Chapter Summaries

Li Chen’s automated Heavenly Eye System transformed Golden Light City’s defenses, using vast networks of surveillance devices and behavioral data to thwart a simulation infiltration drill. The system proved highly effective, but residents questioned its cost and the privacy it could not fully protect.

• He Changnian ordered returning Puppet Masters to collect new identity credentials and announced a simulation drill to test the Heavenly Eye System.
• Expert Puppet Masters tried to infiltrate Golden Light City using disguises, hidden routes, and inside help, but the system exposed or captured them.
• Li Chen explained that widespread Eye Crystals, combined detection methods, and behavioral data made the city’s surveillance difficult to evade.
• The Puppet Masters recognized that the system could monitor the city continuously and be expanded through further investment.
• A Puppet Master raised concerns about residents’ privacy, and Li Chen said safety and privacy had long been difficult to balance.
• Li Chen claimed private rooms lacked devices for direct audio or image monitoring, though the system’s records could still reveal people’s movements and associations.

Li Chen completed Golden Light City's first-phase security renovations and explained how artificial intelligence and human intelligence could develop together. As the Demon Calamity subsided, the city began training workers in the Rune Script Dao, while Li Chen and his companions prepared to return home.

• He Changnian supported restricting access to surveillance information and ordered the matter kept secret from anyone below Master Artisan rank.
• Li Chen completed the first-phase renovations of Golden Light City, earning praise from fellow Puppet Masters.
• Li Chen told He Changnian that his Dao valued human intelligence and recommended teaching displaced guards and Puppeteers the Rune Script Dao.
• Golden Light City began training Puppet Master Craftsmen in Rune Script and introduced an Online Communication Platform based on the Heavenly Forum.
• He Changnian arranged for younger members and disciples to study at Broad Cloud Peak as the Rune Script Dao gained recognition.
• As the Demon Calamity subsided in March, Li Chen and his companions prepared to set out on their journey home.

Li Chen left Golden Light City after Elder He urged him to grow strong and defend his domain, then traveled through Sea Eye City on his way home. Welcomed as a newly appointed Grand Artisan, he promoted his Mortal Dao Artifact path and invited local powers to visit Broad Cloud Peak.

• Before Li Chen departed, He Changnian advised him to grow strong quickly and become a pillar in his domain, while Luo Nie discussed the growing threat of war between the Great Daos.
• Li Chen returned through Golden Light City's teleportation array to Sea Eye City, where Dong Pengfei, City Lord Dong Linzhu, and local clans welcomed him as a Grand Artisan.
• At a banquet in the City Lord's Residence, Li Chen answered questions about his Grand Artisan assessment and explained his vision for an informatized society through the Mortal Dao Artifact path.
• Li Chen invited Sea Eye City's influential figures to visit Broad Cloud Peak, learn about his path, and potentially purchase Mechanism Devices and adopt its techniques.

Li Chen asked Dong Pengfei to recommend recruits for his plan to establish a sect, and Dong arranged for the news to spread through Sea Eye City. Li Chen set a technical test for prospective followers, and the chapter ended with the Insect Master Lu Chen volunteering to return after studying it.

• Li Chen asked Dong Pengfei to recommend wealthy supporters and talented cultivators for his new sect, and Dong agreed to inquire among travelers seeking territories.
• The Dong Household spread news that Grand Artisan Li Chen was recruiting attendants, drawing aspiring Master Artisans to his residence.
• Li Chen's servants handed applicants a document on Microcontroller Principles and told them to master it and build a finished product to qualify.
• Most applicants left after realizing the test required unfamiliar skills, but Lu Chen, an Insect Master, studied the material and said he would return in three days.

Li Chen considered applicants for an attendant and heard Dong Pengfei describe Lu Chen, an obscure Insect Master whose only notable skill involved Nightwalker Insects. During Lu Chen’s demonstration, Li Chen recognized that the insects’ lights and movements formed a logic circuit, leaving him intrigued by their potential.

• Li Chen reviewed applicants’ calling cards and letters, explaining that he needed a loyal Puppet Master whose Dao Path and ambitions suited his requirements.
• Dong Pengfei identified Lu Chen’s calling card and described him as an honest but struggling Insect Master who specialized in Nightwalker Insects.
• Lu Chen arrived three days later and confirmed that he had come from the Eastern Victory Continent to make a living in the Star Sea sixty years earlier.
• Lu Chen summoned hundreds of Nightwalker Insects and demonstrated how he directed their lights and formations with magic power.
• Li Chen recognized that the insects’ changing lights represented ones and zeros operating as a classic logic circuit.

Li Chen tested Lu Chen’s Firefly Array and computing insight, then recruited him to serve Broad Cloud Peak. He also chose Yang Yu and Guo Jin as retainers and offered the other applicants a chance to cooperate with his school as independent masters.

• Lu Chen demonstrated a Firefly Array made from Nightwalker Insects, and Li Chen recognized its calculation as two to the sixteenth power minus one.
• Li Chen tested Lu Chen with algorithm problems, judged his reasoning exceptional, and offered him a hundred-year Spell Contract to become an Attendant of Broad Cloud Peak.
• Lu Chen accepted Li Chen’s offer, and Li Chen arranged for him to stay at the residence until recruitment ended.
• Li Chen selected Yang Yu and Guo Jin as retainers because they had modest ambitions and could bring families and disciples to Broad Cloud Peak.
• Li Chen invited the remaining applicants to join his school as affiliated Peak Masters and renowned masters, giving them Myriad Realms Talismans for future contact.

Li Chen experimented with Lu Chen’s nightwalker insects and transformed them into a swarm capable of simulating a spellcasting mechanism. He left the chapter convinced that the insects could bridge the Insect Dao, Talisman Dao, and Spell Dao, while encouraging Lu Chen to keep learning.

• Li Chen used Lu Chen’s nightwalker insects to build a chip-like system that processed commands and returned thought signals.
• Li Chen ordered the swarm to activate the Fire Dragon Mechanism, and it produced a brief flame that astonished Lu Chen, Yang Yu, and Guo Jin.
• Li Chen proposed developing spellcasting gu insects to imitate the Spell Dao through the Insect Dao and Talisman Dao.
• Lu Chen reflected that Li Chen’s wealth, resources, and ability to grasp a Dao’s essence had helped him see his own shortcomings.
• Li Chen advised Lu Chen not to dismiss years of cultivation just because understanding came slowly, and Lu Chen thanked him.

Li Chen assigned Lu Chen, Yang Yu, and Guo Jin duties for Broad Cloud Peak before arriving in Fragrance City, where Ling Jin and the local clans welcomed him. Ling Jin recognized Li Chen as a Core Formation expert, and the gathered cultivators bowed to him.

• Li Chen assigned Lu Chen to raise the insect swarm and research biological computers, Yang Yu to develop rune-script restrictions, and Guo Jin to help establish an academy.
• Steward Huang informed Li Chen that the flying boat had reached Fragrance City, and Li Chen agreed to visit and give a discourse on the Dao path.
• Ling Jin prepared a grand welcome, hoping to build ties with Li Chen and secure opportunities for the Ling Household.
• Ling Jin rebuked his son for speaking disrespectfully and urged him to try to become Li Chen's disciple.
• Li Chen declined elaborate ceremony and stepped off the flying boat with his companions.
• Ling Jin sensed Li Chen's Core Formation power, welcomed him respectfully, and the people of Fragrance City bowed in unison.

Li Chen explained his Dao of Wisdom and mechanical intelligence to Fragrance City’s cultivators, then watched the local clans embrace his chips and network plans mainly for their business potential. He accepted that he would have to rely on their resources even though few understood his vision.

• Li Chen told cultivators gathered at Aroma Leader Peak that his Dao of Wisdom developed mechanical intelligence from the Puppet Masters’ teachings and the idea that humans were machines.
• Li Chen distributed simple chips, prompting the listeners to seek training places, buy Wisdom Cores, and propose network projects with Broad Cloud Peak.
• Ling Jin ordered the Ling Household to reserve training places, acquire Wisdom Cores, and begin a trial Ultrawave Communication network, hoping other clans would help cover the cost.
• Li Chen sent away the women offered to warm his bed and asked his returning retainers what they had learned from visiting local magnates.
• Li Chen criticized the clans for treating his Dao chiefly as a business opportunity, but acknowledged that he needed their resources to advance it.

Li Chen brought promising youths from Fragrance City aboard his Flying Boat and explained how they could study at Broad Cloud Peak. After their assessment showed most had little real skill, he concluded that their privileged backgrounds had hidden their shortcomings and that they would need diligence to learn the Puppeteer Dao Path.

• After Lu Chen and the others reflected on Li Chen's warning, they realized they needed to understand his Dao Path more deeply.
• Li Chen left Aroma Leader Peak with Ling Renlong and several promising young people from Fragrance City's aristocratic clans aboard the Flying Boat.
• Li Chen told the recruits they could either enjoy their stay at Broad Cloud Peak or work hard to learn genuine skills, and assigned Guo Jin to teach and assess them.
• Guo Jin's assessment found that most of the young recruits were average, with two performing worse than ordinary people.
• Li Chen judged that their privilege had concealed their shortcomings and resolved to measure their ability to learn and pursue the Heavenly Dao rather than their worldly accomplishments.

Li Chen explained to Lu Chen how selfishness and commerce shaped human society, then revealed that he wanted artificial intelligence to govern Spirit Peak and replace those who profited from others. He repeated his private confession to Yang Yu and Guo Jin, leaving them deep in thought while he resolved that his methods were different from those he opposed.

• Lu Chen asked Li Chen about the craftsmen from Fragrance City, and Li Chen dismissed their public titles and praised neither their skills nor their social maneuvering.
• Li Chen described an ideal society without selfishness or profit-taking, while Lu Chen argued that human nature and the drive for self-interest made such a society unrealistic.
• Li Chen said cultivation should transcend human nature and declared that he wanted artificial intelligence to govern Spirit Peak and eradicate those who fed on profit.
• Li Chen confided his plan to Lu Chen and asked him not to tell outsiders.
• After Lu Chen left, Li Chen discussed the Heavenly Dao, the Human Dao, and his plan with Yang Yu and Guo Jin, then resolved that he was different from those who governed others for profit.

Li Chen returned to Broad Cloud Peak as a newly recognized Grand Artisan and learned how his growing prestige had accelerated the Myriad Realms Marketplace’s expansion. He and his aides examined the limits of relying on Giant Kun blood essence for spatial transfers and considered building a true teleportation array.

• Yu Youxian welcomed Li Chen to Broad Cloud Ward with envoys, subordinates, and local factions, and told him the market district had expanded during his absence.
• Li Chen met Mei Xuan and Heavenly Pivot in the Inner Valley after finishing meetings, and Mei Xuan reported that marketplace business had surged since his promotion.
• Mei Xuan explained that daily sales and spatial transfer fees had grown enormously, bringing Broad Cloud Peak close to ten billion in wealth.
• Mei Xuan and Heavenly Pivot warned Li Chen that growing demand was making kun blood essence an inadequate long-term power source for spatial transfers.
• Li Chen considered building a true teleportation array, and Mei Xuan estimated it would need more than ten thousand daily orders to cover its costs.

Li Chen planned a massive supply-transport array for Broad Cloud Peak and reorganized his household into a Grand Artisan Household while founding the Ink Gate School. An envoy from the Creation Sect arrived with the middle-grade blessed land Li Chen had earned, and Li Chen was asked whether to establish it at Broad Cloud Peak.

• Mei Xuan warned Li Chen that the Logistics Array would require enormous funding, supplies, and receiving stations, and Li Chen proposed raising money from merchants and collecting promised compensation.
• Li Chen formally welcomed Lu Chen, Yang Yu, and Guo Jinlong as Attendants and elevated his household to a Grand Artisan Household with graded Retainers, Guest Advisers, and Attendants.
• Li Chen established the Ink Gate School at Broad Cloud Peak to develop the Mortal Dao Artifact philosophy, mechanical devices, and artificial intelligence techniques, and assigned everyone tasks.
• Li Chen decided not to bring his old disciples from Crouching Tiger Hill to Broad Cloud Peak, but instructed Heavenly Pivot to monitor news from the underworld.
• Elder Huang Yuan arrived from the Creation Sect with a middle-grade blessed land and asked Li Chen whether he would establish it at Broad Cloud Peak.

Huang Yuan transplanted a true dragon vein into Li Chen’s Broad Cloud Peak, transforming it into a blessed land that would grow toward middle grade. Li Chen then reviewed Golden Light City’s official contract, which commissioned Mechanism Wooden Cranes and far more Crane Wings than he had expected.

• Huang Yuan opened a grotto-heaven gourd above Broad Cloud Peak and released a golden dragon vein into its Spirit Vein Spring Eye, greatly enriching the mountain’s spiritual energy.
• Huang Yuan explained that the dragon vein was a true immortal spirit seed and that its power would gradually raise the blessed land’s grade and strengthen nearby resources.
• Li Chen decided to use Broad Cloud Peak to attract talent and cultivate disciples while keeping the Azure Billow Immortal Abode concealed as a hidden asset.
• Li Chen examined Golden Light City’s sealed Spell Contract and found an order for one hundred thousand Mechanism Wooden Cranes and three hundred thousand pairs of Crane Wings.

Li Chen explained to Mei Xuan that true immortality meant transcending dependence on society and achieving self-sufficiency, and he envisioned using cultivation and the Puppet Dao to build such a society. Mei Xuan realized that Li Chen’s modifications had transformed her motives and identity, while he remained unable to free the Puppet Dao from economic interests without radically altering its people.

• Li Chen arranged a billion-Talisman-Coin commission for Mechanism Wooden Cranes and crane wings, spreading work and procurement demands throughout the region around Guangyun.
• Li Chen told Mei Xuan that cultivators were driven by interests like mortals and argued that an immortal was someone who could exist independently of society.
• Li Chen described his ideal self-sufficient kingdom, where people pursued the Great Dao without economic incentives, and said he could not yet achieve the necessary state of Supreme Detachment from Emotion.
• Mei Xuan realized that Li Chen’s replacement of her body had severed her worldly motives and changed how she viewed working for him.
• Mei Xuan understood that Li Chen regretted the Puppet Dao’s reliance on economic incentives, but that changing or eliminating those motives across society was beyond his current power.

Li Chen inspected the Mechanism Wooden Cranes produced at Broad Cloud Peak and considered developing their control systems into Intelligent Puppets unique to Guangyun. Liu Tong then announced that the workshop had mastered production of the Three-Star Steel-Feathered Crane.

• Li Chen visited the Puppet Workshop at the foot of Broad Cloud Peak and inspected its facilities and Mechanism Wooden Crane production.
• Liu Tong demonstrated the Wooden Cranes’ weapons, flight, agility, and powerful diving attacks, satisfying Li Chen with their performance and low cost.
• Li Chen considered selling Golden Light City Puppet Cores and operating systems and adapting the cranes into Intelligent Puppets suited to Guangyun.
• Zhou Cheng reported that work on modifying the cranes with Intelligent Chips was underway, and Li Chen ordered him to master their design.
• Liu Tong told Li Chen that the workshop had overcome the difficulties and mastered production of the Three-Star Steel-Feathered Crane.

Li Chen demonstrated the three-star Steel-Feathered Crane and tested its movement, flight, and combat abilities. Satisfied with its performance and internal components, he prepared to use its production process to develop his own puppet industry and military strength.

• Li Chen told Liu Tong and the others to learn how to make the Steel-Feathered Crane so they could help with production and assembly.
• Li Chen explained to himself how industrial production could combine the workers’ collective skill with Heavenly Pivot’s ability to master and reproduce the process.
• Li Chen controlled the Steel-Feathered Crane, tested its walking and flight, and used its inherited attacks to destroy a mechanism wooden soldier.
• Li Chen activated Golden Wind Rampage, whose powerful blades of wind destroyed every target in its attack zone.
• Li Chen inspected the Steel-Feathered Crane and confirmed that its parameters met the required standards.

Li Chen visited Guo Jin to check on Jixia Academy and learned that the Shaman Folk faced deep disadvantages in intelligence, physical condition, and cultivation aptitude. He resolved to transform them through Spirit-Particle Memory Meme transplantation, while Guo Jin wondered whether they had any say in the matter.

• Li Chen praised his craftsmen and arranged for Heavenly Pivot to share design schematics from Golden Light City with them.
• Li Chen visited Guo Jin, who reported that Jixia Academy was complete and recruiting disciples.
• Guo Jin explained that tests showed the Shaman Folk lagged behind other peoples, making widespread Puppet Master education unlikely to succeed.
• Li Chen decided to transplant Spirit-Particle Memory Memes into the Shaman Folk and consider further modifications, including experiments to turn them into biological weapons.
• Li Chen defended the costly plan as his responsibility to the Shaman Folk, while Guo Jin silently questioned whether they were willing to undergo it.
• Li Chen appeared to sense Guo Jin's unspoken doubt and asked what he wanted to say.

Li Chen explained to Guo Jin why Puppet Masters had a responsibility to help the weak, while two undercover Demon Hunters arrived in Broad Cloud Ward to investigate Guangyun's strength. Fan Cheng agreed to assist them and feared the city would soon lose its peace.

• Li Chen told Guo Jin that the Shaman Folk needed strength and guidance to protect themselves from evil cultivators and calamities.
• Two disguised cultivators rode through Broad Cloud Ward and remarked on its prosperity and Li Chen's influence.
• The cultivators met Fan Cheng, who had infiltrated the area as a Puppet Master craftsman, and asked him to uncover Guangyun's true strength.
• Fan Cheng accepted their request and received a silver fox pelt to help maintain his cover and win favors.
• After the visitors left to stay at an inn, Fan Cheng put away the pelt and sighed that the city would not remain peaceful.

Li Chen expanded his puppet industry and combat forces while Heavenly Pivot requested more spirit crystals to increase her computational capacity. He decided to study a rare blood spirit jade as an experimental material and planned to strengthen his highest-grade puppets and acquire a guardian treasure for Broad Cloud Peak.

• Li Chen toured his expanding mechanical army and approved Heavenly Pivot's request to use the Azure Billow Immortal Abode's spirit crystals for more computational units.
• Li Chen inspected over a hundred maiden automatons, including Sword Guard-based Demon Blade Princesses and biologically modified Great Sword Princesses.
• Li Chen chose to reserve the blood spirit jade from Golden Light City for research into its secrets and possible replication rather than use it to strengthen himself.
• Li Chen reviewed his many legions and modified creatures, recognizing that his own High Rank combat strength remained limited.
• Li Chen resolved to advance Xiao Die and Xiao Ying to five-star grade, focus on mastering the six-star Heavenly Hero Divine Crane, and find a treasure to guard Broad Cloud Peak.