Chapter Summaries

Xiao Ze reunited with his family, promised to help Xiao Yi Xian control her Woeful Poison Body, and revealed his five-star Dou Venerate cultivation to Xiao Yan. Xiao Yan’s resolve strengthened, and he planned to travel to the Central Plains after dealing with the Misty Cloud Sect.

• Xiao Ze gave Xiao Zhan and the others pills for the Xiao Clan and agreed to stay for a celebratory banquet.
• Xiao Ze told Xiao Zhan he had his own plans regarding the women and Xun Er, then promised to eliminate the hidden danger of Xiao Yi Xian’s Woeful Poison Body and help her grow stronger.
• Xiao Yan returned to the Xiao Clan, reunited with Xiao Ze, and asked about his cultivation.
• Xiao Ze revealed that he had reached five-star Dou Venerate, shocking Xiao Yan and Yao Lao.
• Xiao Yan’s fighting spirit rose, and he said he would head to the Central Plains after settling matters with the Misty Cloud Sect.

Xiao Ze learned that the Misty Cloud Sect had expanded across the Northwest Continent with help from the Soul Hall and had developed a secret art that devoured others to grow stronger. He traveled with Medusa to assess the Snake-People Empire, while Xiao Yi Xian and Qing Lin prepared the Dark Alliance to resist the Misty Cloud Sect.

• Xiao Yan told Xiao Ze and the others that the Misty Cloud Sect had conquered neighboring empires and wielded a devouring secret art, with strange Soul Hall beings supporting it.
• Xiao Ze agreed to accompany Medusa to the Snake-People Empire and asked Qing Lin to remain behind as the Dark Alliance's Dou Venerate.
• Xiao Ze and Medusa traveled through a Space Channel toward the Snake-People Empire, while Xiao Yi Xian and Qing Lin began planning the Dark Alliance's response.
• Xiao Yi Xian and Qing Lin learned that the Misty Cloud Sect's expansion had reached the Black-Corner Region and planned to use the conflict to consolidate the Dark Alliance's control there.

Four Snake-People elders faced capture by Misty Cloud Sect powerhouses led by Yun Tu, who intended to consume them as nourishment. Queen Medusa and Xiao Ze arrived just in time to save them, leaving Yun Tu badly injured and the other attackers restrained.

• Four Snake-People elders worried over their empire’s subjugation and Queen Medusa’s absence as Yun Tu and his forces arrived at the temple.
• Yun Tu ordered his followers to capture the Snake-People and attacked the elders when they resisted.
• The elders formed a giant serpent with their combined Dou Qi, but Yun Tu shattered it and overwhelmed them.
• Yun Tu prepared to kill the Grand Elder, but Queen Medusa severed his arm with a seven-colored beam.
• Xiao Ze expanded the Illusion Sea Domain and restrained the attackers who were pursuing the fleeing Snake-People.

Medusa returned to save the Snake-People, and she and Xiao Ze uncovered the Misty Cloud Sect’s soul-devouring secret technique. They set out for the sect’s headquarters to exact revenge, while the Snake-People hoped to escape the desert and rebuild.

• Medusa returned to the Snake-People, gave the elders pills, and beheaded Yun Tu as he tried to flee.
• Xiao Ze questioned the captured Misty Cloud Sect experts, learned about the Soul-Devouring Body-Consuming Method, and killed them all.
• Medusa issued orders for the Snake-People, and the four elders thanked Xiao Ze for helping save them.
• Medusa decided to attack the Misty Cloud Sect, and Xiao Ze agreed to accompany her because the Soul Hall might be involved.
• Medusa left the four elders in charge as she and Xiao Ze headed toward the Misty Cloud Sect in the Jia Ma Empire.

Yun Yun rejected the Soul-Devouring Body-Swallowing Secret Technique and confronted how it had changed the Misty Cloud Sect. Medusa and Xiao Ze arrived at the sect, where Medusa attacked the powerful figures who had cultivated the technique.

• Yun Yun watched Nalan Yanran undergo a breakthrough while remaining confined in the back mountain.
• Aunt Yun admitted she had cultivated the Soul-Devouring Body-Swallowing Secret Technique to escape her cultivation bottleneck and survive the sect’s new power structure.
• Yun Yun resolved never to use the technique, even if it cost her life.
• Medusa called out Yun Shan, and the sect’s red-eyed Dou Zong experts gathered to face her and Xiao Ze.
• Medusa struck at the gathered experts with her seven-colored sword.

Xiao Ze and Medusa wiped out Misty Cloud Sect members who had cultivated the Soul-Devouring Body-Swallowing Secret Technique, then learned Yun Shan was likely in the Black-Corner Region. They freed Yun Yun and tasked her with judging the remaining sect members, leaving her to make amends for the sect’s crimes.

• Medusa killed the Misty Cloud Sect practitioners who had cultivated the secret technique while Xiao Ze’s Illusion Sea Domain prevented them from escaping.
• Xiao Ze questioned the surviving disciples, and a white-haired woman revealed that Yun Shan had gone to the Black-Corner Region.
• The white-haired woman told Xiao Ze that Yun Yun was imprisoned in the back mountain, so he and Medusa went there and subdued her guards.
• Xiao Ze found Yun Yun and Nalan Yanran in the stone house, then freed Yun Yun and ordered her to punish any remaining sect members who had harmed innocents.
• Xiao Ze left with Medusa and the white-haired woman, killing the restrained guards as they departed.

Xiao Ze and Medusa defeated the Misty Cloud Sect’s forces while Yun Yun secured the survivors and prepared to leave the sect. As resistance rose in the Jia Ma Empire, Xiao Ze and Medusa decided to return to the Snake-People Temple before heading back to the Black-Corner Region.

• Xiao Ze and Medusa found the Misty Cloud Sect’s storehouse full of plundered medicinal ingredients, and Xiao Ze took them all.
• At the Alchemist Guild headquarters, Fa Ma learned that two Dou Venerate experts had devastated the Misty Cloud Sect’s headquarters and ordered an attack on its forces in the Imperial Capital.
• Yun Yun told Xiao Ze she had taken control of the remaining Misty Cloud Sect disciples, and he urged her to leave before resistance against the sect spread.
• Xiao Ze stayed while Yun Yun and the disciples disguised themselves and descended the mountain.
• Xiao Ze and Medusa agreed to return to the Snake-People Temple, then go back to the Black-Corner Region.

Xiao Ze entered the Illusion Sea Spirit Realm, confirmed that the Vast Sea Saint was gone, and left a Heavenly Demon Phoenix Puppet to protect the Snake-People Empire before returning with Medusa toward the Black-Corner Region. There, Yun Shan learned that many soul plaques from the Misty Cloud Sect’s headquarters had shattered and suspected the headquarters had fallen.

• Xiao Ze used water-element energy to reveal the Space Seal and entered the Illusion Sea Spirit Realm, where the Vast Sea Saint did not appear.
• Xiao Ze returned to Medusa, who said the four elders were helping restore the Snake-People Empire and vowed to avenge her people.
• Xiao Ze left a Heavenly Demon Phoenix Puppet with the Snake-People Empire, and he and Medusa set out for the Black-Corner Region.
• Yun Shan’s forces continued their expansion war against the Black-Corner Region as he worried about the dangerous secret-technique practitioners in his ranks.
• Yun Shan found a shattered soul plaque and revealed that many more had broken, leading him to suspect the Misty Cloud Sect’s headquarters had fallen.

After discovering that the Misty Cloud Sect headquarters had been destroyed, Yun Shan killed a subordinate who knew the secret and ordered his forces to invade the Black-Corner Region. Xiao Yi Xian and Qing Lin led the Dark Alliance’s defense at the Azure Severing Mountain Range, where they fought the Misty Cloud Sect and Soul Hall forces without seeing any Dou Venerate experts.

• Yun Shan saw that the soul tablets of the Misty Cloud Sect personnel at headquarters had shattered and concluded that a powerful enemy had killed them.
• Yun Shan killed the blood-haired man to conceal the headquarters’ destruction, then ordered his forces to swallow up the Black-Corner Region.
• Xiao Yi Xian and Qing Lin prepared the Dark Alliance to defend the Azure Severing Mountain Range as the Misty Cloud Sect’s crimson tide approached.
• Xiao Yi Xian led the Dark Alliance’s experts against the Misty Cloud Sect forces while Qing Lin summoned snake-type magical beasts to strengthen their ranks.
• Qing Lin searched the battlefield and found no Dou Venerate experts, wondering whether the Soul Hall expected the Misty Cloud Sect alone to conquer the Black-Corner Region.

Qing Lin fought two Soul Hall elders who sought to capture her for her Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils. After she used the Nine-Headed Heaven Snake to defeat them, the Misty Cloud Sect’s forces surrendered and the battle ended.

• Two Soul Hall elders arrived and recognized Qing Lin’s Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils, then decided to capture her.
• Qing Lin used her pupils to disrupt the balding elder while the white-bearded elder attacked with Myriad Souls Calamity.
• Qing Lin summoned the Nine-Headed Heaven Snake, whose soundwaves shattered the black-mist skull and struck both elders with blood-fiend aura.
• Qing Lin’s serpent whipped the two elders into the Misty Cloud Sect’s forces, killing and wounding many fighters.
• The remaining Misty Cloud Sect members laid down their weapons, and the battle gradually ended.

After the battle in the Black-Corner Region, Xiao Ze ordered the Misty Cloud Sect members who used the Soul-Devouring Body-Swallowing Secret Technique or had slaughtered innocents to be killed. The search for Yun Shan failed, and he escaped with plans to spread the technique across the Northwest Continent.

• Qing Lin detected Xiao Ze's arrival and greeted him warmly as he returned with Medusa; Xiao Ze learned that the Dark Alliance had defeated the Misty Cloud Sect forces.
• Xiao Ze ordered the execution of Misty Cloud Sect members whose eyes showed they had used the secret technique, as well as anyone found to have slaughtered innocents.
• Xiao Ze used the Illusion Sea Domain to finish off the two barely living Soul Hall Elders, then asked about Yun Shan's whereabouts.
• Xiao Yi Xian reported that Yun Shan had directed the Misty Cloud Sect's attacks before vanishing into seclusion, and Xiao Ze concluded that he had abandoned his forces and fled.
• Yun Shan hid outside the Black-Corner Region and resolved to spread the Soul-Devouring Body-Swallowing Secret Technique throughout the Northwest Continent to cause chaos and evade pursuit.

Xiao Ze reunited with the Anti-Misty Cloud Sect Alliance and ordered it to disband, sending its members back to their countries to deal with the remaining Misty Cloud Sect forces. He then returned to the Inner Academy, where the elders welcomed him and learned that he had advanced among eighth-tier Alchemists.

• Xiao Yi Xian led Xiao Ze to the Anti-Misty Cloud Sect Alliance headquarters, where Xiao Yan and Ya Fei welcomed him.
• Xiao Ze met the alliance’s upper ranks and told them to dissolve the alliance and return to their countries to deal with the remaining Misty Cloud Sect members.
• Xiao Yi Xian coordinated the alliance’s affairs with the Dark Alliance while Xiao Ze prepared to return to the Inner Academy.
• Xiao Ze opened the Inner Academy’s spatial gate, where Su Qian and Hu Gan greeted him and asked about his studies at the Pill Tower.
• Xiao Ze said he had achieved a little among eighth-tier Alchemists, surprising the Inner Academy elders.

Xiao Ze returned to Jia Nan Academy and reunited with its elders, who learned that he had become an Alchemist Grandmaster. He then promised Xiao Yi Xian he would take responsibility as he helped sort out her Woeful Poison Body, and the two entered a cave to begin the treatment.

• Su Qian and Hu Gan welcomed Xiao Ze back to Jia Nan Academy and praised his achievements as a Dou Venerate and Alchemist Grandmaster.
• Hu Gan told the Inner Academy students that Xiao Ze and his companions were former renowned students, prompting admiration and respect.
• Xiao Ze spoke privately with Xiao Yi Xian and explained that treating her Woeful Poison Body required guiding poison power spread throughout her body into a Woeful Rune.
• Xiao Ze promised to take responsibility, and Xiao Yi Xian agreed to let him treat her the next day.
• Xiao Yi Xian delegated Dark Academy's upcoming missions, then entered a cave with Xiao Ze while Qing Lin and Medusa stood guard.

Xiao Ze began sorting out Xiao Yi Xian’s Woeful Poison Body by drawing its poison power from her arm and transferring it into a rune on her forehead. Xiao Yi Xian felt immediate relief as the procedure succeeded on her arm, and Xiao Ze had yet to treat the rest of her body.

• Xiao Ze asked Xiao Yi Xian to change into a thin garment before he began treating her Woeful Poison Body.
• Xiao Ze formed a rune from his source essence blood and placed it on Xiao Yi Xian’s forehead to protect her soul and suppress her poison power.
• Xiao Ze carefully gathered the Woeful Poison Power from Xiao Yi Xian’s hand and arm, using his soul power to control the process.
• Xiao Ze transferred the gathered poison power into the rune, and Xiao Yi Xian felt a deep sense of relief.

Xiao Ze completed the final stage of controlling Xiao Yi Xian’s Woeful Poison Body, and she broke through to the Dou Venerate realm. After Qing Lin ordered a crackdown on cultivators of the Soul-Devouring Body-Swallowing Secret Technique, Xiao Ze and Xiao Yi Xian left the cave to see what had happened outside.

• A scarred woman reported to Qing Lin and Medusa that Yun Shan had vanished and appeared to be spreading the Soul-Devouring Body-Swallowing Secret Technique across other empires.
• Qing Lin ordered the Dark Alliance to intensify its efforts against the secret technique’s cultivators and warn neighboring empires and factions to join the purge.
• Xiao Ze gathered the Woeful Poison Power in Xiao Yi Xian’s heart and sent it into the Woeful Rune on her forehead, completing his work on her Woeful Poison Body.
• Xiao Yi Xian broke through to the Dou Venerate realm, while Xiao Ze revealed that he had advanced to a six-star Dou Venerate.
• Xiao Ze promised to refine Heaven Spirit Pills for Xiao Yi Xian, then opened the cave’s barrier and left with her.

After Xiao Yi Xian became a Dou Venerate, she explained why the Dark Alliance could not intervene in the surrounding empires, so Xiao Ze proposed establishing a separate faction. The Grand Elder refused to let the Dark Alliance expand beyond the Black-Corner Region, but Xiao Ze asked Xiao Yi Xian to help him form the Heaven Alliance to deal with the Misty Cloud Sect’s remnants.

• Xiao Yi Xian emerged from the cave as a Dou Venerate and credited Xiao Ze with helping her overcome her Woeful Poison Body.
• Xiao Yi Xian explained that the surrounding empires could not be trusted to confront those cultivating the Soul-Devouring Body-Swallowing Secret Technique, while the Dark Alliance could not safely extend its reach beyond the Black-Corner Region.
• Xiao Ze and the others went to the Inner Academy to ask Su Qian whether the Dark Alliance could deal with the evil cultivators in other regions.
• Su Qian refused to approve the Dark Alliance’s expansion, warning that it could provoke a war and endanger Jia Nan Academy.
• Xiao Ze asked Su Qian to let Xiao Yi Xian help him establish a new faction called the Heaven Alliance, initially to deal with the Misty Cloud Sect’s remnants.

Su Qian gave Xiao Ze’s Heaven Alliance control of the Dark Academy, strengthening the new faction with a powerful foundation. Xiao Ze also supplied Su Qian with cultivation pills and agreed to provide two Honored Venerable Pills to win the support of Jia Nan Academy’s secluded Dou Zong elders and secure protection for the Xiao Clan.

• Su Qian assigned the Dark Academy to Xiao Ze’s Heaven Alliance, explaining that Jia Nan Academy no longer needed it for its security.
• Xiao Yi Xian accepted the arrangement, and Su Qian asked her to let the elders managing the Dark Academy return to the academy.
• Su Qian asked Xiao Ze for pills to aid a Dou Zong’s cultivation, and Xiao Ze gave him several bottles of high-tier pills.
• Su Qian proposed giving two Honored Venerable Pills to secluded academy elders in exchange for their support and protection of the Xiao Clan.
• Xiao Ze agreed and handed Su Qian two Honored Venerable Pills.

Xiao Ze summoned the Thousand and Hundred Elders and offered them Honored Venerable Pills in exchange for helping protect the Xiao Clan. They accepted the pills and went into seclusion to pursue breakthroughs, while the Grand Elder considered finding a successor to manage the academy.

• The Grand Elder brought Xiao Ze and his companions to the Library Pavilion and tried to summon the Thousand and Hundred Elders.
• Xiao Ze released his six-star Dou Venerate aura, prompting the Thousand and Hundred Elders to appear.
• The Grand Elder explained that Xiao Ze wanted the elders to help safeguard the Xiao Clan while he was away from the Northwest Continent.
• Xiao Ze gave the Thousand and Hundred Elders two Honored Venerable Pills, and they promised to help him before returning to seclusion.
• The Grand Elder asked Xiao Ze to become the Inner Academy's Grand Elder, but Xiao Ze declined because he planned to travel to the Central Plains.
• The Grand Elder considered Vice Dean Hu Gan as a possible successor to manage the academy.

Xiao Ze took control of the Dark Academy and reorganized it as the Heaven Alliance, rewarding the departing Inner Academy elders and securing the Black-Corner Region experts’ cooperation with promises of fair rules and high-tier pills. He left the alliance’s administration to Xiao Yi Xian, Medusa, and Qing Lin, who planned to consolidate their forces and locate the Misty Cloud Sect’s remnants, especially Yun Shan.

• Xiao Ze showed the Inner Academy elders the Grand Elder’s writ assigning the Dark Academy to him, then gave them pills in thanks for their service before they returned to the Inner Academy.
• Xiao Ze told the Black-Corner Region experts that the Dark Alliance had become the Heaven Alliance and offered them the chance to leave, but they pledged to stay and follow its rules.
• Xiao Ze revealed that he was an eighth-tier Alchemist, prompting the experts to pledge their loyalty in hopes of receiving high-tier pills.
• Xiao Ze warned the experts that they would be rewarded for good work and punished for slacking, then entrusted alliance affairs to Xiao Yi Xian, Medusa, and Qing Lin.
• Xiao Yi Xian, Medusa, and Qing Lin decided to unify the Black-Corner Region’s forces, strengthen the Heaven Alliance, and improve its intelligence network to find the Misty Cloud Sect’s remnants and execute Yun Shan.

Xiao Ze unified the Black-Corner Region under the Heaven Alliance and began transforming it into a secure stronghold, while neighboring empires descended into chaos under the Misty Cloud Sect remnants and corrupt generals. With the empires refusing help, he ordered the Heaven Alliance to enter by force and eliminate the remnants who practiced the Soul-Devouring Body-Swallowing Secret Technique.

• Xiao Ze asked Xiao Yi Xian, Medusa, and Qing Lin to help remove the hidden forces that might resist the Heaven Alliance.
• The Heaven Alliance unified the Black-Corner Region in a month, and Feng City became Heaven Alliance City as its population and size rapidly grew.
• Xiao Ze and the Grand Elder planned to open a route between Heaven Alliance City and Jia Nan City, while Qing Lin reported that surrounding empires rejected the Heaven Alliance's offer to intervene.
• Medusa returned from killing Misty Cloud Sect remnants at the Black-Corner Region's border, and Xiao Yi Xian gave Xiao Ze intelligence about the neighboring empires.
• Xiao Ze learned that generals were exploiting the crisis to demand supplies while civilians fled into the Black-Corner Region, and he decided the Heaven Alliance would enter the empires by force.