Chapter Summaries

Qin Fei sold his Puppet Soldiers at Shangyu Market, then spent seven days crafting more and raised his Heavenly Craft Creation Pavilion to its upgrade threshold. The pavilion showed that an upgrade was available, leaving Qin Fei poised to advance his crafting abilities.

• Qin Fei and Old Zhang drew customers to their stalls by boasting about how their products could protect people during barbarian raids.
• Qin Fei sold three Puppet Soldiers before members of the Lin Household showed him a wanted notice for a woman followed by Puppet Soldiers.
• Qin Fei dismissed the wanted woman as none of his concern, then bought materials and returned to his courtyard to craft Puppet Soldiers.
• After seven days of work, Qin Fei completed three Puppet Soldiers and saw that his Heavenly Craft Creation Pavilion had reached 100/100 with an upgrade available.

Qin Fei upgraded the Heavenly Craft Creation Pavilion, gaining a safe way to practice puppet-making and unlocking the Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse blueprints. After improving his Puppet Soldier skills through repeated simulations, he sold a batch of better-made puppets, only to discover that someone had copied his design.

• Qin Fei upgraded the Heavenly Craft Creation Pavilion, unlocked its crafting simulations, and learned the Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse blueprints.
• Qin Fei practiced making Puppet Soldiers in the Pavilion hundreds of times, correcting mistakes and raising his success rate.
• Qin Fei crafted six improved Puppet Soldiers, though each now earned only one experience point.
• Qin Fei displayed his new Puppet Soldiers at his stall, and Old Zhang remarked on his improved output.
• Several fierce-looking Rogue Cultivators confronted Qin Fei with a Bumblebee-like Puppet Soldier, and he realized someone had copied his design.

Qin Fei proved that the faulty puppet soldiers that killed Wang Hu’s companions were imitations, not his work, and demonstrated the strength of his improved puppets. Wang Hu apologized and bought all six for ninety spirit essences, leaving Qin Fei with a new buyer and a renewed resolve to refine the Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse.

• Qin Fei learned that Wang Hu’s hunting team had come to confront him after imitation Bumblebee puppets malfunctioned and caused several deaths.
• Qin Fei said the defective puppet was an imitation and offered to compare it with one of his own.
• Wang Hu controlled the imitation puppet while Qin Fei’s puppet dismantled it, proving the two were very different.
• Wang Hu accepted Qin Fei’s innocence, ordered his men to find the imitation seller, and asked to work with Qin Fei.
• Qin Fei agreed to sell Wang Hu six improved puppet soldiers for fifteen spirit essences each, and Wang Hu paid ninety.
• Qin Fei reflected that strength ruled the cultivation world and decided to hurry his work on the Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse.

Qin Fei struggled to inscribe the formation patterns needed for Wooden Oxen and Flowing Horses, then used Old Zhang’s talisman insights to improve his technique. After half a month of practice, he successfully made both puppets and became a First-Tier Puppet Master.

• Qin Fei bought a Storage Bag and materials, then focused on simulating the creation of Wooden Oxen and Flowing Horses.
• Qin Fei received Wang Hu’s order for more puppet soldiers and realized Old Zhang’s talisman-drawing experience might help him inscribe formation patterns.
• Qin Fei traded two jars of wine for Old Zhang’s bamboo slips and practiced the techniques described in them.
• Qin Fei improved his puppet soldiers, and Wang Hu’s hunting team used them with explosive talismans to destroy a Late Qi Refining Demon Beast’s lair.
• After half a month of practice, Qin Fei completed a Wooden Ox and a Flowing Horse and became a First-Tier Puppet Master.

Qin Fei showed Wang Hu his new Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse puppets and proposed making him the first agent to sell them. After they agreed on prices and secrecy, Qin Fei used Wang Hu’s deposit to plan his next purchases and went to the Wondrous Pill Pavilion.

• Qin Fei demonstrated the Wooden Ox’s carrying capacity and the Flowing Horse’s speed, astonishing Wang Hu.
• Wang Hu invited Qin Fei to join his hunting team, but Qin Fei declined, warning that exclusive access to the puppets could invite trouble from rival teams.
• Qin Fei offered Wang Hu a first-tier agency, and Wang Hu agreed to buy the puppets from him at a fixed price while concealing their source.
• Qin Fei and Wang Hu settled on thirty spirit essences per puppet, and Wang Hu left three Spirit Stones as a deposit for the next ten puppets.
• After Wang Hu left, Qin Fei planned to spend some of the Spirit Stones on materials and the rest on cultivation, then went to the Wondrous Pill Pavilion.

Qin Fei bought a Spirit Ascension Pill and materials for making Wooden Oxen and Flowing Horses, then used the pill to break through to the Qi Refining Fourth Layer. He continued cultivating and crafting puppets as the next barbarian raid drew closer, while Wang Hu prepared to begin his work.

• Qin Fei bought a bottle of Spirit Ascension Pills from the Wondrous Pill Pavilion and purchased crafting materials from several shops to avoid attracting attention.
• Qin Fei bought Savage Ox Beast ribs, ate them after returning home, and then took a Spirit Ascension Pill.
• Qin Fei broke through the bottleneck at the Qi Refining Third Layer and reached the Qi Refining Fourth Layer.
• Qin Fei focused on cultivation and practiced crafting Wooden Oxen and Flowing Horses while preparing to fulfill Wang Hu's order for ten puppets.
• Qin Fei considered the approaching barbarian raid and wondered how Wang Hu was progressing with his preparations.

Wang Hu brought the Flowing Horse puppet to the Demon Hunting Pavilion and demonstrated its enormous storage capacity by unloading a Rock Rhinoceros, impressing the pavilion's attendant. He then revealed an ox-shaped puppet by dropping a Purple Cloud Mammoth into the crowded square.

• Shen and He argued over Shen's failed hunt for a Rock Rhinoceros until Wang Hu arrived with his large hunting team.
• Wang Hu used the Flowing Horse puppet to produce the Rock Rhinoceros that Shen's team had abandoned, startling the crowd.
• Wang Hu explained that the Flowing Horse held ten zhang of storage, carried thirty thousand jin, and could travel a thousand li in a day.
• The Demon Hunting Pavilion attendant inspected the Flowing Horse and offered to buy a batch of the puppets.
• Wang Hu revealed an ox-shaped puppet, which dropped a Purple Cloud Mammoth into the square and pinned several people beneath it.

Wang Hu used the Wooden Ox to impress the Demon Hunting Pavilion, securing a large order and spreading word of the cargo-carrying puppets. Qin Fei spent the next half month making puppets, and his Heavenly Craft Creation Pavilion reached its upgrade limit with new blueprints available to unlock.

• Wang Hu showed off the intact Purple Cloud Mammoth carried inside the Wooden Ox and announced that he would sell the puppets.
• The Demon Hunting Pavilion agreed to buy twenty Wooden Oxen and Flowing Horses at fifty Spirit Essences apiece, and word of the puppets spread through the market.
• Wang Hu brought Qin Fei a deposit of nine Spirit Stones for thirty more puppets, and Qin Fei began fulfilling the orders.
• Qin Fei bought more Spirit Ascension Pills and spent half a month crafting puppets, raising the pavilion to 200/200 experience and unlocking the option to upgrade.

After the Heavenly Craft Creation Pavilion unlocked stronger battle-puppet blueprints, Qin Fei studied the Flame Martial Guard and Flame Martial Envoy while trying to earn enough Spirit Stones to craft them. Old Zhang visited with his granddaughter Zhang Youqing and proudly revealed a first-tier Wooden Ox, unaware that Qin Fei already knew how to make one.

• Qin Fei learned the blueprints for the Qi Refining Third Layer Flame Martial Guard and the exclusive Qi Refining Seventh Layer Flame Martial Envoy, whose use required an Essence Blood covenant instead of Divine Sense.
• Qin Fei worried about the Flame Martial Envoy's enormous material and operating costs, then focused on practicing Flame Martial Guards while continuing his cultivation.
• Old Zhang arrived at Qin Fei's home with Zhang Youqing and wine, boasting that he had become a First-Tier Talisman Master.
• Old Zhang showed Qin Fei a first-tier Wooden Ox he had bought as a gift, explaining its storage space and carrying capacity.

Qin Fei accepted Old Zhang’s Wooden Ox and learned that Old Zhang could no longer advance in cultivation, while Qing'er had been accepted as Fairy Caiyi’s disciple. After dreaming of Shangyu Market falling to the barbarians, Qin Fei realized he could use Puppet Soldiers to automate his work and increase production before the raid.

• Qin Fei accepted Old Zhang’s Wooden Ox and offered him a Spirit Ascension Pill, but Old Zhang refused and explained that a failed attempt to break through had damaged his meridians and ended his hopes of advancing.
• Old Zhang told Qin Fei that Fairy Caiyi had accepted Qing'er as her disciple and would take her to the Azure Wood Palace after the barbarian border raid.
• Old Zhang said Tiezhu and their other old friends had returned to Shangyu Market, and Qin Fei agreed to meet them.
• Qin Fei dreamed that barbarians overran Shangyu Market and killed his friends, then woke worried about the approaching raid and the cost of making a Flame Martial Envoy.
• Qin Fei realized that Puppet Soldiers could help automate puppet production, and he set several on the ground to put them to work.

Qin Fei created Technician Number One puppets and used them to greatly increase production, accumulating Spirit Stones before preparing to make a Flame Martial Envoy. As the barbarians attacked Shangyu Market, three rogue cultivators broke into his courtyard and faced an ominous figure inside.

• Qin Fei designed Technician Number One, and the Heavenly Craft Creation Pavilion recorded it as a first-tier puppet with improved machinery skills.
• Qin Fei made more than fifty Technician Number Ones, trained himself to control them together, and raised his production of Wooden Oxen and Flowing Horses to over twenty per day.
• Wang Hu collected dozens of Wooden Oxen and Flowing Horses at a time as Qin Fei's sales brought his Spirit Stone total to 149.
• Qin Fei secretly bought the materials needed to make a Flame Martial Envoy and stayed inside his courtyard as the barbarian invasion approached.
• The barbarians breached Shangyu Market's outer wall, while Zhang Youqing worried about Qin Fei and Old Zhang feared for his safety.
• Three Qi Refining Third Layer rogue cultivators called the Three Sha of the Hu Clan entered Qin Fei's courtyard to rob him, then found icy red, nonhuman eyes inside the house.

Qin Fei used his newly refined Flame Martial Envoy and three Flame Martial Guards to survive attacks during the barbarians’ border raid. After rescuing a wanted woman from pursuing barbarian soldiers, he knocked her unconscious and brought her into his courtyard.

• Qin Fei’s Flame Martial Guards killed Hu Lao’er and two accomplices who came to attack him, then destroyed their bodies.
• Qin Fei reviewed how he had refined and mastered the powerful Flame Martial Envoy, which had killed Hu Lao’er in a single strike.
• Qin Fei spotted a woman in black fleeing barbarian soldiers with modified Bumblebee Puppet Soldiers and recognized her from a Lin Household wanted poster.
• The woman drew the barbarians toward Qin Fei’s courtyard and pleaded for help, leaving him no choice but to intervene.
• Qin Fei sent the Flame Martial Envoy to incinerate the pursuing barbarians, then knocked the woman unconscious and had a puppet carry her inside.

After surviving another border raid, Qin Fei interrogated Yunxiu with puppets and a Truth-Telling Talisman, learning she was an inheritor of the destroyed Thousand Mechanisms Sect before a soul restriction blocked her from revealing its cultivation method. He kept Yunxiu alive, returned to making puppets, and prepared to meet Tiezhu and the others in Shangyu Market the next day.

• Qin Fei secured his courtyard, searched Yunxiu's belongings, and had her bound in a secret chamber.
• After days without food or water, Yunxiu woke to a puppet courtroom and answered the Flame Martial Envoy's questions under the Truth-Telling Talisman's influence.
• Yunxiu revealed that she belonged to the Thousand Mechanisms Sect, had modified market-bought puppets, and could control many second-tier puppets through the sect's inheritance.
• When Qin Fei asked her to recite the cultivation method, a golden soul restriction destroyed the talisman and ended the interrogation.
• Qin Fei had a puppet feed Yunxiu and persuaded her to eat by offering her a chance to preserve the Thousand Mechanisms Sect's inheritance.
• Qin Fei resumed making puppets and looked forward to meeting Tiezhu and the others in Shangyu Market the following day.

Qin Fei reassured Wang Hu about his puppet by claiming it came from his master, then reunited with old friends who planned to return to Shangyu Market. Their gathering ended with news that the nearby Qinghe Market had fallen to the barbarians, leaving Qin Fei worried about Shangyu Market’s safety.

• Qin Fei showed Wang Hu a powerful puppet and persuaded him that his master had left it for protection, then asked him to keep it secret.
• Wang Hu collected Qin Fei’s goods and Spirit Stones, grateful that he had not tried to control Qin Fei.
• Qin Fei met Old Zhang, Li Tiezhu, Tang Zhan, and Xu Meiniang at the Gathering Immortals Pavilion, where they shared their plans to leave the Azure Wood Palace and establish a merchant association in Shangyu Market.
• The group heard that the Lu Household’s counterattack had provoked the barbarians to raze Qinghe Market, three thousand li from Shangyu Market.
• Qin Fei worried that Shangyu Market might be next and considered leaving, but Tang Zhan stood up to reassure everyone.

Qin Fei learned that the Azure Wood Palace’s threat to let the barbarians invade had prompted the other sects to discuss an alliance, while the refugee crisis still loomed. When Yunxiu offered a Heavenly Secrets Sect inheritance item to save her life, Qin Fei recognized the wooden lock as a Luban Lock.

• Tang Zhan told Qin Fei and the others that the Azure Wood Palace had forced the Supreme Sword Sect and Asura Sect to discuss joining forces against the Barbarian Tribe.
• Qin Fei warned his companions to prepare for the million displaced Rogue Cultivators expected to arrive in Shangyu Market and asked the merchant association to find him a defensive array.
• Back at his courtyard, Qin Fei confronted Yunxiu and said he planned to kill her because he could not trust her not to seek revenge.
• Yunxiu offered to help Qin Fei obtain the Heavenly Secrets Sect inheritance and explained that its teachings were hidden in an inheritance item.
• Yunxiu spat out an inheritance wood lock and warned Qin Fei that each person could try to solve it only once.
• Qin Fei recognized the inheritance wood lock from his previous life as a Luban Lock.

Qin Fei solved all 108 stages of the Heavenly Secrets Sect’s inheritance lock and obtained the Divine Soul Sensing Chapter. He let Yunxiu go after she swore an oath, then gave her the lock’s blueprints so she could restore the inheritance before she departed to hide from the Lin Household.

• Yunxiu explained that the inheritance lock remembered failed attempts and destroyed itself when touched by someone who had failed.
• Qin Fei used the Heavenly Craft Creation Pavilion’s blueprints to solve all 108 stages of the lock and obtained the Divine Soul Sensing Chapter.
• Qin Fei learned that the inheritance included divine-soul cultivation methods and a secret method for binding a Demon Beast’s spirit to a puppet.
• Qin Fei demanded that Yunxiu swear a Heavenly Dao Oath not to reveal what had happened, then let her go.
• Qin Fei gave Yunxiu blueprints for the inheritance lock, allowing her to rebuild it and preserve the Heavenly Secrets Sect’s inheritance.
• Yunxiu said the Lin Household was pursuing her and left to lie low.

Qin Fei improved his puppet skills and cultivation during seclusion while displaced people and the Lu Household reshaped Shangyu Market. After upgrading the Heavenly Craft Creation Pavilion to level three, he unlocked the blueprint for the Zhang Yu Motor Vehicle.

• Qin Fei studied Yunxiu's puppet insights, cultivated with Spirit Ascension Pills, and rapidly strengthened his divine soul through the Divine Soul Sensing Chapter.
• Two to three hundred thousand displaced people arrived at Shangyu Market, where disorder spread despite the Lin Household's new regulations.
• The Lu Household joined the Lin Household to form the Foundation Establishment Lineage Alliance, bringing Shangyu Market's Foundation Establishment cultivators to six.
• Qin Fei automated puppet production, completed a blueprint for the Second-Generation Puppet Soldier, and accumulated experience during his seclusion.
• Qin Fei upgraded the Heavenly Craft Creation Pavilion to level three and unlocked the Zhang Yu Motor Vehicle blueprint.

Qin Fei attended the opening of the Star Radiance Merchant Association and brought Wang Hu to meet its staff about escort work. After Tiezhu welcomed Qin Fei and confirmed his breakthrough, Qin Fei asked about the formation he had come to collect.

• The Star Radiance Merchant Association opened in Shangyu Market, drawing congratulatory gifts and visitors from local powers.
• Qin Fei met Wang Hu in the queue and revealed that he had reached the Qi Refinement Fifth Layer.
• Qin Fei used an invitation to bring Wang Hu through the association’s back gate, where he recommended him to Tiezhu and the others as an escort captain.
• Xu Meiniang took Wang Hu to discuss the escort job, which suited his hunting team’s need for steady work.
• Tiezhu confirmed Qin Fei’s breakthrough, and Qin Fei asked him for the unusual formation Tang Zhan had mentioned.

Qin Fei acquired the Black Tortoise Breath-Concealing Array and joined the merchant association’s celebration, where he offered them the right to sell his improved Puppet Soldier. He then revealed a new vehicle, the Zhang Yu Motor Vehicle, as the promised main event.

• Tiezhu showed Qin Fei the Black Tortoise Breath-Concealing Array, and Qin Fei bought it for three hundred Spirit Stones, paying fifty upfront.
• Wang Hu finished negotiating a regular escort arrangement for the merchant association and left to notify his brothers.
• At the celebration, Old Zhang gave the association dozens of high-grade First-tier Vajra Talismans, asking them to collect insights on talisman drawing for him in return.
• Qin Fei presented an improved Puppet Soldier with strength comparable to the Second Layer of Qi Refinement and offered the merchant association the right to sell it.
• Qin Fei led everyone to a secluded spot and revealed the Zhang Yu Motor Vehicle.

Qin Fei introduced the Zhang Yu Motor Vehicle to the merchant guild and discussed its sale before heading home. On the way, two masked Late Qi Refining cultivators ambushed him and targeted his companions, leaving him fleeing from Seventy-Seven while calling for help.

• Qin Fei demonstrated the Spirit Essence-powered Zhang Yu Motor Vehicle and entrusted the merchant guild with selling it alongside his improved Puppet Soldiers.
• Qin Fei refused to count his gifts toward the guild's formation costs, then discussed production and sales plans before the group left.
• Qin Fei sensed two masked cultivators following him and learned they were targeting the people from the gathering, including Old Zhang.
• Eighty-Four left to pursue another target while Seventy-Seven claimed Qin Fei as her prey.
• Qin Fei threw down Puppet Soldiers, sent a voice transmission for help, and tried to evade Seventy-Seven until the enforcement team arrived.