Chapter Summaries

Dai Yao convinced Zhu Zhuqing that the Empress had intended to use and dispose of her, and the two grew closer after he promised to protect her. Zhu Zhuqing accepted their bond and vowed in her heart not to let him down.

• Zhu Zhuqing approached Dai Yao, but instead of attacking him, she closed his clothes, and he took her hand to sit with her on the roof.
• Dai Yao told Zhu Zhuqing that the Empress had intended to make her kill him and then take the blame, and Zhu Zhuqing believed him and thanked him.
• Dai Yao and Zhu Zhuqing introduced themselves, and she reluctantly agreed to call him Brother.
• Dai Yao promised to become someone Zhu Zhuqing could rely on and to protect her from danger, and she cried before smiling happily.
• Zhu Zhuqing silently promised that she would not let Dai Yao down.

Dai Yao and Zhu Zhuqing cultivated together in the Cold Palace before receiving invitations to Star Luo Royal Academy. When they arrived, a Soul Grandmaster sent by the First Prince attacked Dai Yao, but a fat student intervened and drove him off.

• Dai Yao encouraged Zhu Zhuqing to persevere in the bloody competition for the throne, and the two began cultivating together.
• Zhu Zhuqing discovered that her cultivation advanced unusually quickly beside Dai Yao, while his Soul Power neared level twelve.
• A palace maid delivered invitations to Star Luo Royal Academy, and Dai Yao and Zhu Zhuqing traveled there the following evening.
• At the academy, a Soul Grandmaster called Mouse attacked Dai Yao and said he was acting on the First Prince's orders.
• A fat student used his War Stomp to injure Mouse and make him withdraw, after which Mouse warned Dai Yao to enjoy his time at the academy.

After Dai Yao defeated Dai Mubai, the Second Prince, Dai Yaming, invited him to form an alliance against the First Prince, Dai Weisi. Their agreement was interrupted by Zhu Zhuyue, whose arrival terrified Zhu Zhuqing.

• Dai Yao resolved to grow stronger so he could protect himself and Zhu Zhuqing after Mouse nearly caused them trouble.
• Fatty told Dai Yao that the Second Prince had sent him to protect Dai Yao and invite him to a meeting.
• Dai Yao and Zhu Zhuqing followed Fatty to Dai Yaming's lakeside residence, where Dai Yaming welcomed Dai Yao as his Fourth Brother.
• Dai Yaming proposed an alliance with Dai Yao against Dai Weisi, and Dai Yao accepted so they could oppose the First Prince together.
• Zhu Zhuyue appeared and taunted Zhu Zhuqing, who trembled and hid behind Dai Yao.

Dai Yao’s attempt to form an alliance with Dai Yaming collapsed after Zhu Zhuyue insulted him and Zhu Zhuqing. Zhu Zhuyue attacked Dai Yao, and someone grabbed his hand as dust obscured the clash.

• Dai Yaming introduced Zhu Zhuyue as his fiancée, and she mocked Dai Yao’s manners and Zhu Zhuqing’s engagement.
• Dai Yao demanded an explanation from Dai Yaming, but Dai Yaming dismissed Zhu Zhuyue’s insults and questioned whether Dai Yao still wanted an alliance.
• Zhu Zhuyue and Dai Yaming made clear they looked down on Dai Yao, and Dai Yao rejected the alliance rather than accept their contempt.
• Dai Yaming let Zhu Zhuyue deal with Dai Yao and Zhu Zhuqing, and she summoned her Martial Soul and attacked with Hell Stab.
• Dai Yao used Eight Extremes Collapse to meet the attack, but dust concealed the fighters as someone seized his hand.

Dai Hengyu rescued Dai Yao from Dai Yaming and Zhu Zhuyue, then warned him to keep his head down and focus on cultivating until he was strong enough to protect himself. After completing his enrollment at Star Luo Royal Academy, Dai Yao was asked to choose a Simulated Cultivation Environment, and he began to explain what he wanted.

• Dai Hengyu arrived at Dai Yaming's residence, stopped Dai Yao and Zhu Zhuyue from fighting, and took Dai Yao away.
• Dai Yaming decided that he could not let Dai Yao cultivate without interference, while Dai Yao vowed that they would regret their actions.
• Dai Hengyu advised Dai Yao to avoid provoking the princes and focus on growing stronger, then teased him about Zhu Zhuqing.
• Dai Yao called Zhu Zhuqing his fiancée, and she blushed as Dai Hengyu laughed at his confidence.
• Dai Hengyu helped Dai Yao finish enrolling, gave him a cafeteria access card, and left him to choose a Simulated Cultivation Environment.
• Dai Yao began telling the student assisting him which Simulated Environment he wanted.

Dai Yao sought a waterfall Simulated Environment to train against the pressure of stronger Soul Masters, but learned that the only available one belonged to a commoner student who refused to sell it. As he went to negotiate, he heard that Dai Yaming possessed a Spirit Bone, making the struggle for the throne more dangerous.

• Dai Yao decided he needed the waterfall cultivation ground and asked whether he could buy it, but the male student said its owner had rejected wealthy nobles' offers.
• Dai Yao insisted on meeting the owner and followed the male student through the snowy forest with Zhu Zhuqing.
• The male student said Dai Weisi and Dai Yaming were two people at the academy whom no one should provoke, while Dai Mubai had lost noble support after returning from the palace.
• The male student revealed that Dai Yaming possessed a several-thousand-year-old Spirit Bone that helped him contend with stronger Soul Masters.
• The three arrived at the waterfall Simulated Environment before the male student could explain who the other two people were.

Dai Yao visited Feng Wutong’s cultivation ground to buy it, but she refused, explaining that the hot spring was essential to easing her Martial Spirit’s Heart Fire. Zhang Xiaofan revealed the hardships facing commoner Soul Masters and admitted he had sold himself to nobles to afford medicine and survive.

• Zhang Xiaofan brought Dai Yao and Zhu Zhuqing to Feng Wutong’s secluded cultivation ground and asked her to sell it.
• Feng Wutong rejected Dai Yao’s offer, saying the ground was vital to her and she would never sell it.
• Dai Yao questioned Zhang Xiaofan, who explained the divide between noble and commoner factions at the academy.
• Zhang Xiaofan revealed that Feng Wutong’s Heart Fire required her to spend long periods in the hot spring.
• Zhang Xiaofan confessed that his Martial Spirit’s side effects forced him to sell himself to nobles to buy medicinal herbs, and Dai Yao comforted him as he wept.

Dai Yao threatened Feng Wutong to take her Simulated Environment, but she challenged him to settle the dispute through a Soul Master duel. They revealed their martial souls and ranks before the fight began, with Feng Wutong underestimating Dai Yao’s unusual Spirit Ring.

• Dai Yao threatened to expel Feng Wutong and target her family if she refused to give up the Simulated Environment.
• Feng Wutong proposed that she and Dai Yao duel, with the winner claiming the Simulated Environment, and Dai Yao accepted.
• Zhang Xiaofan warned Dai Yao that Feng Wutong was rank thirteen while Dai Yao had only just obtained his First Spirit Ring, but Dai Yao reassured him.
• Feng Wutong revealed her Blazing Firebird martial soul and rank thirteen Soul Power, then Dai Yao revealed his White Tiger Spirit and rank eleven Soul Power.
• Feng Wutong resolved to use her two-rank Soul Power advantage, though Dai Yao’s deep yellow First Spirit Ring made her uneasy.

Dai Yao defeated Feng Wutong by blocking her Blazing Fire Line with his White Tiger Body Barrier and revealed that Explosive Step was a Self-Created Soul Skill. Feng Wutong admitted defeat as Dai Yao left the duel victorious.

• Feng Wutong’s repeated aerial attacks failed to break through Dai Yao’s defense, so she used her First Spirit Skill, Blazing Fire Line.
• Dai Yao used Explosive Step to launch himself toward Feng Wutong, and Zhu Zhuqing realized he intended to confront the flames head-on.
• Dai Yao activated White Tiger Body Barrier, splitting Feng Wutong’s flames and revealing that Explosive Step was a Self-Created Soul Skill.
• Dai Yao pushed through the flames, grabbed Feng Wutong by the neck, and brought her down to the ground.
• Dai Yao told Feng Wutong she had lost, and she admitted defeat through tears.

Dai Yao defeated Feng Wutong and claimed her cultivation ground, but let her keep cultivating there and offered her a hundred Gold Coins. After the three made peace and settled into Feng Wutong’s thatched hut, Dai Yao and Zhu Zhuqing began cultivating through the night.

• Feng Wutong surrendered the cultivation ground to Dai Yao after losing their clash.
• Dai Yao paid Feng Wutong one hundred Gold Coins and allowed her to continue cultivating at the hot spring.
• Dai Yao told Zhang Xiaofan to send people the next day to build rooms on the grounds.
• Feng Wutong invited Dai Yao and Zhu Zhuqing to stay in her thatched hut until the rooms were ready.
• Dai Yao apologized for threatening Feng Wutong through her parents, and the three eased their tension.
• Feng Wutong was astonished when Dai Yao and Zhu Zhuqing meditated instead of sleeping.

Dai Yao cultivated beneath a waterfall and broke through to rank twelve, while Zhu Zhuqing advanced to rank ten and left to return to her family for a Spirit Ring. At Star Luo Royal Academy, Ye Nantian learned that Feng Wutong’s cultivation ground had been taken and decided to confront the person responsible.

• Feng Wutong showed Dai Yao and Zhu Zhuqing a dark cave behind the waterfall where Zhu Zhuqing could cultivate effectively.
• Dai Yao repeatedly endured the waterfall’s pressure, and after ten days he broke through to rank twelve Soul Power Level.
• Zhu Zhuqing emerged from the cave after reaching rank ten and told Dai Yao she would return to her family to obtain a Spirit Ring.
• Zhu Zhuqing said goodbye to Dai Yao, while Feng Wutong watched their closeness with envy.
• The Chaos Cyan Lotus in Dai Yao’s spiritual world unfolded its second petal when he broke through.
• Ye Nantian learned that Feng Wutong’s mimicry Cultivation Ground had been taken over and said he would go with a student to confront the culprit.

Dai Yao was barred from the nobles’ dining hall by Dai Yaming’s men and forced to eat downstairs among the Commoner Soul Masters. After enduring their mockery and leaving the cafeteria, he encountered someone unexpected.

• Dai Yao and Feng Wutong went to the academy cafeteria, where Guards initially stopped Dai Yao from entering the nobles’ floor until he showed his purple-gold card.
• The fat man serving Dai Yaming blocked Dai Yao from dining upstairs, challenged him with two Spirit Rings, and forced him to retreat downstairs.
• Dai Yaming taunted Dai Yao as he descended, while Soul Masters on the first floor mocked him for backing down.
• Feng Wutong defended Dai Yao from the crowd, but Dai Yao thanked her and told her not to get involved.
• Dai Yao left the cafeteria and saw someone unexpected outside.

Dai Yao saw Dai Mubai in a drunken, despairing state and resolved to keep strengthening himself rather than suffer the same fate. After Dai Yao continued studying and training, the Second Prince sent Ye Nantian’s subordinate to disrupt his cultivation, and the chapter left Dai Yao enduring the man’s insults beneath the waterfall.

• Dai Yao encountered Dai Mubai drinking with twin women, and Dai Mubai avoided speaking to him before leaving.
• Dai Yao spent several days studying spirit beasts and cultivating relentlessly, while Feng Wutong learned about his circumstances and admired his determination.
• Zhu Zhuqing returned after obtaining her First Spirit Ring, lost another duel to Dai Yao, and agreed to work hard alongside him.
• Dai Yaming ordered the fat man to challenge and provoke Dai Yao so he could not cultivate in peace.
• The fat man and his companions found Dai Yao beneath the waterfall, where he ignored the fat man’s challenge and insults.

Dai Yao endured the Second Prince’s fat subordinate’s insults without accepting his challenge, then cultivated while the academy mocked him as a coward. Feng Wutong defended him, and Ye Nantian arrived at his Cultivation Ground, ostensibly to teach him a lesson but intending to judge whether he was worth guiding.

• The fat man insulted Dai Yao for over ten minutes, but Dai Yao stayed silent until his Soul Power ran out and the waterfall swept him into the water.
• Dai Yao joked that he had offered the fat man water to drink, prompting the fat man to spit blood before warning that the Second Prince would deal with him.
• Dai Yao returned to his room to restore his Soul Power and vowed to make the fat man pay, while the Second Prince and First Prince spread rumors that made Dai Yao the academy’s laughingstock.
• Feng Wutong drove away two women who mocked Dai Yao and decided she had to help him.
• Ye Nantian came to Dai Yao’s Cultivation Ground, claiming he would teach Dai Yao a lesson while privately intending to see whether he deserved guidance.

Dai Yao sparred with Ye Nantian, who revealed how much stronger Soul Grandmasters were and warned him that he could not currently defeat the Second Prince. Ye Nantian advised him to develop Hidden Strength for Eight Extremes Collapse, and Dai Yao returned to cultivation determined to improve.

• Ye Nantian challenged Dai Yao to a sparring match, and Dai Yao accepted after learning Ye Nantian had come to guide him on Feng Wutong's request.
• Dai Yao used Explosive Step and Eight Extremes Collapse against Ye Nantian, but Ye Nantian blocked his attacks with Mad Lion Transformation.
• Ye Nantian trapped Dai Yao, but Dai Yao revealed his snow-white wings and escaped, prompting Ye Nantian to end the match as a draw.
• Ye Nantian assessed Dai Yao's abilities and explained that his current skills and Soul Power were insufficient to threaten a Soul Grandmaster like the Second Prince, who also possessed a Spirit Bone.
• Ye Nantian suggested that Dai Yao imbue Eight Extremes Collapse with Hidden Strength, and Dai Yao returned beneath the waterfall determined to train and close the gap.

Dai Yao experimented with compressing Soul Power to create Hidden Strength and succeeded in sending a punch’s force through a boulder. Three years later, he reached level twenty and prepared to obtain his Second Spirit Ring.

• Dai Yao found that Liquid Soul Power only increased Eight Extremes Collapse’s power by fifty percent, so he turned to compressing Soul Power to develop Hidden Strength.
• Dai Yao’s first compression attempt exploded in his right arm, but he used the Chaos Cyan Lotus to heal himself and tried again with his left arm.
• Dai Yao’s second attempt sent force through the boulder, revealing that he had successfully created Hidden Strength.
• Three years later, nine-year-old Dai Yao broke through to level twenty beneath a waterfall after years of cultivation.
• Dai Yao decided it was time to obtain his Second Spirit Ring.

After reaching level twenty, Dai Yao discovered that his Chaos Cyan Lotus had transformed into a Purple Lotus and prepared to return to his clan for a Second Spirit Ring. Zhu Zhuqing left to obtain her own ring, and an urgent warning about her at the Duel Arena interrupted Dai Yao and Feng Wutong.

• Dai Yao watched the tenth petal of his Chaos Cyan Lotus bloom into a Purple Lotus, then saw a new Chaos Cyan Lotus sprout.
• Dai Yao summoned the Purple Lotus and decided to investigate its properties himself rather than risk showing it to Tang San.
• Dai Yao reunited with Zhu Zhuqing, who congratulated him on reaching level twenty, and they comforted each other about the hardships they had endured.
• Zhu Zhuqing left to obtain her Second Spirit Ring after asking Dai Yao to meet her again when they were both Soul Grandmasters.
• Dai Yao told Feng Wutong he planned to return to his clan for his Second Spirit Ring, but a male student rushed over and warned that Zhu Zhuqing was in trouble at the Duel Arena.

Dai Yao learned that Zhu Zhuqing was in danger and rushed to the Star Luo Royal Academy’s Duel Arena, where Zhu Zhuyue had been beating her. Zhu Zhuyue prepared to kill Zhu Zhuqing as the spectators mocked Dai Yao for not appearing.

• A male student told Feng Wutong that Zhu Zhuyue was beating Zhu Zhuqing in the Duel Arena, and Dai Yao demanded to know where they were.
• Dai Yao released his Level 20 Soul Power, learned that the fight was in the Academy First Arena, and flew there using Martial Soul Possession and Explosive Step.
• Zhu Zhuyue revealed that she had challenged Zhu Zhuqing after hearing she had reached Level 20, then attacked her with First Spirit Skill, Netherworld Hundred Claws.
• Zhu Zhuqing, injured and fighting with a dislocated arm, was knocked down and spat blood as Zhu Zhuyue approached her.
• Zhu Zhuyue mocked Zhu Zhuqing’s absent fiancé and prepared to kill her while the spectators condemned Dai Yao for failing to appear.

Dai Yao saved Zhu Zhuqing from Zhu Zhuyue and accepted a duel in her place. He faced Level 25 Fatty in the arena, revealing his Level 20 White Tiger Martial Soul as the audience questioned its image of him as a coward.

• Zhu Zhuyue attacked Zhu Zhuqing, but Dai Yao arrived in a burst of white lightning and rescued her.
• Dai Yao apologized to Zhu Zhuqing and promised to take her place in the duel against Zhu Zhuyue.
• Dai Yaming ordered Zhu Zhuyue off the arena and sent Fatty to fight Dai Yao instead.
• Fatty revealed his Level 25 War Mammoth Martial Soul and threatened Dai Yao.
• Dai Yao revealed his Level 20 White Tiger Martial Soul and took a battle stance as the audience reacted in disbelief.

Dai Yao used his training and Eight Extremes Collapse to defeat the Fatty in their duel, then brutally punished him for insulting his mother and Zhu Qing. Exhausted after three punches, Dai Yao collapsed to his knees as the spectators recognized his strength.

• The Fatty charged Dai Yao with his first Spirit Skill, War Collision, while the spectators expected Dai Yao to lose.
• Dai Yao met the Fatty head-on with Eight Extremes Collapse, then used its hidden strength to paralyze the Fatty with pain.
• Dai Yao broke the Fatty's arm and stopped him from admitting defeat by striking him in the mouth.
• Dai Yao delivered three more punches, saying they were for his mother, Zhu Qing, and himself.
• Dai Yao collapsed from exhaustion, and the arena fell silent after witnessing him defeat the Soul Grandmaster.