Recaps

Loa learned that Dylan, the Heaven-Swallowing Beast, would trigger a magical beast uprising on January 1, year 10000, and hurried back toward Fenlai to help Linley before the destruction. Beirut gave Loa his token after asking him to aid Linley, while secretly sending Harry to investigate Bebe’s parents’ deaths.

• Beirut recognized Wangcai as a lightning-attribute divine beast and explained that he could regain his original form after reaching Deity level.
• When Beirut named Dylan as a divine beast born more than five thousand years earlier, Loa remembered the coming uprising that would destroy the Holy Union and threaten Wushan Town.
• Loa asked Beirut for a token, and Beirut gave it to him on the condition that he help Linley and his magical beast, who were in danger.
• After Loa left, Beirut ordered Harry to investigate how Bebe’s parents had died and said Bebe should avenge them himself.
• Loa rode Wuzhui east through the night toward Fenlai with Wangcai, intent on reaching Linley before the disaster.

Linley fought through Clayde’s guards and shattered his Destiny Guard, but Heidens struck him down before he could kill Clayde. As the Church’s deacons moved to seize Linley, a powerful man appeared in the sky and confronted Heidens.

• Linley and Bebe fought their way through the guards surrounding Clayde, with Bebe wearing down Clayde’s Destiny Guard.
• Linley shattered the shield and raised Purple Blood to strike Clayde, but Heidens arrived and blasted Linley into the rockery.
• Linley ordered Bebe to escape, and Bebe fled over the wall despite his distress.
• Heidens ordered four deacons to take Linley, but a powerful presence froze them in place.
• A blue-robed man appeared in the air, looked at Heidens, and demanded, “Heidens, how dare you!”

Loa arrived as a Saint and rescued the gravely wounded Linley, who begged him to kill Clayde for murdering his father. Loa confronted Heidens and demanded Clayde and one sword strike; after Loa threatened to replace him as pope, Heidens summoned Useno and ordered an attack.

• Bebe sensed Loa's arrival and sent Linley a Soul Transmission, giving him hope to keep fighting.
• Loa lifted Linley from the rubble, and Linley released his Dragonblood Warrior transformation as Grandpa Doehring abandoned his plan to sacrifice his soul.
• Loa sent Linley, Bebe, and Wangcai away with Wuzhui, promising to deal with the Church and agreeing to Linley's request to kill Clayde.
• Heidens met Loa in the air, while Marcus recognized Loa and ordered Kafka to treat him as an enemy of the Church.
• Loa demanded that Heidens hand over Clayde and take one sword strike, threatening to install a new pope if he refused.
• Heidens rejected Loa's terms, summoned Useno with a beam of light, and ordered him to attack.

Loa killed Useno with a single Sword Ray, forcing Heidens to withdraw rather than fight him. Loa then killed Clayde and flew toward Wushan Town, leaving the soldiers frozen in the falling snow.

• Useno ambushed Loa from behind, but Loa erased his attack and killed him with a gray-white Sword Ray.
• Heidens realized Loa stood among the supreme experts and offered compensation before leaving the courtyard.
• Loa let Heidens escape to avoid starting an all-out war with the Radiant Church.
• Clayde pleaded for his life, but Loa killed him for his role in Linley's father's death.
• Loa flew toward Wushan Town as the soldiers remained motionless and snow covered the courtyard.

After recovering from his battle with Clayde, Linley reunited with Bebe and learned that Loa planned to evacuate Wushan Town ahead of a magical beast attack. Linley chose to travel alone and set out with Bebe, heading first to Fenlai to seek out Clayde’s surviving children.

• Linley awoke in Wushan Town after three days unconscious and learned that Loa had brought him home after Clayde’s death.
• Bebe and Wangcai stopped sparring when Bebe sensed Linley had awakened, and Loa brought them back to Baruch Mansion.
• Loa told Linley that the magical beasts would attack the Holy Union during the Ten-Thousand-Year Yulan Festival and described his plan to evacuate Wushan Town by ship.
• Linley declined to join the evacuation and chose to cross the Magical Beast Mountain Range alone; Loa gave him a canvas containing a powerful stored attack.
• Linley set out with Bebe the next morning and said they would go to Fenlai because some of Clayde’s children were still alive.

On the day magical beasts overran Fenlai City, Linley killed Clayde’s family, rescued Alice and Carl, and left the city. After finding Wushan Town deserted, he set out through the Magical Beast Mountain Range toward the O’Brien Empire, while Loa and Wangcai sailed west by ship.

• Linley fought through Fenlai City’s beast-filled streets, killed Clayde’s children and queen, and claimed the wealth in Clayde’s Space Ring.
• Linley rescued Alice and Carl from magical beasts and escorted them to Maia near the city gate.
• Carl thanked Linley for letting go of the past, and Linley left Fenlai City thinking of Delia.
• Linley found Wushan Town and his family’s courtyard empty, then headed into the Magical Beast Mountain Range toward the O’Brien Empire.
• Aboard a ship sailing west, Wangcai asked Loa where Linley was, and Loa said he would be all right.

After arriving in Sea Tide Town, Loa secured land in the Northwest Province for the people displaced from Wushan Town. Three months later, New Wushan Town was built, and Loa looked over the settlement before flying away with Wangcai and Wuzhui.

• Loa left the arriving settlers and traveled to Basil City to ask Mackenzie Jax for land.
• Mackenzie recognized Loa and granted him a plain in the northeastern Northwest Province for the settlers.
• Loa sent Wangcai and Wuzhui ahead with an advance party and notified Monroe Dawson that the land was secured.
• The Dawson Chamber of Commerce sent money, supplies, and craftsmen, while the settlers helped build the town over three months.
• Loa visited New Wushan Town, saw its memorial to Old Jack, and flew out with Wangcai and Wuzhui to look around.

Loa met Olivier after Olivier reached the Saint level, defeated him with the Annihilation Sword Ray, and accepted an invitation to visit the War God Sect. After Olivier left, Loa continued tempering his seventh cervical vertebra, bringing the Heavenly Pillar Method close to completion.

• Loa welcomed Olivier to New Wushan Town, and the two flew to the barren mountains to fight.
• Loa's Annihilation Sword Ray overcame Olivier's Light and Shadow Sword and stopped just short of his chest, prompting Olivier to concede defeat.
• Olivier warned Loa that the War God Sect would likely seek him out, and Casrot and Lanke arrived to invite Loa to visit on the War God's behalf.
• Loa accepted Casrot's token and learned that the War God Sect's eldest fellow disciple, Fain, would receive him.
• Loa and Olivier returned to town, shared dinner, and Olivier left the next morning to continue challenging experts.
• Loa resumed cultivating and found that only a very narrow strip of his seventh cervical vertebra remained untempered.

Loa visited War God Mountain at Casrot’s invitation and met Fain, who recognized him as a supreme expert. When the War God offered Loa a place in his sect, Loa showed him Beirut’s token, prompting the War God to send him away with a message for Beirut.

• Loa presented Casrot’s crimson token at War God Mountain’s gate, and Casrot came to escort him up the mountain.
• Casrot introduced Loa to Fain, and the two agreed to spar after recognizing each other’s strength and lightning affinities.
• Fain led Loa through a cave to the War God’s chamber, where the War God offered him a crimson token and membership in the sect.
• Loa refused and showed the War God the black token bearing Beirut’s name, causing the War God to withdraw his pressure and emerge from behind the stone door.
• The War God told Loa to leave and asked him to give Beirut his regards; Loa returned to New Wushan Town, while the War God continued cultivating beside the untouched crimson token.

Loa perfected the Heavenly Pillar Method, transforming his spine into a jade dragon spine and elevating his spiritual force to the middle of the ninth level. He returned to New Wushan Town aware that his body would finish transforming in eighty-one days, and he wondered whether the Dark Church was ready.

• Loa completed the tempering of his seventh cervical vertebra, causing all thirty-three vertebrae to resonate and forming his dragon spine.
• Loa’s spiritual force surged from the peak of the eighth level to the middle of the ninth, granting him precise perception and the ability to predict changes around him.
• Lightning coursed through Loa’s body as his nerves and muscles began restructuring into a bioelectric network; he sensed that the transformation would finish in eighty-one days.
• Loa tested his new physical strength by pressing his palm to the ground, turning the rock within three zhang into fine powder.
• Loa flew back to New Wushan Town, where Wangcai and Wuzhui noticed his changed presence.

Loa and Fain held their long-awaited spar over the North Sea, where Loa defeated Fain’s Thunder Dragon Descent with his Nine Heavens Execution Platform and Dragon-Skinning Platform. Fain survived but collapsed from exhaustion, while Loa headed back toward New Wu Mountain without realizing Wangcai and Wuzhui were still on their way.

• Loa and Fain met over the North Sea as Casrot, Lanke, Tulilei, Bulgood, and Mackenzie gathered to watch their spar.
• Loa used his anticipation and Unpredictable Thunder Shadow Step to evade Fain’s attacks, then struck Fain into the sea with Startling Thunder.
• Fain unleashed Thunderclap Flash, but Loa intercepted it and agreed to face Fain’s more powerful Thunder Element technique.
• Fain summoned thousands of lightning dragons with Thunder Dragon Descent, and Loa answered with the Nine Heavens Execution Platform and Dragon-Skinning Platform, chaining and destroying the dragons and capturing Fain.
• Fain passed out from depleted Battle-qi and Spiritual Force, and Loa assured Casrot and Lanke that he would recover after resting.
• Loa flew toward New Wu Mountain while Wangcai and Wuzhui were still racing toward the North Sea and had not reached the fight.

After eighty-one days of perfecting the Heavenly Pillar Method, Loa underwent a complete physical transformation and became a Fleshly Saint. He returned from the mountain with his body’s power under control, while his spirit still awaited its breakthrough toward the Deity level.

• Loa returned to the mountaintop and began his breakthrough as his blood, muscles, bones, and spine transformed under the silver-blue energy.
• All thirty-three nodes in Loa’s spine lit up, and his body became translucent with power as he reached the Saint level physically.
• Loa tested his new strength and discovered that even his breath and footsteps carried enough energy to scorch stone.
• Wangcai recoiled from Loa’s electric field and said that he was no longer human, but Loa insisted that he was human.
• Loa recognized that his essence was full and his qi abundant, while his spirit still needed to break through before he could reach the Deity level.

Loa reunited with Wharton and trained him through a month of punishing sparring and instruction to help him break past the sixth rank. At the end of February, Wharton compressed his Dragonblood Battle Qi and emerged as a rank 7 warrior.

• Loa, Wharton, and their family celebrated the Yulan Festival at Baruch Mansion, while Old Hiri asked after Linley and Loa said he had left him a fallback.
• Wharton told Loa that his Dragonblood Battle Qi had stalled at the peak of the sixth rank, and Loa offered to train him during his vacation.
• For a month, Wharton endured Wangcai's attacks while Loa taught him about force and the principles Heavy as Light and Light as Heavy.
• Wharton compressed his Dragonblood Battle Qi in the training room until his dantian broke through its limit.
• Wharton emerged with more than twice his previous strength, and Loa confirmed that he had become a rank 7 warrior.

Loa traveled to the Chaotic Territory to uproot the Dark Church’s influence there, beginning with its headquarters, the Seat of Shadow. After forcing its archbishop and more than a thousand knights to leave, he set out to clear the remaining strongholds, one each day.

• Loa rode Wuzhui with Wangcai to the Chaotic Territory, intending to remove the Dark Church’s strongest roots from the land.
• Loa arrived at the Seat of Shadow and ordered the archbishop to leave within one day and dismantle the Dark Church’s presence.
• Loa cut through the cathedral’s bell tower with sword Qi, bringing it down onto the main hall as proof of his strength.
• The archbishop ordered the knights to pack and leave, then led more than a thousand of them away the next morning.
• Loa watched the procession depart and headed for the next marked Dark Church stronghold, planning to clear all seventeen within twenty days.

After Loa drove the Dark Church out of the eastern Chaotic Territory, its leaders debated how to stop him, while Heidens decided the Radiant Church should seize the vacant territory. Heidens sent word that reinforcements would come and that he and Luoye would go there.

• Loa cleared fifteen Dark Church strongholds in the Chaotic Territory, and Wangcai and Wuzhui drove the remaining two out with a lightning storm.
• Affleck, O'Casey, and Klemerson discussed Loa's power and Beirut's protection, deciding to negotiate first and fight if he refused to make concessions.
• Heidens read Leiming's report about the Dark Church's withdrawal and considered the opportunity to expand the Radiant Church's influence.
• Heidens approved sending reinforcements and told the courier that he and Luoye would travel to the Chaotic Territory.

Loa faced the Dark Church at the ruins of the former Seat of Shadow, rejected Affleck’s demand to keep spreading their faith, and defeated Klemerson’s attack and the church’s black dragon. As Affleck and Klemerson prepared to continue the battle, Heidens and the Radiant Church arrived, leaving Loa caught between both forces.

• Loa refused Affleck’s request to let the Dark Church continue spreading its faith in the Chaotic Territory and demanded Klemerson’s head instead.
• Klemerson attacked Loa with his sword, but the blade could not pierce Loa’s skin, and Loa slapped him into a crater.
• Affleck summoned a Saint-pinnacle black dragon, which Loa destroyed with Hidden Abyss and Wind World.
• Klemerson returned with his Hellfire Phoenix and identified Loa’s body as Saint-level, prompting Affleck to covet it.
• Heidens and a force from the Radiant Church arrived from the west as Loa faced the Dark Church at the ruins.

Loa rejected Heidens’s offer to help rule the Chaotic Territory and faced an assault by six peak Saints. He held them off, then used Wind World to trap and kill Klemerson and the Hellfire Phoenix.

• Heidens offered Loa the Radiant Church’s support in exchange for exclusive preaching rights and a new empire, but Loa refused and barred both churches from the Chaotic Territory.
• After Affleck revealed that Loa had a Saint-level physical body, Heidens joined Affleck, Klemerson, O'Casey, Luoye, and Leiming in attacking him.
• Loa blocked their first coordinated assault without being injured, then ordered Wangcai and Wuzhui to escape before drawing Hidden Abyss.
• Loa wounded Klemerson with a surprise strike and used Wind World to withstand the six fighters’ renewed attacks as his Battle-qi ran low.
• Loa lured Klemerson into a deliberate gap in Wind World, trapped him, and beheaded him with Hidden Abyss.
• When the Hellfire Phoenix began to self-destruct, Loa killed it with another sword strike before its explosion could occur.

Tulilei and Olivier joined Loa against the Dark Church and Radiant Church, but Affleck’s attack left Olivier in a coma. Loa forced the churches to retreat from the Chaotic Territory and flew toward New Wushan Town with Olivier, whose survival remained uncertain.

• Tulilei wounded Leiming and attacked O'Casey, while Olivier fought Luoye with the Ice Dream Sword.
• The Fallen Angels empowered Affleck, who struck Olivier’s mind and soul with the Power of Evil, knocking him unconscious.
• Loa summoned the Nine Heavens Execution Platform and killed the Fallen Angels, while Tulilei’s saber left Luoye and Leiming gravely wounded.
• Loa killed O'Casey when he tried to stab him with the Blade of Judgment, and Heidens agreed to a truce barring both churches from the Chaotic Territory.
• Loa gave Olivier three pills from Tulilei, collected the Ice Dream Sword, and carried Olivier north toward New Wushan Town with Wuzhui and Wangcai.

Loa brought the unconscious Olivier back to New Wushan Town, where Tulilei’s pills helped stabilize him. In his Soul Ocean, Olivier overcame his despair, defeated a phantom of Loa with the help of his black-robed self, and fell into a peaceful sleep as light and darkness reached balance within him.

• Loa laid Olivier in the guest room behind the Blacksmith Shop, and Tulilei’s pills strengthened Olivier’s pulse and protected his body.
• Olivier battled the memories of people and magical beasts he had killed, using his perfected Light and Shadow Sword to defeat them.
• A phantom of Loa appeared, and Olivier dropped his sword and gave in to despair until his black-robed self urged him to fight.
• Olivier reclaimed his Ice Dream Sword, and the white- and black-robed Oliviers attacked the phantom together, unraveling it with their combined power.
• The two Oliviers joined into the crystal above the Soul Ocean, and Olivier’s soul began absorbing light and transformed darkness elements in balance.
• Olivier’s consciousness sank into a deep, peaceful sleep.

After recovering from his three-month ordeal, Olivier woke to find his Saint Core had become half light and half dark, giving him power ten times greater than before. Loa explained that Olivier had undergone soul mutation, and Olivier embraced the change as the beginning of a new life.

• Loa maintained the Blacksmith Shop guest room while Olivier's Spiritual Force gradually recovered, and he left Wuzhui and Wangcai to bring order to the Chaotic Territory.
• Wuzhui broke through to Saint after consuming the Hellfire Phoenix's Magic Crystal Cores, then led Wangcai and human warriors in conquering the eastern Chaotic Territory.
• Olivier woke on July fifteenth and discovered his Saint Core had become half white and half black, allowing him to combine Light Battle Qi and dark Battle-qi into power ten times stronger than before.
• Loa showed Olivier how his own wind and thunder Battle-qi fused, explaining that he called the phenomenon soul mutation and that the Power of Evil had given Olivier his dark element.
• Olivier accepted his new light-and-dark power, and Loa congratulated him on stepping into a new world.

Loa completed the conquest of the Chaotic Territory and began planning a new nation with Victor Lopez. The proposal for the Xunzhen Republic Empire placed Loa as Head of State, and he considered the foundation he would leave for Bob and Mia.

• Olivier left to visit home before traveling north to train among secluded Saint experts.
• Wuzhui led the siege of the last city, and its defenders surrendered after it demanded that they open the gates.
• Loa brought all forty-eight duchies of the Chaotic Territory under his control, while former lords fled, died, or surrendered.
• Victor Lopez presented Loa with a proposal for the Xunzhen Republic Empire, including a charter abolishing noble privileges and naming Loa Head of State.
• Loa reviewed Victor's proposal and reflected on founding the Xunzhen Republic Empire as a lasting foundation for Bob and Mia.

Loa and Victor established plans for the Xunzhen Republic Empire while Loa secretly developed the magic crystal vein beneath the future capital. Loa discovered the Miniature Plane within the vein and began cultivating in its unusually dense energies.

• Loa listened as Victor and others debated the empire’s proposal, then approved it and told Victor to carry it out.
• Victor surveyed the future capital site and discovered the enormous magic crystal vein, which Loa had already confirmed and ordered mined in secret.
• Loa entered the vein’s deepest region and found a doorway to the Miniature Plane, identified from his memories as Beirut’s former cultivation chamber.
• Loa crossed a passage of air blades, which shattered his battle-qi barrier and tore his clothes but could not injure him.
• Loa explored the Miniature Plane, sensed dense elemental energies and the power of destruction, and made the space his cultivation chamber as his spiritual force neared a breakthrough.

Loa oversaw the construction of Xunzhen City and secured the magic crystal vein while Victor prepared the new capital. On January 1, year 10003 of the Yulan Calendar, the Xunzhen Republic Empire was founded, and visitors arrived with congratulations and gifts.

• Loa ordered the planners to leave Xunzhen City without walls, and Victor supervised the circular city’s design and named its central square Republic Square.
• Loa placed the magic crystal vein under the empire’s direct jurisdiction, stationed Wuzhui there, and sent Wangcai into the miniature plane to cultivate.
• As construction progressed, Loa told Wangcai that they were building a nation of their own and rejected Wangcai’s idea of putting up a statue.
• Victor completed Xunzhen City’s main framework, and the Xunzhen Republic Empire was officially founded on January 1, year 10003 of the Yulan Calendar.
• Casrot, Bulgood, members of the Ryan Clan, Bob, and Mia attended or sent congratulations, and Mia’s teacher presented Loa with the Water of Life on behalf of the High Priest.

After three years in the Magical Beast Mountain Range, Linley learned that Loa had founded the Xunzhen Republic Empire and driven the Radiant and Dark Churches from the Chaotic Territory. He joined a caravan heading to New Wushan Town, hoping to find his family and friends and make it his new home.

• Linley traveled east with a caravan and told merchant Luya that he had come out of the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
• Luya told Linley that Loa had founded the Xunzhen Republic Empire after defeating the Radiant and Dark Churches and bringing order to the Chaotic Territory.
• Linley learned the caravan was heading to New Wushan Town, built after Wushan Town was destroyed during the Day of Destruction.
• Linley offered to guard the caravan for free in exchange for a ride to New Wushan Town, and Luya agreed.
• Linley told Bebe that New Wushan Town might become their new home.

Linley returned to New Wu Mountain after a month-long journey and was welcomed by the town’s residents before reaching the recreated Baruch Mansion. He reunited with Old Hiri, learned that Wharton was doing well at O'Brien Academy, and sent urgent letters to Yale and Loa.

• Linley sent Haeru to kill a group of bandits who attacked the caravan, impressing Luya and the other merchants.
• Linley left the caravan in New Wu Mountain and was recognized by Osen, whose shout drew the town’s residents to welcome him.
• Linley entered Baruch Mansion and reunited with Old Hiri, who told him that Yale and Loa had arranged for the home to be rebuilt.
• Old Hiri told Linley that Wharton was at O'Brien Academy with Hillman and was doing well in his studies and training.
• Linley visited the Dawson Chamber of Commerce Branch and sent urgent letters to Yale and Loa.