Chapter Summaries

Xiao Yan attended the Xiao Clan meeting, where Xiao Zhan and the Three Elders revealed that a powerful young alchemist had stayed in the clan for half a year because of Xiao Yan. After the meeting, Xiao Yan proposed how to divide the twelve Shi Ling Pills, leaving the elders to consider his terms.

• Xiao Mei and Xiao Xun'er saw Xiao Yan standing beside Xiao Zhan as clan members gathered in the Guest Hall.
• Xiao Zhan and the Three Elders told the clan that the young alchemist Wan Guniang had stayed in the Xiao Clan because of Xiao Yan and warned everyone not to offend her.
• Xiao Xun'er worried that Wan Guniang might have plans involving Xiao Yan.
• After the clan members left, Xiao Zhan and the Three Elders disputed how to allocate the twelve Shi Ling Pills.
• Xiao Yan proposed giving three pills to Xiao Zhan and nine to the Xiao Clan, while taking none himself, and warned the elders that further bargaining could cost them all the pills.

Xiao Yan persuaded Xiao Zhan to keep the three Shi Ling Pills for his breakthrough and discussed how he had met Wan Guniang. He then visited her, where she made clear that she wanted them to remain simple friends and kept her face concealed.

• Xiao Yan convinced Xiao Zhan to accept the three Shi Ling Pills to help him break through to Dou Ling.
• Xiao Zhan asked Xiao Yan how he had met Wan Guniang, and Xiao Yan agreed that a powerful force might stand behind her.
• Yao Lao encouraged Xiao Yan to work hard to catch up, and Xiao Yan headed to the Guest Room Courtyard to visit Wan Guniang.
• Xiao Yan asked why Wan Guniang always wore a bamboo hat, and she explained that she used it to conceal her face.
• Yao Wan told Xiao Yan she preferred to remain his friend and help him prepare for the future, while he would repay her when he had grown stronger.

Xiao Yan cultivated with Yao Lao’s Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid and advanced from Dou Qi Stage Four to Stage Five in half a month. Yao Lao taught him the Eight Extremities Collapse while reflecting on Yao Wan’s origins, and Yao Wan set out to visit Xiao Yan after wondering why he had not come to see her.

• Xiao Yan used Yao Lao’s spirit liquid to cultivate and estimated he would reach Dou Qi Stage Five in less than half a month.
• Xiao Yan spent the next half month cultivating in seclusion and broke through to Dou Qi Stage Five after absorbing the Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid.
• Yao Lao encouraged Xiao Yan to buy more ingredients and taught him the Profound High-Rank Dou Technique Eight Extremities Collapse.
• Yao Lao recognized that Wan Guniang was likely Yao Wan of the Yao Clan, a remarkably talented young Dou Wang, and decided not to reveal the Ancient Eight Clans to Xiao Yan yet.
• Yao Wan finished stabilizing her realm, wondered why Xiao Yan had not visited, and went to find him at the Xiao Clan.
• The Xiao Clan members noticed Yao Wan and speculated that she was the Dou Wang alchemist known as Wan Guniang.

Yao Wan met Xiao Xun'er while going to visit Xiao Yan, and their conversation turned into a confrontation over Yao Wan’s intentions toward him and the ancient jade. The chapter ended with Yao Wan declaring her interest in Xiao Yan and challenging Xun’er’s threat.

• Yao Wan and Xiao Xun’er met for the first time as both headed to check on Xiao Yan’s cultivation.
• Xiao Xun’er asked Yao Wan about her real name and suggested she belonged to the Yao or Yan Clan.
• Yao Wan denied having any interest in the ancient jade and said she had come to the Xiao Clan for a stroll.
• Yao Wan admitted that Xiao Yan was the only thing in the Xiao Clan that interested her, angering Xiao Xun’er.
• Yao Wan said she had provided Xiao Yan with resources and opportunities, then challenged Xun’er’s threat to protect him.

Xiao Yan reunited with Xiao Xun'er after regaining his cultivation, but Yao Wan’s closeness and Xiao Yan’s trust in her left Xun'er feeling defeated. After Xun'er left, Yao Lao urged Xiao Yan to aim higher for the next Clan Test.

• Yao Wan challenged Xiao Xun'er to explain her own situation, then spoke privately with Xiao Yan and offered to help with his cultivation needs.
• Xiao Yan told Xun'er that his cultivation had returned to Dou Qi Stage Five, and she rejoiced at his recovery.
• Xiao Yan explained how he had met Yao Wan and said he trusted her because they had spent so much time together as friends.
• Xun'er realized she had lost to Yao Wan and left after a brief conversation with Xiao Yan.
• Yao Lao appeared after Xun'er left and pushed Xiao Yan to aim for One-Star Dou Zhe by the next Clan Test.

At the Xiao Clan’s annual Dou Qi test, Xiao Xun'er reached the Ninth Stage while Xiao Yan stunned everyone by becoming a one-star Dou Zhe. Yao Wan watched his return and left Xiao Zhan overwhelmed with relief and heartache.

• Xiao Mei scored high at Dou Qi Stage Seven, and Xiao Xun'er followed with a high Ninth Stage result.
• Xiao Xun'er turned toward Xiao Yan, but the tester called him forward before she could speak.
• Yao Wan arrived beside Xiao Zhan and congratulated him on advancing to Seven Star Da Dou Shi with the Shi Ling Pill.
• Yao Wan said Xiao Yan would reclaim what he had lost, and watched as he placed his hand on the Testing Stone Tablet.
• Xiao Yan’s test revealed he had become a one-star Dou Zhe, shocking the crowd and leaving Xiao Zhan overcome with relief and heartache.

Xiao Yan celebrated reaching Dou Zhe, then learned that the Flame Mantra could evolve by devouring Heavenly Flames, though the process was extremely dangerous. After Yao Lao explained that the method might help him revive, Xiao Yan considered practicing it to pursue Yao Wan, and Yao Lao said it could give him a chance.

• Yao Wan left the Training Field after seeing Xiao Yan’s test result, while Xiao Zhan and the elders reacted to his rapid progress.
• Xiao Yan celebrated with Xun'er but regretted that Yao Wan had left before he could show off his achievement to her.
• Xiao Yan returned to his residence and asked Yao Lao about the Qi Method that could evolve.
• Yao Lao explained that the Flame Mantra evolved by devouring Heavenly Flames, with only a twenty percent chance of success and severe danger.
• Yao Lao revealed that the Flame Mantra might let multiple Heavenly Flames create a body capable of containing his soul.
• Xiao Yan asked whether practicing the Flame Mantra could help him reach Yao Wan, and Yao Lao said it might give him a chance.

Xiao Yan wrestled with whether to cultivate the Flame Mantra, then sought Yao Wan’s advice and revealed the technique to her. The chapter ended with Yao Wan asking whether he was torn over cultivating it.

• Yao Lao gave Xiao Yan time to consider whether to cultivate the Flame Mantra and assured him he would remain his disciple either way.
• Xiao Zhan visited Xiao Yan, praised his hard work, and told him an honored guest would arrive the next day.
• Xiao Yan went to the Guest Room Courtyard to speak with Yao Wan and saw her use the Life Spirit Flame.
• Xiao Yan hinted that he wanted more than one Strange Flame, and Yao Wan guessed that his cultivation method was unusual.
• After consulting Yao Lao, Xiao Yan told Yao Wan about the Flame Mantra, and she asked whether he was unsure about cultivating it.

Xiao Yan chose to cultivate the dangerous Flame Mantra, and Yao Wan helped him through its first circulation with her Life Spirit Flame. He successfully transformed his Dou Qi and turned to thank Yao Wan.

• Yao Wan warned Xiao Yan against trusting people too easily, while Yao Lao explained that Xiao Yan could not hide his existence from her.
• Yao Wan urged Xiao Yan to practice the Flame Mantra despite its risks and offered to help him find Heavenly Flames.
• Xiao Yan decided to cultivate the Flame Mantra because it could help revive Yao Lao and let him grow stronger.
• Yao Wan used her Life Spirit Flame and Dou Qi to guide Xiao Yan through the Flame Mantra's circulation.
• Xiao Yan successfully transformed his Dou Qi and realized he should thank Yao Wan.

After cultivating the Flame Mantra, Xiao Yan learned that it had slightly strengthened Yao Wan’s Life Spirit Flame, but Yao Lao said Xiao Yan needed greater cultivation and heavenly flames to help it further. The next day, Xiao Yan was summoned to meet his father and the clan elders, where he found three unfamiliar guests and an extra seat of honor.

• Yao Wan noticed that contact with Xiao Yan’s Flame Mantra had slightly strengthened her Life Spirit Flame, and Yao Lao explained that Xiao Yan was not yet strong enough to nurture it significantly.
• Xiao Yan resolved to find and absorb heavenly flames, but Yao Wan doubted he could find one, and Yao Lao warned that his current strength would not let him survive encountering even the weakest.
• Yao Wan urged Xiao Yan to cultivate and rely on his own effort, and Xiao Yan left her room to continue cultivating through the night.
• The next day, Xiao Yan answered a summons from Xiao Zhan and entered the Guest Hall, where he saw an old man, a young man, and a young woman among the guests.
• Xiao Yan noted the strangers’ cultivation levels and an extra seat of honor before taking his place beside Xiao Zhan.

Ge Ye asked Xiao Zhan to dissolve Nalan Yanran’s engagement to Xiao Yan on behalf of the Yun Lan Sect, offering a Qi Gathering Powder as compensation. Xiao Yan rejected the offer, and Xiao Zhan prepared a jade bottle, leaving the clan’s response unfinished.

• Ge Ye explained that Nalan Yanran was being groomed as the Yun Lan Sect’s successor and could not have a marriage entanglement, so he asked Xiao Zhan to end her engagement to Xiao Yan.
• Xiao Zhan reacted with anger but accepted Nalan Yanran’s decision, telling her to call him Clan Leader Xiao instead of uncle.
• Ge Ye presented a Qi Gathering Powder refined by Gu He as an apology gift, but the Xiao Clan compared it unfavorably with the treasures Wan Guniang had given them.
• Xiao Yan told Ge Ye to take the Qi Gathering Powder back and refused to agree to the broken engagement.
• Xiao Yan gave Xiao Zhan a meaningful look, and Xiao Zhan took a small jade bottle from his robes.

Xiao Yan rejected Nalan Yanran's attempt to dissolve their engagement, and their dispute escalated when she offered compensation and Yun Lan Sect instruction. He revealed that he had become a Dou Zhe, then wrote and blood-stamped a divorce certificate expelling her from the Xiao Clan.

• Xiao Zhan opened a warm jade bottle, revealing a pill whose fragrance astonished Ge Ye and Nalan Yanran.
• Xiao Yan refused to dissolve the engagement because neither Nalan Yanran's grandfather nor Xiao Zhan had agreed to end the marriage.
• Nalan Yanran offered pills and a chance to study at the Yun Lan Sect, angering Xiao Yan and prompting him to reveal his Dou Zhe aura.
• Nalan Yanran proposed that Xiao Yan challenge her at the Yun Lan Sect in three years, but he rejected the pact and wrote a divorce certificate.
• Xiao Yan cut his palm, stamped the certificate with his blood, and declared that he was expelling Nalan Yanran from the Xiao Clan.

Yao Wan intervened when Nalan Yanran tried to break off her engagement to Xiao Yan, healed Xiao Yan’s hand, and forced the Yun Lan Sect visitors to leave. After they departed, Xiao Yan thanked Yao Wan for standing with the Xiao Clan, while she said the Three-Year Agreement would be entertaining to watch.

• Yao Wan appeared in the Guest Hall and healed Xiao Yan’s wounded hand with her Cyan Light Flame.
• Yao Wan broke the sword of Nalan Yanran’s companion and rebuked Ge Ye and Nalan Yanran for relying on the Yun Lan Sect to bully the Xiao Clan.
• Yao Wan warned Nalan Yanran that many people surpassed her and told her to wait for Xiao Yan to defeat her in three years.
• Ge Ye took Nalan Yanran and the other Yun Lan Sect visitor away after Yao Wan suggested the Xiao Clan did not welcome them.
• Xiao Yan thanked Yao Wan on behalf of his father and the Xiao Clan, and Yao Wan accepted his thanks while calling the Three-Year Agreement entertaining.

After the Three-Year Agreement, Yao Wan urged Xiao Yan to seek a Strange Flame and decided to take him to the Chu Yun Empire for the Netherworld Poison Flame. Xiao Yan left the Xiao Clan with her to train, while Xun'er recorded how Yao Wan’s presence increasingly drew him away from her.

• Yao Wan and Yao Lao warned Xiao Yan that Nalan Yanran would have superior resources and discussed Strange Flames as a way for him to grow stronger.
• Yao Wan proposed traveling with Xiao Yan to the Chu Yun Empire to find the Netherworld Poison Flame, and Xiao Yan agreed to leave.
• The next day, Xiao Yan told Xiao Zhan he was setting out to train and promised to return for the following year's Coming-of-Age Ceremony.
• Xiao Yan went to find Xun'er before leaving, and her later diary entries noted that he repeatedly spent time with Yao Wan and grew stronger.

Xiao Yan told Xiao Xun'er that he was leaving the Xiao Clan to temper himself with Wan Guniang, and Xun'er reluctantly let him go. After they departed, Xun'er asked Ling Ying to follow them and protect Xiao Yan while investigating Wan Guniang's possible origins.

• Xiao Xun'er worried that Wan Guniang was growing close to Xiao Yan and had helped restore his cultivation talent.
• Xiao Yan visited Xun'er dressed formally and told her he planned to leave to temper himself with Wan Guniang.
• Xun'er objected because Xiao Yan was only a Dou Zhe, but accepted his decision after he promised to be careful.
• Xiao Yan left Xun'er's courtyard with Wan Guniang, while Xun'er watched them go with worry and resentment.
• Xun'er asked Ling Ying whether Wan Guniang belonged to the Yan Clan or Yao Clan, and he reported that the Yao Clan's peerless prodigy had run away from home.
• Xun'er ordered Ling Ying to follow Xiao Yan and Wan Guniang and protect Xiao Yan when necessary.

Xiao Yan began training with Yao Lao and Yao Wan on the road to the Chu Yun Empire, where they planned to seek the Netherworld Poison Flame. As Xiao Yan struggled under the Mystic Heavy Ruler, Yao Wan provided rare treasures and ingredients so Yao Lao could prepare for the dangerous attempt.

• Yao Wan asked Yao Lao how they could protect Xiao Yan from the Netherworld Poison Flame's poison and offered her Heavenly Heart Glazed Dew.
• Yao Lao explained that their supplies could prepare them to subdue the flame, but Xiao Yan was too weak to face it safely.
• Yao Lao gave Xiao Yan the Mystic Heavy Ruler and ordered him to carry it while practicing his Dou Techniques.
• Xiao Yan began training in the mountains, initially unable to walk normally with the heavy ruler on his back.
• Yao Wan supplied ingredients for the Blood Lotus Pill and Ice Spirit Cold Spring, and Yao Lao agreed to refine the Heavenly Heart Glazed Dew into pills for Xiao Yan.

Yao Wan sparred with Xiao Yan, copied his Eight Extremities Collapse after seeing it once, and rescued him with a Dou Technique she called Suction Palm. She taught Xiao Yan how to cultivate Suction Palm, leaving him astonished by her ability to create and learn Dou Techniques.

• Yao Lao began refining pills, and Yao Wan watched Xiao Yan practice his Dou Techniques.
• Yao Wan challenged Xiao Yan to spar while restricting herself to a Dou Zhe's level, and Xiao Yan attacked with Eight Extremities Collapse.
• Yao Wan copied Eight Extremities Collapse after observing it and sent Xiao Yan flying with her stronger Dou Qi.
• Yao Wan used Suction Palm to pull Xiao Yan back before he hit the ground, then explained that she had created the technique herself.
• Yao Wan passed the Suction Palm cultivation method to Xiao Yan, who asked whether she had truly invented it.

Yao Wan and Yao Lao helped Xiao Yan train on the road toward the Chu Yun Empire, while Xiao Yan began his first attempt at refining medicine. The chapter ended with Yao Wan puzzled by the white powder he had made, and Yao Lao avoiding her gaze.

• Yao Wan explained that she had inferred how to use Eight Extremities Collapse by observing Xiao Yan, and Yao Lao praised her unusual talent.
• Yao Lao completed the Blood Lotus Pill, and Yao Wan said she planned to train Xiao Yan on the way to the Borderlands before traveling to the Chu Yun Empire.
• Yao Wan slowed their journey so Xiao Yan could train with the Mystic Heavy Ruler, and his cultivation rose from One-Star Dou Zhe to Three-Star Dou Zhe.
• Xiao Yan began his first medicine-refining attempt without help, using a Medicine Cauldron and several ingredients.
• Xiao Yan produced white medicinal powder, leaving Yao Wan unsure what he had refined while Yao Lao avoided her questioning gaze.

Xiao Yan trained on the journey to the Chu Yun Empire, reaching Four-Star Dou Zhe as Yao Wan prepared to seek the Netherworld Poison Flame in the Ancient Netherworld Poison Swamp. The chapter leaves Yao Wan about to refine pills to protect against poison, while Yao Lao and Xiao Yan watch.

• Yao Lao urged Xiao Yan to cultivate after exhausting his Dou Qi, and Xiao Yan quickly approached a breakthrough.
• Over several months of travel, Xiao Yan rose from One-Star Dou Zhe to Four-Star Dou Zhe, earning Yao Wan's approval.
• Yao Wan explained that the Netherworld Poison Flame was believed to lie in the Ancient Netherworld Poison Swamp and warned Xiao Yan to avoid fighting local factions.
• Xiao Yan said they had a month's supply of dry rations, and Yao Wan prepared to refine pills for resisting poison.
• Yao Lao emerged from the Storage Ring to observe Yao Wan, then praised her talent to Xiao Yan as she took out a large bronze cauldron.

Xiao Yan and Yao Lao watched Yao Wan refine a high-grade pill with a strange bronze cauldron when Yao Lao sensed approaching bandits. Xiao Yan went to confront them alone, and Ha Mu’s group spotted him waiting in the trees.

• Yao Wan used her Heaven Realm Soul and two kinds of flame to refine seven medicinal ingredients at once in a bronze square cauldron.
• Yao Lao judged that Yao Wan was making at least a Fourth Grade Peak Pill, then sensed people approaching her.
• Xiao Yan drew the Mystic Heavy Ruler and volunteered to test the attackers before Yao Lao intervened.
• Ha Mu led one Da Dou Shi, three Dou Shis, and seventeen Dou Zhes through the forest, hoping to seize the medicine refiner.
• Ha Mu’s group noticed Xiao Yan waiting among the trees, but one of the Dou Shis could not sense any Dou Qi from him.