Chapter Summaries

Tang San and Xiao Wu approached the Iron-Armed Azure Ape, who demonstrated his force-generating technique and agreed to teach them. Tang San began practicing the fundamentals while the Iron-Armed Azure Ape took Xiao Wu to train separately.

• Tang San and Xiao Wu followed the Iron-Armed Azure Ape, and Xiao Wu removed the Lovesick Heartbreak Red so he could sense her Soul Beast aura.
• Xiao Wu explained that she had chosen human form out of curiosity and hoped humans and Soul Beasts could coexist peacefully.
• The Iron-Armed Azure Ape demonstrated how he gathered force from his feet through his body before delivering a punch, and Tang San carefully watched his movements.
• Tang San tried to copy the technique but failed to produce any effect, so the Iron-Armed Azure Ape told him to learn to connect with and control each muscle.
• Tang San guided Xiao Wu through a muscle-awareness exercise, but she fell asleep, and the Iron-Armed Azure Ape took her to train with him while Tang San calmed his mind.

The Iron-Armed Azure Ape taught Xiao Wu and Tang San how to generate power through their bodies. Xiao Wu entered a state of comprehension, while Tang San continued training and began to resemble his teacher’s movements.

• The Iron-Armed Azure Ape demonstrated a punching technique and corrected Xiao Wu as she practiced it.
• Xiao Wu persisted through exhaustion until she entered a special state of comprehension, and Lan Changsheng told Tang San not to disturb her.
• Tang San combined his Mysterious Heaven Skill and bodily control with the training, then asked the Iron-Armed Azure Ape to guide him.
• The Iron-Armed Azure Ape corrected Tang San’s stance and challenged him to master the technique before applying it to his hammer.
• Tang San studied the movements and punched again, prompting the Iron-Armed Azure Ape to recognize a resemblance to his younger self and leave.

Tang San and Xiao Wu completed a week of punch training with the Iron-Armed Azure Ape and began adapting its force technique to their own fighting styles. Tang San struggled to channel force through the Clear Sky Hammer, and the Iron-Armed Azure Ape began correcting his form.

• Tang Hao visited, but the Iron-Armed Azure Ape refused to teach while he was present, so Tang San and Ah Yin asked him not to return.
• Tang San and Xiao Wu tested their punches on wooden posts, with Tang San concentrating the vibrating force more effectively than Xiao Wu.
• The Iron-Armed Azure Ape told Tang San to adapt the technique to his Clear Sky Hammer and Xiao Wu to apply it through her legs, while continuing to supervise them.
• Tang San threw the Clear Sky Hammer during his first attempt to transfer force into it, and Xiao Wu hurt herself trying to redirect the force; Lan Changsheng retrieved the hammer and healed her.
• Tang San later struck a wooden post with the Clear Sky Hammer but failed to transmit force through it and fell off balance.
• The Iron-Armed Azure Ape examined the Clear Sky Hammer's grip and tapped Tang San's waist, hips, spine, and shoulder blades to correct his technique.

Tang San learned to work with the Clear Sky Hammer by sensing its spirit, while Xiao Wu practiced guiding force through her body. After a day of training, the Iron-Armed Azure Ape approved of their progress, though one figure was missing.

• The Iron-Armed Azure Ape taught Tang San to treat the Clear Sky Hammer as an extension of himself, and Lan Changsheng explained that martial souls had spirits.
• Tang San patiently sensed the Clear Sky Hammer until he synchronized with it and briefly transmitted force through the weapon before losing control.
• Xiao Wu struggled to channel force through her leg, then followed the Iron-Armed Azure Ape's advice to guide it through her core and felt vibrations reach the wooden stake.
• Tang San and Xiao Wu continued practicing as Lan Changsheng thanked the Iron-Armed Azure Ape for training them.
• The Iron-Armed Azure Ape approved of the children's progress, and Tang San and Xiao Wu hugged in celebration while one figure remained absent.

Tang Hao brought Tang San and Xiao Wu to Shrek Academy for a mission against the bandits of Black Wind Stronghold, while Lan Changsheng and Ah Yin tried to keep the Iron-Armed Azure Ape from withdrawing from the children. Flender appointed Tang San to command the four-person squad and warned them not to advance recklessly.

• Ah Yin’s goodwill stopped the Iron-Armed Azure Ape from leaving, and Tang Hao arrived to take Tang San and Xiao Wu on a mission.
• Tang Hao recalled Flender’s plan to recruit the Iron-Armed Azure Ape as an academy teacher, which Tang Hao had rejected because of the ape’s hatred of humans.
• Tang Hao assured the Iron-Armed Azure Ape that the children would fight bandits rather than hunt soul beasts, then Lan Changsheng sent Tang Hao, Tang San, and Xiao Wu to Shrek Academy with Blue Silver Grass.
• Tang San and Xiao Wu ran into the academy, and Tang Hao complained that Lan Changsheng had made him run back on his own last time.
• Flender gave Tang San the Black Wind Stronghold bounty notice, warned that the bandits’ rapid growth might hide a larger threat, and put Tang San in charge of the four-person squad.

Zhao Wuji led Tang San, Xiao Wu, Ning Rongrong, and Oscar to join a bandit-clearing mission, where they encountered the notorious Wind Wolf Squad and clashed with its captain, Bai Feng. As the mission began, the teams entered a strange mountain mist, and Tang San used his Blue Silver Grass to scout ahead after Bai Feng taunted him.

• Zhao Wuji brought the four youngsters to the gathering and accepted greetings from the other Soul Masters.
• Zhao Wuji identified the Wind Wolf Squad and warned his students about its powerful, treacherous members.
• Bai Feng mocked the youngsters, and Tang San replied that they would not abandon their duty.
• A horn sounded to begin the mission, and Zhao Wuji led the group toward Black Wind Stronghold while Tang San warned his companions to stay close.
• The group encountered strange mist on the mountain path, and Tang San said it might be a trap.
• Bai Feng ordered Tang San to scout ahead, but Tang San stopped Zhao Wuji from attacking and sent his Blue Silver Grass underground to investigate.

Tang San detected ambushes on the way to Black Wind Stronghold, while the Wind Wolf Squad dealt with them and mocked the younger students. At the silent fortress, Zhao Wuji forced open the gate and stepped inside, where the ground suddenly collapsed beneath him.

• After Bai Feng insulted Zhao Wuji and his students, Tang San reported that the road ahead was safe, and Zhao Wuji placed himself between the Wind Wolf Squad and his group.
• Tang San spotted concealed attackers southwest of the party, and Bai Feng led the Wind Wolf Squad to defeat them and execute the wounded men.
• Xiao Wu and Ning Rongrong were frightened by the bloodshed, so Zhao Wuji urged the students to adapt to the dangers ahead, while Tang San and Oscar reflected on protecting those they cared about.
• Tang San detected several more ambushes, which the Wind Wolf Squad cleared as the party continued toward Black Wind Stronghold.
• Finding the fortress silent and apparently deserted, Zhao Wuji forced its heavy gate open and entered first, but the ground beneath him abruptly gave way.

The Wind Wolf Squad betrayed Zhao Wuji and the other Soul Masters, trapping them in Black Wind Stronghold and attacking them alongside the bandits. Tang San organized a defense against the archers and prepared a coordinated counterattack.

• The Wind Wolf Squad sealed the passage, trapped Zhao Wuji in a pit, and attacked him with a hurricane carrying poison that corroded Soul Power.
• Xiao Wu tried to reach Zhao Wuji, but Tang San pulled her away from a volley of arrows with his Blue Silver Grass.
• The Soul Grandmaster revealed that Black Wind Stronghold’s bandits were waiting in the castle and explained the plan to kill the Soul Masters and cover up the massacre.
• Tang San rallied the unaffiliated Soul Masters, told them to form groups around defensive Martial Souls, and directed them to take cover and counterattack.
• Tang San ordered the groups to strike the second opening from the left and told Ning Rongrong to prepare a strength boost for the leader of the second group.

Tang San and the others fought off the Wind Wolf Squad's Soul Grandmaster while Zhao Wuji escaped the squad's trap and killed one of its members. Bai Feng then called on someone inside the stronghold's Main Hall to honor their plan and let the squad return to report to the City Lord.

• The Soul Grandmaster attacked Tang San's group, but Xiao Wu struck him with internal force while Tang San bound his legs with Blue Silver Grass.
• Oscar gave Xiao Wu a recovery sausage, easing her leg pain and restoring her strength.
• Zhao Wuji braced himself against the hurricane and learned that Bai Feng's Soul Ancestor had run out of poison.
• Bai Feng ordered a female Soul Ancestor to ambush Zhao Wuji when the hurricane stopped, but Zhao Wuji marked and killed a Soul Elder with Position Tracking and Gravity Compression.
• Zhao Wuji faced the remaining Wind Wolf Squad members, and Bai Feng demanded that someone in the Main Hall let them return to report to the City Lord.

The Black Wind Stronghold Chief used a blood formation to boost his power as he fought Zhao Wuji, while Tang San and Xiao Wu struggled against the Chief’s younger brother and the stronghold’s archers. Tang San devised a new plan to create an opening for Xiao Wu, but the fight remained unresolved.

• The Black Wind Stronghold Chief activated a blood formation that drained corpses and raised his power, revealing a blood-red seventh Soul Ring.
• The Chief declared that he would sacrifice Zhao Wuji to overcome his limits, and the battle split between the main hall and the area outside.
• Tang San realized the Soul Grandmaster fighting him was the Chief’s younger brother, who was protected by Black Wind Stronghold’s archers.
• Xiao Wu struck the Soul Grandmaster’s arm, but Tang San pulled her back and blocked arrows aimed at their group.
• Tang San refused Ning Rongrong’s request to leave her and Oscar exposed, then told Xiao Wu he would create an opening for her to unleash her full strength.

Tang San provoked the Soul Grandmaster by exposing his resentment toward his stronger brother, while Zhao Wuji fought the Black Wind Stronghold chief and the Wind Wolf Squad inside the gate. Qing'er sacrificed herself to help Bai Feng escape Zhao Wuji's fatal attack, leaving him grieving as the formation absorbed her blood.

• Tang San taunted the Soul Grandmaster about being weaker than his brother until the Soul Grandmaster attacked him with his second soul skill.
• Zhao Wuji focused his assault on Bai Feng despite the Black Wind Stronghold chief and the Wind Wolf Squad attacking him, and the formation absorbed the blood from Bai Feng's wounds to strengthen the chief.
• Zhao Wuji used his Sixth Soul Skill to stun Bai Feng, then activated his Martial Soul Avatar and transformed into a Great Strength Vajra Bear.
• The female Soul Ancestor Qing'er used her shadow dagger martial soul to turn Bai Feng into a shadow and move him out of Zhao Wuji's fatal strike.
• Qing'er died after her martial soul released Bai Feng, and he watched the formation absorb her blood while remembering their time together.

Tang San and Zhao Wuji turned the battle against Black Wind Stronghold, killing the Soul Grandmaster and Bai Feng while the chief tried to protect his younger brother. Tang San persuaded some bandits to hesitate, but refused to spare those who had merely stopped attacking without joining the fight.

• Bai Feng rallied the Wind Wolf Squad to keep fighting Zhao Wuji, while the chief of Black Wind Stronghold attacked Zhao Wuji from the shadows.
• Tang San used a Blue Silver Grass trap to make the Soul Grandmaster fall, and Xiao Wu's strike missed before Tang San killed him with the Clear Sky Hammer.
• Zhao Wuji tore off Bai Feng's arm and crushed it, while the chief gained bloodline power from his younger brother's death and rushed toward Tang San.
• Zhao Wuji used Tracking Mark and Gravity Squeeze to stop the chief, and Tang San urged the bandits to turn against the rebels.
• Some bandits lowered their attacks, but Tang San insisted that those who had not joined his side had not sincerely repented.

Tang San and Zhao Wuji fought to escape the Black Wind Stronghold Chief’s Crimson Prison Blood Refining Formation as it began draining the living. The allies scattered, and Bai Feng betrayed his teammates before Zhao Wuji blocked his escape.

• Tang San helped the wounded retreat and urged the crowd to clear a path as the formation began drawing blood from the living.
• The Black Wind Stronghold Chief activated the formation at full power, and an Other Shore Flower emerged from his mouth as it drained him and attacked those nearby.
• Soul Masters fled the formation one after another despite Tang San’s pleas, abandoning those still trapped inside.
• The Other Shore Flower attacked Zhao Wuji, while Bai Feng carried two Wind Wolf Squad members before cutting them in half and feeding them to it.
• Zhao Wuji struck Bai Feng down as he fled, accusing him of being a traitor, and the flower’s petals clung to Bai Feng and drained his blood.

Zhao Wuji and Tang San helped the surviving Soul Masters escape Black Wind Stronghold while the Other Shore Flowers consumed the Black Wind Stronghold Chief and Bai Feng. The formation collapsed, leaving one blood-red flower behind, and the group departed after witnessing the destruction.

• Bai Feng was engulfed by the Other Shore Flowers, while Zhao Wuji drew the petals away from the escaping survivors and persuaded the remaining bandits to surrender.
• Tang San directed the group to concentrate their attacks and carve a climbable slope through the rubble, then led them out of the valley with Xiao Wu.
• Zhao Wuji and Tang San watched from beyond the formation as the Other Shore Flowers failed to reach them and churned along its boundary.
• Zhao Wuji explained that the Black Wind Stronghold Chief had failed to use the formation to become a Soul Saint, while Tang San thought of his uncle Lan Changsheng.
• The Other Shore Flower shrank after losing its nutrients, the formation's connection to the Chief broke, and his body fell and disintegrated.
• A single blood-red Other Shore Flower remained, and Zhao Wuji led the group away after Ning Rongrong reflected on the deaths.

Lan Changsheng developed a way for dead Soul Beasts to become Soul Spirits and form pacts with humans, but most were unwilling. After the system suggested seeking out Soul Beasts that died naturally, in territorial conflicts, or during tribulations, Lan Changsheng asked how he could attract them more efficiently.

• Lan Changsheng reflected on Dugu Yan and the Shadow Python’s symbiosis and explained that he wanted to create a pact that did not require a Soul Beast to sacrifice its Soul Bone.
• Lan Changsheng awakened a ten-thousand-year-old Earth Bear’s soul and asked whether it would agree to live in symbiosis with a human; the Earth Bear accepted.
• With the Earth Bear’s cooperation, Lan Changsheng learned how to preserve a Soul Beast’s soul in its Soul Bone and form a pact, though he still lacked enough willing Soul Beasts.
• Dugu Bo asked about the bead Lan Changsheng was holding, and Lan Changsheng told him that a friend was sleeping inside it.
• Lan Changsheng asked the system how to find more willing Soul Beasts, and it suggested those that died naturally, in territorial struggles, at the hands of predators, or after failing their tribulations.
• Lan Changsheng wondered how he could draw those Soul Beasts to him and asked the system for a way to make the process easier.

Lan Changsheng created a small tower from the Aromatic Silk Beauty and his own branches to call the unwilling souls of dead Soul Beasts to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. He explained to the Iron-Armed Azure Ape that the souls would be asked whether they wanted to enter symbiosis with humans, and waited for its response.

• Dugu Yan’s third Soul Skill produced a golden humanoid figure that the Shadow Python could control, and its wrist rings reproduced her first and second Soul Skills at nearly full strength.
• Lan Changsheng returned to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and wove three Aromatic Silk Beauty petals with his branches and leaves into a small golden tower.
• Lan Changsheng used his Seed of Life to give the tower a purpose and sent it to call out to unwilling souls throughout Sunset Forest.
• Lan Changsheng nourished the tower with life essence from Immortal Herbs and his own Life Divine Power so it could receive the souls it found.
• The Iron-Armed Azure Ape asked whether its companions could come, and Lan Changsheng told it they would be asked whether they wanted to enter symbiosis with humans.

Lan Changsheng awakened the Symbiosis Tower and gathered the souls of Soul Beasts in Sunset Forest, while learning that they could choose to dissipate after fulfilling their final wishes. He reassured the Iron-Armed Azure Ape that Soul Beasts would be treated equally, then asked the Earth Bear to help manage the gathered souls as they awakened.

• Lan Changsheng activated the Symbiosis Tower, drawing dozens of Soul Beast souls from Sunset Forest into it.
• Lan Changsheng found a Purple Cloud Deer watching her fawns and learned that she had answered the summons only to see them once more.
• The Purple Cloud Deer declined symbiosis and chose to dissipate after her final wish was fulfilled.
• Lan Changsheng told Ah Yin and the Iron-Armed Azure Ape about her choice, then promised that Soul Beasts would be treated equally and could leave after resolving their regrets.
• Lan Changsheng explained that the thirty-two gathered souls needed time to regain consciousness, then summoned the Earth Bear and asked him to keep them under control.

Lan Changsheng watched over Ah Yin and the Symbiosis Tower as it gathered more unwilling souls. When three remnant souls of the Iron-Armed Azure Ape’s companions arrived, he explained his hopes for Soul Beasts’ future, and they chose to enter the tower.

• Lan Changsheng assigned the Earth Bear to guard the Soul Spirits, then stayed with Ah Yin and listened to her recount what had happened in Sunset Forest.
• The Iron-Armed Azure Ape watched the Symbiosis Tower as it grew to contain 116 points of light, then recognized his companions among the newly guided souls.
• Three Iron-Armed Azure Ape remnant souls attacked Lan Changsheng, but the living Iron-Armed Azure Ape stepped between them and explained who Lan Changsheng was and how the tower had brought them back.
• Lan Changsheng told the remnant souls that the Human God’s contingencies could bring change to the Douluo Continent and warned them to keep this knowledge secret.
• The three remnant souls entered the Symbiosis Tower, and the Iron-Armed Azure Ape crouched down and sobbed.

Lan Changsheng recovered the Other Shore Flower seed from the ruins of Black Wind Stronghold, then brought Tang San and Xiao Wu to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to resume training with the Iron-Armed Azure Ape. While Lan Changsheng and the children settled in for the night, a fire broke out in Shrek Academy’s kitchen and ended in an explosion.

• Lan Changsheng reassured the Iron-Armed Azure Ape that Soul Spirits would find good homes and agreed to bring Tang San and the others back for more training.
• Lan Changsheng found the Other Shore Flower seed beneath the ruined formation at Black Wind Stronghold and took it with him, calming it with Life Divine Power.
• Lan Changsheng went to Shrek Academy, found Tang San and Oscar cooking, and asked Tang San to bring Xiao Wu so they could return to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
• Lan Changsheng took Tang San and Xiao Wu to the well, where they rested before training with the Iron-Armed Azure Ape the next day.
• At Shrek Academy, Chen Xin noticed a burning smell; the teachers and Douluo rushed to the kitchen, where a fire was followed by an explosion.

Lan Changsheng searched for ore that could support Soul Spirits and found a promising vein whose harmful Yin Fiend Energy he could remove with Life Divine Power. He decided the ore was suitable but recognized that processing the entire vein would take considerable time.

• The kitchen collapsed while Oscar slept, and Flender later scolded him and ordered him to cultivate.
• Lan Changsheng left Tang San and Xiao Wu with the Iron-Armed Azure Ape, who taught Tang San how to use Layered Shock more smoothly in combat.
• Lan Changsheng searched the continent for ore that could house Soul Spirits after the Symbiosis Tower’s coverage reached its limit.
• Lan Changsheng examined two ore deposits, but neither was as promising as the last site, where a Nethergazing Grass had led him to a vein of dark, translucent crystal.
• Lan Changsheng found that the crystal could hold a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast’s soul power, but its Yin Fiend Energy would damage Soul Spirits; he used Life Divine Power to cleanse a sample and decided the vein required extensive processing.