Chapter Summaries

Hai Bo Dong humiliated and defeated Yun Leng at the auction hall, then forced him to pay for the damage. Yun Leng fled, leaving Hai Bo Dong and Mittel Tengshan with the repair money.

• Hai Bo Dong mocked Yun Leng’s cultivation and struck him into a wall after Yun Leng used Mystic Rock Shield.
• Hai Bo Dong challenged Yun Shan to come to the Mittel Family, while Yun Leng worried that Yun Shan might be unable to avenge him.
• Xiao Yan told Hai Bo Dong to let Yun Leng go, and Hai Bo Dong demanded that Yun Leng pay for the damaged auction hall.
• Yun Leng handed Hai Bo Dong a Storage Ring and fled, shouting threats at Xu Yi.
• Hai Bo Dong found one hundred thousand gold coins in the Storage Ring and tossed it to Mittel Tengshan.

Xiao Yan and Hai Bo Dong confronted Xu Yi in the auction hall, where Xu Yi desperately tried to use his ties to Fama and promises of service to escape punishment. Xiao Yan ordered Hai Bo Dong to kill him, leaving Xu Yi pleading for his life as Hai Bo Dong approached.

• Xiao Yan invited Hai Bo Dong to meet Fama's subordinate, and Xu Yi tried to ingratiate himself with the Ice Emperor.
• Hai Bo Dong frightened Xu Yi by threatening to kill him because Fama valued him, but Xiao Yan stopped him.
• Xiao Yan reminded Xu Yi of his past offenses and asked how he wanted to die, prompting Xu Yi to offer favors and years of service.
• Xu Yi pleaded with Xiao Yan and invoked his offer to treat Xiao Yan as his father, but Xiao Yan ordered Hai Bo Dong to kill him.
• Hai Bo Dong approached Xu Yi with Dou Qi gathering in his hand as Xu Yi made one last desperate plea.

Xiao Yan and Hai Bo Dong staged a confrontation with Xu Yi to make him remember his promise to serve the Xiao Clan for twenty years. Fama arrived to take Xu Yi back, and Xiao Yan left his release conditional on that promise.

• Xiao Yan decided that recruiting Xu Yi, an advanced Fourth-Tier Alchemist, could benefit the Xiao Clan after Xu Yi offered to serve it for twenty years.
• Fama appeared at the hall and asked Hai Bo Dong and the others to spare Xu Yi.
• Yao Lao recognized Fama as a peak Five-Grade Alchemist and recalled that he had taught Fama alchemy long ago.
• Fama explained that Xu Yi was an old friend's protégé and asked Hai Bo Dong to let him take Xu Yi back.
• Hai Bo Dong told Fama that Xiao Yan had the final say, and Xiao Yan agreed to release Xu Yi only if he served the Xiao Clan for twenty years.

Xu Yi agreed to serve the Xiao Clan for twenty years, and Fama met with Xiao Yan and Hai Bo Dong, inviting Xiao Yan to take an Alchemist certification assessment after discovering his remarkable soul strength. Later, Xiao Yan spent time with Ya Fei, but their moment together was interrupted by a young Mittel family member who confronted her about rejecting his advances.

• Xu Yi agreed to return to the Xiao Clan with Xiao Yan and serve it for twenty years, then left with instructions to settle matters with him through the guild.
• Fama, Hai Bo Dong, and Xiao Yan talked in the Mittel Family estate, where Fama learned that Xiao Yan's soul strength had reached the level of a Third-Tier Alchemist.
• Fama invited Xiao Yan to take an Alchemist certification assessment under his supervision, and Xiao Yan said he would visit the guild after handling his current affairs.
• Xiao Yan watched Ya Fei practice, but she soon stopped and kissed him on the cheek.
• A young man arrived with several followers and angrily demanded to know why Ya Fei had rejected him for Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan defended Ya Fei against Lei Le and Elder Lei Ou until Mittel Tengshan arrived and punished them. Mittel Tengshan then led Xiao Yan away to see the medicinal ingredients he had found, with Ya Fei following.

• Lei Le threatened Ya Fei, and Xiao Yan struck him down after he insulted her.
• Lei Ou arrived, accused Xiao Yan of trespassing, and ordered his men to seize him despite Ya Fei's protest.
• Mittel Tengshan arrived and knocked Lei Ou aside for attacking his guest.
• Mittel Tengshan stripped Lei Ou of his elder's seat and authority, then warned him to leave with Lei Le or face punishment for his whole family.
• Mittel Tengshan invited Xiao Yan to see the medicinal ingredients he had found, and Ya Fei followed them.

Xiao Yan sought a White Spirit Ginseng Fruit and brought an Earth Fire Lotus Seed to exchange for one with Fa Ma. Fa Ma refused the trade because Xiao Yan’s treasure was far more valuable, leaving them to decide how to proceed.

• Mittel Tengshan gave Xiao Yan the medicinal ingredients he had gathered, but said the White Spirit Ginseng Fruit had not been found.
• Xu Yi told Xiao Yan that Fa Ma owned a White Spirit Ginseng Fruit and led him to Fa Ma’s residence.
• Xiao Yan asked Fa Ma for the fruit and offered an Earth Fire Lotus Seed in exchange.
• Fa Ma recognized the seed’s great value and refused the exchange, saying it was worth much more than the White Spirit Ginseng Fruit.

Xiao Yan exchanged the Earth Fire Lotus Seed for the White Spirit Ginseng Fruit and revealed to Fama that he was Yao Lao’s disciple. Fama recognized Yao Lao as the mysterious alchemy master who had once helped him, and Yao Lao recalled their brief meeting years ago.

• Fama gave Xu Yi the White Spirit Ginseng Fruit to bring to Xiao Yan, and Xiao Yan accepted it.
• Xiao Yan offered to answer Fama’s question about his teacher and revealed Yao Lao’s profound aura.
• Fama’s uncontrolled pressure withered the plum blossoms and forced Xu Yi to his knees, while it passed around Xiao Yan.
• Fama asked whether Xiao Yan was the disciple of the great person he had met years earlier, and Xiao Yan confirmed it.
• Fama recalled how the master had taught him during a three-day encounter, which had helped him rise to become a Peak Fifth-Grade Alchemist.
• Yao Lao remembered casually teaching Fama after becoming an Eighth-Grade Alchemist, and Xiao Yan privately joked about Fama’s reminiscence.

Xiao Yan offered to help Fa Ma break through to Sixth-Grade Alchemist in exchange for Fa Ma looking after the Xiao Clan. Using Yao Lao’s soul force and alchemy knowledge, Xiao Yan opened the barrier in Fa Ma’s mind and left him determined to advance.

• Xiao Yan told Fa Ma that Yao Lao had left a contingency in him and offered to help Fa Ma break through in return for protection for the Xiao Clan.
• Fa Ma accepted, then asked where Yao Lao was; Xiao Yan claimed his teacher was in the Central Plains and would return within ten years.
• In an underground chamber, Fa Ma closed his eyes while Xu Yi stood guard, and Xiao Yan began transmitting Yao Lao’s soul force and alchemy knowledge into Fa Ma’s mind.
• Xiao Yan severed the connection and let the soul force merge into Fa Ma’s Consciousness Sea, smashing open the barrier to the Sixth-Grade Alchemist realm.
• Fa Ma mistook an imagined glimpse of Yao Lao for encouragement and renewed his efforts to break through, while Yao Lao complained that Xiao Yan had exhausted him.

Xiao Yan helped Fama stabilize his breakthrough to the sixth tier, then went to the Imperial Capital Alchemist Guild to take a certification examination. When Xiao Yan revealed a violet flame at the start of the first-tier test, Qiemier, Xu Yi, and Fama were shocked.

• Xiao Yan’s teacher helped Fama stabilize his soul force, and Xiao Yan left the secret chamber as the teacher’s presence faded.
• Fama emerged a day later as a sixth-tier alchemist, thanked Xiao Yan, and ordered Xu Yi not to publicize his breakthrough.
• Xiao Yan agreed to take the guild’s certification examination, and Fama arranged for Qiemier to prepare the test.
• Xu Yi brought Xiao Yan to the guild, where Qiemier recognized him from the Mite'er Auction House.
• Xiao Yan asked to take the second-tier examination, but Fama and Qiemier told him he had to pass the first-tier test first.
• Xiao Yan summoned a violet flame in his cauldron, startling Qiemier and Xu Yi as Fama investigated it with his soul force.

Xiao Yan passed the First- and Second-Tier Alchemist examinations with perfect-quality pills, astonishing Fama, Qiemier, and Xu Yi. He then asked to take the Third-Grade examination, but Qiemier urged him to wait two years.

• Fama recognized Xiao Yan's Purple Flame as a high-grade Beast Flame as Xiao Yan refined a perfect-quality Energy Storage Pill in under fifteen minutes.
• Xiao Yan asked to take the Second-Tier examination, and Qiemier prepared the difficult Qi-Nurturing Powder test.
• Xiao Yan refined perfect-quality Qi-Nurturing Powder in exactly fifteen minutes and passed the Second-Tier examination at seventeen years old.
• Fama offered to take Xiao Yan to collect his Alchemist robes, but Xiao Yan asked to take the Third-Grade examination instead.
• Qiemier advised Xiao Yan to spend two years preparing before attempting the Third-Grade examination.

Xiao Yan insisted on continuing his alchemist assessments and successfully refined Qi Gathering Powder before beginning the Fourth-Tier assessment. He was refining a Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill, and Fama said he would pass if he formed it.

• Qiemier urged Xiao Yan to return in two years, but Xiao Yan insisted on taking the assessment, and Fama set Qi Gathering Powder as the test.
• Xiao Yan successfully refined Qi Gathering Powder, shocking Qiemier and Xu Yi.
• Xiao Yan asked to continue with the Fourth-Tier Alchemist assessment, and Fama set the Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill as the test.
• Xiao Yan refined the pill’s ingredients in his Purple Flame and began condensing the pill.
• Fama watched the pale green pill take shape and reminded Qiemier that Xiao Yan would pass if he formed it.

Xiao Yan used multiple Beast Flames and a Heavenly Flame to refine a Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill, passing the Fourth-Tier Alchemist assessment despite his cauldron exploding. He asked Fama and Qiemier to conceal his achievement and register him as a Second-Tier Alchemist, and Qiemier brought him an Alchemist robe.

• Qiemier noticed a pill pattern on Xiao Yan's pill, and Xiao Yan added a second Beast Flame to produce a second pattern.
• Xiao Yan revealed a Heavenly Flame, which unsettled Fama and Qiemier and led Fama to suspect Xiao Yan had cured Nalan Jie's Branding Poison.
• Xiao Yan's cauldron exploded under the Heavenly Flame, but he revealed the finished Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill and handed it to Fama.
• Fama confirmed that Xiao Yan had passed the Fourth-Tier Alchemist assessment, astonishing Qiemier and Xu Yi.
• Xiao Yan asked Fama and Qiemier to keep his promotion secret and register him as a Second-Tier Alchemist, and Fama agreed.
• Qiemier fetched an Alchemist robe and tossed it to Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan received his Second-Tier Alchemist robe and badge, then used a shameless act to help a young disciple resist his teacher’s demands. After the teacher hurried away with his disciple, Fama, Qiemier, and Xu Yi came out of the Examination Hall and left.

• Xiao Yan accepted his Alchemist robe and told Fama he had used the Purple Flame of the Sixth-Tier Magical Beast, the Amethyst Winged Lion King.
• Xiao Yan overheard Jia Te scolding his disciple for failing the Alchemist promotion examination and decided to intervene.
• Xiao Yan pretended he and Jia Te had taken the First-Tier Alchemist examination together more than twenty years earlier, claiming he had only become a Second-Tier Alchemist at twenty-five.
• Xiao Yan showed Jia Te his Da Dou Shi cultivation and used his story to undermine the teacher’s argument that his disciple should already be an Alchemist.
• Jia Te grabbed his disciple and hurried out of the Guild while Xiao Yan called after them, and Fama, Qiemier, and Xu Yi emerged and left.

Xiao Yan and Yao Lao sneaked into the Misty Cloud Sect to investigate Yun Leng and the sect’s strength. After discovering Yun Yun in her room, Yao Lao sensed that Yun Shan was inside the sect and seemed to be in poor condition.

• Mite'er Tengshan told Xiao Yan that Yun Leng had been sending people around the Imperial Capital to search for him.
• Xiao Yan rejected Mite'er Tengshan's offer to have Hai Bo Dong warn Yun Leng and instead proposed sneaking into the Misty Cloud Sect with Yao Lao.
• Xiao Yan and Yao Lao flew to the Misty Cloud Sect, entered its grounds, and used a map provided by Old Man Jia to head toward the disciples’ quarters.
• Xiao Yan recognized Yun Yun when she entered the room where he and Yao Lao had hidden, and Yao Lao withdrew before she could detect them.
• Yao Lao searched the sect with his soul perception and found Yun Yun, another Dou Wang, and the aura of Yun Shan, whose condition seemed unfavorable.

Xiao Yan and Yao Lao infiltrated the Misty Cloud Sect’s Life and Death Gate, where they discovered its hidden formations and the legacy energy left by past sect masters. Meanwhile, Yun Shan prepared to use that energy to force a breakthrough to Dou Zong, unaware that the two intruders were nearby.

• Yao Lao led Xiao Yan to the Life and Death Gate, which Xiao Yan recognized as the Misty Cloud Sect’s sect-master trial and a source of inherited power.
• Yao Lao joined his soul perception with Xiao Yan’s, revealing the spatial formation protecting the apparently unguarded buildings.
• Yao Lao and Xiao Yan entered the hidden space and spotted the energy imprints, formations, and violent aura within it.
• Yao Lao warned Xiao Yan that Yun Shan was nearby attempting to break through to Dou Zong and that they needed to avoid drawing his attention.
• Yun Shan resolved to use the energy of the past sect masters to force his breakthrough, unaware that Xiao Yan and Yao Lao had arrived.

Xiao Yan and Yao Lao watched Yun Shan attempt to break through to the Dou Zong realm, but the Misty Cloud Sect secret realm blocked his progress when its energy supply reached its limit. Yao Lao secretly fed Yun Shan a specially made Imperial Extreme Pill, allowing him to complete the breakthrough while bone-white flame spread through his body.

• Xiao Yan and Yao Lao waited as Yun Shan gathered energy and attempted to break through to the Dou Zong realm.
• Yun Shan partly breached the realm barrier, but the secret realm’s ancestors stopped the energy supply to prevent the realm from being destroyed.
• Yao Lao gave Yun Shan an Imperial Extreme Pill, and its energy restarted his stalled breakthrough as hidden strands of bone-white flame entered his meridians.
• Yun Shan successfully entered the Dou Zong realm and proclaimed himself the strongest in the Jia Ma Empire.

Yun Shan broke through to Dou Zong, but Xiao Yan and Yao Lao quickly subdued him with a mysterious flame and forced him to call Xiao Yan Master. Yun Shan remained conscious and terrified as Xiao Yan and Yao Lao discussed the dangerous, unfinished method they had used on him.

• Yun Shan crossed into the Dou Zong realm, unaware that a pale flame had taken root in his Qi Cyclone.
• Yun Shan found Xiao Yan and Yao Lao, but Yao Lao’s power sealed Yun Shan’s Dou Qi and inflicted unbearable pain.
• Xiao Yan revealed his youthful face and demanded that Yun Shan call him Master.
• Xiao Yan intensified Yun Shan’s torment until Yun Shan begged for mercy and called him Master.
• Yun Shan overheard Yao Lao describe how an earlier test of the method had killed a three-star Dou Zun, and he curled up in fear.

Xiao Yan forced Yun Shan to agree to mediate his dispute with Yun Leng, then left the Misty Cloud Sect and returned to the Mittel Clan. Yun Shan failed to remove the pale-white flame Xiao Yan had planted in his Qi Cyclone and was left injured, while Xiao Yan went to find Hai Bodong.

• Xiao Yan told Yun Shan that Yun Leng had provoked him and made Yun Shan promise to pass along a message of mediation.
• Xiao Yan vanished, and Yun Shan realized he was a high-level Dou Zong before discovering the pale-white flame rooted in his Qi Cyclone.
• Yun Shan tried to expel the flame with the sect's secret technique, but it destroyed his energy threads and injured him.
• Xiao Yan returned to the Mittel Clan and told Mittel Tengshan that he had visited Great Snow Mountain and met a helpful old man.
• Mittel Tengshan warned Xiao Yan against breaking into the Misty Cloud Sect and told him that Hai Bodong was looking for him.

After Yun Shan broke through to Dou Zong, he summoned Yun Leng and attacked him over his conflict with Xiao Yan, whose supposed Dou Zong elder had confronted the Misty Cloud Sect. Yun Yun intervened to stop Yun Shan from striking Yun Leng again, leaving the reason for Yun Shan’s rage unresolved.

• Yun Shan stabilized his breakthrough and returned to the Misty Cloud Sect, where Yun Yun realized he had become much stronger.
• Yun Shan ordered Yun Yun to summon Yun Leng, then accused him of provoking Xiao Yan and attracting trouble from Xiao Yan’s Dou Zong elder.
• Yun Shan struck Yun Leng and sent him to his knees, while Yun Leng insisted Xiao Yan had provoked him first.
• Yun Shan grew angrier when Yun Leng pointed out that Yun Shan had reached Dou Zong, then formed a Great Wind Hand Seal to attack him.
• Yun Yun blocked the attack with her Mystic Wind Shield and urged Yun Shan to discuss the matter, protecting Yun Leng despite resenting his interference in her authority.

Yun Shan ordered Yun Leng to apologize to Xiao Yan and changed the Misty Cloud Sect’s policy toward avoiding outside conflicts. Yun Leng reached the Mittel Family residence, where Hai Bo Dong mistakenly attacked him before Xiao Yan prepared to hear his apology.

• Yun Shan reprimanded Yun Leng, ordered him to apologize to Xiao Yan, and told the Misty Cloud Sect to discipline its disciples.
• Yun Yun learned that Yun Shan claimed an old friend was stronger than him and asked to meet that mysterious person.
• Yun Leng headed down the mountain singing, then asked to see Xiao Yan at the Mittel Family residence.
• Hai Bo Dong arrived and stomped Yun Leng before Mittel Tengshan explained that Yun Leng had come to apologize.
• Hai Bo Dong greeted Yun Leng awkwardly, then fled after Xiao Yan reminded him of his meeting with Lord Fama.
• Xiao Yan handed Yun Leng a handkerchief and asked what he had come to discuss.