Chapter Summaries

Tie Li underwent the Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony and discovered that his hammer Martial Soul gave him Rank 2 Innate Soul Power. After celebrating with his family, he considered how to afford a soul master academy and pursue his goal of establishing a soul master family.

• Tie Li finished forging a farming tool and went with Tie Niu to the Spirit Branch Hall for his awakening ceremony.
• Tie Li awakened a heavy Hammer Martial Soul and showed Rank 2 Innate Soul Power on the crystal ball.
• Tie Li registered at the Spirit Branch Hall, received a basic meditation method, and told Tie Niu the news.
• Tie Niu celebrated Tie Li’s potential as a soul master with his family after they returned home.
• Tie Li weighed the cost of attending a junior soul master academy against his ambition to establish a soul master family.

Tie Li enrolled at Manno Junior Soul Master Academy, balanced his studies with cultivation at the forge, and reached Soul Power Level 10 ahead of schedule. Mas arranged for him to join a team heading to the Soul Hunting Forest the next day, and Tie Li spotted Jin Bao hurrying toward the rear mountain.

• Tie Niu brought Tie Li to Manno Junior Soul Master Academy, where Tie Li enrolled as a commuting student.
• A teacher showed Tie Li around the academy and explained its facilities and routines.
• Tie Li studied at the academy and cultivated beside a forge his father made for him.
• Tie Li reached Soul Power Level 10 as a fourth-year student and reported it to Mas.
• Mas confirmed Tie Li's Soul Power Level and arranged for him to join a team going to the Soul Hunting Forest the next day.
• Tie Li saw Jin Bao hurrying toward the rear mountain and called out to him.

Tie Li prepared to obtain his first Soul Ring and joined Lu Baichuan and He Dadan on a trip to the Soul Hunting Forest led by Bai Qing. After Lu Baichuan killed a Black-Striped Snake suited to his Martial Soul, he began absorbing its Soul Ring while Tie Li watched.

• Tie Li declined Jin Bao's invitation to support the work-study students and prepared supplies at home for the Soul Hunting Forest.
• Tie Niu gave Tie Li iron inner armor for protection, and Tie Li set off for the academy the next morning.
• Tie Li met Lu Baichuan and He Dadan, and teacher Bai Qing led the three students to the Soul Hunting Forest.
• After half a day without finding any Soul Beasts, the group stopped to rest, and a Black-Striped Snake suddenly attacked He Dadan.
• Bai Qing knocked the snake unconscious and identified it as suitable for Lu Baichuan, who killed it and began absorbing its white Soul Ring.

Lu Baichuan became a Soul Master after absorbing a Black-Striped Snake Soul Ring, but a hunting party fleeing a Thunder Python forced Bai Qing to send the boys running. Separated in the forest, Tie Li killed a Nether Wolf and hesitated to absorb its Soul Ring when he realized a chance to seek the Thunder Python’s mightier ring might remain.

• Lu Baichuan absorbed the Black-Striped Snake Soul Ring and became a Soul Master, while Tie Li and He Dadan continued searching for suitable soul beasts.
• A soul hunting group fleeing a Thunder Python led the beast toward Bai Qing and the boys, and Bai Qing sent Tie Li and the others east while he stayed behind.
• Tie Li became separated from his companions and killed a one-eyed Nether Wolf with his Forging Hammer Martial Soul.
• Tie Li stood before the Nether Wolf’s fifty-year Soul Ring but hesitated to absorb it after hearing a distant clash from the direction of the Thunder Python.
• Tie Li considered returning toward the Thunder Python in pursuit of its hundred-year-or-older Soul Ring.

Tie Li killed a weakened Thunder Python and absorbed its Soul Ring, becoming a One-Ring Soul Master with a lightning-enhanced Forging Hammer. After fighting off a pack of Nether Wolves, he reunited with Lu Baichuan and learned that Bai Qing had helped He Dadan obtain a Soul Ring.

• Tie Li killed the gravely wounded Thunder Python, absorbed its Soul Ring, and gained a level-eleven cultivation and a transformed Forging Hammer.
• Tie Li collected the Thunder Python's horn and fled as nearby Soul Beasts were drawn to its corpse.
• Tie Li used his Thunder Hammer to kill the wolf king and two Nether Wolves, causing the rest of the pack to flee.
• Tie Li ran through the night searching for Bai Qing and the others, then found Lu Baichuan hiding in a tree.
• Lu Baichuan told Tie Li that Bai Qing had taken He Dadan to find a suitable Soul Beast, and He Dadan had successfully absorbed its Soul Ring.

After surviving the Soul Hunting Forest, Tie Li registered as a Soul Master and began planning how to strengthen his Forging Hammer Martial Soul. A work-study student named Li Li brought him to the back mountain and offered to cooperate over a place where Mystic Spirit Grass grew.

• Tie Li claimed he had killed an injured Soul Beast while fleeing and showed Bai Qing, Lu Baichuan, and He Dadan his Hundred-Year Soul Ring.
• Bai Qing took the students back to the academy, then went to report the incident to the headmaster; Tie Li returned home and told his family what had happened.
• Tie Li registered as a Level-Ten Soul Master at the Manno City Spirit Branch Hall, received a Gold Soul Coin, and returned to class with plans to seek strength- and lightning-based Soul Rings.
• Several work-study students blocked Tie Li after class, but he warned them that provoking a fight could get them expelled and walked past.
• Li Li met Tie Li with the work-study students, clarified that he wanted to talk rather than cause trouble, and offered to cooperate because he knew where Mystic Spirit Grass grew.

Tie Li agreed to help Li Li obtain Mystic Spirit Grass guarded by a Hundred-Year Iron-Armed Ape. After they killed the ape, Tie Li claimed one plant and its corpse, while Li Li collected the other two.

• Tie Li agreed to Li Li's offer after learning that a Hundred-Year Iron-Armed Ape guarded three Mystic Spirit Grass plants, and they agreed to divide the plants and the corpse.
• Tie Li gathered his equipment, and he and Li Li left for White Light Forest that afternoon.
• Tie Li and Li Li avoided a caravan ambushed by bandits and reached the mountain peak after sunset.
• Tie Li stunned the Iron-Armed Ape with his hammer while Li Li wounded it with his scythe, then Li Li severed its head.
• Tie Li picked one Mystic Spirit Grass plant and claimed the ape's corpse, while Li Li collected the remaining two plants.

Tie Li and Li Li escaped the forest with valuable treasures and returned to Manno City, where Tie Li sold the Iron-Armed Ape and reported the bandit attack. With his reward and sale money, Tie Li began considering how to obtain a high-level Meditation Method.

• Tie Li secretly dug up Mystic Spirit Dew and hid it inside the Iron-Armed Ape's head while Li Li stopped two injured Soul Masters from reaching them.
• Tie Li claimed he had absorbed the Iron-Armed Ape's Soul Ring, and he and Li Li warned the two Soul Masters about the bandits before leaving the forest.
• Tie Li and Li Li safely reached Manno City, where Li Li declined to accompany Tie Li to the Snowwind Trading House so he could refine his Mystic Spirit Grasses.
• Tie Li removed the Mystic Spirit Dew from the Iron-Armed Ape's head, then sold the corpse and reported the caravan's attack to the Fat Supervisor.
• Tie Li collected forty Gold Soul Coins and considered saving for a high-level Meditation Method to improve his cultivation and Martial Soul.

Tie Li refined Mystic Spirit Dew, improved his Martial Soul, and broke through to Soul Power Level thirteen before returning to school and learning that Intermediate Soul Master Academies were recruiting in Manno City. He and Jin Bao went to Guno Square, where they saw students displaying their Soul Rings.

• Tie Li refined Mystic Spirit Dew at home, expelled impurities, and improved the quality and weight of his Forging Hammer Martial Soul.
• Tie Li found that forging helped him refine the Mystic Spirit Dew faster, and Tie Niu raised the price of his forged items by ten percent.
• Tie Li broke through to Soul Power Level thirteen after fourteen days, while his younger brothers awakened Forging Hammer Martial Souls without Innate Soul Power.
• Jin Bao told Tie Li that Intermediate Soul Master Academies were recruiting at Guno Square, so Tie Li hurried there with him.
• Tie Li and Jin Bao reached the crowded square and saw students with Hundred-Year Soul Rings and a student with two Soul Rings.

Tie Li joined Li Li and Xiao Li in White Radiance Academy’s team assessment, hoping to earn a tuition waiver. Tie Li and Li Li quickly impressed the assessment teacher, who stopped the fight and declared that they had passed.

• Tie Li forced his way through the crowd with Jin Bao and met Li Li, who asked him to join a three-on-three assessment for a tuition waiver.
• Tie Li, Li Li, and Xiao Li introduced their Martial Souls and Soul Power levels before registering at White Radiance Academy.
• The assessment teacher confirmed Tie Li’s age and Soul Power Level, and the three made a brief tactical plan.
• Tie Li charged the Snake Martial Soul Master and struck with his Thunder Hammer, prompting the assessment teacher to intervene and eliminate the opponent.
• Li Li attacked the remaining two opponents with his First Soul Skill, and the assessment teacher stopped his blade arcs and declared the team had passed, leaving Xiao Li bewildered.

After receiving his Soul Master certificate, Tie Li chose to travel to Gengxin City to study forging under his father’s former teacher, hoping to support his cultivation without hunting Soul Beasts. He began the long journey by taking an escort job with Snowwind Trading House, and the caravan was about to spend its first night in the wilderness.

• Tie Niu gave Tie Li a letter from his former forging teacher in Gengxin City and explained why he wanted his son to study there.
• Tie Li chose the letter over staying at the academy and planned to travel south by taking escort missions between cities.
• Tie Li withdrew from White Radiance Intermediate Soul Master Academy and accepted a two-Gold-Soul-Coin escort mission from Snowwind Trading House to Fragrant City.
• Tie Li packed, left a farewell letter at home, and joined a caravan of fifteen carriages as its Soul Master escort.
• After seven days on the road, the overseer warned Tie Li that the caravan would have to camp in the wilderness, where they might need his help if danger arose.

Tie Li and the caravan fought off a group of horse bandits after the bandits tried to rob them. Tie Li killed their leader and collected forty-seven Gold Soul Coins and thirty-one Silver Soul Coins, while the caravan gained confidence in him.

• Tie Li heard approaching hoofbeats and warned Manager Ma that seventeen riders were coming.
• Manager Ma woke the caravan, and Tie Li agreed to hold off the bandit leader while the others fought the rest.
• Tie Li summoned his Forging Hammer and charged the leader, who revealed himself as a Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster with a bear Martial Soul.
• Tie Li shattered the leader's saber, knocked him from his horse, and killed him with a hammer blow.
• The remaining bandits fled, and the caravan members searched the fallen bandits for money pouches.
• Tie Li kept the Gold Soul Coins and let Manager Ma distribute the other coins, ending with forty-seven Gold Soul Coins and thirty-one Silver Soul Coins.

Tie Li and Manager Ma stopped for the night in Maple Leaf Town, where a dispute between caravans turned violent when a terrifying Fallen One revealed himself. After watching him devour a Three-Ring Soul Elder, Tie Li gathered the caravan to leave town immediately.

• Tie Li heard caravan managers arguing over a missing shipment and came downstairs as Soul Masters prepared to fight.
• A Three-Ring Soul Elder attacked a Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster, but the man caught his spear with a scaled claw.
• The man revealed his sharp teeth, tore out the Soul Elder’s organs, and ate them in front of the horrified crowd.
• The frightened caravan manager who had accused the others begged the Fallen One to spare him, but the Fallen One returned to his room without answering.
• Tie Li and Manager Ma awakened their caravan and prepared to leave Maple Leaf Town immediately.

After leaving Maple Leaf Town, Tie Li discovered the missing shipment hidden in his carriage and fought Manager Bai’s caravan when they came to reclaim it. He shattered Manager Bai’s skull and broke through the Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster’s weak defensive Soul Skill, leaving the battle ongoing.

• Tie Li found an iron box hidden inside the couch in his carriage and suspected it held the missing shipment.
• Manager Bai’s caravan stopped Snowwind Trading House’s caravan and demanded the item, admitting he had stolen it and hidden it in Tie Li’s carriage.
• The Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster attacked Tie Li’s carriage, and Tie Li smashed his right claw with the Forging Hammer.
• Manager Bai threw a dagger at Tie Li, but Tie Li’s iron inner armor stopped it; Manager Ma blinded Manager Bai with powder, and Tie Li struck him in the head, killing him.
• Tie Li faced the injured Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster with his Thunder Hammer, shattered the man’s defensive light shield, and continued the fight.

Tie Li killed Kern and the other attackers, then reached Fragrant City with the Snowwind Trading House caravan and secured compensation for the trading house. In his inn room, he used the Thunder Python Horn to break open the iron box and discovered a Millennium Thunder Python Inner Core.

• Tie Li killed Kern with the Thunder Python Horn, and Manager Ma ordered the caravan guards to kill the remaining attackers.
• Tie Li helped finish off the survivors, then agreed that the attackers’ goods, money, and carriages would compensate the Snowwind Trading House for its losses.
• Tie Li and the caravan arrived safely at Fragrant City, where Manager Ma paid him and stamped his credentials.
• Tie Li checked into an inn and learned from the innkeeper that the Purple River Trading House was the city’s only proper trading house.
• Tie Li used the Thunder Python Horn to shatter the iron box, revealing a Millennium Thunder Python Inner Core that resonated with his Martial Soul and First Soul Ring.

Tie Li stored the Thousand-Year Thunder Python Inner Core and used it to cultivate while waiting for an escort mission from Purple River Trading House. After breaking through to Soul Power Level fourteen, he joined two other young One-Ring Soul Masters preparing to escort ore to Kairo City.

• Tie Li stored the volatile inner core in a jade box, paid the innkeeper for the damage, and rested at a new room.
• Tie Li found Purple River Trading House and accepted an ore escort mission to Kairo City that required three One-Ring Soul Masters.
• Tie Li cultivated with the Thousand-Year Thunder Python Inner Core for five days, reaching Soul Power Level fourteen and gaining a lightning attribute.
• A trading house staff member told Tie Li the escort team was complete and asked him to depart the next day.
• Tie Li arrived at Purple River Trading House and met the two other young Soul Masters, who were traveling to an academy in Kairo City.

Tie Li joined a poorly managed caravan escorting goods from Fragrant City to Kairo City, but more than a hundred Bandits surrounded them on the first night. After killing the Bandits' second chief, Tie Li stole a horse and fled, leaving the caravan behind.

• The plump manager assigned Tie Li and the other two Soul Masters to carts after neglecting them while the caravan loaded its goods.
• The Bandits surrounded the caravan, and their leader demanded its goods and valuables.
• The bandit leader revealed that he was a Soul Master with two white Soul Rings, while the other two young Soul Masters froze in fear.
• Tie Li summoned his lightning-infused Forging Hammer and a yellow Soul Ring, making the bandit leader threaten the caravan's people.
• The Bandits' second chief ambushed Tie Li, but Tie Li predicted his attack and killed him with one hammer blow.
• The bandit leader ordered his Bandits to attack, and Tie Li took a horse and escaped.

Tie Li reached Dragon Prosperity City and began strengthening his body with Thunder Python meat before absorbing the thousand-year Thunder Python inner core again. As the core resonated with his Forging Hammer martial soul, a Thunder Python phantom appeared and subjected him to intense pain.

• Tie Li escaped the bandits and decided to raise his soul power to level twenty before traveling to Gengxin City.
• Tie Li arrived in Dragon Prosperity City, rented a hut, and bought hundred-year Thunder Python meat.
• Tie Li cooked and ate the meat, then cultivated until the following afternoon as its energy refined the remaining inner core energy in his body.
• Tie Li resumed absorbing the Thunder Python inner core, and its energy flowed more efficiently as his Forging Hammer martial soul appeared and resonated with it.
• A Thunder Python phantom formed behind Tie Li, and its growing solidity caused him stabbing pain before it opened its maw.

After absorbing the Thunder Python's inner core, Tie Li gained strength, lightning-attribute soul power, and two levels, then used his Soul Master status to drive off local thugs. One thug, Niu Dahuang, offered to steal a soul bone in exchange for Tie Li killing Boss Cheng and helping him take over the gang.

• The Thunder Python's inner core entered Tie Li's body, strengthening him and raising his soul power to level sixteen.
• Tie Li cultivated with the Thunder Python's flesh and blood, attracting local thugs with the smell of his cooking.
• Tie Li subdued the thugs and revealed himself as a Soul Master, causing most of them to flee.
• Niu Dahuang told Tie Li that Boss Cheng's wife had a soul bone and offered to steal it if Tie Li killed Boss Cheng and made him the gang's boss.
• Tie Li agreed, while privately deciding he would kill Niu Dahuang if the soul bone proved real.

Tie Li followed Niu Dahuang and discovered that Boss Cheng had fabricated the Soul Bone rumor to lure his enemies into a trap. Suspecting Boss Cheng still possessed the Soul Bone, Tie Li killed him and found a Soul Bone-like iron box in his Storage Ring.

• Tie Li followed Niu Dahuang to Boss Cheng’s residence and overheard Niu Dahuang and Boss Cheng’s wife discussing their plan to deal with Boss Cheng.
• Boss Cheng revealed that the Soul Bone rumor was a lie he had used to trap the woman’s brother, then killed her and Niu Dahuang.
• Tie Li confronted Boss Cheng and reasoned that the Soul Bone was likely on him, despite Boss Cheng’s claim that the rumor was fake.
• Boss Cheng attacked Tie Li, but Tie Li blocked his claws with his iron inner vest and killed him with his Thunder Hammer.
• Tie Li searched Boss Cheng’s corpse, found a Storage Ring, and discovered an iron box emanating Soul Power inside it.