Chapter Summaries

Linsey traveled onward from the City of Law with Ala Song to find Heart's Edge, while discussing romance and preparing new weapons. He synthesized a Composite Lightsaber and revealed a powerful new title as they anticipated trouble ahead.

• Linsey and Ala Song camped together, where Ala Song teased Linsey about Alvitte and Linsey insisted they were only adventure partners.
• Linsey reviewed his spoils, crafted two level-two lightsabers from Large Crystal Clusters, and synthesized them with his Purple Lightsaber (2) into a Composite Lightsaber.
• Linsey tested the Composite Lightsaber and explained its powerful cutting ability to Ala Song.
• Ala Song worried they might face Heart's Edge's Law Knights before finding Heart's Edge, but Linsey said he had plenty of trump cards.
• Linsey examined the title E=mc^2, which granted immunity to nuclear radiation, movement at the speed of light, and the ability to trade source essence for immense power.

Linsey taught Ala Song how to use his shared module skills while they prepared for future battles. Messenger Eris then arrived seeking information about the evil god and the Abyss School, offering to help Linsey contact Heart's Edge in return.

• Linsey told Ala Song that he could now share his skills and created temporary Module Seeds for him to practice with.
• Linsey and Ala Song sensed someone approaching from the City of Law and recognized Messenger Eris when he reached their camp.
• Ala Song explained that few Messengers remained in the world and that each had a hidden trump card.
• Linsey checked Eris's favorability, invited him into the camp, and heard him explain that he wanted intelligence about the evil god and the Abyss School.
• Eris offered to contact Heart's Edge in exchange for the information.

Linsey, Ala Song, and Eris traveled east in search of Heart's Edge, learning that Adrian had been missing for six months and that the Princess had returned to the City of Law. After crossing White River Spring Canyon, they found soldiers and Awakeneds fighting at Cloud Stream Canyon Village, where Linsey confronted a Law Knight who recognized his Sinner's Mark.

• Eris told Linsey that Heart's Edge had last been reported at White River Spring Canyon while dealing with bandits, and that Adrian had been gone for half a year.
• Eris explained that Adrian had also been searching for the missing Princess, and Linsey said she had returned but was sealed inside the city by the Thorned Necklace.
• Eris reported signs of large-scale corpse resurrection in the south, prompting Linsey to consider traveling there after settling matters in the City of Law.
• The three crossed White River Spring Canyon and found Cloud Stream Canyon Village damaged and occupied by soldiers and powerful Awakeneds fighting a battle.
• A Law Knight spotted Linsey's Sinner's Mark, so Linsey struck him down first and offered to talk.

Linsey captured a Law Knight and learned that Mr. Adrian of Heart's Edge was east, while the fleeing Awakened also headed in that direction. Eris used his Friendly Aura to prevent a fight with the Law Knights and began negotiating as Linsey released their companion.

• Linsey subdued a Law Knight with Brutal Domination and learned that Mr. Adrian of Heart's Edge was east.
• The Law Knights recognized Draco as a wanted criminal, and the Awakened they had been fighting escaped east as the battle became a standoff.
• Linsey asked Eris to send Bai Mao after the fleeing Awakened, and the bird flew off to investigate.
• Eris used Friendly Aura to calm the Law Knights and explain that Linsey's Sinner's Mark came from a misunderstanding.
• Linsey released the unconscious Law Knight, and Eris asked the Law Knights who the fleeing attackers had been.

Linsey and his companions investigated the ruins of Cloud Stream Canyon Village and learned that a Life Scholar had caused the canyon collapse before the Law Knights arrived. As they headed east to find Adrian, Eris's parrot warned them that the road ahead was too dangerous to cross.

• After the Law Knights departed, Linsey examined Cloud Stream Canyon Village and used Decryption Game to uncover how its residents had fled before the fighting.
• Eris learned from the mountains that a Life Scholar had fought an enemy and caused the collapse, while the Law Knights later damaged the village ruins.
• Linsey set off east with Eris and Ala Song and asked about Life Scholars and how they reached the City of Law.
• Eris explained that Life Scholars often arrived through the Teleportation Array at Gold Water Marsh but rarely stayed long in the war zone.
• Eris's parrot returned and urgently warned the group to take a detour because the road ahead was impassable for humans.

Linsey, Eris, and Ala Song reached Yellowstone Wilderness after Bai Mao warned them that its battlefield teemed with powerful Awakened. Seeing the danger between them and Adrian of Heart's Edge, Linsey urged his companions to stay behind or return to the City of Law while he continued alone.

• Bai Mao warned Eris that Yellowstone Wilderness held many Seventh Stage Awakened and recommended taking a detour through the mountains.
• Linsey weighed the safer but longer route against the risk of losing Adrian's trail, while Ala Song and Eris agreed to inspect the battlefield first.
• The three left White River Spring Canyon and saw that Yellowstone Wilderness was riddled with tunnels and pits, with Awakened fighting across the plain and its villages.
• Bai Mao reminded Eris that a Sinner's Mark could make Seventh Stage Law Knights hostile, and Eris acknowledged that he could not protect Linsey and Ala Song from stronger opponents.
• Linsey suggested that Ala Song and Eris stay behind or return to the City of Law while he searched for Adrian alone.

Linsey, Ala Song, and Eris entered the Yellowstone Wilderness, where they found the remains of people who had died trying to escape. As Ala Song hoped to paint the devastation, Linsey spotted a group of fleeing refugees and Law Knights, and the knights mistook his party for enemies.

• Ala Song and Eris chose to accompany Linsey into the Yellowstone Wilderness, where Linsey found corpses near the entrance and buried them.
• Linsey guided the group through the tunnels, avoiding hostile targets with his Map Skill.
• Ala Song told Linsey she wanted to paint the devastation so people might consider the consequences of war.
• Linsey spotted people approaching and led Ala Song and Eris toward them.
• Linsey's group appeared between fleeing refugees and pursuing Law Knights, who mistook Linsey for an enemy and ordered an attack.

Linsey and his companions stopped the Law Knights from pursuing a group of refugees in Yellowstone Wilderness and learned that an Eighth Stage battle had turned the region into a deadly maze. The Law Knights said they were tracking the refugees because one of them might be connected to a village massacre, and their leader vowed not to let the culprit escape.

• Linsey blocked the Law Knights’ attacks while Alasong used vines to restrain and protect the fleeing refugees.
• Eris used his Friendly Aura to calm the Law Knights, and Linsey asked them about their pursuit and Yellowstone Wilderness.
• The leading Law Knight warned that two Eighth Stage Awakened had distorted the region into a deadly maze where people were trapped and turned hostile.
• The refugees accused Adrian of attacking them and destroying their homes, while the Law Knight said he and his companions had pursued them after a village was massacred two days earlier.
• The Law Knight bowed to Linsey and insisted that the culprit or someone who knew the truth was among the refugees, vowing not to let that person go.

Linsey heard both the Yellowstone Wilderness villagers and a Law Knight explain the conflict between the City of Law and Si Lanka, whom the Law Knights called an evil god. He learned that Adrian and Si Lanka were fighting in the central-eastern region, while the messenger urged him to investigate a village that had been massacred.

• Linsey asked Ala Song to open the vine cage so he could hear the villagers’ account before judging either side.
• The villagers said war had ravaged Yellowstone Wilderness after Bai Shi vanished, and that Si Lanka had helped restore order before the Law Knights burned their rebuilt homes.
• A Law Knight claimed Si Lanka was an evil god and said Adrian was trying to protect the world by eliminating him.
• Linsey connected Si Lanka to the villagers who had fled east from Cloud Stream Canyon Village and asked where he and Adrian were fighting.
• The Law Knight warned Linsey away from the central-eastern region, but the messenger suggested they investigate the massacred village for clues.

Linsey considered Eris’s theory that a village might hold clues others could not perceive and led the Law Knights and refugees there. At the village ruins, Ala Song chose the site for his painting, and Linsey began investigating with Decryption Game.

• Eris suggested that a Messenger’s Dialogue with Nature could reveal unusual details about the village, and Linsey questioned the Law Knight and the refugees.
• Under Linsey’s pressure, several refugees admitted that a believer had contacted them days earlier and left in another direction.
• Linsey decided to take the Law Knight and the refugees back to the village, and the enlarged group traveled east through the Yellowstone Wilderness.
• Linsey’s group reached the scorched village ruins, where Ala Song said he would paint and Eris suggested they look around.
• Linsey activated Decryption Game and began investigating the location it indicated.

Linsey and Eris investigated the ruins and discovered that the apparent village attack was actually an ancient convoy carrying war spoils being destroyed by a red beam. Unable to recover detailed memories from that far back, Eris helped Linsey turn his attention to the culprit and the rapid destruction of the village.

• Linsey searched the ruins while Eris questioned the earth, and Ala Song painted camouflage as he watched the crowded excavation site.
• Linsey combined the clues and uncovered an ancient scene in which a red beam destroyed a convoy and its supplies.
• Linsey used Unveiling the Mystery to learn that the convoy had been carrying spoils of war and was buried there.
• Eris tried to question the earth about events before the village existed but could not recover detailed memories from so far back.
• Linsey shifted the investigation toward the attacker, and Eris said the culprit had destroyed the village in less than two minutes.

Linsey and Eris tracked the village killer to a refugee gathering place and followed his trail underground. They found the site abandoned, and Eris discovered the killer had deliberately concealed his tracks after leaving.

• Linsey deduced that the killer had destroyed the village while searching for an ancient item buried there.
• Eris traced the killer’s movements to a temporary refugee gathering place, and Linsey decided to investigate with him.
• Linsey took Eris underground to travel quickly and told him about his connections to the Messenger Hall.
• Linsey and Eris reached the abandoned gathering place and used Eris’s ability to examine the ground.
• Eris found that the killer had mingled with the refugees before heading south, but his trail suddenly disappeared.

Linsey traced the village murderer’s erased tracks to an ordinary mine tunnel and discovered that the man had headed south, likely toward the Abyss School. With Eris and the parrot’s help, he uncovered a hidden clue revealing that an ancient wizard’s burial and a treasure containing the secret of slaying gods had drawn countless people into a race.

• Linsey identified clues showing that the murderer had used Absolute Darkness to erase his tracks before continuing south.
• Linsey and Eris suspected the murderer was returning to the Abyss School’s headquarters, but lacked enough information to learn his purpose.
• Linsey found that the Decryption Game skill had detected a hidden clue near the mine tunnel, though his search came up short.
• Linsey gave Eris the Decryption Game Module Seed so they could search together.
• The parrot reminded Linsey to examine the items recovered from the village ruins, and combining the shattered stone mortar with the other clues revealed an ancient wizard’s burial and a treasure containing the secret of slaying gods.

Linsey connected the God-Slaying Skill to an ancient war and learned that its creator had been buried in the City of Law. He realized that the To Dark School Awakened who attacked the village ruins had been searching for the hidden grave.

• Linsey recalled finding the God-Slaying Skill in an ancient text beneath Black Mountain World and linked its origin to a conflict predating the Mythological Era.
• Linsey asked Eris about ancient wars, but Eris admitted he knew little about history from before the Mythological Era.
• White recounted the Abyss War and explained that it had learned about the conflict through memories shared by the Wilderness Council of Starhorn City.
• Linsey asked White about the God-Slaying Skill, and White said its creator had died after killing an artificial god made by the Abyss School and had been buried in the City of Law.
• White explained that the burial site was concealed from divination, and Linsey concluded that the To Dark School Awakened had attacked the village ruins to find the grave.

Linsey and Eris investigated why the Abyss School sought the God-Slaying Skill, then set out to find Heart's Edge and lift the City of Law's seal. On their way back to Ala Song, an Awakened engulfed the Yellowstone Wilderness in a personal domain, and Linsey emerged from underground into the transformed world.

• Linsey and Eris concluded that the Abyss School wanted the God-Slaying Skill either to fight the resurrected evil god or to counter the school’s Artificial Gods, and decided to find Heart's Edge and lift the City of Law's seal.
• Linsey messaged Ala Song and Alvitte with his findings and checked on their progress and the refugees.
• Linsey and Eris encountered displaced refugees, and Linsey used his source essence to subdue them before treating the wounded and giving them food.
• Ala Song warned Linsey that the powers of the two major combatants were spreading, and an immense force began transforming the Yellowstone Wilderness.
• Linsey burst out of the ground with Eris and realized that an Awakened had dragged the entire Yellowstone Wilderness into their domain.

Linsey resisted the influence of an Eighth Stage Awakened’s domain and knocked Eris unconscious when the messenger began losing control. He brought Eris and Bai along as he prepared to continue toward the battle, then wondered why Bai remained unaffected by the domain.

• The domain’s laws began influencing Linsey and Eris, but Linsey used his magic tattoos and Willpower Source Material to resist them.
• Bai warned Linsey that Eris could not withstand the law erosion, so Linsey struck Eris with the Ice Badger Mace and knocked him unconscious.
• Linsey checked that Eris was alive, and Bai confirmed that the battle at the domain’s center had reached a critical point.
• Linsey put the unconscious Eris in his shop as a clerk and set out with Bai on his shoulder.
• Linsey asked Bai why he remained conscious and wondered whether the Wilderness Council was involved.

Linsey learned that the Eighth Stage Awakened’s domain seemed to affect humans but not magical beasts, and its world-replacement effect flickered as two abilities clashed. While racing toward the conflict, he was attacked by a Seventh Stage Law Knight and recognized him as Mr. Han Si Ke.

• Linsey warned Ala Song to stay away from Yellowstone Wilderness, and Ala Song confirmed he was safe inside Impression Space.
• Linsey and the parrot concluded that the domain likely targeted humans and that its instability came from two abilities fighting each other.
• Linsey flew across the domain and saw humans heading east under the influence of the ability, prompting him to suspect a connection to religious faith and an evil god.
• A Seventh Stage Law Knight attacked Linsey from below and accused him of being a criminal who had taken refuge with an evil god.
• Linsey drew the Annihilation Blade to meet the Law Knight’s attack, then recognized his opponent as Mr. Han Si Ke.

Linsey and Han Si Ke set aside their fight and investigated Linsey’s Sinner’s Mark, discovering it was an empty shell with no recorded crime. Linsey explained that the City of Law had been sealed by the Thorned Necklace, and Han Si Ke agreed to help find a way through the crisis.

• Han Si Ke hesitated to restrain Linsey, remembering that Linsey had once saved him, and chose to hear him out.
• Linsey told Han Si Ke about his childhood in the City of Law and asked him to remove the Sinner’s Mark.
• Han Si Ke inspected the mark and found it contained no information, concluding that its engraving had been interrupted by an accident in the rules.
• Han Si Ke agreed to work with Linsey to escape the Eighth Stage Awakened’s domain, but Linsey said he needed Heart’s Edge to break the Thorned Necklace’s seal on the City of Law.
• Linsey explained the city’s sealed state and the refugees camped by the river, then asked how Han Si Ke had arrived.
• Han Si Ke said he had come with Lord Ke Saiwei Lait because the Entire Universe faced a great crisis and the City of Law was at its center.

Linsey told Han Si Ke about the revived evil god and the Abyss School, and learned that Ke Saiwei Lait was searching for a God-Slaying Skill. As they approached the battle, Han Si Ke warned that Lord Heart's Edge probably had not deployed the domain, meaning the opposing Eighth Stage fighter held the advantage.

• Linsey told Han Si Ke about the Abyss School and the revived evil god, and Han Si Ke believed his account.
• Han Si Ke explained that Ke Saiwei Lait had separated from him to seek a God-Slaying Skill after sensing danger in the City of Law.
• Han Si Ke described how Ailini had become a powerful merchant and how the Courtyard in the Forest had been stabilized and reconnected with Black Mountain World.
• Han Si Ke told Linsey that Volcano City might send people to bring him there, while Linsey considered whether Ailini and Green Fir could travel to the City of Law.
• As Linsey and Han Si Ke neared the battle, Han Si Ke warned that the domain likely belonged to the opposing Eighth Stage fighter, who had the upper hand.

Linsey watched the revived deity and Adrian, the first Eighth Stage Righteous Walker he had seen, clash in a battle whose scale and power dwarfed anything he could challenge. He and Han Si Ke stood with other Awakened at the battlefield’s edge, observing the fight.

• Linsey recognized that the Eighth Stage battle exceeded his expectations and rejected the little parrot’s offer to flee with Eris.
• Linsey used the Freedom Mark to sense the combatants and identified one as the Only God and the other as Heart's Edge, Adrian.
• Linsey saw the deity unleash countless miracles while Adrian’s unwavering will and sword strikes repeatedly pressured him and disrupted his domain.
• The little parrot told Linsey that the information administrator in the Messenger Hall could monitor the battle despite the City of Law’s protections.
• Han Si Ke pointed out the other Awakened gathered around the battlefield, including Seventh Stage Law Knights.