Chapter Summaries

Xiao Hua followed Yu Ping into the Duojin Mountain Yu Family’s vast silver complex and learned that he had been brought to its Turning Stone into Gold event. He encountered Yu Huo, the cultivator who had taken the Emerald Bird from him years earlier, but Yu Huo did not recognize him and left after urging him to work hard.

• Xiao Hua used his token to persuade the two cultivators to let him follow Yu Ping, while they discussed Yu Ping’s efforts to meet the Sect Leader’s requirements.
• Xiao Hua suspected the site belonged to the Duojin Mountain Yu Family and wondered how it was connected to the Huanhua Sect and Sword Burial Mound.
• Yu Ping showed Xiao Hua the enormous silver complex and said the Yu Family expected him to give his all whenever it had a need.
• Xiao Hua told Yu Ping he would not take part if the Yu Family’s plans harmed the Huanhua Sect, and Yu Ping began to reassure him before Yu Huo interrupted.
• Yu Huo corrected Yu Ping’s claim that Duojin Mountain and the Huanhua Sect were bound together, then addressed Xiao Hua as a beneficiary of Turning Stone into Gold without recognizing him.

Xiao Hua entered a sealed room in Duojin Mountain to study the secret art needed for the dangerous Stone Transformation process, while Yu Ping revealed that a powerful elder was overseeing thousands of Foundation Establishment cultivators. The silver-robed elder planned to begin the process once the participants were assembled.

• Yu Ping complained about Yu Huo, then explained that the Huanhua Sect had refused to accept him and that he had become a Duojin Mountain elder.
• Yu Ping led Xiao Hua through a labyrinthine corridor and used a token to open a hidden room with Xiao Hua’s Stone Transformation Token.
• Yu Ping warned Xiao Hua that he needed to master a secret art to guide innate metal qi into his meridians, and said the process could begin within days or weeks.
• Sensing an unseen watcher and suspecting danger, Xiao Hua chose to enter the room; Yu Ping sealed the entrance behind him.
• An icy voice questioned Yu Ping about sending the Huanhua Sect disciple Feng Ying and threatened him if the cultivator caused trouble or exposed the secret.
• A silver-robed Golden Core elder surveyed more than ten thousand Foundation Establishment cultivators through a tiger-shaped magic artifact and decided to wait until the numbers were complete before activating Stone Transformation.

Yu Qingtian opened a hidden space and summoned a woman from behind a sealed sphere, while Xiao Hua studied the Yu family's secret art and found a way out of his room. Meanwhile, Dao cultivators advanced toward Moqing Cave for a decisive battle, wary that the sword cultivators had prepared another trap.

• Yu Qingtian used a silver tiger to melt the azure-threaded sphere, and a woman addressed him as Sect Master Yu Qingtian from within the opening.
• Xiao Hua studied the Yu family's secret art and a sword jade slip, then suspected the Yu family wanted to use its formation to build its own cultivation force.
• Xiao Hua discovered that his room's silver walls blocked Earth Evasion, but used Rabbit Spirit Talismans to make an opening and confirm he could escape.
• The Council Hall's Golden Core cultivators finalized their battle plans and led their disciples toward Moqing Cave.
• Yuan Zhongyu and Ji Hong worried that Moqing Cave was a sword cultivator trap, while Qian Mo dismissed Xiao Hua's fame as unremarkable.

Qian Mo took command of the three sects’ forces as they reached Moqing City, an enormous ice-walled stronghold built by the sword cultivators at Moqing Cave. The attack halted when Lu Ruochang appeared and unleashed a powerful sword formation, leaving the cultivators to face the threat of her Illusion Sword Rank Three strength.

• Qian Mo dismissed Yuan Zhongyu and Ji Hong’s concerns about the sword cultivators and accepted command of the coming battle, promising to divide its credit equally among the three leaders.
• Qian Mo led tens of thousands of disciples to Moqing Cave, where they saw a vast ice city whose walls blocked their divine senses.
• Qian Mo ordered the Thunder Control Sect to attack the front, the Kunlun Sect to strike the left flank, and the Cheng Ye Sect to attack the right.
• Lu Ruochang flew out of the city and challenged the cultivators for daring to approach Moqing City.
• Lu Ruochang unleashed her Phoenix Sword Intent as the city’s flying swords formed a soul-piercing sword formation, making Qian Mo, Yuan Zhongyu, and Ji Hong recognize her strength as an Illusion Sword Rank Three swordsman.

Lu Ruochang taunted Qian Mo and the other Council Hall commanders, exploiting their doubts about why only mid-stage Golden Core cultivators had been sent to Xuntian City. As sword cultivators launched their ambush, the Dao Sect forces hurried to form teams and counterattack.

• Lu Ruochang mocked Qian Mo's confidence and asked whether he knew the Terrifying Phoenix's identity.
• Lu Ruochang questioned why the Council Hall had no late Golden Core cultivators, leaving Qian Mo, Yuan Zhongyu, and Ji Hong shaken.
• Qian Mo insisted that mid-stage Golden Core cultivators were sufficient, but Lu Ruochang claimed they would have died against Qin Jian and suggested they had been sent to die.
• Lu Ruochang revealed that she had used the conversation to delay the commanders and test their knowledge, then signaled the sword cultivators to attack.
• Dozens of sword lights struck toward the unprepared disciples, and Qian Mo, Yuan Zhongyu, and Ji Hong ordered their forces to form teams and counterattack.

Lu Ruochang led the sword cultivators in a battle against the Thunder Control Sect, Kunlun Sect, and Cheng Ye Sect, killing thousands before the Dao Sect forces rallied and shattered Ice City’s walls. When the cultivators seemed poised to win, Lu Ruochang used her sword formation to raise an even stronger earthen wall, prompting Yuan Zhongyu to urge an immediate attack.

• Lu Ruochang caught the Dao Sect cultivators off guard with a coordinated sword assault that killed several thousand disciples.
• Qian Mo, Yuan Zhongyu, and Ji Hong ordered their surviving disciples to form teams and attack Ice City and the swordsmen.
• The three Dao Sect factions split their attacks between Ice City and its defenders, killing swordsmen and breaching all three ice walls.
• Lu Ruochang sent her emerald flying sword underground and raised a taller, sturdier earthen wall from beneath Ice City.
• Yuan Zhongyu recognized that Lu Ruochang had used a sword formation to imitate a Dao Sect spell and urged the disciples to attack before the wall was complete.

The Dao Sect forces shattered the earthen city after hours of bloody fighting, leaving the exhausted swordsmen exposed. Lu Ruochang unleashed her Phoenix Sword Intent against Qian Mo, Yuan Zhongyu, and Ji Hong, beginning a decisive attack.

• Qian Mo ordered the Thunder Control Sect to split its forces, while Ji Hong and Kunlun Sect disciples joined the assault on Lu Ruochang’s rising earthen wall.
• Sword cultivators burst from behind the dust and killed hundreds of cultivators before withdrawing as the Dao Sect forces resumed their attack.
• After an hour of fighting, nearly thirty thousand Dao Sect disciples had fallen, and the depleted swordsmen clung to the earthen wall as it neared collapse.
• The Thunder Control Sect, Kunlun Sect, and Cheng Ye Sect shattered the wall, and the exposed sword cultivators charged into close combat with the Dao Sect forces.
• Lu Ruochang summoned a jade-green phoenix and sent its countless flying swords at Qian Mo, Yuan Zhongyu, and Ji Hong with her Xuanfeng Sword Sect’s Phoenix Sword Intent.

Lu Ruochang’s Phoenix Sword Intent clashed with Qian Mo, Yuan Zhongyu, and Ji Hong’s powerful techniques, forcing her to reclaim her flying sword. She challenged the Golden Core cultivators to withstand three moves, then attacked again as Qian Mo dismissed her taunts.

• Qian Mo unleashed Lightning Flash, summoning a net of lightning, while Yuan Zhongyu drew heavenly lightning with the Kunlun Sect’s Lightning Drawing Technique and Ji Hong sent eighty-one skulls against the Phoenix Sword Intent.
• Lu Ruochang drove her Phoenix Sword Intent into their attacks; Qian Mo’s Thunder Water and Yuan Zhongyu’s lightning shattered most of its sword lights, while Ji Hong’s skulls devoured the right wing.
• Lu Ruochang recalled her flying sword and praised the Golden Core cultivators before boasting that she would spare them if they evaded her next three moves.
• Qian Mo accused Lu Ruochang of using words to stall and seize the advantage, but Lu Ruochang launched emerald sword lights that pierced the spiritual energy and the summoned celestial phenomena.

Lu Ruochang split her Phoenix Sword Intent against Qian Mo, Yuan Zhongyu, and Ji Hong, overwhelming their defenses despite their lightning techniques and treasures. Ji Hong transformed her skull beads into more than seventy flesh-covered heads, while Lu Ruochang launched another Phoenix Sword Intent and called it her second move as it struck Qian Mo’s Lightning Flash.

• Lu Ruochang divided her flying sword into three Phoenix Sword Intents and sent one after each of Qian Mo, Yuan Zhongyu, and Ji Hong.
• Qian Mo’s Thunder Water, Yuan Zhongyu’s lightning, and Ji Hong’s skull formation each failed to stop Lu Ruochang’s attacks, though all three survived with injuries or damaged defenses.
• Ji Hong fed essence blood and spiritual energy into her remaining skulls, transforming them into more than seventy pink, flesh-covered heads.
• Lu Ruochang infused her sword pillars with Phoenix sword lights and formed three smaller Phoenix Sword Intents with intensified sword essence.
• Qian Mo used Thunder Water and the Lightning Flash to block the incoming Phoenix Sword Intent, but its sword light broke through and sent the Lightning Flash flying.

Lu Ruochang transformed into a flying sword and gathered tens of thousands of swords to battle the three Nascent Soul hands controlled by Qian Mo, Yuan Zhongyu, and Ji Hong. The hands closed around the swords, and the chapter ended with the cultivators believing they had captured and begun crushing them.

• Qian Mo used Ganlei Zi’s protective talisman to destroy Lu Ruochang’s soul sword and Phoenix Sword Intent, while Yuan Zhongyu and Ji Hong also activated Nascent Soul hands.
• Lu Ruochang formed an emerald sword cocoon and drew in Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi to break the hands’ confinement.
• Qian Mo warned Yuan Zhongyu and Ji Hong that Lu Ruochang was using Sword Transformation to regain the initiative, and they poured more magic power into their hands.
• Lu Ruochang transformed into a giant emerald flying sword, and more than ten thousand flying swords rose to join her as the sword cultivators bowed in reverence.
• Lu Ruochang and the gathered swords struck at the three Nascent Soul hands, disrupting their confinement before Qian Mo, Yuan Zhongyu, and Ji Hong closed their hands around them.
• The hands destroyed many flying swords, causing sword cultivators to fall, and Yuan Zhongyu and Ji Hong began rubbing their hands together as the battlefield fell silent.

Lu Ruochang destroyed Qian Mo, Yuan Zhongyu, and Ji Hong’s Nascent Soul hands, then launched her third attack. Qian Mo sacrificed himself to counter her swords and save the three sects’ disciples, leaving Yuan Zhongyu and Ji Hong to recognize how gravely they had misjudged him.

• Lu Ruochang’s flying sword broke free from Qian Mo’s Nascent Soul hand and destroyed Yuan Zhongyu and Ji Hong’s hands as well.
• Lu Ruochang led thousands of remaining swords against the three cultivators, and Ji Hong and Yuan Zhongyu brought out their life-saving defenses.
• Qian Mo used Lightning Flash to draw in the heavenly lightning, then revealed that he intended to break Lu Ruochang’s attack and give Yuan Zhongyu and Ji Hong a chance to escape.
• Qian Mo recalled his hopes for the Thunder Control Sect and declared that he did not regret his choices before transforming into lightning and falling into Lightning Flash.
• Yuan Zhongyu and Ji Hong mourned Qian Mo and realized they had gravely underestimated his character and resolve.

Qian Mo’s sacrifice wounded Lu Ruochang and allowed the Daoist cultivators to rout the swordsmen, while Yuan Zhongyu revealed the plan to trap them at the Sword Tomb. There, Zhang Yuhe emerged from the silver sphere and challenged Yu Qingtian to lift her restrictions so she could end the war.

• Qian Mo’s self-destruction disrupted Lu Ruochang’s sword transformation, and Yuan Zhongyu and Ji Hong insisted on facing her third move.
• Yuan Zhongyu’s attack exposed Lu Ruochang’s injuries, and she fled toward the Sword Tomb as the Daoist cultivators killed many swordsmen.
• Yuan Zhongyu told Ji Hong that Qian Mo had arranged for the Ten Directions Annihilation Great Formation to destroy the retreating swordsmen.
• Yuan Zhongyu sent messages about Qian Mo’s sacrifice and led the three sects toward the Sword Tomb.
• Zhang Yuhe emerged from the silver sphere and demanded that Yu Qingtian remove her restrictions, offering a Sword Oath to return after the war.

Zhang Yuhe and Yu Qingtian argued over their decades-long cooperation and discussed the Daoist cultivator war, the Sword Spirit’s promise of Sword Transformation, and Zhang Yuhe’s plan to avenge Zhang Yutong. Zhang Yuhe remained in the Sword Tomb, eager to complete the Spirit but still unable to help her missing sister.

• Yu Qingtian and Zhang Yuhe debated their mutual investment in cultivating the Great Yin Yang Sword Spirit and the risks of trusting each other.
• Zhang Yuhe asked whether Yu Qingtian had learned anything about Zhang Yutong, and he said he had no news.
• Yu Qingtian told Zhang Yuhe that Huan Kingdom’s sword cultivators were advancing toward Xuntian City and warned that the war’s suspicious beginnings might conceal a larger conspiracy.
• Zhang Yuhe declared that she would use Sword Transformation power to kill Liu Weigang and the Foundation Establishment cultivator behind him.
• Yu Qingtian asked when Zhang Yuhe would begin the sixth Blood Spirit condensation, and she summoned her sword and described her anguish over Zhang Yutong’s fate.

Zhang Yuhe negotiated with Yu Qingtian over the final blood sacrifice needed to complete the Great Yin Yang Sword Spirit, while Yu Tong refined his Yang Spirit for their planned breakthrough. The chapter left Yu Qingtian astonished by the power of Yu Tong’s scarlet sword technique.

• Zhang Yuhe told Yu Qingtian that the sword spirit needed ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine Blood Spirits for its final sacrifice, and Yu Qingtian said his family could not gather any more.
• Zhang Yuhe agreed to spend one more month refining the Yin Spirit and warned Yu Qingtian that Yu Tong’s Yang Spirit had to reach completion for their breakthrough to succeed.
• Yu Qingtian opened the other silver sphere, and Yu Tong emerged, revealing that he had reached mid Foundation Establishment and was refining his Yang Spirit.
• Yu Tong and Yu Qingtian discussed the risks of the Yu Family’s blood-sacrifice method and its possible value as a secret family technique.
• Yu Tong demonstrated his scarlet sword technique by sending sixty-four fire swords through Yu Qingtian’s shield, leaving a hole several feet wide.

Yu Tong and Yu Qingtian discussed Zhang Yuhe’s suspicions and the Yu family’s plans while she remained confined, but they did not know how much she could learn through the formation. Across the battlefield, the sword cultivators suffered a devastating defeat and retreated toward the Sword Tomb and Snowfield Forbidden Region, while the Council Hall’s Golden Core cultivators pursued them unaware of the danger waiting in the Sword Tomb.

• Yu Tong explained that the Yin Yang Sword Spirit could exploit weaknesses in magical artifacts, and Yu Qingtian realized it might rival Spirit Transformation when joined with a spirit artifact and Primordial Spirit.
• Yu Tong warned that Zhang Yuhe was calculating and might be using the crystalline threads between the light clusters to detect movements in the Fanjin Formation.
• Yu Qingtian left Yu Tong to practice, then watched the threads without daring to interfere as Zhang Yuhe’s confinement sealed itself.
• Sword cultivators across Xi Kingdom and Lian Kingdom were routed by Daoist forces and fled toward the Sword Tomb or the Snowfield Forbidden Region, while the Council Hall’s Golden Core cultivators pursued them.
• A select group of Council Hall cultivators learned that formations had been prepared in the Sword Tomb and grew confident that the retreating swordsmen could be defeated there.
• Qian Mo died at Moqing Cave, several Council Hall Golden Core cultivators were gravely wounded, and many cultivators and Illusion Sword Swordsmen fell in the brutal battle.

Yu Ping learned that Yu Dong had not recommended Xiao Hua, exposing a mistake in the Yu Family’s secret recruitment scheme. Yu Ping decided to take responsibility himself, while Yu Dong tried to accept the blame.

• The Council Hall’s Golden Core cultivators pursued the collapsing sword cultivators and reflected on Qian Mo’s death.
• Yu Dong returned to the Sword Mound and used an old Stone Transformation Token to send a token through the child-gui.
• Yu Ping welcomed Yu Dong and said that recommending Xiao Hua had fulfilled the Sect Master’s order for him.
• Yu Dong showed Yu Ping proof that his Stone Transformation Token was abandoned and that he had never recommended anyone.
• Yu Ping realized the token route and the Yu Family’s scheme might have been exposed, then resolved to claim the oversight as his own.
• Yu Dong wrote that he wished to confess to the Sect Master and take responsibility for Yu Ping, but Yu Ping praised his loyalty.

Yu Ping secured Yu Dong’s cover story about Feng Ying and destroyed Yu Dong’s Stone Transformation Token, while Xiao Hua remained imprisoned as a sacrifice. At Fanjin Palace, the final stage of the ritual began, and the crimson and deep azure spheres started changing in a way that alarmed Yu Qingtian.

• Yu Ping told Yu Dong to claim he had recommended Feng Ying and coached him to maintain the lie, then destroyed Yu Dong’s Stone Transformation Token.
• Yu Dong went to pay respects to Yu Bing, while Yu Ping checked Xiao Hua’s prison but left without approaching it.
• Yu Bing hurried away after a tiger’s roar announced that the ritual’s final stage was about to begin, and the plaza emptied.
• Yu Qingtian watched the crimson and deep azure spheres surge beneath their silver restraints, then used the silver tiger to bind the deep azure sphere and strengthen the crimson one.
• After the spheres froze and began spinning, sword talismans and sword lights appeared as both spheres separated from their silver shells, leaving Yu Qingtian uneasy.

Yu Qingtian activated the final blood sacrifice, arranging the silver houses into a formation as Zhang Yuhe and Yu Tong’s sword spirits prepared to gain intelligence. Their swords unleashed Sword Transformation Sword Intent over the Sword Tomb, forcing Lu Ruochang and the pursuing Council Hall cultivators to reconsider the chase.

• Zhang Yuhe told Yu Qingtian that the Yin and Yang sword spirits were ready for the final blood sacrifice, and Yu Tong urged him to proceed.
• Yu Qingtian used the silver tiger to separate tens of thousands of houses into cells and arrange them beneath nine clusters of silver houses.
• Zhang Yuhe and Yu Tong’s crimson and azure swords pierced the canopy and flew into the night sky, stirring the Broken Swords throughout the Sword Tomb.
• Lu Ruochang ordered her swordsmen toward the Yu Family after sensing a Sword Transformation Swordsman, but the aura vanished before they could act.
• Gao Wei warned Liu Xinwu that a swordsman comparable to a Nascent Soul cultivator had appeared, then urged the Council Hall forces to stop pursuing the swordsmen into the Sword Tomb.

Hengming persuaded the cultivators to pursue the fleeing swordsmen toward the Ten Directions Annihilation Great Formation, while the Fan Jin Great Formation absorbed sword qi and spiritual energy. Inside a blood-sacrifice compartment, Xiao Hua pondered how different cultivation paths might ultimately converge.

• Hengming argued that the sword light was likely a Sword Transformation Swordsman and that the fleeing swordsmen were heading toward the Dao Sect's formation.
• The Golden Core cultivators agreed to continue pursuing Lu Ruochang and the other swordsmen into the Sword Tomb.
• Sword lights, sword-intent fragments, and Golden Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi surged into the Fan Jin Great Formation, which Yu Qingtian stabilized with the silver tiger.
• The formation's nine regions and blood-sacrifice compartments drew in the incoming energy, while the two balls of light transformed the sword-intent fragments.
• Xiao Hua studied sword cultivation and Qin Jian's memories, then realized that the Nascent Soul might serve a role similar to a sword heart.

Xiao Hua discovered that the Yu Family’s secret technique could refine Sword Grave sword intent and sword Qi into sword essence, giving him a rare opportunity to advance his sword cultivation. Meanwhile, Yu Qingtian and Zhang Yuhe prepared to begin a blood sacrifice with Yu Tong, whose condition remained precarious.

• Xiao Hua used the secret technique to draw Golden Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi into the small room and found that it could refine the energy into ordinary true essence.
• Xiao Hua realized the technique could strip away damaged sword intent’s imprints and convert the resulting sword Qi into sword essence, then used the Celestial Body Infusion Technique to absorb it faster.
• Yu Qingtian reinforced and concealed the great formation after the silver mesh began to fail under the influx of sword Qi and other objects.
• Yu Qingtian asked Zhang Yuhe whether they could begin the final blood sacrifice, and Zhang Yuhe told him to check on Yu Tong first.
• Yu Tong told Yu Qingtian that he could barely control the sword spirit but believed he could endure one blood sacrifice and reach the peak of late Foundation Establishment if it succeeded.