Chapter Summaries

Ling Zhuo completed an Eighth-Tier pill and used Heartblood Pill Feeding to raise its quality, summoning Five-Colored Pill Lightning. His achievement appeared to secure the championship while Xiao Yan was still refining his pill.

• Ling He appeared as a Dou Sheng Expert and her presence kept the Pill Tower from intervening as Xiao Yan faced the Spirit Clan.
• Ling Zhuo finished nurturing his pill, which rose from his cauldron and summoned Four-Colored Pill Lightning.
• Ling Zhuo remained dissatisfied with his pill and heard Wei Jiangyuan tell him it was not enough.
• Ling Zhuo fed his essence blood into the pill using Heartblood Pill Feeding, despite the risk to his future.
• Ling Zhuo condensed the pill's power and summoned silver, cyan, red, gold, and purple Pill Lightning.

Ling Zhuo’s Five-Colored Pill Lightning pill secured the Spirit Clan’s overwhelming acclaim and appeared to decide the Pill Convention championship. As the crowd celebrated, Xiao Yan continued refining his pill, while his companions doubted he could overcome Ling Zhuo’s result.

• Ling He dismissed Xuan Kongzi’s and Venerable Mingshui’s objections, defending the Spirit Clan’s actions at the Pill Convention.
• Ling Zhuo’s defenses withstood the Five-Colored Pill Lightning, and Ling Yu announced the Spirit Clan’s contestants’ pill results, culminating in Ling Zhuo’s Eighth-Tier pill.
• The crowd hailed Ling Zhuo as champion, and Ling He used her authority to turn the cheers into a chant across Holy Pill City.
• Lei Jingxiao’s cauldron exploded again, and he told Wei Jiangyuan and Yao Qingyu that he had run out of ingredients.
• Yao Qingyu worried Xiao Yan could not beat Ling Zhuo, and Wei Jiangyuan said Xiao Yan had no chance of winning.

Xiao Yan completed two pills that summoned Three-Colored Pill Lightning, but Ling Zhuo’s Five-Colored result secured him the Pill Convention championship and the Spirit Clan’s victory over the Pill Tower. As the crowd accepted the outcome, Cao Ying asked Dan Chen whether she would risk a chance to regain their freedom.

• Xiao Yan’s pill summoned Three-Colored Pill Lightning, earning him second place but failing to match Ling Zhuo’s Five-Colored result.
• Wei Jiangyuan and Yao Qingyu recognized that Xiao Yan’s pill could not overcome the gap, while the Pill Tower Elders accepted that their side had lost the convention.
• The Spirit Clan secured the championship and control of the convention’s five affiliated families, leaving its claim to the Three Thousand Burning Flame seemingly assured.
• Xiao Yan slapped his cauldron and produced two pills, but the crowd remained focused on Ling Zhuo’s victory.
• Cao Ying asked Dan Chen whether she would join her in taking a risky chance to regain their freedom.

Cao Ying showed Dan Chen Xiao Yan’s pill method and explained that she trusted him despite the risks of refusing the Spirit Clan. After refining two pills, Xiao Yan used their three-colored Pill Lightning to temper his body and soul, then remained seated for a day to digest the energy.

• Cao Ying gave Dan Chen the pill method Xiao Yan had sent her and said she trusted him because of an intangible feeling.
• Xiao Yan finished refining two pills from one cauldron as three-colored Pill Lightning gathered overhead.
• Xiao Yan flew into the lightning and used Heavenly Lightning Soul Forging to draw its energy into his body.
• Xiao Yan endured nearly an entire shichen of lightning strikes, strengthening his soul and tempering his body.
• Xiao Yan sat cross-legged to digest the accumulated lightning power and continued his advance toward a higher soul realm for an entire day.

After using Heavenly Lightning Soul Forging, Xiao Yan reached the peak of the middle Spiritual State Soul and resolved to refine another pill before the Pill Convention ended, hoping to surpass Ling Zhuo. With only fifteen days left, Xiao Yan asked Wei Jiangyuan for ingredients, and Wei Jiangyuan agreed on one condition.

• Xiao Yan awakened with his soul power at the peak of the middle Spiritual State Soul, choosing not to advance further and risk weakening his foundation.
• Ling Zhuo watched Xiao Yan and secretly resolved to seize his soul technique, unaware that he had created it himself.
• Xiao Yan asked Wei Jiangyuan for spare medicinal ingredients so he could refine another pill and try to beat Ling Zhuo's result.
• Yao Qingyu and Wei Jiangyuan pointed out that only fifteen days remained and that an Eighth-Tier Pill usually took at least twenty days to refine.
• Xiao Yan said he wanted to win for Yao Qingyu's mistress, his teacher, and himself, and to claim the Heavenly Flames and championship from Ling Zhuo.
• Wei Jiangyuan offered to provide the ingredients if Xiao Yan agreed to one request.

Wei Jiangyuan asked Xiao Yan to speak in his favor when he sought to marry Yao Qingyu, then gave Xiao Yan a rare pill formula and began preparing medicinal herbs for him. He revealed the Living Flame, a Heavenly Flame that could rapidly grow medicinal plants, leaving Xiao Yan with the herbs and formula needed for his alchemy preparations.

• Wei Jiangyuan asked Xiao Yan to put in a good word with Venerable Yao and Xuan Yi when he eventually married Yao Qingyu, and Yao Qingyu angrily denied wanting to marry him.
• Yao Qingyu asked Lei Jingxiao to beat up Wei Jiangyuan, and Lei Jingxiao punched him before Wei Jiangyuan stopped the scuffle.
• Wei Jiangyuan questioned what Xiao Yan would refine, and Xiao Yan agreed to use whatever pill formula Wei Jiangyuan provided.
• Wei Jiangyuan gave Xiao Yan his original pill formula, a valuable creation from a tier-nine alchemist.
• Wei Jiangyuan used the Living Flame to make the medicinal roots and stems grow into mature herbs, revealing the Heavenly Flame to Xiao Yan and the others.

Wei Jiangyuan used the Living Flame’s Child Flame to rapidly mature the herbs Xiao Yan needed for one final attempt to stop Ling Zhuo from winning the Pill Convention. With less than fifteen days left, Xiao Yan began refining an unfamiliar eighth-tier pill that had to reach more than five colors.

• Alchemists identified Wei Jiangyuan’s flame as the Living Flame, and Ling Zhuo explained that it was only a Child Flame.
• Ling Zhuo believed Wei Jiangyuan could not gather enough materials in time and considered how Xiao Yan’s attempt to subdue the Three Thousand Burning Flame might benefit him.
• Wei Jiangyuan used the Living Flame to mature dozens of herbs in three hours, then handed the final ingredients to Xiao Yan.
• Xiao Yan’s companions encouraged him as he prepared to refine the pill, while the observers questioned why he was attempting it instead of Wei Jiangyuan.
• Xiao Yan steadied himself, resolved to risk everything, and began heating the Black Demon Cauldron with the Red Lotus Core Flame.

Xiao Yan split his fused flame into three Heavenly Flames and used them simultaneously to refine three medicinal ingredients in one cauldron. He stabilized the flames with his soul power and Fire Gathering Method, then used Wind-Driving Palm to regulate their intensity.

• Xiao Yan split his flame into the Green Lotus Core Flame, Sea Heart Flame, and Crimson Lotus Karma Flame, astonishing the audience and revealing their origins.
• Xiao Yan placed three different medicinal ingredients in the cauldron and assigned each one to a separate Heavenly Flame.
• Yi Xu, Ling Zhuo, and other alchemists mocked Xiao Yan's attempt, while he used his Spiritual State Soul to keep the flames balanced and refine the herbs.
• Xiao Yan recalled Yao Lao teaching him the Fire Gathering Method for controlling multiple flames and realized that he was finally using it.
• Wei Jiangyuan questioned whether Xiao Yan could refine the herbs with his soul power divided, and Xiao Yan used Wind-Driving Palm to regulate the flames.

Xiao Yan used Yao Chen’s Fire Gathering Method and the Wind-Driving Palm to refine medicinal herbs at unprecedented speed during the Pill Convention. As he began fusing the sorted essences, Xuan Yi realized Yao Chen had never forgotten her, and Xiao Yan felt he was nearing a new realm in alchemy.

• Xuan Yi recalled Yao Chen designing the Fire Gathering Method for her and wondered when she would see him again.
• Xiao Yan combined the Fire Gathering Method, the Wind-Driving Palm, and three Heavenly Flames to refine medicinal herbs at a limit-breaking speed.
• Xiao Yan’s new approach to alchemy convinced him that he was beginning to forge his own path beyond Yao Lao’s instruction.
• Wei Jiangyuan judged that Xiao Yan was refining more than twice as fast as before, while Lei Jingxiao proudly praised his big brother.
• Xiao Yan finished sorting the medicinal herb essences after two and a half days, then immediately commanded them to begin pill fusion.

Xiao Yan refined the herbs far faster than expected and began fusing their medicinal energies with three Heavenly Flames, steadily forming a pill embryo. With five days left in the Pill Convention, Ling Zhuo grew uneasy as Xiao Yan prepared to settle their rivalry.

• Yao Qingyu learned that Xiao Yan refined the herbs in two and a half days, while Wei Jiangyuan said the task would normally take seven days.
• Ling Yu asked Ling Zhuo whether they should act, but Ling Zhuo chose to keep watching and believed Xiao Yan could not truly succeed.
• Cao Ying realized she was cheering Xiao Yan on rather than feeling competitive toward him.
• Xiao Yan used his soul power to sort and fuse the herbal energies while controlling three Heavenly Flames, and the process grew smoother after its difficult start.
• Xiao Yan stabilized the pill embryo inside the Black Demon Cauldron and resolved that he and Ling Zhuo would decide the final victor this time.

Xiao Yan’s thirteen-day refinement produced a pill with near-five-colored Pill Lightning, leaving him just short of Ling Zhuo’s result. Though Ling Zhuo declared victory, Xiao Yan revealed that his teacher was Yao Chen and launched one final gambit.

• As Xiao Yan’s refinement neared completion, Ling Yu asked Ling Zhuo for permission to attack him, but Ling Zhuo told him to wait because the Pill Tower was guarding Xiao Yan.
• Xiao Yan swept his sleeve, sending a pillar of three-colored Heavenly Flames from the Black Demon Cauldron and causing Pill Lightning to gather.
• The Pill Lightning advanced through silver, azure, red, and gold before stabilizing at four colors with only a faint trace of purple, leaving Xiao Yan’s result just short of five-colored lightning.
• Ling Zhuo declared that Xiao Yan had lost, but Xiao Yan calmly named Yao Chen as his teacher and called him the continent’s number one alchemist.
• Xiao Yan stepped forward and thrust his hand into the pillar of light, continuing his final gambit.

Xiao Yan used Yao Chen’s Spirit-Raising Method and Spirit-Nurturing Dust to increase the spirituality of his nearly five-colored Pill Lightning pill. As the refinement continued, Xuan Yi remembered Yao Chen and was overcome with emotion.

• Xiao Yan recalled that his pill had reached the limit of what his soul strength could refine and prepared to use Yao Chen’s Spirit-Raising Method.
• Xiao Yan combined his three Heavenly Flames, retrieved the pill, and returned it to the flames to break its stable state.
• Xiao Yan used Spirit-Nurturing Dust to draw in spiritual energy and raise the pill’s spirituality.
• Xuan Kongzi recognized the Spirit-Raising Method and began to believe Xiao Yan could succeed.
• Xuan Yi wept as the method brought back memories of Yao Chen, and the Pill Tower’s onlookers fell silent.

Xiao Yan used the Spirit-Raising Method to refine his pill’s Pill Lightning from five colors to quasi-six colors, defeating Ling Zhuo and winning the Pill Convention. As the crowd celebrated his victory, Yao Qingyu began to soften toward Xuan Yi after Wei Jiangyuan brought her to her mother.

• Wei Jiangyuan used his Dou Qi to carry Yao Qingyu to Xuan Yi, who embraced her and wept.
• Xiao Yan poured his spiritual strength into the pill and used the Spirit-Raising Method to restore the expanding thunderclouds.
• Xiao Yan produced five-colored Pill Lightning, matching Ling Zhuo’s score, then commanded the pill to rise further.
• A faint sixth color appeared, creating quasi-six-colored Pill Lightning and surpassing Ling Zhuo’s result.
• The judges declared Xiao Yan the Pill Convention champion, and he announced his name and pill achievement to the cheering crowd.

After Xiao Yan won the Pill Convention, Ling Zhuo was overwhelmed by his repeated defeat and feared the consequences within the Spirit Clan. Cao Ying and Dan Chen took the pills Xiao Yan offered, hoping they would resolve the problems in their bodies, while the Pill Tower watched to see what would happen.

• Ling Zhuo realized that he had truly lost to Xiao Yan despite using every advantage the Spirit Clan and Pill Realm had given him.
• Xiao Yan took out two eighth-tier pills and looked toward Ling Zhuo's side.
• Cao Ying and Dan Chen left the Spirit Clan's camp and asked Xiao Yan for the pills, intending to return to the Dan Clan.
• Xiao Yan handed Cao Ying and Dan Chen one pill each, and they swallowed them before beginning to cultivate.
• Pill Tower elders and other spectators watched Cao Ying and Dan Chen, hoping the pills would resolve their bodily problems.

Xiao Yan’s pills freed Cao Ying and Dan Chen from the Spirit Clan’s bloodline scheme and restored their control over their abilities. They declared their return to the Pill Tower, giving Xiao Yan two companions for the effort to subdue the Three Thousand Burning Flame.

• Cao Ying and Dan Chen endured the pills’ effects as they purged the harmful bloodline influence from their bodies.
• Black Flame stirred at the black blood they expelled, but Xiao Yan restrained it.
• Cao Ying regained her freedom, and Dan Chen recovered her strength and control over her soul-absorbing ability.
• Cao Ying and Dan Chen declared that they willingly returned to the Pill Tower, strengthening its position against the Spirit Clan.
• Wei Jiangyuan accepted that he would miss the Three Thousand Burning Flame expedition and considered meeting Xiao Yan the true gain of the Pill Convention.

The Pill Convention ended with Xiao Yan taking first place, while the Pill Tower announced the results and prepared to guide the top ten toward the Three Thousand Burning Flame. Ling He departed after Cao Ying and Dan Chen left the Spirit Clan, and the chapter left the Pill Tower relieved and poised to regain influence.

• Wei Jiangyuan revealed that the flawed pill formula he had given Lei Jingxiao had caused his repeated failures, enraging Lei Jingxiao.
• Xuan Kongzi and the Pill Tower leaders decided to announce the Pill Convention results ahead of schedule, while Ling He left after Cao Ying and Dan Chen departed the Spirit Clan.
• Xuan Yi and Xuan Leizi declined to announce the champion, so Xuan Kongzi addressed the crowd alone.
• Xuan Kongzi announced Xiao Yan as first place for refining an eighth-tier pill that produced near six-colored pill lightning.
• Xuan Kongzi named the other top ten alchemists and announced that guides would lead them to subdue the Three Thousand Burning Flame in three days.

After Xiao Yan won the Pill Convention, Ling Haonan mourned the Spirit Clan’s setback while Cao Ying sought Xuan Kongzi’s forgiveness for the Cao Clan’s defection. Xuan Kongzi welcomed Cao Ying back and sent her to Xiao Yan’s celebration banquet, leaving the Cao Clan with a path back to the Pill Tower.

• Ling Haonan watched Xiao Yan claim the championship and lamented that Heaven would not bless the Spirit Clan.
• Cao Ying knelt before Xuan Kongzi and apologized for joining the Spirit Clan with the Cao Clan.
• Xuan Kongzi forgave Cao Ying and the Cao Clan, saying he would not hold their departure against them.
• Xuan Kongzi reassured Cao Ying about losing to Xiao Yan and affirmed his care for her as his disciple.
• Xuan Kongzi asked Cao Ying to attend Xiao Yan’s celebration banquet with Dan Chen and bring him a jar of Thousand-Year Green Bodhi Brew.

Cao Ying and Dan Chen joined Xiao Yan's companions and watched Lei Jingxiao successfully refine his first pill. The group celebrated and discussed the Pill Convention, with Lei Jingxiao asking whether Xiao Yan's alchemy had approached Venerable Yao's level.

• Fei Tian welcomed Cao Ying and Dan Chen, who found the others gathered around Lei Jingxiao as he refined a pill.
• Cao Ying and Dan Chen watched Lei Jingxiao complete a fourth-tier pill without trouble.
• Wei Jiangyuan and Qing Lin led the group in applauding Lei Jingxiao, who boasted about his skill and drew laughter with Wei Jiangyuan's teasing.
• Cao Ying and Dan Chen joined the lively conversation, and the group discussed Xiao Yan and Venerable Yao both winning the Pill Convention.
• Lei Jingxiao asked whether Xiao Yan's alchemy had come close to Venerable Yao's level.

At Xiao Yan’s victory banquet, the younger generation compared his talent with their teachers and debated whether he was the strongest Pill Convention contestant in history. Xiao Yan arrived with Xiao Yi Xian, who was nearly six months pregnant, and his friends offered support before another knock interrupted the gathering.

• Dan Chen said Venerable Yao was still stronger than Xiao Yan and might have reached the threshold of a Ninth-grade Alchemist.
• Wei Jiangyuan changed the subject, and the group reflected that none of them had surpassed their teachers.
• Cao Ying asked whether Xiao Yan had been the strongest contestant in Pill Convention history when judged at the time of the competition, and Wei Jiangyuan said he would ask Old Man Shennong.
• Xiao Yan arrived at the victory banquet with Xiao Yi Xian, who told Wei Jiangyuan she was almost six months pregnant.
• Cao Ying offered Xiao Yan access to the Ten Thousand Pill Pavilion’s pills for Xiao Yi Xian, and Lei Jingxiao promised to help care for her and give the baby anything from his Storage Ring.
• Someone knocked at the door again.

Xiao Yan hosted a celebration banquet after winning the Pill Convention, and Tang Huo'er joined the gathering after Tang Zhen left. The guests congratulated Xiao Yan, who reflected on their support, while he eagerly awaited Haika’s finished Heavy Profound Ruler.

• Tang Zhen arrived with Tang Huo'er, left her at Xiao Yan’s banquet, and hinted that Haika’s reforged Heavy Profound Ruler would surprise Xiao Yan.
• Wei Jiangyuan, Yao Qingyu, Lei Jingxiao, and Qing Lin helped Tang Huo'er settle in with the group.
• Wei Jiangyuan raised a toast to celebrate Xiao Yan’s Pill Convention championship, and Xiao Yan thanked the friends who had supported him.
• Xiao Yan thought about the people who had helped him and anticipated seeing the Heavy Profound Ruler Haika was finishing.
• Wei Jiangyuan jokingly claimed credit for Xiao Yan’s victory, prompting laughter before Xiao Yan toasted the guests.