Chapter Summaries

Ji Lin entered occupied Heaven Dou City undetected and reached the imperial palace to find Jing Hongchen and the Meng siblings. Jing Hongchen explained that Xu Tianran had sidelined him and that he had secretly kept something in reserve, while Xiao Hongchen proposed seeking protection from the Worship Hall.

• Ji Lin avoided the Sun Moon Empire’s detection tools, disguised himself as a commoner, and passed through Heaven Dou City’s guarded gates.
• Ji Lin surveyed the war-damaged but prosperous city before making his way to the imperial palace under cover of night.
• Ji Lin slipped past the palace defenses and stopped outside the hall where Jing Hongchen and the Meng siblings were gathered.
• Jing Hongchen complained that Xu Tianran had sent him to Heaven Dou City to weaken his influence and that the Holy Spirit Cult constrained his authority.
• Jing Hongchen told the siblings he had kept something in reserve, and Xiao Hongchen suggested the Hongchen Family seek protection from the Worship Hall.

Ji Lin arrived in Heaven Dou City and told Jing Hongchen that the Molten Fire Knight Armor had been developed, though its energy source remained unresolved. Jing Hongchen sent Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen with Ji Lin to Star Luo City, entrusting the Hongchen Family’s future to them and giving Meng rare Soul Tool metals.

• Jing Hongchen explained that his grandmaster had discovered his covert ties to a force in the Star Luo Empire and had punished him by sending him to Heaven Dou City.
• Ji Lin appeared in the hall after overhearing Jing Hongchen’s conversation, greeted Meng Hongchen, and reassured the family that no one else could have listened in.
• Ji Lin described the Molten Fire Knight Armor’s progress and energy-source problem, and Jing Hongchen learned it could reach Titled Douluo-level strength.
• Jing Hongchen ordered Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen to go with Ji Lin to Star Luo City, while he would claim they had entered seclusion.
• Jing Hongchen gave Meng Hongchen his collection of rare Soul Tool metals and entrusted both siblings to Ji Lin, who promised to care for them and honor Jing Hongchen’s trust.

Ju Zi returned to Xu Tianran after the failed expedition to the Far North, and he reassured her before asking her to remain in the palace. He revealed that the ministers wanted an heir and proposed that Ju Zi carry a child conceived from a relative’s seed, but she refused.

• Ji Lin left Heaven Dou City with Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen, taking resources from Jing Hongchen to support the Molten Fire Knight Order.
• Xu Tianran comforted Ju Zi over her losses in the Far North and discussed stabilizing the front and dealing with the Star Luo Empire.
• Ju Zi proposed leading the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Corps against Star Luo Empire soul masters, but Xu Tianran said Zhongli Wu would handle them and assigned her another task.
• Xu Tianran told Ju Zi that ministers were demanding a crown prince and asked her to stay in the palace and bear a child.
• Ju Zi refused to carry another man’s child and asked Xu Tianran to reconsider.

Ju Zi secretly rejected Xu Tianran’s plan to make her bear another royal family member’s child and sent Ke Ke to ask Ji Lin for help. Ke Ke revealed that Ju Zi wanted Ji Lin’s child instead, prompting Wang Qiuer to object as the others overheard.

• Xu Tianran told Ju Zi to conceive a child using a royal relative’s seed, and Ju Zi agreed outwardly while secretly vowing to choose the child’s father herself.
• Ji Lin returned to Freedom Gate with Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen, where they unexpectedly encountered Ke Ke.
• Ke Ke told Ji Lin that Xu Tianran had confined Ju Zi in the Mingdu Imperial Palace and was forcing her to bear another man’s child.
• Ke Ke explained that Ju Zi wanted Ji Lin’s child and had sent her to ask him for his seed.
• Wang Qiuer, Wang Dong'er, Nan Qiu Qiu, and Xiao Xiao emerged after overhearing, and Wang Qiuer firmly refused to let Ju Zi bear Ji Lin’s child.

Ke Ke asked Ji Lin to help Ju Zi conceive his child using Sun Moon Empire soul-tool technology, provoking opposition from the women around him. Xu Jiujiu arrived and, instead of rejecting the request, questioned Ke Ke about Ju Zi’s preparations and showed interest in the technology, leaving her as the person Ju Zi hoped to persuade.

• Wang Qiuer, Wang Dong'er, Xiao Xiao, and the others opposed Ju Zi using soul-tool technology to bear Ji Lin’s child before them.
• Xu Jiujiu arrived after Nan Qiu Qiu secretly notified her, and Ji Lin glared at Nan Qiu Qiu for involving his fiancée.
• Xu Jiujiu welcomed Ke Ke and asked what preparations Ju Zi had made before sending her to Star Luo City.
• Xu Jiujiu revealed she had investigated Ju Zi and suspected the Empress War God had a backup plan, while also expressing interest in the soul tool’s ability to enable pregnancy.
• Ke Ke recalled that Ju Zi had predicted Ji Lin and his other women would refuse, but that Xu Jiujiu might agree and influence him.

Ju Zi used Ke Ke to offer Xu Jiujiu a political alliance: Ji Lin would provide Ju Zi with a child, and Ju Zi would help him overthrow Xu Tianran and take the Sun Moon Empire’s throne. Xu Jiujiu considered the proposal while Ji Lin left the decision to her, and the chapter ended with the others stunned by the scale of Ju Zi’s plans.

• Ju Zi identified Xu Jiujiu as the one person likely to accept her proposal because Xu Jiujiu weighed political benefits and Ji Lin’s interests.
• Ji Lin understood that Xu Jiujiu was considering the offer and stayed silent, while Wang Qiuer and the others watched her warily.
• Ke Ke told Xu Jiujiu that Ju Zi could provide military support against Xu Tianran and the Holy Spirit Cult, and might help Ji Lin become emperor of the Sun Moon Empire.
• Ke Ke explained that the Worship Hall might accept Ji Lin as emperor if he married Xu Tianzhen and preserved the Sun Moon imperial bloodline.
• Wang Qiuer, Wang Dong'er, Xiao Xiao, and Nan Qiu Qiu were stunned by Ju Zi’s plan to bear Ji Lin’s child and seize the throne.

Ji Lin and Princess Jiujiu negotiated with Ke Ke over Ju Zi’s plan to overthrow Xu Tianran and bear Ji Lin’s child. Ji Lin accepted Jiujiu’s demand that he sever ties with the child, while Ju Zi prepared to move against Xu Tianran for the child’s sake.

• Ji Lin reasoned that Xu Tianran’s inability to father an heir could cost him the Worship Hall’s support, while Ju Zi could use that weakness to gain power.
• Princess Jiujiu agreed to Ju Zi’s terms through Ke Ke, but demanded that Ju Zi’s child have no connection to Ji Lin and not learn his identity until Jiujiu allowed it.
• Ji Lin agreed to Jiujiu’s condition, drawing contempt from Wang Dong'er and Nan Qiu Qiu and sympathy from Ke Ke for Ju Zi.
• Ke Ke accepted the condition on Ju Zi’s behalf and told Ji Lin that Ju Zi had expected his indifference.
• Ju Zi had prepared for Ji Lin’s rejection and resolved not to let Xu Tianran live long enough to threaten her future child.

Ji Lin and his allies agreed to Ju Zi’s request under conditions set by Xu Jiujiu, while Ju Zi accepted the terms and prepared to pursue her own ambitions. A week after Meng Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen arrived in Star Luo City, Meng Hongchen told Ji Lin that she had made progress on his investigation.

• Xu Jiujiu questioned whether she had treated Ju Zi too harshly, and Ji Lin admitted he could not say how he felt about the deal.
• Ke Ke reported Xu Jiujiu’s conditions to Ju Zi, who accepted them and arranged for Ke Ke to leave the dangerous political conflict.
• Ju Zi resolved to bear Ji Lin’s child, oppose Xu Tianran, and continue seeking revenge against the White Tiger Duke and the Star Luo Empire.
• Xiao Hongchen joined Xuan Ziwen’s Soul Tool research, while Meng Hongchen stayed with Ji Lin in Star Luo City.
• Meng Hongchen told Ji Lin that she had found progress on the matter he had asked her to investigate.

Ji Lin learned that Tang Ya was fighting on the front lines and returned to Shrek City with Wang Qiuer, Wang Dong'er, and Xiao Xiao to tell Bei Bei and the others. Bei Bei was overjoyed to learn where Tang Ya was, and the group prepared to act on the news.

• Meng Hongchen told Ji Lin that Evil Soul Masters had said their Saintess, Tang Ya, was at the front lines.
• Ji Lin announced that he and the others would return to Shrek Academy, then left the next morning with Wang Qiuer, Wang Dong'er, and Xiao Xiao.
• Ji Lin contacted Bei Bei and met him, Xu Sanshi, and Jiang Nannan at the Tang Sect in Shrek City.
• Ji Lin told Bei Bei and the others that Tang Ya was on the battlefield between the Sun Moon Empire and the Heaven Dou Empire.
• Bei Bei thanked Ji Lin excitedly, and Xu Sanshi praised him for finding Tang Ya's whereabouts.

Bei Bei sought Elder Xuan’s approval to rescue Tang Ya from the front lines, where the Sun Moon Empire and the Holy Spirit Cult held her. Elder Xuan agreed to send a small group of Soul Masters, including Zhang Lexuan, and began deciding who else would join them.

• Bei Bei and his friends agreed to help rescue Tang Ya, but Bei Bei insisted on asking Elder Xuan before acting because the mission could affect Shrek Academy.
• Bei Bei and Ji Lin went to Sea God's Pavilion, where Ji Lin reunited with Zhang Lexuan and Ma Xiaotao before explaining that Tang Ya was on the front lines.
• Elder Xuan approved an expedition that would rescue Tang Ya while supporting the original Douluo Continent empires and misleading the Sun Moon Empire about Shrek Academy’s Soul Tool strength.
• Elder Xuan chose Zhang Lexuan to represent the academy and considered who else to send, while Ma Xiaotao volunteered to join the mission.

Elder Xuan approved a rescue mission for Tang Ya, allowing Zhang Lexuan and Ma Xiaotao to join Ji Lin and Bei Bei. As Bei Bei prepared the Tang Sect for their departure, he assigned He Caitou to stay behind and oversee the sect and its Soul Tool Hall.

• Elder Xuan agreed that Zhang Lexuan, Ma Xiaotao, Ji Lin, Bei Bei, and other suitable allies could take part in rescuing Tang Ya, while warning them to prepare the Tang Sect and proceed carefully.
• Ji Lin met Zhang Lexuan and Ma Xiaotao outside Sea God's Pavilion, where Ma Xiaotao teased him before leaving the two together.
• Ji Lin and Zhang Lexuan visited his former Shrek Academy classmates and teachers, then went to the Tang Sect to find Bei Bei organizing the mission.
• He Caitou asked Bei Bei to let him join the rescue, but Bei Bei assigned him to remain behind and oversee the Tang Sect's Soul Tool Hall to protect their plans.

Ji Lin joined Bei Bei and the others on an expedition to rescue Tang Ya, and their group traveled to the Heaven Dou Empire’s front line. They met Princess Vina near Heavenly Spirit City and learned that the Sun Moon Empire had halted its offensive but still dominated reconnaissance.

• Ji Lin spent three days with Ma Xiaotao and Zhang Lexuan while Bei Bei arranged for the Tang Sect to be cared for during their absence.
• Bei Bei, Ji Lin, Zhang Lexuan, Ma Xiaotao, Wang Qiuer, Wang Dong'er, Xiao Xiao, Xu Sanshi, and Jiang Nannan departed for the front line after Elder Xuan set a one-month return deadline.
• The group crossed the Limal Plains and saw the allied armies near Heavenly Spirit City facing roughly three hundred thousand Sun Moon Empire troops.
• Zhang Lexuan signaled their arrival, and Princess Vina led a party of soul masters to escort them toward Heavenly Spirit City.
• Vina told Zhang Lexuan that the front had stabilized after the Star Luo Empire invaded the Sun Moon Empire, but the allied forces still struggled against the enemy’s superior reconnaissance soul tools.

Princess Vina welcomed Zhang Lexuan and the others to Heavenly Spirit City, the Heaven Dou Empire’s final line of defense, while Ji Lin rested and cultivated with his companions. That evening, Vina visited Ji Lin privately, leaving her reason for coming unclear.

• Princess Vina explained that her injured father could not welcome Zhang Lexuan and confirmed she knew about Shrek Academy’s three Soul Engineer legions.
• Princess Vina showed the group Heavenly Spirit City’s defenses and arranged lodging for them, then led Zhang Lexuan and Ma Xiaotao to meet the allied armies’ officials.
• Ji Lin and Wang Qiuer cultivated together, while Wang Dong'er and Xiao Xiao discussed their progress and teased each other about Wang Dong'er's jealousy.
• Princess Vina arrived at the courtyard and asked Ji Lin to speak with her privately, prompting Wang Dong'er to suspect she had come for an improper reason.
• Ji Lin invited Vina into Wang Qiuer’s room, and Vina looked at him with a deep, emotionally charged gaze before explaining why she had come.

Vina pleaded with Ji Lin to help the battered Heaven Dou Empire and offered him a dukedom, then even herself, as a bargaining chip. Ji Lin refused the offers but agreed to hear what help she needed, leaving Vina to ask only that he aid the empire in the future.

• Vina knelt before Ji Lin and begged him to save the Heaven Dou Empire, explaining that the Sun Moon Empire’s Soul Tools had devastated its forces.
• Vina offered Ji Lin a duke’s title, but Ji Lin pointed out his relationship with Sister Jiujiu and rejected the offer.
• Vina promised Ji Lin anything the Heaven Dou Empire could provide, including herself, if he helped the empire overcome its crisis.
• Ji Lin declined to name a price and told Vina to explain what she needed, saying he would help if he could as an ally.
• Vina asked Ji Lin to lend the Heaven Dou Empire a hand in the future and admitted she had been prepared to offer herself to recruit him.

Princess Vina secretly tried to win Ji Lin’s support for the besieged Heaven Dou Empire, but he promised only the help his group could realistically provide. After dinner, Zhang Lexuan began planning a reconnaissance operation with the allied forces, which could also help them find and rescue Tang Ya.

• Vina revealed that the Heaven Dou Empire hoped to win Ji Lin and Chi Yuan’s support, and Ji Lin said his side would help delay the Sun Moon Empire’s advance.
• Vina asked Ji Lin whether he had been tempted, then left; Wang Qiuer questioned him about her visit and grew jealous.
• At dinner, Zhang Lexuan explained that the Heaven Dou Empire wanted their reconnaissance help, and Ji Lin said cooperation could aid their search for Tang Ya.
• Zhang Lexuan asked Ma Xiaotao to assess the situation, and Ma Xiaotao described the allied armies, their commander Prince Xueyu, and the reconnaissance assistance they requested.

Ji Lin agreed to lead the group’s reconnaissance and rescue mission against the Sun Moon Empire after Zhang Lexuan and Ma Xiaotao handed him command. The group prepared to coordinate with the Heaven Dou Empire, while Shrek Academy’s plan to train its own potential commanders went awry.

• Zhang Lexuan and Bei Bei agreed that the group should first locate Tang Ya and scout the Sun Moon Empire’s defenses.
• Ji Lin explained that he could scout above the enemy’s detection range, but would need a small battle or nighttime raid to search for Tang Ya safely.
• Zhang Lexuan offered to coordinate with the Heaven Dou Empire, and the group agreed that Ji Lin would command the mission.
• Ma Xiaotao and Zhang Lexuan promised Ji Lin a reward after Tang Ya’s rescue, motivating him to accept the assignment.
• Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi left Ji Lin to prepare a plan, while the Sea God Pavilion’s effort to train Zhang Lexuan, Ma Xiaotao, and Bei Bei as commanders was undermined.

Ji Lin prepared to scout the Sun Moon Empire's forces before planning a rescue for Tang Ya, and Princess Vina insisted on joining him. She revealed that Long Aotian and many Body Sect fighters had died in a devastating Sun Moon Empire attack, and the pair set out to gather intelligence.

• Ji Lin agreed to scout the Sun Moon Empire alone before devising a rescue plan, while Bei Bei urged him to put safety first.
• Princess Vina asked to join Ji Lin, explaining that Long Aotian had died protecting her from a Level 9 Soul Tool attack.
• Ji Lin agreed to take Vina along on the condition that she obey his commands.
• Vina told Ji Lin that the Body Sect had lost three of its eleven Titled Douluo, including her teacher, and that four more were seriously injured.
• Vina explained that the Sun Moon Empire had used Soul Tools and Evil Soul Masters in a surprise attack on Heaven Dou City, causing catastrophic losses.

Ji Lin took Vina high above the Sun Moon Empire camp to scout without being detected, demonstrating his powerful Mental Detection and newly learned light-distortion technique. Vina supported him with her Snow Lotus Martial Soul and realized that their abilities could uncover the camp’s intelligence, though she could not match Ji Lin’s Mental Power.

• Vina persuaded Ji Lin to bring her along, explaining that her signal Soul Tool could prevent friendly forces from accidentally injuring them.
• Ji Lin and Vina flew above three thousand meters, and Ji Lin shared his Mental Detection with her so she could see the ground clearly from high altitude.
• Ji Lin carried Vina higher and toward the Sun Moon Empire camp, while her Snow Lotus Martial Soul replenished and strengthened him.
• Ji Lin distorted light with Mental Power, making them invisible, and Vina realized they could use their abilities to evade detection and gather intelligence.
• Vina became dejected as she recognized that Ji Lin’s exceptional Mental Power and training made his techniques impossible for her to reproduce.

Ji Lin and Vina surveyed the Sun Moon Empire camp from the air, discovering five Soul Tool positions and two Protectors of the Nation before an enormous linked Soul Tool attack targeted them. Ji Lin escaped with Vina and carried her safely back to Heavenly Spirit City, though both were shaken by the near miss.

• Ji Lin used Mental Detection Sharing to show Vina the Sun Moon Empire camp, where they spotted five Soul Tool positions and learned that the Imperial Dragon and Dreadclaw Soul Engineer Corps were stationed there.
• Ji Lin sensed danger when one Soul Tool position glowed red, then threw Vina away from him as a massive red beam struck his position.
• Ji Lin survived the attack by dodging and protecting himself with Frost Armor, then caught Vina and fled with her from the camp.
• Ji Lin carried Vina to Heavenly Spirit City, changed into a spare outfit, and noticed that both of them were pale and shaken.

Ji Lin and Vina escaped a Sun Moon Empire detection and linked Soul Tool attack, revealing the empire’s growing ability to strike high-altitude targets. After sharing the intelligence, Ji Lin planned a return flight with Zhang Lexuan, while Ju Zi met a young imperial relative who believed he had been summoned under an imperial decree.

• Ji Lin explained to Vina that a detection Soul Tool had locked onto them and a linked attack had nearly struck them, then accepted her signal Soul Tool as she left to report to the emperor.
• Ji Lin reflected that the attack could have seriously injured a Titled Douluo and realized the Sun Moon Empire’s defenses made finding Tang Ya increasingly difficult.
• The next morning, Ji Lin briefed Zhang Lexuan, Ma Xiaotao, and the others without mentioning that Vina had accompanied him.
• Zhang Lexuan offered to join Ji Lin on a nighttime flight to test the detection Soul Tools’ range, and he agreed.
• In the Mingdu Imperial Palace, Ju Zi visited a young imperial relative who believed he had permission from the emperor to pursue her.