Chapter Summaries

The Explorer read Arro’s Qi Blood Rampage manual and recognized its underlying training principles, then explained that knight training was connected to Bloodline Side knowledge. The chapter left off as the Explorer began describing how consciousness, Mental Strength, and Magic Power could change the body.

• The Explorer studied Arro’s Qi Blood Rampage manual and deduced that its movements caused muscles to fatigue from the outside inward.
• The Explorer questioned how Arro had written the manual without understanding a Formal Knight’s underlying physical structure, and Arro mistook his deductions for mind-reading.
• The Explorer froze Arro in midair, explained that his All-Seeing Eye analyzed physical reactions rather than thoughts, and restored Arro’s body to its earlier state.
• Arro handed the Explorer the rest of the manual and explained that he had simplified its content from A Book of Knight Secret Technique.
• Arro asked how knight training related to the Bloodline Side, and the Explorer began explaining how consciousness and Magic Power could alter the body.

Explorer explained to Arro why Wizards used bloodlines to combine Magic Power with the body, and outlined the Bloodline Side’s benefits and dangers alongside the Elemental Side. He suggested that Arro’s book might inspire Bloodline Side Wizards to develop a path from the bottom up, but the meaning of that approach remained unexplained.

• Arro questioned why a path that used Mental Strength and Magic Power was called the Bloodline Side, and Explorer explained that ordinary bodies could not merge with Magic Power without an implanted bloodline.
• Explorer explained that Life Element Magic Power could only strengthen a body within its natural limits, while other kinds of Magic Power could exceed those limits but were incompatible with the body.
• Explorer said that exceptional Magic Affinity often came from Demonic Beast bloodlines or Heterogeneous Magic Power contamination, prompting Arro to wonder which applied to Bevan.
• Explorer described the Bloodline Side’s risks to Wizards and their descendants, as well as its high Magic Affinity and bloodline-granted spells.
• Explorer said the Elemental Side imitated elemental creatures and clarified that the knightly path had been explored as a way to avoid the Bloodline Side’s aftereffects.
• Explorer wondered whether Arro’s book could lead Bloodline Side Wizards to find a path from the bottom up, and Arro asked him to explain.

Explorer explained how Bloodline Side cultivation progresses from bloodline to body and why the Knight Breakthrough Potion was a failed attempt to reproduce it. He proposed a reverse path beginning with the body, and Arro explained that path through the stages of “Refining Essence into Qi, Refining Qi into Spirit, Refining Spirit and Returning to Void, Refining Void and Merging with Dao.”

• Explorer described the sequence from bloodline and the Sea of Consciousness through Magic Affinity and mental strength to the body, and Arro identified the Knight's Breathing Technique as a way to train Life Force.
• Explorer revealed that the Knight Breakthrough Potion came from a failed effort to use Demonic Beast bloodlines to control Life Force and reach Magic Affinity.
• Arro reasoned that bloodlines carried core information in the Sea of Consciousness or a higher level, while Explorer compared the potion's creators to people trying to build their own first floor beneath someone else's second floor.
• Explorer reversed the cultivation sequence, proposing a path from body through mental strength, Magic Affinity, and the Sea of Consciousness to bloodline.
• Arro explained the stages as training the body to accumulate Life Element Magic Power, using it to reach mental strength, then altering Magic Affinity and the Sea of Consciousness, and finally refining the result into maturity.

Arro explained his theory of a cultivation path that reversed the wizard’s progression, then named it the Martial Path. He contrasted wizardry’s reliance on gods and borrowed power with martial practitioners’ self-reliance, leaving Explorer to consider Arro’s warning about the dangers of following the Bloodline Side.

• Arro compared Life Force, spirit, void, and Dao to stages in a wizard’s process, while Explorer identified the soul as the level above Mental Strength.
• Explorer told Arro that reaching the soul would complete the new path and allow him to return to wizardry, then briefly noticed a possible issue before dismissing it.
• Explorer asked Arro to name the path, and Arro called it the Martial Path, declaring, “Conform, and be a wizard; defy, and be martial.”
• Arro explained that the gods of his path were Inner Gods, including the bloodline above the Sea of Consciousness, and invoked his grandfather’s Poisonous Snake Theory.
• Arro warned Explorer that pursuing the Inner God could lead to deadly Snake Venom and argued that the Martial Path meant learning for oneself rather than imitating others or becoming a weapon.

Arro listened as the Explorer defended the wizard path, but he rejected its disregard for those who failed to become apprentices and grew more determined to promote the martial path. He hid his convictions, then pressed the Explorer to pay for the finished Qi Blood Rampage book.

• The Explorer argued that wizards could use outside Elemental Spirits to gain power quickly, calling it an example of the Viper Vine Theory.
• Arro privately disagreed, reasoning that the wizard system left failed applicants to face ruin while a martial path could offer ordinary people a more accessible route to strength.
• Arro resolved to promote the martial path, imagining how its arrival might unsettle the world's rulers and bring rivers of blood.
• Arro pretended to agree with the Explorer, then asked him to pay a reasonable price for Qi Blood Rampage.
• The Explorer suggested that his guidance should count as payment, and Arro countered that their discussion had been an exchange while his book was a finished work.

Arro sold his “Qi Blood Rampage” theory to Explorer for fifteen hundred Magic Stones and asked to trade for knowledge about nourishing the soul. Explorer discovered that the soul attached to Arro’s black orb had secretly asked him to refuse.

• Explorer offered Arro fifteen hundred Magic Stones for “Qi Blood Rampage,” and Arro accepted the price.
• Explorer paid Arro and warned him not to lower his guard around strangers.
• Arro asked Explorer about soul-nourishing knowledge and showed him the Soul-Attached Black Orb.
• Explorer recognized that the soul attached to Arro had spoken to him and identified it as Arro’s “Guardian Angel.”

Arro examined the Magic Sea Pendant Explorer had given him and discovered that it greatly accelerated magic recovery and could store a vast amount of magic power. He followed the suddenly unobstructed corridor to a peaceful village where Holly and Bevan appeared to be living inside a possibly illusory scene.

• Arro suspected Explorer might have hidden motives for giving him the pendant, but judged that the stated reason was most likely.
• Arro tested the Magic Sea Pendant and found it could restore his magic power in minutes and store more than ten times his current supply, though rapid recovery caused severe dizziness.
• Arro decided to ask Ian to check the pendant for hidden marks before using it and stored it with his remaining Magic Stones.
• Arro proceeded through the corridor, noticing that the Anomaly Space’s owner had cleared the way and seemed to be inviting him onward.
• Arro reached the edge of a tranquil village and saw Holly running through the fields with Bevan, but suspected that neither of them was awake and wondered whether the scene was an illusion.

Arro confronted the hidden owner of the strange village after realizing Bevan and Holly had been ambushed in the Anomaly Space. The Farmer Young Man revealed a vast swarm of eye monsters and threatened to pull Arro into his world.

• Arro called for the village's hidden owner, then struck the boundary wall with his Flame Longblade and drew out the Farmer Young Man.
• The Farmer Young Man asked how Arro had guessed that the wall, rather than the village, was the right target, and Arro explained his suspicions about the hidden owner's isolation and the monsters.
• The Farmer Young Man confirmed that he had listened to Arro's conversation with Explorer, then threatened to kill him.
• The Farmer Young Man filled the sky with countless eye monsters as Arro raised a vine throne and tried to use Explorer's interest in him as protection.
• The Farmer Young Man transformed his sickle into a Death God's Scythe and declared that he would take Arro into his world instead of killing him.

Arro confronted the Farmer Young Man after his attack failed and tried to determine what the mysterious figure was. By bluffing from what he knew about souls, Arro concluded that the shadow-eye monsters and their chaotic Mental Strength were not souls, and that this place was not the World of Souls.

• Arro’s concealed attack failed, and he revealed himself inside a Black Flame Fire Phoenix.
• The Farmer Young Man hesitated to fight Arro because the Explorer had shown him favor, while Arro weighed how to rescue Holly and Bevan without being captured or putting them at risk.
• Arro asked whether the Farmer Young Man was a spirit body, clone, or form of Mental Strength, and the Farmer Young Man insisted that he was a soul in the World of Souls.
• Arro used what he knew about souls to argue that they were shaped by a body and knowledge, and that a successfully nurtured soul had to be independent.
• Arro declared that the shadow-eye monsters’ chaotic Mental Strength could not be souls and that the place was not the World of Souls.

Arro fought the Farmer Young Man after accusing him of being only an Advanced Apprentice, while the man revealed Formal Wizard-level Mental Pressure and claimed he had perfected his soul through a method like Bloodline Side Limb Suturing. The Farmer Young Man still held Bevan and Holly captive, leaving Arro searching for a way to rescue them.

• Arro provoked the Farmer Young Man by questioning his rank and saying he was not a Formal Wizard.
• The Farmer Young Man gathered the village into his body and struck at Arro, who pierced his giant palm with the Blazing Greatsword and told Bevan to hold Holly.
• The Farmer Young Man revealed that his attack had been a feint and used Bind to immobilize Bevan and assault Arro with Mental Strength.
• Arro broke free by surrounding himself with Abyss Magic Power, but he could not safely reach the immobilized Bevan and Holly.
• The Farmer Young Man displayed a monstrous, eye-covered form and exerted Formal Wizard-level Mental Pressure.
• The Farmer Young Man compared his soul to successful limb grafting, leaving Arro stunned by his claim that rejection could be resolved.

Arrow fought the giant in the Soul World after learning that the giant had created it by stitching together souls, and he used the fourth level of his Magic Strike Technique to break through the giant’s rock prisons. He rescued Bevan and a newly conscious Holly, but Holly did not understand that she needed to wake up and return to her body.

• The giant explained that his Soul Embedding Technique had formed the Soul World from Shadow Soul Eater souls, making him its master and god.
• Arrow secretly prepared the Horse Rope Knot, then launched a Black Flame Fire Phoenix attack against the giant.
• Arrow noticed that the giant’s rock sphere formed outward from him, identified its front as the weakest point, and broke through the prison spheres with Black Flame Phoenix Dance.
• Arrow landed beside Bevan and Holly and raised a Flame Wall to block the giant’s pressure.
• Bevan spoke from the bundle on Arrow’s back, and Holly woke inside the Soul World, but she was confused when Arrow urged her to wake up.

Arrow tried to negotiate with the giant after rescuing Bevan and Holly, offering compensation for the damage they had caused. The giant rejected the offer and unleashed a storm, forcing Arrow to spend his remaining Gold Coins to power the Black Flame Fire Phoenix and counterattack.

• Arrow argued that neither side would benefit from continuing to fight and offered the giant Qi Blood Rampage as compensation.
• The giant accused Arrow of using Bevan as bait to investigate the space, and Arrow stopped Bevan from trying to explain.
• Arrow offered an additional hundred Magic Stones, but the giant said he could keep Arrow and take everything instead.
• The giant conjured violent winds, lightning, freezing rain, ice blades, and a mudslide against Arrow and the others.
• Arrow burned his remaining Gold Coins to enlarge the Black Flame Fire Phoenix, which absorbed the storm and spread black flames across the area.
• Arrow ordered the phoenix to attack the giant with a massive blob of fire.

Holly awoke in the Underground Base after Arrow told her she had been poisoned, while he explained to Bevan that her symptoms came from her Consciousness Body returning to her body. Arrow suspected the giant monster had survived his attack, so he searched for another entrance to the Anomaly Space and prepared to pursue it.

• Holly woke in the Underground Base and learned from Arrow that poisonous vapor had caused her and the others to hallucinate.
• Arrow told Bevan that Holly's cold hands and dizziness were aftereffects of her Consciousness Body being away from her body for too long.
• Arrow revealed that he was searching for another entrance to the Anomaly Space because he did not believe the giant monster was dead.
• Arrow examined his Experience Points and concluded that the monster might still be alive, then resolved to use his mobility to attack it while it was vulnerable.

Arro questioned Bevan about the Anomaly Space and learned that Poison Salt Ore may have triggered it. After testing the ore’s vapor himself, Arro found no portal but concluded that its effects could explain what happened.

• Arro reassured Bevan and asked what he had felt before the Anomaly Space appeared.
• Bevan explained that he had experienced similar dizziness around Poison Salt Ore and described seeing Holly collapse and wander outside in a daze.
• Arro sent Bevan out and heated Poison Salt Ore in the laboratory while wearing his Magic Phoenix Golden Armor.
• Arro inhaled the vapor until his body felt numb and his consciousness sharpened, but the Anomaly Space did not appear.
• Bevan came back to check on Arro, who became unsteady and said the potent ore might have caused the Anomaly Space.

Arro identified the Poison Salt Ores’ main toxin as lead and concluded that Bevan was the key to the Anomaly Space’s appearance. Bevan’s fear then triggered a disturbing collapse in his awareness, which Arro interrupted by grounding him and giving him water.

• Arro told Bevan that the Poison Salt Ores likely contained lead and explained that magic power needed a material host to affect the real world.
• Bevan questioned how lead could be poisonous when people used it in weapons, buildings, cosmetics, cups, ink, and food, and Arro described its short-term effects and serious consequences.
• Arro combined his observations of the ore, Bevan’s symptoms, and the Anomaly Space’s manifestation to conclude that Bevan was its key factor.
• Bevan asked whether the enormous venomous snake he had dreamed of was real, and Arro said it might have been an Anomaly Space.
• Bevan became overwhelmed by dread and felt his consciousness falling into an abyss, so Arro patted his shoulder and handed him water.

Arro comforted the shaken Bevan and sent him to sleep rather than risk another experiment with lead poison. After recovering some Magic Power, Arro decided to use his spare Skill Point to promote martial arts by creating a major news story.

• Bevan drank water and told Arro he wanted to repeat the experiment, but Arro explained that exhaustion would make it dangerous and unproductive.
• Arro told Bevan to sleep in his bedroom while he stayed up to watch over him, and Bevan quickly fell asleep.
• After recovering his Fire Element Magic Power, Arro reviewed his two Skill Points and reserved one for Summon Treant Guard and Magic Strike Technique.
• Arro decided to spend his remaining Skill Point on promoting martial arts and concluded that he needed to create a major news story.

Arro sought to create a martial art that freemen could use immediately and Formal Knights would also find useful. He settled on a short-lived burst of strength modeled on Demonic Heaven Disintegration, but still needed to discover how to trigger it simply through Life Force and external stimulation.

• Arro identified freemen and Formal Knights as the groups he wanted to reach and considered their different needs.
• Arro concluded that freemen needed an easy-to-use technique that granted power quickly without requiring long-term cultivation.
• Arro developed Demonic Heaven Disintegration as a concept, combining self-hypnosis with Life Force stimulation to trigger adrenaline release.
• Arro decided that a simple method resembling acupuncture might let freemen activate the technique without training in precise acupoints.
• Arro concluded that he first needed to learn how Life Force could stimulate the kidneys and adrenal medulla before finding places that could be struck to produce a similar effect.

Arro developed the idea of “inner power,” a way to use Life Force to strengthen the organs and blood vessels so a person could unleash brief bursts of strength without a Formal Knight’s bulk. Unable to solve full bodily restoration, he turned to strengthening the body’s natural recovery system, leaving the concept as a direction for further work.

• Arro decided to keep the idea of using the body’s functions to boost combat strength and proposed strengthening internal organs for short, powerful bursts.
• Arro reasoned that this lighter physique could combine the explosive strength needed to challenge a Formal Knight with greater agility and endurance.
• Arro identified damage to the cardiovascular system and internal organs as the main danger of an adrenaline burst and wrote down the need to strengthen their resilience.
• Arro rejected strengthening only the heart because it could make other organs fail faster during an extreme burst.
• Arro considered using Life Magic Power and duplicated bodily data to restore the body, but concluded that this was beyond his current abilities.
• Arro decided to investigate strengthening the body’s existing recovery system so it could clear adrenaline after a brief burst.

Arrow considered how to strengthen his body's ability to eliminate adrenaline and decided to investigate the organs beneath the lower dantian, but postponed the examination to stay with Bevan. The next morning, Arrow and Bevan went to check on Holly before their second experiment, and Arrow found she had a fever and ordered her to rest away from the laboratory.

• Arrow rejected strengthening the body's adrenaline-degrading enzymes and considered using the lower dantian as a place to store Life Force.
• Arrow decided to examine the abdominal organs of a Werewolf or Demonic Sprite, but stayed with Bevan and postponed the dissection until after their tests.
• The next morning, Arrow and Bevan went to Holly's room to warn her before attempting their second experiment.
• Arrow found Holly feverish after she had lain on the icy floor and gave her a potion for common illnesses.
• Holly said she felt better and offered to help purify Poison Salt, but Arrow forbade her from approaching the laboratory and said Bard would watch over her.

Arro stopped Bevan’s attempt to communicate with an Anomaly Space after confirming it had failed, then learned that Deputy Butler Dylan had secretly sent most of the Earl’s grain supply from Baron Peyran’s Territory. After discovering the shipment was a one-time purchase, Arro decided to let the matter go and returned Bevan to work.

• Arro ended the poisonous-salt experiment, cleared the toxic fumes, and told Bevan that his chance to communicate with an Anomaly Space had already passed.
• Bevan told Arro that Deputy Butler Dylan had transported most of the grain bought for the Earl’s territory from Baron Peyran’s Territory and helped conceal the escape route from refugees.
• Arro considered the political and logistical consequences of the Earl’s territory sending refugees to the Lix Viscount Territory, then chose not to involve himself.
• Bevan said the shipment had been worth three hundred Gold Coins and happened only once, after which Dylan lowered the price he paid for the Viscount Territory’s grain.
• Arro decided the incident was not serious enough to pursue and told Bevan to help finish processing the poisonous salt.