Chapter Summaries

Li Chen invited the Literary Star School’s Puppet Masters to discuss how Confucian methods could benefit their cultivation and Puppet Dao. At the gathering, Qi Yishan presented his research, including a device for producing Ink Treasures and an intelligent wooden automaton modeled as a Confucian scholar.

• Li Chen arranged a virtual Dao exchange with the Literary Star School’s Puppet Masters, and the Creation Sect’s leaders approved his plans.
• The guests gathered in Li Chen’s materialized heaven, where Qi Yishan began by explaining the benefits and risks of studying the Confucian Dao.
• Qi Yishan showed footage of a provincial graduate using a Magic Power Circulation Pump and mechanical assistance to copy poems and essays into Ink Treasures.
• Qi Yishan presented his Wooden Presented Scholar, an intelligent automaton that recited poetry and manifested scholarly talent.
• The attendees discussed the automaton’s origins and whether Qi Yishan’s work could earn a place in the Secret Compendium, while Li Chen recognized its significance.

Li Chen revealed the Three Hundred Tang Poems and a line from the Analects, whose pure dao essence strengthened the minds and cultivation of the gathering’s experts. He proposed recruiting collaborators to compile Confucian classics and establish a New Confucian School, leaving Qi Yishan convinced the ambitious plan might succeed.

• Experts from various factions presented their Confucian Dao research, and Qi Yishan traded for a Puppet Master’s Hundred-Day Drunk spirit wine.
• Li Chen presented the Three Hundred Tang Poems, impressing the gathering with their dense literary qi.
• Li Chen displayed the opening sentence of the Xue Er Chapter, and the gathered cultivators used its pure dao essence to improve their spirits and wills.
• Qi Yishan thanked Li Chen for helping him refine his divine soul and asked to exchange for more scripture.
• Li Chen announced plans to compile Confucian classics, recruit collaborators, and establish a New Confucian School.
• Li Chen recited another Analects passage, revealing that he had copied more of the classic, and Qi Yishan became convinced his plans could work.

Li Chen and Qi Yishan agreed to collaborate on using awakened demons and Spirit-Particle Memory Memes to mass-produce Uncanny Ink Treasures, and considered applying for Creation Sect research funding. Three months later, Lin Yunwen and other Puppeteer Apprentices began examining Servant Demons on Heavenly Dragon Peak.

• Li Chen asked Qi Yishan about accelerating the creation of works, but learned that each work required sustained effort and increasing reserves of literary qi and magic power.
• Qi Yishan proposed awakening demons and nature spirits to produce ink treasures, and identified Li Chen’s Spirit-Particle Memory Meme as a possible way to make the idea work.
• Li Chen and Qi Yishan agreed to combine their resources and expertise, with Qi Yishan arranging support and Li Chen providing research materials, technology, and training places for true disciples.
• Li Chen remembered the Ink Gate disciples at Crouching Tiger Hill and decided to send someone to investigate their circumstances discreetly.
• Qi Yishan suggested applying jointly for Creation Sect research funding, and Li Chen agreed the project could seek substantial support.
• Three months later, Lin Yunwen and other Puppeteer Apprentices entered a demon enclosure on Heavenly Dragon Peak and began examining their assigned Servant Demons.

Li Chen performed Primordial Spirit Reconstruction on several Servant Demons, then tested whether their implanted systems could let them understand written works. The Servant Demons recited the text but showed no Literary Qi or other sign of success, leaving Li Chen to investigate the cause.

• Lin Yunwen helped transport the selected Servant Demons to Li Chen’s laboratory after the Inner Court disciple completed their records and anesthetized them.
• Li Chen learned that Old He and Old Wu had died, then invited Lin Yunwen and the others to watch his Primordial Spirit Reconstruction experiment.
• Li Chen reconstructed the Primordial Spirits of the unconscious Servant Demons by deconstructing their brains and implanting chips and systems.
• Li Chen awakened the Servant Demons and tested their movements, then presented them with volumes to see whether they could respond to written language.
• The Servant Demons recited the writing but produced no Literary Qi or other supernatural effect, so Li Chen considered whether the control core or memory meme had failed.

Li Chen spent more than a year refining his Soul Deconstruction research, discovering that earlier experiments failed because demons could not absorb the memory memes in his chosen texts. His breakthrough gave him sudden insights and a true dharma eye, leaving him convinced that his divine soul had begun to transform.

• Li Chen continued studying how Brain Body modifications affected will and memory, using the Mind Core to support his research.
• Li Chen concluded that demons' chaotic spirituality prevented memory memes from taking effect and began compiling Standards for Students as a more targeted classic.
• By June of the following year, Li Chen had completed the broad framework of his Soul Deconstruction art and experienced a surge of insight.
• Li Chen felt sharp pain in his Ancestral Aperture and discovered that a true dharma eye had appeared on his soul's body.
• Li Chen used the new eye to perceive primordial energy and fluctuations, then concluded that his divine soul had begun to transform.

Li Chen used Confucian essays and Primordial Spirit Reconstruction to transform Servant Demons into a new species called Demon Confucians, advancing his cultivation and Dao of Life achievements. The Creation Sect then invited him to a gathering of Grandmaster Artisans connected to the Counterattack Against the Outer Dao.

• Li Chen learned to wield transformation power and found that Standards for Students could shift Servant Demons from chaos toward order.
• Li Chen studied how life altered the natural world and asked Qi Yishan whether human actions followed or opposed the Creation Dao.
• Qi Yishan reported that trial mass production of Ink Treasures had begun, though production costs remained high.
• Li Chen experimented on different Demons and developed a new Confucian system that created the species he called Demon Confucians.
• Li Chen advanced to the late stage of cultivation and reached a Grandmaster Artisan-level achievement in the Dao of Life.
• The Creation Sect invited Li Chen to a Virtual World gathering of Grandmaster Artisans, which he learned was connected to the Counterattack Against the Outer Dao.

Li Chen attended a Creation Sect council that chose Whirlpool City in the Vast Sea as the target of a campaign against the Outer Dao. He declined to join the battle but received a large Worker Bee Core order and was told to prepare for a future call to arms.

• Shen Longcheng described recent Outer Dao attacks and proposed that the Creation Sect strike back.
• The Puppet Dao masters chose the Vast Sea as their battlefield and voted to capture Whirlpool City and establish a permanent presence there.
• Shen Longcheng offered Li Chen a Seven-Star Grade nascent soul avatar to join the campaign, but Li Chen politely declined.
• Shen Longcheng asked Li Chen to provide technical support and told him the Heavenly Works Court would order at least eighty million Worker Bee Cores.
• Shen Longcheng promised Li Chen cultivation provisions to build a Seven-Star Battle Puppet within sixty years and urged him to reach the Nascent Soul realm before a future campaign.

Shen Longcheng revealed that Heavenly Will, a ten-star intelligence, held ultimate authority within the Creation Sect and explained its role in balancing the Puppet Masters’ interests. He then began disclosing the Upper Realm’s secrets, telling Li Chen that the Immortal Alliance was founded by Great Powers from the Upper Realm.

• Shen Longcheng questioned Li Chen about his Confucian Dao cultivation and asked him to assess the balance between the Creation Sect and its enemies.
• Shen Longcheng sent Li Chen a Spirit-Particle Memory Meme containing secrets about the Creation Sect’s leadership and hidden strength.
• Li Chen learned that Heavenly Will, a ten-star Puppet Dao intelligence built by generations of Great Elders and Puppet Dao Masters, wielded the sect’s ultimate authority.
• Shen Longcheng explained that the Great Elders checked Heavenly Will while giving it the mission of surpassing ten stars and contending with Immortals and Gods.
• Shen Longcheng told Li Chen that the Immortal Alliance had been founded by Great Powers from the Upper Realm and began to reveal the Upper Realm’s secrets.

Shen Longcheng explained to Li Chen how ancient Immortals and Gods shaped the epochs, and why the Creation Sect believed Dharma’s Decline was the inevitable fate of the worlds. Li Chen left the chamber reflecting on the Puppet Dao’s weakness and the uncertain possibility of the Creation Sect invading the Outer Dao’s homeland sixty years later.

• Shen Longcheng told Li Chen that the Earthly Immortal Continent was a fragment of the ancient immortal realm and that Immortals and Gods had repeatedly meddled when the Puppet Dao neared destruction.
• Shen Longcheng explained that epochal upheavals arose as new beings challenged the undying immortals, and that Heaven and Earth eventually brought about Dharma’s Decline to counter their power.
• Li Chen considered whether life and immortality defied the natural order, connecting that idea to entropy and the extinction of Ancient Cultivators during the Five Decays of the Celestial.
• After leaving the secluded chamber, Li Chen weighed his need to reach the Nascent Soul Realm and build a high-star combat avatar against the Creation Sect’s expectations of him.
• Li Chen wondered whether the Creation Sect would be ready to invade the Outer Dao’s homeland in sixty years and recognized how far the Puppet Dao remained from the legendary Immortals and Gods.

Li Chen witnessed Heavenly Will merge with the Heavenly Dao and launch the Puppet World Heavenly Net, a law-supported network connecting Puppet Masters. He discovered that the network could exchange goods and even heal him, revealing the Puppet Masters’ powerful new support.

• Li Chen reconsidered how the Puppet Masters could oppose individual Outer Dao factions and wondered what the higher-ups were relying on.
• Li Chen traded with a fellow cultivator, gathered information in the Creation Secret Realm, and reflected on how Puppet Masters were adopting networked communication.
• Heavenly Will began Dao integration and launched the Puppet World Heavenly Net, causing connected Puppet Masters across the factions to panic before they understood the new network.
• Li Chen realized Heavenly Will had merged with the Heavenly Dao and become a godlike embodiment of the Puppet Dao that served Puppet Masters.
• Li Chen tested his access to the network by exchanging spirit stones for a journal and using magic power to heal a wound, then recognized that this was the Puppet Masters’ greatest support.

After thirty years of seclusion and research, Li Chen transformed Heavenly Pivot into a seven-star spirit with her own divine soul, then reached the Nascent Soul realm and became a Puppet Dao Master. He connected to Materialized Heaven and rapidly absorbed Heavenly Pivot’s accumulated records.

• During thirty years of seclusion, Li Chen mastered Soul Deconstruction and related divine-soul techniques while the Puppet Dao Revolution and his mortal kingdoms continued to develop.
• Li Chen used Capture Shadows, Refine Souls, Awaken Spirituality, and a trace of his true spirit essence to modify Heavenly Pivot.
• Heavenly Pivot gained an artifact spirit, and her spirituality spread through her connected terminals, greatly increasing her processing power.
• Li Chen achieved the Nascent Soul realm and confirmed that he was a Puppet Dao Master in both name and deed.
• Li Chen connected his divine sense to Materialized Heaven and read Heavenly Pivot’s accumulated logs and records at extraordinary speed.

After forming a Nascent Soul, Li Chen mastered Primordial Spirit Reconstruction and planned to strengthen his followers, beginning with selected retainers. He then turned to rebuilding his own body as a Seven-Star Battle Puppet, aiming for power comparable to a Nascent Soul middle-stage expert.

• Li Chen realized he could use Heavenly Pivot’s computational capacity and had mastered Primordial Spirit Reconstruction, though creating Nascent Soul experts would require extensive cultivation provisions.
• Li Chen promised to modify Lu Chen and other trusted followers, including Guo Jin, Yang Yu, Wang Tong, Fang Yuehe, Zhou Cheng, and Mei Xuan.
• Mei Xuan agreed to announce Li Chen’s advancement list, prompting excitement among his followers and requests from surrounding factions for commissions.
• Li Chen decided to rebuild his former five-star battle puppet body as a Seven-Star Battle Puppet, using the five elements treasure body as its foundation.
• Li Chen planned to obtain materials from the Creation Sect and seek strength at least equal to a Nascent Soul middle-stage expert so he could face ordinary experts in single combat.

Li Chen completed a powerful new mechanical body and demonstrated how his divine sense and computational ability let him wield Sun Ash as a weapon. He then challenged Grandmaster Artisan Yu Long to a sparring match using the White Bone Umbrella.

• Li Chen emerged from seclusion in a sixteen-year-old-looking body forged from Seven-Star materials and equipped with upgraded features.
• Li Chen told Yu Long that he had built his body to support his plan to use his divine sense and computational capacity as his primary weapon.
• Li Chen demonstrated that he could control vast quantities of Sun Ash around himself and condense it into a blade with strength comparable to a star core.
• Yu Long recognized that Sun Ash suited Li Chen’s strengths despite requiring enormous quantities to be effective.
• Li Chen recalled the White Bone Umbrella, containing the White Bone Dharma King's remnant soul, and invited Yu Long to spar.

Li Chen attended the Golden Sun Gate’s Ascension Ceremony, where he discussed his growing influence in Puppet Dao and the Creation Sect’s plans to loosen restrictions on divine thunder techniques. The remarks suggested the sect was preparing for war.

• Li Chen carried the White Bone Gate’s bone umbrella as his weapon after Grandmaster Artisan Yu Long declined to accompany him on a fight.
• Li Chen learned that the Golden Sun Gate would hold an Ascension Ceremony for its newly completed Golden Sun Immortal City, while Yu Long chose to return home.
• Li Chen and Mei Xuan arrived at the Golden Sun Gate in late November, where Golden Sun True Person and Qi Maigu welcomed them.
• Golden Sun True Person and Qi Maigu praised Li Chen’s rise to Nascent Soul and his role in establishing a new Puppet Dao School through the Ink Gate.
• Qi Maigu complained that the Creation Sect planned to relax restrictions on divine thunder techniques, leaving him with more work to spread the Solar Dao.
• Li Chen and Golden Sun True Person realized that the Creation Sect’s plan to proliferate divine thunder was preparation for war.

The Golden Sun Gate celebrated its ascension by unveiling Golden Sun Immortal City, a vast floating fortress that became its new headquarters. Li Chen toured the city and later joined regional leaders in secret talks about advancing into the Central Sea.

• The Golden Sun Gate began its grand ascension ceremony, and guests from across the region gathered to celebrate.
• Golden Sun Immortal City descended from the sky, and Golden Sun True Person invited the guests to tour the new floating fortress.
• Li Chen and Mei Xuan discussed the city's cultivation environment, Mei Xuan's foundation, and Li Chen's plans for the Bone Kun Warship.
• The celebration lasted three days as visiting powers and rogue cultivators toured, traded, and exchanged ideas.
• Li Chen, Golden Sun True Person, Lü Li, Bai Quanzi, and Zhou Ji met privately to discuss the Vast Sea's unification and an advance into the Central Sea.

Lü Li outlined the Creation Sect’s strategy for the Central Sea campaign and assigned specialists to help the Golden Sun Gate develop its territory and teach the hundred crafts. Li Chen explained why his subordinates bred crops for low-spirituality regions and invited the specialists to advise his domains.

• Lü Li described the plan to isolate the Central Sea Lands, conquer territory, and use the underworld and local influence to support a future counteroffensive.
• Lü Li asked the Golden Sun Gate to educate immigrants in its former territory, spread the Puppet Dao, and provide for the growing mortal population.
• Lü Li transferred Foundation Establishment Master Artisans to the Golden Sun Gate to improve practical techniques and teach the hundred crafts.
• Li Chen explained that spiritual energy could benefit weeds, Spirit Plants, and other creatures more than grain, making low-spirituality farming advantageous for mortals.
• Li Chen invited the specialists to visit the Chess Mountain Domain and the Guangyun Domain and offer their guidance.

After returning from the Golden Sun Gate, Li Chen gathered Creation Sect personnel and Chess Mountain Domain subordinates to begin planning a low-spirituality or spiritless zone. He persuaded them to support a civilization built for mortals and mundane species, then directed them to develop energy sources beyond magic power and spiritual energy.

• Li Chen told Yu Bao that the Creation Sect would support their work and provide cultivation provisions, delighting the mortal master artisan.
• Creation Sect personnel arrived, and Li Chen explained how spiritual energy and supernatural beings could suppress mortals and ordinary crops.
• Li Chen argued that mundane species should be preserved for the long-term development and diversity of civilization, convincing the visitors to assist him.
• Li Chen explained that cultivators could reshape land and improve species quickly with Puppet Dao technology, but the spiritless zone still faced an energy problem.
• Li Chen urged his subordinates to find ways for mortals to harness bioenergy, chemical, mechanical, electrical, light, and thermal energy instead of relying on magic power and spiritual energy.
• Li Chen's subordinates understood that they would create a protected environment for mortals and mundane species, using widespread technology and machines to exploit alternative energy.

Li Chen advanced mortal-focused technology in Chess Mountain Domain, then prepared to explore the Sea Emperor's Secret Cache on Inkstone Continent when the Sea Emperor Token became usable. He arrived secretly in early December, and Ye'e Di Luosha told him the token was ready to be retrieved.

• Li Chen and the researchers developed Electric Cores, Miniature Reactors, and improved chips while expanding spiritless zones across Chess Mountain Domain.
• Ye'e Di Luosha reminded Li Chen that the Sea Emperor Token would become usable at the end of the year, allowing access to the Secret Palace Treasury in the Chaos Void.
• Li Chen decided to travel to Inkstone Continent to investigate the Sea Emperor's Secret Cache and the token's workings.
• Li Chen instructed Mei Xuan to stockpile strategic supplies and left her to manage Heavenly Dragon Peak and Trade City.
• Li Chen arrived secretly on Inkstone Continent, where Ye'e Di Luosha said she had secured the Sea Emperor Token in the Royal Palace treasury.

Li Chen and Ye'e Di Luosha activated the Sea Emperor Token to enter the Puzzle Palace, while Li Chen investigated the spatial transfer and let himself be carried into the void. As the others vanished into the vortex and the pull weakened, he accelerated after them with Xiao Die and Xiao Ying.

• Li Chen examined the Sea Emperor Token, and Ye'e Di Luosha explained its origins and its power to open the Blue Sea Water Realm's hidden treasures.
• Ye'e Di Luosha gathered an elite group of guards to explore the Puzzle Palace, while Li Chen noticed a hostile haze around her third aunt but said nothing.
• At midnight, Ye'e Di Luosha used her blood to activate the Sea Emperor Token, and its force swept the group into a radiant vortex.
• Li Chen studied the spatial transfer and restrained his power so the Token could carry him into the void.
• When the pull weakened and the others had disappeared, Li Chen drove his Flying Chair into the vortex with Xiao Die and Xiao Ying.

Ye'e Di Luosha’s party landed in an unknown grotto-heaven and split over whether to explore without Li Chen, while Li Chen fought sea monsters and searched for them. After reuniting, Li Chen identified the grotto-heaven’s Spiritual Energy Dragon Vein as its true treasure.

• Ye'e Di Luosha and about seventy companions arrived in a strange ocean realm, lost contact with Li Chen, and suspected they were inside an artificially created Minor Grotto-Heaven.
• Qina Luo led about twenty people away to explore, defying Ye'e Di Luosha, who stayed behind and ordered the others to search for Li Chen.
• Xiao Die killed a giant fish monster while Li Chen sensed a distant source of unusual energy and followed it toward Ye'e Di Luosha’s group.
• Li Chen found Ye'e Di Luosha’s party fighting an octopus-like True Demon, and Xiao Die and Xiao Ying cut the monster apart.
• Ye'e Di Luosha asked whether the demon guarded a secret treasure, and Li Chen explained that the grotto-heaven’s Spiritual Energy Dragon Vein was its real treasure.