Chapter Summaries

Wang Xiaofeng, Dai Mubai, and Zhu Zhuqing activated the Saint King trial and faced three revived beast statues. Dai Mubai destroyed the Six-Armed Ape, while the Three-Tailed Fox and Nine-Tailed Cat remained active.

• Wang Xiaofeng sensed that the cavern was a barren, unnatural place, while Dai Mubai found the Tiger Tally hidden in the corpse's armor.
• Dai Mubai poured blood over the Bronze Base, activating the statues and releasing black mist that revived the Six-Armed Ape, Three-Tailed Fox, and Nine-Tailed Cat.
• Wang Xiaofeng enhanced the group, and Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing activated their Martial Soul Avatars as the three beasts attacked.
• Dai Mubai fought the Six-Armed Ape and endured its blows after his defenses weakened their force.
• Dai Mubai smashed the Six-Armed Ape's head with a palm strike, leaving the other two revived beasts still present.

Zhu Zhuqing defeated the Statue Cat Beast after escaping its counterattack and finishing it with a boosted strike. Wang Xiaofeng entered the Three-Tailed Fox’s spiritual trial, where he faced a lethal illusion and prepared to test his limits.

• Zhu Zhuqing used her clones to distract the Statue Cat Beast, but it created a lifelike clone and struck her into a stone wall.
• The Statue Cat Beast prepared to pounce on Zhu Zhuqing, but she combined her speed and attack skills to split it in two.
• Wang Xiaofeng and the Three-Tailed Fox emerged from the dust as the beast attacked him with powerful spiritual force.
• Wang Xiaofeng deliberately entered the Three-Tailed Fox’s illusion and found himself in a burning village with an ordinary body and a firewood knife.
• Wang Xiaofeng learned he had to survive for half an hour or repeat the illusion until his consciousness was extinguished, then bound the knife to his hand and charged at the approaching crowd.

Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing survived the Saint King's trial and received two Fruits of Life while Wang Xiaofeng emerged from the illusion. Before they could leave, Wang Xiaofeng summoned a monster from the cold pool, revealing four figures led by a familiar old man.

• Dai Mubai broke free from the freezing mist and joined Zhu Zhuqing as the stone beasts reappeared, then watched them leave two Fruits of Life behind.
• Wang Xiaofeng returned from the collapsed illusion, thanked the Stone Fox, and accepted the fruits Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing offered him.
• The group buried Qing King's remains and prepared to leave through the bronze gate.
• Wang Xiaofeng sent three black shadows into the pool, drawing out a stitched-together monster carrying four figures.
• The hooded old man revealed his face, and Dai Mubai recognized him.

Five hundred years earlier, strange black rain threatened Nether God Village, prompting the old teacher to send a warning while the Star Luo Emperor arranged for Cheng Lu to investigate the Yao Clan’s ritual. The old teacher’s scheme to steal the Fruit of Life collapsed when the trial awakened the Apparatus Beasts, and he died saving the boy, earning the posthumous title Qing King.

• Black rain wilted Nether God Village’s seedlings, so the old teacher sent a letter and money to town while he went to inspect the damage.
• Lao Dou told the Star Luo Emperor that the Yao Clan had requested help for its ritual, and the Emperor decided to send Cheng Lu to train there.
• The old teacher planned to use the ritual to enter the ancestral land and steal the Fruit of Life beneath the pedestal.
• Cheng Lu accidentally triggered the release of yin energy, awakening every Apparatus Beast in the ancestral land.
• The old teacher used his martial soul to send Cheng Lu away and died covering his retreat, ending the Yao Clan’s Titled Douluo inheritance.
• The Star Luo Emperor posthumously granted the old teacher the title of Qing King.

Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuqing, and Wang Xiaofeng confronted Li Gujiu and the Blood Widow Sect, whose members had prepared fighters to counter the trio. Bella defeated Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing before binding Wang Xiaofeng with her whip as Li Gujiu prepared a ritual.

• Dai Mubai recognized Li Gujiu as a member of the Blood Widow Sect, and Wang Xiaofeng condemned the sect's slaughter of innocents.
• Li Gujiu ordered Bella and the others to keep Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuqing, and Wang Xiaofeng away while he prepared a ritual, but Bella threw him to the ground.
• Bella fought Dai Mubai with her whip, stunning him with its mental attacks, then slowed Zhu Zhuqing's assault and kicked her into Dai Mubai.
• A youth with a Bronze Gate martial soul and a Blood Sword wielder blocked Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing as they tried to stop Li Gujiu.
• Bella bound Wang Xiaofeng with her whip and flooded his Sea of Consciousness with mental attacks.

Wang Xiaofeng escaped Bella’s ambush as Li Gujiu awakened a terrifying presence beneath the cave, forcing Wang Xiaofeng to flee with Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing. Outside the Bronze Gate, the group recovered as the gate cracked and the true battle loomed.

• Wang Xiaofeng used his enhanced mind-reading ability to glimpse a few of Bella’s thoughts before she pierced him with her whip and injected paralytic toxin.
• Wang Xiaofeng froze Bella’s whip with his Fifth Soul Ring, broke free, and healed his wounds with Moon Dew.
• Li Gujiu performed a blood ritual on the Bronze Base, awakening a powerful presence that suppressed everyone and began collapsing the cave.
• Wang Xiaofeng used Flash Step to grab Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing and escape through the teleportation passage.
• Wang Xiaofeng helped Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing recover near the cracked Bronze Gate, then warned that the real battle was about to begin.

Li Gujiu and the Blood Widow Sect emerged from the secret realm as Li Gujiu succumbed to the Great Will and a Flesh Serpent burst through the collapsing bronze gates. Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuqing, and Wang Xiaofeng prepared to stop the monster before it could escape.

• Li Gujiu attacked the young man who had helped the sect enter the secret realm, draining him with flesh tentacles as Bella and the sword-wielding young man watched.
• Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing confirmed their message had gotten out and planned to trap the Heretics when Zhao's reinforcements arrived.
• The bronze gates shattered, and a colossal Flesh Serpent made of many creatures' remains emerged from a black vortex.
• Dai Mubai agreed to double Wang Xiaofeng's price, and the three discussed taking the statue in Li Gujiu's hands to control the serpent.
• Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing prepared to restrain the Flesh Serpent and use their Martial Soul Fusion Skill to destroy it if the statue could not control it.

Wang Xiaofeng, Dai Mubai, and Zhu Zhuqing fought the Flesh Serpent and the colossal phantom formed from the secret realm’s corrupted core. They trapped the phantom and struck it with the White Tiger Evil-Breaking Divine Light, which shattered the distorted dimension.

• Zhu Zhuqing wounded the Flesh Serpent with her shadow clones while Dai Mubai struck its head, and Wang Xiaofeng captured Li Gujiu and took the statue.
• Bella and the sword-wielding young man fled through a spatial passage with a case containing the secret realm’s beating heart, while Li Gujiu’s statue shattered and his body exploded in bloody light.
• The Flesh Serpent transformed into a gigantic phantom whose mental corruption threatened Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing, but their Ice Dragon Imprints helped them resist.
• The phantom seized Wang Xiaofeng and tried to tear apart his soul, but Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing’s Hell White Tiger tore off its hand and rescued him.
• Wang Xiaofeng formed a giant from water elements and bound the phantom, allowing the Hell White Tiger to unleash the White Tiger Evil-Breaking Divine Light and shatter the distorted dimension.

An explosion destroyed Stone Mountain after the Phantom Giant’s core was extinguished, leaving Zhao Xiaofeng to search for the missing Wang Xiaofeng, Dai Mubai, and Zhu Zhuqing. He found them alive beneath the rubble, and the injured survivors later discussed how Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing’s experimental fusion technique had caused the disaster.

• The Phantom Giant’s destruction triggered a massive explosion that blew open the water vein beneath Stone Mountain and swept Zhao Xiaofeng away in the shockwave.
• After the storm passed, Zhao Xiaofeng led engineers in a prolonged search and uncovered Wang Xiaofeng’s enormous burnt Gourd.
• Zhao Xiaofeng used his strength to move the rubble and found Wang Xiaofeng, Dai Mubai, and Zhu Zhuqing alive in a pit, though Dai Mubai was gravely injured.
• Wang Xiaofeng, Dai Mubai, and Zhu Zhuqing recovered in a camp near Stone Mountain, where Zhu Zhuqing fed Dai Mubai his bitter medicine.
• Dai Mubai explained that he and Zhu Zhuqing had developed the White Tiger Evil-Breaking Divine Light, and Wang Xiaofeng realized their first use of it had nearly killed them.

After Dai Mubai and his companions were moved out of the Dragon Shrouding Mountains, Wang Xiaofeng used a spiritual Soul Skill to bring Dai Mubai into a realistic illusion. Dai Mubai chose Tang San as his opponent, and Wang Xiaofeng changed the setting to the Great Spirit Arena of Suotuo City.

• Zhao Xiaofeng had a physician examine Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuqing, and Wang Xiaofeng, then arranged their guarded departure from the Dragon Shrouding Mountains.
• Dai Mubai rode in a shock-absorbing donkey cart and complained about the bugs and Wang Xiaofeng’s habit of sleeping.
• Wang Xiaofeng offered Dai Mubai a spiritual Soul Skill, then transported his consciousness into a detailed illusion while he remained aware of his real body.
• Dai Mubai explored the illusion and chose a projection of Tang San rather than fighting Zhao’s stronger projection.
• Wang Xiaofeng changed the illusion’s background to the Great Spirit Arena of Suotuo City.

Wang Xiaofeng’s Great Spirit Arena hosted a projected unrestricted spirit battle between Dai Mubai and Tang San, ending with Tang San’s victory. Dai Mubai challenged the result of his projection’s failure to use a Soul Skill, then promised a rematch as Ma Hongjun took the stage.

• Wang Xiaofeng’s arena introduced Dai Mubai and Tang San as the opening contestants.
• Dai Mubai broke through Tang San’s Blue Silver Grass cages and attacked with his White Tiger skills.
• Tang San countered Dai Mubai’s attacks with the Clear Sky Hammer, a Blood Spear, Blue Silver Grass, and hidden weapons.
• Tang San defeated Dai Mubai after the Dragon Beard Needle and King of Hell’s Summons pierced his defenses.
• Dai Mubai complained that his fifth Soul Skill had not appeared, and Wang Xiaofeng explained that he had never seen Dai Mubai use it.
• Wang Xiaofeng sent Ma Hongjun onto the arena for the next battle.

Dai Mubai lost to Ma Hongjun in Wang Xiaofeng’s mental world and resolved to train harder. He woke at camp beside Zhu Zhuqing, where his injuries were being treated, and faced more than half a month of recovery before the group reached Star Luo City.

• Ma Hongjun defeated Dai Mubai with a phoenix attack that knocked him beyond the Soul Battle Stage.
• Dai Mubai blamed his losses to Xiao San and Ma Hongjun on his lack of training and decided to aim for the peak of Soul King within a year.
• Wang Xiaofeng ended the mental world, and Dai Mubai woke beside Zhu Zhuqing, exhausted from the strain on his spiritual power.
• Zhu Zhuqing treated Dai Mubai’s injuries at the campsite and refused his request for roast chicken, giving him bitter medicinal soup instead.
• Dai Mubai estimated that his recovery and the journey back to Star Luo City would take more than half a month.

At Star Luo Royal Academy, Qin Ming warned Ma Hongjun to keep Shrek’s students from provoking trouble, while Ma Ke persuaded them to proceed with an arranged duel without taunting their opponents. Ma Ke then considered the dangerous divine contest hinted at by his special mission, whose progress stood at 23 of 100 battles.

• Qin Ming marked the date of the monthly exam and told Ma Hongjun that the dean of students had asked him to curb the trouble at the Duel Arena.
• At lunch, Shrek’s students argued over whether to attend the arranged duel, and Ma Ke said they should fight but avoid trash talk.
• Ma Ke’s proposal won support, and the students began planning for the afternoon’s soul battle.
• Ma Ke checked his panel and reviewed a special mission requiring 100 battles, with progress at 23/100 and a reward of 1,000 Evolution Points and a rare martial soul evolution clue.
• Ma Ke decided to pursue the mission’s immediate rewards while postponing any decision about its later dangers.

Wang Xiaofeng and the Shrek group returned to the Royal Academy for a challenge match against Mo Qifeng's team, which Wang Xiaofeng's side won decisively. Dean Lin addressed the students afterward, while Wang Xiaofeng arranged to take leave and recover at the Royal Sanatorium.

• Mihail and Mo Qifeng exchanged taunts before their teams entered the Soul Battle Hall for a ten-person match.
• Ma Hongjun arrived with snacks and reunited with Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuqing, Wang Xiaofeng, and the others.
• Wang Xiaofeng explained that his bandages were for show, and said he planned to take leave and stay at the Royal Sanatorium.
• Wang Xiaofeng said his team had already won after overwhelming the opposition, and Dean Lin addressed the students about fabricated bullying complaints.
• Lin Wanghuai praised Wang Xiaofeng's research and arranged to speak with him after he recovered.

Wang Xiaofeng visited the Star Luo Imperial Palace with Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing before gaining access to the Royal Library Pavilion. He began rapidly memorizing its vast collection of books.

• Dai Mubai picked Wang Xiaofeng up and brought him to the imperial palace, where Wang Xiaofeng experienced the strict royal breakfast rituals with Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing.
• Dai Mubai escorted Wang Xiaofeng to South Pavilion of the Royal Library Pavilion and arranged his admission with Old Li.
• Old Li showed Wang Xiaofeng the library’s collection and described its floors, including rare ancient books and martial manuals.
• Wang Xiaofeng received a library card and began reading, using his photographic memory to memorize an entire book in minutes.

Old Li reported Wang Xiaofeng’s arrival to the Star Luo Emperor, who opened the Library Pavilion to him while preparing to act against the Zhou Family’s corruption. As Wang Xiaofeng settled into an intense routine of cultivation and reading, an old curator taught him a spiritual skill that let him read at astonishing speed, leaving the curator amazed by how far he took it.

• Old Li told the Star Luo Emperor about Wang Xiaofeng, and the emperor granted him unrestricted access to the Library Pavilion.
• The Star Luo Emperor reviewed reports on the Zhou Family’s grain fraud and wealth, then considered moving against them.
• Wang Xiaofeng read more than a thousand books, rested at Dai Mubai’s estate, and established a daily routine of cultivation and study.
• An old curator offered Wang Xiaofeng a spiritual skill for faster reading, and Wang Xiaofeng accepted his instruction.
• Wang Xiaofeng used the skill to read books with his spiritual power and expanded it until books across the Library Pavilion began flipping through their pages.
• The old curator left the Pavilion and laughed at Wang Xiaofeng’s unexpected mastery of the technique.

Wang Xiaofeng visited the old man on South Pavilion’s rooftop and repaid his earlier teaching by demonstrating three spiritual Soul Skills. He left the old man with memories of how he created them, and the old man believed Wang Xiaofeng would rise beyond the rank of Titled Douluo.

• Wang Xiaofeng found the old man tending plants on the rooftop and accepted his invitation to drink tea.
• Wang Xiaofeng offered to show the old man several Self-Created Soul Skills in return for his earlier guidance.
• Wang Xiaofeng used spiritual power to bring the old man into the Mind Palace and explained how he had created it.
• Wang Xiaofeng demonstrated Thought Acceleration and Thought Avatar, explaining that Thought Avatar needed a material vessel.
• Wang Xiaofeng gave the old man memories of creating the three Soul Skills, then left as the old man watched him go.

After rapidly finishing the library’s books, Wang Xiaofeng resumed intense training and went to visit the Zhou family, where he learned that Nidya might be facing a husband selection. He reunited with Liu Xiaodie and Liu Xiaocao and discovered that the Zhou family’s supposed charity left many poor children hungry.

• Wang Xiaofeng completed the first floor of the Library Pavilion and arranged body training with Dai Mubai and two Soul Masters who used gravity skills.
• Wang Xiaofeng visited Zhou Manor and learned that the Zhou family was recruiting children as servants while people also hoped to approach the eldest young lady, who would soon choose a husband.
• Wang Xiaofeng wondered whether Nidya wanted to choose a husband and briefly overwhelmed nearby customers with loneliness before Liu Xiaodie called to him.
• Wang Xiaofeng recognized Liu Xiaodie and Liu Xiaocao, bought them noodles, and used Soul Power to examine their weakened bodies.
• Liu Xiaodie told Wang Xiaofeng that a local bully had taken their family land and that the children had come to the Zhou family’s recruitment for food, which usually ran out before most of the line could receive any.

Wang Xiaofeng brought Liu Xiaodie and Liu Xiaoxing to Dai Mubai, who discussed the empire’s corruption and strained local control before helping awaken the boy’s martial soul. Liu Xiaoxing’s red-veined Blue Silver Grass showed Rank 7 Innate Soul Power, and Wang Xiaofeng suspected it was connected to a growing change in the world.

• Wang Xiaofeng told Dai Mubai about the children and the corruption he had encountered, and Dai Mubai admitted he disliked the burdens of politics and might give the throne to Davis.
• Wang Xiaofeng said Liu Xiaodie would learn a trade and planned to awaken Liu Xiaoxing’s martial soul, but Dai Mubai offered his Awakening Stone and Detection Crystal immediately.
• Liu Xiaoxing awakened a Blue Silver Grass martial soul with red veins, and Liu Xiaodie pointed out that it looked strange.
• Wang Xiaofeng tested Liu Xiaoxing’s soul power, and the crystal showed Rank 7 Innate Soul Power.
• Wang Xiaofeng found that Liu Xiaoxing’s Blue Silver Grass did not react to a trace of purified Power of Faith, but he privately connected its unusual appearance to other signs of change involving blood and flesh.

During a rainy holiday outing, Ma Ke and Fang Jing ran into Wang Xiaofeng, who introduced them to Liu Xiaoxing and assigned Fang Jing to teach her and her sister to read. Wang Xiaofeng also ordered Fang Jing and Ma Ke to train by running with weighted sandbags, then gave them Memory Threads to help them practice multitasking.

• Ma Ke and Fang Jing sought shelter from the rain in a teahouse after they were turned away from Star Luo Auction House for lacking the required assets.
• Wang Xiaofeng arrived with Liu Xiaoxing, and Fang Jing nervously realized he had become her senior brother.
• Wang Xiaofeng asked Fang Jing to teach Liu Xiaoxing and her older sister to read for an hour each day.
• Wang Xiaofeng ordered Fang Jing to run between the academy and his residence carrying weighted sandbags, and assigned Ma Ke to run with him.
• Wang Xiaofeng gave Fang Jing and Ma Ke Memory Threads containing his insights into multitasking, prompting Ma Ke to promise to keep Fang Jing from slacking off.