Chapter Summaries

After Bibi Dong told Ling Yuan that she had dodged Qian Xunji’s attempted kiss, Ling Yuan teased her before recognizing that Bibi Dong wanted a confession and clarity about their relationship. Ling Yuan then cautiously asked Bibi Dong about her past and how she became an orphan.

• Bibi Dong, Qian Xunji, and Ling Yuan returned to the Hot Spring Inn after watching the fireworks.
• Bibi Dong told Ling Yuan that Qian Xunji had tried to kiss her on the bridge and that she had dodged him.
• Ling Yuan teased Bibi Dong about kissing and described seeing couples kiss by the river.
• Bibi Dong explained that the kiss felt too sudden and that she wanted to know whether Qian Xunji still saw her as a disciple or intended to confess.
• Ling Yuan stopped teasing Bibi Dong and asked how she had become an orphan.

Bibi Dong told Ling Yuan how her family disappeared when Star Luo troops destroyed her hometown and how Spirit Hall later brought her to Spirit City. After Ling Yuan revealed she had met Bibi Dong’s supposedly lost younger brother, Bibi Xi, Qian Xunji began organizing a search in Yelin City.

• Bibi Dong recounted how she awakened twin martial souls at six, returned to find Tianming Town destroyed, and was taken by Spirit Hall after Star Luo soldiers captured her and other survivors.
• Ling Yuan told Bibi Dong she had met a young man named Bibi Xi who looked like her, and Bibi Dong realized he might be her younger brother.
• Bibi Dong insisted on finding Bibi Xi, so she and Ling Yuan went to Qian Xunji for help.
• Qian Xunji searched Yelin City with his Spiritual Power but found no matching spider-type martial soul, then estimated that more than a hundred spider martial soul users were in the city.
• Qian Xunji planned to have the local Spirit Hall Branch investigate the spider martial soul users overnight, while Bibi Dong insisted on joining the search.

Qian Xunji and his search teams failed to find Bibi Dong’s younger brother, Bibi Xi, in Yelin City, so Qian Xunji ordered the city branch to watch its gates and look for him. Back in Spirit City, Qian Xunji received a Soul Tool encyclopedia from the system and then summoned a basic baking kit to fulfill his promise to Bibi Dong.

• Qian Xunji led Spirit Hall Soul Masters in searching Yelin City for Bibi Xi, but none of the spider-armed Soul Masters they questioned matched him.
• Qian Xunji suggested Bibi Xi might have a mutated martial soul or might have already left the city, then ordered the branch to monitor the gates and circulate a portrait.
• Bibi Dong thanked Qian Xunji, and she, Qian Xunji, and Ling Yuan returned to Spirit City the next morning.
• Qian Xunji received an Encyclopedia of Level 1 Soul Tools from the system after Bibi Dong’s favorability toward him reached 55%.
• Qian Xunji asked the system for cake-making tools and received a Basic Baking Kit, including an oven and baking supplies.

Qian Xunji used a Soul Power core to power an oven and began preparing a cake in the Pope Palace kitchen. Bibi Dong and Ling Yuan arrived to find him cooking, and Bibi Dong realized he had remembered his promise to make her one.

• Qian Xunji charged the oven's Soul Power storage core and learned that it could provide heat for about six hours.
• Qian Xunji asked Elder Qian Jun to procure flour, eggs, and milk so he could make a cake.
• Bibi Dong and Ling Yuan returned from the Mimicry Cultivation Ground and learned from Gui Mei that Qian Xunji was in the kitchen making cake.
• Bibi Dong remembered Qian Xunji's promise and hurried to the kitchen with Ling Yuan.
• Bibi Dong and Ling Yuan found Qian Xunji wearing an apron and separating eggs, and he welcomed Bibi Dong as he prepared the cake.

Qian Xunji arranged for the kitchen staff to leave so he and Bibi Dong could make a cake together. As he guided her through preparing the batter, Bibi Dong teased him about liking her black stockings.

• Qian Xunji sent the head chef and kitchen staff away by claiming important cake ingredients were missing.
• Ling Yuan excused herself to take a bath, leaving Qian Xunji and Bibi Dong alone in the kitchen.
• Bibi Dong laughed at Qian Xunji's elaborate plan to clear the room, and he invited her to help make the cake.
• Qian Xunji gave Bibi Dong his apron and tied it around her waist, and she asked whether he liked black stockings.
• Qian Xunji taught Bibi Dong to whisk egg yolks with sugar, then instructed her to add milk and melted butter.

Qian Xunji and Bibi Dong baked and decorated a fruit cake together, sharing whipped cream and close instruction as they worked. They carried the finished cake to the Small Dining Hall, where Qian Xunji persuaded Bibi Dong to taste it with him before inviting anyone else.

• Bibi Dong mixed the cake batter with Qian Xunji, then watched as he whipped cream and fed her several spoonfuls.
• Qian Xunji baked the cake while he and Bibi Dong prepared the cream and fruit.
• Qian Xunji guided Bibi Dong’s hands as she piped a border of cream, and they decorated the cooled cake with strawberries and cherries.
• Bibi Dong suggested inviting Ling Yuan and Elder Yue Guan to share the cake, but Qian Xunji said they could send them slices later.
• Qian Xunji cut two pieces of cake and pushed the fruitier portion toward Bibi Dong.

Qian Xunji shared cake with Bibi Dong and Ling Yuan, then brought some to Qian Daoliu and proposed creating a Soul Tool Research Institute within Spirit Hall. Qian Daoliu examined the blueprints and considered the potential of the plan.

• Bibi Dong praised the cake, and Qian Xunji wiped cream from her lips before tasting it from his finger, leaving her flustered.
• Ling Yuan entered, joined them for cake, and wondered whether she had interrupted a private moment between Qian Xunji and Bibi Dong.
• Qian Xunji gave Ling Yuan cake to take with her and asked Bibi Dong to share the rest with Spirit Hall's elders and pontiffs.
• Qian Xunji brought cake to Qian Daoliu, who was surprised to learn his son had made it with Bibi Dong.
• Qian Xunji showed Qian Daoliu the Encyclopedia of Level 1 Soul Tools and proposed founding a Spirit Hall research institute to develop them.

Qian Xunji secured Qian Daoliu’s support for his research plans and began the Light God Trial after sharing a tender moment with Bibi Dong. The trial transported him to a divine domain, where he faced the task of reaching the Light Core for the God of Light’s preliminary recognition.

• Qian Daoliu granted Qian Xunji full authority and offered Worship Hall support for his plans, then urged him to start a family.
• Qian Xunji told Qian Daoliu he had someone in mind but kept her identity secret.
• Qian Xunji told Bibi Dong he would soon leave the Pope Palace and promised they would make more desserts together.
• Bibi Dong smeared cream on Qian Xunji’s cheek and kissed the spot before running away.
• Qian Xunji confirmed the Light God Trial and was transported to a divine domain above a sea of clouds.
• The system instructed Qian Xunji to reach the Light Core, where the God of Light’s will awaited him.

Qian Xunji repeatedly challenged the Light Core’s scorching radiance but was forced to retreat after his first attempt. Three days later, Ling Yuan met the disguised Bibi Xi outside Clear Heart Pavilion while Bibi Dong waited inside, hoping he was her long-lost younger brother.

• Qian Xunji flew toward the Light Core, but its rising heat and blinding light overwhelmed his defenses and sent him falling back to the clouds.
• After recovering, Qian Xunji vowed to keep trying to reach the Light Core and began a second attempt.
• Three days later, Ling Yuan waited outside Clear Heart Pavilion while Bibi Dong watched anxiously from a private table upstairs.
• Bibi Xi approached Ling Yuan in a suspicious disguise and asked whether the meeting place was safe.
• Ling Yuan pulled off Bibi Xi’s bamboo hat, recognized him, and teased him about his elaborate disguise.

Ling Yuan brought Bibi Xi to Bibi Dong, where the siblings reunited after more than ten years apart. Bibi Xi told Bibi Dong that their parents had survived and were living in Anping Village, and she learned how he and their parents had spent the years searching for her.

• Bibi Xi told Ling Yuan he had mistaken Spirit Hall’s search for him as a citywide manhunt and had secretly fled Yelin City to Spirit City.
• Ling Yuan told Bibi Xi that the Saintess wanted to see him, and he assumed she had fallen in love with him.
• Bibi Dong met Bibi Xi in the teahouse’s private room, and they recognized each other as long-lost siblings.
• Bibi Xi told Bibi Dong that their parents had survived the war and were living in Anping Village.
• Bibi Dong explained how Spirit Hall had rescued her and how she had become its Saintess, leaving Bibi Xi shocked.

Bibi Xi reunited with his sister Bibi Dong in Spirit City and learned she planned to visit their parents with him. In the Domain of the God of Light, Qian Xunji earned the God of Light’s preliminary recognition and was told to begin his second trial in half a year.

• Bibi Dong welcomed Bibi Xi, asked Ling Yuan to arrange a place for him, and promised to take him home to see their parents.
• Ling Yuan and Bibi Xi awkwardly avoided explaining the kick that had brought them together, and Bibi Dong took them out to eat.
• Qian Xunji endured thirty-three assaults on the Light Core, adapting to its heat and refining his Soul Power until he reached it.
• The God of Light asked Qian Xunji why he had abandoned the Angel God inheritance, and Qian Xunji explained that he would not sacrifice his father, Qian Daoliu.
• The God of Light marked Qian Xunji as a preliminary inheritor and ordered him to begin the Light Dissolving Evil Miasma trial in half a year.
• After Qian Xunji vanished, the God of Light gloated over the prospect of the Angel God learning that her descendant had chosen another divine inheritance.

After passing the God of Light’s first trial, Qian Xunji returned to Spirit City and went looking for Bibi Dong. He saw her happily shopping with Bibi Xi and, mistaking him for a rival, planned to kill him.

• Qian Xunji awoke with the God of Light Brand and received the God of Light Shield and Light Dispels Evil skills after passing the first trial.
• Qian Xunji returned to the Pope Palace, learned Bibi Dong had gone out with Ling Yuan, and left the elders to handle the paperwork.
• Qian Xunji sensed Bibi Dong and Ling Yuan near the eastern commercial district, along with an unfamiliar Soul Power fluctuation beside Bibi Dong.
• Qian Xunji watched Bibi Dong and Ling Yuan help Bibi Xi choose clothes and, jealous of their closeness, decided to attack him.
• Bibi Xi protested that Bibi Dong and Ling Yuan were spending too much on clothes, while Ling Yuan praised a bright red outfit.

Qian Xunji burst into a clothing shop, mistook Bibi Xi for a threat to Bibi Dong, and accidentally wrecked the changing room before learning he was her newly reunited younger brother. After clearing up the misunderstanding, Qian Xunji and Bibi Dong hinted at their feelings, and he resolved to confess to her.

• Qian Xunji crashed through the shop roof and found Bibi Xi changing, but stopped when he realized the young man resembled Bibi Dong.
• Bibi Dong introduced Bibi Xi as her younger brother, and Qian Xunji apologized for the misunderstanding and offered compensation for the damage.
• Ling Yuan teased Qian Xunji for acting out of jealousy, then left Bibi Dong and her teacher alone together.
• Bibi Dong asked Qian Xunji when he would tell her how he felt, then said she planned to visit Anping Village with Bibi Xi.
• Qian Xunji wondered if Bibi Dong wanted him to confess and decided to find a suitable time to settle their relationship.

Bibi Dong reunited with her younger brother Bibi Xi, and Qian Xunji invited him to stay at Spirit Hall and offered to accompany them to visit their parents. Later, Bibi Dong shared dinner with Qian Xunji and began explaining that Bibi Xi’s martial soul was related to spiders but was not a spider.

• Bibi Xi changed into a black robe, and Qian Xunji invited him to join Spirit Hall for its cultivation resources and guidance.
• Bibi Dong invited Qian Xunji to visit her parents with them, and Bibi Xi agreed.
• Qian Xunji arranged a guest residence for Bibi Xi and had Bibi Dong and Ling Yuan show him around Spirit Hall.
• Qian Xunji returned to Pope Palace and handled official business until Bibi Dong brought him dinner.
• Bibi Dong explained that Bibi Xi’s martial soul was related to spiders but was not itself a spider.

Bibi Dong told Qian Xunji about her brother Bibi Xi’s unusual martial soul and admitted she wanted a peaceful life with the people she loved, not the position of Pope. After a hand-holding walk through Spirit City, they returned to the Saintess Hall, where Qian Xunji mentioned finishing the Soul-Guided Communicator and called Bibi Dong back just as she was about to enter.

• Bibi Dong explained that Bibi Xi’s martial soul had mutated into a thread-controlling, poison-wielding ability and that he had changed his name to express hope of finding her.
• Bibi Dong confessed she was nervous about seeing her parents, and Qian Xunji reassured her by holding her hand.
• Qian Xunji asked whether Bibi Dong wanted to become Pope, and she said she preferred a peaceful life with her family and loved ones.
• Qian Xunji and Bibi Dong held hands as they walked through Spirit City, while Bibi Xi and Ling Yuan watched them; Bibi Xi learned Ling Yuan was single and privately celebrated his chances with her.
• Qian Xunji told Bibi Dong he would build the other Soul-Guided Communicator and asked her to help test it, then called her back as she was about to enter the Saintess Hall.

After Bibi Dong gave Qian Xunji a goodnight kiss, he completed a second Soul-Guided Communicator and confirmed that the devices could transmit voices between them. The next morning, he asked Bibi Dong to help test their range, while Bibi Xi settled into life at the Spirit Hall.

• Bibi Dong kissed Qian Xunji on the cheek before returning to the Saintess Hall, leaving him delighted.
• Qian Xunji used the rare materials and blueprints to build a second Soul-Guided Communicator and successfully tested point-to-point voice communication.
• Qian Xunji considered the limits of the communicators and the challenges of building a continent-wide network before meditating.
• The next morning, Qian Xunji gave Bibi Dong the second communicator and asked her to help test its effective range and stability.
• Bibi Xi told Qian Xunji that he liked the Spirit Hall and its kind, beautiful maidservants, and Qian Xunji offered to introduce him to one.

Qian Xunji tested a Soul-Guided Communicator with Bibi Dong and found that it could transmit clearly over about two hundred and fifty li. Impressed by its potential, he presented it to Spirit Hall’s leaders and announced plans to establish a Soul Tool Research Institute.

• Qian Xunji explained how to use the paired communicators, then flew away while Bibi Dong tested the signal from the Pope Palace.
• Bibi Dong reported that the signal became intermittent beyond two hundred and fifty li and failed at around three hundred li.
• Qian Xunji returned and told Bibi Dong to summon the elders and the Second Worship for a meeting.
• Qian Xunji demonstrated the communicator to Golden Crocodile Douluo and the elders, explaining its range and basic operating principle.
• Qian Xunji announced that Spirit Hall would establish a Soul Tool Research Institute and receive two hundred million Gold Soul Coins in initial funding.

Qian Xunji arranged for Spirit Hall to invite the empires and duchies to invest in Soul Tool research before leaving with Bibi Dong and Bibi Xi for Ping'an Village. On the journey, he and Bibi Xi discussed Qian Xunji’s feelings for Bibi Dong and the siblings’ parents, leaving Qian Xunji curious about meeting them.

• Qian Xunji accepted Golden Crocodile Douluo’s proposal to invite the empires and duchies to cooperate on Soul Tool research, and assigned Jiang Mo, Qian Jun, Yue Guan, and Gui Mei to organize the Research Institute.
• Qian Xunji left Spirit Hall with Bibi Dong and Bibi Xi, while Ling Yuan asked Bibi Dong to bring back local specialties and declined Bibi Xi’s invitation to visit his home.
• During the journey, Qian Xunji covered the sleeping Bibi Dong with a blanket, and Bibi Xi thanked him for caring for his sister.
• Bibi Xi asked Qian Xunji whether he liked Bibi Dong and whether he opposed their relationship, and Qian Xunji admitted his feelings.
• Qian Xunji asked about Bibi Xi’s parents, and Bibi Xi explained that they were ordinary villagers who would likely be shocked to meet the Pope.

Qian Xunji planned to meet Bibi Dong’s parents in Anping Village while posing as an ordinary young man named Lin, and Bibi Xi agreed to keep his true identity secret. After arriving near the village, the group prepared to walk there with gifts, leaving Qian Xunji in plain clothes and Bibi Dong carrying an embroidered box for her mother.

• Qian Xunji asked Bibi Xi to tell their parents that he was Lin, an ordinary young man from Spirit City and Bibi Dong’s boyfriend.
• Bibi Xi agreed to hide Qian Xunji’s identity as they traveled toward Anping Village.
• The carriage landed several miles from the village, and Bibi Dong woke after falling asleep against Qian Xunji’s shoulder and drooling on his clothes.
• Qian Xunji changed from his conspicuous robes into plain blue clothes while Bibi Dong and Bibi Xi waited outside.
• Qian Xunji told the coachman to return in three days, then divided the gifts among the group before they set off toward the village.

Bibi Xi brought Bibi Dong and Qian Xunji to his family’s village, where the local aunties welcomed Bibi Dong and teased her about Qian Xunji. At the family home, Bibi Xi went inside first to prepare his parents for a surprise reunion.

• Bibi Xi introduced Bibi Dong to the village aunties as his long-lost biological older sister, and they recognized her resemblance to Xiulan.
• The aunties questioned Bibi Xi about Qian Xunji, and he said Qian Xunji was Bibi Dong’s friend from Spirit City.
• Bibi Dong blushed when the aunties suggested Qian Xunji might become her family, while Qian Xunji asked to wait outside so she could reunite privately with her parents.
• Bibi Xi insisted Qian Xunji was family too, and Bibi Dong tentatively agreed before the three entered the courtyard together.
• Bibi Xi went inside ahead of Bibi Dong and Qian Xunji, then told Bi Dashan and Liu Xiulan that he had brought someone to meet them.