Chapter Summaries

Li Daoxuan gave Gao Family Village iron and ordered the villagers to forge armor against future bandit attacks. As Gao Yiyi began making simple Two-Panel Armor, Li Daoxuan decided to seek help from San Shier to improve the village’s metalworking.

• Gao Yiye received a huge iron plate from Li Daoxuan and told the villagers to make armor under Gao Yiyi’s direction.
• Li Daoxuan broke the iron plate into pieces with his hands, astonishing the villagers, who began carrying the iron to Gao Yiyi’s house.
• Li Daoxuan explained that the armor was meant to protect the villagers from increasingly dangerous days and possible bandit attacks.
• The villagers gathered firewood and charcoal while Gao Yiyi began forging simple Two-Panel Armor with their help.
• Li Daoxuan judged the village’s metalworking skills inadequate and considered bringing in San Shier to help.

Li Daoxuan fortified Gao Family Village with a wall and organized guards while Gao Chuwu headed to the County Seat to find craftsmen. There, San Shier learned that officials had seized Wang Family Village’s seed grain and fled with his household, fearing Wang Er of Baishui would lead a rebellion.

• Li Daoxuan told Gao Yiye to send Gao Chuwu to the County Seat to recruit skilled craftsmen, then built a wall around Gao Family Village from Lego bricks.
• Gao Yiye told the villagers that the Heavenly Deity had provided the walls and ordered them to build a gate and organize guards against bandits.
• San Shier learned from a yamen runner that officials had seized seed grain in Wang Family Village after using violence and setting a house on fire.
• San Shier warned that Wang Er of Baishui might lead the villagers in rebellion and hurried home to order his family and servants to flee the County Seat.

After government runners stole Wang Family Village’s seed grain, Wang Er of Baishui rallied villagers to rebel against County Magistrate Zhang Yaocai. San Shier recognized the warning that bandits would soon emerge, sent his family toward Gao Family Village, and Wang Er’s uprising began as several hundred villagers charged the Chengcheng County seat.

• Wang Er of Baishui learned that government runners had injured villagers and stolen their seed grain, so he urged them to rebel and sent messengers to Zhong Family Village and Zheng Family Village.
• Gao Chuwu visited San Shier to ask him to find skilled blacksmiths for making iron armor.
• San Shier interpreted the Heavenly Deity’s warning about bandits as a sign that Wang Er of Baishui would rebel, then sent his wife and daughter toward Gao Family Village with Gao Chuwu and the others.
• Wang Er of Baishui, Zhong Guangdao, and Zheng Yanfu assembled several hundred villagers and led them toward the Chengcheng County seat to kill Zhang Yaocai and open the granaries.

San Shier took advantage of Wang Er’s rebellion to recruit the blacksmith Li Da, promising him a chance to escape his inherited artisan status and serve a wealthy master. They slipped out of Chengcheng County as the rebels attacked, leaving Li Da eager to begin a new life.

• Wang Er led hundreds of rebels into Chengcheng County, while the gate guards hid and the townspeople fled indoors.
• After disguising himself, San Shier went to Artisans' Street to find the blacksmith Li Da.
• San Shier persuaded Li Da to escape the rebellion and become a wealthy master's private blacksmith, promising he might eventually gain commoner status.
• San Shier and Li Da crossed the unguarded town gate while fighting continued around the County Yamen and wealthy households.
• Li Da celebrated inwardly as he left the authorities and his inherited artisan registration behind.

Li Daoxuan gave Gao Family Village fishing line to replace its failing straw ropes, allowing the villagers to build a gate for their new wall. Gao Chuwu returned with Secretary San Shier’s family and asked Gao Yiye to ask the Heavenly Deity to protect them while San Shier searched for a blacksmith.

• The villagers struggled to lash the gate’s timber together with weak straw ropes until Li Daoxuan lowered fishing line for them to use.
• Gao Yiye and the villagers tested the fishing line, marveled at its strength, and used it to assemble a gate panel.
• A sentry spotted Gao Chuwu returning with four outsiders, and Gao Chuwu apologized to the Heavenly Deity after learning the wall was a gift.
• Gao Chuwu told Gao Yiye that the newcomers were Secretary San Shier’s wife, daughter, household servant, and maid, and asked her to request the Heavenly Deity’s protection for them.

Gao Yiye settled San Shier's wife and daughter in Gao Family Village, where Third Madam discovered its abundant food and water and learned that its supplies were divine objects. After witnessing the Heavenly Deity stop a falling city gate, Third Madam prostrated herself in awe.

• Li Daoxuan ordered Gao Yiye to house San Shier's wife and daughter in a vacant home in the village.
• Gao Yiye showed Third Madam the village's vast stores of wind-dried chicken strips and gave her family divine rice, salt, and other food.
• Third Madam and her daughter explored the village and saw a large pond despite the severe drought.
• The Heavenly Deity suspended a falling city gate, allowing Gao Chuwu and the villagers to install it safely.
• Third Madam recognized the intervention as a divine manifestation and bowed to the Heavenly Venerable.

San Shier brought the blacksmith Li Da to Gao Family Village, where Li Daoxuan recruited him to teach the villagers metalworking. After Li Da promised he could forge anything in exchange for help escaping the artisan registry, Li Daoxuan prepared to show him a difficult task.

• San Shier led Li Da to Gao Family Village, where Li Da marveled at the high painted wall and the well-fed laborers.
• San Shier introduced Li Da to Gao Yiye and relayed Li Daoxuan's praise for bringing him.
• Li Da told Li Daoxuan that he could forge armor and firearms, including the Three-Eyed Divine Fire Lance.
• Li Daoxuan asked Li Da to teach the villagers to make iron armor, and Li Da agreed while asking for help leaving the artisan registry.
• Li Daoxuan announced he had a difficult task and lowered a sheet of A5 paper onto the ground behind the gate.

Li Daoxuan gave Li Da plans for a Sharps Rifle and revealed himself as the Heavenly Deity by carrying the blacksmith on his palm. Li Da agreed to study the weapon, and Li Daoxuan conjured a Pepsi-Cola-can house for him to live in.

• Li Daoxuan used modern forum advice to prepare Sharps Rifle drawings for Li Da to build.
• Li Da studied the plans but warned that the firearm was complicated and might take years to make.
• Li Da jumped from a wall and discovered that Li Daoxuan's invisible palm could support and carry him through the air.
• Li Da pledged to make the firearm and teach Gao Yiyi to forge iron armor while he studied its design.
• Li Daoxuan promised to free Li Da from the hereditary artisan register after he succeeded and created a small blue house from a Pepsi-Cola can for him.

Li Daoxuan considered the village’s urgent need for people, while Wang Er of Baishui arrived at Gao Family Village with hundreds of followers and two cartloads of grain to repay its kindness. Li Daoxuan decided they could neither accept the grain nor let Wang Er’s group inside, leaving Gao Chuwu waiting for instructions at the wall.

• The village chief and Gao Yiye helped Li Da settle into the Tin Can House, while San Shier reported Wang Er’s rebellion to Li Daoxuan.
• Li Daoxuan asked the History and Military Forum what to do after securing a stronghold, then concluded that Gao Family Village urgently needed more manpower.
• Several hundred people led by Wang Er of Baishui reached Gao Family Village at night but could not find a way through its new wall.
• Wang Er called to the villagers and offered two cartloads of grain to repay them for giving him flour.
• Gao Chuwu appeared atop the wall, and Li Daoxuan decided the villagers must refuse the grain and keep Wang Er’s group outside.

Wang Er turned away from Gao Family Village after San Shier persuaded him to keep his grain, while San Shier and Third Madam helped the villagers address their defenses and worship of Li Daoxuan. Li Daoxuan realized bells could help him hear the villagers and decided to wait until morning before giving them oil.

• San Shier convinced Wang Er that the grain would be more useful for his escape, and Wang Er left after San Shier asked about the women from the county town.
• San Shier criticized Gao Family Village for having no night watch, and the village chief explained that they lacked oil for lanterns.
• Third Madam accused the villagers of showing too little respect to the Heavenly Deity and taught them to prepare proper rituals.
• Li Daoxuan realized that striking a bell could help him hear the tiny villagers and postponed giving them oil until the next morning.
• Third Madam ordered the villagers to dress cleanly, prepare Gao Yiye to lead prayers, and forge a large bell overnight.

Li Daoxuan watched Gao Family Village worship him and ask for his honored title, then bestowed cooking oil when Gao Yiye requested it. The villagers named him Dao Xuan Heavenly Venerable, beginning a religion that would later spread across the land.

• Li Daoxuan recognized that Gao Family Village lacked organization, while San Shier and Third Madam resolved problems for him.
• Li Da and Gao Yiyi worked overnight to forge a makeshift bell, and Third Madam prepared Gao Yiye for the ceremony.
• Gao Yiye led the villagers in worship and asked the Heavenly Deity for his honored title.
• Li Daoxuan answered that his name was Li Daoxuan, and Third Madam declared him Dao Xuan Heavenly Venerable.
• Gao Yiye asked for oil to light lanterns along the village wall, and Li Daoxuan placed a bottle cap full of cooking oil before her.

After the villagers found a pool of rapeseed oil, Gao Yiye assigned San Shier to manage it and relay Li Daoxuan’s plan to recruit more people for Gao Family Village. Li Daoxuan left San Shier to carry out the recruitment, and San Shier celebrated his new role as the Heavenly Venerable’s secretary.

• The villagers recognized the pool as rapeseed oil, and Gao Yiye ordered them to divide it between food and lanterns while keeping watch against bandits.
• Gao Yiye put San Shier in charge of arranging the oil, and Li Daoxuan asked him what Gao Family Village lacked most.
• San Shier said the village needed more people and proposed recruiting those who had stayed behind in nearby villages by offering them flour.
• Li Daoxuan gave San Shier flour and left the recruitment to him before returning to the Immortal Realm.
• San Shier celebrated becoming the Heavenly Venerable’s secretary, while Gao Yiye and Third Madam discussed building Li Daoxuan a temple.

Li Daoxuan watched San Shier prepare Gao Family Village to receive newcomers while he earned money designing a monster. San Shier brought 102 refugees into the village, and Li Daoxuan decided to let the villagers handle their own problems as the newcomers settled beneath the newly lit walls.

• San Shier gathered the villagers' containers to collect rapeseed oil and had Gao Chuwu and the others grind Li Daoxuan's spherical flour into powder before taking it to outsiders.
• Li Daoxuan completed a monster design job, earned 800 yuan, and then noticed San Shier leading 102 ragged people into Gao Family Village.
• San Shier warned the newcomers that they had to work for the Heavenly Venerable in exchange for food, while the village chief worried there was nowhere for them to live.
• San Shier gave each newcomer flour, and they cooked and ate before making beds from dry grass outside the wall.
• Li Daoxuan chose not to intervene, and the newcomers watched as villagers lit oil lamps along the walls and began patrolling with bows and arrows.

San Shier organized the new villagers to build a temple and recruited skilled workers, while Gao Yiye guided two sculptors in making a statue of Li Daoxuan. Impressed by their craftsmanship, Li Daoxuan came up with a new idea and printed an image for their next task.

• San Shier let the new villagers explore the village, then recruited three blacksmiths and several masons, assigning them to work under Master Li and build a Dao Xuan Heavenly Venerable Temple.
• San Shier found two sculptors and asked Gao Yiye to describe the Heavenly Venerable so they could make a statue.
• Li Daoxuan showed his face above the Scenery Box, and Gao Yiye guided the sculptors as they modeled his features and made a clay statue of him.
• Li Daoxuan admired the detailed statue, compared it with an expensive plastic model, and realized the sculptors’ work might be valuable.
• Li Daoxuan told Gao Yiye he had more tasks for the sculptors, then printed an image of Supreme Treasure’s Sun Wukong from A Chinese Odyssey.

Li Daoxuan gave Gao Yiye a tiny image of Sun Wukong and arranged for sculptors to make and paint a wooden statue, while Gao Family Village grew busier preparing a temple. When patrol inspector Cheng Xu arrived looking for rebel Wang Er, San Shier tried to bluff him about the village’s towering wall, but Cheng Xu saw through the act.

• Li Daoxuan gave Gao Yiye a small picture of Victorious Fighting Buddha, Sun Wukong, and she instructed two sculptors to carve a wooden statue and paint it.
• Li Daoxuan bought miniature paints and returned to find villagers building a temple while blacksmiths forged iron under Li Da’s guidance.
• Cheng Xu led more than a hundred soldiers toward Gao Family Village while searching for Wang Er, who had fled after capturing the county seat.
• Cheng Xu mistook Gao Family Village’s towering wall for a rebel-built city and feared he could not defeat Wang Er.
• San Shier greeted Cheng Xu and claimed there was no city wall, but Cheng Xu drew his sword halfway and accused him of lying.

Li Daoxuan used an eerie recording and removed Gao Family Village’s wall and other objects, convincing Cheng Xu and his soldiers that the village was haunted. After they fled, Li Daoxuan returned the objects to their places.

• San Shier insisted there was no city while Cheng Xu threatened him over the wall.
• Li Daoxuan played ghostly laughter, distracting the soldiers as he removed the wall, pond, and other objects from Gao Family Village.
• Cheng Xu saw the wall disappear, panicked at the village’s eerie appearance, and fled with his soldiers.
• San Shier celebrated fooling Cheng Xu, and Li Daoxuan told Gao Yiye to clear the villagers from the wall’s former location.
• Li Daoxuan lowered the wall, Blacksmith Li’s cylindrical house, and the pond back into place.

Li Daoxuan supplied paint for the statues being made for his temple, then used ice and cola to help villagers working in the summer heat. The heatstroke victim recovered, and the villagers enjoyed the drink Li Daoxuan called Happy Fat Otaku Water.

• The two sculptors told Li Daoxuan that his clay statue and the wooden Victorious Fighting Buddha statue were ready to be painted, and he gave them several colors of modern paint.
• Li Daoxuan noticed a villager collapse from heatstroke and placed a piece of ice beside him, allowing the villagers to cool him and give him cold water.
• Li Daoxuan made a pool of iced cola and lowered it before the villagers, while Gao Yiye explained that it was called Happy Fat Otaku Water.
• San Shier interpreted the drink's name for the villagers, who eagerly drank the cola and celebrated its taste.
• Gao Yiye warned the villagers not to give cola to the heatstroke victim until he had recovered, and the man soon revealed he had only been pretending to die.

Li Daoxuan sold Cai Xinzi a tiny, exquisitely carved Supreme Treasure figure, and it quickly sold for 888 yuan. He returned home with pork tenderloin and gave the villagers extra meat, rewarding the sculptors who carved the Victorious Fighting Buddha statue with the leftovers.

• Li Daoxuan brought Cai Xinzi a one-centimeter wooden Supreme Treasure figure and arranged for her to sell it on commission.
• Cai Xinzi listed the miniature carving for 888 yuan, and a regular customer bought it almost immediately.
• Li Daoxuan accepted an 800-yuan transfer from Cai Xinzi and told her custom miniature carvings were possible.
• Li Daoxuan bought pork tenderloin and placed a small piece in the village clearing.
• Li Daoxuan told One Leaf to give everyone 100 grams of meat and reserve the leftovers for the two sculptors who carved the Victorious Fighting Buddha statue.

San Shier organized the village’s meat distribution, and Gao Yiye announced that the two sculptors received the remaining pork as a reward for their statue. Zheng Daniu then brought back a tree trunk in hopes of earning a reward and received a basinful of cola from Li Daoxuan, who realized villagers could bring containers to reduce waste.

• San Shier carefully recorded the villagers’ meat shares and distributed the remaining pork to the two sculptors as a special reward from the Heavenly Venerable.
• The sculptors thanked the Heavenly Venerable, took salt to cure their pork, and began smoking it while the other villagers watched enviously.
• Zheng Daniu decided he wanted more cola, chopped down a suitable tree, and dragged its trunk back to Gao Yiye for the next statue.
• Gao Yiye told Zheng Daniu that the Heavenly Venerable praised him, and Zheng Daniu asked for cola instead of meat.
• Li Daoxuan dispensed a drop of cola that filled Zheng Daniu’s washbasin, then noted that villagers should bring their own containers in future.

Li Daoxuan accepted a lucrative commission to carve a one-millimeter statue of Taishang Laojun for a Sacred Image in the Bead. Several days later, Gao Family Village completed the Dao Xuan Heavenly Venerable Temple as its sculptors prospered from their offerings.

• Cai Xinzi told Li Daoxuan that a customer would pay 128,888 yuan for a detailed one-millimeter statue after Li Daoxuan offered to make one.
• Cai Xinzi explained that the customer planned to place the statue inside a hollow prayer bead filled with liquid, and Li Daoxuan agreed to the commission.
• Li Daoxuan told Cai Xinzi to keep any amount above his 115,000-yuan share as her commission.
• Over several days, the two sculptors earned food and supplies by offering statues to the Heavenly Venerable, while Zheng Daniu kept requesting happy fat otaku water as his reward.
• The sculptors hired villagers to build shelters for their families, and the Dao Xuan Heavenly Venerable Temple was finally completed.