Chapter Summaries

Mang Tianchi stopped Old Ghost Blood Demon and the Soul Hall Protectors from escaping, then fought Bai Xiaofeng and Jia Wudao when they intervened. He drove the two Heavenly Venerates back and sealed off the battlefield, refusing to let them leave without paying a price.

• Mang Tianchi used Space Annihilation to trap Old Ghost Blood Demon and the three Soul Hall Protectors, but Bai Xiaofeng intervened with his own Power of Space.
• Mang Tianchi attacked Bai Xiaofeng with lightning techniques while Elder Qian and Elder Wu shielded the academy and Lei Tian and Tie Xing evacuated the students.
• Protector Liu secretly crushed two blood-red jade tokens, summoning Jia Wudao to ambush Mang Tianchi, but Mang Tianchi blocked the strike and counterattacked.
• Mang Tianchi fought Bai Xiaofeng and Jia Wudao at once, forcing both Soul Hall Heavenly Venerates back despite their joint assault.
• Bai Xiaofeng offered to leave, but Mang Tianchi refused and sealed the space around them with thunder dragons.

The Blood Demon Sect and Soul Hall forces were overwhelmed by Jia Nan Academy as Mang Tianchi drove Bai Xiaofeng and Jia Wudao into retreat. Left behind, the defeated invaders begged and blamed one another until Mang Tianchi killed them with lightning.

• Inner Academy elders and disciples held back the Blood Demon Sect, while Lei Tian and Tie Xing routed its fighters.
• Mang Tianchi injured the Soul Hall Protectors and Old Ghost Blood Demon, then forced Bai Xiaofeng and Jia Wudao to flee the array.
• The remaining Soul Hall Protectors blamed their retreating allies and pleaded with Mang Tianchi to spare them.
• Old Ghost Blood Demon and Protector Liu argued over who was responsible for the failed attack.
• Mang Tianchi silenced the defeated invaders and killed them with a lightning strike.

Mang Tianchi annihilated the Soul Hall Protectors and Old Ghost Blood Demon, then ordered Jia Nan Academy to tend to the wounded and clean up. When the Guardian Array came down, Black Corner Region scouts saw the captured Blood Demon Sect forces and recognized Mang Tianchi, fleeing in terror.

• Mang Tianchi killed the three Soul Hall Protectors and Old Ghost Blood Demon with lightning, then erased their remaining souls.
• Jia Nan Academy's elders and instructors praised Mang Tianchi, who told them to clean up the battlefield and treat the wounded.
• Scouts from Black Tomb, Lion Gang, and other factions watched from afar, guessing at the battle and hoping to loot the academy if it fell.
• The Guardian Array vanished, revealing captured Blood Demon Sect elders and disciples kneeling in the academy square.
• Experienced scouts recognized Mang Tianchi and fled to report his return, while others ran after learning he was Jia Nan Academy's Dou Zun Dean.

Mang Tianchi used his overwhelming strength to frighten the Black Corner Region’s spies and force its major factions to answer Jia Nan Academy’s summons in Peace Town. There, the faction leaders found three Blood Demon Sect captives displayed in agony as a warning against offending the academy.

• Mang Tianchi used Space Annihilation to kill a spy and drive the others fleeing, spreading word that he had returned and Jia Nan Academy was not to be provoked.
• Two days later, Peace Town invited the Black Corner Region’s major factions, prompting their leaders to debate the danger before reluctantly setting out.
• Li Tianxiong, Old Woman Jiu Yin, and Chu Kuang arrived in Peace Town with other faction leaders and saw three captives hanging from a tree.
• The leaders recognized Li Feng and the Blood Shadow Twin Fiends as Blood Demon Sect members, bound and suffering from spatial restrictions.
• The Xuan Yin Cult’s great elder identified the restrictions as Power of Space planted in the captives’ meridians, revealing Mang Tianchi’s warning that Jia Nan Academy’s enemies would suffer instead of receiving quick deaths.

Tie Xing frightened the Black Corner Region factions by revealing how the Blood Demon Sect’s 375 members had been slaughtered and used to make Blood Pattern Wood. After leaving Jia Nan Academy, Mang Tianchi resolved to investigate the Soul Hall’s collection of soul bodies in the Central Plains.

• Tie Xing revealed that the Blood Pattern Wood had been nourished with the blood of all 375 members of the Blood Demon Sect, terrifying the assembled factions.
• Mang Tianchi told Ye Tianxing that he had refrained from wiping out the Black Corner Region factions and lamented that two Soul Hall Heavenly Venerables had escaped.
• Mang Tianchi privately considered the Soul Hall’s campaign to collect soul bodies and suspected it had a larger purpose.
• Mang Tianchi abruptly left Jia Nan Academy despite Ye Tianxing’s protests.
• Mang Tianchi headed through a Space Rift toward the Central Plains to investigate the Soul Hall.

Ye Tianxing and Tie Xing handled the Black Corner Region leaders’ clashes in Peace Town by letting the factions fight among themselves before announcing a territorial boundary backed by Jia Nan Academy’s Five-star Dou Zun. The leaders fled in fear, and Peace Town became a warning to the Black Corner Region.

• Ye Tianxing complained that Elder Wu, Elder Qian, the dean, and the other elders had left him to deal with trouble, then learned that fighting had broken out in Peace Town again.
• Ye Tianxing arrived to find Tie Xing calmly watching the Black Corner Region leaders argue over their loyalty to Jia Nan Academy and the Blood Demon Sect.
• The leaders’ accusations sparked a brawl, while Tie Xing and Ye Tianxing let them exhaust themselves fighting each other.
• Ye Tianxing announced that a Five-star Dou Zun stood behind Jia Nan Academy and declared Peace Town the boundary between the academy and the Black Corner Region.
• The frightened leaders agreed not to cross the boundary and scrambled away, while Tie Xing and Ye Tianxing watched them flee.

The Death Spirit Tree’s gruesome reputation spread across the Black Corner Region, deterring its powers from targeting Jia Nan Academy. Jiang Donghua discussed the aftermath with Mo Xuan, who urged him to master the Lightning Shadow Step, and Jiang chose to remain at the academy.

• Li Tianxiong, Old Woman Jiu Yin, and Chu Kuang warned their followers not to provoke Jia Nan Academy after the massacre at the tree.
• Rumors turned the ancient tree into the Death Spirit Tree, and fear of it spread throughout the Black Corner Region.
• Mang Tianchi’s display of force kept the region’s powers from targeting Jia Nan Academy, while Donghua reflected that this timeline had not changed.
• Donghua teased Mo Xuan about escaping the Blood Demon Sect attack, and Mo Xuan defended his decision to flee and praised Mang Tianchi’s use of the Power of Space.
• Mo Xuan told Jiang Donghua to practice the Lightning Shadow Step, and Jiang decided to stay at Jia Nan Academy rather than travel the continent.

Jiang Donghua struggled to refine Water Spirit Pills after Mo Xuan questioned his poor success rate and ordered him to practice. After half a month of repeated attempts, Jiang Donghua mastered the pill and gained a deeper understanding of alchemy.

• Mo Xuan gave Jiang Donghua a Tier 5 Crimson Flame Beast Armor and questioned why he kept failing to refine First-grade Water Spirit Pills.
• Jiang Donghua blamed his Fire-attribute Battle Qi for clashing with the water-element pills, so Mo Xuan ordered him to refine ten furnaces each day until his success rate exceeded fifty percent.
• Jiang Donghua's first Water Spirit Pill attempt exploded, but he adjusted the flames and successfully formed an ordinary pill on his next try.
• After half a month of practice, Jiang Donghua refined a Water Spirit Pill with clear pill patterns and realized that repeated hands-on work had deepened his control over medicinal properties and heat.
• Jiang Donghua gained sudden insight into alchemy and expected his success rate with Third-grade Mystic Spirit Pills to improve.

Jiang Donghua learned that Mo Xuan had used Water Spirit Pill practice to rebuild his foundation and set him the long-term goal of refining a Fourth-grade Pill. Mo Xuan then demonstrated how he refined a Peak Fifth-grade Battle Spirit Pill, leaving Jiang Donghua with a vivid lesson about the dangers of pill refining.

• Mo Xuan told Jiang Donghua that his Water Spirit Pill practice had been intended to steady his foundation, then gave him a Fourth-grade Fire Spirit Pill recipe as his final Outer Court task.
• Mo Xuan said Jiang Donghua could secure admission to the Inner Academy by refining a Fourth-grade Pill within the next four years.
• Mo Xuan began demonstrating his refinement of a Peak Fifth-grade Battle Spirit Pill using rare herbs, a crimson pill cauldron, and his Azure Flood Dragon Flame.
• When one mass of medicinal liquid went berserk, Mo Xuan trapped it in a flame cage and warned Jiang Donghua that pill refining required a safe, secluded place.

Mo Xuan’s attempt to refine a Battle Spirit Pill ended in a cauldron explosion, which he presented to Jiang Donghua as a deliberate lesson about balancing conflicting medicinal properties. After Jiang Donghua left, Mo Xuan admitted to himself that the failure had been genuine and prepared to try again.

• Jiang Donghua watched Mo Xuan combine Cold Heart Grass and Crimson Flame Fruit, but their opposing energies clashed and caused the medicine cauldron to explode.
• Mo Xuan contained the blast and told Jiang Donghua that the failed refinement demonstrated the danger of fusing conflicting herbs without Neutralizing Medicine.
• Jiang Donghua realized Mo Xuan had deliberately caused the explosion to teach him, and Mo Xuan explained that witnessed failures made lasting lessons.
• Mo Xuan ended the lesson and told Jiang Donghua to study more pill formulas for his future travels across the continent.
• After Jiang Donghua left, Mo Xuan privately realized that he had genuinely failed to refine the pill, then sat down to recover before trying again.

Jiang Donghua relied on AFK cultivation to advance rapidly while letting junior disciples handle lower-grade pill refinement, then announced he might enter Jia Nan Academy’s All-Academy Grand Competition. Elder Mo Xuan confronted him about his past pill-furnace accident and urged him to refine a Fourth-grade Pill for a direct route into the Inner Academy, so Jiang Donghua fled back into the pill-refining room.

• Jiang Donghua delegated a First-grade Pill recipe to a junior disciple and continued focusing on AFK cultivation.
• Over four months, Jiang Donghua advanced from Six-star Battle Master to Four-star Great Battle Master while mentoring Alchemy Department disciples.
• The Alchemy Department disciples discussed the All-Academy Grand Competition, whose top fifty entrants could enter the Inner Academy.
• Jiang Donghua appeared with a Third-grade Mystic Spirit Pill and said the competition sounded interesting, prompting the disciples to wonder if he would participate.
• Elder Mo Xuan reprimanded Jiang Donghua for blowing up a pill furnace and said he could arrange Inner Academy entry if Jiang Donghua refined a Fourth-grade Pill.
• Jiang Donghua escaped into the pill-refining room and settled into his chair with a grape.

Jiang Donghua handed his junior disciples a top-tier first-grade Instant Qi Pill formula in exchange for their effort, then returned to idle cultivation. Outside Jia Nan Academy, Bing Hong discovered and captured a rare Mu Yan Hou with a Wood-Fire Twin Heart, taking it back to the academy.

• Jiang Donghua gave his junior brothers and sisters a top-tier first-grade Instant Qi Pill formula and told them to refine it before he would teach them.
• Jiang Donghua checked his system panel and continued cultivating idly toward his next breakthrough.
• Bing Hong sensed unusually pure Fire-attribute energy mixed with Wood energy while patrolling the forest outside Jia Nan Academy.
• Bing Hong found a Mu Yan Hou, recognized its rare Wood-Fire Twin Heart, and blocked its attempt to flee.
• Bing Hong froze Mu Yan Hou in place, subdued it, and flew back toward Jia Nan Academy with the beast in an icy chain.

Elder Bing Hong brought a captured Mu Yan Hou to Jia Nan Academy’s Alchemy Department and offered its Wood-Fire flames to the students. After they failed to tame its flames while it was alive, she proposed killing it, but the students argued over who should receive its valuable Life Fire, and she left the question of how to divide it unresolved.

• Elder Bing Hong carried the bound Mu Yan Hou to the Alchemy Department, drawing a crowd of curious students.
• Bing Hong offered the students a chance to tame the beast’s Wood-Fire flames and use them to refine pills.
• Several students tried to approach the flames, but the Mu Yan Hou’s mental attacks overwhelmed their Soul Force.
• Bing Hong suggested extracting the Life Fire after killing the beast, prompting students to compete with offers of money and rare medicine.
• Bing Hong silenced the crowd and began addressing how the beast’s Life Fire could be divided.

Elder Bing Hong offered Mu Yan Hou’s Life Fire to the Alchemy Department alchemist who refined the finest pill, drawing the department’s strongest competitors to the plaza. Jiang Donghua joined the contest with a Fourth-grade Earth Spirit Cauldron as the competition among him, Chen Yan, Bai Zhi, and other veteran alchemists began.

• Elder Bing Hong silenced the plaza and announced that the alchemist who refined the finest pill would win Mu Yan Hou’s Life Fire.
• Junior alchemists told Jiang Donghua about the contest and the Life Fire’s value, prompting him to rush to the plaza.
• Jiang Donghua saw the experienced alchemists displaying their best tools and techniques, then brought out his Fourth-grade Earth Spirit Cauldron and began refining.
• Students discussed Jiang Donghua’s chances alongside Chen Yan’s hereditary cauldron and Bai Zhi’s Fourth-grade-level Soul Force.
• Elder Bing Hong watched the competitors as their different strengths made the contest closely matched.

Jiang Donghua, Chen Yan, and Bai Zhi refined different Fourth-grade Pills before a crowd of alchemists, who saw Jiang’s Fire Spirit Pill as the likely contest winner because of its power-enhancing effects. Chen Yan and Bai Zhi watched Jiang’s cauldron, waiting to see whether he would succeed or fail again.

• Jiang Donghua controlled crimson-gold flames to clear burnt residue from his cauldron while the crowd marveled at his Battle Qi control.
• The crowd recognized Chen Yan’s pill as a Body Protection Pill, valued for its defensive and healing effects.
• Bai Zhi’s cauldron gave off the fragrance of a Pure Spirit Profound Pill, shocking the onlookers with its soul-enhancing value.
• The alchemists judged Jiang Donghua’s Fire Spirit Pill more valuable than the other two pills, despite its dangerous medicinal potency.
• Chen Yan doubted Jiang Donghua would avoid another cauldron explosion, while Bai Zhi wondered whether his finished pill would surpass hers.

Jiang Donghua won the alchemy competition by refining a Fire Spirit Pill, surpassing Chen Yan and Bai Zhi. Elder Bing Hong extracted Mu Yan Hou’s source flame and awarded it to Jiang Donghua, leaving him poised to strengthen his alchemy.

• Chen Yan refined a Body Protection Pill, but Bai Zhi followed with a Pure Spirit Profound Pill that could enhance Soul Force.
• Jiang Donghua endured the Fire Spirit Pill’s dangerous refining process and successfully produced a powerful Fourth-grade Pill.
• Elder Bing Hong declared Jiang Donghua the competition’s winner, and Chen Yan and Bai Zhi congratulated him.
• Elder Bing Hong froze Mu Yan Hou and extracted its source flame from the beast’s heart.
• Elder Bing Hong gave Mu Yan Hou’s source flame to Jiang Donghua, who accepted it solemnly.

Jiang Donghua prepared to refine the Mu Yan Hou’s fourth-tier Beast Fire, but his master Mo Xuan interrupted and called it unworthy of his talent. After learning Jiang Donghua had refined a Fire Spirit Pill, Mo Xuan promised to obtain him a sixth-tier Beast Fire, leaving the plaza stunned.

• Jiang Donghua welcomed the Mu Yan Hou’s rare Fire-and-Wood source flame and prepared to refine it behind Elder Bing Hong’s frost barrier.
• Mo Xuan stormed into the arena, destroyed the Mu Yan Hou’s remains, and condemned its fourth-tier Beast Fire as worthless for Jiang Donghua.
• Elder Bing Hong defended Jiang Donghua’s right to keep the flame, while Jiang Donghua explained that he had won it by refining a Fire Spirit Pill.
• Mo Xuan examined Jiang Donghua’s pill, praised his achievement, then insisted the fourth-tier flame was still beneath him.
• Mo Xuan promised to obtain a sixth-tier Beast Fire for Jiang Donghua, shocking the crowd as Elder Bing Hong left with a warning for him.

Mo Xuan tested Jiang Donghua’s combat ability and found that his powerful Battle Qi outpaced his fighting experience. He left Jiang Donghua in Jia Nan Academy’s outer mountain range to train for a month, promising to help him find a sixth-tier beast fire once he had mastered his strength.

• Mo Xuan brought Jiang Donghua to a valley and offered him a place in the Inner Academy, but Jiang Donghua chose to remain in the Outer Court.
• Mo Xuan forced Jiang Donghua to reveal his strength and repeatedly defeated him, then lowered his own realm to fight him at the same level.
• Jiang Donghua held his own for a time, and Mo Xuan recognized that his Battle Qi was powerful but poorly controlled and that he lacked combat experience.
• Mo Xuan agreed to help Jiang Donghua find a sixth-tier beast fire and ordered him to hunt magical beasts and hone his combat skills in the outer mountain range.
• Mo Xuan left to return in one month and inspect Jiang Donghua’s progress.

Jiang Donghua fought his way through the mountain forest, defeated the Yellow Earth Bear, and killed a Blood Shadow Demonic Spider before being chased by a swarm led by a Tier 4 spider. As he battled the spider, an injured Ice Soul Demonic Ape arrived, and three Inner Academy students intervened; the ape detonated its Demonic Core, leaving Jiang Donghua shaken but alive.

• Jiang Donghua defeated the Yellow Earth Bear with his Blazing Palm and sensed that real combat was bringing him closer to a breakthrough.
• Jiang Donghua killed a Blood Shadow Demonic Spider, but its poison numbed his arm as dozens more spiders surrounded him.
• Jiang Donghua escaped toward rocky ground, where a dark-gold-eyed Tier 4 Blood Shadow Demonic Spider attacked him; he wounded it with the Bloodfang Blade while other Demonic Beasts gathered nearby.
• A severely wounded Ice Soul Demonic Ape charged into the battle, pursued by three powerful Inner Academy students who warned Jiang Donghua that it was about to self-destruct its Demonic Core.
• The Ice Soul Demonic Ape detonated its Demonic Core, freezing the surrounding area; Jiang Donghua survived behind his Crimson Flame Beast Armor, and the three students emerged unharmed.

Jiang Donghua joined forces with three Inner Academy Strong Ranking students, who saved him from a Tier 5 Demonic Beast and treated his poison. After revealing that Mo Xuan was his master, he agreed to join them in investigating rumors of an Exotic Treasure.

• Xiao Han, Lei Lie, and Liu Qingsi killed a Dark Gold Demonic Spider and retrieved its magic core before questioning Jiang Donghua.
• The three invited Jiang Donghua to travel with them, but a Shadow Demon Tiger attacked, forcing them to flee to a hidden cave.
• Liu Qingsi removed the Blood Shadow Demonic Spider's poison from Jiang Donghua's arm and noticed his lingering poisonous aura.
• Lei Lie introduced Xiao Han, Liu Qingsi, and himself as Strong Ranking students, and Jiang Donghua revealed that Mo Xuan was his master.
• Xiao Han invited Jiang Donghua to join their search after telling him that high-tier Demonic Beasts were appearing and an Exotic Treasure was rumored to be nearby; Jiang Donghua accepted.