Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• The Sun Moon Empire’s strength in Soul Tools grew partly from its historically weaker Martial Souls. Its Soul Engineers often relied on cultivation-enhancing drugs, which could consume users’ potential or Life Force, though the visiting exchange students had unusually strong Martial Souls and relatively few side effects.
• Sun Moon students had won several matches against Shrek, using powerful close-combat Soul Tools to compensate for their slight disadvantage in combat ability. Elder Ma cautioned one student against dismissing Shrek, while privately suspecting Shrek was withholding its best fighters and knowledge.
• Wang Dong’s return to the arena eased some of Elder Ma’s doubts. Her four Soul Rings and strong performance confirmed her remarkable ability. She defeated two Soul Kings, then withdrew when low on Soul Power rather than face Meng Hongchen.
• Back among the spectators, Wang Dong taunted Wu Feng over not having made Shrek’s Reserve Team and challenged her to fight Meng Hongchen. Though Ning Tian warned that Meng was far stronger and used poison, Wu Feng accepted and headed for the arena.
• Wang Dong told Ning Tian she was trying to make Wu Feng settle down, then teased her about not wanting someone to always accompany her when she was with “a certain person.”

Character developments and interactions

• Elder Ma shows caution and strategic insight: he reprimands his student for boasting and suspects Shrek is deliberately concealing its real strength.
• Wang Dong displays both formidable combat skill and a lingering grudge against Wu Feng. She uses a few pointed remarks to provoke Wu Feng into a fight she is unlikely to win.
• Wu Feng remains impulsive and proud, readily taking the bait despite the danger.
• Ning Tian acts as Wu Feng’s concerned friend, trying to stop her and questioning Wang Dong’s motives.
• Meng Hongchen is eager to face Wang Dong, but Wang Dong’s withdrawal frustrates her; she becomes Wu Feng’s next opponent.

Significant themes

• The chapter contrasts Soul Tool technology with Martial Soul strength, showing how each side compensates for its weaknesses.
• It raises the cost of power, as cultivation drugs can trade future potential or Life Force for immediate strength.
• Appearances and concealed ability shape the exchange: Shrek may be hiding its strongest students, while Sun Moon’s apparent success may not reflect the full balance of power.
• Pride, rivalry, and provocation drive the final confrontation, as Wang Dong exploits Wu Feng’s temperament and Ning Tian’s loyalty to her friend.

Key plot points and events

• Meng Hongchen easily defeats Wu Feng, whose youth and much lower cultivation leave her no real chance. Xiao Hongchen then calls for Lu Yi, intent on avenging his previous defeat.
• Lu Yi and Xiao Hongchen exchange taunts before the match. Xiao Hongchen believes he has prepared to counter Lu Yi’s Invisibility with a specialized detection tool.
• When the match begins, Xiao Hongchen reveals his six Soul Rings, establishing him as a formidable Soul Emperor. Lu Yi answers by displaying four extraordinary rings—two purple and two black—shocking the spectators.
• Lu Yi’s classmates wonder whether his rings are genuine or altered, but Wang Dong and Ning Tian confirm they are real without knowing how he increased their ages.
• Xiao Hongchen rapidly assembles a custom greatsword using his metal-control abilities, Core Arrays, and Soul Tool engineering. He attacks with a shielded, flaming blade, but Lu Yi calmly dodges and blocks with Shield Charm, criticizing Xiao’s swordsmanship.

Character developments

• Lu Yi appears confident and composed, openly displaying his unusual Soul Rings and meeting Xiao Hongchen’s aggression with controlled defense.
• Xiao Hongchen is driven by lingering humiliation from his earlier loss. His engineering skill has advanced: he now fights with a powerful weapon tailored to his abilities and designed for revenge.
• Meng Hongchen demonstrates the vast advantage her cultivation and close-combat expertise give her over Wu Feng.
• Lu Yi’s classmates are surprised by how much his Soul Rings have changed during his two-year absence from their view.

Significant themes

• Growth and hidden progress: Lu Yi’s changed Soul Rings and Xiao Hongchen’s improved engineering show how much both have advanced since their previous encounter.
• Pride and revenge: Xiao’s desire to erase his past humiliation fuels the confrontation.
• Appearances versus reality: Spectators question whether Lu Yi’s astonishing Soul Rings are genuine, while his calm performance begins to challenge Xiao’s confidence.

Character interactions

• Meng defeats Wu Feng decisively, disappointing spectators hoping for a longer match.
• Xiao calls out Lu Yi specifically, and the two trade insults about the stakes and likely outcome.
• Lu Yi’s classmates seek explanations about his Soul Rings from Wang Dong and Ning Tian, who can confirm their authenticity but not explain their increased ages.
• During the fight, Xiao boasts about his revenge weapon while Lu Yi evades and blocks, ending the chapter by mocking Xiao’s poor swordsmanship.

Plot points and events

• Xiao Hongchen attacks Lu Yi with a heat-infused Soul Tool sword designed to counter Lu’s ranged attacks. His swordsmanship is poor, however, and he is driven by a desire for revenge rather than fighting to his strengths.
• Lu Yi evades Xiao’s strike by vanishing and reappearing behind him, then lands a powerful blow that knocks Xiao unconscious and reopens the old wound on his back.
• Meng Hongchen rushes onto the platform, but Lu Yi allows her through and begins treating Xiao. He uses healing magic to stop the bleeding and a Scar Removal Potion to erase the wound.
• Lu Yi’s Witch Doctor quest advances after the severe injury is healed. He warns that the potion was his last, then Xiao wakes—confused, unaware of the treatment, and still eager to fight.
• Meng explains that Xiao lost, while Elder Ma rebukes him for refusing to accept defeat and reminds him that he is a guest in Shrek’s territory.

Character developments

• Lu Yi demonstrates a new disappearance-and-reappearance ability, alongside his established combat and healing skills. Though he had intended a normal spar, he responds decisively to Xiao’s attempt to hurt him, then treats him and remains composed.
• Xiao Hongchen lets his grudge dictate his tactics, abandoning his strengths and underestimating Lu Yi. His insistence that the fight is not over shows he has not yet accepted his defeat.
• Meng Hongchen recognizes the extent of Lu Yi’s unusual abilities and sees that he honored their agreement by not using invisibility. She tries to restrain her brother and defuse the conflict.
• Elder Ma acknowledges Lu Yi’s restraint and healing, while firmly correcting Xiao’s behavior.

Significant themes

• Revenge versus sound judgment: Xiao’s personal grudge makes him fight poorly and escalates what should have been a controlled spar.
• Power and respect: Lu Yi’s abilities make clear that Xiao cannot assume he can match him, regardless of reputation.
• Restraint and consequences: Lu Yi holds back and heals Xiao, but his response also serves as a warning against attacking him unfairly.
• Pride and accountability: Xiao’s refusal to admit defeat contrasts with the expectation that competitors accept the outcome of a match.

Character interactions

• Lu Yi defeats Xiao, then treats him despite their conflict; their exchange ends with a warning rather than reconciliation.
• Meng intervenes to protect her brother, recognizes Lu Yi’s treatment, and later tells Xiao plainly that he lost.
• Elder Ma backs Lu Yi’s conduct and chastises Xiao for his unsportsmanlike behavior and lack of respect for his hosts.

Plot points and events

• After Lu Yi defeats him, Xiao Hongchen accepts the loss. The scar from their earlier match has represented shame and failure; losing again makes him question his reputation as Sun Moon’s greatest genius. He leaves, promising their paths will cross again.
• Meng Hongchen thanks Lu Yi for holding back and agrees that their rivalry came from the tournament, not any deeper enmity. She proposes friendly sparring and asks him to invite Wang Dong. Lu Yi points her toward Wang Dong but says he is too busy to spar regularly.
• Lu Yi’s friends wait for him after the match and praise his victory. The group discusses Wang Dong’s fighting style, which Xiao Xiao describes in detail, prompting Wang Dong to defend her own tactics.
• Lu Yi announces that he plans to teach some of his “secret arts” and asks Zhou Sichen, Cao Jinxuan, and Xiao Xiao whether they are interested.

Character developments

• Xiao Hongchen shows hard-won humility by admitting defeat, though he remains determined to face Lu Yi again.
• Meng Hongchen moves from rivalry toward respect and friendly competition.
• Lu Yi is revealed as both powerful and restrained: he healed Xiao Hongchen, rejects needless hostility, and prioritizes other pursuits over sparring.
• Wu Feng recognizes how great the gap between her and Lu Yi has become and feels embarrassed remembering her earlier confidence in challenging him. She also worries about Ning Tian’s growing admiration for him.
• Wang Dong wants recognition for defeating two Soul Kings, but her friends tease her by pointing out how predictable her tactics are.

Themes

• Rivalry versus enmity: Competition does not have to become personal hatred.
• Humility and self-knowledge: Xiao Hongchen begins to see himself more clearly after losing without the protection of status or reputation.
• Power and restraint: Lu Yi’s strength is matched by his generosity and refusal to make unnecessary enemies.
• Limits of familiar tactics: Wang Dong’s predictable style contrasts with Lu Yi’s unusual abilities and breadth of options.

Character interactions

• Lu Yi and Xiao Hongchen part on respectful but unresolved terms; Meng Hongchen mediates the shift toward friendliness.
• Meng Hongchen tries to arrange sparring with Lu Yi and Wang Dong, while Lu Yi sets a boundary around his time.
• Lu Yi’s companions celebrate and admire him, while Ning Tian’s feelings and Wu Feng’s concern quietly surface.
• Xiao Xiao and Wang Dong trade playful criticism about their fighting styles before Lu Yi redirects the group with his teaching offer.

Plot points and events

• Lu Yi proposes forming an organization to pursue ambitious goals and invites Xiao Xiao, Zhou Sichen, and Cao Jinxuan to learn his secret arts. He promises members may leave freely, though admission standards will be high.
• Wang Dong questions the unusual arrangement, explaining that sects normally guard their techniques closely and restrict members from leaving.
• Zhou Sichen and Cao Jinxuan eagerly join, swearing loyalty on their Martial Souls. Xiao Xiao follows, thrilled to become a founding member, and swears not to reveal Lu Yi’s teachings.
• Xiao Xiao then asks how they can learn when their Martial Souls differ from Lu Yi’s. He explains that his Martial Soul functions as a craftable tool: he can make a limited number of Wands, and only compatible owners can learn the arts.
• Ning Tian demonstrates a spell with her own Wand, reassuring the new recruits. Lu Yi has not yet chosen a name for the team. Ning Tian offers to help provide headquarters, asking whether he wants an existing site or to build one.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Yi shows confidence in his plans and a willingness to share powerful knowledge without demanding rigid loyalty. His preparations are incomplete, however: he has not even named the organization.
• Zhou Sichen and Cao Jinxuan reveal their strong personal loyalty to Lu Yi and immediately seize the chance to join.
• Xiao Xiao moves from cautious curiosity to wholehearted commitment, trusting Lu Yi’s confidence despite not yet understanding how the training will work.
• Wang Dong is skeptical, drawing on her knowledge of sect traditions to challenge Lu Yi’s approach.
• Ning Tian serves as an experienced example of the Wand-based magic and offers practical support for establishing the team.

Significant themes

• Trust and loyalty: The recruits’ commitment contrasts with Lu Yi’s promise not to bind them.
• Openness versus tradition: Lu Yi’s organization will share secret arts more freely than conventional sects.
• Belonging and beginnings: The recruits’ enthusiasm marks the formation of the team’s first, “founding” members.
• Practical limits: Access to the magic depends on scarce Wands and compatibility, not simply membership.

Key plot points and events

• Lu Yi realizes that his teammates’ combined planning is helping turn his idea into a more practical venture. They agree the team needs an accessible, official headquarters—not merely a hidden cluster of tents—so outsiders can find and join them.
• Lu Yi asks Ning Tian to locate a suitable empty plot rather than purchase it for him. He wants a secluded, spacious site with room for cultivation plots, but plans to build only the facilities he needs for now and reserve land for future growth.
• The chapter contrasts Lu Yi’s resources with Bei Bei’s: Bei Bei is building the New Tang Sect’s headquarters in Shrek City on a limited budget, while Lu Yi has barely touched his enormous fortune. Still, Lu Yi recognizes that long-term expansion requires a trained core capable of producing Magical Items and generating income.
• After a meal celebrating the team’s founding, the core members meet in a tent whose interior is vastly larger and more luxurious than its exterior suggests. They are amazed by Lu Yi’s spatial magic.
• Zhou Sichen proposes a money-making idea, but Cao Jinxuan teases him about once pricing Flying Broomsticks absurdly low. Ning Tian explains that she saw the broom as a luxury product whose appeal could be cultivated among the wealthy.
• Lu Yi says he will provide for his new teammates and brings out a Storage Soul Tool, placing dozens of long boxes and a broom on the table. Their contents are not yet revealed.

Character developments

• Lu Yi shifts from treating the team as a small, informal project to planning for public visibility, growth, and eventual self-sufficiency. He remains generous but also thinks strategically about building an operation that can sustain itself.
• Ning Tian shows business savvy and commitment: she takes Lu Yi’s site search seriously and understands how status and fashion can create demand for a product.
• Bei Bei is shown as a practical organizer, balancing his training with overseeing the Tang Sect’s construction and recruitment.
• Zhou Sichen remains enthusiastic and entrepreneurial, though his earlier poor pricing instincts make him an easy target for Cao Jinxuan’s teasing.
• Cao Jinxuan acts as Zhou Sichen’s familiar critic, while Xiao Xiao shares the group’s astonishment at Lu Yi’s resources.

Significant themes

• Cooperation: The team’s collective ideas improve on what Lu Yi would have planned alone.
• Growth and sustainability: A successful organization needs both a recognizable headquarters and a way to fund future expansion.
• Resource inequality: Lu Yi’s immense wealth contrasts with Bei Bei’s careful budgeting and the value of rare Soul Master resources.
• Business and perception: A product’s value can depend as much on branding, status, and social influence as on its practical function.

Character interactions

• Lu Yi and Ning Tian discuss the headquarters; he sets the requirements while asking her to find land without paying for it.
• Cao Jinxuan ribs Zhou Sichen about his past broomstick pricing, and Zhou Sichen tries to justify his decision.
• Ning Tian’s luxury-market perspective contrasts with Zhou Sichen’s old low-price, high-volume approach.
• The team reacts with awe to Lu Yi’s magically expanded tent and waits to see what he has brought for them.

Key plot points

• Lu Yi welcomes Xiao Xiao to the team with a high-speed broomstick that uses no Soul Power, a generous gift she never expected to receive.
• He gives each new student a Wand and has them test different samples until they find one that responds to them. Xiao Xiao’s Wand—made with Flame-Tailed Sparrow feathers—reacts especially strongly to her.
• Lu Yi teaches the group two basic Spells: Lumos and the Levitation Charm. All three students learn both within an hour.
• The progress display updates to show one Apprentice and four Beginners; Lu Yi suspects Ning Tian is the Apprentice and Huo Yuhao has advanced to Beginner.
• Xiao Xiao ends the lesson by asking when she can learn the advanced Spell that raises the age of Soul Rings.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiao Xiao is moved by Lu Yi’s gift and excited to receive a Wand that suits her. Her rapid progress makes her feel she is closing the gap between herself and Lu Yi.
• Zhou Sichen and Cao Jinxuan help welcome Xiao Xiao; Cao promises to teach her to ride the broomstick. Both find compatible Wands, though neither reacts as strongly as Xiao Xiao.
• Lu Yi shows generosity and confidence as a teacher. He prioritizes quick, practical learning and plans to advance his students rapidly, filling in deeper theory later.

Significant themes

• Teaching and accelerated learning: Lu Yi strips lessons down to essentials so students can master useful skills quickly.
• Personal connection and compatibility: Wands respond differently to each person, suggesting magic reflects individual nature.
• Generosity and belonging: The broomstick, Wands, and lessons mark Xiao Xiao’s welcome into Lu Yi’s team.
• Ambition and power: Xiao Xiao’s final question points toward the group’s desire to learn more advanced magic and strengthen their Soul Rings.

Plot points and events

• Xiao Xiao wrongly assumes Lu Yi can improve Soul Rings through his own power. Lu Yi explains that rings can theoretically grow if supplied with enough Life Force, but suitable energy is scarce and dangerous to absorb.
• Lu Yi’s own success came from the Gold of Life, made absorbable only through Electrolux’s intervention. He contrasts this with the Holy Spirit Cult’s method of stealing Life Force from people and recalls a Soul Beast whose Gold of Life nearly drained it to death.
• Although the group cannot improve their existing rings, Lu Yi reveals that Soul Spirits can grow stronger over time by receiving Soul Power from their masters. He explains that their potential depends on the Soul Beast’s bloodline and cultivation.
• The group recognizes the promise of this method. Xiao Xiao could benefit especially from her Twin Martial Souls, potentially building an extraordinary set of rings over time.
• Lu Yi asks Zhou Sichen, who is nearing the level-four bottleneck, to wait for him instead of going on a Soul Hunt. Lu Yi plans to test the revised Soul Spirit Contract with him, using a seal to let Zhou’s fourth ring reach roughly ten thousand years.
• With the new contract easier to form, Lu Yi decides to expand the practice by training Wizard apprentices as Spirit Transmitters. He sends the others away and begins writing teaching materials.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Yi demonstrates that his Soul Ring growth was an exceptional result of Electrolux’s help, not a repeatable personal ability. He also shows growing ambition: he wants to make Soul Spirits more accessible and develop a system for teaching others.
• Xiao Xiao moves from disappointment to hope as she realizes that future Soul Spirits could greatly strengthen her Twin Martial Souls.
• Zhou Sichen readily agrees to Lu Yi’s proposal, eager to benefit from the chance to obtain a stronger fourth ring.
• The group responds with excitement to Lu Yi’s explanation, imagining how future Soul Rings might improve their strength.
• Electrolux is central to the method’s development: he enabled Lu Yi to absorb the Gold of Life and helped refine the Soul Spirit Contract.

Significant themes

• Power has a cost: growing Soul Spirits consumes the Soul Master’s cultivated Soul Power, while other methods of acquiring Life Force may demand immense sacrifice or cause death.
• Cooperation over domination: the revised contract treats Soul Beast and Soul Master as soul-level partners rather than master and servant, making cooperation easier.
• Innovation and education: Lu Yi’s next goal is not just to use the technique himself, but to train others to spread it.
• Potential and long-term growth: Soul Spirits offer a way for Soul Masters to improve future rings gradually, though each spirit’s limits depend on its nature and history.

Key plot points and events

• Lu Yi finishes a concise Spell textbook covering practical magic, including household spells, object-control spells, and several movement-restricting charms. He duplicates copies for his students and plans to teach pronunciation and offer individual guidance in class.
• The spells are easy for Soul Masters to practice and can complement their existing abilities. Lu Yi explains that magic offers a quicker alternative to advanced Soul-Power techniques for manipulating objects.
• Cao Jinxuan’s unusual time-based abilities make him especially well suited to wand combat: spells could cover the gaps between his Soul Skills, while his perception-accelerating skill would make his casting appear faster.
• While Ning Tian searches for suitable locations, Lu Yi chooses both a visible headquarters site in Shrek City and a secluded location for the group’s real base.
• The hidden site is a remote basin with a lake and central island, situated near the Star Dou Great Forest but outside areas useful to Soul Masters. Lu Yi decides it is ideal for a secret base and imagines building a Hogwarts-like castle there.

Character developments

• Lu Yi shows himself to be a practical teacher and planner, tailoring lessons to the students’ strengths and thinking ahead about both publicity and secrecy.
• Cao Jinxuan emerges as the student who could benefit most from magic. Coming from a less privileged family, he is eager to learn and has already pledged lifelong loyalty to Lu Yi.
• Ning Tian contributes as an effective organizer by locating potential headquarters sites.
• Xiao Xiao already has strong offensive options, while Zhou Sichen and Ning Tian are described as likely to gain valuable new tools from magic.

Character interactions

• Lu Yi equips the group with textbooks and lays out how he will teach them.
• Zhou Sichen teases his friend Cao Jinxuan about whether overusing his powerful time skill might shorten his life.
• Cao Jinxuan’s gratitude and commitment stand in contrast to his friends’ more advantaged backgrounds, underscoring how much he values Lu Yi’s offer.

Significant themes

• Complementary abilities: Magic can strengthen Soul Masters’ existing skills rather than replace them, with different students benefiting in different ways.
• Opportunity and inequality: Cao Jinxuan’s modest background makes access to training especially meaningful.
• Planning and secrecy: Lu Yi balances the need for a public presence with the safety and privacy required for experiments and future industries.
• Building a future: The chosen basin marks the beginning of Lu Yi’s vision for a lasting headquarters and community.

Plot points and events

• Lu Yi plans to conceal a future base in Shrek City using the Fidelius Charm. Because the charm requires the Secret Keeper to be outside the secret when it is created, he intends to have someone else first establish the site as their home, then make himself its Secret Keeper.
• For a larger base elsewhere, Lu Yi considers hiring low- and mid-level earth-attribute Soul Masters to speed construction, while avoiding workers powerful enough to resist his Memory Charms.
• Construction of the Shrek City base is completed in just one month, with help from Ning Tian’s Nine Treasures Pavilion. The land, materials, and wages cost a little over 200,000 Gold Soul Coins.
• With a permanent teaching location ready, Lu Yi begins recruiting Shrek Outer Court graduates and former students. His organization offers substantial pay, cultivation resources, and instruction in spells or forging. Applicants must pass an unusual test involving a wooden stick, which they must return if they leave.
• Recruitment brings the group to roughly thirty or forty members in two months. Lu Yi teaches spells broadly and recruits Power-Type Soul Masters to train as blacksmiths. His quest progress updates to four Apprentice-level and twenty-eight Beginner-level students.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Yi proves both strategic and practical: he adapts the Fidelius Charm to his needs, invests in a permanent base, and uses money and tailored roles to attract talent.
• Ning Tian supports the project by arranging oversight through the Nine Treasures Pavilion and helping Lu Yi’s recruitment efforts.
• Former Shrek students, especially Support and Healing-Type Soul Masters and those with Mutated or tool Martial Souls, respond to the stability and opportunities Lu Yi offers. Some are wary of the new group’s unusual admission test but are drawn by its real wages.
• Prospective members compare Lu Yi’s organization favorably with the Tang Sect, whose modest stipends and uncertain promises fail to attract them.

Significant themes

• Visibility and secrecy: Magic can hide places and knowledge, while the Fidelius Charm makes secrecy dependent on a trusted keeper.
• Practical value versus reputation: Shrek graduates’ prestige cannot substitute for income or opportunity; Lu Yi’s concrete benefits prove more persuasive than promises.
• Talent and social vulnerability: Support and Healing-Type Soul Masters often lack independence, while Lu Yi’s organization offers them a chance to develop skills and earn a living.
• Building through specialization: Lu Yi recruits members according to their strengths, combining spell study, cultivation, and forging into a functioning community.

Plot points and events

• Zhou Sichen announces that he has mastered all the spells in the first spellbook, including the difficult water-producing spell Aguamenti. Lu Yi has him use it to water the greenhouse plants.
• Lu Yi explains that Aguamenti is an advanced spell in its original curriculum, so placing it among the beginner spells helps him identify promising students. His three students—Zhou Sichen, Xiao Xiao, and Cao Jinxuan—have all mastered the first fifteen spells to the panel’s 90% success standard and reached Apprentice Level.
• Lu Yi gives Zhou Sichen two new textbooks containing more difficult, combat-oriented spells. Zhou is delighted, having learned magic partly for its practical uses and partly to become stronger.
• Zhou tells Lu Yi that he reached level forty two days earlier. Lu Yi agrees to take him Soul Hunting once the greenhouse seedlings are established enough to survive on their own.
• Lu Yi reflects on why he built the costly greenhouse: controlled growing conditions will help keep herbs alive and consistent for assessments, potion instruction, and his own profession tasks. He also hopes to involve teammates with Plant-type Martial Souls in herb cultivation later.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhou Sichen is eager and trusting: he follows Lu Yi’s instructions without hesitation, enjoys convenient everyday magic, and is excited to learn combat spells. His cultivation has also reached a point where he needs a new soul ring.
• Lu Yi emerges as both a demanding teacher and a careful planner. He uses challenging spells to assess talent, recognizes the limits of teaching through imitation alone, and invests in reliable facilities to support his students and his own goals.
• The chapter contrasts Lu Yi’s unusually rapid, largely self-directed magical education with the slower pace of his students’ progress.

Significant themes

• Talent, practice, and education: mastery requires consistent reliability, not just a successful cast; Lu Yi uses difficult material to identify exceptional prospects.
• Convenience and combat utility: magic appeals to Zhou both as a way to simplify daily chores and as a means of gaining strength.
• Preparation and standardization: the greenhouse represents Lu Yi’s effort to make teaching and potion-making dependable, while also addressing the gaps in his students’ theoretical understanding.

Chapter Summary

• The greenhouse stabilizes: A month after planting, Lu Yi’s herbs are growing reliably. He assigns three Plant-type Soul Masters to care for them, gives them detailed instructions, and leaves the greenhouse in their hands. His organization has grown to more than fifty staff but is still operating at a loss; he expects it to take about three years to train qualified Enchanters and become profitable.
• Lu Yi reaches a cultivation bottleneck: Both Lu Yi and Zhou Sichen have reached level fifty and need new Soul Rings. Lu Yi rejects the remaining abilities offered by his Blazing Flame Spirit Fox, preferring to seek a suitable Soul Beast elsewhere. His previous absorption of the fox’s power—and the energy Electrolux had sealed and recently released—has raised the limit of what he can endure, though increasing his existing rings’ ages causes him pain.
• The hunting expedition begins: Lu Yi and Zhou Sichen join the Academy’s Beast Capture Team at the Star Dou Great Forest. It is led by Gong Changlong, a Titled Douluo, and includes several powerful Soul Masters. The team plans to hunt for the pair first, then capture beasts for the Academy’s Beast Pen. Lu Yi notes the irony that captive beasts, mistreated and denied freedom, are expected to accept Soul Spirit contracts willingly.
• Zhou learns about Soul Spirits: Gong Changlong asks whether Zhou could undergo the Soul Spirit Ritual. Lu Yi explains that a Soul Spirit retains its mind, fights alongside its partner, and can provide Soul Rings whose ages may increase as the Soul Master grows. With the improved ritual able to seal some of a ring’s energy, Zhou may be able to obtain a ten-thousand-year fourth ring. He is thrilled, but Gong Changlong cautions them not to discuss Soul Spirits openly while others are present.
• The Hongchen siblings arrive: The other hunters are Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen, who need a sixth ring for Meng. Xiao stiffens when he sees Lu Yi, then becomes conspicuously polite, worried that antagonizing him could affect his sister’s prospects.

Character Developments and Interactions

• Lu Yi shows growing confidence as an organizer and researcher, delegating greenhouse work while planning his next advance in cultivation. His restrained reaction to the Beast Pen’s practices reveals his sympathy for Soul Beasts.
• Zhou Sichen moves from confusion about the ritual to eager anticipation of its potential, especially the possibility of a ten-thousand-year fourth ring.
• Gong Changlong treats Lu Yi as a trusted acquaintance and remains practical about the expedition, while showing curiosity about how Soul Spirits might work with Zhou.
• Xiao Hongchen moderates his usual tension with Lu Yi and acts courteously because he wants to protect Meng’s interests.
• Lu Yi and Gong Changlong share familiarity and frank discussion; Lu Yi and Zhou have a mentor-like exchange, with Lu explaining the ritual and its benefits.

Significant Themes

• Partnership and consent: The chapter contrasts willing Soul Spirit bonds with the coercive treatment of beasts in the Academy’s Beast Pen.
• Growth through cultivation and research: Lu Yi’s organization, the improved ritual, and the possibility of evolving Soul Rings all point to steady innovation and long-term development.
• Pragmatism and ambition: The characters balance financial patience, careful preparation, and the pursuit of increasingly powerful Soul Rings.

Key plot points and events

• Lu Yi greets Xiao Hongchen with the teasing title “Sun Moon’s Number One Genius,” a nickname that has become public at Shrek. Xiao, already frustrated by recent setbacks, suspects Lu Yi is deliberately targeting him and his sister, Meng.
• Xiao warns Lu Yi to leave Meng out of their conflict, but Lu Yi denies having any grudge. Meng tries to calm her brother and apologizes for his tense behavior.
• The narration explains Xiao’s insecurity: without Soul Tools, his Three-Legged Golden Toad Martial Soul offers limited help in ordinary cultivation and combat. He has begun to doubt whether he can fulfill his grandfather’s ideal of becoming a powerful Soul Master and Soul Engineer—and his plan to defeat Lu Yi has also collapsed.
• Team leader Gong Changlong sets strict rules for the Soul Hunting expedition. Students are expected to handle danger themselves; teachers intervene only if they cannot cope. Meng needs a sixth Soul Ring, and the target is a roughly thirty-thousand-year-old Soul Beast.
• Gong insists that the students put aside personal rivalries during the hunt. Because the Hongchen siblings are important exchange students, a large escort—four Soul Saints, one Soul Douluo, and Gong, a Titled Douluo—has been assigned to protect the four students.
• The group takes to the air toward the Star Dou Great Forest. Xiao regains some confidence when he sees the escorts using basic Flying Soul Tools and believes his and Meng’s superior Level 7 models will be faster. He challenges Lu Yi not to slow them down.
• Lu Yi produces a strangely familiar Flying Soul Tool, while Zhou Sichen reveals that he plans to ride a broom. The chapter ends on this unexpected sight.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiao Hongchen is increasingly defensive and suspicious, struggling with the gap between his former reputation and his limitations without Soul Tools. His rivalry with Lu Yi remains unresolved.
• Meng Hongchen acts as a calming counterbalance, gently restraining her brother and showing concern about his strained state.
• Lu Yi responds to Xiao’s accusations with amused denial and provokes him with the nickname, but appears unconcerned by the rivalry.
• Gong Changlong takes a firm supervisory role, emphasizing discipline and prioritizing the exchange students’ safety.
• The group’s competitive banter continues as Xiao boasts about his Flying Soul Tools and Lu Yi’s party prepares to demonstrate an unconventional alternative.

Significant themes

• Identity and self-worth: Xiao’s confidence depends heavily on being viewed as a prodigy, and he struggles when his strengths do not transfer across circumstances.
• Power through balance: His grandfather’s ideal requires both Soul Master ability and Soul Engineer skill, raising the question of whether Xiao can unite the two.
• Rivalry versus responsibility: Personal conflicts must be set aside when the group faces real danger.
• Reputation and insecurity: Xiao’s unwanted nickname and fear of being mocked intensify his suspicion of others.

Plot points and events

• While traveling toward the Star Dou Great Forest, Zhou Sichen surprises the Hongchen siblings by flying on an ordinary-looking broom. Lu Yi also flies without any visible Soul Power, leaving Xiao and Meng bewildered.
• Xiao Hongchen examines the broom and Lu Yi’s Flying Soul Tool. He realizes the broom uses technology he cannot explain, and notices an unusual, almost living quality in the Tungsten Steel casing of Lu Yi’s tool. Drawn toward it, he briefly loses focus mid-flight before Meng calls him back.
• The siblings push their Flying Soul Tools hard to keep pace with Lu Yi and Zhou Sichen. After roughly half an hour, the group reaches the agreed meeting point.
• Elder Gong Changlong has chosen a comparatively safer route into the forest and gives the four young Soul Masters time to recover. He again stresses that they must set aside personal grudges and cooperate during the hunt.
• Xiao Hongchen takes the warning more seriously than before. After resting, the four enter the forest while Gong’s escorts follow discreetly in separate groups.
• Xiao deploys miniature, dragonfly-shaped detection Soul Tools. Lu Yi recognizes their function, prompting Xiao to correct his terminology.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiao’s confidence in his own technical expertise is shaken: he recognizes that both the broom and Lu Yi’s Flying Soul Tool embody technology beyond his knowledge. His curiosity begins to outweigh his contempt for Zhou Sichen and Shrek.
• Meng watches over her brother when he loses focus and urges him to catch up, showing concern and practical attentiveness.
• Xiao’s attitude toward the team improves slightly. He listens more seriously to Elder Gong and speaks to Lu Yi with less hostility, though his pride remains evident.
• Lu Yi remains calm and matter-of-fact, identifying Xiao’s detection devices without being impressed by the attempt to test his knowledge.
• Zhou Sichen’s casual broom flight serves as an early demonstration of unfamiliar technology and unsettles the siblings.

Significant themes

• Limits of knowledge and pride: Xiao’s assumptions about Shrek and technology are challenged by what he sees.
• Innovation and technological contrast: Unfamiliar designs—including the broom, Lu Yi’s Flying Soul Tool, and the detection devices—show that expertise may exist beyond the Sun Moon Empire’s established methods.
• Cooperation over rivalry: Elder Gong insists that the team’s safety and success must take priority over personal feelings.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Using a detector to scout ahead makes the group’s exploration of the Star Dou Great Forest easier. Xiao Hongchen, encouraged by Meng Hongchen, makes an awkward effort to talk with Lu Yi.
• The conversation turns to Soul Tools. Lu Yi reveals that he began studying them after the tournament and reached Level 3 within roughly a year and a half—an unusually quick achievement by Shrek’s standards.
• Xiao shares his own rapid rise: he became a Level 7 Soul Engineer at seventeen, having started training as a child under his grandfather’s influence. He believes Lu Yi’s talent is being wasted by Shrek’s outdated Soul Tool program and praises the stronger training Lu Yi might have received in the Sun Moon Empire.
• Xiao gives Lu Yi two notebooks containing his Level 4 and Level 5 Soul Engineer notes, approved by Xiao’s grandfather, the Hall Master of Virtue Hall. He offers to answer future questions.
• Lu Yi accepts the notebooks, recognizing that Xiao’s interest was prompted by Lu Yi’s Thousand Refinement metal. He sees potential value in Xiao’s notes and in building a genuine working relationship.
• Lu Yi considers a new recruitment strategy: using advanced technology and Magic Enchantment to attract talented Soul Engineers from the Sun Moon Empire, rather than relying on money or recruiting only from Shrek.
• After Lu Yi puts away the notebooks, Xiao reveals his real request: he wants to examine Lu Yi’s Flying Soul Tool.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiao Hongchen shifts from hostility and fault-finding to sincere respect for Lu Yi’s ability. His clumsy but earnest attempt at friendship leads him to share valuable notes and offer help; his curiosity about Thousand Refinement metal remains a strong motive.
• Lu Yi responds openly to Xiao’s goodwill and recognizes the practical value of maintaining their relationship, while keeping his own larger plans—and his intention not to recruit Xiao—clear.
• Meng Hongchen smooths over her brother’s awkward conversation and is surprised by how unusually enthusiastic his praise of Lu Yi becomes.
• Huo Yuhao is mentioned as another promising Soul Tool student, though Xiao does not know that Huo has already passed the Level 5 assessment despite carrying a Level 3 badge.

Significant themes

• Talent versus opportunity: Lu Yi’s rapid progress highlights the difference between his abilities and the limitations of Shrek’s Soul Tool education.
• Cooperation beyond rivalry: Xiao and Lu Yi find common ground despite their affiliations, suggesting that useful partnerships can cross institutional and national divides.
• Innovation and specialization: Lu Yi imagines separating Soul Tool design from manufacture and combining Soul Tools with Magic Enchantment to create more versatile technology.
• Recruitment through shared curiosity: Lu Yi concludes that compelling ideas and technology may attract dedicated experts more effectively than money alone.

Plot points and events

• Xiao Hongchen anxiously asks to inspect Lu Yi’s Flying Soul Tool, but Lu Yi recognizes that his real interest is its enchanted casing. Rather than reveal the valuable tool, Lu Yi gives him a modest piece of Tungsten Steel.
• Xiao is astonished by the metal’s unusual qualities. Lu Yi explains that it is Thousand Refined metal, made through a method that takes purification beyond Hundred Refinement. Xiao’s guess—that simply striking metal more times would reproduce it—is dismissed; Lu Yi says he can learn more in Shrek’s forging class.
• Fascinated, Xiao offers to pay any price. Lu Yi names an exorbitant one hundred million Gold Soul Coins, then explains that he would rather give the metal as a gift between friends than sell it as a transaction.
• Xiao gladly accepts, recognizing his own suspicion was misplaced and declaring Lu Yi his first friend at Shrek. Lu Yi formally introduces him and Meng to Zhou Sichen. The chapter ends with Lu Yi asking whether Meng’s ice-and-poison Martial Soul makes the Far North a better place for Soul Hunting.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Yi protects the work he has invested in his Soul Tool but shows generosity by sharing a Thousand Refined sample. He makes clear that he values friendship over money.
• Xiao Hongchen moves from anxious curiosity and guarded bargaining to genuine warmth and trust. The gift changes how he sees Lu Yi, and he admits he has few—or perhaps no—friends.
• Meng Hongchen quietly laughs at Xiao’s claim, suggesting she knows his self-isolating habits well.
• Zhou Sichen is brought into the group through Lu Yi’s introduction, establishing a new connection among the characters.

Significant themes

• Friendship versus transaction: Lu Yi’s challenge forces Xiao to choose between treating the metal as a purchase and accepting it as a friend’s gift.
• Trust and misunderstanding: Xiao worries that suspicion could damage their repaired relationship, then learns to trust Lu Yi’s sincerity.
• Knowledge and innovation: Thousand Refinement represents a valuable craft insight that industrial-scale methods have not replaced; Lu Yi directs Xiao toward learning it rather than handing over the secret outright.

Key plot points and events

• Lu Yi, Xiao Hongchen, Meng Hongchen, and Zhou Sichen search the Star Dou Great Forest for suitable Soul Beasts. Meng needs a powerful poison-attribute beast, while Lu Yi is seeking high-quality elemental attributes. The group avoids unsuitable beasts, and Xiao’s Soul Tool Turrets drive off several hostile ones.
• The detector picks up a powerful beast beyond its normal range. Lu Yi scouts ahead and sees a wounded Goldflame Lion, estimated at just over thirty thousand years old, beside a group of strangers. Its golden bloodline impresses Xiao, but it is too young for his next ring and unsuitable for the others, so they decide to leave it alone.
• One of the strangers attacks by sending a bloodred Beast Soul at them. Xiao destroys it with cannon fire, and the three men reveal themselves as Eight-Ring Soul Douluos who control numerous lifeless Beast Souls.
• Lu Yi recognizes the men as Evil Soul Masters. His fire-and-light-enhanced Soul Skill burns through many of their Beast Souls, disrupting their control. Gong Changlong, who had been concealed nearby, confirms the men’s nature when they reveal their Evil Martial Souls and attack.
• Gong and other reinforcements engage the three brothers. He orders the younger group to retreat, and they withdraw several miles. Their escape is interrupted when they encounter a three-headed Scarlet Demon Mastiff—identified as the Scarlet King—and the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, the Auspicious Beast.

Character developments and interactions

• Meng Hongchen’s growing pallor highlights the danger of her poison-based Martial Soul and the shaky foundation left by her upbringing in the Sun Moon Empire. Despite that risk, she remains committed to strengthening her poison.
• Lu Yi is pragmatic about Soul Beast hunting: he favors Soul Spirits and wants to reduce hunting, but will still pursue a beast if its attributes would substantially strengthen him.
• Xiao relies increasingly on Lu Yi’s knowledge of unfamiliar Soul Beasts, while his overwhelming Soul Tool firepower proves useful both for deterrence and combat.
• Zhou Sichen lightly mocks Xiao’s claim that he would acquire the Goldflame Lion “properly,” exposing Xiao’s willingness to resort to force if negotiation failed.
• Gong Changlong shifts from observing the group to intervening once the brothers’ evil abilities and hostile intent become clear. Lu Yi’s unusually potent, light-bearing flames also surprise him.

Significant themes

• Power and risk: Strengthening one’s abilities can carry serious physical costs, as Meng’s poison backlash demonstrates.
• Ethics of Soul Beast use: The chapter contrasts Soul Spirits, which retain a bond and some individuality, with the brothers’ mutilated, puppet-like Beast Souls.
• Cooperation and restraint: The group evaluates whether a beast is truly useful rather than pursuing it simply because it is powerful; Xiao’s force is used against immediate threats.
• Hidden danger: The brothers’ attack turns a routine forest search into a confrontation, and the final appearance of the Auspicious Beast and its bodyguard signals another potentially dangerous encounter.

This passage contains only a brief note from the narrator, not a chapter narrative. They say they are stuck and want to organize the story and verify details across Douluo II, Legend of the Divine Realm, and Douluo III.

• Key events: No plot events are described.
• Character development: None is shown.
• Themes: The narrator’s need for research and clarification.
• Character interactions: None occur.

Key plot points and events

• Xiao Hongchen, Meng Hongchen, Zhou Sichen, and Lu Yi encounter the Scarlet King and the Three-Eyed Golden Lion. The beasts’ pressure frightens the group, and Lu Yi warns the others not to provoke them.
• Xiao quietly proposes using his weapons to create an opening for the group to escape, but the Scarlet King hears him and ignores the plan.
• The Three-Eyed Golden Lion identifies Lu Yi as the human with the unusual scent. The Scarlet King restrains him and carries him into the forest, leaving the other three behind.
• Lu Yi is taken to the Lake of Life in the Star Dou Great Forest’s Core Zone. The Golden Lion recognizes that his own scent resembles that of the Golden Tree that once grew beside the lake.
• Lu Yi suspects the connection comes from the Gold of Life within him and his Golden Wood Wand, which the Golden Ancient Tree altered. He asks to leave, but an unseen speaker declares that he must stay until they learn why the Golden Tree chose him.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Yi remains composed and pragmatic despite being overpowered. He tries to negotiate with the Scarlet King, then reasons through the Golden Lion’s claim and challenges the need to keep him captive.
• Xiao Hongchen responds to danger with a quick escape plan, while Meng Hongchen and Zhou Sichen are left shaken by the beasts’ power.
• The Three-Eyed Golden Lion is certain that Lu Yi carries the Golden Tree’s scent, a childhood memory she has struggled to recover. Her certainty gives way to confusion when she cannot explain what the connection means.
• The Scarlet King acts as the Golden Lion’s protector: it takes Lu Yi by force, without offering an explanation, and brings him to the Lake of Life.

Significant themes

• The imbalance of power between humans and Ferocious Beasts makes resistance futile, while intelligence and negotiation offer the only possible path.
• Memory and instinct can reveal connections that characters do not yet understand.
• Lu Yi’s mysterious bond with the Golden Tree—and possibly the Gold of Life—sets up questions about why he was “chosen” and what that means for both him and the beasts.

Key plot points and events

• Di Tian, the Beast God and ruler of the Star Dou Great Forest, confronts Lu Yi and questions the faint aura of the Golden Tree he senses on him.
• Lu Yi explains that the Golden Tree helped transform his Martial Soul, but says he knows nothing more. Di Tian remains determined to investigate and keeps him there.
• Lu Yi releases his Blazing Flame Spirit Fox, a Soul Beast revived as a Soul Spirit through his contract technique. The fox is terrified by Di Tian and hides in Lu Yi’s arms.
• Lu Yi explains that Soul Spirits retain a Soul Beast’s intelligence, provide Soul Rings, and may grow—offering a possible way to reduce the killing of Soul Beasts.
• Di Tian doubts the idea can spread because Soul Beasts generally distrust humans. Lu Yi counters that the Snow Empress and Titan Snow Demon King have agreed to support it, and says he is organizing people to develop the practice.
• Lu Yi urges Di Tian and the Star Dou Great Forest to join the effort.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Yi remains candid and composed despite Di Tian’s overwhelming power. He turns a tense interrogation into an opportunity to advocate for Soul Spirits and seek the Forest’s cooperation.
• Di Tian begins guarded and curious about Lu Yi’s connection to the Golden Tree. He is surprised by Lu Yi’s claims and skeptical of the Soul Spirit plan, but listens as Lu Yi explains it.
• The Blazing Flame Spirit Fox shows fear and vulnerability around Di Tian, while Lu Yi comforts and protects it.
• The Snow Empress and Titan Snow Demon King are not present, but their agreement gives Lu Yi’s proposal credibility and reveals that he has earned the trust of powerful Soul Beasts.

Significant themes

• Human–Soul Beast coexistence: Soul Spirits are presented as a voluntary alternative to killing Soul Beasts for Soul Rings.
• Trust and cooperation: Lu Yi argues that lasting change requires powerful representatives from both humans and Soul Beasts.
• Uncertainty and scrutiny: Lu Yi’s Golden Tree aura raises questions about whether he has been chosen for a special role, though he denies knowing anything about it.
• Power versus resolve: Though badly outmatched, Lu Yi relies on honesty, preparation, and persuasion rather than intimidation.