Chapter Summaries

Chen Xiaojun explained the Chen Clan’s planned personnel reshuffle and broader system reforms to Chen Mu. The attack had delayed discussion of the reforms, which would create new departments and likely add leaders to oversee groups of them.

• Chen Xiaojun outlined how Chen Wu, Chen Hua, Chen Zhang, and others might take over senior clan posts as the older generation withdrew to cultivate.
• Chen Mu learned that he might eventually take over his father Chen Hua’s liaison envoy position, then asked Chen Xiaojun about his own plans.
• Chen Xiaojun described the Management Department’s twelve divisions and the Research Department’s three divisions, and asked Chen Mu to visit the injured You Chu and thank Shen Lang and Shen Fei.
• Chen Xiaojun explained plans to create ten additional departments and narrow the Finance Division’s responsibilities under a more formal clan structure.
• Chen Xiaojun said the attack might delay discussion of the reform plan and explained that several leaders would likely oversee groups of departments.

Chen Xiaojun explained the Chen Clan’s plan to establish a Deputy Clan Leader role and reorganize its leadership using a separation of powers. The proposed framework named likely successors for several posts, while the middle-generation Deputy Clan Leader remained undecided among three candidates.

• Chen Xiaojun told Chen Mu that the Deputy Clan Leader would help the clan leader manage affairs and share the burden of leadership.
• Chen Xiaojun described Soul Fighting City’s three-power structure and explained how its major offices were divided among factions.
• Chen Xiaojun outlined the Chen Clan’s planned structure, with the clan leader overseeing affairs, the first elder handling supervision and judgment, and two or three Deputy Clan Leaders assigned distinct responsibilities.
• Chen Xun was identified as the likely next clan leader, while Chen Xiyuan was considered the likely first elder.
• Chen Wu, Chen Zhang, and Chen Hua were named as possible candidates for the middle-generation Deputy Clan Leader.

Chen Xiaojun discussed the younger generation’s likely roles in the Chen Clan and accepted an invitation to a cultural event hosted by Winding Stream Party and Cultural Brilliance Pavilion. Chen Mu guessed that Chen Xiaojun wanted Chen Hua’s help with Ji Tiantian, and Chen Hua arrived just as Chen Mu was mocking his father.

• Chen Xiaojun explained that the Chen Clan’s younger members would likely serve under the three leading siblings, prompting Chen Mu to call them department ministers’ assistants.
• Chen Xiaojun said he might need Chen Hua’s help but kept the reason confidential.
• Su Ningxia explained that Winding Stream Party and Cultural Brilliance Pavilion would hold a cultural match and exchange in Chang'an on April 1, and Chen Xiaojun decided to attend.
• Chen Mu recalled Chen Hua’s connections to Cultural Brilliance Pavilion and guessed that Chen Xiaojun’s request involved Ji Tiantian.
• Chen Mu mocked Chen Hua’s ability to act refined, but Chen Hua appeared at the doorway and caught him.
• Chen Xiaojun tried to smooth things over, and Chen Hua asked why they had been discussing Winding Stream Party and his help.

Chen Xiaojun persuaded Chen Hua to help him approach Ji Xiang, then explained why the Chen family considered Moonlight Academy’s vice dean vital to its interests in Toske Province. He revealed the family’s ancestral ties and assets there, including a share in a valuable Spirit Marrow Stone vein.

• Chen Xiaojun told Chen Hua about Ji Xiang and the Winding Stream Party, and Chen Hua agreed to help because Chen Cong had assigned the matter and it could benefit him.
• Chen Hua dragged Chen Mu to the Martial Arts Training Ground to test his skills while Chen Xiaojun’s relatives joked about the pair.
• Chen Xiaojun explained that Moonlight Academy mattered to the Chen family because of its alliance with the Moon Palace, its Moon Attribute research, its strategic location, and the family’s assets there.
• Chen Xiaojun revealed that the Chen family had moved from Toske Province to Chen Lin Village more than two hundred years earlier and still owned ancestral properties near Moonlight City.
• Chen Xiaojun explained that the family held a share in a large Spirit Marrow Stone vein near Moonlight City and that the academy’s vice dean managed and protected the family’s interests in the province.
• Chen Xiaojun suggested Chen Shurui study at Moonlight Academy, teasing him about its pretty girls and saying Chen Bin could go along.

Chen Xiaojun discussed suitable academies for Old Nine and Old Ten, then gave Zhu Wuneng a Poetic Title after several attempts. He arranged for Xiao Yi to accompany Du Gu Fu to the Icebound Forest to hunt an Ice Silkworm, but Xiao Yi insisted she could handle the danger herself.

• Chen Xiaojun said Sword Rain Academy would suit Old Nine and Old Ten, though Nine Heavens Academy might offer them additional training.
• Zhu Wuneng asked Chen Xiaojun for a Poetic Title, rejected several suggestions, and accepted “Smiling as the jianghu's winds and clouds change, I walk my own road to the ends of the earth.”
• Chen Xiaojun told Du Gu Fu that Xiao Yi would accompany him to the Icebound Forest and that Third Great Uncle would take them there by sword flight.
• Chen Xiaojun privately explained to Xiao Yi that she would hunt an Ice Silkworm for the Second Soul Ring of her Void Willow God Vine.
• Xiao Yi said she could manage the dangers, while Chen Xiaojun urged her to avoid trouble when possible.

Chen Xiaojun reviewed intelligence on the Elite Competition with Zhou Tianshu and ensured that Xiao Yi’s information remained sealed. He then proposed that Heavenly Time City create a Secondary List for the Genius List to recognize more young heroes.

• Zhou Tianshu brought Chen Xiaojun a booklet on Elite Competition geniuses and other powerful contenders.
• Zhou Tianshu identified several academies to watch, including those associated with the second-, fourth-, and fifth-ranked geniuses.
• Chen Xiaojun and Zhou Tianshu discussed his past rise on the Genius List and the rivalries it had stirred.
• Chen Xiaojun reminded Zhou Tianshu that Xiao Yi’s intelligence had to remain secret, and Zhou Tianshu confirmed it was classified as a top secret.
• Zhou Tianshu asked Chen Xiaojun how to handle the growing number of talented Soul Masters competing for limited Genius List positions.
• Chen Xiaojun proposed that Heavenly Time City establish a Secondary List for the Genius List.

Chen Xiaojun proposed expanding Heavenly Time City's rankings and launching specialized publications to capitalize on interest in the Advanced Elite Competition. Zhou Tianshu embraced the plans and committed Heavenly Time City to preparing them before the competition ended in August.

• Chen Xiaojun suggested a Secondary List to recognize promising young heroes who could not yet qualify for the main Genius List, and Zhou Tianshu approved.
• Chen Xiaojun proposed dividing the Genius List and Secondary List into specialized categories, and Zhou Tianshu praised the idea.
• Chen Xiaojun recommended attention-grabbing lists such as the Twelve Golden Hairpins, Weapon Index, Divine Beast Bestiary, and Plant World.
• Chen Xiaojun proposed special issues predicting and analyzing the Advanced Elite Competition, including its champion, top four, and empire rematches.
• Zhou Tianshu decided to form teams and use Heavenly Time City's intelligence network to prepare the publication series before the end of August.

Chen Xiaojun questioned Zhou Tianshu about why Fasinuo Province had more Soul Masters than its population-based estimate suggested. Zhou explained that the continent’s population was far larger than official figures indicated and that the Soul Power awakening rate had risen to 1.5 per thousand, leaving Chen Xiaojun surprised by the scale of the increase.

• Chen Xiaojun asked Zhou Tianshu why Fasinuo Province’s academies trained more Soul Masters each year than the estimated awakening rate allowed.
• Zhou Tianshu explained that population statistics were incomplete because of unregistered people, hidden populations, and chaotic regions.
• Zhou Tianshu said Heavenly Time City privately estimated the continent’s population at nearly 1.8 billion more than twenty years earlier and over two billion now.
• Chen Xiaojun calculated that Fasinuo Province should have about 1,500 people awakening Soul Power each year based on the newer population estimate.
• Zhou Tianshu revealed that the awakening rate had gradually climbed from 1.0 to 1.5 per thousand, with the sharpest rise occurring in the past decade or so.

Chen Xiaojun learned that far more people awakened Soul Power than official estimates suggested and considered how hidden soul masters could affect the continent’s balance of power. Zhou Tianshu linked the rising awakening rate and increasingly severe calamities to population growth, explaining that Beast Tides were driven partly by soul beasts’ struggle for food and territory.

• Chen Xiaojun realized his calculations had excluded elementary and intermediate academies, while Zhou Tianshu estimated that roughly four thousand people awakened Soul Power in Fasinuo Province each year and sixty to seventy thousand did so across the continent.
• Chen Xiaojun considered how many soul masters might be concealed within the military and other forces, and he thanked Zhou Tianshu for clarifying the figures.
• Zhou Tianshu said Soul Power awakenings had risen significantly over the past dozen years, and Chen Xiaojun wondered which major powers had noticed the change.
• Zhou Tianshu connected the rising awakening rate to population growth following the discovery and improvement of high-yield crops after a mysterious year of vitality a thousand years earlier.
• Zhou Tianshu explained that growing populations of soul beasts were crowded into limited territory, and Chen Xiaojun concluded that Beast Tides were driven by competition for survival space as well as racial grudges.

Chen Xiaojun and Zhou Tianshu discussed how an ancient surge of vitality had strengthened life, resources, and martial soul awakening across the continent, prompting Chen to suspect the world was ascending. Their conversation then turned to the changed tournament format, which would keep Soul Fighting Academy out of Chen’s path before the finals.

• Chen Xiaojun and Zhou Tianshu considered how the ancient vitality surge had boosted humanity, soul beasts, the Foreign Race, spirit medicines, and mineral resources.
• Chen Xiaojun speculated that the rising martial soul awakening rate signaled the world entering a period of rapid ascension.
• When Zhou Tianshu asked what he had been thinking about, Chen Xiaojun claimed he was planning how to fight through the semifinals.
• Chen Xiaojun listed the powerful academies he expected to face, and Zhou Tianshu told him Soul Fighting Academy would not be among them before the finals.
• Zhou Tianshu explained that Soul Fighting Academy’s entry had sparked disputes over tournament slots among Saskol Grand Park, the Changning Grand Duchy, and the major academies.

Chen Xiaojun learned that the finals field had expanded to forty teams, with an invitation slot awarded to Sea God Island by the Heaven Dou Empire. The tournament would skip placement matches and use a round-robin format, though the detailed schedule remained undecided.

• Zhou Tianshu told Chen Xiaojun that negotiations had expanded the finals to forty teams, including two new slots for the Three Rivers Region and two additional slots for each empire.
• Zhou Tianshu explained that the final slot was an invitation chosen by the host country, and revealed that the Heaven Dou Empire had invited Sea God Island.
• Chen Xiaojun reflected on the Chen Clan's role in establishing Sea God Academy and its growing ties with the continent.
• Zhou Tianshu told Chen Xiaojun that the Heaven Dou Empire had canceled the ranking matches after the semifinals and planned to use a round-robin tournament to determine the final standings.

Chen Xiaojun received a letter from the Holy Maiden while Xiao Yi delivered a letter and a cloth bag for Ou Ya’s Miss Xi Xi. After Xiao Yi departed using her exceptional movement technique, Chen Xiaojun and Ou Ya discussed the hidden mysteries of the breathing techniques, leaving Chen Xiaojun wondering why they had not shown their full power in the Title Battle.

• Chen Xiaojun asked Ou Ya whether Sea God Academy had been invited to the Continental Advanced Soul Master Elite Competition, and Ou Ya said there was no definite news.
• Ou Ya gave Chen Xiaojun a letter from the Holy Maiden.
• Xiao Yi appeared and handed Ou Ya a sealed letter and an embroidered Small Cloth Bag for Miss Xi Xi, then vanished using her Mist Breathing Technique.
• Chen Xiaojun explained that Xiao Yi’s Lightness Skill and breathing techniques had advanced greatly during her three-year slumber.
• Ou Ya told Chen Xiaojun that Water Breathing and Wind Breathing seemed to be missing something, and Chen Xiaojun said his clan was still investigating their secrets.
• Chen Xiaojun privately suspected the system had strengthened the breathing techniques and that their unfulfilled potential might explain why they seemed weaker than expected in the Title Battle.

Chen Xiaojun visited Xiao Yi to discuss the limits of breathing techniques, but first had to face her reading his unfinished romance novel. Xiao Yi confirmed that her Mist Breathing Technique felt constrained, and Chen Xiaojun began to suspect that its practitioners had yet to reach their true physical limits.

• Chen Xiaojun considered asking Xiao Yi about the lingering sense of incompleteness he felt in breathing techniques.
• Chen Xiaojun entered Moon Shadow Residence and found Xiao Yi reading his storybook, Overbearing Holy Maiden Falls in Love with Me.
• Xiao Yi quoted romantic lines from the book, leaving Chen Xiaojun embarrassed, and then gave an evasive answer about the letter and small cloth bag she had sent Xi Xi.
• Chen Xiaojun asked Xiao Yi whether her Mist Breathing Technique also felt unfinished, and she described an invisible force restraining it.
• Xiao Yi said she had reached the Constant state while asleep but believed her body could still grow stronger, prompting Chen Xiaojun to wonder whether breathing-technique users had yet to reach their limits.

Chen Xiaojun deliberately pushed the Sun Breathing Technique beyond its usual limits in the Cultivation Room and awakened a Golden Red Demon Slayer Mark. Xiao Yi stopped him before his incomplete recovery led to serious harm, and he left convinced the technique could reach an even higher stage.

• Chen Xiaojun connected the limits of blood and vitality to the conditions for awakening a Demon Slayer Mark and hurried with Xiao Yi to the Cultivation Room.
• Chen Xiaojun accelerated the Sun Breathing Technique until Golden Red blood-and-vitality mist surrounded him and Demon Slayer Marks appeared on his face and neck.
• Chen Xiaojun continued pushing for a greater breakthrough as his condition worsened, but Xiao Yi used her Mental Power to stop him.
• Xiao Yi treated Chen Xiaojun with the Ageless Evergreen Ivy, and he recovered enough to thank her for preventing cultivation deviation.
• Chen Xiaojun explained that the Demon Slayer Mark signified a higher-level operation of the Breathing Technique, which he believed still had room to advance.

Xiao Yi broke through to a new realm by circulating the Mist Breathing Technique, spreading fiery markings across her body and releasing a powerful wave of energy throughout the Duke Residence. The Chen Clan mistook the unfamiliar energy for an attack, and Chen Xiaojun watched the household rush toward the courtyard in alarm.

• Xiao Yi first revealed pale blue markings as her blood and qi reached a new height.
• Xiao Yi pushed into a deeper breakthrough, enduring intense heat and pain as fiery markings spread across her body and limbs.
• Xiao Yi completed her breakthrough, and an energy wave swept through the courtyard and across the Duke Residence.
• Zhu Wuneng, Su Ningxia, Chen Bin, Chen Shurui, and others hurried toward the courtyard as Zhu Yanfeng shouted that someone had attacked the Chen Residence.
• Chen Menglin rose into the sky to search for an intruder, while Chen Xiaojun realized the commotion had been caused by Xiao Yi's breakthrough.

Xiao Yi opened the markings of the Moon Breathing Technique but failed to awaken its bloodline power, prompting the group to test her strength. The chapter ended as she began fighting level 77 Soul Sage Cheng Yun on a martial arts training ground.

• Chen Menglin ordered the lower-level onlookers to leave and sent Cheng Yun and Xia Ying to check on Xiao Yi.
• Xiao Yi circulated the Moon Breathing Technique, and silver-white markings appeared across her skin as her aura grew stronger.
• Xiao Yi explained that she had opened the markings but had not awakened her bloodline, and Chen Xiaojun clarified the difference between the two stages.
• Mu Lingyun suggested testing Xiao Yi's strength, and the group went to No. 5 Martial Arts Training Ground in the Central Right District.
• Xiao Yi activated her marked state and began an intense battle against the level 77 Soul Sage Cheng Yun—Yun Yi.

Xiao Yi fought Cheng Yun while her Demon Slayer Mark and bloodline awakening amplified her Mist Breathing, prompting Chen Xiaojun and the others to name the power the Godly Venerable Body. The battle continued with Xiao Yi trapping herself in an energy sphere of mist and knocking Cheng Yun back with a bloodline skill.

• Xiao Yi used the Demon Slayer Mark and Mist Breathing to evade Cheng Yun's attacks, then awakened her bloodline and grew strong enough to challenge the Soul Sage.
• Chen Hua and Chen Chen estimated that Xiao Yi's transformed combat strength was between level 66 and level 67, while Chen Xiaojun and the others discussed how her state enhanced her power.
• Chen Xiaojun named the blood, qi, and physique transformation the Godly Venerable Body and called Xiao Yi's mist-based version the Mist Haze Godly Venerable Body.
• Cheng Yun used her Fourth Soul Skill, Wind Riding Divine Eagle, to bombard the mist, but a multicolored energy sphere remained around Xiao Yi.
• Xiao Yi unleashed her Unfixed Whip, and its Mist Light Whip Shadows overwhelmed Cheng Yun's Nine Yin White Bone Claw and sent her sliding backward.

Xiao Yi demonstrated the power of her Mist Haze Godly Venerable Body by matching Cheng Yun’s Nine Yin Divine Claw and evading its final attack. Her Foundation Skills inspired Chen Mu to consider a hidden, lightning-fast sword technique, while Chen Menglin recognized the new system’s importance to the clan’s path toward immortality.

• Cheng Yun tested Xiao Yi with the Nine Yin Divine Claw, and Xiao Yi countered with Mist Cleaving Wave before dodging the weakened attack.
• Cheng Yun praised Xiao Yi’s bloodline power, and she noted that its attacks produced almost no Soul Power fluctuations and were difficult to track.
• Chen Mu considered combining the breathing technique’s concealment with his sword moves and Chen Xiaojun’s Sword Drawing Technique.
• Chen Xiaojun identified three Foundation Skills within Xiao Yi’s Mist Haze Godly Venerable Body, and Chen Chen agreed that they were a valuable gain.
• Chen Menglin concluded that the Godly Venerable Body advanced the clan’s cultivation of Essence, Qi, and Spirit and asked whether it could reach Titled Douluo potential.

Chen Xiaojun reflected on the limits of his breathing techniques, then sparred with Shen Fei and discussed developing a Blood Attribute Breathing Technique. He agreed to exchange Darcy’s self-generated soul bone for a fifty-thousand-year soul bone better suited to Shen Fei’s family.

• Chen Xiaojun told Xiao Yi that her Moon Breathing Technique had awakened its markings but had not reached the Godly Venerable Body, and Xiao Yi vowed to awaken it further.
• Chen Xiaojun offered to spar with Chen Chen, but Shen Fei swiftly took him to the Martial Arts Stage first.
• After their spar, Shen Fei praised Chen Xiaojun’s Sun Breathing and discussed studying the Blood Attribute for a future breathing technique.
• Shen Fei offered Darcy’s sixty-thousand-year self-generated soul bone, and Chen Xiaojun agreed to provide a suitable fifty-thousand-year soul bone in exchange.

Zhu Yanfeng attempted to awaken the Godly Venerable Body after hearing Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi’s breakthrough experiences. He failed after reaching about four-fifths of the markings, and the group realized the awakening’s power could overwhelm the body and mind.

• Zhu Yanfeng insisted on attempting the bloodline awakening, citing his mastery of the Stone Breathing Technique and strong physique.
• Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi shared their breakthrough insights, and Zhu Yanfeng began circulating the Stone Breathing Technique.
• Zhu Yanfeng awakened the first-stage markings and pushed onward until they covered most of his upper body.
• When Zhu Yanfeng began to suffer severe pain, Chen Xiaojun urged Chen Menglin to intervene, and Chen Menglin suppressed the surging blood and halted the markings.
• Zhu Yanfeng failed to awaken the Godly Venerable Body, while Mu Lingyun and Xiao Yi helped restore him and warned that his blood vessels and meridians were at risk.
• Zhu Yanfeng reflected that awakening the markings had made his blood surge and judgment reckless, as every heartbeat began to strain his blood vessels and heart.