Chapter Summaries

Li Chen refined more than a hundred Chang Clan Soldier Warrior Constructs and tried to sell them to the Lin Clan in Jasmine City. The Lin patriarch rejected the constructs as impractical, but Li Chen secured a commission for Wooden Soldier and Armored Warrior Puppets instead.

• Li Chen learned to refine Chang Clan Soldiers and produced over a hundred fifth-level Qi Refining Warrior Constructs with virtual personalities.
• Li Chen decided to seek more resources by selling finished products after exhausting much of his supply.
• In Jasmine City, Li Chen, posing as merchant Tang, offered the Lin patriarch Chang Clan Soldiers.
• The Lin patriarch explained that the Lin Clan needed Puppeteers more than Flesh Puppets, which were difficult to maintain and store.
• Li Chen recognized that the Chang Clan Soldiers were impractical without his own advantages and signed a commission to make over a hundred Wooden Soldier and Armored Warrior Puppets for the Lin Clan.

Li Chen negotiated a trial commission to convert ten Lin Household servants into living weapons, then reflected on his plans and wandered through Jasmine City in a clay body. He encountered Old Hou, whose sudden surge of aura left Li Chen stunned.

• Li Chen proposed puppet conversion to the Lin Household, and its head offered ten servants for trial modifications at a limited budget and minimum combat strength.
• Li Chen returned to the Magic Cube Maze, chose a clay body, and went out to walk through Jasmine City.
• Li Chen considered the benefits and limits of life as a wandering rogue cultivator and thought about seeking opportunities near Armor Capital before traveling to the Star Sea.
• Li Chen sensed someone watching him and recognized the ordinary-looking man as Old Hou.

Li Chen encountered Old Hou, a companion believed dead, who attacked him as a powerful Corpse Puppet while a modified Puppeteer revealed that Grand Artisan Zuo had sent them for revenge. Li Chen trapped Old Hou in the Magic Cube Maze and fought the Puppeteer, with Xiao Die and Xiao Ying joining him as the old companions reunited under changed circumstances.

• Li Chen saw Old Hou, who had been buried after dying during their travels, and fled with him in pursuit.
• Old Hou struck Li Chen and nearly destroyed his clay body, while his companion demanded that Li Chen surrender.
• The Puppeteer revealed that Old Hou was a four-star Corpse Puppet refined by the Grand Artisan for revenge over Zuo Hao’s death.
• Li Chen swallowed Old Hou into the Magic Cube Maze, where its defenses trapped him in a prepared Metal Room.
• Li Chen blasted the Puppeteer with Thunder Dragon Spits Its Core, then switched into his Three-Star Battle Puppet chassis to continue the fight.
• Li Chen sent Xiao Die and Xiao Ying into the battle as the former Hundred Flowers House companions reunited.

Li Chen watched Xiao Die and Xiao Ying battle Old Hou, whose corpse-puppet body combined metal-like toughness with yin-baleful body tempering. The fight turned against the Puppet Sisters when Old Hou revealed overwhelming strength and a fire-attribute divine ability, leaving Li Chen facing the Karmic Fire Lotus.

• Li Chen sent Xiao Die and Xiao Ying to attack Old Hou inside the Magic Cube Maze and learned that his corpse-puppet body resisted their blood-mystic-gold blades.
• Xiao Die found a weakness in Old Hou’s yin-baleful defenses, while Xiao Ying’s sword-shaped edge forced him to dodge into Xiao Die’s strike.
• Old Hou seized Xiao Die’s sword with his restored right arm, tore it from her grasp, and punched her into a metal wall.
• Old Hou formed a blood-red flame as Heavenly Pivot warned Li Chen of an energy reaction beyond its model’s limit.
• Li Chen recognized Old Hou’s blossoming flame as the fire-attribute divine ability Karmic Fire Lotus.

Li Chen and his puppets wore down Old Hou inside the Magic Cube Maze while Li Chen defeated and captured the wounded man accompanying him. After more than two hours of fighting, Xiao Ying stabbed Old Hou through the chest and left him unable to move.

• Old Hou's Karmic Fire Lotus badly damaged Xiao Die, but she escaped deeper into the Magic Cube Maze as its defenses and Puppet Sister duplicates slowed him down.
• Li Chen turned his attention to Old Hou's companion, struck him unconscious with Thunder Dragon Spits Its Core, and captured him.
• Xiao Ying used Bearing the Weight of the Earth to cut Old Hou's feet and lower leg, though he kicked her away and burned several Sword Guard duplicates with another Karmic Fire Lotus.
• Li Chen kept Old Hou surrounded with Xiao Ying, Sword Guards, Clay People, and Armored Warrior Puppets, preventing him from resting or retreating.
• After more than two hours of fighting, Xiao Ying drove her saber through Old Hou's chest, leaving him unable to move.

After defeating Old Hou, Li Chen assessed the severe damage to his forces and fled north to escape Grand Artisan Zuo. While examining Old Hou’s remains, he uncovered the Fire Spirit Pearl powering the Karmic Fire Lotus and continued toward a safer place to recover before eventually heading to the Star Sea.

• Li Chen asked Heavenly Pivot to report the battle losses, then ordered repairs and prioritized treating Xiao Die.
• Li Chen flew northeast from Jasmine City, having learned that Grand Artisan Zuo had revived and modified Old Hou to track him through their karmic connection.
• Li Chen resolved to sever his ties to the area, recover his strength and supplies, and eventually travel to the Star Sea.
• Li Chen examined Old Hou’s body and discovered that Grand Artisan Zuo had implanted a powerful Fire Spirit Pearl in his Heart of Flame.
• Li Chen removed the Fire Spirit Pearl and Old Hou’s right arm, buried and cremated the remaining body, then dismantled the other Rogue Cultivator’s chassis.

After rebuilding his Puppet Legion, Li Chen traveled to Armor Capital seeking overseas passage and ways to replenish his funds. There, he learned that Outer Dao cultivators had infiltrated the region and secured a contract from the Wu Household to assemble Armored Warrior Puppets.

• Li Chen repaired his puppets, replenished supplies, and considered earning money and acquiring a Blessed Land before his resources ran low.
• Li Chen arrived in Armor Capital and asked an All-Knowing Informant about valuable local developments.
• The informant told Li Chen that clans and the Creation Sect were offering bounties for Outer Dao cultivators, many of whom were Spirit Firmament Gate disciples hiding in Fufeng Commandery.
• Li Chen decided to profit by supplying hunters and local clans rather than pursuing the Outer Dao cultivators himself.
• The All-Knowing Informant introduced Li Chen to the Wu Household, which commissioned him to assemble one hundred Armored Warrior Puppets and suggested more work could follow.

Li Chen explored Armor Capital, paid respects at You An's parents' grave, and considered what resources he needed to pursue cultivation. After sensing a pickpocket in the street, he caught the thief and recognized him as Old You.

• Li Chen learned that a branch of the You Household had settled in Armor Capital but chose not to seek it out.
• Li Chen visited You An's parents' grave and offered incense, paper money, and wine in accordance with You An's last wishes.
• Li Chen reflected on his cultivation goals and decided he needed a true Blessed Land or a place with many false blessed lands to support his future.
• Li Chen caught a scrawny pickpocket in the street and froze when he recognized him as Old You.

Li Chen followed a frightened boy who resembled the long-dead You An into a poor neighborhood and fought off the Black Tiger Gang men who were pursuing him. He restrained the boy and took him away, learning that the gang's Fifth Master was a Puppeteer with a deadly Puppet.

• Li Chen wondered whether the boy's resemblance to You An meant they were related, then followed the boy's lingering aura through the streets.
• Li Chen caught up with the boy in an alley, where several Black Tiger Gang enforcers and lackeys arrived and attacked him.
• Li Chen stopped the attackers with his strength and a Mechanism Device that launched steel needles, then magically restrained the boy and led him away.
• The boy warned Li Chen that Fifth Master was a Puppeteer with a Puppet that killed those who disobeyed him.
• Li Chen recognized the boy as a likely pickpocket working for Fifth Master and dismissed him as a minor gang leader tied to the Earthly Sha Sect.

Li Chen controlled the boy into killing the Fifth Master and subdued the Sickle Demon Puppet before leaving the scene. After viewing a recording of the fight, an elder of the Earthly Sha Sect ordered his people never to provoke Li Chen.

• Li Chen calmed the boy and warned him to stay silent, but the Fifth Master arrived with his thugs and ordered them to kill Li Chen.
• Li Chen used the Silk-Threading Art to force the boy to attack, and the boy killed a thug before confronting the Fifth Master.
• The boy blocked the Sickle Demon’s blade with his arm, then struck down the Fifth Master and killed him with a hand thrust through his body.
• Li Chen subdued the Sickle Demon and led it and the boy away as the remaining thugs fled.
• The Earthly Sha Sect’s elites examined the scene and watched an Eye Crystal recording of the fight.
• An elderly leader ordered the sect members to drop the matter and never provoke Li Chen.

Li Chen met You San, a descendant of his old friend You An, and offered to grant him wealth, power, or cultivation. When You San greedily asked for all three, Li Chen decided to use him for a Mind Modification experiment, intending to repay his debt to You An by changing the boy more thoroughly.

• Li Chen confirmed that You San was You An’s great-nephew and learned how his family’s fortunes had collapsed.
• Li Chen offered You San a prosperous life, underworld influence, or the strength of a powerful Qi Refining cultivator.
• You San asked if he could have all the rewards, and Li Chen judged that his greed made him unfit to receive them as he was.
• Li Chen reflected on how people’s minds were shaped by worldly causes and connected that insight to the possibility of Mind Modification.
• Li Chen restrained You San and swallowed him into the Void Gate to conduct a thorough modification experiment.

Li Chen installed a modified Potter Wasp Core in You San to help correct his habits, then brought him to Master Artisan Yang’s void abode and enrolled him as a nominal disciple. You San began lessons, but his impatience surfaced, prompting Li Chen to order further treatment.

• Li Chen installed the human-taming core in You San and monitored him after he woke in the void abode.
• You San met a kindly middle-aged man, ate with him, and revealed that he wanted to leave pickpocketing behind and rise above his station.
• Li Chen learned that the Black Tiger Gang had kept You San from pursuing an honest life, and the middle-aged man encouraged him to study as a Puppet Master Apprentice.
• Li Chen took You San to a schoolroom, named him a nominal disciple, and began teaching a lesson on the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art.
• You San struggled to maintain focus during the lesson, so Li Chen ordered Heavenly Pivot to treat his fatigue response.

Li Chen used the Potter Wasp Core, tailored lessons, and a simulated social environment to reshape You San into a devoted student of the Puppeteer Dao Path. The experiment showed Li Chen how costly and slow intensive training was, though it provided valuable data about the brain and changing thought.

• You San struggled through Li Chen’s lesson and discovered that his fellow apprentices studied books on mathematics and practical crafts.
• Li Chen secretly replaced himself with a controlled Wooden Soldier puppet to teach You San, who gradually became absorbed in study under the Potter Wasp Core’s influence.
• Li Chen adjusted the core and left Heavenly Pivot to supervise You San’s training.
• Li Chen supplemented You San’s nutrition and created clay-puppet companions, lessons, and other supports to reshape his abilities and habits.
• Li Chen concluded that cultivating a person through intensive training was too slow and expensive, but the experiment gave him useful data about the brain and thought.

After six years in Armor Capital, Li Chen secured an invitation to be assessed by the Golden Sun Gate, hoping to establish himself as a vassal peak lord while preserving his independence. He began preparing for the assessment and summoned You San and several young people, reflecting on his experiments in transforming human nature.

• After six years of work and preparation, Li Chen received the Golden Sun Gate's letter accepting his introduction and inviting him to be assessed at its founding celebration the following year.
• The head of the Wu Household questioned why Li Chen sought a vassal position instead of becoming a direct disciple, and Li Chen said he intended to establish his own house.
• Li Chen considered the Golden Sun Gate the best force to shelter under temporarily while retaining his independence and awaited its assessment of his abilities and character.
• In early July, Li Chen summoned You San and several young men and women to his residence.
• Li Chen saw how You San had changed from a street hoodlum into a courteous young man and reflected that his methods remained techniques rather than Dao.

Li Chen told his disciples he would soon leave and summoned them for a final lesson on applying the Creation-Promotion Secret Art. He demonstrated a series of modifications for rogue cultivators in the Magic Cube Maze, beginning with transplanting an artificial arm onto Old Ma.

• Li Chen told You San and the others that he was leaving, then scheduled a final lesson for the tenth.
• Li Chen’s disciples discussed the scope of his skills and worried about their futures after his departure.
• The disciples arrived for the lesson and met the rogue cultivators who had commissioned modifications through the Wu Household’s shop.
• Li Chen opened a Void Gate and led the group into the Magic Cube Maze’s Flesh-Modification Room.
• Li Chen explained Limb Transplantation, prepared Old Ma for the procedure, and cut an arm from a humanlike Reserve Body.

Li Chen repaired Old Jin’s lungs and transformed them with a metal spirit seed, granting him the Geng Metal Sword Finger divine ability. The procedure succeeded, leaving Old Jin breathing normally and able to channel sharp Sword Radiance through his hands.

• Li Chen explained that he would use cultivated Clay People tissue to repair Old Jin’s lungs and give him the Geng Metal Sword Finger ability.
• Li Chen connected Old Jin to a breathing machine, removed the damaged lung tissue, and regenerated it with Knead Clay and Transform Flesh.
• Li Chen integrated Old Jin’s geng essence metal spirit baleful seed into the repaired lungs using Five Elements Organ-Shaping.
• Li Chen restored Old Jin’s breathing, modified his windpipe, connected the energy channels to his palms, and implanted control chips in his lungs.

Li Chen explained his modified Geng Metal Sword Finger to Old Jin, who tested it successfully. He then prepared to perform two body modifications on Old Xu to strengthen him and improve his cultivation, leaving Old Xu ready to gamble his savings on a better chance at peak Qi Refining.

• Li Chen explained that his Geng Metal Sword Finger used the mechanism of Golden Wind Wave and offered to improve it if Old Jin encountered problems.
• Old Jin tested the technique, striking the Steel Wall with a golden sword-qi shot, and praised its convenience and usefulness against Gang Essence Force defenses.
• Li Chen outlined how Old Xu's upcoming Five Elements Organ-Shaping and Knead Clay, Transform Flesh procedures would strengthen his body and cultivation.
• Old Xu chose to spend three hundred thousand on the modifications, hoping to reach peak Qi Refining, extend his working years, and possibly attempt Foundation Establishment.

Li Chen completed Old Xu’s body remodeling, strengthening his five-elements spiritual roots and improving his cultivation potential while teaching the disciples who watched. Old Xu woke feeling powerful, as Li Chen considered the rare materials he would need for his own four-star transformation.

• Li Chen implanted five-elements spirit seeds in Old Xu and replaced much of his flesh with high-energy artificial tissue.
• Li Chen followed the established Puppeteer Dao Path procedure, explained each step to the gathered disciples, and finished the transformation after four hours.
• Li Chen judged that the successful procedure showed he was ready to transform himself, but noted that his planned four-star upgrade would require rare, costly materials.
• Li Chen kept Old Xu asleep while a Magic Power Circulation Pump regulated his blood flow, then answered questions as the others waited.
• Old Xu woke, stretched, and told Li Chen that his magic power was brimming and he felt strong enough to kill a demon tiger with one punch.

Li Chen explained that Puppet Conversion was meant to strengthen a person’s original body, or lifebound puppet, and preserve its potential for cultivation rather than merely increase combat power. He tested Old Xu’s spiritualization degree and found that the conversion had greatly improved his aptitude, leaving Old Xu poised to pursue Foundation Establishment.

• Li Chen explained that a lifebound puppet was the foundation for cultivation, while other Puppet Chassis were primarily for combat.
• Li Chen’s disciples discussed how the Head-Swapping Technique protected the original body and why Puppet Masters valued it differently from practitioners of other Dao paths.
• Li Chen said combat strength alone could not determine whether flesh puppetization had succeeded and brought out a device to test Old Xu’s spiritualization degree.
• Old Xu entered the testing pod and circulated his magic power as the device measured his energy level, balance, and five spiritual roots.
• Li Chen found that Old Xu’s spiritual roots had risen to the level of a genius at his rank, though his strongest attribute had not reached the critical threshold of one.

After completing Old Xu’s puppetization modification, Li Chen dismissed his apprentices and reflected on his plans to reach the Golden Sun Gate while keeping his identity hidden. He then used Heavenly Pivot to upload virtual personalities into figures modeled on his former apprentices.

• Old Xu thanked Li Chen for the modification, learned that it had advanced him to the tenth layer, and paid the 140,000 fee.
• Li Chen praised his disciples for witnessing a complete modification, then refused their pleas to remain with him and sent them away.
• Li Chen decided to leave for the Vast Sea Domain and reach the Golden Sun Gate before deciding how to handle the Spell Contract and his pursuers.
• Li Chen summoned figures resembling You San, Little Xu, Lin Dong, and Mo Chen, then ordered Heavenly Pivot to upload their virtual personalities.