Chapter Summaries

Li Chen used funds from the Golden Sun Gate and Yu Youxian to prepare supplies and upgrade his Puppet Legion’s intelligences and communications. After testing a new Worker Bee Core, he planned to build a global Communications Tower at Broad Cloud Peak and control the planet remotely.

• Li Chen realized the Golden Sun Gate could transport experts to any Territorial Lord’s domain, reinforcing its authority over them.
• Dong Pengfei gave Li Chen three million Talisman Coins and arranged for his Lineage to send personnel and supplies, while Yu Youxian’s five-million investment arrived mostly in supplies.
• Li Chen bought more than ten thousand high-grade One-Star Chip Substrates and large spirit crystals to increase spiritglow production and shared computational capacity for his intelligences.
• Li Chen integrated the Wave-Leaping Sensing Art into his Puppet Legion’s communications system, enabling long-distance remote operation.
• Li Chen tested the Third-Generation Worker Bee Core as three puppets broke up and carried away a boulder, then planned to build a planet-wide Communications Tower at Broad Cloud Peak.

Li Chen reflected on the limits of his third-generation Puppet Core and the path toward a fourth-generation core built around Virtual Personalities. While Dong Pengfei outlined plans to develop the Guangyun region, Li Chen concluded that Broad Cloud’s future depended on changing its Common Folk.

• Li Chen reviewed the evolution of his Puppet Cores and considered combining multicore collaboration with Virtual Personalities to create a fourth-generation core.
• Li Chen reasoned that magic power’s ability to alter spacetime and causality could eventually let intelligence exceed algorithmic and physical limits.
• Li Chen turned his attention back to Dong Pengfei, who proposed building a mortal Dynasty and Cultivator Trade Alliance across the Guangyun region.
• Li Chen warned that demons, monsters, and wars could prevent development, and said the key was changing the Common Folk.
• Li Chen considered the million pure-blooded human Common Folk near Broad Cloud Peak, whose Dynasty had friendly ties with the Golden Sun Gate but remained backward.

Li Chen decided to try to change the Common Folk’s fate by using the Puppet Masters’ path of Investigating Things and Extending Knowledge. After Dong Pengfei recognized Li Chen’s automated puppets as evidence of his pursuit of the Dao of Wisdom, Li Chen asked whether that path could let the Common Folk overcome their limitations and serve through their intellect.

• Dong Pengfei warned Li Chen that the vast gap between the Common Folk and cultivators made improving their lives difficult.
• Li Chen said he was willing to try to lead the Common Folk to change their fate, drawing on the Puppeteer Dao Path and Investigating Things and Extending Knowledge.
• A puppet disguised as Li Chen arrived with three Worker Bee Puppets, and Li Chen put them away.
• Dong Pengfei recognized that Li Chen’s puppets had unusually advanced automation and inferred that Li Chen intended to develop the Dao of Wisdom.
• Li Chen asked whether his path could help the Common Folk overcome their physical weaknesses and use their intellect to serve him.

As his departure neared, Li Chen met wealthy southwestern lineages seeking to invest in his territory and secure lasting trading rights. He negotiated support in the form of labor, Common Folk craftsmen, and valuable goods, including a long-term trade agreement with the Jin Household.

• Yu Youxian arranged for Li Chen to meet the territorial lords and descendants of old aristocratic houses who wanted to invest in his Market District.
• Yu Youxian explained that the investors sought trading permits and that early participants customarily retained administrative authority for at least a hundred years and operating rights in perpetuity.
• Master Artisan Yan offered a thousand Apprentices and a hundred thousand laborers, then clarified that most of the Apprentices were Common Folk craftsmen.
• Li Chen and the Yan Household adjusted their agreement to reduce laborers and increase the number of Common Folk craftsmen.
• Li Chen negotiated supply agreements with the Jin Household and the Huang Household, and agreed to long-term trade with the Jin Household for its magnetic ore.

Li Chen met Qi Maigu, a respected elder of instruction and master artisan who specialized in energy and artificial suns. Their discussion revealed the scope of Qi Maigu's expertise and left Li Chen impressed by the possibility of creating a sun.

• Yu Youxian told Li Chen that craftsmen from her household would soon train at Broad Cloud Peak, including disciples who could work for him under their agreement.
• Yu Youxian introduced Qi Maigu to Li Chen the next morning, and Li Chen learned that Qi was an esteemed elder of instruction.
• Li Chen and Qi Maigu exchanged insights, impressed each other with their knowledge, and discussed Qi's work as an energy specialist.
• Qi Maigu explained his expertise in furnaces, origin crystals, and artificial suns, including the Golden Sun Gate's Golden Crow puppet.
• Li Chen marveled inwardly that Qi Maigu was going to build a sun.

Li Chen learned from Qi Maigu about Blazing Sun Divine Thunder, Solar Divine Light, and the mechanisms used to create them. He left eager to pursue Solar Divine Light, while his dream of making a nuclear weapon remained beyond his reach.

• Qi Maigu explained that he had managed to refine and detonate Blazing Sun Divine Thunder twice, though he could not yet make Solar Divine Thunder.
• Li Chen realized he wanted to learn how to handcraft a nuclear bomb, a goal he had once imagined pursuing across his territory.
• Qi Maigu described how cultivators could condense Solar Divine Light and use it to pierce Gang Essence and Magic Power defenses.
• Qi Maigu outlined the collection, refinement, and storage requirements for Divine Ability Mechanism Devices that fire Solar Divine Light.
• Li Chen connected the process to his experience refining spiritglow origin crystals and concluded that Solar Divine Light might be within his reach.
• Yu Youxian left Li Chen and Qi Maigu to continue their discussion of Solar Divine Light.

Li Chen met with Qi Maigu and discussed collaborating on their Dao Paths and practical research after reaching Broad Cloud Peak. He then met Yu Feng and three other Golden Sun Gate disciples, offered them biological-modification materials, and saw potential in Yu Feng’s expertise in large Puppets.

• Li Chen and Qi Maigu exchanged contact tokens and agreed to collaborate, though Li Chen recognized that Qi Maigu’s knowledge of Solar Divine Light still relied mainly on inherited texts.
• After Qi Maigu left, Li Chen reflected on the limits of working alone and decided to make greater use of other cultivators and their expertise.
• Li Chen met Yu Feng and three other Golden Sun Gate disciples, assessed their skills, and learned that Yu Feng planned to become a Master Artisan during his ten years at Broad Cloud Peak.
• Yu Feng explained that the disciples would gain practical experience and assist Li Chen and other sect allies while spreading the Golden Sun Gate’s arts.
• Li Chen gave the three disciples biological knowledge and practical instruction related to the Head-Swapping Technique as a greeting gift.
• After the disciples left, Li Chen told the Auxiliary Brain to record Yu Feng’s study of flying boats and other large Puppets, noting his promise in mechanical engineering.

Li Chen prepared to govern his territory without letting worldly affairs overwhelm his cultivation or surrendering his sovereignty. Yu Youxian explained that the incoming territorial lords would lease four-star war puppets to defend their spirit peaks, and Li Chen would soon have to choose one.

• Li Chen weighed how to manage the resources and authority of his future domain while relying on artificial intelligence to support its governance.
• Yu Youxian told Li Chen that the territorial lords would depart at the end of the month and first visit the mountain-gate treasury to select war puppets.
• Yu Youxian explained that each lord could lease one four-star war puppet for ten years, using their spirit peak blessed land as collateral, with free renewal possible if their vassal power reached level four.
• Yu Youxian warned that Broad Cloud Peak would attract outlaws, demons, and other threats, while the sect would only directly protect them from powerful enemies above core formation.
• Yu Youxian cautioned that a four-star war puppet was not invincible and could not handle constant harassment, so the lords would still need to rely on their own forces for ordinary campaigns.

Li Chen and the other Territorial Lords visited the Golden Sun Gate armory to inspect four-star War Puppets available for lease. Steward Qi began the tour by showing them three Asura Mecha, leaving the group to consider their choices.

• Li Chen and Yu Youxian arrived at the guarded armory, where Elder Xiao's Divine Sense briefly swept over them.
• Gu Mocheng, Yuan Xiye, Li Fengxing, Guan Shu, and other Territorial Lords discussed the risks and benefits of leasing the Golden Sun Gate's War Puppets.
• Steward Qi welcomed the group and explained that each subordinate faction could collect one four-star-grade War Puppet.
• Li Chen and Gu Mocheng discussed the power, costs, and strategic materials required to build four-star puppets, and Li Chen considered using his Puppet Core expertise to enter the trade.
• Steward Qi led the Territorial Lords underground and showed them three Asura Mecha, whose three heads and six arms drew their attention.

Li Chen and the other Territorial Lords inspected and tested Golden Sun Gate’s four-star Asura Mechas, learning about their materials and devastating combat techniques. Chief Steward Qi then led them to another warehouse to view more four-star puppets.

• Li Chen and Gu Mocheng examined the Asura Mechas and marveled at their blood mystic gold bodies, while Li Chen reflected on their Shape-Stealing Skin-Painting craftsmanship.
• Chief Steward Qi explained the mechas’ four-star construction and described the Death Lotus, Crimson Flame Purgatory, and Slay Gods, Destroy the Dao techniques.
• Chief Steward Qi opened the mechas’ cockpits, and the visitors took turns piloting them and testing their movement.
• Li Chen piloted an Asura Mecha and experienced its power, mobility, and battlefield sensing, which made him feel as though he had reached the peak of Foundation Establishment.
• Chief Steward Qi led the Territorial Lords to another warehouse, where they saw other kinds of four-star puppets.

Steward Qi showed the group the storehouse’s war puppets, and Yu Youxian guided Li Chen to inspect a Scarlet-Eyed Demon Spider puppet that could trap enemies with powerful silk. Li Chen liked its strength but worried its silk could ensnare his own puppet legion.

• Steward Qi introduced the Earthly Fiend Generals and explained how puppeteers chose mecha for complementary or compatible abilities.
• Yu Youxian asked Li Chen what kind of puppet he wanted, and he said he preferred one that could trap enemies or a divine ability mechanism device.
• Yu Youxian brought Li Chen to examine a Scarlet-Eyed Demon Spider corpse puppet modified into an open-cockpit vehicle.
• Li Chen found that its silk resisted water and fire and could hold enemies fast enough for him to attack them.
• Li Chen worried the spider silk might entangle his allies and prevent his puppet legion from fighting.

Li Chen and Yu Youxian inspected the Golden Sun Gate’s corpse puppets and Wilds Series, where Steward Qi explained the Giant’s strengths and costly upgrades. After learning that a Giant could carry Earth Baleful Magnetic Poles and was designed for modifications, Li Chen decided it was the puppet he wanted.

• Li Chen passed over the ugly corpse puppets, and Yu Youxian explained that their designs depended on available bodies and materials.
• Li Chen recognized the hundred-foot Giant as a simplified descendant of the legendary Heaven-Supporting Giant, and Yu Youxian confirmed it was a general-purpose four-star battle puppet.
• Steward Qi explained that the Giant’s size gave it large energy reserves and storage space, though its standard design was cumbersome and less refined than the Asura.
• Steward Qi revealed that the Golden Sun Gate had fitted some Giants with Earth Baleful Magnetic Poles that could suppress enemies with the Heaven Topples, Earth Crumbles divine ability.
• Li Chen learned that the Giant was easy to modify and decided that it was the puppet he wanted.

Li Chen took possession of a Four-Star Giant puppet and tested its Heaven Topples, Earth Crumbles ability in a practice bout with Gu Mocheng. The new force field could help the Thunder Dragon Cannon hit powerful enemies, though Li Chen recognized that it had limits and would need careful timing.

• Li Chen learned how the Giant could be modified and arranged to have the armory steward transfer its control permissions to him.
• Gu Mocheng challenged Li Chen to a practice bout with his Asura, and both boarded their puppets.
• Li Chen tried the Giant's controls and found its Spirit Essence gel offered better safety and comfort than Three-Star mechas.
• Li Chen used Heaven Topples, Earth Crumbles to trap and slow Gu Mocheng's Asura in a force field.
• Li Chen realized the ability could help the Thunder Dragon Cannon strike enemies, but noted that it could not fully restrain the strongest opponents and affected allies as well.

Li Chen said farewell to Yu Youxian and Gu Mocheng before the Golden Sun Gate used its Golden Crow Puppet to transport him and his companions to Broad Cloud Peak. He vanished in a beam of divine light, leaving Yu Youxian and the others behind.

• Li Chen gathered with the Yu Household and Golden Sun Gate disciples and artisans who would accompany him to Broad Cloud Peak.
• Gu Mocheng and Yu Youxian wished Li Chen well, and Yu Youxian warned him that establishing a territory could be difficult.
• Yu Youxian explained that the Golden Sun Gate had recorded the Spirit Peak Blessed Lands' spacetime Waymarkers but kept the details of its transport method secret.
• Qi Maigu joined Li Chen, intending to remain near Broad Cloud Peak for ten years as an assistant and overseer.
• Li Chen noticed two suns in the sky and spotted a crow-like silhouette within one; Qi Maigu identified it as the Golden Sun Gate's Golden Crow Puppet.
• The Golden Crow Puppet sent Li Chen and the others away in a beam of divine light, while Yu Youxian and the others watched them disappear.

A shamanic tribe on Barren Star witnessed a second sun appear as Li Chen, Qi Maigu, Yu Feng, and their company arrived through a Void Gate. The shaman warned that fiends from beyond the heavens had come for the Sacred Mountain, and nearby tribes began gathering to defend it.

• A Red Feather Tribe chieftain offered a roasted wild boar to the awakened shaman during a tribal rite.
• A second sun appeared in the sky, terrifying the villagers and beasts around Broad Cloud Peak.
• The shaman recognized the sight as the Golden Crow's arrival and told the chieftain that fiends had come for the Sacred Mountain.
• The chieftain and his tribespeople rode out to notify nearby tribes and rally a defense.
• Li Chen, Qi Maigu, Yu Feng, their companions, and their equipment emerged from a Void Gate at the foot of the mountain.

Li Chen arrived at Broad Cloud Peak, confirmed its spiritual resources, and organized his companions to survey the unfamiliar territory. After sending out reconnaissance discs, he flew toward the summit while Qi Maigu remained behind to supervise the group.

• Li Chen used a Spirit Wave Detector to confirm that they had reached Broad Cloud Peak and estimate the spiritual essence held in its main peak and surrounding lands.
• Yu Feng and several others suffered motion sickness from traveling through the Cosmic Dao, and Li Chen treated Yu Feng’s symptoms with the Silk-Threading Art.
• Li Chen and Qi Maigu examined the others and found that their discomfort came from unusually sensitive spiritual senses linked to the Cosmic Dao.
• Li Chen warned the group to stay together, then released a hundred flying discs to survey the surrounding terrain.
• Li Chen asked Qi Maigu to oversee the group and arrange a temporary dwelling, then flew toward the mountain peak.

Li Chen surveyed Broad Cloud Peak, mapped the surrounding terrain, and planned a settlement at the mountain’s southern foot. The camp was attacked by wild beasts, and Qi Maigu suspected that some force had driven the animals to act together.

• Li Chen used the Wave-Leaping Sensing Art to survey nearly a hundred li around Broad Cloud Peak and correct the Golden Sun Gate’s map.
• Li Chen delegated map management and further surveys to his Auxiliary Brain and intelligences, then chose a site for the city beside the Great River.
• Li Chen planned to clear the surrounding area of beasts before expanding the camp or beginning resource extraction.
• Qi Maigu informed Li Chen that wild beasts had attacked the camp and lightly injured two people.
• Li Chen viewed the aftermath through the Giant Puppet as Qi Maigu showed him the carcasses of tigers, Raging Bears, and wild boars, and suspected that a force had driven them to attack together.

Li Chen established a guarded field camp and introduced information-based management while his puppets began clearing the nearby jungle. As the camp’s residents admired the system’s efficiency, hidden Shaman Tribe Remnants watched from a distant ridge and vowed to drive the newcomers out.

• After hearing Qi Maigu describe the local Shaman Tribe Remnants, Li Chen chose to establish the field camp before confronting the jungle’s dangers.
• Li Chen and the artisans built a fortified camp, and he registered the residents and issued rules for an information-based management system.
• The seven great intelligences came online, and modified Worker Bee Puppets began felling trees near the camp.
• The residents received detailed work assignments through the Bulletin Board and admired how efficiently Li Chen’s system organized construction.
• Shaman Tribe Remnants watched from a distant ridge, called the newcomers demons, and resolved to unite the tribes against them.

Li Chen deployed underground Wave-Leaping Satellites around Broad Cloud Peak and used their network to map nearby resources. A marching column of native humans appeared in the mountains, heading straight toward the Field Camp.

• Li Chen confirmed that assignments would be distributed through the Jade Slips as construction crews began clearing ground at the southern foot of the main peak.
• Li Chen drilled a communication base station into the mountain and left Worker Bee Puppets to build it.
• Li Chen deployed Wave-Leaping Satellites in six directions and activated a network that produced a detailed map and resource assignments.
• Li Chen hid the resource assignments and posted blurred, inaccurate maps on the public network while storing the originals internally.
• Heavenly Authority detected suspected native humans, and Li Chen used a Flying Disc to observe their armed column and its tiger-riding elder heading toward the Field Camp.

Old Hong and the guards defended Li Chen’s construction site when the Shaman Folk attacked, but the enemy shaman empowered the warriors and led a beast charge. The defenders fell back to the field camp, where their crossbows, cannons, and firearms opened fire as the battle began.

• Golden Sun Gate disciples and artisans worked on the construction site while guards kept watch.
• After scouts reported more than a hundred approaching enemies, Old Hong led the guards to meet them and was wounded by an armor-piercing arrow.
• The guards returned fire as the Shaman Folk attacked from the trees with stones, javelins, and arrows.
• An old Shaman Folk man riding a striped tiger used crimson magic to empower the warriors, then advanced with them and a herd of beasts.
• Old Hong ordered a retreat to the field camp, where the defenders opened fire on the charging Shaman Folk and beasts.