Chapter Summaries

Xiao Yan learned that he should seek ingredients for the Blood Lotus Pill and planned to earn a Second-Rank Alchemist qualification in Black Rock City. Meanwhile, Xiao Lin began training Qing Lin in her secluded valley and revealed a use for her captured Branding Iron Poison Seal Python.

• Yao Chen told Xiao Yan that the Fallen Heart Flame was guarded at Jia Nan Academy and that he had reserved the Sea Heart Flame for him, then urged him to gather ingredients for the Blood Lotus Pill.
• Yao Chen advised Xiao Yan to take the Alchemist Guild examination and seek ingredient information in Black Rock City, so Xiao Yan set out for the city.
• Xiao Lin brought Xiao Yi Xian and Qing Lin to Xiao Yi Xian's secluded valley, where he gave Qing Lin the high-grade Profound Tier Snake-Shadow Illusory Movement technique to practice.
• Xiao Lin explained that the magical beasts inside Qing Lin's Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils continually supplied her with Dou Qi, potentially raising her cultivation to Dou Wang.
• Xiao Lin told Qing Lin that she could release the Branding Iron Poison Seal Python for Xiao Yi Xian to use, since Qing Lin could not absorb its poison.

Xiao Yi Xian spent half a month preparing a powerful poison to awaken and control her poisonous physique. She drank it and fell into a coma as Xiao Lin protected Qing Lin from the poisonous mist, expecting Xiao Yi Xian to be reborn when she woke.

• Qing Lin summoned the Branding Iron Poison Seal Python and collected its venom for Xiao Yi Xian.
• Xiao Yi Xian used the venom to prepare poisons while she, Xiao Lin, and Qing Lin shared a peaceful half month in the valley.
• Xiao Yi Xian finished making the Ten Thousand Snakes Heart-Rending Powder and decided to drink it to gain control over the poison inside her.
• Xiao Yi Xian drank the poison, suffered intense pain, and released a poisonous mist that corroded the ground.
• Xiao Lin carried Qing Lin away from Xiao Yi Xian and used Heavenly Dao Energy to shield them from the mist.
• Xiao Yi Xian lost consciousness, and Xiao Lin assured Qing Lin she would be all right.

Xiao Yan passed the Second-Rank Alchemist examination and sought rare materials, learning that Gute might possess the ice spirit cold spring. After obtaining the ice spirit flame grass, Xiao Yan offered Gute flamefall black iron in hopes of securing the spring.

• Xiao Yan passed the Second-Rank Alchemist examination, startling Frank, Otto, Lin Fei, and Xue Mei.
• Xiao Yan told Frank and Otto that his crimson flame came from an unusual fifth-tier magical beast and asked them to help find ice spirit flame grass and ice spirit cold spring.
• Otto and Frank said their only lead on the ice spirit cold spring was Gute, the arrogant younger brother of Gu He, whose mysterious bloodline inheritance had recently increased his power.
• Three days later, Xiao Yan acquired the ice spirit flame grass from an Alchemist Guild contact in exchange for a fourth-grade pill.
• Otto brought Xiao Yan to Gute, who doubted Xiao Yan could trade for the spring until Xiao Yan produced flamefall black iron, prompting Gute to leap up and reach for it.

Xiao Yan tried to exchange Flamefall Black Iron for Gute’s ice spirit cold spring, but Gute attempted to seize his treasures by force. Yao Chen overwhelmed Gute and demanded the cold spring, leaving Gute facing death if he refused.

• Xiao Yan offered Gute the Flamefall Black Iron in exchange for ice spirit cold spring, but Gute claimed the iron was worth only two drops.
• When Xiao Yan turned to leave, Gute tried to grab his Storage Ring and demanded that he hand over all his treasures.
• Gute summoned more than a dozen Dou Shi and threatened Xiao Yan by invoking his younger brother Gu He’s authority.
• Yao Chen released his soul force and knocked Gute’s guards unconscious, then attacked Gute with a soul projection.
• Yao Chen wrapped Gute’s neck in an eerie white flame and demanded that he hand over the ice spirit cold spring or die.

Xiao Yan and Yao Chen killed the three Dou Ling Gute sent after them, then raided Gute’s residence and burned it down. By morning, Gute was missing and his treasures were gone, while Frank and Otto worried that Gu He would seek revenge.

• Gute handed Yao Chen the ice spirit cold spring, then secretly sent three Dou Ling after Xiao Yan to recover it and the flamefall black iron.
• Xiao Yan used Possession and the bone spirit cold flame to kill the three attackers, and Yao Chen decided to punish Gute.
• Yao Chen confronted Gute in his secret chamber, knocked him unconscious, and helped Xiao Yan take every treasure there.
• Yao Chen set Gute’s residence ablaze, and Xiao Yan disappeared into the night with him.
• Frank and Otto saw the ashes of Gute’s residence and feared Gu He would not let the matter rest.

After learning that Gute had died, Gu He traced the destruction of his residence to Bone Spirit Cold Flame and discovered that Yao Yan had been involved. Unable to find Yao Yan or risk confronting his unknown backing, Gu He returned to the Misty Cloud Sect and ordered a search for both the young man and heavenly flames.

• Gu He's Communication Jade Slip shattered while he was refining an Emperor's Extreme Pill, and he learned that Gute was dead.
• Gu He examined Gute's burned residence in Black Rock City and recognized traces of Bone Spirit Cold Flame.
• At the Alchemist Guild, Frank and Otto told Gu He that Yao Yan had visited Gute and that Gute had sent a Dou Ling to intercept and kill him.
• Gu He learned that Yao Yan had already left Black Rock City, then set aside his pursuit for the time being because Yao Yan's backing might be too powerful to confront.
• Gu He returned to the Misty Cloud Sect and asked Sect Master Yun to help track down Yao Yan while ordering a search for heavenly flames.

Xiao Yi Xian awakened her woeful poison body and feared that her poison would drive Xiao Lin away, but he proved it could not harm him and reassured her. Meanwhile, Gu He learned of signs of a possible Heavenly Flame in the Tagor Desert and prepared to investigate.

• Yun Yun ordered the Misty Cloud Sect's disciples to help Gu He search for Heavenly Flames.
• Xiao Yi Xian awoke with her woeful poison body fully activated and her cultivation at nine-star Dou Zhe.
• Xiao Yi Xian worried her poisonous Dou Qi might harm Xiao Lin and Qing Lin, but Xiao Lin suppressed it and showed that it could not hurt him.
• A Misty Cloud Sect report told Gu He that strange heat had appeared in the Tagor Desert and that Queen Medusa was searching there.
• Gu He decided to travel to the Tagor Desert himself.

Xiao Yan infiltrated the Jia Ma Imperial Family palace and challenged its sixth-rank guardian, the Nether Sea Flood Dragon Beast. With Yao Chen taking control of his body, he defeated the beast and extracted its azure water flame, leaving the flame revealed above the lake.

• Xiao Yan used Yao Chen's soul force to slip through the Imperial Family palace and reach Nether Sea Lake.
• Xiao Yan provoked the Nether Sea Flood Dragon Beast, which rose from the lake and demanded to know where Jia Xingtian was.
• Yao Chen took control of Xiao Yan's body and countered the beast's water attack with Bone Spirit Cold Flame.
• Yao Chen overwhelmed the Nether Sea Flood Dragon Beast with flames and brought it down into the lake.
• Yao Chen stabbed the beast's abdomen and drew out its azure water flame.

Xiao Yan stole the Azure Water Flame from the Jia Ma Imperial Family’s guardian beast and refined it with three other beast fires, evolving the Flame Mantra and reaching Two-Star Great Dou Master. He and Yao Chen then prepared to seek a true Heavenly Flame in the Tagor Desert.

• Xiao Yan extracted the Azure Water Flame from the unconscious Nether Sea Flood Dragon Beast and learned from Yao Chen that the beast’s old injuries could be cured with a Primordial Bone-Shaping Pill.
• The Jia Ma emperor learned that the guardian beast had been attacked and ordered the city sealed while imperial forces searched for the Azure Water Flame’s thief.
• Xiao Yan refined the Azure Water Flame alongside the Netherflame Leopard’s netherflame and the Azureflame Eagle’s Qingyun Flame, triggering the Flame Mantra’s evolution.
• Xiao Yan formed a Dou Crystal, advanced to Two-Star Great Dou Master, and gained crimson-blue Dou Qi Armor.
• Yao Chen judged Xiao Yan’s newly fused flame stronger than an ordinary Seventh Rank beast flame, and Xiao Yan announced that they would seek a Heavenly Flame in the Tagor Desert.

Fa Ma determined that a mysterious intruder had taken a wisp of the Nether Sea Flood Dragon Beast’s flame and left wounds matching the bone spirit cold flame. He and Jia Xingtian concluded that the attacker was likely a Dou Zong, and Jia Xingtian decided to visit the Misty Cloud Sect.

• Fa Ma examined the Nether Sea Flood Dragon Beast and told the emperor that its injuries were superficial and its stolen flame could regenerate.
• Fa Ma identified traces of extreme cold and heat in the beast’s wound as resembling the bone spirit cold flame linked to the attack on Gute’s residence.
• Fa Ma warned the emperor that defeating the guardian beast so easily suggested the intruder was at least a Dou Zong.
• The emperor ordered that Jia Xingtian be summoned, and Jia Xingtian arrived at Nether Sea Lake an hour later.
• Jia Xingtian examined the beast’s wound, agreed the attacker could not be overcome by force, and resolved to visit the Misty Cloud Sect.

Jia Xingtian proposed that the Jia Ma Imperial Family and the Misty Cloud Sect join forces to pursue Yao Yan after he attacked the Imperial Family’s Nether Sea Flood Dragon Beast and stole its azure water flame. Yun Yun agreed, while worrying about Yun Shan’s seclusion and wondering where Xiao Lin had gone.

• Gu He told Yun Yun that he had recruited Lion King Yan Shi, Wind Walker Feng Li, and several Dou Lings for their journey to the Tagor Desert.
• Jia Xingtian arrived and revealed that an intruder had knocked out the Nether Sea Flood Dragon Beast and stolen its azure water flame.
• Jia Xingtian said the intruder had used bone spirit cold flame, leading Gu He to suspect Yao Yan and express his hatred of him.
• Jia Xingtian reported that the culprit’s strength and alchemy suggested he was at least a Dou Zong, then proposed an alliance to track him down.
• Yun Yun agreed to join forces with the Imperial Family but declined to disturb Yun Shan’s secluded cultivation.

The three great powers announced a bounty for Yao Yan, stirring the Jia Ma Empire as Nalan Jie and Mittel Tengshan weighed the danger. Nalan Yanran defended her strength despite her grandfather’s warnings about Xiao Yan, while Tengshan ordered the Mittel Family to lie low and investigate Yao Yan quietly.

• The Misty Cloud Sect, Imperial Family, and Alchemist Guild offered a lavish reward for information about Yao Yan, prompting experts across the empire to search for him.
• Nalan Jie warned Nalan Yanran that Yao Yan’s talent was extraordinary and recalled Xiao Yan’s former promise and the Three-Year Agreement.
• Nalan Yanran insisted that her Da Dou Shi cultivation and Gu He’s pill gave her an advantage over Xiao Yan.
• Mittel Tengshan worried about the three powers’ hunt and Hai Bodong’s absence, then ordered the family to pull back its defenses and investigate Yao Yan without confronting the other powers.

Mu Zhan cultivated the Wood God Scripture and gained his father’s permission to pursue Ya Fei, while Yun Yun and Gu He set out for the Tagor Desert to search for Heavenly Flames. Yun Shan emerged from secluded cultivation as a Dou Zong, his aura changed by the Guardian’s influence.

• Mu Zhan demonstrated the Wood God Scripture and Tree-Planting Art, having reached the Da Dou Shi realm.
• Mu Zhan told Mu Chen he wanted Ya Fei and planned to visit her after reaching Minor Mastery; Mu Chen gave him permission.
• Yun Yun, Gu He, Yan Shi, Feng Li, and five Dou Ling left for the Tagor Desert to search for Heavenly Flames.
• Cracks spread across the seals on Yun Shan’s cave, and the guards heard him thank a Guardian for his gift.
• Yun Shan emerged from the shattered cave with an eerie aura and declared that he had reached the Dou Zong realm.

Xiao Yan ventured into the underground magma beneath the Tagor Desert and found the Green Lotus Core Flame. After Yao Chen helped him suppress it, Xiao Yan stored the flame and its lotus platform and prepared to devour it in a safe place.

• Xiao Yan sent Xiao Ding back to the surface, then entered the magma lake with Bone Spirit Cold Flame protecting him.
• Xiao Yan descended through the magma while the Two-Headed Fire Spirit Snake hid from the pressure of his soul force.
• Xiao Yan found the Green Lotus Core Flame growing at the heart of a jade-green lotus.
• Yao Chen used Bone Spirit Cold Flame and soul force to suppress the Green Lotus Core Flame after it attacked Xiao Yan.
• Xiao Yan stored the flame and lotus platform, replanted the roots, and set out to find a secluded place to devour the flame.

Xiao Yan obtained the green lotus core flame, but a pillar of violet-red light erupted from the Snake-People Tribe’s Divine Temple. Gu He and Yun Yun arrived seeking the heavenly flame and faced the tribe’s chiefs and a powerful elder, who barred their way while the Queen remained in seclusion.

• Xiao Yan emerged from the desert with the green lotus core flame, then saw a violet-red pillar rise from the direction of the Snake-People Tribe’s Divine Temple.
• Gu He and Yun Yun discovered that several Snake-People chiefs were absent from their settlements and rushed toward the pillar after Gu He sensed a heavenly flame.
• The eight chiefs of the Snake-People Tribe gathered above the Divine Temple alongside an unfamiliar elder whose aura approached the threshold of Dou Zong.
• Yun Yun identified herself and asked who the elder was, and the elder said the Queen was in seclusion and must not be disturbed.
• The eight chiefs sealed off the sky as the elder filled it with poisonous mist and threatened to kill anyone who came closer.

Gu He confronted the Snake-People Tribe and offered them rare pills in exchange for access to the heavenly flames hidden in their temple. The chiefs were tempted by his offer as he declared that he had sensed an unusually powerful heavenly flame within the temple.

• Mo Bass ordered the Snake-People forces to prepare poisoned javelins while Gu He and the Jia Ma Empire party faced the tribe’s defenses.
• Gu He revealed that he had reached the Dou Emperor realm and was nearing seventh-grade alchemist status, then proposed a trade with the Snake-People Tribe.
• Gu He offered a Transformation Pill, a Sect Breaking Pill, an Emperor’s Extreme Pill, and three Dou Ling Pills, stirring the chiefs’ interest.
• Gu He said he wanted a heavenly flame and announced that an unusually powerful one was inside the Snake-People temple.

Gu He failed to persuade the Snake-People Elder to trade the heavenly flame, which Queen Medusa needed for her evolution, and summoned Jia Xingtian to help take it by force. Hai Bodong then revealed himself as another peak Dou Emperor, and the two sides stood on the brink of a fight.

• The Snake-People Elder refused Gu He's offer, explaining that the heavenly flame was vital to Queen Medusa's evolution and that she could not allow outsiders to interfere.
• Gu He considered the strength of the Snake-People forces, rejected the suggestion to retreat, and called Jia Xingtian out of hiding.
• Jia Xingtian appeared and urged Gu He to seize the heavenly flame by force.
• Gu He asked Hai Bodong to reveal himself, shocking Yun Yun, Jia Xingtian, and the others with the arrival of another peak Dou Emperor.
• Hai Bodong confronted Jia Xingtian and declared that he would settle his old grudge with Queen Medusa's tribe.

Gu He pressed the Snake-People Tribe’s elders to surrender the Heavenly Flames, revealing his determination to seize them despite the queen’s evolution. The Four Great Elders joined forces with the Eight Great Tribes’ chiefs to attack, and Gu He, Hai Bodong, Jia Xingtian, and Yun Yun prepared to meet them.

• Jia Xingtian and Yun Yun realized Gu He had gathered three Peak Dou Emperors and was willing to risk war for the Heavenly Flames.
• The First Elder refused to surrender the flames because they were essential to the queen’s evolution, while Mo Bass warned her about their opponents’ strength.
• The Second, Third, and Fourth Elders arrived, joining the First Elder to form the Snake Spirit Formation into a massive python.
• The First Elder learned Hua She’er was the only one guarding the queen and urged the elders to end the fight quickly.
• The Four Great Elders joined with the Eight Great Tribes’ chiefs and sent the python charging at Gu He’s group.
• Gu He unleashed his Peak Dou Emperor Dou Qi, and Hai Bodong began casting Profound Ice Dragon Soar as they prepared to fight.

Gu He, Jia Xingtian, and the others battled the Snake-People experts while Queen Medusa underwent a perilous evolution inside the Divine Temple. As the fighting shifted toward the temple, Xiao Yan and Yao Chen slipped inside and found a poisonous lake blocking their way.

• Gu He used a secret art to repel the Second Elder’s poisonous mist, then urged Jia Xingtian and Hai Bodong to break through toward the Divine Temple.
• A surge of purple-red light and an agonized hiss from the temple made the Snake-People Elders fear for Queen Medusa.
• Yun Yun explained that Queen Medusa needed a Heavenly Flame to evolve from a Peak Dou Huang into a Dou Zong, and suspected that her evolution had failed.
• Xiao Yan and Yao Chen sneaked into the eastern Divine Temple while the Snake-People experts focused on the battle outside.
• Yao Chen sensed intense fire energy ahead, and Xiao Yan reached a lake whose pale purple water contained deadly poison.

Xiao Yan and Yao Chen crossed the poisonous lake to investigate the immense fire energy on Heart of the Lake Island, while Xiao Lin, Qing Lin, and Xiao Yi Xian watched from shore. Qing Lin subdued a fifth-order Jade Phosphorous Serpent with her Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor Martial Soul, then a mysterious black ring appeared around her.

• Yao Chen shielded Xiao Yan with his soul force and Bone Spirit Cold Flame as he carried him across the poisonous lake to Heart of the Lake Island.
• Xiao Yan and Yao Chen sensed powerful fire energy at the island's center and recognized it as a heavenly flame.
• Xiao Yi Xian gathered poison from the lake while Qing Lin spotted a fifth-order Jade Phosphorous Serpent beneath the water.
• Xiao Lin encouraged Qing Lin to use her Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor Martial Soul and Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils to subdue the serpent.
• Qing Lin subdued the Jade Phosphorous Serpent and drew it into the space within her pupils, but a mysterious black ring appeared around her.