Recaps

Xiao Yan attended introductory classes on metal materials and Soul Power circuits, then practiced carving a circuit into refined iron in his dormitory. He set himself the goal of becoming a Level 1 Soul Engineer within three months.

• Chen Hao brought Xiao Yan to the metallurgy classroom and directed him to the afternoon classes.
• Xiao Yan learned how metal properties affected Soul Tool components from a Level 5 Soul Engineer.
• Xiao Yan studied basic Soul Power circuit structures and considered treating Soul Tool crafting like a Soul Skill.
• Xiao Yan reviewed both lessons in room 308 and practiced carving a circuit into refined iron with the Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife and Bone Spirit Cold Flame.
• Xiao Yan decided to become a Level 1 Soul Engineer within three months.

After a month at Sun Moon Royal Academy, Xiao Yan used his Soul Tool studies to discover a new approach to Ring Fusion and advanced to level forty-eight. He outlined a three-stage method and proposed Ring Detonation, though his Soul Spirits warned him to master fusion before attempting it.

• Xiao Yan practiced engraving Soul Power circuits and realized that their intersecting nodes could explain how Soul Skills might be combined.
• Xiao Yan used Ultimate Ice: Thinking Mode to examine his First Soul Ring and Second Soul Ring, found a faint resonance between their Soul Power paths, and advanced to level forty-eight.
• Xiao Yan told Tian Meng and the Ice Empress that he had found the key to Ring Fusion and proposed calling an unstable, accelerated version Ring Detonation.
• Tian Meng and the Ice Empress cautioned Xiao Yan that Ring Detonation could be dangerous and that he needed to master Ring Fusion first.
• Xiao Yan divided Ring Fusion into the stages of resonance, compatibility, and completion, while Tian Meng and the Ice Empress argued over his training.

Xiao Yan used Soul Ascension Pills and the academy’s cultivation room to push his Soul Power toward level 50 while continuing his Soul Tool studies. After nearly three weeks, he broke through to level 49 and decided to ask Teacher Wang to help him skip a grade.

• Xiao Yan bought ten Soul Ascension Pills and began cultivating with them in an intermediate cultivation room.
• Xiao Yan refined the pills while attending classes, steadily increasing his Soul Power and improving his Soul Tool circuit-inscription skills.
• Tian Meng warned Xiao Yan against overworking himself, while Xiao Yan explained that he wanted to reach level 50 as soon as possible.
• Xiao Yan discussed his discoveries about Soul Skill control and Ring Fusion with the Ice Empress.
• On the twenty-fourth day, Xiao Yan broke through to level 49 after nearly three weeks of cultivation.
• Xiao Yan decided to ask Teacher Wang to help him skip a grade because he had mastered the basic Soul Tool theory.

Xiao Yan passed the Level 1 Soul Engineer assessment and sought advanced Soul Tool instruction. Xuan Ziwen agreed to recommend him to Kong Deming, leaving Xiao Yan awaiting the dean’s decision.

• Xiao Yan built an Energy-Gathering Soul Guidance Ray Gun in three hours and passed the Level 1 Soul Engineer assessment.
• Xiao Yan told Wang Chengyuan he wanted to study advanced Soul Tools, and Wang Chengyuan offered to recommend him to Xuan Ziwen.
• Xuan Ziwen met Xiao Yan and said he would recommend him to his teacher, Kong Deming, while offering to guide him in the meantime.
• Wang Chengyuan told Xiao Yan that Kong Deming was the master of Mingde Hall and that acceptance could greatly advance his studies.

Three years after entering Mingde Hall, Xiao Yan had become Kong Deming’s personal disciple and a Level 6 Soul Engineer, while reaching Soul Power level seventy. He sought the Snow Empress Embryo for his Seventh Soul Ring, and Kong Deming asked how confident he was before they began the dangerous experiment.

• Xiao Yan completed his seventeenth attempt at carving a stable Soul Power circuit and reviewed his experiment records.
• Kong Deming examined Xiao Yan’s research and praised his work on combining Soul Power circuits.
• Kong Deming confirmed he had helped Xiao Yan apply to use the Snow Empress Embryo, which Mingde Hall had studied for three years without finding a stable way to handle it.
• Kong Deming warned Xiao Yan that the embryo’s power was unstable and asked how confident he was about absorbing it.
• Xiao Yan admitted he was not absolutely certain he could absorb the embryo.

Xiao Yan agreed to absorb the embryo under Kong Deming’s protection, while recognizing that rival factions might target him. In the imperial palace, Xu Tianran plotted to have Xiao Yan killed and used the operation to further his plans, seeking help from both the Holy Spirit Cult and the Body Sect.

• Xiao Yan persuaded Kong Deming that his spiritual power and mastery of Ultimate Ice would help him survive absorbing the embryo, and Kong Deming agreed to oversee the attempt in a sealed chamber.
• Kong Deming warned Xiao Yan that the embryo’s absorption could attract enemies and promised to keep the plan secret and intervene if anything went wrong.
• After Kong Deming left, Xiao Yan suspected the Body Sect and Holy Spirit Cult might target Mingde Hall and recognized Xu Tianran as another threat.
• Xu Tianran learned that Kong Deming had secured protective equipment and sealed part of the underground testing area, and he decided Xiao Yan’s death should be linked to him to provoke Kong Deming.
• Xu Tianran agreed to some of the Holy Spirit Cult’s demands in exchange for its help, then offered the Body Sect limited Soul Tool research data if it joined the operation.

Xiao Yan entered Mingde Hall’s high-risk experimental area to absorb the Snow Empress Embryo under Kong Deming’s supervision. When he contacted the embryo, the Snow Empress awakened enough to speak and asked what he wanted.

• Kong Deming led Xiao Yan to a reinforced seclusion chamber and prepared the Snow Empress Embryo.
• Xiao Yan confirmed he would proceed, and Kong Deming opened the container, releasing the embryo’s chilling power.
• The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and Ice Empress reacted to the Snow Empress’s presence and warned Xiao Yan to be cautious.
• Kong Deming activated the chamber’s protections as Xiao Yan stabilized his Soul Power and reached toward the embryo with his spiritual power.
• Xiao Yan contacted the Snow Empress without pressing into her consciousness, and she responded by asking what he wanted.

The Snow Empress reunited with the Ice Empress in Xiao Yan’s Sea of Consciousness and learned that the Ice Empress had willingly become Xiao Yan’s Soul Spirit. After hearing their account, the Snow Empress agreed to consider becoming Xiao Yan’s Seventh Soul Ring and withdrew to think it over.

• The Snow Empress sensed the Ice Empress’s Ultimate Ice presence in Xiao Yan’s Sea of Consciousness and asked what had happened to her.
• The Ice Empress reassured the Snow Empress that she was safe and had volunteered to become Xiao Yan’s Soul Spirit to escape her approaching lifespan limit and heavenly tribulation.
• The Ice Empress explained her experiences to the Snow Empress while Xiao Yan listened without interrupting.
• The Snow Empress asked whether the Ice Empress wanted her to choose the same path, and the Ice Empress said she only wanted her to live and left the choice to her.
• Xiao Yan asked the Snow Empress to become his Soul Spirit and Seventh Soul Ring, and she said she needed time before retreating into the embryo.

Xiao Yan completed the fusion with the Snow Empress, gaining a crimson-gold seventh Soul Ring and the Snow Empress's Crown Head Soul Bone. He then tested his fused Eternal Ancient Ruler, leaving him with a stronger but more Soul Power-intensive combat form.

• The Snow Empress agreed to become Xiao Yan's Soul Spirit, and Xiao Yan began the fusion with help from the Ice Empress and the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.
• Xiao Yan balanced the Snow Empress's Ultimate Ice origin with Bone Spirit Cold Flame as her origin merged into his body and raised his seventh Soul Ring to the seven-hundred-thousand-year level.
• The Snow Empress entered Xiao Yan's Sea of Consciousness and fell asleep in a white cocoon, while Xiao Yan's Soul Power stabilized at level seventy-three.
• The Snow Empress's Crown formed as Xiao Yan's Head Soul Bone and granted him the Extreme Cold Snow Domain, an Ultimate Ice domain that could suppress enemies and freeze the consciousness of those with insufficient spiritual power.
• Xiao Yan activated his Martial Soul Avatar and fused the Heavy Xuan Ruler with the Nine Fire Heavenly Plate to form the Eternal Ancient Ruler, which combined close-range attacks and Heavenly Flame techniques at a high Soul Power cost.

Mingde Hall repelled a coordinated attack by the Body Sect and Holy Spirit Cult while Xiao Yan tested the powers gained from absorbing the hundred-thousand-year embryo. The attackers escaped, leaving Jing Hongchen and Kong Deming to suspect a larger scheme as Xiao Yan began adapting to his new strength.

• Jing Hongchen and Mingde Hall's Soul Engineers drove back the Body Sect and Holy Spirit Cult attackers, then secured the facilities and began investigating how the attackers bypassed the monitoring system.
• Xiao Yan tested the Heavenly Flames Domain and found that his new abilities greatly increased his combat power but consumed substantial Soul Power.
• Xiao Yan learned that the Snow Empress remained unconscious while the Ice Empress and Sky Dream Ice Silkworm helped stabilize her damaged origin.
• Kong Deming told Xiao Yan that Mingde Hall had been attacked during his absorption of the embryo and that the forces behind the assault remained unknown.
• Kong Deming advised Xiao Yan to rest and return to Mingde Hall once he had adapted to his new power.

Xiao Yan absorbed a small amount of the Gold of Life, transforming his body and spirit and raising his Soul Power to level seventy-six. After the Nine Fire Heavenly Plate warned him to stop, he planned his next steps: strengthen his Ice Empress Martial Soul, pursue the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow, and say goodbye to Meng Hongchen.

• Xiao Yan activated the cultivation chamber’s defenses and pressed the purified Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife, the Gold of Life, against the spot between his brows.
• The Gold of Life flooded Xiao Yan with life force, rapidly improving his physique and refining his Sea of Consciousness.
• The Nine Fire Heavenly Plate trembled and warned Xiao Yan, so he stopped absorbing the Gold of Life before suffering the Golden Hawksbill Turtle’s fate.
• Xiao Yan found that his Soul Power had risen to level seventy-six and decided to let his body digest the life force before absorbing more.
• Xiao Yan planned to add Soul Rings to his Ice Empress Martial Soul, later pursue the Immortal Herbs at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, and obtain the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow.
• Xiao Yan decided to say goodbye to Mengmeng, who was Meng Hongchen, before setting out.