Chapter Summaries

In Starfall Town, six-year-old Long Tian awakened twin dragon Martial Souls of light and darkness and Innate Full Soul Power. Deacon Lin Feng warned that the opposing forces could destroy Long Tian unless he learned to control them, while an elder in Spirit City sensed the awakening and called it a sign of a dragon emperor.

• Long Tian dreamed of a golden dragon and a black dragon, then told his worried mother about the recurring vision before his Martial Soul Awakening.
• Long Tieshan brought Long Tian to the town ceremony, where the other children awakened ordinary Martial Souls with low Innate Soul Power.
• When Long Tian touched the Awakening Stone, golden and black dragon shadows appeared, revealing his Twin Martial Souls.
• Long Tian's crystal ball shone with Innate Full Soul Power, astonishing the crowd and moving his parents to tears.
• Lin Feng warned Long Tian and Long Tieshan that the opposing forces could tear Long Tian's body apart unless he learned to control them, and urged them to send him to an academy.
• An elder in Spirit City sensed Long Tian's awakening and identified it as a sign of a dragon emperor.

After discovering that his light and dark dragon powers could be used separately but were dangerous together, Long Tian left for Bluestone Town Junior Soul Master Academy to learn control. A mysterious white-robed youth learned where Long Tian was headed and rode after him.

• Long Tian awakened golden and black dragon scales and suffered severe pain when he brought the two powers together.
• Long Tian secretly tested the powers in the courtyard, striking iron with his golden hand and frosting it with his black hand.
• Long Tieshan arranged Long Tian's admission to the junior academy in Bluestone Town and sold family possessions to pay for tuition and books.
• Long Tian said goodbye to his parents and set out for the academy with a charm sewn by his mother.
• A white-robed youth arrived in Starfall Town, learned that Long Tian had gone toward Bluestone Town, and pursued him on horseback.

Long Tian enrolled at Bluestone Town Junior Soul Master Academy, where Mr. Wang recorded his twin light-and-dark dragon Martial Souls and warned him not to fuse their powers. His first day was interrupted when Spirit Hall trainee deacon Qin Feng demanded to verify Long Tian’s aptitude, leaving Long Tian uncertain of Spirit Hall’s intentions.

• Long Tian traveled to Bluestone Town and registered at the academy, revealing his Radiant Sacred Dragon and Shadow Sacred Dragon Martial Souls and rank-ten Innate Soul Power to Mr. Wang.
• Mr. Wang assigned Long Tian to Class C and warned him to stabilize the two powers separately rather than attempt to fuse them.
• Long Tian met Zhao Xiaopang, collected his dormitory key, and went with him to the dining hall.
• Qin Feng confronted Long Tian at breakfast, introduced himself as a Spirit Hall trainee deacon, and asked to see the power of his twin dragons.
• Long Tian manifested golden dragon scales, but Mr. Wang stopped the encounter and ordered Qin Feng to follow academy rules.
• Qin Feng left after saying he would return, while Long Tian wondered whether Spirit Hall was friend or foe and Mr. Wang promised to explain it later.

Mr. Wang warned Long Tian that Spirit Hall’s factions might either recruit or restrain him because of his twin Martial Souls, and told him to build his strength while hiding his dark dragon power. Long Tian made quick progress in cultivation, drew the attention of Chen Hao, and learned that the Elder Hall had also taken an interest in him as Qin Feng departed Bluestone Town.

• Mr. Wang explained Spirit Hall’s rival factions to Long Tian and advised him to cultivate, grow stronger, and keep his dark dragon power hidden.
• During Class C’s guidance lesson, Long Tian guided golden Soul Power into his right palm while keeping the black power in his dantian quiet.
• Long Tian taught Zhao Xiaopang how to sense his dantian, and Zhao Xiaopang felt a warm movement of Soul Power for the first time.
• Chen Hao of Class B mocked Long Tian and challenged him to meet in the monthly assessment, while Zhao Xiaopang warned that Chen Hao was an eleven-level Soul Master.
• Qin Feng received a letter saying the Elder Hall had taken an interest in Long Tian, burned it, and left Bluestone Town.

Long Tian trained to control his Light and Dark Dragon Powers and faced Chen Hao in the academy’s monthly assessment. After defeating Chen Hao, Long Tian discovered that his Dark Dragon Power had protected him on its own, while an unknown observer reported his abilities to Spirit City.

• Long Tian practiced channeling his two powers separately, and Zhao Xiaopang awakened a faint wisp of Soul Power through diligent training.
• Long Tian managed to wield Light Dragon Power and Dark Dragon Power at the same time without letting them conflict, but kept the discovery secret.
• At the monthly assessment, Zhao Xiaopang lost his match, leaving Class C down one victory.
• Chen Hao attacked Long Tian with his Ironback Wolf Martial Soul, but Long Tian dodged, endured a blow with help from hidden dark scales, and knocked Chen Hao down with a golden palm strike.
• An unknown observer sent a report about Long Tian’s Soul Power and dragon abilities toward Spirit City.
• Long Tian realized that Dark Dragon Power had emerged on its own to block Chen Hao’s attack.

Long Tian learned that his Twin Martial Souls needed a Soul Beast with both light and darkness attributes, and he chose to pursue the dangerous Yin-Yang Twin-Pupil Python for his First Soul Ring. He and Mr. Wang reached Soul Hunting Town, where a recent sighting suggested the python was nearby, and Long Tian dreamed of twin pupils opening in the forest.

• After Long Tian defeated Chen Hao and reached level ten, Mr. Wang explained that neither of his Twin Martial Souls could safely receive a Soul Ring alone.
• Mr. Wang told Long Tian about the Yin-Yang Twin-Pupil Python in the Heavenly Wolf Mountain Range, and Long Tian decided to hunt it despite the danger.
• Mr. Wang gave Long Tian twenty Soul Coins for supplies, and Long Tian persuaded Zhao Xiaopang to stay behind before leaving the academy with Mr. Wang.
• Long Tian and Mr. Wang traveled to Soul Hunting Town, where Mr. Wang bought equipment for their journey into the mountains.
• Mr. Wang learned that a large black-and-white snake had recently been seen in the mountains, and Long Tian prepared to enter the forest before dawn.

Long Tian and Mr. Wang tracked the Yin-Yang Twin-Pupil Python to its den and watched its light and dark attacks before fighting it. Long Tian’s dark power unexpectedly countered the python’s white beam, letting Mr. Wang wound it; the dying python lay ready for Long Tian to absorb its Soul Ring.

• Long Tian and Mr. Wang followed the python’s trail to its den and waited in a tree until it emerged at dusk.
• Long Tian observed the python use scorching white light from its white head and poisonous mist from its black head as Mr. Wang launched an attack.
• Mr. Wang distracted the python while Long Tian struck its scales, then Long Tian’s dark mist clashed with and weakened the white head’s beam.
• Mr. Wang struck the python’s weak point, and the wounded creature collapsed with only its last breath remaining.
• Mr. Wang noticed the dark mist around Long Tian’s left hand, said nothing about it, and told him to do it.

Long Tian absorbed the Yin-Yang Twin-Pupil Python’s seven-hundred-year Soul Ring, merging its light and darkness with his Twin Martial Souls. After he returned to Bluestone Town, a mysterious young rider arrived, intrigued by the Mixed-Color Soul Ring and Long Tian.

• Long Tian endured the pain of absorbing the python’s black-and-white Soul Ring as his light and darkness forces began to balance instead of clash.
• Long Tian completed the absorption and gained a Mixed-Color Soul Ring attached to both the Radiant Sacred Dragon and Shadow Sacred Dragon; Mr. Wang confirmed that he was unharmed.
• Long Tian and Mr. Wang returned to Soul Hunting Town, ate at the inn, and rode back to Bluestone Town the next afternoon.
• Long Tian showed his two-colored Soul Ring to Zhao Xiaopang and the academy students, while Mr. Wang recorded its details and wondered what Soul Skill it would grant.
• A young man carrying a map arrived in Bluestone Town and headed toward the academy after remarking on Long Tian’s remarkable Soul Ring.

Long Tian awakened his first Soul Skill, Yin-Yang Rotation, and practiced combining its light and dark attacks. After meeting visiting lecturer Lin Mo, he received a mysterious note arranging a meeting beneath the old locust tree after Wednesday's class.

• Long Tian discovered that his Soul Ring bridged his Light Qi and Dark Qi, then used Yin-Yang Rotation to strike a stone with separate hot and cold attacks.
• Long Tian practiced Light Bullet and Shadow Stealth, learning to control their range and power.
• Mr. Wang introduced Lin Mo as a visiting lecturer who would teach Long Tian practical combat, and Lin Mo asked to see Yin-Yang Rotation on Wednesday.
• Long Tian continued refining his Soul Skill while Mr. Wang observed and took notes.
• Long Tian found a note from Lin Mo asking him to meet beneath the old locust tree after Wednesday's class, while Lin Mo watched his dormitory from the tree's shadow.

During practical combat class, Long Tian demonstrated the power and flaws of Yin-Yang Rotation to Lin Mo. After class, Lin Mo revealed that Long Tian’s father had once served as a Soul Master in Spirit City’s Iron Guard and gave Long Tian a jade pendant and instructions for finding an old blacksmith there.

• Lin Mo watched the students use their strongest Soul Skills against him and advised them on their techniques.
• Long Tian used Yin-Yang Rotation to attack Lin Mo from the front and through a shadow, and Lin Mo praised its versatility while identifying a weakness.
• Long Tian met Lin Mo beneath the old locust tree, where Lin Mo gave him a jade pendant bearing the character Tian from his father, Long Tieshan.
• Lin Mo told Long Tian that his father had been an Iron Guard Soul Master in Spirit City before leaving and becoming a blacksmith in Starfall Town.
• Lin Mo passed on Long Tieshan’s advice to cultivate and told Long Tian to find Old Chen’s Blacksmith Shop and say, “Tieshan’s son is here.”
• Long Tian tucked the pendant beside his mother’s charm and resolved to grow stronger so he could uncover his father’s secrets himself.

Long Tian trained with renewed determination after receiving his father’s jade pendant, then entered the academy’s annual tournament and defeated Chen Hao in the quarterfinals. As Long Tian looked ahead to Spirit City and the Iron Guard, an unknown cloaked rider watched the academy before riding away.

• Long Tian practiced his Soul Skills and discovered new ways to use Yin-Yang Rotation and Shadow Stealth.
• Mr. Wang announced the annual tournament, and Long Tian learned Chen Hao had reached level twelve and gained a Second Soul Ring.
• Long Tian won his first two matches and advanced to the top eight, where he drew Chen Hao.
• Chen Hao attacked with his Ironback Wolf Martial Soul, but Long Tian used a curving golden projectile and Shadow Stealth to disable him before knocking him off balance and winning.
• Chen Hao promised to win next time, while Long Tian celebrated with Zhao Xiaopang and thought of his father’s secrets.
• An unknown rider watched the academy from outside the courtyard, then turned his gray horse and rode away.

Lin Mo warned Long Tian about the limits of balancing his Twin Martial Souls and hinted at the dangerous mystery behind his father’s departure from the Iron Guard. Long Tian prepared to visit Spirit City for a youth exchange, then discovered that a cloaked visitor had left him a cryptic note pointing to South Third Alley.

• Lin Mo advised Long Tian to eventually fuse his light and dark Martial Soul powers and warned him to grow stronger before investigating his father’s past in the Iron Guard.
• Lin Mo agreed to deliver Long Tian’s drawing to his father before leaving the academy.
• Mr. Wang invited Long Tian and Zhao Xiaopang to join a group traveling to Spirit City for the Youth Soul Master Exchange, and Long Tian eagerly accepted.
• Long Tian sensed someone outside his dormitory at night and spotted the hem of a gray cloak disappearing over the courtyard wall.
• Long Tian found a parchment bearing Spirit City’s gate emblem and the words “South Third Alley,” which he suspected referred to Old Chen’s Blacksmith Shop.

Long Tian traveled with Mr. Wang and the other students to Spirit City for the exchange gathering, while keeping his mysterious map and the words “South Third Alley” in mind. After reaching the city, he learned how to find the southern district and noticed a blacksmith shop whose forge sounds seemed connected to his errand.

• Long Tian traveled with Mr. Wang, Zhao Xiaopang, Han Xu, Zhou Wan'er, and Chen Hao for three days toward Spirit City.
• The group entered Spirit City and settled at an inn before the exchange gathering began the next day.
• Long Tian asked Chen Hao how to reach the southern district, and Chen Hao gave him a rough map marking South Third Alley.
• Long Tian noticed a sign for Old Chen's Blacksmith Shop and heard its forge, then returned to the inn with the others.

Long Tian advanced to the exchange meet’s elimination tournament after overcoming a formidable defensive opponent, while witnessing the power of Lei Jingyun from Spirit City Academy. Mr. Wang revealed that an old acquaintance at a smithy in the south of the city had sent a message, and Long Tian resolved to visit Old Chen after his next match.

• Long Tian defeated opponents from Singing Sand Town and Cloud-Gazing City Academy to reach the top sixteen, where he watched Lei Jingyun defeat a two-Soul-Ring student with a single lightning strike.
• Long Tian overcame the Ironback Turtle boy by combining shadow and light in a powerful palm strike, earning a place in the second day's elimination tournament.
• Mr. Wang told Long Tian that his next opponent would likely be from Spirit City Academy and said he would take him to meet an old acquaintance at a smithy after the match.
• Long Tian examined his jade pendant and parchment, resolved to win his next match before visiting Old Chen, and went to bed thinking of Lei Jingyun.
• An old man worked at a smithy in a southern alley, hammering a glowing iron bar as though he were waiting for someone.

Long Tian lost to Lu Chuan in the tournament, then watched Lei Jingyun win the championship and resolved to grow stronger. That evening, Mr. Wang took him to Old Chen, who revealed why Long Tian’s father left Spirit City and showed him the armor and token he had entrusted to him.

• Long Tian used a powerful combined attack to crack Lu Chuan’s Iron Wall, but ran out of Soul Power and conceded the match.
• Long Tian watched Lei Jingyun defeat Lu Chuan and win the tournament, then returned to the stands determined to improve.
• Mr. Wang took Long Tian to Old Chen’s Blacksmith Shop in the south of the city.
• Old Chen recognized Long Tian as Tie Shan’s son and explained that his father had left Spirit City after discovering powerful people were sacrificing Soul Masters for their ambitions.
• Old Chen retrieved Tie Shan’s Iron Guard armor and token from a hidden box, and Long Tian held the token in his hand.

Long Tian returned from Spirit City with his father's Iron Guard token and resolved to grow stronger before seeking the truth. Back in Bluestone Town, a messenger told him his father was investigating and would meet him when he turned fourteen, while Long Tian sensed a change stirring within his Soul Ring.

• Mr. Wang told Long Tian that his father had left the Iron Guard after the Seventh Squad's disastrous mission and warned him not to probe Spirit City's deeper secrets yet.
• Long Tian and the children left Spirit City and returned to Bluestone Town for the New Year holiday.
• A gray-cloaked man arrived at the academy and showed Long Tian a token marked Iron Guard · Seventh Squad · Shen Mo.
• The man told Long Tian that his father was investigating unstable circumstances and would meet him at the old place when he was fourteen, then vanished over the courtyard wall.
• Long Tian drew the gate tower and dragons from his dream, then meditated and sensed a new shoot beginning to unfold within his Soul Ring.

Long Tian trained through winter and spring, discovered that his first Soul Ring had developed a new inner bridge, and advanced to level twelve. As summer began, he prepared to keep cultivating toward his second Soul Ring and the meeting with his father when he turned fourteen.

• Long Tian read his father's New Year letter and studied old cultivation books that Zhao Xiaopang brought to the academy.
• Long Tian trained in the snow and discovered patterns inside his Soul Ring that made switching between light and darkness smoother and stabilized his combined power.
• Long Tian told Zhao Xiaopang that he had two and a half years to become strong enough to help his father, and the two agreed to train together.
• Long Tian's cultivation reached level twelve by the end of February, while Zhao Xiaopang improved his physique through running and dodging practice.
• Chen Hao defeated Long Tian in one of their two sparring matches and invited him to join the summer age-group tournament in Spirit City; Long Tian agreed.
• As summer began, Long Tian sensed he was nearing the limit for his second Soul Ring and wrote his daily cultivation record, drawing a little dragon beside his father's remembered words.

Long Tian reached level thirteen and traveled to Shadow Valley to obtain his Second Soul Ring, absorbing a Luminous Butterfly’s black-and-white ring. He discovered the two Soul Rings could develop their own connecting markings, then set out with Uncle Xu as his deadline to reach Spirit City drew closer.

• Long Tian improved his combat skills over the summer, and Mr. Wang chose a roughly five-hundred-year-old Luminous Butterfly in Shadow Valley as the target for his Second Soul Ring.
• Mr. Wang sent Long Tian to Soul Hunting Town with supplies, where Long Tian met Uncle Xu and traveled with him to Shadow Valley.
• Long Tian entered the valley alone, found a large Luminous Butterfly on an old locust tree, and killed it using attacks combining light and darkness.
• Long Tian absorbed the butterfly’s Soul Ring and found that markings in his First Soul Ring guided the new ring’s power into his light and darkness cyclones.
• Long Tian realized the Soul Rings were growing connecting markings on their own, then rejoined Uncle Xu and noted he had one year and ten months left before his deadline.

Long Tian tested his Second Soul Skill, Yin-Yang Twin Wings, and trained until he could fly and attack with it. He won a combat test against the stronger He Chong after surviving his hidden three-ring attack, then returned to meditation, aware that he still had a long way to go.

• Long Tian summoned his two Soul Rings and revealed that his Second Soul Skill gave him black-and-gold wings, though he could only stay airborne briefly.
• Long Tian trained Yin-Yang Twin Wings for half a month, improving his flight and learning to attack with golden projectiles and defend with shadows.
• Long Tian faced He Chong in a combat test and used flight, light projectiles, and Shadow Stealth to break through He Chong's defenses.
• He Chong revealed his Third Soul Skill and launched a powerful attack, but Long Tian used his wings to evade it and avoid serious injury.
• He Chong conceded, and Long Tian left the arena with a shoulder wound while Mr. Wang watched in silence.
• Long Tian meditated that night, reflected on the gap between his strength and He Chong's, and thought of his approaching fourteenth birthday.

At eight, Long Tian prepared to travel to the Cloud-Hidden Swamp to obtain another Soul Ring as trouble resurfaced around his father and the Iron Guard. As he awaited departure, someone in Spirit City began examining a top-secret case file about the Iron Guard Seventh Squad.

• Long Tian’s cultivation reached level fifteen, and he developed the Wing Thrust Light Cannon while counting down to his fourteenth birthday.
• Shen Qiu told Long Tian that old Iron Guard cases involving his father had resurfaced and that his father might soon summon him to Spirit City.
• Long Tian asked Mr. Wang to arrange a trip to the Cloud-Hidden Swamp to find a Yin-Yang Swamp Frog, and Mr. Wang agreed to provide two companions.
• Zhao Xiaopang sent Long Tian snake-repelling powder and offered to accompany him, saying his chopping block Martial Soul could block attacks.
• Long Tian looked at his token and jade pendant before departure, while an unknown person examined a top-secret Iron Guard Seventh Squad mission log in Spirit City.