Recaps

Long Tian won three tournament matches, reaching the eight-year-old group’s final four after defeating Murong Qing with an unstable fusion of light and dark power. That night, he discovered someone had inspected his drawing and connected the intrusion to the missing copy of a file.

• Long Tian defeated Wei Lan and a level-twelve Fire Lizard Soul Master, drawing attention to his Mixed-Color Soul Rings.
• Long Tian overcame Murong Qing’s ice attacks with a burst of fused light and dark power, and Murong Qing conceded.
• Long Tian advanced to the final four, while Zhao Xiaopang cheered him on and Chen Hao watched from the thirteen-year-olds’ area.
• At the inn, Long Tian noticed a new crease on his drawing and suspected someone had searched his belongings.
• Long Tian recalled Old Chen’s note that the original file had been returned but its copy was still missing, and he reviewed the strangers he had encountered.

Long Tian defeated Gu Yan in the age-group semifinals by breaking through his spider-silk defenses with the Power of Chaos, while an unidentified man in gray watched him closely. That night, the watcher reported Long Tian’s unusual power, and Long Tian continued cultivating while keeping the most important refining insights to himself.

• Long Tian prepared to face Gu Yan, whose Silver Thread Spider silk had quickly defeated his earlier opponents, and noticed an unusually still man in gray watching from the stands.
• Long Tian used Shadow Vision and his Yin-Yang Twin Wings to evade Gu Yan’s spider-silk traps and attacks during their semifinal fight.
• Long Tian struck Gu Yan’s woven silk wall with a ball of the Power of Chaos, and Gu Yan surrendered after the blow shattered much of his web.
• Long Tian recognized the gray-clothed spectator as suspicious and memorized his face, while Chen Hao later won his own semifinal.
• Long Tian studied his incomplete refining plans and cultivated, while the man in gray wrote a report emphasizing the Power of Chaos and sealed it with a sword-and-star insignia.

Long Tian defeated Zhang Yueming in the tournament final by combining his Light and Dark Qi to break the Mysterious Light Mirror. After winning, he received an invitation from Spirit City Academy and noticed the candied-hawthorn vendor watching him before disappearing into the crowd.

• Long Tian rested before the finals, then learned that Zhang Yueming’s Mysterious Light Mirror could reflect ranged attacks and reveal Shadow Stealth.
• Chen Hao lost the thirteen-year-old final to the Ice Serpent user, then encouraged Long Tian to seize his chance.
• Long Tian bypassed Zhang Yueming’s mirror with chaotic power formed from Light and Dark Qi, shattered it, and forced Zhang Yueming to surrender.
• A Spirit City Academy lecturer invited Long Tian to study at the academy, and he said he would consider it.
• Zhao Xiaopang celebrated Long Tian’s victory while Long Tian spotted the candied-hawthorn vendor watching him; the vendor then vanished into the crowd.

Long Tian met a former Iron Guard who explained that a fragment of Zhang Yueming’s Mysterious Light Mirror had captured his Power of Chaos and could help him approach the real mirror in Spirit City Academy’s secret vault. After learning that the mirror held a visual record of the experiment connected to his father’s case, Long Tian decided to answer the academy’s invitation.

• Long Tian considered the academy’s invitation while Chen Hao argued that joining would give him resources and a natural way to investigate the Iron Guard.
• A messenger delivered an unsigned letter inviting Long Tian to Old Sophora Alley to discuss fragments of the mirror, and Long Tian went alone to meet the sender.
• The gray-clad man from the tournament showed Long Tian a mirror fragment bearing a trace of his Power of Chaos and explained that the mirror had absorbed it when it shattered.
• The gray-clad man revealed that he had served in the Iron Guard with Long Tian’s father and said the real Mysterious Light Mirror contained images of the experiment tied to the sealed case file.
• The gray-clad man warned that someone else had creased the lower right corner of Long Tian’s diagram scroll, and Long Tian returned to the inn with the fragment.
• Long Tian told Chen Hao and Zhao Xiaopang that he would reply to the academy’s invitation the next day.

Long Tian enrolled at Spirit City Junior Academy and secretly investigated the Mysterious Light Mirror’s whereabouts. He confirmed it was stored in the old archives building, but needed a four-ring Soul Master or another way past its restriction, so he planned to ask Zhao Min about historical records.

• Zhao Min enrolled Long Tian, arranged for Chen Hao to transfer and Zhao Xiaopang to join the preparatory class, and assigned Long Tian a dedicated mentor.
• Long Tian and Chen Hao identified three restricted academy locations and agreed to search them for the Mysterious Light Mirror.
• Long Tian picked the lock to the library basement and found a record stating that an old copper mirror had been transferred to the fourth cabinet of the old archives building.
• Chen Hao found that the old archives restriction required at least four rings, while Long Tian and his companions had fewer.
• Zhao Xiaopang suggested Zhao Min might take Long Tian to consult old files, and Long Tian decided to ask her about historical records of mixed-color Martial Souls.

Long Tian used Zhao Min’s help to enter the old archives and secretly confirmed that the Mysterious Light Mirror was stored in the fourth cabinet. He left the mirror in place and planned to find a way to retrieve it without making Zhao Min suspicious.

• Long Tian asked Zhao Min to help him research records of Mixed-Color Martial Souls, while he and Chen Hao and Zhao Xiaopang planned to inspect the fourth cabinet.
• Zhao Min brought Long Tian into the old archives building, where he learned that its restriction did not stop a three-ring cultivator from entering when someone opened the door for them.
• Long Tian picked the fourth cabinet’s lock and found the bronze mirror matching the gray-clad man’s wax seal, then returned it to its box without being noticed.
• Long Tian told Zhao Min that the records contained no examples like his twin light-and-dark mixed rings, and Zhao Min offered to lend him the archive key in the future.
• Long Tian told Chen Hao and Zhao Xiaopang that he needed another plan to take the mirror without arousing Zhao Min’s suspicion, and decided to study her schedule for three days.

Long Tian stole the bronze mirror from the old archives building and used it to reveal a secret experiment in which Soul Masters were imprisoned and their Martial Souls extracted for fusion. After hiding the mirror, he resolved with Chen Hao and Zhao Xiaopang to locate the underground chamber where the experiment was still taking place.

• Long Tian, Chen Hao, and Zhao Xiaopang put their plan in motion, with Chen Hao keeping watch and Zhao Xiaopang ready to distract anyone approaching the archives.
• Long Tian borrowed the archives key from Zhao Min’s assistant, entered the building, and took the bronze mirror from its cabinet.
• A guard locked the iron door behind Long Tian, so he escaped through a rotting second-floor window and returned to the dormitory by way of an alley.
• Long Tian used his Soul Power to activate the mirror, which showed imprisoned people, extracted Martial Soul cores, and a child labeled as material for a fusion experiment.
• Long Tian told Chen Hao and Zhao Xiaopang that the experiment was ongoing and planned to take the mirror to Old Chen’s home before they searched for the underground chamber.

Long Tian hid the bronze mirror at Old Chen's Blacksmith Shop and traced clues about its underground room to the Iron Guard and Meng Changyuan. After finding an old well that led beneath the city, he received an unsigned message ordering him to meet the man in gray at the Iron Guard camp's west gate at midnight the next night.

• Long Tian left the bronze mirror with Old Chen, who named Meng Changyuan as his father's former captain and told him how to contact the man in gray.
• Long Tian and Chen Hao reasoned that the mirror's hidden room was connected to Meng Changyuan and might have been relocated beneath an isolated part of the old city.
• Long Tian dreamed of a cage labeled for three-ring light-and-dark twins and woke shaken by seeing someone who looked exactly like him inside it.
• Old Chen revealed an old well entrance to the city's foundation passages, and Long Tian and Chen Hao found it behind the abandoned southern vegetable market.
• Zhao Xiaopang gave Long Tian an unsigned note from the man in gray, who demanded a midnight meeting at the west gate of the Iron Guard camp to hand over the copied manuscript.
• Long Tian decided he had to attend the meeting and began planning his route to the camp.

Long Tian secretly entered the Iron Guard camp and received a complete copy of records about the experiments his father had investigated. The copy revealed that test subject no. 17 was still alive, but reaching the current experiment site required at least five Soul Rings, leaving Long Tian to prepare for a long wait.

• Long Tian packed his belongings and slipped into the Iron Guard camp through its west gate with help from a man in gray.
• The man in gray gave Long Tian a copy of the experiment records and explained that the current site lay south of the old well behind an iron gate that required five Soul Rings to open.
• Long Tian returned to the academy with Chen Hao and read that more than a dozen test subjects were listed, most crossed out, while no. 17 remained alive in the dark room.
• Long Tian hid the copy and calculated that he could reach four Soul Rings by age ten, but would need another year or two to reach five.
• After Long Tian left, the man in gray sat alone in the storeroom and clenched his scarred hand.

Long Tian studied the copied Fusion Technique records and used their meridian diagrams to stabilize a vortex of light and dark Qi in his dantian, gradually forming a gray bead. He reached the limit for a fourth Soul Ring but lacked a suitable Soul Beast, and planned to investigate the foundation level beneath the old well before reaching five rings.

• Long Tian learned from the copied records that yin-yang balance could help the Fusion Technique succeed, and compared its diagrams with his father's scroll.
• Long Tian channeled all three streams of Qi toward the dantian confluence and formed a brief, stable ring of chaotic light and dark energy.
• Long Tian practiced the vortex each night until its lingering traces condensed into a gray point of light that grew into a rice-sized bead over half a month.
• Long Tian sensed that he had reached the limit for a fourth Soul Ring but suppressed his breakthrough because he lacked a suitable Soul Beast.
• Long Tian memorized the address of the old city's foundation level and resolved to locate the iron door and inspect the passage before reaching five rings.
• The iron door beneath the old archives remained locked, and no one noticed the empty space left by the wooden box.

Long Tian found an Earth Marrow Light Beetle in the underground passage and absorbed its dual-attribute Soul Ring, completing his fourth ring. He and Chen Hao returned to the academy after scouting the route toward the five-ring-restricted iron door, which Long Tian planned to reach later.

• Long Tian applied to Teacher Bai for Soul Hunting leave, and Old Chen showed him a booklet identifying the Earth Marrow Light Beetle in the old city's foundation layer.
• Long Tian and Chen Hao slipped out after midnight and entered the underground passage through the old well, while Zhao Xiaopang agreed to cover for them.
• Long Tian and Chen Hao followed the beetle tracks to a side chamber, where Long Tian killed an Earth Marrow Light Beetle and absorbed its Soul Ring.
• The Origin Return Pearl and Chaos Halo helped Long Tian form his fourth Soul Ring, whose black-and-white light reflected the beetle's dual attributes.
• Long Tian and Chen Hao turned back after scouting toward the iron door, then returned to the academy before morning; Long Tian considered how close he was to reaching it.

Long Tian used the Origin Return Pearl to slip through a five-ring restriction and reach Number Seventeen’s underground cell. He began melting the bars to rescue the child as an unknown person reviewed a list above, with snow approaching.

• Long Tian stabilized his fourth Soul Ring and discovered that the Origin Return Pearl could potentially disguise his Soul Power from a restriction.
• Zhao Xiaopang delivered a note warning that Number Seventeen might be transferred within days, and Long Tian told Old Chen he would attempt a rescue.
• Long Tian and Chen Hao returned to the old well, and Long Tian used the Origin Return Pearl’s chaos Qi to squeeze through the iron gate’s barrier.
• Long Tian descended to the third level and found Number Seventeen, a child marked as a compound test subject awaiting fusion.
• Long Tian introduced himself to Number Seventeen and began heating the cell bars with fused golden, black, and gray-white light.

Long Tian and Chen Hao rescued Yu Jin from the underground chamber and brought him to Old Chen’s Blacksmith Shop, where Yu Jin revealed why he had delayed the formation of his Martial Soul. As Yu Jin slept and Long Tian rested, someone at the northern camp noticed the missing ready report and headed toward the old city.

• Long Tian melted through the cage bars, carried Yu Jin through the barrier with Chen Hao’s help, and escaped with him from the well.
• Long Tian and Chen Hao hid their tracks in the snow and took Yu Jin to Old Chen’s Blacksmith Shop.
• Old Chen fed Yu Jin hot porridge, and Yu Jin told Long Tian that his name was Yu Jin and that his captors wanted to use him to test the Fusion Technique.
• Yu Jin explained that he had delayed forming his Martial Soul to prevent the experiment, then pretended he was about to dissipate when his captors threatened to force the fusion.
• Long Tian watched over Yu Jin as he slept, while someone at the northern camp left for the old city after the expected ready report failed to arrive.

Long Tian helped Yu Jin recover and learned that Yu Jin’s dreams resembled the Origin Return Pearl’s power, while Yu Jin’s Martial Soul began to reappear. After finding signs that someone was watching Old Chen’s Blacksmith Shop, Long Tian moved Yu Jin to a hidden Iron Guard contact point in the east of Spirit City.

• Yu Jin sat up and told Long Tian about his dreams of golden and black light merging into a gray river, which resembled the Origin Return Pearl.
• Yu Jin released a faint thread of golden-black light from his palm, and Long Tian taught him a breathing method to help restore his Martial Soul.
• Long Tian found fresh footprints near Old Chen’s Blacksmith Shop, and he and Chen Hao agreed to keep watch and consider moving Yu Jin.
• Chen Hao told Long Tian that Number Seventeen’s original name had been blacked out later in the manuscript, leaving the identity of the person who altered it uncertain.
• Old Chen told Long Tian to move Yu Jin to an abandoned Iron Guard contact point, and Long Tian brought him to a courtyard house in Official Well Lane.

Yu Jin strengthened his golden-black Martial Soul and discovered that its presence resonated with Long Tian’s Origin Return Pearl. After Shen Mo warned Long Tian that the Iron Guard had linked him to the stolen bronze mirror and could track their unusual Soul Power, the investigation intensified.

• Yu Jin steadily practiced Long Tian’s breathing method and learned to sustain his Martial Soul’s golden-black light for longer.
• Yu Jin fully released his Martial Soul, and its intertwined dragon forms tilted toward Long Tian’s separated light and dark forces.
• Yu Jin told Long Tian that he had dreamed of a gray river and recognized the presence of the light Long Tian carried.
• Shen Mo warned Long Tian that the Iron Guard had traced the old archives key-borrowing record to him and connected it to the bronze mirror’s theft.
• Shen Mo cautioned Long Tian that the Iron Guard could track their unusual Soul Power more easily if Yu Jin formed his Martial Soul and they stayed close.
• Long Tian returned to watch over sleeping Yu Jin as the Iron Guard filed the borrowing record and an image of the melted iron bars marked with grayish-white residue.

Long Tian and Yu Jin’s Soul Power harmonized, strengthening both their abilities and helping Yu Jin conceal his Martial Soul from tracking. After discovering that someone had searched the sealed well, Long Tian moved Yu Jin to a deserted temple and took the bronze mirror from Old Chen as the Iron Guard investigation closed in.

• Long Tian and Yu Jin joined their palms and found their Soul Power circulating together, strengthening the Origin Return Pearl and stabilizing Yu Jin’s Martial Soul.
• Long Tian explained that their merged presence could confuse tracking techniques, and Yu Jin asked to accompany him once he recovered; Long Tian agreed.
• Long Tian discovered fresh signs that someone had entered the sealed well and warned Chen Hao that the Iron Guard might soon connect it to Yu Jin’s escape.
• Long Tian moved Yu Jin from Official Well Lane to a deserted earth god temple to keep him hidden.
• Long Tian collected the locked-away bronze mirror from Old Chen and left the blacksmith shop carrying it.

Long Tian learned the Iron Guard was tracking Yu Jin and used Shen Mo’s help to escape the city with him. They rested beside the road before setting out toward the Heavenly Wolf Mountain Range, where they hoped to find safety.

• Long Tian found Shen Mo’s gray stone pendant and learned from Old Chen that the Iron Guard had collected chaos-trace samples from the well.
• Long Tian met Yu Jin at the abandoned earth god temple and told him the Iron Guard could soon track his Soul Power signature.
• At the western wall, Shen Mo and his deputy Cheng Yuan revealed that Shen Mo had misdirected the Iron Guard and opened a side door for their escape.
• Long Tian and Yu Jin left the city and walked through the night to a grove beside the main road.
• After resting and eating, Long Tian and Yu Jin continued northwest toward the Heavenly Wolf Mountain Range.

Long Tian and Yu Jin reached Soul Hunting Town and settled in an abandoned stone hut in the Heavenly Wolf Mountain Range so Yu Jin could test his recovering Martial Soul. After discovering that Yu Jin’s fused golden-black Martial Soul could release powerful origin energy without Soul Rings, Long Tian planned to help him train and eventually hunt a Soul Beast.

• Long Tian brought Yu Jin to an inn in Soul Hunting Town, where they rested and discussed testing his Martial Soul in the mountains.
• Long Tian found an abandoned stone hut, and Yu Jin released a small golden-black dragon formed from his fused Martial Soul.
• Long Tian and Yu Jin joined their powers and sensed each other’s dantians, revealing that Yu Jin had a solid golden-black core but no Soul Rings.
• Long Tian explained that Yu Jin had used pure origin power and said that Soul Rings could strengthen his origin rather than divide his stages.
• Yu Jin recalled Long Tian carrying him out of the darkroom, and Long Tian said they would begin practicing together the next day.

Long Tian and Yu Jin discovered that joining Qi had caused Yu Jin’s core to grow a Soul Ring shell, then found a compatible Stone-Patterned Lizard whose Soul Ring Yu Jin absorbed. As they returned to the stone house, Yu Jin resolved to help Shen Mo bear the burden of investigating the Seventh Squad’s breakup.

• Long Tian and Yu Jin’s daily Qi circulation nurtured each other, and a faint ring-shaped shell formed around Yu Jin’s core.
• Long Tian and Yu Jin traveled into the middle reaches of the mountain range to find a suitable Soul Beast for Yu Jin.
• Long Tian identified a roughly four-hundred-year-old Stone-Patterned Lizard, and it approached Yu Jin after sensing his matching light-and-dark origin.
• Yu Jin allowed the Stone-Patterned Lizard to transform willingly into a Soul Ring and absorbed it, forming his first black-and-white ring.
• Long Tian explained that Shen Mo had helped Yu Jin and continued investigating the Seventh Squad’s breakup, and Yu Jin said he would not leave Shen Mo to shoulder it alone.

Yu Jin’s first Soul Ring fully fused with his core, strengthening his Martial Soul as he and Long Tian continued cultivating and combining their power. Long Tian found a coded tally that led him to plan a trip to the southern docks, while the abandoned underground chamber where Yu Jin had been held was sealed with stronger protections.

• Yu Jin tested his newly fused Soul Ring, and Long Tian observed that it amplified their already fused origin power with almost no delay.
• Long Tian and Yu Jin combined their power to split a mountain rock, then Yu Jin showed Long Tian a pottery shard bearing a drawing he had scratched in the dark room.
• Over the following weeks, their Qi-merging practice strengthened Long Tian’s Origin Return Pearl and Yu Jin’s core as winter began to thaw.
• Long Tian found a wooden tally marked “Ten,” interpreted it as a signal to collect a letter at the southern docks in ten days, and told Yu Jin he would be away for no more than a day.
• The underground chamber where Yu Jin had been held received a new, stronger lock and Soul Power-sensing runes.

Long Tian retrieved Shen Mo’s warning that Meng Changyuan had restarted experiments to replicate the Origin of Chaos and that Yu Jin could still be tracked. Long Tian and Yu Jin moved to a secluded ranger’s stone house in the Heavenly Wolf Mountain Range to stay together, hide, and prepare to refine their fused Qi.

• Long Tian found Shen Mo’s oilpaper message hidden beneath a mooring post at the southern dock and brought it back to Yu Jin.
• Long Tian told Yu Jin that Meng Changyuan had resumed the experiments and that they could be located if they stayed apart; Yu Jin agreed they would not separate.
• Long Tian and Yu Jin chose an abandoned ranger’s stone house in the Heavenly Wolf Mountain Range as their new base.
• Yu Jin mapped routes for receiving letters and messenger birds, while Long Tian assessed the roof and planned to repair it.
• Long Tian and Yu Jin repaired the roof and agreed to strengthen their fused Qi before Meng Changyuan’s live-subject tests began.
• Yu Jin watched the stars from the repaired roof, and Long Tian draped his coat over Yu Jin’s shoulders.

Long Tian and Yu Jin trained in the forest cottage, then hunted a nearly seven-hundred-year-old Shadowtail Marten so Long Tian could gain his fifth Soul Ring. After returning, Long Tian learned from Shen Mo’s note that live-subject tests would begin soon and that a trusted man at the North Peak could help them.

• Yu Jin strengthened his second ring, while his core and Long Tian’s Origin Return Pearl grew through their shared Qi cultivation.
• Long Tian sensed he was nearing the limit for a fifth ring, and Yu Jin advised him to find a Soul Beast at least six hundred years old.
• Long Tian and Yu Jin tracked and killed a Shadowtail Marten, and Long Tian absorbed its Soul Ring to complete his fifth ring.
• Long Tian said he would stabilize his rings while Yu Jin continued seeking a second Soul Beast, and they returned to the cottage.
• Long Tian read Shen Mo’s note stating that live subjects would arrive at the Iron Guard camp at the end of the month and directing them to a trusted man at the North Peak.

Long Tian and Yu Jin traveled to North Peak and met Mu Shuang, a former Iron Guard Sixth Squad member who had guarded a secret route for years. She gave them a plan to infiltrate the barracks and reach the holding area before the test subjects were transferred to the core, then Long Tian and Yu Jin returned toward the stone house.

• Long Tian memorized Shen Mo's letter, burned it, and set out for North Peak with Yu Jin.
• Long Tian and Yu Jin found Mu Shuang at a concealed stone house, where she recognized Long Tian as Tie Shan's son and explained her connection to Shen Mo.
• Mu Shuang showed Long Tian a blueprint for reaching the third underground level through a ventilation duct and identified the holding area as the chance to free test subjects before fusion.
• Long Tian chose to infiltrate through the vent rather than intercept the subjects, and Mu Shuang taught him how to disable the duty room alarm wire.
• Mu Shuang gave Long Tian a rune-carved ring that could interfere with Soul Power tracking once, and the two men left North Peak.
• Yu Jin remarked that Mu Shuang seemed to have been waiting for someone to seek her out, and Long Tian reflected on the years she had spent preparing the plan.

Long Tian, Yu Jin, and Mu Shuang infiltrated the camp’s underground processing area to investigate the arrival of live subjects. Long Tian found his father, Long Tieshan, locked in a cage, and the chapter ended with Long Tian’s token burning and a gray-white glow filling his palm.

• Shen Mo sent word that the first live subjects would arrive beneath the camp the next night, and Long Tian and Yu Jin prepared to infiltrate the site.
• Long Tian and Yu Jin met Mu Shuang outside Spirit City, and she guided them through a hidden route into the camp’s ventilation system.
• Long Tian used the metal ring on his left hand to suppress a Soul Power detection wire as the three crawled through the duct.
• The group reached the empty processing chamber, where fresh straw and a wet logbook showed that the subjects had not yet arrived.
• An Iron Guard brought a hooded prisoner into a cage, and Long Tian recognized him as Long Tieshan.
• Long Tieshan silently told Long Tian not to rush, while Long Tian’s chest token burned and a gray-white glow appeared in his palm.

Long Tian, Yu Jin, and Mu Shuang freed Long Tieshan from Meng Changyuan’s facility and escaped into the wilderness. Long Tieshan gave Long Tian a more complete Return to Origin diagram, and the four continued toward the stone house in the Heavenly Wolf Mountain Range.

• Long Tieshan explained that Meng Changyuan’s people had captured him to use as a control sample for their reverse deduction.
• Yu Jin gave Long Tieshan his stone pendant to mask his Soul Power, and Long Tian melted through the cage bars so they could escape.
• Long Tian led Long Tieshan, Yu Jin, and Mu Shuang through the ventilation duct and out of the city, then Mu Shuang guided them through the wilderness toward the mountains.
• Long Tieshan gave Long Tian a copy of Meng Changyuan’s original Return to Origin diagram, which Shen Mo had secretly preserved and sent to Starfall Town.
• The four continued along a hunter’s trail toward the stone house as Long Tieshan regained strength and drew closer to his son’s refuge.