Chapter Summaries

Chen Ping and Huo Yuhao intimidated Chen An into keeping their visit secret and gathering betting and rare-metal information, then returned to the Mingyue Hotel. There, they discussed Wang Dong'er's upcoming Soul Fighting match, which she was eager to win despite doubts about facing seven opponents alone.

• Huo Yuhao warned Chen An not to pry into their affairs or reveal their visit, while Chen Ping reassured him and offered him a chance to join their circle.
• Chen Ping told Chen An to prepare lists of the rare-metal prizes and wagers before the first round, then left with Huo Yuhao.
• At the Mingyue Hotel, Huo Yuhao praised Chen Ping for convincingly posing as a wealthy young master, and Chen Ping said he had copied Wang Dong.
• Wang Dong'er emerged after washing her hair and learned that she would fight the next day; she questioned whether she could defeat seven opponents alone.
• Huo Yuhao said a one-through-seven victory would be difficult, and Wang Dong'er argued that her twin martial souls and over-limit soul ring gave her a chance.

Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong'er, and Chen Ping learned that Shrek would face the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy in the third knockout match, while tournament officials had reduced the permitted flying height to thirty meters. Chen Ping suspected the Sun Moon Empire had arranged the matchup to test Shrek's new fighters, and warned that their greatest opponent might not be the Sun Moon academy.

• Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong'er discovered that Shrek had drawn the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy for its third knockout match.
• The organizers rolled back the unlimited-flight rule and restricted competitors to flying no higher than thirty meters, angering Wang Dong'er.
• Chen Ping argued that the rule change was probably an organizer's independent attempt to curry favor, while the matchup may have been arranged to test Shrek's strength.
• Chen Ping explained that Xiao Hongchen and the Sun Moon team were strong enough to probe Shrek's abilities without risking their place in the round-robin stage.
• Chen Ping warned that identifying Wang Dong'er, Huo Yuhao, and Xiao Xiao's martial souls could let the Sun Moon team counter them, and questioned whether the Sun Moon academy was Shrek's true greatest opponent.

Chen Ping explained that the Holy Spirit Cult had deep ties to the Sun Moon Empire, while Huo Yuhao worried over its influence. As the previous tournament’s champion and runner-up prepared to face each other, Xiao Hongchen arrived and released his soul power toward Chen Ping’s group.

• Huo Yuhao understood that the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy was being used to probe Shrek for the Holy Spirit Cult and grew worried.
• Chen Ping reflected on Xu Tianran’s alliance with Ye Xishui and Zhongli Wu, and on the suffering the Holy Spirit Cult had inflicted on ordinary people.
• Spectators gathered in Mingdu for the knockout match between Shrek and the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, while the Tang Sect watched Shrek as a measure of its future opponent.
• Chen Ping refused to let Shrek’s reserve members compete, explaining that the Sun Moon team’s strength made the knockout match too dangerous for them.
• Xiao Hongchen spotted Chen Ping with the Shrek team, stopped, and released his formidable soul power.

Xiao Hongchen revealed himself as a seven-ring Soul Sage and pressured Shrek’s Reserve Team, but Chen Ping suppressed him with a domain. The first bout between Shrek Academy and Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy began with Wu Feng charging at Ye Canshang after calling out, “Flame Dragon Armor, combine!”

• Xiao Hongchen unleashed the pressure of a seven-ring Soul Sage against Shrek’s Reserve Team.
• Chen Ping spread a yellow-and-black domain that suppressed Xiao Hongchen’s aura and surprised Xu Tianran, Jing Hongchen, and Zhongli Wu.
• Xiao Hongchen left with his teammates after challenging Chen Ping to settle matters in the arena.
• Wu Feng and Ye Canshang were named as the first competitors in the individual elimination match.
• Wu Feng charged at Ye Canshang as the bout began and shouted, “Flame Dragon Armor, combine!”

Wu Feng used her Flame Dragon Armor to overwhelm Ye Canshang with extraordinary speed and strength, then launched him into the arena barrier with a rocket-propelled punch. Ye Canshang was left badly injured against the barrier.

• Wu Feng equipped her Flame Dragon Armor as she charged at Ye Canshang.
• Ye Canshang summoned and enlarged his skeletal martial soul, but Wu Feng's armor boosted her speed to an Agility Attack System Soul Emperor's level.
• Wu Feng used Dragon's Wrath to smash the skeleton's hands, damaging Ye Canshang through their martial-soul connection.
• Ye Canshang withdrew his damaged skeleton, but Wu Feng's Flight Backpack propelled her Dragon's Fire punch into his face.
• Wu Feng's punch hurled Ye Canshang into the arena barrier, where he hung briefly before sliding down with severe internal injuries.

Jing Hongchen was shocked to see Shrek’s Soul-Guide Battle Armor and wondered how the academy had developed technology beyond Mingdetang’s. Chen Ping’s gradual research approach had let him extract useful technology from Experiment Subject One, unlike the Sun Moon Empire’s tangled, centuries-long project, which remained trapped by its own complexity and sunk costs.

• Jing Hongchen recognized Shrek’s equipment as genuine Soul-Guide Battle Armor and questioned how Shrek had developed it.
• Chen Ping’s step-by-step progression from an Unpowered Exoskeleton to Thousand Refinement Battle Armor contrasted with the Sun Moon Empire’s massive Experiment Subject One project.
• The chapter explained that Experiment Subject One’s interdependent systems posed hundreds of thousands of problems and could only be researched through endless cycles of testing and repair.
• Mingdetang and the imperial family kept the project alive because its enormous costs and rare-metal investments made admitting failure politically impossible.
• Chen Ping had avoided Mingdetang’s historical baggage and used the valuable technologies hidden within Experiment Subject One to develop Thousand Refinement Battle Armor with Elder Yi’s help.

Ju Zi won Xu Tianran’s approval by revealing that Shrek had developed prototype armor, then asked to serve on the front line instead of pleading for her imprisoned comrades. On the Soul Fighting Arena, Wu Feng continued beating Ye Canshang and unleashed a fatal attack.

• Xu Tianran and Jing Hongchen realized the Sun Moon Empire could not quickly reproduce Shrek’s Battle Armor after losing researchers and the Thousand Refinement Technique.
• Ju Zi told Xu Tianran that she had seen Chen Ping wearing joint armor and asked to be sent to the front line, while silently vowing to rescue Keke and the others later.
• Ye Canshang tried to surrender after Wu Feng’s punches left him badly injured, but he could barely speak through his broken teeth.
• Wu Feng used Dark Gold-Flame Dragon Claw, shattering Ye Canshang’s thick black skeletal torso.

Wu Feng killed Ye Canshang with a single Dark Gold Flame Dragon Claw strike, exposing the lethal force Shrek had brought into the tournament. Meng Hongchen entered the second match as a six-ring Soul Emperor, and the fight began with Wu Feng still facing her.

• Wu Feng's Dark Gold Flame Dragon Claw shattered Ye Canshang's skeletal defense and left him mortally wounded before he could activate his Invincible Shield.
• Zheng Zhan discovered Ye Canshang was dead and accused Wu Feng, who said she might have failed to hold back and challenged him to reflect on Shrek's conduct in the tournament.
• The Sun Moon Team realized they needed to send a powerful Soul Emperor against Wu Feng, and Meng Hongchen entered the arena.
• After Zheng Zhan started the second match, Meng Hongchen released her Martial Soul and revealed her six Soul Rings as the spectators cheered.

Wu Feng used Xiao Xiao's Super-Concentrated Energy Cannon and Flame Dragon Armor to counter Meng Hongchen's Ice Poison Ring and force her out of her defensive strategy. The cannon remained charged as Wu Feng rose to the arena's maximum flight altitude, leaving Meng Hongchen facing an imminent shot.

• Meng Hongchen activated her Ice Poison Ring and planned to wear Wu Feng down with its deadly poison.
• Wu Feng aimed a borrowed Class 5 Super-Concentrated Energy Cannon at Meng Hongchen, startling her into abandoning her defensive strategy.
• Wang Dong'er asked Xiao Xiao to lend her the cannon, and Xiao Xiao agreed after questioning why Wang Dong'er needed it.
• Meng Hongchen charged toward Wu Feng to interrupt the cannon, but Wu Feng used her Flame Dragon Armor to fly upward while keeping the cannon's charge intact.
• Meng Hongchen realized Wu Feng was still aiming at her and cursed as the cannon neared firing.

Meng Hongchen unleashed her deadly sixth soul skill against Wu Feng, but Wu Feng's battle armor supercharged her cannon and let her fire first. Zheng Zhan tried to protect Meng Hongchen, but his first barrier failed as the blast continued toward her.

• Meng Hongchen decided to use her trump card to shoot Wu Feng out of the sky.
• Wu Feng connected her Super-Concentrated Energy Cannon to her battle armor, whose power ports charged it at super fast speed.
• Meng Hongchen fired her Corrosion Ice, a poison-laced attack that locked onto Wu Feng and consumed most of her soul power.
• Wu Feng's fully charged cannon blast vaporized several Corrosion Ice drops and struck toward Meng Hongchen before she could activate her Invincible Shield.
• Zheng Zhan raised a barrier to protect Meng Hongchen, but Wu Feng's cannon blast pierced through it, forcing him to activate another shield.

Huo Yuhao entered the arena and froze Meng Hongchen’s pursuing Corrosion Ice, saving Wu Feng and Zheng Zhan from the deadly toxin. After shattering the frozen poison, he took his place as Shrek’s next competitor, stunning the spectators with his Ultimate Ice.

• Wu Feng’s Super-Concentrated Energy Cannon broke Meng Hongchen’s defensive tool, but vaporized Corrosion Ice spread through the arena and poisoned Zheng Zhan.
• Zheng Zhan carried Wu Feng away from the toxin, but the Corrosion Ice tracked them, forcing him to flee around the arena.
• Huo Yuhao stepped into the arena and stopped the pursuing poison by freezing it in midair.
• Huo Yuhao shattered the frozen Corrosion Ice and took his place at the ready position as Wu Feng and Meng Hongchen left the arena.
• Xiao Hongchen, Chen Ping, and Long Ao Tian reacted to Huo Yuhao’s effortless control of the deadly toxin and his Ultimate Ice.

Huo Yuhao faced Xiao Hongchen after crushing Ding Xiaobu, while the Sun Moon team’s captain entered the match to restore his academy’s reputation. Xiao revealed his seven Soul Rings, but Huo Yuhao answered with a terrifying hundred-thousand-year first Soul Ring, leaving the match about to begin in earnest.

• After Huo Yuhao defeated Ding Xiaobu, Xiao Hongchen declared that he would fight next to salvage the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy’s reputation.
• Xiao Hongchen and Huo Yuhao introduced themselves and took their positions, with Huo Yuhao showing confidence despite Xiao’s Soul Saint cultivation.
• At Zheng Zhan’s command, Xiao Hongchen revealed his seven Soul Rings, drawing cheers from the Sun Moon spectators.
• Huo Yuhao summoned a scarlet hundred-thousand-year first Soul Ring, shocking the spectators and reversing the crowd’s reaction.

Huo Yuhao displayed one red and four black soul rings, startling Zhongli Wu and confirming Chen Ping’s suspicions that the Holy Spirit Cult possessed a secret for greatly increasing soul ring ages. Xiao Hongchen unleashed Metal Storm, surrounding himself with 258 near-Class 7 soul cannons aimed at Huo Yuhao and blocking his escape.

• Huo Yuhao revealed one red and four black soul rings, causing Zhongli Wu to fear that the Holy Spirit Cult’s secret art had been exposed.
• Chen Ping observed Zhongli Wu’s reaction and concluded that the Holy Spirit Cult was hiding a method to raise soul ring ages.
• Xiao Hongchen activated Metal Control and Gold Boiling, boosting his control over metal and the power of his attacks.
• Xiao Hongchen assembled 258 near-Class 7 soul cannons around himself and aimed them at Huo Yuhao, sealing off his escape routes.

Huo Yuhao faced Xiao Hongchen’s overwhelming Soul Tool barrage and used his Spiritual Detection and Ice Emperor’s Protection to survive the first attack. As Xiao Hongchen unleashed more firepower, Huo Yuhao drew the Level Eight defensive Soul Tool Wind and Thunder Unharmed, startling Jing Hongchen.

• Xiao Hongchen fired a massive Metal Storm, and Huo Yuhao used Spiritual Detection to dodge through its weakest point while Ice Emperor’s Protection absorbed several hits.
• The Metal Storm devastated the arena floor and strained the protective barrier, but it failed to hit Huo Yuhao directly.
• Xiao Hongchen pursued Huo Yuhao with Anti-Aircraft Cannons and Incendiary Grenades as his Ice Emperor’s Protection shattered.
• Huo Yuhao brought out Wind and Thunder Unharmed, the Level Eight Defensive Soul Tool Jing Hongchen had once created and Chen Ping had given to him.

Huo Yuhao used Wind and Thunder Unharmed to deflect Xiao Hongchen’s cannon fire, then emerged from the inferno in Thousand Refinement Battle Armor and unleashed the Eternal Frozen Domain. He rapidly closed in on Xiao Hongchen, who aimed his remaining Soul Cannons at Huo Yuhao as the chapter ended.

• Jing Hongchen regretted giving Chen Ping Wind and Thunder Unharmed and Diamond Unbreakable, which were now being used against his grandson Xiao Hongchen.
• Huo Yuhao activated Wind and Thunder Unharmed, deflecting Xiao Hongchen’s rapid-fire cannon shots.
• Xiao Hongchen’s Incendiary Grenades engulfed Huo Yuhao’s side of the arena in flames, but Huo Yuhao emerged unharmed in his Thousand Refinement Battle Armor.
• Huo Yuhao’s armor boosted his soul power to Soul Emperor level, and he activated the Eternal Frozen Domain to freeze the arena.
• Huo Yuhao rapidly closed the distance to Xiao Hongchen, who aimed dozens of Soul Cannons at him.

Huo Yuhao used Soul Shock and his Ice Empress abilities to freeze and smash Xiao Hongchen’s artillery fortress, but Xiao Hongchen struck back with Mingdetang’s experimental Aging Ray. Huo Yuhao began aging rapidly as Xiao Hongchen hoped to remove Shrek’s prodigy from the coming team battle.

• Huo Yuhao hit Xiao Hongchen with Soul Shock, briefly disrupting his control of the artillery fortress.
• Huo Yuhao used Ice Empress’s Pincer and Ice Emperor’s Wrath to freeze more than two hundred soul cannons and smash the fortress apart.
• Xiao Hongchen revealed an enormous hand cannon that the team had reserved as a killing weapon for Chen Ping.
• Xiao Hongchen fired the Aging Ray, causing Huo Yuhao’s hair to turn white and his body to age rapidly.

Huo Yuhao recovered from Xiao Hongchen’s Aging Ray and defeated him, securing Shrek Academy’s victory over the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy. The academy forfeited the team battle, and Shrek became the first team to advance to the round-robin stage.

• Xiao Hongchen used his Flame Demon Fist to strike Huo Yuhao, but a frost-covered pincer stopped his punch as Huo Yuhao rapidly regained his vitality.
• Huo Yuhao seized Xiao Hongchen’s wrist and threw him into the Soul Tool Shield, knocking him unconscious.
• Zheng Zhan confirmed Xiao Hongchen was alive, and announced Shrek Academy had won the fourth individual match.
• Jing Hongchen took Xiao Hongchen for treatment and forfeited the team battle for the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.
• Spectators celebrated Shrek’s victory as the first team to advance to the round-robin stage, while Huo Yuhao thanked Chen Ping for his defensive soul tools.

Xu Tianran postponed plans for a continental war while he investigated the armor used by Wu Feng and Huo Yuhao, fearing Shrek had developed a technology that greatly increased Soul Power. The third knockout round ended with heavy casualties, the Tang Sect advanced, and Shrek kept key fighters out of sight ahead of the round-robin draw.

• Xu Tianran ordered imperial physicians to treat Xiao Hongchen and asked Ju Zi to investigate Wu Feng, Huo Yuhao, and their armor.
• Xu Tianran delayed the planned war until he had more information and supplies, wary of Shrek and uncertain about Mu En's condition.
• The third knockout round produced many injuries and deaths as sect teams fought ruthlessly and teams challenged the referees' ability to control matches.
• The Tang Sect defeated a weaker opponent and advanced to the round-robin stage with its Soul Emperor and Soul King lineup.
• Shrek kept Chen Ping, Huo Yuhao, and other fighters out of public view while reserve members displayed their combined Soul Skill and Soul Tool techniques.

Chen Ping and Huo Yuhao profited from the tournament betting and met Chen An at the Youthful Hotel, where they learned the Knockout Stage rules. Chen Ping planned to exploit the rules by turning a tungsten-steel ingot into a supposed Level 9 club, leaving the group ready for the matches.

• Chen Ping bet on advancing contestant totals and won nearly thirty million Gold Soul Coins by correctly guessing that sixty-seven contestants advanced.
• Chen Ping and Huo Yuhao reunited as the Twin Kun Duo and met Chen An, who welcomed them and brought them to a VIP lounge with a dossier on the contestants.
• Chen An explained that forty-eight Soul Engineers would compete in pairs, make Soul Tools in four hours, and then either concede or fight using only their creations.
• Chen Ping asked whether he could call a tungsten-steel baseball bat a Level 9 close-combat Soul Tool, and Huo Yuhao explained that he could simply beat an opponent until they accepted the claim.

Chen Ping warned Chen An that the competition rules could make him a scapegoat, then encouraged him to arrange access to restricted rare metals. When two arrogant outsider contestants arrived, Chen Ping provoked one of them and recognized an opportunity to confront the Darkness Azure Dragon.

• Chen An thanked Chen Ping for pointing out the unfair competition rules and feared he would be blamed for them.
• Chen An offered to use his rare-metal channel, and Chen Ping told him to arrange a deal while promising him a chance to profit.
• Two unfamiliar contestants, numbers ninety-six and ninety-eight, entered the VIP lounge with four guards.
• Chen Ping dismissed the outsiders, then threatened to target them if their guard tried to provoke him.
• Number ninety-eight challenged Chen Ping, who inwardly welcomed the confrontation as a chance to deal with the Darkness Azure Dragon.