Chapter Summaries

After the infant emperor ascended the throne, Hu Meiniang tried to seize power, but Li Chen arranged for Hu Ze to turn Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan against her and leave court on campaign. Li Chen later met Shen Longcheng and Pan Ning, exchanged resources, and received Artificial Artifact Spirits to test in a ritual for refining Divine Artifacts.

• The ministers enthroned the one-year-old Crown Prince Jin as Emperor Chongdao and appointed Hu Ze, Yue Dongyang, and Lu Yuan to the Regency, while Hu Meiniang became Grand Empress Dowager.
• Hu Meiniang demanded that Hu Ze help her kill Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan, but Li Chen decided to expose her plans to the two officials through Hu Ze's Avatar.
• Hu Ze's Avatar warned Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan that Hu Meiniang might reveal the infant emperor's parentage, and they agreed to eliminate her while sending Hu Ze to suppress eastern rebels.
• Hu Ze led an army east, leaving Hu Meiniang without support, and deliberately delayed his return despite her repeated demands.
• Li Chen met Shen Longcheng and Pan Ning in the Puppet World Heavenly Net, discussed their preparations to attack the Central Sea, and exchanged information and resources with them.
• Great Elder Shen gave Li Chen Modified Species, Ancient Demon Series War Puppets, and Artificial Artifact Spirits for him to test in refining Divine Artifacts.

Hu Ze's Avatar captured Sand City, imposed military order, and seized its treasury while Li Chen watched from the shadows. A secret report then revealed Hu Meiniang's abuses and Yue Dongyang's faction preparing to move against her.

• Li Chen declared that he could create divine positions by issuing imperial edicts and returned to reality as Hu Ze's Avatar's army advanced.
• Hu Ze's Avatar defeated the Thirteen Route Lords' forces, captured Sand City, and ordered his troops to protect civilians and pursue the rebels.
• Local gentry welcomed Hu Ze's Avatar, who ordered his troops to take the treasury's military supplies and leave the people basic necessities.
• Han Li questioned the effects of Hu Ze's seizure of local wealth, and Hu Ze said his actions served a deeper purpose he could not yet explain.
• Hu Ze's Avatar received a secret report saying Hu Meiniang had abused officials and filled her inner circle with lovers and opportunists, while Yue Dongyang's faction gathered evidence and prepared to strike.

Li Chen successfully used a Deification Sacrifice Ritual to create Divine Artifacts for the Orthodox Gods of the eight departments and arranged to send them out of the Righteous Qi Continent for study. As he resumed his campaign, Hu Meiniang summoned Demon Kings to the Sacred Capital, prompting Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan to urgently seek Hu Ze’s help.

• Li Chen possessed Hu Ze's Avatar and presided over a Deification Sacrifice Ritual that granted divine positions and powers to Magical Treasures.
• Li Chen reported his success to Shen Longcheng and Pan Ning, who discussed how the Artificial Divine Artifacts might retain their authority beyond the Righteous Qi Continent.
• Li Chen used multiple spatial transfers through his Bone Kun Warship to send items between the Righteous Qi Continent and the Puppet Dao.
• Li Chen plundered wealth, prepared his army, and resumed pursuing the rebellious lords.
• Hu Meiniang used the child emperor to disable the Sacred Spirit Grand Formation's restraints on summoned Demon Kings, and Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan appealed to Hu Ze for help.

Li Chen secured Fairy Zhang Hua’s support for Hu Ze and arranged for Tang Taibai to challenge Hu Meiniang through public opinion. Tang Taibai returned to the outskirts of Sacred Capital, where his new poem mocking Hu Meiniang spread among the people.

• Li Chen complained to Fairy Zhang Hua about Hu Meiniang’s actions, and she praised Hu Ze’s achievements while ordering him to focus on his duties as Grand Preceptor.
• Li Chen decided Tang Taibai could support Yue Dongyang and the others by rallying the Confucian Sect and public opinion against Hu Meiniang.
• Tang Taibai arrived by boat outside Sacred Capital, and Great Qian officials welcomed his return.
• Eunuch Ma advised Hu Meiniang to ignore Tang Taibai because he had not entered the city, and she agreed.
• Tang Taibai released “Song of Everlasting Regret,” which spread widely and left Hu Meiniang irritated by its mockery of her.

Eunuch Ma arrived at the Eastern Hedge Retreat with the Grand Empress Dowager’s decree to arrest Tang Taibai, but the Literati Circle rose up to protect him. After a violent clash left five young scholars dead, Li Chen proposed honoring them as deities and wrote an epitaph for their sacrifice.

• Eunuch Ma announced the Grand Empress Dowager’s decree and ordered the scholars to clear the way so he could arrest Tang Taibai.
• The scholars refused to surrender Tang Taibai, and Li Chen accused the Grand Empress Dowager’s faction of acting against law and justice.
• Eunuch Ma ordered his men to move, and the scholars attacked the Demon-Quelling Bureau forces with their Confucian abilities.
• The clash ended with five young scholars dead and the Eastern Hedge Retreat in ruins, while Eunuch Ma’s forces were driven off.
• Li Chen urged the scholars to request divine titles for the five dead men and wrote an epitaph praising their righteous deeds.

Hu Meiniang and Qinggu unleashed demon forces and recruited warriors to crush the Confucian Sect, spreading violence across Great Qian. As officials urged Master Green Lotus to leave the Eastern Hedge Retreat, Li Chen declared he would resist force, and attackers arrived outside.

• After learning of Eunuch Ma's defeat, Hu Meiniang agreed to let Qinggu confront the Confucian scholars with force.
• Qinggu sent demon soldiers to arrest scholars and ambushed those traveling to the Eastern Hedge Retreat.
• Qinggu recruited human martial artists with government posts, and organized warriors began attacking academies and scholars across Great Qian.
• Administrators from Yongzhen Academy urged Tang Taibai to leave the Eastern Hedge Retreat for safety.
• Li Chen told the administrators he would yield to reasoned debate but defend himself if attackers used force.
• A group arrived outside the Eastern Hedge Retreat and began threatening to smash the private academy.

Li Chen left the Eastern Hedge Retreat after Demon-Quelling Bureau guards raided it, then settled at a secluded villa north of the Sacred Capital. There, Qiao Niang warned him that powerful figures knew he was secretly stirring up trouble and that his life was in danger.

• Demon-Quelling Bureau guards attacked the Eastern Hedge Retreat, and Li Chen let Yongzhen Academy’s administrators handle them.
• Yongzhen Academy’s administrators moved Li Chen to a quiet summer villa north of the Sacred Capital.
• As civil and military factional tensions worsened in the Sacred Capital, Li Chen practiced calligraphy at the villa.
• Qiao Niang appeared before Li Chen and warned him to leave the land of strife because powerful experts had discovered his secret activities.

Li Chen discovered that Fairy Zhang Hua and the Demon God Palace had secretly brought Demon Kings into the Sacred Capital, so he leaked their arrival to Yue Dongyang. As the Grand Confucians mobilized to defend the capital, Li Chen spotted Yang Wuji and a force of Martial King experts approaching, confirming that a martial Dao Great Power had entered the fray.

• Qiao Niang warned Li Chen, as Tang Taibai, to stay out of the conflict and then left the Summer Retreat Villa.
• Emperor Chongdao detected Hu Meiniang guiding twelve Demon Kings into the imperial palace and relayed the discovery to Li Chen.
• Li Chen inferred that Fairy Zhang Hua and the Demon God Palace were conspiring to seize control of Great Qian, then secretly informed Yue Dongyang of the Demon Kings' arrival.
• Yue Dongyang gathered the Grand Confucians, who mobilized troops to seal the Sacred Capital and activate its formation.
• Li Chen spotted Yang Wuji leading more than a dozen Martial King experts near the eastern outskirts of the Sacred Capital.

Li Chen watched the Flaming-Mane Emperor Venerable and Yang Wuji lead a coordinated assault on Sacred Capital, then used New Emperor Chongdao’s authority to awaken Great Qian’s divine forces. The two invading powers were suddenly surrounded and plunged into grave danger.

• Yang Wuji and Heavenly Martial Gate elders plotted to distract the Sacred Spirit Grand Formation while their forces infiltrated Sacred Capital.
• The Flaming-Mane Emperor Venerable arrived with demon soldiers and Demon Kings, joining Yang Wuji’s attack on the city.
• The Azure Dragon and White Tiger manifested from the formation, while the Vermilion Bird and Black Tortoise remained suppressed by Hu Meiniang’s authority.
• Li Chen wielded New Emperor Chongdao’s command authority and awakened the Four Great Sacred Spirits, thousands of demon deities, and one hundred and eight thousand heavenly soldiers and generals.
• The Great Qian Deities surrounded the Flaming-Mane Emperor Venerable and Yang Wuji, placing them in immense danger.

Li Chen watched the sacred spirit formation trap Nascent Soul experts as the Confucian Sect struggled against the martial artists and Demon Race inside the Sacred Capital. After a devastating battle left the Confucian officials near defeat, the Second Sage of the Confucian Dao finally entered the fray from the east.

• The Confucian Sect experts used their knowledge of the sacred spirit formation to evade its dangers and seize key positions, but they were soon overwhelmed by the martial artists and Demon Race.
• A Great Martial Master of the Heavenly Martial Gate killed Brother Qingwen and attacked the Confucians, while nine more Great Martial Masters closed in on them.
• Lord Pei used his Sage Dao brush treasure to badly wound a Martial King, but two other Martial Kings attacked him and sent him crashing to the ground.
• Yue Dongyang and the other Confucian officials gathered household retainers and government troops, but hundreds of officials were killed and Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan were gravely injured.
• Li Chen saw purple qi appear over the eastern outskirts and recognized that the Second Sage of the Confucian Dao had entered the fray.

Master Han arrived at Sacred Capital as the battle raged and accepted Yang Wuji and the Flaming-Mane Emperor Venerable’s challenge to settle the conflict through a contest. Yang Wuji began by killing a blue-robed scholar in front of Master Han.

• Li Chen saw Master Han riding a white bull toward Sacred Capital amid a surge of purple qi.
• The Confucian disciples recognized Master Han, and Yue Dongyang and his allies welcomed his arrival.
• Master Han questioned Yang Wuji and the Flaming-Mane Emperor Venerable about their attack and defended the Confucian Sect’s rule of Great Qian.
• Yang Wuji challenged Master Han to a contest of martial might against the Causality Dao, and the Flaming-Mane Emperor Venerable joined the wager.
• Yang Wuji seized a blue-robed scholar from an academy and crushed his throat before Master Han.

Master Han resurrected a young scholar after Yang Wuji destroyed his soul, then confronted the Flaming-Mane Emperor Venerable as he devastated the land around Sacred Capital City. Master Han reversed the destruction across tens of thousands of miles, restoring the dead and ruined homes.

• Yang Wuji destroyed the young scholar’s soul and true spirit to win his wager with Master Han.
• Master Han revived the scholar through a power that restored his body, soul, and true spirit, then returned him to safety.
• The Flaming-Mane Emperor Venerable unleashed living flames and fiery meteors, laying waste to the land and killing countless people.
• Master Han reversed time across the disaster zone, restoring the destroyed homes, the dead, and the scattered families.

After Master Han forced the Flaming-Mane Emperor Venerable and Yang Wuji to withdraw, Hu Meiniang’s faction tightened its grip on the Sacred Capital and persecuted Confucian officials. Yue Dongyang arranged for threatened disciples to flee to East Zou, where the Confucian Sect had secretly prepared to support the former emperor’s descendants.

• Master Han watched the Flaming-Mane Emperor Venerable and Yang Wuji depart after they acknowledged his power but vowed to continue resisting.
• The Demon Race and Martial Dao sects seized control of the Sacred Capital, while the Demon-Quelling Bureau and the Eastern and Western Depots arrested and tortured officials.
• Hu Meiniang ordered the execution of the remonstrating officials and the burning-pillar punishment for Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan’s students and associates.
• Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan arranged for their threatened students and associates to escape the Sacred Capital.
• Yue Dongyang directed the fleeing disciples toward East Zou and revealed that the Confucian Sect had secretly prepared to support its Commandery Prince against Hu Meiniang’s rule.

Li Chen, posing as Tang Taibai, accepted an invitation to meet three Confucian Sages at Bamboo Head Mountain despite fearing they might expose him. Master Han immediately identified him as Li Chen, the Puppet Dao Master from the Vast Sea.

• Yue Dongyang and the Four Great Academies told Li Chen about the Sacred Capital upheaval and asked him to write a masterpiece to raise the Confucian Sect's morale.
• Yue Dongyang invited Li Chen to meet Master Han, Sage Lin, and Sage Qi at Bamboo Head Mountain, and Li Chen agreed to go.
• Li Chen arrived at Bamboo Head Mountain and was welcomed by Altar Master Shang Feng, a disciple of Sage Lin.
• Li Chen followed Shang Feng to the violet thunder jade bamboo grove and formally greeted the three Sages.
• Master Han recognized Li Chen as the Puppet Dao Master from the Vast Sea, exposing his assumed identity as Tang Taibai.

Li Chen discussed the nature of the Dao with the three Confucian Second Sages, arguing that the Puppet Dao and the evolution of species offered a broader path to understanding creation than individual cultivation. The chapter ended with Master Han rejecting Li Chen’s proposal to explore the Great Dao together, saying that those who followed different Daos could not plan together.

• Master Han revealed that he had discovered Li Chen’s identity through causality and invited him to join the Confucian Sect.
• Li Chen argued that the Puppet Dao encompassed the Confucian Dao and that he would study Confucian methods as tools rather than pursue them as his ultimate goal.
• Saint Lin challenged Li Chen’s claim that the Puppet Dao surpassed individual cultivation, citing the effort required to cultivate and attain the Dao.
• Li Chen argued that the evolution of species and the study of nature were more profound than individual transcendence, which he viewed as a tool for exploring the Great Dao.
• Li Chen asked the three Second Sages how their Daos could end their long war and explore the Great Dao together, but Master Han said those who followed different Daos could not plan together.

After the failed attempt to capture Li Chen, Sage Lin ordered Tang Taibai to enter seclusion, while Li Chen planned to rely on his Hu Ze identity and prepare Emperor Chongdao to take control. In the Sand Kingdom, Qiao Niang briefed Hu Ze on the Sacred Capital’s turmoil and Fairy Zhang Hua’s plans, then asked about Tang Taibai’s origins.

• Sage Lin told Shang Feng that Tang Taibai would enter Master Han’s tutelage and remain in seclusion, and ordered him to spread the news.
• Li Chen learned that Tang Taibai’s identity had been retired and decided to focus on Hu Ze while mastering the Sacred Spirit Grand Formation and securing deification authority for Emperor Chongdao.
• Qiao Niang arrived at Hu Ze’s tent and explained that Hu Meiniang’s allies had helped trigger the upheaval in the Sacred Capital, where Master Han thwarted their plot against the Confucian Sect.
• Qiao Niang conveyed Fairy Zhang Hua’s instructions for Hu Ze to support Meiniang and hold the government until Emperor Chongdao took control, promising Hu Ze a chance at a high divine position.
• After discussing the political struggle and the rewards Hu Ze might gain, Qiao Niang asked whether he knew Tang Taibai’s origins.

Hu Ze dismissed Qiao Niang’s warning about Tang Taibai and defended his role in the Sacred Capital’s upheaval. The chapter then showed military and eunuch forces abusing their power in the city, ending with a forged imperial edict used to seize Official Huang and his household.

• Qiao Niang warned Hu Ze to stop associating with Tang Taibai, but Hu Ze defended his ties to the Confucian Sect and said he would manage its affairs.
• Han Li worried that the turmoil would harm Hu Ze’s standing and bring suffering to the people, while Li Chen silently reflected.
• A Valiant Cavalry Camp commander ran down an old man in the street and rode away, and constables refused to act against the powerful soldiers.
• A purple-robed eunuch and the Demon-Quelling Bureau arrested Official Huang and seized his family over alleged offenses against the sovereign.
• A Junior Banner Officer began writing on a stamped blank imperial edict as Official Huang protested the raid.

After Imperial Guard forces killed a group of young heroes and captured two women, their Iron Sword Gate companions debated what to do and decided to alert their master. Commander Lan learned the captives’ identity and resolved to seek permission to destroy their sect.

• The Imperial Guard and other military forces killed the masked assailants, then forced townsfolk to clean the bloody street.
• The surviving Iron Sword Gate disciples learned that Senior Sister Jing and Junior Sister Wang had been taken prisoner and argued over whether to rescue them.
• Senior Brother Wang persuaded the disciples to send a secret talisman to their master instead of acting rashly.
• Commander Lan’s men reported that the two captives were Iron Sword Gate disciples who had come to the capital for the Myriad Treasures Assembly.
• Commander Lan decided to request permission to leave the capital and wipe out Iron Sword Gate at Ponytail Mountain.

Hu Ze received appeals from the Sacred Capital’s Confucian officials and learned that East Zou was being promoted as a possible rival power, but he said he needed Zhang Mountain’s approval before acting. After Fairy Zhang Hua sent word to act as circumstances warranted, Hu Ze ordered his army to return to court.

• Hu Ze read Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan’s letter describing the Sacred Capital’s turmoil and asking him to return.
• Hu Ze told Han Li that his demon nature prevented him from acting freely without support from a Great Power.
• Han Li relayed Lord Yishan’s report that East Zou enjoyed peaceful rule, and Hu Ze concluded the Confucian Saints were preparing to support its Commandery Prince.
• Fairy Zhang Hua’s reply reached Hu Ze five days later, instructing him to act as circumstances warranted.
• Hu Ze ordered the army to break camp and return to court.

Hu Ze returned to the Sacred Capital with six hundred thousand troops and confronted Hu Meiniang over the disorder spreading through Great Qian. He made three requests to restore order, reconcile with civil officials, and gain authority over the sacred spirit grand formation, leaving Hu Meiniang troubled by his final demand.

• Yue Dongyang, Lu Yuan, and the court welcomed Hu Ze and his returning army to the Sacred Capital, while Hu Meiniang greeted him and hosted a banquet.
• Hu Ze stationed most of his troops around the Capital Region and brought his personal guards and elite forces into the city.
• Hu Ze privately rebuked Hu Meiniang for widespread violence and administrative neglect, then admitted that his own priorities had allowed harm to come to the people.
• Hu Ze asked Hu Meiniang to discipline eunuchs, Demon Cultivators, and Martial Artists, and she agreed to let him take harsh measures.
• Hu Ze asked her to restrain the Demon-Quelling Bureau and the Eastern and Western Depots, clear civil officials' names, and repair relations with them; Hu Meiniang agreed.
• Hu Ze requested authority over the sacred spirit grand formation, and Hu Meiniang's expression changed.