Recaps

Xiao Hua helped Cui Hongshen’s squad escape Jiming Mountain after a Sword Transformation Swordsman broke the defenses, then reached Xuntian City amid escalating war reports. There he befriended Ziye, traded for demonic artifacts and pill recipes, and entered the Bidding Convention as news hinted at a chance to create a spirit artifact.

• Xiao Hua joined Cui Hongshen’s group at Jiming Mountain, where sword cultivators encircled the defenders and fierce fighting began.
• After the sword cultivators overwhelmed the defenses, a Sword Transformation Swordsman revealed the Taiyi Azure Light Sword, and Xiao Hua helped the Thunder Control Sect disciples escape as Han Bing was killed.
• Xiao Hua fought off pursuing sword cultivators, rescued Cui Hongshen and the others aboard the Flowing Cloud Flying Boat, and concealed the full extent of his strength from the squad.
• At Xuntian City, Cui Hongshen reported the attack while the Council Hall learned that Qin Jian had annihilated Joyful Sect disciples and issued a bounty for him.
• Xiao Hua settled into the Thunder Control Sect stronghold, defended Dui Qimeng from two Dry Thunder Palace disciples, and later met the scholar Ziye while walking through the snow.
• Xiao Hua accompanied Ziye to the market, bought Million Meng Mountain remains, and traded a Youth-Preserving Pill for a demonic jade slip after discovering it was a Rejuvenation Pill.
• Xiao Hua exchanged flying swords for incomplete pill recipes, recognized that changing spirit herbs could make his own space-grown herbs valuable, and kept their origin secret.
• Xiao Hua entered the Bidding Convention with Ziye and Fu Lu, where Si Xinyu announced an item that might help an artifact-refinement master create a spirit artifact.

Xiao Hua won the wounded beast cultivator at auction, then prepared for war while pursuing clues about his soul and unusual treasures. He led Thunder Control Sect’s First Squad to defend the Quanjin Mountain mine, where battles against sword cultivators revealed new threats and left the squad facing a blue fire bird.

• Xiao Hua bought the wounded duckling at auction after outbidding Li Chengxu, then suspected it was Dai Er and reunited with Ziye.
• Xiao Hua returned Ziye’s spirit stones and gave him pills and herbs, then went back to the Thunder Control Sect stronghold and later entered Xuntian City’s artifact-refining site.
• Xiao Hua studied soul techniques, activated the toad soul artifact, refined Azure Spirit Pills, and uncovered further secrets in the Medicine King Cauldron and sword arts.
• Xiao Hua confronted Li Chengxu at the artifact-refining site, then joined Cui Hongshen’s squad as it teleported to a remote glacier.
• Cui Hongshen revealed that the squad had to defend the Quanjin Mountain spirit stone mine, and Xiao Hua guided them around enemy forces before luring more than thirty Bright Sword swordsmen into an ambush.
• Xiao Hua and the squad defeated the swordsmen, and Xiao Hua claimed a Spirit Guard Armor that he fitted around the mysterious dark cloud.
• Xiao Hua led the squad through further battles and helped them reach ten Taiqing Sect disciples, where they encountered three strange sword cultivators and an avian cultivator.
• Xiao Hua crushed the trapped avian cultivator, then the squad joined the fight against a fireball artifact cultivator whose fireball became a blue fire bird and pierced a Taiqing Sect disciple’s hook.

Cui Hongshen’s squad reached Quanjin Mountain after rescuing besieged cultivators, and Xiao Hua discovered hidden formations and a jade marrow deposit beneath the mine. Meanwhile, Tu Hong plotted to use Dui Qimeng to restore Yu Meng, while Ling Yunwu began tracking a powerful Thunder Control Sect cultivator.

• Cui Hongshen and He Fangyuan’s disciples rescued Foundation Establishment cultivators from avian cultivators and giants, and Xiao Hua drove off the attackers before collapsing from exhaustion.
• Cui Hongshen’s squad reached Quanjin Mountain, entered through a concealed passage, and settled into the spirit stone mine’s quiet rooms.
• Xiao Hua found Chansi Wood among a sword cultivator’s belongings, studied avian cultivator techniques, and later joined the patrols with Ming Mu.
• Tu Hong commended Cui Hongshen’s squad, then revealed to Lan Qin that Yu Meng lived under the control of a soul artifact and that he believed Dui Qimeng’s soul might restore her.
• Xiao Hua discovered Quanjin Mountain disciples gathered around enormous formation pillars, then used Little Silver to find and excavate jade marrow.
• Ling Yunwu searched for the missing Chansi Wood and Sword Pouch until Yu Wan brought him an image of a powerful Thunder Control Sect cultivator.
• Ling Yunwu concluded the cultivator had likely passed through Quanjin Mountain and sent Yunfei to escort Yu Wan while seeking Illusion Sword Swordsmen as reinforcements.

The Sword Domain and bird cultivators attacked Quanjin Mountain, while Tu Hong’s forces struggled to defend its spirit stone mine. Tu Hong’s formation unleashed a deadly spiritual tsunami that killed most of the combatants, and Xiao Hua remained trapped in the Seven Star Great Formation as he began cultivating through the Phoenix Dharma Body.

• Ling Yunwu and Ying Zhuo learned that Dao Sect cultivators were near Quanjin Mountain, while Xiao Hua secretly mined its jade marrow and Cui Hongshen’s squad was assigned to a suspicious underground post.
• Yuan Qing, Ying Zhuo, and the Sword Domain forces attacked Quanjin Mountain with Blood Fiend Beasts and Earth Devouring Worms, but Tu Hong’s ambushes and the defenders’ counterattacks inflicted heavy losses on both sides.
• Xiao Hua discovered that Cui Hongshen’s squad had been trapped underground, then hid the squad in his spirit storage pouch as Tu Hong ordered his disciples to draw the attackers into the mine.
• As the battle reached the mine, Ling Yunwu’s swordsmen pursued Xiao Hua, who broke through their formations, struck down Yu Wan, and was eventually surrounded by twelve Illusion Sword Swordsmen in the Seven Star Sword Array.
• Tu Hong’s grand formation erupted with pure earth-attributed energy, tearing through the mine and killing swordsmen, Dao Sect cultivators, and bird cultivators as Xiao Hua and the Phoenix Dharma Body absorbed the spiritual flood.
• Tu Hong and Lan Qin escaped the formation with the surviving Quanjin Mountain disciples, while the twelve Illusion Sword Swordsmen became sword spirits to keep Xiao Hua trapped.
• Xiao Hua used the Phoenix Dharma Body to shield himself from the spiritual howls, sent part of his Primordial Spirit into it, and began cultivating its arts.