considered trading unused spirit materials for contribution points and spending his savings on general knowledge and methods.
• Mo Huang drove True Demons against the Giant Spirit God while fleeing toward the metal-flag ritual altar.
• The Giant Spirit God struck Mo Huang with Heaven's Punishment Divine Thunder, then battered its body apart.
• Grand Artisan Qi captured Mo Huang's fleeing true core and announced the Great Demon's fall.
• The Qi Family Army celebrated its victory, while onlookers in Taiqiu Immortal City noted that Grandmaster Artisan Dongfang was still missing.

As the demons launched a fierce counterattack, Li Chen packed up the mine and led his puppets in defending it. After his forces defeated thousands of demons, an envoy from Taiqiu Immortal City arrived and asked for him.

• Li Chen ordered Heavenly Jade to pack up the mine as the demonic onslaught threatened the area.
• Xiao Die and Xiao Ying fought off ordinary demons while the Puppet Chassis used Divine Fire Flying Crows and a Thunderstorm Barrage against Corpse-Eating Demon Insects.
• Li Chen's puppet legion defeated thousands of demons, though several puppets were damaged, and he ordered them repaired while Worker Bee Puppets salvaged the demon corpses.
• An envoy from Taiqiu Immortal City flew to the mine, landed, and told Li Chen he had come to find him.

Li Chen was summoned by Steward Zhuang to meet Grandmaster Dongfang in Taiqiu Immortal City, though he suspected the invitation might be dangerous. He traveled toward Wingtip Mountain while worrying that his past and the killing of Master Artisan Yang might have been discovered.

• Steward Zhuang told Li Chen that an important person wanted to meet him and confirmed that he was from the Yong Kingdom in the Former Great Xuan Lands.
• Li Chen considered who might have tracked him down and concluded that Steward Zhuang probably was not connected to his most dangerous enemies.
• Steward Zhuang offered to have someone sign Li Chen out of Grand Artisan Qi's territory, and Li Chen stowed away Xiao Die and Xiao Ying.
• Li Chen refused to reveal his real body, boarded Steward Zhuang's Silverfeather Eagle, and flew east with him.
• During the six-hour journey to Wingtip Mountain, Li Chen worried that the meeting was a trap and that his killing of Master Artisan Yang had been exposed.

Li Chen completed his handover with the Qi Family Army and used his contribution points to acquire reference materials on biological modification and material refinement. He prepared to study puppet conversion before attempting deeper modifications to his body.

• Steward Zhuang brought Li Chen to the Qi Family Army's Mirage, where Master Artisan Qiu handled his assignment handover.
• Master Artisan Qiu credited Li Chen with over five hundred seventy-five thousand contribution points, including a reward for completing his assignment.
• Li Chen exchanged some of his points for books on biological modification and material refinement instead of waiting until Taiqiu Immortal City.
• Master Artisan Qiu warned Li Chen that puppet conversion was dangerous without thorough study but necessary for Puppet Masters seeking to strengthen themselves.

Li Chen obtained extensive Puppet Conversion research from Artisan Qiu and considered how the knowledge could help him reach Core Formation. After returning to the Qi Family Army's Mirage, he learned Steward Zhuang was waiting for him and began considering an escape rather than going with him to Taiqiu Immortal City.

• Artisan Qiu explained that a cultivator of middling aptitude would need roughly three hundred years of cultivation to form a core, while ordinary Foundation Establishment lifespans made that impossible without enhancement.
• Li Chen concluded that Puppet Conversion could help him accumulate the cultivation needed for Core Formation and that reaching the tenth level of Foundation Establishment sooner would improve his chances.
• Artisan Qiu gave Li Chen fourteen spirit-jade books on biological modification, human-body engineering, and biomimetic materials, bringing Li Chen's knowledge to artisan level.
• Li Chen thanked Artisan Qiu, returned to his quarters, and released the cultivators he had carried inside the Puppet Chassis.
• Mirage guards warned Li Chen not to use Cosmic Dao Artifacts there and told him Steward Zhuang was waiting for him.
• Li Chen wondered whether he had to accompany Steward Zhuang to Taiqiu Immortal City and decided it might be time to make a run for it.

Li Chen used the Auxiliary Brain to judge that escaping the Mirage was safer than accepting the influential figure’s attention, then disguised himself and slipped away. Steward Zhuang learned that Li Chen had vanished and realized he had escaped by impersonating another cultivator.

• Li Chen consulted the Auxiliary Brain, which recommended escaping in disguise to preserve his freedom and avoid unpredictable risks.
• Li Chen used Shape-Stealing Skin-Painting to impersonate a cultivator, leaving the real person unconscious and disappearing into the crowd.
• Steward Zhuang grew impatient while waiting for Li Chen and learned that the handover was already complete.
• Steward Zhuang and his acquaintance discovered that Li Chen had disappeared as the guards searched the Mirage for an impostor.
• The guard captain reported that Li Chen was suspected of impersonating the unconscious rogue cultivator, leaving Steward Zhuang stunned.

Li Chen escaped the Mirage by changing appearances and walking out under another person’s identity before the guards realized he was missing. Steward Zhuang abandoned the search and returned to Taiqiu Immortal City, while Li Chen fled into the mountain forests, beyond the Mirage’s reach.

• The Mirage’s guards searched for Li Chen using Eye Crystal recordings, scent tracking, and tools that could detect distortions in the void, but found no trace of him.
• The Chief Steward proposed issuing a Legion-wide search-and-arrest order, but Steward Zhuang refused and explained that his assignment to bring Li Chen aboard was meant to remain confidential.
• The Chief Steward and Steward Zhuang sent trusted subordinates to search the nearby forests, while Steward Zhuang later returned to Taiqiu Immortal City without completing his assignment.
• Li Chen had switched appearances amid a crowd and walked out of the Mirage under someone else’s identity before the guards began searching.
• Li Chen covered his Spirit Ring Beacon with a special Painted Skin to conceal its void aura and escaped into the mountain forests.

Li Chen crossed into Great Chu after escaping the war-torn Long Kingdom and decided to study biological modification and the methods needed to refine Human Puppets. He planned to travel farther north while laying the groundwork for eventually converting his own body into a puppet.

• Li Chen used Heavenly Pivot to check his route and confirmed that no one had pursued him, then stopped deploying Detection Mechanism Devices near the border.
• After crossing into Great Chu, Li Chen landed to replace the aircraft’s Spirit Stones and sent his Puppet Sword Guards to hunt moose.
• Li Chen enjoyed a meal prepared by Heavenly Pivot and considered how to advance his cultivation.
• Li Chen resolved to study methods for forging fleshly bodies and begin by mastering the techniques for refining Human Puppets.
• Li Chen planned to continue north into Great Chu or the Morning Cloud Celestial Palace’s territory while preparing for a future Puppet Conversion of his body.

Li Chen reached the peaceful Xining Commandery and disguised his Puppets as a traveling merchant party to gather local information. After helping Luo Yuning repair his Warg, Li Chen arrived with him at the commandery seat and learned where to find him in the Market District.

• Li Chen assembled a merchant party of disguised Puppets and traveled toward the Xining Commandery seat.
• Li Chen stopped to help Luo Yuning, whose Warg had broken down, and repaired the Mechanism Beast with magic power.
• Li Chen posed as a merchant from the Long Capital and asked Luo Yuning about local conditions and trade.
• Luo Yuning explained that Xining Commandery was a prosperous, sheltered region with few ambitious cultivators remaining.
• Luo Yuning reached the city and told Li Chen to seek him in the Market District, while Li Chen said his party would find lodging.

Li Chen bought living creatures and other biological materials to begin studying flesh creation, while avoiding participation in the human-material trade. Back at the inn, he moved his supplies into the Magic Cube Maze and began studying the prerequisite method “Knead Clay, Transform Flesh.”

• Li Chen sold materials and searched local shops for animals and substances needed for biological experiments, but initially found none.
• Old Luo directed Li Chen to Han's Trading House, where Li Chen found the creatures and materials he needed alongside enslaved people and criminals sold as human materials.
• Li Chen spent over a hundred thousand Talisman Coins on raw materials, thanked Old Luo, and returned to the inn.
• Li Chen moved his purchases into the Magic Cube Maze and began studying “Knead Clay, Transform Flesh,” a method for creating artificial flesh and blood.

Over two years, Li Chen studied the Creation-Promotion Secret Arts, using Knead Clay, Transform Flesh to build on his earlier skills and successfully repair a mouse’s wound. He then began replacing a Blue-Faced Mountain Ogre’s living tissues with refined materials, leaving its body transformed but the procedure underway.

• Li Chen traveled across Xining Commandery and studied his methods in isolated wilderness huts, eventually choosing Knead Clay, Transform Flesh as his starting point.
• Within about a year, Li Chen learned the basic applications of Knead Clay, Transform Flesh and gained introductory proficiency in related Creation-Promotion Secret Arts.
• Li Chen combined Knead Clay, Transform Flesh with Draw Silk, Rejoin Meridians and Shape-Stealing Skin-Painting to restore a live mouse’s wound.
• Li Chen tracked down and tamed a Blue-Faced Mountain Ogre, then had Armored Warrior Puppets restrain it on an operating table.
• Li Chen kept the Blue-Faced Mountain Ogre alive and asleep while dismembering it and replacing its bones, marrow, organs, and other tissues with refined materials and artificial flesh.

Li Chen tested the Blue-Faced Mountain Ogre after replacing most of its body with artificial flesh and integrating a control chip into its brain. The ogre passed his test as a fearless biological weapon, and Li Chen planned to reinforce it with spirit materials.

• Li Chen awakened the modified Blue-Faced Mountain Ogre and watched it adjust to its new body under his control.
• Li Chen had an Armored Warrior Puppet stab and burn the ogre, confirming that its brain modifications had removed its pain and fear responses.
• Li Chen named the ogre Jingang and ordered it to tear apart the Armored Warrior Puppet while Heavenly Pivot triggered its frenzy.
• Jingang fought through serious wounds, dented the puppet, and tore off its arm, satisfying Li Chen that the modification had passed.
• Li Chen decided to reinforce Jingang with spirit materials and raise its strength to the Two-Star Limit.

Li Chen successfully created artificial flesh and blood and modified the Blue-Faced Mountain Ogre Jingang into a peak qi refining Battle Puppet. He then mass-produced standardized humanoid clay people, crude artificial human bodies that could be further shaped through modification.

• Li Chen modified Jingang into a living Battle Puppet with peak qi refining combat power.
• Li Chen focused on studying the artificial flesh created through Knead Clay, Transform Flesh, and developed its advancement from ordinary flesh to blood mystic gold.
• Li Chen gave Heavenly Jade the manufacturing parameters and prepared a trial batch in the Cultivation Vat.
• Heavenly Jade oversaw the refinement of cloud mud and other materials into embryo-like forms that grew inside transparent chambers.
• Within little more than twenty hours, the process produced standardized, sexless humanoid clay people that Li Chen could later modify into more lifelike forms.

Li Chen studied clay Flesh Puppets and continued developing ways to make them more lifelike or economical as living weapons. After mastering their basic refinement, he achieved mental certification and shaped a clay figure with his magic power, then had Heavenly Pivot control it.

• Li Chen dissected a clay figure and studied its simple organs, spiritual-energy circulation, and limited intelligence.
• Li Chen considered pairing clay figures with Battle Puppet cores or coordinating them through the Swarm of Bees Technique, and planned to pursue both advanced designs and lower production costs.
• Li Chen continued researching clay figure refinement until mastering the technique and achieving empirical certification and mental certification.
• Li Chen used his magic power to shape a human-sized clay figure and gave it an organ that could receive magnetic-origin and spirit-wave signals.
• Heavenly Pivot controlled the clay figure as it walked into a hibernation pod, where it received spirit liquid mixed with true water.