Chapter Summaries

Xiao Ling accepted Wang Ergou into the Xiao Alliance in exchange for five Golden Wing Fruits, then settled a dispute involving Clan Leader Li’s son before preparing to leave for training. That night, he promised Xun’er they would attend Jia Nan Academy together in two years and gave her a rare pill before sending Ling Ying away so they could spend time alone.

• Wang Ergou offered Xiao Ling five Golden Wing Fruits and asked to join the Xiao Alliance, and Xiao Ling accepted the fruits and gave him a disciple token.
• Xiao Ling allowed Clan Leader Li and two other clan leaders to take their sons home after they paid thirty thousand gold coins each and promised to discipline them.
• Xiao Ling told Xiao Zhan that he would leave with his Teacher the next day for one or two years of training and left alliance affairs to Xiao Zhan and the elders.
• Xiao Ling promised Xun’er they would go to Jia Nan Academy together in two years and gave her a True Phoenix Breakthrough Pill.
• Xiao Ling asked Ling Ying to leave, then cuddled with Xun’er and told her stories from his past life while Xiao Zi sat nearby.

Xiao Ling reunited with Xiao Yi Xian and Yao Wan'er in Qingshan Town, accepted Yao Wan'er’s feelings, and prepared to leave on a long training journey. Before departing, he gave both women cultivation pills and a Dou Huang Pill for protection.

• Xiao Ling arrived at Wanyao Pavilion and reunited with Yao Wan'er and Xiao Yi Xian.
• Xiao Yi Xian persuaded Xiao Ling to reconsider Yao Wan'er, and Yao Wan'er confessed her feelings to him.
• Xiao Ling accepted Yao Wan'er and urged her and Xiao Yi Xian to cultivate seriously, giving them more than a hundred bottles of auxiliary pills.
• Xiao Ling told Xiao Yi Xian and Yao Wan'er that he would leave the next day for a journey lasting one or two years, and gave each a Dou Huang Pill for emergencies.
• Xiao Ling spent the night with the two women, then tucked them into their rooms and left at dawn.

Xiao Ling defeated a pack of Gale Wolves to obtain their Magic Cores, then returned to his hidden valley to refine a Wind-Thunder Pill for his upcoming trip to a cave dwelling. As he attempted to make the pill stronger by having a fire dragon and Vermilion Bird swallow a Wild Desolate Giant Elephant phantom, the elephant fully formed and shook his cauldron.

• Xiao Ling used the Ten Thousand Ghost Soul-Devouring Cauldron to crush the Gale Wolf pack and kill its alpha, then collected the alpha's Magic Core and two second-rank cores.
• Xiao Ling reflected on his rapid progress during half a month of dangerous training and hurried back to prepare Wind-Thunder Pills before the cave dwelling opened.
• Cao Ying, Bai Ying, the Dan siblings, and a group from Burning Flame Valley arrived at the ruined battlefield and speculated that a young Alchemist had fought there.
• Xiao Ling returned to his hidden valley, washed, ate, and prepared the ingredients for refining a third-tier Wind-Thunder Pill.
• Xiao Ling began refining the pill with a fire dragon and Vermilion Bird, but a Wild Desolate Giant Elephant phantom appeared and fully solidified inside the cauldron.

Xiao Ling completed a sentient Dragon Sparrow pill, spared it from being refined, and discovered that the world’s Lightning Punishment targeted it. He brought the gluttonous creature to a remote mountain to use the lightning to evolve his Heavenly Domain Thunder Wings, then flew toward the storm as a bolt descended on him.

• Xiao Ling fused the dragon and sparrow, swallowed the Wild Desolate Giant Elephant’s phantom, and struggled to refine the Dragon Sparrow into a pill.
• The Dragon Sparrow called Xiao Ling its mommy, and he chose not to strip away its intelligence; Lightning Punishment gathered until he stored it in the Ten Thousand Ghost Soul-Devouring Cauldron.
• Xiao Ling discovered the Dragon Sparrow ate spiritual herbs, fed it his stash, and left the valley with it in the cauldron.
• Xiao Ling found a remote mountain in the Magic Beast Mountain Range and released the Dragon Sparrow, triggering another Lightning Punishment that struck down a peak sixth-tier magic beast nearby.
• Xiao Ling offered the frightened Dragon Sparrow extra spiritual herbs and flew toward the storm to test whether his Heavenly Domain Thunder Wings could absorb the lightning.
• The Lightning Punishment sent a water-barrel-thick bolt toward Xiao Ling, and the vortex paused before erupting in fury.

Xiao Ling survived the Thunder Punishment as the Heavenly Domain Thunder Wings absorbed lightning and evolved, then traveled to Heiyan City. As he awaited the opening of a seventh-rank alchemist’s cave abode, Jia Xingtian and Fa Ma expected him to enter and compete against outsiders from the Five Great Clans and Burning Flame Valley.

• Xiao Ling let the Heavenly Domain Thunder Wings absorb the Thunder Punishment, and they pulled him into the vortex before carrying him out just as it closed.
• The Cloud Sea Flood Dragon Yun Hai sought an alliance with Xiao Ling and offered him a scale token, but Xiao Ling declined his offer to accompany him to the cave abode.
• Xiao Ling traveled to Heiyan City, concealed his identity, and decided to delay his breakthrough until after the cave trip and the system’s awakening.
• Jia Xingtian and Fa Ma discussed the leaked cave abode and hoped Xiao Ling would enter as the Jia Ma Empire’s strongest young contender.
• Xiao Ling learned that the Five Great Clans of the Pill Region and Burning Flame Valley had arrived, and he waited for the cave abode to open in three days.

Xiao Ling observed a dispute between Cao Ying and Bai Ying over their engagement, then followed the gathering crowd’s interest in their strength. As Cao Ying and Bai Ying headed to Heiyan City’s central square for a Soul Shot Put contest, Xiao Ling narrowly avoided detection by a perceptive girl from Burning Flame Valley.

• Xiao Ling recalled sensing an unfamiliar, powerful cloaked figure and decided to stay out of the rival factions’ conflicts while seeking opportunities from the sidelines.
• Xiao Ling learned that Cao Ying and Bai Ying were arguing over their engagement, which Cao Ying demanded they settle by competing in Soul Shot Put.
• Cao Ying led the younger members of the Cao Clan toward Heiyan City’s central square, and Bai Ying accepted the challenge as the crowd followed.
• Dan Xuan and the younger members of the Ye Clan and Qiu Clan followed to watch the contest.
• A girl from Burning Flame Valley led her group after the others, and Xiao Ling withdrew his soul power after nearly being noticed by her.

Xiao Ling watched Cao Ying and Bai Ying compete in soul strength, then learned that their clans were arranging a marriage between them because of a secret behind the Bai Clan’s rise. The chapter left Cao Ying silent after Aunt Xue urged him not to blame the clan.

• Xiao Ling arrived at the central square and watched Cao Ying and Bai Ying agree to settle their contest in one round using Soul Shot Put.
• Bai Ying lifted the Soul Shot Put for one minute and fifty-nine seconds, then claimed he had used only peak middle Mortal Realm soul power.
• Cao Ying outlasted Bai Ying by one second, while Xiao Ling judged that neither contestant had shown his full strength.
• A beautiful woman interrupted the contest, and Bai Ying left with the Bai Clan’s younger generation as the crowd dispersed.
• At the inn, Aunt Xue told Cao Ying that his arranged marriage to Bai Ying had the approval of the Cao Clan’s ancestor and his master, and was tied to the secret behind the Bai Clan’s sudden rise.

Xiao Ling fed Dragon Sparrow increasingly rare medicinal herbs and bargained for its help finding treasures in the cave dwelling. The six major factions arrived at the Cloud Dragon Mountain Range and used their Soul-Breaking Jades to shatter the cave’s barrier, opening the way inside.

• Xiao Ling discovered Dragon Sparrow was hungry, fed it medicinal herbs, and tested how it reacted to herbs of different tiers.
• Xiao Ling offered Dragon Sparrow a Golden Wing Fruit for each cache of tasty treasures it helped him find, and Dragon Sparrow eagerly agreed.
• Cao Ying, Bai Ying, Dan Xuan, Dan Chen, and Tang Huo'er arrived with their factions as Xiao Ling watched from the crowd.
• The six representatives combined their Soul-Breaking Jades into a formation and fired a gray star arrow at the cave’s barrier.
• The star arrow cracked the barrier and shattered it into specks of gray starlight.

Xiao Ling entered an ancient alchemist’s cave dwelling and used Battle Soul Liquid to bypass its hidden formations. He opened a sealed chamber and discovered what appeared to be Eighth-Grade Pill Beasts.

• Xiao Ling recognized the broken barrier as a Spirit-Suppressing Array guarding an ancient ninth-tier alchemist’s cave dwelling, then entered after the younger alchemists.
• Xiao Ling followed Dragon Sparrow’s guidance, found a concealed passage behind a wall, and used Battle Soul Liquid to pass through it.
• Xiao Ling reached a stone door at the core of the array and used the remaining Battle Soul Liquid to form a Break rune that opened it.
• Cao Ying persuaded the group of seven to wait for the Jia Ma Empire alchemists to break the array while they watched for an opportunity to take the treasure.
• Xiao Ling entered the sealed chamber and found ten gray barriers, each holding a small white beast that he recognized as an Eighth-Grade Pill Beast.

Xiao Ling used Dragon Sparrow to collect the barrier spheres and pills in the cave’s stone chamber while evading its formations and the attackers outside. He escaped after awakening the Guardian Beast to hinder his pursuers, then headed toward his next destination.

• Xiao Ling deduced that the chamber’s formations were designed to fuse eleven pills into an Emperor Pill, but he could not safely break them himself.
• Xiao Ling persuaded Dragon Sparrow to swallow the barrier spheres, and its appearance outside triggered Lightning Punishment that drove the gathered onlookers to flee.
• Dragon Sparrow collected the spheres while Xiao Ling resisted attackers battering the hidden stone door and guided it to the central pillar.
• After Dragon Sparrow swallowed the central sphere, Xiao Ling gathered the eighth-tier pills, stored Dragon Sparrow in the Pill Cauldron, and awakened the Guardian Beast before escaping.
• Xiao Ling heard his pursuers angrily react behind him and followed Dragon Sparrow toward his next destination.

Cao Ying, Tang Huo'er, and the others fought off a Guardian Beast while looting a stone chamber, then sealed Bai Ying inside and pursued the mysterious thief. Elsewhere, Xiao Ling used Dragon Sparrow's ability to find spiritual treasures and bribed it with three eighth-tier pills to keep helping him.

• The Thunder Punishment Vortex dissipated, leaving Fa Ma and the others wondering what had happened inside the cave dwelling.
• Bai Ying and the other intruders were attacked by the Guardian Beast, while Cao Ying spotted and secretly collected a pill beast.
• Tang Huo'er, Cao Ying, and the others scrambled to take the seventh-tier pills as the Guardian Beast focused its attacks on Bai Ying.
• Dan Xuan, Dan Chen, Cao Ying, Tang Huo'er, and the others sealed the hidden door with Bai Ying trapped behind it, then pursued the mysterious thief through chambers stripped of their treasures.
• Xiao Ling discovered that Dragon Sparrow could sense spiritually potent treasures and bargained with it using three eighth-tier pills to continue the search.

Xiao Ling entered the Spirit Medicine Garden, bypassed its powerful formation, and harvested rare spiritual medicines with Dragon Sparrow’s help while Cao Ying and the others could only watch from outside. Cao Ying offered to trade pills for the herbs, and Xiao Ling appeared willing to negotiate.

• Dragon Sparrow guided Xiao Ling to the Spirit Medicine Garden, where he slipped through a brief opening in its formation.
• Xiao Ling harvested nearly a hundred Sword Intent Fruits and gave Dragon Sparrow one as promised.
• Xiao Ling continued collecting rare herbs while leaving their roots intact, but Tang Huo'er and the others arrived and found the garden partly stripped.
• Tang Huo'er and the others failed to break through the formation, while Xiao Ling collected the eighth-tier Golden Wing Fruits and gave Dragon Sparrow three.
• Cao Ying offered to exchange medicinal pills for the herbs, and Xiao Ling responded that she should have offered sooner.

Xiao Ling harvested the cave's rare spiritual herbs and traded them to Cao Ying, Tang Huo'er, and the Dan Clan siblings at prices he set. After the group realized the herbs came from an ancient cave and began discussing an alliance, Xiao Ling opened the passage and escaped through the brief gap in the barrier, while Bai Ying also emerged.

• Xiao Ling demanded one tier-seven pill for each tier-six spiritual herb, and Cao Ying persuaded the others to accept his terms.
• Cao Ying traded an Imperial Extreme Pill for a ten-thousand-year Mystic Spirit Vine, and Tang Huo'er traded a Flame Demon Clear Profound Pill for an Ice Lotus.
• Dan Chen and Dan Xuan traded two eighth-tier Poria Green Pills for an ancient ice-blue eighth-tier herb that was fifty thousand years old.
• After inspecting the herb, Dan Xuan proposed that the Dan Clan, Cao Ying, and Tang Huo'er join forces to claim the cave's treasures.
• Xiao Ling harvested the remaining herbs, opened the stone door, and slipped through as the barrier dimmed; he sealed the door behind him while the others pursued.
• Bai Ying broke through the stone door and emerged as the group broke Xiao Ling's seal.

Xiao Ling used a pill beast’s blood to reactivate the system, which identified the passage to the main tomb chamber. He entered it while Tang Huo'er and the others pursued, then found himself facing a Soul Storm.

• Xiao Ling found nine identical passages, and Dragon Sparrow could not detect anything spiritual in them.
• Xiao Ling traded an eighth-tier pill for a drop of blood from a pill beast, after Dragon Sparrow fought it and Xiao Ling offered it protection.
• The pill essence vanished into Xiao Ling’s soul, reactivating the system, which identified the second passage on the left as the route to the main tomb chamber.
• Xiao Ling entered the passage as Tang Huo'er, Cao Ying, the Dan Clan siblings, and the Qiu and Ye clan prodigies chased after him.
• Xiao Ling emerged into a Soul Storm, and the system warned him not to use soul power as Tang Huo'er caught up and attacked.

Xiao Ling rescued Tang Huo'er from a Soul Storm, then entered the tomb’s main chamber alone and discovered a Soul Heart left by a half-step Emperor Realm expert. Cao Ying and Tang Huo'er later followed him inside, mistook the empty room for another of his lootings, and were startled to find him hovering above them.

• Tang Huo'er attacked Xiao Ling but triggered a Soul Storm that trapped her and the others; Xiao Ling knocked her clear and told her Burning Flame Valley owed him a favor.
• Xiao Ling entered the Soul Storm and reached a bronze door, while Cao Ying and Tang Huo'er escaped the storm by separate routes.
• Xiao Ling searched the apparently empty burial chamber and found a vine coffin suspended above him, with a Soul Heart floating over it.
• The system identified the gray orb as a Soul Heart formed from a half-step Emperor Realm soul, and Xiao Ling cautiously flew closer to inspect the coffin.
• Cao Ying and Tang Huo'er entered the chamber, assumed Xiao Ling had taken all the treasure, and complained about him until he revealed himself above them.
• Cao Ying and Tang Huo'er looked up at Xiao Ling and were shocked to see that he was only a Dou Wang.

Xiao Ling secured the Soul Heart from the Green Vine Coffin and kept Cao Ying and Tang Huo'er from leaving, despite their protests. He offered them a deal, while the supposedly dead man in the coffin secretly moved his finger.

• Cao Ying and Tang Huo'er mistook Xiao Ling for a Dou Wang and tried to bargain and edge toward the tomb's exit.
• Xiao Ling sealed the stone door and threatened the women to keep them from interfering with his inheritance collection.
• Xiao Ling paid one year of lifespan for a system scan, confirmed the Soul Heart had no hidden dangers, and stored it in the system space.
• Cao Ying abandoned his plan to seize the Soul Heart, and he and Tang Huo'er asked Xiao Ling to let them leave.
• The refined man inside the Green Vine Coffin moved his right index finger twice without anyone noticing.
• Xiao Ling refused to release the women and proposed that they make a deal with him.

Xiao Ling forced Tang Huo'er and Cao Ying to sign a contract claiming they had equally shared the tomb’s inheritance, paying them with two Seventh-Grade Imperial Extreme Pills. As the group prepared to leave, the tomb’s refined-looking owner awakened and revealed that Cao Ying had unknowingly carried a black Pill Beast and a spatial jade slip.

• Tang Huo'er and Cao Ying failed to break the Bronze Stone Gate and tried to use their spatial jade slips, but Xiao Ling took the slips away.
• Xiao Ling offered the women a deal: they would claim they had split the inheritance equally, and he gave them two Seventh-Grade Imperial Extreme Pills before making them sign a contract.
• Xiao Ling explained that he had taken the tomb’s resources because he was stronger, then headed for the gate with the women still angry at him.
• A refined middle-aged man sat up in the Green Vine Coffin and fixed his gaze on Cao Ying, prompting Xiao Ling to suspect she had acquired something important.
• The man summoned a black Pill Beast and a spatial jade slip from Cao Ying’s Storage Ring, and the beast cursed Dao Chenzi for preventing its escape.

Xiao Ling watched Dao Chenzi’s lingering obsession battle the dark Pill Beast, which was a wisp of the Phantom Demon General’s consciousness. When another force freed the demon and it attacked Cao Ying and Tang Huo'er, Xiao Ling intervened, identified it as the Phantom Demon General, and prepared to face it.

• Dao Chenzi’s invisible hand overwhelmed the dark Pill Beast, while Xiao Ling realized the Pill Beasts had been meant to suppress an Exotic Demon and that the dark one had caused the Unity Array to fail.
• The dark Pill Beast feigned escape and slipped toward Xiao Ling and the women, but a spatial rift opened beneath the Green Vine Coffin and an Exotic Demon claw blocked Dao Chenzi’s attack.
• The Phantom Demon General emerged through the rift, taunted Dao Chenzi, and left Cao Ying and Tang Huo'er fearing they could not survive without Xiao Ling’s help.
• The dark Pill Beast tried to seize Cao Ying and Tang Huo'er, but Xiao Ling stopped its claw with a Bagua Seal and ordered them behind him.
• Xiao Ling asked the creature which branch of the Evil Race it belonged to; it named itself the Phantom Demon General and demanded the women, but Xiao Ling called it a mere wisp and nicknamed it Rat.
• The Phantom Demon General attacked Xiao Ling in fury.

Xiao Ling fought the Phantom Demon General's Will, using his Samsara Disk to counter the demon's halberd and demonic energy before the Will detonated its clone. After Tang Huo'er gave Xiao Ling a healing pill, he resumed the fight, but the Phantom Demon General's true body began emerging from the spatial rift.

• The Phantom Demon General's Will attacked Xiao Ling with the Heaven-Slaying Halberd, and Xiao Ling blocked it with his Samsara Disk.
• The Will empowered its halberd with Demonic Mark Sacrifice, shattered the first disk, and forced Xiao Ling to use Reverse Life and Death to consume the weapon and its demonic energy.
• The Phantom Demon General's Will detonated its trapped clone, injuring Xiao Ling as he shielded Tang Huo'er and Cao Ying from the blast.
• Tang Huo'er gave Xiao Ling a seventh-grade healing pill, and he took it before charging into battle with the weakened Will.
• A spatial rift opened wider as the Phantom Demon General's true body began breaking free, and the Will taunted Xiao Ling that he was doomed.

Xiao Ling fought the Phantom Demon General’s Will while the General’s true body escaped its seal and battled Dao Chenzi. Xiao Ling destroyed the Phantom Demon Mirror with a devastating attack and pursued the fleeing Will into the spatial rift, while Dao Chenzi blocked the General’s true body from following.

• The Phantom Demon General’s true body broke free from beneath the Pill Cauldron and emerged through the spatial rift as demonic energy spread into the outside world.
• Dao Chenzi warned Xiao Ling, Tang Huo'er, and Cao Ying not to look into the General’s eyes, and Xiao Ling traded insults with the General’s Will while both prepared to strike.
• The Phantom Demon General’s true body attacked Xiao Ling with the Phantom Demon Mirror, and Xiao Ling swallowed nine Dou Huang Pills before unleashing Samsara Disk: Reverse Life and Death.
• Xiao Ling’s disk destroyed the Phantom Demon Mirror in an explosion, and he took Tang Huo'er and Cao Ying to safety before pursuing the fleeing Will into the rift.
• The Phantom Demon General’s true body tried to follow Xiao Ling, but Dao Chenzi blocked his way as the two prepared to resume their fight.