Chapter Summaries

After Xiao Hua drove off the beast cultivators and giants, old acquaintances from the Feathered Immortal Convention recognized him and the gathered squads planned their routes to Quanjin Mountain. Xiao Hua set out with his squad despite his apparent exhaustion, then challenged Cui Hongshen, who questioned the methods he had used in battle.

• Xiao Hua pretended to be exhausted, and Ke Xingxi of the Kunlun Sect and Yang Fangcheng of the Joyful Sect recognized him from the Feathered Immortal Convention.
• He Fangyuan greeted Ke Xingxi and Yang Fangcheng, while Xiao Hua avoided the other cultivators and reflected on his fame, his place in the Thunder Control Sect, and the giants’ possible connection to his origins.
• The captains agreed to split up and approach Quanjin Mountain from different directions, exchanged communication talismans, and arranged to keep in contact.
• Cui Hongshen urged his squad to leave rather than rest, and Xiao Hua agreed to travel with Zhen Huo supporting him.
• Cui Hongshen questioned Xiao Hua’s many methods, and Xiao Hua said the As-You-Wish Staff had frightened the giants away.

Xiao Hua and Cui Hongshen discussed the fate of the disciples who had fled the battle, then traveled with their group to Quanjin Mountain. Cui Hongshen used his Captain's Token to guide them toward a hidden formation, leaving them at a pine tree where the guiding light disappeared.

• Xiao Hua asked Cui Hongshen what would happen to the disciples who had fled, and Cui Hongshen said they faced death or life as Rogue Cultivators hunted by the Three Cultivation Kingdoms.
• Xiao Hua reassured Cui Hongshen that the beast cultivators and giants were not pursuing them, while a timid dwarf emerged from hiding and then fled underground without following.
• Xiao Hua and Cui Hongshen's group reached Quanjin Mountain and found a frozen, pine-covered range that concealed the spirit stone mine.
• Cui Hongshen activated the Captain's Token, and its bird-shaped light led the group through the forest before vanishing into a pine tree.

Cui Hongshen led Xiao Hua and the Thunder Control Sect squad through a hidden entrance beneath a pine tree to the underground spirit stone vein at Quanjin Mountain. After guards inspected their tokens and assigned them to the northwest area, Xiao Hua explored the vast, brightly lit cavern and assumed the mission would be safe and allow time for cultivation.

• Cui Hongshen opened a concealed passage in the pine tree with a sequence of taps and led the squad down through a deep, divine-sense-blocking tunnel.
• A hooded Foundation Establishment cultivator checked Cui Hongshen’s token, marked it for Quanjin Mountain, and directed the squad onward.
• Xuntian City guards inspected the squad’s tokens and told Xiao Hua that Quanjin Mountain had eight entrances and that the Taiqing Sect might have entered through another one.
• A Qi Cultivation disciple escorted the squad to the northwest area, where Xiao Hua saw a vast underground landscape filled with spiritual energy and cultivators on patrol.
• Xiao Hua concluded that the assignment seemed safe and thought he might cultivate in the abundant spiritual energy.

Xiao Hua and the Thunder Control Sect disciples arrived at Quanjin Mountain’s spirit stone vein, where Xuntian City’s Great General Tu Hong arranged quiet rooms for them. After settling in, Xiao Hua tested the As-You-Wish Staff and found it could extend only to three feet.

• Xiao Hua watched a thousand exhausted Xuntian City disciples leave the spirit stone mine and learned that recruits had to mine before becoming full disciples.
• A Xuntian City disciple explained that Golden Core cultivator Tu Hong, called the Great General, oversaw the vein and had arranged quiet rooms for the reinforcements.
• Cui Hongshen accepted a jade talisman and was warned not to leave the quiet rooms through the outer cave entrance because of powerful restrictions.
• Xiao Hua and the others chose separate quiet rooms, while Cui Hongshen and Zhen Minghui discussed matters and Dui Qimeng chatted with Mingmou.
• Xiao Hua activated his room’s restriction and discovered that the As-You-Wish Staff extended only to three feet.

Xiao Hua examined the spoils from the sword and avian cultivators, discovered that Chansi Wood strengthened his Primordial Spirit, and realized the avian cultivation method could help him refine intelligent puppets. After three days of cultivation, he learned that Tu Hong had summoned representatives of the Daoist sects, and Cui Hongshen rejected Zhen Minghui’s suggestion to send Xiao Hua.

• Xiao Hua found Chansi Wood in a sword cultivator’s Storage Bag and used its fragrance to strengthen his Primordial Spirit.
• Xiao Hua studied the avian cultivators’ beast-based pill formulas and recognized that their Spirit Bird fusion method could be combined with Puppet Technique to refine intelligent puppets.
• Xiao Hua spent three days cultivating in seclusion at Quanjin Mountain.
• Quanjin Mountain disciples told the Thunder Control Sect that Tu Hong had summoned representatives from the reinforcement forces to an audience.
• Zhen Minghui proposed that Xiao Hua be one of the Thunder Control Sect’s three representatives, but Cui Hongshen immediately rejected the suggestion.

Dui Qimeng reflected on how her feelings toward Cui Hongshen had grown and how Xiao Hua’s hidden strength had changed her view of Myriad Thunder Valley. The group arrived at Tu Hong’s reception hall to meet him, while Dui Qimeng felt reassured that Xiao Hua treated Cui Hongshen as a fellow disciple.

• Cui Hongshen rejected Zhen Minghui’s suggestion, and the group chose Dui Qimeng as their representative to meet Tu Hong.
• Cui Hongshen and the others followed Quanjin Mountain disciples to Tu Hong’s grand reception hall, where leaders from each sect had gathered.
• Dui Qimeng recalled that she had once doubted marrying Cui Hongshen but had come to trust his ambition and standing in Myriad Thunder Valley.
• Dui Qimeng reconsidered Xiao Hua’s strength and recognized that his presence made Myriad Thunder Valley far more formidable than she had imagined.
• Dui Qimeng concluded that Xiao Hua’s generosity and willingness to rescue them showed he regarded Cui Hongshen as a fellow disciple.

Cui Hongshen and his companions discovered a hall lined with supreme-grade spiritstone pillars while waiting for Tu Hong at Quanjin Mountain. He agreed to conceal several sects’ accounts of a disciple’s cowardice, then saw an elderly, hunched cultivator emerge from the wall and realized he was not the Tu Hong he had imagined.

• Zhen Minghui discovered that the hall’s eighty-one massive pillars were made of supreme-grade spiritstone, and a Quanjin Mountain disciple explained that they formed part of a grand formation.
• A Quanjin Mountain disciple escorted Cui Hongshen, Dui Qimeng, and Zhen Minghui to their assigned place to await Tu Hong.
• He Fangyuan asked Cui Hongshen to keep quiet about a Taiqing Sect disciple’s cowardice and the related incidents involving other sects; Cui agreed to preserve their reputations.
• Cui Hongshen told Zhen Minghui and Dui Qimeng about his agreement, and Dui Qimeng admired him.
• An elderly, hunched cultivator emerged through a glowing section of the stone wall, disappointing Cui Hongshen’s expectations of Tu Hong.

Tu Hong arrived to receive the reinforcements at Quanjin Mountain and questioned them about their journeys from Xuntian City. After Cui Hongshen concealed key details of the Thunder Control Sect’s battles, Tu Hong proposed awarding the Thunder Control Sect First Squad for rescuing other sects, and everyone agreed.

• Lan Qin welcomed the cultivators before Tu Hong arrived and noticed Dui Qimeng, prompting a brief, concealed reaction from both men.
• Tu Hong greeted the assembled reinforcements and asked them to report their routes and encounters on the way from Xuntian City.
• Cui Hongshen heard other squads’ accounts and decided to conceal Xiao Hua’s strength and the full details of their battles.
• Cui Hongshen reported a reduced number and cultivation level of the sword cultivators his squad had faced.
• Tu Hong proposed recording a great merit for the Thunder Control Sect First Squad, and the cultivators from the other sects agreed.

Tu Hong rewarded Cui Hongshen and arranged the incoming sects’ rotations to operate Quanjin Mountain’s defensive formation. The chapter revealed Lan Qin’s private access to Tu Hong’s hidden military camp, where the two old friends drank together.

• Tu Hong recorded the Thunder Control Sect’s merit and promised to report it for commendation and rewards.
• Lan Qin assigned the visiting cultivators their defensive rotations and gave them jade slips for operating Quanjin Mountain’s formation.
• Lan Qin watched Dui Qimeng leave with Cui Hongshen, then entered a concealed chamber and was drawn into Tu Hong’s forbidden ground.
• Lan Qin joined Tu Hong in a bleak, frost-covered camp and found him drinking fiery liquor beside a military sand table.
• Tu Hong and Lan Qin drank several bowls of liquor while recalling how long it had been since they last shared a drink.

Tu Hong showed Lan Qin the preserved body of Yu Meng, whom Million Meng Mountain’s soul cultivators had animated through a soul artifact. He explained that she was only an empty shell, then revealed that seeing a living Thunder Control Sect cultivator who resembled her had stirred his hope.

• Tu Hong led Lan Qin into a second tent and showed him Yu Meng lying in a crystal coffin.
• Tu Hong used a Soul Suppressing Bell to awaken Yu Meng, who rose and greeted him as her husband.
• Tu Hong explained that Yu Meng’s body was controlled by a soul artifact and that she could recognize only him, while Lan Qin compared her to a puppet.
• Tu Hong recalled accepting Yu Meng’s condition and intending to stay beside her until his death.
• Tu Hong said that seeing a living Thunder Control Sect cultivator who looked like Yu Meng made him believe Heaven had sent her to fulfill his wish.

Tu Hong revealed that he planned to use Dui Qimeng’s soul to revive Yu Meng, while avoiding any direct blame for her capture or Cui Hongshen’s death. Meanwhile, Thunder Control Sect’s First Squad began its assigned patrol, with Xiao Hua paired with Ming Mu.

• Tu Hong told Brother Lan that Dui Qimeng’s soul might resemble Yu Meng’s and could be used to bring Yu Meng back, but the soul had to remain intact and willing.
• Tu Hong refused to kill Cui Hongshen himself, saying that sword cultivators might kill him during the battle without implicating Quanjin Mountain.
• After hearing about Quanjin Mountain’s superb-grade spirit stone pillars, Xiao Hua agreed to share the squad’s merit and joked that the others could give him their rewards.
• Cui Hongshen divided Thunder Control Sect’s First Squad into five patrol pairs and assigned Xiao Hua to patrol with Ming Mu.
• Xiao Hua and Ming Mu entered the jade mine tunnels and split off with the other pairs, where Ming Mu asked Xiao Hua how they should conduct their patrol.

Xiao Hua followed Mingmu on patrol through Quanjin Mountain’s spirit stone mine, then slipped away to search for its hidden riches. He found a cavern full of cultivators gathered around enormous pillars and escaped before they could identify him, though Xu Hu raised the alarm.

• Xiao Hua declined to plan the patrol and let Mingmu lead while he followed behind her.
• Xiao Hua noticed that the mine tunnels had no Quanjin Mountain disciples in sight and told Mingmu to continue patrolling while he investigated.
• Xiao Hua concealed himself and searched several deserted excavation sites, then tunneled underground with his Eye of Delusion Breaking.
• Xiao Hua emerged into a vast chamber crowded with cultivators surrounding enormous earth-yellow pillars and quickly vanished using the Shadow Concealment Art.
• Xu Hu claimed he had seen someone appear, and his captain questioned him while Xu Hu warned that sect disciples might have found the chamber.

Xiao Hua avoided Quanjin Mountain disciples guarding a formation and searched the mine for a spirit stone vein. With Little Silver’s help, he found rare jade marrow deep underground, chipped off several pieces, and fled back toward the tunnel.

• The captain ordered the Quanjin Mountain disciples to keep comprehending their formation and decided to report the suspected intruder to Tu Hong.
• Xiao Hua flew away unseen and realized that Quanjin Mountain disciples controlled the important formations while Dao Sect disciples were assigned less important work.
• After finding another empty mine pit, Xiao Hua released Little Silver and urged it to find a spirit stone vein.
• Little Silver burrowed deep underground, and Xiao Hua followed through dense earth as the pressure and resistance grew stronger.
• Little Silver found a huge crystal of jade marrow, and Xiao Hua chipped off several pieces with Qiu Yin Liu.
• Xiao Hua put Little Silver away and hurried back to the tunnel, where he saw a pair of anxious eyes pacing in circles.

Xiao Hua returned from a secret underground excursion as Quanjin Mountain investigated a suspected intruder in its formation, while he continued secretly mining jade marrow. At Quanjin Mountain, Ling Yunwu searched in vain for the missing Sword Pouch and Chansi Wood until his wife Yu Wan arrived with a sword slip and good news.

• Ming Mou and Xiao Hua returned to Cui Hongshen after their patrol, and Lan Qin explained that a suspected intruder in Quanjin Mountain's formation had been a false alarm.
• Xiao Hua kept bringing Little Silver underground to excavate jade marrow, eventually using the As-You-Wish Staff to break it loose.
• Ling Yunwu searched around White Jade Mountain and Quanjin Mountain for clues to the deaths of his Bright Sword Swordsmen and the missing Sword Pouch and Chansi Wood.
• Ling Yunwu ordered his disciples to search the forest after destroying trees with his flying sword, but they found no clear lead.
• Yu Wan flew to meet Ling Yunwu and announced that she had good news, holding out a sword slip.

Yu Wan brought Ling Yunwu an image of the Thunder Control Sect cultivator who had killed members of the Lingfeng Sword Gate, and warned him about the enemy’s speed and strength. Ling Yunwu ordered reinforcements to be gathered, while the mention of the Terrifying Phoenix raised questions Yu Wan did not pursue.

• Yu Wan gave Ling Yunwu a sword slip containing an image of a tall Thunder Control Sect cultivator, explaining that she had obtained it through a secret technique.
• Yu Wan warned Ling Yunwu that the Golden Core cultivator’s Lightning Evasion Technique and deep magical power made him dangerous to sword cultivators.
• Ling Yunwu showed the image to the searching disciples and concluded that the cultivator had likely passed through Quanjin Mountain on his way to Xuntian City.
• A Bright Sword disciple asked whether the cultivator was the Terrifying Phoenix, but Ling Yunwu denied that the Phoenix was the Golden Core enemy.
• Ling Yunwu ordered Yunfei to escort Yu Wan back and to seek around ten Illusion Sword Swordsmen as reinforcements.

Yu Wan left Ling Yunwu, who then learned that Xiao Hua had been sighted near Quanjin Mountain and joined forces with Ying Zhuo to search for him. The dwarf scout located traces of Dao Sect cultivators and burrowed into the mountain, while Ling Yunwu and Ying Zhuo prepared to follow.

• Yu Wan followed Ling Yunwu’s suggestion and flew away, after which Ling Yunwu warned a Bright Sword disciple not to mention the Terrifying Phoenix again.
• Ying Zhuo told Ling Yunwu that a tall, thin Foundation Establishment cultivator had defeated giants and killed Flying Feather cultivators, and a bird cultivator recognized Xiao Hua from Ling Yunwu’s sword slip.
• A dwarf told Ling Yunwu and Ying Zhuo that Dao Sect cultivators were nearby and that several thousand sword cultivators were waiting to attack once they confirmed the location.
• Ying Zhuo and the other bird cultivators flew through the clouds and split up to search Quanjin Mountain while Ling Yunwu stayed outside the cloud layer.
• The dwarf used his Earth Derivation Techniques to hide underground, then recovered from his frightening flight and tunneled deeper into Quanjin Mountain.

Tu Hong and Lan Qin watched more than a dozen sword cultivators approach Quanjin Mountain’s hidden spirit stone mine, then ordered the defenders to attack. When three of the cultivators suddenly fled, Tu Hong concealed the tracking mirror and prepared for an unknown threat.

• A dwarf used Earth Derivation Techniques to tunnel toward the hard earth beneath Quanjin Mountain.
• Lan Qin warned Tu Hong that the approaching sword cultivators threatened to expose Quanjin Mountain’s spirit stone mine and undermine Tu Hong’s position in Xuntian City.
• Tu Hong questioned Lan Qin about a disciple who had entered the mine and about rumors among the Three Cultivation Kingdoms disciples, then said the City Lord would reward him if Quanjin Mountain survived the Great Sword Dao Battle.
• The sword cultivators reached the restrictions and began wandering around the suspicious hard earth, so Tu Hong ordered Lan Qin to tell the Chen Formation disciples to kill those nearby.
• Three dots on Tu Hong’s mirror suddenly fled in different directions, and Tu Hong covered the mirror, shrank it, and transformed it into a triangular shape.

Tu Hong learned that dwarves had reached the spirit stone vein at Quanjin Mountain and arranged to move Yu Meng to safety. Xiao Hua continued secretly mining jade marrow until Cui Hongshen recalled his group to escort an important item to Xuntian City.

• Tu Hong used a triangular mirror to observe the dwarves and Ying Chuo, then told Lan Qin to move Yu Meng somewhere safe with several female Dao Sect disciples.
• Ying Chuo learned that dwarves had encountered a hard stone layer and Dao Sect cultivators underground, then withdrew his group after sensing Golden Core cultivators near the vein.
• Ling Yunwu pursued Ying Chuo, while bird cultivators returned to watch Quanjin Mountain from above the clouds.
• Xiao Hua secretly excavated jade marrow with the As-You-Wish Staff until Mingmu summoned him back, then learned that Cui Hongshen had ordered the group to return.
• Cui Hongshen told Xiao Hua and the others that several female cultivators would escort an important item to Xuntian City, and Xiao Hua questioned why the mission had been assigned to their group.

Dui Qimeng, Ming Mou, and Dui Ling left Quanjin Mountain for Xuntian City as the Thunder Control Sect First Squad prepared for an approaching battle with the sword cultivators. Xiao Hua kept mining jade marrow until tremors signaled the sword cultivators had arrived, and he rushed to collect one last haul.

• Xiao Hua urged Dui Qimeng and Dui Ling to return to Xuntian City and tell the Council Hall of Yanxi Mansion to prepare to exchange captured sword cultivators for spirit stones.
• A Quanjin Mountain Disciple summoned the three women, and Dui Qimeng told Cui Hongshen to be careful before leaving with Ming Mou and Dui Ling.
• Cui Hongshen suspended patrols and had the Thunder Control Sect First Squad study the formation, while Xiao Hua went back to mine jade marrow.
• Three days passed without an attack, and Xiao Hua secretly extracted large quantities of jade marrow from the mine vein.
• Tremors shook Quanjin Mountain, and Xiao Hua hurriedly smashed off more jade marrow before leaving the mine vein.

Xiao Hua’s squad entered Quanjin Mountain’s defensive tunnels as the mountain prepared for an attack. Outside, Yuan Qing’s coalition advanced with Blood Fiend Beasts to breach the defenses, leaving Tu Hong worried that Quanjin Mountain could suffer devastating losses.

• Cui Hongshen led the Thunder Control Sect First Squad into a tunnel after receiving passage talismans that allowed them to move within Quanjin Mountain’s formation.
• Thousands of Blood Fiend Beasts marched toward Quanjin Mountain, using earthen-yellow radiance and brute force to crush rocks and trees as sword and avian cultivators surrounded the mountain.
• Yuan Qing explained that the attack was intended to make Quanjin Mountain’s cultivators retreat and surrender the mine, while Ling Yunwu insisted he would face the Golden Core cultivator called the Terrifying Phoenix.
• Li Min of Micheng Valley said his Blood Fiend Beasts were suited to destroying trees and loosening soil, and Ying Chao promised him avian cultivation techniques as a reward.
• Tu Hong watched the advancing beasts through a magic tool and realized his plan to wear down the attackers beneath the earth was failing.