Chapter Summaries

Delisha's group killed the Bagdi Tribe's Four Star Fiend and captured a formation expert, learning that one highgod remained and locating the tribe's crowded underground stronghold. Jason and Landon led a raid on its central cavern, where the outnumbered group began attacking the Scaled Earthwalker Beast midgods.

• Delisha sent Jason and Landon to help Cheryl while she rescued Anya and the others, and Cheryl killed the fleeing Four Star Fiend despite her offer of wealth.
• Delisha's group took control of a captured highgod's Saint-level clone, and Anya used a Soul Seed to question him about the Bagdi Tribe.
• Delisha sent Anya back to the clan, assigned Jason and Landon to hunt midgods, and set out alone to find the tribe's remaining highgod.
• Jason and Landon led ten midgods into the central cavern of Grey Earth Underground City and discovered that thousands of Scaled Earthwalker Beasts lived there.
• Landon ordered the group to target midgods and drive away weaker enemies, and Jason and Landon used their Deathgod Golems to attack the nearest midgods.

Jason and the Rhine clansmen fought off a large force from the Bagdi Tribe after discovering that its scattered members had not learned their Highgods were dead. Jason used his Thunderwing Angel powers to kill the Bagdi fighters and rout their Lowgods, then regrouped with his team and headed to meet Bili.

• Landon warned Jason that hundreds of Bagdi Lowgods were gathering, and Jason refused to retreat while the team awaited Bili.
• Jason transformed into his Thunderwing Angel form and killed a Bagdi Midgod with a lightning-powered attack.
• Jason defeated another Midgod and charged through the Lowgods while Landon and the others used Godslaying Arrows to repel a flank attack.
• Jason slaughtered and scattered more than four hundred Lowgods, prompting the Bagdi Deity-level fighters confronting Landon to flee underground.
• Jason regrouped with the Rhine clansmen and led them underground toward Bili.

After the Rhine Clan’s campaign against Grey Earth Underground City dwindled over twenty years, Jason focused on cultivation and advanced his Lightning Element understanding while his clones developed. He returned to Bloodshadow Valley, where he tested his Life Clone’s power on a Blue Jade Fruit Tree, as Monica’s investigation into her parents and the churches continued.

• Jason’s group returned to the Rhine Clan after discovering the Bagdi Tribe had far more members than expected, and Delisha later confirmed that the dark elf Highgod and other Deity-level members had fled.
• Delisha proposed using Grey Earth Underground City as a training ground, and for twenty years she, Cheryl, and Mozhiyou hunted its Midgods while Rhine Clan members joined the fighting and suffered casualties.
• Jason spent the campaign in secluded cultivation, fusing Lightning Element with Lightning Flash and making initial progress with other Lightning Element Profound Mysteries, while his Death Clone cultivated and his Life Clone reached the Deity level on the Yulan Plane.
• Jason used his Water Element and Life Clones’ divine power to help a contracted Blue Jade Fruit Tree grow, and Veronica told him that Monica had comprehended two Wind Element Profound Mysteries and was investigating the churches and the War God and High Priestess.

Jason and Delisha traveled with the Rhine Clan to Falling Rain City and accepted a Fiend promotion mission to assault White Stone Mountain Castle amid growing unrest in neighboring Bone Dragon Prefecture. After learning about the regional conflicts, they bought protective supplies before setting out.

• Anya and Maisiji led the Rhine Clan group to Falling Rain City, where Maisiji gave the travelers instructions and went to North Skeleton Castle to sell clan goods.
• Cheryl and Mozhiyou completed their Fiend mission, and Delisha and Jason chose a new promotion mission at the Fiend Castle.
• A Fiend Castle clerk explained that the death of Bone Dragon Prefecture's prefect had sparked turmoil and factional conflicts across nearby regions.
• Delisha selected the mission to assault White Stone Mountain Castle, and Jason went with her to North Skeleton Castle to buy protection.
• Jason bought two superior Deathgod Golems and Death-compatible materials, while Delisha bought ten thousand bottles of Water of the Ageless River.

Jason and Delisha joined a Fiend promotion mission against the Bogdan Clan and learned that the clan’s destruction of four local tribes had drawn City Lord Lloyd’s judgment. After discussing the mission’s likely dangers and targets, they planned to capture Bogdan Clan midgods and investigate the clan’s wealth rather than kill them immediately.

• The mission leader explained that the Bogdan Clan had destroyed four tribes near White Stone Mountain and that participants had to retrieve blood-colored feathers from designated clan members.
• Delisha worried that the mission involved a power struggle between City Lord Lloyd and his enemies, while Jason urged her to avoid taking unnecessary risks.
• Simoni introduced himself, invited Delisha to join his group, and explained how the participants’ ranks suggested the Bogdan Clan had few but powerful highgods.
• Jason and Delisha concluded that the mission might be easy for them, then discussed capturing midgods to question them about the clan’s profitable assets.

Jason joined Falling Rain City's force as it approached White Stone Mountain Castle to destroy the Bogdan Clan. After the castle's defenses absorbed the highgods' attacks, Belding and the other highgods deployed golems and charged, with the midgods following.

• Jason reasoned that Lloyd and the lord of Northbone Prefecture would ensure the mission succeeded, and that the Bogdan Clan had been sent to trouble Falling Rain City by a larger power.
• The Fiends arrived at White Stone Mountain Castle and learned that the Bogdan Clan had spotted them.
• The mission leader ordered the One-Star Fiends to wait until the highgods began fighting, then attack the castle and prevent the clan from escaping.
• Belding and Kuxilai struck the castle with their weapons, but its formation absorbed their attacks and transferred them underground.
• A Four Star Fiend concluded that the castle's formation could only be broken from outside by a physical attack at Seven Star Fiend strength.
• Belding led the highgods and midgods forward with two top-grade and thirteen high-grade golems charging at the front.

The Fiends besieged White Stone Mountain Castle, where the Bogdan Clan’s Highgods and Midgods fought from fortified positions. After the castle’s large formations failed, Belding and Kuxilai agreed to lead a direct assault, leaving Jason with Delisha’s group.

• Olsen led the Highgod Fiends past the castle’s lightning attack, but two Fiends died as they fought the Bogdan Clan’s defenders inside.
• Delisha joined Belding’s forces, and the Midgod Fiends tore down the castle wall while the Highgods recovered and Belding warned that the enemy likely had Soul Seeds controlling them.
• The Fiends destroyed the outer wall and advanced cautiously, but the Bogdan Clan’s enhancement formations and ranged attacks slowed them.
• Kuxilai urged the Highgods to lead the assault, so Belding paired the Highgods and divided the Midgods into six groups.
• Jason joined Delisha’s group, and Delisha told him not to risk himself because they could abandon the mission.

Jason and the Fiends fought the Bogdan Clan inside White Stone Mountain Castle, gaining the upper hand after a fierce battle. When Kuxilai shouted for them to run, Delisha grabbed Jason as a deadly formation detonated across the castle.

• Belding and Kuxilai led their group into the castle through a breached wall, where they found Bogdan Clan fighters waiting in ambush.
• Delisha and the Darkness Element Highgod battled the enemy Highgods while Jason fought the Midgods and killed three, collecting two blood-red feathers.
• After more than an hour of fighting, the Fiends killed nearly seventy percent of the Bogdan Clan members, though eleven Fiends also died.
• The hidden Wind Element Highgod revealed himself and attacked, but the Fiends began to gain the upper hand as they cleared obstacles and formations.
• Kuxilai shouted for the Fiends to run, and Delisha abandoned her opponent, grabbed Jason, and flew toward the castle's remaining spire.
• A formation unleashed a massive explosion across White Stone Mountain, attacking both sides indiscriminately.

Jason and the surviving Fiends survived the Bogdan Clan’s formation, then learned that the clan had been controlled by Soul Seeds and had used the attack to kill its leader and free its members. Belding emerged from the ruins as a Six-Star Fiend, and the group prepared to return to the city.

• Jason and the other survivors fell from the sky after the formation destroyed the castle, while Belding’s Water Clone remained protected at the center of the flames.
• The Fiends discovered that Belding had survived and appeared to have secured his standing as a Six-Star Fiend.
• Kuxilai explained that a powerful figure had controlled the Bogdan Clan through Soul Seeds, and that the clan had used the formation to kill its leader and sever that control.
• Belding emerged from his Water Element shield beside the corpse of the Bogdan Clan leader, and Jason recorded the shield’s workings.
• The Fiends congratulated Belding on completing the mission and becoming a Six-Star Fiend, and he changed armor before leading them back to the city.

After returning from a dangerous mission, Delisha accepted Johanna’s offer to escort a new caravan from Falling Rain City to Skyfall City. The mission could earn Delisha a promotion and strengthen the Rhine Clan’s ties, but the route crossed a Bone Dragon Prefecture destabilized by political conflict and bandit raids.

• Belding rewarded Delisha with the promised Nether Stones and an extra thirty million, while Jason and Delisha returned to the Rhine Clan’s residence.
• Delisha entered seclusion to pursue new insights, while Jason studied formations and discussed their value with her Lightning Clone.
• Johanna asked Delisha to escort a caravan to Skyfall City, offering a promotion mission, regular trade stops at Rhine Clan territory, and a top-grade Deathgod Golem.
• Alpa shared intelligence about Skyfall City’s resistance to Bone Dragon Prefecture’s new prefect and the potential political benefits of Johanna’s caravan.
• Delisha gave Alpa the Deathgod Golem, and she and Jason agreed the caravan mission was worth attempting despite the danger and ongoing turmoil.

Jason joined Johanna’s caravan as it set out from Falling Rain City toward Skyfall City, carrying valuable supplies and Mariano, a late addition from Northbone Prefecture’s ruling clan. The caravan was soon surrounded by a large force of bandits, leaving Jason to doubt that their secret itinerary had remained secret.

• Jason and Delisha bought healing and attack potions before Johanna’s caravan departed seven months later.
• Johanna’s thirty-one-member caravan flew southeast aboard a top-grade Metallic Airship, carrying Deathgod Golems and supplies toward Skyfall City.
• Jason worried that Mariano’s unexplained cargo and last-minute addition might bring danger to the mission.
• Johanna warned the caravan that enemies were approaching, and two Highgod Fiends failed to drive them away.
• Johanna said the attackers were not a known bandit gang and suspected that someone important had assigned them to guard the area.
• Jason saw more than three hundred bandits surrounding the caravan, including at least five Highgods, and questioned whether their itinerary had leaked.

Jason traveled with Johanna’s caravan toward Skyfall City, where bandits were disrupting trade routes. After reaching the city in the seventh year, the group faced the prospect of a difficult return journey.

• Bandits demanded the caravan surrender its valuables, but Beirut’s water barrier turned aside their long-range attacks, and they withdrew after realizing the group was not their target.
• Johanna organized the twenty-six midgods into a formation with Beirut while she and the other highgods prepared to provide support.
• The caravan passed ordinary bands of robbers, then refused a request from bandits near Skyfall City to divert its goods to Kettle Mouth City.
• After the encounter, several bands of robbers avoided the caravan, and in the seventh year Jason’s group saw Skyfall City beneath a colossal waterfall.

Jason and Delisha learned that Johanna’s caravan had been drawn into a political conflict between City Lord Tiboni and the new lord of Bone Dragon Prefecture, leaving them stranded in besieged Skyfall City. They decided to stay safe and quietly profit from the city’s cheap goods while waiting for a chance to leave.

• Mariano revealed his identity as an envoy from Northbone Prefecture, and Johanna accompanied him to Bone Dragon Castle while the rest of the group rented a residence.
• Johanna told the caravan that City Lord Tiboni had invited them to stay in Skyfall City until the surrounding situation stabilized.
• The group learned that bandits led by Highgods and a Seven Star Fiend surrounded Skyfall City, making it dangerous to leave.
• Jason and Delisha visited the city’s markets and found artifact materials, divine artifacts, divine sparks, and houses selling cheaply after years of siege.
• Jason revealed that he had two billion Nether Stones, and he and Delisha decided to buy goods in small batches while changing their appearances.
• Jason and Delisha spent two hundred million Nether Stones on metal materials and planned to return later for more goods to resell.

Skyfall City's residents entered a new dueling arena, where Jason watched Highgod Fiends fight while Delisha sought to overcome a cultivation bottleneck. After Beirut's day-long battle ended, Jason continued observing a stalemated duel before deciding to wait for a suitable opponent.

• Jason heard that Skyfall City's lord had opened an arena outside the south gate, and he went there with Delisha and the other Fiends.
• Delisha signed up for a sparring match, explaining that she hoped fighting would help her Death Clone break through its bottleneck.
• Jason watched Beirut use water curtains and streams to fight a spear-wielding Highgod who specialized in Ice.
• Beirut's match lasted through the night and ended when frost covered half her body.
• Jason noticed two Darkness Element Highgods still fighting and told Delisha he would sign up after finding a suitable opponent.

Jason sparred with Brisenio, testing their lightning, death, and soul techniques in a close contest. Brisenio surrendered after his lightning divine power was nearly exhausted, and the two left the arena on respectful terms.

• Jason and Brisenio entered an empty arena and began their spar, with Brisenio attacking using two hooked chains and Jason wielding two sabers.
• Jason recognized Brisenio's superior control of the Electromagnetism Profound Mysteries and traded soul attacks with him to gauge their strength.
• Jason charged through Brisenio's defenses, but Brisenio struck him with a force that disrupted his lightning movement and gave them both serious soul wounds.
• Jason broke Brisenio's right arm during their exchange, then attacked again after Brisenio paused to recover.
• Jason steadily pressed Brisenio back until Brisenio surrendered, explaining that his lightning divine power was almost gone.
• Jason stopped immediately, and the two thanked each other before leaving the arena.

Jason continued developing his clones during a century of training in Skyfall City, where his Water and Fate Clones made notable progress and his Death Clone neared the Highgod threshold. After fighting Delisha’s Lightning Clone, he left the arena determined to defeat her within two hundred years, while she planned to strengthen her Death Clone for their next match.

• Jason spent a hundred years training and fighting in Skyfall City, advancing his Lightning techniques and making progress with his Death and Water Clones.
• Jason’s Fate Clone became a Midgod and grew stronger than his Destruction and Life Clones, while his Life Clone helped produce seven mature Blue Jade Fruit trees.
• Jason challenged Delisha’s Lightning Clone and used his newly perfected Arc Flash technique during their hour-long fight.
• Delisha defeated Jason with a slash and assessed him as having the average strength of a Four Star Fiend with few soul weaknesses.
• Jason vowed to defeat Delisha’s Lightning Clone within two hundred years, and Delisha said she would strengthen her Death Clone so both clones could fight him next time.

In 9991, Linley attended Monica’s music class and learned that her singing soothed the soul and concealed extraordinary Wind Element abilities. Monica began teaching him an improved Wind of Perception, leaving Linley stunned by her Peak Saint-level power.

• Linley attended Monica’s music class with Delia and Dixie, and he fell asleep while listening to Monica sing.
• After class, Delia invited Linley to come again, and Monica told him that Delia was interested in him.
• Monica met Linley on the back mountain and taught him that she had improved Wind of Perception and created the spell Requiem.
• Monica demonstrated Wind of Perception by making the nearby trees shake and causing Linley’s body to tremble with a sound-based attack.
• Doehring Cowart identified Monica as a Peak Saint, and Monica prepared to teach Linley the spell.

Monica visited the Baruch Clan estate, where Linley hoped she might guide Wharton as a powerful mentor. While exploring the grounds with Wharton, Monica persuaded him to demonstrate Dragon Transformation, and he revealed his azure-scaled form.

• Monica arrived at the Baruch Clan estate with Linley and met Hogg and Wharton.
• Linley told Hogg that he suspected Monica was Saint-level and suggested she might take Wharton as her disciple; Hogg agreed to let Wharton remain in Fenlai City if Monica accepted him.
• Monica explored the estate with Wharton while secretly investigating the forces behind the Baruch Clan's decline.
• Monica asked Wharton to show her his Dragon Transformation and promised to teach him magic and make it painless.
• Wharton activated his battle-qi and transformed, revealing azure dragon scales, horns, and a tail.

Monica explained that Wharton’s unusually pure soul could develop aptitude for two of the Four Edicts, and urged the family to begin training him before his Soul Plasticity faded. She then revealed that the Radiant Church and a suspected Deity-level enemy threatened the Baruch Clan, and announced that she would take Wharton to the Rhine Empire the next day.

• Monica told Linley and Hogg that Wharton should study magic early because his pure soul could gain aptitude for two Edicts, including Life and Necromancy.
• Monica explained that Wharton’s Soul Plasticity would decline as he grew older, and that she wanted to take him to the Rhine Empire to train in both forms of magic.
• Hogg objected that the Baruch Clan could not abandon its home in the Fenlai Kingdom, while Linley offered to become Monica’s disciple alongside Wharton.
• Monica warned that the Radiant Church had hunted the Four Ultimate Warrior Clans and that a powerful enemy, possibly a Deity-level expert, targeted the Baruch Clan.
• Monica said she would take Wharton to the Rhine Empire the next day and told the family to claim he had died in an accident before flying out to find a substitute body.

Monica took Wharton away on a Frostflame Gryphon, leaving his family to tell Wushan Town that he had drowned. Linley grieved and focused on cultivating, then carved a statue of Wharton and advanced his Flat Blade Style stone sculpting to the beginner level.

• Hogg, Hiri, Linley, and Doehring Cowart discussed Monica’s warning and agreed that Wharton might be safer leaving with her.
• Monica took Wharton from the back courtyard and flew away on a Frostflame Gryphon, while the family agreed to report that he had drowned.
• Hogg and Hiri held Wharton’s funeral, and Linley pretended to be ill while meditating in his bedroom.
• After speaking with Hogg, Linley carved a statue of Wharton in the back courtyard, with Bebe beside him.
• Linley finished the carving and reached the beginner level in Flat Blade Style stone sculpting.