Chapter Summaries

Arrow proposed borrowing Claire’s name to spread martial arts among the idle soldiers in Rimania City, hoping to satisfy their desire for power and status and create a basis for conflict with the nobles. He laid out a false fortuitous encounter for Claire and explained why martial arts could spread where the Knight’s Breathing Technique could not, leaving Claire puzzled by their different styles.

• Arrow suggested targeting the soldiers in Rimania City rather than the Southern Faction’s nobles directly.
• Arrow asked to borrow Claire’s name and handed him the Swallow Character Technique, Blood Character Technique, and Acupoint Striking manuals.
• Arrow told Claire to claim he had discovered a dead master’s hidden residence in the Vashi Mountains after pursuing monsters near Peran Manor.
• Arrow explained that Claire should become a Great Hero by publicizing the martial arts among soldiers, first gaining fame through a clash with army scouts.
• Arrow said martial arts were easier and cheaper to learn than the Knight’s Breathing Technique, and that their different style could help inspire conflict between soldiers and nobles.

Lord Arrow urged Claire to spread martial arts by turning conflict between martial artists and Formal Knights into a means of freeing soldiers from the empire’s control. Claire hesitated over abandoning his knightly identity, but Bevan’s books caught his attention, and Lord Arrow asked what a Great Knight was.

• Claire questioned whether different martial styles could cause conflict, and Lord Arrow explained that deliberate provocation could make the opposition inevitable.
• Claire realized he might have to abandon his identity as a Formal Knight and lead martial artists against other knights, but Lord Arrow argued that Scarborough Earldom needed a way to survive.
• Bevan arrived with wine, noticed the books, and learned that Lord Arrow intended for Claire to study the Eight Extremes Method.
• Lord Arrow told Claire that Bevan could learn the method from his father and stressed that Claire could refuse because the war was not his.
• Bevan praised the books he had helped condense and revise, saying they might help Claire become a Great Knight.
• Lord Arrow asked Claire what a Great Knight was.

Claire explained the abilities and requirements of a Great Knight, revealing that Great Knights could train others to become Formal Knights and were also called Knight Commanders. He admitted that he had once hoped to become one but failed, including during the disaster at Peran Castle.

• Claire explained that Great Knights could perceive Life Force more clearly and gain strength and longevity without exceeding their bodies’ innate limits.
• Claire said Great Knights were also called Knight Commanders because they could help others become Formal Knights.
• Claire described the conditions for becoming a Great Knight, and Arro connected them to Claire’s absence from his family while he pursued that goal.
• Bevan reconsidered his resentment toward Claire but remained troubled by the hardship he and his mother had endured.
• Claire admitted that he had grown decadent, missed the best age, and failed to become a Great Knight when disaster struck Peran Castle.

Arrow suspected that the Fernando Wizard Family had engineered past events to recruit Claire and might still be trying to win him over. Claire agreed to pursue Arrow’s training plan but insisted on involving Countess Ilinda, while Arrow left for the academy with Bevan and wondered how much Bevan knew about the disaster.

• Arrow connected the Fernando Wizard Family to the Demon Hunter Academy incident and the disaster in Peran Territory, and suspected both had been trials meant to recruit Claire.
• Claire assessed the Eight Extremes Method and Acupoint Striking manual, then agreed that Arrow’s plan was feasible and said he would seek Countess Ilinda’s approval.
• Arrow urged Claire to keep the plan from the countess, but Claire firmly refused to conceal it from her; Arrow then returned to the academy.
• Claire admitted to Bevan that his past failure might have left him unable to act decisively and told him to catch up with Arrow.
• On the carriage ride, Arrow confronted Bevan for watching him, then wondered whether Bevan knew or suspected the truth about the disaster and the Fernando Wizard Family’s plans.

Arro began writing a heroic biography of Claire to shape public opinion, while Bevan read and questioned the invented details. Arro developed a story about Claire’s fall into a deep valley and a hidden treasure, then left the fictional Claire searching for a way out.

• Arro asked Bevan whether he wanted his father to become a living hero and proposed writing Claire’s future biography.
• Arro showed Bevan a fictional opening in which Claire had no Life Force and was mocked, and Bevan pointed out that it did not match his father’s history.
• Arro explained that the altered story was propaganda intended to influence soldiers and asked Bevan to revise it later to fit local customs.
• Arro planned to place Claire’s fictional fortuitous encounter near the Saint Fernando Empire’s military camp rather than in the valley near Peran Manor.
• In Arro’s story, Claire crawled from an icy pool at the bottom of a deep valley and headed deeper toward the Vasi Mountain Range in search of a way out.

Arro and Bevan discussed why wizards were often seen as evil and why knights were portrayed more positively. Bevan’s question made Arro realize that spreading martial arts could weaken social order, so Arro began searching for a way to instill reverence and keep martial arts from being demonized.

• Arro explained that wizards often lacked reverence and could abuse their power when they faced no punishment.
• Bevan asked why knights seemed less evil, and Arro said knights depended on armor and lived more within orderly environments.
• Bevan pointed out that martial arts could let people act without the constraints knights faced, prompting Arro to reconsider spreading them.
• Arro decided the Vashi Mountains could serve as a testing ground, since its wizard forces were relatively weak.
• Arro considered the Mohist ideas of Will of Heaven and Understanding Ghosts as ways to strengthen people’s reverence.

Arro developed a martial arts creed of punishing evil and acting on behalf of Heaven, along with the threat of an Inner Demon for practitioners who used martial arts for evil. After Bevan warned that tying Inner Demons to all martial arts could deter learners and give enemies propaganda, Arro realized that striking methods should require their corresponding Training Methods, and decided to create several matched martial arts sets.

• Arro condensed his communal creed into a slogan about punishing evil, promoting good, and acting on behalf of Heaven, and devised Inner Demons as an unknown threat to deter martial artists from wrongdoing.
• Claire found a carved stone shard while searching for a way to cut a fish; its inscriptions praised martial arts and warned that using them for evil would raise an Inner Demon.
• Arro planned to use the stone shard to lead Claire toward a wilderness exile who had left behind martial arts teachings and ideals.
• Bevan cautioned Arro that linking Inner Demons to martial arts could scare away learners and let Formal Knights portray all martial artists as madmen.
• Arro rejected separating striking methods from Training Methods after realizing nobles could take the techniques without adopting his broader plan.
• Bevan proposed making each striking method dependent on its matching Training Method, and Arro decided to create several paired martial arts sets with varying risks of Qi Deviation.

Arro designed the Heaven Mending Technique around the Martial Dao True Meaning that good and evil receive their just rewards, using open-mindedness in the face of danger as its emotional foundation. He settled on acupuncture, medicine, and poison as its methods, and planned to incorporate its True Meaning into the Eight Extremes Method’s Body Character Technique.

• Arro considered how to make a Peak Martial Art’s Martial Dao True Meaning govern its practice, and rejected an emotional mechanism that might reward evil deeds.
• Arro chose open-mindedness, paired with instinctive awareness of danger, to express the principle that he would uphold good and punish evil despite opposition.
• Arro named the art the Heaven Mending Technique and defined its True Meaning as mending Heaven’s Heart with his own.
• Arro made acupuncture the means of rewarding good through health, and of punishing wrongdoers with immobilization, pain, or maiming.
• Arro assigned poison to the technique’s methods for confronting multiple death-row criminals and limited its scope to the Body Character Technique, medicine, and poison.
• Arro decided the Heaven Mending Technique’s Martial Dao True Meaning would be incorporated into the Eight Extremes Method’s Body Character Technique.

Arro designed a range of ordinary martial arts that could prepare people to cultivate divine techniques, but worried that he lacked the Skill Points to complete his plans. After Bevan praised the fictional Heaven Mending Elder, Arro urged him to help spread the Elder’s ideals until someone like him truly appeared.

• Arro devised ordinary martial arts that used Life Force and acupoints to strengthen the body, while remaining compatible with later cultivation of divine techniques.
• Arro calculated that he needed six Skill Points to unlock the remaining character techniques and Heaven Mending Technique, but he had only one and faced a long, expensive grind for more experience.
• Bevan finished reading Arro’s story and praised the fictional Heaven Mending Elder, wishing that such a person had existed in reality.
• Arro asked Bevan whether he wanted the Elder’s lofty ideals to have come from a pure and untainted person, and reassured him that longing for such ideals was human.
• Arro told Bevan that they should give the Elder more followers and spread his ideals until he truly appeared in the world.

Arro considered spending a Skill Point on the Heaven Mending Technique but remained torn because he wanted to save enough points to learn Summon Treant Guard and repay Treant Granny. After returning to Cat Faction Academy, he told Bevan he wanted to establish a Martial Arts Holy Land to spread the Eight Extremes Method as a control group alongside the Heaven Mending Technique.

• Arro weighed using his saved Skill Point on the Heaven Mending Technique against saving points for Summon Treant Guard and his promise to Treant Granny.
• Arro returned with Bevan to Cat Faction Academy and found that classes had begun and nearby families were asking about admission.
• Arro visited the Teaching Building but found the teachers diligent and gained no opportunity to challenge anyone for Experience Points.
• Arro told Bevan that the academy would train workers for the Underground Base and that he wanted Bevan to lead a group establishing a Martial Arts Holy Land.
• Bevan questioned why Arro would spread the Eight Extremes Method when the Heaven Mending Technique could guide people toward goodness.
• Arro explained that the Eight Extremes Method was stable and that spreading it would provide a control group for observing martial arts' effects.

Arrow explained Bevan’s role in observing and documenting martial arts in the Outside World, then recruited Demon Hunter Anabe to lead a planned Martial Arts Holy Land. Anabe remained hesitant about the position, and Arrow left him a catalog of the martial arts the sect would teach.

• Arrow asked Bevan to observe the Outside World’s martial arts and teach only unmodified techniques at the Martial Arts Holy Land, and Bevan agreed.
• Arrow brought Bevan to meet Demon Hunter Anabe and proposed that he become the Martial Arts Holy Land’s Sect Master.
• Arrow described the sect as a secluded place that would accept willing outer disciples, reserve core discipleship for stable students, and leave Bevan to teach martial arts.
• Anabe questioned why the academy could not serve the same purpose, and Arrow explained that it would promote the Holy Land while advanced training remained in the mountains.
• Anabe said he would consider the offer, and Arrow gave him a martial arts catalog before leaving.

Anabe read Arrow’s Martial Arts Catalog and realized its methods could let Demon Hunters cultivate martial arts, possibly using magic power in place of life force. He accepted the prospect of becoming Sect Master of the Martial Arts Holy Land, while Arrow admitted to Bevan that he had included the magic-power method and would learn from the Demon Hunters if it worked.

• Bevan worried that Anabe might refuse, but Arrow said the Martial Arts Catalog would change his mind.
• Anabe studied the Blood Character Technique and recognized that magic power might replace life force, overcoming the limit that had stalled his Qi Blood Rampage training.
• Anabe read about the Swallow Character Technique, other character techniques, and dozens of ordinary martial arts, all based on dantian, acupoints, and meridians.
• Anabe realized Arrow expected him to verify the techniques and become Sect Master, and he considered using the martial arts disciples to support Demon Hunters.
• Bevan questioned Arrow about the magic-power method, and Arrow denied telling Anabe to experiment while acknowledging that he and Bevan could learn from the Demon Hunters if it succeeded.

Arro explained to Bevan why his dealings with Anabe differed from the Earl's territory's secret actions, reassuring him that the Martial Arts Holy Land would offer people a fair choice and clear terms. Bevan accepted Arro's reasoning and asked how the Holy Land should guide its members' values, then considered collecting Arro's sayings into a book.

• Bevan questioned whether Arro's indirect approach to Anabe repeated the Earl's territory's secretive treatment of Arro.
• Arro explained that the Earl's actions had exploited and endangered him, while he had laid out the benefits and terms of martial arts openly for Anabe to consider.
• Arro told Bevan that people could refuse to learn martial arts and that Anabe's role as Sect Master came with reasonable benefits and authority.
• Bevan accepted Arro's explanation and grew more respectful of his teacher.
• Bevan asked how the Martial Arts Holy Land should guide members' values, and Arro suggested asking Anabe and the Demon Hunters for help.
• Bevan wondered whether he should collect Arro's incisive sayings into a book instead of relying on cumbersome religious rules.

Arro began building a magic-powered game console to lay the groundwork for a computer, using logic gates instead of intelligent magic to process information. He worked out how to construct basic gates but was left wondering whether the system could help him design a CPU.

• Arro repaired several combat treasures and installed the Alchemy Tables at the academy.
• Arro began making a monochrome game-console display using a Small Warning Magic Array and magic-reactive algae.
• Arro chose Pure Logic to build the console’s graphics-processing structure and explored using magic power or Magic Stones to represent binary data.
• Arro worked out how parallel and series switches could form OR and AND gates, then combined gates to create an XOR gate.
• Arro realized he lacked a plan for constructing a CPU and wondered if the system could deduce one for him.

Arrow devised a martial art called Go Sword Technique that would use a CPU in the dantian to calculate responses, though he postponed developing it because he lacked Skill Points and time. He then met Claire and arranged for him to train at the Underground Base while reviewing a manuscript about his life.

• Arrow considered how to build a CPU into a martial art, settling on logic gates in the dantian and a hand that could serve as an input terminal.
• Arrow recognized that the technique still needed more thought and set aside its development until he had more time and Skill Points.
• Arrow met Claire, who had returned after being dismissed from his post, and told him to rest before training at the Underground Base the next day.
• Arrow explained that the story about Claire going to the Poison Salt Ore mine in Peran Territory would be a cover for his disappearance.
• Arrow asked Bevan to give Claire the manuscript titled "Claire's Autobiography" and told Claire to check its details and mark any problems.

Arro used Life Force to begin opening his dantian with the Eight Extremes Method, sensing it gather and spread through his meridians as the dantian began to take shape. Meanwhile, Claire read the opening of Claire's Autobiography and was overwhelmed by embarrassment at the protagonist's description.

• Arro chose Life Force rather than Magic Power for opening his dantian because it allowed room for later adjustment.
• Arro followed the Eight Extremes Method's detailed Horse Stance and focused his attention on his dantian.
• Arro sensed Life Force nourish his meridians and flow into his dantian, which began to form.
• Claire read Claire's Autobiography and cringed at the description of a test showing that the protagonist had no Life Force.
• Claire shut the book, paced until his embarrassment faded, and returned to his desk wearing a blank expression.

Claire read a book about a version of himself who endured hardship and pursued justice, becoming absorbed in the Heaven Mending Elder’s teachings on martial arts and the Martial Dao True Meaning. The next day, Arrow found Claire still awake in his room, weary but bright-eyed.

• Claire read about the Heaven Mending Elder’s belief that he must bring retribution to evil and murmured, “Wherever the Dao leads, though ten million stand against me, I shall still go.”
• Claire read the Heaven Mending Elder’s account of creating thirty-six gates of martial arts and the Heaven Mending Technique, whose true meaning could bring progress or cause Qi Deviation if violated.
• Arrow woke late and found Bevan studying the Shanzhong Acupoint, then told him to keep carefully reviewing the Three Acupoints needed to open the dantian.
• Arrow asked Bevan to accompany him to check on Claire, whose room still showed faint candlelight despite the noon sun.
• Claire opened the door to Arrow, looking tired but with exceptionally bright eyes.

Claire resolved to abandon the Eight Extremes Method and inherit the Heaven Mending Elder’s legacy by cultivating the Heaven Mending Technique. Arrow hesitated over whether to allow it, and Claire asked him for one chance.

• Arrow found Claire reading through the night and heard him praise the Heaven Mending Elder and the ideals behind the Heaven Mending Technique.
• Claire argued that a martial art’s Martial Dao True Meaning gave it purpose and could make the Heaven Mending Technique stronger than the Eight Extremes Method.
• Arrow reflected on Claire’s reasoning while Bevan wrote down his words in a notebook.
• Claire said he would give up the Eight Extremes Method, and Arrow warned him about the Heaven Mending Technique’s restrictions and the risk of losing faith in its Martial Dao True Meaning.
• Claire insisted that completing the Heaven Mending Elder’s failed undertaking would let him remain open-minded, then asked Arrow to let him try because he was already a Formal Knight.

Claire asked to visit the valley floor at Peran Manor and follow the route described in his autobiography, using the story as a way to deepen his understanding of Heaven Mending True Meaning. Arrow considered the plan’s value and the difficulty of deducing the Heaven Mending Technique, while Claire vowed to pursue it if Arrow could not.

• Arrow explained that the Eight Extremes Method was incomplete and told Claire to learn its Swallow Character Technique and Blood Character Technique first.
• Claire revealed that he had already opened his dantian with help from his Life Force Seed, surprising Bevan and prompting Arrow to praise his ability.
• Claire asked to go to Peran Manor and walk the route in Claire's Autobiography, saying that doing so would turn the story into a prophecy.
• Arrow realized Claire wanted to cultivate truth by borrowing falsehood and said the journey could strengthen belief in the Heaven Mending Elder and help spread martial arts.
• Claire offered to carve the stone tablets himself and vowed to spend his life deducing the Heaven Mending Technique if Arrow could not perfect it.

Arrow, Claire, and Bevan traveled to the canyon site described in Arrow’s prophecy and used a modified spell to descend into the pool below. There, Claire reacted to the carved rock wall as though awakening to the Heaven Mending inheritance, and Arrow received a task to protect him.

• Arrow agreed to accompany Claire to the canyon, and Bevan joined them.
• Arrow explained why the Poison Salt Ore mine was the most plausible location for the prophesied fall and described how a person might survive the descent.
• At the canyon edge, Arrow used a modified Feather Fall Spell to carry Claire and Bevan down to the pool.
• After reaching the shore, Claire stared at the carved rock wall and appeared despondent, while Arrow received the Heaven Mending Last Wish task.
• Claire claimed he had been trying to understand the feelings of the character in Arrow’s book, and Arrow nodded while suppressing his excitement.