Chapter Summaries

Shi Chun’s group watched the Four Cauldron Sect capture a sentient divine fire in the form of a Flame Crocodile. After Xu Anchang confirmed it was Scarlet Flame, Shi Chun offered it to Tong Mingshan, leaving the Bright Mountain Sect stunned.

• Shi Chun spotted a monster moving beneath the magma, and he led his group away from the spring as You Mu and three men surfaced with burns.
• The Flame Crocodile erupted from the magma and attacked the cultivators with powerful scarlet flames.
• Xu Anchang drew the Flame Crocodile into a trap, and You Mu and five others used a Metal-Catching Net to haul it onto an island.
• Xu Anchang and the other Four Cauldron Sect disciples pinned and weakened the Flame Crocodile until it could no longer resist.
• Xu Anchang identified the creature as Scarlet Flame, one of the thirty-six divine fires, and explained that they would beat it back into its original form to absorb it.
• Shi Chun offered Scarlet Flame to Tong Mingshan, and Xu Anchang agreed on behalf of the Four Cauldron Sect.

Shi Chun secured the Scarlet Flame Divine Fire for Tong Mingshan and urged Xu Anchang to pursue all thirty-six divine fires rather than wait for Tong Mingshan to finish absorbing it. He proposed using undercover agents in five rival sects to track their discoveries and seize opportunities, and Xu Anchang listened as Shi Chun outlined the plan.

• The Flame Crocodile dissolved into red wisps, and Xu Anchang identified the remaining flame as the Scarlet Flame Divine Fire.
• Xu Anchang gave the Scarlet Flame to Tong Mingshan, who accepted it and entered a sealed Mountain Cave to absorb it.
• Shi Chun told Xu Anchang that they should keep searching while Tong Mingshan absorbed the divine fire, declaring his aim to find all thirty-six within forty-nine days.
• Xu Anchang explained that five agents were embedded in other sects and could be contacted through signs along their routes.
• Shi Chun proposed sending ten men in five pairs to join the agents and trail the rival sects for information about divine fires.
• Xu Anchang asked Shi Chun to explain the plan further, and Shi Chun said they would take any chance to seize a rival sect's discovery.

Shi Chun organized tracking teams to monitor the five sects for signs of divine fire, then received reports that Red Cloud Fort had found a fiery trace and Summer Path Mountain might have found another. He and Xu Anchang chose to investigate Red Cloud Fort first, while Shi Chun also learned the location of Summer Path Mountain’s search area.

• Shi Chun assigned five Bright Mountain Sect members to team up with the Four Cauldron Sect and follow its infiltrators, while An Wuzhi and Zhu Xiangxin volunteered but were not selected.
• Shi Chun told the five team members to learn the identities of the infiltrators and their signals, then supplied the teams with Wind Scales so they could relay information quickly.
• Hao Ji reported that Red Cloud Fort had seen a flash of divine fire in an ironwood forest, and Shi Chun and Xu Anchang prepared to investigate while leaving Wu Jinliang and Lao Changhai to guard Tong Mingshan.
• Wu Hong reported that Summer Path Mountain might have found divine fire in an icy valley, but Xu Anchang chose to visit Red Cloud Fort first because its sighting was confirmed.
• Shi Chun had Wu Hong mark the icefield’s location, then departed with Xu Anchang’s group on Wind Scales toward Red Cloud Fort.

After Tong Mingshan successfully absorbed Divine Fire, Wu Jinliang reunited him with Shi Chun’s group at the metal world, where Zhou Wuxian revealed that Red Cloud Fort had only seen a flash of fire. Wu Jinliang proposed using fake Divine Fire to lure Red Cloud Fort away, and urged Shi Chun to demonstrate his ability.

• Tong Mingshan emerged from seclusion having absorbed the Divine Fire and advanced the realm of his fire essence to high martial grand completion.
• Wu Jinliang took Tong Mingshan to meet Shi Chun and the others at the edge of the metal forest.
• Zhou Wuxian reported that Red Cloud Fort had spotted firelight in a hole but had not found the Divine Fire, and that its twenty members were spread across the area.
• Shi Chun proposed waiting until night to search the metal region, then suggested visiting the Icefield while they waited.
• Wu Jinliang realized Red Cloud Fort could be lured away because its members had not seen the Divine Fire itself, and asked Shi Chun to create a convincing fake.

Shi Chun and the Four Cauldron Sect lured Red Cloud Fort’s search party away from the Iron Forest using Tong Mingshan’s divine fire. As the others searched, Shi Chun used his right-eye ability to find a concealed moving mass beneath the metal ground and gathered his companions at a nearby spot.

• Wu Jinliang proposed using Tong Mingshan’s scarlet divine fire as bait, and Xu Anchang sent Tong Mingshan with Wu Jinliang and You Mu into the Iron Forest.
• Wu Jinliang made a racket in a cave while Tong Mingshan displayed the divine fire, drawing Qian Qie and Red Cloud Fort’s men toward them.
• Wu Jinliang, You Mu, and Tong Mingshan fled on Wind Scales, and Qian Qie led twenty Red Cloud Fort members in pursuit.
• Xu Anchang sent the remaining searchers into the Iron Forest while Shi Chun flew above them and scanned the ground with his right-eye ability.
• Shi Chun spotted a concealed, quivering white mass beneath the metal ground, landed nearby, and gathered Chu Jingtang and the others around him.
• Shi Chun relit a half-length stick of incense, whose smoke twisted into strange, stiff movements.

Shi Chun led An Wuzhi, Zhu Xiangxin, and the others into the metal maze to search for divine fire, using Fire God Incense and white powder to guide their search. Meanwhile, Wu Jinliang, Tong Mingshan, and You Mu escaped their pursuers by reaching the summit where the ten elders were stationed, and the pursuers withdrew.

• Shi Chun followed the Fire God Incense to a metal embankment and sent An Wuzhi and Zhu Xiangxin to search for an underground entrance.
• After the pair discovered the passages formed a maze, Shi Chun summoned Chu Jingtang, Chen Wuji, and Hao Ji to help mark routes with white powder and search for a path toward the divine fire.
• Shi Chun warned the group to move quietly because the divine fire could escape through holes in the walls, then split them into groups to explore separate passages.
• Qian Qie and the Red Cloud Fort party pursued Wu Jinliang, Tong Mingshan, and You Mu until Wu Jinliang steered them to the peak where the ten elders were stationed.
• Wu Jinliang asked the ten elders to uphold justice, and Qian Qie ordered the Red Cloud Fort party to retreat rather than confront them there.

Wu Jinliang and Tong Mingshan returned to a cave to recover and plan their next move while the Bright Mountain Sect searched the Iron Forest for divine fire. Shi Chun’s group found a powerful white divine fire underground, but their attempt to seize it unleashed flames that trapped them in the maze.

• Wu Jinliang rejected further confrontation with the elders, returned with Tong Mingshan to Lao Changhai’s cave, and told You Mu to check for a Red Cloud Fort ambush while he recovered.
• Xu Anchang searched the Iron Forest after learning the Bright Mountain Sect and Shi Chun had disappeared, then assumed they had gone underground to seek divine fire.
• Shi Chun’s group found a white divine fire with an opening eye and sent An Wuzhi and Zhu Xiangxin to approach it without Four Cauldron Sect’s help.
• The divine fire stopped An Wuzhi and Zhu Xiangxin’s swords, melted them, and engulfed both men in flames.
• Shi Chun and his companions fled through the underground passages as the flames spread and separated them; Shi Chun became trapped in a dead end when his protective gang qi failed against the fire.

Shi Chun discovered that his advanced Demon-Bathing Art could protect him from the divine fire, then returned to the underground chamber to confront it and help An Wuzhi and Zhu Xiangxin. The chapter ended as his Demon-Undoing Hand sent strange counterflow patterns into the divine fire’s vertical eye.

• Shi Chun survived the white flames by using the full-body defense of his advanced Demon-Bathing Art and hurried back toward the underground chamber.
• Chu Jingtang, Hao Ji, and Chen Wuji escaped the tunnels, realized Shi Chun was missing, and returned to search for him.
• Shi Chun found An Wuzhi and Zhu Xiangxin trapped near the vertical eye and plunged toward it from above.
• Shi Chun broke through the eye’s repelling force with Demonic-Blight-Free Saber, briefly disrupting its power.
• An Wuzhi and Zhu Xiangxin lunged for the divine fire, but its enraged pulse sent them sliding toward the abyss.
• Shi Chun drove Demon-Undoing Hand through the divine fire’s resistance, sending strange counterflow patterns into the vertical eye.

Shi Chun destroyed the Divine Fire’s vertical eye, captured the weakened Golden Flame, and gave it to Zhu Xiangxin after verifying he could absorb it. The group reunited in the cave, where Chu Jingtang angrily confronted Zhu Xiangxin and An Wuzhi for nearly getting everyone killed.

• Shi Chun’s Winding-Reversal Pattern shattered the vertical eye, and he caught the weakened Divine Fire before it could escape.
• Shi Chun identified the fire as Golden Flame and, after questioning Zhu Xiangxin and checking with An Wuzhi, gave it to Zhu Xiangxin with orders to keep it secret from the Four Cauldron Sect.
• Shi Chun promised to consider An Wuzhi for a future Divine Fire and warned Zhu Xiangxin not to presume to decide when that chance would come.
• Chu Jingtang, Chen Wuji, and Hao Ji waited beyond the flames, then cautiously searched the cave when the fire receded.
• Shi Chun and the others emerged safely, and Chu Jingtang scolded Zhu Xiangxin and An Wuzhi for failing to warn the group before unleashing the fire.

Shi Chun gave the Iron Forest divine fire to Zhu Xiangxin to absorb and planned to take the Bright Mountain Sect group to the Icefield. After Wu Jinliang and Tong Mingshan returned, Shi Chun persuaded Xu Anchang that they should lure Summer Path Mountain away from the Icefield before searching for its divine fire.

• Shi Chun assigned Chen Wuji to guard Zhu Xiangxin as he hid the divine fire inside a piece of iron and left the Iron Forest.
• An Wuzhi lamented losing the divine fire, while Chu Jingtang and Hao Ji explained that Shi Chun had chosen Zhu Xiangxin for his pill-refining ability and because Tong Mingshan was absent.
• Shi Chun told Hao Ji and the others to keep watch on the Four Cauldron Sect and Red Cloud Fort while he headed for the Icefield.
• Wu Jinliang and Tong Mingshan returned, and Shi Chun summoned Xu Anchang by having Wu Jinliang strike his Broadsword against the metal ground.
• Shi Chun convinced Xu Anchang that Wu Jinliang and Tong Mingshan should lure Summer Path Mountain away from the Icefield before the sect searched for its divine fire.

Shi Chun left the Iron Forest for the Icefield and discovered movement beneath the ice near Summer Path Mountain’s search area. He was intercepted by Gu Liani and her disciples, who recognized him and questioned why he had come alone.

• Shi Chun split from Xu Anchang’s group, told Hao Ji to watch for two sects, and headed toward the Icefield with Wu Jinliang, Tong Mingshan, Chu Jingtang, and An Wuzhi.
• Shi Chun told Wu Jinliang and Tong Mingshan that Zhu Xiangxin had secured the Iron Forest’s divine fire and warned Tong Mingshan not to reveal his own absorption to outsiders.
• Gu Liani prepared Summer Path Mountain’s Origin-Locking Formation to trap a suspected fire spirit beneath the Icefield.
• Shi Chun circled back after sensing something alive moving beneath the ice, then four Summer Path Mountain disciples intercepted him.
• Gu Liani identified Shi Chun with help from a portrait, questioned his presence, and Yuan Yao warned her not to let him go because he was alone.

Shi Chun encountered Gu Liani and the Summer Path Mountain disciples, who suspected him but let him leave while they set up a formation to trap divine fire. After rejoining Wu Jinliang and the others, Shi Chun found that the divine fire was still there and prepared to act.

• Gu Liani questioned Shi Chun and ordered him to beg for mercy, then let him go because Summer Path Mountain's formation work took priority.
• Shi Chun inspected the terrain with his right-eye ability, memorized it, and flew away on his Wind Scales.
• Gu Liani explained that she had feared a fight with Shi Chun could disrupt the Origin-Locking Formation before it trapped the divine fire.
• Gu Liani vowed to seek out Shi Chun after Summer Path Mountain finished its work and prove herself against him.
• Shi Chun reunited with Wu Jinliang and the others, confirmed Summer Path Mountain had not taken the divine fire, and said they should get to work.

Shi Chun lured Summer Path Mountain’s disciples away from the Divine Fire Domain’s hidden divine fire, then worked with Chu Jingtang and An Wuzhi to drive it out from beneath the ice. The pale silver-blue flame emerged on a ridge, where Shi Chun struck it with the Winding-Reversal Pattern.

• Shi Chun refused Chu Jingtang’s offer to replace Wu Jinliang and sent Wu Jinliang and Tong Mingshan toward the exit while he left with Chu Jingtang and An Wuzhi.
• Wu Jinliang and Tong Mingshan staged a noisy theft of a crimson firelight, prompting Pang Hou and Gu Liani to lead Summer Path Mountain’s disciples in pursuit.
• After counting that the disciples had left, Shi Chun lit Fire God Incense and searched for the vanished phantom beneath the ice.
• Shi Chun directed Chu Jingtang and An Wuzhi to collapse the ice repeatedly, discovering that the phantom could move through it and driving it toward higher ground.
• The phantom emerged as a pale silver-blue flame, and Shi Chun attacked it with Demon-Undoing Hand and the Winding-Reversal Pattern.

Shi Chun escaped the ice mountain and pursued the weakened Divine Fire while An Wuzhi rescued Chu Jingtang. At the exit, Wu Jinliang and Tong Mingshan reached the Elders with the Divine Fire, and Jin Guiqi sent Summer Path Mountain’s disciples away before they could expose their involvement.

• The Divine Fire froze Shi Chun, An Wuzhi, and Chu Jingtang beneath a crystal ice mountain, but Shi Chun blasted free and resumed the pursuit.
• An Wuzhi melted his way out, rescued Chu Jingtang, and then left him to follow Shi Chun.
• Shen Moming arrived at Lao Changhai’s cave as Wu Jinliang and Tong Mingshan reached the exit with more than a hundred pursuers behind them.
• The Elders recognized Summer Path Mountain among the pursuers and affirmed that they could not interfere in the contest.
• Gu Liani confronted Wu Jinliang over the Divine Fire, but Jin Guiqi repeatedly ordered his disciples to leave, and they returned the way they had come.

Wu Jinliang gathered reinforcements after the Ten Elders’ enforcer broke the rules and endangered Chuntian, while Summer Path Mountain searched the damaged Icefield for Shi Chun. Shi Chun finally caught the fleeing Divine Fire at an ice pillar, though its fearful behavior there left the reason for its flight unclear.

• Jin Guiqi confronted Wu Jinliang, but Wu denied that the enforcer had broken any rules and distracted the elders with a story about injured disciples.
• Wu Jinliang told Shen Moming to gather reinforcements, then persuaded Xu Anchang and the Four Cauldron Sect members to join him by warning that Chuntian might reveal their secrets if captured.
• Gu Liani ordered Pang Hou to inspect the formation site while she and the others searched the trail and the Icefield for Shi Chun and the Divine Fire.
• Shi Chun pursued the Divine Fire across the Icefield as Chu Jingtang and An Wuzhi followed behind him.
• The Divine Fire emerged beside a towering ice pillar, and Shi Chun trapped it in his Demon-Undoing Hand.

Shi Chun discovered five possible divine fires trapped inside an ice pillar and arranged to gather allies before trying to capture them. As Chu Jingtang returned in a panic, An Wuzhi explained the Divine Fire Domain’s bloody history and how its current entry rules had arisen.

• Shi Chun saw five shadowy shapes inside the ice pillar, and the Fire God Incense pointed toward them along with the divine fire he had captured.
• Shi Chun stopped Chu Jingtang from breaking the pillar and sent him to fetch Lao Changhai and two Four Cauldron Sect disciples while keeping Xu Anchang’s group away.
• An Wuzhi told Shi Chun that the Fire God had once entered the Divine Fire Domain, led experts into battle against its ancient monsters, and died while helping survivors escape.
• An Wuzhi explained that later generations fought to clear the domain, but deadly expeditions and losses among artifact-refining schools led to the current rules for entry.
• Chu Jingtang returned on the Wind Scales with panic written across his face.

Shi Chun turned the Summer Path Mountain disciples’ interception into an opportunity, proposing cooperation in exchange for a share of the divine fires he claimed he could find. Gu Liani demanded proof, leaving the negotiations unresolved as Shi Chun insisted that an agreement had to come first.

• An Wuzhi hesitated to release Ice Flame, allowing Summer Path Mountain’s pursuers to surround him, Shi Chun, and Chu Jingtang.
• Shi Chun calmed his companions, surrendered none of the divine fire, and told Gu Liani that he had waited to negotiate with her.
• Shi Chun claimed that his discovery of Ice Flame and Red Flame demonstrated his abilities and proposed giving Summer Path Mountain three of six divine fires, then alternating future discoveries.
• Shi Chun also demanded that Summer Path Mountain let Bright Mountain Sect win the artifact refining competition, explaining that his sect needed the prize and a reputation.
• Gu Liani questioned whether Shi Chun could truly produce six divine fires, but Shi Chun refused to show them unless they first reached an agreement.

Shi Chun secured Summer Path Mountain’s cooperation by revealing one genuine Divine Fire and promising five more beneath an ice pillar. After the group set up a formation and Shi Chun struck the pillar, its snow covering fell away to reveal a huge coiled ice sculpture that seemed to move.

• Gu Liani agreed to cooperate with Shi Chun after swearing an oath on the safety of the Summer Path Mountain Leader, while An Wuzhi became a hostage and handed over his Divine Fire.
• Shi Chun led Gu Liani and the others to an enormous ice pillar and claimed that five Divine Fires were hidden inside it.
• Gu Liani summoned her disciples and set up an Origin-Locking Formation around the pillar to trap the Divine Fires.
• Shi Chun struck the pillar with his Demonic-Blight-Free Saber, knocking snow away and revealing a huge coiled sculpture covered in scales.
• Shi Chun noticed the sculpture seemed to move as fragments of snow began falling from it again.

An enormous Ice Jiao emerged from the ice pillar and attacked the Summer Path Mountain group, while Shi Chun and Chu Jingtang tried to escape amid accusations that Shi Chun had lied about five divine fires. The Ice Jiao was trapped by an Origin-Locking Formation, but Wu Jinliang killed two Summer Path Mountain disciples, and the ground began splitting beneath the expanding ice mountains.

• The Ice Jiao emerged from the ice pillar and froze many Summer Path Mountain disciples with its flames as the group fled.
• Gu Liani and Yuan Yao accused Shi Chun of deceiving them about the five divine fires, while Shi Chun and Chu Jingtang hid beneath the Ice Jiao and climbed onto its body.
• The Ice Jiao pursued the divine fire in Yuan Yao's palm, but an Origin-Locking Formation trapped it; Shi Chun and Chu Jingtang leaped down and tried to escape.
• Wu Jinliang called Shi Chun over, then killed two Summer Path Mountain disciples who attacked him, forcing Shi Chun's group to flee with Wind Scales.
• The ground shook and split as the Ice Jiao's expanding ice mountains pressed outward against the formation.

Shi Chun and the Bright Mountain Sect survived the Ice Jiao’s explosive attack when Chuntian stopped an iceberg from crushing them. As Gu Liani battled the Ice Jiao with an Azure Rainbow treasure, Shi Chun planned to renew his cooperation with Summer Path Mountain, but the group realized An Wuzhi was missing.

• The Ice Jiao shattered the light barrier and blasted icebergs across the battlefield, trapping Shi Chun’s group beneath an iceberg that Chuntian held in place.
• Gu Liani struck the Ice Jiao with her Azure Rainbow, breaking a horn and piercing its head, while Xu Anchang led the Four Cauldron Sect away and abandoned Shi Chun’s group.
• Wu Jinliang realized Chuntian had saved them by suspending the iceberg, and the group watched the Azure Rainbow repeatedly knock the Ice Jiao down.
• Tong Mingshan identified the Azure Rainbow as a fifth-grade magical treasure with an artifact spirit, and Shi Chun envied its power.
• Shi Chun refused to leave, expecting Gu Liani to reconcile once she saw the divine fires, then worried about the Four Cauldron Sect and discovered An Wuzhi was missing.