Chapter Summaries

Lin Yan received the Thunder God's inheritance item and learned that succeeding the trials was necessary to become the successor. After opening the item, he arrived at a lightning-filled island, where the guardian Nine-Headed Python showed him the Thunder God Pillar and explained how to begin the trial.

• Thunderclap Hellvine gave Lin Yan the Thunder God's inheritance item and explained that failing the trials would mean death.
• Thunderclap Hellvine told Lin Yan he was the first person recognized by the Thunder God's token.
• Lin Yan used the Lightning Soul to open the inheritance item and was transported to an island above a vast sea of lightning plasma.
• Lin Yan met the Nine-Headed Python, who identified herself as the guardian appointed by the Thunder God.
• The Nine-Headed Python told Lin Yan to touch the Thunder God Pillar, and Lin Yan pressed his palm against it to begin the trial.

Lin Yan activated the Thunder God Nine Trials and learned that he had five years to swim across the Lightning Sea to the divine hall. After discovering that the Lightning Plasma could temper his body and the Thunder God Mark would save him if he could not endure it, he jumped into the sea to test his limits.

• Lin Yan activated the stone pillar with his Martial Souls, and the Thunder God's will marked him as an inheritor.
• Xiao Jiu explained how to view the first trial, which required Lin Yan to reach the divine hall by swimming across the Lightning Sea within five years.
• Xiao Jiu refused to carry Lin Yan across and explained that the Lightning Plasma would temper his body.
• Lin Yan learned that the Thunder God Mark would teleport him back to the island if he could not endure the Lightning Plasma.
• Lin Yan stripped down to his shorts and leaped into the Lightning Sea.

Lin Yan began the Thunder God trial by struggling to cross the Lightning Sea, then returned to the Lightning Pool and accepted the Thunderclap Hellvine’s offer to sacrifice itself. As the sacrifice began, the Lightning Pool erupted and Mu En’s group arrived to investigate.

• Lin Yan swam two thousand meters through the Lightning Sea before Xiao Jiu rescued him, and Xiao Jiu urged him to train there daily for his trial.
• Lin Yan returned from the inheritance grounds with the Thunder God Mark and confirmed that he had gained Thunder God's recognition.
• The Thunderclap Hellvine explained that losing the inheritance artifact left its cultivation dangerously unstable, so it chose to sacrifice itself to Lin Yan.
• Lin Yan accepted the Thunderclap Hellvine’s sacrifice and began absorbing its energy for a Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring.
• The Lightning Pool erupted as the sacrifice began, and Mu En’s group stopped nearby to inspect the upheaval.

After Thunderclap Hellvine sacrificed itself to Lin Yan, he escaped the Lightning Pool with a Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring and a dramatic rise in Soul Power. He returned to Shrek Academy with Mu En and revealed his new power, leaving Mu En demanding an explanation.

• Mu En led the Sea God Pavilion elders into the Lightning Pool to rescue Lin Yan, but the pool and the storm clouds suddenly calmed.
• Lin Yan flew out of the Lightning Pool, and Mu En and the elders discovered that he had survived and grown much stronger.
• Lin Yan returned to Shrek Academy with the elders, while they noticed his unusual cultivation but waited for Mu En to question him.
• In Sea God Pavilion, Lin Yan summoned his Black Demon Mace, whose lightning attribute had become Pseudo-Ultimate Lightning after Thunderclap Hellvine's sacrifice.
• Lin Yan revealed five Spirit Rings, including a Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring, and Mu En asked how he had obtained it.

Lin Yan told Mu En that the Thunder God had chosen him as an heir and explained how a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast sacrificed itself to him. After revealing the truth to Zhang Lexuan as well, Lin Yan left the story poised between his growing bond with her and the possibility that claiming a Divine Position would put him against Tang San.

• Lin Yan told Mu En that the Thunder God had selected him as an heir, and Mu En advised him to keep the god's involvement secret and give others a simpler explanation for his Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring.
• Lin Yan asked why Mu En had not questioned him further about the god, and Mu En said opportunities could not be forced and Lin Yan knew little about the realm of gods.
• Lin Yan left Sea God Pavilion thinking that obtaining a Divine Position could let him separate Ah Yin from the Golden Ancient Tree and eventually place him against Tang San.
• Lin Yan visited Zhang Lexuan, who admitted she had worried about him after hearing that Mu En had mobilized Sea God Pavilion elders to rescue him.
• Lin Yan revealed his Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring and recounted his encounter with the Thunder God, and Zhang Lexuan promised to keep the matter secret.

Lin Yan gave Zhang Lexuan a Thunderclap Fruit, which improved her Soul Power and physique but did not mutate her Martial Soul. He then brought two more fruits to Bei Bei for him and Tang Ya, and revealed his new fifth Spirit Ring.

• Lin Yan explained the Thunderclap Fruit’s effects and gave one to Zhang Lexuan, who accepted it and absorbed it under his protection.
• Zhang Lexuan found that her Soul Power and physique had improved, but her Martial Soul showed no lightning mutation.
• Lin Yan left Zhang Lexuan and crossed Sea God Lake to the Outer Court to find Bei Bei.
• Lin Yan gave Bei Bei two Thunderclap Fruits, asking him to keep one and give the other to Tang Ya.
• Bei Bei asked about Lin Yan’s fifth Spirit Ring, and Lin Yan revealed it with a flash of red light, leaving Bei Bei dumbfounded.

Lin Yan visited Jiang Nannan and gave her a Thunderclap Fruit, which increased her Soul Power and mutated her Soft Bone Rabbit Martial Soul with lightning. After a month of training in the Lightning Sea, he went to the Soul Fighting Arena to challenge Wu Ming for the top spot on the Earth Ranking.

• Lin Yan visited Jiang Nannan and her mother at their home in Shrek City and gave Jiang Nannan a Thunderclap Fruit.
• Jiang Nannan absorbed the fruit under Lin Yan's protection, gaining two Soul Power levels and reaching level thirty-seven.
• Jiang Nannan discovered that her Soft Bone Rabbit Martial Soul had gained the lightning attribute.
• Lin Yan returned to the academy with Jiang Nannan, then resumed cultivating with Zhang Lexuan and swimming in the Lightning Sea.
• A month later, Lin Yan went to the Soul Fighting Arena to challenge Wu Ming for the top spot on the Earth Ranking.

Lin Yan challenged Wu Ming, the Earth Ranking’s first-ranked student, and stunned the Inner Court with a Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring. The duel remained unresolved as Lin Yan challenged Wu Ming to defeat him if she wanted answers.

• Lin Yan considered whether to interfere with Huo Yuhao’s future opportunities in the Star Dou Great Forest to strengthen himself against Tang San.
• Lin Yan challenged Wu Ming, and Ma Xiaotao joined the crowd to watch as the two top-ranked students stepped onto the Soul Arena Platform.
• Wu Ming attacked with her Golden Crow True Flame, but Lin Yan split the flames with Chidori, strengthened by the Thunderclap Hellvine’s sacrifice.
• Wu Ming launched a second Golden Crow attack, and Lin Yan summoned his Spiked Club and revealed a Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring, shocking the spectators and halting Wu Ming’s dive.
• Lin Yan dodged Wu Ming’s accusation of ambushing her and told her to defeat him if she wanted to learn whether his Spirit Ring was real.

Lin Yan used his Azure Dragon Transformation, Spirit Skills, and Purple Radiance Wings to battle Wu Ming, breaking through her Golden Crow attacks and surviving her strongest combination with his Counterattack Hammer. Wu Ming kept evading him in the air, and after she challenged him to catch her, Lin Yan summoned an astonishing pressure from above.

• Lin Yan transformed into his Azure Dragon form and clashed with Wu Ming, smashing apart her Golden Crow True Flame attacks with his Spiked Club.
• Lin Yan used his Purple Radiance Wings and Sky Azure Dragon Break to send Wu Ming flying, but she used her Golden Crow Twin Wings to evade his pursuit.
• Wu Ming trapped Lin Yan in Golden Crow True Flame Rotation and detonated it, but Lin Yan's Counterattack Hammer protected him from the explosion.
• Lin Yan chased Wu Ming through the air while the Inner Court students watched in disbelief, and Wu Ming taunted him to catch her and defeat her.
• Lin Yan accepted Wu Ming's challenge, and an astonishing sense of oppression descended from above.

Lin Yan defeated Wu Ming with his Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Skill, Lightning Forest, and took first place on the Earth Ranking. Yan Shaozhe then told Lin Yan to begin Shrek Inspection Corps missions, and Lin Yan agreed.

• Lin Yan trapped Wu Ming in Lightning Forest and struck her with lightning until Yan Shaozhe stopped the match and declared Lin Yan the winner.
• Lin Yan descended from the arena as the dark thunderclouds vanished, while the spectators realized he had become the first Soul King to claim the Earth Ranking's top spot.
• Wu Ming complained that Lin Yan had not gone easy on her, and Yan Shaozhe questioned him about his fifth Spirit Ring and his experience in Thunder Grand Canyon.
• Lin Yan repeated the story he had discussed with Mu En, saying a dying Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast had sacrificed itself to him, and Yan Shaozhe chose not to press him.
• Yan Shaozhe told Lin Yan to start carrying out Shrek Inspection Corps missions and directed him to find Lexuan for arrangements; Lin Yan agreed.

Lin Yan became a Yellow Rank inspector and received an epidemic investigation mission alongside Zhuang Yuqin and Ling Luochen. Before he departed, Mu En gave him a fifty-thousand-year Spirit Bone that granted the ability to teleport.

• Zhang Lexuan brought Lin Yan to the Inspection Hall, where he registered as an inspector and learned the ranks and promotion requirements.
• Lin Yan received a mission to investigate an epidemic on the border between the Heaven Dou Empire and the Dou Ling Empire and prepare an antidote with Zhuang Yuqin and Ling Luochen.
• Lin Yan and Zhang Lexuan reviewed the mission, and the three participants were told to depart the next day.
• Mu En asked Lin Yan what he thought of the Inspection Corps, and Lin Yan said it should protect the weak and make evil people fear consequences.
• Mu En gave Lin Yan a fifty-thousand-year Devouring Space Beast's Space-Movement Left Leg Bone, which let him teleport about sixty li.

After absorbing a Space-Movement Left Leg Bone, Lin Yan joined Ling Luochen and Zhuang Yuqin on his first mission: investigating a plague near Cloudstream Town. They entered the town disguised as merchants and prepared to gather information, with the cause and danger of the outbreak still unknown.

• Lin Yan absorbed the Space-Movement Left Leg Bone and raised his Soul Power to level fifty-six before setting out after saying goodbye to Zhang Lexuan.
• Lin Yan met Ling Luochen and healing-type Soul Emperor Zhuang Yuqin at the dock, and the three left Shrek City together.
• Mu En refused Yan Shaozhe's offer to secretly follow Lin Yan, trusting him to grow through the mission and protect himself if necessary.
• After three days of travel, Zhuang Yuqin told Lin Yan and Ling Luochen about the contagious plague near Cloudstream Town and gave them antidote pills.
• Lin Yan, Ling Luochen, and Zhuang Yuqin disguised themselves, entered Cloudstream Town, and went to an open restaurant to gather information.

As deaths from the plague mounted, Lin Yan investigated its source while Zhuang Yuqin stayed behind to develop an antidote. In an empty village, he found that the residents and their corpses had vanished, leading him to suspect Evil Soul Masters were behind the outbreak.

• Lin Yan learned from a waiter that plague victims had recently begun dying, and he and his companions moved to a nearby cave to plan their response.
• Zhuang Yuqin stayed in the cave to research an antidote, while Ling Luochen remained to protect her and Lin Yan set out alone to investigate the plague’s origin.
• Lin Yan captured two plague patients and delivered them to Zhuang Yuqin, then headed east toward the villages where the outbreak had begun.
• Lin Yan found a village with funeral banners outside nearly every home but no living residents or bodies inside.
• Lin Yan discovered signs that graves had been dug up and found an empty coffin, prompting him to suspect Evil Soul Masters were stealing corpses and causing the plague.

Lin Yan investigated villages where epidemic victims’ bodies had been stolen and traced the corpse thieves to a hidden valley. There, he discovered a sinister Corpse-Nurturing Ground, but the source and purpose of the corpses remained unknown.

• Lin Yan found that new graves in two villages had been disturbed and their corpses taken, then discovered sinister aura surrounding the untouched graves in a third village.
• Lin Yan hid near the graves and watched dozens of black-cloaked figures steal the corpses before following them and leaving coded marks for the Shrek Inspection Corps.
• Lin Yan followed the figures to a concealed valley and prepared to withdraw because its powerful yin aura made him suspect dangerous Evil Soul Masters were inside.
• The black-cloaked figures buried the corpses and then buried themselves, prompting Lin Yan to approach the spot after they left.
• Lin Yan found that the blackish-red soil radiated sinister power and realized someone might be raising corpses in a Corpse-Nurturing Ground.

Lin Yan discovered that an Evil Soul Master had turned plague victims into nearly indestructible zombies in a Corpse-Nurturing Ground. After revealing his Great Buddha Martial Soul, Lin Yan confronted the Soul Emperor and unleashed its golden power as the enemy attacked with Corpse Soul Life Reaping.

• Lin Yan found a Corpse-Nurturing Ground and was ambushed by zombies that emerged from the soil.
• Dozens of zombies blocked Lin Yan’s escape, and a black-robed Evil Soul Master appeared to control them.
• Lin Yan struck the Soul Emperor with Thunderous Bagua, exposing his face and startling him with Lin Yan’s hundred-thousand-year Spirit Ring.
• The Evil Soul Master revealed that his Corpse Poison had transformed plague victims into zombies immune to lightning and fire, then surrounded Lin Yan with hundreds of them.
• Lin Yan dismissed his Black Demon Mace and revealed his golden Great Buddha Martial Soul, causing instinctive fear in the Evil Soul Master.
• The Evil Soul Master launched Corpse Soul Life Reaping at Lin Yan with his ten-thousand-year Spirit Ring.

Lin Yan destroyed a Corpse-Nurturing Ground, killed its Soul Emperor Evil Soul Master, and escaped a surprise attack by a Titled Douluo Evil Soul Master. The Titled Douluo caught up with Lin Yan, Ling Luochen, and Zhuang Yuqin, and Lin Yan invoked Long Xiaoyao’s name to stop him.

• Lin Yan used Three Thousand Buddha Realms to suppress the Corpse-Nurturing Ground, then Golden Tree Realm Descends to destroy hundreds of Zombies and killed the black-robed Evil Soul Master with Heavenly Demon Subjugation.
• A Titled Douluo Evil Soul Master attacked Lin Yan, who escaped sixty li away using his Space-Movement Left Leg Bone.
• Lin Yan concluded that the attacker was likely a Holy Spirit Cult elder and returned to the Flowing Cloud Formation to warn Ling Luochen and Zhuang Yuqin.
• Lin Yan told Ling Luochen and Zhuang Yuqin that a Titled Douluo Evil Soul Master was nearby, and the three prepared to leave and alert the academy.
• The Titled Douluo caught up with them and accused them of being from the Shrek Inspection Corps; Lin Yan named Long Xiaoyao, making the ghostly face’s pupils contract.

Lin Yan escaped the ghostly face by opening a portal to the Thunder God's Divine Trial Grounds, but the attack that struck him left him gravely injured. As a silver-haired woman used his Spirit Bone and the Lightning Sea to help him recover, Zhang Lexuan, Mu En, and Yan Shaozhe searched for him and found signs that he had encountered an Evil Soul Master Titled Douluo.

• Lin Yan tricked the ghostly face with a claim about Dragon Emperor Douluo, opened a portal, and sent Ling Luochen and Zhuang Yuqin into the Divine Trial Grounds before following them.
• The ghostly face struck Lin Yan as he entered the portal, leaving him badly injured; Zhuang Yuqin's healing could not overcome the damage and evil power in his body.
• A silver-haired woman preserved Lin Yan with her blood, recognized the healing power of his torso Spirit Bone, and placed him in the Lightning Sea to recover.
• A month after Lin Yan and the others began their mission, Zhang Lexuan led a search party to Cloudstream Town, where the academy and Heaven Dou Empire suppressed a zombie outbreak.
• Zhang Lexuan, Mu En, and Yan Shaozhe followed Lin Yan's Inspection Corps markers to a Corpse-Nurturing Ground, where Mu En sensed a Titled Douluo's lingering aura and feared Lin Yan had died.

After recovering from three months of unconsciousness in the Divine Trial Grounds, Lin Yan discovered that Xiao Jiu was a two-hundred-thousand-year Fierce Beast. He lured the Evil Soul Master Titled Douluo into the Grounds so Xiao Jiu could fight him, leaving Lin Yan and his senior sisters waiting underwater as the battle began.

• Lin Yan awoke after three months of healing in the Lightning Sea, and Ling Luochen and Zhuang Yuqin thanked him for saving them.
• Lin Yan worried that the Evil Soul Master Titled Douluo was still waiting outside, so he summoned Xiao Jiu for help.
• Xiao Jiu revealed her human form and her two hundred thousand years of cultivation, but said she could not leave the Divine Trial Grounds.
• Lin Yan arranged for Ling Luochen and Zhuang Yuqin to hide underwater, then opened a passage and lured the Evil Soul Master Titled Douluo inside.
• The Evil Soul Master Titled Douluo entered the Divine Trial Grounds, found the passage closed, and faced Xiao Jiu while Lin Yan and the two women watched from the sea.

Lin Yan and Xiao Jiu defeated and captured Mask Douluo, whom Lin Yan planned to purify for merit rather than kill. After returning from the Lightning Sea, Lin Yan parted from Ling Luochen and Zhuang Yuqin and headed to Star Luo City to find Huo Yuhao, where he encountered Dai Yueheng outside the White Tiger Duke's Estate.

• Lin Yan restrained Ling Luochen and Zhuang Yuqin during the Lightning Sea's violent waves, then found Xiao Jiu had defeated Mask Douluo and identified him as the Holy Spirit Cult's Seventh Elder.
• Lin Yan secretly told Xiao Jiu to keep Mask Douluo alive so he could try to purify him with the Great Buddha Martial Soul, then left the Lightning Sea with Ling Luochen and Zhuang Yuqin.
• The three found Cloudstream Town reduced to ruins, after which Ling Luochen and Zhuang Yuqin returned to the academy while Lin Yan set off for Star Luo City.
• Lin Yan reached Star Luo City and went to the White Tiger Duke's Estate to learn Huo Yuhao's whereabouts, but declined Dai Yueheng's invitation to visit his home.

Lin Yan used Nine Treasure Commerce’s intelligence network to locate Dai Yuhao while he continued investigating Mask Douluo’s pursuit of him. In the Divine Trial Grounds, Lin Yan purified Mask Douluo to death and discovered that the merit he absorbed was forging his body into a Golden Body; the Holy Spirit Cult then learned of the Seventh Elder’s death and ordered an investigation.

• Lin Yan presented Lin Yuhuan’s Elder Token at Nine Treasure Commerce and asked Protector Luo to find Dai Yuhao, who was still living in the White Tiger Duke’s Estate.
• Protector Luo’s intelligence network located Dai Yuhao and reported that his mother had died and that he remained in the estate, so Lin Yan ordered the branch to watch for his departure.
• Lin Yan asked Mask Douluo how he had tracked him, and Mask Douluo explained that his Demon Maggot Martial Soul could sense and follow auras.
• Lin Yan used Three Thousand Buddha Realms to purify Mask Douluo, absorbing golden motes that strengthened his body until his skin became golden.
• Over three days, Lin Yan purified Mask Douluo fifteen times, and Mask Douluo vanished peacefully after expressing regret for his sins.
• A guard discovered that the Seventh Elder’s Soul Tablet had shattered, and Zhongli Wu ordered the Holy Spirit Cult to investigate Mask Douluo’s death.