Chapter Summaries

Zhao Li finished his seclusion, refined a Wall-Breaking Pill for an old client, and resumed his quiet life in Holy Pill City. After Wind Lightning traced Zhao Li’s past and learned he had entered the Saintfall Ruins, the Pill Tower presidents confronted him about his false identity, and Zhao Li admitted he had gone to the ruins.

• Zhao Li congratulated Elder Han on the events following his tribulation and learned that his success as a Rank 8 grandmaster had made him famous in Holy Pill City.
• Zhao Li took the old man’s ingredients and refined a Wall-Breaking Pill, completing their transaction five days later.
• Wind Lightning found the Li Clan and learned that Zhao Li had saved them, received Ji Changlin’s Medicine Cauldron, and was believed dead after entering the Saintfall Ruins.
• Wind Lightning and Spirit Pearl decided to recruit Zhao Li if his identity checked out or take him down if it did not, then summoned him to the Pill Tower.
• Wind Lightning called him Zhao Li, and Zhao Li explained that he had used a false identity to hide from the Soul Hall before admitting he had entered the Saintfall Ruins.

Zhao Li joined the Little Pill Tower after proving his alchemy skill, then spent two and a half years improving his cultivation and understanding of the Rules of Thunder. Now dissatisfied with his progress and with little left to learn at the Pill Tower, he began considering travel.

• Zhao Li told Spirit Pearl and Wind Lightning that he had found nothing in the Ruins, and they explained the Little Pill Tower and invited him to join.
• Zhao Li agreed to join once he refined a Grade 8 Pill that drew Seven-Colored Pill Lightning, then entered the Little Pill Tower half a year later after refining a pill that drew Eight-Colored Pill Lightning.
• Wind Lightning and Spirit Pearl secretly investigated Zhao Li and confirmed that he was not an infiltrator and had a grudge against the Soul Hall.
• Over the next two and a half years, Zhao Li refined a Ninth Grade Treasure Pill, deepened his grasp of the Rules of Thunder, reached Heaven Realm Perfection in Soul Power, and advanced to a Seven-Star Dou Venerate.
• Zhao Li judged that the Pill Tower had little more to teach him and considered leaving to travel, then stepped out of his room for a walk.

Zhao Li attended the Alchemist Trade Fair with Old Huang and met Yao Chen, who had returned from the Godfall Ice Plains with white hair and the Bone Chilling Flame. Yao Chen planned to win the Pill Conference and begin his return to the Yao Clan.

• Zhao Li accepted Old Huang's invitation to visit the Alchemist Trade Fair and recalled how Spirit Forging had strengthened his Dou Qi.
• Zhao Li and Old Huang searched the fair's first two floors for ingredients before heading to the third floor.
• Old Huang recognized Yao Chen, who explained that he had fallen asleep in the Godfall Ice Plains and awakened with white hair.
• Old Huang introduced Zhao Li and Yao Chen, and Zhao Li greeted the young alchemist with sincere admiration.
• Yao Chen described his travels and prepared to trade for something he needed before pursuing the Pill Conference champion title.

After the Alchemist Trade Fair, Zhao Li reunited with his friends and taught a lesson on controlling Soul Power and flame. Yao Chen experienced sudden enlightenment during the lecture and awakened his ability to control the Bone Chilling Flame.

• Zhao Li and Yao Chen's companions gathered at the Little Pill Tower loft, where Spirit Pearl asked about the missing Han Shanshan and teased Yao Chen and Xuan Yi about their feelings.
• Zhao Li reflected on how his presence might change the world, then cultivated through the night.
• The next morning, Zhao Li lectured the Little Pill Tower disciples on controlling Soul Power and flame during pill refinement.
• Yao Chen arrived late after a sleepless night, listened closely, and entered sudden enlightenment as he applied Zhao Li's teaching.
• A pale-white Bone Chilling Flame emerged around Yao Chen, and Zhao Li refrained from approaching it while Yao Chen remained absorbed in his insight.
• Two hours later, Yao Chen woke and played with the Bone Chilling Flame, then thanked Zhao Li for helping him progress.

Zhao Li studied a wisp of Yao Chen’s Bone Chilling Flame and tried to cultivate it into a complete Heavenly Flame. After half a year of experiments, he had strengthened it enough to contend with a Dou Emperor, but still lacked a reliable way to nurture it further.

• Zhao Li identified Yao Chen’s flame as the Bone Chilling Flame and asked him for a wisp to study.
• Yao Chen gave Zhao Li a wisp containing a trace of the flame’s origin, and Zhao Li gave him a Grade 8 Sky Mending Pill to restore the loss.
• Zhao Li examined the flame and found that it contained the rules of fire, ice, and what he called samsara.
• Zhao Li infused the flame’s origin with medicinal power, but the Sky Mending Pill produced only a small increase in strength.
• Over the next half year, Zhao Li tried feeding the flame rules and exposing it to Pill Lightning, but neither method worked well.
• Zhao Li strengthened the flame through repeated experiments until it could contend with a Dou Emperor, while his own understanding of rules also advanced.

Zhao Li reflected on his progress in fusing laws and went to observe the Pill Convention selection in Holy Pill City. The final trials began with contestants entering a mist-filled Soul Illusion, while Zhao Li learned that the mist came from Soul Beasts and Soul Stones.

• Zhao Li discovered that analyzing the different mysteries within laws had helped his Natal Flame gain a trace of the Lightning Attribute.
• Zhao Li visited the Pill Convention square and spoke with Old Huang and the other elders about the selection and the Little Pill Tower’s participants.
• Spirit Pearl announced the three trials of the Pill Convention and began the first trial, the Soul Illusion.
• Zhao Li examined the mist with his Soul Power and asked Old Huang about its effects.
• Old Huang explained that the mist combined Soul Beasts with a Soul Stone Formation, and described how Soul Beasts and Soul Stones affected the soul.

Zhao Li watched the Pill Conference contestants begin the Journey to the Pill Realm after Yao Chen and a mysterious black-robed competitor passed the Soul Illusion early. While contestants were gradually forced out of the Pill Realm, Yao Chen’s group gathered with just over two hundred others, all looking battered.

• A black-robed person passed the Soul Illusion before Yao Chen, prompting Yao Chen to take the competition more seriously.
• Spirit Pearl explained that contestants had to find the medicinal ingredients listed on their Jade Tokens and warned them to crush the tokens if they faced danger.
• The contestants entered the Pill Realm, and Zhao Li learned from Old Huang that outsiders could not enter during the competition.
• Contestants who could not face the dangers began crushing their Jade Tokens and teleporting out, but none emerged during the four days after the first five.
• Inside the Pill Realm, Yao Chen’s group gathered with just over two hundred contestants who had arrived from far away, all looking battered.

Yao Chen and his allies faced a growing force led by Hun Fenghao, who trapped them in the Pill Realm and hunted them down. After Yao Chen held Hun Fenghao off through a brutal battle, he escaped with the survivors, while Hun Fenghao called on a Clan Elder to intervene.

• Xuan Yi told Yao Chen that Hun Fenghao had turned frightened people into followers, while the group’s hiding places were being found more quickly.
• Hun Fenghao cornered Yao Chen’s group, and Yao Chen identified him as a likely Soul Clan member; Hun Fenghao acknowledged Yao Chen’s Yao Clan surname without denying his own affiliation.
• Yao Chen warned Hun Fenghao’s followers that they would be blamed for colluding with the Soul Hall, then fought Hun Fenghao with the Bone Chilling Flame.
• The two groups clashed as Yao Chen and Hun Fenghao traded reckless attacks, and many people died or fled to hide until the mission ended.
• After surviving another day, Yao Chen left the battlefield, and Hun Fenghao asked a Clan Elder to make a move.

Hun Xuzi tried to kill the surviving Pill Realm contestants, but Old Huang intervened and spared his former disciple after Hun Xuzi deceived him into believing the attack was someone else’s doing. In Holy Pill City, Zhao Li learned that Old Huang was the Little Pill Tower Master.

• Hun Fenghao admitted he could not kill Yao Chen alone, and Hun Xuzi appeared to take charge of the situation.
• Hun Xuzi tried to crush every surviving contestant in the Pill Realm, but Old Huang stopped him and demanded an explanation.
• Hun Xuzi killed Hun Fenghao and falsely claimed that the dead man had been attacking the contestants.
• Old Huang sent Hun Xuzi away, but Hun Xuzi begged forgiveness and persuaded his former teacher to let him stay.
• Zhao Li asked Old Man Bai about Old Huang and learned that he was the Little Pill Tower Master.

Yao Chen and the survivors endured the final night of the Pill Realm trial, then discovered that a crushed Jade Token could finally send someone out. They reached the exit and returned to a Teleportation Plaza, where a Pill Tower Elder began receiving the competitors' medicinal ingredients.

• Old Huang returned to the Pill Gathering and told Old Man Bai that he had dealt with a small incident in the Pill Realm.
• Yao Chen reunited with Xuan Yi and the survivors, gave them Healing Medicine, and let those who wanted to leave split off.
• Xuan Yi offered Yao Chen an Eighth Grade Healing Medicine, but he declined and cultivated while she stood guard.
• Yao Chen's group had a peaceful night, then a volunteer crushed a Jade Token and was transported out, revealing that the exit had begun working.
• Yao Chen led the remaining group to the exit, shared medicinal ingredients with them, and stepped through to the Teleportation Plaza.
• A Pill Tower Elder opened a spatial rift and invited competitors who had completed the mission to submit their medicinal ingredients.

Yao Chen passed the second round and joined the Pill Gathering’s third round, where the contestants would display their alchemy skills. As he began preparing to refine a pill, Yao Chen focused on his return to Yao Wangui.

• Yao Chen submitted his task, left the Pill Realm, and rested on a floating stone platform.
• Old Huang and the Pill Tower elders discussed Soul Hall’s growing threat and decided to contact allies and uproot several Heavenly Gang Halls after the Pill Gathering.
• Spirit Pearl announced the third round, Outshining the Field, and called on contestants to refine the pills they were most proud of.
• Yao Chen brought out his Heaven Cauldron Ranking Medicine Cauldron, Black Demon, and revealed his Heavenly Flame, extinguishing or stirring the flames of nearby contestants.
• Yao Chen calmed himself, thought of Yao Wangui, and sent the Bone Chilling Flame into his Medicine Cauldron.

Yao Chen and the other contestants completed their pills amid repeated Pill Lightning strikes, while Zhao Li studied their techniques and formulas. Xuan Yi produced the first Grade 8 Pill, and Yao Chen revealed a pill that summoned four-colored Pill Lightning, leaving the Little Pill Tower’s Venerable Elders shocked.

• Zhao Li analyzed the contestants’ ingredients and extraction techniques, gaining inspiration as he deduced their Pill Formulas.
• A chubby contestant’s Seventh-Grade Pill drew Pill Lightning, disrupting several contestants’ Pill Fusion and causing them to fail.
• Yao Chen used Black Demon and the Heavenly Flames to stabilize his pill and prepare it for Spirit Infusion.
• Xuan Yi completed a Grade 8 Pill that drew a trace of colored Pill Lightning, becoming the Pill Gathering’s first contestant to produce one.
• Yao Chen released his pill from Black Demon, and the gathered Thunder Cloud revealed four-colored Pill Lightning.

Yao Chen endured Four-Colored Pill Lightning and won the Pill Conference, earning recognition as a candidate for Pill Tower Magnate. The conference concluded with the remaining rankings announced, while Yao Chen stayed focused on becoming strong enough to return to his clan.

• Yao Chen endured the Four-Colored Pill Lightning with the help of the Bone Chilling Flame and secured his Eighth Grade Mid-Level pill.
• Hou Guai Cai and Xuan Kong Zi refined pills that drew Two-Colored Pill Lightning, but Yao Chen remained unmatched as the Thunder Clouds dispersed.
• Spirit Pearl announced Yao Chen as the Pill Conference champion and named him a candidate for Pill Tower Magnate.
• Spirit Pearl announced the remaining top-ten contestants, and he directed them to claim their rewards at the Pill Tower.

After the Pill Gathering, Zhao Li heard that the Pill Tower had failed to discover a Soul Hall infiltrator and realized the Little Pill Tower Incident might still be prevented. He confirmed that Xiao Jinghou had never heard of Hun Xuzi and began planning how to expose the spy without provoking him into a desperate attack.

• The Pill Gathering’s stories spread across the continent, and Yao Chen earned respect for leading the survivors against Hun Fenghao.
• Zhao Li heard a Dan Clan servant blame the Pill Tower for failing to identify the intruder whose actions had led to Dan Xiaoxiao’s death, and he recalled the Little Pill Tower Incident.
• Zhao Li went to the Pill Tower and asked Xiao Jinghou whether he knew Hun Xuzi, but Xiao Jinghou had never heard the name.
• Zhao Li made up a reason for asking about Hun Xuzi and left, then devised a plan to expose him while guarding against retaliation.

Zhao Li’s rumors about Soul Hall infiltration stirred Old Huang’s suspicions of Zixu, and Hun Xuzi soon attacked the Little Pill Tower with two Soul Clan Dou Sheng. Old Huang held off the intruders while Zhao Li survived Hun Xuzi’s powerful strike, and the Pill Tower’s Venerable Elders arrived as the battle continued.

• Zhao Li spread rumors in Holy Pill City that Soul Hall agents had infiltrated the Pill Tower and then reported the gossip to Old Huang.
• Old Huang began to suspect Zixu because of his extraordinary cultivation speed and recalled how he had blocked an investigation in the Pill Realm.
• Hun Xuzi arrived with two Soul Clan Dou Sheng and attacked Zhao Li, blaming him for disrupting the plan to take over the Little Pill Tower.
• Zhao Li merged with the Void and used Great Sound Silent to blunt Hun Xuzi’s punch, but the attack injured him and forced him to retreat.
• Old Huang fought Hun Xuzi and held off the other two Dou Sheng while protecting the Little Pill Tower from the battle’s aftershocks.
• The Pill Tower’s Venerable Elders arrived and asked Zhao Li what was happening as they saw Zixu fighting Old Huang.

Zhao Li and the Little Pill Tower elders watched as Hun Xuzi and Hundan attacked Huang Wen, then Zhao Li used Burning Soul to turn Hun Xuzi’s own attack against him. Zhao Li fainted from the cost, and Huang Wen stopped Hun Xuzi from killing him.

• The Little Pill Tower elders arrived, and Zhao Li explained how Hun Xuzi and Hundan had attacked them.
• Hundan used a special black attack to trigger the Three Thousand Burning Flame inside Huang Wen, leaving him vulnerable to Hun Xuzi and Hundan’s blows.
• Hun Xuzi attacked Zhao Li, who burned his soul to seize control of the surrounding energy, restrain Hun Xuzi, and make him take his own attack.
• Zhao Li fainted after Burning Soul left gray-white hair at his temples, while Hun Xuzi suffered injuries from his reflected attack.
• Hun Xuzi tried to kill the unconscious Zhao Li, but Huang Wen stopped him.

Huang Wen confronted Hun Xuzi after realizing that Zixu had been a false identity, while Hundan moved to kill Zhao Li and the Little Pill Tower defenders. The defenders struggled against Hundan’s attacks, and Xiao Jinghou burned his Soul Origin to hold him off as Zhao Li was carried away.

• Huang Wen saw through Hun Xuzi’s deception and resolved to end their conflict.
• Hun Xuzi empowered himself with his Clan Mark and kept Huang Wen occupied while Hundan headed for Zhao Li and the Little Pill Tower.
• Spirit Pearl led the Little Pill Tower defenders in forming a Formation, but Hundan’s Nightmare attack incapacitated one of them.
• Xiao Jinghou ordered several elders to carry Zhao Li away and faced Hundan alone.
• Hundan struck at Xiao Jinghou from behind, and Xiao Jinghou immediately began burning his Soul Origin.

Xiao Jinghou sacrificed his life to seal the Little Pill Tower and give Spirit Pearl and the others time to escape, while Huang Wen fought Hun Xuzi. The survivors retreated to Holy Pill City and began alerting the Pill Tower’s allies.

• Xiao Jinghou burned his Soul Origin to hold Hundan back as Spirit Pearl and the others escaped.
• Xiao Jinghou recalled his life and his disciple, then endured Hundan’s attacks to complete a seal over the Little Pill Tower.
• Xiao Jinghou asked Yao Chen to tell Shanshan that her master had agreed, then vanished as the seal trapped Hundan and Hun Xuzi.
• Huang Wen fought Hun Xuzi and attacked him with Cauldron Suppressing Rivers and Mountains as his Clan Mark faded.
• Hundan broke the seal and fled, while Hun Xuzi escaped through a passage; Huang Wen sent his cauldron after him and was left wounded.
• Spirit Pearl and the others retreated, contacted the Little Pill Tower Ancestor, and alerted allied Ancient Factions before hiding in Holy Pill City.

Spirit Pearl learned that Huang Wen had sealed Three Thousand Burning Flame in the Star Domain and heard his plans to strengthen the Pill Tower. Meanwhile, Zhao Li remained unconscious, his consciousness sinking through darkness toward a familiar bone-white light.

• Spirit Pearl returned to the Little Pill Tower after seeing Huang Wen defeat the attackers and seal the traitor inside a Spatial Wormhole.
• Huang Wen told Spirit Pearl that Three Thousand Burning Flame had been sealed in the starry sky, which he named the Star Domain, and ordered him to guard it.
• Spirit Pearl reported that Zhao Li and Old Bai remained unconscious, and Huang Wen ordered that they receive medicine and called for the Pill Tower to unite its strength.
• Huang Wen told Spirit Pearl to care for Old Xiao's disciple and to watch Yao Chen, whom he wanted to take Old Xiao's place when the time came.
• Zhao Li remained unconscious in a small building, where his consciousness fell through darkness toward a familiar bone-white light.

Zhao Li wandered through a dark realm toward a distant light, where an unseen presence stirred emotions within him. Trapped in loneliness and despair, he began questioning his own state of mind.

• Zhao Li realized he had awakened in a dark place after losing consciousness and started walking toward a distant white light.
• Zhao Li sensed that someone else was there after an unfamiliar feeling of joy arose within him, but calling out brought no answer.
• Zhao Li felt an overwhelming loneliness, lost his motivation, and questioned the ideals and purpose that had driven him.
• Zhao Li grew frustrated and fearful that he might be trapped forever, then blamed Soul Hall, Huang Wen, himself, and fate before breaking down in tears.
• Zhao Li slowly recognized that something was wrong with his mindset and repeatedly asked himself what was wrong.