Chapter Summaries

Xiao Li absorbed Blood Pills and began taking in the Blood-Shatter Heaven-Striking Thunder, limiting how much he absorbed to avoid being overwhelmed by its accumulated resentment. Meanwhile, Xiao Yan discovered a powerful expert’s tomb in the Magical Beast Mountain Range, and Xiao Zhan considered the girls left behind by his absent sons.

• Xiao Li ate the refined Blood Pills and advanced to the peak of Seven-Star Great Dou Master before beginning to temper his Dou Qi.
• Xiao Li absorbed the Blood-Shatter Heaven-Striking Thunder while enduring its mental assault, planning to leave most of its energy for later.
• Xiao Yan reached Five-Star Dou Zhe and opened a stone door in a cave after finding its hidden switch.
• Xiao Yan and Yao Lao entered the chamber and found a skeleton, three locked stone boxes, and piles of treasure.
• Xiao Zhan watched Xiao Yi Xian and Xun'er at the Xiao Clan and decided he preferred Xun'er to the Nalan Family girl promised to Xiao Yan.

Nalan Yanran returned to the Nalan Family and demanded to break off her engagement to Xiao Yan, clashing with her grandfather before seeking support from Yun Yun. Meanwhile, Deacon Li oversaw the emerging Thunder Sect and waited for its sect master to emerge from seclusion.

• Nalan Yanran told Nalan Jie she wanted to end her engagement to Xiao Yan, and he struck her and refused because of the debt the Nalan Family owed the Xiao Clan.
• Nalan Yanran pleaded with Nalan Su, rejected the idea of bringing Xiao Yan to the Misty Cloud Sect, and returned to the sect in anger.
• Yun Yun supported Nalan Yanran's choice to break off the engagement but urged her to discuss it with her family first.
• Deacon Li inspected the newly forming Thunder Sect at the Blood Sect ruins and noted that its sect master had been in seclusion for six months under the protection of two Dou Zong experts.

After absorbing the Blood-Shatter Heaven-Striking Thunder, Xiao Li emerged from six months of seclusion as a Peak Three-Star Dou Ling and prepared to return to his clan for his coming-of-age ceremony. He left the Thunder Sect in Deacon Li’s care and set off home, while Xiao Yan planned to return after his alchemist examination.

• Xiao Li suppressed the resentment within him, reached Peak Three-Star Dou Ling, and sealed the remaining baleful energy for later cultivation.
• Xiao Li thanked Elder Qian and Elder Bai for protecting him, then told them he needed to return to his clan for his coming-of-age ceremony.
• Xiao Li returned to the Thunder Sect, gave Deacon Li a fourth-tier Blood-Shatter Ginseng, and entrusted him with overseeing the sect while he was away.
• Xiao Li left for home thinking of Xiao Yan and Xiao Yi Xian, realizing that he liked Xiao Yi Xian.
• Xiao Yan sneezed during his alchemist examination, then asked Yao Lao to let him return home after he passed the Second-Rank Alchemist examination.

Xiao Li returned to Wutan City and reunited with Xiao Yi Xian, who confessed that she liked him. Xiao Li admitted he felt the same but told her to grow up first, leaving them mutually affectionate.

• Xiao Li returned to the Xiao Clan estate, where the guards and clansmen warmly welcomed him.
• Xiao Li asked where Xiao Yi Xian lived and hurried to her courtyard after greeting Xiao Zhan.
• Xiao Yi Xian ran into Xiao Li's arms and told him she had missed him.
• Xiao Yi Xian confessed that she liked Xiao Li and kissed him lightly.
• Xiao Li said he liked Xiao Yi Xian too but told her to grow up soon, and she accepted while clinging to him.

Xiao Li told Xiao Yi Xian that she had the Woeful Poison Body and explained its dangers and possible cures. Xiao Yi Xian said she only needed him to stay by her side, and they ended the conversation by agreeing on her pet name, Xian Er.

• Xiao Li visited Xiao Yi Xian and clarified that he had come to discuss something serious, not to pursue intimacy.
• Xiao Li told Xiao Yi Xian that she likely had the Woeful Poison Body, and she feared he would leave her.
• Xiao Li reassured Xiao Yi Xian that he would stay and explained that consuming poison could rapidly strengthen her but would eventually overwhelm and kill her.
• Xiao Li described possible treatments involving Heavenly Flames, Strange Lightning, or fireproof clothing, and Xiao Yi Xian said she only needed him by her side.
• Xiao Yi Xian asked Xiao Li to kiss her and revealed that Xun Er had taught her how to keep him close.
• Xiao Yi Xian asked Xiao Li to call her Xian Er, and he agreed.

Xiao Li celebrated his coming-of-age ceremony, reunited with Xiao Yan, and prepared to leave Wutan City again. As Xiao Yan set out to train, he vowed to keep pursuing Xiao Li and helping Venerable Yao restore his body.

• Xiao Li spent time with Xiao Yi Xian after his ceremony, and she asked him for a kiss because he would soon be leaving again.
• Xiao Yan returned for Xiao Li's coming-of-age ceremony, then received a Storage Ring of alchemy ingredients from Xiao Li before departing to train.
• Xiao Yan challenged Xiao Li to a spar, but Xiao Li easily stopped his Eight Extremities Collapse with his body-tempering technique.
• Xiao Li gave Xiao Yi Xian a poison-type cultivation technique and promised to recruit her to Jia Nan Academy in two years.
• Venerable Yao warned Xiao Yan about comparing himself with Xiao Li, but Xiao Yan vowed to catch up and help restore his teacher's body, prompting Venerable Yao to begin devilish training.

After spending months in the Black-Corner Region, Xiao Li returned to Jia Nan Academy with the Two Elders Qian and Bai and joined the new entrants traveling to the Inner Academy. His immense strength astonished Hu Gan and the other students as the group set off across the academy’s back mountains.

• Xiao Li thanked Elder Qian for helping the Thunder Sect grow before Elder Qian and Elder Bai agreed to escort him back to the Inner Academy.
• Elder Qian and Elder Bai brought Xiao Li to Jia Nan Academy, where Hu Gan was preparing to take this year’s entrants to the Inner Academy.
• Hu Gan and the students, including Liu Qing and Lin Xiuya, were shocked that they could not see through Xiao Li’s cultivation.
• Hu Gan assigned Xiao Li to Lin Xiuya’s group, and Xiao Li joined the other students atop a Griffin without assistance.
• Hu Gan and three elders escorted the Griffins through the sky toward the Inner Academy’s back mountain range, keeping the magical beasts at bay.

Xiao Li and the new students entered the Inner Academy’s forest and learned that the Fire Energy Hunting Competition required them to evade or defeat senior students who could steal their Fire Crystal Cards. After the competition began, Xiao Li challenged every senior at once, and Hu Gan suggested the rules already allowed it.

• Hu Gan opened a hidden silver gate, and Xiao Li followed the group through it to meet Elder Su and the Inner Academy students.
• Elder Su gave each newcomer a Fire Crystal Card and warned that seniors could attack them and steal their Fire Energy during the forest journey.
• Elder Su declared the Fire Energy Hunting Competition underway and told the newcomers to run for their lives.
• Xiao Li challenged all the seniors, drawing their anger, and Hu Gan pointed out that the competition had already begun.

Xiao Li defeated forty old students in the Hunting Competition and took their Fire Energy, then set out to find the Black and White Fiend Teams. Lin Xiuya and the other new students followed him toward the woods.

• Lin Xiuya and Liu Qing decided the new students should support Xiao Li, but Xiao Li refused their help and challenged the forty old students alone.
• Xiao Li revealed himself as a Three-Star Dou Ling and used his Mystic Thunder Body to withstand their attacks and overwhelm them.
• Xiao Li forced the surviving old students to surrender their Fire Crystal Cards and drained their Fire Energy, raising his total to 683 points.
• Xiao Li demanded the locations of the Black and White Fiend Teams, learned the Black Fiend Team was in the woods and the White Fiend Team guarded the finish line, then headed for the woods with Lin Xiuya and the others following.

Xiao Li defeated the Black Fiend Team and the White Fiend Team during the Hunting Competition, collecting their Fire Crystal Cards. With his Fire Energy raised to 1,300, he waited for Hu Gan to announce the result.

• Xiao Li confronted the Black Fiend Team and defeated its captain and four members, then took their Fire Crystal Cards.
• Xiao Li headed for the finish line and found the White Fiend Team waiting there with the new students who had followed him.
• Bai Yi challenged Xiao Li, but Xiao Li seized him by the throat and sent him crashing into the rocks.
• Xiao Li defeated the White Fiend Team's other four members and collected their Fire Crystal Cards.
• Xiao Li raised his Fire Energy to 1,300 and waited for Hu Gan's verdict after about an hour had passed.

After winning the Fire Energy Hunting Competition, Xiao Li led the new students into the Inner Academy and founded the Thunder Sect to protect them. At the entrance, faction leaders tried to recruit the newcomers, and Xiao Li revealed that most had already joined his sect.

• Elder Su awarded each new student ten days of Fire Energy and gave Xiao Li a Crimson Fire Crystal Card and fifty extra days of Fire Energy.
• Xiao Li led the new students up the stone steps and showed them the vast basin of the Inner Academy.
• Xiao Li founded the Thunder Sect, and Lin Xiuya and most of the new students agreed to join.
• Elder Su and Hu Gan discussed Xiao Li's ambition as he and the new students headed into the basin.
• Wang Kunyue and Wei Ming approached the newcomers at the entrance, but Xiao Li told them that most had already joined the Thunder Sect.

Xiao Li fought off Inner Academy factions trying to control the new students, defeating Wei Ming with one punch and then overpowering Zhu Yunqing in a spear battle. Zhu Yunqing admitted defeat, while Wang Kunyue’s group had sent for their leader, Fu Ziyi.

• Wei Ming challenged Xiao Li and was defeated with a single punch.
• Wang Kunyue sent an underling to summon Fu Ziyi after seeing Wei Ming lose.
• Zhu Yunqing demanded that Xiao Li disband the Thunder Sect, and Xiao Li refused and challenged him.
• Xiao Li and Zhu Yunqing fought with thunder and ice spears as Xiao Li gradually suppressed him.
• Xiao Li shattered Zhu Yunqing’s ice spear and defeated him, and Zhu Yunqing admitted he had lost to a new student.

Xiao Li rejected Fu Ziyi’s offer to join the Sunset Sect and challenged him, fighting the third-ranked Strong Ranking expert despite having just defeated Zhu Yunqing. After Fu Ziyi wounded him, Xiao Li used Nine Steps to Heaven to raise his strength to an Eight-Star Dou Ling, matching Fu Ziyi as the battle continued.

• Xiao Li defeated Zhu Yunqing and demanded that the gathered students move aside.
• Fu Ziyi and Liu Hongxia offered Xiao Li leadership positions in their factions, but Xiao Li refused and challenged Fu Ziyi.
• Fu Ziyi attacked Xiao Li with the Great Wilderness Wind-Ripping Hand, and Xiao Li countered with Mystic Thunder Shock Flash before being driven back and wounded.
• Fu Ziyi urged Xiao Li to give up, but Xiao Li demanded another round and used the first step of Nine Steps to Heaven to reach Five-Star Dou Ling strength.
• Xiao Li took the second step of Nine Steps to Heaven and raised his strength to Eight-Star Dou Ling, matching Fu Ziyi.

Xiao Li defeated Fu Ziyi in the Inner Academy arena, then asked Elder Su to take him into seclusion at the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower. Meanwhile, Nalan Yanran arrived in Wutan City with Ge Ye, resolved to resist her arranged marriage to the Xiao family.

• Xiao Li used the Nine Steps to Heaven and his Blood Fiend Heaven-Smiting Thunder to overwhelm Fu Ziyi with a powerful attack.
• Elder Su shielded Fu Ziyi from Xiao Li's strike, but the barrier shattered before the attack stopped.
• Xiao Li asked Elder Su to take him to the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower, and Elder Su guided him to a deeper cultivation room after seeing him withstand the tower's fire poison.
• Nalan Yanran arrived in Wutan City with Ge Ye and steeled herself against the marriage arranged with the Xiao family.

Nalan Yanran came to the Xiao Clan to break off her engagement to Xiao Yan, but her public insults turned the dispute into a confrontation over the clan’s honor. Xiao Yan repudiated her, and the chapter ended with the Xiao Clan surrounding Nalan Yanran and Ge Ye as Nalan Yanran insisted she could still surpass Xiao Yan.

• Xiao Zhan introduced Nalan Yanran to Xiao Yan as his fiancée, and Nalan Yanran announced she had come to break off their engagement.
• The Xiao Clan members mocked Nalan Yanran, while Xiao Yan said they could dissolve the engagement but she could not humiliate his clan by breaking it off publicly.
• Xiao Zhan agreed to dissolve the engagement, but Xiao Yan wrote “Repudiated!” and declared that the Xiao Clan was rejecting Nalan Yanran instead.
• Nalan Yanran belittled Xiao Yan and his clan, so Xiao Yan released his four-star Dou Master aura and overwhelmed her.
• Ge Ye stepped in to shield Nalan Yanran, prompting Xiao Zhan and the Xiao Clan members to surround them; Nalan Yanran warned Xiao Yan that she could make a comeback.

Xiao Yan agreed to Nalan Yanran’s three-year challenge, setting terms for their future confrontation. At Jia Nan Academy, Xiao Li emerged from seclusion to find Sima Ling threatening the Thunder Sect’s base, and he confronted him with an ultimatum.

• Xiao Yan accepted Nalan Yanran’s Three-Year Agreement and said she would have to apologize to the Xiao Clan and accept his letter of repudiation if he won.
• Xiao Li completed a month of seclusion in the Heaven Burning Qi Refining Tower, stabilized his realm, and learned about the upcoming Strong Ranking competition.
• A new student escorted Xiao Li to the Thunder Sect base, where Lin Xiuya was worried that Sima Ling would seize their territory.
• Sima Ling demanded five hundred units of Heavenly Fire Energy or the Thunder Sect’s base, then defeated Lin Xiuya, Liu Qing, and Yan Hao when they resisted.
• Xiao Li arrived as Han Yue prepared to intervene and told Sima Ling to kneel and apologize or crawl out like a dog.

Xiao Li defeated Sima Ling in front of the Thunder Sect grounds by using Nine Steps to Heaven to reach Dou Wang strength. After checking on Lin Xiuya, Xiao Li gained his loyalty and ordered him to recruit more older students.

• Sima Ling challenged Xiao Li, and Xiao Li began the fight by raising his strength to Eight-Star Dou Ling.
• Xiao Li and Sima Ling clashed with their Dou Techniques, and their attacks first canceled out, then entered a stalemate.
• Xiao Li used the third step of Nine Steps to Heaven to reach Dou Wang strength, shocking the onlookers.
• Sima Ling admitted defeat, and Fang Ao led him away to rest.
• Xiao Li checked on Lin Xiuya, who said he was willing to follow Xiao Li.
• Xiao Li told Lin Xiuya to recruit the Academy's older students.

Xiao Li persuaded Great Elder Su Qian to let him recruit graduating Inner Academy students for his Thunder Sect in the Black-Corner Region. He then recruited Liu Hongxia and Fu Ziyi, leaving with two powerful new members for his plans against the Misty Cloud Sect.

• Xiao Li asked Su Qian to help promote the Thunder Sect to graduating students, and Su Qian agreed after Xiao Li joked about his job as Great Elder.
• Xiao Li visited Liu Hongxia and met Fu Ziyi, then invited them to join the Thunder Sect outside the Inner Academy.
• Xiao Li offered the support of a sixth-grade alchemist and promised each of them one free fifth-grade pill per year.
• Fu Ziyi and Liu Hongxia accepted the offer, agreeing to support Xiao Li when he needed them.
• Xiao Li welcomed the two eight-star Dou Lings into the sect and planned to use their strength against the Misty Cloud Sect.

Xiao Li entered the Inner Academy’s herb repository to search for medicine that could restore the soul, where he encountered Zi Yan eating herbs. Unable to find what he needed, he decided to ask her for help.

• Su Qian authorized Xiao Li to enter the herb repository, and Elder Hao gave him a token to access it.
• Xiao Li used the token to pass the energy barrier and searched the jade-lined repository for soul-restoring herbs.
• Xiao Li found Zi Yan eating herbs and recognized her by the juice on her mouth and her Dou Ling aura.
• Xiao Li decided to ask Zi Yan, who spent her days in the repository, where he could find the herbs he needed.

Xiao Li traded pills with Zi Yan for a soul-repairing herb, then traveled to Shimo City to reunite with Xiao Ding and Xiao Yan. After catching his brothers up and giving Xiao Ding a cultivation technique, he asked Xiao Yan whether he wanted a Heavenly Flame.

• Xiao Li offered Zi Yan Qi Recovery Pills in exchange for help finding a soul-repairing herb, and she found him a sixth-tier Purple-Clear Spirit-Nurturing Vine.
• Xiao Li paid a thousand days' worth of Fire Energy for the vine and left to visit Xiao Yan and discuss having Yao Lao refine pills for the Thunder Sect.
• Xiao Li stopped at the Thunder Sect, where other powers continued investigating its Dou Zong without learning anything definite.
• Xiao Li traveled to Shimo City and arrived at the Mo Tie Mercenary Group compound to see Xiao Ding and Xiao Yan.
• Xiao Li told his brothers about his experiences and gave Xiao Ding the Siphon Technique.
• Xiao Li asked Xiao Yan whether he wanted a Heavenly Flame.