Chapter Summaries

Yetos used the Wind Elemental Artifact and Ma Linya’s Fragrant Herb Potion to drive the Black-Feathered Sparrows away from Sand City with medicinal rain. Afterward, he ordered scouts to investigate the Seven Kingdoms Coalition and the birds’ nearby caves, while hidden observers watched the city from the woods.

• Yetos explained that he had repaired the damaged Wind Elemental Artifact, while Ma Linya finished brewing the Fragrant Herb Potion.
• Yetos used the artifact to send the potion into the sky, where it spread as fragrant medicinal rain over Sand City.
• The rain restored the knights’ spirits and drove the Black-Feathered Sparrows from the city as the black clouds broke apart.
• Yetos ordered William to send flying riders to scout the Seven Kingdoms Coalition’s camp and the birds’ caves in the surrounding hills.
• Ma Linya, Aikimu, Xibizete, Kanni, and Zeng Mu discussed who might have orchestrated the attack, and Zeng Mu suspected scouts were nearby.
• Two hidden observers watched Sand City from a wooded slope.

After the Black-Feathered Sparrows attacked Sand City, Ma Linya received a baron’s medal while Zeng Mu and Kanni tried to enjoy a quiet night. Yetos investigated the attack and discovered a poisonous yellow viper fruit inside a sparrow, leaving him to consider what the enemy had planned.

• Qin Zihui and Han Ling discussed how Yetos’s Wind Elemental Artifact had disrupted their plans, then agreed to proceed with a scheme to weaken the knights.
• After the cleanup, Ma Linya received rare herbs and a baron’s medal from Zeng Mu and Kanni, who explained the title’s benefits and expected ceremonial robes.
• Zeng Mu and Kanni left Ma Linya’s room and went to drink in northern Sand City, where Zeng Mu said the alleys reminded him of somewhere he used to spend time.
• Yetos read the casualty register and learned that the sparrow attack had killed 337 knights and wounded 384 others.
• William reported that the Seven Kingdoms had driven the sparrows from their nests with medicinal rain and that fewer than three hundred enemy soldiers might be watching Sand City.
• William cut open a dead Black-Feathered Sparrow and found a yellow viper fruit inside it.

Yetos uncovered the enemy’s plan to use yellow viper fruit hidden in Black-Feathered Sparrows to lure snakes into the city, but underestimated how extensive the attack would be. After a venomous snake killed Xiao Pei, Zeng Mu and Kanni discovered the bait in the birds and saw a tide of snakes filling the doorway.

• Yetos ordered William to clear Black-Feathered Sparrows from rooms and spread snake-repellent powder after identifying the enemy’s likely plan.
• Zeng Mu waited outside while Kanni was with Xiao Pei, then turned down a woman’s invitation to join them.
• A Yellow Sand Diamondback Snake crawled through a crack in the wall and killed Xiao Pei before Kanni struck it down.
• Kanni and Zeng Mu found yellow viper fruit hidden inside the Black-Feathered Sparrows and realized the snake attack had been planned.
• The woman spotted a tide of snakes clogging the doorway.

Kanni, Zeng Mu, and Ma Linya traced the Yellow Sand Diamondback Snake tide to a square where it was devouring Black-Feathered Sparrow carcasses. As they watched from the tower, a golden light appeared and plunged the square into darkness, while Yetos sensed an approaching presence.

• Kanni protected the frightened woman and Xiao Pei from the snakes, then followed Zeng Mu to Ma Linya's stone house.
• Ma Linya explained that she had used repellent powder, and the three worked out that the snake tide was moving southwest toward the city garbage site.
• Kanni, Zeng Mu, and Ma Linya followed the tide to the central square, where Yetos and William brought them up to the tower.
• The group discovered that the snakes were devouring the Black-Feathered Sparrow carcasses below the tower.
• Yetos sensed something approaching, then a golden light struck the square, extinguished the braziers, and filled the darkness with hissing.

Yetos and his allies discovered that a massive Yellow Sand Diamondback Snake King had been lured to Sand City and was preparing to level up. They attacked the ring of snakes protecting it, trying to reach the Snake King before it could advance.

• Ma Linya identified the golden snake as a level-two Elemental Snake King, and Yetos decided to wait until it finished feeding before driving it away.
• Yetos realized the Snake King was leveling up, which could make it powerful enough to defeat him if it reached level three.
• Xibizete urged the group to clear the surrounding snake tide before the Snake King finished its advancement.
• Yetos covered the group in poison-resistant Elemental Armor and led them from the tower toward the Snake King.
• Yetos opened a gap in the snakes’ ring with an elemental attack, then conserved his strength as the group charged into the encirclement and began slaughtering the snakes.

Zeng Mu and the others fought the Yellow Sand Diamondback Snakes as their king began advancing, while Yetos confronted it amid a violent surge of elemental energy. The explosion ended with the snake king transformed and newly awakened, while the fighters struggled to rise.

• Zeng Mu, Yetos, William, Aikimu, Xibizete, Kanni, and Ma Linya cut down the snake tide until fewer than half the snakes remained.
• The Yellow Sand Diamondback Snake King’s Elemental Mark appeared and began rotating, signaling its advancement.
• Yetos leapt onto the snake king’s head, and the snake tide swarmed over him and the king.
• Zeng Mu warned the others to retreat as golden and green energy erupted, battering them with alternating heat and cold.
• Ma Linya insisted she could endure as emerald light spread through the snake mound and a two-colored energy pillar pierced the clouds.
• The mound exploded, and the six fighters saw the enlarged Yellow Sand Diamondback Snake King awaken with brighter scales and azure threads of light.

Yetos failed to stop the Yellow Sand Diamondback Snake King from advancing, and the others tried to retreat while Zeng Mu touched its elemental mark. The mark weakened, allowing Zeng Mu to destroy the Snake King’s eyes and strike its vital point, where he uncovered an Elemental Source.

• Yetos ordered the others to attack the Snake King's eyes, but their weapons could not damage them, and he warned that the beast was about to advance.
• Aikimu and Xibizete helped carry the unconscious Yetos away while William stayed behind to warn the sleeping knights at camp.
• Zeng Mu touched the Snake King's elemental mark, and the black stone necklace around his neck protected him as the mark weakened.
• The golden pillar of light vanished, and Zeng Mu slashed the Snake King's eyes before stabbing its vital point seven meters below its head.
• Zeng Mu pulled his Bronze Sword from the Snake King and revealed a flame-like object that Ma Linya identified as an Elemental Source.

After Zeng Mu killed an Elemental Beast, a rare elemental source appeared, giving him the chance to become an Elementalist. As he began absorbing it, his body endured a near-fatal transformation and a golden mark formed on his forehead.

• Ma Linya and the others explained that Zeng Mu could absorb the elemental source because he had dealt the killing blow, and that it could make him an Elementalist.
• Zeng Mu sat down to absorb the source while Aikimu and Kanni stayed to guard him and the energy began healing Yetos.
• Aikimu and Kanni fell asleep as the golden light spread around Zeng Mu and Yetos's elemental mark began healing his wounds.
• Zeng Mu woke to see a small golden snake inside the halo, then felt unbearable heat spread through his body.
• As Zeng Mu struggled against the transformation, the golden snake touched his forehead and left a golden mark taking shape there.

Zeng Mu awakened as a Metal Elementalist after spending the night absorbing an elemental source, and Yetos recognized his exceptional potential. He demonstrated his new strength by controlling Yetos's Platinum Dagger, which Yetos gave to him as the knights celebrated his transformation.

• The knights gathered around Zeng Mu, Yetos, Kanni, and Aikimu as they woke after a night of recovery.
• Yetos explained that the elemental source had healed his wounds and strengthened his elemental power, then realized Zeng Mu had become an Elementalist.
• Zeng Mu awakened amid a burst of golden light, and Yetos explained that his newly strengthened body was nearly impervious to weapons.
• Yetos tossed his Platinum Dagger into the air, and Zeng Mu used his elemental power to stop it and lower it gently into his hand.
• Yetos gave Zeng Mu the dagger, while Aikimu complained that Yetos had refused to let him hold it before.

After Zeng Mu advanced to the manifestation realm, he discovered Red Night Ants in a flask of water, revealing a possible attempt to poison Sand City’s wells. Yetos and Aikimu sent teams to inspect both wells, and Aikimu’s group found a red cluster floating in the southern well.

• Ma Linya examined Zeng Mu’s improved condition, gave him medicinal tonics, and offered him a flask of warm water.
• Zeng Mu noticed Red Night Ants in the flask, and Yetos explained that their venom could poison anyone who drank contaminated water.
• Ma Linya said she had drawn the water from a city well, while the group realized the wells had gone unguarded overnight and suspected an enemy spy.
• Yetos ordered teams to inspect the northern and southern wells, and the knights rushed to check them.
• Aikimu’s team questioned the southern well guards, then drew up a scoop of water and found a red cluster floating on its surface.

After discovering Red Night Ants had contaminated Sand City’s wells, Yetos found a way to fetch water from Hidden Lake using the Emerald Bead. He chose Zeng Mu, Kanni, and Ma Linya for the mission, and Cobert agreed to join after Kanni threatened him.

• Aikimu sealed the contaminated well and recovered buckets of Red Night Ants from the cooks before they could enter the food.
• Yetos learned the legion’s water would run out before reinforcements arrived and identified Hidden Lake as a drinkable source upstream of the enemy camp.
• Yetos gave Zeng Mu the restored Emerald Bead, whose internal space could carry enough water, and chose him, Kanni, and Ma Linya to retrieve it in disguise.
• Yetos asked Ma Linya to persuade Cobert to accompany them because his presence would help the group pass as merchants.
• Cobert refused on the grounds that his people’s neutrality was a clan principle, but Kanni pressed a blade to his neck, and Cobert agreed to leave Sand City.

Zeng Mu and his companions traveled toward the Viking Legion with wagons of water, but a roadside ambush overturned their vehicles. Three armed bandits demanded their cargo and Ma Linya, and Zeng Mu began releasing an invisible aura as the confrontation escalated.

• Cobert led disguised Zeng Mu, Ma Linya, and Kanni out of Sand City in two wagons bound for the Viking Legion.
• The group crossed Black Iron Slope, where Ma Linya recounted how Uncle White survived the earthquake that destroyed Black Iron Town.
• A timber blocked the road on the steep descent, causing both wagons to crash, though Zeng Mu, Ma Linya, Kanni, and their horses escaped serious injury.
• Three armed men emerged and admitted they had placed the timber across the road to stop the merchants.
• The bandit leader demanded the goods and Ma Linya, while Zeng Mu began emanating an invisible aura.

Ma Linya led Zeng Mu and their companions to a hidden settlement in Black Iron Town, where bandit chief Bright asked her to marry him. She agreed on the condition that the wedding happen that night, and her sincere-sounding wish at the wedding left Zeng Mu and Kanni uneasy.

• Ma Linya stopped Zeng Mu from attacking the three bandits and persuaded them to take the group to their stronghold.
• The group discovered that Black Iron Town concealed a thriving settlement beneath an iron framework.
• Bright introduced himself to Ma Linya and asked her to become his wife, and she agreed on the condition that they marry that night.
• Bright's brothers prepared a wedding feast while Zeng Mu and Kanni watched anxiously and wondered what Ma Linya intended.
• At the wedding, Ma Linya told Bright that her wish was to marry him, while Zeng Mu and Kanni remained silent.

Bright and Ma Linya spent their wedding night talking about his past, and Ma Linya persuaded him to leave Black Iron Town for Sand City to reunite with his uncle. She became the owner of Bright’s glowing fish, Little Blue, whose blue light suddenly flared as it opened its eyes.

• Fifth insisted that Bright and Ma Linya hold a wedding ceremony that night, but Bright postponed it until morning and led Ma Linya to their decorated bedroom.
• Ma Linya secretly passed Zeng Mu a note telling him to wait in secret, easing his anxiety.
• Bright told Ma Linya about his childhood in Black Iron Town and how a disaster destroyed it while he and his friends were away.
• Ma Linya told Bright that his uncle, White Miles, was a renowned blacksmith in Sand City, and Bright decided to take his brothers there the next day.
• Ma Linya admired Bright’s glowing fish, Little Blue, and asked Bright to name her its owner; after he agreed, Little Blue’s blue light flared and it opened its eyes.

Ma Linya revealed that the Blue Starfish was the key to combating the Red Night Ants threatening Sand City, then the group set off toward Creek Valley with the fish and their companions. The chapter left them riding through the night in a cramped carriage, with Zeng Mu caught between the sleeping Cobert and Ma Linya.

• Ma Linya explained that the Blue Starfish affected people’s minds and was a natural enemy of Red Night Ants, and she had befriended Bright to gain his consent to take it.
• Zeng Mu stored Bright, the other four, and most of their supplies in the Emerald Bead Wood Elemental Artifact while Kanni woke Cobert.
• The group abandoned one carriage, climbed out of the rift, and continued toward Creek Valley after orienting themselves by the Big Dipper.
• Cobert fell asleep in the carriage and snored, so Zeng Mu used Elemental Power to quiet him.
• Zeng Mu stayed seated beside Ma Linya as the cramped carriage jolted through the night.

Zeng Mu and his companions found the Hidden Lake and took its water with the Wood Elemental Artifact after convincing O'Connor's Viking patrol that they were civilian merchants. A veteran returned to investigate and realized they were from the Holy Temple Legion.

• Ma Linya led Kanni, Cobert, and Zeng Mu to the Hidden Lake, where Zeng Mu sensed an approaching attacker and deflected an arrow aimed at Ma Linya.
• Cobert persuaded O'Connor's Vikings that the group were merchants, and O'Connor let them draw water and leave.
• Zeng Mu used the Wood Elemental Artifact to absorb the lake's water, and the four set off for Sand City.
• A Viking veteran returned to the emptied lake and recognized the Wood Elemental Artifact, concluding that the four belonged to the Holy Temple Legion.

After discovering that four men from Sand City had taken Hidden Lake with a Wood Elemental Artifact, O'Connor led a pursuit despite orders to wait for reinforcements. Zeng Mu and his companions sensed the chase but were stopped by a vast barrier of Living Python Root, with no clear route around it.

• A scout found Hidden Lake gone and the abandoned carriage's cargo untouched, then told O'Connor that the four travelers were from Sand City and carried a Wood Elemental Artifact.
• O'Connor ignored Idiveer's orders and led more than a dozen horsemen west in pursuit of the travelers.
• Zeng Mu, Ma Linya, Kanni, and Cobert hurried toward Sand City on two horses, and Kanni warned that their pursuers were closing in.
• The group encountered a wide mass of Living Python Root blocking the road, and Zeng Mu's iron shard bounced off its hardened roots.
• Ma Linya explained that Living Python Root had surfaced around them, blocking their path in every direction.

Zeng Mu and Kanni faced O'Connor's pursuing Viking Squad after the Living Python Roots withdrew, while Ma Linya and Cobert rode on toward Sand City. Zeng Mu revealed his power by killing the attackers, leaving O'Connor surrounded and terrified.

• The Living Python Roots withdrew underground, allowing the group to prepare to leave.
• O'Connor and more than a dozen riders caught up and attacked Ma Linya, but Zeng Mu stopped the arrows and sent Ma Linya and Cobert ahead with the Emerald Bead.
• Zeng Mu and Kanni stayed behind to face the Viking Squad, and Zeng Mu warned the riders to remain where they were.
• Zeng Mu killed five riders without visible wounds, then revealed golden light and demanded three fingers from O'Connor for the three attacks.
• The Viking Warriors charged Zeng Mu, who cut them down with spinning winds as their horses fled.
• Kanni approached the terrified O'Connor and taunted him to dismount.

Zeng Mu and Kanni defeated O'Connor and discovered a strange fruit growing at the end of a Dead Python Root. They decided to take the Black-and-White Fruit back to find out what it was.

• Zeng Mu defeated O'Connor, broke several of his fingers, and restrained him so the Knight Commander could question him later.
• Kanni examined O'Connor's thousand-mile horse, and Zeng Mu persuaded it to let them ride.
• Zeng Mu and Kanni found a moving Dead Python Root and dug beneath its tangled roots.
• Zeng Mu and Kanni uncovered a smooth black fruit with a milky-white spot at its center.
• Zeng Mu and Kanni took the Black-and-White Fruit to bring back to someone who might identify it.

Zeng Mu and Kanni returned to Sand City on the untacked Thousand-Mile Horse after retrieving the strange fruit and Dead Python Root, while O'Connor remained unconscious. They arrived at dusk and learned that the Knight Commander and an honored guest were waiting for them.

• Zeng Mu removed the strange fruit from the Dead Python Root, knocked O'Connor unconscious again, and set off with Kanni on the Thousand-Mile Horse.
• Zeng Mu rode the barebacked horse freely, while Kanni recalled an earlier humiliating attempt to ride a Thousand-Mile Horse at a recruits' exhibition.
• The Thousand-Mile Horse followed Zeng Mu's guidance and carried the group to Sand City in about five and a half hours.
• Ma Linya spotted the returning riders, and Aikimu ordered the cables lowered and the gates opened.
• Aikimu welcomed Zeng Mu and Kanni and told them the Knight Commander and an honored guest had been waiting in camp.