Chapter Summaries

Li Chen and He Changnian discovered that Martial Emperor Yang Wuji’s second primordial spirit had joined an Outer Dao ambush against their group. The Puppet Masters and Martial Dao cultivators clashed, and the second primordial spirit battered He Changnian’s puppets, hurling the girl far away.

• He Changnian identified the terrifying figure as Martial Emperor Yang Wuji’s second primordial spirit, just as hidden Martial Dao reinforcements arrived and attacked the Puppet Masters.
• The enemy claimed Golden Light City had spies, but He Changnian dismissed the claim and rallied the Puppet Masters to deploy their mechanism puppets.
• Both sides formed up and fought, with the Martial Dao cultivators’ strength allowing them to suppress the Puppet Masters despite their smaller numbers.
• Yang Wuji’s second primordial spirit attacked He Changnian and his two puppets, shrugging off the girl’s binding threads and knocking her hundreds of zhang away.

Li Chen and Qi Maigu turned the battle against the Core Formation martial artists with their powerful attacks. Elder Wu then released captives from his banner, killed several Puppet Masters from Black Stone Reef, and fled with his remaining allies.

• Li Chen transformed into the Kun-Blood Violent Ape and struck the scarred martial artist with Divine Long-Arm Fist, sending him flying.
• Qi Maigu killed the wounded martial artist with Divine Thunder Fission.
• Li Chen restrained several enemies with Heaven and Earth in the Palm, allowing Qi Maigu to kill a Core Formation expert, while their allies slew more martial artists.
• Elder Wu gathered his surviving comrades and released cultivators trapped inside his banner.
• Elder Wu killed several Puppet Masters from Black Stone Reef, then swept up his allies and fled.

After Elder Wu's attack left many Puppet Dao cultivators dead or wounded, Li Chen helped recover them and learned that You Cheng had been taken to the Other Continent. The Puppet Masters retreated to Sky City while Elder He fought a rearguard action, and Li Chen's hatred of the Outer Dao deepened alongside his understanding of his mission as a Puppet Master Grand Artisan.

• Elder He ordered the Puppet Masters to rescue the wounded instead of pursuing Elder Wu, and Li Chen joined them.
• Li Chen found Old Wang dead and Old Sun alive but severely brain-damaged.
• Li Chen asked about You Cheng, and Xiao Lan said the Martial Artists had taken him away before the captives were thrown out.
• Qi Maigu warned that You Cheng was likely bound for the Other Continent to become a slave, and Li Chen resolved to remember Elder Wu and Yang Wuji as enemies.
• The Puppet Masters carried the wounded back to Sky City while Elder He withdrew under fire, and Li Chen recognized his mission as a Puppet Master Grand Artisan.

Martial Emperor Yang Wuji withdrew his forces after revealing that he had engineered a demon calamity to draw Golden Light City’s experts away. Shen Longcheng returned, learned that several outposts had fallen, and ordered reinforcements before the Blood Moon Island calamity erupted.

• Yang Wuji told Elder Wu that his disciples had lured demons from the Moon Abyss to trigger a calamity and create an opportunity to strike later.
• Shen Longcheng returned to Golden Light City and said he had injured Yang Wuji at the cost of damaging his Sky-Reaching Divine Dragon.
• Golden Light City cultivators reported that Black Stone Reef and other outposts had fallen, with over a thousand people dead, injured, or abducted.
• Shen Longcheng suspected Yang Wuji had prolonged their battle to conceal a larger plan, so he ordered increased patrols and reinforcements.
• Shen Longcheng turned toward the Star Sea, then ordered the Grandmaster Artisans to gather for the final review of the assessment.
• A demonic claw emerged on Blood Moon Island as countless Blood Baleful Blazing Mosquitoes poured into the sky.

At the final Grand Artisan assessment, Li Chen declared that intelligent puppets and informatization could transform the Puppeteer Dao Path, and vowed to lead that change. Great Elder Shen acknowledged his ambition, and Li Chen saw his name on the announced list of successful candidates.

• Great Elder Shen asked the candidates to explain what they had learned at the frontline outposts and what goals those experiences had inspired.
• Qi Maigu described his plan to develop Blazing Sun Divine Thunder through the Golden Sun Gate and fulfill his duties as an elder.
• Li Chen argued that sentient intelligence and informatization could let mechanism puppets unite the Dao Path and surpass the outer Dao.
• Li Chen declared that he would build on the work of their predecessors to usher in a new era of intelligent puppets, and Great Elder Shen said he would wait and see.
• Dongfang Mao praised Li Chen's boldness and sense of responsibility, and Great Elder Shen announced the final list with Li Chen's name among the entries.

After earning their Grand Artisan titles, Li Chen and the others were kept in Golden Light City as a demon calamity engulfed the Eastern Sea and disrupted their return. The Creation Sect called on them to help contain the disaster near Blood Moon Island.

• Great Elder Shen awarded sixteen newly appointed Grand Artisans their credentials and explained their rights and duties, then sent them home without the usual tour because the Eastern Sea was unsettled.
• Qi Maigu and Li Chen suspected Great Elder Shen was hurrying them away because the Outer Dao had caused trouble, but dark red blood clouds soon disrupted Golden Light City's teleportation arrays.
• He Changnian warned the stranded cultivators to remain in Golden Light City, and said Great Elder Shen had gone after Yang Wuji.
• Li Chen blamed Yang Wuji's group for the sudden demon calamity as Golden Light City reached the waters near Blood Moon Island and saw demons pouring from expanded abyssal rifts.
• With the demon tide spreading across tens of thousands of li, the Creation Sect ordered the Grand Artisans to help contain the calamity.

Li Chen was assigned to repair two damaged five-star Red-Feather Thundercloud Cranes in Golden Light City, but he gave up on establishing an intelligent factory after He Changnian explained the wartime constraints. After studying the cranes with Li Chongyang, Li Chen learned how they fit into Golden Light City's complete Crane-Shaped Puppet series.

• He Changnian assigned Li Chen and Li Chongyang to repair two battle-damaged Red-Feather Thundercloud Cranes made by Grandmaster Artisan Jin.
• Li Chen proposed setting up production lines and a small intelligent factory, but He Changnian told him to follow wartime procedures and postpone his plans.
• Li Chen accepted He Changnian's guidance, studied the schematics with Li Chongyang, and settled on a repair plan after inspecting the cranes.
• Li Chen discovered that the cranes belonged to a full series ranging from the Paper Crane to the six-star Heavenly Hero Divine Crane.

Li Chen repaired a damaged Red-Feather Thundercloud Crane while considering how to build a distinct system of intelligent puppets. He completed the repair ahead of Li Chongyang and continued planning research into intelligent mechanism automatons.

• Li Chen decided that upgrading the Puppet Sisters or relying on Kun Blood Warriors would not provide a strong foundation for his own school, so he focused on developing intelligent puppets through wisdom cores and artificial intelligence.
• Li Chen and Li Chongyang began repairing damaged creations, and Li Chen restored the crane's components before analyzing its false core with the Auxiliary Brain.
• Li Chen asked He Changnian for wooden cranes to study and modify, and He Changnian approved the purchase of up to a hundred despite Golden Light City's need to conserve supplies.
• Li Chen completed the Red-Feather Thundercloud Crane's repair in less than half a month, restoring its false core and lightning functions.
• Li Chongyang acknowledged that Li Chen had repaired the crane faster because he had mastered its schematics and power system more quickly.

Li Chen studied Golden Light City's puppet designs while repairing battle puppets and learning about the worsening front-line fighting. Meanwhile, Yan Qi helped a covert group infiltrate the city, and Elder Wu urged them to complete their mission before the Puppet Masters discovered them.

• Li Chen repaired a crane-shaped puppet for He Changnian and earned a merit for his work.
• Li Chen studied puppet schematics and observed other Grand Artisans repairing mechanisms, including an Arrowhead Crow.
• Li Chongyang told Li Chen that returning battle puppets bore severe damage, suggesting the fighting had intensified.
• A group of Controllers returned secretly to Golden Light City and met with the disguised Yan Qi, a former remnant soul who had infiltrated the Creation Sect.
• Elder Wu praised Yan Qi for enabling their entry and told the group to carry out their mission and withdraw before the Puppet Masters reacted.

Li Chen collected a Type-B Wooden Crane and reflected on his plans to spread intelligence chips and build a network across the worlds. He joined Li Chongyang at a Treasure Appraisal Gathering, where a Controller brought out a rare demon corpse for the gathered artisans to appraise.

• Li Chen collected the Type-B Wooden Crane and considered how intelligence chips and shared institutions could unite cultivators across the worlds.
• Li Chongyang invited Li Chen to a gathering where Controllers were selling rare demons they had brought back from sorties.
• Li Chen and Li Chongyang met Steward Yan and two Quasi-Grand Artisans near the Controllers' barracks.
• A Controller had a demon corpse resembling a goldfish, over ten feet long, brought out for appraisal.

Li Chen and the Puppet Masters were ambushed in a sealed storehouse by infiltrating Martial Cultivators led by Elder Yan. Li Chen fought back in his giant ape combat body, but Elder Wu revealed that a spatial treasure had trapped them inside, leaving their escape uncertain.

• Li Chen sensed the world barrier contracting and secretly alerted Li Chongyang before summoning Xiao Die and Xiao Ying.
• Elder Yan ordered the infiltrating Martial Cultivators to attack, and they struck Li Chongyang and two Quasi-Grand Artisans while the Puppet Sisters defended Li Chen.
• Li Chen transformed into his giant ape combat body and sent a hundred Mechanism Wooden Cranes against the attackers, while Xiao Die and Xiao Ying wounded their foes.
• Elder Yan revealed his dark-gold Mechanical Martial Artist body, knocked the Puppet Sisters away, and evaded Li Chen's crushing blow as other Martial Cultivators injured the giant ape.
• Li Chongyang warned that the world barrier had been sealed, and Elder Wu declared that the Martial Emperor's Earth-Covering Cloud-Banishing Banner had trapped everyone in the storehouse.

Elder Wu and Yan Qi trapped Li Chen, Li Chongyang, and two Quasi-Grand Artisans inside a sealed warehouse, then attacked them. Li Chen used Size Manipulation to shrink his Divine Ape Incarnation and fought Elder Wu head-on, leaving the battle poised to continue.

• Yan Qi revealed he was an agent from the Righteous Qi Continent, and Elder Wu sealed the warehouse with the Earth-Covering Cloud-Banishing Banner.
• Li Chongyang and the two Quasi-Grand Artisans assessed their injuries and discussed breaking through the barrier, but Li Chen insisted they fight together.
• Li Chen used his second-stage transformation, Size Manipulation, to shrink the Divine Ape Incarnation to a little over ten feet tall.
• Elder Wu attacked with Ten-Thousand Thunder Palm, and Li Chen’s incarnation endured the blows and struck back with heavy punches.
• The Divine Ape Incarnation dropped to one knee after taking many attacks, then stood again as Li Chen declared the real battle had just begun.

Li Chen’s Divine Ape Incarnation used stored life-replenishment elixirs to recover from repeated attacks and kill eight enemy cultivators. As Elder Wu’s strike finally killed it again, the incarnation revived in brilliant golden light and began to transform.

• Elder Wu and the other attackers wounded the Divine Ape Incarnation, but its Auxiliary Brain injected a life-replenishment elixir and restored it.
• Li Chen used Heaven and Earth in the Palm and his Wooden Cranes to kill successive Foundation Establishment cultivators while enduring their attacks.
• The Divine Ape Incarnation repeatedly revived from Blood Vials and killed six Foundation Establishment cultivators and two Core Formation cultivators.
• Elder Wu decided to fight to the death inside the Cloud-Banishing Banner and struck the Divine Ape Incarnation down with Heavenly martial gang.
• The Divine Ape Incarnation revived in golden light, declared that Elder Wu had taken another of its lives, and began to transform.

Li Chen used the Divine Ape Incarnation’s overwhelming vitality and repeated transformations to wear down Elder Wu and the Martial Dao Cultivators. After a prolonged battle, Li Chen smashed Elder Wu’s body and cracked his core, while Yan Qi collapsed in despair.

• The Divine Ape Incarnation overwhelmed Elder Wu with a sudden surge of strength, but Elder Wu retaliated with the Heavenly Martial Gate True Formula and pulverized it.
• The Divine Ape Incarnation revived, forcing Elder Wu and the other Martial Dao Cultivators into a relentless battle that destroyed their deployed constructs and injured Xiao Die and Xiao Ying.
• Li Chen revealed Divine Ape Hundred Transformations, splitting the incarnation’s remains into identical bodies that confused Elder Wu and attacked his depleted allies.
• The Divine Ape Incarnations killed the people accompanying Elder Wu while he fought on against their combined attacks.
• After nearly half an hour, Li Chen smashed Elder Wu’s body and cracked his true core, and Yan Qi collapsed to the ground.

After helping defeat Wu Yihe and expose Yan Qi, Li Chen received compensation and commendation from Golden Light City. He asked the Creation Sect to entrust his Broad Cloud Peak workshops with postwar Battle Puppet production and repairs.

• He Changnian ordered a citywide investigation after Yan Qi and Wu Yihe were captured, but the search found no other spies beyond Yan Qi's few underlings.
• Li Chen explained the heavy losses his Battle Puppet had suffered, and He Changnian promised Golden Light City would cover them.
• Several days later, He Changnian told Li Chen that the Creation Sect would recognize his major contribution and invited him to make a request.
• Li Chen asked for the enemy's Magical Treasure and was told he could keep it as spoils, while the Creation Sect agreed to cover his reported losses of ten billion spirit stones.
• Li Chen asked He Changnian to entrust his Broad Cloud Peak workshops with restoring production and replenishing Battle Puppets after the Demon Calamity.

Li Chen learned the Earth-Covering Cloud-Banishing Banner’s value, secured a large trial contract from the Creation Sect, and received rare blood spirit jade. Meanwhile, Yang Wuji abandoned the failed mission and vowed to settle the score another day.

• Li Chen examined the Earth-Covering Cloud-Banishing Banner and learned it was a seven-star battlefield treasure capable of trapping enemies and concealing a legion.
• Li Chongyang thanked Li Chen for helping them escape and offered him a batch of creation orders for Puppet Cores and Standard Components; Li Chen agreed to cooperate.
• He Changnian told Li Chen that Great Elder Shen had approved a trial commission for one hundred thousand Wooden Cranes and that the sect would provide blueprints, specifications, and a deposit.
• He Changnian rewarded Li Chen with seven-star dao essence blood spirit jade and explained its role in creating artificial flesh.
• Yang Wuji gathered his cultivators in his Minor Grotto-Heaven, learned that Wu Yihe and the others remained unreachable, and declared that they would settle the score another day.

Li Chen learned that the Demon Calamity was subsiding and discussed his new appointment and Golden Light City's planned defense renovation with fellow Puppet Masters. He presented his Heavenly Eye System and proposed using Dao Chips, Rune Script, and open-source software to modernize the city's surveillance network.

• Li Chen joined Puppet Master Grand Artisans in Golden Light City and confirmed that he had been appointed Guest Grand Artisan and Anti-Demon Advisory Strategist.
• Li Chen confirmed that Golden Light City would recruit Puppet Masters to renovate its defenses, while keeping his appointment as the project's Chief Steward to himself.
• Li Chen prepared to present his designs as a chance to promote his approach and encourage the integration of the mortal path with the Puppet Masters' Dao.
• He Changnian and other Puppet Masters arrived for a private review of Li Chen's proposals for one-star and two-star Mechanism Devices.
• Li Chen demonstrated the Heavenly Eye System and proposed using Dao Chips, the Worker Bee Core, Rune Script, and open-source software to improve city surveillance.

Li Chen proposed bringing Broad Cloud Peak’s production systems, technical standards, and memory-transplantation method to Golden Light City, winning the leaders’ consideration by demonstrating the technique on Luo Nie. The demonstration proved safe and effective, but it also revealed that the method’s virtual-machine workaround imposed serious limits that Li Chen could not yet overcome.

• Li Chen offered Golden Light City production equipment, technical standards, trained personnel, and access to the Myriad Realms Marketplace to earn the Puppet Masters’ trust.
• Elder He invited the leaders to assess Li Chen’s proposal, and Luo Nie volunteered to test the Spirit-Particle Memory Meme technique.
• Li Chen used Brain Deconstruction to implant technical fundamentals into Luo Nie’s mind, including computer construction, chip refinement, and Talisman Dao programming.
• Luo Nie praised the transplantation as safe and more effective than inheritance true intent, while pointing out the awkward conversions and limited efficiency of the system.
• Li Chen explained that the virtual machine in Luo Nie’s mind could host the transplanted memories but restricted storage, speed, and processing, and that fully modifying another person’s brain remained beyond his abilities.

Li Chen introduced his brain-modification method for transferring knowledge, and He Changnian agreed to help the Creation Sect recognize Li Chen as its originator in exchange for the production techniques for Universal Knowledge Jade Talismans. Li Chen then began making the talismans to train Golden Light City's artisans for its defense upgrades.

• Li Chen modified He Changnian's brain, and He Changnian praised the technique's results and its advantages over traditional inheritance methods.
• Li Chen explained that his method used memetic infection to alter the recipient's brain without transferring or expending divine-soul will, though it could not transfer knowledge dependent on special bloodlines or soul-path laws.
• Li Chen asked for all production techniques derived from his method, while the Creation Sect would guarantee legal recognition of his role as its originator; He Changnian agreed to help.
• After He Changnian left, Li Chen began refining Universal Knowledge Jade Talismans using spirit mercury and Mustard-Seed Puppets to transfer knowledge through controlled brain modifications.
• Li Chen planned to use the talismans to teach Golden Light City's Craftsmen and Master Artisans the foundations of the computer dao and rune script dao, helping them upgrade the city's defenses.

Li Chen distributed Universal Knowledge Jade Talismans to disciples and stewards, who gained foundational technical knowledge and began renovating Golden Light City's defenses. The work expanded into a citywide network powered by the new Five-Star Wisdom Core, Golden Light.

• Luo Nie worried that the disciples doubted the Universal Knowledge Jade Talismans, but Li Chen said their skepticism was understandable and expected them to trust the talismans after using them.
• The disciples used the talismans and experienced knowledge imprinting itself in their minds through newly formed cavities that ran Li Chen's operating system.
• Li Chen instructed the disciples to digest their new knowledge and begin practical work the next day.
• The disciples started installing and maintaining mechanical devices for Golden Light City's defenses, then moved on to advanced development and upgrades.
• Heavenly Pivot sent Eye Crystals and intelligent chips from Azure Billow Immortal Abode, and Li Chen connected the city to Golden Light, a Five-Star Wisdom Core arranged as a decentralized server cluster.