Chapter Summaries

Li Chen enhanced Ye'e Di Luosha, raising her strength and implanting mastery of the Rakshasa Battle Art directly into her mind. After the successful modification, she pledged to serve him and investigate the Sea Emperor's Secret Cache when she returned.

• Li Chen offered Ye'e Di Luosha a safe conventional enhancement or a riskier new technique, and she chose the option with better results despite its ten-percent risk.
• Li Chen used several body-modification methods and his Kun Blood blending technique to strengthen Ye'e Di Luosha beyond the seventh level of Foundation Establishment.
• Li Chen modified Ye'e Di Luosha's brain and infused her with the Rakshasa Battle Art, which she awoke already knowing.
• Ye'e Di Luosha tested the art outside the hive and performed its techniques with the ease of long practice.
• Li Chen returned Ye'e Di Luosha's Thunder-Controlling Saber, and she promised to strengthen his influence in her country and investigate the Sea Emperor's Secret Cache.

Three years later, Li Chen had strengthened his combat avatar and consolidated his control over the Yan Pond Sea Kingdom while preparing for the Grand Artisan Puppet Master assessment. After receiving notice from the Creation Sect, he left Guangyun with its envoy to attend the assessment in Spirit Province.

• Li Chen completed his combat avatar and used blood essence fusion to merge it into his original body.
• Heavenly Pivot reported that the Yan Pond Sea Kingdom had delivered its annual tribute, and Li Chen reflected on Ye'e Di Luosha's rule and their trade.
• Li Chen declined Ye'e Di Luosha's request for an audience and continued preparing for the Grand Artisan assessment.
• Qi Maigu told Li Chen that the Creation Sect was summoning invited candidates and that an envoy would escort him to Spirit Province.
• Li Chen received formal notice, set aside his affairs in Guangyun, and secretly left with the Creation Sect's envoy.

Li Chen arrived at the Creation Sect’s Spirit Province Annex to take the Grand Artisan assessment and learned about the sacred site’s history. After settling into his quarters, he recognized that a mechanism automaton’s artificial primordial spirit might reveal the secret he had sought for Heavenly Pivot’s advancement.

• Yan Xiu welcomed Li Chen at the Spirit Province Annex and explained the meaning and history of the mountain gate’s inscription.
• Yan Xiu brought Li Chen to the assessment plaza and introduced a wooden reception attendant that spoke fluently and possessed a soul-like aura.
• Li Chen suspected the attendant’s artificial primordial spirit could help him understand how to advance Heavenly Pivot.
• Yan Xiu escorted Li Chen to his lodging, where Li Chen summoned Xiao Die and Xiao Ying.
• The mechanism automaton admired Xiao Die and Xiao Ying and asked Li Chen to make it a painted skin, but Yan Xiu rebuked it and privately warned Li Chen that it was sect property.

Li Chen learned why Yan Xiu refused to give a Mechanism Automaton a Painted Skin, then reunited with Qi Maigu and others as they prepared for the Grand Artisan assessment. Veteran Puppet Master Che Hua explained the assessment’s punishing first stage and advised candidates to present novel work, while Li Chen and Qi Maigu suspected that examiners also considered a candidate’s potential.

• Li Chen questioned Yan Xiu about refusing the Mechanism Automaton’s request, and Yan Xiu explained the sect’s rules and warned against disrupting the Observatory Court’s management.
• After Yan Xiu left, Li Chen spoke with the Mechanism Automaton and marveled at how lifelike the Grandmaster Artisan’s creation seemed.
• Li Chen learned that Qi Maigu, Yin Xiuning, Wen Xun, and other Myriad Heavens Alliance members had arrived, and he met them in the Market District.
• Che Hua told the group that the Grand Artisan assessment’s primary task required exceptional mastery and that most candidates failed it.
• Che Hua advised candidates to pursue novel, groundbreaking projects, and Li Chen and Qi Maigu recognized that examiners might also weigh a candidate’s potential for advancement.

Li Chen and the other candidates discussed why Creation Sect Puppet Masters prized the Life Great Dao before the Grand Artisan assessment began. He was assigned to Taiqiu Immortal City, where Grandmaster Dongfang—known for failing nearly all his candidates—would examine him alongside four other Grandmaster Artisans.

• Che Hua explained that Puppet Masters pursued the Life Great Dao because life represented creation's greatest miracle, and he said its meaning was enough to make it a practical examination topic.
• By early April, the Creation Sect announced that the chief examiners had returned and summoned the candidates to their assigned immortal cities for the preliminary selection.
• Li Chen was drawn into Taiqiu Immortal City and discovered that Grandmaster Dongfang would oversee his Heavenly Derivation Dao assessment.
• Other candidates warned Li Chen that fewer than one in a hundred Puppet Masters passed Grandmaster Dongfang's notoriously harsh examination.
• Grandmaster Dongfang and four other Puppet Master Grandmasters welcomed the candidates, who stepped forward to pay their respects.

Li Chen attended the Grand Artisan assessment, where Dongfang Mao introduced the chief examiners and explained the rules for choosing topics. Reflecting on his progress, Li Chen decided to reveal part of his Hybrid Architecture and use the assessment to develop a new intelligence architecture, leaving his origins secret.

• Dongfang Mao introduced True Lord Shangyang, Zhou Lang, Lü Hongguang, and Tu Yao as the chief examiners and explained that candidates could challenge judgments affecting their own interests.
• The candidates gathered in the hall, where Dongfang Mao gave each one a spiritual talisman on which to write a chosen topic.
• Li Chen reflected on how his growing attainments and status had made him less cautious about sharing knowledge from his previous life.
• Li Chen decided to present part of Hybrid Architecture, including its computer concepts, and test how it interacted with this world's heavenly derivation Dao.
• Li Chen planned to use the assessment to establish a new intelligence architecture and expand collaborative projects such as the rune script Dao.

Li Chen proposed making a new kind of chip from mundane stone without spiritual essence or spells, drawing skepticism from the Grandmaster Artisans. True Lord Shangyang warned that an unsupported claim would cost him points, but promised full marks for the topic if Li Chen succeeded.

• Dongfang Mao approved Mu Wanli and other candidates’ topics based on Awaken Spirituality, then made candidates with similar topics prepare mechanical troops and fight for a single passing score.
• True Lord Shangyang explained that the contest tested the candidates’ mastery and distinguished practical combat Puppet Masters from scholarly ones.
• Dongfang Mao reviewed the remaining topics, including Li Chen’s proposal to make a new chip from mundane stone without spiritual essence or spells.
• True Lord Shangyang warned Li Chen that failure would cost him ten points, then offered full marks for the topic if he truly succeeded.

Li Chen accepted the Puppet Masters’ assessment conditions and built a mortal-manufacturable computer system centered on an Intel 8086 chip and a primitive photolithography machine. After a month and a half, he finished the project and prepared to submit it to the chief examiners.

• Dongfang Mao asked whether Li Chen had drawn on the Mortal Dao Artifact path, and Li Chen confirmed that he had.
• Dongfang Mao required the assessment’s manpower and materials to be supplied by the examiners, and Li Chen agreed not to use anything he had brought.
• Li Chen collected materials in Taiqiu Immortal City and began building an Intel 8086-based computer and a prototype photolithography machine.
• Li Chen adapted the designs to this world’s principles, using Rune Script Dao light-source technology and adding hardware, a windowed operating system, and a simple Go program.
• After a month and a half of work, Li Chen finished his project and emerged from seclusion to submit it to the chief examiners.

Li Chen demonstrated a computer that operated without spiritual essence and explained how its logic circuits enabled computation. The five Puppet Master Grandmasters recognized it as a Dao Artifact, and True Lord Shangyang awarded Li Chen full marks for his new method of core refinement.

• Li Chen powered on his computer with help from a Strongman and demonstrated calculations and a procedurally generated city to the grandmasters.
• Dongfang Mao ordered Li Chen to stop the computer and expose its components, and the grandmasters examined its chip with their divine senses.
• Dongfang Mao declared that the computer’s binary logic joined yin and yang to unfold the Great Dao and deserved to be called a Dao Artifact.
• Li Chen explained logic gates, adders, and other computing principles, and the grandmasters applied the ideas to further circuit designs.
• Li Chen concluded that mortals could refine, use, and program the computer, and True Lord Shangyang awarded him full marks.

The five grandmasters awarded Li Chen full marks for his computer and urged him to contribute its principles and blueprints to the Complete Book of the Puppet Master Order. Li Chen agreed to share his work, but True Lord Shangyang said its inclusion would require further proof, beginning with Li Chen passing the Grand Artisan assessment.

• True Lord Shangyang proposed awarding Li Chen full marks, and all five grandmasters agreed after praising the computer’s unprecedented design and potential.
• True Lord Shangyang and Dongfang Mao invited Li Chen to contribute his research to the Complete Book of the Puppet Master Order and explained that others would help develop the Dao Path.
• Li Chen agreed to share his work, hoping collaboration would help advance electronic computers and mechanical intelligence beyond what he could achieve alone.
• True Lord Shangyang explained that the recommendation would take time and that Li Chen had to prove the computer’s practical value.
• True Lord Shangyang urged Li Chen to pass the Grand Artisan assessment so the recommendation would carry greater weight.

After earning full marks in the thematic assessment, Li Chen received congratulations from fellow Puppet Masters and a visit from Jing Tianxing, an editor of the Complete Book. Li Chen explained computer technology and demonstrated how to refine and assemble a rudimentary computer, while Jing sought to understand the invention.

• Puppet Masters across the Spirit Province Mountain Gate discussed Li Chen’s perfect score on the thematic assessment.
• Qi Maigu congratulated Li Chen, who reflected that the upcoming Three Decisions and Two Selections would be the more difficult test.
• Jing Tianxing of the Creation Sect’s Observatory Court arrived and asked Li Chen about the computer technology he had contributed to the Complete Book.
• Li Chen answered Jing Tianxing’s questions and used magic power to refine computer components and assemble a rudimentary Harvard Architecture computer.
• Li Chen explained the computer’s memories, logic gates, circuits, flip-flops, and Arithmetic Logic Unit to Jing Tianxing.

Li Chen discussed his hybrid intelligence architecture with Jing Tianxing, who recognized that a chip could serve as a foundation for awakening spirituality. Jing Tianxing awakened a chip and installed it in a Mechanism Automaton, demonstrating the method’s promise and leaving Li Chen poised to advance the Puppeteer Dao Path.

• Jing Tianxing praised Li Chen’s ideas and explained that a chip’s strong foundation could make Capture Shadows, Refine Souls and Awaken Spirituality far more efficient.
• Li Chen realized that his hybrid intelligence architecture was essentially a method for awakening a chip.
• Jing Tianxing used the Grandmaster Spiritual Awakening Art to awaken the chip Li Chen had refined.
• Jing Tianxing placed the awakened chip in a Mechanism Automaton, which began moving and greeted him as Elder.
• Jing Tianxing said the chip reduced the power needed for both arts by at least half and predicted that the sect and other Puppet Master Grandmasters might buy more from Li Chen.

After Jing Tianxing supported Li Chen’s proposed Dao of Chips and offered disciples as students and test subjects, Li Chen explained his ideas to a growing crowd amid debate over the path’s value and originality. By June, the Grand Artisan assessment themes were about to be announced.

• Jing Tianxing urged Li Chen to focus on the Grand Artisan assessment and encouraged him to write books establishing his Dao Lineage.
• Li Chen explained his Spirit-Particle Memory Meme and proposed transforming a human brain into a computer, and Jing Tianxing offered disciples to test the modification.
• News of Li Chen’s perfect preliminary score and possible inclusion in the Complete Book drew visitors who discussed the Dao of Chips with him.
• Skeptics questioned the mortal path’s usefulness and originality, while members of the Hundred Crafts Gate praised Li Chen’s work and others defended his achievement.
• The heated debate continued until June, when the day arrived for the Grand Artisan assessment themes to be posted.

At the Mountain Gate in Spirit Province, Grand Artisan assessment results were announced publicly, and Hua Wucuo received ninety-nine points. After his disciples looked down on lower-scoring candidates, the announcement of Li Chen’s perfect score stunned them and Hua Wucuo.

• The scores were projected across the sky, and Mu Wanli learned he had received zero points.
• Hua Wucuo received ninety-nine points, while his disciples praised him as the assessment’s champion.
• Hua Wucuo’s disciples disparaged rogue cultivators and less skilled Puppet Masters, provoking an offended Creation Sect disciple to challenge their arrogance.
• The sky announced that Li Chen of the Yong Kingdom had received one hundred points, leaving Hua Wucuo and his disciples stunned.

After earning full marks in the Heavenly Derivation Dao, Li Chen prepared for the Grand Artisan assessment’s supplementary subjects and passed his two self-selected tests. He was assigned an Art Dao test under Grandmaster Mo Qing, where a fellow examinee named Hua Wucuo challenged him.

• Qi Maigu and the other Myriad Heavens Alliance members congratulated Li Chen on his first-place result, while Li Chen resolved to develop his Dao Path further in this world.
• Qi Maigu explained that the supplementary assessments tested breadth of knowledge, and Li Chen considered how his chip-making work combined many disciplines.
• Li Chen chose Skin-Painting Art and biological-weapon refinement for his two supplementary subjects and completed both tests with solid results.
• Li Chen was selected to take his next assessment in the Art Dao under Grandmaster Mo Qing at the Soundless Heavenly Palace.
• Hua Wucuo approached Li Chen and declared that he would defeat him in the assessment.

Li Chen and the other Puppet Masters arrived at Mo Qing’s Soundless Heavenly Palace for an assessment of the art Dao, where her music-like Dao resonance captivated everyone. The Grandmaster Artisans announced that each would set an assessment in a different artistic field, but Mo Qing declared that every work had to extol love, leaving Li Chen worried.

• Li Chen reminded Hua Wucuo that he had little knowledge of the art Dao, and Hua Wucuo admitted he shared Li Chen’s misgivings.
• Mo Qing arrived at the Soundless Heavenly Palace, and her Dao of Music resonance entranced the assembled Puppet Masters.
• Li Chen analyzed Mo Qing’s accompaniment and realized that it naturally stirred people’s longing for beauty.
• The other Grandmaster Artisans arrived and disrupted Mo Qing’s influence, while Hua Wucuo and the other Puppet Masters grew wary of her power.
• Daoist Rotten Wood explained that the five Grandmaster Artisans would assess different forms of artistic expression.
• Mo Qing set love as the required theme for every assessment work, and Li Chen feared he would struggle.

Li Chen learned that the Grand Artisan assessment tested candidates’ ability to study unfamiliar subjects, after Daoist Rotten Wood expelled Puppet Masters who complained about the love-themed question. After discussing the assessment with Qi Maigu, Li Chen faced the need to experience love himself to complete his work.

• A white-robed Puppet Master and others protested Mo Qing’s love-themed assessment question, and Daoist Rotten Wood rebuked and disqualified them.
• Mo Qing gave the remaining candidates one month to complete their creations and allowed them to stay in the Heavenly Palace or seek materials and guidance elsewhere.
• Li Chen secluded himself to consider his assignment, while Wen Xun and the other Myriad Heavens Alliance members toured Spirit Province.
• Qi Maigu visited Li Chen and described his task of reversing the transformation of a half-puppet tempered with yin baleful intent.
• Qi Maigu explained that obscure assessment topics tested whether Puppet Masters could investigate unfamiliar Dao Paths, then advised Li Chen to fall in love with something and experience it firsthand.

Li Chen and Qi Maigu discussed the Grand Artisan assessment as an elimination system whose outcome depended on the Grandmaster Artisans’ judgment, then Li Chen studied the Dao of Music to prepare for the assessment. Finding that this world’s music surpassed what he could copy from his previous life, he went to the Soundless Heavenly Palace to seek an audience with Mo Qing.

• Li Chen and Qi Maigu concluded that the Grand Artisan assessment eliminated candidates and left formal appointment in the hands of the Grandmaster Artisans.
• Qi Maigu advised Li Chen to seek guidance from the Grandmaster Artisans, and Li Chen recognized that he needed to gain some competence first.
• Li Chen studied the Dao of Music and bought the Secrets of Ancient Music legacy for five million talisman coins.
• Li Chen practiced music and compared instruments from his previous life with those in this world, discovering that the local instruments and music were more advanced.
• Li Chen went to the Soundless Heavenly Palace to request an audience with Mo Qing.

Li Chen sought Mo Qing’s guidance on music and learned that her innate celestial music was both a torment and the source of her mastery of sound and singing. After studying vocal techniques for days, he gained an insight and decided to modify his throat to improve his singing voice.

• Li Chen asked Mo Qing to assess his music and instruments, but she said they were not enough to pass her assessment.
• Mo Qing explained that her Dao Bone made her hear celestial music constantly, and that her greatest talent was singing and the Dao of sound.
• Mo Qing taught Li Chen vocal-production methods, including the five articulations and four mouth configurations, and explained her pursuit of the Dao where the greatest music was scarcely heard.
• Li Chen stayed in the Soundless Heavenly Palace and spent several days listening to its singing girls and dancers.
• Near the end of the month, Li Chen had a flash of insight and pierced his throat with a sharp blade to modify his root bone and improve his singing voice.

Li Chen learned to cast Sound Dao spells through singing, but Li Baiyan explained that his performances still lacked the soul that moved listeners. After watching Li Baiyan and the others perform Gathering Lotus, Li Chen understood how music stirred the heart and created a spiritual force of his own.

• Li Chen practiced chanting-based Sound Dao Arts and impressed Li Baiyan's disciples with how quickly he mastered the spells.
• Li Baiyan told Li Chen that his singing lacked soul, and she explained that this quality could be felt even if it could not be fully described.
• Li Baiyan and the girls performed Gathering Lotus, stirring vivid imagery and cheerful pleasure in Li Chen.
• Li Chen reflected on how music resonated differently with each listener and recalled how his feelings about Two Springs Reflecting the Moon had changed over time.
• Li Chen captured the feeling inspired by Gathering Lotus in a Memory Meme and created a spiritual force worthy of the name.