Chapter Summaries

Xiao Hua used the spiritual howls of the Seven Star Great Formation to cultivate his Phoenix Dharma Body and survive, believing he would escape soon, but he remained trapped for five years. In Xuntian City, Snowy Realm True Person received a report that sword cultivators had seized most of the spirit stone mines, and Jin Gang argued that the battle’s outcome had proved his prediction right.

• Xiao Hua cultivated his Phoenix Dharma Body to weaken the spiritual howls and protect himself inside the Seven Star Great Formation.
• Xiao Hua released Cui Hongshen and the other five dull birds from the Spirit Storage Bag and kept them safe in his space.
• Xiao Hua vowed to take revenge on Tu Hong and expected someone from Xuntian City to break the formation, but he remained trapped for five years.
• Xuntian City guards and cultivators gathered at the City Lord's Mansion as Snowy Realm True Person heard reports on the spirit stone mines.
• A Golden Core cultivator reported that sword cultivators had taken two mines in the Seven Absolutes Mountain Range and Flowing Ice Valley, while Quanjin Mountain's status remained unknown.
• Jin Gang told Snowy Realm True Person that the sword cultivators had seized most mines in Xi Kingdom and Lian Kingdom, confirming his prediction that Xuntian City's mines would all be lost.

Jin Gang questioned the sword cultivators’ goals and Xuntian City’s losses, while Fang Liebie explained why the city’s heavy casualties might serve a larger political purpose. Tu Hong returned from Quanjin Mountain after losing its exhausted mine and prepared to report a matter requiring Snowy Realm True Person’s decision.

• Jin Gang criticized the Dao Sect cultivators and said he could not understand why the sword cultivators were attacking Xuntian City.
• Jin Gang worried that Xuntian City had lost more than five thousand disciples, and Fang Liebie argued that the losses could prevent the Dao Sect factions from demanding more troops later.
• Snowy Realm True Person asked about Quanjin Mountain, then sent Jin Gang and Fang Liebie to welcome Tu Hong when he arrived.
• Tu Hong admitted that he had lost the Quanjin Mountain spirit stone mine, and Snowy Realm True Person revealed that the mine had already been exhausted.
• Tu Hong began reporting his battle results and asked Snowy Realm True Person to decide a matter, prompting him to wonder whether Tu Hong’s formation had failed.

Tu Hong reported to Snowy Realm True Person that his formation had saved only 2,237 Quanjin Mountain disciples and eleven Dao Sect reinforcements, while killing more than 40,000 sword cultivators. Snowy Realm True Person ordered him to rest and had Jin Gang display the battle images, leaving the others to witness what had happened at Quanjin Mountain.

• Tu Hong told Snowy Realm True Person that only 2,237 Quanjin Mountain disciples and eleven Dao Sect reinforcements had survived the battle.
• Tu Hong recounted how he had lured the attackers into the Quanjin Mountain Great Formation and escaped using its power, then estimated that the formation had killed more than 40,000 sword cultivators.
• Snowy Realm True Person questioned Tu Hong for not reporting the plan beforehand, then accepted his account and told him to rest after handing over the formation images.
• Jin Gang condemned Tu Hong for sacrificing so many Xuntian City disciples, while Fang Liebie defended the scale of Tu Hong's victory.
• Snowy Realm True Person told Jin Gang to display the images, and the battle at Quanjin Mountain began playing across a light screen.

Tu Hong’s battle recording revealed that his forces had faced an overwhelming coalition of sword and beast cultivators, including sixteen Illusion Sword Swordsmen from Lingfeng Sword Gate, before Quanjin Mountain’s formation sealed the battlefield. Snowy Realm True Person accepted Tu Hong’s explanation but left the deaths of tens of thousands of cultivators for him to answer for, then asked what favor he had wanted to request.

• Jin Gang and Fang Liebie watched the recording reveal Yuan Qing, Ying Zhuo, and numerous other cultivators joining the assault on Quanjin Mountain.
• The recording showed Ling Yunwu and sixteen Illusion Sword Swordsmen enter the mine before an earthen-yellow radiance obscured the view.
• Snowy Realm True Person summoned Tu Hong, who admitted he had delayed revealing the battle results to seek forgiveness for using Dao Sect cultivators as bait.
• Tu Hong explained that Quanjin Mountain’s formation could not be safely broken and that it would likely remain active for at least ten years.
• Tu Hong assured Snowy Realm True Person that no one survived inside the formation, and Snowy Realm left him responsible for accounting for the casualties.
• Snowy Realm warned Tu Hong not to play tricks again, then asked what request Tu Hong had intended to make.

Tu Hong received Snowy Realm True Person’s forgiveness and was ordered to represent Xuntian City at Yanxi Mansion’s Council Hall. There, Jin Gang announced Tu Hong’s victory at Quanjin Mountain, and the Dao Sect cultivators demanded proof and an account of their disciples’ fate.

• Tu Hong asked Snowy Realm True Person to arrange a match with a female disciple of the Thunder Control Sect, and Snowy Realm True Person forgave him for his earlier actions.
• Jin Gang and Fang Liebie told Tu Hong to take charge of Xuntian City’s seat at Yanxi Mansion’s Council Hall, and Tu Hong accepted the City Lord’s token.
• Jin Gang and Fang Liebie escorted Tu Hong to the Council Hall, where Cheng Ming questioned why Xuntian City had not attended sooner.
• Jin Gang said all three of Xuntian City’s spirit stone mine veins had been lost, then revealed that Tu Hong’s formation at Quanjin Mountain had killed nearly forty thousand sword and beast cultivators.
• Qian Mo questioned Tu Hong about the reported victory, the Quanjin Mountain Disciples, and Dao Sect casualties, and Tu Hong promised to provide proof.

Tu Hong reported that his formation had destroyed tens of thousands of sword cultivators but cost the lives of thousands of Daoist disciples, then negotiated how the battle’s merit and spoils would be divided. Snowy Realm True Person suddenly appeared in the Council Hall and took the seat beside Tu Hong.

• Tu Hong presented Xuntian City’s City Lord token and joined the Council Hall, where Cheng Ming praised his victory over forty thousand sword cultivators.
• Tu Hong revealed that thirty thousand Quanjin Mountain disciples and nearly all five thousand allied Daoist disciples had died, leaving only eleven wounded survivors.
• Tu Hong explained that the fallen had lured sword cultivators into his great formation, and Jin Gang showed the Council Hall a record of the battle.
• After Tu Hong waited outside, Cheng Ming and the other cultivators agreed to credit the allied sects with half the merit and half the formation’s spoils, while promising rewards and recognition for the fallen and survivors.
• Snowy Realm True Person appeared in the Council Hall, and the assembled cultivators bowed as he took Tu Hong’s seat.

Snowy Realm True Person visited the Council Hall and proposed a marriage alliance between Xuntian City and Thunder Control Sect, naming Tu Hong as the groom. The proposal placed Thunder Control Sect under pressure to respond, and Gan Mo summoned Ganlei Zi to discuss it.

• Cheng Ming explained that the Council Hall had deliberated over Tu Hong's actions and the Dao Sect's casualties in the battle.
• Snowy Realm True Person said he had not come to interfere in the Council Hall's decision about Tu Hong, but to propose a marriage alliance with Thunder Control Sect.
• Snowy Realm True Person revealed that Tu Hong wanted to marry one of the Thunder Control Sect female disciples who had returned from Quanjin Mountain.
• Gan Mo asked which disciple Tu Hong had chosen, and Snowy Realm True Person told Tu Hong to name her himself.
• Gan Mo said he could not accept the proposal without his sect leader's approval, so he summoned Ganlei Zi onto the light screen.

At the Council Hall, Ganlei Zi approved Tu Hong’s proposed marriage to Dui Qimeng, but she revealed that she loved Cui Hongshen. After hearing that Cui Hongshen and Xiao Hua had died at Quanjin Mountain, Dui Qimeng was left grieving their loss.

• Snowy Realm True Person came to the Council Hall to arrange Tu Hong’s marriage to a Thunder Control Sect disciple, and Ganlei Zi summoned Dui Qimeng.
• Gan Mo recounted Tu Hong’s victories at Quanjin Mountain and reported that the Thunder Control Sect had lost seven disciples in the battle.
• Ganlei Zi approved Tu Hong and Dui Qimeng’s marriage before Dui Qimeng could explain that she already loved Cui Hongshen.
• Dui Qimeng named Cui Hongshen as her beloved, and Tu Hong reacted with pain and admitted he was at fault.
• Gan Mo revealed that the reinforcements had all perished, and Dui Qimeng asked whether Cui Hongshen and Xiao Hua had died.
• Ganlei Zi ordered commendations for the five fallen Thunder Control Sect disciples, while Dui Qimeng was overwhelmed by memories of Cui Hongshen.

Dui Qimeng was promised to Tu Hong in a marriage alliance five years later, while Ganlei Zi learned that Cui Hongshen and Xiao Hua’s Life Spirit Tablets remained intact despite reports of their deaths. The chapter left their fate uncertain as Qian Mo was sent to investigate.

• Snowy Realm True Person and Ganlei Zi agreed that Dui Qimeng and Tu Hong would hold a dual cultivation ceremony in five years, after Tu Hong repaired his Golden Core.
• Ganlei Zi told Qian Mo to spare Dui Qimeng from the battlefield and assured her that she could refuse the marriage, though Dui Qimeng believed she had no choice.
• Ganlei Zi asked Qian Mo whether Xiao Hua and Cui Hongshen had been confirmed dead, and Qian Mo recounted Tu Hong’s battle formation and the reported losses.
• Ganlei Zi revealed that Cui Hongshen, Xiao Hua, and five other disciples still had intact Life Spirit Tablets in Gen Lei Palace’s Jade Slip Hall.
• Ganlei Zi ordered Qian Mo to investigate the other sects’ disciples and to issue the planned commendations, but not to tell Dui Qimeng about the intact tablets.

Tu Hong’s victory at Quanjin Mountain made him famous, while the Sword Domain’s leaders argued over their losses and planned their next moves. As the mountain’s formation remained undisturbed, Xiang Zhili secretly studied the Dragon Transformation Art, whose depth astonished Xiangyang and Yan Qinglian.

• Gan Mo discovered that the Thunder Control Sect First Squad’s Life Spirit Tablets remained intact, but Ganlei Zi showed little concern, and the seven disciples were commended with Tu Hong named first.
• News of Tu Hong’s victory at Quanjin Mountain spread through Xuntian City and beyond, and the Dao Sect and Sword Domain jointly prohibited anyone from approaching the mountain.
• Lu Ruochang and Ling Moyu argued over Ling Yunwu’s death and the Lingfeng Sword Gate’s losses before apologizing and discussing plans with Qin Jian, Ruoling, and Qingfeng.
• Qingfeng agreed to seek Spirit Devouring Insects, while the swordsmen resolved to monitor Quanjin Mountain and consider how to kill Tu Hong.
• Xiang Zhili asked Xiangyang and Yan Qinglian about difficult passages in the Dragon Transformation Art, and his parents realized its power could greatly exceed ordinary cultivation methods.

Xiangyang worried about Xiang Zhili’s unusual cultivation, but Yan Qinglian trusted Xiao Hua’s guidance. At Wu Nai’s cave dwelling, they learned that Xiao Hua and Cui Hong had supposedly died fighting sword cultivators, leaving the family devastated and Xiang Zhili refusing to believe the news.

• Xiangyang urged Yan Qinglian to slow Xiang Zhili’s cultivation until Xiao Hua returned, but she defended Xiao Hua’s judgment.
• Xiang Zhili and his parents encountered a late Golden Core Dry Thunder Palace disciple on their way to Wu Nai’s cave dwelling.
• Xiang Zhili noticed Zhuo’s pregnancy and sensed the grief in Wu Nai and Zhuo’s manner.
• Wu Nai confirmed that both Xiao Hua and Cui Hong had reportedly fallen in battle, and Xiang Zhili cried out that his godfather could not have died.
• Wu Nai explained that Xiao Hua and Cui Hong had fought at a spirit stone mine on Quanjin Mountain, slain tens of thousands of sword cultivators, and received the Sect Leader’s Commendation Order.

Wu Nai and the others mourned the reported deaths of Xiao Hua and Cui Hongshen, while Qian Diheng struggled with his grief. Xue Xue arrived insisting Xiao Hua was alive and suggested Wu Nai could verify it at the Jade Slip Hall of Gen Thunder Palace.

• Wu Nai lamented the deaths reported in the commendation order and named the child Zhuo was carrying Wu Qing.
• Qian Diheng examined the commendation order, offered to settle his dealings with Xiao Hua through Myriad Thunder Valley, then flew away in tears.
• Xiangyang began to grieve for Xiao Hua as Xun Shu and Xue Xue arrived, and Xue Xue said she sensed Xiao Hua was safe.
• Xue Xue told Wu Nai that a visit to the Jade Slip Hall of Gen Thunder Palace could prove her claim.

Xiangyang learned that Xiao Hua and Cui Hongshen’s Life Spirit Tablets had been protected, reassuring Wu Nai and the others despite the Sect Leader’s unexplained commendation order. Elsewhere, Zhang Yutong silently wept after Zhang Qingxiao left her, and Zhang Qingxiao reacted with fury to news that Xiao Hua and Cui Hongshen were reported lost at Quanjin Mountain.

• Qian Diheng and Xiangyang went to Gen Lei Palace but were barred from entering Jade Slip Hall.
• Xiangyang reported that Gen Liang had hinted that the Sect Leader placed restrictions on the Life Spirit Tablets of certain Zhen Thunder Palace disciples, convincing him Xiao Hua and Cui Hongshen were safe.
• Wu Nai decided to delay his seclusion after learning Xun Ming was already in seclusion, while Xue Xue predicted that he and Zhuo would eventually form their Golden Cores.
• Zhang Qingxiao left Zhang Yutong asleep in their room, and Zhang Yutong wept and wondered how long he would keep something from her.
• Zhang Qingxiao learned that seven Thunder Control Sect disciples, including Xiao Hua and Cui Hongshen, were reported lost at Quanjin Mountain and roared in anger.

Zhang Qingxiao learned that Xiao Hua might have been caught in the aftermath of Tu Hong’s massacre and traveled to Quanjin Mountain to investigate. He could not determine whether Xiao Hua survived the formation, and his attempt to probe it with a Heavenly Demon Sect artifact failed.

• A cultivator brought Zhang Qingxiao news about Quanjin Mountain and a map, and Zhang Qingxiao rewarded him.
• After studying the report, Zhang Qingxiao decided to investigate whether Xiao Hua had been caught in the siege and massacre.
• Zhang Qingxiao told Zhang Yutong he was going to Huan Country, refused to take her with him, and promised he would plead for her later.
• Several dozen days later, Zhang Qingxiao reached Quanjin Mountain and found a powerful formation filling a black hole with chaotic spiritual energy.
• Zhang Qingxiao feared Xiao Hua might be dead but chose not to destroy the formation, then tried to send black smoke into it with a blood-red banner.
• The formation repelled the smoke, leaving Zhang Qingxiao unable to learn what had happened inside.

Five years passed as the Dao sects and sword cultivators remained locked in a spreading war, while Tu Hong rose to prominence and Xiao Hua cultivated inside Quanjin Mountain’s formation. Xiao Hua reached peak late Foundation Establishment, realized he needed to leave to resolve a new knot of karma, and examined the strange, incomplete cultivation art shaping his Phoenix Dharma Body.

• Zhang Qingxiao lured late Foundation Establishment cultivators away from Quanjin Mountain’s formation by setting off Fireball Talismans and blaming them for stealing spirit stones, then laughed as Bright Sword Sixth Grade swordsmen chased them.
• The war between the Dao sects and sword cultivators spread across Huan Kingdom, Xi Kingdom, and Meng Kingdom, while Tu Hong’s military counsel made him increasingly influential in the Council Hall.
• Qian Mo welcomed Tu Hong’s growing status as the five-year agreement with Xuntian City came due, and Dui Qimeng gradually accepted Tu Hong as their dual cultivation ceremony approached.
• Xiao Hua spent five years cultivating within the Seven Star Great Formation, advanced to near peak late Foundation Establishment, and found that the formation had loosened enough for him to consider breaking it.
• Xiao Hua felt a new knot of karma urging him out of seclusion and realized his disappearance could have left the Thunder Control Sect and Xue Xue grieving.
• Xiao Hua studied his Phoenix Dharma Body, whose synchronized crystal-needle vortices formed 132 million regions, and concluded that its incomplete cultivation art differed from the Dao sects’ path.

Xiao Hua used the Buddha Sarira to pacify the countless wronged souls left by Tu Hong’s slaughter while enduring the spiritual howl. Afterward, he noticed that one female sword cultivator’s soul remained, while the other sword cultivators’ souls were missing.

• Xiao Hua checked on Cui Hongshen and the others, who remained unconscious, and learned that Little Yellow recognized the injured Dai Er’s aura and was watching over her.
• Xiao Hua withdrew the Phoenix Dharma Body and endured the spiritual howl as he refined the overwhelming Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
• Xiao Hua released the Buddha Sarira, which used the Nine-Character Mantra to release the wronged souls lingering in the area.
• Xiao Hua discovered that nearly a hundred thousand souls had been lingering there and suspected Tu Hong’s actions might have been directed by someone connected to Jing Lü.
• Xiao Hua wondered why the female sword cultivator’s soul remained when the souls of the other sword cultivators were nowhere to be found.

Xiao Hua broke the Seven Star Great Formation with the As-You-Wish Staff and gathered treasures and transformed flying swords from the formation. When he finally tried to escape, the formation collapsed and unleashed a devastating spiritual qi eruption across Quanjin Mountain, but Xiao Hua rode the resulting hurricane out alive.

• Xiao Hua shattered the Seven Star Great Formation with the As-You-Wish Staff, subdued its twelve flying swords, and collected them.
• Xiao Hua slowly escaped the spiritual howl while gathering intact treasures, sword slips, and six more flying swords transformed by Illusion Sword Swordsmen, bringing his total to eighteen.
• Xiao Hua found a skeletal hand matching the enormous skeleton in his space and spent more than ten days searching the formation before reaching its edge.
• Xiao Hua used rabbit talismans to loosen the formation's edge, triggering a surge of spiritual qi that breached and collapsed the entire formation.
• The resulting blast and hurricanes devastated Quanjin Mountain and killed nearby Daoist and sword cultivator patrols.
• Xiao Hua protected himself with the Phoenix Dharma Body and rode the hurricane out of the formation as the eruption swept him into the sky.

Xiao Hua escaped the destroyed Quanjin Mountain formation and staged the survivors’ injuries to make their escape appear plausible. Zhang Xin’s Joyful Sect squad arrived to search the devastation, and they found Xiao Hua and the others embedded in a mountainside, still alive.

• Xiao Hua flew clear of the hurricane, surveyed the devastation, and devised a way to explain how he and Cui Hongshen’s group had survived.
• Xiao Hua altered Cui Hongshen and the others’ memories, then hurled each of them and himself into a mountainside to create the appearance that they had been blasted there.
• Zhang Xin led his Joyful Sect squad toward Quanjin Mountain after the formation exploded, giving up hope of finding Yang Fangcheng’s remains amid the destruction.
• Zhang Xin and his disciples searched the area for scattered treasures and found several magic artifacts and flying swords.
• Zhang Xin spotted seven human-shaped marks in a foothill, and he and the other disciples discovered Xiao Hua and his companions were embedded in the rock and still alive.

Xiao Hua and six Thunder Control Sect companions woke after five years unconscious, rescued by Zhang Xin and the Joyful Sect near the ruins of Quanjin Mountain. As Zhang Xin led them toward Xuntian City and explained the catastrophe, Cui Hongshen asked what had happened to the other three Thunder Control Sect members.

• Zhang Xin’s group rescued the barely breathing Xiao Hua and his companions, gave them healing pills, and sheltered them in a cave.
• After searching the enormous crater left by Quanjin Mountain, Zhang Xin returned to find Xiao Hua, Cui Hongshen, and the others waking up.
• Zhang Xin told the survivors that Quanjin Mountain’s spirit stone vein and formation had vanished, and that they had been unconscious for five years.
• Xiao Hua and Zhen Huo claimed they remembered being pursued into the restriction before blacking out, concealing how they had survived.
• As Zhang Xin’s group carried the injured survivors toward Xuntian City, the survivors learned how the battle had unfolded and explained they had been embedded at the formation’s edge, protected from its spiritual howl.
• Cui Hongshen asked Zhang Xin what had happened to the other three Thunder Control Sect members.

Zhen Huo and Bai Su Gu suddenly began establishing Foundation near Quanjin Mountain, and Xiao Hua chose to protect them rather than make them use Essence Nourishing Talismans. Several cultivators and sword cultivators arrived, but the guards kept the sword cultivators from disrupting the breakthroughs.

• Zhang Xin told Cui Hongshen that seventeen Dao Sect cultivators, including three Thunder Control Sect female cultivators, had survived the Quanjin Mountain battle and received commendations.
• Zhen Huo and Bai Su Gu announced that they were about to establish Foundation, and Xiao Hua offered them Essence Nourishing Talismans before letting them proceed without using them.
• Xiao Hua carried Zhen Huo and Bai Su Gu to separate mountain peaks and arranged for Zhang Xin and the Joyful Sect disciples to guard them.
• Zhang Xin praised the strength of the two disciples’ Foundation Establishment momentum, while Cui Hongshen and others also began cultivating nearby.
• Cultivators and then several sword cultivators arrived; the sword cultivators left after seeing the Foundation Establishment disciples guarded by Foundation Establishment cultivators.