Chapter Summaries

Zhou Qiubai searched Star Dou Forest for a speed-type Spirit Beast and killed a two-thousand-year Swift Wind Falcon. He absorbed its Soul Ring, completing his third ring.

• Zhou Qiubai entered Star Dou Forest to find a suitable speed-type Spirit Beast for his third Soul Ring.
• He avoided a Spirit Beast hunting party from the Azure Cloud Sect after hearing them discuss a powerful beast nearby.
• Zhou Qiubai found a Swift Wind Falcon in a valley and observed its landing pattern for an hour.
• He used barbed javelins coated with Paralysis Grass Juice and his White Clothes Sword to kill the Swift Wind Falcon.
• Zhou Qiubai absorbed the Falcon's thousand-year Soul Ring and completed his third Soul Ring.

After obtaining the Flowing Wind soul skill and finding a Swift Wind Falcon Spirit Bone, Zhou Qiubai chose to sell the bone rather than absorb it. He left the Star Dou Forest for Blue Stone Town, where he stabilized his cultivation and began planning how to sell the treasure and acquire a Storage Soul Tool.

• Zhou Qiubai tested Flowing Wind and found a speed-type right leg Spirit Bone in the Swift Wind Falcon's skull, but decided to sell it instead of absorbing it.
• Zhou Qiubai concealed the Spirit Bone, avoided danger in the Star Dou Forest for three more days, and then left the forest.
• Zhou Qiubai traveled to Blue Stone Town rather than Heaven Dou City and rented a room at an inn.
• Zhou Qiubai sorted the medicinal herbs he had gathered, considered selling the Spirit Bone to afford a Storage Soul Tool, and spent three days refining his Soul Power.
• Zhou Qiubai stabilized his Rank 31 realm and judged that he could fight a Soul King and potentially suppress a Soul Emperor, but could not contend with a Soul Saint.

Zhou Qiubai witnessed a black-clad spear-wielder rescue an elderly couple from five bandits in an abandoned village. The stranger left without giving his name, and Zhou Qiubai emerged to find the wounded bandits still groaning.

• Zhou Qiubai packed his medicinal herbs and concealed the Spirit Bone before leaving the inn for Heaven Dou City on foot.
• On the fifth afternoon, Zhou Qiubai heard an elderly couple being threatened by five bandits in an abandoned village.
• A black-clad young man with a spear killed the one-eyed bandit and wounded the other four in a swift fight.
• The young man returned the bandits' money to the elderly couple and left without revealing his name.
• Zhou Qiubai emerged from hiding, admired the stranger's spearwork, and left the wounded bandits where they lay.

Zhou Qiubai met the spear-wielding Yang Guyun after Yang defended an elderly couple, and the two agreed to travel together to Heaven Dou City. While resting in a cave, they exchanged introductions and began to learn about each other.

• Zhou Qiubai reassured the old couple, gave them dried rations, and followed Yang Guyun into the forest.
• Zhou Qiubai praised Yang Guyun’s spear technique, introduced himself, and invited him to travel together to Heaven Dou City.
• Yang Guyun agreed, and the two set off together before nightfall.
• At their cave campsite, Zhou Qiubai explained how he had chosen his name and told Yang Guyun that he was an orphan who had grown up without a family.
• Yang Guyun teased Zhou Qiubai about his carefully prepared introduction, then waited for Zhou Qiubai to hear his own story.

Yang Guyun told Zhou Qiubai how he left the Breaking Clan to pursue his own Spear Dao and demonstrated the first two forms of his No Return Spear Technique. Zhou Qiubai identified the lingering attachment that kept Yang Guyun from mastering the second form, leaving Yang Guyun to ponder his words.

• Yang Guyun explained that he had left the Breaking Clan because he refused to treat the spear as a tool and had named his mutated Soul Breaking Spear Returnless.
• Yang Guyun said he was traveling to Heaven Dou City to train and develop his own spear technique, the No Return Spear Technique.
• Yang Guyun demonstrated the first form, Go Without Return, piercing a hole through an ancient tree with a focused thrust.
• Yang Guyun demonstrated the second form, Abandon Self, stopping his spear just before Zhou Qiubai's throat.
• Zhou Qiubai told Yang Guyun that his concern about withdrawing the spear revealed he still held on to attachments, and Yang Guyun silently withdrew it.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun tested their sword and spear techniques, then spoke about their choices to pursue martial arts. Zhou Qiubai asked Yang Guyun to store a Spirit Bone for him, and Yang Guyun smiled as he considered the request.

• Yang Guyun admitted that he had attachments and said his third spear move, No Return, was still in its infancy.
• Zhou Qiubai drew his sword and used Dawn Wind and Waning Moon, forcing Yang Guyun to retreat before their sword and spear stopped inches from each other.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun acknowledged each other's skills and discussed why they had chosen their paths despite the costs.
• Zhou Qiubai examined Yang Guyun's Storage Soul Tool and asked if he could temporarily store some belongings in it.
• Zhou Qiubai revealed a Spirit Bone from Star Dou Forest and asked Yang Guyun if he dared to keep it, explaining that he wanted to sell it rather than absorb it.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun shared their belongings and continued toward Heaven Dou City after building trust during the night. Along the way, they discussed selling Zhou Qiubai’s Spirit Bone and buying a Storage Soul Tool, leaving for the city together on friendly terms.

• Yang Guyun returned Zhou Qiubai’s Spirit Bone, and they laid out their belongings before storing them together in Yang Guyun’s jade pendant.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun both fell asleep while Zhou Qiubai was meant to keep watch, then woke and prepared to travel onward.
• Yang Guyun gave Zhou Qiubai three Hundred Herb Pills before they left the forest and walked onto the main road.
• At a roadside tea stall, Yang Guyun advised Zhou Qiubai to buy a Storage Soul Tool and estimated that his Spirit Bone might sell for up to three hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins.
• Zhou Qiubai openly explained that he earned money honestly and spent it generously on others, earning Yang Guyun’s approval as they continued eastward.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun investigated a series of blood-draining deaths in White Stone Town and set a trap for the suspected Evil Soul Masters. They found two eerie Black-Robed Men attacking a young couple, and Zhou Qiubai kicked open the courtyard gate to confront them.

• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun arrived in deserted White Stone Town and learned that victims had been found drained of blood, while three Soul Masters sent to investigate had died.
• Zhou Qiubai concluded that an Evil Soul Master was responsible, and he and Yang Guyun decided to stay and stop the killings.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun planned to use themselves as bait, with Zhou tracking the attackers and Yang leading the fight.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun took watch over the western residential district and spotted two strange shadows gliding into a house.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun rushed to the house, where two Black-Robed Men were threatening a young couple, and Zhou kicked open the courtyard gate.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun fought three blood-draining enemies in a courtyard and killed them, despite the woman’s plea that she had only wanted to survive. After destroying the first two men’s sinister pills, they searched the woman and found Soul Coins, unreadable letters, and a ring.

• Yang Guyun killed one Black-Robed Man with his spear while Zhou Qiubai helped him corner the other.
• The wounded Black-Robed Man regenerated, but Yang Guyun killed him; his corpse exploded into poisonous black fog.
• A floating woman emerged from the fog and attacked Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun with regenerating tentacles.
• Zhou Qiubai marked the woman’s location with Sword Intent, allowing Yang Guyun to wound and then kill her with his spear.
• Zhou Qiubai destroyed the blood-red pills found on the first two Black-Robed Men, then searched the woman and found Gold Soul Coins, unreadable letters, and a ring.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun left White Stone Town with a storage ring and traveled toward the Ice-Sealed Forest, learning of its dangers along the way. After taking a quieter mountain route, they discovered guards transporting chained commoners toward a mine.

• Zhou Qiubai burned a booklet on blood cultivation and Blood Slaves, accepted a Storage Soul Tool from Yang Guyun, and reclaimed his stored belongings.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun left White Stone Town and continued east, joking about their fights and their habit of encountering trouble.
• At a tea stall, the owner warned them that the Ice-Sealed Forest was dangerous and told them the route through Black Stone City.
• The pair chose a quiet mountain path and stopped beside a stream, where they heard metal scraping nearby.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun found armed guards preparing to transport chained prisoners to the Northern Border Mine.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun rescued captives from a slave-hunting squad and learned the Marquis of the Northern Territory was forcing them to work in a Black Ice Iron Mine. They spared Scarface temporarily so he could lead them to the abandoned post station, where the next handoff was underway.

• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun ambushed Scarface's squad and killed its guards.
• Zhou Qiubai unlocked the captives and sent them south toward a village town.
• Scarface revealed that the Marquis's Third Young Master, Bing Wuhen, oversaw the slave operation and that captives were delivered to an abandoned post station.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun decided to kill those involved and made Scarface lead them to the handoff point.
• Three carriages entered the secluded valley near the abandoned post station.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun killed Bing Wuhen and his men at a relay station, uncovering evidence of a slave mine and learning its location. They planned to wait for another Slave Hunting Squad, then free the captives and destroy the mine before heading deeper into the Ice-Sealed Forest.

• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun attacked Bing Wuhen’s group, killing Bing Wuhen and the two Soul Kings while leaving the steward alive to question.
• Zhou Qiubai forced the steward to reveal the mine’s coordinates and the existence of three other Slave Hunting Squads, then killed him.
• Zhou Qiubai found an Ice Jade Token, a map, and a ledger documenting the slave trade among Bing Wuhen’s belongings.
• Zhou Qiubai decided to wait for another Slave Hunting Squad at the relay station before going to the mine and rescuing its captives.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun studied the Ice-Sealed Forest map, and Yang Guyun said he wanted a Spirit Beast with strong piercing power for his fourth Soul Ring.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun rescued civilians from a slave-hunting squad, then reached an Ice Bear mine and devised a plan to free its miners. Zhou Qiubai infiltrated the mine and began disabling its defenses while Yang Guyun drew the soldiers away, leaving the miners poised to escape.

• Zhou Qiubai advised Yang Guyun to postpone mastering Abandon Self's second move until he reached Soul King.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun ambushed a Slave Hunting Squad, killed its guards, and helped more than forty captured civilians escape.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun reached the Ice Bear mine and decided to draw its defenders away rather than attack directly.
• Yang Guyun lured the Soul King commander and most of the private soldiers into the forest while Zhou Qiubai infiltrated the valley and killed several overseers.
• Zhou Qiubai killed the head overseer, recruited Uncle Wang to organize the miners' escape, and began silently killing the watchtower sentries.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun freed the miners from the valley, then traveled to the Ice-Sealed Forest to hunt an Ice Crystal Pangolin. They found the five-thousand-year-old beast and wounded it, but the battle remained unresolved as they pulled back to regroup.

• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun helped Uncle Wang lead the miners in killing the overseers and private soldiers, then burned the mine camp.
• Zhou Qiubai sent the miners south into the Heaven Dou Empire before he and Yang Guyun headed northwest toward the Ice Crystal Pangolin’s habitat.
• Zhou Qiubai found a cave by listening for digging beneath the snow, and he and Yang Guyun discovered the sleeping pangolin inside.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun attacked the awakened pangolin, but its scales deflected Zhou Qiubai’s sword and its tail sent Yang Guyun flying.
• Yang Guyun pierced the pangolin’s hind-leg joint while Zhou Qiubai diverted its tail and then wounded its palm, forcing the two to retreat to the cavern’s edge.

Yang Guyun killed an Ice Crystal Pangolin, absorbed its nearly eight-thousand-year-old Soul Ring, and tested the piercing power of his new fourth Soul Skill. He and Zhou Qiubai decided to give the pangolin’s right arm Spirit Bone to the Breaking Clan before heading to a supply town for food.

• Zhou Qiubai distracted the Ice Crystal Pangolin while Yang Guyun pierced its mouth and killed it with the Returnless Spear.
• Yang Guyun absorbed the pangolin’s purple Soul Ring as Zhou Qiubai guarded him and recovered a right arm Spirit Bone.
• Yang Guyun tested his new piercing power, which had tripled, by thrusting through an ice wall without cracking it.
• Yang Guyun refused to absorb the incomplete Spirit Bone and chose to give it to the Breaking Clan, while Zhou Qiubai agreed not to claim it.
• Yang Guyun and Zhou Qiubai reached a supply town and ordered hot soup, stew, flatbreads, and homemade Burning Knife.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun met Shui Bing'er and Shui Yue'er in a tavern, where the sisters asked for help obtaining Shui Yue'er's third Soul Ring after a blizzard separated them from their clan. Zhou Qiubai accepted their offer and began asking about the Marquis Mansion's private soldiers.

• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun encountered Shui Bing'er and Shui Yue'er in a tavern in Soul Hunting Town.
• Shui Bing'er explained that an Ice Howl Wolf alpha had summoned a blizzard that scattered her clan members, and that the sisters planned to meet them at Cold Ice Lake.
• Shui Bing'er offered Zhou Qiubai two thousand Gold Soul Coins to help Shui Yue'er obtain her third Soul Ring, and Zhou Qiubai agreed to leave the next morning.
• Zhou Qiubai studied the sisters' map and asked whether they had encountered the Marquis Mansion's private soldiers in the forest.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun accepted the Shui sisters’ help after learning the Marquis Mansion was hunting them, then traveled with them toward Cold Ice Lake. On the way, they suspected the Shui Clan’s missing escort had been scattered by a deliberately amplified blizzard and prepared for an ambush.

• Shui Bing'er recognized Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun as the Soul Masters who destroyed the Marquis Mansion’s mine and warned them that a Soul Saint and three thousand soldiers were hunting them.
• Shui Bing'er offered the Shui Clan’s support and said they would use the mine’s account books to challenge the Marquis Mansion, while Zhou Qiubai agreed to leave after helping Shui Yue'er obtain a spirit ring.
• Zhou Qiubai told Yang Guyun he trusted the Shui sisters only partly and said the four of them would set out at dawn to face a wolf pack.
• The four traveled north through the snow toward Cold Ice Lake, and Shui Bing'er explained that her clan’s escort had been led by a Soul Emperor and included four Soul Kings and ten Soul Ancestors.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun concluded that someone had likely amplified the blizzard to scatter the Shui Clan’s escort, so Zhou Qiubai assigned the group a cautious formation.
• The four heard a stream ahead, and Shui Bing'er said it led upstream to Cold Ice Lake.

Zhou Qiubai, Yang Guyun, and Shui Bing'er traced the massacre of Shui Clan guards to a group holding survivors near the Ice Howl Wolf territory. They began an ambush to rescue the captives, with Zhou Qiubai moving to circle around as Yang Guyun attacked the guards.

• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun found twelve dead Shui Clan guards at Cold Ice Lake and evidence implicating the Ice Bear family.
• The group discovered tracks showing that at least five men had been dragged northeast, and Shui Bing'er pleaded with Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun to help find them.
• Zhou Qiubai sent Shui Yue'er to wait at camp while he, Yang Guyun, and Shui Bing'er followed the tracks into thick fog.
• Zhou Qiubai sensed seven Soul Masters ahead and Shui Bing'er confirmed that her clansmen were among them, alive and imprisoned in a barred cave.
• Yang Guyun ambushed the guards with his Returnless Spear, killing a Soul King as Zhou Qiubai began to move.

Zhou Qiubai, Yang Guyun, and Shui Bing'er rescued Wang Zhen and the Shui Clan guards, only to discover that the Ice Wolf Soul Saint had lured them into a trap. They retreated into a cave against the summoned wolf pack, where the Soul Saint transformed into his Martial Soul Avatar and prepared to attack.

• White Clothes, Shui Bing'er, and Yang Guyun killed the patrolling Soul Ancestors and captured the remaining Snow Wolf Soul King.
• Zhou Qiubai freed Shui Bing'er’s imprisoned uncle Wang Zhen and five injured Shui Clan guards, but Wang warned that they had walked into a trap.
• The Ice Wolf Soul Saint confronted the group and used his wolf pup to summon the Wolf King and over a hundred Ice Howl Wolves.
• Zhou Qiubai led the others into the cave, where Yang Guyun, Shui Bing'er, Wang Zhen, and the guards fought off the wolves.
• The Ice Wolf Soul Saint activated his Martial Soul Avatar, transformed into a giant wolf, and froze the ground around the cave.

After Wang Zhen died protecting Shui Bing'er, Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun fought the Ice Wolf Soul Saint to buy time. Zhou Qiubai found a weakness in the Soul Saint’s Soul Power circulation and prepared to strike while Shui Bing'er restrained it.

• Wang Zhen used Martial Soul Blood Burning and his strongest attack against the Ice Wolf Avatar, but the Ice Wolf Soul Saint killed him.
• Shui Bing'er erupted with killing intent and tried to charge the enemy, but Zhou Qiubai stopped her and asked Yang Guyun how long he could hold out.
• Shui Bing'er gave Zhou Qiubai Ice Ring Armor, and he joined Yang Guyun in attacking the Ice Wolf Avatar, wounding its abdomen with the White Clothes Sword.
• The Ice Wolf Soul Saint drew power from the moonlight and unleashed a storm of ice spikes, injuring Yang Guyun as he protected the cave entrance.
• Zhou Qiubai used Listen to Rain to locate a core node in the Soul Saint’s Soul Power circulation and asked Shui Bing'er to hold it still with her strongest Ice Seal.
• Shui Bing'er sent her Ice Phoenix into the Ice Wolf Avatar, slowing it and cracking its Ice Crystal Armor.