Chapter Summaries

Xiao Yan helped his brothers strengthen the Desert Iron Mercenary Group by taking control of Stone Desert City and giving Xiao Ding five powerful magical beasts. The display of strength drew a crowd eager to join, leaving Xiao Ding’s mercenary group poised to grow rapidly.

• Xiao Ding and Xiao Li told Xiao Yan that they had founded the Desert Iron Mercenary Group, though it had not yet become influential.
• Xiao Yan claimed Stone Desert City for himself and gave its city lord ten third-grade Bone-Growing Pills as compensation, inviting him to join the Desert Iron Mercenary Group.
• The city lord pledged to serve Xiao Ding, and Xiao Yan offered his eldest brother five of his ten magical beasts to protect the mercenary group.
• Xiao Ding chose the Blazing Flame Horse Beast, Shadow Phoenix, Golden Demon Illusion Deer, Spectral Night Tiger, and Wind Blade Wolf, and the five beasts descended to serve him.
• City guards and mercenaries, impressed by the beasts’ power, rushed to Xiao Ding to compete for places in the Desert Iron Mercenary Group.

Xiao Yan found Qing Lin, a starving and traumatized child, in a secluded street and recognized her as the future possessor of the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils. He offered her shelter and protection in his city, then asked whether she truly wanted to stay and join his group.

• Xiao Yan escaped the crowd and discovered Qing Lin curled up in an alley, suffering from heatstroke.
• Xiao Yan gave Qing Lin water and comforted her as she feared he would hurt her.
• Qing Lin told Xiao Yan her name and tried to leave because she felt ashamed of her appearance.
• Xiao Yan stopped Qing Lin, offered to take her in, and cleaned her face.
• Qing Lin worried that people would despise her as a mixed-blood descendant and said she did not want to trouble Xiao Yan.
• Xiao Yan told Qing Lin he would protect her and asked whether she wanted to stay and work for his group.

Xiao Yan cared for Qing Lin by buying her clothes, bringing her to an inn, and helping her bathe and clean up. After Qing Lin emerged in fresh clothes, Yao Lao warned Xiao Yan that he could not see through her nature, and Xiao Yan began steering him toward the possibility that her mixed heritage gave her a special talent.

• Qing Lin accepted Xiao Yan's help and let him lead her to a clothing shop, where he bought her a bag of modest clothes.
• Xiao Yan took Qing Lin to an inn, booked a room, and ordered a feast for them.
• Xiao Yan prepared a warm bath behind a folding screen, and Qing Lin washed, changed, and resolved to repay him.
• Qing Lin emerged in her new clothes, and Xiao Yan praised her beauty.
• Yao Lao warned Xiao Yan that Qing Lin was unusual and that he could not see through her true nature.
• Xiao Yan inwardly asked Yao Lao whether a child of a human and a Snake-Person could possess a special talent.

Xiao Yan deliberately shared his painful past with Qing Lin to awaken her Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils, then asked whether she would still follow him. Qing Lin accepted, confessed her affection, and the two spent hours together before dinner arrived.

• Yao Lao deduced that Qing Lin might possess the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils, which could control most snake-type magical beasts, and explained that emotional stimulation might awaken them.
• Xiao Yan told Qing Lin about losing his Dou Qi, being scorned, and having his engagement broken, prompting her empathy and causing three spinning green petals to appear in her eyes.
• Xiao Yan asked whether Qing Lin would still follow him despite his having helped her out of pity, and Qing Lin said she would repay his kindness and admitted she had fallen for him.
• Xiao Yan and Qing Lin playfully teased and tickled each other for several hours until a waiter brought their meal.
• Xiao Yan found Qing Lin staring hungrily at the food and handed her a chicken leg.

Xiao Yan encouraged Qing Lin to test whether her unusual eyes could control snake-type Magical Beasts, and she agreed to try. They left Stone Desert City and entered the dangerous Tagor Desert, where Xiao Yan warned her to stay close.

• Qing Lin eagerly ate with Xiao Yan, then fed him and explained that she thought of herself as a greedy cat rather than a little dog.
• Xiao Yan told Qing Lin about a legend that people descended from humans and the Snake-People Tribe could control snake-type Magical Beasts with unusual eyes.
• Qing Lin agreed to test her eyes after Xiao Yan encouraged her, and Yao Lao remarked that the Flame Alliance would soon gain another genius.
• Qing Lin walked openly through the city with Xiao Yan, declined a stranger’s offer of bread, and resolved to live without hiding behind a mask.
• Xiao Yan and Qing Lin reached the desert outside Stone Desert City, where he warned her about Magical Beasts and told her to stay close.

While searching the desert with Qing Lin, Xiao Yan overheard Snake-People discussing Lady Yue Mei’s plan to draw snake-type magical beasts into a beast tide and attack Stone Desert City. He captured a female Snake-Person and helped Qing Lin use her ability to control her, then prepared to question her about the plot.

• Xiao Yan and Qing Lin hid from a passing group of Snake-People, and Xiao Yan overheard them describe Lady Yue Mei’s plan to provoke a beast tide and seize Stone Desert City.
• Xiao Yan decided to capture a Snake-Person for Qing Lin to control and knocked out the last member of the passing group.
• Xiao Yan returned with the unconscious Snake-Person, and Qing Lin used her eye ability to place three green petals in both of the captive’s eyes.
• Xiao Yan woke the female Snake-Person and turned her toward Qing Lin, whose ability made the captive lose consciousness again.
• Xiao Yan asked Qing Lin to question the female Snake-Person about the Snake-People Tribe’s plot.

Xiao Yan learned that Yue Mei’s forces planned to attack Stone Desert City before dawn with a horde of snake-type Magical Beasts, followed by a full invasion. He returned to the city with Qing Lin and the captured Snake-Person to warn Xiao Ding and Xiao Li and prepare its defenses.

• The female Snake-Person told Xiao Yan that Yue Mei’s forces had stirred up seventy percent of the desert’s snake-type Magical Beasts and planned a surprise attack before dawn.
• Xiao Yan asked Qing Lin to help subdue the attacking Magical Beasts with her eyes, and she agreed despite her fear.
• Xiao Yan borrowed Yao Lao’s soul power and set out with Qing Lin and the captured female Snake-Person for Stone Desert City.
• Xiao Yan arrived atop the city wall and asked a mercenary for Xiao Ding and Xiao Li’s location.
• The mercenary directed Xiao Yan to the largest courtyard by the east city gate, where the ten Fifth-Order Magical Beasts were stationed.

Xiao Yan returned to Stone Desert City with Qing Lin and a female Snake-Person and warned Xiao Ding, Xiao Li, and the gathered mercenaries that a massive Snake-People attack was imminent. After rejecting their attempt to pressure him into helping, he promised to protect his companions and accept the Snake-People Tribe’s challenge.

• Xiao Yan hurried back to the Desert Iron Mercenary Group’s courtyard with Qing Lin and the female Snake-Person, where Xiao Ding and Xiao Li were welcoming new recruits.
• Xiao Yan announced that seventy percent of the snake-type magical beasts in the Tagor Desert would attack Stone Desert City at daybreak, followed by a full-scale Snake-People assault on the Jia Ma Empire’s border.
• Xiao Yan made the female Snake-Person confirm the coming war, prompting the mercenaries to beg him to save the city and lead them in battle.
• Xiao Yan rebuked the mercenaries for trying to force his help, then said he would protect the Desert Iron Mercenary Group because they were his companions.
• Xiao Yan declared that he accepted the Snake-People Tribe’s challenge.

Xiao Yan reassured the mercenaries and revealed that Qing Lin could control snake-type magical beasts, making her part of his plan to defend Stone Desert City. He left to search a location marked on the Heavenly Flames map while the others prepared for the coming invasion.

• Xiao Yan lifted the exhausted mercenaries to their feet and promised a way to resist the Snake-People Tribe and its beasts.
• Xiao Yan introduced Qing Lin and explained that her special eyes could control many snake-type magical beasts.
• Xiao Ding and Xiao Li recognized the plan to use Qing Lin and the ten Fifth-Order Magical Beasts to hold off the invasion until reinforcements arrived.
• Xiao Ding sent the city lord to seek help from Black Rock City and report the crisis to the emperor, while Xiao Yan ordered everyone to gather at the city gates in an hour.
• Xiao Ding took Qing Lin to the Crimson Feather Bird and assigned it to protect her and bring her near the snake-type magical beasts.
• Xiao Yan examined the Heavenly Flames map east of Stone Desert City and asked Yao Lao whether they could find a Heavenly Flame at the marked location.