Chapter Summaries

Fang Yuan arrived in the capital and was summoned at night by White Bone Madam to meet Grand Preceptor Hu, but Li Chen redirected his carriage into a sealed otherworldly space. Li Chen revealed himself and declared that Fang Yuan would die there.

• Fang Yuan settled into his temporary residence and spent the evening studying before White Bone Madam arrived with a summons from Grand Preceptor Hu.
• Fang Yuan’s servant warned him that the summons might be a trap, but Fang Yuan chose to go with White Bone Madam.
• Li Chen and Pan Ning watched as Fang Yuan’s carriage approached the Imperial City, and Li Chen used the Sacred Spirit Grand Formation to send it into a separate space.
• Fang Yuan discovered that White Bone Madam and the driver had vanished, while the carriage carried him to the plaza before Purple Zenith Hall.
• Li Chen confronted Fang Yuan and revealed his identity, leaving Fang Yuan shocked before declaring that he had prepared a deadly trap.

Li Chen stripped Fang Yuan of his rank and trapped him inside the Sacred Capital’s formation, then used the Chaos Void to destroy his body and soul. Pan Ning watched as Fang Yuan was annihilated, leaving no apparent path to resurrection.

• Li Chen used the Azure Dragon Dharma Form and an imperial edict to deprive Fang Yuan of his fortune and official status.
• Li Chen summoned City-Guarding Demon Gods and heavenly soldiers to arrest Fang Yuan in the Palace City.
• Fang Yuan used the Years Like a Song Book to resist, but the Azure Dragon shattered its visions and wounded him.
• Fang Yuan tried to escape through the world barrier, but the sacred spirit grand formation’s Heaven-and-Earth Shift returned him to his original position.
• Li Chen attacked Fang Yuan with the Mysterious Nonbeing Art, distorting him into a monster before holy light burned him to nothing.
• Pan Ning watched from the palace and remarked that Li Chen had annihilated Fang Yuan’s body and soul.

Li Chen discovered that Fang Yuan was using the Years Like a Song Book to rewind his own time and escape the Sacred Spirit Grand Formation. As Fang Yuan repeatedly returned to earlier points along his route, Li Chen pursued him, confident he had understood the treasure’s limits.

• After Fang Yuan’s remains were destroyed, Li Chen realized the Years Like a Song Book was missing, and Pan Ning warned him that it wielded the Temporal Dao.
• Li Chen understood that Fang Yuan had used the book to reverse his personal timeline and escape the first deathtrap.
• When Fang Yuan tried to rewind again, Li Chen activated the Sacred Spirit Grand Formation and the Demon Gods killed him, but the book vanished and restored a hundred zhang around him to an earlier state.
• Li Chen pursued Fang Yuan along the bronze carriage’s route and found him restored to the moment before he entered Sage-Approaching Street.
• Fang Yuan tried to break through buildings and expose Li Chen, but Li Chen revealed the apparent destruction was only a mirage within the formation.
• The Demon Gods caught and killed Fang Yuan again, but he and the Years Like a Song Book vanished to begin another rewind.

Li Chen and Pan Ning killed Fang Yuan by overwhelming him before he could use the Book of Years. Li Chen then issued edicts to punish Fang Yuan’s associates, erase his writings, and elevate Confucius’ Teachings, while implying that the Three Sages had sent Fang Yuan as an assassin.

• Li Chen ambushed Fang Yuan in the Netherworld and used Wisdom Dao attacks to keep him from activating the Book of Years.
• Li Chen, Pan Ning, and their forces subdued Fang Yuan, seized the Book of Years, and killed him.
• Li Chen returned to Qian'an Palace and wrote edicts ordering the arrest of people associated with Luli Academy and the confiscation of Fang Yuan’s writings.
• Li Chen declared Confucius’ Teachings the State School and ordered the hundred local schools abolished in favor of Sage Kong.
• Pan Ning realized Li Chen intended to blame the Three Sages for Fang Yuan’s assassination attempt.

After Fang Yuan’s failed assassination attempt on Li Chen, Hu Ze framed the incident as a plot by Prince Ning and used it to push the court toward confronting the Three Sages. The regents issued edicts blaming Prince Ning and establishing Confucius’ teachings in state schools, leaving Great Qian divided and on the brink of upheaval.

• Han Li arrested Fang Yuan’s servants and disciples and escorted them from his residence to prison.
• Hu Ze presented Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan with evidence that Fang Yuan had fought the City-Guarding Divine Generals while attempting to assassinate the emperor.
• Hu Ze argued that Prince Ning and the Three Sages had exploited Fang Yuan to provoke internal strife and derail Great Qian’s campaign against the demons.
• Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan signed three Imperial Edicts, including one blaming Prince Ning and another establishing Confucius’ teachings as state-school doctrine.
• Officials and commoners reacted to the public accusation, while skeptical observers suspected the Three Sages behind the plot.
• The edicts reached the provinces, forcing prefectures and academies to choose between obeying the court and aligning with East Zou.

Master Han confronted Fairy Zhang Hua over Hu Ze’s role in Fang Yuan’s death and rumors that the Saints had ordered the assassination. Zhang Hua defended Hu Ze and sent word for him to be careful, while Master Han left to handle the matter himself.

• A white-robed scholar told Master Han that Fang Yuan had been killed after attempting to assassinate the emperor, and rumors blamed the Saints.
• Master Han went to Zhang Mountain and questioned Fairy Zhang Hua about Hu Ze’s actions in the Sacred Capital.
• Master Han explained that Hu Ze had killed Fang Yuan, but Fairy Zhang Hua was unconcerned and defended his authority as grand preceptor.
• Fairy Zhang Hua warned Master Han not to kill Hu Ze, while Master Han departed without answering.
• Fairy Zhang Hua praised Hu Ze’s decisiveness and told Qiao Niang to warn him to be careful.

Li Chen sent Hu Ze to lead Great Qian’s army against East Zou while condemning the Three Sages as traitors, then began his plan to seize the Deer Terrace. Pan Ning used the Deer Terrace’s gathered fortune to raise Hu Meiniang to peak cultivation and summoned the Bone Kun Warship above the Sacred Capital.

• Li Chen discussed the Second Sages’ suspicions with Shen Longcheng and Pan Ning, agreeing to sacrifice Hu Ze’s Avatar if necessary while preserving his identity as Emperor Chongdao.
• Hu Ze denounced East Zou and the Three Sages as rebels and traitors, then marched Great Qian’s army east.
• Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan watched the army depart and doubted it could defeat the Three Sages without Great Qian’s earth veins and dragon aura.
• Li Chen began acting near Fragrant Mountain as Pan Ning absorbed the Deer Terrace’s fortune and raised Hu Meiniang to peak cultivation, though she failed to reach nine-star grade.
• Pan Ning summoned the Bone Kun Warship above the Deer Terrace through Void Transfer, shocking Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan.

Li Chen used the Bone Kun Warship to capture the Deer Terrace and attack the Sacred Capital, seizing control of its Grand Formation and stripping power from its defenders. He scattered Great Qian’s dragon aura and fortune among the city’s people and powerful figures, changing the balance of power in the capital.

• Li Chen drew the Deer Terrace into the Bone Kun Warship, while Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan mistook the event for an attack by the Puppet Dao and resented the Three Sages.
• Li Chen drove the warship toward the Sacred Capital and bombarded the city as the Four Great Sacred Spirits, Demon Gods, and Heavenly Soldiers and Generals mobilized to defend it.
• Li Chen seized control of the Sacred Spirit Grand Formation, captured the Demon Gods, and drew dragon aura from the Four Great Sacred Spirits.
• Li Chen scattered the formation’s fortune as incense and fire prayer power, allowing the people of the Sacred Capital, Yue Dongyang, Lu Yuan, and Pan Ning to absorb it.
• The Four Great Sacred Spirits weakened as fortune manifested in powerful beings, and the balance of power in the Sacred Capital shifted.

Li Chen revealed that he had engineered Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan’s rise as Second Sages and used the Sacred Spirit Grand Formation to restrain them. As the Heavenly Dao began reclaiming its authority, Li Chen prepared to flee to the Vast Sea while Yue and Lu ordered the destruction of his formation foundations.

• Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan recognized Li Chen’s familiar Confucian Dao and tried to attack him as the Heavenly Dao reclaimed control of Great Qian’s fortune and formation.
• Li Chen used hidden formations to immobilize the four sacred spirits and suppress Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan, whose Dao Path made them instinctively submit to him.
• Li Chen identified himself as Li Chen of Guangyun, a Second Sage of Mind-Study and Great Qian’s Grand Preceptor, and explained that he intended to keep Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan alive to control the court and oppose the Three Sages.
• Li Chen headed for the Bone Kun Warship to return to the Vast Sea as his authority and control over the Sacred Spirit Grand Formation weakened.
• Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan ordered their followers to demolish Li Chen’s buildings and destroy the formation foundations, while Pan Ning escaped through the puppet world heavenly net.

Hu Ze's Avatar arranged for his followers to receive Secret Talismans and made plans for Nie Chen before Master Han arrived to take him away to Funiu Mountain. Hu Ze's Avatar then died on the spot, leaving Master Han to suspect that he had fallen for a staged-accident scam.

• Hu Ze's Avatar gave Han Li a Divine Travel Talisman and promised her its purpose would become clear at her destination.
• Hu Ze's Avatar distributed Secret Talismans to selected followers and told Nie Chen to take command of the army and seek refuge with Lord Yue if anything happened to him.
• Master Han arrived at Autumn Wind Plain and asked Hu Ze's Avatar to accompany him to Funiu Mountain.
• Hu Ze's Avatar sent Master Han a cryptic warning, then stopped breathing and died.
• Nie Chen and Hu Ze's followers mourned, while Master Han suspected the death was staged.

Fairy Zhang Hua attacked Master Han after learning that he had killed Hu Ze, but Master Han broke her bewitching attack with his karmic law and she withdrew. The Three Sages concluded that the conflict had deepened as Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan attained Sainthood and might side with Zhang Mountain.

• Fairy Zhang Hua learned that Master Han had killed Hu Ze and rushed to Autumn Wind Plain to confront him.
• Fairy Zhang Hua set Master Han ablaze and pursued him, while he tried to explain himself.
• Sage Lin and Sage Qi arrived to restrain the confrontation, and Fairy Zhang Hua used Heavenly Fox Bewitching Heart against the Three Sages.
• Master Han severed karma to break Fairy Zhang Hua's attack, forcing her to withdraw.
• Master Han insisted that Hu Ze's death required further investigation, while the Three Sages discussed the Puppet Masters and the newly sanctified Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan.

After Hu Ze’s death, Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan concealed his identity, honored him publicly, and built the Heavenly Principle Church while enduring pressure from the Three Sages. Fairy Zhang Hua continued backing them but grew suspicious of recent events and summoned Hu Ying, Hu Bi, Hu Shuang, and Hu Xue to begin a new game.

• Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan learned that a Second Sage of the Confucian Dao had killed Hu Ze, then decided to conceal the truth and endure.
• Nie Chen and others returned to the Sacred Capital, where Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan established the Heavenly Principle Church by merging the Four Great Academies.
• Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan gave Hu Ze a grand funeral, bestowed the posthumous title Cultured and Upright, and enshrined him as a deity.
• Fairy Zhang Hua attacked the Three Sages’ disciples, disrupting East Zou’s campaign, but failed to kill Long Yan before the Demon God Palace mediated.
• Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan strengthened their Neo-Confucian Dao fruits and discovered their power to draw on imperial fortune and popular faith.
• Fairy Zhang Hua grew suspicious of recent events and ordered Qiao Niang to summon Hu Ying, Hu Bi, Hu Shuang, and Hu Xue.

Li Chen returned to the Bone Kun Warship after revealing his identity to Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan, then assessed Heavenly Pivot’s growth and his own new Second Sage abilities. He began planning to establish an artificial heavenly dao across the warship and prepared to use the treasures he had brought back from Great Qian.

• Li Chen left Yue Dongyang and Lu Yuan to oppose East Zou in his stead after revealing part of the truth about himself.
• Li Chen returned to the Azure Billow Immortal Abode, where Heavenly Pivot welcomed him and reported that the Bone Kun Warship’s infrastructure was ninety-nine percent complete.
• Li Chen learned how Heavenly Pivot had developed and considered using his reserves to create an artificial heavenly dao throughout the Bone Kun Warship.
• Li Chen reunited with Xiao Die and Xiao Ying, returned to his original body, and sensed the powers granted by his Mind-Study Second Sage status.
• Li Chen concluded that his new sage rank would not conflict with his pursuit of the Grandmaster realm, then brought out his Great Qian spoils.

Li Chen returned to Heavenly Dragon Peak after amassing Great Qian’s treasures and found Mei Xuan had turned the city into a thriving center of trade and industry. He told her he had reached the Primordial Spirit realm and was ready to shift their focus to the Immortal Abode.

• Li Chen entrusted Heavenly Pivot with sorting and storing the treasures he had gathered in Great Qian.
• Li Chen returned to Heavenly Dragon Peak and found it flourishing as the new principal city of the Guangyun Domain.
• Mei Xuan announced commercial tax cuts and was reunited with Li Chen after more than twenty years apart.
• Mei Xuan explained how she had advanced Li Chen’s plans for chip standards, automation, and industrial production.
• Li Chen praised Mei Xuan’s work and told her to take over the Immortal Abode because he had reached the Primordial Spirit realm.

Li Chen brought Mei Xuan to a grotto-heaven inside the Bone Kun Warship and revealed his plan to build a materialized heaven without relying on the Golden Sun Gate or outside investors. He showed the gathered slave workers and artisans his vision, beginning with a realm of material abundance before introducing Equal Heaven.

• Li Chen told Mei Xuan that his Primordial Spirit cultivation and status as a Second Sage gave him the power to develop the Azure Billow Immortal Abode on his own.
• Li Chen brought Mei Xuan into one of the nine grotto-heavens inside the Bone Kun Warship to show her the workers and artisans he had gathered there.
• Li Chen summoned the tens of thousands of workers and artisans, including Bu Qingyun, Tie Jin, An Feng, and Mei Yicheng, and prepared to explain their future.
• Li Chen used his divine sense to connect the gathered people to his thoughts and show them his vision of the Giant Kun and its nine ideal heavens.
• Li Chen showed them the Materialized Heaven, a realm where machinery provided abundant goods and satisfied material desires.
• Li Chen's vision shifted to Equal Heaven, where everyone lived without class divisions, oppression, or slaughter.

The chapter depicted nine heavens, ascending from material abundance through spiritual freedom, desirelessness, and transcendence. It ended with the Celestial People merging into the unknowable great unity heaven.

• The vision showed the second heaven, where material abundance had ended class conflict but left greed and resentment intact.
• The third heaven, lesser unity heaven, eliminated material hardship, but its people fell into emptiness and rivalry once their needs were met.
• The fourth heaven gave the Celestial People spiritual pursuits and freely chosen roles sustained by magic power generated through love.
• The vision rose through desireless heaven and tranquil heaven, where people sought their true selves and transformed into disciplined beings beyond fleshly life.
• In supreme heaven, the Celestial People united heart, desire, and bounds, then gained new bodies through Puppet Conversion in the eighth returning-to-the-hidden heaven.
• Li Chen used Heavenly Ghost's Return to the Hidden to transform the Celestial People, and the vision concluded with all lives merging into great unity heaven.

Li Chen explained his vision of a materialized heaven, where Puppet Dao technology would transform bodies and society to break humanity’s cycle of stagnation. He reassured Bu Qingyun that people would retain their wills and argued that lasting morality meant serving the collective benefit of all living beings.

• Li Chen described the Nine Major Grotto-Heavens as nine stages of societal development and explained how his ideal combined Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian teachings.
• Li Chen argued that technological transformation of bodies and minds could overcome society’s cycle of material and ideological stagnation.
• Bu Qingyun asked whether people who joined Li Chen’s heaven would retain their wills, and Li Chen said they would.
• Li Chen warned that failing to pass through the transition from Lesser Unity Heaven to Freedom Heaven could destroy society.
• Li Chen explained that Puppet Conversion could reduce waste and exploitation, then defined true morality as serving the long-term collective benefit of all living beings.

Li Chen explained his plan to rule the people aboard the Bone Kun Warship and reshape their society, defending his authority to Mei Xuan. Han Li struggled to accept that her former master Hu Ze was Li Chen, while Black Spirit confronted him and King Iron Armor and the others pleaded for mercy.

• Li Chen ordered Heavenly Pivot to arrange the labor and intelligence needed to build his ideal society.
• Mei Xuan questioned whether Li Chen had brainwashed the workers, and he admitted to using brief hypnotic suggestions while defending his authority over them.
• Li Chen explained to Mei Xuan that people act according to their own moral standards and that the great Dao keeps to the center.
• Han Li appeared, and Li Chen urged her to see past his revealed identity and remember his kindness as her master.
• Black Spirit called Li Chen an Outer Dao scoundrel, while King Iron Armor and the others apologized and affirmed their submission to him.

Li Chen tested Heavenly Pivot’s defenses against Black Spirit’s escape attempt, then explained primordial spirit cultivation to Mei Xuan. He revealed that he had mastered the creation law, the power to create things from nothing.

• Black Spirit tried to flee, but Heavenly Pivot’s Void Satellites struck her and forced her back into the sky.
• Heavenly Pivot exposed Black Spirit’s concealment with its combined detection methods and overwhelmed her with its forces.
• Black Spirit submitted and was taken away in a Flying Boat while Li Chen told the demons she could return after reflecting and apologizing.
• Li Chen and Mei Xuan discussed the cultivation realm associated with mastering laws and using Root Dao Arts.
• Li Chen produced a lump of gold from nothing and told Mei Xuan he had mastered the creation law.

Li Chen demonstrated to Mei Xuan a Creation Law that could produce mundane matter and complete manufactured objects from nothing, explaining how his grasp of the Primordial Spirit Realm and Solar Dao let him transform creations into immense magic power. He left her amazed as he conjured everything from hydrogen bombs and industrial equipment to a fully furnished building.

• Mei Xuan recognized that Li Chen’s power created matter without consuming primordial energy and realized that it violated the usual laws of conservation and entropy.
• Li Chen explained the stages of the Primordial Spirit Realm and said his Creation Law mastery did not make his body and divine soul stronger than the early stage.
• Li Chen showed that he could turn created matter into Divine Thunder and then into primordial energy and magic power, producing more power than Mei Xuan possessed.
• Li Chen explained that his Creation Law could create finished products, then conjured hydrogen bombs, industrial machines, and a furnished building.
• Mei Xuan marveled at the range of Li Chen’s power.