Chapter Summaries

After escaping the Blue Sea Water Realm, Li Chen checked that his mind was intact, searched the Puppet World Heavenly Net for answers, and then consulted Shen Longcheng about what he had encountered. Shen warned that the realm contained a taboo connected to beings who had lost control, leaving Li Chen aware of the danger but still resolved to investigate the unknown.

• Li Chen examined his primordial spirit, transferred it into a weaker three-star body, and returned to the Puppet World Heavenly Net to search for information.
• Li Chen found records about Ancient Gods, Root Dao Arts, and reincarnation, but Heavenly Will restricted the dangerous materials to Grandmaster-level readers.
• Li Chen inferred that the Sea Emperor had attempted to attain immortality and godhood but had lost himself amid changes in the era.
• Li Chen visited Shen Longcheng and gave a partial account of his experiences in the Blue Sea Water Realm.
• Shen Longcheng explained that dangerous realms connected to the root were known as taboos and warned that even great cultivators risked death when confronting them.

Li Chen argued with Shen Longcheng that taboos should be explored rather than feared, and convinced him that his desire to investigate came from his own heart. Shen Longcheng refused to accompany him but brought him to meet the Dancing Maiden, who might help him resist the taboo’s power.

• Li Chen asked Shen Longcheng to help him investigate the taboo and offered to share the benefits, but Shen refused to risk the expedition.
• Li Chen argued that humanity had always advanced by testing dangerous unknowns, prompting Shen Longcheng to reconsider his fear of the taboo.
• Shen Longcheng asked whether the taboo had distorted Li Chen’s thoughts, and Li Chen concluded that his desire to investigate was genuinely his own.
• Shen Longcheng said they needed another taboo capable of resisting the first and led Li Chen through Puppet World Heaven to a hidden celestial body.
• Shen Longcheng asked the Dancing Maiden to help Li Chen, and Li Chen realized who she was.

Li Chen brought Dancing Maiden and the Puppet Sisters to the expanding Grotto-Heaven world to investigate its Boundary Gate. After finding that some ancient guardians’ corpses had vanished, they discovered the bodies were reanimating and heading into the gate, then entered the world together to investigate the source.

• Li Chen learned from Great Elder Shen that Dancing Maiden was Yan Shi’s living creation, then waited for her at Heavenly Dragon Peak.
• Dancing Maiden arrived, and Li Chen brought her to the Grotto-Heaven world, where he noticed that the Boundary Gate had grown and some guardian bodies were missing.
• Li Chen played a Flying Disc recording showing intact corpses rising and staggering into the Boundary Gate while corpses with destroyed brains remained still.
• Dancing Maiden identified the moving bodies as infected living corpses, and Li Chen concluded that the infection affected brains and likely spread from a source within the gate.
• Dancing Maiden took Li Chen and the Puppet Sisters through the Boundary Gate, and they arrived in a dark wilderness.

Li Chen and Dancing Maiden discovered that the Water Realm had become an illusory domain sustained by laws and imagination, and their entry caused its aura to leak into the Star Sea. As Li Chen called for help, the Immortal Alliance dispatched investigators to examine a suspected Dao Fruit in Guixu.

• Dancing Maiden told Li Chen that the Water Realm was an illusory realm, and she explained that the disaster had likely preserved it through an Imagination Gate tied to consciousness and matter.
• Dancing Maiden used Void Creation to summon a bronze carriage and mechanical horses, and Li Chen boarded with her and the Puppet Sisters.
• The realm's scenery shifted to an azure sea as the sky shattered, revealing a fissure into the Star Sea and alerting Li Chen that the laws' aura was leaking out.
• Li Chen ordered Heavenly Pivot to warn those outside and ask Great Elder Shen and the others to prepare to help.
• An old Daoist at Sky-Gazing Terrace sensed a change in Guixu and sent the Hall of Seeking the Hidden to investigate.
• Three figures received the Immortal Alliance's order to investigate a wondrous object suspected to be a Dao Fruit and entered a formation into the Star Sea.

Li Chen and Dancing Maiden explored the Illusionary Realm, discovering that its phantom creatures contained manifestations of inspiration and thought. Elsewhere, three Immortal Alliance cultivators encountered a Giant Kun phantom, and one transformed into a monster after absorbing its signals.

• Li Chen and Dancing Maiden rode through the Illusionary Realm as Dancing Maiden explained that manifested imagination could create reality and that they needed to find the being behind it.
• Li Chen sensed his Seven-Star Mechanical Body and Auxiliary Brain, and Dancing Maiden let him lead the way.
• Dancing Maiden absorbed a phantom seahorse and found inspiration in its thought signals, then warned Li Chen to absorb them cautiously.
• Li Chen absorbed phantom shrimp and received strange notions involving system errors, disassembly, and data analysis.
• Three Immortal Alliance cultivators encountered Giant Kun phantoms, and one absorbed a phantom after it burst on contact.
• The cultivator transformed into a fish monster, attacked the other two with a wave of primordial energy, and chased after them as they fled.

Li Chen absorbed ancient memories and Dao knowledge in the Illusionary Realm, then concluded that a monstrous form there might be a reincarnated version of himself. As he traveled with Dancing Maiden, he sensed an enormous creature in the sea and recognized it as his body.

• Li Chen digested the memories and knowledge he had absorbed, worrying that the Void's Dao essence could have hidden dangers.
• Li Chen reasoned that his experience in the Illusionary Realm had let him inhabit a form connected to his true self and asked Dancing Maiden about the souls and reincarnation.
• Dancing Maiden said the monster could be Li Chen's reincarnated body, existing as a possibility shaped by the law of reincarnation rather than in any particular life.
• Dancing Maiden explained that limits on her memory and fixed state of life kept her from knowing much about such matters.
• Li Chen sensed an enormous, tentacled creature in the sea and recognized it as his body.

Li Chen returned his primordial spirit to the giant octopus using its auxiliary brain to shield himself from its corrupted information, and began to understand the body’s significance. Meanwhile, the Immortal Alliance discussed the Blue Sea Water Realm and chose to leave its exploration to individual parties while prioritizing the Central Sea.

• Li Chen projected his primordial spirit into the giant octopus and used its auxiliary brain to isolate the chaotic information flooding his mind.
• Li Chen regained control of the octopus’s body through the auxiliary brain and began studying the knowledge it contained.
• The Immortal Alliance learned that the investigating stewards had died and discussed the newly discovered Blue Sea Water Realm and the Sea Emperor’s possible Dao fruit.
• The Chief Seat said the Netherworld taboo and the Central Sea took priority over the Water Realm, then directed the alliance to notify its members and let them decide whether to act.

After taking control of the Mutated Dharma Body, Li Chen discovered signs that the world might be a living creature and ventured deeper into the void to search the Sea Emperor’s memories. Meanwhile, an Immortal Alliance group encountered the Sea Emperor’s colossal body in the Chaos Void.

• Li Chen used the Mutated Dharma Body’s vision to perceive cell-like structures and broke through the World Barrier, leading him to suspect they were inside a creature from the Illusionary Realm.
• Li Chen decided to seek more memories from the Water Realm’s people and used the Mutated Dharma Body to devour beings drifting through the void.
• Li Chen steered the Mutated Dharma Body into deeper darkness, where he encountered increasingly monstrous creatures and memories of the Last Sea Emperor facing a natural calamity.
• Dancing Maiden warned Li Chen that the Mutated Dharma Body had grown to over two hundred thousand zhang and become more monstrous, but Li Chen ordered her to keep going.
• An Immortal Alliance Primordial Spirit Realm Great Power led more than a hundred people through the void and identified the immense being ahead as the Sea Emperor’s body.

Zong Yiyang explained that Guixu might be the source of the universe and that the Sea Emperor had devoured the Water Realm to merge it into himself. As Li Chen grew to an astronomical scale and uncovered the Water Realm’s destruction, he considered whether universes might exist within living beings before encountering people from the Immortal Alliance.

• Zong Yiyang told the Immortal Alliance cultivators that Guixu was called the source of all phenomena and described the theory that ancient immortals’ grotto-heavens became the Astral Realms.
• Zong Yiyang explained that the Sea Emperor had likely devoured the Water Realm, including its planets and Spirit Peak Blessed Lands, to refine the void and unify the Dao.
• Li Chen’s mutated Dharma Body grew from hundreds of thousands of zhang to hundreds of millions of li as it advanced through Guixu and absorbed memories of the Water Realm.
• Li Chen learned that the Sea Emperor had destroyed the Water Realm, and Dancing Maiden suggested that beings might be as immense and terrifying to microscopic worlds as the Sea Emperor was to the Water Realm.
• Li Chen considered the possibility of universes existing within living beings, but concluded that it remained unproven speculation.
• Li Chen and the approaching group recognized each other as people from the Immortal Alliance and a Puppet Master.

Li Chen encountered Zong Yiyang and a large Immortal Alliance force in Guixu, then realized Dancing Maiden could turn the confrontation in his favor. Dancing Maiden unleashed her Heavenly Demon Dance, immobilizing Li Chen and making the Alliance cultivators dance, but Zong Yiyang broke free and attacked Li Chen.

• Li Chen recognized Zong Yiyang, a Primordial Spirit Realm Great Power, and assessed the Immortal Alliance force accompanying him.
• Zong Yiyang suspected the Guixu changes involved Puppet Masters and identified the palace-robed woman as Dancing Maiden.
• Dancing Maiden rose into the air and began her Heavenly Demon Dance, controlling the movements of the Immortal Alliance cultivators and partially restraining Li Chen.
• Zong Yiyang broke free of the dance's control and lunged at Li Chen with murderous intent.

Li Chen used the Mutated Dharma Body’s Corrupting Shadow to fight Zong Yiyang, but Zong Yiyang’s lightning nearly destroyed it. Li Chen escaped to the Dancing Maiden, took control of the wooden puppets made from her victims, and discovered that his Dharma Body could regenerate.

• Xiao Die and Xiao Ying shielded Li Chen from Zong Yiyang’s attack, and Li Chen fled into the Mutated Dharma Body when the Dancing Maiden disrupted Zong Yiyang.
• Li Chen unleashed the Dharma Body’s Corrupting Shadow, which wounded Zong Yiyang before he burned away its effects.
• Zong Yiyang struck the enormous Dharma Body with heavenly lightning, nearly tearing it apart, and Li Chen escaped toward the Dancing Maiden when the attack waned.
• The Dancing Maiden turned the Immortal Alliance cultivators who had completed the Heavenly Demon Dance into wooden puppets, and Li Chen used invisible threads to command them to attack Zong Yiyang.
• Li Chen discovered that the Mutated Dharma Body had regenerated and condensed into the phantom of an enormous octopus.

Li Chen expanded his Pseudo-Root Dao Art and corrupted Zong Yiyang, but Zong Yiyang used a feigned attack to send him away with a Divine Travel Talisman. Li Chen realized he was being transported toward the Immortal Alliance Headquarters, where he faced a deadly crisis.

• Li Chen realized the mutated dharma body could regenerate endlessly in the Illusionary Realm and considered using his Pseudo-Root Dao Art to store his primordial spirit as data.
• Li Chen’s insight caused the mutated dharma body to swell, while Zong Yiyang destroyed Dancing Maiden’s fragile wooden puppets with lightning.
• Li Chen corrupted Zong Yiyang with the Primordial Spirit Virus, transforming him into a monstrous form.
• Zong Yiyang used a feigned Heaven-Seal Three-Yin Thunder attack to send Li Chen away with a Divine Travel Talisman, then fled as Dancing Maiden pursued him.
• Li Chen’s mechanical body was torn apart in the void, forcing him to use Primordial Spirit Projection, and he realized Zong Yiyang had sent him toward the Immortal Alliance Headquarters.

Li Chen infiltrated the Earthly Immortal Continent through a guarded Teleportation Array, using an illusion, a disguise, and altered memories to pass unnoticed. Elder Fang and a mysterious Nascent Soul expert later uncovered the deception with a Talisman and ordered the Stewards questioned about what Li Chen had changed.

• Li Chen emerged from the Teleportation Array in Primordial Spirit Projection, disguised himself as a traveler, and used magic threads to numb a Steward’s perceptions and alter key memories.
• The Stewards accepted Li Chen’s story, while the registrar recorded him under the name Li Bai.
• Elder Fang arrived with other cultivators, shut down the Magic Array, and used a Talisman to reveal an illusion of Li Chen’s arrival.
• A mysterious Nascent Soul expert identified Li Chen’s Puppet Dao methods and explained how his disguise and memory manipulation had deceived the Stewards.
• Elder Fang ordered D-Team to question the Stewards and determine which memories Li Chen had altered.

Elder Fang and Envoy You arrived at Windward Lodge to organize a secret hunt for Li Chen, whom the Immortal Alliance ordered captured or killed. Elder Fang’s account of Li Chen’s many disguises, skills, and mind-altering abilities left the local pursuers unsure how they could find him.

• Elder Fang and Envoy You arrived at Windward Lodge, where the local branch had sealed the travel routes and air harbor.
• Elder Fang told the local officials and magnates that Li Chen had escaped to the Equal Sea Domain and might be taking a roundabout route toward the Vast Sea.
• Envoy You presented Great Elder Hong’s decree ordering the factions to cooperate in capturing Li Chen, with a reward for killing him as well.
• Elder Fang described Li Chen’s history as a Puppet Dao Master and his extensive talents in disguise, memory alteration, combat, and other arts.
• The local pursuers realized that Li Chen’s abilities could undermine their surveillance and make him nearly impossible to locate without divination.

Elder Fang and the Immortal Alliance launched a costly search for Li Chen, whose unusual Destiny Pattern made him difficult to track. They found a poetic clue at the Air Harbor’s southern terminal, but it left uncertain whether he had already departed by boat.

• Elder Fang explained that the Immortal Alliance would search for Li Chen through traces in his movements and use the Heaven-Watching Mirror and True-Sight Talismans.
• Elder Fang ordered cultivators to scour the Market District and investigate teleportation arrays and flying boats before Li Chen could get farther away.
• Cultivators found a poem carved on a pillar at the Air Harbor’s southern terminal, signed with the name Li Bai.
• A projected image showed Li Chen carving the poem and smiling as if he knew the searchers were watching.
• Elder Fang concluded the clue confirmed Li Chen had been there but did not prove whether he had actually boarded a boat, and he praised the poem’s literary skill.

Li Chen escaped pursuit by spreading false identities across multiple travelers and reached Cloudstride City, where he contacted Heavenly Pivot and decided to stay in the Outer Domain for a while. He left the story settled in Cloudstride City, resting and preparing to digest his gains before returning to the Vast Sea.

• Li Chen secretly boarded a flying boat from Windward Lodge and used a possessed cultivator to pose as a traveler named Li Bai.
• Li Chen implanted the Li Bai identity and a valuable Sword Formula into more than twenty passersby, sending them toward different destinations to confuse Elder Fang and his pursuers.
• Li Chen arrived in Cloudstride City and used his controlled cultivator to take a room at an inn.
• Li Chen contacted Heavenly Pivot, asked it to notify Mei Xuan and Great Elder Shen, and learned that Lady Dancing Maiden had returned Xiao Die and Xiao Ying.
• Li Chen chose to remain in Cloudstride City to recover, digest his gains from the Blue Sea Water Realm, and enjoy a break from his duties at Heavenly Dragon Peak.

Xia Ziyi discovered that the old Bronze Ring he had regretted buying contained the Myriad Heavens Strongman Cultivation System, which forced him to complete a cultivation mission and rewarded him with points. After spending those points to enhance his magic power, he found that the system had raised his cultivation by a small step.

• Xia Ziyi examined the ordinary-looking Bronze Ring he had bought for eight thousand talisman coins and regretted wasting his money.
• The ring attached itself to Xia Ziyi’s finger, introduced the Myriad Heavens Strongman Cultivation System, and assigned him a mission to circulate his qi three times under threat of obliteration.
• After the system punished him for questioning it, Xia Ziyi sat down and practiced the Qi-Channeling Method until he completed the mission.
• The system awarded Xia Ziyi ten points, unlocked its shop, and explained its enhancement, item, cultivation knowledge, and support redemption categories.
• Xia Ziyi spent his ten points to increase his magic power and felt his cultivation rise by an entire small step.

Xia Ziyi accepted the Bronze Ring’s system as a fortuitous encounter, unaware that Li Chen had created it to manipulate and guide him. After reviewing Xia Ziyi’s progress, Li Chen studied the fragments of knowledge he had gained from the Water Realm Remnants and identified Void-Refining Creation Art as his most valuable path toward mastering creation.

• Xia Ziyi learned how the system, its tasks, shop, and lottery worked, and believed he had found a legendary treasure.
• Li Chen revealed that he had built the system into the Bronze Ring, altered Xia Ziyi’s memories, and intended to use him as a puppet while offering him genuine opportunities to grow.
• Several days later, Li Chen reviewed the system records and found that Xia Ziyi had completed sixteen tasks, earning spiritual essence and materials.
• Li Chen considered how to strengthen Xia Ziyi without drawing attention and reflected on his gains from the Illusionary Realm and the Sea Emperor’s Remains.
• Li Chen identified Divine Soul Derivation, Primordial Spirit Virus, Void-Refining Creation Art, and the Immortal Dharma Body Dao Fruit among the powers and mysteries he had discovered.
• Li Chen decided that Void-Refining Creation Art was his most important discovery because it could lead him toward a Root Dao Art and mastery of creation.

Li Chen developed the Heart-Demon Nightmare Art and prepared to build a puppet incarnation while using Xia Ziyi to collect materials. In Cloudstride City, he manipulated Xia Ziyi into buying a Red-Faced Mountain Ogre corpse, which Xia Ziyi exchanged for a large number of system points.

• Li Chen studied supreme divine abilities, refined the Primordial Spirit Virus into the Heart-Demon Nightmare Art through Xia Ziyi, and began seeking materials for a puppet incarnation.
• Li Chen used Xia Ziyi to conceal a Mechanism Wooden Puppet in the Xia family residence and planned to obtain fresh demon corpses for more puppets.
• Xia Ziyi noticed Cloudstride City had grown unusually quiet as demon-beast attacks drew local forces and residents into organized hunts.
• A special system mission urged Xia Ziyi to buy a Red-Faced Mountain Ogre corpse, and Li Chen guided him toward completing it.
• Xia Ziyi carried the corpse to a secluded corner and exchanged it for twenty-five thousand points.

Li Chen used an illusion to hide his work from Xia Ziyi, then turned the mountain ogre’s corpse into a pseudo Five-Star Puppet with a chip-based mind. He sent it from the Xia estate toward the wilderness to gather cultivation supplies and funds while he coordinated from town.

• Li Chen transferred the mountain ogre’s corpse into his Minor Grotto-Heaven and had a Mechanism Puppet craft chips and refine spirit materials in Xia Ziyi’s study.
• When Xia Ziyi returned, Li Chen’s illusion concealed the puppet and its work from him and anyone else entering the room.
• Li Chen strengthened the mountain ogre’s corpse, replaced its blood with Spirit-Infused Blood, installed a Power Core, and removed its brain.
• Li Chen implanted a chip-based mind in the corpse puppet, which awakened, gathered objects from the desk, and stored them in the Minor Grotto-Heaven.
• The corpse puppet walked openly through town, then leaped into the void and disappeared into the distant mountains.