Chapter Summaries

Qi Maigu achieved mental certification by mastering Blazing Sun Divine Thunder as a personal divine ability, and the Golden Sun Gate recalled him to the sect. After he departed, the sect arranged for new Master Artisans to take over his research institute, leaving Li Chen with a stronger research partnership and valuable connections.

• Qi Maigu demonstrated that he had mastered Blazing Sun Divine Thunder through mental certification, transforming his magic power and gaining its destructive properties.
• Li Chen notified the Golden Sun Gate of Qi Maigu's breakthrough, and the sect sent a Flying Boat to collect him five days later.
• Qi Maigu's former disciples gathered to bid him farewell, and he thanked Li Chen for his support before departing.
• Li Chen retained access to the Golden Sun Gate's research authorization and material suppliers through his collaboration with Qi Maigu.
• The Golden Sun Gate asked Li Chen to host newly promoted Master Artisans who would take over the research institute and continue studying Divine Thunder.

Li Chen tested a primitive form of Ultrawave Communication, using void-stone equipment to transmit spirit waves to spatial Waymarkers. After repeated successes, one transmission missed its target and returned no feedback.

• Li Chen focused on developing his understanding of the Cosmic Dao and the void while managing the newly arrived Master Artisans.
• Li Chen used a clay Puppet to inspect a device built to transfer spirit waves carrying information through space.
• Li Chen reflected on the dangers of Dao Source script and how Heavenly Pivot helped him study it safely.
• Li Chen commanded Heavenly Pivot to transmit spirit waves to random Waymarkers, and the signals were detected at observation stations.
• Li Chen continued adjusting the transmission parameters until Heavenly Pivot warned that a spirit wave had gone off target and received no feedback.

Li Chen discovered that signals aimed at waymarkers in Zone Sixty-Six were being swallowed by a suspected Minor Grotto-Heaven, and he sent teams to investigate. While they searched the desert, he continued working in virtual reality on a magic array that had opened a small, unstable grotto-heaven.

• Li Chen halted and inspected his transmission experiment, then found that signals aimed at certain nearby waymarkers vanished or arrived off course.
• Heavenly Pivot Dao plotted the results as a crescent resembling a black hole and identified Zone Sixty-Six as the likely location of an overlapping Minor Grotto-Heaven.
• Li Chen ordered Heavenly Jade to dispatch teams to Zone Sixty-Six and told Heavenly Rose to prepare the next experiment.
• A Flying Harrier transport landed in the desert, and Chang Clan Soldiers deployed Warg Mechanism Beasts, Chariots, drones, and other search equipment.
• Heavenly Pivot reported that the teams had found nothing yet while Li Chen examined a virtual spatial model of a magic array containing a small, unstable grotto-heaven.

Li Chen used the Rune Script Dao to develop a Minor Grotto-Heaven and managed a virtual workshop where retainers and artificial intelligences refined its formations. As he struggled with the spatial inversion needed to complete the grotto-heaven, Heavenly Pivot reported that Sector Sixty-Six showed no abnormalities.

• Li Chen compressed the rune array around a black sphere as he applied the Void-Opening Art to create his own Minor Grotto-Heaven.
• Li Chen reviewed problems raised by Wang Tong and other workshop workers, then instructed them and Heavenly Pivot to modify the Rune Formations.
• Wang Tong warned a coworker not to mention ape nature spirits to Li Chen because he had previously driven off someone selling them.
• Shaking Light reported the workers' private conversation, and Li Chen told it to handle ordinary information and notify him only about threats of level two or higher.
• Li Chen continued trying to resolve spatial inversion and the convergence of inside and outside in the grotto-heaven's formations.
• Heavenly Pivot told Li Chen that its search of Sector Sixty-Six was complete and had found no abnormalities.

Li Chen used Worker Bee Puppets and geological analysis to uncover a dying cluster of underground spirit peaks, including several blessed lands and spirit-material deposits. The discoveries suggested the remnants belonged to a much larger ancient main vein, and Li Chen turned his attention back to the suspected grotto-heaven.

• Li Chen investigated Zone Sixty-Six and found evidence that spirit veins had once flowed there.
• Heavenly Pivot Dao analyzed the underground water dragon and identified promising locations for further exploration.
• Li Chen's Worker Bee Puppets discovered three underground blessed lands and more than a dozen false blessed lands, along with spirit-material deposits.
• Li Chen's continued search uncovered five more blessed lands, including two living veins and three dead veins filled with yin baleful intent.
• Li Chen realized the cluster was dying rather than newly formed, but concluded its remnants pointed to an enormous ancient main vein.
• Li Chen searched the surrounding area, found nothing more, and returned his attention to the suspected grotto-heaven.

Li Chen secretly prepared to exploit the newly discovered spirit peaks and resource sites while protecting their existence until he could gain enough strength to defend them. After building a covert supply network and activating his defenses, he focused on advancing his Void-Opening Art and forming a false core.

• Li Chen and Heavenly Pivot assessed the danger of developing the new sites, and Li Chen concluded that mystical divination posed the greatest threat to their secrecy.
• Li Chen disguised himself and secretly bought supplies in Sea Eye City, established fictitious merchant partnerships, and set up a hidden warehouse as a trading base.
• Li Chen completed two Ultrawave Communication base stations and used one to coordinate his covert trade through puppet avatars.
• Li Chen returned to Broad Cloud Peak with his purchases, ordered overtime production under level three battle readiness, and reactivated secret bases and Mechanism Puppets without alerting the two wards.
• Li Chen secluded himself in the Magic Cube Maze to work on his Void-Opening Art as a false core began forming and his essence blood, vital energy, spiritual sense, and magic power flowed inward.

A Carefree Pavilion agent named Helmsman Jia reviewed surveillance reports on Li Chen and found no unusual activity. At the pavilion headquarters, Li Chen’s Spirit Lamp suddenly ignited and melted down.

• A blue-robed cultivator posing as a Demon Hunter visited the Fuji Trading Company and offered to sell a White Snow Fox with its pelt intact.
• The cultivator privately identified himself to the shopkeeper as an agent reporting to Helmsman Jia and handed over a ledger of market and air harbor surveillance.
• Helmsman Jia said the Carefree Pavilion had abandoned direct attacks on Li Chen and was conducting covert surveillance while avoiding a direct confrontation.
• Helmsman Jia found no evidence of changes in Li Chen’s activities, while Li Chen allowed outside factions to operate around Broad Cloud Peak.
• At the Carefree Pavilion headquarters, Li Chen’s Spirit Lamp suddenly burst into flames and melted as a black-robed cultivator watched.

The Carefree Pavilion’s Fortune Spirit Lamp for Li Chen burned away, prompting its leaders to report a possible disturbance in Guangyun and send an elite assassin to watch him. The Mei Family also sent Mei Tang to Broad Cloud Ward to investigate Mei Xuan’s death and wait for a chance to act against Li Chen’s faction.

• Hall Master Ding reported that Li Chen’s Fortune Spirit Lamp had burned away, and the Carefree Pavilion leaders considered possible causes without reaching a conclusion.
• The Carefree Pavilion’s elder ordered the Pavilion to report the impending disturbance to the Patron, strengthen surveillance of Guangyun, and send Si Ming Yiyi of the Fate-Mandating Hall to watch Li Chen.
• Mei Yunhe told Mei Tang that the Carefree Pavilion had detected trouble in Guangyun and ordered him to go there under the pretext of inspecting the branch.
• Mei Yunhe instructed Mei Tang to use the opportunity to find evidence connecting Li Chen to Mei Xuan’s death, while assuring him that the family would support him.
• Mei Tang gathered his men and headed for Broad Cloud Ward.

Inspector Mei Tang visited Broad Cloud Ward and sounded out Helm Master Lin Qinghe about seizing Li Chen’s mineral resources and upstream industries for the Merchants’ Association. Lin rejected the plan and warned Mei that provoking trouble in the tightly monitored ward would bring grave consequences.

• Lin Qinghe welcomed Mei Tang and led him on a tour of Broad Cloud Ward’s rapidly developed industrial city.
• Lin explained that Li Chen’s Wisdom Cores and Flying Disc systems had become successful products, while the branch helm sought more distribution rights to expand sales.
• Mei Tang asked Lin whether the Merchants’ Association could take control of Li Chen’s mineral resources and upstream industries.
• Lin refused, arguing that the plan would recklessly provoke a war and would not serve the Merchants’ Association’s interests.
• Mei warned Lin not to act rashly, but Lin angrily insisted that Mei did not understand how severe the consequences would be under the Heavenly Eye System’s surveillance.

Lin Qinghe explained to Mei Tang how Li Chen’s surveillance network and entry rules controlled movement on Broad Cloud Star, while Helmsman Jia warned Si Ming Yiyi that the Carefree Pavilion had learned the dangers of operating there through costly experience. Si Ming Yiyi agreed to wait for scouts and an identity swap before acting.

• Lin Qinghe warned Mei Tang that Li Chen’s Mechanism Devices and Heavenly Eye terminals monitored public areas, and Mei Tang learned that he had to register with the Entry Office.
• Lin Qinghe explained that the artificial intelligence Opened Yang governed access across Li Chen’s private planet, so Mei Tang followed him to the Market Chief’s Residence.
• Helmsman Jia brought Si Ming Yiyi to the Fuji Trading Company’s rendezvous point and explained how newcomers, local residents, wilderness, and underground areas were monitored.
• Helmsman Jia described the precautions the Carefree Pavilion had learned through losses, and Si Ming Yiyi realized his Void Step could not guarantee safe movement under constant surveillance.
• Helmsman Jia told Si Ming Yiyi to wait for scouts to return before acting and said the organization would later swap him into a prepared Rogue Cultivator identity.

Si Ming Yiyi infiltrated Li Chen’s territory to investigate unusual Legion movements while Li Chen’s forces opened a spatial rift in Zone Sixty-Six. The reconnaissance drones were attacked inside, and Li Chen watched the emerging threat from Broad Cloud Peak.

• Si Ming Yiyi established himself at the Fuji Trading Company, exchanged identities with a branch steward, and learned that Li Chen’s forces had been moving through Zones Fifty to Seventy.
• Si Ming Yiyi used Void Step to leave his Demon Hunter team and investigate the wilderness alone.
• Wu Xiong received command of Yaksha Mecha Number Ten and used the Space-Splitting Blade to open a rift into an extradimensional space.
• Three Reconnaissance Flying Discs entered the rift, but a whip-like shape attacked them and sent fragments back outside.
• The Auxiliary Brain raised the alert level as Li Chen watched an image of a huge wheel-shaped beast in the Mystic Light Illusory Image Array.

Li Chen opened the rift and ordered a sustained bombardment that destroyed the Miasma Mother guarding the grotto-heaven. Reconnaissance revealed the ten-thousand-mile Minor Grotto-Heaven, though the Auxiliary Brain warned of numerous high-energy reactions and extreme danger.

• Mei Xuan and Heavenly Pivot identified the creature as a rare Miasma Mother, and Li Chen explained how he had prepared for different threats before opening the rift.
• The second batch of Flying Discs was destroyed by the Miasma Mother's tentacles, so Li Chen ordered fifteen minutes of artillery fire.
• When conventional bombardment failed to noticeably weaken the creature, Li Chen ordered Blazing Sun Divine Thunder charges fired through the rift.
• A new batch of Flying Discs revealed scorched land and the Miasma Mother's remains; Heavenly Pivot confirmed a grotto-heaven and transmitted the Yu Bo signal.
• The Flying Discs mapped a Minor Grotto-Heaven about ten thousand miles across, while the Auxiliary Brain detected numerous high-energy reactions and warned of extreme danger.

Li Chen and Mei Xuan discovered that the Grotto-Heaven was an abandoned Ancient Cultivator’s ruin, then saw an immense fish-shaped skeleton beyond its World Barrier. The Grotto-Heaven lay inside the skeleton’s skull.

• Li Chen identified the floating island realm as an artificially created Minor Grotto-Heaven.
• Mei Xuan spotted palaces on a central mountain, and Li Chen concluded they belonged to an Ancient Cultivator whose ruin had lost its master.
• Li Chen explained that the palaces and the Grotto-Heaven’s landscape suggested it had been built before the final calamity of the Ancient Cultivation World.
• The Flying Disc Swarm examined the World Barrier, revealing a skeleton roughly a hundred and eight thousand li long in the shape of a giant fish.
• Li Chen and Mei Xuan realized that the Grotto-Heaven was located inside the enormous fish’s skull.

Li Chen and Mei Xuan prepared to explore the ancient ruins inside the enormous fish-like grotto-heaven, while considering the dangers left behind by its former master and any survivors. Li Chen led a puppet force toward the Central Mountain Range as flying discs searched for powerful beings.

• Li Chen and Mei Xuan speculated that the enormous skeleton might be a Kun that had carried a grotto-heaven, and Heavenly Pivot estimated it was more likely a Kun than a Sea Trout.
• Li Chen warned Mei Xuan that ancient defenses and surviving inhabitants could make the ruins dangerous, but they agreed to proceed with caution.
• Heavenly Authority assembled a Puppet Legion in Zone Sixty-Six and sent mechanical puppets ahead to clear the ravaged terrain.
• Li Chen and Mei Xuan transferred into customized soldier-puppet avatars, and Li Chen equipped his avatar with Dragon-Scale Battle Armor.
• Li Chen led Wu Xiong and the expedition toward the Central Mountain Range while Flying Disc Swarms searched for powerful threats.

Li Chen led the Legion across the Minor Grotto-Heaven, using Reconnaissance Flying Discs to map its beasts and avoid dangerous encounters. After drones reached the mountain palace, they identified it as the Azure Billow Immortal Abode, which Li Chen recognized as the Sea Emperor’s Blessed Land for raising Kun Beasts.

• Li Chen analyzed reconnaissance reports and concluded the estate had likely belonged to a cultivator who raised spirit medicines or exotic beasts.
• Li Chen and Mei Xuan discussed why the creatures encountered so far were mostly three- to four-star threats and how the Minor Grotto-Heaven’s conditions explained their presence.
• When scouts detected a suspicious Beast Herd, Li Chen ordered the Legion to avoid it and explained that demonic birds had destroyed hundreds of Flying Discs.
• After a day and night of travel, Li Chen sent Detection Mechanism Devices toward the mountain palace while Heavenly Authority remained battle-ready and Heavenly Pivot recorded the results.
• The drones revealed a tablet naming the site the Azure Billow Immortal Abode, and Li Chen recognized it as the Blessed Land where the Sea Emperor raised his Kun Beasts.

Li Chen and Mei Xuan discussed the history and immense value of the Azure Billow Immortal Abode, the Giant Kun, and the lost Blue Sea Water Realm. They reached the immortal abode, where Li Chen sent his Puppet Legion to search for its treasures and the grotto-heaven’s control hub.

• Li Chen explained to Mei Xuan that the Sea Emperor’s Kun and Azure Billow Immortal Abode had vanished into the Chaos after the Blue Sea Water Realm was cast away.
• Li Chen declared that finding the Kun proved Heaven’s Mandate favored him, and he resolved to claim its remains and the Immortal Mountain branch.
• Mei Xuan warned Li Chen that others would covet the Immortal Mountain, and he decided to keep the discovery secret from everyone.
• Li Chen explained that the abode might lead to the Blue Sea Water Realm, a valuable Minor World once ruled by the Sea Emperor.
• Li Chen’s party reached the immortal abode, and he sent the Puppet Legion to search its intact buildings for treasures and the grotto-heaven’s control hub.

Li Chen explored the abandoned Menagerie residence and found its ancient defenses still active, though many arrays had deteriorated. After uncovering the corpses of Ancient Cultivators who died in the era-ending Five Declines, he found Lord Canglan's Lord's Command Token, which could control the garrison and Magic Arrays.

• Li Chen determined that the residence had drifted for a million years and was now ruled by strange beasts, with no surviving humans or intelligent beings.
• Li Chen used the Puppets' reports to locate control hubs and points connected to the Spirit Vein Spring Eye, learning that the arrays operated autonomously and some were close to failing.
• Mei Xuan examined an ancient corpse, and Li Chen explained that the Five Declines of a Celestial Person had caused the Ancient Cultivators to age and die when the era changed.
• The Puppet Legion found nine more Ancient Cultivator corpses, including peak Nascent Soul Realm experts who had also succumbed to the great tribulation.
• Li Chen discovered Lord Canglan's Lord's Command Token, infused it with magic power, and caused the residence to shake as he gained access to its array instructions.

Li Chen planned to detach the Azure Billow Immortal Abode from Guangyun and hide its true nature, while assembling troops and resources around Zone Sixty-Six. Si Ming Yiyi investigated the area for the Carefree Pavilion, but Li Chen’s forces detected him as their attacks destroyed other scouts.

• Li Chen explained that he would move the Azure Billow Immortal Abode away from Guangyun and disguise its connection, using the spirit peak blessed land in Zone Sixty-Six as a decoy if needed.
• Li Chen studied the token that could help him control the immortal abode and ordered Heavenly Pivot to gather forces and resources in Zone Sixty-Six and nearby regions.
• Si Ming Yiyi concluded that troop movements and a Heavenly Secrets Jade Disk report pointed to a major discovery near Zone Sixty-Six.
• Three rogue cultivators drove a Chariot toward the restricted zone, triggering an alarm, and Li Chen’s forces killed them with Flame Fang missiles.
• Si Ming Yiyi realized a Thunderhawk Fighter had not turned back, and ripples of probing power exposed him despite his concealment and use of the Void Step secret art.

Si Ming Yiyi infiltrated Li Chen’s desert base, was detected, and fought his way into a battle formation despite overwhelming defenses. As the command station called in reinforcements and missiles struck, Helmsman Jia sensed something in the rear hall of the Fuji Trading Company.

• Li Chen’s Truth-Piercing Eye devices exposed Si Ming Yiyi, forcing him to abandon stealth and destroy a Flame Fang missile before escaping underground.
• Si Ming Yiyi burrowed toward the base while the command core deployed saturation attacks and the Centipede Heavenly Dragon blocked his path.
• Si Ming Yiyi fought the Centipede Heavenly Dragon and the arriving puppet forces, then realized he had been drawn into a battle formation.
• Si Ming Yiyi sent his code phrase to his uncle, crushed the jade talisman, and charged into the formation, inflicting heavy losses.
• The command station raised Si Ming Yiyi’s threat level and launched three missiles carrying miniaturized Blazing Sun Divine Thunder.
• Several thousand li away, Helmsman Jia opened his eyes after sensing something while dozing in the Fuji Trading Company’s rear hall.

Rumors that Li Chen had discovered an ancient cultivator's abode in Zone Sixty-Six fueled unrest in Guangyun, while he dismissed the commotion and Dong Pengfei chose to wait and watch. The chapter ended with Li Chen destroying an unknown Flying Boat that descended toward the forbidden zone, escalating the uproar.

• Rogue cultivators clashed with guards after being denied permission to search the wilderness, and onlookers argued over the restrictions on the Central Region.
• Rumors spread that Li Chen and the Dong Household were hiding an ancient cultivator's abode in Zone Sixty-Six, intensifying public scrutiny and disorder.
• Dong Pengfei asked Li Chen how to respond, and Li Chen told him to ignore the troublemakers.
• Dong Pengfei and Old Gong decided to trust Li Chen, and Dong Pengfei withdrew to the Western Peaks while unrest continued to grow.
• An unknown Flying Boat descended toward Zone Sixty-Six, and Li Chen ordered it attacked with Blazing Sun Divine Thunder.
• The attack destroyed the probe amid blasts visible across Guangyun, and news of it spread widely within minutes.