Chapter Summaries

Zhou Changqing used Origin-Gathering Emerald Spirit Liquid to strengthen his soul and absorb spirit energy, but stopped short of a full spirit realm breakthrough. He then asked Zi Yan to guard him while he prepared to break through to Dou Zong.

• Zhou Changqing drank the Origin-Gathering Emerald Spirit Liquid, which greatly increased his soul power and awakened his ability to absorb spirit energy.
• A surge of spirit energy from across the mountain forest rushed into Zhou Changqing and merged with his soul, transforming it into a pulsing mass.
• Zhou Changqing realized his soul lacked something needed for its final transformation and concluded that he had reached the half-step spirit realm.
• Zhou Changqing woke and told Zi Yan that his breakthrough had not fully succeeded, though his soul had improved considerably.
• Zhou Changqing asked Zi Yan to guard him during his Dou Zong breakthrough, and she requested a supply of pills before his seclusion.
• Zhou Changqing agreed to make Zi Yan pills and took out medicinal ingredients for a sixth-grade pill.

Zhou Changqing entered seclusion and used a Sect Breaking Pill and his accumulated treasures to advance toward Dou Zong. A month later, his breakthrough stirred a vast energy vortex and drew the attention of powerful experts across the region.

• Zhou Changqing refined medicinal pellets for Zi Yan and prepared a mountaintop seclusion site with multiple barriers.
• Zhou Changqing absorbed the last of his lightning essence, swallowed a Sect Breaking Pill, and consumed medicinal herbs and energy-rich treasures to fuel his breakthrough.
• Zi Yan watched Zhou Changqing cultivate for a month as immense energy gathered above the mountain and the surrounding beasts fled.
• Zi Yan flew above the summit to guard Zhou Changqing while his aura spread across the region.
• Dou Zong experts within a thousand miles sensed the disturbance, speculated about Zhou Changqing's breakthrough, and some considered approaching the mountain.

Zhou Changqing broke through to Dou Zong and gained new insights during a two-hour state of enlightenment. After assessing his transformed strength and cultivation technique, he prepared to leave with Zi Yan before his breakthrough attracted powerful attention.

• The energy vortex surged into Zhou Changqing, shattering his barrier to Dou Zong and drawing him into enlightenment.
• After more than two hours, Zhou Changqing emerged from enlightenment and discovered that a golden dou qi crystal layer now coated his internal body.
• Zhou Changqing tested his new ability to tear space and judged that his strength could challenge much higher-ranked Dou Zong experts.
• His enlightenment advanced the Heavenly Dipper Gold-Tempering Art to mid-grade Earth Tier and brought him other insights into techniques and artifact patterns.
• Zi Yan asked whether Zhou Changqing had broken through, and he confirmed he was now a Dou Zong before joking with her.
• Zhou Changqing decided to move elsewhere with Zi Yan in case his breakthrough drew the attention of a Dou Zun expert.

Zhou Changqing and Zi Yan left the mountain where he had broken through and traveled to Sacred Pill City, where they explored the outer district before opening the Pill Lightning Pavilion. The chapter ended as the shop began business beneath a plaque whose lightning artistic conception drew the attention of passersby.

• Zhou Changqing carried Zi Yan away from the mountain, and several late-arriving cultivators found the breakthrough site abandoned.
• Zhou Changqing and Zi Yan traveled by spatial transport to the center of the Pill Region and arrived at Sacred Pill City.
• Zhou Changqing and Zi Yan explored the outer district for several days and learned about the city's shops and customs.
• Half a month later, Zhou Changqing opened the three-story Pill Lightning Pavilion in the northwestern outer district.
• Passersby sensed the lightning artistic conception on the pavilion's plaque, and some became immersed in its mysteries.

Zhou Changqing opened the Pill Lightning Pavilion in Sacred Pill City to attract seventh-rank alchemists and use their pill lightning to temper his body. After several empty days, a seventh-rank alchemist noticed the signboard's powerful lightning intent and entered the shop.

• Zhou Changqing established the Pill Lightning Pavilion as a base and offered free help with seventh-tier pill lightning to draw in alchemists.
• Zi Yan waited in the empty shop and worried that no alchemists would come, while Zhou Changqing continued studying artifact patterns upstairs.
• A seventh-rank alchemist approached the pavilion and felt its signboard's lightning intent shake the soul power in his Niwan Palace.
• The old alchemist smiled at the signboard and entered the Pill Lightning Pavilion as curious passersby watched.

Zhou Changqing and Zi Yan welcomed Wu Ping to the Pill Lightning Pavilion and explained its free pill-lightning service. Wu Ping agreed to a tentative time and location for their first transaction, giving the new business its first customer.

• Wu Ping entered the Pill Lightning Pavilion and asked Zi Yan how its pill-lightning service worked.
• Zi Yan fetched Zhou Changqing, who introduced himself as the pavilion's owner and invited Wu Ping upstairs.
• Zhou Changqing and Wu Ping discussed the service over tea and refreshments.
• Wu Ping agreed to a tentative time and location, planning to notify Zhou Changqing before refining his pill.

Zhou Changqing continued developing plans for a Tier 7 weapon before Wu Ping invited him and Zi Yan to watch him refine a Seventh-Grade pill. Wu Ping began the lengthy process at his residence, leaving Zhou Changqing and Zi Yan to wait and observe.

• Zhou Changqing used his insights from breaking through to Dou Zong to develop a plan for a Tier 7 weapon, which he envisioned as a Spatial Dou Tool.
• A servant informed Zhou Changqing that Wu Ping had gathered the ingredients and was ready to begin refining a pill.
• Zhou Changqing brought Zi Yan to the Wu Residence, where Wu Ping greeted them and led them to his pill-refining area.
• Wu Ping began refining the pill by heating his Medicine Cauldron and adding batches of medicinal ingredients.
• Zhou Changqing and Zi Yan sat nearby and watched as Wu Ping continued extracting the ingredients' medicinal essences.

Zhou Changqing watched Wu Ping refine a seventh-rank pill and drew inspiration for his own weapon refining while Zi Yan cultivated nearby. When the pill formed, pill lightning gathered over the Wu Residence, leaving Zhou Changqing to face the looming strike as Wu Ping focused on the pill.

• Zhou Changqing secretly examined Wu Ping's work inside the Medicine Cauldron, while Zi Yan eyed the ingredients and later cultivated as the refinement continued.
• Wu Ping spent five days extracting the ingredients and seven days fusing their essences, while Zhou Changqing gained ideas for combining weapon materials.
• Wu Ping shaped the fused essence into an embryonic pill and nurtured it until it became a smooth, patterned green-and-blue pill.
• Pill lightning gathered above the Wu Residence as the pill took shape, and Wu Ping asked Zhou Changqing to handle it.
• Zhou Changqing assured Wu Ping that he would face the pill lightning, and the clouds flashed as the pill radiated its full brilliance.

Zhou Changqing absorbed the pill lightning from Wu Ping’s pill tribulation to temper his body, but the first two bolts were too weak to satisfy him. He flew into the thunderclouds and drew all the remaining lightning toward himself at once.

• Zhou Changqing stepped between the Medicine Cauldron and the first bolt of silver pill lightning, absorbing it with his body and refining its energy.
• Wu Ping feared for Zhou Changqing’s safety, while Zi Yan assured him that Zhou Changqing could withstand the lightning.
• Zhou Changqing called for a stronger bolt and absorbed the second strike, finding its tempering effects more useful.
• Zhou Changqing flew into the thunderclouds despite Wu Ping’s alarm, and the gathered lightning enveloped him in an electric net.

Zhou Changqing endured an entire pill-lightning cloud, refining its power to strengthen his body and advance his Dou Qi. After the clouds dispersed, he returned to Wu Ping and left him considering whether to invite him to handle pill lightning again.

• Zhou Changqing pushed the Heavenly Dipper Gold-Tempering Art to its limit and let the pill lightning bombard him, rapidly strengthening his body and Dou Qi.
• Wu Ping retrieved the refined pill but could not sense Zhou Changqing inside the thunderclouds, while Zi Yan watched calmly.
• After an hour, the thunderclouds weakened and began to fade, convincing Wu Ping and Zi Yan that Zhou Changqing had survived.
• Zhou Changqing noticed the pill lightning had run out, assessed his gains, and flew back to the Wu residence's pill-refining grounds.
• Wu Ping praised Zhou Changqing for bathing in pill lightning and privately considered inviting him to help with future pill refining.

Zhou Changqing built the Pill Lightning Pavilion into a successful business in Sacred Pill City by helping Seventh-Rank Alchemists resist pill lightning. The work tempered his body and raised his Dou Qi cultivation, leaving him confident that few Dou Zong could match him.

• Zhou Changqing left Wu Ping’s residence after Wu Ping praised his pill-lightning skills and invited him to return when he refined pills again.
• After three quiet months, Wu Ping invited Zhou Changqing to help with another pill refinement and introduced him to a fellow Seventh-Rank Alchemist, who also hired Zhou Changqing.
• Wu Ping and the other alchemist spread word of the Pill Lightning Pavilion, bringing Zhou Changqing more customers and frequent pill-lightning body-tempering sessions.
• Over roughly half a year in Sacred Pill City, Zhou Changqing gained fifteen customers, raised his physical strength to Five-Star Dou Zong, and advanced his Dou Qi to Three-Star Dou Zong.
• After consolidating his strength, Zhou Changqing concluded that he could contend with High-Rank Dou Zong and would be invincible among Dou Zong if he used Law of Heaven and Earth.

Zhou Changqing prepared to forge a Tier 7 weapon and reflected on the Three Thousand Burning Flame while Zi Yan announced that she had reached Peak Tier 5. After learning she planned to use black profound blood essence gel to advance, he agreed to help her break through to Tier 6 the next day.

• Zhou Changqing considered how his growing reputation in Sacred Pill City could draw the Wind-Thunder Pavilion to him, then continued preparing his Tier 7 weapon.
• Zhou Changqing speculated that the Three Thousand Burning Flame was sealed in the Star Domain and thought about how Xiao Yan might subdue it.
• Zi Yan excitedly told Zhou Changqing she had reached Peak Tier 5, and he checked her condition.
• Zi Yan reminded Zhou Changqing that she had saved black profound blood essence gel to break through to Tier 6.
• Zhou Changqing agreed to help Zi Yan advance and told her to prepare for their departure the next day.

Zhou Changqing took Zi Yan to a secluded valley and concealed it with a spatial barrier so she could safely advance. He refined black profound blood essence gel into three pills for her, and the chapter ended with Zi Yan preparing to use them and imagining how she would charm him once she grew up.

• Zhou Changqing and Zi Yan left Sacred Pill City and flew to a secluded valley so she could advance away from prying eyes.
• Zhou Changqing used spatial power to hide the valley behind a concealed, sturdy barrier.
• Zhou Changqing refined black profound blood essence gel for a day, turning it into three blood-red pills.
• Zi Yan accepted the pills, teased Zhou Changqing by calling him Brother Changqing, and planned to charm him after she grew up.

Zi Yan swallowed three pills and entered a cocoon to advance, while Zhou Changqing guarded her and supplied it with more energy over four months. The cocoon finally broke open, revealing that Zi Yan had grown into a mature woman.

• Zi Yan swallowed three Black Profound Blood Essence Gel pills, and a purple cocoon formed around her as she began advancing.
• Zhou Changqing checked that Zi Yan's life force was stable, then cultivated beside her while she remained inside the cocoon.
• After two months, Zhou Changqing fed the cocoon more pills to supply energy for Zi Yan's advancement.
• Zhou Changqing continued guarding Zi Yan for another two months, supplying more pills while he waited.
• The cocoon burst apart in a pillar of purple light, and Zhou Changqing saw that Zi Yan had emerged as a grown-up woman.

Zi Yan broke through to Tier 6 but transformed back into a child, so Zhou Changqing promised to find her a Transformation Pill. As they returned toward Sacred Pill City, Zhou Changqing planned to resume refining pills while Fei Tian grew increasingly impatient with the Wind-Thunder Pavilion’s stalled search for them.

• Zi Yan woke in her mature form, teased Zhou Changqing, and wrestled with him until the transformation grass turned her back into a little girl.
• Zhou Changqing covered Zi Yan with a robe and promised to find a Transformation Pill that might let her grow up.
• Zhou Changqing and Zi Yan left the valley, whose Space Lockdown had concealed Zi Yan’s breakthrough from nearby magical beasts.
• Fei Tian had identified Zhou Changqing and his companion as the people who took the Crimson Venerable’s tomb treasures, but the Wind-Thunder Pavilion’s search had gone cold after Sky Star City.
• Fei Tian grew impatient with the lack of progress and considered posting a bounty to help find Zhou Changqing and his companion.

After returning to Sacred Pill City, Zhou Changqing resumed taking Pill Lightning for alchemists while watching Zi Yan, whose strange behavior suggested she was hiding something. Zi Yan secretly left the Pill Lightning Pavilion to face a mystery about her origins, and Zhou Changqing sensed her departure and rushed after her.

• Zhou Changqing resumed taking Pill Lightning for alchemists and worked on forging Tier 7 Dou equipment while Zi Yan continued cultivating.
• Zhou Changqing noticed Zi Yan staring into space and acting reluctant to part, so he suspected she was concealing something and kept watch over her.
• Zi Yan wrote a letter explaining her departure, then left the Pill Lightning Pavilion alone and headed south while Zhou Changqing was away.
• Zhou Changqing sensed Zi Yan had left through the soul imprint he had placed on her, ended his Pill Lightning session early, and hurried away.

Zi Yan met Hei Qing, an Ancient Void Dragon who recognized her as the clan’s lost Imperial Princess, while Zhou Changqing rushed toward them after sensing his powerful aura. Hei Qing confirmed Zi Yan’s royal bloodline and told her that the Ancient Void Dragon Clan was the strongest magical beast clan on the Dou Qi Continent.

• Hei Qing arrived on the plain south of Sacred Pill City after sensing Zi Yan’s aura and greeted her as the Imperial Princess.
• The Pill Tower’s elders sensed the Ancient Void Dragon aura and decided to keep watch while avoiding interference unless the visitor threatened them.
• Zhou Changqing recognized the aura as belonging to an Ancient Void Dragon and hurried toward Zi Yan, worried about who had found her.
• Zi Yan asked Hei Qing about her origins and cautiously considered the possibility that her clan might pose a danger to Zhou Changqing.
• Hei Qing introduced himself as Zi Yan’s clansman and confirmed that she carried the Ancient Void Dragon Clan’s royal bloodline.
• Hei Qing told Zi Yan that their clan was the strongest magical beast clan, and she excitedly reacted to her extraordinary background.

Hei Qing found Zi Yan and urged her to return to the Ancient Dragon Clan, but she wanted to stay with Zhou Changqing. After Zhou Changqing arrived and reunited with Zi Yan, she declared that she did not want to go back, leaving Hei Qing anxious.

• Hei Qing told Zi Yan that the Ancient Dragon Clan had great reserves and urged her to return to East Dragon Island for her safety.
• Zi Yan reluctantly considered leaving but preferred to remain with Zhou Changqing, while Hei Qing worried she still had reservations about the clan.
• Hei Qing sensed Zhou Changqing approaching and stepped between him and Zi Yan until she identified Zhou Changqing as her friend.
• Zhou Changqing greeted Hei Qing, then reunited with Zi Yan and scolded her for leaving without telling him.
• Zi Yan explained that she had feared Zhou Changqing would be in danger, and Zhou Changqing made her promise not to do it again.
• Zhou Changqing congratulated Zi Yan on discovering her origins, but she said she wanted to stay with him, making Hei Qing anxious.

Zhou Changqing persuaded Zi Yan to return to the Ancient Void Dragon Clan so she could grow stronger, and she left with Hei Qing after promising to protect Zhou Changqing when they met again. As Zhou Changqing returned to Sacred Pill City, a Pill Tower Giant noticed his formidable physique and Mid-Rank Dou Zong strength.

• Zhou Changqing urged Zi Yan to return to her clan, explaining that its resources and protection would help her grow stronger.
• Hei Qing encouraged Zi Yan to accept, and she agreed but made Zhou Changqing promise to stay safe until she returned to protect him.
• Zi Yan said goodbye to Zhou Changqing and departed through a spatial rift with Hei Qing.
• Zhou Changqing watched them leave, reflected that the Ancient Dragon Clan was the best place for Zi Yan to advance, and headed back to Sacred Pill City.
• A Pill Tower Giant sensed Zhou Changqing's strength and physique, judged him impressive but not worth further attention, and withdrew his perception.

Zhou Changqing spent half a year developing Tier 7 Spatial Dou Tools and finished the set’s 107 miniature swords. He prepared to forge the main sword, bringing his ambitious weapon set close to completion.

• Zhou Changqing dismissed the possibility that the powerful soul perception came from anyone hostile and returned to his quiet life at the Pill Lightning Pavilion.
• Zhou Changqing developed new spatial artifact patterns and began experimenting with materials and combinations to create a set of complementary Tier 7 Spatial Dou Tools.
• Zhou Changqing spent six months refining 107 miniature broadswords, using up nearly all his weapon-refining materials.
• Zhou Changqing placed the latest shrunken sword into the wooden box and noted that only the main sword remained.
• Zhou Changqing rested for one day, then resumed refining the main sword.