Chapter Summaries

Lin Xia forged his first piece of fine iron under Lou Gao’s guidance, displaying extraordinary strength and skill. Lou Gao declared him a genuine blacksmith of the Blacksmith Association.

• Lin Xia took up the heavy forging hammer as Lou Gao personally worked the bellows.
• Lin Xia heated a pig-iron ingot and struck it with enough force to astonish the watching blacksmiths.
• Lin Xia rapidly mastered the forging rhythm, folding and refining the iron with one hundred hammer strikes.
• Lin Xia produced a uniform bar of fine iron and felt proud of his first work.
• Lou Gao praised Lin Xia and declared him a genuine blacksmith of the Blacksmith Association.

Lin Xia showed Lou Gao blueprints for a handgun and explained how gunpowder propelled a projectile, leaving Lou Gao eager to forge and test the weapon. Lin Xia planned to move on from firearms to studying Soul Tools.

• Lin Xia told Lou Gao he had conceived a new kind of weapon and drew detailed blueprints for its components.
• Lou Gao initially doubted the strange parts, then mentally assembled them into a complex mechanical device.
• Lin Xia explained that the weapon was a Handgun, describing its bullets, gunpowder, and explosive propulsion.
• Lou Gao praised the idea, gathered the blueprints, and announced he would begin forging and testing the Handgun.
• Lin Xia reflected that firearms were only a transition and planned to study Soul Tools.

Lou Gao demonstrated his Thousand Layered Tremor Gold Hand, forged a Rare Metal Handgun from Lin Xia’s blueprints, and devised an enhanced Bullet using fantasy materials. He and Lin Xia headed to the training ground to test the Bullets.

• Lou Gao used his Diamond Chisel and hammer to refine Fine Iron and fuse the materials specified in Lin Xia’s blueprints.
• Lou Gao explained that his forging technique was called Thousand Layered Tremor Gold Hand and promised to teach it to Lin Xia after he mastered his foundational texts and stabilized his Soul Power.
• Lou Gao forged the Handgun’s components and assembled them into a Rare Metal weapon.
• Lou Gao showed Lin Xia the standard Bullets and an improved type containing Purple Lightning Iron powder and Fire Crystal Stone powder.
• Lin Xia agreed to test the improved Bullets, and Lou Gao led him to the training ground.

Lin Xia tested Lou Gao’s Handgun, proving that its ordinary Bullet pierced Fine Iron while the Thunder Fire Bullet blasted through a three-inch plate. When Lou Gao asked how to mass-produce the weapon, Lin Xia warned that spreading weapons capable of threatening Soul Masters would bring catastrophic consequences.

• Lin Xia fired the Handgun at a one-inch Fine Iron plate and pierced it with an ordinary Bullet.
• Lin Xia used Lou Gao’s Thunder Fire Bullet to blast a bowl-sized hole through a three-inch Fine Iron plate.
• Lou Gao inspected the Handgun and worried that its difficult, precise construction made mass production impossible.
• Lin Xia considered industrial manufacturing methods but stopped himself, fearing the consequences of arming ordinary people.
• Lin Xia warned Lou Gao that mass-producing weapons capable of threatening Soul Masters would endanger the Blacksmith Association and ordinary people.

Lou Gao and Lin Xia agreed to keep the Handgun secret after recognizing the danger it posed, then secretly developed more weapons and began work on a Soul Tool Mech. Their firearm prototypes progressed quickly, but the Mech project stalled because they lacked the knowledge to convert Soul Power into reliable armor systems.

• Lou Gao realized that revealing the Handgun could make the Blacksmith Association a target and endanger the craftsmen and their families, so he ordered Lin Xia to keep the weapon secret.
• Lou Gao and Lin Xia decided to make only a few Handguns for emergencies and keep them hidden even if they joined Spirit Hall.
• Lin Xia introduced ideas for more powerful firearms and Moving Armor, reigniting Lou Gao's enthusiasm for secret research.
• Over the next dozen days, Lin Xia drafted plans for Rifles, Sniper Rifles, and a Soul Tool Mech while Lou Gao forged firearm components in the Core Forge Room.
• Lou Gao and Lin Xia made rapid progress on the firearms, but their Soul Tool Mech research stalled over Soul Power conversion, Soul Tool Arrays, and command systems.

Lou Gao and Lin Xia struggled to develop a Soul Tool Mech before Ghostly Shadow arrived to investigate corruption in Gengjin City and declared the Blacksmith Association part of Spirit Hall. He also told Lin Xia that, as Lou Gao’s disciple, he was now a member of Spirit Hall and should remain loyal.

• Lou Gao and Lin Xia spent more than ten days struggling to combine Soul Power with metal for their Soul Tool Mech design, making only slight progress.
• Ghostly Shadow appeared during dinner, startling Lou Gao, Si Di, the Senior Brothers, and Lin Xia into bowing to the Titled Douluo.
• Ghostly Shadow told Lou Gao that the Pope had sent him to investigate Miles Garcia and his associates for oppressing people and tarnishing Spirit Hall’s reputation.
• Ghostly Shadow asked Lin Xia about declining an invitation to join Spirit Hall, but reassured him that he had not come to hold his past choice against him.
• Ghostly Shadow announced that the Blacksmith Association had submitted to Spirit Hall and told Lin Xia that he was now a member who should remain loyal.

Lin Xia rejected the idea of becoming loyal to Spirit Hall, while Lou Gao struggled to accept that Spirit Hall had intervened against Miles and offered the Blacksmith Association protection. Lin Xia then connected the Storage Ring’s patterns to the missing link in their attempts to build a Soul Tool Mech.

• Lin Xia decided that any future ties with Spirit Hall would be practical cooperation, not loyalty.
• Lou Gao described his confusion after years of opposing Miles ended with Spirit Hall dispatching a Titled Douluo to handle the matter.
• Lin Xia explained that seeking justice had prevented a more destructive conflict and helped protect the Association’s members.
• Lou Gao accepted that the outcome mattered more than his lingering discomfort and turned away from dwelling on it.
• Lin Xia pointed to the patterns on his Storage Ring as possible special Soul Power patterns that could solve the Soul Tool Mech’s core-drive problem.

Lin Xia helped Lou Gao realize that the Soul Power patterns in Soul Tools were the key to making metal perform specialized functions. Lou Gao tested the insight by engraving a Storage Soul Tool array onto Fine Iron, and the completed pattern emitted Soul Power Fluctuations.

• Lin Xia suggested that Soul Tools used distinct patterns as a language to connect Soul Power with metal and produce specific effects.
• Lou Gao compared several Soul Tools and concluded that patterns of the same type shared a framework while different types used entirely different arrays.
• Lou Gao hurried Lin Xia to the Forge Room, leaving Larvitar to protest until Si Di brought it more ore.
• Lou Gao engraved a Storage Soul Tool array onto a Fine Iron Plate, completing a miniature pattern that emitted Soul Power Fluctuations.

Lou Gao and Lin Xia tested a storage Soul Tool array, but the ordinary Fine Iron Plate failed to preserve a stable space, leaving the stored ore unretrievable. Lin Xia identified the materials as the likely cause, and Lou Gao considered searching Gengjin City's storerooms for Star Sand powder.

• Lou Gao engraved a storage Magic Array on a Fine Iron Plate and successfully made a piece of Iron Ore disappear into it.
• Lin Xia noticed the array's power fading and urged Lou Gao to retrieve the ore, but Lou Gao could not find it in the unstable space.
• Lin Xia concluded that ordinary Fine Iron lacked the properties needed to bear Space Power and had caused the array's space to collapse.
• Lou Gao accepted Lin Xia's analysis and recalled that Gengjin City's storerooms might contain a small amount of Star Sand powder.

Lin Xia and Lou Gao successfully forged a stable Storage Soul Tool using Star Sand, then replicated the Soul Tools they had found until they ran out of suitable materials. Facing the limits of copying and the need to develop original designs, Lou Gao proposed taking Lin Xia and Larvitar prospecting near Gengjin City for Void Stone and other special ores.

• Lou Gao used Star Sand powder, Mithril, and Adamantite to forge a vessel and engrave a Storage Magic Array that reliably stored and retrieved iron ore.
• Lou Gao celebrated the first successful Soul Tool they had forged themselves with Lin Xia.
• Lou Gao replicated the Soul Tools in the Blacksmith Association's collection, including transmitters, illumination balls, amulets, and a damaged offensive tool.
• Lin Xia realized that copying existing Magic Arrays would not teach them how to design the original systems required for a Soul Tool Mech.
• After they used nearly all the suitable Rare Metals, Lou Gao suggested taking Lin Xia and the listless Larvitar to prospect for Void Stone and other special ores near Gengjin City.

Lou Gao and Lin Xia prepared to prospect for minerals, but Si Di interrupted them with news that Ghostly Shadow had arrived with the disgraced Bishop Miles. Ghostly Shadow announced that Miles would be returned to the Pope’s Palace for judgment, leaving Lin Xia and Lou Gao to watch the case move into Spirit Hall’s hands.

• Lou Gao persuaded Lin Xia to join him on a prospecting trip, and Lin Xia agreed to bring Larvitar.
• Si Di reported that Ghostly Shadow had arrived with Miles, whose Soul Power was sealed and who was under guard.
• Lou Gao warned Lin Xia to stay calm and conceal anything that must not be exposed before they went to the Front Hall.
• Lin Xia and Lou Gao found Miles kneeling in shackles before Ghostly Shadow, with two Spirit Hall Deacons guarding him.
• Ghostly Shadow said Spirit Hall had confirmed Miles Garcia and his accomplices’ abuses and would take Miles to the Pope’s Palace for judgment by the Pope.

Ghostly Shadow returned the Blacksmith Association’s stolen assets and took Miles away for a trial at the Pope’s Palace. He invited Lin Xia to Spirit City, but Lin Xia chose to remain with his teacher, Lou Gao, who discovered the enormous wealth and rare materials recovered from Miles.

• Ghostly Shadow gave Lou Gao a Storage Soul Tool containing assets Miles and his associates had illegally taken from the Blacksmith Association, and said Spirit Hall would discuss the association’s integration and future cooperation.
• Ghostly Shadow’s Deacons dragged Miles away to face a trial at the Pope’s Palace.
• Ghostly Shadow invited Lin Xia to return to Spirit Hall, but Lin Xia declined, saying he would stay in Gengjin City and continue learning blacksmithing from Lou Gao.
• Ghostly Shadow accepted Lin Xia’s decision and vanished with the Deacons and Miles.
• Lou Gao inspected the ring and found vast quantities of Gold Soul Coins, metals, and the association’s strategic reserves, while Lin Xia examined the hoard in astonishment.

Lou Gao convinced Lin Xia to go prospecting despite Ghost Douluo returning the extorted supplies, since they still needed rare minerals for their research. At Black Rock Valley, Lou Gao began teaching Lin Xia not to judge a mining site by its lush appearance.

• Lin Xia asked Lou Gao whether they still needed to prospect after Ghost Douluo returned the extorted goods, and Lou Gao insisted they needed rare minerals for their research.
• Lou Gao, Lin Xia, and Larvitar set out for the Black Rock Valley mining site west of the city.
• Lou Gao and Lin Xia equipped themselves with firearms, ammunition, and masks for exploring the ore cave.
• At the seemingly pristine valley, Lin Xia questioned whether they had reached a mining site, and Lou Gao picked up a mossy stone to demonstrate that appearances could be deceiving.

Lou Gao taught Lin Xia how to identify Black Rock as a sign of a likely ore vein and explained the dangers of underground prospecting. After Larvitar dug an entrance and Lou Gao installed a ventilation system, the group prepared to descend and explore the deposit.

• Lou Gao broke open a stone to show Lin Xia the Black Rock inside and explained how its layer could indicate a valuable ore vein.
• Lou Gao examined the terrain and chose a southwest diagonal route into the likely main vein.
• Larvitar dug a wide, smooth entrance through the Black Rock Layer.
• Lou Gao set up windmills and hoses to ventilate the tunnel, teaching Lin Xia how to prevent suffocation and gas exposure underground.
• Lou Gao tested the air with a torch, handed Lin Xia another torch, and sent Larvitar to lead them into the cave.

Lin Xia, Lou Gao, and Larvitar dug deep into the Black Rock Layer without finding ore before a powerful black-scaled giant snake burst into the tunnel. Lou Gao opened fire with Thunder Fire Bullets as the snake tried to retreat, leaving the battle underway.

• Larvitar dug a tunnel more than a hundred meters into the Black Rock Layer, but Lin Xia and Lou Gao found no signs of ore.
• Larvitar sensed danger and shielded Lin Xia and Lou Gao as a roar shook the tunnel and cracked its walls.
• A black-scaled giant snake burst through the rock, then tried to escape back into the wall after noticing Lou Gao and the others.
• Lou Gao fired a burst of Thunder Fire Bullets at the retreating snake, tearing open its scales and drawing blood.

Lou Gao killed a ten-thousand-year Black-patterned Profound Rock Python with his AK Rifle after it attacked him and Lin Xia in an Ore Cave. Lou Gao realized the python might have swallowed the mine’s rarest metals, and Lin Xia suspected they had been incorporated into its scales.

• Lou Gao emptied a magazine into the Black-patterned Profound Rock Python’s head, killing it as it thrashed through the Ore Cave.
• A black Soul Ring appeared above the python’s corpse, and Lin Xia asked Lou Gao what kind of Soul Beast it was.
• Lou Gao identified it as a rare underground Soul Beast that drew power from mineral-rich earth veins and fiercely guarded Ore Veins.
• Lou Gao realized the python might have hidden the Rare Metal they had been searching for, and Lin Xia suggested it had swallowed the richest ore and absorbed it into its scales.

Lin Xia and Lou Gao discovered that the Black-patterned Profound Rock Python had absorbed the cave’s mineral ore and formed living armor from it. Lin Xia and Larvitar began eating its scales, and Lin Xia felt their Earth-and-metal energy strengthening his skin.

• Lou Gao identified the python’s scales as ore it had devoured and transformed into natural armor.
• Larvitar sniffed and ate a loosened scale, then urged Lin Xia to try it.
• Lou Gao explained that the scales were Living Ore rich in Earth and metal energy and suited Lin Xia and Larvitar.
• Lin Xia broke off a large scale and ate it, finding its concentrated energy and flavor unlike ordinary ore.
• The energy from the scale flowed into Lin Xia’s skin, causing itching and burning as it began to strengthen.

Lin Xia discovered that eating the Black-patterned Profound Rock Python’s scales had toughened his skin like natural armor. Lou Gao led Lin Xia and Larvitar to investigate the python’s lair for hidden ore, but Larvitar detected no special minerals inside.

• Lin Xia found that his skin had become markedly tougher after consuming the python’s scales, and Lou Gao recognized the scales as a body-strengthening treasure.
• Lin Xia and Larvitar continued eating the scales until Lou Gao spotted the hole the python had made and suspected its lair contained valuable ore.
• Lou Gao urged them to store the python’s corpse and explore the hole, and Lin Xia put the corpse into his Spatial Soul Tool Ring.
• Lin Xia asked Larvitar to sense the cave, but Larvitar smelled only old rock and the python’s lingering scent, not any tempting minerals.
• Lou Gao dismissed reliance on smell and told Lin Xia that finding ore required using his head.

Lin Xia and Lou Gao followed Larvitar into the Black-patterned Profound Rock Python’s tunnels, where Lou Gao realized the branching passages formed a maze meant to mislead intruders. He concluded the true nest and Ore Vein Core were hidden behind the maze and ordered Larvitar to break through a solid wall.

• Larvitar raced ahead and cleared the rough tunnel, making the route safer for Lin Xia and Lou Gao.
• Lin Xia and Lou Gao reached three similar-looking cave entrances and examined the python’s tracks and the surrounding walls.
• Lou Gao recognized that the winding passages were a deliberate maze, with false paths designed to confuse and trap intruders.
• Lou Gao reasoned that the python’s true nest and Ore Vein Core were concealed beyond the chaotic tunnels.
• Lou Gao told Larvitar to ignore the passages and break straight through a thick Black Rock Wall.

Larvitar led Lin Xia and Lou Gao to a vast Void Stone Ore Vein beneath Gengjin City, and the two celebrated the discovery as a foundation for their Soul Tool Mech research. Their excitement gave way to concern when Larvitar became painfully overfull after eating only a handful of Void Stones.

• Larvitar dug through the Black Rock Layer and uncovered a massive wall of Void Stone crystals.
• Lou Gao identified the deposit as a rare Void Stone Ore Vein, and he and Lin Xia decided to take all of it.
• Lou Gao explained that the vein alone was insufficient for their plans and proposed exploring other mineral deposits with Larvitar and their firearms.
• Larvitar struggled to pry loose another Void Stone, its belly swollen and its movements sluggish after eating seven or eight stones.
• Lin Xia realized the Void Stones might contain overwhelming energy or have a property that disrupted Larvitar's digestion.