Chapter Summaries

Jing Hongchen offered a huge rare-metal reward to find someone willing to challenge Huo Yuhao, and Long Zhanye stepped forward despite being only a Class 4 soul engineer. Their match began with a clash of presence, where Long Zhanye’s killing intent overwhelmed Huo Yuhao’s icy aura.

• Jing Hongchen offered one hundred kilograms of rare metals to anyone who defeated Huo Yuhao, but none of the Sun Moon students dared accept.
• Jing Hongchen challenged the students’ courage, and Long Zhanye volunteered from the back of the stands.
• Jing Hongchen doubled the reward to two hundred kilograms, and Long Zhanye walked to the arena as the crowd watched.
• Long Zhanye introduced himself as a Class 4 soul engineer, and Huo Yuhao recognized him from their encounter in Shrek City two years earlier.
• Xuan Ziwen started the match, and Huo Yuhao’s presence was split apart by Long Zhanye’s killing intent.

Long Zhanye unleashed Divine Slaughter’s Domain, overwhelming the arena with killing intent and forcing Huo Yuhao to take him seriously. Huo Yuhao struck first with his Dark Gold Terrorclaw, but Long Zhanye blocked it effortlessly with his golden arm.

• Huo Yuhao used the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion’s savage-beast aura to resist Long Zhanye’s killing intent.
• Long Zhanye released Divine Slaughter’s Domain, and Jing Hongchen learned that he was an auditing student assigned from the Evil Monarch Soul Master Regiment who had missed registration.
• Huo Yuhao launched his Dark Gold Terrorclaw and used Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track with Spirit Detection to attack at high speed.
• Long Zhanye tracked Huo Yuhao with his Double Pupil and transformed his right arm with the second level of Flawless Golden Body.
• Long Zhanye blocked Huo Yuhao’s full-force Terrorclaw strike with his golden arm without suffering a mark.

Huo Yuhao unleashed his hundred-thousand-year soul ring and powerful Ultimate Ice and mental attacks against Long Zhanye, but Long Zhanye’s defenses and counterattacks kept him at a disadvantage. The fight ended with Huo Yuhao’s Soul Shock striking the killing intent surging inside Long Zhanye.

• Huo Yuhao rapidly slashed at Long Zhanye, whose golden right arm blocked every attack without yielding.
• Huo Yuhao revealed a hundred-thousand-year soul ring and attacked Long Zhanye with the Ice Empress Pincer, but Long Zhanye endured the strike and sent Huo Yuhao staggering backward.
• Huo Yuhao combined Ice Emperor's Wrath with Group Weakness and Mental Confusion, but Long Zhanye’s Demon Eye Barrier absorbed and reflected the mental attacks while his Mental Rays clashed with the ice shockwave.
• The collision forced Long Zhanye back three steps and Huo Yuhao back five, while Long Zhanye struggled to control his surging killing intent.
• Huo Yuhao mistook Long Zhanye’s momentary daze for the effect of his attack and used Soul Shock, which struck the killing intent inside Long Zhanye.

Long Zhanye lost control after defeating Huo Yuhao and nearly killed him before Jing Hongchen stopped him with a Weakness Ray. After waking from half a day of unconsciousness, Long Zhanye accepted responsibility for what happened.

• Long Zhanye's Bronze Mask shattered as his killing intent erupted, and he grabbed Huo Yuhao by the throat despite Huo Yuhao conceding.
• Jing Hongchen struck Long Zhanye with a Weakness Ray, causing him to release Huo Yuhao and collapse.
• Jing Hongchen declared Long Zhanye the victor and ended the day's sparring.
• Long Zhanye woke half a day later while healing-type Spirit Masters treated him, and they told Jing Hongchen he would recover within two or three days.
• Jing Hongchen apologized on behalf of Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy, but Long Zhanye said his loss of control was his own fault.

After Long Zhanye recovered from nearly losing control, he negotiated generous rewards and a path to study at Mingde Hall with Jing Hongchen. He remained in the infirmary recovering while planning to enroll at Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy and investigate his new Soul Rings and the Black Iron Staff.

• Long Zhanye asked Jing Hongchen for the promised rewards, and Jing Hongchen offered him two hundred jin of rare metals, a customized Soul Tool, and the rank-eight Weakness Ray.
• Jing Hongchen arranged for Long Zhanye to study at Mingde Hall three days a week and told him he could join permanently next year if he became a Class 5 soul engineer and an outstanding student.
• Long Zhanye thanked Jing Hongchen and resolved to meet those requirements and study hard at the academy.
• With Jing Hongchen's special attention, Long Zhanye recovered in the infirmary over the next few days.
• Long Zhanye planned to collect the rare metals, complete his enrollment with Lin Jiayi, and examine the soul skills from his platinum-colored Soul Rings and the Black Iron Staff.

Long Zhanye entered Mingde Hall with Lin Jiayi and discovered the enormous, heavily secured underground Soul Tool research base. Lin Jiayi explained its scale and hierarchy, leaving Long Zhanye to realize he had entered the sphere of the empire’s most powerful Soul Engineers.

• Lin Jiayi escorted the recovered Long Zhanye toward Mingde Hall and warned him to speak little and avoid unnecessary contact with the auditing students.
• Long Zhanye passed three security checkpoints and descended by elevator into the underground facility.
• Long Zhanye saw Mingde Hall’s vast production base, where thousands of experiment tables filled a cavernous hall.
• Lin Jiayi explained that Mingde Hall housed the empire’s strongest Soul Engineers and described its research groups and secret laboratories.
• Lin Jiayi revealed that he was a Level 8 Soul Engineer and that four Level 9 Soul Engineers, including the Hall Master, led Mingde Hall.
• Long Zhanye learned that Lin Jiayi’s teacher was one of the four Level 9 Soul Engineers and silently memorized his explanations.

Long Zhanye received his own workbench in Mingde Hall and discovered it could function as a miniature Soul Tool production workshop stocked with rare materials. After spending the day studying its manual and features, he left with Lin Jiayi, eager to learn more and mindful of his teacher’s warning to be careful.

• Lin Jiayi assigned Long Zhanye workbench 1235 and explained how its ID card and material quotas worked.
• Lin Jiayi gave Long Zhanye an operating manual and told him how to contact him in the No. 2 Secret Experimental Zone.
• Long Zhanye read the manual and tested the workbench, discovering its many functions for producing and testing Soul Tools.
• Long Zhanye spent the day studying the workbench while staff delivered his meals, then left Mingde Hall with Lin Jiayi after dark.
• Lin Jiayi told Long Zhanye he could enter Mingde Hall on his own starting the next day and warned him to avoid causing trouble.

Long Zhanye studied Mingde Hall’s soul-tool technology and completed a level-four Soul Propulsion Device designed for his fighting style. With the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy’s final assessment approaching, he entered the exam determined to earn outstanding-student status, and the assessment began.

• Long Zhanye secretly recorded the structure of Mingde Hall’s experimental table and spent two days studying its Core Arrays and soul-tool designs.
• Long Zhanye designed and completed a level-four Soul Propulsion Device suited to his needs, then resolved to excel in the final assessment to qualify for Mingde Hall.
• On the morning of the assessment, Long Zhanye joined thousands of students and was assigned to Examination Room Seventeen, Seat Seven.
• Two class-seven examiners announced the assessment rules and time limit, and Long Zhanye and the other examinees began creating their Soul Tools.

Long Zhanye designed a Soul Cannon that combined five Class 4 core arrays into a Differential Amplification structure, producing power beyond its apparent class. After it shattered a Class 5 barrier during the exam, the examiners called Teaching Director Lin Jiayi to appraise it.

• Long Zhanye began the assessment by engraving five Class 4 core arrays instead of assembling a conventional Soul Tool.
• Long Zhanye connected the arrays with a Differential Amplification structure and built them into a Fixed Soul Cannon.
• One examiner initially judged the cannon to be an ordinary Class 4 Soul Tool, but another recognized its unusual array cluster and proposed testing it.
• Long Zhanye's cannon shattered a Class 5 Invincible Barrier and blasted an examiner backward.
• The examiners decided they could not rate the cannon and sent for Teaching Director Lin Jiayi to appraise it.

Lin Jiayi recognized Long Zhanye’s Fixed Soul Cannon as a sixth-level Soul Tool and promoted him to sixth-level Soul Engineer. Long Zhanye learned that Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen’s absence made his Outstanding Student qualification practically guaranteed, and awaited the evaluation results.

• Lin Jiayi examined Long Zhanye’s Fixed Soul Cannon and judged it a sixth-level Soul Tool, noting its power and lower production cost.
• Lin Jiayi praised Long Zhanye’s design and pinned a sixth-level Soul Engineer badge to his chest.
• Long Zhanye asked whether his new rank qualified him as an Outstanding Student, and Lin Jiayi said it was practically guaranteed now that Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen had left for Shrek Academy.
• Lin Jiayi explained that Xiao Hongchen was a seventh-level Soul Engineer and Meng Hongchen a top-tier sixth-level Soul Engineer, while Long Zhanye resolved to keep improving and await the evaluation results.

Long Zhanye checked the academy grades and learned he ranked tenth, earning the last Outstanding Student qualification. He reunited with An Lengye, Shen Ce, and Fei Yuyan, who were stunned by his Class Six badge and achievement, and they agreed to keep working hard together.

• Long Zhanye used his Double Pupil to read the crowded bulletin board and saw that he ranked tenth with eighty-five points, the last place in the outstanding category.
• Long Zhanye met An Lengye, Shen Ce, and Fei Yuyan, who thought he had failed and offered to tutor him.
• Fei Yuyan, Shen Ce, and An Lengye noticed Long Zhanye's Class Six soul engineer badge and reacted with disbelief.
• Long Zhanye told them he had passed the assessment and earned the Outstanding Student qualification.
• Long Zhanye explained that he had hoped to rank first and encouraged his friends to follow their own paths and work hard together.

After passing the final assessment, Long Zhanye asked Jing Hongchen to let him continue studying at Mingde Hall. Impressed by his Class 6 Soul Engineer badge and the breakthrough he demonstrated in the assessment, Jing Hongchen approved his studies and offered personal guidance.

• Shen Ce treated Long Zhanye, Fei Yuyan, and An Lengye to a celebratory meal after all four passed the assessment.
• Long Zhanye told his companions he planned to ask Jing Hongchen to let him continue studying at Mingde Hall.
• Long Zhanye showed Jing Hongchen his Class 6 Soul Engineer badge and asked to remain at Mingde Hall.
• Jing Hongchen questioned Lin Jiayi, who explained how Long Zhanye combined five Class 4 Core Arrays into a powerful, lower-cost Class 6 Soul Tool during the assessment.
• Jing Hongchen approved Long Zhanye to study at Mingde Hall five days a week and offered him personal guidance alongside Lin Jiayi.

After a day studying in Mingde Hall, Long Zhanye encountered Ji Juechen, who challenged him after sensing in his aura what he had long pursued. Long Zhanye prepared to fight as Ji Juechen’s obsession with the sword became clear.

• Long Zhanye finished his research in Mingde Hall and headed toward his dormitory after dark.
• Ji Juechen stopped Long Zhanye on the road and said he had come because Long Zhanye had defeated Huo Yuhao.
• Ji Juechen bowed and asked Long Zhanye to let him experience the quality he had sensed in his aura.
• Ji Juechen revealed six Soul Rings and fixed his fervent attention on Long Zhanye, who judged him mad and took a fighting stance.
• Long Zhanye recalled Ji Juechen’s unusual path as a sword-obsessed Spirit Master and Soul Engineer who had never relied on medicine.

Ji Juechen challenged Long Zhanye to a duel of presence, hoping to see the power that had defeated Huo Yuhao. Their clash awakened Long Zhanye to a qualitative transformation of his mind, allowing his Soul Power and Mental Power to begin merging.

• Ji Juechen spent more than ten years shaping Extraterrestrial Meteorite Iron into a sword and came to challenge Long Zhanye after witnessing him defeat Huo Yuhao.
• Ji Juechen and Long Zhanye faced each other from a distance, each revealing his aura without launching an attack.
• Long Zhanye's killing intent initially overwhelmed Ji Juechen's sword intent, but Ji Juechen shifted his stance and pushed back with a new, predatory presence.
• Their clash caused Long Zhanye's Sea of Consciousness to boil as his Mental Power underwent a qualitative change called Boundless Vast Sea.
• Long Zhanye felt his Soul Power and Mental Power begin to merge, awakening a path equivalent to a Self-Created Soul Skill.

Long Zhanye used Ji Juechen’s sword intent to drive the fusion of his Soul Power and Mental Power, then met Ji Juechen’s all-out sword strike with his golden right arm. After the collision, Ji Juechen stood dazed and neither man attacked again.

• Long Zhanye entered the fused state he had learned from Elder Gu, while Chaos Qi concealed his opened Heavenly Eye.
• Ji Juechen’s sword intent could not shake Long Zhanye, so he launched a lightning-fast charge and swept his sword with overwhelming force.
• Long Zhanye stepped forward and met Ji Juechen’s sword with his Flawless Golden Body right arm.
• The clash shattered the ground and sent Ji Juechen farther back than Long Zhanye, leaving Ji Juechen bloodied and staring silently at his sword.

After defeating Ji Juechen, Long Zhanye struggled with the growing killing intent left by Slaughter City's Divine Slaughter's Domain and buried himself in Soul Tool research. Four months later, he had become a genuine level-six Soul Engineer, but Ji Juechen still pursued him for sparring, and Long Zhanye tried to escape another challenge.

• Ji Juechen admitted defeat after his duel with Long Zhanye, then left while Long Zhanye reflected on what he had learned.
• Long Zhanye noticed that the killing intent within him grew harder to control after battles and chose to keep the problem secret.
• Long Zhanye studied at Mingde Hall, learned to carve level-five and level-six Core Arrays, and became a genuine level-six Soul Engineer.
• Ji Juechen repeatedly challenged Long Zhanye, having developed a unique path combining Sword Intent, Soul Power, and Mental Power.
• Long Zhanye tried to leave Mingde Hall through the back door, found Ji Juechen waiting with his usual request to spar, and turned away.

Long Zhanye’s Heavenly Eye warned him of an attack on Mingde Hall, allowing him to survive four devastating explosions. As masked Body Sect experts slaughtered researchers and destroyed the base, he stayed hidden beneath an experiment table to avoid being exposed as a sect disciple.

• Long Zhanye sensed an explosion through his Heavenly Eye and rolled beneath an experiment table, shielding himself with Chaos energy.
• Four blasts tore through Mingde Hall, killing more than a hundred Soul Engineers and wrecking research equipment.
• Masked fighters emerged from the blast craters and began killing survivors and destroying the underground base.
• Long Zhanye recognized the attackers as Body Sect members, including at least a dozen Title Douluo, and realized their raid threatened to expose him.
• Long Zhanye stayed motionless under the table as the attackers continued their slaughter and destruction.

The Body Sect’s surprise attack on Mingde Hall turned into a fierce battle after Jing Hongchen arrived to lead the defense. Long Zhanye remained trapped beneath an experimental table as the combat around him grew more destructive.

• Mingde Hall’s alarm sounded, and its dome-mounted Soul Tools paralyzed the Body Sect’s fighters while Soul Engineers counterattacked.
• Du Busi evaded the purple attacks and melted the dome’s Soul Tools with green poison, but Jing Hongchen blocked the corrosive liquid before it struck the Soul Engineers.
• Jing Hongchen and Du Busi ordered their forces to kill, and the two sides clashed throughout the underground base.
• Long Zhanye hid beneath an experimental table and tried to shield himself, but the Soul Power storm shredded his Mental Power and left him bleeding and in pain.

Long Zhanye hid from the battle raging above Mingde Hall, then escaped through a newly dug underground tunnel. As he sensed fresh air ahead, he realized the Body Sect’s assault might be a diversion to steal Mingde Hall’s Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast Embryo.

• Long Zhanye decided not to help either side and concealed himself beneath the wreckage of an experiment table.
• Long Zhanye sensed a fresh tunnel five meters underground and dug into it to escape the fighting.
• Long Zhanye followed the tunnel deeper into Mingde Hall’s underground base as the battle grew quieter behind him.
• Long Zhanye noticed fresh air ahead and suspected the tunnel had been dug by the Body Sect as part of its true objective.
• Long Zhanye recalled the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast Embryo hidden by Mingde Hall and concluded it was likely the target of the attack.

Long Zhanye decided to avoid the Body Sect’s hidden objective, but collapsing tunnels forced him deeper into Mingde Hall’s underground base. As the fighting stopped amid the tremors, Jing Hongchen realized the collapse came from the direction of the secret target.

• Long Zhanye weighed whether to pursue the Body Sect’s true objective, then chose to wait rather than risk confronting the infiltrator.
• The tunnel behind Long Zhanye collapsed, leaving him no choice but to run deeper into the passage.
• Long Zhanye continued toward the unknown destination and wondered how the intruders knew Mingde Hall’s layout so well.
• The underground base shook violently, forcing both sides to stop fighting as they feared being buried alive.
• Jing Hongchen recognized the direction of the collapse and demanded to know why Du Busi had caused it.