Chapter Summaries

Tang Yuehua returned from visiting Tang Hao, who refused to come back to the Clear Sky Sect and chose to continue his ordinary life. Back at the sect, she revealed that the Red Assembly might not attend when the sect emerged from seclusion, while Tang Chen arrived and asked what had happened to Hao.

• Tang Hao refused Tang Yuehua's offer to return to the sect, apologized to their grandfather through her, and chose to keep working at the factory.
• Tang Yuehua left with Xiaolan, blamed Zhou Qing for Tang Hao's changed life, and broke through to level ten Soul Power.
• Tang Xiao asked Tang Yuehua whether she had seen Tang Hao, and she told him that her Second Brother would not return and had lost the spirit of the Clear Sky Douluo.
• Tang Yuehua told Tang Xiao that the Red Assembly might not attend the Clear Sky Sect's emergence from seclusion.
• Tang Chen entered the study, told Tang Xiao and Tang Yuehua they did not need to kneel, and asked what had happened and where Hao was.

Tang Chen learned that Spirit Hall was preparing an expedition near Sea God Island and planned to confront Qian Daoliu before it set out. He agreed to guide Tang Yuehua, whose newly awakened potential made her a promising candidate for the Asura inheritance.

• Tang Chen learned that Tang Hao would not return and resolved to restore Clear Sky Sect, help the Star Luo Empire unify the continent, and gather faith through war.
• Tang Chen sensed Tang Yuehua's changed Soul Power and agreed to guide her cultivation, recognizing her talent and Noble's Ring as suited to the Asura God's Divine Throne.
• Tang Xiao told Tang Chen that Spirit Hall was preparing to explore the Great Sea, focusing on Vast Sea City and likely departing early next year.
• Tang Chen realized Spirit Hall might be targeting Sea God Island and planned to fight Qian Daoliu before the expedition to pressure Spirit Hall into abandoning it.

Bibi Dong and Zhou Qing learned that the Clear Sky Sect planned to reemerge, with Tang Chen reportedly back, and each weighed the news against their own plans. Zhou Qing focused on Spirit Hall’s preparations to explore the sea and the possibility of investigating Sea God Island and its hidden passage to the God Realm.

• Bibi Dong dismissed the Clear Sky Sect’s return and ordered Spirit Hall to recruit Sea Soul Masters, sailors, and people skilled in naval combat.
• Zhou Qing reasoned that the Asura God’s surviving divine thought might have helped Tang Chen escape the City of Slaughter and could be backing him as a potential God King.
• Zhou Qing said the Red Assembly might cooperate with the Clear Sky Sect if it adapted to the changing era, but otherwise it risked fading away.
• Zhou Qing planned to use Spirit Hall’s sea expedition to investigate Sea God Island and locate the concealed Space Passage between the God Realm and Douluo Star.
• Zhou Qing told Xiaolan that Tang Yuehua was Tang Hao’s biological sister and had fallen in love with someone she should not have loved, then teased Xiaolan about her own crush.

Zhou Qing advised Xiaolan to wait until she opened her Inner Scenery before pursuing her feelings for Tang San, then read Ariel’s warning about trouble at Vast Sea City. He sent Romantina to help Purple Pearl while he agreed to give Romantina’s lecture at Nuoding Academy.

• Xiaolan admitted that she had feelings for Tang San, Zhou Qing, and Wang Sheng but feared rejection.
• Zhou Qing concluded that Xiaolan’s strongest feelings were for Tang San and advised her to focus on cultivation and wait until she opened her Inner Scenery before pursuing love.
• After Xiaolan left, Zhou Qing considered adding adolescent education to the school curriculum.
• Zhou Qing read Ariel’s letter explaining that a Titled Douluo investigating Spirit Hall’s recruitment drive in Vast Sea City had recognized Purple Pearl as the missing first-generation Saintess.
• Zhou Qing asked Romantina to go to Vast Sea City to help Purple Pearl, and he agreed to give Romantina’s lecture at Nuoding Academy.

Zhou Qing disguised himself as Romantina to teach at Nuoding Academy, explaining how soul skills and ring choices reflected the Soul Master World's focus on combat. He left the students questioning what gave their lives meaning.

• Zhou Qing agreed to teach in Romantina's place while disguised as her.
• Zhou Qing greeted Mo Hen at Nuoding Academy and teased him about Bu Yi before discussing his relationship with Zhou Qing.
• Zhou Qing expanded the lecture hall with Inner Scenery and taught how Secondary Refinement improved soul-skill release.
• Meng Yiran, Ning Rongrong, and Qingzhu Zhu discussed factors in choosing soul rings, and Zhou Qing challenged the class to consider why the world admired Battle Soul Masters.
• Ning Rongrong could not explain the meaning of her life, prompting the students to question whether studying and cultivation gave their lives meaning.

Zhou Qing taught the students why the Soul Master world revered combat strength, explaining its roots in biological competition and humanity’s pursuit of power and meaning. Qingzhu Zhu connected the lesson to the continent’s preparations for war, while Ning Rongrong grasped that life’s meaning involved satisfying both body and spirit.

• Zhou Qing asked Ning Rongrong to reflect on his earlier words, then explained that family responsibilities and the Soul Master world’s dangerous conditions shaped the students’ lives.
• Qingzhu Zhu described her guilt toward the family she had left, and Zhou Qing argued that a world where survival depended on strength created a pervasive warlike atmosphere.
• Zhou Qing illustrated animals competing for mates and explained that Soul Masters’ instinct to admire strength stemmed from the drive to reproduce and pass on strong bloodlines.
• Zhou Qing contrasted humans’ complex emotions and ambitions with animals’ simpler territorial behavior, prompting Qingzhu Zhu and Ning Rongrong to consider bodily and spiritual fulfillment.
• Qingzhu Zhu explained that the Two Great Empires’ preparations for war influenced major forces, families, sects, and academies to pursue greater strength, and Zhou Qing applauded her answer.

Zhou Qing taught his students how to select and combine Soul Ring Skills, using Romantina’s Brain Martial Soul to demonstrate how four individually noncombat skills created a powerful Virtual Illusion. He showed that the illusion could imitate reality and trap even much stronger Soul Masters.

• Zhou Qing explained that Soul Masters should understand the world’s rules and investigate claims before challenging them, prompting Ning Rongrong to return to her seat in embarrassment.
• Zhou Qing introduced Soul Ring Skill combinations and described how his Spiritual Detection, Spiritual Consciousness, Spiritual Dreamscape, and Spiritual Will worked together.
• Zhou Qing transformed the classroom into a lifelike scene of Nuoding City and connected the students and teachers to the Virtual Illusion through simulated Spiritual Sharing.
• Zhou Qing made illusionary pedestrians surround the class, explaining that the combined skills could make people feel pain or even die within the illusion.
• Zhou Qing transformed the illusion’s inhabitants into Romantina and the students, simulating their Martial Souls, soul rings, and Soul Ring Skills, and explained that those whose Spiritual Power did not exceed his by nine times could not escape.

Zhou Qing taught the students how Soul Power control and compatible Soul Skills could be combined into a Self Martial Soul Combination Skill, urging them to plan early. He ended by beginning to explain how to choose Soul Rings and Skills according to each Martial Soul’s attributes.

• Zhou Qing demonstrated how combining his Martial Souls and Soul Skills produced powerful effects, then explained the importance of Soul Power control.
• Zhou Qing showed several stages of Soul Power control and transformed his Soul Power into lifelike animal forms, explaining that the advanced feat required deep understanding rather than training alone.
• Qingzhu Zhu offered to join the Red Assembly, but Zhou Qing told her to study at Nuoding Academy for three years before deciding.
• Zhou Qing introduced Self Martial Soul Combination Skills and explained that commoner students should plan their Soul Skills early to protect themselves and support their growth.
• Meng Yiran asked when students should begin planning, and Zhou Qing said they should start as early as possible while they still had time at the academy.
• Zhou Qing began teaching how to select Soul Rings and plan compatible Soul Skills based on each Martial Soul’s talents and attributes.

Zhou Qing, disguised as Romantina, taught students how Martial Soul Self-Combination Skills worked and analyzed Ning Rongrong’s Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda. He left Qingzhu Zhu’s question about her acceleration-type Soul Skills unanswered while asking her to demonstrate her Martial Soul and Soul Rings.

• Zhou Qing explained that Martial Soul Self-Combination Skills depended on a Martial Soul’s talents and attributes, and described how Romantina’s first four Soul Skills formed the Virtual Illusion.
• Zhou Qing said the Virtual Illusion consumed little Soul Power and that the Red Assembly’s research improved Soul Power efficiency.
• Ning Rongrong asked how she could create a self-combination skill with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, and Zhou Qing said its Soul Rings likely activated abilities innate to the Martial Soul.
• Ning Rongrong explained that the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda could temporarily evolve with Soul Power from the sect’s direct descendants, though the cost was immense.
• Qingzhu Zhu asked whether she could create a self-combination skill from her first three acceleration-type Soul Skills, and Zhou Qing asked her to release her Martial Soul and Soul Rings.

Zhou Qing taught Qingzhu Zhu how to combine her speed-enhancing Soul Skills into a Martial Soul Self-Combination Skill, then revealed Red Assembly’s Artificial Soul Ring technology to the students. After the lesson, he began planning Nuoding Academy’s participation in the next Continental Elite Tournament through its original students and their cultivation of Qi Field Power.

• Qingzhu Zhu activated Martial Soul Possession and explained that her three feline Soul Skills could stack to make her faster than a family Soul Douluo.
• Zhou Qing identified how her Shadow Swift Cat, Shadow Cat, and Dark Shadow Cat rings enhanced her body, spirit, and Dark Attribute, and advised her to combine their effects rather than simply stack them.
• Zhou Qing told the students that Red Assembly could provide their spirit rings and demonstrated how artificial rings could be made from Soul Beast materials without hunting the beasts.
• Zhou Qing explained that Red Assembly’s annual output was one hundred Artificial Soul Rings and promised to cover the students’ spirit rings before graduation.
• The Nuoding Academy Dean discussed the next Continental Elite Tournament with Zhou Qing, who proposed selecting the original students and judging their resolve through Qi Field Power cultivation.

Romantina arrived in Vast Sea City and confronted Chrysanthemum Douluo, who was guarding Purple Pearl and insisting she return to Spirit City. After hearing his claim that Purple Pearl was the Pope’s lost disciple, Romantina tested his strength and left him shaken.

• Ariel told Romantina that Chrysanthemum Douluo had been pestering Li Ya about Seaweed Flower seeds and urging Purple Pearl to go to Spirit City.
• Romantina recognized Chrysanthemum Douluo and learned he wanted Purple Pearl to return to the Pope, but Purple Pearl refused and demanded compensation for being kept from the sea.
• Chrysanthemum Douluo insisted that Purple Pearl could not go out to sea because she might disappear again and because Spirit Hall needed her help against Sea God Island.
• Romantina asked Chrysanthemum Douluo for proof that Purple Pearl was the Pope’s disciple, then used her Mind-Sense Qi Field to test him and made him stagger backward.

Romantina negotiated an alliance between the Red Assembly and Spirit Hall for the operation against Sea God Island, preventing Chrysanthemum Douluo from taking Purple Pearl away. Chrysanthemum Douluo left Seafood Manor after agreeing to cooperate, while Purple Pearl maintained that her past did not define who she was now.

• Chrysanthemum Douluo admitted that Romantina's Qi Field Power suppressed him despite his rank 96 cultivation and Soul Cores.
• Romantina refused to let Chrysanthemum Douluo take Purple Pearl, and he insisted that Purple Pearl remain within his sight because he believed she was the Pope's disciple.
• Romantina proposed that Spirit Hall hire the Purple Pearl Adventurer Group to help with its campaign against Sea God Island, and Chrysanthemum Douluo agreed.
• Romantina revealed that the Red Assembly knew about Sea God Island's divine inheritance and its powerful defenders, then said the Assembly had moved beyond ordinary Soul Masters.
• Purple Pearl agreed to represent the Red Assembly in the joint operation and told Chrysanthemum Douluo that even if she remembered her past, it would not change who she was now.
• Chrysanthemum Douluo finalized the cooperation with Romantina and left Seafood Manor.

Purple Pearl explained that she had fled Spirit Hall as a child after discovering that the Former Pope had assaulted Bibi Dong, and she revealed her guilt over leaving her teacher behind. Romantina comforted her, and Purple Pearl remained determined to follow her own path rather than return to Spirit Hall.

• Purple Pearl asked how Seafood Manor would operate without the Purple Pearl Pirates' ship, and Romantina suggested using Spirit Hall's newly recruited sailors as labor.
• Purple Pearl told Romantina, Ariel, and Li Ya that seeing Chrysanthemum Douluo had restored her memories, though she wanted to keep the name Purple Pearl.
• Purple Pearl recounted how, at around thirteen, she overheard the Former Pope arguing with Bibi Dong and learned he had forced himself on her.
• Fearing that the Former Pope might target her too, Purple Pearl fled toward Vast Sea City, was lost in a storm, and later woke without her name.
• Purple Pearl admitted she felt guilty for abandoning Bibi Dong, while Romantina reassured her that she had been a frightened child and could apologize to her teacher someday.
• Purple Pearl thanked Romantina, then teased her by groping her, prompting Romantina to push her away.

Bibi Dong learned that the Red Assembly had taken in Hai Yanran and was considering bringing Hu Liena and the others back before Spirit Hall moved against Sea God Island. Zhou Qing asked Romantina to help investigate a possible passage to the God Realm, then the Red Assembly ended the year by planning to look into Tang Chen’s sudden return.

• Bibi Dong learned that Hai Yanran had lost her memories, joined the Red Assembly, and reached Level 69, while Hu Liena, Xie Yue, and Yan had grown stronger as Red Assembly members.
• Bibi Dong planned to transfer Hu Liena and the others back and take Hu Liena with her when Spirit Hall moved against Sea God Island.
• Romantina told Zhou Qing that Chrysanthemum Douluo had avoided conflict, and Zhou Qing invited her to investigate a possible Space Passage on Sea God Island and protect him while he avoided fighting.
• At the Red Assembly’s year-end meeting, Zhou Qing proposed investigating Tang Chen’s sudden reappearance and the possibility that he had encountered god-level ruins.
• After the meeting, Zhou Qing asked Tang San, Xiao Wu, Romantina, and Wang Sheng whether they could join him in looking into the Clear Sky Sect.

Zhou Qing, Tang San, and Romantina left for Star Luo City while Shrek Academy’s displaced teachers and students arrived in Nuoding, hoping to join Nuoding Academy and gain access to the Red Assembly’s research. Yu Xiaogang urged Flender to seize the opportunity, and the group examined the academy from outside its fence.

• Xiao Wu returned to Star Dou Town to handle trouble caused by the Ferocious Beasts, while Wang Sheng stayed behind to develop Falling Star Slope and Falling Star Lake with the Worker-Peasant Council.
• Zhou Qing, Tang San, and Romantina set off for Star Luo City the next day.
• After Shrek Academy closed and they failed to secure places at other academies, Yu Xiaogang persuaded the group to seek refuge at Nuoding Academy.
• Yu Xiaogang told Flender that joining the Red Assembly could give their students access to advances such as Secondary Soul Ring Refinement, Qi Field Power, and Artificial Soul Rings.
• The Shrek group arrived at Nuoding Academy, where Yu Xiaogang explained its size and the opportunities available in the surrounding region.

Yu Xiaogang brought Flender and the others to Nuoding Academy, hoping to apologize and have the academy take in their teachers and students. The Dean heard Yu Xiaogang out but warned that he no longer controlled the academy alone.

• A guard recognized Yu Xiaogang and sent for someone from the academy after Flender said the group wanted to join.
• Mo Hen greeted Yu Xiaogang, learned that the group sought places as teachers and students, and led them to the Principal's Office.
• Mo Hen explained that Nuoding Academy had grown to include many Soul Emperor and Soul Saint teachers, including people with personal motives who followed the academy's rules and contributed to its development.
• Yu Xiaogang apologized to the Dean and introduced Flender and the others, while the Dean listened and said Nuoding Academy was no longer his alone to decide over.

Mo Hen explained Nuoding Academy’s teacher training and its cooperative model with the Red Assembly, challenging Shrek’s focus on elite students and Soul Master status. He left Yu Xiaogang and the others confronting a broader definition of strength and a possible new path for commoner Soul Masters.

• Mo Hen told Yu Xiaogang, Flender, and the others that Nuoding Academy required teacher training and an assessment, and offered them alternative work if they failed.
• Mo Hen described how the Red Assembly provided opportunities for commoners and Soul Masters, while Yu Xiaogang remained focused on learning Nuoding Academy’s cultivation methods.
• Zhao Wuji asked whether training included food and lodging, and Mo Hen confirmed that it did; he also said failed trainees would not be charged.
• Dai Mubai dismissed Soul Masters who could not succeed as useless, but Mo Hen argued that limited opportunities and unequal resources left many hardworking people without a path forward.
• Yu Xiaogang insisted that Soul Masters should cultivate and become strong, and Mo Hen countered that true strength meant understanding society and striving to change it.

Mo Hen arranged lodging at Nuoding Academy for Flender and his students, while Oscar, Ma Hongjun, and Dai Mubai discussed life at the school. When they visited the Training Ground, Dai Mubai encountered his former fiancée Qingzhu Zhu, who challenged him and warned him against starting a fight.

• Mo Hen offered Flender and the others rooms in the teachers' dormitory and arranged a temporary dormitory for the students.
• Oscar gave Ma Hongjun a Crystal Spirit Sausage to help suppress his Evil Fire, while Dai Mubai said he hoped to find beautiful young ladies in Nuoding City.
• Ma Hongjun grew angry while recalling Shui Bing'er and her refusal to help him cultivate his Phoenix martial soul.
• Dai Mubai, Oscar, and Ma Hongjun went to watch students sparring and saw Qingzhu Zhu fighting Meng Yiran.
• Dai Mubai called Qingzhu Zhu his fiancée, but she said she had unilaterally divorced him and warned that he would face punishment if he attacked her at Nuoding Academy.

Qingzhu Zhu challenged Dai Mubai and used her speed and refined Soul Power control to defeat him in a direct clash. She celebrated her victory after sending him flying from the Training Ground.

• Ning Rongrong explained why she doubted that Dai Mubai and his companions were Nuoding Academy students, and Dai Mubai challenged Qingzhu Zhu.
• Ning Rongrong refereed the match as Qingzhu Zhu and Dai Mubai agreed to fight under the Class One Rules.
• Qingzhu Zhu used her speed to evade Dai Mubai’s attacks and repeatedly wounded him, while taunting him until his attacks grew erratic.
• Qingzhu Zhu concentrated dark purple Soul Power around her claws and sliced through Dai Mubai’s White Tiger Blazing Light Wave.
• Qingzhu Zhu struck Dai Mubai through his defenses and sent him flying from the Training Ground, then declared, “I won!”

Qingzhu Zhu defeated Dai Mubai by relying on speed and self-created soul skills, while Tang San and Zhou Qing visited the Clear Sky Sect’s newly established branch and academy. Zhou Qing sensed Tang Chen watching them and reflected on the elder’s remarkable talent.

• Qingzhu Zhu defeated Dai Mubai, who left with Oscar and Ma Hongjun after admitting she had surpassed him in attack power.
• Qingzhu Zhu explained that she had learned to create skills like Netherworld Hundred Claws and Netherworld Slash through Zhou Qing’s teachings, then discussed holiday plans with Ning Rongrong and Meng Yiran.
• Zhou Qing and Tang San discussed Tang San’s fifth soul skill, Blue Silver Tyrant Spear, as they walked through Star Luo City.
• Tang San and Zhou Qing visited the Clear Sky Sect’s mountain branch, where Clear Sky Academy was being established.
• Tang Chen sensed Zhou Qing observing him, and Zhou Qing concluded that Tang Chen’s cultivation talent surpassed Tang San’s.