Chapter Summaries

Li Chen followed Lin Xi and Xiao Linyue into the grotto-heaven, where Dharma King Yuanhao exposed his hidden tracking marks and learned that Li Chen intended to end the war in Cloud Province. Yuanhao opposed Li Chen’s ambition to spread his Dao throughout the myriad heavens and summoned his Immortal King dharma form, leaving the two forces poised to clash.

• Dharma King Yuanhao exposed the tracking marks Li Chen had hidden on Lin Xi and Xiao Linyue, revealing how Li Chen had followed them into the grotto-heaven.
• Li Chen admitted he had planned to use the waymarkers to infiltrate and destroy the grotto-heaven, then said he had followed Yuanhao to end the war in Cloud Province.
• Li Chen declared that he wanted his followers to grow strong enough to spread his Dao throughout the myriad heavens without relying on his power.
• Dharma King Yuanhao warned that Li Chen’s ambition would plunge the myriad heavens into turmoil and vowed to stop him.
• Dharma King Yuanhao summoned his Immortal King dharma form, drawing on the ancient Immortal King Xuanling’s projection and power.

Li Chen fought Dharma King Yuanhao, whose Temporal Dao disrupted Li Chen’s attacks and pulled him out of antispace. Yuanhao badly damaged Li Chen’s expendable puppet avatar, but realized the setback would make Li Chen more cautious and harder to defeat.

• Dharma King Yuanhao attacked Li Chen with his Immortal King Dharma Form and Upper Clear Divine Thunder, but both attacks passed through Li Chen’s Imaginary-Number Dharma Body.
• Li Chen bypassed the dharma form and attacked Yuanhao, who used Temporal Dao to interrupt time, block the strike, and seize Li Chen’s wrist.
• Li Chen escaped into antispace, but Yuanhao reversed time and struck him, sending him flying and shattering the puppet avatar’s internal organs.
• Li Chen recognized Yuanhao’s control over time, while Yuanhao realized the damaged avatar was expendable and expected Li Chen to become more cautious.

Li Chen kept Dharma King Yuanhao, Lin Xi, and Xiao Linyue occupied at the Immortal Alliance’s rear encampment while the Cloudthunder Sect launched its counterattack at Divine Mist Mountain. The Bone Kun Warship descended over the battlefield and turned the ten Nascent Soul cultivators’ formation’s power against them, leaving Lei Zongyuan and the others facing Primordial Spirit-level strength.

• Li Chen used the Mysterious Nonbeing Art and summoned weapons through Void Waymarkers to fight Dharma King Yuanhao while the Immortal King Dharma Form destroyed his markers and puppets.
• The Cloudthunder Sect’s Lei Zongyuan, Wu Feng, Fu Shuoyuan, and Wen Qing led its counterattack with ten Immortal Alliance Nascent Soul envoys and other troops against the Puppet Masters and Insect Race.
• Divine Descentor squads arrived aboard Silver Pearl Flying Boats and attacked the enemy formations alongside the Puppet Masters’ warships and long-range weapons.
• The ten Nascent Soul cultivators arranged a formation to unleash a catastrophic attack as the Bone Kun Warship appeared above Divine Mist Mountain.
• The Bone Kun Warship seized the formation’s power and blasted it into the void, shattering the sky and forcing Lei Zongyuan and the others to face Primordial Spirit-level combat strength.

Li Chen’s Bone Kun Warship attacked the Cloudthunder Sect with Electromagnetic Flying Swords, overwhelming its defenses and destroying Divine Mist Mountain’s grand formation. The Cloudthunder Sect’s reinforcements remained delayed, and the chapter ended with the Garrison Elder realizing the array foundations had been destroyed.

• The Cloudthunder Sect learned the Bone Kun Warship had arrived and that the Dharma King could not send help yet.
• Lei Zongyuan led the Cloudthunder Sect’s forces into the enemy formations, hoping to avoid the warship’s weapons.
• The Bone Kun Warship launched alloy Electromagnetic Flying Swords that tore through the Mountain-Guarding Grand Formation and killed several Cloudthunder Sect cultivators.
• The flying swords drilled underground, and the Garrison Elder realized they had destroyed the array foundations.

The Immortal Alliance forces captured Divine Mist Mountain using the Soul-Reaping Demonic Sound Formation, which devastated the Cloudthunder Sect’s defenders. With the sect’s four Nascent Soul cultivators dead and the battle lost, Lei Zongyuan was urged to retreat.

• The attackers broke through Snake Neck Valley and swept onto Divine Mist Mountain’s main peak, where Cloudthunder Sect elders held a Star Dipper Formation.
• A Divine Descentor from Materialized Heaven called for the Soul-Reaping Demonic Sound Formation, a weapon developed through joint research by Materialized Heaven and the Soundless Heavenly Palace.
• More than ten Divine Descentors unleashed the formation, whose focused sound waves overwhelmed the defenders and killed many Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivators.
• The attackers surrounded and defeated the remaining Core Formation defenders, while victories arrived from the mountain’s other peaks and formation nodes.
• The Cloudthunder Sect’s four Nascent Soul cultivators fell, and the Immortal Alliance reinforcements urged Lei Zongyuan to retreat.

The Puppet Dao forces captured Divine Mist Mountain and breached Cloudview Heaven, bringing down the Cloudthunder Sect. After hearing the news, Li Chen left the battle in the Western Central Sea, while Dharma King Yuanhao and the others considered the Immortal Alliance’s next move.

• An Immortal Alliance cultivator dragged Lei Zongyuan from the battlefield as the Alliance’s forces retreated with elders and disciples.
• Heavenly Pivot took Divine Mist Mountain and led the assault through its natural passage into Cloudview Heaven.
• Li Chen’s Bone Kun Warship and electromagnetic weapons shattered Cloudview Heaven’s defenses, and the Garrison Elders surrendered as the Puppet Dao army entered.
• News of Cloudview Heaven’s fall reached Li Chen, Dharma King Yuanhao, Lin Xi, and Xiao Linyue during their fight in the Western Central Sea.
• Li Chen disappeared to oversee the newly conquered territory, and Dharma King Yuanhao decided against going to Cloud Province and warned that the Alliance might debate peace or war.

At the Sky-Gazing Terrace, Hong An announced the fall of the Cloudthunder Sect and led the Immortal Alliance in considering why the Puppet Dao had gained the upper hand. Qi Yuanhe urged peace talks and proposed that the Alliance reform its Dao Path, leaving the gathered leaders with a startling proposal to weigh.

• Hong An announced that the Cloudthunder Sect had fallen and Cloudview Heaven was in the hands of the Puppet Dao.
• Qi Yuanhe attributed the Puppet Dao's victories to cultivation industrialization and cultivation mortalization, explaining how artifacts could let mortals wield powers capable of killing cultivators and immortals.
• Qi Yuanhe proposed ceding lands along the western Central Sea to secure peace and preserve Wufu, Nan Province, and Pian Province.
• Qi Yuanhe proposed that the Immortal Alliance emulate the Puppet Masters and reform its Dao Path.

Qi Yuanhe argued that the Immortal Alliance had to learn from the Puppet Masters and elevate external Dao paths instead of dismissing them. He proposed using three Western Central Sea domains as pilot regions for reform, and Great Elder Hong said the alliance’s senior leaders would assess his plans.

• Qi Yuanhe challenged cultivators who called auxiliary paths unorthodox, arguing that cultivation depended on external resources and that the Alliance’s defeat in the Central Sea proved those paths mattered.
• Qi Yuanhe proposed retaining three domains in the Western Central Sea as pilot regions and prioritizing the Artifact Dao and Pill Dao, with Meng Fuyun and Xue Lansheng appointed as domain lords.
• Qi Yuanhe outlined reforms to admissions, artisan ranks, skills assessments, commerce, blessed-land ownership, and the use of markets and contracts.
• Great Elder Hong praised Qi Yuanhe’s proposals and said he would discuss their feasibility with the other Supreme Elders and venerables, while those present voiced their support.

Li Chen and the Puppet Dao leaders debated the Immortal Alliance’s offer of peace, weighing the costs of continued war against the need to secure reparations and territory. Li Chen argued that the Alliance could not truly imitate the puppet masters without changing the exploitative system underlying its cultivation, leaving the proposed reforms in doubt.

• Wu Fangdao argued that the Puppet Dao should consider peace because the war had strained its economy, but insisted the treaty secure territory and reparations.
• Pan Ning asked why the Immortal Alliance wanted peace, and Shen Longcheng and Li Chen judged that its losses had made continued fighting unsustainable.
• Shen Longcheng reported that the Alliance planned to rebuild its forces in Wufu, Nan Province, and Pian Province and promote learning from the puppet masters.
• Li Chen dismissed the Alliance’s imitation as superficial and explained how sects relied on low-ranking cultivators and servants for labor and resources.
• Li Chen concluded that the Alliance would have to change the source of its wealth and cultivation powers to genuinely emulate the Puppet Dao.

Li Chen explained how the Immortal Alliance’s reforms would reproduce old cycles of exploitation and conflict while potentially creating conditions for a new Dao pioneer. He urged the Puppet Dao Grandmasters to welcome like-minded outsiders, but Wu Fangdao doubted that they would truly share their ideals.

• The Grandmasters reflected on Li Chen’s view that cultivation society depended on the labor and resources of lower-ranking cultivators, and Shen Longcheng recognized the recurring stagnation of past eras.
• Li Chen predicted that the Immortal Alliance would imitate the Puppet Dao to strengthen production and exploitation, deepening inequality and internal contradictions.
• Li Chen warned that the Immortal Alliance’s reforms could repeat the history that led Yan Shi to found their Dao a million years earlier.
• Wu Fangdao asked how the Puppet Dao should respond, and Li Chen proposed welcoming outsiders who shared their ideals.
• Wu Fangdao rejected Li Chen’s confidence that such outsiders could readily integrate, prompting Li Chen to ask for his reasoning.

Li Chen, Wu Fangdao, and the other Grandmasters debated whether the Immortal Alliance would develop the Artifact Dao and Pill Dao, then focused on securing favorable terms to end the Central Sea War. Both sides prepared to negotiate in Blazing Nest, a neutral territory in the Western Region.

• Li Chen argued that the Immortal Alliance's rulers would exploit new Dao Paths to strengthen their rule, while historical forces could not easily be turned aside.
• Wu Fangdao warned that the Puppet Dao lacked the capacity to support the Artifact Dao and Pill Dao, and argued for sealing off its technology.
• Shen Longcheng redirected the Grandmasters to peace negotiations and proposed securing conquered lands, trade agreements, and technological exchanges through a high-order Karmic Pact.
• The Puppet Dao leaders agreed on priorities including a lasting peace, commerce with the Earthly Immortal Continent, and freedom to travel, study, and spread their Dao.
• Envoys from both sides traveled to Blazing Nest to begin formal negotiations.

Li Chen met the Golden Roc Great Sage at Fu Mountain, where the two discussed little about the peace talks while the Great Sage tried to secure Blazing Nest’s future. The Great Sage offered his daughter Bailing to Li Chen in a marriage alliance, leaving Li Chen caught between accepting and refusing.

• Li Chen secretly arrived at Fu Mountain and greeted the Golden Roc Great Sage, who hosted him with fruit and dancers.
• The Golden Roc Great Sage avoided discussing the peace talks, while Li Chen considered whether to establish covert footholds in Blazing Nest.
• Bailing entered the hall, and Li Chen recognized her exceptionally pure nature and promising destiny.
• The Golden Roc Great Sage revealed that Bailing was his daughter and offered her to Li Chen as a wife, concubine, servant, or maid.
• Li Chen realized the offer was a calculated marriage alliance meant to protect Blazing Nest and put him in a difficult position.

Li Chen and the Puppet Dao Grandmasters investigated the Golden Roc Great Sage’s proposed marriage alliance and discovered that he planned to tie the Blazing Nest to both the Puppet Dao and the Immortal Alliance. They chose to counter his balancing scheme by supporting Bailing and the Feather Clan, while Li Chen resolved to speak with Bailing before deciding.

• The Golden Roc Great Sage proposed that Li Chen marry one of his daughters, and Li Chen discussed the offer with Shen Longcheng, Pan Ning, and the other Puppet Dao Grandmasters.
• Li Chen warned that the Golden Roc Great Sage might be pursuing a hidden scheme, so the grandmasters investigated his plans.
• Shen Longcheng revealed that the Golden Roc Great Sage also intended to marry Yu Ni and Yu Hong to two talented young men from the Immortal Alliance.
• Pan Ning rejected abducting the daughters as ineffective, and Han Tong proposed countering the Golden Roc Great Sage’s open scheme with one of their own.
• Shen Longcheng identified Bailing as the Golden Roc Great Sage’s most talented and noble daughter, and the grandmasters agreed to support her and the Feather Clan.
• Li Chen said he wanted to speak with Bailing about her wishes before agreeing to the marriage.

Li Chen visited Bailing to discuss the marriage alliance and used a zither performance to make her conceive through his creation divine ability. Back in Heaven, Mei Xuan questioned his method, and Li Chen explained that he intended to have children with her only after perfecting his dharma body.

• Li Chen privately asked Bailing whether she accepted the marriage alliance, and she said she was willing to obey her parents and offer herself to him.
• Li Chen played a newly composed piece, “Phoenix Seeks the Phoenix,” and Bailing felt affection for him as the music resonated with her.
• Bailing discovered she was pregnant, and Li Chen explained that his music had caused her to conceive through Heavenly Ghost's Return to the Hidden.
• Mei Xuan watched the scene and questioned whether this was Li Chen's efficient method, then asked why he had not played the piece for her first.
• Li Chen told Mei Xuan he wanted their children to inherit part of his Dao Fruit after he perfected his dharma body.

Bailing exposed her pregnancy to secure the child’s standing, prompting the Golden Roc Great Sage to negotiate with Li Chen over Blazing Nest’s succession. Meanwhile, the Immortal Alliance learned that Yu Hong resisted her arranged marriage to Tu Qinghui, and Pan Ning ordered help for her humble-born lover.

• Bailing revealed her pregnancy, and the Golden Roc Great Sage confronted Li Chen about their marriage and the child’s future.
• Li Chen agreed to support the Feather Clan faction and Bailing’s child as Blazing Nest’s heir, while the Golden Roc Great Sage insisted Blazing Nest raise its own successor.
• A Puppet Dao envoy told the Grandmasters that Yu Hong loved a young Half-Demon and had refused her arranged marriage to Tu Qinghui after Tu Qinghui had him beaten.
• Pan Ning argued that Tu Qinghui’s attack had strengthened Yu Hong’s resolve and proposed helping her lover without directly interfering in the peace talks.
• Pan Ning ordered the envoy to investigate the young man, help him improve if necessary, and conceal the Heavenly Secrets from the Immortal Alliance’s Great Powers.

Li Chen uncovered the hidden poison draining Ying Si’s life and secretly cured him. Newly resolute, Ying Si decided to flee with Qing'er and leave Yu Hong behind, vowing to rise again.

• Pan Ning ordered an investigation into Ying Si while Li Chen and Shen Longcheng watched the political fallout from Tu Qinghui’s actions.
• Qing'er cared for the injured Ying Si in their dilapidated home, and he lamented the harm done to her before collapsing unconscious.
• Li Chen detected a poison that was slowly consuming Ying Si’s vitality and spirit, then removed it and restored him.
• Ying Si awoke with renewed resolve and told Qing'er they would leave that night to escape danger.
• Ying Si grieved over Yu Hong and Tu Qinghui, then vowed that no one should look down on a poor young man.

Tu Qinghui and Xu Shuyuan discussed Ying Si’s disappearance and agreed to search for him quietly, while Ying Si fled after discovering he had been poisoned. At his family’s ancestral shrine, Ying Si found an ancient ring and suspected it was the legendary Sky Eagle Saint Ring.

• Tu Qinghui ordered Xu Shuyuan to search for Ying Si, but Xu Shuyuan persuaded him to keep the search discreet because the negotiations were under close watch.
• Xu Shuyuan secretly hoped Ying Si would never be found, fearing the truth about the poison would come out.
• Ying Si bid farewell to his ancestors at the dilapidated shrine after realizing he had been poisoned and deciding to flee.
• Ying Si found a warm, heavy ancient ring beneath the shrine’s stone platform and recognized it as possibly the Sky Eagle Saint Ring.

Li Chen explained how he had arranged Ying Si’s growth and discussed the puppet Dao’s strategy toward the Golden Roc Great Sage and the Immortal Alliance. After the peace terms were settled, both sides met to formally sign the agreement.

• Li Chen told Shen Longcheng and Pan Ning that he had used the Sky Eagle Saint Ring and Ying Si’s ancestry to motivate the boy, equipping him with a ring spirit, cultivation resources, and planned opportunities.
• Shen Longcheng and Pan Ning described how they had contributed materials, methods, money, and covert support to Ying Si’s future growth.
• Shen Longcheng reported that Yu Ni and Fu Zesheng’s relationship remained uneventful, so Pan Ning dropped the idea of secretly stirring up trouble around them.
• Li Chen said the puppet Dao would let the Blazing Nest remain peaceful for now while preparing to respond when the Golden Roc Great Sage’s neutral position became untenable.
• Li Chen met Dharma King Yuanhao, Tu Taiyuan, Pei Bairen, and Hong An as representatives of both sides gathered for the formal signing of the peace agreement.

Li Chen and the Immortal Alliance formally signed a peace treaty dividing the Central Sea and establishing trade, exchanges, and new financial institutions. The chapter ended with the great powers accepting Li Chen’s vision of a transformed cultivation world and sealing the treaty.

• The treaty divided the Equal Sea Domain between the Creation Sect and the Immortal Alliance, set terms for trade and exchanges, and required the Alliance to supply strategic resources to the Puppet Dao.
• Li Chen secured provisions to establish the Myriad Heavens Bank and Securities Exchange Market, explaining how talisman coins could organize trade and investment.
• Li Chen told the great powers that cultivation industrialization would push rogue cultivators into industries or new ventures and reshape their way of life.
• Li Chen argued that money and resources could connect factions and make power and Dao fruits available through labor and exchange.
• Dharma King Yuanhao silently affixed his seal to the treaty, and the other great powers and experts signed it.

After the Central Sea War ended, Immortal Alliance leaders discussed how Li Chen’s reforms would transform cultivation and recognized the upheaval as both a threat and an opportunity. Li Chen began settling in Cloud Province as the treaty and his elevation to Grandmaster were announced publicly.

• The Golden Roc Great Sage declared the Central Sea War over after the Great Powers signed the peace treaty.
• Pei Bairen praised Li Chen’s talents and innovations, while Dharma King Yuanhao called him demonic and discussed his transformative ambitions.
• Hong An foresaw large-scale development and industrialization of cultivation, and said the changes could give the Immortal Alliance’s Great Powers a chance to attain enduring life.
• The Immortal Alliance leaders decided to watch how the Central Sea’s Outer Domain developed before reacting to the upheaval.
• Li Chen arrived in Cloud Province to settle into Cloudview Heaven and relocate the Immortal Mountain Branch.
• The treaty’s contents were published on the Puppet World Heavenly Net, and Li Chen’s elevation to Grandmaster was announced.