Chapter Summaries

Key plot points

• The Snow Empress discovers that the Gulou Ball healed her severe injuries, restored her strength, and successfully formed the yin-yang complementary dual soul cores she had previously failed to create. This greatly improves her prospects of surviving her coming 700,000-year tribulation.
• The Ice Empress emerges from the King Ball after Chen Mo teases her about recording her crying. She beats him, confiscates his recording device, and deletes the images—unaware he has already made a backup.
• Chen Mo explains that the Ice and Snow Empresses used different Gulou Balls: the Ice Empress’s King Ball and the Snow Empress’s Cool Ball. Their effects account for their altered appearances, though Chen Mo cannot say whether the Snow Empress can regain her original color.
• The Snow Empress learns that the Ice Empress has agreed to serve as Chen Mo’s bodyguard for ten years. She decides to stay with them, having already appointed A-Tai ruler of the Far North.
• The two Empresses reunite privately, leaving Chen Mo to sleep downstairs. He instead begins practicing the Earth-tier movement technique Three Thousand Thunder Movement, quickly memorizing its instructions and starting cultivation.

Character developments and interactions

• The Snow Empress shifts from bewilderment at her transformation to gratitude for the Gulou Ball’s remarkable effects. She also chooses companionship with the Ice Empress over returning to the Far North.
• The Ice Empress remains protective of her dignity and quick to punish Chen Mo, but her reunion with the Snow Empress reveals their close bond.
• Chen Mo’s teasing leads to a comic beating, but he keeps his system’s role secret and secretly preserves the recording. He then turns his attention to mastering his new technique.
• The Snow and Ice Empresses share an affectionate, familiar conversation and later observe Chen Mo’s cultivation, recognizing that the technique seems powerful.

Significant themes

• Unexpected healing and transformation: The Gulou Balls restore the Snow Empress while changing both Empresses’ forms.
• Trust, secrecy, and embarrassment: Chen Mo’s hidden backup contrasts with the Ice Empress’s desire to protect her image; he also guards the secret of his system.
• Loyalty and companionship: The Snow Empress chooses to stay beside her longtime friend.
• Humor amid danger: Teasing and slapstick lighten the serious stakes of the Snow Empress’s future tribulation.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Mo sets aside practicing Three Thousand Thunder Movement to prepare for an approaching competition and begins studying alchemy.
• After learning the fundamentals from an Eighth-Rank Alchemist’s legacy, he chooses a first-grade Rejuvenation Pill for his first attempt.
• He takes the Black Demon Cauldron to a quiet outdoor spot and uses the Bone Chilling Flame, whose precise temperature control and purification properties should help a novice.
• His first refinement ends in a cauldron explosion. Protected by his Soul Tool Shield, Chen Mo survives but is left covered in soot, and the pill is burnt and misshapen.
• The Ice Empress and Snow Empress rush over after hearing the blast. The Ice Empress mocks the failed pill as sheep dung, while the Snow Empress shows restrained amusement.
• Chen Mo identifies mistakes in his technique and tries again. The second attempt fails during the fusion stage; he then continues through repeated explosive failures, inventing explanations and refusing to quit.

Character developments

• Chen Mo is diligent and willing to learn: he studied alchemy carefully before trying it, analyzes his errors, and persists despite embarrassment and repeated failure. His confidence is limited, but his determination is strong.
• Ice Empress is teasing and blunt, quickly turning the accident into a joke and advising Chen Mo to give up. Her humor provokes his indignation.
• Snow Empress remains comparatively composed, though even she finds the spectacle amusing.

Significant themes

• Persistence through failure: Chen Mo treats each explosion as a lesson and keeps trying.
• Learning through practice: Knowledge and preparation do not guarantee immediate mastery; practical timing and heat control prove difficult.
• Humor and companionship: The Empresses’ teasing provides comic relief and reveals a familiar, informal dynamic with Chen Mo.

Character interactions

• The Empresses mistake the explosion for an emergency and hurry to check on Chen Mo.
• The Ice Empress jokes that his soot-blackened face reflects anger over the sisters occupying his room, then ridicules his ruined pill.
• Chen Mo protests, explains the failed experiment, and defends his ability to improve.
• He asks both women to stand farther away before continuing, while they watch his increasingly frequent failures.

Plot points and events

• After more than twenty failed attempts, Chen Mo successfully refines four nearly perfect first-rank Rejuvenation Pills. He attributes his success to his growing command of fire control, purification, fusion, and tempering.
• The Snow Empress tests a pill and confirms it is harmless, though her immense power makes its healing effect difficult to notice. The skeptical Ice Empress then tries one too and agrees that it tastes good.
• Chen Mo keeps practicing, refining more batches before heading to the Soul Fighting Arena to sell the pills and test their effects on students.
• When customers demand a demonstration, Chen Mo recruits Xiao Hongchen—without warning him—and cuts his arm before forcing him to swallow a pill. The wound heals quickly, and Xiao also feels some of his spent Soul Power return.
• The demonstration convinces the crowd, who rush to buy the limited stock. Xiao is left realizing he was used as a test subject.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Mo proves persistent and increasingly skilled, but remains overconfident in his sales pitch and reckless in how he demonstrates his product. Rather than treating one success as proof of mastery, he continues practicing to strengthen his foundations.
• The Snow Empress shows unexpected trust by swallowing the pill immediately, while the Ice Empress remains distrustful at first because she saw Chen Mo’s failed pills kill test mice. She changes her mind after seeing her sister’s reaction.
• Xiao Hongchen is caught off guard by Chen Mo’s “demonstration,” becoming an unwilling guinea pig. His successful recovery validates the pills but leaves him angry and bewildered.
• The students at the arena begin skeptical, then become eager buyers after witnessing the medicine work.

Significant themes

• Persistence and improvement: Repeated failures help Chen Mo refine his technique and achieve success.
• Trust and skepticism: The Empresses’ different responses reflect how past failures affect confidence, while the public requires evidence before believing Chen Mo’s claims.
• Ambition and showmanship: Chen Mo’s “future number-one alchemist” branding and sales tactics reveal both his aspirations and his flair for self-promotion.
• Success with consequences: The pills work, but Chen Mo’s careless approach to proving it strains his friendship with Xiao.

Key events

• Shrek’s official competitors, led by Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng, wipe out an evil-soul-master hideout. Chen Zifeng and others prevent the survivors from escaping, while Gongyang Mo supports the team.
• The reserve roster includes the usual candidates plus Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu, whose Hell White Tiger martial-soul fusion skill makes them valuable. Huo Yuhao also joins: unable to obtain the Ice Empress, he accepts a wounded thousand-year Ice Jade Scorpion as his second martial soul. He and Wang Dong’s fusion skill helps secure his place.
• The group rests inside the cavern at Wang Yan’s direction. Xuan Zi stays outside, confident that no danger can threaten them, and celebrates with chicken and wine while boasting that Shrek will win the championship.
• Inside, Wang Dong objects to resting among corpses. Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu mock her, prompting a near-fight with Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao. Wang Yan breaks it up.
• Xu Sanshi tries to reassure Jiang Nannan, but she rejects him and tells him to stay away.
• Unbeknownst to the group, the hideout’s leader survived. He plans to use the accumulated corpses to amplify a Corpse Explosion and kill the Shrek party.

Character developments and interactions

• Huo Yuhao prioritizes gaining strength quickly, choosing an imperfect second martial soul despite the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm’s objections.
• Xuan Zi is boastful and complacent, convinced his power makes the group completely safe and Shrek unbeatable.
• Wang Dong is disgusted by the corpses and fiercely protective of Huo Yuhao; she confronts Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu, who remain hostile toward the pair.
• Jiang Nannan firmly rejects Xu Sanshi’s advances, while he continues trying to protect and comfort her.
• Wang Yan acts as mediator, calming the rivals and trusting Xuan Zi’s promise to intervene if necessary.

Significant themes

• Overconfidence and hidden danger: Shrek assumes the threat is gone, while the surviving leader turns their victory into a weapon.
• Ambition and compromise: Huo Yuhao accepts a lesser power than intended in pursuit of rapid growth.
• Rivalry and loyalty: The reserve team’s tensions persist, while Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao stand together.
• Shrek’s pride: Xuan Zi’s certainty in the academy’s superiority foreshadows the danger of underestimating opponents.

Plot points and events

• The Death Messenger triggers a trap inside the cavern: corpses glow, swell, and explode. Huo Yuhao wakes in time to warn the Shrek group and shields Wang Dong; most others flee, while Ling Luochеn also manages to protect herself.
• The explosions devastate the party. Xixi and Gongyang Mo are killed; Yao Haoxuan loses an arm, Chen Zifeng is nearly blown in half, and Ma Xiaotao, Dai Yueheng, Ling Luochеn, Dai Huabin, and Zhu Lu are gravely injured. Several reserve members suffer lighter injuries, though Xu Sanshi is later captured.
• Xuan Zi rushes into the cavern but is overwhelmed by the destruction and freezes in shock and guilt, haunted by an earlier tragedy. The Death Messenger takes advantage of his hesitation and tries to flee.
• After Wang Yan jolts Xuan Zi into action, the Death Messenger uses two more corpse explosions—this time involving Xixi and Gongyang Mo—to distract him. He then takes Xu Sanshi and escapes using a flying device.
• Xuan Zi pursues, but the Death Messenger stabs Xu Sanshi and drops him from the sky. Xuan Zi abandons the chase to save his student, allowing the enemy to get away.

Character developments and interactions

• Huo Yuhao acts quickly and protects Wang Dong, whose gratitude is evident in his relief at surviving.
• Xuan Zi shifts from a powerful rescuer to a grief-stricken, paralyzed witness. Wang Yan’s urgent rebukes force him to overcome his shock, but his concern for Xu Sanshi ultimately gives the Death Messenger an escape route.
• Wang Yan stays focused amid the catastrophe, assessing the losses and repeatedly pushing Xuan Zi to act.
• The Death Messenger proves calculating and ruthless: he turns the victims’ bodies into weapons, exploits Xuan Zi’s trauma, and uses Xu Sanshi as both a hostage and a distraction.

Significant themes

• The cost of hesitation: Xuan Zi’s shock gives the attacker chances to cause further harm and escape.
• Sacrifice and loyalty: Huo Yuhao protects Wang Dong, while Xixi dies defending her teammates; Xuan Zi gives up the pursuit to save Xu Sanshi.
• War’s sudden devastation: Decades of effort spent cultivating gifted students are nearly undone in moments.
• Cruel irony: The enemy’s escape is framed as a “MVP” performance, contrasting the joking tone with Shrek’s losses and suffering.

Key plot points and events

• After the battle, Xuan Zi returns with Xu Sanshi and prepares to take the most gravely injured students back to Shrek Academy. Gongyang Mo and Xixi are dead; Chen Zifeng and Yao Haoxuan are horrifically wounded, and Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, and the Dai brothers also need treatment.
• Wang Yan is left to lead the remaining Shrek students toward the tournament. He privately doubts they can even reach the top four, and resents being expected to preserve Shrek’s reputation after such losses.
• Xuan Zi urges Ma Xiaotao to return for treatment because her injuries are worsening her already unstable evil fire. She refuses, unwilling to leave after Gongyang Mo and Xixi’s deaths, and openly questions whether the weakened team can succeed without her.
• At Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, Jing Hongchen announces that he will personally lead the tournament team. Concerned for Chen Mo’s safety—especially given Shrek’s conduct—he prioritizes protecting the students over using the tournament to test Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen.
• Before departure, Chen Mo gives his teammates Rejuvenation Pills that he says can restore health and soul power. Xiao Hongchen vouches for their effectiveness, and the team sets off for the Star Luo Empire.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Yan shifts from confidence to grim uncertainty, but accepts responsibility for leading the battered Shrek team.
• Ma Xiaotao shows grief and fierce loyalty by refusing to withdraw, though her decision puts her health and control of her evil fire at risk. Her sharp challenge to Xuan Zi reflects her loss of faith in the team’s prospects.
• Xuan Zi takes responsibility for evacuating the critically injured, but cannot persuade Ma Xiaotao to leave.
• Jing Hongchen reveals how protective he is of Chen Mo, abandoning his original plan to let another teacher lead the Sun Moon team. He is prepared to use overwhelming force if Chen Mo is threatened.
• Chen Mo supports his teammates by sharing his medicine, while Xiao Hongchen backs him up—partly out of genuine confidence in the pills and partly because their business arrangement has eased his resentment.

Significant themes

• The cost of victory: The battle leaves deaths, life-threatening injuries, and lasting emotional shock.
• Duty versus self-preservation: Ma Xiaotao stays out of loyalty to the fallen, despite the danger to herself.
• Reputation and responsibility: Shrek’s legacy weighs heavily on Wang Yan even as the team’s chances collapse.
• Protection versus independence: Jing Hongchen’s concern for Chen Mo overrides his wish to let the younger competitors grow through hardship.

Plot points

• After a failed mission led by Xuan Zi left Shrek students dead, he waits outside the Sea God Pavilion, grieving that he failed to kill the Soul King known as the Death Messenger.
• Yan Shaozhe tries to comfort him, though privately he recognizes that Xuan Zi’s repeated failures are hard to defend.
• Before the Pavilion Elders, Xuan Zi accepts blame and offers to resign as both Deputy Commander of the Shrek Inspection Corps and a Sea God Pavilion Elder. The Elders urge him to stay, but are content when he says he will remain at Shrek as an “idler.”
• Mu En orders Xuan Zi to sit and delivers the ruling: Xuan Zi loses his command position but keeps his elder status and must remain in the Pavilion as atonement.
• Mu En also requires inner-court students on missions to carry flying and defensive Soul Tools. The Martial Soul branch must fund them, despite Yan Shaozhe’s opposition to Soul Tools.
• Once he realizes he has avoided harsher punishment, Xuan Zi drops his solemn pose and returns to eating chicken drumsticks.

Character developments and interactions

• Xuan Zi expresses genuine grief and guilt, but his resignation also appears partly theatrical: he expects the Elders to persuade him to stay. His swift return to his old habits suggests little lasting change.
• Yan Shaozhe offers public reassurance while privately doubting Xuan Zi’s competence. He ultimately accepts Mu En’s funding order despite his longstanding resistance to Soul Tools.
• Mu En is angry about the student losses but restrains his response because Shrek needs Xuan Zi as a future leader. He disciplines him while prioritizing the academy’s stability and student safety.
• Qian Duoduo welcomes the decision, seeing it as a chance for the Soul Tool Department to gain resources and recognition.

Significant themes

• Responsibility versus institutional necessity: Xuan Zi is punished, but Shrek retains him because of his power and importance.
• Student safety and adaptation: The tragedy prompts the academy to reconsider Soul Tools and adopt stronger protections.
• Performative remorse and stubbornness: The chapter’s humor contrasts Xuan Zi’s tearful declarations with his quick return to comfort and his refusal to change.

Plot points and events

• With Shrek’s official tournament team devastated by deaths and serious injuries, Yan Shaozhe urges the elders to send reinforcements to the Star Luo Empire and preserve Shrek’s ten-thousand-year record of winning first place.
• Mu En rejects assembling an inexperienced replacement team. He proposes returning the reserve team to competition, led by Ma Xiaotao and Ling Luochен, and letting them forfeit strategically if needed—using the tournament to prepare them for the next one.
• Xuan Zi proposes secretly persuading the host empire to arrange weaker opponents, then bringing in Soul Kings for the final. Yan Shaozhe supports the plan and offers to negotiate.
• Mu En angrily stops them, condemning manipulation as a threat to Shrek’s reputation and insisting that learning from defeat matters more than protecting a winning streak.
• Yan Shaozhe suggests a different way to preserve the record: publicly explain that Shrek’s team was weakened during an operation against Evil Soul Masters, encouraging sympathy. The elders support this, and Mu En eventually agrees.

Character developments and interactions

• Mu En emerges as the voice of principle, favoring honest competition and student growth over institutional prestige. He is also troubled by what Shrek may become after his death.
• Yan Shaozhe, despite acknowledging Mu En’s values, remains focused on protecting Shrek’s record and proposes a public narrative to do so.
• Xuan Zi takes responsibility for the crisis but offers a reckless, dishonest solution. Mu En rebukes him sharply; Xuan Zi says he only wanted to protect Shrek.
• The elders largely prioritize Shrek’s winning record, putting them at odds with Mu En’s view of what the academy should value.

Significant themes

• Integrity versus reputation: The chapter questions whether preserving a celebrated record justifies compromising fair play.
• Growth through failure: Mu En argues that setbacks can teach and prepare students better than a victory secured at any cost.
• Institutional legacy: The elders’ fixation on Shrek’s history contrasts with Mu En’s concern for its future character and values.

Plot points and events

• Star Luo Emperor Xu Jiawei reviews the tournament registrations. He notes the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy’s unusually powerful lineup, including Soul Kings among its reserves.
• Xu Jiujiu dismisses the Sun Moon team as Shrek Academy’s usual runner-up. But when she sees Shrek’s roster, she is shocked: apart from one Soul Emperor and one Soul King—both seriously injured—the contestants are all Soul Elders.
• Xu Jiawei fears Shrek cannot win and that a Sun Moon victory would damage morale across the nations already tense with the Sun Moon Empire. He recalls that the Star Luo Empire has secretly rewarded Shrek in past tournaments.
• Xu Jiujiu proposes manipulating the draw to give Shrek weaker opponents and ensure it reaches the top eight, then arranging for it to lose to the Star Luo Royal Academy.
• Xuan Zi appears in the palace. He has come to ask Xu Jiawei to do exactly that, hoping to protect Shrek’s reputation. He omits his own role in the team’s predicament and sees the emperor’s willingness as a way to avoid blame if the scheme is exposed.
• Xu Jiawei welcomes Xuan Zi after learning his identity. When he asks how the empire can help, Xuan Zi answers: “Manipulate things behind the scenes.”

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Jiawei shifts from confidence in Shrek to anger and alarm over its weakened team, then readily supports a plan to influence the tournament.
• Xu Jiujiu begins as a staunch believer in Shrek’s dominance but quickly becomes practical, suggesting a scheme that would aid both Shrek’s standing and Star Luo’s prestige.
• Xuan Zi acts to preserve Shrek’s legacy, but his omission of his own responsibility reveals a self-protective, politically calculating side.
• The siblings discuss Shrek’s roster and the political stakes; Xuan Zi then aligns with their proposal, turning it into a shared plan.

Significant themes

• Political manipulation of sport: The tournament’s results matter to national morale and prestige, encouraging officials to interfere.
• Legacy versus reality: Shrek’s historic reputation remains valuable even though its current team appears unable to compete.
• Self-preservation and blame: Xuan Zi’s effort to protect Shrek is paired with a plan to distance himself from responsibility.

Plot and events

• The Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy arrives in Star Luo City for the tournament. Xiao Hongchen dismisses the city’s enormous ancient walls as outdated and ineffective against modern soul weapons.
• The team checks into the Star Emperor Hotel, where Chen Mo receives a spacious suite with three bedrooms.
• The Ice Empress and Snow Empress emerge from their concealed spirit containers. The Snow Empress is crying over a romance novel, The Domineering CEO’s Daily Pursuit of His Wife, which Chen Mo accidentally borrowed from the library.
• Meng Hongchen visits Chen Mo and asks him to share her room, claiming she is afraid to sleep alone. Before Chen Mo can respond, Xiao Hongchen intervenes, objecting to the idea of his sister staying with a boy.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiao Hongchen’s confidence in modern technology shows in his contempt for Star Luo City’s traditional defenses.
• The Ice Empress quickly claims a bedroom in Chen Mo’s suite and blames him for getting the Snow Empress hooked on the novel.
• The Snow Empress’s unexpectedly emotional response to romantic fiction offers a humorous contrast to her powerful, composed image.
• Meng Hongchen makes a bold, likely pretextual invitation to Chen Mo. Xiao Hongchen’s protectiveness—and possible jealousy or suspicion—creates a comic confrontation. Chen Mo points out that he is only ten.

Significant themes

• Old versus new: Xiao Hongchen sees soul technology as rendering traditional fortifications obsolete.
• Comedy through contrast: Powerful, formidable characters are shown in ordinary, amusing situations—reading tearjerkers, choosing bedrooms, and arguing over room-sharing.
• Protectiveness and boundaries: Xiao Hongchen insists on propriety, while Meng Hongchen playfully tests his objections.

Plot points and events

• Xiao Hongchen prevents Chen Mo from sharing a room with Meng Hongchen, claiming he’ll protect his sister from ghosts. Meng calls him a “third wheel,” but he doesn’t understand the phrase. Chen Mo hints that Xiao’s meddling is why he has no girlfriend, then refuses to explain.
• On the morning before the tournament, team leaders draw lots to determine the next day’s matchups. While Jing Hongchen goes to the palace, Chen Mo, Meng, and Xiao wander the hotel, passing time and scouting rival teams.
• Xiao searches eagerly for Shrek Academy, his longtime rival, and eventually spots its young Reserve Team, including Huo Yuhao and Bei Bei. He assumes Shrek’s main team will appear later and is disappointed when none of its regular members arrive.
• Meng briefly admires Wang Dong’s looks, but compares her favorably with Chen Mo, reflecting how her crush on him has displaced some of her previous infatuations.
• Huo Yuhao recognizes Chen Mo and recalls their hostile encounter in the Star Dou Great Forest a year earlier. He tells Wang Dong that Chen Mo is an enemy of both him and the Tang Sect. Wang Dong wants to confront him, but Huo Yuhao persuades her to wait and settle the score in the arena.
• After noticing Wang Dong glaring at him, Xiao asks Chen Mo whether they have a grudge. Chen Mo denies knowing her, and the three head to the dining hall.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiao Hongchen is protective of Meng, intensely competitive toward Shrek, and oblivious to his sister’s teasing and Chen Mo’s pointed joke about his romantic prospects.
• Meng Hongchen resents Xiao’s constant interference, while her growing affection for Chen Mo is apparent in her comparison of him with Wang Dong.
• Chen Mo remains relaxed and teasing, while privately anticipating that Xiao’s hope of facing Shrek’s main team may not be fulfilled.
• Huo Yuhao shows restraint and strategic focus, stopping Wang Dong from provoking a rival before the tournament. Wang Dong, by contrast, is quick to take offense on his friend’s behalf.

Significant themes

• Rivalry and competition: Xiao’s fixation on Shrek and Huo Yuhao’s promised rematch set up tension for the tournament.
• Restraint versus impulsiveness: Huo Yuhao prioritizes the competition over immediate revenge, while Wang Dong initially reacts emotionally.
• Romantic teasing and affection: Meng’s closeness with Chen Mo fuels her frustration with Xiao’s chaperoning, and Chen Mo uses humor to needle Xiao.

Plot points and events

• The Continental Elite Soul Master Tournament has 133 teams, so organizers award one team a first-round bye by lot.
• Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy does not get the bye. Dean Jing Hongchen initially treats that as irrelevant because he believes his team can win the tournament.
• Jing announces that Shrek’s main team suffered severe casualties on the way to the competition. Only Ma Xiaotao, a Soul Emperor, and Ling Luochеn, a Soul King, are reportedly fit enough to compete—and neither can fight in the early rounds—leaving Shrek to rely on its mostly Soul Elder reserve team.
• Sun Moon’s team already knows this: Chen Mo, Meng Hongchen, and Xiao Hongchen gathered the news by watching rival academies in the hotel lobby.
• The reveal that Shrek, not Tianling Academy as Chen Mo expected, received the bye unsettles him. He suspects that events have diverged sharply from the story he remembers.
• The next morning, the tournament opens in Star Luo City. Emperor Xu Jiawei and the White Tiger Duke attend, and the ceremony ends with the emperor’s declaration and celebratory cannon fire.

Character developments and interactions

• Jing Hongchen is unusually exuberant and puts intense pressure on his students, threatening to send them home if they fail to win. He is startled that his students learned the Shrek news before he did, then proudly praises Chen Mo’s measured advice.
• Xiao Hongchen is confident that Sun Moon’s Soul King-heavy lineup will overpower Shrek’s reserves, and regrets that he may not face Shrek’s main team. Meng Hongchen warns him not to underestimate their opponents and turns to Chen Mo for his opinion.
• Chen Mo urges the team to balance confidence with caution: exploit its advantage, but avoid overextending. Privately, he questions why Shrek’s losses are worse than expected and why it received the bye.
• Ma Rulong gently points out Jing’s strange excitement, while the rest of the team reacts calmly to the news Jing thought would surprise them.

Significant themes

• Confidence versus caution: Sun Moon has a clear apparent advantage, but the characters recognize that underestimating Shrek or ignoring unexpected tactics could be dangerous.
• Fate and disrupted expectations: Chen Mo’s knowledge of the original story no longer reliably predicts events, raising the possibility that the tournament’s course has changed.
• Competition as national representation: The opening ceremony emphasizes that teams compete not only for their academies but also for their countries’ reputations.

Key plot points and events

• Shrek Academy draws a first-round bye in the tournament’s rotating knockout stage, giving its injured members time to recover and its coaches a chance to study other teams.
• The opening match pits Tianling Advanced Soul Master Academy against Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy. The announcer mocks Sun Moon as the “Ten-Thousand-Year Runner-Up,” angering its delegation.
• Chen Mo urges his teammates to answer the insult with overwhelming force. Xiao Hongchen is persuaded to take a harsher attitude, while Jing Hongchen watches with dismay.
• Sun Moon fields Chen Mo, Meng Hongchen, Xiao Hongchen, and four other main-team members. Xiao plans to carry the match himself, with Chen providing support.
• Chen activates two team-wide Soul Skills, then reveals three Soul Rings—purple, black, and black—shocking the arena. His unusually powerful configuration draws attention from the audience, Shrek coach Wang Yan, Emperor Xu Jiawei, and Shrek’s Xuan Zi.
• Xiao releases his Martial Soul and uses a Fixed-Installation Soul Cannon while boosting his control over metal, locking onto all seven Tianling competitors. The match’s outcome is not shown in this excerpt.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Mo shows a provocative, uncompromising streak, arguing that Sun Moon must respond forcefully to disrespect and past losses. His words sway Xiao Hongchen.
• Xiao Hongchen shifts from caution about lethal force to accepting Chen’s argument, then confidently volunteers to dominate the match.
• Jing Hongchen is angered by the public insult but troubled by Chen’s extreme rhetoric and its influence on his grandson.
• Wang Yan and the Shrek team treat the bye strategically, planning to collect information on Sun Moon’s fighters.
• Wang Yan, Xu Jiawei, and Xuan Zi are all struck by Chen’s rare Soul Ring configuration; Xuan Zi also wonders whether Chen has a connection to the Body Sect.

Significant themes

• Reputation and retaliation: Public humiliation and memories of past defeats fuel Sun Moon’s desire to prove itself.
• Ruthlessness versus sportsmanship: Chen frames harshness as necessary for victory, challenging Xiao’s initial reluctance.
• Preparation and information: Shrek uses its bye to recover and study its opponents, while Chen’s unexpected abilities complicate its assessment of Sun Moon.
• Talent beyond expectations: Chen’s Soul Ring configuration unsettles powerful observers and suggests he may be far more formidable than his rank implies.

Key events

• Xiao Hongchen’s modified, rapidly firing Class 5 Soul Cannon overwhelms the Tianling Team in under five minutes. Its barrage triggers all seven opponents’ protective Invincible Shields, eliminating them.
• Tianling’s coach accuses Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy of using a forbidden Fixed-Installation Soul Cannon. An inspection confirms the weapon is an ordinary cannon, so the team is cleared and awarded the win.
• Huo Yuhao and He Caitou are stunned by Sun Moon’s soul-tool technology, recognizing that Shrek is far behind.
• After three days, the elimination stage ends: sixty-seven teams advance, including Shrek, and will be sorted into groups to compete for eight places.
• Chen Mo continues studying light magic with Electrolux. When Meng Hongchen invites him to an auction, he agrees, recalling that a vital item—the Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife—may appear there.
• Chen Mo, Meng Hongchen, Xiao Hongchen, and Jing Hongchen attend the Starlight Auction House. Jing books a lavish VIP box, which offers a discount and other perks.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiao Hongchen displays both technical ingenuity and overwhelming confidence. After the cannon is cleared, he taunts Tianling’s coach, who leaves in anger.
• Huo Yuhao and He Caitou are forced to reconsider Shrek’s standing in soul-tool engineering after seeing Xiao’s weapon.
• Chen Mo continues developing his second martial soul, Dimo, under Electrolux’s guidance, and uses his foreknowledge of the auction to make sure he attends.
• Meng Hongchen eagerly invites Chen Mo, while Jing Hongchen accompanies the group and shows off his wealth and status by booking the best accommodation.

Significant themes

• Technology and power: Sun Moon’s engineering gives it a dramatic advantage, challenging Shrek’s confidence and the balance between soul masters and soul tools.
• Rules and fairness: The inspection distinguishes an innovative ordinary weapon from a prohibited fixed-installation cannon, affirming that the tournament’s rules still apply.
• Competition and preparation: The teams move from the elimination stage toward tougher group rounds, while Chen Mo’s training and search for a key auction item foreshadow developments beyond the arena.

Plot points and events

• Chen Mo, Jing Hongchen, and the Hongchen siblings mock the half-face masks supplied by the Star Luo auction house, deciding they are practically useless.
• At the auction, host Qing Ya explains that most items are soul tools. Because Chen Mo intercepted the Snow Empress earlier, the Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife is now the finale.
• Wang Yan of Shrek Academy buys numerous soul tools to strengthen his team for the tournament. Xiao Hongchen, bored, buys five Invincible Shields—items Shrek badly needs—prompting Wang Yan’s frustration.
• The Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife attracts no bidders despite Qing Ya’s sales pitch: its curse and dangerous reputation outweigh its prestigious ranking.
• Huo Yuhao feels drawn to the knife but has no money, and Wang Yan refuses to help him buy it.
• As Jing Hongchen and the others prepare to leave, Chen Mo bids 50,000 Gold Soul Coins. Qing Ya hurriedly accepts the bid, eager to sell the troublesome knife.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Mo is determined to obtain the carving knife, encouraged by Electrolux, who calls it a rare opportunity.
• Electrolux recognizes the knife’s aura and urgently presses Chen Mo to secure it.
• Jing Hongchen and the Hongchen siblings are stunned by Chen Mo’s unexpected bid.
• Wang Yan’s practical concern for Shrek’s tournament prospects contrasts with Huo Yuhao’s unexplained attraction to the knife.

Significant themes

• Opportunity versus danger: The knife may be valuable, but its curse makes others wary; Chen Mo and Electrolux see potential where everyone else sees risk.
• Practical needs versus personal motives: Wang Yan buys equipment for immediate competitive survival, while Chen Mo pursues a specific, mysterious goal.
• Irony and comedy: The masks fail to conceal anyone, and Xiao Hongchen’s casual purchase of equipment leaves Shrek’s coach furious.

Plot points and events

• Chen Mo buys the infamous Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife at auction for 50,000 gold soul coins, despite warnings that it has caused the deaths of 37 previous owners.
• Jing Hongchen, Xiao Hongchen, and Meng Hongchen try to stop him. Chen Mo claims he knows a method to remove the curse, supposedly found in the notes of a deceased Level 9 Soul Engineer.
• The auction ends, and the unusual purchase leaves other guests and tournament competitors wondering who bought the blade and whether it might be used in combat.
• Huo Yuhao is drawn to the knife. His spiritual adviser, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, senses a dangerous, unclean presence and warns him not to touch it.
• Jing Hongchen pays for Chen Mo’s purchase and continues to worry about the danger. Back at the hotel, Chen Mo asks him to guard the room while he works.
• Electrolux takes control of Chen Mo’s body. Recognizing the blade’s “gold of life,” he channels spiritual power into it, provoking its violent shaking, dark-red aura, and mournful wail.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Mo remains confident and resolute, trusting Electrolux to restore the knife rather than being deterred by its reputation.
• Jing Hongchen acts protectively as Chen Mo’s teacher, offering to provide a safer knife and ultimately paying for the purchase. Though uneasy, he agrees to stand guard.
• Meng Hongchen offers her grandfather’s prized carving knife as a safer alternative, revealing her concern for Chen Mo and prompting Jing Hongchen to privately notice her growing favoritism toward him.
• Xiao Hongchen joins the warnings, emphasizing the weapon’s deadly history.
• Huo Yuhao feels an unexplained pull toward the knife but heeds the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm’s warning and leaves it alone.
• Electrolux shifts from urging Chen Mo to hurry back to actively handling the curse, displaying knowledge of the blade’s true nature.

Significant themes

• Risk and trust: Chen Mo’s confidence contrasts with the others’ understandable fear of a weapon with a deadly record.
• Hidden knowledge and power: The knife’s reputation conceals a deeper history that Electrolux recognizes.
• Protection and loyalty: Jing Hongchen and the Hongchen siblings try to protect Chen Mo, while Huo Yuhao follows his spiritual adviser’s caution.

Plot points and events

• Electrolux purifies the Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife, driving out its evil aura and restoring it to its original form: the emerald-green Blade of Life’s Watch, infused with the vitality of gold of life.
• The purification triggers an unexpected reaction. A powerful purple energy erupts from the blade, defeats Electrolux’s attempts to stop it, and enters Chen Mo’s Sea of Consciousness.
• After chasing Chen Mo through the Sea of Consciousness, the energy leaves him and forms a Purple Crystal in his hand. Electrolux cannot identify it, but senses that his own power of death may be only one expression of this greater force.
• Chen Mo awakens to find the Ice Empress and Snow Empress anxiously watching over him. He tells them what happened and shows them the crystal and the transformed blade.
• The blade switches between emerald and purple forms in response to Chen Mo’s thoughts. Electrolux concludes that the purple energy has created a second form, which Chen Mo names the Blade of Destruction’s Watch.

Character developments

• Electrolux displays confidence and mastery while purifying the cursed blade, but is unsettled by the purple energy’s ability to annihilate every kind of power he uses. He begins to suspect it belongs to a deeper power connected to death.
• Chen Mo reacts to danger with comic panic, then discovers he can control the blade’s two forms through thought. His casual naming of the destructive form contrasts with the mystery and power of what he has encountered.
• The Ice Empress and Snow Empress show concern by staying beside Chen Mo and questioning him as soon as he wakes.

Significant themes

• Purification and corruption: The blade’s restored life-giving nature is immediately complicated by the emergence of destructive energy.
• Coexistence of opposites: Life and destruction appear to inhabit the same weapon, leaving Electrolux puzzled.
• Unexplained power and discovery: Both the crystal’s nature and its relationship to death remain unclear, foreshadowing future revelations.

Character interactions

• Electrolux guides and protects Chen Mo, first purifying the blade and then trying to shield him from the purple energy.
• Chen Mo explains the incident to the Ice Empress and Snow Empress, who respond with alarm and concern.
• Electrolux examines Chen Mo’s blade transformations with him, offering a tentative explanation while acknowledging that its two opposing energies remain mysterious.

Key plot points and events

• After helping purify the cursed Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife, Electrolux sends Chen Mo to check in with Jing Hongchen, who has been anxiously guarding the suite. Jing had considered breaking in but feared interrupting the dangerous purification.
• Chen Mo reassures Jing that he is unharmed and confirms the purification succeeded. The knife’s curse is gone, and its abilities have been strengthened. Chen names it the Blade of Life’s Watch.
• Jing praises the bargain Chen got and leaves, reminding Chen that the Promotion Tournament begins the next day.
• Chen discovers he cannot activate the knife through ordinary use. Electrolux explains that Chen must bond with it by pressing it to his forehead and concentrating.
• The knife releases an immense life force that revitalizes Chen’s body, toughening his organs, meridians, and bones and purging lingering impurities, though it does not increase his cultivation.
• Electrolux then guides the knife into Chen’s Sea of Consciousness. Despite the severe pain, Chen endures as the knife melts into him and his Sea of Consciousness expands dramatically. Electrolux warns that the most difficult stage is still ahead.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Mo shows confidence and endurance: he reassures his worried teacher, takes pride in the knife’s enhanced abilities, and withstands a painful, frightening bonding process.
• Jing Hongchen reveals his deep concern for Chen. He restrains himself from intervening during the purification, then checks Chen carefully and celebrates his success.
• Electrolux acts as a cautious mentor, explaining how to bond with the knife and warning Chen to remain mentally steady.
• The chapter highlights the caring teacher-student relationship between Jing and Chen, alongside Electrolux’s more technical guidance.

Significant themes

• Trust and restraint: Jing’s decision not to interrupt shows that concern sometimes means allowing someone to face a dangerous task.
• Growth through hardship: The knife’s life force strengthens Chen, while its painful fusion tests his resolve.
• Transformation and duality: The Blade of Life’s Watch combines powerful life-giving effects with a violent, destructive bonding process.

Key plot points

• Chen Mo endures a brutal spiritual transformation as Electrolux uses the Gold of Life to remodel his Sea of Consciousness. His spiritual origin is repeatedly shattered and rebuilt, leaving him in extreme pain, but the process greatly strengthens his spiritual power.
• Electrolux says a space may have awakened within Chen Mo’s Jade-Eyed Three-Flower Pupils, though Chen Mo cannot yet access it. Chen Mo realizes his strength may be too low and resolves to grow stronger.
• On the way to the tournament arena, Chen Mo nearly walks into a pool while distracted. Meng Hongchen saves him, while Xiao Hongchen is teased over rumors that he has been seen lingering outside disreputable establishments. Chen Mo joins in, and Xiao is left embarrassed.
• At the Promotion Tournament, the Star Luo organizing committee announces a last-minute rule banning rapid-fire soul cannons and redefining certain soul tools as prohibited fixed-installed devices. Violations will lead to disqualification and a ten-year ban for the academy. The Sun Moon Team is allowed to keep its current standing, but the new restriction clearly targets it.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Mo shows resilience during the painful transformation and becomes focused on increasing his strength. He also jokes easily with the Hongchen siblings.
• Electrolux acts as Chen Mo’s mentor, guiding the transformation and explaining the possible awakening of the martial-soul space.
• Meng Hongchen looks out for Chen Mo and playfully scolds her brother.
• Xiao Hongchen is exposed as shy and easily flustered beneath his aloof appearance; he insists he was only surveying the city.
• The Sun Moon Team reacts with concern to the new rule, recognizing it as an attempt to weaken their competitive advantage.

Significant themes

• Growth through suffering: Chen Mo’s painful ordeal brings major spiritual gains.
• Power and readiness: The newly awakened space suggests that potential abilities may remain inaccessible until Chen Mo becomes stronger.
• Fairness versus political maneuvering: The committee presents its rule as promoting fairness and entertainment, but its timing and impact make it appear specifically designed to hinder the Sun Moon Team.

Key plot points and events

• The Star Luo Empire introduces a temporary tournament rule banning fixed-installed soul tools with continuous-fire functions. Though the Sun Moon Empire helped establish the tournament rules, Jing Hongchen explains that the host can impose temporary regulations for its own tournament.
• The Sun Moon team is angry at the restriction, but Jing says they could challenge it if they submit evidence that Xiao Hongchen’s modified cannon is not a prohibited fixed-installed weapon. That evidence must have been publicly available for at least a week, however, so it is too late to use for an immediate objection.
• The tournament announces that the 67 remaining teams will be split into groups, with only the top two from each group advancing.
• The draw places the nine strongest Sun Moon Empire teams together in Group Seven, alongside several weaker Sun Moon teams. The Sun Moon representatives condemn the draw as blatant rigging intended to weaken their country’s chances.
• Ma Rulong aims a Level Seven Fixed-Installation Soul Cannon at Emperor Xu Jiawei, with Chen Mo helping him target. Jing Hongchen intervenes before he can fire.
• Jing accepts that an appeal is unlikely to succeed and tells the team to advance from their group and win the championship. He vows to report the matter to the empire’s leadership and retaliate when the Sun Moon Empire hosts the next tournament.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Mo questions how the Star Luo Empire could change the rules without the Sun Moon Empire’s consent, then openly mocks both the loopholes in the regulation and the supposedly transparent draw. He also helps Ma Rulong target the emperor.
• Jing Hongchen explains the rules, recognizes the Star Luo Empire’s intent, and tries to keep his team from acting recklessly. Though furious, he shifts from protesting the unfairness to demanding that the team prove itself by winning.
• Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen voice their anger at the new restriction and the rigged draw. Xiao urges his grandfather to expose the rule as invalid; Meng sarcastically suggests the other empires fear Sun Moon dominance.
• Ma Rulong loses his temper over the draw and threatens the emperor, forcing Jing to step in.

Significant themes

• Political manipulation and unfair competition: The host uses temporary rules and a suspicious draw to disadvantage its rival.
• Pride and retaliation: The Sun Moon team sees the treatment as an insult, and Jing promises to answer it in the future.
• Restraint versus vengeance: Ma Rulong’s impulsive threat contrasts with Jing’s effort to prevent a crisis and channel the team’s anger into competition.