Chapter Summaries

Linley brought Reynolds to Nier City, where Reynolds exposed how Prince Yulin had sealed the gates and left his soldiers to die, leading the empire to correct the military record and punish those responsible. Reunited with Yale and his father, Reynolds began treatment for his injuries and said he wanted to return to the Golden Flame Legion once he healed.

• Linley left Old White and the captured Hook with the rescued slaves, then carried the injured Reynolds toward Nier City.
• Reynolds and Linley revealed that Prince Yulin had refused to open Nier City's gates while Reynolds's soldiers were under attack, and Linley ordered the battle report corrected.
• Joanne announced that Yulin had been stripped of his titles and executed, the fallen soldiers would be honored and compensated, and Nier City's city lord would be transferred.
• Linley brought Reynolds to Chiyan City, where Yale and Nien Dunstan embraced him after learning he was alive.
• A water mage treated Reynolds's injuries, though his fingers would need months to heal and he could not cast magic for now.
• Reynolds told Linley he wanted to return to the Golden Flame Legion after recovering, to finish the road his fallen soldiers had not completed.

Delia reunited with Linley in Chiyan City while investigating missing Yulan merchant ships and suspected remnants of the Radiant Church. After Yale revealed that twelve ships had vanished and Doehring traced black crystal sand to a sealed underground waterway, Linley and Delia agreed to investigate it together.

• Delia arrived in Chiyan City as the Yulan Empire's special envoy and proposed a joint investigation into three missing merchant ships.
• At the embassy, Delia showed Longers a crystal shard bearing traces of Light Element magic and explained her suspicions about the Radiant Church's surviving networks.
• Linley visited Delia, told her Reynolds was alive, and recounted how Prince Yulin had abandoned him and been killed.
• Delia and Linley agreed that Linley would support her investigation through Sessler, Yale, Bebe, and Doehring without taking control of her diplomatic assignment.
• Yale revealed that twelve Dawson Chamber of Commerce ships had vanished and that every ship carried at least one high-ranking magus.
• Doehring found black crystal sand in the records and traced it to an abandoned underground waterway, so Linley and Delia prepared to investigate it by conventional means.

Linley, Delia, and their companions uncovered a Radiant Church operation in Chiyan City’s old waterway, rescued a surviving mage, and recovered records linking the missing merchant ships to the River Affairs Bureau. The gray-robed Deacon escaped, while his superior ordered the network to watch Delia and prepare its next move.

• Delia, Linley, and their companions entered the old waterway using the black shard as a key and found a hidden hall where a gray-robed man tried to burn records and collapse the ceiling.
• Delia saved ledger pages, Sessler found evidence that captives had been killed, and Linley and Bebe fought the attackers as the gray-robed man opened the sluice gates.
• Linley and Delia rescued Cole from a water prison and found metal tags for all twelve missing merchant ships; Bebe later returned with a captured black-clad man after the gray-robed Deacon escaped through a hidden channel.
• Sessler learned that the captive had helped transport people from merchant ships, while Delia decided to preserve the evidence and investigate the River Affairs Bureau without warning its officials.
• Doehring discovered that the black shard recorded light magic formations and could react to a master chip, so Delia kept it at the embassy under guard.
• The white-gloved superior learned that the master chip had reacted and ordered the River Affairs Bureau to prepare while his people watched Delia and tracked the evidence.

Cole recounted how a fake River Affairs Bureau patrol seized the Morning Tide, while Delia uncovered a staged confession and set a trap for the people behind the abductions. The Radiant Church’s agents attacked three sites, but their leader escaped through a secret passage with the primary shard as Linley pursued him.

• Cole told Delia that a patrol boat with an official seal had disabled the mages aboard the Morning Tide and taken them into the underground waterways, where a white-gloved man selected two captives.
• Huoyi confessed to issuing forged permits, but Delia recognized the ledgers as planted evidence and ordered Bebe to follow him while the embassy spread word about three supposed evidence caches.
• Bebe followed Huoyi to an herb merchant, whom Linley tracked to an abandoned bathhouse; meanwhile, attackers set fire to the River Affairs Bureau archive and raided the Dawson Chamber of Commerce warehouse.
• A ninth-level warrior posing as a palace messenger attacked Delia’s embassy to seize the black crystal chip, but Delia, Parei, and Bebe captured him.
• Linley and Sessler found a secret passage beneath Laurel Lane and pursued the white-gloved leader and a gray-robed deacon as they fled with the primary shard.
• The white-gloved leader saw Linley approaching through the passage and ordered the passage brought down as they headed for the water outside the city.

Linley and Sessler captured a gray-robed deacon and learned that the Radiant Church planned to perform the Holy Grace Ritual at the Silent Monastery in the Ankh Mountains. Linley and Delia led a party into the mountains, where Haeru found the monastery and sensed a faint aura of light beneath it.

• Linley derailed the escaping cart, but the white-gloved Purifier escaped into the river; Linley captured the gray-robed deacon.
• Sessler extracted the deacon’s memories and discovered that the Purifier worked for the Radiant Church’s Inquisition and was gathering magicians for the Holy Grace Ritual.
• Sessler identified the Silent Monastery in the Ankh Mountains as the ritual’s likely location, and Delia said the ritual could sacrifice thousands and poison the surrounding land.
• Linley and Delia organized an expedition, assigning scouts and guards while planning to investigate the monastery with Longers and Doehring.
• After the party reached the Ankh Mountains, Haeru reported that the mountaintop monastery was deserted and that a faint light aura came from beneath it.

Linley and his companions found a hidden monastery ritual where the Purifier was draining hundreds of mages’ souls to summon angels. They battled the Purifier’s guards, but the ritual completed and a power far beyond the Saint Realm descended through the Divine Spark Projection.

• Linley, Delia, Doehring, and Longers entered the monastery and discovered a hidden stairway beneath the church pulpit.
• Linley and his companions descended into an underground hall, where gray-robed figures were carrying out the Holy Grace Ritual on hundreds of bound mages.
• Linley, Delia, and Longers defeated the ritual attendants, but the Purifier appeared with a Divine Spark Projection and activated the ritual.
• The Purifier’s four pseudo-Saint Realm guards engaged the group while the ritual began draining the mages’ souls.
• Linley fully transformed into a Dragonblood Warrior and killed two guards, while Longers tried to destroy the magic formation.
• The ritual’s gathered souls formed a golden pillar that entered the Divine Spark Projection, unleashing pressure far beyond the Saint Realm.

Linley and his allies destroyed the Radiant Church’s false divine body and exposed its espionage network, then learned that Olivier had challenged Haydson to a decisive battle. Linley prepared to witness the duel, hoping to measure the limits of Saint Realm combatants and deepen his own understanding of the Laws of the Earth.

• Linley, Longers, and Delia destroyed the formation sustaining the false divine body, and Linley shattered its Godhead projection while Doehring contained the resulting blast.
• Linley and his companions rescued the surviving mages and brought evidence of the Radiant Church’s stronghold to Chiyan City, where Her Majesty Joanne ordered a purge of its spies and publicly commended them.
• Olivier returned to the capital and challenged Haydson to fight above the Chiyan River on May 4, Year 10009 of the Yulan Calendar.
• Linley told Wharton and the others that Olivier might be seeking to fuse the Laws of Light and Darkness and develop a soul attack, while Haydson’s mastery of the Laws of the Earth could protect more than his body.
• Linley decided the duel would be crucial to his own cultivation and ordered his household guards to prepare to watch it.

Olivier fought Haydson in a fierce battle on the Chiyan River, but Haydson won at great cost. Haydson challenged Linley to a duel three months later, and Linley accepted.

• Olivier attacked Haydson with the Black Stone Sword and struck his soul, but Haydson broke Olivier’s arm and forced him to draw his heavy sword.
• Olivier fought with both the Black Stone Sword and Light and Shadow Sword, while Linley studied the fighters’ techniques and gained insight into a new form of defense.
• Haydson defeated Olivier with Earth Split, leaving Olivier gravely injured and unconscious while Haydson suffered internal injuries.
• Haydson challenged Linley to fight at Tujiao Mountain on August 4, and Linley accepted.

After Haydson challenged Linley to a duel at Tujiao Mountain, Linley secluded himself to develop a defense against the Rock Sword Saint’s overwhelming strength. Fifteen days later, he perfected Pulsing Defense and prepared to await the coming battle.

• At Earl Wharton's manor, Linley explained that Haydson had challenged him because they both studied the Laws of the Earth, then announced he would enter three months of seclusion.
• Linley studied Haydson’s battle with Olivier and used Earth Pulsation to weave his Dragonblood Battle Qi into a rapidly vibrating defensive barrier.
• Wharton approached Linley during his contemplation and was hurled backward by the pulsing battle-qi, prompting him to order the courtyard sealed off.
• After fifteen days, Linley perfected Pulsing Defense, which dissipated incoming force through layers of high-frequency vibrations.
• Doehring Cowart praised Linley’s technique, and Linley looked forward to testing it against Haydson at Tujiao Mountain on August 4.

Linley and Haydson fought a devastating battle on Tujiao Mountain, each wounding the other with their strongest techniques. As they appeared to have exhausted themselves in a mutual defeat, a black shadow attacked Haydson from behind.

• Linley transformed into a Dragonblood Warrior and stunned Haydson by withstanding his punch without injury, forcing Haydson to draw his greatsword.
• Linley and Haydson exchanged their ultimate techniques, and both were injured when Linley’s Hundredfold Waves pierced Haydson’s defenses.
• The fighters moved across Tujiao Mountain, destroying its peaks and cliffs until the mountain collapsed beneath them.
• Haydson recognized that Linley was running low on Battle-qi and launched his strongest move, Earth Split, as Linley answered with One Hundred and Thirty-Two Waves.
• Their final clash drove Linley into the rubble and left Haydson unable to gather Battle-qi, but a black shadow appeared behind him and struck his back with a claw.

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.