Chapter Summaries

Tang Hao persuaded Tang San not to worry about Ma Hongjun and Oscar, while Yu Xiaogang resolved to claim credit for Spirit Hall’s destruction. At Heavenly Net Pass, Ning Fengzhi assembled the allied forces against Spirit Hall and concluded that they held the advantage.

• Tang Hao dismissed Tang San’s concerns about Ma Hongjun and Oscar, and Tang San decided he might help them if they met again.
• Yu Xiaogang found Spirit Hall’s ruins in Notting City and decided its destruction must be credited to his future leadership.
• Dai Tianfeng and Xue Ye brought their empires’ armies to Heavenly Net Pass, where the major sects and their leaders joined the alliance.
• Ning Fengzhi gathered seven Title Douluo and thirty thousand Soul Masters, giving the alliance a numerical advantage over Spirit Hall.
• Ning Fengzhi surveyed the allied forces and believed they could defeat Spirit Hall.

Yu Xiaogang entered the allied forces conference at Heavenly Net Pass and presented himself as the strategist who should lead the campaign against Spirit Hall. After the leaders rejected his boastful plans, Dai Tianfeng ordered him thrown out.

• Yu Xiaogang used a Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan token to get past the guards at Heavenly Net Pass.
• Ning Fengzhi agreed to receive the lone visitor, and Yu Xiaogang walked into the alliance conference.
• Yu Xiaogang assumed Ning Fengzhi would recognize his talent and declared that he should become alliance leader.
• Yu Xiaogang outlined his plans to destroy Spirit Hall, but the gathered leaders met his speech with silence.
• Dai Tianfeng mocked Yu Xiaogang's weak cultivation and ordered the guards to throw him out.

Yu Xiaogang was expelled from the coalition gathering, where Ning Fengzhi became alliance leader and the sect masters swore to destroy Spirit Hall. Dai Tianfeng then ordered Star Luo to raise a massive army, revealing to Dai Weisi that he intended to use the war to attack Heaven Dou and capture Qian Renxue.

• Dai Tianfeng ordered soldiers to drag Yu Xiaogang out, and Yu Xiaogang was thrown beyond the city gate after Ning Fengzhi and the others ignored his pleas.
• Yu Yuanzhen apologized for Yu Xiaogang, and Ning Fengzhi was chosen as alliance leader after the coalition members formed a blood oath and agreed on an attack plan.
• Dai Tianfeng ordered Star Luo to raise another million troops through increased taxes and mandatory conscription, and the orders were ruthlessly enforced.
• Dai Weisi questioned the need for a larger army, and Dai Tianfeng explained that Star Luo's real opponent was its ally Heaven Dou.
• Dai Tianfeng told Dai Weisi that capturing Qian Renxue and bringing her Angel Martial Soul bloodline into the Dai Clan was Star Luo's greatest prize.

Dai Tianfeng revealed that the Angel God’s godhood was real and proposed splitting the Dai family into Angel and White Tiger lineages, while Xue Ye raised taxes and expanded conscription to prepare for war against Spirit Hall. Reborn Ma Hongjun waited in Grass Chicken Village for the expected martial-soul awakening, but no Spirit Hall Deacon arrived.

• Dai Tianfeng told Dai Weisi that the Angel God’s godhood was real and offered the victor between Dai Weisi and Dai Mubai the chance to found the Angel Dai Lineage.
• Dai Weisi agreed to fight for the angel martial soul inheritance and vowed to capture Qian Renxue when Spirit City fell.
• Xue Ye ordered taxes raised to one-third, another one and a half million soldiers recruited, and the lords to join the holy war against Spirit Hall.
• Ma Hongjun recalled his past life, his regret over Bai Chenxiang, and his hopes of changing his fate after being reborn.
• Ma Hongjun watched Grass Chicken Village’s martial-soul awakenings, but no Spirit Hall Deacon came to the village that year.

Ma Hongjun learned that Spirit Hall had been destroyed and that the lord’s costly Martial Soul awakenings would bind anyone with soul power to his household. He decided he would seek Flender’s help when he turned six, but the chapter left him watching the lord’s soldiers conscript his father and other villagers.

• Village Chief Old John told the villagers that the Spirit Hall deacon had been sent to the warfront, so no Martial Soul Awakening would take place that year.
• The officer ordered soldiers to destroy the village’s Spirit Hall and announced that villagers had to pay ten Gold Soul Coins for an awakening slot, while anyone with soul power had to serve the lord’s household.
• Ma Hongjun realized his poor family could not afford the fee and returned home, where he decided to wait until he was six before seeking Flender’s help.
• The conscription officer arrived in a Baby Bus, seized Father Ma from the fields, and took several other able-bodied men from the village.

Ma Hongjun’s father was conscripted and the village was stripped of its grain by a war tax, leaving his family starving. After Ma Hongjun found his mother dead and the villagers considering eating her body, he fled toward the city to escape them.

• Old John told Mother Ma that soldiers had taken Ma Hongjun’s father away in a mass conscription.
• A tax collector raised the village’s grain tax to one in three and ordered soldiers to seize the villagers’ food and seed grain.
• Mother Ma gave Ma Hongjun watery rice gruel, and he vowed to become a great Soul Master and provide for his parents.
• Ma Hongjun searched outside the village for food but found the surrounding land picked clean by the starving villagers.
• Ma Hongjun returned home and found his mother hanging from a beam as villagers discussed treating her corpse as meat.
• Ma Hongjun realized the villagers might prey on him next and fled toward the city.

Ma Hongjun struggled to survive as a beggar and blamed Spirit Hall for the hardships that had upended his former life. Meanwhile, the two empires and their allies launched a four-direction assault on Spirit City, where Qian Xunyi’s forces watched the approaching armies as part of his script.

• Ma Hongjun scavenged spoiled food in the city and learned that the empires planned to destroy Spirit Hall after its failed expedition against Sea God Island.
• Dai Tianfeng led the Star Luo army across the Star Luo River and dismissed Spirit Hall’s defenses as insufficient against his million soldiers.
• Xue Ye appointed Ge Long commander of Heaven Dou’s army and made Xue Haizang and Xue Luochuan rival deputy commanders, with the first to enter Spirit City named heir.
• The two empires advanced from north and south while their subordinate kingdoms and duchies attacked from east and west under Ning Fengzhi’s strategy.
• Qian Xunyi returned to Spirit City with Spirit Hall’s forces, used Divine Vision to display the invading armies, and his people held back laughter as they watched the script he had given them.

Qian Xunyi assigned Spirit Hall’s commanders and sent Mu Yuanfang to Dai Tianfeng with a deck of playing cards. Dai Tianfeng heard the rules and prepared to open the box, despite Dai Weisi’s concern that it might be a trap.

• Qian Xunyi assigned Jialing to command Jialing Pass and led another hundred thousand Soul Master Legion troops toward Watercloud Pass.
• Dai Tianfeng arrived at Watercloud Pass and vowed to reclaim the pass from Spirit Hall.
• Qian Xunyi chose Mu Yuanfang to deliver a deck of playing cards to Dai Tianfeng, rejecting Bu Kuaile because Dai Tianfeng would kill him.
• Dai Tianfeng prepared a boiling-oil cauldron to intimidate the envoy, then received Mu Yuanfang in his command tent.
• Mu Yuanfang explained the playing-card games to Dai Tianfeng, who decided to open the box despite Dai Weisi warning him of a possible trap.

Mu Yuanfang showed Dai Tianfeng a deck of cards bearing portraits of his commanders, himself, and his son, revealing Spirit Hall’s knowledge of the Star Luo Empire’s leadership. Qian Xunyi sent Bibi Dong to kill the marked targets, and the chapter left Dai Tianfeng facing the deaths of twenty generals while he and Dai Weisi remained on the deck as immune cards.

• Dai Tianfeng turned over the cards Mu Yuanfang brought and found portraits of fifty-two commanders, followed by portraits of Dai Weisi and himself.
• Dai Tianfeng threatened to unleash the Star Luo Army on Spirit City, but Mu Yuanfang dismissed the threat and left the command tent.
• Qian Xunyi ordered Bibi Dong to infiltrate the Star Luo camp, kill the people marked on her cards, and leave a card beside each victim.
• Bibi Dong used her Soul Tool Milk Bottle and Teleportation to leave Watercloud Pass and enter the Star Luo camp.
• Dai Tianfeng learned that twenty generals had been killed overnight, each with an eliminated playing card beside the body.
• Dai Weisi feared the death list because his portrait appeared on it, though his card was marked as an immunity token.

Dai Tianfeng’s first assault on Watercloud Pass ended in disaster under Spirit Hall’s soul guidance cannons, while Bibi Dong assassinated the Star Luo generals on Qian Xunyi’s orders. After finding a new deck of cards bearing the faces of his replacement generals, Dai Tianfeng ordered a mass assault to exhaust Spirit Hall’s ammunition.

• Dai Tianfeng dismissed the assassinations as sneak attacks, ordered the army to attack Watercloud Pass, and suffered heavy losses from Spirit Hall’s cannons.
• Dai Tianfeng decided to use Gray Livestock as the next wave of attackers to exhaust Spirit Hall’s supply of shells.
• Bibi Dong reported killing twenty generals, and Qian Xunyi ordered her to kill the remaining twenty-two pictured in the deck and leave a new deck at the final victim’s tent.
• Bibi Dong continued her assassinations despite the Star Luo Army’s precautions, killing the generals whose faces appeared on the cards.
• Dai Tianfeng discovered that the new deck showed his replacement and deputy generals, then ordered every Gray Livestock soldier sent to the front to force a way into Watercloud Pass.

Bibi Dong carried out Qian Xunyi’s order to hunt only the Star Luo officers marked on her cards, killing them openly while Dai Tianfeng watched. She left Dai Tianfeng alive with a new deck of cards naming the next day’s targets.

• After Bibi Dong left, Dai Tianfeng flew into a rage over Spirit Hall calling him a clown and slashed wildly with his sword.
• Qian Xunyi gave Bibi Dong a deck of kill notices and ordered her to hunt the listed targets in public without harming anyone else.
• Dai Tianfeng burned the cards, but Star Luo’s generals panicked and refused his orders to attack.
• At the Eastern Twelfth Stockade, Bibi Dong showed an overweight general his card and killed him after he fled and ordered the soldiers to stop her.
• Bibi Dong killed a mounted general after showing him his card, while the surrounding cavalry stayed still.
• Bibi Dong entered Dai Tianfeng’s command tent, defeated him with a clone, killed the generals marked on her cards, and gave Dai Tianfeng a new deck for tomorrow.

Bibi Dong crippled the Star Luo Empire’s million-strong army by killing its commanders and spreading fear, leaving Dai Tianfeng unable to advance or retreat at Watercloud Pass. Qian Xunyi watched the army falter and explained how targeting its command system had turned its huge force into a rabble.

• Bibi Dong gave Dai Tianfeng father-and-son IDs before leaving the Star Luo camp, and he roared that he would take revenge.
• Bibi Dong repeatedly dealt cards among Star Luo’s officers, killing commanders and leaving the army too frightened to organize attacks.
• Dai Tianfeng’s officers proposed appointing peasants as generals to serve as decoys, but Bibi Dong instead killed the officers directing them, and the army remained paralyzed.
• Dai Tianfeng’s million troops became stuck outside Watercloud Pass because he could neither safely advance nor retreat.
• Qian Xunyi watched from the pass and explained that Bibi Dong had destroyed Star Luo’s military command system by targeting its generals.

Dai Tianfeng's efforts to command and seek help for the Star Luo army were thwarted as Spirit Hall killed his messengers and launched a devastating surprise attack. Captured with Davis, he was forced by Qian Xunyi to open the gates of Starpeak City.

• Dai Tianfeng discovered that Spirit Hall had added the messengers carrying his request for Northern Army aid to its playing-card kill list.
• Spirit Hall displayed the messengers' heads and aid letters around the camp, leaving Dai Tianfeng unable to seek help or safely withdraw his million-strong army.
• Spirit Hall launched a night raid that wiped out the Star Luo Empire's four core legions and sent the army fleeing.
• Evil Lord captured Dai Tianfeng, and Spirit Hall's forces took Davis, Zhu Tiancai, and other Star Luo elites prisoner.
• Qian Xunyi led Spirit Hall's army into the Star Luo heartland and ordered the bound Dai Tianfeng and Davis to open Starpeak City's gates.

Bibi Dong repeatedly assassinated Star Luo officers, crippling the million-strong army outside Watercloud Pass and leaving Dai Tianfeng unable to advance or retreat. Qian Xunyi watched the disorder from the pass and explained how striking an army’s commanders could destroy its military system.

• Bibi Dong left the Star Luo camp after giving Dai Tianfeng and his son their father-and-son ID cards, and Dai Tianfeng swore revenge.
• Over the following days, Bibi Dong killed Star Luo generals and officers, leaving the army unable to organize large-scale attacks.
• Dai Tianfeng’s officers proposed appointing commoners as commanders, but Spirit Hall targeted the officers directing them, and the inexperienced commoners could not control the troops.
• Dai Tianfeng’s million-strong army remained trapped outside Watercloud Pass, unable to advance or retreat safely.
• Qian Xunyi watched from Watercloud Pass and explained that killing commanders and dismantling military coordination could turn a large army into a disorganized rabble.

Qian Xunyi’s forces reached Star Luo City as the Eight Banners Retainer Army swelled with new recruits, while Dai Mubai fled rather than claim the throne. After the city surrendered, Qian Xunyi took control of the palace and Zhu Tiancai revealed that her new martial soul had broken her bond with Dai Tianfeng.

• Qian Xunyi advanced on Star Luo City with twenty thousand Eight Banners Scions behind him as nobles and merchants joined the army for a share of the spoils.
• Dai Mubai learned that Dai Tianfeng and his elder brother had been taken away as Spirit Hall exchange students, then escaped when ministers prepared to make him emperor.
• Duke of Nether Zhu Tianming opened Star Luo City’s gates, and its officials surrendered the household registry and imperial jade seal to Qian Xunyi.
• Qian Xunyi entered the imperial palace and spent the night with Zhu Tiancai, who praised him over Dai Tianfeng.
• Dai Tianfeng confronted Zhu Tiancai, and she showed him her Nine-Lives Sky Cat martial soul, revealing that it had ended their Martial Soul Fusion Skill relationship.

Spirit Hall captured Starpeak City without a fight by forcing Emperor Dai Tianfeng and Prince Dai Weisi to order its gates opened, then used the Hair-Cutting Edict and confiscations to reshape the city’s ruling class. Qian Xunyi marched toward Star Luo City, taking cities through surrender or artillery as Dai Tianfeng was made to call on commanders to open their gates.

• Lu Ling prepared Starpeak City’s defenses against Spirit Hall, but opened the gates after Dai Tianfeng ordered him to do so, allowing Spirit Hall to take the city without casualties.
• Qian Xunyi ordered Starpeak City’s men to adopt the Money-Rat-Tail Braid and Yellow Riding Jacket, threatening resisters with confiscation and rewarding those who helped enforce the edict.
• Lu Ling, Dai Tianfeng, and Dai Weisi adopted the new appearance, and Lu Ling enforced the edict as old nobles were dispossessed and wealthy merchants gained land and status in the Eight Banners.
• Qian Xunyi’s army marched toward Star Luo City, using Dai Tianfeng to persuade city commanders to surrender and join the Eight Banners Retainer Army.
• Spirit Hall destroyed the walls of cities whose commanders refused to open their gates, then confiscated their nobles’ property and sold land and titles to local merchants.

Qian Xunyi’s forces conquered Star Luo City after Dai Mubai fled rather than claim the throne, and the city’s officials surrendered to the Spirit Hall. Zhu Tiancai revealed that Qian Xunyi had given House Zhu a new Martial Soul, breaking its bond with House Dai and leaving Dai Tianfeng shocked by her betrayal.

• Qian Xunyi advanced on Star Luo City with two hundred thousand Eight Banners Scions behind him as the Spirit Hall’s campaign replaced the old aristocracy.
• Dai Mubai learned that Dai Tianfeng and his elder brother had been captured, then escaped the city to avoid becoming emperor and to pursue his future with Shrek.
• Dai Tianfeng called on Star Luo City’s defenders to open the gates, and Zhu Tianming eventually welcomed the Spirit Hall forces into the capital.
• Star Luo’s officials handed Qian Xunyi the household registers and imperial jade seal, while the new Eight Banners Scions anticipated dividing the old aristocrats’ lands.
• Qian Xunyi spent the night in the imperial palace with Zhu Tiancai, who praised him and explained that he had given House Zhu the Nine-Lives Sky Cat Martial Soul.
• Dai Tianfeng confronted Zhu Tiancai, and she showed him that her new Martial Soul had broken the bond between House Zhu and House Dai.

After Qian Xunyi altered House Zhu’s Martial Souls, Zhu Zhuyun ended her engagement to Dai Weisi and Dai Tianfeng’s family lost the Hell White Tiger. Qian Xunyi imposed a new order on Star Luo, leaving Dai Tianfeng as a Clown Crown Prince under Spirit Hall’s control and rewarding Zhu Tianming with six Eighty-Thousand-Year Soul Bones.

• Zhu Zhuyun canceled her engagement to Dai Weisi, declaring herself free after the Hell White Tiger Martial Soul Fusion Skill was lost.
• House Zhu replaced its inherited Hell Spirit Cat Martial Soul with the Nine-Lives Sky Cat, and Dai Tianfeng raged when he learned the Hell White Tiger’s foundation had been destroyed.
• Bu Kuaile read a decree stripping Dai Tianfeng of the Star Luo Emperor title and making him Clown Crown Prince, with Spirit Hall imposing tribute, religious, military, and coronation terms.
• Qian Xunyi ordered Bu Kuaile to award Zhu Tianming a complete set of six Eighty-Thousand-Year Soul Bones for offering up a city.
• Zhu Tianming accepted the Soul Bones and began absorbing all six before the gathered court.

Qian Xunyi rewarded the surrendered Star Luo nobles with Soul Bones, God-Bestowed Soul Rings, titles, and powerful Soul Tools, turning them into loyal officials who would support the Clown Emperor. Dai Tianfeng watched as Spirit Hall built a force capable of keeping him in check.

• Zhu Tianming absorbed a complete set of six Soul Bones, then used a God-Bestowed Soul Pearl to gain a 130,000-year Soul Ring and reach Soul Power Level 93.
• Qian Xunyi appointed Zhu Tianming Banner Lord of the Old Star Luo Bordered Yellow Banner and gave him a level-nine Golden Mace to uphold the Clown Emperor and punish unrighteous rulers and corrupt ministers.
• Luo Yiming received the Old Starfall Plain Yellow Banner and a Coiling Dragon Staff, and vowed to remain loyal to Qian Xunyi while eyeing Dai Tianfeng and his son as future traitors.
• Zhang Gong received the Plain White Banner and a King-Striking Whip after his Soul Pearl raised him to level 91.
• Qian Xunyi appointed five surrendered Soul Sages to the Lower Five Banners and gave them level-eight Soul Tools, while Dai Tianfeng silently fumed at the armed nobles surrounding him.

Qian Xunyi returned to the capital after subduing Star Luo, where Dai Tianfeng was forced to accept his new status as crown prince and prepare for Spirit Hall’s tribute and coronation. In Heaven Dou, Spirit Hall crushed the million-strong army and advanced to the capital, prompting Xue Ye to abdicate and leave Xue Qinghe to face the crisis as emperor.

• Qian Xunyi returned to the capital with Zhu Tiancai, while Dai Tianfeng endured Zhu Tianming’s insult and pretended not to hear it.
• Zhu Tianming, Luo Yiming, and Zhang Gong stopped Dai Tianfeng from taking the throne or calling himself emperor, and the Eight Banners nobles threatened him with their Soul Tools.
• Zhu Tianming told Dai Tianfeng to rebuild Spirit Hall, prepare the annual tribute, and arrange his coronation in three months.
• Xue Ye learned that Spirit Hall’s weapons and revived fighters had destroyed Heaven Dou’s army, killed the princes, and wounded or killed several of its leading warriors.
• A messenger reported that Spirit Hall’s army was nearing Heaven Dou City, and Xue Ye abdicated in favor of Xue Qinghe.