Recaps

Seventh Master Lin arrived at Qingzhu’s medicinal garden to take Lin Xiao back to the Lin Clan, but Lin Xiao refused and declared that he would choose his own path. Lu Yuan deflected Seventh Master Lin’s attack with a subtle resonance technique, and the chapter ended as Seventh Master Lin gathered lightning to strike again.

• Seventh Master Lin confronted Lin Xiao and ordered him to return to the Lin Clan, while Qingzhu warned him that Lin Xiao could make his own choices.
• Lin Xiao refused the clan’s solution for his Martial Soul and said he would rather go without it than be forced into becoming the weapon the clan wanted.
• Seventh Master Lin attacked, and Qingzhu raised a vine wall that was burned through by the elder’s Soul Power.
• Lu Yuan stepped between Lin Xiao and the attack, then used resonance to deflect the Soul Power impact into the rock face.
• Seventh Master Lin recognized Lu Yuan’s unusual skill but renewed his demand; Lin Xiao stood beside Lu Yuan and refused again.
• Seventh Master Lin raised his hand as lightning gathered in his palm.

Lu Yuan challenged Seventh Master Lin’s plans to forcefully correct Lin Xiao’s Martial Soul and demonstrated that Lin Xiao’s cultivation had already improved through their experiments. Seventh Master Lin left without taking Lin Xiao, but the Lin Clan’s pressure remained.

• Qingzhu stepped between Seventh Master Lin and Lu Yuan and warned him about the herb garden’s hidden formation.
• Lu Yuan argued that the Lin Clan’s proposed cultivation method or Soul Bone could harm Lin Xiao, then challenged Seventh Master Lin to prove his methods had worked in similar cases.
• Lin Xiao circulated Soul Power along the paths Lu Yuan had helped him refine and released a trace of his Martial Soul, showing that its flow had become steadier.
• Seventh Master Lin questioned Lu Yuan about the improvement, and Lu Yuan explained that he had observed and modeled Lin Xiao’s Soul Power and Martial Soul patterns.
• Lin Xiao refused to return to the clan and warned that he would disappear if they tried to make him a puppet, so Seventh Master Lin withdrew with his guards.
• After Seventh Master Lin left, Lin Xiao nearly collapsed, and Qingzhu warned Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao that the Lin Clan would not give up.

Lu Yuan accepted Seventh Master Lin’s three-month wager to fix Lin Xiao’s sluggish Soul Power circulation and raise his strength by three levels without harming his foundation. Seventh Master Lin agreed to leave them undisturbed and consider Lu Yuan’s resource list, while Lu Yuan began preparing a complete plan.

• Qingzhu explained that Seventh Master Lin had backed down because Lu Yuan had challenged the Lin Clan’s legacy, but warned that the clan would not easily let Lin Xiao go.
• Seventh Master Lin returned the next morning and demanded that Lu Yuan prove his methods within three months by resolving Lin Xiao’s sluggish Soul Power circulation and raising him from level thirty-three to level thirty-six without hidden dangers.
• Seventh Master Lin wagered that failure would force Lin Xiao to return to the clan and require Lu Yuan to surrender his research and swear not to pursue or share it.
• Lu Yuan accepted the wager and asked for a quiet, safe environment and the resources on a list he would prepare within three days.
• Seventh Master Lin agreed to leave them alone and assess the resource list, then departed with his guards.
• Lu Yuan told Lin Xiao that the wager was their only chance and began preparing a resource list and a complete plan.

Lu Yuan secured the Lin Clan’s costly supplies and prepared to rebuild Lin Xiao’s Soul Power system around his mutated Martial Soul. After mapping twenty-one sluggish points, they began the painful first stage of the reconstruction as the three-month wager began.

• Lu Yuan gave Seventh Master Lin a list of supplies costing more than three thousand Gold Soul Coins, and Seventh Master Lin agreed to provide them as a debt if Lu Yuan lost the wager.
• Lu Yuan explained his plan to create a new Soul Power system for Lin Xiao, who agreed to endure the risks and pain of the reconstruction.
• Qingzhu prepared a secluded stone cave for them and relayed Seventh Master Lin’s message that Lin Xiao could leave the clan if he won, but would become its heir if he lost.
• Lin Xiao mapped twenty-one sluggish points over several days while Lu Yuan analyzed them and Qingzhu supplied medicinal herbs and mind-calming incense.
• Lu Yuan chose three key points for the first stage, and Lin Xiao agreed to proceed despite the expected pain.
• Lu Yuan began guiding Soul Power into the first point in Lin Xiao’s left shoulder as Qingzhu and Seventh Master Lin watched outside the isolation barrier.

Lu Yuan guided Lin Xiao through the painful process of mapping new Soul Power routes, and Lin Xiao finally discovered a smoother path that resonated with his Martial Soul. The breakthrough gave their search a promising first result, while the three-month deadline continued to approach.

• Lu Yuan helped Lin Xiao sense an unconventional route around the blockage in his left shoulder, but Lin Xiao's old habits caused pain and interrupted the attempt.
• Over several days, Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao mapped blocked points and possible tributaries as Lin Xiao endured repeated pain and growing frustration.
• After Lin Xiao accused the winding routes of being useless, Lu Yuan explained that a smoother path could reduce resistance and better suit the changes in Lin Xiao's Martial Soul.
• On the tenth day, Lin Xiao independently guided Soul Power down a subtle detour at the lung and right-arm junction, where it flowed smoothly and triggered a strong Martial Soul reaction.
• Lu Yuan recorded the first confirmed route, while Qingzhu watched outside the cave as ten days passed toward the three-month deadline.

Lin Xiao and Lu Yuan mapped and trained a Soul Power route suited to Lin Xiao’s mutated Martial Soul, then completed a new main circuit that let his Soul Power flow without pain. They learned the method could work, but twenty more routes still needed reconstruction as the three-month deadline drew closer.

• Lu Yuan recorded Lin Xiao’s newly discovered tributary and concluded its shape resonated with the natural flow of his Martial Soul’s power.
• Lin Xiao repeated and adjusted the tributary’s circulation over three days until he could complete a hundred cycles without resistance.
• Lu Yuan explained that the tributary proved the Soul Power Map theory but could not carry Lin Xiao’s full power, so they needed to reconstruct the other resistance points.
• Over seven days, Lin Xiao and Lu Yuan designed a new main route that bypassed painful, congested meridians and connected back to the lung node.
• Lin Xiao completed the new circuit and manifested his Nether Civet Martial Soul without the stabbing pain he had experienced before.
• Lu Yuan warned that twenty more routes needed precise reconstruction, while the three-month deadline had moved seven days closer.

Lin Xiao and Lu Yuan restructured Lin Xiao’s Soul Power routes, opening several regions and increasing his usable reserves. Their progress stalled at a dangerous chest-and-abdomen hub, where a clash injured Lin Xiao and forced them to seek medicinal help or wait for the old paths’ inertia to fade.

• Lin Xiao followed a narrow tributary around a blockage and discovered it connected to a previously explored route, while Lu Yuan recorded the new path.
• Lu Yuan shifted their method to mapping whole regions, and Lin Xiao endured a painful adjustment that eased three hitches in his left shoulder.
• By the twentieth day, their regional approach had improved Lin Xiao’s circulation and raised his total Soul Power reserves by about ten percent.
• On the twenty-fifth day, Lin Xiao tried to merge two tributaries at the chest-and-abdomen hub, but their conflicting flows collided and left him injured.
• Lu Yuan concluded that they needed medicine to soften the clash or at least three days for the old paths’ inertia to dissipate, and he planned to ask Qingzhu for help.

Lu Yuan obtained medicine and a breathing method from Qingzhu to help Lin Xiao safely rebuild his Soul Power circulation. After Lin Xiao advanced to level thirty-four, an unknown intruder entered the valley’s formation, and Qingzhu warned that the trespasser was not from the Lin Clan.

• Qingzhu gave Lu Yuan three Clear Heart Jade Marrow Lotus petals, taught him a calming breathing method, and provided Calming Heart Grass seeds for Lin Xiao.
• Lu Yuan brought the medicine and breathing method to Lin Xiao, who practiced the technique while recovering for two days.
• On the third morning, Lin Xiao used a lotus petal as he began merging a tributary, with Lu Yuan monitoring his Soul Power; the merger succeeded without serious injury.
• By the thirty-fifth day of seclusion, Lin Xiao had rebuilt over sixty percent of his Soul Power circulation and reached level thirty-four.
• Lu Yuan sensed a concealed probing fluctuation outside the stone chamber, and Qingzhu warned him that an intruder had entered the valley’s outskirts and was not from the Lin Clan.

Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao prepared a dangerous breakthrough while an agent from the Hundred Refinements Pavilion watched the valley. The chapter ended as Lu Yuan began guiding the medicinal power through Lin Xiao’s body to strike all three points at once.

• Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao sensed an intruder, but continued planning their breakthrough as Seventh Master Lin increased the guards around the valley.
• Seventh Master Lin ordered Qingzhu to stir the valley’s defenses, and Qingzhu secretly activated several plants to alter the mist and Soul Power.
• A masked Hundred Refinements Pavilion agent identified Lin Xiao as his target, was struck by a plant’s paralytic filament, and decided to wait until night before sneaking in.
• Lu Yuan revised the breakthrough plan to use both remaining Clear Heart Jade Marrow Lotus petals at once, while Lin Xiao accepted the risk of death or losing his cultivation.
• Lu Yuan prepared the petals into a medicinal pulp, Lin Xiao drank it, and Lu Yuan began guiding its power toward Lin Xiao’s heart, brow, and dantian.

Lin Xiao and Lu Yuan connected the three blocked gates in Lin Xiao’s Soul Power network, breaking his family’s cultivation imprints and raising him to level thirty-six. The breakthrough exposed their work, drawing an urgent signal and the attention of powerful figures in Qingzhu Valley.

• Lu Yuan guided Lin Xiao through connecting and marking the gate at his heart, then helped him work around the residue obstructing the gate between his brows.
• With the medicine nearly spent, Lin Xiao drilled and pried open the stubborn dantian gate while Lu Yuan stabilized and guided him.
• Lin Xiao completed the new Soul Power network, released his spirit cat’s full form, and broke through from level thirty-four to level thirty-six.
• The breakthrough’s powerful fluctuations drew a sharp warning signal from beyond the cave, freezing Lin Xiao and Lu Yuan’s celebration.
• Qingzhu stopped watering in the herb garden, and Seventh Master Lin sprang from meditation as the signal reached Qingzhu Valley.

Lu Yuan helped Lin Xiao break through the restraints of his family’s cultivation technique, raising him to level thirty-six and fulfilling their bet ahead of schedule. As Seventh Master Lin and the Hundred Refinements Pavilion’s hunters arrived, Seventh Master Lin claimed the two as his own, but the standoff left the crisis unresolved.

• Lin Xiao opened three blocked points in his Soul Power circulation with Lu Yuan’s guidance and reached the peak of level thirty-six, with the stagnation in his Martial Soul eradicated.
• A signal exposed their location, bringing Seventh Master Lin racing into the valley and three Hundred Refinements Pavilion hunters moving to capture Lin Xiao and Lu Yuan.
• Qingzhu activated a vine-and-mist formation that trapped the attackers and turned the valley into a battlefield.
• Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao left the stone chamber so Seventh Master Lin could witness that the bet’s conditions had been met.
• Seventh Master Lin confirmed Lin Xiao’s breakthrough and declared him under the Lin Clan’s protection, while the Hundred Refinements Pavilion hunters continued resisting.

Lu Yuan and Lei Qingyue negotiated Lin Xiao’s return to the Lin Clan, trading limited research notes and three months of freedom for protection from the Hundred Refinements Pavilion. Lei Qingyue revealed he was betting on Lu Yuan’s theory, and the group left the valley as trouble gathered around them.

• Lei Qingyue agreed to protect Lu Yuan and Lin Xiao from the Hundred Refinements Pavilion in exchange for a copy of Lu Yuan’s basic research notes.
• Lei Qingyue accepted Lu Yuan’s condition that Lin Xiao could leave the Lin Clan after three months if he wished.
• Lei Qingyue ordered the Hundred Refinements Pavilion’s Soul Saint to withdraw and warned them not to touch Lin Xiao for three months.
• Lin Xiao agreed to return to the Lin Clan with Lei Qingyue, while Lei Qingyue warned that the clan’s elders had become wary of his unusual path.
• Lei Qingyue told Lu Yuan that he was betting on the theory, and the group left the valley before dawn.

After Lin Xiao left, Lu Yuan decided that the Thousand Needle Stone Forest could serve as a hidden base for a school devoted to studying and teaching Soul Power. He began drafting a plan for the school and prepared to travel there, leaving Lin Xiao to choose whether to join him later.

• Lin Xiao gave Lu Yuan a Lin Clan token and arranged to meet him again in three months, with a backup way to contact him in Biting Wind City.
• After Lin Xiao and Lei Qingyue departed, Qingzhu warned Lu Yuan that the Hundred Refinements Pavilion might return and suggested he seek a more remote refuge.
• Qingzhu told Lu Yuan about the Thousand Needle Stone Forest, a dangerous region with turbulent Soul Power and rumors of ancient ruins and secluded recluses.
• Lu Yuan proposed establishing a school that welcomed students regardless of bloodline, Martial Soul, or Innate Soul Power and taught them through study and experimentation.
• Qingzhu described the route to the Thousand Needle Stone Forest, and Lu Yuan began outlining the school's location requirements, curriculum, resources, and security.

Lu Yuan crossed Black Wind Gorge, detoured around Weeping Blood Lake, and reached the Thousand Needle Stone Forest. While exploring its outskirts, he discovered ancient Soul Tool wreckage that began reacting as his Blue Silver Grass approached.

• Lu Yuan used Qingzhu’s map and his Soul Power perception to navigate the mountains and evade dangerous beasts.
• Lu Yuan learned from herb gatherers that Black Wind Gorge was most passable at noon and crossed it by avoiding miasma and driving off Black Wind Owls.
• Lu Yuan detoured around Weeping Blood Lake and reached the Thousand Needle Stone Forest on the fifteenth day.
• Lu Yuan established a temporary camp in a relatively stable hollow and sensed a regular Soul Power fluctuation nearby.
• Lu Yuan found ancient Soul Tool wreckage beneath rubble, and its steady rhythm changed as his Blue Silver Grass approached.

Lu Yuan discovered an ancient ruin and traces of someone living nearby in the Thousand Needle Stone Forest. He found a drunken inventor in a shack whose designs suggested he might be the exiled innovator Mo Chen.

• Lu Yuan entered a collapsed passage and found a damaged blue crystal at the center of an ancient formation.
• He spotted recent footprints in the buried hall and left after finding no signs of life nearby.
• Lu Yuan discovered a sheltered hollow with medicinal herbs, discarded Soul Tool components, tools, and diagrams outside a crude shack.
• He hid and waited until night, when a drunken, haggard man returned to the shack and complained about failed experiments.
• Lu Yuan recognized the man's diagrams as resembling advanced theories and wondered if the man was Mo Chen.

Lu Yuan approached the reclusive Soul Tool craftsman Mo Chen and identified a flaw in his universal Soul Tool design, then sketched a more stable alternative. Mo Chen recognized the principle behind Lu Yuan’s suggestion and demanded to know who he was.

• Lu Yuan offered Mo Chen graytooth leaves in exchange for water or spare tools.
• Mo Chen accused Lu Yuan of being sent by the Hundred Refinements Pavilion or a family, while Lu Yuan spotted his Soul Guidance Array design.
• Lu Yuan explained that forcing different Soul Power attributes through one conversion node could make them conflict.
• Lu Yuan drew a design with separate buffer structures connected to the core in a stable triangular parallel arrangement.
• Mo Chen reacted with shock and asked how Lu Yuan knew about parallel voltage stabilization.

Lu Yuan explained the flaws in Mo Chen’s Soul Power research and offered to teach him in exchange for information about the ruins, use of his research materials, and permission to treat his injured hand. As Mo Chen led him to examine the ruins, he warned that someone had recently been moving through the Thousand Needle Stone Forest and hiding their tracks.

• Lu Yuan explained that Mo Chen’s designs lacked a buffering layer and should be based on measured Soul Power data and mathematical models.
• Lu Yuan identified faulty materials and a missing transition layer in Mo Chen’s failed designs, giving Mo Chen a clearer approach to his research.
• Mo Chen agreed to share everything he knew about the ruins, let Lu Yuan use his tools and materials, and risk treatment for his injured hand in exchange for instruction.
• Mo Chen showed Lu Yuan the ancient protective patterns at the ruins’ entrance and described his unsuccessful attempts to replicate them.
• Mo Chen told Lu Yuan that he had found fresh human footprints in the stone forest that seemed to have been deliberately concealed.
• Lu Yuan postponed treatment of Mo Chen’s hand until the following day and followed him back to review his research materials.

Lu Yuan and Mo Chen studied the ancient formation rubbings, improved the shelter’s defenses, and began treating Mo Chen’s left-hand injury. After Lu Yuan detected an organized sect searching the northwest of the Thousand Needle Stone Forest for an unknown object, he resolved to identify the searchers and secure their base.

• Lu Yuan reviewed Mo Chen’s detailed rubbings and analysis of the ruined formation, then agreed to help organize the theory and make the shelter safer.
• Mo Chen built hidden Soul Tool warning devices while Lu Yuan placed Blue Silver Grass sentinels around the shelter and the area where footprints had been found.
• Lu Yuan discovered footprints from at least two people leading deeper into the stone forest, with their route deliberately circling around the shelter and ruins.
• Lu Yuan and Mo Chen began modeling the chaotic Soul Power and residual heat in Mo Chen’s injured left arm while remaining on alert.
• On the seventh evening, Lu Yuan’s plant sentinel picked up distant voices discussing a vague target, interference, and an absolute order from a sect master.
• Lu Yuan concluded that an organized sect force was searching the forest and decided to find out who they were and what they wanted.

Lu Yuan and Mo Chen entered the ruins to search for resources and learn what the sect faction was seeking. After finding an ancient chamber and a recess matching Lin Xiao’s family token, they were attacked by a swarm of mutated Stone Scorpions and fled deeper into the passage.

• Lu Yuan learned that a sect faction was searching the stone forest, so he and Mo Chen decided to enter the ruins before the faction could find what it sought.
• Lu Yuan mapped a route through the ruins, and the two followed it inside with Soul Tools and supplies.
• Lu Yuan and Mo Chen found inscriptions linking a star-like network to Soul Power circulation, then discovered a chamber containing a patterned platform and damaged Soul Tool components.
• Lu Yuan noticed that Lin Xiao’s family token matched the platform’s hexagonal recess and began to warm as scraping sounds approached from a side passage.
• A swarm of mutated Stone Scorpions emerged, and Lu Yuan used Blue Silver Grass and medicinal powder to slow them before he and Mo Chen fled.

Lu Yuan and Mo Chen fought their way out of the ruins after Stone Scorpions overwhelmed them, and Lu Yuan treated Mo Chen’s poisoned arm. Outside, Lu Yuan concluded the scorpions were guarding something near the stone platform, leaving them to consider returning.

• Lu Yuan used thorn-vine seeds and targeted the Stone Scorpions’ weak points while Mo Chen fired his wrench, but the swarm adapted and wounded Mo Chen with paralytic poison.
• Lu Yuan pulled Mo Chen up the ramp and sealed the ruins’ entrance with rapidly grown vines.
• Lu Yuan treated Mo Chen’s poisoned arm with medicinal leaves and warned him not to use Soul Power recklessly.
• Lu Yuan noticed the Stone Scorpions retreated into the ruins rather than pursuing them and suspected they were guarding something near the stone platform.
• Mo Chen asked whether they still needed to return, and Lu Yuan remained silent.

Lu Yuan discovered that Lin Xiao's clan token resonated with the ancient ruins, but he and Mo Chen delayed using it while they investigated the nearby searchers and dealt with Mo Chen's poison. Lu Yuan identified the searchers as members of the Cloud Mist Sect, whose camp had begun closing in on something in the stone forest.

• Lu Yuan recognized that Lin Xiao's hexagonal clan token matched the recess in the ruins' stone platform and reacted to a faint Soul Power resonance.
• Lu Yuan and Mo Chen chose not to use the token yet, deciding to gather information and wait until they could contact Lin Xiao.
• Lu Yuan treated Mo Chen's poisoned arm and set up a three-ring Blue Silver Grass reconnaissance network around the ruins.
• Lu Yuan detected a methodical search party of five or six people scanning the stone forest and learned their search could reach the area within five days.
• After Mo Chen's poison was purged, Lu Yuan used a Blue Silver Grass sentinel to see the searchers' emblem and identified their group as the Cloud Mist Sect.
• Lu Yuan sensed excitement from the Cloud Mist Sect camp and realized its members were closing in on something in the stone forest.

Lu Yuan infiltrated the Cloud Mist Sect’s camp and learned that they were searching for a nearly mature earth vein soul marrow in the stone forest. He decided he had to claim it, but Mo Chen’s sudden exposure to the sect left Lu Yuan fleeing as the chapter ended.

• Lu Yuan left Mo Chen behind and sneaked through the stone forest at night to observe the Cloud Mist Sect’s camp.
• Lu Yuan overheard the sect members reveal that they were searching for earth vein soul marrow whose location shifted within the stone forest’s core region.
• Lu Yuan realized the soul marrow could help his research and decided to seek it before the Cloud Mist Sect found it.
• Martial Uncle Sun detected someone near the camp and called for them to come out.
• Lu Yuan recognized the person in the shadows as Mo Chen and fled between the stone pillars as the Cloud Mist Sect pursued him.

Lu Yuan returned to help the wounded Mo Chen and used his Blue Silver Grass to save him from the Cloud Mist Sect disciples. He claimed he could help locate the Earth Vein Soul Marrow, and when a disciple detected its presence nearby, Martial Uncle Sun ordered both men to come with him.

• Lu Yuan turned back toward the camp after hearing Mo Chen fight, despite knowing the danger.
• Lu Yuan used Blue Silver Grass to divert a Soul Ancestor's attack and stepped out beside Mo Chen.
• Lu Yuan told Martial Uncle Sun that he and Mo Chen had heard of the Earth Vein Soul Marrow and could help narrow down its location by tracking Soul Power disturbances.
• A Cloud Mist Sect disciple detected strong underground Soul Power fluctuations southeast of the camp and reported that the Soul Marrow might be about to erupt.
• Martial Uncle Sun ordered Lu Yuan and Mo Chen to accompany him to the source of the fluctuations.

Lu Yuan and Mo Chen reached the earth vein soul marrow with the Cloud Mist Sect, then secretly moved to collect overlooked fragments and stones while Martial Uncle Sun tried to seize the main marrow. A violent eruption destabilized the pool, and the ground began collapsing beneath them.

• Martial Uncle Sun led Lu Yuan, Mo Chen, and three disciples to a valley where earth vein soul marrow erupted from a stone pool.
• Martial Uncle Sun assigned the disciples to guard the pool and warned Lu Yuan and Mo Chen not to interfere with the Cloud Mist Sect's claim.
• Soul Beasts charged into the valley, and Li Yan and Wang Yun fought them as Martial Uncle Sun prepared to seize the main marrow.
• Lu Yuan signaled Mo Chen, then used thorn-vine seeds and the rocky terrain to sneak toward discarded soul marrow fragments and jade-like stones.
• As Martial Uncle Sun reached for the main marrow, the eruption turned chaotic and the pool began to collapse; Lu Yuan and Mo Chen collected fragments and stones before the rock beneath them sank.

Lu Yuan and Mo Chen survived the collapse of the Earth Vein Soul Marrow site and salvaged several fragments and a jade-like stone. After Mo Chen sensed that the fragments might resonate with his damaged meridians, Lu Yuan decided they would retrieve their belongings and leave the Thousand Needle Stone Forest to find a safer place for long-term research.

• Lu Yuan pulled Mo Chen away from the collapsing ground, then used Blue Silver Grass to shield them from a falling boulder and help them escape.
• Lu Yuan and Mo Chen collected a few Soul Marrow fragments and stones from the ruined pool area before fleeing in the opposite direction from the Cloud Mist Sect.
• Lu Yuan examined a greenish-white stone and suspected its milky patterns came from concentrated Soul Power absorbed over time.
• Mo Chen said the Soul Marrow fragments seemed to resonate with the disordered Soul Power left by his old meridian injury.
• Lu Yuan concluded that the commotion would draw more factions to the Thousand Needle Stone Forest and decided they would retrieve their supplies before seeking a safer home for research.