Recaps

After Jason emerged from seclusion, he and Veronica accepted Linda, a Level Nine Moonshadow Flame Cat, as a new companion in exchange for cooking her a daily meal. They explored the valley and settled near Linda’s territory, where Jason planned to dig a cave and cultivate.

• Jason found Linda eating with Veronica and grew nervous until Linda formed an Equal Contract with Veronica, asking for cooked meals in return for help and protection.
• Veronica explained Linda’s history and the valley’s powerful magical beasts, including the two Ironback Gryphons and a Bladeback Earth Lizard.
• Jason, Veronica, and Linda traveled to Linda’s territory, and Jason sent Lumba back to the Netherworld because Lumba disliked the place and Linda disliked having an undead nearby.
• Jason saw Linda’s den, agreed to build a home nearby, and chose a dry rock face where he planned to have his undead dig a cave.

Jason and Veronica trained for five years in the valley while Linda watched their strength grow, then learned that a group of dragons was approaching. When the Ironback Gryphons fled at the sight of the dragon army, Jason, Veronica, and Linda ran too.

• Jason and Veronica buried Mikhail Baruch beside the Blue Heart Grass and kept the secret of activating the Dragonblood Warrior bloodline from the Baruch Clan.
• Jason trained to reach Saint-level while Veronica advanced to the peak of the seventh level and Jason reached the peak of the eighth level and comprehended force.
• Linda learned that Jason and Veronica could challenge powerful magical beasts and decided to train harder, then warned them that dragons were scouting the valley.
• Jason, Veronica, and Linda learned that a Black Dragon led more than fifty Flame Dragons and Green Dragons toward the valley.
• The Ironback Gryphons fled when the dragon army appeared, so Jason and Veronica grabbed Linda and ran.

Jason, Veronica, and Linda left Mist Valley and joined a caravan bound for the Rhine Empire, where Jason hoped to return home and learn about the Rhine Clan’s Holy Land. Along the way, Jason learned the Baruch Clan had collapsed and easily defeated the caravan’s strongest warrior in a sparring match.

• Jason invited Veronica and Linda to return with him to the Rhine Empire, and Linda agreed after hearing about the food and comforts there.
• At Blue Lake Manor, Jason learned from Mo'ernazha that the Baruch Clan had fallen into ruin and that the Radiant Church had been involved in its downfall.
• Jason, Veronica, and Linda joined a caravan heading for the royal capital, and Linda complained about the long journey through the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts.
• Ednaldo introduced himself to Jason and challenged him to exchange pointers, and Jason defeated him with a single slash.

Jason, Veronica, and Linda explored Yulan City, ate roadside barbecue, and attended an auction while looking for materials to forge new weapons. They left without buying anything and continued preparing for the easy road ahead.

• Jason, Veronica, and Linda ate barbecue on Yulan City's busy streets before Jason spotted an auction house and decided to visit.
• Jason and Veronica watched the auction and considered forging materials, but most of the offerings were unsuitable for their needs.
• Jason bid on a Level Nine Silver Dragon horn, but Veronica warned him that a Level Nine mage was bidding, so Jason stopped competing.
• Jason and Veronica left the auction empty-handed, bought clothes, and got their hair trimmed before leaving Yulan City.

Jason returned to Rhine City with Veronica after more than six years away and was brought to the palace to meet his family. He freed the empress’s maids and settled back into his courtyard, where Veronica surprised him by climbing onto his bed.

• Bannadini found Jason and Veronica at an inn and escorted Jason to the palace, reporting that Barek and Lucy’s rivalry was intensifying.
• Maisiji told Jason to stay out of Barek and Lucy’s conflict, visit his mother, and apologize to the empress; Jason introduced Veronica as his girlfriend.
• Aidem a confronted Jason about Lisa and Aisha, while Veronica said she could accept being his lover; the empress explained that both maids loved other men.
• Jason and Veronica returned to his courtyard, where Jason gave Lisa and Aisha their freedom and Linda went to sleep after eating.
• Jason planned to rest, seek out Bloodshadow Valley, find weapon materials, and study magic before Veronica entered his room and climbed onto him.

Jason and Veronica exchanged magical beast materials for weapons, then visited Jason’s sister and attended Emperor Maisiji’s birthday celebration. Maisiji ended the five-year contest for the throne by arranging Lucy’s marriage, while the reason for his urgency remained unclear to Jason.

• Jason and Veronica traded their accumulated magical beast corpses and other materials at the Rhine Clan’s treasury for supplies to forge one weapon each.
• Craftsmen made Veronica a fire-attribute longsword named Flame Scale and Jason a lightning-attribute saber named Leiming.
• Veronica refused Jason’s suggestion of marriage, so Jason decided to postpone it and visit his sister Yunika instead.
• Jason and Veronica stayed with Yunika for seven or eight days, then joined her family at Emperor Maisiji’s birthday celebration, where Jason saw Barek and Lucy again.
• A trusted aide told Jason that Maisiji wanted to end the contest for the throne, and Maisiji did so by arranging Lucy’s marriage to a childhood acquaintance.

Jason and Veronica agreed to enter Bloodshadow Valley after the Rhine Clan invited all members above level eight to cultivate there. At a family dinner, Barek revealed that the empire was under a state of emergency, leaving the siblings worried that a major crisis was approaching.

• Jason practiced Taiji in hopes of comprehending Profound Mysteries, while Veronica trained after reaching the Eighth level.
• Jason and Veronica decided to accept the invitation to Bloodshadow Valley and prepared to learn about the holy land and contact relatives.
• Prince Vittorio explained that the Rhine Clan's ancestors had created Bloodshadow Valley from a giant demon's corpse, and said the clan needed more fighting strength.
• Jason attended a family dinner with Veronica, where Lucy said she hoped to enter Bloodshadow Valley after reaching level eight and Yunika declined to cultivate.
• Barek told Jason, Lucy, and Yunika that the empire was in a state of emergency and the throne would not change hands while Maisiji remained alive.
• Maisiji urged Jason to work hard in Bloodshadow Valley and told Barek and Lucy to spend time with their families before they went.

Jason and Veronica settled into Bloodshadow Valley, where they began stabilizing their cultivation and training. Jason also visited the Netherworld, where Lumba had reached the seventh level and led an attack on a Corpse Dragon.

• Jason and the Rhine Clan members entered Bloodshadow Valley and learned that its runes, carved into a Deity-level monster’s skeleton, greatly increased elemental concentration.
• Jason and Veronica chose a room and decided to stabilize their cultivation before pursuing further breakthroughs, while Linda trained with them.
• Jason checked on Lumba in the Netherworld and found that he had reached the seventh level, awakened fire and earth magic, and gained new weapons.
• Lumba told Jason that a seventh-level undead Corpse Dragon was nearby, and Jason judged that his undead army could fight it.
• Jason kept his consciousness in the Netherworld until midnight, then complained that the Corpse Dragon had flown away during the fight.

A Saint-level expert introduced five Violet-Eyed Bladewing Fiends from the Abyss as the Rhine Clan’s pureblooded relatives and invited the clansmen to spar with them. Prince Vittorio defeated one, while a conservative elder lost to another, and the Violet-Eyed Clan prepared to live nearby and train with the Rhine Clan.

• A Saint-level expert explained that the Violet-Eyed Bladewing Fiends were the source of the Rhine Clan’s bloodline and said the five visitors wanted to spar.
• Prince Vittorio fought a level-nine Violet-Eyed Bladewing Fiend, whose Destruction Magic and combat instincts let it match him until its power waned and he won.
• A peak ninth-level water-attribute elder fought another Violet-Eyed Bladewing Fiend, remained on the defensive, and lost.
• A Violet-Eyed Bladewing Fiend tried to kill the defeated elder, but the Saint-level expert stopped it and urged both clans to spar and improve together.

Jason fought Ailin, a ninth-level Violet-Eyed Bladewing Fiend who had comprehended Force and Edicts, and the two proved evenly matched. After Ailin called the fight a draw, Edward Rhein and Dante watched and discussed Jason’s skill with a Profound Mystery.

• Prince Vittorio asked Jason to fight Ailin, and Jason followed him to the training grounds.
• Ailin introduced herself as a peak ninth-level fighter, and Jason reacted with surprise when she spoke.
• Jason and Ailin exchanged attacks, revealing that Ailin used destructive Edicts while Jason relied on the Water Element’s Profound Mystery of Roundness.
• Edward Rhein and Dante watched the fight, and Dante identified Ailin as his daughter while Edward praised Jason’s combat skill.
• As their battle-qi and magic power ran low, Ailin called the fight a draw, and Jason agreed.

After ten years of secluded training, Jason broke through to Saint-level and tested his abilities against Ailin, who had advanced three years earlier. He planned to enter Bloodshadow Valley’s forbidden area the next day to claim the reward reserved for newly advanced Saint-level clan members.

• Jason learned that his Violet-Eyed Bladewing Fiend bloodline did not greatly increase his Saint-level bottleneck, despite the race’s short lifespan and slower maturation on the Yulan Continent.
• Jason spent ten years in secluded training and reached Saint-level at age thirty-six.
• Jason fought Ailin, a Saint-level expert focused on the Edicts of Destruction and Laws of Death, and she defeated him in the arena.
• Jason and Ailin acknowledged each other as evenly matched friends after the fight.
• Ailin invited Jason to claim the reward for newly advanced Saint-level clan members in Bloodshadow Valley’s forbidden area, and Jason planned to apply the next day.

Jason visited the forbidden grounds of Bloodshadow Valley, where Bili explained the Violet-Eyed Family’s history and plans before giving him a Blue Jade Fruit and books on cultivation. After the fruit strengthened Jason’s soul, he studied the Four Edicts and the Seven Elements’ Profound Mysteries, leaving with their teachings memorized.

• Jason climbed into the divine beast’s remains and met Bili in an ice hut beside the Blue Jade Fruit trees.
• Bili told Jason that the Violet-Eyed Family came from the Abyss and that its patriarch planned to take the family’s Saints to a Higher Plane within two hundred years.
• Bili gave Jason a Blue Jade Fruit, which strengthened his soul from the early eighth rank to the early Saint level and also replenished Lumba through their soul contract.
• Bili directed Jason to books explaining the Four Edicts and the Seven Elements’ Profound Mysteries.
• Jason read the books, learned the recorded abilities and mysteries, then memorized their contents because copying them was forbidden.

After ten days in the forbidden area, Jason received a crystal ball for collecting souls and learned about Crescent Island, a training ground for Saints. He reunited with Veronica and married her at the Rhine imperial palace, while she chose to pursue Saint-level power through her own efforts.

• Jason gained an inkling of the Edicts of Destruction during his stay in the forbidden area, and Bili gave him an Interspatial Ring and a crystal ball that could be exchanged for a Blue Jade Fruit when filled with souls.
• Bili told Jason that Crescent Island served as a training ground for Saints and warned him not to cause mass deaths on the Yulan Continent while collecting souls.
• Jason returned to Veronica, who said she would stop using her dragonform and try to reach the Saint level through her own efforts, and Jason promised to wait for her.
• Jason and Veronica agreed to marry and held a wedding at the Rhine imperial palace, attended by Jason's relatives and a few high-ranking ministers.
• After the wedding, Jason bribed Linda the black cat with a roast rabbit, then embraced and kissed Veronica in their bridal chamber.

Jason delayed going to Crescent Island because he could not yet use his full Saint-level strength, and instead strengthened his undead army in the Netherworld. After capturing a Corpse Magus and a powerful Corpse Dragon, he left with a much stronger force despite heavy losses among the lower-rank undead.

• Jason explained that his Saint-level Battle-qi and magic were limited, then checked on his undead army and found that Lumba had reached the ninth rank.
• Jason’s undead army defeated a seventh-rank Corpse Magus, with Lumba taking control of its Soulfire and adding its followers to the force.
• Jason agreed with Lumba that undead losses were part of their nature and ordered an assault on a peak eighth-rank Corpse Dragon.
• Lumba led the ambush that crippled the Corpse Dragon’s wings, scattered its followers, and brought it down with help from Jason’s seventh-rank undead.
• Lumba claimed the Corpse Dragon’s Soulfire, and Jason’s army regrouped with a ninth-rank Lumba, an eighth-rank Corpse Dragon, an eighth-rank dual-sword skeleton, and more than four thousand lower-rank undead.

After two years of secluded cultivation, Jason reached a bottleneck and began sparring with Rhine Empire Saint-level experts to test his strength. Edward Rhein trained him in the Blazing Sun Desert, then pointed him toward possible sources of Life Magic and Fate Magic.

• Jason focused on the Profound Mysteries of death, water, and lightning, while leaving his other attributes to chance.
• Edward Rhein sought out Jason and offered to train him so Jason could eventually defeat Ailin.
• Edward’s death-attribute divine saber overwhelmed Jason in their first sparring exchange, sending him crashing to the ground.
• While recovering, Jason asked Edward where to find Life Magic and Fate Magic inheritances.
• Edward said the Radiant Church and Dark Forest possessed Fate Magic, while Life Magic could be found in the Yulan Empire or among scattered mages, and he suggested searching submerged ruins near Crescent Island.
• Edward flew back into the sky and resumed sparring with Jason.

Edward took Jason to spar with Saint-level experts across the Rhine Empire, hoping the fights would help Jason find an opportunity to advance his cultivation. Jason battled a Frost Wyrm but gained no insight, and the chapter left him continuing to learn about the empire’s experts and their understanding of the Four Edicts.

• Edward explained that Saint-level experts at bottlenecks often waited for cultivation opportunities and led leisurely lives.
• Edward took Jason to visit Saint-level experts, and Jason learned how numerous and powerful the Rhine Empire’s experts were.
• Jason fought a Saint-level Frost Wyrm using only Water Element Profound Mysteries, but the dragon’s defenses held and it eventually knocked him away.
• The Saint Magus and Ailin sparred over their understanding of the Edicts of Death while Edward and Dante watched.
• Dante explained to Jason that the Four Edicts were elusive and that even Saint-level experts struggled to summarize their understanding of them.

After three years of training and visiting Saints, Jason and Ailin fought a long duel that ended with Jason’s victory. As Saints began more battles nearby, Jason recorded the rare gathering with a Floating Shadow Orb.

• Jason and Ailin met on a wasteland south of Bloodshadow Valley for a duel arranged by Edward, with many Saints watching.
• Ailin used relentless physical and soul attacks to pressure Jason, but his defenses, healing, and speed let him endure and counterattack.
• Jason wore Ailin down with repeated charges until her magic ran out, winning their nearly three-hour battle.
• Edward collected his wager from Dante, while Dante comforted Ailin and reminded her that she would grow through battle.
• Several Saints began fighting each other, and Jason took out a Floating Shadow Orb to record the gathering.

Jason and Veronica traveled through the Luo'ao Empire after years spent cultivating, discussing their progress and the unusual forces scattered across the Yulan Continent. They planned a route across several regions and considered finding a magical beast to take in.

• Jason and Veronica walked through the Luo'ao Empire with Linda and discussed Veronica's cultivation and Jason's recent sparring with Saint-level experts.
• Jason described unusual peoples and forces across the continent, including the demon-worshipping Luo'ao Empire, the Golden Royal Court, the Temple of Life, and several magical-beast groups.
• Jason said he hoped to find a way to cultivate life or Fate Magic to strengthen his soul defense, while Veronica suggested visiting the Temple of Life.
• Jason outlined their route through the Luo'ao Empire, Chaotic Territory, Eighteen Duchies of the Northern Territory, O'Brien Empire, and Yulan Empire, avoiding the Holy Union, Dark Alliance, and Far East Prairie.
• Veronica suggested taking in a magical beast, and Jason agreed, though he worried that taking a Shadowmouse from the Dark Forest might anger Beirut.

Jason and Veronica confronted Steller, a Peak Saint of the Radiant Church, after he tracked them down for killing an angel. Jason broke through in the Profound Mysteries of Ice during their battle, and the chapter ended with Steller dead while Jason turned to finish off the summoned light-element angel.

• Jason and Veronica left the city with Linda and led Steller into a barren mountain range to avoid harming civilians.
• Jason fought Steller and discovered that he wielded the Profound Mysteries of Ice, which countered Jason's defenses.
• Jason broke through in the Profound Mysteries of Ice as he and Steller traded attacks.
• Steller summoned a light-element angel with a forbidden-spell scroll, while Jason summoned Lumba and cast Summon Water Dragon to occupy it.
• Steller severed Veronica's right arm, but Jason attacked Steller's soul and killed him with a slash through the back.
• Veronica reattached her arm and explained that she had held back to test her strength, and Jason flew back to help defeat the light-element angel.

After failing to regain his inspiration, Jason sorted the spoils from the Saint-level warrior Steller with Veronica and destroyed objects that might reveal their location. The chapter ended when Linda broke through to the Saint level.

• Jason emerged from three days of training without a breakthrough and learned that Linda was training nearby after reaching the threshold of the Saint level.
• Jason and Veronica examined their spoils and identified the dead warrior as Steller, a man connected to a battle with Linley in the original story.
• Jason destroyed Steller’s identity token and other suspicious objects, while he and Veronica sorted his wealth, weapons, and scrolls.
• Veronica chose a black heavy sword, and Jason set aside a spear suited to Destruction to be reforged as a saber.
• Veronica sensed Linda’s soul grow stronger and realized that Linda had broken through to the Saint level.

Jason and Veronica arrived at Hermit Village, where the villagers reacted with hostility to Jason’s Rhine name and demonic ancestry. A grieving Saint Magus attacked Jason over the death of someone named Griffins, and Jason fought back as the battle began to escalate.

• Jason and Veronica killed a bandit group in the northern Chaotic Territory, and Jason checked that his crystal ball was one-twentieth full after collecting a Saint-level soul.
• Linda returned from the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts without finding her former family, but recommended a mutated ninth-level Twin-Headed Silver Dragon as a potential match for Jason.
• Jason and Veronica reached Hermit Village, where the headman grew wary after Jason introduced himself as Jason Rhine.
• A red-haired Saint Magus accused Jason of being a demon and demanded vengeance for Griffins, then began casting a spell.
• Jason warned the villagers to get away, flew out of the village, and charged through the Saint Magus’s Explosive Fireball as their fight began.

Jason fought Hayward, a fire-element Saint Magus, until Desri and Cecily intervened and explained that Hayward had mistaken him for the demon who killed his contracted partner. After Veronica confronted Desri about the Radiant Church’s role in the Baruch Clan’s near-destruction, she clung to Jason and told him he was the only family she had left.

• Jason charged Hayward, pierced his fire phoenix with the Profound Mysteries of Ice, and nearly struck him before Desri’s beams stopped the fight.
• Cecily subdued the uncontrolled fire phoenix with Icebound, and Desri explained that Hayward had lost his composure after seeing someone he mistook for a demon.
• Desri invited Jason, Veronica, and Linda to Hermit Village and recognized Veronica as a Dragonblood Warrior of the Baruch Clan.
• Veronica rejected any connection to the Baruch Clan and confronted Desri about the Radiant Church’s part in the clan’s near-destruction, then left with Jason.
• Veronica embraced Jason, told him he was her only family, and said she would have abandoned her human identity and killed everyone in Hermit Village if he had died.

After three years of training, Jason, Veronica, and Linda explored the Dark Forest in search of a magical beast for Jason to contract. The three Purple-Gold Rat Kings confronted them, then asked Jason to take a troublesome mutant rat out of the forest and discipline him.

• Jason explained the early fusion of profound mysteries to Veronica, who agreed to try it, while Linda remained a novice in darkness.
• When Linda detected three Saint-level Moonhowl Silver Wolves, Jason refused to approach them and said he wanted a solitary beast with the potential to reach the Deity level.
• The three Purple-Gold Rat Kings appeared and teased Jason, who urged Linda to stop hiding and prepared to leave with Veronica.
• After checking the souls in Jason's crystal ball, one Rat King told his brothers that Jason and his companions had done nothing wrong, and the Rat Kings asked Jason for help.
• The Rat Kings explained that a mutant descendant had been killing promising Shadowmice and Stone-Eater Rats, and asked Jason to contract him and take him away from the Dark Forest.

Jason fought the mutant Shadowmouse Clear Spring, defeated her, and healed her after she agreed to an Equal Contract. At the northern edge of the Dark Forest, Clear Spring rejected her ties to the Beirut Family and declared herself a Nethercurse Rat.

• Jason challenged the mutant Shadowmouse and defeated her after she used curses, Soulfire, and corrosive black liquid against him.
• Clear Spring asked Jason to accept an Equal Contract and save her, and he healed her before they formed the contract.
• Clear Spring introduced herself to Jason, Veronica, and Linda, and they left the rat corpses for the Beirut Family to handle.
• Three Purple-Gold Rat Kings told Clear Spring that she and the Beirut Family were even after the deaths of the rats she had killed.
• Clear Spring declared that she was a Nethercurse Rat named Clear Spring and had nothing to do with the Beirut Family, and the three Purple-Gold Rat Kings departed.

Jason and his companions learned that Clear Spring had created a poison powerful enough to corrode a Saint Warrior-reinforced weapon, and their praise helped her overcome the mental barrier holding back her cultivation. Clear Spring began breaking through to the Saint-level during dinner.

• Linda cooked for the group and encouraged Clear Spring to spend time among people and find someone she could trust.
• Jason told Veronica he was studying a life-attribute Battle-qi manual, then asked Clear Spring about the black liquid she had used in battle.
• Clear Spring explained that she had made the potent poison from Black-Ringed Giant Python venom and plants, and Jason and Veronica praised her talent.
• Clear Spring began crying after the group affirmed her abilities, then suddenly erupted with magical power as she broke through to the Saint-level.
• Jason concluded that Clear Spring's low self-esteem and bottled-up grievances had kept her from overcoming the final bottleneck.