Chapter Summaries

Du Shu persuaded Tian Zhicheng to send the Yang Pill Sect’s alchemy masters to Reach the Summit for free training, promising that improved upper-grade pill production would enable cooperation rather than ruin. Tian Zhicheng agreed to attend the Reach the Summit Academy, while Du Shu left to negotiate with another faction in Lan City.

• Tian Zhicheng questioned Du Shu’s offer to buy the Yang Pill Sect’s upper-grade pills at eighty percent of the regular price, and Du Shu explained that Reach the Summit would reserve the ordinary-pill market for local powers.
• Tian Zhicheng objected that the deal would leave the Yang Pill Sect stuck with lower-grade pills and threatened to use other means, but Du Shu reminded him of Reach the Summit’s powerful allies.
• Du Shu offered free alchemy training at Reach the Summit, with the Yang Pill Sect covering its own ingredient costs, and said the course could raise its upper-grade success rate above eighty percent.
• Tian Zhicheng accepted the offer after checking the ingredient list and received a token, agreeing to bring the Yang Pill Sect’s alchemy masters to the Southern Wilderness in five days.
• Du Shu told Tian Zhicheng that a few dozen sects and more than five thousand people were expected to study, then departed on the Overlord Thunder King Roc for Lan City.

Tang Yan returned to Reach the Summit as its preparations for a large-scale pill instruction began, while the Star-Gazing Pavilion and Artifact Pavilion learned how much they owed him. The chapter left the Artifact Pavilion preparing to halt ordinary orders so Shen Shan could forge with Tang Yan’s supreme-grade ores.

• Tang Yan praised Fang Xuan’s plan to hold a group class for local pill factions and learned that Su had returned at King Rank, Second Grade.
• Nan Yue told Xu Bai that Tang Yan had saved the Star-Gazing Pavilion disciples from Xiang Yun, and the sect decided to keep the matter secret while Xu Bai sought justice in secret.
• Luo Kai regretted his past treatment of Tang Yan after realizing Tang Yan had saved him and helped the Star-Gazing Pavilion without seeking repayment.
• Shen Shan and Shen Tan welcomed the returning Artifact Pavilion disciples, and Shen Shan praised their progress, including Lin Dongxue’s comprehension of the Sentimental Dao.
• Shen Tan discovered Heavenly Edge Ore and Five Elements Essence among the materials Tang Yan had sent, prompting Shen Shan to take over the forging and the Artifact Pavilion to suspend Mystic Weapon orders.

Zhu Zhao returned to the Sword Sect and accused Medicine Valley of massacring its disciples, while Medicine Valley suspected the Sword Sect was tied to the Spirit Shaman Clan. Feng Chenye learned that Meng Yao had left for a perilous mission and vowed to find her, even at the risk of death.

• Zhu Zhao told Meng Tingxiao that Yan Xu and Medicine Valley had killed the Sword Sect disciples in the Secret Realm, prompting Meng Tingxiao and the elders to march on Medicine Valley.
• Yan Xu reported the deaths of fifteen Medicine Valley disciples and described Zhu Zhao’s Moonshadow Sword and ability to vanish, leading Qin Donghai and the elders to suspect the Sword Sect was connected to the Spirit Shaman Clan.
• The Grand Elder persuaded Qin Donghai to wait two days for the Sword Sect to demand an explanation before deciding whether to summon allies and attack.
• Feng Chenye went to Moon God Hall to celebrate his achievements with Meng Yao, but a maid gave him Meng Yao’s letter and jade pendant instead.
• Feng Chenye learned that Meng Yao had gone to her school on a journey she considered likely to be fatal, then vowed he was not afraid to die as he cried out for her.

Meng Yao severed her connection with Feng Chenye, while Tang Yan began restoring Zhu Jingkong and Lei Yu’s strength. The Sword Sect attacked Medicine Valley over the deaths of its disciples, and the battle stopped only when Yao Zhonglou appeared.

• Meng Yao crushed the conch after hearing Feng Chenye’s devotion, ending their connection rather than letting him risk his life for her.
• Tang Yan brought Zhu Jingkong and Lei Yu to the Reach the Summit Forbidden Ground and used Nurturing Nether Spirit Flame to nourish their damaged souls.
• Meng Tingxiao and the Sword Sect experts shattered Medicine Valley’s Mountain-Guarding Formation and attacked its elders over the deaths of a hundred disciples.
• Qin Donghai accused the Sword Sect of colluding with the Spirit Shaman Clan and demanded to search Zhu Zhao’s soul, while Meng Tingxiao denied the charges and fought back.
• Yao Zhonglou appeared at Qin Donghai’s call and ordered everyone to stop fighting.

Medicine Valley admitted its role in the Sword Sect massacre and agreed to double its compensation, while Meng Tingxiao left determined to remember the blood debt. At Reach the Summit, Tang Yan prepared to teach visiting Alchemy Masters techniques that would make them want to join the organization.

• Meng Tingxiao and Yao Zhonglou examined Zhu Zhao's and Yan Xu's memories, confirming Zhu Zhao had been framed and that Medicine Valley's actions had killed ninety-nine Sword Sect disciples.
• Yao Zhonglou offered compensation and an alliance, and Meng Tingxiao negotiated for twice the number of pills before leaving with the Sword Sect elders.
• Meng Tingxiao told the elders they had to endure Medicine Valley's power for now and preserve the humiliation as a blood debt to repay if an opportunity arose.
• Fang Xuan reported that 6,200 students would begin instruction at Reach the Summit the next day, and Tang Yan agreed to open the first session.
• Tang Yan explained that teaching Alchemy Masters reliable upper-grade pill techniques would help them grow and eventually make them desire to join Reach the Summit.

Tang Yan addressed the Alchemy Masters gathered for Reach the Summit’s free Pill Dao lessons, explaining the group’s plans and demonstrating its alchemy techniques. He astonished the students by purifying ingredients in ten cauldrons at once and prepared to demonstrate Pill Fusion.

• Fang Xuan explained that the short course would attract Alchemy Masters and introduce them to Reach the Summit’s ideals.
• Tang Yan introduced Reach the Summit’s leaders and Alchemy Masters, then explained that the lessons aimed to ease tensions and establish cooperation with local factions.
• Tang Yan promised the lessons were free apart from the cost of medicinal ingredients and said Reach the Summit’s high success rate came from its techniques and refining methods.
• Tang Yan used ten Mystic Crystal Cauldrons to demonstrate refining a fourth-tier Soul-Moistening Pill while explaining how to purify and order ingredients.
• Tang Yan purified all eighty-one ingredients in a quarter of an hour, urged the students to practice their fundamentals, and began to introduce Pill Fusion.

Tang Yan demonstrated alchemy and organized Reach the Summit’s lessons, while Xu Bai accepted Medicine Valley’s request for a new defensive formation and secretly studied how to turn it into a killing formation. Zi Yun’s dragon-like transformation accelerated, but Fang Xuan’s unchanged kindness reassured her as she feared losing her human appearance.

• Tang Yan refined a hundred upper-grade pills across ten cauldrons, explained his methods, and laid out Reach the Summit’s alchemy teaching plan.
• Fang Xuan assigned Alchemy Masters to teach the students their fundamentals, and Tang Yan left once the lessons were underway.
• Chang Chunxi asked Xu Bai to build Medicine Valley a formation able to withstand a hundred Saint Level experts, and Xu Bai agreed to deliver it in seven days.
• Xu Bai selected texts about concealing killing formations and exploiting Mountain-Guarding Formation vulnerabilities, then began studying them.
• Zi Yun heard dragon roars, gained a cultivation art, advanced to Xiantian Seventh Grade, and found that her scales were growing as she feared she might lose her human appearance.
• Zi Yun tested Fang Xuan by swallowing five pills in front of him; his concern and offer of more pills convinced her that her friends still treated her as before.

Xu Bai and the Star-Gazing Pavilion built a powerful Mountain-Guarding Formation for Medicine Valley, which Yao Zhonglou tested and approved. On the journey home, the elders discovered that Xu Bai had deliberately made the formation capable of trapping and destroying Medicine Valley.

• Reach the Summit's instructors explained how alchemy masters could gain access to advanced formulas and guidance through contribution points, stirring envy among the students.
• Xu Bai proposed a two-layer defensive formation for Medicine Valley, with tracking attacks strengthened to threaten Lord Rank experts for triple the price, and Qin Donghai signed the contract.
• Xu Bai and six Star-Gazing Pavilion elders spent three days setting up the formation above Medicine Valley.
• Yao Zhonglou tested the formation, breaking through its outer defense but failing to penetrate its inner shield, then clashing with its tracking attacks before praising the Star-Gazing Pavilion.
• As the Star-Gazing Pavilion members departed, the elders noticed flaws that could trap people inside Medicine Valley and let the Killing Formation attack the valley.
• Xu Bai confirmed that the formation could be used to raze Medicine Valley, shocking the six elders.

Fang Xuan discovered that Qiu Feng and Tao Yuchan were missing, then found Qiu Feng dead and used Zhu Chen’s secret art to investigate his final memories. The chapter ended with Qiu Feng refusing Tao Yuchan’s request to leave Reach the Summit, just as Zhu Chen recognized her seductive behavior as a Charm Technique.

• Xu Bai warned the elders that Medicine Valley might provoke another conflict and said the pavilion’s existing formations could serve as a contingency.
• Qin Yue'er told Fang Xuan that Qiu Feng and Tao Yuchan had vanished after leaving Reach the Summit the previous evening.
• Fang Xuan asked Zhu Chen to track the missing pair using their belongings, and Zhu Chen sensed Qiu Feng northwest but could not locate Tao Yuchan.
• Fang Xuan and the others found Qiu Feng dead in a gorge, with a fatal cut across his neck and his body badly broken.
• Zhu Chen used a secret art to reveal Qiu Feng’s memories, showing Tao Yuchan trying to persuade him to leave Reach the Summit and asking for the Spirit Transformation Pill formula.
• Zhu Chen recognized Tao Yuchan’s seductive behavior as a Charm Technique.

Tao Yuchan used her Charm Technique to steal Qiu Feng’s Spirit Transformation Pill formula, then killed him, prompting Fang Xuan to order an investigation and a thirty-billion-tael bounty. Three days later, Tang Yan learned of Qiu Feng’s death and demanded to know who had killed him.

• Tao Yuchan manipulated Qiu Feng into revealing the Spirit Transformation Pill formula, then slit his throat and left him to die.
• Fang Xuan ordered Qiu Feng’s body sent home, called Wind-Chasing Hall to investigate Tao Yuchan and possible spies, and placed a thirty-billion-tael bounty on her alive.
• Fang Xuan reflected that Reach the Summit lacked experienced, trustworthy people and the time to strengthen its foundations.
• Tang Yan helped Lei Yu and Zhu Jingkong continue recovering, then learned from Yu Juechen that Qiu Feng had been killed.
• Tang Yan remembered Qiu Feng’s years with Reach the Summit and demanded to know who had killed him.

After Qiu Feng’s murder was exposed, Fang Xuan announced a massive bounty for Tao Yuchan and outlined investigations into Windfire Ridge and possible spies within Reach the Summit. Tang Yan arranged Qiu Feng’s funeral, then set out to investigate Windfire Ridge in person with help from the Spirit Shaman Clan.

• Fang Xuan showed Qiu Feng’s extracted memories to Reach the Summit’s core members, confirming Tao Yuchan had murdered him and fled.
• Fang Xuan revealed a thirty-billion-tael bounty on Tao Yuchan and said Wind-Chasing Hall was investigating Windfire Ridge and Reach the Summit for spies.
• Tang Yan read intelligence about Windfire Ridge’s strength and decided to travel to the Eastern Continent to investigate Tao Yuchan himself.
• Reach the Summit held a funeral for Qiu Feng, and Yu Juechen and Wu Xian took his remains to the Qiu family in Tingxiang.
• Tang Yan asked Zhu Jingkong for a spirit shaman who could track someone through an object; Zhu Jingkong assigned Baoyi to accompany him.
• Tang Yan departed on the Overlord Thunder King Roc, while Zhu Jingkong explained that Baoyi would be safer traveling with him.

Tang Yan brought Zhu Baoyi to Windfire Ridge to track down Tao Yuchan, the spy who had murdered Reach the Summit’s Alchemy Masters. After completing the viscera stage of the Five Elements Tyrant Body Art, he followed Zhu Baoyi’s tracking to a secluded courtyard and found Tao Yuchan with a man.

• Tang Yan collected Zhu Baoyi in Yeshan City and explained that he needed her secret art to locate Tao Yuchan.
• While Zhu Baoyi considered his cultivation advice, Tang Yan completed the viscera-tempering stage of the Five Elements Tyrant Body Art and tested its defenses against her punches and an iron rod.
• Tang Yan and Zhu Baoyi reached Windfire Ridge, where Zhu Baoyi used Tao Yuchan’s hair to sense that she was inside the ridge and pinpoint her direction.
• Tang Yan concealed himself with the Heaven Concealing Garment, slipped past the mountain guards, and used the Stars-Shifting Array to enter a courtyard building.
• Tang Yan found Tao Yuchan on a bed with a man.

Tang Yan uncovered Windfire Ridge’s scheme to steal Reach the Summit’s pill formulas, captured Tao Yuchan, and returned to the Southern Wilderness. Meanwhile, Gong Zhang and four others arrived at Reach the Summit to demand a meeting, where Lei Yu and Zhu Jingkong prepared to face them.

• Tang Yan knocked out Gu Changquan and Tao Yuchan, then used the Soul-Thought Gu to learn that Windfire Ridge had arranged Tao Yuchan’s theft of the Spirit Transformation Pill formula and that its core leadership knew the formula.
• Tang Yan took Tao Yuchan to Zhu Baoyi and returned with him to the Southern Wilderness, declaring that the matter was not over.
• Gong Zhang and four Windfire Ridge members arrived at Reach the Summit and insisted on meeting its Gang Leader.
• A guard guided the visitors inside and Qian Tu fired a Guest-Welcoming Flare to alert the sect.
• Fang Xuan gathered people at the Front Peak as Lei Yu and Zhu Jingkong headed there to meet the visitors.

Tang Yan turned Gong Zhang’s demand for compensation over Reach the Summit’s bounty into an ambush in a prepared valley. He left Gong Zhang resisting a formation while taking control of the four injured King Rank martial artists.

• Gong Zhang demanded that Reach the Summit withdraw its bounty on Tao Yuchan, avoid placing another for three years, and compensate Windfire Ridge; Fang Xuan stalled until Tang Yan arrived.
• Tang Yan offered Gong Zhang a grand gift and led the Windfire Ridge delegation to a valley suited for combat.
• Tang Yan surprised the five visitors with a sword strike that injured the four King Rank martial artists, then trapped them in the Heaven and Earth Great Millstone formation.
• Tang Yan’s Soul-Thought Gu entered the four injured martial artists’ minds and brought them under his control.
• Gong Zhang resisted the formation as it began to break, and Tang Yan asked whether he was satisfied with the gift.

Tang Yan fought Gong Zhang, seized control of his Dragon-Winding Saber, and defeated him with the help of his subordinates’ foolish delay. He implanted a Soul-Thought Gu in Gong Zhang and brought all five Windfire Ridge men under Reach the Summit’s control, then Fang Xuan prepared to assign them duties.

• Tang Yan used Gong Zhang’s attacks to temper his body until Gong Zhang unleashed his Dragon-Winding Saber and wounded Tang Yan’s shoulder.
• Tang Yan weakened Gong Zhang with the Divine Soul-Seizing Art, captured the Dragon-Winding Saber with the Spirit-Seizing Art, and sealed it inside his body.
• Gong Zhang tried to retreat, but his four subordinates delayed; Tang Yan stopped holding back and overwhelmed Gong Zhang while the four watched and cheered.
• Tang Yan implanted a Soul-Thought Gu in Gong Zhang, returned the Dragon-Winding Saber, and had the five men state their names, cultivation ranks, and alchemy tiers.
• Tang Yan told Fang Xuan that the five Windfire Ridge men were loyal to Reach the Summit and could be assigned duties; Lei Yu and Zhu Jingkong were moved by Tang Yan’s trust and sincerity.
• Fang Xuan asked Tang Yan how his investigation had gone.

Tang Yan confirmed that Windfire Ridge had arranged the plot involving Tao Yuchan and prepared to gather allies to demand an explanation. He discovered a hostile, sovereign aura hidden in Zi Yun’s sea of consciousness, warned her to guard against it, and then left for the Artifact Pavilion.

• Tang Yan told Fang Xuan that Windfire Ridge was behind the setup and planned to rally allies to confront the sect, while leaving Gong Zhang at Reach the Summit to refine pills.
• Tang Yan refined Profound Light Essence Condensation Pills and secretly observed Zi Yun cultivating, noticing that purple-gold scales had spread across her body.
• Tang Yan examined Zi Yun and found a powerful aura in her sea of consciousness that rejected the Human Clan; when he approached it, Zi Yun suffered a stabbing pain in her head.
• Tang Yan warned Zi Yun to watch for changes in her consciousness, then left for the Artifact Pavilion on the Overlord Thunder King Roc with Little Dot asleep on his head.
• Zi Yun caught Little Dot after Tang Yan kicked it toward her, then joined in tossing the playful creature into the air.

Tang Yan gathered allies from five factions and confronted Windfire Ridge over its theft of Reach the Summit’s pill formula and Tao Yuchan’s murder. Xu Bai publicly revealed Tao Yuchan’s memories, leaving Gu Yuanqing to defend Windfire Ridge’s actions before the gathered factions.

• Tang Yan asked Shen Tan for Artifact Pavilion support, and they agreed to target Gu Yuanqing without demanding major compensation.
• Tang Yan secured support from the Star-Gazing Pavilion, Fengyun Clan, Su Family, and Lan Family, whose experts joined the Artifact Pavilion at Zhen Cang Mountain.
• Gu Yuanqing gathered Windfire Ridge’s allies, including the Overlord Spear Sect, as Tang Yan’s coalition approached with one Saint Level expert, thirty-two Lord Rank experts, and two hundred and thirty King Rank experts.
• Tang Yan accused Windfire Ridge of stealing Reach the Summit’s pill formula and murdering a member, then presented the captured Tao Yuchan.
• Xu Bai used the Soul-Searching Pearl to display Tao Yuchan’s memories, exposing Windfire Ridge’s plot before the gathered factions.
• Gu Yuanqing defended the scheme as the law of the strong and accused Tang Yan of using righteousness to disguise an attempt to bully Windfire Ridge with superior numbers.

Tang Yan agreed to duel Gu Yuanqing to settle Windfire Ridge’s feud with Reach the Summit, while imposing terms that barred Gu Yuanqing from using his natal god. The fight began with Tang Yan attacking, leaving the outcome unresolved.

• Xu Bai and Feng Yongjian condemned Gu Yuanqing’s conduct, while Shen Jihong offered to settle the dispute if Gu Yuanqing endured ten moves from him.
• Gu Yuanqing rejected Shen Jihong’s proposal and challenged Tang Yan to a duel, prompting Shen Jihong and Xu Bai to unleash their power.
• Tang Yan accepted the duel and required Gu Yuanqing to forgo his natal god and continue until Tang Yan called a halt; Gu Yuanqing agreed.
• Zhuang Zhile and the others agreed to witness the duel, and both sides withdrew as Tang Yan and Gu Yuanqing faced each other.
• Tang Yan drew the Wuxie Sword, gathered spirit power, and sent a white dragon of Sword Qi roaring toward Gu Yuanqing.

Tang Yan fought Gu Yuanqing while concealing a formation within the battlefield, then used Gu Yuanqing’s final attack to exhaust him and trigger the trap. Gu Yuanqing was caught in the formation’s crushing force, leaving the fight’s outcome in Tang Yan’s hands.

• Gu Yuanqing attacked Tang Yan with his saber, and Tang Yan used Phantom Shadow Steps and targeted weak points in the blade aura to survive their exchanges.
• Gu Yuanqing unleashed Annihilation, and Tang Yan answered with All Living Beings, but their clash left him battered and vulnerable.
• Gu Yuanqing struck Tang Yan over the heart, but Tang Yan stayed on his feet as hidden formation points lit up across the battlefield.
• The formation trapped Gu Yuanqing in twisting space and crushing force after he had spent his remaining strength.
• Xu Bai realized Tang Yan had concealed the formation in the battlefield and deliberately used himself as bait to leave Gu Yuanqing unable to escape.

Tang Yan defeated Gu Yuanqing with successive formations after Gu Yuanqing broke their agreement and used his Natal God, then forced Windfire Ridge to submit to Reach the Summit. After promising to improve the Ridge’s alchemy and protect it, Tang Yan began secretly bringing its elders under his control.

• Tang Yan let Gu Yuanqing escape one formation only to trap him in another, where the crushing force shattered his bones.
• As Tang Yan approached with his sword, Gu Yuanqing swore that Windfire Ridge would submit to Reach the Summit, and Tang Yan spared him and announced the Ridge’s new status.
• Tang Yan promised to train Windfire Ridge’s Alchemy Masters, improve its pills, and preserve its existing cooperation with other sects.
• Gu Yuanqing took Tang Yan and Xu Bai to a secret chamber, where Tang Yan knocked out Gu Hang and brought him under his control.
• Tang Yan ordered Gu Hang to summon the Second Elder, while Xu Bai wondered about Tang Yan’s mind control and formation abilities.