Chapter Summaries

Zeng Mu confronted Galsworthy and Gitton over their roles in the deaths of Arthur Morton’s parents and took revenge on them. He left them dead in a burning house, while the villagers of Ponta Delgada Village believed they had died in an accident.

• Zeng Mu confronted Galsworthy with the gold earring and silver bracelet, accusing her of killing Adelaide Sela and helping plot Wheaton Moulton’s death.
• Zeng Mu stabbed Galsworthy with the Platinum Dagger as Gitton came to the doorway and recognized him as Wheaton.
• Zeng Mu told Gitton that he had killed Hewlett Moulton, and Galsworthy died from her wounds.
• Gitton confessed his crimes and accepted Zeng Mu’s punishment, and Zeng Mu inflicted more than a thousand cuts before Gitton died.
• Zeng Mu set the house on fire, and the villagers later found Gitton Moulton and Galsworthy dead in what they thought was an accident.

Ma Linya and Zeng Mu left Ponta Delgada Village and returned to Morgaya City, where Yenaier had recovered enough to stand and wield a sword. Zeng Mu rejoined Kanni, learned that Lord Tovi Belle had left with some troops, and waited to meet Yetos and Xibizete.

• Ma Linya and Zeng Mu rode away from Ponta Delgada Village, leaving the Morton family’s disappearance and the village’s secrets behind.
• Ma Linya stopped Zeng Mu from talking about their ordeal, and the two fashioned rain gear from banana leaves when a storm slowed their journey.
• Kanni competed in push-ups while the knights sheltered from the rain, then went outside when he heard Zeng Mu arrive with Yenaier.
• Yenaier questioned Zeng Mu about his recent experiences, and Kanni drew him away from the crowd to talk privately.
• Kanni returned Zeng Mu’s Wood Elemental Artifact and told him that Lord Tovi Belle had left with some troops.
• Zeng Mu went to Yetos’s war room and waited for Yetos and Xibizete to arrive.

Zeng Mu returned to Morgaya City and learned that the Holy Sword Territory faced mounting attacks as the Hundred-Year War spread. After a day of military drills, he waited for Xibizete’s promised gift, but Yenaier arrived late with a pot from her uncle and a red ring of her own.

• Yetos and Xibizete showed Zeng Mu a map of the widespread fighting and explained that the Holy Sword Territory faced troop shortages and would withdraw to defend Sand City and Morgaya City.
• Xibizete and Yetos predicted that the opening raids would eventually give way to massive offensives among the three powers.
• Zeng Mu trained with the knights and later spoke with Aikimu about his journey.
• Zeng Mu waited in his room for Xibizete’s promised gift while Kanni joined him, then fell asleep.
• Yenaier arrived late with a pot from her uncle and gave Zeng Mu a red ring as her own token of gratitude.

Zeng Mu accepted Yenaier’s Red Ring and ate the nourishing Elemental Stew before undergoing a second elemental manifestation in the night. A new purple pattern appeared over his golden elemental mark, revealing that he had not advanced to the next realm.

• Yenaier gave Zeng Mu her Red Ring and left, recalling that her uncle had called it a sign of God's love.
• Zeng Mu ate the Elemental Stew Lingya had cooked, then gave the remaining food to Kanni.
• Kanni noticed Nameless glowing gold and black-purple at the elemental mark, but decided not to wake Yetos.
• After Kanni fell asleep, the Blackstone Necklace flashed and scorching and icy currents swept through Zeng Mu's body.
• A purple pattern formed over Zeng Mu's golden mark, and he realized he had experienced a second elemental manifestation.

After awakening lightning force, Zeng Mu decided to hide his new power and remain in the military camp to cultivate, hoping to find a way home. He stayed behind to consolidate the power as he wondered about Yuan Su and the Blackstone Necklace, and worried about the challenge of mastering all seven elements.

• Zeng Mu awakened lightning force, shattered the window with a purple arc, and reflected on the danger of others discovering his unusual abilities.
• Zeng Mu decided that war would accelerate his cultivation, so he would stay at the military camp while concealing his strength from the major powers.
• The next morning, Zeng Mu told Kanni to attend drills without him; Kanni recalled seeing a purple glow but accepted it as a dream.
• Zeng Mu remained in his room to consolidate his lightning power and wondered whether Yuan Su was an Elementalist and where the Blackstone Necklace came from.
• Zeng Mu considered how difficult it might be to master all seven elements and noted that his lightning power remained at the manifestation realm.

Zeng Mu stabilized his lightning elemental power and concealed his secret when Yetos questioned him about a lightning strike. After Tovi Belle's expected return, Yenaier pulled Zeng Mu aside and asked whether he had feelings for her.

• Zeng Mu spent five days stabilizing his lightning power while Yetos ordered everyone to leave him undisturbed.
• Yetos questioned Zeng Mu about a scorched pine tree, and Zeng Mu denied knowing anything about the apparent lightning strike while hiding that he detected Yetos probing him.
• Zeng Mu ate after realizing he had gone five days without food or water, then noticed Kanni had unexplained scratches on his face.
• Yenaier led Zeng Mu away from the other knights and asked if he had feelings for her, saying Kanni had already told her plenty.

Yenaier confessed that she loved Zeng Mu, but he told her he saw her only as a comrade and remained devoted to Ma Linya. Later, Zeng Mu welcomed Tovi Belle’s returning army and learned that it had reached the city safely with 8,283 men and substantial supplies.

• Yenaier asked Zeng Mu whether he loved Ma Linya, and he admitted that he did.
• Yenaier confessed that she loved Zeng Mu and said she could wait for his feelings to change.
• Zeng Mu rejected Yenaier gently, explaining that he regarded her as a respected comrade and that his heart belonged to Ma Linya.
• Zeng Mu joined the Knights' Order at the city gates as Tovi Belle returned with a large army.
• Zeng Mu later attended a banquet with Yetos, Tovi Belle, and their subordinates, where he learned the army had returned with 8,283 men, 6,727 warhorses, equipment, and a month's provisions.

Zeng Mu continued cultivating indoors as Swinburne Aldridge led a Viking army toward Sand City to avenge Idiveer. The Vikings began crossing the city’s moat under arrow cover, leaving the assault on Sand City underway.

• Zeng Mu spent seven days cultivating in his room while winter settled over the region.
• Swinburne Aldridge assembled roughly nine thousand Vikings and set out to destroy Sand City in revenge for Idiveer’s death.
• The Viking army approached Sand City, whose small, elderly garrison sounded the alarm and sent a rider to warn Yetos.
• Swinburne deployed his Slaughter Chariots and brought battering rams toward the city gates.
• Viking Warriors fired grappling lines across the moat and began crossing them under cover of arrows.

Swinburne’s Viking Legion captured Sand City with a brutal siege, and Yetos’s group prepared for the Vikings’ expected attack on Morgaya City. The chapter ended with Zeng Mu and Kanni worrying over their prospects while contemplating the battle plan.

• Swinburne’s Vikings cut the drawbridge ropes, lowered the bridge, and used their chariots to smash through Sand City’s gate.
• More than a hundred Viking chariots charged into Sand City, massacred its defenders, and took control of the city.
• Mounted messengers reached Morgaya City, where Yetos, Zeng Mu, Tovi Belle, and the others discussed Swinburne’s strength and planned to avoid a direct confrontation.
• Scouts confirmed Sand City’s destruction, and Zeng Mu and Kanni lay awake considering the coming battle and the plan Yetos’s group had devised.

As Morgaya City prepared for an imminent Viking attack, Ma Linya and Zeng Mu finished making supplies for the knights. She brought Zeng Mu to her room to show him a precious gift, which turned out to be a foul-smelling embryo sealed in a jar.

• Ma Linya and the other healers made elemental tablets and blood-clotting agents for seven thousand people while Zeng Mu tended the stove.
• Ma Linya told Zeng Mu that Yenaier had asked her about him and noticed the Red Ring Nair had given him.
• Ma Linya led Zeng Mu to her room and retrieved a carefully stored jar, claiming its contents were more precious than Elemental Medicine.
• Zeng Mu opened the jar and found a blood-red embryo that released a horrific stench.
• Zeng Mu hurriedly sealed the jar and angrily asked Ma Linya if that was what she called a gift.

Ma Linya told Zeng Mu how she found a strange, slowly growing embryo after a storm and kept it because it brought her pleasant dreams. After linking it to a cryptic entry in an old Elemental Healer book, Zeng Mu accepted the jar and left with it.

• Ma Linya recounted how she and her brother found a moving stone in a mountain cave during a sudden storm when she was fourteen.
• The stone later melted into a foul-smelling puddle that formed the embryo, which Ma Linya placed in a clay jar and kept for years as it slowly grew.
• Ma Linya explained that keeping the jar beside her bed brought her pleasant dreams, but Zeng Mu initially refused to take it because he rarely dreamed.
• Ma Linya showed Zeng Mu an old Elemental Healer book with a stone-like drawing captioned, “Origin of Seven-One, essence of the six directions,” and they suspected it was related to Elementalists.
• Zeng Mu said he had figured out an approach, accepted the embryo in return for the Blueze Inner Armor he had given Ma Linya, and hurried away with the jar.

Zeng Mu uncovered the living embryo’s extraordinary energy before Swinburne’s Viking Legion arrived to besiege Morgaya City and demand Yetos. The chapter ended with the defenders braced behind the city’s defenses as the Vikings began a rhythmic barrage of insults.

• Zeng Mu spent three days and nights probing Ma Linya’s clay jar with elemental power and discovered that the embryo inside was alive and radiated an unknown energy.
• The embryo burst into multicolored light and struck at Zeng Mu, who dodged the blast before storing the jar away as a valuable treasure.
• Zeng Mu joined Yetos and Tovi Belle on Morgaya City’s walls as Swinburne halted the Viking Legion outside the city.
• Swinburne demanded that Yetos be handed over and threatened to drown Morgaya City in blood, while Yetos taunted him about his brother Idiveer’s death and the loss of Sand City.
• Yetos and Tovi Belle confirmed their preparations as knights reinforced the city gate, and Swinburne began a drum-and-horn-backed chorus of insults with his legion.

Swinburne repeatedly brought the Viking Legion from Sand City to Morgaya City, hoping to provoke Yetos into battle, but Yetos and his companions ignored them from behind the walls. After three failed advances and retreats over ten days, the standoff continued.

• Swinburne led the Viking Legion to Morgaya City and spent the day shouting provocations, but Yetos and Tovi Belle ignored them while playing a game on the ramparts.
• Zeng Mu used his Wind Elemental Artifact to block the Vikings' shouts from reaching the defenders, while Yetos waited for the enemy to tire.
• Swinburne learned that Morgaya City's other gates were also too well defended for an assault, then withdrew to Sand City at dusk.
• Yetos and his companions predicted that Swinburne would return and decided to keep ignoring the Vikings from within the city.
• Over ten days, Swinburne brought the Viking Legion to Morgaya City three times and retreated each time without engaging the defenders.

Zeng Mu and the leaders of Morgaya City discovered the route of Swinburne’s supply convoy and planned to seize its provisions. A thousand troops rode toward the Campso Rift to prepare an ambush before the convoy arrived.

• Zeng Mu learned from Kanni that Tovi Belle had summoned him to an urgent war council.
• William outlined why Swinburne had paused his attacks, and Zeng Mu identified the Viking Legion’s supply problem.
• Tovi Belle and Yetos revealed that the Viking supply convoy would likely pass through the Campso Rift on its way from Xuan City.
• The council agreed to seize the convoy’s supplies, both to weaken Swinburne and to support their own army.
• Aikimu, Zeng Mu, and Kanni led a thousand mounted troops toward the Campso Rift to set an ambush before nightfall.

Croft led five hundred Viking soldiers through Campso Rift while transporting provisions to Sand City, but Aikimu and a thousand knights ambushed them from the cliffs. The barrage devastated the convoy, and Croft lay gravely wounded as a brilliant golden light appeared above him.

• Croft learned that his uncle Idiveer had been killed by Yetos and his allies, then volunteered to escort supplies and join Swinburne's attack on Morgaya City.
• Croft ordered his convoy to stay alert as it crossed the damp, narrow Campso Rift, then urged the soldiers to hurry once they passed its deepest section.
• Aikimu and a thousand knights unleashed rocks and arrows from the cliff edge, killing or wounding most of the five hundred Vikings.
• Croft survived with his left hand severed and watched the attackers from the ground as a brilliant golden light appeared above the cliffs.

After Zeng Mu annihilated Croft’s Viking army, the Knights’ Order recovered provisions and spoils from the valley. As they left Campso Rift, they spotted a huge pack of Silver-Pattern Shield Wolves migrating nearby.

• Zeng Mu killed the Viking Warriors with flying blades, and Croft took his own life rather than face capture.
• Zeng Mu reflected on the killings and accepted that he needed power to survive and return home.
• Aikimu, Kanni, Zeng Mu, and the knights entered the valley, cleared the wreckage, and collected 8,620 pounds of provisions and five usable carts.
• Zeng Mu took Croft’s heavy sword, while Kanni and Aikimu discussed Croft’s death and his resemblance to Idiveer.
• The Knights’ Order left Campso Rift without casualties and saw a pack of at least two thousand Silver-Pattern Shield Wolves migrating nearby.

After Zeng Mu drove off a pack of Silver-Pattern Shield Wolves with a roar, he proposed a plan to attack Swinburne and reclaim Sand City. He later helped Ma Linya brew elemental medicinal soup and arranged to sneak a ladleful of Burche’s meat soup once the kitchen was empty.

• Kanni explained the wolves’ behavior, and Zeng Mu roared to make them retreat from the group.
• Zeng Mu shared an attack plan with Aikimu and Kanni, who returned to Morgaya City excited.
• Zeng Mu presented his plan to Yetos and Tovi Belle, who approved it and began preparing for the next day’s campaign.
• Zeng Mu tended the fire while Ma Linya and the other Elemental Healers brewed medicinal soup with elemental meat, including Burche’s meat.
• Ma Linya agreed to let Zeng Mu drink one ladleful of the soup after the other healers left, then stepped outside to give him a chance.

Zeng Mu secretly drank all the elemental medicinal broth Ma Linya had prepared, then staggered into a roadside grass patch and fell asleep. In Sand City, Swinburne learned more about the nameless Elementalist and ordered his army to gather food before marching on Morgaya City.

• Zeng Mu drank the broth from the smallest pot, and Ma Linya caught him after he had emptied it and chased him away with an iron ladle.
• Zeng Mu decided not to return to help Ma Linya, then grew dizzy and collapsed into the grass beside the road.
• Swinburne berated his subordinates over Croft's death before asking who had led the Knights' Order's ambush.
• A subordinate told Swinburne that another Elementalist, the nameless knight, had caused the disorder at Kampus Rift and had helped Yetos kill two Purple-Pattern Generals.
• Swinburne ordered a thousand soldiers to gather edible plants and tree materials, then planned to march on Morgaya City and take it.

The Black Tide Army marched from Morgaya City toward Sand City while the Viking Warriors prepared to exploit its arrival. Swinburne chose to keep his forces inside Sand City until morning, as Yetos and his companions waited in their woodland camp for Ma Linya.

• Over a thousand Viking Warriors gathered trees and grass outside Sand City as Zeng Mu led seven thousand knights out of Morgaya City on Abyss.
• The Knights' Order traveled more than three hundred li and camped in the woods about fifty li from Sand City.
• Viking scouts told Swinburne that Yetos's army had arrived, and Swinburne called a meeting to reconsider his attack plans.
• Swinburne stationed his nine thousand troops at Sand City's gates and ordered them to remain alert until daylight.
• Yetos and his companions waited around a campfire, and Zeng Mu opened his eyes when Ma Linya arrived.

Ma Linya explained that the rare Double Seven Night would bring a blood moon that drove animals mad, strengthening Zeng Mu's plan to turn the migrating Silver-Pattern Shield Wolves against the Vikings in Sand City. Zeng Mu and Yetos reached the city and launched the elemental medicinal chunks over it, setting their plan in motion.

• Ma Linya told the group that Double Seven Night would bring a red moon and cause animals, including the Silver-Pattern Shield Wolves, to go berserk.
• Zeng Mu grew confident that the blood moon and the wolves' expected route would help his plan succeed.
• Zeng Mu and Yetos heard the wolf pack approaching, then rode toward Sand City on Abyss and Yetos's warhorse.
• Zeng Mu and Yetos used their Elemental Power and a Wind Elemental Artifact to launch the medicinal chunks toward Sand City.
• The chunks burst above Sand City and scattered across it like a meteor shower.