Recaps

Jiang Wei began training as a Rune Master while Longwind Fortress continued preparing for Harsh Winter. In Black Iron City, Li Yunfan learned that he and other ordinary people would be sent to Longwind Fortress, and he decided to take the uncertain chance rather than remain where he expected to die.

• Lincon taught Jiang Wei Rune knowledge, and she quickly learned to guide energy and inscribe Runes before Shen Congzhi took over her instruction.
• Lincon noticed wild fluctuations in his reputation and suspected that Black Iron City was preparing to send people to Longwind Fortress.
• Li Yunfan watched a middle-aged man die by suicide in their overcrowded room, took his leather coat, and later went to work at a coal yard.
• Zhou Qing arrived at the coal yard, and the foreman announced that the workers would be sent to Longwind Fortress in exchange for resources.
• Li Yunfan recalled that Longwind Fortress had once been believed destroyed, noticed Zhou Qing's apparent envy, and decided to go in hopes of finding a chance to survive.

Black Iron City gathered tens of thousands of vulnerable residents to send to Longwind Fortress, while Zhou Qing privately explained that the transfer was meant to save them from the coming winter. Meanwhile, Lincon spotted Flint City scouts entering his territory, and Ye Yuan prepared an assault to weaken Longwind Fortress and seize its supplies.

• Li Yunfan joined the procession to Longwind Fortress with his suitcase of Old Era novels as Xue Manzi and Brother Fei gathered Black Iron City's residents.
• Brother Fei told Xue Manzi that Black Iron City was selling its elderly, children, sick, and disabled residents to reduce the burden on the city.
• Zhou Qing explained that Longwind Fortress could save the residents from Harsh Winter and ordered his subordinate to fill the remaining places mainly with people in need.
• Guan Teng and Luo Qian traveled toward Black Iron City while Lincon detected groups of Flint City intruders probing Longwind Fortress's territory.
• Lincon recognized the intruders as Flint City's vanguard, sent to clear the plants that strengthened his abilities before a battle.
• Ye Yuan led several hundred ability users near Longwind Fortress, intending to weaken Lincon and plunder the fortress's food before Harsh Winter.

Lincon used the Delirium Mist Dandelions in the forest to trap Flint City's assassination squad, then advanced an Albizia Tree into a Stasis Albizia Tree to weaken the attackers further. The squad remained disoriented in the mist as Lincon prepared to combine its effects with the tree's stasis pollen.

• Lincon spotted Flint City's Ability Users sneaking through the forest toward Longwind Fortress and directed them into the Delirium Mist Dandelions.
• The mist separated Cao Ling from his squad and caused him to loop through the forest, lose track of his thoughts, and suffer hallucinations.
• Lincon observed that the squad had entered a Delirium State but remained strong enough to threaten the Treant Guards.
• Lincon advanced the Albizia Tree into a C-Rank Stasis Albizia Tree, whose pollen slowed the strength, speed, and energy reactions of creatures that inhaled it.

Lincon’s defenses wiped out two of Flint City’s invading squads, while a third squad led by Liu Nong reached the outskirts of Longwind Fortress to attack its Spirit Plants. The chapter ends as Liu Nong orders the assault on the Fallen Sun Thorncrown and fortress.

• Cao Ling’s squad succumbed to the Misty Forest’s delirium and stasis effects, and Treant Guards killed all five C-Rank Ability Users.
• Lincon gained Sunlight and experience from the deaths, noted that the first squad had been eliminated in twenty-two minutes, and watched as Spirit Plants destroyed the second squad.
• Lincon deliberately let the third squad pass through his territory toward the Provisional Subject Camp outside Longwind Fortress.
• Wang Cai identified the Fallen Sun Thorncrown for Dragon Guard Liu Nong, while Blackie reported that the camp’s patrols posed little threat.
• Liu Nong ordered his team to begin their attack, and the ability users rushed toward Longwind Fortress.

Lincon’s defenses exposed and defeated Liu Nong’s assassination squad, while Flint City’s larger force advanced into Longwind Territory. Lincon and Ye Yuan made contact through a shrine, and Ye Yuan declared he had come to kill him.

• Lincon watched the approaching assassins through his shrines as Blackie and Gecko were discovered and captured by Longwind Fortress’s guards and plants.
• Liu Nong threw a white phosphorus bomb at the Fallen Sun Thorncrown, but it swallowed the bomb and destroyed him with an explosion.
• Lincon received Sunlight and experience for the defeated invaders and welcomed the prospect of a war with Flint City.
• Ye Yuan led his Ability Users into Longwind Territory and found one of Lincon’s shrines, where the two rulers saw each other across the distance.
• Ye Yuan told Lincon he had come to kill him, and Lincon calmly replied that he would be waiting.

Lincon used his Lord’s authority to trap Ye Yuan’s Flint City force in the Misty Forest and prepared the forest’s Spirit Plants to fight them. As Ye Yuan’s team entered the mist, Lincon readied a hidden advancement that could provide battlefield intelligence.

• Lincon moved the Misty Forest into Ye Yuan’s route, but Ye Yuan repeatedly changed course and found the same forest blocking him.
• Ye Yuan decided to force his way through the forest and led the Flint City ability users inside.
• Lincon deployed offensive Spirit Plants throughout the forest and arranged traps to wear down Flint City’s force.
• Lincon advanced the transplanted catalpa tree into an Empty-Nest Bird Roost Tree to provide concealed observers for the battle.

Ye Yuan led Flint City's Ability Users through the Misty Forest, where Lincon used hostile Spirit Plants to ambush them. Ye Yuan cleared a path with a devastating mental attack, but Destruction Dark Sunflowers then exploded beneath the group, causing the first casualties.

• Ye Yuan detected and crushed a concealed Void-Nesting Bird carrying a fragment of Lincon's mind, while Lincon watched the group through another bird.
• Ye Yuan's group found that fire could not clear the mist, and several Ability Users began suffering its poisonous effects.
• A wind user blew away the mist, revealing Spore Shooter Mushrooms that attacked Flint City's Ability Users behind a line of Nut Guardians.
• Ye Yuan unleashed a mental shockwave that destroyed the Spirit Plants blocking the path, allowing his group to advance.
• Destruction Dark Sunflowers exploded when a member of the group stepped on one, killing Ability Users within three meters.

Flint City’s forces suffered heavy losses in Lincon’s Misty Forest before Ye Yuan’s elite squad reached him at the clearing chosen as the final battlefield. Lincon and Ye Yuan faced off as both sides prepared to fight, with the forest’s plants unleashing their buffs and Ye Yuan leading the attack.

• Destruction Dark Sunflowers and hidden mines killed or injured Flint City Ability Users, while the returning mist caused delirium among the troops left with the butler.
• Ye Yuan led twenty C-Class Ability Users through the forest, where Stasis Pollen weakened them and they discovered the corpses of Cao Ling’s failed assassination squad.
• Ye Yuan followed the strongest energy source deeper into the forest as his companions grew increasingly impaired by the mist.
• Lincon waited in a clearing with the Garrison Guard and Jiang Li’s group, having chosen the forest as the site of the final battle.
• Lincon activated the Delirium Mist Dandelions and Stasis Albizia Trees as Ye Yuan drove back the mist and charged, ordering Flint City’s forces to attack.

Lincon fought Ye Yuan with his Spirit Plants, then revealed a golden Composite State that let him break through Ye Yuan’s psychic defense and strike him down. The battle remained unresolved as Lincon layered the Dragonblood Flood Dragon Vine onto his armor and charged Ye Yuan with only three minutes to finish the fight.

• The Twisted Treant blocked Ye Yuan’s psychic sword, but Ye Yuan gravely wounded it with a psychic attack.
• Lincon summoned the restored Dragonblood Flood Dragon Vine, which endured Ye Yuan’s psychic swords and was then heavily damaged by his Psychic Warhammer.
• Ye Yuan unleashed Psychic Break, but Lincon appeared beside him and battered through his psychic barrier, caving in his chest with a golden-armored punch.
• Lincon revealed the Solar Sunflower Armament’s Composite State, leaving Ye Yuan shocked by his strength and unfamiliar form.
• Lincon combined the Dragonblood Flood Dragon Vine with his armor as Dragon Fist, knowing the form would drain him quickly, and charged at Ye Yuan.

Lincon fought Ye Yuan, the lord of Flint City, through a brutal close-quarters battle that left his armor cracked and his strength nearly spent. Ye Yuan trapped him in a Psychic Web, but Lincon escaped with a Rift-Cleaving Dandelion seed and killed him with the Shadow Sword and a final punch.

• Lincon broke through Ye Yuan’s Mental Domain with a powerful Xingyi Fist strike and injured him.
• Ye Yuan strengthened his body with psychic power and fought Lincon in a rapid close-quarters battle.
• Ye Yuan created a Psychic Web that enclosed Lincon after damaging his armor.
• Lincon escaped the web with a Rift-Cleaving Dandelion seed and appeared behind Ye Yuan.
• Lincon stabbed Ye Yuan through the heart with the Shadow Sword and smashed his head with a final punch.

Lincon defeated Ye Yuan and Longwind Fortress crushed Flint City’s surprise attack, triggering an early Territory War mission to unify Jiangzhou. Zhang Rui offered the surviving Flint City forces surrender or death, and the butler led them in surrendering.

• Lincon killed Ye Yuan, gained enough Sunlight to pass ten thousand, and unlocked the Territory War mission to unify the Jiangzhou region.
• Jiang Li, Qiu An, and the Spirit Plants defeated Flint City’s remaining attackers without casualties, while Lincon ordered the survivors surrounded rather than killed.
• Lincon returned to Longwind Fortress to recover, and Zhang Rui led core subjects into the Misty Forest to handle the captured Flint City forces.
• Zhang Rui offered the prisoners three years of work for Longwind Fortress or death, and the butler urged them to surrender.
• When some prisoners resisted and cursed the butler, vines killed them, after which the remaining Flint City forces fell silent and accepted surrender.

After Flint City’s defeat, Lincon and Zhang Rui judged that Longwind Fortress could not yet control the distant city, so they decided to send its steward Liu Bowen back with a limited mission. Lincon offered Liu Bowen permanent citizenship in exchange for bringing back people and materials listed in the Abyss Compendium.

• Zhang Rui imposed strict terms on Flint City’s prisoners, gathered intelligence from Liu Bowen, and led the prisoners to Longwind Fortress.
• The prisoners saw Longwind Fortress’s flourishing settlement, and Zhang Rui reported Flint City’s situation to Lincon and the fortress’s core members.
• Zhang Rui and Lincon agreed that Longwind Fortress lacked the strength to govern Flint City directly and decided to release Liu Bowen to reclaim benefits from it.
• Lincon summoned Liu Bowen and offered him permanent citizenship if he returned with people and materials recorded in the Abyss Compendium.

Lincon spent 2,000 Sunlight to advance the Charred Branch of the Fire God Tree into a B+ Fire God Tree, unleashing a powerful fire-energy field throughout Longwind Fortress. The new tree offered hope against the coming Harsh Winter, but its heat upset the Sacred Court’s other Spirit Plants, so Lincon needed to find it a new home.

• Lincon considered the Fire God Tree’s possible advancement paths and chose its standard evolution because he lacked the materials needed to awaken the Fusang Divine Tree.
• Lincon spent 2,000 Sunlight to advance the charred branch, and the transformation unleashed overwhelming fire-element energy across the Sacred Court and Longwind Fortress.
• Jiang Li sensed the surging fire-element energy and used the opportunity to attempt another breakthrough.
• The branch awakened into a B+ Fire God Tree with abilities that produced a pure fire domain, dispelled cold and frost conditions, and could eventually condense fire essence.
• Lincon heard the other Spirit Plants complain about the Fire God Tree’s heat, and even the Crystal Orchid Giant Tree urged him to move it.

Lincon planted the Fire God Tree outside the Sacred Court, where its Pure Fire Domain helped Jiang Li advance and gave him new ideas about cultivating Spirit Plants. Meanwhile, Guan Teng and Luo Qian began escorting fifty thousand people from Black Iron City toward Longwind Fortress, leaving the frightened crowd unsure of their fate.

• Lincon moved the Fire God Tree Sapling to the Western District, where it transformed the soil and spread a fifty-meter Pure Fire Domain; Zhang Rui agreed to fence off the area and protect it.
• Jiang Li told Lincon that she had advanced to C-Class using the Fire God Tree’s released fire energy, and Lincon allowed her to train beside the sapling.
• Lincon visited Ying and told her he could help her advance with an A-Rank Dark Matter Crystal, but Ying asked to keep growing naturally until she had used more of her potential.
• As Harsh Winter approached, Guan Teng and Luo Qian prepared to take fifty thousand people from Black Iron City to Longwind Fortress, despite Guan Teng’s concerns about the group’s large share of elderly people, women, and children.
• Zhou Qing arranged the crowd’s departure, while Black Iron City residents watched with relief and the selected people feared they were being sent to their deaths.

Black Iron City’s factions changed course after learning that Longwind Fortress had destroyed Flint City’s forces with zero casualties, while New River City moved to seize Flint City’s assets. At Longwind Fortress, Lincon developed Frost Crystal Rice, a crop suited to Harsh Winter, and began growing enough seed for wider cultivation.

• Zhou Qing and Chen Siwei watched the escorted refugees leave for Longwind Fortress as Black Iron City’s internal conflict worsened.
• Hong Qi learned that Longwind Fortress had annihilated Flint City’s main force without losses, ordered his people to stop sabotaging the fortress, and moved to seize control of Black Iron City.
• Chen Siwei and Zhou Qing reconsidered Longwind Fortress’s strength, while New River City set its sights on taking Flint City’s assets.
• Lincon discovered a rice plant that could thrive in cold conditions and evolve into Frost Crystal Rice.
• Lincon matured the Frost Crystal Rice, planted it in the garden, and began producing seeds for large-scale cultivation.

Lincon oversaw the planting of Frost Crystal Rice near Longwind Fortress and kept its body-strengthening effects secret from most residents. He then reviewed the first thirty-seven Provisional Subjects who qualified for promotion to Formal Subjects, checking their records and loyalty.

• Lincon gave Zhang Rui Frost Crystal Rice seeds and instructions for planting them in the cold, fertile land while restricting knowledge of their benefits to core management.
• Zhang Rui organized workers and guards to prepare a field north of Longwind Fortress, and the first Frost Crystal Rice crop was sown within three days.
• Lincon reviewed the Contribution System records of thirty-seven Provisional Subjects who had earned enough points to qualify for promotion to Formal Subjects.
• Lincon carefully read each candidate's contributions and checked their loyalty on his panel.

Lincon approved the promotion of Longwind Fortress’s first thirty-seven Provisional Subjects to Formal Subjects and arranged a public review followed by a ceremony. The ceremony recognized their contributions and welcomed them into the fortress as full subjects with greater rights and responsibilities.

• Lincon ordered a three-day public notice period for the list of thirty-seven candidates and decided to give them exclusive achievement badges instead of material rewards.
• The record officer posted the candidates’ names and contributions, and officials invited people to submit evidence-backed objections; none of the candidates were found to have falsified their records.
• At the ceremony, Lincon addressed the gathered crowd as the Fallen Sun Thorncrown glowed above the platform.
• Zhang Rui read the promotion rules and each candidate’s contributions while the thirty-seven subjects stepped onto the platform.
• Lincon welcomed the candidates, including Xu Weiguo, whose panel showed loyalty of 81 and an awakening Sixth Sense talent, and said their names would enter Longwind Fortress’s Founding Register.

Lincon awarded the first thirty-seven promoted citizens the exclusive Pioneer Citizen Badge, moving many of them deeply and raising their loyalty. After seeing how strongly the badges affected the crowd, he promised future badges for exceptional service in special operations and major events.

• Lincon presented the thirty-seven newly promoted citizens with Pioneer Citizen Badges engraved with “Pioneer's Proof.”
• Xu Weiguo felt recognized and honored as Lincon pinned the badge to his chest.
• Lincon explained that the badge gave no practical benefits and would never be issued to another group.
• Jiang Li asked whether similar badges would be awarded in the future, drawing the crowd’s attention.
• Lincon promised limited badge rewards for people who performed outstandingly in special operations or major events at Longwind Fortress.

Lincon discovered that the Fire God Tree had nurtured Fire God Butterflies and considered how they might form a symbiotic ecosystem. As Longwind Fortress prepared to receive fifty thousand people from Black Iron City, Lincon finalized settlement plans and announced the Glory Tower to reassure existing subjects; construction began the next day.

• Jiang Li told Lincon about strange insects near the Fire God Tree, and Lincon learned they were Fire God Butterflies nurtured by the tree’s domain.
• Luo Qian returned, and Lincon sent him, Jiang Li, the Twisted Treant, and Treant Guards to meet the people traveling from Black Iron City.
• Lincon and Longwind Fortress’s leaders finalized plans to screen, house, and provide for the incoming fifty thousand people, choosing to divide them among three residential districts.
• Worried Provisional Subjects feared the newcomers would take their resources, so Lincon announced the Glory Tower, which would publish monthly contribution rankings.
• The fortress posted the Glory Tower construction plan at dawn, and more than two hundred Provisional Subjects and dozens of Flint City prisoners signed up for the task.

Longwind Fortress prepared to build the Glory Tower and settle fifty thousand refugees as the exhausted procession from Black Iron City approached. Lincon and the others reached the refugees in the darkness, and the newcomers entered the fortress’s transformed territory, where a fantastical Shrine and Spirit Tree awaited them.

• Lincon stopped the department leaders from turning the Glory Tower’s design into a display for their respective groups and took over the plans himself.
• Jiang Li and Luo Qian led the Treant Guards in guiding more than forty-seven thousand survivors from Black Iron City toward Longwind Fortress, providing food, water, and aid along the way.
• Jiang Li and several Ability Users left the procession to clear dark creatures from its route, then returned injured.
• Li Yunfan and the refugees entered Longwind Fortress’s territory and felt the air grow fresh as the surroundings changed to cleared, level land.
• The newcomers saw Rift-Cleaving Dandelion seeds teleport ahead of them, leading toward an ancient Shrine intertwined with a Spirit Tree.

The fifty thousand people from Black Iron City arrived at Longwind Fortress and saw its thriving settlements, unusual defenses, and welcoming community. After Zhang Rui explained the Fortress's code, Lincon introduced himself as its master and welcomed the newcomers.

• Jiang Li explained that the glowing Lord's Shrine marked Longwind Fortress territory and offered protection from Dark Creatures.
• Luo Qian guided the Black Iron City group past the Fortress's strange plants, Misty Forest, and Longwind Lake.
• The group reached Longwind Fortress and saw its flower-covered walls and orderly outer settlement.
• Zhang Rui brought the newcomers to the new settlement area and explained the Longwind Code, letting them choose whether to accept it.
• Lincon appeared before the crowd and welcomed them to Longwind Fortress.

Longwind Fortress organized the 47,000 newcomers from Black Iron City, quarantined and assigned them work, and grew into a more structured settlement. As the first cold wave arrived, Lincon’s reputation passed 50,000 and his Seed of Life became eligible to advance.

• Lincon arranged the newcomers into four provisional camps, where Li Yunfan settled into shack 743 and Cao Yan became its room leader.
• Cao Yan explained the three-day quarantine, contribution system, and work assignments to the shack residents, giving them hope for a future in Longwind Fortress.
• After inspections, the newcomers registered their skills and were assigned to work groups that built roads, farms, facilities, and the beginnings of an outer city.
• Xu Weiguo and other managers resolved disputes as a reserve force for the Longwind Town Guard formed and filled its 2,000 places with applicants.
• A sudden cold wave covered the area in frost, and Lincon saw that his reputation had reached 51,310, meeting the Seed of Life’s advancement requirements.

Lincon advanced the Seed of Life into its growth stage, bringing warmth and improved conditions to Longwind Fortress and accelerating the Fire God Tree's growth with a Spirit Field. As Harsh Winter approached, rumors of the fortress's prosperity spread through an increasingly desperate Jiangzhou.

• Lincon advanced the Seed of Life, whose new abilities expanded its domain across Longwind Fortress and eased the cold for its residents.
• Lincon learned that the Seed of Life had reached B-Plus Rank and required 200 Sunlight daily, then chose sites for its first two Spirit Fields.
• Lincon blessed the Fire God Tree's land, and the tree rapidly grew to human height as Fire God Butterflies emerged nearby.
• Lincon recognized that the Seed of Life and Spirit Fields could help the fortress's plants flourish despite the coming winter.
• Across Jiangzhou, people fought over scarce winter supplies as the harsher cold wave approached, and rumors of Longwind Fortress spread.

After rumors of Longwind Fortress spread across Jiangzhou, Gray Feather Squad arrived to trade, and Lincon used the visit to establish a permanent Outer City trade district. The chapter ended with the squad completing a successful exchange and discovering the fortress’s unusual goods and abundant supplies.

• Rumors of Longwind Fortress spread after Flint City fell, drawing survivors, wandering Ability Users, and trading squads toward it.
• Gray Feather Squad crossed into the fortress’s territory, marveled at its pure air and flower-filled landscape, and asked to trade.
• Zhang Rui reported the squad’s arrival to Lincon, who ordered its members received and directed staff to build an Outer City trade district.
• Lincon and Zhang Rui planned rules for outside visitors, protected the fortress’s crops and water sources, and assigned staff to enforce their decisions.
• After two days, Gray Feather Squad traded Dark Matter Crystals and wasteland finds for supplies, Rune Weapons, tools, and unfamiliar foods.

The Gray Feather Squad decided to relocate near Longwind Fortress after witnessing its rune weapons, defenses, and orderly society, while Lincon planned a Mercenary Guild to attract independent ability users. As Ash Snow began falling, Harsh Winter officially arrived, testing whether the fortress could endure the prolonged cold.

• Night Owl and the Gray Feather Squad examined a rune dagger, and Hidden Bat warned that Longwind Fortress's Garrison Guards had nearly killed him when he tried to infiltrate the Inner City.
• Night Owl decided the squad would stop exploring Longwind Fortress and operate nearby; after two days of observation, the Gray Feather Squad left to settle affairs in Black Iron City and move possessions toward the fortress.
• Lincon and Zhang Rui planned a Mercenary Guild in Longwind Fortress to support independent ability-user squads with missions, logistics, information, and dispute mediation.
• Ash Snow began falling as temperatures plunged, while Elemental Harmonization and the Fire God Tree helped protect Longwind Fortress from the cold.
• The fortress's alarm bell sounded as Ash Snow thickened, and residents sheltered in reinforced homes while Harsh Winter began across Jiangzhou.