Chapter Summaries

Xiao Ling'er and Liang Danxia reconsidered the Moon Embracing Sect’s bizarre recruitment rules and concluded that the sect master likely created them, while Xiao Ling’er chose to trust the sect’s sincerity. Several days later, Duan Qingyao brought Xiao Ling'er to Hongwu Immortal City and explained the Roving Immortal path, as Liang Danxia warned her against pursuing it.

• Liang Danxia reassured Xiao Ling'er that the sect’s care for her was real and theorized that the sect master had established the strange recruitment rules to identify extraordinary people.
• Xiao Ling'er accepted that the sect master could have secrets, vowed to repay the sect’s kindness, and said she might recruit people who met the rules’ conditions.
• Xiao Ling'er questioned the sect’s later iron laws, but Liang Danxia called them timeless wisdom and advised her to follow them.
• Several days later, Duan Qingyao brought Xiao Ling'er to Hongwu Immortal City and described its vast population and powerful city lord, the Hongwu Earth Immortal.
• Duan Qingyao explained how failed ascenders could become Roving Immortals, and Liang Danxia warned Xiao Ling'er that their tribulations were perilous and should be avoided.

Duan Qingyao and Xiao Ling'er settled in Hongwu Immortal City and cautiously explored its night market before the gathering. Liang Danxia identified a fragment that might belong to an inheritance, and Xiao Ling'er bought it without drawing attention.

• Duan Qingyao and Xiao Ling'er entered Hongwu Immortal City, concealed Xiao Ling'er's face, and kept a low profile as the city grew busier.
• Three days before the gathering, Duan Qingyao warned Xiao Ling'er about the dangers among the crowds, then invited her to the nearby night market.
• Duan Qingyao taught Xiao Ling'er how stolen goods could become dangerous to their buyers, and Liang Danxia praised the Moon Embracing Sect's rules.
• Liang Danxia spotted a verdigris-covered fragment that might be part of an inheritance, and Xiao Ling'er cleverly bargained to obtain it for eighty Origin Stones.
• Three days later, the gathering officially began.

Xiao Ling'er entered the million-alchemist competition and, on Liang Danxia’s advice, planned to hide her ability before making a late show of strength. When the first round began, she hesitated over an unfamiliar Core Condensation Pill formula and drew ridicule from the spectators.

• Duan Qingyao accompanied Xiao Ling'er into the immense competition grounds and encouraged her to treat the contest as experience.
• Liang Danxia warned Xiao Ling'er not to reveal the Earth Core Demonic Fire and advised her to keep a low profile until later rounds.
• Liang Danxia explained that the first-round materials matched the modern Core Condensation Pill formula and urged Xiao Ling'er to refine it despite her unfamiliarity.
• A seventh Dao Harmony Realm cultivator announced that alchemists had one hour to produce a pill of third grade or above, then started the round.
• While the other contestants began refining, Xiao Ling'er studied the materials and delayed, prompting spectators to mock her and leaving Duan Qingyao puzzled.

Xiao Ling'er studied the other contestants, then secretly refined three third grade Core Condensation Pills to advance. She suspected an awkward, seemingly clumsy alchemist was hiding his true skill, and fewer than a hundred thousand contestants remained after the first round.

• Xiao Ling'er watched the composed alchemists and learned how the Five-Colored Flower helped balance the supplementary ingredients and raise the pill completion rate.
• Liang Danxia pointed out three potential rivals to Xiao Ling'er: a man wearing a Feather Crown, a red-haired woman, and an awkward-looking alchemist whose cultivation seemed strange.
• Xiao Ling'er pretended to struggle, then opened her furnace near the deadline and produced three third grade Core Condensation Pills.
• The awkward alchemist finished at the last moment with two pills whose grades were unclear, prompting Xiao Ling'er to suspect he was hiding his ability by overdoing his act.
• The Dao Harmony Realm cultivator announced the results, and the first round eliminated nine out of ten alchemists while the awkward alchemist advanced.

Xiao Ling'er and Iron Fool advanced through increasingly difficult pill-refining rounds, while most of the Million Alchemists were eliminated. The contest reached its final ranking round with only twelve competitors remaining.

• Iron Fool convinced the Dao Harmony Realm great cultivator to let him advance with his unstable third-grade Core Condensation Pill.
• Xiao Ling'er narrowly advanced in the Profound Origin Pill round, while Iron Fool again made several two-and-a-half-grade pills at the last moment.
• The contestants faced the obscure fourth-tier Poison Evasion Pill, and Xiao Ling'er revealed about half her true ability as Iron Fool survived through apparent luck.
• Only twelve alchemists advanced, and the Dao Harmony Realm great cultivator announced that the next round would rank them by the value of the pill each refined.

Xiao Ling'er entered the pill-refining finals, where contestants could choose their own pills, while several rivals secretly attacked the two strongest refiners. Huo Yun'er and the Third Divine Son of the Feather Clan retaliated, and the Third Divine Son began slaughtering his attackers as the competition descended into chaos.

• The finals were judged by the value of each pill, and Xiao Ling'er chose to refine a Third Tier Profound Origin Pill.
• The Third Divine Son of the Feather Clan and Huo Yun'er chose fifth-tier pills, while Xiao Ling'er and Iron Fool selected third-tier pills.
• Eight contestants secretly used a spiritual sense technique to disrupt Huo Yun'er and the Third Divine Son, with the attack also catching Xiao Ling'er and Iron Fool.
• Huo Yun'er unleashed her artifacts and orange flames against the four contestants who had targeted her, while the Third Divine Son suppressed the attack and confronted his assailants.
• The Third Divine Son fought four opponents, killed one with a punch, and caused his pill furnace to explode as the Dao Harmony Realm cultivator refused to intervene.

The Third Divine Son of the Feather Clan overwhelmed his opponents while Huo Yun'er used her wealth of artifacts to suppress hers. Xiao Ling'er reflected on her sect’s unusual recruitment rules and was left wary of the Third Divine Son after he slaughtered the other competitors.

• Huo Yun'er bombarded her four opponents with artifacts, while the Third Divine Son of the Feather Clan repeatedly wounded his three opponents.
• Xiao Ling'er considered how her sect could rebuild its resources and discussed with Liang Danxia whether Lin Fan’s rules favored disciples capable of surpassing Sacred Bodies.
• The Third Divine Son of the Feather Clan killed the Cave Heaven Realm alchemist and then slaughtered the final opponent despite an unseen elder asking him to spare the man.
• Liang Danxia explained that the Feather Clan was an Immortal Ancient Clan of the Demon Race, and Xiao Ling'er learned that the Third Divine Son spared Huo Yun'er but killed all four of her opponents.
• The Third Divine Son of the Feather Clan considered attacking Xiao Ling'er and Iron Fool but dismissed them, and Iron Fool fled in panic.
• Xiao Ling'er decided it was safer to keep a low profile and avoid future alchemy competitions unless necessary.

Xiao Ling'er and Fan Jianqiang stunned the alchemy competition by producing Ninth Grade pills and taking first and second place. Xiao Ling'er won the championship and its reward, but her sudden fame drew calculating attention that could threaten the Moon Embracing Sect.

• Yu Mo and Huo Yun'er finished refining pills, with Yu Mo earning a higher grade and claiming victory before the referee announced that time remained.
• Xiao Ling'er refined nine Ninth Grade Profound Origin Pills, while Iron Fool unexpectedly produced Ninth Grade pills of his own.
• Yu Mo considered attacking, but the Dao Harmony Realm referee warned that doing so after the competition would violate Hongwu Immortal City's rules, so Yu Mo left.
• The referee named Xiao Ling'er champion, Fan Jianqiang second, and Huo Yun'er third, with the other finalists dead.
• Xiao Ling'er received the champion's reward as spectators recognized her achievement and began eyeing the prize and the Moon Embracing Sect.

After Xiao Ling'er won the alchemy competition, Duan Qingyao worried that powerful factions would target her, but Xiao Ling'er demonstrated a disguise technique that could help them escape. Xiao Ling'er also identified Fan Jianqiang as a potential hidden prodigy, and Lin Fan prepared to investigate him.

• Major powers in the city sought to recruit Xiao Ling'er, while the Liu Family Head ordered his people to pursue Fan Jianqiang.
• Duan Qingyao worried that Xiao Ling'er’s victory had put her and the Moon Embracing Sect in danger, and Xiao Ling'er refused to change masters.
• Xiao Ling'er transformed herself with a disguise technique that fooled Duan Qingyao and asked her to relay the method and a message to Lin Fan.
• Xiao Ling'er told Duan Qingyao that Fan Jianqiang might be hiding exceptional alchemy skills and had deliberately lost to avoid attention.
• Duan Qingyao sent Lin Fan a message about Xiao Ling'er's discovery, and Lin Fan prepared to investigate Fan Jianqiang.

Lin Fan and Wu Xingyun arrived outside Hongwu Immortal City to find Fan Jianqiang, while Duan Qingyao and Xiao Ling'er slipped away under disguise and took a detour toward the Moon Embracing Sect. Lin Fan decided to test a crowded fortune-teller’s skill, unaware that Fan Jianqiang was the man at the stall.

• Lin Fan ordered the Sect Protecting Grand Formation activated and set out with four others to find the person who fit the eighth sect rule.
• Duan Qingyao and Xiao Ling'er evaded their watchers with disguises and headed west before planning to return to the Moon Embracing Sect from the side.
• Fan Jianqiang divined great fortune, disguised himself as a fortune-teller, and opened a stall outside the city gate.
• Lin Fan and Wu Xingyun arrived outside Hongwu Immortal City while three elders went to meet Xiao Ling'er and Duan Qingyao without revealing themselves unless needed.
• Lin Fan and Wu Xingyun noticed Fan Jianqiang's crowded stall, and Wu Xingyun joined the queue after Lin Fan proposed testing the fortune-teller.

Lin Fan and Wu Xingyun sought a diviner to locate an extraordinary potential disciple, and Fan Jianqiang proved his skill by guessing Wu Xingyun wanted to attack him. After testing Lin Fan’s sincerity and learning he belonged to the Moon Embracing Sect, Fan Jianqiang revealed that the person they sought was right before them: himself.

• Wu Xingyun asked Fan Jianqiang to divine her thoughts, and he fled after realizing she wanted to beat him up.
• Lin Fan asked Fan Jianqiang to locate someone they hoped to recruit as a disciple and paid double for another divination.
• Lin Fan said the Moon Embracing Sect would sincerely try to recruit the person, even if the sect was weak and the person might refuse.
• Fan Jianqiang was moved by Lin Fan’s determination but concealed his shock that he could not divine Lin Fan’s origins.
• Fan Jianqiang said the person they sought was far away yet right before them, and Lin Fan recognized that he was the one they wanted.

Lin Fan and Wu Xingyun recruited Fan Jianqiang and set out for the Moon Embracing Sect, but Fan Jianqiang warned that pursuers could target them and urged them to prepare an ambush. While Wu Xingyun laid formations, Fan Jianqiang slipped away, apparently to improve their chances further.

• Fan Jianqiang accepted Lin Fan's invitation to join the Moon Embracing Sect and revealed he had already wanted to leave Hongwu Immortal City.
• Wu Xingyun took Lin Fan and Fan Jianqiang away from the city, and Fan Jianqiang dropped his disguise to reveal first-layer Core Condensation Realm cultivation.
• Fan Jianqiang warned that the group could be pursued because of Xiao Ling'er's victory and the Moon Embracing Sect's weakness, then proposed setting formations along their route.
• With Lin Fan's approval, Wu Xingyun laid formations in a forest and left signs to lure pursuers into the ambush.
• Fan Jianqiang excused himself and hurried away, while Lin Fan suspected he was secretly strengthening their preparations.

Wu Xingyun laid formations to protect Lin Fan and Fan Jianqiang as they fled toward the Moon Embracing Sect, while their pursuers were caught in the traps. Lin Fan refused to abandon Wu Xingyun, and the pursuers triggered an even more powerful formation behind them.

• Wu Xingyun finished setting up several formations, and Lin Fan pretended not to know why Fan Jianqiang had taken so long in the forest.
• Fan Jianqiang repeatedly claimed he needed to relieve himself, delaying their flight while Wu Xingyun grew suspicious of him.
• The pursuers triggered Wu Xingyun’s formations, and their angry cries and explosions revealed that several of them had been badly wounded or killed.
• Wu Xingyun urged Lin Fan to flee with Fan Jianqiang while she stayed behind, but Lin Fan refused to leave her.
• The pursuers broke through the formations and resumed their chase, only to be swallowed by a more powerful formation before they had gone two li.

After an explosion killed the pursuers, Wu Xingyun believed her formations had grown unexpectedly powerful, while Lin Fan recognized Fan Jianqiang’s knack for surviving danger. Fan Jianqiang interpreted an auspicious hexagram as a threat and persuaded Wu Xingyun to lay more formations as they prepared for the next pursuers.

• The pursuers’ defenses collapsed, and a violent explosion swallowed them as Lin Fan, Fan Jianqiang, and Wu Xingyun watched from a distance.
• Fan Jianqiang praised Wu Xingyun’s formations, and she accepted his explanation despite being unable to understand their unexpected power.
• Fan Jianqiang cast another divination and declared that the hexagram foretold great misfortune, though Wu Xingyun read it as a sign of fame and fortune.
• Fan Jianqiang explained that the auspicious hexagram meant disaster if the other pursuers gained fame and fortune, then urged Wu Xingyun to set more hidden formations.
• Wu Xingyun began laying new formations, while Fan Jianqiang claimed his stomach hurt and asked to relieve himself again.

Liu Xun discovered that Wu Xingyun’s route was protected by deadly arrays, then collected the spoils from hunters killed by hidden talismans. As Lin Fan, Wu Xingyun, and Fan Jianqiang continued on, Wu Xingyun began to suspect that Fan Jianqiang was far from ordinary, leaving him worried that she had seen through him.

• Liu Xun examined the ruined forest and recognized the interwoven arrays as formidable traps, concluding that the Moon Embracing Sect had set them.
• A group of hunters rushed toward the site, triggered hidden talismans, and were killed; Liu Xun gathered their supplies and continued tracking the others.
• Lin Fan, Wu Xingyun, and Fan Jianqiang heard distant explosions and screams, and Wu Xingyun connected the disturbance to the place where Fan Jianqiang had stopped earlier.
• Wu Xingyun reflected on the Sect Master's regard for Fan Jianqiang and decided he was no ordinary cultivator, though she did not know his true abilities.
• Fan Jianqiang denied responsibility and wondered whether Wu Xingyun had exposed him, while thinking that Lin Fan had never suspected him.

Fan Jianqiang’s traps stopped Liu Xun while Lin Fan and Wu Xingyun continued escorting him toward the Moon Embracing Sect. Meanwhile, Xiao Ling’er and the elders returned safely to the sect, though Xiao Ling’er remained worried about the danger ahead.

• Fan Jianqiang grew suspicious that Lin Fan was far more cunning than he appeared.
• Liu Xun entered the formations, was overwhelmed, and collapsed unconscious.
• Fan Jianqiang secretly used straw men to take Liu Xun’s storage pouch before returning to Lin Fan and Wu Xingyun.
• Wu Xingyun decided to investigate Fan Jianqiang’s background and motives herself.
• Xiao Ling’er, Duan Qingyao, and the other elders returned to the Moon Embracing Sect unnoticed, and Su Xinghai tried to reassure the worried Xiao Ling’er.

Xiao Ling'er gave Su Xinghai her fifth grade Pointing Profound Pill to help him break through and promised to supply the other elders with pills in exchange for ingredients. As the Moon Embracing Sect prepared for an approaching crisis, Xiao Ling'er returned to her residence anxious but resolved to cultivate and refine pills.

• Su Xinghai and Duan Qingyao reassured Xiao Ling'er that the elders would protect her despite the danger her championship might bring.
• Xiao Ling'er gave Su Xinghai her fifth grade Pointing Profound Pill, urging him to use it to strengthen the sect before the coming battle.
• Xiao Ling'er offered Duan Qingyao, Li Changshou, and Chen Erzhu future Cave Heaven Pills in exchange for ingredients, and they accepted.
• Su Xinghai entered seclusion to attempt a breakthrough to the Fifth Realm while the other elders inspected formations and prepared supplies.
• Xiao Ling'er told Liang Danxia that she felt unsettled, and Liang Danxia comforted her and advised her to keep refining pills and cultivating.

Fan Jianqiang asked to inspect the Moon Embracing Sect’s feng shui and offered to fix minor flaws, while Lin Fan concealed his interest in learning about Fan Jianqiang’s abilities. During Fan Jianqiang’s formal entry into the sect, Lin Fan stopped him from giving his false name and learned that he believed using a false name was essential for surviving curses and divination.

• Fan Jianqiang asked Wu Xingyun to take him around the Moon Embracing Sect so he could inspect its feng shui, and Lin Fan approved the request.
• Fan Jianqiang identified minor feng shui flaws and offered to resolve them, then Lin Fan brought him to pay respects to the patriarch and formally join the sect.
• Fan Jianqiang began his oath using the name Fan Jianqiang, and Lin Fan interrupted to ask whether that was his real name.
• Fan Jianqiang revealed that his real name was Fan Jian and explained that cultivators should use false names to protect themselves from curses and divination.
• Li Changshou challenged Fan Jianqiang’s extreme caution, while Liang Danxia told Xiao Ling'er that his sincere mindset would not necessarily harm his cultivation.

Lin Fan accepted Fan Jianqiang as his second disciple and used Combat Power Sharing to combine his disciples’ strength, reaching the peak of the Mysterious Origin Realm. He then examined Fan Jianqiang’s many hidden abilities and resolved to keep developing cautiously.

• Lin Fan stopped the elders’ argument over Fan Jianqiang’s name and welcomed him as his second disciple, introducing him to Xiao Ling'er.
• Xiao Ling'er challenged Fan Jianqiang to another match, but he denied holding back and begged her to let him off.
• Lin Fan promised Fan Jianqiang the same treatment as Xiao Ling'er and urged him to settle in.
• Lin Fan shared the Combat Power of Xiao Ling'er and Fan Jianqiang, surging to the peak of the Mysterious Origin Realm.
• Lin Fan cautioned himself not to expect more Protagonist Template disciples soon, then examined Fan Jianqiang’s divination, alchemy, cultivation, formation, and spell abilities.

Lin Fan accepted Xiao Ling’er’s ninth-grade Profound Origin Pills and used them to cultivate through the night. He broke through to the second level of the Mysterious Origin Realm, then merged his combat power and reached the Fourth Realm, Grotto-Heaven.

• Lin Fan weighed the Moon Embracing Sect’s approaching crisis and resolved to cultivate quickly while relying on the First Elder and Fan Jianqiang for support.
• Xiao Ling’er gave Lin Fan the ninth-grade Profound Origin Pills she had refined, promising she could make more and might eventually refine ninth-grade Cave Heaven Pills.
• Lin Fan recognized that Xiao Ling’er trusted the sect and considered sharing her pill-refining techniques, then decided to focus on cultivation before the coming battles.
• Lin Fan took two Profound Origin Pills overnight and broke through to the second level of the Mysterious Origin Realm.
• Lin Fan merged his combat power and attained Fourth Realm, Grotto-Heaven combat power.