Chapter Summaries

At the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan’s awakening ceremony, Long Qianming revealed a strange black martial soul called Luo Heipao, while Yu Xiaogang’s own unusual martial soul had already awakened with only half a rank of innate soul power. Yu Yuanzhen tried to dismiss Long Qianming without testing him, but Yu Xiaogang called for the test, hoping his elder brother would prove even weaker.

• Yu Xiaogang awakened the piglike martial soul Luo Sanpao and tested at half a rank of innate soul power, disappointing Yu Yuanzhen.
• The clan’s other disciples completed their awakenings, most receiving powerful martial souls and much higher innate soul power than Yu Xiaogang.
• Long Qianming entered the formation and awakened a black, sickly-looking martial soul that he called Luo Heipao.
• Yu Yuanzhen angrily tried to stop Long Qianming’s soul power test and have him removed.
• Yu Xiaogang urged Yu Yuanzhen to test Long Qianming, secretly hoping his elder brother’s result would be worse than his own.

After his Innate Soul Power tested at rank two, Long Qianming was expelled from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and stripped of the Yu surname. Back in his house, he considered the potential of his black Luo Sanpao Martial Soul and began cultivating, only to see it transform into black Qi.

• Yu Yuanzhen ordered Yu Qianming’s Innate Soul Power tested, and the clan elder announced that it was rank two.
• Yu Xiaogang was shocked by Yu Qianming’s result, then considered using his older brother as a test subject for his Martial Soul theories.
• Yu Yuanzhen offered Yu Qianming fifty Gold Soul Coins and expelled him, but Yu Qianming threw the money back and defied him.
• Yu Yuanzhen stripped Yu Qianming of his surname and banished him from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
• Long Qianming returned to his house, reasoned that his black Luo Sanpao might carry Dark Sacred Dragon bloodline, and began cultivating with his own meditation method.
• Long Qianming noticed Luo Sanpao dissolving into black Qi and gathering in his hand.

Long Qianming discovered that his martial soul Luo Sanpao could briefly take the form of a broken iron rod and renamed it Xiao Tian. Yu Xiaogang offered him clan resources to support his research, but Long Qianming refused and reaffirmed his decision to leave the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.

• Long Qianming watched Luo Sanpao form a phantom black iron rod and concluded that his martial soul might possess beast martial soul tool transformation.
• Long Qianming renamed Luo Sanpao Xiao Tian, and Xiao Tian sensed someone approaching the door.
• Yu Xiaogang visited Long Qianming and offered him ten percent of his cultivation resources, then raised the offer to thirty percent when Long refused.
• Long Qianming rejected Yu Xiaogang's offers, explaining that accepting clan resources would put him at risk and undermine his departure from the clan.
• Yu Xiaogang left in anger after Long Qianming refused any further help from the clan.

Long Qianming left the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and reached Thunder City, where he struggled to find a way to afford travel. At a noodle shop, he met Bibi Dong and Su Yuntao, and Bibi Dong gave him her mother's gold hairpin to help him get by.

• Long Qianming said goodbye at his mother's grave, then left the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan with only a small bundle.
• In Thunder City, Long Qianming ate wontons and watched merchant caravans because he had almost no money left.
• Bibi Dong sat beside Long Qianming, learned that he was an orphan, and began asking about his Martial Soul.
• Su Yuntao stopped Bibi Dong from asking about Martial Souls and privately worried she might reveal her Twin Martial Souls and Innate Full Soul Power.
• Bibi Dong offered Long Qianming her mother's gold hairpin, and Su Yuntao persuaded him to keep it until they could meet again.

Long Qianming traveled to Gengxin City, sold Bibi Dong’s gold hairpin to raise money, and bought a piece of hair gold for making Dragon Whisker Needles. He began searching for a shop to rent and noticed the oddly overlooked Yaokun Four-Room Residence.

• Bibi Dong left with Su Yuntao, and Long Qianming wondered whether she could become a valuable connection to Spirit Hall.
• Long Qianming joined a southbound merchant caravan and learned that the Clear Sky Sect and Spirit Hall competed for influence, while the young Tang Hao had become a celebrated prodigy.
• After two months, Long Qianming arrived in Gengxin City and sold the gold hairpin for eight Gold Soul Coins, asking the pawnshop owner to keep it for him.
• Long Qianming bought a piece of hair gold for two Gold Soul Coins after identifying it as material for Dragon Whisker Needles.
• Long Qianming surveyed rental shops near the Blacksmith Association and found that no merchants were interested in the Yaokun Four-Room Residence.

Long Qianming sought to rent a shop and offered to treat its frail owner in exchange for cheaper rent. After diagnosing the owner with severe kidney deficiencies, Long Qianming began acupuncture, and the owner felt immediate relief.

• Long Qianming entered the shop and learned from its owner that three powerful Soul Masters had died there and supposedly haunted it.
• Long Qianming negotiated over the rent and offered to cure the owner’s illness in exchange for a lower price.
• Long Qianming examined the owner and diagnosed him with four forms of kidney deficiency, along with damage to his heart and lungs.
• The owner offered Long Qianming free use of the shop and ten Gold Soul Coins if he could help him.
• Long Qianming inserted eight silver needles into the owner’s acupoints, and the owner soon felt a remarkable sense of relief.

Long Qianming built a thriving medical hall in Gengxin City but found his earnings could not cover the cultivation resources he needed. He left the city to hunt Soul Beasts and, with Xiao Tian scouting, reached a cave in the forest.

• Long Qianming treated Xu Han, gave him dietary instructions, and used the Gold Soul Coins he received to buy medicinal supplies.
• Long Qianming opened Longxing Medical Hall and attracted patients with free consultations and distinctive treatments, earning a reputation for curing kidney deficiency.
• Over the next half year, Long Qianming improved his physical fitness while his Soul Power stayed at rank two, and he learned that Shadow Tiger meat suited Xiao Tian.
• Long Qianming decided to hunt Soul Beasts himself to save money for cultivation, packed his supplies, and left Gengxin City for the western foothills of the Forging God Mountain Range.
• Long Qianming entered the forest with Xiao Tian scouting ahead, and Xiao Tian stopped warily outside a cave.

Long Qianming and Xiao Tian hunted three Shadow Tigers, then turned their cave into a temporary base for processing Soul Beast resources. After resting and recovering, Long Qianming left at dawn carrying meat and other valuable parts.

• Long Qianming and Xiao Tian waited near a cave and killed two female Shadow Tigers with Dragon Whisker Needles.
• A larger male Shadow Tiger emerged and Long Qianming wounded it with a needle before ordering Xiao Tian to attack.
• Xiao Tian harassed the injured tiger while Long Qianming coached its fighting technique, and Long Qianming eventually killed the exhausted beast.
• Long Qianming dragged all three corpses into the cave, processed their meat and other parts, and concealed the remains and scent.
• Long Qianming cultivated while Xiao Tian kept watch, then they left at dawn carrying Soul Beast resources.

After five years of hunting Soul Beasts and training, Long Qianming reached rank ten and chose a Shadow Moon Bear for his first Soul Ring. In the Forging God Mountain Range, he encountered an unknown tiger-type Soul Beast that attacked him from the black mist.

• Long Qianming broke through to rank ten after years of training, hunting, and strengthening his body with whale rubber and medicinal baths.
• Si Long brought Long Qianming wine and lotus seed soup, and Long Qianming encouraged him to pursue his dream of becoming a divine blacksmith.
• Long Qianming left Gengxin City with Xiao Tian and went to the Forging God Mountain Range to hunt a five-hundred-year Shadow Moon Bear for his first Soul Ring.
• Long Qianming found the Shadow Moon Bear’s territory strangely empty, then encountered an unfamiliar tiger-like Soul Beast surrounded by black mist.
• The tiger-like Soul Beast charged at Long Qianming, vanished into its mist after Xiao Tian moved to intercept it, and reappeared behind him with a claw strike; Long Qianming dodged and thrust his spear.

Long Qianming and Xiao Tian killed a powerful Nine Netherworlds Devil Tiger, which Long Qianming identified as a subdragon Soul Beast over 650 years old. They reached a cave with its fading Yellow Soul Ring, and Long Qianming decided to absorb it, trusting his External Martial Soul to share energy he could not absorb.

• The Nine Netherworlds Devil Tiger broke Long Qianming's spear and injured him, but he and Xiao Tian kept it occupied as they fought through the treetops.
• Long Qianming pierced the tiger's belly with Dragon Whisker Needles and his broken spear, then fell with it when a branch snapped; Xiao Tian caught him, while the tiger's fall drove the spear into its heart and killed it.
• Long Qianming recognized the tiger as a Nine Netherworlds Devil Tiger with dragon bloodline, over 650 years old, and let Xiao Tian lap up its blood.
• Long Qianming gathered his Dragon Whisker Needles, carried the tiger to a cave in the Ten-Year Soul Beast region, and prepared to absorb its fading Yellow Soul Ring.

Long Qianming absorbed a 650-year-old lesser dragon Soul Ring, evolving Xiao Tian and gaining the Space-Rending Claw skill. Meanwhile, Yu Xiaogang reached level ten and obtained a yellow Soul Ring from a Thunder Dragon Beast, leaving both new Soul Masters poised to develop their powers.

• Long Qianming absorbed the lesser dragon Soul Ring as Xiao Tian began evolving beside him.
• Long Qianming used his First Soul Skill, Space-Rending Claw, to empower Xiao Tian, who shattered a boulder with a single strike.
• Long Qianming discovered that his Soul Power had risen three levels and that he could inherit part of Xiao Tian’s skill enhancement for one minute.
• Yu Xiaogang announced his breakthrough to level ten to Yu Yuanzhen, who took him to the Soul Beast prison to claim a prepared Thunder Dragon Beast.
• Yu Xiaogang stabbed the sleeping Thunder Dragon Beast, and its yellow Soul Ring appeared.

Yu Xiaogang absorbed a Thunder Dragon Soul Ring, but his Martial Soul mutated into a farting pig and released poisonous gas through the Soul Beast prison. Ridiculed by the sect, he took comfort in his Soul Skill’s strength and decided Luo Sanpao could still evolve through future draconic Soul Rings.

• Yu Xiaogang absorbed the Thunder Dragon Soul Ring while Luo Sanpao shared some of the strain.
• Yu Yuanzhen watched anxiously as Luo Sanpao began to grow, then released a cloud of poisonous gas that incapacitated nearby Soul Beasts.
• Yu Yuanzhen ordered healing- and wind-attribute Soul Masters to clear the gas and save the Soul Beasts.
• Sect disciples mocked Yu Xiaogang after news spread that his Martial Soul had mutated into a farting pig.
• Yu Xiaogang fled to his residence, convinced his farting Soul Skill was powerful, renamed his Martial Soul Luo Sanpao, and resolved to find a draconic Soul Ring with a better-matched attribute.

Yu Xiaogang overheard his parents arguing over sending him to Thunder Academy and fled to prove he was not trash. In Gengxin City, Long Qianming discovered a five-element body-refining method and began using the Nine Netherworlds Devil Tiger’s earth attribute to strengthen his spleen, setting a new path for himself and Xiao Tian.

• Jiang Ming argued with Yu Yuanzhen about sending Yu Xiaogang to Thunder Academy, while Yu Yuanzhen and his younger sister defended the decision.
• Yu Xiaogang overheard the argument, ran away in tears, and left a note saying he had gone to Thunder Academy to prove he was not trash.
• Long Qianming returned to Gengxin City, stored the Nine Netherworlds Devil Tiger’s remains, and fed Xiao Tian its meat.
• Long Qianming realized he could use Soul Beast meat’s elemental attributes to refine his organs and strengthen his body.
• Long Qianming decided to refine earth first and planned for Xiao Tian to focus on darkness, with the five elements as supplements.
• Long Qianming set aside food for Xiao Tian, then cooked and absorbed the tiger meat and bone broth to strengthen his spleen.

Long Qianming hosted Si Long and Divine Smith Lou Gao, who discovered Xiao Tian was Long Qianming’s unusual Martial Soul and tried to trade a spear for his medical techniques. The chapter ended with Si Long suggesting Lou Gao become Long Qianming’s adoptive son, prompting Lou Gao’s furious objection.

• Si Long introduced his teacher, Lou Gao, to Long Qianming after passing the junior blacksmith examination.
• Lou Gao eagerly drank Long Qianming’s tiger bone soup, then Xiao Tian bit his leg after he stepped on the tiger meat.
• Long Qianming explained that Xiao Tian was his Martial Soul and could help him fight like a Soul Beast.
• Lou Gao offered Long Qianming a spear in exchange for his cupping and massage techniques, but Long Qianming refused because his master forbade him from teaching outsiders.
• Si Long suggested Lou Gao become Long Qianming’s adoptive son so he could learn the techniques, and Lou Gao called the idea an outrage against all decency.

Long Qianming negotiated with Lou Gao for a spear and agreed to attend Gengxin City’s auction after Si Long invited him. At the auction, bidding on rare whale glue drew ridicule toward Long Qianming, while the bidder turned out to be Mai Ruimi, who ordered the mockers investigated and arrested.

• Lou Gao agreed to make Long Qianming a spear in exchange for three years of help relieving his fatigue when called.
• Si Long invited Long Qianming to the Gengxin City auction and offered to use Lou Gao’s promised gift to buy him something, and Long Qianming accepted.
• Five days later, Long Qianming attended the auction as Lou Gao’s guest and took a seat in the second-floor super VIP section.
• The auction opened with ten pieces of ten-thousand-year whale glue, and a second-floor bidder offered six thousand Gold Soul Coins for two pieces.
• Guests mocked the bidder as someone with weak kidneys, and Lou Gao and Si Long teased Long Qianming about his reputation as a physician.
• The bidder was revealed to be Mai Ruimi, who ordered his guards to investigate and arrest everyone who had mocked him.

Long Qianming and Lou Gao won several auction lots, including rare offensive Soul Tools, before the auction house revealed a damaged Storage Soul Tool with dismantling diagrams. Long Qianming decided he had to win the final lot despite expecting fierce competition.

• Long Qianming bought three pieces of ten-thousand-year whale glue for nine thousand Gold Soul Coins.
• The auction host presented three rare offensive Soul Tools, and Lou Gao won them for thirteen thousand Gold Soul Coins.
• Lou Gao gave one Soul Tool to Si Long and lent another to Long Qianming, warning him not to die pursuing his Soul Hunting Plan.
• After several lots of minerals and equipment, the host revealed a damaged Storage Soul Tool and offered three sets of dismantling diagrams with it.
• Long Qianming realized the diagrams would draw more bidders but resolved to gamble on winning the Storage Soul Tool.

Long Qianming won a damaged Storage Soul Tool at auction after competing with Bishop Mai Ruimi, whose threats Lou Gao stopped by revealing his identity. After the auction, Long Qianming lent the tool to Lou Gao to study and repair, asking only that the tool itself be returned.

• Bidders drove the damaged Storage Soul Tool's price to twenty-five thousand Gold Soul Coins before Long Qianming and Mai Ruimi began competing for it.
• Mai Ruimi threatened Long Qianming, but Lou Gao stood up for him and revealed himself as the divine craftsman and president of the Blacksmith Association.
• Mai Ruimi backed down, and the host declared Long Qianming the winner of the damaged Storage Soul Tool and its three diagrams.
• After the auction, Long Qianming lent the Storage Soul Tool to Lou Gao for study and possible repair, asking him to return the tool itself.

After six months of studying Soul Tools, Long Qianming accidentally repaired the damaged Storage Soul Tool with his blood and discovered an External Soul Bone inside. He absorbed the rapidly fading bone and encountered the lingering will of a Four-Winged Nether Silkworm in his spiritual sea.

• Lou Gao gave Long Qianming the damaged Storage Soul Tool and a sturdy spear, which Long Qianming tested in the courtyard.
• Long Qianming examined the Storage Soul Tool and realized its worn Core Array and gray Crystal Core could not be repaired normally.
• Long Qianming cut his palm on the Soul Tool, and his blood restored its crystal, Core Array, casing, and transmission pathways.
• Long Qianming found a horn-shaped External Soul Bone inside the repaired Soul Tool and chose to absorb it before its energy dissipated.
• Long Qianming absorbed the Soul Bone's energy and saw its lingering will take the form of a Four-Winged Nether Silkworm.

Long Qianming absorbed the Four-Winged Nether Silkworm soul bone and gained its Simulation skill. Three years later, after reaching level twenty Soul Power, he asked Lou Gao to lend him the Eight Treasures Soft Armor so he could hunt for a soul ring himself.

• Long Qianming shattered the Four-Winged Nether Silkworm’s remnant will, absorbed its horn soul bone, and learned that its Simulation skill could mimic soul rings and appearances.
• Long Qianming opened his clinic, and three years passed as he continued his work and training.
• Long Qianming visited Lou Gao at the Blacksmith Association, where Lou Gao again urged him to join and learn forging in exchange for help.
• Long Qianming agreed to Lou Gao’s terms and revealed that he had reached level twenty Soul Power.
• Long Qianming asked to borrow Lou Gao’s Eight Treasures Soft Armor, explaining that he would hunt for a soul beast on his own.

Long Qianming traveled with Lou Gao to the Earth Dragon Mountain Range to find a lesser dragon Soul Beast with darkness and fire attributes for his Second Soul Ring. After weeks of searching, he found a Black Flame Earth Dragon Python but discovered it was over fourteen hundred years old, far beyond Lou Gao’s recommendation.

• Lou Gao insisted on accompanying Long Qianming to hunt for his Second Soul Ring, and Long Qianming requested a lesser dragon Soul Beast with darkness and fire attributes.
• Lou Gao and Long Qianming traveled to Earth Dragon City and then entered the Earth Dragon Mountain Range with Xiao Tian scouting ahead.
• For a month, they searched the mountain range without finding a suitable lesser dragon Soul Beast.
• Lou Gao detected two lesser dragon Soul Beasts fighting and identified one as a Black Flame Earth Dragon Python with the attributes Long Qianming wanted.
• Lou Gao warned that the python was over a thousand years old, but Long Qianming insisted his Martial Soul needed dragon-type Soul Beasts and judged the python to be over fourteen hundred years old.