Chapter Summaries

After devouring the Green Lotus Core Flame, Xiao Zhen returned home and promised Die a lavish meal, only to learn she had spent more than a million gold coins. He checked on Chiyu from afar and considered tying the red string to her, then left Die at home while he prepared for the day.

• Xiao Zhen absorbed the Green Lotus Core Flame, advanced to two-star Dou Huang, and judged himself among the Jia Ma Empire’s top three experts.
• Xiao Zhen checked on the construction work with City Lord Tornado, then returned home and slept beside Die.
• Die woke Xiao Zhen by claiming his pill furnace was about to explode, and he accidentally struck heads with her as he sat up.
• Xiao Zhen promised Die an extravagant feast, but she admitted she had spent the cards’ million-plus gold coins while treating Xiao Yan, Qing Lin, and others.
• Xiao Zhen told Die he would give her no more money for the month, then used Clairvoyance to watch Chiyu bathing and thought about Medusa and the red string.
• Xiao Zhen told Die to stay home and avoid causing trouble, then left to prepare for the day.

Xiao Zhen found Queen Medusa and used the Red Thread’s influence to draw close to her, leaving them together after an intimate encounter. Medusa worried about facing Die, while Xiao Zhen insisted he intended to take responsibility for both sisters.

• Xiao Zhen tracked Medusa to a wooden building and revealed that he had recognized her during their earlier meeting.
• Medusa attacked Xiao Zhen over his past conduct, but he approached her unarmed and gambled that she would not kill him.
• Xiao Zhen embraced Medusa and held her as the Red Thread glowed, and an hour later they lay together.
• Medusa worried about how Die would react, while Xiao Zhen said he wanted both sisters and would take responsibility.
• Medusa bit Xiao Zhen's shoulder, drawing blood because he had not activated his defensive ability.

Medusa returned to the Snake-people Race after spending the night with Xiao Zhen, while both wondered what their relationship would mean once the red thread's influence had faded. Xiao Zhen then approached Chiyu, who suspected he possessed a Heavenly Flame and considered taking it from him.

• Medusa explained that marrying her would provoke opposition from the Snake-people elders, but said she had to return to govern her race.
• Medusa revealed that her birth name was Ling, and she and Xiao Zhen continued flirting before she left in a black robe.
• Xiao Zhen wondered whether Medusa would remain docile without the red thread's influence, while Medusa privately worried about becoming involved with Die's man.
• Chiyu ate at the Xiao Clan Restaurant and reflected on the shrinking Magical Beast Mountain Range before Xiao Zhen approached her.
• Chiyu sensed Xiao Zhen's breakthrough and blazing inner flame, suspected he had a Heavenly Flame, and considered attacking him despite uncertainty about Yun Potian.

Xiao Zhen used a Red Thread on Chiyu to temper her killing intent, then agreed to accompany her to a banquet at the Misty Cloud Sect, which she wanted to visit. After discussing Chiyu with Die, he examined seven strange gourds and fertilized them to help them grow.

• Xiao Zhen grasped Chiyu's hand and secretly tied a Red Thread around her wrist, causing her to set aside her intent to kill him for the time being.
• Xiao Zhen offered to guide Chiyu around the Imperial Capital, and she asked to visit the Misty Cloud Sect.
• A messenger told Xiao Zhen that the Misty Cloud Sect had invited him to a noon banquet, and he invited Chiyu to go with him.
• Xiao Zhen returned to the Xiao Clan and told Die about Chiyu's wish to visit the Misty Cloud Sect, while keeping his encounter with Medusa secret.
• Xiao Zhen inspected seven energy-filled gourds with Die, then spread Golden Fertilizer around them so they would grow faster.

At the Misty Cloud Sect, Chiyu secretly searched the grounds while Yun Yun announced her rise to Sect Master. Xiao Yan and Nalan Yanran argued over their engagement and whether Yun Yun could defeat Xiao Zhen.

• Xiao Zhen brought Chiyu to the Misty Cloud Sect, where she inspected the grounds with her Soul Power while Die chatted with her.
• Yun Yun arrived, displayed her newly gained Dou Huang cultivation, and accepted the role of Sect Master from Yun Shan.
• Yun Yun addressed the gathered guests and disciples, while Xiao Yan listened to her speech.
• Nalan Yanran told Xiao Yan that she had joined the Misty Cloud Sect and boasted that she would become its Young Sect Master.
• Xiao Yan and Nalan Yanran argued over their engagement and whether Yun Yun or Xiao Zhen was stronger.

Xiao Zhen accepted Yun Yun’s public challenge at the Misty Cloud Sect ceremony, intending to earn a system reward while hiding most of his power. Their fierce duel left Xiao Zhen’s Long Rainbow Sword on the verge of breaking as Yun Yun pressed her advantage with a powerful inherited weapon.

• Xiao Zhen received a temporary quest to challenge Yun Yun and display her strength, with a reward of 1000 Points.
• Yun Yun pointed out Xiao Zhen and challenged him to settle their past dispute before the gathered crowd, and he accepted.
• Xiao Zhen and Yun Yun began fighting in the plaza, with Xiao Zhen suppressing his cultivation and holding back his strongest abilities.
• Yun Yun revealed the Misty Cloud Sect’s Azure Wind Cloud Sword, a high-grade Treasure Tool that greatly outclassed Xiao Zhen’s Long Rainbow Sword.
• The two fought fiercely between the ground and the sky, and Xiao Zhen’s sword began to cry out as it neared failure.

Xiao Zhen and Yun Yun unleashed their strongest attacks, and the Long Rainbow Sword shattered in their clash. Xiao Zhen pretended to be defeated after secretly taking advantage of Yun Yun, leaving the crowd with mixed impressions of the fight.

• Nalan Yanran and Xiao Yan argued over whether Xiao Zhen or Yun Yun had the advantage as the duel intensified.
• Xiao Zhen agreed to give the Long Rainbow Sword one final battle while Yun Yun prepared her strongest Dou Technique.
• Fa Ma urged Yun Shan to stop the duel, but Yun Shan watched without intervening as Xiao Zhen and Yun Yun clashed.
• Yun Yun revealed that she sought revenge because Xiao Zhen had secretly peeked at her while she bathed, and the Long Rainbow Sword broke during their struggle.
• Xiao Zhen struck Yun Yun with a quick palm-and-claw move, then pretended to be defeated and fell from the sky.
• Die cursed Xiao Zhen for taking advantage of Yun Yun, while Chiyu silently shared her anger.

After Yun Yun defeated Xiao Zhen, he pretended to be unconscious and complained to his system until he received 1,000 Points. The gathering ended with Yun Yun praised as the winner, while Die confronted Xiao Zhen back in their room about his staged defeat and shameless attack.

• Fa Ma stopped Yun Yun from attacking the seemingly unconscious Xiao Zhen, while Gu He and Yun Shan reacted angrily to the fight.
• Xiao Zhen claimed the shattered Long Rainbow Sword and his wounded pride deserved more compensation, but the system only awarded him 1,000 Points.
• Xiao Lin discovered Xiao Zhen had only superficial injuries, and Xiao Zhen asked him to collect the sword fragments; Die secretly pinched Xiao Zhen in jealousy.
• Yun Yun's disciples praised her victory, while Xiao Zhen listened and memorized those who insulted him as he remained feigning unconsciousness through the end of the gathering.
• Die threw Xiao Zhen onto the floor in their room and questioned why he had lost to Yun Yun and attacked her; Xiao Zhen admitted he was shameless, vulgar, and disgusting.

Xiao Zhen reforged his broken Long Rainbow Sword, recruited Li Hua for a scheme against Yun Yun, and told Emperor Jia Nantian about Chiyu’s true strength. He left Jia Nantian terrified and tasked with keeping the dangerous magical beast placated while Xiao Zhen continued spending time with her.

• Die asked Xiao Zhen how he planned to deal with Chiyu, and he rejected her offer of help because Chiyu was too dangerous.
• Xiao Zhen reforged the broken Long Rainbow Sword with Heavenly Flames, embedded a fifth-tier Fire Affinity Demonic Core, and named the new weapon the Flying Rainbow Sword.
• Xiao Zhen summoned Li Hua and persuaded him to write something intended to get back at Yun Yun, despite Li Hua’s fear of offending the Misty Cloud Sect.
• Xiao Zhen spent his free time chatting with Chiyu, while Die took Qing Lin to the food street.
• Xiao Zhen told Emperor Jia Nantian that Chiyu was a peak seventh-tier magical beast hostile to the empire, and Jia Nantian gave him two million gold coins to keep her placated.

Xiao Zhen had Xiao Yan help Li Hua write the scandalous novel about Yun Yun, which had enraged the Misty Cloud Sect and spread throughout the Imperial Capital. Xiao Yan continued working on the next volume for a lucrative salary, while Yun Yun and the elders searched for the anonymous author.

• A young man bought the third volume of a novel depicting Yun Yun as a wealthy man's concubine from a black-robed seller in the Imperial Capital.
• After a Misty Cloud Sect disciple discovered the novel, the sect ordered its disciples to destroy copies, and Yun Yun smashed a volume after learning how it portrayed her.
• Yun Leng told Yun Yun that the book's author remained unknown and that someone appeared to be helping conceal the author's identity and spread the novel.
• Xiao Zhen visited the courtyard where Li Hua and Xiao Yan were discussing the novel's fifth volume, after Li Hua reported that the fourth volume was finished.
• Xiao Yan awkwardly continued helping Li Hua write the novels for a monthly salary of twenty thousand gold coins, fearing his parents would discover his work.
• Xiao Zhen read through a book and approved of its scandalous jokes and melodramatic plots.

Xiao Zhen secretly expanded his book-selling operation while shopping with Chiyu, then intervened when Misty Cloud Sect elder Yun Qi cornered his subordinate Wang Fei. Wang Fei escaped after Xiao Zhen used Soul Power to disable Yun Qi, leaving the elder sprawled in the street.

• Xiao Zhen sent completed manuscripts to underground printing factories and assured Xiao Yan that his secret operation was protected by hired experts.
• Xiao Zhen went shopping with Chiyu, gave her a bracelet, and recalled that Jia Xingtian had left to investigate the gathering magical beasts in the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
• Wang Fei fled from two Misty Cloud Sect disciples but was trapped by Yun Qi, the sect's Eighth Elder.
• Xiao Zhen struck Yun Qi with Soul Power, temporarily incapacitating him as he prepared to attack Wang Fei.
• Wang Fei followed Xiao Zhen's warning to run, stepping on Yun Qi's face as he escaped.

While Xiao Zhen and Chiyu enjoyed their time in the city, Magical Beasts gathered in the Magical Beast Mountain Range to discuss a coming beast tide. The Purple Dragon Beast demanded that the Tiger King and Tyrannosaurus God temporarily command them, provoking the Fire Wolf King and Iron Claw Black Eagle Emperor.

• Xiao Zhen and Chiyu left after Wang Fei escaped from Yun Qi, then continued their leisurely outing in the city.
• The Sixth-Tier Magical Beasts questioned the Fire Wolf King about Chiyu’s return and grew impatient to launch a beast tide.
• The Iron Claw Black Eagle Emperor revealed that he intended to hunt human experts to speed up his breakthrough to the Seventh Tier.
• The Purple Dragon Beast arrived and urged the gathered Magical Beasts to wait for Chiyu and avoid acting rashly.
• The Purple Dragon Beast announced that the Tiger King and Tyrannosaurus God would temporarily command the Magical Beasts, and the Fire Wolf King and Iron Claw Black Eagle Emperor challenged his authority.

Purple Dragon Beast and Tyrannosaurus God took control of the beast gathering while Xiao Zhen monitored Chiyu and traveled to City of Time. There, he brought a gigantic Centipede Demon corpse to the processing plant, startling Hot Wheels and the Motorcycle Warriors.

• Iron Claw Black Eagle Emperor refused to submit to Purple Dragon Beast and challenged him to a fight.
• Tyrannosaurus God appeared, and Tiger King’s roars announced his arrival as the Sixth-Tier Magical Beasts questioned their actions.
• Tyrannosaurus God and Tiger King said they were following that lord’s orders and had not broken the agreement, while Fire Wolf King secretly planned to inform Chiyu.
• Xiao Zhen used Clairvoyance to watch Chiyu and learned she was resting at the inn, then withdrew his gaze and traveled to the Mecha Beast World.
• Hot Wheels led Xiao Zhen to City of Time’s processing plant, where Xiao Zhen produced a gigantic Centipede Demon corpse and startled everyone nearby.

Xiao Zhen refined the Centipede Demon's corpse into a puppet using a magical core and his Dou Qi. He discovered its cracked head was a weakness, so Hot Wheels and the motorcycle warriors began fitting it with a metal helmet.

• Hot Wheels approached the Centipede Demon's corpse only after Xiao Zhen confirmed it was dead, then boasted about his new equipment.
• Xiao Zhen used a method from the Gourd Babies World to carve patterns into the corpse and placed the Unicorn King Serpent's magical core in its skull.
• Xiao Zhen sent Soul Power into the corpse and animated it as the Centipede Puppet, frightening Hot Wheels before explaining that it was a puppet.
• Xiao Zhen examined the puppet's abilities and noticed that cracks in its head were its greatest weakness.
• Hot Wheels agreed to reinforce the puppet's head with a metal helmet, and the motorcycle warriors began modifying it.

Xiao Zhen tested the Centipede Puppet’s new super alloy steel head, then learned that the Misty Cloud Sect had attacked one of his strongholds outside the Imperial Capital. He disguised himself as Gu He and infiltrated the sect’s ambush to reach the elders and the captured stronghold members.

• Xiao Zhen examined the Centipede Puppet’s reinforced head, and Hot Wheels explained that the super alloy steel was extremely durable but heavy.
• Xiao Zhen returned to the Dou Qi Continent, joked with Die about eating her Colorful Spirit Bird, and visited Xiao Yan and Li Hua at the Xiao Clan courtyard.
• A Xiao Clan disciple reported that a Misty Cloud Sect elder had attacked a stronghold, and Xiao Zhen decided to investigate in person.
• Xiao Zhen discovered Yun Leng, Yun Qi, and other Misty Cloud Sect forces holding his black-robed followers captive in a cave.
• Xiao Zhen changed his appearance to resemble Gu He, convinced the Misty Cloud Sect sentries he had come at Yun Yun’s request, and asked them to take him to the elders.

Xiao Zhen, disguised as Gu He, infiltrated a Misty Cloud Sect outpost and ambushed Yun Leng. He declared that Gu He was leaving the sect, then defeated the elders and disciples without killing them.

• Yun Leng interrogated two captured Da Dou Shi about their organization, but they insisted they had joined less than a month earlier.
• Xiao Zhen, disguised as Gu He, claimed he had come to investigate the people who wrote books insulting Yun Yun, and Yun Leng let him join the next operation.
• Xiao Zhen struck Yun Leng from behind, then pretended to be an aggrieved Gu He and announced that he was withdrawing from the Misty Cloud Sect.
• Elders Yun Qi and another Dou Ling elder surrounded Xiao Zhen while the two captured Da Dou Shi secretly took Healing Pills.
• Xiao Zhen defeated the Misty Cloud Sect elders and disciples who attacked him, including those drawn into the cave by the commotion, and left them alive.

Xiao Zhen rescued the prisoners from the stronghold and began building the Shadow Organization, recruiting Mitel Haoyu to manage it. Mitel Haoyu accepted, then learned Xiao Zhen had no plans against the Mittel Family.

• Xiao Zhen rescued the stronghold's prisoners, and Yun Qi told Yun Leng that Gu He had attacked them and might be a Dou Wang.
• Gu He's pill furnace exploded while he was refining pills, ruining a batch of Fifth-grade Medicinal Pills.
• Xiao Zhen ordered his strongholds away from the Imperial Capital and established the Shadow Organization to gather intelligence.
• Xiao Zhen chose Mitel Haoyu to manage the organization, and Mitel Haoyu agreed to serve him.
• Mitel Haoyu asked whether Xiao Zhen intended to target the Mittel Family, and Xiao Zhen clarified that he had recruited him for his management talent.

Xiao Zhen recruited Mitel Haoyu by giving him a high-grade Fifth-grade healing pill, then returned home and began refining his first Sixth-grade Medicinal Pill. The massive disturbance drew experts from across the Imperial Capital to the Xiao Clan as the pill neared completion.

• Xiao Zhen explained the organization’s affairs to Mitel Haoyu and rewarded him with a high-grade Fifth-grade healing pill for his injuries.
• Mitel Haoyu pledged his life and service to Xiao Zhen after receiving the pill.
• Xiao Zhen teased Ya Fei, then returned home and found Die with Xiaoqian and Xiaoqing, whose strength he had raised to the middle-to-late Foundation Establishment stage.
• Xiao Zhen began refining a Sixth-grade Medicinal Pill with the Demonic Core from Pudu Cihang and ingredients gathered by Tiger King and Tyrannosaurus God.
• The energy disturbance from Xiao Zhen’s courtyard alerted the Xiao Clan’s elders and Imperial Capital experts, who gathered as Fa Ma identified it as the sign of a nearly completed Sixth-grade Medicinal Pill.

Xiao Zhen refined a Sixth-grade Limb Regeneration Pill, drawing powerful figures to the Xiao Clan courtyard and forcing them to abandon thoughts of interfering. Xiao Lin took the pill and regrew his missing arm, leaving the gathered crowd astonished.

• As energy gathered around Xiao Zhen's room, Fa Ma announced that Xiao Zhen was about to finish refining a Sixth-grade Medicinal Pill, and the onlookers grew greedy.
• Xiao Lin, Nalan Jie, Jia Xingtian, Fa Ma, and Yun Leng warned the gathered forces not to threaten Xiao Zhen, and the crowd backed down.
• Xiao Zhen's room collapsed, and he emerged safely with the Limb Regeneration Pill he had refined.
• Xiao Zhen gave the pill to Xiao Lin, who swallowed it and endured intense itching and pain as energy flowed through his body.
• Xiao Lin's severed arm grew back, astounding Xiao Zhen and the gathered witnesses.

Xiao Lin regrew his arm and was on the verge of advancing to Dou Huang, while Xiao Zhen’s reputation as a Sixth-grade Alchemist spread across the Jia Ma Empire and beyond. After Xiao Zhen succeeded in refining a Sixth-grade Explosive Origin Pill, Die told him that powerful families had come seeking his help, and Xiao Lin dragged him away during lunch.

• Xiao Lin noticed his Dou Qi changing and learned from Jia Xingtian that he was about to break through to Dou Huang.
• News spread that Xiao Zhen was a Sixth-grade Alchemist, drawing attention from across the empire and neighboring countries.
• Xiao Zhen practiced alchemy in seclusion and successfully refined a Sixth-grade Explosive Origin Pill.
• Die told Xiao Zhen that the Mu Clan, the Mittel Family, and the imperial family had come seeking his pill-refining services.
• After lunch, Xiao Lin dragged Xiao Zhen away to work.