Chapter Summaries

Chu Zhou arranged for the Mittel Auction House to auction information about a heavenly flame, while Xiao Yan agreed to attend after Yao Lao urged him to investigate the lead. At the auction, Ya Fei began a blind auction for the chance to become a Third-Rank Alchemist’s disciple.

• Chu Zhou showed Ya Fei his Mystic Yellow Azure Flame and persuaded her to use her and Mittel’s reputations to support an auction of information about a heavenly flame.
• Xiao Zhan invited Xiao Yan to the auction, hoping a Third-Rank Alchemist might discover why his cultivation had regressed, and told him the grand finale would concern a heavenly flame.
• Xiao Yan revealed that his cultivation had recovered, making Xiao Zhan ecstatic and furious that his son had hidden it from him.
• Yao Lao told Xiao Yan to attend the auction because the heavenly-flame lead might help him pursue the Flame Mantra and revive his teacher.
• Ya Fei opened the auction and announced a blind auction for the chance to become a Third-Rank Alchemist’s disciple.

Ya Fei held a blind auction for a chance to test an aspiring Alchemist, and Xiao Zhan unexpectedly won the bid for Xiao Yan. After Chu Zhou discovered Xiao Yan’s talent and learned he already had a master, he recognized him as the person who sold the Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid and asked about his connection to Venerable Yao.

• Ya Fei explained the blind auction and invited people with fire-attributed candidates to submit bids.
• Xiao Zhan bid for Xiao Yan, while Oba Pa and Jia Lie Bi mocked Xiao Yan and Xiao Zhan defended his son.
• An attendant announced that Xiao Zhan’s bid had been selected and brought Xiao Yan to meet Ya Fei and Chu Zhou.
• Chu Zhou tested Xiao Yan and found that he had the aptitude to become an Alchemist, while Yao Lao privately judged Chu Zhou’s talent to be exceptional.
• Xiao Yan said he already had an Alchemist teacher and admitted that he had sold the Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid.
• Chu Zhou asked Xiao Yan what his relationship was with Venerable Yao.

Chu Zhou revealed that he knew of Yao Chen and negotiated with Xiao Yan for the Grade Four pill formulas Yao Chen had left him. Xiao Yan and Yao Chen learned that the auction house planned to offer a Heavenly Flame as its grand finale, giving them a chance to trade for that information.

• Ya Fei revealed that Chu Zhou was an Otherworlder, and Chu Zhou explained how he had learned about Yao Chen through the Chat Channel.
• At Yao Chen’s urging, Xiao Yan claimed he had met the Venerable half a year earlier and received pills and alchemy notes from him.
• Chu Zhou withdrew his offer to take Xiao Yan as a disciple and asked whether Yao Chen’s notes included Grade Four pill formulas.
• Xiao Yan hinted that he would trade the formulas for a suitable price, and Chu Zhou offered pills, techniques, gold, treasures, or information about the auction’s Heavenly Flame.
• Xiao Yan and Yao Chen recognized that they could trade a Grade Four pill formula for information about the Heavenly Flame.

Xiao Yan negotiated with Chu Zhou for information about a heavenly flame, trading six Grade Four Pill Formulas for a chance to pursue the Three Thousand Burning Flame. The deal led Chu Zhou to offer more information about a heavenly flame in the Jia Ma Empire, while Yao Lao urged Xiao Yan to maintain their connection.

• Xiao Yan tried to hide his eagerness to learn about heavenly flames, but Chu Zhou asked what goods he wanted to trade for instead.
• Xiao Yan offered six Grade Four Pill Formulas for reliable information about a heavenly flame after Ya Fei promised the Mittel Auction House would compensate him if it was false.
• Chu Zhou revealed that the Three Thousand Burning Flame was held by the Pill Tower and could be won by placing in the top three at the Pill Gathering ten years later.
• Yao Lao told Xiao Yan that ten years was enough to prepare for the Pill Gathering, and Xiao Yan agreed to the trade.
• Chu Zhou offered information about the Wind Fury Dragon Flame in the Jia Ma Empire, and Yao Lao urged Xiao Yan to keep trading with him.

Chu Zhou traded information about heavenly flames to Xiao Yan for several Grade Four Pill Formulas, while turning him into an honored guest of the Mittel Auction House. After Xiao Yan left with his father, Chu Zhou began preparing to refine the Fire Cloud Pill and flirted with Ya Fei.

• Chu Zhou told Xiao Yan where the Wind Fury Dragon Flame might appear, and Xiao Yan traded him seven Grade Four Pill Formulas.
• Chu Zhou traded information about three heavenly flames for Xiao Yan's Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill Pill Formula.
• Chu Zhou asked Ya Fei to cancel the final auction item and announce that Xiao Yan was an honored guest and Chu Zhou's personal friend.
• Ya Fei announced the auction's end and Xiao Yan's new status, leaving the crowd uncertain about his alchemy talent and the canceled auctions.
• Chu Zhou studied the Fire Cloud Pill Pill Formula and asked Ya Fei to gather its ingredients.
• Ya Fei teased Chu Zhou to repay her immediately with a gushing spring.

Chu Zhou spent the night with Ya Fei, then stayed in Wutan City for ten more days while she practiced a Dual Cultivation Technique that improved her cultivation. He left with Xiao Yi Xian and Luo Lin to travel, beginning to refine pills in the carriage as Xiao Yi Xian suspected he was making a Grade Four Pill.

• Chu Zhou carried Ya Fei to the bedroom, while Xiao Yan told Xiao Zhan about becoming Chu Zhou's Alchemist apprentice and promised to restore his father's pride.
• On Blue Star, Meng Ziwei became a Dou Zhe, and Chu Zhou told her to keep his help secret for now.
• Ya Fei woke after her night with Chu Zhou, and they spent ten more days together as she practiced a Mid Xuan Tier supplementary Dual Cultivation Technique with him.
• Ya Fei gave Chu Zhou a Storage Ring containing ingredients for Fire Cloud Pills and other Grade Four Pills before he promised to return stronger.
• Chu Zhou left Wutan City with Xiao Yi Xian and Luo Lin, then began preparing to refine a pill in the carriage, prompting Xiao Yi Xian to ask if it was Grade Four.

Chu Zhou successfully refined a high-quality Blood-Suppressing Pill and an Extreme Fire Pill before arriving in Salt City with Xiao Yi Xian. At the Alchemist Guild, he saw Mo Xuan offer Teras a substitute for missing pill ingredients and recognized something he urgently wanted.

• Chu Zhou drew on Yao Lao's recorded techniques to refine a high-quality Blood-Suppressing Pill on his first attempt.
• After recovering his dou qi, Chu Zhou successfully refined an Extreme Fire Pill, strengthening Xiao Yi Xian's hope that he could cure her woeful poison body.
• Chu Zhou and Xiao Yi Xian arrived in Salt City, where Chu Zhou planned to look for useful goods and take an alchemist rank examination.
• At the Salt City Alchemist Guild, Chu Zhou heard Mo Xuan ask President Teras to refine Qi Gathering Powder for his son despite lacking the required third set of ingredients.
• Mo Xuan offered an item from his Storage Ring as a substitute, and Chu Zhou recognized it and resolved to obtain it.

Chu Zhou offered to refine Qi Gathering Powder for Mo Xuan in exchange for Soul-Piercing Grass, then used Fa Ma’s personal recommendation to secure a Third-Rank Alchemist certification exam in Salt City. After Chu Zhou went to the examination room, Mo Xuan ordered a subordinate to investigate his identity and background.

• Mo Xuan sought help refining Qi Gathering Powder, but Teras refused and advised him to visit the Alchemist Guild in Host City.
• Chu Zhou offered to refine the powder in exchange for the Soul-Piercing Grass, and Mo Xuan asked whether he was a Fourth-Rank Alchemist.
• Chu Zhou revealed he had not yet passed the Third-Rank certification exam and presented a recommendation letter personally written by Fa Ma.
• Teras arranged Chu Zhou’s examination, and Mo Xuan gave him the Soul-Piercing Grass and ingredients for two sets of Qi Gathering Powder.
• Chu Zhou followed Teras and two Third-Rank Alchemists to the examination room while Mo Xuan sent a subordinate to investigate him.

Chu Zhou passed the Third-Rank Alchemist assessment by refining high-quality Qi Gathering Powder, earning the guild’s respect and a token from the Mo Clan. As he left the guild with Xiao Yi Xian, she suddenly stumbled into his arms, leaving him confused.

• Chu Zhou refined Qi Gathering Powder with his Mystic Yellow Azure Flame during the Third-Rank Alchemist assessment, impressing Teras and the other examiners.
• Teras declared Chu Zhou had passed, and Liu Yun and Mu Lantian brought him higher-rank robes and a Third-Rank Alchemist badge.
• Chu Zhou gave the Qi Gathering Powder to Mo Xuan, who offered him a Mo Clan White Jade Token, which Chu Zhou accepted.
• Chu Zhou left the Alchemist Guild with Xiao Yi Xian and declined to keep exploring Salt City.
• Xiao Yi Xian suddenly stumbled into Chu Zhou's arms, and he asked what she was doing.

Chu Zhou used his mystic yellow azure flame to suppress Xiao Yi Xian’s woeful poison body and obtained a Scorpion Snake Flower to help her grow stronger. He and Xiao Yi Xian returned to the Mittel Merchant Guild and planned to travel to Desert City so she could refine it safely.

• Chu Zhou suppressed Xiao Yi Xian’s poison eruption with his mystic yellow azure flame, and she explained that a nearby Scorpion Snake Flower could raise her strength by at least two stars.
• Chu Zhou went to a Free Market and found the Scorpion Snake Flower at a one-armed man’s stall, where he used his flame to purge the man’s poison.
• Chu Zhou gave the one-armed man a Hemostatic Pill and took the Scorpion Snake Flower, ignoring Mo Yuan’s demand that he stop.
• Mo Yuan ordered his attendants to find out who Chu Zhou was after Chu Zhou left without responding to him.
• Chu Zhou returned to Xiao Yi Xian, who warned that refining the Scorpion Snake Flower would make her unconscious and release deadly poisonous miasma.
• Chu Zhou and Xiao Yi Xian decided to set out for Desert City the next day and find a safe place for her to refine the herb.

Mo Yuan and Mo Xuan confronted the Mittel Merchant Guild over Mo Yuan’s claim that Chu Zhou had taken a Scorpion Snake Flower, but Mo Xuan recognized Chu Zhou’s status and made his nephew apologize. Mo Xuan offered Chu Zhou a jade box as compensation, and Chu Zhou was surprised by its contents.

• Mo Yuan led his men to the Mittel Merchant Guild and claimed an alchemist had taken a Scorpion Snake Flower from him.
• Mo Xuan arrived, heard Mo Yuan’s account, and joined him in demanding an explanation from Ya Yue.
• Ya Yue sent for Chu Zhou, who returned from Blue Star, changed into his Third-Rank Alchemist robes, and went to the main hall.
• Mo Yuan pointed out Chu Zhou and accused him of taking the flower, but Mo Xuan slapped Mo Yuan and ordered him to apologize.
• Mo Xuan apologized to Chu Zhou and offered him a jade box, whose contents surprised Chu Zhou.

Chu Zhou accepted the Mo Clan’s request to refine grade four and grade three Pills in exchange for generous payment and rare materials. After completing the work with a hundred-percent success rate and keeping part of the pills, he was named an honored guest of the Mo Clan.

• Chu Zhou accepted Mo Xuan’s storage stone, which contained a spirit-absorbing stone, and agreed to refine Pills for the Mo Clan under their usual terms.
• Chu Zhou arranged for Ya Yue to send a letter to Ya Fei, then discussed the requested Pills with Mo Xuan over a banquet.
• Chu Zhou told Xiao Yi Xian their trip to Desert City would be delayed, and she reminded him that her poison body made intimacy dangerous.
• Chu Zhou spent seven days refining the Mo Clan’s grade four and grade three Pills, keeping a portion of the harder-to-make pills and obtaining ingredients for Fire Cloud Pills and a Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill.
• Mo Xuan thanked Chu Zhou and declared him an honored guest of the Mo Clan.

Chu Zhou took Xiao Yi Xian to a cave near the Tagor Desert to consume the Scorpion Snake Flower while he refined Fire Cloud Pills nearby. After rapidly rising to peak Nine-Star Dou Shi, he reunited with Xiao Yi Xian, who was stunned by his progress, before sensing that someone had arrived.

• Chu Zhou agreed to work with Mo Xuan and left the Mittel Merchant Guild quietly with Xiao Yi Xian and Luo Lin to avoid people seeking him out.
• Chu Zhou gave Xiao Yi Xian the Scorpion Snake Flower in a cave and watched over her from the cliff while she absorbed its poison.
• Chu Zhou refined and consumed six Fire Cloud Pills, advancing from Three-Star Dou Master to peak Nine-Star Dou Shi in under ten hours.
• Xiao Yi Xian awoke at Four-Star Dou Shi, and Chu Zhou carried her from the cave after warning her that he was already at Nine-Star Dou Shi.
• Xiao Yi Xian was astonished that Chu Zhou had gained six stars in just over ten hours, and Chu Zhou sensed that someone had arrived.

Chu Zhou rescued Luo Lin and Xiao Yi Xian from assassins, then explained that the attackers were likely sent by the Duanmu Family to frame the Mo Clan and sabotage his dealings with them. He left the group with the Duanmu Family’s rivalry with the Mo Clan and its lack of support from the Jia Ma Imperial Family laid out.

• Luo Lin fought off black-clad attackers until Chu Zhou struck their leader with the Blue-Yellow Flame Seal.
• Xiao Yi Xian poisoned several attackers, and Chu Zhou killed the remaining men and their leader despite the man claiming to belong to the Mo Clan.
• Chu Zhou gave Luo Lin a Grade Three Pill and said the Mo Clan had no reason to kill him after their profitable collaboration.
• Chu Zhou explained that the Duanmu Family likely arranged the attack to make him blame the Mo Clan and ruin their cooperation.
• Chu Zhou described the Duanmu Family’s past status and its struggle against the Mo Clan, noting that the Jia Ma Imperial Family and Misty Cloud Sect were on good terms.

After the attack, Chu Zhou sent Luo Lin to Salt City to report the Duanmu Family’s crime and promised to help her advance in cultivation. He and Xiao Yi Xian flew to Border Town, where Chu Zhou returned to Blue Star and found Meng Ziwei’s family waiting to discuss cooperation.

• Chu Zhou rejected Luo Lin’s offer to seek the Mittel Family’s help, deciding the Mo Clan would retaliate against the Duanmu Family once it received the report.
• Chu Zhou promised to refine a Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill for Luo Lin if she obtained the ingredients and asked Ya Fei to help secure the Alchemist Guild’s Soul Recording Scroll.
• After searching the attackers’ bodies, Chu Zhou flew with Xiao Yi Xian to Border Town and booked a room at an inn.
• Chu Zhou returned to Blue Star and sensed Meng Zihan and other members of Meng Ziwei’s family in his villa.
• Meng Ziwei argued that her family had no standing to seek cooperation with Chu Zhou, and Chu Zhou entered the living room and asked what they wanted to discuss.

Meng Ziwei introduced Chu Zhou as her boyfriend to her family, who came to warn him that the Jiang Family was investigating Meng Zichen’s recovery. Chu Zhou revealed that the Jiang Family had caused Zichen’s injuries to seize the Meng Family’s land, and the family ended the meeting enraged by the scheme.

• Meng Ziwei introduced Chu Zhou to her parents and brothers as her future husband, and Chu Zhou accepted the relationship.
• Meng Zichen explained that the Jiang Family had investigated his recovery and might target the Meng Family or Chu Zhou.
• Chu Zhou told the Meng Family that the Jiang Family had arranged Zichen’s injuries and wanted the family’s land, where a Spirit Stone mine node had been found.
• Meng Zichen and Meng Shanhe recognized the Jiang Family’s scheme and condemned its attempt to profit from the family’s injuries and land.

Chu Zhou helped the Meng Family devise a plan to weaken the Jiang Family and gave Meng Zichen a stronger cultivation technique to satisfy the Jiang Family's demand. After sharing Second-Rank Spirit Beast Meat with the family, Chu Zhou prepared to seize an opportunity to break through to Da Dou Shi.

• Meng Shanhe agreed to sell the Jiang Family the land at a high price, then report them to the authorities when the Spirit Stone Vein appeared.
• Meng Zichen explained that his current technique advanced through killing but would soon reach its limits, and Chu Zhou gave him a high Huang tier cultivation technique.
• Chu Zhou asked Meng Shanhe to handle the Jiang Family and keep his existence secret while the Meng Family dealt with the authorities.
• Chu Zhou and Meng Ziwei persuaded Meng Shanhe, Meng Mother, Meng Zihan, and Meng Zichen to stay for a meal of Second-Rank Spirit Beast Meat.
• After dinner, Chu Zhou told Meng Ziwei that he would spend the night pursuing an opportunity to break through to Da Dou Shi.

Chu Zhou activated the Jiang Family’s spirit stone mine node to trigger an energy tide and used it to break through to Da Dou Shi. After escaping the tea plantation, he logged into the Dou Qi Continent and received a Firmament Ledger announcement rewarding his breakthrough.

• Chu Zhou told Meng Ziwei that he planned to trigger an energy tide at the Jiang Family’s tea plantation and gave her a cultivation pill, while the Meng family agreed to keep his identity secret.
• Chu Zhou reached the tea plantation, killed the Jiang Family guards stationed at the lake, and activated the spirit stone mine’s spatial node.
• Chu Zhou entered the energy tide and formed a Dou Crystal, breaking through to Da Dou Shi.
• After sensing others approaching the plantation, Chu Zhou flew away, changed clothes, and returned to his villa.
• Chu Zhou logged into the Dou Qi Continent and received a Firmament Ledger announcement naming him the first to reach Da Dou Shi and granting him a reward.

Chu Zhou chose the Azure Flame Sword Intent soul attack technique, then broke through to Da Dou Shi and set out for Desert City with Xiao Yi Xian. On the way, he intervened when three Da Dou Shi tried to capture Chi Mei, but they decided to kill him instead.

• Chu Zhou selected the Azure Flame Sword Intent soul secret technique and resumed cultivating to consolidate his strength.
• The Firmament Ledger announced Chu Zhou's breakthrough, alarming the other Chosen Ones and prompting country leaders to reconsider their approach to him.
• Chu Zhou told Xiao Yi Xian he had reached Da Dou Shi, then sensed a disturbance and flew down to investigate.
• Chu Zhou found Chi Mei fighting three Da Dou Shi who had poisoned her and planned to sell her; he stopped her from using a Snake-People Tribe curse to take them down with her.
• The three men dismissed Chu Zhou's apparent strength and agreed to kill him after he told them to leave Chi Mei alone.

Chu Zhou used his Azure Flame Sword Intent and soul secret techniques to defeat three Da Dou Shi who had ambushed him and Xiao Yi Xian. He killed all three and turned toward the dissipating sand bear to retrieve his Longsword.

• The three Da Dou Shi surrounded Chu Zhou, and one claimed Xiao Yi Xian for himself.
• Chu Zhou killed the hook-nosed man by exploiting a momentary lapse caused by his soul attack.
• The heroic-looking man formed a Savage Bear from sand while the bearded man attacked Chu Zhou from the side.
• Chu Zhou used the Azure Flame Earth-Shaking Seal to block the bearded man's attack, then pierced his chest with his Sword Finger and killed him.
• Chu Zhou reached the fading Savage Bear, retrieved his Longsword, and killed the heroic-looking man with a surge of dou qi.