Chapter Summaries

Situ Xuan recast the Spirit Department's final exams as a campaign to intercept Shrek Academy's students and teachers before they reached Mingdu. He left the students with orders, safety guarantees, and strict rules for the mission.

• Situ Xuan called Shrek Academy's arrival and its students' journey a provocation against Sun Moon Academy and the Sun Moon Federation.
• Situ Xuan ordered every Spirit Department student from first to sixth year to leave the academy early and travel to cities along Shrek Academy's route.
• Situ Xuan assigned first- to third-year students to stop Shrek's first-year students, while fourth- to sixth-year students were to target Shrek's accompanying teachers unless Soul Saint-level personnel attacked them.
• Situ Xuan authorized ambushes, group attacks, traps, terrain, and Soul Tools, while promising intervention against powerful attackers and support from healing Soul Masters.
• Situ Xuan restricted the students to designated areas, forbade avoiding battle, and framed the mission as defending the academy's honor and justice.

Situ Xuan ordered Sun Moon Academy’s students to secretly prepare for a real campaign against Shrek, while Shrek’s first-years learned the harsh conditions of their final exam. The chapter left Sun Moon’s forces preparing to hunt the Shrek students, who remained unaware of the danger ahead.

• Situ Xuan ordered the Sun Moon Academy students to depart in groups within an hour and confront Shrek as a real wartime vanguard.
• Wang Dongchen assigned the students their missions and directed them to organize, inspect equipment, and gather supplies.
• Yuanen Yehui asked Situ Xuan whether the mission was worth the possible deaths, and he said Shrek would test and forge the students into warriors.
• Situ Xuan and Yuanen Yehui prepared to set out and meet Shrek’s strongest opponents as the academy’s students mobilized.
• Shen Yi told Shrek’s first-year students that five would be eliminated and announced a fifteen-day exam requiring them to reach Mingdu, defeat stronger opponents in at least ten cities, and travel without resources or outside help.

As Shrek Academy’s students prepared for a solo final exam, Gu Yue weighed her allegiance to the Spirit Pagoda against her eventual break with Shrek and wondered what Tang Wulin meant to her. Tang Wulin planned the exam with his friends but kept his distance from Gu Yue, leaving their relationship strained and unresolved.

• Shen Yi announced that students had to surrender their belongings and travel alone through ten cities, with anyone caught helping another student failing the exam.
• Gu Yue reflected on her duties as the Silver Dragon King, Leng Yaozhu’s guidance, and Shrek’s attempts to recruit her, and recognized that she had to choose a side.
• Tang Wulin confided to himself that Gu Yue’s secrecy and silence after their conflict had left him feeling betrayed, while Xie Xie tried to reassure him about the exam.
• Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, Ye Xinglan, Xu Xiaoyan, and Xu Lizhi planned to take the central route and discussed ways they might assist one another without formally grouping up.
• Tang Wulin considered inviting Gu Yue to join them but held back, convinced that hurt and unanswered questions had created a wall between them.

Gu Yue left Tang Wulin without explaining her decision, deepening the rift between them as they chose separate paths. Shrek Academy’s first-year final exam then began, sending students out alone toward Mingdu while their teachers worried about dangers they had failed to anticipate.

• Gu Yue left the classroom, resolved to put her mission to revive the Soul Beast clan and control the Spirit Pagoda ahead of her feelings for Tang Wulin.
• Tang Wulin found the corridor empty, then returned to prepare for the final exam with Xie Xie, Ye Xinglan, and Xu Lizhi.
• Tang Wulin and Gu Yue remained at Shrek Academy but committed to different paths, unaware that Situ Xuan had plotted a bloody hunt for them.
• At five in the morning, 126 first-year students left Shrek City to travel toward Mingdu, each required to pass through ten cities and defeat stronger opponents within fifteen days.
• Two Shrek teachers watched the students depart and worried that the young Soul Masters had overlooked the danger posed by human nature.

Shrek Academy’s final exam in the Sun Moon Federation turned into a coordinated hunt, as Sun Moon Academy students ambushed Shrek’s students and guards to keep them from reaching Mingdu. After several first-years were captured near Qinglan City, Shrek’s teachers reported the attack to Cai Yue'er.

• Shrek Academy recruited fifty-three Soul King- and Soul Emperor-level clansmen to secretly guard its students during the exam.
• Sun Moon Academy’s first- to third-year students prepared traps for Shrek’s students while its senior students targeted their guards.
• Chen Feng’s group ambushed Li Hong near Qinglan City, captured him, and took him to a pit where three other Shrek first-years were already held.
• Two wounded Shrek teachers contacted Cai Yue'er and reported that Sun Moon Academy students had ambushed them and captured several students.

Cai Yue'er authorized Shrek's escort teachers to retaliate against Sun Moon Academy students, escalating the conflict beyond the student level. Zhao Ming and Sun Hao defeated a Crow ambush at an abandoned quarry and prepared to cripple the attackers before searching for the next ambush point.

• Cai Yue'er ordered the escort teachers to suppress Sun Moon Academy students who ganged up on Shrek students and assured them Shrek Academy would back them.
• Zhao Ming and Sun Hao recovered from their injuries and headed toward Qinglan City to find Sun Moon Academy students.
• At an abandoned quarry, Chen Feng and seven other Crow members surrounded three first-year Shrek students, leaving one unable to fight.
• Zhao Ming and Sun Hao arrived, and Sun Hao used his fifth soul skill to overwhelm the eight Crow members and break the bones of those who tried to flee.
• Zhao Ming questioned Chen Feng about Situ Xuan, then ordered Sun Hao to cripple all eight students' Soul Power before they searched for another ambush point.

Ma Tie and two Sun Moon Academy Soul Kings defeated Shrek’s guards at the quarry after the guards had beaten the Crow students. Ma Tie reported the planned clash to President Situ, who asked how Shrek reacted.

• Ma Tie, Lin Wan, and Li Rui confronted Zhao Ming and Sun Hao over the injuries to the Crow students and attacked them.
• Lin Wan and Li Rui wounded Sun Hao and broke Zhao Ming’s arm, while Ma Tie treated the eight Crow students with soul tool medicine.
• Ma Tie ordered the injured Shrek guards to leave, and Sun Hao withdrew while vowing that Shrek would remember the grudge.
• Ma Tie told Chen Feng that the clash was meant to provoke Shrek’s guards and give Sun Moon Academy a reason to retaliate.
• Ma Tie sent Lin Wan and Li Rui to take the Crow students to Safe House Three, then reported the clash to President Situ, who asked how Shrek had reacted.

As Shrek and Sun Moon Academy escalated their clashes across the central plains, Xiao Zhan killed six Shrek escort teachers while saving three Crow students. After Shrek learned of its mounting casualties, Cai Yue'er demanded war, but Long Yeyue warned that doing so would serve Situ Xuan's purposes.

• Situ Xuan ordered Ma Tie to continue the second phase of their plan and warned that Sun Moon Academy would retaliate if Shrek sent forces above Soul Emperor level.
• Shrek escort teachers and Sun Moon Academy's sixth-year squad hunted each other for three days, escalating their clashes to Soul Emperor-level battles.
• Xiao Zhan arrived at an abandoned mine, wounded Wang Meng, and killed five other Shrek Soul Kings before directing three rescued Crow students to Safe House No. 5.
• Cai Yue'er learned that Shrek had thirty-seven escort teachers seriously injured, eight lightly injured, and twelve missing, then accused Situ Xuan of provoking an all-out conflict.
• Cai Yue'er called for war against Sun Moon Academy, but Long Yeyue cautioned that war would play into Situ Xuan's hands.

Long Yeyue ordered Shrek’s Outer Court students from Years Two through Six to escort the first-years and counter Sun Moon Academy’s ambushes without teacher involvement. Shrek’s students overwhelmed the Crows, but Situ Xuan insisted that his real goal was hunting as his forces faced defeat.

• Long Yeyue rejected sending powerful teachers and ordered students from Years One through Six to take part in the confrontation.
• Shrek mobilized more than eight hundred students from Years Two through Six in twelve escort teams to support the first-years on their way to Mingdu.
• A Shrek fourth-year vanguard defeated a twelve-member Crow squad in three minutes, leaving all its members unable to fight.
• Over the next six hours, Shrek’s teams dismantled Sun Moon Academy ambushes, and by the next day more than two hundred Crow students had been incapacitated.
• Ma Tie warned Situ Xuan that Shrek’s greater numbers and cultivation made a direct clash unwinnable.
• Situ Xuan said his goal was hunting, not defeating Shrek’s student army, as Wang Dongchen questioned how that plan could work amid the open conflict.

Situ Xuan devised a mobile ambush strategy to exploit Shrek’s scattered teams, and Sun Moon Academy used it to capture Shrek’s Sixth Team near Tieyan City. Shrek’s command center learned that the team had been defeated in half an hour, leaving Long Yeyue stunned.

• Situ Xuan rallied Wang Dongchen, Qi Jiayou, and Lily to launch a reverse encirclement using concentrated attacks and rapid withdrawals.
• Wang Dongchen, Qi Jiayou, and Lily’s forces ambushed Shrek’s Sixth Team from three directions near Tieyan City.
• The Crow forces captured all sixty-eight members of Shrek’s Sixth Team after a twenty-minute battle, suffering heavy casualties themselves.
• Shrek’s Fifth and Seventh Teams arrived after the fight and found only wounded comrades and devastation.
• Long Yeyue received the report that Shrek’s Sixth Team had been defeated and captured, and reacted with disbelief.

Shrek Academy tightened its advance after Sun Moon Academy’s Crow Troops repeatedly attacked its teams, while cities along the route refused to help and detained captured students. As the clash became a political contest between Shrek and the Sun Moon Federation, Yun Ming challenged Chen Xinjie over the Federation’s aggression, leaving Chen stunned by Yun Ming’s apparent confusion.

• Long Yeyue ordered Shrek’s twelve teams to close ranks, slow their advance, and support one another after the Federation-backed cities refused to release students.
• Situ Xuan’s Crow Troops attacked Shrek’s third, eighth, and eleventh teams over the next two days, capturing more than eighty students and severely injuring over a hundred and thirty.
• Shrek’s attempts to negotiate for its captured students failed as cities along the Central Plains Line kept them imprisoned and directed Shrek to pursue formal diplomatic channels.
• Wang Dongchen, Lily, and Qi Jiayou led the Crow Troops in repeated harassment and concentrated assaults, turning the journey between the two cities into a tug-of-war.
• Yun Ming asked Chen Xinjie why the Sun Moon Federation was acting aggressively toward Shrek despite their peaceful coexistence, and Chen questioned Yun Ming’s sincere-seeming confusion.

Chen Xinjie confronted Yun Ming over Shrek Academy’s disregard for federal law and the lives lost through its actions. Yun Ming insisted that Shrek would keep protecting the continent in its own way, leaving the two former comrades at an impasse.

• Chen Xinjie accused Shrek Academy of breaking federal law and causing billions of federal coins in losses through its students’ trials.
• Chen Xinjie cited the Eastsea City operation, where the Shrek Seven Devils’ unauthorized actions led to seventeen Federation special agents’ deaths and the escape of Holy Spirit Cult leaders.
• Yun Ming defended Shrek’s actions as necessary to protect civilians and argued that the Federation’s failures could not be blamed on the Academy.
• Chen Xinjie condemned Yun Ming for declaring other people’s sacrifices necessary and insisted that Shrek must obey the Federation’s laws.
• Yun Ming declared that Shrek Academy would continue protecting the continent in its own way, and Chen Xinjie realized they could not agree on order.

Chen Xinjie told Yun Ming that the Heaven Dou Empire and Star Luo Empire had offered Shrek Academy an autonomous permanent station, but Yun Ming insisted that Shrek would remain on Douluo Continent. At Sun Moon Academy, Situ Xuan began breaking through to the Fifth Turn of the Immortal Wind Cloud Body Technique and lit two hundred acupoints.

• Yun Ming told Chen Xinjie that Shrek would not back down over its students' exams in Mingdu, even if it meant opposing the Federation.
• Chen Xinjie revealed that the Heaven Dou Empire and Star Luo Empire had offered Shrek an autonomous permanent station, but Yun Ming said Shrek would stay on Douluo Continent.
• Situ Xuan soaked in a medicinal pool at Sun Moon Academy and began advancing from the perfected Fourth Turn to the Fifth Turn of the Immortal Wind Cloud Body Technique.
• Situ Xuan absorbed the pool's medicinal power and lit acupoints across his body, reaching the two hundredth point as the spiritual energy around him began to surge.

Situ Xuan completed the Fifth Turn of the Immortal Wind Cloud Body Technique, opening all 365 acupoints and gaining greatly enhanced physical strength and energy circulation. He learned that Shrek had tightened its formations and sent Inner Court students to the front, then ordered Ma Tie to keep the captured students detained through official channels.

• Situ Xuan opened his Mingmen acupoint, completing the Heavenly Cycle Loop and drawing in vast amounts of spiritual energy.
• Situ Xuan assessed his strengthened body and formed the initial Stainless Body, which he believed could withstand Soul Saint-level attacks without Soul Power.
• Ma Tie told Situ Xuan that Shrek had tightened its formations and that Inner Court students had appeared near the front line.
• Situ Xuan predicted Shrek's advance would take at least a month and asked how the captured Shrek students were being held.
• Situ Xuan instructed Ma Tie to maintain pressure by keeping the captives detained and directing Shrek to seek their release through the Federation government.

Situ Xuan ordered the Crows to harass Shrek as its battered force advanced to Mingdu, then received an urgent summons from Sun Moon Academy's dean and vice dean. He went to meet them, wary that the Federation Parliament might object to the cost of his tactics.

• Situ Xuan ordered Wang Dongchen and the others to switch to harassment and attrition tactics against Shrek.
• More than two hundred Shrek students made it through Sun Moon Academy's attacks and reached Mingdu with their group reduced to over two hundred people.
• Wang Dongchen told Situ Xuan that Dean Yang Shuiyun and Vice Dean Peng Yunze wanted him at the Administration Building immediately.
• Situ Xuan reassured Wang Dongchen about the academy leaders, then ordered him to keep intelligence flowing on Shrek's teams.
• Situ Xuan went to the dean's office and found Yang Shuiyun and Peng Yunze waiting for him.

Councilor Lin Zhengping delivered Parliament’s order that Situ Xuan stop Shrek Academy’s students from reaching Mingdu, despite Situ’s view that their advance reflected Sun Moon Academy’s shortcomings rather than erasing its gains. Situ Xuan left the demand unanswered, sitting by the window in calm silence.

• Dean Yang Shuiyun introduced Councilor Lin Zhengping, who said more than two hundred Shrek Academy Outer Court students were nearing Mingdu.
• Lin Zhengping demanded that Situ Xuan find a way to stop Shrek’s students from entering the city.
• Situ Xuan argued that the confrontation was a fair contest between students and that Shrek’s breakthrough exposed Sun Moon Academy’s weakness, while Sun Moon’s captures and casualties inflicted were still significant gains.
• Lin Zhengping said Parliament feared the political damage if Shrek’s students reached the Federal Parliament building and ordered Situ Xuan to keep them outside Mingdu.
• Situ Xuan poured himself a glass of water and sat by the window without answering Lin Zhengping.

Situ Xuan rejected the council’s assumption that Sun Moon Academy had lost and revealed why he had let Shrek’s teams advance. He planned to strike personally now that Shrek had gathered its remaining forces, leaving the deans to realize he intended to wipe them out at once.

• Lin Zhengping visited Situ Xuan to convey the council’s will, but Situ told him the battle between Sun Moon Academy and Shrek Academy was not over.
• Lin Zhengping left after Situ refused to explain further, while Yang Shuiyun dismissed the council’s interference and Peng Yunze praised Situ’s recent breakthrough.
• Situ confirmed that he would make a move personally and explained that he had delayed to temper Sun Moon Academy’s students and let Shrek’s scattered teams regroup.
• Situ revealed that Shrek’s concentration of forces fit his plan to destroy them all in one decisive attack.
• Yang Shuiyun and Peng Yunze realized Situ intended to wipe out Shrek’s remaining strength just before it reached Mingdu.

Situ Xuan chose Sunset Plain as the place to confront Shrek’s remaining students alone, rejecting help from the academy. As Shrek’s battered force approached the plain, Situ Xuan stood waiting in the ruins, setting the stage for their final clash.

• Situ Xuan told Yang Shuiyun and Peng Yunze that he would face Shrek’s students at Sunset Plain and asked them to tell the Crow Troops and other students to watch.
• Yang Shuiyun and Peng Yunze agreed not to interfere, while Yang Shuiyun reminded Situ Xuan to protect himself and Sun Moon Academy’s future.
• Situ Xuan left the deans and stood alone in the abandoned industrial ruins of Sunset Plain beneath the setting sun.
• Shrek’s remaining 237 Outer Court students advanced toward Sunset Plain, including freshmen, upper-year elites, and several Inner Court students watching from within the group.

Shrek’s exhausted force of 237 students crossed Sunset Plain, believing Mingdu was within reach, only to find Situ Xuan waiting alone in their path. He identified himself as the barrier to their advance, leaving the confrontation about to begin.

• Rock led the 237 Shrek students across Sunset Plain in a tight formation, ordering them to stay alert and conserve Soul Power.
• The team sensed something unusual on the plain and spotted a lone figure whose long shadow stretched toward them.
• As the students approached, they recognized the figure as Situ Xuan and were overcome by fear.
• Situ Xuan faced the Shrek formation and declared, “Everyone of Shrek... This road is closed.”

The Shrek Academy team faced Situ Xuan on Sunset Plain, stirring Tang Wulin’s hatred and helplessness and Gu Yue’s conflicted understanding of the larger conflict. Senior students ordered a defensive formation to keep Situ Xuan from breaking into their ranks.

• Tang Wulin and the other students recognized Situ Xuan and reacted with anger over their past defeat at his hands.
• Tang Wulin acknowledged that he was still too weak to challenge Situ Xuan, while Gu Yue reflected on her mixed feelings and the deeper feud between Shrek Academy and the Sun Moon Federation.
• Senior team captains ordered the first years to retreat, the second years to regroup, and the combat systems to take their positions.
• The senior students prepared to stop Situ Xuan from entering their formation and disrupting the team.
• More than thirty Defense System Soul Masters formed a high, layered defensive line in front of the Shrek Academy team.