Chapter Summaries

Ariel told Li Ya how Poseidon had used ocean life to become a god and killed her grandfather despite his surrender, forcing Li Ya to question the Sea God she had worshipped. Li Ya then asked Zhou Qing whether he was any different from Poseidon, and he admitted that he acted for himself too.

• Li Ya asked Ariel to explain what had happened twenty thousand years ago, and Ariel advised her to trust her mother despite her mother's past jealousy.
• Ariel told Li Ya that Poseidon had been a human who used the ocean's faith to become a god without fulfilling his duty to the ocean.
• Ariel condemned Poseidon's trials on Sea God Island and showed Li Ya scenes of him defeating sea beasts and killing Neptune after the Mermaid Clan surrendered.
• Li Ya rejected the scenes as fake and accused humans of being despicable, while Zhou Qing argued that Poseidon remained human even after becoming a god.
• Li Ya asked Zhou Qing whether he was different from Poseidon, and Zhou Qing replied that he acted for himself too.

Li Ya learned the truth about the Sea God and the origins of her bloodline, then helped Ariel and Zhou Qing flee the Mermaid Clan. Zhou Qing escaped with Heidel, leaving the mermaids in pursuit.

• Ariel revealed that the Sea God had slaughtered sea beasts and killed Li Ya’s grandfather, while the Sea Princess gained her Golden Bloodline by submitting to him.
• Ariel explained that her bloodline had influenced Li Ya before birth, prompting Romantina to ask if Li Ya was Ariel’s daughter.
• Li Ya spotted Li Na catching up and threw Ariel, Zhou Qing, Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Romantina toward the edge of the Mermaid Clan’s residential area before holding Li Na off.
• Zhou Qing crashed into a Shell House and found Heidel surrounded by mermaids who had been using him to help expand their population.
• Zhou Qing used his Winter Chant skill to escape with Heidel, and the mermaids shouted that the human specimen had escaped.

Zhou Qing and his companions escaped the mermaids’ dwelling with Heidel and his son, but they faced a dangerous journey through the sea and lacked a reliable route to Vast Sea City. Ariel suggested choosing an undercurrent channel at random, while Zhou Qing remained wary of trusting fortune and the Will of the Ocean.

• Zhou Qing and Tang San rescued Heidel’s unconscious son and hid with Ariel, Xiao Wu, and Romantina in a seabed cave.
• Tang San warned that the people inside Zhou Qing’s Gray Pouch would die of thirst within three days, and that their group also risked running out of food and water.
• Zhou Qing asked Ariel to locate an undercurrent channel leading toward Vast Sea City, but she explained that her weakened bloodline power could not find a specific route.
• Ariel sensed several undercurrent vortex channels ten kilometers north and proposed that Zhou Qing choose one.
• Zhou Qing rejected the idea of choosing at random and worried that the Star of the Ocean might be intended for someone else, while Ariel explained that the Will of the Ocean sought to nurture someone who could improve the sea’s ecological cycle.

Zhou Qing and his companions reached the Undercurrent Vortex Channels while fleeing the mermaids, but Sea Maiden Douluo intercepted them and tried to bind them with Sea God’s Light. Zhou Qing resisted the divine power with his Mind-Sense Qi Field.

• Ariel teleported Zhou Qing, Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Romantina to the Undercurrent Vortex Channels as mermaids pursued them.
• Ariel warned the group against swimming upward, while Zhou Qing faced the approaching Sea Maiden Douluo and the choice of a vortex channel.
• Sea Maiden Douluo attacked Ariel with her flute, disrupting her transformation and leaving her injured.
• Sea Maiden Douluo used Sea God’s Light to bind the group, and Ariel panicked at the sight of the power that had once stripped away her Bloodline Power.
• Zhou Qing activated his Martial Soul Possession and Innate Internal Scripture Chart, then used his Mind-Sense Qi Field to hold back Sea God’s Light.

Zhou Qing’s Mind-Sense Qi Field contended with the Sea God’s Light, and his conviction resisted the Sea God’s attempts to overwhelm him. As the merfolk’s faith in the Sea God began to waver, the Sea God offered Zhou Qing his inheritance.

• Zhou Qing unleashed his Mind-Sense Qi Field and matched the conviction within the Sea God’s Light, astonishing Sea Maiden Douluo and the gathered merfolk.
• Ariel, Tang San, Romantina, and Xiao Wu felt Zhou Qing’s field help them break free of the Sea God’s Light’s influence.
• The clash revealed an immense Sea God phantom facing Zhou Qing, while the merfolk bowed in reverence.
• Zhou Qing’s conviction intensified into a crimson glow as he stood firm against the Sea God’s raging storm and rejected the god’s attempt to influence him.
• Li Ya and the other merfolk began doubting the Sea God’s will, and the Sea God offered Zhou Qing his inheritance.

Zhou Qing resisted the Sea God’s attempt to overwrite his faith, even as the battle damaged his body and cracked his crimson Mind-Sense Qi Field. Just as he began to falter under the thought that he stood alone, Tang San joined his will to Zhou Qing’s, awakening the Blue Silver Emperor.

• The Sea God revealed the confrontation as a trial, but Zhou Qing rejected him and mocked his claim to divine authority.
• The Sea God attacked Zhou Qing’s mind and faith, hoping to replace his convictions and make him a successor.
• Zhou Qing’s will held firm against the Sea God’s Light, but the strain caused cracks in his Qi Field and blood to seep from his seven orifices.
• The Sea God intensified his assault and told Zhou Qing he was alone, striking at his deepest fear.
• Tang San declared that Zhou Qing was not alone and merged his Mind-Sense Qi Field with Zhou Qing’s.
• Tang San’s Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul awakened as the Blue Silver Emperor, its golden leaves tinged with crimson.

Zhou Qing, Tang San, Romantina, Xiao Wu, and Ariel united their beliefs to destroy the Sea God's Thought and strike back at the Sea Maiden Douluo. The Sea Maiden Douluo survived Ariel's thrown Sea Halberd but was left dazed by the Crimson Mind-Sense Qi Field.

• Tang San and Romantina joined Zhou Qing in the Belief-Interwoven Mental World, and Zhou Qing brought Xiao Wu into it as well.
• Xiao Wu declared she wanted revenge and wanted to prevent other Shapeshifted Soul Beasts from suffering as she had, joining the others' beliefs.
• The Will of the Ocean resisted the Sea God's Thought, and Ariel's bloodline power rose as Zhou Qing urged her to fight alongside them.
• Ariel accepted Zhou Qing's challenge and formed a Sea Halberd as the group's belief became a crimson spear that destroyed the Sea God Phantom.
• Ariel threw her Sea Halberd at the Sea Maiden Douluo, who knocked it away but was stunned when the Crimson Mind-Sense Qi Field invaded her body.

Ariel escaped through an Undercurrent Vortex Channel with the unconscious Zhou Qing, Tang San, Romantina, and Xiao Wu after Sea Maiden Douluo’s soul was badly damaged. Poseidon investigated the disturbance and, suspecting another Deity had attacked his legacy, vowed revenge, while remaining unwilling to bring the matter before the Divine Realm Committee.

• Ariel turned herself into a bubble, carried the unconscious Zhou Qing, Tang San, Romantina, and Xiao Wu into an Undercurrent Vortex Channel, and escaped as the mermaids tried to pursue them.
• Sea Princess stopped the mermaids from chasing Ariel and took the badly injured Sea Maiden Douluo back to the palace for treatment.
• Sea Princess warned Li Ya that Sea Maiden Douluo’s soul had been severely damaged by a human’s strange power, while the weakened Sea God’s Light might draw hostile Sea Soul Beasts toward the Mermaid Clan.
• Bo Saixi and the other Sacred Pillar Douluos sensed the disturbance at Sea Maiden City, and Bo Saixi wondered what had injured Sea Maiden Douluo.
• Poseidon sensed that a trace of his divine thought had been erased, investigated through the Sea God Trident, and discovered Sea Maiden Douluo’s devastating injury.
• Poseidon suspected a rival Deity had secretly attacked his inheritance site, but he feared exposing his rule-breaking influence on Sea God Island to the Divine Realm Committee.

Zhou Qing and Tang San recovered after being shipwrecked and learned that villagers had rescued them on Purple Pearl Island. They discovered the island was ruled by the Purple Pearl Adventurer Group, whose captain Zhou Qing recognized as a notorious pirate from the original story.

• Zhou Qing and Tang San woke in a village home, regulated their Soul Power, and began recovering from their injuries.
• Zhou Qing suspected a local Soul Master had searched their Storage Soul Tools and worried about their possessions and why they had been rescued.
• The two met a young boy who had checked their bone ages and said his parents were the best doctors on Sea God Island.
• Tang San learned they were not on Sea God Island and condemned its rules for people who failed the Sea God’s assessment.
• The boy said they were on Purple Pearl Island, ruled by the Purple Pearl Adventurer Group, and praised its captain, Sister Purple Pearl.
• Zhou Qing recognized Purple Pearl as the woman from the original story who had offered Tang San special services.

Zhou Qing and Tang San reunited with Xiao Wu, Romantina, and Ariel aboard the Purple Pearl Ship, where they met its captain, Purple Pearl. Purple Pearl thanked them for saving her crew and agreed to discuss returning their belongings after confirming they were not nobles.

• Ruyi told Zhou Qing and Tang San that their companions were aboard the Purple Pearl Ship, and Jixiang joined them on the way there.
• Zhou Qing recognized Jixiang as the child who would later learn to cultivate from Tang San, while Ruyi explained that he and Jixiang had left Sea God Island because they had no Innate Soul Power.
• Zhou Qing and Tang San boarded the ship and found Xiao Wu, Romantina, and Ariel with Captain Purple Pearl, who had been flirting with Xiao Wu.
• Purple Pearl asked whether the group were nobles before returning their Storage Soul Tools, and Zhou Qing explained that only Romantina was a noble and described her background.
• Purple Pearl dismissed her crew's suspicions, praised Zhou Qing's cleverness, and thanked the group for saving her crew members.

Purple Pearl returned Zhou Qing and his companions’ Storage Soul Tools, then tried to recruit them and used their need for a ship to demand that three women become her wives. After Zhou Qing talked her down to one, he chose Romantina, but Purple Pearl revealed her Soul King strength and insisted she made the rules.

• Purple Pearl returned Zhou Qing and the others’ Storage Soul Tools and invited Zhou Qing to join her pirate group, but he refused.
• Purple Pearl threatened to withhold a ship, so Zhou Qing asked what she wanted in exchange for taking them back to the continent.
• Purple Pearl demanded that Xiao Wu, Romantina, and Ariel become her wives, then agreed to leave only one behind after Zhou Qing objected.
• Zhou Qing chose Romantina to stay, but used her refusal to argue that Purple Pearl should not force her.
• Purple Pearl revealed her Soul King cultivation, with five Soul Rings and Soul Power around level fifty-five, and declared that she made the rules.

Zhou Qing agreed to fight Purple Pearl one-on-one to earn passage back to Vast Sea City and revealed his unusual thousand-year Soul Rings. After he landed a surprise blow, Purple Pearl broke her promise not to use Soul Skills and transformed her legs into a long tail.

• Purple Pearl offered to take Zhou Qing and his companions back to Vast Sea City if the women became hers, or if Zhou Qing defeated her, and insisted on a one-on-one fight.
• Zhou Qing accepted, activated his Martial Soul, and healed his injuries with the Nine Revolutions Years Dragon Gu, though the healing left him hungry.
• Purple Pearl questioned how Zhou Qing had obtained two thousand-year Soul Rings, and Zhou Qing said he had studied the connection between Soul Rings and Martial Souls.
• Zhou Qing dodged Purple Pearl's whip kick and struck her with both fists, sending her flying before she regained her footing.
• Purple Pearl angrily used her first three Soul Skills, enhancing her body and transforming her legs into a long snake tail.

Zhou Qing defeated Purple Pearl with a decisive strike after using his Qi Field Power to exploit her momentary hesitation. Purple Pearl recovered, admitted defeat, and agreed that her pirate group would follow him.

• Purple Pearl transformed and stacked her first three enhancement Soul Skills, then attacked Zhou Qing with a sandstorm and her tail.
• Zhou Qing activated his Moo Spring Ox and Qi Fields, stunned Purple Pearl, and struck her into the sea with a powerful attack.
• When Purple Pearl failed to surface, Ariel rescued her and revived her, while Zhou Qing worried he had hit her too hard.
• Purple Pearl acknowledged Zhou Qing's victory and agreed that the Purple Pearl Pirate Adventure Group would follow him, teasingly asking whether to call him Boss or Master.

Zhou Qing explained that conviction could fuel growth without letting the desire for strength take control, prompting Purple Pearl to reconsider her purpose and fading discipline. Her lost memories and exceptional abilities suggested she had been raised for leadership, but she insisted she would remain eighteen forever.

• Purple Pearl asked Zhou Qing how his move had knocked everyone unconscious, and he explained that conviction could drive a person to become stronger.
• Purple Pearl remembered founding her pirate group to protect commoners and realized that she had grown complacent about cultivation and its original purpose.
• Zhou Qing questioned Purple Pearl's origins based on her soul skills, and she admitted she had lost her memories after a shipwreck and had been rescued as a Soul Elder.
• Zhou Qing, Xiao Wu, and Tang San suspected Purple Pearl had come from a powerful family or sect because of her leadership skills and rapid rise to Soul King.
• When Romantina asked Purple Pearl's age, Purple Pearl declared that she would be eighteen forever, though the others thought she was around twenty.

Ariel revealed that Purple Pearl had been the missing disciple of Martial Soul Hall’s Saintess, now the New Pope, but Purple Pearl rejected her forgotten past and insisted on her identity as a free pirate captain. Zhou Qing decided Purple Pearl was worth winning over to help develop the Great Sea.

• Zhou Qing asked Purple Pearl her age, and she said she was twenty and had drifted onto Purple Pearl Island seven years earlier.
• Ariel recounted that Martial Soul Hall’s Saintess had trained a powerful Sea Soul Master who vanished in a storm seven years ago, and she suspected Purple Pearl was that disciple.
• Romantina realized Purple Pearl might have been destined to become Martial Soul Hall’s next Saintess, but Purple Pearl dismissed the idea and said she wanted no part in the hall’s rules.
• Zhou Qing reasoned that Bibi Dong had trained Purple Pearl to help conquer Sea God Island, then wondered why Bibi Dong had abandoned her after her own plans collapsed.
• Purple Pearl said she had never visited Vast Sea City to learn about her origins and declared herself the captain and leader of her own groups, determined to conquer the Great Sea.
• Zhou Qing judged Purple Pearl a useful ally and began considering how to win her over to his plans for developing the Great Sea.

Zhou Qing outlined a plan to redirect the Purple Pearl Pirate Group toward peaceful work and build roads connecting coastal and inland villages. He explained that he wanted to create a nation belonging to all its people, and Tang San resolved to reshape the future Tang Sect around shared ideals rather than bloodline.

• Zhou Qing asked Purple Pearl to return them to Vast Sea City and manage her pirates, but she admitted she could not fully control their raids.
• Zhou Qing proposed that willing pirates catch fish and gather shells, then sell seafood inland after villagers built a major road along the border between the Two Great Empires.
• Purple Pearl agreed to support Zhou Qing's plan, seeing it as a chance to restore her pirate group to its original purpose of standing up for commoners.
• Zhou Qing distinguished his intended nation from a kingdom, saying its leader should serve all families and step down if the nation failed to prosper.
• Tang San reflected on Zhou Qing's ideas and resolved to build the future Tang Sect around its ideals instead of bloodline, while watching over Zhou Qing.

Zhou Qing persuaded Purple Pearl to reform her pirate group and set out for Vast Sea City with her, planning to help guide its future. As the Purple Pearl Ship departed, Zhou Qing realized he and his companions had been left behind and raced across the sea to catch up.

• Zhou Qing told Purple Pearl to target only nobles who had committed heinous deeds and to spare good nobles while explaining why they had been robbed.
• Purple Pearl announced that the Purple Pearl Pirate Group would recognize Zhou Qing as its boss and stop casually robbing wealthy merchants; several squad leaders left, while the others stayed.
• Zhou Qing decided to return to Vast Sea City, promising future visits to advise Purple Pearl as the group became an adventurer group.
• Purple Pearl boarded the Purple Pearl Ship and set sail while Zhou Qing, Tang San, Xiao Wu, Romantina, and the others continued discussing the journey.
• Zhou Qing realized they had not boarded the ship, activated Winter Chant, and ran over the frozen sea after it as his companions hurried to follow.

Zhou Qing and his companions returned to Vast Sea City, where Ariel decided to establish a seafood business, while Purple Pearl sailed away after affirming her new identity. On the journey back to Nuoding City, Tang San explained why he had taught Jixiang and Ruyi about acupuncture points.

• Purple Pearl teased Zhou Qing and his companions about washing off the seawater, and Zhou Qing refused her offer of a special service.
• Zhou Qing and his companions disembarked in Vast Sea City, and Purple Pearl sailed away after reflecting that she now knew herself as Purple Pearl.
• Ariel asked her crew to keep their experience secret and announced she would open a Seafood Manor in Vast Sea City to prepare for transporting seafood inland.
• Tang San asked whether Purple Pearl could be trusted, and Zhou Qing said she would stay because she cared about the villagers on Purple Pearl Island.
• Xiao Wu asked why Tang San had taught Jixiang and Ruyi about acupuncture points, and he explained that he wanted to support their medical learning in return for their help.

Zhou Qing returned to Nuoding Academy and helped Wang Sheng plan his training and future role on the team. Meanwhile, he assigned Romantina to revise her theory of Secondary Soul Ring Refinement, leaving her working late into the night.

• The Nuoding Academy Dean welcomed Zhou Qing and his companions back to school, where Wang Sheng greeted them and reported that his soul power had reached level thirteen.
• Zhou Qing asked Wang Sheng to help work-study and commoner students find better-paying jobs in the city and advised him to develop as a defensive fighter.
• Zhou Qing recommended that Wang Sheng learn blacksmithing with Tang San to master body movement, redirected force, and vibration, and Tang San agreed to teach him a hammer technique.
• Zhou Qing, Tang San, and Xiao Wu settled into the semester, while Xiao Wu began studying the differences between human and Soul Beast auras.
• Zhou Qing reviewed Romantina's completed theory documents on Secondary Soul Ring Refinement and gave her more than ten pages to revise, keeping her at work past midnight.

Zhou Qing and Romantina used local bookstores to circulate the Soul Ring Secondary Refinement Theory while submitting a separate martial soul cultivation suggestion to Spirit Hall. The theory spread to other cities, where readers who had paid for it without receiving the first batch’s protective Moo Spring Ox hide grew angry and plotted to make Romantina famous.

• Zhou Qing chose local publication for the Soul Ring Secondary Refinement Theory and submitted a jointly authored martial soul cultivation suggestion with Romantina to Spirit Hall.
• Ma Xiunuo approved the suggestion for publication but warned that its continent-wide release would take more than half a year.
• Nuoding Guild added promoting Romantina and Zhou Qing’s theory to its mission wall, while Romantina arranged for bookstores to print and sell the Soul Ring Secondary Refinement Theory.
• Nuoding City's Soul Masters valued the first batch of books for their durable Moo Spring Ox hide covers, and merchants began printing and shipping more copies to other cities.
• Soul Masters in other cities, who received copies without the useful hide covers, felt swindled and some bought up more books to make Romantina famous.