Chapter Summaries

Pan Gate and the White Gang gathered at the Arena for Xiao Yan’s match against Bai Cheng, watched by a packed crowd. Xiao Yan used the Green Lotus Transformation and held off Bai Cheng’s fierce assault, while Bai Cheng trusted that Xiao Yan’s boosted strength would eventually fade.

• Xiao Fan and Pan Gate arrived at the Arena, where spectators focused on Xiao Yan’s challenge to Bai Cheng.
• Elder He was named referee, and Xiao Fan noticed his unusual standing and wondered whether he was connected to He Feng.
• Xiao Yan greeted Bai Cheng before activating the Green Lotus Transformation, raising his strength from One-Star Dou Ling to Three-Star Dou Ling.
• Bai Cheng launched the first attack, and Yan Hao and Lin Xiuya watched from the stands as Xiao Yan drew his Xuan Heavy Ruler.
• Bai Cheng pressed Xiao Yan with repeated spear strikes, but Xiao Yan blocked them while Bai Cheng waited for his temporary strength boost to fade.

Xiao Yan lost the Xuan Heavy Ruler but became faster and stronger once it was off him, allowing him to trap Bai Cheng in close combat. After Bai Cheng broke free and swallowed a pill that boosted his strength, he struck back and sent Xiao Yan flying.

• Bai Cheng knocked the Xuan Heavy Ruler off the Competition Stage, and Xiao Yan immediately used his increased speed and strength to attack him.
• Lin Xiuya realized that the Xuan Heavy Ruler had been suppressing Xiao Yan, while he and Yan Hao wagered over whether Xiao Yan would win.
• Xiao Yan used precise close-range attacks to interrupt Bai Cheng's Dou Qi and keep him pinned across the stage.
• Bai Cheng endured Xiao Yan's punches, created distance, and swallowed a pill from Han Xian without recovering his injuries.
• Bai Cheng blocked Xiao Yan's next punch, grabbed his fist, and struck him with an elbow that sent him flying.

Xiao Yan used the Dragon Strength Pill to overpower Bai Cheng, then won their duel with a sonic dou technique. He left the Competition Stage victorious after Bai Cheng lost consciousness.

• Xiao Yan swallowed several qi-restoring pills and the Dragon Strength Pill, which transformed him into a towering, powerful figure.
• Bai Cheng tried to keep his distance and outlast the pill’s effects, but Xiao Yan broke through his defensive shield with Eight Extremes Collapse.
• Bai Cheng endured Xiao Yan’s Hidden Force and met his next attack head-on as Xiao Yan’s boosted strength began to fade.
• Xiao Yan unleashed a roar that disrupted Bai Cheng’s dou qi and knocked him unconscious.
• Xiao Yan rubbed his numb throat and turned toward Pan Gate with a faint smile.

After Xiao Yan defeated Bai Cheng, challenges for the Strong Ranking intensified, and Xiao Fan and Xiao Yan later entered the Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower’s Sixth Floor to cultivate before the tournament. Their arrival drew the attention of top-ranked students, and someone questioned why a one-star Dou Ling had been allowed onto the floor.

• Elder He declared Xiao Yan the winner over Bai Cheng, and Xiao Yan left with Xun'er while Xiao Fan and Yue Yao slipped away from Hu Jia.
• Over the next half month, Strong Ranking challenges surged as students fought to improve their positions before the tournament.
• Xiao Fan and Xiao Yan arrived on the Sixth Floor, where they saw its black-stone cultivation rooms and felt the intense fire energy.
• Xiao Yan explained that his fight with Bai Cheng had helped him absorb more of the Earth Core Body Tempering Milk, and he planned to cultivate to strengthen himself before the tournament.
• Xiao Fan and Xiao Yan met Lin Yan among the powerful students gathered on the floor, and an effeminate voice questioned Xiao Yan's presence there as a one-star Dou Ling.

Yao Sheng challenged Xiao Yan, but Liu Qing stopped their fight and warned Xiao Yan about the tournament. Xiao Fan then insulted Liu Qing, whose anger was checked when an unexpected voice declared Xiao Fan under its protection.

• Yao Sheng confronted Xiao Yan and Lin Yan, prompting Xiao Yan to accept his challenge.
• Xiao Yan fought Yao Sheng, breaking through his water nets before Liu Qing ordered them to stop.
• Liu Qing warned Xiao Yan that their grudges should wait for the tournament and threatened to defeat him if he entered contention.
• Xiao Fan stepped forward, insulted Liu Qing, and drew out his anger.
• A childish voice declared that Xiao Fan was under its protection as Liu Qing's aura threatened him.

Zi Yan stepped in when Liu Qing confronted Xiao Fan, and her familiarity with Xiao Fan sent the watching students scattering. After Liu Qing left, Xiao Fan arranged for Xiao Yan to use Zi Yan’s superior Cultivation Room while he avoided cultivating in the Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower because he feared provoking the Fallen Heart Flame.

• Zi Yan arrived and warned Liu Qing against bullying Xiao Fan, then ignored the crowd’s expectations by calmly accepting Xiao Fan patting her head.
• Liu Qing left with Yao Sheng and the others, and Lin Yan explained that Cultivation Room benefits depended on Strong Ranking positions.
• Zi Yan offered Xiao Fan her Cultivation Room, and Xiao Fan asked her to let Xiao Yan use it because he was close to a breakthrough.
• Xiao Fan sent Xiao Yan to cultivate in Zi Yan’s room while choosing not to cultivate because he feared awakening the Fallen Heart Flame.
• Xiao Fan left with Zi Yan, promising to make her more pills as Xiao Yan watched him go with gratitude.

Xiao Fan learned that a sudden surge of heat had forced students to evacuate the Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower, while Su Qian and the elders reinforced the seal on the fallen heart flame. Xiao Yan left the tower shaken by the flame’s power and went to refine the Earth Spirit Pill at Yao Lao’s suggestion.

• Xiao Fan heard from Xun'er and Hu Jia that the tower’s temperature had risen sharply and the Tower-Guarding Elders had ordered everyone to evacuate.
• Su Qian confirmed the tower was clear and directed the elders to inspect the formations and reinforce the seal at the bottom.
• Su Qian warned the elders that Han Feng might seek the Inner Academy’s heavenly flame and that a broken seal could bring disaster.
• Xiao Yan left the Black Tower unsettled by the fallen heart flame’s power, then headed for the outskirts of the Inner Academy to refine the Earth Spirit Pill.

Yao Lao refined the rare ingredients for the Earth Spirit Pill in Black Demon while Xiao Yan watched and learned his techniques. As Yao Lao formed the pill, its power produced a violent disturbance and a towering blue pillar of light that might attract people from the Inner Academy.

• Xiao Yan found an isolated mountain spot, and Yao Lao brought out Black Demon to refine the Earth Spirit Pill.
• Yao Lao spent hours extracting the earth core fire ganoderma’s essence, while Xiao Yan studied his precise technique.
• Yao Lao extracted the remaining ingredients through the following afternoon and explained why Xiao Fan had not been invited to watch.
• Yao Lao poured the medicinal liquids into Black Demon and began forming the pill as energy ripples shook the area.
• Xiao Yan flew farther away as the disturbance snapped nearby trees, and a blue pillar of light erupted from the cauldron.

Xiao Yan and Yao Lao completed the Earth Spirit Pill, while Han Feng sensed the Sixth-Grade pill’s energy from the Black-Corner Region. Two days later, the Inner Academy’s Strong Ranking Tournament began, with Xiao Fan and four Pan Gate members entering the arena.

• The First Elder sensed a Sixth-Grade Pill taking shape, while Han Feng recognized the fluctuations from the Black-Corner Region and chose not to investigate.
• Yao Lao confirmed that the Earth Spirit Pill had succeeded, then urged Xiao Yan to leave before the Inner Academy’s investigators arrived.
• Xiao Yan returned to Pan Gate by a detour and stayed there until the tournament began two days later.
• At the tournament grounds, Lin Xiuya told Xiao Fan that the Demon Ape had attacked them when they revisited the mountain valley, and Xiao Fan reassured him about reaching Dou Wang.
• Su Qian opened the tournament and warned the competitors to show restraint before calling the Strong Ranking students onto the platforms.
• Xiao Fan, Xiao Yan, Xun'er, Hu Jia, and Wu Hao joined the competitors, drawing attention to Pan Gate’s strength.

The Strong Ranking competition began as the students gathered, drew their match tokens, and took their places for the first round. Xiao Fan secretly saw through the token box and chose number thirty, while Yao Sheng won his opening match with his Black Water Realm.

• Yan Hao, Lin Xiuya, Xiao Fan, Xiao Yan, and Liu Qing made striking entrances onto the Competition Stage, and Liu Qing's companion Yao Sheng taunted Xiao Yan before Liu Qing dismissed the pair as unworthy rivals.
• The First Elder explained that one hundred participants would draw numbered red and blue tokens, with matching numbers facing each other to determine the top fifty.
• Xiao Fan used his darkened gaze to see through the spatial beast-hide box and picked blue token number thirty; Xiao Yan, Xun'er, Hu Jia, and Wu Hao also drew blue tokens, receiving numbers fifteen, twenty, thirty-seven, and six.
• The First Elder sent the first ten token holders to five stages, where Yao Sheng faced a Five-Star Dou Ling Wind Attribute cultivator.
• Yao Sheng used his Black Water Realm to slow his opponent and injure him with one blow, forcing him to concede.

Wu Hao faced Lü Guang, a notorious alchemist who used trick pills in combat, in the first round of the Strong Ranking Tournament. Lü Guang’s pill triggered Wu Hao’s murderous frenzy, but Wu Hao won after the stage formation stopped him from killing his opponent, then returned to cheers from the Pan Gate.

• After the first five matches ended, Wu Hao took the stage to face Lü Guang, whose reputation for using bizarre pills had made him widely despised.
• Lü Guang tricked Wu Hao with a pill that made his Dou Qi surge uncontrollably, then demanded that he concede in exchange for the antidote.
• Wu Hao’s killing intent overwhelmed the pill’s effects, and he drove Lü Guang into retreat with fierce attacks.
• Lü Guang conceded, but Wu Hao continued to strike until the stage formation immobilized him and an elder restored his clarity.
• The elder declared Wu Hao the winner, and Lü Guang fled after apologizing while Wu Hao returned to cheers from the Pan Gate.

Wu Hao, Xiao Yan, Xun'er, and Xiao Fan won their first-round Strong Ranking Tournament matches, while Hu Jia lost to a stronger opponent. Four of Pan Gate’s five contestants advanced to the second round, and Xiao Fan left intrigued by Du Ying’s ice-based technique.

• Wu Hao returned victorious, and Xiao Yan defeated a Two-Star Dou Ling after giving him time to save face.
• Xun'er narrowly defeated a Four-Star Dou Ling while concealing that she had already reached the Dou Wang realm.
• Zi Yan's opponent forfeited, and Xiao Fan defeated Du Ying by melting her snowflake attack with his heavenly flame.
• Xiao Fan reflected on how he might adapt Du Ying's technique by blending heavenly flames into his surroundings.
• Hu Jia lost to a Five-Star Dou Ling after fighting for roughly half an hour, leaving four of Pan Gate's five contestants to advance.

After the first day of the Strong Ranking Tournament, Xiao Fan considered his new mission and sensed that his incarnation was leaving the Black-Corner Region with Eagle Protector. Mo Shang learned that Eagle Protector had advanced to Dou Zong and was taking him to the Central Plains to confront those who had wronged him, including his father, a Venerable of the Hall of Souls.

• Hu Jia was upset after losing in the first round, but Yue Yao and Xun'er cheered her up on the way back to Pan Gate's quarters.
• Xiao Fan reviewed the mission to win the Strong Ranking Tournament championship and resolved to compete seriously for a top-ten place and access to the Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower.
• Xiao Fan sensed that Mo Shang was rapidly traveling away from the Black-Corner Region with Eagle Protector, while their connection grew weaker.
• Eagle Protector took Mo Shang toward the Central Plains and revealed that he had advanced to Dou Zong and intended to fight his way back against those who had plotted against him.
• Mo Shang realized that Eagle Protector's father was a Venerable of the Hall of Souls and regretted that he could no longer easily pass the information to Xiao Fan.

The tournament continued as Lin Xiuya defeated his opponent and Wu Hao lost to Yan Hao after impressing him with his strength. Xiao Yan faced Yao Sheng, and after provoking him through a tense exchange, watched Yao Sheng unleash the Black Water Realm.

• Lin Xiuya defeated a Five-Star Dou Ling water-attribute cultivator in an early match.
• Wu Hao fought Yan Hao in a brutal contest of strength but lost; Yan Hao praised him and offered to help with his cultivation.
• Xiao Yan drew Yao Sheng as his opponent and provoked him before the match began.
• Xiao Yan raised his strength to the Five-Star Dou Ling level with his green flames and blocked Yao Sheng’s attacks with the Xuan Heavy Ruler.
• Xiao Yan mocked Liu Mei, prompting Liu Qing to rebuke her and Yao Sheng to intensify his attack.
• Yao Sheng released dense black Dou Qi and announced the Black Water Realm.

Xiao Yan fought Yao Sheng, who covered the arena in corrosive black water to restrict his movement. Xiao Yan used a Flying Dou Technique to take to the air, then burned away the Black Water Realm, leaving Yao Sheng without its enhancement.

• Yao Sheng spread corrosive black water across the Competition Stage, and Xiao Yan’s foot became trapped in it.
• Yao Sheng attacked Xiao Yan, but Xiao Yan escaped into the air using a Flying Dou Technique.
• Xiao Yan swallowed pills to sustain his flight, then used his speed to attack Yao Sheng with the Xuan Heavy Ruler.
• Xiao Yan sent green flames onto the arena and burned away all the black water.
• Lin Xiuya and Yan Hao noted that Yao Sheng had lost the Black Water Realm’s enhancement as Xiao Yan challenged him to reveal his remaining tricks.

Xiao Yan fought Yao Sheng after the Black Water Realm was removed, then used a feint and a sound-wave attack to overcome him. He defeated Yao Sheng and declared the match over.

• Xiao Yan repeatedly attacked Yao Sheng, who formed black armor and tried to outlast him.
• Xiao Yan coated the Xuan Heavy Ruler with Heavenly Flames and struck at Yao Sheng, whose Phantom Annihilation Stab met the blow and forced Xiao Yan back.
• Yao Sheng dodged Xiao Yan’s next swing and slashed at the hand holding the Xuan Heavy Ruler, making Xiao Yan release it.
• Yao Sheng pursued Xiao Yan and thrust a dagger at his chest, but Xiao Yan’s green-flame image let the dagger pass harmlessly beneath his arm.
• Xiao Yan used the Lion-Tiger Shattering Gold Chant to disorient Yao Sheng, then struck him with Eight Extremes Collapse and sent him flying.
• Lin Xiuya and Liu Qing announced Yao Sheng’s defeat, and Xiao Yan told the fallen Yao Sheng that he had lost.

Xiao Yan defeated Yao Sheng, then watched Xun'er face Han Yue in the competition. Xun'er exposed and broke the formation in Han Yue's technique, and Han Yue conceded.

• Xiao Yan won his match against Yao Sheng, strapped on the Xuan Heavy Ruler, and returned to Pan Gate.
• Xun'er took the stage to face Han Yue, while Xiao Fan noted that the crowd underestimated her fighting ability.
• Xun'er and Han Yue exchanged sword attacks until Han Yue unleashed the ice technique Instant Bing Hua.
• Xun'er identified the formation's weak point and struck it, causing Han Yue's ice lotuses to dissolve.
• Han Yue conceded and invited Xun'er to discuss formations in the future.

Xiao Fan defeated Wolf Fang’s Ying Feiyu in the tournament after switching from hand-to-hand combat to his Thousand-Flame Spear and evading Ying Feiyu’s final charge by flying off the stage. The referee declared Xiao Fan the winner, and Lin Xiuya collected his bet from Yan Hao.

• Xiao Fan faced Ying Feiyu of Wolf Fang and exchanged several close-range blows with him.
• Xiao Fan recognized Ying Feiyu’s superior physical strength, summoned the Thousand-Flame Spear, and gained the advantage.
• Ying Feiyu used Barbarian Mountain Crash, swelling to more than twice his size and charging at Xiao Fan.
• Xiao Fan flew off the stage, causing Ying Feiyu to miss him and crash into the arena’s shield unconscious.
• The referee declared Xiao Fan the winner, and Lin Xiuya won a magic core from Yan Hao.

The First Elder introduced a pressure trial to eliminate five of the twenty-five tournament winners, using an array powered by the elders’ Dou Qi to test their resolve. Xiao Fan, Xiao Yan, Xun’er, and several other top contenders endured until the trial ended, leaving the Top Ten battles for the following day.

• The First Elder summoned the twenty-five winners to the Competition Stage and announced that five would lose their eligibility to compete.
• The First Elder activated an Array Disk with several elders, filling the stage with pressure that the students could resist only through their willpower.
• Xiao Fan recognized the pressure as comparable to a Dou Emperor’s aura, while he, Xiao Yan, Xun’er, Zi Yan, Lin Xiuya, Yan Hao, and Liu Qing remained standing.
• Five students collapsed unconscious as the pressure intensified, and the First Elder ended the trial and announced that the Top Ten would be selected the next day.
• Xiao Fan and his companions left the Arena with the Pan Gate members as the elders treated the eliminated students.

The elders assessed the danger of heart-fire tempering after the Heavenly Flames erupted and decided to let the top students choose whether to proceed. Meanwhile, Pan Gate prepared for the Strong Ranking Tournament as A-Tai briefed Xiao Fan, Xiao Yan, and the others on their opponents.

• The First Elder and the other elders concluded that the erupted Heavenly Flames made heart-fire tempering far more dangerous and agreed to discuss the reward after the matches, leaving the choice to the students.
• Hu Jia urged Xiao Fan, Xiao Yan, and Xun'er to reach the top ten to raise Pan Gate's standing, then asked A-Tai to brief them on their opponents.
• A-Tai described Liu Qing's Great Coffin Splitting Claw and rarely seen spear technique, which he had used against Lin Xiuya.
• A-Tai explained that Lin Xiuya's Coiling Snake Hand controlled opponents' attacks and that an obscure aura had helped him defeat Liu Qing.
• Xiao Fan claimed he was invincible, and A-Tai continued introducing the other Strong Ranking students' signature Dou Techniques.