Chapter Summaries

Yuan Ming received the Flame Emperor Ruyi Cudgel and accepted Old Man Flame Emperor’s request to avenge the Pill King Pavilion. After teleporting off Flame Island, he encountered Jiang Liu, who demanded the inheritance, and fled as Jiang Liu revealed his strength.

• Old Man Flame Emperor fused the three rods into the Flame Emperor Ruyi Cudgel, which Yuan Ming refined and learned could control flames for pill and artifact refinement.
• Old Man Flame Emperor explained that the teleportation formation could take Yuan Ming outside, then asked him to destroy the Three Realms Cult if he ever reached the Mahayana Stage.
• Yuan Ming accepted the Pill King Pavilion’s hatred as his responsibility and promised to pass it down if he could not fulfill the request.
• Yuan Ming activated the formation and teleported off Flame Island, with a black shadow entering the formation alongside him.
• Yuan Ming discovered the shadow was the Hunchbacked Man, who gave his name as Jiang Liu and demanded the Circumference Heaven Exquisite Cauldron and half of the Pill King Secret Codex.
• Jiang Liu’s aura surged to the peak of the Void Return Stage, so Yuan Ming mounted Thunder Rain and immediately fled.

Yuan Ming tried to escape Jiang Liu but was forced into battle against the Void Return cultivator’s overwhelming speed. Yuan Ming trapped Jiang Liu with his spirit treasures and unleashed a devastating sword attack, but Jiang Liu escaped unharmed, leaving the fight unresolved.

• Jiang Liu intercepted Yuan Ming’s escape and wounded him with a lightning-fast strike, but Yuan Ming recovered and failed to catch him with the Soul Crows.
• Jiang Liu attacked with a golden melon hammer, and Yuan Ming used his skeletons and Houtu Peak to defend himself.
• Yuan Ming turned the surrounding bones into a vortex that disrupted spiritual energy and trapped Jiang Liu, then used his runes and the Ghostly White Bone Banner to disable him.
• Yuan Ming struck Jiang Liu with the Immortal Slaying Sword’s immense Sword Qi, but Jiang Liu emerged from a patch of shadow dozens of miles away without injury.

Yuan Ming and Jiang Liu fought to a stalemate until Flower Branch’s spores briefly weakened Jiang Liu, who unleashed a devastating burst of lightning. A spreading Black Mist then forced both men to flee, but it caught Yuan Ming and Flower Branch, causing their bodies and power to grow uncontrollably; Yuan Ming sought refuge in his Undying Tree form and discovered the mist had also reached the Spirit Beast Bag.

• Jiang Liu transformed into an Undying Tree and used spatial roots to attack, while Jiang Liu evaded them until neither could gain an advantage.
• Flower Branch emerged from the roots and attacked Jiang Liu, who struck back with his golden melon hammer.
• Flower Branch’s parasitic spores took hold of Jiang Liu, but he released a huge blast of black lightning that destroyed the spores and their attacks.
• A vast Black Mist advanced from the horizon, so Jiang Liu fled and Yuan Ming followed, but the mist overtook Yuan Ming and Flower Branch.
• Yuan Ming transformed into an Undying Tree to endure the mist and put the unconscious Flower Branch in the Spirit Beast Bag, where he found Thunder Rain was also enlarging.

Yuan Ming escaped the Black Mist by entering the Heaven-Stealing Cauldron and discovered that blue-gray tree bark could remove the mist from him and his companions. After the bark absorbed black qi from Thunder Rain’s soul, it sprouted and fused with Yuan Ming’s Undying Tree, awakening a new Origin Power that began merging its seven spiritual powers.

• Yuan Ming used the Silver Token to slow the Black Mist, then fled into the Heaven-Stealing Cauldron when a mysterious force from his Storage Ring absorbed some of the mist.
• Yuan Ming tested the items in his Storage Ring and found that the blue-gray tree bark absorbed all the Black Mist inside his body, while the mist within his Undying Tree had already fused into it.
• Yuan Ming cleared the Black Mist from Flower Branch and Thunder Rain, whose bodies remained enlarged; Thunder Rain awakened with blood-red eyes and attacked him.
• Yuan Ming restrained Thunder Rain as an Undying Tree and used the bark to draw black qi from its soul, restoring its clarity.
• The bark sprouted, showed Yuan Ming a vision of creation, and fused into his Undying Tree, where its Origin Power began merging the tree’s seven spiritual powers.

Yuan Ming learned that the World Tree bark had fused with the Undying Tree and gained the possibility of being cultivated into a new World Tree after absorbing Heavenly Cicada Mother Qi. With Thunder Rain and Flower Branch recovered, he sent Thunder Rain toward Spirit Ape Island while he examined his unstable gains in cultivation.

• Kong explained that the bark came from the World Tree and that Heavenly Cicada Mother Qi could revive dormant bloodlines while cultivating prey for the Six-Winged Heavenly Cicada.
• Kong told Yuan Ming that the Undying Tree had stabilized the bark's weak life force, giving him a chance to grow a new World Tree and potentially reach Great Ascension or contend for True Immortality.
• Yuan Ming forgave Thunder Rain's attack and ordered him to take the Heaven-Stealing Cauldron to Spirit Ape Island as a chance to redeem himself.
• Thunder Rain broke through to the fifth level, transformed into human form, and revealed his Thunder Roc Bloodline; Flower Branch also woke after recovering.
• After the Heavenly Cicada Mother Qi vanished, Yuan Ming sent Thunder Rain toward the East Pole Sea and found that his magical power and qi-and-blood power had surged, though both remained unstable.

Yuan Ming tried to nourish the World Tree bark fused to his body, while the search party failed to find him and Fairy Yun Luo. As the sect leaders prepared to launch a manhunt, the ground beneath them suddenly began to collapse.

• Yuan Ming poured mana, demon power, and spiritual energy into the bark, but the Origin of Ten Thousand Woods absorbed it without changing.
• Mao Yi, Bai Yuan, and Ouyang Qiang argued over whether Ouyang Qiang had hidden Yuan Ming and Fairy Yun Luo in her Cold Mist Hairpin.
• Zhu Yu proposed using his Diting Beast to inspect the hairpin and everyone present, and the beast found no one concealed.
• Mao Yi apologized for delaying the search, and Ouyang Qiang ordered Huangfu Jue to investigate Yuan Ming and Fairy Yun Luo's backgrounds.
• Zhu Yu proposed a joint wanted notice and a hunt across the East Pole Sea, but the ground suddenly shook and split open beneath the group.

After the Flame Emperor's Tomb collapsed, Jiang Liu revealed that he had taken its Void Crystal and discussed the Demon Realm's plans with Mao Yi. Meanwhile, Yuan Ming continued his journey with Thunder Rain and examined the first half of the Pill King Secret Codex.

• Mao Yi and the other survivors escaped the collapsing Flame Emperor's Tomb, then agreed to coordinate their search for Yuan Ming and Fairy Yun Luo and share the Pill King Secret Codex.
• Mao Yi returned to Flame Island and found Jiang Liu emerging from the magma with a Void Crystal, which he said had caused the tomb's collapse when he removed it.
• Jiang Liu told Mao Yi that Yuan Ming held most of the Pill King Pavilion inheritance and discussed the Reincarnation Demon Lord, the Chuyun Realm's Boundary Guardians, and his own plans to cultivate toward nirvana.
• Jiang Liu swallowed the Void Crystal and fell asleep as his body changed; Mao Yi placed him in a jade coffin and left.
• As Thunder Rain carried him over the Abyss Sea, Yuan Ming stopped trying to strengthen the World Tree's bark with spiritual energy and read the first half of the Pill King Secret Codex, discovering its detailed pill formulas and refining instructions.

Yuan Ming secured Shopkeeper San’s service for one hundred years by binding his soul and promising to teach him the Zhurong Heart Art. He then possessed King Kong instead of Huangfu Jue and left a Jade Slip with instructions, preparing to disrupt his enemies’ plans.

• Yuan Ming considered how the Pill King Secret Codex could help Xi Ying build a force, then captured and healed the unconscious Shopkeeper San.
• Yuan Ming restrained Shopkeeper San’s Nascent Soul with black chains and offered him freedom after one hundred years of service.
• Shopkeeper San agreed, and Yuan Ming planted a soul imprint while imparting the Zhurong Heart Art as compensation.
• Yuan Ming left Shopkeeper San to study the art, then emerged from the Heaven-Stealing Cauldron and lit Black Incense.
• Yuan Ming changed his target from Huangfu Jue to King Kong, possessed him on Spirit Ape Island, and left a Jade Slip beside a note telling him to examine it.

Yuan Ming and King Kong escaped East Pole Palace’s pursuit after clearing out Spirit Ape Island and moving its people into the Asura Palace. The chapter ended with Yuan Ming reuniting with King Kong and entering the crowded palace to face the settlers’ growing unrest.

• Yuan Ming warned King Kong that Ouyang Qiang might target Spirit Ape Island, so King Kong evacuated its supplies and willing residents before fleeing with the Asura Palace.
• Ouyang Qiang and Huangfu Jue returned to find Spirit Ape Island emptied and learned that Fairy Yun Luo had also prepared Cloud Mountain Island for her departure.
• Ouyang Qiang arranged joint efforts by the four great powers, and East Pole Palace, Luojia Mountain, Bailong Pool, and Black Fiend Sect issued wanted notices for Yuan Ming and Fairy Yun Luo.
• Two months later, Yuan Ming found King Kong hiding on a Reef-Bearing Turtle and learned that he had brought nearly a hundred cultivators and nearly all the mortals from Spirit Ape Island.
• Yuan Ming entered the Asura Palace, where more than a hundred thousand settlers were growing restless in the crowded square.

Yuan Ming settled the mortals and cultivators displaced from Spirit Ape Island in a safe region of the Asura Palace and kept them there to protect them from the four powers hunting him. After organizing their new settlement, he contacted Xi Ying and told her about his recent troubles and the Pill King Secret Codex.

• Yuan Ming calmed the gathered people, explained that four major powers were pursuing him, and assured them that the Asura Palace could protect them.
• Yuan Ming rewarded Sikong Lin and the other cultivators, then moved the mortals to the safer Flower Garden Plains and gave Sikong Lin supplies and a route map.
• Yuan Ming reassured the people at the other temporary sites and settled all the believers and cultivators in the black tower space, leaving Sikong Zhan in charge.
• Yuan Ming decided to keep the displaced people inside the Asura Palace for at least a hundred years and used the Heaven-Stealing Cauldron to contact Xi Ying.
• Yuan Ming possessed Silver Cat in Wind Snow City, told Xi Ying about his recent experiences, and said he had obtained the first half of the Pill King Secret Codex.

Yuan Ming shared the first half of the Pill King Secret Codex with Xi Ying and received her advice on managing his followers, while learning she planned to investigate a rumor of heavenly fire. Seven days later, he possessed Fairy Yun Luo and discovered she was imprisoned and being tortured by members of the Suxian Sect.

• Yuan Ming sent Xi Ying the first half of the Pill King Secret Codex, and she quickly comprehended it after undergoing a second wisdom enlightenment.
• Xi Ying told Yuan Ming about her promotion in the Tianpeng Merchant Association, her search for elemental treasures, and her plan to investigate rumored heavenly fire in the Ten Thousand Monster Mountain Range.
• Xi Ying advised Yuan Ming to organize his mortal believers into a nation and establish the Mingyue Cult as a sect to manage its cultivators.
• After his possession of Xi Ying ended, Yuan Ming planned to obtain the other half of the Pill King Secret Codex from Fairy Yun Luo and continued cultivating for seven days.
• Yuan Ming possessed Fairy Yun Luo and found her mana sealed, her belongings taken, and her body suspended in an underground prison.
• A woman in purple arrived to whip Fairy Yun Luo, and Yuan Ming realized that members of the Suxian Sect had captured and tortured her.

Yuan Ming learned that Fairy Yun Luo was being tortured for information about him and the Pill King Secret Codex, so he resolved to rescue her and sent Flower Branch and Thunder Rain to search for her prison. Months later, he arrived at Wuya Island and approached Qingjin Tower for information.

• Yuan Ming endured pain through Fairy Yun Luo as Zi Mei and the Cold-Eyed Woman whipped her and demanded Yuan Ming's hiding place and the Pill King Secret Codex.
• Yuan Ming used his Spiritual Sense to glimpse a desolate island with a crescent-shaped lake before the possession ended.
• Yuan Ming decided to rescue Fairy Yun Luo and asked Flower Branch to search the East Pole Sea with Thunder Rain for the island.
• Yuan Ming left the Asura Palace and traveled through the East Pole Sea for several months.
• Yuan Ming arrived at Wuya Island and asked a Qingjin Tower attendant whether the building was Qingjin Tower.

Yuan Ming hired Qingjin Tower to find Moon Lake Wasteland Island quickly, then used the wait to study alchemy at Tongju Xuan. He rapidly became a third-grade alchemist but stalled while trying to refine a fourth-grade Black Origin Pill.

• Yuan Ming, disguised as King Kong, paid Tao Rui a large deposit and promised triple payment for Qingjin Tower to find Moon Lake Wasteland Island within three months.
• Yuan Ming arranged to receive intelligence at Tongju Xuan on Wuya Island and bought spiritual materials to practice pill refinement while waiting.
• Yuan Ming quickly mastered first- and second-grade pills, but initially failed to refine third-grade pills because he lacked experience balancing their medicinal properties.
• Yuan Ming released Shopkeeper San for instruction and reached the realm of a third-grade alchemist in half a month, astonishing him.
• Yuan Ming began refining the fourth-grade Black Origin Pill and made no progress for more than ten days.

Yuan Ming used Shopkeeper San’s pill-refining insights to master the Black Origin Pill, then turned his attention to other pills while waiting for news from Qingjin Tower. Meanwhile, Yin Lang tasked Chen Luo with refining a Thunder Origin Pill, but they discovered someone else was buying its ingredients in bulk and went to investigate.

• Yuan Ming realized that his fire control was holding back his Black Origin Pill refinement, so he used the Heaven-Stealing Cauldron and Black Incense while Shopkeeper San cultivated the Zhurong Heart Art, raising his own mastery to the fifth realm.
• A month later, Yuan Ming refined a batch of exceptionally high-quality Black Origin Pills, and Shopkeeper San praised his skill and considered taking him as a disciple.
• Yuan Ming waited for news from Qingjin Tower, confirmed that Fairy Yun Luo and the others remained on the deserted island, and began studying the Purple Lightning Pill.
• Yin Lang told Chen Luo to prepare to refine the Thunder Origin Pill, promising its formula and materials in exchange for a hundred years of unpaid pill refining.
• Chen Luo reported that someone had been buying large quantities of pill-refining materials, including ingredients needed for the Thunder Origin Pill, so Yin Lang went with him to investigate.

Yuan Ming completed a batch of Purple Lightning Pills and was approached by Yin Lang, who offered him generous terms to join Wuya Island and asked him to refine pills. Suspicious of Yin Lang’s intentions, Yuan Ming left the island after receiving three suspected locations for his search from Qingjin Tower.

• Yuan Ming finished refining six Purple Lightning Pills intended to help Thunder Rain cultivate faster.
• Yin Lang and Chen Luo visited Yuan Ming, invited him to join Wuya Island, and offered him Void Return-level treatment and resources.
• Yuan Ming declined to join, then agreed to refine pills for Yin Lang after taking a few days to rest.
• After Yin Lang and Chen Luo left, Yuan Ming changed his appearance and went to Qingjin Tower, where Tao Rui gave him a Jade Slip marking three suspected locations.
• Yuan Ming gave Tao Rui Grand Void Communication Talismans and left Wuya Island to investigate the locations.

Yin Lang learned that the alchemist King Kong was likely Yuan Ming, just as Ye Wuya received an order to capture Yuan Ming and Fairy Yun Luo. Yuan Ming reached the deserted island where Fairy Yun Luo had been held, but found it empty and hid after sensing something behind him.

• The Brocade-tailed Parrot told Yin Lang that King Kong was a formidable Fifth-level alchemist and soul cultivator whose killing intent suggested he was dangerous, but Yin Lang ordered his subordinates to watch him.
• Yuan Ming had already left Tongju Xuan when Yin Lang's men arrived, so Yin Lang ordered the island sealed and sent people to search for him.
• Ye Wuya told Yin Lang, Yang Qing, Xu Changyu, and Lu He that East Pole Palace had ordered them to capture Fairy Yun Luo and Yuan Ming, who was also wanted by Luojia Mountain and Bailong Pool.
• Yin Lang recognized that the description of Yuan Ming matched King Kong and admitted he might have a clue about his whereabouts.
• Yuan Ming searched three deserted islands for Fairy Yun Luo and found her former holding site empty, then transformed into a stone with the Form Shifting Stone Talisman after sensing something behind him.

Yuan Ming evaded Ye Wuya and the Wuya Island cultivators, then used the Heaven-Stealing Cauldron to track Fairy Yun Luo aboard a Suxian Sect vessel. After possessing Zi Mei, he learned that the women had been hiding on Moon Lake Wasteland Island and redirected their suspicions toward Yun Luo.

• Ye Wuya and four Void Return deputy island masters searched the desolate island, but Yuan Ming stayed concealed as a stone despite Ye Wuya's Wind Spirit Butterfly Sound.
• Ye Wuya ordered a detection formation set up on the island and led the others away to search other islands, allowing Yuan Ming to bypass the formation and leave.
• Yuan Ming used the Heaven-Stealing Cauldron and Black Incense, discovering that Fairy Yun Luo was traveling across the sea aboard a Suxian Sect flying vessel.
• After waiting seven days, Yuan Ming possessed Zi Mei and learned that she and the other women had fled their hideout after someone placed a reward at Qingjin Tower to find them.
• Yuan Ming claimed Yun Luo had secretly revealed their general location, and the Cold-Eyed Woman resolved to further restrict Yun Luo's magical power and Spiritual Sense.

Yuan Ming learned that the Suxian Sect women had taken captive Yun Luo to Wuya Island, then returned there to rescue her. He met Flower Branch’s newly formed Sacred Spirit Society outside the island and entered with King Kong, leaving Flower Branch and Thunder Rain to wait in ambush.

• Yuan Ming discovered that Chen Yuluan, Wang Qi, and Zi Mei planned to hide on Wuya Island while forcing Yun Luo to reveal his whereabouts.
• Yuan Ming rushed back to Wuya Island and summoned Flower Branch and Thunder Rain to meet him outside it.
• Flower Branch arrived with the Sacred Spirit Society, whose members recognized Yuan Ming as their Sacred Lord, and he searched them to confirm their loyalty.
• Yuan Ming ordered Flower Branch and Thunder Rain to wait outside with the group while he and King Kong went to rescue Yun Luo.
• King Kong used the Bone Shedding and Marrow Changing Art to disguise himself as a white-haired man, then entered Wuya Island with Yuan Ming.
• Yuan Ming and King Kong crossed the island’s eastern district toward its long-term cave residences.

Yuan Ming and King Kong infiltrated Qingchun Garden to rescue Fairy Yun Luo, defeating and capturing Chen Yuluan and Wang Qi along the way. Yuan Ming opened the secret chamber where Fairy Yun Luo was held, while the two Suxian Sect cultivators remained guarded by King Kong.

• Yuan Ming used the Round Light Technique to confirm that Fairy Yun Luo was still imprisoned, then silently broke Qingchun Garden's restrictions and found Chen Yuluan and Wang Qi inside.
• Yuan Ming sealed the cave residence with barriers, and King Kong burst in and attacked Chen Yuluan while Wang Qi tried to restrain him.
• King Kong overcame Wang Qi's rope and poisoned spiritual treasures, seriously injuring both women without killing them.
• Yuan Ming sealed Chen Yuluan and Wang Qi's mana, healed their injuries, and ordered King Kong to guard them.
• Yuan Ming broke the restriction on Fairy Yun Luo's secret chamber and opened its door, while Chen Yuluan lowered her head with a strange glint in her eyes.

Zi Mei recruited Junior Sister Lin to help capture Yuan Ming in exchange for the last Pure Heart Pill, but an attack on her cave residence forced her to confront an unexpected crisis. Yuan Ming rescued Fairy Yun Luo, then began interrogating Wang Qi by soul search as Chen Yuluan tried to stop him.

• Zi Mei told Junior Sister Lin that the Suxian Sect was in danger and offered her the Pure Heart Pill if she helped capture Yuan Ming and recover the Pill King Secret Codex and Circumference Heaven Exquisite Cauldron.
• Junior Sister Lin agreed to seek help from Ye Wuya and the deputy island lords, but asked Zi Mei to copy the latter half of the Pill King Secret Codex for her.
• Zi Mei's jade pendant shattered, alerting her that the Qingchun Garden cave residence had been attacked and that Chen Yuluan and Wang Qi had been captured; she suspected Yuan Ming was responsible.
• Yuan Ming freed Fairy Yun Luo from her restraints and used Undying Tree Demon power to stabilize her injuries, but she remained unconscious under a sleeping technique.
• Chen Yuluan begged Yuan Ming to spare them, while Wang Qi threatened him, so Yuan Ming restrained Wang Qi and began using a soul-searching technique.
• Chen Yuluan attacked Yuan Ming with black needles, but King Kong deflected them and knocked her unconscious.