Chapter Summaries

Xiao Yan and Xiao Siyu discovered the High Intent Grade Soul Secret Technique Ten Thousand Seas Return to the Ruins, whose immense power came with a potentially fatal cost. Xiao Yan took the technique anyway, and the chapter ended as Murong Qianqian began to explain a complication concerning Leng Bingshuang and the Xiao Gate.

• The Soul Stone Iron Scroll revealed Ten Thousand Seas Return to the Ruins, and Xiao Yan and Xiao Siyu learned that it could greatly increase Spiritual Strength while risking the user's life and Soul Origin.
• Xiao Yan absorbed the technique despite Xiao Siyu's warning, believing his Origin Body could protect him from its cost.
• Xiao Siyu suspected that two people they had seen in the great hall might have been from the Bai Clan, and Xiao Yan decided to be cautious at the Pill Gathering.
• After Xiao Siyu left, Xiao Yan asked Murong Qianqian about Leng Bingshuang, and she said Leng Bingshuang had helped the Xiao Gate grow powerful while Xiao Yan was away.
• Murong Qianqian frowned and began to add a qualification about Leng Bingshuang's situation.

Xiao Yan examined the Soul-Guiding Incense and found no hidden secret beyond its soul-protecting use. Just before the Pill Gathering, a tier eight pill appeared over Pill City and faced a massive Pill Lightning strike, leaving Xiao Yan and the gathered experts astonished.

• Xiao Yan inspected the Soul-Guiding Incense in his sea of consciousness but found nothing beyond its protective effect against soul and sonic attacks.
• Xiao Yan and his companions spent several quiet days preparing for the Pill Gathering while Murong Qianqian took Mu Leng around Pill City.
• A thunderous Pill Lightning drew experts, including Xiao Yan and Xiao Siyu, toward the eastern part of Pill City as a pill neared completion.
• A glowing pill emerged beneath the thunderclouds, and Xiao Yan and the crowd recognized its Pill Rune as proof that it was a tier eight pill.
• The tier eight pill's light brightened as a massive black bolt of Pill Lightning descended toward it.

Xu Qinghe used the Nine Heavens Azure Pagoda to withstand the Pill Lightning and capture his completed Tier Eight pill, revealing his strength and connection to Heavenly Yuan Zong. As Xiao Yan returned to the manor, someone unexpectedly addressed him by name.

• The Nine Heavens Azure Pagoda appeared and dispersed the Pill Lightning threatening Xu Qinghe's Tier Eight pill.
• Xiao Siyu identified the alchemist as Xu Qinghe of Heavenly Yuan Zong and explained that his teacher led the sect and was rumored to be near Origin Di level.
• Xu Qinghe used the pagoda to withstand the remaining Pill Lightning, and Xiao Yan sensed that Xu Qinghe had Yuan Zun cultivation.
• The completed pill tried to flee, but the pagoda destroyed its doubles and sealed it in a spherical cage using the Qianling Technique.
• Xiao Yan and his companions headed back to the manor, where an unknown voice asked, "You're Xiao Yan?"

Xiao Yan met Xu Qinghe, who came to retrieve the bronze badge Huo Zhu had entrusted to him, but Xiao Yan refused to hand it over without delivering it to Liu Ya himself. After Xu Qinghe left, Xiao Yan resolved to win the Pill Gathering by refining a Creation Pill and gain the strength to face the Heavenly Yuan Zong.

• Xiao Yan sensed a powerful hidden presence and identified the visitor as Xu Qinghe.
• Xu Qinghe asked Xiao Yan for the bronze badge Huo Zhu had entrusted to him, but Xiao Yan insisted on delivering it to Liu Ya in person.
• Xu Qinghe warned Xiao Yan with a display of killing intent, then relented after confirming Xiao Yan had the badge and asked him to keep it safe.
• Xiao Yan returned to his room and reflected on the threat posed by the Heavenly Yuan Zong, renewing his resolve to seek strength and win the Pill Gathering.
• Xiao Yan decided to refine a Creation Pill as proof of his ability to win the Pill Gathering.

Xiao Yan reviewed the Creation Pill formula and sought the rare ingredients needed to refine it before the Pill Gathering. Xiao Ming led him and Xiao Siyu to an exchange fair in Pill City, where they planned to search for the missing materials.

• Xiao Yan found that the Creation Pill required scarce Ten Thousand Herb Ash and Rock Rhino Horn Marrow, and considered the Yin Nether Life Transformation Pill as a fallback.
• Xiao Yan asked Xiao Siyu for tier seven medicinal ingredients, and she gave him a Storage Ring containing nearly three thousand.
• Xiao Siyu and Mu Leng wondered whether Xiao Yan intended to refine a tier eight pill, but he neither confirmed nor denied it.
• Xiao Ming told Xiao Yan about an exchange fair in Pill City and led him and Xiao Siyu to Dustlight Pavilion.
• Xiao Ming explained that the first floor offered exchanges for ordinary items and ingredients, while rare items could be sought on the second floor.

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.