It took Kanoru three years to connect two water runes with his already connected runes. The process took so long because the fire runes conflicted with the water runes. To resolve this, he had to change the formation of the connected runes. Originally, they were all jumbled together. Now, the wind runes are placed in the center, with fire and water elemental runes on either side.
After breaking through to the Spirit King Realm, the world's energy began pouring into his body. The space inside his body expanded, and his cells evolved to accommodate more chakra energy. It took three more days for his body's transformation to stabilize. Even now, his body continues to change, but at a slower pace.
He then walked out of his retreat room and saw all the Spirit and Spirit Lord cultivators who were free waiting outside. Kanoru's eyes landed on Asuna and Mingzhu, and he smiled.
Asuna said, "Congratulations."
The others followed with their congratulations.
Kanoru had thought he'd suppressed his cultivation realm. They might have sensed the large influx of energy in his retreat room—but how could they tell he had succeeded? So he asked, "How were you able to tell?"
Gu Mingzhu replied, "You haven't checked yourself?"
Kanoru said, "Yes. My body is fine. My strength has increased by at least two times."
Leon, a new Spirit Realm cultivator, added, "Commander, it's not just inside your body. It's outside your body too."
Kanoru frowned, confused, and waved his hand. An ice mirror formed in his palm, revealing his reflection.
The moment he saw it, he understood how they had known he'd advanced to the Spirit King Realm. Every breakthrough from the Spirit Realm upward also enhances the body's vitality. His appearance had reverted to that of an eighteen-year-old. Just three days ago, he looked like a man in his mid-thirties to early forties—now he looked like a youth once again.
He said, "Yes, I've broken through to the Spirit King Realm."
Bruce stepped forward. "Commander, then we should launch an all-out attack against the invaders. With your strength now, you should be able to injure the Silver Man and force him to retreat. That will allow us to conquer the Black Hill region."
They didn't know the name of the silver-haired human figure in the Spirit King Realm, so they had simply named him Silver Man.
Everyone present echoed Bruce's words.
"It's been over two decades. The Clown will come out eventually."
"Every region we capture before he appears is an advantage for us."
"The Clown must be hiding somewhere, planning something nefarious."
Kanoru nodded slightly, agreeing with them. Capturing all the nodes in this region before the Clown emerged would indeed be an advantage. But even more valuable would be not just injuring the Silver Man—but killing him.
Nodes could be captured and recaptured. They weren't going anywhere. The Nightmare World still had over two hundred years before it could fundamentally alter the laws of this world. Now that Kanoru had reached the Spirit King Realm, he could sense it clearly.
But killing a Spirit King Realm invader—that would permanently weaken the enemy's overall strength.
So he said, "Don't spread the news of my breakthrough. Keep it hidden."
Asuna asked, "Why?"
Kanoru replied, "Just do as I say. You'll all understand later. I have a plan."
After some discussion about the current state of the armies, everyone returned to their duties.
The next day at dawn, Kanoru entered the retreat room again and began connecting the remaining water runes. He had already connected two—seventeen water elemental runes remained.
Over the next three years, he fought the Silver Man multiple times. To keep his breakthrough to the Spirit King Realm a secret, he had to hide his cultivation realm and suppress his strength during every battle.
Now he was eighty years old, though he looked like a twenty-year-old man. His wives, on the other hand, appeared to be women in their mid-thirties to early forties. To someone unaware of their situation, they might look like his mother or aunt. This thought crossed his mind as he walked through the snowy landscape of the Black Hill region.
After finishing the water rune connections, he decided to take a break. For rest, he chose to walk the snow-covered land.
After walking for an entire day, he sat on a tree branch overlooking a frozen lake.
Now, he had 37 wind elemental runes, 22 fire elemental runes, and 19 water elemental runes—bringing his total to 78 runes. He calculated that he needed 22 more to reach 100 runes. Among those, he decided 50 would be wind elemental, and the remaining 25 would come from fire and water runes combined.
But that would be for later. He would begin comprehending new runes only after killing the Silver Man.
To defeat the Silver Man, explosive energy alone wouldn't be enough. The Silver Man had already found a way to counter it. Any attack Kanoru launched using explosive energy was blasted away before it could even reach him.
He needed a new attack style—something the Silver Man wouldn't expect. For this, he had five types of alien energy he had yet to use.
He raised his palm, and a ball of steam-gas burst out, melting a hole through the ice of the frozen lake. He frowned at the result.
Next, he shot a blob of water from his palm. It fell onto the ice and began to spread, slowly covering the entire frozen surface. In an hour, it devoured all the ice it touched and fell into the water.
Kanoru frowned again. He waved his hand, and the surface of the lake turned to ice once more.
Then he clenched his fist. The ice over the lake shifted, forming an ice castle, then an ice dog, then a large ice house for him to spend the night. He nodded in approval.
He began drumming his fingers on the tree branch. The sound echoed like cracking ice. Fountains of water burst through the lake's surface, destroying the ice house. The water jets began to dance—sometimes joining together, sometimes forming waving patterns.
He nodded again, satisfied.
At last, he summoned the blue fire. A flame emerged in his palm, and he threw it onto the lake. A blue fire began burning over the ice. He extended his hand, trying to control it—and succeeded.
He felt he had perfect control over Bone-Freezing, Water Chimes, and the Blue Fire—but not over the Steam energy or the Devouring Water.
Why? There had to be a reason.
Bone-Freezing was an alien wind element. Water Chimes belonged to the alien water element, and the Blue Fire was an alien fire energy. But both Water Chimes and the Blue Fire also contained traces of wind element—and Bone-Freezing itself was pure wind.
Just like his explosive element, all three of these energies were deeply connected to wind.
On the other hand, Steam and Devouring Water lacked any wind element within them. Maybe that was the reason.
But still—he had comprehended their runes. He had even connected them just like the other four. So why was his control still lacking?
Thinking this over, he waved his hand. The lake froze once more, and the Ice House reformed, its surface gleaming under the light of the crimson moon.
He jumped down from the tree and stepped inside the Ice House, determined to think it through and find a solution.
Elsewhere, a few hours later, Leon was leading a small army toward a node under invader control. His was not the only force advancing—it was one of six armies attacking the node from six directions. The node stood atop a hill, well-defended.
As he marched, Leon glanced back at his soldiers and reflected on how much had changed in over twenty-five years.
Back then, he had just been a middle-rank Blood Knight, freshly enlisted and stepping onto the battlefield for the first time. That was also the day he met his friend—Watt.
But Watt was no longer with him. He had failed to break through the barrier to the Spirit Realm. Leon had succeeded fifteen years ago, but Watt had died.
When Leon first awakened his bloodline, he assumed his limit would be middle-rank Blood Knight—after all, the Bronze Rhinoceros, his blood beast, was only a middle-rank war beast. At best, he thought he might reach high-rank Blood Knight, but no further.
Blood Knights rarely surpassed their bloodline limit, and even when they did, it happened only once—never twice. He had heard stories of some doing it twice, but the odds were one in ten thousand.
He never imagined he would be one of them.
Two years into his military service, with the help of precious resources, he advanced to high-rank Blood Knight. Then for three long years, he used up more resources, but nothing changed. The blood of the Bronze Rhino inside him remained silent.
Everything changed in his fifth year.
The commander gathered the 0-tier Blood Knights and taught them a method to break their bloodline limit without burning through endless resources.
He said that if they could develop their innate spell to the point where it surpassed its natural limit, the power of the spell would feed back into their bloodline—triggering evolution.
So Leon focused entirely on developing his innate spell, Bronze Cone.
Each time he strengthened it, he could feel his blood growing stronger. And five years after that meeting, he broke through into the Spirit Realm.
He and Watt had entered their retreat rooms together, full of hope, thinking they'd emerge as Spirit Realm cultivators side by side.
He had dreamed of one day telling their children and grandchildren the story—of how he and Watt rose together, how they fought side by side and lived to see peace.
But only he emerged.
When Watt's retreat room was finally opened, they found his body inside, lifeless and rotting.
And all of it—the hope, the tragedy—had happened because of the invaders.
Leon didn't know how to feel. Happy? Sad? Angry?
If the invasion had never happened, he would've remained a farm boy. At best, a quiet life growing crops. He would never have met Watt. Never made the friends he now marched beside. Never loved Celine.
The invasion had turned him from a nameless boy into a Spirit Realm cultivator.
In the Sacred Empire—or even the Evil Empire—that meant something. A Spirit Realm cultivator held the lowest noble title: Marquis.
He could even claim an island in the ocean and become a king.
But none of that would matter until the invasion ended.
As they reached the foot of the hill where the node stood at its peak, Leon raised his hand and gave the order to attack.
His troops surged forward, clashing with the Greyrose Circus army that guarded the node.
And Leon charges straight toward the first Spirit Realm invader he sees.