Chapter Summaries

Cheng Xiao, Dugu Bo, and Ye Renxin learned the secrets of Thunder Valley and the Dragon Cores used by the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. Dugu Bo revealed that he had created a Core Pearl of his own and claimed he wanted the map to seek a breakthrough, leaving his true intentions uncertain.

• Dugu Bo explained that Yu Yuanzhen had once proposed that dragon-soul Titled Douluo condense their own Dragon Cores, but never attempted it after taking over the sect.
• Dugu Bo revealed that he had made his Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor condense a Core Pearl containing half his strength and offered to lend it to Cheng Xiao if he became his disciple.
• Ye Renxin realized that Dugu Bo might be planning to take Cheng Xiao to Thunder Valley, where even powerful Titled Douluo rarely survived.
• Dugu Bo denied that he had obtained the map for Cheng Xiao and said he wanted to use a Dragon Core to break through his own bottleneck.

Cheng Xiao explained two ways to address the Jade Phosphorous Serpent toxin afflicting Dugu Bo and his family, and proposed that an External Soul Bone could absorb the poison as it grew. The chapter left Cheng Xiao wondering whether he could obtain the Eight Spider Lances if the Man Faced Demon Spider appeared.

• Dugu Bo admitted that his limited strength and lack of allies had pushed him to seek a Dragon Core for Cheng Xiao.
• Moved by Dugu Bo’s care and protection, Cheng Xiao agreed not to stop him from seeking the Dragon Core and offered to try solving the Dugu Family’s toxin problem first.
• Cheng Xiao explained that toxins could be forced into a soul bone, but its capacity was limited and Dugu Yan might not be able to inherit it.
• Cheng Xiao proposed using an External Soul Bone, which could grow with its owner and continue absorbing toxins.
• Dugu Bo and Ye Renxin recognized the potential of an External Soul Bone, while Cheng Xiao considered trying to obtain the Eight Spider Lances.

Cheng Xiao proposed that Soul Bones formed from Soul Power Cores condensed by exceptional Soul Beasts, presenting the idea as an unverified conjecture. He suggested that Dugu Bo might imitate the process to condense a human Soul Core, leaving Dugu Bo visibly inspired by the possibility.

• Dugu Bo dismissed the idea that Cheng Xiao could easily obtain another External Soul Bone, while Ye Renxin asked about Cheng Xiao's second method.
• Cheng Xiao introduced his conjecture that exceptional Soul Beasts condensed Soul Power into cores that later became Soul Bones when they died.
• Ye Renxin and Dugu Bo reacted with shock as they considered that verifying the conjecture might make Artificial Soul Bones possible.
• Cheng Xiao explained that limited evidence made the Soul Core idea a hypothesis, and Ye Renxin accepted that it required verification.
• Cheng Xiao asked whether Dugu Bo could imitate Soul Beasts and compress human Soul Power into a core, and Dugu Bo realized he meant Human Soul Cores.

Cheng Xiao explained how a Soul Core could help Dugu Bo overcome his cultivation problems and proposed testing Soul Core condensation under Ye Renxin’s healing. They recognized that success could make the Nine Heart Begonia the foundation of a powerful sect, but the plan could provoke every major faction.

• Cheng Xiao explained how Soul Cores could ease Titled Douluo cultivation and identified how one could resolve Dugu Bo’s problems with poison and Soul Power control.
• Dugu Bo questioned the risks of attempting to condense a Soul Core, and Cheng Xiao proposed repeated attempts while Ye Renxin was alive to heal any injuries.
• Ye Renxin realized the Nine Heart Begonia could make failed attempts survivable and saw the possibility of building a sect around the martial soul.
• Dugu Bo feared that the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, and Spirit Hall would target them if their plan threatened the existing factions.

Dugu Bo agreed to risk the Soul Core method after Ye Renxin and Cheng Xiao challenged him, while Cheng Xiao tried to keep him from entering Thunder Valley. The group learned that Spirit Hall had officially named Cheng Xiao its Saint Son, giving Bibi Dong a public pretext to bring him to Spirit City.

• Dugu Bo worried that attempting the Soul Core method would put everyone in danger, but Ye Renxin and Cheng Xiao urged him to decide whether he would try it.
• Ye Renxin explained that he wanted Dugu Bo to protect Ye Lingling and decide whether to build a sect, while Cheng Xiao said he cared only about whether the method worked.
• Dugu Bo agreed to try the method, and Cheng Xiao made him promise not to go to Thunder Valley until he succeeded.
• Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan rushed in with news that Spirit Hall had announced Cheng Xiao as Saint Son and Hu Liena as Saintess.
• Ye Renxin realized Spirit Hall could use Cheng Xiao's new title to demand that he return to Spirit City, while Cheng Xiao recognized Bibi Dong's scheme to make refusal look like betrayal.

After realizing they had mistaken Spirit Hall for an enemy, Cheng Xiao saw the Saint Son title as a chance to gain allies and use his Shadow Legion openly. He decided to exploit the identity for their own benefit while Spirit Hall pursued its plans.

• Cheng Xiao and the others admitted they had no way to disprove Spirit Hall’s claim that the Pope’s decree was genuine.
• Cheng Xiao questioned why Ye Renxin and Dugu Bo opposed Spirit Hall, and they realized they had no real grievance against it.
• Cheng Xiao traced their fear to Dugu Bo’s clash with Chrysanthemum Douluo and his own assumptions about Bibi Dong and Spirit Hall.
• Cheng Xiao considered using his Saint Son status to win over Qian Renxue, Ghost Douluo, and Hu Liena while drawing Chrysanthemum Douluo away.
• Cheng Xiao realized his title would let him deploy the Shadow Legion without concealing it or fearing accusations of being a Fallen One.
• Cheng Xiao announced that they would pursue their own goals and use the Saint Son title to secure benefits.

After a month of cultivation, Cheng Xiao mastered the Three Apertures Imperial Heart, greatly enhancing his Spiritual Power and Shadow Domain. He discovered that his Shadow Soul Beasts had regained their full strength, giving him a way to strengthen his Shadow Legion; the chapter ended with an author’s notice summarizing revisions to earlier chapters.

• Dugu Bo forced the toxins in his body into his soul bones with Ye Renxin’s help and broke through to become a ninety-second-level Titled Douluo.
• Dugu Bo taught the poison cultivation method to Dugu Yan, but she could not begin without a soul bone.
• Ye Renxin and Dugu Bo attempted to condense Soul Cores without success and stopped seeking Cheng Xiao’s advice.
• Cheng Xiao mastered the Three Apertures Imperial Heart and found that it expanded his Shadow Domain to a thousand-meter radius and increased his shadow storage capacity to one hundred.
• Cheng Xiao learned that his Shadow Soul Beasts had regained the strength they possessed while alive and realized he could use this to enhance his Shadow Legion.

Cheng Xiao discovered that the Heart Separation Control method greatly strengthened his Shadow Domain and awakened the Hand of the Dominator, which let him manipulate objects from afar. After returning to Dugu Bo’s residence, he found Ye Renxin attempting to treat Dugu Bo, but the effort failed and left Dugu Bo badly injured.

• Cheng Xiao realized that the Heart Separation Control method improved the quality of his Spiritual Power and expanded the Shadow Legion, while considering Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew as a way to increase its quantity.
• Cheng Xiao used the Hand of the Dominator to pull his clothes toward him and climbed out of the valley by gripping the cliff with its controlling force.
• Cheng Xiao returned to Dugu Bo’s residence and saw Ye Renxin treating Dugu Bo with the Nine Heart Begonia.
• Ye Renxin’s treatment failed, and Dugu Bo spat blood as wounds burst across his body.

Cheng Xiao hunted soul beasts in Sunset Forest, using his Shadow Soul Beasts and the fragrance of Aromatic Silk Beauty to draw in prey and replenish his forces. As his shadows fought the gathered beasts, he let a Wind Baboon through so he could sharpen his own combat skills, and it charged at him.

• Cheng Xiao summoned fifteen Shadow Soul Beasts, which killed a five-thousand-year Batwing Sky-Sun Snake; he then raised its shadow to serve him.
• Cheng Xiao used the immortal herb's fragrance to attract nearby soul beasts and gathered more than twenty of them.
• Cheng Xiao ordered his sixteen Shadow Soul Beasts to attack the gathered soul beasts while he prepared to fight with the snake's fangs and his External Soul Bone.
• Cheng Xiao let a thousand-year Wind Baboon through the battle, and it pounced at him, drawn by the fragrance.

Cheng Xiao honed his combat skills through three days of deadly fights, learned the limits of his strength, and broke through to level twenty-nine. As he prepared to return to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Qian Renxue attacked him with a golden sword and demanded to know who he was.

• Cheng Xiao defeated the Wind Baboon, raised its shadow into his army, and continued testing himself against stronger Soul Beasts.
• After three days of battles, Cheng Xiao filled nearly all one hundred shadow positions and concluded that his summoned shadows could not exceed ten thousand years.
• Cheng Xiao assessed that he could defeat Soul Beasts of about three thousand years without the Dragon Emperor Martial Soul and four to five thousand years with it, while his shadow army could overwhelm a Soul King.
• Cheng Xiao broke through to level twenty-nine and was pleased to have caught up to Tang San and Xiao Wu.
• As Cheng Xiao prepared to return to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Qian Renxue flew down and struck at him with her golden sword, demanding to know who he was.

Qian Renxue confronted Cheng Xiao over how he knew her true name, attacking him with her fifth soul skill before pressing a sword to his throat. Cheng Xiao realized she had deliberately missed him and pretended not to understand, leaving Qian Renxue demanding an explanation.

• Qian Renxue struck the ground near Cheng Xiao with her Sword of Divinity, destroying the soul-beast corpses and shaking the surrounding forest.
• Qian Renxue appeared before Cheng Xiao and demanded to know how he had learned her true name.
• Qian Renxue recalled investigating Cheng Xiao's background, asking her grandfather for information, and becoming suspicious after he was appointed Saint Son.
• Cheng Xiao noticed the sword crater was away from where he had stood and concluded Qian Renxue had missed deliberately to frighten him.
• Cheng Xiao feigned confusion and mentioned their Martial Soul Fusion Skill, embarrassing Qian Renxue before she again demanded to know how he knew her name.

Cheng Xiao explained how he deduced Qian Renxue’s identity, guiding her toward believing his fabricated account of his Martial Soul and investigation. Qian Renxue lowered her sword, though her anger shifted toward Bibi Dong and Yue Guan.

• Qian Renxue demanded to know how Cheng Xiao had learned her real name, and he claimed he had investigated her using the token she gave him.
• Cheng Xiao told Qian Renxue that his mutated Radiant Angel Martial Soul could resonate with her Six-Winged Angel and form a Martial Soul Fusion Skill.
• Cheng Xiao claimed he traced Spirit Hall’s Angel God miracles to the Qian Clan and guessed that Qian Renxue was a descendant using a false name.
• Cheng Xiao said Yue Guan had revealed Qian Renxue’s real name while dismissing the Qian Clan’s authority under Bibi Dong.
• Qian Renxue lowered her sword as Cheng Xiao relaxed, believing his effort to redirect her hostility had succeeded.

Qian Renxue tested whether Cheng Xiao could still be trusted after he became Spirit Hall's Saint Son, then invented a story about her feud with Bibi Dong to draw him toward her. She ended by demanding that he choose whose side he would take if Bibi Dong came to capture her.

• Qian Renxue decided Cheng Xiao had passed her test and watched his reaction to becoming the True Saint Son.
• Cheng Xiao criticized Bibi Dong and explained that he wanted to avoid Spirit Hall until he understood the Qian Clan's conflict with her.
• Qian Renxue spun a false account in which Bibi Dong had usurped the Qian Clan's power and forced her into exile.
• Cheng Xiao played along, condemning Bibi Dong while Qian Renxue built up the story.
• Qian Renxue asked Cheng Xiao whose side he would take if Bibi Dong came to capture her.

Qian Renxue tried to recruit Cheng Xiao to help her reclaim Spirit Hall, but he avoided pledging himself and demanded the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud in exchange. After he left, Qian Renxue wondered whether she could use either of her identities to obtain it and win his support.

• Qian Renxue pressed Cheng Xiao to choose her side, and he said he would flee if Bibi Dong attacked until he grew strong enough to avenge her.
• Cheng Xiao asked Qian Renxue for the details of her plan and what he would gain, but she could not offer specifics.
• Cheng Xiao demanded the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud as the price for standing with Qian Renxue, then stormed off while threatening to approach Xue Qinghe instead.
• Qian Renxue realized that Cheng Xiao might be easier to recruit through her Xue Qinghe identity and considered whether to use that identity or Qian Renxue's to obtain the artifact.

After failing to identify the remaining immortal herbs, Cheng Xiao planned to make an illustrated album and consult outside experts. When Qian Renxue confronted him again about choosing between her and Bibi Dong, he gave her a Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower to help her grow stronger and show his support indirectly.

• Cheng Xiao identified and collected several herbs but failed to recognize the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew, so he planned to disguise drawings of the herbs as an old manuscript for consultation.
• Qian Renxue returned with a refined version of her fabricated story and kept discussing plans to undermine Bibi Dong, while Cheng Xiao realized he had encouraged her to become fixated on the scheme.
• Cheng Xiao scolded Qian Renxue for being only a Soul Emperor and told her to cultivate before discussing how to challenge the Pope.
• When Qian Renxue again demanded to know which side he chose, Cheng Xiao gave her a Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower instead of making a promise.
• Cheng Xiao explained how to consume the herb, and Qian Renxue placed it in her mouth.

Qian Renxue digested the Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower and discovered that it greatly enhanced her power and Divine Fire. Grateful for Cheng Xiao’s gift, she reconsidered her attempts to control him as he left for Heaven Dou City.

• Cheng Xiao told Qian Renxue to sit cross-legged and slowly digest the Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower.
• Qian Renxue endured the herb’s painful effects, then released her Martial Soul and demonstrated a vastly more powerful Divine Fire attack.
• Qian Renxue told Cheng Xiao that her Soul Power had risen by at least two levels to level seventy and asked whether he had another flower.
• Cheng Xiao refused, warning Qian Renxue that consuming too many immortal herbs could harm her, and urged her to hunt for a soul beast with the two Titled Douluo.
• Qian Renxue felt guilty and grateful for Cheng Xiao’s gift, resolved not to force him to declare his feelings again, and watched him leave for Heaven Dou City.

After finishing sketches and descriptions of the immortal herbs around the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Cheng Xiao returned to Heaven Dou City. He began searching for a forger who could age his counterfeit documents, while still considering how to help Dugu Bo form a Soul Core.

• Cheng Xiao finished documenting the immortal herbs and went to say goodbye to Dugu Bo and Ye, who complained that their attempts to condense a Soul Core had repeatedly failed.
• Cheng Xiao left the elders and wondered whether Xiao Wu, as a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, could explain how Soul Cores formed.
• Cheng Xiao reached a shabby tavern in Heaven Dou City and asked its owner for a man missing three fingers on his left hand.
• The owner dragged the drunken man out from beneath the stairs, and Cheng Xiao asked him if he could make forgeries.

Cheng Xiao tried to hire the retired forger Golden Three Fingers, but news that the Heaven Dou Empire was preparing to fight the Star Luo Empire interrupted him. He suspected the supposed theft of the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud was a frame-up arranged by Qian Renxue, and the chapter left him realizing she had acted recklessly.

• Cheng Xiao paid Golden Three Fingers's tavern tab and used fine wine and food to persuade him to sit with him.
• A messenger announced that Xue Ye had declared war on the Star Luo Empire after palace intruders supposedly stole a great treasure, and that Xue Ye had sent Xue Qinghe to lead the campaign.
• Cheng Xiao worried that Xue Qinghe's departure would disrupt his plans and change the events he expected from the original story.
• Cheng Xiao reasoned that Xue Qinghe's own forces had likely staged the palace theft and blamed the Star Luo Empire.
• Cheng Xiao identified the stolen treasure as the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud and suspected Qian Renxue had arranged the theft.

After Qian Renxue stole the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud and helped spark a war between the empires, Cheng Xiao worried that events were slipping beyond his knowledge. He confronted her, then accepted the treasure she offered as a token of her feelings.

• Cheng Xiao forced Golden Three Fingers to age and disguise the Immortal Herb Album in exchange for clearing his debt, then left to find Qian Renxue.
• Cheng Xiao angrily confronted Qian Renxue for stealing the Heaven Dou Empire's national treasure and triggering a war.
• Qian Renxue pressed Cheng Xiao to admit he had worried about her, and he finally said yes.
• Qian Renxue gave Cheng Xiao the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud, also known as the Heart of the Sea God, explaining that she had stolen it to repay him for the Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower.

Qian Renxue prepared to leave Heaven Dou City as the Heaven Dou Empire began a war with the Star Luo Empire, while Cheng Xiao planned a trip to the Balak Kingdom. Near the Star Dou Great Forest, Zhu Zhuqing fled from Zhu Zhuyun and her pursuers, who closed in and prepared to attack.

• Qian Renxue warned Cheng Xiao that Spirit Hall might target him while she was away, and Cheng Xiao said he would leave for the Balak Kingdom for six months to a year.
• Qian Renxue told Cheng Xiao she would return to find him as soon as she could, and he left without further ceremony.
• Xue Ye ordered the Heaven Dou Empire and its allied kingdoms to mobilize against the Star Luo Empire, accusing it of taking the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud.
• The Star Luo Emperor denied having the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud and ordered his forces to fight, starting a fierce war between the two empires.
• Zhu Zhuqing used her Hell Stab soul skill to flee from Zhu Zhuyun and a group of black-clad pursuers, but they caught up and Zhu Zhuyun ordered them to attack.