Chapter Summaries

Xiao Yun and Zi Yan freed Yao Ming from the chains imprisoning him beneath the Nine Serene Yellow Spring and bound him with a soul mark so he would serve them. After Xiao Yun gave him pills to recover, they headed toward the surface, where Yao Ming expected to confront Yao Xiaotian.

• Yao Ming pleaded with Xiao Yun and Zi Yan to free him, offering to lead the Nine Serene Ground Python Clan in their service and explaining that the Yellow Springs Yin Stone’s mechanisms held him captive.
• Zi Yan cracked the Yellow Springs Yin Stone with a punch, and Xiao Yun used needles of Heavenly Flame to break the mechanisms and sever all four chains.
• Xiao Yun demanded that Yao Ming accept a soul mark, and Yao Ming agreed after seeing Zi Yan’s strength and learning she was a Dragon-Phoenix.
• Zi Yan planted a soul mark on Yao Ming, binding him to her, and Xiao Yun gave him medicinal pills to restore his Dou Qi.
• Yao Ming vowed revenge on Yao Xiaotian, and Xiao Yun led the three of them toward the lake’s surface.

Xiao Yun and his companions freed Yao Ming from beneath the Nine Serene Yellow Spring while Elder Qing Shan fought Yao Xiaotian above. As Qing Shan overwhelmed the Nine Serene Ground Python chief and his reinforcements arrived, Zi Yan ordered him to stand down, intending to secure the loyalty of the whole clan rather than simply kill Yao Xiaotian.

• Yao Xiaotian rushed to the Nether Snake Earth Vein after sensing that Yao Ming’s seal had broken, but Elder Qing Shan blocked his way.
• Xiao Yun, Xiao Yi Xian, Yao Ming, and the others emerged from the Nine Serene Yellow Spring and headed up to watch the battle.
• Yao Ming recognized Yao Xiaotian and threatened him, while Yao Xiaotian mocked his brother and threatened Xiao Yun’s group.
• Elder Qing Shan attacked Yao Xiaotian in defense of the Ancient Dragon Clan and badly injured him, even after Yao Xiaotian transformed into his enormous serpent form.
• Yao Xiaotian summoned the Great Elder and the Nether Snake Guards, but Zi Yan ordered Qing Shan to return because she wanted the Nine Serene Ground Python Clan’s allegiance.

Zi Yan and her allies confronted Yao Xiaotian’s forces at the Nether Snake Earth Vein, where Yao Ming exposed the conspiracy that had imprisoned him and reclaimed the Nine Serene Ground Python Clan’s allegiance. After the clan split between the two claimants, Zi Yan ended the dispute and ordered the Dragon Armor Army to attack.

• Yao Xiaotian summoned the clan’s experts and ordered the Nether Snake Guard to form the Ten Thousand Serpents Formation around Zi Yan’s group.
• Zi Yan called on Yao Ming to reveal himself, and he confronted the clan elders as the supposedly dead former chief.
• Poison Snake Elder attacked Yao Ming, but Yao Ming resisted him and proved his identity by revealing the Nine Serene Nether Staff.
• Yao Ming accused Yao Xiaotian and Poison Snake Elder of imprisoning him, and about one-third of the clan’s elders joined his side.
• Zi Yan stopped Yao Ming from trying to persuade the remaining elders and ordered the Dragon Armor Army to destroy Yao Xiaotian’s forces.

Zi Yan led the Ancient Void Dragon Clan’s Dragon Armor Army to defeat Yao Xiaotian’s forces and gave Yao Ming permission to settle their feud. Yao Ming killed his brother, and the Nine Serene Ground Python Clan became a vassal of the Ancient Dragon Clan.

• Zi Yan summoned the Dragon Armor Army, which surrounded Yao Xiaotian’s forces and attacked while Elder Qing Shan fought the Poison Snake Elder.
• Yao Ming asked Zi Yan for a chance to earn redemption through battle, but she told him to recover and later help attack the Heaven Demon Phoenix Clan.
• Zi Yan allowed Yao Ming to kill Yao Xiaotian, and Yao Ming revealed he had reached Two-Star Dou Sheng before overwhelming his brother.
• Yao Xiaotian begged for mercy, but Yao Ming killed him and removed his magic core.
• Xiao Yun said Yao Xiaotian’s faction had lost and that the Nine Serene Ground Python Clan would become a vassal of the Ancient Dragon Clan.

Yao Ming and the Dragon Armor Army defeated the rebels, ending the battle for the Nine Serene Ground Python Clan. Zi Yan returned to Dragon Island while Xiao Yun stayed behind with Xiao Yi Xian and the others to seek the Yellow Springs Demon Saint’s inheritance.

• Yao Ming presented Yao Xiaotian’s demon core to Zi Yan, and Xiao Yun let him keep it as his spoils.
• Elder Qing Shan defeated Poison Snake Elder, and Xiao Yun killed him with the Eight Desolations Annihilation Flame before giving his soul to Yao Ming.
• The Dragon Armor Army eliminated every Nether Snake Guard, and Zi Yan ordered Elder Qing Shan to return to Dragon Island with the army.
• Zi Yan charged Yao Ming with consolidating the Nine Serene Ground Python Clan’s forces before the Ancient Void Dragon Clan attacked the Heaven Demon Phoenix Clan.
• Xiao Yun declined Zi Yan’s invitation to return to Dragon Island and chose to investigate the Yellow Springs Demon Saint’s inheritance; Zi Yan placed a Dragon Seal on his palm so she could locate him.
• Zi Yan departed for Dragon Island, and Xiao Yun led Xiao Yi Xian and the others to ask Yao Ming about the inheritance.

After helping Yao Ming take control of the Nine Serene Ground Python Clan, Xiao Yun learned that the Yellow Springs Stone Tablet held the Yellow Springs Demon Saint’s techniques and essence blood. The next morning, Yao Ming brought Xiao Yun and the others to the tablet, where Xiao Yun prepared to test its soul-realm restriction.

• Yao Ming ordered the elders to eliminate Yao Xiaotian’s loyalists and any Snake-People Tribe that resisted.
• Yao Ming told Xiao Yun that the Yellow Springs Stone Tablet contained Yellow Springs Heavenly Fury and the Demon Saint Essence Blood, guarded by the Demon Saint’s remnant soul.
• Yao Ming learned Xiao Yun was an Eighth-Tier Alchemy Grandmaster and agreed to let him attempt the tablet in exchange for a copy of the cultivation method.
• After a night of clan unrest, Yao Ming led Xiao Yun and the others to the ancient altar and showed them the Yellow Springs Stone Tablet.
• Yao Ming recalled that the tablet had badly injured him before, while Xiao Yun sensed the vast gap between the Heaven Realm and Emperor-Realm Soul.

Xiao Yun entered the Yellow Springs Stone Tablet to claim the Demon Saint Essence Blood and Yellow Springs Heavenly Fury, then confronted Yellow Springs Demon Saint’s remnant soul. After surviving the remnant’s powerful soul attack, Xiao Yun left Yellow Springs Demon Saint shocked by his defenses.

• Xiao Yun ignored Yao Ming and the women’s warnings, entered the Yellow Springs Stone Tablet with his soul, and asked them not to disturb him.
• Xiao Yun crossed the tablet’s inner space, withstood its lightning, shattered the Yellow Springs Finger with a Soul Power dragon, and burned away the Yellow Springs Palm with the Eight Desolations Annihilation Flame.
• Yellow Springs Demon Saint appeared and recognized Xiao Yun’s Heavenly Flame and Late Heaven Realm soul; Xiao Yun demanded the Demon Saint Essence Blood and Yellow Springs Heavenly Fury.
• Yellow Springs Demon Saint revealed that his soul had reached the Emperor Realm and unleashed Yellow Springs Heavenly Fury, which attacked Xiao Yun with a devastating sound wave.
• Xiao Yun’s black lightning repeatedly met and devoured the sound-wave assault, leaving Yellow Springs Demon Saint shocked that Xiao Yun had survived.

Xiao Yun survived Yellow Springs Demon Saint’s Yellow Springs Heavenly Fury and passed his test, earning the Yellow Springs techniques and Demon Saint Essence Blood. After revealing that the world lacked Origin Qi for anyone to reach Dou Di, Yellow Springs Demon Saint gave Xiao Yun the essence blood and let his remnant soul fade away.

• Xiao Yun dispersed his Black Demon Lightning after enduring Yellow Springs Heavenly Fury, and Yellow Springs Demon Saint recognized that he had passed the tests.
• Yellow Springs Demon Saint gave Xiao Yun the cultivation methods for Yellow Springs Heavenly Fury, Yellow Springs Finger, and Yellow Springs Palm.
• Yellow Springs Demon Saint gathered his Demon Saint Essence Blood and reflected on how the world’s restrictions had prevented him from becoming a Dou Di.
• Yellow Springs Demon Saint learned Xiao Yun already knew the world lacked Origin Qi, then gave him the essence blood and asked to be left alone.
• Xiao Yun bowed farewell as Yellow Springs Demon Saint’s remnant soul dissipated.

Xiao Yun emerged from the Yellow Springs Stone Tablet injured after defeating the Yellow Springs Demon Saint and securing the Yellow Springs Heavenly Fury inheritance. Yao Ming failed to receive the technique because his soul realm was too low, then granted Xiao Yun’s group permission to use the Nine Serene Yellow Spring; after recovering for several days, they returned to it.

• Xiao Yun emerged from the stone tablet with injuries from facing the Yellow Springs Demon Saint and told Yao Ming that he had defeated him.
• Yao Ming rushed to claim the Yellow Springs Heavenly Fury inheritance, but the tablet’s soul impact injured him and sent him flying down the stairs.
• Xiao Yun explained that the technique required a Heaven Realm soul, and Yao Ming accepted that he could not cultivate it yet.
• Yao Ming thanked Xiao Yun for helping the Nine Serene Ground Python Clan obtain the inheritance and allowed his group to use the Nine Serene Yellow Spring.
• Yao Ming returned to handle clan affairs while Xiao Yun’s group recuperated for several days, then went to the Nine Serene Yellow Spring.

Xiao Yun and Xiao Yi Xian left Medusa and Qing Lin to cultivate with Demon Saint Essence Blood beneath the Nine Serene Yellow Spring, then traveled toward Central Plains. In Tianhuang City, Xiao Yun arrived as Burning Flame Valley’s Elder Chihuo sought high-level alchemists, and his identity as Grandmaster Xiao Yun stunned the crowd.

• Xiao Yun gave Demon Saint Essence Blood to Medusa, Qing Lin, and Xiao Yi Xian, then arranged for Medusa and Qing Lin to cultivate beneath the Nine Serene Yellow Spring while he and Xiao Yi Xian departed.
• Yao Ming promised to station Nether Snake Guards above the ravine to protect Medusa and Qing Lin.
• Xiao Yun and Xiao Yi Xian flew through Central Plains, observed unrest among city factions, and suspected the Hall of Souls was exploiting the chaos to harvest souls.
• Xiao Yun and Xiao Yi Xian reached Tianhuang City, where Elder Chihuo announced that Burning Flame Valley would grant three years of Spatial Wormhole management rights to the clan that found a high-level alchemist.
• Xiao Yun appeared before Elder Chihuo and the gathered crowd, who greeted him as Grandmaster Xiao Yun and Venerable Xian.

Xiao Yun agreed to heal Burning Flame Valley’s young lady and used his connection to Liu Qing to secure the Liu Clan control of Tianhuang City’s Spatial Wormhole. After Xiao Yun left with Elder Chihuo for Burning Flame Valley, the plaza’s factions rushed to curry favor with Liu Qing.

• Elder Chihuo explained that the young lady had been injured by the Nine Dragons Lightning Flame and needed a High Seventh Tier pill, and Xiao Yun offered to refine it.
• Xiao Yun asked Liu Qing to open a Spatial Wormhole to the Northern Region for Xiao Yi Xian, who departed after bidding him farewell.
• Xiao Yun gave Liu Qing a bottle of pills and asked him to help any Xiao Clan members who came to the Central Plains.
• Elder Chihuo granted the Liu Clan management rights over Tianhuang City's Spatial Wormhole, leaving Cheng Yao unable to object.
• Xiao Yun and Elder Chihuo departed for Burning Flame Valley, and the crowd hurried to congratulate and court Liu Qing.

Xiao Yun arrived at Burning Flame Valley and agreed to refine a High Seventh-Tier pill for Tang Zhen. He left the alchemists eager to observe the pill refinement and asked Tang Zhen to find him a fire-rich place to cultivate and advance his realm.

• Tang Zhen explained that he needed help refining a High Seventh-Tier pill and proposed testing the gathered alchemists with his Nine Dragons Lightning Flame.
• The alchemists balked at risking their Soul Power, so Tang Zhen offered generous rewards to anyone who passed the test.
• Xiao Yun arrived, revealed his Eighth-Tier alchemist emblem, and silenced Mo Xiao after Tang Zhen rebuked him for disrespecting Xiao Yun.
• Mo Chen greeted Xiao Yun, who promised to transfer the Mid-Seventh-Tier alchemist to the Pill Region.
• Xiao Yun agreed to refine Tang Zhen's pill and asked him to find a place with abundant fire-element energy for cultivation.
• The alchemists asked to watch Xiao Yun refine the pill, and Xiao Yun welcomed them to observe without paying tuition.

Xiao Yun began improving the Fire Bodhi Pill to heal Tang Huo'er and strengthen her fire affinity and cultivation. His refinement produced an Eighth-Tier Pill, and the chapter ended as colored Pill Lightning gathered above the plaza.

• Tang Zhen brought Xiao Yun and the alchemists to Scarlet Fire Plaza and gave him the Fire Bodhi Pill formula and ingredients.
• Xiao Yun proposed improving the pill for Tang Huo'er, and Tang Zhen trusted him to proceed with the ingredients Xiao Yun had brought.
• Xiao Yun used the Myriad Beast Cauldron and Eight Desolations Annihilation Flame to refine the pill while the alchemists watched.
• After days of refining, Xiao Yun completed the pill, and its fragrance and heavenly energy fluctuations announced an Eighth-Tier Pill.
• Three colors of Pill Lightning appeared as Tang Zhen hoped the pill would gain even more colors and enhance Tang Huo'er's talent.

Xiao Yun refined an Eighth Tier Six-Colored pill for Tang Zhen, then accepted Tang Zhen’s offer of a secluded place to cultivate. After hearing the Fire Cloud Ancestor warn that the continent’s situation had grown turbulent, Xiao Yun entered an active volcano to pursue his breakthrough.

• Xiao Yun refined an Eighth Tier Six-Colored pill and absorbed its Pill Lightning without harm.
• Xiao Yun gave the pill to Tang Zhen, and the alchemists examined it before leaving.
• The Fire Cloud Ancestor approved Xiao Yun’s use of his former secluded cultivation site and urged him to break through to Dou Sheng soon.
• Tang Zhen brought Xiao Yun to an active volcano and warned him about dangerous magma currents in its core.
• Xiao Yun descended through the magma toward the volcano’s core, while Tang Zhen set up a spatial barrier around the volcano.

Xiao Yun cultivated at the bottom of a volcano with Demon Saint Essence Blood, beginning his breakthrough from Half-Saint to Dou Sheng. Two years later, while the Central Plains was shaken by the Hall of Souls’ attacks and the destruction of Myriad Sword Pavilion, Yao Lao suspected the faction was harvesting souls.

• Xiao Yun found a stone platform deep in the magma and used it to absorb Earthfire energy while refining Demon Saint Essence Blood.
• Xiao Yun absorbed the essence blood, suppressed its violent energy, and began rapidly increasing his Dou Qi as magma gathered into a vortex around him.
• After a year, Tang Zhen grew alarmed and prepared to investigate, but Fire Cloud Ancestor returned from the earth’s core and confirmed Xiao Yun was safe and undergoing a breakthrough.
• During Xiao Yun’s two-year seclusion, the Hall of Souls openly attacked factions across the Central Plains and destroyed Myriad Sword Pavilion, killing Sword Venerable.
• At a gathering in Burning Flame Valley, Feng Xian grieved the loss of Myriad Sword Pavilion, and Yao Lao said the Hall of Souls was likely harvesting souls.

Yao Lao and the leaders of Burning Flame Valley discussed the Hall of Souls’ soul-harvesting scheme and Wind Venerable proposed forming an alliance against it. Their meeting was interrupted when Xiao Yun broke through to Dou Sheng, and the group witnessed his immense power erupting from the volcano where he had been cultivating.

• Yao Lao explained that the Hall of Souls wanted souls to create Soul Origin, which could strengthen a soul toward the Emperor Realm.
• Fire Cloud Ancestor revealed that Burning Flame Valley’s founder had possessed an Emperor-Realm Soul, but that it did not grant the power to become a Dou Di.
• Wind Venerable urged the factions to form an alliance against the Hall of Souls, while Yao Lao said they needed the Pill Tower’s support and warned that its old guard opposed intervention.
• Burning Flame Valley shook, and Fire Cloud Ancestor sensed that Xiao Yun had broken through to Dou Sheng.
• Yao Lao and the others flew toward Xiao Yun’s volcano but stopped a thousand zhang away under the pressure of his breakthrough as a giant black fire dragon erupted from the crater.

Xiao Yun emerged from two years of seclusion as a Two-Star Dou Sheng and gave Yao Lao Yellow Springs Demon Saint Essence Blood to help him break through. After learning that the Hall of Souls had ravaged much of the continent, Xiao Yun heard plans to form an alliance against them and was proposed as its leader.

• Xiao Yun used the Demon Saint Essence Blood and Earthfire energy to break through to Two-Star Dou Sheng and discovered he could control space.
• Xiao Yun gave Yao Lao a drop of Yellow Springs Demon Saint Essence Blood and urged him to use it to become a Dou Sheng.
• Xiao Yun told Fire Cloud Ancestor and the others that he had reached Two-Star Dou Sheng and learned he had been in seclusion for two years.
• Fire Cloud Ancestor and the others reported that the Hall of Souls had subdued the Heavenly Nether Sect and devastated regions beyond the Northwestern Continent.
• Wind Venerable proposed Xiao Yun as leader of an alliance against the Hall of Souls, and Xiao Yun reacted with surprise.

Xiao Yun accepted the position of alliance leader and discussed bringing Pill Tower into the alliance as the Hall of Souls threatened alchemists. He then set out to visit his companions while Yao Lao began his breakthrough to Dou Sheng.

• Xiao Yun agreed to lead the alliance after Yao Lao and the elders argued that his strength and prestige would help unite its members.
• Xiao Yun learned that Pill Tower had moved the Pill Conference forward to protect alchemists from the Hall of Souls and proposed that he and Yao Lao visit Pill Tower.
• Xiao Yun asked Yao Lao about his companions and learned that Xiao Yi Xian had returned to Starfall Pavilion, while Qing Lin and Queen Medusa remained away.
• Yao Lao told Xiao Yun that Zi Yan had visited Burning Flame Valley several times, and Xiao Yun revealed that she was the Dragon Emperor of the Ancient Void Dragon Clan.
• Xiao Yun gave Yao Lao a jade tablet to signal when his breakthrough was complete, then departed to visit Starfall Pavilion and the Beast Domain.

Xiao Yun and Yao Lao traveled to the Pill Tower after Yao Lao broke through to the Dou Sheng realm, then proposed an alliance against the Hall of Souls. Xuan Kongzi and the other Pill Tower giants supported confronting the threat, but the alliance still needed approval from the Little Pill Tower’s elders.

• Xiao Yun left Xiao Yi Xian on Dragon Island and traveled with Yao Lao to Holy Pill City for the Pill Conference.
• Xiao Yun and Yao Lao visited Xuan Kongzi, who discovered that both had reached the Dou Sheng realm.
• Yao Lao told Xuan Kongzi, Xuan Yi, and Tian Leizi that Xiao Yun had given him Half-Emperor Essence Blood, enabling his breakthrough.
• Yao Lao explained his plan to form an alliance against the Hall of Souls, and Tian Leizi and Xuan Yi supported it.
• Xuan Kongzi warned that the Little Pill Tower’s elders would resist involving the Pill Tower, while Xuan Yi lamented that the absent Ancestor could have settled the matter.

Xiao Yun and the Pill Tower elders struggled to secure support for an alliance against the Hall of Souls, but the Little Pill Tower’s council remained divided. Xiao Yun offered to refine a Ninth-Tier Treasure Pill publicly after the Pill Conference to qualify for entry and win the decisive vote.

• Xuan Kongzi explained that the Pill Tower Ancestor had been missing for decades, leaving the Grand Elder Council to decide whether to join the alliance.
• Xuan Kongzi and Yao Lao visited the Little Pill Tower, but only two elders supported the alliance, leaving the council tied and the decision on hold.
• Xiao Yun asked whether a new elder could join the council and learned that the next alchemist convention would not take place for eight years.
• Yao Lao proposed reaching Ninth Tier as a shortcut, but Xuan Kongzi pointed out that Yao Lao’s past departure from the Little Pill Tower could prevent his return.
• Xiao Yun volunteered to refine a Ninth-Tier Treasure Pill publicly after the Pill Conference, and Xuan Kongzi agreed to arrange the attempt.