Chapter Summaries

Yu Yan took Xiao Wu to the academy library and tried to steer her toward a stronger development path for her Soft Bone Rabbit Martial Soul. After Xiao Wu explained that she planned to choose Soul Skills that enhanced Soft Technique, Yu Yan was poised to challenge her plan.

• Yu Yan and Xiao Wu settled into rooms on opposite sides of the sixth-floor stairs, then explored Balak Junior Soul Master Academy.
• Yu Yan stopped Xiao Wu from confronting noble students who looked down on commoners and took her to the library to study.
• Yu Yan persuaded Xiao Wu to read two pages of Soft Bone Rabbit Soul Master Cultivation Insights while he researched soul beasts suited to his own development.
• Yu Yan decided Xiao Wu should build her fighting style around her powerful defensive and mobility abilities instead of relying mainly on Soft Technique.
• Xiao Wu told Yu Yan that she had already chosen her First Spirit Skill and planned to enhance Soft Technique by increasing her waist strength and flexibility.

Yu Yan persuaded Xiao Wu to choose an all-attribute boost for her First Spirit Skill, and she agreed to rely on his advice for future skills. Xiao Wu nearly exposed her identity as a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast but accepted Yu Yan's cover story and left reassured that he would not suspect her.

• Xiao Wu explained that her First Spirit Skill could strengthen her waist and flexibility, and Yu Yan asked how its effects would grow with each level.
• After learning the skill gained one percent per level, Yu Yan argued that an all-attribute boost would be more versatile than a specialized bonus.
• Xiao Wu agreed to choose an all-attribute boost and asked Yu Yan to help plan her future spirit skills.
• Xiao Wu realized her unusual knowledge had nearly revealed her nature, but Yu Yan told her to pass it off as a fantasy.
• Xiao Wu asked what he would think if she obtained an all-attribute spirit skill, and Yu Yan casually said it would mean she was lucky.

Yu Yan and Xiao Wu attended their first classes at Balak Junior Soul Master Academy, then cultivated Moon Essence and Purple Qi outside the city. Yu Yan broke through to level ten, and Xiao Wu ended the chapter asking whether his unusual cultivation had been dangerous.

• Yu Yan and Xiao Wu found their academy’s introductory classes dull, and Yu Yan absorbed the lessons while Xiao Wu read about Soul Masters and travel.
• Yu Yan gave Xiao Wu a travel journal, and they promised to visit the places it described together.
• Yu Yan and Xiao Wu left Balaque City on a full-moon night to cultivate Moon Essence at a secluded hill.
• Yu Yan balanced the Moon Essence in his body with Purple Qi, formed Sun and Moon Essence, and broke through to level ten.
• Xiao Wu worried when frost covered Yu Yan, then asked him if he had been doing something dangerous.

Yu Yan told Xiao Wu he had reached level ten and planned to travel with Brother Yu Qingfeng to Sunset Forest to obtain a Soul Ring. After the academy verified his Soul Power and approved his leave, he declined its offer to help, leaving with Xiao Wu still at school.

• Xiao Wu scolded Yu Yan for taking a dangerous risk and asked him to discuss risky plans with her beforehand, but he would not promise more than to do his best.
• Yu Yan told Xiao Wu he had reached level ten and planned to hunt for a Soul Ring with Brother Yu Qingfeng, and he rejected her request to come along.
• Xiao Wu agreed to stay at the academy and secretly planned to surprise Yu Yan by condensing her own Soul Ring while he was away.
• Yu Yan requested leave at the Academic Affairs Office, where a Soul Power testing crystal ball confirmed he had reached level ten.
• The Academic Affairs Office teacher offered to help Yu Yan choose and hunt for a Soul Ring and asked how he cultivated so quickly, but Yu Yan declined and attributed his progress to Martial Soul Mutation.

Yu Yan visited Yu Qingfeng to ask for help hunting his first Soul Ring after reaching level ten in just over three months. He chose an Ice and Fire Sub-Dragon Lizard suited to his Ice and Fire Twin Fish Martial Soul, and Yu Qingfeng agreed to set out that afternoon.

• Xiao Wu returned to the academy, went to the library, and tried not to think about Yu Yan while reading Travels of the Soul King.
• Yu Yan found Yu Qingfeng's home, learned that he would return at noon, and waited nearby in a teahouse.
• Yu Qingfeng arrived with his wife, Li Rong, and Yu Yan told him he had reached level ten.
• Yu Qingfeng accepted Yu Yan's explanation that his Martial Soul mutation sped up his cultivation and agreed to help him hunt a Soul Ring that afternoon.
• Yu Yan told Yu Qingfeng he wanted an Ice and Fire Sub-Dragon Lizard from the outskirts of Sunset Forest for his first Soul Ring.

Yu Yan settled on an Ice and Fire Sub-Dragon Lizard for his first spirit ring and convinced Yu Qingfeng and Li Rong that he could safely absorb one near the age limit. The group gathered reinforcements and prepared to leave Balaque City to hunt the Soul Beast.

• Yu Yan chose the Ice and Fire Sub-Dragon Lizard as his target, and Yu Qingfeng agreed to help despite warning that it was dangerous.
• Yu Yan insisted on a Soul Ring close to the first-ring age limit of 423 years, reassuring Yu Qingfeng and Li Rong that he was prepared to absorb it.
• Yu Qingfeng went to recruit a friend while Li Rong arranged care for her son, and Yu Yan waited at Balaque City's north gate.
• Yu Qingfeng arrived with Li Rong and their friend Ma Zhiyu, a two-ring assault-type Battle Soul Master, to join the hunt.

Yu Yan and his companions traveled into Sunset Forest to find a roughly four-hundred-year-old Ice and Fire Sub-Dragon Lizard. Yu Qingfeng and Ma Zhiyu fought the beast while Li Rong supported them, leaving Yu Yan watching from a safe distance as they battered it.

• Yu Qingfeng taught Yu Yan about surviving in Sunset Forest, and the group bought information about the Ice and Fire Sub-Dragon Lizard's territory from a local broker.
• The group entered Sunset Forest, avoided fighting a Sharp-Tusk Black Pig, and followed a map to a long, narrow valley.
• Yu Yan and his companions found the Ice and Fire Sub-Dragon Lizard beside a lake, and Yu Qingfeng told Yu Yan to stay safely away from the fight.
• Li Rong enhanced Yu Qingfeng and Ma Zhiyu with her White Flag Fluttering skill as the two men attacked the beast.
• Ma Zhiyu wounded the lizard's eyes and interrupted its flames, while Yu Qingfeng pounded its back until its ice armor and scales began to break.

Yu Yan absorbed the Ice and Fire Sub-Dragon Lizard's Soul Ring, which transformed his Ice and Fire Twin Fish and raised his strength. He revealed that the ring had given him two Soul Skills, then Yu Qingfeng asked him to demonstrate them.

• Yu Qingfeng and Ma Zhiyu defeated the Ice and Fire Sub-Dragon Lizard, and Yu Yan delivered the killing blows.
• Yu Yan absorbed the beast's Hundred-Year Yellow Soul Ring while Yu Qingfeng, Ma Zhiyu, and Li Rong watched.
• During the absorption, the Ice and Fire Twin Fish divided and absorbed the beast's fiery and frigid energies, transforming as Yu Yan broke through the level-ten barrier.
• Yu Yan awoke after dark, taller and more than twice as strong, and told the others that his first Soul Ring had granted him two Soul Skills.
• Yu Yan explained that the skills were different manifestations of one ability, and Yu Qingfeng asked him to demonstrate his Soul Skill.

Yu Yan demonstrated the defensive and offensive Spirit Skills he gained from the Ice and Fire Sub-Dragon Lizard and left Sunset Forest with Yu Qingfeng, Li Rong, and Ma Zhiyu. After returning to Balaque City, he parted from them to register his Soul Master rank and thought of Xiao Wu.

• Yu Yan summoned Frost Armor and showed how it could form around his whole body or as a separate arm guard.
• Yu Yan and Yu Qingfeng tested the armor, finding that it resisted a dagger and several powerful punches before breaking.
• Yu Yan demonstrated Scorching Breath, which melted the shattered armor fragments, and Yu Qingfeng praised his two Spirit Skills.
• The group left Sunset Forest and sold the Ice and Fire Sub-Dragon Lizard's corpse, while Yu Yan kept its horn to measure its age.
• Three days later, Yu Yan parted from Yu Qingfeng, Li Rong, and Ma Zhiyu in Balaque City to visit Spirit Hall, then thought of Xiao Wu when he saw candied hawthorn.

Yu Yan registered as a Soul Master at Spirit Hall, learned he could collect a monthly Gold Soul Coin, and declined an invitation to join. Back at Balak Junior Soul Master Academy, he found Xiao Wu in the library and gave her candied hawthorn, which she enjoyed.

• Yu Yan submitted his Awakening Certificate, displayed the Ice and Fire Twin Fish and his Soul Ring, and tested at Soul Power rank 12.
• The Spirit Hall elder gave Yu Yan a Soul Master badge and explained the monthly Gold Soul Coin subsidy, then invited him to join Spirit Hall.
• Yu Yan declined to join any major power and left Spirit Hall.
• After failing to find Xiao Wu in the dormitory, Yu Yan found her reading Soul King's Travelogue in the library and offered her candied hawthorn.
• Xiao Wu remembered a passage about gifts that represented longing, ate the candied hawthorn, and told Yu Yan it was sweet and delicious.

Yu Yan told Xiao Wu about his trip to Sunset Forest and revealed that his first Soul Ring might exceed the usual age limit and had granted him two spirit skills. Xiao Wu then claimed she had become a One-Ring Soul Master with a powerful amplification skill, and Yu Yan advised her to get certified at Spirit Hall.

• Yu Yan explained that his Ice and Fire Sub-Dragon Lizard Soul Ring was over four hundred years old and that he had gained Frost Scale Armor and Scorching Breath from it.
• Xiao Wu resolved to accompany Yu Yan on future hunts so she could stop him from taking reckless risks.
• Xiao Wu showed Yu Yan her Soul Ring and told him a story about accidentally killing a Rabbit Soul Beast and absorbing its ring.
• Xiao Wu said her First Spirit Skill provided forty-five percent All-Attribute Amplification, increasing by one percent with each level.
• Yu Yan advised Xiao Wu to go to Spirit Hall for her Soul Master rank advancement certification, and she agreed.

Yu Yan and Xiao Wu sparred at Balak Junior Soul Master Academy, testing their spirit skills and injuring each other before seeking treatment from Fang Chunlan. After recovering, they promised to be more careful, though their fierce daily sparring was likely to continue.

• Yu Yan invited Xiao Wu to spar, and she agreed so they could compare their strength after gaining spirit skills.
• Xiao Wu attacked with Full Amplification while Yu Yan used Frost Scale Armor to defend, and their exchanges revealed the armor's strength and limited mobility.
• Yu Yan used Scorching Breath to pressure Xiao Wu, then she seized his arm and threw him to the floor with her Soft Technique.
• Yu Yan and Xiao Wu stopped sparring with bruises and soreness, then went to Fang Chunlan for healing.
• Fang Chunlan treated them with her herb Martial Soul, and Yu Yan and Xiao Wu promised to be more careful next time.

Fang Chunlan discovered battle damage in the training room and realized Yu Yan and Xiao Wu were already Soul Masters, prompting her to report them for special attention. After earning their Spirit Hall badges and subsidy, Yu Yan and Xiao Wu joined the Soul Master Guild and looked over ways to earn money before returning to the academy.

• Fang Chunlan saw Soul Master battle marks in the training room Yu Yan and Xiao Wu had used and hurried to tell the academy about their talent.
• Yu Yan and Xiao Wu received Soul Master certification and a Gold Soul Coin subsidy at Spirit Hall.
• Xiao Wu used her first earned Gold Soul Coin to treat Yu Yan to lunch in Balaque City.
• Yu Yan and Xiao Wu registered as members of the Soul Master Guild and learned about its task categories.
• Yu Yan browsed the available tasks, chose the kind he planned to accept later, and returned to the academy with Xiao Wu.

Yu Yan practiced combining his Ice and Fire Twin Fish Martial Souls and discussed the possibility of a fusion skill with Xiao Wu. Their class was interrupted so Balak Kingdom representatives could recruit them, and the chapter ended as Teacher Sun described the rewards for joining.

• Yu Yan practiced bringing the Ice and Fire Twin Fish together, but exhausted himself before they could truly fuse.
• Yu Yan slept through a rainy morning, then woke to find Xiao Wu reading and breakfast waiting for him.
• On the way to class, Yu Yan told Xiao Wu he was investigating whether his unusual Martial Souls could perform a fusion skill.
• Teacher Sun and Fang Chunlan called Yu Yan and Xiao Wu from class after learning they had become Soul Masters.
• Teacher Sun invited Yu Yan and Xiao Wu to join the Balak Kingdom and offered cultivation resources, future Soul Rings, and noble titles with fiefs if they reached Soul Elder.

Yu Yan and Xiao Wu declined Sun Qian’s offer to join the Balak Kingdom because it would require them to obey its orders, but they agreed to join Balaque Academy’s Team Reserve Member Program. Afterward, Yu Yan explained why Fang Chunlan had advised them to join the kingdom, and Xiao Wu accepted his point of view.

• Yu Yan asked Sun Qian what joining the Balak Kingdom would cost, and Sun Qian explained that they would have to serve the kingdom and obey the king’s orders.
• Yu Yan and Xiao Wu declined to join the Balak Kingdom for now, and Sun Qian offered them places in Balaque Academy’s Team Reserve Member Program.
• Sun Qian explained that the program offered cultivation resources in exchange for potentially representing Balaque Academy at the Continental Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament, and Yu Yan and Xiao Wu agreed to join.
• Yu Yan and Xiao Wu revealed their Martial Souls and Hundred-Year Yellow Soul Rings, and Sun Qian left to submit their names for approval.
• Fang Chunlan urged Yu Yan and Xiao Wu to reconsider joining the Balak Kingdom, but Yu Yan repeated his refusal.
• Yu Yan explained that Fang Chunlan and Old Man Yu could mean well while favoring a path he did not want, and Xiao Wu said she understood.

Yu Yan and Xiao Wu accepted a Soul Master Guild request to investigate mysterious nighttime roars near Stone Mill Village, then waited in the mountains for nightfall. Xiao Wu located the source of a strange cry, and they moved toward it.

• Yu Yan accepted Stone Mill Village’s request and traveled there with Xiao Wu.
• Yu Yan questioned Village Chief Shi, learned the roars came from the eastern mountains, and complained with Xiao Wu about the villagers’ rambling.
• Yu Yan and Xiao Wu searched the mountains by day, found nothing, and decided to wait until night.
• Yu Yan cooked beggar’s chicken while Xiao Wu caught mountain chickens and ate two of them.
• A strange cry sounded after dark, and Xiao Wu used her Soft Bone Rabbit’s hearing to pinpoint its source.

Yu Yan and Xiao Wu killed an unfamiliar Human-Faced Cicada on a mountain near Stone Mill Village. Following its last movements, they found a newly opened crack in the rocks and entered it to investigate what might have caused a wild creature to become a Soul Beast.

• Yu Yan cautiously identified the strange creature as a Human-Faced Cicada and planned an ambush with Xiao Wu.
• Xiao Wu drew the Human-Faced Cicada's attention with a pebble, and Yu Yan struck its wings with Scorching Breath.
• Yu Yan confirmed the Human-Faced Cicada was dead and noticed it had crawled toward a nearby rocky crack.
• Yu Yan widened the crack, tested the passage with a pebble, and led Xiao Wu inside.

Yu Yan and Xiao Wu discovered Stone Jade Milk in the cave where the Human-Faced Cicada had been born, and Xiao Wu explained how to use it to improve their bodies. After drinking it, Yu Yan found his cultivation speed had increased and went to wash off the impurities it drew from his body.

• Yu Yan sensed dense Soul Power in the cave and led Xiao Wu to a glowing stalactite that she identified as Stone Jade Milk.
• Xiao Wu explained that powder from the Stone Jade Milk could cleanse the marrow, forge the bones, and potentially raise Innate Soul Power by half a level.
• Yu Yan broke off the recommended portion, prepared it with water, and drank it before cultivating; Xiao Wu drank some as well.
• Yu Yan expelled black impurities and found that his Soul Power cultivation speed had improved.
• Xiao Wu told Yu Yan he smelled bad, so he sent her away and used Ice and Fire Twin Fish to bathe.

Yu Yan and Xiao Wu completed a task in Stone Mill Village, then Yu Yan earned ten Gold Soul Coins helping a blacksmith forge weapons. With fourteen Gold Soul Coins saved, he planned to start earning money at the Soul Fighting Arena.

• Yu Yan cultivated with three strands of Purple Qi alongside Xiao Wu, then took the Human-Faced Cicada's corpse to Stone Mill Village and obtained Village Chief Shi's confirmation that the task was complete.
• Yu Yan and Xiao Wu returned to the academy and slept through their Soul Power cultivation lesson.
• Yu Yan and Xiao Wu handed in the village task at the Soul Master Guild and accepted a blacksmith shop's urgent request for help using high-temperature flames.
• Yu Yan used his Fire Fish to assist with quenching weapons, then received the completion document and ten Gold Soul Coins.
• Yu Yan counted his savings at fourteen Gold Soul Coins and decided to earn money at the Soul Fighting Arena.

Yu Yan and Xiao Wu went to the Balak Great Soul Arena, where Yu Yan entered a one-on-one match against the Level 15 Soul Master Wu Xu. After Yu Yan sent Wu Xu flying with a single punch, Wu Xu activated his First Spirit Skill and circled him for another attack.

• Yu Yan and Xiao Wu reached the Great Soul Arena, and Yu Yan registered for a match because they lacked enough coins for both registrations.
• Yu Yan gave Xiao Wu his remaining Gold Soul Coins and asked him to bet on Yu Yan's victory.
• Yu Yan faced Wu Xu, a Level 15 Soul Master with a Black Wolf Martial Soul and three consecutive wins.
• Yu Yan revealed his Ice and Fire Twin Fish Martial Soul, and Wu Xu entered Martial Soul Possession and began circling him.
• Yu Yan used his Ice Fish Skill and Frost Scale Armor to punch Wu Xu backward and injure his hand.
• Wu Xu activated his First Spirit Skill, Wolf Strike, and raced around Yu Yan looking for a chance to attack.