Chapter Summaries

Xiao Yan recovered and agreed to refine Xiang Wuhui’s bones, but first demanded forty Fragrance-Nurturing Pills for him and Xiao Siyu to pass the trial. Xiang Wuhui handed them over, and Xiao Yan began guiding a Child Heavenly Flame through his body to refine his bones.

• After nearly half a day of recovery, Xiao Yan returned to peak condition and prepared to fulfill his promise to Xiang Wuhui.
• Xiao Yan demanded forty Fragrance-Nurturing Pills, warning that he could not safely refine Xiang Wuhui’s bones if he was distracted by the trial.
• Xiang Wuhui threatened Xiao Yan but decided he needed the bone refining more, so he gave him exactly forty pills.
• Xiao Yan warned Xiang Wuhui to control his Origin Qi and remain still during the procedure.
• Xiao Yan sent his Child Heavenly Flame into Xiang Wuhui’s body and began guiding the medicinal power into his bones.

Xiao Yan completed refining Xiang Wuhui’s bones, but Xiang Wuhui tried to seize his Heavenly Flames instead of letting him and Xiao Siyu leave. Xiao Yan’s hidden flames crippled Xiang Wuhui long enough for him to free Xiao Siyu, and they fled into the snowy mountains before Xiang Wuhui could recover.

• Xiao Yan spent seven days refining Xiang Wuhui’s bones while Xiao Siyu recovered from her injuries.
• After the refining was complete, Xiang Wuhui questioned Xiao Yan about a possible hidden scheme, then attacked him to steal his Heavenly Flames.
• Pink flames ignited throughout Xiang Wuhui’s body, leaving him in agony and unable to pursue Xiao Yan immediately.
• When Xiang Wuhui threatened Xiao Yan, the golden sphere trapping Xiao Siyu began to contract, so Xiao Yan summoned the Northern King to shatter it with a lightning strike.
• Xiao Yan had the Northern King carry Xiao Siyu as they fled into the snowy mountains before Xiang Wuhui could subdue the flames and recover.

Xiao Yan and his companions fled through Xiang Wuhui’s territory while Magical Beasts hunted them, and they rescued four humans from an attack. The gray-haired old man began to share what he had heard about the secret realm’s exit.

• Xiao Yan escaped the snowy mountains with the Northern King and Xiao Siyu after sensing Xiang Wuhui’s furious roar.
• Xiao Yan and his companions traveled for two days through increasing numbers of hostile Magical Beasts, with the Northern King clearing their path.
• The Northern King killed the Magical Beasts that recognized and tried to flee from Xiao Yan’s group, saving four humans from the encirclement.
• Xiao Yan asked the four humans where the secret realm’s exit was, and the gray-haired old man said he had once heard someone mention it.

Xiao Yan learned the supposed route to the secret realm’s exit, but Xiao Siyu recognized that the gray-haired elder had lied and that he and his companions were following them to steal their Fragrance-Nurturing Pills. As a Yuan Zun pursuer intercepted the four men, Xiao Yan and Xiao Siyu prepared a hidden ambush, suspecting Xiang Wuhui was coming for them.

• The gray-haired elder told Xiao Yan that the exit lay west, then revealed to his three companions that Xiao Yan had gathered forty Fragrance-Nurturing Pills and proposed stealing them after a clash with a Yuan Zun.
• The gray-haired elder persuaded the other three to join him, and the four set off after Xiao Yan’s group as a black-robed figure restored a trace of Xiao Yan’s presence and followed it.
• Xiao Yan sensed the four men pursuing them, while Xiao Siyu used the map and the elder’s inconsistent story to conclude that he had tried to mislead them.
• Xiao Yan detected a Yuan Zun expert intercepting the pursuers, and Xiao Siyu suspected Xiang Wuhui was behind them.
• Xiao Yan and Xiao Siyu concealed themselves among the stone pillars, while Xiao Yan set out the Northern King and an avatar and condensed six Heavenly Flames for a surprise attack.

Xiao Yan and Xiao Siyu hid from a powerful Ghost Gate Yuan Zun, but their decoys failed to stop him. As the Northern King and Xiao Siyu attacked together, they broke his spatial seal and forced the battle to escalate.

• Xiao Siyu sent a Black Sparrow Flame spirit falcon to scout and planted two Formation Plates while Xiao Yan prepared a Fire Lotus.
• Xiao Siyu sensed an approaching enemy, and Xiao Yan concealed them both beneath a black curtain of the Great Dao of the Void.
• The Ghost Gate attacker destroyed Xiao Yan's avatar and Formation Plates, then demanded that Xiao Yan surrender.
• Xiao Yan's avatar exploded, but the mysterious Yuan Zun contained its blast before the Northern King struck him with its dragon tail.
• The mysterious figure sealed the Northern King with the Great Dao of Space, but Xiao Siyu appeared and unleashed Black Fire Heavenly Illumination.
• Xiao Siyu's flames and the Northern King's lightning shattered the mysterious figure's spatial seal.

Xiao Siyu and the Northern King fought the mysterious Yuan Zun of the Ghost Gate, but the foe overwhelmed them with superior control of the Great Dao of Space. Xiao Yan ambushed the figure with Buddha’s Fury Fire Lotus, then fled toward the secret realm’s exit while the wounded Xiao Siyu and the Northern King escaped ahead of him.

• The Northern King attacked the mysterious figure, but the foe struck him away after overcoming the disruption caused by Xiao Siyu’s Black Sparrow Flame.
• The mysterious figure trapped Xiao Siyu in collapsing space and left her gravely injured, then restrained the Northern King with spatial blades.
• The figure realized Xiao Yan had not appeared and was struck from behind by Buddha’s Fury Fire Lotus.
• Xiao Yan ordered the Northern King to carry the wounded Xiao Siyu away, then escaped the battle and raced toward the secret realm’s exit.
• Xiao Yan fled the pursuing Yuan Zun, sending out avatars to delay them while gathering his remaining Origin Qi into a whirling disk of fire.

Xiao Yan killed Daoist Xuankong when the Ghost Gate expert ambushed him near the secret realm’s exit, but another powerful enemy trapped him with Dao Transforms Heaven and Earth. As Xiao Yan struggled to break free with his remaining strength, a torrent of invisible power erupted from him and shook the blockade.

• Daoist Xuankong trapped Xiao Yan in a spatial cage and attacked him from behind.
• Xiao Yan used his Heavenly Flames and Buddha's Fury Reincarnation to kill Daoist Xuankong, then burned his body and took his Storage Ring.
• A second attacker arrived and trapped Xiao Yan with Dao Transforms Heaven and Earth, compressing and distorting the space around him.
• Xiao Yan swallowed pills, wrapped himself in the Great Dao of the Void and Heavenly Flames, and struck at the spatial blockade, but barely made it ripple.
• The mysterious attacker taunted Xiao Yan as a torrent of invisible power erupted from him and violently shook the surrounding space.

Xiao Yan struggled to break the figure’s spatial seal while using Ten Thousand Seas Return to the Ruins to boost his Spiritual Strength. Captured and facing death, he released the origins of his Heavenly Flames, making the figure retreat in alarm.

• Xiao Yan used his boosted Spiritual Strength to crack the spatial seal, but his attack only shattered part of it.
• Xiao Yan asked why the figure wanted his now-ordinary ornament, while secretly searching the surrounding space for an escape route.
• The figure attacked with black light; Xiao Yan blocked it with a shield of Spiritual Strength and Heavenly Flames, but the figure then overwhelmed him and restrained him in solidified space.
• The figure approached Xiao Yan and began shaping the spatial restraint into a coffin, saying he wanted to preserve Xiao Yan’s Heavenly Flames.
• Xiao Yan released several Heavenly Flame Origins, and the figure recognized the threat of detonation and retreated in alarm.

Xiao Yan was on the verge of sacrificing his Heavenly Flames to escape Fu Kui when Xu Qinghe intervened and rescued him. Fu Kui withdrew rather than risk a fight, but he left Xiao Yan with a threat of future danger.

• Xiao Yan resolved to erase the Soul Imprint in his Heavenly Flame Origin and considered sacrificing the flames as Fu Kui moved to kill him.
• Xu Qinghe broke Fu Kui’s control over the surrounding space, rescued Xiao Yan, and destroyed Fu Kui’s concealed attack with a wind dragon.
• Xu Qinghe rebuffed Fu Kui’s threat and summoned the Nine Heavens Azure Pagoda and a fire dragon, using the Great Daos of wind and fire to resist Fu Kui’s Great Dao of Space.
• Fu Kui judged that fighting Xu Qinghe could expose his identity and jeopardize his pursuit of the Heaven Inquiry Pill, so he withdrew after warning Xiao Yan that he would let him live a few more days.
• Xiao Yan remained tense even after Fu Kui disappeared.

After Xu Qinghe rescued Xiao Yan from Fu Kui, he persuaded the injured Xiao Yan to travel with him across the dangerous plain. Xiao Yan realized Xu Qinghe wanted the ancient bronze badge and handed it over for Xu Qinghe to return to his master.

• Xiao Yan thanked Xu Qinghe for saving him, and Xu Qinghe explained that his master had ordered him to help Xiao Yan.
• Xu Qinghe warned that the plain was dangerous and urged Xiao Yan to travel with him to the core region, where fighting was forbidden.
• Xiao Yan rested until his injuries and Origin Qi partly recovered, then rode Xu Qinghe's wind dragon across the plain.
• Xu Qinghe recognized Xiao Yan's powerful Spiritual Strength and noted that using his secret technique so early could cost him his chance at the Pill Gathering championship.
• Xu Qinghe revealed that his master had been tracking Xiao Yan because he possessed the keepsake of the master's old friend, Huo Zhu.
• Xiao Yan gave Xu Qinghe the ancient bronze badge, and Xu Qinghe drew it into his Storage Ring.

After qualifying at the lake of pill fragrance Qi, Xiao Yan concealed himself and confirmed that Xiao Siyu was safe. He prepared to pursue a breakthrough to a Tier Eight Alchemist and found a soul-strengthening secret technique, but it required a missing soul-binding stone.

• Xu Qinghe and Xiao Yan reached the vast lake and each threw in enough Fragrance-Nurturing Pills to obtain a water talisman proving they had qualified.
• Xiao Yan parted from Xu Qinghe, hid on a small island, and contacted the Soul Imprint in the Northern King's body to confirm Xiao Siyu was safe.
• Xiao Yan resolved to win the Pill Gathering crown and considered using the lingering Soul Power in his body to break through to a Tier Eight Alchemist.
• Xiao Yan searched Daoist Xuankong's Storage Ring and found the Spirit Absorption Secret Technique, which required a soul-binding stone he did not have.

Xiao Siyu gave Xiao Yan the Soul-Binding Stone, helping him attempt to break through to a Tier Eight Soul while she recovered on the ring-shaped island. When the secret realm’s exit opened, she left ahead of him after he promised to escape before it closed, while his breakthrough was still underway.

• Xiao Yan abandoned his initial breakthrough attempt when Xiao Siyu arrived with the Soul-Binding Stone she had taken from Daoist Xuankong.
• Xiao Yan told Xiao Siyu that he had killed Daoist Xuankong and showed her the Spirit Absorption Secret Technique, and she gave him the stone to aid his breakthrough.
• Xiao Yan refined the Soul-Binding Stone and materials from Daoist Xuankong’s Storage Ring, while Xiao Siyu recovered and the Northern King guarded the island.
• Xiao Yan began his Tier Eight Soul breakthrough, and the Northern King kept passing experts from disturbing him.
• When the secret realm’s exit opened, Xiao Siyu left the island after Xiao Yan promised to leave before the realm closed, while he continued his breakthrough.

Xiao Yan emerged from the secret realm just before its exit closed and was allowed to advance to the Pill Gathering’s final round. Chen Xuanling explained the final assessment and its rewards, then began the pill-refining contest.

• Xiao Siyu worried as the secret realm’s exit shrank, while Fu Kui also watched for Xiao Yan.
• Chen Xuanling prepared to begin the final round, but Xiao Yan emerged from the closing exit in a burst of black light.
• Xiao Yan asked whether he had passed, and Chen Xuanling confirmed that he qualified because he left before the next round was announced.
• Chen Xuanling divided the final assessment into groups for Tier Seven and Tier Eight Alchemists and offered the top ten a chance to join the Pill Tower as elders.
• Chen Xuanling invited the alchemists onto the floating platforms, and the final pill-refining contest began.

Xiao Yan used Soul-Binding Stone and several techniques to attempt to break through to an eighth-tier soul while Xiao Siyu recovered and guarded the island with the Northern King. When the secret realm’s exit opened, Xiao Siyu left first after Xiao Yan promised to escape before it closed.

• Xiao Yan began attempting to reach the eighth tier using the Pill Profound Realm and Ten Thousand Seas Return to the Ruins.
• Xiao Siyu arrived with the Northern King and gave Xiao Yan the Soul-Binding Stone she had taken from Daoist Xuankong.
• Xiao Yan told Xiao Siyu about the Spirit Absorption Secret Technique and Daoist Xuankong’s death, then began refining materials from Daoist Xuankong’s Storage Ring with the Soul-Binding Stone.
• Two days later, Xiao Yan formally began his breakthrough attempt as Xiao Siyu recovered and the Northern King guarded the island.
• Xiao Siyu sensed that the secret realm’s exit had opened, but Xiao Yan had not completed his breakthrough.
• Xiao Siyu left the secret realm after Xiao Yan promised to depart before it closed.

Xiao Yan escaped the secret realm just before its exit closed and qualified for the Pill Gathering’s final round. Chen Xuanling announced the final contest’s two assessment groups and the rewards for the top alchemists, then began the pill-refining contest.

• Xiao Siyu and the others worried as the secret realm’s exit shrank, while Fu Kui feared Xiao Yan’s death could cost him the Heavenly Flames and the “key.”
• Just as Chen Xuanling prepared to announce the final round, Xiao Yan emerged from a flash of black light after the exit closed.
• Chen Xuanling ruled that Xiao Yan had passed because he left before the next round was announced.
• Chen Xuanling explained that Tier Seven and Tier Eight Alchemists would be assessed separately, with the top ten in each group invited to join the Pill Tower as elders.
• Chen Xuanling invited the alchemists onto the floating platforms, and the final pill-refining contest began.

The final round of the Pill Gathering began, and the alchemists prepared to refine their pills while revealing their cauldrons and flames. Xiao Yan displayed his fused Heavenly Flame and Luo Heavenly Cauldron, but another eerie flame then drew the arena’s attention.

• The alchemists took their floating platforms and prepared for the final round as Xu Qinghe and Fu Kui wondered at Xiao Yan’s apparent recovery.
• Elder Zhong summoned his silver cauldron and Silver Shard Flame, then began refining his pill.
• Xu Qinghe revealed the Flame of Life, a Child Flame ranked fifth on the Heavenly Flame Ranking, and exchanged a provocative look with Xiao Yan.
• Xiao Yan released his Fused Heavenly Flame and Luo Heavenly Cauldron, drawing the attention of the arena.
• A strange, densely packed flame rose elsewhere, prompting the onlookers to question whether it could be used for pill refinement.

The Pill Gathering continued as Fu Kui displayed a sinister grayish-white flame and the alchemists spent two months refining pills. As the pills neared completion, a white-robed young man used Spiritual Strength to seize the energy above Xiao Yan.

• Fu Kui revealed his grayish-white flame and summoned a medicinal cauldron made of white bone, alarming the alchemists and spectators.
• Wu Changfu and Chen Xuanling discussed the unknown flame, and Chen Xuanling resolved to watch Fu Kui closely.
• The alchemists began refining pills, and two months passed as Fu Kui, Xu Qinghe, Elder Zhong, and a Qi Clan elder drew attention with their work.
• Xiao Yan recognized the Qi Clan elder from the testing hall and saw him use talismans and Spirit Stones to draw Origin Qi into his pill.
• Chen Xuanling watched a purple-robed woman who still had not begun refining a pill.
• As pill fragrance spread, a white-robed young man formed an invisible hand with Spiritual Strength and seized control of the energy above Xiao Yan.

During the Pill Gathering, Bai Hansheng drained the Origin Qi around Xiao Yan to sabotage his Nascent Pill, but Xiao Yan secretly replenished his cauldron through the Great Dao of the Void. Xiao Yan formed a Tier Eight Nascent Pill while Bai Hansheng’s own nearly completed pill exploded.

• Bai Hansheng used a spiritual hand to draw away the Origin Qi around Xiao Yan, triggering a chaotic struggle among alchemists in the arena.
• Murong Qianqian denounced the sabotage, while Mu Leng explained that the Pill Gathering tested alchemists’ ability to withstand interference.
• Xiao Yan recognized Bai Hansheng’s attack and secretly drew Origin Qi into his cauldron through spatial vortices created by the Great Dao of the Void.
• Elder Zhong formed a Tier Eight Nascent Pill, prompting cheers and speculation about the challenge of completing its Pill Runes.
• Xiao Yan’s cauldron released a Pill Qi dragon, revealing that he had also formed a Tier Eight Nascent Pill.
• Bai Hansheng spotted Xiao Yan’s spatial vortices, but when he looked back at his own cauldron, its flames died and his Nascent Pill exploded.

Fu Kui unleashed grayish-white flames that extinguished the other alchemists’ cauldron fires and caused their nascent pills to explode, eliminating most of the competitors. The Pill Tower leaders restrained their response because Fu Kui claimed the flames had rebounded accidentally, while Yuwen Zong warned him to control them and finish refining his pill.

• Fu Kui broke his bone cauldron and sent grayish-white flames spreading through the arena, extinguishing cauldron fires and causing nascent pills to explode.
• The blasts eliminated seventy to eighty percent of the alchemists, provoking anger from Chen Xuanling, Ji Yao, Wu Changfu, and other faction representatives.
• Yuwen Zong explained that the Pill Tower could not punish Fu Kui without proof of deliberate wrongdoing, while Wu Changfu vented his fury by breaking his chair.
• Wu Tian attacked Fu Kui, but Fu Kui shattered his force and provoked him with accusations until Yuwen Zong stopped him and revealed Fu Kui was from the Ghost Gate.
• Fu Kui claimed his newly subdued flame often rebounded, and Yuwen Zong warned him to control it and finish refining his pill before it was too late.

Fu Kui’s flames drove the Tier Seven Alchemists from the Pill Gathering while the remaining masters completed their Nascent Pills. As the final contest approached, the purple-robed woman trapped the arena and tried to draw the alchemists’ pills into a snake skull, revealing cultivation at Eight-Star Yuan Zun.

• Fu Kui’s grayish-white flames eliminated the Tier Seven Alchemists, while Xiao Yan, Xu Qinghe, Old Freak Zhong, Huoxun Mingcheng, and other masters defended themselves.
• Huoxun Mingcheng controlled the flames and completed a tier eight Nascent Pill, while the other remaining alchemists also formed their pills.
• Chen Xuanling sensed danger, but the purple-robed woman raised a murky gray barrier around the arena before he and Ji Yao could stop her.
• The purple-robed woman used a snake skull to pull at the Nascent Pills, forcing the alchemists to suppress them with Origin Qi.
• Old Freak Zhong unleashed the Silver Shard Flame’s source fire and sent a silver-scaled crocodile at the woman, but she destroyed it with a snake-like tail and revealed herself as an Eight-Star Yuan Zun.