Chapter Summaries

Antiques dealer Nan Feng bought a mysterious nine-story bronze tower whose inscriptions and pulsing crack defied explanation. After robbers attacked him at home, his blood activated the tower, which pulled his consciousness away and sent him sinking through darkness toward the Primordial World.

• Nan Feng found an unidentifiable bronze tower in the Wang family’s woodshed and bought it for eight hundred yuan.
• Nan Feng examined the tower at home, where its bead flashed and blue-green light pulsed inside a crack in its base.
• Three robbers broke into Nan Feng’s apartment, struck him, and searched for money while he clutched the tower.
• Nan Feng’s blood entered the crack, making the tower erupt with light and pull his consciousness from his body.
• The tower revealed golden words about the Primordial World and declared that Nan Feng had finally returned after three thousand years.
• Nan Feng sank through darkness toward the lights of the Primordial World as the tower’s first layer briefly lit up.

Nan Feng grew up in Blacksmith Village with memories of his previous life and a mysterious bronze tower that strengthened his body. At four, he met Tang San and looked ahead to his own Martial Soul Awakening and a path distinct from Tang San’s.

• Nan Feng was reborn as a baby and was raised by the blacksmith Old Chen in Blacksmith Village.
• Nan Feng learned that Tang Hao and his son had returned to neighboring Holy Soul Village, and he suspected the world was the one from Douluo Continent.
• Nan Feng followed Old Chen’s smithing work and watched the road toward Holy Soul Village while waiting for a chance to confirm his suspicions.
• At the mountain stream, Nan Feng met four-year-old Tang San and recognized his remarkable stone-skipping skill as hidden weapon practice.
• Nan Feng sensed the bronze tower within him and understood that its Gravity Field had been steadily strengthening his body.
• Nan Feng resolved to pursue his own path while waiting two years for his Martial Soul Awakening.

Nan Feng awakened a nine-level bronze tower Martial Soul with innate Soul Power at level eight, drawing Su Yuntao’s attention. That night, he met Old Huai inside the tower and learned about his soul’s Primordial World imprint, the tower’s powers, and the level-20 requirement to open its first level.

• Nan Feng attended the Martial Soul Awakening with the children of Blacksmith Village while Su Yuntao tested them.
• Nan Feng awakened a bronze tower Martial Soul, and his Soul Power reached level eight on Su Yuntao’s crystal ball.
• Su Yuntao recorded Nan Feng’s results and said Spirit Hall would send someone to check on him the following year.
• Nan Feng entered the tower within his soul and met its keeper, Old Huai, who said the tower had followed him across three lifetimes.
• Old Huai explained that Nan Feng’s soul carried the Primordial World imprint and that the tower’s first level would open at Soul Power level 20.

Nan Feng advanced his cultivation inside the pagoda and learned its origins, powers, and the risks of opening its floors. After Old Huai taught him the Primordial World Qi Refining Art, Nan Feng returned to the smithy, one Soul Power level away from hunting his first Soul Beast.

• Nan Feng spent a month cultivating his meridians in the pagoda, raising his Soul Power from level eight to level nine.
• Old Huai revealed that the Nine Nether Heaven Suppression Pagoda was a Primordial World spirit treasure and explained the Primordial World Imprint in Nan Feng's soul and the dangers he had faced in his previous lives.
• Old Huai described the powers sealed across the pagoda's nine floors and warned Nan Feng to conceal the changes that opening them would bring.
• Old Huai said Nan Feng could suppress a First Soul Ring under a thousand years and taught him the Primordial World Qi Refining Art.
• Nan Feng returned to the smithy at dawn and resolved to reach level ten before facing his first Soul Beast.

Nan Feng met Tang San again at the stream and learned that they both hoped to attend Nuoding Academy. After Old Huai warned Nan Feng that he and Tang San shared a road but not a path, Nan Feng reaffirmed his resolve to pursue his own cultivation.

• Nan Feng continued cultivating and smithing in Blacksmith Village while his Soul Power remained at level nine.
• Nan Feng encountered Tang San skipping a stone twenty times at the stream and recognized the skill behind his movements.
• Nan Feng and Tang San discussed their Martial Souls and Soul Power, then agreed they might attend Nuoding Academy together.
• Old Huai sensed that Tang San practiced an art from another world and warned Nan Feng not to follow Tang San's path.
• Nan Feng reflected that he would forge his own future and kept working toward reaching level ten.

Nan Feng left Blacksmith Village for Nuoding Academy and traveled with Tang San and Xiao Wu. Old Huai revealed that Xiao Wu was a transformed Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast and warned that Nan Feng's Primordial World Power could affect her seal; the three arrived in Nuoding City to register.

• Old Chen gave Nan Feng food and copper coins before he left Blacksmith Village for Nuoding Academy.
• Nan Feng boarded the carriage with Tang San, and Xiao Wu joined them at the Holy Soul Village turnoff.
• Xiao Wu introduced herself, called Tang San her rival, and questioned Nan Feng about his Bronze Tower Martial Soul.
• Old Huai sensed Xiao Wu's demonic Qi and told Nan Feng she was a transformed Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, warning that his Primordial World Power could affect her seal.
• The carriage reached Nuoding City at dusk, and Xiao Wu led Tang San and Nan Feng toward registration.

Nan Feng, Tang San, and Xiao Wu registered at Nuoding Academy and settled into the work-study dormitory, where Nan Feng continued trying to break through to Soul Power level ten. Yu Xiaogang summoned Tang San for a private lesson while Nan Feng trained through the night, ending still just short of level ten.

• Nan Feng, Tang San, and Xiao Wu registered at Nuoding Academy, and Nan Feng reported his Bronze Tower Martial Soul and innate Soul Power level eight.
• Nan Feng noticed Yu Xiaogang watching Tang San and chose a bed by the dormitory door, while Tang San and Xiao Wu took the window beds.
• Nan Feng practiced the Primordial World Qi Refining Art inside the tower, but the barrier between Soul Power levels nine and ten held.
• Yu Xiaogang quietly called Tang San out of the dormitory for a private lesson, and Nan Feng stayed behind to cultivate.
• Tang San returned after Yu Xiaogang's office light went out, while Nan Feng continued training and reached Soul Power level nine and a half.

Nan Feng met with Yu Xiaogang, who warned him that his Bronze Tower Martial Soul would fare poorly on the conventional path and rejected the idea that he could absorb a nine-hundred-year First Soul Ring. Nan Feng refused Yu Xiaogang's guidance and left determined to follow his own path, while Tang San watched him with growing suspicion.

• A student summoned Nan Feng to meet Yu Xiaogang, and Nan Feng went to the Grandmaster's office.
• Yu Xiaogang described the limitations of Tool Martial Souls and recommended that Nan Feng seek a control or support Soul Skill from a Hundred-Year Soul Beast.
• Nan Feng asked whether he could absorb a nine-hundred-year First Soul Ring, and Yu Xiaogang insisted it would cripple or kill him.
• Nan Feng declined Yu Xiaogang's offer of guidance and said he would try to walk his own path.
• Nan Feng rejoined Xiao Wu and Tang San, told them he had rejected Yu Xiaogang, and noticed Tang San's suspicion as they headed to the dining hall.

Nan Feng and Xiao Wu began sparring during their morning training on Nuoding Academy’s back mountain, where he discovered that his Primordial World Imprint could sense a seal on the origin power within her Martial Soul. They agreed to keep training together as Nan Feng considered whether his growing cultivation might eventually help loosen the seal.

• Nan Feng met Xiao Wu in the back-mountain clearing, where she challenged him to spar.
• Xiao Wu’s fast kicks drove Nan Feng toward the pines, and he used his Tower Suppression Martial Soul skill to block her.
• During their close fight, Nan Feng sensed the sealed origin power of the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbit within Xiao Wu.
• Xiao Wu tested Tower Suppression’s range and asked Nan Feng to keep fighting her so she could learn to resist it.
• Nan Feng and Xiao Wu made the clearing their regular morning training ground, while Nan Feng privately resolved to help loosen the seal when he grew stronger.

Nan Feng reached level ten and hunted a 920-year-old Bloodthirsty Demon Wolf alone for his first Soul Ring. He survived absorbing it, rose to level fourteen, and returned to Nuoding City with the tower’s Mountain Suppression skill.

• Nan Feng broke through to level ten, and Old Huai told him to hunt a 920-year-old Bloodthirsty Demon Wolf near Sunset Forest.
• Nan Feng left Nuoding City alone and found the wolf near a cave in a mountain hollow.
• Nan Feng used Tower Suppression and a short staff to kill the wolf, though its claws wounded his left shoulder.
• Nan Feng absorbed the wolf’s Soul Ring with the tower’s Mountain Suppression containing its energy as his meridians strained and healed.
• Nan Feng reached level fourteen, gained the first Soul Skill Tower Suppression: Mountain Suppression, and returned to Nuoding City.

Nan Feng returned to the dormitory with a serious shoulder wound and revealed to Xiao Wu that his tower had let him absorb a nine-hundred-and-twenty-year First Soul Ring. They exchanged secrets and agreed to help each other, leaving Nan Feng determined to reach level twenty so he could open the tower’s first gate and help Xiao Wu with her seal.

• Nan Feng returned to the dormitory, where Xiao Wu was waiting and noticed his wound and unusually powerful Soul Ring.
• Nan Feng showed Xiao Wu his deep yellow, purple-tinged Soul Ring and explained that his tower had suppressed its backlash.
• Nan Feng revealed that he knew Xiao Wu was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbit in human form and promised to keep her identity secret.
• Xiao Wu sensed the tower’s unusual presence, agreed to keep Nan Feng’s secrets, and treated his shoulder wound with stolen infirmary powder.
• Xiao Wu asked Nan Feng to help suppress the seal on her power, and he said he might reach it once he reached level twenty and opened the first gate.

Nan Feng refused the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect’s offer of resources and support because he wanted to choose his own path. He returned to the cafeteria with Xiao Wu, still focused on reaching level twenty and opening the first-level gate.

• Xiao Wu told Nan Feng that a powerful visitor was waiting for him in the reception room.
• Han Feng offered Nan Feng support from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect in exchange for the expectations that came with joining.
• Nan Feng rejected the offer, saying he would not hand control of his path to someone else.
• Han Feng asked about Nan Feng’s First Soul Ring and left after learning it was less than a thousand years old.
• Xiao Wu questioned Nan Feng about his plans, and he said that becoming someone else’s blade would mean never wielding it himself.
• Nan Feng joined Xiao Wu and Tang San for dinner and resolved to keep training until his Soul Power reached level twenty.

Nan Feng refused Flender’s invitation to join Shrek Academy, choosing to pursue his own path while Xiao Wu and Tang San considered theirs. He and Xiao Wu reconciled over food, and Nan Feng went to sleep focused on reaching Soul Power level twenty so he could begin to touch Xiao Wu’s seal.

• While Nan Feng and Xiao Wu practiced Tower Suppression, Xiao Wu told him that Flender had invited her, Tang San, and Nan Feng to Shrek Academy.
• Nan Feng refused the invitation, explaining that he wanted to find his own path rather than follow Shrek’s training system.
• Tang San told Nan Feng that Grandmaster had advised him to cultivate his Twin Martial Souls at Shrek, but Nan Feng declined to discuss what he knew and said they should each walk their own path.
• After Xiao Wu missed dinner, Nan Feng brought buns to her room, and she agreed that they would train together on the back mountain the next morning.
• Nan Feng kept the Shrek invitation under his pillow and reflected that reaching Soul Power level twenty would let him open the first tower door and begin to touch Xiao Wu’s seal.

Nan Feng discovered a buried Soul Douluo cultivation cave and learned a method to accelerate his Soul Power circulation, using the tower’s Power of Mountain Suppression to repair the strain on his meridians. After two months of training, he reached rank sixteen and learned he must reach rank twenty and open the tower’s first-floor door before he can help Xiao Wu touch the seal.

• Nan Feng asked Old Huai how to advance faster, and Old Huai told him about a buried cave containing a Soul Power Acceleration Method and explained how the tower could protect his meridians.
• Nan Feng found the underground chamber, read the Acceleration Method diagrams, and took notes that also described a dangerous Soul Power Compression Method.
• Nan Feng began training in the chamber, combining accelerated circulation with the Power of Mountain Suppression to repair his meridians.
• Over the next two months, Nan Feng used the methods each night and advanced from rank fourteen to rank sixteen.
• Old Huai told Nan Feng he needed four more ranks to reach twenty, when he could open the tower’s first-floor door and help Xiao Wu touch the seal.

Ye Lingling transferred to Nuoding Academy and joined Nan Feng’s cultivation group, where her Nine Heart Begonia revealed that his Soul Power and soul concealed unusual depths. She promised to keep his secret, while Nan Feng continued training and remained focused on reaching level twenty.

• Nan Feng saw Ye Lingling arrive at Nuoding Academy as the inherited bearer of the rare Nine Heart Begonia Martial Soul, and the Bronze Tower in his soul trembled when she looked at him.
• During practical class, Ye Lingling demonstrated the Nine Heart Begonia’s healing power and was assigned to Nan Feng’s group alongside Xiao Wu and two other work-study students.
• Ye Lingling quietly told Nan Feng that his Soul Power was denser than his apparent level and that she sensed an ancient power deep in his soul.
• Nan Feng acknowledged her perception, and Ye Lingling promised not to reveal his secret.
• Old Huai warned Nan Feng that Ye Lingling’s perception could become sharper as she cultivated, while Nan Feng continued circulating his Soul Power in the underground training room.

Nan Feng accompanied Ye Lingling to East Mountain Forest to gather Blood Coagulation Grass and killed an Ironback Lizard with Tower Suppression. Ye Lingling asked to join him on future trips outside the city, and Nan Feng agreed, while Old Huai warned that her perception might reveal the secrets within his soul.

• Ye Lingling asked Nan Feng to escort her to East Mountain Forest to gather Blood Coagulation Grass, and he agreed to leave with her at dawn.
• At the stream valley, Nan Feng detected an Ironback Lizard hiding among the stones and killed it by suppressing it with Tower Suppression and striking its unarmored neck.
• Ye Lingling gathered the Blood Coagulation Grass and observed that Nan Feng had held back some of his strength during the fight.
• On the way back, Ye Lingling recognized the unusual power within Nan Feng's soul, promised to keep it secret, and asked to accompany him on future trips; Nan Feng agreed.
• That night, Old Huai warned Nan Feng that Ye Lingling's Nine Heart Begonia perception could become familiar with his soul's hidden fluctuations, but Nan Feng said she would not talk and continued cultivating.

Xiao Wu confronted Nan Feng after learning he had gathered herbs outside the city with Ye Lingling without inviting her, and Ye Lingling helped him realize Xiao Wu felt left out. Nan Feng caught up with Xiao Wu in the pine forest and promised to ask her along next time, while Xiao Wu left with her feelings still unspoken.

• Xiao Wu questioned Nan Feng about gathering herbs with Ye Lingling and kicked him into a shallow stream.
• Ye Lingling pointed out that Xiao Wu was upset because Nan Feng had not invited her, and Xiao Wu ran into the pine forest.
• Nan Feng found Xiao Wu crying beneath an old pine and explained that he had excluded her because he wanted to keep her safe from an Ironback Lizard.
• Xiao Wu asked Nan Feng to invite her next time he went outside the city, and he agreed.
• Xiao Wu made Nan Feng promise not to tell Tang San what she had said, then walked down the mountain as Ye Lingling teased him about understanding her feelings.

Tang San and Nan Feng hunted a five-hundred-year Iron-Armored Rhinoceros together, then confronted each other about the secrets behind their cultivation and choices. They returned to Nuoding City with a cautious understanding, while Nan Feng remained four Soul Power levels away from unlocking the first-level tower door.

• Tang San invited Nan Feng to hunt an Iron-Armored Rhinoceros, and Nan Feng agreed to join him.
• Tang San bound the beast with Blue Silver Grass while Nan Feng used Tower Suppression to slow it, and they brought it down with coordinated attacks.
• Tang San absorbed the beast's Soul Ring while Nan Feng kept watch and studied his Soul Power fluctuations.
• By a stream, Tang San questioned why Nan Feng rejected Shrek and suggested he was concealing his cultivation and Soul Ring's true age.
• Nan Feng pointed out Tang San's own secrets, and Tang San agreed that they could each keep them while urging Nan Feng to seize opportunities.
• After returning to Nuoding City, Nan Feng reflected that he needed to reach level twenty to open the first-level tower door and release the Power of Mountain Suppression.

Xiao Wu took Nan Feng to a secluded stream and revealed that she was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbit who had taken human form, and that Spirit Hall had killed her mother. Nan Feng reassured her that he had known and would keep her secret; they returned to the academy with their trust strengthened, while Nan Feng remained four Soul Power levels from opening his tower’s first floor.

• Nan Feng found Xiao Wu’s note asking him to meet her after class without telling Tang San.
• Xiao Wu confessed to Nan Feng that she was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast who had taken human form and that Spirit Hall had killed her mother.
• Nan Feng told Xiao Wu he had sensed her identity when they first met and reassured her that it did not change how he saw her.
• Xiao Wu told Nan Feng she trusted him, asked him to keep her secret from everyone, and kept his old handkerchief.
• Xiao Wu and Nan Feng returned to the lawn, where she thanked him before running back toward the academy.
• Nan Feng reflected that his Soul Power was level sixteen and that reaching level twenty would let him help Xiao Wu touch the seal within her Martial Soul.

Nan Feng graduated from Nuoding Academy and chose to travel to Gengxin City before continuing to Heaven Dou City, while Xiao Wu and Tang San left for Shrek Academy. He and Ye Lingling parted ways at a fork in the road, leaving Nan Feng to begin his journey toward the smithies and the tower's level-twenty threshold.

• Nan Feng received his graduation certificate, packed his few belongings, and told Xiao Wu he would go to Gengxin City before Heaven Dou City instead of joining Shrek Academy.
• Xiao Wu gave Nan Feng her red hair ribbon and left with Tang San for Suotuo City, while Nan Feng watched their carriage disappear.
• Nan Feng and Ye Lingling stayed at an inn in Nuoding City, then left together the next morning and separated at the fork, with Ye Lingling taking the south road to Heaven Dou City.
• Nan Feng turned northwest toward Gengxin City, carrying Old Chen's copper coin and wearing Xiao Wu's ribbon as he set out to continue his journey.