Chapter Summaries

After surviving an assassination attempt, Lin Hao received visits from Tang San, Dugu Bo, Prince Xue Xing, and Crown Prince Xue Qinghe, who promised protection and an investigation. Xue Qinghe claimed the Star Luo Empire was behind the attack, but Lin Hao questioned the evidence.

• Tang San and Xiao Wu visited Lin Hao, and Tang San vowed to investigate the assassination.
• Dugu Bo brought Prince Xue Xing, who promised Lin Hao justice and gave him thirty Spirit Master guards.
• Xue Qinghe apologized for failing to escort Lin Hao and said the Emperor had ordered a swift investigation.
• Xue Qinghe accused the Star Luo Empire, saying three escaped suspects had fled there and disappeared at an intelligence outpost.
• Lin Hao frowned and asked what evidence supported the accusation.

Xue Qinghe brought royal guards and four maids to Lin Hao, who pretended to be seriously ill so Spirit Hall would still consider his team capable of winning the tournament and award its three Spirit Bones. After arranging an investigation into the assassins, Lin Hao received a visit from Platinum Bishop Salas, who invited him to join Spirit Hall.

• Xue Qinghe told Lin Hao that the Emperor had assigned seventy knights to protect him and bestowed four Soul Master maids upon him.
• Lin Hao claimed his injuries from the assassination attempt were serious, then asked Dugu Bo to conceal the truth and say he had a complicated mixed poison.
• Lin Hao explained to Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Dugu Bo that he was faking illness to keep Spirit Hall from changing the tournament and its three Spirit Bone rewards.
• Lin Hao asked Dugu Bo to investigate the assassins and the people who had lured Shui Bing'er, Shui Yue'er, and Ye Lingling away.
• Tang San inferred that the Emperor knew Prince Xue Xing had given Lin Hao thirty guards, bringing his total to one hundred; Xiao Wu nearly exposed her identity with a careless remark.
• Salas visited Lin Hao and invited him to join Spirit Hall.

Lin Hao rejected Salas’s offers and threats, then used the Misty Cloud Sect’s Royal Knights to counter Spirit Hall’s attempts to disrupt its establishment. After Dugu Bo agreed to guard the sect, he told Lin Hao that three of the four people who had tried to assassinate him had graduated from Spirit Hall Soul Master Academy.

• Salas offered Lin Hao positions in Spirit Hall, but Lin Hao refused and ordered him to leave.
• Lin Hao told Tang San to send the one hundred Royal Knights to Titan so they could protect the Misty Cloud Sect from sabotage.
• Thugs tried to disrupt the sect’s establishment, and Titan arrested them before Salas claimed them; when Salas’s men returned to burn the site, Titan and the others killed them.
• Dugu Bo agreed to stay at the Misty Cloud Sect while it was under construction to deter Spirit Hall from attacking.
• Dugu Bo reported that three of the four people involved in Lin Hao’s assassination attempt had graduated from Spirit Hall Soul Master Academy.

Lin Hao suspected Qian Renxue and Spirit Hall had orchestrated the assassination attempt, but he refused to share his reasoning with Dugu Bo. After sending the imperial household’s guards and maids to the Misty Cloud Sect construction site, he prepared to visit the Eastern Palace.

• Lin Hao agreed with Dugu Bo that Spirit Hall might be behind the attack but kept his full suspicions to himself.
• Lin Hao connected the talent exchange conference, the attack, and the assassins’ Spirit Hall Academy ties, concluding that Qian Renxue had been acting as Xue Qinghe.
• Lin Hao told Dugu Bo that knowing his suspicions would bring no benefit, and Dugu Bo accepted his refusal to explain.
• Dugu Bo questioned Lin Hao for sending away the imperial family’s guards and maids, and Lin Hao revealed that he did not consider them trustworthy people.
• Lin Hao rejected Dugu Bo’s advice to pretend to accommodate the imperial family and asked whether he would accompany him to the Eastern Palace.

Lin Hao visited Xue Qinghe in the Eastern Palace and used their meeting to build a familiar relationship while probing the Crown Prince’s strength and reasons for avoiding the tournament. Xue Qinghe believed he had earned Lin Hao’s trust, but Lin Hao saw through his tactics and ended by asking to spar.

• Lin Hao told Dugu Bo to tell Prince Xue Xing to trust him or discard him, then went to the Eastern Palace to meet Xue Qinghe.
• Lin Hao greeted Xue Qinghe with an overfamiliar half-embrace, and Xue Qinghe reluctantly played along with the brotherly act.
• Lin Hao asked Xue Qinghe’s age and Soul Power Level, and Xue Qinghe revealed that he was twenty-four and level sixty-eight.
• Xue Qinghe said he had withdrawn from the tournament to conceal his talents and asked Lin Hao to keep his level secret.
• Xue Qinghe thought his candid explanation had won Lin Hao’s goodwill, while Lin Hao recognized his scheme and asked to spar.

Lin Hao asked Xue Qinghe to spar so he could improve before the tournament, while Xue Qinghe saw the match as a chance to learn Lin Hao’s fighting methods for Spirit Hall Soul Master Academy. Their hand-to-hand spar ended with Lin Hao apparently injured, and he left by complimenting Xue Qinghe’s backside.

• Lin Hao asked Xue Qinghe to spar, explaining that he needed a worthy partner and could not risk revealing his secrets to Qin Ming if Qin Ming joined Shrek Academy.
• Xue Qinghe agreed, reasoning that sparring with Lin Hao could help Spirit Hall Soul Master Academy defend its championship and might earn him credit if Lin Hao’s team won.
• Lin Hao proposed that they spar without soul power, and Xue Qinghe repeatedly threw him to the ground during their exchanges.
• Lin Hao let Xue Qinghe’s punch hit his chest and spat blood, claiming that an old injury from the assassination attempt had not healed.
• Lin Hao ended the spar and, while leaving, told Xue Qinghe that his backside was perky.

Lin Hao used a spar with Xue Qinghe to tease Qian Renxue and make Spirit Hall believe he was badly injured, hoping it would keep the three Spirit Bones offered as a reward. He then cultivated with Shui Bing'er and Shui Yue'er, and the three successfully formed a new Martial Soul Fusion form controlled by Lin Hao.

• Lin Hao slapped Xue Qinghe during their spar and left, intending to use their encounter to torment Qian Renxue and make her believe he was weakened.
• Lin Hao reasoned that Xue Qinghe could pass word of his injuries to Spirit Hall and help preserve its three-Spirit-Bone reward for the Misty Cloud Sect.
• Shui Bing'er and Shui Yue'er brought Lin Hao food, and the three cultivated together by joining their palms.
• Their fused Soul Power formed a cocoon that spread ice through Lin Hao's room before opening into a powerful, armored woman.
• Shui Yue'er complained that she still could not control their Martial Soul Fusion form, and Shui Bing'er revealed that Lin Hao was in control.

Lin Hao took control of the fused body of Shui Bing'er and Shui Yue'er, tested its abilities, and later went for a walk with the sisters. At the river, they saw Dai Mubai confronting Zhu Zhuqing over their defeat and its consequences.

• Lin Hao controlled the fusion body, examined its appearance, and tested its armor before the fusion ended and the three separated.
• Lin Hao denied taking advantage of Shui Bing'er and Shui Yue'er, explaining that he had been learning to control the new body and had discovered its strong defenses.
• Shui Bing'er suggested postponing further fusion practice and invited Lin Hao and Shui Yue'er to walk outside with her.
• Lin Hao, Shui Bing'er, and Shui Yue'er went to the riverbank, where they heard Dai Mubai stop Zhu Zhuqing on a bridge.
• Dai Mubai asked whether Zhu Zhuqing blamed him for their loss, and Zhu Zhuqing said she blamed herself for agreeing to their unfair challenge.

Zhu Zhuqing regretted joining the others in bullying Lin Hao at the Genius Exchange Tournament, while Dai Mubai remained resentful, deepening her disillusionment with him. Two days later, Lin Hao sparred with Xue Qinghe and found that her disguise concealed even her physical characteristics.

• Zhu Zhuqing and Dai Mubai argued over honor and the unfair tactics used at the tournament, and she left him behind.
• Zhu Zhuqing encountered Lin Hao at a pavilion and asked him to scold her for turning against him at the tournament.
• Lin Hao told Zhu Zhuqing that she had followed the rules and urged her to let the incident go, making her feel even more repulsed by Dai Mubai.
• Two days later, Lin Hao and Xue Qinghe sparred without using Soul Power at the Eastern Palace training grounds.
• Lin Hao struck Xue Qinghe during the sparring match and realized that her Angel Spirit Bone disguise concealed her physical characteristics.

Lin Hao used a humiliating new technique on Xue Qinghe during their spar, then claimed his Soul Power had aggravated his old injuries. After Xue Qinghe examined him and dismissed the guards, Lin Hao invited him to join a medicinal bath.

• Xue Qinghe pressed Lin Hao to demonstrate his new martial arts technique, and Lin Hao made him promise not to punish or blame him for whatever move he used.
• Lin Hao used Explosive Step to rush past Xue Qinghe, then struck her from behind with Thousand Years of Death, making her scream and leap away.
• The guards surrounded Lin Hao, but Xue Qinghe dismissed them after Lin Hao claimed his old internal injuries had worsened; she examined him and confirmed his meridians were troubled.
• Lin Hao asked Xue Qinghe to prepare hot water for a bath, then invited him to share a medicinal bath that he claimed could improve the body and help absorb stronger Spirit Rings.

Lin Hao pressured Xue Qinghe to join him in a medicinal bath, and Emperor Xue Ye arrived and ordered the Crown Prince to agree. Lin Hao refused to kneel but won Xue Ye’s permission to meet him standing, then promised to aid the empire once if disaster struck.

• Xue Qinghe declined Lin Hao’s offer to bathe together, but Lin Hao challenged his sincerity and began to leave.
• Xue Qinghe hesitated to let Lin Hao go, and Emperor Xue Ye entered the courtyard and ordered him to agree to the bath.
• Lin Hao greeted Xue Ye without kneeling and explained that his hometown had no such custom.
• Xue Ye allowed Lin Hao to meet him without kneeling, and Lin Hao promised to intervene once if the empire faced disaster.
• Xue Ye told Xue Qinghe to bathe with Lin Hao.

Qian Renxue, disguised as Xue Qinghe, was forced by Emperor Xue Ye to bathe with Lin Hao despite her urgent objections. Lin Hao prepared the bath with a mysterious liquid and entered the pool, leaving Qian Renxue facing the moment she had hoped to avoid.

• Qian Renxue tried to avoid bathing with Lin Hao by claiming she needed to handle flood relief, but Emperor Xue Ye dismissed the excuse and ordered her to take the day off.
• Emperor Xue Ye left Lin Hao and Xue Qinghe together, while Qian Renxue realized she could not refuse without drawing suspicion.
• Xue Qinghe hid her frustration, smiled at Lin Hao, and led him to the luxurious bathing chamber in the Eastern Palace.
• Lin Hao poured a pale yellow liquid from a jade bottle into the bathwater, then undressed and entered the pool.
• Lin Hao called on Xue Qinghe to join him, and he noticed her hands clench in resistance.

Lin Hao discovered that Xue Qinghe’s disguise made him physically male, then returned to cultivate with Shui Bing'er and Shui Yue'er. Half a month later, the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament began, and Lin Hao’s team prepared to enter the finals as a seeded team.

• Lin Hao bathed with Xue Qinghe and realized that the Angel Spirit Bone had transformed Qian Renxue’s body into a man’s.
• Xue Qinghe meditated in Lin Hao’s medicinal bath and found that his body absorbed its medicinal power before Lin Hao returned to his courtyard.
• Lin Hao told Shui Bing'er and Shui Yue'er that Xue Qinghe was a man, then urged Shui Bing'er to cultivate ahead of the tournament.
• Half a month later, the tournament’s opening ceremony began, and Yu Feng marveled at the crowd.
• Yu Tianheng noted that the seeded team would skip the preliminary and advancement rounds, and Lin Hao said they would compete in the finals.

Lin Hao explained artistic conceptions to his companions, then publicly spanked Crown Prince Xue Qinghe before heading to the tournament. When Tang San asked whether he should go all out against Shui Bing'er, Lin Hao encouraged him to fight without holding back.

• Lin Hao told Yu Tianheng and the others that artistic conceptions depended on a tempered Dao Heart.
• Lin Hao caught up with Xue Qinghe, entered the venue with him, and spanked him in public, drawing a quiet reprimand from Ning Fengzhi.
• Lin Hao's seeded team skipped the preliminary and advancement rounds and went straight to the finals.
• Tang San and Xiao Wu visited Lin Hao, and Tang San asked whether he should use his full strength against Shui Bing'er.
• Lin Hao encouraged Tang San to give his all in the tournament and said he should compete without regrets.

Tang San left the Great Soul Arena and was lured into Shi Nian’s nightmare illusion, where he faced a vision of punishment by the Tang Sect. Lin Hao broke the illusion, killed Shi Nian with his newly acquired head Spirit Bone skill, and reunited with Tang San in the forest.

• Lin Hao followed Tang San out of the Great Soul Arena as Shi Nian used a series of strange accidents to draw Tang San away from the city.
• Tang San attacked the mysterious figure with Blue Silver Grass, but the figure vanished and Shi Nian revealed that Tang San was trapped in an illusion.
• Tang San fought Shi Nian’s Nightmare Avatar, but a skull broke through his Blue Silver Cage and plunged him into a vision of the Tang Sect sentencing him.
• Lin Hao shattered Tang San’s illusion with Golden Extreme Divine Light and killed Shi Nian using the skill from his head Spirit Bone.
• Lin Hao told Tang San that absorbing the Spirit Bone had raised his spiritual power to the ninth level of the Spirit Sea Realm and strengthened his resistance to spiritual attacks.

Lin Hao gave Tang San Shi Nian's sixty-thousand-year soul bone and explained how its Illusory Space ability would shape his development. After Yu Xiaogang confronted Lin Hao over influencing Tang San, Lin Hao rejected his claim and walked away, leaving Yu Xiaogang furious and ready to summon Luo Sanpao.

• Lin Hao extracted Shi Nian's sixty-thousand-year gemstone soul bone and gave it to Tang San, explaining that its Illusory Space skill would support and control allies and disorient enemies.
• Tang San accepted the soul bone without regret, and Lin Hao advised him that the strongest illusion realms blended truth and falsehood.
• Lin Hao and Tang San returned to Shrek Academy, where Yu Xiaogang rebuked Tang San for being away and then summoned Lin Hao to a nearby forest park.
• Yu Xiaogang claimed that he alone should guide Tang San's Martial Soul, while Lin Hao argued that Tang San should choose his own path and pointed out that his ten-thousand-year fourth Spirit Ring contradicted Yu Xiaogang's theory.
• Lin Hao saw through Yu Xiaogang's concern for his reputation and tried to leave, but Yu Xiaogang grabbed his shoulder and Lin Hao shook him back with Monster Strength.
• Yu Xiaogang angrily summoned Luo Sanpao and watched it bare its fangs at Lin Hao.

Lin Hao fought Yu Xiaogang after Yu Xiaogang demanded that he stay away from Tang San, then defeated and warned him. Tang San sided with Lin Hao, and Lin Hao gave him a map to a forest where his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul might evolve.

• Yu Xiaogang threatened Lin Hao and sent Luo Sanpao to attack him.
• Lin Hao struck Luo Sanpao, used Sucking Palm to pull Yu Xiaogang close, and slapped him twice before warning him not to attack again.
• Tang San visited Lin Hao and explained that Yu Xiaogang had been at fault for starting the conflict.
• Lin Hao told Tang San about a forest with abundant Blue Silver Grass and a Blue Silver King over ten thousand years old, then gave him a map to find it.

Tang San gained the Blue Silver Domain and Blue Silver Emperor, then helped Shrek Academy win the promotion rounds without revealing his Clear Sky Hammer. After the tournament teams rested for three days before departing for Spirit City, Huo Wu called Lin Hao out of his tent.

• Lin Hao and Dugu Bo accompanied Tang San to the Blue Silver Forest, where Tang San gained the Blue Silver Domain and his fifth spirit skill, Blue Silver Overlord Spear.
• Tang San and Shui Bing'er agreed to a draw when Shrek Academy faced Skywater Academy, preserving their strength and hidden abilities.
• Tang San defeated Huo Wu by binding her with his poison-enhanced Blue Silver Emperor after she exhausted her Soul Power.
• Xiao Wu used Lin Hao's Cloud Mist Wind Dragon to defeat five Thunder Academy opponents before running out of Soul Power.
• Tang San defeated Feng Xiaotian with Blue Silver Emperor Spear and the Eight Spider Lances, securing Shrek Academy's promotion-round victory without revealing his Clear Sky Hammer.
• After the teams rested for three days, Huo Wu called Lin Hao out of his tent following the promotion-round closing ceremony.

Huo Wu confronted Lin Hao over his role in Tang San's victory and challenged him to a rematch. Lin Hao overwhelmed her with his palm techniques and an indecent attack, leaving her furious and deciding whether to continue fighting.

• Huo Wu told Lin Hao she blamed him for Tang San defeating her and Blazing Academy, then demanded a rematch.
• Lin Hao tried to leave, but Huo Wu attacked him with a fireball and insisted they fight.
• Lin Hao used Sucking Palm and Flame Blowing Palm to toss Huo Wu back and forth until she vomited.
• Huo Wu used Position Shift to escape, but Lin Hao pulled her close and smacked her butt before her Resist Fire Ring sent him flying.
• Huo Wu accused Lin Hao of fighting dirty, and Lin Hao asked whether she still wanted to continue.

Lin Hao’s plan to conceal his strength led Spirit Hall to move the finals to Spirit City, and he traveled there with the tournament teams. On the journey, masked attackers ambushed the convoy, and Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan appeared to confront the defenders.

• Huo Wu left after Lin Hao used an underhanded tactic to deter her from challenging him, and Shui Bing'er questioned his treatment of her.
• Lin Hao explained that he was pretending to be injured so Spirit Hall would not discover his strength before the finals; Spirit Hall then moved the finals to Spirit City and announced three Spirit Bones as the champion’s prize.
• After the teams traveled for eleven days, Lin Hao rode in a carriage with Meng Shu and other allies as their convoy entered a narrow road between hills.
• Attackers sent stones tumbling down the hills to split the Soul Master Academies, then charged the convoy under the command of the eight-ringed Soul Douluo Diyala.
• Meng Shu and Chao Tianxiang used their Dragon-Snake Combined Strike against Diyala, but Yue Guan suddenly appeared and challenged them.