Chapter Summaries

Li Xingkong returned to the moon and met Zhang Yumeng, who explained how the former Earthly Capital had become the Heavenly Crafts Institute and how the Divine Land’s institutions had changed. He learned that Zhang Yumeng was now the institute’s director and that Old Tang led the Five Manors Temple.

• Li Xingkong contacted the moon’s communications network, and the Heavenly Crafts Institute sent a group led by Zhang Yumeng to meet him.
• Zhang Yumeng brought Li Xingkong to the Heavenly Crafts Institute and showed him its palaces and five research departments.
• Li Xingkong discovered that Zhang Yumeng was the institute’s director, and she explained that she had taken the role amid a shortage of staff.
• Zhang Yumeng told Li Xingkong that Old Tang had been transferred to lead the Veteran Cadres Bureau, now called the Five Manors Temple, which managed gods and immortals.

Li Xingkong reunited with his parents on the moon and spent a peaceful few days helping them tend their medicinal fields. He learned how they had become respected spiritual-plant experts, then discovered that their studies had also led them to develop their own mental computational abilities.

• Li Xingkong told Zhang Yumeng about his journey, and she recorded his report before carrying the classified documents to Divine Land's authorities.
• Li Xingkong found his parents living and working in the medicinal fields outside Guanghan City.
• Father Li recognized Li Xingkong, and Mother Li embraced him as the family reunited.
• Li Xingkong stayed with his parents, helping with chores and farming while awaiting decisions about the Convention emblem and the Sihali Kingdom's marker.
• Li Xingkong noticed that his parents could use their own mental computational structures and learned they had developed them to understand the technical materials behind their spiritual-plant research.

The Divine Land’s leaders reviewed Li Xingkong’s report that he had destroyed the Snail People’s invasion force and secured the Divine Land a place in the Pan-Civilization Convention. They began deciding where to place the Convention Marker, proposing Venus to keep the moon’s secrets hidden.

• The Divine Land’s senior officials, Old Tang, and Tang Cheng gathered on the moon to review Li Xingkong’s recorded conversation with Zhang Yumeng.
• The meeting chair explained that Li Xingkong had killed the invading Snail People leader, attacked their lair, and left them unable to launch another attack.
• The attendees celebrated the news and discussed Li Xingkong’s violent methods as an expression of the Divine Land’s determination to take revenge.
• The chair reported that Li Xingkong had secured the Divine Land a place in the Pan-Civilization Convention with a guarantee from the Sihali Kingdom.
• The officials debated where to place the Convention Marker and leaned toward Venus rather than the moon, so it would not expose the Divine Land’s secrets.

The conference settled on Mars as the location for the Sihali Kingdom’s teleportation marker and Earth Star as the location for the Shield of Truth, while preparing for the arrival of powerful civilizations. As the meeting neared its end, the chair asked Tang Cheng and Old Tang to assess Li Xingkong, and Old Tang described him as a qualified student of Confucianism, much like Mencius.

• The participants chose Mars for the Sihali Kingdom’s teleportation marker and agreed to prepare a group of military families’ children as a contingency plan to scatter across the universe.
• The participants argued over where to place the Shield of Truth, then voted to install it on Earth Star.
• The conference turned to planning the Divine Land’s development and trade among the universe’s civilizations as its business concluded.
• The chair asked Tang Cheng and Old Tang what kind of person Li Xingkong was, and Old Tang compared him to Mencius and his school of thought.

Old Tang explained that Li Xingkong’s ruthless treatment of the Snail People came from identifying with the Divine Land while viewing outsiders as beyond its moral and legal constraints. The meeting gained a clearer picture of Li Xingkong’s character, and Tang Cheng described him as a cultivator devoted almost entirely to pursuing the Dao.

• Old Tang clarified that Li Xingkong’s actions resembled Mencius’s theory of human nature because Li judged others by whether he considered them human.
• Old Tang argued that Li Xingkong followed the Divine Land’s laws and moral limits because he identified with it, but showed no such restraint toward the Prisoner Continent or the Snail People.
• The attendees discussed their own hostility toward Cherry Blossom Country, and Old Tang’s analysis helped them better understand Li Xingkong.
• Tang Cheng described Li Xingkong as exceptionally capable and likened his relentless cultivation to a machine built to pursue the Dao.

After Divine Land finalized its plan, Li Xingkong handed over two markers, installed the Shield of Truth on Earth Star, and powered it from Jupiter. He visited Old Tang and Tang Cheng, catching up on how Divine Land had changed while remaining focused on cultivation rather than romance.

• Divine Land sent a representative and military cultivators to collect two markers from Li Xingkong, who was the only one able to install the Shield of Truth.
• Li Xingkong installed the Shield of Truth on Earth Star and placed its power interface on Jupiter.
• Li Xingkong visited Old Tang at the Spiritual Root Mother Tree and learned that distributing the current fruit batch would bring Spiritual Root coverage to 80 percent.
• Old Tang showed Li Xingkong his demanding workload, and the two caught up in his office.
• Tang Cheng returned to reunite with Li Xingkong, revealing that he was now the Inspection Department director, was married, and expected his first child.
• Li Xingkong dismissed Tang Cheng's account of his romance and decided that proving his Dao and becoming an immortal came first.

Li Xingkong went to the space station near Mars to help activate the Sihali Kingdom's teleportation coordinate. The gate opened and displayed a star chart of reachable teleportation platforms, leaving Divine Land ready to connect with the wider universe.

• Li Xingkong left Old Tang's family and went to the space station near Mars to activate the teleportation coordinate.
• Divine Land's cultivators prepared the station with trade goods, arrays, and areas for ships of different sizes.
• Li Xingkong confirmed the station was ready, and the person in charge inserted the coordinate into the glass wall and activated it.
• The teleportation gate opened into a huge arch, and a star chart appeared showing reachable platforms across the universe.

The Divine Land sent its selected cultivators through the newly opened portal as pioneers, then prepared its space station to receive visitors from the other side. Alien adventurers arrived to trade, and Luo Ning’s team showed them that the station’s formation made its environment safe to breathe.

• Li Xingkong confirmed that the portal had stabilized, and groups of Divine Land cultivators entered it for randomly chosen destinations.
• After the pioneers departed, Luo Ning and the remaining cultivators prepared signs and positions to welcome visitors from the portal.
• Small spacecraft emerged from the portal and docked at the station, where their crews scanned their surroundings before disembarking.
• Dangkeyixu introduced himself to Luo Ning and Li Xingkong as an adventurer and treasure hunter, then headed toward the cargo area.
• Luo Ning directed aliens in spacesuits to step onto a formation, and one bulky visitor discovered that he could breathe and move freely without his suit.

Li Xingkong watched visiting alien explorers browse the space station’s goods, where Dangkeyixu discovered a plant that could grow customized alloys. A cultivator offered to demonstrate its abilities, and Anti brought out a heap of his own ore for the test.

• Aliens passed through the formation, adapted to Earth Star’s atmosphere, and headed to the goods area.
• Dangkeyixu inspected the mineral stalls and found the Body Tempering Grass, which its sign said could grow alloys from surrounding elements.
• Dangkeyixu tugged at a leaf but could not tear it, though he remained unsure whether the plant was genuine.
• Anti joined Dangkeyixu, and a cultivator offered to demonstrate the grass using suitable minerals.
• Anti returned to his spaceship and unloaded a large pile of ore, drawing the attention of nearby adventurers.

The cultivator demonstrated how Body Tempering Grass refined ore, while adventurers gathered to assess its usefulness. A catlike alien’s sudden obsession with silver vine unexpectedly secured the first interstellar trade, as Li Xingkong subdued hostile arrivals at the space station.

• The cultivator moved Anti’s ore to an open area and showed Body Tempering Grass rapidly consuming it.
• The cultivator gave seeds to nearby adventurers so they could test the plants for themselves.
• A tabby-like alien followed the scent of silver vine, clutched it, and loudly offered to buy it all.
• The silver vine became the first product to win over an alien, and other adventurers began trading as well.
• Li Xingkong used Divine Sense Suppression to force arrogant arrivals to dock, and the newcomers surrendered after seeing the cultivators.

Li Xingkong’s reputation as the Planet Exterminator frightened a group of aliens who had encountered cultivators from the Divine Land. After Luo Ning learned what Li Xingkong had done beyond the space station, the cultivators realized his infamous name could help deter trouble.

• The aliens who recognized the danger surrendered, while their leader warned his underlings not to provoke the cultivators.
• The cultivators swiftly disarmed and bound the aliens who resisted.
• The surrendering aliens told their leader they knew the Divine Land’s people resembled the Planet Exterminator, whose destruction of the Snail People’s home base had spread fear across nearby civilizations.
• Li Xingkong overheard the aliens discussing his reputation and felt awkward about being known by such an ominous title.
• Luo Ning asked Li Xingkong about his experiences beyond the space station, and Li Xingkong explained what he had done.
• Luo Ning and the other cultivators realized Li Xingkong’s fearsome reputation could discourage outsiders from causing trouble in the Divine Land.

Luo Ning and Li Xingkong decided to punish the detained intruders by sending them to Venus to fight repeatedly before deporting them, while the Divine Land continued analyzing alien technology. After an alien named Dangkeyixu asked for a body modification that would let him move through space, Li Xingkong devised a method that would not reveal the cultivation system.

• Luo Ning and Li Xingkong ordered the intruders sent to Venus to fight and die at least ten times a day for a week before deportation.
• Luo Ning told the cultivators to let the intruders keep their weapons, while the Divine Land continued studying alien ships, equipment, and weapons.
• A cultivator enclosed the intruders in a protective bubble and carried them out of the space station toward Venus.
• Dangkeyixu asked a cultivator for body modifications that would let him move through space.
• Li Xingkong adjusted a modification plan to conceal the foundations of cultivation, and Luo Ning received the plan.

The Divine Land expanded its dealings with alien adventurers by offering space-adaptation services and building a floating city near the space station. As the aliens discovered the real battles on Venus, they began signing up to fight there themselves.

• The Divine Land divided Li Xingkong’s space-adaptation modifications into three tiers and used the service to build closer ties with alien adventurers and gather intelligence.
• The cultivators built a floating city near the space station, and after troublemakers were sent to Venus, gambling halls filled with mercenaries watching the Venus Showdown.
• Alien mercenaries learned that the Venus battles were real and that the planet’s surface hosted tens of thousands of fighting zones, mostly occupied by Divine Land locals.
• A rumor spread that Divine Land cultivators had to kill ten thousand people on Venus to reach Foundation Establishment, and alien mercenaries began signing up to fight there.
• The Divine Land set aside a flat battlefield for matches of two thousand aliens against two thousand, while Li Xingkong created spatial passages linking the Solar System’s planets.

A crowd of alien mercenaries gathered on Venus for the Solar System’s first major alien battle, but their inability to cooperate turned the opening charge into chaos. The two sides collided in a bloody melee as spectators watched and mocked them from the space station.

• Alien contestants entered the portal and arrived in two camps on a vast plain, where they struggled to organize themselves.
• A blue-skinned alien who could communicate with everyone tried to take charge, but a tiny Jinyan Mercenary Corps strategist also claimed command and was tossed aside by a larger alien.
• The mercenaries argued over leadership and charged without a plan, trampling the strategist to death before reaching the opposing side.
• Spectators in the space station’s betting halls ridiculed the disorderly fighters and their first casualty.
• The two masses of aliens collided, and energy bullets, blood, and wild fighting filled the battlefield.

Li Xingkong watched the aliens’ chaotic battle and saw the Jiaoren fighter fall to an Ironstone Clan opponent despite her powerful sonic attack. The Sihali Kingdom then arrived at Mars with a huge ship and sent projections to meet Li Xingkong, revealing a technology he immediately considered exploiting.

• A Jiaoren alien used a sonic scream to incapacitate many fighters, but an Ironstone Clan alien resisted it and knocked her down.
• A frog-like alien shot the Ironstone Clan fighter with a ray, but he finished off the Jiaoren before another attacker killed the frog-like alien.
• Li Xingkong observed how different alien species and weapons made some natural counters to others as the battle continued.
• Li Xingkong sensed a major arrival at the teleportation platform and watched an enormous Sihali Kingdom ship take up orbit around Mars.
• Baili Qiu and other Sihali Kingdom representatives appeared on the platform as projections, and Li Xingkong considered the potential uses of their technology.

Li Xingkong welcomed Baili Qiu and the Sihali Kingdom’s projections to the space station, then learned that the three major factions were searching for something connected to the universe’s rules. He agreed to help investigate the Solar System with their detector while the Sihali Kingdom searched nearby star systems.

• Li Xingkong met Baili Qiu and the other projections at the completed teleportation platform and hosted them through Divine Land’s reception ceremony.
• Baili Qiu told Li Xingkong that the three major factions were searching the area and that their head start gave them time to investigate first.
• Li Xingkong reconsidered whether the factions were seeking his system, reasoning that its nature and history did not fit their search for something related to rules.
• Baili Qiu showed Li Xingkong a ring-shaped detector that became a virtual wristwatch and explained that Divine Land could use it to scan planets and empty space.
• Baili Qiu said his people would search nearby star systems while Li Xingkong and Divine Land investigated their own system.

Li Xingkong and Baili Qiu oversaw the Divine Land’s search of the Solar System for anomalies, but the scans found nothing. While watching alien mercenaries fight on Venus, Li Xingkong asked why civilizations with advantages over one another could coexist, and Baili Qiu explained how puppet states and chains of species advantages shaped their borders.

• The Divine Land began scanning the Solar System from its outskirts with devices supplied by the Sihali Kingdom, while its cultivators learned the devices’ functions.
• The scans found no unusual properties in the Solar System or the neighboring star systems, and Baili Qiu accepted the fruitless search without surprise.
• Li Xingkong and Baili Qiu watched a battle between alien mercenaries in the grand arena on Venus, where one side won after most of its fighters were killed.
• Li Xingkong asked Baili Qiu why civilizations with natural advantages over one another did not simply conquer each other.
• Baili Qiu explained that civilizations expanded until they met evenly matched rivals and often used dominated puppet civilizations as buffers against species with absolute advantages.

After the Sihali Kingdom’s investigation found nothing near the Solar System, Baili Qiu left the Divine Land valuable technical data before departing. Li Xingkong then encountered Jian Yu of the Kingdom of Fixed Light, who secretly surveyed the Solar System and left.

• Baili Qiu ended the Sihali Kingdom’s search near the Solar System and gave the Divine Land advanced technical documents before leaving.
• A few days later, Li Xingkong sensed a powerful threat entering the Solar System and flew toward it.
• Li Xingkong spotted a beam of light moving faster than light, and it approached him and transformed into Jian Yu.
• Jian Yu introduced herself as a reconnaissance team member of the Kingdom of Fixed Light and said Li Xingkong seemed familiar to her.
• Jian Yu gathered light around herself to survey the Solar System, then asked Li Xingkong not to tell anyone he had seen her and flew away.
• The system told Li Xingkong that Jian Yu had used direct sunlight to collect data across the Solar System, focusing on time.

Li Xingkong asked the system about time authority and why Jian Yu had seemed familiar to him. The system explained that her species was sentient light, that Li Xingkong’s Golden Core ability made him resemble them, and that beings from the Kingdom of Fixed Light were extraordinarily difficult to destroy.

• Li Xingkong learned that true control over time was an authority far beyond ordinary faster-than-light observation, and the system said only a handful of beings in the system pool could wield it.
• Li Xingkong asked why Jian Yu had seemed familiar, and the system joked that she might be his long-lost family before explaining that her species had close ties to most civilizations that evolved in environments with light.
• The system explained that Li Xingkong’s Earth-Traversing Golden Light divine ability had permanently changed his body, making him resemble Jian Yu and possibly causing their light-based forms to exchange information when they met.
• The system revealed that beings from the Kingdom of Fixed Light existed as an extended state across the paths their light had traveled, meaning they could only be killed by erasing every trace back to their origin.
• Li Xingkong realized that his techniques could not harm a being like Jian Yu and compared the advanced civilizations’ power with the Sihali Kingdom’s projection.

Li Xingkong considered the Divine Land’s vulnerability and decided to use his aura to make other advanced civilizations think he was a newborn citizen of the Kingdom of Fixed Light. With this false protection in place, he prepared to enter a long period of seclusion to improve his strength.

• Li Xingkong reflected that the Divine Land still needed greater strength and planned to build an Underworld across its sphere of influence.
• Li Xingkong and the system discussed the Sihali Kingdom’s fruitless search and the risks of relying on allies whose strength exceeded the Divine Land’s.
• Li Xingkong learned that the Kingdom of Fixed Light had finished scanning Earth Star, while the other two major powers might still arrive.
• Li Xingkong proposed releasing his aura to make visitors think he was a newborn from the Kingdom of Fixed Light, and the system agreed the deception might work.
• Li Xingkong decided to leave a trace of his aura and enter seclusion, expecting not to emerge for at least a hundred years.