Recaps

After Bu Wuchen refined a full furnace of pills with ordinary fire, Song Hechuan invited him to work for the Song Clan Pill Workshop on generous terms. Bu Wuchen agreed as long as his freedom remained untouched, then asked how the workshop compared with Blood Dragon City Academy.

• Bu Wuchen’s flawless pill yield astonished Song Hechuan and Xia Nuoyi, and Xia Nuoyi excitedly hugged him before letting him go.
• Song Hechuan praised Bu Wuchen’s pill-refining talent and offered him a pill master Attendant position with seventy percent of the proceeds.
• Xia Nuoyi protested that she had brought Bu Wuchen to the workshop, and Song Hechuan promised her a token of appreciation.
• Bu Wuchen agreed to work with the Song Clan Pill Workshop if it never interfered with his freedom.
• Bu Wuchen asked Song Hechuan how the workshop compared with Blood Dragon City Academy.

Bu Wuchen won Song Hechuan’s backing by promising to refine pills for the Song Clan Pill Workshop, then began secluding himself in its private chamber. After easily producing a full batch of medium-grade pills, he moved on to attempt superior-grade ones.

• Song Hechuan told Bu Wuchen that his workshop’s pill production and sales surpassed those of the academy and the three great Lineages.
• Bu Wuchen decided to recruit Song Hechuan as an ally against Lin Taoshu and the Lin Lineage, and offered to refine pills for the workshop to sell.
• Song Hechuan agreed to supply ingredients, while Xia Nuoyi questioned Bu Wuchen’s decision to stay away from the academy and then left the chamber.
• Song Hechuan delivered large quantities of ingredients, including five jin of pill fire tinder, and stationed elite guards to protect Bu Wuchen’s seclusion.
• Bu Wuchen refined a full batch of medium mortal-grade Qi Recovery Pills with ease, then prepared to try making superior-grade pills.

Bu Wuchen spent the day refining pills while Song Hechuan grew anxious over the ingredients he kept requesting. When Bu Wuchen finally emerged, Song Hechuan discovered he had produced perfect-quality pills and was stunned by their quality.

• Bu Wuchen refined batches of high-grade mortal-tier Healing Pills and requested more pill fire and ingredients.
• Song Hechuan worried that Bu Wuchen was wasting his workshop's supplies, while Xia Nuoyi warned him against suspecting her.
• Bu Wuchen emerged late at night with trays of pills and apologized for spending so long refining them.
• Song Hechuan inspected the first bottle and found four perfect-quality, mid-grade mortal-tier Qi Recovery Pills.
• Song Hechuan opened another bottle and recognized its pills as perfect-quality, high-grade mortal-tier Qi Recovery Pills, while Bu Wuchen complained that he was making too much noise.

Bu Wuchen showed Song Hechuan and Xia Nuoyi the many perfect upper-grade pills he had refined, then asked them to help carry out his plan against Lin Taoshu. After collapsing asleep from exhaustion and being taken home by Xia Nuoyi, he returned the next day with her and Song Hechuan to the academy’s Pill Hall to begin the plan.

• Bu Wuchen revealed that most of his pills were mortal-rank upper-grade, and Song Hechuan and Xia Nuoyi inspected them in astonishment.
• Bu Wuchen asked Song Hechuan and Xia Nuoyi to help with his plan for revenge against Lin Taoshu, and both agreed.
• Bu Wuchen collapsed asleep in Xia Nuoyi’s arms, so she carried him home, where Wan Xiaoyao and A Chun learned he only needed rest.
• The next day, Bu Wuchen, Xia Nuoyi, and Song Hechuan entered the academy and headed for the Pill Hall.
• Bu Wuchen and his companions split up according to their plan, leaving him outside the Pill Hall.

Bu Wuchen returned to the Pill Hall to demand a qualification exam, but Lin Taoshu tried to drive him away and mocked Xia Nuoyi’s inability to intervene. Headmaster Zhou Wan'en and Song Hechuan arrived, and Song Hechuan greeted Bu Wuchen as a master, leaving Lin Taoshu stunned.

• Bu Wuchen confronted the Pill Hall and demanded to take its qualification exam, while Lin Taoshu refused and threatened him.
• Xia Nuoyi defended Bu Wuchen, but Lin Taoshu taunted her by revealing he knew of the Great Xia Merchant Alliance’s troubles.
• Lin Taoshu demanded that Bu Wuchen return the Lin Lineage’s manuals, kneel, and apologize before he would consider allowing him to take the exam.
• Headmaster Zhou Wan'en entered the Pill Hall, prompting Lin Taoshu to abandon his defiant attitude and offer him the seat of honor.
• Song Hechuan arrived with Zhou Wan'en, recognized Bu Wuchen, and addressed him as Master Bu, leaving Lin Taoshu bewildered.

Bu Wuchen used Song Hechuan and Dean Zhou to expose Lin Taoshu’s hostility and his attempt to bar Bu from the Pill Hall examination. Zhou Wan'en confronted Lin and crushed him beneath his Divine Communion Realm pressure.

• Bu Wuchen and Song Hechuan arranged for Zhou Wan'en to witness Lin Taoshu’s remarks about refusing to let Bu pass the entrance examination.
• Song Hechuan praised Bu’s pill-refining skills, but Lin told him Bu was a failing student and could not be the alchemical master.
• Bu claimed Lin had denied him a chance to enter the Pill Hall and turned to leave, prompting Zhou to stop him.
• Zhou recalled recognizing Bu’s perfect-grade mystic pills and realized Lin was targeting Bu over the death of a Lin Lineage student in a wager duel.
• Zhou rebuked Lin for abusing his authority and unleashed his Divine Communion Realm pressure, forcing Lin to the ground.

Principal Zhou dismissed Lin Taoshu after catching him mistreating students, but Lin Taoshu accused Bu Wuchen of deception and challenged him to an alchemy duel. Bu Wuchen accepted with a high-stakes wager, and the academy gathered at the martial grounds to watch.

• Zhou Wan'en stripped Lin Taoshu of his Pill Hall chief master armband and expelled him from Blood Dragon City Academy.
• Lin Taoshu claimed Bu Wuchen had deceived the academy, then challenged him to prove his alchemical skill in a duel.
• Bu Wuchen accepted after his system offered him a Crystal-Devouring Spirit-Transforming Token for choosing to compete.
• Bu Wuchen demanded two hundred thousand gold and a public apology if Lin Taoshu lost, while agreeing to accept expulsion if he lost.
• Lin Taoshu and Bu Wuchen signed a blood pact, and Zhou Wan'en summoned the academy to the martial grounds as students questioned Bu Wuchen's challenge.

Bu Wuchen and Lin Taoshu began a pill duel to make Qi Recovery Pills, while Lin Taoshu worked quickly and carefully and Bu Wuchen appeared to dawdle. Dean Zhou Wan'en and the spectators doubted Bu Wuchen could win, though Xia Nuoyi defended him by claiming he was going easy on Lin Taoshu.

• Dean Zhou Wan'en announced that the duel would be decided by the quality and quantity of Qi Recovery Pills, with time as the tiebreaker, and declared it underway.
• Lin Taoshu threatened Bu Wuchen before beginning to refine pills with swift, practiced movements.
• Li Quhe and Sun Jinwang judged Lin Taoshu's ingredients and fire use, predicting he would first make middle-grade pills before attempting upper-grade ones.
• Bu Wuchen leisurely selected ingredients, prompting Dean Zhou Wan'en to question Xia Nuoyi about whether he would be all right.
• Xia Nuoyi told Dean Zhou Wan'en that Bu Wuchen was probably going easy on Lin Taoshu, though she privately doubted her own excuse.
• The spectators saw Bu Wuchen's passive manner and accused him of giving up or being foolish to challenge Lin Taoshu.

Bu Wuchen let Lin Taoshu finish a batch of Qi Recovery Pills before beginning his own, after the system offered him a reward for giving his opponent a head start. As Bu Wuchen displayed extraordinary fire control while preparing upper grade pills, the onlookers stopped mocking him, though Sun Jinwang remained doubtful about his ingredients.

• Lin Taoshu quickly refined seven excellent mortal rank middle grade Qi Recovery Pills, and Zhou Wan'en confirmed their quality.
• Bu Wuchen taunted Lin Taoshu and explained his delay as an act of kindness, while he waited to earn the Pill Fire Cauldron Rinsing Technique system reward.
• Bu Wuchen began using ingredients for upper grade Qi Recovery Pills, prompting Li Quhe to wonder if he had truly been holding back and Sun Jinwang to accuse him of copying Lin Taoshu.
• Bu Wuchen controlled the pill fire with striking ease and rapidly melted and fused the ingredients, stunning Sun Jinwang and silencing the spectators.
• Sun Jinwang acknowledged Bu Wuchen's exceptional fire control but remained puzzled by the ingredients he had placed in the cauldron.

Bu Wuchen demonstrated extraordinary pill-refining skill, producing seven perfect upper-grade Qi Recovery Pills in one cauldron. Lin Taoshu’s attempt ended in an explosion, leaving him humiliated as Bu Wuchen’s success stunned the crowd.

• Bu Wuchen impressed the onlookers and unsettled Lin Taoshu with his precise pill-refining techniques.
• Bu Wuchen performed the rare Pill Fire Cauldron Scouring, astonishing Dean Zhou and the other observers.
• Bu Wuchen invited Zhou Wan'en to inspect the cauldron, where Zhou found seven perfect-quality Mortal Rank Upper Grade Qi Recovery Pills.
• Zhou Wan'en announced Bu Wuchen’s success, and Lin Taoshu’s cauldron exploded, leaving him soot-covered and disheveled.

Bu Wuchen’s successful refinement of seven Mortal Rank Upper Grade Qi Recovery Pills exposed Lin Taoshu’s failure and won the admiration of the academy. As Dean Zhou revealed Lin Taoshu’s misconduct, the humiliated master tried again, exploded another cauldron, and vomited blood.

• Lin Taoshu’s cauldron exploded after Dean Zhou announced that Bu Wuchen had refined seven Mortal Rank Upper Grade Qi Recovery Pills.
• Zhou Wan'en invited the academy’s alchemy masters and others to inspect Bu Wuchen’s pills, and they confirmed his achievement.
• The teachers and students praised Bu Wuchen, while Lin Taoshu angrily insisted the duel was not over and began refining again.
• Bu Wuchen mocked Lin Taoshu, and Zhou Wan'en began recounting the chief master’s offenses to the crowd.
• Lin Taoshu struggled to refine pills amid public condemnation, exploded another cauldron, and spat out blood.

Bu Wuchen won the pill duel, leaving Lin Taoshu bound to pay him two hundred thousand gold and bow to him as his ancestral master. Lin Yunba arrived to rescue Lin Taoshu and confront Bu Wuchen, but Dean Zhou Wan'en and Xia Nuoyi stood between them.

• Dean Zhou Wan'en announced Bu Wuchen as the winner and ordered Lin Taoshu to fulfill the blood pact, lose his Pill Hall position, and leave the academy.
• Lin Taoshu tried to flee, but Xia Nuoyi froze his legs and stopped him from escaping his obligations.
• Lin Yunba arrived and melted the ice holding Lin Taoshu, then insulted Bu Wuchen and pressed him with his mystic power.
• Dean Zhou Wan'en blocked Lin Yunba's pressure, while Xia Nuoyi defended Bu Wuchen and challenged Lin Yunba to fight.
• Lin Yunba taunted Bu Wuchen as a coward hiding behind women, hoping to provoke him into a challenge.

Bu Wuchen forced Lin Yunba and Lin Taoshu to honor their blood contract after threatening to take the dispute to court. Lin Taoshu knelt, kowtowed, and called Bu Wuchen grandmaster before collapsing from rage.

• Bu Wuchen mocked Lin Yunba for envying Xia Nuoyi and demanded the Lin Lineage pay the contract’s compensation and fulfill its terms.
• Lin Yunba offered two hundred thousand gold but refused to kneel or make Lin Taoshu acknowledge Bu Wuchen as grandmaster.
• Bu Wuchen insisted that one of them kneel and warned that witnesses and the Great Liang Kingdom’s laws would support taking the contract to court.
• Lin Yunba ordered Lin Taoshu to accept the humiliation, and Lin Taoshu knelt, kowtowed, and called Bu Wuchen his grandmaster.
• Bu Wuchen declared Lin Taoshu expelled from the school, and Lin Taoshu coughed up blood and fainted.

Lin Yunba tried to poison Bu Wuchen, but Xia Nuoyi saved him and Lin escaped. Dean Zhou invited Bu to join Blood Dragon City Academy with exceptional privileges, but Bu hesitated because he wanted to become strong enough to return to the imperial capital and settle his grievances.

• Lin Yunba sent Bu Wuchen poisoned banknotes, but Xia Nuoyi recognized and purged the purple-blooded heavenly toad miasma.
• Dean Zhou condemned Lin Yunba, who denied responsibility, took the unconscious Lin Taoshu, and escaped.
• Xia Nuoyi returned the banknotes to Bu Wuchen, warned him to be more careful, and blushed when he joked about treating her for life.
• Zhou Wan'en offered Bu Wuchen first-class special-talent status in the academy's Pill Hall and asked him to represent it in the Hundred Schools League.
• Bu Wuchen hesitated, thinking the academy could not make him strong enough to protect his loved ones and return safely to the imperial capital, so Zhou Wan'en offered to address his concerns.

Bu Wuchen agreed to join Blood Dragon City Academy’s Pill Hall and compete in the Hundred Schools Tournament, aiming for a top-three finish so he could reach the imperial capital. After leaving the academy with Xia Nuoyi, he refused to explain who had taught him pill refining.

• Zhou Wan'en told Bu Wuchen that placing in the tournament’s top hundred would satisfy the emperor’s condition for traveling to the imperial capital, and Bu Wuchen chose to aim for the top three.
• Bu Wuchen accepted Zhou Wan'en’s request to join the Pill Hall and represent Blood Dragon City Academy in the tournament one month later.
• Xia Nuoyi reminded Bu Wuchen of their agreement, and Zhou Wan'en and the others hurried away to avoid her teasing.
• Bu Wuchen and Xia Nuoyi left the academy together, and she praised his performance against Lin Yunba before asking about his pill-refining master.
• Bu Wuchen insisted he had no master, frustrating Xia Nuoyi.

Bu Wuchen told Xia Nuoyi he planned to personally destroy the Lin Lineage, and she impulsively kissed him before Zhou Wan'en interrupted them. Zhou Wan'en gave Bu Wuchen his specially sponsored student’s waist token, which granted access to the highest-grade secluded chamber in the academy’s Pill Hall.

• Xia Nuoyi pressed Bu Wuchen for details about his identity, but he brushed off her questions.
• Bu Wuchen revealed that he was thinking about how to wipe out the Lin Lineage and said he wanted revenge on Lin Yunba himself.
• Xia Nuoyi offered to help Bu Wuchen, then kissed his face impulsively as he declared his resolve.
• Zhou Wan'en arrived, pretended not to have seen the kiss, and gave Bu Wuchen his specially sponsored student’s waist token.

After Bu Wuchen defeated Lin Taoshu in an alchemy duel, Lin Liang proposed a plan to eliminate him, while Bu Wuchen thanked Xia Nuoyi and asked her for another favor. The chapter left Bu Wuchen unaware of the threat against him as he waited to explain his request to Xia Nuoyi.

• Dean Zhou left Xia Nuoyi and Bu Wuchen alone, and the two laughed and scuffled together.
• Lin Taoshu demanded revenge, but Lin Yunba warned that his defeat could become a heart demon and block his progress in alchemy.
• Lin Liang visited Lin Taoshu and Lin Yunba, proposed a plan to get rid of Bu Wuchen, and won their approval.
• Bu Wuchen reflected on his rapid rise and thanked Xia Nuoyi for her help and protection.
• Bu Wuchen offered to refine pills for Xia Nuoyi and asked her for another favor, promising to pay her.

Bu Wuchen asked Xia Nuoyi for high-grade, superior-quality mystic crystals of all eight attributes so he could restore his cultivation, but learned how costly they were. Xia Nuoyi gave him the three crystals she had and advised him to choose fire as his mystic power attribute, while their teasing left her flustered after he hurried away.

• Bu Wuchen asked Xia Nuoyi to sell him high-grade, superior-quality mystic crystals of all eight attributes, and she warned that his recent winnings would not cover them.
• Xia Nuoyi took out wind, lightning, and poison crystals and gave them to Bu Wuchen, who hid them in his sleeve pocket.
• Xia Nuoyi asked whether Bu Wuchen needed the crystals to refine Mystic-tier pills, and he explained that he was using them to restore his cultivation.
• Xia Nuoyi advised Bu Wuchen to choose fire when he reached the Qi Control Realm, since his cultivation technique and alchemy suited that attribute.
• Bu Wuchen teased Xia Nuoyi about falling for him and called himself her potential slave before fleeing, leaving her embarrassed and angry.

Bu Wuchen returned home and revealed his new status as a first-class specially funded Pill Hall student, promising to help A Chun and Wan Xiaoyao recover their cultivation. After dinner, a young woman Wan Xiaoyao called Bodyguard Sister brought four frightened advanced-class students to see him.

• Wan Xiaoyao told Bu Wuchen that the senior vice dean had explained his absence by saying he was refining pills at the Song Clan Pill Workshop.
• Bu Wuchen showed A Chun and Wan Xiaoyao his Pill Hall identity token and promised to refine pills that could repair their dantians and meridians.
• Bu Wuchen gave A Chun and Wan Xiaoyao gold to strengthen their bodies and prepare for future recovery pills.
• Bodyguard Sister brought four advanced-class students into Bu Wuchen's courtyard, binding their hands with threads of ice.
• Wan Xiaoyao explained that Bodyguard Sister had protected them from harassment and had not shared her name.

Bu Wuchen thanked the leather-clad woman for protecting his companions and considered a mission offered by four students. He agreed to let them negotiate with the patron after demanding five rare mystic crystals, then watched the woman disappear.

• Bu Wuchen offered the leather-clad woman several mortal rank upper grade mystic pills to thank her, but she refused them.
• A girl among four students pleaded with Bu Wuchen to help with their mission, and they promised the patron could pay half the reward in advance.
• Bu Wuchen agreed to consider the mission if the patron advanced five high-rank upper-grade mystic crystals, one for each of the five elements.
• The four students were stunned by Bu Wuchen's demand and privately worried that he had seen through their scheme.
• The students promised to negotiate with the patron and asked Bu Wuchen not to meet him directly, and Bu Wuchen agreed to wait.
• The leather-clad woman withdrew her ice threads, then vanished in a fragrant breeze.

Lin Liang ordered four advanced-class students to use five mystic crystals to recruit Bu Wuchen and then kill him. Bu Wuchen accepted their staged request and set off with them, unaware of their plan.

• The four students told Lin Liang that Bu Wuchen had demanded five high-tier, superior-grade mystic crystals, one for each attribute, and Lin Liang made them swear loyalty before promising rewards.
• Lin Liang supplied the five crystals and ordered the students to return Bu Wuchen's intact head after killing him.
• Bu Wuchen verified that the crystals were genuine and accepted the students' offer, claiming he would get food and change clothes before departing.
• The students pretended they faced a two-hour deadline and asked Bu Wuchen to help extract the medicinal spirit essence from a Nine-Fire Ice-Ring Grass.
• Moved by their supposed plight, Bu Wuchen agreed to set off with them immediately.

Bu Wuchen learned that his mission led to the deadly Night Forbidden Forest, where he hoped to find the rare Nine-Fire Ice-Ring Grass. He set out with the four adventurers, while his aloof bodyguard accompanied him on horseback and concealed her growing fondness for him.

• Bu Wuchen told the adventurers that his cultivation was at the Qi Observation Realm Seventh Layer, allowing him to enter the Night Forbidden Forest.
• Bu Wuchen's bodyguard explained that the forest was deadly at night and that the rare Nine-Fire Ice-Ring Grass had unknown effects, making the mission's large advance payment suspicious.
• Bu Wuchen decided to take the mission, confident he could use his mystic crystals and techniques to protect himself.
• Bu Wuchen's bodyguard joined him on his horse, saying she could keep him safe on the journey even though she could not enter the forest.
• Bu Wuchen offered to switch places after accidentally leaning against his bodyguard, but she urged the horse into a gallop, leaving the four adventurers to chase after them.

Bu Wuchen entered the Night Forbidden Forest with four academy students, while his bodyguard warned him that the mission seemed suspicious. After Feng Jieshuang offered him water inside the forest, he sensed a murderous threat and stopped before drinking.

• Bu Wuchen asked about Yao'er and A Chun, and his young bodyguard assured him others would protect them.
• The group reached the desolate entrance to the Night Forbidden Forest, where the bodyguard warned Bu Wuchen not to go more than eighteen li inside.
• Feng Jieshuang and Li Duanfeng urged Bu Wuchen to enter, and the five were pulled through a strange spatial gateway into a lush jungle.
• Feng Jieshuang offered Bu Wuchen water that she had poisoned, but he remembered the bodyguard's warning and hesitated.
• A sudden murderous menace rose beside Bu Wuchen as he held the waterskin.

Bu Wuchen discovered that the Lin Lineage had poisoned him and sent four Qi Observation Realm Ninth Layer Peak cultivators to kill him. He chose to counterkill them but fled through the Night Forbidden Forest, with his pursuers close behind as his poison and exertion threatened to wear him down.

• Feng Jieshuang, Li Duanfeng, Qiu Chaoyang, and Qian Dali surrounded Bu Wuchen and revealed that the Lin Lineage had poisoned him, weakening his cultivation.
• Bu Wuchen received three choices from the God-Level Choice System and chose to counterkill all four in order to earn a Battle Pet Token and an Invisibility Talisman.
• Feng Jieshuang warned the others not to underestimate Bu Wuchen and led the attack, so Bu Wuchen turned and ran rather than face all four in the open.
• Bu Wuchen used Instant Shadow-Piercing Steps and his Cheetah Gale Speed to keep ahead of the pursuers as they raced deeper into the Night Forbidden Forest.
• Bu Wuchen taunted the four pursuers, while they warned that the poison and his continued flight would soon exhaust his Mystic Power.

Bu Wuchen lured four pursuers into a line and killed three with One Finger Crosses the Yellow Springs, but Feng Jieshuang escaped his strike and fled. He pursued her despite his dwindling mystic Qi, then realized she was a Qi Control Realm cultivator.

• Bu Wuchen turned to face the four pursuers and pierced Li Duanfeng, Qiu Chaoyang, and Qian Dali with One Finger Crosses the Yellow Springs.
• Feng Jieshuang dodged the beam, begged Bu Wuchen for mercy, and tried to distract him with a poisoned dart before fleeing.
• Bu Wuchen dodged Feng Jieshuang’s dart and chased her, worried that he needed to kill all four to earn a system reward and that his mystic Qi was running low.
• Feng Jieshuang turned and attacked with Gang Qi, but Bu Wuchen used Instant Shadow-Piercing Steps to evade her strike.
• Bu Wuchen sensed that Feng Jieshuang had reached the Qi Control Realm.