The next morning, Kanoru, accompanied by Asuna's mother and Lou Chen, made his way to the City Lord's mansion. There, they formally submitted the head of the spirit realm invader along with the node-transforming rod. After completing the submission process, Kanoru exchanged the earned merits for the resources required for Asuna's mother and Lou Chen to advance to the spirit realm. Both of them agreed to repay him once they achieved their breakthroughs.
Afterward, he used the remaining merits to purchase additional resources for Asuna and Gu Mingzhu. Finally, he emptied the rest of his merits by acquiring wind elemental spells, aiming to strengthen his own combat capabilities.
As the three of them returned to the mansion, Kanoru informed the others of his decision—they would remain in the city until they had consumed all their resources. This way, everyone could strengthen themselves properly before continuing their journey. He also instructed the other members to either take on tasks in the city or remain in the mansion to practice and cultivate.
Once everything was settled, Kanoru retreated to an empty room. Sitting cross-legged once more, he delved into meditation. With unwavering focus, he began comprehending the deeper natures of the wind element and studying the wind elemental spells he had acquired, determined to master them fully.
Six months later, Kanoru stepped out of his room for the first time. Since advancing to the spirit realm, he no longer required food or water to sustain himself—his body could now absorb elemental energy directly.
In his spiritual space, he discovered three runes floating around his soul, representing his comprehension of three percent of the nature of wind element. He had reached this level within the first two months, but for the remaining four months, he made no further progress. His physical improvement had also plateaued, prompting him to finally leave his seclusion.
Outside, he quickly learned that Asuna's mother and Lou Chen were away on a mission. Neither of them had advanced yet. Despite using the resources he had acquired, they hadn't been able to reach the threshold where they could break through without significant risk. Kanoru fully understood their decision. After all, he had once made the same choice—pursuing safe and steady cultivation. However, circumstances had forced his hand. When he opened the eighth gate during the battle against the invader, it had been out of desperation, not in pursuit of a breakthrough. His sole focus had been on killing or severely injuring the spirit realm invader, even if it cost him his life. It was only through that reckless gamble that he advanced to the spirit realm, as his understanding of the wind element had already been on the verge of reaching one percent.
However, he chose not to share this with Lou Chen and Asuna's mother. Everyone's situation was different—what had worked for him could easily lead to their deaths. Instead, he encouraged them to take their time, assuring them that advancement would come naturally with patience and dedication.
After spending another week in the city, the group departed to take on more tasks. Over the next three years, they completed one mission after another. Sometimes, they were tasked with eliminating monsters in a region, while other times, they captured nodes on their own. They also joined larger armies in sieging and assaulting enemy fortresses.
During this period, Kanoru's forces grew from 300 seasoned warriors to over 1000 battle-hardened fighters. He maintained a strict rule—only middle-rank and above cultivators were allowed to participate in battles, while lower-ranked members were to focus on cultivation, striving to reach the middle-rank threshold before joining combat.
By the end of the first year after leaving Triston City, Asuna's mother finally advanced to the spirit realm. Six months after her breakthrough, Lou Chen followed, achieving his own advancement. Their group's overall strength increased significantly, with all the team leaders and key members reaching the peak of the higher-rank realm, just one step away from the spirit realm.
Meanwhile, Kanoru's own cultivation had made significant strides. In the third year, the number of runes in his spiritual space increased to five, marking his comprehension of five percent of the wind element's nature. With this deeper understanding, he shifted his approach from solely comprehending the rules to creating spells based on his insights.
He successfully created three spirit-realm-level spells: Sky Wing, Sky Sword and Lion Roar.
Additionally, he developed several other spells designed for cultivators below the spirit realm, providing his subordinates with valuable techniques to enhance their combat effectiveness.
For the next five years, Kanoru devoted himself to refining and enhancing all the spells he had created. With each improvement, his understanding of the wind element deepened. The changes were evident in his spiritual space, where ten new runes gradually formed around his soul, bringing his comprehension of the wind element to fifteen percent. The expansion filled him with satisfaction, marking a clear step closer toward the Spirit Lord realm.
With his newfound strength, he and his army joined forces with three other factions to besiege a large city held by the invaders. Victory seemed near, and for a time, joy filled their hearts. However, their happiness was short-lived.
News soon spread that one of their Spirit Kings—a cultivator of immense power—had fallen in battle. The man's death alone was alarming, but what followed was even worse: a new invader had descended into their world, stronger than the spirit realm cultivators they had faced before. Kanoru and the other spirit realm experts had sensed the disturbance when it first happened—a tremor in the spiritual field, a crackling wave of foreign energy. Back then, they assumed the invaders were simply making another strategic move. However, with the Spirit King's death, the truth became clear.
Soon after, a black fog descended upon the entire continent, and with it came a new horror. The bones of the dead—whether ancient or recent—rose from their graves, driven by some dark force. The skeletal monsters poured across the land, attacking everything in sight—except for the invaders. It was a catastrophe. The entire continent was thrown into chaos, and the once-disparate forces of the Sacred Continent were left with no choice but to unite. They gathered in three strongholds, the last bastions of resistance. Kanoru and his army became part of the defensive force at Holy Spring City.
With the situation growing increasingly dire, Kanoru, alongside the other spirit realm experts, was summoned to a war council. Inside the grand hall, he and the others learned the source of the calamity—the monster responsible was known as Bone Clown, a terrifying entity whose cultivation realm was identified by the invaders as second-tier.
The room fell into heavy silence at the revelation. Until now, they had only known their own cultivation tiers—Apprentice, Lower, Middle, Higher-rank, and the three tiers of the Spirit Realm: Spirit, Spirit Lord, and Spirit King. However, the Nightmare World had its own system. According to the invaders, everything below the spirit realm was classified as 0-tier, while the three ranks of the spirit realm were considered 1st-tier. Bone Clown, however, was confirmed to be a 2nd-tier monster—an entity beyond their realm of power.
A wave of despair swept through the room, with several cultivators exhaling sharply, their breath trembling. The atmosphere grew heavier as they realized how powerless they were against such a being.
However, a Spirit King cultivator stood and offered a glimmer of hope. He explained that while Caldeyn West, the Spirit King who had fallen, had been caught unprepared, their situation was not entirely bleak. Bone Clown's power, although devastating, was being suppressed by the world itself. The Spirit King reassured the room that four Spirit Kings, each with 90 runes in their spiritual space, could hold Bone Clown at bay.
There were already three Spirit Kings of that level present on the Sacred Continent, and a fourth was on their way from Athia. With their combined strength, they could prevent Bone Clown from advancing further and threatening the remaining strongholds. Once the reinforcement arrived, they could launch a counterattack. Until then, all they could do was hold on and weather the storm.
Left with no choice, Kanoru and his fellow spirit realm cultivators departed the meeting. After a brief discussion with his spirit realm companions, they realized they were not yet assigned to any critical missions. With the temporary reprieve, they chose to return to their cultivation, preparing for the inevitable confrontation.
Kanoru, however, shifted his focus. Having reached a bottleneck with his wind spells, he knew that further refining them would offer diminishing returns. Instead, he decided to broaden his comprehension of nature itself, turning his attention toward nature-heat and nature-cold, seeking to expand his elemental mastery and create new spells based on these opposing forces.
A week later, news spread throughout Holy Spring City that the Spirit King from Athia had arrived. With the final piece in place, the large-scale counterattack finally commenced. The combined forces of the continent surged out from the three strongholds, determined to reclaim their lands. Kanoru and his army joined one of the massive legions, marching out with thousands of cultivators and warriors.
For the next year, they conquered large swaths of territory, battling through corrupted cities, ruined fortresses, and infested forests. During this time, Kanoru's own cultivation made a significant leap.
After one year of intense cultivation between battles, he finally comprehended the nature-heat. With this understanding, he was now able to produce fire using his chakra, creating devastating flames without relying on his two spiritual swords.
He didn't stop there. For the next one year and six months, he devoted himself to unlocking the counterpart of heat—nature-cold. With its comprehension, he gained the ability to manifest ice and water directly from his chakra, further diversifying his combat capabilities.
Now, Kanoru no longer needed external weapons to channel elemental forces—he could wield fire and ice with his bare hands, adding even more versatility and lethality to his fighting style.
Satisfied with his progress, he immersed himself in the improvement of his wind elemental spells once more. However, this time he could combine them with fire and water spells, which he exchanged for with his accumulated merits. With the added variety, he could enhance his attacks and defenses with creative and unpredictable combinations—fiery gales, icy whirlwinds, and steam-infused barriers.
Through experimentation, he also gained a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of the elements. He had long been aware that no single element existed in isolation—they were all intertwined. This truth was well-known in the Sacred Continent, which was ruled by two dominant forces:
- The Sacred Empire, whose royal family controlled the rare Sacred Element—a composite element formed by Fire, Wind, and Light.
- The Evil Empire, whose royal family wielded the rare Evil Element, composed of Water, Earth, and Dark.
Before the invasion, only the royal families had the knowledge to cultivate and wield these composite elements. However, with the world on the brink of destruction, they had released the knowledge to the public, enabling ordinary cultivators to practice and grow stronger.
Kanoru was well aware that cultivators who wielded these composite elements were twice as powerful as their peers. The combination of multiple elements made them incredibly versatile and overwhelming in battle.
However, he chose not to exchange his merits for the composite elements. Though they were powerful, Kanoru had no desire to follow the conventional path. He was not "average"—his strength came from his unique comprehension and mastery of individual elements, which made him far stronger than those who relied on composite techniques.
With unwavering determination, he pressed forward on his own path, refining his understanding of each element individually, confident that his approach would surpass the strength of composite cultivators in the long run.
For the next ten years, Kanoru and his army fought relentlessly across the continent. They participated in countless battles—capturing cities, destroying invader strongholds, and liberating corrupted nodes. With each fight, their reputation grew, and his army became known as an elite force that struck fear into the hearts of the invaders.
However, after a decade of continuous battle, they came to Farie City to rest and start their next attack.