Chapter Summaries

Xiao Yan prepared to leave Wutan City for the Imperial Capital after Little Fairy Doctor departed, saying farewell to Xiao Zhan and setting out with Qinglian and Jia Tianyu. He discovered that Bai Ye and Ya Fei were also traveling with him aboard a powerful Fourth-Rank flying magical beast.

• Xiao Yan left a Purpleheart Barrier-Breaking Pill and alchemy technique jade slips with Xiao Zhan, who acknowledged that his son was leaving for the Imperial Capital.
• Xiao Yan met Qinglian and Jia Tianyu at the entrance and promised Qinglian they would tour the Imperial Capital with Ya Fei as their guide.
• Xiao Yan encountered Bai Ye, who said she was traveling to the Imperial Capital too, and learned Jia Tianyu had arranged a special flying magical beast for him.
• Xiao Yan and the others boarded a Fourth-Rank flying magical beast, and Bai Ye joined them despite Xiao Yan's startled reaction.

Jia Xing Tian, the Nalan Clan, and other Imperial Capital powers learned of Xiao Yan’s extraordinary strength and made plans to befriend or recruit him. After two days of flight, Xiao Yan arrived at the Jiama Imperial Capital.

• Yaoye showed Jia Xing Tian intelligence confirming Xiao Yan had defeated a Six-Star Dou Ling as a Peak Great Dou Master, and proposed honoring him and marrying Yaoyue into his family.
• Yaoye told Jia Xing Tian that Nalan Yanran had been betrothed to Xiao Yan before birth, shocking him and complicating the Imperial Family’s marriage plans.
• Nalan Jie celebrated Xiao Yan’s achievements and arranged for Nalan Yanran to meet him, while Nalan Su agreed to send a letter.
• Fama considered whether Xiao Yan might attract more alchemists to the empire, and Hai Bodong instructed Mittel Tengshan to prepare eligible women from the Mittel Family to meet Xiao Yan.
• After two days of flight, Xiao Yan saw the Jiama Imperial Capital and announced that he had arrived.

Xiao Yan arrived at the imperial palace, greeted Jia Xing Tian and Hai Bodong, and met Princess Yaoye. After news spread that he had refined a Fourth-Grade Purpleheart Barrier-Breaking Pill and devised a new pill-forming method, Jia Xing Tian considered arranging a marriage between Xiao Yan and Yaoyue, while Ya Fei reflected on a promise Xiao Yan had made.

• Jia Xing Tian, Hai Bodong, Teng Shan, and Yaoye welcomed Xiao Yan and his companions at the imperial palace.
• Xiao Yan greeted Jia Xing Tian and Hai Bodong, then met Yaoye and attended a banquet.
• News of Xiao Yan's Fourth-Grade Purpleheart Barrier-Breaking Pill and apparent new pill-forming method spread through the imperial family and the Mitel Clan.
• Yaoyue confirmed the pill's creation and new method to Jia Xing Tian, who proposed a marriage alliance between her and Xiao Yan; Yaoyue said she would not be unwilling.
• Hai Bodong and Teng Shan spoke to Ya Fei, who recalled Xiao Yan's promise and blushed.

Xiao Yan took Qinglian on an outing in the Imperial Capital, buying her a bracelet and then flying with her above the clouds. On their way back, he sensed a strange pull toward the Misty Cloud Sect but set the feeling aside and returned with Qinglian.

• Xiao Yan met Qinglian outside his room, took her hand, and left the palace with her after Yaoyue offered help if they encountered trouble.
• Xiao Yan bought Qinglian a jade bracelet set with a second-tier magical beast core and gave it to her to keep.
• Qinglian led Xiao Yan to a medicinal-ingredient street and mentioned that their next planned stop was the Crimson Pavilion.
• Xiao Yan carried Qinglian into the sky with his Purple Cloud Wings and spent the day flying with her through the clouds.
• Xiao Yan sensed a strange pull toward the mountain range of the Misty Cloud Sect, then decided it was late and headed back with Qinglian.

Yaoyue asked Jia Xing Tian and Yaoye how to pursue Xiao Yan, and they advised her to attend Canaan Academy with him. Yaoye argued that Xiao Yan's engagement to Nalan Yanran need not be dissolved, and Yaoyue declared that she wanted him despite knowing he already had a close companion.

• Yaoyue asked Jia Xing Tian and Yaoye how a girl should pursue a boy, and Jia Xing Tian admitted he had no experience to offer.
• Yaoye suggested sending Yaoyue to Canaan Academy with Xiao Yan so they could study, refine pills, and live together.
• Jia Xing Tian raised Xiao Yan's marriage agreement with the Nalan Clan, but Yaoye argued that dissolving it could damage relations and was unnecessary.
• Yaoyue revealed that she knew another girl in the Xiao Clan was close to Xiao Yan, but she still chose him.
• Yaoyue explained that Xiao Yan's strength, confidence, and gentleness had convinced her he was her best choice.

Nalan Yanran resisted her family’s plan for her to marry Xiao Yan, insisting that she would only marry someone who could cure Nalan Jie. Nalan Jie defended her right to choose, and Nalan Su agreed to stop pressing her, though Yanran still had to meet Xiao Yan the next day.

• Nalan Su called Nalan Yanran home and told her to meet her fiancé, Xiao Yan, the next day.
• Nalan Yanran refused, arguing that she did not love Xiao Yan and would not accept becoming his concubine.
• Nalan Jie told Nalan Yanran she did not have to marry if she truly did not want to, and asked what kind of person she wished to marry.
• Nalan Yanran said that if she had to marry, she would marry someone who could cure Nalan Jie.
• Nalan Su made Nalan Yanran agree to meet Xiao Yan, then Nalan Jie privately confronted Nalan Su about pressuring her for the clan’s benefit.
• Nalan Jie urged Nalan Su to let Yanran decide her own affairs, and Nalan Su reluctantly agreed.

Xiao Yan attended a Heaven Tier auction with Ya Fei and Princess Yaoyue, who competed to look after him in their private room. Just as Ya Fei began to explain that another guest was expected, the door opened and Xiao Yan saw a figure dressed in moon-white.

• Xiao Yan entered a Heaven Tier private room at the Mitel Auction House with Ya Fei and Princess Yaoyue.
• Yaoyue asked why the room had no dedicated maidservant, and Ya Fei explained that the Clan Head and Elder Hai had instructed her to attend to Xiao Yan personally.
• Ya Fei served Xiao Yan tea, while Yaoyue nervously offered him fruit; Xiao Yan thanked them and guided them to seats on either side of him.
• Ya Fei mentioned that another person was expected, but the door opened before she could reveal who it was.
• Xiao Yan looked toward the doorway and saw a moon-white figure.

Nalan Yanran asked Xiao Yan to dissolve their engagement, and he agreed, arranging to visit the Nalan Clan after the auction. Xiao Yan revealed that he planned to treat Nalan Jie’s Branding Poison and obtain Seven-Colored Green Spirit Saliva, just as the Heaven-Tier Auction began.

• Nalan Yanran entered the private room in combat attire, and Xiao Yan briefly glimpsed the Yin-Yang Twin Flames and the words “Gate of Life and Death” when he saw her.
• Nalan Yanran asked Xiao Yan to dissolve their engagement, and he readily agreed while arranging to visit the Nalan Clan after the next day’s auction.
• Yaoyue and Ya Fei questioned Xiao Yan about why he would visit the Nalan Clan, and he explained that he intended to treat Nalan Jie’s Branding Poison and obtain Seven-Colored Green Spirit Saliva.
• Xiao Yan kept the reason for staring at Nalan Yanran secret from Yaoyue, then the Heaven-Tier Auction began.

After the auction, Xiao Yan stayed at the Mitel Auction House and gave Ya Fei a necklace that eased fatigue and nourished the skin. Ya Fei visited his room that night, where they confessed their desire for each other and spent the night together.

• Xiao Yan bought Yaoyue a calming mirror and Ya Fei a necklace with restorative effects at the Heaven Tier auction.
• Xiao Yan stayed overnight at the Mitel Auction House despite Yaoyue's objections.
• Xiao Yan practiced shaping flames into fire lotuses while studying Gu Yuan's Dou Technique Compendium in his room.
• Ya Fei entered Xiao Yan's room, and Xiao Yan asked whether she had come because of Old Hai and the others or for another reason.
• Ya Fei said she had taken a liking to Xiao Yan and asked him to love her.
• Xiao Yan and Ya Fei spent the night together, and the necklace helped Ya Fei recover from fatigue.

After the auction, Xiao Yan visited the Nalan Clan to end his engagement with Nalan Yanran and offered to cure Nalan Jie’s Branding Poison. He asked for the Seven-Colored Green Spirit Saliva in return, leaving Nalan Yanran furious and the family puzzled by the coincidence.

• Xiao Yan and Ya Fei returned to the auction, where Yaoyue stayed close to Xiao Yan until it ended.
• Xiao Yan followed Nalan Yanran to the Nalan Clan estate, where Nalan Jie welcomed him and arranged for the engagement dissolution agreement to be signed.
• Xiao Yan offered to examine and cure Nalan Jie’s Branding Poison, surprising Nalan Jie and Nalan Yanran.
• Nalan Jie offered Xiao Yan compensation for ending the engagement, and Xiao Yan requested the Seven-Colored Green Spirit Saliva.
• Nalan Yanran accused Xiao Yan of going too far, but Nalan Su took her outside and suggested Xiao Yan had chosen the ingredient because he was an alchemist.

Xiao Yan used his fused flame to remove the Branding Poison from Nalan Jie, restoring the old man’s strength. Outside the room, Nalan Yanran agreed to take Xiao Yan to the Nalan Clan’s treasure vault, blushing as she remembered the significance of the Seven-Colored Green Spirit Saliva.

• Xiao Yan examined Nalan Jie and determined he could cure the Branding Poison in about an hour using his fused flame.
• Xiao Yan endured Nalan Jie's cries of pain as he burned the poison from the old man’s bones and internal organs.
• Xiao Yan finished removing the Branding Poison and withdrew his flame, while Nalan Jie released a powerful aura that spread through the Imperial Capital.
• Nalan Yanran and Nalan Su realized Xiao Yan had succeeded, and Nalan Su told his daughter to take Xiao Yan to the treasure vault.
• Nalan Yanran blushed as she recalled the meaning of the Seven-Colored Green Spirit Saliva and agreed to take Xiao Yan there.

After healing Nalan Jie, Xiao Yan collected the Seven-Colored Green Spirit Saliva and arranged to visit Yun Yun at the Misty Cloud Sect. Nalan Su tried to make Nalan Yanran believe Xiao Yan wanted to revive their engagement, but Xiao Yan chose to stay on a nearby hill rather than in her bedroom.

• Nalan Yanran and Nalan Su thanked Xiao Yan for healing Nalan Jie, and Xiao Yan asked Nalan Yanran to take him to see Yun Yun.
• Nalan Su privately suggested that Xiao Yan might want to salvage his engagement with Nalan Yanran, leaving her flustered.
• Nalan Yanran led Xiao Yan into the Nalan Clan treasury, where he carefully harvested the Seven-Colored Green Spirit Saliva.
• A servant told Xiao Yan that the banquet had been postponed until the next day and asked him to stay at the Nalan Clan.
• Nalan Yanran discovered that the only available room was her bedroom, but Xiao Yan instead chose an unoccupied hill on the estate.

Xiao Yan stayed overnight on a small mountain at the Nalan Clan grounds and explained some of his past training to Nalan Yanran. After an awkward exchange about her need for a bath, Nalan Yanran returned at night and watched Xiao Yan cultivating atop a platform of azure-red fire lotuses, finding him unexpectedly cool.

• Xiao Yan chose to sleep by a pond on a mountain because the Nalan Clan had no spare guest rooms.
• Xiao Yan told Nalan Yanran that he had trained in the Magic Beast Mountains, visited the Tagore Great Desert, and returned to Wutan City before coming to the Nalan Clan.
• Xiao Yan said they would leave for the Misty Cloud Sect in the morning so he could continue toward Canaan Academy.
• Xiao Yan admitted that his alchemist's nose had told him Nalan Yanran needed a bath, making her blush and run back to her courtyard.
• Nalan Yanran sprayed herself with perfume and quietly returned to the mountain, where she watched Xiao Yan cultivate amid glowing azure-red fire lotuses.
• Nalan Yanran thought Xiao Yan looked cool, then realized she was developing feelings for him.

Nalan Yanran and Xiao Yan secretly left the Nalan Clan and flew toward the Misty Cloud Sect, while Nalan Su arranged for others to encourage their closeness. Their journey ended as they reached the sect’s mountain peak.

• Nalan Su told Nalan Jie he would seat Nalan Yanran and Xiao Yan together at the banquet and postpone their engagement discussion until Xiao Yan returned from the Misty Cloud Sect.
• Nalan Yanran and Xiao Yan sneaked to the flying-beast grounds, where an attendant teased them about being a perfect match before Nalan Yanran chased him away.
• Nalan Yanran and Xiao Yan took the flying beast assigned to her by the Misty Cloud Sect and set off together.
• Nalan Su revealed that Xiao Yan had noticed them watching and praised the attendant for helping encourage Nalan Yanran’s feelings.
• Xiao Yan complimented Nalan Yanran’s Moonfrost Flower perfume, and she happily told him about the Misty Cloud Sect as they flew.
• Nalan Yanran and Xiao Yan reached the Misty Cloud Sect, where powerful soul force swept over them and their flying beast.

Xiao Yan met Yun Yun in the Misty Cloud Sect’s Sect Master Hall and offered an Earth-tier cultivation technique in exchange for entering the Gate of Life and Death. Yun Yun questioned why he wanted access, and Xiao Yan said something inside the gate had been drawing him toward it.

• Nalan Yanran brought Xiao Yan into the Sect Master Hall after Yun Yun agreed to see him.
• Xiao Yan asked Yun Yun to seal the hall so their conversation could remain private, and she blocked anyone below the Battle Ancestor realm from hearing them.
• Xiao Yan offered the Misty Cloud Sect an Earth-tier cultivation technique in exchange for permission to enter the Gate of Life and Death.
• Yun Yun asked why Xiao Yan wanted to enter the gate, and he explained that he had sensed something inside drawing him toward it since arriving in the Imperial Capital.
• Nalan Yanran realized Xiao Yan had been drawn to the Gate of Life and Death when they first met, and Yun Yun told them to stop flirting.

Xiao Yan asked Yun Yun to let him enter the Gate of Life and Death to find a supreme fire-attributed treasure, offering an Earth-tier cultivation technique in exchange. Nalan Yanran agreed to enter with him, and the pair stepped through the opened gate before the Misty Cloud Sect elders could arrive.

• Xiao Yan asked Yun Yun to keep their proposed exchange secret from the Misty Cloud Sect elders, and Yun Yun worried about how to explain opening the gate.
• Nalan Yanran proposed going inside with Xiao Yan so Yun Yun could tell the elders she was sending her disciple, and Yun Yun accepted.
• Yun Yun teased Nalan Yanran about her feelings for Xiao Yan, while Nalan Yanran denied liking him and pinched Xiao Yan's waist.
• Yun Yun opened the Gate of Life and Death, causing the sky to darken and drawing the attention of Misty Cloud Sect elders.
• Xiao Yan took Nalan Yanran's hand, and they entered the Gate of Life and Death together.

Xiao Yan and Nalan Yanran entered the Gate of Life and Death and discovered it was a world created by a Dou God. Xiao Yan sensed something deeper in the realm drawing him onward and chose to continue instead of returning.

• Xiao Yan and Nalan Yanran appeared on a stone platform inside the Gate of Life and Death, where Xiao Yan sensed dense natural and spiritual energy.
• Nalan Yanran felt a crushing pressure, but Xiao Yan shielded them with Heavenly Flame and relieved her discomfort.
• Xiao Yan questioned how Yun Potian had connected the Misty Cloud Sect to the realm, and he apologized after his suspicion angered Nalan Yanran.
• Xiao Yan explained that the realm resembled a world created by a Dou God and told Nalan Yanran he had seen such a world before.
• Nalan Yanran asked whether they should return, but Xiao Yan decided to go deeper because something in the realm was drawing him in.

Xiao Yan and Nalan Yanran reached the Yin-Yang Twin Flames, where a powerful Golden-Horned Thunder Tiger guarded the flame. Xiao Yan began fighting the beast without using the Heavenly Flame energy sealed within him, and their first clash ended in a stalemate.

• Xiao Yan carried Nalan Yanran through the vast world for two days before they spotted the black-and-white radiance of the Yin-Yang Twin Flames.
• A Third-Rank snake and other hostile Magical Beasts attacked them as they approached the flame, but Xiao Yan evaded them and continued onward.
• Xiao Yan set Nalan Yanran on a tree and confronted the Golden-Horned Thunder Tiger, which warned him to leave and explained that the beasts needed the flame to survive.
• The Golden-Horned Thunder Tiger revealed that it could talk and charged Xiao Yan with a lightning attack.
• Xiao Yan struck back with the Flame Splitting Tsunami Ruler, and their clash produced a huge pillar of fire and lightning before they immediately attacked again.

Xiao Yan fought the Golden-Horned Thunder Tiger while secretly developing a fire-lotus technique that drew in Earthfire energy. He revealed the technique and replenished his strength, leaving the tiger facing a newly empowered opponent.

• Xiao Yan and the Golden-Horned Thunder Tiger traded blows, and both conserved energy while searching for an opening.
• The Golden-Horned Thunder Tiger used its lightning speed to try to outlast Xiao Yan, but Xiao Yan kept pace with flames erupting beneath his feet.
• Xiao Yan appeared to be running low on Dou Qi as the Golden-Horned Thunder Tiger intensified its attacks, while Nalan Yanran and nearby magical beasts stayed clear of the battle.
• Xiao Yan transformed the flames beneath his feet into fire lotuses that drew in Earthfire energy and restored his strength.
• Xiao Yan stopped and formed a larger fire lotus beneath himself, making his aura rise as he mocked the astonished Golden-Horned Thunder Tiger.

Xiao Yan subdued the Golden-Horned Thunder Tiger with a poison pill and prepared to take the Yin-Yang Twin Flames while Nalan Yanran stayed by his side. As he reached for the flames, a powerful presence recognized his Xiao Clan bloodline and revealed itself as Xiao Xuan.

• The Golden-Horned Thunder Tiger surrendered to Xiao Yan, who agreed to take it in after making it swallow a poison pill.
• Xiao Yan gave the recovering tiger pills and ordered it to hold off the other magical beasts while he took the Yin-Yang Twin Flames.
• Nalan Yanran refused to leave Xiao Yan, and he reassured her before approaching the flames.
• The surrounding magical beasts charged as Xiao Yan reached into the Yin-Yang Twin Flames to find the Origin Fire Seed.
• A terrifying aura froze Xiao Yan, Nalan Yanran, the tiger, and the charging beasts, then an ancient voice identified Xiao Yan as a descendant of the Xiao Clan.
• The voice revealed that it was Xiao Xuan.