Magical Artifacts like the Mountain-Breaking Hammer were highly specialized by region. It was "best at breaking through Angular Stone," which was most abundant in the Dreamshatter Realm. Luo Qian thought it over, then pulled out the information he had gathered before and compared the details. Every Demon Beast carried only two kinds of Magical Artifacts: Soul-Seizing and Mountain-Breaking. Mountain-Breaking artifacts were suited to use in four realms: the Dreamshatter Realm, the Gourd Realm, the Broken Moon Realm, and the Cloudveil Realm.
What came next was simple, like something out of a Hollywood spy blockbuster. He found a map, marked the areas matching each condition, and looked for their intersection. The four realms had only one point in common: Cloud Pillar Mountain.
Cloud Pillar Mountain was divided into four parts, each belonging to one of the four realms. It was not among the Inner Thirty-Six Mountains, and its standing in the Immortal Realm was much like Luo Qian's: hardly anyone paid it any mind. Still, Immortals occasionally visited it. True to its name, Cloud Pillar Mountain towered into the clouds, sheer as if cut by knife and ax, straight as a pillar. Luo Qian thought it over and decided to see for himself what mysteries the mountain held, to draw so many Demon Beasts into risking an escape from the Heavenly River.
Luo Qian drove his carriage into the Broken Moon Realm in less than a day. Half a day later, he reached Cloud Pillar Mountain. As far as he could see, the place was desolate. The mountain rose like a pillar, bare and almost devoid of vegetation. What could possibly attract Demon Beasts to such a barren, forbidding place? He put away his carriage and strolled into the mountains. After making a couple of circuits, he lost interest. The mountain's