Chapter Summaries

Li Yi continued training in the Art of Manifestation while Chen Qiong Zhi watched over him. Meanwhile, He Guangzhi and Zhen searched God-Suppressing Prison for Heng Sol, and Zhen revealed the Art of Manifestation’s origins.

• Li Yi recognized that deep-diving into his subconscious strengthened his conscious mind, and he asked Chen Qiong Zhi to watch as he tried again.
• He Guangzhi told Zhen that he believed Heng Sol had escaped and asked it to search God-Suppressing Prison more thoroughly.
• Zhen agreed to spend more soul resources searching for Heng Sol and asked He Guangzhi for stronger divine prisoners to absorb.
• He Guangzhi asked whether Zhen was an artificial soul or a living intelligent being, and Zhen explained that it had evolved from a First Era tool after meeting a powerful soul master in the Fifth Epoch.
• Zhen said the soul master had pioneered techniques including the Art of Manifestation, which later fell into obscurity after reports of serious hidden dangers.

Zhen explained the Art of Manifestation’s risks to He Guangzhi and judged that Li Yi had quasi-god potential, while warning that humanity’s understanding of divinity remained inadequate. After three days of training and studying spacetime techniques, Li Yi sparred with Chen Qiong Zhi under extreme gravity, where her use of divine intent impressed him before he defeated her with a technique that left her temporarily immobilized.

• Zhen told He Guangzhi that the Art of Manifestation could endanger a cultivator’s conscious mind and that injuries to split bodies could delay advancement, then said the Favored Saint had created it.
• Zhen revealed that Li Yi’s ability to bear God-Suppressing Prison’s accumulated foundation suggested quasi-god potential, but said humanity lacked the resources and understanding of divinity to reliably nurture a new quasi-god.
• Zhen warned that Heng Sol was near the exit, prompting He Guangzhi to act quickly.
• Over the next three days, Li Yi failed to master the Art of Manifestation with Chen Qiong Zhi, but strengthened his conscious mind and soul by exploring ruins and absorbing spacetime-related memories.
• Li Yi and Chen Qiong Zhi sparred without divinity at eighty-five times gravity, and Chen Qiong Zhi used the Fierce Tiger Descends to display traces of divine intent.
• After an hour of fighting, Li Yi struck Chen Qiong Zhi out of the gravity field, leaving her unable to move for several minutes until she used divinity to recover.

Li Yi examined Chen Qiong Zhi after she found his Micro Force strike comfortable and discovered that the technique could temper the body. He left her intrigued by her unusual physique and the possibility of increasing physical strength.

• Li Yi asked Chen Qiong Zhi to let him examine her, and she agreed after he explained that he wanted to study the effects of his Micro Force.
• Li Yi struck Chen Qiong Zhi in the chest with a light punch, sending Micro Force through her body and leaving her rigid for three minutes.
• Li Yi finally released Chen Qiong Zhi, who scolded him for ignoring her attempts to get his attention.
• Li Yi told Chen Qiong Zhi that he had found a way to use Micro Force to temper the body and that her unusual physique had helped him discover it.
• Chen Qiong Zhi asked Li Yi what made her physique special.

Li Yi and Chen Qiong Zhi developed an initial Micro Force Forging Method using her unusually sensitive constitution as a test case. After demonstrating versions for forging others and himself, Li Yi planned to test and refine it on people of different ranks.

• Li Yi explained that Chen Qiong Zhi’s constitution gave stronger feedback to his Micro Force, and she agreed to help him develop a body tempering technique.
• Over a day and a half, Li Yi tested different positions, breathing rhythms, and methods with Chen Qiong Zhi while the AI assistant recorded results.
• Li Yi and Chen Qiong Zhi completed an initial Micro Force Forging Method, with one version for enhancing others and another for self-forging.
• The AI assistant showed improvements in Chen Qiong Zhi’s blood and qi levels and muscle tissue density after the method was demonstrated.
• Li Yi proposed testing the method on Upper Rank, Middle Rank, Initial Rank, and non-Evolutionists to assess its wider effects and improve it.

Li Yi gathered a small group of trusted people to test the initial version of his new Body Tempering Method. He selected two non-Evolutionist trainees as the first test subjects, while the chapter ended before the trial began.

• Li Yi learned from He Guangzhi that Heng Sol's clone could hide in electrical systems and that the experts' seminar on Commander Zhang's situation had not yet been held.
• Li Yi contacted Zhao He and Lu Yunsheng, who agreed to bring trusted people to test his Body Tempering Method.
• More than twenty trusted participants gathered at the training grounds, including Heavenly-ranked experts and Moon Fortress trainees.
• Zhao He noticed Chen Qiong Zhi beside Li Yi and privately considered matchmaking them.
• Li Yi explained that the first tests would use non-Evolutionists and called forward Lin Dong and Wang Lan, who introduced themselves as Moon Fortress Special Selection Class trainees.

Li Yi tested his Body Tempering Method on Lin Dong and Wang Lan using eighteen postures and strikes to their acupoints. Their physical indicators rose rapidly, and Lin Dong became an Initial Evolutionist during the test.

• Li Yi taught Lin Dong and Wang Lan eighteen body-tempering postures and watched them master the movements.
• Li Yi struck the two youths' thirty-six major Tiangang acupoints with controlled palm pats while they performed the postures.
• After the first two rounds, observers saw Lin Dong and Wang Lan's blood vitality and muscle density steadily increase.
• Lin Dong and Wang Lan asked Li Yi to continue despite their growing strain, and he began a third round with greater force.
• Lin Dong's joints crackled and a divine radiance flashed around him as he advanced into an Initial Evolutionist.

Li Yi’s Body Tempering Method caused Lin Dong and Wang Lan to advance into Initial Evolutionists, impressing the observers and prompting Lu Yunsheng to reconsider his judgment of Li Yi and Zhao He. But when Li Yi tested the method on Advanced Evolutionists, they suffered severe pain and showed weaker physical improvement, leaving the cause uncertain.

• Lin Dong and Wang Lan advanced into Initial Evolutionists after Li Yi tempered their bodies, and the crowd recognized the method’s unusual effects.
• Lu Yunsheng admitted to Zhao He that he had misjudged him, while Li Yi theorized that bodily changes could stimulate the generation of Divinity Genes.
• Li Yi began testing his method on four Initial Evolutionists from Moon Fortress’s Special Selection Class.
• After Li Yi completed three rounds of strikes on six Advanced Evolutionists, they collapsed in pain as their blood and energy circulation resumed.
• Zhao He suggested that the method might not work when Advanced Evolutionists’ Divinity Genes had reached full capacity, and Chen Qiong Zhi questioned why it worked on her but not on them.

Li Yi discovered that the six Advanced Evolutionists who had fainted during the Body Tempering Method had contaminated consciousness, though their physical data showed no abnormal changes. He ordered nanobot examinations to check whether their genes were contaminated too, while Lu Yunsheng and Zhao He considered how the discovery might change cultivation and evolution research.

• Li Yi ruled out abnormal muscle coordination and striking intervals as causes of the six Advanced Evolutionists' collapse.
• Li Yi used his Micro-Electric Trait to examine the six and detected strange fragments contaminating each person's consciousness.
• Li Yi ordered the AI assistant to prepare medical pods and conduct in-depth genetic examinations with nanobots.
• Lu Yunsheng asked whether Li Yi's method had caused Gene-Scars, and Li Yi said both the six people's genes and consciousness might have been contaminated.
• Zhao He suggested a Reviver might be responsible, while Li Yi said the method resembled but differed from He Zundao's revival and might be connected to the Starborn Forefather or Wu Huanling.
• Lu Yunsheng and Zhao He discussed revising cultivation and evolution theories, and the group placed the six Advanced Evolutionists in medical pods for examination.

Li Yi discovered genetic contamination in six Advanced Evolutionists and questioned Luo Yin, identifying the imprisoned Black Spider as the likely source of contamination to Luo Yin’s genes and soul. The chapter ended with Zhao He asking whether Black Spider could really infect Luo Yin and spread the contamination to his teammates.

• Li Yi and the others found that all six Advanced Evolutionists had non-human genetic material, with Luo Yin showing the highest contamination rate at 8%.
• Li Yi revived Luo Yin and questioned him about his identity and history, but initially found no suspicious details in his account.
• Li Yi noticed a disturbance in Luo Yin’s brainwaves when he asked about a Federation criminal, and Luo Yin recalled serving food to Black Spider at God-Suppressing Prison.
• Luo Yin admitted Black Spider had drawn him into a secret exchange, and Li Yi concluded that Black Spider had contaminated both Luo Yin’s soul and genes.
• Zhao He questioned whether Black Spider could infect Luo Yin without contact and pass the contamination to his colleagues.

Li Yi, Zhao He, and Lu Yunsheng investigated signs that Luo Yin’s soul and genes had been contaminated, possibly in connection with Black Spider. They considered the Body Tempering Method’s potential as a foundation for a new human cultivation system, then arranged further tests and an interrogation of Black Spider.

• Li Yi suspected Black Spider was connected to the contamination, while Lu Yunsheng noticed Luo Yin’s facial expressions had changed before his physical traits did.
• Li Yi reviewed Luo Yin’s surveillance records with Lu Yunsheng and Zhao He, who concluded the soul might have changed before the genes.
• Zhao He proposed that Li Yi’s Body Tempering Method could form the basis of a new cultivation system and help humanity face the millennium calamity.
• Lu Yunsheng praised Li Yi as humanity’s foremost figure in body tempering, but Li Yi redirected the discussion to Black Spider.
• Zhao He arranged for Old He to interrogate Black Spider and for more Advanced Evolutionists to test Li Yi’s method.
• Li Yi invited Lu Yunsheng to undergo full-strength body tempering, and Lu Yunsheng questioned whether it would affect him.

Li Yi activated version 3.3 of his Burst Technique and began tempering Lu Yunsheng, whose strength had initially led him to underestimate Li Yi. Their rapid exchange shook the training ground, and the chapter ended as Lu Yunsheng appeared to be advancing into a Supreme Expert.

• Li Yi activated version 3.3 of his Burst Technique, using his Traits to unleash far greater physical power than version 3.2.
• Lu Yunsheng recognized Li Yi’s strength, admitted he had underestimated him, and agreed to be tempered.
• Li Yi and Lu Yunsheng exchanged rapid body-tempering movements, creating fierce winds that drove nearby spectators back.
• Lin Wendong and Mu Tianlei watched the AI light screen show Lu Yunsheng’s physical indicators changing at an extraordinary rate.
• Zhao He sensed divine radiance from Lu Yunsheng and exclaimed that Lu Yunsheng was advancing to become a Supreme Expert.

Li Yi used his Body Tempering Method to help Lu Yunsheng break through the strongest-level bottleneck, while observing and recording the transformation. After Lu Yunsheng completed his advancement, Zhao He suggested giving the method a resounding name.

• Lu Yunsheng felt his soul strengthen as Li Yi tempered his body, allowing his three Divinity Cores to begin merging.
• Li Yi activated Ego Focus and the Transcendent Art of the Brain, increasing the power and precision of his strikes.
• After Li Yi's thirtieth round of strikes, Lu Yunsheng's three cores fused and his overwhelming soul pressure swept through the gathered fighters.
• Li Yi recorded Lu Yunsheng's brainwave and bodily changes, hoping to incorporate them into the Body Tempering Method.
• Lu Yunsheng thanked Li Yi and offered to defend him, while Zhao He marveled at the method and proposed giving it a resounding name.

Li Yi and the others named his new body-tempering system the Celestial Meridian Micro-forging Method, then discussed how Supreme Expert traits worked. After the remaining tests, Lu Yunsheng challenged Zhao He to a fight, and their auras began to rise.

• Lu Yunsheng, Zhao He, Mu Tianlei, and Chen Qiong Zhi proposed names for Li Yi's body-tempering method, and Li Yi chose the Celestial Meridian Micro-forging Method.
• Li Yi asked Zhao He whether reaching the Supreme Expert stage erased secondary traits, and Zhao He explained that they remained usable but were weaker than the primary trait.
• Li Yi completed the remaining tests, helping Lin Wendong reach the seventh stage while Mu Tianlei failed to advance to the sixth.
• Lu Yunsheng challenged Zhao He to a match, and Zhao He accepted as both men raised their auras.

Li Yi watched Lu Yunsheng and Zhao He test their strength, judging that Zhao He held the advantage in physical combat. Lu Yunsheng used his Supreme trait and Heavenly Rank technique to trap Zhao He, but Zhao He escaped and prepared to reveal his own ultimate technique.

• Li Yi watched Lu Yunsheng and Zhao He clash at tremendous speed and assessed the relative strength of the Supreme Experts.
• Lu Yunsheng admitted that his physique was inferior to Zhao He's and unleashed his Supreme trait with the Heavenly Rank technique Torrent of Heavenly Ruin.
• Lu Yunsheng's spatially twisting torrent swallowed Zhao He, and Li Yi praised Lu Yunsheng's precise control over Divinity.
• Zhao He burst out of the torrent after it swelled seventeen times, battered but free.
• Zhao He said he would demonstrate his own Heavenly Rank ultimate technique, and Lu Yunsheng taunted him for lacking a Supreme ultimate technique.

Li Yi watched Zhao He and Lu Yunsheng clash with their ultimate moves, then assessed the gap between his own abilities and those of Supreme Experts. Three days later, Li Yi finished the first promotable version of the Tiangang Body Tempering Method and prepared to present it at his first decision-making-level meeting.

• Zhao He used Blazing Dragon against Lu Yunsheng's Torrent of Heavenly Ruin, and their clash filled the training ground with steam and energy waves.
• Li Yi judged that Zhao He had held a slight advantage, while Lu Yunsheng conceded the match and left the training ground.
• Li Yi reflected that his physical strength and armor-piercing power still fell short of top experts, though his mech piloting was closer to theirs.
• Three days later, Li Yi completed the first promotable Tiangang Body Tempering Method and designed support equipment that passed small-scale tests.
• Li Yi uploaded his document to the academic review network before his first decision-making-level meeting, and Lin Jianlong, Qin Longchuan, and Duanmu Xiong received it.

Duanmu Xiong reviewed Li Yi’s Celestial Meridian Micro-forging Method research and devised improved body-tempering equipment. Li Yi joined a virtual meeting of the decision-makers, where the other Supreme Experts gathered and discussed He Guangzhi’s efforts to capture a clone of Heng Sol.

• Duanmu Xiong read Li Yi’s research, praised its methods and detailed data, and discovered that Chen Qiong Zhi descended from the Martial Sage, King of Chenliu.
• Inspired by the research, Duanmu Xiong designed new mechanical equipment to improve Li Yi’s body-tempering method.
• Li Yi entered the virtual meeting room and greeted Lu Yunsheng and Tan Yaozu, who sat beside him.
• The Supreme Experts arrived, and Tan Yaozu asked why Lu Yunsheng had come from Moon Fortress while He Guangzhi had not.
• Lu Yunsheng said He Guangzhi was still working in the God-Suppressing Prison and had not captured a clone of Heng Sol after five days.

Li Yi met the Supreme Experts gathered for a meeting and learned about Ma Zhao’s genetic research proposal. The meeting began with Duanmu Xiong presenting a rapid redesign of a mechanical device for Li Yi’s Body Tempering Method, leaving everyone curious about its potential.

• Li Yi greeted Xiao Pingchuan, Fang Hai, Qian Buyi, Ma Zhao, and Ma Yu, the veteran Supreme Experts at the meeting.
• Ma Zhao praised Li Yi’s Celestial Meridian Micro-forging Method and invited him to join a Gene Self-Iteration Project using nanorobots to improve genes.
• Li Yi agreed to consider joining the project, and Ma Zhao said he hoped to experiment on Starborn after humanity counterattacked them.
• He Guangzhi and Duanmu Xiong arrived, and Duanmu told Li Yi he had optimized a mechanical device for the Body Tempering Method and sent him the files.

Li Yi studied Duanmu Xiong’s intricate microrobot design for the Celestial Meridian Micro-forging Method and explained how it differed from his own mechanical approach. Duanmu Xiong praised Li Yi’s understanding, and the two prepared to question each other about the design and its AI.

• Li Yi read Duanmu Xiong’s detailed design and quickly grasped its core concepts while the other attendees struggled with its complexity.
• Duanmu Xiong asked Li Yi to explain whether the design was feasible, and Li Yi agreed to explain his understanding before raising questions.
• Li Yi explained that his own device used mechanical formulas to simulate refined force, reaching a precision of 20 micrometers, which surprised Qin Longchuan and Lin Jianlong.
• Li Yi described Duanmu Xiong’s design as using microrobots coordinated by a large model to simulate forging forces, and inferred that Duanmu Xiong had prepared an AI for a demonstration.
• Duanmu Xiong applauded Li Yi’s insight and asked how he knew the AI was ready, but Li Yi said he first had questions for Duanmu Xiong.

Li Yi and Duanmu Xiong discussed how to strengthen the Celestial Meridian Micro-forging Method, settling on divine nanobiological organisms that could overcome the robots’ lack of power. Li Yi then revealed that his documented method was only a test version, leaving Duanmu Xiong looking stiff as Lu Yunsheng laughed.

• Li Yi pointed out that Duanmu Xiong’s micrometer robots lacked enough strength to benefit users at Celestial Rank and above.
• Duanmu Xiong proposed using divine nanobiological organisms made by a Starborn relic, and Lin Jianlong confirmed that the information about the relic was reliable.
• Li Yi warned that the relic might let the Starborn reproduce top experts, so Lin Jianlong agreed to check with undercover agents.
• Li Yi approved Duanmu Xiong’s design, and Duanmu Xiong asked whether the Celestial Meridian Micro-forging Method’s blueprint was final.
• Li Yi began explaining that the version in his documents was only a test version for those below the middle Celestial Rank, and Lu Yunsheng laughed at Duanmu Xiong’s stiff expression.

Li Yi explained that he was developing a second Body Tempering Method based on Lu Yunsheng’s transformation, and offered to study other fighters’ transformations to create methods for different constitutions. After accepting offers of payment and arranging tests, the meeting turned to the Starborn, the Nano-factory, and promoting the Body Tempering Method.

• Duanmu Xiong asked Li Yi whether he would revise the Celestial Meridian Micro-forging Method again, and Li Yi described plans for a new Body Tempering Method based on Lu Yunsheng’s transformation.
• Li Yi explained that the new method would suit upper-level Celestial Rank fighters with constitutions similar to Lu Yunsheng’s, and said he expected to finish it in three or four days.
• Fang Hai asked Li Yi to study transformations among other fighters, and Li Yi offered to perform body tempering to help breakthroughs and collect samples.
• Several members offered Li Yi payment, including an S-rank Divinity Core and a special move, and Li Yi accepted and arranged times to help them.
• Lin Jianlong ended the discussion and shifted the meeting to the Starborn strategy, acquiring the Nano-factory, and promoting the Body Tempering Method.