Chapter Summaries

Xia Wuji and Mu Lan entered the Qingcheng Pill Pagoda’s secret-realm medicine garden for the Alchemy Competition. Luo Chuan revealed new rules requiring participants to invent a pill formula from the same list of Spirit Medicine and refine pills over five days, then called them into the arena to begin.

• Ouyang Zhennan led Xia Wuji and Mu Lan into the secret-realm medicine garden, where seventy-six alchemists had gathered for the competition.
• Xia Wuji ignored hostile looks from Yang Ruoxuan, Liao Hui, Zhang Yixing, and others as the Qingcheng Pill Pagoda’s members arrived to watch.
• Luo Chuan announced that he would randomly draw this year’s rules from three new competition formats to prevent contestants from learning the tasks in advance.
• Luo Chuan drew the rules: contestants had to devise a new pill formula from a shared list of Spirit Medicine and refine pills during the five-day competition.
• Luo Chuan announced rewards for the top ten, including Contribution Points, Alchemy Furnaces, and cultivation opportunities, then ordered the contestants into the arena.

Xia Wuji entered the Alchemy Competition and confidently chose Spirit Medicines for a new pill formula, despite the Qingcheng alchemists doubting his ability. He began refining a Grade 3 mid-tier pill in his Alchemy Room, leaving the others unaware of what he would produce.

• Yang Ruoxuan and Zhong Cheng challenged Xia Wuji’s boast that he would take first place, and Xia Wuji reaffirmed his claim.
• Luo Chuan gave the seventy-six contestants identical Spirit Medicine lists and instructed them to deduce pill formulas without consulting one another.
• Xia Wuji quickly selected a combination and announced that he was ready, prompting the crowd to mock him and Luo Chuan to doubt his choice.
• Ye Yun delivered Xia Wuji’s selected Spirit Medicines in a Storage Ring, concerned that the combination contained basic errors.
• Xia Wuji entered an Alchemy Room, brought out a Grade 4 mid-tier Alchemy Furnace, summoned a quasi-Grade 4 Heavenly Fire, and began refining the pill.

Xia Wuji finished refining his pill early in the Qingzhou Pill Pagoda’s difficult Alchemy Competition, while other contestants struggled to deduce formulas and survive failed refinements. Mu Lan and twelve others also completed pills before the deadline, and the chapter ended as Luo Chuan began testing them and Zhang Heng disputed Ouyang Zhennan’s wager.

• Xia Wuji handed Luo Chuan his pill after refining it in two days, then dismissed doubts about his work.
• Ouyang Zhennan wagered five hundred thousand Yuan Crystals with Zhang Heng that Xia Wuji would outperform Zhang Heng’s grandson, Zhang Yixing.
• Xia Wuji reassured Ouyang Zhennan that Mu Lan might perform well because she had inherited alchemy insights from the former Qingcheng Pill Pagoda Master.
• Luo Chuan ordered the contestants who had not finished refining by the fifth day to withdraw, and only fourteen alchemists completed pills, including Xia Wuji and Mu Lan.
• Zhang Heng argued that Xia Wuji’s pill should be void and that his wager with Ouyang Zhennan should count as a draw.
• Luo Chuan announced that the pill testing would begin.

The alchemists’ pills were inspected anonymously, and Xia Wuji endured jeers as several batches were declared waste pills. After a perfect Grade 3 Mid-tier pill earned full marks, the final batch was also judged a waste pill, and everyone waited for Luo Chuan to reveal who had made the perfect pill.

• The inspectors rejected the first pill as a waste pill, and the crowd assumed Xia Wuji had refined it until a Qingcheng alchemist admitted it was his.
• The inspectors announced successive scores, including seventy-two for Yang Ruoxuan and eighty-one for Zhong Cheng, who taunted Xia Wuji.
• Mu Lan’s pill scored eighty-five, and Zhou Lian’s scored eighty-six, leaving Zhong Cheng convinced he had fallen to third place.
• The inspectors gave the thirteenth pill full marks, praising it as a perfect Grade 3 Mid-tier pill with effects that restored qi, blood, and essence force and nourished the soul.
• The fourteenth pill was declared a waste pill, and Luo Chuan was urged to uncover the name on the perfect pill.

Xia Wuji won the Alchemy Competition with full marks, shocking the crowd and proving wrong those who had mocked his abilities. After Yang Ruoxuan accused him of cheating and was struck down by his master, Luo Chuan ended the competition and invited Xia Wuji to speak privately.

• The judges announced the results from ninth place upward, with Mu Lan taking third and Xia Wuji remaining the only competitor whose name had not been called.
• Luo Chuan announced Xia Wuji as the first-place winner with full marks, leaving the crowd stunned and Zhang Heng and Zhang Yixing panicked over their losses.
• Yang Ruoxuan accused Xia Wuji of cheating, and the Sixth Elder struck him and rebuked him for making excuses.
• Luo Chuan told the Sixth Elder to investigate Yang Ruoxuan's suspicions, then declared the competition over and summoned Xia Wuji for a private discussion.

After winning the Alchemy Competition, Xia Wuji secured a Soul Returning Fruit and returned to Azure Star Academy, where he prepared to awaken Qin Zhiyin. He left Mu Lan to study under Luo Chuan and reunited with Wen Shanshan and Pengfei.

• Luo Chuan made Xia Wuji a guest elder of Qingcheng Pill Pagoda, offered him a thirty-percent discount, and gave him a Soul Returning Fruit.
• Xia Wuji received the competition’s alchemy furnace, while Ouyang Zhennan collected the competition rewards and his wager winnings; Mu Lan stayed in Qingcheng to study under Luo Chuan.
• Ouyang Zhennan gave Mu Lan the five hundred thousand Yuan Crystals he had won from Zhang Heng before departing with Xia Wuji.
• On the return trip, Xia Wuji advanced to the fourth stage of the Return to One Realm and then hurried from Myriad Pill City back to Azure Star Academy.
• Xia Wuji reunited with Pengfei and Wen Shanshan, then prepared to awaken Qin Zhiyin.

Xia Wuji used golden needles, a Soul Returning Pill, and the Spirit Awakening Technique to revive Qin Zhiyin, who had slept for more than a decade. After she woke and he broke through to the fifth stage of the Return to One Realm, Qin Zhiyin called him “Young Master,” confirming she knew his mother, and he asked where his mother had gone.

• Xia Wuji stimulated Qin Zhiyin's life force with the Taiyi Golden Needle Technique and spent seven days and nights refining ten Soul Returning Pills.
• After recovering his strength, Xia Wuji gave Qin Zhiyin a pill and used the Spirit Awakening Technique to revive her soul; he told Feng Yi she would awaken within half a month and left him the remaining pills.
• Xia Wuji cultivated in Azure Star Academy's Supreme Origin Power Spring Eye and broke through to the fifth stage of the Return to One Realm on his seventh day there.
• Feng Yi told Xia Wuji that Qin Zhiyin had awakened, and Xia Wuji hurried back to Shaking Light Peak.
• Xia Wuji sent the gathered academy leaders out of Qin Zhiyin's chamber, where she saluted him as “Young Master.”
• Xia Wuji asked Qin Zhiyin where his mother had gone.

Xia Wuji learned that his mother had left a message directing him to Yin Mountain on the yearly Extreme Yin Day, and he decided to travel to the Sun Moon Sect before setting out for the mountain. He departed Azure Star Academy after an emotional farewell with Wen Shanshan, who stayed behind grieving and waiting for his return.

• Qin Zhiyin told Xia Wuji that his mother had left with Jiang Zhiyuan and had asked her to watch over him, but she did not know why his mother had gone.
• Qin Zhiyin revealed his mother's message directing Xia Wuji to the summit of Yin Mountain on the Extreme Yin Day, and Xia Wuji found a map marking Yin Mountain near the Sun Moon Sect's Main Altar.
• Xia Wuji decided to use Azure Star Academy's annual Sun Moon Sect cultivation opportunity and arranged to leave in three days, while Qin Zhiyin warned him that Yin Mountain was dangerous.
• Xia Wuji spent his remaining days with Wen Shanshan, helping her cultivate and preparing to leave; before departing, he gave her a jade pendant infused with his blood so she could call him in an emergency.
• Xia Wuji flew away on Pengfei, and Wen Shanshan tidied the room and practiced her sword until she was exhausted, then wept while holding the jade pendant.

Xia Wuji and Dean Zhuge Chuan arrived at the Sun Moon Sect's main altar, where Zhou Han separated them under the pretense of helping Xia Wuji settle in. Zhou Han revealed his grudge against Azure Star Academy and ordered several disciples to attack Xia Wuji.

• Zhuge Chuan and Xia Wuji reached the Sun Moon Sect's main altar, and Zhou Han escorted them inside after recognizing Azure Star Academy as Lin Piaoxue's former academy.
• Zhou Han told Zhuge Chuan that Lin Piaoxue had become the Ninth Branch Altar's Holy Maiden and had opened her seventh Cave Heaven.
• Zhou Han sent Zhuge Chuan to register alone and led Xia Wuji to a neighboring peak where temporary disciples trained.
• Zhou Han admitted he had lured Xia Wuji away because he hated Azure Star Academy for bringing Lin Piaoxue to the sect, then ordered Fang Ji and several disciples to beat Xia Wuji.

Xia Wuji defeated the disciples Zhou Han sent against him, including Fang Ji, with effortless sword strikes. When Zhou Han accused him of brutality and prepared to cripple him, Xia Wuji cut him down and demanded that he repeat his words.

• Zhou Han ordered several high-level Return to One Realm disciples to attack Xia Wuji, but Xia Wuji knocked them all down with one sword strike.
• Wang attacked from the first layer of the Cave Heaven Realm, but Xia Wuji shattered his origin-power tiger and cleaved open his chest.
• A second-layer Cave Heaven Realm woman assaulted Xia Wuji with sword qi, but he broke her attacks and pierced her chest with his own sword qi.
• Fang Ji confronted Xia Wuji, but Xia Wuji redirected Fang Ji's storm into sword qi and left him badly wounded with a single move.
• Zhou Han denounced Xia Wuji as brutal and prepared to cripple him, but Xia Wuji appeared before him and nearly cleaved him in two.
• Xia Wuji pointed his sword at Zhou Han's throat and told him to repeat what he had just said.

Xia Wuji confronted Zhou Han and rejected Steward Yang’s attempt to force him to repent, until Lin Piaoxue arrived and exposed the truth. After Lin Piaoxue arranged consequences for Zhou Han’s accomplices, she invited Xia Wuji to take the Sun Moon Sect’s cultivation test, where he considered pursuing a vacant Holy Son position.

• Yang Hai arrived and ordered Xia Wuji to withdraw his sword, kneel, and repent, but Xia Wuji challenged his one-sided judgment.
• Lin Piaoxue arrived, checked that Xia Wuji was unharmed, and rebuked Zhou Han for targeting him.
• Lin Piaoxue compelled witnesses to confirm what happened, and Yang Hai ordered Zhou Han’s case reported and expelled Fang Ji and the others who had attacked Xia Wuji or lied.
• Lin Piaoxue thanked Xia Wuji for helping her develop her Ice Spirit Body into a Heavenly Yin Spirit Body and become the Ninth Branch Altar’s Holy Maiden.
• Lin Piaoxue explained that the Sun Moon Sect’s test could grant Xia Wuji permanent cultivation or a Holy Son position, and that the Second, Third, and Eighth Branch Altars had vacancies.
• Xia Wuji considered seeking a Holy Son identity because it could be useful.

Lin Piaoxue reunited Xia Wuji with Zhuge Chuan and brought Xia to the Sun Moon Sect’s testing grounds. Zhou Han and Yue Xuan conspired to block Xia from joining any branch altar, and the chapter ended as Xia approached the Bronze Bell test, unaware that all twelve branch altars’ executives had been influenced against him.

• Lin Piaoxue told Zhuge Chuan that Xia Wuji had defeated Zhou Han’s group, and Zhuge agreed to take Xia for the Sun Moon Sect test the next morning.
• Zhou Han persuaded an elder to keep the Ninth Branch Altar from accepting Xia, then recruited Yue Xuan to help block Xia from every branch altar.
• Yue Xuan revealed that Xia had also caused his disgrace in Qing City, and he and Zhou Han agreed to contact all twelve branch altars’ executives.
• Lin Piaoxue brought Xia to the testing grounds, where she warned Zhou Han and Yue Xuan not to interfere.
• The Bronze Bell appeared, and Xia walked toward it as Zhou Han and Yue Xuan watched, confident that no branch altar would accept him.

Xia Wuji passed the Bronze Bell test, but the branch altar stewards refused to accept him because they judged his character by his earlier fight. He challenged the advanced test for a Holy Son position and rang the Golden Great Bell nine times with extraordinary force, alarming the Sun Moon Sect’s main altar.

• Xia Wuji made the Bronze Bell ring nine times, passing the test for entry into a branch altar.
• Steward He and the stewards of the Seventh and Second Branch Altars rejected Xia Wuji, while Yue Xuan and Zhou Han mocked him; the other stewards stayed silent.
• Xia Wuji dismissed their authority over Holy Son status and struck the Golden Great Bell to begin the advanced test.
• Xia Wuji rang the Golden Great Bell seven times, then eight times, exceeding the Eighth Branch Altar’s requirements and exciting its steward and the Third Branch Altar’s steward.
• Xia Wuji rang a powerful ninth peal, alarming the Sun Moon Sect’s main altar higher-ups, who rushed toward the testing grounds.

After Xia Wuji rang the Golden Bell nine times, Ren Tianxing promoted the Azure Star Academy and offered him a choice of branch altar. Xia Wuji rejected the Second Branch Altar over its deacon’s insults and prepared to announce his final choice.

• Xia Wuji rang the Golden Bell nine times, impressing Ren Tianxing and the Sun Moon Sect elders.
• Ren Tianxing promoted the Azure Star Academy to a core branch and named Xia Wuji a candidate for a branch altar’s holy son.
• Xia Wuji exposed how the Second Branch Altar’s deacon, Yue Xuan, and Zhou Han had tried to suppress him.
• Ren Tianxing ordered the deacon, Yue Xuan, and Zhou Han punished and investigated others involved.
• The Second, Third, and Eighth Branch Altars competed for Xia Wuji, and Ren Tianxing allowed him to switch altars once after three months.
• Xia Wuji said he had made his decision, leaving everyone waiting to hear which branch altar he would choose.

Xia Wuji chose the Third Branch Altar because it was closest to Yin Mountain, where he needed to go on the Extreme Yin Day. As Shan Chong took him toward the altar, Xia Wuji asked what happened on Yin Mountain that day.

• Xia Wuji chose the Third Branch Altar, and Ren Tianxing entrusted him to its care as a Holy Son.
• Lin Piaoxue and Zhuge Chuan congratulated Xia Wuji and recognized that his and Lin Piaoxue’s new positions would benefit the Azure Star Academy.
• Shan Chong took Xia Wuji away from the main altar while an elder of the Second Branch Altar tried to persuade him to change his choice.
• Shan Chong offered to introduce Xia Wuji to his three granddaughters, and Xia Wuji changed the subject by asking about the Third Branch Altar’s Yin Mountain trial.
• Shan Chong explained that Yin Mountain became an absolute forbidden zone on the Extreme Yin Day, so the trial was suspended for the surrounding month; Xia Wuji asked what happened there.

Shan Chong explained Yin Mountain’s soul spirits and the dangers of the approaching Extreme Yin Day, then escorted Xia Wuji to the Third Branch Altar. The altar’s elders celebrated Xia Wuji as its new Holy Son after hearing that the Golden Bell had rung nine times.

• Shan Chong told Xia Wuji that Yin Mountain held soul spirits that could nourish the soul, while evil spirits and baleful spirits made the area dangerous around the Extreme Yin Day.
• Xia Wuji planned to enter Yin Mountain early to scout it and asked Shan Chong to take him to the final trial before the Extreme Yin Day.
• Pengfei joined Xia Wuji and Shan Chong on their journey to the Third Branch Altar.
• Shan Chong brought Xia Wuji into the Third Branch Altar and told a patrolling elder that Xia Wuji was its new Holy Son, chosen after the Golden Bell rang nine times.
• The two elders excitedly escorted Xia Wuji toward the main hall and announced his arrival to the altar, drawing everyone’s attention.

Xia Wuji joined the Third Branch Altar, where Zhang Jian offered him exceptional resources and freedom to choose his sword inheritances while requiring occasional missions and trials. Xia Wuji settled into the Holy Son’s Courtyard and asked Shan Chong to arrange his trial at Yin Mountain.

• Shan Chong and another elder brought Xia Wuji to Zhang Jian, who welcomed him and gave him a bottle of San Xiao Pills.
• Zhang Jian offered Xia Wuji access to the Third Branch Altar’s sword inheritances and unlimited pills and Yuan Crystals after evaluations, and asked him to take occasional missions.
• Xia Wuji declined a tailored cultivation plan, so Zhang Jian agreed to let him cultivate on his own if he passed a monthly trial.
• Zhang Jian told the elders that the altar would assess Xia Wuji’s character over the next few months and could send him to the Second Branch Altar if he proved unsuitable.
• Shan Chong took Xia Wuji to the Holy Son’s Courtyard, where Xia Wuji asked him to arrange the Yin Mountain trial.

Xia Wuji prepared for the Yin Mountain trial, cultivating from the fifth to the seventh layer of the Return to One Realm in four days. He arrived near Yin Mountain with Shan Chong and Pengfei, ready to enter the trial and follow the guidance his mother had left through Qin Zhiyin.

• Shan Chong reported Xia Wuji's upcoming Yin Mountain trial to Zhang Jian, who approved it and told Shan Chong to give Xia Wuji room to act independently.
• Xia Wuji declined Shan Chong's invitation to stay in his Elder's Courtyard and spent four days cultivating with the San Xiao Pills, reaching the seventh layer of the Return to One Realm.
• Xia Wuji found that Pengfei had advanced to a third-tier supreme-grade Demon Beast after eating all the Demonic Cores from Nightmare Marsh, and told him to hunt for more in Yin Mountain.
• Xia Wuji set out with Shan Chong, who explained that the other eleven Third Branch Altar participants had already departed and warned him to stay three li from Yin Mountain and collect no more than three portions of soul spirits.
• After a day of travel, Xia Wuji saw the dark, gloomy Yin Mountain in the distance, the place connected to his mother's guidance through Qin Zhiyin.

Xia Wuji entered Yin Mountain with disciples from the Third Branch Altar to undertake the seven-day trial. After Pengfei swiftly killed a powerful Black Ice Profound Python, Xia Wuji left the group to explore alone, leaving his companions worried and wondering whether he considered them too weak.

• Shan Chong brought Xia Wuji to the Third Branch Altar's camp and warned him about the dangers and rules of the Yin Mountain trial.
• Liu Bo introduced Xia Wuji to the other disciples, including Lan Ling and Hong Sheng, as the group entered Yin Mountain.
• A third-grade high-grade Black Ice Profound Python attacked, and Pengfei killed it with a single assault.
• Xia Wuji let the disciples divide the python's valuable remains, then flew off on Pengfei to explore Yin Mountain alone.
• Liu Bo worried that Xia Wuji might be in danger, while Lan Ling suggested he might think the group was too weak.

Xia Wuji captured a Soul Clan origin strand near Yin Mountain, then confronted and crippled a Myriad Law Sect infiltrator seeking it. He demanded to know whether other Myriad Law Sect members had entered Yin Mountain.

• Xia Wuji sent Pengfei to investigate an unusual energy fluctuation while Pengfei fought a Fourth-grade Low-grade lion demon beast.
• Xia Wuji caught the fleeing soul spirit and recognized it as a strand of Soul Clan origin, suspecting a Soul Clan member was sealed inside Yin Mountain.
• Xia Wuji planned to head for Yin Mountain but sensed an attack and cut it apart with the Jinghong Sword.
• A dark-red-robed Myriad Law Sect man demanded the soul spirit, and Xia Wuji pierced his dantian with one strike, crippling his cultivation.
• Xia Wuji pinned the man down and demanded to know whether other Myriad Law Sect members had infiltrated Yin Mountain.