Recaps

Li Xingkong designed a planet-spanning formation to control Earth Star’s weather after mastering advanced Foundation Establishment formation theory. He named it the Four Seas Heaven-Regulating Formation and began refining safeguards to balance disaster prevention with the planet’s ecology.

• Li Xingkong completed his study of advanced Foundation Establishment formation theory after nearly three years.
• Li Xingkong realized that four formation flags could cover Earth Star and that the formation could control weather by moving water vapor and regulating atmospheric pressure.
• Li Xingkong designed four underwater formation flags shaped like Dragon Palaces and planned to give cultivators access through control terminals.
• Li Xingkong named his design the Four Seas Heaven-Regulating Formation and considered how its default weather controls could prevent disasters without damaging local ecosystems.
• Li Xingkong recognized that the formation could also enable deliberate climate changes, such as concentrating rainfall to turn the Sichuan Basin into a reservoir.

Li Xingkong designed a formation to reshape Earth Star’s terrain by harnessing crustal movement, using a preset design that would gradually alter the surface over centuries or millennia. He also planned smaller, direct changes to places like Hedong and added a function to spread spiritual qi, though the system would not confirm whether his approach met the assessment requirements.

• Li Xingkong concluded that reshaping mountains and rivers required a different approach from controlling the weather because altering terrain demanded far more energy.
• Li Xingkong planned to guide geological changes with a formation that used crustal movement to gradually reshape Earth Star’s surface according to a preset design.
• Li Xingkong asked the system whether his plan would work, but the system refused to answer.
• Li Xingkong designed a formation to absorb and redirect energy from crustal movement, amplify vibrations, and shape terrain according to its design.
• Li Xingkong added an Earth Vein function so the formation would spread spiritual qi across Earth Star.

Li Xingkong completed his mountain-and-river reshaping formation after nearly twelve years in seclusion, then returned to Earth Star to catch up on the world. He learned that cultivators had become asteroid scavengers and that a Divine Land base on Mars was nearly complete.

• Li Xingkong finished the grand formation, reached the limit of his Divine Sense's range, and ended his seclusion.
• Li Xingkong checked Earth Star's internet and learned that the Divine Land had stricter cultivation quotas and had become divided between cultivators and ordinary people.
• Li Xingkong flew to the White Jade Capital, where he saw cultivators traveling between Earth Star and space.
• Li Xingkong asked a departing cultivator about the trips and learned that registered scavengers collected asteroids and meteorites near Earth Star.
• The cultivator told Li Xingkong that the Divine Land's Mars base was almost finished.

Li Xingkong returned to Earth Star after years in seclusion and saw how nuclear winter had damaged the planet while the Divine Land remained prosperous. In the Imperial Capital, he learned that ordinary people were protesting cultivators’ long pregnancies and the advantages their children gained at birth.

• Li Xingkong left the White Jade Capital and descended to Earth Star, avoiding the spatial gate because he carried other spatial items.
• Li Xingkong saw that Earth Star had grown colder and its polar ice had expanded, while the Divine Land remained bright and protected by its grand formation.
• Li Xingkong reached the Imperial Capital and noticed a crowd protesting near an office.
• Li Xingkong asked a middle-aged woman about the protest, and she explained that many protesters were newcomers to the Divine Land who had been denied cultivation access.
• The woman and an old man said cultivator families carried pregnancies for years so their children could be born cultivating, prompting protesters to demand a ten-month limit for fairness.

Li Xingkong returned to the Earthly Capital and reunited with Old Tang, while the two discussed the growing conflict between ordinary people and cultivators. Old Tang explained that the Divine Land had chosen a response to the unrest, but fears among low-level cultivators remained unresolved.

• Li Xingkong considered how cultivation and long pregnancies had widened divisions between ordinary people and cultivators, then decided to leave the problem to the people governing the Divine Land.
• Li Xingkong flew into the Earthly Capital, where Old Tang and other officials were waiting to welcome him.
• Li Xingkong greeted Old Tang, and they went to the lounge to catch up on the Divine Land’s rapid development.
• Li Xingkong asked Old Tang about the street protest over pregnancy and cultivation.
• Old Tang said the Divine Land planned to integrate new citizens through education and adjusted cultivation opportunities, while dividing the troublemakers between those it would accept and those it would suppress.
• Old Tang explained that low-level cultivators feared growing disparities in talent would leave them vulnerable to powerful cultivators.

Li Xingkong discussed the Divine Land’s plans for managing cultivators and learned how Foundation Establishment cultivation was advancing scientific research. The chapter ended with Old Tang describing a cultivator who had built a rudimentary computational structure, leaving Li Xingkong unimpressed by the result.

• Li Xingkong and Old Tang discussed how differences in cultivation talent and effort had created risks that laws alone could not contain.
• Old Tang explained that the Divine Land planned to develop Mars and Venus and relocate high-level cultivators there according to their realms.
• Old Tang told Li Xingkong that Tang Cheng had reached Foundation Establishment and chosen the Dissociation Foundation Establishment Method.
• Old Tang said Tang Cheng was cultivating beside supercomputer servers so he could build a supercomputer as his computational structure and develop Divine Sense.
• Old Tang revealed that another Foundation Establishment cultivator had secretly built a computational structure using an enhanced multiplication table, and Li Xingkong judged the result unimpressive.

Li Xingkong returned home and completed the Four Seas Heaven-Regulating Formation by placing formation flags beneath dragon palaces in Earth Star’s four oceans. He tested the formation’s weather-control interface and discovered he could manipulate storm clouds in real time.

• Old Tang learned that Li Xingkong had reached Foundation Establishment Perfection and was close to breaking through.
• Li Xingkong returned home, found that his parents were traveling, and decided to focus on building the grand formation.
• Li Xingkong placed the first formation flag in the Pacific Ocean and built the East China Sea Dragon Palace over it.
• Li Xingkong installed the remaining three formation flags beneath dragon palaces in the other oceans and activated the formation around Earth Star and its atmosphere.
• Li Xingkong used the formation’s screen to pull a bank of storm clouds toward himself and reshape them.

Li Xingkong tested the weather-control formation and passed its first trial by summoning a sudden rainstorm over Longxi. The system then set a harder second test: maintaining a strong wind as a moving point travels around the equator, which Li Xingkong began attempting.

• Li Xingkong tested the formation’s weather controls and confirmed they could create weather and serve as a weapon.
• The system assessed the formation and tasked Li Xingkong with producing a rainstorm at a random location in Longxi.
• Li Xingkong dragged rain clouds from Sichuan and Chongqing over Longxi and made them release a brief, intense downpour.
• The system passed the rain test but criticized Li Xingkong for making the rain without ceremony.
• The system’s second test required a strong wind to travel around the equator, and Li Xingkong began working out how to create and move it.

Li Xingkong completed the weather-control assessment by steering a gale around the equator and briefly making rain at the North Pole. After the system passed him, he contacted Zhang Yumeng to arrange a demonstration of the Four Seas Heaven-Regulating Formation and offered to pick her up.

• Li Xingkong guided an artificial gale around the equator for more than a day and completed the first weather-control task.
• At the North Pole, Li Xingkong used his flying sword to hold back cold currents while warm air entered, then made rain fall for five minutes before the weather turned to hail and snow.
• The system accepted Li Xingkong's result and counted the first part of the assessment as complete.
• Li Xingkong decided to brief Old Tang and the others about the Four Seas Heaven-Regulating Formation, and called Zhang Yumeng in Earthly Capital.
• Zhang Yumeng answered Li Xingkong's call after more than a decade and agreed to meet him, so he offered to come pick her up.

Li Xingkong picked up Zhang Yumeng and flew her across the Pacific toward the array’s core. Zhang Yumeng overcame her initial fear, explored the flying sword, and revealed a lively side before they descended toward the sea.

• Li Xingkong arrived at the meeting place and invited Zhang Yumeng onto his flying sword.
• Zhang Yumeng panicked at the speed and clutched Li Xingkong’s clothes, but relaxed after he reassured her she would not fall.
• As Li Xingkong flew toward the Pacific Ocean, Zhang Yumeng tested the sword’s edges, examined its magic power structures, and took pictures.
• Li Xingkong caught Zhang Yumeng trying to photograph him, teased her, and heard her blurt out an insult before she remembered who he was.
• Li Xingkong reached the array’s core and steered the flying sword down toward the sea.

Li Xingkong brought Zhang Yumeng to the Dragon Palace beneath the sea and explained that it housed a control core for his weather-regulating formation, which he planned to hand over to the Earthly Capital. After advising Zhang Yumeng on her weak cultivation foundation, he left her to manage the Dragon Palace and headed toward Cherry Blossom Country Island to set up another formation and inspect its government experiment.

• Li Xingkong took Zhang Yumeng through the sea to the Dragon Palace, where he showed her the formation core and main control room.
• Li Xingkong explained the Dragon Palace’s facilities and said he planned to hand its management over to the Earthly Capital; Zhang Yumeng recorded his explanations and began contacting officials.
• Li Xingkong examined Zhang Yumeng’s cultivation and found that she had barely practiced Body Refining, then explained how she should train during Qi Refining.
• Zhang Yumeng entered work mode to test and organize the Dragon Palace, so Li Xingkong left her there and departed to establish the second formation.
• Li Xingkong headed for the seismic belt near Cherry Blossom Country Island, intending to use the opening in Mount Fuji as a formation core site and check on the island’s government experiment.

Li Xingkong visited a government system experiment district in Cherry Blossom Country and learned about its tribalism-based slavery system. The experimenters explained how the district regulated the sale of labor and other rights, and how population movement was used to compare systems.

• Li Xingkong landed at a government center in Cherry Blossom Country and found it labeled as a tribalism-under-slavery experiment zone.
• Liu Suiye and Zhang San welcomed Li Xingkong, and Liu Suiye explained that they were testing the district’s government and legal systems.
• Liu Suiye showed Li Xingkong a marketplace where people sold specific services and rights under contracts.
• Zhang San explained that the system separated a person’s dignity, skills, and physical person into distinct rights, while a tribal chief was chosen by defeating the previous chief in a designated field.
• Liu Suiye said the experimenters judged systems by tracking migration into and out of each district, and reported that their district had gained residents for several years.

Li Xingkong learned how the island’s competing government experiments had fared, including the Netizen Autonomous Region’s success and its limits in the real world. He then began placing the formation flags for the Four Directions and Four Symbols Heaven and Earth Transposition Formation in deep, remote locations across Earth Star.

• Liu Suiye explained that experiments in nearly half the island’s regions had failed, including traditional slavery and extreme egalitarianism.
• Zhang San and Liu Suiye described the successful regions, especially the Netizen Autonomous Region, whose AI-enforced laws had attracted ordinary people while driving away the wealthy.
• Li Xingkong toured the island’s government systems before returning to the rift to begin setting up the formation.
• Li Xingkong placed the first formation flag deep beneath the rift, protected it inside obsidian, and returned to the surface.
• Li Xingkong traveled to remote depths around Earth Star, placing more formation flags for the terrain-reshaping formation.

Li Xingkong completed a grand formation and crafted nine cauldrons that let their holders reshape entire continental plates. After testing the Asian continent controller on his hometown, he went to see the altered terrain and was approached by cultivators investigating the unexpected earthquake.

• Li Xingkong finished placing the formation nodes and crafted nine control artifacts modeled after the Nine Tripod Cauldrons.
• Li Xingkong activated the cauldron for the Asian continent and used its terrain model to flatten a hill near his hometown.
• Li Xingkong traveled to the altered location and found the ground trembling as the formation reshaped the terrain.
• More than a dozen cultivators arrived to investigate the unpredicted earthquake and saw Li Xingkong hovering nearby.

Li Xingkong completed his terrain-changing array experiment, then received the second part of his Foundation Establishment assessment: reconnect North and South America. He set the transformation to take five hundred years, but the system immediately declared the assessment complete.

• Li Xingkong told geologists that he was testing an array, and they watched as it shattered a hill and transformed the surrounding terrain into a plain.
• Li Xingkong confirmed that the altered terrain matched his array model, then vanished before the geologists could register his details.
• Li Xingkong asked the system for the second assessment task, and it required him to join North and South America according to the continental drift hypothesis.
• Li Xingkong used the Nine Tripod Cauldrons to set the continental transformation to take five hundred years.
• The system announced that the assessment was complete, leaving Li Xingkong puzzled.

After passing the Foundation Establishment assessment, Li Xingkong learned about Golden Core cultivation and its requirements. He aimed for a Leakless Golden Core and began preparing for the next stage, which required radioactive materials.

• The system told Li Xingkong that he had passed the Foundation Establishment assessment and claimed it had predicted the result.
• The system explained that Golden Core cultivation centered on forging an internal energy source, and described the Golden Core Nine Revolutions.
• Li Xingkong decided to pursue a Leakless Golden Core and learned about spatial cultivation and advanced control over matter.
• The system told Li Xingkong that he needed radioactive materials to prepare for forming his core, noting that nuclear fusion reactors already used a Golden Core prototype.

Li Xingkong prepared to form a Golden Core using the Heaven-Encircling Baleful Qi Refining Core Formation Art, which suited his access to radiation. The system explained that different Baleful Qi could grant a Golden Core additional effects, including innate divine abilities, and identified two sources available to him on Earth Star.

• Li Xingkong reviewed the core formation art and realized that radiation could serve as its Baleful Qi.
• Li Xingkong asked why cultivation sects controlled Baleful Qi, and the system described its uses in body refining, demon subjugation, and wondrous arts.
• The system explained that the kind of Baleful Qi used to form a Golden Core could affect its later abilities and might grant an innate divine ability.
• Li Xingkong asked which available Baleful Qi could grant him a divine ability, and the system named two possibilities.
• The system identified nuclear-power-station radiation as Fallen Demon Baleful Qi, which could cause mutations, and solar wind as Great Sun Gold-Tempering Baleful Qi, which could help cultivate an indestructible golden body.

Li Xingkong chose to pursue the Eight-Nine Mysterious Art and traveled toward the sun to gather Great Sun Gold-Tempering Baleful Qi. He reached a suitable orbit near the sun and began collecting solar baleful qi, but had yet to practice the refining technique itself.

• Li Xingkong chose the second option, pursuing the Eight-Nine Mysterious Art rather than transformations that would alter his appearance.
• Li Xingkong left Earth Star and flew toward the sun while cultivating the Heaven-Circling Baleful Qi Gathering Technique during the journey.
• Li Xingkong's Hexagram guided him past Venus and Mercury to an orbit near the sun, where the intense heat interrupted his cultivation.
• Li Xingkong used magic power and Divine Sense to spread a net that gathered passing solar baleful qi, which he stored in an organ he had cultivated for that purpose.

Li Xingkong cultivated the Heaven-Encircling Baleful Qi Refining Technique, transforming his cells and forming a False Core in his Qi Sea. He remained beside the sun to gather more Baleful Qi, which he needed to finish refining the hollow core before he could ignite it and enter the Golden Core realm.

• Li Xingkong refined Baleful Qi through his body, transforming his cells and greatly increasing their strength.
• Li Xingkong directed the Baleful Qi into his Qi Sea, where it clashed with Magic Power and expanded the sea.
• A tiny embryonic core formed in Li Xingkong’s Qi Sea and absorbed Baleful Qi and Magic Power until it became a False Core.
• Li Xingkong determined that the False Core still needed extensive refining before radioactive materials could ignite it and trigger fission.
• Li Xingkong planned to remain beside the sun and gather dozens more nets of Baleful Qi, unlike cultivators who had limited access to stars.

Divine Land focused on reverse-engineering cultivation and spatial technology, but a high-energy experiment with Spatial Rings caused a catastrophic spatial collapse that destroyed much of a research complex. The disturbance alerted an unknown civilization, which dispatched a battleship under an extermination directive.

• Divine Land expanded scientific research because Foundation Establishment cultivation progressed slowly, with spatial gates becoming a major project.
• Researchers at an Imperial Capital institute increased the energy supplied to an experiment involving Spatial Rings to try to manipulate space.
• The experiment triggered a rapid spatial collapse, and researchers evacuated before the laboratory and nearby facilities vanished into a hemispherical cavity.
• The researchers discovered that the Spatial Rings had been lost and were ordered to prepare lengthy self-criticisms.
• An apparatus in a nearby star system detected the spatial disturbance, classified it as a threat from an unknown civilization, and sent a colossal battleship toward its source.

Lao Mu and Aozile prepared their warship for a mission to a civilization that had begun exploring spatial technology, discussing how to eliminate its natives and Aozile’s hoped-for promotion. As the ship calculated a route to the spatial explosion, Aozile left to collect tree women for the voyage, while crew members discussed his rise from fifth-class citizenship.

• Lao Mu and Aozile discussed making the operation cleaner than their previous mission, and Lao Mu warned that a planet-destroying weapon should be used only if necessary.
• Aozile asked Lao Mu about life as a second-class citizen and said he had earned enough military merit to seek promotion.
• The ship’s artificial intelligence reported that wormhole calculations needed three more days and that the journey would take about ten years across twelve space jumps.
• Lao Mu ordered the ship to arrange the planned jumps, and Aozile complained about the delay before leaving to obtain tree women for the voyage.
• A little snail man learned from Grandpa Kuchaged(e)huang that Aozile had once been a fifth-class citizen named Aozilebozi.

Li Xingkong completed his False Core and began the dangerous process of igniting the Core Fire near the sun. As his Golden Core neared completion, the Hexagram warned him of an incoming particle beam from the sun, which struck him while he was unable to defend himself.

• Li Xingkong discovered that his False Core was complete and that excess Baleful Qi was now tempering his body.
• Li Xingkong prepared carefully, worshipping deities and great cultivators before attempting to ignite the Core Fire.
• Li Xingkong filled the False Core with magic power and triggered nuclear fission with a fire-dragon array.
• The fission spread through the False Core, igniting its Baleful Qi as its outer wall began transforming into a force field.
• The Hexagram warned Li Xingkong of a massive particle beam from the sun, but it struck him while he was at the critical stage of Core Formation.

Li Xingkong completed Core Formation despite a particle stream disrupting the process, and the resulting golden light tempered his body and granted him an unexpected divine ability. After testing it near Mercury’s orbit, he learned from the system that he had acquired Earth-Traversing Golden Light at the Golden Core Stage.

• Li Xingkong used the Heaven-Encircling Baleful Qi Refining Art to endure the particle stream while he formed a binding formation around his unstable Golden Core.
• Li Xingkong completed his Golden Core, whose golden Magic Power absorbed the particles and tempered his body for a month.
• Li Xingkong examined his transformed body and realized he had instinctively acquired a divine ability unlike the Indestructible Golden Body.
• Li Xingkong demonstrated the ability by turning into golden light and flying at the speed of light to Mercury’s orbit.
• The system identified Li Xingkong’s ability as Earth-Traversing Golden Light and wondered whether the particle storm had caused the unexpected result.

Li Xingkong learned that Earth-Traversing Golden Light let him travel at light speed and escape many formations, then used it to return to Earth Star. After checking the changes to South Americas, he headed toward the Divine Land and encountered cultivators helping other regions with their weather.

• The system explained that Earth-Traversing Golden Light transformed Li Xingkong into light, making it a powerful travel and escape ability, though his senses could not keep up with its speed.
• Li Xingkong used the divine ability to fly toward Earth Star, stopped to rest when he found himself unable to see his surroundings, then resumed the journey.
• Li Xingkong dispelled the ability near Earth Star and used his Golden Core to travel toward the surface at a more manageable speed.
• Li Xingkong checked the Americas and confirmed that South Americas had shifted slightly north, showing that his grand formation was still working.
• Li Xingkong encountered robed cultivators heading toward the Pacific Ocean and overheard them discussing rainmaking and their efforts to win over other ethnic groups.

Li Xingkong asked the system how cultivators entertained themselves, and their talk led to the idea of staging a real-life battle royale. The system explained that a Golden Core cultivator could revive participants as long as their memories remained intact, leaving Li Xingkong considering a game with no lasting casualties.

• Li Xingkong grew bored with ordinary games and asked the system how cultivators of the past entertained themselves.
• The system described grand games played by cultivators and suggested that Li Xingkong could create a larger one now that he had reached the Golden Core Stage.
• The system proposed adapting PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, and Li Xingkong objected to making people kill one another.
• The system argued that Golden Core cultivators could repair ordinary people by restoring their brains and memories after death.
• Li Xingkong realized he might be able to run a real-life battle royale with no lasting casualties.