Chapter Summaries

Murong Huai explained how Ning Fengzhi and Wu Chuan could use their support-type strengths more effectively and taught them a powerful self-created Soul Skill. He demonstrated the Spiral Maru by blasting apart the lake, leaving both men eager to learn it.

• Murong Huai told Ning Fengzhi and Wu Chuan that support-type and food-type Soul Masters could conserve Soul Power by timing their support and using suitable footwork to deliver food.
• Murong Huai introduced self-created Soul Skills as a way for support-type Soul Masters to fight without relying on Spirit Rings or Spirit Bones.
• Murong Huai gathered Soul Power into a spinning sphere and named the move the Spiral Maru.
• Murong Huai struck the lake with the Spiral Maru, splitting the water and scattering sparks of light, which amazed Ning Fengzhi and Wu Chuan.

Murong Huai demonstrated the Six Meridian Divine Sword and taught Ning Fengzhi and Wu Chuan the movement technique Trace-Free Snow Treading. Ning Fengzhi tried walking across the lake but lost control of his Soul Power and fell in.

• Murong Huai demonstrated the Six Meridian Divine Sword’s powerful palm beam and precise fingertip shots.
• Wu Chuan chose the Six Meridian Divine Sword to deliver food more accurately and gain a means of self-defense, while Ning Fengzhi chose the Spiral Maru.
• Murong Huai demonstrated Trace-Free Snow Treading on the frozen lake and explained how it used precise Soul Power control to make movement light and quiet.
• Murong Huai walked up a tree and across the lake to show how to channel Soul Power into the legs and feet.
• Ning Fengzhi gathered Soul Power at his feet, stepped onto the lake, then lost his balance and fell into the water.

Six months into training at Martial Soul Academy, Wu Chuan mastered precision attacks, while Murong Huai prepared harder drills for him and arranged Spirit Rings for him and Ning Fengzhi. The chapter ended with Murong Huai taking Ning Fengzhi and Wu Chuan to obtain their Spirit Rings.

• Wu Chuan accurately flicked seven cigarettes onto red-tasselled stakes, impressing Murong Huai with his progress over six months.
• Murong Huai reviewed the other students’ training, including Bibi Dong’s support team, Tu Zhanyue’s Heart Separation Control, and Ning Fengzhi’s Soul Power control.
• Murong Huai made the stakes move unpredictably and told Wu Chuan to use his footwork to find and support moving teammates.
• Murong Huai said a new training facility would be ready in about half a month and told Wu Chuan to practice his footwork until then.
• Murong Huai called Ning Fengzhi away from running across the lake and said it was time for him and Wu Chuan to get their Spirit Rings.

Murong Huai arranged for Ning Fengzhi and Wu Chuan to absorb powerful Soul Beast Spirit Rings, helping them become Soul Ancestors. Wu Chuan’s new skill produced a Chunghwa cigarette that boosted all attributes, and Murong Huai left the two focused on cultivation.

• The Black Flame Army brought a Scale-Armor Black Tortoise and a Demonic Might Savage Bull to the Martial Soul Academy plaza for Ning Fengzhi and Wu Chuan.
• Murong Huai wounded both Soul Beasts, and Ning Fengzhi and Wu Chuan killed them before absorbing their Spirit Rings.
• Ning Fengzhi and Wu Chuan became Soul Ancestors, with Ning Fengzhi gaining a defensive enhancement skill.
• Wu Chuan revealed that his fourth Soul Skill produced a Chunghwa cigarette that boosted all attributes by twenty percent, and Murong Huai tried it.
• The Black Flame Army commander departed with his soldiers, and Murong Huai told Ning Fengzhi and Wu Chuan to focus on cultivation.

The Martial Soul Academy opened its selection tournament to choose a team for the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament, and the first match paired Qin Tianzhen’s Team One against Ge Xun’s Team Three. Both teams activated their Martial Souls and prepared to fight.

• Si Changming and Wei Qingyun announced the tournament’s purpose, rules, and rewards before declaring the selection open.
• Wei Qingyun announced the first three matches, and Qin Tianzhen rallied Team One before its opening battle against Team Three.
• The chapter described the Soul King strength of Qin Tianzhen and Ge Xun and noted the high level of the academy’s competitors.
• Man Tianshan and Murong Huai discussed the opening matchup, with Murong Huai confidently backing his team.
• The referee gave both teams thirty seconds to prepare, and all fourteen competitors activated their Martial Souls and Spirit Rings.
• Qin Tianzhen and Ge Xun exchanged friendly words before facing off on the Soul Fighting Platform.

Bibi Dong's Team One defeated Ge Xun's Team Three in under twenty seconds, and the other teams forfeited their matches so Team One could represent Martial Soul Academy in the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament. At a celebratory dinner, Murong Huai proposed that the seven begin their Inner Court graduation assessment early to earn the Purple Record Medal.

• Ge Xun and Qin Tianzhen fought while Bibi Dong and her teammates restrained and blasted the other six members of Team Three off the platform.
• Ge Xun conceded, and Team One was declared the winner of the first match.
• The captains of Teams Two, Four, Five, and Six forfeited their matches against Team One and chose to compete in the Loser's Bracket for second place.
• Si Changming approved the decision, and the referee announced that Team One would represent Martial Soul Academy as the Martial Soul Hall Team.
• Murong Huai treated the team to dinner and proposed that the seven start their Inner Court graduation assessment early to earn the Purple Record Medal.

Man Tianshan explained the strict requirements for earning the Purple Record Medal, including completing both the Death Valley and military assessments. Murong Huai proposed that the group join the Black Flame Army against beast tides in the Cangwu Desert, leaving them to decide whether to take on the dangerous challenge.

• Man Tianshan explained that students had to reach Soul King before age twenty, pass both graduation assessments, hunt a qualifying Soul Beast alone, and earn third-rank military merit to receive the Purple Record Medal.
• Man Tianshan said only the Pope, Murong Fuhai, and Gu Changfeng had earned the medal, and revealed that Gu Changfeng later became an Evil Soul Master and fought Marshal Murong before disappearing.
• Murong Huai explained that beast tides had frequently struck the Western Cangwu Desert, where ten thousand Black Flame Army soldiers were stationed.
• Murong Huai proposed that the group resist the beast tides to complete wilderness and military training at once, while allowing them to choose other assessment routes instead.

Murong Huai and his companions chose to travel to the Cangwu Desert to face the beast tide and pursue the Purple Record Medal, despite the danger. Their families and teachers learned of the decision, and Bibi Dong received Qian Xunji’s Angel Holy Sword before the group prepared to leave.

• Qin Tianzhen, Tu Zhanyue, Bibi Dong, Xuan Tianming, Shu Qingning, Wu Chuan, and Ning Fengzhi agreed to join Murong Huai in the Cangwu Desert, and Murong Huai urged them to inform their families and teachers.
• Bibi Dong told Qian Xunji she was going with Murong Huai, and he supported her decision and gave her the Angel Holy Sword.
• Murong Huai told Wu Xianyun he was leaving, and she accepted his choice and asked him to return safely.
• Ning Xiuyuan angrily read Ning Fengzhi’s letter about going to the Cangwu Desert, while Chen Jianjun urged him to support his son’s chosen path.
• Qin Zhenshan, the Tu Clan Master, Xuan Tianming’s parents, and Wu Chuan’s parents learned of their loved ones’ plans and expressed concern or support.

Murong Huai and his companions reached the Black Flame Army camp in the Cangwu Desert and learned that the beast tides had grown far deadlier, with the cause still unknown. Feng Fuyao flew into the desert to investigate, while Tu Zhen warned Murong Huai against letting the academy students risk their lives.

• Murong Huai presented his Black Dragon Token at the camp gate and learned that Tu Zhen and Tie Yun commanded the troops stationed there.
• A soldier told Murong Huai that Wei Shengyun had died after three sixty-thousand-year Soul Beasts surrounded him during a supposedly small beast tide.
• Tu Zhen explained that recent tides had escalated, causing heavy casualties and killing everyone sent to investigate the desert's heart, including a Titled Douluo from the Elder Hall.
• Feng Fuyao offered to investigate the desert's heart, and Murong Huai agreed on the condition that she retreat if she encountered danger.
• Murong Huai introduced the seven Martial Soul Academy students and said they had come to help, but Tu Zhen objected to putting the Spirit Hall's young talents in danger.

Murong Huai arranged for Spirit Hall to send Red Barbarian Cannons and Mortars to the Black Flame Army, then flew to the First Defense Line when a massive four-star beast tide attacked. There, he watched Tie Yun’s troops use volleys of arrows and military formations to meet the charge, with the Black Flame Cavalry preparing to fight at close range.

• Tu Zhanyue, Ning Fengzhi, Wu Chuan, and the others convinced Tu Zhen they could help, and he assigned them to the Third Defense Line.
• Murong Huai gave Tu Zhen his Pope Token and ordered the Military Affairs Department to send a hundred Red Barbarian Cannons, ten thousand shells, and a hundred Mortars.
• A four-star beast tide appeared, and Tu Zhen ordered reinforcements to the defense lines before riding toward the First Defense Line.
• Murong Huai flew to the First Defense Line while the others headed for the Third, and he saw tens of thousands of Soul Beasts charging across the desert.
• Tie Yun’s troops fired arrows and ballista bolts, then used the Sun-Eroding God-Killing Formation to kill beasts from a distance.
• Tie Yun sent the Black Flame Cavalry to fire from horseback and then charge the approaching beasts with lances.

Murong Huai and the Black Flame Army fought the beast tide in the Cangwu Desert, and Murong Huai’s sword sea cleared a large part of the battlefield. He flew into the desert to find the beast directing the tide and discovered a sixty-thousand-year Mad Sand Lizard guarded by other Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts.

• Murong Huai watched the Black Flame Army use the Sun-Eroding God-Killing Formation and the Black Flame Heavy Armor Army form a barricade against the beast tide.
• Murong Huai unleashed his fifth Soul Skill, killing or gravely wounding thousands of Soul Beasts and clearing nearly forty percent of the tide in the area.
• Tie Yun thanked Murong Huai and urged him to find and kill the Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast directing the tide.
• Murong Huai used the Soul Beasts’ corpses to slow the tide, then flew deeper into the Cangwu Desert.
• Murong Huai found a sixty-thousand-year Mad Sand Lizard surrounded by seven or eight other Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts.

Murong Huai killed the Mad Sand Lizard, forcing the beast tide to retreat and earning the soldiers’ gratitude. Back at camp, he was revealed as the Young Marshal, just as a gravely wounded Wind Dragon crashed before him.

• Murong Huai slaughtered the Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts and defeated the six-thousand-year-old Mad Sand Lizard with his sword techniques.
• With the Mad Sand Lizard dead, the beast tide fled into the Cangwu Desert, and Murong Huai told the soldiers the battle was over.
• At the Third Defense Line, Ning Fengzhi and his companions learned the beast tide had already retreated and returned to camp without fighting.
• Tu Zhen revealed that Murong Huai was the Black Flame Army’s Young Marshal, and Murong Huai gave Tie Yun the Soul Beast corpses to feed the soldiers.
• A bloodied Wind Dragon fell from the sky and crashed in front of the group, and Murong Huai recognized it.

Murong Huai found Feng Fuyao gravely wounded by an evil sword intent and asked Heavenly Condemnation to heal him. Feng Fuyao’s injuries and damaged origin were repaired, but he remained unconscious and would need to sleep in dragon form for about a year.

• Murong Huai gave the badly wounded Feng Fuyao an Immortal Grade Herb, and Feng Fuyao warned him not to go deeper into the desert before passing out.
• Three healing-type Soul Emperors failed to wake Feng Fuyao and said only a healing-type Titled Douluo could treat him.
• Murong Huai summoned Heavenly Condemnation, who identified the wounds as sword injuries infused with a powerful evil aura.
• Heavenly Condemnation healed Feng Fuyao’s wounds and repaired his origin, but explained that backlash from a secret technique would keep him asleep in dragon form for about a year.
• Murong Huai gave Heavenly Condemnation three Soul Leaves, and Heavenly Condemnation returned to Murong Huai’s Sea of Consciousness.

Murong Huai learned that Heaven's Condemnation had little strength left and could not safely investigate the Wind Dragon's attacker yet. The next morning, he accepted command of the Black Flame Army's Second and Third Legions and set out to address the assembled soldiers.

• Heaven's Condemnation warned Murong Huai that it had only enough power for three more moves and advised him to wait before entering the desert depths.
• Murong Huai told Bibi Dong and the others that Feng Fuyao was recovering and would soon wake up.
• Tie Yun and Tu Zhen offered Murong Huai the Black Flame Army's military seals and asked him to take command.
• Murong Huai read a letter from Murong Fuhai instructing him to lead the army, uncover the truth behind the beast tide, and end it.
• Murong Huai accepted command of the Second and Third Legions, donned the marshal's cloak, and headed to address the assembled soldiers.

Murong Huai rallied the Black Flame Army in the Cangwu Desert and waited for new weapons from the Military Affairs Department. When a beast tide sounded its warning horn, he led the army to the First Defense Line to test the weapons.

• Murong Huai inspected the Black Flame Army's formations and rallied the soldiers with their creed and the army's poem.
• One week later, Murong Huai learned that Xiao Zhuo had delivered cannons, mortars, explosives, guns, ammunition, and steel weapons.
• Ning Fengzhi and the others marveled at the Red Barbarian Cannons as Murong Huai explained their capabilities.
• A beast tide warning horn sounded, so Murong Huai ordered Tie Yun and Tu Zhen to take cannons, mortars, and shells to the front line.
• Murong Huai led five thousand Black Flame Army soldiers to the First Defense Line.

Murong Huai used the Black Flame Army’s Red Barbarian Cannons and mortars to repel a massive beast tide without losing a soldier. After the battle, Bibi Dong praised him while Ning Fengzhi and Qin Tianzhen teased the pair, prompting Bibi Dong to attack them with Poison Swords.

• A scout reported that tens of thousands of Sand Wolves and Rock Rhinos were approaching the first defense line, and Murong Huai ordered the cannons and mortars prepared.
• Murong Huai directed three volleys that devastated the beast tide, blocked its retreat, and drove the survivors back into the desert.
• The Black Flame Army cleared the battlefield after winning without casualties, while Murong Huai noticed hidden figures escaping from a distant dune.
• Bibi Dong praised Murong Huai, and Ning Fengzhi and Qin Tianzhen mimicked the pair’s affectionate exchange.
• Bibi Dong fired Poison Swords at Ning Fengzhi and Qin Tianzhen as they tried to flee.

A year after Feng Fuyao vanished into Cangwu Desert, he awoke and recounted discovering a blood-red force corrupting Dust-Sand Building Wood and driving the desert’s beast tides. His story left off as a powerful stream of blood-red energy approached him and Purple Eagle.

• Ning Fengzhi, Bibi Dong, and the Black Flame Army repelled a beast tide with modern weapons, then returned to camp.
• Murong Huai learned that Feng Fuyao had awakened and found him eating a feast after a year without food.
• Murong Huai asked Feng Fuyao what had injured him in the desert a year earlier, and Feng Fuyao began recounting his journey.
• Feng Fuyao sensed energy converging beneath the desert and saw that Dust-Sand Building Wood appeared blood-red, radiating bloodlust.
• Feng Fuyao found Purple Eagle and asked about the tree and the beast tides; Purple Eagle urged him to leave as a powerful blood-red energy stream approached.

Wind Dragon recounted his battle with the Soul Beast overlords of Dust-Sand Building Wood and a powerful divine heir Evil Soul Master, whose attacks left him gravely wounded before he escaped using a bloodline technique. He told Murong Huai that the desert beast tides were linked to the overlords and Evil Soul Masters, then began naming the Twin Holy Kings of the Sand Sea Desolation.

• Wind Dragon ignored Purple Eagle’s warning and attacked the black-robed Evil Soul Master, prompting the Sand Sea Thorn Tiger and Cloud-Swallowing Soul-Eroding Python to prepare to fight him.
• Sky-Splitting Void-Shattering Eagle attacked Wind Dragon under blood-red influence, briefly regained control, and urged him to flee.
• A masked Evil Soul Master emerged from a blood-red vortex and overwhelmed Wind Dragon with sword attacks, leaving him badly wounded.
• Wind Dragon explained to Murong Huai that the masked man was likely a Level 98 divine heir whose power could rival an ordinary Limit Douluo.
• Wind Dragon said he had escaped using a bloodline secret technique and confirmed that Soul Beast overlords and Evil Soul Masters were behind the beast tides around Cangwu Desert’s Qingdao.
• Wind Dragon began telling Murong Huai about the Twin Holy Kings of the Sand Sea Desolation.

Murong Huai investigated the violent Soul Beasts gathering around the Dust-Sand Building Wood, relying on Heavenly Condemnation’s divine power to evade them. He entered the enormous tree undetected to search for the cause of the evil energy.

• Wind Dragon told Murong Huai that the Twin Holy Kings of the Sand Sea Desolation were powerful Ferocious Beasts, yet they had allowed Evil Soul Masters to appear in the Cangwu Desert.
• Murong Huai revealed that Heavenly Condemnation could protect him, then told Wind Dragon to remain in command of the Black Flame Army and keep the empires’ forces in check.
• Murong Huai set out alone and found Soul Beasts across the Cangwu Desert unusually violent, with a Sand Wolf showing signs of evil energy infection.
• At the Dust-Sand Building Wood, Murong Huai found thousands of Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts guarding the area and asked Heavenly Condemnation to conceal him.
• Heavenly Condemnation hid Murong Huai from the Soul Beasts, and Murong Huai flew past them and entered the Dust-Sand Building Wood undetected.

Murong Huai entered the Dust-Sand Building Wood and discovered that evil energy was corrupting the sacred tree and draining the Primordial Desert-Splitting Viper. After the two Twin Holy Kings of the Sand Sea Desolation sensed him, he revealed himself and began to introduce himself as the Holy Son of the Spirit Hall.

• Murong Huai used the Heavenly Eye of Watching Ripples to see black-red evil energy coursing through the Dust-Sand Building Wood.
• Murong Huai descended through a Mist Barrier with Heavenly Condemnation's help and found the weakened Primordial Desert-Splitting Viper impaled by the tree's roots.
• The Desolate Sun-Swallowing Demon appeared and reported that he had found no one near the barrier.
• The Primordial Desert-Splitting Viper sensed Murong Huai, who withdrew Heavenly Condemnation's divine power and revealed himself.
• The Desolate Sun-Swallowing Demon prepared to attack Murong Huai, but the Primordial Desert-Splitting Viper stopped him and asked Murong Huai who he was.
• Murong Huai clasped his hands and began identifying himself as the Holy Son of the Spirit Hall.