Chapter Summaries

Chen Xiaojun sought to build chef soul masters into a capable battlefield-support force, while Xin Shouyi reflected on the severe limits of ordinary kitchen martial souls. Xin recognized that the Chen Clan’s support for chef families came from Chen Xiaojun’s deliberate investment in logistics and everyday fields.

• Chen Xiaojun argued that the Chen Clan needed to develop chef soul masters so they would not become a weakness as the clan’s martial strength grew.
• Xin Shouyi and Mai Zheleng were stunned by Chen Xiaojun’s ambition and realized how highly he regarded chefs like Ruoxi.
• Xin Shouyi considered how common kitchen martial souls had weak abilities, low innate soul power, and little combat potential.
• Xin Shouyi contrasted ordinary chef soul masters with the Chen Clan’s chef families, whose members received stronger training and resources.
• Xin Shouyi recalled that the Chen Clan had lowered inherited-skill exchange requirements and increased contribution rewards, helping Mai Zheleng break through to Soul King.
• Xin Shouyi concluded that Chen Xiaojun had driven the clan’s increased support for logistics and everyday fields.

Chen Xiaojun explained that the Warrior Chef system needed skilled non-Soul-Master logisticians as well as combat-capable cooks, persuading Gu Yuanchao to send Xiaojian for training. He then asked whether Xiaojian had practiced the Gu Clan’s Mountainous Steel Bone Art, leaving the discussion poised to turn to the boy’s cultivation.

• The chapter described Bao Ruoxi’s rare dual-attribute Food Martial Soul and the Five Chef Families’ hopes for their chef Soul Masters.
• Chen Xiaojun clarified that the Warrior Chef team would include non-Soul Masters trained in battlefield cooking and logistics.
• Chen Xiaojun outlined how Xiaojian could learn food preparation, supply planning, food safety, and ways to protect cooking crews in the field.
• Gu Yuanchao accepted that Xiaojian should study the Warrior Chef system, and Mai Zheleng offered to teach him marching-stove skills.
• Chen Xiaojun asked Gu Yuanchao whether Xiaojian had practiced the Gu Clan’s Mountainous Steel Bone Art.

Chen Xiaojun told Gu Yuanchao that Gu Zijian might undergo a Secondary Awakening, though it would take about a year to confirm. The news eased Gu Yuanchao’s long-held worry and could also help him break through to Soul Sage.

• Chen Xiaojun told Gu Yuanchao to teach Gu Zijian the Starry Sky Formless Scripture alongside his existing foundation training.
• Chen Xiaojun revealed that Gu Zijian might undergo a Secondary Awakening, but warned that it was not certain and asked Gu Yuanchao to keep it from his son for now.
• Gu Yuanchao thanked Chen Xiaojun and returned to arranging food, lodging, and registration for the children.
• Chen Mu, Xin Shouyi, and Mai Zheleng discussed how Gu Yuanchao’s renewed hope had lifted his spirits and might help him break through his Mental Power bottleneck to Soul Sage.

After completing registration for the rescued children and women, Chen Xiaojun reassured them that the Chen Clan would protect those who followed its rules. He used the Eye of Judgment to inspect the group and spotted a hidden woman bearing more karmic fire than merit, then left her intentions unresolved.

• Chen Xiaojun finished reviewing the registration papers and told the rescued group that the Chen Clan would offer protection and opportunity to those who followed its rules.
• Chen Xiaojun activated the Eye of Judgment, causing the children to feel exposed as he saw their faint merit and almost nonexistent karma.
• Chen Xiaojun noticed dark red karmic fire surrounding a subdued woman with Soul Power Shackles, interwoven with a few faint points of merit.
• Chen Xiaojun let the Eye of Judgment fade and allowed the children and women to settle in the courtyard, where the suspicious woman withdrew into the shadows.

Chen Xiaojun was summoned by his second uncle to discuss Huagai District with Tang Hengyu and Tan Yashuang, leaders of rival groups. He left the courtyard for the Council Hall while his companions stayed behind to handle supplies and the damaged wall.

• A hidden woman feared Chen Xiaojun had seen through her Soul Concealment Art, and he briefly scrutinized the shadow where she was hiding.
• Du Gu Fu arrived and told Chen Xiaojun that his fifth uncle had urgently summoned him because Tang Hengyu and Tan Yashuang had reached the Mountain Fortress.
• Chen Mu explained that the groups had agreed to discuss the terms for Huagai District after the fighting, and Chen Xiaojun realized his uncle had timed the meeting for his recovery.
• Chen Xiaojun assigned Wuneng and A Fu to organize supplies and sent Xiaosan with Fifth Child to inspect the captives.
• Chen Xiaojun headed through the Backyard toward the Council Hall as Du Gu Fu and Zhu Wuneng argued about repairing the hole in the courtyard wall.

Chen Xiaojun crossed Iron Jaw Fortress’s heavily guarded central plaza and entered the Council Hall, where the Chen family leaders and representatives of the Jingcheng Merchant Association and other forces had gathered. He took his reserved seat as negotiations were about to begin.

• Chen Mu led Gu Yuanchao and Third Child toward the guarded courtyard where the captured miners were being held.
• Chen Xiaojun passed through Iron Jaw Fortress’s central plaza, observing its workshops, patrols, prisoners, and defenses.
• Chen Xiaojun entered the Council Hall, where Chen Zhang, Ximen Wenye, Yang Zhicheng, Ma Zhibin, Zhu Yanfeng, Xia Yun, and Qin Luguang were seated.
• Tang Hengyu, Tan Yashuang, and Hahn Connally arrived as representatives of forces allied with the Bone Excavation Group.
• Chen Xiaojun acknowledged the assembled leaders and guests, then sat in the reserved seat beside Zhu Yanfeng, Xia Yun, and Qin Luguang.

Chen Zhang and his allies negotiated with Tang Hengyu, Tan Yashuang, and Hahn over the future of Huagai District’s underground forces. After Ma Zhibin warned Tan Yashuang to negotiate by the rules, she swallowed her retort and tacitly accepted his terms.

• Xia Yun complained about Zhu Yanfeng and Qin Luguang smoking in front of their guests, while Chen Xiaojun’s calm presence reinforced the allied side’s show of force.
• Tang Hengyu demanded a direct answer about how the allied families planned to deal with the Rust Brothers Company.
• Chen Zhang said the alliance sought stable, orderly underground forces and was willing to discuss the future structure.
• Tan Yashuang accused the allied families of swiftly taking over the underground networks in three districts, including Huagai District.
• Ma Zhibin warned Tan Yashuang to stop her sarcasm and promised her Sisterhood a dignified outcome if she negotiated by the rules.
• Tan Yashuang held back her response, leaned back, and tacitly accepted Ma Zhibin’s warning.

Chen Zhang laid out three ways for the Rust Brothers Company and the other factions to join the new order in Huagai District: retain their operations under oversight, become part of a major family’s forces, or cooperate through a joint management committee. Tang Hengyu and the others had not chosen a path by the chapter’s end, and Chen Zhang clarified that all options involved surrendering thirty percent of income, incorporation, and cooperation under the new order.

• Chen Zhang proposed that the Rust Brothers Company keep maintaining the Rust Corridor while accepting the four families’ inspection rights and giving them thirty percent of passage fees and related profits.
• Chen Zhang offered to incorporate the Rust Brothers Company into the Chen Clan’s Brocade-Clad Guards as the Rust Camp, or let Tang Hengyu choose another family.
• Chen Zhang proposed a Huagai District Underground Network Joint Management Committee to coordinate resources, routes, security, and disputes among the four families and three other parties.
• Tang Hengyu listened without responding, weighing the proposals as the Council Hall grew tense.
• Tan Yashuang asked whether she and Hahn Connally faced the same choices, and Chen Zhang confirmed that all parties would face the same core terms of income sharing, incorporation, and cooperation.

Chen Zhang laid out a fourth option for Tan Yashuang and the other leaders: leave Huagai District under conditions set by the Chen Clan. Tan Yashuang realized every route would cost her the Sisterhood’s power and leave it vulnerable to the Chen Clan’s influence.

• Tan Yashuang weighed how the Chen Clan’s proposed arrangements would undermine the Sisterhood, while Hahn withheld his decision until he saw what she and Tang Hengyu would do.
• Tan Yashuang asked what would happen if they rejected all three choices, and Chen Zhang offered departure as a fourth option.
• Chen Zhang explained that they could leave with their assets surrendered, split off while the Chen Clan took over those who remained, or relocate with official assistance to a place such as Five Mountains City.
• Tan Yashuang recognized that leaving would destroy the Sisterhood’s established networks and force its members to fight for a foothold in unfamiliar territory.
• Tan Yashuang concluded that the Chen Clan’s suggested destinations were still within its reach and saw departure as trading one cage for another.

Chen Zhang laid out the terms for the underground factions to join the Chen family’s new order, leave, or accept a supervised recommendation to relocate. Tang Hengyu chose to join the Chen Clan and accept reorganization, stunning Tan Yashuang and Hahn.

• Chen Xiaojun observed as Chen Zhang presented three choices that would place the factions under the Chen family’s control or force them to leave.
• Hahn argued that his group’s trading channels and laundering network gave them valuable leverage in the negotiations.
• Chen Zhang explained how the factions’ channels and assets would be treated under each choice and left the decision to them.
• Tang Hengyu asked Chen Zhang about the recent events in the Imperial Capital, and Chen Zhang called them a once-in-a-century event.
• Tang Hengyu announced that Rust Brothers Company would join the Chen Clan and accept reorganization, surprising Tan Yashuang and Hahn.

As the Imperial Capital’s Underground World was overturned by a massive upheaval, Chen Zhang persuaded the Rust Brothers Company to join the Chen Clan and secured the Jingcheng Merchant Association’s submission. Tan Yashuang remained undecided as Chen Zhang showed her urgent intelligence, while Imperial forces sealed key underground passages and the wider conflict began.

• Tang Hengyu weighed the approaching upheaval and decided the Rust Brothers Company needed the Chen Clan’s protection and stability.
• Chen Zhang welcomed Tang Hengyu and the Rust Brothers Company into the Chen Clan, and ordered Qin Luguang to oversee their incorporation and benefits.
• Hahn agreed that the Jingcheng Merchant Association would follow Chen Zhang’s arrangements.
• Chen Zhang urged Tan Yashuang to cooperate and had Xia Yun give her confidential briefings on the Three Sentinels, the City Garrison, and major clans.
• Chen Xiaojun watched quietly as Imperial forces sealed key underground passages in the Southeast District.

The Council Hall leaders discussed bringing Hahn and his underground network into their joint management while teasing Ma Zhibin about Tan Yashuang’s choice to work with his family. Chen Zhang then reported on the Bone Excavation Group’s businesses and influence in Iron Jaw Fortress, leaving the council confronting the scale of the underground operations.

• Ximen Wenye, Chen Zhang, Yang Zhicheng, and Ma Zhibin agreed that Hahn’s experience and connections made him valuable to the Huagai District Underground Network Joint Management Committee.
• Ximen Wenye and Yang Zhicheng teased Ma Zhibin about Tan Yashuang choosing the Ma Family and warned him not to mislead her before leaving for Chang'an County.
• Chen Zhang reported that the Bone Excavation Group’s operations included trafficking people, mining, hunting underground soul beasts, and collecting rent and protection fees.
• Zhu Yanfeng condemned the Bone Excavation Group’s exploitation, while Qin Luguang noted that the four powers had monopolized the Imperial Capital’s underground gray industries.

Chen Zhang and the allied families reviewed the immense spoils taken from the Bone Excavation Group and planned how to divide resources and organize Huagai District. They began assessing captives and questioning captured leaders, while Barton remained at large and Chen Xiaojun’s role in defeating several Soul Sages came to light.

• Jian Hezhi read the battle’s spoils, including mines, workshops, treasure stores, and nearly thirty million Gold Soul Coins and crystal-card funds.
• Chen Zhang offered Yang Zhicheng the Bone Excavation Group’s hidden stockpile of specialized arrows, and Yang agreed that they would benefit his family.
• Zhu Yanfeng proposed using captured furnaces and ores to equip a new united force, and Chen Zhang assigned the Ximen Family to provide more craftsmen in exchange for a larger mining quota.
• Chen Zhang outlined plans to screen the captives, noting that more than 1,400 youths with soul master aptitude and 1,846 Bone Excavation Group members remained in custody.
• Chen Zhang explained that Barton had fled, Huo Yifeng had escaped, and Mao Zeqian was gravely injured, then revealed that Chen Xiaojun had handled four of Barton’s Soul Sage subordinates.

Chen Zhang and the others reviewed their victories over several Soul Saint factions, then investigated Barton’s escape and discovered signs that he belonged to the Jin family’s hidden network. They concluded that Soul Fighting City might face other concealed agents as well.

• Chen Zhang reported that Xiao Jun, Ghost Bat Soul Saint, Uncle Zhicheng, and Xia Yun had helped defeat or capture members of the smaller factions, while the surviving prisoners refused to talk.
• Chen Zhang said Dou Jing and four Soul Saints were captured, but their cooperation depended on Dou Jing’s decision to speak.
• Zhu Yanfeng explained that Barton escaped using a nine-layered blood-burning secret art, an advanced movement technique, and an Ancient King Level soul bone.
• Chen Zhang connected Barton’s techniques and Golden Crocodile Martial Soul to the Jin family, a Qian Clan branch tied to the Worship Hall.
• Xi Men Wuye, Yang Zhicheng, and Zhu Yanfeng concluded that Barton had monitored Soul Fighting City, while Ma Zhibin warned that other hidden agents might remain.

Chen Zhang and the council assigned security and economic measures after discovering Barton had been a Jin Family sleeper and possible Spirit Hall agent. They ordered searches for more spies, then planned to expand black-market trade, mining, resettlement, and intelligence networks.

• Chen Zhang and Xia Yun suspected Barton had hidden the Bone Excavation Group’s secrets and links to Spirit Hall, and Xi Men Wuye agreed to investigate possible contacts.
• Qin Luguang was assigned to interrogate Dou Jing, the Soul Saints, and Mao Zeqian, while the Brocade-Clad Guards screened the captives for other spies.
• Chen Zhang ordered Zuo Jinhua to deploy the Xuan Lin Guard, seal Iron Jaw Fortress, and hunt down escaped Bone Excavation Group remnants.
• Chen Zhang and Xi Men Wuye proposed selling the clans’ goods and disguised Crimson Church equipment through black-market channels to increase profits and strengthen the Hahn Merchant Association.
• Chen Zhang ordered screened low-level captives to work in mines, arranged livelihoods for captives’ families, and assigned soul hunting to the United Armed Forces and selected groups.
• Chen Zhang proposed expanding the Shadow Sisterhood’s and Rust Brothers Company’s intelligence networks, retaining certain gray businesses, and having Qin Luguang oversee the Rust Corridor alongside the company’s reorganization.

Chen Xiaojun proposed ways to develop Huagai District through soul beast breeding, trade with neighboring districts, improved transport, and turning Iron Jaw Fortress into a commercial and tourist hub. He left the hall with Chen Zhang and the others impressed by his ambitious plans.

• Chen Zhang asked Chen Xiaojun for his thoughts on Huagai District after the conflict had ended.
• Chen Xiaojun proposed surveying the underground river and establishing soul beast breeding farms staffed by prisoners sheltered by the Shadow Sisterhood.
• Chen Xiaojun outlined a cross-district trade network linking Huagai District's farms with Huading District and Huguang District.
• Chen Xiaojun suggested diverting the underground river to strengthen Iron Jaw Fortress and flood the High Platform Plain if the fortress faced imminent danger.
• Chen Xiaojun proposed a Starfire Stone lighting network to improve transport and commerce across the three districts.
• Chen Xiaojun urged the group to turn Iron Jaw Fortress into Huagai Sleepless City and a tourism hub, drawing applause from those in the hall.

Chen Xiaojun defended taking control of the Bone Excavation Group’s people-trading channels, and the elders reconsidered after seeing the exceptional talents among the rescued youths. Chen Zhang ordered the channels placed under the Joint Management Committee and set rules for training and resettling everyone.

• Chen Xiaojun argued that the Chen Clan should control and reform the Bone Excavation Group’s population-moving channels rather than let worse gangs take them over.
• Chen Xiaojun presented aptitude reports that revealed Lin Dong’s Rank 8.7 innate soul power and Rank 28 strength at thirteen, along with several other talented youths.
• The elders reacted with astonishment, while Ma Zhibin tried to claim Lin Dong as a personal attendant for his third son and Zhu Yanfeng rejected the request.
• Chen Zhang ruled that the Joint Management Committee would control the channels, screen and protect talented soul masters, recruit suitable people into the armed forces, and resettle ordinary children and women without enslavement or abuse.

Chen Xiaojun proposed a training base at Iron Jaw Mountain Fortress for Soul Masters with negative martial souls, and Chen Zhang approved it. He then urged the elders to make Huagai District a controlled refuge for people displaced by turmoil in the Imperial Capital, leaving them with plans to manage refugees and recruit useful talent.

• Chen Xiaojun proposed building a training base at Iron Jaw Mountain Fortress to integrate and cultivate Soul Masters with negative martial souls.
• Qin Luguang, Xi Men Wuye, Yang Zhicheng, and Ma Zhibin supported the proposal, and Chen Zhang designated the fortress’s western district for the base.
• Chen Zhang assigned Qin Luguang responsibility for construction and management, with Zuo Jinhua assisting and family instructors helping establish rules and training plans.
• Chen Xiaojun warned that unrest in the Imperial Capital could send refugees and routed soldiers into Huagai District.
• Chen Xiaojun proposed opening Huagai District to displaced people while registering and monitoring arrivals and using a merit system to recruit suitable workers and fighters.

Chen Xiaojun revealed Chen Cong’s Evil-Absorbing Formation, a design that could gather, store, and release the baleful energy that nourished the Chen Clan’s Seven Kill Swords. He explained how the formation addressed the clan’s long-standing problem of managing surplus and insufficient killing intent, leaving the elders to grasp the design’s significance for the clan.

• Chen Xiaojun unfolded a large schematic blueprint and identified it as the Evil-Absorbing Formation, researched by his second granduncle, Chen Cong.
• Chen Xiaojun explained that Iron Jaw Fortress’s accumulated negative energy had seeped into its bricks and stones, and that his Seven Kill Sword could absorb such energy.
• Chen Xiaojun described how the Chen Clan’s Seven Kill Sword absorbed killing intent and baleful energy, which the Seven Kill Qi Concealment Technique suppressed, but which could cause backlash or hinder breakthroughs when its supply was unbalanced.
• Chen Xiaojun recounted how Chen Cong combined insights from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well barrier, the Big Dipper Grand Technique, mimetic cultivation arrays, the Nethersea Seven Kill Sword, the Death Spiral Array, and Yin Yang Theory to develop the formation.
• Chen Xiaojun explained that the Evil-Absorbing Formation could collect and store negative energy, then transform and release it in a controllable form for the Seven Kill Sword to absorb.

Chen Xiaojun revealed that the Evil-Absorbing Formation could potentially absorb and regulate the Saber Demon Qi tormenting the Ximen Family's Karma Fire Demon Blade wielders. The formation had not yet been tested, but Ximen Wenye pledged the clan's full support to build it.

• Chen Xiaojun explained that the Evil-Absorbing Formation could supply the Ximen Family's Karma Fire Demon Blade with killing aura and blood energy while absorbing excess Saber Demon Qi.
• Ximen Wenye reacted with shock as he realized the formation might end the Ximen Family's thousand-year affliction.
• Chen Xiaojun clarified that Chen Cong had derived the formation's blueprint with the Ximen Family in mind, but its effects had not yet been verified in practice.
• Ximen Wenye thanked the Chen Family and promised the Ximen Family's full resources and manpower to construct the formation.
• Chen Xiaojun said the formation was intended to benefit the entire Four Families Alliance.