Chapter Summaries

Ma Ke entered Shrek Academy’s second-round combat test, formed a team with Aisida and Alan, and learned that teams had to survive against senior students for one incense stick’s time. After a wealthy applicant bribed a senior to pass, Ma Ke’s team chose Tai Kang as their opponent.

• Ma Ke entered the testing hall, recognized the blond examiner as a convincing imitation of Dai Mubai, and was startled by a mysterious golden-eyed teacher who explained the credit system.
• After failing to find teammates, Ma Ke joined Aisida, a level 21 support Soul Master, and Alan, a level 24 Black Bear Soul Master, and they shared their abilities and planned their teamwork.
• The blond examiner changed the test for the seventeen ungrouped applicants, requiring them to survive against him while he suppressed his Soul Power and used one Soul Ring skill.
• A chubby applicant offered Li Daoming ten thousand Gold Soul Coins to admit defeat, and the blond examiner ruled the bribe a valid way to pass.
• Alan chose Tai Kang, a powerful Great Ape Soul Master with a weakness in speed, as the senior for their team to challenge.

Ma Ke, Aisida, and Alan fought Tai Kang in the second-round combat assessment, and Tai Kang let them pass despite their eventual defeat. After Ma Ke woke in the infirmary, Mihail told him he could still take the intelligence test as his last chance to qualify.

• Tai Kang began the combat assessment against Ma Ke, Aisida, and Alan, and the trio briefly pushed him close to the arena boundary with their coordinated attacks.
• Tai Kang eliminated Aisida and then Alan, while Ma Ke struggled to stay in the arena until he was knocked unconscious with only seconds left.
• Tai Kang told Aisida and Alan to proceed to the physical fitness test, revealing that he had passed their team despite their apparent defeat.
• Ma Ke woke in the infirmary, where Mihail explained that he had passed the second round but missed the third test while unconscious.
• Mihail told Ma Ke that his revival card remained usable and that the intelligence test in half an hour was his final chance.

Ma Ke reached Shrek’s makeup knowledge exam after Mihail carried him to the Back Mountain and Aisida gave him a Stamina Potion. After a strange encounter with Wang Xiaofeng in the examination hall, Ma Ke woke to find the test underway and half his paper already completed.

• Mihail carried Ma Ke to the examination hall in the Back Mountain, where Ma Ke met Aisida and Alan, who had already passed the earlier test.
• Aisida gave Ma Ke a Stamina Potion, restoring his strength and raising his Soul Power from twenty percent to forty percent.
• Ma Ke entered the black Spirit Control Tower with the other candidates and followed the signs toward the exam hall.
• As Ma Ke descended the stairs, he was transported to a vast space where Wang Xiaofeng said he would reexamine Ma Ke’s body.
• Wang Xiaofeng subjected Ma Ke to crushing pressure and examined an energy absorption converter before Ma Ke lost consciousness.
• Ma Ke woke in the examination hall after a middle-aged proctor warned him not to sleep or disturb the other candidates, and he found half his test paper completed.

Ning Rongrong struggled with memories of driving Oscar away while she managed sect affairs, and Ma Ke and Fang Jing settled into Shrek Academy's dormitory. At a teachers' meeting, Wang Xiaofeng reviewed the new students and took on first-year homeroom duties, leaving the academy ready for the semester.

• Aisida brought Ning Rongrong soup and relayed Fatty's message that Oscar would return after facing enough setbacks.
• Ning Rongrong explained that Wang Xiaofeng had traded Flash Step for the Strength Clan's force exertion techniques, then remembered her old friends and regretted driving Oscar away.
• Ma Ke and Fang Jing arrived late at the dormitory, copied the academy rules, and began preparing their room for the night.
• At Shrek Academy's teaching conference, the teachers discussed the new students, including first-place entrant Qian Jinyuan, and noted his family's donation.
• Flander assigned Wang Xiaofeng to be the first-year homeroom teacher and teach five subjects, and Grandmaster confirmed the semester's course plan.

Ma Ke completed Shrek Academy’s enrollment fitness test, cleaned his dormitory to earn an Evolution Point, and learned about Mihail’s plans to establish the Racing Club. Mihail explained the benefits and difficulties of running a club, leaving Ma Ke with a better understanding of campus clubs.

• Wang Xiaofeng led Ma Ke, Fang Jing, and Xiao Yanyan through a fitness test, where Xiao Yanyan ran the hundred meters in 11.13 seconds, Ma Ke in 12.34 seconds, and Fang Jing in 16.29 seconds.
• Wang Xiaofeng told Ma Ke to supervise Fang Jing’s future exercise plan.
• Fang Jing went home after the tests, while Ma Ke thoroughly cleaned their dormitory and earned one Evolution Point.
• Ma Ke met Mihail in the Cafeteria and learned that Mihail was saving credits and money to establish the Racing Club.
• Mihail described the support clubs could receive and said he preferred founding a club to joining the Student Union.

Ma Ke discovered that Shrek Academy’s cafeteria rice provided a small amount of Soul Power and learned from Mihail about the academy’s benefits and credit system. He left eager to find out how to earn credits.

• Ma Ke found that the cafeteria’s spirit rice gradually added a small amount of Soul Power, despite being filling enough to leave him stuffed.
• Mihail showed Ma Ke around the academy and described benefits including clubs, teacher consultations, and connections with upperclassmen.
• Mihail demonstrated his Student Card and explained that credits could pay for goods, services, and better dormitories.
• Ma Ke browsed the credit exchange booklet, which included everything from lessons and treasures to a Soul Bone.
• Mihail explained that students earned credits through cultivation, exams, monthly Martial Combat Battles, and missions.

Ma Ke and the other first-years began their first day at Shrek Academy, where Wang Xiaofeng introduced the top-student competition and guided them through their morning. After class, a senior student suddenly seized Ma Ke and carried him away, leaving Fang Jing with Aisida and Alan.

• Ma Ke reviewed the academy schedule over breakfast, then led Fang Jing to their Basic Arithmetic classroom.
• Fang Jing touched a floating water ball that spoke and identified the sprout inside it as a Calabash Vine before floating away.
• Wang Xiaofeng introduced himself, named Qian Jinyuan the first-years' top student, and explained the rewards and competition for the position.
• Wang Xiaofeng distributed textbooks, registered the students for student cards, and toured them around Shrek before dismissing them for lunch.
• Aisida invited Ma Ke, Fang Jing, and Alan to the teachers' Cafeteria, but a senior student used a soul skill to carry Ma Ke away.
• Fang Jing refused to go without Ma Ke, while Aisida and Alan headed to the second floor to eat.

Ma Ke accompanied Mihail to recruit Leng Feng as the final member of their new club, then watched the academy approve their Racing Club and assign it a supervising teacher. The chapter ended as a dragon approached the window, and Wang Xiaofeng said their teacher was eager to meet them.

• Mihail led Ma Ke through the Back Mountain, where Zhao Wuji charged Mihail five credits for entering without a mission.
• Ma Ke and Mihail watched Leng Feng lose a sparring match against a black-haired youth who gave Leng Feng advice on his sword techniques.
• Mihail persuaded Leng Feng to join the club, completing its three-member roster.
• Wang Xiaofeng approved the Racing Club, gave the students their activity-room key, and said an appropriate supervising teacher had been assigned.
• A dragon flew toward the room, and Wang Xiaofeng told Ma Ke and the others that their supervising teacher had arrived.

Wang Xiaofeng introduced Mihail, Leng Feng, and Ma Ke to Liu Erlong, who was in a volatile dragonified state while cultivating the forbidden technique Boiling Blood. After Liu Erlong left, Wang Xiaofeng explained the technique’s dangers and the Mind-Soothing Wine intended to help her, then ate an astonishing amount of honey.

• Wang Xiaofeng brought the three students to meet Liu Erlong, who warned them to gather at the Battle Arena at seven on Saturday morning before flying away.
• At lunch, Ma Hongjun asked Wang Xiaofeng why Liu Erlong had become so short-tempered.
• Wang Xiaofeng explained that Liu Erlong had chosen the forbidden Boiling Blood technique, which weakened human consciousness and awakened dragon nature.
• Wang Xiaofeng revealed that he had developed Mind-Soothing Wine to help control Liu Erlong’s berserk episodes, though it treated symptoms rather than the underlying problem.
• Wang Xiaofeng poured ten catties of honey into his mouth, leaving Ma Hongjun stunned.

Wang Xiaofeng substituted for Zhao Wuji and taught the students Shrek Academy’s foundational Dawn Meditation Breathing Technique in the Battle Arena. Ma Ke realized the academy’s previous breathing instruction had made him cultivate incorrectly, then returned his attention to Wang Xiaofeng’s guidance.

• Wang Xiaofeng led the students through the rain to the Battle Arena after announcing that he would replace Zhao Wuji’s practical combat class.
• Qian Jinyuan offered umbrellas to classmates, while Aisida and Alan chose to walk through the rain without one.
• Wang Xiaofeng had the students change into their training uniforms, sit cross-legged, and learn the Dawn Meditation Breathing Technique.
• Ma Ke noticed that the rain seemed to avoid him as he entered it.
• Ma Ke’s system detected Dawn and a 30 percent cultivation-speed increase, and he realized his academy’s former breathing instruction had been backward.
• Wang Xiaofeng struck Ma Ke on the head and told him to focus as he guided the students toward their individual breathing rhythms.

Wang Xiaofeng taught the students meditation breathing and his Health Preservation Exercise, then pushed them through a two-on-two melee until they were exhausted. Ma Ke considered improving his breathing technique to strengthen his cultivation, but the chapter ended with Wang Xiaofeng arriving at the boys’ dormitory to give the students painful massages.

• Wang Xiaofeng ended the students’ meditation session and explained how to balance spiritual cultivation with physical training.
• Ma Ke considered raising his Meditation Breathing Technique’s proficiency before evolving his martial soul, while Aisida wondered why her cousin feared Wang Xiaofeng.
• Wang Xiaofeng demonstrated his Health Preservation Exercise, led the students through Tiger Form, and corrected their movements.
• Wang Xiaofeng made the exhausted students fight in a two-on-two melee before dismissing class.
• Ma Ke and his classmates ate dinner and discussed Wang Xiaofeng’s harsh teaching, with Ma Ke assuming the intense training would be occasional.
• Wang Xiaofeng visited the boys’ dormitory with essential oil and began massaging the students, prompting cries of pain and laughter.

Ma Ke watched Leng Feng defeat Tai Kang in a Martial Combat Ranking match and learned about Shrek’s new Elite Class system. Liu Erlong asked whether Wang Xiaofeng planned to recommend Ma Ke, but he knew nothing about it, while Mihail revealed that Ma Hongjun was his guiding teacher.

• Zhao Wuji returned to teach and assigned the class a ten-kilometer weighted run under five times gravity, while Ma Ke practiced the Health Preservation Exercise instead.
• Qian Jinyuan invited the class on a weekend outing, but Ma Ke declined because he had club activities.
• At the Battle Arena, Mihail told Ma Ke that students were competing to fill vacant places on the Martial Combat Ranking.
• Leng Feng defeated Tai Kang by disarming him and pressing the Heavenly Frost Sword to his throat.
• Liu Erlong questioned Ma Ke about a possible Elite Class recommendation from Wang Xiaofeng, then coached Leng Feng on his match.
• Mihail explained the new Elite Class system and told Ma Ke that Ma Hongjun was his guiding teacher.

Ma Ke learned why Leng Feng had no permanent teacher and heard about the Elite Class’s extra resources. After a quiet camping trip and an apparent one-sided crush, Ma Ke saw Qian Jinyuan maintain a careful classmate relationship with Aisida when classes resumed.

• Mihail told Ma Ke that Leng Feng had no permanent teacher because the academy’s instructors feared misguiding his Sword Martial Soul, and explained the Elite Class’s subsidies and weekly ranking battles.
• Liu Erlong told Leng Feng to participate in a spirit battle and write an analysis each month, then sent him to Ma Hongjun with future questions.
• Ma Ke spent the morning training and returned to find Fang Jing recounting a rain-shortened camping trip at Golden Tripod Mountain.
• Fang Jing described Qian Jinyuan’s interest in Aisida, while Ma Ke concluded that the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect girl was unlikely to return his feelings.
• When classes resumed, Ma Ke observed Qian Jinyuan building goodwill with Aisida while keeping a measured distance.

Wang Xiaofeng announced a wilderness-survival midterm exam for his class before the five-day Empire Birthday Celebration Day holiday. Meanwhile, Xue Qinghe reported the Empire’s crackdown on Salas’s organization to Xue Ye, who entrusted him with filling the administrative vacancies and building his own faction.

• Wang Xiaofeng intensified the students’ coursework and physical training after noticing their interest in dating, and they endured two months of hard work.
• Wang Xiaofeng announced a one-day wilderness-survival exam at Golden Tripod Mountain, with students competing for numbered plates and credits, and the class rushed to set off.
• Wang Xiaofeng asked Qin Ming and Li Yusong to help oversee the exam, while Shao Xin and Jiang Zhu were to accompany the students in the wilderness.
• Xue Qinghe told Xue Ye that the operation against Salas’s organization had raided seventeen Soul Master families and arrested 179 people, while Salas had escaped after being injured by Poison Douluo.
• Xue Ye ordered a highest-level wanted notice for Salas and told Xue Qinghe to handle the vacant administrative posts and begin cultivating his own faction.

Students began a wilderness-survival exam on Golden Tripod Mountain, where they had to collect numbered tags while avoiding their classmates. Wang Xiaofeng monitored their movements and predicted that heavy rain would make the exhausted students fight over tags later that night.

• Lu Qibin gave Zhao Ming the first numbered tag and a tracking device, and Zhao Ming ran into the forest.
• Qian Jinyuan arrived with three lackeys, took tag nine, and led them up the mountain to build a temporary shelter.
• Ma Ke, Alan, and Aisida arrived just before the entrance closed, and Aisida persuaded Lu Qibin to let them in with their supplies.
• At a wooden house halfway up the mountain, Wang Xiaofeng used water threads to map the students and projected a view of Zhao Ming's brief encounter with another student.
• Wang Xiaofeng ended the projection and predicted that heavy rain would fall later that night, when tired and hungry students would be more likely to fight over tags.

Alan’s group camped through a storm while Zhao Ming tried to stay fed and dry after escaping pursuers. A mysterious poisoned man knocked Zhao Ming unconscious, took his clothes, and revealed a plan involving Dugu Bo.

• Alan called off the search for a cave and set up camp with Aisida, Ma Ke, and Fang Jing as a storm approached.
• Fang Jing used his Furnace Martial Soul to heat water, and the group sheltered together in the camouflaged tent.
• Zhao Ming escaped three trackers when the rain washed away his scent, then made a raincoat and hat from bark, vines, and leaves.
• A mysterious figure appeared in the forest and struck Zhao Ming unconscious from dozens of meters away.
• The man took Zhao Ming’s clothes and armor, discussed suppressing his poison and meeting his companions, then said Dugu Bo would remain free for a few more years until his plan closed its net.

Wang Xiaofeng abandoned a hot-pot meal after sensing a student’s signal move beyond his perception, then rushed into the forest and confronted Platinum Bishop Salas. Salas revealed his strength and tried to recruit him, but Wang Xiaofeng attacked instead, and their battle began.

• Wang Xiaofeng sensed a student’s signal rapidly moving away, called for the exam to end, and vanished into the rainy night.
• Jiang Zhu launched a Signal Flare while Shao Xin notified Qin Ming and Li Yusong.
• Salas mistook a hidden ball of water for a threat, attacked it, and then spotted Wang Xiaofeng diving toward him.
• Wang Xiaofeng blocked Salas’s Soul Skill with his Gourd shield, and Salas emerged from the flames with eight Soul Rings.
• Salas recognized Wang Xiaofeng, revealed himself as a Platinum Bishop, and offered him wealth and power to join Spirit Hall.
• Wang Xiaofeng pretended to consider the offer, then punched Salas; Salas countered with iron claws, and their clash damaged the ground.

Wang Xiaofeng overwhelmed Salas with his martial soul and Pure Water Armament after their fierce battle escalated. He drove Salas into the ground and declared that a second round of slaughter would begin.

• Wang Xiaofeng blocked Salas's flaming blade with his fists and mocked the bishop's declining strength.
• Wang Xiaofeng struck Salas with three frost dragon-patterned seals, shattering Salas's blade aura and forcing him to use his fifth soul skill to survive.
• Wang Xiaofeng summoned a Thunderwater Azure Dragon that attacked Salas, who answered by transforming into his Scarlet Flame Lion Martial Soul Avatar.
• Salas unleashed his sixth soul skill, but Wang Xiaofeng used water barriers and more frost seals to slow and counter the blazing attack.
• Wang Xiaofeng formed the Pure Water Armament, extinguished Salas's flames, and hammered him into the ground before announcing a second round of slaughter.

As rain battered the area, Wang Xiaofeng fought Salas, who unleashed his Eighth Soul Skill in a devastating final explosion. Wang Xiaofeng regenerated from the destruction while Salas lay motionless in the crater.

• Li Yusong returned to the Wooden House with Ma Ke and three other students, and Shao Xin learned that one student was still missing.
• Wang Xiaofeng overwhelmed Salas with repeated attacks, while the faint blue liquid in the rain gradually weakened Salas's Soul Power.
• Salas recalled his life in Spirit Hall and activated his Eighth Soul Skill, Azure Flame Limitless, unleashing a tremendous explosion.
• Wang Xiaofeng emerged from a magma-filled fissure, regenerated his body with Moon Dew, and thanked Salas for the fight.

Xue Qinghe investigated Salas’s disappearance and ordered a citywide search while Shrek Academy held a memorial for Zhao Ming. The students believed their injured teachers were in critical condition, unaware that Zhao Wuji, Qin Ming, and Wang Xiaofeng were secretly recovering in an underground facility.

• Xue Qinghe received word that Platinum Bishop Salas had vanished and ordered Old Li to mobilize Heaven Dou City’s intelligence operatives to find him alive or recover his corpse.
• Xue Qinghe told Xue Er to announce that he had caught a cold and would receive no visitors for two days.
• Grandmaster led Shrek Academy’s first-year students in a funeral for Zhao Ming, while Ma Ke and the others discussed the incident and their teachers’ injuries.
• Zhao Wuji brought lunch to the underground research facility, where Qin Ming complained about his bland food and Wang Xiaofeng defended his nutritional meals.