Recaps

Lu Yuan enrolled as a working student at Nuoding Academy, recorded and critically annotated a lecture on Soul Power, and discovered Wang Shuo being bullied over his allowance. The chapter ended with Lu Yuan stepping out of the shadows to intervene.

• Shen Moxin signed Lu Yuan's working-student application and told him to report to the academy office with his certificate.
• Lu Yuan received a place in Room C, met his roommate Wang Shuo, and recorded details about his living conditions and new acquaintance.
• During Lecturer Wu's evening lesson, Lu Yuan took careful notes and added his own critiques of the standard Soul Power method.
• Lu Yuan lent his notes to Wang Shuo, who went to collect his allowance after class.
• Three regular students cornered Wang Shuo behind the warehouse and took his pouch of Copper Soul Coins.
• Lu Yuan assessed the discarded objects nearby, then stepped out of the shadows.

Lu Yuan rescued Wang Shuo from three students trying to take his Copper Soul Coins, then used an old Soul Guidance Recorder to prove what had happened to the stewards. The students were punished, while Lu Yuan and Wang Shuo were ordered to clean the area, and Lu Yuan left wondering whether someone might remember the recorder.

• Lu Yuan used a burst of grain dust and Blue Silver Grass to disrupt the three students and make enough noise to summon the stewards.
• The freckled student accused Lu Yuan and Wang Shuo of starting the fight, but Lu Yuan pointed out an old Soul Guidance Recorder in the warehouse corner.
• The younger steward activated the recorder, which played fragments exposing the students' extortion and false accusations.
• The older steward docked the three students' allowances and assigned them a month of warehouse cleanup, while ordering Lu Yuan and Wang Shuo to tidy the area that day.
• After cleaning up, Lu Yuan told Wang Shuo he had guessed how the recorder worked, though he had actually recognized its design from his previous life, and the two returned to the academy.

Lu Yuan and Wang Shuo returned to their punishment work, where the deacons explained that the damaged recorder could no longer provide complete evidence and ended the dispute with a warning. Lu Yuan examined the recorder and considered its possible use as he continued sorting parts.

• Lu Yuan warned Wang Shuo that Zhang Hao and the others might retaliate later and advised him to stay cautious.
• The young deacon told Lu Yuan and Wang Shuo that the recorder had stopped working again and asked about analyzing its residual Soul Power traces.
• Lu Yuan explained how the traces might be analyzed and suggested a way to stimulate the recorder's sensitive nodes while warning that its data would remain incomplete.
• The young deacon said the academy could not punish Zhang Hao and the others without conclusive evidence, ended the matter, and warned both sides against further fighting.
• Lu Yuan examined the recorder's residual fluctuations and judged its design crude, then considered whether it could serve another purpose.

Wang Shuo brought Lu Yuan to Mo Chen’s scrap-filled workshop, where Lu Yuan recognized flaws in Mo Chen’s Soul Tool designs and proposed a simpler, more efficient circuit. Mo Chen realized the circuit could work and looked at Lu Yuan with renewed intensity, leaving their collaboration poised to begin.

• Wang Shuo took Lu Yuan to Mo Chen’s workshop and introduced him to the drunken, distrustful Soul Tool tinkerer.
• Lu Yuan identified the faulty connections in Mo Chen’s metal disc and explained the design flaws in a discarded Soul Power lamp core.
• Lu Yuan sketched improvements to the lamp core and described a simplified buffer circuit that could improve its efficiency.
• Mo Chen questioned Lu Yuan about the circuit’s parameters, and Lu Yuan claimed he had developed them through observation and trial and error.
• Mo Chen gave Lu Yuan a metal plate and asked him to draw the complete circuit, then declared that it would work.

Lu Yuan and Mo Chen tested Lu Yuan’s simplified Soul Power circuit by building a crude lamp, which shone brighter and more steadily than Mo Chen’s old design. Mo Chen recognized the circuit’s value and warned Lu Yuan that Spirit Hall’s technical department might imprison him to control it.

• Lu Yuan explained how the circuit’s curved channels and three-way split reduced energy loss and improved stability.
• Mo Chen etched Lu Yuan’s design onto a metal plate, filled its grooves with Soul Power adhesive, and assembled it with salvaged parts.
• Mo Chen injected Soul Power into the new lamp, which lit with a steady glow and grew more than thirty percent brighter than the old lamp.
• Mo Chen broke down after seeing the lamp work, then told Lu Yuan that Spirit Hall’s technical department might drag him back and lock him up for ten years.

Lu Yuan urged Mo Chen not to destroy his affordable Soul Power lamp design, but to hide his work and wait for an opportunity to challenge the monopoly on Soul Tool technology. Days later, Teacher Sun publicly condemned a work-study student for questioning a textbook circuit, while Lu Yuan continued sketching in secret.

• Mo Chen told Lu Yuan and Wang Shuo how the Spirit Hall Technical Department punished him for designing cheaper Soul Power lamps and forced him to abandon his work.
• Lu Yuan explained that Mo Chen's invention could help ordinary families, but powerful merchants and monopolies would try to suppress it.
• Lu Yuan encouraged Mo Chen to stay safe, keep developing his skills discreetly, and wait for an opportunity to spread the technology.
• A rumor spread through Nuoding Academy that Teacher Sun had torn up a work-study student's sketch proposing a simpler parallel circuit and scolded him in front of the class.
• Teacher Sun noticed Lu Yuan drawing circuit-like lines with a twig behind the library, but dismissed him as an overconfident child.

Lu Yuan challenged Teacher Sun’s lesson on the triangular buffer array, explaining its resonance risk and proposing a feedback node to improve it. After Teacher Sun ordered him to copy a textbook chapter, a quiet girl told Lu Yuan that an old family notebook described a similar device called the “Moonlight Stabilization Ring.”

• Lu Yuan identified a resonance flaw in the triangular buffer array Teacher Sun presented as a proven classic.
• Lu Yuan raised the risk in class and proposed adding a sensing node and reverse capacitor to disrupt dangerous fluctuations.
• Teacher Sun rejected the proposal, berated Lu Yuan, and ordered him to copy chapter three of the textbook ten times.
• After class, Lu Yuan wrote down his improved design while the other students left without speaking to him.
• A girl wearing a bracelet of dark brown seeds told Lu Yuan that an old family notebook described a similar device called the “Moonlight Stabilization Ring.”

Lu Yuan learned that Bai Zhi’s family Moonlight Ring method used the Moonlight Orchid’s gentle nourishment to stabilize energy, a principle related to his Soul Tool feedback-node theory. He enlisted Bai Zhi to help test the method, then learned that Teacher Sun might alert hostile interests at the Hundred Refinements Pavilion to his ideas.

• Bai Zhi showed Lu Yuan her great-grandmother’s notebook describing the Moonlight Ring method and its energy-stabilizing field.
• Lu Yuan recognized that the method’s self-regulating principles resembled his proposed Soul Tool feedback nodes.
• After reading the notebook, Lu Yuan explained the connection between the Moonlight Orchid’s natural properties and artificial circuits, and Bai Zhi agreed to help record data from her practice.
• Lu Yuan and Bai Zhi discussed the Moonlight Ring’s Soul Power use and stability, and he gave her a table for recording test results.
• Before leaving, Bai Zhi warned Lu Yuan that Teacher Sun was close to the proprietor of the Hundred Refinements Pavilion and might pass along his ideas.

Jin Rui investigated Lu Yuan’s Soul Tool ideas and his connection to Mo Chen, prompting Lu Yuan to recognize the Hundred Refinements Pavilion’s interest in their research. After persuading Mo Chen to continue developing his circuit, Lu Yuan returned to the academy and was summoned for questioning over a storeroom robbery.

• Jin Rui questioned Teacher Sun about Lu Yuan’s ideas and mentioned that a shop assistant would investigate around the academy.
• Mo Chen told Lu Yuan that a stranger had been asking about him and feared the Spirit Hall Technical Department was repeating its old surveillance tactics.
• Lu Yuan deduced that the Hundred Refinements Pavilion was probing their research and used a Moonlight Orchid stabilization design to convince Mo Chen not to destroy his sketches.
• Lu Yuan advised Mo Chen to hide his records and act as though he had stopped researching, while Lu Yuan planned to present himself as an ignorant student.
• When Lu Yuan and Wang Shuo returned to the academy, deacons accused Lu Yuan of being near the storeroom and ordered him to come to the deacons’ office for questioning about stolen Soul Beast materials.

Lu Yuan challenged the evidence against him by explaining how fluorescent powder could reveal the thief, and Shen Moxin helped secure an inspection. The examination cleared Lu Yuan and Wang Shuo while exposing fluorescent powder on Zhang Hao's clothes and shoes.

• Lu Yuan argued that fragments found under his bed had been planted and proposed checking everyone’s clothes and shoes for fluorescent powder.
• Shen Moxin arrived, supported Lu Yuan’s method, and persuaded the older deacon to examine the accusers as well.
• The deacons brought Zhang Hao, Li Wei, and Zhao Kun to a dark room for the inspection.
• The examination found no unusual fluorescence on Lu Yuan’s or Wang Shuo’s belongings.
• The older deacon discovered glowing powder on Zhang Hao’s cuff and shoe, and Zhang Hao blurted out that he had washed his hands.

Lu Yuan exposed Zhang Hao as the student who planted evidence to frame him, but the stolen materials and the masked sponsor remained unknown. Shen Moxin warned that the Hundred Refinements Pavilion might be behind the plot and that Lu Yuan could face a hostile annual assessment.

• Lu Yuan used fluorescent powder on Zhang Hao’s cuff and shoe to show that Zhang Hao had handled the stolen materials and planted the wrapping under Lu Yuan’s bed.
• Zhang Hao confessed that a masked person paid him five Gold Soul Coins to frame Lu Yuan, while denying knowledge of the stolen materials.
• The older deacon cleared Lu Yuan of the frame-up and said Zhang Hao would be disciplined, but noted that the actual theft remained unsolved.
• Shen Moxin warned Lu Yuan that the Hundred Refinements Pavilion might see his ideas as a threat and that a friend of Teacher Sun could target him during the annual assessment.
• Lu Yuan returned to the dormitory with Wang Shuo and decided he would take the assessment despite the risk of expulsion and reduced resources.

Lu Yuan’s unconventional answers earned him a disputed score, and Shen Moxin challenged Director Ning Zhishou’s decision to withhold it. After Lu Yuan said he had invented his method himself and offered to test it, Ning called an Assessment Committee meeting for the next morning.

• Lu Yuan saw that his ninety-seven-point theory score was marked for review, while students nearby accused him of cheating.
• Shen Moxin questioned Ning Zhishou in his office about why Lu Yuan’s answers had been rejected as improperly formatted.
• Ning explained that Lu Yuan’s notes and unfamiliar mathematical method seemed suspicious, while Shen defended their rigor.
• Lu Yuan told Ning he had devised the method himself and offered to verify its predictions through measurement.
• Ning agreed to convene the Assessment Committee the next morning and ordered Lu Yuan to explain where his ideas came from.

Lu Yuan defended his unconventional Soul Power calculations before the assessment committee and received 97 points on his theory assessment. Teacher Zhou invited him to help investigate Soul Beast sample decay, while Shen Moxin warned that Director Ning would watch him more closely.

• Lu Yuan explained his formulas for terrain slopes and Soul Power output, arguing that his methods could improve retreat speed by fifteen percent.
• Shen Moxin and Teacher Zhou supported Lu Yuan's reasoning, and Ning Zhishou ended the review by awarding him 97 points.
• Teacher Zhou invited Lu Yuan to visit his laboratory and examine his research into Soul Power decay in removed Soul Beast samples.
• Shen Moxin warned Lu Yuan that Director Ning would scrutinize him more closely, and Lu Yuan accepted the risk of working with Teacher Zhou.
• Lu Yuan left the meeting room and found Wang Shuo waiting anxiously at the edge of the training ground.

Lu Yuan investigated strange Soul Power fluctuations in low-level Soul Beast materials and earned access to Zhou Chun's laboratory. After learning that Wu Gang and a biased referee awaited him in the practical assessment, he considered the rules and quietly prepared for the confrontation.

• Wang Shuo told Lu Yuan that he had been matched against the powerful Wu Gang and that Instructor Chen would referee the assessment.
• Lu Yuan identified anomalies in eight years of material data, proposed experiments to Zhou Chun, and was given a laboratory key and a research assistant role.
• Lu Yuan tested Bristle Rat quills in different containers and found that their Soul Power fluctuations peaked regularly at midnight and noon.
• Wang Shuo urged Lu Yuan to avoid the assessment, but Lu Yuan gathered his research and confirmed the assessment was the morning after tomorrow.
• That night, Lu Yuan considered the Soul Power tides and the assessment rules, then clenched his fist as he resolved to face the challenge.

Lu Yuan prepared for his practical combat assessment against the stronger Wu Gang by studying his habits, the rules, and the platform while gathering low-level materials for a tactical plan. The match began with Wu Gang activating his Iron-Arm Ape Martial Soul, and Lu Yuan faced him as his final strategy came together.

• Wang Shuo warned Lu Yuan that Wu Gang was a powerful opponent and that Instructor Chen was likely to favor him, but Lu Yuan stayed calm.
• Shen Moxin gave Lu Yuan past assessment rulings and information about Wu Gang’s temper and fighting style, while Bai Zhi supplied herbs and noted Wu Gang’s shoulder movement before using a Soul Skill.
• Lu Yuan inspected the platform’s worn granite edges and studied how its features and the referee’s viewpoint could affect the assessment.
• Lu Yuan tested low-level Soul Beast materials and Blue Silver Grass, then worked out a tactical plan before the assessment day.
• Instructor Chen announced the rules, and Wu Gang and Lu Yuan began their match with Wu Gang activating his Iron-Arm Ape Martial Soul.

Lu Yuan used careful observation of the platform and his Blue Silver Grass to make Wu Gang fall out of bounds, winning their match despite his lower Soul Power. As Lu Yuan left the training ground, Instructor Chen and Teacher Sun watched him with suspicion, while Ning Zhishou began writing after reviewing the match report.

• Lu Yuan dodged Wu Gang’s attacks by reading his movements and conserving his strength, then avoided Wu Gang’s Ape Pounce Soul Skill.
• Lu Yuan used a loose stone slab and slippery Blue Silver Grass blades to make Wu Gang lose his balance and fall beyond the platform.
• Instructor Chen disqualified Wu Gang and declared Lu Yuan the winner, while Teacher Sun watched Lu Yuan with an icy gaze.
• Lu Yuan left with Wang Shuo and Shen Moxin, and Bai Zhi congratulated him as the crowd’s attention followed him.
• Ning Zhishou reviewed Lu Yuan’s match record, checked the reference book on Blue Silver Grass, and began writing a letter.

Lu Yuan won his assessment match after using treated adhesive residue with his Blue Silver Grass to send Wu Gang out of bounds, but the judges left his conduct under review and Instructor Chen threatened his overall evaluation. As Lu Yuan withdrew in silence, Ning Zhishou recorded the victory as an “opportunistic trick.”

• Instructor Chen found grayish-white powder on the arena and accused Lu Yuan of using prohibited Withered Leaf Snake venom.
• Lu Yuan explained that he had treated the sample to remove its toxicity and leave only its adhesive property.
• Shen Moxin argued that the residue did not violate the assessment rules, while Instructor Chen condemned Lu Yuan’s tactics.
• Elder Li ruled that Wu Gang’s fall out of bounds meant Lu Yuan had won, leaving the committee to review whether he had broken any rules.
• Instructor Chen warned that Lu Yuan’s conduct could lower his overall assessment, and Lu Yuan left the arena to join Wang Shuo and Bai Zhi.
• Ning Zhishou recorded Lu Yuan’s performance as “Victory. Opportunistic trick.”

Zhou Chun praised Lu Yuan’s clever arena tactics, then warned him that academy officials were moving to restrict his studies and research access. He gave Lu Yuan an address for Elder Lin in Vast Sea City as a possible refuge, while Lu Yuan left with his future at the academy uncertain.

• Zhou Chun identified how Lu Yuan used Dead Leaf Snake venom gland powder, Gray Rock Lizard shed skin, and the arena’s cracked surface to make his opponent slip.
• Zhou Chun told Lu Yuan that Ning Zhishou, Sun Ming, Chen Qinian, and two theory department elders had filed a report seeking restrictions on Lu Yuan’s work-study privileges, library access, and research.
• Zhou Chun explained that he warned Lu Yuan because he did not want the academy to suppress Lu Yuan’s unconventional approach to research.
• Zhou Chun gave Lu Yuan an address in Vast Sea City and told him to ask for Elder Lin if he could no longer remain at the academy.
• Lu Yuan thanked Zhou Chun, asked whether the tidal cycle conjecture could be published if verified, and left the laboratory.

Lu Yuan helped academy teaching assistant Li Wangye improve his wood-cleaver technique and explained how to optimize his Martial Soul use through measurement and modeling. Li Wangye regained hope and agreed to help Lu Yuan collect samples, leaving with plans to test the ideas and return for advice.

• Lu Yuan corrected Li Wangye’s grip and Soul Power timing, helping him chop ironwood far more effectively.
• Lu Yuan explained that Li Wangye could model his Martial Soul and test different parameters to find a more efficient technique.
• Li Wangye wrote down Lu Yuan’s principles and offered to help him collect samples from Bristle Rat nests.
• Lu Yuan gathered fresh Bristle Rat spine samples while Li Wangye discussed his stalled Soul Power and asked whether he could still improve.
• Li Wangye promised to build a model and asked to keep seeking Lu Yuan’s advice, and Lu Yuan agreed.

Lu Yuan used the academy’s work-study regulations to challenge Zhao Shi’s delays and unfair assignments, forcing the deacon to provide the overdue potions, approve his materials request, and restore their library work. A week later, Lu Yuan was selected for a dangerous wilderness gathering assignment led by Teacher Sun.

• Lu Yuan discovered that Zhao Shi had delayed the work-study students’ potions and stalled his experimental materials request while assigning him and Wang Shuo exhausting manual labor.
• Lu Yuan studied the academy regulations and cited rules requiring timely resource distribution, materials assessments, and review of repeated manual-labor assignments.
• Zhao Shi acknowledged the procedural failures and promised to address them; the potions were distributed, Lu Yuan’s materials request was approved, and his assignment returned to the library.
• A week later, Lu Yuan received notice that he had been selected for a class C wilderness assignment near the Black Rock Mountain Range, led by Sun Ming.

Shen Moxin introduced students to a voluntary method for improving Soul Power pathway efficiency, and Chen Shi showed early signs of progress after trying it. As the technique spread among students, the Teaching Supervision Office scheduled an inspection of Shen Moxin’s class, assigning the conservative Sun Ming to observe.

• Shen Moxin taught a supplementary lesson on Soul Power pathways and suggested that students below level three test different circulation orders.
• Li Wangye asked Shen Moxin for guidance and agreed to have Chen Shi try her method and record his results.
• Chen Shi’s practice records showed increased Soul Power readings, and Li Wangye reported that Chen Shi and several other students were improving.
• Shen Moxin noticed students quietly discussing and testing the pathway method as it spread through the academy.
• A deacon from the Teaching Supervision Office informed Shen Moxin that Sun Ming would inspect her theory class the morning after tomorrow.

Shen Moxin defended her lesson on Soul Power compression when Supervisor Sun accused her of abandoning established cultivation principles, and she demonstrated its effectiveness in class. Sun left to report her to the supervisory office, while Shen told Li Wangye to keep testing despite the obstacles ahead.

• Shen Moxin taught that compressing and controlling Soul Power could improve penetration without increasing its total amount, prompting Supervisor Sun to challenge her using an old cultivation text.
• Shen Moxin had Chen Shi strike two boards with the same strength, and his adjusted Soul Power technique made a markedly deeper dent in the second board.
• Supervisor Sun questioned whether the boards were truly comparable, but Shen Moxin said they came from the same piece of pine.
• Supervisor Sun dismissed the demonstration, warned Shen Moxin that he would report her to the supervisory office, and left the classroom.
• Li Wangye praised Shen Moxin and said he believed her and Junior Lu's approach might be right, and Shen told him to keep recording data and testing.
• Shen Moxin saw Sun Ming crossing the courtyard toward the supervisory office, then continued on her way.

After Shen Moxin was demoted to the old archives, Lu Yuan visited her and decided to leave the academy for Vast Sea City to pursue his research. Shen Moxin stayed behind to study the discarded manuscripts and gave him a notebook of Soul Power models before he departed.

• The academy suspended Shen Moxin's lead instructor qualifications and transferred her to manage the old archives, while Li Wangye reported that Chen Shi's data had risen by 0.3.
• Lu Yuan learned of Shen Moxin's transfer and discussed the academy's restrictions with Li Wangye.
• Shen Moxin surrendered her badge and course schedule, then began sorting old research manuscripts in the archives.
• Lu Yuan showed Shen Moxin the address in Vast Sea City that Teacher Zhou had given him and told her he had decided to leave the academy.
• Shen Moxin gave Lu Yuan her notebook of Soul Power models, and he bowed farewell before leaving the archives with his departure settled.

Lu Yuan said goodbye to Wang Shuo, Bai Zhi, and Li Wangye at a bonfire before leaving the academy at dawn. Teacher Sun learned of his departure and sent a man to follow him, with instructions to hasten his journey if necessary.

• Wang Shuo invited Lu Yuan to a secret bonfire farewell with Bai Zhi and Li Wangye before Lu Yuan left the next morning.
• Bai Zhi gave Lu Yuan medicine and insect-repellent powder, while Li Wangye told him his Soul Power training method had helped him and Chen Shi.
• Lu Yuan gave Li Wangye practical notes on basic Soul Power control and urged him to build a solid foundation.
• Wang Shuo asked Lu Yuan not to forget them if he succeeded, and Lu Yuan promised he would.
• Lu Yuan left the academy at dawn and took the path east out of the mountains.
• Teacher Sun learned that Lu Yuan had left and ordered a man to follow him, telling him to help speed Lu Yuan's journey if necessary.

Lu Yuan was attacked by an injured Iron Thorn Wild Boar and survived with help from a young stranger. After the two treated their wounds, the gray-clad pursuer sent by Teacher Sun confronted them and threatened the youth, who drew his dagger to fight.

• Lu Yuan encountered an injured Iron Thorn Wild Boar and used bristles, Blue Silver Grass, and a rolling rock to keep it from killing him.
• A young stranger sprang from the woods, struck the boar through its injured eye, and killed it, though a tusk wounded his shoulder.
• Lu Yuan and the youth exchanged names only indirectly, treated the youth’s shoulder with medicinal powder, and questioned each other about being in the woods.
• Lu Yuan sensed a cold Soul Power fluctuation and saw the gray-clad man who had followed him emerge from the trees.
• The gray-clad man said Teacher Sun had sent him to kill Lu Yuan and ordered the youth to leave; the youth refused and drew his dagger.