Chapter Summaries

Chen Xiaojun persuaded Gu Yuanchao to let his son Zijian train as a Battle Chef specializing in field logistics, rather than fearing he would be sent into combat. He then asked whether Zijian had practiced the Gu Family’s Mountain Steel Bone Art, a defensive cultivation method derived from the Chen Clan’s Thick Earth Foundation-Nourishing Art.

• The Kitchen Five Families pooled resources to cultivate promising youths such as Tao Ruyin, while Bao Ruoxi’s rare staple-food attribute made her a valuable support talent.
• Xin Shouyi recognized that Chen Xiaojun intended to build a Battle Chef team and became eager to develop the role of kitchen workers in military support.
• Chen Xiaojun explained that Zijian could learn field cooking and logistics skills without Soul Power, and reassured Gu Yuanchao that the work would be safe, important, and skilled.
• Gu Yuanchao agreed to send Zijian to study, while Xin Shouyi and Mai Zheling offered encouragement and practical instruction.
• Chen Xiaojun asked whether Zijian had practiced the Gu Family’s Mountain Steel Bone Art, a defensive method suited to the Steel Bone Barbarian Bull Martial Soul.

Chen Xiaojun gave Gu Yuanchao hope that Gu Zijian might awaken his soul power a second time, easing a burden Gu Yuanchao had carried for years. The chapter ended with Chen Mu and the others concluding that this renewed hope could help Gu Yuanchao break through to Soul Saint.

• Gu Yuanchao explained that he had trained Gu Zijian in the Thick Earth Foundation since childhood, and Chen Xiaojun told him to teach the boy the Stars Formless Canon as well.
• Chen Xiaojun revealed that he had leads on a possible second awakening for Gu Zijian, though it would take six months to a year to know for sure, and asked Gu Yuanchao not to tell his son yet.
• Gu Yuanchao thanked Chen Xiaojun and went to arrange the registered children's food, lodging, and paperwork with renewed energy.
• Chen Mu, Xin Shouyi, and Mai Zheling discussed how Gu Yuanchao's relieved state of mind might help him overcome the Upper Soul Nest bottleneck and reach Soul Saint.
• Chen Xiaojun reflected that Gu Yuanchao had reached the peak of level sixty-nine and now had a clearer mind for attempting his breakthrough.

Chen Xiaojun finished registering the captives and used the Eye of Judgment to inspect them, finding an unusual mix of karmic fire and merit around one shackled woman. He gave the group permission to move around the courtyard but forbade them to leave, while the woman withdrew into the shadows.

• Chen Xiaojun addressed the children, promising the Chen Clan’s protection and opportunities to those who followed its rules.
• Chen Xiaojun activated the Eye of Judgment, making the children and women feel as though their souls were being seen through.
• Chen Xiaojun saw faint merit around most of the children and noticed dark red karmic fire mixed with a little merit around a delicate-featured shackled woman.
• Chen Xiaojun ended the scrutiny, announced that registration was complete, and ordered everyone to stay within the courtyard.
• The captives dispersed or gathered in small groups as the delicate-featured woman retreated into the shadows, and Chen Xiaojun watched the courtyard by torchlight.

Chen Xiaojun received an urgent summons from his Second Uncle to discuss terms with Tang Hengyu and Tan Yashuang at the Council Hall. He left the Warehouse Courtyard and headed through the Mountain Fort’s illuminated passages.

• A woman hiding beneath the eaves feared Chen Xiaojun’s penetrating gaze, and he briefly looked toward her shadow without revealing that he had noticed her.
• Dugu Fu arrived with an urgent summons, reporting that Tang Hengyu and Tan Yashuang had reached the Mountain Fort to discuss the Brotherhood’s and Sisters’ Association’s terms.
• Chen Mu explained that the previous meeting had only established the Chen Clan’s authority in the Canopy District and that the specific terms remained unsettled.
• Chen Xiaojun assigned Zhu Wuneng, Dugu Fu, and Ma Liang tasks before setting out for the Council Hall.
• Dugu Fu criticized the damage to the courtyard wall, while Zhu Wuneng proposed a quick repair; Chen Xiaojun then walked through the Mountain Fort’s passages.

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.