Chapter Summaries

After Xiao Yan revealed that he had mastered the Power of the Great Dao, Sun Shuo attacked him in a fury, but Bai Ying intervened and carried Xiao Yan away from Hanxi City. Bai Ying flew south to put distance between them and the Sun Clan.

• The Dou Di experts in Hanxi City were shocked that Xiao Yan had comprehended the Power of the Great Dao as a Half-Emperor.
• Bai Ying mocked Sun Shuo’s swollen face, and Sun Shuo noticed that his enormous sword had been damaged in the clash with Xiao Yan.
• Sun Shuo charged Xiao Yan and nearly cut his throat, leaving a shallow bloody line before Xiao Yan could knock the sword aside.
• Bai Ying blocked Sun Shuo’s next strike with a lightning-wreathed spear, seized Xiao Yan, and flew away from Hanxi City.
• Sun Shuo shouted Bai Ying’s name as Bai Ying carried Xiao Yan south to escape the Sun Clan.

Bai Ying brought Xiao Yan to meet Elder Haoxuan, but Xiao Yan feared the elder was an enemy and pretended to be unconscious while overhearing their conversation. After Bai Ying revealed their connection to the Heavenly Sword Sect and insisted they could not harm Xiao Yan, Xiao Yan woke and exposed his act.

• Elder Haoxuan waited in the forest for Bai Ying, who arrived carrying Xiao Yan after confronting Sun Shuo.
• Xiao Yan sensed that Elder Haoxuan was stronger than Bai Ying and feared he had delivered himself into the Heavenly Sword Sect's hands.
• Bai Ying tried to examine Xiao Yan, but Heavenly Flames protected Xiao Yan and forced Bai Ying to withdraw his Spiritual Strength.
• Bai Ying and Elder Haoxuan discussed how they could neither keep Xiao Yan there nor kill him, and said they could not act until they knew his identity.
• Xiao Yan began coughing and opened his eyes after overhearing their conversation, revealing that he had only been pretending to be unconscious.

After Bai Ying brought Xiao Yan to a secluded place, he explained the Bai Clan’s enmity with the Heavenly Sword Sect and asked Xiao Yan to join the clan. Xiao Yan heard the invitation while enclosed with Bai Ying and Haoxuan inside a Dou Qi barrier.

• Xiao Yan recovered enough to stand and calmly demanded that Bai Ying explain why he had brought him to the remote location.
• Bai Ying asked Xiao Yan to acknowledge that he had saved him, but Xiao Yan replied that he could have left Hanxi City without meeting him.
• Bai Ying said the Bai Clan held a grudge against the Heavenly Sword Sect, and Haoxuan raised a Dou Qi barrier around the three of them.
• Bai Ying assured Xiao Yan that the barrier was for safety and said he had brought him to discuss one matter.
• Bai Ying invited Xiao Yan to join the Bai Clan.

Bai Ying invited Xiao Yan to join the Bai Clan, revealing that he respected Xiao Yan’s strength and alchemy skills. Xiao Yan refused to join any faction but agreed to consider Bai Ying a potential friend against the Heavenly Sword Sect.

• Bai Ying bowed to Xiao Yan and sincerely invited him to join the Bai Clan, while Haoxuan wondered why his patriarch showed such deference.
• Xiao Yan refused the invitation, saying he would not join any faction.
• Haoxuan began gathering Dou Qi, but Bai Ying stopped him before he could threaten Xiao Yan.
• Xiao Yan secretly relaxed after the danger passed, having been prepared to call on Gu You’s power if Haoxuan attacked.
• Bai Ying asked Xiao Yan not to dismiss the possibility of friendship and said the Bai Clan also opposed the Heavenly Sword Sect.
• Xiao Yan acknowledged Bai Ying’s offer, considering that an alliance against the Heavenly Sword Sect might benefit him.

After Xiao Yan left the forest, Bai Ying told Haoxuan about Xiao Yan’s overwhelming feats in Hanxi City and explained why he considered him extraordinary. Far away, Xiao Yan’s exhaustion caught up with him, and he headed into the mountains for shelter as Bai Ying and Haoxuan departed separately.

• Xiao Yan left Bai Ying and Haoxuan under cover of darkness and flew away through the storm.
• Bai Ying told Haoxuan that Xiao Yan had suppressed hundreds of Half-Emperor experts in Hanxi City, including more than ten Nine-Star Half-Emperors.
• Bai Ying revealed that Xiao Yan had beaten Sun Shuo, a Three-Star Dou Di, despite having exhausted his Dou Qi.
• Xiao Yan stopped several thousand li away, lost the Power of the Great Dao sustaining his robe, and was struck by the rain.
• Xiao Yan chose a direction and plunged toward the mountains, while Bai Ying and Haoxuan flew away in different directions.

Xiao Yan arrived in Jinshan City and learned that the Ancient Ruins held the Soul-Congealing Fruit he needed, though the Four Great Clans also coveted it. With three months until the ruins opened, he set aside his plans to enter them for now and prepared to advance his strength.

• After recovering for a week, Xiao Yan traveled south and reached Jinshan City in search of information about the Ancient Ruins.
• When local Half-Emperor experts tried to exploit him, Xiao Yan revealed his strength and forced them to explain what they knew.
• Xiao Yan learned that the ruins were a Dou Di expert's tomb filled with treasures, including the Soul-Congealing Fruit and a Spirit Class Dou Technique.
• The experts told Xiao Yan that the Four Great Clans under the Heavenly Sword Sect would compete for the Soul-Congealing Fruit when the ruins opened in three months.
• Wary that the Bai Clan might betray their secret agreement, Xiao Yan decided to use the next three months to advance from Early Six-Star Half-Emperor to Middle Six-Star Half-Emperor.

Xiao Yan celebrated reaching the Middle Six-Star Half-Emperor realm and questioned whether his rapid progress, gained through external resources, was truly his own. Gu You encouraged him to accept the pain and risks he had endured, and Xiao Yan set out with him for the approaching Ancient Ruins, determined to pursue the Dou Di realm.

• Xiao Yan examined his new Middle Six-Star Half-Emperor strength and reflected on how quickly he had advanced.
• Gu You appeared and praised Xiao Yan's extraordinary cultivation speed.
• Xiao Yan admitted he felt his strength came from shortcuts and external resources.
• Gu You reminded Xiao Yan of the pain and danger he faced devouring Heavenly Flames, and Xiao Yan regained his confidence.
• Gu You entered Xiao Yan's body, and Xiao Yan headed toward the Ancient Ruins as it prepared to open.

Xiao Yan arrived in Xilin City ahead of the Ancient Ruins opening, searching for two medicinal ingredients while powerful experts gathered around him. A thunderous rumble shook the city, and Xiao Yan rushed into the air to face whatever was approaching.

• Xiao Yan reached Xilin City and used his Spiritual Strength to detect several formidable experts already gathered there.
• Xiao Yan found lodging, rested, and searched the city for the two medicinal ingredients he still needed.
• Xiao Yan overheard people exaggerating his exploits in Hanxi City and mistaking him for a Dou Di expert.
• A thunderous rumble shook Xilin City, and Xiao Yan recalled his Spiritual Strength before leaping into the air to look toward the distant horizon.

Xiao Yan and the other Dou Di experts watched a mysterious figure battle the first Emperor Tribulation and shatter it. After the figure mocked the tribulation, the thunderclouds gathered an even more terrifying power, and his confidence began to falter.

• Xiao Yan and the other Dou Di experts watched the Emperor Tribulation gather over Xilin City as its thunder shook the world.
• The mysterious figure blocked the first massive thunderbolt with his ghastly white Dou Qi and fought back against the tribulation.
• Gu You told Xiao Yan that passing the Emperor Tribulation required enduring six increasingly powerful tribulations.
• The figure shattered the first tribulation and boasted that it was no match for him, though he had taken a finished Emperor Tribulation Pill.
• The thunderclouds churned with an even more terrifying presence, and the figure’s expression began to freeze.

Xiao Yan witnessed a mysterious man survive the terrifying Emperor Tribulation and reconsidered his own future breakthrough. With a month until the Ancient Ruins opened and no useful supplies found in Xilin City, he began cultivating and devised a way to train his pill refining and nine avatars at once.

• The mysterious man endured a full day of Emperor Tribulation but was left gravely wounded, while Xiao Yan realized how dangerous the trial was.
• Gu You reassured Xiao Yan that his strength and future resources would help him face the Emperor Tribulation when the time came.
• Xiao Yan searched the shops in Xilin City but found none of the things he needed.
• Unable to advance beyond the Middle Six-Star Half-Emperor stage yet, Xiao Yan brought out the Myriad Beast Cauldron to practice refining pills.
• Xiao Yan created nine avatars and attempted to refine pills while making all nine cultivate, despite Gu You's doubts.

Xiao Yan continued refining a second-tier pill while controlling nine avatars to cultivate at the same time. After ten days of effort, the pill began to take shape, and Gu You realized Xiao Yan had succeeded in dividing his mind ten ways.

• Xiao Yan burned through seven sets of valuable medicinal ingredients before carefully starting another attempt in the Myriad Beast Cauldron.
• Xiao Yan refined the ingredients while his nine avatars cultivated, seeking to raise their strength toward Six-Star Half-Emperor.
• After ten days, an unusual fragrance emerged from the cauldron as the pill began to form.
• Gu You recognized Xiao Yan’s success at controlling the pill refinement and all nine avatars simultaneously, and estimated the pill would be finished within two days.

Xiao Yan completed a second-tier pill whose formation summoned powerful Pill Lightning, then used the Northern King to withstand the strike. The lightning strengthened the puppet and began pushing him beyond the Half-Emperor realm as experts from Xilin City headed toward Xiao Yan.

• After a day of pill refinement, Xiao Yan completed the pill, and Gu You contained its fragrance with an energy barrier.
• A vast thundercloud formed above Xiao Yan, and he faced the Pill Lightning without fear.
• Xiao Yan sent out the Northern King to meet the lightning, and their collision shook the area.
• The Northern King recovered from the strike, while purple-gold light appeared on his skin and suggested his strength was nearing the Dou Di realm.
• Half-Emperor experts from Xilin City flew toward Xiao Yan after seeing the Pill Lightning.

Xiao Yan’s Northern King absorbed the Pill Lightning and grew to Quasi-Dou Di strength, while Xiao Yan completed his pill. Gu You then said the Northern King could still reach Dou Di by absorbing the lightning power stored inside him.

• The Northern King shattered the Pill Lightning with his fists and devoured its fragments, growing stronger as his body turned purple-gold.
• The Northern King charged into the thunderclouds and absorbed them while Xiao Yan worried the lightning would run out before his puppet reached Dou Di.
• A group of Half-Emperor experts hurried toward Xiao Yan as the last of the Pill Lightning vanished into the Northern King, who remained just short of true One-Star Dou Di.
• Xiao Yan formed a Pill Transformation Ring around the second-tier pill, retrieved it from the Myriad Beast Cauldron, and turned toward Hanxi City as the approaching crowd drew near.
• Gu You told Xiao Yan that the Northern King had stored enough lightning power to advance to Dou Di once he absorbed it all.

Xiao Yan returned to Hanxi City to rest and recover before the Ancient Ruins opened, then discovered that Xilin City had drawn a formidable gathering of experts. The arrival of powerful members of the Zhuo Clan raised the stakes, and the chapter ended as another equally powerful presence approached from the east.

• Xiao Yan returned to Hanxi City and decided to rest, heal his hidden injuries, and clear residual medicinal power from his body before the Ancient Ruins opened.
• Xiao Yan scanned Xilin City and found twice as many Half-Emperor experts as before, along with more than a dozen Dou Di experts.
• Xiao Yan sensed a Three-Star Dou Di approaching with a group from the north and realized the expert could overpower everyone already in the city.
• Xiao Yan recognized the group as members of the Zhuo Clan and noticed a young man among them who had reached the Two-Star Dou Di level.
• The long-browed elder and Xiao Yan both turned toward the eastern horizon as another equally powerful presence approached Xilin City.

Xiao Yan watched the Zhuo and Huo Clans arrive in Xilin City and assessed their strength as he prepared for the Ancient Ruins. Five days before the ruins opened, Bai Ying and Sun Shuo arrived, and the four clans sensed one another’s presence.

• Huo Ba arrived with the Huo Clan and mocked Zhuo Bentang, who replied that Huo Ba had also reached Three-Star Dou Di.
• Zhuo Bentang and Huo Ba led their clans to their reserved lodgings, while Xiao Yan watched and hoped their rivalry would help him.
• Xiao Yan returned to his inn, assessed the Huo Clan’s strength, and worried that the Four Great Clans’ leaders might be Four-Star Dou Di experts.
• Five days before the Ancient Ruins opened, Bai Ying and Sun Shuo appeared above Xilin City, and the four clans’ gazes clashed unseen across the city.

Bai Ying and Sun Shuo arrived above Xilin City, where people recalled Xiao Yan’s battle with the Sun Clan and Bai Ying’s intervention. Sun Shuo attacked Bai Ying over losing Xiao Yan, and their clash left the Zhuo Clan and Huo Clan leaders watching warily.

• People in Xilin City discussed how Xiao Yan had defeated the Sun Clan three months earlier and how Bai Ying had taken him away.
• Xiao Yan heard the exaggerated stories from his room and felt embarrassed by them.
• Sun Shuo glared at Bai Ying, who blocked his pressure and challenged him over his hostile attitude.
• Sun Shuo accused Bai Ying of taking Xiao Yan from him and launched a powerful attack.
• Bai Ying countered with a purple lightning dragon, and their attacks collided in a massive explosion.
• The Zhuo Clan and Huo Clan leaders watched the clash with solemn expressions.

Sun Shuo and Bai Ying clashed over Xiao Yan but stopped their fight to preserve their strength for the Ancient Ruins. Xiao Yan learned that Bai Ying’s son had concealed his true power, which Gu You said was at least as great as the Zhuo Clan son’s.

• Sun Shuo attacked Bai Ying, blaming him for taking Xiao Yan, while Bai Ying argued that he had saved Sun Shuo’s clan from a mysterious expert.
• Bai Ying’s son stopped his father from continuing the fight, and Sun Shuo’s son reminded him that the Zhuo and Huo Clans hoped the Bai and Sun Clans would weaken each other.
• Sun Shuo and Bai Ying withdrew, though Sun Shuo vowed to make the Bai, Zhuo, and Huo Clans pay.
• Xiao Yan watched from his room, disguised himself in a black robe, and wondered why Bai Ying’s son seemed weaker than Sun Shuo’s son.
• Gu You told Xiao Yan that Bai Ying’s son was concealing his strength and was no weaker than the Zhuo Clan’s son, prompting Xiao Yan to suspect he was a Two-Star Dou Di.

Xiao Yan realized that Bai Ying’s son had concealed his strength and watched as the Four Great Clans gathered before their journey to the Ancient Ruins. Zhuo Lin asserted his superiority over the other clans’ young masters, then unexpectedly ignored the Bai Clan, leaving them and Xiao Yan astonished.

• Xiao Yan realized Bai Ying’s son was a Two-Star Dou Di and reconsidered how the Bai Clan might help on the journey to the Ancient Ruins.
• Bai Ying and Sun Shuo joined Zhuo Bentang and Huo Ba in the sky, where Huo Ba mocked Zhuo Bentang and the Zhuo Clan.
• Zhuo Lin arrived and rebuked Huo Ba, who then recognized Sun Hanxi as the one who had undergone the Emperor Tribulation.
• Sun Hanxi confronted Zhuo Lin, who dismissed him as too weak and then told the Huo Clan’s young master that he also was not good enough.
• Zhuo Lin looked toward the Bai Clan but passed over Bai Ying and the white-robed youth, surprising them and Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan secretly followed Sun Hanxi and Bai Zhan’s nighttime fight, where Sun Hanxi used his Dou Di strength to badly injure and humiliate Bai Zhan. Bai Zhan refused to admit defeat, and the confrontation ended with Sun Hanxi leaving after a mocking apology while Bai Zhan vowed revenge.

• Xiao Yan sensed Sun Hanxi and Bai Zhan fighting in a secluded alley and concealed himself to watch.
• Sun Hanxi overwhelmed Bai Zhan, shattered his lightning spear, buried him beneath collapsing walls, and stomped him into the ground.
• Bai Ying tried to intervene, but Sun Shuo blocked his attack and defended Sun Hanxi, provoking Bai Ying with mocking remarks.
• Bai Zhan crawled from the rubble and refused to admit defeat despite his injuries.
• Sun Hanxi offered Bai Zhan a contemptuous apology, and Bai Zhan vowed to repay the humiliation before Sun Hanxi left.

After watching the Four Great Clans react to Bai Zhan’s beating, Xiao Yan focused on recovering before the Ancient Ruins opened in five days. Zhuo Lin suspected Bai Zhan was concealing Dou Di strength, while the Bai Clan prepared to keep its secret as experts gathered in Xilin City.

• Xiao Yan watched the clans leave and concluded that Bai Zhan had endured Sun Hanxi’s attacks to conceal his true strength, while Zhuo Bentang and Huo Ba had also observed the fight.
• Sun Shuo and Sun Hanxi returned to their quarters convinced that Bai Zhan was only a Nine-Star Half-Emperor and too injured to join the journey to the Ancient Ruins.
• Zhuo Lin questioned Zhuo Bentang about Bai Zhan’s fight and years at the Late Nine-Star Half-Emperor stage, then warned him to be wary of the Bai and Huo Clans.
• Bai Zhan told Bai Ying that the beating had fooled the Sun and Huo Clans, while Bai Ying worried that Zhuo Lin might see through their deception.
• Xiao Yan returned to his lodgings to rest, and experts continued arriving in Xilin City as the Four Great Clans remained secluded until the Ancient Ruins opened.