Chapter Summaries

Ji Boda and Liu Ruyan shared a tender moment before realizing Ito Makoto may have left a clue about a possible mole watching him. They narrowed the likely hiding places to the Medicinal Garden or somewhere close to Liu Ruyan, especially her study.

• Ji Boda read Liu Ruyan’s poem and added a line expressing his love, and Liu Ruyan kissed his cheek in reply.
• Ji Boda wondered why Ito Makoto had waited until the engagement banquet to speak with Liu Ruyan, despite having had earlier chances.
• Ji Boda and Liu Ruyan suspected someone had been watching Ito Makoto and that he might have left them a clue.
• Ji Boda reasoned that Ito Makoto could have hidden something in the Medicinal Garden or somewhere near Liu Ruyan.
• Liu Ruyan realized Ito Makoto might have left something in her study, where he had often visited and where servants did not clean.

Liu Ruyan and Ji Boda searched Ito Makoto’s study and found his Withered Vine Martial Soul, then uncovered a hidden note inviting them to meet at the usual place. The chapter left them with a new clue to the truth behind Ito Makoto and the Crimson Church’s attack.

• Liu Ruyan and Ji Boda searched Ito Makoto’s study and discovered his Withered Vine Martial Soul concealed in a corner.
• Ji Boda reasoned that Ito Makoto had deliberately revealed his Head Soul Bone and accompanied them to Mount Li, possibly to warn them and monitor the Crimson Church.
• Liu Ruyan infused the vine with soul power, but it showed no reaction, so Ji Boda suggested that its location might hold the clue.
• Liu Ruyan pressed a tiny protrusion beneath the vine, opening a hidden compartment in the study wall.
• Yan Ruliu opened a small box from the compartment and found a note that read, “If you wish to know the truth, meet me at the usual place.”

Ji Boda and Liu Ruyan deciphered Ito Makoto’s note and found a buried chest of nether blood lilies and seeds in the Bamboo Grove. They began investigating the plants’ purpose, with Liu Ruyan planning to consult old records about their possible use in pill refining.

• Ji Boda realized the emphasized word “old” in Ito Makoto’s note could point to a place he visited long ago, and Liu Ruyan recalled his visits to the Bamboo Grove.
• Ji Boda and Liu Ruyan searched the Bamboo Grove and uncovered a sealed chest buried beneath dried bamboo leaves.
• Ji Boda and Liu Ruyan opened the chest and found it packed with nether blood lilies and seeds.
• Liu Ruyan explained that nether blood lilies could be used medicinally and might also be ingredients for pills such as the Bloodthirst Pill.
• Ji Boda urged Liu Ruyan to study the lilies and seeds to discover what Ito Makoto intended, and Liu Ruyan decided to consult old books and records.

Liu Ruyan and Ji Boda discovered Ito Makoto’s letter explaining his family’s ties to the Crimson Church and the value of the nether blood lilies he left behind. The letter revealed the Church’s role in her grandfather’s death and its pursuit of Ito’s family, while leaving the purpose of the ancient rituals at the heart of its factional conflict unknown.

• Ji Boda found a box hidden inside a crate and gave it to Liu Ruyan, who discovered Ito Makoto’s letter and two books inside.
• Ito Makoto explained that his family belonged to the Crimson Church and had cultivated the preserved nether blood lilies, which he left to Liu Ruyan as an apology.
• Liu Ruyan read that a struggle between the Crimson Church’s two main factions had forced Ito’s family into hiding and led to his parents’ deaths.
• Ito Makoto revealed that the Crimson Church had killed Liu Ruyan’s grandfather and sought his family because of their ability to cultivate nether blood lilies.
• Ito Makoto explained that the lilies were used with drunken life flowers in ancient rituals and formations that had sparked the Church’s factional conflict.

Liu Ruyan read Ito Makoto’s letter and learned that the Crimson Church planned to attack the Ji and Liu Families, while nether blood lilies and netherworld soil were tied to the threat. She and Ji Boda decided to seek an alliance with the Chen Clan, using the lilies as leverage, and vowed to face the coming conflict together.

• Liu Ruyan read Ito Makoto’s letter, which revealed his Crimson Church origins, his use of netherworld soil to cultivate nether blood lilies, and the Church’s plan to move against the Ji and Liu Families.
• Ito Makoto explained that he had provoked an early confrontation and leaked his danger to the Crimson Church, hoping to force it to act before it was ready; he thanked the Liu Family and left to return to his path.
• Liu Ruyan and Ji Boda recognized that the chest of nether blood lilies could help them resist the Crimson Church.
• Liu Ruyan proposed approaching the Chen Clan with the lilies as an inducement to form an alliance, and Ji Boda agreed to stand by her.

Xue Churan investigated the aftermath of the attack on the Ji and Liu Families, checked on the wounded and the people of Chang'an City, and met with representatives of the major factions. As factions across the city reacted and pursued their own interests, the truth behind the attack remained unknown.

• Xue Churan learned that the Azure Feather Falcon had not yet returned from the Imperial Capital and ordered the guard to report as soon as it arrived.
• Xue Churan heard that the Liu Family and Medical Alliance branch had controlled most viral infections and that the city's people were largely unharmed.
• Xue Churan went to the Council Hall, promised the faction representatives she would uncover the truth, and listened to their concerns.
• News of the attacks on the Ji and Liu Families and the fires spread throughout Chang'an City, drawing concern from their allies and opportunism from their rivals.
• Aristocratic families and sects strengthened their security and secretly investigated, while mysterious factions and curious citizens also sought clues.

As unrest over the attacks on the Ji and Liu Families spread through Chang'an City, Xue Churan visited Chen Cong at the Chen Clan's secondary residence with Zuo Tinggang, who revealed himself as Sky Falcon Douluo and delivered the Heaven Dou Emperor's honors for Chen Cong. Chen Cong accepted his duke's rank and gifts, while the city remained tense and the truth behind the attacks was still unknown.

• Members of the Crimson Church held a secret meeting as rumors and unrest over the attacks on the Ji and Liu Families spread through Chang'an City.
• Major clans and sects prepared for further turmoil, while Xue Churan and other forces watched for threats and opportunities.
• Xue Churan visited Chen Cong with an elderly attendant, and Chen Cong recognized him as Zuo Tinggang.
• Zuo Tinggang revealed that he was Sky Falcon Douluo and presented the emperor's decree, duke's token, purple gold coins, formal attire, and a mansion to Chen Cong.
• Chen Cong accepted the imperial honors and pledged to serve the Heaven Dou Empire.

Xue Churan met Chen Cong to discuss the Crimson Church’s attack on the Ji and Liu Families and enlisted the Chen Clan’s help investigating the attackers. Chen Cong also proposed expanding his clan’s influence in Chang’an City, and Xue Churan agreed to support the plans.

• Xue Churan thanked Chen Cong and Long Ma for helping the Ji and Liu Families survive the Crimson Church’s attack.
• Chen Cong told Xue Churan and Zuo Tinggang that the Yan and You Families had led the attackers, and that four of the Seven Demon Generals belonged to the main fundamentalist branch.
• Xue Churan asked Chen Cong to use the Chen Clan’s intelligence network to find the attackers, and Chen Cong agreed.
• Xue Churan decided to let rumors about the attack spread further before taking action.
• Chen Cong proposed strengthening the Chen Clan and expanding into Soul Tool production and Soul Master services, including a medicinal herb trade market, and Xue Churan promised her support.

Chen Cong agreed to help Xue Churan and Zuo Tinggang investigate, then planned a short trip with Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi to seek Xiao Yi’s third soul ring in the Chen Clan’s secret realm. Xue Churan and Zuo Tinggang continued their confidential plans in Chang'an City as a storm approached.

• Chen Cong promised Xue Churan and Zuo Tinggang that he would begin investigating and then arranged to leave with Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi.
• Chen Cong asked Long Ma to watch over the Chen Clan Villa while they were away.
• Xixi asked to join Xiao Yi’s soul-ring hunt, but Chen Cong explained they would travel to the Chen Clan’s secret realm without her.
• Xue Churan and Zuo Tinggang discussed Chen Cong, and Zuo Tinggang reminded her that he had come secretly to Chang'an City for an important matter.
• Xue Churan assured Zuo Tinggang she would arrange everything, and their confidential conversation continued through the night.

Chen Cong led Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi to the hidden entrance of the Chen Clan’s spatial secret realm and guided them through its unstable passage. They arrived safely in a vast forested realm, where an unseen person challenged them.

• Chen Cong took Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi from the Chen Clan Villa to Zibai Mountain on his Seven Kill Sword.
• Chen Cong warned Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi to follow his steps carefully through the dangerous spatial nodes.
• Chen Cong opened the concealed entrance by channeling the Chen Clan’s Impartial Sword Qi Art into the rock face.
• Chen Cong used his soul power to protect Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi as they crossed the unstable spatial passage.
• Chen Cong, Chen Xiaojun, and Xiao Yi entered the secret realm and heard someone shout, “Who goes there?”

Chen Cong reunited with three elderly clan guardians, while Chen Xiaojun learned that several of them possessed Title Douluo-level combat strength despite remaining Soul Douluos. The elders welcomed Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi as the clan’s future, and the group awaited Zhu Hongzhen’s return.

• Ding Daoheng mistook Chen Cong and his companions for intruders until Chen Cong identified himself.
• Cheng Wenge and Zhu Jiazhen arrived after receiving Ding Daoheng’s signal, and Chen Cong told the elders that Zhu Hongzhen would soon return.
• Chen Cong said Zhu Hongzhen had gained opportunities at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and invited the three elders to visit it.
• Chen Xiaojun recognized Ding Daoheng, Cheng Wenge, and the Zhu Family elder as powerful clan guardians, with some able to match Titled Douluo in combat.
• Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi greeted the elders, who urged them to cultivate diligently and uphold the clan’s hopes.

Chen Xiaojun and the elders explored the Vine Sea, a secret realm suited to Xiao Yi’s cultivation and search for a third soul ring. Xiao Yi revealed her exceptional attributes and requested a five-to-six-thousand-year vine soul beast, leaving the elders astonished by her potential.

• Chen Cong explained that the Vine Sea was rich in vine soul beasts and ideal for Xiao Yi’s growth and third soul ring.
• Chen Xiaojun said Xiao Yi needed a vitality-focused vine soul beast, and Xiao Yi requested one aged five to six thousand years.
• Chen Xiaojun explained that Xiao Yi’s life and devouring attributes let her absorb older soul rings, including her two-thousand-year second ring.
• Xiao Yi revealed that her martial soul had metal, wood, water, fire, and earth attributes, which Chen Cong said formed the Five Elements Generating ability.
• Cheng Wenge and Ding Daoheng praised Xiao Yi, while Zhu Jiazhen compared her seven-attribute martial soul to the Seven Extremes Bow.
• Chen Cong privately noted that Chen Xiaojun already possessed eight attributes through his three divine swords.

Chen Xiaojun and the elders discussed potential vine soul beasts for Xiao Yi’s third soul ring, focusing on the stellar jade vine and the life vine. Chen Cong revealed that the secret realm’s treasure spring was the spring of life, whose vitality sustained the entire forest.

• Chen Cong told Ding Daoheng that Zhu Wuneng had awakened all five elemental attributes, delighting Ding Daoheng and prompting Cheng Wenge to tease him.
• Chen Xiaojun and the elders praised the younger generation before Cheng Wenge urged them to find a suitable vine soul beast for Xiao Yi’s third soul ring.
• Zhu Jiazhen described the stellar jade vine’s healing and protective abilities and explained that life vines had mutated beside the treasure spring.
• Chen Cong explained that the treasure spring was the secret name for the spring of life, which nourished the forest and sustained the secret realm.

Chen Xiaojun and his companions explored the Vine Sea Secret Realm, where Chen Cong explained that its life spring nourished the realm and its terrain resembled the Xieluo Mountains. They visited the stellar jade vines and discovered their powerful vitality and resonant stellar soul power.

• Chen Xiaojun asked to see the secret realm’s soul beasts, and Chen Cong flew with the group toward its tallest peak on the Seven Kill Sword.
• Chen Xiaojun noticed that the realm’s terrain resembled the Xieluo Mountains, and Chen Cong confirmed that spatial secret realms were often connected to famous mountains and natural energy.
• Zhu Jiazhen led the group to a hill covered in stellar jade vines, which Xiao Yi admired and Chen Xiaojun examined.
• Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi felt the vines’ soul power resonate with their own, and Ding Daoheng explained that the eighth-grade plant soul beasts absorbed stellar power and could benefit cultivation.

Zhu Jiazhen led Chen Xiaojun and the others to the spring of life and explained its healing powers and importance to the Chen Clan. The chapter ended with Chen Xiaojun wondering whether the legendary Goddess of Life was the deity who ranked above the Goddess of Hunting.

• Zhu Jiazhen praised the stellar jade vine’s rare star and life attributes, and offered to reserve older vines for Xiao Yi and Chen Xiaojun.
• Ding Daoheng and Zhu Jiazhen traded teasing remarks before the group continued to the life vine.
• Chen Cong led the group through dense forest to a clear pool, where they saw the spring of life and the stream it nourished.
• Zhu Jiazhen explained that the spring restored vitality and healed grievous injuries, while Chen Cong said it helped the Chen Clan temper the Seven Kill Sword’s killing aura.
• Zhu Jiazhen and Chen Cong recounted legends about the Goddess of Life creating the spring, and Chen Xiaojun wondered if she was the deity above the Goddess of Hunting.

Chen Xiaojun and the others discussed how the spring of life had preserved their vitality and helped make extraordinary breakthroughs possible. At the life vine, Xiao Yi chose it for her third soul ring despite its unknown skills and lack of specimens over ten thousand years old, and Chen Xiaojun explained why it best suited her martial soul.

• Ding Daoheng and Cheng Wenge credited the spring of life with stabilizing Chen Zixiu's injuries and preserving the elders' strength.
• Chen Xiaojun concluded that nurturing the body with natural treasures before seeking a breakthrough at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was an effective approach.
• The group found the life vine, and Cheng Wenge and Xiao Yi sensed its unusually pure soul power and immense vitality.
• Zhu Jiazhen explained that the life vine had mutated less than a hundred years ago, so none had reached ten thousand years old.
• Xiao Yi chose the life vine, and Chen Xiaojun said its concentrated life energy suited her Evergreen Vine martial soul and planned life soul skill.

Xiao Yi summoned her Immortal Evergreen Vine to face a five-thousand-five-hundred-year-old life vine, but the nearby life vines reacted violently and attacked it. Chen Cong and Zhu Jiazhen recognized that the life vines were lower-ranked soul beasts drawn to the Immortal Evergreen Vine, leaving everyone watching as they sought to merge with it.

• Xiao Yi summoned her Immortal Evergreen Vine and prepared to challenge the five-thousand-five-hundred-year-old life vine alone.
• The Immortal Evergreen Vine's appearance caused the nearby plant soul beasts to tremble, and both life vines suddenly attacked it.
• The eight-thousand-year-old life vine wrapped around Xiao Yi's vine, which then bound it in return while Chen Cong pinned down the other life vine with Sword Qi.
• The Immortal Evergreen Vine drained and destroyed the eight-thousand-year-old life vine's tendrils as it continued to coil around it.
• Chen Cong and Zhu Jiazhen identified the life vines as lower-ranked soul beasts seeking to fuse with and elevate their bloodlines through the Immortal Evergreen Vine.

Xiao Yi’s Immortal Evergreen Vine subdued an eight-thousand-year Life Vine and drew out its Soul Ring. Despite absorbing it beyond her limit and suffering through severe pain, Xiao Yi survived the ordeal with the vine’s help, and her aura steadied as she gained greater power.

• The Immortal Evergreen Vine used its upper-ranked bloodline to break free of the Life Vine’s tendrils and drain the eight-thousand-year Soul Beast’s vitality.
• A purple Soul Ring formed above the withered Life Vine, and the Immortal Evergreen Vine drew it toward itself before sending its energy into Xiao Yi.
• Ding Daoheng, Cheng Wenge, and Zhu Jiazhen warned that Xiao Yi was in danger, while Chen Cong urged them to wait because the vine seemed to have chosen the Soul Ring deliberately.
• Xiao Yi endured the painful absorption and stopped Chen Xiaojun from disturbing her, while the Immortal Evergreen Vine released energy to stabilize her.
• Xiao Yi’s aura gradually steadied, and everyone saw that she had survived absorbing the Soul Ring beyond her limit.

Xiao Yi completed the absorption of a six-thousand-year soul ring at an extraordinary pace, revealing her manifest soul physique to the elders. She emerged stronger and more closely bonded with the Immortal Evergreen Vine, while the elders learned that Chen Xiaojun’s potential was even greater and vowed to protect them both.

• Cheng Wenge used Vast Eagle Eye and discovered that all three of Xiao Yi’s soul nests were absorbing soul power simultaneously.
• Chen Cong confirmed that Xiao Yi had the legendary manifest soul physique, astonishing Cheng Wenge, Ding Daoheng, and Zhu Jiazhen.
• Zhu Jiazhen recalled Chen Yu’s warning to care for Xiao Yi, and Chen Cong revealed that Chen Xiaojun had level twelve innate soul power and that both youths’ potential was a family secret.
• The elders recognized the danger surrounding Xiao Yi and Chen Xiaojun and resolved to protect and support them.
• Xiao Yi finished absorbing the soul ring, which had merged with the Immortal Evergreen Vine, and felt her strength and bond with it grow.

Xiao Yi survived absorbing an 8,000-year Soul Ring, but excess vital essence overwhelmed her body and triggered a painful transformation. As Chen Xiaojun and the elders watched, her Immortal Evergreen Vine began absorbing and purifying the excess energy, leaving her body covered in vines.

• Xiao Yi finished absorbing the Soul Ring, and Chen Xiaojun embraced her in relief before she suddenly collapsed in pain.
• Cheng Wenge diagnosed Xiao Yi with an excess of vital essence, and Chen Cong told everyone to observe her because her life was not yet in danger.
• Chen Xiaojun held Xiao Yi's hand and encouraged her as she fought to control the energy surging through her body.
• Xiao Yi's Immortal Evergreen Vine released Life Soul Power and used its Devouring Attribute to absorb, purify, and return the excess vital essence.
• Xiao Yi's body painfully changed as greenish-white hair, woody creases, tendrils, and leaves appeared, until vines enveloped her like a humanoid plant.