Chapter Summaries

Lin Hai and Gwen traveled to Kamar-Taj after the Ancient One summoned them and warned that the demon god Pluto planned to claim Earth. She tasked them with confronting Pluto’s advance agent while appearing weak, then retreating safely so she could use the agent’s report to lure Pluto into a trap.

• Master Hamil told Lin Hai that the Ancient One had requested to see him and Gwen as soon as possible.
• Lin Hai and Gwen left Peter and Harry in charge of the house and workshop, then opened a Portal to Kamar-Taj.
• The Ancient One revealed that Pluto, a newly born mid-tier dimensional demon god with power over death, intended to conquer Earth and rise in rank.
• The Ancient One explained that Pluto had sent an advance agent to test Earth’s defenses, and she wanted Lin Hai and Gwen to confront him while feigning weakness.
• The Ancient One sent Lin Hai information about when and where the agent would arrive and told the pair to prioritize survival and retreat if necessary.

Lin Hai and Gwen prepared for the Ancient One’s mission to observe the Pioneer arriving in Africa, borrowing defensive equipment before traveling to the grassland. The Pioneer appeared and discovered them, leaving Lin Hai and Gwen facing it as it raised its scythe.

• Lin Hai told Gwen that the Pioneer would arrive on an African grassland before evening and decided they should prepare before leaving.
• Lin Hai asked Hamil for defensive equipment, and Hamil lent Gwen the Dawn Buckler and Guardian Heart Amulet.
• Lin Hai opened a Portal to the grassland, where he and Gwen waited beneath a baobab tree and prepared their magic.
• The Pioneer arrived from a passage in space and landed about a hundred meters away in a burst of dust.
• The Pioneer sensed Lin Hai and Gwen behind the tree, and Lin Hai positioned himself in front of Gwen as she activated the amulet.
• The Pioneer raised its bone scythe as Lin Hai told Gwen to prepare to fight.

Lin Hai and Gwen fought the Demon God Pioneer, whose deathly power weakened when struck by Lin Hai’s Life Force. As it seemed to retreat, a shadow duplicate ambushed Gwen with a destructive energy blast, leaving her behind the Dawn Buckler as Lin Hai raced to help.

• Lin Hai charged the Demon God Pioneer while Gwen strengthened her defenses with the Guardian Amulet.
• Lin Hai and Gwen coordinated their attacks, and Lin Hai noticed that his Life Force weakened the Pioneer’s deathly aura.
• The Demon God Pioneer forced Lin Hai back, threatened both humans, and began to withdraw toward the spatial passage.
• A shadow duplicate appeared behind Gwen with an unstable dark purple Energy Ball, and Lin Hai shouted a warning.
• Gwen activated the Dawn Buckler and faced its expanded shield toward the duplicate as the Energy Ball detonated.
• The cosmic dark energy struck Gwen’s shield while Lin Hai sprinted toward her.

Lin Hai feared Gwen had been killed when a blast struck her, but he caught her and used his Life Force to heal her minor injuries. After Gwen kissed him, the two confessed their feelings and became a couple before Lin Hai opened a Portal back to Kamar-Taj.

• Lin Hai rushed through the dissipating blast and caught Gwen, whose Dawn Buckler had protected her from most of the explosion.
• Lin Hai poured Life Force into Gwen until he confirmed she had only suffered shock and minor internal injuries.
• After Gwen suggested they return from the grasslands, Lin Hai stumbled and fell on top of her, and Gwen pulled him into a kiss.
• Gwen agreed to be Lin Hai's girlfriend, and they embraced beneath the stars.
• Lin Hai opened a Portal to Kamar-Taj as he and Gwen prepared to return.

Lin Hai and Gwen returned from their mission against the Demon God’s Pioneer and reunited with Peter and Harry at home. Their friends realized Lin Hai and Gwen had become a couple, while the pair began recovering from the battle.

• Lin Hai and Gwen reported their success to Master Hamil at Kamar-Taj and returned the damaged Dawn Buckler and Guardian Amulet.
• Lin Hai brought Gwen through a Portal to their Los Angeles home, where Peter and Harry asked about their battered appearance and the mission.
• Lin Hai described the fight against the Demon God’s Pioneer, and Peter and Harry congratulated him and Gwen after noticing their changed relationship.
• Peter and Harry asked to join future missions, but Lin Hai explained that the unusual threat had made their involvement inadvisable.
• Lin Hai grew angry remembering Gwen’s near-death, and Gwen soothed him by covering his clenched fist with her hand.
• Gwen went upstairs to shower, while Lin Hai changed and took a shower downstairs, remembering her kiss.

While Lin Hai slept, a trace of Death Force entered his body and tried to reach his heart and brain. The Divine Dragon Heart repelled it from his heart, and the Seven-Colored Essence trapped it and dropped it into his Lower Dantian, where his Life Force awaited.

• As Lin Hai slept, a hidden trace of Death Force slipped into his meridians and headed for his heart and brain.
• The Divine Dragon Heart sent out sacred power that forced the Death Force away from Lin Hai's heart.
• The Death Force continued toward Lin Hai's brain, disturbing the Seven-Colored Essence.
• The Seven-Colored Essence captured the Death Force and carried it to Lin Hai's Lower Dantian.
• The Seven-Colored Essence released the Death Force into the dantian and returned to stillness.

Lin Hai woke in agony when the Death Force hidden in his body clashed with his Life Energy and detonated, scattering his energy throughout his dantian. As he tried to restore his Energy Core, tiny deep-green specks absorbed all his Life Energy and formed an unfamiliar teal-and-dark-gold core, leaving him stunned.

• The Death Force inside Lin Hai’s dantian fought his Life Energy and caused him to wake in severe pain.
• Lin Hai recognized the Death Force as the energy of the Demon God Pioneer he had fought earlier.
• The weakened Death Force self-destructed, blasting Lin Hai’s consciousness from his dantian and scattering his Life Energy.
• Lin Hai noticed deep-green specks among the scattered energy and began gathering his Life Energy into an Energy Core.
• The deep-green specks formed a dense core that absorbed all of Lin Hai’s Life Energy and became a small teal-and-dark-gold sphere.

After a dangerous transformation, Lin Hai discovered that his Life Force had become a new energy blending life and death, bringing faster circulation and self-healing but leaving him with a much smaller reserve. When he went to shower, he unexpectedly ran into Gwen outside his room and embarrassed them both.

• Lin Hai sensed that the energy core formed from his Life Force contained fragments of Death Force and knowledge about a dimensional demon god.
• Lin Hai realized that life and death formed a cycle and found that he could fully control the new energy.
• As the energy circulated, it began healing his damaged meridians, though Lin Hai noticed that his energy reserves had shrunk drastically.
• Lin Hai went to leave his room in a clean pair of pajamas and found Gwen listening worriedly outside his door.
• Gwen blushed and hurried back to her room after seeing Lin Hai, while he closed the door in embarrassment.

After a night of dangerous energy changes, Lin Hai ate an enormous breakfast to recover and told Gwen, Harry, and Peter what had happened. The group planned to test his new abilities at Kamar-Taj, then see whether a flower bud in Missouri could replenish his energy.

• Lin Hai finished washing up, did laundry, and encountered an embarrassed Gwen as she hurried to the bathroom.
• Lin Hai prepared a huge breakfast, and Harry woke Peter to join him and Gwen at the table.
• Lin Hai ate enough to recover much of his depleted strength, while the others ate more than usual watching him.
• Lin Hai explained how Death Force had clashed with the energies inside him and fused into a new, stronger energy.
• Gwen worried about Lin Hai, while Harry and Peter proposed testing his abilities and combat potential.
• Lin Hai suggested resting and cleaning up before opening a Portal to Kamar-Taj for safe testing, then visiting a Missouri forest to test the flower bud's replenishing effect; everyone agreed.

Lin Hai tested the new energy formed from his Life Force and the Death Force, and its power stunned everyone at Kamar-Taj. Master Hamil said it had begun developing toward the power of a dimensional Demon God, leaving Lin Hai shocked by the energy’s potential.

• Lin Hai fired a reduced energy attack at a rune-covered target, damaging it so badly that the training ground fell silent.
• Gwen, Peter, Harry, and the watching mages reacted with shock, and Peter worried about how powerful Lin Hai had become.
• Master Hamil arrived, examined the target, and asked Lin Hai if he had caused the damage.
• Lin Hai explained how the Death Force had fused with his Life Force, and Master Hamil said the new energy’s nature and level were moving toward those of a dimensional Demon God.
• Lin Hai reflected on the immense potential of his new power, while recognizing that it was only at the very beginning of that path.

Lin Hai tested his healing ability by channeling most of his New Life Force into Master Hamil’s long-severed arm, restoring vitality to its atrophied tissue and reactivating nerves and meridians. The effort nearly depleted Lin Hai, and Master Hamil invited him and his companions to rest in his courtyard.

• Lin Hai searched for a suitable subject to test his healing ability, and Peter and Harry nervously feared he would use them.
• Lin Hai asked Master Hamil to let him test his power on the arm he had lost decades earlier, and Master Hamil agreed.
• Lin Hai poured more than eighty percent of his New Life Force into Master Hamil’s severed arm, restoring vitality to the damaged tissue.
• Lin Hai ran out of energy and collapsed into Gwen’s arms before he could regenerate the missing hand.
• Master Hamil praised the healing and invited Lin Hai, Gwen, Peter, and Harry to his courtyard to rest.

Lin Hai returned to Ego's bud in Missouri to replenish his energy, with Mage Hamil accompanying him to observe the process. The connection triggered a far more violent energy surge than before, and Mage Hamil shielded and concealed the area while monitoring Lin Hai.

• After recovering in Mage Hamil's courtyard, Lin Hai said he planned to visit Missouri to replenish his energy, and Mage Hamil revealed he knew about Ego's bud and offered to accompany him.
• Lin Hai accepted Mage Hamil's offer and opened a Portal to the forest where the bud stood, followed by Gwen, Peter, Harry, and Mage Hamil.
• Lin Hai pressed his hand against the bud and connected with its energy, which surged into him at an unprecedented rate and lit his body with azure and dark-gold light.
• As Gwen, Peter, and Harry worried about the violent exchange, Mage Hamil cast a Shield of Oshtur around Lin Hai and the bud and concealed the area from outside view.
• Mage Hamil focused his spiritual perception on Lin Hai, ready to intervene as the energy continued flooding into him.

Lin Hai endured a dangerous surge of Life Energy from the flower bud, strengthening his Energy Core before a deeper energy blasted him backward. He recovered and discussed the strange energy with Master Hamil, while the distant Celestial Ego briefly sensed a disturbance and dismissed it.

• Lin Hai connected with the flower bud and endured a torrent of Life Energy, guiding it to his dantian while repairing his strained meridians.
• Master Hamil sensed Lin Hai was holding on and refrained from intervening as the Energy Core absorbed the energy and grew denser.
• The bud flared and released a small stream of ancient life energy, which struck Lin Hai and sent him flying into the Shield of Oshtur.
• Peter, Gwen, and Harry rushed to Lin Hai, who spat blood but got up and assured them he was fine.
• Lin Hai asked Master Hamil about the strange energy, and Master Hamil confirmed he had sensed it too.
• The Celestial Ego sensed a brief disturbance from afar, dismissed it as a possible meteorite, and returned to sowing.

Lin Hai tested contacting the enormous flower bud again after its earlier violent energy surge, discovering that ordinary absorption was stable and that a small amount of deeper blue-green energy rapidly strengthened his Energy Core. He left off preparing to test whether his increased power had awakened new abilities.

• Lin Hai thanked Master Hamil for shielding and concealing the forest during the earlier energy surge.
• Despite Gwen, Peter, and Harry’s concerns, Lin Hai decided to contact the bud again while Master Hamil watched over him.
• Lin Hai discovered that his Energy Core had grown several times larger after absorbing the bud’s blue-green energy.
• Lin Hai drew Life Energy from the bud in a controlled test, then reached the deeper blue-green energy and absorbed a small amount without triggering another surge.
• Lin Hai explained that ordinary absorption was stable but that the deeper energy quickly built up his power, then prepared to test for new abilities.

Lin Hai tested his strengthened plant abilities and found that his perception and control ranges had increased dramatically. His plant attacks, reinforced wooden spike, and Energy Projection proved powerful enough to impress Master Hamil and startle Peter, Gwen, and Harry.

• Lin Hai expanded his plant perception to a five-hundred-meter radius and confirmed that he could control plants at nearly three hundred meters.
• Lin Hai caused wooden spikes to erupt around a birch tree, alarming Peter and Harry, then tested their strength against Master Hamil's magical sword.
• Lin Hai reinforced an ordinary branch with Life Force, creating a durable, self-repairing spike that clashed with Master Hamil's sword and pierced through a massive tree.
• Lin Hai tested his Energy Projection against the Shield of Oshtur and destroyed it, earning Master Hamil's assessment that the attack matched an ordinary advanced mage's magic.

Lin Hai tested his refined plant-control abilities and used Life Force combined with Dragon God's Power to grow a miniature Wood Dragon from a seed. After discovering that he could recover much of the energy he spent, he and his companions returned to Kamar-Taj.

• Lin Hai infused a seed with Life Force and Dragon God's Power, shaping it into a miniature Wood Dragon based on Ta Lo's Azure Dragon.
• Gwen, Peter, Harry, and Master Hamil watched in amazement as the Wood Dragon coiled around Lin Hai and moved under his commands.
• Lin Hai found that controlling the Wood Dragon required substantial energy, but he could recover more than half of the Life Force when he dispersed it.
• Lin Hai thanked Master Hamil for protecting him, and the group returned to Kamar-Taj through a Portal.

After returning home from Kamar-Taj, Lin Hai, Gwen, Peter, and Harry studied for and finished their final exams. As summer vacation began, Lin Hai proposed planning a trip while remaining ready to postpone it if the Ancient One warned that Pluto was near.

• Lin Hai thanked Master Hamil and asked him to contact him when the Ancient One returned, then brought the group home to Los Angeles.
• Lin Hai, Gwen, Peter, and Harry spent June studying for their finals at home and on campus.
• The four friends finished their exams and celebrated with a meal at home.
• Lin Hai suggested they research a summer trip but postpone it if the Ancient One returned with news that Pluto was about to arrive.

After the Ancient One returned to Kamar-Taj, she told Lin Hai and Gwen that Pluto would likely descend on Earth soon. She recruited Lin Hai as bait in a plan to lure Pluto into her trap, then sent the pair home while Kamar-Taj prepared for the battle.

• Hamil told Lin Hai that the Ancient One had returned to Kamar-Taj, so Lin Hai and Gwen postponed their trip and went to meet her.
• The Ancient One praised Lin Hai’s progress and concluded from his and Gwen’s accounts that Pluto would likely attempt to descend on Earth soon.
• Gwen warned Lin Hai to be careful, and he promised not to act recklessly unless another Kamar-Taj mage was in danger.
• The Ancient One explained that Pluto might be less cautious if Lin Hai appeared, and proposed using him as bait while she prepared a surprise attack.
• Lin Hai agreed to the plan, and the Ancient One told him and Gwen to go home and keep his phone ready while Kamar-Taj’s Advanced Mages prepared.

With Pluto’s arrival imminent, Lin Hai joined the Ancient One’s operation to confront the Demon God beyond Earth, where the battle could not harm the planet. The mages entered the prepared Mirror Dimension, while Hamil stayed behind to maintain Earth’s defenses.

• Lin Hai told Peter, Harry, and Gwen that Pluto was coming, postponed their trip, and promised to bring back possible spoils from the fight.
• Lin Hai returned to New York with his friends, spent several days helping Chen Bing at the clinic, then moved to Kamar-Taj to await news.
• Hamil told Lin Hai that Pluto would arrive soon, and the Ancient One explained that Lin Hai would lure Pluto into space while she trapped him and his followers in the Mirror Dimension.
• The Ancient One gave Lin Hai a life-support spell and opened a Portal to the Mirror Dimension, where the Advanced Mages gathered for battle.
• Hamil explained that he would remain at Kamar-Taj to maintain the Earth Defense Formation, and Lin Hai followed the Ancient One and the mages through the Portal.

The Ancient One showed Lin Hai how she could reshape the Mirror Dimension and explained how its realistic grassland would lure the Demon God into their trap. She sent Lin Hai through a Portal to draw the Demon God toward the waiting mages, while Stephen Strange sneezed on Earth without knowing Lin Hai had already made plans for him.

• The Ancient One transformed the Mirror Dimension’s grassland into a shifting maze of floating landmasses, then restored it to its original form.
• Lin Hai envied the Ancient One’s magic and decided he could rely on Strange to use it for him once Strange joined Kamar-Taj.
• Strange sneezed while having lunch with Christine Palmer, then dismissed it as an itchy nose.
• The Ancient One sensed the Demon God approaching and told Lin Hai to attack it, feign failure, and lead it into the trap.
• Lin Hai stepped through the Portal into the starry sky to lure the Demon God toward the waiting mages.