Chapter Summaries

Zhou Qing learned that Dales’s crimes had ruined his reputation and that Xiao Lang and Xiao Chenyu had also faced consequences. At Spirit City, Bibi Dong received three Rakshasa Avatars and triggered the Rakshasa Eighth Trial.

• Wang Sheng told Zhou Qing that You Hui had become Falling Star City’s official city lord and that residents and visitors were slapping a kneeling statue of Dales.
• Zhou Qing explained that he had suggested turning Dales’s statue into a tourist attraction and learned that Xiao Lang had been stripped of his office and title and taken for trial.
• Wang Sheng said Xiao Chenyu had become a commoner and was being bullied, so Zhou Qing told the Work-Study Students not to retaliate against him.
• Zhou Qing went deeper into Back Mountain and took out a cracked Rakshasa Avatar.
• Bibi Dong received three Rakshasa Avatars, completed the Rakshasa Seventh Trial, and triggered the Rakshasa Eighth Trial to gain the Rakshasa Demonic Scythe’s recognition.

Bibi Dong learned the First Generation Rakshasa God's hidden history and discovered that the God Realm had manipulated her into killing the Angel God before executing her. Determined to cultivate the Rakshasa Dharma Form and challenge the gods' order, she sensed that a fourth Rakshasa Avatar had been secretly kept and prepared to find its possessor.

• Bibi Dong received the First Generation Rakshasa God's concealed inheritance and learned that the God Realm had engineered the conflict between her and the Angel God.
• The First Generation Rakshasa had realized that the evil intent behind her godhood came from the God King of Evil, and created the Rakshasa Dharma Form to help future inheritors control it and claim some of his authority.
• Bibi Dong dismissed everyone from the Papal Palace, questioned the gods' treatment of mortals, and went to cultivate the Rakshasa Dharma Form.
• Bibi Dong sensed that a fourth Rakshasa Avatar from the Falling Star City incident was still outside her possession, likely hidden by someone in a lower-level Spirit Hall.
• Bibi Dong used Rakshasa Evil Power to attach her consciousness to the unrefined Avatar and set out to discover who had kept it and the accompanying parchment.

Zhou Qing discovered that the Rakshasa Avatar carried strange runes, then stored it away after sensing a vague warning. When winter break began, Xiao Wu had nowhere to go, so Zhou Qing agreed to take her to Holy Soul Village and let her stay at his house.

• Zhou Qing examined the Rakshasa Avatar and recorded the runes etched into its bones, but he sensed danger and stopped.
• Bibi Dong sensed Zhou Qing probing the Rakshasa Avatar, failed to reach it after he stored it in the Gray Pouch, and decided to leave it with him for now.
• Zhou Qing put the Rakshasa Avatar away and returned to campus life until the winter holiday began.
• Xiao Wu told Zhou Qing and Tang San she had nowhere to go and asked to spend winter break in Holy Soul Village.
• Zhou Qing agreed to let Xiao Wu stay at his house, while she joked with Tang San about avoiding his old home.

Zhou Qing returned to Holy Soul Village with Tang San and Xiao Wu, then proposed educating and training the villagers to strengthen their understanding and resolve. Inspired by Zhou Qing’s vision, Tang San considered how to give his future Tang Sect a purpose beyond becoming powerful, but had not yet found its guiding goal.

• Before returning to the village, Zhou Qing took Wang Sheng to Soul Hunting Forest to hunt a century-old Rock Tiger.
• Zhou Qing reunited with Uncle Wang and Old Jack, learned the villagers were afraid to leave after Wang Shi’s ordeal, and proposed holding lessons in the unused Martial Soul Hall Office.
• Zhou Qing explained to Tang San that the villagers needed to enrich their spirits and strengthen their bodies so they could develop lasting goals and resist division.
• Tang San asked how to build a sect that surpassed all others and listed stronger cultivation techniques, weapons, advancement paths, and rules as possible means.
• Tang San privately struggled to find a distinct, lasting goal for the Tang Sect that could complement Zhou Qing’s dream of equality.

Tang San took Zhou Qing’s advice and decided the Tang Sect should build its lasting foundation on agriculture and industry while preserving its poisons and Hidden Weapons for defense. Zhou Qing and Tang San then reunited with Xiao Wu, who traded teasing jokes with them.

• Zhou Qing told Tang San to use Blue Silver Grass’s connection to plants for agriculture and the Clear Sky Hammer’s vibration for forging.
• Tang San concluded that agriculture and industry could benefit ordinary people and let the Tang Sect endure, while poisons and Hidden Weapons would remain its means of defense.
• Tang San explained his plans to Zhou Qing, who was impressed by how much Tang San’s thinking had changed.
• Zhou Qing led Tang San to his front door, where Xiao Wu was waiting after avoiding Old Jack, Uncle Wang, and the others.
• Zhou Qing and Tang San teased Xiao Wu about the dirty jokes she had learned at the Nuoding Guild, and she angrily called their claims slander.

Zhou Qing taught the villagers of Holy Soul Village Broadcast Gymnastics and literacy, while explaining how nobles exploited commoners. He challenged them to consider whether becoming Soul Masters would make them serve the people or join the nobility, and one villager vowed to become a good Soul Master.

• Zhou Qing refused the villagers' offers of food as tuition and began teaching them Broadcast Gymnastics for free.
• Zhou Qing had Uncle Wang's quick-witted son lead the villagers in daily practice after the first lesson.
• After half a month of exercises, villagers including Uncle Wang and Old Jack showed improvements in their health and posture.
• Zhou Qing taught the villagers reading, writing, basic subjects, folk songs, and the history of the Two Great Empires, criticizing the nobles' exploitation of commoners.
• When a villager asked whether becoming a Soul Master could make him important, Zhou Qing asked if he would return to village life after gaining wealth and status.
• The villager said he would not oppress commoners and vowed to become a good Soul Master.

Zhou Qing urged Holy Soul Village’s residents to remember their common roots and resist becoming accomplices to nobles, then organized lessons and a communal meal. Tang San began teaching practical skills and experimenting with plants using his new Second Soul Skill, Spirit of Blue Silver, while Xiaolan discovered she could sense plants too.

• Zhou Qing rejected joining powerful factions and told the villagers to remember their origins and demand fair treatment from nobles and city officials.
• The villagers shared a meal made from their tuition contributions, with Tang San and Xiao Wu joining them.
• Tang San taught villagers remedies and other practical skills, offered ordinary forging instruction, and built greenhouses in Zhou Qing’s fields.
• Tang San used Spirit of Blue Silver, amplified by Life Accumulation, to sense plants and found especially strong connections with Wolf Bristle Grass and rice.
• Tang San consulted Uncle Wang about grafting and began considering ways to cross or graft Wolf Bristle Grass and rice to improve grain production.
• Xiaolan, whose Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul had zero Innate Soul Power, sensed Tang San’s created Blue Silver Grass and other plants.

Tang San and Zhou Qing helped Holy Soul Village residents learn farming, exercise, and literacy while Tang San took Xiaolan as his student and learned rice cultivation from her. As nearby Village Chiefs sought access to the lessons, Old Jack said he would first consult Zhou Qing and Tang San.

• Tang San discovered that his Spirit of Blue Silver skill attracted other Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul possessors, and he took Xiaolan as his student to research New Rice with her.
• Xiao Wu taught the villagers practical fighting tricks, while the villagers grew more confident through daily Broadcast Gymnastics and the children and adults learned to read.
• Village Chiefs from more than twenty nearby villages visited Old Jack to discuss a New Year market and praised Holy Soul Village for its promising children and community lessons.
• The Village Chiefs asked whether their villagers could attend lessons, and some offered Silver Soul Coins; Old Jack said he would discuss the request with Xiaoqing and Xiaosan.

Zhou Qing welcomed villagers from nearby villages to study without tuition and asked their chiefs to help build roads, while planning a school for the future. At Holy Soul Village’s market, the villagers’ gifts and gratitude moved Tang San and affirmed Zhou Qing’s growing support.

• Zhou Qing invited nearby village chiefs to send their people to study and asked them to bring food instead of paying tuition.
• Zhou Qing proposed that the villages work together to build roads and establish a school, and the chiefs agreed.
• Zhou Qing told Old Jack that his Soul Power had reached level twenty-two, astonishing the old chief.
• Young adults and children from nearby villages came to study in Holy Soul Village until the market fair began.
• Zhou Qing, Tang San, and Xiao Wu visited the market, where Holy Soul villagers pressed gifts on them and refused payment.
• Zhou Qing led Tang San and Xiao Wu to a hillside to escape the villagers’ enthusiastic generosity, while Tang San felt sure Zhou Qing could change the world.

After leaving Holy Soul Village, Zhou Qing explained to Tang San and Xiao Wu why their revolution needed a foundation rooted in the countryside and a clear break from the ruling powers’ subsidies. He planned to spread revolutionary ideas and organize workers and farmers while waiting for a chance to expand their influence.

• Xiao Wu and Zhou Qing left Holy Soul Village with gifts from the villagers, and Tang San asked whether the villagers could join their revolution.
• Zhou Qing said weapons and Soul Tools were not the key to revolution; they needed to prevent themselves and their followers from becoming a new aristocracy.
• Zhou Qing explained that Soul Master subsidies ultimately came from ordinary people and argued that accepting them for personal use tied recipients to the ruling system.
• Xiao Wu felt guilty about the subsidies she had previously collected, while Tang San recognized that the villagers needed a stronger reason to commit to revolution.
• Zhou Qing anticipated future conflict between the Two Great Empires and decided to spread his ideas, organize workers and farmers, and use the countryside as their base.

Zhou Qing declared his dream of building a people-led nation, while Tang San vowed to found the Tang Sect and support it with industry, agriculture, and other crafts. Tang San awakened Perception and Armament Qi Fields, then collapsed from exhaustion, and Zhou Qing realized he had two Martial Souls.

• Zhou Qing announced that he wanted to build a world jointly led by the people, and Tang San pledged to establish the Tang Sect to support Zhou Qing’s nation.
• Tang San foresaw Zhou Qing turning to smile at him and discovered that he could activate a Perception Qi Field that sharpened his senses but rapidly drained his power.
• At Zhou Qing’s suggestion, Tang San focused on his conviction and awakened an Armament Qi Field that strengthened his hands enough to break a tree without injury.
• Tang San used food and water from Zhou Qing to recover, and the two agreed that conviction was essential to Qi Fields.
• Zhou Qing realized Tang San had two Martial Souls.

Tang San revealed that he possessed Twin Martial Souls, and Xiao Wu confessed that she was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Charm Rabbit who had taken human form. After deciding she considered herself human, Xiao Wu demanded they call her Sister Xiao Wu, then chased Zhou Qing and Tang San through the woods when they kept teasing her.

• Tang San admitted that he had inherited Twin Martial Souls from his parents, and Xiao Wu revealed that she was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Charm Rabbit in human form.
• Xiao Wu explained that she had come to the human world to avenge her mother's death, and Zhou Qing questioned whether she still considered herself a Soul Beast or a human.
• Xiao Wu said she considered herself human, and Zhou Qing and Tang San said they would restrain or kill her if she turned against humanity.
• Zhou Qing called Xiao Wu Granny Wu because of her age, and she punched Tang San before insisting that they call her Sister Xiao Wu.
• Xiao Wu chased Zhou Qing and Tang San into the woods as they fled using their respective movement techniques.

On New Year's Eve, Zhou Qing gave Tang San a scientific research guide, and Tang San gifted Zhou Qing a sword he had forged and named the Common Red Sword. The evening ended with Xiao Wu demanding her gift and receiving Tang San's Soul Tool Engraving Knife, which he awkwardly passed off as a dip pen and weapon.

• Zhou Qing gave Xiao Wu a pink belt and Tang San his Scientific Experimentation Method, which greatly impressed Tang San.
• Tang San presented Zhou Qing with a five-element sword that could evolve, and Zhou Qing named it the Common Red Sword instead of the Son of Heaven Sword.
• Xiao Wu asked Tang San for her gift, and Tang San gave her his Soul Tool Engraving Knife while claiming it was a dip pen and a small weapon.

Xiao Wu exchanged New Year gifts with Zhou Qing and Tang San, while Xue Qinghe endured a family gathering and discussed Spirit Hall’s ambitions with Xue Ye. The chapter ended with Dai Tianran questioning Dai Mubai about his cultivation during a tense meal in Star Luo City.

• Xiao Wu presented Zhou Qing and Tang San with scarves she claimed to have knitted, and they accepted them despite recognizing the cheap store-bought gifts.
• Xue Qinghe endured the imperial family’s New Year gathering, longing for a genuine reunion with her mother instead of pretending to be Xue Ye’s son.
• Xue Ye told Xue Qinghe he suspected Spirit Hall intended to establish a nation and might have reached an agreement with the Star Luo Empire against Heaven Dou.
• Xue Ye urged Xue Qinghe to strengthen Heaven Dou’s alliances by drawing the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect closer to the empire.
• Dai Tianran asked Dai Mubai about his cultivation, praised his rank twenty at age nine, and predicted his progress while Dai Mubai worried about Dai Weisi widening the gap.

Dai Tianran and Dai Weisi discussed the Falling Star City affair and Spirit Hall’s political prospects, while Dai Tianran explained how Spirit Hall’s free Martial Soul awakenings had helped the Two Great Empires keep commoners from rebelling. The discussion left Dai Mubai convinced that Dai Tianran favored Dai Weisi and that remaining in the palace would bring him humiliation.

• Dai Tianran asked Dai Weisi for his thoughts on the events in Falling Star City, and Dai Mubai silently took the question as proof that his father favored Dai Weisi.
• Dai Weisi criticized Dales’s actions and suspected that someone outside Spirit Hall had advised its leaders, with Zhou Qing coming to mind.
• Dai Tianran argued that Spirit Hall’s Soul Master-centered culture made it poorly suited to governing a unified continent and could provoke unrest among its members.
• Dai Tianran contrasted Spirit Hall with the Two Great Empires, saying the empires depended on commoners’ labor while Spirit Hall’s members largely ignored ordinary people’s needs.
• Dai Tianran concluded that Spirit Hall’s Martial Soul awakenings had crushed commoners’ hopes of surpassing the ruling classes, helping the Two Great Empires prevent rebellions.
• Dai Mubai thought that staying in the palace would expose him to unbearable humiliation in the future.

Dai Mubai grew resentful after Dai Tianran focused on Dai Weisi and decided to leave the Star Luo Empire for the Heaven Dou Empire. Meanwhile, Zhou Qing, Tang San, and Xiao Wu surveyed the surrounding villages and planned roads centered on Skywell Cavern, which Old Jack agreed could become a meeting place and vegetable market.

• Dai Tianran told Dai Weisi that he should study the open and covert struggles between the empires and Spirit Hall ahead of the Continental Elite Tournament.
• Dai Mubai blamed Zhu Zhuqing and Dai Tianran for his humiliation, then decided to flee to the Heaven Dou Empire and build his own power base.
• Zhou Qing, Tang San, and Xiao Wu surveyed the terrain around Holy Soul Village and planned roads connecting nearly thirty villages.
• Zhou Qing and Tang San used their understanding of nature and a spirit-gathering Soul Tool Core Formation to map a route network centered on Skywell Cavern.
• Old Jack brought villagers to inspect the cavern and agreed to use it as a discussion site and a vegetable market once the roads were built.

Zhou Qing organized village cooperation and development, then learned that Romantina and Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had gathered evidence of the Soul Palace by recording young children’s Martial Souls. Their findings showed how Martial Souls developed from faint prenatal lights into forms that could be released after awakening, while further cultivation was needed to make them truly real.

• Zhou Qing proposed a Worker-Peasant Council with Old Jack and the other village chiefs, insisting that its rules be revised through practice rather than enforced by punishing those who raised problems.
• Young men from nearly thirty villages built roads according to plans from Zhou Qing, Tang San, and Xiao Wu, while Zhou Qing removed dangerous stalactites from Skywell Cavern and villagers learned of the Spirit Rhyme Turtle.
• After school resumed, Zhou Qing asked Romantina about her holiday investigation into the Soul Palace with Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.
• With You Hui’s help, Romantina opened a temporary Child Martial Soul Testing Center in Falling Star City and used her Brain Martial Soul and Sky Dream Ice Silkworm’s assistance to record children’s Martial Soul conditions.
• Sky Dream Ice Silkworm shared the recorded data with Zhou Qing, who sorted it by sex and age and concluded that Martial Souls grew from prenatal points of light into clearer forms before becoming releasable through cultivation.

Zhou Qing investigated the Soul Palace and hypothesized that it persisted in another dimension after a Martial Soul’s birth, acting as a link between the soul and the body. He compared its spiral patterns with the Fallen Ones’ black paper and decided further research would require observing the awakening process.

• Zhou Qing learned from Sky Dream Ice Silkworm that people who missed the Martial Soul awakening period had shriveled Soul Palaces and frail Martial Souls that appeared to have died.
• Zhou Qing hypothesized that a shattered Soul Palace remained in another form or dimension, connecting the Martial Soul to the human body and allowing Spiritual Power to detect it.
• Sky Dream Ice Silkworm explained that Romantina’s prospective second Martial Soul was still only a mass of ice, and that its formation might become clearer after she reached level twenty and obtained her Second Spirit Ring.
• Zhou Qing found that Soul Palace patterns shared an abstract spiral resembling patterns on the black paper associated with Hu Fangyuan’s predecessors, the Fallen Ones.
• Zhou Qing rejected engraving the pattern on metal and concluded that he needed data on the Soul Palace’s transformation during awakening, which he planned to collect when Spirit Hall began awakening commoner children’s Martial Souls.

Zhou Qing gave Romantina a New Year gift and discussed experiments on the Soul Palace with Tang San. The chapter ended with Zhou Qing reflecting on how Spiritual Power, Soul Power, and Qi and Blood shaped different Qi Field Powers.

• Zhou Qing gave Romantina a Soul Card loaded with a hundred Gold Soul Coins, explaining that he had avoided buying her unusual toys.
• Romantina wondered what gift to prepare, while Sky Dream Ice Silkworm reflected on human self-control and their ability to restrain reproductive urges.
• Zhou Qing took the Soul Palace diagram and patterns to Tang San, and they agreed to test whether various metals could reproduce its effects.
• Zhou Qing suggested Tang San use the Clear Sky Hammer’s vibration while forging without revealing the Martial Soul, and Tang San agreed to try it.
• Zhou Qing considered how Spiritual Power, Qi and Blood, and Soul Power contributed to the Perception, Armament, and Mind-Sense Qi Fields.

Zhou Qing taught Xiao Wu, Wang Sheng, and Romantina to cultivate Qi Field Power, whose strength depended on conviction, and Xiao Wu struggled because her goals were unclear. He urged her to seek an end to the repeated fate of shapeshifted soul beasts, leaving her with the goal of helping them live openly among humans as people.

• Zhou Qing found that Wang Sheng's conviction awakened the Armament Qi Field, while Romantina first mastered the Perception Qi Field and Xiao Wu lagged behind them.
• Xiao Wu admitted that she had come to the human world for revenge but did not know what she would do afterward.
• Zhou Qing warned Xiao Wu that shapeshifted soul beasts could continue to face death and lose their Soul Bones, as her mother had.
• Zhou Qing asked Xiao Wu to consider breaking that cycle, and she realized she could work toward allowing shapeshifted soul beasts to live honorably in human society.
• Zhou Qing added that shapeshifted soul beasts would need to regard themselves as true people.