Chapter Summaries

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.