Recaps

Ma Wencai defeated Aaron Flake with Glory of the Solar Corona, winning his teammates’ respect despite collapsing from exhaustion. Three days later, the school announced its tournament team, naming Chen Xiaojun captain and commander.

• Ma Wencai’s Glory of the Solar Corona shattered Aaron Flake’s fireball and left him unconscious.
• The referee declared Ma Wencai the winner, and Ma Wencai collapsed as his teammates supported him.
• Aaron Flake’s teammates accused Ma Wencai of going too far, but Zhu Wuneng defended him until the referee restored order.
• Three days later, Yan Chengyi announced the school’s competition team and appointed Chen Xiaojun captain and commander, with Chen Mu and Chen Xin Yi as vice-captains.

Chen Xiaojun explained that the arena battles had been the first stage of special training and confirmed his authority as the school team’s captain and commander. He ordered the team to pack and gather at one o’clock to travel to the second stage of training.

• Wang Baoqiang asked Yan Chengyi what Hong Chen’s commander role meant, and Yan explained that the commander would oversee tactics, training, and the team’s overall campaign.
• Chen Xiaojun congratulated the selected students and explained that the arena battles had tested their combat abilities; he said anyone who failed would have been sent away.
• Wang Baoqiang joined the team after earning ten consecutive arena victories, while Chen Xiaojun considered the strengths and roles of the selected commoner competitors and other candidates.
• Chen Xiaojun told everyone to pack their clothes and gather at one o’clock to leave for the second phase of special training.

Chen Xiaojun began the second phase of the team’s special training at the Chang'an Great Soul Arena, setting demanding match schedules and win-rate targets. The team prepared to start fighting, while Chen Xiaojun left the nighttime training’s purpose a mystery.

• Ma Rulong thanked Chen Xiaojun for visiting and told Ma Liang and Ma Wencai to work hard under him in the Mainland Elite Tournament.
• Chen Xiaojun announced a week of training at the Great Soul Arena, where each student had to fight at least ten singles or doubles matches per day against tough opponents.
• Chen Xiaojun set minimum win rates of 90% in singles and 80% in doubles, warning that anyone who fell short would be removed from the team.
• Chen Xiaojun assigned the day’s doubles partners, arranged new fighter profiles and masks, and advised the students to change partners daily afterward.
• Chen Xiaojun said he and Wuxing would demonstrate the second part of training at night, but did not explain what it involved.
• Ma Liang asked about his combination’s name, and Chen Mu called it the Three-Five Combination.

Chen Xiaojun learned how Wang Baoqiang’s martial soul had risen from third rank to sixth rank and why the academy had kept him hidden. The chapter ended as Chen Mu went to compete, while Chen Xiaojun considered Wang Baoqiang’s unusual growth and the academy’s motives for putting him on the team.

• Chen Cong approved Chen Xiaojun’s training plan, though he judged that it needed more teamwork and steadiness.
• Chen Xiaojun asked Chen Mu about Wang Baoqiang, whom he had recently recruited to the team.
• Chen Mu explained that Wang Baoqiang had enrolled with a third-rank martial soul, which later rose to sixth rank as he trained and worked to support his cultivation.
• Chen Mu said Elder Yuan had taken Wang Baoqiang as a disciple and that the academy had kept his unusual martial soul secret while he focused on earning money.
• Chen Xiaojun wondered why Wang Baoqiang had been allowed to compete, and Chen Mu suggested the academy wanted him to gain experience and impress Chen Xiaojun.
• Chen Mu stood up to take the stage and complained about the demands of his competition.

The chapter explained Chang'an Academy’s leadership, departments, and major factions, then showed Chen Xiaojun considering why the Earth and Metal Faction was putting forward Wang Baoqiang for the Gaoying Tournament. It left Chen Xiaojun weighing whether the faction hoped to earn his support or align itself with him.

• Yuan Tieshan was introduced as head of the Office of Academic Affairs and a leading figure in the Earth and Metal Faction.
• The chapter outlined Chang'an Academy’s Three Great Factions and explained how Chen Cong’s appointment changed the academy’s departments and leadership.
• Chen Xiaojun inferred that Wang Baoqiang’s tournament participation was meant to make an impression on him, amid the influence of recent martial soul advancements.
• Chen Xiaojun considered the factions’ strengths, the affiliations of promising students, and the Earth and Metal Faction’s lack of leverage with him.
• Chen Xiaojun wondered whether the Earth and Metal Faction intended to win his favor or throw its lot in with him.

Xiao Yi fought Flame Prison in a Soul King-level Soul Fighting Tournament, using sword techniques to withstand his fire, poison, and web attacks. After Flame Prison believed poison had weakened her, Xiao Yi revealed a healing Soul Skill and recovered, leaving him shocked.

• The narrator reasoned that the Water and Ice and Fire and Smelting Factions had limited their contestants, likely to favor the Earth and Metal Faction.
• Xiao Yi entered the arena as Azure Emperor to practice sword techniques against Flame Prison, whose Martial Soul was the Flame Prison Demon Spider.
• Flame Prison trapped Xiao Yi with a spider web, wounded her with fire thorns, and attacked her with poison mist, spider silk, and flames.
• Xiao Yi evaded and countered with sword techniques, but Flame Prison claimed his poison had slowed her and pressed his advantage.
• Xiao Yi escaped his attacks, revealed a rising Soul Ring, and healed her wounds, stunning Flame Prison with her previously unseen healing ability.

Xiao Yi struggled against an opponent whose fire-based martial soul countered her sword, while Chen Xiaojun assessed the flaws in her technique. The scene ended with the group trading jokes about their chosen names.

• Wang Baoqiang cheered for Xiao Yi as she fought, but Chen Xiaojun and Chen Mu noticed that she could not cut through her opponent's web.
• Chen Xiaojun explained that Xiao Yi wasted soul power while converting her attributes and finger force into sword qi, and Su Ningxia noted that her opponent's martial soul and fire attributes gave him an advantage.
• Chen Mu reassured Chen Xiaojun that Xiao Yi had practiced swordsmanship for only a few days, and Chen Xiaojun said the difficult matchup would help her improve.
• Chen Mu and Zhu Wuneng teased Chen Xiaojun about his and Xiao Yi's names, then the group mocked one another's names and the stories behind them.
• Wang Baoqiang claimed Brother Monkey was respectable, but Saiwen exposed why he had chosen it, and Mei Jibo blushed when Zhu Wuneng called him normal.

Xiao Yi defeated her opponent in the arena, then healed her injured teammates before Chen Xiaojun prepared them for the next part of training. Commentators Brother Haihai and Brother Heihei analyzed the ongoing fight between Kong Jun and Lang Shi, ending with Lang Shi poised to exploit the tell before Kong Jun’s Sword Horn Starburst.

• Xiao Yi struck Flame Prison with her sword qi and won the arena fight, collapsing from exhaustion afterward.
• Xiao Yi healed Wang Baoqiang and the other injured team members, while Chen Xiaojun told everyone to rest before the next training session.
• Brother Haihai and Brother Heihei introduced the soul fight between Kong Jun and Lang Shi and discussed the fighters’ strengths and weaknesses.
• Kong Jun repeatedly targeted Lang Shi’s waist with his sword-antelope attacks, while Lang Shi counterattacked with his crimson blood war wolf martial soul.
• Brother Haihai pointed out that Kong Jun’s horns flashed blue three times before Sword Horn Starburst, and said Lang Shi’s experience would help him notice the tell.

Chen Xiaojun turned match commentary into a new job for the group, requiring them to use their fighting names and speak until the Great Soul Arena closed. Xiao Yi refused to commentate and chose to fight instead, while several others made their debut as live soul skill analysts.

• Kongjun Soul Ancestor wounded Wolf Devouring Soul Ancestor with a powerful strike, but Wolf Devouring Soul Ancestor roared and charged again.
• Ji Bochang and his companions recognized the commentators as Brother Haihai and Little Brother Heihei and discussed commentary as an alternative to fighting matches.
• Xiao Yi refused to commentate, deciding to fight at night while Gao Cuilan and Su Ningxia fought during the day.
• Chen Xiaojun ordered the group to commentate until the Great Soul Arena closed at ten and required them to use their soul fighting names.
• Chen Mu and Dugu Fu introduced themselves as Five Virtues and Brother Yixiu, Ma Liang and Ma Wencai as Three-Wheeler and Second Loafer, and Ji Bochang and Mei Jibo as Tide Rider and Little Ice Seal.

Chen Xiaojun’s team completed several days of live commentary training at the Great Soul Arena, gaining tactical and psychological skills while compiling extensive martial-soul intelligence. After receiving Su Henhan’s investigation report, Chen Xiaojun prepared to leave and begin the next stage of training in private.

• Chen Xiaojun’s team paired up to commentate on dozens of matches, developing commentary skills, tactical prediction, emotional control, and coordination.
• The team created a martial-soul compendium and a weakness handbook containing 2,400 counter relationships, while members practiced specialized skills and addressed personal flaws.
• Su Henhan delivered an investigation report to Chen Xiaojun, who thanked him and asked him to continue making preparations.
• Ma Rulong praised Chen Xiaojun’s demanding training program and the investigative work carried out by the Brocade Guard and the Soul Fighting Arena’s hosts.
• Chen Xiaojun explained that the team would leave that afternoon and conduct its final tactical drills elsewhere to avoid exposing them to rival academies.
• Ma Rulong asked to read the report, and Chen Xiaojun handed it to him.

Su Ningxia and Su Henhan discussed the Su Family’s losses and their growing ties to Xiao Yi and the Chen Clan. Su Henhan revealed that the Chen Clan might formally accept the Su Family as a retainer family, giving Xiao Yi a loyal force of her own within the clan.

• Su Ningxia thanked Su Henhan for his work and recalled how the young master and miss had helped the Su Family rebuild after its calamity.
• Su Henhan comforted Su Ningxia over their lost relatives and warned her that, as Xiao Yi’s follower, her conduct was now under close scrutiny.
• Su Ningxia asked whether her new position had affected the Su Family, and Su Henhan said the outside world now regarded them as part of Xiao Yi’s faction.
• Su Henhan disclosed that the Chen Clan might take the Su Family in as a retainer family, greatly improving its resources and standing.
• Su Henhan reasoned that the Chen Clan could be building Xiao Yi a loyal force within its own system, with the Su Family a natural candidate because of Su Ningxia’s close connection to her.

Su Henhan gave Su Ningxia her father’s legacy-grade soul bone and confirmed the family’s decision for her to become its next head. Meanwhile, Lu Xueqi and Zhang Xiaofan encountered their old friend Zixiu after more than a decade apart.

• Su Henhan presented Su Ningxia with her father’s over-fifty-thousand-year-old soul bone and told her the Su Family had chosen her as its next head.
• Su Ningxia accepted the responsibility and promised to restore the Su Family’s glory before Su Henhan left.
• In a bamboo grove near the Nine Heavens Sect’s Little Bamboo Peak, Lu Xueqi and Zhang Xiaofan sensed someone approaching and prepared to fight.
• Zixiu emerged and greeted Lu Xueqi and Zhang Xiaofan, who recognized him with surprise.

Chen Zixiu reunited with Zhang Xiaofan and Lu Xueqi after breaking through to level 99 by integrating the rules. He told them the Crimson Church had attacked the Chen Clan, leaving Chen Yu catatonic, and warned that a great calamity could erupt within ten or twenty years.

• Zhang Xiaofan recognized Chen Zixiu, while Little Gray trembled at Chen Zixiu’s aura and Zhang Xiaofan realized he had reached level 99.
• Chen Zixiu met Zhang Xiaofan and Lu Xueqi in their bamboo cottage, where they discussed his breakthrough and their changed lives.
• Chen Zixiu revealed that the Crimson Church had targeted the Chen Clan, gravely injuring A Cong and leaving Chen Yu catatonic.
• Zhang Xiaofan reacted with fury because Chen Yu was his disciple and inheritor, while Lu Xueqi asked about the nephews’ condition.
• Chen Zixiu warned that the calamity could erupt within ten or twenty years, and Lu Xueqi feared the Crimson Church’s attack signaled its approach.

Chen Zixiu told Lu Xueqi and Zhang Xiaofan that Lu Xueying and five other Chen Clan members would attempt to break through to Title Douluo, and asked them to help guard the group. Lu Xueqi agreed, and the three shared wine as they prepared for the journey.

• Chen Zixiu revealed that Lu Xueying would attempt to reach Title Douluo and explained that six clan members had been chosen for the Sunset Glow Plan.
• Chen Zixiu disclosed that the Chen Clan's Main Lineage had found a new secret realm whose treasures could aid breakthroughs.
• Chen Zixiu asked Lu Xueqi and Zhang Xiaofan to accompany the group and protect them during their attempts, and Lu Xueqi agreed.
• Lu Xueqi described how medicine and spirit treasures from Chen Zixiu had healed much of the hidden damage in her and Zhang Xiaofan.
• Chen Zixiu brought out several rare wines, and the three began drinking together.

Chen Zixiu revealed that Bo Xian'er was his wife and demonstrated the advanced powers of his Big Dipper Art and Great Luo Cave Observation. He offered Zhang Xiaofan and Lu Xueqi hope of advancing beyond their cultivation bottlenecks, but the chapter ended before he explained how.

• Chen Zixiu told Lu Xueqi and Zhang Xiaofan that Bo Xian'er was his wife, astonishing them.
• Chen Zixiu asked why Zhang Xiaofan and Lu Xueqi had been testing their weapons, and Zhang Xiaofan explained that he had hoped to gain insight into breaking through his cultivation bottleneck.
• Chen Zixiu asked whether they wanted to enter a higher realm, and Lu Xueqi described how her ice sword method had stalled at level 97.
• Chen Zixiu demonstrated the Big Dipper Art, forming a snow lotus from ice and revealing his stellar domain and Star Dou true form.
• Chen Zixiu showed his Great Luo Cave Observation, using spacetime power to make a bamboo leaf vanish into firefly-like lights.

Chen Zixiu explained how heavenly flames and the Blood-Devouring Pearl had evolved Zhang Xiaofan’s martial soul, then offered Lu Xueqi and Zhang Xiaofan the Big Dipper Art and other secret techniques. They were especially tempted by its Heavenly Stem Big Dipper Sword Formation, which could help them refine a sword formation developed by A Cong.

• Chen Zixiu described the attributes and evolution of Zhang Xiaofan’s Soul-Devouring Staff, including its fusion with the Blood-Devouring Pearl.
• Chen Zixiu revealed that the clan possessed the Big Dipper Art, the Nine Yang Divine Skill, and the Eight Extraordinary Skills, and asked Lu Xueqi and Zhang Xiaofan if they wanted to practice them.
• Lu Xueqi and Zhang Xiaofan recognized that the Big Dipper Art suited their martial souls and cultivation, and Lu Xueqi considered how it could advance her Tianya sword intent.
• Chen Zixiu told them that the Big Dipper Art included a Heavenly Stem Big Dipper Sword Formation developed for individual use by A Cong, and invited them to refine it and guide him.
• Lu Xueqi and Zhang Xiaofan were enticed by the prospect of learning the sword formation and reflected on the Nine Heavens Sect’s renowned sword arts.

Chen Zixiu advised Zhang Xiaofan to strengthen the other attributes in his cultivation and proposed using the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to help evolve Zhang Xiaofan and Lu Xueqi’s martial souls. The conversation ended with Chen Zixiu revealing that the well’s yin-yang spring water contained divinity, shocking them both.

• Chen Zixiu explained that Zhang Xiaofan should strengthen the attributes from the other four volumes of the Heavenly Book to support his blood-focused cultivation.
• Chen Zixiu suggested that Zhang Xiaofan develop a fire attribute and said the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well might awaken the fire imprint in his Soul-Devouring Staff.
• Chen Zixiu proposed that Zhang Xiaofan and Lu Xueqi use the Taiji Path to harness the well’s ice and fire and improve their martial souls.
• Zhang Xiaofan recognized Taiji from the first volume of the Heavenly Book, and Chen Zixiu said he would explain its deeper origins another time.
• Chen Zixiu revealed that the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well’s spring water contained divinity, causing Zhang Xiaofan to drop his cup and Lu Xueqi to spring to her feet.

Chen Zixiu explained how the Yin-Yang Spring Water and divinity could help Lu Xueqi and Zhang Xiaofan advance their martial souls, while Chen Cong’s theory suggested Zhang Xiaofan’s Soul-Devouring Staff could become god-level. A test revealed Zhang Xiaofan’s innate soul power had reached Level 11.7, leaving him with unusually strong prospects for cultivation.

• Chen Zixiu told Lu Xueqi that the spring water could help her Tianya Divine Sword reach its third tier of ultimate ice and help her comprehend higher-level conceptions.
• Chen Zixiu proposed that the scorching spring water could give Zhang Xiaofan’s Soul-Devouring Staff a fire attribute and potentially help it evolve into a god-level martial soul.
• Zhang Xiaofan and Lu Xueqi recognized that Chen Zixiu had planned the opportunity to benefit them, and Chen Zixiu admitted that their success would benefit the Chen Clan as well.
• Chen Cong’s research led the group to believe that martial souls needed multiple qualities, divinity, and perhaps great fortune to evolve into god-level martial souls.
• Chen Zixiu gave Zhang Xiaofan a specially made Testing Orb, which showed that his innate soul power had risen to Level 11.7.
• Chen Zixiu attributed Zhang Xiaofan’s increased innate soul power to his martial soul evolutions and past transformative experiences, and said he could more easily reach Peerless Douluo.

Chen Xiaojun reviewed the results of Chang'an Academy's intensive commentator training and learned that rival academies and intelligence agents were investigating the school. With the Chang'an team facing growing scrutiny, he ordered stronger matches and more powerful opponents for the next day's training.

• Chen Cong praised the report on commentary training, and Chen Xiaojun said its methods could help Soul Fighting City and the Brocade Guard recruit new talent.
• Cheng Yun reported that spies from nine identified academies, several other provinces, and an independent branch of the Blackbird Bureau were investigating Chang'an Academy; Chen Xiaojun suspected Heaven Dou Royal Academy was behind it.
• Su Henhan reported the results of thirty-two matches between Chang'an Academy's team and the Brocade Guard, with victories split evenly on the second day after Soul Kings joined the matches.
• Chen Xiaojun ordered Su Henhan, several senior fighters, and additional Soul Emperors to join the next day's matches and asked Su Henhan to notify others.
• Chen Xiaojun and Chen Cong agreed that keeping the starting players out of the preliminary rounds had been wise as Chang'an Academy attracted more attention and challenges.

Chenlin Village’s Soul Douluos gathered as elders prepared to attempt breakthroughs, and they discussed the risks and the powerful relatives overseeing the trials. Cheng Nanxing returned at the Grand Old Master’s request, while Qing Rui went to the Vine Sea Secret Realm to help train Soul Douluos.

• Ji Chenglie asked Panda about his father’s upcoming breakthrough, and Ding Bingyuan explained that his own father had nearly died during a failed attempt before succeeding later.
• Zhu Hanshu and Cheng Nanxing reassured the gathered experts that the Grand Old Master, the old Matriarch, and other powerful elders were supervising the breakthroughs.
• Ding Bingyuan recounted Zhang Xiaofan’s fearsome reputation, and the group discussed the Grand Old Master’s level 98 breakthrough and his suggested title, Sword Saint.
• Ding Bingyuan asked why Cheng Nanxing had returned, and Cheng Nanxing said the Grand Old Master had ordered him back to report to the Chang'an Duke's Mansion.
• Cheng Nanxing asked about Qing Rui, and Ding Bingyuan said Qing Rui had gone to the Vine Sea Secret Realm to help train Soul Douluos.

Chen Hong returned to the Chen clan after reaching level 96 and breaking his Dark Nether Sword Intent into the Illusion Realm. The clan then activated the Yin-Yang Two Forms Spring formation to help Shen Tianjun break through, and he unleashed a blood-red streak of light.

• Chen Zixiu and the others greeted Chen Hong after he returned as Grand Elder, and Lu Xueqi praised his progress while cautioning him not to become complacent.
• Chen Zixiu asked Chen Hong to guide Chen Xun and help the Chen clan, and Chen Hong promised to do so.
• Chen Zixiu, Bo Xian'er, Zhang Xiaofan, and Lu Xueqi took positions around the Yin-Yang Two Forms Spring as Ye Xiuxin added Life Sweet Dew to the water.
• Chen Zixiu ordered the formation activated, and the spring's ice and fire dragons surrounded Shen Tianjun as the formation concentrated soul power around him.
• Shen Tianjun endured the force of the twin dragons and shouted, releasing a seven-foot streak of blood-red light behind him.

Shen Tianjun successfully broke through to the Title Douluo realm and evolved his Jade-Blood Sword into the Azure Sea Tide-Rising Sword. Qin Lang and Gai Chenliang then failed their breakthroughs and nearly suffered soul-nest collapse, but the assembled experts stabilized them and saved their lives.

• Chen Zixiu, Bo Xian'er, Zhang Xiaofan, and Lu Xueqi raised a barrier as Shen Tianjun's Jade-Blood Sword intent transformed.
• Feng Tonglong recognized the transformation, and Xi Li Rufeng celebrated when Shen Tianjun emerged with an eighth-rank Azure Sea Tide-Rising Sword and a rejuvenated appearance.
• The gathered experts congratulated Shen Tianjun on breaking through to the Title Douluo realm and evolving his martial soul.
• Qin Lang and Gai Chenliang failed their breakthroughs, and their soul nests shook as they neared collapse.
• Chen Zixiu and the other experts diverted and suppressed the surging soul power while Xue Chuxin and Ye Xiuxin treated the two men, saving them from serious harm.

The chapter explained how the Chen Main Lineage’s resources, age, and training environment supported its breakthroughs, then detailed the Wei and Gai Families’ sword traditions and their ties to Chen Xili. Lu Xueying emerged from the breakthrough chamber as a Title Douluo, leaving the Lu Family with two Title Douluos and greatly increased standing.

• The chapter described how ninth-grade sword ganoderma, the Elders’ deep foundations, their age, and the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well aided the Chen Main Lineage’s successful breakthroughs.
• Gai Chenliang returned, and Wei Sangyu welcomed his close friend while the chapter outlined how the Gai and Wei Families practiced complementary forms of Vertical and Horizontal Swordsmanship.
• Chen Xiaojun recognized Gai Nie and Wei Zhuang among the family rosters and marked the two Soul Saints for special attention.
• Lu Xueying entered the Gilded Darksteel Gate, and Lu Xueqi emerged with her after a surge of spiritual energy and frost marked the breakthrough.
• Lu Xueying demonstrated Half-Moon Shattering the Sky, and the gathered families celebrated the Lu Family’s new second Title Douluo.

Lu Xueying’s breakthrough caused the Skyya Sword to ascend to eighth rank, bringing the Lu Family into the ranks of eighth-rank families. The chapter ended with Xi Li Rufeng teasing Feng Tonglong about losing his standing as the strongest branch family, while Lu Xueqi acknowledged the Feng family’s formidable strength.

• Lu Xueqi and Lu Xueying’s Tianya Divine Sword and Skyya Sword rose into the air and unleashed a spectacle of ice across Blueheart Mountain.
• The swords’ ringing summoned the martial souls of sword cultivators throughout the hall and Chenlin Village, which resonated together.
• Chen Zixiu recognized that the Skyya Sword had ascended in rank, and the others realized that Lu Xueying’s breakthrough had raised the Lu Family’s martial soul rank to eighth.
• Xi Li Rufeng teased Feng Tonglong that the Lu Family had surpassed the Feng family, and Feng Tonglong pointed out that the Lu Family had also surpassed Xi Li Rufeng’s family.
• Lu Xueqi downplayed the Lu Family’s strength and noted that the Feng family’s numbers, experts, and sword formations still made it a powerful rival.

The Lu sisters named their evolved eighth-rank martial soul the Skyya Spirit Sword as Chen Xiaojun considered how fortune shaped martial soul evolution and the Chen Clan’s rise. During the ceremony, Leng Qingqiu transformed her White-Robed Sword into the powerful White-Robed Mountains and Rivers Sword, leaving Chen Zixiu astonished by its ability to shatter the void.

• Lu Xueqi named the sisters’ evolved martial soul the Skyya Spirit Sword because it had not gained a fourth attribute.
• Chen Xiaojun reasoned that fortune influenced martial soul evolution and that nurturing influential figures could increase the Chen Clan’s fortune.
• Yan Ruoyu returned to the seventh step with her Jade Sword broken and severe injuries, though she had survived.
• Leng Qingqiu broke through and transformed her White-Robed Sword into the White-Robed Mountains and Rivers Sword, gaining the rare space attribute.
• Leng Qingqiu demonstrated the transformed sword’s power to tear through the void, and Chen Zixiu recognized that it could carry on his conception of the laws.