Chapter Summaries

Li Chen led his forces into the Underground Palace and killed the Centipede Heavenly Dragon after Xiao Die and Xiao Ying attacked it. As they searched its corpse, they discovered a pale-gold insect egg with vitality comparable to late Qi Refining.

• Li Chen used his Puppet Legion, missiles, and artillery to drive out and destroy the centipedes, then burned the city and surrounding wilderness.
• Li Chen led Xiao Die, Xiao Ying, and a hundred Chang Clan Soldiers into the Underground Palace and found the Centipede Heavenly Dragon beside a spirit pool.
• Xiao Die and Xiao Ying attacked the Centipede Heavenly Dragon with sword techniques, and Li Chen drove Xiao Ying's saber into its eye before blasting apart its head to ensure it was dead.
• Li Chen sensed a strange life aura inside the corpse and ordered Xiao Ying to cut it open.
• Xiao Ying exposed a pale-gold insect egg whose vitality was comparable to late Qi Refining.

Li Chen studied the Centipede Heavenly Dragon’s origins and considered trading its queen-like larva to Yuan Xiye, but discovered that the creature’s corpse was regenerating in storage. He found it had regained vitality without consciousness and began investigating the cause.

• Li Chen secretly stored the Centipede Heavenly Dragon’s corpse and learned from the Shaman King’s records that the creature had been transformed into a colony leader capable of producing a powerful larva.
• Li Chen decided he might trade the larva to Yuan Xiye for knowledge useful to his Puppet Master advancement and sent a message to the Golden Sun Gate.
• Heavenly Pivot reported that the Centipede Heavenly Dragon’s remains were repairing themselves, so Li Chen ordered a vat built and had the corpse immersed in true water with spirit essence.
• The Centipede Heavenly Dragon’s body and skull regenerated, but its consciousness did not return, leaving it in a living-dead state.
• Li Chen suspected the creature’s unremoved demon core might be driving its regeneration, though he remembered that centipede demon cores were located in the skull, which he had believed was destroyed.

Li Chen began studying the Centipede Heavenly Dragon’s undying body while reshaping Shaman Folk society, then negotiated a research partnership with Yuan Xiye. He agreed to trade a Heavenly Dragon Egg for the Golden Cicada Transformation method and offered to share the Centipede Daoist’s technique if Yuan Xiye shared her findings.

• Li Chen ordered Heavenly Pivot to monitor the Centipede Heavenly Dragon and the Auxiliary Brain to devise a biological modification plan for its body.
• Li Chen relocated Shaman Folk communities to Heavenly Dragon Ward and planned an underground railway linking it with Broad Cloud Ward.
• Yuan Xiye contacted Li Chen and confirmed that the Heavenly Dragon Egg was a Mother Empress Juvenile.
• Yuan Xiye offered to trade an insect-control method for the egg, and Li Chen chose the Golden Cicada Transformation method.
• Li Chen offered Yuan Xiye a copy of the Centipede Daoist’s method and funding in exchange for a Spell Contract to share her research results.

Li Chen signed a research contract with Yuan Xiye and received the Golden Cicada Transformation secret art in exchange for an insect egg and his research materials. Impressed by its life-force techniques and defensive abilities, he considered using it to strengthen the Puppet Conversion of his Original Body.

• Li Chen and Yuan Xiye finalized and signed a Spell Contract to share research results on the heavenly dragon undying body.
• Li Chen sent Yuan Xiye an insect egg and a Jade Slip, and received her Golden Cicada Transformation secret art and insect-control techniques.
• Li Chen studied the transformation, noting its regenerative powers, Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell defense, and Return to the Primordial State technique.
• Li Chen recalled how Centipede Daoist had nearly destroyed his rented great wilderness giant and concluded that he needed greater combat strength.
• Li Chen decided he might use Golden Cicada Transformation in the Puppet Conversion of his Original Body.

Li Chen continued developing the computational resources and techniques needed to advance toward Grand Artisan. At the Everflow Merchants' Association, Mei Yunhe confronted Madam Lin's demands over Mei Xuan's death and ordered her to remain confined, while privately refusing to accept the case's outcome himself.

• Li Chen learned that Heavenly Rose had completed ninety-three percent of the cosmic dao restrictions and void rune scripts and eighty-one percent of the primordial energy solidification scripts, and promised to expand their computational units.
• Li Chen planned to master void power and primordial energy materialization, refine a Four-Star Puppet Core, and use schematics from the Complete Book of the Puppet Master Order to prepare for false-core refinement.
• Madam Lin entered Mei Yunhe's courtyard at night and demanded justice for Mei Xuan, insisting that the investigation should not be closed.
• Mei Yunhe said that Wu Ling had killed Mei Xuan after Lin Qinghe and the others failed to protect her, but he also resented the senior elders for protecting them and interfering in the affair.
• Mei Yunhe told Madam Lin to stop shouting and ordered her to stay behind closed doors until she had reflected on her mistakes.

Li Chen examined the Centipede Heavenly Dragon’s regenerative Immortal Zhi spirit body and reviewed the combat-puppet modifications he had prepared for it. As he waited for a key mechanism to arrive, Yu Youxian contacted him about rumors of an Ancient Immortal Cave Abode appearing in Guangyun.

• Li Chen learned from the Essential Arts of Immortal Zhi that the Centipede Heavenly Dragon’s body had been transformed with ten-thousand-year immortal zhi and was regenerating as an Immortal Zhi spirit body.
• Li Chen hoisted the Centipede Heavenly Dragon and inspected the projected plans for its puppet conversion, including its crimson fire copper plating, control system, and planned Separation Fire Arcane Mechanism.
• Li Chen concluded that the creature would become a three-star combatant once the Separation Fire Arcane Mechanism arrived, while postponing the decision about installing a spirit core.
• Yu Youxian contacted Li Chen and asked about rumors that divine light and surging energy in Guangyun signaled the emergence of an Ancient Immortal Cave Abode.

Li Chen learned that rumors of an Ancient Immortal Cave Abode in Guangyun could draw outsiders to his territory, and Yu Youxian affirmed the Golden Sun Gate’s responsibility to protect him under their contract. Lin Qinghe traced the rumors to an old travelogue that had led the Everflow Merchants' Association to investigate Heavenly Dragon Peak, but its costly search had uncovered nothing beyond a lower-grade blessed land.

• Li Chen told Yu Youxian he would treat unauthorized explorers in Guangyun as invaders, and she formally pledged the Golden Sun Gate’s support under their contract.
• Yu Youxian said Li Chen would have to join the Golden Sun Gate as an elder if he obtained the cave abode within its territory, then ended the communication.
• Li Chen decided the report was still only a rumor and contacted Lin Qinghe to ask whether he had any leads.
• Lin Qinghe said the Mei Family had developed Heavenly Dragon Peak based on a travelogue by an Outer Dao Nascent Soul Great Power that mentioned an ancient Immortal Mountain.
• Lin Qinghe explained that the Everflow Merchants' Association had excavated Heavenly Dragon Peak for years, but found only a lower-grade blessed land and abandoned the costly search.

Li Chen grew concerned that rumors of an Ancient Immortal Cave Abode could draw outsiders and eventually threaten his control of the region, so he began secretly preparing and expanding his forces. By the following year, his devices detected powerful infiltrators, and merchant supply ships arrived carrying over a thousand rogue cultivators.

• Li Chen concluded that the rumors could serve as a pretext for outsiders to infiltrate his territory and feared that even the Golden Sun Gate might eventually take his foundation.
• Li Chen decided to search secretly for the rumored cave abode using his artificial intelligence and Worker Bee Puppets.
• Li Chen transferred the partly modified Centipede Heavenly Dragon through the Magic Cube Maze and ordered Heavenly Jade to produce more Worker Bee Puppets.
• Li Chen expanded his underground base and strengthened Broad Cloud Peak and Heavenly Dragon Peak with construction and labor from Worker Bee Puppets and Shaman Tribe Remnants.
• By early April the following year, Mechanism Devices detected several powerful auras near Broad Cloud Peak, and successive Flying Boats brought supplies and over a thousand rogue cultivators.

Li Chen welcomed officials and merchants whose agreements opened Broad Cloud Ward and Heavenly Dragon Ward to regular Flying Boat trade and brought plans for a Heavenly Crafts Academy and Talisman Coin Money House. As two assassins debated their paid mission, another attacker launched a silver Flying Sword at Li Chen during the celebration.

• On April 10, Li Chen welcomed representatives from the Market District Federation, Flying Boat operators, and the Creation Sect after their applications were approved.
• The visitors discussed Broad Cloud Ward’s growth, new trade routes, and opportunities for skilled newcomers to settle there.
• A Puppeteer with an iron spider and a young Puppet Master Craftsman secretly discussed their bounty to assassinate Li Chen and disrupt his domain.
• The two assassins weighed Li Chen’s defenses and decided to conceal themselves and strike when an opening appeared.
• As the assassins reached the welcoming celebration, an unknown attacker sent a silver Flying Sword toward Li Chen.

Li Chen survived a sword assassination thanks to his Gang Essence Shield and countered the attackers in his Market District. The first assassin escaped, but Li Chen’s Heavenly Eyes had identified accomplices who could be arrested and questioned.

• A concealed attacker struck at Li Chen’s left temple, but his Gang Essence Shield stopped the flying sword.
• Li Chen seized the sword with his magic power and knocked it down, then ordered Xiao Ying to pursue the fleeing attacker.
• The Puppeteer and a disguised accomplice tried to exploit the crowd’s confusion, but Xiao Die confronted them and revealed her formidable swordsmanship.
• The two accomplices tried to flee, but cannon blasts struck them and left them severely wounded.
• Xiao Ying returned after losing the first assassin, and Li Chen said the Heavenly Eyes had identified the assassin’s accomplices in the Market District.

Li Chen spared the Rogue Cultivators Xu Shan and Gu Beilu on the condition that they work for him and guard his Market District. They soon traced the escaped Sword Cultivator to the Carefree Pavilion, an assassin organization known for doggedly pursuing its targets.

• Li Chen interrogated Xu Shan and Gu Beilu, who confessed that they had attacked him for a Black Market bounty.
• Li Chen made the two swallow surveillance bugs and ordered them to deal with Rogue Cultivators lurking around his Market District in exchange for eventual freedom.
• Xu Shan and Gu Beilu investigated the escaped Sword Cultivator and reported that he might belong to the Carefree Pavilion.
• Li Chen learned that the Carefree Pavilion persistently hounded difficult targets and scoffed at their methods.

Li Chen hid his true body in the Spirit Ring and used his Seventh Avatar to handle outside affairs while preparing for four-star Puppet Conversion. He learned that the Carefree Pavilion had been hired to kill him, and repeated attacks on his substitute puppet left the assassin still at large.

• Li Chen placed his true body in a glass chamber inside the Magic Cube Maze and sent his Seventh Avatar out in his place.
• Li Chen asked Heavenly Pivot Dao about the assassin, which identified the killer as a Silver-Rank Assassin from the Carefree Pavilion hired for ten million Talisman Coins.
• Heavenly Pivot Dao said the assassin’s organization was too powerful for Li Chen’s forces to retaliate against for now.
• The assassin returned several times to attack the substitute puppet whenever it appeared in public.
• Xiao Die was struck in the shoulder by a Flying Sword while shielding the substitute puppet, and the assassin escaped despite the crowd witnessing the attack.

Li Chen learned that ordinary detection methods could not expose the concealed expert and decided to buy a Truth-Piercing Eye to upgrade his Heavenly Eye System. He chose the device after Qi Maigu explained its abilities and the Truth-Piercing School’s origins.

• Heavenly Pivot reported that 106 Spirit Wave frequencies and multiple scanning modes had failed to penetrate the target’s concealed state.
• Li Chen decided to buy specialized components rather than develop every part of his Mechanism himself.
• Li Chen contacted Qi Maigu, who said the Golden Sun Gate had ordinary detection devices but recommended seeking better equipment from the Truth-Piercing School.
• Li Chen consulted his Auxiliary Brain and learned about the schools and lineages associated with the Creation Sect and Puppet Masters.
• Qi Maigu described the Three-Star Truth-Piercing Eye, which could counter concealment techniques and invoke the Truth-Piercing Art.
• Li Chen agreed to purchase the Truth-Piercing Eye.

Li Chen received the premium Mechanism Devices and materials he had ordered to counter the assassins and strengthen his combat abilities. With the components gathered in the Magic Cube Maze, he prepared for the upgrades he planned to make during Puppet Conversion.

• Li Chen ordered a Truth-Piercing Eye, a Fire-Observing Dharma Eye, and other components from the merchants' associations to address his weaknesses and improve his high-end combat power.
• Just under half a month later, Li Chen moved the delivered goods into the Magic Cube Maze and opened the boxes containing the two Dharma Eyes.
• Li Chen examined the Thunder Soldier Tribulation Finger, a four-star Mechanism Device made from lightning-struck ten-thousand-year-old yin locust wood.
• Li Chen inspected a hundred Hair-Follicle Spirit Seeds designed to grow Thunder Spirit Hair that could transform into lightning-aspected Talisman Treasures.
• Li Chen assessed the Spirit-Energy Attached Horns, Dragon-Scale Mimetic Armor, Bionic Dragon Claws, void crystals, and other materials he had assembled for his new body.

Li Chen enhanced his true body with spirit seeds, magical components, and new meridians, gaining a noticeable boost in cultivation while postponing the dangerous brain modifications. Mei Xuan discovered his upgrades and demanded her original body back, but Li Chen promised only that he might modify her in the future.

• Li Chen fused spirit seeds and other components into his true body, then modified his nerves and meridians to support Puppet Dao magic power.
• Li Chen felt his cultivation advance by several decades but decided to postpone Puppet Conversion of his brain until he was stronger.
• Mei Xuan learned that Li Chen had bought enhancement devices and complained that he had upgraded himself without upgrading her.
• Li Chen offered Mei Xuan a Three-Star Battle Puppet or a flesh puppet, but she rejected both and demanded her original body.
• Li Chen said Mei Xuan’s original body was cultivating in the Magic Power Circulation Pump and suggested he might modify her in the future.

Li Chen let Mei Xuan borrow his body so she could experience food and test his improved strength in combat. After she demonstrated how easily his True Body overwhelmed a Three-Star Puppet, Li Chen took control before she could destroy it, while Mei Xuan reminded him that she still resented his past dealings with her.

• Mei Xuan complained that False Persons lacked senses, and Li Chen let her experience food through his body using the Auxiliary Brain.
• Li Chen decided that sharing sensations was enough for now and lent Mei Xuan his body to test its combat strength.
• At the northern foot of Broad Cloud Peak, Mei Xuan used thunderclouds to paralyze Li Chen's Three-Star Puppet and struck it with his True Body.
• Mei Xuan activated the Flood Dragon Attached Horn and battered the Puppet Chassis with overwhelming force.
• Mei Xuan prepared a powerful Thunder Soldier Tribulation Finger strike, but Li Chen took control and stopped her before she could damage the Puppet further.
• Mei Xuan teased Li Chen and reminded him that she remembered the money and treasures he had swindled from her.

Li Chen demonstrated that his modified true body had genuine Foundation Establishment peak combat strength and could contend with the Great Wilderness Giant. With his position temporarily quiet but still watched by hostile factions, he prepared to begin the next stage of Puppet Conversion by personally modifying his five viscera under heavy guard.

• Mei Xuan examined Li Chen's true body and discussed how Puppet Conversion required unity between a body and its user, while Li Chen explained the rules and exceptions involving compatible flesh and inherited creations.
• Li Chen returned to the Inner Valley to repair his Puppet Chassis and debug his true body, while the Carefree Pavilion withdrew and other factions fell quiet.
• Li Chen held public drills in late April, demonstrating his strength against Jingang, Xiao Die, Xiao Ying, and Dong Pengfei piloting the Great Wilderness Giant.
• Li Chen decided to proceed with Puppet Conversion and personally implant spirit seeds to transform his five viscera.
• Xiao Die, Xiao Ying, Jingang, and Li Chen's forces secured the labyrinth, Base No. 1, and Broad Cloud Ward while Li Chen prepared to begin the operation.

Li Chen dismantled his body and used treasured materials to form five elemental spiritual roots in his organs, transforming his body into a Puppet Chassis. His spiritualization reached supreme-grade levels, and a pill-like radiance appeared between his brows as a spiritual body began to take shape.

• Li Chen used the Body Deconstruction Great Art to remove his organs, limbs, bones, and skin while keeping his body alive and preserving its vital structures.
• Li Chen fused firefly treasure gold into his lungs, purple cloud thunder bamboo into his liver, Fish-Dragon Pearl into his kidneys, golden leaf fire lotus into his heart, and spirit ou marrow into his spleen to establish five spiritual roots.
• More than a hundred rays of light refined Li Chen's Spirit-Transformed Organs as his five elemental energies formed a balanced cycle.
• The Auxiliary Brain reported that Li Chen had reached the tenth level of Foundation Establishment with nearly balanced spiritualization degrees of 0.95, attaining supreme-grade spiritual root aptitude.
• Vast heaven and earth vital energy surged into Li Chen as spiritual essence filled his Tanzhong aperture and gathered between his brows, forming a speck of white radiance while a spiritual body seemed to grow beneath his neck.

Li Chen completed Puppet Conversion with Five Elements Organ-Shaping as its foundation, transforming his body into a five elements treasure body and raising his cultivation beyond three hundred years. He recognized that his new spiritual-root aptitude came from fixed arrays and restrictions, leaving him to consider how to overcome that limit in higher realms.

• Li Chen used the Five Qi Returning to the Origin Array to refine his magic power and transform his body.
• He incorporated prepared spirit materials and completed Puppet Conversion across his body, apart from his brain.
• Li Chen spent six days and nights refining his bones, flesh, blood, and meridians, while leaving the intricate Draw Silk, Rejoin Meridians modification for later.
• After reassembling himself, Li Chen found his cultivation had exceeded three hundred years, reaching Foundation Establishment Peak or half-step Core Formation.
• Li Chen realized his spiritual-root aptitude had been replaced by arrays and restrictions, and considered the challenge of advancing beyond its fixed limits.

Li Chen considered the knowledge and understanding required to become a Puppet Master Grand Artisan, then realized he could earn money by modifying ordinary Qi Refining cultivators. Meanwhile, a Carefree Pavilion assassin learned that Li Chen had bought forty million talisman coins’ worth of Divine Ability Mechanism Devices and chose to make one last attempt before they arrived.

• Li Chen concluded that he would seek help with Core Formation modifications only if he still could not become a Grand Artisan after turning a hundred, and realized he could offer advancement modifications to Qi Refining cultivators.
• A Silver-Grade Assassin of the Carefree Pavilion received word that Li Chen might have enough credit and collateral to buy the devices despite lacking sufficient cash.
• The assassin understood that Li Chen’s new equipment could make another attack far more dangerous, but the Carefree Pavilion raised the assignment’s rating and kept it active.
• The assassin burned the information slip, checked out of the inn, and decided to make one final attempt before Li Chen’s purchases arrived.