Chapter Summaries

Dugu Yan absorbed a Jade-Patterned Poison Sac Scorpion Right Arm Soul Bone to store and control the poison accumulating in her body. The treatment succeeded, though she still needed further treatments, and Dugu Bo said his own poison required a stronger Soul Bone.

• Dugu Bo brought a roughly eight-thousand-year-old Right Arm Soul Bone to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, where Dong Jian, Li Man, Ye Lingling, and Dugu Yan tested its compatibility with her poison.
• Dugu Yan separated accumulated poison from her body while Li Man and Dong Jian guided it into the Soul Bone, and Ye Lingling monitored her vital signs.
• Dugu Yan fused with the Soul Bone and gained the Jade Sac Poison Storage skill, which let her store and release her poison through her right arm.
• Ye Lingling found that Dugu Yan’s internal organs were under less pressure, but poison remained in her bones and would require several more treatments.
• Dong Jian offered to help Dugu Bo transfer his poison, but Dugu Bo said he needed an older, stronger Soul Bone and urged Dong Jian to find his Fourth Soul Ring.
• Back at the academy, Dugu Yan showed Yu Tianheng the poison thread she could now control, and he welcomed the improvement.

Qin Ming tested the Imperial Fighting Team after the Immortal Herbs, and Dong Jian and Li Man emerged as its strongest combat cores. The team ended the test looking ahead to their next challenge: reaching level forty, gaining Fourth Soul Rings, and stabilizing their Martial Soul Fusion.

• Dong Jian defeated Yu Tianheng in a one-on-one match by redirecting his attacks and sending him across the field boundary.
• Li Man beat Dugu Yan in a token-control contest by routing a token around Dugu Yan's poison field.
• Dong Jian and Li Man won against Shi Mo, Shi Mo, and Yu Feng, but lost to Yu Tianheng, Osler, and Ye Lingling after exhausting their Soul Power.
• Dong Jian and Li Man briefly combined their evolved Martial Souls against Dugu Yan, Yu Feng, and Shi Mo before Qin Ming stopped the unstable fusion.
• Qin Ming named Dong Jian the current strongest one-on-one fighter, Li Man the strongest battlefield controller, and their pairing the team’s highest-potential combination, while keeping Yu Tianheng as captain.

Dong Jian and Li Man trained to adapt to the power and abilities they had gained from the Immortal Herbs, while Qin Ming forbade them from seeking more medicine before reaching level forty. As both neared the rank thirty-nine peak, they continued refining their techniques and wondered which of them would break through first.

• Dong Jian carefully separated useful metal essence from impurities, while Li Man trained the Imperial Fighting Team to move through her changing formation cores.
• Qin Ming ordered Dong Jian and Li Man to stop using medicine and assigned them month-long training goals focused on controlling their abilities under pressure.
• Dong Jian practiced brief activations of Force Observation, and Li Man learned to keep her formation working with half its cores removed.
• Half a month later, Dong Jian spotted lingering lightning that caused one of Li Man's formation cores to collapse, and they agreed to make Yu Feng's bet on their breakthroughs wrong.

Dong Jian trained to make Three-Step Mountain Exchange flow continuously through successive impacts instead of relying on fixed routes. He completed Li Man’s twelve-direction test without leaving the circle, but remained just short of level forty.

• Qin Ming tested Dong Jian by having him receive twelve strikes without using Mountain Shifting or leaving the central area, and Dong Jian failed when lingering Soul Power collided.
• Li Man explained that Dong Jian needed to preserve the order of receiving, transferring, and releasing while adapting each cycle to the Soul Power already remaining in his body.
• Dong Jian repeated the test and linked his responses to successive attacks, using the lingering black and white Soul Power as starting points for later cycles.
• Dong Jian handled eleven attacks, including Yu Tianheng’s Thunder Dragon Claw, as his yin-yang cycle stabilized into inner and outer rings.
• Li Man activated nine formation nodes to send residual impacts from twelve directions at once, and Dong Jian received, transferred, and released them without crossing the boundary.
• Dong Jian told Li Man he was still not at level forty, and Li Man said she had planned the final test from the first strike and trusted him to catch her in turn.

During Imperial Fighting Team training, Li Man adapted her formation as her teammates destroyed its nodes, broke through to level forty, and kept six flags. Qin Ming applied for a suitable fourth Soul Ring for her, while Dong Jian privately considered whether he could handle a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast for his own fourth ring.

• Li Man defended nine flags against Yu Tianheng, Dugu Yan, Yu Feng, Osler, Shi Mo, and Shi Mo, moving flags and splitting her formation to withstand their attacks.
• As the team destroyed her formation eyes, Li Man abandoned the main formation and connected the remaining power through multiple flags, allowing the network to keep functioning without a single core.
• Li Man broke through to level forty and kept six flags when Qin Ming ended the exercise.
• Li Man explained that any node could temporarily serve as the formation's center, and Ye Lingling told her to stop training for the day.
• Qin Ming submitted a Soul Hunting application for a plant-type fourth Soul Ring suited to Li Man's multinode formation, while Li Man rejected choosing a ring merely for its age.
• Dong Jian privately considered that his strengthened body and mental power might let him withstand a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast's fourth ring.

Dong Jian reached level forty after enduring a dangerous training session, and he and Li Man began evaluating their Fourth Soul Rings. Dong Jian proposed pursuing a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring, so Dugu Bo began testing whether he could withstand the spiritual pressure involved.

• Dong Jian completed a full Yin-Yang Soul Power circulation while redirecting attacks from Shi Mo and Yu Tianheng, and the impact cleared his final blockage and pushed him to level forty.
• Qin Ming confirmed that Dong Jian and Li Man had both reached level forty, then presented possible Fourth Soul Ring targets for them, including three beasts for Dong Jian.
• Dong Jian asked about a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring, but Qin Ming and Ye Lingling warned that its Soul Shock could overwhelm him; Li Man agreed to investigate only if the risks were tested before Soul Hunting.
• Qin Ming summoned Dugu Bo, who agreed to test Dong Jian with three rounds of spiritual pressure rather than Soul Power pressure.
• Dugu Bo's first wave of spiritual pressure struck Dong Jian's consciousness, making him see emerald green as the test began.

Dong Jian endured Dugu Bo’s three escalating mental-pressure tests and then compared two Dark Gold Earth Vein Bears as possible Fourth Soul Ring targets. He chose to attempt the ten-thousand-eight-hundred-year bear under Qin Ming’s strict conditions, leaving the hunt and the far more dangerous soul shock ahead.

• Dong Jian endured Dugu Bo’s first two mental-pressure waves by grounding himself and resisting the illusions, then recovered before the third test.
• Dong Jian survived the third wave by using the gaps in its rhythm to restore Yin-Yang Breathing, and Dugu Bo judged that he had barely passed.
• Dugu Bo revealed a ten-thousand-eight-hundred-year Dark Gold Earth Vein Bear and a safer seven-thousand-year bear, and the group traveled to Sunset Forest to inspect both.
• Dong Jian sensed that the older bear’s complete load-bearing route better suited his cultivation and fighting style than the younger bear’s abilities.
• Dong Jian chose the older bear, and Qin Ming agreed to the attempt only if Dong Jian avoided serious injuries, retained at least seventy percent of his Soul Power before the bear died, and switched targets if either condition failed.

Li Man hunted an eight-thousand-seven-hundred-year-old Nine-Section Dragon Vein Bamboo and absorbed its Soul Ring, becoming a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor with a new formation-based skill. With her preparations complete, she and Dong Jian were ready to hunt the ten-thousand-year-old Dark Gold Earth Vein Bear.

• Li Man used her Green Jade Dragon Bamboo and formation eyes to trace the Nine-Section Dragon Vein Bamboo’s life veins and locate its true core.
• Dong Jian opened a small crack in the ground while Li Man blocked the bamboo’s escape routes and forced its true body aboveground.
• Li Man restrained the bamboo’s nine sections, connected her formation eye to its core, and let Dong Jian shatter its life connection.
• Li Man absorbed the bamboo’s Soul Ring for an hour and reached Soul Power Level forty-one as a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor.
• Li Man gained the Fourth Soul Skill Ten Thousand Bamboos Return to the Veins, which lets her prepare main, reserve, and discard routes among formation eyes.
• Li Man marked Dong Jian’s wrist with a faint formation eye to monitor him during the coming Soul Hunting and agreed to end the hunt if he was not ready.

Dong Jian and Li Man defeated a ten-thousand-year Dark Gold Earth Vein Bear after disrupting the bone plates that carried its force. Dong Jian began absorbing its black Soul Ring, where the bear’s furious roar marked the start of the real test.

• Dugu Bo kept the Dark Gold Earth Vein Bear from escaping while Dong Jian and Li Man fought it inside the mine under Qin Ming’s supervision.
• Dong Jian and Li Man used Force Observation and the Parasitic Bamboo Formation Eyes to identify and disrupt the bear’s force-transmitting bone plates.
• When the bear unleashed Dark Gold Mountain Suppression, Dong Jian redirected its charge and a falling mine pillar into its cracked fifth bone plate.
• Dong Jian used Three-Step Mountain Exchange and Short Tremor to bring down the bear, then struck its skull to kill it.
• Li Man removed the Parasitic Bamboo Formation Eye, and Dong Jian began absorbing the ten-thousand-year Soul Ring as an angry bear’s roar sounded in his consciousness.

Dong Jian endured the Dark Gold Earth Vein Bear’s Soul Shock and absorbed its ten-thousand-year Soul Ring, gaining a black Fourth Soul Ring and an External Soul Bone called the Dark Gold Spine Armor. He left the mine with the armor’s abilities understood but its existence sworn to secrecy before the Soul Master Tournament.

• Dong Jian used Yin-Yang Breathing, Force Observation, and the Three-Step Mountain Exchange to withstand the Dark Gold Earth Vein Bear’s lingering will and absorb its Soul Ring.
• Dugu Bo recognized that the bear’s fifth back plate was forming an External Soul Bone, and nine black-and-gold spinal plates emerged and fused with Dong Jian.
• Dong Jian opened his eyes with a ten-thousand-year Fourth Soul Ring and named his new Soul Skill Yin-Yang Mountain Domain, which let him sense vibrations and force through the ground.
• Dong Jian discovered that his Dark Gold Spine Armor could distribute impacts across nine plates for six breaths, but it restricted his movement and left his back numb afterward.
• Qin Ming told Dugu Bo, Li Man, Ye Lingling, and Dong Jian to keep the External Soul Bone secret, while Dong Jian and Li Man postponed testing Mountain-Suppressing Dragon Bamboo.

Dong Jian trained to filter the Yin-Yang Mountain Domain’s ground vibrations without overloading himself, while Li Man helped him recognize the Fourth Soul Skill’s limits. He left the training ground prepared to reveal the Soul Ring to the Imperial Fighting Team the next day, while keeping his External Soul Bone secret.

• Dong Jian reviewed the Divine Dragon Secret Realm’s warning that using the Yin-Yang Mountain Domain and Force Observation together would overwhelm his mental filtering, and learned to divide their roles between range and targets.
• Li Man brought Dong Jian to a secluded training ground and set rules against using Dark Gold Spine Armor or Force Observation while he practiced his Fourth Soul Skill.
• Dong Jian used the Yin-Yang Mountain Domain to identify grounded stones and track real movement while filtering out false vibrations created by Li Man.
• Li Man demonstrated that the domain could not detect objects or attacks that had not touched the ground, and stopped Dong Jian when he wanted to combine it with Force Observation.
• Dong Jian ended training without activating his External Soul Bone, and Li Man told him they would reveal his Fourth Soul Ring to the Imperial Fighting Team the next day while keeping the Soul Bone hidden.

Dong Jian tested his ten-thousand-year Fourth Soul Skill, Yin-Yang Mountain Domain, with the Imperial Fighting Team and discovered its limits against airborne targets, misleading vibrations, and information overload. Li Man combined it with Ten Thousand Bamboos Return to the Veins, giving Dong Jian’s perception a place in the team’s formation while his hidden spine armor remained unknown.

• Dong Jian revealed his black Fourth Soul Ring and explained that Yin-Yang Mountain Domain had a range of about thirty paces but could not directly suppress opponents, boost strength, or detect airborne targets.
• Yu Feng, the Shi Brothers, Yu Tianheng, and Dugu Yan exposed how flight, overlapping impacts, thunder, and obscured sight could mislead Dong Jian’s ground-based perception.
• Li Man used Ten Thousand Bamboos Return to the Veins to mark teammates and distinguish their positions from false vibrations, creating the tactical combination Dragon Bamboo Calibration.
• Li Man attached a Parasitic Bamboo Formation Eye to Yu Feng’s wing, allowing Dong Jian to track his general direction without determining his precise position or altitude.
• The team practiced in formation, and Dong Jian used the linked markers to warn Yu Tianheng of a fallen training stake and help teammates adjust their movements.
• Dong Jian withdrew Yin-Yang Mountain Domain after less than fifteen minutes because the information overwhelmed his ability to filter it, while the team recognized its value and left his hidden spine armor undiscovered.

Dong Jian tested the limits of his Dark Gold Spine Armor with Qin Ming, Ye Lingling, and Li Man, learning that it could safely manage three force-transmission routes for six breaths. Li Man marked three bone plates to guide future connections with her Green Jade Dragon Bamboo, leaving a possible fusion for a later test.

• Dong Jian activated the Dark Gold Spine Armor, and the Divine Dragon Secret Realm warned that it supported three stable routes for six breaths.
• Dong Jian tested one, two, and three incoming strikes, then staggered when Qin Ming added a fourth strike and overloaded the routes.
• Ye Lingling confirmed that the armor redistributed force rather than reducing it, while Dong Jian experienced numbness after the six-breath limit.
• Li Man noticed that Dong Jian repeatedly routed force through the seventh plate and proposed dividing the armor into sections for bearing, redirecting, and releasing force.
• Li Man placed formation eyes on the first, fifth, and ninth plates to mark three sections, but she and Qin Ming postponed any Soul Power connection until Dong Jian recovered.
• Li Man explained that she needed to study the armor because future Mountain-Suppressing Dragon Bamboo fusion routes would pass through it, and someone outside would need to monitor Dong Jian.

Dong Jian and Li Man tested a three-route connection between the Dark Gold Spine Armor and the Green Jade Dragon Bamboo, successfully redirecting small portions of incoming force without destabilizing Dong Jian. The chapter leaves them planning backup routes and a way for Li Man to sever the connection if a future fusion becomes dangerous.

• Li Man’s first attempt to connect all nine Green Jade Dragon Bamboo formation eyes at once pressured Dong Jian’s spine, so she dispelled them before his Soul Bone was injured.
• Li Man regrouped the nine plates into three routes—shoulders for receiving, back for converting, and waist for releasing—and connected them while Dong Jian activated Dark Gold Vein Suppression.
• Dong Jian and Li Man redirected small portions of Qin Ming’s attacks through the Green Jade Dragon Bamboo, reducing conduction loss while keeping the Dark Gold Spine Armor stable.
• Ye Lingling found less strain on Dong Jian’s back, but Li Man had spent significant mental effort; Li Man said the test connected only the Soul Bone and formation eyes, not their Martial Souls.
• Dong Jian and Li Man identified the fifth plate as both the conversion core and a vulnerable point, then discussed using Ten Thousand Bamboos Return to the Veins as a backup route and emergency cutoff.

Dong Jian and Li Man reworked Mountain-Suppressing Dragon Bamboo around the Yin-Yang Iron-Eating Beast, Dark Gold Spine Armor, and Green Jade Dragon Bamboo. They stabilized the fusion for eight breaths, then identified safe shutdown and movement as the next challenges.

• Dong Jian and Li Man's first attempt failed when Green Jade Dragon Bamboo concentrated power against the Dark Gold Spine Armor's dispersal, so they withdrew the fusion before it could form.
• Li Man divided the formation into shoulder, back, and waist routes, letting the fusion stabilize for eight breaths before Dong Jian and Li Man ended it deliberately.
• Dong Jian's Divine Dragon Secret Realm recorded the fusion's three-layer structure and warned that its core could not synchronize while moving.
• Dong Jian and Li Man practiced emergency shutdowns, correcting their timing until they could sever their pathways almost simultaneously.
• Dong Jian and Li Man agreed to keep the name Mountain-Suppressing Dragon Bamboo because Yin and Yang remained its core and dragon bamboo its pathways.

Dong Jian and Li Man extended Mountain-Suppressing Dragon Bamboo’s stable duration to twelve breaths and successfully moved it three steps by redirecting its formation routes. They recorded its limits and kept the full version secret ahead of the Soul Master Tournament, leaving them with a plan to rely on judgment and teamwork rather than push beyond safe limits.

• Dong Jian and Li Man fused the Yin-Yang Iron-Eating Beast, Green Jade Dragon Bamboo, and concealed Dark Gold Spine Armor, then shifted the formation forward for the first step.
• They redirected the impact from the first step before taking a second, reducing the cracks in the ground while Dong Jian’s back grew numb and Li Man’s mental power waned.
• When the fifth bone plate overloaded during the third step, Li Man established a temporary route to the left, allowing Dong Jian to divert the force and complete three steps in twelve breaths.
• Ye Lingling healed Dong Jian and Li Man after they released the fusion, and Qin Ming confirmed the movement test had succeeded.
• Dong Jian recorded the fusion’s abilities and risks in the Divine Dragon Secret Realm, while Qin Ming ordered the full twelve-breath version and its concealed Soul Bone kept secret from the team.
• Li Man explained that she had spotted a safe route during the third step, and she and Dong Jian agreed to watch each other’s limits.

Dong Jian and Li Man challenged the complete Imperial Fighting Team, briefly scattering its formation with their fused Mountain-Suppressing Dragon Bamboo before losing to the seven-person team’s coordinated counterattack. The Divine Dragon Secret Realm recorded that their individual peaks surpassed the team’s, but they could not replace a complete formation.

• Qin Ming set rules for the match, and Dong Jian and Li Man fought the other seven members of the Imperial Fighting Team.
• Dong Jian and Li Man used Mountain-Suppressing Dragon Bamboo for eight breaths, scattering the formation and forcing the team’s members back without defeating any of them.
• The seven regrouped around the Shi Brothers’ defense, Yu Tianheng’s attacks, Dugu Yan’s poison, Yu Feng and Osler’s disruption, and Ye Lingling’s healing.
• After a sustained counterattack, the seven pushed Dong Jian out of the arena, and Yu Feng took the token from Li Man to win the match.
• Qin Ming explained that the two were the team’s strongest individual fighters but that the Imperial Fighting Team’s complete formation was its true center.
• The Divine Dragon Secret Realm recorded that Dong Jian and Li Man’s power peaked early and that no plan could make two people replace the entire team.

Shrek arrived at Heaven Dou Royal Academy to accept Qin Ming’s invitation and reunited with the Imperial Fighting Team. Dong Jian and Li Man revealed how much they had advanced, while Tang San and Dong Jian assessed each other’s new abilities; the teams left their rivalry unresolved as they prepared to observe one another again.

• Flender led Shrek up the mountain to Heaven Dou Royal Academy, where Qin Ming brought the Imperial Fighting Team to greet them.
• Xiao Wu reunited with Li Man and Dong Jian, and Tang San learned that both had advanced beyond level forty since Suotuo City.
• Dong Jian revealed his Yin-Yang Iron-Eating Beast and its ten-thousand-year fourth Soul Ring, prompting Tang San to assess his strength and the ring’s likely compatibility.
• Xiao Wu and Li Man compared their changed abilities and challenged each other over how their fighting styles would fare.
• Tang San noticed the ground vibrations connected to Dong Jian’s fourth Soul Skill, and both men recognized that their control of the ground would matter in a future fight.

Xue Xing and Dugu Bo rejected Shrek’s request to join the Heaven Dou Royal Academy after Dugu Bo tested the group with a Titled Douluo’s pressure. Tang San and Dugu Bo recognized each other’s poison-related abilities, but Dugu Bo neither abducted Tang San nor revealed the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, leaving Shrek to depart and Dong Jian’s assessment to mark their paths as diverged.

• Xue Beng and several noble students blocked Shrek, and Qin Ming intervened while Dong Jian and Li Man kept nearby students out of danger.
• Prince Xue Xing arrived with Dugu Bo and demanded that Shrek prove it deserved to stay at the academy.
• Dugu Bo’s pressure forced Shrek to brace themselves, while Dong Jian and Li Man refrained from openly opposing the imperial family.
• Dugu Bo questioned Tang San about poison and his toxin-absorbing External Soul Bone, but neither revealed the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well or pursued the other’s secrets.
• Prince Xue Xing refused Shrek admission, and Flender led the group away despite Qin Ming’s regret.
• Dong Jian recorded that he had endured Dugu Bo’s pressure without using his Fourth Soul Skill or exposing his External Soul Bone, and judged that Tang San would not be taken to the valley.

After being expelled from Heaven Dou Royal Academy, Shrek left for Heaven Dou City to seek a place at Blue Tyrant Academy, while Qin Ming stayed with the Imperial Fighting Team. Both teams prepared for their eventual rematch at the Soul Master Tournament, and the chapter ended with Shrek reaching its new lodging as the Imperial Fighting Team continued training.

• Qin Ming caught up with Shrek, but Flender refused to let him abandon the Imperial Fighting Team before the tournament.
• Qin Ming told his team that Shrek would likely join Blue Tyrant Academy and warned them that Shrek’s training and tactics would change.
• Dong Jian and Li Man found that their old combat data on Shrek was unreliable, so the Imperial Fighting Team revised its formations and tactics.
• The Imperial Fighting Team tested its new mobile formation, recovered from early confusion, and established a rule to reconnect its assault, defense, and healing points within ten breaths.
• Dong Jian shifted the formation’s center to Shi Mo, while Flender and Shrek reached their new lodging near Blue Tyrant Academy.