Chapter Summaries

Li Chen stole the Frost Sword and the Thunder Prison Sword from Hidden Sword Valley, escaped after warning Elder Xu not to pursue him, and Chess Mountain blamed Xu for the loss. Li Chen revealed that the Ying Family had helped frame Xu and began planning to eliminate him before attacking Chess Mountain.

• Li Chen escaped Hidden Sword Valley with the Earth-Covering Cloud-Banishing Banner after Elder Xu recognized him and chose not to continue the pursuit.
• Chess Mountain learned that Li Chen had stolen the Frost Sword and the Thunder Prison Sword and killed Elder Lin, then held an emergency meeting.
• The Ying Family accused Elder Xu of failing to defend Hidden Sword Valley, but Chess Mountain's elders could not agree on how to punish him.
• The Ying Family Head reported to Li Chen that the elders had shifted the blame onto Elder Xu, as Li Chen had instructed.
• Li Chen told the Ying Family Head that Elder Xu had to be eliminated and explained that he preferred achieving victory through a stratagem rather than on the battlefield.

Li Chen explained how he planned to divide Chess Mountain and the Ying Family, then investigated Xiao Xue and recovered the sword containing Frostblade Dong Nü. Dong Nü revealed that she had regained her intelligence and could see through Li Chen’s Heavenly Demon Manifestation Great Method.

• Li Chen told Heavenly Pivot that he wanted to pit Chess Mountain against Elder Xu and make his enemies weaken each other.
• Li Chen checked the progress of cultivating clay puppets from blood essence and met Xiao Xue, whom he left in Xiao Die and Xiao Ying’s care.
• Li Chen visited the sealed Human-Weapon Living Soldiers and confirmed that Dong Nü and Lin Yue were being sustained while they recovered.
• Li Chen used the Heavenly Demon Hide to approach Dong Nü’s sword and drew it from its sheath.
• Dong Nü spoke in Li Chen’s mind, revealed that she had regained her intelligence, and warned that his method could not deceive her.

Li Chen used the Heavenly Demon Hide to uncover fragments of Dong Nü’s memories and learn how her tragic past had turned her into a wraith bound to her sword. He realized Chess Mountain’s other Human-Weapon Living Soldiers were held by Grand Artisan Meng.

• Li Chen used the Heavenly Demon Hide to draw Dong Nü’s obsession from her remnant soul and saw that it centered on Xue’er.
• Dong Nü had rescued the orphan Xue’er, taught her swordplay, and tried to help her build a better life.
• Dong Nü’s attack on a young noble led a Puppet Master Artisan to discover her and pursue her to the village.
• The Puppet Master Artisan captured Xue’er and tortured her to death, prompting the dying Dong Nü to unleash her Heart Sword and kill him.
• Dong Nü’s obsession absorbed yin baleful intent and lodged in her treasured sword, which Chess Mountain’s artisans later enhanced.
• Li Chen concluded that Dong Nü had formed naturally as an artifact spirit and noted that Chess Mountain’s other Human-Weapon Living Soldiers were with Grand Artisan Meng.

Chess Mountain prepared for total war after realizing Li Chen intended to plunder and potentially subjugate it, and it formally declared war on Guangyun after its defenses brought down one of Li Chen’s fighters. As Chess Mountain turned its attention to the conflict, Li Chen’s Black Shark Flying Boats began occupying the mortal cities and kingdoms under its rule.

• Chess Mountain’s elders decided to let Elder Xu atone through meritorious service and resolved to use their remaining Human Vessels and powerful combatants against Li Chen.
• Li Chen learned that Chess Mountain had strengthened its defenses but remained confident that he held the advantage as the attacker.
• Chess Mountain’s mounted crossbows ambushed three Thunderhawk Fighters, damaging all of them and causing one to crash and explode.
• Chess Mountain formally declared war on Guangyun after the fighter attack.
• Li Chen’s Black Shark Flying Boats occupied mortal cities and kingdoms under Chess Mountain’s rule.

Li Chen occupied Wufang City and assured its lord, Wu Yecheng, that Guangyun would protect the people. He offered Wu Yecheng’s declining lineage a future by assigning the city to build factories producing Mortal Dao Artifacts.

• The Black Shark Flying Boat arrived over Wufang City, and Li Chen’s Mechanism Puppets and Chang Clan Soldiers took control of the streets.
• Wu Yecheng obeyed Li Chen’s summons and was told to reassure the people and govern the occupied city under Guangyun.
• Li Chen promised to protect Wufang City’s common people and learned that Wu Yecheng’s family had declined from a Chess Mountain lineage into ordinary mortals.
• Li Chen asked about Wu Yecheng’s future and offered wealth and standing to his lineage in return for obedience.
• Li Chen gave Wu Yecheng blueprints and workpieces, ordering him to mobilize the people to build factories and train industrial workers.

Li Chen explained to Hua Wucuo and the other Creation Sect experts that he planned to harness mortals by developing industry and transforming their society, rather than turning them into cultivators. He outlined the first stages of his campaign against Chess Mountain and left the experts studying his production plans.

• Hua Wucuo and the other experts questioned Li Chen about why he was organizing mortals and capturing their cities.
• Li Chen argued that mortals could learn and labor, and that their intelligence and industrial potential made them a great source of wealth.
• Li Chen explained that his plans emphasized production tools and machines that mortals could manufacture and use, alongside further research by Puppet Masters.
• Li Chen described a campaign that would first occupy Chess Mountain's mortal cities and seize overlooked resources, then transform the Common Folk's society and civilization.

Li Chen argued that transforming all mortals into cultivators could create a self-sustaining civilization of immense power, and proposed using those transformed people to conquer Chess Mountain. The gathered Puppet Masters were left considering his vision and the cost of making it real.

• Li Chen explained that Chess Mountain's natural resources made its territory especially suitable for developing the mortal path.
• Li Chen rejected fears that technology would displace humanity and argued that making machinery more human and humans more capable could advance the Dao.
• Li Chen urged the Puppet Masters to transform civilization as a whole, imagining quadrillions of cultivators and a million Great Powers.
• Hua Wucuo questioned who could afford such a vast cultivation civilization, and Li Chen argued that mortals could support their own development as understanding and technology advanced.
• Li Chen named his third step: turn the enemy into resources by using transformed mortals to conquer Chess Mountain.

Li Chen captured vast mortal territories in Chess Mountain and developed tools to turn their resources and labor toward his plans. He inspected light-powered generators and engine components designed for mortals, then ordered a production line for guns and cannons.

• Li Chen set his strategic goals for Chess Mountain: conquer it outright or extract enough resources to build the Heavenly Hero Divine Crane.
• After nearly half a month, Li Chen captured several cities, kingdoms, and plains, bringing six hundred million people under his control.
• Chess Mountain's residents feared Li Chen's attacks on mortal lands and industrial cities while he launched transformation projects across the occupied territories.
• Li Chen inspected a light-powered generator and an engine-like Mechanism Puppet component built by Puppet Masters in Salt City.
• Li Chen explained that mortals could learn physical principles despite lacking spiritual roots, and told his followers to assemble the devices into a production line for guns and cannons.

Li Chen demonstrated an automated factory that used mortal workers to produce spirit iron and weapons, then explained his plan to build industrial capacity and teach mortals how to defend themselves from cultivators. Hua Wucuo was moved by Li Chen’s vision and decided to watch how far it could go.

• Heavenly Pivot started the experimental production line, and the puppets and mortal craftsmen produced spirit iron and weapon components.
• Li Chen explained how the factory could manufacture spirit materials efficiently and support industrial workers, capital, research, and training for mortal craftsmen.
• Hua Wucuo raised the danger that cultivators might target the mortals, and Li Chen said he would teach them military manufacturing techniques so they could protect themselves.
• Li Chen showed the group weapons and described plans for factories producing Mechanism Puppets and other devices that could arm mortals against ordinary Qi Refining cultivators.
• Hua Wucuo examined a Gangstone Gun, recognized Li Chen’s serious intention to help mortals rise, and resolved to observe his progress.

Li Chen tested cheap Gangstone Guns and swords, then explained his plan to train mortal craftsmen to investigate natural laws and apply Puppet Dao skills without cultivation. Hua Wucuo realized Li Chen’s goal extended beyond conquering Chess Mountain: he intended to make cultivation accessible to mortals.

• Li Chen oversaw tests showing that weapons made from artificial spirit iron and synthetic steel could perform well at low cost.
• Li Chen declared that he wanted to make Puppets and Divine Ability Mechanism Devices cheap, drawing skepticism from the others and serious attention from Hua Wucuo.
• Li Chen gathered mortal craftsmen, urged them to study and experiment, and offered Spirit-Particle-Converted Brain modifications and Auxiliary Brain Chips as tools rather than turning them into cultivators.
• Hua Wucuo asked whether Li Chen intended to spread cultivation skills among mortals after conquering Chess Mountain.
• Li Chen confirmed inwardly that making cultivation accessible to mortals was the larger goal behind his plans.

Li Chen explained to Hua Wucuo why he wanted to build a cultivation civilization where everyone could develop their abilities, arguing that the Puppet Dao had to advance beyond dependence on magic power. He then demonstrated that mortal craftsmen could master advanced medical work by performing brain surgery without cultivator assistance.

• Li Chen told Hua Wucuo that he hoped to establish a new cultivation civilization where everyone was like dragons and all under heaven enjoyed great unity.
• Hua Wucuo questioned whether empowering mortal craftsmen would threaten Puppet Masters, and Li Chen argued that pursuing truth mattered more than preserving their status.
• Li Chen explained that the Puppet Dao needed deeper knowledge of nature and less reliance on magic power, while Hua Wucuo left deep in thought.
• Li Chen gathered Puppet Masters and recruited mortal craftsmen in a Flying Boat to demonstrate that cultivators were not needed for certain medical procedures.
• Li Chen performed a craniotomy and removed a noble's benign brain tumor to show that mortals could master work at the level of a Foundation Establishment Master Artisan.

Li Chen demonstrated that mortal techniques could perform surgery and teach new ways of understanding the body, but Hua Wucuo warned that his broader vision lacked foundations independent of the Puppet Dao. Hua then volunteered to help develop the Guangyun School, leaving Li Chen with a committed ally for his new path.

• Li Chen successfully removed a tumor using only mortal tools and explained to the artisans that no spell had sustained the patient.
• Li Chen taught the artisans about mortal anatomy and disease, and they became excited as he modified their brains to help them learn.
• Hua Wucuo and the others took turns performing surgeries and modifications, but most still relied on divine abilities and spells when their mortal techniques faltered.
• Hua Wucuo told Li Chen that natural science remained a castle in the air without foundations beyond the Puppet Dao, prompting Li Chen to consider first establishing universal natural laws and mathematical tools.
• Hua Wucuo pledged to help develop the Guangyun School and pursue the new path with Li Chen.

Li Chen and Hua Wucuo began developing natural-science foundations for the mortal path while Li Chen’s unmanned Flying Discs repeatedly bombarded Chess Mountain. Chess Mountain’s Puppet Masters discovered that the machines were made from mundane materials, but could not understand how they operated intelligently without Puppeteers.

• Li Chen and Hua Wucuo agreed to explore natural laws and integrate their findings with the Puppet Dao, while Mo Chen, Li Baiyan, and Salt City artisans joined their work.
• Li Chen’s unmanned Flying Discs attacked a satellite city south of Chess Mountain, dropping Thunderclap Bombs that reduced more than half of it to rubble.
• Chess Mountain Retainers argued over whether to pursue the machines, recalling that an unknown sniper had badly injured Fellow Daoist Gao.
• A Master Artisan from the Commercial Alliance dismantled a Flying Disc and compared its design with diagrams of other captured models.
• The Master Artisan concluded that the Flying Discs were expendables made from mortal iron and mundane materials, but could not explain how they acted intelligently without Puppeteers controlling them.

Grand Artisan Meng Fuyun realized that Chess Mountain could not easily counter Guangyun’s Mechanism Devices because their true strength came from a hidden command system and collective intelligence. As Wing City’s defenders suffered ambushes and mounting losses, a Guangyun Puppeteer earned merit for killing a squad leader and returned to the battlefield.

• Meng Fuyun examined a Flying Disc and concluded that reproducing Guangyun’s devices was easy, but countering their supporting command system was beyond Chess Mountain’s reach.
• A Qi Refining Puppeteer destroyed attacking Flying Discs, but their self-destructing explosions wounded a defender and forced the others to scatter.
• A Crimson Flame Divine Light struck and killed the leader as he rushed to rescue the wounded man.
• A Guangyun Puppeteer used an Unmanned Reconnaissance Drone’s view and saved control logs to confirm that a young Controller had killed the Chess Mountain squad leader.
• The young Puppeteer received praise for his achievement, then put on his Somatosensory Control Device and resumed hunting from the Control Pod.

Hua Wucuo successfully built a Divine Light Mechanism Device that mortals could operate, and Li Chen recognized it as a step toward realizing his vision for the mortal path. Li Chen explained that his pursuit of science was giving rise to a dao fruit capable of influencing the material world, and he chose to keep exploring it.

• Hua Wucuo refined a lens and assembled a Divine Light Mechanism Device, then tested it by melting refined gold in a target.
• Hua Wucuo showed the device to Li Chen, who examined it and concluded that it could become a Mortal Dao Artifact.
• Hua Wucuo explained that the device’s lens and spirit crystal battery could be made to different standards, while mortals could currently produce no more than two-star components.
• Li Chen told Hua Wucuo that tools and systematic investigation could help mortals understand and use natural forces despite lacking spiritual roots.
• Li Chen realized that his exploration was producing a science dao fruit that could alter reality, but decided to continue pursuing it.

Li Chen developed mortal industry across the territories he had seized and tasked Hua Wucuo with researching artificial spiritual roots and psychic organs through mortal methods. Months later, Guangyun’s forces continued expanding their production and military strength, and Li Chen’s puppet army captured a Chess Mountain resource site containing major rare-earth deposits.

• Li Chen gave craftsmen blueprints for new production techniques and ordered factories across the occupied lands to begin manufacturing.
• Li Chen explained his plan for artificial spiritual roots and psychic organs, then gave Hua Wucuo materials on cloning and gene editing to study alongside puppet-making methods.
• Over several months, Li Chen used Guangyun’s Insectoid Legion and drone fleets to harass Chess Mountain’s resource sites while expanding his forces and building electrical factories.
• Li Chen’s puppet army captured a Chess Mountain resource site and discovered several enormous rare-earth ore deposits.

Li Chen visited Coiled Serpent Mountain, a resource site seized from Chess Mountain, to inspect a rare earth deposit and explain its potential for mortal industry. He ordered his craftsmen to begin researching superconducting materials and precision instruments.

• Li Chen arrived at Coiled Serpent Mountain with Hua Wucuo and met the hired Foundation Establishment cultivator Xu, who guarded the site.
• Hua Wucuo and Xiao Fan accompanied Li Chen to the mining area, where Xiao Fan asked why the rare earth mattered despite its lack of spiritual essence.
• Li Chen explained that ordinary materials and resources could also contain useful energy and that different ways of using them distinguished civilizations.
• Li Chen inspected the excavation and sorting work, where the Divination Compass identified rare earth categories including lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, and neodymium.
• Li Chen ordered his personnel to begin experiments on superconducting materials and precision instruments.

Li Chen developed new military technologies after receiving rare materials, assigning Hua Wucuo and his craftsmen to research weapons that could pierce cultivators’ Gang Qi. As the work revealed a need for specialized embedded-programming skills, Li Chen ordered Heavenly Pivot to recruit more Rune Script Masters and turned his attention toward Chess Mountain’s remaining population and resources.

• Li Chen had the Puppet Masters verify rare earths and planned to use the materials for military industry and his campaign against Chess Mountain.
• Li Chen prioritized ten jin of lightstone for Hua Wucuo to advance the Thunder Serpent Divine Light Cannon.
• After examining Jin Stone, Li Chen proposed combining it with thunder jade to develop an electromagnetic cannon.
• Hua Wucuo proposed storing energy in gangstone and releasing it through high pressure, and Li Chen ordered research and development to proceed.
• Li Chen assigned automated calculations to Heavenly Pivot’s artificial intelligences, creative Puppet Dao work to craftsmen, and chip and program design to Zhou Cheng and the Rune Script Masters.
• Li Chen ordered Heavenly Pivot to recruit young, literate Rune Script Masters with mathematical foundations, then set his sights on Chess Mountain’s remaining people and resources.

Chess Mountain’s elders debated how to counter Li Chen’s campaign, but their rivalries prevented them from agreeing on an attack against Guangyun. Li Chen’s assault on Hui City stalled against determined defenders, and a secret message warned him that the Outer Dao had likely begun to act.

• An Elders’ Council steward reported Li Chen’s advances, and Meng Fuyun suggested Li Chen was developing his mortal path by targeting mortal territories and resources.
• Pro-war elders urged a surprise attack on Guangyun, but Meng Fuyun and others warned of risks from Li Chen’s defenses and possible intervention by the Creation Sect or Sea Eye City.
• The Ying Family Head told his son that Meng Fuyun opposed attacking Guangyun partly because the three remaining Human Vessels were in his hands, and warned him to protect their lineage’s interests.
• Four days later, Li Chen’s legion attacked Hui City, but Chess Mountain’s defenders resisted fiercely and turned the assault into a prolonged battle.
• Li Chen told Hua Wucuo that he intended to consolidate regional resources and bring the Underworld factions under his rule, then received a secret message from Golden Light City that the Outer Dao had likely begun acting.

Li Chen prepared for an impending Outer Dao invasion by pressing his war against Chess Mountain, capturing Hui City with new weapons and improved insect forces. He demanded five hundred billion in reparations and Chess Mountain's merger into the Guangyun Commercial Alliance, while secretly offering its aristocratic clans lucrative deals to support the arrangement.

• Li Chen told Hua Wucuo that Martial Emperor Yang Wuji and Kong Haoyuan were assembling forces for another major offensive, and explained why he wanted to quickly bring the Vast Sea under his authority.
• Li Chen ordered Hua Wucuo to help develop weapons and war puppets, then deployed his legions and elite forces to intensify the attack on Chess Mountain.
• Li Chen's improved insect legion gained stronger swarm communications, while new guns and cannons entered service with the Guangyun Legion.
• In mid-April, the Guangyun Legion defeated Chess Mountain's forces and took Hui City, after which Li Chen established his administration and registered the population.
• Chess Mountain offered one hundred billion for peace, but Li Chen demanded five hundred billion and the dissolution of its Commercial Alliance into the Guangyun Commercial Alliance.
• Li Chen secretly offered the Ying Family and other aristocratic clans valuable contracts and treasures in exchange for helping secure the merger.