Chapter Summaries

Xiao Yan accidentally fell into the stream while secretly confirming Xiao Yi Xian’s woeful poison body, and she caught him watching her bathe. After asking Yao Lao for help, Xiao Yan learned that the Poison Pill Method could control the physique, though its rare ingredients made the method difficult to complete.

• Xiao Yan saw the marks identifying Xiao Yi Xian’s woeful poison body, but a blue eagle startled him and caused him to fall into the stream in front of her.
• Xiao Yi Xian slapped Xiao Yan, then introduced him to her blue eagle, Xiao Lan, which she had rescued months earlier.
• Xiao Yan released the technique blocking Yao Lao and asked whether Xiao Yi Xian’s woeful poison body could be overcome.
• Yao Lao explained the Poison Pill Method, which could control the physique by condensing its toxins into a Poison Pill.
• Xiao Yan learned that the method required three heavenly flames, a seventh-rank Heavenly Poison Scorpion Dragon Beast magic core, and bodhi body-transforming saliva, and decided the method was worth pursuing.

Xiao Yan learned that the netherworld poison flame could suppress Xiao Yi Xian’s woeful poison body and decided to seek it in the Chu Yun Empire. He planned to strengthen himself and prepare against poison before traveling there, while keeping Xiao Yi Xian’s condition under control.

• Yao Lao told Xiao Yan about the netherworld poison flame, which could reduce the toxins in someone with a woeful poison body.
• Yao Lao said the Chu Yun Empire had reports of a heavenly flame and was a likely place to find the netherworld poison flame.
• Xiao Yan decided to visit the Chu Yun Empire, but first planned to cultivate until he reached Da Dou Shi and prepare medicines against poison.
• Yao Lao offered to refine pills suited to the netherworld poison flame using herbs in the Small Valley.
• Xiao Yan worried that taking Xiao Yi Xian to the Chu Yun Empire could trigger her woeful poison body, so he decided not to awaken it until they had a way to control it.

Xiao Yan discovered that the black stone from Xiao Yi Xian was a seventh-rank Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle magic core, whose soul tried to possess his body. Xiao Yan’s soul defenses and mysterious black flame destroyed the eagle’s Soul Body, leaving him with refined soul energy.

• Xiao Yan remembered the black stone from Xiao Yi Xian and showed it to Yao Lao, who identified it as a seventh-rank Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle magic core.
• The magic core sent a streak of black light into Xiao Yan, and Yao Lao realized that the eagle’s intact Soul Body was attempting Body Possession.
• Xiao Yan blocked the eagle’s attack with his powerful soul force and prepared to fight it within his body.
• A mysterious black flame appeared and engulfed the Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle’s Soul Body, which it feared and could not escape.
• Xiao Yan refined the pure soul energy left behind and gained an unexpected boost to his soul force.

Xiao Yan survived the violent energy hidden in the Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle’s magic core by letting his black flame absorb most of it and channeling the rest into his Purple Cloud Wings. After refining the remaining blood essence, he broke through to Da Dou Shi and strengthened his body.

• Yao Lao realized that the shattered seventh-rank magic core was releasing violent energy into Xiao Yan, putting him at risk of exploding.
• Xiao Yan discovered that the Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle’s blood essence was flowing through his meridians, while his black flame absorbed most of the energy and caused the Flame Mantra to show signs of evolving.
• Xiao Yan channeled the remaining violent energy into his Purple Cloud Wings, strengthening them, then refined the blood essence left in his body.
• After refining the blood essence for a day and a night, Xiao Yan broke through to Da Dou Shi and gained a body as tough as a third-rank magical beast.
• Xiao Yan became confident that he could defeat She Mo head-on without using the Flame Splitting Wave Ruler.

After absorbing the Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle’s essence, Xiao Yan discovered that his Nine Nether Flame, Flame Mantra, Purple Cloud Wings, and Soul Force had all grown stronger. He spent a month hunting magical beasts and preparing new techniques before Yao Lao stopped the hunt, while Xiao Yan continued secretly developing a weapon to protect himself from Yao Lao.

• Xiao Yan learned that the Nine Nether Flame came from the Nine Nether Sparrow and could evolve by absorbing the blood essence of avian magical beasts, while his Soul Force reached the peak of the mid Mortal Realm.
• Yao Lao assigned Xiao Yan to hunt ten third-rank magical beasts each day to temper his Dou Qi and gather an ingredient for a Blood Lotus Pill, while Xiao Yan collected fire-attribute beast blood.
• After a month of hunting, magical beasts above the third rank began gathering and fourth-order beasts appeared, so Yao Lao ordered Xiao Yan to stop.
• Xiao Yan noticed a phoenix cry in his voice and began practicing a sonic Dou Technique from the cave’s collection of Black Tier techniques.
• Xiao Yan secretly practiced the Demon Flame Valley’s Flame-Tending Mantra with the Beast Flames he had collected, hoping to create Life Transformation Fire and use it to unleash his Demon Fury Fire Lotus.

Xiao Yan finished refining a seed for the Life Transformation Fire and prepared to leave with plans to send Xiao Yi Xian to Wutan City. He told her he would return for her after handling his dangerous business, leaving her disappointed but reassured.

• Xiao Yan recalled how the Demon Fury Fire Lotus had grown powerful in his previous life and explained why the Flame Mantra suited his plans to strengthen it with heavenly flames.
• Xiao Yan decided to leave after spending four months refining the Life Transformation Fire’s flame seed, though he still lacked the magical beast blood he sought.
• Xiao Yan cooked a meal for Xiao Yi Xian and told her he planned to leave in a few days.
• Xiao Yi Xian became upset when Xiao Yan said he would not take her along, but he promised to find her a clinic and settle her in Wutan City.
• Xiao Yan told Xiao Yi Xian that he was a young master from Wutan City and would return to get her after finishing his business.

Xiao Yan settled the Xiao Clan’s affairs and prepared protections for Xiao Yi Xian before setting out for the Chu Yun Empire. After reaching the empire stronger from a month of cultivation, he studied a map and headed toward a dangerous region that might contain the Netherworld Poison Flame.

• Xiao Yan gave Xiao Zhan cultivation methods, combat skills, wealth, and two Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pills, while warning him to reveal the resources gradually.
• Xiao Yan established a clinic for Xiao Yi Xian and secretly arranged poisoned troublemakers and guards to protect her; he also left her a ring containing Nine Nether Flame.
• Xiao Yan crossed the Jia Ma Empire and reached the Chu Yun Empire after nearly a month of training, advancing to five-star Da Dou Shi.
• Xiao Yan stopped using the Purple Cloud Wings, bought a detailed map, and rested at an inn before studying the dangerous regions marked on it.
• Xiao Yan identified the Poison Miasma Forest, Hundred Poisons Mountain Range, and Heavenly Poison Swamp as possible places for the Netherworld Poison Flame, then set off for the first location.

After reaching Nine-Star Great Dou Master, Xiao Yan headed for the Heavenly Poison Swamp, the last place in the Chu Yun Empire where the Netherworld Poison Flame might be found. Near the village at the swamp’s entrance, he encountered a zombie-like creature and began to suspect the village had been overtaken.

• Xiao Yan recalled his dangerous travels through the Chu Yun Empire and his recent breakthrough to Nine-Star Great Dou Master, then set out for the Heavenly Poison Swamp.
• Xiao Yan approached the village near the swamp and sensed that something was wrong; Yao Lao warned him that the auras inside were strange.
• A ragged figure tumbled down a hill and lunged at Xiao Yan, who dodged and recognized it as a zombie-like creature.
• Yao Lao suggested the creature might have been transformed by poison or a poisonous gu, but Xiao Yan burned it to ashes with the Nine Nether Flame.
• Yao Lao regretted that Xiao Yan had not captured the creature for study, while Xiao Yan worried that the village and the road to the swamp might be overrun.

Xiao Yan encountered a silver-haired boy named Yun Dai while investigating the Corpse Demons and accepted his offer to travel together. Xiao Yan remained suspicious of Yun Dai and gave him a false name, Mo Yanxiao.

• Xiao Yan sensed someone nearby and confronted the silver-haired boy who emerged from the woods.
• Yun Dai said he was investigating the Corpse Demons and revealed that several previous groups had failed to return or had turned into Corpse Demons.
• Yun Dai gave Xiao Yan an antidote that could neutralize corpse poison if taken within fifteen minutes.
• Xiao Yan pretended to be grateful and accepted Yun Dai's offer to travel together, while suspecting they both meant to use each other.
• Xiao Yan introduced himself as Mo Yanxiao instead of revealing his real name.

Xiao Yan and Yun Dai fought their way through Poison Swamp Village and its underground labyrinth to a green flame on an altar. Xiao Yan realized the village, the Corpse Demons, the flame, and even Hun Dai’er were illusions created by a poison that had infected him without his noticing.

• Xiao Yan and Yun Dai entered Poison Swamp Village and found it filled with mutilated corpses and Corpse Demons.
• Xiao Yan and Yun Dai defeated the surrounding Corpse Demons, then an enormous skeletal hand knocked them into a labyrinth beneath the village.
• Xiao Yan and Yun Dai fled stronger Corpse Demons through the underground passages and reached a hall with a green flame on an altar.
• Xiao Yan accused Yun Dai of being Hun Dai’er, and Hun Dai’er removed her human-skin mask.
• Xiao Yan told Hun Dai’er that she, the green flame, the Underground Palace, the Corpse Demons, and the village were all illusions caused by a poison that had affected him.

Xiao Yan realized the Netherworld Poison Flame and the events in the underground palace were illusions caused by a neurotoxin, then broke free of them. He awoke trapped in the Heavenly Poison Swamp, where Yao Lao had protected him, and explained that the toxin had affected him before he entered the village.

• Xiao Yan deduced that the underground palace, the Corpse Demons, and the false Hun Dai'er were creations of his poisoned mind.
• Xiao Yan resisted the illusion and collapsed its world, ignoring the grotesque scenes and sounds it used to overwhelm him.
• Xiao Yan awoke in a gloomy forest bound by poisonous vines and burned them away with the Nine Nether Flame.
• Yao Lao told Xiao Yan that he had awakened in the Heavenly Poison Swamp and asked what had happened.
• Xiao Yan explained that a rare neurotoxin had caused hallucinations and bodily paralysis, and that it had affected him before he entered the village.

After Yao Lao exhausted his soul force protecting Xiao Yan from the Heavenly Poison Swamp’s neurotoxin, he fell into a deep sleep, leaving Xiao Yan to press on alone. Xiao Yan traced the danger to a gigantic tree and revealed a possessed skeleton bearing a purple flame, then prepared to fight.

• Yao Lao explained that the swamp’s neurotoxin created illusions and that protecting Xiao Yan had nearly depleted his soul force.
• Yao Lao told Xiao Yan he could use the ring’s Hundred Antidotes Pill, Naling, and bone spirit cold flame, then fell into a deep sleep.
• Xiao Yan recovered his Dou Qi and followed his danger-sensing instinct deeper into the Heavenly Poison Swamp.
• Xiao Yan found an enormous tree and sensed that it was the source of the danger and neurotoxin.
• Xiao Yan struck the tree with the nine nether flame, revealing a grayish-black humanoid skeleton with a purple flame in its eye sockets.
• Xiao Yan swallowed an antidote pill, drew the Xuan Heavy Ruler, and prepared to attack the possessed skeleton.

Xiao Yan fought a powerful skeleton in the jungle and used two different flames to create a black-and-white Fire Lotus. The explosion razed the forest, leaving the skeleton’s fate unclear.

• The skeleton attacked Xiao Yan with mind-disrupting cries and skeletal hands, but he countered with Mad Lion's Roar and evaded with his Purple Cloud Wings.
• Xiao Yan used the Heavenly Fire Three Mysterious Transformations to boost his strength and struck the skeleton with the Xuan Heavy Ruler, but the skeleton knocked the weapon away and shattered his Lion Mountain Split.
• Recognizing that ordinary attacks could not defeat the Dou Wang-level skeleton, Xiao Yan combined Nine Nether Flame and Life Transformation Fire in his palm.
• As the skeleton lunged to interrupt him, Xiao Yan hurled the flames away and used a wisp of Dou Qi to form a black-and-white Fire Lotus.
• The Fire Lotus exploded and engulfed the jungle in flames, razing the forest.

After Xiao Yan used the Demon Fury Fire Lotus to destroy the skeleton, he discovered that it had housed the ancient Netherworld Poison Flame. He recovered and prepared to devour the flame, ending as he swallowed Yao Lao’s Hundred Solutions Pill and summoned the Naling into his body.

• Xiao Yan recovered from the Demon Fury Fire Lotus’s immense drain and reflected on its power and the techniques he had created in his previous life.
• Xiao Yan approached the crater and found the purple butterfly-shaped core of the Netherworld Poison Flame.
• Xiao Yan recognized the flame as an exceptionally ancient Netherworld Poison Flame, likely over ten thousand years old, that had controlled the skeleton.
• Xiao Yan restored himself to peak condition before beginning to devour the flame in the secluded Heavenly Poison Swamp.
• Xiao Yan swallowed Yao Lao’s Hundred Solutions Pill for protection against poison and sent the Naling into his body.

Xiao Yan devoured the Netherworld Poison Flame, whose neurotoxin trapped him in a vivid illusion drawn from his past life. As the flame cocooned him deep underground, it became clear that the Netherworld Poison Flame had deliberately lured him into consuming it so it could take control.

• Xiao Yan seized and swallowed the Netherworld Poison Flame, unaware that its neurotoxin could overwhelm his will and distort his thoughts.
• Xiao Yan found himself in an illusion of his former life's Xiao Clan and faced his father, who had sacrificed the clan in a blood ritual.
• Xiao Yan fought and killed his father again, then saw his two elder brothers and prepared to kill them as well.
• Xiao Yan remained motionless at the bottom of the pit as purple energy threads wrapped around him like a cocoon.
• The Netherworld Poison Flame revealed its strategy: it had exposed its essence to make Xiao Yan devour it and trap him in the past.

Xiao Yan fought through illusions of people from his past, killing each apparition until he confronted Hun Dai'er and recognized the trap. He revealed that he had used the Netherworld Poison Flame’s attempt to seize his body to lure its essence into his Naling.

• Xiao Yan killed the apparitions of his former enemies and continued through them for three days and nights.
• Xiao Yan killed the phantom of his dead disciple, who accused him of being heartless.
• Xiao Yan faced Hun Dai'er’s illusion but refused to attack, explaining that the scenes were bait meant to make him lose himself in hatred.
• Xiao Yan revealed that he had stayed within the illusion to relive his past and lure the Netherworld Poison Flame toward his Naling.
• Xiao Yan used his soul force to drive the Netherworld Poison Flame’s essence into his Naling.

Xun'er visited Xiao Yi Xian's Medical Hall in Wutan City and learned about her past with Xiao Yan through Xiao Yi Xian's fond, embellished stories. After seeing Xiao Yi Xian refuse help and show off her own medicinal powder, Xun'er concluded that Xiao Yan had arranged the troublemakers to help her become independent.

• Xiao Yi Xian worried about Xiao Yan while reflecting on the trouble that had plagued her Medical Hall for six months.
• Xun'er visited the Medical Hall, introduced herself as Xiao Yan's younger sister, and grew close to Xiao Yi Xian.
• Xiao Yi Xian recounted how Xiao Yan had saved her, unintentionally making his actions sound far more heroic and considerate than they had been.
• Xun'er offered to deal with the people causing trouble, but Xiao Yi Xian refused and showed her a medicinal powder she had made to handle them herself.
• Xun'er realized that Xiao Yan had arranged the trouble to encourage Xiao Yi Xian's independence and praised the effort he had taken.

Hun Dai'er learned that Xiao Yan was in Wutan City but had already left, and she ordered her guard to find and capture him. Alone in her portrait-filled palace, she revealed her obsession with Xiao Yan and vowed not to let him escape again.

• Hun Dai'er questioned her returning guard about whether she had found Xiao Yan in Wutan City.
• The guard admitted Xiao Yan had left the Xiao Clan before they arrived, and Hun Dai'er punished her by crushing her fingers.
• Hun Dai'er gave the guard another chance to capture Xiao Yan and rejected the idea of using the Xiao Clan to force him out.
• Hun Dai'er described Xiao Yan as her perfect masterpiece and said she would defeat him before he could grow stronger.
• Hun Dai'er entered her private palace, looked at portraits of Xiao Yan, and vowed not to let him escape again.

Xiao Yan fused the Nine Nether Flame and the netherworld poison flame into a new Heavenly Flame and advanced the Flame Mantra to Earth Tier. After two months of cultivation in the Heavenly Poison Swamp, he dressed and prepared to leave.

• Xiao Yan spent two months cultivating inside the pit while the Heavenly Poison Swamp grew quiet around him.
• Xiao Yan emerged from the pit and used his newly fused violet-black flame to destroy a black tree.
• Xiao Yan named the fused flame the Nine Nether Illusion Demon Flame and considered its neurotoxic power.
• Xiao Yan sensed that the Flame Mantra had advanced to Earth Tier after absorbing the ten-thousand-year energy of the netherworld poison flame.
• Xiao Yan put on clothes from his Storage Ring and headed toward the edge of the Heavenly Poison Swamp.

After learning that the Heavenly Scorpion Tomb Mansion in the Hundred Poisons Mountain Range was about to open, Xiao Yan prepared to seek the Heavenly Scorpion Poison Dragon Beast’s magic core for the Poison Pill Method. He left the chapter readying himself for the expedition and planning to replace his ruined Medicine Cauldron afterward.

• Xiao Yan bought several beast flames in the Chu Yun Empire to replenish his life transformation fire.
• A shopkeeper told Xiao Yan that a sealed tomb mansion belonging to a Heavenly Scorpion Poison Dragon Beast had been discovered near the Hundred Poisons Mountain Range and that its seal was weakening.
• Xiao Yan realized the beast’s magic core could help with the Poison Pill Method and bought a detailed map before deciding to delay his departure from the empire.
• Xiao Yan spent the night refining pills with the netherworld poison flame, filling his Storage Ring with jade bottles and ruining his Medicine Cauldron.
• Xiao Yan decided to seek a better Medicine Cauldron in the Black-Corner Region after finishing his business in the Chu Yun Empire.