Chapter Summaries

Lin Ming reconsidered his decision to ignore the Strong Ranking battles and entered the arena, inspired by Wang Sheng to enjoy his final days as a student. He challenged Jin Feng and Shao Qing at the same time, and both accepted.

• Great Elder Su Qian explained that the top ten could challenge opponents of their choice to determine their rankings.
• Lin Ming told Zi Yan he planned to skip the battles, but Wang Sheng urged him to fight for the Medicine Gang and leave behind a reputation.
• Lin Ming realized he had been approaching his student years too seriously, then flew into the arena on his Purple Crystal Wings.
• Lin Ming announced that he would challenge Jin Feng and Shao Qing simultaneously, stunning the crowd and the two challengers.
• Jin Feng and Shao Qing agreed to fight Lin Ming together and entered the arena as their auras surged.

Lin Ming fought Jin Feng and Shao Qing in a three-way arena melee, showing enough strength to contend with both higher-ranked opponents. The battle left Jin Feng and Shao Qing hurt by Lin Ming’s close-range advantage, and Jin Feng prepared a powerful strike.

• Shao Qing told Lin Ming that the three would fight separately, and the referee started the match.
• Lin Ming struck Jin Feng and Shao Qing with Flame Gold Earth Heart Fire, injuring their arms and proving he could fight them.
• Shao Qing drank from a wine jar, took up his Gilded Iron Staff, and attacked Lin Ming and Jin Feng, who blocked with their weapons.
• Lin Ming, Shao Qing, and Jin Feng clashed their techniques, then exchanged close-range blows that left Jin Feng and Shao Qing in pain.
• Jin Feng steadied his trembling arm with Dou Qi and announced that Lin Ming and Shao Qing would each take one strike from him.

Lin Ming, Jin Feng, and Shao Qing prepared their final techniques after Jin Feng’s attack left all three exhausted. Lin Ming unleashed an Earth Tier fire technique, and Jin Feng and Shao Qing joined forces to face it as the judge Elder strengthened the platform’s protection.

• Lin Ming and Shao Qing survived Jin Feng’s famous sword technique, though both were badly exhausted and Lin Ming’s shield shattered.
• Jin Feng announced he would use his final move, while Shao Qing and Lin Ming each declared they had one final technique of their own.
• Lin Ming rose into the air and gathered fire-attribute energy into a blazing sphere at the tip of the Star Dragon Saber.
• The judge Elder recognized Lin Ming’s attack as dangerous and warned Jin Feng and Shao Qing to join forces against it.
• Lin Ming swung the Star Dragon Saber and sent the blazing sphere toward Jin Feng and Shao Qing, as the judge Elder ordered the platform’s protections reinforced.

Lin Ming, Jin Feng, and Shao Qing’s Earth Tier Dou Techniques collided in the sky, where their clashing energies formed an unexpected point of light that began consuming them. The strange phenomenon left the fighters and the Referee Seat elders unable to predict what would happen next.

• Jin Feng unleashed Meteorite Slash while Shao Qing struck with Moon Cover, combining their attacks against Lin Ming’s descending blazing sun.
• The three attacks collided and became entangled in a silent struggle, with Lin Ming’s energy replenished by the sun while the other two energies gradually weakened.
• Jin Ming’s and Shao Qing’s energies counterattacked as the three-colored mass expanded, and a tiny point of light appeared where the energies met.
• The point of light rapidly swallowed much of the energy and caused ripples in the space above, baffling Lin Ming, the other fighters, and the elders on the Referee Seat.

Great Elder Su Qian contained and dispersed the unstable energy unleashed by Lin Ming, Jin Feng, and Shao Qing, then declared Lin Ming the winner of their match. The Strong Ranking Tournament ended at dusk, with the Medicine Gang celebrating Lin Ming’s new second-place rank.

• Great Elder Su Qian used Space Lock to contain the exploding energy and dispersed it before it could injure the spectators.
• Great Elder Su Qian praised Lin Ming, Jin Feng, and Shao Qing, then declared Lin Ming the winner after Jin Feng and Shao Qing accepted their defeat.
• Jin Feng and Shao Qing promised to challenge Lin Ming again after they became Dou Wangs, and Lin Ming agreed.
• The Medicine Gang celebrated Lin Ming’s second-place ranking as the remaining matches and exhibition bouts concluded.
• The bell rang at dusk, officially ending the three-day Strong Ranking Tournament.

After recovering from the Strong Ranking Tournament, Lin Ming visited the Medicine Gang and discussed its future with Wang Sheng, since Lin Ming would soon leave the Inner Academy. Lin Ming began demonstrating pill refinement to three candidates for the next Gang Leader, with the selection still underway when the chapter ended.

• Students continued discussing Lin Ming, Jin Feng, and Shao Qing's dangerous battle, while the Medicine Gang's reputation rose on the strength of Lin Ming and its pill monopoly.
• Lin Ming woke after recovering his Dou Qi, visited the Medicine Refinement Hall, and checked on the gang's orderly operations.
• Lin Ming told Wang Sheng he would leave the Inner Academy after Heart Flame Body Tempering and asked him to find a successor capable in both alchemy and combat.
• Lin Ming set a challenge for the Medicine Gang's top Third-Grade Alchemists: whoever advanced to 4th Grade would become the next Gang Leader.
• Wang Sheng brought three candidates to watch Lin Ming demonstrate pill refinement, and Lin Ming refined pills in the closed room for several days.
• The doors to Wang Sheng's Alchemy Room opened on the evening of the third day, and Lin Ming emerged looking relieved.

Lin Ming and the other top ten participants gathered at the Heavenly Flame Refining Qi Tower to undergo Heart Flame Body Tempering, which could prepare them to advance to Dou Wang. Lin Ming, Shao Qing, and Jin Feng agreed to compete over who could finish first, then followed Great Elder Su Qian into the tower.

• Lin Ming announced that the Medicine Gang would leave for the Heavenly Flame Refining Qi Tower, and its members followed him there.
• Shao Qing, Jin Feng, and Zi Yan arrived at the tower with the other Strong Ranking participants.
• Shao Qing explained that Heart Flame Body Tempering had a roughly fifty percent success rate and proposed a contest to see who could finish first.
• Jin Feng and Lin Ming accepted Shao Qing's challenge.
• Great Elder Su Qian opened the tower and led the ten Strong Ranking contestants inside.

Lin Ming, Zi Yan, and the other candidates followed Great Elder Su Qian through a guarded passage to the vast bottom floor of the Heavenly Flame Refining Qi Tower. There, Su Qian summoned two Inner Academy elders near the central Black Hole, leaving the group curious about what would happen next.

• Zi Yan complained that Heart Flame Body Tempering was unpleasant, and Lin Ming promised to make her medicinal pills with new flavors afterward.
• Great Elder Su Qian warned everyone to stay close and not react to any sounds on the lower levels, or they would lose their qualifications.
• Su Qian led the group through an Iron Gate and down a guarded passage beside the blazing Black Hole.
• The group emerged onto the immense, undivided bottom floor and gathered near the central opening as the heat intensified.
• Su Qian summoned two Black Shadow elders near the Black Hole, and the group wondered why he had called them.

Great Elder Su Qian revealed the rare Origin Heart Flames and warned the ten Strong Ranking students that body tempering was agonizing and often failed. They chose to proceed and began meditating as the flames entered their bodies.

• Great Elder Su Qian had two elders open the Space Barrier and retrieve ten glowing orbs from the cave.
• Su Qian revealed the Origin Heart Flames and explained their benefits, painful tempering process, and high failure rate.
• Though some students hesitated, all ten agreed to undergo the body tempering.
• Su Qian had the students meditate, then released the flames from their orbs to enter their bodies.

Lin Ming and nine other Strong Ranking students endured painful Origin Heart Flame body tempering in hopes of strengthening themselves and preparing for advancement to Dou Wang. Several students failed and were rescued by the elders, while Lin Ming continued to endure the flames.

• Great Elder Su Qian left the jade platform to check on Fallen Heart Flame, leaving two elders to watch the students undergoing body tempering.
• The elders discussed how few students could withstand the pain and recalled that only four of the previous top ten had completed the process.
• Lin Ming endured the searing pain, motivated by his desire to become strong enough to pursue Fallen Heart Flame and by the improvements he felt in his body.
• After more than half an hour, one student collapsed and was rescued by an elder, who reassured him that he could still find other ways to advance to Dou Wang.
• A second student and then three more developed signs of failure, forcing the elders to rescue them as Lin Ming continued enduring the flames.

Lin Ming, Zi Yan, and three others completed three days of Origin Heart Flame body tempering and emerged with stronger bodies and Dou Qi. Lin Ming agreed to face Shao Qing and Jin Feng in a rematch at the next Strong Ranking Tournament, which he anticipated would coincide with Han Feng’s invasion of the Inner Academy.

• One Elder escorted the five students who had failed body tempering from the tower while the other watched over the five who remained.
• After three days, Lin Ming and the others’ auras surged as the tempering neared its end, and Great Elder Su Qian returned from searching the magma for Fallen Heart Flame.
• Zi Yan awakened first, then Lin Ming woke and discovered that his body had grown close to the strength of a half-step Tier 5 Magical Beast and his Dou Qi had advanced further as a Nine Star Dou Spirit.
• Shao Qing, Jin Feng, and the final student awakened, completing the body tempering for the top ten of the Strong Ranking, and Great Elder Su Qian led them out of the tower.
• Shao Qing and Jin Feng challenged Lin Ming to a future rematch, and Lin Ming set their contest for the next Strong Ranking Tournament; both agreed.

As Jia Nan Academy’s students prepared to leave, Lin Ming shared his plans with Wang Sheng and reaffirmed their five-year reunion. Zi Yan told Great Elder Su Qian she was leaving with Lin Ming, and he reluctantly approved, comforted by her promise to return.

• Lin Ming and Wang Sheng discussed their plans after graduating, including Lin Ming’s return to the academy for the Strong Ranking Tournament in five years.
• Lin Ming and the others raised their cups and promised to drink together again when they reunited.
• Zi Yan visited Great Elder Su Qian and told him she was leaving the academy.
• Great Elder Su Qian recalled how he had found Zi Yan, brought her to the academy, and come to regard her as family.
• Great Elder Su Qian agreed that Zi Yan could travel with Lin Ming, and Zi Yan promised to return in a few years.

Lin Ming and Zi Yan left the Inner Academy to visit the Alchemy Department and bid farewell to Elder Huo before traveling for several years. Elder Huo approved of Lin Ming’s plans but said he still needed to pass an assessment to graduate under him.

• Lin Ming told Zi Yan they would visit the Outer Academy and Elder Huo before leaving Jia Nan Academy.
• Lin Ming and Zi Yan arrived at the Alchemy Department, where Steward Yang welcomed Lin Ming and escorted them to Elder Huo.
• Lin Ming explained that he planned to travel and return to his clan because the Heavenly Flame Refining Qi Tower no longer helped his cultivation much.
• Elder Huo agreed that Lin Ming should broaden his horizons but said he had to undergo an assessment to graduate under him.

Elder Huo gave Lin Ming the Crystal Vein Pill formula and its ingredients as a test, knowing the pill could help him subdue the Green Lotus Core Flame. Lin Ming began refining it under Elder Huo’s watch, showing precise control as the process continued.

• Elder Huo gave Lin Ming the Crystal Vein Pill formula as the test he needed to pass before graduating.
• Lin Ming recalled that the pill could improve his chances of subduing the Green Lotus Core Flame and resolved to repay Elder Huo someday.
• Lin Ming studied the formula until the next day, then followed Elder Huo to the Pill Refinement Room.
• Lin Ming selected the ingredients, brought out his Crimson Flow Gold Cauldron, and began refining the pill.
• Elder Huo watched Lin Ming handle the medicinal materials with nearly flawless timing and felt proud of his progress.

Lin Ming said farewell to Elder Huo after completing a pill, then left Jia Nan Academy with Zi Yan. Four years after his departure, the elders of the Mittel Family wondered when he would return and argued over secretly reading his letters to Ya Fei.

• Lin Ming presented the completed pill to Elder Huo, who urged him to leave and pursue his future.
• Lin Ming knelt and kowtowed three times to Elder Huo, then departed with Zi Yan.
• Elder Huo watched Lin Ming and Zi Yan disappear over the horizon and expected Lin Ming to surpass him when they met again.
• At the Mittel Family, Mite'er Tengshan, Elder Liu, and Master Toso discussed Lin Ming's four-year absence and quarreled over who had read his letters to Ya Fei.
• Master Toso recalled Lin Ming's powerful Soul Fluctuation and the rare gifts he had sent Ya Fei, and the elders agreed that he seemed to be doing well.

Lin Ming and Zi Yan traveled to Black Emperor City to explore its treasures and prepare for the upcoming auction. They entered the city and browsed the Thousand Medicine Workshop, then found an inn for the night.

• Lin Ming told Zi Yan they would explore the Black Corner Region before returning to his clan, and warned her to act cautiously around stronger people.
• Lin Ming learned that Black Emperor City would soon hold a large auction and considered the Bodhi Body Transformation Saliva and the secret Sky Demon Phoenix corpse among its potential treasures.
• Lin Ming and Zi Yan entered Black Emperor City without waiting at the gate, as the guards yielded to Lin Ming's Dou Ling aura.
• Zi Yan eagerly toured the Thousand Medicine Workshop while Lin Ming let her browse its medicinal materials.
• Lin Ming took Zi Yan out for food, and they rented separate rooms at an inn late that night.

Lin Ming took pills to the Black Emperor Sect auction, received a VIP Token, and watched the bidding begin. The auction moved on to Third-Grade Pills, including pills he had submitted.

• Lin Ming waited two days before heading to the auction with Zi Yan.
• Lin Ming presented several pills for appraisal, including Third-Grade Pills and a 4th Grade Blood Origin Pill, and received a VIP Token.
• Lin Ming and Zi Yan entered through the VIP passage and took their seats as the auction began.
• The first item, a Black Tier Low-grade Sound Wave Fighting Skill, sold for four hundred thousand Gold Coins.
• The auctioneer began the pill auction, and Lin Ming recognized his submitted pills among the items.

Lin Ming watched the auction of his pills and waited as the Black Emperor Sect began presenting its ten finale items. When the first item appeared, he suspected it was something rare that he would soon need and resolved to buy it once its identity was confirmed.

• Lin Ming noted that the Third-Grade Pills he had supplied for the auction had been exchanged with Fire Energy Points, and he watched the bidding raise their prices.
• The medicinal-pill auction ended, and Lin Ming declined to buy the mixed items that followed.
• The white-haired old man announced that the auction’s final ten items had been specially selected for their value.
• The white-haired old man revealed a tiny gray object, and Lin Ming suspected it was a rare item he had sought for years.
• Lin Ming told Zi Yan that they had to buy the object if his guess was correct, while the white-haired old man prepared to explain it.

Lin Ming won the Spirit Absorption at the auction for four million gold coins, securing a key item needed to refine a Heavenly Flame. The next finale auction item was revealed to be an icy blue scroll.

• The white-haired old man explained that Spirit Absorption could store powerful Heavenly Earth Spirit Items such as Heavenly Flames.
• Lin Ming opened the bidding at three million gold coins to discourage other bidders from competing.
• Lin Ming raised his bid to four million gold coins and won the Spirit Absorption.
• The white-haired old man introduced the second finale auction item, and a maid revealed an icy blue scroll.

Lin Ming watched several high-priced finale items go up for auction after spending most of his wealth on Spirit Absorption. When the six-mouth Medicinal Cauldron appeared, he gave up on bidding and left the auction with Zi Yan to avoid attracting dangerous attention.

• Ice Soul Profound Frost sparked fierce bidding and sold for 5.8 million gold coins, beyond Lin Ming’s means.
• The auction’s peak Sixth Order Water Cloud Demonic Crocodile Magic Core sold for 6.2 million gold coins while Lin Ming stayed out of the bidding.
• The fourth finale item was revealed as a six-mouth Medicinal Cauldron crafted by Master Song.
• Lin Ming realized he could not afford the cauldron and called for Zi Yan to leave while the major factions remained occupied.