Chapter Summaries

Tang Yan intimidated Ye Liangchen and the others with a sword strike, then continued his journey and arrived at Southern Wilderness City. The chapter ended as a woman dressed in red rode up to him near the city gate.

• Tang Yan rebuked Ye Liangchen, Qianyun Zhi, and Zhuo Feng for relying on their family names, then agreed to show Qianyun Chen another sword strike.
• Tang Yan demonstrated a sword strike without using true qi and sent Qianyun Chen a lesson about pursuing his own path of the sword.
• Tang Yan revealed his name and left, while Ye Liangchen and the others wondered whether he came from a hidden family.
• Two days later, Tang Yan entered Southern Wilderness City, declined several offers from mercenaries and traders, and heard the approach of horses.
• A woman dressed in fiery red appeared before Tang Yan, accompanied by a maid.

Tang Yan learned about the Northern Spirit Realm’s hierarchy after meeting Lan Fenghuang, who was desperately seeking rare medicinal ingredients to save someone. He deduced the patient had only three days left, then left before Lan Fenghuang could question him further.

• Lan Fenghuang offered enormous sums and the Lan Family’s favor for jade spiritual root, five-spice flower, and chiming emerald fruit, but no one in the crowd had them.
• Tang Yan gave a burly man a High Spirit Pill in exchange for an explanation of the Northern Spirit Realm’s major powers and cultivation ranks.
• Tang Yan considered seeking powerful allies and overheard Lan Fenghuang announce that the ingredients could be delivered to Wenya Garden on Minglou Street.
• Tang Yan muttered that the patient would die within three days, prompting Lan Fenghuang to threaten him and demand an explanation.
• Tang Yan explained how the ingredients could sustain a critically ill patient, then apologized and left.

Tang Yan was forcibly brought by Fire Phoenix to the Lan Family to examine her sick mother, where he faced suspicion from the household’s physicians. He ended the chapter by identifying the three remedies they planned to prepare and asking Yin Changqing if his deduction was correct.

• Fire Phoenix abducted Tang Yan on horseback after he refused to cooperate, threatening him until he agreed to see the patient.
• At the Lan Family courtyard, Fire Phoenix introduced Tang Yan to her father, Lan Guiwei, and the physicians gathered to treat her mother.
• Zhang Feng accused Tang Yan of being a swindler, but Tang Yan calmly challenged his judgment and left the others impressed by his reasoning.
• Yin Changqing said Tang Yan could examine Madam Lan if he explained the three herbs’ medicinal effects, and Tang Yan instead named the three prescriptions the Lan Family intended to make.

Tang Yan examined Lan Guiwei's wife and identified how her illness had worsened, then offered to treat her with a needle technique and medicine. He agreed to waive his fee, leaving Lan Guiwei responsible only for the Spirit Herbs and treatment tools.

• Tang Yan examined Lan Guiwei's wife and asked whether she had suffered an accident in a bitterly cold region while pregnant.
• Lan Guiwei explained that his wife had been injured during an assassination attempt at Heavenly Cold Mountain and that her health had declined after giving birth.
• Tang Yan deduced that unsuitable medicine containing Fire Lotus Flower had worsened her condition and suggested someone might have deliberately harmed her.
• Tang Yan criticized the three known prescriptions as unsuitable and proposed using silver needles to expel fire poison before supplementing her with medicine.
• Tang Yan claimed he was certain he could cure Lan Guiwei's wife and offered to waive his fee, asking only that the Lan family cover the Spirit Herbs and treatment tools.

Tang Yan treated Madam Lan’s fire poison while earning the Lan Family’s gratitude, and his teasing of Fire Phoenix sparked a misunderstanding about his motives. After an exhausting treatment, Madam Lan’s condition improved, and Elder Yin declared Tang Yan’s medical skills among the Northern Spirit Realm’s top five.

• Tang Yan’s speech about physicians rejecting personal gain moved Elder Yin to forgo his payment, though Tang Yan had hoped to secure a favor from the Lan Family.
• After the others left, Fire Phoenix awkwardly apologized for having him brought in, then assumed he wanted her when he refused money and pills; Tang Yan said he would rather take money.
• Tang Yan had Fire Phoenix help prepare Madam Lan and used 108 silver needles and his True Qi to draw out the fire poison.
• Tang Yan finished the hour-long treatment exhausted, and Lan Guiwei gave him a Fourth Tier Qi-Replenishing Pill.
• After Fire Phoenix bathed Madam Lan in cold water, Tang Yan examined her again; Elder Yin checked her pulse and praised Tang Yan’s skill as among the Northern Spirit Realm’s top five.

Tang Yan treated Lan Guiwei’s wife and explained how she could recover, then reluctantly took Lan Fenghuang with him to the Xiao Lineage. Lan Fenghuang’s anger at Tang Yan’s insults faded when Little Dot appeared, and she tried to entice the creature with a pill.

• Tang Yan expelled most of the fire poison from Lan Guiwei’s wife and prescribed medicine and two further acupuncture treatments for her recovery.
• Lan Guiwei offered Fire Phoenix to accompany Tang Yan, who refused, but the Lan family and Fire Phoenix persuaded him to take her to the Xiao Lineage.
• Fire Phoenix challenged Tang Yan about why he would not travel with her, and he said she lacked beauty, refinement, and wealth or strength that would make her a desirable companion.
• Fire Phoenix grew furious at Tang Yan’s insults, but Little Dot emerged from his bundle and immediately distracted her.
• Tang Yan warned Little Dot to stay away from Fire Phoenix, who offered the creature a pill.

Tang Yan tried to buy a medicinal herb shop in Southern Wilderness City to expand the Reach the Summit Pill Shop and house his brothers. After Gao Jin arrived and claimed the Gao Family wanted the property, Tang Yan refused to back down, leaving them on the verge of a confrontation.

• Fire Phoenix tried to win Little Dot over with herbs and pills, but Little Dot gave the valuable pill to Tang Yan instead.
• Tang Yan teased Fire Phoenix about her earlier insults, then let her hold Little Dot, who soon cried from her persistent fondling.
• Tang Yan found a medicinal herb shop for sale and agreed to buy it from the shopkeeper, Old Liu, for five million taels of silver.
• Gao Jin arrived with two attendants, offered Old Liu only three million taels, and ordered Tang Yan to leave because the Gao Family wanted the shop.
• Tang Yan said he had his eye on the shop too, and Gao Jin angrily asked whether he wanted to cross the Gao Family.

Tang Yan secured Shopkeeper Liu’s shop and won the Gao Family’s cloth shop from Gao Jin in a wager. He then bought the shop’s medicinal ingredients and went with Fire Phoenix to meet Xiao Buyu, who promised to watch for news from the Desolate Forest.

• Tang Yan rejected Gao Jin’s offer to buy Shopkeeper Liu’s shop and challenged him to wager the Gao Family’s cloth shop against forty million taels of silver.
• Tang Yan produced gold worth forty-five million taels of silver, paid Shopkeeper Liu, and won the cloth shop from Gao Jin.
• Tang Yan bought the shop’s medicinal ingredients at cost and left with Fire Phoenix.
• Tang Yan visited the Xiao Lineage residence and asked Xiao Buyu about the Desolate Forest; Xiao Buyu said he had people keeping watch.
• Fire Phoenix introduced herself to Xiao Buyu as Lan Fenghuang, and Xiao Buyu became more respectful toward Tang Yan.

After the Gao Family burned Tang Yan’s newly acquired shops, he retaliated by framing them for Ming Kunshan’s public humiliation. Ming Kunshan died believing Gao Wubu had ruined him, leaving the Gao Family exposed to the vengeance of Mingyou Valley.

• Xiao Buyu warned Tang Yan that the Gao Family had a Xiantian ancestor and offered to buy the shops, but Tang Yan refused to sell them.
• Xiao Buyu reported that the Gao Family’s shop and the neighboring shop Tang Yan had bought had both burned, and Tang Yan decided to retaliate.
• Tang Yan learned that Gao Wubu’s team had suffered heavy losses in Southern Wilderness Forest and asked Xiao Buyu to bring him to the captive Ming Kunshan.
• Tang Yan drugged Ming Kunshan with Illusory Confusion Powder and staged his public humiliation among female donkeys on Myriad Trades Street.
• Ming Kunshan regained his senses, accused Gao Wubu of crippling and humiliating him over mysterious heart grass, and killed himself.

After Ming Kunshan exposed the Gao Family's role in the attack, Gao Bufan sought help from his ancestor and the family pursued mediation with Mingyou Valley. Tang Yan then proposed a medicinal-ingredient partnership with Xiao Buyu to supply his faction's alchemists as they entered the Northern Spirit Realm's pill market.

• Ming Kunshan identified the Gao Family as responsible, leaving its disciples and Gao Bufan stunned.
• Gao Bufan ordered the Gao Family's core members to gather and went to consult the ancestor.
• Xiao Buyu told Tang Yan that the Gao Family's second master had gone to Mingyou Valley to seek mediation.
• Tang Yan declined Xiao Buyu's offer to become the Xiao Lineage's Chief Elder and asked about its Spirit Herbs.
• Tang Yan explained that his faction's Alchemy Masters would need large quantities of fourth-tier and higher medicinal ingredients, and Xiao Buyu warned him that the pill market was entrenched.
• Tang Yan reminded Xiao Buyu of the extraordinary pills he had given him and argued that selling similarly effective pills in bulk could establish a place in the market.

Tang Yan negotiated a medicinal ingredient partnership with Xiao Buyu, insisting that the Xiao Lineage charge normal prices and benefit from long-term trade. After Tang Yan paid with eight million taels of gold, Xiao Buyu rushed to prepare a massive shipment, leaving the lineage impressed by his dealmaking.

• Tang Yan persuaded Xiao Buyu to supply medicinal ingredients gradually and at normal trading prices so both sides could profit and grow together.
• Tang Yan revealed eight million taels of gold and asked Xiao Buyu to prepare goods worth that amount, stunning him with the scale of his wealth.
• Xiao Buyu agreed to charge normal prices and hurried off to prepare the spirit herbs.
• Two hours later, Xiao Buyu delivered three chests of mostly fourth- and fifth-tier ingredients, along with one sixth-tier spirit herb.
• Tang Yan accepted the first shipment but told Xiao Buyu not to give up so much profit, while the Xiao Lineage celebrated its family head for securing the enormous order.

Tang Yan completed the Reach the Summit Pill Shop and reunited with his companions, assigning them roles in developing their faction in the Northern Spirit Realm. Fire Phoenix mocked their strength, prompting Zi Yun to wager that she would surpass her within a year.

• Tang Yan designed and oversaw the construction of the Reach the Summit Pill Shop, which was completed in a week.
• Tang Yan reunited with Zi Yun, Du Shu, Fang Xuan, Yu Juechen, Yang Jiayi, Jing Wuhen, Qin Yue'er, and Wu Xuan, and learned that they had advanced in strength and alchemy.
• Tang Yan warned the group about the dangers of life in the Northern Spirit Realm and assigned Du Shu to plan commercial development, Qin Yue'er to lead the Alchemy Masters, and Zi Yun to lead martial training.
• Fire Phoenix offered help from the Lan Family but disparaged Tang Yan's companions as too weak, and Tang Yan told her to show them respect.
• Zi Yun challenged Fire Phoenix to a wager that she would surpass her within a year, with the loser required to make an admission or apology; Fire Phoenix accepted and left contemptuous of the group.

Tang Yan reassured Zi Yun and the others that he would train them to challenge Fire Phoenix, while Du Shu proposed a careful plan to build their pill business in Southern Wilderness City. Tang Yan approved Du Shu’s scheme to profit from the Gao Family’s fear of Mingyou Valley and rivalry with the Zhong Family.

• Zi Yun asked Tang Yan about Fire Phoenix, and Tang Yan explained her strength and promised to raise the group’s cultivation over the next year.
• Fire Phoenix secretly watched the group train for three days and began to doubt her confidence in winning.
• Du Shu told Tang Yan that they should expand their business gradually, using Southern Wilderness City as their first foothold.
• Tang Yan offered enhanced Pill Formulas that could benefit Heaven Tier and Xiantian experts, and Du Shu eagerly accepted the opportunity.
• Du Shu planned to sell pills at high prices to the desperate Gao Family while using the Zhong Family as leverage, and Tang Yan approved the plan.

Du Shu met with the Xiao Lineage to discuss buying medicinal ingredients for Tang Yan, surprising the clan with an enormous initial order. Xiao Buyu and his relatives began arranging the supply, and Du Shu confirmed that further purchases would follow.

• Xiao Buyu stopped his relatives from criticizing Tang Yan and his companions, while the elders questioned the need to expand medicinal ingredient procurement.
• Du Shu arrived at the Council Chamber to discuss cooperation, and Xiao Buyu invited him to outline what he needed.
• Du Shu requested nearly three hundred varieties of first-tier spirit herbs and said he wanted a hundred thousand plants of each to start.
• The Second Elder spat tea onto the Grand Elder, who swallowed some while stunned by the order’s enormous value.
• Du Shu confirmed the quantity and said the group would keep buying more, prompting Xiao Lu to promise to prepare future ingredients.

Du Shu ordered enormous quantities of spirit herbs from the Xiao Lineage, shocking its elders with the cost until he revealed mountains of gold to pay. After covering the listed ingredients, he offered another two hundred million taels of gold and asked the Xiao Lineage to fill the remaining value with high-tier herbs.

• Du Shu listed 217 kinds of second-tier spirit herbs and requested a hundred thousand plants of each, then made the same request for roughly 159 kinds of third-tier herbs.
• The Xiao elders and Xiao Buyu calculated that the orders would cost billions of silver taels and doubted Du Shu could pay.
• Du Shu declared that he had no silver but brought out chests of gold, which Xiao Buyu stored after counting the payment.
• Du Shu moved on to fourth- and fifth-tier herbs and said he would prioritize the varieties he urgently needed.
• Du Shu offered another two hundred million taels of gold and told Family Head Xiao to use any surplus to buy other high-tier spirit herbs until the total reached forty billion taels of silver.

Du Shu stunned the Xiao Lineage with a forty-billion-tael order for medicinal ingredients, prompting an urgent scramble to fill it and leading Fire Phoenix to send a message north. Meanwhile, Tang Yan opened the Reach the Summit Pill Shop on Myriad Trades Street and prepared to introduce it to the crowd.

• Du Shu revealed he had forty billion taels of silver to spend on medicinal ingredients, and Xiao Buyu agreed to provide an itemized bill and prepare the available supplies.
• Xiao Buyu ordered the Xiao Lineage to gather the requested ingredients within two days, and its members rushed to work.
• Fire Phoenix learned the order was worth forty billion taels, questioned where Du Shu and his companions came from, and sent a message north on a white kite.
• Tang Yan opened the Reach the Summit Pill Shop to a crowd on Myriad Trades Street and began introducing the shop.

Tang Yan and Du Shu launched the Reach the Summit Pill Shop with a street dance performance and introduced its first pill, the Explosive Spirit Pill. The crowd was impressed by the pill’s claimed effects and price, and awaited the rest of the shop’s offerings.

• Tang Yan introduced the shop’s three categories of pills, and Du Shu promised superior quality at no more than market prices.
• Tang Yan’s eight dancers performed street dance, drawing a huge crowd to the shop opening.
• Du Shu announced that the shop carried fewer than ten pill varieties in limited quantities, frustrating some attendees.
• Du Shu introduced the Third Tier high-grade Explosive Spirit Pill, describing its benefits and lack of side effects for eligible martial artists.
• Du Shu set the Explosive Spirit Pill’s price at forty thousand taels of silver, and the crowd urged him to introduce the next pill.

Du Shu introduced Reach the Summit’s pills and their prices, drawing strong interest from the crowd. As the shop prepared to open, Head Shopkeeper Shao challenged the truth of Du Shu’s claims, leaving the promotion on the verge of confrontation.

• Du Shu presented the Mad Spirit Pill and several Peerless Divine Pills, including the Blasting Pill, Origin Qi Pill, Blood-Coagulating Pill, Scar-Removing Pill, Soul-Tempering Pill, and Spirit Transformation Pill.
• The crowd eagerly considered buying the pills, despite the Spirit Transformation Pill’s price of one hundred million taels of silver.
• Shao Jiacai interrupted the presentation and demanded to know whether the pills truly had the effects Du Shu described.
• Du Shu recognized Shao Jiacai as the head shopkeeper of Myriad Pill Hall and defended Reach the Summit’s credibility.

Du Shu defended Reach the Summit’s pills after Shao Jiacai disparaged their quality and proposed taking them away for three days. Du Shu demonstrated the Mad Spirit Pill’s dense, pure Spiritual Qi to the crowd, leaving them impressed and challenging Shao’s claims.

• Shao Jiacai examined Reach the Summit’s Enhanced Blood-Coagulating Pill and Mad Spirit Pill but claimed their effects and Spiritual Qi were unimpressive.
• Shao Jiacai offered to take the pills away for three days to study them, while the crowd began doubting Reach the Summit.
• Du Shu argued that a high-grade pill’s Spiritual Qi should be powerful but not violent, and compared Shao’s Myriad Pill Hall to a donkey and Reach the Summit to the sky.
• Du Shu activated the Mad Spirit Pill with his True Qi, releasing pure, dense Spiritual Qi that amazed the crowd.

Du Shu proved the Blood-Coagulating Pill’s effectiveness by stabbing himself, then opened Reach the Summit’s pill shop to a rush of customers. After the stock sold out, he and Tang Yan discussed the shop’s growth and plans to recruit and negotiate with the Zhong Family and Gao Family.

• Du Shu stabbed himself through the waist and demonstrated that the upgraded Blood-Coagulating Pill stopped his bleeding in one breath, winning the crowd’s trust and undermining Shao Jiacai’s criticism.
• Du Shu explained the benefits of high-grade pills and announced the opening sale, after which customers crowded into Reach the Summit and bought all the available pills within half an hour.
• Du Shu told disappointed customers that the shop would reopen in three days because ingredients and high-grade production limited supplies.
• Tang Yan reproached Du Shu for risking his life, and Du Shu reported sales of over two hundred and seventy million taels of silver.
• Du Shu proposed bringing reliable brothers from Tingxiang, while Tang Yan advised recruiting Northern Spirit Realm experts and developing the Tingxiang brothers as a reserve force.
• Du Shu planned to visit the Zhong Family and Gao Family the next day to raise the prices of their pills.