Chapter Summaries

Zhao Li opened Jade Capital Academy in the Jia Ma Empire, built connections with local forces, and spent several months teaching while learning music from Old Man Fu. As the academy became established, Zhao Li began to feel ready to leave, though he remained hopeful about the students’ future.

• At a banquet, Yun Yun invited Yun Xin'er to join the Misty Cloud Sect, and Yun Xin'er accepted without revealing why she had fled the Central Plains.
• Zhao Li opened Jade Capital Academy and won the trust of local families, who sent their children to study with him.
• After Zhao Li advised Ao Feng, Ao Feng advanced from Fifth-Grade Alchemist to Sixth-Rank Alchemist, spreading the academy’s reputation among Jia Ma Empire’s upper circles.
• Zhao Li arranged for teachers and support from the Imperial Family and the Alchemist Guild as the academy gained students.
• After studying music with Old Man Fu for several months, Zhao Li gave him a Bamboo Flute he had made and returned to the academy.
• Zhao Li reflected that he had spent almost half a year in the Jia Ma Empire and began feeling the desire to leave.

Zhao Li left the Jia Ma Empire for the Central Plains after completing his journey, while Ye Yunsheng returned to the valley where he had once lived. Big Xiong told her Zhao Li had left more than two years earlier, and she planned to seek him out when her duties allowed.

• Zhao Li reflected on the places he had visited in the Jia Ma Empire and set off toward the Central Plains.
• Wind Wolf told Big Xiong that a powerful woman had sent him flying near the Nameless Valley, so Big Xiong rushed there.
• Big Xiong found Ye Yunsheng standing before two graves and learned she had returned to the valley after nearly ten years.
• Big Xiong told Ye Yunsheng that Zhao Li had left more than two years earlier and probably headed for the Central Plains.
• Ye Yunsheng told Lin Feng to take the Emissary Group ahead while she remained briefly at the valley.

Ye Yunsheng visited Nameless Valley, questioned Big Xiong about Zhao Li, and left with renewed resolve to hear his stories from him in person. Meanwhile, Zhao Li traveled south toward the Central Plains and arrived in Sky's Edge City to seek its Spatial Wormhole.

• Ye Yunsheng asked Big Xiong about Zhao Li’s life and read some of the storybooks Zhao Li had left behind.
• Ye Yunsheng returned the books, thanked Big Xiong with a bow and pills, and departed; Big Xiong sent the gathered beasts away and wondered how Zhao Li was doing.
• Zhao Li, traveling south while studying Space Rules, learned from a map seller that Sky's Edge City had the nearest Spatial Channel and ignored the old man’s warning against chasing ambition.
• Zhao Li reached Sky's Edge City in the Sky Pillar Mountain Range, asked for directions, and hurried toward the Spatial Wormhole in the city center.

Zhao Li traveled through the Spatial Wormhole to study the Space Rules and made rapid progress before a Spatial Storm formed around him. When the storm tore open the passage and swallowed his Spatial Boat, he escaped through a small exit without knowing where it led.

• Zhao Li bought a Spatial Boat and entered the Spatial Wormhole to study its dense Spatial Energy.
• Zhao Li cultivated aboard the boat for more than a dozen days and learned to open and close a passage through the wormhole.
• Zhao Li continued onward and encountered tiny whirlwinds that grew into a Spatial Storm.
• Zhao Li tried to steer away from the storm, but its suction stopped the Spatial Boat and pulled it backward.
• Zhao Li cut open an exit and leaped through as the storm swept over and destroyed his Spatial Boat.

After escaping a Spatial Storm, Zhao Li wandered through the Tianmu Mountain Range and discovered a Soul Hall branch before joining Li Ming’s caravan to reach Tianxuan City. He accepted Li Ming’s offer of lodging and help traveling toward the Central Region, then sensed several Dou Zong-level experts in the city.

• Zhao Li escaped the Spatial Wormhole after the Spatial Storm damaged his clothes and injured his back, then headed south through an immense mountain range.
• Zhao Li found a stone stele marked Soul Hall, sensed a Dou Zun nearby, and quietly withdrew without being discovered.
• Zhao Li met Li Ming’s merchant caravan, learned he was in the Tianmu Mountain Range, and traveled with them toward Tianxuan City.
• Zhao Li used his Soul Power to drive off an eagle that threatened the caravan as they passed through a narrow gorge.
• Li Ming invited Zhao Li to stay with his family and offered to arrange his passage through Tianxuan City’s Spatial Wormhole, and Zhao Li accepted.
• Zhao Li entered Tianxuan City with the caravan and sensed several Dou Zong-level auras.

Li Ming returned to the Li Clan with Zhao Li, while Li Lei and Li Ming worried about finding a Seventh-Grade Alchemist to treat the clan patriarch. Zhao Li planned to continue toward Holy Pill City to seek Tier 8 pill formulas, unaware that Li Lei had begun considering him as a possible source of help.

• Li Ming introduced Zhao Li to Li Lei, and Zhao Li offered two bottles of Qi Gathering Powder before Li Ming showed him to a guest room.
• Li Ming told Li Lei that Sun Xiaochuan had demanded half the Spatial Wormhole’s profits in exchange for help, and Li Lei accepted the deal as necessary to protect the clan.
• Li Lei urged Li Ming to keep searching for alchemists and pointed out that Zhao Li’s gift suggested he might have an impressive teacher.
• Zhao Li reflected on his Peak Seventh-Grade Alchemy Technique, his Spirit Realm Soul Power, and his plan to join the Pill Tower in Holy Pill City to obtain Tier 8 pill formulas.
• Zhao Li admitted that he had been unable to make major progress creating a Tier 8 pill formula on his own.

Zhao Li joined Li Ming on a night-market stroll through Tianxuan City, where the food and company stirred his homesickness and memories of his master, Lin Lan. The next morning, he decided to leave Tianxuan City that day and travel to Holy Pill City before visiting the Yun Family in White Cloud City and returning to Great Gan.

• Li Ming invited Zhao Li to explore Tianxuan City's night market and pulled him out to see the busy streets.
• Li Ming treated Zhao Li to local grilled skewers, and Zhao Li was reminded of home and grew homesick.
• Li Ming praised Zhao Li's alchemy and wondered about his master, prompting Zhao Li to think of Lin Lan and hope he had reached Eighth Grade.
• Zhao Li and Li Ming shared food and wine, then returned to the Li Clan as their friendship grew closer.
• After cultivating the next morning, Zhao Li decided to leave Tianxuan City that day and packed to say goodbye to Li Ming.

Zhao Li discovered the Li Clan’s notice seeking a Seventh-Grade Alchemist and chose to help Li Ming, taking the notice with him. Meanwhile, Sun Xiaochuan demanded eighty percent of the Li Clan’s Spatial Wormhole profits, leaving Li Ming considering whether to ask Zhao Li for help.

• Zhao Li left Li Ming a letter and a Dou Spirit Pill, then headed toward Tianxuan City’s Spatial Wormhole.
• Zhao Li saw the Li Clan’s notice seeking a Seventh-Grade Alchemist and a healing pill, decided to help Li Ming, and vanished with the notice.
• A witness cried out that Zhao Li was a Dou Sect, while the Li Clan’s personnel reported the notice’s disappearance.
• Sun Xiaochuan arrived late at the Li Clan and demanded eighty percent of the Spatial Wormhole’s profits instead of the previously agreed fifty percent.
• Li Ming told Li Lei he might ask Zhao Li to have his teacher intervene, though he doubted Zhao Li would agree.

Li Ming sought Zhao Li’s help after Sun Xiaochuan raised his price to demand most of the Li Clan’s Spatial Wormhole profits. Zhao Li revealed his Dou Sect strength and heard Li Ming’s plea, but said his distant master was not needed to refine a Seventh-Grade Pill.

• Li Ming and Li Lei discussed how Sun Xiaochuan had pressured the Li Clan, and Li Ming decided to ask Zhao Li for help.
• Li Ming found Zhao Li’s farewell note and a Dou Spirit Pill, then despaired that Zhao Li had left.
• Zhao Li appeared outside the window, revealed he could stand in the air, and stopped Li Ming from bowing to him.
• Zhao Li asked Li Ming about the notice, and Li Ming explained his grandfather’s failing health and Sun Xiaochuan’s demand for eighty percent of the Spatial Wormhole profits.
• Li Ming asked Zhao Li to contact his teacher, but Zhao Li said his teacher was too far away and that he himself could handle the Seventh-Grade Pill.

Zhao Li accompanied Li Ming to confront Sun Xiaochuan, who demanded most of the Li Family’s resources in exchange for refining a pill for Li Zhenxuan. After Sun Xiaochuan attacked Zhao Li with Soul Power, Zhao Li countered and forced him to kneel, leaving the room stunned.

• Zhao Li implied to Li Ming that he could refine a Seventh-Grade Pill himself, and Li Ming hurried him to the reception hall.
• Sun Xiaochuan demanded eighty percent from the Li Family and threatened them if they refused.
• Li Ming rejected Sun Xiaochuan’s terms and told him to leave.
• Zhao Li mocked Sun Xiaochuan’s appearance, and Sun Xiaochuan attacked him with Soul Power.
• Zhao Li erased the attack and struck Sun Xiaochuan with his own Soul Power, forcing Sun Xiaochuan to kneel and beg forgiveness.

Zhao Li turned Sun Xiaochuan’s threats back on him, forcing him to kneel and leave before promising Li Lei and Li Ming that he had his own plans. He then went with Li Lei to the Li Clan’s Alchemy Hall to begin refining pills.

• Sun Xiaochuan was mysteriously suppressed and forced to kneel after trying to attack Zhao Li, while Sun Changqing mistakenly accused Li Ming of ambushing his master.
• Zhao Li stopped Sun Xiaochuan from escaping, demanded eighty percent of his wealth, then let him go after ordering him to kneel and leave begging.
• Li Ming worried that Sun Xiaochuan would retaliate, but Zhao Li said he had sensed Spatial Energy and suspected Sun Xiaochuan carried a Teleportation Jade Slip.
• Li Ming explained the pill-refining matter to Li Lei, who invited Zhao Li to the Li Clan’s Alchemy Hall.
• Li Lei activated a mechanism that raised an ancient green Medicine Cauldron from the courtyard’s central platform.

Zhao Li refined a Rejuvenation Pill in the Li Family’s Emerald Medicine Cauldron, impressing the clan’s alchemists and drawing unusually powerful Pill Lightning. As Zhao Li entered the Thunder Cloud to study its lightning, Sun Xiaochuan arrived at the Tianmu Mountain Range with a Soul Hall Protector.

• Li Lei revealed the Emerald Medicine Cauldron, and Zhao Li accepted it and invited the Li Family’s alchemists to watch him refine medicine.
• Sun Xiaochuan left the Li Family furious, put away his Jade Token, and headed toward the Tianmu Mountain Range to repay Zhao Li’s humiliation.
• Zhao Li spent four days refining more than a hundred ingredients into medicinal liquid, then spent three more days condensing them into a Rejuvenation Pill.
• The completed pill produced dense vitality and powerful Pill Lightning, which Zhao Li tried to seize and study as the Li Family’s observers retreated.
• Zhao Li rose into the Thunder Cloud to pursue the lightning, while Sun Xiaochuan and the Soul Hall Protector arrived before a sinister stone tablet in the Tianmu Mountain Range.

Sun Xiaochuan joined the Soul Hall and led Venerate Shenzang to Zhao Li, who had just refined a Rejuvenation Pill. Shenzang tried to take the pill and capture Zhao Li, but Zhao Li refused his invitation, and the chapter ended as they clashed.

• Sun Xiaochuan reached the Soul Hall and asked to join, then told Shenzang that the Li Clan had an Alchemist as powerful as Ji Changlin.
• Zhao Li emerged from the Thunder Clouds with the Rejuvenation Pill and imprisoned it before it could escape.
• Shenzang arrived with Sun Xiaochuan and tried to seize the pill, but Zhao Li’s lightning struck Shenzang and Zhao Li put the pill away.
• Shenzang introduced himself and invited Zhao Li to join the Soul Hall, while Sun Xiaochuan realized Zhao Li was the expert who had previously defeated him.
• Zhao Li refused Shenzang’s invitation, so Shenzang attacked from behind and Zhao Li met him with his Natal Flame.

Zhao Li fought Venerate Shenzang to a standstill despite being a realm below him, forcing Venerate Shenzang to abandon his plan to capture him alive and unleash his killing move. Zhao Li answered by fusing thunder and fire into a Primal Chaos Orb, and both attacked at once.

• Zhao Li deflected Venerate Shenzang's surprise palm and made him retreat, impressing the onlookers.
• Zhao Li and Venerate Shenzang exchanged dozens of blows, with neither gaining the advantage as the Li Clan watched and Sun Xiaochuan regretted antagonizing Zhao Li.
• Venerate Shenzang realized Zhao Li could become a lasting threat, gave up trying to capture him alive, and summoned his Withering and Flourishing Finger—One Finger of Withering and Flourishing.
• Zhao Li resisted the technique's sorrowful influence, retreated, and fused thunder with flame into a rotating Primal Chaos Orb.
• Venerate Shenzang and Zhao Li launched their attacks almost simultaneously.

Zhao Li defeated Venerate Shenzang’s killing move, but Shenzang escaped through a Spatial Channel after warning that the Soul Hall would remember him. Zhao Li killed Sun Xiaochuan, gave the Li Clan Rejuvenation Pills, and the chapter ended as Li Zhenxuan began to stir after taking one.

• Zhao Li and Venerate Shenzang unleashed their killing moves, and their collision hurled them both away.
• Shenzang fled through a Spatial Channel, warning Zhao Li that the Soul Hall would remember him; Zhao Li gave him the name Xu Changqing.
• Sun Xiaochuan begged Zhao Li for mercy and explained how the Soul Hall had contacted alchemists, then Zhao Li destroyed his soul.
• Zhao Li gave Li Lei Rejuvenation Pills for Li Zhenxuan and returned to his room to rest.
• Li Lei fed a Rejuvenation Pill to the slumbering Li Zhenxuan, who groaned as its Medicinal Power took effect.

Li Zhenxuan recovered from his injuries with the Rejuvenation Pill but remained unable to remove the Black Mist inside him, so he planned to return to the Ruins. After learning that Zhao Li had saved the Li Clan and killed Sun Xiaochuan, he asked to thank Zhao Li; meanwhile, Zhao Li rested and reunited with Li Ming, who found his wife waiting for them.

• The Li Clan's alchemists urged Li Lei to give the Rejuvenation Pill to Li Zhenxuan, who woke and healed his injuries but could not remove the Black Mist absorbing his Dou Qi and energy.
• Li Zhenxuan contained the Black Mist with layers of Space Lock and decided to revisit the Ruins, where he had first encountered it.
• Li Lei told Li Zhenxuan that Sun Xiaochuan had died and that Zhao Li had saved the Li Clan, refined the pill, and driven off a Soul Hall Dou Zun; Li Zhenxuan asked to pay his respects to Zhao Li.
• Zhao Li woke after resting, reassured Li Ming that he was fine, and let Li Ming take him out to eat.
• Li Ming and Zhao Li returned home, where Liu Ying'an was waiting, and Li Ming hurried to ask what had happened.

After three days of cultivation, Zhao Li developed a Yang Spirit and met with Li Zhenxuan, whose vitality seemed strangely unstable. Li Zhenxuan revealed that something had been absorbing his Dou Qi and spirit since he returned from the Ruins, and Zhao Li asked to examine it.

• Zhao Li reviewed his battle with Shenzang and cultivated behind a Space Lock while Li Zhenxuan and Li Lei dealt with the aftermath in Tianxuan City.
• After three days, Zhao Li manifested a thunder-and-fire Yang Spirit, then withdrew it and decided to focus on steady cultivation before pursuing more advanced techniques.
• Zhao Li left his room and found Li Zhenxuan, Li Lei, and Li Ming waiting for him; he welcomed them and learned that the city had remained calm.
• Zhao Li sensed that Li Zhenxuan's vigorous vitality was unstable and asked what the Space Locks inside his body were sealing.
• Li Zhenxuan said he did not know what was inside him, only that it had absorbed his Dou Qi and spirit since his return from the Ruins, and he agreed to let Zhao Li examine him.

Zhao Li discovered that a strange black mist attached itself to his Primordial Spirit and devoured his Soul Power, so he set out for the ruins where Li Zhenxuan had found it. As night fell, Zhao Li tried burning the mist with orange-gold flames, but it drew itself together in response.

• Zhao Li probed the black mist and found that it consumed his Soul Power and clung to his Primordial Spirit.
• Li Zhenxuan recounted finding the mist in a tomb after hiding in a stone coffin and gave Zhao Li a map to the ruins.
• Zhao Li said goodbye to Li Ming, gave him a Breakthrough Pill for his father, and told him what to do if Soul Hall came looking.
• Zhao Li left Tianxuan City for the ruins, hoping to learn about the black mist and the Dou Qi Continent's ancient history.
• That night, Zhao Li tested orange-gold flames against the black mist, which suddenly drew itself together.

Zhao Li explored ancient ruins that had been stripped of their treasures and discovered that the Black Mist inside him reacted to specific stone coffins in the Tomb Chamber. He identified a pattern linking the coffins, but the discovery left him uneasy.

• Zhao Li used his Natal Flame to restrain the Black Mist while he cultivated, then continued traveling toward the ruins.
• Zhao Li entered the ancient ruins and searched their halls, library, and other chambers, finding them emptied and memorizing their inscriptions and murals.
• Zhao Li entered the Tomb Chamber and found its many stone coffins neatly arranged, though each one he opened was empty.
• Zhao Li noticed the Black Mist move whenever he opened certain coffins and concluded that it was connected to them.
• Zhao Li surveyed the coffin layout from above and tested a predicted location, confirming that the Black Mist reacted to the pattern.

Zhao Li entered a hidden Pocket World and found a village where nearly everyone cultivated. After quietly settling in and learning their language, he was invited to train with the villagers.

• Zhao Li opened the eight Stone Coffins in the Eight Trigrams arrangement, creating a passage, and entered it.
• Mo Yu followed into the passage after Zhao Li, while Shenzang and the others searched the ruins for another way in.
• Zhao Li explored the Pocket World for two days before finding a village of roughly two hundred cultivators.
• Zhao Li disguised himself as a villager, gained the elders’ trust, and spent a month learning the language and village customs.
• Zhao Li attended lessons at the village schoolhouse and memorized the villagers’ writing and stories.
• After villagers returned from hunting a Tier 4 Magical Beast, the village chief told Zhao Li to begin training with them.