Chapter Summaries

Xiao Yan attended a banquet at Lin En’s mansion, where the City Lord proposed that he marry Lin Fei and join Black Rock City. Xiao Yan rejected the offer and challenged Yuan Heng after the guard commander warned him to keep a lower profile.

• Lin Fei and Xue Mei brought Xiao Yan to the City Lord’s Mansion, where Lin En welcomed him at a banquet.
• Lin En asked Xiao Yan to marry Lin Fei and promised Black Rock City’s support, but Lin Fei objected and Xiao Yan firmly refused.
• Xiao Yan told Lin En that he could succeed without Black Rock City’s help, provoking the guests.
• Yuan Heng warned Xiao Yan that a guard commander could easily subdue him, and Xiao Yan answered by unleashing the Great Flame Palm.

Xiao Yan confronted Yuan Heng in Black Rock City's City Lord's Mansion and repeatedly overwhelmed him with his superior strength and techniques. After Xiao Yan's final attack smashed through Yuan Heng's defenses, the surrounding guards and commanders witnessed the city's foremost commander defeated.

• Xiao Yan struck Yuan Heng with a flaming palm, sending him through the mansion wall and shaking the building.
• Yuan Gang and the mansion guards surrounded Xiao Yan, but none dared approach after seeing Yuan Heng's defeat.
• Yuan Heng charged Xiao Yan with a Thunder Spear, but Xiao Yan countered with his flame-covered greatsword and blasted him through another wall.
• Xiao Yan revealed his strength as a seventeen-year-old Dou Ling, shocking the guests, commanders, and guards.
• Yuan Heng launched Thunder Wolf Kill, but Xiao Yan's Mad Lion's Roar destroyed it and smashed Yuan Heng through courtyard rock formations into the perimeter wall.

Xiao Yan defeated Yuan Heng and refused Lin En’s valuable gifts, leaving Lin En to offer information about a poisonous, resource-rich place in the Magical Beast Mountain Range. Xiao Yan became interested in investigating it because his heavenly flames might protect him from the deadly fog.

• Xiao Yan defeated Yuan Heng, and Lin En decided not to make an enemy of him or force him to join the City Lord's Mansion.
• Lin En offered Xiao Yan ten treasures worth at least five million gold coins, but Xiao Yan refused them and prepared to leave.
• Lin En offered to share information about a strange place discovered by the Black Rock City Third Guard in the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
• Lin En explained that the place contained rare spiritual materials but was surrounded by poisonous fog that had killed guards and resisted even a Dou Ling.
• Xiao Yan realized his heavenly flames might protect him from the poison and agreed to hear more about the place.

Xiao Yan accepted Lin En’s map to a poison-filled valley and agreed to help Black Rock City if it ever faced trouble. He traveled with Xue Mei to the Alchemist Guild, where an argument over who deserved credit for his Heavenly Flames greeted them.

• Lin En gave Xiao Yan a spiritually marked map to a hidden valley, and Xiao Yan promised to repay the favor and compensate for the damage to the City Lord’s Mansion.
• Xue Ling offered Xiao Yan a free ride on the Xue Family’s Flying Beast, and Xiao Yan agreed to visit the guild before departing.
• Xiao Yan walked with Xue Mei and advised her to focus on her alchemy rather than worry about others’ opinions.
• Xiao Yan and Xue Mei entered the Alchemist Guild and heard two master alchemists arguing over whose name should appear first after persuading Xiao Yan to part with his Heavenly Flames.

Xiao Yan visited the Alchemist Guild, where Frank and Otto argued over whose name should be placed first beside the Heavenly Flame they had received from him. After learning that Pill King Gu He had gone to the Tagor Desert, Xiao Yan changed his plans and decided to go there instead of the Imperial Capital.

• Xiao Yan arrived at the Alchemist Guild and was pulled into Frank and Otto's argument over the order of their names on a plaque.
• Xue Mei proposed that Frank and Otto settle their dispute by asking which Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill Xiao Yan had taken first.
• Xiao Yan revealed that he had taken both pills at once and reached the one-star Dou Ling realm, astonishing the alchemists.
• Xiao Yan told Frank and Otto that he planned to seek out Pill King Gu He in the Imperial Capital, but Frank warned him that Gu He had left for the Tagor Desert to search for clues about Heavenly Flames.
• Xiao Yan decided to head to the Tagor Desert first and suggested that Frank and Otto put their names on opposite sides of the plaque.

Xue Mei brought Xiao Yan to the Xue Family’s private flying beast, Abyssal Sky, so he could travel to the Tagor Desert. After she woke the Azure Sky Sparrow, the two boarded and set off.

• Xiao Yan followed Xue Mei through the Flying Station and learned about its Thick-Winged Birds and the Xue Family’s private estate.
• Xue Mei led Xiao Yan to Abyssal Sky, a fourth-order Azure Sky Sparrow raised by the Xue Family for generations.
• Xiao Yan wondered whether Abyssal Sky was related to the Azure Emperor Sparrow he had heard about from Yun Zhi.
• Xue Mei used her family whistle to wake Abyssal Sky and asked the bird to carry Xiao Yan to the Tagor Desert.
• Xiao Yan boarded with Xue Mei, and Abyssal Sky took flight.

Xiao Yan left Xue Mei and descended into a poison-filled basin in the Magical Beast Mountain Range, following a marker on a map. There he found a deadly environment where even Poison Lotus Seeds had withered, suggesting something inside was more dangerous than the surrounding toxins.

• Xiao Yan told Xue Mei he would investigate a strange venomous place, then used his Flying Dou Technique to leave Abyssal Sky and descend into the mountains.
• Xue Mei warned Xiao Yan about dangerous magical beasts, and he thanked her for accompanying him before they parted.
• Xiao Yan followed the map's guiding marker to barren mountains where poisonous gas filled a deep basin, then protected himself with the Myriad Beast Spirit Flame.
• Xiao Yan carefully descended into the basin and found piles of dead creatures, oppressive heat, and a Forgetfulness River Lotus.
• Xiao Yan saw withered Poison Lotus Seeds farther inside and wondered what presence could make them perish.

Xiao Yan harvested several Forgetfulness River Lotuses in the poisonous lowland and discovered a glowing Jade Fruit that resisted the poison. After taking the ripe fruit, he awakened the enormous toad beneath the tree and fled into the sky.

• Xiao Yan carefully cut a Forgetfulness River Lotus seedpod and sealed it in a jade box.
• He harvested two more lotuses as the poisonous clouds grew denser and his Dou Qi dwindled.
• Xiao Yan spotted a Jade Fruit tree at the center of the lowland, where its glow kept the poisonous clouds away.
• He used Explosive Step to reach the tree, cut off the ripe fruit with a short section of branch, and left the smaller fruit untouched.
• The ground shook as Xiao Yan took the fruit, and a gigantic toad hundreds of meters long rose beneath him, revealing that the tree had grown on its back.

Xiao Yan tried to escape the awakened gigantic toad, but it unleashed the netherworld poison flame and overwhelmed his defenses. He flew clear of the lowlands before losing consciousness and falling into the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

• Xiao Yan used Explosive Step and Eagle Wings to resist the toad’s suction and flee toward the encircling mountains.
• The toad’s poisonous tongue pierced Xiao Yan’s Great Flame Palm, but he used it as a foothold to escape its strike.
• The toad ignited the poison on its back and breathed out a vast gale of poisonous flame, revealing its control over the netherworld poison flame.
• Xiao Yan wrapped himself in the myriad beast spirit flame, but the poisonous gale broke through and infected his body.
• Xiao Yan reached the edge of the lowlands with his Dou Qi nearly spent, lost consciousness, and fell into the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

Xiao Yan was poisoned by the netherworld poison flame and rescued by a mysterious old man and a young girl, who brought him to their home and treated him. After waking, Xiao Yan drank the girl’s medicinal decoction and learned it contained toad skin.

• Xiao Yan collapsed after the netherworld poison flame poisoned him, while the myriad beast spirit flame puppy burned a Jade-Scaled Snake and accidentally set the forest ablaze.
• An old man and a young girl found Xiao Yan; the old man extinguished the wildfire and used green light to remove the poison from Xiao Yan’s body.
• The old man brought Xiao Yan back with the girl, who carried him and the puppy through a spatial path.
• Xiao Yan woke in a bamboo cottage and drank the medicinal decoction the girl had prepared.
• When Xiao Yan asked what was in the medicine, the girl said she had added toad skin, and he spat it out.

Xiao Yan recovered at the bamboo cottage and witnessed the little girl refine superior Detoxification Pills with an unusual green flame. He asked the old alchemist about the awakened Woeful Poison Body, and the old man outlined two possible methods, naming the dangerous Netherworld Poison Flame as the second.

• Xiao Yan recovered under the little girl's care, and his Dou Qi became more condensed.
• The little girl used a green flame to refine six superior Detoxification Pills in an earthenware pot in less than a minute.
• Xiao Yan realized the old man was a powerful alchemist and asked him about treating the Woeful Poison Body.
• Xiao Yan explained that a dear friend had the awakened constitution and asked the old man for help.
• The old man described the Poison Pill Method, which required at least three heavenly flames and rare materials, then introduced the more dangerous method using the Netherworld Poison Flame.

Xiao Yan learned how the Netherworld Poison Flame could help Xiao Yi Xian and heard how dangerous it would be to transfer the flame to her. When the old man refused to take him as a disciple, the little girl Sheng'er offered to teach him, and Xiao Yan accepted her as his master.

• The old man explained that the Netherworld Poison Flame could help Xiao Yi Xian manage her woeful poison body, but controlling it would be difficult for someone without fire-attribute Dou Qi.
• The old man described a method in which a fire-attribute cultivator refined the flame and transferred it to a compatible poison-attribute cultivator.
• Xiao Yan considered using himself as a bridge to give Xiao Yi Xian the flame, but the old man warned that the Miasma-Sky Toad and the transfer process could kill him.
• The little girl suggested that the old man take Xiao Yan as a disciple and make him a Nether Crystal Pill, but the old man refused.
• The little girl offered to become Xiao Yan's master, and Xiao Yan performed the ceremony; she introduced herself as Sheng'er and named him her first disciple.

After three months of alchemy lessons, Xiao Yan said farewell to Sheng'er, who gave him a Medicine Canon and a bottle of Essence of Life before the Bamboo Lodge vanished. Xiao Yan was left beside the great pit, carrying their promise to meet again after he learned the Nether Crystal Pill.

• Xiao Yan refined a Qi-Replenishing Pill, and Sheng'er exposed its burned-out center despite praising his progress.
• Sheng'er told Xiao Yan that she and her grandfather were leaving, then gave him a Medicine Canon containing pill formulas and a soul guide tied to refining the Nether Crystal Pill.
• Xiao Yan and Sheng'er pinky-swore that he would learn the formulas and come find her.
• Sheng'er gave Xiao Yan ten drops of Essence of Life, which could age herbs or extend a living being's life by a hundred years, and warned him to keep it secret.
• Xiao Yan bowed to Sheng'er, and the Bamboo Lodge vanished, leaving him beside the great pit.

Xiao Yan reached Mo City at the edge of the Tagor Desert, stocked up on supplies, and searched for a detailed desert map. He found an unusual map made of a familiar-looking material in a dusty corner of an old map shop.

• Xiao Yan followed caravan tracks through the Tagor Desert and reached Mo City.
• A gate guard tried to make Xiao Yan pay an entrance fee, then let him enter freely after recognizing his alchemist badge.
• Xiao Yan bought enough water for ten days and paid for it despite the shop owner offering it for free.
• Xiao Yan bought ten days' worth of baked flatbread and went looking for a detailed map of the Tagor Desert.
• Xiao Yan searched the map shop's dusty back corner and found an unusual map made from a familiar material.

Xiao Yan tried to obtain a second fragment of an Ancient Treasure Map from a scarred old map seller, but the seller refused and attacked him when Xiao Yan attempted to take it. Xiao Yan broke free of the old man's ice technique and summoned six Dou Ling-level Flame Beasts, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• Xiao Yan recognized the fragment in the map shop as matching the Ancient Treasure Map fragment he had found with Xiao Yi Xian, which Sheng'er had linked to a powerful heavenly flame.
• Xiao Yan tried to buy the maps and fragment, but the old man refused to sell the fragment even when Xiao Yan offered to meet his price.
• Xiao Yan grabbed the fragment, and the old man knocked away his gold coins, blocked the shop's entrance with ice, and attacked him.
• Xiao Yan manifested the Unsharpened Greatsword and clashed with the old man's ice spear, revealing that he was a Two-Star Dou Ling.
• The old man unleashed Mystic Ice Spiral Slaughter, so Xiao Yan activated two rounds of the Xiao Clan Secret Art, reached Seven-Star Dou Ling, and was frozen by the attack.
• Xiao Yan shattered the ice around himself and summoned six Dou Ling-level Flame Beasts around the old man.

Xiao Yan subdued Hai Bodong and learned that the former Ice Emperor had been weakened and aged by Medusa’s sealing technique. Hai Bodong asked Xiao Yan to help break the seal in exchange for the other half of an ancient map, then offered information about a heavenly flame to secure his interest.

• Xiao Yan threatened the old man with six Flame Beasts, and the old man warned him that his map fragment was only half of the original.
• Xiao Yan dismissed the Flame Beasts, and he and the old man agreed to talk peacefully.
• The old man revealed that he was Hai Bodong, the Ice Emperor, a former Jia Ma Empire Dou Huang whose strength and youth had been taken by Medusa’s seal.
• Hai Bodong asked Xiao Yan to refine a Sixth-Grade Misfortune-Breaking Pill to remove the seal, offering the remaining map fragment and his support.
• Xiao Yan said he might obtain a vitality-enhancing treasure but demanded more than the map fragment in return.
• Hai Bodong offered Xiao Yan information about a heavenly flame as proof of his sincerity.

Xiao Yan followed Hai Bodong’s map to search for a Heavenly Flame in the Tagor Desert, but his first marked location appeared to be empty. He rescued a poisoned mercenary and recognized the design on the man’s badge just as he was about to leave.

• Hai Bodong gave Xiao Yan a map marked with three possible Heavenly Flame locations and warned him to avoid the western site near Queen Medusa’s palace.
• Xiao Yan promised to return within a year to complete his trade with Hai Bodong, then set out for the eastern location.
• Xiao Yan crossed the desert and searched the eastern area with six Flame Beasts but found no sign of a Heavenly Flame.
• Xiao Yan followed his giant flaming bird to a poisoned, dehydrated mercenary and gave him a Detoxification Pill and clean water.
• Xiao Yan noticed that the badge on the mercenary’s chest looked familiar.

Xiao Yan found his brothers' Desert Iron Mercenary Group under attack by Snake-People and rescued the surrounded mercenaries with three Flame Beasts. The last surviving Snake-Person fled, and Xiao Yan struck at it with a gigantic flaming sword.

• A wounded mercenary told Xiao Yan that Snake-People had ambushed his group, and Xiao Yan recognized the group's badge and learned its leaders were Xiao Ding and Xiao Li.
• Xiao Yan brought the wounded mercenary to the battlefield, where eight Snake-People had surrounded ten mercenaries led by Xue Lan.
• Xiao Yan summoned three Flame Beasts, which killed all eight Snake-People while sparing the mercenaries.
• The mercenaries feared the Flame Beasts until Dan Zai returned and greeted Xue Lan.
• A badly wounded Snake-Person rose from the sand and fled, but Xiao Yan's gigantic flaming sword cleaved the sand ahead of it.

Xiao Yan rescued Xue Lan’s squad from Snake-People attackers and accompanied them to Stone Desert City, where the Desert Iron Mercenary Group’s leaders turned out to be his older brothers. The chapter ended with the three brothers reunited at the group’s headquarters.

• Xiao Yan dispelled his flame beasts after defeating the Snake-People squad, and Dan Zai explained that he had come to help.
• Xue Lan thanked Xiao Yan and invited him to Stone Desert City, and he agreed after learning she belonged to the Desert Iron Mercenary Group.
• Xiao Yan traveled with Xue Lan’s squad to Stone Desert City while mercenaries carrying their cargo went ahead to alert the group’s leaders.
• The Desert Iron Mercenary Group gathered to welcome Xiao Yan, and its two leaders recognized him as their younger brother.
• Xiao Yan greeted his older brothers, and the three embraced as the mercenaries realized who he was.

Xiao Yan reunited with Xiao Ding and Xiao Li, then met Qing Lin, a mixed-blood girl serving as his maid. He accepted her despite her heritage and defended her against hostile mercenaries in Stone Desert City.

• Xiao Yan celebrated with Xiao Ding and Xiao Li after reuniting with them, then slept in following the feast.
• Qing Lin woke Xiao Yan and introduced herself as the maid assigned to serve him; he noticed her Snake-People scales and reassured her that they were beautiful.
• Xiao Yan asked Qing Lin to show him around Stone Desert City, where residents stared at and despised her because of her heritage.
• Xiao Yan publicly told Qing Lin not to fear the people who took their anger out on her, prompting several mercenaries to block their way.
• Xiao Yan blasted the mercenaries ten meters away and told Qing Lin to beat anyone who looked down on her until they smoked.