Chapter Summaries

Xiao Yan defeated Cao Ying and the others by copying their Soul Mysterious Seal Palm, then arrived at the opening of the Pill Gathering. The event began as an unfamiliar white-robed elder appeared, leaving Xiao Yan stunned because he recognized the man as his teacher.

• Xiao Yan observed Cao Ying, Dan Chen, White Eagle, and Qiu Ji using the Soul Mysterious Seal Palm and quickly learned its three hand seals.
• Xiao Yan struck the four contestants with dragon-enhanced palm prints, seriously injuring Cao Ying, White Eagle, and Qiu Ji while Dan Chen avoided further harm.
• Cao Ying acknowledged Xiao Yan's strength and looked forward to competing against him at the Pill Gathering.
• Xiao Yan left the hall, and the Pill Gathering opened at the crowded plaza as Ye Zhong explained the contestants' floating stone platforms.
• Xiao Yan saw an unfamiliar white-robed elder appear above the platforms and recognized him as his teacher.

Yao Chen reunited with Pill Tower experts as Xuan Kongzi announced the Pill Gathering’s prize and began its first trial. Xiao Yan cleared the Soul Illusion Realm first and met Cao Ying and a jealous young man in the resting area.

• Medicine Elder, revealed as Yao Chen, appeared at the Pill Tower and spoke with Xuan Kongzi and the other experts about Xiao Yan.
• Xuan Kongzi welcomed the contestants and announced that the Pill Gathering champion would become a candidate for a Pill Tower giant and receive an ancient soul cultivation method.
• Xuan Kongzi opened the Soul Illusion Realm trial, and Xiao Yan entered the distorted space with the other contestants.
• Xiao Yan overcame the realm’s soul suppression and illusions and reached the resting area before Cao Ying, Dan Chen, and the others.
• Cao Ying approached Xiao Yan, and a handsome young man in black questioned him after seeing them chatting.

Xiao Yan faced Soul Hall members before entering the Pill Realm for the Pill Gathering’s next test. He arrived in the dangerous realm alone, killed a Tier Seven Magical Beast, and began checking the map for the required medicinal ingredients.

• Song Qing introduced himself to Xiao Yan, but Xiao Yan noticed Mu Gu and other Soul Hall members emerging from the Soul Illusion Realm.
• Mu Gu warned Xiao Yan to leave the Pill Realm, and Xiao Yan reminded him that he had nearly killed him before.
• An old man gave the alchemists task sheets, maps, and Space Stones, warning them about the dangers of the Pill Realm and setting a ten-day limit.
• Xiao Yan entered the Space Channel and emerged alone on a plain inside the Pill Realm.
• Xiao Yan killed a Tier Seven male lion with a blast of Force Qi and collected its Magic Core.
• Xiao Yan checked his task sheet and map to locate the medicinal ingredients he needed to gather.

Xiao Yan found alchemists trapped and slaughtered by the Soul Hall, then confronted the Soul Hall members who had targeted him. They trapped him in the Ten Thousand Souls Devouring Spirit Formation, but he discovered the souls inside strengthened his soul and chose to cultivate within it.

• Xiao Yan found more than a hundred alchemists trapped in a soul barrier while Soul Hall members killed them and harvested their souls.
• Cao Ying recognized Xiao Yan, while Song Qing mocked his chances against the six Dou Zun experts.
• Mu Gu revealed that Xiao Yan was the Soul Hall’s true target, and Xiao Yan declared that they were his targets as well.
• Five Soul Hall experts surrounded Xiao Yan and trapped him in the Ten Thousand Souls Devouring Spirit Formation, which drained his Dou Qi and sent souls into his body.
• Xiao Yan discovered the souls strengthened his soul, so he sat down to practice Medicine Elder’s soul-nourishing mantra while Mu Gu expected his Dou Qi to run out.

With his Dou Qi nearly depleted, Xiao Yan fought Mo Li using his Heavenly Flame and formidable physical strength inside the formation. He drove Mo Li off, then resumed cultivating while the Soul Hall elders learned why their captive remained dangerous.

• After five days of watching Xiao Yan weaken, the Soul Hall elders sent Mo Li into the formation to capture him.
• Xiao Yan seized and melted Mo Li's iron chain with his Heavenly Flame, then swallowed a Dou Qi-restoring pill and attacked at close range.
• Xiao Yan overwhelmed Mo Li with punches, elbows, and kicks, preventing him from completing his hand seals for a Dou Technique.
• Mo Li unleashed Force Qi to push Xiao Yan back, then escaped by turning into black mist.
• Xiao Yan chose to remain in the formation and cultivate rather than waste energy trying to break it.
• Mo Li returned injured and told the others that Xiao Yan's peak Magical Beast-level body and close-combat Dou Technique had defeated him.

Xiao Yan fought Mo Hong and his four companions inside the formation, using a Tai Chi diagram to rebound their attacks but struggling to replenish his Dou Qi. After four days of relentless assault, he was beaten unconscious, and Mo Li moved to bind him for their return to the Soul Hall.

• Mo Hong entered the formation alone to test Xiao Yan, but came out battered and ordered all five to attack together.
• Xiao Yan interrupted Mo Hong’s technique and rebounded the other four men’s attacks with a Tai Chi diagram, injuring them and exhausting his Dou Qi.
• Mo Hong struck Xiao Yan from behind while he dealt with the others, but Xiao Yan healed with the Yin-Yang Twin Flame and swallowed a Qi-Replenishing Pill.
• Mo Hong and his companions coordinated close combat and ranged techniques to stop Xiao Yan from taking more pills, wearing him down over four days.
• Mo Hong urged Xiao Yan to surrender, but Xiao Yan refused, so the five attacked until he could no longer move.
• Mo Hong told Mo Li to tie up Xiao Yan, and Mo Li sent a pitch-black iron chain toward him.

Medusa and Ziyan rescued the badly injured Xiao Yan from Mo Hong and the other Soul Hall experts, but their pursuit forced Medusa to burn her soul origin and stay behind to protect Ziyan’s escape. The chapter ended with the five Dou Zuns attacking Medusa’s Nine-Colored Swallowing Heaven Python form as she continued blocking their path.

• Medusa and Ziyan appeared through a spatial passage, and Medusa pulled Xiao Yan away while Ziyan opened an escape route and struck the pursuers with a purple dragon.
• Mo Hong and the other four chased Xiao Yan’s group through spatial passages, then split up to surround them as Ziyan’s Dou Qi ran low.
• Medusa handed Xiao Yan to Ziyan and stayed behind, burning her soul origin to raise her strength to the Dou Zun level.
• Ziyan escaped with Xiao Yan through another spatial passage while Medusa transformed into her Nine-Colored Swallowing Heaven Python form and blocked the five pursuers.
• Mo Hong wounded Medusa with a giant black claw, but she continued obstructing the five as they attacked her together.

After Ziyan rapidly healed Xiao Yan with medicinal pills, he returned to find Medusa gravely wounded and attacked the five Dou Zuns in fury. He killed Mo Li and trapped Mo Hong and the other three with his golden dragons before a black-and-white sphere restrained them.

• Ziyan fed Xiao Yan medicinal pills until his injuries healed, and he woke and ordered her to take him back.
• Xiao Yan returned to find the Nine-Colored Swallowing Heaven Python badly wounded, with a section of its tail severed.
• Xiao Yan dragged Mo Li close, tore out his heart, crushed it, and burned his body to ashes with black-and-white flames.
• Xiao Yan unleashed countless golden dragons against Mo Hong and the other four Dou Zuns, injuring them as they struggled to fight back.
• A black-and-white sphere appeared among Mo Hong and the other four, completely restraining them.

Xiao Yan’s explosive attack shattered Mu Gu’s soul barrier and drove him to flee, saving the Pill Gathering participants. Xiao Yan escaped with Ziyan’s help and healed Medusa, whose feelings for him were revealed after she woke.

• The black-and-white orb unleashed a devastating blast that destroyed the surrounding landscape and sent waves crashing into Mu Gu’s soul barrier.
• Mu Gu’s barrier shattered, injuring him, and he fled through a spatial passage while Cao Ying and the surviving alchemists realized Xiao Yan had likely saved them.
• Cao Ying led a group toward the explosion to search for Xiao Yan, while Song Qing and others continued looking for medicinal ingredients.
• Xiao Yan treated the gravely injured Medusa in a Small Valley after Ziyan’s spatial teleportation array helped him escape the blast.
• Medusa woke after Xiao Yan restored her physical injuries and gave her soul-restoring medicine, then claimed she had saved him only to repay his help to the Snake People.
• Ziyan declared that Medusa liked Xiao Yan, citing how often she asked about him and called his name in her sleep, leaving Xiao Yan and Medusa awkwardly stunned.

Medusa realized her feelings for Xiao Yan as her lost Soul Origin caused her to transform into a sleeping Nine-Colored Swallowing Heaven Python. Xiao Yan then led Cao Ying and the others to confront a powerful beast in the Pill Realm’s Ten Thousand Medicine Mountains so they could obtain herbs for the Pill Gathering.

• Medusa recalled how she had followed Xiao Yan to the Central Plains and risked herself to save him, then became confused about her feelings for him.
• Xiao Yan surmised that Medusa’s soul fusion had made her dependent on him, but before he could speak, she transformed into a Nine-Colored Swallowing Heaven Python and fell asleep.
• Cao Ying and the others arrived, and Xiao Yan learned that Mu Gu had escaped after a shockwave shattered his soul barrier.
• Cao Ying told Xiao Yan that a powerful beast guarded herbs in the Ten Thousand Medicine Mountains, and he opened a space channel to lead the group there.
• Ziyan rushed toward the herbs while Xiao Yan knocked aside the two beasts guarding the stone hall, prompting a gigantic black bear to charge out and roar at them.

Xiao Yan defeated the Dragon Bear Xiong Zhan and forced him to lead the group to his medicinal storehouse. There, they found Ziyan collecting ingredients, and Xiao Yan urged everyone to gather what they needed before the Pill Realm closed.

• Cao Ying realized that Song Qing had misrepresented the Dragon Bear's strength, while Xiao Yan asked the bear to share his medicinal ingredients.
• Xiong Zhan refused, so Xiao Yan defeated him in a series of blows and forced him to submit.
• Xiong Zhan led Xiao Yan and the others to his plaza, where Ziyan was already gathering medicinal ingredients.
• Xiong Zhan grew furious at Ziyan, but her pressure made him back down and let her continue.
• Xiao Yan told everyone to collect the ingredients they needed and prepare to leave before the Pill Realm closed.

Xiao Yan left the Pill Realm with his group and killed Mu Gu at the exit before a Pill Tower elder stopped him. Back at the Pill Gathering plaza, Xun'er and Xiao Yixian sensed Medusa's aura on him and realized she had appeared in the Pill Realm.

• Xiao Yan and his group rode north toward the Pill Realm's exit, while Ziyan stayed behind and Xiao Yan carried the medicinal ingredients he had gathered.
• Xiao Yan passed Song Qing without stopping, and Song Qing grew jealous when he saw Cao Ying with him.
• At the exit plaza, Xiao Yan attacked Mu Gu and shattered his body with a single palm strike.
• A Pill Tower elder intervened when Xiao Yan tried to strike again, then opened a spatial passage for the contestants to return to the Pill Gathering.
• Xiao Yan handed over his task list and medicinal ingredients and stepped through the passage back to the starting plaza.
• Xun'er and Xiao Yixian sensed Medusa's aura on Xiao Yan's sleeve and recognized that she had appeared in the Pill Realm.

Xiao Yan prepared to refine the Poria Azure Pill in the Pill Gathering’s final round, hoping to restore Yao Chen’s lost strength. As he was about to begin, he noticed the flames of nearby alchemists bowing toward the black flame in Mu Gu’s hand.

• Xuan Kongzi announced the start of the Pill Gathering’s final round, and the contestants claimed platforms and prepared to refine pills.
• Xuan Kongzi restrained his desire to kill Mu Gu, wary that the Soul Hall would use it to accuse the Pill Tower of cheating.
• Xiao Yan set down the Heart of the Earth cauldron and steadied his emotions before beginning his refinement.
• Xiao Yan laid out nearly a hundred ingredients for the Poria Azure Pill, which could restore much of Yao Chen’s lost strength.
• Xiao Yan noticed the other alchemists’ flames bowing toward the black flame in Mu Gu’s palm.

At the Pill Gathering, Xiao Yan’s Yin-Yang Twin Flame clashed with Mu Gu’s Nihility Devouring Flame’s Child Flame, disrupting the alchemists’ pill refining until Xuan Kongzi intervened. The gathering resumed, and Xuan Kongzi agreed that Xiao Yan could devour Three Thousand Burning Flame if other contenders failed to subdue it first.

• Xiao Yan summoned Yin-Yang Twin Flame, and the flames bowed toward it instead of Mu Gu’s Nihility Devouring Flame’s Child Flame.
• The two Heavenly Flames transformed into dragons and fought, devouring the alchemists’ Beast Flames and causing their pill refining to fail.
• Xuan Kongzi separated the flaming dragons and ordered Xiao Yan and Mu Gu to withdraw their flames so the Pill Gathering could continue.
• Yao Chen explained to Xuan Kongzi that Yin-Yang Twin Flame grew stronger by devouring other Heavenly Flames and suggested Xiao Yan could devour Three Thousand Burning Flame.
• Xuan Kongzi agreed that Three Thousand Burning Flame had to be subdued, but said others would get the first chance before Xiao Yan devoured it.

As the Pill Gathering continued, alchemists began completing seventh- and eighth-tier pills, with Dan Chen and Cao Ying each producing Three-Colored Pill Lightning. Mu Gu believed the championship would come down to him and Xiao Yan, who had yet to finish refining their pills.

• After several days of refining, the first alchemist drew Pill Lightning, and more contestants followed with mostly one- or two-colored lightning.
• Dan Chen formed an eighth-tier pill that produced Three-Colored Pill Lightning, but she could not push it to more colors.
• Cao Ying also achieved Three-Colored Pill Lightning, surpassing her previous best result.
• Mu Gu probed Xiao Yan's Poria Azure Pill and judged it inferior to his own, while a green-robed old man also produced Three-Colored Pill Lightning.
• With only Mu Gu and Xiao Yan still refining their pills, Mu Gu decided the championship would be between them.

Xiao Yan and Mu Gu each produced five-colored Pill Lightning during the Pill Gathering, leaving the championship apparently tied. Just as Xuan Kongzi despaired, a surge of life filled the plaza and he noticed Xiao Yan’s flames had turned white.

• Xiao Yan refined a Poria Azure Pill that produced three-colored Pill Lightning, and Mu Gu initially believed he had secured the championship.
• Mu Gu’s pill formed five-colored Pill Lightning, prompting Xuan Kongzi and the Pill Tower elders to fear the Soul Hall would win.
• Xiao Yan used the Spirit-Raising Method and a drop of his blood essence to strengthen his pill, raising its Pill Lightning to five colors.
• Xiao Yan’s Pill Lightning appeared to stop at five colors, and Mu Gu taunted the Pill Tower over his apparent victory.
• Xuan Kongzi sensed a powerful aura of life around the plaza and saw that the flames in Xiao Yan’s cauldron had turned white.

Xiao Yan’s pill produced legendary Seven-Color Pill Lightning, and he faced its overwhelming attacks by shattering one bolt with his fist and absorbing the lightning’s energy. As the clouds merged into a vast thundercloud, a massive black bolt descended toward him.

• A green streak appeared in the thundercloud, confirming Xiao Yan’s victory over Mu Gu and drawing attention to the life-enhancing properties of his white flame.
• A black streak formed, creating Seven-Color Pill Lightning and alarming the onlookers, who feared Xiao Yan could not withstand it.
• Xiao Yan leaped into the air and shattered a water-barrel-thick lightning bolt with his fist.
• Xiao Yan welcomed the thunder dragons and secretly refined their lightning into energy that strengthened his body.
• The thunderclouds converged into an enormous cloud, which sent a black bolt several zhang wide crashing toward Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan won the Pill Gathering, received an ancient soul cultivation method, and learned that the top ten contestants could try to subdue the Three Thousand Burning Flame. After returning to the Ye Clan estate, he found Yang Hao and Ancient Clan soldiers there to take Xun'er back, and learned she had to leave immediately.

• Xiao Yan won the Pill Gathering after the contestants presented their pills, then gave his pill to Medicine Elder.
• Xuan Kongzi named Xiao Yan a future candidate for a Pill Tower giant and gave him an ancient soul cultivation method.
• Xuan Kongzi announced that the top ten would have a chance to subdue the Three Thousand Burning Flame in two days, then declared the Pill Gathering concluded.
• Xiao Yan met Pill Tower elders and agreed to refine life-prolonging pills in exchange for precious medicinal ingredients.
• Xiao Yan returned to the Ye Clan estate and found Xun'er speaking with Yang Hao, who had come with Ancient Clan soldiers to investigate Ling Quan's death and take her back.
• Xun'er told Xiao Yan she had to leave immediately for the Ancient Clan's coming-of-age ceremony because her bloodline was unstable.

Yang Hao accused Xiao Yan of killing Ling Quan and tried to arrest him under orders from the Ancient Clan elders. Xiao Yan agreed to face Yang Hao himself, then overwhelmed his attacks and sent a golden dragon surging toward him.

• Yang Hao accused Xiao Yan of killing Ling Quan, but Xun'er said Xiao Yan had never encountered him.
• Yang Hao ordered the Black Annihilation Army to arrest Xiao Yan and produced a Blood Jade Token when Xun'er challenged his authority.
• Xiao Yan agreed to go to the Ancient Clan if Yang Hao could capture him, and Yang Hao attacked with the Heavenly Fiend Qi-Shattering Claw.
• Xiao Yan repelled Yang Hao's claw with one palm strike, sending him staggering backward.
• Yang Hao attacked with the Earth-Covering Seal, but Xiao Yan's golden dragon shattered the energy handprint and charged at Yang Hao.

Xiao Yan defeated Yang Hao, and Xun'er returned to the Ancient Clan with its elders. Later, Xiao Yan entered the Star Region with the Pill Tower group to subdue the Three Thousand Burning Flame, where he and Mu Gu eyed one another with killing intent.

• Xiao Yan's golden dragon attack devastated the Ye Residence courtyard and left Yang Hao badly injured but alive.
• Xun'er stopped the Black Annihilation Army from attacking, then left with the Ancient Clan elders after Xiao Yan gave them gifts and asked them to protect her.
• After Xun'er departed, Xiao Yan resolved to grow stronger and headed for the Pill Tower.
• When the Star Region opened, Xiao Yan followed Xuan Kongzi and the others inside, with Qiu Ling warning them about its dangers.
• Qiu Ling led the group to the sealed Three Thousand Burning Flame and warned them not to awaken it as Xiao Yan and Mu Gu eyed the flame and each other with greed and killing intent.