Chapter Summaries

Xiao Peng confronted Black Wind Hall after its members wrecked Ling Xiao Pavilion’s stall and beat its people, then defeated their leader and took him toward the Medicine Gang. Han Xian learned that the White Gang had refused to help him because it feared Xiao Peng, leaving the confrontation with Xiao Peng unresolved.

• Han Xian ordered his subordinate to recruit the White Gang to disrupt Ling Xiao Pavilion after obscure pill formulas thwarted his attempts to undermine Xiao Peng.
• Hu Jia told Xiao Peng that Black Wind Hall was smashing Ling Xiao Pavilion’s stall, and Xiao Peng went with her and Xiao Xun'er to the trading market.
• Xiao Peng defeated the men attacking Ling Xiao Pavilion’s members and gave a healing pill to an injured student.
• Xiao Peng disarmed Black Wind Hall’s leader, knocked him unconscious, and asked the remaining members who else would challenge him.
• Han Xian learned that the White Gang had refused to fight Xiao Peng because it feared his ruthless, precise attacks.

Xiao Peng stormed the Medicine Gang and beat Han Xian after confronting him over the attack on Ling Xiao Pavilion’s stall. He accepted Han Xian’s alchemy challenge, leaving both gangs to prepare for their public contest in four days.

• Han Xian dismissed warnings about Xiao Peng until Xiao Peng arrived at the Medicine Gang with the unconscious Black Wind Hall leader and accused Han Xian of attacking his stall and people.
• Xiao Peng overpowered Han Xian and beat him in front of the Medicine Gang disciples.
• Xiao Peng challenged Han Xian to an alchemy contest in four days, with the Medicine Gang’s market and Ling Xiao Pavilion’s pill sales at stake.
• Han Xian accepted the challenge and ordered his disciples to prepare an Alchemy Furnace and Medicinal Herbs.
• Xiao Peng returned to the trading market, where Hu Jia and the Ling Xiao Pavilion members learned the contest’s terms.

Xiao Peng accepted Han Xian’s challenge to compete in alchemy, with the loser agreeing to leave the Inner Academy pill market. As the contest began, Han Xian refined a fourth-grade pill while Xiao Peng used his Thunder Furnace and ordinary-looking herbs, leaving onlookers uncertain about the outcome.

• Xiao Peng reassured Hu Jia, Xiao Xun'er, and the Ling Xiao Pavilion members that he was certain he could defeat Han Xian in alchemy.
• News of the contest spread through the Inner Academy, and a large crowd gathered at the trading market when competition day arrived.
• Han Xian mocked Xiao Peng, then proposed that the loser withdraw from the Inner Academy pill market; Xiao Peng agreed.
• Han Xian began refining a fourth-grade pill in his Purple Gold Furnace, while Xiao Peng brought out the Thunder Furnace and started with ordinary herbs.
• Two elders watched the pair refine pills, noting Han Xian's precise flame control and finding Xiao Peng difficult to judge.
• Han Xian's pill reached its final step as the contest continued.

Xiao Peng completed the alchemy contest by refining six patterned Fifth-grade Pills at once, stunning the crowd and crushing Han Xian’s confidence. The onlookers and Ling Xiao Pavilion celebrated Xiao Peng’s achievement while two distant elders watched in shock.

• Han Xian finished a Fourth-grade Clear Spirit Pill and taunted Xiao Peng while the Medicine Gang disciples jeered.
• Hu Jia rebuked Han Xian and stood beside Xiao Peng as he continued refining without losing focus.
• Xiao Peng formed six pill embryos in the Thunder Furnace, and the solid energy rings signaled that Fifth-grade Pills were taking shape.
• Xiao Peng’s furnace released six purple-gold Fifth-grade Pills with Pill Patterns, leaving Han Xian and the crowd stunned.
• Hu Jia and Ling Xiao Pavilion celebrated Xiao Peng as the Medicine Gang fell silent, while two elders watched in shock.

After defeating Han Xian, Xiao Peng let the Medicine Gang remain in the Inner Academy pill market, leaving Han Xian humbled and ashamed. Half a month later, Xiao Peng went to the Heavenly Incineration Qi Refining Tower, where he met Han Yue and headed for the seventh level despite her warning.

• Xiao Peng allowed the Medicine Gang to continue selling pills, but warned Han Xian not to cause trouble again.
• Han Xian and the Medicine Gang students left the market in shame, and Han Xian bowed toward Xiao Peng's retreating back.
• Half a month later, Xiao Peng visited the Heavenly Incineration Qi Refining Tower with a purple Fire Energy Card, partly obtained from Han Xian as an apology.
• Xiao Peng met Han Yue at the tower and climbed past the sixth level toward the seventh, prompting her to warn him about its heat and pressure.
• Xiao Peng gave Han Yue a bottle of Ling Xiao Pavilion pills and stepped onto the stairs to the seventh level.

Xiao Peng cultivated on the ninth floor of the Heavenly Incineration Qi Refining Tower and comprehended the fire-based Divine Ability Ember Dust, which he tested on a Flame-toothed Flying Lion. He later found Han Yue trapped by an Ironback Great Ape and intervened as it was about to strike her.

• Han Yue followed Xiao Peng up to the seventh floor, where he told her the level was nothing to him and continued to the ninth floor to cultivate.
• After emerging from secluded cultivation, Xiao Peng created a Cloning to grind the rankings and left the Inner Academy to test Ember Dust on a Tier 4 Flame-toothed Flying Lion.
• Xiao Peng used Ember Dust to reduce the Flame-toothed Flying Lion to dust, then flew off to search the mountains for opportunities.
• Xiao Peng found Han Yue being driven into a canyon wall by a Tier 4 Ironback Great Ape, leaving her injured and unable to retreat.
• As the Ironback Great Ape swung at Han Yue, Xiao Peng condensed a finger from Mana and pressed it down toward the beast.

Xiao Peng rescued Han Yue from the Ironback Great Ape, healed her wound, and accompanied her to the cave where she had found Heavenly Treasures. They discovered the Blood Spirit Grass on a stone platform inside the ape’s lair.

• Xiao Peng destroyed the Ironback Great Ape before it could strike Han Yue, then gave her spare clothes and healed her arm.
• Han Yue explained that the ape had chased her after she entered its cave and found Heavenly Treasures.
• Han Yue led Xiao Peng through a stone forest to the cave, where they saw claw marks and remains from the Ironback Great Ape.
• Han Yue showed Xiao Peng several glowing Blood Spirit Grass plants growing on a stone platform.

Xiao Peng and Han Yue waited for the Ice Heart Flowers to mature, then discovered an Ice Marrow Spirit Spring beneath them and shared the treasures. They left the cave together, and Han Yue asked when Xiao Peng planned to return to the academy.

• Xiao Peng found immature Ice Heart Flowers growing beside the Blood Spirit Grass and persuaded Han Yue to stay and share them.
• Xiao Peng and Han Yue took turns keeping watch and meditating in the cave for three days, growing more comfortable with each other.
• The Ice Heart Flowers bloomed, and Xiao Peng and Han Yue split them evenly.
• Xiao Peng uncovered an Ice Marrow Spirit Spring beneath a stone slab, and both collected some of its water for cultivation.
• Xiao Peng replaced the slab, and he and Han Yue packed their supplies and left the cave together.
• Han Yue asked Xiao Peng when he planned to return to the academy.

Xiao Peng returned to the academy with Han Yue after a week of treasure hunting and found Zi Yan staying with Zi Yao in his room. He gave both girls Flesh and Blood Essence, and Zi Yan explained that she had grown attached to Zi Yao after meeting her.

• Xiao Peng and Han Yue continued searching the canyon together for a week, then returned to the academy and parted ways.
• Xiao Peng returned to his room and found Zi Yao asleep beside Zi Yan, who had come to stay with her.
• Zi Yao welcomed Xiao Peng back and explained that Zi Yan had appeared while she was eating Flesh and Blood Essence, then stayed after Zi Yao shared some with her.
• Zi Yan argued with Zi Yao over who should be called the big sister because Zi Yan was shorter, and Xiao Peng teased her by saying she might grow taller later.
• Xiao Peng gave Zi Yao and Zi Yan Flesh and Blood Essence, and Zi Yan explained that eating it made her feel comfortable and eased her unease.

Zi Yan asked Xiao Peng for more Flesh and Blood Essence and went hunting with Zi Yao to earn it. They returned with a huge haul of Magical Beast corpses and rare herbs, and Xiao Peng extracted the essence while praising Zi Yan’s finds.

• Zi Yan asked Xiao Peng for more Flesh and Blood Essence, and he offered to make it if she brought him many Magical Beasts.
• Zi Yan took Zi Yao out of the academy to hunt, promising to return with enough beasts before dark.
• Zi Yan led Zi Yao to Misty Valley and killed a Wind Wolf with a single palm strike before they searched for stronger prey.
• Zi Yan and Zi Yao returned at night with enough Magical Beast corpses to nearly fill Xiao Peng’s room.
• Xiao Peng extracted blood essence from the corpses, and Zi Yan gave him a pile of herbs as payment.
• Xiao Peng praised Zi Yan for finding several herbs rare even in the academy’s herb repository.

Zi Yan accepted a place at Xiao Peng’s home and grew close to Zi Yao, while Xiao Peng continued cultivating for a year. After reaching the brink of the middle stage of the Nascent Soul realm, he was asked to serve as the gatekeeper for the Fire Energy Hunt Competition.

• Zi Yan gave Zi Yao half of her Flesh and Blood Essence and a silver fox tail, then agreed to stay with her at Xiao Peng’s home.
• Zi Yan and Zi Yao argued over sleeping together before going to share a room on the second floor.
• Xiao Peng cultivated in the Heavenly Incineration Qi Refining Tower for a year and came close to the middle stage of the Nascent Soul realm.
• Su Qian asked Xiao Peng to guard the final stage of the Fire Energy Hunt Competition in exchange for 150 days of Fire Energy.

Xiao Peng agreed to guard the final pass of the Fire Energy Hunt Competition for three hundred days of Fire Energy, where he expected to face Xiao Yan and their relatives. As the competition began, Xiao Yan led the new students into an ambush, unaware that the older students had prepared a counter-trap.

• Xiao Peng bargained with Su Qian for three hundred days of Fire Energy to guard the final pass and promised not to seriously injure the new students.
• Xiao Peng told Xiao Xun'er about the assignment, and she agreed to watch the competition.
• Three days later, Xiao Peng watched the Black and White Fiend Teams and used his Spiritual Sense to observe the forest.
• Xiao Peng saw that Xiao Yan had united the new students, while the older students had devised a trap of their own.
• Xiao Yan sent Xiao Mei and two others to lure the older students into a hollow, then hid the remaining new students to ambush them.
• Xiao Mei and her group arrived at the hollow with fifteen older students pursuing them.

Xiao Yan and the freshmen ambushed and defeated a group of older students, but a larger group arrived with a trap prepared for them. Xiao Yan sent the freshmen fleeing and faced the attackers alone.

• Xiao Yan and the freshmen used a dust cloud, vines, and coordinated attacks to overwhelm fifteen older students, while Xiao Mei and her companions retreated as planned.
• Xiao Yan defeated the older students' leader with a feint and an elbow strike, and the freshmen tied up the fallen attackers.
• A new group of older students arrived, led by a handsome young man who explained they had joined forces because Xiao Peng had led a similar freshman uprising the previous year.
• The new leader ordered his group to attack, and Xiao Yan told Xiao Mei, Xiao Yu, and the other freshmen to escape while he stayed behind.
• Xiao Yan shattered an attacker's wind blade with the Black Heavy Ruler and pressed forward as the man exposed a weakness.

Xiao Yan defeated the senior students with a miniature Buddha's Rage Fire Lotus, then recovered with Xiao Mei and the other new students. The next morning, he reached the final checkpoint and began fighting the masked Xiao Peng, whose speed and swordsmanship put him under pressure.

• Xiao Yan merged the Green Lotus Core Flame and Purple Beast Flame into a miniature Buddha's Rage Fire Lotus and blasted the senior students, forcing them to surrender their Fire Energy.
• Xiao Yan collapsed from exhaustion, took a medicinal pill to restore his Dou Qi, and told Xiao Mei and the others to rest before leaving the forest the next day.
• Xiao Yan led the new students out of the forest and found the Black White Fiend Team guarding the final checkpoint, with a masked Xiao Peng waiting behind them.
• Xiao Peng declared that Xiao Yan would clear the checkpoint by defeating him, then attacked with a longsword as Xiao Yan defended himself with the Black Heavy Ruler.
• Xiao Yan deflected Xiao Peng's rapid sword strikes and raised the Black Heavy Ruler into an iron curtain to withstand his continuing assault.

Xiao Yan fought Xiao Peng under pressure until he broke through to one-star Dou Ling, then tested his Buddha's Rage Fire Lotus against Xiao Peng’s strange Ember Dust technique. Xiao Peng erased the attack into gray ash, leaving Xiao Yan facing an ability that could dissolve even Heavenly Flame essence.

• Xiao Peng exploited the Black Heavy Ruler’s slowness and pressed Xiao Yan with precise, increasingly fierce sword strikes.
• Xiao Yan’s Dou Qi barrier began to crack under the pressure, and Xiao Peng intensified his attacks as Xiao Yan neared a breakthrough.
• Xiao Yan shattered the barrier and advanced from Da Dou Shi to one-star Dou Ling, while Xiao Peng revealed that he had suppressed his strength to help him break through.
• Xiao Yan fused the Green Lotus Core Flame and Purple Beast Flame into a Buddha's Rage Fire Lotus and launched it at Xiao Peng.
• Xiao Peng used Ember Dust to erode the fire lotus into gray dust, and Xiao Yan sensed that the technique erased energy itself, including Heavenly Flame essence.

Xiao Peng defeated Xiao Yan’s Buddha’s Rage Fire Lotus, welcomed the newcomers, and explained the Inner Academy and his Ling Xiao Pavilion to Xiao Yan and the others. The newcomers joined his faction, and Xiao Peng enlisted Xiao Yan to refine pills for Fire Energy.

• Xiao Peng neutralized Xiao Yan’s Buddha’s Rage Fire Lotus, then revealed himself and praised Xiao Yan’s strength.
• Su Qian announced the newcomers’ rewards and led them to the newcomer dormitories, while Xiao Peng gave medicinal pills to the Black White Fiend Team.
• Xiao Peng reunited with Xiao Xun’er, returned with her to his dorm, and later welcomed Xiao Yan, Xiao Mei, Xiao Yu, and Xiao Ning.
• Xiao Peng explained how Fire Energy worked and invited the four newcomers to join Ling Xiao Pavilion, which they all accepted.
• Xiao Peng handed Xiao Yan more than ten pill formulas and asked him to refine pills for Fire Energy, and Xiao Yan realized Xiao Peng had planned to use him as an alchemist.

Xiao Peng caught up with Xiao Yan and his companions, discussed settling the Xiao Family’s score with the Misty Cloud Sect in three years, and entered seclusion in the Heavenly Incineration Qi Refining Tower. After emerging at the middle stage of Nascent Soul, he forged a sword for Xiao Xun'er and presented it to her.

• Xiao Peng told Xiao Yan and the others about the Inner Academy, and Xiao Yan reported the Xiao Family’s growth and how some relatives had relocated.
• Xiao Peng and Xiao Yan agreed to confront the Misty Cloud Sect together in three years, and Xiao Yan accepted Xiao Peng’s proposal that he someday lead Ling Xiao Pavilion.
• Xiao Peng met Han Yue in the Heavenly Incineration Qi Refining Tower, then cultivated in its best room while a Cloning handled his everyday affairs.
• Xiao Peng emerged after the academy’s annual competition had ended, having reached the middle stage of Nascent Soul, and learned the result from his Cloning.
• Xiao Peng bought rare minerals and forged twin swords named Qian Xing and Lan Yue, intending Lan Yue as a gift for Xiao Xun'er.
• Xiao Peng brought the Lan Yue Sword to Xiao Xun'er’s room and opened its case for her.

Xiao Peng gave Xiao Xun'er the sword Lan Yue, confessed that he would marry her when he became a powerhouse, and promised to find her after she returned to the Ancient Clan. After Ling Quan escorted Xun'er away, he stayed behind to confront Xiao Peng and attacked him.

• Xiao Xun'er accepted Xiao Peng's sword Lan Yue and kissed him, and Xiao Peng promised to marry her when he became a true powerhouse.
• Several days later, Ling Quan and the Black Annihilation Army arrived to take Xiao Xun'er back to the Ancient Clan.
• Xiao Peng and Xiao Xun'er said goodbye, and Xun'er told him to find her in the Ancient Clan while secretly giving him something.
• After Xun'er and the others departed, Ling Quan stopped and insulted Xiao Peng for believing he could be worthy of her.
• Xiao Peng stood firm against Ling Quan's pressure, challenged him, and Ling Quan threw a punch.

Xiao Peng overwhelmed Ling Quan in a fight, defeating his strongest techniques and leaving him unable to gather Dou Qi. Ling Quan remained in Xiao Peng’s grip, with the confrontation still underway.

• Xiao Peng struck Ling Quan with his fist and sent him crashing into a rock wall.
• Ling Quan unleashed Eagle Strikes the Sky, but Xiao Peng shattered the black eagle phantom with a punch.
• Ling Quan used the Black Annihilation Great Hand Seal, and Xiao Peng split the giant hand with his Purple Heaven Evil Slaying Sword.
• Xiao Peng followed up with a punch, a knee to Ling Quan’s abdomen, and a chop to his neck.
• Ling Quan tried to retaliate, but Xiao Peng seized his wrist and scattered his Dou Qi.

Xiao Peng defeated Ling Quan, spoke with Su Qian, and returned to the Inner Academy, where Xiao Yu took the chance to grow closer to him after Xiao Xun'er left. The next morning, Xiao Peng and Xiao Yan went to the Heavenly Incineration Qi Refining Tower, where Xiao Peng teased Xiao Yan about Liu Fei's feelings.

• Xiao Peng beat Ling Quan and warned him not to act that way again, forcing Ling Quan to flee on the Four-winged Unicorn.
• Xiao Peng called out Su Qian, explained that he had come to Jia Nan Academy to gain experience, and returned with him to the Inner Academy.
• Xiao Yu learned that Xiao Xun'er had returned to her clan, walked back to Xiao Peng's residence with her arm linked through his, and said she would visit again.
• The next morning, Xiao Peng and Xiao Yan arrived at the Heavenly Incineration Qi Refining Tower with nine others.
• Xiao Peng teased Xiao Yan about Liu Fei watching him, and Lin Xiuyai urged Xiao Yan to clarify his feelings before Liu Fei became more attached.