Chapter Summaries

Yu Xiaogang accepted Spirit Hall’s invitation and Tang San agreed to accompany him, then asked Spirit Hall to recruit Xiao Wu as well. When Elder Yun Shuo went to invite her, he learned that Xiao Wu and Su Mo had already left Nuoding City.

• Yu Xiaogang told Tang San he was joining Spirit Hall, and Tang San agreed to go with him.
• Tang San asked Yu Xiaogang to invite Xiao Wu to join the Creation Institute, and Yu Xiaogang agreed to ask Spirit Hall on her behalf.
• Yu Xiaogang and Tang San met Elder Yun Shuo at the Nuoding City Spirit Hall Branch, where Elder Yun Shuo agreed to personally invite Xiao Wu.
• Ma Xiunuo revealed that Su Mo was an orphan living at the Nuoding City Orphanage, so Elder Yun Shuo led the group there to find Xiao Wu and Su Mo.
• The group found that Xiao Wu and Su Mo were not at the orphanage or academy, and the city lord told Yu Xiaogang and the others that they had left Nuoding City.

After Xiao Wu left Nuoding City with Su Mo, Tang San mourned his lost feelings while Su Mo and Xiao Wu traveled toward Suotuo City. Xiao Wu helped Su Mo realize he had never accepted his Broken Sword Martial Soul, and he transformed it into energy, preparing to infuse it into a Refined Iron Longsword.

• Tang San recalled how Xiao Wu had grown close to him before distancing herself and leaving with Su Mo, and he recognized that he had liked her.
• Su Mo and Xiao Wu traveled toward Suotuo City and camped in the wilderness for the night.
• Su Mo told Xiao Wu he could not turn his Broken Sword Martial Soul into energy, and Xiao Wu urged him to treat it as part of himself.
• Su Mo accepted his Martial Soul and successfully transformed it into translucent energy above his palm.
• Su Mo gripped the Refined Iron Longsword and prepared to pour the Martial Soul energy into it.

Su Mo fused his Martial Soul with a refined iron longsword, creating Soul Weapon Fusion and discovering that it could help his Martial Soul absorb a weapon’s essence and evolve. Meanwhile, Tang Hao searched for Ah Yin and learned the missing Soul Beasts had died, while Yu Xiaogang and Tang San left Nuoding City.

• Su Mo merged his Martial Soul energy into a Refined Iron Longsword and named the new Self-Created Soul Skill Soul Weapon Fusion.
• Su Mo used Broken Sword Instant Kill with the fused sword, and Xiao Wu was shocked by its penetrating power.
• Su Mo discovered that recalling his Martial Soul after fusion also absorbed some of the iron sword’s essence, causing his Martial Soul to evolve.
• Su Mo told Xiao Wu about his Martial Soul’s new ability, and she celebrated with him.
• Tang Hao tortured a Soul Master witness, learned the Soul Beasts had perished, then killed the witness and continued his search for Ah Yin.
• Yu Xiaogang and Tang San left Nuoding City shortly after Su Mo.

Yu Xiaogang arrived at Spirit City with Tang San and visited the Creation Institute, where researchers had stalled in their efforts to understand Soul Rings. When Bibi Dong asked him for a solution, he proposed constructing Soul Rings without Soul Skills first, leaving the researchers energized by the simpler approach.

• Yu Xiaogang arrived in Spirit City with Tang San and went to the Creation Institute as instructed by Bibi Dong.
• Yu Xiaogang examined the researchers’ papers and recognized that the Institute was stuck on the underlying structure of Soul Rings.
• Bibi Dong arrived and asked Yu Xiaogang whether he had a solution to the research deadlock.
• Yu Xiaogang proposed creating stable Soul Rings without embedding Soul Skills, and the researchers welcomed the idea.

Yu Xiaogang became director of Spirit Hall’s Creation Institute and was tasked with researching a replacement for Soul Beast Soul Rings. Meanwhile, Tang Hao learned that Soul Beasts across the forest had exploded and their Soul Rings vanished, leaving him fearing Ah Yin had died as well; he rushed back to Nuoding City to check whether Xiao Wu had survived.

• Bibi Dong appointed Yu Xiaogang head of the Soul Master Creation Institute and ordered its staff and resources to support his research.
• Bibi Dong ordered Spirit Hall to announce that it was researching a replacement for Soul Beast Soul Rings and would help Soul Masters break through.
• Tang Hao interrogated a Soul Beast hunter, who described Soul Beasts exploding and their Soul Rings appearing across the forest before fading away.
• Tang Hao connected the reports to the destruction of the place where he had transplanted Ah Yin and feared she had perished.
• Tang Hao recalled that Xiao Wu had undergone a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast Transformation and rushed back to Nuoding City to find out whether she was safe.

Tang Hao returned to Nuoding City hoping Xiao Wu's survival meant Ah Yin had survived, but learned that Tang San and Yu Xiaogang had gone to Spirit Hall. He restrained himself from pursuing them and left determined to find Ah Yin and eventually rescue his son, while news of Yu Xiaogang's new post began spreading across the continent.

• Tang Hao rushed to Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy and learned from Wang Sheng that Xiao Wu had left half a month earlier.
• Tang Hao discovered that Tang San and Yu Xiaogang had also left Nuoding City for Spirit Hall.
• Tang Hao found Yu Xiaogang's notes on the theoretically feasible Self-Condensed Soul Ring and learned from the headmaster that Spirit Hall had invited Yu Xiaogang to Spirit City for research.
• Tang Hao considered charging into Spirit Hall to retrieve Tang San but decided that doing so could expose his son's identity and endanger them both.
• Tang Hao vowed to find Ah Yin and then save Tang San, while announcements about Yu Xiaogang joining Spirit Hall as director of the Creation Institute spread across the Douluo Continent.

Spirit Hall appointed Yu Xiaogang to lead the Creation Institute’s research into substitute Soul Rings, alarming the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and surprising his old friends at Shrek Academy. Yu Yuanzhen ordered the clan to monitor the research, while Flender anticipated Liu Erlong would be upset by the news.

• Yu Yuanzhen learned that Spirit Hall had given Yu Xiaogang supreme authority over the Creation Institute and ordered the clan to watch its research and claim a share if it succeeded.
• Flender read Spirit Hall’s announcement aloud at Shrek Academy, and Zhao Wuji and the teachers reacted with astonishment.
• Flender reasoned that Yu Xiaogang had accepted the position to prove his theories and fulfill his lifelong ambition.
• Flender worried that Liu Erlong would be upset when she heard that Yu Xiaogang had returned to Spirit Hall.

Liu Erlong reacted furiously to Yu Xiaogang joining Spirit Hall, then accepted that his research could benefit Soul Masters. As factions hoped Yu Xiaogang would replace Soul Rings, Su Mo and Xiao Wu discussed keeping Su Mo’s Ring Condensation Technique secret and doubted Yu Xiaogang could reproduce it.

• Liu Erlong learned Yu Xiaogang had gone to find Bibi Dong, vented her anger by destroying a mountain range, and then wished him success as dean of the Creation Institute.
• Factions across the Douluo Continent supported Spirit Hall’s Creation Institute while concealing their knowledge that Soul Beasts had been eradicated and no new ones were appearing.
• Su Mo arrived in a village outside Suotuo City and wondered why Spirit Hall had appointed Yu Xiaogang as dean.
• Xiao Wu urged Su Mo to let Soul Masters keep panicking instead of revealing his Ring Condensation Technique before the Soul Beast Clan returned.
• Su Mo declared Yu Xiaogang lacked the ability to develop the technique and wondered whether Bibi Dong’s confidence in him would collapse.

Su Mo studied Soul Skills by watching battles at the Suotuo Great Soul Arena, gaining insights as he cultivated. A year later, he and Xiao Wu both reached Level 20, and Xiao Wu demonstrated her newly acquired Teleportation Soul Skill for him to observe.

• Su Mo took Xiao Wu to the Suotuo Great Soul Arena and watched Zhou Tai fight Liu Qing, gaining insight from their Iron Fist and Clear Wind Sword Soul Skills.
• Su Mo began visiting the arena regularly and found that weapon-type Martial Soul battles gave him the most insight for creating his own Soul Skills.
• One year later, Su Mo broke through to Level 20 after rising nine levels, while Xiao Wu also reached Level 20 with help from a secret technique he devised for her.
• Su Mo asked whether Xiao Wu had chosen Teleportation as her second Soul Skill, and she confirmed that she had.
• Xiao Wu used Teleportation to appear five meters away, and Su Mo gained insight by observing the Soul Skill.

Su Mo learned to use a three-meter Teleportation Soul Skill after studying Xiao Wu's technique, then focused on cultivating. Meanwhile, Yu Xiaogang's Soul Ring research remained stalled, so he asked to invite Titled Douluo from across the continent to help the Creation Institute.

• Su Mo repeatedly analyzed Xiao Wu's Teleportation as she used it until he created his own three-meter Teleportation Soul Skill.
• Xiao Wu compared her five-meter range with Su Mo's and declared herself superior.
• Su Mo stopped visiting the Great Soul Arena in Suotuo City and concentrated on cultivating Soul Power for his second Soul Ring.
• Yu Xiaogang reviewed the Creation Institute's failed experiments and proposed seeking insight from Titled Douluo.
• Yu Xiaogang asked Elder Yun Shuo to submit a request to the Pope and invite every Titled Douluo across the continent to Spirit City.

Bibi Dong backed Yu Xiaogang’s plan to summon every Titled Douluo to Spirit City to discuss the Soul Master world’s survival and the search for a substitute for Soul Rings. The invitation sent the continent’s major powers into debate, and Xiao Wu brought the news to Su Mo.

• Bibi Dong approved Yu Xiaogang’s proposal and ordered Spirit Hall to invite all Titled Douluo to Spirit City, promising their safety within one hundred li.
• Ning Fengzhi, Gu Rong, and Chen Xin discussed the lack of progress on replacing Soul Rings, and Ning Fengzhi decided to attend with Chen Xin.
• Yu Yuanzhen overruled his elders’ objections and decided to attend to assess Yu Xiaogang’s work and consider the sect’s future.
• Xiao Wu told Su Mo about Gang Zi’s invitation, and Su Mo learned what had happened.

Bibi Dong backed Yu Xiaogang’s plan to gather the continent’s Title Douluo in Spirit City to discuss replacing Soul Rings, despite doubts about the Creation Institute’s lack of progress. The invitation stirred the major sects, while Xiao Wu told Su Mo about the gathering.

• Bibi Dong approved Yu Xiaogang’s proposal and ordered Spirit Hall to invite every Title Douluo to Spirit City on the fifteenth of next month.
• Ning Fengzhi decided that the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect would attend, with Chen Xin accompanying him.
• Yu Yuanzhen chose to attend the gathering to judge Yu Xiaogang’s progress and protect the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan’s future.
• Xiao Wu told Su Mo that Yu Xiaogang had invited all the Title Douluo to Spirit Hall.

Su Mo and Xiao Wu entered Sunset Forest after learning that Dugu Bo had gone to Spirit City, then found the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well and its Immortal Herbs. Xiao Wu made the Lovesick Heartbreak Red acknowledge her as its master, and Su Mo told her it would conceal her Soul Beast aura.

• Su Mo saw that Dugu Bo was listed among the attendees of Spirit Hall’s gathering and realized the Poison Douluo had been lured away by Yu Xiaogang.
• Su Mo and Xiao Wu traveled to Sunset Forest, where they found no Soul Beasts and spent three days searching for the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
• Su Mo and Xiao Wu used protective suits and their Teleportation Soul Skills to pass through Dugu Bo’s poisonous miasma and reach the valley.
• Su Mo identified the Immortal Herbs and decided to absorb the Infernal Delicate Apricot, the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, and the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew.
• Su Mo asked Xiao Wu to offer blood to the Lovesick Heartbreak Red, and it acknowledged her as its master.
• Su Mo told Xiao Wu that the flower would conceal her Soul Beast aura, and he realized that she had fallen in love with him.

Su Mo convinced Xiao Wu to keep the Lovesick Heartbreak Red and absorb Narcissus Jade Muscle Bone, while Spirit Hall hosted a gathering of the continent’s strongest figures. Yu Xiaogang opened the meeting by asking for help after his Soul Master Creation Institute made little progress on Self-Condensed Soul Rings.

• Su Mo explained that the Lovesick Heartbreak Red could conceal Xiao Wu’s Soul Beast aura, and Xiao Wu happily let it take root in her body.
• Su Mo told Xiao Wu not to absorb the Lovesick Heartbreak Red and gave her Narcissus Jade Muscle Bone to absorb instead.
• Sword Douluo Chen Xin and Ning Fengzhi arrived at Spirit City, followed by Yu Yuanzhen and representatives of major factions.
• Yu Xiaogang addressed the gathering and announced that the Soul Master Creation Institute had hit a bottleneck in its research into Self-Condensed Soul Rings.
• Yu Xiaogang asked the assembled experts to help the institute make progress.

Xiao Wu absorbed the Narcissus Jade Muscle Bone and gained ten Soul Power ranks, while Su Mo absorbed several Immortal Herbs and gained new abilities and a plan to sacrifice the remaining herbs for a Soul Power Pool. After Spirit Hall's grand gathering produced no viable solution, Yu Xiaogang returned to the Creation Institute and began his research again, less confident than before.

• Xiao Wu absorbed the Narcissus Jade Muscle Bone, rose from rank 20 to rank 30, and chose Invincible Golden Body as her third Soul Skill.
• Su Mo absorbed Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew, greatly enhanced his Spiritual Power, and gained eyesight similar to Fiery Golden Eyes.
• Xiao Wu used Invincible Golden Body to bring Su Mo the two ice-and-fire Immortal Herbs, which he absorbed to gain immunity to fire, ice, and poison and a greatly strengthened physique.
• Su Mo asked the system about sacrificing the remaining Immortal Herbs and learned that doing so would grant him a Soul Power Pool for condensing Soul Rings.
• Dozens of experts shared their insights at Spirit Hall's half-month gathering, but Yu Xiaogang found no viable solution and promised to continue his research.
• Yu Xiaogang returned to the Creation Institute, asked Elder Yun Shuo to organize the experiment records, and began again while doubting whether he could succeed.

Tang San remained stuck at Rank 20 while Yu Xiaogang continued researching Self-Condensed Soul Rings, and Su Mo and Xiao Wu encountered a group of predatory Soul Masters in Sunset Forest. Su Mo and Xiao Wu vanished to attack them, leaving the fight about to begin.

• Tang San reflected on his year in Spirit City and his inability to advance beyond Rank 20 without a Soul Ring.
• Yu Xiaogang told Tang San that the Title Douluo gathering’s research materials would help him solve the Soul Ring problem, and Tang San said he believed in his teacher.
• Su Mo and Xiao Wu left the area around the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, intending to return to hiding and cultivation.
• Five Soul Masters blocked Su Mo and Xiao Wu in Sunset Forest and made lewd threats toward them.
• Su Mo ordered Xiao Wu to attack, and the two vanished before the bald Soul Master could reach them.

Su Mo and Xiao Wu killed a group of men who tried to prey on them in Sunset Forest, revealing Xiao Wu’s three Soul Rings and Su Mo’s Ten-Thousand-Year second Soul Ring. They left with the stolen money, while Poison Douluo returned to the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well ten days later and was stunned by what he found.

• Su Mo killed the bald man with Broken Sword Instant Kill, while Xiao Wu kicked another attacker out of the fight.
• The remaining men were shocked by Xiao Wu’s three Soul Rings and Su Mo’s black Ten-Thousand-Year second Soul Ring, then attacked them.
• Su Mo killed another man, and Xiao Wu defeated a Soul Elder before the Soul Ancestor leader fled.
• Xiao Wu used Teleportation to block the leader and Invincible Golden Body to withstand his attack, giving Su Mo time to kill him.
• Su Mo finished off the two wounded men, searched the corpses, and found more than a thousand Gold Soul Coins before leaving Sunset Forest with Xiao Wu.
• About ten days later, Poison Douluo returned to the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well and was dumbfounded.

Dugu Bo returned from the Spirit Hall conference with solutions to his Martial Soul flaw, only to find that someone had stolen every rare plant around the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well. In Spirit City, Flender visited Yu Xiaogang, who was still working obsessively on his research, and asked whether the conference had given him confidence.

• Dugu Bo learned that he could address his Martial Soul flaw by condensing toxins into a Poison Pill or forcing them into his Soul Bones, and he shared his Poison Pill experience with the conference attendees.
• Dugu Bo returned to his valley and discovered that every rare flower and herb around the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well had been dug up.
• Dugu Bo flew into a rage, destroyed nearby rocks, and vowed to torture whoever had robbed his lair.
• Flender met Yu Xiaogang in Spirit City after waiting until the conference ended, and found him exhausted amid piles of research papers.
• Flender urged Yu Xiaogang not to push himself so hard and asked whether the Experience Sharing Conference had made him more confident.

Ning Rongrong grieved over being trapped at Level 10 without a Soul Beast, and Ning Fengzhi comforted her by promising that Spirit Hall was researching Self-Condensed Soul Rings. Geniuses across the continent faced the same bottleneck, and they would wait ten years for a solution.

• Ning Rongrong stayed in her room for three days, despairing that she could not break through Level 10 without a Soul Ring.
• Ning Rongrong asked Bone Douluo whether any forests held Soul Beasts, and his silence confirmed that none remained.
• Ning Fengzhi returned from Spirit City and told Ning Rongrong that Spirit Hall's Creation Institute was researching Self-Condensed Soul Rings, concealing that the research had made no progress.
• Ma Hongjun, Zhu Zhuqing, Oscar, Shui Bing'er, Huo Wushuang, Huo Wu, Xie Yue, Hu Liena, and countless other Soul Masters were trapped at their cultivation bottlenecks.
• Soul Masters waited for Soul Beasts to return, for the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast Transformation to share its experience, or for Spirit Hall to develop Self-Condensed Soul Rings; their wait lasted ten years.

Ten years after the Soul Beasts' extinction, Soul Masters across Douluo Continent were trapped at cultivation bottlenecks, and hopes for Self-Condensed Soul Rings had faded. Su Mo had reached level 78 and refined his sword techniques while living with level 77 Xiao Wu, as the chapter ended with him confident he could condense a Hundred-Thousand-Year Eighth Soul Ring.

• Douluo Continent's Soul Hunting Forests became barren, Soul Masters became stuck at bottlenecks, and the Creation Institute stopped reporting progress on Self-Condensed Soul Rings.
• Su Mo demonstrated Blood Shadow Instant Kill: Triple Strike, using Teleportation to deliver three identical cuts to a wooden stake.
• Xiao Wu praised Su Mo's speed as the two, now nineteen-year-old Soul Saints, lived together in a courtyard outside Suotuo City.
• Su Mo's Blood Shadow Martial Soul and high-quality Soul Rings had advanced him to level 78, while Xiao Wu had reached level 77.
• Su Mo believed he could condense a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring for his Eighth Soul Ring.