Recaps

Xiao Yan asked Gu He to annul Ya Fei’s engagement, and Gu He agreed after Ya Fei declared she did not want to marry him. Jealous of Xiao Yan’s closeness with Yun Yun, Gu He challenged him to a contest and proposed competing in alchemy.

• Xiao Yan asked Gu He to annul his engagement to Ya Fei.
• Gu He resisted, citing the seriousness of breaking an engagement, but Ya Fei said she had never agreed to marry him.
• Gu He agreed to annul the engagement after Ya Fei rejected him, while Xiao Yan and Yang Lingyan dismissed the risk of offending him.
• Gu He grew jealous after noticing Yun Yun’s attention toward Xiao Yan and challenged Xiao Yan to a contest.
• After Gu He suggested competing in fire control, Xiao Yan proposed they compete in alchemy instead.

Xiao Yan challenged Gu He to an alchemy contest, refusing to let Gu He deliberately concede. Gu He agreed to compete at full strength, and Xiao Yan brought out the Black Demon Cauldron to begin.

• Xiao Yan challenged Gu He to compete in alchemy, surprising the council because Gu He was a renowned sixth-tier alchemist.
• Nalan Jie warned Xiao Yan about Gu He's skill, while Ya Fei worried about the risk he was taking for her freedom.
• Gu He realized that the contest put him in a difficult position because the Heavenly Snake Mansion backed Xiao Yan.
• Gu He asked what pill they would refine, hoping to find a way to concede without losing face.
• Xiao Yan insisted they each use their full strength and let the pill's tier and quality decide the winner, forcing Gu He to accept a serious contest.
• Xiao Yan summoned the Black Demon Cauldron Yao Lao had left him.

Xiao Yan and Gu He began an alchemy contest, and Xiao Yan’s Crimson Lotus Karma Flame overwhelmed Gu He’s Green Lotus Core Flame. Fama could not discern Xiao Yan’s alchemy level, leaving the onlookers wondering whether Xiao Yan could win.

• Gu He brought out his cauldron and Green Lotus Core Flame, which impressed the spectators.
• Xiao Yan revealed his Crimson Lotus Karma Flame, suppressing Gu He’s flame with its superior power.
• Gu He controlled his source flame and began refining a high-grade sixth-tier Turtle Origin Pill while Xiao Yan started refining medicinal ingredients.
• Jia Xingtian asked Fama to assess Xiao Yan, but Fama admitted he could not tell what tier of alchemist Xiao Yan was.
• The spectators reconsidered the contest and wondered whether Xiao Yan could defeat Gu He.

Xiao Yan and Gu He competed to refine pills, but Xiao Yan’s Breakthrough Zong Pill carried personal stakes: he needed it to improve his chances of reaching Dou Zong and gain strength against Yan Di. Gu He finished his pill first, while Xiao Yan’s pill was nearing completion.

• Gu He was distracted by Xiao Yan’s skill and ruined his first batch of ingredients, then swallowed a pill and refocused on refining.
• Xiao Yan’s first attempt also failed, but he reviewed his mistake and began again alongside a newly cautious Gu He.
• Xiao Yan refined a Breakthrough Zong Pill for himself, hoping to improve his chances of advancing to Dou Zong and better resist Yan Di.
• Xiao Yan steadily condensed the medicinal liquids into a pill embryo inside the Black Demon Cauldron.
• Gu He finished a green pill, but most spectators kept watching Xiao Yan as energy surged from his cauldron and his pill neared completion.

Xiao Yan completed the Breakthrough Zong Pill, impressing the spectators with its quality and securing victory over Gu He. Gu He conceded and released Ya Fei from their engagement, while the Heavenly Snake Mansion elders speculated about Ya Fei’s place in Xiao Yan’s life.

• Gu He briefly considered disturbing Xiao Yan’s pill refinement but rejected the idea, then put away his Turtle Spirit Pill as the outcome became clear.
• Xiao Yan carefully refined the Breakthrough Zong Pill until a powerful energy pillar burst through the chamber’s ceiling, and Fama judged it a top-grade sixth-tier pill.
• Xiao Yan captured the pill when it tried to flee, completed the refinement, and asked Gu He for his view of the result.
• Gu He admitted defeat and told Mite'er Tengshan and Ya Fei that their original engagement was dropped.
• Ya Fei felt relieved and grew more warmly disposed toward Xiao Yan, while the Heavenly Snake Mansion elders noticed her feelings and assumed she would become one of Xiao Yan’s wives.

Gu He was visited by Yan Di, an overwhelmingly powerful Flame Clan expert who offered treasures for Gu He's Heavenly Flame and threatened to take it by force. Gu He agreed to surrender the flame, and Yan Di began painfully extracting it from his body.

• Gu He brooded over Xiao Yan's talent and realized he had lost confidence in competing with him.
• Yan Di emerged through a spatial rift, restrained Gu He, and revealed that he wanted Gu He's Heavenly Flame.
• Yan Di offered Gu He a high-grade Earth-class cultivation method, a mid-grade Earth-class Dou Technique, and a seventh-tier alchemist's insights in exchange for the flame.
• Yan Di threatened to kill Gu He and take the flame, so Gu He agreed to surrender it, explaining that it had become his origin Heavenly Flame.
• Yan Di forcibly extracted the fused azure flame from Gu He, leaving him in terrible pain and growing weaker.

Yan Di extracted Gu He's Green Lotus Core Flame and left him a healing pill, while Xiao Yan finished checking the poisonous mist and prepared to leave for the Flame Clan. As Yang Lingyan said goodbye at Black Mountain Fortress, he hinted that he had one last gift for Xiao Yan.

• Yan Di took the Green Lotus Core Flame from Gu He and gave him a Flame Spirit Pill before leaving.
• Gu He swallowed the pill and realized how powerless he was without strength.
• Xiao Yan confirmed that the poisonous mist no longer threatened Dou Masters and reflected on Xiao Yi Xian's condition and the devastation she had caused.
• Xiao Yan spoke with Yang Lingyan, who reluctantly accepted that he could not leave with him for the Central Plains.
• Yang Lingyan told Xiao Yan that he had one last gift for him.

Yang Lingyan brought Xiao Yan to Rain City to show him the command center for the relocation operation and reveal his mysterious gift. Xiao Yan discovered a beautiful woman waiting for him in a bedroom, but the chapter ended before he learned what she wanted or what Yang Lingyan had planned.

• Xiao Yan told Yang Lingyan that he already had more than enough treasures, but Yang Lingyan insisted his gift would not disappoint him.
• Yang Lingyan flew with Xiao Yan to Rain City, where Xiao Yan recognized the city as the center of the relocation operation.
• Yang Lingyan led Xiao Yan through the Mite'er Auction House, which the Heavenly Snake Mansion and the Mittel Family had turned into the operation's command center.
• Yang Lingyan brought Xiao Yan into a bedroom and revealed a beautiful woman whose affectionate gaze left Xiao Yan stunned.

Xiao Yan confronted Yang Lingyan after learning he planned to make Ya Fei Empress, then heard Ya Fei confess that marrying Xiao Yan was a freedom she chose for herself. Xiao Yan accepted her request for a place in his heart, and the chapter ended with him pulling her into his arms.

• Yang Lingyan told Xiao Yan that he intended to make Ya Fei Empress because of her devotion and her work overseeing the relocation of Jia Ma Empire's commoners.
• Xiao Yan angrily rejected Yang Lingyan's assumption that he had annulled Ya Fei's engagement to marry her, and Yang Lingyan left the room.
• Ya Fei put on a phoenix crown and bridal clothes, then told Xiao Yan that she wanted to marry him by her own choice, not because she was sacrificing her freedom.
• Ya Fei said she did not expect Xiao Yan to stay or give her status, but asked him to leave a place for her in his heart as Empress.
• Xiao Yan agreed, praised Ya Fei in her bridal clothes, and pulled her into his arms.

Xiao Yan spent his final night in the Jia Ma Empire with Ya Fei, who helped him get his first proper sleep in months before he left for the Central Plains. He departed for Black Mountain Fortress the next morning, where its people had gathered to see him off.

• Ya Fei lit a Calming Whale Glue Candle and comforted Xiao Yan as he worried over his duties and his coming journey to the Flame Clan.
• Ya Fei let Xiao Yan rest his head on her lap and massaged his forehead until he fell into a deep sleep.
• Xiao Yan woke refreshed, moved the sleeping Ya Fei onto the bed, and left her a table full of jade bottles and boxes before quietly departing.
• Xiao Yan met Yang Lingyan outside Ya Fei's chambers, joked about Xun Er, and set off with him for Black Mountain Fortress.
• The people of Black Mountain Fortress gathered on the city walls to see Xiao Yan off, having come to admire him as an alchemist and a battlefield hero.

Xiao Yan left the Jia Ma Empire for the Central Plains amid an enormous farewell from the Heavenly Snake Mansion, the empire’s experts, and its soldiers. One year later, the Heavenly Snake Mansion controlled the empire, and Ya Fei had become its Empress, while the identity of the person she would marry remained a mystery.

• Xiao Yan reunited with Zi Yan and exchanged farewells with Yang Lingyan and the Jia Ma Empire’s experts at Black Mountain Fortress.
• The Heavenly Snake Mansion members and the soldiers of Black Mountain Fortress hailed Xiao Yan as he departed with Zi Yan for the Central Plains.
• One year after Xiao Yan left, the Heavenly Snake Mansion had taken control of the Jia Ma Empire, with the Mittel Family serving as its representative.
• Ya Fei became Empress of the Jia Ma Empire and later expanded its territory and raised the Mittel Family’s standing in the Northwest Region.
• Ya Fei rejected the suitors proposed to her, leaving people to wonder whom she would eventually marry.

Xiao Yan and Zi Yan traveled with Yan Di and Huo Zhi toward the Flame Clan, and Xiao Yan agreed to refine pills from Zi Yan’s medicinal ingredients. As Xiao Yan began refining, Huo Zhi interrupted him to ask for a favor.

• Xiao Yan and Zi Yan boarded the Green-Feathered Three-Tailed Sparrow, where Yan Di and Huo Zhi were waiting.
• Yan Di told Xiao Yan that the journey to the Flame Clan would take around seven days, and Xiao Yan went to rest with Zi Yan.
• Xiao Yan bargained with Zi Yan to keep sixty percent of her medicinal ingredients in exchange for refining the rest into pills.
• Zi Yan gave Xiao Yan her Storage Ring, and he sorted the herbs before beginning to refine them.
• Huo Zhi called to Xiao Yan for a favor, causing him to lose focus and turn the first batch of ingredients to ashes.

Xiao Yan agreed to brew Huo Zhi’s energy-boosting medicinal wine in exchange for her help finding someone to treat Xiao Yi Xian’s Woeful Poison Body. After delivering his first successful batch, he negotiated a share of each future batch as payment.

• Huo Zhi asked Xiao Yan to brew a medicinal wine using a complex formula and supplied the necessary ingredients.
• Xiao Yan asked Huo Zhi to find someone to help control Xiao Yi Xian’s Woeful Poison Body, and Huo Zhi agreed to try.
• Xiao Yan recognized that the wine’s immense energy could benefit Zi Yan and spent two days brewing it, succeeding once.
• Xiao Yan gave Huo Zhi twelve bottles, and she asked him to keep brewing the wine.
• Xiao Yan requested three bottles from each batch as payment, and Huo Zhi agreed.

Xiao Yan gave Zi Yan medicinal wine, which she absorbed to strengthen herself, while brewing more for Huo Zhi and Yan Di during their journey. As his ingredients ran out, Xiao Yan neared the nine-star Dou Emperor realm and stepped outside to rest.

• Xiao Yan gave Zi Yan medicinal wine, and she drank half a bottle before sitting down to digest its powerful energy.
• Huo Zhi delivered four bottles to Yan Di, who explained that the wine helped with his impure Dou Qi and said the clan had yet to decide Xiao Yan's fate.
• Huo Zhi hoped Xiao Yan would survive, and Yan Di said the clan might let him leave if negotiations with the Ancient Clan went smoothly.
• Xiao Yan brewed about fifteen bottles every two days, giving the wine to Huo Zhi and Yan Di while setting three bottles aside for Zi Yan, who increased her intake to one bottle a day.
• Xiao Yan's cultivation neared the nine-star Dou Emperor realm, but he used up all the medicinal ingredients and stepped out of the pavilion to relax.

Xiao Yan traveled with Yan Di through a spatial passage toward the Flame Clan and considered the dangers his Heavenly Flames and other secrets might pose there. Three days into the journey, the Green-Feathered Three-Tailed Sparrow stopped.

• Yan Di crushed an ancient jade token to open a spatial passage, then led the Green-Feathered Three-Tailed Sparrow inside.
• Xiao Yan observed the strange passage before returning to his room to rest and check on Zi Yan, who was sleeping as she digested the medicinal wine’s energy.
• Xiao Yan stopped cultivating because the unstable Dou Qi might push him into a nine-star Dou Emperor breakthrough.
• Xiao Yan reviewed the secrets he needed to hide from the Flame Clan, including his Heavenly Flames, the Flame Mantra, and the Nihility Devouring Flame’s ability.
• Xiao Yan worried about securing treatment for Xiao Yi Xian’s approaching Woeful Poison Body eruption while traveling with Yan Di.
• Three days later, the Green-Feathered Three-Tailed Sparrow stopped in the spatial passage.

Xiao Yan and his companions were intercepted by two Soul Hall Dou Zun, who revealed that Xiao Yan was connected to the Nihility Devouring Flame and demanded him and Xiao Yi Xian. Yan Di seized Xiao Yan and subdued Zi Yan, then offered to hand them over in exchange for safe passage.

• The Green-Feathered Three-Tailed Sparrow stopped before Sacrificial Spirit Heavenly Venerate, Venerable Hui You, and four Soul Hall Protectors.
• Sacrificial Spirit Heavenly Venerate sensed Xiao Yan’s connection to the Nihility Devouring Flame, and Chen Xiao received credit for finding him.
• Sacrificial Spirit Heavenly Venerate demanded Xiao Yan and Xiao Yi Xian, while Yan Di hesitated under the pressure of two Dou Zun.
• Yan Di seized Xiao Yan and knocked Zi Yan down when she attacked him.
• Xiao Yan’s Crimson Lotus Karma Flame burned Yan Di’s hand, but Yan Di suppressed it and restrained Xiao Yan.
• Yan Di offered Xiao Yan and Xiao Yi Xian to the Soul Hall in exchange for safe passage, and Sacrificial Spirit Heavenly Venerate agreed.

Yan Di appeared to hand Xiao Yan and Xiao Yi Xian over to the Soul Hall, but he immediately attacked the Sacrificial Spirit Heavenly Venerate. As Yan Di fought the Soul Hall members, Xiao Yan learned that a high-ranking traitor had exposed their route through the Flame Clan’s wormhole.

• Yan Di sent Xiao Yan and Xiao Yi Xian’s ice coffin toward the Sacrificial Spirit Heavenly Venerate, then abruptly hurled them back and attacked with the Great Flaming Sun Palm.
• The Sacrificial Spirit Heavenly Venerate countered with Corroding Spirit Evil Light, and their clash shook the spatial passage.
• Yan Di accused the Soul Clan of planting a spy in the Flame Clan and said he would capture the Sacrificial Spirit Heavenly Venerate for questioning.
• Hui You spread poisonous black mist through the passage, but Yan Di’s flames burned it away before it could harm Xiao Yan.
• Hui You revealed himself and said he wanted Xiao Yan and Xiao Yi Xian’s pure Woeful Poison Body to advance his own strength.

Yan Di trapped Sacrificial Spirit Heavenly Venerate and Venerable Hui You in a maze of spatial rifts and overwhelmed them with attacks. As he considered capturing one of them to learn about Soul Hall's spy in the Flame Clan, Xiao Yan resolved to become stronger.

• Venerable Hui You and Sacrificial Spirit Heavenly Venerate launched powerful attacks at Yan Di, but he vanished and used spatial rifts to protect Xiao Yan, Huo Zhi, and Zi Yan.
• Yan Di's spatial rifts swallowed the attacks and concealed him, while Xiao Yan realized how powerless he was beside the Dou Zun experts and vowed to gain strength.
• Sacrificial Spirit Heavenly Venerate shattered some rifts to disrupt Yan Di's control, but he and Venerable Hui You were wounded when Yan Di's apparent opening proved to be a feint.
• Yan Di moved through the rifts and kept both Soul Hall experts trapped and on the defensive, striking them without letting them locate him.
• Yan Di weighed whether to capture Sacrificial Spirit Heavenly Venerate or Venerable Hui You to learn more about the spy inside the Flame Clan.

Soul Hall's ambush trapped Yan Di and prevented him from using his spatial abilities, while its Protectors attacked Xiao Yan and his companions. Xiao Yan escaped Chen Xiao's chains for the moment as Huo Zhi and Zi Yan continued fighting their opponents.

• Sacrificial Spirit Heavenly Venerate revealed that Soul Hall's Holy Lord had arrived and sealed the area, preventing Yan Di from sending a message or using spatial power.
• Venerable Hui You and Sacrificial Spirit Heavenly Venerate kept Yan Di occupied while Chen Xiao and three Soul Hall Protectors charged at Xiao Yan's group.
• Xiao Yan stored Xiao Yi Xian's ice coffin, used the Three Mysterious Changes of Heavenly Fire to reach the two-star Dou Zong realm, and fought off Chen Xiao's chains with the Emperor Seal Art and Wild Desolation Ruler.
• Xiao Yan was knocked back by the clash but used the momentum to escape Chen Xiao temporarily.
• Huo Zhi held off two Soul Hall Protectors, while Zi Yan fought a five-star Dou Zong without falling behind.

Xiao Yan and Huo Zhi worked together to break the Soul Hall protectors’ hold, but Chen Xiao rallied the four protectors and trapped them in a cage of chains. Xiao Yan realized they were being contained until they could be killed.

• Xiao Yan attacked the two Soul Hall protectors pressuring Huo Zhi with a powerful Wild Desolation Ruler strike.
• Huo Zhi used the Crimson Lotus Karma Flame to burn the protectors and unleashed Karma Fire Reaches the Heavens.
• Xiao Yan joined hands with Huo Zhi and lent her his Dou Qi, raising her aura to that of a Nine-Star Dou Zong as she released a bloodred Fire Lotus.
• Chen Xiao warned his brothers and used chains and consumed souls to counter the lotus, while the other protectors extinguished the flames on themselves.
• Chen Xiao ordered all four protectors to surround Xiao Yan, Huo Zhi, and Zi Yan, then trapped them with chains that avoided Xiao Yan’s attacks.

Xiao Yan, Zi Yan, and Huo Zhi struggled to escape the Soul Hall Great Protectors’ strengthening chain formation. With the cage closing in, Xiao Yan released Xiao Yi Xian from her ice coffin, gambling that her unleashed Woeful Poison Body could break the blockade.

• The four Great Protectors devoured powerful soul bodies to strengthen their chains, while Chen Xiao ordered them to spare no effort in trapping Xiao Yan and the others.
• Zi Yan, Xiao Yan, and Huo Zhi attacked the chain barrier, but the Great Protectors sealed every opening and left them unable to escape.
• Xiao Yan realized their capture would hinder Yan Di and considered unleashing a Buddha Fury Fire Lotus, despite the danger to himself and his companions.
• Xiao Yan chose a riskier plan and warned Zi Yan and Huo Zhi to defend themselves before throwing his ice coffin toward the chains.
• The coffin shattered, and Xiao Yi Xian emerged with her mind lost; she seized the two chains that pierced her and held them immobile.

Xiao Yi Xian’s Woeful Poison Body disrupted the Soul Hall protectors’ formation, allowing Xiao Yan and Zi Yan to strike back. Xiao Yan and Zi Yan killed the third-ranked protector, and Chen Xiao attacked Xiao Yi Xian in a rage.

• Xiao Yi Xian unleashed poisonous qi that overwhelmed the Soul Hall protectors’ formation while Xiao Yan protected himself, Huo Zhi, and Zi Yan with the Crimson Lotus Karma Flame.
• Chen Xiao ordered the formation released, and Xiao Yi Xian shattered the corroded chains with a burst of power.
• Zi Yan attacked the protectors, and Xiao Yan followed with the Wild Desolation Ruler, destroying the third-ranked protector’s soul.
• The protectors’ seal collapsed, and Xiao Yi Xian attacked Chen Xiao.
• Chen Xiao blasted Xiao Yi Xian away with soul attacks and sent chains after her, but Xiao Yan’s blood-red flames appeared before him.

Huo Zhi used the Crimson Lotus Karma Flame to attack Chen Xiao’s soul, leaving him burning and near death, but the Soul Hall’s Saint Lord suddenly unleashed his power and struck Xiao Yi Xian down. Xiao Yan rushed to her as she lay barely breathing in the passage.

• Huo Zhi used the Crimson Lotus Karma Flame to launch a soul attack on Chen Xiao, causing him intense pain and igniting his soul body.
• Huo Zhi weakened from the attack, and Xiao Yan caught her and gave her a sixth-tier Soul-Nourishing Pill.
• The fourth-ranked Soul Hall Protector’s aura surged beyond the Dou Zong realm, then destroyed his soul body from within.
• Before disappearing, the fourth Protector struck Xiao Yi Xian with a palm, hurling her into the passage wall and leaving her barely alive.
• Xiao Yan called out to Xiao Yi Xian and recognized the attacker’s power as that of a Dou Sheng.

The Soul Hall's protectors unleashed attacks through their bodies, forcing Yan Di to shield Xiao Yan and Huo Zhi and take a strike from the Sacrificial Spirit Heavenly Venerate. As the Heavenly Venerate and Venerable Hui You prepared to attack Yan Di together, Xiao Yan heard Yan Di offer to send him away safely in exchange for a favor.

• The second-ranked Soul Hall protector's power surged to Dou Zun level, and the final protector attacked Xiao Yan and Huo Zhi before his body dissolved.
• Xiao Yan tried to shield Huo Zhi, but Zi Yan could not reach them before the attack; Yan Di stepped in and blocked it.
• The Sacrificial Spirit Heavenly Venerate struck Yan Di with a blue-green beam, leaving him injured as Venerable Hui You's poisonous mist lingered nearby.
• The Sacrificial Spirit Heavenly Venerate explained that Yan Di could not use his spatial abilities and was limited by the Great Flame Sun Art, then ordered Venerable Hui You to attack with him.
• Yan Di appeared ready to give up, while Xiao Yan heard him offer safe passage in exchange for doing something for him.

Yan Di used specially brewed medicinal wine to restore his strength and unleash the Great Flame Sun Art against Soul Hall’s two experts. He survived their combined attacks by revealing his Fire Spirit Body and seven-star Dou Zun strength, then held aloft his blazing sun as he prepared to strike back.

• Yan Di told Xiao Yan he could send the group away and instructed him to protect Huo Zhi and return her to the Flame Clan.
• Yan Di drank two bottles of fire-attributed medicinal wine, restoring his Dou Qi and causing his aura to surge.
• Sacrificial Spirit Heavenly Venerate and Venerable Hui You launched their strongest attacks at Yan Di, including the Soul-Extinguishing Jade Light and a giant poisonous python.
• Yan Di summoned the Great Flame Sun, incinerated Venerable Hui You’s python, and withstood Sacrificial Spirit Heavenly Venerate’s attack.
• Yan Di revealed his Fire Spirit Body and seven-star Dou Zun strength, then raised the colossal blazing sun overhead and declared he would unleash the Great Flame Sun Art at full power.