Chapter Summaries

A spatial storm destroyed the Devil Archipelago, prompting the North Sea Legion to evacuate nearby civilians and leaving Shrek Academy’s Inner Court disciples relieved that Devil Island’s trials were over. Wei Heng learned that the academy’s leadership barely mourned the loss, as Yun Ming and Ya Li focused on finding the missing Na’er.

• Shen Yue learned that spatial rifts had appeared around Devil Island and ordered the North Sea Legion and nearby cities to prepare for evacuation.
• After a week, the spatial storm subsided, having destroyed most of the Devil Archipelago without harming the surrounding region.
• Wei Heng heard that the Inner Court disciples celebrated Devil Island’s destruction and the end of the Seven Old Devils’ trials.
• Yun Ming and Ya Li mobilized a search after Na’er disappeared from Shrek City, leaving other Sea God Pavilion elders to address Devil Island’s destruction.
• The elders treated Devil Island’s loss as a minor setback but regretted that the secret of the Seven Old Devils’ longevity might be lost.

After Zhou Mingyu returned from a year and a half of inspections, he learned that the Spirit Pagoda had formally announced Spirit Academy and planned to enroll its first students at the end of August. The move drew Zhou Mingyu closer to the Spirit Pagoda’s inner circle and left Shrek Academy facing a challenge.

• The Devil Island disappearance incident ended without attracting much attention, while Liu Tianran’s avatars pursued their separate cultivation and recovery plans.
• Zhou Mingyu returned to the Skysea City Spirit Pagoda after visiting Spirit Pagodas across the continent and recruiting civilian geniuses and overlooked operational talents.
• Zhou Mingyu reviewed the Spirit Pagoda’s announcement establishing Spirit Academy, which promised extensive resources to its first students.
• Zhou Mingyu learned that the Spirit Pagoda was mobilizing resources and approaching clans and sects to recruit students for the new academy.
• Gu Yuena withdrew from the Shrek Academy Inner Court at the Spirit Pagoda’s order and was set to become one of Spirit Academy’s student figureheads.
• Zhou Mingyu concluded that he would have to attend Spirit Academy, while Liu Tianran anticipated that Shrek Academy would be most anxious about the development.

Spirit Pagoda’s Spirit Academy announcement prompted Shrek Academy to launch a publicity campaign, but its disclosures sparked a public backlash and exposed growing discontent among its students. Outer Court students began withdrawing to pursue Spirit Academy’s better offers, leaving Shrek’s teachers struggling to persuade them to stay.

• Feng Wuyu and the Sea God Pavilion elders condemned Spirit Pagoda’s recruitment drive and agreed to promote Shrek Academy’s history, teaching, and strengths.
• Shrek’s publicity materials revealed its credit and contribution-point system, prompting Soul Masters to criticize the academy for making students labor for resources and enriching its upper ranks.
• Public criticism damaged Shrek Academy’s reputation and enrollment as Outer Court students and their families considered Spirit Academy’s more generous terms.
• Outer Court students submitted withdrawal applications, and Wei Heng heard one student argue that their work for Shrek had been a fair exchange, not an investment that obliged them to stay.
• The student’s argument strengthened others’ resolve, and they hurried to complete their withdrawals.

Spirit Academy accepted Shrek Academy’s expelled students, concluding that its contribution-point system had held back many commoner geniuses, and prepared to challenge Shrek by opening beside it. At the opening ceremony, Zhou Mingyu stood as the leader of the Skysea Alliance disciples while the crowd awaited the proceedings.

• Spirit Academy investigated Shrek’s former Outer Court students and concluded that its resource and contribution-point system had stalled many commoner geniuses.
• Spirit Academy decided to offer direct enrollment and favorable treatment to all the expelled students, hoping to benefit the Spirit Pagoda and spite Shrek Academy.
• On August 1, Zhou Mingyu attended Spirit Academy’s opening ceremony at its new campus beside Shrek City.
• Young disciples from across the Spirit Pagoda gathered at the ceremony, where Zhou Mingyu’s fellow Skysea Alliance students treated him as their leader.
• A soul-conducting amplification device silenced the plaza, and the opening ceremony was about to begin.

Qian Gu Dongfeng opened Spirit Academy’s ceremony with a grand speech that bored the students and even the dignitaries beside him. He abandoned his prepared advice and began announcing the academy’s benefits and support programs, instantly capturing everyone’s attention.

• Qian Gu Dongfeng, Leng Yaozhu, Bai Xuanming, Luo Zhanqing, and eight councilors arrived above the podium, astonishing the gathered students with their power.
• Qian Gu Dongfeng welcomed the new students and began delivering ten pieces of advice about their future paths.
• Zhou Mingyu noticed the speech was tedious, while the students and dignitaries grew visibly bored.
• Qian Gu Dongfeng cut short his formal speech and shifted to discussing Spirit Academy’s benefits and support programs.
• The students snapped to attention as Qian Gu Dongfeng prepared to reveal the academy’s practical offerings.

Qian Gu Dongfeng announced a sweeping package of Spirit Pagoda support for Spirit Academy students, from free aid and training to missions and trading opportunities. The students were won over by the benefits as Qian Gu Dongfeng looked ahead to competing with Shrek.

• Qian Gu Dongfeng announced free cultivation resources for every commoner student, prompting an ecstatic response from the crowd.
• Qian Gu Dongfeng introduced tiered rewards and a mission system offering practical experience and resources.
• Qian Gu Dongfeng made auxiliary profession courses free through the second-grade level and promised instruction from master professionals.
• Qian Gu Dongfeng announced an academy-backed trading platform that would let students trade their work and knowledge without intermediary fees.
• Zhou Mingyu recognized that Spirit Pagoda was investing in the students’ futures, while Qian Gu Dongfeng credited Shrek’s cultivation system for inspiring his strategy.

Two years after arriving at Spirit Academy, Zhou Mingyu learned that the term’s final assessment would be a month-long mission-point competition. He led the Coastal Faction students in forming a team and organizing missions, then set out with them to earn points and pursue the rankings.

• Zhou Mingyu returned from a cultivation chamber and went to the auditorium after receiving a notice about the final assessment.
• The grade director announced a month-long point-ranking competition in which students would earn points from selected missions, with benefits at stake for anyone who failed to reach the base score.
• Zhou Mingyu left the auditorium with more than twenty Coastal Faction students who gathered to follow him.
• At the mission center, Zhou Mingyu reviewed the assessment missions and planned for less powerful members to take yellow-grade missions while he and the core members pursued higher-grade tasks.
• Zhou Mingyu’s team accepted his plan, divided up the missions, and set off to carry them out.

Zhou Mingyu led his team through several high-tier missions, rapidly building a commanding lead in the academy assessment. After capturing three Spirit Kings and tiring out the team, he chose a forging task in Mingdu as a chance for them to earn more points while relaxing.

• Zhou Mingyu captured a five-ring spy at Skysea City's port and brought him to the authorities, raising the team's score to five thousand points and the top of the leaderboard.
• Zhou Mingyu selected two more black-tier tasks and led the team in tracking down two wanted Spirit Kings.
• Zhou Mingyu used traps and terrain to help the team capture the first Spirit King, then used his spiritual power to locate the second in the city's sewers.
• The team captured the second Spirit King and extended its lead, leaving its exhausted members relieved.
• Zhou Mingyu chose a purple-tier forging task from the Federation Research Department that would take the team to Mingdu.

Zhou Mingyu and his team traveled by soul guidance train to deliver forged metals to the Federation Research Department, with Shen Xuanming accompanying them for protection. When bandits took over the train, Shen Xuanming killed the two who entered their carriage and charged off to deal with the rest.

• Zhou Mingyu and his team finished gathering the required metals and boarded a train to Mingdu with Shen Xuanming as their escort.
• Zhou Mingyu sensed masked bandits armed with soul guidance guns taking control of a carriage and preparing to spread through the train.
• Two bandits entered the students' carriage and threatened Shen Xuanming with their guns.
• Shen Xuanming killed the two bandits, revealed his Thunder Roar Tiger martial soul, and rushed toward the rear carriage to fight the remaining attackers.

Shen Xuanming stopped the bandits’ attack on the Soul Guidance Train and rescued their child hostage, then Zhou Mingyu sensed Tang Wulin and his companions slipping away at Mingdu Soul Guidance Station. Zhou Mingyu realized Tang Wulin’s presence explained the unlikely train attack and wondered why the group was there instead of undergoing Inner Court training.

• Shen Xuanming charged through the carriages and eliminated the bandits until the Spirit King leader took a child hostage.
• Shen Xuanming feigned retreat while an unseen sword aura broke the leader’s shield and severed his arms, allowing Shen Xuanming to rescue the child and subdue him.
• The train reached Mingdu Soul Guidance Station, where the Mingdu Law Enforcement Team took the surviving bandit leader into custody and the passengers thanked Shen Xuanming.
• Zhou Mingyu sensed familiar auras among figures leaving the platform and recognized Tang Wulin’s Dragon King-level bloodline aura.
• Zhou Mingyu recognized Xie Xie and the others with Tang Wulin and wondered why they were not undergoing Inner Court training.

After submitting their mission at the Federation Research Department, Zhou Mingyu was asked to assist a confidential project led by Chief Engineer Xu Ziqian, whose expertise in life-extension technology had made him a celebrated researcher. Zhou Mingyu knew Xu Ziqian was actually Liu Tianran’s eighth avatar, created to master advanced Soul Guidance technology, and agreed to meet him.

• Shen Xuanming let the students explore Mingdu while he and Zhou Mingyu drove to the remote Federation Research Department to submit their mission.
• After strict security checks, the two handed over the mission metal and waited for the verification to finish.
• A researcher invited Zhou Mingyu and Shen Xuanming to assist with a confidential project because Zhou Mingyu possessed the Ultimate Ice attribute.
• Shen Xuanming learned that the project was led by Xu Ziqian and urged Zhou Mingyu to make a good impression on the renowned Chief Engineer.
• Zhou Mingyu recalled that Xu Ziqian was Liu Tianran’s eighth avatar, engineered with powerful Martial Souls and research abilities to advance Federation Soul Guidance technology.
• Xu Ziqian had earned the research world’s admiration by solving major technical problems and inventing the Life-Sustaining Pod, which could extend the lives of people near death by several hundred years.

Zhou Mingyu and Shen Xuanming arrived at a high-security laboratory, where Zhou Mingyu took part in a dangerous experiment involving refined Life Essence and the central Soul Tool device. Zhou Mingyu stabilized a life-energy leak with his Ultimate Ice, but a piercing alarm sounded just after the experiment succeeded.

• Zhou Mingyu and Shen Xuanming entered the laboratory and saw a young researcher questioned by renowned Soul Tool experts.
• Zhou Mingyu signed confidentiality agreements and learned that he would act as the experiment’s final living valve.
• Xu Ziqian ordered Zhou Mingyu to prepare as life energy began leaking more rapidly from an energy tank.
• Zhou Mingyu unleashed his Mysterious Ice Sword Domain and used Ultimate Ice to slow the leak and guide the energy back into the analysis channel.
• The researchers collected data after the experiment succeeded, but an alarm suddenly rang throughout the research department.

An intruder alert exposed Shrek’s failed attempt to steal a classified document from the Federation Research Department, and a gray-robed Super Douluo swiftly defeated the infiltrators. The Shrek team was captured, while the Research Department’s emergency response remained underway.

• Xu Ziqian ordered an internal emergency lockdown after the alarm reported an intrusion into A2 Area and summoned two gray-robed Super Douluo.
• The Shrek team realized the document was blank bait and hid in an abandoned laboratory as Federation forces closed in.
• The captain ordered Xie Xie to capture the lieutenant colonel when soldiers opened the laboratory door, and Shrek launched a coordinated attack.
• A gray-robed elder appeared and slapped Xie Xie and the other infiltrators into the walls before stopping the captain with a hand chop.
• The elder knocked the captain unconscious and used Soul Power to take the captured group away.

Xu Ziqian watched as Old Chen interrogated Tang Wulin, who tried to escape suspicion by pretending to be a Spirit Pagoda heir. Tang Wulin signed a false interrogation record, but Old Chen exposed the ruse and demanded his real account.

• Xu Ziqian observed Tang Wulin restrained in a Soul Tool interrogation room and recognized him as the Shrek Academy leader behind raids on Federation research.
• Tang Wulin gave the false name Qian Gu Yinming and claimed to be a Spirit Pagoda disciple on a secret mission.
• Old Chen pretended to believe Tang Wulin and described supposed ties between the Spirit Pagoda and the Research Department.
• Old Chen offered to classify Tang Wulin's entry into the restricted facility as an accident and asked him to sign a record.
• Tang Wulin signed the record as Qian Gu Yinming, and Old Chen revealed that he knew Tang Wulin's real identity.

Old Chen exposed Tang Wulin’s false identity and used fabricated evidence and threats to break him during interrogation. As Tang Wulin and his companions began confessing, Xu Ziqian decided Shrek Academy would pay for its operation.

• Old Chen revealed Tang Wulin’s identity and presented records linking him to Shrek Academy and the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul.
• Old Chen disclosed that Tang Wulin had signed an identity admission as Qian Gu Yinming and added several charges to his record.
• Tang Wulin protested that Old Chen was coercing him, but Old Chen claimed the research department could manipulate surveillance and evidence to convict him.
• Old Chen threatened to use harsher methods to obtain a confession about Tang Wulin’s mission, his companions, and Shrek Academy’s plans.
• Xu Ziqian watched Tang Wulin and the others begin confessing, then vowed that Shrek would pay for its operation.

After the Research Department exposed Shrek Academy disciples’ attempt to steal Xu Ziqian’s Life-Sustaining Pod research, Shrek’s leaders faced public outrage and debated how to recover the arrested students. Long Yeyue rejected negotiation and urged Shrek to seize them by force, leaving the academy poised to attack the Research Department.

• Xu Ziqian ordered the Research Department to publicize Shrek Academy’s attempt to steal the Life-Sustaining Pod research.
• The Research Department exposed videos and records identifying Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, and the other infiltrators, forcing Shrek Academy to admit they were its disciples.
• Shrek’s senior elders gathered in the Sea God Pavilion, where Feng Wuyu and Cai Yue'er complained about the Research Department and Shrek’s former supporters.
• Zhuo Shi suggested negotiating with the Research Department to recover the arrested students, but Long Yeyue rejected the proposal.
• Long Yeyue called for Shrek to take the students out of the Research Department’s hands by force and make the Federation remember the cost of provoking the academy.

Xu Ziqian detected Shrek Academy’s masked raid on the Federation Research Department and unleashed a prepared counterattack with Soul-Guided Rays and tracking artillery shells. Shrek’s disciples suffered heavy losses, but Xu knew the elders remained a threat and the battle was not over.

• Xu Ziqian detected the approaching raiders and ordered Plan A to begin.
• Cai Yue'er and Zhuo Shi led masked Shrek Academy elders and Inner Court disciples toward the Research Department.
• The Research Department’s Soul-Guided Rays killed or crippled more than a dozen Inner Court disciples before they could react.
• Cai Yue'er ordered a retreat as hidden launch silos fired tracking Fixed Soul-Guided Artillery Shells at the disorganized raiders.
• Xu Ziqian watched the attack from the command center as researchers recorded weapon performance, and he ordered continued battlefield monitoring.

Shrek Academy’s group suffered heavy losses under the Research Department’s artillery barrage, while Cai Yue'er and Zhuo Shi were intercepted by two powerful spatial Soul Masters. The chapter revealed that a Shrek rescue team had entered the Research Department’s detention area but found Tang Wulin and the others gone and themselves trapped among Soul-Guided Elemental Bombs.

• The Research Department’s Fixed Soul-Guided Artillery Shells killed or wounded more than half of Shrek’s Inner Court disciples despite the elder hosts’ efforts to shield them.
• Cai Yue'er ordered Zhuo Shi to help her attack the cannon positions while the other elders protected the disciples and retreated.
• Two gray-robed elders ambushed Cai Yue'er and Zhuo Shi with spatial blades, wounding them as they fought back.
• An hour earlier, a Shrek rescue team used an insider’s help to infiltrate the Research Department and reach the prisoners’ cell.
• The rescue team found Tang Wulin and the others missing, a note welcoming them to the Research Department, and Soul-Guided Elemental Bombs hidden beneath the floor.

Xu Ziqian’s trap devastated the Shrek Soul Masters in the detention area, while Cai Yue'er and Zhuo Shi fought the Research Department’s hidden Rank 97 elders in the sky. The elders trapped them with their Martial Soul Fusion Skill, and the captured Shrek forces were taken to prison as the conflict between the Research Department and Shrek Academy continued.

• Xu Ziqian detonated the Soul-Guided Elemental Bombs in the detention area, killing many Shrek Soul Masters and spies while survivors lost the will to resist.
• Xu Ziqian revealed that he had used Shrek’s infiltration attempt to eliminate spies hidden within the Research Department.
• Cai Yue'er and Zhuo Shi struggled against two gray-robed spatial-type Super Douluo, who were secretly biological brothers and Federation veterans.
• The two elders unleashed their Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Spatial Rift, immobilizing Cai Yue'er and Zhuo Shi and preventing them from using their Soul Power.
• Research Department forces arrested the remaining Shrek teachers and students and locked them in reinforced cells.

Qiangu Qingfeng, wielding the Purgatory Halberd, kept Long Yeyue from reaching the Research Department until the Central Legion arrived, forcing her to retreat. Xu Ziqian revealed that he had arranged for Qiangu Qingfeng to intervene in exchange for two Life-Sustaining Pod slots, and began considering how Qiangu Qingfeng’s devotion to his family could shape future events.

• Qiangu Qingfeng blocked Long Yeyue’s attacks and prevented her from reaching Cai Yue'er and Zhuo Shi at the Research Department.
• The Mingdu Central Legion’s mecha formation approached, and Long Yeyue retreated to avoid turning the incident into open war between Shrek and the Federation.
• Qiangu Qingfeng detected Xu Ziqian’s concealed Soul Guidance detector, then vanished without pursuing Long Yeyue.
• Xu Ziqian watched the battle footage and identified the black-robed man as Qiangu Qingfeng, whom he had hired through Qian Gu Dongfeng in exchange for two Life-Sustaining Pod slots.
• Xu Ziqian reasoned that Qiangu Qingfeng had accepted the arrangement to help his aging father, Qiangu Dieting, and his wife, Xia Zhengleng, and considered that devotion a future bargaining tool.