Chapter Summaries

Tang San demonstrated that Soul Crystal and Soul Sand could form an Artificial Soul Palace that gathered Heaven and Earth Energy and seemed to purify itself during use. Zhou Qing and the others stayed in Nuoding City to observe Spirit Hall’s Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony and investigate what happened to a Soul Palace when a child awakened a Martial Soul.

• As the semester ended, Tang San reported that his metal Artificial Soul Palaces had failed, though forging them had improved his skills and produced useful materials and Soul Tools.
• Tang San showed Zhou Qing an Artificial Soul Palace made from Soul Crystal and Soul Sand, and injected Soul Power to make the Soul Sand circulate and draw in Heaven and Earth Energy.
• Tang San explained that the Soul Palace could separate Soul Sand from the Soul Crystal while in use, and demonstrated it gathering energy around his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul.
• Wang Sheng informed Zhou Qing and Tang San that Spirit Hall was holding the Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony.
• Zhou Qing and Romantina prepared to observe the awakening ceremony to determine what happened to the Soul Palace surrounding a child’s Martial Soul.

Zhou Qing and his companions observed Nuoding City’s Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony, using Spiritual Detection and Spiritual Sharing to study what happened inside children as their Martial Souls awakened. Their observations supported Zhou Qing’s theory that the Soul Palace transformed and merged with the body’s Meridians, while Tang San suggested a possible link to the conduits between Martial Souls and Soul Rings.

• Ma Xiunuo began the public Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony in Nuoding City square, where Romanyac helped maintain order.
• Zhou Qing signaled Romantina to switch places, and Sky Dream Ice Silkworm used Spiritual Detection and Spiritual Sharing to observe the children’s awakenings.
• Zhou Qing, Tang San, Xiao Wu, Romantina, and Sky Dream Ice Silkworm saw the Soul Palace shatter into mist that appeared to spread toward the Meridians.
• Sky Dream Ice Silkworm returned control of Romantina’s body after the ninety-third child because the strain had made her Meridians ache and swell.
• Zhou Qing concluded that the Soul Palace nurtured a Martial Soul until awakening, then transformed into an invisible medium connected to the Meridians.
• Tang San compared the transformed Soul Palace to the invisible conduits linking a Martial Soul and its Soul Rings.

Zhou Qing continued investigating the Soul Palace and arranged to gather materials for an Artificial Soul Palace after Tang San helped model one. The group’s discovery left Bu Yi hopeful that Zhou Qing could solve the Elemental Fox cultivators’ slowdown after Level 30.

• Zhou Qing concluded that Martial Souls grew through Soul Power and considered how to recreate the Soul Palace within the human body.
• Zhou Qing and his companions encountered Su Yuntao, who described the long journeys required to awaken Martial Souls in remote villages.
• Zhou Qing told Su Yuntao to gather eligible children at Holy Soul Village’s rural vegetable market, saving him from traveling between villages.
• Zhou Qing asked Bu Yi to buy Soul Sand and Soul Crystals from You Hui and bring them to Holy Soul Village.
• Bu Yi tested the Artificial Soul Palace and sensed her Martial Soul react, then agreed to obtain the materials after taking Zhou Qing’s Soul Card containing five hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins.

Zhou Qing, Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Romantina returned to Holy Soul Village for summer break, where they were welcomed with food from the villagers. The chapter left them asking after Grandpa Jack and learning that he was at the Worker-Peasant Council near the new Vegetable Market.

• Romantina joined Zhou Qing, Tang San, and Xiao Wu on their journey back to Holy Soul Village, hoping to improve her cultivation and develop her Brain Martial Soul as an information repository.
• Xiao Wu reflected on how soul beasts could fit into human society and concluded that the rules of Douluo Continent might have been altered to prevent nonhuman beings from growing powerful.
• Tang San noticed that villagers had widened and repaired the road leading toward Holy Soul Village.
• Uncle Wang welcomed Zhou Qing and Tang San at the village entrance and gave them peaches, while Xiao Wu received a basket as well.
• The villagers filled the group's baskets with sausages and vegetables, then told Zhou Qing that Grandpa Jack was at the Worker-Peasant Council by the Vegetable Market.

Zhou Qing, Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Romantina visited the Spirit Rhyme Turtle and the Worker-Peasant Council, where Zhou Qing addressed rising disputes among villagers and explained his vision of uniting the settlements. The Village Chiefs accepted their roles in the Council, while Romantina was introduced as a new adviser.

• Zhou Qing, Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Romantina returned to the village and saw the Spirit Rhyme Turtle basking by the stream as villagers fed it for good fortune.
• Zhou Qing observed that the Golden Tree on the turtle had grown and gathered dense Heaven and Earth Energy, while Tang San speculated about its future benefits.
• Zhou Qing and the others went to the Worker-Peasant Council, where Old Jack and the Village Chiefs argued about creating a guard team to handle disputes at the Vegetable Market.
• Zhou Qing told the Village Chiefs that disputes were inevitable and that the villages could eventually unite into one town as their people and settlements grew together.
• Zhou Qing named himself President, Tang San and Xiao Wu Vice Presidents, and introduced Romantina as a newcomer with management knowledge.

Zhou Qing organized village education and Martial Soul awakenings, while Tang San and Xiao Wu took on plans to improve agriculture, industry, and village culture. The Worker-Peasant Council ended with the villagers agreeing to these initiatives, marking the start of their plans for a brighter future.

• Zhou Qing arranged for Romantina to recruit and train able-bodied youths for the Guard Team, then proposed turning the Martial Soul Hall Office in Holy Soul Village into a school.
• Zhou Qing said Su Yuntao would awaken children’s Martial Souls at the Vegetable Market and asked village chiefs to bring eligible children and their parents to the Worker-Peasant Council; the chiefs agreed.
• Tang San bought crop seeds and planned to study agriculture and plants during holidays, then focus on forging and Soul Tool Hidden Weapons during school terms.
• Tang San reconsidered the Tang Sect’s teachings and resolved to build a better sect, reinterpreting Bodhi Blood and Guanyin Tear as acts against evil rooted in righteousness and compassion.
• Xiao Wu proposed a Cultural Propaganda Department to organize singing, dancing, and writing among villagers, and the first meaningful Worker-Peasant Council concluded.

Zhou Qing showed Su Yuntao how Holy Soul Village and the surrounding villages had developed, then helped him awaken the Martial Souls of 155 children. The chapter ended with seven children possessing Innate Soul Power, four of them from Holy Soul Village.

• Zhou Qing paused his lessons for the village children to greet Su Yuntao, who was surprised that the Martial Soul Hall Office was being demolished to make way for a primary school.
• Zhou Qing led Su Yuntao past the Spirit Rhyme Turtle and explained its connection to the old rumor about a child being eaten.
• Zhou Qing brought Su Yuntao through the mountain entrance to the bustling Worker-Peasant Council grounds, where Su Yuntao marveled at the villages' growth.
• Zhou Qing and Su Yuntao helped awaken the Martial Souls of 155 children from the surrounding villages.
• Su Yuntao discovered that seven children had Innate Soul Power, including four from Holy Soul Village.

After Su Yuntao found Innate Soul Power in four children from Holy Soul Village, Zhou Qing offered to teach them during school breaks instead of competing for the scarce work-study slot. His conviction to change the world unleashed a growing Mind-Sense Qi Field that warmed villagers without harming them, and Xiao Wu sensed her Soft Bone Rabbit bloodline stirring again.

• Su Yuntao issued Spirit proof certificates to the children with Innate Soul Power and invited the three outsiders with higher levels to join Spirit Hall.
• Old Jack worried that Holy Soul Village would lose its only work-study student slot, but Zhou Qing offered to teach the children himself during winter and summer breaks.
• Zhou Qing explained that the village children had cultivated their low Soul Power through daily Broadcast Gymnastics, astonishing Old Jack.
• Zhou Qing resolved to put the people first and crush any force that obstructed his goal of bringing peace to all ages.
• Zhou Qing's Mind-Sense Qi Field spread through the countryside, warming the villagers without harming them; Tang San sensed it from the fields and praised Zhou Qing's conviction.
• Xiao Wu sensed Zhou Qing's Qi Field Power and felt it stimulate the bloodline of the Soft Bone Rabbit.

Romantina awakened her Perception Qi Field, while Zhou Qing tested his Mind-Sense Qi Field and continued teaching in Holy Soul Village. Two days later, Bu Yi and the other Seven Sisters arrived, and Tang San brought them to meet Zhou Qing.

• Romantina unconsciously activated her Perception Qi Field and foresaw the next three seconds.
• Sky Dream Ice Silkworm told Romantina about Bing Bing, an Ice Jade Scorpion, and said he hoped to bring her into Romantina's Sea of Spirit.
• Zhou Qing retracted his Mind-Sense Qi Field after confirming that Old Jack and the nearby villagers were unharmed, then returned to teaching children.
• Bu Yi and the other Seven Sisters arrived in Holy Soul Village with four carts, and Tang San led them toward Zhou Qing's home.
• Tang San introduced Xiaolan to the Seven Sisters, then explained that she was his disciple and helped him with his Improved Grain Seeds.

Tang San and Zhou Qing discussed using Martial Soul talents and improved grain seeds to address farmers’ food shortages, then Tang San completed a spherical Artificial Soul Palace from Soul Crystals and Soul Sand. The Seven Sisters prepared to test entering it, though they remained unsure how it would affect breathing.

• Tang San explained that he could use his sensitivity to plants to crossbreed rice with Wolf Bristle Grass or Blue Silver Grass and develop better grain seeds.
• Zhou Qing argued that Martial Souls should help people live better and that combat was not necessary for most people.
• Zhou Qing gave Bu Yi the remaining 3,133 Gold Soul Coins as payment for fleeing, after buying the Soul Crystals and Soul Sand.
• Tang San spent half a month carving Soul Palace patterns into the crystals, filling them with Soul Sand, and assembling a three-meter spherical Artificial Soul Palace.
• Tang San showed the Seven Sisters how to enter the Artificial Soul Palace through an opening and seal it with Soul Power, while Bu Er asked whether they would be able to breathe inside.

Bu Yi tested Zhou Qing’s Artificial Soul Palace and evolved her Elemental Fox Martial Soul into an Elemental Fire Fox, reaching level thirty-two. Zhou Qing concluded that a shattered Soul Palace merged into the human meridian system, which continued to nurture the Martial Soul.

• Zhou Qing had Romantina record Bu Yi’s cultivation with Spiritual Detection and Spiritual Sharing before Bu Yi entered the Artificial Soul Palace.
• Bu Yi cultivated inside the sealed Soul Crystal, where air currents entered through her Baihui and Yongquan Acupoints and connected to her Martial Soul.
• Bu Yi’s Elemental Fox evolved into an Elemental Fire Fox, shattered the Artificial Soul Palace with a burst of flames, and raised her soul power to level thirty-two.
• Bu Yi celebrated by kissing Zhou Qing, then smacked Romantina after she denied calling Bu Yi an old auntie.
• Bu Yi explained that her Martial Soul had returned to a gestation period after her Third Spirit Ring, and the six sisters hoped to use the Soul Palace for their own future evolutions.
• Zhou Qing used Romantina’s recording to conclude that the shattered Soul Palace had merged with the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and continued to nurture the Martial Soul as soul power circulated.

Zhou Qing cultivated inside a new Artificial Soul Palace and discovered congenital Fetal Respiration and a method for forming a Human Body Eight Trigram Furnace. He established its Central Palace through his heart and kidneys, but the cultivation method remained incomplete, and the Artificial Soul Palace shattered when he stood up.

• Tang San spent half a month building Zhou Qing a smaller Artificial Soul Palace, and Zhou Qing entered it to cultivate.
• Zhou Qing's meridians resonated with the Artificial Soul Palace, and he achieved congenital Fetal Respiration, astonishing Tang San and the others.
• Zhou Qing sensed the Soul Palace as a force surrounding his meridian cycle and used the Eight Extraordinary Meridians to form a Human Body Eight Trigram Furnace.
• Zhou Qing established the furnace's Central Palace with his heart and kidneys, allowing Soul Power to flow forward or backward, but he recognized that the method was incomplete.
• Zhou Qing stood up after cultivating, and the Artificial Soul Palace exploded into sand around Tang San, Xiao Wu, Romantina, Bu Yi, and the Seven Sisters.

Zhou Qing explained his Human Body Cauldron theory, describing how a Martial Soul could be cultivated and possibly created artificially. Tang San connected the theory to legendary magical treasures and began planning his own Mysterious Heaven Cauldron.

• Zhou Qing told Tang San that his Martial Soul had not evolved and explained that top-tier Martial Souls needed to reach their growth limits before evolving further.
• Zhou Qing described how a shattered Soul Palace could use the body's meridians to form a cauldron that nurtured a Martial Soul with Soul Power.
• Tang San realized that Martial Souls resembled magical instruments and treasures refined within the body, and he imagined building a Mysterious Heaven Cauldron of his own.
• Zhou Qing said artificial Martial Souls might be possible if Soul Masters found a way to obtain and shape Martial Soul Original Power.
• Zhou Qing argued that stronger cultivation foundations and better Martial Soul theory would leave Soul Power and Soul Rings as the main future bottlenecks.

Zhou Qing and his companions developed Soul cultivation theories while Tang San cultivated high-yield New Rice, and the chapter ended with Zhou Qing, Tang San, and Xiao Wu setting out to meet Romantina in Vast Sea City for a sea hunt.

• Zhou Qing argued that faster Soul Power cultivation could help Soul Masters advance, while he and his companions planned further experiments with the Human Body Cauldron theory.
• Tang San reversed the Mysterious Heaven Skill and became the second to sense his body's cultivation system, which he named the Mysterious Heaven Cauldron.
• Tang San cultivated New Rice that could yield up to a thousand jin per mu in its first generation, and Holy Soul Village's residents agreed to plant the seeds.
• Zhou Qing asked Old Jack to organize Terraced Fields in exchange for keeping the New Rice seeds cheap, and Old Jack agreed.
• Zhou Qing, Tang San, and Xiao Wu set out for Vast Sea City to meet Romantina, who planned to hunt a Rubik's Cube Octopus for her Brain Martial Soul's second spirit ring.

Zhou Qing explained the Rubik's Cube Octopus and its known soul-ring abilities to Xiao Wu and Tang San. He argued that its most valuable trait was its brain’s powerful information processing, which could give Romantina a skill that enhanced analysis.

• Xiao Wu asked what kind of soul beast a Rubik's Cube Octopus was, and Zhou Qing showed her and Tang San its appearance and explained its anatomy.
• Zhou Qing described the Rubik's Cube Octopus's known soul-ring skills: Soul Ring Mimicry, Tentacle Strangulation, and Spiritual Detection.
• Xiao Wu questioned why Zhou Qing wanted Romantina to choose a Rubik's Cube Octopus when Romantina already had Spiritual Detection.
• Zhou Qing reasoned that the octopus's Spiritual Power supported its mimicry and attacks, and that its brain's information processing was its true strength.
• Zhou Qing concluded that Romantina's soul ring would likely grant her a skill that strengthened information processing or rigorous analysis.

Zhou Qing, Tang San, and Xiao Wu reached Vast Sea City and reunited with Romantina, who had booked a ship to hunt a Rubik's Cube Octopus for her Second Spirit Ring. As they prepared to head out to sea, Zhou Qing explained how poor transportation and preserving seafood hindered trade, then argued that building roads would help the world develop.

• Zhou Qing, Tang San, and Xiao Wu arrived in Vast Sea City after traveling west on foot for seven days and paid three Silver Soul Coins to enter.
• The group found Romantina outside the Spirit Hall; she said she had arrived two days earlier, spent heavily on lodging, and booked a ship for six hundred Gold Soul Coins.
• Romantina led the group to the harbor so they could head out to sea and hunt a Rubik's Cube Octopus before Nuoding Academy began classes.
• Xiao Wu wondered why coastal fish and shrimp were not transported inland, and Zhou Qing explained that spoilage and transportation costs made the trade difficult.
• Zhou Qing said that changing the world would require building broad roads connecting villages and cities.

Zhou Qing, Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Romantina sailed with Captain Ariel to the Reef Sea Area to hunt a Rubik's Cube Octopus. They reached the reefs, where Ariel described the local legend and explained the properties of Sea Heart Stones.

• Romantina led Zhou Qing, Tang San, and Xiao Wu to the Mermaid, whose captain, Ariel, greeted them.
• Zhou Qing sensed that Ariel had dense Soul Power and remained wary of her and her crew.
• Ariel's sailors raised anchor, and the Mermaid sailed west from Vast Sea City toward the Reef Sea Area.
• After half a day, the Mermaid reached the waters where the group hoped to find a Rubik's Cube Octopus.
• Ariel said a battle between the Sea God and a Deity of light had formed the reefs, then identified the blue formations as Sea Heart Stones that only plants could use.

Ariel explained how Blue Silver Grass adapted to the Reef Sea Area by entwining into durable Blue Silver Trees, whose status as Plant Soul Beasts remained uncertain. The group learned that Spirit Hall had abandoned investigations of the sea after a disastrous campaign against Sea God Island.

• Zhou Qing recognized the Blue Silver Tree as Blue Silver Grass, and Ariel explained how it changed to survive on Sea Heart Stone amid seawater.
• Ariel steered the ship near a Blue Silver Tree, and Tang San found that its black branches resisted a blade while its blue leaves tore easily.
• Zhou Qing speculated that the entwined Blue Silver Grass might form a collective entity and became interested in the Blue Silver Tree’s nature.
• Ariel explained that cut-down Blue Silver Trees showed cultivation fluctuations but produced no Soul Rings, leaving their status as Soul Beasts unresolved.
• Ariel recounted that Spirit Hall’s attempt to subdue Sea God Island had cost it two Titled Douluo and nearly all of the two thousand Soul Masters it sent, ending its exploration of the Great Sea.

Zhou Qing learned Ariel’s hostile account of Sea God Island and the Rubik’s Cube Octopus while questioning the Sea God’s authority and beliefs. Ariel’s remarks about Sea Soul Beasts left Zhou Qing wondering who she really was and why she hated the Sea God so deeply.

• Ariel described Sea God Island’s deadly trials and said those who failed or tried to leave would be killed, prompting Tang San to condemn its worship as idolatry.
• Zhou Qing asked Ariel about the Rubik’s Cube Octopus, and she explained its alleged origins, habits, and rare Brain Pearl.
• Ariel guided the ship through a route cleared among the reefs and pointed out ordinary Sea Dogs basking there.
• Ariel argued that Sea Soul Beasts and humans alike hunted other creatures, then claimed the Sea God enslaved the souls of believers.
• Zhou Qing suspected Ariel knew the Sea God unusually well and wondered whether she had helped spread the name Devil’s Island.

The group reached the Rubik's Cube Octopus habitat, where Zhou Qing explained that the Great Sea's waves came from the earth's movement and urged Tang San to study their vibrations. Tang San became eager to explore the sea, while the group still faced the problem of catching the Soul Beasts.

• In Romantina's Sea of Spirit, Ice Empress and Sky Dream Ice Silkworm speculated that Ariel might be a transformed Soul Beast, then argued over his unwanted nickname for her.
• The ship stopped among irregular reefs, and Ariel told the group they had reached the Rubik's Cube Octopuses' habitat and could dive to catch them.
• The group rejected diving because their strength would be greatly reduced underwater, and Zhou Qing explained that freezing the turbulent Great Sea was impractical.
• Zhou Qing told Tang San and the others that the Great Sea's motion might come from the earth's vibrations, then compared the phenomenon to something that could be studied and used.
• Tang San connected the sea's waves and undercurrents to forging's principles of vibration and grew eager to experience them firsthand.