Chapter Summaries

Su Bai bought talismans at the Black Market, then worked overtime refining Golden Marrow Pills while waiting for news about Dragon Daoist. Lu Ming explained that Dragon Daoist’s son, Xiao Long'er, had drawn the attention of the Immortal Palace and the Holy Hall, leaving Su Bai to suspect one of them had commissioned his assassination mission.

• Su Bai spent 65,000 Spirit Stones on Black Sky Talismans and other beginner-grade talismans, leaving the Black Market with over 310,000 Spirit Stones.
• Su Bai returned to his shop and spent several days refining Golden Marrow Pills in preparation for the alchemy convention and his investigation of Dragon Daoist.
• Zhang Ying told Su Bai that Lu Ming had arrived, and Lu Ming visited him in the tea room after several exhausting days on duty.
• Lu Ming told Su Bai that the Immortal Palace and the Holy Hall were trying to recruit Xiao Long'er, a gifted lightning spell cultivator and Dragon Daoist’s son.
• Su Bai learned that Dragon Daoist had asked the Heavenly Punishment Platform for help and that its officers were guarding Xiao Long'er around the clock.
• Lu Ming said that Xiao Long'er had become captivated by a Jade Slip from the Immortal Palace, and Su Bai wondered whether someone from either organization had commissioned his assassination mission.

Su Bai secretly guarded Little Dragon and Dragon Daoist, hoping to copy their talents, but Holy Hall Cultivators abducted Little Dragon. Su Bai followed the pursuit outside Heavenly Star City, where he found Dragon Daoist and two enforcers besieged while Little Dragon lay unconscious nearby.

• Lu Ming told Su Bai that Dragon Daoist was a powerful Peak Foundation Establishment Body Cultivator who had driven back Immortal Palace Cultivators.
• Su Bai watched Little Dragon and Dragon Daoist at Starlight Academy, judging Dragon Daoist’s strength and deciding he wanted to copy the father and son’s talents.
• On the eve of the alchemy convention, a blood-robed Holy Hall Cultivator appeared beside Little Dragon and abducted him using a black substance.
• Dragon Daoist tracked the abduction with a leaf-shaped artifact and pursued the kidnappers with Lu Ming and another enforcer, while Su Bai followed using a Teleportation Talisman.
• Outside Heavenly Star City, Su Bai found Dragon Daoist, Lu Ming, and the other enforcer besieged by five Holy Hall Cultivators, with Little Dragon unconscious on the ground.

Su Bai intervened in the battle between the Holy Hall and the Heavenly Punishment Platform, taking Little Dragon and drawing two Holy Hall Cultivators after him. He killed both opponents with chained sword techniques and left the battle still underway elsewhere.

• Su Bai revealed his Azure Fish Hall attire, confusing both sides, then swept Little Dragon away on the Soaring Dragon Sword.
• Two Peak Foundation Establishment Holy Hall Cultivators pursued Su Bai, who stopped and chose to fight them both.
• Su Bai trapped one pursuer in Thousand Lightning Sword Prison, destroyed his body, and killed him with the technique’s second stage before he could revive again.
• The other pursuer shattered Su Bai’s defensive banner and injured him, but the Ice Crystal Jade Puppet blocked a bloody-claw strike.
• Su Bai infused the Soaring Dragon Sword with Natal Sword Qi and pierced the second pursuer’s defenses, killing him outright.

Su Bai rescued Little Dragon from the Holy Hall Cultivators and concealed his Azure Fish Hall identity as he joined Dragon Daoist and the Heavenly Punishment Platform officers. They gave Su Bai a temporary collaborator identity so he could guard Little Dragon in Heavenly Star City for the remainder of his three-month mission.

• Su Bai recovered some Spiritual Power after killing the Holy Hall leader, then returned to Dragon Daoist, Lu Ming, and Little Dragon as the remaining Holy Hall Cultivators fled.
• Su Bai introduced himself as Hai Jiu, explained that he had accepted a three-month protection mission, and concealed his Azure Fish Hall traits with a Veiled Hat and Robe.
• After waking, Little Dragon argued with Dragon Daoist about joining the Immortal Palace, and Su Bai slapped him before Lu Ming kicked him for insulting his rescuers.
• Su Bai asked Dragon Daoist and the officers for an identity that would let him stay near Little Dragon, and they granted him temporary Heavenly Punishment Platform collaborator status.
• Su Bai accepted the token and followed the others through Starlight Academy's main gate to Little Dragon's courtyard in Heavenly Star City.

Su Bai visited Little Dragon to keep him from pursuing the Immortal Palace and discovered that his powerful lightning talent was held back by his poor Spirit Root. After slapping Little Dragon and giving him Golden Marrow Pills, Su Bai left him with encouragement to cultivate.

• Su Bai refined two batches of Golden Marrow Pills, then planned to attend the Star Luo Pill Pavilion alchemy convention with Han Yanzi.
• Su Bai visited Little Dragon's courtyard and recognized his lightning arts as Quasi-Second Tier, while Dragon Daoist complained that Little Dragon had mastered them in five days.
• Su Bai slapped Little Dragon and warned him that his weak cultivation realm made his strong Spell Talent ineffective.
• Little Dragon explained that his Six-element Spirit Root made cultivation slow and that he believed only the Immortal Palace would invest in him.
• Su Bai gave Little Dragon a bottle of Golden Marrow Pills and told him to cultivate instead of thinking about the Immortal Palace.

Su Bai calmed Turtle Son Little Dragon, who took a Golden Marrow Pill to cultivate. The pill's reputation among Starlight Academy's Qi Refining Stage disciples was explained.

• Su Bai temporarily controlled Turtle Son Little Dragon's emotions with various methods of discipline.
• Turtle Son Little Dragon clutched the Golden Marrow Pill and went to his room to cultivate.
• The academy's young disciples knew the quality of the Golden Marrow Pills from Number Nine Pill Shop.
• Starlight Academy's Qi Refining Stage disciples called those pills "Number Nine," and only Single Spirit Root disciples or wealthy families could afford them.

Su Bai and Han Yanzi used a Teleportation Array paid for by the Star Luo Pill Pavilion and arrived above an azure sea. Su Bai kept himself from falling into the water, while Han Yanzi began to explain the dangerous arrival.

• Su Bai and Han Yanzi stepped onto the Teleportation Array.
• A Cultivator placed Mid-grade Spirit Stones on the array and activated it at the Pill Pavilion's expense.
• Su Bai and Han Yanzi appeared above an azure sea.
• Su Bai condensed Spiritual Power to hover and avoid falling into the water.
• Han Yanzi began explaining what happened when someone teleported there.

The chapter explained that the Star Luo Pill Pavilion's Competitive Pill Formula was created by True Man He and served only as a test of alchemy. It left the outcome of refining the pills unresolved.

• The Star Luo Pill Pavilion's Competitive Pill Formula was described as an invention created by True Man He.
• Competitive Spirit Pills were said to have no special effects and to be made purely for alchemy.
• The chapter explained that Competitive Pill Formulas had many possible combinations and fusion methods.
• The narrator said success depended on an alchemist's Alchemy Talent, and that those with poor talent might fail even after using all their spirit herbs.

Su Bai, competing as Lu Jiu, produced the highest-quality Competitive Spirit Pills and drew the attention of True Man He. The chapter left him accepted as True Man He's personal disciple and summoned away for a private meeting.

• Su Bai refined a third furnace of Competitive Spirit Pills, improving their quality, and submitted them to Fang Yuan.
• The pill-refining convention ended, and the Alchemists received Jade Slips recording the competitors' techniques.
• True Man He named Li Chen, Shen Fei, and Lu Jiu as the competition's three standout Alchemists, praising Lu Jiu's pills as the best.
• True Man He asked whether Lu Jiu had a master, then offered to take him as his disciple.
• Lu Jiu accepted, and True Man He announced a disciple-acceptance ceremony in three days before leaving with him.

True Man He accepted Su Bai as his disciple, linked him to the Pill Pavilion Secret Realm for emergency recalls, and planned to strengthen his alchemy fundamentals. Su Bai agreed to train there after finishing matters on Alchemy Street in a little over two months.

• True Man He explained his hopes that Su Bai would become the Demon Star Sea’s first Nascent Soul Realm alchemist, citing Su Bai’s talent and firm Dao Heart.
• True Man He showed Su Bai the Secret Realm’s core magic array and linked him to its Origin, allowing him to teleport back to the Secret Realm in emergencies at a great cost to its Origin.
• Su Bai told True Man He how he had learned alchemy and opened Number Nine Pill Shop, and True Man He judged his foundations unstable despite his talent.
• True Man He proposed having Su Bai cultivate in seclusion and practice First-tier Spirit Pills before learning Second-tier Spirit Pills, with True Man He supplying the herbs.
• Su Bai asked to handle matters on Alchemy Street for a little over two months first, and True Man He told him to settle them and not become attached to Spirit Stones.

Su Bai returned from the alchemy convention and prepared for his new role as True Man He's disciple while continuing to protect Little Dragon and run his pill shop. In September, Zhang Ying went to reunite with her family, whom Lin Wan and Shen Shuangshuang had brought to Heavenly Star City's outer city.

• True Man He saw Su Bai out of the Secret Realm and told him to attend the disciple-taking ceremony three days later, where he would introduce him to influential figures.
• Su Bai checked on Little Dragon at Starlight Academy, then returned to Number Nine Pill Shop and told Zhang Ying to keep it open while he studied at the Star Luo Pill Pavilion.
• Su Bai gave Zhang Ying a talisman containing Thousand Lightning Lure to help protect her after learning that her old friends had contacted her.
• Su Bai continued refining pills and guarding Little Dragon, while the shop's business surged and Little Dragon cultivated in seclusion with Golden Marrow Pills.
• In September, Zhang Ying took leave and hurried with Lin Wan and Shen Shuangshuang to see her family, whom they had brought to the outer city after finding them begging.

Zhang Ying discovered that Lin Wan and Shen Shuangshuang had lured her into a trap, murdered her family, and tried to rob her. After avenging herself, she found her surviving brother Zhang Haoran had Spiritual Roots and brought him back to Number Nine Pill Pavilion to meet Su Bai.

• Lin Wan and Shen Shuangshuang attacked Zhang Ying and admitted they had killed her family, so Zhang Ying used Su Bai’s Thousand Lightning Lure talisman to kill them.
• Zhang Ying told Su Bai what had happened, and he gave her three more talismans before she left to settle her family affairs.
• Zhang Ying learned that her parents and younger siblings were dead, but her younger brother Zhang Haoran had survived because he had been out playing.
• Zhang Ying rescued Zhang Haoran from an inn attendant and discovered that he had fire, wood, and earth Three Spirit Roots.
• After a journey of more than twenty days, Zhang Ying brought Zhang Haoran back to Number Nine Pill Pavilion to meet Su Bai.

Su Bai took Zhang Ying’s younger brother Zhang Haoran in as an alchemy apprentice, then returned to the academy to copy Little Dragon’s Mysterious Tier Thunder Soul Resonance talent. The chapter ended just after Su Bai slapped Little Dragon and activated the copying ability.

• Su Bai examined Zhang Haoran’s Spirit Root, found he had promising Three Spirit Root Talent, and offered him a place as an apprentice at Number Nine Pill Shop.
• Zhang Ying began teaching Zhang Haoran to identify spirit herbs and learn the basics of alchemy.
• When Immortal Talent Reflection refreshed on November 5th, Su Bai went to the academy, where Dragon Daoist reported feeling that someone was scouting nearby.
• Su Bai entered Little Dragon’s room and used his detection ability to confirm that Long Xin possessed Mysterious Tier Thunder Soul Resonance.
• Su Bai slapped Little Dragon and ordered his copying ability to copy Long Xin’s Thunder Soul Resonance.

Su Bai copied Long Xin’s Thunder Soul Resonance talent, left him with advice to seek safety in the Immortal Palace, and returned to his alchemy cultivation. That night, the Demonic Sect Sacred Hall abducted Long Xin and dragged Dragon Daoist into a bloody hole.

• Su Bai told Long Xin he was leaving, advised him to stop rebelling and consider joining the Immortal Palace, then departed for Number Nine Pill Shop.
• Su Bai suspended Golden Marrow Pill sales through Zhang Ying and went to the Star Luo Pill Pavilion to study alchemy with True Man He.
• Long Xin calmly told Dragon Daoist he would join the Immortal Palace, but a bloody hole opened beneath Dragon Daoist and blood-robed attackers dragged him inside.
• Long Xin struck one attacker with Thousand Lightning Lure, but the Holy Hall cultivator trapped him in a blood-colored cage and teleported away with him.
• Starlight Academy personnel arrived and found that both Long Xin and Dragon Daoist had vanished.

An Immortal Palace Sword Cultivator rescued Long Xin from the Holy Hall Cultivator who had abducted him, then offered him a chance to join the Immortal Palace. Long Xin accepted and set out with her to meet Immortal Palace’s Thunder.

• A Holy Hall Cultivator carried Long Xin away in a cage that drained his Spiritual Power and told him that his father was dead.
• An Immortal Palace female Sword Cultivator defeated and killed the Holy Hall Cultivator, then used Shadow Dust and a Teleportation Talisman to escape with Long Xin.
• Other Holy Hall Cultivators found the scene and concluded that the Immortal Palace had taken the Thunderous Pill.
• The Immortal Palace Sword Cultivator freed Long Xin and told him that the Azure Fish Hall assassin he called Uncle Jiu was strong; Long Xin learned Uncle Jiu’s true identity and remembered their time together.
• Long Xin agreed to join the Immortal Palace and vowed to kill every Holy Hall Cultivator; the Sword Cultivator carried him away to meet Immortal Palace’s Thunder.

Long Xin accompanied Sword Three to an Immortal Palace outpost, while Su Bai received True Man He’s alchemy furnace and began foundational training in the Pill Pavilion Secret Realm. Su Bai started refining rare First-tier pills in a volcano, where his first formula quickly taught him new alchemy techniques.

• Long Xin asked the female Sword Cultivator her name, and she identified herself as Immortal Palace, Sword Three, before taking him to an outpost near Heavenly Star City.
• True Man He gave Su Bai the high-grade Spirit Artifact Jade Nectar Profound Flame Furnace and told him to begin foundational alchemy training.
• True Man He handed Su Bai a Jade Slip containing nearly a hundred First-tier Spirit Pill formulas and took him to cultivate inside a volcano in the Pill Pavilion Secret Realm.
• Su Bai entered the magma, brought out the Jade Nectar Profound Flame Furnace, and began refining the Honey Rice Pill.
• Su Bai learned several alchemy techniques while refining the Honey Rice Pill and gained valuable foundational knowledge from True Man He’s formula.

Su Bai completed his study of nearly a hundred first-tier Spirit Pill formulas and prepared to advance to second-tier alchemy under True Man He. As his cultivation path remained centered on the Sword Dao, True Man He began training him with the costly Blood Burning Soul Devouring Pill.

• Su Bai mastered nearly a hundred first-tier Spirit Pill formulas during more than ten months of alchemy training and decided to copy True Man He's Alchemy Talent when Immortal Talent Reflection refreshed.
• Su Bai resolved to focus on the Sword Dao as a framework for combining the Five Elements, lightning arts, and other attributes.
• Su Bai met True Man He in the Alchemy Furnace statue's hall and returned the unused Spirit Medicine Ingredients after completing the first stage of training.
• True Man He began Su Bai's second stage of alchemy cultivation, teaching him to record each batch of second-tier Spirit Pills for later review.
• True Man He gave Su Bai the Blood Burning Soul Devouring Pill formula and warned that each batch cost six thousand Spirit Stones, prompting Su Bai to promise he would work carefully.

Su Bai trained under True Man He and successfully refined several Second-tier Spirit Pills during closed-door cultivation. He ended by producing four complete Spirit Soothing Pills, and True Man He declared the difficult pill only half-mastered before ending the training.

• Su Bai refined a batch of Blood Burning Soul Devouring Pills on his first attempt with True Man He's guidance.
• True Man He taught Su Bai to refine the Primordial Chaos Pill and its improved version, then guided him through ten more Second-tier Spirit Pills.
• Su Bai learned that the Blue Origin Pill was likely derived from the Primordial Chaos Pill after comparing their effects.
• True Man He explained that refining the rare, high-grade Spirit Soothing Pill would mark the end of Su Bai's closed-door cultivation.
• Su Bai used the only prepared set of ingredients to make four finished Spirit Soothing Pills and four scorched, incomplete ones.
• True Man He said Su Bai had mastered half of the Spirit Soothing Pill and ended the closed-door cultivation.

After emerging from a year of alchemy training under True Man He, Su Bai became a Foundation Establishment Realm Alchemy Grandmaster and prepared to change his shop’s main product to Primordial Chaos Pills. He returned to Number Nine Pill Shop, where Zhang Ying and Zhang Haoran welcomed him, and announced the new product and price.

• True Man He ended Su Bai’s tutelage and sent him out of the Pill Pavilion Secret Realm to refine pills himself.
• Su Bai registered the Primordial Chaos Pill as his main product at the Star Luo Pill Pavilion, with ingredient supplies set to resume the next day.
• Su Bai checked his Azure Fish Hall messages and learned that three missed missions had put him in a suspended-assignment state, but he chose not to reactivate his assassin duties.
• Su Bai returned to Number Nine Pill Shop, reviewed Zhang Ying’s accounts, accepted the shop’s profits, and rewarded her with three hundred Spirit Stones.
• Su Bai announced that Number Nine Pill Shop would sell Primordial Chaos Pills as its main Spirit Pill for six hundred Spirit Stones per bottle.

Su Bai expanded Number Nine Pill Shop’s offerings and guided Zhang Ying and Zhang Haoran before visiting the Heavenly Star City Black Market to seek powerful lightning spells. He bought the Nine Tribulation Thunder Spear and continued examining the stall owner’s other expensive jade slips.

• Su Bai set Number Nine Pill Shop to sell Primordial Chaos Pills at the normal market price, and Zhang Ying hung the new sign.
• Su Bai guided Zhang Ying and Zhang Haoran in alchemy, judging that Zhang Haoran might develop a ranked Alchemy Talent.
• Su Bai went to the Heavenly Star City Black Market seeking Lightning Attribute Spell Divine Abilities and questioned the Cat-faced Stall Owner about better offerings.
• The Cat-faced Stall Owner presented three high-grade spell jade slips at twenty thousand Spirit Stones each, and Su Bai chose the Nine Tribulation Thunder Spear.
• Su Bai paid twenty thousand Spirit Stones, confirmed the Nine Tribulation Thunder Spear jade slip was genuine, and began inspecting the other two slips.