Chapter Summaries

Xiao Yun and the other successful students set out for the secret location of Jia Nan Academy’s Inner Academy. Hu Gan and the elders escorted them through the dangerous back mountains, leaving the group still en route under their protection.

• Xiao Yun arrived at Vice Dean Hu Gan’s study with the other fifty students selected for the Inner Academy.
• Hu Gan congratulated the students and explained that the Inner Academy’s location was kept secret and its training could transform them.
• Ten Griffon Beasts arrived, and the students boarded in groups of five while Hu Gan and three elders formed Dou Qi Wings to escort them.
• The Griffon Beasts flew into Jia Nan Academy’s back mountains, where Magical Beasts attacked the group.
• Hu Gan and the elders destroyed the attacking beasts with powerful energy, clearing a path through the swarm as the flight continued.

Xiao Yun and the other freshmen entered the Inner Academy through a hidden silver gate and received Fire Energy Crystal Cards. They learned they must cross a forest while Inner Academy students hunt them for their cards, and the competition began.

• Hu Gan led the freshmen through a silver gate that appeared in the air and into the Inner Academy's hidden entrance.
• Hu Gan introduced the top five freshmen, including Xiao Yun, to Elder Su and Elder Liu.
• Elder Su gave each freshman a Fire Energy Crystal Card marked with the number five and warned them to guard it.
• Elder Su explained that Inner Academy students could attack the freshmen in the forest to seize their Fire Energy and promised rewards for those who reached the academy.
• Elder Su announced the Fire Energy Hunting Competition and ordered the freshmen to escape through the forest.

Xiao Yun led Fang Wen and the other top students into the Fire Energy Hunting Competition, where they encountered an old student team. After Xiao Yun defeated the team’s captain and the group subdued the fleeing students, they began dividing the captured Fire Energy.

• Xiao Yun asked Fang Wen and the other three students whether they would follow him, and they agreed to serve on his team.
• Xiao Yun warned his teammates not to undermine the group and explained that they would eventually face the White Fiend Team and its Dou Ling expert.
• Five Inner Academy old students confronted Xiao Yun’s group and demanded their Fire Energy.
• Xiao Yun revealed his Seven-Star Da Dou Shi strength, knocked Roguo unconscious with one spear strike, and charged the other old students.
• Fang Wen and the others blocked the old students’ escape, while Xiao Yun knocked another pursuer unconscious.
• Xiao Yun let each teammate choose a Fire Energy Chip as spoils, and Fang Wen transferred twenty days of Fire Energy to his own card.

Xiao Yun and his four companions ambushed Lin Qi’s team, defeated the older students, and took their Fire Energy Cards. After giving healing pills and advice to the freshmen Lin Qi’s group had robbed, Xiao Yun set out with his companions to hunt more teams and prepare for the strongest team guarding the forest’s end.

• Lin Qi’s team beat five freshmen and stole their Fire Energy Cards before Xiao Yun and his companions surrounded them.
• Xiao Yun identified the older students’ strength and sent Fang Wen and the others to fight four of them while he faced Lin Qi.
• Xiao Yun dodged Lin Qi’s attack and knocked him unconscious with a single punch, while his companions defeated the other older students.
• Lin Qi handed over his card, and Xiao Yun’s group took the Fire Energy from all five cards.
• Xiao Yun gave the injured freshmen healing pills, warned them about the strongest team at the forest’s end, and left with his companions to seek more older-student teams.

Xiao Yun's group faced the Black Fiend Team after defeating the other ordinary old-student teams, and Xiao Yun defeated captain Lin Dong with his Purple Crystal Lion Flame. After the team took the Black Fiend members' Fire Energy, Xiao Yun prepared to lead his companions to challenge the White Fiend Team at the finish line.

• Xiao Yun sensed the Black Fiend Team approaching and learned that the old students had spread word of his group's victories.
• Captain Lin Dong demanded the group's Fire Energy, and Xiao Yun challenged him while Fang Wen and the others fought the remaining Black Fiend members.
• Xiao Yun used his Purple Crystal Lion Flame to overcome Lin Dong's ice-based attacks and forced him to concede.
• Xiao Yun gave Lin Dong a healing pill, took his Fire Energy Card, and helped Fang Wen and the others defeat the rest of the Black Fiend Team.
• Xiao Yun told Fang Wen and the others to recover before heading to the finish line to face the White Fiend Team, and he took the first watch.

Xiao Yun and his companions reached the rocky clearing where the White Fiend Team awaited them as the final checkpoint of the Fire Energy Hunting Competition. Xiao Yun faced Captain Xu Feng, a newly advanced Dou Ling, and prepared to test his full strength.

• Lin Dong returned with the Black Fiend Team after failing to defeat Xiao Yun, and warned Xu Feng that Xiao Yun was unusually strong.
• Xu Feng dismissed Lin Dong's warning and declared that he would defeat Xiao Yun himself.
• Xiao Yun and his four companions arrived at the rocky field and faced the White Fiend Team.
• Xiao Yun's Purple Crystal Lion Flame dispersed Xu Feng's icy pressure as both teams spread out to fight.
• Xu Feng drew a silver-white spear and challenged Xiao Yun, who looked forward to testing himself against a Dou Ling powerhouse.

Xiao Yun fought Xu Feng, overcoming his ice techniques with his spear, Purple Crystal Lion Flame, and medicinal pills. Xu Feng ran out of Dou Qi and admitted defeat, leaving the watching students stunned that a Da Dou Shi had beaten a Dou Ling.

• Xiao Yun and Xu Feng clashed with their spears, and Xu Feng was forced back by Xiao Yun’s strength.
• Xu Feng unleashed the Ice Sea Profound Dragon, but Xiao Yun’s Flowing Flame Fist met it and the two techniques canceled each other out.
• Xiao Yun pressed the attack with Purple Crystal Lion Flame, burning through Xu Feng’s Dou Qi armor and draining his remaining energy.
• Xiao Yun swallowed medicinal pills to restore his strength, and Xu Feng gave up, saying he could no longer fight.

After winning the Fire Energy Hunting Competition, Xiao Yun and the other new students entered the Inner Academy and received their rewards. Xiao Yun settled into the new residence with his teammates, then headed for the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower and waited above the crowd outside it.

• Elder Su stopped the fighting, awarded every new student ten days of Fire Energy, and gave Xiao Yun, Wang Hongjing, Gongsun Sibao, Ye Zhengfan, and Fang Wen Azure Fire Crystal Cards with thirty days of Fire Energy.
• The old students retrieved the new students from the forest, and Elder Su led them into the Inner Academy.
• Elder Su assigned Xiao Yun and the other four a shared residence and explained the Inner Academy’s factions and emphasis on strength.
• Xiao Yun declined to establish a faction before reaching the Dou Ling realm, then set off alone to see the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower.
• Xiao Yun reached the tower, recognized the Space Lock protecting it, and waited on a tree branch as students crowded toward the entrance.

Xiao Yun entered the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower and absorbed its Heart Flame seed with his Purple Crystal Lion Flame. Elder Liu showed him the tower and arranged a place for him to cultivate on the first floor for seven days.

• Xiao Yun entered the tower and used his Dou Qi and Purple Crystal Lion Flame to devour the Heart Flame seed that had begun burning his body.
• Elder Liu arrived, recognized Xiao Yun from the Fire Energy Hunting Competition, and sent the watching students away.
• Elder Liu explained the cultivation rooms, Fire Energy costs, and the dangers of Fire Poison and descending to hotter floors.
• Xiao Yun agreed to cultivate on the first floor for a week, as Inner Academy rules required new students to do.
• Elder Liu lent Xiao Yun his usual mid-grade cultivation room, and Xiao Yun entered to begin cultivating.

Xiao Yun cultivated in the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower, tempering his Dou Qi with the Falling Heart Flame until he reached the peak of Seven-Star Da Dou Shi and began accumulating Fire Poison. After leaving the tower, he persuaded Elder Liu to arrange a trip to Falling Thunder Valley, and Elder Su carried him there.

• Xiao Yun used an Azure Fire Crystal Card to activate a cultivation room and tempered his Dou Qi in the Falling Heart Flame, raising his Status Panel progress from seventy to seventy-one.
• Xiao Yun cultivated until the tower bell rang, then noticed a trace of Fire Poison and left the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower in accordance with academy rules.
• Xiao Yun found Elder Liu and asked him to take him to Falling Thunder Valley, presenting his teacher's token as proof.
• Elder Liu summoned Elder Su, who warned Xiao Yun that the valley was dangerous for a Da Dou Shi but agreed to take him after Xiao Yun insisted.
• Elder Su carried Xiao Yun south through the air, using Dou Qi to hold him by the collar.

Xiao Yun entered Falling Thunder Valley to cultivate the Ten Thousand Thunders Body Tempering technique, enduring powerful lightning as he learned to control it. His body began awakening to the thunderous power, which erupted into a silver barrier around him.

• Elder Su brought Xiao Yun to Falling Thunder Valley, where Xiao Yun chose to cultivate at its outer edge.
• Xiao Yun swallowed the Golden Thunder Flower and began circulating Dou Qi according to the Ten Thousand Thunders Body Tempering technique.
• Thunderbolts struck Xiao Yun as Elder Su secretly watched and decided he could endure the cultivation without help.
• Xiao Yun repeatedly failed to guide the violent thunderous power before finally controlling it and circulating it through his meridians.
• Xiao Yun completed a full cycle of thunderous power, and his body began absorbing it as his skin blackened and his heartbeat grew thunderous.
• A surge of thunderous power burst from Xiao Yun and formed a silver barrier around his body.

After surviving seven days of the Lightning-into-Body Technique, Xiao Yun returned to the Inner Academy stronger and advanced to Nine-Star Da Dou Shi. Learning that older students were extorting new students, he decided to establish a faction for protection and left Fang Wen to gather recruits.

• The silver barrier restored and strengthened Xiao Yun as he unconsciously absorbed lightning, and he awoke after seven days of cultivation.
• Fire Elder found Xiao Yun, warned him against using the Lightning-into-Body Technique recklessly, and gave him pill formulas to improve his lightning resistance.
• Xiao Yun returned to the dormitory and learned from Fang Wen that older students were demanding protection money and most of their roommates had joined factions.
• Xiao Yun told Fang Wen to find unaffiliated new students and make a list of those willing to join his new faction, then went inside to cultivate.

Xiao Yun founded Xiao Sect and introduced pills that suppressed and cleared Fire Poison, turning the faction into a success among Inner Academy students. After the pills sold out, he gave Fang Wen more and ordered him to recruit Third-Tier Alchemists to expand production before Xiao Yun left to cultivate.

• Xiao Yun gave Fang Wen four Fire Poison pill varieties and appointed him to manage Xiao Sect, gather ingredients, and sell pills for a share of the sales.
• Xiao Yun refined a patterned Ice Vein Pill and continued producing Third-Tier pills.
• Fang Wen sold the pills near the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower, and students rushed to buy more after the pills eased their Fire Poison symptoms.
• Xiao Yun gave Fang Wen one hundred sixty more pills and told him to recruit Third-Tier Alchemists under a seventy-thirty Fire Energy split.
• Xiao Yun left Fang Wen to manage pill production and went to cultivate in the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower.

After refining his Dou Qi with the Falling Heart Flame until his foundation stabilized at Nine-Star Da Dou Shi Peak, Xiao Yun entered the Inner Academy Arena to seek a challenging fight. He won several consecutive matches and finally faced his first Dou Ling-level opponent.

• Xiao Yun cultivated in a high-grade chamber, using the Falling Heart Flame to burn away impurities and strengthen his foundation until he reached Nine-Star Da Dou Shi Peak.
• Xiao Yun registered for an open challenge at the Arena and received number seventy-eight for Group B.
• Xiao Yun defeated Raging Bear Shi Yan with a single punch, shocking the spectators.
• Xiao Yun chose consecutive battles after the referee explained the rewards, then kicked his next Nine-Star Peak Da Dou Shi opponent off the platform.
• Xiao Yun won several more fights against Nine-Star Peak Da Dou Shi opponents before a burly Dou Ling-level fighter became his fifth opponent.

Xiao Yun fought a physically stronger burly man in the Inner Academy Arena, using the Purple Crystal Lion Flame and his spear techniques to overcome the brute’s overwhelming strength. After exhausting both fighters and setting a trap, Xiao Yun won with a Scarlet Flame Palm, then admitted he was too exhausted to continue competing.

• Xiao Yun struggled to defend against the burly man’s powerful axe attacks and was driven to the edge of the arena.
• Xiao Yun used the Purple Crystal Lion Flame to launch a counterattack, but the burly man knocked him to the arena’s edge.
• Xiao Yun swallowed medicinal pills and resumed the fight, attacking with agile spear techniques and Purple Flame.
• Xiao Yun kept pressing the burly man until both fighters were exhausted and the brute knocked his spear away.
• Xiao Yun stabilized the spear and unleashed Scarlet Flame Palm at close range, sending the burly man crashing down.
• The referee declared Xiao Yun the winner after confirming the burly man had fainted, and Xiao Yun refused to continue competing.

After defeating Xu Han, Xiao Yun collapsed from exhaustion and woke in the Arena medical room, where he paid five days of Fire Energy for treatment. Back at his loft, he delegated more of Xiao Sect’s management to Fang Wen and planned to gather medicinal ingredients for pills to aid his coming breakthrough to Dou Ling.

• The Arena spectators celebrated Xiao Yun’s victory, and veterans and intelligence agents spread stories of his achievements and background.
• The exhausted Xiao Yun fell asleep after the referee carried him and Xu Han to the medical room.
• Xiao Yun woke after a day’s rest, reflected on how battle strengthened cultivation, and paid five days of Fire Energy to leave the medical room.
• Xiao Yun returned to his loft, reviewed Xiao Sect’s sales with Fang Wen, and set rewards and ingredient allocations for the recruited Alchemists.
• Xiao Yun left Fang Wen in charge of routine Xiao Sect affairs and took three hundred days of Fire Energy to visit the Medicinal Materials Repository.

Xiao Yun entered the Inner Academy’s Medicinal Materials Repository to gather ingredients for a Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill, but could not find the essential Purple Spirit Flower. As he turned to ask Elder Hao for help, a childlike voice called out behind him.

• Elder Hao recognized Xiao Yun as Fire Elder’s disciple and gave him a jade token to enter the rare-ingredients repository.
• Xiao Yun entered the repository and marveled at its white-jade construction and its stock of precious medicinal ingredients.
• Xiao Yun collected the ingredients he needed but searched the repository several times without finding a Purple Spirit Flower.
• Xiao Yun decided to ask Elder Hao whether the repository had any Purple Spirit Flowers.
• A childlike voice behind Xiao Yun asked whether he had come to collect medicinal ingredients too.

Xiao Yun met Zi Yan in the Medicinal Herb Repository and bargained with her to refine medicinal herbs in exchange for her help finding the Purple Spirit Flower. After Zi Yan gave him the flower, they registered their herbs with Elder Hao and headed to the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower so Xiao Yun could refine for her.

• Zi Yan startled Xiao Yun in the repository and asked him to refine the Taiyi Bamboo Vine she had bitten into.
• Xiao Yun offered to refine five herbs for every medicinal herb Zi Yan found for him, and Zi Yan handed over a Purple Spirit Flower.
• Xiao Yun brought Zi Yan and his collected herbs to Elder Hao, who scolded Zi Yan for taking herbs and warned Xiao Yun about her violent temper.
• Xiao Yun paid four hundred Heavenly Fire Energy for the herbs, then left with Zi Yan for the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower.

Xiao Yun refined medicinal pellets for Zi Yan and learned she had encountered the Snow Demon Sky Ape, which guarded Earth Core Tempering Milk. He befriended Zi Yan and then began refining a Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill with only one Purple Spirit Flower.

• Xiao Yun used his Purple Crystal Lion Flame to refine the Taiyi Bamboo Vine and four other ingredients into medicinal pellets for Zi Yan.
• Xiao Yun asked Zi Yan about the Snow Demon Sky Ape, and she said it wandered around the Inner Academy's back mountains and was hard to find.
• Zi Yan asked whether she and Xiao Yun were friends, and Xiao Yun agreed, making her joyful as she left with the pellets.
• Xiao Yun remembered he had only one Purple Spirit Flower and began attempting to refine the Fourth-Tier Peak Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill.

Xiao Yun successfully refined a Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill and recovered overnight in the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower. After Elder Liu confirmed his Dou Qi was stable, Xiao Yun gained permission to descend to a lower level and attempt a breakthrough to Dou Ling.

• Xiao Yun refined the Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill after carefully extracting and fusing its medicinal essences, but the effort left him exhausted.
• Xiao Yun slept in the cultivation room and woke the next day restored, ready to use the pill to attempt a breakthrough.
• Xiao Yun headed toward the lower levels of the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower, where the natural energy needed for his breakthrough was abundant.
• Elder Liu stopped Xiao Yun at a spatial barrier and warned him against rushing his cultivation with pills.
• Elder Liu sensed that Xiao Yun's Dou Qi was stable, removed the spatial barrier, and allowed him to descend with instructions to rest if the Heart Flame became unbearable.