Chapter Summaries

After killing more than ten thousand cavalry over three days and nights, Xiao Yan collapsed from exhaustion and dehydration. Yao Ye approached him with wine, exploiting his addiction to bring him under her control.

• Xiao Yan endured three days and nights of cavalry assaults and killed more than ten thousand soldiers in the canyon.
• With his strength spent and no water left, Xiao Yan could no longer fight, and the survivors believed his legend would endure even if he died.
• Yao Ye rejected Liang Ye's offer to bring Xiao Yan up and went down to subdue him herself, accompanied by Liang Ye, Mulu, and a deputy general.
• Yao Ye showed Xiao Yan a bottle of wine, and he desperately reached for it, unable to speak or resist his craving.
• Liang Ye realized Yao Ye had used Xiao Yan's addiction to make him obedient.

Xiao Yan took Princess Yao Ye hostage after resisting her addictive wine and poisoning her, but her forces surrounded them and closed in. With escape uncertain, he tried to unsettle the soldiers by suggesting they wanted to see what Yao Ye wore beneath her armor.

• Xiao Yan pretended to reach for Yao Ye’s wine, then seized her by the neck and used her as a hostage.
• Xiao Yan revealed that he knew the wine was addictive and threatened Yao Ye’s forces, while Yao Ye discovered she could no longer use her Dou Qi because she had been poisoned.
• Yao Ye ordered her soldiers and archers to hold their positions and surround Xiao Yan, believing his exhaustion left him with no way out.
• Xiao Yan taunted the soldiers about Yao Ye’s beauty and hinted at what she wore under her armor, alarming Yao Ye and making some soldiers visibly awkward.

Xiao Yan used Yao Ye as a hostage to escape the canyon, threatening to expose her until the hidden observers withdrew their soul perception. He flew with her to a hidden Water Curtain Cave, where Yao Ye woke and watched him leave while still sealed and helpless.

• Xiao Yan tore away Yao Ye’s armor and threatened to strip her further, forcing the troops and magical beasts to turn around and close their eyes.
• Xiao Yan exposed Yao Ye’s shoulder until the remaining hidden soul observer stopped watching, then knocked her unconscious and escaped with her.
• Xiao Yan flew away from the canyon, relying on his wings from the tenth layer of Wind God Leg and his recovering Dou Qi.
• After flying for a day, Xiao Yan brought Yao Ye to the Water Curtain Cave he had carved behind a waterfall.
• Xiao Yan laid Yao Ye on the stone bed and went outside, while Yao Ye revealed that she had already awakened and was pretending to be unconscious.

Xiao Yan recovered in the waterfall and broke through to Eight-Star Dou Zhe while Yao Ye secretly watched. Afterward, he confronted her about the conflict and learned why she had tried to recruit him, but he left her fate unresolved.

• Xiao Yan replenished his strength beneath the waterfall and absorbed natural energy until he broke through to Eight-Star Dou Zhe.
• Yao Ye peeked from the cave entrance, witnessed Xiao Yan's breakthrough, and returned to the stone bed pretending to sleep.
• Xiao Yan caught fish, returned to the cave, and called out Yao Ye for pretending to sleep.
• Xiao Yan debated how to punish Yao Ye, who admitted she had leaked his information to force him into a crisis and recruit him into the Imperial Family.
• Xiao Yan said he hated conspiracies and refused to work for or be controlled by anyone, leaving Yao Ye unconvinced.

Xiao Yan and Yao Ye discussed his escape from the imperial army while sharing roasted fish, and he teased her about their future together. Their conversation turned to the masks they both wore, leaving Yao Ye admitting that captivity gave her a rare chance to escape the burdens of palace life.

• Xiao Yan asked why Yao Ye had sent one hundred thousand soldiers after him, and they recalled how his tricks had helped him escape.
• Yao Ye urged Xiao Yan to join her, offering him freedom and anything he wanted, but he deflected by handing her a roasted fish.
• Xiao Yan teased Yao Ye about playing with her and having children, making her flush with anger as she ate more fiercely.
• Yao Ye observed that Xiao Yan wore many masks, and he reflected on how he had disguised himself throughout his life.
• Xiao Yan pointed out that Yao Ye also wore a mask, prompting her to explain how palace schemes and her royal duties had shaped her.
• Yao Ye said being captured gave her a welcome chance to put down her burdens and enjoy some peace.

Xiao Yan kept Yao Ye captive in a cave, teased her, and left her without strength while he rested on a mountaintop. When he woke, he rushed back to find her desperate to use the toilet and deliberately delayed taking her to a grove.

• Yao Ye said Xiao Yan seemed like a god who looked down on everyone, and Xiao Yan joked that he admired and felt inferior to her.
• Xiao Yan ordered Yao Ye to clean up, gave her a pill to restore her strength, and reminded her that another pill would suppress her Dou Qi for seven days.
• Xiao Yan left the cave to catch fish, then rested on a mountaintop and fell asleep for a long time.
• Xiao Yan woke and hurried back to find Yao Ye clutching her stomach and urgently asking him to take her down.
• Xiao Yan teased Yao Ye and delayed flying her to a grove, then set her down and quickly left.

Xiao Yan kept Yao Ye captive for seven days before releasing her, while rumors about her capture and supposed disgrace spread through the Imperial Capital. The gossip intensified despite arrests and eventually reached people across the Jia Ma Empire and beyond.

• Xiao Yan teased Yao Ye while she bathed, then rescued her from a crocodile and brought her back to the cave.
• Xiao Yan and Yao Ye stayed together in the cave for seven days while her Dou Qi remained sealed.
• Xiao Yan released Yao Ye and warned her to grow stronger, while she vowed to capture him and make him pay.
• People in the Imperial Capital spread increasingly lurid rumors about Nie Feng capturing and stripping Princess Yao Ye, and soldiers arrested some of the gossipers.
• The rumors continued to grow and spread throughout the Jia Ma Empire and into other countries.

Mitel Tengshan, Mu Chen, and Nalan Jie discussed Nie Feng’s escape and Yao Ye’s defeat, then watched her return to the Imperial Capital. Yao Ye learned that her scheme had led Xiao Yan to tamper with Jia Xingtian’s Longevity-Extending Pill, leaving him near death, and acknowledged her mistakes.

• Mitel Tengshan, Mu Chen, and Nalan Jie discussed how Nie Feng survived three days of fighting and captured Yao Ye.
• Yao Ye returned to the Imperial Capital and went to see Jia Xingtian, whose appearance had aged drastically.
• Jia Xingtian told Yao Ye that the Longevity-Extending Pill had consumed his remaining life force.
• Yao Ye realized Xiao Yan had tampered with the pill in response to the substance she had put in his wine, and she blamed herself.
• Jia Xingtian advised Yao Ye that her pride and underestimation of cultivation geniuses had led her astray, while Yao Ye explained she had tried to reduce Nie Feng’s hostility toward the Jia Ma Empire.

Jia Xingtian urged Yao Ye to use rumors about her and Nie Feng to secure the Jia Ma Empire’s future while he risked his life pursuing a breakthrough to Dou Zong. In Wutan City, Xun'er learned that Elder Ling had finally traced Xiao Yan to the Imperial Capital.

• Jia Xingtian told Yao Ye that Nie Feng’s powerful master might retaliate against him, then teased her about whether anything had happened between her and Nie Feng during their seven days together.
• Yao Ye remembered that Xiao Yan had stopped their near-intimacy by saying he could not betray someone else, and Jia Xingtian urged her to spread exaggerated rumors about their relationship.
• Jia Xingtian revealed that he had helped spread rumors to protect the empire and said his shortened lifespan had strengthened his resolve to risk everything for a breakthrough to Dou Zong.
• Yao Ye left the secret chamber after Jia Xingtian warned her not to resent Nie Feng if he died.
• In Wutan City, Xun'er asked a servant for news of Xiao Yan, and Elder Ling appeared and said his search had traced Xiao Yan from the Warcraft Mountains to the Imperial Capital.

Xiao Xun'er learned from Elder Ling that Xiao Yan had gone to the Imperial Capital under the identity Nie Feng and had survived deadly battles against mercenaries and an imperial army. Believing he had endured such hardship to become worthy of her, she broke down in tears.

• Elder Ling revealed that Nie Feng was Xiao Yan in disguise and recounted his achievements as an alchemist in the Imperial Capital.
• Elder Ling explained that Xiao Yan's master was likely a powerful Central Plains alchemist who had once taught Fama and now dwelled in Xiao Yan's black Ring.
• Elder Ling told Xiao Xun'er that Xiao Yan used pills to make the Three Great Mercenary Groups slaughter one another, killing more than four thousand people.
• Elder Ling recounted that Xiao Yan fought Princess Yao Ye's hundred-thousand-strong army for three days and nights, killing more than ten thousand riders.
• Elder Ling suggested that Xiao Yan trained desperately because he knew Xiao Xun'er's identity, and Xiao Xun'er turned away in tears, believing he had done it for her.

Xiao Xun'er learned that Xiao Yan had already punished the Jia Ma Imperial Family and ordered the Three Great Mercenary Groups destroyed, then heard he was returning to his clan. At the Xiao Clan, Xiao Zhan discovered the healing medicine Xiao Yan had secretly prepared, giving the clan a way to fight the Jia Lie Clan’s economic takeover.

• Xiao Xun'er analyzed the Jia Ma Imperial Family’s plan to bind Xiao Yan to them through Yao Ye, but spared the family after learning Xiao Yan had already weakened Jia Xingtian and its guardian beast.
• Xiao Xun'er ordered the Three Great Mercenary Groups wiped out and learned Xiao Yan was heading back toward the clan.
• Xiao Xun'er dismissed the Jia Lie Clan’s growing influence in Wutan City, trusting that Xiao Yan had left a backup plan for the Xiao Clan.
• Xiao Zhan and the elders discussed the Xiao Clan’s worsening finances as the Jia Lie Clan captured most of the market with its healing medicine.
• Xiao Zhan found jars of healing medicine beneath Xiao Yan’s bed and tested one, discovering that it rapidly healed his wound and could save the Xiao Clan.

Xiao Yan waited in Qingshan Town for Xiao Yixian, hoping she would lead him to a hidden treasure, and joined Myriad Medicine Hall’s herb-gathering expedition when it recruited mercenaries. He faced a threat from Mu Li over Xiao Yixian, but stayed silent as onlookers mistook his restraint for fear.

• Xiao Yan spent more than ten days waiting near the entrance to the Warcraft Mountains while mercenaries wondered why he carried a black-wrapped object and avoided provoking him.
• After failing to locate the treasure on his own, Xiao Yan decided to wait for Xiao Yixian, who could guide him to it.
• A recruiter from Myriad Medicine Hall announced an herb-gathering expedition, and Xiao Yan immediately signed up.
• The recruiter warned Xiao Yan that Mu Li, the Wolf Head Mercenary Group’s young leader, was pursuing Xiao Yixian and had a powerful father.
• Mu Li threatened Xiao Yan for pursuing Xiao Yixian, while Xiao Yan only smiled and said nothing, causing nearby mercenaries to mock him as a coward.

Xiao Yan followed Xiao Yixian to a hidden cave, then traveled with her herb-gathering party to a medicinal basin where he planned to return at night and claim the cave’s treasures. The chapter left him preparing to enter the cave, intending to keep the Seven-Colored Poison Manual for Xiao Yixian after studying it.

• Mu Li threatened Xiao Yan in front of Xiao Yixian, but the Myriad Medicine Hall group soon entered the Warcraft Mountains.
• The party endured repeated Magical Beast attacks, and Xiao Yixian treated the wounded mercenaries.
• Xiao Yan followed Xiao Yixian to a cliff and discovered the hidden cave she was trying to reach.
• The group reached a basin full of medicinal herbs and set up camp for the night.
• Xiao Yan secretly left camp and returned to the cave, planning to take its treasures and give the Seven-Colored Poison Manual to Xiao Yixian.

Xiao Yan found a hidden cave and claimed the treasures inside, including valuable Dou Techniques, a poison manual, gold, and rare medicinal herbs. He left the chamber with the spoils stored away, planning to find a hidden valley before studying the poison recipes.

• Xiao Yan found the cave entrance, subdued the Rock Snake guarding it, and entered the cave.
• Xiao Yan opened the stone door, found the owner's skeleton, took three keys and an incomplete map, then burned the bones.
• Xiao Yan opened the treasure chests and obtained Mad Lion's Roar, Eagle's Wings, and the Seven-Colored Poison Manual, locking the Rock Snake in one chest.
• Xiao Yan collected the gold coins and turned to gather the rare medicinal herbs growing in the chamber.

Xiao Yixian followed Xiao Yan into the hidden cave and tried twice to poison him, but both attempts backfired. After accidentally poisoning herself with the Five Poisons Powder, she rinsed her mouth as her face began to swell.

• Xiao Yan began harvesting medicinal herbs in the cave and noticed Xiao Yixian approaching.
• Xiao Yixian entered the chamber, saw Xiao Yan taking the treasures, and crept up to put him to sleep with green powder.
• A sudden gust blew the green powder into Xiao Yixian's face, briefly knocking her unconscious.
• After waking, Xiao Yixian approached Xiao Yan with Five Poisons Powder, but he turned and bumped her arm, scattering it across her face and into her mouth.
• Xiao Yixian demanded water and rinsed her mouth, but the poison took effect and her face swelled dramatically.

Xiao Yan and Xiao Yixian were discovered by Mu Li and his mercenaries in the cave, where Xiao Yixian’s poisoned face had become horribly disfigured. Xiao Yan declared that he would marry her if she agreed, then challenged Mu Li when he demanded the cave’s treasure.

• Xiao Yan laughed at Xiao Yixian’s swollen, disfigured face until he heard people approaching and held her quiet.
• Mu Li and more than a dozen mercenaries entered the cave, recognized Xiao Yixian, and vomited at her appearance.
• Xiao Yixian saw her reflection, realized how badly the poison had altered her face, and covered it with cloth.
• Mu Li mocked Xiao Yan for supposedly liking Xiao Yixian only for her beauty, but Xiao Yan said he would marry her if she agreed.
• Xiao Yixian blushed and anxiously denied that she did not want him, while Xiao Yan reassured her that he did not care about her looks.
• Mu Li demanded the cave’s treasure and threatened Xiao Yan and Xiao Yixian, but Xiao Yan challenged him.

Xiao Yan killed Mu Li’s mercenaries after they threatened him and Xiao Yixian, then confronted Mu Li as his bloodlust surged. After Mu Li tried to stab him, Xiao Yan broke his arm and sent Xiao Yixian out before dealing with him.

• A mercenary threatened Xiao Yan and demanded the treasure, but Xiao Yan killed him instantly.
• Mu Li ordered his men to attack, and Xiao Yan killed every mercenary in the stone chamber in less than ten seconds.
• Mu Li begged for his life as Xiao Yan’s killing intent overwhelmed the chamber and frightened both him and Xiao Yixian.
• Mu Li attacked Xiao Yan with a dagger, but the blade could not pierce him, and Xiao Yan snapped Mu Li’s arm.
• Xiao Yan told Xiao Yixian to leave, and she walked out and closed the stone chamber door behind her.

After absorbing the poison in Xiao Yixian’s body, Xiao Yan hid what had happened to Mu Li and his men and teased her while they searched the cave’s treasure. Xiao Yixian gathered the medicinal herbs as Xiao Yan continued looking through the cave, promising to share anything she needed.

• Xiao Yixian reopened the stone door and found the chamber clean, with Mu Li and the mercenaries gone, while Xiao Yan pretended they had never been there.
• Xiao Yixian realized Xiao Yan was teasing her, then demanded her share of the cave’s treasure and the key to the stone box.
• Xiao Yixian unlocked the stone box, but Xiao Yan opened it and caught the Rock Snake when it lunged at her.
• Xiao Yan released the Rock Snake after Xiao Yixian pretended to cry, and Xiao Yixian bit his arm but could not hurt him.
• Xiao Yan told Xiao Yixian to collect the medicinal herbs while he searched the cave for more treasure, promising to give her whatever she needed.

Xiao Yan searched the stone chamber with Xiao Yixian and discovered a hidden chamber beneath the stone chair. There, they found the cave owner's legacy and two Storage Rings, while Xiao Yixian claimed one as hers.

• Xiao Yan and Xiao Yixian searched the stone chamber for hidden mechanisms but found nothing at first.
• Xiao Yan persuaded Xiao Yixian to kowtow nine times before the stone chair, which opened a secret passage.
• Xiao Yan and Xiao Yixian entered the secret chamber, passed the bluestone coffin without disturbing it, and read the cave owner's warning about a deadly trap.
• Xiao Yan wiped dust from the stone table, causing two Storage Rings to fall, and gave one to Xiao Yixian.
• Xiao Yixian examined her ring, celebrated its contents, and reminded Xiao Yan that she still held him responsible for their earlier dispute.

Xiao Yan and Xiao Yixian left the cave after dividing its treasures, and Xiao Yan drove away the guards watching the cliff. Xiao Yixian took him on her eagle Little Lan to a secluded, energy-rich valley where Xiao Yan planned to cultivate in seclusion.

• Xiao Yan and Xiao Yixian sealed the cave and left with the treasures they had collected.
• Xiao Yan gave Xiao Yixian a cloak, climbed the cliff, and dealt with the guards stationed above.
• Xiao Yan told Xiao Yixian he would not return to the herb-gathering party and wanted a secluded place to cultivate.
• Xiao Yixian called her eagle Little Lan, and she and Xiao Yan flew away together.
• Little Lan carried them to a hidden valley filled with dense energy and medicinal herbs, which Xiao Yan judged ideal for cultivation.