Chapter Summaries

Ling Yi maintained his routine of training, treating wounded soldiers, and studying soul skills and Martial Souls at Cold Wind Camp. His observations of more than a thousand people supported his theory that stronger physical constitutions were linked to higher-quality Martial Souls and a greater chance of Innate Soul Power.

• Ling Yi slowed his efforts to observe internal organs and focused instead on cultivating soul power, exploring meridians, and studying soul skills.
• Ling Yi recorded the circulation of his First Soul Skill: Full of Vitality, but could not yet decipher the Soul Ring’s internal pattern well enough to reproduce the skill without it.
• Ling Yi used Deep Sleep to recover from the physical and mental strain of his daily research and training.
• Ling Yi collected data on wounded soldiers and camp personnel, classifying their Tool Martial Souls and Beast Martial Souls.
• Ling Yi found that stronger Martial Soul quality was associated with stronger physical constitution and a greater likelihood of soul power, supporting his theory about Innate Soul Power.

Ling Yi assisted Li Ergou in a sparring match against Xiong Er, healing the wounds caused by their fight and helping Li Ergou land a serious strike. Back in his tent, Ling Yi reflected on his slow but steady progress toward becoming a stronger Soul Master.

• Li Ergou used his first soul skill to attack Xiong Er, while Ling Yi supported him with a healing boost and blocked Xiong Er from taking a deeper saber wound.
• Xiong Er protested that Li Ergou had only won because Ling Yi was assisting him, and Ling Yi healed Xiong Er's injured arm.
• Ling Yi returned to the Military Doctor Third Battalion barracks and reflected on reaching level 14 after two years at Cold Wind Camp.
• Ling Yi compared his cultivation speed with Tang San's and considered whether he would accept taking another five or six years to reach level 20.

Ling Yi reviewed his progress toward becoming a god and examined how different advantages shaped Soul Master cultivation, concluding that he needed to strengthen several factors to improve his own growth. His Blue Silver Grass had slowly improved through its Self-Growth Trait, and he turned his attention to widening his meridians, increasing his mental strength and physique, and improving his cultivation environment.

• Ling Yi recalled how he had helped his family prosper, awakened with Innate Soul Power, and become a One-Ring Soul Master at ten.
• Ling Yi considered ways to accelerate cultivation and compared the advantages available to heirs of powerful families and talented Soul Masters.
• Ling Yi rejected using age and Soul Power levels as a universal measure of cultivation speed because Soul Masters differed in talent, Martial Souls, physiques, and environments.
• Ling Yi recalled that his hand-cultivated First Soul Ring had improved his Martial Soul quality and raised his Innate Soul Power to just over level one.
• Ling Yi found that his Blue Silver Grass's Self-Growth Trait had increased its age and quality by about twenty years over two years of cultivation.
• Ling Yi decided to focus on strengthening his meridians, mental strength, physique, and cultivation environment.

Ling Yi practiced and refined two forms of his Xingyi boxing stance, using his first Soul Skill to turn their effects into lasting physical enhancements. He planned to improve his Mental Strength and transform the environment, then left his tent to eat.

• Ling Yi reviewed his written manuals and practiced the first Xingyi form, Fierce Horse Gallop, consuming Soul Power to strengthen his body.
• Ling Yi performed the second form, Spirit Serpent Kill, then stopped with slightly more than thirty percent of his Soul Power remaining.
• Ling Yi used his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul and Full of Vitality to heal and permanently reinforce his body, though the process left him with just over ten percent of his Soul Power.
• Ling Yi analyzed how the five Xingyi forms could strengthen different parts of his body over time, and decided to work next on his Mental Strength and the external environment.
• Ling Yi ate several blades of Blue Silver Grass and left his tent for a meal.

Yu Yuanzhen lectured Yu Luomian about clan politics, cultivation, and his affair, then asked after his son Yu Xiaogang, whose mutated Martial Soul and low aptitude had made him a clan joke. Yu Xiaogang kept training in the courtyard despite the ridicule of other youths.

• Yu Luomian complained that Tang Zhen had acted arrogantly at the assembly, and Yu Yuanzhen warned him to respect powerful Soul Masters and focus on cultivating.
• Yu Yuanzhen told Yu Luomian to resolve matters involving Liu Yan and his wife, Yue'er, and to devote himself to cultivation.
• Yu Luomian reported that nine-year-old Yu Xiaogang had become a Soul Master three months earlier and was still training despite his Martial Soul mutation and half-level Innate Soul Power.
• Yu Yuanzhen allowed Yu Xiaogang to keep cultivating, while Yu Luomian thought of Tang Hao's far greater strength and left.
• Yu Luomian heard other youths mock Yu Xiaogang's training and speculate about his Soul Skill as Yu Xiaogang continued running with a rock on his back.

The chapter followed Tang Hao’s ambition to grow stronger, Yu Luomian’s visit to Erlong and her daughter, and Lou Gao’s teacher sending him out to pursue the path to Divine Craftsman. Lou Gao was directed to visit Uncle Diamond in the Waterwood Principality and meet a promising young blacksmith.

• Sixteen-year-old Tang Hao trained with his Clear Sky Hammer and vowed to reach Titled Douluo before the next assembly.
• Yu Luomian left the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan’s Jade Dragon Mountain Range and promised Erlong he would visit for her third birthday.
• Lou Gao’s teacher explained that a grandmaster blacksmith needed to travel and study metals and forging to find a path to Divine Craftsman.
• Lou Gao’s teacher told him that Tai Tan had asked whether Thousand Refinement of a single metal counted as Master-level forging, and admitted he had affirmed it to encourage the Tang Family.
• Lou Gao’s teacher gave him an old letter and asked him to visit Uncle Diamond in the Waterwood Principality and meet the talented young blacksmith there.

Ah Yin emerged in a secluded valley and traveled to Luin City, where she enrolled at Luin Junior Soul Master Academy as a powerful young Soul Master. After learning about distant regions in class, she realized that Blue Silver Grass had begun appearing on a large scale in the Waterwood Principality several years earlier.

• Ah Yin appeared in the valley, used her powers to grow Blue Silver Grass and weave herself a blue dress, then walked out of the mountains.
• Half a month later, Ah Yin entered Luin City and introduced herself at Luin Junior Soul Master Academy as a Level 12 One-Ring Weapon Soul Master with a Hundred-Year Soul Ring.
• The academy's teachers and students wondered about Ah Yin's background while she studied attentively.
• Ah Yin asked her History of the Continent teacher about places thousands of li away and learned about the Waterwood Principality.
• Ah Yin recalled that Blue Silver Grass had begun appearing across the Waterwood Principality five or six years earlier and wondered whether someone was cultivating it.

Ling Yi treated an injured soldier with a newly developed medicinal plaster and learned that Lou Gao had come from Gengxin City. Lou Gao revealed their teachers’ connection, and Ling Yi greeted him as his senior brother.

• Ling Yi used his healing soul skill and medicinal mud to treat a soldier’s leg wounds, then instructed him to rest and return for follow-up care.
• Ling Yi reflected on developing the Blood Activation and Pain Relief Plaster with Old Man Yao and restarting Blue Silver Grass planting in Waterwood Principality.
• Lou Gao arrived from Gengxin City and introduced himself to Ling Yi.
• Lou Gao explained that his teacher, Tie Futu, had studied forging under the same teacher as Vajra Old Man Jin.
• Ling Yi formally greeted Lou Gao as his senior brother under Blacksmith Master Vajra.

Ling Yi learned Lou Gao’s Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique with astonishing speed and advanced his forging skills while studying metal alloys. By winter, Ling Yi had completed a powerful Thousand Scale Armor for Jiang Yuan, as Lou Gao continued guiding the young genius.

• Ling Yi assembled the Thousand Scale Armor, a dark-gold suit of metal armor designed to withstand powerful attacks.
• Lou Gao recalled that Ling Yi had learned all eighty-one forms of the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique after seeing them demonstrated once.
• Ling Yi practiced the technique and raised his metal tempering from six hundred and twenty-five refinements to seven hundred and ninety refinements.
• Ling Yi studied alloy formulas and used Lou Gao’s expertise to learn about smelting metals for Thousand Refinement forging.
• Lou Gao recognized Ling Yi as an exceptional forging talent after watching his rapid progress.

After seeing Lou Gao’s forging talent and influence, Ling Yi decided to revise his long-term plans and use their connection to advance his skills and prospects. Lou Gao was impressed by Ling Yi’s rapid mastery of the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique, leaving Ling Yi poised to learn from his vast knowledge.

• Ling Yi recognized Lou Gao as a renowned divine blacksmith whose techniques and influence could open a path to the wider Douluo Continent.
• Ling Yi mastered all eighty-one forms of the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique after Lou Gao demonstrated it, astonishing him.
• Lou Gao’s attitude toward Ling Yi changed, and he considered taking the talented junior disciple as his own disciple.
• Ling Yi compared Lou Gao’s forging knowledge to a valuable mentor’s guidance and decided to learn everything he could from him.
• Ling Yi abandoned his slower plan of building a blacksmith association in Waterwood Principality before traveling to Gengxin City, choosing to exploit the shortcut Lou Gao’s arrival offered.

Ling Yi rapidly learned Lou Gao’s blacksmithing techniques and knowledge of metals, then earned blacksmith certification by forging the Thousand Scale Armor. Lou Gao asked why Ling Yi had chosen armor for his first major work, and Ling Yi began to explain.

• Ling Yi mastered Lou Gao’s forging techniques in a month and spent nearly two more months learning metal properties and alloy combinations.
• Ling Yi reached nearly seven hundred jin of strength while his Soul Power rose to level sixteen.
• Lou Gao certified Ling Yi as a blacksmith after he forged the Thousand Scale Armor, which withstood one hundred attacks from three Power Attack System Soul Elders.
• Lou Gao asked why Ling Yi had chosen armor as his first work, and Ling Yi began answering him.

Ling Yi explained to Lou Gao that Soul Masters usually relied on their own Martial Souls for offense, leaving blacksmiths to serve mainly as defensive and auxiliary support. Lou Gao began to see a new way to raise the standing of blacksmiths, though Ling Yi’s proposal was still unfolding.

• Ling Yi argued that most Soul Masters preferred defensive tools over external weapons because their Martial Souls were better suited to combat.
• Lou Gao reflected on how little respect blacksmiths received and how badly he wanted their profession to be recognized.
• Ling Yi described studying Soul Masters’ needs since he began learning forging at seven and observing more than twenty thousand people at Cold Wind Camp.
• Ling Yi explained that Soul Masters with Beast Martial Souls and Tool Martial Souls generally fought with their own bodies or Martial Souls rather than forged weapons.
• Lou Gao concluded that blacksmiths should focus on defensive tools and filling gaps in Soul Masters’ abilities.
• Ling Yi proposed that blacksmiths act like auxiliary Soul Masters, supporting others with defense and attack enhancement from behind.

Ling Yi explained how the Blacksmith Association could improve blacksmiths’ standing by finding a powerful representative and bringing blacksmiths closer together. Lou Gao was inspired by the plan but doubted that the association could ever gain a Titled Douluo as its backer.

• Lou Gao realized that many respected blacksmiths were also Soul Masters and asked Ling Yi how to improve blacksmiths’ status without disrupting their lives.
• Ling Yi asked whether Lou Gao wanted to raise the profession’s standing or improve every individual blacksmith’s status, and Lou Gao said he wanted blacksmiths to be treated as equals, even by Titled Douluos.
• Ling Yi said blacksmiths needed both a powerful representative and closer ties among themselves, and Lou Gao asked him to explain.
• Ling Yi explained that a Titled Douluo representing the Blacksmith Association could deter powerful factions from mistreating it.
• Lou Gao saw the value of the idea but doubted the association could possibly obtain a Titled Douluo as its backer.

Ling Yi persuaded Lou Gao that the Blacksmith Association should build influence through ties to powerful Soul Masters and by cultivating commoner talent instead of trying to recruit a Titled Douluo. He then hinted that the Great Spirit Arena could help with closer integration, leaving Lou Gao confused and eager to hear more.

• Lou Gao doubted that the Blacksmith Association could offer enough to recruit a Titled Douluo, and Ling Yi suggested borrowing Tang Chen’s prestige by promoting the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique.
• Ling Yi proposed supporting promising commoner Soul Masters and their families so the Blacksmith Association could foster its own allies and future powerhouses.
• Lou Gao admired Ling Yi’s ideas and asked how to achieve the closer integration Ling Yi had mentioned.
• Ling Yi asked Lou Gao whether he knew about the Great Spirit Arena, leaving him bewildered.

Ling Yi praised Lou Gao’s Liu Hua Black Gold Inner Armor and learned that his senior brother had made it for him as a parting gift. Lou Gao prepared to resume his journey, while Ling Yi promised to visit him and Uncle Tie in Gengxin City someday.

• Ling Yi admired Lou Gao’s finely forged armor and praised his craftsmanship.
• Lou Gao and Ling Yi discussed the armor’s value and how Soul Masters struggled to earn wealth.
• Lou Gao gave Ling Yi the Liu Hua Black Gold Inner Armor, which could withstand a fourth soul skill from a Power Attack System Soul Master.
• Ling Yi realized Lou Gao was preparing to leave after more than seven months at Cold Wind Camp.
• Lou Gao said Ling Yi’s ideas had helped him approach the Divine Craftsman realm, and Ling Yi promised to visit him and Uncle Tie in Gengxin City.

Ling Yi reflected on Lou Gao’s forging lessons and realized Lou Gao had already reached the Divine Blacksmith level. After challenging the idea that a true Divine Blacksmith had to forge divine artifacts from ordinary iron, Ling Yi continued training and planned to finish his orders before returning to Mu Zhi City.

• Ling Yi watched Lou Gao depart Cold Wind Camp as Jiang Yuan predicted that another Divine Blacksmith would soon appear, while Ling Yi knew Lou Gao had already become one.
• Ling Yi returned to the forging area and began making custom Thousand Scale Armor for five commandants who had placed orders.
• Ling Yi recalled asking Lou Gao whether forging divine artifacts from ordinary iron defined a Divine Blacksmith, and Lou Gao argued that the claim confused cause and effect because the Artisan God’s power and divine hammer made it possible.
• Ling Yi reflected that the claim about ordinary iron was tied to the Tang Family’s hammer Martial Soul, then practiced the Eighty-One Forms of the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique.
• Ling Yi judged that his Soul Power was still too low to pursue leadership in the Blacksmith Association, and planned to finish his Cold Wind Camp orders before returning to Mu Zhi City to tell his master, the old man Diamond, his good news.

Ling Yi returned to Mu Zhi City and told Old Master Jin that he had become a Blacksmith Master after training under Lou Gao at Cold Wind Camp. Old Master Jin celebrated his achievement and began considering sending more disciples to military logistics for forging experience.

• Ling Yi arrived at Jin Manor and gave A Lai a bundle of Frozen Autumn Pears from Cold Wind City.
• Ling Yi told Old Master Jin that Lou Gao had taught him the Eighty-One Forms of the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique and special alloy smelting processes.
• Ling Yi explained that he could forge Thousand Refinement weapons and armor.
• Old Master Jin celebrated Ling Yi’s achievement and reflected on how the military’s supply of materials had helped him improve.
• Old Master Jin considered sending his other disciples to military logistics to gain forging experience.

Three years after becoming the Waterwood Principality’s fourth Blacksmith Master, Ling Yi received a barony and territory, then returned to Shan Hai Village to reassess his ambitions and resolve to keep growing stronger. He planned to return to Mu Zhi City after arranging affairs at home, determined not to rest on his early achievements.

• Grand Duke Mu Feng bestowed the title of baron on Ling Yi and granted him North River Mouth Town and its more than twenty villages as his territory.
• On February 15, 2605, Ling Yi practiced calligraphy at home in Shan Hai Village while Old Master Jin represented him at noble gatherings.
• Ling Yi recognized that his new rank and status had stirred complacency, pride, laziness, and fear, and he considered the dangers facing the weak on the Douluo Continent.
• Ling Yi rejected the idea of settling into a comfortable life and resolved to pursue greater strength and freedom.
• Ling Yi finished writing that he must remember his youthful ambition and had once vowed to become first-rate beneath the heavens.

Blacksmiths from across Waterwood Principality gathered at Jin Manor after the Three Old Master Blacksmiths and Ling Yi summoned them. Ling Yi began explaining the meeting’s purpose by asking the assembled masters what they knew about the principality’s ironware market.

• Du Jun welcomed Advanced Blacksmiths Ba Lu and Liu Kuang and sent them into Jin Manor.
• Ba Lu, Liu Kuang, and their apprentices joined blacksmiths from Azure City and Cold Wind City in the courtyard as the gathering grew.
• Old Master Jin, Fu Shan, Li Qiang, Ling Yi, Qing Qiu Li, and Long Ang met in the manor’s main hall.
• Long Ang acknowledged Ling Yi’s skill after inspecting the Thousand Scale Armor and demanded to know why the blacksmiths had been summoned.
• Old Master Jin asked Ling Yi to explain, and Ling Yi unfolded papers and asked the masters how much they knew about Waterwood Principality’s ironware market.

Ling Yi presented data showing that Waterwood Principality’s ironware market had nearly 800,000 Gold Soul Coins in unexplained transactions beyond its cities and villages. He pointed to blank space on a map, leaving Long Ang and Qing Qiu Li waiting to hear where the trade had gone.

• Ling Yi cited the principality’s ironware turnover of 1.83 million Gold Soul Coins and broke down the known transactions in its cities and rural areas.
• Long Ang and Qing Qiu Li realized the figures accounted for only about one million Gold Soul Coins and asked where the rest had gone.
• Ling Yi pointed to a blank area beneath the map and said the two seniors already knew but had avoided thinking about it.