Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Dean Yan Shaozhe returns the meeting to the proposed student exchange between Shrek Academy and the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, arguing that each institution can learn from the other’s strengths.
• Hall Master Jing Hongchen unexpectedly agrees, but uses Xuan Zi’s earlier seizure of a Sun Moon student to claim that his students distrust Shrek and have been emotionally harmed.
• Yan offers two ten-thousand-year soul bones as compensation, presenting them as Shrek local specialties. Jing pretends to resist, then accepts them. Once he has the gifts, he dismisses the supposed emotional wounds as a misunderstanding, and negotiations proceed pleasantly.
• When the academies discuss participant lists, Jing repeatedly dodges Yan’s requests to send Chen Mo and Lin Xi to Shrek. Yan presses for a fair exchange, but Jing claims he can no longer decide for the two students—despite Chen Mo being his own student.

Character developments and interactions

• Yan Shaozhe tries to preserve a diplomatic tone, but becomes increasingly frustrated as Jing exploits Shrek’s earlier mistake to obtain compensation and then blocks the students Yan wants.
• Jing Hongchen shows himself to be a shrewd negotiator: he feigns concern, accepts valuable gifts while pretending reluctance, then shifts his position and evades Yan’s demands with a smile.
• Xuan Zi remains silent under Mu En’s instructions, but feels guilty and angry when his impulsive actions cost Shrek two soul bones.
• Yan and Jing maintain conspicuously friendly forms of address—“Brother Yan” and “Brother Jing”—while their exchange is marked by mistrust and competing interests.

Significant themes

• Diplomacy as bargaining: Formal goodwill masks tactical maneuvering.
• Accountability and leverage: Shrek’s past misconduct gives Jing grounds to demand compensation and control the negotiations.
• Unequal exchange: Although both sides endorse mutual learning, disagreement over which students will participate exposes the limits of their apparent cooperation.

Plot points

• Jing Hongchen rejects Shrek Academy’s proposed student exchange, pointing to Shrek’s past misconduct during the tournament: trying to take a Sun Moon student, cheating, changing its team at the last minute, and colluding with the organizers.
• Xuan Zi threatens Jing and demands that Shrek’s two ten-thousand-year soul bones be returned. Jing feigns ignorance, then insists they were given as an apology and are now his student’s property—not payment for an exchange.
• When Shrek’s delegation presses its demands, Xuan Zi attacks Jing through a transparent barrier. The barrier barely dents, surprising the Shrek representatives.
• Jing reveals that the Illustrious Virtue Hall is equipped with six soul-cannon shells and a Turbine Detonation Device. With a remote in hand, he warns the delegation that attacking him further would be dangerous.

Character developments and interactions

• Jing Hongchen remains composed and defiant under pressure. He turns Shrek’s threats back on them, uses their past actions to challenge their moral authority, and appears prepared for violence.
• Xuan Zi grows increasingly furious and acts before his companions, striking the barrier despite the risks. Its resilience and Jing’s defenses force him to reconsider.
• Yan Shaozhe abandons his polite façade when Jing refuses, while Qian Duoduo joins him in preparing to fight. Both are shocked by the barrier’s strength.
• Zhang Yang fears a confrontation could destroy the Illustrious Virtue Hall, but Jing’s confidence reassures him.

Significant themes

• Hypocrisy and accountability: Jing challenges Shrek’s claims of honor by recalling its own questionable conduct.
• Power and intimidation: Shrek tries to use status and force to secure cooperation, but Jing refuses to submit.
• Preparation versus brute strength: Xuan Zi’s formidable attack is stopped by the Hall’s technology, shifting the balance of power.
• Diplomacy masking coercion: What Shrek presents as an academic exchange becomes an increasingly explicit demand backed by threats.

Key plot points

• Qian Duoduo recognizes six wall-mounted weapons as Level 9 Fixed Soul Guidance Shells, making the group realize that any reckless action could be fatal.
• Xuan Zi assumes Jing Hongchen would not detonate the shells while trapped in the room with them. Jing reveals he planned for that: he escapes through ceiling openings with the dazed Zhang Yang, leaving Xuan Zi, Yan Shaozhe, and Qian Duoduo locked inside.
• The three try to break out. Xuan Zi’s powerful blows cannot damage the reinforced walls, and the group cannot dismantle the shells.
• Jing communicates through screens, explaining that the room’s special inscriptions also prevent spatial teleportation. He holds a detonator and challenges them to escape before he can set off the shells, while assuring them that a barrier will protect the rest of the Illustrious Virtue Hall.
• Yan Shaozhe accuses Jing of risking war between the Sun Moon Empire and Shrek. Jing counters that Xuan Zi attacked first.

Character developments and interactions

• Qian Duoduo identifies the weapons and recognizes that he lacks the expertise to disable them, despite being Shrek’s Level 8 Soul Engineer.
• Xuan Zi shifts from confidence and defiance to frustration as both brute force and teleportation fail. He calls Jing despicable, but Jing embraces the accusation.
• Yan Shaozhe remains strategic: he first urges the others to stop Jing from escaping, then tries diplomatic pressure when their escape attempts fail.
• Jing Hongchen proves thoroughly prepared, controlling the situation remotely and answering both threats and accusations with composure and taunting humor.
• The three Shrek men rely on one another’s abilities, but their combined strength is no match for Jing’s engineered trap.

Significant themes

• Technology versus personal power: Even Xuan Zi’s immense strength is neutralized by carefully designed defenses.
• Preparation and control: Jing wins by anticipating his opponents’ reactions and shaping the room into a trap.
• Power, blame, and escalation: Yan Shaozhe invokes the danger of war, while Jing argues that responsibility lies with Xuan Zi’s initial attack.
• Moral ambiguity: Jing’s “Despicability is an attitude too” reframes ruthlessness as a deliberate tactic rather than a source of shame.

Plot points and events

• After Xuan Zi struck first, Shrek’s representatives—Xuan Zi, Yan Shaozhe, and Qian Duoduo—are trapped in a room with six Level 9 Soul Cannon shells and two rapidly spinning Turbine Detonation Devices.
• Jing Hongchen demands that they negotiate about the exchange program. When Yan Shaozhe asks for time, Jing gives them a “sixty-second” countdown but skips numbers, heightening their panic.
• Jing presses the remote, apparently triggering an explosion. Instead, the devices launch ordinary fireworks while a camera records the three men’s terrified reaction. Jing mocks them, then threatens a genuine countdown.
• Yan Shaozhe submits, agreeing to discuss any conditions. He proposes face-to-face talks, but Jing refuses, citing Xuan Zi’s questionable credibility, and keeps the Shrek delegation contained.
• Jing frames the two Soul Bones Shrek gave him as compensation for entering the confidential Illustrious Virtue Hall. Yan Shaozhe points out that Jing invited them and that they saw little, but Jing argues that the room and its weapons are secrets too.

Character developments and interactions

• Yan Shaozhe shifts from trying to defend Shrek’s position to anxious compromise. He recognizes that the group cannot escape or safely challenge Jing’s threat.
• Xuan Zi remains furious and humiliated, privately vowing revenge, but is forced to stay still for the moment.
• Qian Duoduo is visibly frightened alongside Yan Shaozhe; both react strongly to the apparent countdown.
• Jing Hongchen controls the encounter through intimidation, feigned danger, mockery, and opportunistic bargaining. His exchange with Yan Shaozhe becomes a contest of excuses and leverage.
• The Shrek representatives’ usual status and authority offer little protection in Jing’s territory; their immediate dependence on him reverses the expected power dynamic.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: Even elite figures are helpless when facing a threat they cannot counter.
• Humiliation and coercion: Jing uses fear and a staged spectacle to force Shrek’s delegation into negotiations.
• Rationalization and bad faith: Both sides argue over responsibility, but Jing’s “security” justification for the Soul Bones is transparently self-serving.

Summary

• Jing Hongchen pressures Shrek’s delegation: After revealing that Shrek has seen the Illustrious Virtue Hall’s secret, Jing demands two ten-thousand-year soul bones as an “admission fee,” backing his demand with the hall’s fixed-installation cannons. Yan Shaozhe reluctantly agrees.
• He demands another payment: Jing claims Sun Moon’s students were emotionally harmed when Taotie seized them during the tournament, and asks for “local specialties” to persuade them to join the exchange. Yan gives him a third ten-thousand-year soul bone. Jing then accepts that the incident was a misunderstanding and says it can be cleared up.
• The exchange terms are negotiated: Jing raises concerns about student safety and whether Sun Moon students will receive equal instruction at Shrek. Yan pledges that the students will be protected and treated equally, and offers to let Sun Moon send teachers along. Jing rejects this, fearing Shrek might seize them too.
• Both sides make substantial concessions: Jing requires Shrek to send at least three students who competed in the tournament. In return, those who pass Sun Moon’s assessment will receive special admission to the Illustrious Virtue Hall and twice the usual teaching resources. Jing also insists Sun Moon students be allowed to use Shrek’s secret underground cultivation area. Yan hesitates, but agrees on the condition that Sun Moon’s students pass Shrek’s internal selection tests.
• The arrangement is finalized: The exchange is set to begin in two years and last two and a half years, leaving a six-month adjustment period before the next tournament. Yan then asks which students Sun Moon will send.

Character developments and interactions

• Jing Hongchen is shrewd and forceful, exploiting Shrek’s position to secure three valuable soul bones before bargaining over the exchange. He is wary of trusting Shrek, but ultimately agrees once the terms are favorable.
• Yan Shaozhe suppresses his anger and handles the negotiations cautiously, prioritizing a workable agreement over confrontation. Though he gives ground, he secures selection tests for Sun Moon’s students and accepts Jing’s demands where necessary.
• Xuan Zi is repeatedly tempted to lash out, but Yan restrains him; after some agitation, he stays calm enough for negotiations to continue.
• Qian Duoduo is asked to keep watch on Xuan Zi, helping prevent another outburst.
• The exchange is shaped by mutual distrust: Jing fears Shrek may seize Sun Moon’s students or teachers, while Shrek is reluctant to reveal its secret cultivation grounds.

Significant themes

• Power and leverage: Jing uses threats, valuable resources, and sensitive information to strengthen his bargaining position.
• Distrust and reciprocity: Both academies demand safeguards and concessions before cooperating.
• Education versus competition: The exchange offers students unusual training opportunities, but also serves each academy’s strategic interests.

Plot points and events

• Shrek and the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy finalize an exchange program beginning in two years. Sun Moon will send Ma Rulong, Xiao Hongchen, and Lin Xi; Shrek will send regular and reserve team members, including Ling Luochеn, Huo Yuhao, and Bei Bei.
• Jing Hongchen secures three ten-thousand-year soul bones and cultivation opportunities in the Underground World from Shrek. The Shrek delegation leaves dissatisfied with the price they paid.
• Jing divides the soul bones among Chen Mo, Meng Hongchen, and Xiao Hongchen. Chen Mo finds that two left-arm bones suit Meng, but she can only use one. He takes both, intending to test a soul-bone fusion method and promising her a surprise.
• Jing reports the negotiations to Kong Deming. They agree that sending Lin Xi is useful: Shrek may invest resources in him, believing he has an ultimate martial soul. Kong promises a device to help conceal the truth.

Character developments and interactions

• Jing Hongchen shows confidence and opportunism, steering the negotiations to Sun Moon’s advantage while adding Lin Xi to satisfy Shrek’s demands.
• Yan Shaozhe tries to include Chen Mo in the exchange, but Jing refuses, citing Chen Mo’s position as the Body Sect’s Young Sect Master.
• Xiao Hongchen is surprised to learn he is on the exchange roster. Chen Mo and Meng play along with Jing’s claim that Xiao had asked to join, and Meng reminds him of his earlier support for the exchange.
• Meng readily lets Chen Mo choose a soul bone first and trusts him when he takes the bones she wants.
• Kong Deming backs Jing’s plan and treats Lin Xi’s supposed ultimate martial soul as a way to mislead Shrek and drain its resources.

Significant themes

• Negotiation and strategic deception: Both academies bargain for advantage, while Jing and Kong deliberately exploit Shrek’s assumptions about Lin Xi.
• Trust and cooperation: Jing, Chen Mo, Meng, and Xiao coordinate smoothly, and Meng’s trust in Chen Mo is clear.
• Ambition and exchange: The program promises growth and opportunity, but also serves as a calculated contest between rival institutions.

Key plot points and events

• Jing Hongchen reports that he gave the three Soul Bones obtained from Shrek to Chen Mo, Meng Hongchen, and Xiao Hongchen. Kong Deming approves, believing the talented students will make better use of them.
• Kong warns Jing not to underestimate Shrek. He suspects the academy’s unusual willingness to cooperate reflects reforms prompted by its tournament defeat, and cautions that Sun Moon’s victory may have made its people overconfident.
• The two discuss Chen Mo’s future. Jing says Chen was crucial to their victory despite being only a three-ring Soul Elder, and Kong urges Jing to develop and protect him.
• Kong warns that Crown Prince Xu Tianran’s growing ties to the Holy Spirit Cult are troubling. Chen Mo rejected the prince’s recruitment; Kong tells Jing to keep his distance from Xu and safeguard Chen until the Body Sect relocates.
• Kong gives Jing a valuable Class Nine defensive Soul Tool, the Crimson Plain Battle Armor, for Chen Mo.
• Elsewhere, Chen uses the Soul Bone Fusion Method and his bone-chilling flame to combine two Soul Bones. The process succeeds, producing one poison-and-fire Soul Bone whose age rises from 17,000 and 23,000 years to 40,000 years.
• The Ice Empress is amazed by the result but points out that Chen has already absorbed his own Soul Bones, which cannot be removed. The chapter ends with her questioning how he can fuse or upgrade them.

Character developments and interactions

• Kong Deming is both strategically cautious and personally invested in Chen’s prospects. He recognizes Chen as a national asset and gives him powerful protection.
• Jing Hongchen takes Kong’s warning seriously, acknowledging the danger of post-victory arrogance and reaffirming his commitment to train Chen.
• Chen Mo demonstrates a new application of the Soul Bone Fusion Method, but his explanation leaves an unresolved question about his previously absorbed bones.
• The Ice Empress shifts from puzzled observer to curious critic, challenging Chen’s assumptions about the method’s limits.

Significant themes

• Humility and vigilance: Sun Moon’s victory should not breed complacency; Shrek may return stronger.
• Talent and responsibility: Chen’s abilities make him valuable to both the academy and the Empire, increasing the need to protect and guide him.
• Political danger: Xu Tianran’s association with the Holy Spirit Cult creates suspicion and risk.
• Innovation and its limits: Soul Bone fusion offers remarkable gains, but the method’s application to already absorbed bones remains uncertain.

Plot points and events

• Chen Mo realizes that fusing Soul Bones may require using one he has already absorbed. The usual way to remove an absorbed bone is to amputate the limb, which he refuses to do.
• He considers a dangerous alternative: placing the limb in a Furnace Cauldron and using Heavenly Flames to fuse another Soul Bone with the one inside it. Because failure could ruin his arm, he wants to test the method first.
• A few days later, Chen Mo gives Meng Hongchen a Soul Bone made by combining two bones—originally worth 17,000 and 23,000 years—into a 40,000-year bone with fire and poison attributes.
• He claims the fusion method comes from the Body Sect, both to protect himself from people seeking the technique and to give it powerful backing.
• The bone suits Meng’s Martial Soul and may temporarily ease its fire poison. She begins absorbing it while Chen Mo and Xiao Hongchen keep watch.
• Xiao asks Chen Mo to fuse a Soul Bone for him as well. When Xiao reveals he has already absorbed a right-leg bone, Chen Mo sees an opportunity to test his risky method. He agrees, asking Xiao to find another right-leg bone.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Mo is resourceful and cautious: he rejects amputation, recognizes the danger of experimenting on himself, and uses the Body Sect as a cover. His eagerness to help Xiao is also driven by the chance to practice before attempting his own fusion.
• Meng Hongchen is grateful for Chen Mo’s gift and eager to absorb a bone that could help with her Martial Soul’s fire poison.
• Xiao Hongchen is curious, impatient, and ambitious about improving his Soul Bone. Unaware of Chen Mo’s real motive, he volunteers for the procedure enthusiastically.
• The siblings’ banter shows their familiarity: Xiao repeatedly interrupts, and Meng scolds him for it. Chen Mo’s generous-seeming offer to Xiao turns him into a willing test subject.

Significant themes

• Risk and preparation: Chen Mo weighs a dangerous experiment against the cost of amputation and wants to improve his odds before trying it himself.
• Trust and exploitation: The Hongchens trust Chen Mo, while he quietly views Xiao’s request as a chance to test an unproven method.
• Power and secrecy: Chen Mo conceals the true source of his technique, using the Body Sect’s reputation to deter anyone who might try to seize it.

Key plot points and events

• Meng Hongchen finishes absorbing her Soul Bone, which absorbs and reduces more than half the potent poison accumulated in her body. She gains Venom Beam, an attack that converts the Soul Bone’s poison into a stronger beam the more potent the poison is.
• Meng calls out Xiao Hongchen for previously suspecting Chen Mo might steal the Soul Bones, despite now asking him to help fuse them for free. Embarrassed, Xiao flatters Chen Mo and insists they are as close as family; Chen Mo takes the exchange lightly.
• A month later, Chen Mo emerges from a cave having successfully refined a second-rank Body-Protecting Pill. He explains that pills serve purposes beyond healing and cultivation, including combat enhancement, cultivation support, protection, and rarer effects.
• The Ice Empress and Snow Empress become excited when Chen Mo mentions a Transformation Pill, which can let Soul Beasts take human form without losing their long lifespan or potential for cultivation.
• Chen Mo clarifies that he cannot make one: it is a high-grade seventh-rank pill requiring at least high-level Soul Saint cultivation, far beyond his current Soul Ancestor level and beginner second-rank alchemy. It also requires transformation herb, which is found on another continent.
• Disappointed, the two Empresses urge Chen Mo to advance quickly, saying their futures depend on him. He promises to try, while privately recognizing that neither cultivation nor alchemy can simply be rushed.

Character developments and interactions

• Meng Hongchen shows a teasing, blunt side by exposing Xiao’s earlier distrust of Chen Mo. Her Soul Bone also improves her control and use of her poison.
• Xiao Hongchen is eager to obtain the Soul Bone’s benefits but quickly resorts to exaggerated affection to repair his relationship with Chen Mo.
• Chen Mo demonstrates progress in alchemy and patiently explains its uses, though he accidentally misunderstands the Empresses’ interest as a question about pregnancy pills. He remains practical about the limits of his abilities.
• The Ice Empress and Snow Empress reveal how strongly they wish to overcome the limitations of Soul Beast cultivation. Their shared excitement turns to frustration when they learn the Transformation Pill is beyond Chen Mo’s reach.

Significant themes

• The limits of ambition: The Empresses’ hopes depend on a pill Chen Mo cannot yet make, highlighting the gap between desire and capability.
• Human and Soul Beast potential: Soul Beasts face a restrictive cultivation ceiling, while humans can progress more quickly and have greater prospects of becoming gods.
• Trust and friendship: Xiao’s embarrassing suspicion is contrasted with his insistence that Chen Mo is family, while Meng’s teasing tests their bond.
• Patience and mastery: Chen Mo’s reflections stress that alchemy requires precision and sustained effort, not shortcuts.

Plot points and events

• Chen Mo attempts to fuse Xiao Hongchen’s Soul Bones by placing his right leg in an Alchemy Furnace. Xiao Hongchen panics, especially when Chen Mo admits he has never tried the method before.
• Chen Mo claims his success rate is 98 percent—then reveals it is 98 out of 100 points, not a 98 percent chance. He uses a Body-Protecting Pill and the Bone Chilling Flame to protect and temper Xiao Hongchen’s leg while guiding the bones’ fusion.
• After six hours of painful heat-and-cold fluctuations, Xiao Hongchen follows Chen Mo’s instruction to guide the fusion with his soul power. It succeeds: his Soul Bone reaches 45,000 years, and its Metal Heating skill improves his metal control while reducing soul-power consumption.
• Encouraged by the result, Chen Mo fuses his own left-arm Soul Bones. He adds ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow and uses protective pills before tempering them with the heavenly flame.
• Chen Mo’s fusion succeeds and produces a Hundred Thousand Year dual-attribute Soul Bone. Its existing Light Energy Aggregation skill gains a freezing effect, and he acquires the new skill Ice Storm Technique.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiao Hongchen shifts from frightened resistance to determined endurance, motivated by his pride and the promise of a stronger Soul Bone. Meng Hongchen teases him and urges him to go through with it, then watches while eating an ice pop.
• Chen Mo is confident and inventive but treats a risky procedure with casual humor. His successful experiment increases his skill and confidence, prompting him to try the fusion on himself.
• The siblings’ banter contrasts Xiao Hongchen’s fear with Meng Hongchen’s amused encouragement. Chen Mo’s jokingly misleading “98 percent” claim provides the chapter’s main comedic beat.

Significant themes

• Progress through risk and experimentation: Chen Mo develops a new technique by testing it first on Xiao Hongchen, then applying what he learns to himself.
• Endurance and ambition: Xiao Hongchen tolerates severe pain for the sake of greater strength.
• Unexpected rewards: Both fusions surpass ordinary expectations, especially Chen Mo’s leap to a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone.

Key plot points and events

• Half a month later, Chen Mo receives five days’ leave from Jing Hongchen, who assumes he is returning to the Body Sect. Jing also gives him the Crimson Plain Battle Armor, a class-nine defensive soul tool, leaving Chen Mo baffled but pleased.
• Chen Mo follows a letter to a quiet restaurant, where he meets Ye Guyi, who once used the alias “Yiyi.” They share a meal before she explains why she summoned him.
• Ye Guyi has become a Soul King by fighting underground matches and hunting weaker evil soul masters. These illegal, largely rule-free bouts attract criminals and hidden evil soul masters, but offer a way to grow stronger.
• She wants Chen Mo as her partner in an upcoming two-person competition. The team that defends the ring through ten consecutive matches will win one million Gold Soul Coins and a class-seven light-attribute melee soul tool.
• Ye Guyi reveals that she joined the Ordinary Alliance mainly to have somewhere to stay, though she and its members do not share the same ideals. Chen Mo readily agrees to team up, asking for no share of the winnings.
• The event starts that very day. Before heading there, Ye Guyi insists they buy Chen Mo ordinary clothes so his academy uniform will not attract unwanted attention.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Mo remains relaxed and generous: he accepts the dangerous match without hesitation and is unfazed by Ye Guyi’s Alliance membership. He also privately reflects on his many powerful defensive resources and backup allies.
• Ye Guyi is shown as pragmatic and independent. She has concealed her identity while fighting, joined the Alliance for shelter rather than conviction, and turns to Chen Mo because she trusts him as a teammate.
• Their familiar, teasing exchange—including Chen Mo’s affectionate use of “Sister Yiyi”—shows their comfortable rapport. Ye Guyi is surprised by how easily he agrees, while Chen Mo brushes aside concerns about compensation.

Significant themes

• Strength through risk: Ye Guyi uses dangerous underground fights to grow stronger.
• Practical survival versus ideology: Her Alliance membership is motivated by shelter, not shared beliefs.
• Trust and generosity: Chen Mo agrees to help without bargaining for a reward.
• Hidden identities and danger: Ye Guyi uses an alias, and both take precautions against hostile opponents in the underground arena.

Plot points and events

• Chen Mo, disguised in a black robe and mask, accompanies Ye Guyi to Mingdu’s underground Soul Fighting Arena, where violent matches entertain a bloodthirsty crowd.
• The pair register as “Winning All the Way.” When a staff member doubts that Chen Mo can fight, Chen Mo reveals his four-ring Soul Ancestor cultivation and three ten-thousand-year soul rings. Electrolux keeps the display hidden from bystanders.
• To prevent the staff member from exposing their identities or abilities, Chen Mo gives him a memory-erasing pill. He also shares healing pills with Ye Guyi.
• Wanting to improve their teamwork before a later competition, they enter a warm-up match against the Blood Pool Twin Fiends.
• Ye Guyi uses Chen Mo’s Hotspot soul skill to see the arena in a clear, 360-degree view, allowing her to track and defeat one opponent. Chen Mo blasts the other off the platform with a Soul Cannon. They win easily, though the disappointed spectators wanted a more brutal fight.

Character development and interactions

• Chen Mo remains calm amid the arena’s violence and resists Ye Guyi’s offer to leave. His confidence is backed by powerful abilities and practical preparation, including memory-erasing and healing pills.
• Ye Guyi is protective of Chen Mo and initially intends to fight alone. Once she experiences Hotspot, she adapts to Chen Mo’s support and uses it effectively.
• Their first match together begins building their coordination: Ye Guyi handles close combat while Chen Mo provides battlefield awareness and ranged firepower.

Significant themes

• Public respectability versus cruelty: The arena’s well-dressed spectators reveal a bloodthirsty side beneath their polished appearance.
• Trust and teamwork: The warm-up match highlights how combining Ye Guyi’s swordsmanship with Chen Mo’s abilities makes them far more effective.
• Power, secrecy, and preparation: Chen Mo conceals sensitive information while using his skills and supplies to control risk.

Plot and key events

• After Chen Mo and Ye Guyi earn ten consecutive victories, the arena abruptly changes its two-person tournament from team matches to a Battle Royale. All registered teams must fight at once; the last team standing wins.
• Contestants object, but an Eight-Ring Soul Douluo enforces the decision. The host announces that the tournament allows any tactics, with death a real possibility; the prize is one million Gold Soul Coins and a Level 7 Soul Tool.
• Thirty-four teams—sixty-eight contestants—enter the platform. Chen Mo and Ye Guyi initially hold back behind an Invincible Shield, drawing attacks from a group who assume they are easy targets. Chen disrupts the attackers with Spiritual Shock while Ye Guyi cuts them down; together they swiftly defeat the group.
• As the Battle Royale turns into a bloodbath, the weaker contestants are eliminated. The main remaining fight is between a Soul Emperor and two Soul Kings, all revealed as Evil Soul Masters. The Emperor traps the two Soul Kings in his Evil Spirit Swamp and kills them.
• Only three contestants remain: the Evil Soul Master Soul Emperor, Chen Mo, and Ye Guyi.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Mo remains calm despite the increased danger, confident that his and Ye Guyi’s combined strength can handle the field. He uses Hotspot and Spiritual Shock to support their attacks, while maintaining a light, reassuring tone.
• Ye Guyi is alarmed by the sudden format change and apologizes for bringing Chen Mo into danger. She had intended to protect him and do most of the fighting herself, but proves highly effective alongside him.
• Their teamwork has grown increasingly seamless: Chen creates openings and Ye Guyi delivers decisive strikes. They exchange brief, affectionate but focused remarks, calling each other “Sister Yiyi” and “Xiao Mo.”
• The audience quickly takes an interest in the masked duo, cheering for their team, “Winning All the Way.”

Significant themes

• Uncertainty and survival: The format change overturns contestants’ preparations and makes victory far less predictable.
• Violence as spectacle: The arena treats lethal combat as entertainment, with spectators cheering amid gruesome deaths.
• Trust and teamwork: Chen and Ye Guyi’s coordination contrasts with the betrayal and self-interest displayed by other contestants.
• Power and coercion: The Soul Douluo’s threat reveals the arena’s willingness to enforce its rules through fear.

Plot points and events

• In the Underground Soul Fighting Arena, a Soul Emperor–level Evil Soul Master tries to force Ye Guyi and Chen Mo to fight each other. Chen Mo refuses and insults him; Ye Guyi attacks.
• The enemy unleashes his sixth Soul Skill, Tyrannical Blood Reaper. Chen Mo and Ye Guyi respond with their Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Radiance of the Corona: the Holy Angel and Dimo combine into a giant of light.
• The fusion attack erases the Evil Soul Master and cleaves the arena platform apart. Its holy power also purifies the fallen Evil Soul Masters, strengthening Ye Guyi.
• The surviving Evil Soul Masters try to kill the exhausted pair, seeing them as a threat. The Ice Empress intervenes, kills the attackers with Ultimate Ice, and takes Chen Mo and Ye Guyi away.
• Ye Guyi offers Chen Mo the million Gold Soul Coins and a Level Seven Soul Guidance Sword as thanks. He refuses the money and equipment, insisting she keep the reward; she retains the coins and keeps the sword for her own purposes.
• Chen Mo takes over a flower shop and asks Ye Guyi to manage it, hoping to steer her away from the arena’s dangerous fights.
• Two years pass. Chen Mo is now twelve, and the student exchange between the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy and Shrek Academy begins in the Mingdou Mountains.

Character development

• Chen Mo is quick-witted and defiant under pressure, but also generous: he refuses payment from Ye Guyi and tries to offer her a safer livelihood.
• Ye Guyi proves decisive in battle and increasingly powerful through her angelic ability to purify evil. She is grateful to Chen Mo but initially feels she owes him for his help.
• The Ice Empress shows strong protectiveness toward Chen Mo and, after meeting Ye Guyi, extends that protection to her as well.

Significant themes

• Light versus evil: The Holy Angel’s power directly counters and purifies Evil Soul Masters.
• Trust and partnership: Chen Mo and Ye Guyi’s coordinated fusion skill succeeds where either might have struggled alone.
• Protection and choosing a safer path: Chen Mo’s flower-shop plan reflects his wish to keep Ye Guyi from risking herself in underground battles.
• Power’s cost: The fusion skill is devastating but leaves both users badly drained.

Character interactions

• Chen Mo and Ye Guyi reject the Evil Soul Master’s attempt to pit them against each other and fight as a team.
• The Ice Empress shifts from rescuing them to personally claiming Ye Guyi as someone under her protection; Ye Guyi readily accepts the friendly “big sister Bingbing” form of address.
• Ye Guyi tries to compensate Chen Mo, while he insists their relationship is not transactional and urges her to keep the reward.

Key plot points and events

• Sun Moon’s exchange group, led by Jing Hongchen, arrives on time at the Mingdou Mountains border crossing. Shrek’s party is half an hour late.
• While they wait, Xiao Hongchen repeatedly warns his sister Meng not to date during the exchange. Meng pushes back, defending Chen Mo and reminding Xiao that Chen has helped him.
• Chen Mo studies Shrek’s student roster and is unsettled by the presence of Bei Bei and an unfamiliar student named Tang Wu.
• Shrek’s delegation finally arrives, led by Yan Shaozhe and Xian Lin’er. Yan explains they were delayed by an encounter with Evil Soul Masters. Xuan Zi is absent, kept at Shrek because the elders fear another disastrous trip under his leadership.
• The two academies begin exchanging students. Yan’s attention stays on Lin Xi as she joins Shrek’s group.
• Jing proposes an added condition: Sun Moon students at Shrek should be exempt from Shrek’s dangerous Evil Soul Master inspection missions. Yan agrees in principle, but asks what Sun Moon will offer in return.

Character developments and interactions

• Xiao Hongchen shows protective, jealous concern about Meng’s feelings for Chen Mo, but his constant warnings frustrate her.
• Meng Hongchen openly stands up for Chen and is annoyed by her brother’s distrust of him.
• Chen Mo is wary of the unusual Shrek roster, especially Tang Wu, suggesting he suspects the exchange may involve something unexpected.
• Jing Hongchen acts as a shrewd negotiator, using Shrek’s past losses to argue for better protection of Sun Moon’s students.
• Yan Shaozhe stays diplomatic while bargaining, and his focused attention on Lin Xi hints at personal interest.

Significant themes

• Protection versus duty: Jing argues that visiting students should not be expected to risk their lives for Shrek’s missions.
• Family concern and romantic tension: Xiao’s overprotectiveness clashes with Meng’s growing attachment to Chen.
• Political bargaining and mistrust: The exchange is shaped not only by education but also by negotiation, past grievances, and suspicion about the students involved.

Plot points and events

• Jing Hongchen and Yan Shaozhe negotiate the exchange students’ safety and responsibilities. Jing points out that the arrangement applies equally to both academies: students qualified for the Illustrious Virtue Hall will not have to complete mandatory missions to graduate. Yan recognizes the risk of endangering either side’s students, especially Bei Bei, and agrees to the terms. They part, planning to meet again in three years.
• Jing takes the Shrek students back to Mingdu by Soul Guidance Airship. They are amazed by the aircraft, while the Sun Moon students treat it as ordinary transport.
• The Shrek students reveal that their academy lacks airships and generally relies on Soul Masters traveling on foot or carrying others through the air. Their dismissive view of soul-guided flying devices surprises Meng Hongchen, who knows more advanced models are much faster.
• Yan takes the Sun Moon students toward Shrek Academy on foot—a journey of about 1,500 kilometers over two days. The students challenge his attempt to goad them and point out Shrek’s technological backwardness.
• Xiao Hongchen produces a small airship the Sun Moon students brought with them. When Yan and Xian Lin’er are excluded due to limited capacity, Xian Lin’er flies ahead rather than accept the slight. Yan is left to guide the group, slowing his pace so the airship can follow.

Character developments and interactions

• Jing Hongchen and Yan Shaozhe move from suspicion to a practical agreement, each recognizing that the exchange creates mutual risks.
• Meng Hongchen is surprised by how little Shrek knows about modern soul-guided transport, while Huo Yuhao and the other Shrek students display genuine wonder at the airship.
• Xiao Hongchen shows confidence and a sharp tongue, turning Yan’s provocation back on him and using the airship to gain the upper hand.
• Yan Shaozhe tries to assert Shrek’s authority through teasing, but the Sun Moon students see through it. He ultimately has to accommodate them to protect Shrek’s investment in the exchange.
• Xian Lin’er chooses pride over curiosity, refusing to ride after Xiao’s pointed exclusion.

Significant themes

• Technological disparity: Sun Moon’s advanced soul-tool infrastructure contrasts with Shrek’s reliance on traditional Soul Master abilities.
• Mutual dependence and risk: The exchange is reciprocal, so harming one academy’s students could provoke consequences for the other.
• Pride and institutional rivalry: Both sides use teasing and status challenges to defend their academy’s reputation.
• Practicality versus tradition: The journey highlights how technology can make travel safer and easier, while Shrek’s old methods seem increasingly impractical.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Mo’s group returns to Mingdu, where the Shrek visitors are surprised to find no city walls. Jing Hongchen explains that thousands of hidden Soul Guidance Detectors linked to Level Seven Fixed-Installation Soul Cannons defend the city.
• The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy gives Shrek’s exchange students a formal welcome and provides them with uniforms, dormitories, student cards, and other necessities.
• Chen Mo explains that the cards are identity documents tied to a secure chip and a central Data Center. They can verify residents and grant access to services such as medical care, education, and subsidies.
• Huo Yuhao, still haunted by his defeat to Chen Mo at the previous Tournament, challenges him to a contest in Soul Tool technology. Chen Mo accepts.

Character developments

• Huo Yuhao reveals how deeply his past defeat has affected him: he has spent two years training and studying Soul Tools in hopes of defeating Chen Mo and erasing his humiliation.
• Chen Mo is shown as an accomplished inventor whose identity-card system has been adopted nationwide. He accepts Huo Yuhao’s challenge without hesitation.
• Jing Hongchen takes pride in Chen Mo’s achievements and appears eager for him to demonstrate his superiority to the Shrek visitors.
• He Caitou remains unusually quiet and contemplative as the group arrives in Mingdu.
• Huo Yuhao privately dismisses Chen Mo’s identity-card technology as impressive-sounding but of little practical value.

Significant themes

• Technology as defense and governance: Mingdu relies on advanced weapons rather than walls, while identity cards and a Data Center extend technology into civic administration.
• Rivalry and unresolved humiliation: Huo Yuhao’s challenge is driven less by curiosity than by a desire to overcome the shame of his earlier loss.
• Clashing perspectives on progress: Chen Mo and Jing Hongchen value technological innovation, while Huo Yuhao questions its usefulness.

Character interactions

• Jing Hongchen explains Mingdu’s defenses to the astonished Shrek group.
• Chen Mo patiently answers Ling Luochен’s questions about preventing forged identity cards, drawing praise from Jing Hongchen and skepticism from Huo Yuhao.
• Chen Mo asks to leave with Meng Hongchen, but Huo Yuhao interrupts and challenges him. Jing Hongchen invites Chen Mo’s response, and Chen accepts.

Key plot points and events

• After two years of silence, Chen Mo’s system reappears with a three-year mission: suppress Huo Yuhao and earn destiny points by dealing him setbacks.
• Chen Mo and Huo Yuhao begin a one-hour soul-tool competition at Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy. Each must build a soul tool of their choice, which will be judged for completeness and the quality of its core.
• Huo Yuhao reveals that he has deliberately understated his ability: he is a Level 5 Soul Engineer, not the Level 3 he listed. He hopes to impress the observers and prove Shrek’s soul-tool technology can rival the Sun Moon Empire’s.
• While the contest proceeds, Jing Hongchen and Shrek teacher Fan Yu trade boasts about their students’ achievements. Jing reveals that Chen Mo became a Level 3 Soul Engineer after only five months of study and is now Level 7—despite being two years younger than Huo Yuhao.
• Fan Yu is stunned, and the chapter ends as the competition nears its conclusion, without revealing the winner.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Mo welcomes the system’s new mission and is ready to compete seriously. His inner monologue also comically misreads Huo Yuhao’s intense stare as possible romantic interest.
• Huo Yuhao is confident and eager to unveil his concealed strength, viewing the contest as a chance to make Shrek proud.
• Jing Hongchen uses Chen Mo’s accomplishments to counter Fan Yu’s boast and assert the Sun Moon Academy’s superiority. His feigned modesty about Chen’s progress contrasts with his obvious pride.
• Fan Yu begins by promoting Huo Yuhao as a rare prodigy, but Jing’s revelations turn his confidence into shock and embarrassment.
• Meng Hongchen confirms Chen Mo’s current rank and privately recognizes that her grandfather is pretending not to know about his star student’s achievements.

Significant themes

• Rivalry and institutional pride: The contest becomes a proxy battle between Shrek and the Sun Moon Academy.
• Hidden strength and underestimation: Huo Yuhao has concealed his level, but Chen Mo’s unexpectedly greater achievements shift the balance before the contest is decided.
• Talent, effort, and recognition: The characters compare rapid advancement, while Jing’s boastful pride highlights how Chen Mo’s success has become a source of status and competition.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Mo completes a crown-shaped soul tool in under half an hour, then calmly waits while drinking tea. Huo Yuhao, hoping to beat him, chooses a Level 5 design he has not mastered: a Godly Zhuge Crossbow that combines Tang Sect hidden weapons with soul-tool technology. He finishes at the last moment.
• A soul-tool analyzer rates Chen Mo’s Ice Pole Crown as a top-grade Level 7 support tool, while Huo Yuhao’s crossbow is judged a good-quality offensive tool, with weak materials and construction despite a strong core.
• Huo Yuhao accuses the Sun Moon academy of rigging the results and demands a manual inspection. Chen Mo rebukes him, alluding to past cheating by Huo Yuhao’s academy and its allies.
• Jing Hongchen and Fan Yu inspect both tools. Jing finds the crossbow crude and limited by poor endurance and manual reloading; Fan Yu praises Chen Mo’s crown as a masterwork and is struck by the talent of its twelve-year-old maker.
• Huo Yuhao examines the crown but cannot find fault with it, and must concede defeat. Chen Mo gains 1,000 destiny points from Huo Yuhao’s setback.
• As Chen Mo tries to leave, Huo Yuhao refuses to accept the loss and challenges him to a “best two out of three.”

Character developments

• Chen Mo is shown as exceptionally skilled, composed, and confident; his quick, high-quality work contrasts sharply with Huo Yuhao’s rushed effort.
• Huo Yuhao grows increasingly flustered and resentful as Chen Mo’s ease and success unsettle him. He struggles to accept the judges’ verdict and doubles down with another challenge.
• Fan Yu recognizes Chen Mo’s extraordinary ability and briefly considers recruiting him for Shrek, despite his own loyalty to Huo Yuhao.
• Jing Hongchen remains protective of Chen Mo and alert to Fan Yu’s interest in him.

Significant themes

• Merit versus pride: The objective results and expert inspections expose the gap between Huo Yuhao’s confidence and the quality of his work.
• Innovation and craftsmanship: The crossbow’s inventive concept is undermined by practical flaws, while Chen Mo’s crown demonstrates superior execution.
• Rivalry and institutional distrust: The contest is colored by suspicion between the academies and references to earlier accusations of unfairness.

Character interactions

• Chen Mo’s relaxed behavior provokes Huo Yuhao, whose accusations and demands intensify the rivalry.
• Fan Yu’s praise of Chen Mo contrasts with his usual support for Huo Yuhao, while Jing Hongchen watches him closely.
• Huo Yuhao’s final challenge keeps the confrontation unresolved.

Plot points and events

• Still reeling from Chen Mo’s earlier defeat in soul tool technology, Huo Yuhao demands a second contest: a fight. Chen Mo accepts.
• They agree that the match ends when one fighter can no longer stand; any attack is allowed, but killing is forbidden. Jing Hongchen referees.
• Huo Yuhao reveals he is a Level 53 Soul King with five ten-thousand-year soul rings, claiming he has grown from Soul Grandmaster to Soul King in two years and will defeat Chen Mo in three minutes.
• Chen Mo counters confidently, saying he needs only three moves to put Huo Yuhao down. When he reveals his own martial soul, his fifth ring proves to be a hundred-thousand-year soul ring, startling Huo Yuhao.

Character developments

• Huo Yuhao is desperate to regain his confidence after losing to Chen Mo. He has cultivated his second martial soul to gain strength and academy resources, but his bravado falters when confronted with Chen Mo’s power.
• Chen Mo remains composed and uses the match as another chance to undermine Huo Yuhao, trusting in his own advantage.
• Sky Dream Ice Silkworm is furious and alarmed that Huo Yuhao cultivated his second martial soul, disrupting the creature’s plan to make him a god. It has reluctantly endured the decision rather than abandon its goal.
• Fan Yu tries to restrain Huo Yuhao but cannot dissuade him.

Significant themes

• Confidence and insecurity: Huo Yuhao’s boasts mask the damage done by his previous defeat, while Chen Mo’s calm confidence intensifies the imbalance.
• Ambition and unintended consequences: Huo Yuhao’s decision to grow stronger quickly clashes with Sky Dream Ice Silkworm’s long-term plan.
• Power and perception: Huo Yuhao’s impressive advancement seems decisive until Chen Mo reveals a far rarer, more intimidating soul ring.

Character interactions

• Huo Yuhao challenges Chen Mo to restore his standing; Chen Mo accepts and answers Huo Yuhao’s three-minute boast with his own three-move claim.
• Fan Yu expresses concern, while Jing Hongchen oversees the match and observers question whether Huo Yuhao’s rings are genuine.
• Inside Huo Yuhao’s consciousness, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm’s anger at his unsanctioned cultivation provides context for the unusual state of his growth.