Chapter Summaries

On the fifth floor, Linley broke through his spiritual-energy bottleneck and advanced his human form to the Saint Realm Middle Stage. After preparing and consolidating his gains, he and Bebe chose to enter the dangerous sixth floor.

• Linley explored the fifth floor with Desri and the other experts, then secluded himself to break through his spiritual-energy bottleneck.
• Linley’s spiritual energy reached the Saint Realm, and he began using the time on the fifth floor to cultivate his human form and the fused Laws of wind and earth.
• Linley’s human form advanced to the Saint Realm Middle Stage, strengthening his Battle-qi and defense without Dragonform.
• Desri warned Linley that the sixth floor demanded wisdom, luck, and a willingness to risk his life, and told him its entrance lay inside the volcano.
• Linley and Bebe set off toward the volcano and reached the entrance to the sixth floor.

Linley and his companions faced the Flame Monarch on the sixth floor, where Linley broke the monster’s axe and destroyed its core with the Black Jade Heavy Sword. After the battle, the injured group gathered beside him as he looked toward the passage to the seventh floor.

• Linley and Bebe entered the sixth floor and confronted the Flame Monarch on its lava plain.
• Linley fought the Flame Monarch with the Purple Blood Soft Sword, evading its lava attacks and countering with Wind-Earth Fusion.
• The Flame Monarch took its combat form and summoned the Bloodthirsty Great Axe as Desri, Fain, Tulilei, Rutherford, Bebe, and the Three-Headed Six-Eyed Golden Ni joined the fight.
• The Flame Monarch wounded Tulilei and severed Rutherford’s arms, prompting Linley to take out the Black Jade Heavy Sword and order the others to stand back.
• Linley compressed all sixty-four layers of Earth Pulsation into one strike, shattered the Flame Monarch’s axe, and destroyed its transparent core.
• Desri and Fain helped the gravely injured Tulilei and Rutherford gather beside Linley, who explained that he had reached this level on the fifth floor and looked toward the seventh-floor passage.

After the group defeated the Flame Monarch, Linley distributed two divine artifacts to Tulilei and Desri before leading everyone onto the seventh floor. There, they encountered the Mother Queen, and Linley and Desri pushed through its roots to reach its hidden heart core.

• Linley took the crescent saber and gave it to Tulilei, who promised not to claim artifacts on higher floors and owed the group a favor.
• Linley gave the blue-crystal staff to Desri in gratitude for protecting their companions.
• On the seventh floor, the group entered a primeval forest and was attacked by plant lifeforms, so Linley led them deeper toward the forest's apparent master.
• Linley recognized the enormous Mother Queen and ordered the group to retreat, but its roots trapped them and Desri's protective barrier began to fail.
• Linley recalled that the Mother Queen's heart core was buried deep underground and asked Desri to help him reach it.
• Linley cut a path toward the Mother Queen's trunk with his fire-element divine artifact while Desri cleared roots beside him and guarded the opening.

Linley and Bebe defeated the Mother Queen on the seventh floor, while Desri protected their companions from the jungle’s vines. With the forest withered and their group reunited, they headed toward the entrance to the eighth floor.

• Linley struggled to reach the Mother Queen’s heart core as Desri defended Tulilei, Rutherford, and the others from the vines.
• Bebe revealed that he had secretly followed Linley and exposed the Mother Queen’s heart core by burning away the roots around it.
• Bebe used a Rat King soul attack to immobilize the Mother Queen’s heart core, and Linley destroyed it with his Fire Element longsword.
• The Mother Queen died, and the plants under her control withered as Desri and the others emerged alive from the vines.
• Linley thanked Bebe for helping him, and the group supported one another as they advanced toward the eighth floor.

Linley and his companions entered the eighth floor and were attacked by the Evil Eye King, whose gaze invaded their seas of consciousness. They escaped onto the ninth floor, where Linley and Olivier recovered from the assault.

• Linley and his companions entered the eighth floor, where the Evil Eye King appeared in the darkness.
• The Evil Eye King's attack overwhelmed several experts and struck Linley and Olivier in their seas of consciousness.
• Linley hauled Olivier along as the party fled toward the ninth-floor entrance under the Evil Eye King's assault.
• Desri cast a shield of light while Tulilei and the others raced for the doorway.
• Linley pushed Olivier and the others through the entrance, and the Evil Eye King let them escape.
• On the ninth floor, Linley and Olivier slowly recovered and spoke about the Evil Eye King's attack.

Linley and his companions reached the ninth floor and accepted Thorium’s offer of shelter, but discovered that the kindly host was a metal demon intent on trapping them. Fain destroyed the Thorium Demon with his Lightning Dragon Descends, though Linley sensed that a greater danger was beginning.

• Thorium welcomed Linley and the others into the cavern, but Linley distrusted his overly kind manner.
• Thorium shed his disguise and attacked, transforming into a bladed metal monster that could reassemble itself.
• The Thorium Demon covered himself in massive silver armor and drove the group back with metal blades.
• Fain summoned Lightning Dragon Descends, shattering Thorium’s armor and destroying his true body.
• Linley thanked Fain for the victory, then sensed that the real danger had only just begun.

Linley and his companions fought and killed the Abyssal Blade Demon on the tenth floor of the Necropolis of the Gods. After resting by a campfire, Linley resolved to continue deeper into the necropolis once he recovered.

• Linley encountered an Abyssal Blade Demon that wounded him and outmatched the group with its speed and nearly indestructible blades.
• Linley assigned roles as Olivier drew the demon's attention, Tulilei blocked its attacks, Fain prepared his lightning strike, and Desri watched for anyone in danger.
• Fain's lightning pinned the demon down, allowing Linley to stab it before Fain's attack destroyed it.
• Desri confirmed that the Abyssal Blade Demon had been the tenth floor's sole master, and the group camped to recover.
• Linley told Olivier that he wanted to venture farther into the necropolis after healing.

Linley held off a nest of Blade Demons so his companions could escape, then faced the Abyssal Blade Demon Lord alone. At the brink of defeat, he understood the Laws of Wind, killed the lord with the Blade of Dimension, and made his way toward his companions.

• Linley discovered a nest of Blade Demons and ordered his companions to retreat to the tenth floor.
• Linley stayed behind to keep the Abyssal Blade Demon Lord from reaching the fissure while Tulilei, Fain, Olivier, Desri, and Bebe escaped.
• The Blade Demon Lord wounded Linley and knocked his Fire Element longsword away, leaving him cornered and unarmed.
• Linley understood that the Laws of Wind could cut through space and formed an invisible Blade of Dimension in his palm.
• Linley killed the Abyssal Blade Demon Lord with the Blade of Dimension and walked toward the light as his companions called from the fissure.

After leaving the Necropolis of the Gods with three Divine Sparks, Linley heard Beirut explain the limits of becoming a deity by refining one. Linley and Desri rejected that shortcut, and Linley resolved to reach the Deity Level through his own cultivation.

• Linley found three Divine Sparks among the fallen lord’s rubble and brought them out of the Necropolis with the others.
• Beirut led the group through the stone gate after the ten-year period ended.
• Desri asked Linley to trade him the Light Element Divine Spark so he could improve his chances of reaching the Deity Level.
• Beirut warned Desri that refining a Divine Spark would bind him to its laws and prevent him from comprehending new laws or creating a Divine Clone.
• Desri gave up his request, and Linley declared that he would become a deity on his own rather than refine a Divine Spark.

After ten years in the Necropolis of the Gods, Linley reunited with Delia and the others, and Doehring Cowart emerged as a Midgod. Linley then mastered the Profound Truths of Velocity, became a Wind Element Lowgod, and left the planar chamber to tell Doehring.

• Linley returned from the Necropolis of the Gods and reunited with Delia, Bebe, Wharton, Barker, Sessler, and the others.
• Doehring Cowart emerged from the Dark Forest as a Midgod and greeted Linley and Bebe.
• Linley returned to Dragonblood Castle and secluded himself in the planar chamber to pursue the Profound Truths of Velocity.
• After half a year, Linley received the Laws of the Universe, split his soul, and formed a Wind Element Divine Clone.
• Linley left the chamber and told Doehring that he had become a deity, and Doehring recognized that Linley had chosen the path of wind.

After becoming a god, Linley offered Delia a Wind Element Divine Spark, but she chose to pursue her own path to godhood. As Delia began studying the gathering and dispersal of wind, Barker became an Earth Element Lowgod, and Linley and Doehring resolved to strike at the Holy Island before Heidens could summon a god.

• Linley offered Delia a Wind Element Divine Spark, but she refused it so she could continue pursuing her own comprehension of wind.
• Doehring advised Delia to find her own path, and she began studying how wind gathered and dispersed by the sea.
• Barker refined the Earth Element Divine Spark and became an Earth Element Lowgod, while Wharton chose to pursue the Fire Element path and Linley stored the Light Element Divine Spark.
• Doehring warned Linley that Heidens and the Radiant Divine Realm remained a threat, and they agreed to uproot the Holy Island before Heidens could summon a god.

Heidens activated the Radiant Church’s Grand Six-pointed Battle Formation and summoned a Twelve-Winged Divine Angel to kill Linley and Doehring. Linley’s party sailed for Holy Island, leaving Delia and Wharton behind as the battle approached.

• Heidens learned that Linley had become a Lowgod and Doehring a Midgod, then ordered the Radiant Church to summon the divine and kill them.
• The Dark Pope Affleck chose not to intervene, while the Radiant Church assembled its Angel Legion beneath the six-pointed star.
• Linley and Doehring agreed that Linley would face Heidens and Doehring would fight the Twelve-Winged Divine Angel.
• Linley assigned Bebe and Barker to break through the Angel Legion’s lines and Sessler to protect the fleet and rear.
• Linley, Doehring, Bebe, Barker, Sessler, and the Baruch Kingdom’s Saint Realm experts sailed toward Holy Island as Delia and Wharton watched them depart.

Linley’s fleet attacked the Holy Island as Doehring confronted the Eight-Winged Divine Angel and Linley fought through the angel army. Heidens used Fate Law to trap Linley’s soul, but Linley resisted and struck back with his sword.

• The fleet reached the Holy Island, where Heidens and tens of thousands of angels awaited Linley and his allies.
• Heidens summoned an Eight-Winged Divine Angel, and Doehring stepped forward to face it alone.
• Doehring’s God’s Domain repelled the angel’s holy light, and he struck the Eight-Winged Divine Angel hard enough to send it flying.
• Linley charged onto the island with his Wind Divine Clone and cut down the angels in his path toward the temple.
• Heidens opened the Original Bible and used Fate Law to seize Linley’s soul and overwhelm him with painful memories.
• Linley broke through the restraints with his killing intent and unleashed a sword strike against Heidens.

Linley cut down Useno and pressed Heidens with Blades of Dimension while the Radiant Church’s angel legion clashed with Baruch’s forces at sea. Heidens empowered the Original Bible with blood essence, and the battle continued as Doehring overwhelmed the Eight-Winged Divine Angel with a Deity Level Meteor Fall.

• Linley tore through Heidens’s defenses and killed Useno with a single strike.
• Linley confronted Heidens over the Radiant Church’s murder of his mother and persecution of his father, then watched Heidens empower the Original Bible with blood essence.
• Barker and Bebe fought through the angel legion, while Sessler summoned undead to protect the fleet and attack the angels.
• Doehring disrupted the Eight-Winged Divine Angel’s divine arts and shattered his shield with a Deity Level Meteor Fall.

Heidens summoned the Radiant Sovereign’s projection, whose holy gaze overwhelmed the assembled fighters and unleashed a beam at Doehring. Linley tried to stop it, but his attack failed, and the beam struck Doehring.

• Heidens invoked the Radiant Sovereign, opening a colossal eye of holy light above the sea.
• The Sovereign’s gaze froze the sea, crushed everyone with its pressure, and caused Sessler’s undead to disintegrate.
• Linley’s Coiling Dragon Ring grew scorching hot and revealed a flickering dragon-shaped pattern beneath the eye’s gaze.
• The colossal eye fired a beam that carved a trench through the sea and destroyed part of Holy Island.
• Doehring raised seven rock walls to block the beam, but it pierced them all.
• Linley struck at the beam with a Blade of Dimension, was thrown into the sea, and watched it hit Doehring.

Beirut destroyed Augusta’s projection and saved Linley’s group, allowing Linley to kill Heidens and end the Radiant Church’s dominance on the Yulan Continent. As the survivors left the battlefield, a woman on a northern cliff watched the sea and realized Linley had returned.

• Augusta’s holy light badly wounded Doehring and targeted Linley, but Beirut appeared and crushed the attack.
• Beirut confronted Augusta over the Four Divine Beasts and shattered the Radiant Sovereign’s projection with his iron staff.
• Linley killed Heidens after the Pope’s prayers failed to draw power from heaven and earth.
• The Angel Legion fled, and the War God declared the battle over as Beirut warned that Augusta would keep watch over the Yulan Continent.
• Linley supported Doehring as the survivors headed toward their ship, while a woman on a northern cliff smiled through tears at his return.

After defeating the Radiant Church, Linley learned from Beirut that he was a Wind Sovereign and that his Dragonblood lineage and Coiling Dragon Ring came from the fallen Azure Dragon. Linley decided to leave Yulan for Gebados, while Doehring agreed to protect the Baruch Kingdom and Linley’s family until he returned.

• After the Radiant Church collapsed, Beirut revealed to the War God, the High Priest, Dylan, and Cesar that Yulan was not a place where anyone could run wild.
• Beirut told Linley that he was a Wind Sovereign and explained that the Four Divine Beasts had fallen to Augusta, the Radiant Sovereign.
• Beirut revealed that Linley’s Dragonblood Warrior bloodline came from the Azure Dragon and that the Coiling Dragon Ring was the Azure Dragon’s damaged soul-defense Sovereign Artifact.
• Beirut warned Linley that Augusta would target him for destroying the Radiant Church, and Linley vowed to face him.
• At Dragonblood Castle, Linley told Doehring that he planned to go to the prison plane Gebados to grow stronger.
• Doehring agreed to stay behind and protect Yulan, Baruch, Delia, and Wharton while Linley pursued his path, and Linley promised to return.

Linley and Bebe arrived in Gebados, a desolate prison plane where harsh conditions and dangerous creatures made every step perilous. After defeating a savage beast and five hostile prisoners, Linley escaped a nightfall swamp and Ghost Mist and continued south.

• Linley entered Gebados through a pillar of light and saw its bleak landscape, oppressive gravity, and thin elemental energy.
• A Saint Realm savage beast attacked Linley from underground, and he killed it with a wind blade.
• A one-eyed Lowgod and four Saint Realm men tried to rob Linley, but he killed all five with one strike of the Purple Blood Soft Sword.
• As night fell, Linley and Bebe encountered Gebados's Ghost Mist, which weakened spiritual probing and concealed Bone-Devouring Insects.
• Linley escaped a softening swamp by flying over it, then continued south as the mist swallowed the route behind him.

Linley and Bebe traveled across Gebados, learning that the prison plane’s only exit was guarded by Fiend Castle. At a wasteland camp, Linley was swindled and witnessed an exile being tortured, but left rather than risk a fight he could not win.

• Linley and Bebe flew south across Gebados, and Bebe explained that the prison plane was sealed and its only exit was guarded by Fiend Castle.
• Linley reached a camp of exiles and paid a scrawny man three Magic Crystal Cores for a useless map to the City of Fiends.
• When Linley demanded his cores back, the scrawny man rallied the other exiles, and Linley chose to leave rather than fight them.
• Linley saw three men torturing a frail exile for his Magic Crystal Cores while the camp watched without intervening.
• Linley and Bebe left the camp, with Linley promising to return and settle the score when they were strong enough.

Linley met Old Huo on the wasteland and learned that the Fiend Castle offered protection, resources, and a chance to leave Gebados. After hearing how deadly its entry trial and internal struggles were, Linley continued south toward the City of Fiends.

• Old Huo recognized Linley as a Lowgod and warned him that most people conducting business on the wasteland were swindlers.
• Old Huo explained that the Fiend Castle was Gebados's strongest force and described its ranks and deadly seven-day trial for Lowgods.
• Old Huo warned Linley that surviving on the wasteland was dangerous and pointed him south toward the City of Fiends.
• Old Huo revealed that he had once been an Ordinary Fiend before an injury forced him out of the castle.
• Linley thanked Old Huo, gripped his Purple Blood Soft Sword, and headed south while Old Huo watched him go.