Chapter Summaries

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.

Tang Yan secured authority over the Heavenly Soldier Pavilion and negotiated an Imperial Family partnership to enter the pill market. He then met the Pavilion’s leaders and declared that they would answer only to him, though their reactions showed they doubted his authority.

• Qing Xuan gave Tang Yan the token granting authority over the Heavenly Soldier Pavilion’s three forces and named him an Imperial Throne Guest Official.
• Tang Yan promised to take control of the Imperial Guards, the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion, and the Imperial Pill Pavilion within three days, and proposed that Reach the Summit challenge the Heavenly Pill Palace’s dominance.
• Tang Yan and Qing Xuan negotiated a deal in which the Imperial Family would supply medicinal ingredients and receive forty percent of Reach the Summit’s profits.
• Qing Xuan led Tang Yan to the Heavenly Soldier Pavilion, where he met the Crown Prince and the leaders of its three forces.
• Tang Yan declared that the leaders would answer only to him, and Qing Xuan confirmed his authority as they reacted with shock, defiance, and doubt.

Tang Yan took command of the Heavenly Soldier Pavilion and requested its complete records, earning the disdain of its members. After organizing and studying the files overnight, he arrived the next morning to inspect the assembled Imperial Guards, Heavenly Secrets Pavilion, and Imperial Pill Pavilion.

• The Crown Prince introduced Tang Yan to Ming Lie, Mo Wei, He Zhang, Kun He, and Hua Yu, and Tang Yan asked Mo Wei for every record on the Heavenly Soldier Pavilion's members and activities.
• Tang Yan ordered everyone not away on assignment to assemble the next morning and warned that late arrivals would face military punishment.
• Tang Yan told Zi Yun that he had agreed to stay in the Imperial Palace because the emperor had used his father's whereabouts as leverage, and he noted that the Imperial Guards could serve as sparring partners.
• Tang Yan spent the night sorting and studying the files, assessing the size and strengths of the Imperial Guards, Heavenly Secrets Pavilion, and Imperial Pill Pavilion.
• The next morning, Tang Yan arrived to find all three organizations assembled and said he had read most of the files, despite He Zhang's mockery.

Tang Yan accused Lin Feng of being a traitor who had compromised Heavenly Soldier Pavilion missions and caused the deaths of its members. Lin Feng tried to leave, and Tang Yan ordered Mo Wei to seize him.

• Tang Yan challenged He Zhang over the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion’s mission failures and deaths, then suggested faulty intelligence pointed to a mole.
• Tang Yan called Lin Feng forward and threatened to kill him, citing his survival in three failed missions and his suspicious actions during two operations.
• Lin Feng denied betraying the pavilion and accused Tang Yan of making baseless charges.
• Tang Yan revealed that Lin Feng had known about an ambush at Flat Sand Lake, while other teams following the plan were wiped out.
• Mo Wei denounced Lin Feng, who declared he was leaving the pavilion, and Tang Yan ordered Mo Wei to seize him.

Tang Yan exposed Yan Wentong and Bai Jin as spies who had framed Lü Fan and sabotaged the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion's missions. Mo Wei killed Yan Wentong and mourned Lü Fan, while Tang Yan confronted Bai Jin over his betrayal.

• Tang Yan proved that Lin Feng had concealed his true strength, and Lin Feng died after conceding.
• Tang Yan revealed that Yan Wentong had framed Lü Fan by falsifying intelligence and arranging the Blue Pavilion mission's failure, and Mo Wei attacked him.
• Yan Wentong threw powder at Mo Wei and tried to escape, but Mo Wei seized him after Tang Yan identified the powder as harmless; Yan Wentong then died, and Mo Wei lamented that he had wronged Lü Fan.
• Tang Yan accused Bai Jin of falsely identifying the powder and helping Yan Wentong escape.
• Tang Yan explained that Yan Wentong had put Bai Jin in command, allowing Bai Jin to win battles that reinforced the false suspicion against Lü Fan while other teams suffered heavy losses.
• Tang Yan demanded that Bai Jin either kill himself or face Mo Wei.

Tang Yan exposed a succession of Heavenly Secrets Pavilion spies within the Heavenly Soldier Pavilion, then accused Imperial Pill Pavilion alchemist Gu Shu of leaking its pill discoveries to the Heavenly Pill Palace. Gu Shu denied the accusation, leaving Tang Yan’s suspicion unresolved.

• Bai Jin acknowledged Tang Yan’s strategic skill before dying, and Tang Yan called out Li Jizhou as another suspected spy.
• Tang Yan challenged Li Jizhou to demonstrate the Li Family’s meteor-hammer technique, and Li Jizhou attacked him before Kun He killed him.
• Tang Yan accused Zhu Wentao of overlooking Li Jizhou’s family rules during recruitment, and Zhu Wentao died without resisting.
• Tang Yan called out more names and exposed eleven Heavenly Secrets Pavilion spies in two hours, leaving Mo Wei and He Zhang ashamed of their earlier failure.
• Tang Yan questioned why the Imperial Pill Pavilion could not sustain a pill business despite its skilled alchemists, then suggested Gu Shu was helping the Heavenly Pill Palace obtain its discoveries.
• Gu Shu denied being the problem as the assembled officials turned their attention to him.

Tang Yan exposed more spies in the Imperial Pill Pavilion and Imperial Guards, then issued strict orders to reorganize the Heavenly Soldier Pavilion and retrain its branches. He questioned the Imperial Guards’ drills, prompting Commander Kun He to ask what dissatisfied him.

• Tang Yan exposed Gu Shu as the source of the Imperial Family’s pill formulas leaking to the Heavenly Pill Palace, and Gu Shu died after being confronted.
• Tang Yan rooted out five more Alchemy Masters from the Imperial Pill Pavilion and three traitors from the Imperial Guards.
• Tang Yan warned remaining spies to withdraw by midnight, declared that the Heavenly Soldier Pavilion would answer only to him, and ordered the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion to investigate Tingxiang’s powerful ministers.
• Tang Yan ordered the Imperial Pill Pavilion to stop refining pills and have its members practice alchemy fundamentals fifty thousand times within three days, with Ming Lie and Elder Ling supervising.
• Kun He led the Imperial Guards to the Martial Garden for drills, but Tang Yan challenged the value of their sparring, and Kun He asked what dissatisfied him.

Tang Yan criticized the Imperial Guards' careless sparring and convinced Kun He to make their training more demanding. He promised them better cultivation pills and began teaching them the Extreme Six Forms.

• Tang Yan pointed out the Imperial Guards' sparring mistakes and warned Kun He that their habits could get them killed in a real battle.
• Tang Yan urged the guards to train honestly for their comrades and loved ones, and Kun He ordered them to treat sparring partners as enemies.
• After no one refused the training, Tang Yan asked Hua Yu about the guards' cultivation resources and gave him an Explosive Spirit Pill to compare with a Peak Origin Pill.
• Tang Yan announced that each guard would receive two Explosive Spirit Pills daily and laid out a schedule of morning Extreme Six Forms practice and afternoon life-and-death sparring.
• Tang Yan demonstrated the first form of the Extreme Six Forms, and the guards began imitating him.

Tang Yan put the Imperial Guards through the punishing Extreme Six Forms, forcing them to keep practicing while explaining that the secret art could draw out their potential. After a grueling morning of training, the exhausted guards feared what Tang Yan had planned for the afternoon.

• Tang Yan made nearly a hundred Imperial Guards hold each Extreme Six Forms pose and ordered Kun He and Hua Yu to whip anyone who slacked off.
• The guards struggled through all six forms and the transition back to the first, while Kun He and Hua Yu criticized them from the sidelines.
• Tang Yan ordered Kun He and Hua Yu to join the training, and Kun He discovered that the movements were exhausting even for an eighth-grade Heaven Tier expert.
• When several guards collapsed, Tang Yan whipped one and explained that the forms could develop their potential; he promised Explosive Spirit Pills to the last three still standing each day.
• Tang Yan had Hua Yu distribute pills so the guards could recover and resume training, and by the end of the morning the Imperial Guards lay exhausted as they wondered whether the afternoon would be any easier.

Tang Yan won the Imperial Guards’ loyalty through intense training and gained command of the Heavenly Soldier Pavilion’s three organizations. After three days, Du Shu arrived, and Tang Yan prepared to launch Reach the Summit on a new journey.

• Tang Yan trained the Imperial Guards through punishing sparring and supplied pills to treat their injuries.
• Ye Haohao described Tang Yan’s successes to the emperor, who ordered the Crown Prince and Qing Xuan to cooperate with him.
• Over the next three days, Tang Yan’s training helped twenty-three Imperial Guards break through, and Zi Yun joined their drills.
• Kun He and Hua Yu recognized Tang Yan’s achievements, while Tang Yan waited for Du Shu to arrive.
• Du Shu reported that Reach the Summit was doing well, and Tang Yan announced its new journey; Du Shu asked whether his new high office came with resources.

Tang Yan used Du Shu’s suggestions to improve Imperial Guards training and began preparing Reach the Summit to reclaim the Imperial City’s pill market. He explained the purpose of alchemy drills to the Imperial Pill Pavilion’s masters and questioned one about his pill-refining process, leaving his demonstration unfinished.

• Du Shu suggested releasing Exploding Monkeys after the Imperial Guards exhausted their true qi, and Tang Yan ordered two hundred of them brought in.
• Du Shu reviewed documents on the Heavenly Pill Palace and proposed using the Imperial Pill Pavilion’s Alchemy Masters to expand Reach the Summit’s business.
• Tang Yan took Du Shu to meet the Alchemy Masters, who challenged his order to practice alchemy fundamentals fifty thousand times.
• Tang Yan explained that the Pavilion would reopen the pill market and sell only superior-quality pills, arguing that stronger fundamentals would raise their success rates.
• Tang Yan asked a gray-robed Alchemy Master about his Peak Origin Pill quality rate and the time and ingredient-extraction steps in his process.

Tang Yan challenged the Alchemy Masters’ assumptions about refining the Peak Origin Pill and offered to demonstrate that solid fundamentals could produce superior-quality pills. He began refining with Ming Lie’s Mystic Crystal Cauldron, leaving the skeptical crowd amazed by his skill and orderly technique.

• Tang Yan told the Alchemy Masters that refining the mingshao tea core and mingluo fruit six times and the fire sun branches nine times could produce superior-quality Peak Origin Pills.
• Ning and Zhang challenged Tang Yan to prove his claims, and Ming Lie agreed to provide the Mystic Crystal Cauldron for a demonstration.
• Tang Yan accurately explained the cauldron’s materials, construction, history, and value, earning Ming Lie’s confirmation that his account was correct.
• Tang Yan lit the fire and began adding and refining ingredients, explaining the importance of practicing alchemy fundamentals.
• The Alchemy Masters saw that the ingredients were not burning and crowded around to watch Tang Yan process them in a clear, orderly sequence.

Tang Yan demonstrated his alchemy mastery to the Imperial Pill Pavilion, teaching its members how disciplined practice improved refinement and pill quality. After winning their respect and support, he invited them to quiz him on herbs, and Zhao presented the obscure pearl fruit and wind sleeve lotus.

• Tang Yan refined sixteen herbs at once using basic methods, then explained how practice could improve the alchemists’ skill and efficiency.
• Tang Yan combined eighty-seven portions of medicinal liquid and produced seven superior-grade pills, impressing Elder Ling and the gathered Alchemy Masters.
• The alchemists followed Tang Yan’s advice and found that their abilities had improved after practicing the basics fifty thousand times.
• Tang Yan, Du Shu, Ming Lie, and Elder Ling discussed future development, while the Imperial Pill Pavilion members came to respect Tang Yan and ask for more guidance.
• Tang Yan invited the Alchemy Masters to test his knowledge of herbs, and Zhao asked whether he knew about pearl fruit and wind sleeve lotus.

Tang Yan used his knowledge of medicinal ingredients to win the Imperial Pill Pavilion’s Alchemy Masters’ respect, then put Du Shu in charge of opening Reach the Summit’s pill market. With the Pavilion under his control, Du Shu began implementing his expansion plans while Tang Yan turned to consolidating the Imperial Family’s position.

• Tang Yan explained the medicinal and forging uses of Pearl Fruit and Wind Sleeve Lotus, impressing Zhao and the other Alchemy Masters with his knowledge.
• Tang Yan proposed opening the pill market and introduced Du Shu, who presented Reach the Summit’s products, sales plans, and contribution-point rules.
• Tang Yan ordered the Alchemy Masters to practice fundamentals and produce pills, and told Ming Lie to recruit dependable second-tier or higher Alchemy Masters for five-year service.
• Du Shu took full control of the Imperial Pill Pavilion’s operations and spent three days surveying the Imperial City and preparing development plans.
• Tang Yan began consolidating the Imperial Family’s position from the Heavenly Soldier Pavilion, reviewing documents while Mo Wei and He Zhang stood ready to serve.

Tang Yan led a sweeping crackdown on the Left Chancellor’s allies while the emperor and Qing Xuan backed his strategy. As the Reach the Summit Shop prepared to open, its bold claims about its pills drew a curious crowd and challenged the Heavenly Pill Palace.

• Tang Yan ordered executions, property seizures, and a purge of the Three Seas Association based on evidence against the Qin, Zheng, Jiang, and Zhou families and other allies of the Left Chancellor.
• The Crown Prince warned the emperor that Tang Yan’s rapid actions might provoke the Left Chancellor into a desperate counterattack, but Qing Xuan supported striking swiftly.
• The emperor approved Tang Yan’s approach, ordered that he receive full support and protection, and agreed to wait for his promised progress in the pill market.
• Du Shu arranged the Reach the Summit Shop’s location, staff, signboard, and advertisements for its pills, including the Youth-Preserving Pill and Spirit Transformation Pill.
• Onlookers gathered outside the still-closed shop and questioned its boastful name and couplet, which appeared to rank its pills above those of the Heavenly Pill Palace.

The Heavenly Pill Palace and Left Chancellor Yang planned to suppress Reach the Summit, believing its advertised pills were implausible. Their confidence faltered when the Imperial Guards promoted the shop throughout the city, revealing the Imperial Family’s support and driving intense public interest in its pills.

• Wu Qi, Yin, and the horse-faced Alchemy Master dismissed Reach the Summit’s claims, and Wu Qi asked Yang to help the Heavenly Pill Palace crush the new shop.
• A spy reported that the Imperial Guards were circulating through the city with banners advertising Reach the Summit and listing its pills and address.
• The Heavenly Pill Palace’s elders and Yang realized that the Imperial Family backed Reach the Summit, giving its pills far greater credibility.
• People across the Imperial City flocked to learn about Reach the Summit’s pills, especially women eager for Youth-Preserving Pills.
• Yin warned that the shop’s Imperial Family backing and popular appeal could seriously damage the Heavenly Pill Palace if its pills worked and were reasonably priced.