Chapter Summaries

Li Xingkong cultivated without access to Spiritual Qi, adapting to rely on his Divine Sense before using the External Core to accelerate the seventh round of the Heavenly Evolution Foundation Establishment Method. After his Divine Sense expanded to nearly 4,000 kilometers, he rested briefly and began the next stage, which would take about two and a half years with the External Core.

• Li Xingkong secluded himself beyond the Earth Vein's reach and spent nearly a month adapting to cultivation without Spiritual Qi.
• Li Xingkong activated the External Core and doubled his Divine Sense growth rate, cutting the seventh round's expected duration from 128 weeks to 64.
• Li Xingkong completed the seventh round and expanded his Divine Sense from just over 1,000 kilometers to nearly 4,000 kilometers.
• Li Xingkong rested for a few days, then began the next stage of cultivation, which the External Core would shorten from five years to two and a half.

While cultivating on the moon, Li Xingkong struggled to control his rapidly growing Divine Sense and used a system-provided method to train it by writing with it. His enormous character for “Human” spread information across Divine Land, and the chapter ended with people and animals changing under its influence.

• Li Xingkong’s Divine Sense grew rapidly but became difficult to control, causing destructive effects whenever he used his senses.
• Li Xingkong asked the system for a way to improve his control, and it taught him to trace knowledge patterns with his Divine Sense.
• Li Xingkong spread his Divine Sense across the near side of the moon and repeatedly wrote the character “Human” until it became clear.
• People on Earth Star who saw the moon heard and understood a passage describing humans, prompting Divine Land authorities to investigate its lunar source.
• Divine Land’s investigation found that people of other races and animals exposed to Li Xingkong’s writing were changing toward a humanlike form and mind.

Li Xingkong’s writing on the moon gradually altered the minds and bodies of people and animals exposed to it, an effect Divine Land named the Source of Pollution. Divine Land accepted the transformed beings as citizens and struggled to manage the growing changes while Li Xingkong remained in seclusion.

• Li Xingkong continued training his Divine Sense, unaware that his lunar cultivation was affecting Earth Star.
• People outside Divine Land who looked at the moon began adopting the mindset of Divine Land natives, prompting authorities to warn them to stay indoors at night.
• Two years later, the moon’s influence began changing people’s genetics and bodies, making those affected physically indistinguishable from people of Divine Land.
• Animals exposed to moonlight developed bizarre humanlike traits, and a human-headed dog arrived at the Cultivation Technique Bureau seeking help.
• Mutated animals organized online and demanded recognition, while Divine Land moved unaffected species away from the moonlight and debated how to handle those already transformed.
• Divine Land decided to accept the affected beings as citizens and use the word “yao” for their race, since Li Xingkong’s influence could not be stopped and the country needed people.

The Divine Land responded to the widespread animal transformation caused by Li Xingkong’s cultivation by organizing research and warning the world about an abnormal change on the moon. Li Xingkong finished a round of cultivation with a Divine Sense spanning fourteen thousand kilometers, enough to cover Earth Star from its surface.

• Officials in the Earthly Capital discussed the transformation’s effects and the strain it placed on government departments.
• Old Tang introduced Calico Cat as a new colleague and lead researcher for the transformation experiment at the Earthly Capital Research Institute.
• Diplomats in the Divine Land broadcast a worldwide warning not to look at the moon, prompting some countries to plan launches despite the warning.
• Li Xingkong completed a round of cultivation, bringing his Divine Sense to a halt in growth so he could focus on controlling it.
• Li Xingkong’s Divine Sense reached a range of fourteen thousand kilometers, enough to envelop Earth Star from its surface.

After mastering his expanded Divine Sense, Li Xingkong tested its far-reaching abilities and realized he might be able to meet the system’s Foundation Establishment assessment by building a planet-spanning formation. He began studying advanced formation theory, leaving his cultivation focused on the knowledge needed to control Earth Star’s weather.

• Li Xingkong rested after gaining control of his Divine Sense, then tested its range and discovered it could cover the moon and manipulate objects within that area.
• Li Xingkong assessed his cultivation and concluded that his Divine Sense was near its physical limit, while his strength had reached Late Foundation Establishment.
• Li Xingkong considered the system’s requirement that he gain complete control over Earth Star and decided a vast formation would be more practical than manipulating the weather himself.
• Li Xingkong obtained advanced formation texts from the system and absorbed a mountain of theoretical knowledge.
• Li Xingkong began studying, reflecting that his cultivation demanded constant effort and offered him few shortcuts.

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.