Recaps

Li Xingkong intervened when Ji Nanzhi proposed breeding experiments on the intelligent Old Ox, and the group agreed to pause the research until Old Ox consented. After entering the Longzhou base, Li Xingkong discovered that Old Ox had cultivated the Rising Sun Guide and was the strongest cultivator there.

• Ji Nanzhi asked Li Xingkong to help capture Old Ox for genetic research, but Li Xingkong questioned whether the experiment could be forced.
• Ji Qiu and Ge Baoqi objected to treating Old Ox like an ordinary animal, and Old Ox insisted he would not mate with a cow.
• Li Xingkong asked Old Ox for his opinion, and Old Ox said he had named himself Ji Bei but wanted to change his name to Dad.
• Ji Nanzhi agreed to shelve the research until Old Ox consented, and Old Ox asked Ge Baoqi for beef meatballs and twice-cooked pork.
• Ji Nanzhi led Li Xingkong and the others into the Longzhou base, where Ji Qiu began gathering materials to make 360 formation flags.
• Li Xingkong discovered that Old Ox had learned the Rising Sun Guide and had progressed further in cultivation than anyone else at the base.

Li Xingkong accepted Ji Qiu’s Go stones as materials for the space elevator’s formation flags and gave him an interactive light-board pendant in exchange. After engraving the stones, Li Xingkong realized the extra black stone could serve as a switch for the completed formation.

• Ji Qiu brought Li Xingkong a set of 361 Go stones, which Li Xingkong confirmed were suitable materials for formation flags.
• Li Xingkong made Ji Qiu a pendant that projected an interactive Go board, and Ji Qiu hurried away when Ge Baoqi came looking for the set.
• Li Xingkong arranged the stones according to his formation design and engraved their assigned structures.
• Li Xingkong finished refining the formation flags in half a day, with one black stone left unused.
• Li Xingkong decided the extra black stone could be modified to serve as the switch for the entire formation.

Li Xingkong finished refining the formation’s control piece and traveled to the completed space-elevator site to begin laying out the grand formation. He started planting the formation pieces across the empty site while Ma Buxiu and the workers watched from a distance.

• Li Xingkong refined a distinctive black-and-white control piece that could give its holder control over the space-elevator formation in his absence.
• While staying at the Longzhou branch, Li Xingkong watched Ji Nanzhi fail to collect Old Ox’s semen until Ge Baoqi got Old Ox drunk during a rock-paper-scissors game, letting Ji Nanzhi carry out the experiment.
• After the space-elevator site was ready, Li Xingkong left the Longzhou branch and arrived to find Ma Buxiu supervising the final construction work.
• Li Xingkong had Ma Buxiu clear everyone from the site, then flew to its center and began sending the formation pieces underground in streaks of light.

Li Xingkong completed the grand formation at the space elevator site and spent several days studying how it worked. When Ma Buxiu called to say the inspection representatives had arrived, Li Xingkong descended to the venue and was surprised by the size of the gathering.

• Li Xingkong placed the final formation flag, completing the grand formation and ending the unusual wind and light phenomena.
• Ma Buxiu told Li Xingkong that he would arrange the next steps and notify the relevant departments for an inspection.
• Li Xingkong flew above the site and studied the formation, deepening his understanding and realizing he could reduce its flags by at least twenty percent if he designed it again.
• Ma Buxiu called Li Xingkong after most inspection representatives had arrived at a venue near the site.
• Li Xingkong landed at the venue and asked Ma Buxiu why so many people had come, but Ma Buxiu said he did not know what the higher-ups had arranged.

Li Xingkong activated the space elevator formation before a crowd of Divine Land officials and experts. The entire site rose more than ten meters into the air, leaving the onlookers stunned as the demonstration continued.

• Li Xingkong arrived with Ma Buxiu and reunited with Old Tang, who introduced him to Commander Wang and described the large gathering of officials and experts.
• Li Xingkong warned the spectators about the noise and dust, and Old Tang arranged for them to receive masks and sunglasses.
• Li Xingkong rose into the air and channeled Magic Power into the black-and-white game piece, sending it into the formation to activate it.
• Golden light burst from the site as the ground shook, and Li Xingkong used the Qi Refining Method to lift the spectators and protect them from the tremors.
• The entire space elevator site separated from the ground and rose steadily to more than ten meters, astonishing the crowd.

Li Xingkong demonstrated the suspended space elevator to Old Tang and the gathered observers, showing them how its control terminal moved the structure and activated protective formations. As the elevator neared space, its layered barriers kept the passengers comfortable while Earth Star curved below them.

• Li Xingkong brought the observers onto the space elevator, where Old Tang and the researchers tested the steady surface and watched the ground recede.
• Li Xingkong gave Old Tang the black-and-white game piece and explained that it controlled the elevator and its grand formation.
• Li Xingkong used the terminal to move the elevator and demonstrated that its controls could also respond to his thoughts.
• Li Xingkong set a destination in Earth's orbit and activated formations that blocked high-altitude winds and maintained a comfortable environment.
• Li Xingkong activated additional gravity, ecosystem, and radiation-protection formations as the elevator climbed toward space and Earth Star's curvature came into view.

Li Xingkong took Old Tang, Commander Wang, and the others into space aboard the elevator, then explained how its formation worked and what limited its speed and capacity. Commander Wang proposed turning it into an airborne military base, but Old Tang refused, preferring peaceful development and space exploration over risking a devastating war.

• Li Xingkong took the group aboard the elevator into outer space, where they admired the view before he began the return trip.
• Old Tang asked how to maintain the formation, and Li Xingkong explained that its flags and their positions had to remain undisturbed.
• Commander Wang asked about the elevator’s speed, load capacity, and defenses, and Li Xingkong described its limits and the possibility of adding protective formations.
• Commander Wang proposed converting the elevator into an airborne military base, but Old Tang said development and peaceful uses should take priority.
• Old Tang explained that nuclear war could devastate Earth Star and hasten an ice age, making a military victory worthless.

Commander Wang and the Space Agency agreed to share Li Xingkong’s space elevator, with the military providing engineering troops and fortifications in exchange for access. The chapter ended with Li Xingkong giving Old Tang his formation notes and the elevator’s formation diagram, making it easier for others to build one.

• Commander Wang argued that the Western Military Region needed the space elevator as a military carrier, while the Space Agency’s representative refused to give it up.
• Commander Wang proposed joint use, and the Space Agency agreed to lend him the elevator in exchange for access to the military region’s engineering troops.
• Commander Wang agreed that his troops would build a fortress on the elevator and promised to leave enough cargo space for the Space Agency.
• Li Xingkong gave Old Tang his formation insights, manuals, and the space elevator’s formation diagram.

Li Xingkong handed Old Tang a cultivation method for studying formations and decided to return to the moon for seclusion, leaving the Divine Land to manage its Spiritual Qi revival. The chapter ended with him preparing to improve his cultivation by increasing the efficiency of his energy intake.

• Old Tang accepted Li Xingkong's cultivation method, which could advance the Divine Land's study of formations.
• Commander Wang tried to take the elevator back to the military district, but the others stopped him and insisted it remain with the space agency for further study.
• Li Xingkong told Old Tang he planned to return to the moon and enter seclusion, and Old Tang promised to look after his parents and the Divine Land.
• Old Tang learned that Eagle Country was developing gene-targeted biological weapons using blood from people of the Divine Land who had fled there.
• Li Xingkong recognized that his energy intake was too slow to support further progress in the Foundation Establishment Stage and planned to improve its efficiency.

Li Xingkong returned to the lunar base to enter seclusion and improve his cultivation by constructing the remaining Hexagrams. He set up formations to keep people away and began meditating, leaving his cultivation session underway.

• Li Xingkong told his parents he was going into seclusion, returned the children staying at home to their own homes, and prepared to cultivate.
• After informing the space agency, Li Xingkong flew to the Moon in two days using his sword-riding technique.
• Li Xingkong arrived at the lunar base and saw that modified Bone-Tempering Grass had spread across the surface and that the base had grown.
• Li Xingkong greeted the people who recognized him and returned to his room at the lunar base.
• Li Xingkong set up soundproofing and illusion formations around his room, sat on a meditation cushion, and began his seclusion.

Li Xingkong reviewed his Foundation Establishment cultivation, recognizing that his Divine Sense training and knowledge of spells still needed to grow. He concluded that he could evade nuclear attacks on Earth Star, and planned to study more spells, artifact refining, and spatial knowledge as his Divine Sense improved.

• Li Xingkong assessed how essence, qi, and spirit developed through cultivation, and why spiritual cultivation began at Foundation Establishment.
• He reviewed his spells and formation skills, noting that he had mastered the Sword Control Technique but lacked experience with other Foundation Establishment spells.
• Li Xingkong decided he could not yet design a spirit plant for Divine Sense cultivation because he did not understand the Foundation Establishment method well enough.
• He recognized that his combat methods were limited against cultivators of the same realm, even though he was invincible on Earth Star.
• Li Xingkong concluded that his Sword Control Technique let him escape nuclear blasts and that radiation would eventually matter for Golden Core cultivation.
• He planned to learn more spells and explore artifact refining and spatial knowledge after his seclusion, once his Divine Sense was strong enough.

Li Xingkong consulted the system on improving his energy intake and learned that the Sun and Moon Qi Refining Method had little room to grow while he remained human. He turned to the Moonlight Qi Refining Method and discovered that his Foundation Establishment supply problem came from using unusually powerful cultivation methods.

• Li Xingkong asked the system how to improve the Sun and Moon Qi Refining Method, and it explained that enlarging its energy-absorbing area would bring diminishing gains while consuming Magic Power.
• The system suggested Li Xingkong could expand the method’s potential by abandoning his human form, but he rejected the idea and chose to focus on the Moonlight Qi Refining Method.
• Li Xingkong asked how other cultivation civilizations handled Magic Power demands at the Foundation Establishment Stage, and the system said few cultivators had faced his problem.
• The system explained that Li Xingkong’s Heavenly Evolution Foundation Establishment Method combined top-tier techniques, making its Magic Power consumption exceptionally high when he cultivated multiple Hexagrams.

Li Xingkong studied two orthodox Qi Refining Methods to increase his Magic Power recovery and support the Heavenly Evolution Foundation Establishment Method. Even after his gains, he still needed another powerful method and faced the prospect of mastering only four Hexagrams before advancing to the Golden Core stage.

• Li Xingkong learned that no one had mastered all Eight Trigrams of the Heavenly Evolution Foundation Establishment Method at the Foundation Establishment Stage, and decided to improve his Magic Power supply.
• Li Xingkong perfected the Moonlight Qi Refining Method after nearly three months of study, nearly doubling his Magic Power recovery speed, but could still support only two Hexagrams at once.
• Li Xingkong asked the system to teach him the Magnetic Essence Qi Refining Method and began cultivating it using the planet's magnetic field.
• After nearly half a year, Li Xingkong mastered the Magnetic Essence Qi Refining Method, raising his recovery speed to four times its former rate.
• Li Xingkong concluded that he needed to find another advanced Qi Refining Method himself or settle for mastering four Hexagrams before pursuing the Golden Core stage.

Li Xingkong searched for a new energy source to create a fourth Qi Refining Method and settled on dark matter, which he learned to detect and manipulate with Divine Sense. He began studying its properties and used the Qian Hexagram to develop a method for absorbing its energy.

• Li Xingkong compared possible energy sources and rejected combustible fuels, wind, electricity, nuclear energy, and particle collisions as unsuitable or impractical.
• Li Xingkong decided that dark matter’s abundance throughout the universe made it a promising basis for a new Qi Refining Method.
• Li Xingkong used his understanding of dark matter and Divine Sense to detect it in the vacuum around him.
• Li Xingkong used Spiritual Qi to draw dark matter into his hand and began studying its properties.
• Li Xingkong set the Qian Hexagram to work deducing a new Qi Refining Method based on dark matter.

Li Xingkong completed the Netherworld Qi Refining Method after two years of secluded research, greatly increasing his Magic Power recovery. The system explained that it collected cultivation knowledge across worlds, and Li Xingkong learned why it had chosen him.

• Li Xingkong spent two years using the Qian Hexagram to devise the Netherworld Qi Refining Method, which converted dark matter into Magic Power.
• Li Xingkong tested the method on himself and raised his combined Magic Power recovery speed to nine times its original rate.
• The system praised the method, asked to add it to its cultivation technique library, and Li Xingkong agreed and transmitted it.
• The system explained that its main purpose was to collect and share cultivation knowledge from civilizations across many worlds.
• The system told Li Xingkong it had chosen him for his creativity, cultivation efforts, luck, and because he was the first person it encountered in his world.

Li Xingkong completed the Dui Hexagram and began constructing the combat-focused Li Trigram as part of his Foundation Establishment cultivation. After learning how the Li Trigram could analyze battles, he started refining it.

• Li Xingkong began constructing the Dui Hexagram, which could decipher languages and enable thought-based communication.
• After six months, Li Xingkong completed the Dui Hexagram and placed it beside the Qian Hexagram around his Divine Sense.
• Li Xingkong could not test the Dui Hexagram while his formations kept others out of his secluded chamber.
• Li Xingkong turned to the Li Trigram, which analyzed combat and calculated optimal actions while consuming considerable Magic Power.
• Li Xingkong began refining the Li Trigram.

Li Xingkong completed the remaining trigrams of the Heavenly Evolution Foundation Establishment Method and arranged all eight around his Divine Sense Seed. After six years in seclusion, he had finished the trigram-refining portion and prepared to focus on nurturing his Divine Sense.

• Li Xingkong constructed the Zhen, Xun, Kan, Gen, and Kun Trigrams, each with its own function, including speed, scouting, support, cognitive defense, and automated spellcasting.
• Li Xingkong realized that six years had passed during his seclusion and that nurturing his Divine Sense remained his final task.
• Li Xingkong placed all eight trigrams around his Divine Sense Seed, forming an octagon and completing the trigram-refining portion of the method.
• Li Xingkong considered the role of Divine Sense in measuring Foundation Establishment cultivation and recognized that his top-tier method should let his Divine Sense surpass ordinary cultivators'.

Li Xingkong began the final stage of his seclusion by cultivating his Divine Sense through the Eight Trigrams. His first cycle increased its range by ten li, though the method’s exponentially lengthening cycles and his body’s limits shaped how far he could progress.

• Li Xingkong assessed his short Divine Sense range and set reaching Mid Foundation Establishment, which required a thousand li of coverage, as his goal.
• After briefly resting for half a day, Li Xingkong began a cycle of exhausting his Divine Sense through the Hexagrams while improving its potential as it recovered.
• Li Xingkong completed his first cycle and expanded his Divine Sense range by ten li, a pace that initially suggested he could reach a thousand li in three years.
• Li Xingkong’s cultivation method required cycles that grew exponentially longer, potentially taking centuries in later stages, while his body’s strength limited the total Divine Sense it could hold.
• The chapter explained that rebuilding a poor foundation at a later stage demanded extensive changes, leaving cultivators surrounded by enemies with little time to do so.

After cultivating his Divine Sense for over eight years, Li Xingkong reached a thousand-li range and decided to leave seclusion. He emerged at the lunar base and began looking around while waiting to learn what had changed in the Divine Land.

• Li Xingkong completed six rounds of Divine Sense cultivation, reaching a range of a thousand li, and stopped before beginning a round that would take 128 weeks.
• Li Xingkong decided to leave seclusion to learn about the space elevator and nationwide cultivation initiative, and to focus on strengthening his combat ability.
• Li Xingkong shut down the formations in his lunar-base chamber, triggering an alarm and drawing several young recruits to his door.
• Li Xingkong opened the door with his Divine Sense and told the recruits he wanted to see how the lunar base had developed.
• The recruits agreed to show Li Xingkong around and said Mr. Tang would arrive shortly.

After eight years in seclusion, Li Xingkong toured the expanded lunar base and learned how its formations, settlements, and defenses had developed. He reunited with Tang Cheng, whose cultivation had reached Late Qi Refining.

• Li Xingkong saw that formation masters had built a sky-covering formation modeled on Jianmu and learned that the space elevator had been named Jianmu.
• Li Xingkong flew above the lunar base and learned that several nearby formations served research and immigration, with the newest being prepared as a settlement.
• Li Xingkong learned that lunar settlers would rely on water extracted from lunar soil and Earth Star soil brought from home.
• Li Xingkong saw defensive cannons designed to destroy threatening meteorites and traveled by enclosed vehicle to Guanghan District Six.
• Tang Cheng arrived by spaceship to greet Li Xingkong, and Li Xingkong recognized that Tang Cheng had reached Late Qi Refining.

Li Xingkong returned from Guanghan District Six toward Earth Star aboard the Medicine-Pounding Guest, learning how Earth Star’s cultivators had turned the journey to the moon into a rite of passage. The ship passed a cultivator making the perilous trip as Tang Cheng explained its growing popularity and the risks involved.

• Li Xingkong chose to return to Earth Star aboard the Medicine-Pounding Guest with Tang Cheng and the others.
• Tang Cheng told Li Xingkong that the spaceship could make a round trip between Earth and the moon in about a week.
• As the Medicine-Pounding Guest traveled toward Earth, Tang Cheng pointed out a cultivator slowly making the journey to the moon.
• Tang Cheng explained that he, Brother Wu, Brother Gou, Wang Dabao, and others had traveled from geostationary orbit to the moon together nearly two years earlier.
• Tang Cheng said the journey was now called the Road to Immortality, and that the Medicine-Pounding Guest rescued cultivators who gave up along the way.
• Tang Cheng told Li Xingkong that the Road to Immortality had a success rate of around sixty percent, which was falling as more cultivators attempted it.

Li Xingkong and Tang Cheng traveled toward Earth Star and saw the new White Jade Capital space shipyard, built with supplies carried up by the space elevator. Tang Cheng explained how Divine Land secured its space program after other countries protested, while Li Xingkong learned that Eagle Country had used a genetic weapon against its own ethnic Chinese community to intimidate Divine Land.

• Li Xingkong and Tang Cheng passed several teams of cultivators traveling the Road to Immortality, and Tang Cheng explained their standard crew formations and the difficulty of navigating space.
• Tang Cheng pointed out White Jade Capital, Divine Land’s first orbital space shipyard, and said it had produced the Medicine-Pounding Guest spaceship.
• Li Xingkong asked whether other countries had objected to the shipyard, and Tang Cheng said dozens had protested while Eagle Country threatened Divine Land with a genetic weapon.
• Tang Cheng explained that the Western Military Region used the space elevator as an aerospace carrier in a military exercise, demonstrating its air defenses and ability to deploy aircraft and armored brigades.
• Tang Cheng told Li Xingkong that Eagle Country had released a genetic weapon in its largest ethnic Chinese community and sent a team to publicize its effects.

Li Xingkong and Tang Cheng discussed Divine Land’s defenses and space policy before leaving White Jade Capital for Earth Star. On their descent, Li Xingkong saw that the Divine Land Nation-Protecting Great Array was nearly forty percent complete and was expected to be finished the following year.

• Li Xingkong asked how Divine Land could counter a weapon, and Tang Cheng said a Restoration Technique could deal with it.
• Tang Cheng said Divine Land had withdrawn from the Outer Space Treaty because its restrictions hindered the country.
• Li Xingkong and Tang Cheng arrived at White Jade Capital, where Li Xingkong noticed the space dock’s gravity array and praised its array design.
• Tang Cheng explained that Xia Yuqing, a civilian cultivator with exceptional talent in arrays, had designed almost all the dock’s arrays.
• Li Xingkong and Tang Cheng jumped from the dock toward Earth Star because the space elevator was away from White Jade Capital.
• Li Xingkong stopped during their descent after seeing the Divine Land Nation-Protecting Great Array, and Tang Cheng explained its planned defensive and weather-protection functions.

Tang Cheng explained to Li Xingkong how Divine Land’s Nation-Protecting Grand Formation and cultivator-based military had transformed the country’s defenses and warfare. They expected the formation to soon make Divine Land invulnerable, paving the way for a possible move to unify the world.

• Tang Cheng told Li Xingkong that the Nation-Protecting Grand Formation had first been tested on Qiongzhou Island to defend against increasingly powerful typhoons.
• Tang Cheng explained that the formation had also proved capable of shielding against heavy firepower and was being expanded to protect Divine Land from outside attacks.
• Tang Cheng described how cultivators had become the military’s main force, requiring specialized weapons that ordinary soldiers could not safely use.
• Tang Cheng showed Li Xingkong how missiles could deploy squads of soldiers directly into designated areas, replacing parachute-based troop deployment.
• Tang Cheng said Divine Land was delaying a major war until the formation protected the country and its people from casualties.
• Li Xingkong said he wanted to witness the coming new era, and Tang Cheng agreed that Divine Land might become the world’s sole power before their next secluded cultivation.

Li Xingkong and Tang Cheng returned to the Imperial Capital and saw how cultivation had transformed the city’s transportation. After Tang Cheng received an emergency call about the Star-Absorbing Cult, Li Xingkong helped defeat its members and demanded to know more about the group.

• Li Xingkong and Tang Cheng flew to the Imperial Capital, where Tang Cheng explained how cultivation and scientific advances had enabled widespread low-altitude transportation.
• Tang Cheng received a call reporting a clash between the Imperial Capital patrol team and Star-Absorbing Cult members at Guangmao Shopping Mall, where kidnapped people were being held.
• Li Xingkong used his Divine Sense to locate the fight and sent Swift Lightning ahead to disable the cult members.
• Li Xingkong and Tang Cheng arrived at the underground parking lot, where the patrol team arrested the immobilized cult members and freed the kidnapped people.
• Li Xingkong, furious that the Star-Absorbing Cult had emerged, asked Tang Cheng to explain the group.