Chapter Summaries

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.

Chen Xiaojun survived Dou Jing’s Mental Pierce because the Black-Red Cocoon absorbed the attack, leaving Dou Jing’s hidden power exposed. Chen Xiaojun then pressed Dou Jing about his ties to Barton, the Martial Soul Holy Hall, and the Golden Crocodile Jin Family.

• Dou Jing’s Mental Pierce struck Chen Xiaojun, but Chen Xiaojun remained unharmed as the Black-Red Cocoon pulled the needle into itself.
• Qin Lüguang tried to attack Dou Jing, but Zhu Yanfeng stopped him until Chen Xiaojun revealed he had deliberately tested the attack.
• Chen Xiaojun’s divine sense asked the cocoon whether it had enjoyed its snack, and the cocoon flashed after devouring the needle.
• Chen Xiaojun questioned Dou Jing about the source of his mental technique and possible links to Barton, the Martial Soul Holy Hall, and the Golden Crocodile Jin Family.
• Zhu Yanfeng accused Dou Jing of betraying his followers, while Li Wuyaya protested and Nine Yin retreated into the shadows.

Chen Xiaojun sealed Dou Jing’s mental power and questioned the Bone-Digging Corps members, learning that Yan Zhen and Mo Li knew little about Barton’s secret dealings. Yin Jiu revealed that Bloodfang had been Barton’s most trusted confidant, but Chen Xiaojun had already killed him, leaving a crucial lead lost.

• Yan Zhen chose to confess after Chen Xiaojun confronted him with evidence against Dou Jing.
• Chen Xiaojun used the Yin Fiend Abyss-Sinking Seal to seal Dou Jing’s Upper Soul Nest and prevent another mental attack.
• Yan Zhen said he had handled fighting and killing, while Barton and Dou Jing managed the corps’ arrangements and dealings.
• Mo Li admitted that he had sold stolen goods and once overheard Dou Jing and Bloodfang discussing pressure from people above them.
• Yin Jiu explained that Bloodfang alone held Barton’s crucial information and suggested Bloodfang had been sent by Spirit Hall.
• Chen Xiaojun recognized Bloodfang as the powerful Soul Saint he had killed, realizing that Barton’s most important lead was gone.

Chen Xiaojun used his Blood Fiend Qi to read Dou Jing’s recent memories and guessed that Barton was using Dou Jing’s children as leverage. Dou Jing surrendered and agreed to talk after Chen Xiaojun promised to spare them, though Chen Xiaojun admitted he had bluffed rather than learned the full truth through mind reading.

• Chen Xiaojun used five strands of Blood Fiend Qi to assault Dou Jing’s mind and discovered that Barton had his children as bargaining chips.
• Dou Jing reacted in terror, confirming Chen Xiaojun’s guess, and Chen Xiaojun claimed he knew where the children were.
• Chen Xiaojun threatened Dou Jing’s children, and Dou Jing agreed to talk if Chen Xiaojun spared their lives.
• Chen Xiaojun agreed, then revealed to himself that his beginner-level mind reading had only shown recent memories and that he had bluffed Dou Jing.
• Qin Lüguang and Zhu Yanfeng discussed how Dou Jing’s fear and resistance had suggested he was protecting someone or awaiting rescue.

Dou Jing recounted how Barton rose through the Bone-Digging Corps and revealed the Jin Family’s influence behind his career. He described Barton’s consolidation of power, expansion into human trafficking, and rapid cultivation, leaving Qin Lüguang and the others assessing his true talent.

• Dou Jing said Barton joined the Bone-Digging Corps as a Level 69 Soul Emperor and quickly rose through the Soul Hunting Department after earning a reputation for bravery.
• Dou Jing explained that Barton reached Level 78 and became deputy regiment commander in his seventh year, aided by a 65,000-year soul bone.
• Dou Jing said Barton became regiment commander after the old commander died, securing support from Tang Hengyu, Hahn, and the Zhicheng Merchant Association.
• Dou Jing described how Barton took control of key departments, expanded mineral trading, and increased the corps’s involvement in human trafficking.
• Dou Jing said Barton’s rival later died in an unexplained accident and Barton became a Soul Douluo after reaching Level 80 in his tenth year with the corps.
• Zhu Yanfeng calculated Barton’s later advancement and concluded his claimed innate soul power of just over Level Seven seemed plausible.

Dou Jing revealed how Barton and Spirit Hall factions turned the Bone-Digging Corps into a channel for trafficking young Soul Masters and supplies. He explained that Bloodfang’s Garrison Army faction had taken control of human trafficking, while Barton retained authority over ordinary operations.

• Dou Jing named Bloodfang, Huo Yifeng, Mao Zeqian, and the Quentin Brothers as powerful figures who entered the corps and helped channel its supplies to hidden partners.
• Dou Jing said the corps’ large-scale human trafficking expanded after Bloodfang and the others arrived, with many young Soul Masters sent to Spirit Hall in exchange for generous resources.
• Dou Jing identified the enslaved Soul Masters’ apparent destination as Spirit Hall’s Garrison Army and said Bloodfang’s faction could overrule Barton because its members controlled the trafficking route.
• Dou Jing explained that Barton’s influence over special channels and trafficking declined after a dispute with Bloodfang, though Barton still managed ordinary operations, intelligence, funds, and supplies.
• Chen Xiaojun concluded that the Garrison Army faction controlled trafficking while Barton retained authority over routine affairs, and Dou Jing confirmed that the two sides divided special resources while keeping their domains separate.

Dou Jing recalled how Barton had saved his life, given him the Xuan Bing Life-Nourishing Orchid, and won his loyalty during a power struggle. Years later, Dou Jing began to suspect that Barton’s dealings with outside forces ran deeper than he had known.

• Twenty-one years earlier, Barton rescued Dou Jing from Crystal Scorpions at the Soul-Eating Crystal Mine and was badly wounded in the process.
• Barton gave Dou Jing a Xuan Bing Life-Nourishing Orchid, and Dou Jing’s wife later became pregnant.
• During the struggle to replace the old regiment commander, Barton offered Dou Jing earth-core jade marrow in exchange for the Guard Department’s support, and Dou Jing helped secure his takeover.
• Three months after Barton seized power, Dou Jing led the killing of ten opponents while Rusty Brotherhood members blocked the Blackstone Mine Tunnel’s exit.
• Dou Jing realized Barton’s collusion with outside forces was extensive after learning he had been involved in killings, smuggling, and contacts tied to the Jin Family’s network.

Dou Jing recalled how Barton had protected his wife and child while keeping them under surveillance, used him to eliminate risks, and bound him with a soul bone and political favors. In the dungeon, Dou Jing told Zhu Yanfeng and Qin Lüguang that Barton had lost control of his life to the Jin Family and Spirit Hall.

• Ten years earlier, Dou Jing agreed to fake his wife and child's deaths and move them to Heaven Dou City, where Barton later placed them under surveillance in the name of protection.
• Seven years earlier, Dou Jing killed and erased an informant on Barton's orders.
• Five years earlier, Barton gave Dou Jing a thirty-thousand-year soul bone that helped him break through to level 80, and Dou Jing realized the gift had also shackled him.
• Three years earlier, Dou Jing learned that Bloodfang's faction had discovered his child and planned to abduct him, while Barton had only managed to keep the child in Heaven Dou City.
• In the dungeon, Dou Jing told Zhu Yanfeng and Qin Lüguang that Barton retained some principles but was no longer his own master under the Jin Family and Spirit Hall.

Ma Yin Qi exposed the concealed details of Chen Xin Yi’s identity and power to the Soul Fighting Academy team, forcing Chen Jianjun to explain the family’s gag order. The team ended the meeting furious and shaken, with their arena tactics needing a complete overhaul.

• Ma Yin Qi burst into the tactical room and confronted Chen Jianjun with intelligence identifying Chen Xin Yi as Donghuang Xiuyi, Lesser Siming, and revealing her hundred-thousand-year soul ring.
• Gui Dang and the others reacted with shock as they learned Donghuang Xiuyi was the top-ranked prodigy and a Soul Emperor whose Time-Space Prison had blocked a powerful attack.
• Fang Yiling warned that the hidden information could have gotten people killed, while Xue Wanni broke down over learning Chen Xiaojun’s poem was written for Donghuang Xiuyi.
• Chen Jianjun said the Chen family had ordered him to keep Chen Xin Yi’s identity and strength secret, but Ma Yin Qi and Gui Dang blamed him for misleading them and demanded compensation.
• The team recognized that their plans against Chang'an had to be scrapped, and Chen Jianjun gave Ma Yin Qi his money pouch before she complained it was not enough.

Chen Jianjun and his teammates learned that Chen Xiaojun had slain six Soul Saints and that Xiao Yi had powerful, unusual abilities, forcing them to revise their tournament plans. They ended by treating the coming tournament as a fight to the death.

• Ma Yin Qi confronted Chen Jianjun with a confidential letter reporting Chen Xiaojun's battlefield feats and Ma Liang's repeated injuries.
• Chen Jianjun's teammates reacted to Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi's powers, while Fang Yiling warned that their abilities exceeded conventional soul skills.
• Chen Jianjun urged the team to overcome their fear and prepare to face Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi together.
• Gui Dang, Xue Wanni, and Fang Yiling rallied themselves and discussed ways to counter the pair, including the limits of their sword techniques and Xiao Yi's soul skills.
• Chen Jianjun suspected Chen Xiaojun had gained a new sword inheritance and concluded that the tournament would be a fight to the death.

As the authorities searched Heaven Dou City's Underworld for Sword Lord Azure Bamboo, the Blackbird Bureau identified the Crimson Embrace cult as his likely abductors. An elite Ye Xiao team found the cult preparing a blood ritual with Azure Bamboo as its intended vessel and launched an attack.

• The City Guard Army, intelligence forces, clans, sects, and underground factions fought across the Underworld as the search for Azure Bamboo stretched into its fourth day.
• Marshal Ge Laihao demanded that the Imperial Capital Garrison Legion be sent underground, but adviser Zuo Tinggang argued that the narrow passages made that plan too dangerous.
• A Blackbird Bureau report named the Crimson Embrace as the prime suspect in Azure Bamboo's abduction, and Prince Xue Jiqing ordered Ye Xiao and Shadow Fang to locate its lair and track its priests.
• Xue Jiqing also ordered Imperial Guards and Military Intelligence units to keep searching for the missing informant Black Tongue.
• Ye Xiao elites entered a Crimson Embrace altar and discovered cultists preparing to use Azure Bamboo as a vessel for the Lord of Corrupt Blood.
• The Ye Xiao team attacked as the cult's Soul Douluo-level priest called for the fanatics to sacrifice themselves.

Ge Laizheng and Yu Yuancheng defeated the cult priest, but his prophecy that Sword Lord Azure Bamboo would unleash a flood of corrupt blood within seven days triggered mass panic in the Underground City. The authorities faced widespread disorder as the threat of the prophecy loomed over Heaven Dou City.

• A cultist’s burst of corrosive blood killed three Blackbird Bureau elites as the battle against the cultists reached a stalemate.
• Ge Laizheng and Yu Yuancheng arrived, broke through the priest’s defenses, and struck him down.
• Before dying, the priest prophesied that Sword Lord Azure Bamboo would become the Evil God’s vessel and flood the surface with his blood within seven days.
• The prophecy spread through the Southeastern District’s Underworld and sent residents, smugglers, and gray-market groups fleeing toward the exits.
• Crowds overwhelmed the entrances, leaving the City Guard Army struggling to hold its shield wall as disorder spread.
• Ge Laihao saw the Underground City’s exits marked by severe disorder and recognized that the cult’s panic had created a new crisis; finding Sword Lord Azure Bamboo became urgent.

Chen Xun reassigned Chen Clan experts to Heaven Dou City and arranged for Si Baining to be promoted and sent to Star Luo City. Meanwhile, Zhu Hanshu and a group of others arrived at the Chen Clan’s Tosk Province stronghold to meet Zhao Deyun.

• Chen Xun sent seven personnel to reinforce the Iron Jaw Fortress and three to take posts at the Heaven Dou Duke’s Mansion.
• Chen Xun told Si Baining to hold his promotion ceremony in three or four days, then travel to Star Luo City after his breakthrough to bolster the Chen Clan’s forces there.
• Chen Xun received word that Ma Tianyang had arrived and ordered Meng Wei to show him in.
• A Golden-Crowned Eagle King landed at the Tosk Province Mountain Fort carrying Zhu Hanshu, Ma Tianxiang, Luo Zongtao, Rong Yunhua, and Zhao Shan.
• Zhao Deyun greeted the arriving group, and Zhu Hanshu suggested they talk inside.

Zhu Hanshu delivered Chen Xun’s decree appointing Chen Hanxin Deputy Clan Chief and establishing the eastern Ancestral Land as the Chen Clan’s second headquarters. The new leadership team began outlining its role in coordinating the clan’s eastern operations and four-direction continental strategy.

• Zhu Hanshu arrived with Rong Yunhua and presented Chen Xun’s decree appointing Chen Hanxin Deputy Clan Chief, Zhao Deyun presiding Elder, Mo Qiyuan chief Steward, Zhu Hanshu Garrison Elder, and Rong Yunhua senior Director.
• Chen Hanxin complained that Chen Xun had assigned her the demanding post without warning, while Xia Ruxin reassured her that she would eventually advance to the New Secret Land.
• Zhu Hanshu explained that the eastern Ancestral Land would become the Chen Clan’s second headquarters, coordinating eastern industries, strategy, resources, and relations with Branch Lines.
• Zhu Hanshu described a Four-Direction Deployment, with the Heaven Dou Duke’s Mansion and Jiannan Marquis’s Mansion serving as northern and southern centers alongside the clan’s existing headquarters and the new eastern headquarters.
• Zhu Hanshu assigned responsibilities among Zhao Deyun, Mo Qiyuan, himself, and Rong Yunhua as the team supporting Chen Hanxin’s administration in the east.

Chen Hanxin and the clan leaders formalized the Eastern Region’s administration and planned to expand the Chen Shadow Guard and Brocade Guard from the Ancestral Land. They left the Ancestral Land poised to become a second headquarters and a strategic base for the Chen Clan’s regional expansion.

• Chen Hanxin assigned herself clan affairs and appointed Rong Yunhua to oversee Eastern Region finance and economic affairs, establishing a four-person leadership team with Zhao Deyun, Mo Qiyuan, and Zhu Hanshu.
• Zhu Hanshu and Zhao Deyun explained plans to restructure and expand the Chen Shadow Guard, with Mo Qiyuan serving as Deputy Commander and Mo Zimo expected to take a senior command post after emerging from seclusion.
• Zhu Hanshu revealed that the clan would use a human-trafficking network captured by the Fifth Master in Heaven Dou City to recruit suitable people for the Chen Shadow Guard and internal affairs forces.
• Zhu Hanshu announced that the Ancestral Land would become the main training base for the Brocade Guard and Chen Shadow Guard, with instructors and recruits transferred there from the planned Soul Fighting City base.
• Chen Hanxin and the others discussed securing land around Moonlight City, establishing a Medicinal Market there, and using the Ancestral Land as a second headquarters to advance the clan’s plans across the Eastern Region.

Chen Xiaojun confronted the rescued prisoners who protested their confinement in Iron Jaw Fortress and demanded freedom. He killed their ringleader, Shirley Luke, leaving the courtyard silent as he walked away.

• Chen Xiaojun entered the courtyard where the rescued men demanded release and accused the Chen Clan of enslaving them.
• Chen Mu warned the men to follow the rules, while Gu Yuanchao suppressed the ringleader with his Soul Emperor aura.
• Chen Xiaojun stopped Gu Yuanchao and approached the ringleader, Shirley Luke, with his Nethersea Seven Kill Sword.
• Chen Xiaojun asked Shirley Luke his name, then beheaded him with a single sword strike.
• The men fell silent as Chen Xiaojun left the courtyard, dragging his sword across the ground.

After Chen Xiaojun killed Shirley Luke in a sudden, chilling strike, he questioned whether the Black-Red Cocoon in his sea of consciousness had influenced him. Ye Xiuxin examined him and warned that the cocoon could feed on negative energy and erode his judgment as he used its power.

• Chen Mu told Chen Xiaojun that something was wrong with him, and Chen Xiaojun left after asking Xiao San to visit him later.
• Chen Xiaojun reflected on how unlike him it had been to kill Shirley Luke so coldly and suspected the Black-Red Cocoon was responsible.
• Chen Xiaojun examined the pulsing cocoon in his sea of consciousness, then waited in his room with the Nethersea Seven Kill Sword.
• Ye Xiuxin checked Chen Xiaojun's condition and agreed that his strike against Shirley Luke had seemed too swift and indifferent.
• Chen Xiaojun showed Ye Xiuxin the dark-red blood crystals, and she identified them as impure products of an evil art associated with the Blood Desire Cult.
• Ye Xiuxin warned that the cocoon absorbed negative energy and could use Chen Xiaojun's connection to his martial soul to erode his will and judgment.