Chapter Summaries

Xu Yi completed a demanding series of alchemy experiments before meeting Bai Jizi, who had arranged a possible connection to Central Academy’s Dean Chu Qiushan. After agreeing to fund Bai Jizi’s information network, Xu Yi followed a clue toward Chu Qiushan’s residence, where the chapter left them preparing to ride Central City’s underground transit.

• Xu Yi spent seven days repeating three experiments from the Dan Book, completing sixty-seven experiments and failing only seven times.
• Xu Yi met Bai Jizi, who said he had arranged a meeting through Second Young Master Chu about getting Xu Yi a teaching position at Central Academy.
• Xu Yi agreed to provide Bai Jizi with the resources needed to gather useful information about Central City.
• A young attendant left Xu Yi and Bai Jizi an address for Dean Chu’s inner-city residence.
• Xu Yi and Bai Jizi entered an underground transit station and prepared to take the A-3 line toward the address.

Xu Yi and Bai Jizi traveled into the inner city to ask Second Young Master Chu for help, and Chu arranged for them to meet his uncle, a Silver-haired Elder. After the elder said he would keep their matter in mind, Xu Yi suddenly blocked the doorway as they were leaving.

• Xu Yi reflected on Earth while riding the underground iron box with Bai Jizi, then followed him into the inner city wearing a White Quality Badge.
• A patrol inspected Xu Yi's badge and escorted him and Bai Jizi to Chu Qiushan's residence.
• Second Young Master Chu accepted Bai Jizi's storage ring and agreed to seek his uncle's help.
• Second Young Master Chu brought Xu Yi and Bai Jizi before the Silver-haired Elder, who heard their situation and said he would keep it in mind.
• As Second Young Master Chu led them out to a welcome banquet, Xu Yi flashed in front of the entrance and blocked the way.

Xu Yi exposed Second Young Master Chu’s scheme to swindle Bai Jizi, then overpowered him and his accomplices and forced the young master to sign a confession. Xu Yi brought Second Young Master Chu to Chu Qiushan’s residence and confronted the dean, who had not known he was coming.

• Second Young Master Chu and his companions denied swindling Bai Jizi and ordered him and Xu Yi to leave.
• Xu Yi swiftly knocked down Second Young Master Chu, the Scarlet Robe Middle-aged Man, and the Silver-haired Elder, then forced the young master to sign a confession.
• Xu Yi carried Second Young Master Chu through the estate and told Bai Jizi to wait with him in a pavilion.
• Xu Yi entered Chu Qiushan’s room, startling him as he poured tea for a sullen young man.
• Xu Yi told Chu Qiushan that only his nephew knew he had arrived.

Xu Yi confronted Chu Qiushan during a secret meeting with Young Master Yinshan, then Executive Xuan arrived and identified the young man as Li Xingtian. Xu Yi recognized her as his former master Xuan Lengyan, whose arrival forced Chu Qiushan to face scrutiny over selling selection slots.

• Xu Yi used his knowledge of Chu Qiushan and Young Master Yinshan’s secret meeting to demand a recommendation, unsettling both men.
• Young Master Yinshan attacked Xu Yi, but he withdrew his power when a servant announced Executive Xuan’s arrival.
• Xuan Lengyan entered with a scholarly young man, and Chu Qiushan killed the servant who had led her to the room.
• The scholarly young man challenged Xu Yi, who recognized Executive Xuan as his former master, Xuan Lengyan.
• Xuan Lengyan asked Chu Qiushan to identify Young Master Yinshan as Li Xingtian, and Chu Qiushan’s confidence faltered as she confronted him over rumors of selling selection slots.

Xuan Lengyan confronted Chu Qiushan over suspected recommendation-slot corruption and questioned Li Xingtian, while Xu Yi intervened and prompted Chu to swear an oath of innocence. Xu Yi then revealed his familiarity with Xuan Lengyan’s research, leaving her solemn and the others confused.

• Xuan Lengyan demanded that Chu Qiushan identify Li Xingtian and said she would report his refusal to cooperate to the Elder Council.
• Li Xingtian rejected Xuan Lengyan’s authority, and Chu Qiushan tried to speak with her privately.
• Xu Yi objected to Xuan Lengyan’s accusations, then introduced himself as a White Quality Badge recipient recommended by Chu Qiushan and swore that he had given Chu no gifts.
• Xu Yi urged Chu Qiushan to swear an oath too, and Chu quickly did so to defend himself.
• When Xuan Lengyan asked whether Xu Yi had bought his badge, Xu Yi mentioned an alternative ingredient pairing and said he had read and tested her article.

Xu Yi impressed Xuan Lengyan with his knowledge of alchemy, while Ding Taochun was dismissed after concealing news about Old Demon Yiling. After Xuan Lengyan left, Xu Yi killed Young Master Yinshan and forced Chu Qiushan to help him secure the teaching assessment.

• Xu Yi correctly described the result of an alchemy experiment from Xuan Lengyan's essay, and she warned Chu Qiushan before leaving.
• Xuan Lengyan told Ding Taochun that Old Demon Yiling might be in Central City, dismissed him, and offered him a recommendation to Central Academy.
• Ding Taochun brooded over Xuan Lengyan's feelings for Old Demon Yiling as she left with a falling maple leaf.
• Young Master Yinshan threatened Xu Yi and demanded to know his identity, while Chu Qiushan said he could explain away Xu Yi's absence.
• Xu Yi killed Young Master Yinshan and destroyed his Divine Infant, then collected the scattered resources.
• Xu Yi told Chu Qiushan to invent an explanation for Yinshan's disappearance and ensure Xu Yi received notice of the teaching assessment.

Xu Yi helped Chu Qiushan secure his cooperation, then intervened when Chu the Second Young Master’s men surrounded Bai Jizi. After Chu Qiushan disowned his nephew, Xu Yi used his oath to keep him from accepting a gift and began offering him advice.

• Chu Qiushan agreed that Xu Yi would receive notice to take part in the assessment and invited him to share a drink.
• Xu Yi arrived at the pavilion where the Scarlet Robe Middle-aged Man and Silver-haired Elder had brought troops to confront Bai Jizi.
• Xu Yi told Bai Jizi to release Chu the Second Young Master, then Chu Qiushan appeared and expelled his nephew from the Chu household.
• Chu Qiushan invited Xu Yi to a lakeside banquet, where Xu Yi’s spirit wine reminded him that his oath prevented him from accepting gifts from Xu Yi.
• Xu Yi offered to advise Chu Qiushan and said he had mishandled something, prompting Chu Qiushan to ask him to explain.

Xu Yi warned Chu Qiushan that Chu Er might betray him, prompting Chu Qiushan to order Chu Er killed before bringing Xu Yi to a major pill unveiling. At Tower Mountain Building, Yu Zhi Qiu introduced eight groundbreaking pills, and Xu Yi asked Chu Qiushan how the Golden Core Society would bring them to market.

• Xu Yi told Chu Qiushan that Chu Er could become a liability if Executive Xuan used him to uncover the truth.
• Chu Qiushan activated his Ruyi Pearl and ordered someone to take care of Chu Er.
• After speaking with Xu Yi, Chu Qiushan took him to Tower Mountain Building to witness a major event.
• Yu Zhi Qiu presented eight new pills at the Golden Core General Association gathering, including the Root Condensing Pill, Essence Restoration Pill, and Infant Nurturing Pill.
• Xu Yi asked Chu Qiushan what the Golden Core Society would do to bring the new pills to market.

Xu Yi correctly guessed that the Golden Core Society would announce a new currency, then pressed Chu Qiushan to help him obtain a legitimate identity for the Central Academy. The currency launch promised to link cultivation trade across the world, but its shared emblems and the spread of Pill Civilization pointed toward future conflict.

• Xu Yi bet Chu Qiushan that the next speaker would announce a new currency, and Hua Yingming appeared to introduce himself as chairman of the North Continent General Exchange Corporation.
• Xu Yi asked Chu Qiushan for a legitimate identity to pass the Central Academy's internal review, and Chu Qiushan reluctantly agreed to help.
• Hua Yingming announced four types of currency, backed by a network of major powers and merchants, a Central Reserve Department, and elaborate anti-counterfeiting measures.
• Chu Qiushan noted that the coins bore both the Golden Core Society's crest and the Immortal Palace's emblem, while Xu Yi predicted that Pill Civilization's spread would provoke a cataclysm involving other continents.

Xu Yi attended a General Affairs Department reception with Chu Qiushan, where he discovered Xiong Bei Ming and Gold Corpse Old Cao were hiding and preparing to target Fu Qingfeng. Their plans were threatened by Fu Qingfeng’s preparations and then interrupted when Xuan Lengyan and the Sun King arrived, leaving the gathering tense after the Sun King insulted her.

• Xu Yi and Chu Qiushan went to the General Affairs Department reception to celebrate the new unified currency.
• Xu Yi recognized Xiong Bei Ming and Gold Corpse Old Cao in disguise and realized Fu Qingfeng was likely their target.
• Fu Qingfeng secretly ordered his people to seal the routes and prepare to capture the criminals, forcing Xu Yi to consider intervening.
• Xuan Lengyan arrived as a Golden Core Society representative, and Fu Qingfeng told his men to wait until she left.
• The Sun King openly praised Xuan Lengyan’s beauty, angering the crowd and creating tension between the rival factions.

Ding Tao Ming and the Sun King asserted the Great Sun Divine Palace’s authority over the Golden Core Society, while Ding Tao Ming threatened Xuan Lengyan and the Black Robed Elder. Xu Yi intervened and subdued Fu Qingfeng, leaving the confrontation poised to escalate.

• The Sun King taunted Xuan Lengyan, and Ding Taochun defended her while criticizing the Sun King and Fu Qingfeng.
• Ding Tao Ming revealed himself as the Blazing Sun King and declared that the Great Sun Divine Palace governed the Northern Continent World and would punish defiance.
• Ding Tao Ming offered Xuan Lengyan to Ding Taochun, then claimed her as his concubine when Ding Taochun hesitated.
• Fu Qingfeng attacked the Black Robed Elder, but Xuan Lengyan shielded him with her True Pattern Magic Robe.
• Ding Tao Ming ordered Fu Qingfeng to deal with Xuan Lengyan and the elder within ten breaths or lose his head, and Xu Yi challenged him to keep that threat.
• Xu Yi caught Fu Qingfeng’s silver river attack, dispelled it, and restrained Fu Qingfeng with one hand.

Xu Yi revealed himself as Old Demon Yiling, killed Fu Qingfeng, and defeated Ding Tao Ming’s spatial attack, forcing him to flee. Xu Yi then turned his attention to Sun King, who tried to appeal to his connection with Xuan Lengyan’s great-grandfather.

• Xu Yi revealed his identity as Old Demon Yiling and killed Fu Qingfeng after Ding Tao Ming failed to honor his promise.
• Xu Yi said that anyone who insulted Xuan Lengyan or him would die, and Ding Tao Ming attacked with a spatial-cleaving art.
• Xu Yi shattered Ding Tao Ming’s pocket dimension using the barrier-breaking art of the Minor Cloud Crane Art.
• Ding Tao Ming escaped with a talisman after Xu Yi’s sword attack missed, shocking the spectators.
• Xu Yi turned toward Sun King, who nervously claimed he had been close friends with Xuan Lengyan’s great-grandfather.

Xu Yi defeated the Sun King, dispersed the onlookers, and reunited with Xuan Lengyan in Central City. After explaining why he had been unable to contact her, he learned that she had spent nearly a year searching for him, and she asked where Qiu Wa was.

• Xu Yi crushed the Sun King's fighting ability, handed him to Xiong Bei Ming and Gold Corpse Old Cao, and arranged to meet them at Liu Xian Temple Fair at midnight.
• Xu Yi sent the remaining onlookers away and asked them to stop calling him Old Demon Yiling.
• Xuan Lengyan confronted Xu Yi for pretending not to know her, and their scuffle ended with them in an embarrassing embrace before Xu Yi let her go.
• Xu Yi explained that the broken Ruyi Pearl and his changed identity had kept him from contacting Xuan Lengyan or visiting her sooner.
• Xuan Lengyan revealed that she had spent nearly a year publishing treatises and rising in the Golden Core Society to search for Xu Yi, then asked where Qiu Wa was.

Xu Yi met with Xuan Lengyan, learned how the Golden Core Society and Great Sun Divine Palace were navigating a looming crisis, and decided to leave Central City. He entrusted Qiu Wa to Xuan Lengyan and departed without linking their Ruyi Pearls, leaving her hurt and angry.

• Xu Yi avoided telling Xuan Lengyan why he had come and asked her to advise him on what to do next.
• Xuan Lengyan urged Xu Yi to leave Central City and stay far from the Great Sun Divine Palace, while struggling with the wish that he would invite her along.
• Xuan Lengyan explained that the Golden Core Society and Great Sun Divine Palace maintained a wary balance, while mysterious forces spreading since Guangcheng Immortal Mansion disappeared threatened the world.
• Xuan Lengyan warned Xu Yi that the Great Sun Divine Palace was too powerful for him to oppose and told him to leave without worrying about her.
• Xu Yi gave Xuan Lengyan a jade box containing Qiu Wa and a storage ring, then flew away without linking their Ruyi Pearls.
• Xuan Lengyan realized Xu Yi had entrusted Qiu Wa to her out of trust, but grew angry that he had seemingly cut off contact.

Xu Yi waited atop the Nine Heavens Pavilion for the Great Sun Divine Palace, hoping to draw its strongest fighters away from Xuan Lengyan and test his own strength. The Great Sun Dharma King arrived and offered to recruit him, but Xu Yi questioned whether the palace would truly accept his rise.

• Xu Yi reactivated the Four-Colored Seal with a spirit crystal, then waited on the rooftop for the Great Sun Divine Palace.
• Xu Yi decided to face the palace’s strongest experts both to challenge himself and to prevent them from targeting Xuan Lengyan.
• The Great Sun Dharma King and five others arrived, drawing cultivators from across Central City to watch the confrontation.
• The Great Sun Dharma King praised Xu Yi’s rapid rise and offered the Great Sun Divine Palace’s full support if he joined them.
• Xu Yi questioned whether the palace and the Three Great Yuan Monarchs would tolerate him becoming invincible beneath heaven.

Xu Yi fought the Great Sun Dharma King, first using the Heart Severing Sword against the Giant Ba Deity and then revealing the Three Hearts Sword. As their battle devastated the area, they took the fight into the sky, where Xu Yi and the Dharma King continued their clash before a crowd of powerful spectators.

• Xu Yi rejected the Great Sun Divine Palace’s offer to recruit him and challenged the Great Sun Dharma King to fight.
• The Great Sun Dharma King summoned the Giant Ba Deity’s Divine Intent and shattered Xu Yi’s Heart Severing Sword, then urged him to yield.
• Xu Yi revealed the Heart Abandoning Sword and Heart Leaving Sword alongside the Heart Severing Sword, naming their combined technique the Three Hearts Sword.
• The Great Sun Dharma King sent the Giant Ba Deity against Xu Yi, and their attacks devastated buildings and injured people within a hundred li.
• The Great Sun Dharma King proposed moving the battle into the sky, and Xu Yi followed him upward as more than a thousand powerful experts rose to watch.

Xu Yi used his sorrow to comprehend the Giant Ba Deity’s True Intent during his battle with Great Sun Dharma King. After Wei Xi Yuan Jun ordered Xu Yi’s death, Xu Yi and Great Sun prepared for a final clash as Xu Yi summoned five swords.

• Xu Yi spread sorrow through heaven and earth while Great Sun Dharma King’s Giant Ba Deity fought the Three Hearts Sword, then shattered its three swords with eight arms.
• Xu Yi manifested a second Giant Ba Deity by comprehending Great Sun’s True Intent, and Great Sun realized Xu Yi had used their battle to attain the Dao.
• A subordinate announced Wei Xi Yuan Jun’s decree ordering Great Sun Dharma King to kill Xu Yi within a hundred breaths.
• Great Sun Dharma King formed an Infant Artifact Golden Spear, and Xu Yi answered that he would fight without holding back.
• Xu Yi filled the sky with sorrow and gathered the city’s materials into five giant swords: the Heart Severing Sword, Heart Leaving Sword, Heart Abandoning Sword, and two more bearing wind and Lei Ting.

Xu Yi defeated the Great Sun Dharma King with the Three Hearts Two Minds Sword, but the Divine Hall elders then attacked him with the Phoenix Pattern Divine Lamp. Xu Yi escaped through a Gate of Light, leaving the lamp’s flames and the five starry roads surging around a black speck.

• Xu Yi named the Empty Intent Sword and Destroy Intent Sword and revealed that his five swords formed the Three Hearts Two Minds Sword.
• The Great Sun Dharma King’s Golden Spear failed to break free from the swords, so he conceded defeat and left to accept his punishment.
• The long-browed, prominent-eyed elder and four other cultivators summoned the Phoenix Pattern Divine Lamp and channeled Spiritual Qi into it with golden talismans.
• The lamp’s flames pursued Xu Yi and sealed his escape routes, but he leaped through a Gate of Light that vanished behind him.
• The fire dragons attacked the black speck left behind as the Divine Lamp flared and the five roads poured in Spiritual Qi, leaving the Divine Hall cultivators bewildered.

Xu Yi took refuge in the Four-Colored Seal Space as the Phoenix Pattern Divine Lamp’s flames pursued him, but the arrows of fire restored Xue Zihan while leaving him unharmed. Outside, the Great Sun Divine Palace’s five elders failed to stop the lamp, whose flames kept attacking the black speck and consuming their spiritual energy.

• The five elders of the Great Sun Divine Palace let the Phoenix Pattern Divine Lamp’s fire dragons keep attacking the black speck, believing Old Demon Yiling was still alive.
• Xu Yi hid in the Four-Colored Seal Space, but the lamp’s flames entered it and transformed into arrows that struck him and Xue Zihan.
• The arrows pierced Xue Zihan and restored her hair and skin, while Xu Yi gathered the scattered beams of light and dressed himself.
• The Big-Eyed Elder ordered the five elders to stop the lamp after its flames had consumed vast amounts of spiritual energy and its wick had nearly disappeared.
• The elders cast talismans to close the starry-sky passages, but the fire dragons burned the curtains away and rushed back toward the Lamp Wick.

Xu Yi revived Snow Zihan, but the uncontrolled life-force transfer drained the Phoenix Pattern Divine Lamp and caused it to explode. Snow Zihan was swept toward the resulting aurora as Central City fell into chaos, while the five elders faced the consequences of the lamp’s destruction.

• Xu Yi watched Snow Zihan awaken and saw the arrows stop multiplying as the final clusters entered her body.
• Arrows burst from Xu Yi and struck Snow Zihan, opening passages that poured life force from him into her despite their attempts to stop it.
• The Phoenix Pattern Divine Lamp exhausted its wick, shattered the elders’ barriers, and exploded as the Four-Colored Seal Space collapsed.
• Xu Yi and Snow Zihan were expelled from the space; Xu Yi fell to the ground while Snow Zihan rose toward the aurora and the five passages twisted.
• Central City was thrown into panic, and the five elders watched the starry light fade before the Big-Eyed Elder asked whether they wanted to live.