Chapter Summaries

After escaping the Valley of Qiankun's Love Inquiry, Jiang Ming let himself be captured by Holy Spirit Cult Evil Soul Masters, defeated them, and learned they had been testing the valley. He traveled to the Far North to find the Ice Empress, only to discover that she had disappeared.

• Jiang Ming left the Valley of Qiankun's Love Inquiry and found the other captured Soul Masters surrounded by black-clad men outside.
• Jiang Ming pretended to be weak and let the Evil Soul Masters capture him so he could investigate their purpose.
• Jiang Ming defeated the Evil Soul Masters, used Mind Control on their leader, and learned that the Holy Spirit Cult was testing the Valley of Qiankun's Love Inquiry.
• Jiang Ming discovered that the captured Soul Masters had been killed, buried their bodies, and set off for the Far North by way of Ice Snow City.
• Jiang Ming reached the Ice Jade Scorpion clan and learned from one of its elders that the Ice Empress had disappeared.

Jiang Ming returned to Clear Water City after exploring the Far North, where he spared the Titan Snow Demon King and considered how to strengthen the War God inheritance. After reconnecting with Old Nie and Aunt Lan, he went to spar with Nie Heng and began their fight by charging at him.

• Jiang Ming defeated the Titan Snow Demon King in their sparring bout but spared it because killing the last of the Far North's Three Kings could cause trouble for Clear Water City, and he considered seeking God-Bestowed Soul Rings through the War God's inheritance.
• Jiang Ming flew back to Clear Water City, where the guards mistook him for a possible threat until he revealed himself as the Young City Lord.
• Jiang Ming reunited with Old Nie and Aunt Lan, reassured them that he and Zhang Lexuan had not quarreled, and said he planned to marry her after finishing his important work.
• Old Nie asked Jiang Ming about his Shrek Academy studies and challenged him to spar at Clear Water City's Battle Arena.
• Nie Heng revealed that he had become a Rank Eight Soul Douluo and invited Jiang Ming to attack first, so Jiang Ming charged at him.

Jiang Ming returned to Shrek after sparring with Nie Heng and gathering beasts for Our World, but a Body Sect elder ambushed him outside the city to recruit him as the sect’s next leader. When the Golden Body Douluo tried to take him by force, Jiang Ming escaped his spatial prison and struck him hard enough to send him flying.

• Jiang Ming defeated Nie Heng with one restrained punch, healed him, and revealed that he could probably fight a Titled Douluo.
• Two days later, Jiang Ming left Nie Heng and Aunt Lan, traveled toward Shrek while collecting beasts for Our World, and reached Shrek City two evenings later.
• Jiang Ming sensed an old man following him in the forest and confronted the Golden Body Douluo, who identified him from a portrait and offered him the Body Sect’s Young Sect Master position.
• Jiang Ming refused to join the Body Sect, but the Golden Body Douluo tried to imprison and abduct him by force.
• Jiang Ming repeatedly escaped the Golden Body Douluo’s spatial prison and landed a punch that sent the elder flying, then recognized his Golden Second Awakening and torso Body Martial Soul.

Jiang Ming returned to Shrek Academy after years away, fought off the Golden Body Douluo, and astonished the Sea God Pavilion Elders with his strength and new abilities. As he recounted his adventures, he noticed Mu En’s life force was fading, leaving the reason for his decline unresolved.

• Jiang Ming activated his Golden True Body and overpowered the Golden Body Douluo until Elder Xuan intervened, prompting the attacker to retreat.
• Elder Xuan escorted Jiang Ming back to the Sea God Pavilion, where the Elders had gathered to hear about his return and recent experiences.
• Jiang Ming sensed that Mu En’s life force was declining unusually quickly, but Mu En asked him to tell the Elders about his journey instead of answering his concern.
• Jiang Ming described his encounter and battle with the Ice Empress, startling the Elders with the danger he had faced.
• Xuan Zi told the Elders that Jiang Ming’s strength could no longer be suppressed by anyone present except Mu En.

Jiang Ming returned to Shrek Academy, where the Elders discovered he had reached Soul Power Level Eighty-Four and gained a Four Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring. After discussing his growth and Shrek’s future, he went to reunite with Zhang Lexuan, who failed to recognize him and cautiously stepped back.

• The Elders were stunned when Jiang Ming revealed his Soul Power had reached Level Eighty-Four, and Mu En detected that it needed stabilizing.
• Mu En asked Xuan Zi, Elder Song, and Elder Lin to spar with Jiang Ming, then urged Yan Shaozhe to resume training after his stagnation shook his confidence.
• Jiang Ming told the Elders he had received a Four Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring by clearing the trials in the Valley of Qiankun's Love Inquiry, and Mu En suspected a higher existence was behind the place.
• Xian Lin'er encouraged Jiang Ming to visit Zhang Lexuan before helping the Soul Tool Department, and he went to their house late that night.
• Jiang Ming greeted Zhang Lexuan warmly, but she did not recognize him and stepped half a pace back.

Jiang Ming reunited with Zhang Lexuan after returning safely from his undercover mission, and they spent a quiet night together. The next morning, he reflected on becoming a Rank 9 Soul Master so he could bring advanced technology back to Shrek and live with Zhang Lexuan.

• Jiang Ming surprised Zhang Lexuan in her room, and she gradually recognized him despite his changed appearance.
• Jiang Ming and Zhang Lexuan embraced and shared how much they had missed each other during his absence.
• Jiang Ming cooled his surging Bloodline Power with Little Ice, then he and Zhang Lexuan went to sleep without consummating their relationship.
• Jiang Ming woke early, tucked Zhang Lexuan beneath the blanket, and resolved to become a Rank 9 Soul Master before returning to Shrek for good.
• Jiang Ming made breakfast and woke Zhang Lexuan, who smiled at him but complained that she could get out of bed on her own.

Jiang Ming reunited with Zhang Lexuan and spent a peaceful day with her around Shrek Academy, while wrestling with his feelings about other women. Their walk was interrupted by Bai Yifan, who appeared jealous and was confused when Jiang Ming introduced himself.

• Jiang Ming told Zhang Lexuan he could stay for several months, and they agreed to spend the day together instead of cultivating.
• Jiang Ming and Zhang Lexuan walked beside Sea God Lake and discussed how their former companions were doing.
• Zhang Lexuan asked why Jiang Ming had avoided asking about Ma Xiaotao and Ling Luochen, and he nervously asked how they were.
• Bai Yifan approached Zhang Lexuan and introduced himself to Jiang Ming, whose hand he had seen holding hers.
• Bai Yifan reacted with confusion when Jiang Ming gave his name because he had expected Zhang Lexuan's partner to look different.

Jiang Ming reunited with Zhang Lexuan and rebuffed Bai Yifan’s attempt to drive a wedge between them. After deciding to make a stir in the Inner Court, Jiang Ming and Zhang Lexuan visited the Outer Court, where he learned that his old training habits had inspired students to exercise.

• Bai Yifan tried to provoke Jiang Ming and Zhang Lexuan by mentioning Zhang Lexuan’s loneliness, but Jiang Ming embraced and kissed her instead.
• Bai Yifan left in frustration after realizing his attempt to sow discord had failed.
• Jiang Ming and Zhang Lexuan discussed Bai Yifan, and Jiang Ming decided to make an example of someone in the Inner Court, possibly through a large-scale Soul Battle.
• Zhang Lexuan suggested they visit the Outer Court to greet their former teachers, and the two walked across Sea God Lake together.
• Jiang Ming saw Outer Court students running before class and learned that his morning exercise routine had inspired them to do the same.

Jiang Ming visited the Outer Court with Zhang Lexuan and was recognized by Zhou Yi after she struggled to identify his changed appearance. Zhou Yi invited him to substitute for her class, and he ended the chapter asking the students what they wanted to hear.

• Jiang Ming and Zhang Lexuan met Zhou Yi outside the third-year classroom.
• Zhou Yi recognized Jiang Ming and asked him to teach her students a class because they had been eager to meet him.
• Zhou Yi introduced Jiang Ming as the substitute teacher, and the students excitedly turned their attention to him.
• Jiang Ming greeted the class, admitted Zhou Yi had dragged him into teaching, and asked the students what they wanted to hear.

Jiang Ming explained how talent, effort, and opportunity shaped a Soul Master's strength, then tested Zhou Sichen's resolve by making him endure intense pain. The class ended with Zhou Sichen discovering that the ordeal had strengthened his Soul Power and cleared his meridians, while Cao Jinxuan and a few others volunteered to try.

• A student asked Jiang Ming how he had become a Soul Saint at twenty, and Jiang Ming discussed the roles of effort, talent, and opportunity.
• When the student insisted he wanted to become as strong as Jiang Ming, Jiang Ming subjected him to intense pain and asked whether he still wanted to learn his methods.
• Zhou Yi moved to intervene, but Jiang Ming assured her the ordeal would not harm the student.
• Jiang Ming lifted Zhou Sichen into the air and pressed him for an answer, and Zhou Sichen shouted that he still wanted to become stronger.
• Jiang Ming praised Zhou Sichen's resolve and challenged the rest of the class, prompting Cao Jinxuan and a few other students to volunteer.
• Zhou Sichen lay gasping at his desk, pleased to feel stronger Soul Power and cleared meridians.

Jiang Ming taught Zhou Yi’s class about Soul Tool choices and advised students on how their Martial Souls could guide their studies. The chapter ended with Zhang Lexuan looking forward to the tournament in a little over three years, when Jiang Ming said his important work would be possible to finish.

• Jiang Ming asked the students to choose between the Martial Soul Department and the Soul Tool Department, and more than twice as many students chose the Martial Soul Department.
• Jiang Ming recommended Soul Tool setups for the Martial Soul Department students, then drank Water of Life Zhang Lexuan gave him and advised the Soul Tool Department students on research directions.
• Zhou Yi asked Zhang Lexuan when she and Jiang Ming would marry, and Zhang Lexuan said Jiang Ming had asked her to wait a few more years because of important academy work.
• Zhang Lexuan told Zhou Yi the work could be finished before the next tournament, which was more than three years away.
• When the dismissal bell rang, Jiang Ming promised to finish explaining things to the final student, a petite girl who had chosen the Soul Tool Department.

Jiang Ming finished teaching and began his confidential work at Shrek Academy’s Soul Tool Department, where he reunited with Qian Duoduo and Fan Yu. After revealing that he had reached Rank 8, he joined a department now counting several promising successors as it pursued further advances.

• Jiang Ming finished teaching his students and walked through the Outer Court with Zhang Lexuan, learning that Mu En had taken Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong as disciples.
• Zhang Lexuan urged Jiang Ming to get on with his work, and he left for the Soul Tool Department after promising to return.
• Jiang Ming arrived at Large Laboratory Number One as Qian Duoduo and Fan Yu’s experimental Rank 8 Core Magic Array destabilized and exploded behind protective barriers.
• Jiang Ming revealed himself to Fan Yu, who recognized him as Xiao Ming, and told Qian Duoduo and Fan Yu that he had reached Rank 8 as a Soul Engineer.
• Qian Duoduo celebrated the Soul Tool Department’s rising talents, including Jiang Ming, Fan Yu, and Huo Yuhao, as potential successors.

Jiang Ming told Qian Duoduo and Fan Yu to gather trustworthy Soul Tool Department teachers so they could use the techniques and blueprints he had obtained from Bright Virtue Hall. After discovering that the Rank 8 Core Magic Array Qian Duoduo had purchased was Jiang Ming’s failed design, he showed Qian Duoduo the Sky Piercer Spear and described his advances in Humanoid Soul Tools and Rare Metal reinforcement.

• Jiang Ming asked Qian Duoduo and Fan Yu to gather the Soul Tool Department’s teachers, and Qian Duoduo stressed that they had to be absolutely trustworthy.
• Qian Duoduo asked Jiang Ming to inspect a Rank 8 Core Magic Array that had exploded during two tests.
• Jiang Ming recognized the array as a failed design he had created at Bright Virtue Hall and explained that its fatal flaws made it impossible to activate safely.
• Qian Duoduo realized Bright Virtue Hall had sold the Soul Tool Department Jiang Ming’s discarded design, then agreed to abandon it.
• Jiang Ming presented Qian Duoduo with the Sky Piercer Spear and said its metal had been strengthened by an entire level.

Jiang Ming showed Qian Duoduo how the Sky Piercer Spear had gained a trace of soul after powerful hammering, then urged the Soul Tool Department to focus on catching up with Bright Virtue Hall. He began training Shrek’s Soul Engineers with Sun Moon Empire blueprints and started planning a large-scale defensive Soul Tool array for Shrek City and Clear Water City.

• Jiang Ming explained that the Sky Piercer Spear developed a trace of soul after enduring eighty-one strikes of the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer, and Qian Duoduo considered how metal tempering might be developed further.
• Jiang Ming and Qian Duoduo agreed that improving Soul Tool technology and catching up with Bright Virtue Hall had to remain the Soul Tool Department’s priority.
• Fan Yu brought thirty-six Rank 6-or-higher Soul Masters to the experimental design center, where Jiang Ming shared Soul Tool blueprints from Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy and offered to answer their questions.
• Jiang Ming considered Shrek Academy’s vulnerability to a Beast Tide and Mu En’s possible departure, then began drafting a plan for a large-scale defensive Soul Tool array.

Jiang Ming drafted a preliminary plan for a large-scale defensive Soul Tool array to protect Shrek Academy and Shrek City, while helping the Soul Tool Department learn advanced techniques. The project remained far beyond the department’s current capabilities, but its Soul Engineers began rapidly studying the designs he shared.

• Jiang Ming mapped out a proposed defensive array covering Shrek City, the Outer Court, and the Inner Court, with Sea God Pavilion as its core.
• Jiang Ming explained differences in Bright Virtue Hall’s Core Magic Array inscription methods to a recruited Soul Engineer.
• Jiang Ming simulated a five-node array that could form a hemispherical shield, and set the goal of resisting Rank 9 Fixed Soul Cannonballs and Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts.
• Jiang Ming recalled that Jing Hongchen had placed eight Fixed Soul Tools outside Shrek City, and recognized how devastating an attack could have been without Mu En.
• Jiang Ming spent the day answering Soul Engineers’ questions, then spent the following week teaching advanced Core Magic Array designs and research concepts.
• The Advanced Soul Masters worked intensively in the laboratory, studying and solving problems from before dawn until late at night.

After a month of intensive Soul Tool research, Jiang Ming was summoned to spar with Shrek Academy’s Titled Douluo and stabilize his Soul Power. At the secluded practice grounds, Elder Xuan chose several opponents for him to face together.

• Qian Duoduo ordered Jiang Ming to stop working and rest, but Elder Xuan called and asked him to come train with the Elders.
• Jiang Ming and Qian Duoduo went to Sea God Island, where more than a dozen Titled Douluo, Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong, and Xiao Xiao had gathered.
• Zhang Lexuan led the group to a secluded valley so Jiang Ming’s sparring would not damage the academy.
• Elder Xuan told Jiang Ming to choose opponents, then pointed out Gong Changlong, Shi Xing, and the others below level ninety-five and ordered them to fight Jiang Ming together.

Jiang Ming faced five Titled Douluo in a group spar and revealed three increasingly powerful Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings, including a Four Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring. As he attacked with overwhelming Bloodline Power, Ice Empress realized his seventh Soul Ring had not come from a Soul Beast.

• Xuan Zi ordered five Titled Douluo to fight Jiang Ming together, and they released their standard Soul Ring Configurations.
• Jiang Ming revealed three red Soul Rings, which Gong Changlong identified as Hundred-Thousand-Year, Two-Hundred-Thousand-Year, and Four Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings.
• Gong Changlong questioned whether Jiang Ming's Soul Rings were simulated, and Jiang Ming answered by unleashing his Bloodline Power.
• Jiang Ming used Heart Tremor to disrupt the hearts of the five Titled Douluo and nearly kill the three young Soul Masters watching from above.
• Ice Empress told Huo Yuhao that Jiang Ming's seventh Soul Ring had not been produced by a Soul Beast.

Huo Yuhao learned that Jiang Ming’s four-hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring was likely God-Bestowed, then watched five Titled Douluo launch a coordinated assault on him. Jiang Ming broke free and turned his attack on Time Douluo Shi Xing, the greatest threat in the fight.

• Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and the Ice Empress concluded that Jiang Ming’s four-hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring was probably God-Bestowed, though it did not guarantee he would become a god.
• Yan Shaozhe urged Huo Yuhao to watch as Shi Xing trapped Jiang Ming in a Spatial Cage while Gong Changlong, a sword-wielding Titled Douluo, and an agility-type Titled Douluo attacked him.
• Jiang Ming activated Golden Guard and his enhancement skills, but Shi Xing reversed the flow of time on his spear thrust while Gong Changlong’s flames and the sword wielder’s attack drove him into a cliff.
• A plant-type Titled Douluo bound Jiang Ming and took his Sky Piercer Spear, but Jiang Ming freed the spear, shattered the vines, and broke loose from the cliff.
• Jiang Ming announced that he would counterattack, then charged at Shi Xing and activated Spiritual Shock, Ruler of the World, and Power of Indestructible Body.

Jiang Ming used his strength and abilities to eliminate Time Douluo Shi Xing, the Agility type Titled Douluo, and the plant-type Titled Douluo. He then triggered the effects of Heart Tremor and Golden Pull on the two remaining opponents, leaving their bodies and Soul Power in chaos.

• Jiang Ming interrupted Time Douluo Shi Xing's Time Stop and struck him out of the battle.
• Jiang Ming repelled the Agility type Titled Douluo and then targeted the plant-type Titled Douluo, whose vines had filled the valley.
• Jiang Ming used Soul Chaser to locate the plant-type Titled Douluo, transformed into lightning to eliminate the Agility type Titled Douluo, and reached the plant-type Titled Douluo before the others could protect him.
• The plant-type Titled Douluo withdrew his vines and accepted elimination, leaving Beast King Gong Changlong and the Sword Martial Soul Titled Douluo as Jiang Ming's remaining opponents.
• Jiang Ming activated Golden Pull after keeping Heart Tremor active throughout the battle, causing Gong Changlong and the Sword Martial Soul Titled Douluo's blood, vitality, and Soul Power to erupt into chaos.

Jiang Ming faced a second sparring match, this time against eight Sea God Pavilion Super Douluo, and unleashed his full power after they quickly overwhelmed him. As the battle escalated, Elder Yi revealed to Tian Meng and the Ice Empress that Jiang Ming already had a Deity Inheritance.

• Xuan Zi arrived with the Elders and rebuked five Titled Douluo for failing to defeat Jiang Ming, then arranged for the Elders to spar with him.
• Xuan Zi and Elder Song immediately attacked Jiang Ming, injuring him and forcing him to defend against Elder Song’s Azure Shadow Storm.
• The Elders released their Martial Souls as Lin Hui'an warned Jiang Ming not to hold back.
• Jiang Ming activated his Golden abilities, fused his domains, and covered the valley with threatening thunderclouds.
• Gong Changlong and the others realized Jiang Ming had used less than thirty percent of his strength in their earlier fight.
• Elder Yi appeared in Huo Yuhao’s Sea of Consciousness and told Tian Meng and the Ice Empress that Jiang Ming already had a Deity Inheritance.