Chapter Summaries

Lu Li impressed Wu Changgeng by helping Xu Xiong refine enchanted armor, so Wu offered him a chance to attend artifact-refinement lessons alongside Xu Xiong without making him a disciple. Xu Xiong thanked Lu Li and began explaining why he did not truly count as Wu Changgeng’s disciple.

• Wu Changgeng examined Xu Xiong’s enchanted armor and realized Lu Li’s help had brought it close to first-tier advanced-grade quality.
• Wu Changgeng invited Lu Li to study artifact refinement alongside Xu Xiong, offering him a long-term furnace-slag task and access to lessons without a master-disciple commitment.
• Lu Li accepted Wu Changgeng’s offer, and Wu hurried away to visit his senior brother’s spirit.
• Xu Xiong thanked Lu Li for helping him and said he did not really count as Wu Changgeng’s disciple.
• Xu Xiong began explaining that his father had originally been Wu Changgeng’s senior brother.

Lu Li earned ten Spirit Stones and arranged to help Xu Xiong study artifact refining in exchange for future payment and experience. After sending Blue Star more slag and his notes on artifact refining, Lu Li left Wang Zhiwen astonished by how simple the process seemed.

• Xu Xiong told Lu Li that his father, Master Wu's senior brother, had been killed by Bandit Cultivators before he could become an artifact refining grandmaster.
• Xu Xiong paid Lu Li ten Spirit Stones for helping him refine a first-tier mid-grade Law Artifact and asked him to assist with future artifact refining.
• Lu Li agreed to help Xu Xiong and exchanged Jade Slip imprints with him so they could meet for a lesson in half a month.
• Lu Li cleared more slag, recorded his artifact refining observations, and sent the notes and over a hundred and thirty pieces of slag to Blue Star.
• Wang Zhiwen read Lu Li's notes and asked whether the simple process described was really artifact refining.

After Wang Zhiwen recognized artifact refinement as a major opportunity for Great Xia, he urged Lu Li to master it and suggested it might help him return home. Lu Li received updates confirming his family was thriving, which strengthened his resolve to keep progressing.

• Wang Zhiwen told Lu Li that artifact refinement could transform Great Xia's technological research and urged him to learn everything he could about it.
• Wang Zhiwen speculated that immortal artisans might wield power connected to the Dao and that artifact refinement could help Lu Li return home.
• Li Yuanchao told Lu Li that Group 749 had become Bureau 749 and that Lu Li was its honorary group leader in the Pioneer Group.
• Li Yuanchao gave Lu Li reports on Bureau 749 and his family's recent updates, and Lu Li read that his parents had advanced in their careers while Lu Yao had entered the National Defence University.
• Lu Li stored the family report and resolved not to fall behind his younger sister.

Lu Li spent a year cultivating and studying artifact refining, reaching the Seventh Layer of Qi Refinement and gaining the ability to fly on a sword. After securing his cave with a formation and preparing an old forging furnace, he learned that the first phase of the artifact-refining plan had succeeded and was asked to begin a cross-realm experiment.

• Lu Li studied a report on awakening the properties of slag materials and continued cultivating, using a Spirit Stone to accelerate his progress.
• Lu Li trained in artifact refining with Xu Xiong and Master Wu, completed his slag-clearing work, and advanced by two minor realms over the year.
• Lu Li reached the Seventh Layer of Qi Refinement, flew on his standard-issue sword, and installed a Lesser Five Elements Concealment Formation around his cave abode.
• Lu Li prepared an old forging furnace and contacted Wang Zhiwen, who announced that the first phase of the artifact-refining plan had succeeded and called for the first cross-realm artifact refining.

Lu Li and Blue Star's Bureau 749 jointly refined artifact armor using cultivation and technology, but the machine-made armor showed no signs of life until Lu Li brought it across worlds. The armor activated in his hands, revealing a futuristic design that left him wondering whether Blue Star had copied Iron Man.

• Wang Zhiwen and Li Yuanchao prepared Bureau 749's laboratory for the first cross-world artifact refinement and asked Lu Li to begin.
• Lu Li and the Blue Star researchers synchronized their work, using his instructions and the laboratory's machines to shape the artifact and engrave its patterns.
• Lu Li's armor activated with spiritual light, while the armor made by the machine remained inert and the researchers feared the experiment had failed.
• Lu Li asked Li Yuanchao and Wang Zhiwen to send him the machine-made armor for inspection.
• The armor activated as soon as it arrived in Lu Li's world, and he marveled at its futuristic appearance and wondered whether it had been based on Iron Man's designs.

After Blue Star's Law Armor became a Law Artifact but could not function properly, Lu Li proposed sending a Spirit Vein back to supply Spiritual Qi. The leaders urged him to wait until he was strong enough, then advised him to prepare for Foundation Establishment and recruit loyal disciples.

• Lu Li confirmed that the Great Xia Law Armor had become an early first-grade Law Artifact, and Wang Zhiwen suspected Blue Star's laws prevented it from working properly.
• Lu Li and Wang Zhiwen connected the artifact's failure to Blue Star's lack of Spiritual Qi, and Lu Li suggested sending back a Spirit Vein.
• Lu Li explained that the jade pendant might transmit a Spirit Vein if he could move it, but said he would not attempt it before reaching Foundation Establishment.
• Wang Zhiwen asked Lu Li to test the Law Armor, while Li Yuanchao warned him to prioritize his safety.
• Li Yuanchao told Lu Li that Foundation Establishment Pills cost thousands of Spirit Stones and recommended recruiting and training loyal disciples to support him.

Lu Li tested the nation-made armor and learned that Xu Xiong was leaving the sect to temper his Dao heart before attempting Foundation Establishment. He gave Xu Xiong three powerful Spirit Fire Grenades, then watched him depart and resolved to take more artifact-refining orders to save Spirit Stones.

• Lu Li reviewed the strategic report, considered preparing for a Foundation Establishment Pill, and decided to watch for a potential disciple while improving his artifact-refining skills.
• Lu Li put on the machine-refined armor and flew toward the back mountain to test it, where Xu Xiong praised its design and asked to learn how it was made.
• Xu Xiong told Lu Li that he was leaving the sect that day because his master wanted him to temper his Dao heart before attempting Foundation Establishment.
• Lu Li gave Xu Xiong three Spirit Fire Grenades for protection, and Xu Xiong accepted them before saying farewell and flying away.
• Lu Li watched Xu Xiong depart and decided to take more artifact-refining orders to save Spirit Stones.

Lu Li tested the enchanted armor from his country and found it could withstand powerful spells and attacks. At the Artifact Hall, a crowd of disciples sought his popular, unconventional artifact commissions, and he headed deeper into the hall after arranging their orders.

• Lu Li reflected on his Spirit Fire Grenade experiments and imagined combining Spirit Stones with firearms and artifact refining.
• Lu Li tested the enchanted armor with fire, other elemental spells, and a flying sword, then recorded its properties after finding it comparable to a mid-level first-tier artifact.
• Lu Li arrived at the Artifact Hall, where disciples crowded around to commission his artifacts.
• Lu Li accepted unusual commissions, including a flying sword with bloodthirst, armor-piercing, and corrosive poison patterns and a breastplate with dizziness, paralysis, and deafening patterns.
• Lu Li collected materials instead of Spirit Stones, set pickup for a month later, and went deeper into the Artifact Hall.

Lu Li sold four Law Artifacts to fund another Artifact Inscription lesson, where True Person Zhang taught the origins and uses of the Shatter inscription. After leaving class, Lu Li planned to study more cultivation arts and eventually share what he learned with Great Xia.

• Lu Li exchanged two first-tier low-grade Law Artifacts for contribution points and two for Spirit Stones at the Artifact Hall.
• Lu Li paid thirty contribution points to attend True Person Zhang's Artifact Inscription class.
• True Person Zhang taught the history of the Shatter inscription and guided the disciples in contemplating it.
• Lu Li considered how the Shatter inscription could be applied to weapons and armor, including for protection and displacement.
• After class, Lu Li decided to study pills, formations, talismans, and beast taming so he could pass his knowledge to Great Xia.

Lu Li encountered Ye Chenfeng on his way to visit the Pill Hall and Formation Hall, then rejected Ye Chenfeng’s invitation to explore a Foundation Establishment cave abode. Ye Chenfeng returned to the Artifact Hall to seek repairs for his flying sword, while Lu Li left wary of their apparent karmic connection.

• Lu Li sent Great Xia artifact-refining materials, Great Xia Law Armor test data, and images of newly comprehended artifact inscriptions before cultivating.
• Lu Li ran into Ye Chenfeng while traveling through the sect and learned that Ye Chenfeng had just returned from a year away.
• Elder Jian sensed a concealed ferocity in Lu Li and urged Ye Chenfeng to invite him to explore a Foundation Establishment cave abode.
• Ye Chenfeng invited Lu Li to join him on a hunt-and-kill mission and cave-abode expedition, but Lu Li warned him that ruins were dangerous and flew away.
• Ye Chenfeng sought help repairing his flying sword, then posted a repair mission when the Artifact Hall refiners could not help him.
• Lu Li wondered whether Ye Chenfeng or Elder Jian had designs on him and resolved to keep his distance.

Lu Li used Great Xia’s technology to repair and optimize a damaged flying sword, earning eighty contribution points. Ye Chenfeng and Elder Jian realized the sword was stronger than before and began searching for the mysterious artifact-refining grandmaster, while Lu Li remained unaware that they were looking for him.

• Lu Li studied alchemy and formation arts, then took a task to repair a Tier 1 high-grade flying sword for eighty contribution points.
• Finding the sword’s inscriptions too damaged to identify, Lu Li asked Great Xia to scan and analyze it.
• Great Xia identified the inscriptions and recommended an optimized replacement, which Lu Li used to repair the sword successfully.
• Lu Li turned in the repaired sword and received his contribution points.
• Ye Chenfeng and Elder Jian noticed the sword’s power had increased and concluded that its repairer might be a Tier 1 artifact-refining grandmaster.
• Elder Jian urged Ye Chenfeng to find the repairer and befriend him, while Lu Li sneezed outside the Azure Pool Sect and wondered who was thinking about him.

Xu Xiong left the Azure Pool Sect to complete several missions and tested Lu Li’s mysterious Spirit Fire Grenades against three bandit cultivators. Meanwhile, Ye Chenfeng and Elder Jian learned that the disciple who accepted the mission they were investigating might be Lu Li.

• Xu Xiong traveled to the Flying Feather Sect, exchanged artifact-refining materials, and continued toward the Hundred Kingdoms Plain to patrol the Zhou Kingdom.
• Three Late Qi Refining bandit cultivators ambushed Xu Xiong, and he threw two Spirit Fire Grenades Lu Li had given him.
• The grenades killed all three bandits, leaving Xu Xiong shocked by their devastating power; he collected their Storage Bags and continued onward.
• Ye Chenfeng bribed the disciple on duty to identify who had accepted the mission, and the disciple recalled someone who preferred easy missions that did not require leaving the sect.
• Ye Chenfeng and Elder Jian both suspected that the disciple was Lu Li.

Ye Chenfeng visited Lu Li with a damaged flying sword and offered him a Foundation Establishment Pill to repair it. Lu Li accepted the reward but suspected the request was a dangerous side quest, so he contacted Great Xia and reported the situation to Li Yuanchao and the strategy team.

• Elder Jian told Ye Chenfeng that Lu Li was no ordinary person and advised him to ask Lu Li directly to repair a sword.
• Ye Chenfeng went to Lu Li’s cave abode and asked whether he had repaired his flying sword and whether he was a grandmaster artifact refiner.
• Lu Li explained that he was only an artifact craftsman who could attempt first-tier mid-grade Law Artifacts and had repaired the sword by studying its inscriptions.
• Ye Chenfeng offered Lu Li a Foundation Establishment Pill to repair a damaged second-tier top-grade sword, then left the pill with him.
• Lu Li suspected the sword repair could lead to trouble and contacted Great Xia for help analyzing the situation.
• Lu Li told Li Yuanchao and the assembled teams that he seemed to have triggered a side quest.

Su Mu and Bureau 749 analyzed Ye Chenfeng’s request that Lu Li repair a damaged flying sword, suspecting it was tied to a mysterious presence within Ye Chenfeng. They advised Lu Li to accept the Foundation Establishment Pill, repair the sword without getting involved, and avoid Ye Chenfeng afterward, especially by staying out of the same quest area or major event.

• Lu Li told Bureau 749 that Ye Chenfeng had offered him a Foundation Establishment Pill to repair a damaged second-tier flying sword.
• Su Mu analyzed Ye Chenfeng’s words and behavior, concluding that repairing the sword might serve a larger objective connected to the mysterious presence within him.
• Bureau 749’s teams updated Ye Chenfeng’s character model and assessed his apparent risk as grade C and his potential risk as grade S.
• Li Yuanchao relayed the organization’s recommendation that Lu Li keep the pill, repair the sword, then sever ties with Ye Chenfeng and avoid sharing the same map or major event.

Lu Li reviewed his cultivation plans after receiving a Foundation Establishment Pill, then focused on artifact refining with Great Xia’s technological support. He became an artifact craftsman, accepted several commissions, and began considering how to make magical armor capable of attacking as well as defending.

• Lu Li reviewed Ye Chenfeng’s character model and his own, then decided to delay Foundation Establishment and keep his distance from Ye Chenfeng after repairing his flying sword.
• Lu Li used holographic projections, computer simulations, and Great Xia’s research to study artifact refining over several months.
• Lu Li completed a first-tier intermediate-grade law artifact, became an artifact craftsman, and earned forty contribution points for the commission.
• Lu Li accepted three intermediate-grade law artifact orders at the Artifact Hall, including a commission for magical armor.
• Lu Li wondered why magical armor had to be defensive and imagined a suit of steel armor that could let mortal strength rival the gods.

Lu Li worked with Great Xia to design and forge a suit of full-body combat armor powered by Spirit Stones, then began engraving its inscriptions. Meanwhile, Ye Chenfeng learned that retrieving Elder Jian’s broken sword could damage the Azure Pool Sect’s Spirit Vein, but Elder Jian still urged him to take it.

• Lu Li proposed using Spirit Stones to power combat armor, and Great Xia’s research team confirmed that compressed Spirit Stone energy could fire a lethal ray at Qi Refinement cultivators.
• Lu Li refined the armor’s components from spiritual materials and began engraving inscriptions after recovering his Spiritual Power.
• Ye Chenfeng stayed in the sect while waiting for Lu Li to reach Foundation Establishment so he could retrieve Elder Jian’s broken sword.
• Elder Jian told Ye Chenfeng that the sword was planted in the Azure Pool Sect’s Spirit Vein nexus and that retrieving it might split the vein.
• Ye Chenfeng hesitated, but Elder Jian insisted he retrieve the sword and warned him about what lay beyond their world.

Ye Chenfeng visited Lu Li and discovered that he had refined a flying suit of enchanted armor. When Ye Chenfeng agreed to test its protection, Lu Li caught his flying sword barehanded in the armor, leaving him stunned.

• Ye Chenfeng questioned Elder Jian about Lu Li’s cautious ways, and Elder Jian urged him to build a close friendship with the talented cultivator.
• Ye Chenfeng saw a black, flame-propelled figure fly out of Lu Li’s cave abode and realized it was Lu Li wearing enchanted armor.
• Lu Li explained that he had recently refined the armor and agreed to let Ye Chenfeng test its protection.
• Ye Chenfeng launched his flying sword at Lu Li, who closed the armor’s faceplate and caught the blade in his hand.

Lu Li tested his armor by catching Ye Chenfeng’s flying sword and firing its built-in weapon, convincing Ye Chenfeng to buy a suit for two hundred Spirit Stones. Lu Li returned to his cave abode, planning to send Spirit Stones back to the nation for research.

• Lu Li caught Ye Chenfeng’s flying sword in his armor’s gauntlet and assessed its defensive strength.
• Lu Li fired the armor’s built-in weapon at Ye Chenfeng, who dodged as the beam pierced his spell shield and robe.
• Ye Chenfeng praised Lu Li’s talent and asked to buy the armor.
• Lu Li agreed to sell the suit for two hundred Spirit Stones, and Ye Chenfeng paid before leaving.
• Lu Li returned to his cave abode and planned to send Spirit Stones back so the nation could test the spirit-testing stone.

Lu Li sent Bureau 749 combat-armor test data and thirty Spirit Stones, giving its researchers new resources to study. Li Yuanchao approved ten candidates for the first Spirit Root tests, leaving Bureau 749 preparing a secret census.

• Wang Zhiwen directed researchers to handle the rare azure-gold slag cautiously and required simulation results and senior approval before experiments.
• Lu Li reported his fight with Ye Chenfeng and transmitted footage and combat data showing the armor stopping a flying sword and firing a powerful beam.
• Lu Li sent thirty Spirit Stones to Blue Star, and Wang Zhiwen said they would let researchers resume stalled experiments.
• Li Yuanchao convened an emergency meeting to choose ten candidates for Spirit Root testing.
• A statistician proposed testing Lu Li's parents and Lu Yao, three elite soldiers, three Taoist practitioners, and Li Yuanchao; Li Yuanchao approved the plan and ordered the candidates brought to the base in secret.

After winning a military competition, Xu Mu signed up for a top-secret plan to investigate immortal cultivation and supernatural abilities. Nearly two years later, his family was taken to a suspiciously elaborate medical checkup, and Lu Yao realized it was not a routine examination.

• Xu Mu won first place in the Western Theater Command competition and was secretly taken to a hidden base with Wang Lei and Li Zhuang.
• An officer explained the Southern Heavenly Gate Immortal Ascension Plan and asked the three soldiers to choose whether to participate.
• Xu Mu signed the agreement without hesitation, volunteering for the unprecedented exploration.
• In Jing City, Lu Yao asked her parents about her brother Lu Li's long absence, and they told her not to question his classified work.
• A subdistrict worker collected Lu Dahai, Liu Xiulan, and Lu Yao for a free medical checkup at an internal hospital.
• Lu Yao noticed the unusual equipment and empty corridors, then questioned the doctor and concluded the examination was more than routine.