Chapter Summaries

Chen Ming spoke with Poseidon about the boredom of life in the God Realm and whether inheriting the Sea God Godhood was worthwhile. Poseidon discovered Chen Ming’s extraordinary abilities, offered him the chance to inherit his Godhood, and left the decision to him while asking him to find another successor if he declined.

• Poseidon explained that his Godhood kept him bound to the dull God Realm, and Chen Ming asked whether becoming a god was a good thing.
• Chen Ming said he needed time to consider inheriting the Sea God Godhood because water was not his primary attribute.
• Poseidon inspected Chen Ming’s Martial Souls, Spirit Rings, and Spirit Bones, then was stunned by his four extreme attributes and other rare abilities.
• Poseidon opened the Heart of the Sea God’s underlying permissions and invited Chen Ming to visit Sea God Island if he chose to inherit the Godhood.
• Poseidon asked Chen Ming to find a suitable successor if he declined, and said he looked forward to seeing how far Chen Ming’s talent could take him.

Chen Ming spoke with Sea God's Divine Sense, who explained that Angel God had vanished and might have fallen or been trapped, then gave Chen Ming the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud's coordinates and sea information. Chen Ming gained the artifact's highest authority and regained consciousness as Qian Renxue checked on him.

• Chen Ming asked Sea God about Angel God, and Sea God said she had disappeared while the God Realm suspected she had fallen or been trapped, possibly because of Rakshasa God.
• Sea God explained the histories and relative strengths of Angel God, Sea God, and Rakshasa God, while admitting he did not know what had happened to Angel God.
• Sea God left Chen Ming the coordinates of Sea God Island and information about sea Spirit Beast distribution before his Divine Sense dissipated.
• The Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud became a gemstone, entered Chen Ming's head, and formed a blue-gold vertical-eye mark on his forehead as he gained its highest authority.
• Qian Renxue asked whether Chen Ming was all right, and Chen Ming said the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud had strengthened his Spiritual Power and stabilized his Sea of Spirit.

After merging with the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud, Chen Ming studied its alien technology and showed Qian Renxue a Steam Engine, explaining that he planned to use it to establish a factory. The chapter left Chen Ming poised to introduce steam-powered manufacturing to the Douluo World.

• Chen Ming's Spiritual Power and computing power increased after he received his sixth Spirit Ring and merged with the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud.
• Chen Ming examined the Shroud's alien technology and noted that its reliance on Suppression Crystals and unfamiliar materials would require adapting it to the Douluo World.
• Qian Renxue congratulated Chen Ming on awakening the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud and invited him to address her as Brother Xue.
• Chen Ming assembled and started a Steam Engine in Qian Renxue's study, leaving her bewildered by the machine.
• Chen Ming told Qian Renxue that he would establish a factory and use Steam Engines to power manufacturing.

Chen Ming secured salt, iron, and imperial supply privileges from Qian Renxue and gave her a share of his mass-produced Storage Soul Tools. He then made Xiao Wu a collar that concealed her spirit beast identity, leaving her eager to explore Heaven Dou City.

• Chen Ming obtained the rights to produce and sell salt, produce iron, and supply goods to the Heaven Dou imperial family.
• Chen Ming gave Qian Renxue a quarter of his standardized Storage Soul Tools, and both were pleased with their exchange.
• Chen Ming used the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud to create a durable Collar Soul Tool that concealed its wearer's aura and stored belongings.
• Xiao Wu put on the collar, bound it with her Soul Power, and tested its concealment with Chen Ming.
• Chen Ming and Xiao Wu calibrated the collar until it hid Xiao Wu's Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Beast aura even from Limit Douluo-level Spiritual Power.
• Xiao Wu celebrated that she could go out safely and imagined visiting Heaven Dou City's food stalls, restaurants, and clothing shops.

Chen Ming let Xiao Wu enjoy three days of freedom in Heaven Dou City, then returned with her to a thriving Holy Soul City. He found the city’s agriculture, textile industry, trade, and tourism had prospered during his absence, and Old Jack greeted him with a jubilant crowd.

• Xiao Wu spent three days indulging herself in Heaven Dou City, and her cultivation rose to level 39.
• Chen Ming failed to find Long Na'er, then visited the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, checked on Ning Rongrong, and collected iron ore and rare metals.
• Chen Ming returned to Holy Soul City with Soul Tools and supplies from the sect.
• Old Jack and the city’s residents had expanded mushroom and Black Fungus cultivation, wool production, and tourism, making Holy Soul City one of the continent’s most prosperous places.
• Old Jack led a crowd of residents to welcome Chen Ming back with gongs and drums.

Chen Ming planned Holy Soul City's industrial development, introducing technologies while limiting automation to prevent mass unemployment. After bureaucrats resisted, he forced them to submit and demonstrated his power by giving Old Jack Soul Power, leaving them eager to serve him.

• After learning that Holy Soul City had a strong economy and surplus grain, Chen Ming introduced technologies for alcohol, sugar, salt refining, steelmaking, and steam-powered machinery.
• Chen Ming planned infrastructure projects and restrained labor-saving industrialization to reduce unemployment and social conflict.
• Several bureaucrats opposed Chen Ming's reforms because they threatened their families' industries, so he expelled the fiercest opponents and demanded an investigation into them and their families.
• The remaining bureaucrats abandoned their resistance and began proposing ways to implement Chen Ming's technologies.
• Chen Ming stayed with Old Jack for several days, and Old Jack later appeared with Soul Power Level one, startling the bureaucrats and raising their hopes of improving their own abilities and prospects.

Chen Ming’s factories transformed Holy Soul City, spreading affordable industrial goods and newspapers across the two great empires while his power protected his growing business. The chapter left him recognized as a pioneering inventor whose machinery and weapons could shape the continent’s future.

• Chen Ming used threats and rewards to drive his territory’s factories and other projects into rapid operation.
• Chen Ming rewarded the Thousand Jun Ant and Great Strength Savage Bull Spirit Master families with exclusive Meditation Methods and granted exceptional workers pills, Gold Soul Coins, and cultivation methods.
• Chen Ming’s factories mass-produced liquor, soap, paper, textiles, refined salt, and sugar, while a newspaper office distributed cheap papers throughout the city.
• Chen Ming marketed his goods as royal tribute products and sold them across the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires, building wealth despite harming established industries.
• People recalled that Chen Ming had first won the Heaven Dou royal family’s favor by providing the crossbow, recognizing his influence over mechanical arts and warfare.

Chen Ming expanded his livestock operation with a Spirit Master whose Suggestion Flute could influence animal instincts, then developed explosive technology and forged a 600mm Soul Tool cannon. The chapter left him pursuing weapons that combined Soul Power with physical projectiles to threaten even Title Douluo-level enemies.

• Chen Ming recruited a Soul Elder with the Suggestion Flute and discovered that he could improve livestock breeding by influencing animals’ instincts and behavior.
• Chen Ming secretly refined Nitroglycerin despite several explosions during the process.
• Chen Ming worked with the Mountain Range Giant Dragon to identify unusual metals and develop alloys for weapons.
• Chen Ming forged a massive 600mm cannon powered by Soul Tool technology and gunpowder.

Chen Ming prepared powerful Soul Guidance and gunpowder weapons, including firearms he intended to sell to undermine Tang San. Meanwhile, Tang San resented the praise and recognition Chen Ming received, while the Asura God's divine consciousness struggled to manage his cultivation and prepare him another opportunity.

• Chen Ming made specialized explosive shells, large quantities of grenades, and large-caliber hand cannons, and considered selling firearms to squeeze Tang San's room for survival.
• Tang San repeatedly heard opponents praise his Mysterious Jade Hand and Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track as the Iron Hand Technique and Little Perplexing Track Steps, leaving him furious and ashamed.
• Tang San's attempts to claim that Chen Ming had copied him backfired, worsening public opinion of him and bringing scrutiny onto Shrek Academy.
• After reading newspapers about Chen Ming's achievements, Tang San believed the accomplishments should have been his and lamented that nobody recognized his supposed talent.
• The Asura God's divine consciousness cursed Tang San, worried that Sea God's power had consumed the divine power in the Lovesick Heartbreak Red, and continued holding Tang San at level 29 while preparing another opportunity for him.

The Silver Dragon King prepared a Dragon Runes Compendium for Chen Ming while Di Tian ordered Demon Spirit to hunt a newly ascended Hundred-Thousand-Year Man Faced Demon Spider. The spider found the Speed Clan as Bai Chenxiang absorbed a Spirit Ring, slaughtered many of them, and revealed itself as the Man Faced Demon Spider Emperor.

• The Silver Dragon King made a beginner-friendly Dragon Runes Compendium for Chen Ming after she and Di Tian gave up sorting out Dragon Clan seniority.
• A Spirit Beast reported that a Man Faced Demon Spider had advanced to a hundred thousand years and was fleeing the Star Dou Forest, so Di Tian sent Demon Spirit to hunt it.
• The Speed Clan killed a Sharp-Tailed Swift, and Bai Chenxiang began absorbing its Spirit Ring while Bai He sensed danger nearby.
• Drawn by a mysterious blood-red power, the Man Faced Demon Spider ambushed the Speed Clan and killed more than half its members.
• Bai He tried to flee with Bai Chenxiang, but the Man Faced Demon Spider declared itself the Hundred-Thousand-Year Man Faced Demon Spider Emperor.

A hundred-thousand-year Man Faced Demon Spider attacked the Speed Clan before Demon Spirit drove it into retreat. The Asura God's plan drew it toward Bai He, Bai Chenxiang, and Shrek Academy, but he overlooked how close Suotuo City was to Holy Soul City.

• The Man Faced Demon Spider boasted of its status as a Star Dou Forest king and killed many Speed Clan Spirit Masters, while Bai He grabbed Bai Chenxiang and fled.
• Demon Spirit appeared and attacked the spider with spatial power, but it dodged his blows and escaped the Star Dou Forest.
• The wounded Man Faced Demon Spider followed a peculiar scent toward Bai He and Bai Chenxiang as Demon Spirit pursued it.
• The Asura God's divine consciousness planned for Tang Hao to kill the spider, Tang San to claim the Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng and Soul Bone, and then travel to Slaughter City.
• The Asura God realized too late that Suotuo City and Holy Soul City were less than a day's journey apart.

Chen Ming investigated the loss of more than a thousand livestock and realized an injured Man Faced Demon Spider was moving toward Suotuo City. He sent Qian Renfeng to report the suspected Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast and accompany him to deal with it.

• Chen Ming questioned a ranch bureaucrat about the livestock losses, and the bureaucrat blamed an injured Ten-Thousand-Year Man Faced Demon Spider.
• Chen Ming dismissed the bureaucrat and promised to investigate, then mapped the affected ranches and traced the creature's route toward Suotuo City.
• Chen Ming connected the Man Faced Demon Spider to Tang San and decided to stop it from becoming another of Tang San's trump cards.
• Chen Ming summoned Qian Renfeng and ordered him to report suspected Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast activity near Holy Soul City and Suotuo City.
• Qian Renfeng learned the creature was a Man Faced Demon Spider and resolved to destroy it before Bibi Dong could claim anything from it.

The Man Faced Demon Spider fled toward Suotuo City while Bai He struggled to protect Bai Chenxiang from the wounded Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Beast. Qian Renfeng and Chen Ming arrived, and Bai He begged Spirit Hall to save his granddaughter, leaving the clan’s fate unresolved.

• The Man Faced Demon Spider feared humans and planned to recover by devouring livestock, while avoiding the Angel God’s attention.
• Bai He exhausted himself and suffered poisonous injuries as he carried Bai Chenxiang toward Suotuo City, hoping to find help from Spirit Hall.
• Qian Renfeng and Chen Ming descended in front of Bai He and Bai Chenxiang, and Qian Renfeng’s blazing Soul Power scorched Bai He’s wings.
• Bai He mistook Qian Renfeng for Qian Daoliu, knelt before him, and begged Spirit Hall to protect Bai Chenxiang in exchange for anything the Speed Clan could offer.
• Qian Renfeng told Bai He that Spirit Hall had little reason to care about the Speed Clan, but that the clan had not truly been targeted by Spirit Hall.

Chen Ming confronted Bai He for leading a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast into a human settlement and agreed to save Bai Chenxiang in exchange for the Speed Clan's Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng. Bai He handed over the treasure, leaving his granddaughter's fate in Chen Ming's hands.

• Chen Ming criticized Bai He for leading the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast through human territory instead of taking it to Spirit Hall, and Bai He realized his decision could have endangered the Speed Clan.
• Bai He begged Chen Ming to save Bai Chenxiang, whose interrupted Spirit Ring absorption had left her Soul Power in a dangerous backlash.
• Chen Ming suspected the incident was connected to the Asura God and decided he would help only while keeping Bai He and Bai Chenxiang under his control.
• Chen Ming demanded the Speed Clan's Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng as the price for saving Bai He's life.
• Bai He took the Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng from his Storage Soul Tool and gave it to Chen Ming, who opened the box and saw the dragon-shaped red Ginseng.

Chen Ming and Qian Renfeng encountered a hundred-thousand-year Man Faced Demon Spider Emperor drawn by the Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng. Chen Ming stopped Qian Renfeng from fighting it and decided to battle the Spirit Beast himself, hoping to claim its Spirit Ring.

• The invisible Man Faced Demon Spider attacked Chen Ming to steal the wooden box, but Qian Renfeng struck it with an Angel Holy Sword and burned its carapace with Angel Fire.
• The Man Faced Demon Spider revealed that it wanted the Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng to undergo a transformation and threatened to devour Chen Ming and Qian Renfeng unless they surrendered it.
• Chen Ming recognized the creature as a rare hundred-thousand-year Man Faced Demon Spider Emperor and considered what Spirit Bone it might yield.
• Qian Renfeng prepared to fight the Spider Emperor, but Chen Ming stopped him and said he would use the Spirit Beast for practice and possibly obtain its Spirit Ring.

Chen Ming transformed into a golden dragon and attacked the Man Faced Demon Spider Emperor, using his overwhelming Spiritual Power and elemental abilities to pierce its weakened body. The spider survived by activating Spider God Possession, revealing traces of Evil Divine Power as its origin burned.

• Chen Ming told Qian Renfeng to watch Bai He and Bai Chenxiang while he faced the Man Faced Demon Spider Emperor.
• Chen Ming transformed, concealed his Spirit Rings, and used his Heavenly Eye to shock the Man Faced Demon Spider Emperor.
• Chen Ming propelled himself forward with his wings and tore through the spider's damaged carapace, then drove a spinning ice spike into its body.
• The Man Faced Demon Spider Emperor activated Spider God Possession and forced Chen Ming back.
• Chen Ming recognized that the spider's burning origin had produced traces of Evil Divine Power.

Summary: “Spiritual Light, Ultimate Destruction”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Hundred-Thousand-Year Man Faced Demon Spider Emperor activates Spider God Possession, burning one year of cultivation every second to temporarily transform its strength to a level approaching divine power. Its aura surpasses even Chen Ming’s and exceeds Qian Renfeng’s by an entire tier.
• Qian Renfeng prepares to use his Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul Avatar and exploit his elemental advantage, recognizing the Spider Emperor as an extreme threat.
• Before Qian Renfeng can act, Chen Ming uses the spiritual attack Spiritual Light, one of the Hundred-Thousand-Year skills attached to his Sacred Illusion Demon Ape Head Bone.
• The attack bypasses the Spider Emperor’s Soul Power defenses and directly strikes its Sea of Spirit. Despite the protection of Evil Divine Power, the overwhelming difference in Spiritual Power allows Chen Ming to destroy the beast’s consciousness and origin in a single blow.
• After the Spider Emperor dies, its life force and the Evil God Power created by its cultivation-burning technique condense into a blood-red Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring.
• Chen Ming tries to crystallize and preserve the Spirit Ring, but abandons the attempt because its violent energy and remaining Evil Divine Power are too unstable. Without a true Crystal Dragon Martial Soul, forcing the process could cause the ring to explode or lose its essential power.

Character Developments

• Chen Ming demonstrates that his greatest strength is not Soul Power or Martial Soul cultivation, but an innate and exceptionally advanced Spiritual Power. His mental ability has been growing naturally through constant thought and use, without requiring a formal cultivation method.
• His Spiritual Light attack is revealed to be comparable to a Limit Douluo’s Hundred-Thousand-Year spiritual skill, establishing Chen Ming as overwhelmingly powerful in spiritual combat.
• Qian Renfeng is shaken by Chen Ming’s strength. His disbelief emphasizes that Chen Ming’s ability to instantly kill a fully empowered Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast is beyond what even most Spirit Hall experts could accomplish.
• The Man Faced Demon Spider Emperor’s desperation skill shows both its immense power and its willingness to sacrifice its own cultivation and life force for temporary strength.

Significant Themes

• Spiritual strength versus physical or Soul Power strength: The Spider Emperor’s overwhelming physical and divine-like power is rendered ineffective by Chen Ming’s superior Spiritual Power.
• Innate talent and individuality: Chen Ming’s mental abilities are presented as a unique gift that cannot be copied through ordinary cultivation methods.
• The cost of desperate power: Spider God Possession grants tremendous strength but burns through the user’s cultivation and life, turning its power into a temporary final gamble.
• The limits of divine power: Even Evil Divine Power cannot overcome the laws governing Spirit Rings and the universe’s established rules.
• Power and control: Possessing immense energy is not enough; proper mastery and specialized abilities determine how effectively that power can be used.

Character Interactions

• The Spider Emperor directly threatens both Chen Ming and Qian Renfeng after activating Spider God Possession.
• Qian Renfeng reacts defensively and prepares to transform, but Chen Ming intervenes before he can engage.
• Chen Ming’s single spiritual strike completely reverses the situation, leaving Qian Renfeng astonished and questioning whether even the Spirit Hall’s Grand Worship could have achieved the same result.
• Their interaction highlights a contrast between Qian Renfeng’s reliance on Martial Soul and elemental power and Chen Ming’s confidence in preparation, analysis, and superior Spiritual Power.

Chapter Summary: Sealing Divine Power, Asura God’s Self-Awareness

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Ming recognizes that the strand of divine power obtained from the Man-Faced Demon Spider Emperor will quickly dissipate in the Douluo World unless sealed inside a suitable vessel.
• He removes the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud from his brow and uses it to store the Spider Emperor’s 100,000-year spirit ring, along with the residual divine power.
• Inside the Shroud, the hidden consciousness of the Asura God realizes that Chen Ming has unintentionally captured evidence of his interference in the lower realm.
• Fearing punishment from the Divine Realm for violating his own laws as its chief enforcer, Asura God decides to destroy this fragment of consciousness and conceal his aura within the evil divine power associated with the Spider God Possession.
• He sacrifices the 100,000-year Man-Faced Demon Spider and abandons, at least temporarily, his plans involving Tang San, the immortal herbs, and other carefully arranged opportunities.
• Before self-destructing, Asura God reflects that the suffering and sacrifices required to obtain transcendent power may help him understand the Dragon God’s past choices.
• Chen Ming remains unaware of the hidden struggle inside the Shroud. He stores the Spider Emperor’s corpse and turns his attention to Bai He and Bai Chenxiang.
• Bai He has been rendered unconscious by the Spider God’s overwhelming pressure, while Bai Chenxiang’s already severe injuries worsen, leaving her close to death.
• Chen Ming awakens Bai He and implants a spiritual mark in his mind. The mark functions as a tracking device but can also weaken a target’s vitality, spiritual power, and martial soul if activated.
• Bai He sees Chenxiang dying and desperately embraces her, begging her not to leave him.
• Chen Ming reveals that he can save Bai Chenxiang, but demands compensation, citing the Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng and the value of reviving someone who is already near death.

Character Development

• Chen Ming demonstrates increasing mastery over divine artifacts, spiritual power, soul tools, and medical abilities. His treatment of Bai He is calculated and coercive: even while offering salvation, he reinforces his control by planting a dangerous mark and demanding payment.
• Asura God is portrayed as anxious, cautious, and increasingly self-aware. His position as the Divine Realm’s law enforcer makes his secret interference especially dangerous, and he chooses self-destruction rather than risk exposure. His thoughts also suggest a deeper understanding of the sacrifices involved in pursuing supreme power.
• Bai He shifts from a powerful spirit master to a helpless grandfather overwhelmed by fear. His concern for Bai Chenxiang eclipses all other priorities, including his own survival.
• Bai Chenxiang becomes the immediate symbol of vulnerability and the consequences of divine-level power. Her condition deteriorates from serious injury to imminent death.

Significant Themes

• The cost of power: Asura God sacrifices a carefully cultivated divine vessel and his lower-realm plans to protect himself and preserve his future ambitions.
• Law versus ambition: Asura God’s violation of Divine Realm regulations highlights the conflict between official duty and personal desire for transcendent power.
• Control and coercion: Chen Ming’s spiritual mark and his demand for payment show that even rescue can become a means of domination.
• The limits of mortal understanding: The chapter emphasizes that ordinary spirit masters barely understand spiritual power, while Chen Ming uses it with exceptional sophistication.
• Family and desperation: Bai He’s grief reveals the depth of familial attachment and contrasts with the detached calculations of the gods and Chen Ming.
• Hidden divine influence: The events demonstrate how divine beings secretly manipulate the lower world while attempting to conceal their involvement.

Important Character Interactions

• Chen Ming and Asura God: Their conflict is indirect. Chen Ming captures the vessel containing Asura God’s hidden divine consciousness without realizing it, forcing Asura God to destroy himself to avoid detection.
• Chen Ming and Bai He: Chen Ming awakens Bai He, marks him with a threatening spiritual seal, and makes clear that Bai He must pay for any help given to Chenxiang.
• Bai He and Bai Chenxiang: Their interaction is emotionally central. Bai He clings to his dying granddaughter and openly pleads with her to survive, revealing their close bond.
• Chen Ming and Bai Chenxiang: Chen Ming positions himself as the only person capable of saving her, giving him complete leverage over Bai He and the fate of the Speed Clan’s remaining family.

• Key events: Bai He admits that the impoverished Speed Clan has almost nothing to offer. Chen Ming offers to let its Soul Elders collect Spirit Hall stipends, provided the clan settles in a Spirit Hall–supervised city and publicly embraces that support. He intends to use the arrangement to embarrass the Clear Sky Sect and provoke its members. Bai He refuses. Chen Ming then names the few people who might save Bai Chenxiang and walks away, leaving Bai He to choose between his pride and his granddaughter’s life. Bai He finally kneels and agrees to do whatever Chen Ming asks.
• Character developments: Chen Ming presents himself as compassionate, but his help is also a calculated political weapon. He is confident that his resources and possible connection to the Sea God protect him from the Asura God. Bai He’s stubborn pride gives way when he realizes no one else can reach or save Bai Chenxiang in time.
• Character interactions: Chen Ming bargains with Bai He, making aid conditional on the Speed Clan’s public alignment with Spirit Hall. Bai He recognizes the insult intended to the Clear Sky Sect and initially resists. Chen Ming’s blunt ultimatum and list of distant alternatives force Bai He to reconsider.
• Themes: The chapter explores the cost of pride, loyalty, and survival; compassion intertwined with political manipulation; and the use of public allegiance to undermine an opponent. Bai He’s final choice shows that family can outweigh even long-held pride and ties to powerful allies.

Key plot points

• Chen Ming performs an intricate emergency treatment on Bai Chenxiang, using finely controlled Soul Power to keep her organs working, repair her Meridians, restore her circulation, and prevent further bleeding.
• He gives her a drop of a powerful medicinal solution derived from the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well. It gently heals her because Chen Ming’s Soul Power has transformed the dangerous liquid.
• Bai Chenxiang stabilizes and falls into a deep, restorative sleep. Chen Ming confirms that her injuries came from her interrupted Spirit Ring absorption, but he detects no trace of the Asura God’s power.
• Bai He asks Chen Ming’s identity. Assuming he must be Golden Crocodile Douluo—the supposed mentor behind Chen Ming’s work—he is stunned when Chen Ming identifies himself and says his teacher remains in seclusion.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Ming demonstrates extraordinary medical skill and concern for Bai Chenxiang’s survival. He also remains wary of a possible divine contingency in the Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng, though he cannot confirm one.
• Bai He moves from gratitude and awe to confused disbelief. His assumptions reflect how hard it is for others to believe that someone so young could have created the techniques and methods attributed to Chen Ming.
• Bai Chenxiang remains unconscious but is brought safely out of danger.
• Chen Ming corrects Bai He’s mistaken identification, while Bai He’s final, bewildered “Huh?” provides a humorous end to the exchange.

Significant themes

• Knowledge and reputation: Chen Ming’s accomplishments are so extraordinary that people credit them to an older master instead.
• Uncertainty and hidden power: Chen Ming suspects the Asura God may have left a safeguard in the ginseng, but cannot tell whether it exists or whether he simply lacks the ability to perceive it.
• Skill and responsibility: Chen Ming’s mastery of Soul Power lets him perform a delicate, life-saving treatment that would ordinarily require a medical team.