After dealing with Anthony Ricci’s attempted invasion, Alistair is forced right back to action with the fourth Quest, [Territorial Dominance], that rewards the denizens of Earth based on the size of their territories. But first, he has to deal with a debt he has taken on as the inheritor of Anthony’s freehold.

Alistair then investigates the surrounding groups, including Port Locasta, ruled by a bookish cultivator named Caren Locasta. Alistair joins with Caren and other elites of the town to eradicate a horde of mutated snakes, led by their king, Sessen Esshei.

After a somewhat difficult fight, he defeats the King of the Serpents. It turns out that the beast is an experiment, created by beings called Devil Kings. Devil Kings are those who have their blood replaced by demon blood. They experience a manyfold increase in power, but are afflicted with madness and permanent deaths, not entering the cycle of Samsara.

With a new Skill called [Blood Hand], Alistair extracts a memory from Sessen Esshei of one of the thirteen Devil Kings, named Saturn. The thirteen Devil Kings were chosen from some of the most powerful evildoers on the planet, including George Moulin, an ice-based cultivator Alistair crossed swords with in the past.

Alistair returns home and builds up his freehold, recruiting more and more talented cultivators to help run the day-to-day affairs as he focuses on hunting down Saturn and the Devil Kings at large. Soon after, they get a hint of Devil King activity on the outskirts of their territory. Alistair investigates with Alexandra and Oliver.

They find a mysterious mansion in the depths of a dense forest. Accepting a Dungeon prompt, they must find and defeat Saturn, master of the manor. While exploring the seemingly unconnected inside of the Dungeon, they encounter two extremely powerful opponents. One is Pharaoh, otherwise known as Wandering Hobo, #1 on the leaderboards, and the other is Whimsy, a Devil King herself. Alistair engages Pharaoh in a protracted battle that ends in a draw as Pharaoh reveals he was just testing our hero, though Alistair was on the back foot.

Together, they discover that Saturn, the Ninth Devil King, is already dead, killed by Pharaoh’s former partner, Jakk, who betrays them and takes Saturn’s mantle. Pharaoh and Alistair agree to be partners, and they separate ways. Alistair trains hard and continues to grow stronger, reaching over 1,000 subregions before the end of [Territorial Dominance], though this is not even close to the top 10.

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For the next Quest, [The Game of Life], he participates in a trial against anonymous opponents, where he has to use his wits rather than his strength. They play for subregions, and Alistair comes out on top in his group. In the next round of the Quest, he is reunited with his allies for “Capture the Beacon,” where they construct a base and hide a beacon inside it. To win, they can steal their opponent’s beacon and bring it back to their base, or eliminate all the members of the opposing teams.

After ten rounds, a change occurs in the trial. The Pathfinder AI interferes with the Quest to expedite it, to the chagrin of the sects, houses, and corporations invested in their sponsees, who are especially angry at the change of the sixth Quest to [Armageddon], a high mortality rate marathon. The change in the current trial condenses the final rounds into a single battle royale between all remaining teams.

With the help of three non-Northeast Order Freehold cultivators, Alistair’s team comes out on top, after a long and difficult battle. The Devil Kings are clearly stronger than everyone else, but with teamwork and thinking outside the box, they defeat the Devil Kings. This includes Dragonus, the Third Devil King, former #1 on the leaderboard and possessor of a storied black dragon bloodline, and Admiral, the Fourth Devil King and Alexandra’s father. In a final confrontation between Lucius Wood, the father of Bartholomew and Alfred Wood, two of Alistair’s former allies in Felons vs. Fellows, Alistair comes out on top with the help of Caren Locasta, who turns out to be a vampire.

His victory in [The Game of Life] vaults Alistair to both #1 on the leaderboards and the owner of the most subregions in the world. This doesn’t spare his territory from the devastating impacts of Earth Asunder, the first wave of [Armageddon], that sends unbelievably destructive natural disasters all over the world. In the midst of this danger, Dragonus and Admiral strike.

Alistair fights them 1v2 at first, before Alexandra and Oliver swoop in to help. Alistair takes on Dragonus, defeating him with the help of his new blood dragon ghost’s bloodline, Dev’rox, and a breakthrough in the Dao. Alexandra and Oliver have difficulty with their opponent, but Alistair is in no condition to help after his testing battle with the Third Devil King. All hope seems lost and it appears they are about be killed by Admiral when Dev’rox feeds Alexandra the vial of blood Alistair kept from Sessen Esshei, turning her into a quasi-Devil King. She defeats her father and saves the day.

Alistair recovers from his injuries and wakes up several days later. After commiserating with Alexandra, he goes forth and prepares for next fight, knowing that there will always be a next fight as long as he seeks to reach the Peak and change the multiverse.