Chapter Summaries

Ning Chengyi returned to Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, reunited with Su Yao, and went to Dugu Yan to learn what Zhu Zhuqing had sent him. After defeating Dugu Yan despite her poison, he learned Zhu Zhuqing wanted to know where he was and whether he still remembered her, while Dugu Yan prepared to attack him as he left.

• Ning Chengyi returned to Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, and Xue Ke asked if she could visit him to play music; he agreed before leaving her behind.
• Ning Chengyi arrived at his dorm and reunited with Su Yao, who hugged him and worried that he had been hurt in a fight with Xue Mingyan.
• Ning Chengyi found a letter from Dugu Yan saying he had to visit her to learn Zhu Zhuqing's message, so he went to her secluded courtyard.
• Dugu Yan poisoned Ning Chengyi and challenged him to beat her for the message, but he overcame the poison and restrained her with a dagger.
• Dugu Yan told Ning Chengyi that Zhu Zhuqing had asked where he was and whether he still remembered her, then sprang into action as he left.

Ning Chengyi subdued Dugu Yan after she attacked him with poison, then left her as her recurring snake-venom illness began to worsen. A month later, Su Yao had started giving Ning Chengyi special training while he considered the arrival of the Little Scumbag.

• Dugu Yan attacked Ning Chengyi with poison, but his Phantom Butterfly Spirit Tide purified it and converted it into Soul Power.
• Ning Chengyi knocked Dugu Yan down and threatened her, then left after she continued provoking him.
• Dugu Yan visited Dugu Bo, pretended to be upset, and returned to her room to hide her scheme from him.
• Dugu Yan’s illness flared during cultivation, bringing out snake scales and weakening her as she instinctively called for Ning Chengyi.
• Ning Chengyi returned to his dormitory and wondered whether the Imperial Team’s defeat meant the Little Scumbag would soon arrive.
• After another month passed, Su Yao began giving Ning Chengyi special training.

Ning Chengyi advanced to Soul Ancestor and gained a powerful fourth Soul Skill after absorbing the Mysterious Firmament Thunder Qilin Beast's Soul Ring. A year later, Dugu Yan asked him to examine her poison.

• Xue Ke joined Ning Chengyi and Su Yao's training, learning the zither from Ning Chengyi while Su Yao grew jealous and drove her away.
• Ning Chengyi's Heavenly Apex Class defeated the Imperial Fighting Team, while Qin Ming was removed from his post and Xue Mingyan was sent into secluded cultivation.
• After three months of intense training, Ning Chengyi reached level forty and absorbed a 52,000-year-old Mysterious Firmament Thunder Qilin Beast, gaining the Mysterious Firmament Thunder Qilin Transformation and reaching level forty-two.
• Ning Chengyi continued training for another year as Xue Ke visited less often and those around him cultivated harder.
• Dugu Yan appeared ill and asked Ning Chengyi to examine her poison, and he agreed.

Dugu Yan challenged Ning Chengyi to a final fight, unleashing every poison she had developed as her serpent poison consumed her. Ning Chengyi survived them all, and she collapsed into his arms, relieved to have proved that he could withstand her poisons.

• Dugu Yan told Ning Chengyi she was dying from the worsening serpent poison and asked him to fight her once more; he agreed.
• Dugu Yan attacked Ning Chengyi with dozens of poisons, but none harmed him.
• As the serpent poison invaded the meridians around Dugu Yan’s heart, she fought Ning Chengyi with her bare hands and refused to stop.
• Dugu Yan used her final poison, Soul-Eroding Powder, but Ning Chengyi swallowed the blood mist without being affected.
• Dugu Yan smiled, accepted that Ning Chengyi had withstood every poison, and fell into his arms.

Ning Chengyi began treating Dugu Yan’s fatal Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison with his Second Martial Soul, Phantom Butterfly Spirit Tide. He drew out the poison and brought her back from the brink, just as Dugu Bo arrived at the courtyard.

• As Dugu Yan weakened, Ning Chengyi told her he could save her from the serpent poison and carried her into her room.
• Ning Chengyi revealed his Second Martial Soul, Phantom Butterfly Spirit Tide, and began drawing the poison from Dugu Yan’s body.
• Dugu Yan’s poison surged back, forcing her to plunge into an ice-water bathtub, but Ning Chengyi maintained the connection and resumed the treatment.
• Ning Chengyi drew out the last of the poison, which strengthened his Soul Power and left him half a step from Soul King.
• Dugu Bo arrived outside the courtyard and called for Dugu Yan.