Chapter Summaries

Li Chen learned from Shen Longcheng how Great Qian’s Dao of Fortune bound the Righteous Qi Continent’s earth veins and people’s support to the imperial hierarchy. After discussing how fortune worked and how to conceal his own, Li Chen asked what the Puppet Dao had discovered about infiltrating Great Qian.

• Shen Longcheng explained how Great Qian used fortune, incense-and-fire deification, and control of the spirit veins to maintain its rule.
• Li Chen concluded that the imperial house distributed benefits to secure support and preserve its pyramid-shaped social order.
• Shen Longcheng taught Li Chen the Fortune-Reading Method and warned him to disguise his cyan-blue fortune and trace of purple qi.
• Li Chen said his connection to Fairy Zhang Hua made a touch of purple qi plausible, and Shen Longcheng cautioned him to stay on guard.
• Shen Longcheng described fortune as a power drawn from the people's support and the continent’s spiritual essence, and Li Chen compared it to the Heavenly Will.
• Shen Longcheng said past attempts to infiltrate Great Qian had stalled before the presented-scholar examinations, while Li Chen’s unusual destiny and ties to Zhang Hua had enabled his appointment as a commandery prince.

Li Chen discussed fortune power with Shen Longcheng, then used his princely status to establish a Demon Kingdom and appoint its monsters as officials. As the new officials received Great Qian’s fortune, Li Chen secretly planned to reclaim its benefits while making Hu Ze’s Avatar proclaim loyalty to the dynasty.

• Shen Longcheng explained fortune power’s uses and offered Li Chen research materials in exchange for his findings.
• Shen Longcheng advised Li Chen to exploit his Great Qian identity cautiously and secretly stir turmoil among Righteous Qi Continent’s forces.
• Li Chen established the Demon Kingdom and appointed Black Spirit, the Five Lakes’ Seven Great Monsters, Madam Bone, and other demons to official posts.
• Li Chen sensed fortune flow through his new officials and toward Great Qian, and resolved to find a way to keep more of it for himself.
• Li Chen altered Hu Ze’s Avatar’s memories to proclaim loyalty to Great Qian, and the gathered demons joined in the pledge.

Li Chen studied how Black Spirit’s innate ability transformed souls into chang ghosts, then used the Flat Hill Demon Kingdom’s fortune to reshape her face. He concluded that Golden Words could alter subjective qualities through fortune, but their effects depended on logic, status, and jurisdiction.

• Li Chen and Black Spirit transformed a refined remnant soul into a chang ghost, and Li Chen studied how its spirit body was formed.
• Black Spirit asked Li Chen to reshape her face in exchange for helping with his experiments.
• Li Chen invoked the Golden Seal and used the kingdom’s fortune to confer beauty on Black Spirit, transforming her into a stunning woman.
• Hu Xi quietly reacted with jealousy and noticed that her own appearance and figure had also improved.
• Li Chen recorded his findings that Golden Words could alter perceptions such as beauty, but their effects had limits and could conflict with existing designations.

Li Chen experimented with fortune and Words Become Law, then halted his work after a series of disasters suggested he had depleted the Flat Hill Demon Kingdom's fortune too severely. He discussed the consequences with Shen Longcheng, decided to keep a low profile, and learned that a dedicated Communication Array line had been established.

• Li Chen reflected on the high cost of using fortune, continued experiments with Black Spirit, and considered how bearing and appearance could be shaped by supernatural power.
• Li Chen's use of fortune coincided with earthquakes, droughts, barren valleys, and wildfires, leading him to stop consuming the region's incense and fire prayer power.
• Li Chen met Shen Longcheng in the Puppet World Heavenly Net, and Shen agreed that the disasters were likely caused by the decline of the Flat Hill Demon Kingdom's fortune.
• Li Chen and Shen Longcheng discussed how prosperity could strengthen a ruler's fortune but also reduce the people's dependence on authority, while other lords might unite against anyone who gained too much power.
• Li Chen said he would quietly develop the Flat Hill Demon Kingdom and conceal his connection to the Puppet Dao, and Shen Longcheng told him their dedicated Communication Array line was ready.

Li Chen learned that access to the Guixu Boundary Gate and his waymarker had failed, and he and Shen Longcheng considered whether disturbances linked to the dead Sea Emperor were responsible. Li Chen concluded that the Sea Emperor was not resurrected but might persist as an anomalous imprint in the Great Dao, leaving the Blue Sea Water Realm able to exist within Guixu’s illusory realm.

• Shen Longcheng told Li Chen that his waymarker and the Immortal Alliance’s Guixu Boundary Gate had stopped working, and raised the possibility that the Sea Emperor was reviving.
• Li Chen explained that true death erased a being’s root information, making genuine resurrection impossible, and affirmed that the Sea Emperor had truly died while pursuing the Dao.
• Li Chen and Shen Longcheng considered whether shifting space and time or Immortal Alliance interference had caused the access routes to fail, while secret agents investigated.
• Li Chen suspected the Sea Emperor’s remaining Great Dao power could be causing the anomalies and argued that the danger was not resurrection but havoc from what remained after his death.
• Shen Longcheng explained that Dao comprehension could grant access to information recorded by the Great Dao, and Li Chen concluded that the Sea Emperor’s imprint allowed the Blue Sea Water Realm to persist within Guixu’s illusory realm.

Li Chen discovered that his Mutated Dharma Body had caused the anomaly within the Imagination Gate and devised a plan to stabilize it by granting it divine status through incense and fire prayer power. He received confirmation that the idea was plausible, though its details remained unknown, and retrieved the completed Seven-Star Mechanical Body.

• Li Chen entered the Mutated Dharma Body's perspective inside the Imagination Gate and examined the Sea Emperor's Minor Universe without summoning the Dharma Body into reality.
• Li Chen's insights revealed that the anomaly came from his Mutated Dharma Body absorbing remnants in the Imagination Gate, and he realized the danger threatened his own mind and will.
• Li Chen thought of using the Incense Apotheosis Method to summon his Mutated Dharma Body and grant it divine rank, potentially stabilizing it.
• Li Chen discussed the plan with Shen Longcheng and Dancing Maiden, who agreed it seemed feasible but could not provide the missing details.
• Shen Longcheng told Li Chen that his Seven-Star Mechanical Body was ready, and Li Chen redeemed it through Heavenly Will.

After gaining the Seven-Star Mechanical Body, Li Chen restored his cultivation and began developing an artificial primordial spirit to conceal the flaws in Hu Ze's Avatar and advance his research. His latest experiment succeeded in producing a spirit body named Xiao Qian.

• Li Chen transferred his primordial spirit from Hu Ze's Avatar into the Seven-Star Mechanical Body and remotely sent the now-empty avatar out to continue the disguise.
• Li Chen recognized that Hu Ze's Avatar might be exposed because its life aura was abnormal without a primordial spirit, and he decided to pursue artificial primordial spirit research.
• More than a year later, Li Chen began his one hundred and first experiment, combining yin baleful intent, royal fortune, and a spirit-body template based on Yu'er.
• Li Chen formed an artificial spirit body with intelligence housed in spirit particles, and she introduced herself as Xiao Qian.

Li Chen confirmed that his artificial primordial spirit experiment had succeeded, then created a new spirit and used his experimental Heavenly Ghost's Return to the Hidden technique to give it life as Hu Ze's Avatar. The Avatar left the secret chamber, while Li Chen gained insight into the Creation-Promotion Secret Art and its missing tenth method.

• Li Chen examined Xiao Qian and confirmed that she was an artificial primordial spirit with properties like natural ghosts and cultivators' primordial spirits.
• Li Chen prepared to create a specialized artificial primordial spirit for Hu Ze's Avatar and began developing Heavenly Ghost's Return to the Hidden.
• Li Chen infused a newly formed spirit body with golden light and information, using Heavenly Ghost's Return to the Hidden to create a purer spiritual will.
• The spirit merged with Hu Ze's Avatar, which gained a living aura, greeted Li Chen, and left the secret chamber at his command.
• Li Chen reflected that his technique remained an imperfect spell and connected its principles to the Creation-Promotion Secret Art's missing tenth method and Grandmaster Yan Shi's Breathe Life into Being.

Li Chen perfected the Thousand-Mile Eye and Wind-Following Ear, then explored the limits of observing through different heavenly Daos and prepared to grant godhood to the mutated dharma body. Shen Longcheng revealed that true spirits carried coded designations, leaving Li Chen to recognize that he, too, was a derivative.

• Li Chen used the Thousand-Mile Eye and Wind-Following Ear to observe distant places, discovering that the Righteous Qi Continent Heavenly Dao’s influence affected its range and cost.
• Li Chen projected his divine sense into the Puppet World Heavenly Net and encountered the aware heavenly will in the Creation Secret Realm, then chose not to probe it further.
• Li Chen studied root information through the Great Dao Origin and concluded he could begin preparing to grant godhood to the mutated dharma body, though he lacked sufficient reserves.
• Li Chen told Shen Longcheng that he could analyze divine souls and create primordial spirits, and Shen Longcheng asked him to examine his true spirit.
• Li Chen discovered that Shen Longcheng’s true spirit was labeled a Type-A No. 7 Derivative and that his own was a Type-C No. 9 Derivative, then told Shen Longcheng that he understood.

Li Chen learned that the Puppet Dao’s artificial humans descended from five grandmaster lineages and that their creation techniques had spread throughout the Eastern Victory Continent. He questioned how his own reincarnation and Heavenly Ghost’s Return to the Hidden fit into the creation Great Dao, but Shen Longcheng could not answer, leaving Li Chen to ponder his path.

• Li Chen asked Shen Longcheng whether artificial creations differed from natural life and learned that independent action mattered for individuals while reproduction mattered for species.
• Shen Longcheng explained that the nine methods of the Creation-Promotion Secret Art united into Breathe Life into Being, and described Dancing Maiden and the origins of the Type-A and Type-C lineages.
• Shen Longcheng revealed that five grandmaster lineages had produced the Puppet Dao’s artificial humans and that most people under the Puppet Dao carried their True Spirit trait.
• Li Chen learned that the Outer Dao feared the secret and that the Puppet Dao had spread its people and Dao Path through production and manufactured goods over three hundred thousand years.
• Li Chen asked how his mind had entered an embryo in this world and how Heavenly Ghost’s Return to the Hidden related to creation, but Shen Longcheng could not resolve the mystery.
• Shen Longcheng explained that a grandmaster could plan for ten thousand generations by making inherited True Spirit changes benefit descendants, and Li Chen sank into thought about his own Dao.

Twelve years later, Han Li, known as the Poetry Sword Fairy, defended merchants in a frontier market and drove off the Blood Robe Bandits. Meanwhile, Li Chen’s ambitious construction and manufacturing projects had transformed the Demon Kingdom and brought prosperity even to remote towns.

• Han Li, now at Foundation Establishment Peak, arrived at a frontier market where merchants asked her to settle a dispute with a group of strangers.
• Han Li ordered Shopkeeper Ding to appraise the strangers’ goods, but their leader refused and insulted her.
• Han Li wounded the Innate Martial Master leader and severed his companions’ hands after they attacked her.
• The leader identified his group as the Blood Robe Association, and locals recognized them as the Blood Robe Bandits and mocked their ignorance of the area’s rules.
• Li Chen remained in seclusion from public affairs while developing puppet techniques and expanding construction, roads, transport, mining, and manufacturing across the Demon Kingdom.

Li Chen sent Han Li to escort a court envoy to his Prince's Estate, while an ambush struck the envoy's party in the mountains. One guard helped the envoy escape, and the attackers pursued him, relying on the Blood Robe Bandits to finish the job.

• Han Li practiced swordsmanship, and Li Chen told her that training alone would not help her break through and that she would need to undergo modification when the time was ripe.
• Li Chen ordered Han Li to meet the court's special envoy at the Demon Kingdom's border and escort him safely to the Prince's Estate.
• Black-clad assailants ambushed the envoy's party in the mountains, and both sides suffered casualties.
• One rear guard held off the attackers while the other carried the envoy away toward the opposite hillside.
• The black-clad leader blamed the Blood Robe Bandits for the failed ambush and pursued the fleeing envoy himself.

Han Li escorted Governor Lord Yong of Bamboo Province’s envoy toward the King of Pingqiu, but Prince Yong’s Blood-Robed Guards intercepted them near the frontier market. Their leader, Yang Zhaihou, confronted Han Li and the envoy warned that his new Great Martial Master strength made him a deadly threat.

• Han Li learned that Prince Yong’s men had attacked the envoy and his escort, and she suspected the envoy carried evidence of Prince Yong’s treason.
• Han Li took the envoy and his surviving guard through the forest on giant wolves toward the frontier market.
• The group encountered more than a hundred Blood-Robed Guards, including many Innate Martial Masters, who surrounded them outside the market.
• Yang Zhaihou introduced himself as the Sixth Boss of the Blood Robe Association and recognized Han Li as the Poetry Sword Fairy.
• The envoy identified Yang Zhaihou as one of the original Eighteen Blood-Robed Guards and revealed that he had recently advanced to Great Martial Master.

Han Li fought Yang Zhaihou and the Blood Robe Bandits, using her sword intent and powerful equipment to break their formation and wound their leader. When Yang Zhaihou’s hidden blood serpent bit her, her Dragon-Scale Mimetic Armor protected her, and he fled.

• Han Li leaped into the bandits’ formation and used her sword to kill several Innate Martial Masters and more than twenty underlings.
• Han Li’s Spirit-Energy Attached Horns powered a lightning strike that wounded and stunned Yang Zhaihou, but his magic artifact helped him withstand it.
• Han Li evaded Yang Zhaihou’s Blood Gleam Serpent Transformation and slaughtered the bandits while her Transformed Demons rushed toward the Market District.
• Han Li blocked Yang Zhaihou from pursuing the demons and wounded him with her self-created sword art, Heaven and Earth Rise and Fall.
• Yang Zhaihou struck Han Li with Blood Shadow Without a Trace, but her Dragon-Scale Mimetic Armor protected her, so he turned and fled.

Han Li escorted Lord Yong’s special envoy to the Pingqiu King’s Residence, where Hu Ze’s Avatar received evidence that Prince Yong was plotting rebellion and stealing Great Qian’s imperial qi. Hu Ze vowed to act against him and asked the envoy for advice on organizing his forces.

• Han Li drove Yang Zhaihou away, then reassured the special envoy that Prince Yong’s men would not dare threaten the Market District.
• Han Li and the special envoy reached the Pingqiu King’s Residence several days later and presented Lord Yong’s sealed box to Hu Ze’s Avatar.
• Hu Ze’s Avatar opened the box and examined a troop map, a privately minted talisman coin, and letters taken from Prince Yong’s allies.
• The special envoy revealed that one letter described Prince Yong’s plot to siphon imperial qi through a feng shui formation near Thorn Mountain.
• Hu Ze’s Avatar denounced Prince Yong’s actions, vowed to move against him, and asked the special envoy how to prepare his undisciplined forces.
• The special envoy recommended Nie Chen, a provincial graduate from his hometown, to serve Hu Ze.

Li Chen learned that the Great Qian court planned to use Hu Ze to assassinate Prince Yong and decided to exploit the succession crisis to advance the Puppet Dao’s interests. He left the Creation Sect leaders ready to act, confident that he could stir Great Qian’s turmoil while the Puppet Dao secured the Central Sea.

• Hu Ze's Avatar and the special envoy discussed assassinating Prince Yong and using his followers’ ensuing disorder to suppress the unrest.
• Li Chen decided to turn the court’s plan into an opportunity and summoned Shen Longcheng and Pan Ning through the Puppet World Heavenly Net.
• Li Chen explained the court’s plans, and Shen Longcheng asked whether the Great Qian Emperor was nearing death; Li Chen said he probably was.
• Shen Longcheng and Pan Ning discussed using the succession crisis to expand the Puppet Dao, while Li Chen argued they should secure the Central Sea and keep the Righteous Qi Continent distracted.
• Li Chen warned that the Outer Dao might soon attack the Puppet Dao’s foundations, and the group agreed that taking the initiative would be safer than waiting.
• Li Chen said he would use Great Qian’s political turmoil to advance his plans and end his long concealment.

Li Chen secured the Creation Sect’s support for pressuring the Righteous Qi Continent and received secret battle puppets for the mission. At the Prince’s Estate, he met Nie Chen, a bold but capable scholar, and appointed him to help govern and reorganize the Flat Hill Demon Kingdom.

• Li Chen invoked Heavenly Will with the Creation Sect’s elders to secure authorization to act against the Righteous Qi Continent.
• Pan Ning offered Li Chen five secret Desolate Beast Battle Puppets and access to two nine-star puppets in emergencies, while warning that using them could expose his identity.
• Hu Ze’s Avatar received Registrar Nan and Nie Chen, a Provincial Graduate who had failed the Metropolitan Examination twice.
• Nie Chen candidly described his plans for governing Pingqiu, including reforming its institutions, educating demon cultivators, and training an elite army.
• Hu Ze’s Avatar appointed Nie Chen General of the Army with authority over military and civil affairs in the Flat Hill Demon Kingdom.

Li Chen appointed Nie Chen General of the Army, then set out to confront the Blood Robe Bandits at the border, planning to use the clash as cover for his moves against Prince Yong. Hu Ze's Avatar descended on the bandits, and its first attack swept across them with deadly force.

• Li Chen appointed Nie Chen General of the Army with a rank equivalent to two thousand shi, and Nie Chen pledged his loyalty.
• Li Chen explained Great Qian's system of fortune and official rank to Registrar Nan, then discussed plans to assassinate Prince Yong.
• Li Chen sensed the Blood Robe Bandits causing trouble at the Demon Kingdom's border and decided their attack could provide an excuse to act against Prince Yong.
• Hu Ze's Avatar flew to the frontier market, where the Blood Robe Bandits faced the market guards and the Ironblood Stronghold men.
• Blood Snake and Blood Eagle recognized Hu Ze, and the bandits tried to flee as Hu Ze's Avatar attacked with a sweeping strike of gang essence.

Hu Ze's Avatar slaughtered the Blood Robe Bandits and then intercepted Prince Yong's procession on its way to Thorn Mountain. He reached Prince Yong's palanquin, where the chapter ended with the two facing each other.

• Hu Ze's Avatar killed the Blood Robe Bandits, using three female ghosts to fatally wound Yang Zhaihou and then crushing Blood Eagle's martial soul and primordial spirit.
• Hu Ze's Avatar ordered the Market District crowd to bury the bandits and confiscate their belongings before departing.
• Li Chen's real body used the Thousand-Mile Eye and the Wind-Following Ear from the Underground Base beneath the Pingqiu King's Residence to search for Prince Yong.
• Hu Ze's Avatar waited beside a gorge and approached Prince Yong's procession unseen as it traveled to the Imperial Retreat on Thorn Mountain.
• Hu Ze's Avatar passed through the palanquin's beaded curtain and saw Prince Yong wearing a nine-pendant crown and a bright yellow dragon robe.

Hu Ze's Avatar attacked Prince Yong under the claimed authority of a secret imperial decree, but Prince Yong's allies fought back while their attacks passed harmlessly through the Avatar. The Avatar wounded Prince Yong, triggering a Five-Clawed Golden Dragon's protection and revealing that Prince Yong had stolen imperial aura.

• Prince Yong and Wang Ran discussed the unknown author of the Analects and the possibility of Prince Yong taking control amid upheaval in the court.
• After overhearing them, Hu Ze's Avatar attacked Prince Yong, but Wang Ran blocked the strike with the Book of Benevolence.
• Prince Yong ordered his guards to seize Hu Ze's Avatar, whose body let swords and literary attacks pass through it.
• Wang Ran and the White Lotus Academy's scholars joined Prince Yong's armored cavalry in attacking Hu Ze's Avatar, but their assaults also passed through him.
• Hu Ze's Avatar wounded Prince Yong with a claw, and a Five-Clawed Golden Dragon emerged to repel him.
• Hu Ze's Avatar recognized the dragon aura protection and accused Prince Yong of stealing imperial aura.