Chapter Summaries

Zhong Shan confronted Shen Qitian, whose past-life personality had taken control, and countered his Tian Ji Realm power with the Sky Lightning Transformation. Their imperial jade seals clashed, and Zhong Shan destroyed Shen Qitian’s seal before provoking him into revealing the Purple-Gold Dragon-Patterned Staff.

• Zhong Shan faced Shen Qitian, who blamed him for years of setbacks and cautiously tested him with his Tian Ji Realm domain.
• Zhong Shan summoned thunderclouds with the Sky Lightning Transformation, matching Shen Qitian’s domain despite remaining in the Emperor Realm.
• Shen Qitian attacked with his Heavenly Dynasty Imperial Jade Seal, but Zhong Shan’s Square Heaven Jade Seal endured the collision and revealed the advantage of Great Zheng’s dynasty destiny.
• Zhong Shan smashed Shen Qitian’s Heavenly Dynasty Imperial Jade Seal and taunted him about never being his equal.
• Enraged, Shen Qitian brought out the Purple-Gold Dragon-Patterned Staff, which Zhong Shan had been waiting to see because he suspected it was Shen Qitian’s Root Divine Sense.

Zhong Shan revealed his Eight Extremes Heavenly Tail Root Divine Sense and used it to devour most of Shen Qitian’s Purple-Gold Dragon-Patterned Staff. Just as they prepared to clash again, Shen Qitian fled at the arrival of Divine Crow Dao Lord, whose overwhelming aura left Zhong Shan unable to move.

• Shen Qitian summoned his Purple-Gold Dragon-Patterned Staff and attacked Zhong Shan with a strike that flooded the sky with purple light.
• Zhong Shan brought forth the Eight Extremes Heavenly Tail, which wrapped around the staff and bit away most of it, causing Shen Qitian agony as his Root Divine Sense was damaged.
• Shen Qitian tried to crush Zhong Shan and his companions with pressure, but the Eight Extremes Heavenly Tail scattered it with its tails.
• Shen Qitian attacked the Eight Extremes Heavenly Tail directly, but suddenly panicked, looked southwest, and fled before they could collide.
• Zhong Shan recalled the Eight Extremes Heavenly Tail and braced himself as Divine Crow Dao Lord appeared, blowing apart the thunderclouds with his aura.

After Divine Crow Dao Lord departed, Zhong Shan helped Sword Red’s ghost bid farewell to her son, Xiao Zhongxing, and learned that her father was Sword Pride, Lord of Netherworld Heaven. Xiao Zhongxing set off with Sword Red’s body to seek Sword Pride’s help against Shen Qitian, while Zhong Shan and his companions prepared to continue to the Imperial Capital.

• Divine Crow Dao Lord confronted Zhong Shan after Shen Qitian escaped, then vanished without further comment.
• Zhong Shan sheltered Sword Red’s ghost from the sun, and she thanked him before asking him to help Xiao Zhongxing when he could.
• Sword Red told Xiao Zhongxing to carry her corpse to the man who had refused to acknowledge her, and her ghost was pulled away to the Netherworld.
• Xiao Zhongxing revealed that Sword Pride, Lord of Netherworld Heaven, was his maternal grandfather, then carved a coffin and flew toward Netherworld Heaven with Sword Red’s body.
• Zhong Shan and his companions discussed Xiao Wang’s abilities and learned that Xiao Zhongxing ruled the Smoke Red Imperial Dynasty.
• Zhong Shan agreed to accompany Zhao Suo Xiang to the Imperial Capital, noting that Shen Qitian had fled and the Monkey King and Ape King had been slain.

Zhong Shan and Zhao Suo Xiang reached Blazing Flame City for the Ten Thousand Pill Convention, where Zhong Shan judged the Azure Flame Emperor’s lax rule and prepared to register. His arrival drew the attention of Nie Qingqing, Carefree Marquis, and Fan Yipin, and he ended the chapter meeting Bai Ye and Xu Fu of the Great Qin Heavenly Dynasty.

• Zhao Suo Xiang led Zhong Shan and his companions to Blazing Flame City and explained that inspections at the city gates had been suspended because of the convention’s crowds.
• Zhong Shan and Gu Qian You concluded that the Azure Flame Emperor was either incompetent or arrogant, and Zhong Shan learned Zhao Suo Xiang lived near the military camp because his rank was low.
• Nie Qingqing learned Zhong Shan and Ling'er had arrived and sent word to Young Flying Marquis, while Carefree Marquis angrily attacked the servant who had reported the news.
• Fan Yipin learned Zhong Shan was in the city and went to find him after deciding not to report his arrival to the Great Yong Imperial Dynasty.
• At the convention registration plaza, Zhong Shan encountered Bai Ye and met Xu Fu, who introduced himself as a Daoist of the Great Qin Heavenly Dynasty.

Zhong Shan encountered Xu Fu of the Great Qin Heavenly Dynasty and wondered whether he was the same Xu Fu from his memories of Earth. At the Ten Thousand Pill Convention registration, Bao Er quickly refined seven mysterious pills, and the chapter ended with her warning that the official could not withstand tasting one.

• Zhong Shan recognized Xu Fu’s name and accidentally implied that he already knew about him, prompting Xu Fu and Bai Ye to regard him with suspicion.
• Xu Fu revealed his knowledge of the Tai Dan Sect’s origins as the Eternal Pill Sect and left with Bai Ye, while Zhong Shan wondered about Xu Fu’s identity and status.
• Bao Er presented the Tai Dan Sect’s invitation and learned that registration required refining a seventh-grade pill.
• Bao Er used rare spiritual medicines to refine seven green pills in one incense stick, astonishing the official and the onlookers.
• When the official demanded to test a pill, Bao Er named it the Myriad Poisons Piercing-Heart, Soul-Dispelling, Bone-Eroding Pill and warned that he could not withstand it.

Bao Er defended her newly refined pill while the Carefree Marquis arrived to accuse her of fraud and provoke Zhong Shan. Zhong Shan challenged the marquis to a bet over renting a room, and the marquis sent five men to try as Bao Er again invited him to test the pill himself.

• Bao Er explained that alchemy methods could turn nourishing ingredients into poison, but the crowd and the Tai Dan Sect official remained unsure about her pill.
• The Carefree Marquis arrived with ten Emperor Realm guards and accused Bao Er of presenting a fake pill to humiliate Zhong Shan and her.
• Nie Qingqing and the Young Flying Marquis joined the group, and the Carefree Marquis mocked Zhong Shan for living in a Poor Rental Cave.
• Zhong Shan traded insults with the Carefree Marquis and wagered the token for Luck Inn's Number One Heavenly Character Courtyard that the marquis could not rent any lodging that day.
• The Carefree Marquis sent five subordinates to rent a Secluded Courtyard, while Bao Er again challenged him to test her pill.

Bao Er tested her poison pill on the Carefree Marquis, whose seventh-grade antidote pills could not stop its effects until he gathered more than a hundred antidotes. The reviewing official approved Bao Er’s pill, while the Carefree Marquis recovered only to learn that the city’s inns had refused to lodge his party.

• Bao Er challenged the Carefree Marquis to test her poison, and he swallowed the pill after his subordinate refused.
• The poison paralyzed the Carefree Marquis and caused severe pain; his first sixth-grade and seventh-grade antidote pills failed to cure him.
• Bao Er explained that the pill contained ten thousand kinds of poison and required at least a hundred seventh-grade antidote pills or an eighth-grade antidote.
• The Carefree Marquis gathered antidote pills from his subordinates, Nie Qingqing, the Great Li Pill King, and the Pill King’s friends, eventually recovering after more than a hundred pills.
• The Great Li Pill King asked Bao Er for a pill to study, and the reviewing official approved her medicine.
• The Carefree Marquis’s subordinate returned and reported that every operating inn in the city had refused to rent rooms to them.

Zhong Shan’s influence in Blazing Flame City became clear when every inn refused to house Carefree Marquis’s party, prompting Fan Yipin and Young Flying Marquis to carry warnings back to their rulers. Three months later, Zhong Shan’s group entered the Ten Thousand Pill Convention at the imperial palace, where the Dragon-Tiger Pill Saint singled out Gan Bao Er with a friendly nod.

• Carefree Marquis’s men failed to rent rooms anywhere in Blazing Flame City, and the crowd mocked him as Zhong Shan’s reach became apparent to Young Flying Marquis and Fan Yipin.
• Fan Yipin ordered his party to return to the capital and prepare for a purge, while Carefree Marquis left the city and Young Flying Marquis departed to report to Nie Fanchen.
• The registration official gave Bao Er the Tai Dan Sect’s qualification token, and Zhong Shan’s group spent the following three months in Blazing Flame City with Nie Qingqing.
• Zhong Shan’s group and Nie Qingqing’s party entered the imperial palace for the Ten Thousand Pill Convention, where Azure Flame Emperor Lan Tianwei and the Dragon-Tiger Pill Saint were present.
• The Dragon-Tiger Pill Saint looked toward Gan Bao Er and nodded to her, and the alchemists gathered in the plaza awaiting the convention’s start.

The Grand Sui Heavenly Dynasty’s long-awaited delegation made a provocative entrance at the Ten Thousand Pill Convention, where the Three-legged Golden Crow clashed with Tian Ling’er’s awakened Vermilion Bird. The Sky Soaring Crown Prince, Lu Chongtian, then invited the Dragon-Tiger Pill Saint to serve the Grand Sui, leaving the convention in an uproar.

• Xu Fu and Bai Ye arrived, while Zhong Shan noticed that the Grand Sui Heavenly Dynasty’s seats remained empty as the Dragon-Tiger Pill Saint prepared to seal the venue.
• The Three-legged Golden Crow descended in flames and challenged the Dragon-Tiger Pill Saint’s authority, prompting Tian Ling’er’s Vermilion Bird to emerge and block its Solar True Fire with blue flames.
• A voice ordered Shen Qi to stop, and the Three-legged Golden Crow withdrew before the Vermilion Bird returned to Tian Ling’er and ate Fire Spirit Rice.
• Lu Chongtian arrived with his entourage, and Zhong Shan clenched his fist at the sight of the brother of the Sky Splitting Crown Prince.
• Lu Chongtian told the Dragon-Tiger Pill Saint that the Grand Sui Emperor had prepared an imperial pillcraft Attendant position for him, stirring an uproar over whether the offer was a threat.

At the Ten Thousand Pill Convention, the Dragon-Tiger Pill Saint announced a trial to select eighty-one alchemists for the contest over the Eternal Sacred Platform, and Bao Er began refining an eighth-grade pill. As Xu Fu completed his pill first, Zhong Shan suspected that a servant had tampered with the water Bao Er was using, apparently at Sky Soaring Crown Prince’s behest.

• Sky Soaring Crown Prince tried to claim Lan Longhu for the Grand Sui Heavenly Dynasty, but Lan Longhu declared his loyalty to the Azure Flame Emperor Dynasty.
• The Dragon-Tiger Pill Saint explained that alchemists had to refine eighth-grade pills from designated ingredients to qualify for the eighty-one places at the Eternal Sacred Platform.
• Bao Er began refining her pill and continued for several days, while failed alchemists left the square and Xu Fu became the first to complete an eighth-grade pill.
• Bao Er ordered a servant to pour water and the final ingredients into her furnace, and Zhong Shan saw the servant signal toward Sky Soaring Crown Prince.
• Sky Soaring Crown Prince smiled at Zhong Shan, leading him to suspect that the servant had tampered with Bao Er’s water.

Bao Er’s pill refinement was sabotaged, but she restarted the furnace using the remaining ingredients and medicinal residue. Zhong Shan held the servant responsible in place and secretly caused a Grand Sui Heavenly Dynasty alchemist’s furnace to explode, eliminating that dynasty from the competition for the Eternal Sacred Platform.

• Zhong Shan realized a servant had tampered with Bao Er’s water, and Bao Er’s furnace failed before she could finish refining her pill.
• Bao Er accused the servant, but Dragon-Tiger Pill Saint deferred investigating him until after the Ten Thousand Pill Convention to avoid disrupting the competition.
• Bao Er resumed refining with the scraps she had left, while Chi Huo captured the servant at Zhong Shan’s signal and prevented him from leaving.
• Zhong Shan released Red Phoenix Mist into the Grand Sui Heavenly Dynasty alchemist’s furnace, which exploded and ruined the pills of several nearby competitors.
• Sky Soaring Crown Prince reprimanded the dazed alchemist, and the Grand Sui Heavenly Dynasty lost its chance to compete for the Eternal Sacred Platform.

Bao Er refined a Grade Eight Bitter Dove Pill from discarded medicinal dregs, proving her skill and exposing sabotage at the Ten Thousand Pill Convention. The Sky Soaring Crown Prince was revealed as the mastermind, then left after threatening Zhong Shan.

• Bao Er completed a golden pill from discarded medicinal dregs, and the Pill Saint confirmed it was a Grade Eight Bitter Dove Pill.
• Zhong Shan told Bao Er to deal with the servant who had tampered with things, and Lan Tianwei agreed not to interfere.
• Bao Er demanded the servant's clan be exterminated, while Xu Fu invoked Great Qin's rule that the servant's nine clans should be executed; the Dragon-Tiger Pill Saint promised to give Bao Er an explanation.
• The servant exposed the Sky Soaring Crown Prince as the one who had ordered the sabotage, and the Sky Soaring Crown Prince crushed him beneath a golden foot.
• The Pill Saint demanded an explanation, but the Sky Soaring Crown Prince threatened Zhong Shan and departed with his people.
• Bao Er thanked the Dragon-Tiger Pill Saint and returned to sit behind Zhong Shan.

A black-robed stranger warned Emperor Xuan Sha that the Ten Thousand Pill Convention could trigger upheaval across the Divine Continent, while Sky Soaring Crown Prince suspected Dragon-Tiger Pill Saint of sabotaging his pill master’s work. At the convention, the Eternal Sacred Platform descended, and Bao Er prepared to attempt an extraordinary pill refinement with Ling Er and Zhihuo assisting.

• Lao Li thought he recognized the black-robed stranger as the long-dead Zhong Xuan, but the other elders dismissed his claim as drunkenness.
• The black-robed stranger warned Emperor Xuan Sha that the convention and the Azure Flame Emperor Dynasty had drawn powerful figures’ attention, then left without explaining himself.
• Emperor Xuan Sha ordered his wolf clan guards to protect Sky Wolf Island and departed.
• Sky Soaring Crown Prince’s pill master insisted someone had tampered with his pills, and the Crown Prince suspected Dragon-Tiger Pill Saint before leaving the convention.
• The Pill Saint explained why the venue lay at a focal point of Heaven and earth’s warp and weft, then summoned the Eternal Sacred Platform and invited seventy-two pill masters to choose Pill Pools.
• Bao Er told Zhong Shan she planned to refine a pill beyond ninth grade and asked Ling Er to lend her the Vermilion Bird’s Southern Blazing Fire; she then chose Ling Er and Zhihuo as her assistants.

Xu Fu revealed that Bao Er could use the central Pill Pool, and the pill masters began refining divine pills at the Ten Thousand Pill Convention. While Zhong Shan waited, an envoy reported that the Grand Sui Heavenly Dynasty was invading the Smoke Red Imperial Dynasty under the Sky Splitting Crown Prince, and Zhong Shan offered to lead aid.

• Xu Fu identified Bao Er as someone able to enter the central Pill Pool, and Bao Er confirmed that her Heaven Earth Profound Yellow Cauldron could withstand it.
• Bao Er chose the central Pill Pool, and the pill masters began refining divine pills as the Eternal Sacred Platform shone with gathered merit and providence.
• The next day, an envoy told Lan Tianwei that the Grand Sui Heavenly Dynasty was attacking the Smoke Red Imperial Dynasty while Xiao Zhongxing was in seclusion.
• The envoy named the Sky Splitting Crown Prince as the invading army's commander, and Zhong Shan crushed a Go piece when he heard the name.
• Zhong Shan offered to dispatch troops in place of the Azure Flame Emperor Dynasty and asked Lan Tianwei to provide him with soldiers.

Zhong Shan secured the Iron Spear Battalion from the Azure Flame Emperor Dynasty and persuaded his old friend Zhao Suo Xiang to join Great Zheng as its Eighth Legion Commander. As they marched to aid the Smoke Red Imperial Dynasty, Zhong Shan asked Zhao Suo Xiang to keep him from losing control when they reached their destination.

• Zhong Shan persuaded Lan Tianwei to provide five thousand soldiers and selected Zhao Suo Xiang's Iron Spear Battalion, then reassured Qian You and left for the camp.
• Zhong Shan apologized to Zhao Suo Xiang for taking his battalion, and Zhao Suo Xiang agreed to follow him; Zhong Shan appointed him commander of Great Zheng's Eighth Legion.
• Zhong Shan learned that the Sky Splitting Crown Prince was attacking the Smoke Red Imperial Dynasty and ordered the old man to report Azure Flame's support to bolster morale.
• Zhong Shan directed the army toward Smoke Red City, and the five thousand soldiers followed Zhao Suo Xiang without hesitation.
• Fifteen days later, as they advanced through Smoke Red territory, Zhong Shan asked Zhao Suo Xiang to awaken him if he lost control.

Zhong Shan arrived in Smoke Red City and organized its defenses against the advancing Grand Sui Heavenly Dynasty. At Sword Red City, the Sky Splitting Crown Prince ordered the Sky Soaring Crown Prince and Forget Dust to lead the vanguard against Zhong Shan while he stayed behind for the moment.

• Zhong Shan told Zhao Suo Xiang that he needed to face the Sky Splitting Crown Prince over Kui Er’s death, and asked him to bring him back to his senses if he lost control.
• Zhong Shan reached Smoke Red City, where the ministers welcomed his aid, and swiftly deployed troops to strengthen the city’s defenses.
• The Sky Splitting Crown Prince reviewed reports in Sword Red City as the Sky Soaring Crown Prince and Monk Se Kong urged action against Zhong Shan.
• Forget Dust revealed that Zhong Shan had once been his adoptive father, but claimed he no longer understood him and pledged loyalty to the Sky Splitting Crown Prince.
• The Sky Splitting Crown Prince ordered Forget Dust and the Sky Soaring Crown Prince to lead the vanguard toward Smoke Red City, saying he would arrive in a few days.

Zhong Shan prepared Smoke Red City for the Grand Sui Heavenly Dynasty’s main army, then faced the arrival of his estranged adopted son Forget Dust as the enemy vanguard. He sent Zhao Suo Xiang and the Iron Spear Battalion out to meet Forget Dust, while he remained atop the city tower.

• Zhong Shan warned Smoke Red’s leaders that the Grand Sui main army would arrive in five days and ordered trusted troops to replace the Four City Gates’ guards after Duke Wei uncovered a betrayal.
• Sky Soaring Crown Prince arrived with 1.5 million soldiers and ordered Forget Dust to lead his private vanguard against Smoke Red City and bring back Zhong Shan’s head.
• Zhong Shan recognized Forget Dust as Zhong Shijiu, his estranged adopted son, and cautioned Zhao Suo Xiang not to underestimate his talent and strength.
• Forget Dust called for battle, and Zhong Shan rallied the frightened officials before ordering the city drums beaten.
• Zhao Suo Xiang led the Iron Spear Battalion through the opened city gates to face Forget Dust’s vanguard.

Forget Dust and Zhao Suo Xiang’s powerful battle formations clashed in a prolonged stalemate while Zhong Shan secretly carried out a plan to retake the captured cities and surround Sky Soaring Crown Prince’s army. The trap succeeded, and Sky Soaring Crown Prince realized Zhong Shan had also caused the alchemist’s furnace explosion at the Ten Thousand Pill Convention.

• Zhao Suo Xiang formed the Iron Spear Great Array, and Forget Dust unleashed the Blood God Scripture’s sea of blood formation; the two forces fought to a stalemate.
• After four days and four nights, Zhong Shan ordered Duke Wei to launch the hidden troops against the Grand Sui Heavenly Dynasty’s flanks and circle around behind them.
• Scouts reported that Sword Red City, Long Luck City, and Three Creation City had fallen, while Smoke Red Imperial Dynasty forces appeared to the south, west, and north of Sky Soaring Crown Prince’s army.
• Sky Soaring Crown Prince realized Zhong Shan had drawn his forces into a trap and angrily accused him of courting death.
• Zhong Shan told Sky Soaring Crown Prince that he had returned the gift from the Ten Thousand Pill Convention, leading Sky Soaring Crown Prince to realize Zhong Shan had caused the furnace explosion.

Zhong Shan provoked Sky Soaring Crown Prince into a duel, using the fight as a justified chance to vent his hatred. Though Sky Soaring Crown Prince’s Emperor Realm strength kept him at a disadvantage, Zhong Shan pushed his technique to eighty heavy waves.

• Sky Soaring Crown Prince realized Zhong Shan had disrupted his plans, flew onto the battlefield, and challenged him to a death match.
• Zhong Shan accepted the duel and summoned Nightmare, while Sky Soaring Crown Prince attacked with golden Saber Qi.
• Zhong Shan used Beginning of Illusion Breaking to see the law patterns controlling Sky Soaring Crown Prince’s Saber Qi and severed their connection with Heavenly Laws! Twenty Heavy Waves.
• Sky Soaring Crown Prince overwhelmed Zhong Shan with pure Emperor Realm strength, but Zhong Shan countered with increasingly powerful waves and kept fighting.
• As Zhong Shan’s fury and hatred surged, he unleashed Heavenly Laws! Eighty Heavy Waves!

Zhong Shan pushed his saber techniques beyond their limits and overwhelmed the Sky Soaring Crown Prince, carving a vast valley through Smoke Red City. The Sky Soaring Crown Prince survived because a powerful expert rescued him, and Zhong Shan turned his attention to the opposing Commander's Platform.

• The Sky Splitting Crown Prince appeared on the Grand Sui Heavenly Dynasty's Commander's Platform and watched the battles.
• Zhong Shan used Hundred Heavy Waves to break through to the fifth stage of the Heavenly Devil Body Tempering Great Technique, gaining sixfold strength.
• Zhong Shan combined Tear Wind, Hundred and Twenty Heavy Waves, and Thunderous Force in a devastating strike that suppressed the Sky Soaring Crown Prince and devastated Smoke Red City.
• A powerful expert rescued the Sky Soaring Crown Prince before Zhong Shan's strike could kill him.
• Zhong Shan looked toward the opposing Commander's Platform and fixed his gaze on the rescuer.