Recaps

Lu Li learned that the Demon Manor’s two Void Return great yao might be powerful enough to overwhelm Jingxi Prefecture’s many cultivators, so he resolved to use the time he had to strengthen Great Xia. He renamed Azure Pool the Beyond Heaven Dao Academy and announced a new system of open instruction, mission-based assessments, and strict discipline.

• Lu Li concluded that Ao Qing and Ningzheng’s exceptional strength likely explained how the Demon Manor had dominated Jingxi Prefecture for ten thousand years.
• Lu Li decided to focus on developing his position during the hundred-year window and dispelled the concealment formation over his ruined cave abode.
• Lu Li announced that Azure Pool would be renamed the Beyond Heaven Dao Academy, leaving the assembled disciples stunned.
• Lu Li established inner and outer academies, abolished stipends while making basic instruction freely available, and introduced regular mission-based assessments with rewards and penalties.
• Lu Li banned private fighting, allowed consensual sparring, and told disciples they could leave without punishment if they rejected the new rules.

Lu Li explained how Beyond Heaven Dao Academy’s outer and inner academies would build a broad cultivator base and forge an elite force, then began assigning leaders and setting recruitment and assessment plans. Yuanhao was impressed by Lu Li’s governing ability and wondered whether he was a reincarnated old monster.

• Lu Li outlined the academy’s outer and inner academy system and its role in supporting Great Xia’s hundred-year strategic objective.
• Lu Li summoned Yuanhao, Xu Xiong, Changming, and Changye to discuss the newly established academy.
• Xu Xiong reported that 1,002 disciples had survived, including 48 Foundation Establishment True Persons.
• Lu Li appointed the surviving Foundation Establishment True Persons as outer academy supervisors, tasked Yuanhao with planning the month’s assessment, and ordered Xu Xiong, Changming, and Changye to gather population statistics and recruit anyone with a Spirit Root.
• Yuanhao compared Lu Li’s plans with his own experience and wondered whether Lu Li was a reincarnated old monster.

Lu Li assigned duties to develop the Beyond Heaven Dao Academy while Yuanhao, convinced Lu Li was a reincarnated mighty cultivator, handed over part of the former Azure Pool Sect’s treasury. Lu Li then tasked Xu Xiong with building the academy’s trade network and appointed Changming and Changye to recruit promising disciples.

• Yuanhao grew increasingly terrified as he imagined Lu Li was a reincarnated cultivator who might have possessed Nether Toad.
• Lu Li finished assigning academy duties and asked Yuanhao about the former Azure Pool Sect’s treasury and reserves.
• Yuanhao gave Lu Li a Storage Bag containing one fifth of the treasury and said the remaining reserves were with the ancestor.
• Lu Li asked Xu Xiong to connect with rogue cultivators and lineage factions and prepare an open market for the Dao Academy.
• Lu Li appointed Changming and Changye as inner court chief disciples and told them to establish outer court Dao societies to identify and recruit talented, worthy disciples.

Lu Li inspected one-fifth of the former Azure Pool Sect’s treasury and was astonished by its immense wealth. He asked the Nether Toad to hand over its remaining reserves for Great Xia’s plans, and it agreed without hesitation.

• Lu Li examined the treasury Storage Bag and discovered vast quantities of cultivation resources, including more than a hundred thousand Spirit Stones.
• Lu Li visited the Nether Toad, which said its injuries would take three to five hundred years to mostly heal and left it with only thirty percent of its peak combat strength.
• The Nether Toad told Lu Li that the Demon Manor’s focus on Zong Qing and the other human cultivators gave Great Xia an opportunity to develop safely for now.
• Lu Li asked the Nether Toad to redistribute the rest of the former Azure Pool treasury’s reserves for the nation, and it offered several Storage Bags while declaring, “I... will obey the nation's arrangements!”

Lu Li sent forty percent of Azure Pool’s accumulated resources to Great Xia, giving Bureau 749 a huge stockpile for research and the academy’s development. After the transmission, Wang Zhiwen proposed uploading souls into cultivation puppets so they could fight alongside Lu Li in the Imprisoned Dragon Realm.

• Lu Li left Nether Toad the resources it needed to recover, then prepared an inventory of supplies to send to Great Xia.
• Li Yuanchao and Bureau 749 staff were astonished by the vast inventory, which included Spirit Stones, pills, cultivation methods, puppets, and a third-tier Law Artifact.
• Lu Li explained that he kept the higher-tier supplies for himself and began transmitting the prepared resources through the jade pendant.
• Lu Li used recovery pills to sustain the long transmission until every prepared supply had reached Great Xia.
• Wang Zhiwen examined the cultivation puppets and suggested uploading souls into them to fight alongside Lu Li in the Imprisoned Dragon Realm.

Bureau 749 held a strategic meeting to decide how to use the cultivation resources Lu Li had sent back, prioritizing research that could strengthen his forces. Wang Zhiwen proposed projecting consciousness into Spirit Machinery puppets across realms, leaving the spirit descent experiment awaiting consideration.

• Li Yuanchao oversaw the secure transfer of Lu Li's supplies into the base vault and convened a resource-allocation meeting.
• Li Yuanchao declared that all resources should be weighted toward combat power, prompting workshop heads to present their research plans.
• Zhou Zhenhua proposed mass-producing Spirit Machinery armaments and developing orbital strikes and spiritual martial nuclear warheads.
• Su Qing and Li Mingyuan requested resources for long-distance spiritual guidance formations and radiation-annihilation talismans.
• Chen Fang proposed researching Spirit Root awakening, genetic optimization, life-extension medicines, and physical enhancement agents.
• Wang Zhiwen showed a simulation of consciousness entering a Spirit Machinery puppet and proposed the cross-realm spirit descent experiment.

Wang Zhiwen proposed sending soldiers’ enhanced consciousnesses into Spirit Machinery puppets, while Li Yuanchao allocated resources among Bureau 749’s research projects with combat power as the priority. At a testing ground, Yang Zunzheng was approached by a senior official about building a space-based weapon if extraordinary materials became available.

• Wang Zhiwen presented the Spirit Descent Plan as a way to deploy consciousness-based combat units alongside Lu Li.
• Li Yuanchao approved a joint Spirit Machinery weapons project for the Dao of Artifact Refinement, Dao of Formations, and Talisman Dao workshops, allocating it seventy percent of the resources, with twenty percent for alchemy, crops, and souls and ten percent for cultivation.
• Bureau 749 began a major recruitment drive for people with Spirit Roots and scholars from across the country.
• Yang Zunzheng complained that his fireball weapon tests had made only limited progress because existing materials and energy sources constrained their power.
• A senior official called Yang Zunzheng and asked whether he could build an extra-large space-based weapon if he received materials beyond current scientific understanding.

Yang Zunzheng and other experts were sent to Bureau 749’s valley base to develop strategic weapons against powerful cultivators. The workshops began building a space-based spirit armament while the Soul Dao workshop tested a quantum-linked puppet.

• Yang Zunzheng learned that a cultivation world existed and was brought in to help develop cultivation-based strategic weapons.
• Zhou Zhenhua presented Lu Li’s report on the immense strength of Nascent Soul demon beasts, leaving the workshop leaders stunned.
• Zhou Zhenhua proposed replacing a tungsten rod with a heavy Law Artifact enhanced by spirit materials, formations, talismans, and artifact inscriptions.
• The artifact-refining, formation, and talisman workshops completed simulated designs and began forging a prototype from dark-gold magnetite.
• Wang Zhiwen ordered the Soul Dao workshop to disconnect a traditional puppet from its Method Formula control and attempt a quantum online connection.

Wang Zhiwen and the Soul Dao workshop tested a native cultivation-world puppet, then redesigned it as Spirit Puppet 1.0 with more efficient Spirit Machinery and artificial intelligence. The prototype activated successfully, and Wang Zhiwen prepared to test its combat effectiveness.

• Wang Zhiwen and Xu Mu disconnected a native puppet from Xu Mu’s control and linked it to a quantum computer through a Spirit Machinery helmet.
• Wang Zhiwen’s team tested the puppet’s movements and fireball attack, finding it sluggish, wasteful of Spirit Stones, and only moderately destructive.
• Wang Zhiwen outlined improvements to the puppet’s design, materials, functions, and Spiritual Power circuits.
• The workshop produced Spirit Machinery puppet prototypes with streamlined bodies, efficient Spirit Stone arrays, artificial intelligence, and voice input.
• Wang Zhiwen activated Spirit Puppet 1.0 and ordered it to enter combat mode.

Wang Zhiwen tested the combat capabilities of the Spirit Puppet 1.0, which proved powerful enough to rival a Qi Refining Ninth Layer cultivator. He then sought Lu Yao’s help with his research, but learned she and Lu Dahai were still away admitting their mistakes to Lu Li’s mother.

• Wang Zhiwen activated the spirit machinery puppet’s combat mode and ordered it to attack an energy-testing target with all its power.
• The puppet used its shoulder cannons, vectoring nozzles, and spiritual power blades to attack the target for about thirty minutes before exhausting its spirit stones.
• The staff analyzed the test data and found that the puppet’s offensive capability met Qi Refining Ninth Layer standards, while coordinated units could threaten Foundation Establishment cultivators.
• Wang Zhiwen became excited about swarm tactics and asked whether Lu Yao had returned, saying he urgently needed her help with his research.
• Xu Mu said Lu Yao and Lu Dahai were still taking turns admitting their mistakes to Lu Li’s mother.

Lu Dahai and Lu Yao revealed Lu Li’s situation to Liu Xiulan, who accepted the truth and asked Lu Dahai to look after their son. As Spiritual Qi activity surged across Great Xia and beyond, Li Yuanchao asked for approval to begin the second phase of nationwide immortal cultivation.

• Liu Xiulan confronted Lu Dahai and Lu Yao after learning that Lu Li was in another world and that they had kept his situation secret.
• Lu Dahai explained Lu Li’s position as a sect leader, and Liu Xiulan accepted the revelation and urged him to look after their son.
• Lu Dahai and Lu Yao left for Bureau 749’s valley base while Liu Xiulan prepared to have her biological information recorded for future soul preservation.
• Spiritual Qi activity intensified across Great Xia and beyond, and reports of extraordinary incidents spread through the media.
• Li Yuanchao called a senior official and requested approval for Great Xia to enter the second phase of nationwide immortal cultivation.

After Li Yuanchao approved Nationwide Immortal Cultivation 2.0, Great Xia began surveying residents, expanding Spiritual Qi monitoring, recruiting for the Cultivation Administration, and reshaping cultural publicity. Su Xiaoxiao noticed the sudden flood of immortal-cultivation media and official posts, then answered the door to a neighborhood worker arriving to register information.

• Li Yuanchao approved Nationwide Immortal Cultivation 2.0, prompting government agencies to survey people with unusual reactions to the Basic Daoyin Breathing Method and plan 2,951 county-level Spiritual Power monitoring stations.
• The Cultivation Administration began expanding recruitment and planning local branches, while cultural departments prepared immortal-cultivation programs and publicity.
• Sister Chen told Long Chengyang and Zhan Yu that the national broadcaster had assigned them to an immortal-cultivation drama as a requisition for cultural publicity.
• Su Xiaoxiao watched an immortal-cultivation drama trailer and found official accounts and netizens discussing cultivation, Spirit Roots, and new assessments.
• A neighborhood office worker rang Su Xiaoxiao’s doorbell and said she had come to register information.

Su Xiaoxiao was registered by Bureau 749 after showing a Qi-sensing response, as Great Xia expanded its cultivation preparations. At a zoo, an old giant tortoise stood upright, used spiritual power to float its food bowl, and walked out of its enclosure before stunned visitors.

• Comrade Xiao Liu questioned Su Xiaoxiao and recorded her details, then confirmed to Bureau 749 that she had shown a Qi-sensing response.
• Bureau 749 sent its vehicle to register other suspected cultivators as Great Xia expanded cultivation programs and allowed cultivation rumors to spread.
• At a zoo, children argued about the lifespans of cultivators while a guide explained that giant tortoises could live for two hundred years.
• An old giant tortoise, irritated by the noise and drawn to the growing Spiritual Qi, decided to leave its enclosure.
• The tortoise stood upright, climbed over the railing, and floated its food basin behind it, prompting a boy to exclaim that it had become a spirit.

An Aldabra giant tortoise displayed signs of cultivation and fled Jing City Zoo, drawing public attention and the Cultivation Administration’s response. Xu Mu confronted it outside the city and introduced himself, while the tortoise recognized him as a formidable presence.

• The Aldabra giant tortoise used supernatural abilities at the zoo, frightening adults while children filmed and spread videos online.
• Xu Mu learned that the tortoise had reached the Qi Refinement Middle-to-Late Stage and ordered the Class A guardians to assemble.
• Xu Mu and four Qi Refining cultivators flew to the zoo as online discussion prompted people across Great Xia to reconsider whether cultivation was real.
• Xu Mu discovered the tortoise had left the zoo and was heading toward the mountains, then ordered his team to track it and negotiate.
• Xu Mu rode a flying sword down in front of the tortoise and introduced himself as the chief guardian of Great Xia's Cultivation Administration.

Xu Mu brought the intelligent old tortoise to Bureau 749’s valley base and offered it a place to stay in exchange for cooperating with cultivation research. As news of the Turtle Immortal caused a global uproar, Li Yuanchao secured approval to publicly confirm cultivation and accelerate Immortal Cultivation for All 2.0.

• Xu Mu persuaded the old tortoise to leave with him, and it agreed to go to Bureau 749’s base.
• The old tortoise impressed Xu Mu and the guards by understanding speech, then reacted with pleasure to the richer Spiritual Qi at the base.
• Xu Mu offered the old tortoise a permanent home, cultivation methods, and support in exchange for cooperation with research.
• Li Yuanchao monitored domestic and international reactions as reports of the Turtle Immortal spread and speculation surged.
• Li Yuanchao proposed publicly confirming cultivation and accelerating Immortal Cultivation for All 2.0, and the leader approved.

Great Xia publicly confirmed that a cultivation system based on human potential objectively existed and announced plans to provide official guidance and safeguards. The revelation sent its people into astonished celebration and foreign leaders into panic, as they feared Great Xia had already gained an enormous advantage.

• As seven approached, people across Great Xia and foreign leaders gathered to watch a special broadcast, while Su Xiaoxiao and her roommates anxiously waited in their dorm.
• At seven, television channels and major online platforms switched to a broadcast featuring the Special Spokesperson for the Great Xia Cultivator Affairs Development Committee.
• The spokesperson announced that cultivation objectively existed, described it as a system of life evolution and ability enhancement, and promised official educational materials and safety guidance.
• People across Great Xia celebrated and tried the Basic Daoyin Breathing Method, while police and community workers worked to maintain order.
• The Beautiful Country's leaders concluded that Great Xia had been secretly preparing for cultivation and ordered intelligence networks to investigate and obtain the means to cultivate.

After Great Xia revealed immortal cultivation, the government prepared for foreign scrutiny and a wave of public interest as citizens began trying the newly public cultivation method. The chapter ended with Liu Yingjun spotting Goose Factory’s recruitment notice for employees with Qi sense.

• Li Yuanchao dismissed foreign countries’ prospects for cultivation and ordered Bureau 749 to prepare for public reactions and support the Cultivation Administration.
• Great Xia made the basic breathing and Daoyin method public so people could test whether they had Qi sense and a Spirit Root.
• Xu Dabao tried the method, felt no Qi sense, and headed out to work deliveries while hoping to save for a cultivation artifact.
• Liu Yingjun saw coworkers discussing cultivation and browsed the official website for new notices and guidance.
• Liu Yingjun noticed Goose Factory’s official recruitment announcement seeking employees with Qi sense.

Over ten years, Great Xia’s major companies joined the immortal cultivation boom, while the state developed advanced spirit machinery and cultivation technology. Lu Li inspected the new weapons and puppets at Beyond Heaven Dao Academy, where the Space-Based God Slaying Armament 3.0 connected to the Heart of Primordial Beginning.

• Tencent, NetEase, Alibaba, and other major companies announced cultivation-focused platforms, projects, and research institutes.
• Ten years passed as Great Xia rapidly transformed and its cultivation industry and technology advanced.
• Li Yuanchao told Lu Li that Space-Based God Slaying Weapon 3.0 and Spirit Puppet 3.0 were ready, and that major spirit machinery had connected to the Heart of Primordial Beginning.
• Lu Li received the new equipment and considered whether the upgraded weapon could threaten Nascent Soul cultivators.
• Lu Li summoned Nether Toad to test the equipment and activated Space-Based God Slaying Armament 3.0, which announced its connection to the Heart of Primordial Beginning.

Lu Li tested Space-Based God Slaying 3.0 and Spirit Machinery Puppet 3.0 under the control of the Heart of Primordial Beginning, confirming their formidable power. After the puppets pressured Nether Toad in combat, Lu Li switched them to manual control.

• Lu Li ordered the Heart of Primordial Beginning to test Space-Based God Slaying 3.0 and send four Spirit Machinery Puppets 3.0 to attack Nether Toad.
• Space-Based God Slaying 3.0 destroyed a ten-thousand-meter mountain with one strike, and the Heart of Primordial Beginning calculated that its power nearly matched an Early Stage Nascent Soul cultivator.
• Lu Li recalled the weapon and ordered it to end the test and remain on standby.
• The Heart of Primordial Beginning coordinated the four puppets’ attacks, forcing Nether Toad to defend itself while holding back to avoid damaging them.
• Lu Li became eager to operate the puppets himself and ordered Primordial Beginning to disconnect its control and switch to manual operation.

Lu Li assessed the Spirit Machinery Puppet 3.0 and asked Nether Toad about the Prefecture-Breaking War before heading from the outer academy toward the inner academy in Clear River Commandery. As the Dao Academy and Litian Blessed Land flourished, he wondered where Senior Brother Ye had gone.

• Lu Li tested the Spirit Machinery Puppet 3.0 and concluded that several puppets could defeat ordinary Golden Core cultivators but were not strong enough to face Nascent Soul opponents.
• Lu Li asked Nether Toad about activity in the Demon Manor and the Prefecture-Breaking War, but learned that no date had been announced and the war might begin in the coming years.
• Lu Li instructed Nether Toad to watch over the outer academy, then boarded an antique tower ship and departed as the disciples saw him off.
• Lu Li reflected on the outer academy's growth, its thousands of disciples, and the prosperity of Litian Blessed Land as he traveled toward the inner academy in Clear River Commandery.
• Lu Li thought of Senior Brother Ye and wondered where he was now, believing they might never meet again in this lifetime.

Lu Li returned to Beyond Heaven Dao Academy and reflected on Ye Chenfeng and the blood-red jade pendant he had spent years nurturing. He was welcomed by his disciples and asked where Xu was, learning that Xu was negotiating trade with several factions.

• Lu Li thought about Ye Chenfeng's departure and hoped he would cultivate peacefully without getting into trouble.
• Lu Li examined his blood-red jade pendant and recalled that demonic essence blood nourished it, though years of effort had produced only slight improvement.
• Lu Li imagined the pendant absorbing the flood dragon and suanni, then arrived at Beyond Heaven Dao Academy and was welcomed by its disciples.
• Lu Li praised Changming and Changye's contributions and dismissed the gathered disciples, asking them not to arrange welcomes and farewells each time he returned.
• Lu Li asked Lu Changming where Martial Uncle Xu was, and Lu Changming said Xu was discussing trade with three blessed lands, five cultivation clans, and eight sects.

Lu Li watched Xu Xiong break a coalition of merchants by insisting on firm prices and threatening limited supplies, then praised his mastery of the Dao of Commerce. Lu Li began discussing an issue he had noticed among the outer academy’s disciples: widespread saving.

• Lu Li secretly listened as merchants complained to Xu Xiong about prices and discounts on the academy’s pills and Law Artifacts.
• Xu Xiong defended the quality of the academy’s goods, declared the ten-percent discount nonnegotiable, and warned that future supplies would be cut off and limited by quotas.
• The merchants’ alliance collapsed, and they hurried to place orders and pay deposits before leaving.
• Lu Li revealed himself and praised Xu Xiong’s commercial skills, crediting the treasured finance manual he had provided.
• Lu Li told Xu Xiong that he had noticed saving was extremely common among the outer academy’s disciples.

Lu Li recognized that the disciples’ habit of saving Spirit Stones could support a new financial institution, then investigated Yuanhao’s increasingly strange character-education course. After reading the second edition, Lu Li was left facing the latest product of Yuanhao’s fanatical reverence for him.

• Lu Li told Xu Xiong that disciples’ savings could be put to better use by keeping Spirit Stones in circulation.
• Xu Xiong proposed establishing the Silver Hall to pool savings, pay interest, offer loans, and fund academy projects and bulk purchases.
• Lu Li gave Xu Xiong his jade pendant and authority to requisition resources as he organized the Silver Hall for both the outer and inner courts.
• Lu Li worried that Yuanhao’s character-education work had strayed from its purpose and went to visit him.
• Yuanhao presented Lu Li with the second edition of the Litian Thought Law Course, which he had developed out of his reverence for the headmaster.

Lu Li reviewed Yuanhao’s draft praising his leadership, then asked Primordial Beginning to display Beyond Heaven Dao Academy’s annual finances. The academy had a large surplus, but Lu Li’s cultivation and research expenses left him with little to save.

• Lu Li read Yuanhao’s draft for an inner academy ideological lesson and tactfully suggested he reconsider parts of it.
• Yuanhao took Lu Li’s response as praise and resolved to make the lesson even more moving.
• Lu Li returned to his underground palace, where he cultivated and worked on Spirit Machinery research.
• Lu Li ordered Primordial Beginning to retrieve the academy’s annual income and expenditure breakdown.
• Primordial Beginning reported a combined annual surplus of about 320,000 spirit stones, but Lu Li noted that his cultivation, research, and other costs consumed most of it.

Lu Li cultivated using a costly Spirit Stone-powered environment while the academy continued developing under his directives. Xu Xiong began recruiting steady, trustworthy disciples to establish a new hall for managing cultivation resources.

• Lu Li activated his cultivation environment and absorbed Spiritual Qi from thousands of Spirit Stones.
• Xu Xiong went to the inner academy General Affairs Hall to arrange personnel for the new hall.
• Xu Xiong waited for Chen Ke, who was teaching a techniques class, while disciples used the mission jade wall.
• Chen Ke inspected Lu Li's directive and asked Xu Xiong what kind of disciples he needed.
• Xu Xiong requested steady, mature, upright, and trustworthy disciples, and Chen Ke issued an academy mission to recruit them.