Recaps

As the Alchemist Conference began, Xiao Yan and the other leading contestants made striking entrances that drew cheers and astonishment from the crowd. Fa Ma formally opened the competition, leaving the foreign Alchemists and Jia Ma Empire representatives ready to face off.

• Nalan Jie teased Mu Chen about Mu Zhan’s absence, while Mu Chen asked why Nalan Yanran was not there and learned she was being treated at the Misty Cloud Sect.
• Xiao Yan and the spectators noted that the three special Alchemist Platforms were reserved for the top contestants and represented the Jia Ma Empire’s prestige.
• Liu Ling used pillars of flame to land on his platform, and Little Princess Yao Yue descended with the Flying Floss Movement Technique.
• At Frank and Otto’s urging, Xiao Yan formed a blood-red Heavenly Flames Greatsword and crossed a flaming staircase to reach his platform, stunning the crowd.
• Fa Ma called the contestants to their places and declared the seventh Jia Ma Empire Alchemist Conference officially open.

The Alchemist Conference began with contestants tasked with deducing and refining a pill from an incomplete formula. Xiao Yan summoned his Myriad Beast Spirit Flame, suppressing the other flames and leaving the gathered alchemists astonished as the first round got underway.

• The conference officials explained that contestants had two attempts to refine the unknown second-rank pill before the hourglass ran out, then opened the first round.
• Xiao Yan examined the sparse formula, deduced that its ingredients would make a healing pill, and began refining after recalling Sheng'er's demanding extraction training.
• Xiao Yan summoned the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame, causing the contestants' flames to dim and bend toward his cauldron.
• Fa Ma identified Xiao Yan's flame as the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame, ranked twenty-second among heavenly flames, and the branch presidents marveled at his skill.
• Liu Ling saw that his Stone Mountain Flame was no match for Xiao Yan's heavenly flame, while Frank boasted that the Black Rock City Alchemist Guild enshrined a wisp of a similar flame.

Frank showed the branch presidents a recording of the false heavenly flame he had bought from Xiao Yan, prompting them to compete for it before deciding to approach Xiao Yan themselves. Meanwhile, Xiao Yan used an unconventional, high-speed method to refine a second-grade Bone-Regenerating Pill and finished first.

• Frank showed the branch presidents a Recording Jade containing the false flame and explained that he and Otto had bought it from Xiao Yan.
• The branch presidents offered pills and recipes for Frank's false flame, but he refused to sell it, so they planned to seek a wisp from Xiao Yan.
• As impatient competitors failed and were eliminated, Xiao Yan put all six medicinal ingredients into his cauldron at once, drawing criticism from the VIP alchemists.
• President Fa Ma realized Xiao Yan was controlling six different heat levels in the cauldron, and Xiao Yan extracted and fused the ingredients before compressing the essence.
• Xiao Yan completed a second-grade Bone-Regenerating Pill while only a third of the hourglass sand had fallen.

Xiao Yan finished the first round of the Alchemist Conference far ahead of the other contestants, drawing attention from the crowd and the VIPs. After the round ended, he noticed a strange young foreign Alchemist provoking Liu Ling, but chose to focus on the competition.

• Xiao Yan completed his pill while less than a third of the allotted time had passed, astonishing the contestants and spectators.
• Nalan Jie praised Xiao Yan, while Mittel Tengshan reflected that Xiao Yan’s Alchemy was likely close to the fifth rank.
• Several dozen Alchemists failed and left the venue as the faster contestants began forming their pills.
• A frail-looking foreign youth completed his pill before Liu Ling, who finished soon afterward, followed by Yao Yue and other contestants.
• Fa Ma declared time, eliminating everyone who had not finished; Xue Mei and Lin Fei passed at the last moment.
• Liu Ling pointed out a young foreign Alchemist who taunted them, and Xiao Yan sensed something peculiar about him but decided to focus on the competition.

Fa Ma and Jia Xingtian suspected the black-robed youth had disguised an aged soul to enter the Alchemist Conference, but chose to let the competition continue. The first-round test exposed fake pills, and Xiao Yan matched the black-robed youth’s perfect result after revealing he had used both sets of ingredients in one attempt.

• Fa Ma told Jia Xingtian that the black-robed youth’s settled vitality and powerful Soul Power suggested he was an old man in disguise.
• Fa Ma and Jia Xingtian considered intervening but decided to wait until after the second round, since they had no way to expose the disguise and feared unfairly harming the conference.
• Fa Ma explained the pill-testing devices, and the red lights eliminated many contestants, including a Second-Rank Alchemist who had tried to pass off a pill-shaped lump.
• Xiao Yan, Liu Ling, and Yao Yue tested their pills, and Xiao Yan’s shone with the purest jadeite light.
• The black-robed youth also produced a perfect pill and mocked the Jia Ma Empire’s alchemists, prompting Xiao Yan to reveal that he had refined with both sets of ingredients and had no room for error.

Xiao Yan discovered a flaw in the second-round Windwalk Pill formula and used his Myriad Beast Spirit Flame to refine the pill at astonishing speed. He finished well ahead of the black-robed youth and taunted him as the youth began condensing his pill.

• Xiao Yan shocked the crowd by refining two Bone-Regenerating Pills at once, and Fa Ma began the second round.
• The contestants received a third-tier Windwalk Pill formula, and Xiao Yan suspected the test was not as simple as it appeared.
• Xiao Yan, Liu Ling, Yao Yue, and the black-robed youth failed their first refinements after the flawed formula caused the medicinal essences to repel one another.
• Xiao Yan identified Thick Earth Ganoderma as the ingredient causing the fusion failure and began refining again.
• Xiao Yan formed eight Flying Flame Beasts to extract ingredients simultaneously, then fused and condensed the pill at remarkable speed.
• Xiao Yan formed and caught his Windwalk Pill while the black-robed youth had only just begun condensing his, then asked if he wanted Xiao Yan to wait.

Xiao Yan dominated the second round of the Alchemist Conference, and 513 contestants advanced to the final round. As the rivals prepared for the next day, Jia Xingtian and Fa Ma planned to investigate the suspicious black-robed youth while helping Xiao Yan win.

• Xiao Yan refined his pill first, earning Fa Ma's admiration, and revealed the solution by discarding the thick earth ganoderma.
• The black-robed youth finished second, while Xiao Yan's example helped more contestants complete the round; Xue Mei and Lin Fei failed to advance.
• Fa Ma announced that 513 contestants had passed and scheduled the final round for the next morning.
• Liu Ling acknowledged Xiao Yan as a formidable rival, and Little Princess Yao Yue joined them in vowing to compete for the championship.
• The black-robed youth left the venue, while Jia Xingtian and Fa Ma agreed to watch him and secretly help Xiao Yan win.

After the Alchemist Conference rounds, Xiao Yan was summoned by Fa Ma, who revealed that the final test would require contestants to refine pills using their own formulas and ingredients. Fa Ma disclosed that the black-robed competitor was Yan Li, an adult vice president disguised as a youth, and gave Xiao Yan a Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill formula as help for the final round.

• Xiao Yan returned to the Nalan Family, where Nalan Jie and the family welcomed him with a feast and praised his performance at the Alchemist Conference.
• After the meal, Xiao Yan accepted a late-night invitation from President Fa Ma and traveled to the Alchemist General Association.
• Fa Ma told Xiao Yan that the black-robed youth was Yan Li, the Chu Yun Empire association's vice president, who had used a pill to disguise his age and enter the competition.
• Fa Ma explained that the final round would judge pills refined from contestants' own formulas and ingredients by difficulty, value, and appearance.
• Fa Ma handed Xiao Yan a black scroll containing the Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill formula.

Fa Ma gave Xiao Yan the Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill formula and three ingredient sets, hoping he would defeat Yan Li and win the Alchemist Conference. The next morning, the final round began, with contestants free to refine a pill for the judges to assess.

• Fa Ma gave Xiao Yan a copy of the Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill formula and explained its value and difficulty.
• Xiao Yan read the formula, promised to do his best, and estimated a sixty-percent chance of success.
• Fa Ma supplied Xiao Yan with three sets of ingredients and sent him off to rest before the final round.
• More than five hundred contestants gathered in the plaza as the final round began.
• The judges announced that the champion would be chosen based on the pill's difficulty, value, and quality.

The final round of the Alchemist Conference began, and Yan Li, Liu Ling, Yao Yue, and Xiao Yan faced increasingly difficult pill-making challenges. Yan Li revealed his peak fourth-grade Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill, leaving the Jia Ma Empire’s alchemists despairing as Xiao Yan had yet to begin refining.

• Yan Li, Liu Ling, and Yao Yue brought out Tier Five Medicine Cauldrons, while Xiao Yan continued using his third-tier cauldron.
• Yao Yue summoned the Azure Water Flame, and Liu Ling used the Stone Mountain Flame as the contestants began refining their pills.
• Xiao Yan closed his eyes to mentally study the peak fourth-grade pill formula, while another contestant finished a low-grade Detoxification Pill and briefly claimed to be in first place.
• Yao Yue completed an average-quality fourth-grade Floating Wind Pill, and Liu Ling followed with a superior-quality fourth-grade Wood Heart Pill.
• Yan Li refined a superior-quality peak fourth-grade Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill, stunning the crowd and prompting Fa Ma to doubt that it would be enough to beat him.

Xiao Yan challenged Yan Li’s confidence by refining a Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill with three heavenly flames. He overcame his cauldron’s failure by finishing the pill in a Dou Qi cauldron in midair, revealing himself as a Dou Wang and completing the refinement successfully.

• Yan Li celebrated completing a Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill and claimed the championship was his.
• Xiao Yan began refining a Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill with the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame and five Rear Flame Beasts.
• Xiao Yan used the Green Lotus Core Flame to form a second pill pattern, then the Wind Fury Dragon Flame to form a third, while his black cauldron began to crack.
• Xiao Yan revealed Dou Qi Wing Transformation, formed a Dou Qi Medicine Cauldron, and continued refining the pill thirty meters above the Royal Plaza.
• Xiao Yan completed the Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill as the crowd realized he was a Dou Wang.

Xiao Yan won the Alchemist Conference after refining a supreme-quality Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill, while Yan Li broke down and fled. After Fa Ma declared Xiao Yan the champion, Xiao Yan was summoned to meet the association’s leaders, where he recognized an old man who had caught his attention earlier.

• Xiao Yan completed the Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill and placed it in the slot, securing the championship over Yan Li.
• Yan Li lost his sanity, clutched his Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill, and ran from the Royal Plaza proclaiming himself the champion; Jia Xingtian ordered someone to follow him.
• Liu Ling admitted defeat to Xiao Yan, and Fa Ma announced Xiao Yan as the Alchemist Conference champion.
• Xun'er escorted Xiao Yan to Fa Ma’s office building, and Xiao Yan gave her a Detoxification Pill recipe to help her qualify as a first-rank alchemist.
• Xiao Yan entered the office building, recognized an old man inside with Fa Ma, and instinctively became wary.

Xiao Yan collected his rewards from the Alchemist General Association, then learned that Nalan Yanran’s condition had suddenly worsened after taking Gu He’s pill. He hurried with Ge Ye to the Misty Cloud Sect, where Liu Ling reported that Nalan Yanran had deteriorated again.

• Fa Ma gave Xiao Yan the Spirit Fusion Pill formula and an honorary elder’s token, warning him not to examine the formula without sufficient soul power.
• Xiao Yan returned to the Nalan Family, where Ge Ye told him Nalan Yanran’s condition had worsened and asked him to help refine a complete Soul-Consolidating Pill.
• Xiao Yan agreed to save Nalan Yanran and flew with Ge Ye to the Misty Cloud Sect.
• Xiao Yan and Ge Ye reached Gu He’s Pill Tower, where Liu Ling stopped the guards and hurried them inside, saying Nalan Yanran’s condition had worsened again.

Xiao Yan reunited with Yun Yun and learned that Nalan Yanran’s soul was being consumed by a pill’s lingering effects. He agreed to refine a Soul-Consolidating Pill and began recovering his strength before the refinement.

• Liu Ling brought Xiao Yan to Nalan Yanran, where he met Gu He and Yun Yun and recognized Yun Yun from their earlier encounter under different names.
• Gu He explained that Nalan Yanran’s cultivation-enhancing condition was consuming her soul and that he could not refine a Soul-Consolidating Pill without a true Heavenly Flame.
• Xiao Yan understood that Gu He wanted him to refine the pill, examined its formula, and found that it required a fragment of the refiner’s soul.
• Xiao Yan said his Soul Power was depleted from refining earlier, and Yun Yun and Gu He agreed to guard him while he meditated.
• Liu Ling went to fetch the ingredients as Yun Yun watched Xiao Yan meditate and marveled at how much he had grown.

Xiao Yan refined a Soul-Consolidating Pill for Nalan Yanran, enduring the pain of separating a fragment of his soul. The pill stabilized her deteriorating soul, while Xiao Yan discovered a hidden observer connected to the Hall of Souls.

• Gu He lent Xiao Yan the Green Jade Cauldron, and Xiao Yan began refining the pill with the Green Lotus Core Flame.
• Xiao Yan refined the ingredients and separated a fragment of his soul to complete the pill, despite the pain and resulting emptiness.
• As the pill neared completion, Xiao Yan sensed a hidden observer who mentioned the Hall of Souls, Nalan Yanran's Soul Dou Pill, and Yun Shan.
• Xiao Yan completed the Soul-Consolidating Pill and handed it to Yun Yun, who gave it to Nalan Yanran.
• Blue light gathered around Nalan Yanran, and her soul stopped deteriorating and stabilized.

After Nalan Yanran awakened, Xiao Yan left the Misty Cloud Sect and decided to visit the Xiao Clan before traveling farther. In Wutan City, Xiao Zhan welcomed Jia Nan Academy’s recruiters as Xiao Yu returned to help recruit talented clan members and hoped to see Xiao Yan.

• Gu He explained that the Soul-Consolidating Pill had stabilized Nalan Yanran, though her lost soul fragments would be difficult to restore.
• Nalan Yanran insisted on following Xiao Yan, who told her to become a Dou Emperor first and gave her a Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill before leaving.
• Xiao Yan decided to return to Wutan City and the Xiao Clan before pursuing his distant travels and Lin Li’s commission.
• Xiao Zhan reflected on the Xiao Clan’s growth and his concern for Xiao Yan as his clan members told him that Jia Nan Academy’s recruiters had arrived.
• Xiao Yu returned with Instructor Ruo Lin’s recruitment group, hoping to find Xiao Yan and help talented Xiao Clan disciples enter Jia Nan Academy.

Xiao Yu visited the Xiao Clan and left a Jia Nan Academy Special Recruitment Emblem for Xiao Yan, who had yet to return. When Xiao Yan arrived in Wutan City, Ling Ying told him that Xun'er was at Jia Nan Academy and was waiting for him there.

• Xiao Yu visited Xiao Zhan and the elders, learned Xiao Yan was still away, and left him a Special Recruitment Emblem for Jia Nan Academy.
• Xiao Zhan worried whether Xiao Yan would return before the emblem's age limit expired.
• Xiao Yan flew back to Wutan City and sensed a powerful dark aura above the city.
• Ling Ying introduced himself as Xun'er's protector and told Xiao Yan that she had awakened her bloodline and was waiting for him at Jia Nan Academy.
• Xiao Yan asked Ling Ying to tell Xun'er that he would come find her, then decided to head to Jia Nan Academy.

After three years away, Xiao Yan returned to the Xiao Clan, reunited with Xiao Zhan, and prepared to leave for Jia Nan Academy. He refined pills for his father, advanced to Two-Star Dou Wang, paid his respects to his mother, and departed for the Black Domain Great Plains.

• Xiao Yan returned to Wutan City and slipped past guards who believed he was an impostor because the city thought he had died.
• Xiao Yan reunited with Xiao Zhan, who celebrated his return with a feast for the clan.
• Xiao Yan told Xiao Zhan he planned to leave for Jia Nan Academy, and Xiao Zhan gave him the Special Recruitment Emblem that Xiao Yu had left.
• Xiao Yan spent two days refining pills, producing one Two-Pattern Green Spirit Pill and one Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill for Xiao Zhan.
• Xiao Yan broke through to Two-Star Dou Wang, gave his father the pills, paid his respects to his mother, and left for the Black Domain Great Plains.

Xiao Yan visited Hai Bodong in Mo City to exchange Essence of Life for the mysterious map fragment and restore Hai Bodong's cultivation. After they made the trade and Xiao Yan secured additional compensation, he prepared to leave for the Black-Corner Region and asked Hai Bodong for money.

• Xiao Yan arrived at Hai Bodong's map shop and offered to restore his cultivation in exchange for the map fragment.
• Hai Bodong and Xiao Yan exchanged the Essence of Life and map fragments, and Hai Bodong consumed the Essence of Life to break Medusa's seal and recover his Dou Emperor strength.
• Hai Bodong sensed the map fragment was not worth antagonizing Xiao Yan over and thanked him for restoring his cultivation.
• Xiao Yan explained that the remaining life force could extend Hai Bodong's lifespan, so Hai Bodong gave him the Pò'è Pill formula and ingredients as compensation.
• Xiao Yan told Hai Bodong that Mittel Tengshan had asked about him, and Hai Bodong agreed to visit the Mittel Family himself.
• As Xiao Yan prepared to leave for the Black-Corner Region, he asked Hai Bodong whether he had any money on him.

Xiao Yan traveled through the Magical Beast Mountain Range to Da Ling City, then prepared to cross into the Black-Corner Region. After passing Ghost-Suppressing Pass, he set out toward Jia Nan Academy and the Shadow Tower’s territory.

• Xiao Yan flew through the Magical Beast Mountain Range, using the Wind Fury Dragon Flame to incinerate beasts that approached him.
• Xiao Yan reached Da Ling City, replenished his supplies, and thought about Xiao Yi Xian and the danger of her Woeful Poison Body.
• Mo Sang’s guards escorted Xiao Yan to Ghost-Suppressing Pass, where he learned more about Jia Nan Academy and the Shadow Tower.
• Mu Tie recognized Xiao Yan’s identity as an alchemist and ordered the guards to let him cross without inspection.
• Xiao Yan passed beyond the Jia Ma Empire’s border and promised Xun'er that he would reach her soon.

Xiao Yan entered the Black-Corner Region, dealt with a group of toll collectors, and bought a map to Black Seal City. While crossing the Black Domain Great Plains, he discovered that his Wind Fury Dragon Flame could absorb a Black Storm and grow stronger.

• Xiao Yan reached the edge of the Black-Corner Region and chose to travel cautiously through the Black Domain Great Plains rather than fly through its dust-filled skies.
• At a stockade town, Xiao Yan paid a five-hundred-gold toll, then burned the guards to ashes when they tried to rob him after he entered.
• Xiao Yan bought a map to Black Seal City from a way-station owner for ten thousand gold coins and left the town on foot.
• A Black Storm engulfed Xiao Yan, and he summoned the Wind Fury Dragon Flame when it became restless within him.
• The Wind Fury Dragon Flame swallowed the storm, clearing the skies and burning more vigorously after absorbing its powerful winds.

Xiao Yan followed a fraudulent map to Windstone Fort, where he killed a group of Black Bandits and rescued Ling'er. After learning that captives were being held beneath the chief's room, he let the bandits spring their trap so he could draw them together, then revealed his power and attacked the fort.

• Xiao Yan entered Windstone Fort and burned more than twenty Black Bandits to ash after they threatened him.
• Xiao Yan gave the injured Ling'er a medicinal pill and learned that the bandits had captured her and imprisoned other girls beneath the chief's room.
• Xiao Yan used his Soul Power to locate the fort's leaders and ordered Ling'er to lead him to the chief.
• Ling'er warned Xiao Yan as he fell into a pit, but the fort's chiefs revealed she had lured him into their trap.
• Xiao Yan killed the Third-Tier Sand Viper, flew out of the pit, and set Windstone Fort ablaze with blood-red flames.

After destroying the Black Bandits, Xiao Yan collected their treasures, found an invitation to the Black Seal Auction House, and traveled to Black Seal City. At the auction house, he witnessed the arrival of Fan Ling, the Blood Sect’s young sect master, whose rumored connection to an Eight Gates elder’s death drew attention.

• Xiao Yan burned the Black Bandits, sent Ling'er to free the captive women, and took the bandits’ treasures, a Black Seal Auction House token, and a map of the southern Black Domain Great Plains.
• Xiao Yan left the women medicinal pills and supplies at Windstone Fort, then used the map and Wind Fury Dragon Flame to reach Black Seal City in half a day.
• Xiao Yan entered the Black Seal Auction House and learned that its highest-level auction hall admitted anyone carrying an invitation token.
• Fan Ling arrived at the auction house on a blood-red carpet, and onlookers identified him as the Blood Sect’s young sect master suspected of involvement in an Eight Gates elder’s death.