Chapter Summaries

Ling Yi and his companions visited a grand auction house to learn how to qualify for its upcoming auction and sell items there. They learned the entry and consignment requirements, while Ling Yi reflected on the auction house’s high fees and the value of a better-run marketplace.

• Jiang Yuan let Ling Yi lead the group into the auction house, where staff member Xiao Tie greeted them.
• Xiao Tie explained that the auction would take place in three days and required proof of assets worth at least ten thousand Gold Soul Coins to attend.
• Ling Yi assured Xiao Tie that the group could meet the qualification threshold and asked how they could consign items.
• Xiao Tie said items valued above one thousand Gold Soul Coins could be auctioned, with the house charging ten percent of the final sale price.
• Ling Yi accepted the procedure but privately criticized the fixed ten-percent fee and considered how a lower, tiered fee could attract auction business.

Ling Yi brought a silver-gray metal inner armor to the Shabak Auction House for appraisal and testing. Jiang Yuan demonstrated that it could withstand powerful attacks, leaving the appraisers and the others stunned by its defensive strength.

• Ling Yi asked the No. 3 appraiser to examine the inner armor, and the appraiser identified it as armor woven from a new metal but could not determine its exact grade.
• The No. 3 appraiser took Ling Yi's party to the weapon laboratory, where Xu Yixiu's flying needles and Xiao Tie's blade failed to damage the armor.
• Jiang Yuan summoned his Iron Refining Gauntlets and declared that the armor could withstand more than five Fourth Soul Skill attacks from a Power Attack System Soul Master.
• Jiang Yuan fired his Fourth Soul Skill at the armor, driving the wooden stake into the steel wall and leaving the laboratory silent.

Ling Yi sold his Sinking Silver Inner Armor for 48,000 Gold Soul Coins at the auction, then waited for the Ruyi Treasure Sack, a rare Storage Soul Tool that could hold living creatures. When it appeared, Ling Yi sensed an unusual presence behind him as Zhang Mufeng asked whether they should bid.

• Ling Yi introduced the Sinking Silver Inner Armor, and the Auction House appraiser set its starting price at 10,000 Gold Soul Coins.
• Ling Yi and his companions completed their bidding qualifications, then returned three days later for the auction.
• A wealthy middle-aged man bought Ling Yi's Sinking Silver Inner Armor for 48,000 Gold Soul Coins, exciting Zhang Mufeng.
• The host revealed the Ruyi Treasure Sack, a ten-cubic-meter Storage Soul Tool capable of storing living creatures, with a starting price of 100,000 Gold Soul Coins.
• Ling Yi focused his senses and detected a cold presence with an almost imperceptible heartbeat behind him; Zhang Mufeng asked whether they should bid.

Ling Yi bid one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins for the Ruyi Treasure Sack after the auction house’s inflated starting price drew no offers. The sale succeeded, and Ling Yi secured the living-storage Soul Tool he needed.

• The host announced a starting bid of one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins, but the audience held back because the Ruyi Treasure Sack seemed overpriced.
• The host recalled that the auction house had valued the sack at fifty-five thousand Gold Soul Coins, but its powerful owner had demanded the high starting price.
• Ling Yi bid one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins after Zhang Mufeng reminded him, easing the auction house’s awkward situation.
• Ling Yi reasoned that wealthy bidders in Heaven Dou City or Star Luo City could pay more and that he needed a Storage Soul Tool that could hold living things.
• The host quickly called the sale three times and awarded the Ruyi Treasure Sack to Ling Yi for one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins.

After the auction, Ling Yi paid for the Ruyi Treasure Sack and approached the buyer of his Sinking Silver Inner Armor to offer him another one. The wary stranger introduced himself as Dugu and returned to the hotel with Ling Yi’s group, where they prepared to discuss matters further.

• The auction ended with Liu Daoren buying a Ten Thousand Year Soul Beast’s heart’s blood essence for 210,000 Gold Soul Coins.
• Ling Yi settled the Sinking Silver Inner Armor sale and paid the remaining 56,800 Gold Soul Coins for the Ruyi Treasure Sack.
• Ling Yi spotted the tall, thin middle-aged man who had bought his armor and offered to sell him another one without the Auction House’s handling fee.
• The man questioned how Ling Yi had identified him, and Ling Yi explained that he recognized the armor’s distinctive scent and had forged it himself.
• The man revealed that his compound surname was Dugu and accompanied Ling Yi’s group back to their hotel.

Ling Yi introduced his companions to Dugu Bo over a meal, and Dugu Bo praised Jiang Yuan’s talent while dismissing the younger Soul Masters as ordinary. Curious about Ling Yi’s background, Dugu Bo turned to Long Yin and asked him to explain it, leaving Long Yin to answer.

• Dugu Bo accepted Ling Yi’s invitation and sampled Li Zhishu’s cooking, recognizing that the dishes were excellent and unpoisoned.
• Ling Yi introduced Li Zhishu and Jiang Yuan, and Dugu Bo praised Jiang Yuan’s aptitude as a Soul King of his age.
• Ling Yi introduced Zhang Mufeng, Qingqiu Xin, and Long Yin, whom Dugu Bo regarded as merely average.
• Dugu Bo questioned Ling Yi’s background and guessed at several possible family connections before rejecting them.
• Dugu Bo asked Long Yin, whom he considered guileless, to explain Ling Yi’s background.

Long Yin described Ling Yi’s standing as a baron, master blacksmith, key organizer of the Blacksmith Association, and renowned physician, prompting Dugu Bo to consider recruiting him. Dugu Bo rejected Long Yin’s claim that Ling Yi’s healing surpassed higher-ranked Healing System Soul Masters and began to suspect the group was deceiving him.

• Long Yin told Dugu Bo that Ling Yi was a baron and lord of Blue Silver Territory despite being only a Great Soul Master.
• Long Yin explained that Ling Yi had become the continent’s youngest Blacksmith Master at fourteen and had helped establish and run the Waterwood Principality branch of the Blacksmith Association.
• After seeing the others affirm Long Yin’s account, Dugu Bo regarded Ling Yi as a talented organizer and considered recruiting him into the Dugu Clan.
• Long Yin claimed Ling Yi was a celebrated physician whose treatments surpassed those of Soul Grandmaster- and Soul Ancestor-level Healing System Soul Masters.
• Dugu Bo called the claim impossible and wondered whether Ling Yi and his companions were con artists.

Dugu Bo doubted Ling Yi’s claims until Ling Yi demonstrated his unusual healing abilities on a gutted fish. The fish was restored and brought back to life, leaving Dugu Bo stunned.

• Dugu Bo challenged Long Yin’s claims about Ling Yi and released his aura, but Ling Yi managed to speak under its pressure.
• Dugu Bo reconsidered Ling Yi’s strength and wondered whether his Martial Soul had exceptional quality.
• Li Zhishu brought a gutted fish into the room and asked Ling Yi to demonstrate his abilities for Dugu Bo.
• Ling Yi used Soul Power to restore the fish’s organs, seal its wound, and revive it.
• Dugu Bo stared at the revived fish and exclaimed in shock.

Dugu Bo watched Ling Yi forge a Sinking Silver Inner Armor and learned how Ling Yi’s bodily qi and blood could surpass a Soul Elder’s strength. On the way back, Ling Yi explained why he freely shared his blacksmithing knowledge, leaving Dugu Bo impressed by his vision.

• Dugu Bo confirmed that Ling Yi had Blue Silver Grass, Half Level Innate Soul Power, and humble origins, yet had become an influential figure in Waterwood Principality.
• Ling Yi demonstrated his forging skill, using qi and blood to power a hammering technique that astonished Dugu Bo and the blacksmith shop owner.
• Ling Yi completed a Sinking Silver Inner Armor and patiently taught Zhang Mufeng, Long Yin, Qingqiu Xin, and the shop owner what he knew.
• Dugu Bo asked Ling Yi why he had shared his alloy formula and hammer technique with the shop owner.
• Ling Yi told Dugu Bo that spreading knowledge could create lasting value and lead others to develop even better techniques.

Tang Hao broke through to Soul King at age twenty and returned to the Clear Sky Sect after obtaining his fifth soul ring. His father, Tang Zhen, announced that he would give Tang Hao one of the sect’s Three Great Inheritance Soul Bones, and the assembled elders voiced no objections.

• Niu Gao, Tai Tan, Yang Wudi, Yang Wushuang, and Bai He heard that someone on Haoyang Cliff was breaking through, and Tai Tan revealed that Tang Hao had been close to the breakthrough.
• Bai He reflected on Tang Hao’s talent and remembered how his sister’s marriage to Tang Zhen had helped the Bai Clan rise as the Speed Clan.
• Ten days later, Tang Hao hunted an eleven-thousand-year Soul Beast with a sect elder and reached Soul King level 51.
• Tang Zhen summoned Tang Hao to the main hall and asked him to reveal his Clear Sky Hammer and soul rings.
• Tang Hao displayed his hammer and five soul rings, including a black fifth ring, astonishing the assembled sect members.
• Tang Zhen announced that he would give Tang Hao one of the Clear Sky Sect’s Three Great Inheritance Soul Bones, and no one objected.

After Tang Yuehua’s martial soul awakened with a severe mutation and almost no Innate Soul Power, Tang Hao and Tang Xiao learned that human strength could not cure her congenital deficiency. Tang Chen revealed a plan to develop the special power in her martial soul and seek divine power, sending the brothers to deliver a letter to Seagod Island.

• Bai He brought Tang Yuehua a handcrafted harp and gently tried to comfort her as she hid among the flowers.
• Tang Hao decided to ask Tang Chen for help after learning Tang Yuehua had awakened a mutated martial soul and only Level 0.1 Innate Soul Power.
• Tang Chen confirmed that Yuehua’s congenital deficiency could not be changed by human power and predicted she might reach only level nine soul power.
• Tang Chen said he would seek the power of a god and gave Tang Xiao a letter to deliver to High Priest Bo Saixi on Seagod Island.
• Tang Chen told the brothers that Yuehua had unusually strong Mental Strength and a special power in her martial soul that he would help her develop before leaving to pursue the path beyond Soul Masters.

Ling Yi and Dugu Bo parted ways after more than a month of traveling and developing their friendship, while Tang Xiao and Tang Hao continued their monotonous sea voyage toward Seagod Island. The chapter left the brothers waiting aboard ship to meet Bo Saixi, the island’s legendary Level 99 High Priest.

• Ling Yi said farewell to Dugu Bo, who promised to visit the Waterwood Principality after finishing his business.
• Ling Yi and his companions rode north through the falling snow as more than a month passed since they met Dugu Bo in Shabak City.
• Ling Yi and Dugu Bo discussed improving the Rhino Earth Dragon Pill, while Ling Yi’s party traded skills, sampled local food, and visited Jiang Yuan’s former comrades.
• Tang Xiao and Tang Hao found their sea voyage dull after enjoying the cities and sights on their earlier land journey.
• Tang Xiao and Tang Hao recalled that Bo Saixi had defeated Tang Chen and Qian Daoliu separately, and waited aboard ship to reach Seagod Island.

Ling Yi used a gravity array to push his body through the limits of his familiar Xingyi boxing stances, while finally reaching a new stage in his cultivation of the Path of the Mind. He left the chapter in a trance-like state, with his body strengthening once more as his spirit watched from within.

• Ling Yi practiced Fierce Horse Gallop, the first of his nine Xingyi boxing stances, while the gravity array raised the pressure around him to 1.8 times normal.
• Ling Yi reflected on how his original boxing routine had reached its potential and how he could not find suitable Soul Ring skills in the Waterwood Principality to develop a stronger version.
• As his body trembled with fatigue, Ling Yi focused inward and let go of his usual vigilance, while Meow Meow watched over him from a roof beam.
• Ling Yi entered the motion-based Deep Sleep state for the first time, with his body performing the nine stances while his spirit observed from a detached perspective.
• Ling Yi's body began to grow stronger again as he continued practicing in the trance-like state.

Dugu Bo and Dugu Xin visited Shan Hai Estate after learning that Ling Yi had left, and discovered he had been summoned to the front amid rising tensions between the Heaven Dou Empire and Star Luo Empire. In Mu Zhi City, Ling Yi advised Jin Hua to seek a Soul Ring rather than prolong his training at level ten.

• Dugu Bo and Dugu Xin traveled to Shan Hai Estate, where Long Yin, Zhang Mufeng, Qingqiu Xin, and Zhang Lei welcomed them.
• Long Yin and the others told Dugu Bo that Ling Yi had left two days earlier after receiving an official transfer order to report for service near the front between the Two Great Empires.
• Ling Yi went to Mu Zhi City to investigate the order’s origins and slow the Blacksmith Association’s expansion in the Waterwood Principality.
• Ling Yi visited Old Master Jin and found Jin Hua eager to hunt for a Soul Ring after reaching level ten.
• Ling Yi argued that Jin Hua should not delay his Soul Ring hunt, since his age and years of hammer training had already strengthened his body.

Jiang Yuan and Li Zhishu discovered that Heaven Dou was forcing Waterwood Principality’s army to buy grain at triple the market price, while their own supplies were running low. As the commanders struggled to protect their soldiers and lacked a solution, Ling Yi reflected on how corruption had worn people down.

• Ge Er learned that Waterwood Principality’s troops had arrived and dismissed them as cannon fodder, with no intention of receiving them.
• Li Zhishu told Jiang Yuan that Heaven Dou had requisitioned Noding City’s grain and was selling it to the allied troops at triple the recent market price.
• Jiang Yuan asked after Ling Yi, learned he had stayed with the military doctors, and lamented that Waterwood Principality’s leaders resented the Blacksmith Association’s growth.
• Li Zhishu condemned the principality’s leaders, and Jiang Yuan silenced him, warning that his words could be treated as treason or as undermining troop morale.
• Li Zhishu asked how they would feed their soldiers as supplies dwindled, but Jiang Yuan had no answer.
• Ling Yi listened from a nearby tent and reflected that corruption and hardship had gradually forced people to numb their once-passionate hearts.

Zhang Lei distributed the Territory Lord’s new crop seedlings to villagers in Upper River Village while Ling Yi treated soldiers in the strange, commercially manipulated war between the empires. Jiang Yuan explained the principality’s shortages and a gambling lobbyist’s offer to Ling Yi, who was asked to help assess the army’s predicament.

• Zhang Lei gathered the villagers of Upper River Village and began distributing emerald seedlings left by the Territory Lord for them to plant instead of winter wheat.
• Ling Yi treated wounded soldiers near Fair City and observed how merchants and gamblers profited from the battles between the two empires.
• Jinner urged Jiang Yuan to sacrifice three thousand troops at Quyue River Bay in exchange for a rigged victory, and Jiang Yuan asked for time to consider.
• Jiang Yuan arranged for Li Zhishu to prepare Soul Power food and summoned Ling Yi to treat his hidden injuries.
• Jiang Yuan told Ling Yi that the principality’s army faced shortages of supplies, troops, and experts as both empires prepared to deploy powerful fighters.

Jiang Yuan’s army defeated the Bei Yue Kingdom forces at Quyue River Bay while Ling Yi used fires and false identities to conceal and disperse soldiers. Ling Yi then traveled northeast in hiding, using Blue Silver Grass to check for pursuers and avoid revealing his route.

• Jiang Yuan killed the Bei Yue Kingdom Soul King commander and rallied Waterwood Principality’s troops to rout the enemy.
• Ling Yi set fire to three thousand dummy figures and escaped into the Quyue River as the pursuing cavalry mistook the burning bodies for casualties.
• Ling Yi gave maps and letters to thirty or forty men and directed them to enter the Star Luo Empire as displaced people seeking work.
• Ling Yi came ashore near the Waterwood Principality camp, checked the surrounding area through Blue Silver Grass, and headed northeast while repeatedly checking for human presence.

Ling Yi reassured Jiang Yuan that the three thousand soldiers who had been declared dead had safely left to begin new lives with help from Lou Gao and the Blacksmith Association. He warned that the war served the empires’ interests by consuming their subordinate states’ people and resources, while Jiang Yuan considered how to protect the five thousand soldiers still under his command.

• Ling Yi returned to camp and found it grieving the three thousand comrades reported killed, while the main army had won with few casualties.
• Jiang Yuan asked whether Ling Yi’s plan to hide the soldiers’ survival could deceive everyone, recalling how the men had been chosen to leave their identities behind.
• Ling Yi confirmed that all three thousand had been sent to the rear, where Senior Brother Lou Gao and the Blacksmith Association would help them settle.
• Ling Yi urged Jiang Yuan to consider future battles and protect the five thousand soldiers remaining, many of whom had lost family and friends among those sent away.
• Jiang Yuan explained that the empires would likely settle the war through soul duels, and Ling Yi concluded that the conflicts were designed to consume subordinate states’ strength and resources.

After the war, the Heaven Dou Empire kept Ling Yi behind as an army doctor because his healing abilities had helped the Waterwood Principality’s forces survive at remarkable rates. Ling Yi began arranging for Blue Silver Grass seeds to grow around the camp to support his medicines and healing Soul Skill, while both empires assumed he would accept his new posting.

• Captain Luo Bo told Ling Yi that Blue Silver Grass seeds had been scattered around the camp, and Ling Yi welcomed their potential to aid his medicine and healing.
• Five days after the war ended, Ling Yi remained in the Heaven Dou Empire under a military order to treat wounded and disabled soldiers instead of returning with Jiang Yuan, Li Zhishu, and the others.
• The Waterwood Principality’s unusually low losses drew attention to its forces and led investigators to notice Ling Yi’s exceptional healing work.
• The Heaven Dou Empire considered Ling Yi a valuable support-type Soul Master because he could reattach severed limbs and treat internal organ injuries despite being only a two-ring Great Soul Master.
• Both the Heaven Dou Empire and the Waterwood Principality expected Ling Yi to stay with the larger empire, though the chapter left his own thoughts unstated.

Ling Yi began treating wounded soldiers at the Border Army camp and demonstrated a surgical method for repairing internal injuries. Afterward, he used his first soul skill to help restore the eight soldiers, leaving the camp’s healers impressed with him.

• Ling Yi greeted Count Aier Motes and Viscount Lian Lane, then accepted responsibility for treating eight soldiers with internal injuries.
• Ling Yi learned the soldiers had taken Clear Sky Sect Sleeping Pills that would keep them unconscious for about another hour.
• Ling Yi used small knives and fine needles to operate on all eight soldiers, removing their internal injuries within an hour.
• Ling Yi used his first soul skill, Full of Vitality, to nourish the soldiers, though its effect was limited.
• The healers and soldiers watched Ling Yi with admiration and formed a better impression of him.