Chapter Summaries

Qing Lin found a strange copper plate at Elder Yan’s stall on the top floor of the Alchemist Trading Fair and bought it with a low-grade Seventh-Grade pill. A young man from the Xuanming Sect then tried to claim the plate, leaving Qing Lin facing the sect’s threatening entourage.

• Qing Lin wandered the top floor and noticed a rusty copper plate among the treasures at Elder Yan’s stall.
• Elder Yan asked for a high-grade Seventh-Grade pill, but Qing Lin bargained him down to a low-grade Seventh-Grade pill and made the trade.
• As Qing Lin reached for the copper plate, a white-robed young man pinned it with his purple iron fan and offered her double her price.
• Qing Lin refused to give up the plate and warned the young man to move his fan.
• The young man revealed that the Xuanming Sect was determined to obtain the copper plate, and the crowd recognized the sect’s backing from the Heavenly Nether Sect.

Liu Ling defended Qing Lin from Chen Xian and the Xuanming Sect, easily defeating Chen Xian and Elder Xuan. After Chen Xian fled, Tian Lei Zi and Xiao Yan arrived and recognized Liu Ling as the Mercenary Guild president.

• Chen Xian tried to buy Qing Lin’s copper fragment for double the price, but Liu Ling stepped in after she refused.
• Liu Ling kicked Chen Xian and then sent Elder Xuan flying when the elder attacked him.
• Liu Ling ordered Chen Xian and his group to leave, and they hurried downstairs with Chen Xian injured.
• Tian Lei Zi and Xiao Yan came upstairs and encountered Chen Xian’s group, who recognized and greeted Tian Lei Zi.
• Xiao Yan recognized Liu Ling as the Mercenary Guild president, and Tian Lei Zi recalled reports of Liu Ling’s powerful soul force.

Liu Ling met Xiao Yan and impressed Tian Lei Zi with his talent while revealing the Spirit Nurturing Dust hidden in Qing Lin’s bronze piece. After Liu Ling left, Tian Lei Zi predicted he would likely win the Pill Gathering if he entered.

• Tian Lei Zi recognized Liu Ling as the Mercenary Guild president, and Xiao Yan greeted Liu Ling respectfully.
• Chen Xian overheard their conversation and resolved to learn Liu Ling’s strength so he could avenge his humiliation.
• Tian Lei Zi identified the bronze piece as an ancient artifact containing Spirit Nurturing Dust, and Qing Lin kept the bargain she had bought.
• Liu Ling and Qing Lin said goodbye to Tian Lei Zi and Xiao Yan and left with the bronze piece.
• Tian Lei Zi told Xiao Yan that Liu Ling surpassed the young people of the Pill Region and had a ninety percent chance of winning the Pill Gathering if he competed.

Liu Ling arrived at the Pill Gathering venue in Sacred Pill City and learned how the two selection trials would qualify alchemists for the final competition. As the opening bell rang, the crowd turned toward the platform where the Pill Tower's upper echelons were expected to appear.

• The Ye Family withdrew from the Five Great Families' assessment and was removed from their ranks, losing the Pill Tower's direct protection.
• Liu Ling and his group arrived at the packed Pill Gathering plaza and saw the floating platforms reserved for finalists.
• Ye Zhong explained that participants first had to pass the Illusionary Realm trial, then gather listed medicinal ingredients in the Pill Realm to qualify for the final competition.
• A bell rang across the plaza, silencing the crowd and drawing its attention to the eastern platform where the Pill Tower's upper echelons would appear.

The Pill Tower’s three giants appeared and Xuan Kong Zi announced the Pill Gathering’s trials and rewards. Liu Ling entered the Soul Illusion Realm, while the giants discussed his strength and his interest in the Three Thousand Yan Yan Fire; Xuan Yi appeared distracted.

• A bell sounded, and the Pill Tower’s three giants appeared before the assembled alchemists.
• Xuan Kong Zi welcomed the contestants and explained that the champion would earn a chance to become a Pill Tower giant’s candidate and receive an ancient soul cultivation method.
• Xuan Kong Zi opened the Soul Illusion Realm and summoned contestants of the fifth tier and above to begin the first stage.
• Liu Ling told Qing Lin not to cause trouble, received encouragement from her and Ye Zhong, and entered the realm.
• Xuan Kong Zi and Tian Lei Zi discussed Liu Ling’s cultivation, his Mercenary Guild, and his aim to claim the Three Thousand Yan Yan Fire.
• Xuan Kong Zi turned to Xuan Yi for her opinion and noticed that she was watching something other than the realm’s entrance.

Xiao Yan entered the Illusionary Realm checkpoint while Liu Ling raced through its distorted passages using his Spiritual Strength. Liu Ling resisted an illusion of Gu He and reached the passage to the Pill Realm ahead of the other contestants.

• Xuan Yi watched Xiao Yan and Yao Chen arrive, and Xuan Kong Zi urged her to take the opportunity to reconnect with Yao Chen.
• Xiao Yan entered the dark gray Illusionary Realm after receiving advice from Yao Chen.
• Liu Ling advanced through the checkpoint faster than the other contestants by sensing the distorted routes.
• Liu Ling dispelled an illusion of Gu He and continued toward the exit without being delayed by further illusions.
• Liu Ling reached the passage to the Pill Realm, where an elderly Pill Tower member sat on a giant black turtle.

Liu Ling reached the first-round clearing first and learned that all successful participants would enter the Pill Realm together. As the other alchemists gathered, he headed into the realm as soon as the old man announced the start, without collecting the provided items.

• Liu Ling arrived first, and the old man recognized him as the Mercenary Guild President and explained the Pill Realm round’s requirements.
• Liu Ling accepted the ingredient list, map, and spatial stone, then waited for the other participants.
• Old Man Mu Gu arrived in disguise, followed by a woman in black and several other alchemists, including Chen Xian.
• Chen Xian noticed Liu Ling, grew apprehensive, and greeted him respectfully.
• Xiao Yan spotted Liu Ling, greeted him, and sat beside him.
• When the old man called the participants forward to collect their items and enter the Pill Realm, Liu Ling went straight through the passage without collecting anything.

Liu Ling entered the ruined Pill Realm and studied the ingredient-gathering task and a map with three marked areas. After contestants arrived and one attacked another, Liu Ling recognized a thousand-year Earth Yellow Essence and suspected a greater treasure lay beneath it.

• Liu Ling arrived in the Pill Realm and judged its energy degraded compared with his Master's Nine-Colored Realm.
• Liu Ling examined the ingredient list requiring three medicinal treasures and noticed that the Pill Realm map marked three possible locations.
• Nearly a dozen alchemists arrived, and a giant python attacked one of them before he killed it with Dou Qi.
• A contestant struck the alchemist with a steel rod, forcing him to crush his Spatial Stone and leave the Pill Realm.
• The contestants spotted a thousand-year Earth Yellow Essence beneath the python's hiding place, and Liu Ling inferred that another spiritual treasure had nurtured it from below.

Liu Ling found Earth Core Jade Mother containing Earth Core Soul Marrow and stored both treasures away. He then entered the Myriad Medicine Mountain Range to search for the Demonic Blood Spirit Fruit Paste, approaching a towering peak where the mountain’s gathered treasures were likely located.

• Liu Ling dug into the pit left by the burly man and uncovered a large piece of Earth Core Jade Mother coated in jade liquid.
• Liu Ling carved into the jade and found Earth Core Soul Marrow, which could temper and purify the soul, then stored both treasures.
• Liu Ling traveled to the Myriad Medicine Mountain Range, where Ye Zhong had said a peak seventh-tier magical beast ruled and gathered natural treasures.
• Liu Ling entered the range and brushed aside the attacks of its magical beasts, including seventh-tier beasts.
• Liu Ling reached a towering peak obscured by dense energy mist.

Liu Ling visited the Myriad Medicine Mountain Range, where its ruler Xiong Zhan welcomed him and let him search a trove of rare medicinal ingredients. Liu Ling found the last item for his mission and the Heavenly Hemp Jade Stone Essence, used the latter to strengthen his soul, and left with his Soul Realm still at the middle stage of the Spirit Realm.

• Liu Ling encountered Xiong Zhan, revealed his five-star Dou Zun cultivation, and was escorted to the mountain's collection of medicinal ingredients.
• Liu Ling found the Demonic Blood Spirit Fruit Paste, completing his mission, and gathered ingredients for harmonizing the Earth Core Soul Marrow.
• Liu Ling gave Xiong Zhan a Seventh-Grade healing pill and used the Heavenly Hemp Jade Stone Essence to prepare and swallow the harmonized Earth Core Soul Marrow.
• Liu Ling's soul power surged, but his Soul Realm remained at the middle stage of the Spirit Realm, and he left the mountain range.
• Xiong Zhan sensed intruders targeting the mountain's medicinal ingredients and vanished from the stone hall to confront them.

Xiao Yan was ambushed by a powerful alchemist and forced out of the Pill Realm, ending his Pill Gathering run. Liu Ling completed the second stage first and left for the final competition as the remaining contestants gathered at the Pill Realm’s exit.

• Xiao Yan was blasted out of the Pill Realm by a high-level Dou Zong alchemist, and Elder Yao comforted him while criticizing the competition rules.
• Xuan Kong Zi and Tian Lei Zi rejected Xuan Yi’s suggestion to change the Pill Gathering rules and agreed to apologize to Yao Chen.
• Liu Ling reached the exit plaza shortly after completing his task and waited there until the ten-day deadline passed.
• A Pill Tower elder opened a spatial rift and checked the contestants’ medicine lists and ingredients, sending away those who had failed to complete their tasks.
• Liu Ling handed over his verified items and entered the rift to join the final competition.
• The Pill Gathering’s final-stage crowd gathered before the Pill Realm’s exit, awaiting the qualified participants.

Liu Ling emerged first from the Pill Realm and drew the attention of the Pill Tower’s three giants, while other successful contestants, including Cao Ying and Song Qing, gathered in the square. After the gate closed, Xuan Kong Zi announced that the final round would decide the Pill Gathering champion.

• Liu Ling exited the Pill Realm first, and Qing Lin, Liu Rulong, and Ye Zhong welcomed him.
• Xuan Kong Zi, Xuan Yi, and Tian Lei Zi praised Liu Ling’s soul power and talent as he calmly met their gazes.
• Xiao Yan watched Liu Ling with Elder Yao, who praised Liu Ling’s abilities.
• Cao Ying, Song Qing, and the remaining contestants emerged as the spatial gate filled the square with alchemists.
• The spatial gate closed, and Xuan Kong Zi announced that the next round would determine the Pill Gathering champion.

The final round of the Pill Gathering began as more than a thousand contestants took to the sky platforms and prepared to refine their pills. Cao Ying displayed her powerful Blood Demon Flame, and the chapter ended when Heavenly Flames erupted among contestants in the central area.

• Xuan Kong Zi opened the final round and told the contestants to refine the pills they were best at without restrictions.
• Liu Ling claimed a spacious platform in the central area and planned to refine a difficult Eighth-Grade Pill capable of producing at least Five-Colored Pill Lightning.
• Xuan Kong Zi rang the bell, and the contestants raised their cauldrons and began preparing to refine pills.
• Cao Ying summoned her Blood Demon Flame, drawing Liu Ling's admiration and praise from Xuan Kong Zi and the other judges.
• Song Qing, Dan Chen, and other contestants summoned powerful Beast Fires.
• Several cauldrons in the central area erupted when Heavenly Flames appeared, shocking the crowd and knocking contestants from their platforms.

Liu Ling revealed his Green Lotus Core Flame during the Pill Gathering’s third round and drew attention as the Northern Region Mercenary Guild president. He rapidly refined the ingredients for an Eighth-Grade Pill and began their initial fusion, while the contestants continued their work as three days passed.

• Liu Ling revealed his Green Lotus Core Flame, prompting spectators to identify him as the Northern Region Mercenary Guild president.
• Liu Ling brought out a large red cauldron and prepared more than a thousand ingredients for an Eighth-Grade Pill.
• Liu Ling rapidly refined nearly a hundred ingredients at once, finishing the first step in less than two hours without an accident.
• Liu Ling began the initial fusion as the other contestants continued refining their pills.
• Three days passed while the contestants worked and spectators waited for the Pill Gathering’s final day.

Liu Ling carefully fused his refined medicinal ingredients into a pill embryo and nurtured it in his cauldron as the Pill Gathering progressed. Seventh-Grade Pills began summoning pill lightning, while the spectators and masters awaited Liu Ling’s anticipated Eighth-Grade Pill.

• Liu Ling used the Green Lotus Core Flame and his soul power to fuse the four refined medicinal masses into a pill embryo.
• Over the next seven days, more contestants completed their pills, but none summoned pill lightning at first.
• Yao Chen and the Pill Tower’s three giants sensed that Liu Ling’s pill embryo had been nurturing in his cauldron for three days and expected an Eighth-Grade Pill soon.
• A middle-aged contestant became the first to summon pill lightning, revealing that he had refined a low Seventh-Grade Pill.
• More contestants summoned pill lightning, and a graying, bearded man laughed as he caught the bolt striking his mid-grade Seventh-Grade Pill.

Liu Ling continued nurturing an embryonic pill whose energy had already reached the eighth grade while the Pill Gathering’s remaining contestants succeeded or failed around him. Song Qing produced a high-quality seventh-grade peak pill, but the true championship contenders barely noticed, and Liu Ling’s pill remained unfinished.

• Liu Ling kept refining his embryonic pill, whose energy had surpassed seventh-grade peak and reached the eighth grade.
• A middle-aged contestant’s cauldron exploded, ruining more than ten days of work and ending his chance to contend.
• Yao Chen recognized Old Man Qing Hua as an old-generation alchemist seeking the Three Thousand Burning Flame, while Xiao Yan pointed out another concealed elder.
• Song Qing refined a seventh-grade peak pill whose quality exceeded those produced earlier and endured its violent pill lightning.
• Song Qing found that Liu Ling, Cao Ying, and the other leading contenders showed little reaction, leaving him short of the championship contest.

As the Pill Gathering continued, Dan Chen and Cao Ying each refined an eighth-grade pill, with Cao Ying producing a three-color Pill Lightning Cloud. Xiao Yan then noticed that Old Monster Qing Hua and the black-robed elder were close to finishing their pills.

• Song Qing refined a peak seventh-grade pill, but the result left him short of championship contention.
• Eight other seventh-grade high-tier pills appeared as lightning struck across the plaza, leaving Liu Ling, Cao Ying, Old Monster Qing Hua, a black-robed elder, and Dan Chen still refining.
• Dan Chen poured her blood into her pill, causing her cauldron to explode and her eighth-grade pill to produce a two-color Pill Lightning Cloud.
• Cao Ying refined an eighth-grade pill whose lightning cloud showed a faint third color, surpassing Dan Chen's result and astonishing Song Qing.
• Xiao Yan watched the results as Elder Yao recalled his own Pill Gathering victory, then pointed out that Old Monster Qing Hua and the black-robed elder were about to finish their pills.

Old Monster Qing Hua and the black-robed elder finished refining pills, and the elder’s powerful Pill Lightning exposed him as Mu Gu, Yao Chen’s old enemy and a member of the Soul Hall. The Pill Tower’s leaders chose not to intervene, while Mu Gu’s Pill Lightning began to reveal its grade.

• Old Monster Qing Hua finished his pill and drew Three-color Pill Lightning, which surpassed Cao Ying’s in depth.
• The black-robed elder released a powerful pillar of light, exposing his aura and prompting Yao Chen to recognize him as Mu Gu.
• Xiao Yan and Yao Chen reacted with killing intent, while Xuan Kong Zi decided the Pill Tower could not disqualify Mu Gu without risking its reputation.
• Xuan Yi realized Yao Chen was suppressing his anger for the Pill Gathering’s sake and silently promised that they would help capture Mu Gu afterward.
• Mu Gu’s Pill Lightning first formed two colors, then a third red color began to spread across the thunderclouds.

Old Man Mu Gu’s pill produced Four-Colored Pill Lightning, and he declared that the Soul Hall would claim the Pill Gathering’s championship. Liu Ling then finished refining a superior Four-Colored Pill, leaving the Pill Tower elders hopeful that he could defeat Mu Gu.

• A fourth color appeared in Old Man Mu Gu’s Pill Lightning, revealing that his pill had reached the Four-Colored level.
• Old Man Mu Gu revealed his Soul Hall allegiance and claimed that he would win the Pill Gathering, while the Pill Tower members could only watch in fury.
• Yao Chen told Xiao Yan that Liu Ling could produce at least Five-Colored Pill Lightning, and Qing Lin defended Liu Ling against the crowd’s premature celebration.
• Liu Ling completed his pill and summoned Four-Colored Pill Lightning whose golden light shone more brilliantly than Mu Gu’s.
• Xuan Kong Zi relaxed when Liu Ling’s pill appeared superior, and the arena’s attention turned to the contest between the two alchemists.

Liu Ling’s pill lightning escalated from four colors to the exceedingly rare Six-Colored Pill Lightning, stunning the Pill Gathering audience and making his victory certain. As the six-colored tribulation attacked, Liu Ling rose above the platform and met it head-on with his Dou Qi.

• Xuan Kong Zi, Tian Lei Zi, and the Pill Tower members celebrated when Liu Ling surpassed Old Man Mu Gu with Four-Colored Pill Lightning.
• Qing Lin and Liu Rulong praised Liu Ling, while Ye Zhong felt his decision to support him had secured the Ye Family’s future.
• The thunderclouds above Liu Ling’s pill produced Five-Colored Pill Lightning, then revealed a sixth color and astonished the crowd.
• Xuan Kong Zi and Elder Yao praised Liu Ling’s rare achievement as spectators fixed their attention on him.
• Old Man Mu Gu, Cao Ying, and Dan Chen received their pill lightning, while Liu Ling’s Six-Colored Pill Lightning gathered into a powerful bolt.
• Liu Ling rose above the stone platform and struck the incoming lightning with a hundred-zhang stream of Dou Qi.