Chapter Summaries

Xiao Yan led Xun'er, Cai Lin, Zhu Kun, and Gu Yuan through the plane passage toward the source of Origin Qi, encountering deadly mist and signs of countless other planes. As they neared the passage's end, an eerie presence stalked them, and Xiao Yan spotted three figures moving within a distant light.

• Xiao Yan led the group toward the vast source of Origin Qi while Zhu Kun and Gu Yuan followed close behind.
• After seven or eight days of travel, the group encountered gray mist that melted Zhu Kun's dragon scales and torrents carrying images from other planes.
• Xiao Yan and the others concluded that their destination might be the center of all planes.
• Xiao Yi appeared, frightened, and pointed toward a sinister presence watching them from the darkness.
• Xiao Yan warned the group not to provoke the presence, and they hurried onward as it vanished.
• When the mist ahead began to thin, Xiao Yan stopped after seeing three figures flickering inside a distant light.

Xiao Yan and his companions encountered another powerful traveler in the plane mist before a sinister demonic hand attacked them. Their combined assault shattered the hand but triggered a plane storm that swallowed all five of them.

• Xiao Yan exchanged a friendly salute with a black-robed young man traveling through the plane mist with two women, then watched them disappear into the distance.
• Xiao Yan told Xun'er, Cai Lin, Gu Yuan, and Zhu Kun that he had seen a formidable traveler bound for the same destination.
• A massive demonic hand with a bloodshot eye emerged from the darkness and fixed its gaze on Xiao Yan and his companions.
• Xiao Yan, Gu Yuan, Zhu Kun, Xun'er, and Cai Lin attacked the hand together and shattered it.
• The demonic Qi combined with their attacks and caused a chain of explosions, stirring the plane torrents into a storm that swallowed all five companions.

Xiao Yan was torn away from Xun'er, Cai Lin, Gu Yuan, and Zhu Kun in the Plane Storm, then emerged alone in a strange world whose energy overwhelmed his Dou Qi. He crashed unconscious outside a vast city, where a young woman carrying medicinal herbs cautiously approached him.

• Xiao Yan was separated from Xun'er and Cai Lin by the Plane Storm, but confirmed through their Soul Jades that all four companions were still alive.
• Xiao Yan forced his way out of the storm and saw a vast world filled with dense, unfamiliar energy.
• The world's energy invaded Xiao Yan's body, clashing with and eroding his Dou Qi; his spatial powers failed, and Xiao Yi fell silent inside him.
• Xiao Yan lost control of his descent and crashed into a hill outside a huge city, still gripping the four Soul Jades.
• At dusk, a young woman with a basket of medicinal herbs climbed into the crater and cautiously poked Xiao Yan with a branch.

After falling into the Great Thousand World, Xiao Yan woke badly injured in Bluestone Village, where A Heng and her grandfather had rescued him. He learned he was near Luo Shen City, but his damaged meridians and clashing energies threatened to kill him as he remained separated from Xun'er and Cai Lin.

• Xiao Yan woke in a crude hut and discovered his meridians were badly damaged by his Dou Qi and an unfamiliar energy fighting inside him.
• Xiao Yan found the four jade tokens still in his hand and confirmed their marks were faintly flickering, while Xiao Yi remained asleep.
• A Heng brought Xiao Yan medicine and told him that she had found him after he fell from the sky and that her grandfather had carried him back.
• A Heng introduced herself and explained that the hut was in Bluestone Village near Luo Shen City, in the Western Heaven Continent of the Great Thousand World.
• A Heng's grandfather told Xiao Yan he had been unconscious for three days and that A Heng had watched over him.
• Xiao Yan tried to rise and thank the old man, but his energies clashed, causing him to spit blood and realize he needed to resolve the conflict in his body.

Xiao Yan discovered that Spiritual Energy in the Great Thousand World was assimilating his Dou Qi, while resisting it with the Flame Mantra risked destroying his meridians. After a night of observation, he found that his Dou Qi’s deepest origin remained untouched and decided to seek knowledge in Luo Shen City.

• Xiao Yan’s attempt to control the clash by circulating the Flame Mantra caused a meridian to burst, so he stopped and realized the world’s energy was trying to assimilate his Dou Qi.
• Xiao Yan found that letting the unfamiliar energy act freely would erase the qualities his Dou Qi had gained through decades of cultivation.
• Xiao Yan sensed the Soul Jades and found Gu Yuan and Zhu Kun stable, Xun’er enduring a faint tremor, and Cai Lin’s imprint flickering weakly in the south.
• Xiao Yan spent the night observing the clash and discovered that Spiritual Energy eroded the outer layers of his Dou Qi but had not reached its deepest origin.
• A Heng told Xiao Yan that the energy was called Spiritual Energy and that cultivation supplies could be bought in Luo Shen City, so he decided to go there.

After five days of recovering in Bluestone Village, Xiao Yan traveled with A Heng to Luo Shen City, where he encountered the Great Thousand World’s cultivation, currency, and pill-making practices. He entered the city with A Heng’s help and set out to learn how to survive there.

• Xiao Yan slowly stabilized his injuries with his Emperor Realm Soul, then walked with A Heng from Bluestone Village to Luo Shen City.
• A Heng explained the world’s Spiritual Energy cultivation realms and Supreme Spirit Liquid as they traveled.
• Xiao Yan marveled at Luo Shen City’s immense walls, protective formation, river, and statue of Luo Shen.
• Xiao Yan discovered that the world’s Spiritual Energy was eroding his pills, and A Heng paid his entrance fee after the guard rejected his magic crystal.
• Xiao Yan explored the city alone, observed its cultivators and Luo Shen Guard, and studied the strange pattern inside a street vendor’s pills.

Xiao Yan discovered that Luo Shen City's Bewildering Tracks Array kept outsiders circling the outer city, and he studied its Spirit Marks to find a route through its distortions. After learning the city was troubled by the Blood God Clan, he grew hungry and saw a well-dressed youth snatch the last meat skewer from a small child.

• Xiao Yan realized that the city's streets kept leading him back to the same corner, and an old vendor explained that the Bewildering Tracks Array barred outsiders from entering the inner city without a Luo God Clan token.
• Xiao Yan used his Emperor Realm Soul to study the array's Spirit Marks and found a channel that let him navigate the outer city more reliably, though he still could not enter the inner city.
• Two Luo Shen Guards questioned Xiao Yan, and he pretended to be a lost villager before they warned him that the Blood God Clan had been causing trouble.
• Xiao Yan grew hungry at a Crimson Feather Beast meat stall but realized he had no money.
• A finely dressed youth cut in front of the line and grabbed the last skewer that a small child had been waiting for.

Xiao Yan intervened when Luo Lan took a child’s skewer, then impressed the young Luo God Clan member with his fighting technique. After they shared a meal, Luo Lan offered to take Xiao Yan to his clan’s pill shop so he could sell a pill for spirit liquid.

• Xiao Yan confronted Luo Lan for taking a child’s skewer, and deflected his punch without using Spiritual Energy.
• Luo Lan asked Xiao Yan to teach him the move, compensated the child with Supreme Spirit Liquid, and bought Xiao Yan a meal.
• Xiao Yan showed Luo Lan a pill he had refined and explained that he wanted to sell it for spirit liquid.
• Luo Lan offered to take Xiao Yan to the Luo God Clan’s largest pill shop and told him about the clan’s conflict with the Blood God Clan.
• Luo Lan led Xiao Yan through the city to a magnificent five-story pavilion.

Xiao Yan proved that his unpatterned pill could cure the Blood Fiend Palm poison, stunning the Luo Pill Pavilion’s staff and customers. Elder Qin, the pavilion’s chief pill master, approached him and asked whether he had more of the pill.

• Luo Lan brought Xiao Yan to the Luo Pill Pavilion to sell his pill, but Steward Liu rejected it for lacking Pill Patterns.
• Xiao Yan offered the pill to a silver-armored Luo Shen Guard suffering from Blood Fiend Qi after being struck by the Blood God Clan’s Blood Fiend Palm.
• The guard swallowed the pill, and its emerald light expelled the poison and healed his wound.
• Xiao Yan explained that precise fire control could condense medicinal power without Spirit Marks, while privately recognizing he needed to learn this realm’s Spirit Mark methods.
• Elder Qin came downstairs, praised Xiao Yan, and asked whether he had more of the pill.

Xiao Yan sold pills to Elder Qin, earned spirit liquid and access to the Luo Pill Pavilion, then refused Blood Butcher’s demand for his remaining pills and their formula. Elder Qin stopped Blood Butcher from attacking, but Blood Butcher threatened Xiao Yan as Xiao Yan walked toward the city gate with Blood God Clan members following him.

• Elder Qin bought five of Xiao Yan’s pills for eleven hundred drops of Supreme Spirit Liquid and gave him a guest elder’s jade token, promising to provide introductory materials.
• Blood Butcher entered the Luo Pill Pavilion and demanded Xiao Yan’s remaining detoxifying pills and their formula.
• Luo Lan stood up to Blood Butcher, who struck him into a jade display shelf and mocked the Luo God Clan.
• Xiao Yan refused Blood Butcher’s demand and told him to get lost.
• Elder Qin invoked the pavilion’s ban on private fighting, forcing Blood Butcher to leave after threatening Xiao Yan.
• Xiao Yan checked Luo Lan’s superficial injuries, then headed for the city gate as several Blood God Clan members followed him.

Xiao Yan evaded the Blood God Clan disciples pursuing him, bought medicinal ingredients, and gave A Heng ten drops of Supreme Spirit Liquid. He discovered A Heng had talent for cultivation, but noticed a dark-robed figure watching Bluestone Village as they returned.

• Xiao Yan used the Bewildering Tracks Array’s Spirit Marks to hide in an alley and shake off four Blood God Clan disciples.
• Xiao Yan bought medicinal ingredients and a bronze cauldron at the Hundred Herbs Hall to begin testing local materials for pill refinement.
• Xiao Yan gave A Heng ten drops of Supreme Spirit Liquid in thanks for her and her grandfather saving his life.
• Xiao Yan sensed that A Heng had an innate affinity for Wood Attribute energy and promised to teach her cultivation after his injuries healed.
• Xiao Yan spotted a dark red-robed figure watching Bluestone Village from a distant peak, then concealed his concern from A Heng.

Xiao Yan studied the basics of cultivation and used a Spirit-Guiding Mark to redirect Spiritual Energy away from his Dou Qi, but the uncontrolled energy ruptured his meridians. Luo Lan found him unconscious and carried him toward Luo Shen City for treatment.

• An apprentice delivered Xiao Yan books and materials from Elder Qin, and Xiao Yan spent the day studying them with A Heng nearby.
• A Heng's grandfather reported that strangers in red robes had been searching the mountain, prompting Xiao Yan to tell the villagers to stay away.
• Xiao Yan learned about Spirit Marks and realized a Spirit-Guiding Mark might let him control how Spiritual Energy assimilated his Dou Qi.
• Xiao Yan inscribed a Spirit-Guiding Mark in his left arm and successfully guided a wisp of Spiritual Energy past his Dou Qi, but the energy then entered an unmarked meridian and caused catastrophic damage.
• Luo Lan arrived, found Xiao Yan unconscious in a pool of blood, and carried him to Luo Shen City to seek a physician.

Luo Lan brought the dying Xiao Yan to the Luo Shen Residence, where physician Luo Su could only temporarily restrain the clash between his Dou Qi and Spiritual Energy. As Luo Lan kept watch beside his friend, a mysterious old man appeared and recognized Xiao Yan’s power as coming from another plane.

• Luo Su treated Xiao Yan and explained that the unfamiliar force in his meridians was burning away her Spiritual Energy, leaving her unable to cure him.
• Elder Luo Cheng confronted Luo Lan for bringing an outsider into the residence and ordered Xiao Yan to leave once he woke, despite Luo Lan explaining that Xiao Yan had helped the Luo God Clan.
• Luo Lan stayed by Xiao Yan’s bedside and told him about his loneliness, urging him to wake up and teach him a fist technique.
• Xiao Yan’s consciousness struggled through the clash of Dou Qi and Spiritual Energy, holding on to a faint pink flame and Luo Lan’s voice.
• An old man in gray appeared beneath the courtyard walkway, recognized Xiao Yan’s Dou Qi, and murmured that someone had come from that plane.

Xiao Yan recovered from his failed attempt to guide the Assimilation Tribulation and met a gray-robed elder who explained how to survive it. The elder revealed that he was Luo Tianshen, Luo Lan’s great-uncle and the Luo God Clan’s patriarch.

• Xiao Yan woke in the Luo residence and checked the four Soul Jades, finding Cai Lin’s imprint dimmer than before.
• Xiao Yan realized his single Spirit-Guiding Mark had failed because he needed a system of marks covering all his meridians.
• A gray-robed elder recognized Xiao Yan’s Dou Qi and explained that cultivators from Lower Planes faced the deadly Assimilation Tribulation.
• Xiao Yan described his attempt to use a Spirit-Guiding Mark, and the elder agreed that guiding the Spiritual Energy was the right approach but said he had focused on only one meridian.
• Xiao Yan asked the elder for guidance, and Luo Lan awakened and recognized him as his great-uncle.
• The elder introduced himself as Luo Tianshen.

Luo Tianshen taught Xiao Yan the Reverse Scale Spirit-Guiding Method, a way to rebuild his cultivation, and promised protection from the Blood God Clan while he secluded himself. Luo Lan agreed to guard Xiao Yan as he prepared to begin.

• Luo Tianshen questioned Xiao Yan about saving Luo Lan, and Xiao Yan explained that he could not stand by while the boy was mistreated.
• Luo Tianshen explained the Reverse Scale Spirit-Guiding Method and warned that it required precise knowledge of Xiao Yan’s core and would cause extreme pain.
• Xiao Yan said he could endure the pain because his Flame Mantra had repeatedly burned away and restored his body and soul.
• Luo Tianshen passed the method to Xiao Yan and vowed that the Blood God Clan would not reach him before he left seclusion.
• Luo Tianshen ordered Elder Luo Cheng to guard Xiao Yan’s courtyard, then Luo Lan agreed to watch the door while Xiao Yan began preparing to cultivate.

Xiao Yan spent five days carving reverse scales around the core of his fire, enduring severe pain to adapt his cultivation to this world. He completed the first layer, gained a tenth of his Dou Qi as Spiritual Energy that carried the Flame Mantra’s properties, and sensed the dormant pink flame stirring.

• Xiao Yan searched his body for the core of his cultivation and found a tiny point of light at the center of his sea of Dou Qi.
• Xiao Yan carved reverse scales around the core while Luo Lan guarded the door and endured his muffled cries.
• On the third day, Luo Su sensed the fluctuations and gave Luo Lan ointment for Xiao Yan’s injured lips.
• On the fourth night, Luo Tianshen observed Xiao Yan’s progress and marveled that he had carved the scales without losing consciousness.
• On the fifth day, Xiao Yan completed three hundred and sixty reverse scales and formed pale-gold Spiritual Energy that responded readily to his control.
• The dormant pink flame in Xiao Yan’s heart meridian flickered, and he gently addressed it.

A Heng and her grandfather were captured by Blood Butcher, who used them to lure Xiao Yan out of the Luo Shen Residence. Luo Lan learned of the threat and woke Xiao Yan from his seclusion as the three-day deadline loomed.

• A Heng cared for her grandfather and practiced sensing spiritual energy while waiting for Xiao Yan to return.
• Blood Butcher and four men stormed A Heng’s home, injured her grandfather, and took them to the abandoned temple on Sunset Glow Slope.
• Blood Butcher left a blood-written threat demanding that Xiao Yan come alone within three days or A Heng and her grandfather would die.
• Elder Luo Cheng concealed the threat and ordered the guard not to tell anyone, hoping the captives’ deaths would turn Xiao Yan against the Blood God Clan.
• Luo Lan recognized A Heng’s name, rushed into Xiao Yan’s room, and called out to him; Xiao Yan opened his eyes.

After learning that Blood Butcher had taken A Heng and her grandfather hostage, Xiao Yan went alone to Sunset Glow Slope despite his injuries. He confronted Blood Butcher at the temple and revealed his Heavy Xuan Ruler, leaving the fight about to begin.

• Luo Lan told Xiao Yan that Blood Butcher had kidnapped A Heng and her grandfather and demanded that Xiao Yan come alone within three days.
• Xiao Yan left for Sunset Glow Slope and asked Luo Lan to inform Luo Tianshen only after an hour; he also told Elder Luo Cheng to keep the piece of cloth.
• Luo Lan reported Xiao Yan’s departure to Luo Tianshen, who ordered him to send Luo Cheng to kneel at the ancestral hall and chose not to intervene.
• Xiao Yan reached the mountain god temple and found A Heng bound and her grandfather gravely injured but alive.
• Blood Butcher demanded the Poison-Dispelling Pill formula and threatened to torture Xiao Yan and harm the hostages, but Xiao Yan summoned the Heavy Xuan Ruler and cracked the ground beneath them.

Xiao Yan defeated Blood Butcher and his disciples at Sunset Glow Slope, using Flame Splitting Wave Ruler and Eight Extremes Collapse despite his nearly depleted Spiritual Energy. He freed A Heng and treated the unconscious old man, then left Blood Butcher terrified and threatened with the destruction of his dantian.

• Blood Butcher ordered four Blood God Clan disciples to attack Xiao Yan, and Xiao Yan killed them with Flame Splitting Wave Ruler.
• Blood Butcher used Blood God Transformation and struck Xiao Yan with Blood Fiend Palm, but Xiao Yan countered with Eight Extremes Collapse and shattered Blood Butcher’s body and apparition.
• Xiao Yan entered the temple, untied A Heng, and gave a medicinal pill to the unconscious old man.
• Blood Butcher pleaded for his life by invoking the Blood God Clan, and Xiao Yan said he would spare him but disable his dantian.

Xiao Yan treated A Heng’s wounded grandfather at the Luo Pill Pavilion after crippling Blood Butcher, and stayed with A Heng through the night. The next morning, Xue Li came to the Luo Shen Residence demanding Xiao Yan, but an unseen voice stopped his attack and declared Xiao Yan a guest of the Luo God Clan.

• Xiao Yan brought A Heng’s grandfather to Elder Qin, who treated his injuries and said he would recover.
• Xiao Yan told Elder Qin that he had crippled Blood Butcher, and explained that he had spared him so he would remember what he had done.
• A Heng woke during the night, told Xiao Yan she would cultivate hard, and fell asleep beside him again.
• Xue Li arrived at the Luo Shen Residence with Blood Butcher and demanded that the clan hand over Xiao Yan.
• Xiao Yan stepped forward to face Xue Li, whose attack was halted by a voice from inside the residence declaring Xiao Yan a guest of the Luo God Clan.