Chapter Summaries

Xiao Yan’s team defeated the senior students hunting new students and reached the final Gatekeeper Team, where Xiao Meng appeared. The new students rallied to fight her, while Xiao Yan remained puzzled by their fear.

• Xiao Yan defeated Lin Ge’s team and learned that forty senior students were hunting new students, with a powerful Gatekeeper Team waiting at the finish line.
• Xiao Yan led his teammates through the forest and defeated the remaining seven senior student teams.
• Su Qian watched Xiao Yan’s progress and praised him, while Bai Shan glared at him resentfully from among the gathered new students.
• Xiao Yan’s group emerged from the forest and encountered Xiao Meng, whose appearance and words stirred intense feelings and memories in him.
• Hu Jia, Wu Hao, Lu Mu, and the other new students recognized Xiao Meng as their final opponent and urged everyone to fight her, while Xiao Yan wondered why they feared her.

Xiao Yan faced Zhou Mingrui, a powerful new Inner Court student who knew the name Amon, and teamed up with Xun'er after Xiao Meng withdrew. Xiao Yan revealed his Heavenly Flame armor, but Zhou Mingrui pressed his attack, forcing him to evade a devastating sword technique.

• Hu Jia warned Xiao Yan that Zhou Mingrui had fought Xiao Meng to a standstill during his special assessment, and Xiao Yan asked Zhou Mingrui whether he knew Amon.
• Xiao Meng withdrew from the fight, and Zhou Mingrui challenged Xiao Yan while revealing the aura of a peak Dou Ling.
• Xiao Yan used the Heavenly Fire Three Mysterious Changes and a Qi Boosting Pill to raise his strength, then attacked Zhou Mingrui with Thunder Flash and Eight Extremities Collapse.
• Zhou Mingrui blocked Xiao Yan's attack and countered with wind-attributed combat techniques, while Xun'er recognized similarities to Xiao Meng's fighting style.
• Xiao Yan formed Green Fire Armor from his Heavenly Flame as Su Qian and Elder Su watched in surprise.
• Zhou Mingrui unleashed Extreme Wind: Falling Star, and Xiao Yan used his Purple Cloud Wings to escape the swords as they tore huge pits into the ground.

Xiao Yan defeated Zhou Mingrui in a spar after Xun'er challenged him, and Zhou Mingrui handed over more than two thousand days of Fire Energy on someone else’s behalf. Xiao Yan and Xiao Meng reunited before Su Qian welcomed the newcomers to the Inner Court, where Xiao Meng hinted that she had little time left to accompany Xiao Yan.

• Xun'er confronted Zhou Mingrui with the Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame, while he used careful retreats and hidden traps to defend himself.
• Xiao Yan struck Zhou Mingrui with the Flame Splitting Tsunami Ruler and a two-colored Fire Lotus, but Zhou Mingrui recovered from his injuries using a secret technique.
• Zhou Mingrui conceded the spar, gave Xiao Yan his Fire Crystal Card containing more than two thousand days of Fire Energy, and revealed that he had placed the bounty on Xiao Yan and was passing the Fire Energy on for someone else.
• Zhou Mingrui left after warning Xiao Yan that Xiao Meng did not have much time left to accompany him, and Xiao Yan reunited warmly with Xiao Meng.
• Xiao Meng said she would explain what had happened over the past two years later, then turned to arranging Xiao Yan’s entry into the Inner Court.
• Su Qian welcomed the students to the Inner Court and led them to view the vast basin filled with buildings.

Xiao Yan told Xiao Meng and Xun'er about his relationship with Yun Yun and the agreement to fight Yun Shan. Xun'er accepted his feelings but said he would need enough strength to overcome her clan’s opposition, leaving Xiao Yan determined to challenge her father.

• Xiao Meng, Xiao Yan, and Xun'er reunited at Xiao Meng’s residence after Xiao Yan, Xun'er, Wu Hao, and Hu Jia moved into the Inner Court.
• Xiao Yan confessed that he had become husband and wife in all but name with Yun Yun, then explained how it happened in the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
• Xiao Yan said he would not abandon Yun Yun, and Xun'er warned him to keep himself in check.
• Xun'er explained that Xiao Yan had agreed to fight Yun Shan in three years, with Yun Yun’s marriage depending on the outcome.
• Xiao Yan said he wanted to marry Xun'er and give Yun Yun an answer, so Xun'er told him to defeat her father, Gu Yuan, to win her clan’s approval.

Xiao Meng revealed that a dangerous race was calling her back to receive her inheritance, then gave Xiao Yan the Sea Heart Flame and an Earth Spirit Pill. Xiao Yan accepted that he needed to grow stronger, and prepared to refine the Heavenly Flame.

• Xiao Yan resolved to train harder so he could defeat Xun'er's father and earn his recognition.
• Xiao Meng told Xiao Yan that a mysterious force had contacted her and that she might soon have to leave to return to her clan.
• Xiao Meng gave Xiao Yan a Sea Heart Flame from the Heavenly Flame Ranking and an Earth Spirit Pill, explaining that Uncle Zhou had given her the flame.
• Xiao Meng proposed that Xiao Yan find her three years after his Three-Year Agreement with Yun Yun if he could reach a level comparable to a Dou Zun.
• Xiao Yan went to Xiao Meng's cultivation room with the flame and pill, then regained his resolve to grow stronger after Yao Chen urged him to focus on refining the flame.

Queen Medusa confronted Xiao Yan over his failure to gather ingredients for her Spirit Fusion Pill, but Yao Chen and Qing Meng stopped her from killing him. After Medusa left, Xun'er found her emerging from Xiao Yan's cultivation room and demanded an explanation.

• Queen Medusa revealed she had gained Dou Zong strength and trapped Xiao Yan with Space Solidification when he admitted he had not found the Spirit Fusion Pill ingredients.
• Yao Chen confronted Medusa, while Xiao Yan accused her of intending to kill him once the pill was refined, and Qing Meng used Heavenly Flame energy to undo Medusa's petrification of him.
• Yao Chen offered Medusa a new agreement: he would provide the pill within a year if she guaranteed Xiao Yan's safety, but the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python's will began fighting her for control.
• Xun'er sensed trouble near Xiao Yan's cultivation room, but Xiao Meng told her he was cultivating.
• Medusa left the room with disheveled clothes, and Xun'er questioned Xiao Yan about being alone with her; Xiao Yan insisted that Medusa had nearly killed him.

Medusa left Jianan Academy after negotiating with the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python, while Xiao Yan refined the Sea Heart Flame. With three Heavenly Flames now gathered, Xiao Yan and Yao Chen saw a path toward Yao Chen’s resurrection.

• Xun'er warned Xiao Yan that she would kill Medusa if she came after him again, and Xiao Yan agreed.
• Medusa left Jianan Academy and persuaded the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python to share control of their body in exchange for time to come out and eat.
• Xiao Yan began refining the Sea Heart Flame without using the Earth Spirit Pill, with Qing Meng helping suppress it.
• Xiao Yan successfully devoured the Sea Heart Flame, evolving the Burning Mantra and bringing his collection to three Heavenly Flames.
• Yao Chen became excited that the three Heavenly Flames had secured the most difficult requirement for his resurrection.

Huang Tao searched the Northern Continent for Queen Medusa and learned from Bai Hua that only chiefs of medium-sized Snake-Person Tribes or larger had the potential to evolve. He then entered White Phosphorus’s Holy Temple and told her he wanted her.

• Huang Tao approached Bai Li and asked where he could find Queen Medusa, then asked her to bring her chief to him.
• Bai Hua met Huang Tao, explained that chiefs of small tribes could not become Queen Medusa, and described the secret technique that gave larger tribes’ chiefs the potential to evolve.
• Huang Tao vanished and traveled to a city, slipping past its guards and entering the Holy Temple unseen.
• White Phosphorus sensed Huang Tao in the temple and attacked, but her energy dispersed before reaching him.
• Huang Tao introduced himself to White Phosphorus and said he wanted her.

Huang Tao defeated White Phosphorus’s guards and forced her to consider evolving with one of his twenty Heavenly Flames. He offered to spare and support her tribe if she cooperated, and White Phosphorus reluctantly agreed.

• White Phosphorus attacked Huang Tao, but he burned away her energy serpent and crushed three snake-person Dou Huangs with Space Strangulation.
• Huang Tao revealed the Fallen Heart Flame and questioned White Phosphorus about the requirements and risks of Queen Medusa evolution.
• Huang Tao displayed twenty Heavenly Flames and demanded that White Phosphorus choose one for her evolution.
• White Phosphorus realized Huang Tao intended to use her as an experiment and refused to cooperate at first.
• Huang Tao threatened her clansmen, then promised to spare them and provide support for her tribe if she cooperated.
• White Phosphorus reluctantly agreed to undergo the evolution.

White Phosphorus agreed to Huang Tao’s experiment to protect her tribe, and he infused Bai Qing with power that could eventually raise her to Dou Zong. After providing a Humanoid Transformation Pill and offering to refine pills for the next Queen Medusa, Huang Tao prepared to begin their arrangement.

• White Phosphorus asked Huang Tao to make Bai Qing the clanswoman he would raise to Dou Zong strength.
• Bai Qing accepted the power infusion, and Huang Tao used Spirit Worms to transfer and regulate energy inside her.
• White Phosphorus examined Bai Qing and found her at peak Dou Huang with enough sealed energy to reach four- to five-star Dou Zong after refining it.
• Huang Tao gave Bai Qing a Humanoid Transformation Pill and offered to refine two pills for the next Queen Medusa.
• White Phosphorus acknowledged that Huang Tao’s promised benefits might have persuaded her without force, and Huang Tao said he would refine the pills before they began.

Huang Tao sought to learn the basics of alchemy from the Snake-Person Tribe, despite already possessing the strength and flame control of a master alchemist. Grandmaster Yan began teaching him, but Huang Tao’s effortless creation of a Heavenly Flame cauldron left Yan convinced that Huang Tao far surpassed him.

• Huang Tao admitted that he had no practical alchemy experience and asked Bai Qing to find someone to teach him the basics.
• Bai Qing tried to change their deal, but Huang Tao denied that he was negotiating with her, so she summoned Grandmaster Yan.
• Yan Mu reluctantly agreed to teach Huang Tao and explained that a beginner should use a simple medicinal cauldron.
• Huang Tao condensed a cauldron from the Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame, startling Yan Mu with his extraordinary flame control.
• Yan Mu scolded Bai Qing for disrespecting Huang Tao, and Bai Qing silently endured his rebuke despite her anger.

Huang Tao refined the seventh-tier Heaven Soul Blood Bone Pill and offered White Phosphorus her choice of Heavenly Flame for evolution. White Phosphorus chose the Flame of Life and began the evolution ritual.

• Huang Tao quickly learned alchemy from Yan Mu and successfully refined a Dou Ling Pill on his fifth attempt.
• While Huang Tao prepared the Heaven Soul Blood Bone Pill, Bai Qing considered attacking him, but White Phosphorus chose not to risk the tribe's safety.
• Huang Tao used his flames to refine two Heaven Soul Blood Bone Pills, and the Nine Dragon Lightning Flame devoured the pill's Thunder Tribulation.
• Huang Tao gave the pills to White Phosphorus, who entrusted the tribe to Bai Qing and chose the Flame of Life for her evolution.
• White Phosphorus formed the evolution seals and drew the Flame of Life toward herself after Huang Tao adjusted its temperature.

White Phosphorus survived her attempt to evolve with the Flame of Life, but her transformation stopped halfway and left her with a monstrous body. Huang Tao concluded that the flame had been too gentle to complete the evolution and asked her to help him obtain more Queen Medusas for his research.

• Bai Qing stopped the Snake-Person commanders from entering the palace and persuaded them to respect White Phosphorus's evolution attempt by revealing her strength and the queen's preparations for the tribe's future.
• Huang Tao watched as the Flame of Life burned White Phosphorus's giant snake form until lightning shattered her charred body.
• White Phosphorus emerged alive with a half-human, half-snake body and malformed legs, but her evolution remained incomplete.
• Huang Tao blamed the low temperature and the Flame of Life for the failed transformation, then asked White Phosphorus to cooperate so he could study more Queen Medusas.

Bai Lin agreed to help Huang Tao recruit other Queen Medusas in exchange for pills and a chance to choose a Heavenly Flame for her evolution. At Jianan Academy, Xiao Yan finished sparring with Xiao Meng and became interested in the Heavenly Burning Qi Refining Tower as a possible source of Heavenly Flame information.

• Bai Lin negotiated rewards with Huang Tao and agreed to contact other Queen Medusas to persuade them to cooperate with his evolution experiments.
• Bai Qing ordered the Snake-Person commanders to guard the palace ruins and threatened to send intruders to the Snake Pit.
• Bai Lin emerged from the mist transformed into a monstrous half-human, half-serpent figure, instructed Bai Qing to oversee the tribe, and left with Huang Tao to visit other Snake-Person tribes.
• Xiao Yan sparred with Xiao Meng after reaching three-star Dou Ling, but admitted he could not defeat her that day.
• Xiao Yan asked Xiao Meng about Heavenly Flames, and she pointed him toward Jianan Academy’s Heavenly Burning Qi Refining Tower.

Xiao Yan visited the Heavenly Burning Qi Refining Tower and learned that a Heavenly Flame might lie beneath it. When he entered, Fallen Heart Flame Amon sensed him and made the heart flame inside him burn especially fiercely.

• Xiao Yan met his neighbor Zhou Mingrui, who invited him to help obtain Earth Core Body Tempering Milk from a fifth-tier magical beast, and they agreed to leave in two days.
• Xiao Yan found the mostly buried Black Pagoda and learned from an instructor to cultivate on its first level and watch his limits.
• Yao Chen told Xiao Yan that the Heavenly Flame he needed might be beneath the tower, and Qing Meng stirred as Xiao Yan approached its entrance.
• Fallen Heart Flame Amon sensed Xiao Yan entering the tower and sent him a greeting that made the heart flame inside him burn fiercely.

Xiao Yan entered the Inner Academy and discovered that the Heart Flame was a projection of the Fallen Heart Flame, which could refine Dou Qi. Meanwhile, Protector Wu set plans in motion for a war between the Gama Empire and Chu Yun Empire, while Yun Yun grew wary of the Misty Cloud Sect’s strange changes and Protector Meng took over Protector Iron’s role.

• Xiao Yan contained the Heart Flame with the Green Lotus Core Flame, learned from Yao Chen that it was a projection of the Fallen Heart Flame, and discovered it could refine Dou Qi.
• Protector Wu ordered “Yun Shan” to bring the Gama Empire under the Misty Cloud Sect’s control and start a protracted war with the Chu Yun Empire to harvest souls.
• “Yun Shan” agreed to cooperate and asked Protector Wu to help with other plans, while Protector Wu told him to have Yun Meng return and plan the war.
• Yun Yun worried about Yanran and noticed that the Misty Cloud Sect’s cultivators had grown stronger while developing a cold, gloomy aura; Yun Du attributed their progress to increased effort.
• Protector Wu traveled to the Chu Yun Empire and found Protector Meng in place of Protector Iron, tested his strength, and agreed to follow their prior arrangements.

Xiao Yan followed Zhou Mingrui to a valley to obtain Earth Core Body Tempering Milk while Zhou Mingrui distracted a Snow Demon Sky Ape. Inside the cave, Xiao Yan encountered a powerful brown ape whose movements he recognized as Lord Ape’s.

• Xiao Yan met Zhou Mingrui on time, and they flew to a remote mountain forest in search of Earth Core Body Tempering Milk.
• Zhou Mingrui provoked the Snow Demon Sky Ape and fought it while Xiao Yan slipped into the valley.
• Xiao Yan found signs of the ape’s violent feeding and entered a cave at the far end of the valley.
• A formidable brown ape attacked Xiao Yan with a staff, and Xiao Yan recognized it as Lord Ape.

Xiao Yan reunited with Lord Ape, who gave him a bottle of true Earth Core Body Tempering Milk while repeatedly urging him to have a son and pass on a movement technique. Meanwhile, the Chu Yun Empire began an undeclared invasion of the Gama Empire by attacking Snake-Person Tribe settlements in the Tagor Desert.

• Lord Ape invited Xiao Yan to fish and pressed him about passing its movement technique on to his son, then gave him an Aphrodisiac Vine when Xiao Yan said he had no son.
• Yao Chen noticed that Lord Ape was using Earth Core Body Tempering Milk as bait, and Xiao Yan jumped into the river to retrieve the bottle.
• Lord Ape gave Xiao Yan a bottle of true Earth Core Body Tempering Milk and again urged him to have a son.
• A masked leader and dark green-robed fighters crossed the Tagor Desert, killing venomous snakes before they could alert the Snake-Person Tribe.
• The masked group attacked a small Snake-Person Tribe settlement and slaughtered its inhabitants as the Chu Yun Empire launched its undeclared war against the Gama Empire.

Xiao Yan returned to the Inner Court with the Earth Core Body Tempering Milk, then learned that the Xiao Clan had been wiped out. After reuniting with his injured brothers and grieving relatives, he heard that the Jia Lie Clan and Aoba Clan were suspected of carrying out the attack, and agreed to speak privately with Yun Meng.

• Xiao Yan gave Zhou Mingrui half of the Earth Core Body Tempering Milk after returning late from his mission.
• Hu Jia told Xiao Yan that Xiao Ding and Xiao Li had arrived with news about the Xiao Clan, and Xiao Yan hurried to the Outer Court.
• Xiao Yan found Xiao Li injured and learned from Xiao Ding that the Xiao Clan in Wutan City had been destroyed, including Xiao Yan's father.
• Yun Meng said the Jia Lie Clan and Aoba Clan had attacked the Xiao Clan, though he suspected there were hidden details behind their alliance.
• Yun Meng introduced himself as Yun Yun's junior brother and asked to speak with Xiao Yan privately, and Xiao Yan agreed.

Xiao Yan received a movement technique and a powerful pill from Yun Meng, then learned Yun Shan had become a Dou Zong and suspected the Xiao Clan's destruction involved powerful hidden factions. Xiao Meng revealed the Xiao Clan's ancient history and its enemy, the Soul Clan, while Xiao Yan refused Xun'er's offer to seek refuge with the Ancient Clan.

• Yun Meng delivered the Three Thousand Lightning Movement scroll and a Yin-Yang Profound Dragon Pill, warning Xiao Yan not to return or honor the three-year agreement until he could defeat Yun Shan, who had advanced to Dou Zong.
• Yao Chen suspected the pill had once belonged to him and connected it to the Soul Hall or the mysterious person who killed Han Feng, while Xiao Yan wondered whether Yun Shan was warning him about threats behind the Xiao Clan's destruction.
• Xiao Yan advised Xiao Ding and Xiao Li not to return to the Gama Empire, and they chose to build strength in the Black-Corner Region as Xiao Yan gave them and other clan members cultivation supplies.
• Xiao Yan questioned Xiao Meng and Xun'er about the Xiao Clan's secrets, and Xiao Meng explained its past as the Xiao Tribe, its ancestor Xiao Xuan, and its ancient enemy Hun Tiandi of the Soul Clan.
• Xun'er realized Xiao Meng's knowledge came partly from information Xun'er herself had revealed, asked her to keep the secret, and offered to take Xiao Yan to the Ancient Clan.
• Xiao Yan refused to flee to the Ancient Clan and said he would remain careful rather than run away.