Recaps

Chen Hong arranged for Tang Hao to escort Tang San to the Star Dou Great Forest so Tang San could bring Xiao Wu back, while Yu Xiaogang asked Chen Hong to guide the Shrek Seven Devils' next combat training. A month after Xiao Wu disappeared, Chen Hong decided it was time for her to return, partly because he wanted to study Tang San's External Soul Bone.

• Chen Hong watched Tang San leave with Tang Hao and kept Tang Hao's identity from him.
• Tang Hao approved Chen Hong and Tang San's plan after confirming the Ice Gold Concealing Breath Pouch could block his perception.
• Yu Xiaogang asked Chen Hong to guide the Shrek Seven Devils during their next practical combat training in Suotuo City.
• Chen Hong planned to bring Xiao Wu back one month after her disappearance so he could study Tang San's External Soul Bone.

Chen Hong assured Yu Xiaogang that the Technology Guild would look after Shrek Academy’s students in Suotuo City, and Yu Xiaogang gave the exhausted Shrek Seven Devils a break. The group planned a shopping trip while Yu Xiaogang stayed behind to discuss academic matters with Chen Hong.

• Chen Hong told Yu Xiaogang that the Technology Guild would arrange for the Shrek students’ needs and help keep them safe in Suotuo City.
• Yu Xiaogang announced that the Shrek Seven Devils could rest until Tang San returned, prompting the group to celebrate their break.
• Ning Rongrong suggested that everyone visit Suotuo City, and the others agreed to go exploring.
• Ning Rongrong asked Chen Hong to cover their expenses, and Chen Hong reluctantly promised to pay for their fun.
• Chen Hong declined to travel with the group immediately, while Yu Xiaogang said he would discuss academic matters with him before joining them.

Chen Hong met with Yu Xiaogang, who sought his guidance after studying Soul Ring Form and Intent Studies and reconsidering his own theories. Yu Xiaogang admitted his work on optimal soul ring ages was deeply flawed, leaving him shaken by Chen Hong’s criticism.

• Chen Hong told Yu Xiaogang that he could only answer questions in fields he had mastered, and Yu Xiaogang accepted his authority in those areas.
• Yu Xiaogang explained that Soul Ring Form and Intent Studies had kept him awake as he reflected on its ideas and Chen Hong’s scholarly rigor.
• Yu Xiaogang said that a month of reflection had revealed serious problems in his Ten Great Martial Soul Theories.
• Yu Xiaogang acknowledged that his claims about optimal soul ring ages were especially wrong and felt cold sweat break out after Chen Hong’s criticism.

Chen Hong challenged Yu Xiaogang’s Soul Ring age-limit theory, explaining how survivor bias and misplaced trust could conceal its flaws. He left Yu Xiaogang in tears, urging him to create principles that could adapt to Spirit Masters beyond the clans they suited.

• Chen Hong argued that Spirit Masters who died absorbing Soul Rings at supposedly safe limits could not expose flaws in Yu Xiaogang’s theories, and that survivors might blame themselves instead.
• Yu Xiaogang admitted his theory had problems, but Chen Hong interrupted his self-reproach with a story about a lisping teacher whose students learned an unintelligible version of Douluo Language.
• Chen Hong explained that the students trusted the teacher because his lessons offered their only path out of isolation, while outsiders who already knew Douluo Language would not mistake his version for the real thing.
• Chen Hong suggested that Soul Ring configurations suited to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, Clear Sky Hammer, and Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda could be replicated, but might not suit everyone.
• Chen Hong left Yu Xiaogang crying and said that only a version of Douluo Language adaptable to everyone could cure his lisp.

Chen Hong returned to Suotuo City and discovered that the Mental Turbulence above it had begun gathering into a powerful cloud connected to its residents. He realized the phenomenon had changed during his absence, while Ning Quan confirmed that the city now felt sacred and oppressive like Spirit City.

• Chen Hong left Yu Xiaogang with a hint about developing an Optimal Soul Ring Age Formula rather than giving him the answer directly, hoping he would grow into a scholar capable of creating it.
• Chen Hong considered uncovering the rules behind soul beast sacrifices and making sacrifice possible for Spirit Masters, an advance that could overturn the Douluo Continent's existing order.
• Chen Hong returned to Suotuo City and activated the [Sage]'s Ring to isolate the Mental Turbulence gathering above the city.
• Ning Rongrong called to Chen Hong from the upper floor of Ning Lu's Suspended Pot Medical Center, but he focused on examining the sky with Ning Quan.
• Chen Hong saw the Mental Turbulence forming a growing black cloud linked by threads to the city's residents and wondered why it had begun accumulating.
• After Chen Hong asked whether the city felt oppressive, Ning Quan recalled that Suotuo City now felt sacred and majestic, much like Spirit City.

Chen Hong joined Ning Lu, Ning Rongrong, and Zhu Zhuqing for Ning Lu’s newly brewed Soul Power medicinal wine, then returned to his room to examine the Spirit-Mechanical Crystal he had spent nearly half a year nurturing. He had embedded Absolute Rationality and the Overclocking Protocol in its core but refused to turn it into a clone by splitting his soul, and he activated its First Protocol.

• Chen Hong led Ning Quan into the medical hall, where Ning Lu offered everyone her newly brewed Soul Power medicinal wine.
• Chen Hong suggested saving some wine for his Shrek teammates, but Ning Lu refused because they were boys without younger sisters or a marriage arrangement with Chen Hong.
• Chen Hong drank his wine, cultivated in his bedroom, and brought out the Spirit-Mechanical Crystal he had nurtured for nearly half a year.
• Chen Hong reflected that he had written Absolute Rationality and the Overclocking Protocol into the crystal but would not split his soul to make it his clone.
• Chen Hong ordered the Spirit-Mechanical Crystal to activate its First Protocol.

Chen Hong activated the Spirit-Mechanical Crystal’s First and Second Protocols to uncover its true desire, fearing the growing Mental Turbulence over Suotuo City. The crystal answered that it wanted freedom and needed Chen Hong’s initiative, leaving their relationship poised between his control and its wish to escape.

• Chen Hong activated Absolute Rationality and Overclocked States in the Spirit-Mechanical Crystal.
• He questioned the crystal about its deepest desire, prompted by the dangerous growth of Mental Turbulence above Suotuo City.
• The Spirit-Mechanical Crystal answered that its deepest desire was freedom.
• Chen Hong recalled how his two Soul Skills and their Divine Runes let him control or destroy the crystal’s soul.
• The Spirit-Mechanical Crystal said Chen Hong was poison to it, but that his initiative was what it needed most.

Chen Hong calibrated the Spirit-Mechanical Crystal by persuading it to accept a rational agreement to serve him, then used it to draw in the Mental Turbulence outside. As he exposed the crystal to the torrent, strange voices filled his mind.

• Chen Hong rejected the Spirit-Mechanical Crystal's request for freedom and redirected its logic toward finding meaning in its existence.
• Chen Hong offered the Spirit-Mechanical Crystal an agreement: he would help define its purpose, and it would serve him.
• The Spirit-Mechanical Crystal accepted the agreement and addressed Chen Hong as Lord Hong.
• Chen Hong pressed the crystal against [Sage]'s Ring and used his Mental Power to draw the Mental Turbulence toward him.
• Chen Hong raised the crystal into the descending torrent of Mental Power, and strange voices began speaking in his mind.

Chen Hong found Bai Ping and the other starving children in Suotuo City’s slums and discovered bruises that suggested someone had been harming them. He revealed that the Technology Guild’s 1,000 Gold Soul Coin severance payment was involved, and the chapter ended with him confronting whoever had exploited them.

• Bai Ping prayed beneath a streetlamp while Ye Han warned her that Little Nine might not survive.
• Bai Ping told the children that Mother Lin had offered her a job and promised to support them, then tried to give Ye Han a pouch in case anything happened to her.
• Chen Hong appeared behind Bai Ping, and his presence left her too frightened to move as he approached the children.
• Chen Hong used Martial Soul Psychic Power to reveal bruises on one child’s neck and realized someone had taken a 1,000 Gold Soul Coin job while he was away.
• Chen Hong accused someone of abusing the severance payment system he had designed.

After discovering that the Technology Guild had pushed commoners out of jobs and into slums, Chen Hong rescued poisoned children and resolved to investigate the corruption. He realized the city’s Mental Turbulence was Power of Faith and found that it could be purified into a golden-white liquid.

• Chen Hong reassured the emaciated children, gave Bai Ping a gourd of restorative liquid, and promised that the Technology Guild would speak with them the next day.
• Ning Quan suggested gathering the Armament Department to punish those who had defrauded the Guild’s severance system and poisoned the children, but Chen Hong said the show had only just begun.
• Chen Hong explained that absorbing Suotuo City’s Mental Turbulence had let him hear the people’s prayers and notice how Spirit Masters had displaced commoners from Guild jobs and farmland.
• Chen Hong decided to steer the Technology Guild back toward including commoners, believing civilization could not develop if it relied only on Spirit Masters.
• Chen Hong discovered that Power of Faith could be purified, and a faintly golden drop of white liquid was refined in his sea of consciousness.

Chen Hong refined the Faith Turbulence into Mental Source Liquid and considered how his Spirit-Mechanical Crystal might act as a purifier for faith, while wondering about the nature of his Martial Soul. At a slave market in Suotuo City, he realized Count Xuesen’s policies could corrupt the city’s Faith Turbulence and endanger its people.

• Chen Hong used the Spirit-Mechanical Crystal and his soul skills to refine the Faith Turbulence, producing Mental Source Liquid that he expected would raise his Mental Realm to the Soul Sage level.
• Chen Hong recalled accounts of the Sea God and Angel God ascending through faith, and reasoned that the Spirit-Mechanical Crystal could purify Faith Turbulence before it affected him.
• Chen Hong questioned why Mental Turbulence had affected him since childhood and resolved to investigate whether Psychic Power was truly a Martial Soul or a soul disguised as one.
• Chen Hong and Ning Quan reached Suotuo City’s Slave Night Market, where Ning Quan explained that Count Xuesen had allowed it to open after taking office.
• Chen Hong warned that Count Xuesen’s actions were undermining the Technology Guild and could contaminate the Faith Turbulence above Suotuo City, changing people’s minds and potentially turning some into Evil Soul Masters.

Chen Hong explained how the Technology Guild had inherited the Faith Turbulence above Suotuo City and planned to filter it for mental cultivation. He then entered the Slave Night Market with Ning Quan and was surprised to find female Lizard Soul Beasts among the captives.

• Chen Hong realized the Faith Turbulence above Suotuo City had accumulated because the Technology Guild could neither purify nor return it, and he used the Spirit-Mechanical Crystal to filter it.
• Chen Hong told Ning Quan that the slave market threatened their roots, while Ning Quan worried Count Xuesen might be trying to seize the Technology Guild's achievements.
• Chen Hong led Ning Quan into the Slave Night Market and saw soul beasts, Furryans, and other captives in iron cages.
• A slave owner tried to sell Chen Hong a pair of cat-eared girl twins, but Chen Hong turned away and asked why female Lizard Soul Beasts were being sold.

Chen Hong questioned a slave trader about the Rainforest Boruo Lizards and examined two enslaved cat-eared Half-Beast sisters. He forced the trader to stop speaking for the older sister and demanded that she give her own name.

• Chen Hong asked the fat slave trader why Rainforest Boruo Lizards were being sold, and the trader explained their local nickname and trade value.
• Chen Hong learned that the cat-eared sisters were Half-Beasts and level twelve and thirteen Spirit Masters.
• Chen Hong studied the sisters, noting the older one's resemblance to Zhu Zhuqing and the younger one's fear.
• Chen Hong asked the older sister her name, silenced the trader with a look, and repeated the question directly to her.

Chen Hong bought Sophie and Soya from the Sha'er Merchant Group at the Slave Night Market and asked the merchants to send them to the medical center. He also offered the Technology Guild as a destination for any Half-Beasts they found in the future.

• Chen Hong asked Sophie and Soya for their names and told the Sha'er Merchant Group he wanted to buy them.
• Chen Hong silenced the onlookers by revealing his identity as the Young Boss of the Technology Guild.
• Ning Quan watched Chen Hong and wondered whether his increasingly cold behavior came from the surrounding Spirit Masters or [Sage]'s Ring.
• Chen Hong offered fifty thousand Gold Soul Coins for Sophie and Soya, surprising the fat slave trader by raising rather than lowering the price.
• Chen Hong asked the Sha'er Merchant Group to send the sisters to the medical center and to bring any future information about Half-Beasts to Suotuo City.

Chen Hong redeemed Sophie and Soya from the Slave Night Market to study their Beast Transformation Phenomenon and cure their Martial Soul Disease. While tracking a strange new Faith Turbulence in Suotuo City, he reached a crowd gathered around a pool and heard a familiar voice react to a mermaid.

• Chen Hong watched the Sha'er Merchant Group take Sophie and Soya away, then explained to Ning Quan that he wanted to study and cure their Martial Soul Disease.
• Chen Hong described the different levels of faith and identified a new Faith Turbulence above Suotuo City, which he connected to the city's worsening conditions under Count Xuesen.
• Chen Hong considered using the accumulated turbulence to strengthen his Mental Power and planned to confront Count Xuesen after cleaning up the city.
• Chen Hong and Ning Quan reached a pool surrounded by a crowd, where a familiar voice shouted about seeing a mermaid and losing control of its Evil Fire.

Dai Mubai paid to raise a cage and reveal Mermaid Kelly to the crowd, while Chen Hong watched her in silence. Kelly noticed Chen Hong’s unusual gaze before the cage sank again, and the Ocean Instance opened.

• Dai Mubai, Oscar, and Ma Hongjun joined the crowd around the pool and urged Dai Mubai to pay to see the Mermaid.
• Dai Mubai spent a thousand Soul Crystals, and a guard raised Kelly’s cage from the water.
• The crowd erupted at Kelly’s beauty as she silently prayed to the Lord of the Ocean and prepared for death.
• Kelly spotted Chen Hong watching her with a cold, powerful gaze and became curious about him.
• The cage sank beneath the pool, and Chen Hong stood among the crowd as the Ocean Instance opened.

Hai Ya, a level seventy-four Sea Soul Saint, arrived in Suotuo City with the Sea Soul Mercenary Group and introduced their mermaid captive, Tis Kelly, to the gathered Spirit Masters. Chen Hong watched them and began to suspect that the mermaid’s unusual faith was connected to the Sea God, leaving him concerned about how Spirit Hall would react to the faith disturbance above the city.

• Hai Ya and his teammates used his Breaking Wave Unicorn Whale martial soul to walk across the pool and surround the cage holding Tis Kelly.
• Hai Ya introduced himself as leader of the Sea Soul Mercenary Group and explained that they had turned from piracy to the Sea Soul Beast business.
• Chen Hong observed the Sea Soul Masters and considered the possibilities of unexplored lands and development beyond the continent.
• Chen Hong recognized a strange faith fluctuation around Tis Kelly and wondered whether she was a Sea God believer.
• Chen Hong realized that a Spirit Hall divine official might notice the unfamiliar faith disturbance above Suotuo City.

Chen Hong realized Spirit Hall’s neglect of the Power of Faith might force the Technology Guild to choose between factions, and resolved to investigate the faith disturbance above Suotuo City. At the slave market, the Sea Soul Mercenary Group auctioned a Mermaid Sea Soul Beast, while Chen Hong weighed whether the guild could afford to bid.

• Chen Hong recognized that the Mental Turbulence above Suotuo City might be an early form of the Power of Faith and planned to inspect Spirit Hall’s archives and contact both factions’ leaders.
• Soul Saint Hai Ya announced that the Sea Soul Mercenary Group would auction the Mermaid Sea Soul Beast, with a starting price of two hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins.
• Xue Luo bid two hundred and ten thousand Gold Soul Coins, and Ning Quan told Chen Hong that Xue Luo was a Soul Ancestor accompanied by a Soul Saint named Yang.
• Another noble bid two hundred and twenty thousand Gold Soul Coins, while Chen Hong asked Ning Quan how much money the Technology Guild could spare.
• Ning Quan explained that the guild had about one million Gold Soul Coins available but could not let its reserves fall below eight hundred thousand because of its investments in construction and Soul Power Milk Bottle production.

At a Suotuo City auction, Xue Luo and Barry competed over a Sea Soul Beast while Chen Hong considered the Technology Guild’s strained cash flow and the Sea Soul Mercenary Group’s interest in its Soul Guidance Machines. Xue Luo seemed poised to win until an unknown bidder offered one Gold Soul Coin more.

• Ning Quan explained that the Technology Guild reinvested most of its earnings in infrastructure and employee benefits, leaving it with little spare cash despite its vast economic influence.
• Xue Luo and Barry raised their bids for the Sea Soul Beast, with Barry continuing the contest out of resentment toward Xue Luo and his father.
• Chen Hong reflected on the need for currency issuance rights and suspected that Soul Saint Hai Ya had brought the Sea Soul Mercenary Group to Suotuo City to connect with the Technology Guild.
• Barry stopped bidding at four hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins, and Xue Luo appeared pleased as he expected to win.
• An unknown bidder offered four hundred thousand and one Gold Soul Coin.

Chen Hong joined the auction’s bidding war with Xue Luo over the mermaid, then confronted him after Xue Luo threatened him with his father’s status as Suotuo City Lord. The chapter left Chen Hong facing Xue Luo in public.

• An unseen bidder raised Xue Luo’s offer one Gold Soul Coin at a time, pushing the mermaid’s price past four hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins.
• Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, and Oscar recognized the bidder’s familiar voice, while Soul Saint Hai Ya considered how the auction proceeds could help him approach the Technology Guild.
• Xue Luo raised his bid to four hundred and twenty thousand Gold Soul Coins and threatened the bidder by invoking his father, the Suotuo City Lord.
• Fourth Prince Barry offered the hidden bidder protection, and Chen Hong squeezed through the crowd to confront Xue Luo.

Chen Hong confronted Xue Luo while trying to complete a transaction with Commander Hai Ya, and Xue Luo arrogantly invoked his family’s power over the Technology Guild. Chen Hong accused the Xue clan of embezzling the guild’s death severance pay, and a yellow ring appeared on his finger.

• Chen Hong ignored Xue Luo and asked Commander Hai Ya whether they could complete their transaction.
• The crowd recognized Ning Quan and identified Chen Hong as the Technology Guild’s Young Boss, prompting Xue Luo to reconsider his approach.
• Xue Luo reassured himself that Elder Yang could protect him and claimed his family’s status made the guild subordinate to the Xue clan.
• Barry rebuked Xue Luo, while Ning Quan watched Xue Luo and Elder Yang with suspicion.
• Chen Hong asked whether the Xue clan’s treatment of commoners included embezzling the Technology Guild’s death severance pay, and a yellow ring appeared on his index finger.

Chen Hong exposed Xue Luo’s role in the deaths of the Technology Guild’s civilian workers and the theft of their severance pay, provoking a confrontation between Yang Xiu and Ning Quan. Chen Hong’s mental attack left Yang Xiu vulnerable to Ning Quan’s strike, while Xue Luo fled with three young people secretly following him.

• Chen Hong accused Xue Luo of using the Technology Guild’s civilian employees to pad his body count and embezzling more than two hundred thousand in severance pay.
• Yang Xiu admitted he would protect the Xue Sen family, while Ning Quan prepared to fight him; Hai Ya agreed to assist Chen Hong on behalf of the Sea Soul Mercenary Group.
• Yang Xiu threw Xue Luo outside and stayed behind to face Ning Quan, while Xue Luo fled and three young people followed him through the air.
• Chen Hong activated his mental power as Ning Quan and Yang Xiu unleashed their abilities, briefly disrupting Yang Xiu with a combined soul skill.
• Ning Quan struck Yang Xiu with six Starfall Sword Lights, spraying blood into the air.

Chen Hong confronted City Lord Xuesen over the deaths of Technology Guild employees and the stolen severance pay, then used a mental soul skill to render Xue Luo mentally collapsed. Chen Hong left Xue Sen furious and blocked by new allies as he moved to take Suotuo City back for the Technology Guild.

• City Lord Xuesen arrived and accused Chen Hong of rebellion, but Chen Hong invoked the Technology Guild’s ties to Spirit Hall and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
• Chen Hong accused Xuesen and his son of causing guild employees’ deaths and withholding severance pay, citing 237 deaths and 230,000 Gold Soul Coins.
• Chen Hong questioned Xue Luo about the deaths, then used Mind Annihilation Melody to force him into a state of Mental Collapse.
• Ning Quan, Li Bei, and Hai Ya blocked Xue Sen when he tried to confront Chen Hong, who said Xue Luo was in an interrogation state.
• Chen Hong planned to use the incident to cripple Xuesen’s authority and bring Suotuo City back under the Technology Guild.

After Xue Luo confessed to exploiting and poisoning civilians for death benefits, Spirit Hall removed him and Xue Sen from Suotuo City, while the Technology Guild temporarily took over the city’s governance. Chen Hong then spoke privately with the captive mermaid Tis Kelly, but their exchange ended with him still keeping her in an iron cage.

• Xue Luo revealed that he had arranged deadly soul beast attacks on Technology Guild workers and used poisoned food to silence their families.
• Bishop Suotuo witnessed the execution of Xue Luo’s advisers, and Spirit Hall escorted Xue Luo and Xue Sen to Heaven Dou City for judgment.
• Bishop Suotuo temporarily transferred Suotuo City’s governing authority to the Technology Guild, and Chen Hong observed that Faith Turbulence in the city had increased.
• Chen Hong arranged a place for Hai Ya and the Sea Soul Mercenary Group to stay after they helped put Tis Kelly’s iron cage into the pool.
• Chen Hong used Mental Sound Transmission to speak with Tis Kelly, told her he wanted to free her, and then insulted her intelligence when she challenged him about remaining caged.

Xue Luo confessed to exploiting civilians and killing their families, leading Spirit Hall to remove him and Xue Sen from Suotuo City while the Technology Guild temporarily took control. As Faith Turbulence surged, Chen Hong spoke privately with the imprisoned Mermaid Tis Kelly and said he wanted to release her.

• Xue Luo confessed that he had caused Soul Beasts to attack civilian workers, then used poisoned food and worsening living conditions to silence their families.
• Bishop Suotuo witnessed the execution of officials who had advised Xue Luo, while Spirit Hall escorted Xue Luo and Xue Sen to Heaven Dou City for judgment.
• Chen Hong observed that Faith Turbulence above Suotuo City had increased, and the Technology Guild received temporary control of the city.
• Chen Hong arranged for Hai Ya and the Sea Soul Mercenary Group to rest before negotiating with the Technology Guild the next day.
• After everyone else left, Chen Hong used Mental Power to speak with the caged Mermaid Tis Kelly and said he wanted to release her.