Chapter Summaries

Long Yaochen defeated Dai Yueheng with a single spear thrust, earning a place on the main roster and reminding Xuan Zi of his promise. Ma Xiaotao then challenged Long Yaochen herself, saying their dispute from the previous day was not over.

• Dai Yueheng used his White Tiger abilities to strengthen himself, but Long Yaochen's spear strike shattered his attack and stopped inches from his brow.
• Dai Yueheng admitted defeat, and Long Yaochen declared that he was now a main roster member and asked Xuan Zi to honor his promised condition.
• Xuan Zi acknowledged that he remembered his promise, unable to deny Dai Yueheng's loss in front of the watching team.
• Ma Xiaotao stepped onto the platform and challenged Long Yaochen, saying she wanted to test her new teammate and settle what happened the previous day.

Long Yaochen fought Ma Xiaotao in a trial, then conceded after deliberately allowing her attack to land. Xuan Zi named Long Yaochen to Shrek’s tournament main roster and assigned Dai Yueheng as a reserve main roster member.

• Ma Xiaotao challenged Long Yaochen and unleashed her Sunfire Evil-Scorching Flame Phoenix across the Soul Fighting Platform.
• Long Yaochen defended against Ma Xiaotao’s attacks while holding back, and she accused him of trying to muddle through the fight.
• Long Yaochen deliberately slowed his defense against Ma Xiaotao’s Phoenix Fireline, then conceded with his sleeve burned and face covered in soot.
• Long Yaochen called Ma Xiaotao “Madam,” making her laugh and prompting Xuan Zi to announce that they were engaged.
• Xuan Zi put Long Yaochen on the tournament main roster and assigned Dai Yueheng to travel with the team as a reserve main roster member.

Huo Yuhao woke in a Holy Spirit Cult stronghold, where a black-robed man prepared a ritual to strengthen his frail body and offered him power to take revenge on Shrek. Old Tang urged him to accept and use the cult for his own purposes, and as the ritual began, Huo Yuhao learned they planned to send him to the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.

• Huo Yuhao woke shackled to a stone platform and found the black-robed man examining his Soul Tool blueprint.
• Old Tang told Huo Yuhao that the Holy Church was an Evil Soul Master organization and that Sky Dream would remain unconscious for some time.
• The black-robed man offered Huo Yuhao resources and power in exchange for giving his life to the Holy Church, then revealed that a ritual would begin whether he agreed or not.
• Old Tang advised Huo Yuhao to accept the ritual and use the Holy Spirit Cult to grow stronger, promising to guard his Sea of Spirit.
• Huo Yuhao agreed to become stronger, and the black-robed man activated the ritual, causing a chaotic force to flood Huo Yuhao's body.
• The black-robed man said the cult would send Huo Yuhao to the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy and arrange an identity for him, before Huo Yuhao lost consciousness.

Tang Ya and Bei Bei searched for Huo Yuhao after he failed to return to Shrek Academy, but found no trace of him. Tang Ya suspected Long Yaochen might know where Huo Yuhao had gone, and Bei Bei planned to ask him at the reserve-team selection.

• Tang Ya and Bei Bei learned that Huo Yuhao had missed the start of term, and Zhang Lexuan temporarily held off the academy's punishment while they searched for him.
• Fan Yu revealed that Huo Yuhao had left to train and had received a defensive Soul Tool from him, then organized a search with the Soul Tool Department.
• Fan Yu and Bei Bei searched Shrek City and the roads outside it, but no one had seen Huo Yuhao or knew where he had gone.
• Tang Ya blamed herself and Long Yaochen for Huo Yuhao's departure, but Bei Bei argued that Long Yaochen had fairly defeated him and was not responsible.
• Tang Ya realized Huo Yuhao often compared himself with Long Yaochen and suggested he might have told him where he planned to train.
• Bei Bei agreed to ask Long Yaochen at the afternoon selection for the tournament reserve team.

Bei Bei learned that Long Yaochen had joined the main team by defeating Dai Yueheng, a six-ring Soul Emperor, and confirmed the news with Xuan Zi. After the reserve-team selection, Long Yaochen met with Mu En at Sea God Pavilion, where Mu En asked what he thought of the Shrek Inspection Team.

• Bei Bei searched for Long Yaochen at the selection and learned from Wang Dong'er that Long Yaochen had already joined the main team.
• Wang Dong'er told Bei Bei that Long Yaochen had challenged and defeated Dai Yueheng, earning a place on the main team.
• Bei Bei asked Xuan Zi to confirm the story, and Xuan Zi verified that Long Yaochen had beaten Dai Yueheng.
• Wang Dong'er and Xiao Xiao entered the Outer Court free-for-all selection, while Bei Bei stood stunned by Long Yaochen's victory.
• That night, Wang Dong'er returned to an empty Dormitory 108 and recalled the selection's finalists.
• At Sea God Pavilion, Mu En asked Long Yaochen what he thought of the Shrek Inspection Team.

Long Yaochen challenged the Shrek Inspection Corps’ unchecked authority and proposed separating its powers of investigation, judgment, and execution. Mu En rejected the proposal as impractical for now, but acknowledged Shrek’s future may need to change and agreed that inspection missions required reliable teachers to protect students.

• Long Yaochen explained that the Shrek Inspection Corps filled the gap left by Spirit Hall’s destruction, then criticized Shrek for controlling intelligence, charges, executions, and judgments of its own actions.
• Long Yaochen argued that good intentions could not guarantee justice and proposed separating the powers to investigate, judge, and execute.
• Mu En rejected the proposal, saying Shrek and the nations had no trustworthy judges to handle captured Evil Soul Masters.
• Long Yaochen warned that the nations resented Shrek’s cross-border operations and questioned whether Shrek could remain neutral if someone unified the continent.
• Mu En said Shrek would not change while he was in charge, but future generations would have to decide the Inspection Corps’ role; Long Yaochen also demanded reliable teachers accompany students on missions.
• Mu En did not defend Xuan Zi over his failure as a protector and said Evil Soul Master activity had recently increased across the continent.

Long Yaochen secured access to recent Inspection Corps records and agreed to lead an upcoming mission to the Star Luo Empire, provided Xuan Zi remained ready to rescue the team. Elsewhere, the Holy Spirit Cult expanded its network of Evil Soul Masters and prepared to send a resentful Body Martial Soul user to the Sun Moon Empire.

• Mu En told Long Yaochen that Evil Soul Masters were increasingly coordinating across the continent, though the academy had not identified their source.
• Mu En assigned Long Yaochen temporary command of an Inspection Corps mission in the Star Luo Empire and agreed that Xuan Zi must be ready to intervene immediately.
• Mu En authorized Zhang Lexuan to let Long Yaochen review recent Inspection Corps mission records that contained no core academy secrets.
• The Holy Spirit Cult's Second Elder reported that it had recruited twenty-nine Evil Soul Masters, established five new strongholds, and dealt with seven who rejected its restrictions.
• The Second Elder told the Cult Leader that the Body Martial Soul user's first infusion had ended and that he would personally take him to the Sun Moon Empire in several days.

Ten days before the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Fighting Tournament, Xuan Zi brought the Shrek main and reserve teams together and put them through mixed-team combat training. After the teams learned to coordinate, he sent them to pack for their departure to Star Luo City.

• Xuan Zi introduced the main team, including alternate Dai Yueheng, and explained why eight people were present.
• Long Yaochen joked that the Shrek Seven Monsters had eight members, prompting Ma Xiaotao to clarify Dai Yueheng's status as an alternate.
• Xuan Zi divided the students into two temporary teams and ordered them to fight, while Ma Xiaotao assigned Wang Dong'er to restrain Long Yaochen.
• The first match descended into chaos, so Xuan Zi stopped it and warned that poor coordination could have cost them their lives in a real battle.
• Xuan Zi reshuffled the teams and imposed changing battle conditions over ten days, helping the main and reserve members learn to coordinate.
• Xuan Zi told everyone to pack and gather at the academy's east gate the next morning to depart for Star Luo City.

Xuan Zi and Long Yaochen briefed the reserve members on the dangers and responsibilities of joining the Shrek Inspection Team, and all seven chose to join. The group reached the Star Luo Empire’s northwestern border, where Dai Hao identified the Death’s Hand bandits as their target.

• Xuan Zi explained the risks and duties of Inner Court missions, then Long Yaochen told the reserves that refusing to join was not cowardice and let them choose freely.
• All seven reserves agreed to join, and Wang Yan gave each of them an inspector’s ring.
• Xuan Zi named Death’s Hand, a bandit group in the Mingdou Mountain Range, as the team’s mission target, while Long Yaochen set rules for the reserves and the operation.
• Xuan Zi used his power to carry the team swiftly to a military camp on the northwestern border of the Star Luo Empire.
• Dai Hao welcomed the Shrek group and reported that Death’s Hand had roughly three hundred members, including many Soul Masters, and a leader who was at least a Soul King.

Long Yaochen led the Shrek team into the Mingdou Mountain Range to find Death's Hand, a band of evil soul masters led by the Death Messenger. After a day of searching, Xi Xi found their trail and spotted hidden sentries near a slope.

• Dai Hao briefed Long Yaochen and the team on Death's Hand, and Long Yaochen ordered them to rest before setting out in three hours.
• Long Yaochen assigned the team's formation and told Xuan Zi to remain ready to intervene as they entered the Mingdou Mountain Range.
• Xi Xi's early searches turned up footprints that vanished at a stream, and the team spent the day searching valleys without finding a fresh lead.
• Wang Dong'er suggested splitting into scouting groups, but Long Yaochen rejected the idea because the team did not know the enemy's strength.
• Xi Xi found recent footprints, torn cloth, and dried blood, then spotted people watching the trail near a slope.
• Long Yaochen looked toward the slope and declared that they had found Death's Hand.

Long Yaochen led Shrek’s inspection team into Death’s Hand’s cave, where they swiftly defeated the bandits and discovered numerous captives. A black-robed Soul Sage appeared at the cavern entrance, and Ma Xiaotao stepped forward to face him.

• Long Yaochen ordered the team to disguise themselves, and Xi Xi silently took out the three sentries guarding the cave.
• The team entered the cave and defeated the bandits, while Long Yaochen ordered Ma Xiaotao to burn the corpses to prevent them from being used against the group.
• The team found cages filled with captives, including villagers, soul masters, elderly people, and children.
• A black-robed Soul Sage appeared and recognized the Shrek inspection team, surprising them because intelligence had identified only a Soul King as Death’s Hand’s strongest member.
• Ma Xiaotao shielded the team and declared that the Soul Sage was no match for her.

Ma Xiaotao defeated a Holy Spirit Cult Soul Saint with Long Yaochen’s support, but the enemy’s corpse exploded in a deadly trap. Xuan Zi contained the blast, leaving the Shrek group unharmed and the threat apparently stopped.

• Long Yaochen ordered the reserve team to retreat and Ma Xiaotao to quickly defeat the black-robed Soul Saint.
• Ma Xiaotao overwhelmed the Soul Saint with her Ultimate Fire, but Death Messenger empowered him with dark-red patterns.
• Long Yaochen strengthened Ma Xiaotao with Prayer Light, allowing her to kill the Soul Saint before he could use his Martial Soul Avatar.
• Long Yaochen caught Death Messenger with the Spear of No Darkness as dark-red patterns on the corpse began to gather.
• The Soul Saint’s corpse exploded, but Xuan Zi contained and extinguished the blast, protecting Ma Xiaotao and the rest of the group.

Long Yaochen’s team was caught in a chain of explosions when the hostages they tried to rescue detonated, leaving several Shrek members badly injured. As Xuan Zi contained the blasts, Electrolux told Long Yaochen to use holy light to suppress the spreading marks while he searched for their connection.

• Long Yaochen ordered Dai Yueheng to guard Death Messenger and let the team begin freeing the hostages while Electrolux warned that a crude, vicious spell had been used on them.
• The girl in Yao Haoxuan’s arms exploded, followed by several other hostages, badly injuring Yao Haoxuan, Chen Zifeng, Xi Xi, Ling Luocheng, and Gongyang Mo.
• Long Yaochen ordered Xuan Zi to isolate the hostages and injured teammates, sent Wang Yan and Ma Xiaotao to evacuate the reserve team, and used his first Soul Ring to stabilize the wounded.
• Xuan Zi contained subsequent explosions, but black-red marks spread beneath the remaining hostages’ skin as Electrolux identified a connection between them.
• Electrolux told Long Yaochen to suppress the marks with holy light while he found their core, and Long Yaochen unleashed the light of his dragon-pattern halo.

Long Yaochen stopped the hostages’ corpse-explosion spell, but several Shrek team members were badly injured. Xuan Zi took the injured and the captured Death Messenger back to the academy, leaving Wang Yan to lead the remaining students onward to the tournament.

• Long Yaochen traced the spell’s hidden black thread and severed it, halting the hostages’ explosions.
• Wang Yan reported that Yao Haoxuan, Gongyang Mo, Xi Xi, Chen Zifeng, and Ling Luocheng had suffered serious injuries.
• Long Yaochen condemned the Holy Spirit Cult after seeing the cave’s victims, and Ma Xiaotao caught him when his Soul Power ran out.
• Xuan Zi gave Wang Yan healing medicines and ordered him to lead the team while Xuan Zi took the injured and the captured Death Messenger to the academy.
• Xuan Zi fired an emergency signal flare and arranged for the Northwest Group Army to secure the cave and its evidence.
• Wang Yan told the remaining students to rest at the military camp and depart the next morning, and Long Yaochen left after looking back at the sealed cave.

Xuan Zi returned to Sea God Island with four badly injured Shrek members after an ambush in the Mingdou Mountain Range, where Long Yaochen’s actions helped save the hostages and his teammates. Mu En recognized the Holy Spirit Cult’s involvement and considered the danger facing Long Yaochen, while Xuan Zi’s repeated failure prompted Mu En to ask whether he planned to resign again.

• Xuan Zi brought Yao Haoxuan, Gongyang Mo, Chen Zifeng, and Xi Xi to Sea God Island for emergency treatment, while he reported that Ling Luocheng, Ma Xiaotao, Long Yaochen, and the reserve team were safe.
• Mu En detected a spiritual restriction on the captured evil soul master, and he and Xuan Zi rejected the suggestion that Long Xiaoyao or Long Yaochen was involved with the attack.
• Elder Zhuang confirmed that the four injured members would survive and said Long Yaochen’s golden power had suppressed their corpse poison.
• Xuan Zi recounted how a Soul Sage ambushed the team, hostages exploded, and Long Yaochen took command, protected the wounded, and severed the evil technique linking the hostages.
• Xuan Zi accepted responsibility for the incident, and Mu En asked whether he intended to resign again.

Mu En reprimanded Xuan Zi and Yan Shaozhe over the failed inspection mission, then ordered new protections for Shrek’s students as the Holy Spirit Cult stirred. Xuan Zi and Qian Duoduo headed to Star Luo City to guard Long Yaochen and assess the competition’s threats, while a hooded youth with pale golden eyes arrived there with a convoy.

• Mu En rebuked Xuan Zi for his failures and warned him to protect Long Yaochen from the Holy Spirit Cult.
• Mu En ordered Shrek to equip Inner Court students with defensive Soul Tools and teach students how to use them.
• Mu En sent Xuan Zi and Qian Duoduo to Star Luo City to protect the team and assess the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.
• Mu En ordered the captured Death Messenger held in the inspection corps’ dungeon and suspended high-risk missions with unclear intelligence.
• Xuan Zi and Qian Duoduo left for Star Luo City as Mu En began preparing for threats tied to the Holy Spirit Cult.
• A hooded youth with pale golden eyes halted at the rear of a convoy arriving in Star Luo City.

Long Yaochen and Shrek Academy arrived in Star Luo City for the tournament, where Wang Dong'er's mark reacted to Huo Yuhao's presence. At the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, Huo Yuhao openly challenged Elder Ma and Ma Rulong's confidence in defeating Shrek.

• Shrek Academy arrived in Star Luo City, and Wang Dong'er felt a sudden pain in her forehead after glimpsing a blue-and-gold sea and a distant figure.
• The Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy arrived, and the hooded Huo Yuhao's presence made Wang Dong'er's trident mark flare before fading.
• Wang Yan briefed Shrek's team, assigned Dai Yueheng and Long Yaochen to lead early matches, and told Ma Xiaotao to keep her strength hidden.
• Ma Xiaotao and Wang Dong'er each asked Long Yaochen to visit their rooms that night, leaving him exasperated.
• Elder Ma told Ma Rulong to leave the team if he lost to Shrek, and Huo Yuhao mocked their confidence before Elder Ma warned him to watch his words.

Huo Yuhao revealed detailed intelligence about Shrek to the Sun Moon team, while Long Yaochen began helping Wang Dong'er investigate the Sea God Mark. The chapter left Wang Dong'er preparing to absorb Long Yaochen's Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone so its sacred aura could help reach the mark within her.

• Huo Yuhao listed Shrek's strengths, including Ma Xiaotao's and Dai Yueheng's Soul Power, but Elder Ma dismissed his further warnings and turned to planning the championship lineup.
• Long Yaochen visited Wang Dong'er and used the Mark of Sun Chasing to examine the Sea God Mark within her.
• Electrolux explained that the mark was entangled with Wang Dong'er's Martial Soul, bloodline, and memories, so it had to be approached from within.
• Long Yaochen gave Wang Dong'er his Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone, Light's Demonbreak, explaining that its absorbed sacred aura could serve as an opening to reach the mark.
• Wang Dong'er prepared to absorb the Light Demon-Breaking Right Arm Bone as Long Yaochen assured her he would stay by her side.

Wang Dong'er absorbed the Light Demon-Breaking Right Arm Bone and reached Soul Power level thirty-three as the tournament began in Star Luo Plaza. Long Yaochen led Shrek’s reserve team into its elimination match against Heavenly Soul Academy, where he faced their opening attacks alone.

• Wang Dong'er completed her soul bone fusion, broke through to level thirty-three, and carried the martial soul aura Long Yaochen had placed in the bone.
• Shrek’s reserve team arrived at Star Luo Plaza and received cheers before Emperor Xu Jiawei officially opened the tournament.
• Long Yaochen rallied the team and led them onto the arena, where spectators were surprised that Shrek had sent such a young reserve squad.
• Heavenly Soul Academy’s captain, Han Ling, ordered his team to focus their attacks on Long Yaochen, while Shrek’s teammates retreated to the arena’s edge.
• The match began, and Long Yaochen stood his ground as Heavenly Soul Academy’s attacks approached; a dragon’s roar rang across Star Luo Plaza.

Long Yaochen revealed his powerful martial soul and ten-thousand-year fourth soul ring, then defeated Heavenly Spirit Academy with Solar Flame. After Shrek Academy won, Meng Hongchen became smitten with Long Yaochen and asked Xiao Hongchen to get him for her.

• Long Yaochen completed his Martial Soul Possession, revealing three purple soul rings and a black fourth ring that astonished the spectators and Xu Jiawei.
• Long Yaochen used Prayer Light and Solar Flame to overwhelm Heavenly Spirit Academy's attacks and unleash a massive blazing orb.
• The referee protected Heavenly Spirit Academy's seven members from the blast, and declared that they could no longer resist, giving Shrek Academy the victory.
• The crowd cheered for Long Yaochen as he led the Shrek team off the stage.
• Meng Hongchen watched Long Yaochen in admiration and asked Xiao Hongchen to get him for her.