Chapter Summaries

Bibi Dong and Ling Yuan selected thirty students for a second assessment, and Qian Xunji decided they would hunt Fallen Spirit Masters in the Tianyang Mountain Range. Ling Yuan would accompany them, while Bibi Dong was told to stay behind because her killing intent might become unstable.

• Bibi Dong recorded the names of the thirty successful students and warned them that the Pope had set another trial.
• Ling Yuan dismissed the exhausted students to rest, and Li Cang asked Qin Ming about his speed and brief flight before challenging him to a spar.
• Qin Ming and his companions discussed Cang Ao's success and returned to their villas to rest.
• Qian Xunji reviewed the list with Cang Wu and Bibi Dong, then announced that the thirty students would hunt Fallen Spirit Masters in the Tianyang Mountain Range.
• Qian Xunji said Ling Yuan would accompany the students and ordered Bibi Dong to avoid the mission because she had recently returned from Slaughter City.

Bibi Dong avoided Qian Xunji when he tried to question her alone, while he reaffirmed his intent to keep her under his control through Yu Xiaogang. At Martial Soul Hall Academy, Cang Wu gathered the selected students and announced that the Pope would personally receive them and explain their mission.

• Qian Xunji chose Cang Wu to visit Martial Soul Hall Academy and bring the selected children to meet him.
• Bibi Dong refused Qian Xunji's invitation to talk and left Pope Palace, while he resolved to control her through his knowledge of Yu Xiaogang's whereabouts.
• Qin Ming and Bai Heng hurried to the training ground, where Hua Lian hid from Cang Wu and Qi explained his history of factional conflict.
• Cang Wu told the thirty selected students that the Pope would receive them in Pope Palace and announce their mission arrangements.

Qian Xunji received the thirty selected students and Dean Ling Yuan at Pope Palace, then announced that their final assessment would be a mission to hunt Fallen Spirit Masters in the Tianyang Mountain Range. The students would have to lead the operation themselves, while Ling Yuan observed and scored them, and only the top fifteen would pass.

• Cang Wu led Qin Ming, the other selected students, and Ling Yuan to Pope Palace to meet Qian Xunji.
• Qian Xunji praised the students and Ling Yuan before announcing that half of the thirty trainees would be eliminated.
• Qian Xunji revealed that nineteen Fallen Spirit Masters were hiding in the Tianyang Mountain Range and made eliminating them the final assessment.
• Qian Xunji assigned a Soul Saint-level Healing Soul Master to support the students and ordered Ling Yuan to accompany them as examiner.
• Qian Xunji said the students must lead the hunt themselves, while Ling Yuan scored their performances and the top fifteen passed.

Qin Ming prepared for the Tianyang Mountain Range mission by buying protective armor and advising Bai Heng to prioritize his safety. A week later, the students departed with Ling Yuan and Elder Huang, who warned that they would not intervene unless absolutely necessary.

• Qin Ming spent sixty Exchange Points on inner armor made from a ten-thousand-year Rock-Armored Rhinoceros and tested it against Bai Heng’s attack.
• Qin Ming told Bai Heng, a rank-26 Soul Grandmaster, to focus on observing the Fallen Spirit Masters and protecting himself during the mission.
• Qin Ming spent the following week cultivating while the students prepared to leave for the Tianyang Mountain Range.
• Ling Yuan introduced Elder Huang, a Level 74 healing-type Soul Saint, and both warned the students that they would provide no help unless absolutely necessary.
• Thirty students boarded carriages and departed Spirit City for the Tianyang Mountain Range, a nearby Soul Beast gathering ground.

Qin Ming and the other Spirit Hall geniuses entered the Tianyang Mountain Range to search for a band of Fallen Spirit Masters, then made camp after a day of uneventful travel. At night, an approaching force of soul beasts surrounded their camp, and Qin Ming alerted the group to the attack.

• Li Cang proposed that the thirty geniuses make a plan, and the group agreed to advance in a diamond formation toward the mountain range’s main range.
• The group fended off several attacks by thousand-year soul beasts and camped beside a stream, setting rotating watches without lighting a fire.
• Qin Ming questioned why the Fallen Spirit Masters had fled to a region so close to Spirit City.
• Ling Yuan spotted numerous black figures and a towering silhouette approaching the camp through the forest.
• Qin Ming felt the ground shake, recognized that a soul beast attack was underway, and called out as the resting students emerged from their tents.

Qin Ming and the students were surrounded by an army ant swarm, led by a powerful Ant Emperor, and fought to keep from being overwhelmed. As waves of elite ants arrived, Qin Ming concluded that killing the ten-thousand-year Ant Queen was their only chance to escape.

• Qin Ming warned the group about an approaching Soul Beast swarm, and Qi and Su Lingxue flew up to identify the army ants surrounding them.
• Qin Ming, Qi, Su Lingxue, and the students unleashed Soul Skills to cut a path through the swarm, but the ants broke through their defenses.
• Qin Ming burned attacking ants with Gray Wolf Fire as the massive Ant Emperor advanced and sent nearly a hundred thousand-year Black-Winged Army Ants into battle.
• Qi and Su Lingxue killed the elite ants attacking them, but more arrived, and Qin Ming realized the swarm would exhaust the group unless they killed the Ant Queen.

Qin Ming and his allies charged the Ant Emperor while the other students held back the Army Ant swarm. Qin Ming began charging a powerful spear attack, and the Ant Emperor tried to evade it as the chapter ended.

• Qin Ming told the battlefield that killing the Ant Emperor was the only way to stop the Army Ant swarm, then asked allies to protect him while he charged an attack.
• Li Cang, Qi, and Su Lingxue joined Qin Ming, and Wen Neng boosted the four of them with his support skills.
• Bai Heng trapped flying Army Ants with crystal walls while Hua Lian supported him, and Li Cang and Su Lingxue cleared a path toward the Ant Emperor.
• Qin Ming used the Life-Bound Feather to fly rapidly toward the Ant Emperor, but its strike sent him crashing into Army Ants and tore through his Flame Armor.
• Qin Ming opened his Blazing Flame Domain and began charging a crimson-gold spear as Qi and Su Lingxue kept the Army Ants away.
• The Ant Emperor sensed the spear's threat and the domain's suppression, then twisted its body to evade Qin Ming's attack.

Qin Ming and his companions killed the Ant Emperor, broke the Army Ants’ attack, and led the students to safety. As the exhausted group rested, Qi sensed a strange evil aura resembling that of a Fallen Spirit Master.

• Li Cang’s lightning strike halted the Ant Emperor, and Qin Ming’s spear pierced its forelimb and destroyed half its head.
• The Ant Emperor died, causing the Army Ants to scatter and the remaining ants to fight over leadership.
• Qin Ming’s group returned to the camp, warned everyone to flee, and led the students through the Tianyang Mountain Range.
• At dawn, the group stopped on rocky ground to rest after escaping the ant colony.
• Qi told Qin Ming that he sensed an unfamiliar evil aura sharing the origin of Fallen Spirit Masters.

After recovering from the Army Ant battle, Qin Ming, Qi, and their companions investigated traces of Fallen Spirit Masters and found a pit filled with bloodless Soul Beast corpses. Ling Yuan arrived and identified a Mountain-Shaking Bear among them, but the site had not appeared in the intelligence about the Fallen Spirit Masters.

• Qin Ming and Qi rested with the group, then told everyone that Qi had sensed traces of Fallen Spirit Masters nearby.
• Qin Ming, Qi, Li Cang, Su Lingxue, and six other students set out to investigate while the rest stayed behind to recover.
• Qi led the investigators across the rocky ground, where they discovered a huge pit filled with shriveled Soul Beast corpses.
• Qin Ming inspected a recently killed Purple Gold Python and suspected the site had been used for a cult ritual.
• Ling Yuan arrived and identified a Mountain-Shaking Bear whose cultivation was nearly twenty thousand years, though the site was absent from Qian Xunji's intelligence.

Ling Yuan judged that the drained Soul Beast corpses still fit the assessment mission and allowed the students to continue investigating. Days later, Qin Ming’s scouting group found two Fallen Spirit Masters fighting a Blackshell Earth Turtle and chose to follow them in hopes of locating their hideout.

• Ling Yuan examined the Mountain-Shaking Bear’s wounds, recognized signs of Fallen Spirit Masters, and told the students to continue the investigation.
• Qin Ming led the students through the corpse-filled pit, but they found no useful clues beyond traces of evil aura and drained Soul Beasts.
• Qin Ming expanded the search around the pit, and the group uncovered fresh signs of battles throughout the forest.
• Qin Ming, Qi, Bai Heng, Hua Lian, and Luo Xi searched farther afield in a group and detected a powerful evil aura.
• Qin Ming’s group spotted two Fallen Spirit Masters with evil martial souls attacking a seven-thousand-year Blackshell Earth Turtle.
• Qin Ming and the others decided to wait until the Fallen Spirit Masters killed the turtle, then follow them toward their hideout.

Qin Ming and his group followed two Fallen Spirit Masters to a suspected stronghold and returned to report its location. Their discovery impressed the others and strengthened Qin Ming’s prospects in the group mission.

• Two Fallen Spirit Masters killed a Blackshell Earth Turtle and carried its corpse toward their stronghold for Lord Black Demon.
• Qin Ming and his group followed the pair, with Qi tracking them, until they reached a tall stone wall guarded by a Fallen Spirit Master with a Skull Bird Martial Soul.
• Qin Ming recognized the Blood Ling Flowers growing near the wall as evidence of the Fallen Spirit Masters’ stronghold and marked its location on a map.
• Qin Ming’s group returned to the temporary stronghold and told everyone what they had found.
• The others were shocked by the discovery, and Qin Ming’s achievements made it likely that he would place in the top fifteen.

Qin Ming and his companions observed the Fallen Spirit Masters’ stronghold and ambushed three of them when they returned from hunting. They killed the three in seconds, while Ling Yuan remained uneasy about the assessment.

• Qin Ming, Li Cang, Su Lingxue, and the others agreed to observe the stronghold before attacking the Fallen Spirit Masters.
• The group watched the stronghold for several days and learned that eight Fallen Spirit Masters hunted each morning, while a Skull Bird Spirit Master collected the Soul Beast corpses they brought back.
• Qin Ming, Li Cang, Qi, and Su Lingxue planned to attack three returning Fallen Spirit Masters at once, assigning the Skull Bird Spirit Master to Qi and Su Lingxue.
• Ling Yuan told Elder Huang that she had a bad feeling, but he reassured her that he could handle unexpected situations.
• When the Blood Leech Spirit Master, the skinny Spirit Master, and the Skull Bird Spirit Master returned with a Purple Gold Python corpse, Qin Ming and his companions launched their ambush.
• Qi and Su Lingxue killed the Skull Bird Spirit Master, Li Cang killed the Blood Leech Spirit Master, and Qin Ming beheaded the skinny Spirit Master.

Qin Ming and the students infiltrated the Fallen Spirit Masters’ mountain lair and fought the nine enemies in its stone hall. Just as they began gaining ground, a terrifying pressure surged from the passage beyond the hall and halted everyone.

• Qin Ming, Li Cang, and the students reached the cave, killed its two guards, and entered in formation.
• Bai Heng used a Glazed Crystal Wall to reveal nine Fallen Spirit Masters in the stone hall, but their leader sensed the group and exposed them.
• Li Cang and Qin Ming led the charge as both sides clashed, with Wen Neng supporting the students’ main combatants.
• Qin Ming engaged a Bone Blade Soul King, Su Lingxue fought a Bat Evil Spirit King, and Qi killed the three Soul Ancestors before joining the aerial battle.
• A powerful pressure erupted from the passage, freezing the students’ movements and making Qin Ming sense extreme danger.

Ling Yuan and Elder Huang arrived to rescue Qin Ming’s group, and Ling Yuan killed most of the evil Soul Kings with a wave of flames. She then confronted Black Demon, a Level 84 Soul Douluo, and their Soul Skills collided in an explosion that brought down the stone hall.

• Ling Yuan and Elder Huang appeared, allowing Qin Ming and the students to withdraw from their fights.
• Ling Yuan’s Flame Tide burned the Bone Blade Soul King to ashes and swallowed the other evil Soul Kings, while Black Demon’s mist shielded the Purple Prison Demon Fang Soul King.
• Elder Huang protected and healed the group as Black Demon emerged from the passage and was identified as a Soul Douluo.
• Ling Yuan revealed her eight Soul Rings and challenged Black Demon, then attacked him and the Purple Prison Demon Fang Soul King with Spirit Kite Howls at Heaven.
• Black Demon countered with Demon Soul Devours Heaven, and the clash between their Soul Skills collapsed the stone hall.

Ling Yuan defeated Black Demon in their Soul Douluo clash, but a Blood-Devouring Nether Fang ambushed and wounded her, turning the battle around. Black Demon revealed how he had raised and controlled the Evil Soul Beast, then explained that he had fled to the Tianyang Mountain Range after a disastrous hunt in the Star Dou Forest.

• Ling Yuan overwhelmed Black Demon's devouring vortex with her flames and sent him crashing to the ground as Elder Huang shielded Qin Ming and the students from the collapsing stronghold.
• The Blood-Devouring Nether Fang emerged from the rubble, shattered Ling Yuan's Kite Feather Shield with its bone whip, and wounded her.
• Qin Ming recognized the beast as a rare Evil Soul Beast with at least fifty thousand years of cultivation, and Elder Huang healed Ling Yuan and dispelled the corrosive mist.
• Black Demon reunited with the Blood-Devouring Nether Fang and revealed that he had marked it when it had only a hundred years of cultivation, then fed it Soul Beasts to raise its strength.
• Black Demon said the beast had neared sixty thousand years of cultivation before he led his men to the Star Dou Forest, where a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast drove them off and they fled in separate directions.
• Black Demon explained that he had chosen to escape to the Tianyang Mountain Range.

Ling Yuan faced Black Demon and his Blood-Devouring Nether Fang while Elder Huang tried to escort Qin Ming and the students to safety. Black Demon sent the Purple Prison Demon Fang Soul King after them, and the chapter ended as the students stepped forward to defend Elder Huang from his newly empowered attack.

• Ling Yuan ordered Elder Huang to take Qin Ming and the students away while she held off Black Demon and the Blood-Devouring Nether Fang.
• Black Demon used the Demon Soul Obscuring Barrier as the Blood-Devouring Nether Fang concealed itself, allowing the Purple Prison Demon Fang Soul King to break through toward the students.
• Elder Huang struck the Purple Prison Demon Fang Soul King with a green fist shadow and sent him flying.
• The Purple Prison Demon Fang Soul King used Black Demon's secret technique to raise his Soul Power to Level 69 at the cost of half a year of weakness.
• The Purple Prison Demon Fang Soul King attacked Elder Huang with his fifth Soul Skill, and Li Cang, Su Lingxue, and the other students stepped in to protect him as Qin Ming activated the Blazing Flame Domain.

Qin Ming and the students fought the Demon Fang Soul King while Elder Huang healed their injuries, and Qin Ming survived a devastating strike thanks to his inner armor. Ling Yuan gained the upper hand against Black Demon, but Nether Vine Soul Douluo and his followers ambushed her, leaving her surrounded.

• Qin Ming’s Blazing Flame Domain weakened the Demon Fang Soul King, but the life-burning Soul King broke through the students’ attacks and struck Qin Ming down.
• Elder Huang healed Qin Ming and the students, allowing Qin Ming to rise and resume the fight with the Life-Bound Feather Azure Luan had given him.
• Ling Yuan used her evolved Blazing Kite Flame Domain to counter Black Demon’s attacks and expose the Blood-Devouring Nether Fang’s sneak attack.
• Ling Yuan’s Spirit Kite Howls at Heaven drove Black Demon and the Blood-Devouring Nether Fang onto the defensive.
• Nether Vine Soul Douluo emerged with dozens of followers after dark vines caught Ling Yuan, revealing that Black Demon had lured her into an ambush.

Black Demon and Nether Vine trapped Ling Yuan and Qin Ming’s group in the Tianyang Mountain Range, intending to kill the Spirit Hall squad. As the Fallen Spirit Masters closed in, Hua Lian revealed that she had summoned Yue Guan, leaving the group to hold out until he arrived.

• Black Demon chose to hide in the Tianyang Mountain Range and helped Nether Vine lure Spirit Hall pursuers into an ambush.
• Nether Vine’s forces emerged from underground, and Black Demon and Nether Vine restrained Ling Yuan while their subordinates attacked Qin Ming’s group.
• The wounded Demon Fang Soul King pointed Qin Ming out as a Soul Elder with a domain, but his tall Soul Saint big brother killed him with a claw through the chest.
• Hua Lian told Qin Ming that she had crushed the token Yue Guan gave her and that her Second Grandfather would arrive soon.
• Nether Vine’s Fallen Spirit Masters advanced on Qin Ming’s group as Ling Yuan remained trapped, leaving them to endure the attack until Yue Guan arrived.

Qin Ming and the students faced a group of Fallen Spirit Masters led by the Demon Jiao Soul Saint, and Qin Ming used Yue Guan’s Gangyang Flower to turn the ambush into a devastating victory. The Demon Jiao Soul Saint was left furious and poised to attack Qin Ming.

• The Demon Jiao Soul Saint revealed his Corrosive Bone Demon Flood Dragon Martial Soul and ordered his followers to capture Qin Ming and Elder Huang while killing the others.
• Qin Ming took out the Gangyang Flower Yue Guan had given him and told the students to lure their attackers together.
• Li Cang, Qi, Su Lingxue, Wen Neng, Elder Huang, and the other students coordinated their attacks and drew the Fallen Spirit Masters into one cluster.
• Qin Ming unleashed his Blazing Flame Domain and threw the Gangyang Flower into the gathered enemies, killing the Soul Kings and two Soul Emperors while crippling the surviving Bone Whip Soul Emperor.
• The Demon Jiao Soul Saint became enraged, fixed his killing intent on Qin Ming, and threatened to kill him.

The Demon Jiao Soul Saint attacked Qin Ming and the other students with corrosive poison, forcing Elder Huang to use his Martial Soul Avatar to shield them. As Elder Huang protected Qin Ming from a lethal blow, Ling Yuan activated her own Martial Soul Avatar, and Black Demon and Nether Vine followed suit.

• The Demon Jiao Soul Saint unleashed his Fourth Soul Skill, spreading corrosive poison mist across the battlefield and prompting Elder Huang to protect the students.
• Elder Huang used his Seventh Soul Skill, Martial Soul Avatar, and raised a barrier to block the poison mist.
• The Demon Jiao Soul Saint tore open the barrier with his Fifth Soul Skill and attacked Qin Ming, but Elder Huang intercepted the claw and was wounded while holding it fast.
• Ling Yuan saw Elder Huang protect Qin Ming and activated her Blazing Spirit Kite Avatar to confront Black Demon and Nether Vine.
• Black Demon and Nether Vine activated their Martial Soul Avatars in response to Ling Yuan's transformation.