Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “Shrek Bans Soul Tools!!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Shrek Academy holds an extravagant welcome ceremony for Yu Xiaogang, who has returned to the mortal world as the legendary mentor of Sea God Tang San.
• Inner-courtyard elites are forced to perform an embarrassing chorus for the ceremony. Most are humiliated, while Ling Luochеn reveals that she deliberately pretended to be tone-deaf during rehearsals so she would be excluded.
• Bei Bei and Tang Ya recognize Yu Xiaogang from the statue at the academy entrance. Bei Bei is especially shaken because of his connection to Shrek’s founders and because he suspects the ceremony may be tied to recent mysterious events.
• Yan Shaozhe announces that Shrek was recently attacked by a dangerous white-haired youth. He claims the heavenly phenomenon seen afterward was divine punishment delivered by Sea God Tang San, who supposedly returned to protect the academy.
• Yan then presents Yu Xiaogang as Tang San’s revered teacher and the academy’s new guide. The students and senior officials enthusiastically welcome him.
• Yu Xiaogang begins delivering a speech about his “Ten Core Competencies” and the idea that there are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters. However, his voice cannot reach the enormous crowd because his cultivation is too low.
• Qian Duoduo supplies him with an Amplifying Soul Tool. Humiliated that his weakness has been exposed, Yu Xiaogang angrily smashes the device and declares that Shrek will forbid all Soul Tools.
• His statement unexpectedly wins the support of many traditionalist Shrek students, who already disdain Soul Tools and consider Martial Souls the orthodox path.
• Xian Lin’er, dean of the Soul Engineering Department, explodes in anger, realizing that Yu Xiaogang’s decree could destroy her department. Qian Duoduo restrains her and urges her to wait for Elder Mu to intervene.

Character Developments

• Yu Xiaogang: His vanity and hunger for respect are emphasized. He becomes intoxicated by the admiration of Shrek’s students and elders, but his fragile pride is exposed when he needs an amplification device. His ban on Soul Tools is driven by humiliation rather than reason.
• Bei Bei: Displays strong historical awareness and perceptiveness. He recognizes Yu Xiaogang and connects the ceremony to the academy’s recent attack, remembering Elder Mu’s warning about the mysterious white-haired enemy.
• Tang Ya: Quickly recognizes Yu Xiaogang’s resemblance to the academy statue and shares Bei Bei’s astonishment.
• Yan Shaozhe: Enthusiastically promotes Yu Xiaogang and manipulates the crowd through an emotional speech. He is also openly opposed to Soul Tools and welcomes Yu Xiaogang’s declaration.
• Ling Luochеn: Shows her usual calmness and intelligence by avoiding the humiliating chorus through deliberate deception.
• Chen Zifeng: Suffers intense embarrassment over the performance and envies Ling Luochеn’s successful escape.
• Xian Lin’er: Reveals her fierce temper and strong commitment to the Soul Engineering Department. She immediately recognizes the danger posed by Yu Xiaogang’s decree.
• Qian Duoduo: Acts as the anxious mediator, trying to prevent Xian Lin’er from confronting Yu Xiaogang and trusting Elder Mu to resolve the situation.

Significant Themes

• Respect and vanity: Yu Xiaogang’s deepest desire is to be respected, and the ceremony temporarily fulfills that ambition. His reaction to the amplifier shows how insecurity lies beneath his grandiose image.
• Tradition versus innovation: The conflict over Soul Tools reflects the larger struggle between traditional Martial Soul cultivation and technological advancement.
• Institutional propaganda: Yan Shaozhe uses exaggerated religious and historical rhetoric to shape the students’ perception of the attack and elevate Yu Xiaogang’s status.
• Hero worship and historical mythmaking: Yu Xiaogang is revered because of his connection to Tang San, regardless of his current abilities. The academy treats his legendary reputation as more important than his actual strength.
• Humiliation and unintended consequences: Yu Xiaogang’s angry outburst is meant to recover his dignity, but it instead creates a policy that may seriously damage Shrek’s Soul Engineering Department.
• Power versus capability: Despite being surrounded by powerful Soul Masters and treated as an authority, Yu Xiaogang remains only a weak Soul Grandmaster, creating a sharp contrast between his reputation and reality.

Important Character Interactions

• Tang Ya and Bei Bei discuss Yu Xiaogang’s identity, with Bei Bei privately connecting him to the academy’s founders.
• Chen Zifeng complains about the failed performance, while Xixi mocks his overreaction. Ling Luochеn then reveals how she avoided participating.
• Yan Shaozhe publicly glorifies Yu Xiaogang and presents him as essential to Shrek’s future.
• Qian Duoduo provides Yu Xiaogang with the amplifier, unintentionally exposing his weakness and provoking his anger.
• Xian Lin’er confronts the implications of the Soul Tool ban, while Qian Duoduo physically and verbally restrains her from attacking Yu Xiaogang.
• The chapter ends with the Soul Engineering Department in crisis, while the traditionalist faction celebrates Yu Xiaogang’s declaration.

Chapter Summary: The Soul Engineering Department in Name Only; Jiang Nannan’s Decision

Key Plot Points and Events

• Xian Lin’er returns to Sea God Pavilion furious after Yu Xiaogang publicly calls for Soul Tools to be banned at Shrek Academy. She argues that his declaration was an emotional reaction after being embarrassed by an Amplifying Soul Tool.
• Yan Shaozhe defends Yu Xiaogang, claiming that his words have awakened unity and passion among the students and should therefore be obeyed.
• The chapter exposes the longstanding inequality between Shrek’s Martial Soul Department and Soul Engineering Department. The latter receives rejected students, limited resources, and little institutional respect, while Soul Tools remain associated with the enemy Sun Moon Empire.
• Xian Lin’er asks Mu En whether the Soul Engineering Department should continue existing. Mu En, influenced by Shrek’s recent crisis and his fear of powerful external enemies, chooses faith in Yu Xiaogang over reform.
• Mu En rules that Soul Tools will become merely an elective course and that the independent Soul Engineering Department will be abolished and absorbed into the Martial Soul Department under Yan Shaozhe. The department survives only nominally.
• In the second storyline, Jiang Nannan brings her seriously ill mother to the Star Tower’s Sun Moon Empire headquarters for treatment.
• She meets Ju Zi, who recognizes her as a member of the Star Tower’s Heaven Dou branch and personally guides her through the medical process.
• The examination confirms that Jiang Nannan’s mother has severe congenital heart disease. The advanced equipment can cure her, but treatment requires six months of uninterrupted care.
• Since Jiang Nannan’s academy vacation is only one month and Shrek is unlikely to grant her a prolonged absence, she must choose between returning to Shrek and remaining with her mother. She decides without hesitation to stay and ensure her mother’s recovery.

Character Developments

• Xian Lin’er is shown as fiercely protective of the Soul Engineering Department but ultimately powerless against Shrek’s traditional hierarchy and religious reverence for Yu Xiaogang.
• Yan Shaozhe reveals his opportunism and deep-rooted bias in favor of the Martial Soul Department. He uses Yu Xiaogang’s popularity to justify absorbing and subordinating the rival department.
• Mu En is portrayed as kind but indecisive and overly cautious. Rather than challenge Shrek’s traditions, he interprets Yu Xiaogang’s arrival as divine guidance and allows the Soul Engineering Department to be dismantled.
• Ju Zi demonstrates professionalism, emotional intelligence, and skill in gaining Jiang Nannan’s trust. Internally, she also reflects on how overwhelming the powerful figures around Ye Chenxing have made her own abilities seem insignificant.
• Jiang Nannan shows strong filial devotion and decisiveness. Despite the risk of expulsion from Shrek, she prioritizes her mother’s life over her academic status.

Significant Themes

• Tradition versus technological progress: Shrek’s attachment to Martial Souls and distrust of Soul Tools prevents it from adapting to a changing world.
• Institutional prejudice and factional power: The Soul Engineering Department is not treated as an equal partner but as an inferior branch controlled by the dominant Martial Soul faction.
• Blind faith versus reason: Reverence for Yu Xiaogang and the legend of the Shrek Seven Monsters overrides evidence, debate, and practical considerations.
• Leadership and indecision: Mu En recognizes the academy’s problems but lacks the resolve to confront its entrenched traditions.
• Family duty and personal sacrifice: Jiang Nannan’s decision emphasizes loyalty and love for her mother over status, rules, and future opportunities.
• The growing importance of Soul Tools: Their medical applications and strategic potential demonstrate that they are far more than “external objects” or inferior substitutes for cultivation.

Important Character Interactions

• Xian Lin’er and Yan Shaozhe: Their argument reflects the hostility and imbalance between the two departments. Yan Shaozhe dismisses her concerns through sophistry and appeals to Yu Xiaogang’s authority.
• Xian Lin’er and Mu En: She seeks support from her teacher, but Mu En’s decision leaves her devastated and unable to resist the department’s dissolution.
• Mu En and Yan Shaozhe: Their agreement effectively gives Yan Shaozhe control over the former Soul Engineering Department.
• Jiang Nannan and Ju Zi: Ju Zi’s connection to Nana helps calm Jiang Nannan’s anxiety in a foreign country, allowing trust to form quickly.
• Jiang Nannan and her mother: Though her mother is mostly unconscious or undergoing treatment, her condition drives Jiang Nannan’s central decision and demonstrates the depth of their mutual dependence.

Plot points and events

• Jiang Nannan chooses to remain with her mother during treatment rather than return to Shrek Academy, even though the proposed course would take six months. Ju Zi is struck by her devotion to family.
• Ju Zi offers to ask Ye Lingling, a newly arrived healing Soul Master, to examine Jiang Nannan’s mother. While they wait, Ju Zi tries to learn more about Jiang Nannan—and privately invents an increasingly outrageous explanation for why Nana was promoted so quickly.
• Ye Chenxing arrives with Ye Lingling. Jiang Nannan recognizes him from Heaven Dou City and is astonished that Star Tower’s legendary master is a young man.
• Ye Lingling examines the mother but finds that her Nine-Heart Begonia can heal injuries, not a congenital heart defect. Ye Chenxing sends the others out and uses the Goddess of Life’s power to cure the illness himself.
• Jiang Nannan rushes to see her mother after Ye Chenxing announces the operation succeeded. Ju Zi is amazed by how quickly he accomplished what appeared to be a critical medical case.
• Ye Chenxing warns Ju Zi not to pry into his secrets, making her fear that he knows about her ulterior motives and blood feud.
• A message announces that distinguished visitors have arrived. Ye Chenxing suggests they have acted quickly because his Aromatic Silk Beauty is especially tempting, and heads to the reception room.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Nannan shows unwavering filial devotion, choosing her mother’s care over her studies. Her initial disappointment at the limits of Ye Lingling’s healing gives way to renewed hope when Ye Chenxing offers another solution.
• Ju Zi remains curious and calculating, gathering intelligence while also showing empathy for Jiang Nannan. Her imagined scandal about Nana and Ye Chenxing contrasts with her alarm when Ye Chenxing seems to hint that he knows her secrets.
• Ye Chenxing demonstrates both extraordinary healing power and authority over Star Tower. His guarded warning to Ju Zi suggests he knows more about her than he admits.
• Ye Lingling is highly capable but extremely withdrawn; she examines the patient, quietly reports her findings to Ye Chenxing, and leaves without speaking to the others.
• Jiang Nannan’s admiration and surprise at Ye Chenxing’s appearance add an awkwardly humorous note to their first meeting.

Significant themes

• Family and sacrifice: Jiang Nannan’s willingness to set aside her education highlights her gratitude and loyalty to her mother.
• Power and responsibility: Ye Chenxing uses a rare, immense ability to solve a problem conventional healing cannot address.
• Secrecy and trust: Ju Zi’s spying, Ye Chenxing’s guardedness, and his warning reveal the tension between Star Tower’s internal loyalties and hidden agendas.
• Hope through changing circumstances: The resources available through Star Tower offer Jiang Nannan a way to save her mother without resorting to the desperate bargain she might otherwise have faced.

Key plot points and events

• Ning Yunyun, sect master of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, waits anxiously at Star Tower headquarters to negotiate with its master. Elder Wu distrusts the Star Tower, while Ning Yunyun has come to believe its achievements in the Ming Capital prove its credibility.
• Ning Tian tells her guard, Wu Feng, that Shrek Academy has abolished its Soul Engineering Department. The news may force the sect to reconsider sending students to Shrek and possibly enroll them at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy instead. The Star Tower negotiations could determine their next move.
• Qiangu Dongfeng enters with the young, white-haired Ye Chenxing, revealing that Ye—not Qiangu—is the Star Tower’s master. Elder Wu challenges Ye’s authority and is sharply rebuked; Ning Yunyun apologizes and restrains her guardian.
• Ye produces the legendary Aromatic Silk Beauty, which can break the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda’s bloodline limit and restore the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda. Its presence overwhelms Ning Yunyun with the urge to seize it, but Ye closes the case, and she regains control.
• Ye insists that a priceless herb must be exchanged for secure, immediate payment rather than long-term promises. Ning Yunyun responds with a dramatic proposal: the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect could merge into the Star Tower.

Character developments and interactions

• Ning Yunyun shifts from anxious anticipation to determined negotiation. Though briefly tempted to take the herb by force, she recognizes the danger and stays composed. Her final offer shows how far she is willing to go for her sect’s future.
• Elder Wu remains proud, suspicious, and quick-tempered, reflecting her Shrek loyalties and longstanding devotion to Ning Yunyun’s late father. Ning Yunyun repeatedly has to rein her in.
• Ning Tian and Wu Feng discuss the sect’s strategic uncertainty. Their conversation establishes that the younger generation may be sent to study in the Sun Moon Empire, despite its rivalry with their homeland.
• Ye Chenxing presents himself as a confident, shrewd negotiator, using the herb to demonstrate both his legitimacy and the stakes of the deal. Qiangu Dongfeng defers respectfully to him, reinforcing Ye’s authority.
• The meeting is defined by the contrast between Elder Wu’s hostility and Ning Yunyun’s pragmatic respect for the Star Tower.

Significant themes

• Tradition versus technological change: The Ming Capital’s advanced soul-tool development stands in sharp contrast to the old attitudes embodied by Elder Wu and Shrek.
• Survival and adaptation: Shrek’s policy shift threatens the sect’s plans, forcing it to reconsider its loyalties and educational choices.
• Power, temptation, and restraint: The herb awakens Ning Yunyun’s deepest hopes and a dangerous impulse, but she chooses diplomacy over force.
• The cost of renewal: Restoring the sect’s bloodline may require more than a transaction—it may mean surrendering its independence through merger.

Key plot points and events

• Star Tower Master Ye Chenxing pressures the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect during negotiations, but Sect Master Ning Yunyun unexpectedly offers to bring the entire sect under the Star Tower’s command.
• Elder Wu protests that this would squander the sect’s ten-thousand-year legacy. Ning Yunyun argues that the sect is already declining: its members have only the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, and the old order cannot protect them from the Sun Moon Empire’s rapidly advancing soul-engineering technology.
• Convinced that joining the Star Tower offers the sect its best chance of survival and renewal, Ning Yunyun confirms the alliance. Ye Chenxing accepts and gives her the Aromatic Silk Beauty, an immortal treasure especially suited to the sect.
• After the agreement, Ning Yunyun asks Ye to help her daughter, Ning Tian, and Elder Wu’s junior, Wu Feng, enroll at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy instead of Shrek Academy. Ye agrees, revealing that he attends the academy himself.
• Ning Yunyun is astonished to learn that the Tower Master is nearly thirteen years old.

Character developments

• Ning Yunyun proves herself decisive, politically astute, and willing to sacrifice the sect’s independence to preserve its future. Her resolve is grounded in a realistic assessment of technological and military change.
• Elder Wu initially reacts with anger and fear, but ultimately accepts Ning Yunyun’s decision and promises to stand by her.
• Ye Chenxing appears confident and generous, trusting Ning Yunyun’s judgment enough to give her the treasure before formal handover arrangements are complete.
• Ning Tian and Wu Feng are stunned by the sect’s sudden change of allegiance; they are also positioned as promising future leaders.

Significant themes

• Adaptation versus tradition: Clinging to past prestige may lead to extinction when the world changes.
• Survival and sacrifice: Ning Yunyun gives up autonomy to secure the sect’s continued existence.
• Technology reshaping power: Soul-engineering advances threaten to overturn the established limits of Soul Master strength.
• Trust and leadership: The alliance rests on Ning Yunyun’s confidence in Ye’s character and Ye’s confidence in her judgment.

Character interactions

• Ning Yunyun’s clash with Elder Wu exposes the emotional cost of her decision; their disagreement ends in loyalty rather than estrangement.
• Ye and Ning Yunyun negotiate as pragmatic allies, with his gift of the Aromatic Silk Beauty signaling welcome and trust.
• Ning Yunyun then shifts from sect politics to her daughters’ futures, asking Ye to help Ning Tian and Wu Feng enter the academy. His youth surprises her, closing the chapter on a note of astonishment.

Ye Chenxing challenged Elder Wu to a soul fighting match and subdued her with the overwhelming draconic might of the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings. After Elder Wu conceded and warned Ning Yunyun never to provoke him, Ning Yunyun decided that Ning Tian should absorb the Aromatic Silk Beauty.

• Ye Chenxing proposed a bet in which Elder Wu would obey Star Tower’s arrangements if she lost their soul fighting match.
• Elder Wu attacked Ye Chenxing, but his draconic might paralyzed her and suppressed her fire dragon martial soul.
• Elder Wu conceded, and Ye Chenxing left without revealing his martial soul, calling it classified.
• Elder Wu praised Ye Chenxing’s power and warned Ning Yunyun never to provoke him.
• Ning Yunyun offered the Aromatic Silk Beauty to Ning Tian, explaining that her youth and talent made her the better choice to absorb it.