Recaps

Ye Luochen traveled with a Level 9 Soul Engineer and the Hongchen siblings to the Evil Demon Forest to find a Fourth Soul Ring. The group reached the edge of the ominous forest and prepared to enter its dangerous outer regions.

• The gray-robed elder silenced Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen by enclosing them in a soundproof membrane, then flew with them and Ye Luochen toward their destination.
• After two hours, the elder landed and explained that they would continue on foot; Meng Hongchen recognized that they were heading to the Evil Demon Forest.
• The elder said Jing Hongchen had ordered him to find a soul beast suited to Ye Luochen and assured him they would search the forest's outer regions.
• Ye Luochen remained wary, recalling a deadly Soul Ring expedition in the Star Dou Great Forest, which was said to be less dangerous than the Evil Demon Forest.
• The group walked for two more hours and reached the edge of a vast, gray-black forest that pressed down on them with an oppressive sense of danger.

Ye Luochen and the others ventured into the Evil Demon Forest to find his Fourth Soul Ring, while the old man explained why he could not personally intervene without attracting the Evil Eye Tyrant Sovereign's attention. When a Mandala Snake attacked, Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen held back to see Ye Luochen fight.

• Ye Luochen said he wanted a sharpness-focused Fourth Soul Ring to match the first three on his Dark Iron Blade.
• The old man warned that he would only act in an emergency because the Evil Eye Tyrant Sovereign could sense disturbances across the forest.
• The group encountered a roughly three-thousand-year-old Mandala Snake, and Ye Luochen identified its species and cultivation.
• Meng Hongchen asked whether Mandala Snakes were revered in Ye Luochen's homeland because of Tang San, and Ye Luochen confirmed that followers had hunted them nearly to extinction.
• The Mandala Snake attacked, while the old man and the Hongchen siblings stayed back and left Ye Luochen to handle it.

Ye Luochen crippled a Mandala Snake and used it as bait to attract a soul beast suitable for his next soul ring. After waiting through the night without success, the group prepared to move, but a figure appeared nearby.

• Ye Luochen dodged the Mandala Snake's charge and struck its vital point, leaving it unable to move.
• Meng Hongchen explained how Ye Luochen's slash had severed the snake's main nerve, then praised his skill and teased Xiao Hongchen.
• Ye Luochen decided the three-thousand-year-old Mandala Snake was unsuitable for him and hung it from a tree as bait for other soul beasts.
• The gray-robed elder concealed the group in film-like spaces, and they waited until night without attracting any soul beasts.
• Ye Luochen decided they should change locations, but a figure appeared nearby.

Ye Luochen and the old man hid in a membrane space while an Evil Eye approached the Mandala Snake bait, but the Evil Eye sensed the trap and exposed their hiding place. The old man fought it off long enough to draw it away, leaving Ye Luochen and the others to find somewhere safe.

• Ye Luochen recognized the approaching Soul Beast as an Evil Eye, and the old man warned that its mental power could detect their hiding place.
• The Evil Eye moved toward the Mandala Snake bait, but sensed that the injured snake was being used in a trap.
• The Evil Eye released its Mental Domain, stripping away the camouflage and revealing Ye Luochen and the others inside the membrane space.
• The Evil Eye attacked with Evil Eye Gaze, and the old man used a Soul Tool barrier to block the beam before striking the creature.
• The old man told the others to hide, then fled into the distance to lure the Evil Eye away.

After the old man lured away a fifty-thousand-year Evil Eye Tyrant, Ye Luochen and the Hongchen siblings ran into three ten-thousand-year Evil Eyes. Ye Luochen killed his opponent in one strike, astonishing Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen.

• Xiao Hongchen, Meng Hongchen, and Ye Luochen fled in the opposite direction after the old man drew away the Evil Eye Tyrant.
• The group encountered three ten-thousand-year Evil Eyes, and Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen charged in to fight them.
• Ye Luochen fought the remaining Evil Eye, activated all three soul skills, and killed it with a single slash.
• Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen quickly defeated their own opponents and joined Ye Luochen beside the newly formed soul ring.
• Meng Hongchen pointed out that Ye Luochen had killed the Evil Eye in one strike, while Xiao Hongchen doubted it and she teased him for refusing to admit Ye Luochen was better.

After killing three ten-thousand-year Evil Eyes, Ye Luochen and the Hongchen siblings found only two soul crystals and fled, suspecting one Evil Eye had escaped. The three were then caught separately in a mental illusion, and Ye Luochen realized their pursuer was likely a powerful Evil Eye.

• Meng Hongchen found two soul crystals among the three Evil Eye corpses, and the group suspected the third Evil Eye had escaped.
• The group left the area, fearing a stronger Evil Eye would come after them for revenge.
• Ye Luochen felt unnatural resentment toward Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen, then realized they had vanished and that he might be trapped in a mental illusion.
• Xiao Hongchen also sensed strange jealousy and resentment before recognizing that something was wrong.
• Meng Hongchen felt resentment toward Xiao Hongchen, then broke free of the thoughts and realized the emotions were unnatural.

Ye Luochen, Meng Hongchen, and Xiao Hongchen fought to escape an illusion created by the Evil Eye Tyrant, which sought the Evil Eye soul crystals. Ye Luochen found a flaw in the illusion, while Xiao Hongchen’s shot failed to break it.

• Ye Luochen concluded the Evil Eye Tyrant wanted the two crystals carried by Meng Hongchen and repeatedly searched the illusion for a way out.
• Meng Hongchen used Jing Hongchen’s Level 9 Soul Tool disc to defend herself from the Evil Eye Tyrant’s attacks.
• Xiao Hongchen forcibly activated Jing Hongchen’s Level 9 Heavy Soul Guidance Cannon and fired at the illusion.
• The explosion shook the illusion, allowing Ye Luochen to sense a flaw and expose a bloodied tentacle disguised as a tree.
• Xiao Hongchen’s shot failed to break the illusion despite making the space tremble.

Xiao Hongchen helped Ye Luochen break the Evil Eye Tyrant’s illusion, revealing Meng Hongchen battling the hundred-thousand-year beast. Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen launched a Martial Soul Fusion Skill that wounded it, and the enraged Evil Eye Tyrant turned its attention toward Ye Luochen.

• Xiao Hongchen recognized Meng Hongchen through the cracks Ye Luochen had made in the illusion and used his Soul Guidance Cannons to drive back the exposed tentacles.
• Ye Luochen struck the tentacles disguised as trees until the illusion shattered.
• Ye Luochen saw the Evil Eye Tyrant attacking Meng Hongchen and realized it was likely a hundred-thousand-year soul beast.
• The Evil Eye Tyrant unleashed its full power, and Xiao Hongchen supported Meng Hongchen’s Rank 9 Soul Tool with his Soul Power.
• Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen used a Martial Soul Fusion Skill to strike the Evil Eye Tyrant with a toxin-laced attack.
• The Evil Eye Tyrant, wounded and angry, decided to attack Ye Luochen.

The Level 9 Soul Engineer rescued Ye Luochen from the Evil Eye Tyrant, then took him and the Hongchen siblings back to Mingde Hall. Jing Hongchen punished the team leader and the siblings, while promising to find Ye Luochen a Fourth Soul Ring.

• The Evil Eye Tyrant caught up to Ye Luochen and attacked, but the Level 9 Soul Engineer arrived in time to block its beam and kill it with several Level 9 Heavy Soul Guidance Cannons.
• The old man collected the Evil Eye Tyrant’s hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring, rescued Ye Luochen, and revealed that Meng Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen were safe inside the flying Soul Tool.
• The old man ended the Soul Hunting Operation and fled the Evil Demon Forest with the three young Soul Engineers after his cannons were damaged and his Soul Power was nearly exhausted.
• At Mingde Hall, Jing Hongchen struck the old man and stripped him of his authority and resources until he made ten Level 9 Soul Tools.
• Jing Hongchen confined Meng Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen to the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy until they reached Rank 60, then promised Ye Luochen compensation and a Fourth Soul Ring.

After surviving a life-threatening incident, Ye Luochen received compensation from Jing Hongchen: two Level 9 Mirrors of Protection. He recognized their immense defensive value and was left impressed by Mingde Hall’s response.

• Ye Luochen returned to his dormitory after Jing Hongchen promised compensation for the incident.
• An instructor delivered a storage Soul Tool containing two items that initially seemed unimpressive to Ye Luochen.
• Ye Luochen read the description and learned the items were Level 9 Mirrors of Protection that could block a Titled Douluo’s attack and activate repeatedly.
• Ye Luochen realized the mirrors could provide a total of three minutes of powerful protection, though he could not recharge one quickly enough to keep their barriers active indefinitely.
• Ye Luochen compared Mingde Hall’s compensation and accountability with Shrek’s response to a similar tragedy and felt that Mingde Hall had not let him down.

Ye Luochen visited Xuan Ziwen’s laboratory to see the assembly line that mass-produced Class 2 Soul Guidance Cannons, then tested whether his Martial Soul would absorb the new machinery. The Dark Iron Blade did not react, leaving its earlier evolution unexplained, and Ye Luochen and Xuan Ziwen went to sleep after their exhausting work.

• Xuan Ziwen visited Ye Luochen, confirmed he was unharmed, and told him the Soul Tool assembly line had succeeded.
• Ye Luochen watched the Stamping Machine Tools produce a Class 2 Soul Guidance Cannon and praised Xuan Ziwen’s work.
• Ye Luochen tried to make the Dark Iron Blade absorb the assembly-line machinery, but it showed no reaction.
• Ye Luochen and Xuan Ziwen discussed the production line, ate dinner, and returned to their dormitories to sleep.
• Ye Luochen woke close to noon the next day.

Ye Luochen went to Mingde Hall and discovered that Jing Hongchen had gathered a large selection of soul beasts for him to choose from for his Fourth Soul Ring. He recognized that accepting Jing Hongchen’s generosity tied him more closely to Mingde Hall and began inspecting the beasts.

• Ye Luochen skipped class and headed to Mingde Hall to focus on his Soul Tool studies.
• A Mingde Hall teacher led Ye Luochen to a hall filled with caged soul beasts and plant-type soul beasts.
• Jing Hongchen explained that he had captured beasts of different types and cultivation ages so Ye Luochen could choose a suitable Fourth Soul Ring.
• Ye Luochen saw that nearly ten soul beasts all possessed sharpness attributes and thanked Jing Hongchen for his effort.
• Jing Hongchen told Ye Luochen that each cage had a button-triggered Soul Guidance Cannon to kill its beast, and Ye Luochen began considering his choice.

Ye Luochen used Soul Engineer examination devices to measure his physical and mental abilities before choosing his Fourth Soul Ring. Confident that his attributes exceeded the usual standard, he approached the cages holding Soul Beasts over ten thousand years old, while Jing Hongchen chose not to stop him.

• Ye Luochen considered the risks of absorbing a Soul Ring beyond the usual age limit and decided to rely on measurements rather than rough estimates.
• Soul Engineer devices showed that Ye Luochen had Soul King-level physical strength, flexibility at the Soul Emperor level, and mental strength approaching that of a fifth-rank Soul Engineer.
• Ye Luochen passed the Soul Beasts below ten thousand years and walked toward the cages holding older beasts.
• Jing Hongchen considered warning Ye Luochen but let him proceed, seeing him as a suitable candidate to test a bolder approach to Soul Ring cultivation.

Ye Luochen chose a twelve-thousand-year Thorn Vine for his Fourth Soul Ring, hoping its plant-type energy and his solid foundation would let him endure the risk. He absorbed it successfully, leaving Jing Hongchen impressed by his stability and wondering whether he could have chosen an even stronger soul beast.

• Ye Luochen considered the gap between his ordinary martial soul and top geniuses, then decided a ten-thousand-year Fourth Soul Ring could help him catch up.
• Ye Luochen selected a twelve-thousand-year Thorn Vine, explaining that its plant-type energy was less violent and its cultivation was within a Soul King's conventional limit.
• Jing Hongchen warned Ye Luochen that the Soul Ring exceeded what a four-ring soul master should endure, but Ye Luochen pressed the button and killed the Thorn Vine.
• Ye Luochen drew the black Soul Ring to himself and began absorbing it, while Jing Hongchen watched anxiously.
• Ye Luochen guided the energy through his meridians, and his aura settled before rising steadily as he refined and absorbed the Soul Ring.
• Ye Luochen completed the absorption without incident, and Jing Hongchen praised his foundation while regretting that he had not chosen a higher-cultivation soul beast.

After absorbing a ten-thousand-year Fourth Soul Ring and reaching Soul Ancestor, Ye Luochen was invited to join Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy’s reserve team for the upcoming Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Fighting Tournament. The chapter left him agreeing to help the team use his knowledge of Shrek’s competitors.

• Ye Luochen completed his absorption of a ten-thousand-year Fourth Soul Ring, and Jing Hongchen congratulated him on becoming a Soul Ancestor.
• Jing Hongchen invited Ye Luochen to join Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy’s tournament reserve team alongside Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen.
• Jing Hongchen explained that Ye Luochen’s experience at Shrek could help Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy prepare for its rivals.
• Ye Luochen realized he knew Shrek’s planned competitors, their martial souls, and their strengths, then decided it was appropriate to share that information.

Ye Luochen agreed to share information with Jing Hongchen and then went to Xuan Ziwen’s laboratory to help troubleshoot their Soul Tool assembly line. He explained that its excessive modularization created too many weak joints, and Xuan Ziwen realized he had taken the design too far.

• Ye Luochen decided he had no obligation to protect Shrek and agreed to report to the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy with Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen in three days.
• Ye Luochen visited Xuan Ziwen’s laboratory, where Xuan Ziwen explained that their assembled Class 3 Soul Tools failed under the energy released by their core formations.
• Ye Luochen disassembled a Soul Guidance Cannon and learned that the production method used twenty stages, compared with two in traditional production.
• Ye Luochen explained that too many components meant too many vulnerable joints, increasing the Soul Tool’s failure rate.
• Xuan Ziwen acknowledged his mistake and admitted he had pursued extreme modularization too far.

Ye Luochen and Xuan Ziwen improved the Soul Tool production line, but Ye Luochen’s Dark Iron Blade devoured all eight machine tools and evolved again. They suspected the blade’s evolution was linked to innovation in Soul Tool technology, and Xuan Ziwen urged Ye Luochen to test the theory with another breakthrough.

• Ye Luochen proposed combining large die casting with separately made, replaceable components, and Xuan Ziwen adapted the machine tools into a production line of eight machines.
• Xuan Ziwen praised the improved line, but Ye Luochen’s Dark Iron Blade began glowing and pulling the machines toward it.
• The Dark Iron Blade devoured all eight machine tools, and Ye Luochen discovered his Innate Soul Power had risen from rank six to rank seven.
• Ye Luochen connected the blade’s two evolutions to novel Soul Tool designs, and Xuan Ziwen agreed the pattern might point to innovation as the cause.
• Xuan Ziwen urged Ye Luochen to devise another Soul Tool innovation and test the theory, but Ye Luochen said it would not be easy.

Ye Luochen learned that his Martial Soul's evolution had raised his Innate Soul Power to rank six, and Jing Hongchen proposed that a god's trial might explain the change. The possibility left Ye Luochen astonished and doubtful.

• Xuan Ziwen congratulated Ye Luochen on his Martial Soul evolution and complained that it kept swallowing first-generation prototype machines.
• Ye Luochen reflected that his earlier cultivation breakthrough from level thirty-eight to level forty had likely been triggered by the increase in Innate Soul Power.
• Ye Luochen and Xuan Ziwen reported the evolution to Jing Hongchen, who said acquired Martial Soul evolution could come from heavenly treasures or secret techniques.
• Jing Hongchen revealed that records also described gods granting evolution and other rewards through divine trials.
• Jing Hongchen suggested Ye Luochen might be undergoing a trial related to forging or Soul Tools, but stressed that it was only a conjecture.

Ye Luochen set aside Jing Hongchen’s speculation about gods and focused on cultivation, then went to join the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy’s reserve team. There he reunited with the Hongchen siblings and learned that Lin Yuan would lead the team.

• Jing Hongchen told Ye Luochen not to fixate on the possibility that his Martial Soul evolutions were related to divine trials, and Ye Luochen resolved to concentrate on cultivation.
• Ye Luochen spent three days cultivating, reaching Innate Soul Power rank six and nearing a breakthrough to rank forty-one.
• Ye Luochen arrived to join the reserve team and greeted Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen, who had recovered from their injuries.
• Meng Hongchen slapped Xiao Hongchen for acting superior and claimed he considered only Ye Luochen worthy of joining the reserve team.
• Lin Yuan, the academy admissions office director who had overseen Ye Luochen’s entrance examination, arrived and revealed that he would lead the reserve team.

Lin Yuan explained that he would lead the reserve team to the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament and asked the students to introduce their abilities. Ye Luochen’s introduction revealed that he had obtained his Fourth Soul Ring, prompting Meng Hongchen to ask him to show it.

• Lin Yuan thanked Ye Luochen for helping him earn a promotion and the assignment to lead the reserve team.
• Lin Yuan told the seven students they would travel with the main team and might need to compete if something happened to it.
• Mu Yan, Lu Chen, Jiang Yue, and Zhou Xiaowan introduced themselves as nineteen-year-old Soul Kings and fifth-class Soul Engineers.
• Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen introduced themselves as fifteen-year-old Soul Kings and fifth-class Soul Engineers, leading Ye Luochen to reconsider the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy’s strength.
• Ye Luochen introduced himself as a fifteen-year-old Soul Ancestor and third-class Soul Engineer, surprising the other students.
• Meng Hongchen asked Ye Luochen to show her his Fourth Soul Ring.

Ye Luochen revealed that his Fourth Soul Ring was a ten-thousand-year black ring, surprising the reserve team and provoking Xiao Hongchen. After Lin Yuan sent everyone to rest before their trip to the Star Luo Empire, Ye Luochen wondered whether Meng Hongchen’s own strength exceeded what he had seen.

• Meng Hongchen pressed Ye Luochen to reveal the age of his Fourth Soul Ring while teasing her brother Xiao Hongchen.
• Ye Luochen showed four soul rings—yellow, yellow, purple, and black—and Xiao Hongchen claimed that black soul rings were nothing special.
• Lin Yuan and the other team members reassessed Ye Luochen’s value after learning he had a ten-thousand-year Fourth Soul Ring.
• Lin Yuan dismissed the team to rest before their journey to the Star Luo Empire and explained that Ye Luochen’s knowledge of Shrek was especially valuable.
• After the others left, Meng Hongchen remarked that Xiao Hongchen would likely retreat to train, and Ye Luochen considered whether her own abilities surpassed his understanding.

Meng Hongchen explained to Ye Luochen that Xiao Hongchen acted arrogantly to draw others’ hostility away from her, after she had been excluded and maligned because of her status and talent. She kept provoking and hitting him because she did not want him to bear that burden alone.

• Ye Luochen asked Meng Hongchen why she often provoked Xiao Hongchen, and she first joked that it was fun to knock him down when he was showing off.
• Meng Hongchen told Ye Luochen that people had flattered her in public but spoken viciously about her behind her back, leaving her without a place among her academy peers.
• Meng Hongchen explained that Xiao Hongchen had deliberately acted arrogant so people would compare the siblings and view her more favorably.
• Ye Luochen realized Xiao Hongchen’s arrogance had been a clumsy way of protecting his sister.
• Meng Hongchen said she hit Xiao Hongchen whenever he played the villain because she did not want him to endure the malice she had experienced.

Ye Luochen and Meng Hongchen became friends after she explained that she and her brother appreciated how he treated them as equals. After seven days of cultivation, Ye Luochen joined the academy team preparing to travel to the tournament in the Star Luo Empire, where Meng Hongchen discovered he might not have a flying Soul Tool.

• Meng Hongchen told Ye Luochen that she and her brother enjoyed their unusual sibling rivalry and befriended him because he treated them normally rather than with reverence or flattery.
• Ye Luochen agreed to be friends with Meng Hongchen, valuing the siblings’ sincerity over relationships based on profit.
• After seven days of cultivation, Ye Luochen reached the team’s departure day with his condition at its peak and a breakthrough to level forty-three close at hand.
• Meng Hongchen introduced Ye Luochen to the academy’s main team, including its captain, sixth-year student Ma Rulong, and explained that her brother led the reserve team.
• When Ye Luochen asked how the team would travel to the Star Luo Empire, Meng Hongchen realized from his Soul Engineer badge that he might not own a flying Soul Tool.

Ye Luochen joined a journey out of Ming Capital with the academy group, using a flying Soul Tool and Milk Bottles from Meng Hongchen to keep pace. After he relaxed during the flight, the group encountered a spirit beast attack, and their Soul Engineers opened fire as Meng Hongchen reassured him they could handle it.

• Meng Hongchen gave Ye Luochen two Milk Bottles and explained that they stored Soul Power for rapid replenishment.
• Ye Luochen and the group left Ming Capital's jurisdiction and flew toward their destination using flying Soul Tools.
• Ye Luochen praised the technology of his third-rank flying Soul Tool and kept pace with the group using the Milk Bottles.
• A warning of a spirit beast attack came from the front of the group, and Meng Hongchen told Ye Luochen not to worry.
• Dozens of Soul Engineers at the front of the group fired beams of light toward the spirit beast.

Ye Luochen watched the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy’s formation annihilate a soul beast attack and reflected on the empire’s technological advantage. The group crossed into Star Luo Empire after paying a bribe at the border checkpoint, where Meng Hongchen asked Ye Luochen about places to visit before the tournament.

• The academy’s Soul Engineers destroyed dozens of attacking soul beasts with coordinated firepower and barriers, impressing Ye Luochen with their strength.
• The group found no soul bones or other valuable spoils and continued traveling without further attacks.
• The academy reached the Mingdou Mountain Range checkpoint and crossed from Sun Moon Empire territory into Star Luo Empire.
• Star Luo soldiers demanded to inspect the group’s belongings, and the lead teacher paid more than ten thousand Gold Soul Coins to secure passage.
• After the group traveled onward without obstruction, Meng Hongchen asked Ye Luochen whether he knew any fun places in Star Luo Empire.