Chapter Summaries

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.

Jason and Veronica traveled through the O'Brien Empire's Northwest Province, visiting Blackstone City before heading toward the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. When thugs harassed them, Jason effortlessly drove off Pierrot and punished the onlookers before the group left the city.

• Jason planned to visit Basil, Chier County City, Blackstone City, and the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts to meet a Twin-Headed Silver Dragon for Veronica's mount.
• Jason and Veronica toured Basil and Chier County City, then traveled by boat down the Yulan River to Blackstone City.
• A group of thugs mocked Jason and harassed Veronica, prompting Pierrot to step in and present himself as her protector.
• Jason flicked Pierrot into a shop, froze the thugs hiding nearby, and struck the cheering onlookers with lightning.
• Jason and his companions left Blackstone City and headed for the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts.

Jason Rhine fought Samantha Paluozzi, a Peak Saint known as “Lightning Flash and Blood Rain,” after she challenged him over his injury to her disciple. Jason’s combined martial and magical abilities overwhelmed her, and Samantha conceded defeat.

• Samantha Paluozzi confronted Jason Rhine over his injury to her disciple and agreed to settle the matter with a duel away from Blackstone City.
• Jason and Samantha moved ten kilometers south, where Samantha attacked with blood-rain and lightning arrows while Jason defended and slowed her mount with ice.
• Jason closed the distance, but the Azure-Winged Pegasus used its Vocal Music Profound Mystery to force him back.
• Jason summoned and transformed a Water Dragon into an ice dragon as Samantha fired another Lightning Flash Arrow.
• Jason broke through the obscuring water magic, and Samantha lowered her bow and admitted defeat.

After nearly two months of relentless practice, Jason fused his Lightning Flash Profound Mysteries with the Lightning Element Profound Truth and believed the breakthrough could let him become a god. He left the clearing confident that his talent might allow him to survive future dangers without relying on Linley or Beirut.

• Veronica, Linda, and Clear Spring watched Jason practice his Lightning Flash Profound Mysteries for a month after his fight with Lightning Flash and Blood Rain.
• Jason suddenly moved several times faster and announced that his Lightning Flash Profound Mysteries had begun fusing with the Lightning Element Profound Truth.
• Jason explained that fusing Profound Mysteries could help him reach the Deity level sooner and potentially become a Midgod if he completed the fusion.
• Veronica and Clear Spring questioned Jason's confidence, but he insisted his early breakthrough proved he was exceptionally talented.
• Jason reflected that his cultivation might let him survive the coming dangers on the Yulan Continent without depending on Linley or Beirut.

Veronica challenged the Twin-Headed Silver Dragon in his mountain lair and defeated him, after which he signed a Master-Servant Contract with her. The group learned his name was Ivan and prepared to leave the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts for Chiyan City and the Rhine Empire.

• Veronica charged the Twin-Headed Silver Dragon alone and declared that she wanted him as her contract partner.
• Veronica broke through his Shield of Light, wounded his wing with a javelin, and knocked him to the ground with a sword strike.
• The Twin-Headed Silver Dragon submitted, and Jason drew up a magical beast contract that Ivan signed with Veronica.
• Veronica introduced the dragon as Ivan, a 133-year-old who had only recently reached the ninth level and had not comprehended any Profound Mysteries.
• Jason announced that the group would visit Chiyan City the next day before returning to the Rhine Empire, and everyone agreed they had nothing else to do in the area.

Jason and Veronica visited War God Mountain, where Veronica fought Yanos after he mistook her for a Dragonblood Warrior, and Jason defeated him when he attacked. They later went to the Bosha Dike and decided to fish before heading home.

• Jason and Veronica learned that the War God Sect was holding its once-in-a-century disciple selection near Chiyan City and chose to visit War God Mountain.
• Yanos, the War God's fifteenth personal disciple, challenged Veronica after mistaking her for a Dragonblood Warrior of the Baruch Clan.
• Veronica fought Yanos with her Flame Domain, but ran out of Battle-qi and lost the match.
• Yanos threatened Veronica, so Jason stepped in and defeated him, severing his right arm.
• Jason and Veronica visited the Bosha Dike while Linda and the others played in deeper water, then planned to fish and head home.

Jason and Veronica returned to the Rhine Empire, where Emperor Maisiji sent them to help the army after a prairie warrior and a Saint-level enemy caused a crushing defeat. They reached ravaged Purplewood City with Barek's forces and learned about the brutal barbarians fighting for the Golden Royal Court.

• Jason returned to the Rhein Imperial Palace with Veronica and reunited with Lucy and Barek at Emperor Maisiji's welcome banquet.
• Barek told Jason that the Rhine Clan had ordered its members to train after Maisiji visited Bloodshadow Valley's forbidden area.
• Maisiji asked Jason to oversee the army, Veronica to deal with a powerful Engudu warrior, and Barek to lead troops against the prairie forces.
• Jason and Veronica joined Barek's army, which reached Purplewood City with thirty thousand troops after gathering survivors.
• Jason found the bodies of girls inside a ruined building, and a soldier explained the barbarians' hostility toward humans and the Golden Royal Court's influence.

Bulake and the Golden Royal Court launched raids across the Rhine Empire after Bulake defeated its army commander, while Barek explained the empire’s shortages and limited support to Jason and Veronica. Jason recognized Bulake as a Peak Saint-level threat, and the chapter ended with Jason unable to intervene decisively without reaching the Deity level.

• The Golden Royal Court’s ruler ordered Bulake, who had won a Silver Behemoth’s recognition, to lead an assault on the Rhine Empire.
• Bulake’s victories over five years left the eastern Rhine Empire exposed, and the Golden Royal Court began raiding its frontier.
• Barek told Jason that the Rhine Empire lacked troops, provisions, and weapons, and could not deploy necromancers without risking its alliances.
• Barek proposed that he, Jason, and Veronica lead an elite force to surround and kill Bulake, but Jason judged Bulake’s mastery of the Edicts of Destruction to be at the Peak Saint level.
• Barek explained that White Deer Mountain would not fight the Golden Royal Court and that only the Luo'ao Empire would send troops to help.
• Jason concluded that he could not change the balance of power until he reached the Deity level.

Barek lured Bulake’s barbarian cavalry into a battle while Jason and Veronica prepared to counter their Saint-level fighters. Jason killed the barbarian Saint Wudawa, then returned his attention to the still-unfolding battle.

• Bulake ignored the old chief’s warnings and sent three thousand cavalry to attack Barek’s six thousand, while another ten thousand circled around the flank.
• Barek revealed that he had baited Bulake and prepared his forces, as Jason called Clear Spring’s reserves for support.
• Veronica fought Bulake while Ivan and a Ninth-level Warrior held off the Silver Behemoth.
• Wudawa confronted Jason in the sky, but Jason killed him with a flash of purple lightning before he could finish introducing himself.
• Jason found that Wudawa’s tattoos and enhanced toughness faded after death, tossed the corpse toward Barek, and watched the battlefield again.

Veronica killed Bulake after Jason slew the barbarian Saint-level expert, and Barek’s forces won the battle but could not safely return to Purplewood City. Barek ordered the garrison to evacuate east, while Jason and Veronica helped secure the aftermath.

• Veronica told Bulake that Jason had killed the barbarian Saint-level expert, then pierced Bulake through the chest when he tried to flee through poisonous fog.
• Barek displayed the dead Saint-level expert’s body as the old chieftain ordered an orderly retreat, abandoning troops entangled with the Rhein forces.
• Jason joined Barek after the battle, and Barek judged that the barbarians might converge on Purplewood City, so he ordered its garrison to burn its supplies and break out east.
• Barrett’s reinforcements arrived, and the Rhein forces wiped out the barbarian vanguard and rearguard, though they suffered heavy casualties.
• Jason learned from prisoners that Bulake had led the campaign and that the old chieftain was not its commander-in-chief; Barek still prepared for the worst and kept the evacuation order.
• Veronica and Ivan killed the Silver Behemoth after the battle, and Veronica stored its corpse before joining Ivan to help treat the wounded.

The Rhine Empire sent Necromancers and Saint-level reinforcements to crush the barbarians and destroy the Golden Royal Court while its ancestor suppressed their Deity-level Metal Puppet. Jason learned the clan planned to move its Saint-level experts to the Higher Planes, but Rhine Clan members could refuse.

• Barek reported Bulake’s death to the Rhine imperial capital, and the first undead legion arrived at Purplewood City three days later.
• Mage Pelham revealed that Maisiji and the former emperors had ordered the Rhine Clan to use its full strength and attack the barbarian tribes.
• Five days later, Edward arrived with ten Saint-level experts and told Jason that the Rhine ancestor had recovered his strength and intended to lead Saint-level experts to the Higher Planes.
• Edward explained that the ancestor would suppress the Golden Royal Court’s Deity-level Metal Puppet while the Rhine forces destroyed the court and the beastman race.