Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “Beaumont’s Death”

Key Plot Points and Events

• At Bosha Embankment on the border of the Rao and Magnolia Empires, Beaumont awaits Linley, Arnold, Rutherford, and Olivia while crowds watch from a distance under heavy Saint Domain security.
• The four confront Beaumont over his responsibility for the massacre of nearly one hundred million people in the Rao Empire.
• Beaumont admits arranging the slaughter but dismisses the value of mortal lives and offers to stop killing people if Linley shows him respect. Linley rejects the offer, and the group declares that they have come to fight him to the death.
• Beaumont attacks first, targeting Olivia, but the four coordinate their abilities:
  • Olivia blocks Beaumont’s opening strike.
  • Arnold creates twenty clones and uses the destruction of those clones to activate his powerful binding technique, Shadow-Binding Space.
  • Linley and Rutherford exploit Beaumont’s immobilization and severely injure him.
  • Olivia delivers the final attack, shattering Beaumont’s God Spark and annihilating his soul.
• Linley collects Beaumont’s God Spark, divine artifact, and interspatial ring.
• Afterward, the group subdues Beaumont’s Saint Domain subordinates and investigates their involvement in the massacre.
• Rather than execute them, Arnold and Linley force them to swear an oath to establish a Battle Supervision Squad for ten thousand years. The squad will prevent battles involving powerful warriors or mages from causing mass civilian casualties across the Yulan Continent.

Character Developments

• Linley becomes more decisive and morally uncompromising. He refuses Beaumont’s attempt to excuse the massacre or invoke Lord Beirut’s authority, choosing justice over diplomacy.
• Arnold reveals the exceptional strength of his Wind Space Profound Truth. His Shadow-Binding Space is powerful enough to immobilize Beaumont completely and becomes the key to victory.
• Rutherford contributes to the coordinated assault and helps demonstrate the group’s combined strength against Beaumont.
• Olivia shows both courage and deadly precision, blocking Beaumont’s attack and ultimately destroying his God Spark. His previously detached attitude toward punishment contrasts with Linley and Arnold’s more measured solution.
• Beaumont is exposed as arrogant, ruthless, and dismissive of mortals. His confidence in his superior power collapses when Arnold’s restraint leaves him helpless, and his final thoughts reveal surprise at Arnold’s true abilities.
• Beaumont’s subordinates are shown to be complicit in the massacre but also victims of coercion and enslavement. Their survival depends on accepting responsibility through the enforced oath.

Significant Themes

• Justice and accountability: The massacre cannot be ignored simply because the victims were ordinary mortals or because Beaumont is powerful.
• The value of mortal life: Beaumont’s contempt for mortals is directly challenged by Linley and the others, who treat the mass killing as a crime deserving death.
• Power and cooperation: Beaumont is individually stronger than any one of the newly ascended gods, but coordinated tactics—especially Arnold’s binding ability—allow the group to defeat him.
• Responsible use of power: The creation of the Battle Supervision Squad establishes a system to limit collateral damage and protect civilians from conflicts among powerful beings.
• Mercy balanced with punishment: Although the subordinates participated in the massacre, Arnold and Linley choose reform and supervision over indiscriminate execution.

Character Interactions

• Linley and Beaumont engage in a tense moral confrontation, with Beaumont attempting to bargain and intimidate him through references to Lord Beirut.
• Arnold openly declares the group’s intent to kill Beaumont and later earns Rutherford and Olivia’s respect through his unexpected restraint technique.
• Olivia challenges Beaumont’s disregard for mortal lives and provides the killing blow.
• Rutherford supports Linley and Olivia in the decisive assault.
• After Beaumont’s death, Linley and Arnold disagree indirectly with Olivia’s call to execute all the subordinates, ultimately choosing a more constructive punishment that protects the wider population.

Chapter Summary: “Arnold Courting Death”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After Beaumont’s death, Arnold, Linley, Rutherford, and Olivia divide the spoils. Beaumont’s unrefined souls are released to the Underworld, while the refined soul essences, God Spark, divine artifacts, and interspatial ring are distributed among them.
• Arnold refuses to absorb the refined soul essence because he finds it repulsive. Rutherford takes Beaumont’s God Spark, Linley receives his warblade, and Arnold and Olivia share the contents of his interspatial ring.
• The group visits Beirut to ask whether the spatial weak point in the Magical Beast Mountain Range can be sealed. Beirut explains that it connects to the Gebados Plane, a brutal planar prison from which escape is extremely difficult. He refuses to seal it, believing that those who escape are unfortunate victims rather than an imminent threat.
• Arnold’s Earth God Clone returns from the Necropolis of the Gods. He confirms that combining Demi-God wind divine power with Mid-God earth divine power weakens the result, though he can still absorb a limited amount of Demi-God earth divine power.
• Ten years later, Bei Bei becomes a god, and Beirut visits Dragonblood Castle with his sons.
• Beirut teaches Arnold and Linley the proper Higher Plane names of the Fire and Water profound mysteries and stresses the importance of fusing profound mysteries to achieve greater power.
• Arnold asks whether Beirut can release someone from the Gebados Planar Prison. Beirut agrees to release him only if he defeats one of the prison’s Five Kings, each a powerful High-God. The weakest has likely fused four profound mysteries.
• Arnold decides that his Wind God Clone will enter Gebados after becoming a Mid-God. He views the challenge as a way to continue testing himself and eventually pursue the Earth Divine Realm.
• Linley is concerned, but Arnold remains determined. His ambition also awakens Linley’s own desire to explore the Higher Planes, particularly the Infernal Realm.

Character Developments

• Arnold grows increasingly dissatisfied with the peaceful Yulan Continent. Rather than settling into safety, he actively seeks stronger opponents and greater challenges.
• He demonstrates both ambition and recklessness by planning to enter Gebados Planar Prison, despite knowing that even its weakest king is vastly powerful.
• Arnold’s long-term goal shifts toward reaching the Earth Divine Realm, though he now sees Gebados as an additional proving ground.
• Linley continues to act as the group’s spokesperson and maintains his close relationship with Beirut. His concern for Arnold shows his caution and loyalty, but Arnold’s determination also rekindles Linley’s own adventurous ambitions.
• Beirut is shown as compassionate and pragmatic. He refuses to seal the passage to Gebados because he sympathizes with the prisoners there, yet he imposes a demanding condition on Arnold to ensure he is strong enough to survive.
• Bei Bei reaches godhood, marking another important advancement for Linley’s close companion.

Significant Themes

• The pursuit of strength and challenge: Arnold refuses to remain in a safe but stagnant environment and seeks opponents capable of pushing him further.
• Freedom versus imprisonment: The Gebados Plane is portrayed as a harsh prison, while its escapees are treated with sympathy rather than simply as threats.
• Cultivation and fusion: Beirut emphasizes that true advancement depends not merely on accumulating divine power but on fusing profound mysteries.
• Ambition and risk: Arnold’s willingness to challenge the Five Kings highlights the danger of pursuing greatness, foreshadowing the chapter’s title.
• The limits of peace: Although the Yulan Continent enters a period of stability, Arnold sees peace as boredom and seeks danger elsewhere.

Character Interactions

• Arnold, Linley, Rutherford, and Olivia cooperate in resolving Beaumont’s legacy and dividing his possessions.
• Linley speaks to Beirut on behalf of the group, reflecting his established trust and familiarity with him.
• Beirut’s conversation with Arnold becomes the chapter’s central interaction: Arnold boldly asks about entering Gebados, while Beirut tests his resolve with the condition that he defeat one of the Five Kings.
• Linley questions Arnold’s decision and worries about the danger, but ultimately understands his motivation. Arnold’s speech about pursuing the Earth Divine Realm also inspires Linley to reconsider his own future beyond the Yulan Continent.

Summary of “Those Who Departed”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arnold spends decades cultivating in his Miniature Plane. His Earth God Clone studies the fusion of the Earth Element and Vitality profound mysteries, while his true body works on the Fast and Slow Profound Truths and their fusion with Wind Space. His Wind God Clone investigates the membrane surrounding the Spatial Turbulence at the southern edge of the South Sea.
• Arnold becomes fascinated by the membrane protecting the Yulan Plane and by the destructive power of Spatial Turbulence. This leads him to imagine a future area-of-effect technique that would bind opponents with Wind Space and Fast-and-Slow Laws, then tear open space to unleash Spatial Turbulence.
• His Earth cultivation reaches a bottleneck, so he begins advancing the Profound Truth of Earth Pulsation toward the required 256 layers and begins fusing it with Gravity Space.
• His Wind cultivation progresses more quickly. Wind Element Technique Profound Mystery reaches a bottleneck, while its fusion with Wind Space advances beyond the halfway point. The Fast and Slow Profound Truths also steadily improve.
• After further years of cultivation, Arnold’s Fast and Slow Profound Truths reach perfection, and all three—Fast, Slow, and Wind Space—become completely fused. Arnold thereby advances to the Wind-element Mid-God level.
• During this period, Linley also advances, becoming a Wind-element Mid-God and reaching godhood in the Earth Laws.
• Many of the remaining powerful figures of the Yulan Continent depart for higher realms. Rutherford, Olivia, Dylan, Tarosse, Cesar, O’Brien, Bei Bei, Delia, and others travel to the Infernal Realm, while the High Priest goes to the Life Godrealm. Desri stays behind to continue cultivating.
• The departures leave very few Deity-level experts in the Yulan Continent, including Beirut, his sons, Hodan, Arnold, Desri, Fain, Doehring Cowart, Muba, Wharton, Cessler, and several hidden experts.
• After becoming a Wind Mid-God, Arnold reunites his true body and two divine clones at the South Sea. He fuses his earth and wind Mid-God divine powers into a new yellow-green Two-System Fused Divine Power.
• Arnold uses this fused power to strengthen his true body and then reinforce both his Earth God Clone and Wind God Clone, raising the strength of all three bodies.

Character Developments

• Arnold: Progresses from prolonged cultivation and experimentation to becoming a Wind-element Mid-God. His growing understanding of Wind Space, Fast, and Slow allows him to envision exceptionally destructive techniques involving Spatial Turbulence. His successful fusion of earth and wind divine power significantly increases his physical and overall combat strength. The departure of his companions also deepens his resolve to continue cultivating.
• Linley: Advances rapidly, perfecting the Fast and Slow Profound Truths, fusing them, and becoming a Wind-element Mid-God. He also completes his Earth Laws cultivation and reaches godhood in that system.
• Desri: Chooses to remain in the Yulan Continent rather than leave, intending to cultivate to the Mid-God level first.
• Beirut: Observes Arnold’s breakthrough from the Dark Forest and takes interest in Arnold’s decision to send his Wind God Clone into the Gebados Plane.
• The departing experts: Their migration to higher realms marks the end of an era for the Yulan Continent and leaves behind a much smaller group of powerful beings.

Significant Themes

• Persistence and long-term cultivation: Arnold’s advancement results from decades of patient deduction, repeated bottlenecks, and gradual fusion of profound mysteries.
• Separation and loneliness: The departure of many familiar experts makes the Yulan Continent increasingly empty, emphasizing the isolation that accompanies reaching the peak.
• Pursuit of greater power: Arnold continually seeks new combinations of laws and divine power, moving from theoretical ideas to stronger bodies and potential battlefield techniques.
• Exploration of cosmic forces: His study of the Spatial Turbulence and the plane’s protective membrane reflects a desire to understand the deeper structure and dangers of the universe.
• Fusion and transcendence: Arnold’s progress depends on combining separate laws and energies—eventually culminating in the fusion of earth and wind divine power.

Character Interactions

• Arnold follows Linley’s guidance regarding the cultivation of Earth Pulsation, showing Linley’s influence on his development.
• Linley’s breakthrough occurs alongside Arnold’s own progress, linking their advancement as two major cultivators of the Yulan Plane.
• Beirut reacts to Arnold’s breakthrough and questions his strategic choice to send his Wind God Clone into the Gebados Plane.
• Arnold’s Earth God Clone, Wind God Clone, and true body reunite at the South Sea. Their cooperation allows him to merge earth and wind divine powers and strengthen each body.
• The departures of Rutherford, Olivia, Dylan, Tarosse, Cesar, O’Brien, Bei Bei, Delia, and the others reshape the relationships and power structure of the Yulan Continent, leaving Arnold among a small and increasingly isolated group of elites.

Chapter Summary: Entering the Gebados Plane

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arnold decides to develop his water and fire elements into divine powers while continuing to advance his wind and earth cultivation. His Wind God Clone will enter the Gebados Plane, while his other body focuses on cultivating the earth laws and deducing the fusion of the Fast, Slow, and Wind Space Profound Truths.
• He separates his Wind God Clone from his true body and Earth God Clone. His true body merges with the Earth God Clone and travels toward the Miniature Plane, while the Wind God Clone goes to the Dark Forest.
• At the Metal Castle, Arnold asks Lord Beirut to send him into the Gebados Plane rather than endure the difficulty of finding Hodan. Beirut opens a planar passage and transports him there.
• Arnold arrives in the barren Gebados Planar Prison, discovering that it lacks elemental auras and energy. He travels by day and cultivates at night.
• After a week, he reaches a vast desert and deliberately enters a naturally formed sandstorm. He remains within it for three months, using its movement to deepen his understanding of the Wind Element Technique and the Wind Space Profound Truth.
• The sandstorm provides Arnold with major insight into the interaction between the Fast, Slow, and Wind Space Profound Truths. He has not yet completed the fusion, but he has reached a critical stage of understanding.
• After the storm ends, Arnold encounters a Saint Domain expert named Murphy, who emerges from hiding after Arnold detects him. Arnold demands information about the Gebados Plane.
• Murphy explains that the Gebados Plane is much larger than the Yulan Continent and has been devastated by countless Divine Realm wars. Five ancient cities remain, each ruled by an invincible High-God known as a “King.” These Kings dominate the plane and can effortlessly kill groups of High-Gods.

Character Developments

• Arnold demonstrates confidence, patience, and a willingness to seek danger for the sake of cultivation. Rather than avoiding the sandstorm, he uses it as a natural training opportunity.
• His understanding of the wind laws advances substantially. He begins to recognize the sandstorm itself as a manifestation of the Wind Space Profound Truth, allowing him to identify the compatibility between its three profound truths.
• Arnold also displays authority and composure when confronting Murphy, immediately establishing control over the frightened Saint Domain expert.
• Lord Beirut continues to act as a powerful facilitator for Arnold, transporting him into the Gebados Plane without question.
• Harry and his brothers are shown to lack confidence and talent in the earth, water, and fire laws. Beirut criticizes their resignation, contrasting their limitations with Arnold’s ambition.
• Murphy is portrayed as fearful and cautious. He assumes Arnold may kill him to preserve the plane’s secrets, but obeys because of Arnold’s overwhelming power.

Significant Themes

• Cultivation through adversity: Arnold deliberately places himself in a dangerous environment and transforms a destructive sandstorm into a tool for advancement.
• Ambition and perseverance: Arnold’s willingness to enter a legendary planar prison reflects his relentless pursuit of greater power.
• Nature as a source of insight: The sandstorm becomes a living demonstration of the Wind Space Profound Truth, showing how observation and experience can reveal the laws of the world.
• Power hierarchy and survival: The Gebados Plane is governed by overwhelming High-God rulers, while weaker beings survive through submission, secrecy, and caution.
• Limits of talent versus effort: Beirut’s exchange with Harry emphasizes that desire alone cannot replace innate comprehension, while Arnold’s progress highlights the value of exceptional talent combined with dedication.

Character Interactions

• Arnold and Beirut: Arnold respectfully asks Beirut for entry into the Gebados Plane, and Beirut readily grants his request.
• Beirut and Harry: Beirut rebukes Harry’s inferiority complex, insisting that proper cultivation could allow the brothers to reach extraordinary heights, though their lack of talent makes this unrealistic.
• Arnold and Murphy: Arnold intimidates Murphy into revealing information but reassures him that he has no interest in killing him. Murphy nevertheless remains suspicious and afraid while explaining the structure and history of the Gebados Plane.

Chapter Summary: “Five Kings”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arnold gathers information about the Five Kings of the Gebados Plane:
  • Bluefire King Zacharias Relin of Bluefire City
  • Darkness King of Darkness City
  • Flame King of Flowing Flame City
  • Evil King of Evil City
  • Ice Prison King of Ice Prison City
• Bluefire King is revealed as the strongest and most accomplished. Despite cultivating for the shortest time, he has defeated every opponent, including powerful High-Gods, and successfully claimed the spatial gate at the center of the plane.
• Arnold concludes that challenging Bluefire King would be unwise for now. Instead, he identifies the weaker Evil King and Flame King as the most practical targets for eventually escaping the Gebados Plane.
• Since Arnold entered with his Wind God Clone, he realizes he must fuse at least seven profound mysteries of the Wind Law to reach the strength necessary to defeat those kings.
• Arnold learns that the region he occupies is the Scorching Sun Desert, a vast, resource-poor area near Flowing Flame City. Its isolation makes it suitable for cultivation.
• Murphy, a Saint Domain who has survived in the plane for roughly five thousand years, asks to become Arnold’s follower. Arnold accepts him but warns that he will abandon Murphy if faced with an enemy stronger than himself.
• Arnold investigates Murphy’s cultivation. Murphy is a Saint Domain Pinnacle who has reached the bottleneck of the Profound Truth of Earth Travel, specializing in escape and survival.
• To help Murphy advance beyond the Saint Domain stage, Arnold begins teaching him about the Earth Law’s other profound mysteries. They settle in the desert and begin a fifty-year cultivation period.

Character Developments

• Arnold demonstrates strategic judgment by avoiding the overwhelmingly powerful Bluefire King and selecting more attainable future opponents. He also becomes more focused on long-term cultivation rather than immediate action.
• Arnold shows growing leadership by accepting Murphy as a subordinate and taking responsibility for improving his strength.
• Murphy proves loyal and determined. Despite knowing Arnold may abandon him in a crisis, he willingly chooses to follow him. His years of survival in the Gebados Plane give him valuable practical knowledge.
• Lord Beirut’s broader intentions become clearer to Arnold. Arnold suspects Beirut is deliberately gathering powerful individuals and expects him to grow strong enough to challenge one of the Five Kings.

Significant Themes

• Strategic patience: Strength alone is not enough; Arnold must choose opponents carefully and avoid premature confrontation.
• Cultivation and long-term growth: Arnold recognizes that reaching king-level strength will require extensive effort and mastery of multiple profound mysteries.
• Survival in a dangerous world: Murphy’s escape-oriented cultivation and Arnold’s willingness to abandon weaker allies emphasize the harsh, competitive nature of the Gebados Plane.
• Power and recruitment: Lord Beirut’s possible plan to assemble powerful figures suggests that individual cultivation may serve a larger hidden purpose.
• Mentorship and loyalty: Arnold’s relationship with Murphy begins as a practical arrangement but develops into one involving instruction, trust, and mutual dependence.

Character Interactions

• Arnold questions Murphy about the Five Kings and the Gebados Plane, using Murphy’s knowledge to plan his future.
• Murphy kneels and formally asks to follow Arnold. Arnold tests his resolve by explaining the risks, then accepts him.
• Arnold evaluates Murphy’s abilities and begins instructing him in the Earth Law, especially the Profound Truth of Earth Element and Earth Pulsation Profound Truth.
• The chapter ends with Arnold and Murphy beginning a prolonged period of cultivation together in the Scorching Sun Desert.

Chapter Summary: Elemental Incarnation—Nine-Tails

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arnold spends fifty years perfecting the fusion of the Wind Space, Fast, and Slow Profound Truths. Although he finds the point where all three align, progress stalls for ten years.
• While wandering the Scorching Sun Desert, Arnold encounters another massive sandstorm. Inspired by the storm’s ability to move freely across the desert, he reexamines his Wind Space.
• By repeatedly using Wind Space inside the sandstorm while incorporating Fast and Slow, Arnold finally achieves a complete fusion of the three Profound Truths.
• He names the resulting ultimate technique Sandfall Space. It creates a mobile, two-hundred-meter-wide Wind Space around him, directed by his thoughts and filled with powerful Wind Godforce.
• Arnold is slightly disappointed that the technique does not yet include the Wind Element Profound Truth, which would allow it to manifest endless yellow sand. He nevertheless considers the achievement impressive and plans to eventually fuse six different wind-related Profound Truths.
• Arnold checks on Murphy’s cultivation. Murphy has made progress with Earth Element but remains stuck on Earth Travel and has not begun Earth Pulsation.
• Arnold decides to leave the desert with Murphy, eager for combat after spending so long cultivating.
• At the desert’s edge, they encounter three Demi-God bandits from the Black Sand Organization. The bandits demand Murphy, Arnold’s interspatial ring, and Arnold’s submission to their organization.
• Arnold refuses and orders Murphy to retreat. The bandits attack, underestimating Arnold because he is deliberately presenting himself as only a Demi-God.
• The two weaker bandits launch physical attacks, but Arnold easily destroys them with Dodonpas and restrains them with powerful winds.
• The bandit leader creates a ten-meter-tall earthen giant by combining the Earth Element and Earth Travel Profound Truths. Arnold recognizes the technique as something he might learn.
• Arnold then imitates the leader’s method, forming a nine-tailed fox-like elemental creature around himself, setting up the chapter’s cliffhanger.

Character Developments

• Arnold reaches a major breakthrough, completely fusing Fast, Slow, and Wind Space. His combat abilities and confidence continue to grow, and he begins moving beyond cultivation toward experimentation and battle.
• He also demonstrates his ability to analyze and reproduce an opponent’s technique almost immediately.
• Murphy remains loyal and obedient to Arnold. His Earth Element cultivation has begun, but he is still struggling with Earth Travel and Earth Pulsation.
• The Black Sand bandits are revealed to be arrogant and opportunistic. They mistake Arnold for an ordinary Demi-God and fail to recognize the danger they face.

Significant Themes

• Persistence and breakthrough: Arnold’s decade-long stagnation shows that major advances require patience, repeated effort, and new perspectives.
• Learning from nature: The sandstorm provides the insight necessary to transform Arnold’s stationary Wind Space into a mobile technique.
• Adaptation and imitation: Arnold not only develops new abilities but also studies and copies useful techniques from his enemies.
• Underestimation and hidden strength: The bandits judge Arnold by the aura he displays, unaware that he is a far more powerful Mid-God.
• Ambition and continual growth: Even after achieving a powerful new technique, Arnold immediately sets his sights on fusing additional Profound Truths.

Character Interactions

• Arnold encourages and evaluates Murphy’s cultivation before ordering him to leave the desert.
• Murphy follows Arnold’s commands without hesitation, retreating when the bandits attack.
• The bandits attempt to intimidate Arnold and recruit him, but Arnold calmly refuses and offers them a chance to leave alive.
• When they attack, Arnold effortlessly neutralizes the two subordinate bandits and then surprises their leader by reproducing his earthen-giant technique in the form of a nine-tailed fox.

Chapter Summary: Ed, Leader of the Black Sand Organization

• Arnold defeats the bandit leader’s elemental avatar: The Black Sand bandit leader attacks Arnold with a giant elemental avatar, but Arnold transforms into a Nine-Tails form and overwhelms it. He spares the leader when the latter is helpless, then questions and robs the three bandits. Arnold forces them to swear an oath to the Fate Overgod not to reveal his identity before releasing them.
• Arnold remains in the Scorching Sun Desert: Realizing the bandits will likely seek reinforcements, Arnold decides to stay in the desert rather than leave. He reunites with Murphy, warns him to keep his distance when danger arrives, and continues cultivating.
• Development of a new technique: Inspired by the bandit leader’s elemental avatar, Arnold works on combining his Wind Element Profound Truth, Wind Element Technique, and Wind Space Profound Truth. He successfully improves the compatibility between the first two, though progress on fusing Wind Space remains limited after three years.
• The Black Sand Organization arrives: Nearly two hundred bandits appear at the desert’s edge, led by the previously defeated Demi-God and a powerful middle-aged man named Ed. Ed offers Arnold two choices: join the Black Sand Organization or die. Arnold refuses, having anticipated their arrival and prepared to fight.
• Arnold battles Ed: Ed orders the other bandits to withdraw and fights Arnold personally. As a Destruction Law cultivator, Ed’s physical attacks are extremely powerful; his first strike sends Arnold flying. Arnold responds with the Clone Profound Truth, creating thirty clones, but Ed easily binds and destroys several of them.
• Arnold reveals his strength: Arnold uses the Wind Space Profound Truth to restrain Ed and then attacks with a sword strike combining the Fast and Slow Profound Truths. Ed barely escapes a lethal blow, losing only an ear, which he regenerates. He breaks free and counterattacks, forcing Arnold to retreat.
• Character interactions and conflict: Ed acknowledges Arnold’s strength but declares that Arnold’s robbery of his subordinates is unforgivable. Arnold remains calm and confident, while Ed becomes more serious and prepares for the real battle. The chapter ends with both combatants recognizing each other as formidable opponents.

Key Themes

• Strength and intimidation: Arnold’s overwhelming power challenges Ed’s authority and reputation.
• Cunning versus direct force: Arnold relies on technique, deception, clones, and spatial restraints, while Ed emphasizes devastating Destruction Law attacks.
• Cultivation and innovation: Arnold’s combat experience inspires him to develop a new elemental-avatar technique.
• Consequences of defiance: Arnold’s decision to rob and humiliate Black Sand members brings the organization directly against him.

Chapter Summary: “A Grand Battle”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arnold and Ed, the chief of the Black Sand Organization, begin an intense battle after both reveal their Mid-God auras.
• Their fight amazes the bandits watching nearby, as Arnold proves capable of matching their chief.
• Arnold uses the battle to test and refine a new offensive technique. Previously, his abilities had focused mainly on defense and trapping opponents.
• He builds upon the fusion of his Fast and Slow Profound Truths, which creates Dimensional Blades, and begins incorporating the Wind Space Profound Truth to manipulate space and increase his attacks’ destructive power.
• Arnold’s sword strikes grow progressively stronger, convincing Ed that Arnold is using the battle to test a hidden trump card.
• Arnold eventually launches a powerful spatially distorting sword attack. Ed is forced to switch from his Destruction Divine Clone to his stronger Darkness Divine Clone.
• Using the Darkness Law, Ed’s staff creates a shadow that nearly absorbs Arnold’s attack, demonstrating that Ed still has the upper hand against Arnold’s strongest move.
• After the battle, Ed offers Arnold membership in the Black Sand Organization. Arnold refuses to participate in banditry, but Ed proposes that he only fight when the organization faces rival groups.
• Arnold accepts a temporary two-hundred-year membership, provided he can leave if the organization no longer offers opponents capable of challenging him.
• Arnold begins living and cultivating within Black Sand Castle. Murphy accompanies him and focuses on comprehending the Profound Truth of Earth Element.
• During training, Arnold unexpectedly discovers compatibility between the Wind Element Profound Truth and the Wind Space Profound Truth, giving him a new direction for cultivation.

Character Developments

• Arnold: Demonstrates remarkable combat ability and a strong talent for adapting during battle. He uses Ed as a practical test subject to develop a powerful offensive sword technique. His identity as a battle enthusiast is reinforced, and he willingly joins the organization only because it offers opportunities to fight and cultivate without forcing him to commit crimes.
• Ed: Reveals himself as a highly perceptive and powerful opponent. He recognizes Arnold’s battle strategy and correctly deduces that Arnold deliberately arranged for the bandits to find him. Rather than treating Arnold as an enemy, Ed respects his strength and attempts to recruit him.
• Murphy: Continues to follow Arnold despite being far weaker. He avoids interfering in the organization and devotes himself to improving his own Earth-element comprehension.

Significant Themes

• Growth through combat: Arnold’s battle is not merely a confrontation but a means of experimentation and advancement. Fighting a strong opponent allows him to refine existing abilities and discover new techniques.
• Strength and mutual respect: Ed and Arnold remain ideological opponents—one is a bandit leader, while the other rejects robbery—but their shared recognition of strength creates a temporary alliance.
• Independence and personal values: Arnold refuses to compromise by becoming a robber. He accepts membership only under conditions that preserve his freedom and allow him to leave.
• Unexpected breakthroughs: Arnold’s discovery of compatibility between two profound truths shows that cultivation can progress through unplanned insights as well as deliberate effort.
• Pragmatic alliances: The temporary agreement benefits both sides: the organization gains a powerful fighter, while Arnold gains a safe place to cultivate and access to challenging battles.

Character Interactions

• Arnold and Ed engage in a progressively escalating duel, with Arnold testing new sword techniques and Ed responding by changing divine clones and laws.
• Ed analyzes Arnold’s earlier scheme involving the bandits and exposes that Arnold intentionally used them to draw out the organization’s chief.
• Ed offers Arnold a specialized role within the Black Sand Organization, and Arnold negotiates terms based on his desire for freedom and combat.
• Murphy follows Arnold into the organization, remaining loyal while quietly pursuing his own cultivation.

Chapter Summary: “Great Battle”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arnold continues trying to advance his Wind Law by fusing the Wind Element Profound Truth with the Fast and Slow Profound Truths. Although the Wind Element Profound Truth has already fused with the Wind Element Technique, Arnold has been unable to find compatibility with Fast and Slow.
• After being summoned by Ed, Arnold learns that Atlas and Lesbia—leaders of two neighboring bandit organizations—have allied against the Black Sand Organization. A major battle for survival is imminent.
• Arnold welcomes the prospect of fighting powerful opponents, since combat was one of his main reasons for coming to the Gebados Plane.
• While training, Arnold discovers that the key to the fusion lies in reproducing the state formed by the Wind Element Technique and Wind Element Profound Truth. By embodying the Wind Element as the Nine-Tails and practicing the Fast and Slow Profound Truths through it, he finds compatibility with both.
• Ten days after Ed’s warning, the Black Sand Organization gathers its forces. Four hundred bandits march toward Atlas’s castle, forcing a confrontation with the Black Snake Organization.
• Atlas brings three hundred men to meet them. Ed openly declares war, accusing Atlas of already conspiring with Lesbia’s Black Dragon Organization.
• The leaders arrange individual battles: Ed fights Atlas, Noklon fights one of Atlas’s subordinates, and Arnold faces Lawrence, a Wind Law Mid-God.
• Lawrence first uses the Fast Profound Truth, then unleashes a powerful spatially distorted sword attack. Arnold recognizes it as likely related to the Dimensional Profound Truth, one of the Wind Law truths he has not yet comprehended.
• Rather than kill Lawrence quickly, Arnold deliberately focuses on defending himself and studying Lawrence’s techniques in hopes of gaining insight into the Dimensional Profound Truth.

Character Developments

• Arnold: Makes a significant breakthrough in his cultivation, creating the possibility of eventually fusing four Wind Law profound truths. He also demonstrates patience and strategic restraint by prolonging his fight with Lawrence to study an unfamiliar profound truth.
• Ed: Acts decisively as the leader of the Black Sand Organization, choosing to confront Atlas rather than wait for the allied forces to overwhelm him. He relies heavily on Arnold as the organization’s strongest combatant.
• Atlas: Appears confident but is visibly angered and unsettled by Ed’s direct challenge. He underestimates Arnold because he has never seen him fight.
• Lawrence: Revealed as a skilled Wind Law cultivator capable of using both the Fast Profound Truth and a spatially powerful technique possibly connected to the Dimensional Profound Truth.
• Noklon: Serves as the Black Sand Organization’s second-in-command and participates in the battle, though he is not considered especially dangerous because he has not fused any profound truths.

Significant Themes

• Cultivation through insight: Arnold’s progress comes not from brute force but from understanding the relationship between different profound truths and recreating their underlying state.
• The value of combat: Battles are opportunities for Arnold to test theories, observe unfamiliar techniques, and deepen his comprehension.
• Survival and loyalty: The bandit organizations operate opportunistically; followers remain loyal only while their leader appears victorious. The conflict is therefore determined primarily by the strength of the leaders.
• Underestimation and hidden power: Atlas dismisses Arnold because of his quiet behavior and lack of previous demonstrations, setting up a contrast between appearance and actual ability.
• Patience versus decisive action: Ed immediately seeks confrontation, while Arnold takes a measured approach, prolonging the fight to gain cultivation insight.

Character Interactions

• Ed summons Arnold to a strategy meeting and positions him as a crucial ally in the coming battle.
• During the confrontation, Ed openly challenges Atlas, while Atlas threatens Ed with Lesbia’s expected arrival.
• Ed assigns Arnold and Noklon to fight alongside him, creating a leader-versus-leader structure.
• Arnold and Lawrence engage in a prolonged exchange. Lawrence attacks aggressively, while Arnold mostly defends, carefully observing the unusual spatial qualities of Lawrence’s sword techniques.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arnold faces Lawrence, who repeatedly attacks him with the Dimensional Profound Truth, a powerful aspect of the Wind Law.
• Rather than counterattacking, Arnold deliberately withstands Lawrence’s attacks so his Saint Domain true body can study and deduce the profound truth.
• Lawrence creates ten clones, but Arnold counters by producing ten of his own and destroys them all. When Lawrence later creates twenty clones to escape, Arnold’s newly mastered Wind Space Profound Truth slows them down, allowing him to eliminate them.
• Arnold finally comprehends the Dimensional Profound Truth, completing his understanding of all seven profound truths of the Wind Law.
• With this breakthrough, Arnold kills Lawrence and retrieves his Wind God Spark and spatial ring.
• Ed defeats Atlas, smashing him apart with his destructive black staff and taking his God Spark and spatial ring.
• Atlas’s remaining subordinate surrenders, while the forces of Black Snake Castle submit after witnessing their leader’s death. They are absorbed into Ed’s Black Sand Organization.
• Lesbia, leader of the allied Black Dragon Organization, escapes with his people and valuables before Ed can capture him. Ed orders Black Dragon Castle destroyed.
• Ed becomes the region’s dominant power, commanding nearly seven hundred Deity-level members.
• Ed decides to focus on cultivation and places daily affairs under Deputy Leader Noklon. Arnold agrees to help protect the organization when necessary, despite disliking its bandit-like activities.
• Arnold resumes intensive cultivation, refining the Wind Law and its combinations with the Fast, Slow, and Wind Space Profound Truths. His Saint Domain true body focuses primarily on deepening his mastery of the Dimensional Profound Truth.

Character Developments

• Arnold makes a major breakthrough by comprehending the Dimensional Profound Truth. He moves from merely observing Lawrence’s technique to reproducing and surpassing it, decisively changing the battle’s outcome.
• Lawrence becomes increasingly desperate as his attacks fail. His reliance on clones and increasingly frantic resistance cannot overcome Arnold’s new power, leading to his death.
• Ed proves his strength by defeating Atlas and consolidating control over the region. However, his growing organization forces him to recognize the need for personal cultivation and stronger leadership.
• Atlas shifts from confidence to panic once Arnold joins the battle and Ed gains the advantage, but he is ultimately killed.
• Lesbia demonstrates caution and strategic awareness by escaping before the Black Dragon Organization can be destroyed.
• Noklon is entrusted with managing the Black Sand Organization, though Ed acknowledges that Noklon lacks the strength to handle major threats alone.

Significant Themes

• Learning through conflict: Arnold uses Lawrence’s attacks as a rare opportunity to study the Dimensional Profound Truth, turning danger into advancement.
• Power and consolidation: The deaths of Atlas and Lawrence allow Ed to absorb rival forces and establish regional dominance.
• Responsibility versus personal cultivation: Ed must balance the needs of his expanding organization with his desire to improve his own strength.
• Moral compromise and survival: Arnold dislikes the Black Sand Organization’s banditry, but recognizes that the harsh conditions of the Gebados Plane force weaker groups to behave ruthlessly.
• Patience and strategic restraint: Arnold’s refusal to attack immediately is deliberate, while Ed uses Arnold’s approach to pressure Atlas into a vulnerable position.

Character Interactions

• Arnold and Lawrence engage in a prolonged battle in which Lawrence unknowingly serves as Arnold’s teacher by repeatedly displaying the Dimensional Profound Truth.
• Ed initially becomes distracted while watching Arnold, nearly suffering a fatal blow from Atlas, but then refocuses on his own battle.
• After Arnold kills Lawrence, Ed calls for Arnold’s assistance. Arnold’s approach frightens Atlas and gives Ed the opening needed to defeat him.
• Ed and Arnold later negotiate their responsibilities within the Black Sand Organization. Arnold reluctantly agrees to support Noklon and defend the organization while Ed cultivates.
• Arnold and Ed’s partnership becomes stronger as Arnold’s breakthrough and Ed’s military victory together secure the organization’s dominance.

Chapter Summary: “Leaving”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Fifty years have passed since the Black Sand Organization destroyed the Black Snake Organization.
• Arnold spends forty-five years in his Miniature Plane comprehending the Wind Law’s Dimensional Profound Truth, reaching nearly the halfway point.
• He then spends five years trying unsuccessfully to fuse it with his other profound mysteries. The Dimensional Profound Truth proves extremely difficult to combine with anything else, despite its immense offensive power and ability to cut through space.
• Arnold continues improving his other Wind Law abilities:
  • The Wind Element Profound Truth
  • The Fast and Slow Profound Truths
  • Their fusion into the Speed Profound Truth
  • The Wind Space Profound Mystery and its related fusions
• His greatest advancement is the strengthening of his soul. His Wind God Clone’s soul becomes exceptionally powerful, while his Earth God Clone’s stronger soul also helps improve the Saint Domain main body through their connection.
• Arnold theorizes that the Dimensional Profound Truth may be related to the Wind Space Profound Mystery because both involve spatial manipulation: one freezes space, while the other tears it apart.
• By repeatedly using Sandfall Space and studying spatial changes, Arnold discovers a point of compatibility. After two additional years, he successfully finds a potential path for fusing the Dimensional Profound Truth with the Wind Space Profound Mystery.
• Ed breaks through to the High-God realm through his Darkness Divine Clone, surprising Arnold.
• Wanting to travel, Arnold asks Murphy to accompany him, but Murphy chooses to remain in Black Sand Castle, where even a Demi-God can live comfortably.
• After receiving Ed’s permission, Arnold leaves Black Sand Castle and heads for Flowing Flame City, one of the five great cities, hoping to witness the Flame King’s presence.
• Arnold reaches the city in less than half a day. At the gates, he pays the entry fee with a Demi-God Godhead and receives a crimson entry token permitting him to remain in the city for ten years.

Character Developments

• Arnold: Experiences major growth in both soul strength and Wind Law comprehension. His persistence allows him to identify a connection between seemingly incompatible spatial mysteries. He also becomes more independent and adventurous, choosing to explore the wider Gebados Plane.
• Ed: Reaches the High-God realm through his Darkness Divine Clone, marking an important increase in power and status.
• Murphy: Has become a god but prefers the security and comfort of Black Sand Castle rather than joining Arnold’s travels.
• Arnold’s clones and main body: Their shared soul connection contributes to the Saint Domain main body’s unusually rapid improvement.

Significant Themes

• Persistence and gradual advancement: Arnold’s breakthroughs require decades of study and repeated experimentation rather than sudden success.
• The interconnectedness of seemingly opposite forces: Arnold discovers that spatial stagnation and spatial cutting may be linked, suggesting that opposing abilities can share a deeper foundation.
• Power through soul development: The strengthening of Arnold’s soul is portrayed as central to his ability to comprehend higher-level mysteries.
• Freedom and exploration: After years of cultivation and conflict, Arnold begins seeking new experiences and broader knowledge beyond Black Sand Castle.
• Ancient power and hierarchy: Flowing Flame City, its ancient history, royal authority, and strict rules emphasize the immense age and structured power system of the Gebados Plane.

Character Interactions

• Arnold reflects on his progress and consults his own reasoning to develop a new approach to fusing the Dimensional Profound Truth.
• Arnold and Ed exchange resources and permission: Arnold previously obtained a Demi-God Godhead from Ed, and later asks Ed’s approval before leaving Black Sand Castle.
• Arnold invites Murphy to travel with him, but Murphy declines, showing differing priorities between Arnold’s desire for exploration and Murphy’s preference for stability.
• At Flowing Flame City, Arnold interacts briefly with the Demi-God guards, paying for entry and learning the city’s residence rules before entering.

Chapter Summary: “Arena”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arnold arrives in Flowing Flame City and heads directly to the Arena, having learned about the city from Ed.
• The Arena allows Demi-Gods and Mid-Gods to fight separately. Fighters can concede once per day, and victories can earn residency rights in the royal city.
• Arnold enters the Mid-God Arena by paying a Demi-God Artifact and receives an entry token.
• He watches numerous duels, but most disappoint him because the combatants use relatively simple Profound Mysteries.
• A more noteworthy battle takes place between Odell, a cultivator of the Life Law, and Pilos, a cultivator of the Death Law. Their fight demonstrates the power of Divine Domains and soul attacks.
• After observing more than ten battles, Arnold decides to rest before entering the Arena himself.
• While leaving, he notices a spectator who closely resembles Lord Beirut. Before Arnold can investigate, the man disappears.
• Arnold settles into a small residence provided for entrants to Flowing Flame City and reflects on his future cultivation.
• He estimates that fully fusing the six Profound Mysteries of the Wind Law could require tens of thousands of years.
• Arnold begins questioning whether coming to the Gebados Plane was the right decision and becomes increasingly interested in the nature of Material Planes, spatial rifts, and Spatial Turbulence.

Character Developments

• Arnold demonstrates growing ambition and confidence. Rather than being satisfied with ordinary battles, he seeks powerful opponents who can challenge his limits.
• His limited understanding of the Laws becomes apparent during the Life Law–Death Law duel, but he treats the battle as a valuable learning opportunity.
• His curiosity expands beyond personal strength: he begins seriously contemplating the structure and origins of the planes themselves.
• Arnold also becomes more cautious and observant when he suspects that the mysterious spectator may be connected to Lord Beirut.

Significant Themes

• Cultivation and patience: Arnold recognizes that mastering the Wind Law will require immense time and persistence.
• The pursuit of strength: The Arena represents a place where fighters test themselves against increasingly powerful opponents.
• Knowledge versus power: Arnold seeks not only to become stronger but also to understand the Laws, Material Planes, and the universe’s structure.
• Mystery and hidden identities: The lookalike of Lord Beirut introduces uncertainty and suggests that important figures may be concealing their identities or abilities.
• Uncertainty about one’s path: Arnold questions whether leaving the Yulan Plane for the Gebados Plane was the correct choice.

Character Interactions

• Arnold relies on information previously provided by Ed to navigate Flowing Flame City and understand the Arena.
• He observes the duel between Odell and Pilos, whose opposing Life and Death Laws reveal the specialized nature of their combat.
• Arnold briefly attempts to pursue the mysterious man resembling Lord Beirut, but the man vanishes before any interaction can occur.
• Arnold’s memories of Beirut influence his judgment as he considers whether the stranger could be one of Beirut’s divine clones.

Chapter Summary: “Why Aren’t You Called Tru-Be?”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arnold’s Saint Domain true body on the Yulan Continent completes the Fire Element Profound Truth of Explosion, becoming a fire-element god.
• His water-element cultivation reaches the Saint Domain Pinnacle, though it cannot progress further through ordinary meditation. Arnold therefore begins focusing more on the Wind Law.
• Arnold’s long-term goal is to fuse divine powers from multiple elements. He believes that combining fire, water, and wind divine power will produce a dramatic increase in strength.
• After several days of rest, Arnold leaves his residence intending to compete in the Arena.
• He encounters a man named Tru, who resembles Lord Beirut. Arnold jokingly asks why he is not called “Tru-Be,” creating an awkward but friendly introduction.
• Tru reveals that he is going to the Arena as a spectator, while Arnold plans to fight. The two travel there together.
• Arnold registers for a duel and is matched against Feng Kesi, a powerful lightning-element Mid-God who previously achieved ten consecutive victories.
• Feng Kesi initially gains momentum through lightning attacks, but Arnold counters with his Wind Law, using the Wind Space and Fast Profound Truths.
• Arnold realizes Feng Kesi is highly skilled and possibly close to becoming a High-God. The battle also gives Arnold valuable insights into combat and the Law of Lightning.
• When Feng Kesi attempts to counter Arnold’s Wind Space again, Arnold uses a stronger fusion of the Wind Space and Wind Element Profound Truths. He restrains Feng Kesi and knocks him off the platform.
• Arnold wins, shocking the spectators and causing those who bet on Feng Kesi to lose their wagers. Tru is particularly impressed by Arnold’s strength.

Character Developments

• Arnold: Demonstrates the benefits of his broad elemental cultivation and growing mastery of fused profound truths. He remains confident but also learns from Feng Kesi’s techniques, showing that he values combat experience as a means of improving his understanding.
• Tru: Is introduced as an easygoing Mid-God with a strong resemblance to Beirut. Though initially curious about whether Arnold has exaggerated his abilities, Tru becomes genuinely astonished after witnessing Arnold defeat Feng Kesi.
• Feng Kesi: Establishes himself as a formidable opponent with mastery over five lightning profound truths. Despite his experience and past winning streak, he is ultimately outmaneuvered by Arnold’s stronger fused Wind Law technique.

Significant Themes

• The pursuit of greater power: Arnold’s cultivation of fire, water, and wind is driven by his desire to create a superior form of fused divine power.
• The value of combat experience: Arnold’s duel is not merely a test of strength; it allows him to gain insights from an opponent who cultivates a different Law.
• Hidden strength and underestimated newcomers: Arnold is treated as an unknown newcomer, but his abilities far exceed the spectators’ expectations.
• Fusion and innovation: Arnold’s victory comes from combining profound truths rather than relying on isolated techniques.
• Chance connections: His humorous encounter with Tru creates a new relationship and provides an impressed witness to Arnold’s growing reputation.

Character Interactions

• Arnold and Tru begin their relationship through Arnold’s awkward joke about Tru’s name resembling “Beirut.” The exchange remains friendly and leads them to travel to the Arena together.
• Arnold invites Tru to watch him fight, seemingly confident that his performance will prove his strength.
• During the duel, Arnold and Feng Kesi engage in a tactical exchange: Feng Kesi repeatedly uses overwhelming lightning power to break Arnold’s Wind Space, while Arnold adapts by employing a more powerful fused technique.
• Tru watches the battle with increasing interest and ends the chapter amazed by Arnold’s unexpected victory.

Chapter Summary: “Devouring God Rats and Nourishing God Rats”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arnold fights five consecutive Arena matches and wins all of them, though most opponents are weak. Afterward, he joins Tru Pei in the stands to watch further duels.
• During a battle between a Wind Law Mid-God and an Earth Law Mid-God, Arnold observes the Wind cultivator combining the Clone and Wind Element Profound Mysteries. The clones are destroyed, but their remaining Wind Element forms a net that traps and defeats the Earth cultivator.
• Inspired by the duel, Arnold realizes the point of compatibility between the Wind Element and Clone Profound Mysteries. This insight makes their future fusion much easier and brings him closer to fusing his various elemental mysteries.
• Arnold and Tru Pei continue a routine of watching Arena battles for one day and cultivating for six days over the course of a year.
• After becoming close friends, Arnold reveals that he recently entered the Gebados Plane from the Yulan Continent and shares information about Lord Beirut.
• Tru Pei reveals that he is not human but a dual-element Divine Beast who has cultivated the Laws of Light and Earth to the Mid-God level. Since he has never encountered another of his kind, he names his race the “Nourishing God Rats.”
• Arnold realizes that Tru Pei’s situation resembles Lord Beirut’s. Beirut had likewise never found another member of his race and named them the “Devouring God Rats.”
• Tru Pei becomes wistful because, having been born in the Gebados Plane, he cannot leave and may never meet Lord Beirut. Arnold sympathizes but cannot offer him false hope.
• Arnold also begins worrying about whether Lord Beirut can observe his progress in the Gebados Plane and whether Beirut has left some way to recognize his achievements.

Character Developments

• Arnold: Demonstrates strong Arena ability but gains more from observation than combat. His insight into profound fusion shows his rapid growth in understanding the Laws. He becomes more open with Tru Pei and increasingly considers the conditions required to attract Lord Beirut’s attention.
• Tru Pei: Moves from cautious acquaintance to genuine friend with Arnold. He reveals his Divine Beast identity and the isolation caused by being the only known member of his race. His hope of meeting Beirut is tempered by his belief that he is trapped in the Gebados Plane.
• Lord Beirut: Though absent, Beirut’s influence remains central. His mysterious requirements and connection to the Devouring God Rats shape Arnold’s goals and Tru Pei’s hopes.

Significant Themes

• Learning through observation: Arnold’s major breakthrough comes from studying another person’s battle, emphasizing the value of insight and understanding over direct experience alone.
• Profound fusion and compatibility: Successful cultivation depends on discovering the point where different mysteries naturally complement one another.
• Isolation and belonging: Both Tru Pei and Beirut are portrayed as solitary Divine Beasts who created names for their races because they could not find their own kind.
• Friendship and trust: Arnold and Tru Pei gradually exchange personal information, building a friendship founded on mutual respect despite their initial caution.
• Fate and confinement: The similarity between the Devouring and Nourishing God Rats suggests a meaningful connection, while Tru Pei’s inability to leave the Gebados Plane highlights the limits imposed by circumstance.

Character Interactions

• Arnold and Tru Pei discuss Arnold’s strength and watch Arena battles together.
• Tru Pei observes Arnold’s brief moment of insight and explains the importance of finding compatibility in profound fusion.
• Arnold carefully tests Tru Pei’s identity, while Tru Pei indirectly probes Arnold about Lord Beirut.
• After a year of friendship, both share more about their origins and connections.
• Arnold’s revelation about the Devouring God Rats gives Tru Pei hope of finding someone like himself, but that hope fades when he remembers that he cannot leave the Gebados Plane.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• After spending ten years in Flowing Flame City, Arnold has become nearly unbeatable in the Mid-God Arena and no longer needs to pay entry fees.
• His Saint Domain true body in the Yulan Continent Miniature Plane completes the Ice Edge Profound Mystery, causing his Water Law to become divine and allowing him to possess four divine systems: earth, fire, water, and wind.
• Arnold attempts to fuse the four types of Demi-God Divine Power. The fusion succeeds instantly, producing dark-gray Four-System Lowgod Fusion Divine Power.
• This fused power greatly strengthens Arnold’s Saint Domain true body. It flows through his entire body for a full day, reinforcing his muscles, bones, organs, and overall physical strength.
• Arnold discovers that his body has become powerful enough to create a Spatial Rift with his hand, suggesting that his physical strength is comparable to a Mid-God Artifact.
• He then uses the fused power to strengthen his Earth, Fire, and Water God Clones. His Wind God Clone cannot yet be strengthened because it remains inside the Gebados Plane.
• With the Water Law now divine, Arnold reorganizes his cultivation. His divine clones focus on their respective laws, while his Saint Domain true body concentrates on Wind-related profound mysteries, techniques, cloning, and their various fusions.
• Excited by his breakthrough, Arnold visits Tru Pei and tells him that his water system has become divine, though he conceals the secret of Divine Power Fusion.
• Arnold invites Tru Pei to the Arena. Despite being famous for defeating every major Mid-God opponent, Arnold has never killed anyone there, earning a reputation as a relatively merciful fighter.
• Upon returning to the Arena after seven years, Arnold receives an enthusiastic welcome. Because few Mid-Gods can fuse more than two Profound Mysteries, he is effectively regarded as the strongest Mid-God in the Gebados Plane.
• Arnold’s scheduled opponent forfeits out of fear. Eventually, a Wind Law Mid-God agrees to enter the Arena.

Character Developments

• Arnold achieves a major advancement by becoming a Water God and unlocking four-system divine power fusion. His body and divine clones grow substantially stronger, bringing his physical strength close to the level of a Mid-God Artifact.
• Arnold becomes more disciplined in dividing his cultivation responsibilities among his true body and divine clones.
• His success in the Arena establishes him as an unmatched and highly respected Mid-God, though he remains humble and avoids killing opponents.
• Tru Pei continues to notice inconsistencies surrounding Arnold’s exile and the presence of only his Wind God Clone in the Gebados Plane, but he respects Arnold’s privacy and does not press him.
• The Flame King has shown interest in recruiting Arnold, but Arnold has refused, while the Flame King has accepted the decision without hostility.

Significant Themes

• Power through synthesis: Arnold’s greatest advancement comes not from a single law but from combining four different divine systems.
• Unexplored potential: Arnold recognizes that the interaction between earth, fire, water, and wind contains deeper secrets, but he lacks the strength to investigate them fully.
• Secrecy and trust: Arnold hides his Divine Power Fusion from Tru Pei, suggesting that such an ability could attract danger or unwanted attention.
• Cultivation and specialization: Arnold’s multiple bodies allow him to pursue several complex laws and profound mysteries simultaneously.
• Mercy amid violence: Although the Arena is built around combat and killing, Arnold consistently spares his defeated opponents, contrasting with more brutal fighters.

Character Interactions

• Arnold tells Tru Pei about his Water Law breakthrough and invites him to celebrate by attending the Arena.
• Tru Pei reacts with curiosity and privately reflects on Arnold’s unusual circumstances but chooses not to question him directly.
• Arnold’s reputation affects his interactions with the Arena: guards flatter him, the host sensationalizes his return, and one opponent forfeits rather than face him.
• Arnold’s refusal to serve the Flame King demonstrates his independence, while the Flame King’s restrained response shows mutual respect.

Chapter Summary: “Arnold’s Peculiar Taste—Shukaku”

Plot Points and Events

• Ansier, a Mid-God specializing in the Wind Law and a former fifty-time consecutive winner, challenges Arnold, who has won one hundred consecutive duels.
• Ansier explains that he hopes their battle will help him achieve a breakthrough. Arnold responds warmly, noting that watching Ansier’s previous fight had also helped him improve.
• Arnold immediately demonstrates his mastery of the Wind Space Profound Truth, filling a large area with wind elemental essence and restricting Ansier’s movement.
• Ansier counters by creating one hundred clones and making them self-destruct. The resulting chaos destabilizes and breaks Arnold’s Wind Space Profound Truth.
• Arnold strengthens his technique by fusing it with the Wind Element Profound Truth, greatly increasing its binding power. Ansier’s second attempt to destroy the space with exploding clones fails.
• Ansier then uses an advanced Wind Element Technique to move through the restricted space, but Arnold combines the Wind Space Profound Truth with the Fast and Slow Profound Truths. This creates an even stronger spatial restraint that Ansier cannot overcome.
• Rather than defeating Ansier immediately, Arnold repeatedly changes the intensity and structure of his technique, effectively using the duel to teach Ansier.
• Ansier realizes that merely trying to break free is useless. He begins studying the underlying arrangement of wind elemental essence and gains an initial insight into the Wind Space Profound Mystery.
• Ansier uses his Divine Domain and attempts to reproduce the technique, but he cannot yet cast it successfully. Arnold withdraws his restraint briefly, then unleashes another variation.
• Arnold summons a huge, strange, catlike creature from swirling yellow sand. With Arnold riding inside its head, the creature charges Ansier and knocks him out of the arena with its tail.
• The host declares Arnold the winner, giving him 101 consecutive victories. The audience is left stunned because the fight looked more like a lesson than a conventional battle.

Character Developments

• Arnold is shown to possess extraordinary mastery of the Wind Law, especially in combining multiple profound mysteries. He is confident, restrained, and generous, choosing to guide Ansier instead of simply overpowering him.
• Arnold’s fighting style emphasizes control, precision, and layered techniques rather than direct attacks. His final summoning of the bizarre creature reveals an unusual or eccentric aspect of his abilities and preferences.
• Ansier demonstrates creativity and determination. He uses clone explosions, advanced movement techniques, and his Divine Domain to adapt to Arnold’s restraints.
• Ansier ultimately makes an important breakthrough by shifting his focus from escaping the technique to understanding its essence. Though he cannot yet reproduce Wind Space Profound Truth, he takes his first step toward comprehending it.

Significant Themes

• Combat as instruction: A battle can serve as a form of teaching when a stronger fighter deliberately gives the opponent opportunities to learn.
• Understanding over brute force: Ansier progresses only after realizing that breaking the technique is less important than understanding its underlying principles.
• Layered mastery: Arnold’s power comes from fusing different profound mysteries, showing how advanced techniques can multiply one another’s effects.
• Growth through observation and adaptation: Both fighters improve by studying each other, emphasizing the importance of insight and flexibility.
• Appearance versus reality: The duel appears uneventful to the spectators, but beneath the surface it is a complex contest of comprehension and technique.

Character Interactions

• Ansier respectfully asks Arnold to accept his challenge, and Arnold responds as an equal, acknowledging that Ansier’s earlier duel helped him.
• Throughout the fight, Arnold silently tests and guides Ansier, escalating the restraint whenever Ansier finds a way to resist.
• Ansier gradually recognizes Arnold’s intention and responds not with frustration but with concentrated study.
• Their interaction ultimately becomes that of teacher and student, despite being presented as a formal arena duel.

Chapter Summary: “Tru Pei Takes the Field”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Tru Pei unexpectedly enters the arena as Arnold’s next opponent, despite having never fought a public duel before.
• The announcer reveals that Tru Pei is a Divine Beast, exciting the spectators because Divine Beasts are extremely rare in the Gebados Plane.
• Arnold is eager to discover Tru Pei’s hidden Innate Divine Ability, possibly related to the Devouring God Rat ability known as “God Devour.”
• Arnold begins by using Wind Space Profound Truth to restrain Tru Pei, but Tru Pei’s exceptionally powerful body allows him to resist it.
• The two initially fight using only physical strength. Tru Pei overwhelms Arnold, injuring his fist while remaining completely unharmed.
• Arnold then uses the Dimensional Profound Truth, allowing him to match Tru Pei in a series of direct punches.
• Arnold escalates by combining several Profound Mysteries. His attack injures Tru Pei, but Tru Pei responds with the Strength Profound Truth, shattering Arnold’s fist and forcing him to heal.
• Arnold recognizes that Tru Pei’s strength comes from combining his top-tier Divine Beast body with the Strength Profound Truth.
• Arnold shifts tactics, using Fusion Profound Mysteries based on speed and slowing techniques. This gives him a slight advantage over Tru Pei.
• Rather than becoming frustrated, Tru Pei is delighted by the intense battle and continues fighting enthusiastically. The duel ends this chapter still in progress.

Character Developments

• Arnold demonstrates both impressive physical durability and advanced mastery of Profound Truths. Although initially outmatched physically, he adapts quickly and uses increasingly sophisticated combinations of abilities.
• Arnold’s knowledge of Divine Beasts allows him to identify the nature of Tru Pei’s abilities, including the use of the Strength Profound Truth.
• Tru Pei is revealed to be far more powerful physically than an ordinary Divine Beast. He is a unique, top-tier Divine Beast comparable to Beirut, making his body extraordinarily resilient.
• Tru Pei’s personality becomes clearer: he is confident, playful, and primarily motivated by the joy of a challenging fight. He is willing to risk exposing his abilities simply to experience a satisfying battle.

Significant Themes

• Physical strength versus technique: The duel contrasts Tru Pei’s overwhelming body and strength with Arnold’s versatility and mastery of Profound Truths.
• Adaptation in battle: Arnold repeatedly changes strategies when his previous attacks prove ineffective.
• Hidden power and identity: Tru Pei’s nature as a rare top-tier Divine Beast and the mystery surrounding his Innate Divine Ability create suspense.
• The joy of combat: For Tru Pei, the duel is not merely a contest but a thrilling opportunity to fight someone capable of challenging him.

Character Interactions

• Arnold and Tru Pei exchange teasing, confident remarks before the fight, each encouraging the other to reveal greater strength.
• Their mutual respect grows as they recognize each other’s abilities, particularly Arnold’s unexpectedly strong body and Tru Pei’s superior Divine Beast physique.
• Their combat develops into a cooperative-feeling contest despite the danger, with both willingly escalating their attacks.
• The audience is divided between supporters of Arnold and Tru Pei, heightening the excitement surrounding the duel.

Chapter Summary: “God Nourishment”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Tru Pei and Arnold engage in a fierce duel. Despite injuring his fists, Tru Pei grows more aggressive, while Arnold seeks a way to break the stalemate.
• Arnold creates over twenty clones to confuse Tru Pei, but Tru Pei summons enormous earth-elemental swords that destroy the clones and reveal Arnold’s true body.
• Arnold uses the resulting wind essence to form tornadoes around Tru Pei, trapping him within a powerful Wind Space Profound Truth. Their Mid-God Divine Domains clash and cancel each other out, but Tru Pei remains heavily restrained.
• Tru Pei activates his Divine Beast innate divine ability, God Nourishment, manifesting a gigantic phantom of the Nourishing God Rat.
• The ability launches a strange Soul Attack into Arnold’s Soul Sea and directly steals part of his soul power, bypassing his defenses.
• Realizing the attack could have seriously harmed him if Tru Pei had used its full strength, Arnold concedes the duel. Tru Pei ends Arnold’s hundred-match winning streak.
• Unknown observers in the audience suspect that Tru Pei may be the person their mysterious lord is seeking. They send one of their group to bring their eldest brother and begin investigating Tru Pei’s identity.
• After returning to their residence, Tru Pei explains that God Nourishment not only steals an opponent’s soul power but can also absorb and use that power himself. Its effectiveness depends on the relative soul strengths of both combatants.
• Arnold accepts that he must improve his understanding of soul-related abilities, though Tru Pei explains that ordinary study would not easily counter the innate divine ability.
• Arnold returns to cultivating the Wind Profound Mysteries and Profound Fusion.

Character Developments

• Tru Pei demonstrates extraordinary endurance, combat ferocity, and control over his Divine Beast ability. His victory establishes him as a powerful and dangerous opponent.
• Arnold shows tactical creativity through his clone technique and wind-based restraints, but recognizes the limits of his soul defenses. He responds to defeat pragmatically by conceding and resolving to continue improving.
• Tru Pei’s playful, friendly relationship with Arnold becomes clearer after the duel; despite possessing a potentially lethal technique, he deliberately limits its power and jokes with Arnold afterward.
• A group of unidentified observers becomes increasingly interested in Tru Pei, suggesting that his identity or origins may be significant to a larger conflict.

Significant Themes

• Hidden power and revelation: Tru Pei’s seemingly straightforward fighting style conceals an exceptionally potent soul-based innate ability.
• The importance of soul strength: Physical and elemental defenses are insufficient against attacks that directly target the Soul Sea.
• Respect through combat: Arnold’s concession is not merely defeat but an acknowledgment of Tru Pei’s superior ability and restraint.
• Friendship amid danger: The duel is intense, yet the two retain mutual trust and humor afterward.
• Growing external threat: The observers’ investigation hints that Tru Pei may be connected to powerful figures and future complications.

Character Interactions

• Arnold and Tru Pei exchange increasingly powerful techniques during the duel, each attempting to overcome the other’s defenses.
• Arnold openly praises and fears God Nourishment after experiencing its effects, while Tru Pei explains its mechanics and limitations.
• Their post-battle conversation remains lighthearted, with Arnold jokingly asking Tru Pei not to use the ability on him and Tru Pei responding affectionately.
• The three mysterious spectators coordinate through soul transmission and begin planning an investigation into Tru Pei.

Chapter Summary: “Fourfold Profound Fusion”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After defeating Tru Pei, Arnold stops participating in Arena battles and focuses entirely on cultivating the Wind Law Profound Mysteries.
• Over fifty years, he advances the Wind Element and Wind Element Technique Profound Mysteries to their final bottlenecks. He also nearly completes their fusions with Fast, Slow, and Wind Space, though the fusions involving Clone Profound Truth and Dimensional Profound Truth lag far behind.
• Arnold temporarily abandons his fire- and water-element training so that both his Saint Domain true body and Wind God Clone can concentrate on breaking through the Wind Element bottleneck.
• After three years, Arnold masters the Wind Element Profound Mystery, simultaneously completing its fusions with Fast, Slow, and Wind Space. This allows him to begin fusing all four Profound Mysteries together.
• The fourfold fusion takes more than a century. Arnold struggles with the final bottleneck for decades, but eventually breaks through after another twenty years. Surprisingly, his Saint Domain true body succeeds before his more powerful Wind God Clone.
• The completed fusion greatly increases Arnold’s strength, enhancing both his ultimate technique, Sandfall Space, and his Elemental Avatar.
• Arnold then chooses a fifth Profound Mystery to fuse with the existing four. He rejects Dimensional Profound Truth because it is too difficult and slow to integrate, and chooses Wind Element Technique over Clone Profound Truth because it will greatly strengthen his Elemental Avatar.
• After finding the compatibility between Wind Element Technique and Wind Space in only two years, Arnold struggles to fuse it with Fast and Slow. He finally leaves his Miniature Plane for the first time in a century to travel across the Yulan Continent and seek inspiration.

Character Developments

• Arnold demonstrates exceptional patience and talent, mastering Wind Element far faster than expected because of the strength of his soul and the cooperation between his true body and clone.
• His cultivation becomes increasingly specialized: he prioritizes deep fusion of Wind Profound Mysteries over broad advancement in fire and water.
• Arnold grows more ambitious, moving from fourfold fusion toward fivefold fusion despite the extreme difficulty.
• He remains somewhat impatient and competitive, complaining about slow progress even while achieving breakthroughs that took Tru Pei millions of years.
• Tru Pei reveals that he has cultivated for a million years and fused only three Earth Law Profound Mysteries. He has repeatedly delayed becoming a High-God in hopes of achieving greater fusion. Inspired by Arnold and Lord Beirut, he adopts the more modest goal of fusing four Profound Mysteries first.
• Arnold also realizes that Tru Pei may have concealed some of his strength during their earlier duel, though Tru Pei refuses to confirm it.

Significant Themes

• The extreme difficulty of fusion: Combining multiple Profound Mysteries is portrayed as vastly harder than mastering them individually, with each additional mystery creating new compatibility problems.
• Patience versus ambition: Arnold’s rapid progress contrasts with Tru Pei’s million-year persistence, showing different paths toward power.
• Strategic cultivation: Arnold carefully chooses which abilities to fuse based on the greatest practical benefit, prioritizing Wind Element Technique because it will enhance his strongest techniques.
• The limits of talent and resources: Even Arnold’s powerful soul cannot overcome every obstacle quickly, while his poor fire-element affinity limits advancement in that area.
• The value of goals and guidance: Lord Beirut’s advice influences both Arnold and Tru Pei, encouraging them to pursue realistic stages of advancement rather than becoming consumed by distant objectives.

Character Interactions

• Arnold and Tru Pei maintain a friendly, teasing relationship after their duel. Tru Pei scolds Arnold for being dissatisfied with his extraordinary progress, while Arnold jokes about Tru Pei’s million-year cultivation and reluctance to become a High-God.
• Arnold deliberately invokes Lord Beirut when Tru Pei becomes emotional about his past failures, helping redirect Tru Pei toward a more achievable goal.
• Their conversation also hints that Tru Pei may have held back in their duel, adding mystery to the true extent of his strength.

Chapter Summary: “Dimensional Garment”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Arnold emerges from his Miniature Plane beneath Dragonblood Castle after centuries of seclusion. Wharton and Doehring greet him warmly, commenting on his enormous growth in strength.
• Arnold explains that his Wind God Clone’s cultivation in the Gebados Plane has reached a bottleneck, prompting him to return to Yulan Continent and travel.
• During a winter journey through the former territory of the Dark Alliance, Arnold becomes fascinated by falling snow and begins reflecting on how natural phenomena might relate to the laws of the world.
• He recalls the Material Plane’s protective membrane resisting Spatial Turbulence and attempts to recreate that defensive principle by combining the Dimensional Profound Truth with the Wind Element Profound Mystery.
• After relocating to the South Sea, Arnold successfully creates the Dimensional Garment, a thin, transparent defensive layer that redirects part of an incoming material attack into surrounding space. Though still incomplete and relatively weak, it represents a promising new fusion technique.
• Arnold’s Wind God Clone continues studying the fusion of Wind Element Technique with Fast and Slow, while his Saint Domain true body continues developing the Dimensional Garment.
• Meanwhile, three agents in Flowing Flame City monitor Tru Pei, whom they believe is the person their mysterious lord seeks. Their leader warns that if Tru Pei remains secluded for another three hundred years, war may erupt between Evil City and Flowing Flame City—the first such conflict in a million years.
• Arnold’s cultivation progresses significantly. His Earth God Clone reaches the upper limit of a Mid-God soul, while his Wind God Clone approaches the same threshold.
• Arnold eventually discovers the compatibility point between Wind Element Technique and Fast and Slow. After another hundred years of cultivation, his Saint Domain true body breaks through the remaining bottlenecks in only five years.
• By the chapter’s end, Arnold has fully fused every pair among five Wind-related profound mysteries—Wind Element Technique, Wind Element, Fast, Slow, and Wind Space—and can even begin combining all five simultaneously.

Character Developments

• Arnold: Demonstrates immense growth, creativity, and patience. Rather than merely pursuing strength through conventional cultivation, he observes nature and the structure of the planes to invent new techniques. His comprehension reaches a major milestone as he masters the fusion of five profound mysteries.
• Doehring Cowart: Continues to serve as a familiar companion and intellectual equal to Arnold, while modestly acknowledging Arnold’s superior advancement. His own survival and creation of a divine body from a soul state are recognized as extraordinary achievements.
• Wharton: Maintains a warm, teasing relationship with Arnold and highlights how dramatically Arnold has surpassed him.
• Tru Pei: Remains secluded and unaware that powerful figures are searching for him. His identity appears important enough to potentially trigger a major war.
• The agents of the mysterious lord: Their concern over Tru Pei reveals the seriousness of the political tension between Evil City and Flowing Flame City.

Significant Themes

• Innovation through observation: Arnold’s breakthrough comes from studying snow and the plane’s protective membrane, emphasizing that profound laws can be understood through ordinary natural phenomena.
• Persistence and long-term cultivation: The chapter spans more than a century, portraying advancement as the result of sustained experimentation, patience, and repeated breakthroughs.
• Fusion of laws: Arnold’s progress centers on finding compatibility between different profound mysteries, suggesting that true power comes from integrating principles rather than mastering them in isolation.
• Calm before conflict: Arnold’s peaceful cultivation contrasts with the hidden political crisis surrounding Tru Pei and the possible renewal of war between the two cities.
• Scale of power and time: Centuries pass almost casually, reinforcing the vast timescale of divine cultivation and the enormous gap between ordinary beings and powerful cultivators.

Character Interactions

• Arnold’s reunion with Wharton and Doehring is affectionate and humorous, showing their long-standing bonds despite Arnold’s overwhelming increase in power.
• Doehring and Arnold exchange mutual praise: Arnold acknowledges Doehring’s remarkable survival and divine-body achievement, while Doehring admires Arnold’s cultivation.
• The three agents communicate through soul transmission, revealing disagreement and anxiety over whether to report Tru Pei immediately.
• Arnold’s various clones effectively pursue parallel paths of cultivation, with the Wind God Clone and Saint Domain true body focusing on different but related combinations of profound mysteries before ultimately achieving major breakthroughs.