Recaps

Tang Yan fought Protector Lei, who tested his strength and discovered his remarkable combat ability. After Elder Fan revealed the reason for the visit, both elders offered Tang Yan a place in their factions, but he declined for now and asked whether they had news of the spirit herbs.

• Protector Lei increased his strength through heaven tier third grade as Tang Yan countered with Qi Meridian Transformation and continued to resist him.
• Protector Lei overwhelmed Tang Yan with a storm of attacks and struck him down, then assessed his actual fighting strength as middle to late-stage heaven tier second grade.
• Elder Fan revealed himself and explained that Protector Lei had only wanted to test Tang Yan's strength.
• Protector Lei offered to nurture Tang Yan at the Artifact Pavilion, while Elder Fan offered him resources as a direct descendant of the Fengyun Clan.
• Tang Yan declined to join either faction for now and asked the elders whether they had news of the spirit herbs.

Tang Yan received Divine Soul Grass and Twin Harmony Fruit from Lei Protector and Elder Fan, then showed them the Reach the Summit Shop’s popular pills. Impressed, both elders sought to buy in bulk, and Tang Yan proposed discussing cooperation once his faction could expand its supply.

• Lei Protector delivered Divine Soul Grass on Elder Shen’s behalf, and Elder Fan gave Tang Yan the promised Twin Harmony Fruit.
• Tang Yan accepted the herbs, thanked the elders, and escorted them to the Reach the Summit Base.
• Lei Protector and Elder Fan saw the crowded shop and examined its pill offerings, including Soul-Tempering Pills, Blasting Pills, and Youth-Preserving Pills.
• Tang Yan showed the elders samples, and Lei Protector asked how many pills the shop could supply and whether it would sell to outsiders.
• Lei Protector offered to buy the pills for the Artifact Pavilion, while Elder Fan said the Fengyun Clan wanted them too.
• Tang Yan suggested discussing current cooperation while postponing deeper business until Reach the Summit expanded into the Northern Spirit Realm; Elder Fan urged patience while Tang Yan prepared supplies.

Tang Yan began refining the Divine Soul Pill to save Lin Dongxue while Ye Qiong attacked Reach the Summit in his absence. The chapter ended with Peak Society defeating the shop's defenders and looting its pills.

• Tang Yan told Protector Lei and Elder Fan that Reach the Summit Shop would enter the Northern Spirit Realm within six months and discussed Mingyou Valley and his hidden master's supposed Ninth-Tier Alchemist rank.
• Tang Yan hurried to the Pill Room and began refining the Divine Soul Pill using over a hundred ingredients.
• Ye Qiong arrived with Peak Society members and demanded that Tang Yan come out to fight.
• Yang Jiayi challenged Ye Qiong, but Ye Qiong's Heaven Tier strength eventually overwhelmed him and left him badly injured.
• Reach the Summit members charged Peak Society, but Ye Qiong's group defeated them and stole all the pills remaining in the shop.

Tang Yan completed the Divine Soul Pill for Lin Dongxue despite Ye Qiong breaking into his Pill Room and striking him during the final stage of refinement. Tang Yan followed Ye Qiong outside to face him, while Reach the Summit members rushed to the base and learned what had happened.

• Ye Qiong stormed into Reach the Summit Base and repeatedly pounded on the Pill Room door while Tang Yan refined the Divine Soul Pill.
• The door's bolt gave way, and Ye Qiong entered and demanded Tang Yan come out, but Tang Yan stayed focused on shaping the pill.
• Ye Qiong struck Tang Yan as he finished the pill; Tang Yan stored the emerald-green pill, then was sent crashing into the wall.
• Tang Yan swallowed two pills and followed Ye Qiong outside for a fight.
• Du Shu and other Reach the Summit members arrived, and Yang Jiayi told them Ye Qiong had disrupted Tang Yan's pill refinement.

Tang Yan killed Ye Qiong after Ye Qiong endangered the pill he was refining to save Lin Dongxue. Xiao Cangshan revealed that Ye Qiong was the second son of the Immortal-Gathering Palace’s family head, leaving Tang Yan facing the anger of a powerful force.

• Fang Xuan ordered the martial artists of Reach the Summit to attack Ye Qiong, but Tang Yan appeared and knocked him down with one strike.
• Tang Yan explained that Ye Qiong had nearly ruined Lin Dongxue’s lifesaving pill and had attacked him while he refined it.
• Tang Yan burned away the aura that tried to stop him and killed Ye Qiong with a blow to the neck.
• Xiao Cangshan took Tang Yan away, while Lei Protector and Elder Fan praised his decisiveness and warned that Ye Qiong had a powerful background.
• Xiao Cangshan told Tang Yan that Ye Qiong was the family head’s second son and that the Immortal-Gathering Palace had eighteen Heaven Tier experts and a Half-Step Innate palace master.

Tang Yan used a Divine Soul Pill to awaken Lin Dongxue, who recovered enough to spar with him. Her attacks revealed a mysterious power called Dao's True Qi, drawing the attention of Lei Protector and Elder Fan.

• Xiao Cangshan told Tang Yan about the Innate Realm and arranged for them to leave for the Imperial City in five days.
• Tang Yan gave Lin Dongxue a Divine Soul Pill, and she woke after months unconscious.
• Tang Yan told Lin Dongxue that the Chu Family had been wiped out and encouraged her to resume cultivating.
• Lin Dongxue sparred with Tang Yan and quickly regained control of her true qi.
• Lin Dongxue's strike revealed a resolute power in her true qi, and Lei Protector and Elder Fan identified it as Dao's True Qi.

Lei Protector and Elder Fan competed to recruit Lin Dongxue after learning she had awakened Dao's True Qi, each promising her powerful resources and training. Tang Yan encouraged her to choose for herself, and she was left weighing the Artifact Pavilion against the Fengyun Clan.

• Lei Protector explained that Lin Dongxue's fearless resolve had formed Dao's True Qi, and Elder Fan said it would grow as she cultivated.
• Lei Protector invited Lin Dongxue to join the Artifact Pavilion, while Elder Fan urged her to join the Fengyun Clan.
• Lin Dongxue said she wanted to stay with Reach the Summit, but Tang Yan explained that joining one of the great houses could speed her progress before the group reached the Northern Spirit Realm.
• Lin Dongxue asked whether Tang Yan would truly go to the Northern Spirit Realm within half a year, and he promised he would.
• Elder Fan offered Fengyun Clan resources and a path toward the Innate realm, while Lei Protector promised Heaven Tier skills and a divine weapon from the Artifact Pavilion.

Lin Dongxue joined the Artifact Pavilion, and Elder Fan turned his attention to recruiting Wan Fei after learning of her martial skill talent. Their sparring revealed that Wan Fei had a Spirit Barren Dantian, a rare constitution with great potential if she could obtain enough pills.

• Lin Dongxue chose the Artifact Pavilion, and Lei Protector took her in while Elder Fan lamented losing her.
• Lin Dongxue brought Wan Fei to meet Elder Fan, who tested her in a sparring match.
• Wan Fei overwhelmed Elder Fan with rapid martial skills and forced him to use Heaven Tier power to end the test.
• Lei Protector examined Wan Fei and identified her as having a Spirit Barren Dantian.
• Wan Fei confirmed that she needed far more pills than others to advance, and Elder Fan explained that her constitution could store and unleash more spiritual qi but required an abundant pill supply.

Tang Yan helped Wan Fei choose where to cultivate, then refined the Nine-Turn Reforging Pill before hearing Du Shu’s report on Reach the Summit’s growth. The chapter ended with Tang Yan recommending that the shop expand into a major city first, then spread into nearby areas.

• Wan Fei chose to accompany Lin Dongxue to the Artifact Pavilion, disappointing Elder Fan, while Tang Yan encouraged her to cultivate in the Northern Spirit Realm.
• Tang Yan refined the Nine-Turn Reforging Pill for Qing Xuan, using only half of the Spiritheart Jade Marrow.
• Du Shu told Tang Yan that Reach the Summit had succeeded at Azure Dragon Academy and expanded its pill business into Ming City.
• Tang Yan advised Du Shu to establish Reach the Summit in a major city before expanding into surrounding smaller areas.

Tang Yan gave Du Shu Pill Formulas to help expand Reach the Summit into the Imperial City, then traveled there with Xiao Cangshan and the Azure Dragon Academy elders. Their journey was ambushed by attackers using poisoned Breathless Weapons, and Xiao Cangshan descended to confront them.

• Tang Yan approved Du Shu's plan to establish a Reach the Summit branch in the Imperial City and gave him formulas for third-tier pills and second-tier elixirs.
• Tang Yan joined Xiao Cangshan, Mo Bin, the Second Elder, and Zi Yun on Azure Crane Kings bound for the Imperial City.
• Xiao Cangshan warned Tang Yan that rival forces and court conflicts at the crown prince's banquet made it important for the academy to remain impartial.
• Tang Yan sensed danger, and the group dodged arrows fired from below, including transparent Breathless Weapons tipped with poison.
• Attackers struck Mo Bin's and the Second Elder's Azure Cranes, sending both elders plummeting as more arrows targeted them.
• Tang Yan rescued Mo Bin and knocked aside arrows while Xiao Cangshan carried the Second Elder to safety, then Xiao Cangshan dived down to find the attackers.

Tang Yan, Xiao Cangshan, and the Azure Dragon Academy elders were ambushed on their way to the Imperial City, and Tang Yan was injured while helping them escape a powerful formation. They reached the city after the attackers fled, where the guard commander warned Xiao Cangshan that their repeated last-place finishes and late arrival might anger the Crown Prince.

• Tang Yan joined Xiao Cangshan in blocking poisoned arrows and urged the elders to locate the hidden attackers.
• A Third Tier Upper-Grade formation trapped Tang Yan, the Second Elder, and Mo Bin; Tang Yan and Zi Yun struck at it, but the backlash injured them.
• Zi Yun and Xiao Cangshan pursued the attackers, then returned without catching them; Xiao Cangshan and Mo Bin suspected rival academies or Imperial City forces.
• The group recovered and continued toward the Imperial City cautiously, encountering no further trouble.
• At the city gate, Xiao Cangshan handed over his letter, and the commander warned that the Crown Prince might be angered by Azure Dragon Academy's late arrival and recent poor finishes.

Tang Yan and Azure Dragon Academy reached the Imperial City after an ambush, and Tang Yan’s Jade Token prompted General Zhou to realize the palace had been seeking its holder. Azure Dragon Academy arrived at the throne hall as officials pressed the crown prince to punish them for being late.

• Xiao Cangshan told Zhou Ling that the party had been ambushed by a Breathless Magic Artifact, and Zhou Ling recognized Zi Yun and praised Tang Yan’s Aura Concealment technique.
• Tang Yan showed Zhou Ling a Jade Token from Qing Xuan, then pretended he had shattered and thrown it into the Moat; Zhou Ling urgently asked whether it bore Qing Xuan’s name.
• Tang Yan described the token as brick-sized and marked with 'Lin,' leaving Zhou Ling relieved but unable to identify it.
• Xiao Cangshan’s group traveled by Wind-Speed Steed carriage to the imperial grounds and headed for the palace main hall.
• The left chancellor and Zhao Ru urged the crown prince to punish Azure Dragon Academy for arriving late, but the crown prince defended them and ordered their admission when they arrived.

Tang Yan defended Azure Dragon Academy from the Left Chancellor’s accusations and disrupted the court’s attempts to belittle the academy. After the three Spirit Academy Competition events were announced, a Spirit Martial Academy student challenged Tang Yan to prove his ability.

• The Left Chancellor accused Xiao Cangshan and Azure Dragon Academy of showing contempt for the crown prince by arriving late, but the crown prince accepted Xiao Cangshan’s explanation of an ambush.
• Tang Yan accused the Left Chancellor of plotting rebellion and argued that his threat to have Tang Yan beheaded was treason; the crown prince stopped the dispute and moved on to the competition.
• Scholar Xu announced the competition’s individual combat, team climb up Qingle Peak, and knowledge contest, and the three academy deans agreed to the rules.
• Zheng Wuhai mocked Azure Dragon Academy’s record, and Tang Yan retorted that calling Spirit Martial Academy’s students dragons and phoenixes suggested rebellion; Xiao Cangshan backed Tang Yan.
• A Spirit Martial Academy youth named Sun stepped forward and challenged Tang Yan to a test of skill.

Tang Yan met with the Crown Prince after the Left Chancellor targeted the Azure Dragon Academy. The Crown Prince explained that the Chancellor opposed the academy because it refused to let him recruit its talented students, leaving Tang Yan aware of the political threat facing his school.

• The Crown Prince ended the gathering by scheduling the Spirit Academy Competition for two months later at the foot of Qingle Peak.
• Xiao Cangshan warned Tang Yan that he had offended the Left Chancellor, but Eunuch Wei arrived and escorted Tang Yan to meet the Crown Prince.
• The Crown Prince invited Tang Yan to critique his calligraphy, and Tang Yan wrote, "Drunk, lie with your head in a beauty's lap! Awake, wield the power to kill!"
• The Crown Prince told Tang Yan that the Left Chancellor targeted the Azure Dragon Academy because it would not submit to his control.
• The Crown Prince explained that the Left Chancellor recruited academy talent for his own residence, while the Spirit Martial Academy and Heavenly Mystery Academy helped him and the Azure Dragon Academy received the fewest resources.

Tang Yan advised the Crown Prince and Qing Xuan to crush internal opposition and foreign enemies, prompting them to begin plans to purge their rivals. He entered the Hidden Phoenix Pavilion to choose one treasure and found an intriguing martial-skill scroll.

• Tang Yan told the Crown Prince to secure Tingxiang’s internal affairs first and to crush anyone who refused to submit, then use the same approach against Wuteng Kingdom.
• After Tang Yan left, Qing Xuan and the real Crown Prince revealed their identities and agreed to kill their internal opponents one by one.
• Tang Yan gave Eunuch Wei Explosive Spirit Pills, and Eunuch Wei led him to the imperial treasury, the Hidden Phoenix Pavilion.
• Tang Yan examined the treasures and martial skills, then spotted an inconspicuous scroll whose description delighted him.

After securing a formation diagram, Tang Yan stayed in the Imperial City to investigate expanding Reach the Summit and to deliver pills, though he did not know where the recipient lived. While dining with Zi Yun, he intervened when a brocade-robed young master assaulted a singer.

• Tang Yan chose the Azure Fire Thunder Formation diagram as his reward and left the palace to meet Xiao Cangshan and the others.
• Tang Yan told Xiao Cangshan to have Du Shu train Reach the Summit members and select candidates for the academy’s tournament team battles in two months.
• Zi Yun stayed with Tang Yan in the Imperial City while Xiao Cangshan, the Second Elder, and Mo Bin returned.
• Tang Yan explained that he planned to investigate opening a Reach the Summit Shop and still needed to deliver pills to a woman whose residence he did not know.
• At a restaurant, a brocade-robed young master grabbed the singer Xiu'er and his guard kicked her companion aside.
• Tang Yan spat from upstairs into the young master’s mouth, making him cough and gag before he burned himself with hot tea.

Tang Yan punished Zhao Qian for harassing Zi Yun and condemned the Zhao Family for enabling his abuses. When a powerful Zhao Family fighter arrived and attacked him, Tang Yan dodged the blow, revealing that he was at Heaven tier.

• The young master in brocade, Zhao Qian, accused Tang Yan of spitting on him and ordered his guards to seize Zi Yun.
• Tang Yan struck Zhao Qian, knocked down his two guards, and grabbed Zhao Qian by the neck.
• After learning Zhao Qian was Minister Zhao's son, Tang Yan slapped him repeatedly and kicked him in the lower abdomen, drawing cheers from the crowd.
• A brawny Zhao Family fighter arrived, examined the unconscious Zhao Qian, and threatened to keep everyone in the restaurant from leaving.
• Tang Yan admitted that he had beaten Zhao Qian, evaded the fighter's clawing strike with Phantom Shadow Steps, and was recognized as Heaven tier.

Tang Yan persuaded Cheng Dang to abandon the Zhao Family, then left with Zi Yun as conflict with the Minister loomed. In the palace, the ailing emperor heard about Tang Yan’s actions and judged him a potential asset, while Qing Xuan saw a chance to undermine the Zhao Family.

• Tang Yan warned the Zhao Family’s Heaven Tier guard, Cheng Dang, that serving the family would hinder his cultivation, and persuaded him to leave and do good deeds.
• Tang Yan and Zi Yun departed before the Zhao Family’s people arrived, and Zi Yun remarked that his plans to expand Reach the Summit would face greater resistance.
• The imperial physician warned the Crown Prince and Qing Xuan that the emperor’s supply of Spiritheart Jade Marrow would run out within a month.
• The Crown Prince told the emperor about Tang Yan’s conduct at the tournament registration and his proposal to pacify the interior before resisting external threats.
• After learning that Tang Yan had crippled the Minister’s second son and driven Cheng Dang and other retainers away from the Zhao Family, the emperor called him a potential asset.
• Qing Xuan told the Crown Prince that Tang Yan’s actions could weaken the Zhao Family and create an opportunity to bring it down.

Qing Xuan urged the Crown Prince to recruit Tang Yan and use the chance to attack the Zhao Family, while Tang Yan assessed the Imperial City’s powers as he planned to expand Reach the Summit. Zhao Ru surrounded Tang Yan and Zi Yun over Zhao Qian’s crippling, and Tang Yan threatened him by invoking his powerful backing.

• Qing Xuan explained Tang Yan’s rapid cultivation and strategic achievements to the Crown Prince, who decided to draw close to Tang Yan and strike at the Zhao Family.
• Tang Yan told Zi Yun that he had surveyed the Imperial City’s major factions and suspected that five powerful lineages supported the Left Chancellor.
• Tang Yan explained that opening a Reach the Summit Shop would make them rivals of the power behind the city’s pill shops, forcing them to seek backing from one side of the political divide.
• Zhao Ru arrived with six heaven tier experts and dozens of earth tier cultivators, surrounded Tang Yan and Zi Yun, and threatened to kill Tang Yan and his family.
• Tang Yan warned Zhao Ru that he could not afford to offend Tang Yan’s backer and rubbed the Jade Token engraved with Qing Xuan’s name.

Tang Yan and Zi Yun faced Zhao Ru’s attempt to seize Tang Yan until the Crown Prince arrived with the Imperial Guards. Grand Preceptor Ji exposed the Zhao Family’s crimes, leaving Zhao Ru condemned before the gathered crowd.

• Tang Yan accused Zhao Ru of treason, and Zhao Ru ordered a Heaven Tier seventh-grade expert to capture him.
• Zi Yun stepped in to defend Tang Yan but was driven back by the gray-robed attacker.
• A black-clad man called Brother Ye repelled the gray-robed man and refused Zhao Ru’s demand to stand aside.
• The Crown Prince arrived with the Imperial Guards and directed Grand Preceptor Ji to present the investigation into the Zhao Family.
• Grand Preceptor Ji listed the Zhao Family’s corruption, fabricated accusations, murders, and other crimes, then denounced Zhao Ru as a threat to Tingxiang.

The Crown Prince crushed the Zhao Family’s resistance and brought Tang Yan and Zi Yun to the Imperial Palace, where Princess Qing Xuan met Tang Yan again. Tang Yan gave Qing Xuan the Nine-Turn Reforging Pill he had promised to refine, leaving her astonished and grateful.

• The Crown Prince condemned the Zhao Family’s crimes, and many of its guest retainers defected before the Imperial Guards subdued the remaining loyalists.
• The Crown Prince ordered Zhao Ru’s cultivation crippled and the other captured Zhao Family members killed, then sent Grand Preceptor Ji to investigate the family estate.
• The Crown Prince invited Tang Yan to meet someone at the palace and took Zi Yun aside to view weapons.
• Tang Yan recognized Qing Xuan in a pavilion and learned she was a princess, not the Empress.
• Tang Yan presented Qing Xuan with the Nine-Turn Reforging Pill, fulfilling his promise and refusing to ask for a reward.

Tang Yan refused Qing Xuan’s offer of a position in the Imperial Family, then accompanied her to bring a Nine-Turn Reforging Pill to her poisoned father. Elder Ling initially drove Tang Yan away, but changed his mind after Tang Yan identified flaws in his treatment and recognized the pill’s quality; Qing Xuan and Elder Ling went to see the emperor while Tang Yan stayed outside.

• Qing Xuan offered Tang Yan wealth and authority if he stayed with the Imperial Family, but he refused because he planned to leave Tingxiang.
• Qing Xuan took Tang Yan to see her father, where Elder Ling rebuked him for offering medicine and ordered him to leave.
• Tang Yan identified the ingredients in Elder Ling’s detoxifying medicine and pointed out that its final preparation step used the wrong flame.
• Tang Yan named several pills that could cure poison and explained that the Nine-Turn Reforging Pill was not the only remedy.
• Qing Xuan gave Elder Ling the Nine-Turn Reforging Pill, and he recognized its quality, apologized to Tang Yan, and agreed to give it to the emperor.
• Tang Yan stayed in the hall while Qing Xuan and Elder Ling entered the emperor’s room.

Tang Yan’s pill cured the emperor, who learned of Tang Yan’s talents and background and summoned him to the side hall. Tang Yan secured a favor owed by the Imperial Family, and the emperor asked him what made a true man.

• Tang Yan stayed outside the emperor’s bedchamber while Elder Ling and Qing Xuan attended to the recovering emperor.
• After the emperor was bathed and seated, Qing Xuan explained how Tang Yan had given her the Nine-Turn Reforging Pill.
• Elder Ling suspected Tang Yan had refined the pill himself and realized he might be a Fifth Tier Alchemy Master.
• The emperor learned Tang Yan came from the Tang Family in Cloud City and called him into the side hall.
• Tang Yan declined a simple reward and claimed a favor owed by the Imperial Family.
• The emperor accepted the debt and asked Tang Yan what it took to be a true man.

Tang Yan accepted the emperor’s demand to help Crown Prince Qing Ya stabilize Tingxiang in exchange for news about his father. He learned that Tang Wutian had left him a letter, which revealed that his parents were separated because his mother’s powerful lineage had taken her away.

• Tang Yan misunderstood the emperor’s question about a man’s ambitions, then declared that a man should be a hero among the living and a champion among the dead.
• The emperor offered Tang Yan power and prosperity if he served Tingxiang, but Tang Yan refused because he had no interest in court affairs.
• After the emperor mentioned Tang Wutian, Tang Yan agreed to stay and help Crown Prince Qing Ya establish a stable realm in exchange for the truth about his father.
• The emperor explained that Tang Wutian had been found wounded on Qingle Peak seventeen years earlier, recovered in the Imperial City, and left a letter for Tang Yan to receive if he reached Heaven Tier.
• Tang Yan opened the letter, whose formation confirmed he had reached Heaven Tier, and read his father’s account of searching for his mother and warning him not to confront her powerful lineage until he was strong enough.

Tang Yan accepted the emperor’s authority to command the Imperial Family’s resources and learned that the Left Chancellor had gained power through the kingdom’s military and financial decline. The chapter ended with Tang Yan asking which forces he could mobilize.

• Tang Yan read his father Tang Wutian’s letter, overcame his resistance to the word “father,” and thanked the emperor and Elder Ling.
• The emperor gave Tang Yan command of the Imperial Family’s troops, storehouses, and gifted people, and told Qing Xuan to support him.
• Tang Yan explained to Elder Ling that medicine should be prepared by blending ingredients with true qi rather than using fire.
• Qing Xuan told Tang Yan that the Left Chancellor had gained greater power than the Imperial Family, winning over the Xu and Chu families and building ties with the Heavenly Pill Palace.
• Qing Xuan explained that the Imperial Family’s finances and military strength had declined, while the Azure Dragon Academy needed to excel in the Eastern Region Tournament.
• Tang Yan questioned the promised riches and asked Qing Xuan which forces he could mobilize.