Chapter Summaries

Xiao Yan rescued a severely injured white-robed man, repaired his meridians, and broke through to Seven-Star Dou Zhe when the man began absorbing natural energy. In the Imperial Capital, Jia Xingtian and Yao Ye discussed Nie Feng’s abilities and disappearance, and Yao Ye revealed that he had disguised his appearance.

• Xiao Yan decided to save the unconscious man and carried him to a cave, where he used his Heavenly Flame to repair the man’s severed meridians for ten days.
• Xiao Yan discovered that a violent force kept destroying the man’s meridians, and he refined most of that energy while treating him.
• The white-robed man began gathering natural energy, prompting Xiao Yan to leave the cave and undergo a breakthrough to Seven-Star Dou Zhe.
• Xiao Yan searched the forest for a beast to test his new strength but found only a few First-Rank Magical Beasts and continued his journey.
• Jia Xingtian told Yao Ye he had obtained the Longevity-Extending Pill and worried about Nie Feng’s talent and disappearance.
• Yao Ye reported that her investigation had traced Nie Feng’s movements and revealed that he had disguised his appearance.

Yao Ye and Jia Xingtian identified Xiao Yan as a likely Jia Ma Empire native and decided to leak his location to mercenaries rather than confront him directly. Unaware of the plan, Xiao Yan continued training in the Warcraft Mountains, where he fought eight Magical Beasts and practiced refining pills with Medicine Elder’s ring.

• Yao Ye told Jia Xingtian that she believed Nie Feng was from the Jia Ma Empire and had returned to the Warcraft Mountains.
• Jia Xingtian explained that Xiao Yan could become a threat as he grew stronger, and Yao Ye prepared to spread word that he was in the mountains.
• Xiao Yan fought and killed eight Magical Beasts, then said he hoped to withstand ten at once and reach strength comparable to a Dou Master.
• Xiao Yan explored Medicine Elder’s black ring and selected simple third-grade pill formulas, including the Qi-Replenishing Pill, to practice refining.

After recovering from his hunt, Xiao Yan encountered the Mad Lion Mercenary Group, whose leader tried to rob him. Xiao Yan used an Illusion Pill refined with black flames to drive the mercenaries into a deadly frenzy, leaving their leader gravely wounded and near death.

• Xiao Yan recovered his strength and searched the Magical Beast corpses for Magic Cores.
• The Mad Lion Mercenary Group surrounded Xiao Yan, and its leader claimed the beasts belonged to them before demanding his valuables.
• Xiao Yan pretended to surrender and gave the leader a pill, then produced a golden pill that he claimed could turn someone into a Dou Huang.
• Xiao Yan tossed the Illusion Pill into the air, and the mercenaries fought each other over it as the pill amplified their desires and made them bloodthirsty.
• The mercenary leader seized the pill but was attacked by the others; after killing the last attacker, he collapsed on one knee, gravely wounded and near death.

Xiao Yan overcame his shock at seeing the dead mercenaries and forced Tie Feng to reveal why the Mad Lion Mercenary Group had attacked him. He learned that the Three Great Mercenary Groups were hunting him for rumored treasures and considered how to survive their search.

• Xiao Yan took the pill from the wounded Tie Feng and threatened him until he agreed to explain the attack.
• Tie Feng said his commander, Laman, had ordered his men to find a young man carrying a black greatsword and seize his possessions.
• Tie Feng revealed that rumors in the Imperial Capital claimed Xiao Yan possessed enough treasures to rival its three great clans.
• Tie Feng explained that the Mad Lion, Azure Wolf, and Fierce Tiger Mercenary Groups had sent squads into the Warcraft Mountains to search for Xiao Yan.
• Tie Feng urged Xiao Yan to join the Mad Lion Mercenary Group and hand over his possessions, claiming his strength and alchemy would make him its foremost figure.

Xiao Yan defeated Tie Feng by turning his ultimate fire technique back against him, then erased the battle scene and devised a plan to use the dead men as bait to sow suspicion in the Mad Lion Mercenary Group. He left the area disguised as untouched wilderness, confident they would not suspect a mere Dou Zhe.

• Tie Feng attacked Xiao Yan, but Xiao Yan overpowered him despite Tie Feng's Dou Qi Veil.
• Tie Feng unleashed Burning Flame Explosion, and Xiao Yan's Tai Chi diagram swallowed the attack and sent it back to kill him.
• Xiao Yan checked the Magical Beasts for Magic Cores, then burned the corpses and weapons with Blazing Fire Palm.
• Xiao Yan used white flames to regrow plants over the cleared ground, hiding all traces of the battle.
• Xiao Yan planned to use the dozens of dead men to make the Mad Lion Mercenary Group leader suspicious, reasoning that no one would believe a Dou Zhe had killed a team led by a Dou Master.

At the Mad Lion Mercenary Group’s camp, Laman and Ling Yun discussed the missing scout team led by Tie Feng and the suspicious rumors about Nie Feng in the Warcraft Mountains. When Tie Feng’s team still had not returned by nightfall, Laman blamed the Azure Wolf and Fierce Tiger Mercenary Groups and sent twenty squads into the mountains to search.

• Laman learned that nine of the ten scouting teams had returned, while Tie Feng’s team was still missing.
• Ling Yun questioned the rumors that Nie Feng’s wealth could establish a new Imperial Capital clan and said he had sent people to investigate.
• Laman and Ling Yun waited for Tie Feng’s team, but it did not return by nightfall.
• Laman concluded that the Azure Wolf and Fierce Tiger Mercenary Groups had attacked Tie Feng’s team and ordered twenty squads to search the Warcraft Mountains.

Xiao Yan prepared to use his newly created Seven Emotions and Six Desires Pill against the mercenaries entering the Warcraft Mountains, where heavy fog improved his chances. He tested the pill, nearly succumbed to its effects, and then readied himself to unleash it on the gathered forces.

• Jilei and Dali sent large forces into the Warcraft Mountains after assuming the Mad Lion Mercenary Group had found Nie Feng and was pursuing his wealth.
• Laman and Ling Yun worried that the Azure Wolf and Fierce Tiger mercenary groups might be preparing to attack, but waited for their own search parties to return.
• Xiao Yan watched more than a thousand mercenaries enter the mountains and abandoned his plan to frame one group for killing another.
• A sudden heavy fog prompted Xiao Yan to revise his chances of success and draw out his pale green Seven Emotions and Six Desires Pill.
• Xiao Yan nearly lost control after testing the pill, then explained it combined the Hundred Beasts Powder, Illusion Pill, and Mad Fiend Pill.

Xiao Yan used his black flame to refine potent, side-effect-free Seven Emotions and Six Desires Pills, then secretly deployed them among the three mercenary groups in the Warcraft Mountains. As the groups and the Magical Beasts descended into widespread slaughter, Xiao Yan watched from a tree.

• Xiao Yan reflected on becoming a poison master and said he would kill anyone who tried to kill him.
• Xiao Yan used Wind God Leg to travel through the foggy forest and find the mercenary groups searching for Nie Feng.
• A Mad Lion Mercenary Group squad turned on itself after the pills drove its members’ resentment into a murderous frenzy.
• Xiao Yan placed pills where the three mercenary groups were about to meet, provoking them to fight one another.
• Magical Beasts joined the battles, and Xiao Yan watched the carnage from atop a tree.

Xiao Yan used his Clan Mark to see through the fog and secretly wiped out mercenaries across the Warcraft Mountains, taking their valuables and burning the evidence. At the Mad Lion Mercenary Group camp, Laman, Ling Yun, Jilei, and Dali learned that more than two thousand mercenaries had vanished, and a letter left the leaders terrified.

• Xiao Yan discovered that his glowing Clan Mark let him see clearly through the fog.
• Xiao Yan planted Seven Emotions and Six Desires Pills among rival mercenary teams, then finished off surviving groups, took their valuables, and burned the bodies and traces.
• Xiao Yan left the Warcraft Mountains at dawn, pleased that he had restored the environment without revealing his identity.
• Laman and Ling Yun discussed why their sent-out teams had not returned, while the Azure Wolf and Fierce Tiger groups also remained inactive.
• Jilei and Dali arrived at the Mad Lion camp and reported that their mercenaries had disappeared as well, amounting to more than two thousand missing men across the three groups.
• Ling Yun received a letter and read it with terror; Laman, Jilei, and Dali also turned pale after seeing its contents.

Ling Yun realized the Three Great Mercenary Groups had been manipulated into attacking Nie Feng and advised them to delay their search until he left the area. Yao Ye learned that two thousand mercenaries had vanished and asked Liang Ye what power could have caused it.

• Ling Yun explained that the Imperial Family and Three Major Families had used the mercenary groups to win Nie Feng’s favor, and warned that withdrawing could make them targets.
• Ling Yun proposed that the mercenaries stage a slow, deliberately ineffective search until Nie Feng left the area, and Jilei and Dali agreed.
• Xiao Yan watched several hundred mercenaries search the Warcraft Mountains and concluded they knew he had powerful backing, so he left them alone.
• Yao Ye heard that two thousand mercenaries had disappeared without a trace and learned the Three Great Mercenary Groups were only pretending to search.
• Yao Ye asked Liang Ye what level of strength could wipe out so many people without leaving evidence.

Yao Ye and the mercenary leaders considered whether Nie Feng had secretly killed more than two thousand mercenaries, and Yao Ye ordered the Three Great Mercenary Groups to investigate within three days. The leaders prepared to enter the Warcraft Mountains and follow their squads, while Yao Ye hoped their investigation would reveal Nie Feng’s power and bring him under the Imperial Family’s influence.

• Liang Ye estimated that whoever killed the mercenaries was at least a Dou Zong, but Yao Ye wondered whether Nie Feng had used poison instead.
• Yao Ye ordered the Three Great Mercenary Groups to identify the cause of the deaths within three days and warned that fifty thousand iron cavalry had sealed the Warcraft Mountains’ exits.
• The leaders of the Three Great Mercenary Groups gathered and discussed how to respond to Yao Ye’s demand and the Imperial Family’s blockade.
• Ling Yun argued that Nie Feng might have killed the mercenaries himself and urged the groups to send all their forces into the Warcraft Mountains to test him.
• Laman and Jilei agreed to lead their mercenaries into the Warcraft Mountains and follow the investigation squads.

Xiao Yan tried to escape the Imperial Capital's territory, but the Three Great Mercenary Groups tracked him through the footprints left by his massive black sword. He outran their main force, yet their fastest and strongest members closed in, and he swallowed a Wind-Traveling Pill to widen the gap.

• Xiao Yan spotted more than a thousand mercenaries from the Three Great Mercenary Groups approaching and realized his heavy sword had left a trail of footprints.
• Laman, Ling Yun, Jilei, and Dali led the mercenaries after Xiao Yan when his footprints disappeared.
• Ling Yun ordered the weaker mercenaries to stay behind, while the groups' Dou Masters and Great Dou Masters pursued Xiao Yan at greater speed.
• Xiao Yan sensed the powerful pursuers gaining on him and recognized that his Ninefold Wind God Leg could not let him fly or outrun Great Dou Masters.
• Xiao Yan swallowed a Wind-Traveling Pill and increased his speed, gradually pulling away from the pursuing mercenaries.

Xiao Yan used the Wind-Traveling Pill to escape the pursuing Great Dou Masters, then turned back and scattered pills that drove the abandoned mercenaries into a massacre. He fled before the leaders returned, leaving them to find their dead and begin succumbing to the poison.

• Xiao Yan flew away from Laman, Ling Yun, and the other pursuers, then circled back toward the mercenaries they had left behind.
• Xiao Yan dropped thirty pills among the gathered mercenaries, causing them to attack and kill one another.
• After an hour, Xiao Yan killed the few surviving mercenaries with the Heavenly Flame and recovered twenty-nine of the pills.
• Xiao Yan sensed powerful auras approaching and escaped, while Ling Yun, Laman, Jilei, and Dali returned to find the massacre.
• Jilei and Dali accused Laman after spotting weapons from the Mad Lion Mercenary Group among the dead, but Ling Yun pointed out that members of each group had also killed their own.
• Ling Yun warned the leaders that poison was making their eyes turn red and their tempers rise.

Ling Yun and the three mercenary captains discovered that a Poison Pill was driving people into violent madness, then tested its effects on Ling Yun. After he recovered, the poison was secured in Laman's Storage Ring.

• Ling Yun and the three captains recovered from the poison and realized it had made the mercenaries turn on one another.
• Ling Yun led the captains in searching the battlefield, but they found no trace of the poison until Dali punched a tree and knocked down a round object.
• Ling Yun identified the object as the Poison Pill and decided to test it while the captains stood ready to restrain him.
• After Ling Yun removed his Dou Qi Armor, the poison made him lose his reason, and Laman took the pill while the other two captains pinned Ling Yun down.
• Ling Yun broke free and attacked the captains, then stopped on his own, swallowed a Detoxification Pill, and began neutralizing the toxins.

Ling Yun and the mercenary leaders learned that the Poison Pill had caused the massacre and decided to return the pill to the Imperial Family. After Xiao Yan escaped, Princess Yao Ye received the pill and began testing it at the palace training ground.

• Ling Yun explained how the Poison Pill had overcome his precautions and driven him into a murderous frenzy, and the leaders decided to return to the Imperial Capital rather than pursue Nie Feng.
• Xiao Yan watched the mercenaries discover the Poison Pill, changed his appearance with an Illusory Form Appearance-Changing Pill, and fled using a Wind-Traveling Pill and the Yin-Yang Twin Wings.
• A black-clad man delivered the Poison Pill to Yao Ye, who ordered General Mulu to deploy his iron cavalry to block a route out of the Warcraft Mountains.
• Yao Ye brought Liang Ye to a training ground and tossed the Poison Pill among nearly a hundred soldiers while they protected themselves with Dou Qi; at first, nothing happened.

Yao Ye demonstrated the Poison Pill’s deadly effects to Liang Ye and ordered a massive search for Nie Feng in the Warcraft Mountains. The Imperial Capital’s clans learned that the Eldest Princess had mobilized one hundred thousand troops, while the public was told they were preparing for a Snake People attack.

• Yao Ye watched the Poison Pill drive the soldiers on the training grounds to slaughter one another, and Liang Ye killed those who attacked her.
• Yao Ye explained that Nie Feng’s poison could devastate the Imperial Guards or the Imperial Capital, and said they must control him or convince him to abandon his hostility.
• Yao Ye gave Liang Ye a golden command token and ordered him to mobilize fifty thousand Imperial Guards and gather Flying Magical Beasts to search the Warcraft Mountains.
• Nearly a hundred Flying Magical Beasts appeared over the Imperial Capital, and residents assumed they signaled a Snake People attack.
• Mu Chen told Mitel Tengshan and Nalan Jie that the Eldest Princess had mobilized fifty thousand more troops against Nie Feng, then explained that poison had killed the mercenaries sent after him.
• Nalan Jie understood why Yao Ye had deployed so many troops and predicted that the Imperial Family’s prestige would suffer.

Xiao Yan raced through the gorge toward the edge of the Imperial Capital's territory, hoping to escape the royal family's pursuit. He was surrounded by a massive army led by Yao Ye, who demanded his surrender and tried to recruit him.

• Nalan Jie, Mitel Tengshan, and Mu Chen discussed the royal family's schemes and speculated that the Misty Cloud Sect might intervene against Nie Feng.
• Xiao Yan ran through the Warcraft Mountains for a day and night to reach the gorge and escape the Imperial Capital's territory.
• Xiao Yan entered the gorge despite his unease, determined to cross it quickly rather than take a dangerous detour.
• A vast force of ground and flying cavalry blocked Xiao Yan's path, and Yao Ye appeared behind him with reinforcements.
• Yao Ye offered Xiao Yan wealth and power if he surrendered, while Xiao Yan denied being Nie Feng.

Xiao Yan refused Yao Ye’s offer and faced her hundred thousand troops alone, while she secretly planned to subdue him with addictive medicinal wine. After Yao Ye ordered her soldiers to capture him alive, Xiao Yan charged the first cavalryman and struck down his horse with a single punch.

• Xiao Yan rejected Yao Ye’s offer, saying he hated working for other people, and drank from the royal family’s jug of medicinal wine.
• Yao Ye revealed that the wine was addictive and planned to wear Xiao Yan down until he became dependent on it.
• Yao Ye ordered her troops to capture Xiao Yan alive, and Mulu sent a squad of one hundred cavalrymen to test him.
• Xiao Yan welcomed the charge as a chance to train Eight Extremes Collapse and rushed at the foremost cavalryman.
• Xiao Yan used Fist Collapse Like an Arrow to punch through the charging horse’s skull.

Xiao Yan fought off more than a hundred armored cavalrymen, using his immense physical defense and Eight Extremes Collapse to slaughter them. After recovering his strength and Dou Qi with wine and cultivation, he challenged Yao Ye to send more opponents.

• Xiao Yan's body withstood the cavalrymen's lance attacks, and he hurled a warhorse into their ranks.
• Xiao Yan charged among the cavalry and killed all of them in less than half an hour, leaving the watching soldiers terrified.
• Mulu explained that the Eldest Princess wanted Nie Feng captured alive and that the cavalry were meant to exhaust him; the deputy general noticed Xiao Yan's trembling legs.
• Xiao Yan drank the wine Yao Ye had given him to restore his physical strength, then recovered his Dou Qi through cultivation.
• Xiao Yan taunted Yao Ye from the battlefield and called for another fight.

Xiao Yan slaughtered wave after wave of Jia Ma Empire cavalry while Yao Ye tried to make him surrender. After four hours and more than a thousand deaths, Yao Ye ordered the attacks to continue until he was exhausted.

• Liang Ye questioned Yao Ye's decision to send soldiers against Xiao Yan, but Yao Ye insisted the losses were worthwhile if they secured Nie Feng's loyalty.
• Mulu sent successive units of armored cavalry against Xiao Yan, who killed every wave while replenishing his stamina with wine.
• After four hours, Mulu learned that twelve units totaling twelve hundred men had attacked, and Yao Ye asked how many times Nie Feng had replenished his stamina.
• Yao Ye offered Xiao Yan the position of future Grand Marshal if he surrendered, but Xiao Yan cursed her and refused.
• Yao Ye declared that Xiao Yan would become her dog once he finished his wine and ordered the cavalry to keep attacking until he was exhausted.