Chapter Summaries

Yao Zi stopped the pirate Soul Kings, but She Long betrayed Dragon Ascending Town and helped the pirates enter. She raised a Thorn Castle to protect the defenders and block the invaders, though maintaining it was exhausting her.

• Yao Zi bound Sea Wolf, Blood Fin, and Black Ridge with venomous Dragon Mark Thorns after they retreated from the city wall.
• Sea Wolf fired a shark-shaped signal flare, and Shui Ruolin warned that the pirates might have allies inside the town.
• She Long led more than thirty She Family clansmen in an attack on the city guards, declaring that the town would belong to the She Family.
• The She Family opened the city gate, allowing Sea Wolf, Blood Fin, Black Ridge, and more than a hundred pirates to rush into Dragon Ascending Town.
• Yao Zi formed a massive Thorn Castle that protected the defenders and blocked the gate, while She Long and Sea Wolf judged that she could not maintain it for long.

Sheng Minglan helped Yao Zi hold Thorn Castle until Shui Ruoyan and Yao Yuerou led the Four Elements Academies' teams in a surprise attack on the pirates and She Family clansmen. The battle raged through Dragon Ascending Town for two hours, and Xiao Yun arrived as it neared its end.

• Sheng Minglan gave Yao Zi a pill that restored her Soul Power while She Long and Sea Wolf waited for Thorn Castle's defenses to fail.
• Blood Fin noticed the town was strangely quiet, but She Long and Sea Wolf prepared to attack the castle from two sides.
• A whistle sounded, and Shui Ruoyan and Yao Yuerou led more than thirty high-level soul masters out of buildings and surrounded the pirates and She Family clansmen.
• Shui Ruoyan accused She Long of betraying the empire, but Sea Wolf attacked her and the two sides began fighting across the town.
• Feng Xiaotian fought Sea Wolf, Yao Yuerou faced Blood Fin and Black Ridge, and Huo Wushuang and Huo Wu battled She Long as the academy students fought the remaining enemies.
• After two hours of fighting, Xiao Yun appeared above Dragon Ascending Town as the battle neared its end.

Xiao Yun returned to Dragon Ascending Town after the battle and learned the pirates and She Family forces had been defeated, though the town had suffered casualties. He killed She Long, ordered the surviving She Family members arrested, and left Dragon Ascending Town under new rule as the town began recovering.

• Shui Ruoyan reported that the Green Shark Pirate Group and the She Family had been defeated, with seventeen City Guards dead and more than thirty wounded.
• Xiao Yun led Shui Ruoyan, Feng Xiaotian, Huo Wushuang, and Shui Yue'er to the She Family estate and found She Long wounded in the main hall.
• She Long threatened that Sea God Island would avenge the She Family, but Xiao Yun killed him with sword intent.
• Shui Ruoyan ordered Feng Xiaotian and Huo Wushuang to arrest the remaining She Family members and use the estate as a residence for the Four Great Academies.
• Xiao Yun walked toward the City Lord's Mansion as the captured ships approached and Dragon Ascending Town's residents emerged from hiding.

Xiao Yun appeared before the people of Dragon Ascending Town for his inauguration after the bloody battle against the pirates. Xue Mingyuan read the imperial decree naming Xiao Yun an Earl and granting him the town as his fief, then stepped aside for him to address the crowd.

• Tens of thousands of townspeople gathered at East Wharf after the City Guard ordered them to attend.
• Xue Mingyuan, Shui Ruolin, local clan leaders, and Xiao Yun's companions assembled atop the gate tower as the crowd fell silent.
• Xue Mingyuan read the emperor's decree ennobling Xiao Yun as an Earl and granting him Dragon Ascending Town as his fief.
• Xue Mingyuan bowed and invited Xiao Yun forward, and Xiao Yun stepped up before the waiting crowd.

Xiao Yun announced that Dragon Ascending Town was his fief and promised residents they could judge his rule by the town’s changes over the next year. Sheng Minglan then read decrees on fairness, taxes, grain prices, town administration, recruitment, and major construction projects.

• Xiao Yun introduced himself as Dragon Ascending Town’s new lord and declared that everyone in his territory would be treated equally.
• Xiao Yun challenged residents to judge his rule by the town’s condition in a year, and the crowd applauded his fairness policy.
• Sheng Minglan announced that agricultural taxes would fall to thirty percent and that commercial taxes would follow unified rates.
• Sheng Minglan announced monthly guided grain prices and introduced the Dragon Ascending Guard with generous pay.
• Sheng Minglan announced new Finance, Administration, and Maritime Trade departments, with staff recruited from across the town.
• Sheng Minglan outlined plans to expand the docks, build two coastal forts and a new spirit master academy, and pay project workers twenty Copper Soul Coins per day plus lunch.

Xiao Yun announced paid work on Dragon Ascending Town’s docks and batteries, then publicly exposed and executed the She Family traitors and Green Shark pirates. He left the townspeople cheering and prepared to rebuild the town.

• Xiao Yun announced that construction projects would pay workers twenty Copper Soul Coins a day and invited townspeople to register.
• Xiao Yun accused the She Family of conspiring with the Green Shark Pirate Group and betraying Dragon Ascending Town.
• The City Guard brought the She Family rebels and captured pirate leaders before the townspeople, and Xiao Yun ordered their execution.
• The City Guard executed the She Family members and pirates while the townspeople watched.
• Xiao Yun announced that hiring would begin the next day, and the townspeople cheered as he left the gate tower.

Dragon Ascending Town drew crowds for its recruitment drives as Xiao Yun’s City Guard and newly formed navy filled their ranks. With five ships and two hundred sailors assembled, Ma Sanbao began training them for combat within a month.

• Shui Ruolin oversaw the City Guard recruitment, accepting applicants for all six hundred positions, while Xue Mingyuan registered ordinary people such as Zhao Shitou.
• Xiao Yun’s five captured ships flew Dragon Ascending Town’s new flags, and the flagship Sea-Suppressing carried a powerful cannon hidden in its dragon-head figurehead.
• Ma Sanbao recruited two hundred sailors, assigned them to the five ships, and made Sea-Suppressing his flagship.
• Ma Sanbao asked Xiao Yun for the navy’s next orders, and Xiao Yun told him to train the crews in sailing, gunnery, and naval combat.
• Ma Sanbao ordered the sailors to train six double-hours every day, and they stayed despite their complaints because the pay included food and lodging.

Xiao Yun organized Dragon Ascending Town’s finances, administration, maritime trade, and military while outfitting its forces with powerful equipment and pills. He left the town preparing to expand its docks and build an academy, with his Personal Guard tasked with protecting the Lord’s Mansion and finding new recruits.

• Sheng Minglan audited three years of tax accounts and found that the previous city lord had embezzled at least three thousand Gold Soul Coins, which Xiao Yun recorded for a later reckoning.
• Shui Ruoyan organized household registration, taxes, civil affairs, and recruitment, while Shui Yue'er reported that workers had been recruited for the dock expansion and gun batteries.
• Yao Yuerou converted three captured pirate ships into merchant vessels and began forming the Dragon Ascending Caravan, while discussing trade channels with Huo Wu.
• Xiao Yun divided the six hundred City Guards into two battalions under Shui Ruolin and Xue Mingyuan and equipped the guards and Soul Master Regiment with rank-appropriate gear and pills.
• Xiao Yun equipped Shui Bing'er, Yao Zi, and Shui Yue'er for the Personal Guard and ordered them to protect the Lord's Mansion and recruit suitable women.
• Xiao Yun surveyed the bay entrance for gun battery sites, selected land for an academy, and checked on the dock expansion project.

Xiao Yun oversaw Dragon Ascending Town’s rapid construction while planning an academy and worrying about its finances. As the town developed, Huo Wu and Feng Xiaotian grew curious about the secret behind the women’s sudden cultivation progress.

• Sheng Minglan reported that town projects and salaries had consumed nearly five thousand Gold Soul Coins, and Xiao Yun said he would find a way to secure more money.
• Xiao Yun designed an academy combining Martial Soul, spiritual energy, martial arts, formation, alchemy, and artifact-refining studies.
• The docks, Artillery Batteries, and academy advanced, while Shui Ruoyan, Yao Yuerou, Shui Bing'er, Shui Yue'er, and Yao Zi improved their cultivation under Xiao Yun’s guidance.
• Huo Wu questioned Shui Bing'er, Shui Yue'er, and Yao Zi about their nighttime activities, but they avoided revealing the secret.
• Feng Xiaotian asked Shui Yue'er whether she had taken a miracle pill, and she told him there were things he was better off not knowing.

Xiao Yun learned that Shui Yuntian and Feng Wuhen were trapped in the Extreme North Ice Plains after encountering a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, with only three days of supplies left. He set out with Shui Bing'er to rescue them, leaving the town's affairs in the hands of Shui Ruoyan, Yao Yuerou, and Sheng Minglan.

• Xiao Yun relaxed as construction, City Guard training, and naval drills progressed steadily in Dragon Ascending Town.
• Shui Ruoyan brought Xiao Yun Feng Wuhen's distress letter, explaining that Shui Yuntian and Feng Wuhen were trapped in an ice cave surrounded by Soul Beasts.
• Xiao Yun decided to rescue Shui Yuntian and asked Shui Ruoyan to summon Shui Bing'er to accompany him.
• Xiao Yun told Shui Ruoyan, Yao Yuerou, and Sheng Minglan to manage the territory while he was away.
• Shui Bing'er joined Xiao Yun, and the two flew north toward the Extreme North Ice Plains.

Xiao Yun and Shui Bing'er traveled north through increasingly desolate, snow-covered lands until they reached Icefield Town. Shui Bing'er found Skywater Academy's contact mark at the Ice Bear Tavern, where they entered to seek the contact.

• After Shui Bing'er's Soul Power ran low, Xiao Yun brought her onto the Flying Sword and carried her north.
• Shui Bing'er sensed Skywater Academy's contact mark northeast of them, and Xiao Yun changed course toward it.
• Xiao Yun and Shui Bing'er reached Icefield Town and followed the mark's direction through the settlement.
• Shui Bing'er found Skywater Academy's water-drop mark on the Ice Bear Tavern's door frame.
• Xiao Yun and Shui Bing'er entered the crowded, warm tavern.

Xiao Yun and Shui Bing'er reunited with Shui Wuya in Icefield Town, where he explained that Shui Yuntian and Feng Wuhen were trapped in the Extreme North Ice Plains after encountering a hundred-thousand-year Frost Giant Beast. The chapter ended with Xiao Yun asking where Extreme Cold Snow Peak was as Shui Wuya spread out a map.

• Xiao Yun and Shui Bing'er entered the tavern and found Shui Wuya waiting in a corner.
• Xiao Yun drove away three eavesdroppers with his spiritual pressure and sealed the room with a soundproofing barrier.
• Shui Wuya told Xiao Yun that Shui Yuntian and Feng Wuhen had gone into the Extreme North Ice Plains to hunt for their Eighth Soul Rings.
• Shui Wuya showed Xiao Yun and Shui Bing'er a distress letter saying that Shui Yuntian and Feng Wuhen were trapped near Extreme Cold Snow Peak after meeting a hundred-thousand-year Frost Giant Beast.
• Xiao Yun asked where Extreme Cold Snow Peak was, and Shui Wuya spread out a map of the ice plains.

Xiao Yun and Shui Bing'er set out by Flying Sword to rescue Shui Wuya and Feng from an Ice Crevice near Extreme Cold Snow Peak. As they crossed the storm, Xiao Yun used his Spiritual Sense to navigate and let Shui Bing'er experience the extreme cold to deepen her understanding of the Origin of Ice.

• Shui Wuya showed Xiao Yun the map and explained that the trapped headmasters were near a dangerous Ice Crevice about fifteen kilometers from Extreme Cold Snow Peak.
• Xiao Yun and Shui Bing'er left the tavern to go rescue them, while Shui Wuya stayed behind and prayed for their safety.
• Xiao Yun carried Shui Bing'er through the snowstorm on his Flying Sword, and a burly Icefield Violent Bear Soul Ancestor fled Icefield Town with his lackeys after mistaking Xiao Yun for a powerful Soul Douluo.
• Xiao Yun sheltered Shui Bing'er against his chest as they flew and extended his Spiritual Sense to navigate through the storm.

Xiao Yun and Shui Bing'er reached Extreme Cold Snow Peak, where a hibernating horde of Ice Giant Apes guarded the area. After Shui Bing'er sensed Shui Yuntian's martial soul below the snow, Xiao Yun found the Ice Crevice and descended into it to search for her and Feng Wuhen.

• Xiao Yun flew through the blizzard with Shui Bing'er and sensed a Hundred-Thousand-Year Ice Giant Ape and more than a hundred other Ice Giant Apes near the snow peak.
• Shui Bing'er located a hidden Ice Crevice by sensing Shui Yuntian's faint martial soul aura beneath the snow.
• Xiao Yun told Shui Bing'er to keep watch from the Flying Sword while he approached the crevice alone.
• Xiao Yun silently passed the hibernating Ice Giant Apes and uncovered the crevice entrance before leaping inside.
• Xiao Yun descended through the deep ice passage, whose walls held ancient frozen creatures.

Xiao Yun rescued Shui Yuntian and Feng Wuhen from the Ice Crevice and carried them past the awakened Ice Giant Apes. After Shui Bing'er flew away with the injured pair, Xiao Yun returned to the crevice to investigate the ancient resonance calling to his Chaos Bead.

• Xiao Yun found Shui Yuntian and Feng Wuhen badly injured in an ice cavern and used a Healing Pill to stabilize Feng Wuhen.
• Xiao Yun carried both survivors up through the crevice while warning Shui Yuntian that the Ice Giant Apes might awaken.
• The hundred-thousand-year Ice Giant Ape and more than a hundred other apes woke when Xiao Yun emerged, but he faced them without attacking.
• Shui Bing'er arrived on the Flying Sword and carried Shui Yuntian and Feng Wuhen away at Xiao Yun's command.
• Xiao Yun returned to the Ice Crevice after the apes settled back into dormancy and leaped into its depths, following the resonance that stirred his Chaos Bead.

Xiao Yun descended through the Ice Crevice and discovered a warm underground oasis filled with rare spiritual medicines. He found a lone Sky Dream Ice Butterfly, which attacked him with its dream-inducing mist.

• Xiao Yun fell through the Ice Crevice and landed in a vast underground world illuminated by glowing ores.
• Xiao Yun found living grass, flowers, a stream, and an underground volcanic crack that warmed the cavern.
• Xiao Yun identified Silver Frost Grass, Red Spirit Fruit, and Azure Moss growing throughout the oasis.
• Xiao Yun searched for soul beasts and discovered a lone Sky Dream Ice Butterfly flying overhead.
• The Sky Dream Ice Butterfly noticed Xiao Yun and enveloped him in its pale purple Sky Dream Mist.

Xiao Yun discovered a battle between the Tian Meng Ice Butterflies and Human-Faced Ghost Ice Moths in the underground world. He shielded the butterflies from an attack, and a hundred-thousand-year Human-Faced Ghost Ice Moth emerged to confront him.

• Xiao Yun protected himself from the Sky Dream Ice Butterfly's mist and moved it into the Medicine Garden in the Pagoda Space.
• Xiao Yun used his Spiritual Sense to find hundreds of Tian Meng Ice Butterflies fighting Human-Faced Ghost Ice Moths in a clearing.
• Xiao Yun saw the Tian Meng Ice Butterflies were outnumbered and close to defeat, so he sent Green Lotus Sword Qi to shield them.
• The Human-Faced Ghost Ice Moths' all-out attack struck the Green Lotus and was completely blocked.
• A hundred-thousand-year Human-Faced Ghost Ice Moth emerged and fixed its gaze on Xiao Yun as he approached.

Xiao Yun stopped the Human-Faced Ghost Ice Moths from destroying the Tian Meng Ice Butterflies and promised to restore their declining habitat. After the moths withdrew, the Tian Meng Ice Butterfly leader thanked him and began explaining the conflict.

• Xiao Yun blocked the hundred-thousand-year Human-Faced Ghost Ice Moth's attack and threatened the swarm into retreating.
• The hundred-thousand-year Human-Faced Ghost Ice Moth warned Xiao Yun that both clans were fighting over dwindling spiritual herbs and spiritual energy.
• Xiao Yun sensed the small world's decline and promised to restore its spiritual energy and herbs if the Human-Faced Ghost Ice Moths ceased fighting for now.
• The Human-Faced Ghost Ice Moths withdrew, and the Tian Meng Ice Butterflies celebrated their survival.
• The Tian Meng Ice Butterfly leader thanked Xiao Yun, explained that its Dream Entry ability let it learn languages and memories through dreams, and drooped its wings when Xiao Yun asked why the clans were fighting.

Xiao Yun learned that dwindling spiritual resources had driven the Tian Meng Ice Butterflies and Human-Faced Ghost Ice Moths into war, and he offered to restore the small world’s resources. He then proposed moving the Sky Dream Ice Butterflies into his Pagoda Space, but their leader wanted to see him solve the local problem first.

• The Sky Dream Ice Butterfly leader explained that declining spiritual herbs and energy had driven both races into war over food and territory.
• Xiao Yun promised to restore the small world’s spiritual energy and herbs, and the leader asked why he wanted to help.
• Xiao Yun warned the leader that the races would eventually fight again, and the leader acknowledged that it had no answer to their long-term survival.
• Xiao Yun offered the Sky Dream Ice Butterflies a home in his Pagoda Space, where spiritual herbs and energy were abundant, and demonstrated the pagoda’s power.
• The Sky Dream Ice Butterfly leader said it would consider the offer but first wanted to see Xiao Yun solve the problem in their small world.

Xiao Yun discovered that a seven-hundred-thousand-year Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had drained the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow and caused the small world's ecosystem to collapse. He isolated the silkworm from the world's earth veins and began preparing the drained marrow shells for refining Formation Beasts.

• Xiao Yun followed a Sky Dream Ice Butterfly through the devastated feeding grounds and used his Spiritual Sense to investigate beneath the withered land.
• Xiao Yun found a sleeping, seven-hundred-thousand-year Sky Dream Ice Silkworm inside the remaining Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow and identified it as the cause of the world's decline.
• Xiao Yun used Earth Vein Isolation to prevent the silkworm from draining spiritual qi from the surrounding small world.
• Xiao Yun brought eighteen drained Profound Ice Marrow shells to the surface for use in refining Formation Beasts.
• Xiao Yun summoned the Shennong Ding and released the Sky Burning Flame into the cauldron.