Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• An Chen finds Rock City outwardly peaceful, despite reports that nearby towns have suffered disasters. The city’s Spirit Hall is abandoned, and a waiter tells him that many locals believe Rock Douluo—called Lord Panshi—still protects the city in secret, though he has not appeared publicly for over ten years.
• An Chen searches the public library for information about Rock Douluo but finds only sensational, unreliable books.
• During meditation, An Chen breaks through to Soul Power level 50 and resolves to accelerate his cultivation. Thinking about where people might need “protection and guidance,” he chooses the impoverished North District.
• In North District, he sees shabby buildings, hungry youths, struggling families, and children living amid hardship. An eight- or nine-year-old boy bumps into him and steals his copper bracelet. An Chen catches the child, who pleads for mercy and runs off once released; An Chen follows him.

Character developments

• An Chen remains observant and cautious, but his concern shifts from investigating Rock City’s apparent calm to helping its poorer residents. His breakthrough strengthens him, while his reaction to the young thief suggests he is willing to confront hardship directly rather than simply flee.
• The waiter offers An Chen a glimpse of local beliefs about Rock Douluo but is called away before he can explain further.
• The child appears practiced at theft and pleading, hinting that survival in the district has shaped his behavior.

Significant themes

• Peace versus hidden danger: Rock City seems safe, but the abandoned Spirit Hall and rumors of an unseen protector leave its true situation uncertain.
• Poverty and survival: North District’s residents face hunger and hardship, and even children resort to stealing.
• Protection and responsibility: An Chen’s choice to visit the district suggests that guidance may be needed even where immediate danger is not obvious.
• Rumor and unreliable history: Local legends and the library’s sensational accounts contrast with the lack of trustworthy information about Rock Douluo.

Character interactions

• An Chen questions an inn waiter about the city; the waiter shares the Rock Douluo rumor before being summoned back to work.
• An Chen encounters a young pickpocket in North District, catches him with the stolen bracelet, then releases him when he begs. The boy flees, and An Chen pursues him.

Plot points and events

• An Chen corners San Gou, a child who tried to rob him, but calms him by offering food instead of punishing him. San Gou explains that his mother died, he never knew his father, and an older youth, A Gui, taught him to steal.
• San Gou leads An Chen to an abandoned warehouse sheltering children and other people in hardship. A Gui, an injured former Soul Master with one arm, initially meets An Chen defensively.
• An Chen says he does not intend to report or punish them. A Gui explains that Rock City bars children under seventeen from working, while his disability and fear of hunting Soul Beasts leave him unable to earn a living. He has taught the children to steal because he sees few alternatives.
• An Chen asks A Gui to gather other local leaders and gives him ten Gold Soul Coins to distribute. Earlier, An Chen had also prepared a booklet about fighting Soul Beasts and shared it, along with a meditation method, with children.
• As An Chen walks away, the Rose Bishop Potion reaches full digestion. The system confirms completion and presents his next quest: absorb a fifth, Shadow-attribute Soul Ring.

Character developments and interactions

• An Chen responds to San Gou with patience and compassion, then listens to A Gui’s circumstances rather than condemning him. He seeks practical ways to help, though he chooses not to restore A Gui’s arm because his Flesh Magic would not sustain the repair.
• San Gou shifts from terrified suspicion to cautious trust after An Chen feeds him. He reveals his circumstances and guides An Chen to A Gui.
• A Gui begins wary and armed, but relaxes when San Gou vouches for An Chen. His bitterness over his lost arm and inability to work exposes the desperation behind his actions.

Significant themes

• Compassion over punishment: An Chen meets theft with food, conversation, and assistance.
• Poverty and constrained choices: The children’s theft is tied to bereavement, unemployment, disability, and a lack of viable options.
• Help with practical limits: An Chen offers money and knowledge but recognizes that some forms of aid—such as permanently restoring A Gui’s arm—are beyond what he can safely provide.
• Growth through service: An Chen’s potion digestion completes after he shares knowledge and helps the community.

Plot points and events

• An Chen leaves Rock City carrying a tattered mask San Gou gave him. Inside it is carved “Rock Style One,” suggesting the masks come in different designs.
• Having reached Soul Power rank fifty and exhausted his potions, An Chen plans to obtain his fifth Soul Ring. He estimates he can handle a Soul Beast with thirty to forty thousand years of cultivation, thanks to his strengthened body.
• He takes Youxiang Grass to ease the effects of the mysterious Babble, disguises himself as a wealthy, corpulent merchant, and heads for the Star Dou Great Forest, which is closer than the Sunset Forest.
• As he departs, he senses he may be watched. Unknown to him, the eyes behind the mask on the Rock Douluo statue briefly glow.
• In a separate scene, an Angel-emblem-wearing man kills a target in a ruined palace. Reports identify a Soul King-level Evil Soul Master near Rock City who worships The Hanged Man. The man sets out to eliminate him.
• An Chen’s carriage stops in Suotuo City, a place he associates with a frightening Monocle. He again senses surveillance but finds nothing. A mask on a luxurious carriage also flashes with strange light.

Character developments and interactions

• An Chen is focused on rapidly increasing his strength, but the Babble continues to trouble him; Youxiang Grass offers only temporary relief.
• His disguises and merchant persona show his caution and willingness to use practical advantages, such as hired transport.
• San Gou’s gift remains a personal connection to Rock City and its people.
• The Angel-emblem-wearing pursuer is devout and dismissive of the threat as another Evil Soul Master. He intends to act without disrupting a larger operation.
• An Chen has no direct interaction with the pursuer, and neither recognizes the apparent surveillance.

Significant themes

• Hidden threats and surveillance: An Chen repeatedly feels watched, while the mask’s unexplained glimmers suggest a force tracking him.
• Power and risk: His pursuit of a more powerful Soul Ring reflects urgency, but his plans unfold amid dangerous, unknown forces.
• Faith and conflict: The Angel faction’s hunt for a rival religion’s adherent points to competing beliefs and organized suppression.
• Identity and concealment: An Chen’s changing appearance contrasts with the masks, which may conceal watchers rather than merely serve as symbols.

Key plot points and events

• Three days after entering the Star Dou Great Forest, An Chen—now in a different appearance—searches its darker depths for a suitable Soul Beast.
• He uses shadow tentacles to capture and drain a scaled antelope and a pack of horned wolves, leaving only hides, bones, and Soul Rings.
• A two-thousand-year-old wolf king arrives, apparently seeking revenge. An Chen traps it in his shadow and sends it into another dimension.
• While choosing a destination, An Chen detects a world with an aura resembling the corrupting Potion’s power, but much stronger. He opens a rift and glimpses a ruined, ravaged landscape inhabited by grotesque monsters.
• He throws the wolf king through the rift. On the next flash of lightning, the wolf and several monsters have vanished, while others have appeared.
• As An Chen and his duplicate bicker over who should investigate, a towering, scythe-handed monster emerges from the darkness and approaches them.

Character developments and interactions

• An Chen displays growing confidence and cruelty, treating living creatures as supplies and experimenting with his shadow powers and other dimensions.
• His duplicate behaves as an equal rather than a subordinate. The two joke, hunt, and argue, then become genuinely unsure which of them is the original.
• The wolf king’s grief and rage contrast with the An Chens’ casual amusement, but it is quickly overpowered and used as an experiment.
• The strange monster appears drawn to the light at the rift and becomes the chapter’s immediate threat.

Significant themes

• Power and moral detachment: An Chen’s abilities make killing and experimentation seem effortless.
• Identity and selfhood: The duplicate’s independence blurs the distinction between original and copy.
• The unknown and corruption: The rift reveals a hostile world whose powerful, familiar corruption suggests a deeper connection to the Potion.
• Consequences of experimentation: An Chen’s curiosity may have exposed him and his duplicate to a danger they do not understand.

Plot points and events

• A duplicate of An Chen urges the other to fight the Monster, then dissolves into black water and merges with his shadow. The Monster, newly arrived in the forest, radiates enough heat to set the surroundings ablaze.
• The Monster’s influence stirs An Chen’s hostility. It charges and cuts him in half, but he regenerates from the ground and attacks with an Iron Pot that releases Black Fog. The Monster burns the fog away.
• An Chen’s explosions stagger the Monster, and his gray-mist attack appears to affect its eye flames—but instead makes them more violent, intensifying the heat.
• Laughing as he improvises, An Chen attacks with a greatsword made from shadow. He splits the Monster’s head, but the Monster survives and appears to absorb his shadow, severing his control over it.
• The Monster’s attacks damage An Chen’s Flesh Cloak and briefly disrupt his Flesh Magic. He retreats, then binds the Monster with shadowy limbs and tentacles, stabs a pit into its back, and begins channeling power into his Copper Bracelet. The chapter ends as he prepares to use the bracelet’s effect against it.

Character development and interactions

• An Chen shifts from cautious observation to bold, erratic experimentation, using each failed or unexpected result to devise another tactic. His apparent fearlessness is tempered by growing caution when his powers are disrupted.
• The duplicate acts as a taunting, argumentative version of An Chen before merging back into his shadow.
• The Monster is volatile and highly destructive, drawn to An Chen as prey. It can withstand major damage, burn away the Black Fog, and interfere with An Chen’s magic through precise strikes.

Significant themes

• Adaptation under pressure: An Chen continually changes tactics as the Monster resists or absorbs his abilities.
• Uncertainty and limits of power: His magic does not always work as expected, and the Monster proves capable of countering it.
• Frenzy and control: The Monster’s influence provokes aggression, while its own fury escalates as it is attacked.

Plot points and events

• An Chen kills the Monster by forcing a ghostly-green Copper Ring into the pit on its back, then escaping underground as the creature burns.
• He searches the remains and finds a Copper Bracelet, followed by a strange black Soul Ring streaked with blood-red and fiery red. A sharply edged bone scythe also appears among the remains. Unsure what it is, An Chen stores it carefully in a Jade Box and Ring.
• An Chen absorbs the Soul Ring. Its violent consciousness attacks his mind, while his body burns and chars. He combines Spirituality with Mental Power to resist and ultimately shatters the assault.
• He survives the ordeal, gains his Fifth Soul Ring, and discovers his Soul Power has risen to level 53. He also begins sensing his new Soul Skill.
• After leaving the forest, An Chen disguises himself as a merchant, then changes into a Canghui Academy student. He plans to prepare for the Shepherd’s Ritual, which will require him to separate his soul from his body, take a potion, and return.
• Two observers—a Mask emerging from a cliff and a black-robed figure bearing an Angel emblem—watch An Chen depart, suggesting his achievement has attracted powerful interest.

Character developments and interactions

• An Chen shows caution and resourcefulness: he checks the Monster’s remains, preserves the mysterious scythe, and strengthens his mind with Spirituality when ordinary Mental Power begins to fail.
• His successful absorption marks a major increase in power, though the Soul Ring’s corrupting, unusual nature and the scythe’s unexplained significance remain unresolved.
• The Mask reacts with surprise and delight; the black-robed figure watches An Chen with approval. Neither interacts with him directly, but their attention signals that he is being monitored.

Significant themes

• Power gained through danger: An Chen’s new Soul Ring comes at the cost of severe physical and mental strain.
• Uncertainty and hidden significance: The Ring’s strange coloration, the scythe, and the observers hint that the Monster is not ordinary.
• Adaptation and secrecy: An Chen relies on his abilities and disguises to survive and move unnoticed.
• Mind and identity: The fusion of Spirituality and Mental Power becomes the key to resisting the Monster’s lingering consciousness.

Plot points and events

• An Chen enters an inn room, which suddenly transforms into a moonlit, silent space. Metal blades tear him apart, apparently killing him.
• A Black-Robed Figure arrives and disperses An Chen’s apparent remains. But the blood mist becomes black liquid and escapes into the shadows, revealing that An Chen survived by using a hidden ability.
• The figure tracks him through a supernatural signal. An Chen flees underground for a day and night, then stops in the mountains to recover.
• The pursuer catches him by stabbing him with a crescent-shaped scythe. Silver threads spread across An Chen, sealing his body, soul power, and Martial Soul.
• The pursuer identifies him as Zhang Jiao, formerly An Chen: an elder’s disciple corrupted by an evil god and classified as a heretic. He says An Chen’s double has already been dealt with and prepares to execute him.
• An old man watching nearby begins to intervene, then changes his mind and decides to observe a little longer.

Character developments

• An Chen/Zhang Jiao proves resourceful, surviving what appears to be a fatal attack through deception and a concealed escape technique. Exhaustion eventually leaves him vulnerable, but even while captured he searches for a way out.
• The Black-Robed Figure is a powerful, methodical hunter whose devotion to the God of Angels frames the pursuit as religious judgment. He acknowledges An Chen’s exceptional strength but sees his corruption as grounds for death.
• The old man appears ready to help An Chen, but pauses after noticing something that makes him curious, leaving the outcome uncertain.

Character interactions

• An Chen and the pursuer engage in a cat-and-mouse struggle: An Chen evades and flees, while the figure tracks and captures him.
• During the confrontation, the figure reveals his knowledge of An Chen’s identity and past; An Chen denies it but recognizes that the pursuer may be connected to the Spirit Hall.
• The old man watches the execution attempt without revealing himself, briefly considering intervention before choosing to wait.

Significant themes

• Survival through deception: An Chen’s apparent death is a strategy, and appearances repeatedly prove unreliable.
• Faith, corruption, and judgment: The pursuer casts An Chen’s fall as a spiritual choice and invokes divine forgiveness before killing him.
• Power and vulnerability: An Chen is extraordinarily capable, yet prolonged flight and a specialized sealing weapon leave him helpless.
• Uncertain intervention: The old man’s decision to wait creates suspense about whether observation will become rescue—or abandonment.

Key plot points and events

• An Chen escapes underground from the Spirit Hall enforcer, but the effort drains his Spirituality and leaves much of his body turning into black liquid. Silver markings still suppress his Martial Soul and Soul Power.
• Desperate to recover, he summons the system. Its notice directs him to separate his soul from his body so he can make the body consume a Shepherd Potion. He claims a reward, which breaks the silver seal and produces a potion in his Big Iron Pot.
• The system warns that the potion must be taken during a ritual. Before An Chen can drink it, the enforcer attacks, and a Clown Warning lets An Chen evade a scythe strike.
• The enforcer taunts An Chen and mentions that his teacher was badly wounded in the Suppression Operation. Distracted by concern, An Chen is caught in the enforcer’s moonlit illusion.
• An Chen uses his Fifth Soul Skill, Darkflame Domain, to battle summoned metal blades and a moon-white scythe. The apparent fight ends when reality returns: the enforcer is dead, pierced by a stone spike.
• An aged hand appears, removes the spike, and transforms the corpse into a moon-white Mask marked with a scythe, which it then takes.

Character developments

• An Chen is exhausted and frightened but remains resourceful. He relies on the system and his instincts, and his concern for his teacher briefly disrupts his focus. His unusual fifth Soul Ring and the system’s new “door” reward remain unexplained.
• The enforcer shifts from confident pursuer and psychological manipulator to a terrified, unexplained victim.
• The aged figure is introduced as a powerful presence capable of altering the enforcer’s body and turning it into a Mask.

Significant themes

• Survival at a cost: An Chen’s power is limited by dwindling Spirituality, physical deterioration, and the risks of potion use.
• Deception and perception: The enforcer uses illusion and personal information to unsettle An Chen, while the sudden return to reality leaves the true cause of the enforcer’s death unclear.
• Unanswered mysteries: The potion ritual, the altered Soul Ring, the “door,” and the aged figure’s intervention all raise new questions.

Character interactions

• The enforcer taunts An Chen, probes his unusual abilities, and deliberately uses news of An Chen’s wounded teacher to provoke him.
• An Chen responds with caution and combat rather than conversation, using Darkflame Domain against the enforcer’s attacks.
• The aged figure interacts with the enforcer’s corpse, transforming it into a Mask; An Chen watches warily, but no direct exchange occurs.

Rock Douluo killed An Chen to seize the power in his potion, then drank the Shepherd Potion himself. After a day and night of agony and transformation, Rock Douluo became a grotesque mass of flesh with five heads.

• Rock Douluo trapped An Chen and questioned him about the power and medicinal liquid in his pot.
• Rock Douluo impaled An Chen with stone spikes, killed him, and transformed his corpse into a mask engraved with an iron pot.
• Rock Douluo put on the mask and learned An Chen's memories, discovering that the potion was called the Shepherd Potion.
• Despite learning that the potion could cause loss of control and madness, Rock Douluo drank it, convinced his strength would let him suppress it.
• Rock Douluo endured a day and night of horrific changes as his body and soul split and grew new forms, leaving him a mass of flesh with five heads.

An Chen returned from death, defeated Rock Douluo’s grotesque remains, and used the gray hand to complete his Shepherd advancement. He successfully became a Shepherd and immediately grazed the corpse to see which Soul Skill he would obtain.

• An Chen resurrected from a gray fog and burned the writhing mass of flesh that remained of Rock Douluo.
• An Chen divined that the gray hand could be consumed directly as a potion and examined his Spirit Body Thread Control ability.
• An Chen devised a plan to fulfill the Shepherd ritual by separating his head, controlling his living body’s spirit body threads, and feeding it the gray hand.
• An Chen cut off his head, used Spirit Body Thread Control to make his body consume the hand, then rejoined it and endured the transformation.
• An Chen completed his advancement to Shepherd, used Grazing on Rock Douluo’s corpse, and waited to see which Soul Skill he would gain.

An Chen gained Grazing Rock Douluo’s earth, gravity, and mask-making abilities, then used the mask ability to experience Rock Douluo’s memories. The memories revealed Rock Douluo’s hidden mask martial soul, his life guarding Rock City, and the curiosity that led him to follow An Chen and drink the strange liquid.

• An Chen grazed Rock Douluo’s remains and gained earth element control, gravity control, and the ability to turn flesh and soul into a mask that revealed a person’s life.
• An Chen made a mask from Rock Douluo’s remains and put it on, entering Rock Douluo’s memories.
• As a child, Rock Douluo awakened a dust martial soul and level three innate soul power, while his father urged him to carry on the family’s mask-making inheritance.
• Decades later, Rock Douluo reached level 90 with both a dust martial soul and a mask martial soul, then returned home and became the masked guardian of Rock City.
• Rock Douluo discovered that strange beings could grant power through prayers and grew curious about the world beyond the continent, but held back after seeing the effects of fanatical faith.
• Rock Douluo secretly followed An Chen to observe his abilities and lack of side effects, until curiosity drove him to drink the strange liquid.

An Chen traveled to Sunset Town to find Yu Tianyao and learn whether his teacher was truly injured, while suppressing the voice inside his soul. He found Yu Tianyao’s alias, Du Lei, and waited outside a camp near Sunset Forest for him to arrive.

• An Chen buried the battlefield, left the nearby city, and traveled in disguise while using Youxiang Grass to replenish his mental power.
• An Chen checked his system, saw that his Potion digestion had reached 7%, and considered the promised Door as he planned to reach level sixty and digest the Potion.
• An Chen passed through Heaven Dou City and continued to Sunset Town, where he asked a tavern owner about lone mercenaries.
• The tavern owner identified Du Lei, a lightning-wielding lone Soul Master, and An Chen suspected he was Yu Tianyao.
• An Chen followed directions to a camp near Sunset Forest and waited with a crowd for Du Lei to arrive.

An Chen found Yu Tianyao at a camp near Sunset Forest and asked him to investigate whether his teacher had been badly injured in Spirit Hall’s suppression of a rebellion. Their conversation was interrupted by debt collectors who threatened Yu Tianyao’s bedridden father, leaving An Chen present as the confrontation escalated.

• An Chen watched Du Lei return from Sunset Forest with a charred tiger corpse, then followed him into the camp as he took commissions.
• After the other visitors left, An Chen revealed his identity to Yu Tianyao and asked him to use his clan’s resources to check on An Chen’s teacher.
• Yu Tianyao said the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan was short-handed, and An Chen questioned why he was earning money by taking commissions.
• A scarred man and his mustached companion entered to demand repayment from Yu Tianyao, who insisted he had already paid the debt.
• The mustached man claimed Yu Tianyao still owed interest and threatened to collect from his bedridden father.

An Chen paid off the loan sharks who threatened Yu Tianyao’s bedridden father, then killed them and their two accomplices with black flames. After finding the accomplices at the father’s courtyard, An Chen left with Yu Tianyao.

• Two loan sharks threatened to target Yu Tianyao’s bedridden father unless he repaid his debt, and Yu Tianyao threatened to fight them.
• An Chen offered to pay the debt, handed over a thousand Gold Soul Coins, and secretly retrieved the coins from the loan sharks’ storage bracelet.
• The bracelet exploded, and black flames burned the mustached man and the scarred man to ashes.
• An Chen and Yu Tianyao went to the secluded courtyard where Yu Tianyao’s father lived and found the two remaining accomplices.
• An Chen struck the accomplices with black flames, burned them to ashes, and left with Yu Tianyao.

An Chen listened as Yu Tianyao comforted his dying father, then gave Yu Tianyao medicinal liquid that helped him break through to rank forty. The two set out for Sunset Forest to find Yu Tianyao a soul ring and complete a commission, joined by Yang Qihao.

• An Chen overheard Yu Tianyao's injured father urge him to focus on cultivation and reveal his regret over marrying Yu Tianyao's mother from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
• An Chen gave Yu Tianyao a bottle of medicinal liquid, and Yu Tianyao accepted it before cultivating in seclusion.
• After a day, Yu Tianyao emerged having broken through to rank forty and asked An Chen about the liquid's effects.
• An Chen offered to help Yu Tianyao hunt for a soul ring, and Yu Tianyao agreed.
• An Chen and Yu Tianyao collected Yang Qihao, the boy who had commissioned Yu Tianyao to hunt a hundred-year soul beast, and headed toward Sunset Forest.

An Chen advised Yang Qihao to pursue an agility-based soul skill, then helped him obtain a Shadowclaw Leopard soul ring and demonstrate the power of his own skills. After Yang Qihao asked to become his disciple, An Chen and Yu Tianyao continued toward Thunder Mountain in Sunset Forest.

• An Chen suggested that Yang Qihao seek an agility-attack or shadow-cloning skill for his twin maces, then demonstrated his five soul rings and shadow abilities.
• Yang Qihao accepted An Chen's advice, and An Chen quickly captured a roughly 350-year-old Shadowclaw Leopard for him.
• Yang Qihao absorbed the leopard's soul ring and gained a skill with consecutive strikes and phantom splitting.
• An Chen and Yu Tianyao decided to escort Yang Qihao back because the area ahead was dangerous, and Yang Qihao asked An Chen to take him as a disciple.
• An Chen said they could discuss discipleship later, then returned with Yu Tianyao to Sunset Forest and headed toward Thunder Mountain.

An Chen and Yu Tianyao encountered members of the Five Great Heretical Sects preparing to receive a message from the Fallen Star Knight. After the sect members pursued them, the pair fought back but were trapped by a black substance from an iron box, leaving An Chen sealed and unable to move.

• An Chen and Yu Tianyao found a group of soul masters bound for Thunder Mountain, including a man marked with flowing stars who planned to hunt a ten-thousand-year soul beast.
• The star-marked man assembled an altar and placed a Silver-White Stone on it, prompting An Chen to recognize it as similar to one he had kept in his Copper Bracelet.
• When the stone glowed, An Chen pulled Yu Tianyao into a retreat, but the star-marked man spotted them and used a force to lift them into the air.
• An Chen threw a severed hand while Yu Tianyao struck the pursuer with lightning, and An Chen’s blood-red attack interrupted the force long enough for them to fall and flee.
• Seven sect members blocked their path, and their leader threw an unfolded iron box that released a black substance, which swallowed An Chen’s spear and sealed his body, spirituality, and soul power.

Yu Tianyao and An Chen fled the pursuers, but both succumbed to the black substance’s sleep-inducing effect. An Chen escaped his seal with the system, then fought the blue-robed man and ended the confrontation by exploding into a bloody tempest.

• Yu Tianyao failed to break the black substance sealing An Chen and fled with him as the blue-robed man and seven men pursued them.
• Yu Tianyao fell asleep near the edge of Sunset Forest, and An Chen used the system to dispel the black substance and regain access to his powers.
• An Chen carried the sleeping Yu Tianyao away, but the blue-robed man intercepted them and struck An Chen with a beam that set his body ablaze.
• An Chen created a duplicate to carry Yu Tianyao, then fought the blue-robed man with his Iron Pot, black flames, and greatsword.
• The blue-robed man overpowered An Chen and accused him of killing the six Wan brothers after noticing a copper ring on his wrist.
• The copper ring turned into flesh and fell away, and An Chen’s body cracked apart and exploded into a blood-red tempest.

After escaping the injured man in blue and his group, An Chen and Yu Tianyao headed into Thunder Mountain to seek a Thunder Wyrm. They reached a cave after climbing through increasingly intense lightning, where Yu Tianyao suspected a Thunder Wyrm was dwelling.

• The man in blue warned his companions not to pursue the ten-thousand-year Thunder Wyrm, then passed out after the group teleported away with the iron box.
• An Chen left his hiding place and found Yu Tianyao waking up; he claimed he had dealt with the man in blue without revealing what had happened.
• An Chen and Yu Tianyao realized the group had left instead of going to Thunder Mountain, then set off toward the mountain themselves.
• The pair fought off several minor lightning-attribute Soul Beasts and entered a valley where electrical arcs grew denser as they climbed.
• A deep bovine bellow came from a cave, and Yu Tianyao explained that a lightning-attribute Soul Beast could evolve into a Thunder Wyrm after reaching 9,999 years of cultivation.

An Chen and Yu Tianyao discovered that the supposed thunder wyrm was actually a rare mimic fox, which An Chen named Big Ears and brought along. After An Chen killed a lightning-charged boar and drained its corpse, they reached the mountain summit and spotted a pride of thundercloud mane lions, including a lion king with at least five thousand years of cultivation.

• An Chen and Yu Tianyao investigated the strange cries in a cave and found a frightened mimic fox imitating other soul beasts.
• Yu Tianyao explained that mimic foxes were rare, low-cultivation soul beasts, and An Chen subdued the fox and named it Big Ears.
• An Chen charged a herd of lightning-charged wild boars, killed the boar king, and drained its body with the Heavy Sword.
• Yu Tianyao remarked that An Chen's ability resembled an Evil Soul Master's, but An Chen did not answer and continued onward with Big Ears.
• An Chen and Yu Tianyao reached the summit and observed a pride of thundercloud mane lions; Yu Tianyao identified the lion king as having at least five thousand years of cultivation.