Chapter Summaries

Xiao Fan, Yun Yun, and Zi Yan found the migrating Snake-People Tribe and reunited with You Ruo. As the tribe neared the Magical Beast Mountain Range, You Ruo finally let Xiao Fan sleep in her tent, though she ordered him to behave and sleep on the ground.

• Xiao Fan, Yun Yun, and Zi Yan spotted the Snake-People Tribe's procession after crossing the mountain range.
• Yue Mei and Yin Shi met the visitors and directed Xiao Fan and his companions to You Ruo at the rear of the procession.
• You Ruo reunited joyfully with Zi Yan, then led her and Yun Yun to a mountaintop while ordering Xiao Fan to stay away.
• You Ruo and Yun Yun spent the afternoon chatting with Zi Yan, while Xiao Fan watched from a distance.
• After days of sleeping outside during the migration, Xiao Fan heard You Ruo summon him into her tent and ordered him to sleep on the ground.

You Ruo led Xiao Fan and the others into the Magical Beast Mountain Range to find a home for the Snake-People Tribe. They encountered the Amethyst Winged Lion King, who blamed them for his child’s peril and attacked Xiao Fan; the fight continued as Xiao Fan prepared to test the beast’s strength.

• You Ruo ordered Yan Ci and the other leaders to guard the migrating Snake-People Tribe while she entered the Magical Beast Mountain Range to clear a route and find suitable territory.
• You Ruo released her aura as a Dou Zong, driving weaker magical beasts from the group’s path as Xiao Fan and the others followed her into the range.
• After recognizing the Amethyst Winged Lion King’s roar, Xiao Fan and Yun Yun led the group toward it, but the beast blocked their way and attacked when it recognized Yun Yun.
• The Amethyst Winged Lion King accused Xiao Fan’s group of causing its child’s peril, and Xiao Fan blocked its purple beam with the green lotus core flame.
• Xiao Fan fought the Amethyst Winged Lion King while You Ruo, Yun Yun, and the others watched; his flame-wreathed strike failed to break the beast’s back crystals.

Xiao Fan defeated the Amethyst Winged Lion King and learned that the lion king's cub was dying after swallowing a stone full of concentrated fire-element Dou Qi. Xiao Fan offered to use his Heavenly Flame to help, and the Amethyst Winged Lion King regained hope when he saw the flame.

• Xiao Fan countered the Amethyst Winged Lion King's attacks and defeated him with Cloud Crane Shadow.
• Xiao Fan and the others followed the Amethyst Winged Lion King to his cave after learning that his cub had swallowed a rare stone he could not digest.
• Xiao Fan examined the cub and saw that the stone's energy was making his body swell toward bursting.
• The Amethyst Winged Lion King pleaded for help, but Yun Yun and the others had no solution.
• Xiao Fan proposed using his Heavenly Flame to refine the stone, then showed the Amethyst Winged Lion King the flame in his hand.

Xiao Fan used the Fallen Heart Flame to stabilize the Amethyst Winged Lion King's cub and discovered that a fragment carrying the aura of an eighth-rank magical beast was causing its dangerous buildup of energy. After refining the cub's energy for a day, Xiao Fan left it stable, while You Ruo found a suitable valley for her tribe to settle in.

• Xiao Fan agreed to help the Amethyst Winged Lion King's cub and used the Fallen Heart Flame to purify the excessive fire energy in its body.
• Xiao Fan discovered a fist-sized crimson fragment fused inside the cub, which carried the aura of at least an eighth-rank magical beast.
• Xiao Fan continued refining the cub's energy with the Fallen Heart Flame, while the Amethyst Winged Lion King watched its condition settle.
• The Amethyst Winged Lion King told You Ruo about a large valley suitable for her tribe, and You Ruo drove away its beasts and summoned Yan Ci to bring the tribespeople there.
• You Ruo returned to the cave to check on Xiao Fan while Yun Yun and Zi Yan remained with him.

Xiao Fan helped Kai Jin recover, searched the pool where the cub had found the stone, and then helped protect the Snake-People Tribe as it settled into its new home. After sharing a quiet farewell with You Ruo, Xiao Fan left with Yun Yun while Zi Yan stayed behind.

• Xiao Fan helped Kai Jin refine the stone he had swallowed, then asked the Amethyst Winged Lion King to take them to where it was found.
• Xiao Fan discovered a grain-sized scarlet crystal in the pool but could find no energy or unusual properties in it.
• Xiao Fan and his companions reached the Snake-People Tribe's new settlement, where the tribe had begun building its home and patrolling the surrounding valley.
• Xiao Fan spent several days helping You Ruo clear away nearby magical beasts, while Yin Shi, Yue Mei, and Mo Bass entered seclusion to attempt breakthroughs to Dou Emperor.
• Xiao Fan and You Ruo spent the night together in silence before he left the Snake-People Tribe with Yun Yun; Zi Yan stayed behind to return to Jia Nan Academy later.

Xiao Fan brought Yun Yun to the secluded valley where he and Xiao Yi Xian had once lived, hoping to find traces of her. The abandoned cottage and poisonous insects left behind suggested Xiao Yi Xian had been away for months and connected her to the Chu Yun Empire.

• Xiao Fan flew with Yun Yun to the hidden valley, where he found the cottage’s herb beds overgrown and abandoned.
• Xiao Fan discovered a grave marked Xiao Lan and felt relief that Xiao Yi Xian had not been buried there.
• Xiao Fan entered the dusty cottage and found no clues about Xiao Yi Xian’s whereabouts.
• Xiao Fan stopped Yun Yun from touching bottles beside the bed and explained Xiao Yi Xian’s woeful poison body.
• Xiao Fan opened the bottles and found swarms of purple, blue, and red poisonous insects, which Yun Yun identified as a method used by poison masters in the Chu Yun Empire.

Xiao Fan and Yun Yun entered the Chu Yun Empire, where Yun Yun explained how the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect had poisoned a vast stretch of land into a deadly border zone. They reached Flowing Light City, the empire’s true border stronghold, and descended as night approached.

• Xiao Fan and Yun Yun flew from the Jia Ma Empire toward the Chu Yun Empire to seek information about Xiao Yi Xian.
• At the border, Yun Yun explained that the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect had poisoned over a hundred li of land, transforming a forest into a dead zone filled with poisonous black weeds.
• Xiao Fan and Yun Yun flew across the dead zone and surveyed Shoushan City, finding only a small, poorly organized garrison and poisonous gas in the air.
• They traveled about fifty li farther to Flowing Light City and found a busy, well-guarded stronghold without traces of the poisonous gas.
• As night approached, Xiao Fan and Yun Yun descended into Flowing Light City.

Xiao Fan and Yun Yun entered Flowing Light City and learned from a waiter about the Chu Yun Empire’s poison masters and the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect’s hunt for the killer of its hall masters. The waiter exposed how locals used hidden poison-detection tools and concealed weapons to identify outsiders, then pointed Xiao Fan toward the Heavenly Fragrance House for information.

• Xiao Fan and Yun Yun entered Flowing Light City in disguise and asked a restaurant waiter about recent events.
• The waiter told Xiao Fan that the Imperial Family was recruiting poison masters and that the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect was offering rare medicinal ingredients for information about its hall masters’ killer.
• The waiter explained that Chu Yun Empire locals carried poison detectors and hidden weapons, allowing them to recognize Xiao Fan and Yun Yun as newcomers.
• Xiao Fan rewarded the waiter, who explained that ordinary people relied on small tricks to survive and recommended the Heavenly Fragrance House as a source of information.
• Yun Yun told Xiao Fan she did not know the Heavenly Fragrance House but suspected it had powerful backing.

Xiao Fan and Yun Yun reached a Heavenly Fragrance House branch to seek information, and its manager, Old Wan, eagerly welcomed them upstairs. The chapter ended before Xiao Fan revealed what information he wanted.

• Xiao Fan disguised himself and Yun Yun as poison masters by giving them poison pouches to wear.
• Xiao Fan asked locals for directions and learned how the Heavenly Fragrance House operated before reaching its nine-story branch with Yun Yun.
• Xiao Fan and Yun Yun declined an attendant’s offer to guide them and looked around the first and second floors.
• Old Wan introduced himself as the branch manager and invited Xiao Fan and Yun Yun upstairs after Xiao Fan said he wanted to ask about something.

Xiao Fan and Yun Yun paid the Heavenly Fragrance House for information about the Chu Yun Empire’s recruitment of Poison Masters and the deaths of three Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect hall masters. After reading the reports, Xiao Fan asked Old Wan to look into another person.

• Old Wan led Xiao Fan and Yun Yun to a private compartment on the Sixth Floor and recorded their two inquiries.
• The Heavenly Fragrance House reported that the Chu Yun Imperial Family was recruiting Poison Masters to cure sixth princess Sikou Ning, whose meridians were being destroyed by a strange poison.
• The report said three Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect hall masters and their families had died from an unidentified poison, prompting the sect to raise its bounty for information.
• Xiao Fan was impressed by how quickly the Heavenly Fragrance House had gathered the information, then asked Old Wan about someone else.

Xiao Fan failed to find information about Xiao Yi Xian at the Heavenly Fragrance House branch, but learned that its Headquarters in Tianrong City might have records. After Xiao Fan left with Old Wan’s recommendation token, Old Wan secretly sent an urgent report to Headquarters identifying the Heavenly Poison Woman.

• Xiao Fan described Xiao Yi Xian to Old Wan, but Old Wan said the clues were too vague to identify her.
• Old Wan explained that the Heavenly Fragrance House’s Headquarters in Tianrong City might hold information unavailable at the Flowing Light City branch.
• Old Wan offered Xiao Fan a recommendation for the Imperial Family’s Poison Master recruitment and gave him a token for the Headquarters.
• Xiao Fan accepted the token and left the Heavenly Fragrance House with his companion.
• Old Wan entered a hidden information facility and ordered a secret report sent to Headquarters immediately.
• After returning to his secret chamber, Old Wan grimly said, "The Heavenly Poison Woman..."

Xiao Fan and Yun Yun stayed at an inn in Flowing Light City after hearing troubling news about the Chu Yun Empire and the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect. The next morning, they flew toward Tianrong City, where they could investigate further.

• Xiao Fan told Yun Yun he was thinking about the poison and deaths reported by Old Wan, and she let him hold her hand despite suspecting he was distracted by Xiao Yi Xian.
• Xiao Fan rented a room for himself and Yun Yun, but Yun Yun shut him out and told him to find his own place to stay.
• Xiao Fan rented the room next door and heard the innkeeper mock him as an “embroidered pillow.”
• During the night, Xiao Fan climbed into Yun Yun’s bed to sleep, while she kept him from reaching for her by threatening to polish her longsword.
• Xiao Fan checked out of the inn with Yun Yun and flew toward Tianrong City using the map he had bought.

While traveling toward Tianrong City, Xiao Fan and Yun Yun overheard Ling Lifu of the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect tormenting the poisoned Mo Qiancheng, who exposed a plot involving human sacrifices and renewed war with the Jia Ma Empire. Yun Yun urged Xiao Fan to intervene, and he stepped forward just as Ling Lifu was about to finish Mo Qiancheng.

• Xiao Fan and Yun Yun stopped to barbecue on their way to Tianrong City and concealed themselves when they sensed someone approaching.
• The poisoned Mo Qiancheng collapsed before Ling Lifu, who mocked and abused him while demanding the names of imperial family infiltrators in the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect.
• Mo Qiancheng accused Ling Lifu's sect of sacrificing people to magical beasts and conspiring to reignite war between the Chu Yun Empire and the Jia Ma Empire.
• Ling Lifu dodged Mo Qiancheng's hidden needle and kicked him into a tree, leaving the poison to torture him.
• Xiao Fan and Yun Yun decided they could not ignore the revelations, and Xiao Fan interrupted Ling Lifu as he moved to kill Mo Qiancheng.

Xiao Fan stopped Ling Lifu from killing Mo Qiancheng and learned that the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect had manipulated the Chu Yun Empire and planned to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of people to create a poisonous magical beast. Mo Qiancheng pleaded for Xiao Fan to deliver the warning to the Imperial Family.

• Ling Lifu attacked Xiao Fan, but Xiao Fan restrained him with a glance and left him unable to move.
• Xiao Fan suppressed the poison in Mo Qiancheng long enough for him to speak, though he could not save him.
• Mo Qiancheng revealed that he had spent ten years infiltrating the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect on the Imperial Family's orders.
• Mo Qiancheng explained that the sect had forced the Imperial Family to issue decrees for poison experiments, creating the Dead Zone outside Shoushan City.
• Mo Qiancheng told Xiao Fan that the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect planned to provoke war between the Chu Yun Empire and the Jia Ma Empire and sacrifice hundreds of thousands of people to a magical beast.

Mo Qiancheng died after Xiao Fan agreed to carry his warning to the Imperial Family, and Xiao Fan questioned Ling Lifu about the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect’s plans. Ling Lifu revealed the sect’s scheme to spread poison sources through the Jia Ma Empire, and Yun Yun asked whether the sect had caused the cities destroyed during the previous war.

• Xiao Fan agreed to Mo Qiancheng’s request, and Mo Qiancheng died with his hand clutching Xiao Fan’s sleeve.
• Yun Yun appeared beside Xiao Fan, and he introduced himself to the frightened Ling Lifu.
• Xiao Fan pressured Ling Lifu to explain the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect’s plan, and Ling Lifu said its Elders aimed to provoke another war between the Chu Yun Empire and the Jia Ma Empire.
• Ling Lifu explained that the sect planned to plant poison sources in vulnerable Jia Ma Empire cities and harvest useful mutations from affected people.
• Yun Yun asked whether the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect had also caused the cities destroyed by Poison Masters during the war between the two empires.

Xiao Fan and Yun Yun learned that the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect planned to revive its deadly experiments on civilians, and they resolved to oppose the sect. After killing Ling Lifu and burying Mo Qiancheng, they left together for the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect.

• Yun Yun grew furious when Ling Lifu confirmed that the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect planned to resume experiments involving poison and Magical Beasts, repeating atrocities that had killed hundreds of thousands.
• Xiao Fan told Yun Yun he would fight the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect, and she smiled with relief at his answer.
• Ling Lifu begged Xiao Fan to spare him and offered to guide him to the sect, but Xiao Fan killed him with a palm strike.
• Xiao Fan buried Mo Qiancheng on the mountaintop and carved a gravestone bearing a message about pressing on through wind and rain.
• Xiao Fan took Yun Yun's hand, and they vanished toward the horizon.

Xiao Fan and Yun Yun arrived in Tianrong City and headed toward the Heavenly Fragrance House after learning it was about to make a major announcement. They joined the crowds rushing to hear news that could affect the Chu Yun Empire, though the announcement itself had not yet been revealed.

• Xiao Fan and Yun Yun concealed themselves in an alley after arriving in Tianrong City and set out for the Heavenly Fragrance House.
• Xiao Fan learned about the city's powerful factions and the Heavenly Fragrance House's reputation as an influential information-trading organization.
• Xiao Fan noticed crowds hurrying toward the Heavenly Fragrance House and stopped a young man to ask what was happening.
• The young man explained that the Heavenly Fragrance House was preparing an announcement with major consequences for the empire and gave an example of news affecting fire-lotus trade.
• Xiao Fan gave the young man a bottle of Grade Two Pills, and the young man hurried on toward the announcement.

Xiao Fan and Yun Yun entered the Heavenly Fragrance House to hear its announcement, and Xiao Fan considered how the Imperial Family might use its influence to weaken the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect. The crowd fell silent as a manager prepared to reveal the news, but the announcement itself had not yet begun.

• Xiao Fan and Yun Yun went to the Heavenly Fragrance House and used Old Wan's token to secure a private room on the fourth floor.
• Xiao Fan studied the crowd and reasoned that the Heavenly Fragrance House's public news releases could build commoners' trust and serve the Imperial Family's effort to escape the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect's control.
• A slightly plump, pale-blue-clad manager appeared at the entrance, and the surrounding crowd quieted to hear the announcement.

Manager Liu announced shocking news from the Jia Ma Empire to the townsfolk of the Chu Yun Empire, while Xiao Fan and Yun Yun listened from above. The revelations left the crowd stunned and raised new questions about the Misty Cloud Sect and the Snake-People Tribe.

• Manager Liu told the crowd that the news concerned events in the Jia Ma Empire, prompting them to fear another war.
• Xiao Fan and Yun Yun listened from a fourth-floor window as Manager Liu clarified that the news was not about war.
• Manager Liu announced that Yun Yun had severed ties with the Misty Cloud Sect and that Yun Shan had survived and entered the Dou Zong realm.
• Manager Liu revealed that Medusa had reached the Dou Zong realm, defeated Yun Shan at the Misty Cloud Sect, and relocated the Snake-People Tribe to the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

Manager Liu announced news about Medusa’s rise to Dou Zong, the Snake-People’s relocation, and Xiao Fan’s role in the conflict involving Yun Yun and the Misty Cloud Sect. As the crowd dispersed and considered how to respond, Xiao Fan and Yun Yun prepared to meet the Heavenly Fragrance House’s manager.

• Manager Liu announced that Medusa had become a Dou Zong and that the Snake-People had relocated to the Magical Beast Mountain Range, prompting merchants to anticipate rising slave prices.
• Manager Liu revealed that Yun Yun’s departure from the Misty Cloud Sect and Medusa’s attack on it were connected to Xiao Fan, then recounted how Xiao Fan had stolen Yun Yun from her wedding and escaped Yun Shan.
• Xiao Fan listened awkwardly as the crowd praised him, while Yun Yun teased him about Xiao Yi Xian and then leaned into his embrace.
• After the crowd dispersed, factions considered the consequences of Yun Shan’s return, the fate of Snake-People slaves, and whether they could recruit Xiao Fan.
• Xiao Fan and Yun Yun waited in their private room, and Xiao Fan said they should meet the Heavenly Fragrance House’s manager.