Chapter Summaries

Xiao Wanqing explained the Xiao Clan Branch’s brutal rules and asked Xiao Yan to protect Xiao Yuting after she gave up her noble status. Xiao Yan and Xiao Yuting arrived at the branch, where Elder Xiao Xuan warned that strength alone would earn them a place at headquarters.

• Xiao Wanqing told Xiao Yan to keep refusing Xiao Yuting’s request to detoxify her and to look after Xiao Yuting once she entered the branch.
• Xiao Wanqing explained that branch candidates faced fierce competition, scarce food, and dangerous arenas, while Xiao Yan reflected on facing the challenge alone.
• Xiao Yan, Xiao Wanqing, and Xiao Yuting caught up with Xiao Yuting and reached the Xiao Clan Branch, which Xiao Wanqing said had been built with a gift from a great clan.
• Xiao Wanqing brought Xiao Yan and Xiao Yuting to Elder Xiao Xuan, who told her to stop taking escort missions and said he would send her to headquarters the next day.
• Elder Xiao Xuan thanked Xiao Yan for defending the Xiao Clan’s dignity, then warned Xiao Yan and Xiao Yuting that they must follow the branch’s rules and rely on strength to join headquarters.

Xiao Yan settled into the Xiao Clan’s branch academy, met his roommate Xiao Jian, and learned that newcomers had to fend for themselves. After missing the dinner queue, he left with Xiao Jian to hunt for food.

• Xiao Yuting ignored Elder Xiao Xuan and left after receiving her identity token, while Xiao Yan respectfully took his token and found his room.
• Xiao Yan met his roommate Xiao Jian, who explained that his wife belonged to another Lineage and warned him that food at dinner often ran out.
• Xiao Yan cultivated and considered visiting the Murong Clan to learn more about the Flame Formula, the Heaven-Transforming Formula, and the Water-Fire Mutual Generation Formula.
• Xiao Yan went to the dining hall and found a long line, where Xiao Jian suggested they hunt a Devil Beast instead of competing for food.
• Xiao Yan reflected that the academy’s harsh rules tested newcomers’ independence, then noticed a dazzling sight as he was about to leave.

Xiao Yan saw Xiao Yuting charm four men from Starflame Continent into sharing their food, then threaten them and make them collapse after revealing she was from Heavenly Spirit Continent. She confronted Xiao Yan about detoxifying her sister, but he refused, and she left after mocking and stomping on him.

• Xiao Yan and Xiao Jian noticed Xiao Yuting dining quietly, and Xiao Jian warned that the men approaching her had advantages as early arrivals from Starflame Continent.
• Xiao Yuting persuaded the four men to divide their noodles among themselves, then revealed her identity and ordered them to prepare two meals for her daily or become poison-testing subjects.
• Xiao Yuting told Xiao Yan to detoxify her sister, but Xiao Yan said only an Emperor Sovereign expert could do it and refused.
• Xiao Yuting made the four men collapse and teased Xiao Yan that he was worse than a pig, while Xiao Yan tried to control his anger.
• Xiao Yuting demanded that Xiao Yan help her sister again, then threatened to eat his flesh someday, stomped on his foot, and walked away.

Xiao Yan joined Xiao Jian, Xiao Jun, Xiao Kai, and Xiao Yang on a nighttime hunt for a Magic Crystal Beast. As they entered its territory, its illusion separated them without their knowledge, and they faced a beast stronger than Xiao Jun expected.

• Xiao Yan and Xiao Jian met Xiao Jun, Xiao Kai, and Xiao Yang for the planned hunt, and Xiao Yan earned their acceptance after Xiao Kai tested his strength.
• Xiao Jun led the group into the forest and explained that their target was a Magic Crystal Beast believed to be at the peak of the Emperor Spirit Realm.
• The five arranged themselves in formation and advanced toward the beast's cave as strange sound waves reached them.
• The Magic Crystal Beast's illusions secretly separated the five, while they each still believed the others were beside them.
• Xiao Jun did not know that the beast had already advanced to the Emperor King Realm.

Xiao Yan realized that an illusion had separated him from the others and refused to follow the false companions. Xiao Jian encountered a battered Xue Rou, who begged him to divorce her because the Xue Clan would not allow her to remain married to an enemy.

• Xiao Yan noticed his soul power could not sense the four people walking with him and suspected a Magic Crystal Beast’s illusion.
• The apparent Xiao Jun, Xiao Kai, and Xiao Jian insulted Xiao Yan for stopping, so he turned back to search for the others.
• A familiar voice calling Xiao Yan made him stop.
• Xiao Jian saw Xue Rou in a battered and disheveled state and blamed the Xue Clan for hurting her.
• Xue Rou told Xiao Jian to divorce her, warning that the Xue Clan elders would come to the Xiao Clan if they stayed together.

Xiao Yan overcame an illusion using Xun'er’s image and found Xiao Jian trapped in another, then the two rushed to help Xiao Jun, Xiao Kai, and Xiao Yang fight the wounded Emperor King Realm Magic Crystal Beast. They arrived as the others were nearing defeat, and Xiao Jun greeted them by demanding they punish themselves with three cups.

• Xiao Jun, Xiao Kai, and Xiao Yang continued toward the Magic Crystal Beast’s cave after they failed to find Xiao Yan and Xiao Jian.
• Xiao Yan rejected the illusion’s attempts to make him kill himself or Xun’er, dispelled it, and headed for the battlefield.
• Xiao Yan found Xiao Jian about to be killed by an illusory sword and broke Xiao Jian free from the illusion.
• Xiao Yan and Xiao Jian hurried to the cave, where Xiao Jun, Xiao Kai, and Xiao Yang were struggling against the wounded Emperor King Realm Magic Crystal Beast.
• Xiao Jun saw Xiao Yan and Xiao Jian arrive and told them to punish themselves with three cups for being late.

Xiao Yan and Xiao Jian fought the wounded Magic Crystal Beast, whose magic crystal exploded when Xiao Yan struck it, nearly killing the group. After sharing a meal and settling in for the night, Xiao Yan cultivated while a Black Alliance hall master ordered his men to hunt a Nine Profound Golden Thunder Dragon.

• Xiao Jian wounded the Magic Crystal Beast, and Xiao Yan struck its magic crystal despite Xiao Jun's warning, causing the beast to self-destruct and blast the group away.
• Xiao Yan and the others survived, then discussed hunting duties and Xiao Jian's cooking as they prepared the beast's meat.
• The five men ate in a cave, and Xiao Yan stayed awake thinking about Xun'er and his insufficient strength before beginning to cultivate.
• A Black Alliance hall master scolded five Mid-Grade Emperor Spirit Realm subordinates for failing to capture a Low-Grade Emperor Spirit Realm creature and sent them to search again.
• The hall master revealed that the creature was a Nine Profound Golden Thunder Dragon and vowed to capture it.

Xiao Yan and his companions tried to save a golden-haired child from the Black Alliance Hunting Squad, but the squad overwhelmed them and its Hall Master discovered Xiao Yan’s Heavenly Fire. The Hall Master exposed Xiao Yan’s lie about his lineage and moved to kill him and seize the flame.

• The Black Alliance Hunting Squad surrounded the child, who refused to surrender and insisted he was going to Dragon Island.
• Xiao Yan and his companions arrived and fought the five members of the squad, but the squad’s icy battle qi and superior strength gave them the advantage.
• Xiao Yan was struck by a poisoned needle, while Xiao Yang and Xiao Kai fell and Xiao Jun and Xiao Jian were badly weakened.
• The Hall Master stopped the squad from killing them immediately and questioned Xiao Yan about his Heavenly Fire and Lineage.
• Xiao Yan claimed to be from the Murong Clan, but the Hall Master saw through the lie and prepared to strike him down and take his Heavenly Fire.

A powerful Void Ancient Dragon Clan man saved Xiao Yan, erased the Black Alliance members’ memories, and questioned Xiao Yan about his Dragon Emperor bloodline and Qingcheng. After the man left for Dragon Island with the child, Xiao Yan returned to his companions and resolved to be wary of the Black Alliance.

• A purple-haired man appeared before the Black Alliance Hall Master and erased the six men’s memories of Heavenly Fire and the Nine Profound Golden Thunder Dragon.
• The man told Xiao Yan that his companions were safe and that he would take the child, who was connected to the Void Ancient Dragon Clan, to Dragon Island.
• Xiao Yan explained how Zi Yan’s Dragon-Phoenix power had awakened the Ancient Dragon Essence Blood he had absorbed, giving him the clan’s Dragon Emperor bloodline power.
• The man asked why Xiao Yan carried Qingcheng’s aura, dismissed the idea that she had chosen him as her inheritor, and invited him to visit Dragon Island if he became strong enough.
• The man left through a spatial tear with the child, and Xiao Yan extinguished his bonfire to escape the beasts drawn by its light.
• Xiao Yan returned to the cave, found his companions recovering, and decided to be cautious around the Black Alliance.

Xiao Yan visited the Xiao Clan branch's Medicine Hall to learn about alchemy and test his potential. He discovered that its strict rules limited his time and access, while the old man overseeing it quietly judged him to be a promising talent.

• After returning to the Xiao Clan branch, Xiao Yan went to the Medicine Hall to improve his alchemy and prepare for his search at the Murong Clan.
• The old man assigned Xiao Yan a one-hour visit, where Xiao Yuer explained the alchemist ranks and Medicine Hall rules.
• Xiao Yan learned that alchemists had to provide their own ingredients and could enter the Medicine Hall only three times a month.
• Xiao Yan tested his potential, and his battle qi made the crystal ball blaze with the yellow color of Fallen Star Flame.
• Xiao Yan lost track of time while studying, and the old man barred him from entering the Medicine Hall again that month.
• After Xiao Yan left, the old man privately praised his composure and considered him a promising Xiao Clan talent.

Xiao Yuting took Xiao Yan to a quiet place and told him how her half-sister, Xiao Wanqing, had protected and guided her through years of bullying. She recalled Xiao Wanqing’s promise to protect her in World-Creation Continent, though an accident later dimmed Xiao Wanqing’s standing in the clan.

• Xiao Yuting led Xiao Yan to a secluded building where they could watch the sunset and began recounting her past.
• Xiao Yuting explained that after her mother died, the clan bullied her until Xiao Wanqing found her injured and comforted her while they watched the sunset.
• Xiao Wanqing taught Xiao Yuting to cultivate and protected her, slowing her own progress until clan pressure forced her into seclusion.
• Xiao Yuting recalled becoming a Dou Wang at fifteen while Xiao Wanqing reached Dou Emperor, after which they watched the sunset together again.
• Xiao Yuting described challenging a stronger bully before Xiao Wanqing left Heavenly Spirit Continent, then recalled Xiao Wanqing promising to protect her in World-Creation Continent.

Xiao Yuting told Xiao Yan how Xiao Wanqing had been poisoned in an assassination by the Xue Clan and Qin Clan, losing her Emperor Sovereign strength, and pleaded with him to help restore her. Xiao Yan was moved by the sisters’ promises to protect each other, but said he could not help.

• Xiao Yuting recounted how she reunited with Xiao Wanqing and asked her to take her to watch a sunset.
• Xiao Yuting explained that the Xue Clan and Qin Clan ambushed the sisters, poisoned Xiao Wanqing, and reduced her strength to the Lower-Grade Emperor Spirit Realm.
• Xiao Yuting said the Xiao Clan failed to find a cure, and that she studied poison arts while Xiao Wanqing continued serving the clan despite her lost strength.
• Xiao Yuting asked Xiao Yan to help Xiao Wanqing recover and offered to agree to any request.
• Xiao Yan told Xiao Yuting that he wanted to help but could do nothing.

Xiao Yan revealed that Xiao Wanqing could only be saved by simultaneously removing her poison and seal, then shared Little Doctor Fairy’s tragic past to comfort Xiao Yuting. Xiao Yuting accepted that she needed to cultivate diligently, and the chapter ended with Xiao Yan and Xiao Yuting watching the sunset.

• Xiao Yan told Xiao Yuting that Xiao Wanqing would die unless a sixth-grade alchemist with Immortal Realm soul power treated her poison and seal at the same time, and explained that Heavenly Fire had been offered as a more hopeful goal.
• Xiao Yuting thanked Xiao Yan for telling her the truth and admitted she could do anything to save Xiao Wanqing, while Xiao Yan warned her how rare sixth-grade alchemists were.
• Xiao Yan told Xiao Yuting about Little Doctor Fairy, whose Calamitous Poison Body forced her into loneliness and caused the deaths of the elderly couple who raised her and the people of a village.
• Xiao Yan explained that Little Doctor Fairy eventually resolved her Calamitous Poison Body and urged Xiao Yuting to value her sister’s support.
• Xiao Yuting guessed that Little Doctor Fairy was Xiao Yan’s wife, but Xiao Yan declined to answer and watched the sunset with her.

Xiao Yuting offered Xiao Yan medicinal ingredients in exchange for future help, but he refused to pledge his potential. She told him about an upcoming auction featuring an Emperor-Tier Intermediate Battle Skill, leaving him unsure whether he could compete with the three great clans.

• Xiao Yuting urged Xiao Yan to return so she could watch the sunset with her sister, then teased him about Xiao Yi Xian and invited him to lunch.
• Xiao Yan cultivated overnight and reflected that he needed alchemy supplies and the Water-Fire Mutual Generation Formula to grow stronger quickly.
• Xiao Yuting explained that the Battle Skill Pavilion had no suitable skill for Xiao Yan and offered medicinal ingredients if he promised to help her sister and destroy the Xue Clan and the Qin Clan.
• Xiao Yan refused to trade away his future potential, though he said he might help if he became strong enough.
• Xiao Yuting told Xiao Yan about an auction in three days featuring an Emperor-Tier Intermediate Battle Skill and gave him a map.
• Xiao Yan returned to his room discouraged, and Xiao Jian comforted him after hearing about the auction.

Xiao Wanqing presided over the Xiao Clan elders’ meeting, where the elders discussed bidding on an Emperor-Tier Intermediate Ruler Technique and assessed Xiao Yan’s prospects. The clan decided to make his assessment more difficult but vowed to protect him if he passed, while Xiao Tian offered to bid for the technique on his behalf.

• Xiao Wanqing told Xiao Tian and the elders that the Dragon-Phoenix Army’s Second Commander was absent, then led discussion of the clan’s budget and bidder for the Ruler Technique.
• The elders debated the technique’s value, usefulness, and auction risks, and Xiao Wanqing suggested bidding for it unless the price became too high.
• Xiao Wanqing presented the plan to assess Xiao Yan, and she warned that his pride and weak ties to the Xiao Clan made him unlikely to accept being forced to join the Heavenly Spirit Continent.
• Huang Feng warned that Xiao Yan possessed the Fallen Star Flame, and Xiao Wanqing confirmed that he had agreed to keep it secret.
• Xiao Tian ordered the elders to raise Xiao Yan’s assessment difficulty and promised the clan would protect him if he passed; he also agreed to bid for the Ruler Technique on Xiao Yan’s behalf.
• The meeting ended, and Xiao Wanqing sighed as she looked over Xiao Yan’s assessment plan.

Xiao Yan and Xiao Jian went to an auction hoping to find a battle technique that could improve Xiao Yan’s strength. On the way, they encountered a beautiful woman and her maid, then arrived as the auction began among Spirit Prefecture’s three great Lineages.

• Xiao Jian bought jewelry and ornaments for his wife, while Xiao Yan bought gifts for Xun'er and Cai Lin.
• Xiao Yan dragged Xiao Jian toward the auction house, and Xiao Jian briefly showed sorrow when Xiao Yan asked about his wife.
• Xiao Yan and Xiao Jian blocked a beautiful woman and her maid; Xiao Yan told them they could have gone around, and the woman calmly passed by.
• Xiao Yan and Xiao Jian entered the crowded auction, where Xiao Tian traded barbs with elderly representatives of the Qin Clan and the Xue Clan.
• An old man from the merchant guild welcomed the crowd and explained that the highest bidder would win.

At the auction, Xiao Yan met the mysterious woman again, who revealed the Black Alliance’s connection to a maid’s condition and offered to acquire the Battle Skill for him in exchange for ten times its price and one future request. Xiao Yan accepted their agreement as the auction began bidding on the Emperor-Tier Intermediate Battle Skill, Five-Foot Profound Flame.

• The beautiful woman stood beside Xiao Yan and spoke to him while other bidders kept their distance.
• Xiao Yan noticed that the auction maid had an unusually faint aura, and the woman told him the Black Alliance was responsible for her condition.
• The woman offered to buy Xiao Yan’s Battle Skill if he repaid ten times her purchase price and fulfilled one reasonable request of his own free will.
• Xiao Yan agreed to the gentleman’s agreement, and the woman said she would find him in the future.
• The auctioneer introduced the Five-Foot Profound Flame, prompting the Xiao Clan, Qin Clan, and Xue Clan to prepare for the bidding.

Xiao Yan watched the three great clans compete for the battle skill until a mysterious woman bid one hundred million Spirit Coins and won it for him. She arranged for the skill to be delivered to the Xiao Clan branch, while Xiao Yan vowed to repay her and the woman hoped he could grow strong enough to lift Wanqing’s seal.

• The Qin Clan Patriarch, Xue Clan Patriarch, and Xiao Tian competed for the battle skill, with the Xue Clan Patriarch winning the bidding at two million Spirit Coins after the others withdrew.
• Just before the sale was finalized, the woman beside Xiao Yan bid fifty million and then raised her offer to one hundred million Spirit Coins.
• The woman told Xiao Yan that she would send the battle skill to him, and Xiao Yan promised to repay every coin.
• Xiao Yun teased Xiao Yan about owing her miss a fortune as the woman left the auction house.
• Behind the auction house, the woman explained that her actions were partly to punish Xiao Yan and partly to compensate the Xiao Clan, then ordered an attendant to deliver the battle skill to the Xiao Clan branch.
• The woman hoped Xiao Yan would grow stronger and perhaps lift Wanqing’s seal.

Xiao Yan and Xiao Jian returned from shopping after Xiao Yan accepted a huge debt, but they encountered Xiao Jian’s wife, Xue Rou, who had joined the Xue Clan and demanded an end to their relationship. As Xue Rou explained how she and Xiao Jian had grown close through their daily sword fights, her memories revealed that his sudden absence on his birthday had left her heartbroken.

• Xiao Yan told Xiao Jian he would repay the hundred million owed, and the two returned to the branch after buying more items.
• Xiao Jian recognized Xue Rou, his wife, and told Xiao Yan to leave so he could handle the matter alone.
• Xue Rou said she had joined the Xue Clan and gave Xiao Jian papers, declaring that their clans were enemies and their marriage should end.
• Xue Rou recalled how Xiao Jian had repeatedly sought her out, and how their fights gradually changed her feelings toward him.
• Xue Rou remembered waiting for Xiao Jian when he stopped coming, then realizing he had missed his birthday after persisting for so long.

Xiao Jian and Xue Rou’s shared past revealed how they fell in love and married while fleeing the Lineage’s pursuers. Years later, as their Lineages turned them against each other, Xiao Jian rejected Xue Rou’s attempt to end their marriage on the Xue Clan’s terms and wrote the divorce papers himself.

• Xiao Jian warned Xue Rou to flee before her home burned, then she nursed him and learned his parents had beaten him and sent people to kill her.
• Xue Rou and Xiao Jian escaped together, cultivated for more than a year, and married after she agreed to his proposal.
• After becoming Dou Emperors, Xiao Jian and Xue Rou separated when the Xiao Clan’s conflict with the three super planes drove them toward opposing Lineages.
• Xue Rou challenged Xiao Jian to fight in three years, while he scattered the jewelry he had given her and refused to use the sword arts she had taught him against her.
• Xiao Jian declared that neither the Xue Clan nor Xue Rou had the right to write their divorce letter, then cut a stack of papers with his sword and left two sheets for her.