Chapter Summaries

Xu Tianming rebuked Beibei for speaking on Tang Ya’s behalf, then left Huo Yuhao and the others to return to Shrek Academy. After learning why Tang Ya was troubled, Huo Yuhao began to question Shrek Academy’s reputation, while Xu Tianming sent Mu Ye to investigate the Extreme North before he went to Ming Capital.

• Xu Tianming slapped Beibei after Beibei tried to refuse Tang Ya’s possible move to the Sun Moon Empire on her behalf.
• Huo Yuhao woke, and Xu Tianming invited him and Tang Ya to seek opportunities in the Sun Moon Empire before departing Star Dou Forest.
• Beibei said his injuries prevented him from helping Huo Yuhao hunt a Soul Ring, and the three returned toward Shrek Academy.
• Sky Dream Ice Silkworm told Huo Yuhao that Beibei’s attacks had rebounded off Xu Tianming and explained that Xu Tianming had offered to help Tang Ya avenge the Tang Sect.
• Huo Yuhao questioned Shrek Academy’s reputation after learning it had not helped the Tang Sect, while Xu Tianming ordered Mu Ye to search the Extreme North for a high-age Snow Lotus and the habitats of its three great clans.

Xu Tianming returned to Dongyang City and chose which academy to attend in Ming Capital, earning a forging technique from his God-Level Choice system. After receiving Tiangong Secret Forging, he began training and resolved to reach Thousand Refinement before enrollment.

• Xu Tianming returned home after traveling from Star Dou Forest with Mu Ye, and his parents welcomed him back.
• Xu Xiang told Xu Tianming that Crown Prince Xu Tianran had seized control of the Sun Moon Empire and offered him a choice between two Ming Capital academies.
• Xu Tianming chose the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy on Xu Xiang's recommendation and received Tiangong Secret Forging from the system.
• Xu Tianming absorbed the forging technique's information, then went to the manor's Forging Room to study it and practice.
• Xu Tianming judged that he had barely reached Hundred Refinement and set a goal of reaching Thousand Refinement before enrollment.

Xu Tianming used the Thousand Refinement Method to forge Qingjingang into a longblade with heightened strength and spirituality. After Kong Yue recognized the metal’s unusual qualities, she advised him to choose a path that suited him, and said she would take him to Ming Capital the next day.

• Xu Tianming spent more than two hours forging Qingjingang, while Kong Yue entered the Forging Room and realized she should not disturb him.
• The forging hammers broke as azure light rose from the metal, and Xu Tianming sprayed his blood onto the Qingjingang to complete the forging.
• Xu Tianming revealed a hiltless, jade-green longblade and explained to Kong Yue that his Thousand Refinement Method awakened the metal’s spirituality.
• Kong Yue recognized the longblade’s extraordinary hardness and affinity with Soul Power, then warned Xu Tianming not to spread himself across too many pursuits.
• Kong Yue told Xu Tianming she would take him to Ming Capital the next day so he could consider which path he wanted to follow.

Xu Tianming arrived in Ming Capital to enroll at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy, choosing to take the entrance process rather than use his family connections. His reported cultivation shocked the academy staff and students, and he revealed three extraordinary Soul Rings to prove it.

• Xu Tianming admired the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy and told Kong Yue he would enroll through the normal process.
• Kong Yue warned Xu Tianming to take care of himself and study hard before he entered the academy alone.
• Xu Tianming told the student registrar, Chen An, that he was eleven years old, a thirty-seventh-level control-type Spirit Master, and a First-Level Soul Engineer.
• Chen An's shock drew Elder Ma, who asked Xu Tianming to show his Soul Rings to verify his Soul Power Level.
• Xu Tianming revealed one purple Soul Ring and two black Soul Rings, causing an uproar among the people at registration.

Xu Tianming impressed Ma Yun with his powerful Soul Rings and entered the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy’s practical assessment. He chose to fight a five-thousand-year soul beast without a Soul Tool, but Ma Yun became fascinated by Xu Tianming’s unusual self-forged blade.

• Ma Yun recognized Xu Tianming’s talent and suspected he was connected to the imperial family, then explained the academy’s two entrance assessments.
• Xu Tianming chose the practical assessment and followed Ma Yun to the Trial Grounds.
• Ma Yun raised the challenge to a five-thousand-year soul beast, and Xu Tianming said he would fight without a Soul Tool.
• Xu Tianming showed Ma Yun his emerald-green longsword, which he had forged himself and which had no Core Array.
• Ma Yun handled the blade, felt it reject him, and identified its material as Qingjingang before Xu Tianming urged him to finish the trial first.

Xu Tianming entered the assessment arena and insisted on facing a soul beast without summoning his Martial Soul, while Jing Hongchen learned more about his imperial-family background. The test began with a five-thousand-year Ghost Leopard, and Jing Hongchen rebuked Ma Yun for choosing a beast far stronger than the planned opponent as Xu Tianming faced its attack.

• Ma Yun arranged Xu Tianming’s assessment and warned him to be careful against a five-thousand-year soul beast.
• Jing Hongchen arrived, learned Xu Tianming’s identity and extraordinary Soul Rings, and explained that he was the son of a cautious man from Dongyang City.
• Xu Tianming refused to summon his Martial Soul and urged Jing Hongchen to begin the assessment.
• A five-thousand-year Ghost Leopard charged from the passage and lunged at Xu Tianming.
• Jing Hongchen questioned Ma Yun about the unexpectedly powerful opponent, and Ma Yun admitted he had chosen it to test Xu Tianming.

Xu Tianming killed a five-thousand-year Ghost Leopard with one sword strike, then bargained with Jing Hongchen for a left arm Secret Method Spirit Bone in exchange for fighting a two-thousand-year soul beast barehanded. He crushed the Great Strength Gorilla’s arms with his fists, leaving the trial’s outcome unresolved.

• Xu Tianming split the five-thousand-year Ghost Leopard in two with a single slash, stunning Jing Hongchen and Ma Yun.
• Ma Yun told Jing Hongchen that Xu Tianming had forged the saber himself from Qingjingang, though it seemed unusually tough and almost alive.
• Jing Hongchen challenged Xu Tianming to fight a two-thousand-year soul beast without a weapon, and Xu Tianming negotiated a left arm Secret Method Spirit Bone as his reward.
• Xu Tianming put his saber aside and refused to summon his Martial Soul when a Great Strength Gorilla charged him.
• Xu Tianming's golden-red fists struck the Great Strength Gorilla's raised arms and smashed them into irregular shapes, sending the beast flying.

Xu Tianming defeated a 2,500-year-old Great Strength Gorilla and went with Jing Hongchen to discuss his training at Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy. When Jing Hongchen asked which of the academy’s two training paths he would choose, Xu Tianming’s God-Level Choice system offered him a divine artifact for either option.

• Xu Tianming crushed the Great Strength Gorilla’s arms, defeated it without killing it, and passed the assessment.
• Jing Hongchen invited Xu Tianming to his office, where they discussed Xu Tianming’s parents and the academy’s training paths.
• Jing Hongchen asked Xu Tianming to choose between focusing on Spirit Master abilities and training as a Soul Engineer.
• Xu Tianming’s God-Level Choice system offered him the Angel Holy Sword for choosing Spirit Master training or the Book of Curses for choosing Soul Engineer training.
• Xu Tianming considered the Angel Holy Sword’s possible connection to Qian Renxue and worried that he could not reveal it or use it against Tang San.

Xu Tianming chose to study Soul Tools at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy, explaining that no one there could guide his unusual Martial Soul. After Jing Hongchen arranged his dormitory, Xu Tianming reminded him about the promised Spirit Bone.

• Xu Tianming chose the Soul Engineer training path and claimed the Book of Curses reward without claiming it immediately.
• Xu Tianming told Jing Hongchen that he was only a first-class Soul Engineer and revealed his sun-and-moon twin-pupil Body Martial Soul.
• Jing Hongchen felt the effects of Xu Tianming's Martial Soul and admitted the academy could not guide his Martial Soul cultivation.
• Jing Hongchen summoned Lin Jiayi and asked him to arrange a single dormitory for Xu Tianming.
• Xu Tianming greeted Lin Jiayi and asked Jing Hongchen whether he planned to welsh on the promised Spirit Bone.

Xu Tianming accepted a Secret Method Left Arm Bone from Jing Hongchen for an experiment, then toured Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy with Lin Jiayi and received a private villa dormitory. In his Meditation Room, he claimed the system reward, the Book of Curses.

• Jing Hongchen gave Xu Tianming a Secret Method Left Arm Bone and warned him against absorbing it, while Xu said he wanted it for an experiment.
• Lin Jiayi showed Xu Tianming around the academy and criticized Shrek Academy's facilities and reputation.
• Lin Jiayi brought Xu Tianming to detached dormitory villa number 12 and warned him that receiving special accommodation as a freshman could cause trouble.
• Xu Tianming inspected his villa, entered the Meditation Room, and claimed the Book of Curses from the system.

Xu Tianming opened the Book of Curses and nearly lost himself to its negative emotions, but Electrolux awakened in his Sea of Consciousness and saved him. After Xu Tianming asked for help cursing Tang San, Electrolux concealed his aura and brought him to the Undead Half-Plane, where the curse could be used safely.

• Xu Tianming opened the Book of Curses, and its black light invaded his Sea of Consciousness, overwhelming him with violent spiritual pressure and negative emotions.
• Electrolux awakened within Xu Tianming, controlled the Book of Curses, and helped open Xu Tianming's Sea of Consciousness.
• Electrolux introduced himself as the Holy Necromancer and explained that the divine artifact had awakened him.
• Xu Tianming told Electrolux he wanted to curse Tang San for manipulating the Douluo Plane, and Electrolux agreed to conceal his aura.
• Electrolux brought Xu Tianming to the Undead Half-Plane and told him he would be safe there.

Xu Tianming used the Book of Curses to write Tang San’s name, while Tang San defended his surveillance of the Douluo Plane before the God Realm Committee. The curse struck just as Tang San’s Sea God and Asura divine powers began to clash, leaving him coughing up golden blood.

• Xu Tianming struggled to write Tang San’s name in the Book of Curses as each stroke rapidly consumed his spiritual power.
• Electrolux used a mental suggestion to help Xu Tianming finish the final stroke, and a strange black line shot from the book and vanished.
• The God of Destruction accused Tang San of repeatedly spying on the Douluo Plane and interfering in its affairs.
• Tang San justified his observations as concern for his daughter and argued that he had not directly intervened, while the Life Goddess said he bore no blame.
• Tang San sensed an ominous aura, then his Sea God and Asura divine powers suddenly clashed and made him spit out golden blood before the other God Kings.

Xu Tianming used the Book of Curses to send curse power toward an unknown plane, then met Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy. After Xu Tianming claimed he was stronger than Xiao Hongchen, the two agreed to compete, with Xu Tianming demanding stakes.

• Xu Tianming thanked Electrolux for helping him control the Book of Curses, and Electrolux warned him to keep it in the Undead Half-Plane before sending him back to his dormitory.
• Xu Tianming noticed his spiritual power had greatly increased, changed clothes, and left his dormitory to find food at the academy cafeteria.
• Xu Tianming met Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen outside another dormitory, and Xiao Hongchen challenged him after Xu Tianming claimed to be stronger.
• Xu Tianming agreed to compete with Xiao Hongchen but insisted that they put up stakes.

Xu Tianming challenged Xiao Hongchen to a wager and fought him to prove his strength. Xu Tianming stunned Xiao Hongchen with one Soul Skill and asked whether he admitted defeat.

• Xu Tianming provoked Xiao Hongchen into wagering rare metal on their fight, and Xiao Hongchen offered Soul Forging Secret Silver.
• Meng Hongchen warned Xiao Hongchen that the metal was meant to help his cultivation, but he refused to back down.
• Xu Tianming revealed his three Soul Rings, including one purple and two black rings, while Xiao Hongchen introduced himself as a level forty-seven Battle Soul Master.
• Xiao Hongchen summoned metal cannon barrels with his Soul Skills, but Xu Tianming struck him with Xuanye Ice Bind and interrupted his attack.
• Xu Tianming walked up to the stunned Xiao Hongchen, tapped him between the brows, and asked whether he admitted defeat.

Xu Tianming defeated Xiao Hongchen with a single soul skill and won the Soul Forging Secret Silver, then quickly befriended Xiao and Meng Hongchen. The three went to the academy cafeteria, where the siblings explained the academy card system and treated Xu Tianming to medicinal cuisine, and he shared his Hundred Fruit Brew with them.

• Xu Tianming used his spiritual power to revive Xiao Hongchen, who admitted defeat and handed over the Soul Forging Secret Silver.
• Xiao Hongchen vowed to reclaim his title as the empire’s greatest genius, while he and Meng Hongchen questioned Xu Tianming about his control-type soul skill and imperial family ties.
• Xu Tianming revealed that his father, Xu Xiang, was the City Lord of Dongyang City, and Xiao Hongchen called their rivalry a friendship forged through a fight.
• Xiao Hongchen brought Xu Tianming to the cafeteria with Meng Hongchen, where Meng explained academy cards and their discounts for medicinal cuisine.
• The Xiao siblings used their gold cards to buy medicinal cuisine, and Xu Tianming poured them cups of his Hundred Fruit Brew.

Xu Tianming explained the Thousand Refinement technique to Jing Hongchen after the dean discovered the unusual nature of his Qingjingang saber. Jing Hongchen learned that the process could improve metal quality, but Xu Tianming warned that it required exceptional spiritual power and was difficult to master.

• Xu Tianming got Xiao Hongchen and his sister drunk with Hundred Fruit Brew, then showed Jing Hongchen the Soul Forging Secret Silver he had won from Xiao Hongchen.
• Jing Hongchen accepted that Xiao Hongchen had lost the metal fairly and examined Xu Tianming's long saber, sensing that it seemed alive.
• Jing Hongchen teleported Xu Tianming and the drunken siblings from the cafeteria to his office and asked about the saber.
• Xu Tianming revealed that he had used Thousand Refinement to forge the Qingjingang saber, explaining that it reduced the metal's volume while improving its quality and inherent properties.
• Xu Tianming told Jing Hongchen that Thousand Refinement required powerful spiritual power and was extremely difficult to perform.

Jing Hongchen arranged for Xu Tianming to study Soul Engineering under Zhang Tiezhu while continuing his Forging Technique research. At Zhang Tiezhu’s laboratory, Xu Tianming impressed his new mentor by recognizing the furnace’s quality and declared his belief that forging would change the world.

• Jing Hongchen offered Xu Tianming an Eighth-Level Soul Engineer as a mentor and gave him an academy card.
• Jing Hongchen instructed Lin Jiayi to take Xu Tianming to meet Zhang Tiezhu, who would become his mentor.
• Lin Jiayi told Xu Tianming that Zhang Tiezhu was an eccentric Eighth-Level Soul Engineer whose former students had all left.
• Lin Jiayi led Xu Tianming to Zhang Tiezhu’s Fifth Laboratory, where Xu Tianming admired the smelting furnace.
• Zhang Tiezhu tested Xu Tianming on the furnace, and Xu Tianming explained that it efficiently contained and directed its heat.
• Xu Tianming told Zhang Tiezhu that he believed Forging Technique was the future of Soul Engineers and would change the world.

Xu Tianming demonstrated his superior Forging Technique by improving Soul Forging Secret Silver, astonishing Zhang Tiezhu and Lin Jiayi. Zhang Tiezhu asked Xu Tianming to teach him, while Xu Tianming learned that Zhang researched close-combat Soul Tools and soul guidance armor.

• Xu Tianming used Zhang Tiezhu's forging station to forge Soul Forging Secret Silver with his Tungsten Steel Hammer.
• Xu Tianming infused the metal with spiritual power and sealed the forging with a drop of his blood.
• Zhang Tiezhu examined the finished metal and asked Xu Tianming to become his teacher and teach him Forging Technique.
• Lin Jiayi found that the metal's quality had improved by at least thirty percent and its Soul Power affinity had greatly increased.
• Xu Tianming asked about Zhang Tiezhu's research, and Zhang explained that he worked on close-combat Soul Tools and soul guidance armor.

Xu Tianming and Zhang Tiezhu traded forging and Soul Tool knowledge, helping each other make rapid progress. After Xu Tianming struggled to engrave Core Arrays onto Thousand-Refined metal, Zhang Tiezhu invited him to seek a Ranking Engraving Knife at Ming Capital’s underground black market.

• Zhang Tiezhu proposed teaching Xu Tianming Soul Tool technology in exchange for learning his forging technique, and Xu Tianming agreed.
• Xu Tianming explained the five levels of Tiangong Secret Forging, and Zhang Tiezhu began teaching him Soul Tool fundamentals.
• Xu Tianming and Zhang Tiezhu spent their time combining Soul Tool research with forging, and Zhang Tiezhu quickly mastered Thousand Refinement.
• Xu Tianming advanced to Level 3 Soul Engineer but found ordinary engraving knives could not inscribe Core Arrays onto Thousand-Refined metal.
• Zhang Tiezhu told Xu Tianming that a Ranking Engraving Knife was being auctioned in Ming Capital’s underground black market and invited him to go; Xu Tianming accepted.

Xu Tianming and Zhang Tiezhu explored Ming Capital’s slums and black market, where Zhang explained the city’s three underground forces and their trades. Electrolux sensed a possible divine artifact among the rusted weapon fragments at a stall, and Xu Tianming stopped to inspect them.

• Zhang Tiezhu showed Xu Tianming the impoverished outer district and explained that it was Ming Capital’s Four-No-Control Zone.
• Zhang Tiezhu described the Xishui Alliance, Pingfan Alliance, and Aodu Chamber of Commerce, warning that the Xishui Alliance had powerful experts and dealt in human trafficking, drugs, and arms.
• Zhang Tiezhu led Xu Tianming into the black market and explained its risky rules for trading goods.
• Electrolux sensed that a stall of rust-covered weapon fragments might carry the feeling of a divine artifact.
• Xu Tianming told Zhang Tiezhu he wanted to buy metal fragments for Forging Technique research and examined the stall.