Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “High Priest’s Summons (2)”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arnold is invited to the Magnolia Sect by Atis and Atro, two of the High Priest’s disciples. He suspects that powerful Saint Domain experts across the Yulan Continent are being recruited by major Deity-level figures, though he does not yet understand why.
• After informing his brother George, Arnold travels with Atis and Atro to the Magnolia Sect, located west of Magnolia City.
• Along the way, Atro explains the sect’s structure:
  • Registered disciples live midway up the mountain and range from Seventh-level Mages to Ninth-level Arch Magi.
  • The High Priest’s personal disciples reside near the summit.
• Many disciples observe Arnold’s arrival, recognizing that Atis and Atro’s escort implies Arnold possesses exceptional strength. Dixie, a talented young mage, feels discouraged by the gap between himself and Arnold but renews his determination to reach the Saint Domain.
• At the summit, Arnold discovers that the High Priest has gathered roughly thirty or forty Saint Domain experts, shocking him with the scale of her forces.
• Atis and Atro bring Arnold to the main hall at dusk. There, Arnold meets the High Priest, who is revealed to be a masked woman with silver hair and a gentle, difficult-to-identify voice.
• The High Priest openly states that she summoned Arnold to ask him to pledge allegiance to her.
• She explains that nearly all Saint Domain experts at the peak or above have sworn loyalty to one of three Deity-level powers: herself, the War God, or the ruler of the Dark Forest.
• Since the ruler of the Dark Forest only accepts Saint Domain Pinnacle experts and Arnold has not reached that level, his practical choices are the High Priest or the War God. She selected Arnold because he is a Saint Magus rather than a Saint Domain Warrior.

Character Developments

• Arnold remains direct, self-possessed, and independent. He openly questions the purpose behind the High Priest’s recruitment and refuses to be intimidated by the sect’s power or prestige. His calm decision to cultivate while waiting demonstrates his confidence and disciplined nature.
• The High Priest is revealed as a powerful and pragmatic leader. She acknowledges Arnold’s rare talent—becoming a Saint Magus at twenty-three and beginning to comprehend the Elemental Laws—but approaches him primarily as a valuable potential subordinate.
• Atis tries to use the waiting period to engage Arnold and gather information, but Arnold’s immediate cultivation prevents this. Atis is shown to be respectful yet politically calculating.
• Atro is quieter and more observant, appearing wary of Atis’s attempt to manipulate the interaction.
• Dixie is inspired and discouraged by Arnold’s superiority. Rather than abandoning his ambitions, he vows to continue striving toward the Saint Domain.
• George serves as Arnold’s connection to his previous circumstances, receiving an explanation before Arnold departs.

Significant Themes

• Power and allegiance: The chapter presents the Saint Domain experts as participants in a larger political order controlled by Deity-level beings. Even independent geniuses are pressured to choose a patron.
• The hidden structure of the world: Arnold realizes that the widespread submission of Saint Domain experts points to a major secret concerning the Yulan Continent, known mainly to the strongest figures.
• Individual independence versus practical survival: The High Priest frames allegiance as a limited choice rather than a true freedom: Arnold can serve her or the War God, while the Dark Forest’s ruler remains inaccessible.
• Talent and hierarchy: Arnold’s extraordinary advancement contrasts with the registered disciples’ comparatively modest progress, emphasizing the enormous gap between ordinary magical talent and supreme cultivation.
• Determination: Dixie’s reaction reinforces the theme that encountering someone stronger can either crush ambition or motivate continued growth.

Character Interactions

• Atis and Atro respectfully escort Arnold while attempting to position themselves as intermediaries between him and the High Priest.
• Arnold’s bluntness contrasts with Atis’s more socially strategic behavior during the journey and waiting period.
• The High Priest speaks to Arnold with a mixture of praise and authority, recognizing his talent while clearly expecting obedience.
• Arnold listens silently to the High Priest’s explanation, suggesting that he is carefully evaluating the implications before responding rather than accepting her demand immediately.

Summary: “Secrets of the Necropolis of the Gods”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arnold chooses to follow the High Priest rather than the War God, believing her magical expertise will benefit his own development.
• The High Priest gives Arnold an emerald-green token marked “Priest.” Possessing it makes him eligible to explore the Yulan Continent’s greatest secret: the Necropolis of the Gods.
• She reveals that the accepted history of the Yulan Continent is incomplete. More than five thousand years ago, numerous Deity-level experts from other planes came to the continent, including Mid-Gods and High-Gods.
• These outsiders sought the Necropolis of the Gods, a mysterious site filled with powerful treasures. Nearly all of the invading gods died in the conflicts, while only a few escaped.
• The Necropolis opens once every thousand years. Yulan Continent Saint Domain experts may enter only if they pledge themselves to one of the continent’s Deity-level powers and receive recognition.
• Its greatest potential reward for Saint Domain experts is a God Spark, which allows a Saint Domain expert to become a god by refining it.
• The High Priest explains that refining a God Spark makes future cultivation much more difficult than becoming a god through personal comprehension of the laws. Nevertheless, most long-stagnant Saint Domain Pinnacles would likely accept such an opportunity.
• The Necropolis last opened almost a thousand years ago and should reopen within several decades. The High Priest warns that even Saint Domain Pinnacles may die there; one of her own former Saint Domain Pinnacle disciples perished during the previous opening.
• She then invites Arnold to demonstrate his strongest techniques against her. Although she will not retaliate, the test is meant to assess him.
• Arnold and the High Priest leave the hall and prepare to spar in the open grounds. Her remaining disciples recognize the event as more than a test of Arnold—it is also a warning and demonstration directed at them.

Character Developments

• Arnold shows ambition and sound judgment by aligning himself with the High Priest and accepting the risks associated with the Necropolis. He is intrigued by the possibility of becoming a god but remains thoughtful about the difference between refining a God Spark and achieving divinity through personal understanding.
• His confidence in his own ability to comprehend the laws is evident, though the High Priest’s warning about the Necropolis’s danger makes him more cautious.
• The High Priest reveals herself as a keeper of major historical and cosmic knowledge. She considers Arnold unusually powerful—stronger than most of her disciples—and appears interested in evaluating and perhaps preparing him for the coming Necropolis expedition.
• Her mention of her dead chief disciple adds a personal dimension to her warning and suggests that she understands the expedition’s dangers through painful experience.
• The High Priest’s disciples are positioned as less accomplished than Arnold, since none of her surviving disciples have reached the Saint Domain Pinnacle.

Significant Themes

• Hidden history and forbidden knowledge: The official account of the continent’s past conceals a much larger conflict involving outsiders and gods.
• Power and qualification: Access to the Necropolis depends not only on strength but also on allegiance to a Deity-level patron.
• Natural achievement versus shortcut power: Becoming a god through personal comprehension is portrayed as superior to refining a God Spark, though the latter is a tempting shortcut.
• Ambition and danger: The promise of divine power is balanced by the high mortality rate of the Necropolis.
• Hierarchy and loyalty: Arnold’s choice to follow the High Priest places him within the political and spiritual structure governing access to the Necropolis.
• Mentorship and testing: The High Priest’s sparring invitation serves both as an evaluation of Arnold and as a lesson to her other disciples.

Character Interactions

• Arnold and the High Priest engage in a respectful but unequal exchange: she gives him access to information and a token, while he pledges himself to her.
• Their discussion establishes a mentor-like relationship, with the High Priest revealing only what Arnold’s current strength allows him to understand.
• Arnold questions her explanations rather than accepting them passively, especially concerning God Sparks and the nature of godhood.
• Their upcoming sparring session is intended to let Arnold display his abilities while allowing the High Priest to assess him.
• The observing disciples interpret the encounter as a warning from the High Priest, reinforcing Arnold’s elevated status and potentially provoking their awareness of the gap between him and them.

Chapter Summary: “Otherworldly Gravity Killing Array”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arnold and the High Priest meet in a protected clearing to test Arnold’s techniques. Because the confrontation is only a demonstration, Arnold does not immediately use his most powerful move.
• Arnold first casts a magical version of Wind Binding, using wind to compress the air around the High Priest. She easily dispels it, judging that it would only restrain an ordinary Saint Domain expert.
• He then uses Earth Fluctuation Slash Hundredfold, an improved version of his Earth Fluctuation Slash. The attack sends vibrating earth-element battle-qi directly toward the High Priest and is capable of damaging an opponent internally. Although she appears unaffected, she recognizes that the technique could seriously injure an ordinary Saint Domain Peak expert.
• Arnold next employs Gravity Prison, combining Gravity and Earth Element Profound Truths. The technique creates a hundredfold-gravity space reinforced by diamond-like armor. The High Priest remains unaffected by the gravity and destroys the prison with two casual strikes.
• Finally, Arnold unveils his strongest technique: Otherworldly Gravity Killing Array. It creates a massive black prison divided into numerous smaller spaces, each containing hundredfold gravity. When the trapped opponent breaks through a wall and approaches the outer boundary, the spaces automatically shift, keeping the opponent away from escape.
• The High Priest gradually realizes how the array works and breaks through many spaces at once with a single powerful attack. Arnold withdraws the technique, ending the test.
• The High Priest praises Arnold and declares that this ultimate technique makes him effectively invincible below the Saint Domain Pinnacle level. The observing disciples are stunned to learn that Arnold’s abilities place him around sixth among the continent’s Saint Domain experts.

Character Developments

• Arnold demonstrates major growth in both magic and battle-qi. His magic has reached the Saint Magus level, while his battle-qi is at the Eighth-level. He also shows innovation by combining different Profound Truths into increasingly sophisticated techniques.
• His progression is especially evident in the development of Earth Fluctuation Slash from tenfold to hundredfold power, though he believes it can still be improved.
• Arnold displays confidence and pride in his ultimate technique, particularly when naming it the Otherworldly Gravity Killing Array.
• The High Priest remains overwhelmingly stronger than Arnold, effortlessly resisting or breaking his techniques. Nevertheless, she carefully analyzes each move and sincerely acknowledges Arnold’s talent, creativity, and combat potential.
• The observing disciples gain a new understanding of Arnold’s strength after hearing the High Priest’s evaluation, despite being unable to perceive the details of the battle themselves.

Significant Themes

• Growth through experimentation: Arnold’s techniques reflect years of study and refinement rather than raw power alone.
• Innovation and combination of abilities: His strongest moves merge multiple laws and Profound Truths, showing that versatility and creativity can overcome limitations in cultivation level.
• The gap between experts: The test highlights the enormous difference between Arnold and a deity-level figure, while also establishing how formidable Arnold is among lower-level Saint Domain practitioners.
• Recognition of talent: The High Priest’s praise confirms Arnold’s achievements and gives his progress wider significance.
• Appearance versus true power: The disciples cannot understand what happens inside the black prison, illustrating how limited ordinary experts are when observing battles at the highest levels.

Character Interactions

• Arnold repeatedly attacks while the High Priest calmly tests and evaluates each technique.
• Rather than treating Arnold as a genuine threat, the High Priest responds with restrained, casual movements, emphasizing her superior strength.
• Despite overpowering every move, she does not dismiss Arnold. Her questions about the final technique and her positive judgment show genuine respect.
• Arnold’s proud explanation of the technique’s name contrasts with the High Priest’s calm curiosity.
• The disciples serve as observers whose confusion turns into admiration and frustration when the High Priest reveals just how powerful Arnold’s ultimate technique is.

Chapter Summary: “Departure Goals”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arnold explains the design and capabilities of his Otherworldly Gravity Killing Array, inspired by a giant cubic maze. The array divides a massive 300-meter cube into roughly a million moving sections, each large enough to trap one person.
• The array combines the Gravity Profound Truth and Earth Element Profound Truth, creating powerful gravity and extremely durable walls. Even a Saint Domain Peak expert would struggle to escape because breaking through one section only forces them to confront more moving barriers.
• The array has weaknesses: gravity weakens with height, the cubic walls cannot easily regenerate after being destroyed, and Arnold’s fusion of the two profound truths has reached a bottleneck.
• After testing their abilities, the High Priest praises Arnold’s mastery of the Earth Law in front of her disciples. She gives him a jade-green Interspatial Ring with ten cubic meters of storage.
• The High Priest formally accepts Arnold as one of her subordinates but places few restrictions on him. He only needs to reunite with her group when the Necropolis of the Gods opens.
• Arnold returns to George’s residence. When George asks about the High Priest’s summons, Arnold conceals the Necropolis’s secrets and only says that he has joined her.
• Arnold decides not to focus solely on reaching the Saint Domain Pinnacle. Instead, he intends to continue fusing the Gravity and Earth Element Profound Truths, even if doing so takes much longer.
• He plans a journey across the continent, beginning with the Arctic Icefield, where he hopes to challenge Saint Domain experts and improve his combat skills. He then intends to visit the Eighteen Northern Dukedoms and eventually the South Sea.
• Meanwhile, Pitero continues cultivating his spiritual power. Having reached the peak of the Fourth-level, he is close to breaking through to the Fifth-level and remembers Arnold’s promise of a reward if he succeeds.

Character Developments

• Arnold demonstrates increasingly sophisticated magical abilities and a willingness to pursue long-term strength rather than the quickest route to advancement. His ambition shifts toward profound-truth fusion and testing himself through travel and combat.
• The High Priest acknowledges Arnold’s talent and grants him greater independence, signaling trust and recognition of his potential.
• George remains a close associate, though Arnold now keeps important secrets from him because of the Necropolis of the Gods.
• Pitero is nearing a major spiritual breakthrough and remains motivated by Arnold’s promised benefit.

Significant Themes

• Strength through innovation: Arnold’s array shows how combining different laws can produce powerful and unconventional abilities.
• The difficulty of true mastery: Fusion of profound truths requires deeper understanding of both aspects, making progress slower but potentially far more rewarding.
• Freedom and responsibility: Arnold gains freedom to travel and cultivate as he chooses, but his new status also connects him to the High Priest and the Necropolis.
• Exploration and self-improvement: Arnold’s planned journey reflects his desire to broaden his experience, discover unknown regions, and sharpen his combat abilities.
• Secrecy and trust: Arnold’s refusal to reveal the Necropolis’s secrets highlights the importance—and burden—of confidential alliances.

Character Interactions

• The High Priest publicly praises Arnold before her disciples after witnessing his abilities.
• She gives Arnold an Interspatial Ring and explains the terms of his new affiliation, granting him unusual freedom.
• Arnold speaks with George but deliberately provides only a partial explanation of his meeting with the High Priest.
• Arnold’s relationship with Pitero includes a promise of reward, giving Pitero additional motivation to achieve the Fifth-level of spiritual power.

Chapter Summary: Arctic Icefield

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arnold visits his disciple Pitero and discovers that Pitero has reached the peak of the Fourth level.
• Preparing for a long journey across the Yulan Continent, Arnold decides not to bring Pitero because he may not have enough time to protect or guide him.
• Arnold gives Pitero a notebook containing detailed earth-element spells from Level One through Level Ten, including several of Arnold’s own creations and even forbidden spells.
• He instructs Pitero to memorize the contents, burn the notebook, and begin using the Earth Escape Art after reaching the Fifth-level Warrior stage. Arnold hopes Pitero will reach the level of an Eighth-level Magus before they meet again.
• Pitero spends the entire night memorizing the notebook and burns it with his weak fire-element magical power, resolving to train diligently.
• Arnold leaves Magnolia City and travels at great speed to the central region of the Magical Beast Mountain Range to retrieve his companion, Red-Eyed.
• Red-Eyed, a Saint Domain Peak-level Black Dragon, joins Arnold, and the two fly north across the North Sea to the Arctic Icefield.
• After arriving, Arnold and Red-Eyed travel along a road created by the plane overseer. After nearly seven thousand li without seeing anyone, they encounter two Saint Domain warriors, Toller and Forde, fighting near a massive iceberg.
• Arnold introduces himself and challenges Toller to a sparring match because he wants experience fighting a Saint Domain Warrior. Toller accepts, eager to test his Earth Law against Arnold’s abilities.
• Forde and Red-Eyed move aside to watch. Arnold insists that Red-Eyed will not participate, believing he can handle the fight alone.
• The battle begins with Arnold casting a Seventh-level Greater Gravity Spell. The enhanced gravity affects Toller, but Toller counters with an earth-element Battle Qi Shield and remains in the fight.

Character Developments

• Arnold demonstrates his role as both a powerful master and a responsible mentor. Although he leaves Pitero behind, he equips him with advanced knowledge and a superior cultivation method. He also shows confidence and eagerness to test his own combat abilities.
• Pitero grows more determined and disciplined. Receiving Arnold’s teachings strengthens his loyalty and gives him a clear goal: reaching the Eighth-level Mage stage before reuniting with his master.
• Red-Eyed is established as a loyal and powerful companion. He is capable of serving as Arnold’s protector but obeys Arnold’s decision to remain out of the duel.
• Toller is portrayed as proud, competitive, and eager for a meaningful battle. He sees the spar as an opportunity to test his Earth Law against a fellow Saint Domain expert.
• Forde serves as another powerful observer and appears accustomed to fighting Toller, though his Water Law offers Toller less useful practice for improving his Earth Law.

Significant Themes

• Mentorship and inheritance: Arnold passes on knowledge and techniques to ensure Pitero can continue progressing independently.
• Determination and self-improvement: Pitero’s overnight memorization and vow to improve reflect the importance of discipline and ambition.
• Power and confidence: Arnold’s willingness to face a Saint Domain Warrior without Red-Eyed’s assistance highlights his confidence in his own strength.
• Exploration and adventure: Arnold’s journey to the remote Arctic Icefield expands the setting and suggests that greater challenges and powerful figures await there.
• Testing through combat: The sparring match emphasizes that battle is a way for powerful cultivators to learn, measure themselves, and refine their laws and techniques.

Character Interactions

• Arnold respectfully but directly discusses Pitero’s future with him, giving him both guidance and a demanding goal.
• Pitero accepts Arnold’s decision without protest and responds with loyalty and determination.
• Arnold reunites with Red-Eyed through soul transmission, and Red-Eyed eagerly offers to carry him across the continent.
• Arnold meets Toller and Forde after interrupting their duel. He proposes a friendly spar with Toller, while Forde and Red-Eyed prepare to observe.
• Toller initially underestimates Arnold’s decision to fight without his magical beast, but Arnold immediately demonstrates his strength by slowing him with the Greater Gravity Spell.

Summary: “Arnold Against Toller”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Toller, a Saint Domain Warrior who cultivates the Earth Law, recognizes Arnold’s Gravity Spell but is shocked by its strength. Its power is estimated to be about twice that of a Ninth-level Gravity Spell.
• Toller uses earth-element fluctuations and his powerful body to resist the gravity, but Arnold immediately follows with thirty-five massive stone spheres. Although slowed, Toller destroys most of them with his battle qi barrier.
• Arnold attacks with Earth Fluctuation Slash Hundredfold, a vibration-based sword technique powered by Eighth-level battle qi. Toller chooses to endure it, confident that his Earth Law defense surpasses even Earth Guardian Sacred Armor.
• The attack bypasses Toller’s battle qi barrier and violently shakes his internal organs. Toller survives because Arnold’s battle qi cultivation is comparatively weak, but Arnold realizes that Toller's defense is extraordinarily strong.
• Arnold traps Toller inside a Gravity Prison, a hundred-meter-wide space with hundredfold gravity. The pressure affects even Toller’s internal organs, though his physical training allows him to withstand it.
• Arnold then uses Earth Spike Spear Prison, a spell he created by combining the Earth Element and Wave Profound Truths. Although classified as Seventh-level Magic, its power equals Ninth-level Magic. The attack repeatedly damages and weakens Toller’s battle qi barrier.
• After being struck twice, Toller abandons his barrier and relies on dense earth energy surrounding his body. He rushes toward the prison’s boundary while Arnold retreats.
• Toller cautiously tests the boundary, then uses his greatsword to shatter it and escape. The Gravity Prison collapses, but Toller emerges exhausted and heavily strained.

Character Developments

• Arnold demonstrates exceptional creativity and combat intelligence. His mastery of gravity, vibration, and earth-based techniques allows him to threaten an opponent vastly stronger in battle qi cultivation.
• Arnold’s newly created Earth Spike Spear Prison reveals his ability to combine profound truths into powerful, efficient spells.
• Toller proves highly resilient, enduring repeated attacks that could have seriously injured most Saint Domain warriors. His confidence in the defensive strength of his Earth Law is challenged when Arnold’s vibration attack bypasses his barrier.
• Toller adapts quickly, using his physical strength, Earth Law, and greatsword to escape rather than continuing to endure Arnold’s attacks passively. His escape comes at a significant physical cost.

Significant Themes

• Strength versus technique: Arnold’s lower battle qi cultivation is offset by sophisticated spell design and profound-truth combinations.
• Defense is not absolute: Toller’s powerful barrier cannot fully protect him from vibration-based attacks that penetrate and damage the body internally.
• Adaptation and strategy: Both fighters constantly adjust—Arnold layers gravity with projectile and vibration attacks, while Toller changes from defense to direct escape.
• The limits of power: Even Toller’s Earth Law, believed to be overwhelmingly strong, cannot completely negate Arnold’s Gravity Prison.
• Innovation in combat: Arnold’s ability to transform low-level magic into a high-powered specialized technique gives him an unexpected advantage.

Character Interactions

• Arnold repeatedly controls the pace of the battle through instant-cast spells, forcing Toller to react under increasingly severe conditions.
• Toller attempts to overpower Arnold directly but is repeatedly slowed, restrained, and damaged by Arnold’s layered attacks.
• Their exchange highlights mutual recognition: Arnold acknowledges Toller's extraordinary defense, while Toller becomes increasingly wary of Arnold’s unconventional techniques.
• The chapter ends with Toller escaping Arnold’s trap, but his exhaustion shows that Arnold has successfully injured and pressured him despite the difference in cultivation.

Summary of “Arnold Versus Forde”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arnold explains that strength varies enormously among Saint Domain Peak experts, despite their shared classification. Saint Magi are especially dangerous because of the power of forbidden magic.
• Toller breaks free from Arnold’s Gravity Prison, but Arnold immediately slows him with a Seventh-level Greater Gravity Spell.
• Toller repeatedly tries to approach Arnold for close combat, but Arnold uses the Earth Escape Art to maintain a safe distance. Unable to land a blow—and unwilling to risk Arnold’s forbidden magic—Toller concedes.
• After the duel, Toller and Forde praise Arnold’s speed and ability with the Earth Law.
• Inspired by the battle, Forde challenges Arnold. Arnold agrees to fight using the Wind Law, though he admits his Wind Law comprehension is weaker than his Earth Law.
• Arnold and Forde engage in a high-speed aerial battle. Neither can gain an advantage through movement alone.
• Forde attacks with repeated wind blades formed from his kicks. Arnold blocks or neutralizes them using Mooncleaver and Wind Binding.
• Arnold counters with Wind Blade Soaring Dance, but Forde’s battle-aura shield blocks the attack.
• Arnold then closes the distance using Wind Escape Technique and attempts to restrain Forde with Wind Binding. Forde escapes the spell’s range through explosive speed.
• Arnold recognizes that his Wind Binding is not yet powerful enough. If it reached a higher level of strength, such as “refined steel” or “diamond,” even Forde’s speed would not save him.

Character Developments

• Arnold: Demonstrates exceptional versatility as a dual-element Saint Magus. He relies on tactical movement, defensive spacing, and control spells rather than revealing the full extent of his abilities. His Earth Law grants him extraordinary speed, while his developing Wind Law allows him to compete with a dedicated Wind Law expert. He also recognizes the limits of his current Wind Binding and identifies a clear path for improvement.
• Toller: Though powerful enough to escape the Gravity Prison, he cannot overcome Arnold’s superior mobility and magical range. He concedes pragmatically rather than recklessly challenging forbidden magic, showing sound judgment and respect for Arnold’s strength.
• Forde: Reveals a strong competitive spirit and enthusiasm for learning through battle. He is extremely fast and skilled in Wind Law techniques, but Arnold’s control abilities force him to retreat. He respects Arnold and views combat as an important form of cultivation.

Significant Themes

• Variation within power levels: A shared Saint Domain rank does not guarantee equal strength; differences in comprehension can create overwhelming gaps.
• Adaptability and strategy: Arnold wins not through brute force, but by combining distance, movement, gravity, earth techniques, and magic.
• The value of combat for cultivation: Forde emphasizes that fighting provides practical growth and experience, contrasting it with isolated cultivation.
• Power versus potential: Arnold’s current Wind Binding is insufficient, but its future development could make it devastating against even the fastest opponents.
• Respect among rivals: Both Toller and Forde acknowledge Arnold’s abilities, turning the battles into exchanges of knowledge rather than simple contests of dominance.

Character Interactions

• Arnold defeats Toller through evasion and gravity magic, prompting Toller to concede and openly praise Arnold’s speed.
• Forde compliments Arnold and then challenges him, motivated by curiosity and a desire to test his own Wind Law against Arnold’s.
• Toller observes both battles, serving as a witness to Arnold’s unusual abilities and anticipating the spectacle of two fast Wind Law experts.
• The encounters establish mutual respect among the three Saint Domain experts while highlighting Arnold’s superior versatility and tactical awareness.

Chapter Summary: “Profound Truth of Slowness”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arnold spars with Forde, a Saint Domain Warrior who fights using black gauntlets and Wind Law techniques.
• Forde unleashes countless Wind Blades, each carrying the power of a Fifth-level Warrior. Arnold deliberately allows some to graze him to evaluate their strength and study Forde’s understanding of the Wind Law.
• Forde then uses a more mysterious technique: two enormous fist-shaped attacks that seem both extremely fast and strangely slow, giving Arnold the impression that the world itself has stopped.
• Arnold recognizes this as the Profound Truth of Slowness, a branch of the Wind Law’s Profound Truth of Velocity.
• Unable to evade the attacks, Arnold blocks them with a Battle-Pulse Shield. The shield is weakened by his relatively low eighth-level battle qi, but his extraordinary physical strength allows him to destroy the attacks.
• The battle continues at close range. Arnold uses his Wind Binding Profound Truth to restrain the space around Forde, while Forde counters with his gauntlets and Profound Truth of Slowness.
• Neither fighter can decisively injure the other, and the spar ends in a draw. However, Arnold gains important insight into the Profound Truth of Slowness and believes he will soon be able to begin cultivating it.
• Toller invites Arnold and Red-Eyed to his concealed cave dwelling. There, Arnold, Toller, and Forde spend more than ten days discussing the Earth and Wind Laws.
• Arnold eventually departs, having gained valuable knowledge from the discussions and from his battle with Forde.
• Afterward, Toller and Forde praise Arnold’s unique abilities, particularly his self-created Gravity Profound Truth and Wind Binding Profound Truth. They speculate that Arnold still possesses undisclosed trump cards, while acknowledging that they also held back during the spar.

Character Developments

• Arnold demonstrates his analytical and adaptable fighting style. Rather than simply defeating Forde, he studies Forde’s techniques by intentionally taking minor hits and observing their power.
• Arnold’s exceptional physical strength compensates for his weaker battle qi cultivation, allowing him to withstand attacks that his Battle-Pulse Shield alone could not block.
• He advances his understanding of the Wind Law by gaining a preliminary insight into the Profound Truth of Slowness.
• Arnold also strengthens his reputation as an original genius who has developed unique applications of both the Earth and Wind Laws.
• Forde is revealed to possess a powerful and unusual combat style. His gauntlets allow him to release vast numbers of Wind Blades and channel the Profound Truth of Slowness through devastating close-range attacks.
• Toller acts as a hospitable host and knowledgeable Earth Law cultivator. He recognizes Arnold’s talent and engages him in discussions that benefit all three men.
• Red-Eyed remains mostly a silent companion, shrinking himself to fit inside Toller's cave and standing behind Arnold during the conversations.

Significant Themes

• Learning through combat: The spar is as much an exchange of knowledge as a contest of strength. Arnold uses battle to study and understand a new law.
• The limits of conventional cultivation: Arnold’s battle qi is only at the eighth level, but his physical body and original techniques allow him to fight at a much higher level.
• Individual paths to power: Arnold’s self-created Gravity and Wind Binding Profound Truths emphasize the value of personal insight rather than merely following established techniques.
• Mutual exchange and cooperation: Although the characters are powerful rivals, they willingly share knowledge and benefit from one another’s understanding.
• Hidden strength: The discussion emphasizes that powerful cultivators rarely reveal all their abilities, leaving room for caution and uncertainty even among friendly sparring partners.

Character Interactions

• Arnold and Forde engage in a technically complex duel, with Arnold relying on Wind Binding and physical resilience while Forde uses Wind Blades, gauntlet attacks, and Slowness.
• Arnold, Toller, and Forde hold extended discussions about the Earth and Wind Laws. Arnold shares limited knowledge of Gravity and Wind Binding, while learning from the others’ practical mastery.
• Toller and Forde later discuss Arnold privately, expressing admiration for his talents and agreeing that he likely concealed additional abilities during their spar.

Chapter Summary: “Vitality”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After leaving Toller’s cave, Arnold settles beside a frozen lake and asks Red-Eyed to guard him.
• Reflecting on Forde’s earlier attack, Arnold studies the concept of “slowness.” By repeatedly swinging his sword, he develops the introductory stage of the Wind Law’s Profound Truth of Slowness, which creates a region of stagnation strong enough to crush the lake’s ice.
• The disturbance reveals a strange black-scaled, horned fish-like magical beast. Arnold is surprised to find that it is only a fifth-level beast, since creatures in the Arctic Icefield are normally much stronger.
• Observing the creature and the surrounding frozen wilderness causes Arnold to contemplate the vitality present in nature, particularly in water and earth.
• Arnold enters a deep state of meditation and merges his spiritual sense with the earth elements around him. He remains beside the lake for an entire month, eventually becoming buried beneath snow.
• During this period, he greatly improves his Earth Element Profound Truth and finally comprehends the Vitality Profound Truth, advancing it to a level comparable to his Gravity Profound Truth.
• After awakening, Arnold begins testing and refining a technique that creates a four-meter-wide earthen-yellow domain and applies a hundredfold Greater Gravity Spell to himself.

Character Developments

• Arnold demonstrates extraordinary comprehension and adaptability. Although he begins by studying the Wind Law, his observations lead him naturally into a major breakthrough in the Earth Law.
• His understanding of the Earth deepens from seeing it as merely a physical element to recognizing it as the foundation and “mother” of all life.
• Arnold’s new mastery of Vitality represents a significant advancement, expanding his abilities beyond destructive or controlling techniques into the deeper forces that sustain life and the natural world.
• Red-Eyed continues to act as Arnold’s guard and is astonished by his master’s ability to shift between elemental insights so rapidly.

Significant Themes

• The interconnectedness of nature: Wind, water, earth, and life are shown to influence one another. Arnold’s insight into Vitality arises from connecting the fish’s life force with the earth’s ability to sustain all living things.
• The hidden depth of ordinary things: The Earth, usually taken for granted, is revealed as a vast and intricate system composed of countless interacting elements.
• Comprehension through observation: Arnold’s breakthroughs come not only from deliberate experimentation but also from patiently observing his surroundings.
• Life and vitality: The chapter emphasizes that vitality exists throughout nature, with Earth possessing the greatest life-giving potential among the elements.
• Growth through stillness: Arnold achieves his greatest progress while remaining motionless and immersed in contemplation.

Character Interactions

• Arnold gives Red-Eyed the practical instruction to stand guard while he experiments and meditates.
• Red-Eyed observes Arnold’s unusual transition from studying Wind Law to comprehending Earth Law, reinforcing the contrast between Arnold’s methods and ordinary cultivation.
• Arnold indirectly interacts with the lake’s magical beast; its appearance becomes the catalyst for his realization about water’s vitality and ultimately the Earth’s life-giving nature.

Chapter Summary: “Gravity Star”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arnold continues refining his understanding of the Gravity Law. He recognizes the major weakness of his Gravity Space: gravity decreases linearly with height, allowing powerful Saint Domain Warriors and fast Saint Magi to escape.
• Seeking greater control, Arnold attempts to combine the Gravity Profound Truth with the Vitality Profound Truth, hoping to create a space in which gravity can change freely at any point.
• After another half month of meditation and deduction, Arnold successfully develops a new ultimate technique: Gravity Star.
• Gravity Star forms a perfect rotating sphere in which gravity is evenly distributed and can be altered instantly by Arnold’s will. Its initial radius is five meters, though Arnold believes he could expand it beyond one hundred meters at full power.
• Arnold considers further improvements by combining Gravity Star with the Earth Element and Earth Fluctuation Profound Truths, but realizes that four profound truths must first be fused in pairs.
• He restores the damaged ground near the lake after testing Gravity Star, then leaves with Red-Eyed.
• While traveling across the ice, Arnold is ambushed by a massive magical beast. He immediately activates Gravity Star, crushing more than a dozen of the creature’s teeth.
• The attacker is revealed to be the Caesar Sea Serpent King, a several-hundred-meter-long water-element Saint Domain Magical Beast, which becomes enraged by Arnold’s counterattack.

Character Development

• Arnold demonstrates increasing mastery and creativity in the Earth Law. Rather than merely strengthening his existing techniques, he analyzes their weaknesses and develops a more flexible and powerful ability.
• His confidence grows as he realizes Gravity Star is currently his strongest killing move, surpassing his primarily supportive Gravity Prison and Otherworldly Gravity Killing Array.
• Arnold also shows composure and tactical awareness when attacked, calmly using his newly developed technique instead of panicking.
• Red-Eyed remains Arnold’s companion and observer. Its fear of Gravity Star emphasizes how dangerous and overwhelming the technique appears, even to a powerful magical beast.

Significant Themes

• Innovation through fusion: Arnold’s advancement comes from combining different profound truths rather than pursuing each one in isolation.
• Overcoming limitations: Gravity Star directly addresses the weakness of Arnold’s original Gravity Space by making gravity uniform and freely adjustable.
• The pursuit of mastery: Arnold’s progress is continuous; even after creating his strongest technique, he immediately considers ways to improve it further.
• Power and adaptability: The chapter contrasts raw strength and speed with Arnold’s increasingly sophisticated control over the battlefield.
• Calm under threat: Arnold’s measured response to the ambush highlights his confidence and growing combat experience.

Character Interactions

• Red-Eyed watches Arnold’s cultivation from a distance and is unsettled by the pressure emitted by Gravity Star, retreating instinctively.
• Arnold calls Red-Eyed to follow him after completing his training.
• During the ambush, Arnold’s Gravity Star clashes directly with the Caesar Sea Serpent King’s attack, damaging the beast and provoking its fury.
• The chapter ends with Arnold facing the enraged Sea Serpent King, setting up a major confrontation.

Summary: “Caesar Sea Serpent King”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The enormous Caesar Sea Serpent King attacks Arnold in a rage after losing several teeth.
• Arnold remains calm because the beast’s huge size and mass make it especially vulnerable to his gravity-based abilities.
• He expands Gravity Star, trapping the serpent’s entire body beneath roughly hundredfold gravity. The beast is slammed onto the ice, widening the existing fissure and becoming temporarily immobilized.
• Arnold attacks with Mooncleaver and a Battle Qi Vibration Wave. Although the technique penetrates the serpent’s purple scales and damages its flesh, Arnold’s Eighth-level battle qi cannot inflict serious harm because of the creature’s immense body and powerful regeneration.
• The serpent retaliates with a terrifying Soul Attack, freezing Arnold’s body and attempting to penetrate his mind.
• Arnold’s soul-defense technique, modeled after Pulse Guard, neutralizes the attack through rhythmic, earth-like spiritual-power pulses. The Caesar Sea Serpent King realizes Arnold is likely a Saint Magus rather than an ordinary Saint Domain Warrior.
• Arnold launches a stronger counterattack using Gravity Pulsation, severing one of the serpent’s horns with a single strike.
• The enraged serpent rolls violently despite the gravity and vows to kill Arnold. Arnold mocks it by calling the severed appendage a “serpent horn” instead of a “dragon horn.”
• As Arnold moves to cut off the second horn, the serpent unleashes Raging Sea Arrow Rain, creating hundreds of deadly water-elemental arrows aimed at him.

Character Developments

• Arnold displays increased confidence and tactical awareness. He recognizes that gravity is particularly effective against massive magical beasts and exploits the Caesar Sea Serpent King’s size rather than relying solely on raw attack power.
• He demonstrates impressive defensive growth by resisting a powerful Soul Attack, confirming the strength of his spiritual defenses and suggesting that he has reached the level of a genuine Saint Magus.
• Arnold becomes more aggressive and provocative after gaining the upper hand, deliberately taunting the serpent while continuing his assault.
• Caesar Sea Serpent King shifts from arrogant confidence to shock, pain, and fury. It initially underestimates Arnold, then recognizes his unusual magical and soul-defense abilities. Losing a horn severely wounds its pride and intensifies its determination to kill him.

Significant Themes

• Using an opponent’s weakness against them: Arnold’s gravity techniques are not equally effective against all Saint-level enemies, but the serpent’s enormous mass makes it exceptionally vulnerable.
• The importance of preparation and specialized abilities: Arnold’s imitation of Pulse Guard allows him to withstand an attack that would overwhelm ordinary Saint Domain Warriors.
• Pride and humiliation: The serpent’s anger comes not only from physical pain but from being embarrassed and injured by a comparatively smaller human opponent.
• Caution amid confidence: Although Arnold has the advantage, he remains alert because a single mistake against a powerful Saint Domain Magical Beast could be fatal.
• Magic versus physical power: Arnold’s controlled gravity, spiritual defense, and vibration techniques allow him to challenge an enemy whose overwhelming size and strength would otherwise be nearly impossible to defeat.

Character Interactions

• Arnold and the Caesar Sea Serpent King engage in a direct battle of strategy, with Arnold immobilizing and damaging the serpent while it responds with physical attacks and soul magic.
• Red-Eyed remains confident in Arnold because he has previously witnessed the power of Gravity Star.
• The serpent internally recognizes Arnold as likely being a Saint Magus after its Soul Attack fails.
• Arnold taunts the wounded creature by correcting its claim that it lost a “dragon horn,” further provoking its rage before the serpent counters with Raging Sea Arrow Rain.

Chapter Summary: Saint Domain Magical Crystal Core

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Caesar Sea Serpent King attacks Arnold with Raging Sea Arrow Rain, a devastating barrage capable of killing hundreds or thousands of soldiers.
• Arnold compresses his Gravity Star into a two-meter sphere, greatly strengthening its defensive power. The magical arrows strike the sphere but are all blocked and destroyed.
• Arnold expands Gravity Star again, trapping the serpent king’s head and upper body within its range. Using the Vitality Profound Truth as a medium, he launches a soul attack called Soul Annihilation.
• The soul attack destroys the Caesar Sea Serpent King’s soul instantly, killing it.
• Red-Eyed retrieves the serpent king’s Saint Domain Magical Crystal Core, while Arnold buries the massive corpse in a fissure using Earthshaking Art and Earth Element magic.
• Arnold and Red-Eyed continue exploring the Arctic Icefield. Over nearly a year, Arnold encounters more than ten Saint Domain Warriors, defeating most but being unable to overcome a Wind Law expert whose mastery of speed allows him to escape even under extreme gravity.
• During this period, Arnold advances his fusion of the Gravity Profound Truth with other Earth Law profound truths and improves both his combat techniques and battle-qi cultivation.

Character Developments

• Arnold demonstrates major growth in combat ability. He successfully combines the Gravity and Vitality Profound Truths to create both a near-perfect defense and a lethal soul attack.
• His understanding of the Vitality Profound Truth deepens; he realizes it can link material attacks with soul-based abilities and serve as a foundation for fusing other profound truths.
• Arnold’s Earth Fluctuation Slash improves from one hundred layers to one hundred and twenty after his fusion with Gravity.
• His battle-qi cultivation reaches the Ninth-level stage, producing a qualitative increase in the power of his Earth Law techniques. However, he estimates that reaching the Saint Domain level will require at least five more years.
• Arnold begins wondering whether fusing every profound truth within the Earth Law could allow him to become the legendary High-God, though his understanding of the divine realms remains incomplete.
• Red-Eyed continues to support Arnold, obeying his order to remain uninvolved during the battle and later helping recover the magical crystal core.

Significant Themes

• The versatility of profound truths: Arnold’s fusion of Gravity and Vitality demonstrates that a single law can support both physical defense and soul destruction.
• Growth through combat and pressure: Battles, extreme gravity, and prolonged cultivation accelerate Arnold’s advancement.
• The scale and difficulty of power progression: Arnold recognizes that fusing all the profound truths of a law may require enormous amounts of time and effort.
• Limits of knowledge and ambition: Arnold’s speculation about becoming a High-God reflects both his growing aspirations and his still-naive understanding of the broader divine hierarchy.
• The value of rare resources: The Saint Domain Magical Crystal Core is treated as an important reward from defeating a powerful magical beast.

Character Interactions

• Arnold and the Caesar Sea Serpent King engage in a direct battle of attack and defense. The serpent king is initially confident in its deadly ranged attack but becomes terrified when Arnold reveals his Soul Annihilation technique.
• Arnold deliberately prevents Red-Eyed from interfering, showing confidence in handling the battle himself.
• After the serpent king’s death, Red-Eyed works with Arnold to extract the magical crystal core and dispose of the enormous corpse.
• Arnold’s later encounters with other Saint Domain Warriors, particularly the Wind Law expert, show that despite his strength, some opponents can still evade him and force stalemates.

Chapter Summary: “Plane Guardian—Hodan”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arnold’s soul power has doubled over the past year, reaching a level comparable to Saint Magi who have cultivated for decades or even centuries.
• This unusual growth began after he comprehended and fused the Vitality Profound Truth with the Gravity Profound Truth. Arnold cannot determine whether the improvement comes from Vitality itself or from the fusion, but it greatly benefits his cultivation.
• His stronger soul enhances both his soul defense and his ability to deduce and fuse profound truths. He is now naturally resistant to soul attacks even without specialized defensive techniques.
• While Arnold cultivates inside an ice mountain, Hodan, the Plane Guardian, arrives unexpectedly. Arnold leaves his seclusion and welcomes him into the cave.
• Hodan asks whether Arnold and Red-Eyed intend to leave the Yulan Continent for other planes. Arnold and Red-Eyed politely refuse for now, explaining that they still have attachments to their current plane and may only consider leaving centuries later.
• Arnold uses the opportunity to question Hodan about the greater structure of the universe:
  • The Seven Divine Planes correspond to the seven elemental Laws.
  • Cultivators benefit from entering the plane associated with their chosen Law.
  • Gods progress from Demi-God to Mid-God and finally High-God by gaining increasing recognition from the Laws and eventually comprehending all the Laws of one element.
  • The Seven Divine Planes were created by Sovereigns.
  • The Four Higher Planes were created by the Overgods.
• Hodan explains that Sovereigns are beings above ordinary gods, though becoming one is extraordinarily rare.
• He clarifies that Overgods are not cultivators but manifestations of the four Supreme Laws: Death, Destruction, Fate, and Life. They function as impersonal forces governing the operation of the planes.
• Hodan attempts to entice Arnold with descriptions of the Higher Planes, where treasures are abundant and all Laws can be cultivated efficiently, but Arnold remains cautious and declines to leave prematurely.
• Before departing, Hodan tells Arnold that he can find him at the tallest ice mountain in the Arctic Icefield if he eventually decides to leave the Yulan Continent.

Character Developments

• Arnold: Demonstrates remarkable growth in soul power and increasing mastery of Earth-related profound truths. He is curious and ambitious but also cautious, refusing to rush into the dangerous higher planes before reaching a sufficient level of strength. His questioning reveals a desire to understand the wider cosmological hierarchy.
• Red-Eyed: Remains loyal to Arnold and declares that he will follow his master wherever Arnold chooses to go. His fear and pressure when Hodan looks at him emphasize the Plane Guardian’s overwhelming power.
• Hodan: Appears knowledgeable, direct, and somewhat persuasive. He respects Arnold’s freedom of choice but clearly hopes to recruit him and Red-Eyed to the higher planes.

Significant Themes

• Rapid growth and cultivation: Arnold’s soul power illustrates the unpredictable benefits of profound-truth fusion and the importance of spiritual strength in advancing cultivation.
• Knowledge versus strength: Arnold seeks information about the universe before making major decisions, showing that understanding the world is as important to him as increasing his power.
• Caution and independence: Despite Hodan’s tempting description of the higher planes, Arnold refuses to be pressured into leaving before he is ready.
• The hierarchy of existence: The chapter expands the story’s cosmology, distinguishing Saint Magi, gods, Sovereigns, and Overgods.
• Law as the foundation of reality: Overgods are revealed not as ordinary beings but as embodiments of the Supreme Laws that regulate the planes.

Important Character Interactions

• Hodan’s formal meeting with Arnold establishes a relationship between the young cultivator and the powerful Plane Guardian.
• Arnold pretends not to know Hodan’s connection to Catherine, while Hodan recognizes the pretense, creating a subtle exchange of guarded intentions.
• Hodan’s glance at Red-Eyed demonstrates the vast difference between their levels of power.
• Arnold repeatedly questions Hodan about gods, Sovereigns, and Overgods, turning the meeting into an important lesson about the wider world.
• Hodan tries to persuade Arnold to leave for the higher planes, but Arnold calmly maintains control over the decision.

Chapter Summary: “Arnold’s Ambition”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After Hodan departs, Arnold reflects on the hierarchy of divine advancement:
  • Complete mastery of one profound truth leads to the Demi-God realm.
  • Mastering several profound truths may lead to Mid-God status.
  • Mastering every profound truth within a single law could produce a High-God.
• Arnold concludes that fusing profound truths is more important than merely comprehending them. His fusion of the Gravity and Earth Element Profound Truths created the Otherworldly Gravity Killing Array, allowing him to approach the level of the strongest Saint Domain experts despite relatively low comprehension.
• He establishes three major ambitions:
  1. Become a god.
  2. Become what he terms a Perfection High-God, capable of fusing every profound truth within one branch.
  3. Reach Sovereign status and uncover the secret of becoming a Sovereign.
• Arnold also considers testing a powerful cultivation method inspired by a novel from the memories of the Earth-born soul within him. He postpones this until after becoming a god because his current physical strength is insufficient.
• His cultivation accelerates as his soul power improves his ability to deduce and fuse profound truths.
• Unable to find a connection between Gravity and Earth Escape, Arnold shifts his attention to fusing:
  • Gravity with Earth Fluctuation.
  • Earth Element with Earth Escape.
• Arnold travels to the Arctic Icefield to challenge or meet Rutherford, a Saint Domain Pinnacle renowned for his mastery of the Water Law.
• Rutherford’s Water Castle shelters human cultivators from magical beasts. Arnold admires Rutherford’s ability to maintain a selfless, disciplined mindset over long periods of cultivation.
• Arnold reaches the castle, is received by a Ninth-level Warrior, and waits four hours before Rutherford finally enters.

Character Development

• Arnold becomes increasingly ambitious and self-assured. He develops a clear long-term plan extending from godhood to Sovereign-level power.
• His understanding of cultivation matures: he recognizes that the quality and compatibility of fused profound truths can matter more than raw comprehension percentages.
• He remains highly confident in his potential, believing that even if he becomes stuck in one area, he can continue advancing through other profound truths and fusion techniques.
• Arnold also shows growing curiosity about his Earth-related memories and the cultivation ideas inherited from them.
• Rutherford is introduced as a powerful Saint Domain Pinnacle and a respected protector of human cultivators, suggesting both great strength and a responsible character.
• The Ninth-level Warrior demonstrates the social structure around the Water Castle, where lower-level cultivators serve powerful experts in exchange for protection and guidance.

Significant Themes

• Ambition and transcendence: Arnold’s goals expand beyond survival or ordinary godhood toward perfection and Sovereign power.
• Comprehension versus synthesis: The chapter emphasizes that true strength comes not only from understanding individual laws but from successfully combining them.
• Patience and perseverance: Rutherford’s secluded cultivation and Arnold’s willingness to pursue multiple paths illustrate the long, tedious nature of advancement.
• Power and responsibility: Rutherford uses his strength to protect weaker human cultivators, contrasting personal cultivation with social duty.
• The limits of the physical body: Arnold recognizes that even superior spiritual comprehension is useless if his body cannot withstand the demands of higher-level techniques.
• Inherited knowledge and identity: Arnold’s future plans are influenced by the memories and ideas of the Earth-born soul fused with him.

Character Interactions

• Arnold and Hodan: Hodan’s earlier information prompts Arnold to analyze the divine hierarchy and formulate his ambitions.
• Arnold and the Saint Domain Warrior he questions: Arnold gathers information about Rutherford’s location through several warriors while traveling across the Arctic Icefield.
• Arnold and the Ninth-level Warrior: The warrior initially assumes Arnold has come for secluded cultivation. After sensing Arnold’s Saint Domain aura, he respectfully offers assistance and guides him to a reception room.
• Arnold and Rutherford: Their direct meeting has not yet begun, but the chapter ends with Rutherford’s arrival, setting up a likely confrontation, exchange, or test between the two powerful cultivators.

Chapter Summary: “Saint Domain Pinnacle Rutherford”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arnold meets Rutherford, a Saint Domain Pinnacle expert, at Rutherford’s castle on the Arctic Icefield.
• Rutherford recognizes Arnold as the young Saint Magus who defeated Dounuman, a powerful Saint Domain Warrior specializing in the Dark Law.
• Arnold asks Rutherford for a sparring match to measure the difference between Saint Domain Peak and Saint Domain Pinnacle. Rutherford agrees, treating the encounter partly as a test and partly as an opportunity to instruct Arnold.
• Arnold begins with Wind Binding, but Rutherford effortlessly breaks it by flooding the area with icy energy and forcing out the trapped wind elements.
• Arnold follows with fortyfold gravity, but Rutherford withstands it without difficulty, treating the pressure almost like physical training.
• Using Wind Escape Technique, Arnold closes in and attacks with his sword, Mooncleaver. Their weapons clash repeatedly:
  • Arnold’s 120-layer Earth Fluctuation Slash produces a Battle Qi Vibration Wave that Rutherford must neutralize internally.
  • Arnold then combines Gravity Profound Truth with Earth Fluctuation Profound Truth, creating a stronger attack that Rutherford blocks with a partially powered Battle Qi Shield.
• Arnold realizes that even his stronger technique, Gravity Star, would likely have limited effectiveness against Rutherford.
• Instead of continuing to attack, Arnold decides to test Rutherford’s offensive capabilities.
• Arnold traps Rutherford inside the Otherworldly Gravity Killing Array, a complex black spatial prison filled with immense gravity.
• Rutherford remains calm and repeatedly smashes through the prison’s walls with his gauntlets. After breaking through several layers, he realizes that the enclosed space is shifting, suggesting the array is more complicated than a simple barrier.

Character Developments

• Arnold demonstrates impressive strength, versatility, and rapid innovation. He combines multiple profound truths during the fight and adapts quickly when his initial attacks prove ineffective.
• Despite his power, Arnold clearly recognizes the immense gap between himself and a Saint Domain Pinnacle expert. His analysis of Rutherford’s defenses shows both humility and battle intelligence.
• Arnold’s spiritual power has grown substantially, allowing him to cast powerful Eighth-level gravity spells instantly.
• Rutherford is portrayed as calm, experienced, and overwhelmingly powerful. He has thousands of years of combat experience and is familiar with even exceptionally fast Wind Law practitioners.
• Rutherford deliberately limits his actions, allowing Arnold to display his abilities and using the spar as an instructional evaluation rather than a serious battle.
• Rutherford’s ability to break Arnold’s techniques with minimal effort emphasizes the difference between Saint Domain Peak and Saint Domain Pinnacle.

Significant Themes

• The gap between realms: Arnold is already dominant among Saint Domain Peak experts, but Rutherford reveals how vast the difference is at the Pinnacle level.
• Combat as learning: The sparring match is not merely a contest of strength. Rutherford tests Arnold while giving him an opportunity to understand his own weaknesses.
• Adaptation and innovation: Arnold continually modifies his techniques, fusing Gravity and Earth Profound Truths rather than relying on familiar attacks.
• Experience versus talent: Arnold possesses remarkable natural ability and rapid comprehension, while Rutherford’s millennia of experience allow him to remain composed and recognize the patterns of Arnold’s techniques.
• Strength through restraint: Rutherford’s decision not to attack seriously highlights his confidence and control.

Character Interactions

• Rutherford greets Arnold respectfully and praises him for defeating Dounuman.
• Arnold responds confidently, openly requesting a battle to assess his strength against Rutherford’s higher realm.
• During the fight, Rutherford acts as both opponent and mentor, enduring Arnold’s attacks rather than immediately overwhelming him.
• Arnold studies Rutherford’s defenses and changes strategy, shifting from testing his own offensive power to examining Rutherford’s abilities.
• The chapter ends with Rutherford trapped but unshaken, while Arnold’s moving spatial prison begins to reveal its true complexity.

Chapter Summary: “Water Profound Truth”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Rutherford quickly understands how Arnold’s Otherworldly Gravity Killing Array functions. The array divides its interior into black spaces whose walls can be broken, but moving spaces force an opponent to waste battle qi while escaping.
• Rutherford stops attacking, causing the spaces to stop moving. He then unleashes his full strength, shattering eight walls with each gauntlet strike and escaping the Gravity Space after only a few attacks.
• Arnold acknowledges that Rutherford’s power is overwhelming, while Rutherford praises Arnold’s array for being capable of trapping most Saint Domain Peak experts.
• While traveling across the ice, Arnold demonstrates his Water Escape Art, a technique that allows him to merge with water elements and move rapidly.
• Arnold explains his theory that a single elemental law consists of multiple distinct Profound Truths. He compares the complete law to a circle divided into nine sections, meaning Rutherford has mastered only one portion of the Water Law rather than the entire law.
• Rutherford realizes that his failure to become a god after more than a thousand years may be due to focusing exclusively on one Water Profound Truth. He decides to study additional Water Profound Truths.
• Grateful for Arnold’s guidance, Rutherford promises to help him whenever needed and enters deep seclusion to pursue further breakthroughs.
• Arnold remains at the Water Castle, sparring with its Saint Domain warriors. Through these battles, he gains greater insight into the Water Law and deduces two additional profound truths: the Ice Profound Truth and the Mist Profound Truth.

Character Development

• Rutherford: Initially confident that he has fully comprehended the Water Law, Rutherford is forced to reconsider his understanding. Arnold’s explanation gives him a new path toward godhood, renewing his excitement and determination after centuries of stagnation.
• Arnold: Demonstrates both formidable combat ability through his array and exceptional insight into the structure of elemental laws. He acts as a teacher and guide to Rutherford while continuing to expand his own understanding through combat.
• Rutherford and Arnold: Their mutual respect deepens. Rutherford recognizes Arnold’s unusual wisdom, while Arnold respects Rutherford’s overwhelming strength and accommodates his eagerness to begin secluded cultivation.

Significant Themes

• Limits of knowledge: Mastery of one aspect of a law does not mean mastery of the entire law. Even powerful experts may misunderstand the limits of their comprehension.
• The importance of conceptual breakthroughs: Rutherford’s progress was blocked not by lack of effort but by an incomplete theory of cultivation. A new perspective opens the possibility of advancement.
• Mutual learning and mentorship: Arnold’s theoretical insight benefits Rutherford, while Arnold gains practical understanding by sparring with Water Law practitioners.
• Power versus wisdom: Rutherford easily overwhelms Arnold’s killing array through superior strength, but Arnold possesses the deeper conceptual understanding that may ultimately help Rutherford reach godhood.
• Continuous cultivation: The chapter emphasizes that true advancement requires exploring new applications and dimensions of one’s chosen law.

Character Interactions

• Rutherford tests and escapes Arnold’s Gravity Killing Array, leading to mutual praise.
• During their conversation, Arnold introduces Rutherford to the concept of multiple Water Profound Truths.
• Rutherford questions Arnold closely, gradually realizing that his own comprehension is only one part of the Water Law.
• Rutherford sincerely offers Arnold future assistance in gratitude.
• At the Water Castle, Arnold interacts with and spars against numerous Saint Domain warriors, using those encounters to deepen his knowledge and discover new Water Profound Truths.

Chapter Summary: “Bemona”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arnold recognizes that the Water Law contains three forms of profound truth: the Water, Ice, and Mist Profound Truths. Although he has gained an initial understanding of Ice and Mist through past battles, his weak water-element affinity makes further progress extremely slow.
• He therefore postpones studying the Water Law and focuses instead on the Gravity Profound Truth and its related Fusion Profound Truth.
• Arnold leaves Rutherford in secluded cultivation at Water Castle, knowing Rutherford’s breakthrough may take anywhere from months to decades. He reunites with Red-Eyed and departs the Arctic Icefield.
• Arnold travels to the Eighteen Northern Dukedoms, intending to explore the region. He reasons that the Ice Goddess must be extraordinarily powerful because the O’Brien Empire has never conquered the relatively small duchies despite having the military strength to do so.
• In a tavern, Arnold overhears discussions about local battlefield heroes. A white-haired girl named Bemona approaches him and mysteriously calls him by name.
• Bemona reveals that she is the granddaughter of Harry and the great-granddaughter of Beirut, the ruler of the Dark Forest. She also possesses enough power to prevent everyone else in the tavern from hearing their conversation.
• Bemona explains that she sought Arnold out because she was fascinated by his achievement of becoming a Saint Magus at only twenty-one.
• Their conversation introduces the concept of Divine Beasts: unlike ordinary magical beasts, Divine Beasts naturally become Demi-Gods upon reaching maturity, though their growth periods may last hundreds of years.

Character Developments

• Arnold: Shows strategic discipline by setting aside difficult Water Law studies and concentrating on Gravity and Fusion. He remains cautious around Bemona, prepared to defend himself if necessary, but is also curious about her identity and the powerful beings connected to her.
• Rutherford: Remains behind in secluded cultivation, emphasizing the uncertainty and long duration of advancement at higher levels.
• Bemona: Introduced as confident, powerful, and somewhat playful. She is openly impressed—and perhaps envious—of Arnold’s unusually rapid cultivation. Her ability to conceal their conversation demonstrates a strength far beyond Arnold’s current level.
• Harry and Beirut: Though absent, they are established as immensely influential figures. Beirut is identified as the ruler of the Dark Forest and possibly a Mid-God or High-God.

Significant Themes

• The difficulty of cultivation: Different elemental affinities greatly affect the time required to comprehend profound truths.
• Power and hierarchy: The chapter expands the world’s power structure through references to the Ice Goddess, Beirut, planar overseers, Saint Magi, Demi-Gods, and Divine Beasts.
• Innate talent versus effort: Arnold’s exceptional progress contrasts with Divine Beasts, whose bloodlines grant them extraordinary natural advancement.
• Curiosity and exploration: Arnold’s journey to the Northern Dukedoms reflects his desire to understand unfamiliar regions and powers rather than remain isolated in cultivation.
• Hidden strength: Bemona’s concealed identity and overwhelming abilities reinforce that the world contains powerful beings whose true status is not immediately apparent.

Character Interactions

• Arnold and Rutherford part after discussing Arnold’s plans, with Arnold allowing Rutherford to continue his long-term cultivation.
• Arnold travels with Red-Eyed, relying on the powerful magical beast for transportation.
• In the tavern, Arnold cautiously questions Bemona after she unexpectedly identifies him.
• Bemona explains her connection to Beirut and her reason for seeking Arnold, while Arnold questions her about Divine Beasts.
• Their conversation establishes mutual curiosity: Bemona is intrigued by Arnold’s rapid growth, while Arnold is increasingly aware of how much he still does not know about the world’s strongest beings.

Chapter Summary: “Six Profound Truths of the Earth Law”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bemona explains the extraordinary nature of Divine Beasts: once they mature, they automatically become gods, unlike ordinary cultivators who must comprehend laws over thousands of years.
• She reveals that her great-grandfather is Beirut, the first Devouring God Rat. A second Devouring God Rat was recently born from two Ninth-level magical beasts, which Bemona identifies as an unfair stroke of luck and intends to challenge once it matures.
• Arnold realizes the second Devouring God Rat is likely Bei Bei, Linley’s pet.
• Bemona introduces Arnold to the six

Profound Truths of the Earth Law

• Earth Element
• Earth Travel
• Strength
• Gravity Space
• Earth Pulsation
• Vitality
• Arnold recognizes that he has already comprehended five of the six, with only the Strength Profound Truth remaining entirely beyond his grasp. Several of his Profound Truths have also begun to fuse.
• Bemona says she has comprehended four Profound Truths and begun studying Vitality, but has not yet found a way to comprehend Gravity Space.
• At her request, Arnold demonstrates his Greater Gravity Spell outside the town. The spell creates a powerful hemispherical Gravity Space that combines the Earth Element and Gravity Space Profound Truths.
• Bemona withstands the spell easily because she is a Deity-level expert, but the technique gives her valuable insight into Gravity Space. She realizes Arnold’s spell is not merely powerful but demonstrates genuine fusion between two Profound Truths.

Character Developments

• Arnold is shown to possess exceptional talent and an unusually advanced understanding of the Earth Law. He has independently begun fusing Profound Truths despite not knowing their formal classifications.
• Arnold remains cautious and discreet, revealing only three of his comprehended Profound Truths to Bemona even though he has actually mastered five.
• Bemona is portrayed as powerful, knowledgeable, and somewhat envious of Arnold’s rapid cultivation. Her frustration also appears in her resentment that she did not inherit or develop a Devouring God Rat bloodline.
• Bemona gains her first meaningful insight into the Gravity Space Profound Truth through Arnold’s demonstration.
• The chapter suggests Arnold may eventually become the sixth Saint Domain expert on the Yulan Continent to reach Saint Domain Pinnacle strength.

Significant Themes

• Innate talent versus effort: Divine Beasts can become gods through maturation alone, while ordinary beings must struggle to comprehend profound laws.
• Bloodline and inheritance: Bemona’s weaker inherited Divine Beast bloodline contrasts with the overwhelming potential of true Divine Beasts and mutated bloodlines.
• Fusion and mastery: True advancement comes not only from comprehending individual Profound Truths but also from combining them into more powerful techniques.
• Jealousy and admiration: Bemona envies Arnold’s talent, yet she also sincerely respects and learns from him.
• Hidden strength and caution: Arnold conceals the full extent of his abilities, demonstrating his awareness that displaying too much power can be dangerous.

Character Interactions

• Bemona openly discusses her family, Beirut, and the Devouring God Rat lineage with Arnold, creating a more informal atmosphere between them.
• Arnold listens carefully but avoids revealing his full capabilities, showing both curiosity and guardedness.
• Bemona praises Arnold as a genius after learning that he has comprehended three Profound Truths, though Arnold does not respond boastfully.
• Their sparring demonstration becomes an educational exchange rather than a true battle: Arnold showcases his Gravity Space, while Bemona studies its structure and gains inspiration for her own cultivation.
• Bemona’s reaction confirms Arnold’s technique is extraordinarily advanced and establishes the growing importance of their relationship as fellow Earth Law cultivators.

Chapter Summary: “Meeting Desri”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Bemona achieves a breakthrough in her understanding of the Gravity Space Profound Truth after Arnold helps her with the Greater Gravity Spell.
• As a reward, she gives Arnold a token marked with the character “Bei.” Arnold recognizes that it resembles the token given to him by the High Priest, marked “Ji,” and wonders whether Bemona knows about his allegiance to the High Priest.
• Bemona is unaware of Arnold’s oath because she has only recently returned to the Yulan Plane. She gives him the token because she believes he is approaching the Saint Domain Pinnacle realm.
• After spending a week in the Eighteen Northern Dukedoms, Arnold travels with the Black Dragon to the Chaotic Territory.
• Arnold observes the region’s constant warfare but avoids interfering. He is confident that, apart from the Radiant and Dark Popes, few people there pose a serious threat to him—though he privately overestimates his ability to resist the Radiant Pope’s ultimate attack.
• His real purpose is to meet Desri, a famous Saint Domain Pinnacle powerhouse who lives in seclusion near South Mountain City.
• Arnold arrives at Desri’s mountain village and is greeted by Miller, one of Desri’s people, who had already sensed his arrival through Desri’s soul transmission.
• Arnold is introduced to Desri, along with Desri’s companions Hayward, a Saint Magus, and Foreman, a Saint Domain Warrior who cultivates the Earth Law.

Character Developments

• Arnold continues to grow in confidence and reputation. His mastery of profound laws, his mutated Saint Domain Black Dragon, and his connections to powerful figures make him increasingly influential.
• He also demonstrates some self-awareness by recognizing that he cannot yet confront the Radiant Pope directly, despite initially thinking he could survive such an encounter.
• Bemona experiences an important breakthrough in the Gravity Space Profound Truth, showing that she is extremely close to Arnold’s level of comprehension in that area.
• Desri is established as observant, knowledgeable, and welcoming. He has researched Arnold beforehand and recognizes him through his reputation and his conspicuous Black Dragon companion.
• Miller shows great pride in Desri’s abilities, particularly his unusual capacity for soul transmission.
• Hayward expresses admiration for Arnold’s extraordinary achievement of becoming a Saint Magus at only twenty-one.

Significant Themes

• Power and advancement: The chapter emphasizes Arnold’s rapid progress and the rarity of his abilities, while positioning Desri as an even greater figure who stands only one step from deity-level power.
• Connections among powerful beings: Tokens, oaths, introductions, and reputation reveal a wider network of influential figures whose relationships may shape Arnold’s future.
• Humility versus overconfidence: Arnold is powerful but occasionally overestimates himself, especially regarding the Radiant Pope. His recognition of the gap between them provides a measure of realism.
• Seclusion and tranquility: Desri’s quiet mountain village contrasts sharply with the violence of the Chaotic Territory, suggesting that true power may be accompanied by withdrawal from worldly conflict.
• Recognition and reputation: Arnold’s age, accomplishments, and Black Dragon companion make him immediately identifiable to powerful figures, showing how quickly his fame is spreading.

Character Interactions

• Arnold and Bemona: Bemona thanks Arnold for helping her comprehend the Gravity Space Profound Truth and gives him a mysterious token before departing.
• Arnold and the Black Dragon: Their master-servant relationship includes casual humor, with the Black Dragon imagining becoming a king and Arnold reminding him of the deity-level magical beast Dylan.
• Arnold and Miller: Miller intercepts Arnold, explains that Desri sensed him through soul transmission, and escorts him into the village.
• Arnold and Desri: Desri warmly welcomes Arnold and explains how he identified him through information from Cesar and Arnold’s distinctive Black Dragon.
• Arnold and Hayward: Hayward praises Arnold’s unprecedentedly young achievement of reaching the Saint Magus realm.
• Arnold and Foreman: Foreman is introduced as another powerful Saint Domain expert, broadening Arnold’s contact with the village’s elite residents.

Chapter Summary: “Strength Profound Truth”

Plot Points and Events

• Arnold visits Lord Desri in his crystal-filled mountain residence, intending to challenge a Saint Domain expert who has mastered the Law of Light.
• Before fighting Desri, Arnold requests a duel with Foreman, one of Desri’s strongest subordinates and an expert in the Earth Law.
• The duel takes place in the surrounding mountains, with Desri, Hayward, and Miller watching.
• Arnold and Foreman exchange powerful attacks. Arnold is slightly disadvantaged because his battle qi is only at the Ninth-level, but his mastery of the Earth Law allows him to fight effectively.
• Foreman uses the Strength Profound Truth, an aspect of the Earth Law that Arnold has not yet begun to comprehend.
• Arnold refuses to use his usual Greater Gravity Spell, choosing instead to study and experience Foreman’s application of strength directly.
• Foreman eventually unleashes Earth Slash, his strongest attack, while Arnold responds with his ultimate defensive technique, Gravity Star.
• Earth Slash fails to break through Gravity Star, though its force drives Arnold and his defensive sphere into the ground, creating a large crater.
• Foreman admits that Arnold’s defense is too powerful to overcome, effectively deciding the duel.
• Arnold is pleased rather than discouraged. The battle gives him new insights, and he believes he can soon gain an initial understanding of the Strength Profound Truth.

Character Development

• Arnold demonstrates confidence, courage, and a willingness to challenge stronger opponents. Although his battle qi is weaker than Foreman’s, he compensates through technical skill and deep comprehension of the Earth Law.
• Arnold’s decision not to use Greater Gravity shows that he is focused on growth rather than simply winning. He deliberately exposes himself to Foreman’s Strength Profound Truth so he can learn from it.
• His use of Gravity Star reveals that his defensive abilities have reached an extraordinary level, potentially rivaling those of Saint Domain Pinnacle experts.
• Foreman is initially eager to test Arnold but becomes increasingly astonished by Arnold’s strength and versatility. By the end, he recognizes that Arnold’s defense is nearly impossible to break.
• Desri becomes more impressed with Arnold after witnessing Gravity Star, realizing that Arnold’s Earth Law defense is far more advanced than expected.
• Hayward’s earlier skepticism contrasts with Arnold’s actual performance, as Arnold proves that his strength cannot be judged solely by his cultivation rank.

Significant Themes

• Growth through combat: Arnold treats the duel as an opportunity to learn, using an opponent’s abilities to advance his own understanding.
• Strength versus technique: Foreman possesses overwhelming physical power through the Strength Profound Truth, while Arnold relies on precise comprehension, fusion of profound truths, and superior defense.
• The limits of cultivation level: Arnold’s lower battle qi quality prevents him from matching a Saint Domain Pinnacle expert outright, but his techniques allow him to compete beyond what his rank suggests.
• Defense as a form of power: Gravity Star demonstrates that overwhelming defense can neutralize even a devastating offensive technique.
• Different paths to mastery: Arnold’s fusion of profound truths has not yet made him a Saint Domain Pinnacle expert, but the battle suggests that continued refinement—or discovering the right path—could greatly increase his strength.

Character Interactions

• Desri welcomes Arnold but recognizes his confidence and curiosity.
• Arnold directly asks to fight Foreman, showing his straightforward and assertive personality.
• Foreman accepts enthusiastically, eager to test the unusually talented Arnold.
• During the fight, their attacks and reactions reveal mutual respect: Arnold studies Foreman’s technique, while Foreman becomes impressed by Arnold’s mastery and defense.
• Desri and the others serve as observers, with Desri specifically recognizing the exceptional defensive power of Arnold’s Gravity Star.