Recaps

Linley and Haydson ended their battle at Tujiao Mountain in a mutual injury, with Haydson acknowledging Linley’s talent and understanding of the Laws. As Linley recovered amid the acclaim, he recognized that the Baruch Clan’s greater struggles still lay ahead.

• Bebe stopped just before killing Haydson, and Linley emerged from the ruins to concede that Haydson had won the contest.
• Haydson praised Linley’s strength and mastery of the Laws, saying Linley might have killed him if Linley’s human-form strength had reached the Saint Realm.
• Millions of spectators celebrated the battle as a draw, while Wharton, the Barker brothers, Delia, and Empress Joanne welcomed Linley’s survival and achievement.
• Haydson departed, and Doehring Cowart used Earth Element divine power to help Linley recover and praised his progress in Earth Pulsation.
• Delia urged Linley to rest, and Wharton led him back toward the manor as nobles gathered to congratulate him.
• Linley looked toward Chiyan City and reflected that the Baruch Clan’s struggles against the Radiant Church and the higher planes were still ahead.

Linley decided to strike at the Radiant Church by first attacking its scattered strongholds in the Chaotic Territory rather than assaulting Holy Island. He set out with his companions to establish a base near Black Earth City and begin sweeping south.

• Linley reflected on the grievances against the Radiant Church and told Doehring Cowart he was ready to leave the imperial capital.
• Sessler explained the Church’s influence in the Chaotic Territory and proposed cutting off its faith and resources by conquering its northern cities first.
• Linley chose the region around Black Earth City as the starting point for a campaign that would expand south through the duchies.
• Wharton stayed behind with Nina to protect the Baruch Clan’s interests in the O'Brien Empire, while Jenny, Lina, and Rebecca joined Linley’s expedition.
• Linley departed Chiyan City with Sessler, Barker and his brothers, Jenny, Lina, Rebecca, Bebe, and Haeru, while Doehring Cowart agreed to support them from the rear.

Linley and his companions seized Blackstone City from Barton and installed Barker as its new lord, then used tax relief, higher military pay, and food distributions to win the soldiers’ and commoners’ support. Linley planned to use the city as the first step in changing the balance of power across the northern Chaotic Territory.

• Linley arrived at Blackstone City with his companions and entered without paying a gate tax after the guards were intimidated by their strength.
• Gates stopped the city lord’s son from whipping a girl, and Barker incapacitated his guards before the group headed to the city lord’s manor.
• Linley subdued Barton and his soldiers with a Gravitational Field, and Barton surrendered his seal and ledgers.
• Sessler announced that Barker would rule Blackstone City and declared three years without monetary taxes, triple guard pay, and three days of grain distributions.
• Linley displayed a mountain of gold to guarantee the guards’ pay, winning the support of the soldiers and the gathered commoners.
• Jenny reported that the group had begun taking control of the city’s records, granaries, defenses, and guard investigations as Linley declared Blackstone City the first piece in a wider campaign.

After building Blackstone City into a populous, well-supplied stronghold, Linley received Delia’s letter and decided to expand his territory before the Radiant Church could strike. He launched a coordinated campaign against three nearby cities and Mote Prefectural City, and Blackstone’s army marched south before dawn.

• Blackstone City’s population and surrounding villages grew, and Barker and his brothers trained two elite divisions of soldiers.
• Jenny delivered Delia’s letter to Linley; Delia wrote that she had taken control of the Ryan Clan’s covert trading networks and would join him once he founded a Baruch duchy.
• Linley resolved to expand beyond Blackstone City, and Doehring Cowart encouraged his ambition.
• Sessler reported that Tuer, Waga, and Coldwater were divided among themselves, while Mote Prefectural City was heavily defended and backed by a Radiant Church temple and Judgment Knight Order.
• Linley ordered Ankh, Hazer, and Boone to seize the three smaller cities while he led Barker, Gates, and the main force toward Mote; he assigned Jenny responsibility for supplies and civilian affairs.
• Before dawn, Blackstone City’s gates opened and its forces split into columns, advancing south.

Linley’s army rapidly seized the northern cities, with Haeru’s Saint Realm power breaking Mote City’s supposedly impregnable defenses. After securing the northern territory, Linley looked south toward the duchies controlled by the Radiant Church, where his campaign and blood feud would continue.

• Ankh captured Tuer City by smashing its gates, while Hazer and Boone quickly took Waga City and Coldwater City.
• Barker and Gates defeated Mote City’s field army, forcing the survivors and the city’s defenders behind its sealed gates.
• Linley ordered Haeru to break Mote’s dragon-sealing stone, and Haeru’s giant Saint Realm form smashed through it and terrified the defenders into surrendering.
• Linley’s forces occupied Mote City, subdued the Radiant Church’s remaining agents, and distributed food and tax-exemption notices to the populace.
• Within a day, Linley’s army had taken four fortresses and Mote City, bringing nearly ten million people under its rule.
• At dawn, Linley gazed south toward the forty-eight core duchies and the Radiant Church’s territory.

After meeting the hidden Saint Realm expert Miller, Linley reunited with Reynolds and traveled with him to a secluded village of powerful cultivators in the southern Chaotic Territory. They were welcomed by Desri, whose command of the elements hinted at immense strength, while Reynolds was immediately captivated by Desri’s green-haired daughter.

• Linley exchanged blows with Miller on Black Crow Mountain, testing their respective understandings of wind and earth.
• Reynolds arrived in Black Earth City, resigned from the army, and joined Linley in the Chaotic Territory.
• Linley left the city's administration to the Barker brothers, Jenny, and Sessler, then traveled south with Reynolds to meet Miller.
• Linley and Reynolds discovered a remote village whose residents, including its children, were all powerful cultivators.
• Miller introduced Linley and Reynolds to Livingston and led them to meet Desri, his wife, and their daughter.
• Desri welcomed the travelers as the surrounding light and breezes gathered toward him, while Reynolds stared in fascination at the green-haired girl.

Linley visited Desri’s mountain retreat, where Hayward’s demonstration of Saint Magus power and Higginson’s sword technique deepened his understanding of how to combine magic and swordsmanship. While Linley meditated on a breakthrough, Reynolds won the villagers’ respect and agreed to stay in the village with Monica.

• Desri welcomed Linley and introduced him to Hayward, Fuman, and Higginson, while Monica reunited with Reynolds and introduced him to her father.
• Hayward sparred with Linley, using a fire phoenix and a spiritual storm to show how dangerous a Saint Magus could be.
• Desri urged Linley to unite his Dragonblood Warrior abilities with magic, and Higginson’s Illusory Void Sword inspired Linley to meditate on the Laws of Wind.
• Monica invited Reynolds to stay in the village, but Weideli challenged him to race up Bald Peak Cliff to make him leave her alone.
• Reynolds climbed the cliff despite his injuries, earned Weideli’s respect, and later told Monica he wanted to stay and watch over the mountains; Monica agreed.
• Desri watched Monica and Reynolds together while Linley continued meditating by the lakeshore.

Linley mastered a new level of the Laws of Wind and prepared to continue his journey, while Reynolds proved himself to Monica and chose to stay in the mountain village. The chapter ended with Reynolds asking Monica if he could guard the village for the rest of his life.

• Linley combined speed and slowness in his swordplay, reaching the threshold of the Rhythm of the Wind.
• Monica warned Weideli not to call Reynolds an outsider, and Reynolds challenged him to prove his ability.
• Reynolds defeated Weideli in their exchange, earning his respect and the villagers’ cheers.
• Linley encouraged Reynolds to build a life with Monica, while Reynolds asked whether Linley needed him for the monastery matter; Linley said he would follow his own path.
• Linley said farewell to Desri, Catherine, and Reynolds, then rode away with a jar of wine for the road.
• Reynolds asked Monica if he could stay and guard the mountain village for the rest of his life.

After receiving Delia’s letter, Linley traveled to the Yulan Empire and confessed his love to her. Delia accepted him, and Linley planned to tell his family and Doehring that he was getting married.

• Linley received a letter from Delia inviting him to the Yulan Empire and decided to visit her.
• Linley met Delia at the palace gates, and they walked together while catching up.
• Linley confessed that he had loved Delia since the Ernst Institute and asked her to marry him.
• Delia accepted Linley’s proposal, and they held hands beneath a lakeside pavilion.
• Linley wrote to Wharton and Reynolds with the news, then sent Doehring a short letter saying he was getting married.

Barker and his brothers captured the Duchy of Sheli for Linley, but Useno led nine Four-Winged Angels in a surprise counterattack that captured the five brothers. Haeru fled south to warn Linley, who remained unaware of the disaster.

• Barker and his four brothers swept through the Duchy of Sheli, taking its prefectural city and five small cities in four days.
• Useno ordered nine Saint Realm angels to attack the newly conquered territory and went to confront Linley's forces himself.
• The angels reclaimed the five small cities by turning the Church's believers against the soldiers who refused to surrender.
• Useno trapped Gates, Hazer, and Ankh with an Angel Battle Formation, then defeated and captured them despite Gates invoking Cesar's protection.
• Useno reached Mote Prefectural City and defeated Barker and Boone, while Haeru escaped underground and raced south to warn Linley.
• Linley continued training in Tempos of the Wind, unaware that the Radiant Church had captured all five brothers.

Linley learned that Useno had captured his five brothers and was waiting for him in Mote Prefectural City, so he flew north to face the chief inquisitor. Linley revealed his mastery of the Laws of Wind, and the two began a fierce battle with his brothers’ fate still uncertain.

• Linley received Haeru’s broken transmission saying Useno and the Radiant Church had captured his five brothers.
• Linley told Delia he would go to Mote Prefectural City to rescue them, then flew north.
• Linley arrived and confronted Useno, who confirmed the brothers were imprisoned and challenged him to fight.
• Useno overwhelmed Linley with his speed and strength, but Linley used the Laws of Wind to cut his fist.
• Useno unleashed his full power, and Linley fought back on the city wall without retreating.

Linley used his newly formed “One Wind, One Sword” technique to wound Useno and force him to abandon his attack on the five brothers. After freeing them, Linley confirmed that he had crossed a new threshold in his understanding of the wind.

• Useno attacked Linley with his full Peak Saint Realm power, but Linley read the strike through the wind and cut deeply into Useno’s right arm.
• Useno tried to continue fighting with his left hand, but Linley held his ground while warning him not to harm the five brothers again.
• Useno withdrew toward Holy Island, and the Four-Winged Angels followed him.
• Linley collapsed to one knee from his injuries, then walked down the wall and used the wind to break the brothers’ chains.
• At dawn, Linley reflected on the new path his sword had taken through the joining of fast and slow.

After recovering from the battle in Mote Prefectural City, Linley returned to the Yulan Empire and reunited with Delia. He trained for several months to master the Tempos of the Wind, ending with renewed resolve to face Useno and the support of Delia at his side.

• Linley spent half a month healing while arranging the defenses of Mote Prefectural City and studying the sword strike that had driven Useno back.
• After entrusting the city to Gates and Hazer, Linley traveled to the Yulan Empire with Bebe and Haeru and reunited with Delia.
• Linley told Delia how he had fought Useno and admitted that he still lacked the strength to face him reliably.
• Delia encouraged Linley to stay in the capital and train, and he spent several months practicing swordsmanship and studying the Laws of Wind.
• Linley refined his wind intent beside a lake and remembered his vow to reach the Holy Island and bring his sword before Useno, while Delia waited for him near the city gates.

Useno and Leiming attacked Linley together in the Yulan Empire, overwhelming him and Bebe until Doehring arrived and forced them to flee. Doehring healed Linley and Bebe, then stayed to guard Linley while Delia watched from the doorway.

• Linley sensed intruders and found Useno and Leiming waiting in his courtyard to kill him.
• Useno and Leiming attacked in tandem, badly wounding Linley and knocking Bebe aside before Leiming pinned him down.
• Linley transformed with dragon scales and tried to counterattack, but Useno kicked him down as Bebe struggled to reach him.
• Doehring arrived, and Useno and Leiming recognized his greater power and fled without fighting.
• Doehring healed Linley and Bebe, explained that he had come early because he feared the Radiant Church would target Linley, and remained to protect him as Delia watched from the doorway.

After recovering from the battle with the Radiant Church’s experts, Linley followed Doehring’s advice and married Delia in the Yulan Empire capital. The wedding brought his family and friends together, and the chapter ended with Linley feeling that he finally had someone waiting for him at home.

• Doehring stayed in the capital to watch over Linley as he recovered and practiced, while the Radiant Church made no further move.
• Doehring urged Linley to stop delaying and give Delia an answer, warning him not to leave her vulnerable if danger returned.
• Linley chose an autumn day to ask Delia to marry him, and she accepted.
• Linley and Delia married in a modest ceremony attended by Doehring, Wharton, Reynolds and Monica, and the five brothers.
• After the guests departed, Linley held Delia’s hand in the courtyard as Doehring watched, glad that Linley had finally settled down.

Over ten years, Linley united the lands around the Baruch Mountain Range into the Baruch Kingdom while continuing to cultivate. He mastered all 128 layers of Pulsation and entered the Saint Realm in human form, knowing that greater challenges still lay ahead.

• After his wedding, Linley returned to the Baruch Mountain Range with Delia, Bebe, and Haeru.
• Linley campaigned against rival powers and united the region, while Wharton became king of the newly founded Baruch Kingdom.
• Linley trained through the years, studying the earth’s pulsations while handling military and kingdom affairs.
• On a snowy night in the tenth year, Linley comprehended all 128 layers of Pulsation and entered the Saint Realm without transforming.
• Linley returned to Delia and told her he had made it through a stretch of his path, while recognizing that the Saint Realm was only a beginning.

After the Radiant Church and Dark Church seized Baruch Kingdom’s newly discovered magic crystal vein with mortal armies, Linley relied on Bebe to summon rat hordes from the Dark Forest and drive them out. The vein and mining towns were recovered, but Linley and Delia expected the conflict with the Radiant Church to continue.

• Miners discovered a vast magic crystal deposit, and Wharton sent troops to guard it and begin mining.
• The Radiant Church and Dark Church secretly allied and captured both mining towns, taking control of the crystal vein.
• Linley and Doehring agreed that they could not use Deity Level power against mortal armies, so Linley prepared to fight by mortal means.
• Bebe went to the Dark Forest and used his kingly bloodline to summon Shadowmice and Stone-Eater Rats.
• The rat hordes routed the churches’ armies, and Linley arrived with the Dragonblood Warrior clan as the fleeing forces were hunted down.
• Baruch Kingdom recovered the mining towns and crystal vein, while Linley told Delia that he intended to make the Radiant Church pay.

After Baruch Kingdom reclaimed the mineral vein, the Radiant Church and Dark Church blamed each other for their defeat and began pursuing separate schemes. Linley suspected the mine was bait to test whether Doehring could be kept stationed in Baruch, and resolved that they had to hold it.

• Wharton rewarded the army and ordered mining to resume after Baruch Kingdom recovered the vein and captured the churches' supplies and weapons.
• The pope spared the defeated cardinal but condemned the Radiant Church's humiliation and learned that Bebe could command the Dark Forest's rat clans.
• The dark bishop blamed the Radiant Church's reckless attack and plotted to use Doehring Cowart to keep Linley tied down.
• The Radiant Church and Dark Church secretly began pursuing their own schemes despite maintaining their alliance in public.
• Linley told Delia that the mine was likely bait to test Doehring and said they had to hold it.

Beirut visited Linley and revealed that Bebe shared his clan’s Divine Beast bloodline, then offered to help Bebe break through to the Deity Level. He also encouraged Linley to keep pursuing his own path toward the Deity Realm.

• Linley recognized Beirut when Wharton escorted the mysterious visitor to the mountain summit.
• Beirut told Linley that Bebe was his descendant and a Divine Beast whose bloodline had let him reach the Saint Realm.
• Beirut said he planned to help Bebe find a path to the Deity Level when the time was right.
• Beirut praised Linley’s talent and urged him to keep advancing toward the Deity Realm.
• Beirut touched Bebe between the brows and left, while Bebe wondered whether Beirut was truly his elder.

Linley visited Desri in the mountain village to explain why he intended to destroy the Radiant Church and ask Desri to establish a pure new Church afterward. Desri agreed to wait until the old Church fell, and Linley left the mountain the next morning.

• Linley told Desri that he intended to eliminate the Radiant Church because it sacrificed people and devoured human souls.
• Linley explained that he had fought Leiming, could defeat Steller with Bebe, and that Doehring Cowart had reached the Deity Level.
• Linley asked Desri to establish a new Church devoted to faith in the light without sacrifices or the consumption of souls.
• Desri agreed, provided the new Church remained pure, and Linley promised it would never repeat the old Church’s deeds.
• Linley spent the night discussing light and faith with Desri, then left the mountain at dawn.

Linley’s forces defeated the Radiant Church and Dark Church’s joint army after Gates exploited their leaders’ rivalry. Desri agreed to establish a new church after the old one fell, leaving Linley pledged to protect a place for the believers’ faith.

• Linley split his forces to defend the mountain city, the old mine, and the northeastern mineral vein, where Gates prepared an ambush.
• Gates’s troops struck the allied army in a valley, and a scout later overheard Geluman and Jialong arguing over the mine and territorial expansion.
• Linley ordered Gates to keep the churches occupied until their feud worsened; after their soldiers clashed over water, Gates attacked and routed the divided army.
• Desri visited Linley and explained that the Radiant Church’s believers would need a new home for their faith after its fall, agreeing to oversee a new church if Linley protected them from turning to darkness.
• Linley pledged to protect the believers, while rumors of a new church began spreading through southern cities.

Linley secluded himself to examine the foundation of his power and, with Doehring’s guidance, developed a defensive application of the Laws of Earth. He left the summit with a new understanding of how earth’s defense complemented wind’s attack.

• Linley shut himself away on the summit, telling Gates that he needed time to comprehend what he was missing.
• Doehring advised Linley to look beyond wind and study the earth connected to his Dragonblood Warrior bloodline.
• Linley sensed the earth’s Pulsation and realized he could use its layered force to disperse attacks rather than strike opponents.
• After seven days of practice, Linley formed a continuous defensive force around himself and recognized this as the Profound Truths of the Earth.
• Linley swung the Purple Blood Soft Sword with earth’s weight and concluded that wind and earth together formed the foundation of a Dragonblood Warrior’s path.

The Radiant Church sent a Peak Saint Realm assassin and a Six-Winged Angel to kill Linley, but he survived their attack and defeated the angel with his newly developed Hundredfold Waves. After the assassin fled, Linley realized the Church might send an Eight-Winged Angel and resolved to strengthen his Battle-qi.

• The Radiant Church chose a nighttime assassination because sending an army or another Saint Realm fighter risked greater consequences.
• A Peak Saint Realm assassin attacked Linley while a Six-Winged Angel prepared a Holy Light Impact.
• Linley withstood the angel’s attack by using Pulsing Defense, then crushed the angel’s defenses with Hundredfold Waves and sent him into a ravine.
• The assassin fled, and Linley warned him to tell the Radiant Church that two Peak Saint Realm experts could not kill him.
• Linley told Bebe that an Eight-Winged Angel could overpower him and that he needed to improve his Battle-qi reserves.

Linley learned that the Radiant Church had challenged him to fight an Eight-Winged Angel, a Lowgod, over the mineral veins. With Doehring's counsel, he agreed to the duel on terms set by the Baruch Kingdom and prepared to survive while exposing the Church's strength.

• Gates told Linley that the Radiant Church had revealed an Eight-Winged Angel and challenged him to a duel over the mineral veins.
• Linley agreed to the duel but insisted that the Baruch Kingdom choose the battlefield, timing, and rules.
• Doehring explained that accepting the duel would draw the Church's Lowgod-level power into the open and urged Linley to focus on surviving.
• Doehring promised to support Linley, who steadied himself by holding the dragon crystal and resolved to face the coming battle.

Olivier visited Linley before his duel with the Radiant Church's eight-winged angel and showed him that he needed to unite his wind and earth Laws rather than use them as separate weapons. Linley understood the path Olivier revealed but could not yet make his sword strike embody that unity.

• Olivier met Linley at the mountain gate and said he had come to help him prepare for the eight-winged angel.
• Olivier explained that Linley's separate wind and earth techniques would not suffice against a Lowgod.
• Olivier demonstrated a sword strike in which he became the Law instead of using it as a weapon, prompting Linley to see wind and earth as parts of himself.
• Linley tried to imitate Olivier's strike, but his sword still only cut according to the Laws.
• Olivier told Linley to keep practicing and said he would meet him at the summit before sunrise; Linley remained in the courtyard reflecting on the Laws and his sword.