Xiao Yan

Xiao Yan is the central protagonist of Battle Through the Heavens. After losing the cultivation that had made him a childhood prodigy, he rebuilds himself under Yao Lao, learns alchemy, and pursues Heavenly Flames so that the evolving Flame Mantra can grow with him. His original need to restore his dignity expands into responsibility for his family, teachers, companions, alliances, and ultimately the Central Plains. (Chapters 1–9, 66–68, 1644–1648)

Biography

The Fallen Genius and the Hidden Teacher

At fifteen, Xiao Yan has fallen from the Xiao clan's celebrated prodigy to a youth unable to retain more than third-stage Dou Zhi Li. Public tests and the contempt of former admirers leave him bitter, but not passive: he continues training even without evidence that it can work. Xun Er's unwavering confidence and Xiao Zhan's protection keep humiliation from becoming complete isolation, preserving the relationships he most fears disgracing. (Chapters 1–3)

Nalan Yanran's attempt to annul their arranged marriage transforms that private shame into an attack on his father and clan. Xiao Yan refuses compensation, writes his own repudiation, and demands a duel after three years. The choice is proud and dangerous, yet it restores his agency: instead of allowing the Misty Cloud Sect to define him as unworthy, he accepts a measurable obligation whose failure will belong to him alone. (Chapter 7)

The spirit inside Yao Lao's Black Ring then reveals that he has been absorbing Xiao Yan's Dou Qi. Xiao Yan's anger gives way to calculation when Yao Lao offers a path forward, and he accepts the former culprit as his teacher. Vacuum Hand and Octane Blast training force him to replace wounded self-regard with daily endurance, while Yao Lao's medicine lets the body that had failed him begin retaining strength again. (Chapters 8–9, 14, 18–19, 28)

Clan Recovery and the Marketplace War

Recovery first has to survive public measurement. Xiao Yan defeats peers at the preliminary ceremony and reaches Dou Zhe before the final test, reversing the clan's assumptions without forgetting how quickly affection had vanished during his decline. He chooses Flame Mantra despite its initially poor rank because its ability to evolve offers the only credible route from Wu Tan City to the power required by his promise. (Chapters 29–31, 39, 45, 64–68)

Under Yao Lao, he becomes an alchemist as well as a fighter. His first refinements teach him that flame control, medicinal balance, and soul perception demand a different kind of precision from physical techniques. Disguised as an older alchemist, he sells healing medicine through the Primer Auction House; concealment protects both his apprenticeship and a teenage cultivator who could not otherwise bargain safely with the city's commercial powers. (Chapters 72–75, 79, 89)

When the Jia Lie clan uses Liu Xi's medicine to attack the Xiao market, Xiao Yan turns his new craft toward collective defense. He supplies superior remedies, denies Liu Xi the secure advantage he expected, and helps break the rival clan's campaign. Leaving Wu Tan City afterward is therefore not abandonment: he departs only after his restored reputation and hidden profession have given the Xiao clan a stronger economic position than when he began. (Chapters 89, 96, 101, 105)

Trials in the Magic Beast Mountain Range

Xiao Yan enters the Magic Beast Mountain Range because controlled clan contests cannot prepare him for the three-year duel. Yao Lao deliberately refuses to solve every danger, forcing him to judge strangers, conserve strength, and live with the consequences of error. Joining a mercenary group gives him temporary safety without family privilege, and his promise to meet Xun Er at Jia Nan Academy keeps the journey tied to a future beyond revenge. (Chapters 106, 110, 113)

His alliance with the Little Fairy Doctor begins amid competition for a hidden cave, but shared pursuit and betrayal make cooperation necessary. Xiao Yan helps her escape the Wolf Head mercenaries and later destroys their company rather than leave a persistent threat behind. With Yun Zhi, he cares for an injured Dou Huang and participates in a hazardous exchange with the Amethyst Winged Lion, forming an attachment before learning how sharply their public loyalties may diverge. (Chapters 118, 123, 131, 138, 146–147)

The range also converts techniques into usable capability. He masters the Purple Cloud Wings, begins wielding the Heavy Xuan Ruler, and learns Flame Splitting Tsunami while refining Amethyst Lion Birth Essence into Purple Flame. Advancing to Dou Shi confirms that survival training has worked, but parting from the Little Fairy Doctor teaches that protecting someone cannot always determine the path they choose. (Chapters 118, 122, 146–147, 154, 158–161)

The Desert Hunt for a Heavenly Flame

In the Tager Desert, Xiao Yan seeks the Green Lotus Core Flame because Flame Mantra cannot realize its promise without a true Heavenly Flame. He proves himself a tier-two alchemist, bargains with the sealed Hai Bodong, and investigates the magma world with Qing Lin. Each partnership is different—commercial, protective, and familial—but together they show him building trust beyond the authority Yao Lao can lend him. (Chapters 162, 167, 180, 186, 198–200)

The flame's pursuit takes him into Queen Medusa's territory amid stronger Dou Huang competitors. He infiltrates the city, waits through Medusa's evolution, and seizes the Green Lotus Core Flame when the opportunity appears. Absorbing it requires the prepared safeguards and nearly destroys him; success evolves Flame Mantra and gives him power that is truly his, fulfilling his desire to stop depending on Yao Lao's borrowed flame. (Chapters 208, 218, 224–227, 232–235)

That independence immediately reveals its cost. Xiao Yan returns for the abducted Qing Lin and, under extreme pressure, improvises the first Angry Buddha Lotus Flame by forcing unlike flames together. The attack secures survival but wrecks his defenses and drives Yao Lao into deep sleep. Creativity has made Xiao Yan more than an inheritor of techniques, yet the loss of his teacher leaves him responsible for choices whose consequences can no longer be repaired by an older hand. (Chapters 241, 257, 262–265, 272)

The Capital Contest and the Three-Year Duel

Xiao Yan reaches the imperial capital with Yao Lao weakened and the promised duel close. He treats Nalan Jie because the Seven Magical Green Spirit Saliva may restore his teacher, carefully separating an elder's poisoning from his grievance with Nalan Yanran. At the Alchemist Grand Meeting he maintains the Yan Xiao disguise, survives competitors' sabotage, and wins through his own refining, turning alchemy into a public arena equal to combat. (Chapters 273, 282–284, 304, 315, 323, 327)

With the reward beginning Yao Lao's recovery, Xiao Yan advances to Da Dou Shi and climbs Misty Cloud Mountain. He defeats Nalan Yanran through preparation, control, and a smaller version of his flame lotus rather than the desperate self-destruction of the desert. Victory settles the promise he made as a humiliated youth, but he refuses to use it to demean her; what matters is recovering his and Xiao Zhan's right to define their own honor. (Chapters 327, 330–334, 340–343)

The sect's attempt to detain him changes the duel's meaning. Hai Bodong and Ling Ying protect him, while Yun Yun's duties as sect leader conflict with the affection created under her Yun Zhi identity. Xiao Yan escapes, but the conflict is no longer a private contest between two young people: the Misty Cloud Sect has made its institutional power an enemy of his family and allies. (Chapters 343, 351, 354)

Misty Cloud Retaliation and Exile

After learning that the Xiao clan has been attacked and Xiao Zhan taken, Xiao Yan's priorities move decisively beyond the completed duel. He arranges safety for the surviving clan, then returns to the capital to kill Yun Leng, whom he holds responsible. The return is strategically reckless, but emotionally coherent: allowing the sect to strike his father without answer would make his newly recovered power meaningless to him. (Chapters 357, 360–363)

Yun Shan's pursuit exposes the gap between Xiao Yan's resolve and his actual rank. Yao Lao again becomes the power that keeps him alive, while Hai Bodong and other allies accept danger they could have avoided. Yun Yun opposes Xiao Yan under the weight of sect duty even as she prevents a simpler execution, leaving him unable to reduce her to either ally or enemy. The Hall of Souls' involvement reveals that Xiao Zhan's abduction reaches far beyond local vengeance. (Chapters 366–367, 372, 375, 377)

During flight, Xiao Yan deciphers the first change of Skyfire Three Mysterious Change and kills pursuers by temporarily raising his combat strength. The technique cannot erase the cost of such escalation, and escape remains his only viable choice. Leaving the Jia Ma Empire turns him from a local challenger into an exile whose path now joins family rescue, Yao Lao's enemies, and the need to cultivate on a continental scale. (Chapters 370–372, 377, 380–381)

Across the Black-Corner Region to Jia Nan Academy

The Black-Corner Region offers power without dependable law, forcing Xiao Yan to use disguise, restraint, and selective risk. He acquires Three Thousand Lightning Movement and other auction resources while avoiding conflicts that would prevent him reaching the academy. Entering Peace Town and reuniting with Xun Er gives the journey an emotional destination: she is no longer only the girl who trusted him at his lowest, but a capable cultivator with obligations and secrets of her own. (Chapters 383, 392–394, 404–406)

Outer Academy challenges require Xiao Yan to earn status without invoking clan rank or Yao Lao's identity. He defeats Lu Mu and rivals in the qualifier competition, while Wu Hao and Hu Jia move from competitors to partners. Xun Er fights beside him rather than waiting for protection, and their collaboration makes his growing leadership less paternal than the bonds he formed with younger dependents. (Chapters 413, 418, 423–424, 426, 430, 436)

During the Fire Energy hunt, older students expect the newcomers to fragment under pressure. Xiao Yan instead organizes the freshmen, shares information, and reverses the hunt against its enforcers. The result secures resources, but its deeper consequence is social: he arrives in the Inner Academy not as a solitary prodigy, but as the center of a group that has learned collective resistance under his direction. (Chapters 441, 451, 455–456)

Pan's Gate and the Inner Academy

Inner Academy factions attempt to exploit new students, so Xiao Yan and Xun Er establish Pan's Gate as protection rather than as a vehicle for prestige. Defeating the White Gang establishes deterrence, while mass-producing medicine gives the group an economy that does not depend solely on his fights. His earlier defense of the Xiao marketplace now becomes institutional practice: alchemy can sustain a community as effectively as it can accelerate one cultivator. (Chapters 458, 461, 469, 479–480)

Xiao Yan pursues strength inside the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower while continuing to answer Pan's Gate's needs. He develops Three Thousand Lightning Movement, obtains Core Quenching Body Milk, reaches Dou Ling, and climbs into the Strong Ranking's top ten. Rivalry with Liu Qing grows into mutual respect, while Zi Yan's appetite and overwhelming strength make her an unruly younger companion rather than a subordinate. (Chapters 493, 503–505, 516, 521, 529, 543, 571)

Xun Er's recall comes as the Fallen Heart Flame and Han Feng's ambitions make the academy increasingly dangerous. Xiao Yan accepts that her clan obligations cannot be solved by simply keeping her near him, but their separation removes his most trusted co-leader. Pan's Gate nevertheless survives, proving that the structure they built can outlast either founder's constant presence and that his responsibility is beginning to extend through institutions. (Chapters 579, 583–584)

The Fallen Heart Flame Catastrophe

When the Fallen Heart Flame breaks the tower seal and Han Feng's coalition attacks, Xiao Yan chooses to defend the academy even though the disorder creates his best chance to seize the flame. Fighting Han Feng also personalizes the crisis: the hostile alchemist is Yao Lao's former disciple, making their confrontation a struggle over what a student's inheritance should become. (Chapters 585, 588, 594, 599, 610)

Xiao Yan is swallowed and trapped beneath the tower, beyond ordinary rescue. For two years he resists the flame's refinement, protects his consciousness, and ultimately merges it with the Green Lotus Core Flame through Flame Mantra. Cai Lin's presence and the elders' earlier resistance make his survival possible, but the decisive endurance is his own; he emerges as a Dou Wang whose growth no longer depends on Yao Lao taking control of his body. (Chapters 612, 614, 616–619, 622, 630)

He then confronts Han Feng and destroys his body, settling the immediate betrayal without ending the wider conflict. A second Heavenly Flame gives Flame Mantra a large evolution, while Pan's Gate and Xiao Gate provide durable bases in the academy and Black-Corner Region. Xiao Yan's victory thus produces both personal advancement and a network capable of supporting his eventual return home. (Chapters 638, 641, 649, 659–660, 670)

Return and the Misty Cloud Reckoning

Xiao Yan returns to the Jia Ma Empire because Misty Cloud forces threaten the Primer clan and surviving Xiao members. Rather than repeat his solitary retaliatory raid, he brings Black-Corner allies and coordinates with Hai Bodong, Cai Lin, and imperial powers. The coalition reflects what exile taught him: courage cannot substitute for forces able to survive Yun Shan's institution and the Hall protector behind it. (Chapters 671, 679, 683, 691, 703)

He defeats Gu He, breaks the siege, and uses a three-colored flame lotus against Yun Shan. Yun Yun's connection to him cannot erase her role within the sect, nor can Xiao Yan's feelings make him abandon the people threatened by it. Destroying Yun Shan's regime ends the organization that displaced his family, but victory becomes personal loss when Protector Wu captures Yao Lao's spirit during the battle. (Chapters 709, 714, 717, 720–724)

Without his teacher, Xiao Yan uses the instructions and formulas Yao Lao left behind to stabilize the aftermath. He helps dissolve the Misty Cloud Sect's power and supports formation of the Yan Alliance rather than replacing Yun Shan as an isolated ruler. His goal changes accordingly: restoring family security and rescuing Yao Lao become inseparable from building institutions able to oppose the Hall of Souls. (Chapters 723–724, 731, 735, 738)

The Yan Alliance and the Poison-Sect War

Foreign factions soon test the Yan Alliance, while the leader of the opposing Poison Sect proves to be the Little Fairy Doctor. Xiao Yan advances to Dou Huang and enters the conflict determined to protect the empire, yet recognition prevents him treating her as a convenient villain. He asks what circumstances produced her position and makes recovering his old friend part of ending the war. (Chapters 739, 743, 752, 756, 766)

Her Woeful Poison Body is approaching a lethal loss of control, so Xiao Yan searches Yao Lao's records and develops the Poison Pill solution. Fighting beside Cai Lin and snake-person allies, he destroys the Ten Thousand Scorpion Gate's resistance and confronts Hall protectors connected to Yao Lao's captivity. Compassion does not replace force here; it changes whom he is trying to save and which enemies he regards as responsible. (Chapters 770, 772–773, 784, 789, 797)

Capturing Hall agents provides intelligence for an eastward journey, while the Little Fairy Doctor joins him as a trusted companion instead of remaining an imposed enemy commander. The empire is stabilized through reconciliation as well as defeat. Xiao Yan has learned to absorb former opponents when their choices and loyalties justify trust, a broader form of leadership than the revenge that first brought him home. (Chapters 803, 805, 807, 813–814)

Black-Corner Reckoning and the Road East

Before entering the Central Plains, Xiao Yan returns to unresolved Black-Corner threats because their treasures and information can serve future rescues. At the Black Emperor struggle he secures the Bodhisattva Body Transformation Saliva and captures Han Feng's soul. Vengeance remains present, but Han Feng is also a source of intelligence and a necessary component in the planned restoration of a powerful body. (Chapters 815, 838, 845, 860, 865)

Against Demon Flame Valley, Xiao Yan works with Zi Yan, the Little Fairy Doctor, Su Qian, and Tian Huo rather than relying on one overwhelming intervention. He defeats Old Ground Demon Ghost, inherits the Five Ring Flame Expelling Technique, and recovers the Sky Demon Puppet method. Each gain is assigned a purpose—formation control, survivable force, or an ally's return—rather than remaining a trophy. (Chapters 876, 884, 889, 902–903, 923)

He forges an Earth Demon Puppet and refines the medicine needed to restore Tian Huo, leaving the northwest with a mobile group that can survive higher-ranked enemies. This planning marks a change in how he measures power: cultivation, rare ingredients, alchemy, and loyalty are parts of one campaign. His departure east is therefore the expansion of an alliance, not another adolescent flight from defeat. (Chapters 928, 932, 937–938)

Central Plains Entry and the Wind-Lightning Feud

A spatial storm separates Xiao Yan from his companions on entry to the Central Plains, and the Han clan gives him shelter while he recovers. He repays that aid by opposing the Hong clan rather than treating hospitality as disposable. At the same time, the Wind Lightning Pavilion hunts him for Three Thousand Lightning Movement, forcing him to complete its lightning avatar technique under pressure. (Chapters 939, 946, 953, 970–973)

The Heaven Mountain Blood Pool offers a contested breakthrough, and Xiao Yan reaches Dou Zong while navigating rivals from the region's great pavilions. He wins the Four Pavilion gathering against Feng Qing Er and other elite juniors, moving from an unknown fugitive to a publicly recognized peer. Encounters with Nalan Yanran also show that the duel defining his youth no longer governs either participant's entire identity. (Chapters 981, 990, 1005, 1009–1012, 1024)

Meeting Feng Zun-zhe gives Xiao Yan the ally he has sought: Yao Lao's closest surviving friend and a leader capable of supporting a rescue. Recognition of Yao Lao's history validates Xiao Yan's lineage without reducing him to his teacher's reputation. By the arc's end, Dou Zong strength, an autonomous lightning avatar, and Falling Star connections create a realistic foundation for challenging the Hall. (Chapters 1031, 1036)

The Burning Flame Bargain and the Poison-Body Cure

Burning Flame Valley holds the complete Skyfire Three Mysterious Change, but access depends on trust rather than theft. Xiao Yan completes Tang Zhen's difficult pill refinement and receives the full inheritance as payment, turning the partial technique that enabled his escape from the Jia Ma Empire into a developed system. The bargain shows how far his alchemy has moved from disguised marketplace work: it now creates exchanges between major powers. (Chapters 1037, 1047, 1056, 1063)

He next uses body-refinement knowledge and a Yin Yang Life Soul Pill to restore Tian Huo, fulfilling a debt to the spirit who aided him beneath Jia Nan Academy. For the Little Fairy Doctor, Xiao Yan kills the Sky Poison Dragon Scorpion Beast, gathers the required core, and performs the Poison Pill Method. The procedure condenses her constitution and his Demon Poison Spot into controlled power, but its danger requires her cooperation rather than unilateral rescue. (Chapters 1070, 1080, 1084, 1090–1092)

Ice River Valley's pursuit of the Little Fairy Doctor brings Xun Er back into Xiao Yan's life as both intimate partner and Gu clan power. He fights beside her rather than behind her protection, and her support clarifies that saving his companion has consequences among the ancient clans. The poison crisis is controlled, Tian Huo stands again as a Dou Zun ally, and Xiao Yan's craft has become capable of restoring bodies—precisely the capability Yao Lao will need. (Chapters 1103–1107, 1110–1112, 1118)

The Pill Gathering and the Star-Realm Flame

The Pill Gathering is Xiao Yan's route to the sealed Three Thousand Burning Flame and a public test of Yao Lao's absent lineage. He trains soul handprints and passes the alchemist-clan trials without a great clan's institutional backing. Cao Ying and Dan Chen become peers rather than mere obstacles, while Old Mu Gu represents the tradition of alchemists who oppose Yao Lao through the Hall. (Chapters 1119, 1126, 1132, 1145, 1149)

Inside the Pill Realm, Xiao Yan balances ingredient gathering, survival, and obligations to allies. He advances his soul and refining, produces an eighth-tier pill, survives its lightning, and wins the Gathering. The victory matters less as a title than as access and proof: the young disciple can stand at the summit of Central Plains alchemy while his teacher remains imprisoned. (Chapters 1156, 1168, 1177, 1182, 1189, 1192)

The Three Thousand Burning Flame resists through a direct soul struggle after its seal breaks. Xiao Yan subdues it with help from Zi Yan's earlier connection and the Pill Tower's containment, then incorporates it into Flame Mantra. He emerges a nine-star Dou Zong with three true Heavenly Flames, but treats that rank as preparation for the Death Soul branch rather than the completion of his ambitions. (Chapters 1196, 1203, 1206–1207)

The Death Soul Rescue and Falling Star Recovery

Yao Lao's confinement reverses the pattern that began in the black ring: the teacher who once preserved Xiao Yan is now the vulnerable spirit. Xiao Yan gathers Feng Zun-zhe and other allies, studies the Death Soul branch, and accepts a rescue in which exposure may bring the Hall's full attention. Gratitude has become obligation, but also family feeling; he is unwilling to measure the attempt only by strategic odds. (Chapters 1209, 1214, 1216–1217)

The team infiltrates the soul-chain prison, breaks Yao Lao free, and fights Old Ghost Zhai Xing through the retreat. Xiao Yan cannot simply overpower the branch and leave unharmed; the pursuit inflicts devastating injuries and again makes survival collective. Feng Zun-zhe shares the burden, while Yao Lao is forced to watch his disciple absorb dangers once borne on Xiao Yan's behalf. (Chapters 1219, 1222–1223, 1226)

At Falling Star Pavilion, prolonged recovery carries Xiao Yan across the threshold to Dou Zun. The advancement is a consequence of survival rather than a reward that erases its cost: both teacher and disciple remain depleted, and Yao Lao still lacks a body. Nevertheless, Xiao Yan has completed the emotional reversal from protected student to rescuer, giving the pavilion a reason to become their shared base. (Chapters 1228–1232)

Ancient Remains and Yao Chen's Restoration

Ancient ruins offer the Dou Sheng bones and marrow needed for a high-level body, so Xiao Yan enters the struggle with a specific restorative goal. He secures the materials and the Dragon Phoenix Origin Fruit, but does not consume every gain himself. The fruit is reserved for Zi Yan, reflecting a campaign in which companions' transformations can strengthen the whole coalition. (Chapters 1233, 1247, 1254, 1263–1265)

Refining Yao Chen's new body combines Xiao Yan's best alchemy with the trust accumulated since childhood. The process does more than return a mentor to physical life: it restores Yao Chen at Ban Sheng level and releases Xiao Yan from the fear that spiritual damage will erase the person who rebuilt him. When Falling Star Pavilion is attacked, teacher and disciple can finally defend their home as two active leaders. (Chapters 1276, 1282, 1284, 1287)

Xiao Yan also helps Yun Yun secure the Flower Sect and supports Zi Yan's awakening as Dragon Emperor. These interventions are not attempts to rule their factions; they enable each woman to exercise authority rooted in her own history. With Qing Lin's return and multiple institutional allies, Xiao Yan increasingly changes the conditions under which companions act, rather than defining their choices for them. (Chapters 1291, 1301, 1306–1307, 1314–1315)

Gu Realm Rites and the Heavenly Tomb

Entering the Gu Realm places Xiao Yan inside Xun Er's powerful clan as an outsider from a fallen bloodline. Informal contempt and formal challenges test whether their relationship will be treated as Gu clan indulgence. Xiao Yan defeats the challengers without demanding that Xun Er abandon her family, while her open support makes clear that clan expectations do not cancel her own decision. (Chapters 1316, 1326, 1329–1331, 1335)

In the Heavenly Tomb, Xiao Yan and Xun Er train as partners and survive Hun clan pursuit. Gu Qing Yang's conduct allows rivalry to become respect, contrasting with opponents who interpret Xiao Yan only through bloodline weakness. The tomb's danger also strips away court ceremony: the pair's reliability under pressure, rather than public approval, becomes the practical basis of their bond. (Chapters 1339–1342, 1346, 1350)

Meeting Xiao Xuan reframes Xiao Yan's family history. Xiao Xuan transfers the remnant Xiao bloodline power and clan tattoo, not as restoration of an old aristocracy, but as a final inheritance entrusted to a living descendant. Xiao Yan emerges near peak Dou Zun with greater Gu recognition and a conscious obligation to carry the Xiao clan's memory forward, rather than merely rescuing its surviving members. (Chapters 1359–1365, 1368, 1370–1371)

Northern War and the Bodhisattva Tree

Falling Star Pavilion has expanded enough that attacks on northern allies demand Xiao Yan's response as junior pavilion chief. He saves the fortress and accepts a disciple, actions that make his authority educational as well as military. The appearance of Xiao Xiao likewise turns the abstract idea of family continuity into a child for whom Cai Lin and Xiao Yan share direct responsibility. (Chapters 1372, 1374, 1377–1378, 1385, 1391)

Acquiring the final Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame Map fragment completes a search that began in the Magic Beast Mountain cave. Xiao Yan enters the Ancient Wasteland for the Bodhisattva Tree, survives its hundred-lives illusion, and gains the heart and seeds. The illusion tests identity through entire imagined lives; leaving it with purpose intact makes the treasure a psychological trial as well as cultivation resource. (Chapters 1395, 1402, 1407, 1415, 1418, 1422–1426)

Xun Er fights beside him during the retreat from Hall and Hun forces, while Yun Yun operates within the same growing coalition. Xiao Yan reaches peak nine-change Dou Zun and returns with the complete map and Bodhisattva resources. Fatherhood, discipleship, command, and clan inheritance now converge: advancement is valuable because multiple people and institutions depend on what he can do with it. (Chapters 1430, 1432–1433)

The Star Realm Siege and the Sky Mansion Alliance

Hall forces besiege the Star Realm while Xiao Yan is secluded at the last stage of breaking through to Dou Sheng. Yao Lao and the pavilion defend the home they rebuilt rather than disrupting the retreat prematurely. Xiao Yan's absence exposes both the value and limit of his leadership: the institution can resist without him, but the invading force is designed to exceed its remaining strength. (Chapters 1434–1435, 1437)

He completes the breakthrough, enters the collapsing battlefield, and unleashes Angry Buddha Reincarnation. The technique annihilates the invasion, converting years of flame fusion into force at a scale capable of deciding institutional war. His arrival saves the Star Realm, yet it does not lead him to conclude that one Dou Sheng can permanently guard every ally. (Chapters 1438–1440, 1443–1444)

The resulting negotiations bring Falling Star Pavilion, the Flower Sect, Burning Flame Valley, and Pill Tower into the Sky Mansion Alliance. Xiao Yan supports formal partnership under Yao Chen's leadership, converting personal friendships into shared defense. He has crossed from outstanding junior to strategic military pillar, but chooses coalition structure over a cult of personal command. (Chapters 1452–1453)

Tribal Allies and the Hall Counteroffensive

The alliance cannot remain defensive, and Xiao Yan seeks beast-clan relationships that can survive Hall pressure. In the Nine Serene Deep Ground Python territory, he acquires the Yellow Spring legacy and helps Yao Ming overthrow Yao Xiaotian. The intervention exchanges aid for a sovereign ally rather than annexing the tribe, widening the coalition through restored local authority. (Chapters 1455, 1460, 1465, 1468–1470)

He then reinforces Zi Yan in the Ancient Void Dragon civil war while Cai Lin and the Little Fairy Doctor operate as powerful field partners. Xiao Yan's role is crucial without replacing theirs: Zi Yan must reunify her own people, and Cai Lin leads forces by her own judgment. This division of responsibility shows his improving capacity to act within, rather than above, a mature alliance. (Chapters 1478, 1483, 1486–1487)

The attack on the Man Hall directly targets the organization that harvested and imprisoned souls, including Yao Lao's. Xiao Yan forcefully extracts the Sea Heart Flame from Old Mu Gu, swallows and refines it, then helps destroy the hall's infrastructure and releases its captives. Absorbing the purified soul essence raises him to the Perfect Heavenly soul state. Personal vengeance becomes dismantlement: freeing accumulated victims and denying the Hall its resource system matter as much as defeating its individual agents. (Chapters 1487–1494)

The Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame Realm

The completed map opens a realm where ancient clans and Hall forces contest a sentient flame that manufactures convincing illusions. Xiao Yan enters to prevent the Hall from acquiring it and to fulfill Flame Mantra's oldest promise. The illusions exploit memory and desire, so discernment and trust are as necessary as resistance to heat; brute cultivation alone cannot identify which experience is real. (Chapters 1495, 1498, 1502, 1505–1506)

Xiao Yan and Xun Er cooperate in the sealing formation and follow the Purifying Demonic Lotus Saint's concealed method. They reverse the Sky Ancient Formation, strip the hostile intelligence from the flame essence, and begin refinement together. Their intimacy during the process is part of the power exchange, not an incidental reward: the transformation succeeds through mutual protection and shared vulnerability. (Chapters 1509, 1513, 1517–1521)

He emerges with the refined Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame and Little Yi, an infant-like new manifestation distinct from the defeated flame intelligence. The rank increase fulfills the path chosen when Flame Mantra was still low class. Unlike his lonely two-year struggle within the Fallen Heart Flame, this achievement confirms that his greatest transformation can be completed without treating dependence on a trusted partner as weakness. (Chapters 1523–1524, 1526)

The Hall Chief's Challenge and Dragon Reunification

The Hall chief publicly challenges Xiao Yan in order to break the alliance's authority through its visible champion. Xiao Yan accepts because refusing would damage collective confidence, not merely his reputation. Little Yi's controlled flame power defeats the chief, demonstrating that purification has made the former demonic flame an integrated capability rather than an uncontrollable catastrophe. (Chapters 1528–1529, 1532, 1535, 1537–1539)

Concurrent threats among the Ancient Void Dragons and Heaven Demon Phoenix tribe require Xiao Yan to join operations whose leaders are his allies. Zi Yan and Cai Lin command their own fronts, and Yao Lao maintains the alliance while Xiao Yan moves between crises. This distribution allows victory to arise from coordinated authority rather than everyone waiting for the protagonist's arrival. (Chapters 1543, 1546)

After the dragon civil war ends, Xiao Yan refines the Northern Dragon King into a puppet and uses Black Demon Lightning and Nine Mysterious Golden Lightning to strengthen his assets. The process produces extraordinary force, but the puppet remains an external instrument rather than proof of cultivation rank. By the arc's end, the Hall chief is defeated and Zi Yan's people reunified under their own Dragon Emperor. (Chapters 1551–1557, 1559)

The Yao Clan Ceremony and the Hun Clan Revelation

Yao Chen returns to the clan that marginalized him, and Xiao Yan enters its Medicinal Ceremony under his teacher's name. Competing against the Yao clan's best alchemists allows him to defend Yao Chen's dignity without asking the institution that rejected him to define his worth. Xiao Yan's success makes the teacher's legacy publicly undeniable through the disciple the clan did not train. (Chapters 1560–1561, 1564–1565, 1568)

Hun Huzi turns the ceremony into the opening of a broader assault. Xiao Yan confronts him and helps resist Nihility Devouring Flame, borrowing multiple clan flames to form an eight-colored Angry Buddha Lotus Flame. The technique's scale depends on cooperation with powers not permanently his, clearly distinguishing an emergency coalition attack from his ordinary personal mastery. (Chapters 1570, 1572, 1575–1579)

The Yao clan is devastated despite that resistance, and its prejudice softens only after destruction has made restitution impossible. The attack reveals that Hun strategy is not simply Hall recruitment or targeted soul capture, but the extermination and consumption of ancient bloodlines. Xiao Yan's private loyalty to Yao Chen therefore becomes evidence for a continental war whose stakes no surviving clan can dismiss. (Chapters 1580, 1584)

The Ancient Jade Crisis and Burial Sky War

The ancient clans unite after infiltration has already placed the Gu portion of the Tuo She Ancient God Jade at risk. Xiao Yan re-enters the Heavenly Tomb because his Heavenly soul is insufficient against Hun leadership. By destroying and absorbing the tomb soul, he reaches the Di soul state, accepting a dangerous concentration of power so he can contest the enemy's highest spiritual methods. (Chapters 1585, 1587, 1592, 1595, 1597–1599)

He commands in the Burial Sky attack beside Xun Er, Yao Lao, and Gu Yuan. The operation finally reaches Xiao Zhan, and father and son reunite after a pursuit that has shaped Xiao Yan's adult life. Xiao Zhan's acknowledgment of Xun Er also joins family restoration to the relationship Xiao Yan maintained across years of separation and clan pressure. (Chapters 1600, 1603–1605, 1608, 1610–1611)

The personal rescue succeeds, but Hun Tiandi escapes with the complete jade and strategic initiative. Xiao Yan seizes a Deathly Silence Gate, yet cannot convert battlefield gains into prevention of the mansion's opening. That failure forces a final widening of purpose: vengeance and family recovery have been achieved, while the survival of the entire Central Plains remains unresolved. (Chapters 1611, 1614)

The Ancient God Mansion and the Dou Di War

Hun Tiandi opens the Ancient God Mansion, secures the Di-Tier Embryonic Pill, and advances toward Dou Di. Xiao Yan returns to the magma world with Gu Yuan, Zhu Kun, and the coalition, fighting for access while recognizing that no existing rank can match what Hun Tiandi is becoming. The struggle is therefore for time and a viable inheritance, not a conventional immediate victory. (Chapters 1615, 1618, 1620, 1625, 1627)

Inside the Heavenly Flame Square, Xiao Yan accepts Tuo She's inheritance and the Origin Qi required for Dou Di. The Heavenly Flames he cultivated answer as active forces in the transformation, linking the final breakthrough to the path he began with Flame Mantra rather than replacing it. His allies endure Hun Tiandi's sacrificial war long enough for him to emerge as Flame Di. (Chapters 1631–1632, 1635, 1637, 1639–1640)

Xiao Yan defeats and seals Hun Tiandi, preserving a Central Plains already scarred by mass death. He then relinquishes alliance rule rather than turning unmatched strength into permanent government, marries, and returns to family life. When he later senses a route beyond the plane, curiosity reappears beside responsibility: the humiliated youth's drive survives, but it no longer needs humiliation or domination to give it direction. (Chapters 1642, 1644–1648)

Appearance and personality

As a teenager, Xiao Yan has a delicate, still-immature face, jet-black eyes, and a lean body hardened by Yao Lao's physical training. He commonly wears dark robes and carries the oversized Heavy Xuan Ruler across his back during his early travels. Cultivation, poison, flames, and bodily refinement repeatedly alter his strength and presence, while the Xiao clan tattoo later marks the bloodline inheritance he receives from Xiao Xuan. (Chapters 1, 18–19, 122, 1360–1365)

Xiao Yan is proud, tenacious, and exceptionally sensitive to harm directed at his family. The annulment shows both his danger and his control: he initially erupts, then suppresses the impulse to strike and answers with a binding challenge. Repeated hardship makes him cautious with identities and plans, but not emotionally detached. He remembers favors, repays protection, and takes risks for people he regards as his own, sometimes beyond what strategy alone would justify. (Chapters 7, 89, 146–147, 357–363, 1209–1226)

His competitiveness is paired with practical adaptability. Xiao Yan is willing to bargain, disguise himself, retreat, or share credit when direct confrontation would fail; he also turns crafts and institutions toward collective survival. As his authority grows, he increasingly distinguishes enemies acting from coercion or divided loyalty from those choosing predation. That capacity makes the Yan and Sky Mansion alliances possible, though threats to Xiao Zhan or Yao Lao can still pull him toward vengeance. (Chapters 72–79, 383–394, 739–814, 1452–1453, 1585–1614)

Abilities and cultivation

Xiao Yan develops from a third-stage Dou Zhi Li youth into a Dou Di known as Flame Di. His combat system combines Flame Mantra's evolving Dou Qi, several absorbed Heavenly Flames, high-level soul perception, alchemy, explosive flame-fusion techniques, temporary amplification, movement arts, physical refinement, and external formations or puppets. Many of his greatest attacks are powerful precisely because they combine these systems, but the same combinations require preparation, control, and tolerance for severe backlash. (Chapters 1, 66–68, 262–265, 1639–1644)

Flame Mantra and cultivation progression

Yao Lao offers Flame Mantra after Xiao Yan returns to Dou Zhe. It begins as a low-ranked Qi Method, and its defining mechanic is evolution through the swallowing and refinement of unusual flames, especially Heavenly Flames. That promise is also its restriction: without acquiring flames that are rare, sentient, and lethally difficult to absorb, the method remains weak. Xiao Yan chooses it because a fixed high-ranked method cannot offer the same eventual ceiling. (Chapters 64–68)

Purple Flame produces the first improvement, after which the Green Lotus Core Flame, Fallen Heart Flame, Three Thousand Burning Flame, and Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame drive major evolutions. Each acquisition demands a different process—prepared absorption, prolonged resistance inside the flame, soul conflict, or purification with Xun Er—so advancement is never automatic possession. Flame Mantra lets the refined fires coexist as Dou Qi and be summoned separately or fused, but failed control can injure Xiao Yan and those protecting him. (Chapters 151–158, 224–235, 612–619, 1196–1207, 1517–1524)

His ordinary cultivation advances through combat, medicinal support, tower training, blood-pool and Heavenly Tomb energy, Bodhisattva enlightenment, and the Xiao bloodline inheritance. Temporary resources accelerate or unlock stages but do not all become permanent abilities. Near the end, Tuo She's inheritance supplies Origin Qi and integrates his flame path into the Dou Di breakthrough; as Flame Di, Xiao Yan can command flame power on the scale required to defeat Hun Tiandi. (Chapters 516–521, 1007–1011, 1343–1365, 1422–1426, 1631–1644)

Heavenly Flames and fire control

The Green Lotus Core Flame is Xiao Yan's first true Heavenly Flame. He takes it during Medusa's evolution and absorbs it using the Blood Lotus Pill, Ice Spirit Cold Fountain, and Acceptance Spirit protections assembled for that attempt. It greatly strengthens fire attacks and alchemy and evolves Flame Mantra, but the absorption nearly consumes him; the sequence establishes that safeguards reduce risk rather than make a Heavenly Flame safe. (Chapters 162, 169–171, 194–235)

The Fallen Heart Flame can generate the heart flame used by Jia Nan Academy's tower to accelerate refinement. After it swallows Xiao Yan, he survives inside it for two years and merges it with Green Lotus Core Flame, gaining the internalized flame and reaching Dou Wang. He later subdues Three Thousand Burning Flame through a soul struggle. That star flame carries formidable regenerative qualities, but its seal, resistance, and connection to Zi Yan all shape the acquisition; it is not a freely interchangeable fuel. (Chapters 588–619, 622–630, 1196–1207)

The Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame is initially an intelligent adversary whose realm traps entrants in illusions and uses the Sky Ancient Formation. Xiao Yan, Xun Er, and the Lotus Saint's remnant method strip that hostile intelligence and refine the essence. The controlled flame manifests as Little Yi and can purify or incinerate targets with power sufficient to defeat the Hall chief. Little Yi's infant-like intelligence is a new post-refinement manifestation, not property identical to the defeated being. (Chapters 1495–1524, 1535–1538)

Xiao Yan's access to other flames changes over time and must be distinguished from a temporary loan. He borrows Yao Lao's Bone Chilling Flame for early alchemy and combat, then permanently receives and refines it after Yao Chen removes his spiritual imprint. Han Feng's Sea Heart Flame first opposes him; much later, Xiao Yan extracts it from Old Mu Gu, swallows it, and uses the refined flame in a five-flame formation. Its refinement raises Flame Mantra only modestly at Xiao Yan's advanced stage, showing diminishing returns from a lower-ranked flame. At the Yao ceremony he instead borrows several clan flames only for an eight-colored lotus. These episodes show exceptional compatibility, but permanent acquisitions and situational loans are not the same form of access. (Chapters 72–79, 599, 638, 1285–1295, 1487–1492, 1575–1578)

Angry Buddha Lotus Flame

Xiao Yan invents Angry Buddha Lotus Flame when trapped by enemies near the desert. Its operating principle is the forced fusion of different flames into a lotus-shaped equilibrium which is then released as an explosion. Unlike a learned Dou Skill with fixed circulation routes, its output changes with the number and quality of flames. The first use saves him but shatters his defenses and exhausts Yao Lao, demonstrating that unstable fusion can harm the user before or after detonation. (Chapters 262–265)

Control improves enough for Xiao Yan to form a small lotus against Nalan Yanran, a battlefield-scale version against Han Feng, and a three-colored lotus against Yun Shan. Later variants include Angry Buddha Reincarnation after his Dou Sheng breakthrough and an eight-colored emergency lotus assembled from borrowed clan flames. Range and destructive scale increase, but preparation and flame balance remain openings an opponent can exploit, and borrowed sources make some variants situational. (Chapters 334, 340–341, 610, 714–715, 1438–1440, 1577–1578)

At his latest pre-Dou-Di stage, the technique is both signature weapon and expression of Flame Mantra mastery: fires cultivated across separate eras can be combined without the catastrophic loss of control seen in the desert. It interacts with Xiao Yan's soul strength, temporary amplification, and allies who can supply or protect the necessary flames. The corpus establishes its escalating results more clearly than a universal maximum range or fixed cooldown, so neither should be assumed. (Chapters 1438–1440, 1577–1578, 1631–1644)

Skyfire Three Mysterious Change and the Xiao clan tattoo

Xiao Yan first deciphers the Green Lotus Change while fleeing the Misty Cloud Sect. The secret technique ignites a compatible internal flame to produce a temporary increase in combat power, allowing him to fight above his normal level. The boost is not a true cultivation breakthrough and places strain on the body; when the change ends, the temporary power cannot be treated as retained rank. (Chapters 370–372)

After completing Tang Zhen's alchemical test, he receives Burning Flame Valley's complete inheritance and develops the later changes around his multiple flames. Its applications include closing rank gaps, strengthening high-cost attacks, and buying time against enemies whose ordinary Dou Qi exceeds his. Because the method amplifies what his body and flame control can withstand, physical refinement and additional flames improve its use without removing the cost of forced elevation. (Chapters 1047, 1056, 1063)

Xiao Xuan's bloodline inheritance later gives Xiao Yan the Xiao clan tattoo and a further source of temporary clan power. This is distinct from Skyfire Three Mysterious Change: it arises from inherited Xiao bloodline energy rather than burning an internal flame. Both systems support combat escalation, but neither alone supplies the Origin Qi needed for Dou Di, which Xiao Yan receives only through Tuo She's final inheritance. (Chapters 1359–1365, 1631–1640)

Alchemy and soul power

Yao Lao teaches Xiao Yan alchemy after recognizing his soul perception and fire affinity. Refining requires him to identify ingredients, extract and combine medicinal essences, sustain precise temperature, and form the pill without losing control. Heavenly Flames improve fire quality, while soul strength governs perception and manipulation; rare formulas and cauldrons provide knowledge or stability but do not replace judgment. His early failed and successful refinements establish that ingredients can be wasted and a furnace can be lost through error. (Chapters 72–79)

His applications expand from healing medicine and Qi Gathering Powder to eighth-tier pills, body restoration, poison-core condensation, and resources that survive pill lightning. He uses alchemy economically to defend the Xiao clan, medically to restore Tian Huo and Yao Chen, and diplomatically to earn Burning Flame Valley's inheritance. Some procedures require unique remains, cores, or environmental help, making his expertise powerful but not independent of scarce material conditions. (Chapters 89–101, 1037–1084, 1119–1192, 1276–1284)

Soul training progresses through Yao Lao's instruction, the anonymous word formula and handprints, Pill Gathering trials, released Man Hall soul essence, and the Heavenly Tomb soul. Xiao Yan reaches Perfect Heavenly and then Di soul states, strengthening alchemical control, perception, and direct soul combat. The later gains require extraordinary external soul essence and carry confrontation risk; the Di state is a spiritual advancement, not by itself the Dou Di cultivation rank. (Chapters 1136–1141, 1491–1493, 1595–1599)

Movement, body, and close combat

Vacuum Hand is Xiao Yan's first recovered useful technique, drawing a target or object through suction at limited range. Octane Blast is a high-Xuan close-combat strike learned through Yao Lao's punishing physical regimen; its force depends on landing at close quarters, so stronger opponents, distance, or insufficient bodily durability constrain it. These techniques remain part of his foundation even after later arts surpass their raw level. (Chapters 13–14, 18–19)

Purple Cloud Wings initially provide limited aerial movement, while Three Thousand Lightning Movement becomes his principal burst-speed art and advances through Lightning Flash mastery. He later completes Three Thousand Lightning Illusionary Body, producing a lightning avatar able to act with substantial autonomy. The avatar extends tactical reach and survival options, but is a constructed energy body tied to the technique, not a second independent Xiao Yan. (Chapters 117–119, 394, 505–508, 970–990)

Ancient Phoenix essence transforms his bone wings, and King Kong Glass Body adds major physical reinforcement. The Heavy Xuan Ruler initially suppresses and burdens him, making ordinary movement into training; removed or actively wielded, it supports Flame Splitting Tsunami and later close combat. These body and equipment systems let him survive the recoil of stronger flame arts, but the repeated need for recovery after extreme attacks shows that durability never makes expenditure consequence-free. (Chapters 122, 139–140, 1032–1035, 1403)

Seals, ruler arts, and inherited techniques

Flame Splitting Tsunami is the Di-class ruler technique Yao Lao gives Xiao Yan in the mountain range. It channels Dou Qi through the Heavy Xuan Ruler into a powerful cleaving attack, making the weapon's mass and his trained control part of the technique. Its early limitation is energy demand: a technique of this class strains a low-ranked cultivator and cannot be used as casually as Octane Blast. (Chapters 122, 146–147)

Xun Er transmits forms of the Gu clan's God Seal Technique, beginning with Open Mountain Seal and later Sea Flipping Seal. The seals give Xiao Yan concentrated high-ranked attacks that do not require risky flame fusion, broadening his options against resistant opponents. Because they are inherited clan techniques taught to him through Xun Er, their presence reflects trust and access rather than Xiao bloodline origin. (Chapters 423, 645–648, 803)

Later inheritances include Five Ring Flame Expelling Technique for controlling five flame forms, Great Heaven Fortune Palm from a Dou Sheng skeleton, Great Single Soul Skill for spiritual combat, and Yellow Spring Divine Anger from Demon Saint Huang Quan's legacy. Each fills a distinct role—formation, palm force, soul attack, or sonic-spiritual pressure—while representative use shows that Xiao Yan selects among them according to enemy and environment rather than replacing every battle with his most destructive lotus. (Chapters 902–903, 1261–1263, 1315, 1465–1470)

Puppets, formations, and item-derived force

The Sky Demon Puppet method lets Xiao Yan refine durable corpses and materials into combat puppets. His Earth Demon Puppet strengthens under pill lightning; later, the Northern Dragon King is refined into the Northern King and enhanced with Black Demon Lightning. These constructs can absorb attacks, guard him, and extend his battlefield presence, but their power derives from prepared bodies and absorbed lightning rather than his innate rank. Damage or loss of the construct is therefore a material limitation. (Chapters 923, 928–930, 1190–1191, 1550–1554)

Tian Huo's Five Ring Flame Expelling Technique and the reversed Sky Ancient Formation demonstrate Xiao Yan's formation control. The former organizes multiple flames into coordinated forms, while the latter is seized from the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame and turned against it with allied support. Both depend on suitable flames, arrangement, and circumstances; the Sky Ancient Formation is a realm-scale mechanism he controls during that crisis, not an always-available personal domain. (Chapters 902–903, 1509–1516)

His latest strength combines these learned and item-derived systems with Dou Di cultivation. Tuo She's inheritance and Origin Qi permit the qualitative breakthrough, while the Heavenly Flames respond to his long-cultivated affinity. As Flame Di he defeats and seals Hun Tiandi, after which no later chapter establishes a loss of that rank or flame mastery; the epilogue instead suggests he can perceive a path beyond the plane. (Chapters 1631–1648)

Power progression

Relationships

Yao Lao

Yao Lao begins as the hidden cause of Xiao Yan's lost Dou Qi, then becomes teacher, protector, and parent-figure. Xiao Yan's apprenticeship rests on an honest tension: he wants Yao Lao's knowledge but also power he can call his own. Their bond matures through role reversal—Yao Lao repeatedly saves him in youth; Xiao Yan later breaches the Death Soul branch, restores Yao Chen's body, and publicly defends his legacy before the Yao clan. (Chapters 8–9, 66–68, 1209–1232, 1276–1284, 1560–1568)

Xun Er

Xun Er trusts Xiao Yan during his disgrace and later becomes his combat, cultivation, and intimate partner. Their long separations are created by training and Gu clan obligations rather than loss of attachment. She helps him refine the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame, fights beside him in ancient-clan wars, and is recognized by Xiao Zhan before their marriage; Xiao Yan, in turn, seeks Gu acceptance without asking her to surrender her clan identity. (Chapters 1, 404–406, 1316–1371, 1495–1526, 1603–1611, 1647)

Cai Lin and Xiao Xiao

Cai Lin enters Xiao Yan's journey through Medusa's evolution and the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python, then becomes an uneasy ally, Yan Alliance leader, and his partner. Their relationship grows amid coercive circumstances and conflict, so later trust is demonstrated through independent command and shared responsibility rather than simple possession. Xiao Xiao makes that bond familial, and Xiao Yan ultimately recognizes Cai Lin as a leader whose people and decisions are her own. (Chapters 208–218, 585–630, 671–738, 1377–1391, 1478–1487, 1647)

Xiao Zhan and the Xiao clan

Xiao Zhan's confidence during Xiao Yan's fall makes his father's honor central to the three-year challenge. Xiao Zhan's abduction then drives much of Xiao Yan's movement from local revenge into war with the Hall and Hun clan. Their reunion at Burial Sky fulfills the personal rescue, while Xiao Xuan's inheritance makes Xiao Yan responsible for more than surviving relatives: he becomes bearer of a nearly extinguished clan history. (Chapters 1–7, 357–381, 1359–1365, 1600–1614)

Little Fairy Doctor and Zi Yan

The Little Fairy Doctor and Zi Yan are companions whose dangerous constitutions or lineages Xiao Yan helps stabilize without absorbing their identities into his own. He develops and performs the Poison Pill Method with the Little Fairy Doctor, while reserving the Dragon Phoenix Origin Fruit and supporting Zi Yan's awakening. Both later operate as formidable alliance partners, showing that his early protective impulse can mature into cooperation with equals. (Chapters 118–155, 739–814, 1090–1112, 1247–1307, 1455–1494)

Rivals, enemies, and divided loyalties

Nalan Yanran gives Xiao Yan's recovery its first fixed deadline, but their duel ends the personal obligation and allows later encounters to become less hostile. Han Feng instead represents a corrupt mirror of discipleship, having betrayed Yao Lao for power. Yun Yun occupies a more difficult middle ground: affection under the Yun Zhi identity persists, yet sect duty makes her Xiao Yan's opponent until both build lives beyond Misty Cloud Mountain. (Chapters 7, 333–354, 599–670, 709–724, 939–1036, 1233–1315)

Hun Tiandi and the Hall of Souls transform Xiao Yan's private losses into a systemic conflict. Protectors take Yao Lao and Xiao Zhan, the Hall harvests souls, and the Hun clan consumes bloodlines in pursuit of Dou Di. Xiao Yan's answer develops from targeted vengeance to institutions—the Yan Alliance, Falling Star Pavilion, and Sky Mansion Alliance—capable of freeing victims, preserving other factions, and sustaining the final war. (Chapters 357–381, 720–738, 1452–1494, 1560–1644)

Items

• Heavy Xuan Ruler — Yao Lao gives Xiao Yan the weapon for burdened training and ruler techniques; Xiao Yan remains its principal wielder. (Chapters 122, 146–147)
• Yao Lao's Black Ring — The ring houses Yao Lao's spirit and is the vessel through which the apprenticeship begins; Yao Lao is a resident person, not property. (Chapters 2, 8–9)
• Ten Thousand Beast Cauldron — The cauldron passes to Xiao Yan after Han Feng's first defeat, and he later uses it for demanding refinements such as his Pill Gathering entry. Its stability supports, but does not perform, his refinements. (Chapters 654, 660, 1182)
• Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame Map — Xiao Yan gathers its fragments over many years; the completed map reveals the Lotus Saint's concealed method and opens the flame realm. (Chapters 120, 176–180, 1395–1402, 1495–1509)
• Tuo She Ancient God Jade — Xiao Yan inherits the Xiao clan's connection to the jade and helps contest its complete form; the artifact opens the Ancient God Mansion but does not itself grant his final inheritance. (Chapters 357, 480–481, 1591–1593, 1615–1627)
• Green Lotus Platform — Recovered from the magma region with the Green Lotus Core Flame, the lotus seat aids cultivation and remains a separate treasure from the sentient flame. (Chapters 194–200, 227–235)
• Qi Gathering Powder — The pill offered during the annulment becomes a symbol of the humiliation Xiao Yan rejects; Yao Lao later refines the medicine used for Xiao Yan's own return to Dou Zhe. (Chapters 7, 60, 64–65)
• Yin-Yang Mysterious Dragon Pill — Xiao Yan acquires and consumes the pill in the Black-Corner Region for its latent rebirth benefit; consumption ends ordinary custody. (Chapters 396, 403)
• Bodhisattva Body Transformation Saliva — Xiao Yan secures the treasure during the Black Emperor struggle as a major transformation resource amid competing claims. (Chapters 838, 845, 847, 863)
• Green Lotus Core Flame — Xiao Yan seizes and permanently refines the Heavenly Flame, making it the first true flame to evolve Flame Mantra. (Chapters 208–235)
• Fallen Heart Flame — After two years trapped within it, Xiao Yan refines and merges the academy flame with his existing fire. (Chapters 588–630)
• Bone Chilling Flame — Xiao Yan first borrows Yao Lao's signature flame, then receives it permanently after Yao Chen removes his spiritual imprint and refines it into his own arsenal. (Chapters 72–79, 1285–1295)
• Sea Heart Flame — Han Feng first wields this Heavenly Flame against Xiao Yan. Xiao Yan later extracts it from Old Mu Gu, swallows and refines it, and uses it as one of five genuine Heavenly Flames in the Five Ring Flame Expelling Technique. (Chapters 599, 638, 1487–1492)