Chapter Summaries

Xiao Yan asked Qing Lin what kinds of gifts Wan Guniang liked and learned she appreciated exquisite little figures and Mechanical Puppets. He began carving a wooden figure for her, leaving Yao Lao to recognize the outfit Wan Guniang had worn when she first came to the Xiao Clan.

• Xiao Yan rejected the idea of giving Wan Guniang an ordinary hairpin and asked Qing Lin for advice.
• Qing Lin told Xiao Yan that Wan Guniang liked exquisite little figures and Mechanical Puppets.
• Xiao Yan thanked Qing Lin and told Yao Lao that he now had a plan for Wan Guniang's gift.
• Xiao Yan searched his Storage Ring, found a piece of raw wood, and began carving it with a Flying Knife empowered by Dou Qi.
• Xiao Yan carved a cloaked figure wearing a bamboo hat, and Yao Lao recognized it as Wan Guniang's attire from her first visit to the Xiao Clan.

Xiao Li and Xiao Ding discussed whether Xiao Yan and Yao Wan had grown closer, while Xiao Yan later visited Yao Wan at night to give her a wooden carving inspired by their past in the Xiao Clan. Yao Wan warmly accepted it, but warned Xiao Yan he would soon be too busy to keep making such gifts.

• Xiao Li asked Xue Lan whether Xiao Yan and Yao Wan had spent time together, and Xiao Ding urged his brothers to trust Xiao Yan and let their relationship develop.
• Xiao Yan visited Yao Wan late at night, and she teased him about repeatedly coming to see her after dark.
• Xiao Yan explained that he had brought her a gift and took a small wooden carving from his Storage Ring.
• Yao Wan recognized the cloaked, hat-wearing figure as a reminder of their nights in the Xiao Clan and said she liked the gift.
• Yao Wan placed the carving beside the table and told Xiao Yan he would soon be too busy to make more, while he insisted it would not delay him.

Yao Wan sent Xiao Yan and Qing Lin to investigate the Eastern Suburbs of Stone Desert City while secretly giving Xiao Ding and Xiao Li valuable pills. She asked the brothers to keep her gift from Xiao Yan, and they agreed as she and Hai Bodong flew east.

• Yao Wan asked Xiao Yan to take Qing Lin to the Eastern Suburbs of Stone Desert City the next day, and Xiao Yan left her room without pressing her about the gift.
• After Xiao Yan left, Yao Wan examined the wooden figure he had carved and blushed as she wondered whether he had studied her so closely.
• The next day, Xiao Yan and Qing Lin set out to investigate, while Yao Wan told Hai Bodong that the area might still hold useful things even though the Heavenly Flame was gone.
• Yao Wan asked Xiao Ding and Xiao Li about Stone Desert City and gave them Shi Ling Pills and other cultivation pills as thanks for hosting her group.
• Yao Wan asked Xiao Ding and Xiao Li to keep the pills secret from Xiao Yan so he would not feel indebted, and the brothers agreed as she and Hai Bodong flew east.

Yao Wan took Hai Bodong to Salt City and used a brief, soul-piercing Divine Sound to eliminate the Mo Family as a future threat. After they returned to Stone Desert City, Yao Wan learned that Xiao Yan had come back and was speaking with the mercenary group's leaders.

• Yao Wan told Hai Bodong they were going to Salt City to deal with the Mo Family, though she did not explain why she believed they would become a threat.
• Yao Wan and Hai Bodong flew from Stone Desert City to Salt City and located the Mo Family's fortress.
• Yao Wan asked Hai Bodong to shield his Soul Power, then released a brief Divine Sound across Salt City.
• Yao Wan and Hai Bodong returned to Stone Desert City by dawn, where Yao Wan learned Xiao Yan and Qing Lin had not yet returned.
• Xue Lan told Yao Wan that Xiao Yan had returned and was speaking with the two leaders in the main hall.

Xiao Yan told Yao Wan that he intended to pursue Queen Medusa and the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame, while Yao Wan discussed Qing Lin and the Little Fairy Doctor with him. After settling matters in Stone Desert City, Xiao Yan and Yao Wan set out for the Snake-People Tribe’s territory in the Tagor Desert.

• Xiao Yan told Yao Wan that he planned to target Queen Medusa to obtain a Heavenly Flame, and said he would leave within two days.
• Xiao Yan told Yao Wan that Qing Lin had a special constitution, and Yao Wan explained the power of her Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils.
• Yao Wan asked about the Little Fairy Doctor, and Xiao Yan said he had persuaded her to avoid the Chu Yun Empire and settled her somewhere safe.
• Yao Wan urged Xiao Yan to treat the Little Fairy Doctor well and said she would not interfere if he liked someone, leaving Xiao Yan flustered.
• After two peaceful days, Xiao Yan and Yao Wan left Stone Desert City for the depths of the Tagor Desert to seek the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame from Queen Medusa.

Yao Wan and Xiao Yan crossed the Tagor Desert toward the snake-people’s territory, stopping at an oasis where Xiao Yan stumbled upon a snake-woman bathing. After they left, fighting broke out behind them as other arrivals approached the oasis.

• Yao Wan told Xiao Yan they would reach an oasis before entering the snake-people’s territory, and the pair continued through the sandstorm.
• Xiao Yan and Yao Wan arrived at the oasis, where Xiao Yan spotted a snake-woman bathing in the spring.
• Yao Wan recognized the snake-woman as a Dou Wang and teased Xiao Yan before telling him to refill their water and leave.
• Xiao Yan and Yao Wan headed deeper into the desert, where the weather grew calm beyond the sandstorm barrier.
• A clash of Dou Qi sounded from the oasis behind them, and Yao Wan dismissed the newcomers as doomed to fail.

Yao Wan and Xiao Yan discussed Queen Medusa’s plan to use a Heavenly Flame to break through to Dou Zong, then disguised themselves as snake-people to enter the royal city unnoticed. The chapter ended with Yao Wan emerging in revealing snake-people clothes, becoming embarrassed by Xiao Yan’s reaction and deciding to change back.

• Yao Wan criticized Gu He’s attempt to bargain with Queen Medusa, and she explained that Medusa might use a Heavenly Flame and the snake-people’s companion snake spirit to advance to Dou Zong.
• News of the human experts’ incursion spread through the eight great snake-people tribes, and Queen Medusa summoned their leaders to the Snake-People Tribe’s Temple for protection.
• Yao Wan gave Xiao Yan pills that temporarily transformed them into snake-people so they could sneak toward the royal city, and Xiao Yan struggled to move with his new tail.
• Xiao Yan and Yao Wan changed into snake-people clothes, but Yao Wan emerged in a revealing outfit and asked Xiao Yan whether she looked strange.
• Xiao Yan suggested that Yao Wan might get used to the outfit, so she became embarrassed and decided to change back.

Yao Wan and Xiao Yan entered the Snake-People Tribe’s Main City and watched Queen Medusa begin her dangerous evolution using the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame. When thunder threatened the breakthrough, Yao Wan protected Xiao Yan and chose to help Queen Medusa survive the final trial.

• Yao Wan changed back into her usual clothes, and she and Xiao Yan joked about her snake tail before continuing toward the Main City.
• At the god hall, Yao Wan told Xiao Yan they would wait to see whether Queen Medusa could break through to Dou Zong before taking the Heavenly Flame.
• Yao Wan and Xiao Yan reached the Poisonous Pool’s central island and watched Queen Medusa enter the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame.
• Queen Medusa suffered as the Heavenly Flame burned her scales and flesh, while Heaven and Earth Energy gathered for her final trial.
• Thunder descended around the god hall, and Yao Wan diverted the bolts away from herself and Xiao Yan.
• Yao Wan sent an emerald-green force into Queen Medusa’s body to protect her Heart Meridian.

Queen Medusa completed her evolution into a Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python and reached the Dou Zong realm, then refused Yao Wan’s demand for the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame. Yao Wan abandoned peaceful negotiations and revealed an aura powerful enough to rival Medusa’s, while Gu He and the black-robed woman sensed another unknown expert nearby.

• Queen Medusa emerged from her charred serpent remains as a Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python after successfully evolving into a Dou Zong.
• Queen Medusa changed back into human form and refused to give Yao Wan the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame.
• Yao Wan sent Xiao Yan away and revealed a powerful aura after Queen Medusa warned her to stop testing her patience.
• Snake-people outside the divine temple celebrated Queen Medusa’s breakthrough, while Gu He retreated and urged the black-robed woman to flee.
• The black-robed woman sensed an unfamiliar human expert’s aura rising from the temple, and Gu He wondered who could rival Queen Medusa.

Yao Wan fought Queen Medusa above the Snake-People Tribe while Yun Yun took advantage of the distraction to search the temple for the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame. There, she found Xiao Yan and realized how deeply he and Yao Wan cared for each other.

• Yao Wan and Queen Medusa left the temple and began a fierce battle that shook the sky, with Yao Wan wielding a rune-covered stone hammer against Medusa’s Heaven Swallowing Python.
• Gu He suspected that Yao Wan was a Tier-7 Alchemist, while Yun Yun recognized her as the Medicine Fairy and decided to enter the temple for the Heavenly Flame.
• Yun Yun arrived at the lake island and found Xiao Yan guarding the enraged Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame with Yao Lao’s warning that touching it would be fatal.
• Xiao Yan recognized Yun Yun, who explained that Gu He had called on her to repay a favor, and confirmed that Yao Wan had come to help him obtain the flame.
• Yun Yun saw Xiao Yan’s admiration for Yao Wan and concluded that she could not compete with the woman who had repeatedly risked herself for him.

Yao Wan defeated Queen Medusa and took control of the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python’s body, then returned to Xiao Yan and asked whether Yun Zhi was his friend. Yun Zhi had already fled to avoid being recognized, leaving Xiao Yan puzzled.

• Yao Wan overwhelmed Queen Medusa with her strength and Soul Power, then knocked her unconscious.
• Yao Wan let the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python’s soul control the body and placed a restraint on it.
• Gu He realized Queen Medusa’s defeat did not mean he could obtain the Heavenly Flame, since Yao Wan might want it herself.
• Yun Yun put her hood back on and left before Yao Wan could see her face.
• Yao Wan returned to Xiao Yan and asked if the person who had just left was his friend.

Yao Wan gave Xiao Yan the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python and assured him her restriction would keep it from harming him, then left with him to refine the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame. Gu He and Yun Yun’s group withdrew from the Tagor Desert after failing to obtain the Heavenly Flame, while Xiao Yan and Yao Wan reached a quiet cave near the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

• Yao Wan handed Xiao Yan the Seven-Colored Little Snake, revealed it was Queen Medusa, and explained that she had marked it so it could not harm him.
• Xiao Yan fed the Seven-Colored Little Snake Amethyst Accompanying Source and began to warm to keeping it as a pet.
• Yao Wan and Xiao Yan gathered the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame and silently left the Snake-People Tribe’s royal city.
• Gu He and the gathered Gama Empire experts fled the enraged snake-people, and Yun Yun returned without finding Xiao Yan or the Heavenly Flame.
• Gu He accepted that the Heavenly Flame was lost and promised to honor his rewards to the experts, while Yun Yun planned to speak with her teacher after returning.
• Xiao Yan and Yao Wan reached a quiet mountain cave near the Magical Beast Mountain Range, where Xiao Yan examined the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame before refining it.

Xiao Yan prepared to refine the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame with a protective pill from Yao Wan, then began absorbing the flame’s seed. When its energy overwhelmed him, Yao Wan helped siphon off the excess, easing his burden while feeding her Life Spirit Flame.

• Yao Lao warned Xiao Yan that refining the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame would be dangerous, and Yao Wan gave him a pill that used cold energy to protect his Heart Meridian.
• Xiao Yan swallowed the pill, reached into the Azure Lotus to take its flame seed, and swallowed it to begin refining the Heavenly Flame.
• The pill and Xiao Yan’s two existing Heavenly Flames protected him from the worst of the heat and pain, but the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame’s energy proved too vast for him to absorb alone.
• Yao Wan pressed her hand to Xiao Yan’s back and used the Life Spirit Flame to siphon off the excess energy, easing Xiao Yan’s strain while nourishing her flame.

Yao Wan absorbed energy from Xiao Yan’s Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame, unexpectedly reaching Dou Emperor and strengthening her Life Spirit Flame, while Xiao Yan refined the flame and advanced to three-star Da Dou Shi with an Earth-Rank Low-Level Flame Mantra. The chapter ended with Yao Wan nearing the culmination of her efforts and the Seven-Colored Little Snake happily clinging to a leaf of her Life Spirit Flame.

• Yao Wan absorbed energy from Xiao Yan’s Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame, and her cultivation broke through to Dou Emperor as her Life Spirit Flame grew.
• Yao Wan stopped drawing energy once Xiao Yan could control the Heavenly Flame, while energy from the Flame Mantra secretly merged into her Life Spirit Flame.
• Xiao Yan refined the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame, evolved the Flame Mantra, and formed a Dou Crystal as he advanced to three-star Da Dou Shi.
• Xiao Yan told Yao Wan that his Flame Mantra had reached Earth-Rank Low-Level, and Yao Wan quietly considered how close she was to completing her long effort.
• Yao Wan explained that the Seven-Colored Little Snake was drawn to the Life Spirit Flame, then gave it a small leaf that made it happy.

After obtaining the Heavenly Flame, Xiao Yan agreed to undergo a final trial before the Three-Year Agreement. Meanwhile, Yun Yun told her secluded teacher about Yao Wan’s upgraded sect technique, prompting him to end his seclusion, and learned that the Mo Family had been massacred.

• The Seven-Colored Little Snake enjoyed Yao Wan’s attention, then fell asleep in Xiao Yan’s hand after eating Amethyst Accompanying Source.
• Yao Wan proposed a final trial for Xiao Yan, who agreed to her plan before the Three-Year Agreement.
• Yun Yun told her teacher that Yao Wan had improved the Yun Lan Sect’s Azure Cloud Sword Art into an Earth-Rank technique, and he decided to leave Secluded Death Meditation and meet her.
• Yun Yun’s teacher praised Nalan Yanran’s potential and told Yun Yun to nurture her as a future pillar of the Yun Lan Sect.
• Yun Ling reported that the Mo Family had been wiped out by a mysterious attacker, and Yun Yun assigned him to investigate.

Nalan Yanran struggled to advance her sword intent and turned down Liu Ling’s offer of pills. Yao Wan returned and offered to take her somewhere that would help her grow stronger, leaving Nalan Yanran eager to hear more.

• Nalan Yanran practiced sword intent on Yun Lan Mountain and split the clouds with her final strike.
• Liu Ling praised Nalan Yanran’s swordsmanship and offered medicinal pills from his teacher, Gu He, but she politely declined and sent him away.
• Nalan Yanran returned to her room, where Yao Wan surprised her with a visit and learned she had reached Four Star Da Dou Shi.
• Yao Wan teased Nalan Yanran about Liu Ling’s interest, and Nalan Yanran said she wanted a partner who could stand alongside her.
• Yao Wan offered to take Nalan Yanran to a place where she was guaranteed to become stronger, and Nalan Yanran asked whether such a place truly existed.

Yao Wan took Nalan Yanran through a spatial vortex toward an undisclosed destination, while Xiao Yan followed her instructions in the Black-Corner Region and discovered that a cloth fragment resonated with his Xiao Clan bloodline. The fragment revealed the character “Xiao,” leaving Xiao Yan and Yao Lao confronted with its connection to the ancient clan.

• Nalan Yanran agreed to leave with Yao Wan for training after confirming her teacher would allow her to return before the Three-Year Agreement.
• Yao Wan opened a spatial vortex and took Nalan Yanran away from Yun Lan Mountain, warning her not to move inside shattered space.
• Xiao Yan walked through the Black-Corner Region wearing a mask and killed a robber who had tried to attack him.
• Yao Lao examined the cloth fragment Yao Wan had given Xiao Yan and recognized an ancient character linked to the Xiao Clan.
• At Yao Lao's suggestion, Xiao Yan dripped blood onto the cloth fragment, which revealed the character “Xiao” and stirred a sorrowful resonance in him.

Xiao Yan followed the Bloodline Guidance toward a hidden realm while Yao Wan sent Nalan Yanran to meet him. Meanwhile, a green-clad woman came to the Mo Tie Mercenary Group to take Qing Lin, but Hai Bodong intervened and told her to wait for the group’s leaders.

• Xiao Yan sensed where Miss Wan wanted him to go and set off toward the hidden realm.
• Yao Wan found Nalan Yanran dressed in the image of her ideal self, then sent her to meet Xiao Yan and left to handle other matters.
• A green-clad woman arrived at the Mo Tie Mercenary Group and demanded that Xue Lan hand over Qing Lin.
• When the woman tried to seize Qing Lin, Hai Bodong appeared and challenged her for bullying a Dou Shi and a little girl.
• The woman offered one hundred thousand Gold Coins for Qing Lin, but Hai Bodong said she should wait and speak with the group’s masters.

Lü Man and the Eight-Winged Black Serpent Emperor attacked Hai Bodong to seize Qing Lin, whose Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils Lü Man had sought for decades. Just as Hai Bodong was outnumbered, a powerful woman arrived and apologized for being late.

• Lü Man attacked Qing Lin in the hall, but Hai Bodong cut through her wooden net and protected the girl with Xue Lan.
• Hai Bodong and Lü Man fought outside the hall, with neither gaining a decisive advantage.
• Lü Man summoned the Eight-Winged Black Serpent Emperor and told it to hold Hai Bodong back while she went for Qing Lin.
• Hai Bodong refused to move aside and forced Lü Man to defend herself when she tried to reach the girl.
• A powerful woman appeared, and Hai Bodong greeted her with relief while complaining that she had taken her time.

Yao Wan arrived in Stone Desert City and drove Lü Man and the Eight-Winged Black Serpent Emperor away, protecting Qing Lin from being taken by the Heavenly Serpent Mansion. After making arrangements for the damaged mercenary group, she told Qing Lin she would leave and rewarded Hai Bodong for his help.

• Yao Wan appeared beside Hai Bodong and took over confronting Lü Man and the Eight-Winged Black Serpent Emperor.
• Yao Wan rejected Lü Man's plea to take Qing Lin, demanded one hundred thousand Gold Coins for repairs, and revealed that she was known as the Medicine Fairy.
• Lü Man and the Eight-Winged Black Serpent Emperor left Stone Desert City, wary of Yao Wan and Qing Lin's potential.
• Yao Wan gave Xue Lan the Gold Coins to repair the Mo Tie Mercenary Group's training field and told Qing Lin she would not return after this visit.
• Yao Wan thanked Hai Bodong for his support and gave him an Imperial Zenith Pill.