Chapter Summaries

Tang Yan forced the Desolate Clan to submit, took most of its storehouse treasures, and secured all 360 remaining Heavenly Selection Secret Realm places. He left the valley with the Artifact Pavilion receiving 200 places as thanks for its support.

• Tang Yan killed Huang Yi and Huang Feng when they hesitated to accept his terms, then Huang Liang agreed and became the Desolate Clan’s acting chief.
• Huang Liang accused Huang Xian of bringing disaster on the clan and ordered archers to kill him when he fled toward the rear mountain.
• Tang Yan took ninety percent of the Desolate Clan’s storehouse supplies, warned Huang Liang to restrain the clan, claimed sixty percent of its future earnings for Reach the Summit, and took all 360 remaining secret-realm places.
• Tang Yan emerged from Heaven-Covering Valley and told Fang Xuan that the Desolate Clan had offered compensation, while Shen Shan realized Tang Yan had beaten the clan into submission.
• Tang Yan gave 200 secret-realm places to the Artifact Pavilion and kept 160 for Reach the Summit.

Tang Yan gave Shen Shan Heavenly Selection Secret Realm slots, then headed for the Star-Gazing Pavilion while cultivating the Five Elements Tyrant Body Art. On Cliff Creek Peak, Luo Kai used a trapping formation to play the part of the sage Zhitian for passing travelers, just as Tang Yan approached.

• Tang Yan gave Shen Shan eighty Heavenly Selection Secret Realm slots, and Shen Shan returned to the Artifact Pavilion with the younger disciples.
• Tang Yan entrusted Fang Xuan with the Desolate Clan supplies and arrangements for the Spirit Shaman Clan, then set out for the Star-Gazing Pavilion with Yu Juechen and his companion recovered.
• Tang Yan cultivated the Five Elements Tyrant Body Art aboard the Flowing Cloud Roc and worried that even the Desolate Clan's stockpile would barely suffice to temper his organs.
• Luo Kai trapped Cliff Creek Peak with a formation and persuaded Nan Yue and the others to join his act as he posed as the sage Zhitian.
• Fu Yiduo and his companions got caught in the formation, and Luo Kai refused Fu Yiduo's Sub-Golden Pill after giving him directions out.
• Another group entered the formation, and Luo Kai prepared to repeat his trick as Tang Yan's Flowing Cloud Roc approached from the east.

Tang Yan flew into a formation on Cliff Creek Peak and met Luo Kai and his companions, who mistook him for a fool and tried to swindle him. Tang Yan proposed a bet and asked Luo Kai a riddle, leaving him stumped with the Formation Point Flag at stake.

• Tang Yan circled the bewilderment formation repeatedly before approaching the group gathered beneath an ancient pine.
• Tang Yan saw through Luo Kai's disguise and suspected the young cultivators were from the Star-Gazing Pavilion.
• Luo Kai introduced himself as Knowing Heaven and offered Tang Yan the chance to ask one question, but Tang Yan asked whether to slaughter his family's pig or donkey first.
• Tang Yan displayed the Soul-Music Bell and proposed a bet, prompting Luo Kai to wager his Formation Point Flag.
• Tang Yan made Luo Kai swear not to lie, then asked what spirit beast flew through the sky on three legs, leaving Luo Kai and the others unable to answer.

Tang Yan accepted the Startling Swan Cauldron from the Star-Gazing Pavilion and agreed to study its patriarch’s Formation Martial Dao manual. Meanwhile, Medicine Valley’s force found the Spirit Shaman Clan’s hideout abandoned, and Chang Chunxi’s attack on its god statue triggered a devastating upheaval.

• Tang Yan tricked Luo Kai into losing the Formation Point Flag, then escaped while Luo Kai and Nan Yue chased him unsuccessfully.
• Xu Bai welcomed Tang Yan to the Star-Gazing Pavilion, presented him with the Startling Swan Cauldron, and asked him to interpret Guanqi’s Formation Martial Dao manual.
• Tang Yan recognized that the manual’s teachings corresponded with his Heart Formation inheritance and agreed to contemplate it for several days at the pavilion.
• Wei Jianqing and Chang Chunxi led Medicine Valley’s force to Black Crow Cliff but found the Spirit Shaman Clan gone, so Chang Chunxi ordered a hunt throughout Northern Spirit.
• Chang Chunxi destroyed the Spirit Witch God Statue, causing the sinkhole’s mountains to crumble and the earth to split as a raging aura engulfed the group.

Tang Yan’s trap devastated Chang Chunxi’s forces, while Luo Kai and the Star-Gazing Pavilion disciples lost the Formation Point Flag to Tang Yan and were punished by Xu Bai. After spotting Tang Yan on Guest-Welcoming Peak, Luo Kai led the disciples there to reclaim the flag.

• Tang Yan’s explosive trap killed six King Rank Experts and injured many others, prompting Chang Chunxi to put the Spirit Shaman Clan on the Assassination Ranking.
• Luo Kai confessed that he had lost the Formation Point Flag in a wager with Dark Butterfly, and Xu Bai scolded and punished the disciples.
• The disciples noticed lanterns on Guest-Welcoming Peak and spotted Tang Yan sitting beside the stream.
• Luo Kai and Nan Yue led the other disciples up Guest-Welcoming Peak to demand the Formation Point Flag back.

Tang Yan let Luo Kai and the Star-Gazing Pavilion disciples reclaim the Formation Point Flag after they threatened and struck him, but Pavilion Master Xu Bai learned they had assaulted the honored guest. Xu Bai beat the disciples and brought them to Welcoming Guest Peak to apologize, where they knelt and begged Tang Yan to punish them.

• Tang Yan refused to return the Formation Point Flag without an apology, so Luo Kai kicked him into the stream and threatened him until he handed it over.
• Nan Yue gave Tang Yan a gold ingot as compensation, and the disciples returned to the Star-Gazing Platform believing they had resolved the matter.
• Luo Kai told Xu Bai how they had recovered the flag, and Xu Bai realized they had humiliated and struck Tang Yan, the Pavilion's honored guest and the person who opened his grandmaster's Treasure Chest.
• Xu Bai beat Luo Kai and the other disciples, then ordered them to apologize to Tang Yan or remain kneeling on Welcoming Guest Peak.
• Xu Bai brought the bruised disciples to Tang Yan, who feigned surprise as they knelt and pleaded, "Please punish us, Young Master Tang!"

Tang Yan finished studying Guanqi’s handbook and agreed to lecture the Star-Gazing Pavilion on Formation Martial Dao. Meanwhile, Zi Yun’s recurring dream revealed a dragon that claimed to be her, and she awoke with scales, a missing Dragon Pearl, and a growing need for Spiritual Qi; the chapter ended as Tang Yan was introduced to a packed lecture at Preaching Peak.

• Tang Yan dismissed the Star-Gazing Pavilion disciples who had offended him and refused Xu Bai’s offer of the Formation Point Flag, asking that it remain with the pavilion.
• After two days of study, Tang Yan told Xu Bai he had finished Guanqi’s handbook and offered to discuss Formation Martial Dao at a lecture for the pavilion’s learners.
• Zi Yun dreamed that a huge dragon told her, “You are me,” then woke to find her Purple Gold Dragon Pearl gone and scales covering her chest and back.
• Zi Yun felt intense hunger in her Dantian and took three Profound Light Essence Condensation Pills before her Spiritual Qi returned to normal.
• Xu Bai summoned the Star-Gazing Pavilion to Preaching Peak with forty-nine bell tolls and introduced Tang Yan as the guest lecturer who had broken the ancestral master’s formation.

Tang Yan taught the Star-Gazing Pavilion the principles of Formation Martial Dao, leading disciples and elders to gain insights and break through. After Xu Bai and the sect thanked him, Tang Yan departed for Reach the Summit to prepare for the approaching Heavenly Selection Secret Realm.

• Tang Yan explained Formation Martial Dao from its fundamentals, gradually guiding the audience toward its deeper principles.
• Xu Bai activated the Mind-Clarifying Formation, and disciples began gaining insights and advancing in their cultivation.
• Over three days, Tang Yan's teaching captivated the pavilion, and many disciples broke through while Xu Bai's bottleneck began to loosen.
• Tang Yan concluded his lecture, and Xu Bai led the Star-Gazing Pavilion in bowing and thanking him as their teacher.
• Xu Bai promised the pavilion would help Tang Yan if he needed it, then provided him with an Overlord Thunder King Roc.
• Tang Yan bid farewell, mounted the roc, and flew toward Reach the Summit to prepare for the Heavenly Selection Secret Realm.

After returning to the Base, Tang Yan discovered that Zi Yun had grown strange scales, checked her health, and searched for an explanation. The chapter ended with Feng Chenye walking beside a woman in red at Fairy Meng Yao’s residence in Moon God Hall.

• Tang Yan returned to the Base and heard from Fang Xuan that Zi Yun had been collecting pills unusually often.
• Tang Yan secretly entered Zi Yun’s room and saw pale purple scales growing across her back and chest.
• Tang Yan examined Zi Yun and found that her strong blood and qi explained her increased pill consumption, while the scales showed no signs of harm.
• Tang Yan searched the medical books for an explanation but found nothing, then went to refine pills using three Pill Cauldrons.
• Feng Chenye strolled beside a woman in red near the lake at Moon God Hall.

Feng Chenye tried to impress Meng Yao with humor and a declaration of love, but misspoke and was kicked into the lake. After he corrected himself, Meng Yao gathered the literary aura his words produced and invited him to visit again.

• Feng Chenye gave Meng Yao a Black Dragon Jade hairpin and told her he had not written anything new.
• Feng Chenye told Meng Yao a crude joke about distinguishing wolves from dogs, leaving her unimpressed.
• Meng Yao told Feng Chenye that Tang Yan had defeated Heaven-Covering Valley, and Feng Chenye revealed that Tang Yan was his brother.
• When Meng Yao questioned his devotion, Feng Chenye mistakenly declared, “Though there be three thousand waters, you alone are the one I'll whore with!” and she kicked him into the lake.
• Feng Chenye corrected himself with, “Though there be three thousand waters, I would drink but a single ladle!” Meng Yao gathered the literary aura and told him to visit another time.

Tang Yan and Du Shu inspected Du Shu’s new prize-draw machines in Hanguan City before departing for Heaven-Covering Valley. Tang Yan was stunned to discover the machines worked like slot machines, letting customers gamble for Pills.

• Feng Chenye returned to the Fengyun Clan, learned Tang Yan’s gift of twenty secret-realm places included one for him, and accepted his place in the Heavenly Selection Secret Realm.
• Tang Yan prepared to leave for Heaven-Covering Valley with the group, while Fang Xuan and Du Shu stayed behind to manage their responsibilities.
• Du Shu showed Tang Yan the eighty Flowing Cloud Rocs he had bought for Reach the Summit and invited him to visit his new business in Hanguan City.
• Tang Yan and Du Shu diverted to the Reach the Summit Pill Shop, where customers used machines that charged their member cards and awarded random prizes.
• Tang Yan watched one customer win an Origin Qi Pill and realized Du Shu had created a slot machine.

Tang Yan praised Du Shu’s Good Fortune Machines and advised Reach the Summit to recruit small alchemy organizations through training and cooperation. After Du Shu agreed to make a plan, Tang Yan left to catch up with Reach the Summit’s party.

• Du Shu explained the Good Fortune Machines’ draw options and described the Artifact Pavilion’s exclusive ten-year manufacturing agreement with Reach the Summit.
• Tang Yan planned to expand pill shops near allied organizations and asked Fang Xuan to recruit powerful experts, while Du Shu warned that spies and a shortage of Alchemy Masters limited their growth.
• Tang Yan proposed inviting small and medium-sized alchemy organizations to study at Reach the Summit and outsourcing ordinary pill production to them.
• Du Shu recognized that training and cooperating with those organizations could reduce hostility, expand Reach the Summit’s market, and strengthen its workforce.
• Du Shu promised to prepare a plan, and Tang Yan departed on the Overlord Thunder King Roc to catch up with Reach the Summit’s party.

Tang Yan led Reach the Summit to Heaven-Covering Valley for the Heavenly Selection Trial and avoided a fight with the Sword Sect while keeping his group’s morale intact. When the secret realm opened, he led everyone toward its entrance.

• Tang Yan gave Zi Yun nearly a thousand Profound Light Essence Condensation Pills, while she concealed her growing scales and worried about what she might be.
• After three days of travel, Tang Yan brought Reach the Summit to Heaven-Covering Valley and led them toward the secret realm entrance on their flying mounts.
• Tang Yan confronted Zhu Zhao of the Sword Sect at the Spirit Beast Boarding Station and answered his demand to yield with a sarcastic offer to go first.
• A Desolate Clan leader ordered the groups to land, and Zhu Zhao took the Sword Sect down while onlookers mistakenly thought Reach the Summit had backed down.
• Rosy light rose from the abyss and formed the secret realm’s entrance, and Tang Yan led Reach the Summit toward it.

Tang Yan and the members of Reach the Summit entered the Heavenly Selection Secret Realm and advanced together. Elsewhere, the imprisoned sovereigns prepared to send their inheritances into the realm as the Human Emperor’s restraints weakened, and the Nine-Tailed Fox sent out red fruits.

• Tang Yan found himself in the secret realm with Reach the Summit, while the other factions had been transported elsewhere.
• Tang Yan led his group forward together to seek the secret realm’s opportunities.
• The imprisoned Nine-Tailed Fox, Dragon Lord, Ancestral God, Gu God, and Blood God discussed the weakening Human Emperor’s prohibition and their plans to send out inheritances.
• The sovereigns sensed Zi Yun’s faint Dragon Clan aura, prompting the Dragon Lord to celebrate the possibility of his clan rising first.
• The Nine-Tailed Fox sent a red fruit out of the hall, causing identical fruits to appear on plants throughout the secret realm’s outer edges.

The Nine-Tailed Fox scattered red fruits and lesser treasures to keep the trial participants from recognizing the value of the Demon Race’s inheritance power. Tang Yan and Zi Yun ignored the passing treasures and stayed behind to devour the fruits, while the others followed the Magic Treasures and Dao Resonance.

• The Nine-Tailed Fox explained that the red fruits contained inheritance power that vanished soon after picking, then won the other demon kings’ praise for using worthless treasures to distract the trial participants.
• The trial participants discovered that the red fruits could not be gathered with Spirit Power or kept in storage, and most quickly lost interest in them.
• Tang Yan ate a red fruit after the Heaven-Earth Creation Cauldron reacted to it, and the cauldron absorbed its Spiritual Qi and returned a little Spirit Power.
• When Magic Treasures and Dao Resonance flew past, Tang Yan told Su Ruyan to lead the main group and advised the others to travel in teams.
• Tang Yan and Zi Yun stayed behind to eat the fruits; Tang Yan showed Zi Yun how to sweep them into her mouth, and soon they were harvesting the trees together.

Tang Yan and Zi Yun discovered that the red fruits granted powerful abilities, then summoned Reach the Summit and other Trial participants to share them. Their offer enraged the crowd, and a blue-green figure confronted Tang Yan as he prepared to defend his faction.

• The Nine-Tailed Fox grew furious when Tang Yan and Zi Yun devoured her red fruits, while the Four Kings discussed the Dragon Clan’s potential threat.
• After a day of eating fruit, Tang Yan gained the Illusory Form Technique, and Zi Yun revealed that she had gained a Charm Technique.
• Tang Yan impersonated Zi Yun’s father to tease her, then explained his new ability and agreed to summon Reach the Summit members to collect the fruit.
• Tang Yan called nearby Trial participants to join in gathering the fruit, but they cursed him for drawing them away from their searches.
• A blue-green figure appeared before the crowd and challenged Tang Yan for luring everyone there over fruit.

Tang Yan faced Zhu Zhao’s accusation over the signal flare and accepted a day of picking and eating red fruit to avoid provoking a broader conflict. After the other factions left, Tang Yan invited Shen He, Lin Dongxue, and Wan Fei to stay with Reach the Summit, while the story left his reason for doing so unstated.

• Zhu Zhao demanded that Tang Yan kneel and apologize, but Tang Yan challenged his authority and defended setting off the signal flare.
• Nan Yue and Luo Kai tried to stop Zhu Zhao’s attack, and Gu Xingchen intervened on Tang Yan’s behalf.
• Zhu Zhao spared Tang Yan but demanded that Reach the Summit pick and eat red fruit for an entire day, threatening the faction if they stopped early.
• Tang Yan ordered Reach the Summit to pick and eat the fruit, and Yu Juechen, Yang Jiayi, Jing Wuhen, and the others eagerly joined in.
• Nan Yue gave Tang Yan a Star-Gazing Pavilion signal flare and left with her group; Gu Xingchen also departed with the Artifact Pavilion members.
• Tang Yan asked Shen He, Lin Dongxue, and Wan Fei to stay with Reach the Summit, and all three agreed.

Tang Yan and his companions gained cultivation breakthroughs by eating the red fruit, while the Dragon Lord secretly sent inheritances and concealed one near the Heavenly Arms Mine. After the group found the sealed mine and Tang Yan studied a mural depicting ancient races threatening humanity, he took out a brush beside the wall.

• Tang Yan told his companions to keep the red fruit’s benefits secret, and after two days of eating it, they gained divine abilities, cultivation breakthroughs, and sharper minds while Tang Yan reached Second Grade King Rank.
• The Dragon Lord sent golden inheritances into the secret realm and released a little dragon, explaining that he had hidden some treasures near Spirit Ore deposits to protect his clanswoman.
• Tang Yan led the group after a golden streak to the Heavenly Arms Mine, where Qin Zeyu was injured when his attack rebounded from the sealed stone gate.
• Tang Yan examined a mural showing five nonhuman races and humans facing them in fear, then took a brush from his Storage Ring beside a smooth section of wall.

Tang Yan opened the Human Emperor’s Heavenly Arms Mine Cave by writing a verse on its stone wall, then entered and discovered valuable heavenly edge ore. He offered to let others enter for payment and half their mined ore, and instructed Zi Yun to bring the Reach the Summit members inside.

• Tang Yan disguised himself, wrote a verse on the stone wall, and opened the mine cave, awakening the Human Emperor’s statue and drawing the five kings’ attention.
• Tang Yan passed through the barrier, forged a mining pickaxe, and uncovered heavenly edge ore inside the cave.
• Tang Yan emerged and offered entry to the mine cave in exchange for spirit herbs and half of each person’s mined ore.
• Tang Yan secretly told Zi Yun to pretend to accept his terms and bring the Reach the Summit members inside.
• Zi Yun handed Tang Yan a storage pouch and named the herbs and number of members; Tang Yan approved and told her to take them inside.

Tang Yan drew cultivators into the Heavenly Arms Mine Cave, where he sold them mining picks for a share of their ore. Zi Yun’s entry into the cave trapped the Golden Dragon inheritance outside, while Nan Yue and Luo Kai discovered another mine cave and began exploring it.

• Tang Yan persuaded cultivators to pay to enter the Heavenly Arms Mine Cave, then sold mining picks in exchange for twenty percent of their ore.
• Zi Yun acted impatient and obtained eighty-three picks for Reach the Summit, whose members began mining Heavenly Edge Ore alongside the other entrants.
• Tang Yan left to investigate other mine caves, and the Golden Dragon inheritance crashed into the cave’s barrier before fleeing from the cultivators who tried to catch it.
• The Dragon Lord realized the inheritance could not reach Zi Yun inside the cave, while the other four kings mocked his misfortune.
• Nan Yue and Luo Kai entered a different cave and found a mine, where Luo Kai swung his costly hoe into the rock wall.