Recaps

Xiao Yan’s search with the Storm Mercenary Squad drew the attention of Luo Bu and the Sand Mercenary Group, who came to claim a share of any treasure. Xiao Yan descended to confront Luo Bu, leaving a fight imminent.

• Xue Lan and the Storm Mercenary Squad continued searching the desert while Xiao Yan cultivated and Qing Lin kept watch.
• Luo Bu heard that the squad had spent a week digging through the sand and decided to investigate, while the Stone Mercenary Group chose to wait and see.
• Luo Bu led at least forty Sand Mercenary Group members to the search area, and Xue Lan asked him not to interfere.
• Luo Bu proposed that his men join the search and take seventy percent of any treasure they found.
• Xiao Yan confronted Luo Bu and refused to share his things.

Xiao Yan killed Luo Bu with one strike and helped Qing Lin begin using her Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils. Three days later, he and Qing Lin entered the underground magma cave in search of the Green Lotus Pedestal and Earth Fire Lotus Seed.

• Xiao Yan instantly killed Luo Bu, a six-star Dou Master, and sent the Sand Mercenary Group members away.
• Xiao Yan gave Qing Lin a jade slip of cultivation methods from Old Yao, awakening her Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils.
• Qing Lin accidentally used the pupils’ soul-suction power on Xiao Yan, then began cultivating with his encouragement.
• Three days later, Xiao Yan left Xiao Yi Xian above and led Qing Lin down the newly found passage into the magma cave.
• Xiao Yan found the cave’s dense fire energy suited his cultivation, while Qing Lin seemed even more comfortable in the heat.

Xiao Yan lured the Double-Headed Fire Spirit Snake out of the magma so Qing Lin could use her Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils to subdue it. The snake charged at them as Qing Lin’s pupils activated, and a dim radiance enveloped the beast.

• Xiao Yan told Qing Lin to prepare to control the fourth-tier Double-Headed Fire Spirit Snake while he drew it from the magma.
• Xiao Yan jumped into the magma, quickly emerged in pain, and joked with Old Yao about the danger and the Soul Hall.
• Xiao Yan waited for the Fire Spirit Snake to attack, then used his Black Flame Wings to evade it and draw it toward Qing Lin.
• Qing Lin formed hand seals as the three green dots in her eyes grew larger.
• Xiao Yan pulled Qing Lin into his arms and the Fire Spirit Snake charged at them, whereupon three green flowers appeared in Qing Lin’s pupils and their light enveloped it.

Xiao Yan failed to find the Green Lotus Core Flame because Queen Medusa had reached it first, but he discovered a magma region that could benefit fire-affinity cultivators. As he considered how to enter Snake-Person Tribe territory for the Sand Mandala, Old Yao suggested Medusa might be a reincarnator who loved Xiao Yan, leaving him afraid she might instead hate him.

• Qing Lin ordered the Double-Headed Fire Spirit Snake to take Xiao Yan beneath the magma, where he threatened it with the Myriad Beast Spirit Fire until it obeyed.
• After two and a half hours, Xiao Yan returned and said Queen Medusa had reached the Heavenly Flame first, though the magma region could help fire-affinity cultivators train if they limited their time there.
• Xiao Yan warned Xue Lan about the magma's fire poison, then returned to Shi Mo City with Xiao Yi Xian and Qing Lin.
• Xiao Yan considered luring Pill King Gu He into a conflict with the Snake-Person Tribe to help him obtain the Green Lotus Core Flame and Sand Mandala.
• Old Yao joked that Queen Medusa might be a reincarnator deeply in love with Xiao Yan, and Xiao Yan worried she might instead hate him.

Xiao Yan cultivated in the magma cave for a month, strengthened the Myriad Beast Spirit Fire, and prepared to enter the Snake-Person Tribe’s territory to seek the Sand Mandala. Meanwhile, Yun Yun followed his Communication Jade imprint toward the Tagor Desert, and Xiao Yan left Xiao Yi Xian and Qing Lin protected in Shi Mo City before setting out.

• Xiao Yan spent a month cultivating on the Green Lotus Throne, broke through to Four-Star Dou Master, and planned to continue until the Myriad Beast Spirit Fire reached the limit he could control.
• Yun Yun went to Wutan City to find Xiao Yan, learned he had left to train, and searched the Monster Mountain Range before discovering his Communication Jade imprint pointed toward the Tagor Desert.
• Yun Yun realized Xiao Yan was headed toward the dangerous Snake-Person Tribe territory and flew after him, furious that he had gone there alone.
• Xiao Yan decided to avoid Queen Medusa for now but still seek the Sand Mandala deep in the desert.
• Xiao Yan left Xiao Yi Xian and Qing Lin in Shi Mo City, gave Xiao Yi Xian a poison-element pill that raised her to Nine-Star Dou Master, and arranged a Bone Chilling Flame ring for protection.
• Xiao Yan finished preparing useful pills and set off for the depths of the desert.

Xiao Yan traveled toward the Snake-Person Tribe Temple in search of Sand Mandala, using a Breath Concealing Pill to evade patrols. He swallowed Old Yao’s Snake Form Pill to disguise himself as a Snake-Person, but the transformation left him with an unexpected body and a grief-stricken cry.

• Xiao Yan studied his map and detoured around one of the Snake-Person Tribe’s powerful tribes to avoid being discovered.
• Three days later, Xiao Yan used a Breath Concealing Pill made with the blood of a Double-Headed Fire Spirit Snake to mask his aura from Snake-Person patrols.
• Xiao Yan approached the Snake-Person Tribe Temple, where Queen Medusa and the main Sand Mandala growing area were located, and considered investigating her situation.
• Xiao Yan swallowed Old Yao’s fifth-grade Snake Form Pill, which was supposed to disguise him as a Snake-Person and grant him Da Dou Shi strength.
• The pill transformed Xiao Yan’s legs into a scarlet-scaled snake tail and reshaped his body, prompting him to cry out in grief.

Xiao Yan’s transformation pill turned her into a female snake-person, and she used the disguise to infiltrate a Snake-Person Tribe oasis. The chapter ended with guards discovering her feigned collapse and confirming that she was powerful but badly injured.

• Xiao Yan became a snake girl after taking the transformation pill, and Old Yao explained that the female beast blood and Qing Lin’s blood had caused the change.
• Xiao Yan accepted that she needed to continue her mission and went to a nearby oasis to find Snake-Person Tribe clothing.
• Xiao Yan spotted guards protecting what she identified as Yue Mei, leader of the Charm Snake Tribe, and realized she could not hide her presence there.
• Xiao Yan damaged her clothes, took a pill that disrupted her Dou Qi, and collapsed in front of the guards to pose as a severely injured snake-person.
• A snake girl guard examined Xiao Yan and reported to her leader that Xiao Yan was powerful but had suffered serious internal injuries.

After waking in Yue Mei’s temple compound, Xiao Yan posed as a persecuted snake-person named Hong Yan and learned he could compete for the Queen’s Guard. He began preparing to infiltrate the guard, while Yue Mei grew suspicious of his story about Mo City.

• Xiao Yan woke in Yue Ying’s quarters and heard that Yue Mei was recruiting for the Queen’s Guard.
• Xiao Yan claimed humans had captured and imprisoned him, and Yue Ying comforted him and said he could enter the selection.
• After Yue Ying left, Old Yao urged Xiao Yan to learn snake-person combat techniques so he would not expose himself.
• Old Yao transmitted basic techniques to Xiao Yan, who began practicing them.
• Yue Ying told Yue Mei about Hong Yan’s alleged capture near Mo City, and Yue Mei connected the story to a Dou Ling expert she had once fought.

Xiao Yi Xian prepared to break through to Da Dou Shi while Qing Lin guarded her, and Xiao Yan settled into his role as a guard in Queen Medusa’s temple. Medusa, who had dreamed of Xiao Yan taking advantage of her during her evolution, recognized his name as he stood near the sealed Heavenly Flame.

• Xiao Yi Xian praised Qing Lin’s pastries, then asked her to guard the door while she spent two days breaking through to Da Dou Shi amid poisonous energy.
• Qing Lin sat outside Xiao Yi Xian’s room and worried about Xiao Yan, while recalling how she managed the Double-Headed Fire Spirit Snake’s strength.
• Xiao Yan passed the Queen’s guard selection and gained a post within the temple, where Yue Ying’s attention made him uncomfortable.
• Xiao Yan avoided gathering the Sand Mandalas and used the Heavenly Flames within himself and Old Yao’s Bone Chilling Flame to sense the Green Lotus Core Flame.
• Queen Medusa contemplated the sealed azure Heavenly Flame and recalled a dream in which Xiao Yan took advantage of her during her evolution.
• Queen Medusa angrily spoke Xiao Yan’s name, recognizing him from her dream.

Queen Medusa prepared to devour the Heavenly Flame and ordered Hua She'er to find a youth named Xiao Yan, whom she considered a threat. Meanwhile, disguised as the snake girl Hong Yan, Xiao Yan learned that Medusa wanted to meet him, and he and Old Yao planned to scout her lair that night.

• Queen Medusa recovered from the Heavenly Flame's counterattack and planned to devour it to advance to Dou Zong and strengthen the Snake-Person Tribe.
• Queen Medusa ordered Hua She'er to find and capture Xiao Yan alive, then learned that Hai Bodong had abducted a tribeswoman to study her bloodline.
• Queen Medusa restrained her anger at Hai Bodong and promised to restore the escaped tribeswoman's bloodline after her evolution.
• Hua She'er told Hong Yan that Queen Medusa wanted to see her and help restore her damaged bloodline.
• Xiao Yan told Old Yao they would scout Queen Medusa's lair that night and try to seize the Heavenly Flame if an opportunity arose.

Qing Lin and the newly advanced Xiao Yi Xian killed the Mo Clan force that came to capture them. Afterward, Xiao Yi Xian decided they would leave Shi Mo City for Mo City the next day.

• Qing Lin learned that the Mo Clan had come looking for Xiao Yan and refused their demand to take her young master to Mo City.
• Qing Lin's Double-Headed Fire Spirit Snake attacked the Mo Clan group, killing several members and forcing the others to call for help.
• Xiao Yi Xian emerged from seclusion as a Da Dou Shi and killed the remaining Mo Clan members with Thousand Illusion Poison Spring.
• Xiao Yi Xian recovered with a Qi Recovery Pill and told Qing Lin to prepare to leave the next day with a merchant caravan.
• Xiao Yi Xian drew the poisonous gas back into her body to keep the returning Storm Mercenary Squad from being poisoned.

Xiao Yan sneaked into Queen Medusa’s guarded temple to investigate the Heavenly Flame and found her secluded island sanctuary. He reached a pool containing the Green Lotus Core Flame and a vast supply of Ice Spirit Cold Spring, while Queen Medusa was inside preparing for her evolution.

• Xiao Yan and Old Yao waited for a gap in the temple’s patrols, then used Old Yao’s soul perception to evade the guards.
• Xiao Yan crossed a poisoned lake protected by an energy restriction using his Myriad Beast Spirit Fire, but a giant emerald snake attacked him before he reached the island.
• Xiao Yan defeated the snake’s lunge with Fire-Blowing Palm and followed the Heavenly Flame’s aura into a bamboo forest.
• Xiao Yan found Queen Medusa’s Ice Spirit Cold Spring pool and saw the Green Lotus Core Flame burning atop a crystal lotus throne.

Queen Medusa began her evolution by plunging into the Green Lotus Core Flame, while Xiao Yan watched from nearby and the Snake-Person Tribe’s experts gathered outside the temple. The chapter ended with Medusa enduring the flame’s brutal assault as her people waited to see whether she would survive and succeed.

• Queen Medusa removed the Crystal Lotus Platform’s barrier, releasing the Green Lotus Core Flame as the Ice Spirit Cold Spring evaporated.
• Queen Medusa formed a purple barrier and transformed into a giant purple snake before diving into the Heavenly Flame.
• The Green Lotus Core Flame burned Medusa’s scales and flesh as she writhed and screamed in agony.
• Xiao Yan retreated into the bamboo to escape the heat while Snake-Person Tribe experts gathered on rooftops, alerted by Medusa’s cries.
• Hua She’er told Yue Mei that Medusa had begun her evolution in secret and that her success now depended on fate.

Xiao Yan watched Queen Medusa emerge from her evolution as a Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python, only for her to transform into her human form and confront him over a dream in which he had abducted and humiliated her. She decided to punish him by forcing the Green Lotus Core Flame into his mouth.

• A lightning tribulation struck the island, leaving Xiao Yan injured as he entered the green mist to check whether Queen Medusa had survived.
• Queen Medusa's snake body burst apart, and her powerful aura briefly spread across the city before withdrawing.
• A tiny Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python appeared, and Xiao Yan cautiously held her in his palm.
• The little snake transformed into Queen Medusa, who restrained Xiao Yan and accused him of abducting and humiliating her in a dream.
• Queen Medusa drew over the Green Lotus Core Flame and forced it into Xiao Yan's mouth.

Xiao Yan used the Myriad Beast Spirit Fire to escape Medusa’s first attempt to force the Green Lotus Core Flame into him, but she trapped him and ordered him to swallow it. He dissipated his cultivation, began cultivating the Burning Art, and let Medusa feed him the Heavenly Flame, leaving his survival uncertain.

• Xiao Yan released the Myriad Beast Spirit Fire, broke Medusa’s spatial restraint, and warned that forcing the Heavenly Flame into him could kill them both.
• Medusa dismissed Xiao Yan’s warning and trapped him in a spatial barrier, insisting he swallow the Green Lotus Core Flame.
• Xiao Yan told Old Yao he had chosen to risk absorbing the Heavenly Flame, and Old Yao agreed to help if the attempt failed.
• Xiao Yan dissipated his cultivation, fell from Dou Master to the peak of Dou Zhe, and successfully cultivated the Burning Art.
• Medusa extracted a strand of the Green Lotus Core Flame and its origin flame seed, then shoved them into Xiao Yan’s mouth.

Xiao Yan endured the Green Lotus Core Flame burning through his body as he used the Burning Art to refine it. Queen Medusa watched him suffer and decided that if he succeeded, she would spare him.

• Xiao Yan swallowed the Green Lotus Core Flame and used the Myriad Beast Spirit Fire and a Blood Lotus Pill to protect his body.
• Xiao Yan drove the cyan magma through the Burning Art’s circulation route, gradually gaining control as the pill’s protection wore away.
• The Green Lotus Core Flame burned Xiao Yan’s meridians and flesh, leaving his body covered in blisters and cracks.
• Queen Medusa reconsidered her hostility toward Xiao Yan and resolved to spare him if he survived refining the flame.

Xiao Yan endured the Green Lotus Core Flame’s destructive heat and successfully refined it, while Queen Medusa reconsidered her hostility toward him. He then began fusing the Green Lotus Core Flame with the Myriad Beast Spirit Fire, and their first collision shook his Dou Qi Vortex.

• Xiao Yan used the Myriad Beast Spirit Fire to repair and strengthen his body as he guided the Green Lotus Core Flame through his meridians.
• Queen Medusa wondered whether the Snake-Person Tribe could recruit Xiao Yan and worried that her feelings toward him had changed.
• Xiao Yan exhausted his Dou Qi and took Qi Recovery Pills until he successfully refined the Green Lotus Core Flame.
• Xiao Yan guided the Green Lotus Core Flame into his Dou Qi Vortex and prepared it to fuse with the Myriad Beast Spirit Fire.
• Xiao Yan placed a layer of Burning Art Dou Qi between the two flames, released his soul-power suppression, and made them collide.

Xiao Yan spent three days fusing the Green Lotus Core Flame with another Heavenly Flame, creating the Cobalt Blue Flame and refining it into his Spirit Absorber. The immense energy and strange aftereffects overwhelmed him, and he lunged at Queen Medusa as she struggled to resist.

• Xiao Yan fed Burning Art Dou Qi and more than one hundred Qi Recovery Pills into the flames until their fusion produced the Cobalt Blue Flame.
• Xiao Yan infused the Cobalt Blue Flame into the Spirit Absorber and began absorbing the Green Lotus Core Flame's energy, which repaired his meridians and filled his Dou Qi Vortex.
• The excess Heavenly Flame energy erupted from Xiao Yan's body, while the Spirit Absorber released a strange wicked fire that made him burn with desire.
• Xiao Yan approached Queen Medusa, who woke and attacked him, but her weakened soul left her unable to stop him.
• Xiao Yan used a cold jade piece to block the attack's flames and pulled Queen Medusa into his embrace.

Xiao Yan transferred the excess Heavenly Flame energy into Queen Medusa while kissing her, and their encounter left her embarrassed and threatening him to keep it secret. After he explained how he had entered the Snake-Person Tribe’s sacred land, Medusa asked whether he knew Hai Bodong, and her killing intent erupted when he confirmed it.

• Xiao Yan held Queen Medusa still and transferred his excess energy into her through a kiss.
• Queen Medusa realized Xiao Yan was only replenishing her energy, but she eventually kissed him back and pushed him away in alarm.
• Queen Medusa called their kiss an accident and threatened Xiao Yan to keep it secret; he agreed.
• Xiao Yan confirmed he had transformed into a snake-person to sneak into the sacred land, and Queen Medusa asked if he knew Hai Bodong.
• Xiao Yan confirmed he knew Hai Bodong, prompting Queen Medusa to release a terrifying killing intent.

Xiao Yan explained to Queen Medusa that he had used an unfinished Snake Form Pill to disguise himself, and she let him leave despite their unresolved tension. After stopping her guards from pursuing him, Queen Medusa told Hua She'er and Yue Mei that she needed years of seclusion to stabilize her advancement and reunite with the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python's soul.

• Xiao Yan told Queen Medusa that the Snake Form Pill had turned him into a snake girl and promised not to let others use it to threaten the Snake-Person Tribe.
• Queen Medusa questioned Xiao Yan about whether he could turn snake-people into humans, then dismissed him with a warning not to cross her on the battlefield.
• Queen Medusa reflected on her changing feelings toward Xiao Yan and stopped Hua She'er and Yue Mei from pursuing him as he fled on his Purple Cloud Wings.
• Queen Medusa confirmed to Hua She'er and Yue Mei that she had advanced, but explained that her unstable condition required several years of seclusion.
• Queen Medusa gave Hua She'er a Snake-Shaped Jade Pendant to summon her in a crisis, then began preparing to enter seclusion.

After Xiao Yan escaped the Snake-Person Tribe's territory with Sand Mandala and a Heavenly Flame, Yun Yun arrived, relieved to find him alive. She learned of his alchemist teacher and Third-Grade alchemist badge, then resolved to strengthen her bond with her talented disciple.

• Xiao Yan joked with Old Yao after escaping the Snake-Person Tribe's territory with enough Sand Mandala for Hai Bodong's pills.
• Yun Yun hurried to Xiao Yan after sensing his life was in danger, scolded him, and checked that he was unharmed.
• Xiao Yan showed Yun Yun his Heavenly Flame and asked her to keep it secret.
• Yun Yun carried Xiao Yan toward the desert's edge, and he explained that he had an alchemist teacher and needed to grow stronger.
• Xiao Yan showed Yun Yun his Third-Grade alchemist badge, prompting her to suspect that a woman was becoming close to him and resolve to keep him by her side.

Xiao Yan returned to the Storm Mercenary Squad’s courtyard in Shi Mo City and learned that the Mo Clan had attacked his companions while seeking Xiao Yi Xian. He confronted the Mo Clan assassins, and his use of the Misty Cloud Sect’s Fire Origin Sunset Sword left their leader realizing he had provoked the sect.

• Xiao Yan arrived at the Storm Mercenary Squad’s courtyard with Yun Yun and melted Dan Zai’s spear before learning the Mo Clan had attacked the squad and demanded Xiao Yan and his companion’s whereabouts.
• Xue Lan gave Xiao Yan a letter from Xiao Yi Xian and explained that she and Qing Lin had previously driven off Mo Clan attackers.
• Xiao Yan identified the attackers as members of the Mo Clan, who admitted that their Great Elder wanted to capture Xiao Yi Xian because of her Woe Poison Body.
• Yun Yun realized the Mo Clan had been abusing the Misty Cloud Sect’s name and watched as Xiao Yan faced their leader.
• Xiao Yan drew the sword Yun Yun had given him and launched the Misty Cloud Sect’s Fire Origin Sunset Sword at the Mo Clan leader.

Xiao Yan defeated the Mo Clan's experimental troops and revealed their crimes to Yun Yun, who killed them and demanded that he take her to the Mo Clan. After arranging compensation and a new place for Xue Lan's team, Xiao Yan flew to meet Yun Yun outside the city.

• The middle-aged Mo Clan man transformed his arms into beast limbs to withstand Xiao Yan's Heavenly Flame attack, then threatened to take Xiao Yan's life and Heavenly Flame.
• Xiao Yan retreated behind Yun Yun and called her his teacher, prompting her to kill the middle-aged man and the other Mo Clan members with Wind Extremity: Meteor Kill.
• Yun Yun questioned Xiao Yan about the Mo Clan's experiments and ordered him to take her to the Mo Clan.
• Xiao Yan gave Dan Zai medicine and compensation, then offered Xue Lan's team work in Wutan City and gave her a jade pendant for the Xiao Family.
• Xiao Yan gave Xue Lan travel money and flew toward the outskirts of the city to meet Yun Yun.

Xiao Yan warned Yun Yun that Misty Cloud Sect’s reputation had suffered because its elders tolerated abuses by powerful families, prompting her to reconsider how the sect was managed. They traveled to Salt City to investigate the Mo Clan, where Yun Yun learned that the sect had sent a representative to Mo Cheng’s birthday celebration.

• Xiao Yan told Yun Yun that ordinary people feared Misty Cloud Sect because it tacitly supported clans such as the Mo Clan and their lawless behavior.
• Yun Yun recognized that the sect’s elders had undermined her authority and agreed to discuss its affairs with Yanran after investigating the Mo Clan.
• Xiao Yan said he would leave Misty Cloud Sect alone unless it provoked him, his family, or his friends, and Yun Yun decided to destroy the Mo Clan if it proved beyond saving.
• Xiao Yan and Yun Yun embraced, then traveled to Salt City and disguised themselves before approaching the city gates.
• Mercenaries in the gate queue said that Mo Cheng was celebrating his birthday and that Misty Cloud Sect had sent someone; Yun Yun worried about the sect’s association with the unpopular Mo Clan.

Xiao Yan and Yun Yun arrived in Salt City to investigate the Mo Clan’s birthday celebration, but Xiao Yan’s confrontation with Mo Linglin was interrupted by Nalan Yanran. Recognizing Xiao Yan and recalling frightening memories from her previous life, Nalan Yanran realized she had taken the wrong side and hurried toward him.

• Xiao Yan and Yun Yun entered Salt City and learned that the Mo Clan had booked the inns for its birthday guests.
• At Moso Garden, Xiao Yan was denied rooms without an invitation and criticized the Mo Clan’s control of the city.
• Mo Linglin attacked Xiao Yan, who pulled her close by her neck and warned that the Mo Clan had not learned its lesson.
• Nalan Yanran entered the inn and asked Mo Linglin who had bullied her.
• Nalan Yanran recognized Xiao Yan, let go of Mo Linglin, and hurried toward him.