Chapter Summaries

Linley received a letter from Wharton through Teacher Monica and learned that his younger brother was safe in the Rhine Empire, where a Saint Warrior was teaching him. Doehring Cowart revealed that the Rhine Clan descended from demons of the Abyss, and Linley resolved to visit Wharton once he became a Level Seven Mage.

• Yale, Reynolds, and George wondered why Linley was working so hard during vacation, while George explained that Teacher Monica was a Peak Saint.
• Teacher Monica secretly delivered Wharton's letter to Linley and warned him that the Radiant Church might pursue them if they fled the Fenlai Empire.
• Linley read that Wharton was safe in Rhine Clan territory and was being taught by Aunt Veronica, a Saint Warrior.
• Doehring Cowart reassured Linley that Life Magic and Necromancy would complement the Dragonblood Warriors, then recognized the Rhine Clan's connection to a clan he had known.
• Doehring Cowart told Linley that the Rhine Clan descended from demons of the Abyss, and Linley burned Wharton's letter after deciding to visit him once he became a Level Seven Mage.

Six years passed as Linley advanced at the Ernst Institute, and Monica entered seclusion after gaining an insight. In Bloodshadow Valley, Wharton grew stronger under the Tree of Life before Veronica sent him to the Rhine imperial palace and considered returning to Fenlai City with Jason.

• Linley told Hogg and Hiri that Wharton's letter had eased their worries, then continued studying magic and carving under Monica's instruction.
• Linley informed the dean that Monica had entered seclusion, and Beta arrived to guard her while the others left the area.
• Linley decided to train in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts while Monica was unavailable.
• Wharton reached the fifth level as a warrior with help from the Tree of Life, though he made little progress in Necromancy.
• Veronica took Wharton to the Rhine imperial palace so he could live among other young members of the Rhine Clan.
• Veronica realized her resentment toward the Baruch Clan had faded and decided to wait for Jason before returning to Fenlai City.

Jason and Veronica visited the Ernst Institute and the Baruch Clan residence, where Jason healed Hogg after finding him gravely wounded. Veronica set aside her resentment toward the Baruch Clan and agreed to help Hogg awaken his bloodline, leaving Jason to provide dragon blood.

• Jason and Veronica inspected the Dream Awakening sculpture, then met Yale and Reynolds in the secret room and introduced themselves as Monica’s parents.
• Jason and Veronica found Hogg badly wounded at the Baruch Clan residence, and Jason healed him.
• Hogg explained his search for revenge against the people who had abducted his wife, and Jason warned that pursuing them could endanger his sons.
• Veronica returned from the ancestral hall and decided to help Hogg awaken his bloodline after learning her murdered relatives were not ancestors of his branch.
• Veronica told Jason to give Hogg some dragon blood so he could awaken his bloodline.

Jason arranged for Hogg to undergo Dragonblood Warrior bloodline activation, then met Linley in Mist Canyon after Linley found the Purple Blood Sword. When Jason sensed Linley had damaged a seal for the Gebados Plane, he flew off to intervene and began fighting a powerful beast as Linley fled.

• Jason gave Hogg Red Dragon blood and Blue Heart Grass, and Hogg awakened his Dragonblood Warrior bloodline.
• Jason told Hogg and Hiri that Linley had activated his bloodline after surviving a fight between powerful magical beasts in Mist Canyon.
• Jason found Linley testing the Purple Blood Sword, introduced himself, and refused Linley’s offer of the sword.
• Jason examined Bebe, but a soul attack from Beirut forced him to let the Shadow Mouse go.
• Jason detected that Linley had damaged part of a sealing formation for the Gebados Plane and flew toward Mist Valley.
• Linley and Bebe saw Jason fighting a powerful beast, and Doehring Cowart urged Linley to flee.

Jason fought Dylan after Dylan attacked him with Swallow Heaven, but ended the battle by leaving once the High Priest introduced them. After returning to the Baruch Clan, Jason learned Hogg had staged his own death and went with Veronica to the Proulx Gallery, while Linley reflected on the battle and decided to return to Fenlai City.

• Dylan attacked Jason with Swallow Heaven, but Jason's original body and Life Clone gained the advantage in their ensuing fight.
• The High Priest identified Dylan and Jason, and Jason chose to leave rather than continue fighting the three Lowgods.
• Jason returned to find Hogg bloodied and the Baruch Clan home wrecked, then learned from Veronica that Hogg had staged his death to avoid danger after awakening his bloodline.
• Jason agreed to leave with Veronica for the Proulx Gallery while Hogg's staged death continued at the clan home.
• Linley and Doehring Cowart concluded that the destroyed magic formation had drawn the Deity-level experts and that a beast tide might follow the battle.
• Linley decided to return to Fenlai City and vowed to become a powerful expert like Jason and Dylan.

Jason and Veronica revisited Fenlai City, met Jason’s brother Barek at Radiant Temple Square, and discussed the Rhine Empire’s attempt to recruit Linley and the Radiant Church. Jason warned Barek about a powerful divine beast in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts and learned that former Pope Allison had defected to the Arctic Wasteland.

• Jason and Veronica left the crowded Proulx Gallery and strolled around Radiant Temple Square, where they encountered Barek.
• Barek said the Rhine Empire had sent him to recruit Linley, a seventeen-year-old Level Seven Mage, and revealed he had become a fire-element Saint Magus.
• Jason told Barek that his niece Monica was teaching at the Ernst Institute under an assumed name because she believed the Radiant Church was hunting Veronica.
• Barek said he had seen Monica on Crescent Island and mentioned that he had waited in line to view Linley’s sculpture, “Dream Awakening.”
• Jason warned Barek that a powerful divine beast lived in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts and asked him to caution the Rhine Empire’s travelers.
• Barek explained that former Pope Allison had released prisoners on death row and defected to the Arctic Wasteland, and Jason condemned the Radiant Church.

At the auction, Monica reunited with Jason and Veronica and revealed that she had begun fusing two Profound Mysteries after awakening her Wind Element abilities. She proposed bringing the Four Ultimate Warrior Clans under the Rhine Empire’s protection, while the Radiant Church learned of the empire’s powerful delegation and prepared to meet Linley.

• Monica questioned Jason about his unchanged appearance, learned that he had concealed his identity to keep her from becoming conceited, and thanked him and Veronica for guiding her in Cangbai City.
• Monica explained that she had started fusing two Profound Mysteries and proposed pledging herself to the Rhine Empire’s Deity-level expert to protect the Four Ultimate Warrior Clans.
• Barek and Jason agreed to bring the Violet Flame Warrior Hyde Clan and Tiger-Striped Warrior Bolei Clan to the Rhine Empire, while Monica reported that the Armand clan’s direct descendants had vanished over a century earlier.
• Gilmer and Lampson learned that the Rhine Empire’s delegation included several Saint-level experts, including Jason, Barek, and Monica, and Gilmer identified Barek as Jason’s brother.
• Gilmer and Lampson decided to go out and meet Linley.

At an auction, Jason challenged Cesar after learning he had once pursued Monica, then confronted him outside the Proulx Gallery. Jason defeated Cesar’s attack with Fate Law and forced him to flee toward the O'Brien Empire.

• Jason, Cesar, and Delia continued bidding on the Dream Awakening sculpture until Jason withdrew and Delia won it for 10.4 million gold coins.
• Monica revealed that Cesar had pursued her centuries earlier, so Jason threatened Cesar and challenged him to meet at the south city gate.
• Cesar vanished into the shadows, and Jason left the gallery to confront him while Linley and the others watched from a distance.
• Cesar attacked Jason using Shadow Clones, but Jason redirected the assault and trapped the leaves as vines before Cesar could approach.
• Jason briefly revealed his domain, and Cesar fled toward the O'Brien Empire after realizing he was outmatched.
• Kuye identified Jason’s techniques as Fate Law and remarked on the Rhine Clan’s ability to nurture an expert in Life Magic and Fate Law.

Monica confronted Jason about hiding his Deity-level strength and his failure to protect the Baruch Clan, then agreed to oversee the clans if Jason protected them. At the Radiant Church, Heidens and his allies discussed how to keep Linley from leaving, while the other Saint-level experts remained indifferent.

• Monica demanded to know when Jason had become a Deity and broke down over the Baruch Clan's losses.
• Veronica explained why she had left the Baruch Clan, and Jason described its past abuses and the Radiant Church's betrayal.
• Jason offered to protect the Four Ultimate Warrior Clans if Monica kept them from preying on the weak, and she promised to do so.
• Heidens and the Radiant Church's Saint-level experts discussed Jason's identity and whether the Rhine Clan had left behind a Deity.
• Heidens's loyalists considered working with the Yulan Empire to keep Linley, while the other Saint-level experts watched without interest.

Linley returned to Wushan Town and learned that Jason’s status as a Deity-level expert had driven the major powers away. Jason offered to protect Linley and the Four Ultimate Warrior Clans in exchange for loyalty and help establishing a faith, then agreed to transfer Doehring Cowart into an earth-element divine artifact.

• Linley returned home under Fenlai’s cavalry escort and learned of his father’s death, then held a funeral attended by a few representatives, his roommates, and Delia.
• Jason visited Linley and offered protection and bloodline activation to the Four Ultimate Warrior Clans in return for their loyalty and help establishing a faith.
• Linley pledged the Baruch Clan’s loyalty through Wharton and gave Jason the warblade Slaughterer to deliver to his brother.
• Jason gave Linley scrolls containing Soul Search and Vine Bind to help him investigate and confront his parents’ killer.
• Doehring Cowart asked Jason to restore his body, and Jason explained that the Coiling Dragon Ring’s water-element divine power prevented him from sensing the Laws of the Earth.
• Doehring Cowart chose to be transferred into an earth-element divine artifact, so Linley severed his bond with the Coiling Dragon Ring and handed it to Jason.

Jason claimed the Coiling Dragon Ring, gave Doehring Cowart a Highgod wooden shield, and sent Monica to deliver Doehring and the ring to Linley. Linley reunited with Doehring in Fenlai City and hosted Monica, who planned to stay a few days before returning to the Rhine Empire.

• Jason found Water Sovereign Power and Azure Dragon blood inside the Coiling Dragon Ring, took one drop of the power, and gave Doehring Cowart a Highgod wooden shield as his life-bound Divine Artifact.
• Doehring Cowart regained his connection to the Laws of the Earth and pledged loyalty to Jason, who decided he would later take the ring and Doehring to Linley.
• After Linley returned to Fenlai City from his father's funeral, Monica visited him and gave him the wooden shield and Coiling Dragon Ring.
• Linley reunited with Doehring Cowart, claimed the Coiling Dragon Ring, and welcomed Monica, who left him books compiled by Jason and asked to stay for a few days.

Jason organized the surviving Four Ultimate Warrior Clans in the Rhine Empire, binding them to basic moral rules and preparing to form a knight order. He explained that humane principles could help gifted cultivators remain strong without turning against the weak.

• Jason sensed that Cesar had become a Deity and credited the breakthrough to the beating he had given him.
• Jason gathered representatives of the Baruch, Hyde, and Bolei Clans at a castle in the Rhine Empire and demanded their loyalty in exchange for protection and bloodline awakening.
• Jason announced the formation of the Four Directions Knight Order and appointed Felix Bolei as its acting commander.
• Jason ordered the clans to raise their descendants and study the Rhine Clan's educational books, then left the gathering.
• Veronica questioned Jason's moral education efforts, and Jason explained that preserving humanity helped experts maintain their resolve and grow stronger.

Jason learned that the Radiant Church had gathered four Lowgods and a Demon Lord’s projection in Fenlai City, where Monica was being held. The God of Yellow Sand offered to help rescue her in exchange for Jason’s aid entering the Necropolis of the Gods, but Cesar then threatened Monica and challenged Jason to come die.

• Jason sensed a Saint-level presence and identified its speaker as the God of Yellow Sand, who directed him to inspect the Radiant Temple.
• Jason found that the temple’s formation concealed its occupants, while the God of Yellow Sand revealed that Monica was hidden there and that a Demon Lord’s projection backed the four Lowgods.
• Jason considered the threat of a Demon’s descent and learned the God of Yellow Sand wanted his help stealing treasures from the Necropolis of the Gods.
• The God of Yellow Sand promised to help rescue Monica and reward Jason with a High Godhead if Jason let him descend inside the Necropolis.
• Cesar interrupted their conversation and told Jason that Monica was in his hands, demanding that Jason come and die or she would be killed.

Jason tried to rescue Monica while confronting the War God, the High Priest, Cesar, and the Demon Lord’s forces. After the Demon Lord’s projection attacked Monica and Jason fought back, he discovered the projection was far weaker than he expected.

• Jason asked Lord Beirut to spare Monica, sent Linda to seize the Saints serving the Deities, and flew to the Radiant Temple.
• Linda captured the Saints in the Dark Forest, killed several of them, and released half after Jason negotiated with the four Lowgods.
• Cesar threatened Monica, but a blood-red figure attacked him and a light giant targeted Monica, forcing Jason to use Arc Flash to reach his daughter.
• Jason shielded himself and Monica from the attackers, then struck the Demon Lord’s projection and sent it flying.
• Jason and the others realized the Demon Lord’s projection was only at Midgod level at most, while the God of Yellow Sand appeared beside Jason’s Fate Clone.

The God of Yellow Sand’s projection attacked Jason and targeted Bebe, but Beirut intervened and destroyed the threat before summoning Jason to his castle. After rescuing Monica and restraining the fleeing Lowgods, Jason used Sovereign’s Might to search the Yulan Plane and found the remains of 173 gods.

• The God of Yellow Sand’s projection crushed Jason’s Fate Clone with gravity and sent a mountain-like hand toward Linley and Bebe.
• Jason attacked the hand with Water Sovereign Power, but Beirut froze the battlefield with Wind Sovereign’s Might and then destroyed the hand and wave.
• Beirut shattered the Radiant Temple’s Highgod projection and killed the Demon Lord’s Projected Clone, then ordered Jason to deal with the survivors and come to his castle.
• Jason withdrew his badly injured Fate Clone, had Linda capture the Saint-level experts, woke Monica, and froze four fleeing Lowgods.
• Jason tested Sovereign’s Might and searched the Yulan Plane with his divine sense, finding the remains and belongings of 173 gods.

Jason questioned the captured Deity-level experts and Saint-level fighters after the battle, then chose to spare most of them and assign the four Lowgods to deal with the remaining threats. He seized the Radiant Church’s Divine Artifacts and left its leaders unconscious for Linley to judge.

• Jason ordered Linda and Monica to restore order in the city and punish religious charlatans and looters.
• Dylan and the others revealed that the Demon Lord had proposed capturing Monica to secure permission to preach in the Luo'ao and Rhine Empires.
• Jason made the four Lowgods swear an Overgod Oath to serve him for one hundred thousand years, then freed them and sent them after demon warlocks and the God of Yellow Sand’s followers.
• Jason dismissed the Saint-level experts and took the Radiant Church’s Holy Bible and other Divine Artifacts.
• Jason knocked out the Pope of Light, Kuye, Useno, and Leiming, sealed them inside the Radiant Temple, and left their fate to Linley.

Jason recovered a vast trove of divine artifacts and Sovereign's Might from the remains on the Arctic Icefield, then met Beirut to report on the God of Yellow Sand's scheme. Beirut warned Jason to avoid the Earth and Lightning Element Divine Planes and gave him Divine Beast materials, leaving Jason relieved as he flew away.

• Jason found thirty-eight drops of Sovereign's Might among the remains and claimed an ice-blue Water Element Highgod Artifact for his Water Clone.
• Jason visited Beirut at the Amethyst Castle and reported that O'Brien and the others were alive, while worship of the God of Yellow Sand, the Demon Lord, and the Radiant Sovereign had mostly been eliminated.
• Beirut revealed that the God of Yellow Sand was a Sovereign who had sought a supreme treasure from the Necropolis of the Gods by using Bebe as leverage.
• Beirut warned Jason to stay away from the Earth and Lightning Element Divine Planes and offered to grant him a request.
• Jason asked for Divine Beast essence blood, and Beirut gave him an Interspatial Ring containing a strange Highgod and a bottle of God-Eater Rat blood.
• Beirut asked Jason to keep an eye on Bebe, and Jason left the Dark Forest relieved that Beirut had not pursued the matter further.

After returning to Fenlai City, Jason discussed the Radiant Church, Linley’s revenge, and the Four Directions Knight Order with his family and Linley. He sealed the church’s remaining leaders, sent Hogg to the Rhine Empire, and invited Linley to join a trip around the continent while he trained.

• Jason reunited with Veronica and Monica in Fenlai City, where Linda reported that nothing unexpected had happened during his absence.
• Monica showed Jason a Battle Projection of the recent fighting, and Jason warned her not to investigate Beirut’s attack further.
• Linley and Hogg thanked Jason, and Linley said he intended to destroy the Radiant Church because Clayde had offered his mother’s soul to the Radiant Sovereign.
• Jason directed Linley and Hogg to join the Four Directions Knight Order’s campaign against the two churches, and he explained that Linley needed to grow stronger before breaking his seal on the Radiant Church’s leaders.
• Hogg agreed to visit Wharton in the Rhine Empire, while Jason invited Linley to travel with him and promised Linda he would arrange for the knight order to gather believers for her.

More than a decade after forming the Green Crystal Mercenary Group, Jason and his companions had slain a Lich and gathered several characters from the original story into their ranks. After Clear Spring entered a breakthrough, Monica led the younger members back to the Rhine Empire so Linley could consolidate his Saint-level insights, leaving Jason, Veronica, Linda, and Ivan to wait in the cave.

• Jason’s Green Crystal Mercenary Group killed a Lich that had once been a rank-nine necromancer from the Rhine Clan, prompting Cesar to worry that he might become a Lich himself.
• Jason had rescued Cesar, Jenny, Lina, Rebecca, and Haeru and brought them into the group, while Barker and his brothers had joined the Four Directions Knight Order; Jenny had a rare affinity for the Edicts of Fate.
• Linda told the group that Clear Spring had made a breakthrough and was staying in the cave while shrouded in Elemental Darkness.
• Veronica proposed a break from their travels so Linley could consolidate his insights after reaching the Saint level half a year earlier.
• Jason suggested that some members stay with Clear Spring while the younger group returned home, and Monica reluctantly left with them for the Rhine Empire.
• Jason, Veronica, Linda, and Ivan remained in the cave, where Veronica noted that Linley and Bebe were already powerful enough to hold their own against her.

After Clear Spring became a Lowgod, Jason equipped her and gathered the Four Directions Knight Order’s leaders to discuss the changing balance of power and the upcoming Necropolis of the Gods. He selected twelve clan members to join the expedition and entrusted Linley with copying two books on the Laws for the Four Ultimate Warrior Clans.

• Clear Spring emerged from eleven years of seclusion as a Lowgod, chose divine artifacts, and learned that the Necropolis of the Gods would soon open.
• Jason reviewed how the Four Directions Knight Territory and Rhine Empire had expanded, while worship of Jason spread and strengthened his soul through the Power of Faith.
• Wharton and the other leaders gathered at Dragonblood Castle, where Jason urged the clans to avoid internal conflicts and focus on cultivation.
• Jason proposed sending three members from each of the four clans to the Necropolis of the Gods.
• Jason gave Linley two books explaining the Laws and instructed him to copy and distribute them among the clans.