Chapter Summaries

Four-year-old Zhou Qing gathered mushrooms near Holy Soul Village while reflecting on his past-life memories, his parents’ unexplained deaths, and his hope of becoming a Soul Master. He deliberately used mushroom picking to meet Tang San and began building a friendship with him.

• Zhou Qing recalled that he was a transmigrator, two years away from awakening his Martial Soul, and determined to investigate his parents’ deaths once he gained strength.
• Zhou Qing reflected on how Old Jack and the villagers had helped raise him using income from his parents’ property.
• Zhou Qing carried mushrooms down the hillside, intending to use the outing as an opportunity to meet Tang San.
• Zhou Qing met Tang San, who had also come to pick mushrooms, and greeted him warmly.

Zhou Qing recalled how his friendship with Tang San began when they were two, as they bonded over gathering food and their lonely childhoods. In the present, Zhou Qing invited Tang San to breakfast, and afterward the two set out to do something together.

• Zhou Qing met Tang San while they were picking mushrooms, then visited Tang San's cramped home and helped him clean.
• Zhou Qing and Tang San grew closer as Zhou Qing taught him to identify edible wild plants and quietly asked how he understood his past and present lives.
• Tang San affirmed that he was still Tang San and resolved to rebuild the Tang Sect, while Zhou Qing pretended not to hear him.
• Zhou Qing invited Tang San to breakfast, and they ate rice porridge with mushrooms before heading out together.

Zhou Qing and Tang San brought firewood to Old Jack, whose thoughts revealed his harsh judgment of Tang Hao and his hopes for Tang San. Back at Zhou Qing’s house, Zhou Qing showed Tang San the folding ladder leading to the second floor, a design Tang San had once helped him have forged.

• Zhou Qing and Tang San delivered firewood to Old Jack, who praised them and privately blamed Tang Hao for Tang San’s difficult childhood.
• Old Jack reflected that Zhou Qing’s friendship had helped Tang San become more cheerful and believed Tang San would have a brighter future than Tang Hao.
• Zhou Qing invited Tang San to live with him, but Tang San declined and followed him into his room.
• Zhou Qing pulled a rope that lowered a ceiling panel and unfolded the ladder to his house’s second floor.
• Tang San recalled that Zhou Qing had paid him to take the folding-ladder design to Tang Hao and have it forged.

Zhou Qing taught Tang San to read and studied books about martial souls to prepare for the future. Tang San learned about spirit rings from a fairy tale, while Zhou Qing hoped the stories would help him recognize Yu Xiaogang's limitations.

• Zhou Qing brought Tang San to his book-filled second floor and reflected on the errors in Yu Xiaogang's Ten Core Theories of Martial Souls.
• Zhou Qing gave Tang San a notebook and learned that Tang San had mastered all the commonly used characters.
• Zhou Qing began studying books on martial souls, Soul Tools, and soul beasts, while Tang San chose a fairy tale to read.
• Tang San read about a Rice Stalk Martial Soul user whose animal spirit ring brought little benefit and who eventually became one of the Fallen Ones.
• Tang San concluded that Plant Martial Souls should generally absorb spirit rings from Plant Soul Beasts.

Zhou Qing explained why he was cultivating Tang San’s trust and discussed how Blue Silver Grass should develop by drawing Spirit Rings from Plant Soul Beasts. He gave Tang San a document about his planned First Spirit Ring, leaving Tang San reading its notes on Blue Silver Grass.

• Zhou Qing reasoned that he needed to build his own backing and viewed Tang San as a future ally, while his attempt to connect with Spirit Hall through Su Yuntao had failed.
• Tang San asked how credible a storybook’s advice was, and Zhou Qing explained that Blue Silver Grass should favor Plant Soul Beasts to strengthen its vitality rather than imitate the attacks of other Martial Souls.
• Tang San accepted Zhou Qing’s reasoning and asked whether he was planning for his own Martial Soul; Zhou Qing said his parents both had Blue Silver Grass.
• Tang San considered whether his own Martial Soul would match one of his parents’ and asked Zhou Qing what Soul Beast he would choose for his First Spirit Ring.
• Zhou Qing handed Tang San a prepared document, and Tang San began reading its description of Blue Silver Grass’s traits.

Zhou Qing explained why Wolf Bristle Grass would be a strong First Spirit Ring choice for a Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul and described its life-storing Soul Skill to Tang San. Tang San wondered about his own Martial Soul and guessed that his blacksmith father wielded a hammer Martial Soul.

• Zhou Qing reasoned that a Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul should prioritize vitality, resilience, and softness, while Tang San could focus on vitality because of his hidden fighting techniques.
• Zhou Qing recommended a hundred-year Wolf Bristle Grass Spirit Ring, explaining that Accumulate Life could amplify Soul Skills, strengthen the body, and protect vital meridians.
• Tang San was amazed by the benefits of Soul Skills and asked why no one had tested Wolf Bristle Grass older than ten thousand years.
• Zhou Qing explained that powerful Wolf Bristle Grass had become rare from overhunting and hoped his warnings would influence Tang San's outlook.
• Tang San asked Zhou Qing to analyze his Martial Soul, and after hearing about hammer-type Tool Martial Souls, guessed that Tang Hao had a hammer Martial Soul.

Zhou Qing explained his theories about Martial Soul growth and Soul Power circulation, while Tang San compared Spirit Hall’s basic meditation method with the Mysterious Heaven Skill. The chapter left Tang San viewing this world’s cultivation system as convenient but poorly understood, pending his Martial Soul awakening in two years.

• Zhou Qing proposed that Beast Martial Soul users gradually transformed as they advanced, and used a hypothetical Yellow Ox wielder to compare farming with city work.
• Tang San considered how his father’s blacksmithing showed that people did not have to choose their livelihoods based on their Martial Souls.
• Tang San read Spirit Hall’s elementary meditation technique and recognized its Soul Power circulation diagram as a basic Ren and Du Meridian route.
• Zhou Qing speculated that stronger Martial Souls provided more detailed cultivation routes, while Tang San concluded that Soul Masters lacked a deep understanding of the body.
• Tang San wondered whether Spirit Hall’s method omitted breathing principles and reserved judgment until he awakened his Martial Soul two years later.

Tang San asked Tang Hao about his and his mother’s Martial Souls, but Tang Hao refused to answer and privately wondered whether Tang San was truly his son. Tang San then joined Zhou Qing at a waterfall, where they discussed body training, cultivation, and a local legend about a turtle Soul Beast.

• Tang San asked Tang Hao what Martial Souls he and his wife had, but Tang Hao told him to wait until his own Martial Soul awakened.
• After Tang San left, Tang Hao reflected on Tang San’s early cultivation and unusual maturity, wondering if he was really his son and lamenting Spirit Hall’s role in his situation.
• Tang San found Zhou Qing bathing beneath a waterfall and joined him in the pool.
• Zhou Qing explained that he used natural surroundings to temper his body and explore how the world’s energy affected him.
• Zhou Qing described a local story in which villagers fought a Hundred-Year turtle Soul Beast that had attacked a child, though the creature escaped back into the stream.

Zhou Qing and Tang San caught and ate a Great White Carp that turned out to be a Soul Beast, discovering that its meat slightly improved their bodies and cultivation. Tang San resolved to create Hidden Weapons powerful enough to surpass the Tang Sect’s greatest weapons and considered learning from Soul Tool books at Zhou Qing’s home.

• Tang San asked Zhou Qing whether the legend of the Spirit Rhyme Turtle was real, and Zhou Qing offered two possible explanations for the tale.
• A Great White Carp fell into the pool beneath the Waterfall, and Zhou Qing and Tang San caught it together.
• Zhou Qing killed the carp and discovered a white Soul Ring beside its body, revealing that it was a Soul Beast.
• Zhou Qing and Tang San grilled and ate the carp, then Tang San sensed slight improvements in his physical constitution and Mysterious Heaven Skill Internal Energy.
• Tang San resolved to create Hidden Weapons surpassing the Tang Sect’s greatest designs and thought Zhou Qing’s Soul Tool books might help him.

Zhou Qing and Tang San investigated the stream after discovering that its Great White Carp was a Soul Beast. They found a wounded Hundred-Year Spirit Rhyme Turtle hunting in the water, and Zhou Qing considered salvaging its meat.

• Zhou Qing asked Tang San to investigate upstream with him after realizing that something had bitten the Great White Carp.
• Zhou Qing and Tang San concealed their scents with mud and climbed across a fallen tree to watch the murky stretch of stream.
• Zhou Qing and Tang San saw a black-shelled turtle catch a Great White Carp in its jaws.
• Tang San recognized the turtle as a possible Hundred-Year Spirit Rhyme Turtle and pointed out its old cracked shell.
• Zhou Qing decided the turtle would likely die soon and thought they could cut away its rotten parts for food.

Zhou Qing explained the Spirit Rhyme Turtle’s Sleep Soul Skill and argued that it could support Spiritual Power cultivation, while Tang San recognized the insight behind his reasoning. Zhou Qing then described how a thousand-year Spirit Rhyme Turtle could nurture a plant Soul Beast on its back, beginning a long symbiosis that could let the turtle live indefinitely.

• The Spirit Rhyme Turtle killed and ate an ordinary Great White Carp, and Zhou Qing identified the turtle as two to three hundred years old by the rings on its shell.
• Zhou Qing explained that Hundred-Year Spirit Rhyme Turtles provided a self-targeted Sleep Soul Skill, which most Soul Masters considered useless.
• Zhou Qing suggested that Sleep could improve Spiritual Power through regular rest, and Tang San connected the idea to cultivation methods from his past life.
• Zhou Qing said some Soul Masters chose thousand-year Spirit Rhyme Turtles as Soul Rings, then explained that their shells cracked open and they nurtured plant seeds.
• Zhou Qing described how the plant and turtle gradually fused into a symbiotic pair, with the plant becoming a Soul Beast of equal cultivation.

Zhou Qing explained the thousand-year Spirit Rhyme Turtle’s Soul Skill, Martial Soul Fusion Premonition, and speculated that it also helped Soul Skills work together more smoothly. He and Tang San then considered why the injured two-hundred-year turtle had aquatic plants growing on its shell and how it had made the deep stream its home.

• Zhou Qing explained that Martial Soul Fusion Skills combined two compatible Martial Souls into a new one, while the Spirit Rhyme Turtle’s Soul Skill could improve compatibility between them.
• Zhou Qing said Spirit Rhyme Turtles were rarely older than a thousand years and that choosing a partner for Martial Soul Fusion prevented choosing another later.
• Zhou Qing speculated that a thousand-year Spirit Rhyme Turtle’s Soul Ring could reduce conflicts between Soul Skills and make their transitions faster.
• Tang San wondered whether the turtle had planted vegetation on its shell in advance, and Zhou Qing guessed it had done so while recovering from its injuries.
• Zhou Qing concluded that the injured turtle had dug the deep stretch of stream for its home and had probably raised the Great White Carp.

Zhou Qing reconsidered hunting the injured Spirit Rhyme Turtle after suspecting that something beneath the stream had turned its Great White Carp into soul beasts. He asked Tang San whether they could heal the turtle, and Tang San sympathized with its struggle to survive.

• Zhou Qing questioned whether the damaged, two-hundred-year Spirit Rhyme Turtle could gather spiritual energy and suspected its injuries had tormented it for decades.
• Tang San asked Zhou Qing how they should kill the turtle, but Zhou Qing abandoned the hunting plan and explained that the turtle could not have transformed the Great White Carp by itself.
• Zhou Qing and Tang San concluded that something beneath the murky stream must have turned ordinary carp into soul beasts, but they chose not to investigate the dangerous water.
• After watching the turtle return to the stream, Zhou Qing asked Tang San whether they could heal it and explained why he wanted to help it survive.
• Tang San thought of his own and Zhou Qing's hardships and felt that they shared the turtle's fate.

Tang San and Zhou Qing watched a Soul Ring vanish and discussed how Soul Rings enabled Soul Masters to use Soul Beast abilities. Zhou Qing concluded that Martial Soul compatibility with a Soul Ring’s Soul Beast determined how readily its skills could be used.

• Tang San asked how Zhou Qing planned to treat the Spirit Rhyme Turtle, and Zhou Qing explained a folk remedy using Blue Silver Grass, carp scales, and Yellow Potato Powder.
• Tang San and Zhou Qing returned to the waterfall, washed their muddy clothes, and decided to watch the white Soul Ring disappear.
• Tang San saw faint fish-scale patterns appear on the Soul Ring before it trembled, cracked, and shattered.
• Zhou Qing excitedly connected the patterns to how Soul Rings stored Soul Skills and explained that a Martial Soul needed to match the Soul Beast that produced its Soul Ring.

Zhou Qing theorized that Soul Rings contained Soul Beast Soul Power circulation routes and that Soul Skills might be integrated into a Soul Master's own cultivation. Tang San saw how his Mysterious Heaven Skill and four abilities already worked that way, while Zhou Qing recorded his ideas and compared Soul Master cultivation to assembling models without instructions.

• Zhou Qing speculated that Soul Rings preserved the Soul Power circulation routes behind Soul Beast abilities, and Tang San realized his Mysterious Heaven Skill and four abilities already formed a more integrated system.
• Zhou Qing wondered whether Soul Masters could connect Soul Skills directly to their own Soul Power routes and make them grow with cultivation, and Tang San concluded it might be possible.
• Zhou Qing lamented that he could not awaken his Martial Soul yet or travel to Nuoding City to buy more books, recalling why villagers left their children behind when selling grain.
• Tang San returned to the blacksmith shop, cooked for Tang Hao, and asked permission to use an iron plate to forge Hidden Weapons; Tang Hao allowed it as long as he did not damage the forge.
• Zhou Qing recorded his deductions about Soul Rings and compared Soul Master cultivation to building toy models without instructions, while established clans and sects had likely developed near-finished designs.

Zhou Qing and Tang San lured the Spirit Rhyme Turtle ashore with medicated rice balls and discovered an unknown plant growing beneath the Ox Hair Felt on its shell. After cleaning the turtle’s wounds, Zhou Qing treated the remaining growth with Yellow Potato Powder.

• Zhou Qing and Tang San prepared medicated rice balls and a poison-coated Bamboo Leaf Dart to deal with the Spirit Rhyme Turtle.
• The Spirit Rhyme Turtle ate the rice balls and fell into a deep sleep, allowing the boys to approach it safely.
• Tang San found a black plant with jade-like leaves growing beneath the Ox Hair Felt and recognized its effect on his cultivation.
• Zhou Qing examined the plant and said it cleared the mind, but he could not identify its species without more medical books.
• Zhou Qing and Tang San removed snails, insects, and Ox Hair Felt from the turtle’s shell, then Zhou Qing poured Yellow Potato Powder around the unknown seedling.

Zhou Qing showed Tang San Soul Tool diagrams and suggested that their guiding inscriptions might improve his Bamboo Leaf Darts. Inspired by the idea and memories of his past life, Tang San resolved to surpass the Tang Sect, while Zhou Qing demonstrated how a folded paper airplane flew farther than a flat sheet.

• Zhou Qing and Tang San treated the Spirit Rhyme Turtle's cracked shell with Yellow Potato Powder, then caught and grilled two Great White Carp.
• Zhou Qing showed Tang San a book about everyday Soul Tools, and Tang San noticed that the inscriptions on Soul Tool Fans were nearly identical.
• Tang San realized those inscriptions might make Hidden Weapons spin faster and resolved to improve them and surpass the Tang Sect.
• Zhou Qing suggested engraving the inscriptions on Bamboo Leaf Darts and compared their possible flight with a paper airplane.
• Tang San questioned Zhou Qing's name for the paper airplane, and Zhou Qing explained that he had called it a Paper Flying Chicken.

Tang San developed the Wind Leaf Dart and joined Zhou Qing to continue treating the Spirit Rhyme Turtle, whose strange plant had grown a third leaf. Their curiosity about soul beasts and martial souls left both boys eager to grow up and awaken their martial souls.

• Tang San used Soul Guiding Inscriptions to create the curving, nearly silent Wind Leaf Dart and wondered about the power of offensive Soul Tools.
• Tang San went to find Zhou Qing, then headed to the Spirit Rhyme Turtle when Zhou Qing was not home.
• Zhou Qing and Tang San treated the Spirit Rhyme Turtle, which basked on a rock afterward while the plant on its shell displayed a third leaf.
• Zhou Qing told Tang San that books from Nuoding City had not identified the plant and that the continent remained largely unexplored.
• Tang San and Zhou Qing expressed their eagerness to grow up and awaken their martial souls.

Zhou Qing and Tang San returned to Holy Soul Village, where Old Jack warned them about the river and recounted the legend of the village’s Soul Saint. Zhou Qing recognized that the Soul Saint’s mysterious tree martial soul resembled the plant on the Spirit Rhyme Turtle, while Old Jack waited for the Spirit Hall Soul Master to arrive for the children’s martial soul awakenings.

• Old Jack scolded Zhou Qing and Tang San for getting wet, and Tang San explained that he had been inspecting the stream as a possible water source for the blacksmith shop.
• Old Jack offered to persuade Tang Hao to find work in Nuoding City and spoke about the costs and prospects of becoming a Soul Master.
• Old Jack told Tang San the story of Holy Soul Village’s Soul Saint, whose unknown tree martial soul had a black trunk and gemstone-like leaves.
• Zhou Qing connected the Soul Saint’s martial soul to the plant growing on the Spirit Rhyme Turtle and wondered whether the Soul Saint had died near the village.
• Tang San asked why Old Jack was waiting at the village entrance, and Old Jack said he was there to welcome the Spirit Hall Soul Master for the children’s martial soul awakenings.

Zhou Qing and Tang San secretly watched Su Yuntao conduct the Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony and learned how the Awakening Stones worked. Tang San recorded their glowing patterns, while Su Yuntao left Holy Soul Village after none of the four children showed Soul Power.

• Su Yuntao arrived in Holy Soul Village and led Old Jack and four children to the Spirit Hall for the ceremony.
• Zhou Qing and Tang San climbed to a window to watch, and Zhou Qing explained Su Yuntao's Beast Martial Soul possession.
• Su Yuntao awakened the first child's sickle Martial Soul, but the child's Soul Power test showed nothing.
• Tang San used the Purple Demon Eye to record the patterns revealed in the Awakening Stones as the remaining children underwent awakening.
• Su Yuntao told Old Jack that none of the four children had Soul Power, then left for another village.