Chapter Summaries

Zhou Qiubai understood that the gray shadows were the lingering grievances of the town and purified them with a massive release of Soul Power. He collapsed from exhaustion as Yang Guyun caught him, while the townspeople realized the oppressive chill had vanished.

• Zhou Qiubai told Yang Guyun he understood the gray shadows and prepared to purify them with his Soul Power.
• Zhou Qiubai unleashed the light of both swords, which swept through the town and completely dispersed the gray shadows.
• After the light faded, Zhou Qiubai ran out of Soul Power and collapsed into Yang Guyun's arms, and Yang Guyun said it was done.
• An old man mistook the bright moon for a new trick by the ghosts and hurriedly shut his window.
• The innkeeper recognized the two youths in the street and called for Old Liu to come out.
• The old physician felt the air and declared that the chill was gone, his hands trembling with excitement.

After Yang Guyun and Zhou Qiubai defeated the haunting, the townspeople overcame their fear and celebrated their freedom. The innkeeper offered them free lodging, and Zhou Qiubai accepted three more days with meals included.

• The innkeeper and the old physician told the townspeople that Yang Guyun and Zhou Qiubai had wiped out the menace, but some residents doubted the pair’s sudden arrival.
• A traveling merchant recognized Yang Guyun and Zhou Qiubai from the Soul Master Tournament and praised their strength, persuading the skeptics.
• The innkeeper pointed out that the townspeople could finally stand together in the street at night, prompting them to remember their losses and celebrate their freedom.
• The innkeeper offered Yang Guyun and Zhou Qiubai free rooms, and Zhou Qiubai asked to stay three more days with meals included.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun joined the town’s residents in celebrating after the danger passed, and Zhou asked the innkeeper why the strange beings hated Soul Masters. The innkeeper explained how the town’s prosperity ended after its residents saved a wounded Fallen Soul Master, then Spirit Hall’s pursuit team killed him and punished the town for helping him.

• Zhou Qiubai recovered and asked the innkeeper for more food, while Yang Guyun practiced spear techniques in the courtyard.
• The townspeople confirmed the danger had disappeared and gathered at the inn for a celebratory feast.
• Zhou Qiubai asked why the town’s strange attackers hated Soul Masters, and the innkeeper began recounting the town’s past.
• The innkeeper described how the town once prospered as a busy stop for merchants and travelers.
• The townspeople nursed a badly wounded Soul Master back to health, unaware that he was a Fallen Soul Master who had massacred a village.
• Spirit Hall’s pursuit team killed the man, then declared the town complicit in sheltering him and crippled its young and able-bodied residents, many of whom died.

Zhou Qiubai explained that the Gray Shadows were trying to protect the town, not take revenge, and urged the innkeeper to stop blaming himself for saving the hunted man. The innkeeper began to accept that the tragedy arose from bad timing and uncertainty, then asked Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun where they planned to go.

• Zhou Qiubai told the innkeeper that the Gray Shadows targeted Soul Masters because they believed they were protecting the town, while avoiding harm to its residents.
• The innkeeper recalled that the Gray Shadows had never hurt townspeople and admitted he had feared believing they were not acting out of revenge.
• Yang Guyun said the Soul Masters had not died for nothing, and Zhou Qiubai told the innkeeper he was not responsible for their deaths because he had only saved a person in danger.
• Zhou Qiubai questioned whether Spirit Hall’s Black-Robed Man had told the truth about the rescued Evil Soul Master slaughtering a village.
• The innkeeper accepted that the past had no clear right or wrong and called the tragedy bad timing, then asked Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun about their plans.

After Zhou Qiubai recovered, he and Yang Guyun left town for Canghai City, choosing a forest route in hopes of finding powerful Spirit Beasts. They found no suitable prey and continued toward the remote city, where old forests might still hold what they needed.

• The innkeeper told Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun that Canghai City divided Soul Masters and commoners between Upper Cliff and Lower Cliff, with equal treatment and an assessment for those seeking to ascend.
• After Zhou Qiubai’s left arm healed, he and Yang Guyun learned that a forest shortcut could save two days but might contain Thousand-Year Spirit Beasts, so they chose the route.
• The innkeeper gave Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun dried rations as they left town, and the old physician told them to be careful.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun searched the forest for Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Beasts but found only weaker beasts, which avoided them.
• After two days of travel, Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun asked at two Soul Hunting Towns and received roughly the same answer.

Still recovering from their injuries, Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun abandoned the risky search near Potou Mountain and headed toward Canghai City, where they heard about an abandoned Spirit Beast breeding ground. They entered the old hunting ground, while far away Tang San emerged from waterfall training as a Ten Thousand Year Sword Bamboo dissolved before him.

• Zhou Qiubai decided that he and Yang Guyun were too injured to hunt near Soul-Severing Ravine and chose to seek Spirit Beast resources in Canghai City instead.
• As they traveled, Zhou Qiubai gathered rumors about Canghai City's powerful Acting City Lord, Twelve Guards, and Hundred-Story Pagoda.
• At Luoma Market, Zhou Qiubai heard that an abandoned Spirit Hall breeding ground twenty li south might still contain old Spirit Beasts, and he and Yang Guyun decided to investigate after resting overnight.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun reached the vast, ruined breeding ground and found the remains of its old Hunting Ground inscription.
• Elsewhere, Tang San rose from a waterfall pool after training as a Ten Thousand Year Sword Bamboo dissolved into motes of light.

Tang San chose to seek power in the Capital of Slaughter and left a message for Tang Hao before departing. Meanwhile, Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun discovered a powerful Spirit Beast beneath an abandoned breeding ground and suspected it was guarding something.

• Tang San defeated the Sword Bamboo with Hidden Weapons, Blue Silver Grass, and the Godly Zhuge Crossbow, then reflected on his strength and unfinished training.
• Tang San decided to go to the Capital of Slaughter rather than visit Moonlight Pavilion or the Clear Sky Sect first.
• Tang San gathered Tang Hao's emergency supplies, left a message on the cave wall, and departed for the Capital of Slaughter.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun sensed a ten-thousand-year-level Spirit Beast hiding beneath a crack in an abandoned breeding ground.
• Zhou Qiubai concluded that the Spirit Beast was guarding something.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun discovered that a Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Beast was hiding beneath a fissure in the abandoned breeding ground. The Rhino emerged to confront them after Zhou Qiubai marked the site, determined to protect a precious treasure it had guarded for a century.

• Zhou Qiubai judged that the fissure had been violently created and decided to mark it before returning with Yang Guyun to Canghai City.
• A roar and violent tremors came from below, and a gigantic Rhino burst out of the fissure into the clearing.
• Zhou Qiubai praised the Rhino's patience, but the Spirit Beast grew angry and gathered Soul Power around its amber horn.
• The Rhino recalled that it had escaped into an underground cave as a Thousand-Year Spirit Beast, found a treasure that accelerated its cultivation, and guarded the earth-vein ore for a hundred years.
• After Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun marked the fissure and prepared to return, the Rhino revealed itself to stop them from coming back for the treasure.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun fought a Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Beast Rhino whose powerful attacks and mineralized Rock Armor made it difficult to injure. They recognized that the Rhino was trying to exhaust their Soul Power, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• The Rhino charged Zhou Qiubai, but he dodged while Yang Guyun vaulted over it, and the two repositioned to cover each other.
• The Rhino stomped out a shockwave that Zhou Qiubai evaded, then fired a beam from its horn that Yang Guyun deflected with the Returnless Spear.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun noticed that the Rhino's attacks were forceful but its movements and turns were awkward from a century underground.
• The two fighters stepped back as the Rhino held its ground, and Yang Guyun realized it was trying to wear them down by draining their Soul Power.

Yang Guyun and Zhou Qiubai combined their spear and sword intents to trap the Rhino and unleash a devastating attack. Their sword qi reached the immobilized Spirit Beast, leaving the outcome of the battle unresolved.

• Yang Guyun used the Returnless Spear to form a silver wandering dragon that pressured the Rhino.
• Zhou Qiubai unleashed a waterfall-like sword technique as the Rhino prepared to fight back.
• Yang Guyun and Zhou Qiubai synchronized their powers in an Intent Fusion Skill, with the dragon trapping the Rhino and Zhou Qiubai's sword delivering the attack.
• The wandering dragon encircled the Rhino and blocked its escape while Zhou Qiubai's sword qi descended over it.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun killed the mutated Rhino, and Zhou Qiubai absorbed its forty-thousand-year Soul Ring to gain his fifth Soul Skill, Jinghong. Before leaving the fissure, they discovered signs of a vast underground cavity and realized something else was hidden below.

• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun overwhelmed the Rhino with sword energy and dragon-body compression, killing it and revealing its black Soul Ring.
• Yang Guyun noticed the Rhino's unusual hide patterns, and Zhou Qiubai recognized that it had undergone a beneficial mutation.
• Zhou Qiubai absorbed the Soul Ring, gained the fifth Soul Skill Jinghong, and rose from level fifty to level fifty-one.
• Yang Guyun began dissecting the Rhino while Zhou Qiubai decided they would leave the fissure unexplored for now and return after visiting Canghai City.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun examined the fissure and found evidence of deep geothermal heat, a large hidden cavity, and a concealed entrance.
• Yang Guyun concluded that something else was down there.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun concealed the fissure beneath the breeding ground and continued toward Canghai City. Along the way, they learned that Landlord Tian's household had been massacred, and Zhou Qiubai inspected the scene, concluding that the killer was not a professional assassin.

• Zhou Qiubai decided to mark and camouflage the fissure until he and Yang Guyun could investigate it safely later.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun traveled for three days and learned from an old man in Shi Mo that Landlord Tian and twenty-five others had been slaughtered.
• Zhou Qiubai deduced that the killer was likely at least a Soul Elder and had acted out of revenge, but he told Yang Guyun to leave the matter alone.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun reached Tian Family Ditch near evening, where Zhou Qiubai examined Landlord Tian's residence and judged that the killer's methods were clean but his mindset unstable.

Yang Guyun and Zhou Qiubai continued east toward Canghai City, helping people harmed by powerful landowners and learning about the city and its tower from travelers. They left Wanghai Market with new information about Canghai Tower’s trials and the formidable City Lord Dantai.

• Yang Guyun found a broken wooden token marked with the character Liu and kept it.
• Zhou Qiubai gave an old farmer five Gold Soul Coins after learning that Landlord Li had taken over the farmer’s leased land.
• Yang Guyun subdued two young noblemen and their guards after they injured an old woman, and Zhou Qiubai made them compensate her and the vendors whose stalls they had damaged.
• At an inn in Wanghai Market, Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun heard travelers claim that City Lord Dantai had thrown out two Title Douluo with one hand.
• Zhou Qiubai asked the travelers about Canghai City and learned that Canghai Tower’s varied trials had defeated even a level ninety-five Spirit Hall elder.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun reached Canghai City, whose peaceful rules were protected by formidable power, and noticed the entrance plaque named the place Lower Cliff instead. They met Zhao Laoliu at a tea stall, who recognized them as tournament champions and began discussing the plaque.

• A merchant explained to Zhou Qiubai that Canghai City's founders had established rules against bullying, enforced by the city's powerful guardians.
• After four days of travel, Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun saw the sea, the city, and the imposing white tower on Upper Cliff.
• The two reached the ungated entrance and examined the battle scars on the wall, which Yang Guyun judged had been made by experts of at least level ninety-five.
• Zhou Qiubai noticed that the plaque above the entrance read Lower Cliff rather than Canghai City.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun accepted tea from Zhao Laoliu, who recognized them as the White Clothes Sword and the Returnless Spear and asked whether they had been studying the plaque.

Zhou Qiubai learned how Canghai City was divided between Lower Cliff and Upper Cliff and heard how Zhao Laoliu had come to live as a tea seller despite being a Soul Elder. Zhao Laoliu revealed that he had fled to Lower Cliff after killing a noble household in revenge for his childhood sweetheart, and his story remained unfinished.

• Zhao Laoliu explained that Canghai City included Lower Cliff, where ordinary people lived, and Upper Cliff, where Soul Masters gathered and Canghai Tower stood.
• Zhou Qiubai recognized Zhao Laoliu's Storage Soul Tool, and Zhao Laoliu admitted he was a level forty-two Soul Elder with a Flying Feather Swallow Martial Soul.
• Zhao Laoliu said he valued Lower Cliff's simple equality between Soul Masters and ordinary people, while Yang Guyun noted that life outside was different.
• Zhao Laoliu recounted how poverty had made it difficult for him to advance as a commoner Soul Master, though a minor noble eventually hired him as a retainer.
• Zhao Laoliu said the young master of the household had forcibly taken his childhood sweetheart, who later died by suicide.
• Zhao Laoliu killed the young master, the household's guards and steward, and the old master before fleeing; the noble family was a branch of a major imperial clan.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun heard Zhao Laoliu explain how he fled persecution and found a peaceful life at Lower Cliff in Canghai City. They entered the city believing its people truly belonged there, while Zhao Laoliu sensed that Canghai City’s long-awaited true master might soon arrive.

• Zhao Laoliu told Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun how nobles framed him, drove his parents to their deaths, and forced him to flee before he settled in Canghai City.
• Zhao Laoliu explained that Lower Cliff welcomed Soul Masters seeking rest and ordinary lives, while Upper Cliff welcomed those seeking to advance in the Soul Master world.
• Zhao Laoliu said Spirit Hall’s Lower Cliff branch only awakened children’s Martial Souls and held no real authority in the self-sufficient city.
• Zhao Laoliu refused payment for their first bowl of tea and wished Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun success in challenging the Tower.
• Zhao Laoliu privately believed the pair were extraordinary and that the true master awaited by Canghai City might finally be coming.
• Yang Guyun and Zhou Qiubai left the tea stall, reflecting on Zhao Laoliu’s sincerity and the sense of belonging among Lower Cliff’s residents.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun explored Canghai City and found Soul Masters and ordinary people living together without status or fear. A blacksmith recognized them from the Soul Master Tournament finals and welcomed them because he had enjoyed their fight.

• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun entered Canghai City and saw Soul Masters mingling with ordinary people without special deference.
• Zhou Qiubai observed powerful Soul Masters working as vendors and neighbors, while residents treated them as equals.
• Yang Guyun said the city’s people did not need to curry favor with one another, and Zhou Qiubai explained that the strongest force upheld the city’s order.
• The two walked through the market to the harbor, where Yang Guyun said he liked the city.
• A burly blacksmith recognized Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun from the tournament finals and said he greeted them because he had enjoyed their match.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun found lodging at Listening to the Waves Inn, where owner Tong An explained Canghai City's independence from outside powers and its everyday equality. Tong An showed them their rooms, and Zhou Qiubai asked what had kept him running the inn for ten years.

• Tie Laosan recommended that Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun stay at Listening to the Waves Inn and told them to give his name.
• Tong An welcomed the pair, offered them two free rooms, and explained that the inn served Soul Masters and ordinary visitors alike.
• Tong An described how Spirit Hall's branch hall in Canghai City had become little more than a local service for awakening Martial Souls.
• Zhou Qiubai reflected on the city's everyday equality and told Tong An that its atmosphere felt familiar yet hard to believe.
• Tong An led Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun upstairs, and Zhou Qiubai asked why Tong An had run the inn for ten years.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun learned that Canghai City welcomed them for who they were, while Acting City Lord Dantai Canglan prepared to meet them as they came to challenge Canghai Tower. Dantai ordered the Twelve Guards to face them together and without holding back the next day.

• Tong An explained that he had opened his inn so travelers could find shelter and a hot meal, and said Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun were welcome because they were different from other guests.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun agreed that Canghai City's hospitality depended on the guests themselves, not their power.
• Dantai Canglan discussed Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun's arrival with Lu Qinghou and noted their restraint, their manners, and Zhou Qiubai's reaction to a free stay.
• Dantai told Lu Qinghou that Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun had come to challenge Canghai Tower and ordered all twelve guards to face them together.
• Dantai cited the two young men's victory over Tang Hao as reason not to treat them like ordinary challengers, and ordered the guards to give everything they had.

Dantai Canglan decided that Tang San and his companion might be worthy of challenging Canghai Tower because they understood the city. In the Capital of Slaughter, Tang San discovered that his Eight Spider Lances could absorb life force and used them to recover before winning a Hell Slaughter Arena match.

• Dantai Canglan said he would not stop qualified challengers who looked at the city with their hearts.
• Tang San killed two men in the Capital of Slaughter and took their Hell Slaughter Arena entry tokens.
• Tang San found that the Capital of Slaughter suppressed his Mysterious Heaven Skill and slowed his Soul Power recovery.
• Tang San used his Eight Spider Lances to absorb life force from a corpse, restoring Soul Power and slightly increasing his cultivation.
• Tang San entered the Hell Slaughter Arena and defeated One-Eyed Dragon with his movement techniques and Godly Zhuge Crossbow.
• Tang San took One-Eyed Dragon's token, stored the corpse in his Storage Soul Tool, and left the arena.