Chapter Summaries

After the battle at Falling Star Slope, Norman decided to preserve three strange skeletons for the Holy Hall while Zhou Qing searched the stronghold and uncovered evidence that Fake Dales had colluded with the Fallen Ones. Norman ordered Spirit Hall’s forces to keep Dales under watch, but Dales turned the crowd against them by accusing Spirit Hall of rebellion and challenging its funding.

• Xiao Wu defeated the final Skeleton Person, and Norman insisted that the three remaining skeletons be preserved and sent to the Holy Hall for investigation.
• Zhou Qing and Norman searched the stronghold and found Hu Fangyuan’s former servants and maids, along with letters linking Dales to the Fallen Ones.
• Norman confronted Fake Dales with the letters, accusing him of arranging a raid on Xiao Manor and supplying pregnant women to the Fallen Ones.
• Tang San pursued several Soul Masters who tried to slip away and warn the real Dales, then used Hidden Weapons to restrain them.
• Norman ordered Spirit Hall’s soldiers and Soul Masters to keep Dales in sight, but Dales accused Spirit Hall of rebellion and argued that its subsidies came from the Two Great Empires.
• The hesitant soldiers of Falling Star City moved behind Dales after his argument appeared to gain the upper hand.

Zhou Qing redirected the confrontation toward whether Fake Dales had colluded with the Fallen Ones, preventing him from distracting the crowd by accusing Spirit Hall. As neither side could safely overpower the other, Zhou Qing proposed that the Nuoding City Adventurers monitor Dales until imperial and Spirit Hall officials arrived.

• Zhou Qing used his Martial Soul aura to draw attention back to the accusation that Dales had colluded with the Fallen Ones.
• Fake Dales denied the charge, called the letter a frame-up, and ordered his men to seize and execute the servants, but Norman's Soul Masters protected them.
• When Fake Dales accused Spirit Hall of ties to the Fallen Ones, Zhou Qing warned him to stop changing the subject, and the crowd pressed him to prove his innocence.
• Norman offered to hold Dales at the Spirit Hall Branch until senior officials arrived, while Fake Dales and Norman's forces faced off without either side attacking.
• Zhou Qing proposed that the Nuoding City Adventurers monitor Dales, arguing that outsiders could be more objective while they awaited the investigation.

Zhou Qing revealed to Norman that the Dales with the group was an impostor and proposed treating him as the real Dales to exploit his attempt to stall for time. The group rested overnight at camp while Tang San watched Dales's tent, and Zhou Qing began explaining how the captured messengers fit into his plan.

• Fake Dales agreed to avoid war, then denied knowing the eight Soul Masters Tang San had captured while they tried to carry a message to Falling Star City.
• Norman ordered the group to count casualties and prisoners, burn the bandits' bodies, and rest at camp before returning the next day.
• Tang San secretly watched Dales's tent as Norman summoned Zhou Qing and asked what he planned to do about Dales.
• Zhou Qing told Norman that Dales was an impostor and identified the Five-Colored Slug Martial Soul as a possible means of copying Dales's appearance.
• Norman suspected Dales's butler, and Zhou Qing proposed treating the impostor as the real Dales because Dales's connection to the Fallen Ones had witnesses and physical evidence.

Zhou Qing persuaded Norman to use Dales’s impostor and the city’s corruption to secure support and bring down the real Dales. The next morning, the impostor exploited the residents of Falling Star City by forcing them to sell Soul Sand and Soul Crystals at derisory prices.

• Zhou Qing guessed that Dales was threatening the Soul Masters serving him and urged Norman to investigate their backgrounds and recruit them.
• Zhou Qing proposed killing the impostor as though he were the real Dales, then using the investigation to force the real Dales’s death and protect the Star Luo Empire’s reputation.
• Norman agreed to Zhou Qing’s plan and admitted that he was excited to see how Zhou Qing would make Dales understand why he died.
• The impostor Dales ordered his servant to buy Soul Sand and Soul Crystals at extremely low prices while claiming that he was away exterminating Fallen Ones.
• The city residents protested the purchase prices, but the servant and guards intimidated them into accepting that they could not safely sell their goods elsewhere.

After Fake Dales raised taxes on Falling Star City’s commoners again, Zhou Qing hoped their growing anger would drive them to rebel while he stayed in Dales’s mansion. Dales secretly tried to destroy evidence and ordered Fake Dales to stall Zhou Qing, who began challenging the impostor’s excuses at dinner.

• The city guards forced Falling Star City’s commoners to sell their Soul Sand and Soul Crystals cheaply, and Fake Dales raised their taxes after returning from the battle against the Fallen Ones.
• Zhou Qing decided to use the commoners’ anger to test whether they would rise against the powerful, while Tang San restrained himself from assassinating Dales.
• Zhou Qing, Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Romantina moved into Dales’s home after the victory banquet.
• Dales feared Zhou Qing’s presence would expose his ties to Zhong Dingxiu, so he had Fake Dales stall them while he sought to destroy evidence at the Falling Star Spirit Hall Branch.
• At dinner, Zhou Qing questioned Fake Dales’s new taxes, and Fake Dales claimed the commoners were wealthy and prosperous under Dales’s rule.

Zhou Qing and Tang San used the public outrage over Dales's crimes to prepare to expose the fake Dales and make the real Dales politically and socially disappear. After reflecting on Zhou Qing's convictions, Tang San began wondering what greater purpose he should give the Tang Sect.

• Rumors about Dales's collusion with the Fallen Ones and his plot to silence witnesses spread through Falling Star City, turning the residents against him.
• Tang San reported that Norman had revealed the truth, but Zhou Qing decided to wait and watch the fake Dales rather than incite the crowd further.
• Zhou Qing explained that Norman would eventually demand answers, allowing them to hand over the fake Dales as the real one while the true Dales became an impostor in the public eye.
• Tang San recognized how Zhou Qing had adapted to Dales's actions and reflected on the difference between Zhou Qing's ambition to change the world and his own goal of rebuilding the Tang Sect.
• Tang San concluded that the future Tang Sect needed a lofty purpose beyond stronger Hidden Weapons, cultivation techniques, and organization, but he had not yet decided what that purpose should be.

Tang San and Zhou Qing continued their plan to expose Dales as Falling Star City's residents turned against him. After Norman led Spirit Hall members to the City Lord's Mansion without any citizens, Tang San restrained Fake Dales and declared he would die in Real Dales's place.

• Tang San reached level nineteen and began cultivating toward level twenty while Zhou Qing teased him about Xiao Wu.
• Real Dales ordered attendants to burn the Falling Star Spirit Hall Branch and destroy its supposed witnesses and evidence, but Norman had hidden the genuine evidence elsewhere.
• Norman blamed Dales before the citizens and called on them to march to the City Lord's Mansion, but none of them joined him.
• Norman and Spirit Hall members reached the mansion alone, while Real Dales dismissed the citizens as too afraid to rebel.
• Tang San used the Divine Crossbow of Zhuge to stop Fake Dales from leaving and told him he would serve as a scapegoat for Real Dales.

Zhou Qing arranged for Norman’s forces to publicly attack the City Lord’s Mansion and expose Fake Dales, while explaining his hopes for mutual accountability. He then went to the secret chamber, where Romantina and Xiao Wu had been torturing the real Dales, and freed him to get dressed.

• Zhou Qing told Norman to destroy the mansion’s gates and walls, bind Fake Dales, and take him to the square before the city.
• Zhou Qing said he trusted Tang San to help keep him accountable, and Tang San promised not to let him down.
• Zhou Qing entered the secret chamber and found Romantina whipping the bound real Dales while Xiao Wu watched.
• Zhou Qing stopped them, removed Dales’s gag and chains, and handed him clothes to put on.

Zhou Qing revealed that Dales had been made a substitute so the real Dales could be captured, then forced the substitute to confront his fate. Dales died by suicide after learning Zhou Qing was the child of the couple he had killed, while Zhou Qing declared his intent to destroy the noble class unless some nobles joined him.

• Zhou Qing led Dales away from the secret chamber and explained that war between Heaven Dou and Star Luo would not begin as easily as Dales had hoped.
• When Spirit Hall Branch Soul Masters arrived, Zhou Qing directed them to the main hall and told Dales that he was only a substitute for the real Dales.
• Zhou Qing offered Dales a dagger and three choices, then used his Mind-Sense Qi Field to stop Dales from attacking him.
• Dales realized Zhou Qing was far beyond him and admitted that he had killed Zhou Qing's parents as an example after taking office in Falling Star City.
• Dales stabbed himself with the dagger, and Zhou Qing declared that he would bury the noble class unless some nobles changed sides and joined him.

After Fake Dales was executed in Falling Star City, Zhou Qing concluded that his attempt to awaken the city residents’ courage had failed and decided to build a revolutionary base in the countryside instead. He left resolved to change the world, while Norman agreed to conceal Zhou Qing and his companions’ role in the events.

• Zhou Qing told Norman that Dales had killed himself and asked him to downplay the companions’ involvement, and Norman agreed to explain the events as a coincidence.
• Norman warned Zhou Qing that city commoners would support whoever prevailed, while Zhou Qing decided the countryside would provide a better foundation for change.
• Luo Xing confirmed that Dales was wearing a Human Skin Mask and beheaded Fake Dales in Falling Star City’s square.
• The crowd celebrated and dipped steamed buns in Fake Dales’s blood, disturbing Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Romantina.
• Zhou Qing told Tang San that his experiment had failed and decided to give up on the cities and establish a base in the countryside.

After Norman became the city’s most influential figure, You Hui took charge of Falling Star City and changed how its taxes and Soul Sand were handled. Zhou Qing and his companions departed for Nuoding City, where they discussed their mission, Second Spirit Rings, and plans to study unawakened martial souls.

• You Hui returned most of Falling Star City’s Tax Donations to its people and agreed to hold the Soul Crystals and Soul Sand for Zhou Qing.
• Zhou Qing, Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Romantina left Falling Star City for Nuoding City after deciding to report their mission as a failure.
• Xiao Wu joked with Romantina about being suspected of betraying the group, and the four laughed together.
• Tang San said he, Zhou Qing, and Xiao Wu would soon need to obtain their Second Spirit Rings, while Xiao Wu said she would develop her Chest Bow instead of hunting with them.
• Zhou Qing and Tang San examined the paper from Death Diary and discussed studying children under six in Holy Soul Village to learn how martial souls existed before awakening.
• Zhou Qing told Romantina she would help with the examinations during the semester break, and she teased him about making her work for him.

Zhou Qing discovered a scroll describing how to forge Rakshasa Avatars and realized they were linked to the Rakshasa God and the City of Slaughter. He kept one as a possible future counter to Bibi Dong, gave Xiao Wu and Romantina Storage Soul Tools, and turned the conversation to the Continental Elite Tournament.

• Xiao Wu found a scroll explaining that a Rakshasa Avatar was forged from the bones of 206 people, and Zhou Qing showed the group the damaged Avatar he had kept for research.
• Zhou Qing found a map on the scroll pointing to the City of Slaughter and concluded the Rakshasa Avatars were connected to the Rakshasa God and could eventually strengthen Bibi Dong.
• Zhou Qing reasoned that the Rakshasa Avatar might help him develop inscription techniques or serve as a puppet and a way to restrain Bibi Dong.
• Xiao Wu asked whether the Avatar related to the Rakshasa God from her story about Angel and Rakshasa, and Zhou Qing redirected the discussion toward practical uses of its inscriptions.
• Zhou Qing gave Xiao Wu and Romantina one Storage Soul Tool pouch each, charged Romantina ten thousand Gold Soul Coins, and began discussing the Continental Elite Tournament with Tang San and Xiao Wu.

After returning to Nuoding Academy, Zhou Qing told Wang Sheng that he had reached Level 20 and planned to travel to the Star Dou Great Forest and the Extreme North. He revealed his goal of entering the Continental Elite Tournament and asked Wang Sheng to prove himself by reaching Level 10 before the semester ended.

• Zhou Qing and his companions returned their failed mission paper to Alice at the Nuoding Guild, where he joked with her while Romantina indulged in fantasies about him.
• Wang Sheng told Zhou Qing that the Work-Study Students and Commoner Students had kept up their morning runs and Broadcast Gymnastics, and that the Noble Students had stopped bullying them.
• Zhou Qing cautioned Wang Sheng not to provoke the nobles and said he would soon leave for the Star Dou Great Forest and the Extreme North because he had reached Level 20.
• Zhou Qing explained that he intended to advance Nuoding Academy and enter the Continental Elite Tournament, then asked Wang Sheng to join the team if he could reach Level 10 before the semester ended.

Zhou Qing encouraged Wang Sheng to train toward Level Ten and promised to help him obtain a Hundred-Year Soul Ring, while Tang San sought leave to prepare for the Continental Elite Tournament. Tang San and the Nuoding Academy Dean agreed to pursue a tournament entry, though Mo Hen questioned whether the young students should aim so high.

• Zhou Qing promised Wang Sheng a trip to Nuoding Soul Hunting Forest to hunt a Hundred-Year Soul Beast if he reached Level Ten that semester.
• Wang Sheng trusted Zhou Qing and asked whether Xiao Wu was also a commoner, and Zhou Qing said she was.
• Tang San asked Mo Hen for another long leave and explained that he wanted to prepare for the Continental Elite Tournament three years later.
• Tang San described Nuoding Academy's plan to become an intermediate academy and challenge an Advanced Academy in Heaven Dou City for a tournament slot.
• The Nuoding Academy Dean supported the plan, and Tang San asked whether he and the others could become teachers at the academy after graduating.

Zhou Qing explained why he planned to hunt a Dancing Winter Rabbit for his Second Spirit Ring and shared his theory about combining seasonal Soul Beasts to develop his Blood Circulation System Martial Soul. He then helped Tang San consider a life-attributed Plant Soul Beast that could strengthen Blue Silver Grass’s ability to perceive plants.

• Tang San told Zhou Qing that Nuoding Academy Dean had approved their leave and planned to develop the academy.
• Zhou Qing chose a Dancing Winter Rabbit for his Second Spirit Ring, hoping to test whether it would produce a seasonal effect like the Moo Spring Ox.
• Zhou Qing described his theory that gathering the four seasons could form a Heart Field and help him understand the Seasonal Cycle.
• Tang San admitted he had not chosen his Second Spirit Ring, so Zhou Qing advised him to seek a life-attributed Plant Soul Beast and build on Blue Silver Grass’s innate perception.
• Tang San explained that Blue Silver Grass connected him to nearby Blue Silver Grass plants, and Zhou Qing suggested extending that perception to all plants.

Tang San learned that his Blue Silver Grass could perceive plants and chose an Emerald Fern for its second spirit ring, whose soul skill would strengthen that perception and grow a lasting plant copy of his martial soul. He left committed to the choice despite its lack of combat abilities, confident he could fill other battle roles.

• Zhou Qing explained that Tang San’s Blue Silver Grass could perceive plants and might eventually sense nature’s voice and draw on plant energy.
• Tang San asked Zhou Qing which plant soul beast to choose for his second spirit ring, and Zhou Qing recommended the Emerald Fern.
• Zhou Qing described the Emerald Fern’s unusual reproduction, its sensitivity to nearby creatures, and the soul skill it granted Plant Soul Masters.
• Tang San learned the skill would create a persistent plant copy that enhanced his perception of plants but prevented him from creating another while it survived.
• Tang San chose the Emerald Fern for his Blue Silver Grass, deciding he did not need an offensive soul skill to fight effectively.

Zhou Qing, Bu Yi, and Romantina prepared to hunt a Soul Beast while Xiao Wu took leave to pursue her Second Spirit Ring. Ning Fengzhi learned about Zhou Qing’s role in the Falling Star City upheaval and wondered how he might empower commoners, then watched Ning Rongrong compare Sword Douluo unfavorably to Zhou Qing.

• Bu Yi joined Zhou Qing and Romantina to help him hunt for his Second Spirit Ring, and Zhou Qing promised to help complete her martial soul’s incubation if he solved the Soul Palace.
• Zhou Qing told Bu Yi that Romantina was in heat, prompting Romantina to imagine Bu Yi judging and exposing her.
• Xiao Wu asked Mo Hen for a long leave so she could cultivate to Level 20 and obtain the Chest Bow Soul Skill.
• A disciple told Ning Fengzhi that Dales had been publicly beheaded in Falling Star City, and Ning Fengzhi learned that the dead Dales had apparently been a fake.
• Ning Fengzhi inferred that Zhou Qing had urged Norman to make a conspicuous show of force and wondered how Zhou Qing would help commoners overcome their inferiority.
• Ning Rongrong mocked Sword Douluo’s sandcastle and insisted Zhou Qing could build a better one.

Bu Yi, Zhou Qing, Tang San, and Romantina reached Suotuo City while traveling north and encountered Flender, who wanted the last available carriage for a journey south. Zhou Qing refused to give it up, and Flender asked what terms would secure it.

• Bu Yi led the group into Suotuo City and went to the northern station to hire another carriage.
• Flender arrived with Oscar and Ma Hongjun, explaining that he needed a carriage to take his new disciple Ma Hongjun to hunt a Soul Beast.
• The station attendant asked Bu Yi to surrender the carriage because Flender was a Soul Saint, but Flender objected to being treated as a bully.
• Flender remarked on Zhou Qing and Tang San's unusual height and assumed they lacked cultivation talent.
• Zhou Qing refused to give Flender the carriage, and Flender asked what it would take to change his mind.

At the carriage station, Flender tried to persuade Zhou Qing and his companions to give up their carriage and join Shrek Academy. Zhou Qing declined the academy offer and raised the price Flender would have to pay, leaving Flender surprised that he still had to spend money.

• Flender offered Zhou Qing ten Gold Soul Coins for the carriage, while Oscar explained that Flender treated commoners politely but was stingy about money.
• Zhou Qing said that he and his companions were heading to Northern Forest to hunt Soul Beasts, and Flender inferred that Zhou Qing and Tang San had reached level ten.
• Flender invited Zhou Qing and Tang San to join Shrek Academy, boasting about its graduates and teachers, but Tang San and Zhou Qing doubted his claims.
• Zhou Qing said they had already joined Nuoding Academy and pointed out that it was only an elementary academy, drawing Flender's irritated attention to Shrek Academy's small grounds.
• Zhou Qing returned the discussion to the carriage and told Flender that ten Gold Soul Coins were not enough.

Zhou Qing refused Flender's offer for the carriage, prompting Flender's students to challenge him and Flender to test his abilities. Flender held back Ma Hongjun after Zhou Qing identified his fire-attributed Martial Soul, leaving Flender impressed by Zhou Qing's perception and knowledge.

• Flender offered Zhou Qing twenty Gold Soul Coins for the carriage, but Zhou Qing demanded one thousand and argued that his group had arrived first.
• Oscar and Ma Hongjun challenged Zhou Qing to a duel for the carriage, and Flender backed Ma Hongjun's proposal to test Zhou Qing.
• Zhou Qing refused to fight Ma Hongjun because he was not yet a Soul Master and sarcastically used Shrek Academy's teaching philosophy to criticize Flender.
• Ma Hongjun grew angry and moved to strike Zhou Qing, but Flender stopped him and asked how Zhou Qing had recognized his Martial Soul's fire attribute.
• Zhou Qing explained that Martial Souls could influence personality and that Ma Hongjun's Soul Power felt hotter than that of ordinary Soul Masters, surprising Flender with his perception.