Chapter Summaries

Ling Yi returned to Mu Zhi City and worked at the Blacksmith Association headquarters while Old Master Jin reflected on how his disciple had become a Blacksmith Master and helped unite the principality’s blacksmiths. The association had grown into a major force, and Ling Yi’s work had fulfilled the goals he had set for it.

• Ling Yi and his companions entered Mu Zhi City, and Zhang Mufeng rode home while the others teased him about how to address Ling Yi.
• Ling Yi reviewed account books and documents at the Blacksmith Association headquarters as Old Master Jin watched him with pride.
• Old Master Jin recalled how Ling Yi had steadily advanced from a young student to a Blacksmith Master and established an organization for the principality’s blacksmiths.
• Old Master Jin realized that the united blacksmiths had formed an unimaginably large force.

Ling Yi reviewed the Blacksmith Association's accounts and identified problems with material subscriptions, assessments, and rising raw-material costs. He proposed a discount for the Principality Military in exchange for raw materials, aiming to keep profits from going to suppliers in the Heaven Dou Empire.

• Ling Yi examined the association's accounts and advised Old Master Jin on material subscriptions, shop allocations, and blacksmith assessments.
• Ling Yi found that the association's raw-material purchases had become nearly twenty percent more expensive despite no apparent price rise across the Heaven Dou Empire.
• Ling Yi told Old Master Jin to have the association cooperate with the Principality Military by offering a ten percent discount on orders paid for with raw materials.
• Ling Yi explained that the association would lose some profit either way, and he preferred the five marquises of the Five Directions Military Department to earn it rather than the suppliers in the Heaven Dou Empire.

Ling Yi reviewed the Waterwood Principality branch’s growth and future prospects before preparing to return to North River Mouth Town. As Zhang Tie showed him a newly collected load of scrap weapons and asked why he wanted them, Ling Yi’s reason remained unexplained.

• Ling Yi explained that the Blacksmith Association’s growing membership and broad local influence helped protect it from exploitation by suppliers and powerful rulers.
• Ling Yi spent two days advising Liaison Officers and reviewing the branch’s membership, which included hundreds of blacksmith shops and thousands of blacksmiths and apprentices.
• Ling Yi recognized that blacksmiths’ children could become a future source of recruits for the association, though no one else had noticed this possibility.
• Zhang Tie and several association members saw Ling Yi off beneath Mu Zhi City’s East City Gate, while baskets of collected scrap weapons were loaded into carts.
• Zhang Tie asked Ling Yi why he was collecting broken swords, spears, axes, and other damaged weapons.

After two years away, Ling Yi returned to Blue Silver Territory and found its towns and villages transformed by his plans and the Farmer Three Forms. He reunited with his family and relatives, learned the territory’s latest conditions, and offered to help Zhang Miao prepare for her Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony.

• Ling Yi traveled through North River Mouth Town and saw how Blue Silver Territory had been rebuilt and reorganized during his absence.
• Zhang Lei briefed Ling Yi on the territory’s progress, planning goals, and unresolved difficulties as they traveled to Shan Hai Estate.
• Ling Yi arrived at Shan Hai Estate, welcomed his relatives, and held a banquet where he gathered information about the territory and his family.
• The family discussed their children’s martial souls and recognized the advantages of awakening Blue Silver Grass in the territory.
• Ling Yi invited Zhang Miao to train with him and Zhang Lei for the month before her Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony.

Ling Yi gathered his friends and younger siblings to begin training, while arranging Blue Silver Grass around his courtyard. After praising Zhang Miao’s demonstration of the Basic Body Tempering Exercise, he began to offer a correction.

• Ling Yi directed the young attendants to transplant Blue Silver Grass in his courtyard and move some plants indoors.
• Ling Yi met Zhang Lei and Zhang Miao on the way to the warehouse, where Zhang Mufeng, Qingqiu Xin, and Long Yin were waiting to cultivate with him.
• Ling Yi asked Zhang Miao to demonstrate the Basic Body Tempering Exercise, and she performed all twelve forms as he watched.
• Ling Shan and Ling Si arrived, and Ling Yi recalled why they had chosen to study at home rather than attend an academy.
• Ling Yi praised Zhang Miao's diligent practice and correct forms, then paused before adding, “But...”

Ling Yi guided Zhang Miao, Ling Shan, and Ling Si in refining their practice of the Basic Body Tempering Exercise, using his demonstrations and mental techniques to draw the three into focused practice. He then led Zhang Lei, Zhang Mufeng, Qingqiu Xin, and Long Yin into the warehouse, where the shelves disoriented the newcomers and left Zhang Mufeng dazed.

• Ling Yi advised Zhang Miao to focus on the Dog, Cat, and Rabbit Forms, observe a rabbit closely, and learn to make the movements suit her own body.
• Ling Yi explained how the Basic Body Tempering Exercise supported later training in Beast Martial Soul: Xingyi Boxing Stance and demonstrated its twelve forms at three different speeds.
• Ling Shan, Ling Si, and Zhang Miao fell into intense concentration and practiced the forms after Ling Yi used his mental strength to guide their attention.
• Ling Yi gave Zhang Xiaoyu and Ling He quiet instructions, then took Zhang Lei, Zhang Mufeng, Qingqiu Xin, and Long Yin into the warehouse.
• Long Yin and Qingqiu Xin recovered from the disorientation caused by the warehouse shelves, while Zhang Mufeng remained dazed for several seconds before waking and addressing Ling Yi.

Ling Yi brought Zhang Mufeng, Qingqiu Xin, and Long Yin to the warehouse’s black-and-white platform and told them to cultivate there, while Zhang Lei accompanied him into a concealed underground chamber filled with discarded weapons. The chapter left Ling Yi and Zhang Lei standing in the weapon graveyard beneath the warehouse.

• Zhang Lei explained that visitors to the warehouse often became dazed, while Ling Yi privately admitted he did not understand the effect caused by his rearrangement of the racks.
• Ling Yi led Zhang Mufeng, Qingqiu Xin, and Long Yin onto the black-and-white platform and assigned them to cultivate in the quiet space.
• The three companions quickly entered focused cultivation, and Ling Yi continued onward with Zhang Lei.
• Zhang Lei opened a concealed stone slab beneath the warehouse’s northwest corner, and he and Ling Yi descended into an underground chamber.
• Ling Yi lit a torch, revealing piles of broken and discarded weapons spread across the underground space.

Ling Yi brought Zhang Lei to the Blacksmith Association’s underground weapon storehouse to test a Battle Halberd made from the Iron Birch Tree that had provided Zhang Lei’s first Soul Ring. As Zhang Lei channeled Soul Power into the weapon, Ling Yi used his Blue Silver Grass to study and strengthen the circulation path, while noting Zhang Lei’s progress in deducing his Soul Skill.

• Ling Yi and Zhang Lei entered the underground storehouse, where pits held broken weapons collected from battlefields.
• Zhang Lei recalled obtaining his Iron Birch Tree Soul Ring, which gave his Hoe martial soul the buff-type Soul Skill Hard as Diamond.
• Zhang Lei approached a Battle Halberd made from the core of the Iron Birch Tree and infused it with Soul Power.
• Ling Yi used his Blue Silver Grass and First Soul Skill: Full of Vitality to trace the Soul Power pathway between Zhang Lei and the Battle Halberd.
• Ling Yi observed that Zhang Lei’s circulation route had grown closer to the one he used for Hard as Diamond, showing that he had been working to deduce the skill.

Ling Yi observed Zhang Lei training with the Battle Halberd and concluded that its head still lacked the compatibility needed to fuse fully with his Hoe martial soul. After returning to the Yin Yang Stone Platform, Ling Yi heard that the others had benefited greatly from cultivating there and proposed a spar.

• Zhang Lei awakened the Soldier Tomb’s bloody wind through the Battle Halberd, but his Hoe martial soul still failed to remain fused with it when he tried to swing the weapon.
• Ling Yi sensed that the Battle Halberd’s head lacked the spirituality of its shaft and said Zhang Lei would need to nurture it over time to pursue Weapon Refinement into Soul.
• Ling Yi took Zhang Lei out of the Soldier Tomb and returned with him to the Yin Yang Stone Platform, where Zhang Mufeng, Long Yin, and Qingqiu Xin had finished a stage of cultivation.
• Long Yin told Ling Yi that training on the platform had helped him understand force circulation and soul power control.
• Ling Yi smiled at the group and proposed that the four of them have a proper fight.

Ling Yi taught Long Yin, Qingqiu Xin, Zhang Mufeng, and Zhang Lei to rely on technique and timing rather than brute force, then continued training them with his Blue Silver Grass martial soul. After an hour, he gave Ling Shan and the others active energy and asked Zhang Miao to share what he had learned.

• Long Yin attacked Ling Yi with Ice Bear Claw and Xingyi Boxing Stance, but Ling Yi dodged and slammed him repeatedly onto the platform.
• Ling Yi knocked Qingqiu Xin, Zhang Mufeng, and Zhang Lei down, healed all four with Full of Vitality, and explained the importance of combat technique and timing.
• Long Yin, Qingqiu Xin, Zhang Mufeng, and Zhang Lei got up and charged Ling Yi, who summoned his Blue Silver Grass and met them in battle.
• After an hour, Ling Yi left the warehouse, gave Ling Shan, Ling Si, and Zhang Miao active energy, and asked his mother and aunt to send food to the trainees.
• Ling Yi asked the three younger children to share what they had learned and chose Zhang Miao to speak first.

Lou Gao brought a gift from Ling Yi to his master, Tie Futu, for inspection. Tie Futu discovered that the silver-gray ingot concealed glowing patterns that appeared to change its weight, and demanded to know whether Lou Gao had seen them.

• Tie Futu teased Lou Gao about leaving the association’s affairs to visit his forging room.
• The chapter recounted how Lou Gao became a Divine Blacksmith and led the Blacksmith Association to flourish using ideas from Ling Yi.
• Lou Gao placed Ling Yi’s gift on the platform and opened the box, revealing a scroll, a crystal, and a silver-gray metal ingot.
• Tie Futu examined the ingot, channeled Soul Power into it, and saw glowing patterns appear as its weight increased.
• Tie Futu turned to Lou Gao and asked whether he had seen the patterns.

Lou Gao showed Tie Futu Ling Yi’s new alloy and Storage Soul Crystal, explaining how they worked and their limitations. Tie Futu saw the crystal’s potential in battle and asked how it was made, but Lou Gao could only say Ling Yi would supply about a hundred every three months in exchange for Soul Tools or rare metals.

• Tie Futu tested the Heavy Profound Steel and discovered that Soul Power could flow through it with almost no loss while activating patterns that increased its weight.
• Lou Gao explained that Ling Yi’s cipher on the parchment could be decoded using his handwritten copy of History of the Continent.
• Lou Gao introduced the Storage Soul Crystal, which could hold Soul Power and later return it to the Soul Master who had stored it.
• Lou Gao said the crystal could hold the full Soul Power of a level-10 Soul Master, but higher-quality Soul Power sharply reduced its capacity and could shatter it.
• Tie Futu asked about the crystal’s manufacturing process and cost, but Lou Gao said Ling Yi had offered only to provide about a hundred every three months in exchange for Soul Tools or rare metal materials.

Ling Yi cultivated a collection of aged and mutated Blue Silver Grass in his courtyard, where he had concentrated the surrounding energy until it neared that of a Soul Beast Forest. None of the plants had yet crossed the Thousand Year Level, but Ling Yi believed he had found a way and planned to keep pursuing it as he worked toward Soul Power Level 30.

• Ling Yi's return helped Blue Silver Territory prosper, and its residents embraced Blue Silver Grass as a symbol of resilience.
• Ling Yi's private courtyard filled with transplanted Soul Power plants and unusually dense heaven-and-earth energy, so he barred others from entering and assigned A'Huang to guard it.
• Ling Yi cultivated thirty original or mutated Blue Silver Grass, all over five hundred years old, but none broke through the Thousand Year Level.
• Ling Yi, now sixteen and newly at Soul Power Level 26, aimed to reach Level 30 before turning eighteen and believed he had a direction for helping a Blue Silver Grass cross the thousand-year limit.

Ling Yi studied Douluo fan novels in his Memory Palace for ideas about Martial Souls and metal forging, while reminding himself that his old-world knowledge might not match reality. He had written to Lou Gao and Tie Futu about making metal develop spirituality and wondered how quickly they would discover the method.

• Ling Yi read an unfinished Douluo fan novel and considered its ideas about Martial Soul evolution and the stages of refining.
• Ling Yi dismissed another Blue Silver Grass fan novel after looking over its comments and chapter titles.
• Ling Yi reflected that fan novels offered incomplete or altered information and could not serve as a reliable guide to the real Douluo world.
• Ling Yi reviewed how his forging practice let him use qi and blood, guided by Mental Strength, to influence metal with his hammer.
• Ling Yi wondered when Lou Gao and Tie Futu would make metal develop spirituality and left the further work of inscribing Soul Guiding Array Patterns to them.

Ling Yi explained how he developed a large-scale Soul Guiding Array Diagram that gathered life force from Blue Silver Grass to draw in outside energy. He left the chapter with his new “Full of Vitality” array ready, while keeping his Soul Tool research and crystal production carefully controlled.

• Ling Yi cut off the life force flowing into him after recovering to his peak and described the array diagram installed beneath his courtyard.
• Ling Yi explained that he had spent years improving his martial soul, physique, mental strength, and surroundings to advance his cultivation.
• Ling Yi recounted how he conceived a Spirit Gathering Array by studying Soul Tool patterns and investigating materials that could conduct soul power.
• Ling Yi obtained Soul Essence Crystals through the Blacksmith Association and decided to limit the release of Storage Soul Crystals to the level 10 Soul Scholar version.
• Ling Yi presented the large-scale soul-guide source-gathering array, “Full of Vitality,” as the successful result of his research.

Ling Yi used the vitality gathered from Shan Hai Estate’s Blue Silver Grass to help four nearly thousand-year-old plants begin breaking through their limits. He then turned to the Dodder Blue Silver Grass and opened a metal box, revealing a chilling sight.

• Ling Yi connected a nearly thousand-year-old original Blue Silver Grass to the Full of Vitality Spirit Gathering Array Diagram and drew vitality from the estate’s many Blue Silver Grass plants.
• Ling Yi guided the gathered vitality and faint auras into the plant, helping it begin to dissolve the shackles that kept it below the Thousand Year Level.
• Ling Yi returned higher-quality vitality to the estate’s Blue Silver Grass and saw the transformed original plant take on a deeper, more substantial appearance.
• Ling Yi performed the same bestowal ceremony for another original Blue Silver Grass, Vitality Blue Silver Grass, and Iron Birch Blue Silver Grass, setting all four on the path to transformation.
• Ling Yi went to the ten Dodder Blue Silver Grass plants and opened their Vitality Gold metal box, exposing a spine-chilling sight.

Ling Yi continued his self-experiment to create a spare body, but hesitated at the final lower-body region and postponed completing it. He left his bedroom, replenished his strength, and checked on the Ling Family children he was training for future roles in his plans.

• Ling Yi maintained his severed arms and legs in the Vitality Coffin while Second Soul Skill · Finger Rebirth restored the missing parts of his body.
• Ling Yi cut into his shoulder and back, then continued his experiments by separating and restoring pieces of his internal organs.
• Three months later, Ling Yi examined the mostly completed headless body in the Vitality Coffin but stopped at the Root Chakra region, deciding to wait until he gained a third or fourth soul skill.
• Ling Yi ate Medicinal Cuisine, then visited the children training near the large warehouse under Zhang Lei, Zhang Mufeng, Qingqiu Xin, and Long Yin.
• Ling Yi quieted the children with his Mental Strength and asked whether they had memorized the Human Meridian Diagram.

Ling Yi tested the children and substitute teachers on the Basic Breathing Technique he had developed, guiding them through their first cultivation cycle. Several children successfully generated warmth in their dantians, giving Ling Yi a foundation for cultivation independent of martial souls.

• Ling Yi questioned all thirty-seven children and found their reasoning and memories satisfactory.
• Ling Yi had the children and substitute teachers sit cross-legged and led them through the breathing and circulation route of the Basic Breathing Technique.
• Several children sensed and guided a warm breath through one Small Heavenly Cycle, then felt warmth spread from their dantians.
• Ling Yi celebrated that he had completed the Basic Breathing Technique Manual after verifying how to refine blood and qi into energy.
• Ling Yi compared his technique with Tang San’s Mysterious Heaven Skill and considered how each could let ordinary people cultivate without relying on martial souls.

Ling Yi refined his Soul Power through a new breathing method until its quality reached Soul Grandmaster level, making him a pseudo-Soul Grandmaster without a third Soul Ring. Zhang Lei then brought word that the item Ling Yi had asked the association to watch for had appeared somewhere in the Heaven Dou Empire.

• Ling Yi circulated Soul Power through his meridians and, after three cycles, caused it to condense into a denser form.
• Ling Yi judged his Soul Power quality comparable to that of a Soul Grandmaster and concluded that his cultivation speed had greatly increased.
• Zhang Lei arrived with a letter from Old Master Jin reporting that the sought-after item had appeared within the Heaven Dou Empire.
• Ling Yi hurried to Zhang Lei and asked where the item was, but Zhang Lei said the messenger had provided no precise location.

Ling Yi and his companions arrived in Shabak City, where Deputy Commander Wo Ma recognized the strength of Jiang Yuan, their Soul King escort. Ling Yi explained how he had researched the city and recounted the journey that brought the group together, leaving them ready to explore the city and its upcoming auction.

• Wo Ma noticed Jiang Yuan and judged him to be a young powerhouse at least as strong as a Soul King.
• Ling Yi told Jiang Yuan that he had identified Wo Ma using portraits and information gathered in advance, surprising Li Zhishu.
• Ling Yi’s recent journey had taken him to Mu Zhi City to meet Old Master Jin and then to Cold Wind Camp to recruit Jiang Yuan, who had reached Level 52.
• Jiang Yuan had earned his fifth Soul Ring with help from Song Yao after accumulating military merits.
• Ling Yi traveled with Jiang Yuan, Zhang Mufeng, Qingqiu Xin, Long Yin, and Li Zhishu toward the Shabak Grand Auction House.