Chapter Summaries

Chen Ming waited with Old Jack for Su Yuntao to arrive and awaken the village children’s Martial Souls, while reflecting on the limits of his special thinking ability. The chapter left Su Yuntao approaching Holy Soul Village.

• Chen Ming exercised in the old locust tree while Old Jack warned him not to be so anxious about the Martial Soul awakening.
• Chen Ming used his special AI-like deep-thinking ability to estimate Su Yuntao’s arrival, but realized his predictions could be wrong because he did not know what had delayed him.
• Chen Ming jumped down from the tree, joined Old Jack, and asked for sweet stalk to chew.
• Chen Ming told Old Jack he planned to raid a beehive after his Martial Soul awakened and make honey-roasted fish for him.
• After waiting and chatting together, Chen Ming and Old Jack saw a figure approaching Holy Soul Village along the dirt road.

Su Yuntao arrived at Holy Soul Village to awaken the children’s Martial Souls, and Chen Ming was first to undergo the ritual. Chen Ming awakened the Heavy Armored Earth Dragon, leaving Su Yuntao impressed by his powerful Dragon Martial Soul.

• Su Yuntao reached Holy Soul Village after a two-day delay and introduced himself to Old Jack and Chen Ming.
• Chen Ming offered Su Yuntao sweet cane while Old Jack gathered the village children for their awakenings.
• The children assembled at the village Spirit Hall, with Chen Ming first in line and Tang San arriving last.
• Su Yuntao used the Awakening Stones to awaken Chen Ming’s Martial Soul, causing him to transform into an armored, half-dragon figure.
• Su Yuntao identified Chen Ming’s Martial Soul as the Heavy Armored Earth Dragon, a High-Level Spirit Beast.

Chen Ming awakened a Heavy Armored Earth Dragon Martial Soul and Innate Soul Power Level Seven, drawing praise from Su Yuntao and Old Jack. Tang San later awakened Blue Silver Grass with Innate Full Soul Power but felt slighted when Chen Ming received more attention, and he stormed out vowing to make everyone regret it.

• Chen Ming discovered that his Heavy Armored Earth Dragon Martial Soul formed a powerful armor-like covering over his body.
• Su Yuntao tested Chen Ming's Soul Power and found it was Innate Level Seven, then praised his talent to Old Jack.
• Chen Ming explained Innate Soul Power to Tang San after Su Yuntao asked about his parents.
• Tang San awakened Blue Silver Grass, then tested as Innate Full Soul Power, startling Su Yuntao and Old Jack.
• Su Yuntao still favored Chen Ming's Martial Soul, so Tang San left in anger, determined to recreate the Tang Sect's hidden weapons and techniques.

Su Yuntao invited Chen Ming to join Spirit Hall and explained the Heavy Armored Earth Dragon Martial Soul. After seeing how rudimentary the standard Meditation Method was, Chen Ming realized his first priority was to develop a better cultivation method.

• Su Yuntao described the Heavy Armored Earth Dragon as a defensive Spirit Beast with Earth Dragon blood and offered to help Chen Ming join Spirit Hall.
• Chen Ming hesitated to join because Tang Hao lived in Holy Soul Village, so he said he would decide after learning more about the Spirit Master world.
• Su Yuntao gave Chen Ming a basic Meditation Method and offered to help him obtain a hundred-year Spirit Ring if he joined Spirit Hall.
• Chen Ming read the booklet and learned that most Spirit Masters cultivated with the same simple method, which powerful practitioners refined through personal experience.
• Chen Ming concluded that he needed to create an improved cultivation method suited to himself before focusing on his first Spirit Ring.

After awakening his Clear Sky Hammer, Tang San gained Tang Hao’s approval and was told to keep the hammer secret and use it to protect his Blue Silver Grass. Chen Ming raided a beehive, received a Meditation Method preserved by Old Jack, and found it offered only a modest improvement over the basic version.

• Tang Hao dismissed Tang San’s Blue Silver Grass but excitedly embraced him after seeing his Clear Sky Hammer and told him to protect the grass with the hammer.
• Chen Ming entered the mountains in Martial Soul Possession and raided a beehive, using his armored body to fend off the bees.
• Chen Ming returned with a honeycomb, and Old Jack gave him the Meditation Method preserved by the Spirit Saint of Holy Soul Village.
• Chen Ming compared the inherited Meditation Method with Su Yuntao’s basic version and concluded it improved cultivation efficiency by only five to ten percent.

Chen Ming used AI Thinking to experiment with guiding Soul Power through his meridians and developed a preliminary cultivation method. With Old Jack arranging a Work-Study Student place for both Chen Ming and Tang San, Chen Ming spent a month cultivating and completed Basic Internal Skill Version 1.0 before the academy term began.

• Chen Ming activated AI Thinking, studied ideas from the Mysterious Heaven Skill and other cultivation systems, and tested circulating Soul Power through the Twelve Standard Meridians.
• Chen Ming stopped when his meridians and body were exhausted, then accepted Old Jack’s invitation to eat and heard that Old Jack would arrange Work-Study Student places for him and Tang San.
• Chen Ming brought Old Jack a basket of valuable food, helping him secure the neighboring villages’ shared academy slot for Tang San.
• Chen Ming stayed at Old Jack’s house and experimented with Soul Power for a month, eventually creating the immature Basic Internal Skill Version 1.0.

Chen Ming refined Basic Internal Skill 1.0 but grew impatient with its slow progress and lack of other effects. Before leaving for Nuoding City, he sparred with Tang San to study his techniques and later began analyzing what he had observed.

• Chen Ming reviewed his cultivation progress and concluded that he needed more references to improve Basic Internal Skill.
• Chen Ming challenged Tang San to spar before they left for Nuoding City Junior Soul Master Academy, and Tang San accepted.
• Tang San struck Chen Ming with Blue Silver Grass, then summoned his own techniques as Chen Ming activated his Heavy Armored Earth Dragon Martial Soul.
• Tang San used his movement and combat techniques against Chen Ming's tough defenses, while Chen Ming focused on gathering information rather than winning.
• Tang San ended the spar after more than ten minutes, and Chen Ming returned to his room to analyze Mysterious Jade Hand and Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track.

Chen Ming left Holy Soul Village for Nuoding City Junior Soul Master Academy with Tang San after giving Old Jack his Black Fungus cultivation method. At the academy, Yu Xiaogang took Tang San away while Chen Ming entered on his own, and Old Jack secured a steady market for the village’s mushrooms and Black Fungus.

• Chen Ming gave Old Jack his Black Fungus and the cultivation method, hoping it would help Holy Soul Village prosper.
• Old Jack brought Chen Ming and Tang San to Nuoding City and presented their awakening certificates at the academy gate.
• Yu Xiaogang seized the certificates, dismissed Chen Ming’s Heavy Armored Earth Dragon, and took Tang San into the academy.
• Old Jack gave Chen Ming a pouch of dried sweet potato before Chen Ming entered the academy alone.
• The gatekeeper arranged a meeting between Old Jack and a teacher, who contracted the village’s Black Fungus and mushrooms and ordered regular deliveries.

Chen Ming arrived at Nuoding Academy and impressed the admissions staff with his Rank Seven Innate Soul Power and Heavy Armored Earth Dragon Martial Soul. While Tang San became Yu Xiaogang’s disciple under Tang Hao’s watch, Chen Ming settled into Dorm Seven, where Wang Sheng challenged him to the dormitory’s customary newcomer spar.

• Yu Xiaogang dismissed Chen Ming and privately praised Tang San’s Twin Martial Souls, then used his theories to persuade Tang San to kneel and accept him as master.
• Tang Hao watched in hiding, resenting Yu Xiaogang but allowing the apprenticeship because Tang San needed guidance.
• Chen Ming registered with Director Su, demonstrated his Heavy Armored Earth Dragon Martial Soul, and received an enthusiastic welcome.
• Director Su personally escorted Chen Ming to Dorm Seven, making Wang Sheng and the other Work-Study Students wary of the newcomer.
• Chen Ming introduced himself and his Martial Soul, and Wang Sheng invited him to spar under Dorm Seven’s newcomer rule.

Chen Ming defeated Wang Sheng in a spar at Dorm Seven, then declined to become its boss and introduced Tang San as a stronger candidate. After Tang San became boss, new student Xiao Wu challenged him and won, taking over Dorm Seven.

• Chen Ming used his Heavy Armored Earth Dragon Martial Soul to defeat Wang Sheng, who accepted him as the winner of the spar.
• Chen Ming refused to become Dorm Seven's boss and told Wang Sheng that Tang San had beaten him in an earlier spar.
• Tang San used Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon to throw Wang Sheng, who accepted Tang San as Dorm Seven's new boss.
• Xiao Wu arrived, challenged Tang San under Dorm Seven's winner-becomes-boss rule, and defeated him.
• Xiao Wu declared herself the boss and told the students to call her Sister Xiao Wu.

Xiao Wu established herself as Dorm Seven’s Boss after defeating Chen Ming, who began considering how to improve his agility. The students explained the work-study arrangements, and Teacher Mo arrived with bedding from Grandmaster for Tang San.

• Dorm Seven’s students pledged loyalty to Xiao Wu, and she challenged Chen Ming after he tried to suppress his laughter.
• Xiao Wu used joint techniques to pin Chen Ming, who admitted defeat and called her Sister Xiao Wu.
• Wang Sheng explained that Work-Study Students attended morning classes and could earn ten Copper Soul Coins for cleaning the garden.
• Teacher Mo entered with bedding from Grandmaster and gave it to Tang San.

Tang San struggled with his feelings when Xiao Wu took the bedding Chen Ming had brought, while Tang Hao secretly recognized Xiao Wu as a Hundred-Thousand-Year Transformed Spirit Beast and considered taking her Spirit Ring and Spirit Bone for Tang San. The chapter left Xiao Wu eager to join the Work-Study Students for lunch, then realizing she might need Soul Coins to eat.

• Chen Ming gave Xiao Wu his clean spare bedding after she demanded Tang San's new set, and Tang San felt inexplicably hurt and blamed Chen Ming.
• Xiao Wu moved her bedding beside Chen Ming, teased him, and Tang San silently marked down a debt against him.
• Tang Hao watched from the roof, recognized Xiao Wu's true form, and rationalized making her Tang San's Spirit Ring and Spirit Bone despite his promise to Ah Yin.
• Chen Ming unpacked food from home, and Xiao Wu eagerly asked to share it before Wang Sheng invited her to lunch.
• Xiao Wu accepted the invitation, then remembered that eating in the human world might require Soul Coins.

Chen Ming watched Xiao Wu and the other Work-Study Students navigate life at Nuoding Academy, then broke through to level nine while Tang San left with Yu Xiaogang to hunt for a Spirit Ring. Hoping to advance his own understanding, Chen Ming began looking for a way to study Xiao Wu’s unusual nature and approached her during the afternoon free period.

• Chen Ming followed Wang Sheng and the Work-Study Students to the cafeteria, where Xiao Wu argued with an upperclassman and Tang San left with Yu Xiaogang for the second floor.
• Chen Ming paid for his own lunch and shared pickled vegetables with the others, while Tang San returned to a cooler reception in Dorm Seven.
• Tang San left Dorm Seven early the next morning, and Chen Ming deduced that he had gone with Yu Xiaogang to hunt for a Spirit Ring.
• Chen Ming cultivated until he reached level nine, then considered studying Xiao Wu because she was a Transformed Spirit Beast.
• Chen Ming brought Xiao Wu to class and gathered information about Nuoding Academy before voicing his idea to her during the afternoon free period.

Chen Ming sparred with Xiao Wu to study her Soft Technique, using his tail to catch her in their first exchange before she revealed her Waist Bow spirit skill. After repeated bouts left Xiao Wu exhausted and Chen Ming covered in dirt, she ended the sparring while warning that she had held back her dangerous finishing move.

• Xiao Wu challenged Chen Ming to spar again, and he explained that he wanted to see her Soft Technique.
• Chen Ming used his tail for support and trapped Xiao Wu in an embrace when she tried to throw him.
• Xiao Wu summoned her yellow Spirit Ring and used her First Spirit Skill, Waist Bow, to overpower Chen Ming.
• Xiao Wu repeatedly knocked Chen Ming down, but his sturdy body kept him from being seriously hurt.
• Xiao Wu stopped when she was exhausted and warned Chen Ming that she had refrained from using her Explosive Kill Eight-Stage Throw.

Chen Ming joined Xiao Wu and the Work-Study Students in their arranged fight against the ordinary students, defeating their strongest challengers with his Heavy Armored Earth Dragon Martial Soul. He sent Xiao Chenyu flying before the leader could use his Spirit Skill, leaving the battle still underway.

• Chen Ming and Xiao Wu grew closer as he improved through their daily sparring, while tensions between the Work-Study Students and ordinary students worsened.
• The dean of studies arranged a group battle on the back mountain, where thirteen Work-Study Students faced more than fifty ordinary students.
• Xiao Chenyu insulted Xiao Wu and sent Liu Long to fight first, but Chen Ming disarmed Liu Long with his Willow Wood Staff and knocked him down.
• Ling Feng tried to use his speed against Chen Ming, but Chen Ming struck him in the face and sent him back to his side.
• Xiao Chenyu challenged Chen Ming, but Chen Ming charged him before he could use his Spirit Skill and knocked him into several other students.

Chen Ming defeated Xiao Chenyu, trained until he reached Soul Power level ten, and prepared to hunt for his first Spirit Ring. He rejected help from Yu Xiaogang and Nuoding Academy, set out for the Star Dou Forest, and armed himself with homemade gunpowder weapons.

• Chen Ming humiliated Xiao Chenyu, made the other students stop discriminating against Work-Study Students, and Xiao Wu declared herself the academy's new Sister Xiao Wu.
• Tang San returned to Dorm Seven after obtaining his first Spirit Ring, but Xiao Wu pointed out that he had not helped, leaving him resentful and out of place.
• Chen Ming trained and sparred at the academy until he reached level ten in the fourth month after classes began.
• Nuoding Academy offered to help Chen Ming obtain a hundred-year Spirit Ring, while Yu Xiaogang offered to choose one for him, but Chen Ming refused both offers.
• Chen Ming chose to travel to the Star Dou Forest and gathered materials along the way to make gunpowder, a musket, and fragmentation grenades.

Chen Ming entered the Star Dou Forest armed with homemade guns and grenades to find a Spirit Beast compatible with his Martial Soul. After weeks of searching, he killed a Sub-Dragon Spirit Beast and decided to absorb its roughly four- to five-hundred-year Spirit Ring despite the risk.

• Chen Ming tested his homemade grenades and found their blasts powerful enough to kill even Thousand-Year Spirit Beasts, then bought a map and entered the Star Dou Forest.
• Chen Ming explored the forest while using his musket and grenades to fend off Spirit Beasts, but failed to find a suitable target and used up half his ammunition.
• Chen Ming spotted heavy, lizard-like footprints near a stream and tracked them to a cave, where he found a likely Hundred-Year Sub-Dragon Spirit Beast.
• Chen Ming threw a grenade into the cave, killing the Sub-Dragon Spirit Beast and collapsing the cave around it.
• Chen Ming uncovered the beast's body, judged its Spirit Ring to be around four or five hundred years old, and decided his physique and Basic Internal Skill would let him absorb it.

Chen Ming absorbed his first Spirit Ring and gained the enhancement-type Spirit Skill Fertile Earth Bestowal. Afterward, he failed to fully manifest a shield through Beast Soul Tool-ification, but believed he could master the talent with more time.

• Chen Ming hid in a nearby pit and used the Spirit Ring's pull to draw it over and absorb it.
• Chen Ming used AI Thinking to influence the Spirit Skill's category toward enhancement as the Ring merged with his Martial Soul.
• Chen Ming gained Fertile Earth Bestowal, which increased his defense and earth affinity by fifty percent and created a protective barrier.
• Chen Ming's Soul Power and computing ability improved, and he adjusted his armor after emerging from the pit.
• Chen Ming tried to condense his power into a shield through Beast Soul Tool-ification, but the transformation failed before completion.
• Chen Ming decided he would keep practicing and aim to shape his Martial Soul into offensive weapons such as heavy hammers and giant axes.

After returning from the Star Dou Forest, Chen Ming hid how he had obtained his Spirit Ring, earned his Spirit Master certification, and rejected an invitation to join the Nuoding City branch of Spirit Hall. He planned to seek a more direct route to the attention of Spirit Hall’s powerful figures.

• Chen Ming returned to Nuoding City Junior Soul Master Academy, where Xiao Wu questioned his trip to the Star Dou Forest and identified his Spirit Beast as a Dragon-Headed Lizard.
• Chen Ming claimed he had killed the injured Dragon-Headed Lizard by pushing a huge rock onto it, and Xiao Wu abruptly left to cultivate after questioning him.
• Chen Ming went to the Nuoding City Spirit Hall to obtain his Spirit Master certification, where Ma Xiunuo was astonished by his progress and invited him to join Spirit Hall.
• Chen Ming refused Ma Xiunuo’s invitation and decided to pursue the attention of Spirit Hall’s higher-ranking figures directly.

The Dean of Nuoding City Junior Soul Master Academy offered Chen Ming a chance to reach the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy by betting that he would reach level fifteen before turning ten. Chen Ming accepted, and the Dean promised to support his cultivation and help the academy seek promotion.

• The Dean explained his long-held goal of promoting the academy and said Chen Ming, Tang San, and Xiao Wu had given him new hope.
• The Dean offered to use his single recommendation to send Chen Ming to the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy if he reached level fifteen before age ten.
• Chen Ming asked why the Dean chose him over Tang San and Xiao Wu, and the Dean cited Xiao Wu's unknown background and Tang San's Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul and existing teacher.
• Chen Ming accepted the bet, believing he could meet the target and benefit from the royal academy's resources.
• The Dean sealed the agreement with a high five and offered Chen Ming access to books, cultivation guidance, and a mineral-vein training ground.