Chapter Summaries

Chen Xiaojun crossed Iron Jaw Fortress and entered the Council Hall, where Chen Zhang and the leaders of the allied families were meeting with Tang Hengyu, Tan Yashuang, and Hahn Connolly. He took his reserved seat as the visitors studied the young Soul Master who had slain six Soul Saints.

• Chen Mu showed Gu Yuanchao and Xiao San the guarded courtyard where the miners were being held.
• Chen Xiaojun passed through Iron Jaw Fortress’s central square and climbed to the Council Hall.
• Chen Xiaojun entered the hall, where Chen Zhang, Ximen Wenye, Yang Zhicheng, Ma Zhibin, and other family leaders were seated.
• Tang Hengyu, Tan Yashuang, and Hahn Connolly watched Chen Xiaojun arrive, recalling his battlefield feat and assessing him.
• Chen Xiaojun greeted the leaders and sat beside Zhu Yanfeng, Xia Yun, and Qin Lüguang.

Chen Xiaojun and the allied families met with Tang Hengyu and Tan Yashuang to negotiate the Rusty Brotherhood’s future in the Canopy District. Ma Zhibin pressured Tan Yashuang to negotiate by the rules and promised her sisterhood a dignified resolution, leaving her to accept his warning in silence.

• Zhu Yanfeng and Qin Lüguang smoked through the meeting, while Xia Yun complained and the display heightened the tension for the visiting guests.
• Tang Hengyu demanded a direct answer about how the allied families intended to deal with the Rusty Brotherhood.
• Chen Zhang said the alliance sought stability and order, and Tan Yashuang challenged him over the takeover of three districts’ underground networks.
• Tan Yashuang mocked the alliance’s conquest of the Canopy District and called Chen Xiaojun a walking natural disaster.
• Ma Zhibin invoked Tan Yashuang’s family ties and warned her to negotiate properly, promising a dignified resolution for her sisterhood.
• Tan Yashuang swallowed her objections and turned aside, tacitly accepting Ma Zhibin’s pressure.

Chen Zhang presented Tang Hengyu, Tan Yashuang, and Hahn Connolly with three ways to fit their organizations into the new order in the Canopy District. Tang remained silent as Chen clarified the shared terms, leaving the groups to consider their choices.

• Chen Zhang proposed that the Rusty Brotherhood keep managing the Rust-Eaten Corridor while allowing the four families inspection rights, waiving their tolls, and giving the families thirty percent of its profits.
• Chen Zhang offered to incorporate the Rusty Brotherhood into a family’s forces as a formal combat battalion, with Tang Hengyu as its commander and the family taking control of the corridor.
• Chen Zhang proposed a joint council to manage underground resources, trade routes, security, and disputes, with profits shared among the participating groups.
• Tang Hengyu listened without responding, weighing the proposals as Tan Yashuang and Hahn Connolly considered their own positions.
• Chen Zhang explained that all three groups faced the same basic terms: surrender thirty percent of income, join the new order, or cooperate deeply, with autonomy depending on the arrangement.

Chen Zhang presented the Sisters' Association with a fourth option after Tan Yashuang rejected the three proposed arrangements: leave the Canopy District, surrendering its assets or taking only a fraction of its people. Tan Yashuang realized that even the offered resettlement would leave her group stripped of its foundations and still within the Chen Clan's reach.

• Tan Yashuang weighed the costs of the Chen Clan's proposals, while Hahn waited for her and Tang Hengyu to choose before declaring his own position.
• Tan Yashuang asked Chen Zhang what would happen if they chose none of the three options.
• Chen Zhang offered three ways to leave: depart with everyone but leave Canopy District assets behind, take willing members while the alliance absorbed the rest, or resettle in a place such as Five Mountains City.
• Chen Zhang described Five Mountains City as a prosperous but divided place where the Sisters' Association or Brotherhood could establish a foothold with the Chen Clan's help.
• Tan Yashuang recognized that leaving would cost the Sisters' Association its territory and networks, and that the suggested destinations would still fall within the Chen Clan's sphere of influence.

Chen Zhang laid out the terms for the Underworld factions to join the Chen Clan, leave, or relocate under its oversight. After asking Chen Zhang about the upheaval in the Imperial Capital, Tang Hengyu chose to have the Rusty Brotherhood join the Chen Clan and accept reorganization, stunning Tan Yashuang and Hahn.

• Chen Xiaojun watched as Chen Zhang presented the three options and drew a hard line for the Chen Clan's control of the Canopy District Underworld.
• Hahn argued that his group's trade and laundering networks were valuable assets, and Chen Zhang explained how their worth would depend on which option they chose and what they offered in return.
• After a tense silence, Tang Hengyu asked Chen Zhang what he thought of the recent events in the Imperial Capital.
• Chen Zhang called the events "Once in a century," and Tang Hengyu declared that the Rusty Brotherhood would join the Chen Clan and accept reorganization.
• Tan Yashuang cried out in disbelief, while Hahn stared at Tang Hengyu in surprise.

Tang Hengyu recognized that the upheaval in the Imperial Capital's Underworld left the Rusty Brotherhood with little chance of surviving independently, so he pledged it to the Chen Clan. Chen Zhang welcomed the Brotherhood, while Hahn agreed to follow his arrangements and Tan Yashuang faced pressure to decide the Phantom Shadow Sisterhood's future as government forces sealed key underground passages.

• Tang Hengyu weighed the coming upheaval and chose to place the Rusty Brotherhood under the Chen Clan's protection.
• Chen Zhang accepted Tang Hengyu's pledge and ordered Qin Lüguang to incorporate the Rusty Brotherhood with equal treatment for its members.
• Hahn agreed that the Sincerity Trade Association would follow Chen Zhang's arrangements.
• Chen Zhang urged Tan Yashuang to consider the Phantom Shadow Sisterhood's safety and directed Xia Yun to give her a confidential briefing.
• Chen Xiaojun watched quietly as Three Intelligence Bureaus agents and Imperial Guard Office and City Guard Army troops sealed key passages in Heaven Dou City's underground network.

Ximen Wenye, Chen Zhang, Yang Zhicheng, and Ma Zhibin discussed bringing Hahn’s underground network into their Joint Management Council and teased Ma Zhibin about Tan Yashuang’s choice to work with him. Chen Zhang then reported on the Bone-Digging Corps’ businesses and stronghold, leaving the council focused on the scale of its exploitation in Iron Jaw Fortress.

• Ximen Wenye and Chen Zhang agreed that Hahn’s five-percent share was a fair price for his local expertise and connections as the Joint Management Council built its underground network.
• Yang Zhicheng and Ximen Wenye teased Ma Zhibin about Tan Yashuang choosing the Ma Family and warned him not to give her the wrong impression before he returned to Chang’an Commandery.
• Chen Zhang outlined the Bone-Digging Corps’ businesses, including trafficking people, mining rare deposits, hunting underground soul beasts, and collecting rent and protection money in Iron Jaw Fortress.
• Zhu Yanfeng condemned the Bone-Digging Corps for exploiting people, while Qin Lüguang noted that the Imperial Capital’s underground factions monopolized the gray-market industries.

Chen Zhang reviewed the spoils from the Bone-Digging Corps and arranged how the four families would distribute resources and build a joint force. He then outlined the prisoners and the corps' fractured leadership, revealing that Chen Xiaojun had killed four Soul Saints.

• Jian Hezhi read the public accounts, which included mineral deposits, workshops, Soul Bones, and nearly thirty million Gold Soul Coins and crystal cards.
• Chen Zhang offered the Bone-Digging Corps' special arrow stockpile to Yang Zhicheng, who accepted it for the Yang Family.
• Zhu Yanfeng proposed using the captured furnaces and ore for a joint armed force, and Chen Zhang assigned resources and requested craftsmen from the Ximen Family.
• Jian Hezhi reported over fourteen hundred former slaves and youths with soul master aptitude, along with 1,846 prisoners from the corps.
• Chen Zhang explained that the Bone-Digging Corps' leaders belonged to four factions and said Chen Xiaojun had killed four of Barton's Soul Saint followers.

Chen Zhang reported the captured factions and Zhu Yanfeng described Barton’s powerful techniques and escape, leading the council to identify him as a likely Jin family operative serving the Qian Family. The council suspected Barton had monitored Soul Fighting City and warned that he might be only one of many covert agents.

• Chen Zhang said Xiaojun and the others had defeated the small factions, while Dou Jing and four Soul Saints were captured but refused to talk.
• Qin Lüguang mocked Zhu Yanfeng for letting Barton escape, and Zhu admitted Barton’s strength and escape abilities had been extraordinary.
• Zhu Yanfeng described Barton’s nine-stage Iron Crocodile Tail Sever, advanced movement technique, and ancient Soul Bone.
• Yang Zhicheng and Chen Zhang concluded Barton’s abilities and metal-attribute crocodile martial soul pointed to the Jin family and a connection to the Qian Family.
• The council suspected Barton had monitored Soul Fighting City for years, and Ma Zhibin warned that other covert agents might remain.

Chen Zhang ordered a thorough purge of Barton’s suspected Spirit Hall network and laid out plans to exploit the Black Market, expand mining and Soul Hunting, and integrate regional intelligence networks. The meeting ended with Qin Lüguang tasked with investigating the prisoners and reorganizing the Rusty Brotherhood, while the group prepared to tighten its control of the Canopy District.

• Chen Zhang and Ximen Wen Ye discussed tracing Barton’s contacts with the Holy Hall, and Qin Lüguang volunteered to interrogate Dou Jing, Mao Zeqian, and the other prisoners.
• Chen Zhang ordered the Black Scale Guards to secure Iron Jaw Fortress and sent the four families’ guards to capture escaped Bone-Digging Corps members.
• Chen Zhang proposed selling the families’ goods and repurposed Crimson equipment through Black Market channels, with the Hahn Trade Association helping distribute them.
• Chen Zhang ordered screened prisoners assigned to mining or resettled in trades, and placed Soul Hunting under the combined armed forces.
• Chen Zhang proposed expanding the Phantom Shadow Sisterhood’s and Rusty Brotherhood’s intelligence networks and retaining certain gray businesses as covert traps.
• Chen Zhang assigned Qin Lüguang to handle the Rust-Eaten Corridor and reorganize the Rusty Brotherhood.

Chen Xiaojun proposed a sweeping plan to develop the Canopy District through breeding, trade, transport, defense, and tourism. His ideas won the hall’s enthusiastic approval and left Chen Zhang with a vision for turning Iron Jaw Fortress into a thriving commercial hub.

• Chen Zhang asked Chen Xiaojun for his thoughts, and Chen Xiaojun argued that the Canopy District should shift from breaking the old order to building a new one.
• Chen Xiaojun proposed surveying the underground river, building a reservoir and soul beast breeding facilities, and coordinating the Phantom Shadow Sisterhood, Sincerity Trade Association, and Rusty Brotherhood in a three-district trade network.
• Chen Xiaojun suggested diverting the river to defend Iron Jaw Fortress and concealing a sluice gate that could flood the Elevated Platform Plain if the fortress faced destruction.
• Chen Xiaojun proposed an Earth Vein Light Network to illuminate main routes across the three districts and draw merchants and travelers to their roads.
• Chen Xiaojun urged the Chen Clan to turn Iron Jaw Fortress into a center for entertainment, commerce, and tourism connecting the Underground City with Heaven Dou City, and the hall praised his plans.

Chen Xiaojun defended taking control of the Bone-Digging Corps’ population-trade channels and presented test results showing remarkable Soul Master talent among those they had rescued. Chen Zhang’s council resolved to turn the channels into a regulated system for recruitment and resettlement, leaving the Joint Management Council in control.

• Chen Xiaojun argued that the council should control the Bone-Digging Corps’ population-movement channels rather than let other gangs exploit them.
• Chen Xiaojun shared test results with the elders, who were astonished by Winter’s eighth-grade Iceblood Dragon martial soul, Level 8.7 innate soul power, and Level 28 soul power at age thirteen.
• Ma Zhibin tried to claim Winter as a personal attendant for his son, but Zhu Yanfeng rebuffed him.
• Chen Zhang declared that the Joint Management Council would retain the channels, screen everyone brought in, train promising Soul Masters, and properly resettle ordinary children and women.

Chen Xiaojun proposed establishing a training base for Soul Masters with negative-attribute martial souls at Iron Jaw Fortress, then outlined a plan to manage refugees and recruit talent in the Canopy District. Chen Zhang approved the base and assigned its preparation, while the district’s response to the spreading unrest remained to be implemented.

• Chen Xiaojun proposed a training base at Iron Jaw Mountain Fort for adult and young Soul Masters with negative-attribute martial souls, with the possibility of a specialized academy later.
• Qin Lüguang, Ximen Wen Ye, Yang Zhicheng, and Ma Zhibin supported the proposal, and Chen Zhang designated an area in the fort’s western section for the base.
• Chen Zhang assigned Qin Lüguang to prepare and manage the base, with Zuo Jinhua assisting, and directed them to plan recruitment, training, and oversight.
• Chen Xiaojun warned that unrest and refugees from the Imperial Capital could spill into the Canopy District and proposed opening its gates under a three-stage screening and merit system.
• Chen Xiaojun proposed giving refugees basic aid in exchange for labor, monitoring arrivals, and admitting those who earned merit into the district’s outer ranks and Reserve Corps.

Chen Xiaojun revealed Chen Cong’s Baleful Energy Absorption Magic Formation, designed to gather and store the dangerous negative energies permeating Iron Jaw Fortress. The formation could supply the Chen Clan’s Seven Kill Sword Soul Masters with controlled baleful energy, potentially easing a longstanding problem, though its practical use remained ahead.

• Chen Xiaojun unfolded a large schematic and announced that it depicted the Baleful Energy Absorption Magic Formation researched by Chen Cong.
• Chen Xiaojun explained that years of slaughter had soaked Iron Jaw Fortress in resentment and baleful energy, making the place unnaturally cold and dangerous.
• Chen Xiaojun demonstrated how his Seven Kill Sword could absorb negative energy and said the formation would gather such energy on a larger scale.
• Chen Xiaojun explained that the Chen Clan’s Soul Masters struggled with excess or insufficient killing intent and baleful energy, which they had to suppress using the Seven Kill Qi-Concealing Technique.
• Chen Xiaojun described how Chen Cong combined research on natural barriers, clan techniques, mimicry environments, energy compression, and yin-yang conversion to complete the formation’s design.

Chen Xiaojun revealed that the Baleful Energy Absorption Magic Formation could theoretically absorb the Ximen Family's Karmaflame Demon Blade fiend qi, potentially ending their thousand-year affliction. He agreed to pursue the formation's construction and said it was meant to benefit the entire Four-Family Alliance.

• Chen Xiaojun explained that the formation could supply the Chen Clan's Seven-Kill Sword with negative energy and said its principles could also support the Ximen Family's Karmaflame Demon Blade.
• Ximen Wenye realized the formation might absorb the fiend qi harming his family, and Chen Xiaojun confirmed that it could provide killing qi and blood qi while removing accumulated fiend qi.
• Chen Xiaojun explained that the formation had only been theoretically designed and had not yet been tested, but Ximen Wenye still urged him to begin construction and promised the Ximen Family's full support.
• Chen Xiaojun said he had brought the blueprint not just for the Chen Clan and Ximen Family, but to benefit everyone in the Four-Family Alliance.

Chen Xiaojun explained how the Baleful Energy Absorption Magic Formation could gather and purify negative energies at Iron Jaw Fortress for cultivation and combat. He revealed the Divine Wood Heart as a candidate for the formation’s Main Formation Core.

• Chen Xiaojun described how the formation’s converted energies could benefit the Ma and Yang families and other Soul Masters.
• Chen Xiaojun examined Zuo Jinhua’s Mountain Fort blueprint and identified nine sites for energy-absorption nodes and channels leading to the Main Formation Core.
• Chen Xiaojun explained that mithril from Iron Jaw Fortress’s deposits could be used in the formation’s energy conduits.
• Yang Zhicheng asked Chen Xiaojun about material for the Main Formation Core, and Chen Xiaojun opened a treasure box containing the Divine Wood Heart.
• Qin Lüguang, Zhu Yanfeng, and Yang Zhicheng recognized the Divine Wood Heart, which had helped transform the Yang Family’s old poplar tree into a hundred-thousand-year soul beast.

Chen Xiaojun explained how the Baleful Energy Absorption Magic Formation would purify Iron Jaw Fortress’s negative energy, strengthen its defenses, support cultivation, and attract visitors. Chen Zhang made the formation the Four-Family Alliance’s top priority and assigned the work needed to prepare for its construction.

• Chen Xiaojun explained that the Divine Wood Heart would serve as the formation’s main core, while subsidiary cores and Soul Masters would improve its ability to absorb specific kinds of negative energy.
• Chen Xiaojun proposed turning the remaining fiendish qi into defensive barriers, traps, and spiritual attacks that could weaken intruders.
• Chen Xiaojun said the formation could cleanse Mountain Fort and ease visitors’ accumulated baleful energy, encouraging them to return.
• Ma Zhibin praised the formation’s combined benefits and questioned whether Chen Xiaojun had planned it for Iron Jaw Fortress in advance.
• Chen Xiaojun explained that the formation schematic had taken shape a month earlier and that the fortress, resources, and circumstances made its construction possible.
• Chen Zhang ordered all four families to prioritize construction, while Qin Lüguang took charge of surveys and preparations and Jian Hezhi was tasked with assembling the needed personnel.

Chen Zhang’s council settled on interrogating Barton to uncover the Martial Soul Holy Hall’s hidden agents and plans in Heaven Dou City. Qin Lüguang, Zhu Yanfeng, and Chen Xiaojun entered the Interrogation Room, where Qin confronted the captured Dou Jing and four Soul Saints.

• Qin Lüguang volunteered to interrogate the bandit leaders, and Chen Zhang stressed the need to uncover Barton’s secrets and hidden agents.
• Chen Xiaojun spoke privately with Zuo Jinhua, then followed Qin Lüguang and Zhu Yanfeng toward the Interrogation Room with the Ximen Darkfire Guards.
• Ma Zhibin asked Chen Zhang about yin-yang and the five elements, while Ximen Wenye and Yang Zhicheng teased him and Xia Yun reminded him to pay for the wine.
• The guards opened the reinforced doors to the Interrogation Room, and Chen Xiaojun entered despite a warning about its blood aura.
• Qin Lüguang found Dou Jing and four captured Soul Saints bound in the cavern and taunted Dou Jing about being made to suffer the same treatment he had inflicted on others.

Chen Xiaojun and his allies tortured captured opponents to force them to reveal what they knew, but the prisoners resisted. Dou Jing learned that Barton had escaped, while Yan Zhen discovered the accusation that Barton served Spirit Hall’s Jin Family.

• Qin Lüguang demanded that Dou Jing, Yan Zhen, and Mo Li talk, but they refused.
• Qin Lüguang broke Dou Jing’s ribs, while Zhu Yanfeng aggravated Li Wuyaya’s shoulder wound as Chen Xiaojun watched.
• Zhu Yanfeng used his Tendon-Splitting Bone-Crushing Hand on Yan Zhen, who endured the pain without screaming.
• Qin Lüguang ordered the Darkfire Guards to tighten the prisoners’ chains and drain their soul power, making Li Wuyaya groan.
• Zhu Yanfeng told Dou Jing that Barton had escaped, and Dou Jing acknowledged it.
• Qin Lüguang accused Barton of serving Spirit Hall’s Jin Family, shocking Yan Zhen.

Zhu Yanfeng accused Dou Jing’s faction of hiding Barton’s ties to the Jin Family and Spirit Hall, while Chen Xiaojun offered the prisoners a chance to reduce their punishment by revealing Barton’s covert network. Dou Jing appeared ready to answer, then attacked Chen Xiaojun with a concealed burst of icy energy.

• Zhu Yanfeng argued that Barton’s secret techniques pointed to the Jin Family and challenged Dou Jing over the faction’s failure to watch him.
• Yan Zhen questioned Dou Jing after realizing Barton might have been a Jin Family plant, while Li Wuyaya and Yin Jiu defended the prisoners and accused the Chen Clan of seeking a pretext.
• Chen Xiaojun told Dou Jing that Barton, the Jin Family, and Spirit Hall would abandon them, and urged him to reveal the covert network and secret communication channels.
• Dou Jing fell silent, then challenged Chen Xiaojun to force the information out of him.
• Dou Jing unleashed a concealed, concentrated surge of icy energy at Chen Xiaojun.