Chapter Summaries

Li Chen used wartime resources and Puppet Dao collaborations to modify and recycle insect soldiers while expanding Materialized Heaven’s research network. His Guangyun School gained influence in biotechnology, but he declined calls to found a biology sect and kept its focus on the Dao of Wisdom.

• Li Chen’s workshop fitted wounded saber mantis demons with mechanical weapons and prosthetics that raised their combat abilities to Foundation Establishment level.
• Li Chen’s forces recycled dead and disabled insect soldiers in a blood pool, recovering their matter and energy to maintain the swarm cheaply.
• Puppet Masters exchanged research through Li Chen’s Materialized Heaven platform, which grew more valuable as Nine Ridges City provided access to wartime resources and data.
• Insect Dao researchers sought collaborations with Li Chen’s forces, trading secret arts for biological research data and rare spirit materials.
• Puppet Masters urged Li Chen to found a sect in the Biology Field, but he declined and kept the Guangyun School devoted to the Dao of Wisdom.

With the Insect Soldiers’ attacks dwindling, the Immortal Alliance sent a scouting party to locate the hidden Insect Hive. Elder Qin’s team discovered that Materialized Heaven’s insects had gained metal armor and entered an underground city, where Hunting Insects attacked them.

• Cloudthunder Sect leaders debated the reduced attacks and agreed to send small scouting teams to search for the Insect Hive.
• A scouting party led by Elder Qin arrived above the Mu Clan’s ancestral lands and killed the Hunting Insects patrolling the ridge.
• Elder Qin and the scouts found that the Insect Soldiers’ shells incorporated strong metal armor, making them harder for low-rank cultivators to defeat.
• The scouts discussed how to counter the armored insects and resolved to investigate the cave entrance for intelligence.
• The party entered the underground city, where a pack of Hunting Insects immediately lunged at them.

A group of cultivators stormed the Insect Hive and were overwhelmed by its defenses and Half-Insect Men. Li Chen discovered that his collaborators had been conducting forbidden experiments on cultivators, and the chapter ended with him realizing the danger behind the activities Heavenly Pivot had detected.

• Elder Qin led the group into the Insect Hive, where Divine Flame Lasers, Insect Soldiers, and Half-Insect Men attacked them.
• Half-Insect Men mortally wounded Senior Brother Fang and overwhelmed the other cultivators, while Insect Soldiers seized Junior Sister.
• Heavenly Pivot woke Li Chen and showed him footage of the attack and a Half-Insect Man consuming a cultivator's corpse.
• Li Chen recognized the Spiritual Root Seizure Art, the Demonic Embryo Rebirth Secret Art, and the Blood Spirit Great Medicine being used in the Insect Hive.
• Li Chen realized that Grandmaster Artisans and Grand Artisans in the Puppet Dao faction had secretly carried out the forbidden experiments he had prohibited.

Li Chen confronted Huang Zhao, Qi Shangyang, and Shan Jing over their subordinates’ forbidden Insect Dao experiments and ordered them to withdraw from Cloud Province. He defended his distinction between using decaying corpses and exploiting living humans, leaving the three leaders facing the end of their cooperation with him.

• Li Chen showed Huang Zhao, Qi Shangyang, and Shan Jing Heavenly Pivot’s recordings of the atrocities committed by their subordinates and demanded an explanation.
• Li Chen said the three could no longer cooperate with him and ordered them to withdraw from Cloud Province, prompting them to protest that he was terminating their cooperation.
• Huang Zhao argued that their insects merely fed on corpses and accused Li Chen’s Slime Mold techniques of doing the same.
• Li Chen distinguished his Slime Mold’s consumption of rotting corpses from Half-Insect Men preying on living people and their souls.
• Li Chen condemned Qi Shangyang’s use of female cultivators as seedbeds and Shan Jing’s use of human flesh and blood to raise Blood Spirit Maggots, insisting that they must not cross their human bottom line.

Li Chen explained to Pan Ning that his objection to the Three Grandmasters’ methods came from their violating the rules of his domain, not from condemning Puppet Dao practices in general. After mediation, the Three Grandmasters apologized and regained limited access to cooperation, while Li Chen recognized that their differing ideals would remain a challenge.

• Pan Ning met Li Chen in the form of Hu Meiniang and explained that several Puppet Dao grandmasters used transformed bodies and human materials, asking why Li Chen objected to the Three Grandmasters’ conduct.
• Li Chen told Pan Ning that he would not interfere with the grandmasters’ ideals but expected them to respect his rules and the boundaries of his domain.
• Pan Ning accepted Li Chen’s position, and the dispute was quietly settled through mediation.
• Huang Zhao and the others privately apologized, said the offenders had been punished, and asked Li Chen to let them return to Cloud Province.
• Li Chen forgave them and reopened channels to their partners, though he did not immediately let them back into Cloud Province.
• Li Chen concluded that cordial cooperation could not erase the differences between their paths.

Li Chen freed Heavenly Pivot and entrusted Materialized Heaven to her, then resolved to perfect the Self-Slaying Path to Enlightenment. Months later, the Immortal Alliance’s counteroffensive provoked a powerful insect swarm assault on Divine Mist Mountain, where Elder Huo arrived as Pass City faced defeat.

• Li Chen granted Heavenly Pivot ultimate authority and removed the restraints on her, making her a free and independent soul tasked with guiding Materialized Heaven.
• Li Chen said he no longer trusted human nature, including his own, and resolved to cultivate the Self-Slaying Path to Enlightenment and attain the heavenly ghost dharma body.
• The Immortal Alliance seized several underground cities and killed the Insect Queen’s avatars, prompting the swarm to spread through its network and attack nearby territories.
• At Pass City, Shao Li and the defenders faced an enormous insect force whose thunder katydids bombarded the city before missiles and nuclear bombs shattered its defenses.
• As insect soldiers advanced through the breaches, Elder Huo struck with a vast blade of sword qi, annihilating thousands of them and lifting the defenders’ spirits.

Elder Huo annihilated an insect army at Pass City, but learned that Puppet Masters had exploited his absence to devastate Cloudview Heaven. The Immortal Alliance later recognized that the Cloudthunder Sect was being slowly worn down, and its survival depended on whether the Great Powers intervened.

• Elder Huo single-handedly slaughtered the insect swarm attacking Pass City, then rushed back to Cloudview Heaven after receiving an urgent message.
• Elder Huo learned that Puppet Masters had breached Cloudview Heaven, destroyed three subsidiary peaks with Sun Divine Thunder charges, and killed or wounded more than ten thousand disciples.
• The Puppet Dao army repeatedly launched attacks across multiple battlefields, forcing the Immortal Alliance's strongest cultivators to redeploy while its losses mounted.
• The Cloudthunder Sect abandoned some low-grade spirit peak blessed lands, but the insect swarm occupied and developed the territory to produce more troops and weapons.
• The Immortal Alliance realized that the Cloudthunder Sect was being worn down and that its prospects depended on whether the Great Powers would intervene.

Cloudthunder Sect leaders discussed the Puppet Masters’ growing influence in Cloud Province and the Immortal Alliance’s reluctance to risk a direct assault while Li Chen remained hidden. Meanwhile, Li Chen’s Myriad Heavens Marketplace auctioned war spoils, leaving a Grand Artisan with a costly fire mica purchase and offering a seven-aperture exquisite fruit next.

• Cloudthunder Sect leaders reported that Puppet Masters had taken over local markets, won over aristocratic clans, and acquired military intelligence, while no one had found Old Devil Li.
• The Immortal Alliance’s envoy said the Supreme Elders would not act rashly because Li Chen and the Puppet Dao Grandmasters remained unlocated, and a surprise attack on Cloudview Heaven could destroy the sect’s defenses.
• The Puppet Dao cultivators gathered in Li Chen’s Myriad Heavens Marketplace to bid on treasures acquired during the campaign.
• Grand Artisan Li paid fifteen billion for supreme-grade fire mica, deciding it could help him forge a fire demon body and advance his battle-puppet craft.
• The auction began offering a seven-aperture exquisite fruit from Myriad Spirits Island, with bidding opening at ten billion.

Li Chen reflected on how the war and commerce were driving the Puppet Dao’s growth while pursuing a different vision of collective development through Materialized Heaven. After formally establishing the Lesser Unity Realm, he encountered a new problem when a citizen’s wish for a perfect companion provoked an angry attack.

• Mei Xuan reported that Cloud Province’s spoils and growing cooperation had opened new opportunities for the Puppet Dao, while Li Chen warned that war and commercial exploitation would fuel further conflict.
• Li Chen and Mei Xuan debated whether war and commerce were necessary engines of development, and Li Chen described his goal of transcending biological incentives through society-wide progress.
• Li Chen advanced his research into artificial intelligence and built institutions in Materialized Heaven that reduced internal friction and encouraged collective development.
• Materialized Heaven’s abundant supplies allowed Li Chen to formally declare the Lesser Unity Realm established.
• You Cheng wished for a perfect companion at the Wish Pool, and a beautiful woman emerged who matched his hopes.
• A furious man charged out of the waiting crowd and attacked You Cheng for using Bing'er’s appearance in his wish.

Long Qi and You Cheng fought over their feelings for Bing'er, prompting Li Chen to investigate and reconsider how his virtual companions affected his citizens. The dispute ended with Bing'er asking Li Chen to father her child, leaving him to blame himself for providing material abundance without spiritual fulfillment.

• Long Qi and You Cheng fought over Bing'er and were detained by Heavenly Pivot's Mechanical Guards.
• Li Chen and Mei Xuan discussed whether advanced society and cultivation could diminish love, family ties, and reproductive instincts.
• Li Chen questioned Long Qi, You Cheng, and Bing'er, and each explained their perspective on the conflict.
• Li Chen blamed himself for arranging the men’s companions together and announced that Heaven would prohibit using Bing'er's likeness to create companions.
• Bing'er asked Li Chen to father her child, and Li Chen lamented that his citizens' material abundance had outpaced their spiritual fulfillment.

Li Chen explained that freedom in Materialized Heaven depended not on satisfying every desire, but on self-restraint that prevented unattainable wants from arising. He selected disciplined people to test his ideas in Freedom Heaven and sent bored subjects to the Cloud Province Battlefield with new Divine Descentors bodies.

• Li Chen used public messaging and new laws to guide the values of the People of the Heavenly Kingdom.
• Li Chen told Mei Xuan that freedom came from limiting desires, arguing that self-restraint could prevent the suffering of unattainable wants.
• Li Chen began selecting disciplined people with few desires for social experiments in Freedom Heaven.
• Heavenly network data identified many Talismanists and other accomplished professionals as suitable candidates, and Li Chen gathered them as Freedom Heaven’s first residents.
• Li Chen summoned bored subjects and assigned them to the Cloud Province Battlefield after research on new Divine Descentors mechanical bodies succeeded.

Li Chen approved the production of Materialized Heaven’s second-generation Divine Descentor bodies, which used improved long-range remote control. Thousands of citizens descended into the outside world, and Li Chen also approved their requests to inhabit foreign-race bodies.

• Yu Bao showed Li Chen the new Celestial Person body and explained how its components and remote-control system worked.
• Li Chen authorized full production after Yu Bao confirmed the bodies were ready.
• Materialized Heaven completed and distributed nearly a thousand bodies to citizens chosen for outside assignments.
• Over the following months, more Divine Descentors assembled beneath Divine Mist Mountain, including tens of thousands at Foundation Establishment Realm and more than a hundred at Core Formation Realm.
• Citizens proposed descending into Insect Race members, demon puppets, and other foreign-race bodies, and Li Chen approved their requests.

Li Chen reviewed the grotesque and beautiful Divine Descentor Bodies citizens had designed and heard reports of their bizarre accidents and misdeeds in the outside world. He reflected on how the system’s freedom allowed such diversity and concluded that citizens could safely keep testing their limits until some eventually attained transcendence.

• Li Chen saw that many citizens had customized male Divine Descentor Bodies into grotesque forms, while female bodies remained predominantly beautiful.
• Heavenly Pivot reported that thousands of Divine Descentor Bodies had been produced and recounted citizens who had been robbed, deceived, captured, killed, or disqualified through reckless actions.
• Li Chen questioned how citizens with superior mechanical bodies could suffer so many mishaps, and Heavenly Pivot attributed most incidents to their own choices and the diversity of human behavior.
• Li Chen reflected that his system allowed citizens to make mistakes and pursue their own paths, believing they could keep testing their limits without truly dying and might eventually attain transcendence.

Ten years into Li Chen’s Cloud Province Campaign, Shao Li helped recruit youths for the weakened West River Gate. When Cloudthunder Sect disciples tried to seize the recruits, Shao Li stood his ground and revealed a Netherdark Variant Flame, shocking them.

• Shao Li explained that his mid-grade spiritual-root aptitude had not prevented him from surviving trials and advancing to peak Qi Refining.
• He oversaw recruitment as the sects lowered their standards amid heavy losses and recorded rejected youths as a possible reserve for the West River Gate.
• Cloudthunder Sect disciples confronted Shao Li’s group and demanded the youths join their sect, mocking the West River Gate and its possible merger.
• Shao Li refused to surrender the recruits, declaring that the West River Gate had not perished.
• A Cloudthunder Sect disciple attacked Shao Li with Palm Thunder, and Shao Li revealed his Netherdark Variant Flame, prompting the attackers to recognize him.

Shao Li used his Netherdark Variant Flame to drive off Cloudthunder Sect disciples, then broke through to Foundation Establishment during cultivation. The breakthrough unlocked strange memories and knowledge that made him question his past and the nature of his world.

• Shao Li struck a Cloudthunder Sect disciple with his Netherdark Variant Flame and spared him after ordering the others to leave.
• An elder questioned Shao Li after the Cloudthunder Sect disciples complained, but the incident did not affect his standing.
• Shao Li cultivated late at night and unexpectedly achieved Foundation Establishment.
• The breakthrough opened the Spirit-Particle Memory Meme sealed in Shao Li’s spiritual terrace, and he dreamed of identical bodies floating in nutrient fluid.
• Shao Li awoke unable to clearly recall his life before age fourteen and found that he had gained extensive knowledge about the Outer Dao, the Immortal Alliance, and the war.

After reaching Foundation Establishment, Shao Li struggled with troubling memories as West River Gate prepared for war. A devastating surprise attack overwhelmed the sect’s defenses, leaving its destruction seemingly imminent.

• Shao Li explained to Junior Sister Huang why West River Gate trained its disciples in martial arts and coordinated battle formations.
• Shao Li recognized an air raid as Thunderhawk Fighters attacked the sect and set the Outer Port Market District ablaze.
• Shao Li identified a stealth bomber’s nuclear strike, which destroyed Side Peak and opened a gap in the sect’s aerial defenses.
• West River Gate’s leadership ordered Shao Li and the other True Disciples to reinforce Beacon Tower Mountain as the enemy army approached.
• Silver Pearl Assault Vehicles crashed through the defenses and deployed forces across the area, leading an elder to fear that West River Gate would be annihilated.

Shao Li fought Materialized Heaven’s Divine Descentors at West River Gate before Ye Gufeng arrived and helped suppress the attack. With a vast Insect Soldier army still threatening the sect, the elders announced that Foundation Establishment cultivators could leave for the Immortal Alliance, shocking the Sect Master.

• Shao Li returned to a side peak and fought the Divine Descentors attacking its array foundation, killing their leader before reinforcements surrounded him.
• Shao Li ran out of energy for the Divine Gang Spear, but Ye Gufeng arrived and slew the Divine Descentors with Sword Meteor.
• Shao Li recognized Ye Gufeng as a Heavenly Sword Sect Nascent Soul elder, then privately wondered why he knew the man despite never meeting him.
• Ye Gufeng and West River Gate’s elders could not stop the vast Insect Soldier army pressing hundreds of miles away.
• West River Gate’s elders announced special Immortal Alliance admission slots for cultivators at Foundation Establishment and above, and the Sect Master accused Elder Qi of betraying the sect.

After the West River Gate’s leaders defected to the Immortal Alliance, the Puppet Dao captured its mountain base and prepared to advance on Divine Mist Mountain. Li Chen anticipated a decisive clash between Great Powers and ordered his forces to slow their advance, leaving the enemy encircled rather than attacking.

• Elder Qi declared the West River Gate effectively finished, and Shao Li and other cultivators joined the Immortal Alliance.
• The Puppet Dao army captured the West River Gate’s mountain base, while its sect master and a few loyal elders died fighting on the main peak.
• The Puppet Dao celebrated the victory and discussed advancing to Divine Mist Mountain, but Li Chen worried that the Immortal Alliance’s Great Powers would soon intervene.
• Heavenly Pivot Dao explained that conventional armies could wear down powerful cultivators but could not counter a Great Power wielding the power of law.
• Li Chen decided to withdraw his troops and slow the advance, ordering them to encircle the enemy without attacking.

Li Chen halted his advance to consolidate his forces, expand production, and develop weapons, confident that his advantage would grow if he avoided unnecessary risks. The Cloudthunder Sect, trapped near Divine Mist Mountain, failed to find a safe way to escape its worsening strategic position.

• Li Chen explained to the Creation Sect that he would meet the enemy’s movement with stillness and use the pause to strengthen his forces.
• Li Chen’s allies in Cloud Province questioned his strategy, but he issued orders to expand production, development, and weapons research instead of pursuing the enemy.
• Li Chen directed his forces to equip warships and Mecha Puppets and improve weapons capable of threatening high-rank cultivators.
• The Cloudthunder Sect’s leaders complained that Li Chen had stopped near Divine Mist Mountain and was turning captured lands into resources for a war of attrition.
• Elder Xiu proposed uprooting the Spirit Vein in Cloudview Heaven, but the other leaders rejected the plan because it would disable their defenses and damage the sect’s foundation.
• The Cloudthunder Sect’s council fell silent, unable to find a remedy for its strategic disadvantage.

Li Chen urged the Puppet Dao leaders to prepare for victory by improving their military capabilities and using trade and ideological influence to reshape the Spell Dao rather than trying to eradicate it. The Immortal Alliance rejected surrender, while the weakened Cloudthunder Sect offered terms that Li Chen dismissed as delusional.

• Li Chen reviewed the Puppet Dao’s military shortcomings with Shen Longcheng and proposed demanding the Central Sea while leaving the Earthly Immortal Continent untouched in exchange for peace.
• Li Chen urged the Puppet Dao leaders to spread their technology and ideas through trade, win over Spell Dao moderates, and influence the Earthly Immortal Continent from within.
• The Puppet Dao’s Great Powers approved special research projects, and Li Chen added his own research into mortal materials to the development list.
• Shen Longcheng reported that the Immortal Alliance’s leadership rejected surrender, while the Cloudthunder Sect offered to surrender if it could retain its sect, lands, and Divine Mist Mountain.
• Li Chen and Shen Longcheng dismissed the Cloudthunder Sect’s proposed terms, judging that the defeated sect had no standing to bargain.