Chapter Summaries

Tang San visited Tang Hao and learned that Ah Yin was thriving at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, then revealed plans that would involve Tang Hao in a dangerous mission. He befriended Dugu Bo by showing that he understood his principles, but their discussion of treating Dugu Bo’s poison ended with Dugu Bo rejecting both proposed cures.

• Tang Hao told Tang San that Ah Yin was deep in secluded cultivation and asked what he planned to do; Tang San listed treating people to a meal, beheading people, and taking others in as dogs.
• Tang San hinted that his plans would bring him into conflict with several Titled Douluos, and Tang Hao left with Yu Xiaogang after accepting that his son had grown up.
• Dugu Bo confronted Tang San about approaching him without fear, but Tang San explained that he trusted Dugu Bo’s character and invited him to be friends; Dugu Bo accepted.
• Tang San proposed using two immortal herbs to remove Dugu Bo’s poison, but Dugu Bo rejected the cure because it would strip away the poison that made him formidable.
• Tang San offered to store Dugu Bo’s venom in a Soul Bone, warning that it could eventually overflow and kill him, and Dugu Bo rejected that method as well.

Tang San presented Dugu Bo with several ways to address his family’s poisonous Martial Soul, from temporary toxin management to long-term bloodline improvement and life-force healing. He then explained that condensing Dugu Bo’s poison and Soul Power into a soul core could cure the underlying problem while greatly increasing his strength.

• Tang San described purging Dugu Bo’s toxins with Ice-Fire Immortal Herbs or storing them in Soul Bones, and Dugu Bo rejected the risks of both methods.
• Tang San proposed improving the family’s bloodline through compatible Soul Rings and his Ring Condensation Method, but Dugu Bo dismissed the plan because it would take centuries.
• Tang San set aside bloodline improvement as a supplementary measure and proposed using abundant life force to counteract toxins and heal their damage.
• Dugu Bo recalled how Tang San had neutralized, suppressed, and condensed his poison, then guessed that these demonstrations were the basis for Tang San’s remaining methods.
• Tang San demonstrated the Soul Core Method, which would condense Dugu Bo’s poison and Soul Power into a core, address his toxin problem, and greatly increase his combat strength.

Tang San explained soul cores and proposed several ways to cure Dugu Bo’s poison, including refining his poison pill into a soul core. After joking about replacing Dugu Bo’s soul rings by splitting his skull open, Tang San dismissed that impossible plan and began explaining his practical treatment.

• Tang San concluded that many powerful Titled Douluos had pseudo-soul cores and that a true soul core could help Soul Douluos break through level 89.
• Tang San told Dugu Bo that his poison pill could serve as an embryonic soul core and outlined a treatment using soul-beast origin power, immortal herbs, and vitality.
• Tang San proposed replacing Dugu Bo’s soul rings, then described extracting his martial soul by splitting his skull open with an axe.
• Dugu Bo angrily rejected the ring-replacement plan, and Tang San admitted it depended on Grandmaster’s unusual martial soul and was not replicable for Dugu Bo.
• Tang San explained a practical plan to draw Dugu Bo’s poison and soul power into his poison pill, using immortal herbs, vitality, and dragon- or serpent-type soul-beast essence.

Tang San laid out ways for Dugu Bo to refine his poison and soul bones, then headed to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. There, he found his Blue Silver Emperor had grown into an enormous tree covering the hillside.

• Tang San advised Dugu Bo to seek water-attribute immortal herbs, temper himself with poison, and let his poison permeate and connect his soul bones.
• Tang San considered studying soul bones for himself and acquiring a Resurrection Skill so he could obtain hundred-thousand-year soul beasts' rings and bones.
• Tang Hao moved Yu Xiaogang away from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, gave him a Blue Silver Grass bracelet, and taught him Ring Detonation and his insights on self-created soul skills.
• Tang Hao left Yu Xiaogang at a gathering place for small soul beasts and returned to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
• Tang San arrived at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and saw his Blue Silver Emperor had grown three stories tall, spreading across the hillside.

Tang San used his Blue Silver Domain and soul skills at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to channel the plants’ energy into Ah Yin and strengthen himself. After resonating with the singular velvet sky chrysanthemum, he realized that connecting deeply with the valley’s immortal herbs could drive his martial soul’s evolution.

• Tang San found Ah Yin in secluded cultivation amid the thriving Blue Silver Emperor growth throughout the valley.
• Tang San connected with Ah Yin and the valley’s plants, using his soul skills to promote their growth and send their energy to her.
• Tang San discovered that even shallow connections with the plants were evolving his domain and martial soul.
• Tang San established a connection with the singular velvet sky chrysanthemum and sensed its cultivation, growing intelligence, and powerful effects on him.
• Tang San realized that deeply resonating with each immortal herb could greatly advance his martial soul’s evolution and laughed at the prospect.

Tang San spent seven days resonating with the valley’s herbs, using their powers to develop his Blue Silver Emperor and transform his domain. After completing his connection with the primordial immortal herb, he began ascending toward a new level as the hundred herbs hailed him and offered their essence.

• Tang Hao realized Tang San was drawing on the rare herbs to strengthen and evolve his Blue Silver Grass, while Dugu Bo pressed him for an explanation.
• Tang Hao refused to tell Dugu Bo what he had figured out, and Dugu Bo waited for Tang San to finish so he could ask him directly.
• Over seven days, Tang San completed his resonance with the valley’s immortal herbs and ordinary treasures, transforming his aura and domain but leaving one final connection unfinished.
• Tang San resonated with the primordial immortal herb, completing the patterns in his domain and uniting his aura with the hundred herbs.
• The herbs hailed Tang San as their lord and mother, then offered their essence in a seven-colored torrent as his consciousness rose toward a higher plane.

Tang San absorbed the origin essence of the hundred herbs and the powers of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, transforming his body and martial soul as his aura grew akin to nature itself. He entered a cocoon of life energy and sank into the well, leaving Tang Hao and Dugu Bo to read his note as his transformation continued beyond their reach.

• Tang San absorbed the hundred herbs' essence, uniting their powers within his domain as the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well refined his body.
• Auspicious clouds and heavenly light gathered around Tang San, and Tang Hao, Dugu Bo, and Ah Yin sensed his extraordinary aura.
• Tang Hao recognized a resemblance between Tang San's aura and an account of the Lake of Life, and sensed that the transformation was strengthening Tang San's body and martial soul.
• After two hours, Tang San was sealed inside an emerald-green cocoon of life energy and dropped into the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
• Tang Hao retrieved the note Tang San had left behind, and his expression grew stranger as he read it.

Tang San’s note reassured his companions that his disappearance was part of a long martial-soul evolution, while warning that he might remain asleep for up to a year. After eighty days without waking, Xiao Wu lost hope and begged him to emerge, just as a dazzling burst of energy erupted from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

• Tang Hao explained that Tang San had left a note predicting his loss of contact and a prolonged sleep while his martial soul evolved.
• Tang San’s note told Dugu Bo, Tang Hao, and the Grandmaster how to cultivate in his domain and listed possible times for his awakening, from three days to a full year.
• Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing teleported to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well after losing contact with Tang San, and Xiao Wu demanded to know where he was.
• Eighty days passed without Tang San waking, and Xiao Wu’s hope faded as she waited beside his cocoon with Zhu Zhuqing.
• Xiao Wu ordered Tang San to come out and quietly promised to agree to anything he wanted, then a huge surge of energy burst from the well and a beam of light shot skyward.

Tang San survived the hundred herbs’ vast collective consciousness and awakened a transformed martial soul, the Ambrosial Arbor, along with a unique green-gold fourth soul ring. He emerged with a nature-aligned body and immense power, leaving Tang Hao, Dugu Bo, and Xiao Wu astonished.

• On his ninth day in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Tang San was overwhelmed by the memories and collective consciousness of the valley’s plants, which tried to assimilate him into nature.
• Tang San remembered who he was, broke free of the plants’ influence, and transformed his martial soul into a towering tree connecting heaven and earth.
• Tang Hao, Dugu Bo, and Xiao Wu witnessed the tree’s manifestation solidify and shrink into a small emerald tree as Tang San emerged with black hair and a powerful aura of life.
• Tang San formed a jade-green fourth soul ring adorned with golden patterns, while his three earlier purple rings turned black.
• Tang San explained that he had resonated with nature’s pan-plant consciousness, named his transformed martial soul the Ambrosial Arbor, and recognized that his new body could draw on the forces of nature.

Tang San answered the Goddess of Life’s question about life and accepted her nine trials, then discovered the mark also carried signs of Destruction. Back in the Gray Fog Space, Lu Mingfei took Tang San Zang’s crude advice to heart, while Xiao Yan and Sasuke considered their next destinations.

• Tang San entered a life-filled space through the mark between his brows and told the Goddess of Life that life meant pursuing a satisfying future, whether brief or enduring.
• The Goddess of Life granted Tang San the nine trials of life, and Tang San noticed purple lightning and an aura of destruction within the trial mark.
• Before the Goddess of Life sent him away, Tang San left her a wisp of soul power containing pill recipes and secret arts related to childbirth.
• In the Gray Fog Space, Tang San Zang described life as eating, drinking, and indulging in pleasure, prompting Lu Mingfei to leave with renewed conviction.
• Xiao Yan planned to seek the Green Lotus Core Flame and visit the Snake-People, while Sasuke headed in the opposite direction and Xiao Yan wondered whether the Fourth Mizukage was still alive.

Team Kakashi investigated the Land of Water’s brutal policies and suspected that someone was controlling the Fourth Mizukage. The team remained in the Land of Waves with its escort mission and A-rank intelligence assignment, while Kakashi wondered whether Sasuke had left the people trapped in a puddle alive.

• Sasuke argued that someone was likely controlling Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage, and Kakashi recognized that a jinchūriki could be controlled if both host and tailed beast were affected.
• Sasuke reasoned that Yagura’s destructive rule was more likely caused by control than by madness, since Kirigakure had chosen him as Mizukage.
• Kakashi complained that the Third Hokage had combined their C-rank escort mission with an A-rank investigation of the Land of Water.
• Sasuke dismissed the other available missions as worse and suggested that Team Seven was best suited to their current assignment.
• Kakashi asked Sasuke whether the people sealed inside the puddle were still alive.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi exposed and killed the Demon Brothers, Kirigakure Chunin who had ambushed their group. Kakashi then sensed a more dangerous enemy nearby and warned that the threat was beyond the scope of their C-rank mission.

• Naruto pulled the electrocuted Demon Brothers out of a puddle, and they crashed to the ground and died.
• Sakura realized the group had not interrogated the brothers, while Sasuke and Naruto blamed Kakashi for failing to catch them sooner.
• Kakashi explained that the brothers were Kirigakure shinobi known for pursuing their missions relentlessly, and the group discussed the village's brutal reputation.
• Kakashi pierced the brothers' heads with kunai, and Naruto used chakra to keep their conversation private.
• Kakashi sensed a troublesome enemy nearby and warned that the threat was not appropriate for a C-rank mission.

Team Kakashi continued escorting Tazuna to the Land of Waves after detecting a powerful source of malice that might belong to one of Kirigakure’s Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. The chapter ended as the team spotted their hidden pursuer in the sudden fog.

• Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi concluded that the Demon Brothers had been lying in wait and that a stronger enemy might be behind them.
• Naruto sensed distant malice and shared the information with his teammates, while Kakashi suspected an elite jonin, possibly one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
• Sakura decided that becoming a Medical Ninja could give her a role on the team, while Sasuke and Naruto expressed interest in collecting the enemy’s sword.
• Sasuke agreed to finish escorting Tazuna before proceeding with the Land of Water investigation, and Kakashi handed him the mission scroll.
• The team continued by boat to the Land of Waves, and Naruto noticed the sudden fog as the others realized their pursuer had arrived.

Naruto and Sasuke confronted Zabuza Momochi and Haku in the mist, using an overwhelming wind-and-lightning display before Kakashi stopped them. The teams exchanged exaggeratedly polite introductions, leaving Sakura unsure how she should respond.

• Naruto sensed strong killing intent but no personal malice from the hidden opponents, and Sasuke identified Zabuza as their likely foe.
• Kakashi recognized Zabuza Momochi and signaled Naruto and Sasuke, who struck dramatic poses and unleashed a combined wind-and-lightning display that scattered the mist.
• Zabuza quickly formed hand seals and used the Hidden Mist Technique to blanket the area again.
• Sasuke and Naruto released more wind and lightning, dispersing the mist until Kakashi ordered them to lower their fingers.
• Sasuke and Naruto introduced themselves to Zabuza and Haku, Kakashi greeted Zabuza, and Sakura wondered what to do after the others finished showing off.

Zabuza assessed Kakashi, Sasuke, and Naruto as overwhelming opponents and considered retreating from the mission. He then noticed Sakura and wondered whether she was hiding her strength, leaving her silently irritated.

• Zabuza recovered from his shock and placed his sword in front of Haku as he greeted Kakashi.
• Zabuza recognized Sasuke and Naruto’s formidable auras and recalled the intelligence about their reputations and abilities.
• Sasuke and Naruto responded casually to Zabuza’s lengthy introductions, while Kakashi silently resented receiving fewer titles.
• Zabuza decided that fighting Kakashi, Sasuke, and Naruto would be too dangerous and considered retreating.
• Zabuza noticed Sakura and wondered whether she was concealing a power greater than his Silent Killing Technique.

Zabuza suspected Kakashi's team had come to the Land of Waves for a secret operation, then faced Naruto and Sasuke as they prepared to fight. After Zabuza dispersed his Hidden Mist and began forming seals for Water Dragon Bullet, Naruto charged a strange, ominous energy sphere in his hand.

• Sasuke praised Sakura's medical and physical talents, leaving Zabuza puzzled about Konoha's unusually detailed public intelligence and the squad's real mission.
• Zabuza sharpened his stance as Sasuke and Naruto stepped forward to face him, while Kakashi drew a kunai against Haku.
• Zabuza used Hidden Mist Technique, but a powerful gust quickly cleared the mist.
• Zabuza began rapidly forming hand seals for Water Dragon Bullet as Sasuke watched and criticized the technique's long preparation.
• Naruto volunteered to fight, and Zabuza's confidence wavered when Naruto formed a blackish-purple energy sphere that radiated terrifying power.

Naruto tested his newly created Spiraling Ring against Zabuza, while Kakashi fought Haku nearby. Haku shielded Zabuza from the blast, and both were left gravely injured but still breathing.

• Zabuza stared in shock as Naruto formed a small Tailed Beast Bomb in his normal state.
• Naruto combined the Tailed Beast Bomb with the Rasengan to create the Spiraling Ring, while Kakashi and Haku continued fighting.
• Kakashi recognized Naruto's new technique and used Kamui: Lightning Blade as Naruto hurled the Spiraling Ring at Zabuza.
• Zabuza escaped the expanding attack with Mist Body Flicker but was badly hurt, and Haku shielded him with ice walls and mirrors.
• The Spiraling Ring shattered Haku's defenses and Kubikiribōchō, leaving Haku and Zabuza bloodied and barely breathing.
• Sasuke looked toward the sky and sighed over the pair of star-crossed lovers.

Naruto healed the badly injured Zabuza and Haku after Sasuke dispersed the Spiraling Ring, while Sasuke explained that Haku had not died and taunted him. Sasuke offered Zabuza and Haku the chance to abandon their mission and surrender, leaving them captured and unable to resist.

• Naruto used yang release chakra to heal Zabuza and Haku, who had survived Sasuke's dispersal of the Spiraling Ring.
• Sasuke joked that Haku had become a girl after surgery, and Haku woke up believing he was in the afterlife.
• Sasuke reflected on Kakashi's failure to stop Haku and secretly planned to have Naruto burn a note to Kushina.
• Zabuza woke up but found himself paralyzed under Sasuke's control.
• Sasuke offered Zabuza and Haku surrender and safe abandonment of their mission, then poked Zabuza's cheek with the broken hilt of Kubikiribōchō.

After Sasuke’s team defeated Zabuza and Haku, Sasuke revealed that they were investigating the Fourth Mizukage’s increasingly erratic behavior and unrest in Kirigakure. Zabuza suspected the Mizukage might be under outside control, and Sasuke’s Sharingan strengthened that suspicion.

• Zabuza accepted defeat after Sasuke threatened him with the broken Kubikiribōchō, and he surrendered to protect Haku.
• Zabuza guessed that something had happened in Kirigakure, prompting Sasuke to explain that the team had also accepted an A-rank mission to investigate the village.
• Sasuke revealed that the Fourth Mizukage’s behavior was worsening and that internal unrest had broken out in Kirigakure.
• Sasuke asked whether Zabuza had wondered why the Mizukage was making foolish decisions, and Zabuza saw Sasuke’s Three-Tomoe Sharingan and suspected the Mizukage was being controlled.

Sasuke and Naruto traveled toward Kirigakure to investigate the village’s turmoil and search for Obito. After reading Zabuza’s message, they used Flying Thunder God to leave Kakashi and Sakura behind and meet him near the Land of Waves.

• Naruto sensed hostility throughout Kirigakure as Sasuke said Obito might still be controlling the Fourth Mizukage, though he had found no trace of him.
• Sakura gave Sasuke a scroll from Haku, which revealed that Zabuza wanted them to bring him and Haku to Kirigakure once they reached the area.
• Sasuke and Naruto discussed how their spatial aptitude made Flying Thunder God easier for them than it was for Kakashi.
• Sasuke and Naruto teased Kakashi about his health, marked his shoulders, and teleported away.
• Sakura told Kakashi she would study medicine under Lady Tsunade and cure his weak kidneys.