Chapter Summaries

An Yi broke through to Dou Master and received the Tiger Soul Halberd, whose power he tested by slicing through a waterfall. He headed back to Wutan City, intending to keep his strength hidden while he grew powerful enough to live comfortably.

• An Yi received the growable Tiger Soul Halberd after advancing to Dou Master and discovered it could absorb Dou Qi and vital blood to replenish him.
• An Yi infused the halberd with Dou Qi and Geng Metal Qi, then cleaved the waterfall and carved deep marks into the cliffs.
• An Yi concealed his weapon and aura, passed through the waterfall, and set off toward Wutan City.
• An Yi recalled that his parents had died protecting Xiao Lin and that the Xiao Household had taken him in as an orphan, naming him Xiao An Yi.
• An Yi chose to maintain his reputation as an unambitious trash to avoid the Xiao Household’s internal conflicts while secretly cultivating his strength.

An Yi returned to the Xiao Household after secretly breaking through to Dou Master and learned that Cloud Mist Sect guests had arrived, possibly for Nalan Yanran’s engagement break. At the reception, he drew attention for missing the assessment, then sat beside Xiao Xun'er on his own tiny stool as the expected main figures had yet to arrive.

• An Yi returned after spending three days in a cave, and a maid told him Cloud Mist Sect guests were meeting the elders.
• An Yi realized Nalan Yanran might have come to break off her engagement and hurried to the reception hall to watch.
• The Great Elder scolded An Yi for missing the clan assessment, and An Yi said he was at the Sixth-Stage Qi Disciple level.
• The elders failed to provide An Yi with a seat, so Xiao Xun'er invited him to sit beside her.
• An Yi refused to share her chair, pulled a wooden stool from his Storage Ring, and sat beside Xiao Xun'er.

An Yi teased Xiao Yan about his stalled cultivation and welcomed him to sit beside him on a tiny stool, renewing their bickering in the Xiao Household hall. Xiao Yan joined him as the two endured their shared reputation as the Sleeping Dragon and Fledgling Phoenix.

• An Yi refused Xiao Xun'er's offer to share her chair and recalled how his rivalry with Xiao Yan began after they were caught sneaking into her courtyard.
• Xiao Yan entered the hall and found no seat among the Xiao Household youngsters, with Xiao Zhan absent and the three elders presiding.
• An Yi called out to Xiao Yan, teasing him about his appearance and his poor showing at the annual test.
• An Yi produced a small stool for Xiao Yan, who sat beside him while Xiao Xun'er laughed.
• An Yi asked whether Xiao Yan was still at Three-Stage Dou Qi, then boasted that he had reached Sixth-Stage Qi Disciple, prompting Xiao Yan to tell him to shut up.

An Yi teased Xiao Yan about his cultivation and appearance while they waited for Xiao Zhan and Nalan Yanran, whom he expected to break off her engagement. Xiao Zhan and Nalan Yanran arrived, but no engagement dispute occurred, leaving An Yi baffled when Xiao Zhan dismissed everyone.

• An Yi reminded Xiao Yan that his cultivation was weaker than his and joked that Nalan Yanran would prefer An Yi’s looks.
• Xiao Xun'er shyly agreed with An Yi, leaving Xiao Yan exasperated.
• Xiao Xun'er told An Yi and Xiao Yan that Xiao Zhan had gone to the rear courtyard with Nalan Yanran.
• Xiao Zhan entered the reception hall with a tearful Nalan Yanran and exchanged courtesies with Ge Ye.
• Xiao Zhan dismissed everyone without any engagement-breaking declaration, confusing An Yi.

An Yi and Nalan Yanran recognized each other from a chance meeting in the Imperial Capital three years earlier. He recounted how he had encountered her after she ran away from home over her arranged engagement to Xiao Yan, leaving Xiao Xun'er stunned by his tale.

• Xiao Zhan sent the Misty Cloud Sect guests away and asked Xiao Yan to stay behind, while An Yi left the hall with the others.
• An Yi and Nalan Yanran recognized each other in the corridor, surprising the Xiao Household disciples and Misty Cloud Sect members.
• An Yi explained that he had visited the Imperial Capital with Ya Fei three years earlier, and Ge Ye let him go talk with Nalan Yanran.
• An Yi took Nalan Yanran and Xiao Xun'er to Xiao Xun'er's courtyard and asked her to provide refreshments before he told his story.
• An Yi said Nalan Yanran had run away after arguing with her family about her engagement to Xiao Yan, then had tried to attack him when he followed her.
• An Yi claimed he disarmed and pinned Nalan Yanran, then held her sword to her neck to make her stop crying, leaving Xiao Xun'er speechless.

An Yi explained how he had taught Nalan Yanran to pressure the Xiao Household into ending her engagement, then revealed how he used other people’s secrets to protect himself from the Xiao Household’s resentment. After Xiao Xun'er explained that An Yi was an adopted orphan of martyrs, Nalan Yanran invited him to return with her to the Cloud Mist Sect, leaving him choking in surprise.

• An Yi admitted that he had taught Nalan Yanran to cry and make a scene to escape her arranged marriage, and she confirmed that Xiao Zhan had agreed to discuss ending the engagement with Xiao Yan.
• Nalan Yanran explained that her teacher had sent Uncle Ge with her after An Yi advised her to soften the Xiao Household up before taking a tougher stance.
• An Yi described how he had blackmailed Xiao Yan and other Xiao Household members with embarrassing secrets to discourage anyone from attacking him.
• Xiao Xun'er told Nalan Yanran that An Yi was Xiao Zhan’s adopted son and the orphan of parents who had died covering Elder Xiao Lin’s retreat.
• Nalan Yanran invited An Yi to return to the Cloud Mist Sect with her, and he choked on his juice in shock.

An Yi fooled Nalan Yanran into believing he was only a Sixth-Stage Qi Disciple and declined her offer to bring him to the Cloud Mist Sect. After he left, Ling Ying revealed to Xiao Xun'er that An Yi’s hidden strength had likely reached the Dou Master realm.

• An Yi claimed he was a Sixth-Stage Qi Disciple, and Nalan Yanran confirmed that his concealed cultivation appeared to match the claim.
• Nalan Yanran urged An Yi to join the Cloud Mist Sect, but he refused because he feared jealous rivals would attack him.
• An Yi left the courtyard, and Nalan Yanran took her leave shortly afterward.
• Xiao Xun'er summoned Ling Ying and asked whether he could sense An Yi’s true cultivation.
• Ling Ying said An Yi’s cultivation art concealed his strength and reported that An Yi had likely advanced from peak Nine-Star Dou Practitioner to Dou Master.
• Xiao Xun'er realized An Yi had been hiding extraordinary strength from the Xiao Household.

Xiao Xun'er and Ling Ying discussed An Yi’s hidden strength and dangerous training before An Yi visited Ya Fei at the Mittel Auction House to collect metal-attribute Magic Cores. He teased Ya Fei about her earnings and promised to make her head of the Mittel Clan when he rose to greatness.

• Xiao Xun'er told Ling Ying not to test An Yi and accepted that he wanted to hide his abilities.
• Ling Ying recalled An Yi’s punishing waterfall training and his reckless hunts for Magic Cores in the Magic Beast Mountain Range.
• An Yi went to the Mittel Auction House to see whether Ya Fei had acquired Tier-Two metal-attribute Magic Cores for him.
• An Yi found Ya Fei reviewing the auction house’s accounts and joked about its profits and her personal savings.
• An Yi flirted with Ya Fei and promised to make her head of the Mittel Clan after he rose to greatness.

An Yi visited Ya Fei, collected five rare metal-attribute magic cores, and revealed that he had become a Dou Practitioner with an Earth-Tier cultivation method. After Ya Fei warned him to keep the treasure secret, he fell asleep in her lap while she continued working.

• Ya Fei gave An Yi five top-quality second-tier metal-attribute magic cores and asked why he kept collecting them.
• An Yi revealed that he had broken through to Dou Practitioner and practiced metal-attribute Dou Qi, then told Ya Fei he had found an Earth-Tier cultivation method in a hidden cave.
• Ya Fei warned An Yi that the cultivation method could attract deadly attention and urged him never to test people's loyalty with such a valuable treasure.
• An Yi teased Ya Fei while lying in her lap, then fell asleep as she let him rest and quietly returned to her account books.

An Yi spent the night at Ya Fei’s auction house, teased her, and kissed her before hurrying back to the Xiao Household. Medicine Elder revealed to Xiao Yan that An Yi was already a fifteen-year-old Dou Master, leaving Xiao Yan stunned but determined to regain his confidence.

• An Yi woke in Ya Fei’s room and traded teasing remarks with her in the auction house hall.
• An Yi kissed Ya Fei and fled the auction house as its staff glared at him.
• An Yi returned to the Xiao Household and encountered Xiao Yan, who noticed his renewed confidence.
• Medicine Elder told Xiao Yan that An Yi had reached the Dou Master realm the previous day and that his cultivation was exceptionally difficult to detect.
• Xiao Yan was shocked by An Yi’s cultivation but steadied himself and resolved to keep moving forward.

Medicine Elder warned Xiao Yan that An Yi concealed extraordinary cultivation, a powerful bloodline, and a calculated survival strategy. An Yi planned to leave the Xiao Household for dangerous training in the Magic Beast Mountain Range and considered how to secure permission.

• Medicine Elder told Xiao Yan that An Yi secretly cultivated both his body and Dou Qi and carried a powerful ancient bloodline.
• Medicine Elder explained that An Yi hid his abilities behind a mischievous, mediocre persona to avoid becoming a target for the Xiao Household's factions.
• An Yi returned to his neglected courtyard with a stolen roast chicken and considered how to digest the Magic Cores he had collected.
• An Yi decided he needed life-or-death combat against at least second-tier Magic Beasts to train as a Dou Master.
• An Yi resolved to leave the Xiao Household for the Magic Beast Mountain Range and wondered what excuse would let him go openly.

Nalan Yanran told An Yi that her engagement to Xiao Yan had been settled and that Xiao Yan had challenged her to a duel in three years. She offered An Yi her savings when he refused to join the Cloud Mist Sect, but he explained that accepting such a large gift would turn their friendship into charity and urged her to take it back.

• Nalan Yanran told An Yi that the Xiao and Nalan families would formally dissolve her engagement and that Xiao Yan had challenged her to a duel in three years.
• An Yi approved of the duel agreement and warned Nalan Yanran to train hard so Xiao Yan would not defeat her before the Cloud Mist Sect.
• Nalan Yanran asked An Yi to return with her to the Cloud Mist Sect, but he refused because he feared the danger from her admirers and sect members.
• Nalan Yanran offered An Yi her Five-Pattern Purple Gold Card as thanks, but he refused to accept her savings.
• An Yi explained that a valuable gift could make their relationship feel transactional and asked Nalan Yanran to take the card back.

Nalan Yanran demanded a fight with An Yi to avenge their encounter three years earlier, and he agreed despite the disparity between her Three-Star Dou Practitioner rank and his Sixth-Stage Qi Disciple rank. Their challenge drew the Xiao Household and Misty Cloud Sect into a public spectacle, leaving Xiao Zhan and Ge Ye alarmed as Xiao Xun'er and Xiao Yan arrived.

• Nalan Yanran rejected An Yi's offer of money and challenged him to a fight over their encounter in the Holy City of Jia Ma three years earlier.
• An Yi accepted after Nalan Yanran threatened to cry and accuse him of taking advantage of her.
• Nalan Yanran led An Yi to the Xiao Household's central Martial Arena, drawing a crowd as Xiao Zhan showed Ge Ye around.
• Nalan Yanran publicly announced that she had lost to An Yi three years earlier and formally challenged him.
• An Yi confirmed that he had pinned Nalan Yanran in the past and declared that he would hold back, alarming Xiao Zhan and Ge Ye.
• Xiao Xun'er and Xiao Yan hurried to the Martial Arena and saw An Yi and Nalan Yanran facing off.

An Yi faced Nalan Yanran in a public arena match after agreeing to rules that barred serious injury and ended the fight if either fell off the platform. Nalan Yanran tried to capture him under the pretext of treating his injuries, but An Yi’s slippery dodges kept her from landing a clean hit.

• An Yi set match rules with Nalan Yanran and asked Xiao Yan to referee, provoking the crowd when he refused to surrender despite their mismatch in strength.
• Xiao Yan started the match, and An Yi immediately ran for the arena’s edge while Nalan Yanran used her speed to block his escape.
• An Yi realized Nalan Yanran planned to injure him publicly and take him back to the Cloud Mist Sect under the excuse of providing treatment.
• Nalan Yanran pursued An Yi with restrained strikes and grappling moves, but he dodged each attack by the narrowest margin while retreating toward the edge.

An Yi used a shameless embrace and fall from the arena to force a draw with Nalan Yanran, a Three-Star Dou Practitioner. Though Xiao Yan confirmed the result, An Yi conceded the round to Nalan Yanran, while Xiao Xun'er watched him with a dangerous chill in her gaze.

• As Nalan Yanran's attacks tore apart his robe, An Yi used her surprise at his physique to roll to the arena's edge.
• When Nalan Yanran grabbed his wrist, An Yi pulled her into an embrace and kicked them both off the arena, landing beneath her and cushioning her fall.
• A Cloud Mist Sect disciple accused An Yi of molesting Nalan Yanran, but An Yi called on Xiao Yan to rule that both fighters had fallen off the arena at the same time.
• Xiao Yan declared the match a draw, and Ge Ye stopped the angry disciple from challenging An Yi.
• Nalan Yanran got up, and An Yi put on a robe before conceding the round to her despite insisting the draw stood.
• Xiao Xun'er stopped smiling and watched An Yi and Nalan Yanran with a dangerous chill in her gaze.

An Yi left Wutan City for the waterfall, while Xiao Yan secretly followed him with Medicine Elder's help. An Yi noticed his pursuer and called for him to come out, leaving their encounter about to begin.

• An Yi slipped out of the Xiao Household at night and headed toward the mountains beyond Wutan City.
• Medicine Elder took control of Xiao Yan's body and secretly followed An Yi through the forest.
• Medicine Elder explained that An Yi's unusual movement relied on precise bursts of Dou Qi and speculated that his metal-attributed Dou Qi had been altered by a bloodline power.
• An Yi stopped at the waterfall and called out to the person who had followed him.

An Yi confronted and killed the Cloud Mist Sect disciple who had followed him into the wilderness, then left the scene. Xiao Yan and Medicine Elder approached the corpse and discovered that the waterfall concealed An Yi's true cultivation ground.

• Xiao Yan and Medicine Elder spotted the black-clothed Cloud Mist Sect disciple who had followed An Yi from the Xiao Household.
• The disciple accused An Yi of taking advantage of Yanran and threatened to kill him in the forest.
• An Yi suddenly seized the disciple and tore off his head with his bare hands, then tossed it into the pool and left.
• Medicine Elder urged Xiao Yan to inspect the scene and investigate what lay behind the waterfall.
• Xiao Yan approached the pool and saw the disciple's severed head and bleeding headless corpse.

Medicine Elder and Xiao Yan examined the Cloud Mist Sect disciple’s corpse and uncovered the precision and planning behind An Yi’s killing. They then discovered that An Yi had carved out his enormous waterfall cave through years of training, leaving Medicine Elder even more wary of him.

• Medicine Elder used Xiao Yan’s body to inspect the corpse and found that An Yi had severed the man’s neck with exceptionally refined metal-attributed Qi Disciple energy.
• Medicine Elder explained that the blood and corpse would attract predators, erasing evidence and making the death look like a magical beast attack.
• Medicine Elder and Xiao Yan passed behind the waterfall and found a spacious cave with unnaturally smooth walls and massive cuts in the surrounding cliffs.
• Medicine Elder determined that An Yi had created the cave by repeatedly pounding the rock with his bare fists while training beneath the waterfall.

An Yi returned to Wutan City and used Ya Fei as an alibi after killing a Cloud Mist Sect inner disciple. The next morning, he learned the disciple had gone missing and entered a tense meeting between the Xiao Household and its Cloud Mist Sect guests.

• An Yi sneaked into Ya Fei's courtyard and spent the night at the Mittel Auction House so his whereabouts would be witnessed.
• Ya Fei comforted An Yi as he pretended to be unable to sleep and in need of affection.
• An Yi stayed at the auction house until midday, then returned to the Xiao Household and learned a Cloud Mist Sect inner disciple had disappeared.
• An Yi went to the reception hall, where Xiao Zhan demanded to know where he had spent the night, and An Yi answered that he had been at the Mittel Auction House.
• An Yi took the seat beside Xiao Xun'er and quietly asked her what had happened.

After a Cloud Mist Sect disciple disappeared, An Yi joined the search and found evidence that the man had been devoured by magical beasts. The Xiao Household elders accused An Yi of the killing and resolved to make him a scapegoat to protect the family and undermine Xiao Zhan.

• Xiao Xun'er told An Yi that the Cloud Mist Sect inner disciple had vanished, and An Yi pretended he might have gone to a pleasure house while Xiao Yan remembered seeing him kill the man.
• A Xiao Household guard reported finding traces of the missing disciple in the mountains, and the group hurried to the waterfall clearing.
• Ge Ye identified the disciple’s clothes among blood, bones, and magical beast footprints, suggesting the man had been eaten.
• A Xiao Household disciple pointed out that An Yi often visited the clearing, and the elders questioned him about his whereabouts and possible involvement.
• An Yi sarcastically confessed, but the elders proposed that he had lured, poisoned, or otherwise murdered the disciple.
• The elders decided to pin the murder on An Yi, hoping to shield the Xiao Household from the Cloud Mist Sect and weaken Xiao Zhan.