Chapter Summaries

Lu PingAn tested the Ghost Warhorse Divine Grace and reflected on how Divine Graces compared with Profession Skills. After recognizing that his combat profession had stalled because he lacked personal combat experience, he took up his weapons and set out to gain it.

• Lu PingAn summoned the Ghost Warhorse and used its terrain-ignoring charge to knock down a towering tree.
• Lu PingAn considered the strengths and limits of Divine Graces, while Chris warned him not to alter his career plans for a chance at another one.
• Lu PingAn recalled that his chess piece had been destroyed beyond repair after a Rule-level dragonkin attacked it.
• Lu PingAn reviewed his Profession Skills and realized his combat profession had reached a bottleneck because he lacked experience of his own.
• Lu PingAn picked up his battle axe and lance and set out again.

Lu PingAn returned to the Knight Secret Realm to train with Zhi Xi as a giant armored body, testing his strength and learning to control it. By the fifteenth floor, his attacks and defenses had grown so overwhelming that he hoped a stronger enemy could at least scratch him.

• Lu PingAn entered the secret realm and summoned Zhi Xi as a full-body suit of armor, crushing the first-floor Living Armor with a slap.
• Lu PingAn climbed the tower while practicing control, realizing his slower reflexes kept him from fully using the Demon Vines’ faster responses.
• Big Cat estimated that Lu PingAn’s combined reflexes reached Bronze Low-rank and that accepting Zhi Xi’s possession could boost his spiritual power toward Upper Brass.
• Lu PingAn fought through the lower floors without dodging attacks, using Zhi Xi’s layered defenses and seven Soul-Seizing Marks to withstand the enemies.
• Lu PingAn reached the approach to the fifteenth floor and hoped its third-tier monster could break through his armor or at least leave a scratch.

Lu PingAn advanced through the secret realm, effortlessly crushing Living Armor and other monsters as his armor and Sun Blood Vine grew stronger. His overwhelming performance drew the livestream audience’s attention, and he continued toward the spectral creatures on the Nineteenth Floor.

• Lu PingAn reached the Sixteenth Floor and shattered a Tier 3 Living Armor boss with a single slap.
• Lu PingAn swept through groups of Living Armor, gaining weapon and armor combat experience as he refined his control of Zhi Xi and his magic vines.
• Lu PingAn encountered incorporeal spectral monsters on the Nineteenth Floor, which could pass through objects and use telekinesis.
• Lu PingAn’s rapid, effortless progress carried him from a small livestream window to the Main Stage, where viewers debated his identity and strength.
• Lu PingAn recognized that the Sun Blood Vine was acting as the armor’s growing artificial muscle and that his control of it was improving his combat abilities.
• Lu PingAn smashed another swarm of Living Armor into fragments while livestream viewers wondered why someone so powerful was in the secret realm.

Lu PingAn used Zhi Xi and his integrated combat system to clear the Knight Secret Realm’s lower floors with ease, refining his control as he climbed. On the Thirtieth Floor, he faced a powerful Living Armor whose familiar form reflected the strength he had once aspired to reach.

• Zhi Xi tore through the ghostly creatures on the Nineteenth Floor, and Lu PingAn cleared the floor while marveling at their combined combat power.
• Lu PingAn joked about cooking the defeated monsters, and Zhi Xi revealed that she had wanted Hell Hotpot all along.
• Lu PingAn and Zhi Xi defeated the Tier 3 elite monsters on the Twentieth Floor and continued climbing as he practiced controlling his armor.
• Lu PingAn reached the Thirtieth Floor and recognized its Tier 4 Living Armor as resembling the knight who had once inspired him.
• The Living Armor began their duel with a familiar knightly opening stance, and Lu PingAn smiled.

Lu PingAn fought a golden knight in a close-quarters battle, using shifting weapons, movement, and Zhi Xi’s control of one hand to overcome the gap in Combat Skill. After his opponent’s aerial counterattack damaged his armor and wrist, Lu PingAn resumed the assault and seized the advantage again.

• Lu PingAn used a lance charge to drive the golden knight toward a corner, then switched to wielding a battle axe and lance in different hands.
• Lu PingAn combined his weapons with bursts of speed and lateral movement to trap the golden knight and batter its armor from multiple angles.
• The golden knight abandoned its shield and launched a rune-powered leap, but Lu PingAn counterattacked, leaving deep gashes in its chest and lower body.
• Lu PingAn asked Zhi Xi to assess the damage, and Zhi Xi reported that the armor could keep fighting while the injured wrist needed a few seconds to recover.
• Lu PingAn charged again, glided around the golden knight, and launched another attack from its blind angle as the spectators watched in amazement.

Lu PingAn defeated the golden Armor Knight after their battle became an exchange of injuries, then received an SS evaluation for completing the Tier 3 secret realm. Given a choice of rewards, he selected an additional training opportunity and welcomed whatever challenge came next.

• Spectators watched the two Giant God-like fighters demonstrate refined combat techniques and wondered why such power appeared on the Thirtieth Floor.
• Lu PingAn exploited his layered, self-repairing armor to outlast the golden Armor Knight, whose shell suffered increasingly severe damage.
• Lu PingAn leaped into a final attack and cremated the golden Armor Knight in a crater of golden flames and ashes.
• The secret realm awarded Lu PingAn an SS evaluation and offered him five reward choices.
• Lu PingAn chose option D, an additional training opportunity, and invited the secret realm to test him.

Lu PingAn dominated the Knight Secret Realm’s Main Stage, drawing the attention of talent scouts before disappearing instead of returning to the plaza. He found himself in an unfamiliar city that he suspected was the Rust Knight’s God Country Realm.

• Lu PingAn’s powerful performance on the Main Stage made him the focus of the livestream and impressed the watching talent scouts.
• Recruiters speculated about Lu PingAn’s identity and discussed competing to recruit him.
• After the Thirtieth Floor was cleared, Lu PingAn failed to appear, and the crowd eventually assumed he had left unnoticed.
• Lu PingAn realized he had been sent to an unknown additional trial rather than the expected Circular Arena.
• Lu PingAn explored a sunlit city of armored warriors and wondered whether it was the Rust Knight’s God Country Realm.

Lu PingAn found himself in the Land of Warriors, a divine kingdom filled with the souls of fallen fighters gathered by the Rust Knight. After indulging the warriors’ demand for a sparring match, he met the opponent who had been searching for him.

• Lu PingAn learned from Bear King that the Land of Warriors held dead warriors gathered by the Rust Knight, and that newcomers were expected to fight.
• Bear King invited Lu PingAn to a tavern, where they drank and traded stories about battles.
• Bear King and the other warriors surrounded Lu PingAn and asked him to fight in an improvised arena.
• Lu PingAn fought the warriors, wrecking the tavern and throwing Bear King and several others outside.
• A towering newcomer entered and called Lu PingAn by name, identifying himself as the opponent who had been looking for him.

Lu PingAn met Hanna Bershire, an undead warrior from the destroyed Hilgon World, who explained why she had brought him to Rust Knight’s divine kingdom. Hanna arranged to delay their duel for seven days so he could learn from the dead warriors and grow strong enough to oppose the evil god marked on him.

• Lu PingAn met Hanna Bershire, a shark-headed undead knight, and learned that she came from the drowned Hilgon World.
• Hanna told Lu PingAn that the Ink-Colored Continent Devourer had destroyed her world and that Rust Knight’s dead warriors had long supported living opponents of the evil god.
• Lu PingAn inferred that the hostility mark on him had prompted Hanna to bring him to the Land of Warriors.
• Hanna used her authority to postpone their duel for up to seven days and offered to introduce Lu PingAn to her kin and fellow disciples.
• Hanna warned Lu PingAn to avoid the evil god’s domains until he was stronger, explaining that helping him resist it gave the dead a little purpose.

Lu PingAn trained against the strange warrior souls in the Rust Knight’s secret realm, learning about the martial arts and combat legacies of many civilizations. As his skills grew rapidly, Ms. Hanna realized his ability to absorb and integrate techniques might explain why an evil god wanted him dead.

• Lu PingAn fought an unnamed blind swordsman and learned how the warrior’s scent-based perception and flexible body let him evade attacks despite being Bronze-ranked.
• Lu PingAn encountered warriors from many species and studied how their martial techniques suited their bodies and environments.
• Ms. Hanna and other guardians demonstrated their civilization’s Resonance Combat Skills, including using silver runes to detonate an opponent’s weapon after taking hits.
• Lu PingAn’s All Weapon Proficiency and fighting skills rose rapidly as he trained, though he could not use Investment on the soul creatures.
• Big Cat warned Lu PingAn that the dead growing or changing could become a calamity for the living, and helped him judge which martial paths suited him.
• Ms. Hanna realized Lu PingAn could incorporate techniques into his own style and suspected that his unusual talent was why an evil god wanted him dead.

Lu PingAn rapidly absorbed martial arts knowledge as his accumulated experience from past Investments awakened and became part of his My Style. On the fifth day, Polearm Specialization reached lv14, and he had to choose a mastery branch school.

• Lu PingAn realized his apparent martial arts genius came from dormant techniques and instincts accumulated through earlier Investments.
• With Big Cat's guidance, Lu PingAn studied Hilgon World schools and incorporated useful concepts into his My Style, improving his coordination.
• Lu PingAn gained polearm experience until Polearm Specialization reached lv14 and received a prompt to choose a mastery branch school.
• Lu PingAn reflected on Profession Skill levels and how specialization choices shaped a Professional's future path.

Lu PingAn weighed four martial arts advancement paths and chose the incomplete Ten Thousand Things Breathing Martial Art, which let him sense and synchronize with the breath of living weapons. The new path left him with uncertain prospects and required him to alter his Breathing Method.

• Lu PingAn considered three conventional polearm paths but found they focused too much on direct combat and did not suit his priorities.
• He examined Ten Thousand Things Breathing Martial Art, which merged his weapon proficiencies and connected the breathing of weapons with the circulation of life.
• Lu PingAn sensed the pulses in his body and Storm Lance, then made two weapons resonate by colliding them.
• He realized the path might prevent him from using ordinary Breathing Methods and would work best with weapons that could breathe.
• Lu PingAn chose Ten Thousand Things Breathing Martial Art as his own path.

On his fifth day of training, Lu PingAn defeated the Blind Sword Saint by uniting himself with Zhi Xi and using life-force resonance to disrupt his opponent. The victory revealed the power of Lu PingAn’s new traits, though their enormous cost left him wondering whether he could endure them long enough to defeat Hanna.

• The Blind Sword Saint attacked Lu PingAn with twin blades and phantom clones, but Lu PingAn read his movements and blocked the true strike with the Storm Lance.
• When the Blind Sword Saint asked how Lu PingAn had seen through his clones, Lu PingAn explained that they did not breathe, then revealed that blade collisions had carried resonance into the swordsman’s body.
• Lu PingAn defeated the Blind Sword Saint, who surrendered after realizing he could not overcome Lu PingAn’s strength and newly seamless combat awareness.
• Lu PingAn revealed the passive traits All is One and One is All, which let him unite his body, armor, weapons, and symbiotic demonic plants and extend his breathing into his opponent.
• Lu PingAn recognized that the traits drained his spirit and life force, while the watching Heroic Spirit Warriors began to believe he might defeat Hanna.

Lu PingAn spent two days studying other warriors’ techniques to refine his incomplete martial path before entering the Gladiatorial Arena to duel Hanna, the Female Knight of the Golden Shark. The livestream revealed his identity as the sixteen-year-old Dragon-Slaying Knight, and the duel began with the audience doubting he could defeat her.

• Lu PingAn asked Big Cat how to master his demanding martial technique, and she advised him to improve his abilities and study other martial paths.
• Lu PingAn toured the City of the Dead, learned from Heroic Spirit Warriors, and raised his Profession Skill from Lv. 14 to Lv. 16.
• The Heroic Spirit Warriors asked Lu PingAn to give them a splendid duel as an echo of their departed lives.
• Lu PingAn entered the Gladiatorial Arena to face Hanna, who arrived in peak condition with heavy armor, weapons, and a powerful mount.
• The duel appeared on livestream screens in the Knight Secret Realm, where viewers recognized Lu PingAn as the sixteen-year-old Dragon-Slaying Knight.

Lu PingAn faced Hanna in their duel and discovered that her enormous water dragon and overwhelming strength made the gap between them far greater than he had expected. After their first clash, he recognized that he had been holding back and summoned his legion to fight at full strength.

• Lu PingAn entered the arena with Little Flame and circled Hanna, realizing that she and the spectators had never expected him to win.
• Lu PingAn saw that Hanna rode a gigantic water dragon resembling a Tyrannosaurus Rex, then resolved to fight despite the vast difference in power.
• Lu PingAn and Little Flame charged Hanna, but the water dragon’s shield and body slammed them away.
• Little Flame’s sacred fire burned the water dragon, though its stronger water power quickly suppressed the flames.
• Lu PingAn realized Hanna was displeased by his arrogance in holding back and summoned his legion.

Lu PingAn linked himself to the Life Illustrated Handbook, gaining enhanced life traits and control over his treants, but Hanna’s Golden Armored Knight overwhelmed him with a teleporting strike and wounded his allies. With the treants nearly defeated and the water dragon free, Lu PingAn faced both enemies as the Golden Armored Knight advanced.

• Lu PingAn linked himself to the Life Illustrated Handbook, raising his life rank and strengthening his resistance and Life Affinity abilities.
• Lu PingAn used his new control over the treants to send them against the water dragon while Hanna’s Golden Armored Knight struck him with a lightning spear and then a battle axe.
• The Golden Armored Knight tore open Zhi Xi’s armor and badly injured Little Flame, forcing Lu PingAn to flee her next attack with Ground Shrinking and the Heavenly Boots.
• Lu PingAn realized Hanna’s spear had left a strange power in his right arm, so Zhi Xi severed the contaminated arm and helped regenerate it.
• The water dragon defeated two of Lu PingAn’s four treants, leaving the remaining pair wounded as the Golden Armored Knight advanced on him.

Lu PingAn fought Hanna, a Golden Armored Knight, and struggled against her Wave Battle Axe techniques and hidden berserker abilities. He used the Storm Lance’s Withering Art to attack her, but Hanna endured it and resumed their clash.

• Lu PingAn used his Demon Vine tentacles and Storm Lance to block Hanna’s attacks, preventing her Silver Runes from reaching his body through his armor.
• Hanna intensified her attacks with Shark Tooth, cracking Zhi Xi’s armor and forcing Lu PingAn to retreat.
• Hanna revealed her berserker nature and attacked with both her shield axe and battle axe, overwhelming Lu PingAn and damaging his armor.
• Lu PingAn summoned Storm Bulwark to create distance, then activated the Storm Lance’s Withering Art against Hanna.
• Hanna emerged from the black mist largely unharmed, complaining only that her skin had dried out, and she and Lu PingAn continued fighting.

Lu PingAn used a minefield and a forest of magical plants to create an opening against the stronger Hanna, then struck her with a Withering uppercut. Hanna survived and welcomed the challenge, so Lu PingAn set the arena ablaze.

• Lu PingAn realized he could not defeat Hanna in a direct fight and relied on his hidden tactics instead.
• Little Flame charged Hanna, giving Lu PingAn a chance to retreat and fill the arena with mines and magical plants.
• Lu PingAn shed his armor and used All is One to channel the Death Lance’s Withering curse into an uppercut that knocked Hanna down and broke two of her teeth.
• Hanna rose more eager to fight, and Lu PingAn ignited the flammable forest and Fuel Seeds across the arena.

Lu PingAn unleashed his hidden Flame Art Master abilities and transformed the Gladiatorial Arena into a burning battlefield to overcome Hanna’s superior martial skill. As his planted Lamp Fire Grass bombarded her with Purification Holy Fire, he saw his first real chance to win.

• Lu PingAn detonated his prepared Fuel Seeds and used Attached Combustion to spread adhesive, sustained flames across the arena.
• The flames overwhelmed Hanna’s senses and forced Lu PingAn to widen the distance, while onlookers recognized him as a Flame Art Master.
• Lu PingAn recalled that Big Cat had warned him he could not beat Hanna in a pure contest of martial skill, so he relied on hidden traps and fire instead.
• Lu PingAn’s golden Fire Balls struck Hanna and began eroding her body and power with Purification Holy Fire.
• Lu PingAn summoned hundreds of Lamp Fire Grass and charged them with his level 16 Flame Art, unleashing a rain of golden fire that gave him his first glimpse of victory.

Lu PingAn used his combined Life, Flame, and combat abilities to wear down Hanna with an arena-wide inferno, relying on Little Flame to sustain the fire. As Hanna gathered strength for a final strike, Lu PingAn recognized that the decisive moment had arrived.

• Lu PingAn chose attrition tactics, filling the arena with smoke and fire while concealing his movements from Hanna.
• The audience marveled at Lu PingAn's abilities across multiple professions, which he had gained through the opportunities in the Silent Mountain Range.
• Lu PingAn used Withering Art and the inferno to weaken Hanna through heat, dehydration, and the strain of fighting, while Little Flame supplied the fire.
• Hanna caught Lu PingAn repeatedly, but he survived each encounter with help from his allies and expendable magic plants.
• Hanna stopped moving and gathered life force amid the flames, and Lu PingAn realized she was preparing a decisive final strike.