Chapter Summaries

Tang San looted the dead attackers, absorbed an external Soul Bone and a Thousand-Year Soul Bone, and rose to rank thirty-four. He hurried back toward Qin Jiuxiao and the immortal herbs, while the watching Sea God lamented that Tang San had absorbed the wrong Soul Bone.

• Tang San searched the corpses and took more than ten thousand Gold Soul Coins, valuables, and a dark-gold external Soul Bone.
• Tang San absorbed the external Soul Bone and felt it beginning to emerge from his body.
• Tang San cut a Thousand-Year Soul Bone from the rank-thirty-nine Soul Master and absorbed it, advancing to rank thirty-four.
• Tang San vowed to surpass Qin Jiuxiao and hurried back to stop him from giving away the immortal herbs.
• The Sea God revealed that he had intended Tang San to use the Thousand-Year Soul Bone as seed money and cursed him for absorbing it.

Qin Jiuxiao returned to Heaven Dou Royal Academy with Bi Ji and found Flender with Liu Erlong, while Yu Xiaogang tried to use their meeting to curry favor with Qin Jiuxiao and humiliate Flender. Liu Erlong said she had come willingly and asked Qin Jiuxiao if he had time to marry her.

• Qin Jiuxiao and Bi Ji arrived at the courtyard and saw Flender speaking with Liu Erlong.
• Flender introduced Qin Jiuxiao to Liu Erlong as his talented student, and Qin Jiuxiao played along with Flender’s boast.
• Yu Xiaogang appeared and claimed he had introduced Liu Erlong to Qin Jiuxiao as a prospective partner, angering Flender.
• Flender asked Liu Erlong whether she was acting of her own free will, and she said she was.
• Liu Erlong approached Qin Jiuxiao, offered her hand, and asked whether he had time to marry her.

Liu Erlong proposed marrying Qin Jiuxiao, but his declaration of ambition captivated her and impressed the gathered elders and visitors. Qian Renxue, Xue Ke, Ning Fengzhi, and Chen Xin arrived, and Ning Fengzhi opened negotiations with Qin Jiuxiao over his valuable goods.

• Liu Erlong boldly proposed marriage to Qin Jiuxiao, while Yu Xiaogang and Flender reacted with jealousy and resignation.
• Qin Jiuxiao said he would focus on reaching the pinnacle of the soul master world before settling down, and Liu Erlong found herself genuinely falling for him.
• Qian Renxue, Xue Ke, Ning Fengzhi, and Sword Douluo Chen Xin arrived and praised Qin Jiuxiao's ambition; Chen Xin sensed his sword intent.
• Liu Erlong teased Qin Jiuxiao that she would wait for his answer, alarming Yu Xiaogang, who had wanted her to obtain immortal herbs from him.
• Ning Fengzhi told Qin Jiuxiao he wanted to discuss buying the fine things he had recently acquired.

Qin Jiuxiao told Ning Fengzhi that the only mature aromatic silk beauty had gone to Ning Rongrong, then revealed three other immortal herbs and refused to sell them. He gave the cockscomb phoenix sunflower to Liu Erlong, leaving Yu Xiaogang furious as she prepared to absorb it.

• Ning Rongrong apologized to Qin Jiuxiao for telling Ning Fengzhi about her martial soul evolution, and he warned her not to let her tongue run again.
• Qin Jiuxiao told Ning Fengzhi that the mature aromatic silk beauty had already been given to Ning Rongrong and that the remaining seedlings were too young to help him evolve.
• Ning Fengzhi accepted that he could not obtain an aromatic silk beauty, then offered ten million Gold Soul Coins to buy Qin Jiuxiao's three displayed immortal herbs.
• Qin Jiuxiao refused to sell the herbs, saying he had recipients in mind and would not neglect Ning Fengzhi in the future.
• Qin Jiuxiao gave Liu Erlong the cockscomb phoenix sunflower and invited her to absorb it, while Yu Xiaogang watched in dismay.

Liu Erlong absorbed the Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower Qin Jiuxiao gave her, evolving her Fire Dragon Martial Soul and raising her from level seventy-seven to level eighty. The others marveled at the immortal herb’s power, while Yu Xiaogang resolved to obtain Qin Jiuxiao’s remaining herbs.

• Liu Erlong asked Qin Jiuxiao whether he feared she would leave after absorbing the Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower, then swore loyalty to him before beginning to absorb it.
• The Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower’s energy transformed Liu Erlong’s Fire Dragon flames and drove her Soul Power up to level eighty.
• Chen Xin judged that Liu Erlong’s purified flames could lead her toward becoming a Titled Douluo, and the gathered observers recognized the herb’s extraordinary effects.
• Yu Xiaogang concluded that Qin Jiuxiao’s remaining immortal herbs could help him break past level thirty and vowed to get them at any cost.
• Liu Erlong thanked Qin Jiuxiao after confirming her breakthrough, while Ning Fengzhi lamented that his sect possessed no immortal herbs.

After Liu Erlong broke through to the Soul Douluo realm, Sword Douluo Chen Xin challenged Qin Jiuxiao to a sword-only spar. Qian Renxue arranged for the match to take place at the Heaven Dou Royal Academy Trial Grounds before a growing audience, where the two prepared to face off.

• Liu Erlong thanked Qin Jiuxiao for the immortal herb that helped her break through, while Yu Xiaogang privately resented her for using it herself.
• Ning Fengzhi offered Qin Jiuxiao twenty million Gold Soul Coins for his remaining immortal herbs, but Qin refused, saying he had already chosen their recipients.
• Chen Xin challenged Qin Jiuxiao to exchange sword moves without using Soul Power, and Qin accepted.
• Qian Renxue proposed holding the spar at the academy Trial Grounds to showcase Qin Jiuxiao, and Chen Xin agreed.
• Qian Renxue led Qin Jiuxiao, Chen Xin, and the others to the Trial Grounds as word spread and more than a hundred students gathered to watch.

Qin Jiuxiao and Chen Xin drew a huge crowd to the Trial Grounds for a swordsmanship spar without soul power, each revealing a radically different sword path. After their opening exchange, they continued trading sword attacks as the spectators watched in stunned silence.

• Hundreds of students and Heaven Dou Royal Academy’s education commissioners gathered to watch Qin Jiuxiao challenge Chen Xin, while Meng Shenji sensed that Qin Jiuxiao might match Sword Douluo.
• Chen Xin criticized Qin Jiuxiao’s sword as muddled and explained his belief that a swordsman must press forward with a blade in hand.
• Qin Jiuxiao declared that all things could be swords and displayed an illusion of sword intent in which a blade of grass cut through the clouds and appeared to strike down a star.
• Chen Xin praised Qin Jiuxiao’s sword path and attacked him with invisible sword energy, which Qin Jiuxiao countered with sword energy formed from a breeze.
• Chen Xin sent dozens of sword-energy strikes at Qin Jiuxiao, who transformed water from a nearby fountain into blades that met the attack and dissolved into rain.

Qin Jiuxiao and Chen Xin’s sparring match inspired the spectators and pushed Qin Jiuxiao’s swordsmanship to improve rapidly. As Chen Xin recognized Qin Jiuxiao’s talent, the fight sparked a new understanding that brought him to the verge of a breakthrough.

• The students and onlookers cheered Qin Jiuxiao, and the education commissioners hoped his arrival would change Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
• Flender, Zhao Wuji, Liu Erlong, Ning Rongrong, Xue Ke, Qian Renxue, Zhu Zhuqing, and Xiao Wu watched Qin Jiuxiao with pride and admiration.
• Chen Xin launched a fierce sword assault, while Qin Jiuxiao evaded and countered with a sword formed from water vapor.
• Qin Jiuxiao used his sword heart and sword eye to read Chen Xin’s attacks and rapidly absorb his swordsmanship.
• Chen Xin recognized Qin Jiuxiao’s extraordinary sword talent and felt inspired to seek a fellow traveler on the path of the sword.
• Chen Xin gained a sudden new understanding, and his soul power surged as he began to break through.