Chapter Summaries

After thirty thousand years as Su Qingxue’s disciple, Xiao Chen was finally ordered to leave and return to his birthplace on the Dou Qi Continent. He departed with a Purple-Gold Bracelet and permission to take the Golden Emperor Dragon, while Su Qingxue remained behind.

• Su Qingxue told Xiao Chen that she had endured thirty thousand years of his troublemaking and ordered him to leave.
• Su Qingxue gave Xiao Chen directions to Wutan City in the Jia Ma Empire, where his Xiao Clan bloodline still survived.
• Xiao Chen accepted his departure and asked Su Qingxue for a parting gift; she gave him a Purple-Gold Bracelet filled with treasures suited to his world.
• Xiao Chen asked to take the Golden Emperor Dragon from the Starlight Origin Forest as a bodyguard, and Su Qingxue agreed if the dragon was willing.
• Xiao Chen said goodbye to Su Qingxue and left happily, while she watched him go.

At the Xiao Clan, Nalan Yanran demanded that Xiao Yan dissolve their engagement, but Xiao Yan refused and challenged her to wait three years. Xiao Chen appeared and revealed himself as the Xiao Clan's ancestor, leaving the gathered Misty Cloud Sect members stunned when Xiao Zhan said he had left the clan thirty thousand years earlier.

• Ge Ye asked Xiao Zhan to dissolve Xiao Yan and Nalan Yanran's engagement and offered Qi Gathering Powder as compensation.
• Xiao Yan rejected the offer, defended his father's dignity, and refused to accept Nalan Yanran's terms for ending the engagement.
• Nalan Yanran proposed a duel in three years, and Xiao Yan accepted the challenge while warning her not to scorn him for his current weakness.
• Xiao Chen entered the hall, resisted Ge Ye's aura, and identified himself as a member of the Xiao Clan.
• Xiao Zhan recognized Xiao Chen as the clan's ancestor, and the Xiao Clan members knelt to pay their respects.
• Xiao Zhan revealed that Xiao Chen had left the Xiao Clan thirty thousand years ago, shocking Nalan Yanran and Ge Ye.

Xiao Chen stopped Nalan Yanran and Ge Ye from bullying the Xiao Clan, then allowed Xiao Yan to expel Nalan Yanran from the clan in a blood-signed contract. After the visitors left, Xiao Chen promised to help the Xiao Clan grow stronger and asked Xiao Zhan to explain how the clan had ended up in the Northwest Region.

• Xiao Chen told Nalan Yanran he would not kill her and urged Xiao Yan to act boldly.
• Xiao Yan signed a bloodstained contract expelling Nalan Yanran from the Xiao Clan, then knelt before Xiao Zhan and vowed to clear his father's humiliation in three years.
• Xiao Zhan and Xiao Chen sent Nalan Yanran, Ge Ye, and the young man away, and Xiao Chen warned Nalan Yanran not to rely on the Misty Cloud Sect to act without restraint.
• Xiao Chen praised Xiao Yan, declared that the Xiao Clan would rise again, and told the clan members that they would have to strengthen themselves rather than rely on him to fight.
• After everyone else left, Xiao Chen asked Xiao Zhan how the Xiao Clan had come to the Northwest Region, and Xiao Zhan began recounting a great battle from a thousand years earlier.

Xiao Chen gave the Xiao Clan a Storage Ring full of powerful resources and offered to guide Xiao Yan, then revealed that the black ring was behind Xiao Yan’s lost Dou Qi. Yao Lao emerged from the ring and admitted absorbing Xiao Yan’s Dou Qi, leaving Xiao Yan and Yao Lao to face Xiao Chen’s return.

• Xiao Chen gave Xiao Zhan a Storage Ring filled with high-ranking cultivation methods, Dou Techniques, weapons, and treasures, and Xiao Zhan passed it to Xiao Yan.
• Xiao Chen offered to guide Xiao Yan and recounted how Xiao Yan’s Dou Qi Vortex had vanished three years earlier.
• Xiao Chen healed Xiao Yan’s palm, identified the black ring as the cause of his lost Dou Qi, and ordered its inhabitant to come out.
• Yao Lao emerged from the ring, and Xiao Yan learned that Yao Lao had absorbed his Dou Qi for three years.
• Xiao Yan angrily threw the ring down, then calmed when Yao Lao promised not to absorb his Dou Qi again without permission.
• Xiao Chen returned to the hall as Yao Lao braced himself and Xiao Yan reacted skeptically to Yao Lao’s explanation.

Xiao Chen spared Yao Lao and arranged for him to become Xiao Yan’s master, while assigning him to teach Xiao Yan alchemy and the Flame Mantra. After settling into the Xiao Clan’s residence, Xiao Chen received the Tou She Ancient God Jade Fragment and a mysterious golden sheet from Xiao Zhan, which formed an unknown connection with him.

• Xiao Chen revealed that he could see Yao Lao’s memories and told him to teach Xiao Yan everything he knew.
• Yao Lao asked Xiao Yan if he wanted to become an alchemist, then accepted him as his disciple after Xiao Yan learned he met the requirements.
• Xiao Chen declared Yao Lao an official member of the Xiao Clan and told him to teach Xiao Yan alchemy and the Flame Mantra.
• Xiao Chen went to the residence Xiao Zhan had prepared, and Xiao Zhan brought him the Tou She Ancient God Jade Fragment and a jade box left under an ancestral instruction.
• Xiao Chen opened the box, found a golden sheet inside, and sensed a mysterious connection forming between it and himself.

Xiao Chen discovered that the Golden Paper from his birth had been preventing him from cultivating, and it transformed inside his body, allowing him to absorb Dou Qi for the first time. As he practiced the Primordial Chaos Great Beginning Scripture, he drew in energy across Wutan City and beyond, leaving Little Gold and the city’s cultivators alarmed.

• Xiao Zhan told Xiao Chen that the Golden Paper had fallen from his chest at birth and that two beads, one black and one white, had also been lost.
• The Golden Paper turned into golden liquid, entered Xiao Chen’s chest, and awakened his ability to sense and absorb Dou Qi.
• A golden light revealed the Primordial Chaos Great Beginning Scripture, and Xiao Chen began cultivating with it.
• Little Gold sensed Xiao Chen’s cultivation and feared the trouble he could cause once he gained power.
• Cultivators across Wutan City noticed Dou Qi gathering at the Xiao Clan, while the Xiao Clan members celebrated and the Jia Lie Family and Ao Ba Family grew concerned.
• Xiao Chen’s absorption spread beyond Wutan City, and Little Gold worried that the enormous amount of Dou Qi would overwhelm him.

The sudden disappearance of Dou Qi in Wutan City prompted nearby powers to investigate, while Nalan Yanran and Ge Ye suspected Xiao Chen was announcing the Xiao Clan's return. Xiao Chen discovered that he had reached One-Star Dou Shi but could not absorb more Dou Qi, and Little Gold recognized that his combat strength far exceeded his cultivation; Xiao Chen resolved to seek the black and white beads.

• Lu Mingfei and Xu Yong agreed to investigate the disappearance of Dou Qi in Wutan City and Floating Ink City.
• Nalan Yanran and Ge Ye concluded that Xiao Chen had caused the disturbance as a warning and a show of the Xiao Clan's strength.
• Nalan Yanran asked whether her broken relationship with the Xiao Clan could be salvaged, and Ge Ye sent her back to consult her family while he returned to the Misty Cloud Sect.
• Xiao Chen stopped cultivating after reaching his body's absorption limit and discovered he had advanced to One-Star Dou Shi.
• Little Gold tested Xiao Chen's fighting strength and found that his punch could threaten even an ordinary Dou Ling despite his low cultivation.
• Xiao Chen suspected the black and white beads were behind his cultivation problems and decided to find them.

Xiao Chen began guiding Xiao Yan’s cultivation and introduced him to the Eternal Rank Northern Darkness Supreme Profound Art, while the Xiao Clan rapidly grew stronger under his leadership. Half a month later, the Jia Lie and Ao Ba families speculated that a treasure had caused the strange disturbance at the Xiao Clan.

• Xiao Chen sensed that his teacher might be nearby, then Little Gold left as Xiao Yan approached.
• Xiao Chen told Xiao Yan that Little Gold was a Snake King and chose him to cultivate by his side as a future leader of the Xiao Clan.
• Xiao Chen gave Xiao Yan pills and taught him the Eternal Rank Northern Darkness Supreme Profound Art, which allowed multiple cultivation methods to be practiced at once.
• Xiao Chen urged Xiao Yan to look beyond the Dou Qi Continent and dismiss the Three-Year Agreement as unimportant.
• Xiao Chen’s return spurred the Xiao Clan to summon its members and cultivate with the resources he had brought back, greatly strengthening the clan over half a month.
• Jia Lie Bi and Oba Pa discussed the Xiao Clan’s strange Dou Qi-draining disturbance and concluded that a treasure was involved.

After half a month of cultivation with Xiao Chen’s resources, Xiao Yan advanced from three-stage Dou Qi to Dou Zhe, while the Xiao Clan grew far stronger. When Jia Lie Bi and Oba Pa joined forces to attack the clan, Xiao Chen told Xiao Zhan they had nothing to fear, leaving Xiao Zhan reconsidering the threat.

• Jia Lie Bi and Oba Pa concluded that the Xiao Clan had acquired a cultivation treasure and agreed to join forces to seize it.
• Xiao Yan successfully condensed a Dou Qi vortex and advanced to Dou Zhe after half a month of cultivation under Xiao Chen.
• Xiao Chen told Xiao Yan that powerful youths could reach Dou Wang at seventeen through family resources and urged him to see the wider world.
• Xiao Zhan reported that the Jia Lie Family and the Ao Ba Family had joined forces and appeared to be targeting the Xiao Clan.
• Xiao Zhan described the Xiao Clan’s rapid gains in strength, and Xiao Chen told him not to worry about the two families.

The Jia Lie Family and Ao Ba Family invaded the Xiao Clan, demanding a supposed treasure linked to the disappearance of Wutan City's Dou Qi. Xiao Chen revealed himself as the Xiao Clan's ancestor, urged Xiao Zhan to fight ruthlessly, and left the invaders shaken.

• Jia Lie Bi and Oba Pa led nearly a hundred armed experts into the Xiao Clan and demanded that Xiao Zhan hand over the treasure they believed had drained Wutan City's Dou Qi.
• Xiao Zhan refused and warned the two family heads to leave, but Jia Lie Bi and Oba Pa ordered their men to surround the Xiao clansmen.
• Xiao Chen sat calmly eating grilled sausage with Little Gold and told the attackers to go ahead and fight.
• Xiao Chen recognized the young man staring at Xiao Mei as Jia Lie Ao, then told Xiao Zhan to stop wasting words and act ruthlessly.
• Xiao Zhan addressed Xiao Chen as Ancestor, leaving Jia Lie Bi, Oba Pa, and their followers stunned by the Xiao Clan's young-looking ancestor.

Xiao Chen oversaw the Xiao Clan’s defeat of the Jia Lie and Ao Ba families, then ordered Xiao Yan to lead a force to eliminate their remaining members. Lu Mingfei and Xu Yong arrived and learned that Xiao Chen and the talking Little Gold were the Xiao Clan’s ancestor and his friend.

• Xiao Zhan ordered the Xiao Clan to attack, and its elders and clansmen quickly killed more than half of the Jia Lie and Ao Ba forces.
• Xiao Zhan killed Jia Lie Bi and Oba Pa after Xiao Chen commanded him to finish them.
• Lu Mingfei and Xu Yong arrived, met Xiao Chen and Little Gold, and explained that they had traced Floating Ink City’s loss of Dou Qi to Wutan City.
• Xiao Chen asked Xiao Yan whether he had deliberately killed anyone and assigned him to lead Xiao clansmen against the Jia Lie and Ao Ba families.
• Xiao Chen ordered Xiao Yan to leave no one alive and declared that Wutan City belonged to the Xiao Clan.

Xiao Chen ordered the Xiao Clan to eliminate its enemies and told Lu Mingfei and Xu Yong the clan would eventually move to the imperial capital. In the capital, Nalan Su confronted Nalan Yanran over her broken engagement to Xiao Yan, leaving their family dispute unresolved.

• Xiao Chen declared that the Xiao Clan would make pulling out its enemies by the roots an ancestral precept, and Xiao Zhan promised to spread his words.
• Lu Mingfei and Xu Yong offered the Xiao Clan half their businesses, but Xiao Chen declined and said the clan would remain in Wutan City for now before eventually going to the imperial capital.
• After returning to Floating Ink City, Lu Mingfei and Xu Yong discussed Xiao Chen's power and wondered how the Misty Cloud Sect and the Imperial Family would respond.
• Nalan Su worried that Nalan Yanran's broken engagement would anger the Xiao Clan, especially now that Xiao Chen had appeared as its powerful ancestor.
• Nalan Yanran asked Nalan Su what Nalan Jie thought, and Nalan Su accused her of breaking the engagement because she believed Xiao Yan was a good-for-nothing.

Nalan Yanran refused Nalan Su’s demand that she apologize to the Xiao Clan and remained confident she would defeat Xiao Yan in their three-year agreement. Ge Ye revealed that Yun Yun had postponed her cultivation plans and descended the mountain to seek a pill ingredient for Yanran, then Yun Yun flew toward the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

• Nalan Yanran rejected Nalan Su’s order to apologize and insisted she would wait for Xiao Yan’s challenge at the Misty Cloud Sect.
• Nalan Su warned Yanran that losing the three-year agreement could disgrace the Nalan Family, but she dismissed his concerns and claimed she would win.
• Ge Ye told Nalan Su that Yun Yun had suspended her cultivation plans and was seeking the final ingredient for a pill intended to help Yanran cultivate.
• Ge Ye asked whether Yanran was certain she could defeat Xiao Yan, and she reaffirmed her confidence in their agreement.
• Yun Yun took flight from the Misty Cloud Sect’s rear mountain and headed toward the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

Gu Xun'er visited Xiao Chen to ask about his past and his plans, but he refused to reveal much about his thirty-thousand-year absence. He invited Ling Ying to follow him and promised to help him reach Dou Zun or even Dou Sheng, then produced a Tou She Ancient God Jade and asked Ling Ying to deliver a message.

• Gu Xun'er asked Xiao Chen about the Xiao Clan's past and where he had been, but he said he would tell Gu Yuan in person someday.
• Xiao Chen told Gu Xun'er that Gu Yuan should come to him and that he wanted peace and quiet.
• Xiao Chen detected Ling Ying hiding nearby and identified his cultivation and techniques.
• Xiao Chen asked Ling Ying to follow him, promising to help him reach Dou Zun or even Dou Sheng, and gave him time to consider.
• Xiao Chen asked Ling Ying to deliver a message and revealed a Tou She Ancient God Jade, shocking Ling Ying and Gu Xun'er.

Xiao Chen told Gu Xun'er and Ling Ying to have the Gu Clan send him their piece of Ancient Jade, claiming he could help them break through to Dou Di. After warning them about the Soul Clan and revealing he knew the location of Tuoshe Ancient Emperor's Cave, he let Xun'er stay and gave her a medicinal pill, then reflected smugly on her respect for him.

• Xiao Chen guessed that Gu Xun'er had come to obtain the Xiao Clan's Ancient Jade, and she admitted it was true.
• Xiao Chen asked Gu Xun'er to tell Gu Yuan to send the Gu Clan's Ancient Jade to him so he could help them reach Dou Di.
• Xiao Chen told Gu Xun'er and Ling Ying that he knew the Soul Clan's schemes and the location of Tuoshe Ancient Emperor's Cave, but demanded that the Gu Clan leave him undisturbed.
• Xiao Chen clarified that Ling Ying should return to the Gu Clan while Gu Xun'er could return to her room, and she asked him to keep their conversation from Xiao Yan.
• Xiao Chen gave Gu Xun'er a medicinal pill that he said might help her reach Dou Sheng ahead of time.
• After Gu Xun'er and Ling Ying left, Xiao Chen told Little Gold that he was pleased by Xun'er's respectful treatment of him.

Xiao Chen took Xiao Yan treasure hunting through the Xiao Family markets and discovered a hidden map labeled Netherworld Poison Flame. The find left him eager to uncover the treasure’s secrets.

• Xiao Chen told Xiao Yan that the clan was gathering ingredients for alchemy and encouraged him to learn from his teacher.
• Xiao Chen met market guard captain Pei'en and promised to help him reach the Dou Shi Realm that night.
• Xiao Yan bought a pale green bracelet, while Xiao Chen found a black iron fragment and later gave it to him as the Profound Tier Low Grade Dou Technique Suction Palm.
• Xiao Chen gathered several unusual items from the markets and revealed an incomplete map by dripping milky-white liquid onto its blank surface.
• Xiao Chen read the words Netherworld Poison Flame on the map and recognized the find as a major treasure.

Xiao Chen brought Xiao Yan to the Mittel Auction House to present Yao Lao’s Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid, which could safely accelerate cultivation for those below the Dou Zhe level. The auction house’s representatives arrived to discuss it, including chief auctioneer Ya Fei, whom Xiao Chen and Xiao Yan met for the first time.

• Yao Lao refined purple leaf orchid grass with Bone Spirit Cold Flame and made emerald liquid for Xiao Yan to try.
• Xiao Chen explained to Xiao Yan how difficult it was to develop and refine the Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid.
• Xiao Chen took Xiao Yan to the Mittel Auction House and presented a bottle of the spirit liquid to an appraiser.
• The appraiser learned the liquid could increase cultivation speed without side effects and went to fetch the auction house’s person in charge.
• The appraiser returned with an elderly man and Ya Fei, who introduced herself to Xiao Chen.

Xiao Chen met with Ya Fei at the Mittel Auction House and recruited her to work by his side, promising that the Mittel Family would eventually be hers. He left after asking her to help the Xiao Clan’s businesses, while Ya Fei reflected on Nalan Su’s decision to break Xiao Yan’s engagement.

• Ya Fei introduced Master Gu Ni, who identified Xiao Chen’s spiritual liquid as an exceptional product refined by an Advanced Alchemist.
• Xiao Chen asked everyone to leave so he could speak privately with Ya Fei about her stance toward the Xiao Clan.
• Xiao Chen told Ya Fei he had looked into her and wanted her to work by his side; after joking with her, he asked again and she agreed.
• Xiao Chen told Ya Fei to continue her usual work and promised the Mittel Family would be hers in the future.
• Xiao Chen asked Ya Fei to support the Xiao Clan’s businesses, then left as she wondered why Nalan Su had broken Xiao Yan’s engagement.

Xiao Chen arranged wilderness supplies at the auction house for a journey with Xiao Yan that would last at least half a year. Before leaving, he embraced Ya Fei and promised to support her, while she wondered whether she could win his heart.

• Yao Lao told Xiao Yan that he needed life-and-death battles to bring out his potential, and Xiao Yan said he believed he could endure them.
• Xiao Chen asked Ya Fei to prepare wilderness supplies for a long journey with Xiao Yan and said he would be away for at least half a year.
• Ya Fei declined Xiao Chen’s offer to pay for the supplies and promised to keep helping the Xiao Clan.
• As he left, Xiao Chen put an arm around Ya Fei’s waist and told her not to let another man hold her that way.
• After Xiao Chen departed, Ya Fei touched the place where he had held her and murmured that winning his heart might not be so bad.

Xiao Chen, Xiao Yan, and Little Gold continued their journey toward the Magical Beast Mountain Range, with Xiao Yan struggling under the weight of his greatsword. Along the way, Xiao Yan intervened when a crowd attacked an old man, and Xiao Chen recognized the man as someone he knew.

• Xiao Yan spent days walking behind Xiao Chen and Little Gold while carrying his heavy Black Greatsword, and he used a Qi Recovery Pill when exhaustion forced him to rest.
• Xiao Yan estimated that they were still at least five days from the Magical Beast Mountain Range, and Xiao Chen and Little Gold traded blame over their slow progress.
• Xiao Chen told Xiao Yan to stop a group of men from beating an old man accused of selling a false cultivation method.
• Xiao Yan knocked the burly man away, and the man's cultivation suddenly rose from Eight-Star Dou Zhe to Dou Shi, proving the old man's claim true.
• The burly man apologized and left, while the old man approached Xiao Chen and began repeating his pitch before Xiao Chen greeted him as an old acquaintance and asked how he was still alive.