Chapter Summaries

Xiao Wu revealed to Tang San that she was a Soul Beast and left with Er Ming, devastating him. Chen Hong mocked the scene until Tang San attacked him, after which Chen Hong decided to take Tang San back to the academy as a research specimen.

• Tang San found Xiao Wu in the forest, where she told him she was a Soul Beast and that Er Ming would protect her.
• Er Ming carried Xiao Wu away into the Star Dou Great Forest as she tearfully said goodbye to Tang San.
• Chen Hong and Ning Quan arrived, and Chen Hong compared Xiao Wu's departure to a power fantasy story while poking Tang San's newly emerged Eight Spider Lances.
• Chen Hong speculated that Xiao Wu and Er Ming were the real childhood sweethearts and imagined Tang San becoming a powerful Dragon King who would later take revenge.
• Tang San grew angry, sprang up, and tried to strike Chen Hong, but Chen Hong dodged him.
• Chen Hong told Tang San they were returning to the academy because he had another research specimen.

Chen Hong teased Tang San while the group left the Star Dou Great Forest, then reflected on the discoveries he had made there. He resolved to investigate Transformed Soul Beasts and External Soul Bones, leaving the Soul Bone Path as the next step in his Three Souls Hypothesis.

• Chen Hong cleaned the Man Faced Demon Spider’s corpse and urged Tang San to store it, but Ning Quan used his Violet Gold Gourd to collect it instead.
• Chen Hong promised Tang San a free [Sage]'s Ring and joked about forming a Journey to the West team, irritating Tang San.
• Chen Hong, Ning Quan, and Tang San reached the edge of the Star Dou Great Forest the following morning and met the Shrek group, Ning Fengzhi, and Jian Chenxin.
• Chen Hong reviewed the forest expedition’s discoveries, including Transformed Soul Beasts and Tang San’s Eight Spider Lances.
• Chen Hong considered whether Soul Bones could be rule-based powers and concluded that the Soul Ring Path was nearly complete, with the Soul Bone Path and Soul Power Path still ahead.

Chen Hong and Ning Quan returned to the Shrek and Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect groups after the Titan Giant Ape abducted Xiao Wu and Tang San pursued it. Chen Hong claimed the ape had agreed to keep Xiao Wu safe, but Flender doubted his story.

• Ning Fengzhi and Jian Chenxin welcomed Ning Quan and Chen Hong back, and Jian Chenxin praised Ning Quan's improved swordsmanship.
• Ning Quan apologized for nearly failing to protect Ning Rongrong, and Ning Fengzhi and Jian Chenxin reassured him.
• Chen Hong told Flender that the Titan Giant Ape had taken Xiao Wu out of curiosity and promised to return her safely after hearing her stories.
• Flender and the other Shrek members reacted with disbelief to Chen Hong's account, while Tang San watched in bewilderment.

Chen Hong spun a story to reassure Flender and the others that Xiao Wu was safe with the Titan Giant Ape, claiming it wanted human stories and would release her once entertained. He ended by saying he had given Xiao Wu a storybook with enough tales for One Thousand and One Nights.

• Chen Hong told Flender that the Titan Giant Ape had captured Xiao Wu to hear stories and would let her go if she pleased it.
• Flender questioned Chen Hong's account and sarcastically suggested that Chen Hong trade places with Xiao Wu, while Oscar and Ma Hongjun defended him.
• Chen Hong claimed he had offered to take Xiao Wu's place but that the Titan Giant Ape preferred young women.
• Chen Hong said he had given Xiao Wu a storybook so she could tell the Titan Giant Ape one story each day.
• Chen Hong assured everyone that the storybook had enough stories for One Thousand and One Nights.

Chen Hong convinced Flender that the Titan Giant Ape had taken Xiao Wu to learn about human society and promised to negotiate for her return. As the group left the Star Dou Great Plains, Ning Rongrong struggled with growing up and asked Chen Hong to teach her his methods.

• Chen Hong defended his explanation of the Titan Giant Ape's actions, while Tang San and Ning Quan confirmed only that it had promised not to harm Xiao Wu.
• Flender accepted that Shrek Academy could do little for now, and Chen Hong promised to negotiate with the Titan Giant Ape.
• Ning Fengzhi and Jian Chenxin departed for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, leaving Ning Rongrong troubled as she watched her father go.
• Chen Hong reassured Ning Rongrong that he would find a way to bring Xiao Wu back, then teased her when she asked him to teach her.
• Zhu Zhuqing reminded Ning Rongrong that Chen Hong had promised to share some of his research with them after they returned to the academy.

Chen Lin visited Chen Hong at Shrek Academy and showed him a Soul Power Bottle he had developed using Soul Storage Metal. Chen Hong praised his father’s work and gave him his research on Soul Guidance Device Engraving Studies, leaving Chen Lin with new material to pursue.

• Chen Hong examined a Spirit-Mechanical Crystal when Chen Lin arrived at his Research Lab with a metal case.
• Chen Lin demonstrated the Soul Power Bottle, explaining that it could store roughly a Soul Elder’s full Soul Power and let its owner absorb it later.
• Chen Lin explained how he had divided the Soul Storage Ore Vein among four powers and secured free trade rights in the other empire’s territory for the Technology Guild.
• Chen Hong praised Chen Lin’s work and called him a First Generation Divine Craftsman, making Chen Lin smile.
• Chen Hong handed Chen Lin a book of Soul Guidance Device Engraving Studies.

Chen Hong gave Chen Lin his research on Soul Tool engravings and explained how his system ranked Soul Engineers by Mental Power and engraving skill. He left his father eager to teach the Technology Guild, while revealing that his own abilities already reached the level of a Six-Level Soul Engineer and could potentially affect Titled Douluo with suitable materials.

• Chen Hong explained why he withheld his uncertain theory of the Realm of Heaven and Man Combined and criticized Douluo Continent's poor education and reliance on untested theories.
• Chen Hong gave Chen Lin his book, "Soul Guidance Device Engraving Studies," and taught him simplified versions of Sage Engravings, Secret Soul Engravings, and Divine Runes.
• Chen Hong explained that Soul Engineer ranks depended on Mental Power and engraving ability, and assessed his own Mental Level and engraving rank as Level Six.
• Chen Hong revealed that his knowledge of Divine Runes could let him achieve their maximum theoretical effects when he had sufficiently advanced materials.
• After several days of instruction, Chen Hong watched Chen Lin leave excitedly and sighed in relief.

Chen Hong gave the Withered and Flourishing Vine a Sage Crystal and observed how the Sage State affected its growth. While walking through Shrek Academy, he concluded that the Sage State strengthened Soul Beasts’ minds, temporarily raising their realms, and wondered whether it could let a Hundred-Year Soul Beast reach a Thousand-Year realm.

• Chen Hong reflected that Chen Lin had finally understood his Soul Guidance Device Engraving Studies and planned to train beginner students to teach one another.
• Chen Hong buried a Sage Crystal with the Withered and Flourishing Vine’s Core Root, explaining that it could use Soul Power to receive a Sage Buff.
• The Withered and Flourishing Vine thanked Chen Hong and agreed to alert him when the Shadow-Chasing Peregrine Falcon Egg was about to hatch.
• Chen Hong considered the vine’s accelerated Soul Power growth and recalled similar changes in Wild Boar Bajie and the Berserk Baboon.
• Chen Hong reasoned that Soul Beasts cultivated their minds rather than Soul Power, and that the Sage State could temporarily raise their realms.

Chen Hong reflected on how his Sage State enhanced soul beasts by raising their spiritual realms and Soul Power absorption, then encountered the despairing Yu Xiaogang. The chapter ended with “Memoirs” recording their meeting as an unmentioned piece of history.

• Chen Hong reasoned that his Sage State raised soul beasts’ intelligence and Soul Power control, accelerating their growth and making age-based classifications unreliable.
• Chen Hong recalled how his enhancement had helped Wild Boar Bajie become a Ten Year Soul Beast and the Withered and Flourishing Vine absorb Soul Power more effectively.
• Chen Hong encountered Yu Xiaogang on a path beside the lake, and they recognized each other.
• Yu Xiaogang saw Chen Hong as a radiant, confident youth and regarded meeting someone so superior as an honor.
• “Memoirs” recorded the encounter as a piece of history that had never been mentioned.

Chen Hong met Yu Xiaogang, who had come to ask about Chen Hong’s extraordinary soul ring methods. Chen Hong handed him a copy of Soul Ring Form and Intent Studies, leaving Yu Xiaogang engrossed as Chen Hong walked on toward the Martial Soul Academy.

• Chen Hong recognized Yu Xiaogang by the lake and greeted him as Grandmaster, while Yu Xiaogang asked him to use his name instead.
• Yu Xiaogang praised Chen Hong’s talent and explained that reports from Tang San and the Shrek Six Monsters had prompted him to seek answers about Chen Hong’s methods.
• Chen Hong agreed to talk while they walked and moved his new book away when he noticed Yu Xiaogang looking at it.
• Yu Xiaogang challenged Chen Hong about his wariness, and Chen Hong replied that he could not compete with Yu Xiaogang’s background before handing him the book.
• Yu Xiaogang read the table of contents and grew serious, while Chen Hong continued ahead toward the Martial Soul Academy.

Chen Hong asked the Shrek Six Monsters what they understood about soul rings, then introduced his Soul Ring Form and Intent Studies. He left them stunned as he began teaching a method for changing soul skills and creating skills without soul rings.

• Chen Hong gathered the Shrek Six Monsters after their training and asked them to explain soul rings.
• Dai Mubai, Oscar, Ma Hongjun, Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, and Tang San each gave their understanding of soul rings.
• Chen Hong explained that soul rings were illusory rules linking Spirit Masters to rules and translating Soul Power into soul skills.
• Chen Hong demonstrated how his soul skill could affect people mentally without requiring them to look at his eyes.
• Chen Hong introduced the Form Realm, Intent Realm, and Domain Realm, then began teaching Soul Ring Form and Intent Studies.

Chen Hong introduced the Shrek Six Monsters to Soul Ring Form and Intent Studies, impressing Shrek Academy’s teachers and prompting Yu Xiaogang to acknowledge that Chen Hong’s theory surpassed his own. He decided to guide the young Spirit Masters in comprehending their soul rings, despite his crowded schedule and personal reservations.

• Flender judged that Chen Hong’s Three Realms of Soul Rings organized and expanded soul-ring applications into a powerful theory that could raise Spirit Masters’ combat potential.
• Yu Xiaogang recognized that the Clear Sky Sect’s Ring Explosion and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan’s Dragon Transformation approached the Intent Realm, then admitted Chen Hong’s theory surpassed his Ten Great Martial Soul Theories.
• Chen Hong reassured Yu Xiaogang that he had chosen the wrong direction and offered to talk with him, hoping to build a connection with the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
• Chen Hong examined the meditating Shrek Six Monsters and realized they needed his Mental Power to guide them through the basics of soul-ring comprehension.
• Chen Hong decided to guide the Shrek Six Monsters despite his limited time, partly because he valued Oscar’s Soul Power Sausage, Tang San’s External Soul Bone, Xiao Wu’s bodily data, and Ning Rongrong’s potential complaints.

Chen Hong offered the Shrek Six Monsters nightly help with Soul Ring cultivation, and they arranged a schedule. He then asked Ning Quan to deliver his Soul Ring Form and Intent Studies book and a letter to Hu Liena, hoping to repay her support and use her standing to approach Spirit Hall’s higher-ups.

• Chen Hong offered to assist one Shrek Monster each night from Monday through Saturday, while reserving Sundays for rest.
• Dai Mubai organized the Shrek Six Monsters into a schedule, and none of them withdrew.
• Chen Hong gave Ning Quan his book and a letter for Hu Liena and asked him to deliver them to Spirit City.
• Ning Quan teased Chen Hong about writing to a girl, and Chen Hong explained that Hu Liena had supported the Technology Guild and that his work could now benefit her.
• Chen Hong planned to repay Hu Liena and use his research as a way to approach Spirit Hall’s higher-ups.

Chen Hong sought Spirit Hall’s backing for his research while continuing to develop a spirit-mechanical computer core from a fragment of Qian Yu’s soul. He ended the chapter at his lab door, annoyed to find an unexpected visitor.

• Chen Hong told Ning Quan that he wanted Saintess Hu Liena to endorse Soul Ring Form and Intent Studies so he could secure a favorable position for his research.
• After Ning Quan left, Chen Hong returned to his lab and continued refining the Spirit-Mechanical Crystal, which could already perform basic arithmetic.
• Chen Hong tested the crystal in a Soul-Powered Data Box and saw it process data at a speed approaching an ordinary person’s neural computation.
• Chen Hong examined the transformed fragment of Qian Yu’s soul and urged it to grow strong enough to confront Qian Yu’s remnant soul in the Head Soul Bone.
• That evening, Chen Hong opened the door and reacted with disdain to the girl who had come to visit.

Chen Hong guided Ning Rongrong through a meditation to map the Soul Power pathways in her Strength Amplification soul ring, aiming to engrave its ability. As Ning Rongrong’s Mental Power faltered, Chen Hong took over and began drawing the Power Texture himself.

• Chen Hong let Ning Rongrong into the Research Lab despite his disdain for her martial soul skills and had her meditate across from him.
• Chen Hong joined palms with Ning Rongrong, entered her soul ring with his Mental Power, and guided her to sense its Soul Power pathways.
• Ning Rongrong followed Chen Hong’s Mental Power through the soul ring, memorizing the simplified flow nodes as he marked them in her mental vision.
• When Ning Rongrong grew dazed and exhausted, Chen Hong told her to stop following and began covering the remaining nodes himself.
• Chen Hong’s gray current raced through Ning Rongrong’s mental vision and sketched a complex three-dimensional Power Texture.

Chen Hong ended Ning Rongrong’s Soul Ring comprehension lesson when her Mental Power ran low, then escorted her through Shrek Academy at night. By Shrek Lake, a white-haired boy saw them approach and fled into the darkness.

• Chen Hong and Ning Rongrong woke with their hands interlocked, and Chen Hong shook his hand free, angering her.
• Chen Hong ended the lesson because Ning Rongrong lacked the Mental Power to continue, then offered to walk her back.
• Ning Rongrong ran out of the Research Lab after seeing strange soul beast corpses in the dark and waited for Chen Hong outside.
• Chen Hong led Ning Rongrong through Shrek Academy beneath the moonlight, while she followed him in silence.
• A white-haired boy stared at his reflection by Shrek Lake, noticed the approaching footsteps, and ran away.

By Shrek Lake, Chen Hong read the dandelions drifting through the darkness as a warning about the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect’s fate. He left Ning Rongrong alarmed by predicting the sect’s destruction and linking it to the development of Soul Tools.

• Chen Hong stopped by Shrek Lake and asked Ning Rongrong about the meaning of dandelions.
• Chen Hong described dandelions in the dark as lost, and used his powers to lift those drifting toward the lake.
• Chen Hong told Ning Rongrong she could give up cultivating Soul Rings.
• Chen Hong said the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect would be destroyed by a gust of wind from the dark night.
• Ning Rongrong realized Chen Hong meant the development of Soul Tools and questioned how it could destroy her sect.

Chen Hong warned Ning Rongrong that Soul Tools could replicate and surpass the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda’s support abilities, threatening the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect’s future. He offered her a choice to stop cultivating soul rings and give the sect time to adapt, then left without answering when she asked what would happen if she continued.

• Ning Rongrong realized that Soul Tools could make Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Soul Masters replaceable and eventually endanger the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
• Chen Hong told Ning Rongrong that he had extracted a Level One Strength Engraving from her First Soul Ring and believed stronger versions could surpass its ability.
• Chen Hong showed Ning Rongrong a Soul Power Milk Bottle and explained that Soul Tools could store Soul Power and free Spirit Masters from relying on support abilities.
• Chen Hong offered Ning Rongrong the choice to stop cultivating soul rings so the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect would have time to transform.
• Ning Rongrong asked what would happen if she kept cultivating, and Chen Hong placed a wreath of dandelions on her head before leaving without replying.

Ning Rongrong understood that the Dandelion Crown represented her responsibility for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect’s future, while Chen Hong silently assured her he would act if Soul Tools threatened the sect. The next day, Chen Hong tested an amplification engraving on a Soul Tool sword, but his attempt to derive a stronger version caused the weapon to explode.

• Ning Rongrong watched Chen Hong leave and realized the Dandelion Crown symbolized the responsibility she would bear as the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect’s future master.
• Chen Hong tested Ning Rongrong’s Power Engraving on an armor plate and found it increased his strength by about ten percent.
• Chen Hong modified a Level Three Soul Guidance Sword with the engraving, confirming the strength boost while noticing it consumed much of his Soul Power.
• Chen Hong began deriving a Level Two Strength Engraving and discovered it had to be layered over the Level One version.
• Chen Hong’s nearly completed engraving short-circuited, destroying the Patchwork Sword in an explosion.

Chen Hong studied the dangers of Amplification Engravings and conceived a future plan to build attribute-enhanced Soul Tool creations called Material Armor. That night, he began testing a Level Two Strength Engraving on Dai Mubai.

• Chen Hong examined the shattered Patchwork Sword and realized reinforcement failures could become more dangerous as Soul Tools gained linked amplification attributes.
• Chen Hong connected Amplification Engravings to his plans for a Soul Armor and imagined extending them into Material Armor, while reaffirming his caution about soul contamination.
• Chen Hong returned to researching the Level Two Strength Engraving and recalled his former profession as an Intelligent Mech Field Engineer.
• Chen Hong welcomed Dai Mubai into his Research Lab, had him sit on a cushion, and guided his Mental Power into the experiment.