After a month, Lin Luo had gained understanding not only of his own condition but also of that of Fujibayashi An and Katsura Hinagiku, most obviously reflected in their restraint seals.

The only thing that determined the extent of these seals’ release was one element: Love!

To draw an analogy, consider the difference between a lover who complies with your every whim, agreeing to any demand for the sake of money, and a beloved who is separated by oceans, unable to see or speak to you, yet misses you day and night, constantly worrying if you’ve eaten well. The woman whose love is greater is instantly clear.

While this comparison might not perfectly suit Tachibana Kanade, Katsura Hinagiku, and Fujibayashi An, it serves as a useful illustration… Tachibana Kanade, grateful for Lin Luo’s kindness, would obey his every command and even risk her life for him, but fundamentally, this gratitude had not yet ascended to romantic love; obligation outweighed affection slightly, resulting in her unlocking only the most basic layer of her restraint seal.

As for Fujibayashi An and Katsura Hinagiku, though they sometimes showed hesitation or inner conflict regarding Lin Luo, this was itself a manifestation of their love. It was precisely because they harbored deep admiration that they cared so intensely, and it was this fervent love that allowed them to shatter two layers of their restraint seals simultaneously.

The strength of the seals dictated the extent to which potential could be mined and, consequently, the speed of progress. Due to her many remaining seals, Tachibana Kanade’s improvement remained lackluster; despite having an extraordinary cultivation method, her realm saw no substantial elevation. Fujibayashi An and Katsura Hinagiku, with only one seal left, were already beginning to unleash their potential, showing rapid, though not explosive, progress within just one month.

Among the four hosts, these two had already established an overwhelming advantage in strength.

Along the way, Lin Luo deliberately avoided provoking the larger Stalkers, focusing only on the Abyss Demons. After being harassed by a few minor nuisances, they finally encountered a full-scale siege by the Abyss Demons… Similar to their first entry, nearly a thousand Rank 2 Abyss Demons surged in from all directions, completely encircling them.

“It seems these fiends intend to surround and crush us again.” The last time they faced such a situation, Lin Luo and his companions had to flee in disarray, but now, Lin Luo appeared supremely composed, and the other girls shared his indifferent expression, as if they hadn't noticed the enemies at all.

“If this is all they have, it barely qualifies as an Adventure-grade threat,” Fujibayashi An chuckled, radiating confidence. As she spoke, she tossed the Book of the Sage high into the air, two strands appearing from each of her hands. These strands moved as if extensions of her own arms, rapidly tearing off an equal number of pages. In an instant, the pages transformed into blackened dictionaries.

The girl’s fingers danced like butterflies; under her control, the strands morphed into sinuous serpents, guiding the four dictionaries toward the attackers at impossible angles. The charging Abyss Demons had no time to react before they were tightly coiled, completely immobilized.

“Treasure Synthesis—Flourishing Shockwave!”

Fujibayashi An extended her thumb and gently plucked the strands. They vibrated, emitting a faint sound of rushing wind. The next moment, the four dictionaries pressed against the Abyss Demons exploded… not with fire, but with wind blades, countless spiraling blades cutting through the air. Moments later, dozens of bound Abyss Demons collapsed.

While Fujibayashi An unleashed her assault, Katsura Hinagiku showed no mercy, launching a swift, overwhelming attack against the demons surging in from the opposite side.

“Where the Sword Leads—True X Nine Dragon Wave!”

The girl gripped her swords with both hands. With a sharp cry, her blades slashed down with lightning speed, a trajectory so fast and bright it was impossible to track. Yet, the swords didn't strike the enemies; instead, they lightly touched the ground, leaving no visible damage, as if testing its surface without exerting any force.

But was that truly the case?

The answer, of course, was no.

The instant the blades contacted the earth, in the direction indicated by the sword tips, an invisible force seemed to manifest, causing the approaching Abyss Demons to freeze momentarily. At that precise moment, the ground trembled slightly, and nine streams of sword energy burst forth, instantly piercing nine Abyss Demons above them. They then soared upward like dragons twisting and turning. Though seemingly minor, these sword energies carried terrifying destructive power. After just a few passes, a large number of Abyss Demons had their hearts and brains impaled, meeting absolute death.

The displayed prowess of these two clearly surpassed their original realms; mere Rank 2 Abyss Demons posed no threat whatsoever. They didn't even need to unleash their ultimate techniques; slaying the enemies was as easy as mowing grass.

In contrast, Artoria’s combat style appeared much more conventional, relying solely on innate fighting instinct and the Sword of Kings in her hands to carve through the incoming foes.

She had not signed a contract nor achieved a superhuman state, yet through sparring with Katsura Hinagiku and the others, she had mastered the esoteric arts of the non-human while remaining human. The Sword of Kings shimmered brilliantly in her grasp, and coupled with her unstoppable momentum, though her speed wasn't exceptional, none could withstand a single strike.

With a swift hand motion, enemies were either cleaved at the waist or split in two—cleanly executed.

However, these Abyss Demons possessed a degree of immortality; even when severed, they regenerated quickly. In terms of sheer kill count, she lagged behind.

Lin Luo was aware of this, so he delegated the fighting on one side to Tachibana Kanade while joining Artoria on the other. With Tachibana Kanade's aerial advantage and her broad-area destructive capabilities, holding one flank was more than sufficient.

Her angel wings unfurled, and countless feather arrows rained down like a curtain of light, making it impossible for the Abyss Demons to advance even an inch. If they had a soul to lament with, they might have sung: We wish we could go watch the meteor shower with you.

Artoria’s attacks were domineering and sharp, every move imbued with the killing aura of a battlefield, giving off a scent of blood. Lin Luo’s style was the direct opposite.

He held the Mist of Rain Blade with his eyes closed, his toes barely kissing the ground, seemingly exerting no effort, like a man treading on ice. He moved slowly, perhaps only slightly faster than a seventy or eighty-year-old man, yet he lacked the heaviness of age, instead appearing graceful and light. But even so, his slowness was undeniable.

Yet, despite his deliberate pace, the Abyss Demons’ attacks could not land on him.

The speed at which he swung his sword was also slow; perhaps slightly faster than an average person’s swing, but for every one sword stroke he delivered, Artoria managed five or six. They were clearly not operating on the same level. Nevertheless, however slow he was, every sword arc he executed resulted in an Abyss Demon falling lifelessly.

Artoria was fast, but her strikes sometimes missed, and even when they connected, they didn't always kill the enemy. But every single sword strike from Lin Luo guaranteed a kill, as if he carried an innate attribute of one hundred percent fatality.

The battle was not difficult for anyone. Fujibayashi An and the others initially focused only on their own fighting, but when their eyes incidentally swept towards Lin Luo’s area, they couldn't help but widen their gaze, their attention drawn over. Even Artoria found her focus momentarily diverted.

Katsura Hinagiku, in particular, had her Nine-Headed Dragon Flash easily evaded by Lin Luo, and she still couldn't decipher how. Now, seeing Lin Luo’s movements again, she was instantly captivated. Yet, even employing her Clairvoyance, she couldn't instantly grasp the mystery within his actions.

No one knew why Lin Luo’s attacks seemed so weak yet were so effective. Only he knew the answer.

He closed his eyes not to show off, but to see more clearly. Can one see with closed eyes? Certainly, because he wasn't using his physical eyes; he was using his Mind’s Eye.

His Mind’s Eye did not grant Clairvoyance; it allowed him to perceive energy.

In this world, everything, be it living or inanimate, possessed its own energy. This energy was invisible to the naked eye. A meteor blazing across the sky released energy; an animal running released energy; even a pebble dropping into water or a simple arm lift emitted energy.

The physical eye was simply too limited; even knowing this energy existed made it impossible to see. But Lin Luo, having gained preliminary mastery over the Mind’s Eye, could see… all the energy in this world!

He could see not only static energy but also the trajectory of flowing energy and its point of impact—this was his Mind’s Eye.

Seeing was only the first step; the next was grasping it.

His Mind’s Eye granted him an invisible hand, the power known as Mindsight Force. Although he hadn't fully mastered the Mind’s Eye and the Mindsight Force—he had only intuited a rudimentary form—even this provided him with immeasurable benefits.

Through this incomplete Mindsight Force, he could alter the trajectory and impact points of this energy to a certain degree. As his Mindsight Force grew stronger, he could even change the static or dynamic state of the energy, sever connections in its flow, and even completely suppress its movement.

When Katsura Hinagiku’s Nine-Headed Dragon Flash approached, although he didn't see the sword light or the figure, his Mind’s Eye showed him the flow of energy. He seemed to slightly shrug his shoulder, but in that instant, he altered the energy's flow trajectory, causing it to miss its target completely. An attack devoid of its channeled energy, no matter how fierce it appeared, became useless upon impact.

The same principle applied now.

With his eyes closed, he could see the energy within the Abyss Demons and the energy they released during their attacks with far greater clarity. His slowness was simply because that pace was sufficient; once the energy flow trajectory was altered, even an attack like a torrential storm became futile effort against him.

When he struck with his sword, even if it didn't land on a fatal spot, it didn’t matter; merely shifting the energy slightly was enough to guarantee a kill.

By mastering energy, he had, in essence, gained control over everything!

The only thing the Mindsight Force could not achieve was changing the nature of the energy itself.

For example, turning the energy of water into the energy of fire, or turning the energy of nothingness into the energy of somethingness.

That required a further leap: Rule Force—Creation!