Chapter Summaries

Xiao Yan learned that absorbing a Heavenly Flame was far more dangerous than he had expected, but Hun Ruoruo revealed she had a child flame of 'It' and prepared a plan to help him refine it. With a thirty percent chance of success, Xiao Yan began preparing for his first journey away from home.

• Xiao Yan decided to skip the formal Coming-of-Age Ceremony and asked when they would leave to train.
• Old Man Yao warned Xiao Yan that a Dou Zhe could not safely absorb a Heavenly Flame without extensive preparations.
• Hun Ruoruo revealed that she had a child flame of 'It' and listed the pills and materials she would use to protect Xiao Yan.
• Old Man Yao calculated that Hun Ruoruo's plan gave Xiao Yan a thirty percent chance of success and accepted their agreement.
• Old Man Yao told Xiao Yan to prepare for the journey, and Xiao Yan thanked Hun Ruoruo for helping him.

Xiao Yan prepared to leave for training, and Xiao Zhan supported him with money while Xun'er asked him to attend Jia Nan Academy with her in half a year. After agreeing, Xiao Yan discovered that his father had hidden a Mittel Auction House savings card among the Gold Coins.

• Xiao Zhan realized Xiao Yan planned to travel, gave him a pouch of Gold Coins, and encouraged him to see the world.
• Xiao Yan told Xun'er he was leaving to train, treated her scalded hand, and explained Hun Ruoruo's help with cultivating Soul Force.
• Xun'er asked Xiao Yan to join her at Jia Nan Academy's entrance examination, and Old Man Yao urged him to agree.
• Xiao Yan promised to attend the examination and returned to his room, eager to depart the next day.
• Xiao Yan counted the Gold Coins from Xiao Zhan and found a Mittel Auction House universal savings card in the pouch.

Xiao Yan left his home with Hun Ruoruo to enter the Monster Beast Mountain Range and discovered she could fly using a Flying Dou Technique. She carried him across the mountains, leaving him frozen and shaken on an unfamiliar peak.

• Xiao Yan packed his blanket, thanked Old Man Yao for preparing pills, and left the courtyard where he had lived for nearly ten years.
• Xiao Yan met Hun Ruoruo atop the Back Mountain, where she revealed that they would reach the Monster Beast Mountain Range by flying rather than using maps.
• Hun Ruoruo unfolded enormous black wings and explained to Xiao Yan that they came from a Flying Dou Technique, not Dou Qi Manifested Wings.
• Hun Ruoruo carried Xiao Yan high above a cloud-shrouded ravine, and he shouted that the cold was overwhelming him.
• Hun Ruoruo landed on an unfamiliar mountain, and Xiao Yan shivered as he remarked that the trip had not taken long.

Hun Ruoruo entered seclusion to break through after suppressing her cultivation, while Xiao Yan waited nearby to absorb the refined Dou Qi that escaped. Two days later, her breakthrough ended with a two-star increase, and Xiao Yan began refining a strand of her blue-violet Dou Qi.

• Hun Ruoruo warned Xiao Yan to stay away for three days, then entered a cave to break through.
• Old Man Yao explained that Ruoruo had delayed her breakthrough to conceal her identity from the Ancient Clan and advised Xiao Yan to absorb her leaking Dou Qi.
• Hun Ruoruo used the Heaven-tier cultivation method Soul Sea Spirit Crossing to refine the violent Heaven and Earth Energy in her meridians.
• After two days, Xiao Yan drew in a strand of compressed blue-violet Dou Qi from the cave and struggled to refine it.
• Hun Ruoruo emerged from the cave after gaining two stars and teased Xiao Yan as he cultivated nearby.

After Hun Ruoruo stabilized Xiao Yan’s cultivation, she arranged for Old Man Yao to refine an Earth Spirit Pill and left Xiao Yan a Giant Sword as a new training burden. Xiao Yan reached the threshold of two-star Dou Zhe, then struggled to free the sword and realized he was lost.

• Hun Ruoruo separated the fused Soul Force and Dou Qi in Xiao Yan’s vortex, then asked Old Man Yao to refine an Earth Spirit Pill while he recovered with a Soul Clearing Pill.
• Hun Ruoruo told Old Man Yao she would take responsibility for Xiao Yan’s cultivation and left him another Soul Clearing Pill.
• Xiao Yan finished cultivating and realized that, after one week as a Dou Zhe, he had reached the threshold of two-star Dou Zhe.
• Xiao Yan found a massive black Giant Sword and read Hun Ruoruo’s instructions to carry it while cultivating and fighting, then return to the previous valley on his own.
• Xiao Yan pulled the Giant Sword free after several attempts, called it more like a Giant Ruler, and discovered that he was lost.

Xiao Yan struggled through isolated training in the Monster Beast Mountain Range before meeting a merchant caravan and joining it for part of the journey. He learned about the caravan's destination and its mysterious passenger, then set out with them while still focused on finding Hun Ruoruo and recovering his supplies.

• Xiao Yan hunted and roasted a fish, then continued east through the forest carrying the Mysterious Black Ruler.
• Xiao Yan encountered Ka Gang's merchant caravan and accepted an offer to travel with them and borrow clothes.
• Scar mocked Xiao Yan, but Xiao Yan ignored him and asked the caravan members about their location and purpose.
• Ka Gang told Xiao Yan that the caravan was escorting a noble young lady who remained hidden in a sedan chair.
• Xiao Yan dismissed the gossip and hurried to join the caravan as it prepared to depart.

Xiao Yan traveled with Ka Gang’s Merchant Caravan, where Scar was secretly plotting with a bandit gang. The bandits launched a night attack, and Xiao Yan confronted Scar as Ka Gang fought to survive.

• Ka Gang invited Xiao Yan to visit Qingshan Town, and Xiao Yan helped serve the Merchant Caravan during their journey.
• Scar mocked Xiao Yan and later murdered Old Sha after poisoning the air around the camp.
• Scar’s bandits surrounded and raided the sleeping Merchant Caravan, while their strongest fighter attacked Ka Gang.
• Ka Gang urged Xiao Yan to withdraw, but Scar revealed that he had never been a real mercenary and threatened to kill them.
• Xiao Yan realized Scar had wanted to keep him close to prevent him from exposing the plot, then swung the Mysterious Black Ruler at Scar’s attack.

Xiao Yan defeated Scar with Eight Extremes Collapse and killed him with Fire Blowing Palm, then helped Ka Gang defeat another attacker. After learning that the Great Chieftain was coming, Xiao Yan proposed striking first.

• Scar attacked Xiao Yan, who used the Mysterious Black Ruler to fight him while concealing his strength.
• Scar knocked the ruler away, but Xiao Yan closed in and struck him with Eight Extremes Collapse.
• Xiao Yan killed Scar with Fire Blowing Palm, then rushed to help Ka Gang defeat a Five-star Dou Practitioner.
• A masked attacker warned that the Great Chieftain would arrive, and Ka Gang feared they would all be killed.
• Xiao Yan looked toward the ongoing battle at the front of the Merchant Caravan and proposed striking before the Great Chieftain arrived.

Xiao Yan fought off the bandits attacking the Merchant Caravan and learned that their Great Chieftain had taken Miss. He followed the captors into the forest, preparing to use Soul Piercing Strike against the stronger enemy.

• Xiao Yan left Ka Gang behind to recover and hurried toward the Merchant Caravan.
• Xiao Yan killed the bandits attacking the caravan, using their fighting styles to sharpen his combat skills.
• Xiao Yan told the survivors that Scar had served as a traitor and warned them he might not be strong enough to defeat the Great Chieftain.
• An elderly servant begged Xiao Yan to rescue Miss, and he agreed to try before setting off after her captors.
• Xiao Yan masked the scent of blood with Bitter Grass Liquid, found the Great Chieftain and several bandits, and gathered Soul Force in preparation to strike.

Xiao Yan fought the Eight-star Dou Practitioner Great Chieftain after his Soul Piercing Strike failed to incapacitate him, but exhausted his Dou Qi and was nearly killed. The Black-skirted Girl stopped the Great Chieftain’s sword and declared Xiao Yan’s trial over, saying he had failed.

• Xiao Yan used Soul Piercing Strike on the Great Chieftain, sending him into a frenzied rampage instead of turning him into an idiot.
• Xiao Yan emerged from hiding and fought the Great Chieftain with Fire Blowing Palm and Eight Extremes Collapse, but neither technique gave him an advantage.
• As Xiao Yan’s Dou Qi ran low, the Great Chieftain knocked him down and demanded that he hand over his Dou Techniques.
• Xiao Yan tried to use his remaining Soul Force for one last attack, but the Great Chieftain drew a huge saber and swung at him.
• The Black-skirted Girl caught the saber blade with two fingers and told Xiao Yan that the trial was over and he had failed.

Hun Ruoruo rescued Xiao Yan from the bandits, then revealed that she had not been posing as the Merchant Caravan’s young lady or arranged the attack. Xiao Yan condemned her indifference to the caravan’s suffering, but the two made peace and left their differences unresolved as he collected the bandits’ spoils.

• Hun Ruoruo stopped the Great Chieftain’s attack, made the bandits surrender their money and resources, then killed the Great Chieftain when he could not escape.
• Xiao Yan confronted Hun Ruoruo after seeing the Merchant Caravan’s burning carts and injured survivors, accusing her of treating people as tools for his training.
• Hun Ruoruo rejected Xiao Yan’s touch and told him she was not the Merchant Caravan’s young lady; Xiao Yan then found the real young lady unconscious in the sedan chair.
• Hun Ruoruo explained that she had noticed the attack but had no obligation to warn or save the caravan, and Xiao Yan accepted her explanation.
• As Xiao Yan gathered the bandits’ money and supplies, Hun Ruoruo asked whether he would have helped strangers, and he admitted he might not have taken the risk.

After returning the Merchant Caravan’s supplies and washing off the blood, Xiao Yan began learning alchemy under Hun Ruoruo’s instruction. He successfully ignited an alchemical flame in the Quenching Flame Cauldron and realized that Hun Ruoruo really could teach him.

• Xiao Yan returned the Merchant Caravan’s Storage Ring to Ka Gang, who accepted it and watched him leave.
• Hun Ruoruo appeared and made Xiao Yan carry the Mysterious Black Ruler as punishment before ordering him to call her Teacher.
• Xiao Yan washed off the blood, changed into a clean black robe, and found Hun Ruoruo waiting with medicinal ingredients and the Quenching Flame Cauldron.
• Hun Ruoruo explained that Xiao Yan needed to mix a trace of Wood Qi into his fire attribute Dou Qi to create an alchemical flame.
• Xiao Yan infused the Wood Qi into the cauldron, producing a powerful alchemical flame and leaving him amazed at Hun Ruoruo’s skill.

While Xiao Yan trained with Hun Ruoruo in the mountains, he broke through to Two-star Dou Practitioner and began learning alchemy. Hun Ruoruo and Old Man Yao prepared to retrieve the Void Child Flame, leaving Xiao Yan to recover before joining them, while Hun Ruoruo quietly noticed what he had been refining.

• At the Xiao Family's Coming-of-Age Ceremony, Xun'er told Xiao Yu that Xiao Yan had passed the preliminary test and gone away to train.
• Hun Ruoruo observed that Xiao Yan had reached Two-star Dou Practitioner and said his cyclone's strength was roughly equivalent to Six-star Dou Practitioner.
• Hun Ruoruo gave Xiao Yan an Earth-tier Dou Technique, then flew to meet Old Man Yao and discuss retrieving the Void Child Flame.
• Hun Ruoruo told Old Man Yao that she had hidden the child flame in the center of the Monster Beast Mountain Range, and they agreed to bring Xiao Yan along.
• Old Man Yao and Hun Ruoruo found Xiao Yan refining pills, then waited until he finished before asking him to restore his strength.
• Hun Ruoruo recognized that Xiao Yan had used her medicine cauldron to refine something and privately wondered how Xun'er would react if she found out.

Xiao Yan entered the Monster Beast Graveyard with Hun Ruoruo and Old Man Yao to seek a Sub-Flame of the Nihility Devouring Flame. They found the Void Child Flame seal had broken, and at the cave’s deepest point a Blood-red Flame was fighting against the darkness.

• Hun Ruoruo concealed the group with her Disguise Dou Technique as they entered the Monster Beast Graveyard, and Xiao Yan learned the target was a wisp of the Nihility Devouring Flame.
• Xiao Yan chose to go through with absorbing the Sub-Flame, while Hun Ruoruo and Old Man Yao went ahead to retrieve it.
• Hun Ruoruo and Old Man Yao sensed scorching fluctuations in the cave and discovered the Void Child Flame had broken free of its Storage Ring seal.
• The pair found a Blood-red Flame being swallowed by black holes in the darkness, and Hun Ruoruo asked Old Man Yao to suggest a name for it.

Hun Ruoruo planned to exploit the moment when the Void Child Flame weakened after devouring the Myriad Beasts Spirit Flame. After the flames clashed, she attacked the Void Child Flame with her Heavenly Tier technique while Xiao Yan and Old Man Yao watched.

• Hun Ruoruo explained that she would seize the weakened Void Child Flame and asked Old Man Yao to protect Xiao Yan.
• Hun Ruoruo brought Xiao Yan into the cave, where he watched the Myriad Beasts Spirit Flame battle the Void Child Flame.
• The Void Child Flame revealed its true origin, swallowed the Myriad Beasts Spirit Flame’s golden Fire Seed, and triggered a devastating explosion.
• Hun Ruoruo attacked the Void Child Flame with Soul Sea Spirit Crossing, overwhelming its devouring power with waves of Soul Dou Qi.
• Old Man Yao explained that the Void Child Flame struggled against Hun Ruoruo’s unfamiliar Heavenly Tier technique, and Xiao Yan felt fortunate he had chosen the Fierce Heaven Art.

Hun Ruoruo subdued the Void Child Flame and prepared Xiao Yan to absorb it in an Ice Spirit Cold Spring. Xiao Yan extracted its Black-Gold Fire Seed and swallowed it, beginning the most dangerous stage of devouring the Heavenly Flame.

• Hun Ruoruo trapped the weakened Void Child Flame in a Water Prison and handed it to Old Man Yao to protect Xiao Yan.
• Hun Ruoruo gathered a large pool of Ice Spirit Cold Spring, and Xiao Yan entered it and took the prepared pills.
• Old Man Yao released the Void Child Flame into a Spirit Gathering and warned Xiao Yan to take the Soul Clearing Pill.
• Xiao Yan endured the flame's heat and used his Soul Force to locate and pull the Black-Gold Fire Seed from its core.
• Old Man Yao warned Xiao Yan that swallowing the Fire Seed was the true trial, and Xiao Yan swallowed it despite the danger.

Xiao Yan nearly died while trying to suppress the Void Child Flame, but remembered Hun Ruoruo’s unique Dou Qi and used it to form Extreme Black Dou Qi that could resist the flame. He overcame the Sub-Flame and began circulating it through his meridians, while Old Man Yao recognized that Xiao Yan had succeeded in fusing with a Heavenly Flame.

• The Void Child Flame devoured Xiao Yan’s Dou Qi and battered his body, so he drank from the Ice Spirit Cold Spring and used his last Earth Spirit Pill to slow it down.
• As the pill’s effect faded, the Void Child Flame overwhelmed Xiao Yan’s vortex and began consuming his soul, and his consciousness sank into darkness.
• Xiao Yan recalled that something impossible to analyze could resist devouring and noticed Hun Ruoruo’s Blue-Violet Dou Qi remaining in his vortex.
• Xiao Yan combined Soul Force with the trace of Hun Ruoruo’s Dou Qi, forming Extreme Black Dou Qi that drove the Void Child Flame back.
• Xiao Yan’s Extreme Black Dou Qi swept the weakened flame into his meridians, and Old Man Yao realized that Xiao Yan had succeeded.

Xiao Yan successfully refined the Heavenly Flame Sub-Flame, while Hun Ruoruo fought off the Beast Souls gathering around the mountain range. After they reunited, she carried him away through the flood, and Xiao Yan discovered that his newly acquired Nihility Devouring Flame was keeping him warm.

• Xiao Yan woke after refining the Sub-Flame, and Old Man Yao urged him to leave the mountain range immediately.
• Hun Ruoruo used purple Soul Force attacks and a massive flood to hold back the Beast Souls, concealing her weakened appearance with the Disguise Dou Technique.
• Xiao Yan rushed out of the cave and reunited with Hun Ruoruo, who hid her pale complexion and asked him not to blame her for flooding the forest.
• Xiao Yan chose not to question Hun Ruoruo about her condition and agreed to leave with her.
• Hun Ruoruo flew off carrying Xiao Yan, whose first use of the Nihility Devouring Flame was to keep him warm.

While Xiao Yan cultivated in prolonged meditation to stabilize the Heavenly Flame Dou Qi and evolve the Fierce Heaven Art, Old Man Yao told Hun Ruoruo how his former disciple Han Feng betrayed him. Hun Ruoruo realized Old Man Yao wanted her to treat Xiao Yan as a friend, and she flew away determined to improve herself.

• Hun Ruoruo kept Xiao Yan nourished while he meditated inside a black membrane, and Old Man Yao said the state was not harmful.
• Old Man Yao asked Hun Ruoruo what she thought of Xiao Yan and whether elders had ever guided her.
• Old Man Yao recounted how he had neglected Han Feng's character and how Han Feng joined forces with the Soul Hall to ambush him for the Fierce Heaven Art.
• Hun Ruoruo misunderstood the story as a warning against betrayal and accused Old Man Yao of objecting to her control over Xiao Yan.
• Old Man Yao said he was concerned for Hun Ruoruo and wanted to dissuade her from straying down the wrong path.
• Hun Ruoruo realized Old Man Yao wanted her to treat Xiao Yan as a friend, then flew away resolved to improve herself.

After his meditation, Xiao Yan gained three stars of cultivation and began training his control of the Void Spirit Devouring Flame under Hun Ruoruo. Tired of isolation, he set off for a city and asked a passerby where to find a Marketplace, only to realize the road seemed familiar.

• Xiao Yan learned that the mutated Void Child Flame had weakened after its clash with the Heavenly Flames and Hun Ruoruo's attacks, but could recover by devouring suitable things.
• Xiao Yan practiced controlling the Void Spirit Devouring Flame by grilling fish with it, repeatedly burning the food under Hun Ruoruo's supervision.
• Xiao Yan complained that he had seen no one for over two months, and Hun Ruoruo agreed to let him travel to a bustling city on foot.
• Xiao Yan followed Hun Ruoruo's soul mark toward the city and grew excited as he encountered crowds along the road.
• Xiao Yan stopped a middle-aged man and asked him to recommend a Marketplace where he could gather supplies.