Recaps

Xiao Yan attended an exchange gathering with Xiao Ming and Xiao Siyu, where he offered a mountain of Fire Banyan Branches in search of Rock Rhino Horn Marrow. After the hall fell silent, someone offered the corpse of a Giant Rock Horned Rhino Beast instead, reviving Xiao Yan’s hope.

• Xiao Ming paid three seventh-tier pills to open the sealed door and led Xiao Yan and Xiao Siyu into the exchange gathering.
• Xiao Yan watched rare treasures change hands, including a Spiny-Scaled Poison Toad Beast hide and an eighth-rank Magical Beast Magic Core.
• Xiao Yan exchanged for several pill formulas but found nothing as rare as the hide.
• Xiao Yan offered a huge pile of Fire Banyan Branches for Rock Rhino Horn Marrow, but the presiding elder shook his head.
• An attendee offered the corpse of a Giant Rock Horned Rhino Beast, and Xiao Yan looked up with renewed hope.

Xiao Yan traded his Fire Banyan Branches for the corpse of a Giant Rock Horned Rhino Beast, hoping its unborn young still held the Rock Rhino Horn Marrow he needed. After leaving the exchange gathering, he was left uncertain whether the embryo would meet his hopes.

• A gaunt man revealed that the Giant Rock Horned Rhino Beast's corpse contained an undeveloped embryo that might still have a trace of life.
• Xiao Yan asked to examine the corpse, but the gaunt man gave no answer, and a middle-aged man offered treasures in exchange for it.
• Xiao Ming warned Xiao Yan that the corpse was protected by a restriction that would alert the gaunt man if Xiao Yan tried to examine it.
• Xiao Yan claimed the corpse by offering his Fire Banyan Branches, and the gaunt man took them before disappearing from the venue.
• Xiao Yan examined the corpse, confirmed that a faint trace of life remained inside its belly, then left the gathering with Xiao Ming staying to protect Xiao Siyu.

Xiao Yan returned to Dustlight Pavilion to gather the tier-seven medicinal herbs he needed, but a beautiful woman’s attempt to seduce him failed. After he exchanged his materials for as many tier-seven-or-higher herbs as possible, the jade token she gave him opened more than half the hall’s drawers, leaving the crowd astonished.

• Xiao Yan returned to the first floor of Dustlight Pavilion and decided to search for the roughly two thousand tier-seven herbs he still needed.
• A beautiful woman tried to seduce Xiao Yan, but his Heavenly Flames dispelled her influence and he confronted her coldly.
• The woman explained how the drawers worked and gave Xiao Yan an Azure Candle Ring as an apology.
• Xiao Yan handed over his materials and the Storage Ring, asking the woman to exchange them for as many tier-seven-or-higher herbs as possible.
• After nearly six hours, the woman returned with a jade token, which Xiao Yan activated in the hall.
• Pearl-white lights from the token entered the drawers, and more than half of them opened as the crowd watched in astonishment.

Xiao Yan collected more than four thousand medicinal herbs from the Dustlight Pavilion, completing the materials needed for Ten Thousand Herb Ash. As he flew back toward the manor, a mysterious Yuan Zun ambushed him and Northern King, but Xiao Yan struck back with Heavenly Flames while trapped in the spatial seal.

• Xiao Yan gathered the Storage Rings from the Dustlight Pavilion and found that they contained over four thousand medicinal herbs.
• The beautiful woman explained that her master had included extra herbs as a gift and hoped to befriend Xiao Yan.
• Xiao Yan left for the manor, thinking about the Giant Rock Horned Rhino Beast's body and his preparations for the Pill Gathering.
• A mysterious attacker trapped Xiao Yan in distorted space, and Xiao Yan found that the Great Dao of the Void could not free him.
• Xiao Yan summoned Northern King, who weakened the spatial barrier but was then immobilized by the attacker's seal.
• The attacker appeared and expressed interest in taking Northern King, but Xiao Yan launched a Heavenly Flame attack at the figure.

Xiao Yan fought off a Ghost Gate phantom who sealed him in space and sought to steal his Heavenly Flames and key. The Pill Tower intervened, forcing the attacker to flee, while Xiao Yan recovered above Pill City as the Five Dao Sons appeared.

• Xiao Yan wounded the phantom with a Soul Shattering Finger empowered by the Fallen Heart Flame, then used the Giant Elephant Art to resist its spatial confinement.
• The phantom admitted it belonged to the Ghost Gate and demanded Xiao Yan hand over his Heavenly Flames and key, then crushed his Giant Elephant Art and seized him.
• The Fallen Heart Flame burned a hole through the sealed space, and the Northern King returned to Xiao Yan as a Pill Tower authority called out and alerted the city’s experts.
• The phantom fled as the spatial seal collapsed, and Xiao Yan reappeared above the Pill Tower, injured but alive.
• Xiao Ming checked on Xiao Yan and identified Chen Xuanling, Yuwen Zong, and Ji Yao overhead, while Xiao Yan withheld the attacker’s identity.
• People in Pill City recognized the Five Dao Sons of the Pill Tower and speculated that the Pill Gathering was approaching.

Xiao Yan survived an attack by a mysterious Yuan Zun expert, and Xiao Ming introduced him to Chen Xuanling, Yuwen Zong, and Ji Yao. After praising Xiao Yan’s abilities and discussing his Heavenly Flames and alchemy, the three let him leave to recover, while the attacker remained hidden in Pill City.

• Chen Xuanling, Yuwen Zong, and Ji Yao arrived and greeted Xiao Ming after learning Xiao Yan had broken through the attacker’s spatial seal.
• Chen Xuanling and Ji Yao praised Xiao Yan for resisting a Yuan Zun expert, while Yuwen Zong recognized that Xiao Yan possessed several Heavenly Flames, including the Fallen Heart Flame.
• Xiao Yan confirmed that he was a Tier Seven High-Level Alchemist, and Chen Xuanling predicted he could excel at the Pill Gathering.
• Xiao Yan said he could not match Xu Qinghe, and Xiao Ming reminded the visitors that Xiao Yan was injured.
• Chen Xuanling, Yuwen Zong, and Ji Yao excused themselves and searched the area, but found no trace of the mysterious attacker.

After an unidentified Yuan Zun badly injured Xiao Yan, he returned to the manor and began recovering in seclusion. Meanwhile, four Pill Tower experts discussed the threats gathering around the Pill Gathering and considered Xiao Yan as a possible contender.

• Xiao Ming brought Xiao Yan back to the manor, where Xiao Siyu learned that an unknown Yuan Zun had attacked him.
• Xiao Yan entered a secret chamber and used his cultivation method to refine medicinal power and repair his body and Spiritual Strength.
• Chen Xuanling, Yuwen Zong, Ji Yao, and a burly man discussed the attacker’s unknown identity and Ji Yao suggested the Ghost Gate might be involved.
• The four experts noted the presence of Xu Qinghe, the Nine Netherworld Python Clan, and other factions seeking the Heaven Inquiry Pill.
• Yuwen Zong and Ji Yao considered Huoxun Mingcheng a possible rival to Xu Qinghe, but the burly man worried that Xu Qinghe’s Tier Eight pill gave him the advantage.
• Chen Xuanling asked the others what they thought of Xiao Yan as a possible standout at the Pill Gathering.

Chen Xuanling argued that Xiao Yan’s Soul Technique had broken Yuan Zun’s Dao Transforms Heaven and Earth, while Xiao Yan recovered in seclusion and tried to secure the Rock Rhino Horn Marrow needed for the Creation Pill. He discovered the unborn Giant Rock Horned Rhino was dying and used two Heavenly Flames to revive its growth, leaving its survival still in progress.

• Chen Xuanling told Yuwen Zong, Ji Yao, and the burly man that Xiao Yan had broken Yuan Zun’s Dao Transforms Heaven and Earth with a Soul Technique.
• After more than ten days of recovery, Xiao Yan examined the Giant Rock Horned Rhino Beast’s corpse and carefully cut open its belly.
• Xiao Yan found the embryo sealed inside a crystal, with the Rock Rhino Horn Marrow forming on its head, but realized the young beast’s life was fading and it was not fully mature.
• Xiao Yan concluded that the dead mother’s energy could no longer sustain the embryo and decided to try saving it with the Three Thousand Burning Flame and Life Spirit Flame.
• Xiao Yan infused the embryo with the merged flames, and the young beast began absorbing the crystal’s energy as its body moved slightly.

Xiao Yan monitored the developing Giant Rock Horned Rhino embryo and discussed the Ghost Gate threat with his companions in Pill City. Four days before the Pill Gathering, the Pill Tower’s Dao Sons began opening Fallen Immortal City, the gathering’s hidden venue, though one of their number was conspicuously absent.

• Xiao Yan saw that the Giant Rock Horned Rhino embryo had nearly consumed the crystal’s remaining energy and would likely be born within ten days.
• Xiao Yan told Xiao Siyu, Mu Leng, Murong Qianqian, and Xiao Ming that a powerful Ghost Gate member had attacked him, and they worried the enemy might infiltrate the Pill Gathering.
• Xiao Siyu gave Xiao Yan more than twelve thousand seventh-tier medicinal herbs; Xiao Yan kept what he needed, returned the rest, and gave pills to Murong Qianqian.
• Xiao Yan and his companions explored Pill City for several days under Xiao Ming’s protection.
• Four Pill Tower Dao Sons opened a passage toward Fallen Immortal City, while Xiao Ming noted that Nian Sheng, the strongest Dao Son, was missing.
• Xiao Siyu explained that Fallen Immortal City was the Pill Gathering’s venue and contained rare medicinal herbs unavailable elsewhere.

As a massive spatial vortex formed above Pill City in preparation for the Pill Gathering, Xiao Yan harvested the Rock Rhino Horn Marrow from a newborn Giant Rock Horned Rhino Beast. He discovered that the calf could regrow its horn with the help of his Life Spirit Flame, tamed it, and prepared to wait for the Pill Gathering.

• A huge energy vortex formed over Pill City as four people fed it energy from Spirit Stones.
• Xiao Yan rushed to the secret chamber when he sensed the calf stirring and cut off its horn to collect the Rock Rhino Horn Marrow.
• Xiao Yan noticed the calf’s horn beginning to regrow and confirmed that his Life Spirit Flame could help it recover.
• Xiao Yan decided to keep the calf and used his Spiritual Strength to tame it.
• Xiao Yan looked toward the vortex above the estate and declared that everything was ready for the Pill Gathering.

The Pill Gathering began as alchemists and experts entered Fallen Immortal City, which Xiao Yan and his companions discovered was a vast spatial world nourished by pill fragrance. After Xiao Yan sensed a fleeting trace of a Ghost Gate member in the crowd, he and the others passed through an archway into another area.

• Chen Xuanling announced the start of the half-year Pill Gathering and opened the spatial passage for the gathered alchemists and experts.
• Xiao Yan and his companions entered the passage and arrived on a platform inside Fallen Immortal City, revealing that it was a vast spatial world.
• Xiao Siyu explained that Pill Tower gathered pill fragrance from the cities under its control to nourish Fallen Immortal City and its lake, rivers, and waterfalls.
• Xiao Yan sensed a brief trace of a Ghost Gate member in the crowd, but the presence vanished before he could locate it.
• Xiao Yan and the others crossed the skybridge and archway, then emerged into another area.

Xiao Yan and his companions took their places on the Pill Tower’s viewing platform, where he sensed the threat of Xu Qinghe. Chen Xuanling announced the Pill Gathering’s rewards and began the first trial, Li Fire Heaven and Earth.

• Xiao Ming led Xiao Yan and the others to the Pill Tower’s viewing platform, where they saw Chen Xuanling, Wu Changfu, Yao Shiling, and other powerful figures.
• Xiao Yan spotted Huoxun Mingcheng and then felt a dangerous stare from Xu Qinghe.
• Chen Xuanling announced the five-part competition and promised a month in the Little Heavenly Pool and other rewards to those who passed all five assessments.
• Chen Xuanling revealed that the champion would receive a Heaven Inquiry Pill, and Xiao Yan resolved to win it for Bai Hua.
• Chen Xuanling conjured a vast arena and announced the first trial, Li Fire Heaven and Earth.

At the Pill Gathering, Chen Xuanling opened the first round by challenging the alchemists to retrieve unfinished pills from a cauldron surrounded by a vast sea of fire. Yao Shiling secured a pill with the Yao Clan’s Flame Conversion Art, while Huoxun Mingcheng and Xu Qinghe began their own attempts as Xiao Yan watched.

• Chen Xuanling announced that alchemists had one hour to retrieve and finish an unfinished pill without damaging it.
• The cauldron unleashed a sea of fire that burned and drove back alchemists who tried to approach carelessly.
• Yao Shiling used the Flame Conversion Art to control the flames and retrieve a pill, while Huoxun Mingcheng explained the technique to Xiao Yan.
• Huoxun Mingcheng hurled a spear of crimson flame toward the cauldron, and Xu Qinghe sent a solidified blade of Spiritual Strength through the flames.

Xiao Yan and Xiao Siyu entered the fire field trial, where Xiao Yan’s Heavenly Flame drew attention and Yao Shiling tried to seize it. Xiao Yan let Yao Shiling take the flame, then unleashed more than twenty Heavenly Flames inside him, leaving Yao Shiling’s fate unknown.

• Xiao Siyu summoned the Black Sparrow Flame and sent it through the fire field toward the medicinal cauldron.
• Xiao Yan released his Heavenly Flame, which subdued the surrounding fires as it advanced toward the cauldron.
• Yao Shiling sent a Fire Python to obstruct Xiao Yan and then used the Yao Clan’s Flame Conversion Art to envelop and seize the Heavenly Flame.
• Xiao Yan severed his connection to the Heavenly Flame, allowing Yao Shiling to draw it into his body.
• More than twenty Heavenly Flames burst from the captured flame and began colliding inside Yao Shiling, whose fate was left unknown.

After Yao Shiling collapsed from Xiao Yan reclaiming the Heavenly Flames, Xiao Yan and Xiao Siyu completed the first round’s difficult Return Fire Pill test. Wu Changfu then prepared a new cauldron array and announced the second round, the Soul-Suppressing Cauldron.

• Xiao Yan reclaimed his Heavenly Flames from the collapsed Yao Shiling, and a middle-aged Yao Clan man carried Yao Shiling out of the Pill Gathering.
• Xiao Yan identified the Nascent Pill as a tier-six Return Fire Pill, forcing many contestants to withdraw or struggle to refine it.
• Xiao Yan and Xiao Siyu refined Return Fire Pills while Mu Leng continued working on his pill nearby.
• Wu Changfu accepted the contestants who had completed the pills and warned that anyone bluffing would have to withstand three punches from him.
• Wu Changfu formed an array of medicinal cauldrons and announced the second round, the Soul-Suppressing Cauldron.

Xiao Yan and the other alchemists began the next Pill Gathering trial, refining their pills inside Soul-Suppressing Cauldrons so the Black-Maned Clams could produce Fragrance-Nurturing Pills. By the eighth day, many contestants had been eliminated, while Xiao Yan continued the delicate process under mounting pressure.

• Wu Changfu opened a spatial rift and announced that contestants had half a month to refine their pills in Soul-Suppressing Cauldrons and retrieve Fragrance-Nurturing Pills from Black-Maned Clams.
• Xiao Yan and Xiao Siyu marveled at the Pill Tower's rare cauldrons and clams, then began channeling Heavenly Flames into their cauldrons.
• Xiao Yan overcame the cauldron's pressure with his Spiritual Strength and carefully positioned his tier-seven Return Fire Pill above the Black-Maned Clam.
• Several contestants burned their pills or withdrew, and the pressure on the remaining alchemists increased as others left.
• By the eighth day, nearly a fifth of the alchemists had left, while Xiao Yan continued melting his pill's coating and guiding its medicinal mist into the clam.

After ten days of refining, Xiao Yan and several other alchemists produced Fragrance-Nurturing Pills and advanced past the second round of the Pill Gathering. Ji Yao opened the Pill Sea Illusion Realm as the entrance to the third round.

• Xu Qinghe became the first alchemist to produce a Fragrance-Nurturing Pill, and several others followed.
• Xiao Yan produced his pill and rose into the air, where Xu Qinghe congratulated him and remarked on his speed.
• Huoxun Mingcheng also completed his pill, while more alchemists joined the group above the platform.
• Ji Yao announced that the successful alchemists had passed the second round, but Elder Zhong interrupted her to urge her to open the next round.
• Ji Yao used golden needles to break open the platform and draw up water, shaping its pill-fragrant vapor into the entrance to the Pill Sea Illusion Realm.

Xiao Yan entered the Pill Sea Illusion Realm and faced a gray double that could copy his cultivation and techniques. As the double struck at his back, a strange vibration came from deep within Xiao Yan’s Soul Origin.

• Zhong sent a Fragrance-Nurturing Pill into a mist passage and entered the illusion realm, followed by Xiao Yan and the other alchemists.
• Xiao Yan entered a boundless white space and discovered a gray figure that looked exactly like him.
• Xiao Yan and the gray double clashed, and the double replicated his fire dragon and Buddha’s Fury Fire Lotus.
• Xiao Yan used his vajra body to withstand the Fire Lotus, then the double appeared behind him and attacked with the Heaven Flipping Seal.
• A strange vibration came from Xiao Yan’s Soul Origin, and Chen Xuanling noticed it from outside the illusion realm.

Chen Xuanling discovered that he could not enter Xiao Yan’s illusion realm, while Master Qing Li appeared from the Soul-Guiding Incense and drove off the realm’s illusory figure. Master Qing Li then revealed that he had devised a way to deliberately enter the Pill Soul Realm, which he called the Pill Profound Realm.

• Chen Xuanling told Ji Yao, Yuwen Zong, and Wu Changfu that a restriction had blocked him from entering Xiao Yan’s illusion realm.
• Yuwen Zong suggested that Xiao Yan’s Heavenly Flame might have protected him, and the group could not determine the cause.
• The Soul-Guiding Incense emerged from Xiao Yan and summoned the lingering soul of Master Qing Li.
• Master Qing Li used the incense to disperse the white mist and drive the illusory figure away.
• Master Qing Li explained that the incense contained his insights and that he had learned to enter the Pill Soul Realm at will, naming the state the Pill Profound Realm.

Xiao Yan received Master Qing Li’s Pill Profound Realm technique and learned that the Pill Sea Illusion Realm was filled with Pill Qi he could absorb. He gathered the realm’s Pill Qi into pill-shaped forms and began drawing it into himself, hoping it would help him advance as an alchemist.

• Master Qing Li explained how he had created the Pill Profound Realm and said he had stored the technique in the Pill Sea Illusion Realm.
• Master Qing Li used the Soul-Guiding Incense to pass his teachings and the Pill Profound Realm to Xiao Yan, then vanished.
• Xiao Yan realized the illusion realm’s hostile illusory body had been formed from the Fragrance-Nurturing Pill he had thrown into it.
• Using his new understanding, Xiao Yan dispelled the illusion and condensed its Pill Qi into countless grayish-white pills.
• Xiao Yan summoned the Soul-Guiding Incense and began drawing the Pill Qi into his body.

Xiao Yan absorbed the Pill Qi and attempted to break through to a Tier Eight Soul, but the attempt failed without injuring him. After leaving the Pill Sea Illusion Realm, he appeared in Fallen Immortal City just before the others feared he would be eliminated.

• Xiao Yan refined the Pill Qi and tried to break through to a Tier Eight Soul, but his attempt failed.
• Xiao Yan sensed the barrier before a Tier Eight Soul more clearly and used the Fragrance-Nurturing Pill to leave the Pill Sea Illusion Realm.
• Two months later, Xiao Siyu worried because Xiao Yan had not emerged, while the other alchemists from his group had already left.
• Yuwen Zong suggested Xiao Yan might be eliminated if he remained trapped until the realm closed, and Chen Xuanling admitted he could not tell what had happened inside.
• Xiao Yan emerged from a misty passage, relieving Xiao Siyu and several people on the main dais.

Xiao Yan escaped the Pill Sea Illusion Realm just before it closed, after failing to break through to a Tier Eight Soul. When the Pill Tower discovered that one illusion realm had lost all its Pill Qi, Chen Xuanling suspected Xiao Yan, leaving the seniors to wonder what he had done.

• Xiao Siyu welcomed Xiao Yan and learned that he had attempted and failed to advance his Spiritual Strength to Tier Eight.
• Xiao Yan learned that Mu Leng remained trapped in the illusion realm and regretted his elimination.
• Yuwen Zong closed the Pill Sea Illusion Realm and retrieved the alchemists who had failed to escape.
• Yuwen Zong discovered that one illusion realm had lost all its Pill Qi, while the realm entered by the old man surnamed Zhong had lost nearly half of its supply.
• Chen Xuanling concluded that Xiao Yan was responsible for the completely emptied illusion realm, and Yuwen Zong and the others turned their attention to him.

After the first three stages of the Pill Gathering, Yuwen Zong opened the Cang Ridge Secret Realm for the fourth stage, warning that it was deadly and allowing contestants to withdraw. Xiao Yan and Xiao Siyu chose to enter and pursue the championship, while a white-robed young man watched Xiao Yan with a chilling gaze as he vanished into the realm.

• Xiao Yan and Xiao Siyu rested after helping Mu Leng, and Xiao Siyu told Xiao Yan that the secret realm might contain the Giant Rock Horned Rhino Beast he sought.
• Yuwen Zong announced that the fourth stage would take place in the Cang Ridge Secret Realm and warned that contestants could die there.
• Yuwen Zong opened a fiery passage and explained that contestants had one month to gather ingredients and produce twenty Fragrance-Nurturing Pills, or they could withdraw.
• The Yuan Zun experts entered the secret realm, followed by Xiao Yan, Xiao Siyu, Huoxun Mingcheng, and the other contestants.
• As Xiao Yan entered the fiery whirlpool, he noticed a white-robed young man watching him with an icy smile before the contestants disappeared.

Xiao Yan entered the Cang Ridge Secret Realm, learned about its territories and Fragrance-Nurturing Pills from a transformed magical beast, and avoided the nearby lair of a Yuan Zun beast. Two days later, he emerged from hiding as a snake woman and her companions attacked a beautiful woman who carried a Fragrance-Nurturing Pill.

• Xiao Yan suspected the white-robed young man was connected to the Bai Clan and explored the remote area where he had entered the secret realm.
• Xiao Yan subdued a transformed magical beast and made him draw a map and explain the Yuan Zun beasts' territories and the Fragrance-Nurturing Pills.
• Xiao Yan memorized the map, avoided the nearest Yuan Zun beast's territory, and flew away.
• Two days later, a snake woman and two companions overpowered a beautiful woman, stole her Storage Ring, and found a Fragrance-Nurturing Pill inside.
• The snake woman noticed someone hiding nearby, and Xiao Yan appeared from the thicket.

Xiao Yan confronted a group of transformed magical beasts who sought his Fragrance-Nurturing Pill and attacked him. After revealing his Heavenly Flames, he faced five beasts as they prepared to fight together.

• Xiao Yan appeared before the monstrous woman and her two companions, who surrounded him and demanded his valuables.
• The monstrous woman ordered her brothers to kill Xiao Yan, but he evaded their strike and smashed her into the mountainside with his ruler.
• Xiao Yan fought off the three beasts with his rulers and Giant Elephant Art, then revealed Heavenly Flames on both weapons.
• The monstrous woman summoned two more transformed beasts, including a five-star Yuan Zong, and the five prepared to attack Xiao Yan together.
• Xiao Yan surveyed the five opponents and wondered how many Fragrance-Nurturing Pills they had collected.