Chapter Summaries

Luo Chen used his pill-refining gains to support Wang Yuan and Qin Liangchen while the Luo Tian Association prepared to expand its business. After Gu Cai Yi struggled to express her feelings and Sima Hui Niang revealed her brother’s failed Foundation Establishment attempt, Luo Chen insisted on going to see Sima Xian.

• Luo Chen spent half a month refining Blood Fiend Pills until he used up the Netherworld Yin Fiend, then gave Wang Yuan a Storage Bag filled with high-quality pills.
• Wang Yuan explained that Bright Spirit Five Qi Fist combined Body Tempering and Qi Refining, and Luo Chen obtained a copy of its manual.
• Luo Chen overheard Sima Hui Niang, Gu Cai Yi, and Qin Liangchen discussing the Luo Tian Association’s business expansion and Qin Liangchen’s Foundation Establishment breakthrough planned for the next month.
• Luo Chen gave Qin Liangchen High-Grade Life Restoration Water and gave Gu Cai Yi a Low-Grade Jade Dew Pill, prompting Qin Liangchen to urge her to be braver.
• Sima Hui Niang told Luo Chen that her brother Sima Xian had failed his Foundation Establishment breakthrough, and Luo Chen insisted that she take him to see Sima Xian.

Luo Chen prepared for a possible journey to Azure Pill Valley while Tao Wan, weakened by a rival’s poaching of Huang Hezi, decided to seek his help in person. After receiving Tao Yisheng’s invitation, Luo Chen chose to cultivate first and wait for a better offer.

• Luo Chen treated Sima Xian’s injuries and told Sima Hui Niang he might soon leave for Azure Pill Valley, asking her to oversee the Luo Tian Association.
• Luo Chen continued cultivating and refining Jade Dew Pills to build up supplies for Ice Fortress and prepare for a long journey.
• Tao Wan learned that Shangguan Yan had recruited Huang Hezi, leaving her short of support for the Dao Seed Competition.
• Tao Wan decided to take Tao Yisheng to Sky Wave Immortal City to meet Luo Chen, whom Tao Yisheng praised as an exceptional alchemist.
• Luo Chen refined mid-grade and high-grade Jade Dew Pills, then received Tao Yisheng’s invitation to visit the Yi-Five Cave Abode.
• Luo Chen put off meeting Tao Yisheng and cultivated instead, intending to secure the best terms before helping Tao Wan.

Tao Wan recruited Luo Chen to help her compete for Azure Pill Valley’s Golden Core Dao Seed position, and they negotiated the payment for his alchemical help. They reached a compromise, but Luo Chen immediately tried to secure more Rising Dragon Pills before the competition.

• Tao Yisheng explained Azure Pill Valley’s three-round Dao Seed Competition and asked Luo Chen to represent Tao Wan in the pill-refining round.
• Luo Chen met Tao Wan and demanded High-Grade Rising Dragon Pills, Tao Family Tier 2 cultivation pill recipes, and a Core Formation Secret Technique in exchange for his help.
• Tao Wan rejected the secret technique and hesitated over the recipes, then offered a Transformation Dragon Pill, an Ice Phoenix Pellet, and Nanshan Old Ancestor’s Core Formation Insights instead.
• Luo Chen accepted Tao Wan’s compromise, and they agreed he would remain in Skybillow rather than return to Azure Pill Valley before the competition.
• Luo Chen suggested that advancing his cultivation would help Tao Wan and asked whether she had more Mid-Grade or High-Grade Rising Dragon Pills, freezing her smile.

Luo Chen arranged for Tao Yisheng to gain practical pill-refining experience while the Luo Tian Association earned a surplus, then cultivated with Tao Wan’s pills and broke through to Foundation Establishment Fifth Layer. After reviewing his growing abilities and alchemy mastery, he concealed his breakthrough and went to meet Tao Yisheng.

• Tao Wan returned to Azure Pill Valley after giving Luo Chen pills in exchange for Spirit Stones and his promise to guide Tao Yisheng in Pill Refinement Art.
• Luo Chen sent Tao Yisheng to refine Tier 1 Pills for the Luo Tian Association and arranged for him to teach pill theory to Qu Lingjun, Ma Shoupou, and the others.
• Sima Hui Niang reported the Luo Tian Association’s surplus to Luo Chen, who gave her ten bottles of High-Grade Jade Dew Pills and warned her to keep their existence secret.
• Luo Chen cultivated with Rising Dragon Pills and broke through to Foundation Establishment Fifth Layer nearly half a year ahead of his estimate.
• Luo Chen reviewed his Attribute Panel, recognized his improved cultivation and alchemy skills, concealed his breakthrough, and left to meet Tao Yisheng.

Before leaving for the Azure Pill Valley Dao Seed Competition, Luo Chen gave Tantai Jin a protective treasure, arranged for the Luo Tian Association to run in his absence, and activated a Spiritual Rhinoceros Gu with Sima Hui Niang. After he departed, Gu Cai Yi asked Sima Hui Niang for a Foundation Establishment Pill.

• Luo Chen gave Tantai Jin a Ten Thousand Year Profound Ice containing an attack from her master, and she told him to return it when he came back.
• Luo Chen reassured Sima Hui Niang about Qin Liangchen's failed Foundation Establishment and told the Association's Foundation Establishment cultivators he would be away for months, possibly a year.
• Luo Chen and Sima Hui Niang bonded a pair of Spiritual Rhinoceros Gu so they could sense each other's general location.
• Luo Chen spent the night with Sima Hui Niang, then left Danxia Peak by flying boat the next morning.
• Gu Cai Yi appeared behind Sima Hui Niang and applied for a Foundation Establishment Pill as the Golden Hall's master, citing her past contributions and Qi Refining Great Perfection.

Luo Chen traveled with Tao Yisheng toward Azure Pill Valley and learned about the Dao Seed Competition, the sect’s territory, and Tao Family affairs. At Little South Mountain, he discovered that the Tao Family elders were disputing whether to accept him as Tao Wan’s Pill Refiner candidate because of his demands and their doubts about his abilities.

• Tao Yisheng explained that Azure Pill Valley’s Dao Seed Competition was open to qualified disciples under one hundred and fifty, and that Danyangzi could compete only without outside help.
• Tao Yisheng described Azure Pill Valley’s respect for skilled alchemists and pointed out its Lower Court, territory, and Yuanhua Mountain to Luo Chen.
• Tao Yisheng brought Luo Chen to Little South Mountain and introduced him to three Tao Family juniors as Pill Dust Master, an Alchemy Grandmaster, and a future guest elder.
• Tao Yisheng learned that the Tao Family elders had been arguing over Luo Chen’s role as Tao Wan’s Pill Refiner candidate.
• Luo Chen overheard that the elders doubted his alchemy and resisted his costly demands for the Tao Family’s inherited pill recipes and Core Formation Insights.

Luo Chen settled into the Tao Family estate and studied the Esteemed Fox Pill Explanation while Tao Wan moved to replace the family head with her brother, Tao Yisheng. The clan’s succession contest began as a pill-refining duel, leaving Luo Chen closely observing the Colorful Chrysanthemum Pill he hoped to learn.

• Luo Chen examined the Esteemed Fox Pill Explanation in his private courtyard and reflected on its unusual alchemy methods.
• Tao Wan explained that the Tao Family feared backing her in the Dao Seed Competition, and she proposed making Tao Yisheng the new family head.
• Tao Wan brought Luo Chen to the assembly, where Tao Yisheng challenged Tao Daonan’s authority and the clan agreed to settle the succession dispute through pill refining.
• Tao Daonan chose the Tao Family’s Tier 2 Colorful Chrysanthemum Pill for the contest, believing neither Tao Yisheng nor Tao Yichen could successfully refine it.
• Tao Yisheng and Tao Yichen began refining the pill, while Tao Wan told Luo Chen that the formula was the one she intended to give him.

Tao Wan forced the Tao Family to continue its pill-refining contest to decide the family head, while Luo Chen quietly judged the contestants’ chances. Tao Yisheng eventually refined a Second-Order Low-grade Colorful Chrysanthemum Pill and won the position, while Tao Daonan’s defeat by Tao Wan stripped him of authority.

• Luo Chen predicted that Tao Yichen and Tao Yisheng would both fail their first attempts, and both produced defective pills.
• Tao Daonan argued that both failures were equal and named Tao Yichen as his choice for family head, but Tao Wan demanded that the contest continue until someone succeeded.
• Tao Wan used the contest to assess Luo Chen’s alchemical judgment and continued the trials over two days as Tao Yisheng and Tao Yichen repeatedly failed.
• When Tao Daonan tried to stop the contest, Tao Wan overpowered him in a direct clash of spiritual power and declared that the Tao Family needed new leadership.
• Tao Yisheng refined three Second-Order Low-grade Colorful Chrysanthemum Pills, and Tao Wan announced him as the new family head.
• Tao Daonan agreed to convene a family assembly the next day and left, wondering whether he had truly grown old.

After becoming an honored guest of the Tao Family, Luo Chen received the pills, recipe, and Core Formation insights Tao Wan had promised him. Tao Wan brought him to Azure Pill Valley’s competition grounds, where he learned about the sect’s vast spirit lands and its Azure Sky Glass Cauldrons, then confidently prepared to compete alone.

• Tao Yisheng became the Tao Family head and formally named Luo Chen an honored guest of the family.
• Luo Chen returned to Ink Lotus Courtyard and received a Rising Dragon Pill, an Ice Phoenix Pellet, Colorful Chrysanthemum Pills, their recipe, and a copy of Nanshan Old Man’s Core Formation Insights.
• Luo Chen began studying the Colorful Chrysanthemum Pill recipe as Azure Pill Valley’s Dao Seed Competition drew near.
• Tao Wan took Luo Chen to the competition venue and showed him Azure Pill Valley’s five spirit mountains, the valley’s nine arenas, and the Glass Sub-Cauldron he would use.
• After Chu Huai prepared the Earthfire and explained the Azure Sky Glass Cauldron, Luo Chen declined help from Tao Wan and her alchemists, saying he would be enough on his own.

Luo Chen learned the rules for Azure Pill Valley’s Dao Seed Competition and clashed with Shangguan Yan and Huang Hezi after Tao Wan defended him. Back at the Tao Family, he studied the Colorful Chrysanthemum Pill Recipe, and Tao Yisheng arrived with high-grade pills for him to examine.

• Luo Chen tested the Glass Sub-Cauldron, registered as Pill Dust Master, and learned that the Pill Refining contests would use newly developed recipes.
• Shangguan Yan mocked Tao Wan for inviting Luo Chen instead of Huang Hezi, and Tao Wan insulted Huang Hezi before leaving with Luo Chen.
• Shangguan Yan reassured Huang Hezi and took him to sign a contract, while the gathered disciples debated the Dao Seed contenders.
• Luo Chen asked Tao Wan for high-grade Colorful Chrysanthemum Pills, and she promised to search the Tao Family treasury.
• Luo Chen stayed at the Tao Family’s Ink Lotus Garden to study the pill recipe, and Tao Yisheng brought him high-grade Colorful Chrysanthemum Pills.

Luo Chen advised Tao Yisheng on managing the Tao Family and tested the medicinal power of the Colorful Chrysanthemum Pills, finding that they could not economically match the Rising Dragon Pill he needed. He went to Azure Pill Market hoping to find another way to support his cultivation.

• Luo Chen examined the Colorful Chrysanthemum Pills Tao Yisheng brought and learned Tao Wan had agreed to a marriage alliance with the Fu Family tied to the Dao Seed Competition.
• Tao Yisheng asked Luo Chen for guidance, and Luo Chen spent the afternoon advising him on using alliances, resources, and other factions to manage family affairs.
• Luo Chen swallowed a Mid-Grade Colorful Chrysanthemum Pill and resolved to pursue faster cultivation rather than settle for ordinary progress.
• After testing every grade, Luo Chen found that even a Top-Grade Colorful Chrysanthemum Pill only slightly surpassed a Mid-Grade Rising Dragon Pill and would be too costly to produce as his main cultivation pill.
• Luo Chen left Ink Lotus Garden and rode to Azure Pill Market, hoping the gathering ahead of the Dao Seed Competition would offer other opportunities.

Luo Chen attended High Sun Tower in Azure Pill Market, bought a Rebirth Pill and resources for the Luo Tian Association, and met Chu Kui again. After learning that Chu Kui knew Tao Wan, Luo Chen asked whether she could win Azure Pill Valley’s Dao Seed position.

• Luo Chen visited High Sun Tower and bought Liao Liang’s thousand-year-old Rebirth Pill for thirty thousand Spirit Stones.
• Luo Chen purchased Foundation Establishment resources for the Luo Tian Association and listed Wei Tuo’s Nine Ring Tin Staff for exchange for a Water Attribute Magic Treasure.
• Luo Chen met Chu Kui and He Yuanqing, and He Yuanqing asked someone to investigate Luo Chen’s background and who had invited him to Azure Pill Valley.
• Luo Chen and Chu Kui left the tower together, and Chu Kui revealed that he temporarily served as a retainer for several Cultivation Families.
• Luo Chen showed Chu Kui the token from the South Mountain Tao Family, and Chu Kui recognized that Tao Wan had invited him.
• Luo Chen asked Chu Kui to assess Tao Wan’s combat strength and her chance of becoming Azure Pill Valley’s Dao Seed.

Luo Chen learned how Tao Wan’s Flowing Cloud Flying Sleeves made her one of Azure Pill Valley’s strongest young cultivators, while He Yuanqing dismissed Luo Chen as an unthreatening alchemist. After a month of cultivation at Little South Mountain, Tao Wan arrived to tell Luo Chen that the Dao Seed Competition had begun.

• Chu Kui explained that Tao Wan had refined her Flowing Cloud Flying Sleeves to wield most of its power and ranked her among Azure Pill Valley’s top young cultivators.
• He Yuanqing summoned Xuan Yunzi He Yun and learned that Luo Chen could reliably refine high-grade Jade Marrow Pills, then concluded that Luo Chen posed no threat in the Alchemy Competition.
• Luo Chen returned to Ink Lotus Garden, examined the Rebirth Pill, and confirmed that it retained enough Medicinal Power to serve as a lifesaving trump card.
• After a month at Little South Mountain, Luo Chen found his cultivation had advanced only one point and resolved to return to a High-Grade Cave Mansion soon.
• Tao Wan told Luo Chen that the Dao Seed Competition had begun.

Luo Chen traveled with Tao Wan’s group to Azure Pill Valley’s Dao Seed Competition, where he received two new pill recipes to study before the second round. As Tao Wan began defending an arena, Luo Chen left to prepare for pill refinement while a challenger confronted her group.

• Luo Chen and Tao Yisheng arrived at Pill Valley with Tao Wan’s group as the Dao Seed Competition began and Golden Core Immortals and visitors gathered to watch.
• Tao Yisheng identified White Prime Immortal as Tao Wan’s master, and Luo Chen met her and Ice Fortress’s Heartless Immortal at Sky Palace.
• Luo Chen collected two pill recipes and medicinal herbs from a Grand Pill Institute elder, while Xuan Yunzi explained that Danyangzi’s strength would be limited without his Purple Zenith Skyfire.
• Luo Chen returned to the arenas and found Tao Wan’s group holding a platform; he headed off to study the recipes as a young cultivator and three Late-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivators challenged her position.
• Tao Wan sent Qi Lingyun to the arena to face the first challenger.

Luo Chen studied the Dustfall Pill and Spirit Feeding Pill recipes, refined a batch of Spirit Feeding Pills, and prepared for the second round of the Pill Refining competition. As the arena battles continued, Chu Kui of the He Family challenged Danyangzi.

• Luo Chen examined the Dustfall Pill recipe, considered how it might accelerate cultivation at the cost of bodily strength, and learned the Spirit Feeding Pill recipe through the system.
• Tao Wan and her allies discussed their arena results and planned for the other True Disciples and allied families to wear Danyangzi down before the final competition.
• Luo Chen discovered that Spirit Feeding Pills were inexpensive food for spirit beasts and began refining them with the ingredients and equipment supplied by the Grand Pill Institute.
• After five days of experimenting, Luo Chen successfully produced thirty Spirit Feeding Pills, then slept to recover from his work.
• Luo Chen emerged from seclusion and joined Tao Yisheng at the arena, where Chu Kui of the He Family challenged Danyangzi.

Chu Kui fought Danyangzi to a hundred-exchange draw before conceding, revealing enough strength to alarm Azure Pill Valley’s disciples and draw He Yuanqing into negotiating for a more dangerous effort. After watching several matches, Luo Chen judged the sect’s cultivators’ combat skills and returned to prepare for his own turn in the competition, which was expected within two days.

• Chu Kui challenged Danyangzi and fought him evenly for a hundred exchanges before conceding, while Golden Core elders debated the growing power of Magic Treasures and Sky Sail City’s influence.
• He Yuanqing reproached Chu Kui for conceding while holding back, and Chu Kui demanded extra payment to risk himself against the other Great True Disciples.
• Tao Wan and her companions discussed their tournament strategy, with Tao Daonan reassuring them that the He Family was focused on challenging Danyangzi for first place.
• Luo Chen watched later matches and concluded that Azure Pill Valley’s cultivators relied too heavily on Magic Treasures, while recognizing that Chu Kui practiced both spell cultivation and body tempering.
• Luo Chen left the competition to refine pills before his own turn, while Tao Wan praised his sincere focus on alchemy.

Luo Chen entered the second round’s fundamental alchemy techniques contest, where contestants had to process five ingredients to a set standard. While the others began work, he studied how to handle the difficult Returning Origin Cicada Shell and left the crowd stunned by tossing it directly into his Glass Sub-Cauldron.

• Tao Wan and Luo Chen reviewed the arena battle rankings, where Tao Wan had placed fourth after defeating Du Changfeng.
• The Grand Pill Institute elder began the alchemy contest and warned Huang Hezi against sending messages through Spiritual Sense.
• Luo Chen studied the five ingredients and realized that the contest required contestants to combine their knowledge of medicinal properties to process the Returning Origin Cicada Shell.
• Danyangzi and the other Pill Refiners began processing ingredients while Luo Chen continued to consider his approach.
• Tao Yisheng defended Luo Chen when Tao Family cultivators questioned his delay, and Tao Wan tried to trust that he had a plan.
• Luo Chen tossed the Returning Origin Cicada Shell into his Glass Sub-Cauldron, shocking the crowd and surprising the Grand Pill Institute elder.

Luo Chen used a risky method to process the Returning Origin Cicada Shell and revealed mastery of several alchemical techniques, astonishing the spectators. After he produced a perfect shell in half an hour, the Tao Family decided to support him during the next stage of the competition.

• Luo Chen extracted smoke from Blue Smoke Jade with his Jade Folding Hand, impressing Tao Yichen and the gathered cultivators.
• Luo Chen processed the Crimson Flame Ganoderma and Azure Aloe while roasting the shell, making it appear burned and drawing dismissive reactions from Huang Hezi.
• Xuan Yunzi recognized his mistake, cleared his ingredients, and restarted; a Grand Pill Institute elder praised his decisiveness and considered inviting him to study there.
• Luo Chen used the Azure Star Grass's poison to remove the shell's blackened impurities, restoring it to a clear, translucent state with its Primordial Qi intact.
• The Grand Pill Institute elder declared Luo Chen's Returning Origin Cicada Shell a perfect product and named him the first to finish processing it in half an hour.
• Tao Wan told Tao Yisheng to bring Luo Chen the Tao Family's Leisurely Fragrance, and Tao Yisheng left with two Foundation Establishment Cultivators to retrieve it.

Luo Chen won the first round of the Alchemy Competition by perfectly processing all five materials, then began the second round with a commanding lead. As he refined Spirit Feeding Pills without assistants, Huang Hezi lost focus and ruined his batch.

• Luo Chen processed all five materials perfectly and was named first place in the pill technique contest, while Danyangzi finished second and Xuan Yunzi was expected to place third.
• Luo Chen rested with Tao Wan’s Leisurely Fragrance and reviewed the recipes for the next pill-refining contests.
• The second round began, and Luo Chen and Danyangzi worked without helpers while most other contestants had assistants.
• Luo Chen processed materials as he refined, using his practiced fire control to pull ahead of Danyangzi.
• Huang Hezi smelled Luo Chen’s pill fragrance, became distracted, and failed to control the Core Condensation, ruining his batch.

Luo Chen won the first two alchemy matches for the Tao Family and then refined a Tier 2 Dustfall Pill successfully on his first attempt, cementing his reputation. The Grand Pill Institute elder invited him to join Azure Pill Valley, while the other competitors’ results remained undecided.

• Tao Wan urged Luo Chen to hold back in the third match, but he persuaded her that a higher ranking would strengthen her position in the Dao Seed Competition.
• Shangguan Yan reproached Huang Hezi for his poor results, while He Yuanqing encouraged Xuan Yunzi to place higher in the final match.
• The third match began with the competitors preparing to refine the Tier 2 Dustfall Pill, and Luo Chen recognized that fatigue made the challenge especially difficult for Danyangzi.
• Luo Chen processed the ingredients and refined a low-grade Dustfall Pill in a single attempt, earning a qualified result.
• The Grand Pill Institute elder praised Luo Chen’s skill and asked whether he would join Azure Pill Valley’s Grand Pill Institute.