Chapter Summaries

Lin Qin was tracked down in the northern Gobi by the Radiant Church, whose Six Four-Winged Angels trapped him in an Angel Battle Formation and attacked. He narrowly dodged their first strike, but they followed with a storm of holy blades that left him surrounded by a deadly cage.

• Steller confirmed Lin Qin’s location through the Holy Eye arrays and ordered a Purifier squad to activate the Divine Chain protocol.
• Lin Qin sensed he was being watched, identified the Radiant Church pursuers, and called them out.
• Six Four-Winged Angels appeared, confirmed Lin Qin as an Earth Walker, and formed a hexagram that restrained him.
• The angels unleashed a massive pillar of holy light, but Lin Qin used earth power to evade its strongest impact.
• The angels rotated their formation and sent countless blades of holy light toward Lin Qin, enclosing him in a three-dimensional cage.

Lin Qin fought the six Four-Winged Angels and broke their Angel Battle Formation with his earth-element powers. He then killed all six angels, leaving the battlefield silent.

• Lin Qin used the Thick Earth Seal to withstand the formation's holy sword barrage while probing its defenses with Shockwave Fingers.
• Lin Qin realized the formation shared the force of his attacks and decided to end the battle before his Saint Power ran out.
• Lin Qin unleashed Earth's veins... shatter!, striking vulnerable formation nodes with rock pillars and crushing the formation's core with the Thick Earth Seal.
• The Hexagram Battle Formation broke apart, leaving all six Four-Winged Angels gravely weakened by its backlash.
• Lin Qin killed three angels with his sword, then used Earth Bind to trap and impale the remaining three.

Lin Qin was pursued into the mountains by Marcus while badly wounded, but he found the legendary Heart of the Earth and recovered beyond his former peak. He killed Marcus and left to master the stone, vowing to settle his score with the Radiant Church.

• Marcus ambushed Lin Qin in the mountains and drove him into a hidden cave while pursuing him with repeated spear attacks.
• Lin Qin found the Heart of the Earth beneath the cave floor, and its vitality healed his injuries and restored his Saint Power.
• Marcus attacked the cave, but Lin Qin released a powerful earthen force that shattered Marcus's assault and armor.
• Lin Qin killed Marcus with Earth Vein Rupture, using the power of the mountain's earth veins.
• Lin Qin took Marcus's Space Ring and vanished into the mountains to refine the Heart of the Earth.

After stabilizing his Earth Saint Power with the Heart of the Earth, Lin Qin sought dragon blood to awaken the Dragonblood Warrior and subdued the Golden Holy Dragon Pallas. Pallas became his contracted servant and carried him to the Magic Beast Mountain Range.

• Lin Qin gathered information about the Golden Dragon Clan and chose Pallas, a peak Saint Realm Golden Holy Dragon, as his target.
• Lin Qin entered dragon territory and fought Pallas, effortlessly resisting its attacks and overpowering it with his earth-based abilities.
• Pallas tried to flee, but Lin Qin trapped it and demanded that it sign a Master-Servant Contract or die.
• Pallas submitted, and Lin Qin bound it with the contract, placing its life and death in his hands.
• Lin Qin ordered Pallas to take him to Mist Valley, and they reached the depths of the Magic Beast Mountain Range within a few days.

Lin Qin entered a mist-shrouded valley to gather Blue Heart Grass and fought a Saint Realm Chimera guarding the nearby Vermilion Fruit. He left the fruit behind and departed with Pallas to awaken his Dragonblood Warrior bloodline.

• Lin Qin ordered Pallas to guard the valley entrance while he followed Linley's clues upstream through the mist.
• Lin Qin harvested Blue Heart Grass near an underground river and discovered a Chimera guarding a nearly ripe Vermilion Fruit.
• Lin Qin fought the Chimera, deflecting its poison and flames before defeating it with a powerful sword strike.
• Lin Qin left the wounded Chimera and Vermilion Fruit behind, explaining that he only wanted the Blue Heart Grass.
• Lin Qin returned to Pallas and asked him to find a quiet place so he could prepare to awaken his bloodline.

Lin Qin used Pallas’s blood and Blue Heart Grass to awaken his Dragonblood Warrior power in a secluded gorge. After his successful transformation, he set out to confront the Radiant Church in the Theocracy.

• Lin Qin took Pallas to a hidden gorge and prepared for the bloodline awakening with Blue Heart Grass and his Saint Power.
• Pallas drew its own blood, and Lin Qin drank the Golden Holy Dragon’s heart blood.
• Lin Qin endured the violent dragon blood energy as the Blue Heart Grass protected his core and awakened his dormant Baruch Clan bloodline.
• After three hours, Lin Qin completed his transformation and demonstrated his increased physical strength and dark-golden dragon scales.
• Lin Qin announced that he would visit the Radiant Church and ordered Pallas to leave with him.

Lin Qin and Pallas raided Dark Church and Radiant Church outposts across the Chaos Territory, seeking the forces behind their operations. Lin Qin learned of a Dark Church figure called “Black Hand” and a legendary artifact that could purify all darkness, then continued toward the next target.

• Lin Qin and Pallas destroyed a Radiant Church outpost, leaving no survivors.
• Lin Qin and Pallas attacked a Dark Church laboratory, where Lin Qin rescued captives with an antidote and learned that a bishop called “Black Hand” had ordered the experiments.
• Lin Qin and Pallas raided a hidden Radiant Church base, and a cardinal revealed that the church was searching for a legendary artifact that could purify all darkness.
• Lin Qin and Pallas continued clearing outposts throughout the Chaos Territory, spreading fear of the Dragon Knight.

After a month of false leads, Lin Qin learned that Theocracy members sometimes attended auctions in Shadow Valley. He drew Inquisition deputy judge Malcolm into a confrontation over an ancient scroll, and the battle was about to begin.

• Lin Qin infiltrated a manor, a blacksmith's shop, a monastery, and a cargo ship, but found no useful evidence of the Theocracy.
• After seven leads failed or proved dangerous, Lin Qin decided to stop chasing clues and seek the Theocracy's upper ranks directly.
• An information broker told Lin Qin about an auction in Shadow Valley and revealed that his son had died in a Theocracy laboratory.
• Lin Qin captured a merchant attending the auction, learned that Malcolm and several priests would be there, and entered in disguise.
• Lin Qin outbid Malcolm for an ancient scroll, then revealed himself when Malcolm and his followers confronted him outside Shadow Valley.

Lin Qin captured information from Malcolm, then led a campaign to destroy the Theocracy’s outposts in the Chaos Territory. He returned to Dragon Rock Stronghold to find it growing, and ordered its residents to intensify their training in preparation for retaliation.

• Lin Qin used his Gravity Field to stop Malcolm and the fleeing priests, killed them, and searched Malcolm’s memories for information about the Theocracy.
• Lin Qin learned that the Chief Judge was stationed on the Holy Island and that Theocracy outposts operated throughout the Chaos Territory, so he returned to Dragon Rock Stronghold with Pallas.
• Lin Qin infiltrated the disguised trading company in Blackwater City, searched its workers’ memories, seized its supplies, and burned the warehouse.
• Lin Qin and Pallas destroyed more Theocracy outposts over the next month, driving the remaining forces underground.
• Lin Qin returned to Dragon Rock Stronghold, learned from Old Jack that more people had joined, and ordered the residents to step up their training.

Lin Qin traveled to South Mouth in Chaos Territory to buy iron and magic scrolls through a black-market contact. After defeating a bandit ambush at the pickup site, he learned the shipment had been betrayed by Scarface and left the traitor’s punishment to Old Cat.

• Lin Qin used Malcolm’s information to reach the black market and arranged to buy fine iron and magic scrolls from Old Cat’s contact.
• Lin Qin bought a short sword and heard that strongholds nearby had fought over water and that the Radiant Church’s outpost had been wiped out.
• Lin Qin met Old Cat at an abandoned mine to collect the goods, but Black Wind Stronghold attacked the shipment.
• Lin Qin killed the bandits and forced One-Eyed Dragon to reveal that Scarface had informed on the shipment.
• Lin Qin took the goods and told Pallas to let Old Cat handle Scarface.

Lin Qin trained new recruits at Dragon Rock Stronghold, then led a force to capture Black Wind City and establish his power in the southern Chaos Territory. He left Barton imprisoned and crippled, while inviting the Crimson Flame Alliance to challenge him.

• Lin Qin made the recruits train by carrying boulders, then accepted Hosen and his twenty-three men on the condition that they obey his orders and train from scratch.
• Ten days later, Lin Qin led Hosen's men and five top trainees to Black Wind City, using a diversion at the East Gate while he seized the West Gate.
• Lin Qin captured Barton after defeating his guards, breaking Barton's hand, and disabling his Battle Qi; Barton was imprisoned rather than killed.
• Hosen's forces took the East Gate, and Dragon Rock Stronghold's banner replaced the old one over Black Wind City by daybreak.
• Lin Qin ordered the city's taxes reduced by thirty percent and warned the three families against colluding with outside enemies.
• Lin Qin told Hosen to let the Crimson Flame Alliance come, as Dragon Rock Stronghold established its rule over Black Wind City.

Lin Qin organized Black Wind City, strengthened its defenses, and turned away the Crimson Flame Alliance's demand for submission while building up Dragon Rock Stronghold's forces and administration. A month later, Pallas detected more than a thousand Alliance troops, including three early Saint Realm fighters, approaching from the north, and Lin Qin ordered the entire army to assemble.

• Lin Qin trained and reorganized the soldiers, while Old Jack reported tax cuts and cleanup efforts in the poor district.
• Lin Qin punished Qian for hoarding grain and stirring a merchant protest, then sent Hosen and Ke'er to defeat raiders from the Grey Wolf and Vulture strongholds.
• Lin Qin rejected the Crimson Flame Alliance envoy's demand for tribute and obedience, then ordered stronger defenses and constant scouting.
• Lin Qin established the War Hall under Hosen, the Internal Affairs Hall under Old Jack, and the Punishment Hall under Ke'er, while recruiting Feren and Aiven to repair defenses and establish an infirmary.
• Lin Qin improved the city's blacksmith shop and accepted new recruits as Black Wind City gradually recovered.
• Pallas warned Lin Qin that more than a thousand Crimson Flame Alliance troops, including three early Saint Realm fighters, were approaching, and Lin Qin ordered the entire army to assemble.

Lin Qin defeated the three Saint Realm leaders of the Crimson Flame Alliance and forced its army to surrender. He spared Soros, Murphy, and Bader in exchange for their submission and ordered Hosen to oversee the prisoners and spoils.

• Lin Qin left Black Wind City's wall and challenged Soros, Murphy, and Bader to attack him together.
• Bader charged Lin Qin, but Lin Qin disarmed and gravely wounded him with one punch.
• Soros and Murphy attacked together, but Lin Qin suppressed their laws, destroyed Soros's Flame Spear, and defeated Murphy.
• Lin Qin offered the Crimson Flame Alliance soldiers their lives if they surrendered, and more than a thousand soldiers dropped their weapons.
• Soros, Murphy, and Bader submitted to Lin Qin and agreed to manage the alliance's former lands and resources.
• Lin Qin ordered Hosen to take charge of the prisoners and spoils and to have the three leaders come see him after they recovered.

Lin Qin assigned the surrendered Crimson Flame Alliance leaders roles in his expanding administration and military, then continued cultivating as Dragon Rock Stronghold consolidated the alliance’s territory. A month later, his forces controlled eight cities, nearly one million people, and more than five thousand soldiers, drawing wary attention from neighboring powers.

• Soros reported the Crimson Flame Alliance’s leadership, territory, population, and resources to Lin Qin.
• Lin Qin put Murphy in charge of internal oversight and a medical team, assigned Bader and Hosen to suppress bandits, and tasked Soros with managing the cities and lowering taxes.
• Hosen and Bader led the reorganized army to defeat or recruit bandit groups while Soros and Old Jack implemented Lin Qin’s new rules across the cities.
• Lin Qin devoted most of his time to cultivation, intervening only when his commanders faced major problems.
• After a month, Dragon Rock Stronghold controlled eight cities and nearly one million people, with more than five thousand combat-ready soldiers, and neighboring powers watched its rapid rise warily.

Lin Qin banned the Radiant Church and the Dark Church throughout Dragon Rock Territory, ordering their temples closed and their clergy expelled within ten days. As believers and local families prepared to resist, the deadline arrived and troops stood ready to enforce the ban.

• Lin Qin ordered all activities of the Radiant Church and the Dark Church banned across Dragon Rock Territory, with temples to close and clergy to leave within ten days.
• Believers in Crimson Flame City and elsewhere protested and organized petitions, while local families secretly debated exploiting the unrest.
• Soros warned Lin Qin that the ban risked riots and asked for an extended deadline, but Lin Qin refused and said unrest would be treated as rebellion.
• Hosen assigned troops to seal off and dismantle the temple in Crimson Flame City after the deadline, while Bader prepared his soldiers for possible resistance.
• On the final night, Lin Qin told Pallas that the churches had to be uprooted quickly, and Pallas agreed to patrol the skies above Crimson Flame City.
• The ten-day deadline arrived as believers prayed, officers prepared, and local powers schemed across the eight cities of Dragon Rock Territory.

Lin Qin enforced Dragon Rock Territory’s ban on religious institutions, crushing protests and punishing secret worshippers as the major churches reacted. After a Dark Church assassination squad infiltrated the territory, Lin Qin’s forces captured and eliminated all eight assassins, leaving the territory braced for a wider conflict.

• Hosen and Bader led soldiers in closing temples across the territory, while Murphy’s inspection teams uncovered secret worship groups and a Dark Church outpost.
• Lin Qin ordered three ringleaders executed, the assets of seven families confiscated, and stubborn prisoners sent to the border mines or forced to renounce their faith.
• The Radiant Church debated how to respond, while the Dark Church sent an eight-person assassination squad toward Dragon Rock Territory.
• Lin Qin ordered a territory-wide call for skilled workers, and hundreds of recruits were assigned to military, administrative, medical, and trade roles.
• Pallas detected two assassins targeting Hosen, and Hosen’s guards captured them after they took poison; Bader’s search also caught the remaining six after they tried to poison the city’s water supply.
• Murphy identified the attackers as the Dark Church’s Shadow Blade squad, and Lin Qin ordered tighter security as the territory prepared for conflict with the churches.

Lin Qin established merit rewards, public schools, and a merchant company as Dragon Rock Territory grew more prosperous and organized. After the Dark Church attacked a granary, Lin Qin strengthened security and prepared to expand the territory’s resources and forces while anticipating further threats.

• Lin Qin introduced a merit point system, free schools for children, and a guarded merchant company, and residents soon earned rewards for their work.
• Edwin opened Black Wind City’s first school, where Little Stone studied to help protect his miner father from wage theft.
• Fox’s caravan defeated a bandit ambush and traded successfully, while Lilia was promoted for saving seventeen people after a mine collapse.
• The Dark Church set fire to a granary in Crimson Flame City, and Murphy’s team arrested two infiltrators and uncovered three secret contact points.
• Lin Qin ordered more recruitment and training as Dragon Rock Territory’s population, army, and trade grew, then told Pallas he welcomed the Theocracy’s challenge.

Lin Qin’s Dragon Rock Territory faced coordinated retaliation from the Dark Church and Radiant Church through espionage, assassination attempts, raids, and a trade blockade. He strengthened defenses and supply lines, and the chapter ended with every city imposing a curfew and requiring special tokens for nighttime travel.

• Murphy reported captured Dark Church spies and Radiant Church followers, and Lin Qin ordered Soros to investigate their noble connections.
• Lin Qin ordered stronger defenses as Hosen and Bader reported six thousand combat-ready soldiers but shortages of armor and crossbow bolts.
• The Night Patrol Squad captured two Dark Church assassins attempting to enter Crimson Flame City, and Lin Qin ordered their equipment and poison sent back to Black Marsh City.
• After a grain convoy was ambushed and southern merchants cut off supplies, Lin Qin sent Bader to clear bandit strongholds, ordered Soros to find new suppliers, and told Murphy to intensify inspections.
• Bader’s cavalry swept through seven strongholds and found southern military equipment, while Soros and Murphy secured some supplies and arrested suspected spies.
• Lin Qin ordered a territory-wide curfew and special tokens for nighttime entry and exit, and the cities shut their gates as patrols took to the streets.

Pope Heidens planned to destroy Lin Qin and Dragon Rock Territory by assembling powerful Saint Realm fighters and seeking help from his former teacher, Desri. After the Dark Church’s Shadow Angel Battle Formation set out, Heidens left for Silent Valley while the Radiant Church prepared for war.

• Heidens and the Church leaders judged their usual tactics ineffective against Lin Qin and planned a direct assault on Dragon Rock Territory.
• Heidens arranged to recruit Desri and deploy the Six-Winged Angel Battle Formation under Useno, with Magnus and Samuel as support.
• Heidens assigned Alsop, Cain, and Roland to prepare the forces, gather intelligence, and secure supplies while the Inquisition guarded Holy Island.
• A Temple Knight reported that the Dark Church’s Shadow Angel Battle Formation had left its headquarters, but Heidens kept the plan unchanged.
• Heidens departed for Silent Valley at dawn, as the Six-Winged Angel Battle Formation trained and Magnus and Samuel prepared to join the campaign.

The Dark Church learned that the Radiant Church was preparing to attack Dragon Rock Territory and decided to exploit the conflict for its own gain. Morsfield sent agents to infiltrate the territory and ordered trouble stirred along its northern border.

• An intelligence priest reported that Dragon Rock Territory had wiped out the Dark Church's Black Marsh City outpost and returned the Shadow Snake squad's equipment and poison sacs.
• A priest reported that Heidens had gone to find Desri and that the Radiant Church had readied its Six-Winged Angel Battle Formation under Useno, with Mage and Samuel also prepared to deploy.
• Morsfield ordered the Dark Church's Shadow Angel Battle Formation to enter its highest state of readiness while the Radiant Church tested Lin Qin's strength.
• Morsfield ordered Kasa and Elaine to infiltrate the area around Dragon Rock Territory and wait for the Radiant Church and Lin Qin to weaken each other before targeting Lin Qin and the territory's resources and intelligence.
• Morsfield ordered the curse priest to have the Dark Church's northern allies cause a natural-looking border disturbance to distract Dragon Rock Territory.