Chapter Summaries

Gu Xiao and his companions crossed the Thunderstorm Zone to confront the 80,000-year Thunder Pattern Tiger Emperor, which he needed to defeat for his Eighth Soul Ring. Dugu Bo held off the beast and created an opening for Gu Xiao, who launched his combined Martial Soul Avatar and Thunderous Might attack.

• Gu Xiao swallowed medicine that reduced thunder damage, then led the group through the lightning while Dugu Bo shielded them with poisonous mist.
• A powerful lightning bolt shattered Dugu Bo's barrier and blasted Gu Xiao, but he got back up and continued into the canyon.
• Gu Xiao and Dugu Bo faced the Thunder Pattern Tiger Emperor, and Dugu Bo agreed to hold it off so Gu Xiao could deliver the final blow.
• Dugu Bo's Poison Mist Flood Dragons weakened the Tiger Emperor's lightning shield and disrupted its attacks.
• Gu Xiao combined Martial Soul Avatar with Thunderous Might, transformed into a Thunderbolt Spear, and charged at the Tiger Emperor's flank.

Gu Xiao defeated the 80,000-year Tiger Emperor and absorbed its Spirit Ring, gaining the eighth soul skill Thunder Emperor World Annihilation. After tracking the elusive Phantom Pupil for two days, Gu Ci and his family trapped it, and Li Wanyue began earning its trust.

• Gu Xiao defeated the Tiger Emperor after a long battle and began absorbing its 80,000-year Spirit Ring.
• Gu Xiao gained his eighth soul skill, Thunder Emperor World Annihilation, then yielded the hunt for a Spirit Ring to Li Wanyue.
• Gu Ci traced the Phantom Pupil's feeding route after it evaded the group repeatedly for two days.
• Gu Ci and Dugu Bo ambushed the Phantom Pupil at a spiritual-energy node and trapped it inside Poison Mist.
• Li Wanyue approached the frightened Phantom Pupil gently, and it cautiously came to sniff her hand.

After the Star Luo Empire invaded the Heaven Dou Empire’s Eastern Border, Gu Xiao prepared to lead the Thunder Tiger Legion to war. Gu Ci persuaded his father to let him accompany the army, while Dugu Bo agreed to follow in secret; the chapter ended as the empire assembled its reinforcements for departure.

• Gu Xiao stabilized his Eighty-Thousand-Year Thunder Pattern Tiger Emperor soul ring while Li Wanyue trained her awakened Eye Martial Soul and Gu Ci fought his way into the Diamond Group’s top ten with Dugu Yan.
• An urgent palace document informed Gu Xiao that the Star Luo Empire had captured Wanghai City and Qingshi Pass, and that Han Zhan had died defending them.
• Gu Xiao decided to join the border campaign, and Gu Ci insisted on going with him despite his father’s objections.
• Dugu Bo backed Gu Ci’s request and promised to follow the pair in secret, while Gu Xiao ordered his son to obey him on the battlefield.
• The Heaven Dou Empire mobilized five soul master legions under Murong Longcheng, assigned Gu Xiao’s Thunder Tiger Legion to the First Reinforcement Troop, and prepared to depart in three days.

Gu Ci left Heaven Dou City with Gu Xiao and the army to reinforce the eastern border, carrying Soul Tools and gifts from those who saw him off. On the third day of the march, Gu Ci spotted people watching the soldiers from the woods.

• Li Wanyue packed supplies for Gu Ci, while Ye Lingling gave him a Nine-Heart Begonia and Qian Sihai gave him three Explosive Bombs.
• Three days later, Gu Xiao and Gu Ci departed Heaven Dou City with the Thunder Tiger Legion as Xue Ye sent the army off to war.
• Marshal Murong Longcheng ordered the army to march rapidly toward Cangyun Pass, with Gu Xiao's legion leading the formation.
• On the third day, Gu Ci noticed suspicious people in the woods and quietly warned Gu Xiao.

Gu Ci and the Heaven Dou Empire reinforcements reached Cangyun Pass, where Marshal Murong Longcheng prepared the defenses against a Star Luo Empire army of more than fifty thousand. While studying the battle map, Gu Ci spotted a hidden trail that could expose the pass's rear, and Zhou Lie ordered an investigation.

• Gu Xiao’s scouts captured three Star Luo Empire spies, who revealed that a large enemy force was waiting east of Cangyun Pass.
• Gu Ci used his Heavenly Eye to help the army avoid ambushes as it marched through the mountains toward the fortress.
• Gu Xiao led the Thunder Tiger Legion into Cangyun Pass, where Zhou Lie told Murong Longcheng that the battered fortress could hold for at most three more days.
• Murong Longcheng assigned Gu Xiao’s legion to defend the eastern wall and organized the other defenses.
• Gu Ci found a concealed trail through the southeastern forest that could let Star Luo troops attack the fortress from behind, and Zhou Lie sent people to investigate.

As the Star Luo Empire launched its assault on Cangyun Pass, Gu Ci and his father Gu Xiao prepared to defend the Heaven Dou Empire. When the battle began, Gu Ci rode Zi Dian into the enemy formation and attacked its soldiers.

• Gu Ci spoke with Marshal Murong Longcheng, who praised him and remembered his name.
• Gu Xiao brought Gu Ci hot soup and admitted he was nervous about losing, while Gu Ci vowed they would win.
• At dawn, Murong Longcheng ordered the Heaven Dou Empire's forces to attack the advancing Star Luo army with arrows and soul skills.
• Gu Ci mounted Zi Dian, spread his Purple Lightning Wings, and plunged from the wall into the enemy formation.
• Gu Ci used his Heavenly Eye, Soul Sword Blade, and Thunderbolt to strike enemies at their vital points as Zi Dian darted through their ranks.

Gu Ci fought to defend Cangyun Pass, overcoming his hesitation after killing an enemy for the first time. By the afternoon assault, he was badly wounded and nearly out of Soul Power when Gu Xiao reached him, also injured.

• Gu Ci killed a Star Luo Empire cavalryman at close range, briefly recoiled, then returned to fighting after Gu Xiao warned him not to hesitate.
• Dugu Bo secretly watched Gu Ci and judged that his battlefield temperament had been forged through years of fighting in the Great Soul Arena.
• After three attacks, the Heaven Dou Empire defenders held Cangyun Pass despite heavy casualties, and Gu Ci treated a wound on his arm while Dugu Bo remained nearby.
• When the Star Luo Empire army stormed the walls, Gu Ci, Zi Dian, and Night Shadow fought on despite exhaustion and injuries, and Gu Ci used a Soul Power Recovery Crystal to keep going.
• Gu Xiao arrived at Gu Ci's side with a broken left arm and a Thunderbolt Spear, then asked how Gu Ci was doing.

After repelling the Star Luo Empire’s fourth assault, Gu Ci endured the aftermath with help from the disguised Dugu Bo and prepared to keep fighting. As the enemy advanced with all fifty thousand troops, an unfamiliar deep-blue-armored army emerged from Cangyun Pass.

• Gu Xiao and Gu Ci survived the Star Luo Empire’s fourth assault, and the exhausted defenders rested as night fell.
• Dugu Bo secretly treated Gu Ci’s wound with rare medicine and asked if he could endure the coming battles; Gu Ci said he could.
• Gu Ci watched the enemy camp through the night, resolved to defend his home, while Dugu Bo kept watch from the shadows.
• Before dawn, Murong Longcheng rallied Cangyun Pass’s exhausted soldiers as the Star Luo Empire deployed all fifty thousand troops for an attack.
• As the enemy approached, the gates of Cangyun Pass opened and an unfamiliar army in deep-blue, array-engraved armor marched out.

The Heaven Dou Empire’s Soul Army arrived at the battlefield and used its Soul Tools to devastate the Star Luo Empire’s advancing forces. Gu Ci joined the fighting to help repel a cavalry assault, then returned to the city wall exhausted and wounded.

• Han Lie arrived with three thousand Soul Army soldiers equipped with Second-Grade Soul Tools, and Murong Longcheng ordered them onto the city walls.
• The Soul Army fired volleys from its Soul Pulse Crossbows, killing many Star Luo Empire soldiers and disrupting their advance.
• Han Lie led the Soul Army’s close-combat forces into the enemy ranks after the crossbows’ long charging interval left a gap in their fire.
• When Star Luo Empire cavalry attacked both flanks, Gu Ci rode Zi Dian into their formation with Night Shadow and fought them with Thunderbolt.
• Han Lie ordered Soul Army soldiers to cover Gu Ci, and their combined assault forced the cavalry to retreat after more than a hundred of its soldiers died.
• Gu Ci returned toward the city wall with his Soul Power nearly depleted, while Zi Dian and Night Shadow were also exhausted and wounded.

Gu Ci and the defenders held Cangyun Pass through seven assaults, forcing the Star Luo Empire Army to withdraw, though the pass still needed to be defended while its border defenses were repaired. The next morning, Gu Ci surveyed the devastated battlefield as recovery began.

• Gu Ci recovered his Soul Power before joining Han Lie's close-range assault against the Star Luo Empire's Soul Master formations.
• Gu Ci unleashed Thunder Emperor's Wrath and Thunder Emperor's Domain, devastating enemy ranks as the battle raged through seven assaults.
• The Star Luo Empire Army withdrew at dusk, and Murong Longcheng declared victory while Dugu Bo treated Gu Ci's wounds and warned that the defenders had to hold the pass.
• Gu Ci rested through the night as Soul Lights from the Heavenly Workshop illuminated Cangyun Pass, and he reflected that the war was not over.
• The next morning, Gu Ci surveyed the shattered battlefield as soldiers began clearing it; his Soul Power had recovered to seventy percent, and Zi Dian and Night Shadow had been treated.

Gu Ci helped clear the battlefield and confronted the human cost of the war. When his Heavenly Eye detected Fallen Soul Masters approaching to loot the dead, he and Gu Xiao prepared a quiet ambush, leaving the attackers to approach the encampment.

• Gu Xiao and Gu Ci surveyed the battlefield, and Gu Ci joined the soldiers in carrying the dead for burial.
• An old soldier gave Gu Ci water and told him that his nine-year-old grandson studied at home, while Gu Ci carried corpses.
• Gu Ci's Heavenly Eye detected fifteen Fallen Soul Masters approaching from the northeast, led by a Soul Saint.
• Gu Ci warned Gu Xiao that the attackers would arrive soon and would flee if they saw the army mobilizing.
• Gu Xiao sent trusted subordinates to alert Murong Longcheng and Han Lie, then continued clearing the battlefield with Gu Ci as they prepared an ambush.

Gu Ci and Gu Xiao lured fifteen Fallen Soul Masters who were looting the battlefield into an ambush by the Heaven Dou Empire army. After Dugu Bo restrained their leader, Gu Ci killed the Scar-Faced Man and stood silently beside his Soul Spirits.

• Zi Dian sensed the approaching Fallen Soul Masters as Gu Ci watched the group arrive to steal equipment and valuables from the battlefield’s corpses.
• Gu Xiao told Gu Ci to wait until the looters had advanced deeper into the battlefield before acting.
• Hundreds of Heaven Dou Empire soldiers surrounded the fifteen men, while Han Lie and Murong Longcheng blocked their escape.
• Gu Ci charged the Scar-Faced Man and met his punch with Thunder Emperor’s Wrath, forcing the Soul Saint back.
• Dugu Bo trapped the Scar-Faced Man in Jade Phosphor Snake Venom and told Gu Ci to kill him.
• Gu Ci cut the Scar-Faced Man’s throat, then stood silently as Zi Dian and Night Shadow stayed by his side.

After the battle at Cangyun Pass, Gu Ci honored the fallen and returned to Heaven Dou City with the battered army. The war remained unfinished, and at the city gate the families of the soldiers searched anxiously for those who had survived.

• Gu Ci and Gu Xiao watched as the Heaven Dou Empire executed the remaining Fallen Soul Masters, and Murong Longcheng ordered their bodies thrown beyond the pass.
• Murong Longcheng held a memorial for the fallen soldiers, and Gu Ci vowed to live and defend the land in their stead.
• Dugu Bo warned Gu Ci that the war had only begun, with the Star Luo Empire withdrawn and Spirit Hall still watching.
• The battered army returned to Heaven Dou City without victory celebrations, while Gu Xiao remembered the many soldiers from his legion who had died.
• Families gathered at the city gate to look for their loved ones, and a returning soldier reunited with his wife and baby.

After returning from war, Gu Ci grieved for the soldiers who never came home and promised a fallen soldier’s daughter he would deliver her flowers to her father. He reunited with his family and friends, then carried the memory of the dead home with him.

• An old woman and a little girl searched the returning procession for Er Niu and Zhao Tiezhu, but learned from the soldiers’ silence that neither had returned.
• Gu Ci broke down crying, and Gu Xiao comforted him while Dugu Bo watched from a distance and remembered Gu Ci’s grandfather.
• Gu Ci told Zhao Erniu that her father had been a hero and accepted her wilted wildflowers, promising to deliver them.
• Li Wanyue, Dugu Yan, and Ye Lingling welcomed Gu Ci and Gu Xiao home, and Ye Lingling gave Gu Ci a fresh Nine-Heart Begonia.
• On the ride home, Gu Ci remembered the battlefield and the fallen, keeping Zhao Erniu’s flowers in his Storage Ring.

After the battle of Cangyun Pass, Gu Xiao was elevated to duke and received a soul bone, while Gu Ci received generous rewards recognizing his service and the Heavenly Workshop’s work. The chapter ended with Gu Ci examining the soul bone in the quiet, snow-covered mansion.

• Seven days after returning to Heaven Dou City, Gu Xiao and Gu Ci received Xue Ye’s decree in the Marquis Mansion.
• Xue Ye elevated Gu Xiao to Thunder Tiger Duke, granted his family hereditary succession and an estate, and bestowed a Ten Thousand Year Mystic Thunder Tiger Right Leg Bone.
• Xue Ye awarded Gu Ci Purple Gold, crafting materials, three Void Stones, a Second-Grade Soul Tool Blueprint, Gold Soul Coins, and special-class student status at Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
• Dugu Bo told Gu Xiao that Xue Ye’s rewards were chiefly meant to win over Gu Ci and secure the Gu Family’s future.
• That night, Gu Ci sat beneath the Corridor and examined the Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone.

After receiving imperial rewards, Gu Ci kept the Ten Thousand Year Mystic Thunder Tiger Right Leg Bone for himself at his father’s insistence and trained to break through to level forty. He remained stuck at the bottleneck, concerned that his Fourth Spirit Ring would be delayed.

• Gu Xiao refused to take the soul bone, telling Gu Ci to keep it because he needed it more.
• Dugu Yan asked why Xue Ye had rewarded Gu Ci so generously, and Gu Ci said the emperor was investing in the Gu Family, Heavenly Workshop, and the future balance of the continent.
• Qian Renxue read a report about Gu Xiao and Gu Ci’s rewards, then wondered how far Gu Ci could go.
• Gu Xiao accepted the Mystic Thunder Tiger Right Leg Bone but postponed absorbing it until his injuries healed, while Li Wanyue and Ye Lingling continued cultivating.
• Gu Ci trained in the secret chamber and repeatedly struck at his level-thirty-nine bottleneck, explaining to Thunder Emperor that he needed to reach level forty to pursue a powerful Thunder Attribute soul beast for his Fourth Spirit Ring.

Gu Ci emerged from three days of cultivation with his level 40 bottleneck close to breaking and discussed seeking a fifty-thousand-year Thunder Tiger for his Fourth Spirit Ring. After his family agreed that Dugu Bo would follow him secretly, Gu Ci returned to the secret chamber to continue cultivating.

• Gu Ci left the secret chamber, where Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling greeted him, and joined his family for a meal after three days without food.
• Dugu Bo asked about Gu Ci's Fourth Spirit Ring, and Gu Ci said he wanted a Thunder Attribute tiger-type soul beast over fifty thousand years old.
• Gu Ci proposed entering the Star Dou Great Forest alone to negotiate with the soul beast, and Dugu Bo agreed to follow him in secret.
• Gu Xiao accepted the plan on the condition that Dugu Bo accompany Gu Ci and that Gu Ci retreat if danger arose.
• Dugu Yan resolved to grow strong enough to fight alongside Gu Ci, while Ye Lingling silently watched the discussion.
• After spending the night beneath the corridor with his Soul Spirits, Gu Ci returned to the secret chamber and resumed cultivation.

Gu Ci broke through to the fortieth rank and became a nine-year-old Soul Ancestor after discovering how to overcome his bottleneck. He decided to seek his fourth spirit ring by himself, while Dugu Bo agreed to follow secretly.

• Gu Ci sensed that his bottleneck was recovering between his attempts and called Zi Dian, Night Shadow, and Thunder Emperor to lend him their strength.
• Gu Ci used their power to suppress the bottleneck, then struck it with compressed Ultimate Thunder and shattered it.
• Gu Ci reached the fortieth rank, and a pillar of golden thunder burst from the secret chamber into the night sky.
• Gu Xiao, Li Wanyue, Dugu Yan, Ye Lingling, and Dugu Bo arrived and celebrated Gu Ci's breakthrough.
• Gu Ci told Dugu Bo he wanted to seek his fourth spirit ring alone, and Dugu Bo agreed to follow him in secret.

Gu Ci traveled at a measured pace toward the Star Dou Great Forest to stabilize his newly reached Soul Ancestor realm before seeking a powerful Thunder Attribute tiger soul beast. He reached the forest’s edge and prepared to enter the next day, unaware that Dugu Bo had secretly followed him.

• Gu Ci left for the Star Dou Great Forest after resting, taking time on the road to stabilize his Soul Power and study Huo Yuhao’s Complete Guide to Soul Tools.
• Gu Ci traveled through a maple forest with Zi Dian and later joined Shopkeeper Wang’s merchant caravan for two days.
• Gu Ci bid farewell to Shopkeeper Wang at the town near the forest and rented a quiet room instead of entering the forest that night.
• Gu Ci wondered aloud whether Dugu Bo would come with him, but received no answer and went to bed.
• Dugu Bo watched Gu Ci from a rooftop across the inn, hiding his presence.

Gu Ci entered the Star Dou Great Forest to search for a Thunder Attribute tiger soul beast over fifty thousand years old, while Dugu Bo secretly followed to protect him. After traveling through the forest and reaching the edge of Thunder Abyss, Gu Ci finally sensed a potential target.

• Dugu Bo watched over Gu Ci from the shadows and followed him without revealing himself.
• Gu Ci entered the forest with Zi Dian and Night Shadow while Thunder Emperor began to awaken, and he camped in the outer region.
• Gu Ci advanced into the depths, used Dugu Bo's map to identify Thunder Abyss as a likely habitat for a powerful Thunder Tiger, and headed there.
• Gu Ci crossed the inner region, where Zi Dian and Night Shadow drove off an ambushing Ironback Grey Wolf, and he continued without pursuing it.
• On the afternoon of the third day, Gu Ci sensed the aura of a Thunder Attribute tiger soul beast over fifty thousand years old at the edge of Thunder Abyss.