Chapter Summaries

Yan Zu and Xiao Wu left Five Souls Village with Yan Zu’s family and arrived in Nuoding City to begin at Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy. As they headed to the new-student assessment, Tang San noticed Xiao Wu and quietly struggled with his attraction to her and her closeness with Yan Zu.

• Yan Zu, Xiao Wu, Su Qing, and Yan Hu departed Five Souls Village after the villagers gathered to see them off.
• Su Qing helped Yan Zu prepare for the academy while Xiao Wu joined him, and Yan Hu accompanied the children to Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy.
• Yan Zu and Xiao Wu followed the opening-day crowd toward the new-student assessment hall.
• Tang San saw Xiao Wu from a second-floor window and was captivated by her.
• Tang San noticed Xiao Wu’s trust and affection for Yan Zu, suppressed his wish to be beside her, and memorized their faces before leaving the window.

Yan Zu and Xiao Wu enrolled at Nuoding Academy and were assigned to Dorm Seven, where Yan Zu challenged its leader, Tang San. Yan Zu dodged Tang San’s Tang Sect techniques and stopped his counterattack at Tang San’s chest, leaving their contest unresolved beyond Yan Zu’s apparent victory.

• Yan Zu and Xiao Wu gave Teacher Li concealed Soul Power levels and demonstrated their Qilin and Phantom Jade Rabbit Martial Souls.
• Teacher Li completed their enrollment and assigned them to Dorm Seven as working students.
• Wang Sheng explained Dorm Seven’s newcomer challenge, and Tang San faced Yan Zu as the dorm leader.
• Yan Zu evaded Tang San’s Tang Sect techniques without striking back as the other students watched.
• Tang San prepared to summon his Martial Soul, but Yan Zu stepped in and stopped his fingertip at Tang San’s chest before withdrawing.

Yan Zu defeated Tang San, gained several rewards, and became Dorm Seven’s boss. At his first theory class, he challenged the lesson on Soul Ring age limits by raising his hand.

• Tang San admitted defeat to Yan Zu, who became Dorm Seven’s boss and urged the work-study students to stick together.
• Yan Zu received Illusion-Breaking Spirit Eyes, the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record, and expanded access to the Martial Soul Mimicry Training Ground.
• Tang San told Yu Xiaogang about Yan Zu’s Martial Soul, and Yu Xiaogang urged him to befriend Yan Zu so he could study him.
• Yan Zu examined his new abilities while Xiao Wu slept beside him, then used his Illusion-Breaking Spirit Eyes to consider how he could counter Tang San’s Hidden Weapons.
• At theory class, Teacher Chen taught Yu Xiaogang’s claimed First Soul Ring limit of 423 years, and Yan Zu raised his hand to question the lesson.

Yan Zu challenged the evidence behind Yu Xiaogang’s Soul Ring age limits during class, then rejected Yu Xiaogang’s offer to take him as a disciple. As Yan Zu questioned the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul, Yu Xiaogang’s confidence in his theories began to waver.

• Yan Zu questioned how Soul Masters had established the precise four-hundred-and-twenty-three-year limit for a First Soul Ring and whether one fixed limit applied to every Soul Master.
• Teacher Chen struggled to answer Yan Zu’s questions and ended the discussion, while Xiao Wu praised Yan Zu and Tang San watched with resentment.
• Yu Xiaogang approached Yan Zu after class and offered to train him alongside Tang San, but Yan Zu declined and pointed out that Yu Xiaogang had not resolved the problems with his own Martial Soul, Luo Sanpao.
• Yu Xiaogang recited his Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul, and Yan Zu challenged several of the claims, including the fixed Soul Ring limits and the idea that there were no trash Martial Souls.
• Yan Zu pointed out contradictions between Yu Xiaogang’s claims and Tang San’s Innate Full Soul Power, leaving Yu Xiaogang shaken as students gathered outside to listen.

After Yan Zu challenged Yu Xiaogang’s theories, his questions spread through Nuoding Academy, while he and Xiao Wu continued training in their private Martial Soul Mimicry Training Ground. Their practice culminated in a battle against five Hundred-Year Gale Demon Wolves and a Thousand-Year Gale Demon Wolf King.

• Tang San entered the classroom and rebuked Yan Zu for questioning Yu Xiaogang, but Yan Zu defended the value of respectful criticism and left.
• Yan Zu found that challenging Yu Xiaogang earned no system reward, though his questions weakened Yu Xiaogang’s reputation and drew attention from the students.
• Yu Xiaogang stayed away from the academy for three days, while Yan Zu’s reputation spread and Tang San’s hostility remained apparent.
• Yan Zu and Xiao Wu trained nightly in the Martial Soul Mimicry Training Ground, where he taught her techniques from the Nine Yin Manual and helped her improve her speed and combat skills.
• Yan Zu and Xiao Wu faced five Hundred-Year Gale Demon Wolves and a roughly twelve-hundred-year Thousand-Year Gale Demon Wolf King in a simulated forest.
• Yan Zu activated the Qilin’s first Soul Skill, Vitality Corridor, as Xiao Wu fought beside him against the wolves.

After Xiao Wu sacrificed herself to save Yan Zu, their Martial Souls achieved Preliminary Martial Soul Resonance, and their bond deepened during the year that followed. At age seven, Yan Zu gained a talent for the arts and began creating stories to spread ideas and earn Vow Power, deciding to seek the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect’s help with publishing and distribution.

• Xiao Wu shielded Yan Zu from the wolf king’s attack, and Yan Zu’s Qilin Martial Soul healed her as their Martial Souls achieved Preliminary Martial Soul Resonance.
• Yan Zu visited his family with Xiao Wu, gave Su Qing Soul-Nourishing Tea, and learned that Yan Hu’s caravan-guarding work and Soul-Consolidating Pill had improved his strength.
• Over the first school year, Yan Zu and Xiao Wu grew closer, and Yan Zu planned to spread culture as a way to gather the Vow Power needed to unseal the Xuanyuan Sword.
• At age seven, Yan Zu received the Exquisite Literary Heart talent, mastering artistic skills that could imbue works with the power to move people.
• Yan Zu began writing Star Dou Night Tales, adapting fables about Soul Beasts, and chose the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect as his prospective publishing partner.

Yan Zu tested his stories and music with Xiao Wu, then arranged for Rongbao Studio to publish his manuscripts under the pen name Wen Yansheng. The chapter left him with a monthly publishing deal and his identity protected.

• Yan Zu named his manuscript collection Star Dou Night Tales and asked Xiao Wu to test-read a story, which made her laugh.
• Yan Zu played the Flowing Clouds Harp for Xiao Wu on the hill behind Nuoding Academy, and the music calmed her and listeners throughout the academy.
• Xiao Wu asked Yan Zu to play the song Flying Insects for her again, and the harp music became a regular secret between them.
• Three days later, Yan Zu disguised himself and offered ten stories a month to Shopkeeper Chen of Rongbao Studio.
• Shopkeeper Chen agreed to publish the stories through a revenue-sharing deal, with an initial print run of one hundred copies and confidentiality about the author's identity.

Yan Zu’s Star Dou Night Tales became a sensation, drawing the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect’s support and helping awaken the Xuanyuan Sword through readers’ recognition of its ideas. As Yan Zu planned to spread more works, Tang San grew jealous of the attention Xiao Wu gave him.

• After the garrison captain’s son bought a copy, Star Dou Night Tales spread through Nuoding City and all one hundred copies sold out within three days.
• Ning Fengzhi ordered five thousand more copies distributed through the sect’s trade routes and asked for an investigation into Wen Yansheng.
• Yan Zu realized that readers’ thoughts and recognition of the stories gathered as Vow Power and strengthened the Xuanyuan Sword.
• Tang San dismissed the book as useless, then saw Xiao Wu eagerly listening to Yan Zu tell more stories and crushed a teacup in jealousy.
• Yan Zu planned to adapt The Song of Roland as his next cultural work.

On his eighth birthday, Yan Zu received a farming compendium and planned to test its crops at Su Medical Clinic. In the Soul Hunting Forest, he defeated a Jade Spirit Turtle, absorbed its nearly three-thousand-year Soul Ring, and gained the group-support skill Jade Blessing.

• Yan Zu received high-yield crop seeds and cultivation methods from his annual system reward, and planned to grow them at Su Medical Clinic before spreading them through the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
• Yan Zu, Xiao Wu, Yan Hu, and Su Qing traveled to the Soul Hunting Forest to hunt a nearly twenty-eight-hundred-year Jade Spirit Turtle for Yan Zu’s Second Soul Ring.
• Xiao Wu lured the turtle out, Yan Hu distracted it, and Yan Zu struck a weakness in its shell before killing it with the Xuanyuan Sword’s Sword Qi.
• Yan Zu absorbed the purple Soul Ring and reached Soul Power level twenty-two.
• Yan Zu used Jade Blessing, a group shield that protected nearby allies, restored Soul Power and stamina, and could stun an attacker or grant a defense boost.

Xiao Wu broke through to level twenty-one, while Yan Zu published The Song of Roland and watched it influence nobles and Soul Masters across the Heaven Dou Empire. As Tang San grew more determined to surpass Yan Zu and grew jealous of Xiao Wu’s closeness to him, Yan Zu planned to use improved crops to bring greater change to the continent.

• Xiao Wu asked Yan Zu to guard her while she advanced, then returned with a second Soul Ring and the Moon Shadow Instant Step skill.
• Yan Zu gave Shopkeeper Chen The Song of Roland to publish, and its first print run was aimed at Soul Masters, nobles, and people who longed for change.
• Qian Renxue pondered the book’s ideas, while Ning Rongrong wept over it and asked Ning Fengzhi to help her meet Wen Yansheng.
• Tang San gained a second Soul Skill from a six-hundred-year-old Ghost Vine, but Yu Xiaogang warned that he still could not defeat Yan Zu; Tang San vowed to surpass him and continued making Hidden Weapons.
• Yan Zu coached Xiao Wu’s Wind God Legs, and Tang San saw their closeness and felt an icy fear of losing her.
• Yan Zu considered using hybrid rice and cold-resistant wheat from the Hundred Grains Compendium to end hunger and gather Vow Power.

Tang San confessed to Xiao Wu, but she rejected him and reaffirmed her love for Yan Zu. Tang San blamed Yan Zu for the rejection and left the encounter consumed by hatred and a vow to surpass him.

• Tang San waited on the back-hill path and confessed his feelings to Xiao Wu, boasting of his strength and promising he could protect her better than Yan Zu.
• Xiao Wu rejected Tang San and told him that she had loved Yan Zu since childhood.
• Tang San tried to grab Xiao Wu, but she dodged and condemned his jealousy and secret watching, saying Yan Zu was her family.
• Tang Hao watched from nearby but chose not to intervene, considering the confrontation a matter for Tang San to learn from.
• After Xiao Wu left, Tang San refused to accept her rejection and blamed Yan Zu, vowing to surpass him and take everything he had.

Yan Zu protected Xiao Wu from Tang San, concealed his strength during their repeated bouts, and received plans for agricultural Soul Tools after his hybrid rice harvest succeeded. The chapter left Tang San resentful after his seventh defeat, while Yan Zu kept his abilities hidden from Tang Hao.

• Xiao Wu told Yan Zu that Tang San had confessed to her and frightened her, and Yan Zu promised to protect her.
• By Yan Zu's ninth birthday, his and Xiao Wu's Soul Power neared level thirty, and his sign-in reward provided blueprints for a water purifier, tiller, and harvester.
• Yan Zu and Su Qing kept the high-yield hybrid rice seed secure after their trial plot produced an exceptional harvest.
• Tang San challenged Yan Zu for the seventh time and lost, while Yan Zu hid his strength because Tang Hao watched from the shadows.
• Xiao Wu joined Yan Zu after the bout, and Tang San reached for his Godly Zhuge Crossbow but chose not to attack.

Yan Zu and Xiao Wu achieved complete compatibility and unlocked the Auspicious Jade Rabbit Martial Soul Fusion Skill. After Xiao Wu revealed her identity as a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbit, Yan Zu accepted her and asked her to join his dream of a world where humans and Soul Beasts coexist; Xiao Wu agreed to walk beside him.

• Yan Zu and Xiao Wu synchronized their spiritual seas, reached 100% compatibility, and unlocked the Auspicious Jade Rabbit fusion skill and Jade Rabbit Treads on Clouds.
• Xiao Wu transformed into the Auspicious Jade Rabbit, activated Auspicious Domain, and used Jade Rabbit Treads on Clouds before the fusion left her nearly drained of Soul Power.
• Xiao Wu feared Yan Zu had seen her memories and confessed that she was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbit who had taken human form and initially used him to conceal herself.
• Yan Zu told Xiao Wu he had known her identity since she came to live with his family and said he wanted to build a world where humans and Soul Beasts could coexist.
• Yan Zu asked Xiao Wu to be his Dao companion, and Xiao Wu agreed to walk with him while keeping her identity secret until they were strong enough to reveal it.

Yan Zu welcomed the new year with his family, received pendants that could protect bonded companions, and began the fourth academic year alongside Xiao Wu. Ning Rongrong arrived at Nuoding Academy, where she met Yan Zu and Xiao Wu and discovered that Yan Zu shared her interest in Wen Yansheng’s stories.

• Yan Zu celebrated New Year's Eve with Su Qing, Yan Hu, and Xiao Wu, reflecting on his growing strength and the dangers ahead.
• On the first day of the fourth academic year, Yan Zu received ten Same-Heart Pendants and bound two to himself and Xiao Wu.
• Ning Fengzhi brought Ning Rongrong to Nuoding Academy and urged her to study, make friends, and avoid troubling Wen Yansheng.
• Ning Rongrong noticed Yan Zu, Xiao Wu, and Little Jade, then eagerly asked Yan Zu about his Martial Soul and Wen Yansheng.
• Yan Zu explained that he had passed manuscripts for Wen Yansheng and discussed the deeper ideas in the author’s stories, delighting Ning Rongrong and impressing Ning Fengzhi.

Ning Rongrong grew curious about Yan Zu after hearing him play the harp, while Tang San, urged by Yu Xiaogang to seek the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect’s support, tried to approach her with a Hidden Weapon. She rejected Tang San and exposed her distrust of his motives, leaving his attempt to gain her favor in ruins.

• Ning Rongrong bonded with Yan Zu and Little Jade, while Tang San watched from a window as Yu Xiaogang urged him to win the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect’s support.
• Yan Zu played his harp for Xiao Wu and Ning Rongrong on the back mountain, and Ning Rongrong became determined to uncover his secrets and hear him play again.
• Three days later, Tang San approached Ning Rongrong with a Silent Sleeve Arrow and offered his help, invoking Yu Xiaogang’s reputation.
• Ning Rongrong rejected Tang San’s Hidden Weapon, criticized Yu Xiaogang’s theories and lack of cultivation progress, and accused Tang San of seeking the sect’s resources for himself.

Ning Rongrong rejected Tang San’s forced offer of friendship, and Yan Zu stepped in to defuse the confrontation. As Rongrong grew close to Yan Zu and Xiao Wu, Tang San blamed Yan Zu for his resentment and vowed to surpass him.

• Yu Xiaogang defended Tang San’s attempt to befriend Ning Rongrong, but Rongrong rebuked both him and Tang San for ignoring her wishes.
• Tang San prepared to fight Ning Rongrong until Yan Zu and Xiao Wu arrived and helped end the confrontation.
• Tang San left with Yu Xiaogang, then admitted that his anger was directed at Yan Zu and vowed to become stronger than him.
• During the first week at Nuoding Academy, Ning Rongrong spent more time with Yan Zu and Xiao Wu, and Xiao Wu grew comfortable with her.
• Students began calling Yan Zu, Xiao Wu, and Ning Rongrong the “Iron Triangle.”

Ning Rongrong visited Yan Zu and Xiao Wu, gave Yan Zu a Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect Guest Elder Token, and learned about his new story, Battle Through the Heavens. Hoping to improve her cultivation near Yan Zu, she built the Glazed Tile Residence and joined him and Xiao Wu in sharing a bed, where all their Soul Power circulated faster.

• Ning Rongrong brought candied fruit to Dorm Seven and told Xiao Wu she valued being treated as herself rather than as the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's little princess.
• Ning Rongrong gave Yan Zu a Guest Elder Token from Ning Fengzhi, and Yan Zu asked her to tell the sect master that Wen Yansheng was writing Battle Through the Heavens.
• Yan Zu reassured Xiao Wu that Ning Rongrong was a friend and that Xiao Wu was special to him.
• Ning Rongrong proposed building the Glazed Tile Residence so she could cultivate near Yan Zu, and she and Xiao Wu argued over their sleeping arrangements.
• After moving closer to Yan Zu over several nights, Ning Rongrong joined him and Xiao Wu on their bed, and the three of them and Qilin Little Jade cultivated with their Soul Power circulating three times faster.

Yan Zu defeated a six-thousand-year Star Unicorn, absorbed its Soul Ring, and gained a new skill that let him ride Little Jade. After Xiao Wu also gained her third Soul Skill, Yan Zu declined Ning Fengzhi’s job offer and proposed using Soul Tools to improve ordinary people’s lives.

• Yan Zu led his family and Xiao Wu into the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt a powerful Soul Beast, where they found a six-thousand-year Star Unicorn.
• Yan Hu and Su Qing fought the Star Unicorn while Yan Zu and Xiao Wu attacked its flanks; Yan Zu eventually broke its barrier and killed it with the Xuanyuan Sword.
• Yan Zu absorbed the Star Unicorn’s Soul Ring, advanced to rank thirty-three, and gained Starlight Descent, which enhanced Little Jade and let Yan Zu ride him.
• Three months later, Xiao Wu broke through to rank thirty and formed a six-thousand-two-hundred-year Soul Ring, gaining Jade Rabbit Clone.
• Ning Fengzhi invited Yan Zu to become the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect’s Soul Tool consultant, but Yan Zu declined and proposed sharing technology to help improve people’s livelihoods.

Ning Fengzhi visited Yan Zu after reading his proposal to use high-yield crops and Soul Tool farming implements to improve ordinary people’s lives. Impressed by Yan Zu’s rice and designs, he formed the Dawn Project with him and returned to mobilize the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

• Ning Fengzhi read Yan Zu’s letter and decided to travel to Nuoding City with Chen Xin and Gu Rong.
• Ning Fengzhi and the two Douluos visited Yan Zu’s home, where they reunited with Ning Rongrong.
• Yan Zu showed Ning Fengzhi the high-yield rice growing in his experimental field and explained his plans for other crops and Soul Tool farming implements.
• Yan Zu and Ning Fengzhi agreed to cooperate, with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect providing resources and distribution while keeping the products affordable.
• Ning Fengzhi named the partnership the Dawn Project, gave Yan Zu a higher-tier Glazed Tile Token, and arranged protection for the Yan family.
• Ning Fengzhi sent word to mobilize the sect and left to begin the project, telling Ning Rongrong that full results could take a year or two.

Yan Zu received the Flowing Moonlight Reflection Pendant, which could nurture and stabilize remnant souls, while Ning Rongrong returned to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect after reaching rank thirty. With Ning Fengzhi, Sword Douluo Chen Xin, and Bone Douluo Gu Rong protecting her, she obtained a Soul Power amplification skill from her Third Soul Ring and prepared to return to Nuoding Academy.

• Yan Zu received the Flowing Moonlight Reflection Pendant and recognized that it might help preserve Xiao Wu's mother's soul.
• Ning Rongrong returned to the sect at rank thirty, and Ning Fengzhi, Chen Xin, and Gu Rong confirmed that her foundation was sound despite her rapid progress.
• Ning Fengzhi and the two Douluo agreed to accompany Ning Rongrong to hunt for her Third Soul Ring.
• In the Mist Forest, Ning Rongrong killed a seventeen-hundred-year Spirit Rhinoceros Beast and absorbed its Soul Ring.
• Ning Rongrong gained the Soul amplification skill, which increased Ning Fengzhi's Soul Power by thirty percent and sped up its recovery.