Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Tang Li reunites with his family in Eastsea City while Lang Yue, Tang Wulin, and Na’er prepare dinner. He meditates as the others talk.
• Holy Spirit Douluo Yali senses that Tang Li’s unusual cultivation is drawing on her Faith Power. Tang Li confirms that his Immortal Spirit Qi can attract it, but the Demon-Sealing Pot’s refinement yields only a small boost to his Spiritual Power and Immortal Spirit Qi.
• The Plane Will, Elder Ling, appears and explains that Faith Power is concentrated Mind Power. In ancient times, it helped mortals begin the path to godhood, but true Divine Power required Immortal Spirit Qi. In the current age, mortals can no longer gather enough Faith Power to become gods.
• Elder Ling reveals that Yali’s sacred Angel Martial Soul arose through his efforts as a possible answer to a Great Calamity, and that he had hoped to use her Faith Power to lure the Abyssal Sage King. He also confirms that Yali’s Faith Power helped someone attempt to break the restrictions on godhood, though the attempt could not succeed in this era.
• Before leaving Tang Li’s Spirit Sea, Elder Ling gives him another fragment of Chaotic Residual Flame.
• As Wulin and Na’er pull Tang Li to dinner, the Soul Power around him flows into him more strongly, and his level-thirty-five bottleneck breaks.

Character developments and interactions

• Tang Li experiments with Faith Power but decides it is inefficient and potentially impure. His growing ability to draw in ambient Soul Power becomes evident when he breaks through a cultivation bottleneck.
• Yali is surprised that Tang Li can attract Faith Power and wonders whether he might have the potential to reach godhood.
• Elder Ling reveals his desperation: Tang Li is his final hope, and failure would mean his eventual dissolution.
• Tang Ziran expresses happiness at Na’er’s success as Atlas Douluo’s disciple. The family’s warm reunion is shown through the shared meal preparations and Wulin and Na’er’s affectionate insistence that Tang Li join them.

Significant themes

• The limits of ambition: In the present age, Faith Power cannot overcome the world’s restrictions and grant true godhood.
• Power and sacrifice: Yali’s existence and Faith Power are tied to the struggle against a Great Calamity, while Elder Ling’s proposed plan reflects the moral cost of using individuals as tools.
• Potential and hope: Tang Li’s unusual cultivation, his connection to Immortal Spirit Qi, and Elder Ling’s confidence in him mark him as a possible exception to the age’s limits.

Key plot points and events

• Three months after Holy Spirit Douluo and Na’er leave Eastsea City, Holy Spirit offers Tang Li a special Shrek Academy invitation that bypasses its entrance exam. Tang Li declines, despite his family’s surprise; his father supports him and suggests he could trade the valuable card for a Soul Bone.
• Tang Li continues hunting guardians in the Junior Spirit Ascension Platform, eventually mapping their respawn routes. His repeated kills attract attention, but Gu Yue uses her connection to Leng Yaozhu to resolve the concern.
• Tang Li has heard nothing about his rumored addition to the Federation’s Young Prodigy Rankings. He is frustrated by the scarcity of Millennium Soul Beasts, which has limited Big Eyed’s cultivation to seven thousand years.
• Class Zero’s final exam is announced: survive for one hour in the Spirit Ascension Platform during its Rampage Period. The students may team up, but Tang Li has a separate task: fight from the Junior platform into the Intermediate one.
• The class gets three days off before the exam. Tang Li plans to rest rather than train, since he can break through to four rings whenever he chooses.

Character developments and interactions

• Tang Li remains independent and confident, declining the prestigious Shrek opportunity and treating his unusual exam as a convenient chance to pursue his own goal. His cultivation has risen to Level 39, and he believes the Intermediate platform’s guardian will pose little challenge.
• Tang Ziran shows understanding of his son’s independence, while Lang Yue is surprised that he would reject Shrek.
• Gu Yue quietly protects Tang Li from scrutiny and backs his confidence about the exam. She is also openly dismissive of Xie Xie’s prospects against stronger opponents.
• Tang Wulin and Gu Yue are now two-ring Soul Masters; Tang Wulin warns Xie Xie against mocking Tang Li’s nickname. Her strength, aided by the Golden Dragon King’s power and the broken second seal, makes her formidable.
• Xie Xie, hoping Tang Li would carry the team, is disappointed to learn Tang Li will be tested separately. He resents Gu Yue’s contempt but recognizes the gap in their abilities.
• Wu Zhangkong sets the challenging exam and cautions the students that spiritual energy can be stolen during the Rampage Period.

Significant themes

• Independence and personal choice: Tang Li rejects the conventional prestige of Shrek and follows his own priorities.
• Unequal strength and ambition: Tang Li and Gu Yue display extraordinary confidence, while Xie Xie is forced to confront his relative weakness.
• Preparation and opportunity: The exam offers a rare chance to strengthen the students’ Soul Spirits, making knowledge of Soul Beasts and teamwork important.
• Recognition versus reality: Tang Li’s growing reputation contrasts with his lack of awareness of the rankings and his focus on practical goals.

Wu Zhangkong brought Class Zero to the Spirit Pagoda for their dangerous rampage-period assessment, where the team entered the Spirit Ascension Platform together. Tang Li separately tore through soul beasts and opponents while heading for a millennium Diamond Mammoth, but a familiar figure suddenly flew into his arms.

• Wu Zhangkong warned Class Zero that they had to survive the rampage-period assessment or lose their vacation, then led them into the Spirit Ascension Platform.
• Tang Wulin and her four teammates entered the forest together and formed a guarded formation as Zhang Yangzi used Little Black Hawk to scout.
• Tang Li released the Demon-Sealing Pot and raced through the platform, crushing soul beasts and knocking aside Soul Masters while absorbing spiritual energy.
• Tang Li destroyed a pride of Blazing Lions with the Proprietary Great Sumeru Hammer, and Big Eyed's cultivation rose to nine thousand years.
• Tang Li reached the millennium Diamond Mammoth's territory, but a familiar figure suddenly flew out of the forest and into his arms.

Tang Li killed the Diamond Mammoth after rescuing Ouyang Zixin and Xu Xiaoyan, then refused to leave the Spirit Ascension Platform with them. Ouyang Zixin told Xu Xiaoyan and Xu Xiaoyu that Tang Li was Eastsea Academy’s strongest student.

• Tang Li caught Ouyang Zixin as she flew toward him, then rushed to stop the Diamond Mammoth from crushing Xu Xiaoyan.
• Tang Li battered the Diamond Mammoth with his Clear Sky Hammer until it died, while Ouyang Zixin and Xu Xiaoyu helped Xu Xiaoyan up.
• Xu Xiaoyu thanked Tang Li for saving his sister, and Tang Li learned that the siblings and Ouyang Zixin had been teleported into the Junior Spirit Ascension Platform’s deepest area.
• Tang Li collected the Diamond Mammoth’s remaining spiritual energy and left alone, while Ouyang Zixin, Xu Xiaoyu, and Xu Xiaoyan headed the other way.
• Xu Xiaoyan asked about Tang Li’s strength, and Ouyang Zixin explained that he was a first-year student at Eastsea Academy and had defeated Senior Jin Ba.

Tang Li rampaged through the Intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform, slaughtering soul beasts and killing soul masters who tried to follow him. After killing two ten-thousand-year soul beasts, he abruptly used his emergency rescue device to leave, while Wu Zhangkong and Lin Ye watched in alarm.

• Xu Xiaoyu recognized Tang Li's strength and considered using his family's influence to support Class Zero and build goodwill with him.
• Tang Li entered the Intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform and began slaughtering soul beasts to raise Big Eyed's soul-ring age.
• Several soul masters followed Tang Li, hoping to profit from his hunt, but he suppressed and killed them with a Clear Sky Hammer.
• Tang Li judged that he had gathered enough spiritual energy for Big Eyed to reach twenty thousand years, but continued hunting because he wanted forty thousand.
• Wu Zhangkong and Lin Ye watched as Tang Li killed two ten-thousand-year soul beasts, then Tang Li pressed his emergency rescue device and exited the platform.

Tang Li broke through to rank forty with four Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings and transformed Big Eyed into a thirty-thousand-year Evil Eye Tyrant. He and Lin Ye entered the Intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform, where Tang Li began drawing in evil power and proposed a major plan.

• Tang Li emerged from the metal cabinet at rank forty, and Wu Zhangkong and Lin Ye were astonished by his four Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings.
• Big Eyed appeared as a massive thirty-thousand-year Evil Eye Tyrant, and Lin Ye urged Tang Li to put him away before he damaged the machinery.
• Tang Li thanked Lin Ye for his help, then left with him for the Intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform.
• Tang Li and Lin Ye entered the platform, where Tang Li summoned the Demon-Sealing Pot and began drawing in evil power.
• Tang Li asked Lin Ye if he wanted to pull off something big, and Lin Ye crouched down and pulled Tang Li close as he reacted to the black qi.

Tang Li and Lin Ye prepared to hunt the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger while raising Lin Ye’s soul spirits in the Intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform. Tang Li used his fourth soul skill to create Shield Armor Dragons for an ambush, leaving Lin Ye overwhelmed by the display.

• Tang Li assured Lin Ye that he could deal with the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, and they traveled deeper into the Intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform while hunting soul beasts.
• Tang Li raised Lin Ye’s second soul spirit to five thousand years and his first to three thousand years during half a day of hunting.
• Tang Li sensed the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger nearby and planned to lure it toward them after nightfall using the Immortal Spirit Qi inside him.
• Tang Li used Myriad Transformations to create two Shield Armor Dragons and ordered them to dig a hidden burrow beneath the largest mound in the hills.
• Lin Ye reacted with exasperation when Tang Li tried to show off his fourth soul skill again.

Tang Li lured the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger into a prepared underground cave using his immortal spirit qi, then escaped and had Lin Ye collapse the cave. The story left the tiger buried beneath the mound as Tang Li and Lin Ye fled.

• Tang Li and Lin Ye left their tree hollow and crawled to a hill near the tiger’s hiding place.
• Tang Li teleported to the mound, released his immortal spirit qi, and drew the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger out of hiding.
• Tang Li blocked the tiger’s bite with the Demon-Sealing Pot, opened a void tunnel into the prepared underground cave, and led the tiger inside.
• Lin Ye rushed toward the cave entrance, but Tang Li emerged and told him to act.
• Lin Ye used Shadow Shockwave to collapse the cave and mound, and Tang Li pulled him away as the ground shook.

Tang Li secretly refined the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger into the Evil God Pearl, raised his Big Eyed soul spirit to forty thousand years, and left the Spirit Ascension Platform with Lin Ye. Lin Ye returned Tang Li’s unsubmitted Spirit Pagoda contract, while Tang Li said he planned to attend Sun-Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy and pursue a military career.

• Tang Li revealed that he had refined the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger into the Evil God Pearl and staged an illusion to conceal its defeat from Spirit Pagoda surveillance.
• Lin Ye and Tang Li hunted soul beasts until Tang Li’s Big Eyed soul spirit reached forty thousand years, then they left the Spirit Ascension Platform.
• Tang Wulin and the others learned Tang Li had entered the Intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform, while Gu Yue sensed a strange, powerful aura from him.
• Lin Ye asked Tang Li where he planned to attend the Advanced Division, and Tang Li chose Sun-Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy to prepare for a military career.
• Lin Ye returned Tang Li’s unsubmitted Spirit Pagoda indenture contract, and Tang Li tore it up.

Tang Li tested the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger’s abilities and discovered that the Qiongqi and Taotie totems could fuse with it, greatly changing its powers. After completing his super-assembly experiment, he recalled the tiger.

• Tang Li entered the Meditation Room and tested the abilities of his Dark Demon Evil God Tiger possession, including its detachable scorpion-tail soul bone.
• Tang Li summoned the tamed Dark Demon Evil God Tiger and confirmed that it could return to its original, formidable size.
• Tang Li guided Qiongqi’s totem into the tiger, causing it to grow stronger and gain sharp fur, larger wings, and a red-black aura.
• Tang Li withdrew Qiongqi’s totem, then fused Taotie’s totem with the tiger, giving it an enlarged mouth and force-absorbing protective astral energy.
• Lin Ye watched the experiment on the surveillance feed and was astonished by the tiger’s meek behavior toward Tang Li.
• Tang Li finished testing the combined powers and recalled the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger.

Class Zero reviewed their first assessment, and Tang Li described his encounters in the Spirit Ascension Platform before Wu Zhangkong led them into practical combat. Tang Li defeated his classmates in the Trial Hall, and Wu Zhangkong told them to meet at the school gates the next morning for their second assessment.

• Tang Wulin asked Tang Li about his Spirit Ascension Platform guardian, and Tang Li said he had faced a diamond mammoth.
• Tang Li told the class about encountering a dark demon tiger in the Intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform, while Wu Zhangkong interrupted and sent them to practical combat.
• Xie Xie tried to persuade Tang Li to go easy on him during the sparring match, but Tang Li defeated him, Zhang Yangzi, and Wang Jinxi.
• Wu Zhangkong arranged for the school doctor to treat the injured students and told Class Zero to gather at the school gates the next morning for their second assessment.

Tang Li revealed that his Fourth Soul Skill could create life, giving Gu Yue hope of restoring the Soul Beast Clan, and spent the night creating soul beasts in exchange for her true dragon divine blood. The next morning, Tang Li and Gu Yue arrived exhausted for the day's assessment, and Tang Wulin noticed their matching complexions and became suspicious.

• After Tang Li beat Xie Xie and the others, Tang Wulin and Gu Yue each tried to walk beside him, but he escaped to rest.
• Gu Yue intercepted Tang Li at the dorm entrance and asked whether his Fourth Soul Skill involved creation.
• Tang Li confirmed that he could create life and demonstrated the ability by producing a Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, giving Gu Yue hope that the Soul Beast Clan could recover.
• Tang Li created various soul beasts for Gu Yue, who arranged for Bi Ji and Di Tian to take them to the Star Dou Great Forest, and received a drop of Gu Yue's true dragon divine blood in return.
• After their morning run, Tang Li and Tang Wulin assembled at the school gate, where Tang Wulin saw that Gu Yue looked as exhausted as Tang Li and grew suspicious.

Class Zero traveled to the Eastsea Soul Guidance Technology Park for a test at a secret Tang Sect facility, where Wu Zhangkong was greeted by the nickname Eastsea Little Zhangkong. The Hall of Heroes test began by transporting the six students into a dark blue space and bathing them in blue light.

• Tang Wulin misunderstood Gu Yue's joke about spending the night with Tang Li, and Tang Li scolded them both.
• Wu Zhangkong led Class Zero to the Eastsea Soul Guidance Technology Park, where Xie Xie and Zhang Yangzi described its mecha workshops.
• At an unmarked building, a hologram greeted Wu Zhangkong as Eastsea Little Zhangkong before letting the group inside.
• Wu Zhangkong handed out wristbands and led the students through a corridor, where spatial technology transported them to a dark blue control room.
• A display confirmed Wu Zhangkong's identity and announced the Hall of Heroes test, assigning medium difficulty to five participants and high difficulty to one.
• Six beams of blue light descended and enveloped the members of Class Zero as the test began.

Tang Li fought through the Hall of Heroes’ first two stages, defeating Xu Sanshi’s projections with his Crimson Demon Mastiffs and overwhelming strength. When the final test began, seven opponents surrounded him, and Tang Li summoned fourteen mastiffs to meet them.

• Tang Li entered the Hall of Heroes and learned that he had to endure five minutes against Xu Sanshi.
• Tang Li blocked Xu Sanshi’s Black Tortoise Replacement, summoned three Thousand-Year Crimson Demon Mastiffs, and let them defeat the first projection after Xu Sanshi exhausted his Soul Power.
• Xu Sanshi returned in his awakened Black Tortoise form, but Tang Li overpowered him and shattered his shield and head with a final punch.
• The Hall of Heroes began its final test, sending seven opponents to surround Tang Li.
• Tang Li activated his Fourth Soul Skill, enhanced by his Third Soul Skill, and summoned fourteen Thousand-Year Crimson Demon Mastiffs.

Tang Li overwhelmed the Shrek Seven Devils and passed the first assessment, then destroyed their enhanced projections with the Demon-Sealing Pot and his axe. The system teleported him back to the metal room, where Wu Zhangkong and Class Zero were stunned by his claim that he had cleared everything.

• Tang Li used the Red Demon Mastiffs and his Black Tortoise abilities to batter the Shrek Seven Devils, crushing Huo Yuhao's arms and knocking Tang Wutong and Jiang Nannan down before the first assessment ended.
• The system healed and strengthened the Seven Devils for the Ultimate Test Enhanced Edition, but Tang Li declared them the challengers and summoned the Demon-Sealing Pot.
• Tang Li used Soul-Refining Bind to pierce the Seven Devils and refine their martial souls, then recalled the Red Demon Mastiffs and cut the projections apart with his axe.
• The system announced that Tang Li had passed and teleported him back to the metal room, where Wu Zhangkong asked how many stages he had cleared.
• Tang Li said he had forgotten because the system had told him he cleared everything, leaving Wu Zhangkong and the other five members of Class Zero speechless.

Tang Li revealed that he had passed the Hall of Heroes’ ultimate assessment by defeating the Shrek Seven Devils, while Wu Zhangkong explained that the trials tested the students’ combat skills and eligibility to join the Tang Sect. Tang Wulin, Wang Jinxi, Zhang Yangzi, and Xie Xie chose to join, but Tang Li refused, leaving Gu Yue’s decision unknown.

• Tang Li told the others that he had barely defeated the Shrek Seven Devils in the ultimate assessment, astonishing Wu Zhangkong and his classmates.
• Wu Zhangkong teleported the six students to his office and explained that the Hall of Heroes used recorded versions of the Shrek Seven Devils to provide combat training.
• Wu Zhangkong revealed that the assessment also determined whether the students qualified to join the Tang Sect.
• Tang Wulin, Wang Jinxi, Zhang Yangzi, and Xie Xie agreed to join the Tang Sect after the vacation.
• Tang Li told Tang Wulin that he would not join, while Gu Yue’s decision remained unspoken.

After joining the Tang Sect’s outer sect, Tang Li left with Gu Yue to visit his father’s Soul Tool workshop, where he planned to practice making Soul Tools and Mecha. Tang Wulin received a message explaining their absence, but its contents left her visibly shaken.

• Gu Yue declined to join the Tang Sect because she had already joined the Spirit Pagoda, while Tang Li received recognition as a Tang Sect inner disciple and the others began their outer-sect enrollment.
• Tang Li left the Tang Sect base to visit Tang Ziran’s nearby workshop, and Gu Yue followed, asking to come along.
• Tang Li accused Gu Yue of pursuing him and teased her about sealing her memories; Gu Yue threatened to tell his mother.
• Tang Ziran arrived, invited Gu Yue to his workshop, and Tang Li reluctantly agreed to take her with him.
• Tang Wulin opened Tang Li’s message and froze, then told Xie Xie and Wu Zhangkong that Tang Li and Gu Yue had left early.

During the holiday, Tang Li worked on a mecha and promised Gu Yue he would remove Di Tian’s restriction on attaining godhood in exchange for soul bones. After Tang Li returned home following an awkward misunderstanding with Gu Yue, Tang Wulin confronted him for staying out all night while Lang Yue praised a photo of him carrying Gu Yue.

• Wu Zhangkong assigned Tang Wulin and the other Tang Sect students to practice the Mysterious Heaven Skill over the holiday, while Tang Li and Gu Yue received no assignment.
• Tang Li finished the upper body of his self-designed mecha while Gu Yue meditated in the metalworking room.
• Tang Li agreed to remove Di Tian’s restriction on attaining godhood and asked Gu Yue to have him bring several soul bones.
• Gu Yue misunderstood Tang Li’s intense look, then he teased her, bound her with the Demon-Sealing Pot, and caught her when she fell after he released it.
• Tang Ziran saw Tang Li carrying Gu Yue and hurriedly left, and Tang Li dropped her when he noticed his father.
• Bi Ji agreed to pass Tang Li’s request to Di Tian, while Tang Wulin confronted Tang Li for staying out all night and Lang Yue praised a photo of him carrying Gu Yue.

Tang Li explained that the photo of him holding Gu Yue had captured him preventing her from falling, but Tang Wulin grew upset at the thought of being separated from him. After Tang Li reassured her and coaxed her back into a good mood, Tang Wulin asked him to help her cultivate.

• Lang Yue showed Tang Li and Tang Wulin a photo of Tang Li holding Gu Yue, and Tang Li realized their parents might have misunderstood the moment.
• After Lang Yue left to buy groceries, Tang Wulin confronted Tang Li, who explained that he had caught Gu Yue to keep her from falling.
• Tang Li joked that they might attend different schools or that Tang Wulin could enter Shrek early, and Tang Wulin tearfully insisted she did not want to be separated from him.
• Tang Li hugged Tang Wulin and promised he would never grow sick of her, calming her down with affectionate praise.
• Tang Wulin pushed Tang Li down and asked him to help her cultivate.

Tang Li clarified that Tang Wulin had only asked him to guide her Mysterious Heaven Skill cultivation, then helped her practice while hiding his earlier misunderstanding. The chapter ended with Di Tian appearing before Scarlet King in the Star Dou Great Forest.

• Tang Li misunderstood Tang Wulin's request to cultivate together, then learned she wanted guidance with the Mysterious Heaven Skill.
• Tang Li told Tang Wulin he could teach her the technique and explained that its knowledge had spread beyond the Tang Sect after the sect's fall.
• Old Tang defended the Tang Sect's reputation, and Tang Li guided Tang Wulin through the Mysterious Heaven Skill's Soul Power routes while attempting to open one of her extraordinary meridians.
• Lang Yue returned home and saw Tang Li and Tang Wulin cultivating together, then worried about Tang Wulin's feelings toward her brother.
• Scarlet King watched over Soul Beast cubs in the Star Dou Great Forest until Di Tian appeared before him.