Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Xu Jiujiu’s carriage bypasses the visible Fatui camp and descends into a hidden underground complex, revealing the camp above as a deliberate decoy. The lavish, heavily equipped tunnels suggest a major construction project.
• Pantalone, represented by the masked “Owl Bro,” dismisses her attendants and presents a proposal to build railways and logistics routes across the Star Luo Empire, including two troop-transport tunnels to the Mingdou Mountain Range.
• The Fatui would finance construction in advance. In return, they seek 30 percent of commercial tax revenue along the routes and fifty years of operating rights.
• Xu Jiujiu recognizes that the deal carries political implications, but questions the Fatui’s real objective. She refuses to let the imperial family be used against Shrek Academy.
• Pantalone argues that Star Luo needs money and technology to compete with other powers and to preserve its influence as the Star Crown’s power wanes and the White Tiger Duke’s Mansion grows stronger.
• He describes the Fatui’s senior members and their separate ambitions: the Captain’s campaign against Evil Soul Masters and plans for an academy, Dottore’s Soul Guidance research, and Pantalone’s pursuit of continental economic power. He says the Fatui’s hidden leader generally lets them act independently.
• Pantalone begins laying out three conditions. The first requires Star Luo to announce its cooperation publicly, host Adventurers’ Guild branches with imperial support, and entrust the Guild with advanced communication services. The chapter ends before the remaining conditions are revealed.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Jiujiu stays composed despite being isolated and taken underground. She reads the proposal critically, identifies its strategic stakes, and presses Pantalone for the Fatui’s true aims rather than accepting the offer at face value.
• Pantalone presents himself as a courteous, calculating negotiator. He uses Star Luo’s financial and political vulnerabilities to make the agreement seem necessary, while also revealing information about the Fatui’s structure and agenda.
• Their exchange is a contest of probing and persuasion: Xu Jiujiu guards her empire’s political independence, while Pantalone frames economic partnership as the key to national strength.

Significant themes

• Economic power as political power: Pantalone argues that funding, technology, and infrastructure can shape a nation more deeply than military force.
• Influence disguised as mutual benefit: The railway offer appears generous, but its long-term revenue and operating terms would give the Fatui considerable leverage.
• National vulnerability and shifting power: Star Luo’s strained finances, the weakening Star Crown, and the White Tiger family’s resurgence make it susceptible to outside influence.
• Transparency versus secrecy: The hidden underground complex and the private negotiations contrast with Pantalone’s demand that Star Luo publicly announce its cooperation.

Key plot points and events

• Owl Bro outlines the Fatui’s terms for operating in the Star Luo Empire. Xu Jiujiu agrees to fund an information network that could rapidly share intelligence across the empire, recognizing its military value.
• The Fatui also seek legal recognition, permission to explore the wilderness for information and mineral deposits, and approval to establish an academy eligible for the Continental Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament. The Imperial Family would retain mining rights, while the Fatui would take only a share of resources.
• Xu Jiujiu insists that she—not a prince—attend the academy. Owl Bro accepts.
• Owl Bro announces a broader plan to make Credit Points central to the continent’s economy. For fifty years, the Fatui will control Soul Guidance Train routes, and train travel, Fatui technology, exhibitions, and auctions will require Credit Points, exchangeable for Gold Soul Coins.
• During their train ride, Owl Bro argues that economic dependence can secure loyalty more effectively than rewards or threats. Xu Jiujiu concludes that the empire must control the Titled Douluo’s “lifelines” to keep them loyal.
• The carriage reaches an underground station, where Xu Jiujiu sees a Soul Guidance Train arrive, revealing the technology behind the Fatui’s proposal.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Jiujiu proves politically astute and decisive: she accepts the Fatui’s proposals, negotiates her own place at the academy, and grasps the leverage inherent in economic control. Her view of her brother’s traditional approach to retaining powerful allies becomes markedly more critical.
• Owl Bro presents the Fatui’s demands with calm confidence, framing them as both practical arrangements and an unavoidable economic shift. He uses the prospect of advancement at the Fatui to make the academy offer more appealing.
• Their exchange is a negotiation between wary partners: Xu Jiujiu challenges the currency plan and suspects it may be a way to profit at her expense, while Owl Bro counters with a theory of loyalty rooted in financial dependence.

Significant themes

• Information as power: Fast communication could offset the Star Luo Empire’s military disadvantages.
• Economic control and dependence: The Fatui aim to build influence through currency, transport, technology, and access to trade.
• Loyalty versus coercion: Owl Bro argues that fear of losing one’s livelihood can bind allies more tightly than rewards or threats.
• Modernization and political change: The academy, exploration rights, and train network represent a challenge to established imperial systems—and an opportunity for Xu Jiujiu to prepare for that change.

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Hao and the others return from the Far North with Dottore’s latest research. Their train arrives frozen solid after Nether Bro drives it into a thundercloud at extreme speed.
• Xu Jiujiu, the Star Luo Empire’s eldest princess, is waiting at the underground facility. She studies the group closely, suspecting Jiang Hao may be a Fatui Executive because everyone seems to watch him and two Clones guard him.
• The group demonstrates an Extreme Cold potion. Ice Bro drinks it, causing his ice-type Martial Soul to grow dramatically stronger and purer. The enhancement is temporary at first, but repeated use may eventually produce a permanent breakthrough.
• Nether Bro warns Xu Jiujiu not to drink it: the potion is safe only for ice-type Soul Masters and could clog the meridians of anyone unable to channel its energy.
• Xu asks for potions suited to other attributes. She is shown a Mental Surge potion that temporarily heightens senses and Spiritual Power, but she avoids testing it and proposes taking it back to auction and study.
• Owl Bro gives Xu a tour of the underground hub. After escorting her back, Jiang Hao and the others watch preparations for a venue and discuss staging a spectacular duel to showcase Fatui Soul Tool technology.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Jiujiu proves observant and politically cautious: she tries to identify Jiang Hao’s role, probes the potion supply, and avoids risking herself on an unfamiliar product.
• Jiang Hao remains controlled and watchful, irritated by Nether Bro’s reckless driving and privately skeptical of the Clones’ questionable claims about the potions.
• Nether Bro is reckless but protective, both speeding back to avoid missing Xu and stopping her from drinking a dangerous potion.
• Ice Bro serves as the live demonstration, showing the potion’s dramatic effect while revealing its uncomfortable side effects.
• Owl Bro acts as Xu’s guide and host, while the group maintains a careful performance of cooperation and secrecy around her.

Significant themes

• Power through experimentation: Alchemical research can strengthen Soul Masters, though its risks and limits remain uncertain.
• Secrecy and suspicion: Xu watches the group for clues, while they carefully manage what she sees and learns.
• Spectacle and political influence: The planned duel is intended not just as entertainment, but as a public demonstration of the Fatui’s technological strength.

Key plot points and events

• The Nine Treasures City Soul Tool Expo prepares for its first public combat demonstration. Jiang Hao explains that the trials are meant to prove the Fatui’s weapons in battle and attract merchants and the Star Luo Imperial Family.
• The audience includes representatives of the major factions: Xu Jiujiu for the Star Luo Empire, Princess Vina for Heaven Dou, and Long Aotian of the Body Sect. Shrek’s delegation is notably small, with Xuan Zi watching Jiang Hao and Yan Shaozhe closely.
• The arena announces a defender-challenger format, with rewards for challengers—including a Soul Bone for a winning streak.
• The first match pits the Fatui’s Debt Collector against He Caitou of Shrek’s Soul Tool Department. He Caitou enters confidently with an extensive set of high-quality Soul Tools; the Debt Collector carries two specialized curved blades equipped with concealed technology.
• He Caitou fires immediately. The shell passes through the Debt Collector and hits the arena barrier: the Debt Collector has vanished.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Hao is eager to use combat demonstrations to promote Fatui technology, while keeping some of its capabilities secret.
• Ning Tian oversees security and takes a central role in representing the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect.
• Jiang Hao and Long Aotian recognize a similarity in one another; Long Aotian responds to Jiang Hao with a sharp, approving aura.
• Xuan Zi watches Jiang Hao and Yan Shaozhe, hinting at continuing tension between Shrek and the Fatui.
• He Caitou underestimates his opponent and expects his superior-looking equipment to secure victory.
• Shadow Bro, disguised as the Debt Collector, is impatient to finish the assigned match and appears far more formidable than He Caitou realizes.

Significant themes

• Technology as spectacle and strategy: The Fatui use public combat to demonstrate their weapons while deliberately withholding their most advanced designs.
• Perception versus reality: He Caitou judges the Debt Collector by the number of weapons he carries, while the opening attack reveals that the opponent’s abilities are not what they seem.
• Commerce and power: Credit Points, high-value purchases, and the Soul Bone prize show how technological innovation, wealth, and factional influence are intertwined.

Key plot points and events

• Shadow Bro defeats He Caitou in seconds. Using concealment and illusions, he strips away He Caitou’s flying equipment and destroys his wrist-mounted cannon before knocking him unconscious.
• Fan Yu protests that Shadow Bro won unfairly, but the Fatui display the two level-three Soul Tools responsible: a cloaking cape and a hunting blade that creates unhittable duplicates while allowing the real wielder to attack.
• Xuan Zi responds by threatening to cut the Soul Tool Department’s funding, leaving Fan Yu disillusioned and questioning whether he can pursue his research at Shrek.
• Fan Yu goes to the infirmary to check on He Caitou. He sees staff administer treatment, then draw He Caitou’s blood. Unbeknownst to him, they hope to extract a “Martial Soul Affinity Factor” for an Artificial Martial Soul project.

Character developments and interactions

• Shadow Bro reveals how effectively the Fatui combine Soul Tools with Martial Soul abilities, and ends the match with a blunt “Next.”
• Fan Yu moves from professional concern and outrage to despair over Shrek’s lack of support. His thoughts turn toward leaving, though he puts He Caitou’s welfare first.
• Xu Jiujiu explains the Debt Collectors’ role and equipment to Princess Vina and Long Aotian. Her knowledge makes them question why she knows more about the Fatui than they do.
• Xuan Zi berates He Caitou and threatens the Soul Tool Department’s resources, worsening Fan Yu’s sense of abandonment.
• In the infirmary, the staff’s outwardly calm care contrasts with their secretive blood collection and research plans.

Significant themes

• Technological and institutional power: The Fatui’s advanced equipment overwhelms He Caitou and exposes the gap between their capabilities and Shrek’s.
• Neglect and disillusionment: Shrek’s treatment of its Soul Tool Department leaves Fan Yu doubting whether he can realize his ambitions there.
• Appearance versus reality: The match is publicly defended by displaying the tools’ functions, while the apparent medical care conceals a covert experiment.
• Competition and recruitment: Fatui and Star Luo advertisements highlight rival institutions actively seeking talent, in contrast with Shrek’s failure to support its own people.

Plot points and events

• Jiang Hao’s Fatui trio—the Cryo Skirmisher, Electrohammer Vanguard, and Pyro Gunner—crushes a team from the Star Luo Empire in ten minutes. The crowd is bored by the one-sided match, while Xu Jiujiu is impressed by the Fatui’s Soul Guidance technology.
• Ning Tian invites Jiang Hao and his companions to visit the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect. Jiang Hao agrees, both to accept her hospitality and to learn more about the sect’s political situation.
• On the way, the group sees elaborate wedding decorations. Ning Tian explains that the sect is to marry a granddaughter of an elder to Duke Minghuo of the Netherflame family.
• Jiang Hao realizes the duke escaped the destruction of his estate because he had already left to arrange the marriage. His people report that the estate and its inhabitants—including the Soul Beasts—have since been wiped out, but the duke apparently knows nothing of it.
• Wooden Door Bro condemns the match, while Ning Tian explains that her grandfather hopes the marriage will restore the sect’s political influence. The sect withdrew from politics long ago and has since lost ground to the Xuanming Sect.
• Wooden Door Bro asks whether Ning Tian knows Qingzhu, a Fatui member from the sect’s Wind Sword line. Ning Tian says she does not know her but offers to inquire.
• Ning Tian leads the group to a modest side hall on the rear mountain, surprising Jiang Hao with how plainly she lives.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Hao balances public competition with covert political planning. He is stunned to learn that the supposedly destroyed Duke is alive and has unknowingly escaped the massacre.
• Ning Tian shows reluctance about the arranged marriage but explains its political purpose. Her hospitality contrasts with the sect’s lavish wedding preparations and her sparse living quarters.
• Wooden Door Bro openly challenges the morality of marrying into Duke Minghuo’s family; Ning Tian defends the arrangement as a strategic attempt to regain influence.
• The Fatui members maintain their cover as a group of young fighters, while two who had been cultivating within the sect are now temporarily mingling with them.

Significant themes

• Power and political compromise: The sect’s attempt to regain influence comes at the cost of an arranged marriage.
• Appearances versus reality: Wedding festivities proceed while the groom’s estate has been destroyed, and the duke remains unaware.
• Technological and military dominance: The Fatui’s advanced equipment produces a decisive victory.
• Wealth versus personal circumstances: The sect is prosperous and politically connected, yet Ning Tian lives in a notably modest residence.

Plot points and events

• Jiang Hao and his companions visit Ning Tian’s secluded side hall, where she explains that the Fire Dragon Lineage trains in the nearby hot springs.
• Fireworks announce the marriage alliance between Duke Minghuo’s household and the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect. Ning Tian asks Jiang Hao to postpone the next day’s competition so her close friend’s wedding can be held with more dignity, and invites the Fatui to attend.
• Jiang Hao agrees: the Fatui already plan to move the third match to the following day, intending to unveil new machinery. He privately decides to stage that spectacle earlier.
• Ning Tian reveals that the sect is divided over its relationship with the Fatui. She has little authority, and her grandfather has been working behind the scenes to support them. Jiang Hao concludes the Fatui should repay the sect’s help.
• Ning Tian returns to her room and inspects the Fire Element Shotgun her father left her, apparently preparing to act on her own.
• At the Fatui base, Jiang Hao’s companions debate what to do about the still-living Netherflame Duke, an Evil Soul Master. Suggestions include killing him openly, fabricating a public incident to expose him, or ambushing him after the wedding. Each plan raises political or moral complications, and they decide to wait and adapt.

Character developments and interactions

• Ning Tian shows vulnerability and determination: she asks Jiang Hao for help, explains her friend’s predicament, and plans to save her herself while her father remains missing.
• Jiang Hao responds with consideration and recognizes the Fatui’s debt to Ning Tian’s family. He also keeps the Fatui’s planned public demonstration on schedule, if earlier than originally intended.
• The Fatui companions disagree over justice, political legitimacy, and the consequences for the bride. Mingzi Bro angrily rejects excessive caution, while Owl Bro stresses that the Fatui lack Shrek’s authority and power.
• Ning Tian’s warmth toward Jiang Hao and the group contrasts with the sect’s political divisions and the wedding’s grim circumstances.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and reciprocity: the Fatui must decide whether to stand by an ally who has helped them.
• Justice versus political legitimacy: exposing or killing the duke may be morally justified, but acting without recognized authority could provoke wider conflict.
• Agency and sacrifice: Ning Tian refuses to accept her friend’s forced marriage as inevitable.
• Uncertainty: despite elaborate plans, Owl Bro expects events to take an unpredictable turn.

Key plot points and events

• Feng Qingshu is confined in a secluded residence and told she must marry the Netherflame Duke, an older noble. Her father says both the former Sect Master and her grandfather approved the match, and warns that resistance will damage the sect’s reputation.
• With her Soul Power sealed and feeling trapped, Qingshu decides to die rather than go through with the wedding. She swallows a delayed-acting poison, then laments that she will never travel freely or find a partner.
• The next morning, the wedding procession winds through the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect. Xu Jiujiu watches it as a possible model for political marriage alliances, especially amid rising tensions with the Sun Moon Empire.
• The sect’s Sect Master, Ning Zhiyuan, is conspicuously absent from the wedding and recent events. Yan Qianqiu, a Titled Douluo and husband of the former Sect Master, presides over the gathering instead.
• Meanwhile, Banner Bro, Nether Bro, and their companions hide nearby in disguise. They spot an armed escort transporting supplies toward the dungeon and suspect the sect may be holding prisoners there. They use Shadow Bro’s ability to follow it.

Character developments and interactions

• Qingshu shifts from protesting the forced marriage to desperate resolve, believing suicide is her only escape. She also grieves the future she feels has been taken from her.
• Qingshu’s father prioritizes the family and sect’s reputation over his daughter’s wishes, insisting the marriage is settled and leaving her alone.
• Xu Jiujiu thinks strategically about using marriage to strengthen her empire’s position. She is also drawn to the confidence and “heroic spirit” she sees in Owl Bro and the others.
• Dai Yueheng, newly released from confinement, becomes excited when Xu Jiujiu smiles at him.
• Banner Bro’s group remains ready to intervene if trouble arises, but their discovery of the armed escort redirects their attention toward the dungeon.

Significant themes

• Coercion and personal agency: Qingshu’s forced marriage and sealed Soul Power leave her feeling she has no control over her life.
• Political marriage and power: Xu Jiujiu views marriage as a tool for strengthening national alliances.
• Public reputation versus private suffering: The sect’s concern with its image contrasts sharply with Qingshu’s distress.
• Suspicion and hidden agendas: Ning Zhiyuan’s unexplained absence and the secretive prisoner escort hint at deeper activity within the sect.

Key plot points

• While searching the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect’s dungeon, Shadow Bro, Banner Bro, and their companions are discovered. They subdue the guards and open the cell they believe holds the Netherflame Duke.
• Instead, they find former sect master Ning Fengzhi chained and mutilated, a dead Nine Treasures elder, and a badly injured Fire Dragon Tribe Titled Douluo.
• At the wedding, Ning Tian rejects the forced marriage to the Netherflame Duke and demands to know where her father is. She tears off her veil, revealing her distress.
• Wooden Door Bro intervenes when guards move to seize Ning Tian. He catches and shatters one guard’s sword, condemning him for drawing it against someone weaker.
• Blind Bro joins the confrontation and attacks the Netherflame Duke. The strike provokes the Duke’s Evil Fire, exposing him as an Evil Soul Master in front of the wedding guests.

Character developments and interactions

• Wooden Door Bro acts with unusual courage to protect Ning Tian, motivated by their friendship and his respect for her. His challenge also gives her a chance to resist the marriage.
• Blind Bro turns his sharp observations into action, confronting the Duke despite being only a two-ring Soul Master.
• Shadow Bro’s carelessness reveals the group in the dungeon, frustrating Banner Bro and forcing them to fight.
• Jiang Hao recognizes the horror of Ning Fengzhi’s condition and silently supports the younger generation’s disruption of the wedding.
• The powerful adults largely remain passive, while the younger characters take the risks of opposing the marriage and its enforcers.

Significant themes

• Courage versus complicity: The chapter contrasts the younger characters’ willingness to act with the older generation’s inaction or self-interest.
• Power and abuse: The mutilated prisoners and forced marriage reveal the cruelty hidden beneath the sect’s public respectability.
• The meaning of wielding a sword: Wooden Door Bro argues that a weapon is dishonorable when used to oppress someone weaker.
• Truth revealed through resistance: Blind Bro’s attack exposes the Duke’s evil nature, shifting the crowd’s perception of him.

Key plot points and events

• The Netherflame Duke rejects the accusation that his Evil Fire makes him an Evil Soul Master, but then unleashes his full power and sends tormented spirits toward the spectators.
• The other nations hesitate to intervene for political reasons. Fan Yu also holds back, while Long Aotian carries Vina away to fetch an elder who can confront the Duke.
• On the battlefield, the Duke overwhelms Jiang Hao’s Clones and their allies. Wooden Door Bro and Ghost Bro use their Martial Soul Fusion Skill to trap him in a nightmare, allowing Blind Bro to land a powerful strike.
• The Duke breaks free, injures the two brothers, and is then hit by Ning Tian’s fully charged Level 4 Soul Guidance Ray.
• Yan Qianqiu intervenes, destroys Ning Tian’s weapon, and attacks Jiang Hao. Jiang Hao meets the Titled Douluo head-on, badly injuring his hand and being thrown back.
• Jiang Hao survives Yan’s follow-up thanks first to an Invincible Shield and then to the Angel’s Blessing Soul Tool Ning Tian had given him, whose holy protection appears around him.

Character developments

• Jiang Hao chooses to stand his ground despite knowing Yan Qianqiu is far stronger. His self-sacrifice shows both courage and a tendency to gamble everything.
• Ning Tian risks herself to fire her Soul Guidance Ray and is injured in the process. Seeing her gift protect Jiang Hao, she reflects that going all-in can be wise.
• The Netherflame Duke shifts from presenting himself as a wronged host to unleashing his dangerous power, escalating the conflict.
• Long Aotian acts decisively to get Vina to safety and seek help.

Significant themes

• Courage and risk: Jiang Hao’s defiance is nearly fatal, yet his willingness to commit everything helps buy the others time.
• Judgment and prejudice: The chapter raises the question of whether an “evil” attribute automatically makes someone an Evil Soul Master, even as the Duke’s actions complicate his defense.
• Political caution versus moral action: Spectators with power hold back because intervening could affect relations between empires.
• Unexpected consequences of kindness: Ning Tian’s earlier gift becomes the protection that saves Jiang Hao.

Character interactions

• The Duke confronts the spectators and specifically looks toward Shrek Academy, whose representatives initially do not intervene.
• Xu Jiujiu’s guard urges her to withdraw rather than risk Star Luo’s political position.
• Wooden Door Bro and Ghost Bro coordinate their fusion attack, while Blind Bro uses the opening to strike.
• Ning Tian’s attack prompts Yan Qianqiu’s intervention; Jiang Hao then protects her allies and is protected in turn by the Soul Tools she provided.

Key plot points and events

• As the battle against Netherflame Duke and Yan Qianqiu turns desperate, Marionette arrives aboard the Relic Dragon Beast. Though Yan Shaozhe refuses to intervene directly, he has sent her to keep Jiang Hao alive and protect the Fatui.
• Marionette attacks with guided Soul Tool Missiles and a laser, while warning that Yan Shaozhe’s refusal to help is partly due to the group’s reckless decision to fight publicly.
• Banner Bro joins the assault with the Myriad Souls Banner, targeting Netherflame Duke’s vengeful spirits. Nether Bro uses Fate Link and a water-powered weapon to weaken Yan Qianqiu and briefly trap him in a bubble.
• Marionette and Jiang Hao add their attacks. Jiang Hao boosts the Fatui and his Clones with his group Soul Skill; Princess Xu Jiujiu supports the fighters with the Star Crown’s defensive and attribute enhancements.
• Ning Tian reaches her limit while supporting the others. A glass bead Jiang Hao gave her earlier awakens as an Anemo Vision, strengthening her and suggesting that she is now under a god’s watch.
• In the Far North, Dottore begins an experiment to investigate what divinity is and what causes Visions to awaken.

Character developments and interactions

• Marionette proves willing to rescue Jiang Hao despite his objections and her own contempt for his planning. Her confident piloting contrasts with her frustration at the Relic Dragon Beast’s poor controls.
• Jiang Hao abandons his feigned helplessness and actively supports the battle, though Marionette’s intervention exposes how badly his plans have gone.
• Ning Tian moves from exhausted support to a new stage of power with her Anemo Vision, which Jiang Hao had quietly given her.
• Yan Shaozhe remains absent but sends a message: he will not personally intervene, preserving an old connection while holding the Fatui responsible for their choices.
• Xu Jiujiu reacts physically to Jiang Hao’s Soul Skill before composing herself and aiding the fighters.
• Dottore shifts from observation to experimentation, turning his attention to the nature of Visions and divinity.

Significant themes

• Responsibility and consequences: Yan Shaozhe’s refusal to save the group reflects the cost of acting recklessly.
• Power and cooperation: The fighters combine technology, Soul Skills, support abilities, and elemental powers to withstand stronger enemies.
• Faith, desire, and divinity: Ning Tian’s Vision awakening and Dottore’s questions frame uncertainty over whether Visions come from emotion, wishes, or something divine.

Key plot points and events

• Ning Tian awakens Anemo power at the brink of death and attacks her grandfather, Yan Qianqiu, with a tornado, badly weakening him.
• Marionette reveals her formidable Ice Elemental power, freezes Yan Qianqiu’s Flaming Serpent, and hints that her unusual mechanical nature is unlike any life he understands. The other Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect elders arrive to join the fight.
• The Netherflame Duke is overwhelmed by the Fatui-aligned fighters. Banner Bro, Flame Bro, and their companions claim to be sons of the Body Sect’s master, Du Busi—but their obviously fake names give them away.
• Du Busi suddenly appears and kills the Netherflame Duke with a single strike. The Nine Treasures elders abandon the fight, and the battle ends in the sect’s defeat.
• Seeing Feng Qingzhu collapse amid the wreckage, Du Busi condemns the sect for forcing people’s choices. He gives members three days to leave freely and threatens anyone who tries to stop them.
• Elders Red Flame and Wind Hammer decide to defect, citing the sect’s unfair treatment of its lineages and the opportunity to put the greater good first. Yan Qianqiu, enraged by the collapse of his authority and faction, dies.
• Du Busi reflects that he must warn his own sect against interfering in disciples’ love lives, recalling that he once interfered in Jiang Hao’s.

Character developments and interactions

• Ning Tian turns against Yan Qianqiu, showing both newly awakened power and a decisive break from her family loyalty.
• Marionette proves much stronger than Yan Qianqiu expected and further establishes her mysterious, nonhuman nature.
• Yan Qianqiu loses control of the battle, his family, and his sect’s support; his anger and past abuses culminate in his death.
• Du Busi arrives as an overwhelming protector, first saving the disguised fighters and then using his authority to give the sect’s members a choice.
• Red Flame and Wind Hammer move from preparing to fight to abandoning the sect, while Feng Qingzhu’s grief underscores the human cost of the conflict.
• Du Busi recognizes Banner Bro and Nether Bro despite their disguises and notices Jiang Hao, prompting regret about his own past choices.

Significant themes

• Freedom and coercion: Du Busi’s ultimatum challenges the sect’s control over its members’ personal choices.
• Family loyalty and betrayal: Ning Tian attacks her grandfather, while elders and lineages turn away from the sect that empowered them.
• Power and misjudgment: Yan Qianqiu underestimates both Ning Tian and Marionette, and the sect’s confidence collapses when Du Busi intervenes.
• The consequences of control: Yan Qianqiu’s death and the elders’ defection reflect how manipulation and favoritism can destroy a community.

Key plot points

• Three days after the battle, the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect is weakened: many affiliated factions have departed, its barracks are mostly empty, and Ning Tian is besieged by suitors hoping to exploit the sect’s wealth.
• Ning Zhiyuan has recovered with Fatui-made prosthetic limbs. He is delighted by the machinery and jokes about replacing more of his body.
• Owl Bro offers the sect ten Fatui Tiller units led by Relic Dragon Beasts, free of charge, as a powerful substitute for some of its lost strength.
• In return, Ning Zhiyuan pledges close economic and political ties: the sect’s businesses will give the Fatui favorable terms, and its banks will become Northland Bank branches under a profit-sharing arrangement.
• In the back courtyard, Du Busi tries to recruit Jiang Hao to the Body Sect and probes his standing within the Fatui. Jiang denies being its leader, though Du suspects he holds a high position.
• Jiang plans to cultivate for the next few years and obtain his Second Soul Ring. He also intends to protect the weakened sect by confronting powerful groups that might prey on it—starting with Shrek Academy.

Character developments and interactions

• Ning Zhiyuan shifts from despair at being disabled and politically powerless to renewed confidence. His gratitude becomes a firm commitment to the Fatui, which he sees as both powerful and trustworthy.
• Ning Tian remains worried about her sect’s future and frustrated by the opportunistic suitors pursuing her.
• Owl Bro demonstrates the Fatui’s willingness to invest in an ally through the free military units.
• Du Busi is shrewd but friendly: he tests Jiang, warns him about predatory merchants, offers him a place in the Body Sect, and volunteers its help.
• Jiang Hao stays guarded about his Fatui position, but reveals ambition and resolve. He recognizes the sect’s vulnerability and plans to strike first rather than wait for others to exploit it.

Significant themes

• Alliance and reciprocity: The Fatui supports the Nine Treasures Sect, and Ning Zhiyuan responds with substantial economic backing.
• Technology and transformation: Ning Zhiyuan embraces mechanical prosthetics, while the Fatui’s autonomous machines reshape the balance of power.
• Predation on the vulnerable: The sect’s decline attracts suitors and opportunists, prompting Jiang’s plan to confront a major power.
• Ambition and self-protection: Du urges caution, while Jiang chooses a bold path to defend the sect and challenge those he believes have grown too powerful.

Plot points and events

• Two and a half years after the previous events, Huo Yuhao is working at the Adventurers’ Guild in the Star Dou Great Forest. He turns in more than a hundred Soft Bone Rabbit heads and exchanges his commission reward for medicinal herbs for his mother.
• The Guild has supported Huo Yuhao since Katheryne recruited him two years ago, providing steady work, supplies, and access to a physician. His relentless completion of simple commissions has raised his adventurer level to twenty, despite having only level-ten Soul Power.
• Katheryne recommends that he obtain his first, Hundred-Year Soul Ring, offering to arrange a hunting team at a discount. Huo Yuhao declines because the remaining cost would compete with the money he needs for his mother’s medicine. Confident in his Spirit Eyes and dagger, he plans to hunt a Soft Bone Rabbit himself the next day.
• After Huo Yuhao leaves, the chapter reveals that most of the camp’s residents are Jiang Hao’s Clones. Several eccentric figures arrive: Xingzi, an angel-winged young man, Blind Bro, and Wooden Door Bro. Flatbread Bro teases Wooden Door Bro for neglecting his old stall now that he has a useful Soul Skill.

Character developments

• Huo Yuhao has become disciplined, capable, and resourceful through constant hunting and Guild work. He remains devoted to his mother, putting her treatment ahead of his own advancement. However, his confidence may be overreliance: he assumes a Hundred-Year Soul Beast will not be much harder to kill than the Ten-Year rabbits he knows.
• Katheryne continues to act as a supportive guide, showing concern for Huo Yuhao’s mother and encouraging him to progress.
• Xingzi, Blind Bro, Wooden Door Bro, and Flatbread Bro are introduced or reunited in a comic, informal gathering that hints at their distinct abilities and relationships.

Themes

• Duty and sacrifice: Huo Yuhao repeatedly prioritizes his mother’s needs over personal growth.
• Persistence and earned progress: His high adventurer rank comes from tireless work rather than exceptional Soul Power.
• Risk and ambition: His decision to face a Hundred-Year Soul Beast alone shows both courage and potentially dangerous overconfidence.
• Hidden identities and the uncanny: The revelation that most townspeople are clones underlines the unusual, concealed forces operating behind the everyday setting.

Character interactions

• Huo Yuhao and Katheryne share a trusting, caring relationship built through years of Guild work; she offers practical help, while he politely declines for financial reasons.
• Huo Yuhao’s quiet resolve contrasts with the lively comedy among the arriving characters.
• Flatbread Bro ribbing Wooden Door Bro and Blind Bro joking about Xingzi’s feathers establish a teasing, familiar camaraderie among the group.

Key plot points and events

• A group of undercover operatives—Red Moon Bro, Wooden Door Bro, Poker Bro, Mantis Bro, and Shaobing Bro—reunite at a roadside food stall after traveling to the Star Dou Great Forest. They discuss their mission: guide Huo Yuhao toward Tang Ya and Shrek Academy, while avoiding interference unless Electrolux or the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm are involved.
• Wooden Door Bro visits Captain Qingzhu, who is patrolling the forest wall. She greets him with a sword fight and displays her newly attained sixth Soul Ring and powerful sixth Soul Skill.
• The next morning, Huo Yuhao enters the forest alone to hunt for a Soul Ring, hoping to save Credit Points for his mother’s medicine. The operatives follow discreetly, worried he may encounter Godslayer and claim a Soul Ring before they can intervene.
• Huo Yuhao quickly kills four Soft Bone Rabbits and roasts them. Their appetizing smell draws Red Moon’s group—and Tang Ya and Bei Bei—toward his camp.
• Red Moon presents his Adventurer’s Certificate to reassure Huo Yuhao that the operatives are harmless. Tang Ya, however, focuses on the rabbits and tries to take one, offering Gold Soul Coins. Huo Yuhao insists on payment in Credit Points. Tang Ya admits she has run out of Gold Soul Coins and calls on Bei Bei to pay.

Character developments and interactions

• Huo Yuhao comes across as capable and vigilant: he hunts and cooks efficiently, reacts quickly to unexpected visitors, and remains cautious despite the Adventurer’s Certificate. His concern for his mother motivates his solitary hunt.
• Red Moon tries to keep the mission discreet and manage the group, but his operatives’ hunger and carelessness repeatedly threaten their cover.
• Tang Ya is impulsive and food-driven, eagerly reaching for Huo Yuhao’s rabbit before paying. Her encounter with his cold, unsettling gaze briefly frightens her, though she quickly returns to bargaining.
• Bei Bei appears beside Tang Ya but has not yet spoken; she is immediately tasked with paying for Tang Ya’s meal.
• Wooden Door Bro and Qingzhu share a spirited, combative reunion, with Qingzhu demonstrating her increased strength.
• The operatives’ joking camaraderie contrasts with the serious purpose of their infiltration.

Significant themes

• Duty and sacrifice: Huo Yuhao’s hunt is tied to his effort to support his mother.
• Disguise and secrecy: The operatives must conceal their intentions while steering Huo Yuhao toward Shrek.
• Hunger and temptation: Food repeatedly disrupts the mission, bringing the characters together and exposing the operatives.
• Money and differing systems: Credit Points are central to Huo Yuhao’s choices, while Tang Ya relies on Gold Soul Coins, creating a comic clash during their first meeting.

Key plot points and events

• Bei Bei pays Huo Yuhao a Credit Point, easing the tension after Huo Yuhao had been holding Tang Ya’s arm.
• Huo Yuhao shares roasted rabbit with Ye Hongyue’s group and learns they are in the forest to catch cicada nymphs for an Adventurers’ Guild commission—not hunt Soul Beasts.
• While cooking, Huo Yuhao recalls his mother’s dream of running a roast-rabbit shop. His peaceful life has made him less desperate to obtain a Soul Ring.
• Huo Yuhao offers to help locate the nymphs with his Spirit Eyes in exchange for a small share of the commission. Ye Hongyue accepts.
• Tang Ya asks to join as well, claiming she and Bei Bei can use the Tang Sect’s Purple-Gold Demon Eyes to search.
• Huo Yuhao is startled to hear of the Tang Sect, which his mother had mentioned. Bei Bei introduces himself as its senior disciple and reveals his Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul.
• Ye Hongyue introduces himself as a twelve-year-old, level-thirty Soul Elder whose Red Moon Martial Soul serves both assault and control roles.

Character developments and interactions

• Huo Yuyao’s competence at dressing and roasting rabbits earns the group’s praise, and his warm memories of his mother reveal his hopes for a modest, stable future.
• Tang Ya moves quickly from irritation to enjoying the food and becoming eager to keep Huo Yuhao close—partly because she imagines his cooking benefiting the Tang Sect.
• Bei Bei quietly helps defuse the initial conflict by paying Huo Yuhao, then makes his identity and strength known.
• Ye Hongyue is friendly toward Huo Yuhao and agrees to work together, while privately seeing a future alliance with Bei Bei as useful to his own plans.

Significant themes

• Ordinary hopes amid adventure: Huo Yuhao values safety, family memories, and a simple livelihood alongside Soul Master ambitions.
• Trust and cooperation: Food and shared work turn a tense encounter into a potential team.
• Legacy and belonging: The Tang Sect’s name connects Huo Yuhao to his mother’s past and sparks his curiosity.
• Hidden agendas: Ye Hongyue’s welcoming manner coexists with strategic thoughts about future alliances.

Key plot points and events

• The adventurers introduce themselves to Bei Bei, revealing a remarkably strong group of young Soul Masters. Ye Hongyue adds that their absent companion, Blind Bro, has reached level forty.
• Bei Bei is stunned by their strength, while Huo Yuhao realizes how far behind his peers he is and feels a new urgency to improve.
• Despite the group’s numbers, the fate-driven Wind Baboon attacks Huo Yuhao. The team kills it almost instantly with several powerful Soul Skills.
• In the meantime, Banner Bro and Ice Crystal Bro carry out a plan to capture a spiritual entity. Ice Crystal Bro uses potions in a dangerous procedure, while Electrolux awakens and absorbs wandering souls to replenish his Spiritual Power. Banner Bro collapses after their apparent success.
• Two hours later, Huo Yuhao wakes to find Ye Hongyue alone and the others unconscious. Ye explains that he used his Martial Soul to shelter them in the Red Moon Space, then returns them there to keep them safe.
• Ye learns that Huo Yuhao has come to obtain his first Soul Ring. He warns him against taking the Wind Baboon’s ordinary ring and offers him a Soul Ring Condensation Potion, claiming it can create a Soul Skill perfectly suited to his Martial Soul.
• Huo Yuhao declines because he cannot afford it. Ye instead offers him a way to obtain the potion for free: joining the Fatui’s Seedling Plan.

Character developments

• Bei Bei is humbled by meeting a whole team of prodigies, challenging his confidence in his own standing.
• Huo Yuhao becomes newly conscious of his weak cultivation and more determined to grow stronger. His honesty and reluctance to accept something costly also show his modesty and integrity.
• Ye Hongyue acts protectively toward Huo Yuhao, but his offer is also motivated by his assignment from Dottore, making his kindness partly strategic.
• Tang Ya feels outmatched by the group and awkwardly changes the subject to their mission.

Significant themes

• Talent, ambition, and insecurity: Huo Yuhao’s encounter with stronger peers sharpens his desire to improve.
• Fate and intervention: Destiny drives the Wind Baboon to attack, while the team’s overwhelming strength cuts short that confrontation.
• Protection and manipulation: Ye safeguards Huo Yuhao but also uses a tempting offer to recruit him into the Fatui’s plan.
• The cost of power: Ice Crystal Bro’s potion-fueled procedure is physically brutal, suggesting that extraordinary gains may require serious sacrifice.

Character interactions

• The team’s introductions impress and unsettle Bei Bei, while Huo Yuhao quietly compares himself with them.
• Ye Hongyue guides and protects Huo Yuhao, moving him away from danger and later discussing his need for a Soul Ring.
• Huo Yuhao respectfully refuses the potion because he cannot pay; Ye responds by offering membership in the Seedling Plan as an alternative.

Key plot points and events

• Red Moon Bro explains the Fatui’s Seedling Plan, which recruits and trains talented commoner Soul Masters. Participants receive Soul Ring Condensation Serum, which lets their Martial Souls form a suitable Soul Ring naturally.
• Huo Yuhao decides to join the Fatui and uses the serum. His Soul Ring reaches only 300 years, the lowest result in the program, exposing his poor physical constitution.
• The group returns from the moonlit illusion. Tang Ya and Bei Bei, who were genuinely affected by Sky Dream Ice Silkworm’s mental attack, wake up later; the others had only been pretending to sleep.
• As the Fatui group prepares to leave for Shrek Academy, Tang Ya invites Huo Yuhao to join the Tang Sect. Red Moon Bro instead gives him a recommendation letter for Shrek.
• Wooden Door Bro reveals that the group has dozens of such letters, astonishing Tang Ya, who had believed her own special admission token was valuable.

Character developments

• Huo Yuhao accepts the Fatui’s offer, partly because the organization seems reputable and the serum is a valuable benefit. His weak physique becomes a clear disadvantage, but he now has a route toward studying at Shrek.
• Red Moon Bro acts as Huo Yuhao’s recruiter and guide, helping him join the Fatui and arranging his academy recommendation.
• Tang Ya shows her generosity and enthusiasm by inviting Huo Yuhao—and the others—into the Tang Sect, while her assumptions about Shrek admissions are undercut.
• Sky Dream Ice Silkworm is revealed to have attempted a mental attack that was overwhelmed by the Fatui Clones’ numbers.

Character interactions

• Red Moon Bro explains the serum and waits for Huo Yuhao to choose, then helps him secure a place at Shrek.
• Tang Ya competes with the Fatui’s offer by proposing Tang Sect membership and easy admission to Shrek.
• Huo Yuhao is caught between the two opportunities, but Red Moon Bro’s recommendation settles his immediate plans.
• Wooden Door Bro’s blunt joke about the plentiful recommendation letters shocks Tang Ya.

Significant themes

• Opportunity and institutional support: The Fatui’s program gives commoner Soul Masters training and access to resources otherwise difficult to obtain.
• Individual limits: The serum can tailor a Soul Ring to its user, but Huo Yuhao’s low tolerance limits how powerful his ring can be.
• Comedic reversal: Tang Ya presents her invitation as a major privilege, only to discover that the Fatui have recommendations in abundance.

Key events

• Red Moon Bro watches Tang Ya absorb her third Soul Ring, Spider Web Restraint, and privately considers bringing her into the Fatui to protect and train her before the Holy Spirit Cult can abduct her.
• He plans to pull Tang Ya and Bei Bei away from Shrek Academy. Tang Ya is his real priority because he sees promise in her Blue Silver Grass; taking Bei Bei would also hurt Mu En, whom Red Moon Bro resents.
• When Red Moon Bro questions Tang Ya’s choice of poison- and animal-type Soul Rings, she defends it as the proven method used by Tang San, based on the teachings of the revered Yu Xiaogang.
• Red Moon Bro reveals that Yu Xiaogang was still below level twenty-nine at fifty. Tang Ya and Bei Bei realize that the history they were taught omits or distorts important facts, and Tang Ya’s faith in the Tang Sect’s inherited wisdom begins to break.
• Red Moon Bro then argues that Tang Ya’s Soul Rings duplicate abilities her plant-type Martial Soul already has, while poison may harm its growth. Using records from his Book of All Knowledge, he shows her alternative evolutionary paths.
• In tears, Tang Ya asks why her Martial Soul has not developed as Tang San’s supposedly did. Red Moon Bro suggests the explanation: Tang San may not have had ordinary Blue Silver Grass, but a Blue Silver Grass Sovereign strengthened by extraordinary life force.

Character developments and interactions

• Tang Ya shifts from proud certainty in Tang Sect tradition to confusion and doubt. Her frustration becomes personal as she confronts the gap between the promised results and her own experience.
• Bei Bei begins as a worried, supportive presence beside Tang Ya, but is stunned by the revelation about Yu Xiaogang and the gaps in his family’s historical records.
• Red Moon Bro moves from privately plotting to manipulate events to openly challenging Tang Ya’s beliefs. Though he initially jokes at their expense, he ultimately offers evidence and a possible explanation for her Martial Soul’s failure to evolve.
• Tang Ya and Bei Bei rely on inherited legends; Red Moon Bro’s questions and records force them to confront how little they know about the history behind those stories.

Significant themes

• History and propaganda: Celebrated accounts can conceal inconvenient truths, leaving later generations with a distorted legacy.
• Faith versus evidence: Tang Ya’s inherited certainty collapses when it meets contradictory facts and practical results.
• Individual potential and inherited methods: A technique that worked for an ancestor may not suit someone with different underlying traits.
• Manipulation and protection: Red Moon Bro intends to steer Tang Ya’s future for his own purposes, while presenting that intervention as a way to save and guide her.

Plot points and events

• Tang Ya is shaken by Red Moon Bro’s claim that killing someone is no worse than a head hitting the ground. Though she cannot yet accept that the Tang Sect’s founder may have omitted crucial information, she leaves with Bei Bei, while Ye Hongyue privately welcomes the doubts as a chance to draw her toward the Fatui.
• A day later, Huo Yuhao and his companions arrive at Shrek City to register at Shrek Academy. Huo notices that parts of the city wall appear newer than the rest.
• At the registration desk, Ye Hongyue impresses the staff with his level-38 Red Moon Martial Soul. Blind Bro then reveals his White-Eyed Azure Dragon Martial Soul and level-41 Soul Power, summoning a dragon phantom that briefly sharpens his vision.
• Bro Xingchen’s enormous wings overwhelm the registrar. He introduces his Starry Sky Holy Angel Martial Soul and level-31 support-and-healing ability. Zhou Wen and Zhou Lang also register, displaying level-28 Martial Souls.
• Huo Yuhao, listed at level fifteen, barely meets the admission requirements. He then reveals a high-ranking gold-and-purple Adventurer’s Certificate, stunning the registrar, who questions whether a twelve-year-old with such credentials is even human.

Character developments

• Tang Ya is visibly hurt and beginning to question the history and teachings of her sect, though she is not yet ready to believe them false.
• Ye Hongyue shows that he is deliberately trying to deepen Tang Ya’s doubts for the Fatui’s benefit.
• Blind Bro demonstrates both his immense power and his worsening eyesight when not using his Martial Soul; his dragon form temporarily lets him see clearly.
• Huo Yuhao appears modest by Soul Power level, but his adventuring record hints at substantial experience and ability.
• The registrar shifts from routine confidence to repeated disbelief as unusually powerful young applicants arrive.

Significant themes

• Doubt and influence: Tang Ya’s uncertainty creates an opening for others to steer her loyalties.
• Appearance versus ability: Applicants’ looks and modest stated levels do not always reflect their power or experience.
• Exceptional talent: The parade of young Soul Masters challenges the registrar’s expectations—and the academy’s standards.
• Identity and humanity: The chapter’s closing joke frames Huo Yuhao’s extraordinary achievements as almost beyond human.

Character interactions

• Tang Ya ends her conversation with Red Moon Bro and leaves with Bei Bei; Ye Hongyue watches, pleased by the effect of the exchange.
• The applicants present their credentials to the registrar, whose reactions grow more incredulous with each revelation.
• Blind Bro’s dragon display silences the registrar, while Bro Xingchen’s wings physically dominate the desk area.
• Huo Yuhao’s certificate turns a seemingly unimpressive registration into the chapter’s final surprise.