Chapter Summaries

Gao De learned how to hasten the Icejade Fruit’s growth, then told Catherine and Loich that Ryan the Arbiter was behind the attacks and demanded the Snowfield Guardian hand him over. The Truefrost Tribe’s army marched toward Frostfield Temple as Loich raced ahead to warn the sect.

• Flora learned that Fire Elemental materials could hasten the Icejade Fruit’s growth once the tree had adapted to its new body for 251 days.
• Gao De told Catherine and Loich that Ryan the Arbiter had orchestrated an assassination attempt and the deaths of a Truefrost Tribe hunting squad, then demanded the sect surrender Ryan and his accomplices or face the tribe’s army.
• Gao De donned the Truefrost Tribe’s ceremonial clothing, and he and Sunaifa raised Northwind and Blizzard before five thousand Icekin Mages hailed them as king and Warmother.
• The Truefrost Tribe’s army departed for Frostfield Temple, while Loich hurried back to warn the sect and feared Ryan’s power could prevent it from surrendering him.

Ryan the Arbiter revealed that he had become a Fifth Circle Necromancer and seized control of the Snowfield Guardian’s council as the Truefrost Tribe advanced on Frostfield Temple. He planned to confront the invading tribe himself and lead the faith toward renewed power.

• Ryan told the Snowfield Guardian’s leaders that Warmother Sunaifa was leading five thousand Frostborn Mages toward Frostfield Temple because the Truefrost Tribe’s new king had a deep grievance against him.
• Ryan revealed that he had practiced forbidden Necromantic Spell and used Energy Siphon to drain Archbishop Rune’s life force, then raised Rune’s corpse as his puppet.
• Ryan explained that the Truefrost Tribe’s new king had demanded that the Snowfield Guardian hand him over or face an attack, and he forced the council to support him by controlling Rune.
• The assembled mages submitted to Ryan, who declared that he would stop the Truefrost Tribe and lead the faith to glory.

Gao De’s Adaptive specialty evolved into the Body of Pain Tolerance after he endured Northwind’s cold, and it gave him a fleeting vision of an impending disaster. He warned Sunaifa just before skeletons burst from beneath the snow and attacked the Truefrost Tribe’s camp.

• Gao De reflected on the Truefrost Tribe’s trust in him as their army advanced toward the Frostfield Temple.
• Gao De shared a tiny piece of spicy Perilla Serpent meat with Flora, then trained his cold resistance by gripping Northwind.
• Gao De pushed his pain tolerance past its 99.9% bottleneck and gained the Body of Pain Tolerance, including a chance to foresee disasters.
• Gao De saw a vision of white skeletons and black mist, recognized it as a warning, and hurried to alert Sunaifa that the camp might be attacked.
• Skeletons erupted from the snow, overwhelmed the surprised Frostborn Mages, and tore through the camp while Gao De’s abandoned tent was destroyed.

Ryan attacked the Truefrost Tribe’s camp with undead creatures and revealed that he had become a Fifth Circle Mage by abandoning Icekin blood and cultivating the Rite of the Undead. The chapter ended with Ryan arguing that Icekin blood had reached a dead end while Sunaifa faced him in battle.

• Necromantic skeleton mages attacked the Truefrost Tribe’s camp, and Sunaifa searched for the necromancer while Azurewind scouted overhead.
• Ryan emerged atop a Zombie Behemoth and charged toward Sunaifa, breaking through the Icekin Mages’ defenses.
• Sunaifa fired an ice arrow from Blizzard, but Ryan’s Circle Advancement Flame Shield blocked it before going out.
• Sunaifa realized Ryan had reached the Fifth Circle, and Ryan confirmed he had changed his Cultivation Method to the Rite of the Undead.
• Ryan claimed Icekin blood had declined and could not advance beyond the Fourth Circle, urging Sunaifa to abandon it for another path.

Gao De returned to help Sunaifa face Ryan, who had overwhelmed her with his Fifth Circle magic. He sent her Breath of the Wild, a Fourth Circle Rune Construct, and she equipped it as the battle reached a possible turning point.

• Sunaifa fired a Truefrost Arrow at Ryan, but he weakened it with his Zombie Behemoth before the arrow struck the creature and shattered.
• Ryan cursed Sunaifa, slowing her and giving her spells a chance to fail, but she purified the curse with a Truefrost Spell.
• Gao De returned despite Sunaifa's plea for him to flee, and she admitted that defeating Ryan would be difficult.
• Flora delivered Breath of the Wild to Sunaifa, and Gao De instructed her to focus on it and put it on.
• Sunaifa activated the Fourth Circle Rune Construct, which fitted itself to her and revealed its protective, combat, and recovery effects.

Sunaifa used the Breath of the Wild Rune Construct to empower her Truefrost Arrows and outmaneuver Ryan the Arbiter. She defeated Ryan and his Zombie Behemoth with a powerful triple-arrow attack, leaving them frozen together in an ice sculpture.

• Sunaifa donned Breath of the Wild, which drew power from the earth and strengthened her spells while boosting her agility.
• Sunaifa repeatedly fired Truefrost Arrows as Ryan sent his Zombie Behemoth after her and prepared Energy Siphon.
• Ryan brought the chase within Energy Siphon's range and unleashed dark tentacles toward Sunaifa.
• Sunaifa drew three Truefrost Arrows at once, while Ryan forced the Zombie Behemoth to expend its power to stop them.
• The arrows shattered the Zombie Behemoth's black mist and froze Ryan and the creature together, causing Ryan's dark tentacles to collapse.

Sunaifa killed Ryan with her triple-arrow volley, and Gao De gave her Breath of the Wild before leading the Truefrost army to Frostfield Temple. There, Gao De demanded that the Snowfield Guardians submit to Phoenix, and the temple’s mages surrendered before his countdown ended.

• Sunaifa killed Ryan, causing his Skeleton Mages to collapse, and Gao De let her keep Breath of the Wild.
• Gao De decided the Snowfield Guardians would cease to exist as an independent sect and ordered the Truefrost army to march on Frostfield Temple.
• After reaching the temple, Gao De rejected Loich’s plea to spare the Snowfield Guardians and demanded that their assets, members, and branch churches belong to Phoenix.
• Gao De gave the temple mages ten breaths to submit to Truefrost or die, and they all knelt before the count reached one.

Gao De and Sunaifa took control of the Snowfield Guardian’s archives and treasury after the sect submitted to the Truefrost Tribe, uncovering valuable records, spells, and materials. Gao De left eager to transport the legacy to Phoenix and begin brewing spell elixirs.

• Loich led Gao De and Sunaifa through the Frostfield Temple archive, where Gao De ordered the Snowfield Guardian’s books gathered for transport to Phoenix.
• Gao De examined the sect’s records on snowfield creatures, plants, and survival, while Flora complained privately about learning arithmetic.
• Gao De and Sunaifa entered the secret legacy room and discovered the Snowfield Guardian’s Guardian and Hunter cultivation paths and spell formulas.
• Sunaifa showed Gao De the rare, growth-type Ice Seal Blade spell, which Gao De accepted and planned to master.
• Gao De found materials for at least ten batches of nine First Circle Spell Elixirs in the treasury, along with more than twenty bottles of Ice Force.
• Loich explained that the sect’s seven ice caves produced Ice Force, and Gao De inspected the stockpile of mostly First Order bottles.

Gao De returned to Phoenix with the Truefrost Tribe after taking control of the Frostfield Temple, then revealed his plan to plant Yggdrasil at a Northern Territory harbor. He asked Sunaifa to cultivate the Evergreen Longevity Sutra as well.

• Loich showed Gao De a detailed map of the Northern Territory, including the seven ice caves, the Snowfield Guardians' branch halls, and the ruins of their Ancient Temple.
• Gao De took the Truefrost from the Frostfield Temple treasury, executed the captured necromancers, and brought the surrendered mages back to Phoenix.
• Gao De displayed evidence of Ryan's forbidden necromancy in Phoenix and spread the news of the Snowfield Guardians' downfall.
• Gao De explained the Evergreen Longevity Sutra and Yggdrasil to Sunaifa, then asked her to find a suitable place to plant the tree.
• Sunaifa recommended a coastal bay for the harbor and Sacred Tree, and Gao De asked her to cultivate the Evergreen Longevity Sutra.

Gao De explained how Sunaifa could use the Evergreen Longevity Sutra and the Icejade Wutong to overcome the Icekin bloodline’s Fourth Circle limit, and she successfully formed a pact with the tree. The next day, they traveled toward Valar Bay to inspect a site for planting trees.

• Gao De told Sunaifa that advancing through another cultivation method to the Fifth Circle could let her refine Fifth-Order Ice Marrow and strengthen her Icekin bloodline.
• Gao De recommended the Evergreen Longevity Sutra, and Sunaifa agreed to cultivate it using the Icejade Wutong as her sacred object.
• Sunaifa memorized the sutra, formed a pact with the Icejade Wutong, and estimated that its Plant Essence would help her reach the First Circle in about ten days.
• Gao De and Sunaifa left Phoenix with a hundred-person hunter squad following behind to inspect the tree-planting site at Valar Bay.
• Gao De and Sunaifa crossed Mount Valar without trouble, and Valar Bay came into view.

Gao De and Flora planted Yggdrasil at Valar Bay after Gao De formed a contract with its seed. The tree sprouted and began transforming the land, while powerful beings across the Northern Territory sensed its awakening.

• Gao De, Flora, and Sunaifa chose a site at Valar Bay, and Sunaifa waited for Elder Gain and his hundred Frostborn Mages to arrive before planting Yggdrasil.
• Gao De used the spirit communion method to form a smooth contract with Yggdrasil's seed, then Flora buried it in a hole he prepared.
• Flora sent a ring of green spiritual light into the ground, spreading a quiet ripple of life beneath the Northern Territory.
• A being in the eastern forbidden zone sensed the disturbance and decided to send someone to investigate, while a voice in a central-region volcano also sensed something extraordinary in the west.
• Yggdrasil sprouted rapidly at Valar Bay, extending deep roots that began turning the surrounding snowfield into fertile, magical land.
• Gao De looked toward the rising sun and felt the oppression and frustration of the previous months lift after Yggdrasil was planted.

Gao De gained Nature’s Touch through his pact with Yggdrasil and arranged for the sapling to be guarded while planning to expand its growth and address the Northern Territory’s food shortage. He freed Catherine to hunt down escaped necromancers, then went to a plain near Mount Weisikaer and prepared to begin farming.

• Gao De awakened Nature’s Touch, an ability that used mana to accelerate the growth of ordinary plants, and planned to plant diverse tree species around Yggdrasil to speed its growth.
• Sunaifa ordered Elder Gain and more than one hundred Icekin to guard Yggdrasil while its roots spread through the frozen soil.
• Gao De told Catherine that escaped followers of Ryan were practicing forbidden necromancy and offered her freedom in exchange for hunting them down.
• Catherine accepted the task, took Loich and half of the Frostfield Temple Mages, and set out to capture the criminals.
• Gao De met Elder Grant on a plain near Mount Weisikaer and summoned a large barley seed from Flora to begin addressing the food shortage.

Gao De used Nature's Touch to grow the only Cold-Resistant Barley Seed into a mature plant on the Northern Territory snowfields, proving it could produce grain in extreme cold. Elder Grant harvested its thirty-seven seeds, and Gao De planned to plant them and establish a protected pollen field for further breeding.

• Gao De planted the Cold-Resistant Barley Seed and used Nature's Touch to speed its growth through each stage, while Elder Grant fertilized and hand-pollinated it under Flora's guidance.
• Gao De exhausted and restored his mana several times as the barley matured into a plant bearing golden ears and thirty-seven grains.
• Elder Grant recognized the barley's significance for feeding the Northern Territory's people, became overwhelmed, and knelt before the plant.
• Gao De explained that the crop still needed testing and breeding, then had Elder Grant harvest the grains as first-generation seed.
• Flora stored the thirty-seven seeds, and Gao De ordered Elder Grant to prepare land for the next planting and designate the current plot as a guarded pollen field.

Gao De established Phoenix’s Ministry of Agriculture to organize barley cultivation and prepare for expanding food production. With Flora as Minister and Grant as Vice Minister, the new department began improving Goldensheen Wheat and raising Frost-Resistant Wheat seed stock.

• Sunaifa reached First Circle in the Evergreen Longevity Sutra and used Nature’s Touch to mature two hundred stalks of Frost-Resistant Wheat at a time.
• Gao De summoned Sunaifa and explained why Phoenix needed an agricultural department before it could pursue education, population growth, and other development plans.
• Gao De established the Ministry of Agriculture, appointed Flora Minister and Grant Vice Minister, and assigned more than twenty Goldensheen Wheat workers as apprentices.
• Gao De had Grant and Flora record Flora’s cultivation methods in manuals and explained why Frost-Resistant Wheat should be the paternal parent and Goldensheen Wheat the Maternal Parent.
• Gao De set the Ministry of Agriculture a first target of increasing Goldensheen Wheat yield to about 120 kilograms per mu.

Gao De planned a three-stage agricultural expansion to feed the Truefrost Tribe and Phoenix, then used captured Leyline Creatures to obtain Source Points. He spent the points enhancing his First Circle spells and ended with Tidal Net+ able to restrain larger creatures at additional mana cost.

• Gao De calculated that feeding five million people would require three million mu of farmland and outlined a plan to expand agriculture while reducing the number of full-time farmers.
• Elder Lanwen brought Gao De a large group of captured First Circle Leyline Creatures, and Gao De killed them to gain eight complete Source Points and three incomplete Sources.
• Gao De told Elder Lanwen to keep collecting kinds of First Circle Leyline Creatures that had not yet reached seven specimens and to dispose of the corpses appropriately.
• Gao De spent Source Points to enhance Comprehend Languages, Ice Skating, Shield Spell, Ice Seal Blade, Wolf's Speed, Sense Emotion, and Tidal Net.
• Gao De discovered that Ice Seal Blade+ could create a tiny, concealable ice needle, while Tidal Net+ could restrain Huge or larger creatures by consuming extra mana.

Gao De led the Truefrost Tribe’s first hybrid barley experiment, crossing Goldensheen Wheat with Frost-Resistant Wheat to combine their useful traits. Flora screened the resulting seeds, and Gao De named the selected new variety Northwestern Barley No. 1 before proposing trial planting on reclaimed farms.

• Gao De directed the Ministry of Agriculture apprentices through selecting, trimming, and emasculating Goldensheen Wheat as the maternal parent.
• Sunaifa used Nature's Touch to accelerate flowering and seed development, while the apprentices pollinated the plants with Frost-Resistant Wheat pollen.
• Gao De explained that the harvested first-generation seeds needed screening for cold resistance, high yield, and cold-dispelling properties.
• Flora screened the seeds by touch, and the apprentices sorted them according to her judgments; seeds with all three desired traits made up eighty percent of the harvest.
• Gao De named the selected new variety Northwestern Barley No. 1 and proposed testing it on reclaimed farms.

Gao De oversaw the successful first harvest of Northwest Barley No. 1 on the snowfield, proving it could provide both food and warmth and allowing the Truefrost Tribe to prioritize reclaiming farmland. After ten more days, his cultivation and spell repertoire advanced, and Sunaifa reported that the sacred tree had transformed enough land at Valar Bay to meet his requirement.

• Gao De watched Sunaifa use Nature's Touch to grow Northwest Barley No. 1, whose golden harvest met his yield target and warmed those who tasted it.
• Gao De directed the tribe to shift its main effort toward farmland reclamation once its food supply was secure, and assigned cultivation and breeding duties to the Ministry of Agriculture and Sunaifa.
• Gao De gained another drop of Liquid Mana, mastered four First Circle Spells, and spent Origin to enhance them.
• Gao De considered how the new spells could aid hunting, animal husbandry, transportation, and negotiation, then prepared to inspect Goldensheen Farm.
• Sunaifa told Gao De that the land transformed by the sacred tree at Valar Bay had reached his requirement.

Gao De planted pine, fir, and birch seeds around Yggdrasil, whose growth triggered reciprocal nourishment that extended his lifespan and increased his Mental Strength. He learned that Yggdrasil wanted more saplings to advance, leaving him eager to expand the spiritual ground and help it grow.

• Gao De traveled to Valar Bay with Elder Lanwen and Flora to plant trees around Yggdrasil.
• Elder Gain reported that his guards had protected Yggdrasil and killed nearby Leyline Creatures and wild beasts.
• Flora revealed that Yggdrasil longed for the tree seeds she carried, and Gao De planted them in the transformed soil.
• Gao De used Nature's Touch to make the seeds sprout, and Yggdrasil rapidly grew into a sapling over three chi tall.
• Yggdrasil's reciprocal nourishment raised Gao De's lifespan from 150 years to 160 and his Mental Strength from 132 to 150.
• Yggdrasil asked Gao De to plant more saplings so it could grow and gain new abilities, and he promised to help after it transformed more land.

Gao De returned to Phoenix, where he found a powerful, strange eye monster captured near Goldensheen Farm. Using his Mandala Eye, he sensed that it was connected to a vast blue eye watching him, so he killed it and discovered it was a 5th Circle Artificial Omniscient Eye.

• Gao De praised Flora for learning Friends and encouraged her to study Mold Earth and arithmetic during their journey back to Phoenix.
• Heavy snow fell as Gao De returned to Phoenix, and Flora eagerly went with Grant to inspect the fields.
• Sunaifa told Gao De that Azurewind had discovered a powerful eye monster near Goldensheen Farm and that she had captured it using Breath of the Wild.
• Gao De examined the monster with his Mandala Eye and saw an invisible thread linking its pupil to a huge blue eye that stared back at him.
• Gao De decided the monster could not be left alive, stabbed its pupil with Northwind, and saw the notification for a 5th Circle Artificial Omniscient Eye.

Gao De and Sunaifa connected the Artificial Omniscient Eye to the vanished Frostguard Tribe and suspected it had come to investigate Gao De, prompting them to prepare the Truefrost Tribe for danger. Gao De ordered Frostborn Mages to learn the Evergreen Longevity Sutra, while Cassite chose an Icyblue Snowberry as his sacred item so he could help develop Goldensheen Farm and prevent future starvation.

• Gao De identified the captured monster as an Artificial Omniscient Eye, and Sunaifa recalled ancient records linking an Omniscient Eye to the Frostguard Tribe's migration into the eastern Northern Territory.
• Gao De and Sunaifa speculated that the Frostguard Tribe had sent the eye to investigate Gao De after the prophecy's foretold person appeared, while Elder Claude questioned how the tribe could have survived in the eastern wilderness.
• Gao De judged the eye's intent hostile but reasoned its people might be unable to reach the western Northern Territory, then ordered Sunaifa to promote the Evergreen Longevity Sutra among the Frostborn Mages.
• Sunaifa agreed that the tribe should cultivate the sutra and seek sacred items, since Nature's Touch could accelerate plant growth and help expand Goldensheen Farm.
• Jessis urged Cassite to choose a higher-tier sacred item than an Icyblue Snowberry, but Cassite explained that he wanted to help prevent deaths from hunger like his younger sister's.
• Cassite left to plant trees, determined to help develop Goldensheen Farm alongside Balin and Fet.