Chapter Summaries

Huang Fei earned full marks by restraining and tossing aside a Shadow Demon Tiger, and Huo Yuhao scored ninety-nine points after his Ice Jade Scorpion Emperor aura forced an Ice Crystal Python to submit. Yan Shaozhe learned Huo Yuhao had a second Martial Soul, while the assessments concluded with results due the next day.

• Huang Fei restrained a Shadow Demon Tiger with jade-green vines and received a score of one hundred points.
• Huo Yuhao suppressed an Ice Crystal Python with the aura of his Ice Jade Scorpion Emperor and scored ninety-nine points.
• Ice Empress and Sky Dream Ice Silkworm warned Huo Yuhao to keep a low profile because others had noticed his aura.
• Yan Shaozhe learned from Zhou Yi that Huo Yuhao was a Twin Martial Souls wielder but decided not to investigate him.
• Yan Shaozhe announced that assessment results would be posted the next day and that students who failed could take a make-up exam in three days.
• Wu Feng and Ning Tian congratulated Huang Fei, and Wu Feng praised Huo Yuhao for placing second among the freshmen.

Huang Fei received a perfect Promotion Assessment score and began the Second Year as the top-ranked student, while Shrek's leaders considered whether Huo Yuhao's unusual ice Martial Soul could help Ma Xiaotao control her worsening Evil Fire. The chapter ended with Ma Xiaotao questioning whether Huo Yuhao was strong enough to suppress it.

• Huang Fei received a two-percent increase to his Wood affinity, bringing it to 52%, and Wang Dong remarked that Huo Yuhao's score would make the rankings lively.
• Huang Fei topped the rankings with 100 points, while Huo Yuhao placed second with 99.
• Mu Jin told Huang Fei that his Special Grade Student benefits had increased and briefed him on the harder Second Year curriculum.
• Yan Shaozhe learned that Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire was growing more dangerous despite repeated attempts to suppress it with ice-attribute treasures.
• An Instructor reported that Huo Yuhao's unusual ice Martial Soul had subdued an Ice Crystal Python, leading Yan Shaozhe to suspect it was Extreme Ice and potentially useful against Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire.
• Yan Shaozhe told Ma Xiaotao about Huo Yuhao, and she questioned whether a Second Year student's Soul Power could be enough to help her.

Yan Shaozhe discovered that Huo Yuhao’s Ice Jade Scorpion Emperor Martial Soul possessed Extreme Ice and asked him to consider helping Ma Xiaotao with her Evil Fire. Huo Yuhao and Huang Fei both reflected on the risks, while Huang Fei privately concluded that only Extreme Life could cure Ma Xiaotao completely.

• Yan Shaozhe told Ma Xiaotao that Extreme Ice might suppress her Evil Fire, but she doubted she should rely on a Second Year freshman and chose to discuss it later.
• Yan Shaozhe’s assistant summoned Huo Yuhao, and Huang Fei noticed him leaving with the assistant and guessed that Ma Xiaotao’s condition had drawn the Dean’s attention.
• Yan Shaozhe examined Huo Yuhao’s Ice Jade Scorpion Emperor and explained that its Extreme Ice might help Ma Xiaotao, asking Huo Yuhao to consider aiding her in the future.
• Huo Yuhao discussed Ma Xiaotao’s condition with Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and Ice Empress, who agreed Extreme Ice could suppress Evil Fire but warned that Huo Yuhao was too weak to help yet.
• Huang Fei concluded that Extreme Ice would only suppress Ma Xiaotao’s Evil Fire temporarily and privately believed he already knew how to cure it with Extreme Life.

Huang Fei received a system quest to help Ma Xiaotao with her worsening Evil Fire, while Huo Yuhao learned that his Extreme Ice might eventually suppress it. Yan Shaozhe urged Ma Xiaotao to accept Huo Yuhao’s help, but she left without deciding.

• Huang Fei received the hidden quest to assist Ma Xiaotao and considered how it could bring them closer.
• Huo Yuhao told Wang Dong that Yan Shaozhe expected him to help a Fire Phoenix senior with an Evil Fire problem, and Wang Dong identified her as Ma Xiaotao.
• The Ice Empress and Sky Dream Ice Silkworm told Huo Yuhao that his Extreme Ice could suppress Evil Fire once his cultivation was higher.
• Yan Shaozhe confronted Ma Xiaotao about her worsening condition and learned she had not sought Huo Yuhao’s help because she did not want pity from a freshman.
• Yan Shaozhe explained that Huo Yuhao could help once he reached Soul King and asked Ma Xiaotao to think it over; she left without giving an answer.

Huang Fei learned that Ma Xiaotao’s Evil Fire was worsening and realized the system had assigned him a mission to help her. After seeing her despairing condition, he began considering how to approach her as his cultivation stabilized.

• During team drills, Huang Fei told Wu Feng and Ning Tian that Huo Yuhao’s Extreme Ice could eventually suppress Ma Xiaotao’s Evil Fire.
• Huang Fei, Wu Feng, and Ning Tian saw Ma Xiaotao frantically destroy a stone pillar at the Training Ground.
• Ma Xiaotao met Huang Fei’s gaze but left without speaking, believing he could not help her because he lacked Extreme Ice.
• Ning Tian explained that Ma Xiaotao’s Evil Fire flared on Full Moon Nights, and Wu Feng sensed that Ma Xiaotao’s flames were unusually uncontrollable.
• Huang Fei saw the system mission to assist Ma Xiaotao and began considering how to approach her.
• That night, Huang Fei stabilized his Level Thirty-Five cultivation and prepared to pursue Level Thirty-Six.

Huang Fei learned that Ma Xiaotao’s Evil Fire was worsening and began investigating whether his Life Energy could harmonize it. After seeing her struggle again, he offered to help, leaving Ma Xiaotao intrigued.

• Huang Fei ate breakfast with Ning Tian and Wu Feng and warned them that Ma Xiaotao’s Evil Fire could grow harder to suppress over time.
• Mu Jin announced that practical combat classes would include team battles and that the Outer Academy would hold a Second Year New Student Challenge in a month.
• Huang Fei researched Evil Fire treatments in the Library and considered whether his Extreme Life could harmonize Ma Xiaotao’s Extreme Fire, but concluded he needed to learn more.
• Huang Fei saw Ma Xiaotao’s unstable flames and frantic training at the Training Ground and told her that her Evil Fire was nearly impossible to suppress.
• Huang Fei offered Ma Xiaotao help, then left before she could answer, and she watched him go and called him interesting.

Huang Fei used his Life Energy to calm Ma Xiaotao’s Evil Fire and told her he might be able to cure it once he reached around Level Forty. As their nightly sessions built trust, Ma Xiaotao changed them to every other day so his cultivation would not suffer.

• Huang Fei failed to break through to Level Thirty-Six and met Ma Xiaotao outside his dormitory, where he offered to try harmonizing her Evil Fire with his Life Energy.
• Huang Fei briefly calmed Ma Xiaotao’s Evil Fire by holding her wrist, but explained that he needed to reach around Level Forty before attempting a cure.
• Huang Fei called his help an advance investment, and Ma Xiaotao agreed to return the following night.
• Ma Xiaotao came each night for several days, and Huang Fei repeatedly used Life Energy to suppress her Evil Fire as the effect gradually improved.
• On the sixth night, Ma Xiaotao learned that helping her slightly affected Huang Fei’s cultivation and decided they would meet every other day.

Ma Xiaotao told Yan Shaozhe that Huang Fei had been using Extreme Life energy to suppress her Evil Fire, and Yan Shaozhe learned that Huang Fei believed he could cure it once he grew stronger. Yan Shaozhe discussed Huang Fei with Song Yunzhi, who confirmed the approach was feasible but said Huang Fei had to choose to help.

• Ma Xiaotao told Yan Shaozhe that Huang Fei had suppressed her Evil Fire for six nights, leaving her stable for two or three days at a time.
• Ma Xiaotao said Huang Fei believed he could cure her Evil Fire around Level Forty, when his Soul Power and Life Energy were strong enough.
• Yan Shaozhe explained Huang Fei's difficult rise from Innate Soul Power of 0.1 and revealed that he was Song Yunzhi's Personal Disciple.
• Yan Shaozhe suggested Ma Xiaotao get to know Huang Fei better, and she blushed before leaving his office.
• Yan Shaozhe visited Song Yunzhi, who said Huang Fei's harmonizing Life Energy could work but that the decision to help was his.

Huang Fei continued helping Ma Xiaotao suppress her Evil Fire, and their growing closeness led to a breakthrough: his Life Energy could refine the Evil Fire instead of merely calming it. The two began testing the discovery, leaving Ma Xiaotao’s affliction weakened and Huang Fei’s Soul Power strengthened.

• Yan Shaozhe asked Song Yunzhi whether she would object to Huang Fei and Ma Xiaotao growing closer, and she said Huang Fei could choose for himself.
• Yan Shaozhe asked Song Yunzhi how long Huang Fei would take to reach Level Forty, and she estimated about half a year.
• Ma Xiaotao asked Huang Fei why he was helping her, and he said he found her admirable for enduring the Evil Fire.
• On the ninth night, Huang Fei’s Life Energy met a fierce counterattack from the source of Ma Xiaotao’s Evil Fire.
• Huang Fei discovered that his Life Energy could refine the Evil Fire into energy that became Soul Power, while Ma Xiaotao felt the Evil Fire in her body decrease.
• Huang Fei and Ma Xiaotao agreed to continue, and strands of refined energy began flowing into Huang Fei.

Huang Fei broke through to Level Thirty-six while refining Ma Xiaotao’s Evil Fire, and the two agreed to continue meeting every day. After Wu Feng and Ning Tian confronted him about his closeness with Ma Xiaotao, Huang Fei and Ma Xiaotao admitted they liked each other.

• Huang Fei broke through to Level Thirty-six as Ma Xiaotao’s Evil Fire decreased, and Ma Xiaotao decided to visit him every day for refinement.
• Wu Feng and Ning Tian questioned Huang Fei about Ma Xiaotao after their team training suffered from their distraction; Huang Fei agreed he should tell his friends when something happened.
• Ma Xiaotao joined Huang Fei for dinner and said Wu Feng and Ning Tian liked him, but Huang Fei said he had not thought about them that way.
• Huang Fei and Ma Xiaotao walked back to the dormitory and agreed to continue their nightly sessions.
• Beneath the Old Locust Tree, Ma Xiaotao confessed that she liked Huang Fei, and Huang Fei revealed he felt the same.

Huang Fei explained to Ning Tian and Wu Feng that his nightly meetings with Ma Xiaotao were for refining her Evil Fire, but admitted that he liked her. As Huang Fei and Ma Xiaotao continued their treatment, Yan Shaozhe marked Huang Fei for special priority cultivation and Huo Yuhao for priority observation.

• Ma Xiaotao told Huang Fei that his nightly treatments were helping both of them, then urged him to address his teammates’ feelings.
• At breakfast, Huang Fei explained the Evil Fire treatment to Ning Tian and Wu Feng and admitted that he liked Ma Xiaotao.
• Ning Tian reassured Huang Fei that they would remain friends, while Wu Feng left hurt by his answer.
• Ma Xiaotao found Huang Fei training, encouraged him not to delay dealing with the situation, and continued refining her Evil Fire with him that night.
• Yan Shaozhe designated Huang Fei a Special Grade Student for priority cultivation and marked Huo Yuhao for priority observation because of his Twin Martial Souls and Extreme Ice.

Huo Yuhao learned that he had become a Core Disciple candidate, while Huang Fei continued training and refining Ma Xiaotao’s Evil Fire, drawing closer to her. The chapter ended with Huo Yuhao accepting that he and Huang Fei followed different paths.

• Yan Shaozhe told Huo Yuhao that he had been selected for the Core Disciple Candidate List and warned him that the competition would be fierce.
• Huo Yuhao thought about Huang Fei’s lead and listened as Sky Dream Ice Silkworm reminded him that they each had their own path.
• Ning Tian and Wu Feng discussed the Core Disciple candidates with Huang Fei, who said nothing about Huo Yuhao’s great potential.
• Ma Xiaotao joined Huang Fei after his training, and he told her he would welcome Huo Yuhao surpassing him someday.
• Huang Fei refined more of Ma Xiaotao’s Evil Fire, nearly reaching Level 37, and she asked whether they would remain close once the refinement was complete.
• Huo Yuhao trained in his dormitory as Ice Empress reminded him that Huang Fei’s path was different from his.

Huang Fei received core disciple resources and began using the Inner Court’s Gravity Room to strengthen himself while continuing to refine Ma Xiaotao’s Evil Fire. The chapter left him cultivating as his system reported 35% refinement progress and Ma Xiaotao’s soul power at mid-stage level 37.

• Huo Yuhao continued cultivating near the peak of Level 26 as the Outer Academy announced its core disciple candidates, including Huang Fei, Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong, Ning Tian, and Wu Feng.
• Huang Fei and Ma Xiaotao met beneath the Old Locust Tree, then Huang Fei exchanged congratulations with Huo Yuhao and discussed core disciple resources with Ning Tian and Wu Feng.
• Huang Fei received double treatment as a Special Grade Student and core disciple, including pills, crystal cores, cultivation insights, and a token granting access to Inner Court training areas.
• Huang Fei trained for an hour under five times gravity in the Gravity Room, then practiced team coordination with Ning Tian and Wu Feng.
• Huang Fei refined Ma Xiaotao’s Evil Fire that night, and Ma Xiaotao said 65% remained before he returned to cultivation with the system reporting 35% refinement progress.

Huang Fei pushed his gravity training from eight times to nine times while continuing to improve his combat ability and refine Ma Xiaotao’s Evil Fire. He learned that crossing ten times gravity could bring a qualitative leap in physical strength, and Ma Xiaotao predicted he would reach the top.

• Huang Fei endured eight times gravity for an hour and completed the Wood Combat Art, impressing the Gravity Room’s elderly guardian.
• Huang Fei’s improved strength and condensed Soul Power surprised Ning Tian and Wu Feng during their sparring.
• Huang Fei refined Ma Xiaotao’s Evil Fire to forty percent progress, and she told him Teacher Yan had asked about their relationship.
• Huang Fei completed the Wood Combat Art under eight times gravity, then endured nine times gravity for half an hour.
• The guardian told Huang Fei that ten times gravity was a threshold that could bring a qualitative leap in physical strength.
• Huang Fei told Ning Tian, Wu Feng, and Ma Xiaotao about the ten-times goal, and Ma Xiaotao said she believed he would reach the very top.

Huang Fei learned that the core disciples’ seven-day Training Camp in the Outskirts of Star Dou Great Forest could affect their annual assessment and offer a place on the Inner Court Reserve Team. After Ma Xiaotao urged him to return safely, Huang Fei and the other disciples set out under Tie Xiong’s command.

• The Gravity Room elder told Huang Fei that the core disciples would attend a Training Camp, and Huang Fei shared the news with Ning Tian and Wu Feng.
• Ning Tian explained that last year’s camp involved seven days of practical training in the Outskirts of Star Dou Great Forest and that few disciples earned excellent evaluations.
• Ma Xiaotao warned Huang Fei that Dai Huabin had nearly reached Thirty-Eight Rank and remained resentful after losing to him.
• Yan Shaozhe told the twelve core disciples that their results would count toward their annual assessment, strong performers could enter the Inner Court Reserve Team, and they must obey their instructor because people could die in the forest.
• Ma Xiaotao told Huang Fei to be careful and come back alive before he left for the camp.
• The twelve core disciples assembled at the academy gates, where Tie Xiong introduced himself as their Six Ring Battle Soul Emperor instructor and ordered them to move out.

Tie Xiong began a seven-day training camp in the Star Dou Great Forest, requiring the Core Disciples to drive Soul Beasts away without killing or seriously injuring them. Huang Fei and several others passed their first missions, and Huang Fei ended the day reflecting on the value of respecting life.

• Tie Xiong announced that each student had to complete three missions driving away designated Soul Beasts, with failure costing them their Core Disciple qualification.
• Huang Fei used his Life Domain and One Thought Flower Blooms to terrify a two-thousand-year Iron Back Cang Wolf into fleeing, earning a pass.
• Huo Yuhao repelled an Ice Crystal Python with his Extreme Ice aura, while Wang Dong forced a Lightning Falcon out of its territory with her speed and Light Goddess Butterfly.
• Wu Feng drove away an Iron Armored Rhinoceros by beating it until it yielded, then asked Huang Fei to teach her One Thought Flower Blooms, but he said her Fire Attribute made it unsuitable for her.
• Tie Xiong warned that the missions would grow harder, and Huang Fei later sat beneath the stars thinking about Ma Xiaotao's words and the Way of Not Killing.

Huang Fei and the Core Disciples faced an Iron Back Cang Wolf Pack and drove it off without killing any wolves. The next morning, Wu Feng told Huang Fei that following him felt reassuring, while Tie Xiong watched the group with approval.

• On watch, Wu Feng asked Huang Fei about Ma Xiaotao and admitted she sometimes struggled with her feelings for him; Huang Fei advised her to let things take their natural course.
• Huang Fei, Ning Tian, and Tie Xiong sensed an approaching pack of about twenty Iron Back Cang Wolves led by a three-thousand-year Wolf King, and Tie Xiong ordered the students to repel them without killing them.
• Huang Fei assigned the students their roles, then used his Life Domain and One Thought Flower Blooms while Huo Yuhao attacked the Wolf King's mind and Wu Feng struck its flank.
• Wang Dong, Ning Tian, and the other students held off the remaining wolves until the injured Wolf King fled and the pack retreated.
• Tie Xiong praised Huang Fei's command and Huo Yuhao's Mental Attack, then reminded the students that not killing took more skill than killing.
• The next morning, Wu Feng told Huang Fei that following him felt reassuring, and Tie Xiong watched the students from a cliff with approval.

Huang Fei developed Life Drain, a new soul skill that planted tiny vines inside a target to drain its strength, and used it to drive away two powerful Soul Beasts. He returned to camp after completing the task and continued considering how to improve the skill.

• Huang Fei experimented with combining Life Energy and Blue Silver Grass to create a wider-range control skill.
• Tie Xiong assigned Huang Fei to drive away a three-thousand-two-hundred-year Diamond Bear and a three-thousand-year Purple Lightning Eagle without killing or seriously injuring them.
• Huang Fei trapped the Diamond Bear with Blue Silver Forest, then created Life Drain and used it to drain the bear until it fled.
• Huang Fei used Life Drain to weaken the Purple Lightning Eagle until it fell from its perch, then let it stagger away.
• Huang Fei returned to camp in under four hours, and Tie Xiong praised the promise of Life Drain.
• Huang Fei considered how to extend Life Drain's range or use vines as a medium while Wu Feng and Ning Tian watched him.

Huang Fei realized that Life Drain’s Soul Power cost was almost instantly replenished by the Wood Breathing Technique, giving him seemingly unlimited endurance. He used the skill to drive away four powerful Soul Beasts in under four hours and returned to camp qualified for the day’s task.

• Huang Fei tested a Life Drain seed and hid the Wood Breathing Technique and Wood Affinity from Tie Xiong, claiming his Extreme Life path let him recover quickly.
• Tie Xiong assigned each trainee to drive away four Soul Beasts over three thousand years old, including two offensive and two defensive types.
• Huang Fei used Life Drain to drive away an Iron Armored Rhinoceros and a Flame Lion.
• Huang Fei used vines and Life Drain to overcome the fast Dark Panther and the defensive Earth Bear.
• Huang Fei returned to camp in under four hours, and Tie Xiong marked him qualified.
• That night, Wu Feng called Huang Fei a monster, and Ning Tian agreed that he was their teammate.

Huang Fei completed the training camp’s final test by driving away ten Soul Beasts, then returned to Shrek City and resumed refining Ma Xiaotao’s Evil Fire. Their session raised his Soul Power to Thirty-Eight Rank and brought her Evil Fire refinement progress to 60%.

• Huang Fei drove away ten Soul Beasts, including a Purple Lightning Eagle and a Diamond Bear, and Tie Xiong qualified him after he returned to camp unharmed.
• Wang Dong drove away nine beasts, Huo Yuhao eight, Ning Tian nine, Wu Feng eight, and Dai Huabin seven before Tie Xiong ended the camp.
• Huang Fei returned to Shrek City and went straight to the Old Locust Tree, where he reunited with Ma Xiaotao.
• Huang Fei refined Ma Xiaotao’s Evil Fire with Life Energy, reached Thirty-Eight Rank, and learned that her Evil Fire had fallen to around forty percent.
• Ma Xiaotao invited Huang Fei to eat at a new Barbecue Restaurant the next evening, then left for the night.
• The system reported 60% Evil Fire refinement progress and recommended daily sessions to increase both their strength.