Chapter Summaries

Xiao Hua left Gen Qing’s Thunder Boat near Weeping Moon Abyss to draw suspected enemies away from the Thunder Control Sect disciples. Meanwhile, Zhang Yutong and Zhang Yuhe flew toward Huan Kingdom and encountered a robed cultivator blocking their path.

• Xiao Hua persuaded Gen Qing that leaving the Thunder Boat might protect the other disciples, and Gen Qing gave him restorative pills and a jade slip with a map and route home.
• Xiao Hua left the Thunder Boat, while several disciples suspected he had another motive and Xun Shu watched him go with a strange expression.
• Zhang Yuhe complained that Zhang Yutong had stopped her from competing at the Feathered Immortal Convention, and they discussed their trade with Xiao Hua for his Mysterious Yin Grass.
• Zhang Yutong and Zhang Yuhe sensed a cultivator waiting ahead, and Zhang Yuhe welcomed the chance to fight as the robed man watched their sword lights approach.

Liu Weigang and a masked cultivator ambushed Zhang Yuhe and Zhang Yutong, who fought back and tried to send a message for help. The sisters were separated during the pursuit, and Zhang Yuhe escaped Liu Weigang’s mist array, while the masked cultivator chased Zhang Yutong.

• Zhang Yuhe recognized Liu Weigang from the Feathered Immortal Convention, and she and Zhang Yutong confronted him as he blocked their path.
• Zhang Yuhe attacked Liu Weigang with Purple Spirit, but he used a pale red screen and an orange-red handkerchief to contain her sword.
• Zhang Yutong exposed and wounded an eleventh-layer Qi Cultivation cultivator hiding nearby, but he vanished into mist; a masked, burly cultivator then appeared with a golden bell that shielded him and Liu Weigang from the sisters’ swords.
• Zhang Yuhe sent a flying sword message through the mist with her sword aura, while Zhang Yutong and Zhang Yuhe fled in opposite directions.
• The masked cultivator pursued Zhang Yutong with a rope that transformed into a small dragon, while Liu Weigang chased Zhang Yuhe through clouds raised by his array.
• Zhang Yuhe used a powerful purple sword aura to bore through the clouds and escaped, leaving Liu Weigang unable to find her.

Zhang Yutong was trapped in a blood-cloud formation by a mysterious cultivator and fought desperately to escape. She pierced his defenses and wounded him, but collapsed from the effort, leaving her captured.

• Liu Weigang activated a formation that trapped Zhang Yutong after Zhang Yuhe fled in another direction.
• Zhang Yutong threatened the cultivator with the Xuanjian Sect’s response, but he revealed himself as a Sect Master and attacked her.
• Zhang Yutong cut the cultivator’s rope artifact and then used her Sword Fiend to breach his golden protective barrier.
• The cultivator blocked Azure Spirit with talismans and a shield, but Zhang Yutong forced the sword through and wounded him.
• Zhang Yutong collapsed from exhaustion after striking the cultivator.

Zhang Qingxiao captured Zhang Yutong, then prepared an ambush to recover a storage pouch from the Thunder Control Sect. The ambush trapped Gen Qing, Gen Yue, and the thunder boat, but Xiao Hua was nowhere to be found as the fighting began.

• Zhang Qingxiao, disguised as cultivator Mihuan, used a blood talisman to capture Zhang Yutong and sent Liu Weigang away with her.
• Zhang Qingxiao treated his injuries and reflected on Zhang Yutong's swordsmanship before resuming cultivation.
• Martial Uncle Xiong and two disciples set a formation to intercept the Thunder Control Sect's thunder boat and seize the storage pouch, planning to capture or kill Xiao Hua.
• The formation suppressed the thunder boat and its passengers, and Martial Uncle Xiong confronted Gen Qing while the two disciples engaged Gen Yue and searched for Xiao Hua.
• One disciple found no trace of Xiao Hua among the Qi Refining disciples as Gen Qing sent his magic artifact toward Martial Uncle Xiong.

Martial Uncle Xiong’s group failed to find Xiao Hua after learning he had left the thunder boat, while Xiao Hua hid underground and cultivated. On his way back toward the Thunder Control Sect, Xiao Hua discovered a Lizard Beast and tried to capture it intact for making Invisibility Talismans.

• Min Ge told the Mihuan cultivators that Xiao Hua had left the thunder boat, and Martial Uncle Xiong apologized to Gen Qing before taking Min Ge away for questioning.
• Gen Qing led the Thunder Control Sect disciples back toward their sect, while Martial Uncle Xiong and his companions searched for Xiao Hua near Weeping Moon Abyss and along the thunder boat’s route.
• Xiao Hua evaded the search by reversing his route, hiding underground, and cultivating until he reached the middle stage of the twelfth layer of Qi Cultivation.
• Xiao Hua emerged and flew toward the Thunder Control Sect, then noticed unusual spiritual-power fluctuations in a thorny hollow.
• Xiao Hua spotted a Lizard Beast and tracked it into the forest, hoping to obtain its hide, blood, and flesh without damaging them.
• Xiao Hua sent the Town Cloud Seal above the Lizard Beast, which sensed danger, turned invisible, and flew toward him.

Xiao Hua pursued a Wood-Escaping Lizard Beast and discovered it had been hiding in a collapsing pocket space. He escaped with a half turtle shell and a mysterious scarlet heart-shaped object just before the space vanished.

• Xiao Hua recalled Wood Escape and chased the Lizard Beast, refining his technique as he considered his other escape arts and the cultivation of Buddhist consciousness.
• The Lizard Beast disappeared near a giant tree, and Xiao Hua traced a strange spiritual fluctuation to a crack leading into a hidden space.
• Xiao Hua used the Town Cloud Seal to force the crack open and suppress the Lizard Beast, but his strike sent it back into the space and killed it.
• Inside the collapsing space, Xiao Hua found the Lizard Beast's corpse beside a scholar's skeleton and pulled a half turtle shell from its hand, causing the skeleton to crumble into ashes.
• Xiao Hua took the scholar's robes and placed a scarlet heart-shaped object on the turtle shell before withdrawing as the crack closed.

Xiao Hua returned to the Thunder Control Sect, where Gen Qing and the palace masters investigated why powerful cultivators had tried to seize him and focused on the mysterious Prajna Heavy Sword. The sword resisted every attempt by Gen Sheng and Dui Jie to move it, leaving its secret unresolved.

• Xiao Hua escaped the annihilating space with a scholar's robe, a partial tortoise shell, and a heart-shaped object, then followed Gen Qing's map toward the Thunder Control Sect.
• Gen Feng and Gen Jie Deng found Xiao Hua and escorted him back with more than a dozen late Foundation Establishment cultivators.
• Gen Qing inspected Xiao Hua's pills and spirit stones, concluded that the Prajna Heavy Sword was the likely reason a Golden Core cultivator had targeted him, and gave Xiao Hua another storage pouch for it.
• Gen Qing brought Xiao Hua to Shao Lei Hall, where Gen Sheng and Dui Jie praised his performance at the Feathered Immortal Convention and Dui Jie advised him to reach Foundation Establishment before pursuing a marriage alliance with Huanhua Sect.
• Gen Sheng and Dui Jie tried several techniques to take the Prajna Heavy Sword from Xiao Hua, but it would not move.

Xiao Hua returned to Myriad Thunder Valley after the Feathered Immortal Convention, carrying the mysterious Prajna Heavy Sword and rewards from the two thunder palaces. He reunited with Zhuo and Wu Nai, then revealed that he had returned most of the medicinal pills he had taken from Changbai Sect, only for Wu Nai to scold him for taking too little.

• Gen Sheng and Dui Jie could not identify the Prajna Heavy Sword, and Gen Sheng said Gen Qing was investigating whether Huanhua Sect had arranged the ambush.
• Xiao Hua returned to Myriad Thunder Valley and waited outside Wu Nai's silent cave abode, then considered how time passed differently inside his space and checked on its creatures and plants.
• Zhuo arrived, notified Wu Nai, and told Xiao Hua that his master had been worried when he learned Xiao Hua had left the thunder boat alone.
• Wu Nai returned and scolded Xiao Hua before giving him the rewards from Gen Lei Palace and Zhen Thunder Palace, along with his East Ridge Medicine Garden token.
• Wu Nai inspected the medicinal pills Xiao Hua had taken from Changbai Sect and learned that Xiao Hua had returned ninety percent of them; he rebuked Xiao Hua for not keeping more.

Xiao Hua returned to Wunai and Zhuo, who discovered that his Town Cloud Seal carried a trace of Buddhist karmic fire that weakened those with karmic obstructions. Xiao Hua recounted the Feathered Immortal Convention, but an angry woman’s shout from outside interrupted him.

• Xiao Hua showed Wunai the Town Cloud Seal, and Wunai noticed something unusual when he tried to examine it.
• Wunai and Zhuo tested the seal and concluded that its faint karmic-fire refinement was linked to the Buddhist Sect and could diminish the divine abilities of people bearing karmic obstructions.
• Xiao Hua realized the seal’s unusual nature might relate to its placement in the Buddha Sarira’s dantian, then decided not to ask Wunai about the Taiyi Azure Light.
• Xiao Hua recounted his experiences at the Feathered Immortal Convention, including forfeiting and fighting for the Prajna Heavy Sword.
• Zhuo worried about how Xiao Hua would explain Fairy Hongxia’s actions to Xue Xue, before an angry woman outside demanded that Xiao Hua come out.

Xue Xue confronted Xiao Hua over his relationship with Fairy Hongxia and confessed how deeply she had cared for him. Xiao Hua told her that he liked her too and kissed her, leaving them embracing in midair.

• Zhuo told Xiao Hua that Xue Xue had visited Myriad Thunder Valley several times, and Xiao Hua hurried out to see her.
• Xue Xue attacked Xiao Hua with flying sword talismans and accused him of encouraging her feelings while secretly being involved with Fairy Hongxia.
• Xue Xue recounted how she had protected Xiao Hua, sought chances to see him, and struggled to keep up with his cultivation.
• Xue Xue's flying sword pierced Xiao Hua's shoulder when he stopped dodging, and she rushed to treat him and revealed that she would not give up on him.
• Xiao Hua told Xue Xue that he liked her too, wrapped an arm around her, and kissed her.

Xiao Hua and Xue Xue reunited after his return from the Feathered Immortal Convention, and he escorted her to Xun Lei Palace before asking to visit its Library Pavilion. He entered the palace with the Sect Master Token, while worrying about Fairy Hongxia’s fate after her return to Huanhua Sect.

• Helpless and Zhuo discussed Xiao Hua, Xue Xue, and Xun Shu after Xiao Hua and Xue Xue left the cave dwelling.
• Xue Xue worried over Xiao Hua’s small wound and teased him about Fairy Hongxia, while Xiao Hua gave Helpless a jade case he had traded for at the Feathered Immortal Convention.
• Xiao Hua escorted Xue Xue toward Xun Lei Palace, and she directed him to its Library Pavilion before returning alone.
• Xiao Hua resolved to cultivate harder so he could protect those he cared about, then worried that Huanhua Sect might punish Fairy Hongxia.
• Two Xun Lei Palace disciples challenged Xiao Hua’s right to enter, but an early Foundation Establishment female cultivator recognized his Sect Master Token and led him into the palace.

Xiao Hua searched the Xun Lei Palace Library Pavilion for a Foundation Establishment cultivation technique, then returned to East Ridge to study his findings. Meanwhile, Zhen Qikui gathered fellow cultivators near Zhen Thunder Palace and raised a secret matter involving Xiao Hua.

• A female Foundation Establishment cultivator led Xiao Hua through a lotus portal into the Xun Lei Palace Library Pavilion, where he spent a month studying its cultivation techniques and secret manuals.
• Xiao Hua returned to East Ridge, recorded his insights, and struggled to compare Foundation Establishment techniques because they used different meridians.
• Xiao Hua checked the East Ridge Medicine Garden for signs that anyone had used the lost token, found none, tended the plants, and resumed cultivation.
• Zhen Qikui hosted fellow Yan Lei Ridge cultivators with wine and dancers, then said he regretted missing the Feathered Immortal Convention and mentioned Xiao Hua.
• Zhen Weisheng dismissed the dancers because the matter concerned Xiao Hua, while Zhen Hao asked whether the disciple was famous.

Zhen Qikui spread a hostile account of Xiao Hua among Yan Lei Ridge disciples, while Xiao Hua continued cultivating in the Eastern Ridge. Xiao Hua overcame a terrifying heart demon, but the Buddha Sarira’s karmic fire revealed that his Buddhist cultivation had introduced new uncertainties into his path.

• Zhen Weisheng warned the Yan Lei Ridge disciples not to retaliate against Xiao Hua while Foundation Establishment seniors and Martial Uncle Gen Qing were watching him.
• Zhen Qikui recounted Wang Yunxiao’s version of events at the Feathered Immortal Convention and blamed Xiao Hua for taking his qualification and abandoning the other disciples.
• Xiao Hua refined the Soul Capturing Bell and cultivated for six months, nearing the late stage of the twelfth layer of Qi Cultivation.
• Xiao Hua became trapped in a dark mental space where visions of rivals and loved ones urged him to give up, but he rejected the heart demon and awakened.
• The Buddha fire within Xiao Hua’s Buddha Sarira flickered nine times, as his Buddhist compassion and karmic fire were revealed to be introducing variables into his cultivation.

After returning from the Feathered Immortal Convention, Xiao Hua reached the late twelfth layer of Qi Cultivation and reunited with Xiangyang, who had advanced to mid Foundation Establishment. Xiao Hua received a fire cultivation technique and materials for his plans, then returned to the East Ridge Medicine Garden.

• Xiao Hua discovered that he had advanced to the late twelfth layer after surviving an inner demon, then flew to Myriad Thunder Valley after receiving Xiangyang’s message.
• Xiao Hua congratulated Xiangyang on emerging from seclusion and spoke with Helpless, who gave him the Wrathful Fire Art for use after Foundation Establishment.
• Xiao Hua told Yan Qinglian that he would put cultivation before his relationship with Xue Xue, then stopped Xiangyang from bowing to thank him for the Fetal Breath Pill.
• Xiao Hua asked Xiangyang to extract Taiyi Azure Light from his staff and gave Yan Qinglian a Lizard Beast to divide, receiving half its hide and blood along with instructions for preparing hides.
• Xiangyang extracted the Taiyi Azure Light, and Xiao Hua drew it into his Buddha Sarira to nourish his Sword Pellets before returning to the East Ridge Medicine Garden.

Xiao Hua refined an Invisibility Talisman and visited Dui Lei Palace’s Library Pavilion, where he discovered that an obscure Foundation Establishment method connected to the meridians of Heaven and Earth Manifestation. He memorized the Prairie Fire Cultivation Method but left uncertain whether he should use it to cultivate beyond the usual Qi Cultivation path.

• Xiao Hua’s anxiety about reaching the limits of Qi Cultivation led him to refine an Invisibility Talisman, and he made slow progress cultivating the Buddha Sarira.
• Xiao Hua went to Dui Lei Palace’s Library Pavilion, where Dui Ling recognized him, escorted him inside, and asked about the Feathered Immortal Convention and Fairy Hongxia.
• While examining Foundation Establishment methods, Xiao Hua found that the Prairie Fire Cultivation Method’s final meridians connected with those of Heaven and Earth Manifestation, revealing an additional linked meridian cycle.
• Xiao Hua weighed the risks of continuing to cultivate Qi instead of establishing his foundation, then memorized the Prairie Fire Cultivation Method before returning to East Ridge Medicine Garden.
• After Xiao Hua left, a female Foundation Establishment cultivator examined the jade slip and wondered why he had spent so long reading such a crude method.

Xiao Hua reached a precursor to Foundation Establishment, and Xiangyang and Yan Qinglian took him to a secluded place to protect him. As his Foundation Establishment began with extraordinary force, he chose to risk opening another meridian rather than take the Foundation Establishment Pill immediately.

• Xue Xue sent Xiao Hua a message saying she had reached the late stage of the ninth layer of Qi Cultivation, and he replied with news of his situation.
• Xiangyang and Yan Qinglian arrived to protect Xiao Hua, explained that Master had chosen a suitable Foundation Establishment site, and took charge of East Ridge Medicine Garden.
• When Xiao Hua showed signs of Foundation Establishment, Xiangyang took him to a mountain site, followed by a disciple from Zhen Thunder Palace who came to observe.
• On the third day, Xiao Hua drew in spiritual energy from more than ten miles around, and thumb-sized spiritual droplets formed as his true qi began to boil.
• Xiao Hua realized he could either take the Foundation Establishment Pill or try to break through a barrier in another meridian, and he resolved to attempt the unprecedented path.

Xiao Hua's apparent Foundation Establishment attempt failed, but he secretly stabilized his cultivation by tempering new meridians and suspected that Qi Cultivation had eighteen layers. He returned to Myriad Thunder Valley, where Helpless scolded him for the failure and worried about the damage to the valley's reputation.

• Xiao Hua swallowed Qi Gathering Pills and repeatedly drove his True Qi against the Foundation Establishment barrier, but the pressure and condensed spiritual qi vanished without a breakthrough.
• Xiao Hua circulated the Prairie Fire Cultivation Method through his new meridians, discovered that only half of its late-stage method worked, and wondered whether Qi Cultivation had eighteen layers.
• Xiao Hua reassured Xiangyang that the failure was expected, then agreed to deliver the spirit herbs to the Zhen Thunder Palace disciple before returning to Myriad Thunder Valley.
• Yan Qinglian asked Xiangyang whether Xiao Hua had really taken a Foundation Establishment Pill, while Xiangyang insisted he must have.
• Helpless rebuked Xiangyang for letting the Zhen Thunder Palace disciple witness the attempt, then scolded Xiao Hua for pursuing side paths instead of cultivating properly.

After failing Foundation Establishment, Xiao Hua struggled to find a way to advance his cultivation and considered using a dangerous Fire Marrow Blazing Crystal. Xue Xue arrived to see him, and the chapter ended with her embracing him in the East Ridge Medicine Garden.

• Xiangyang advised Xiao Hua to reflect on his failed Foundation Establishment before deciding how he should cultivate.
• Xiao Hua discovered unusual spiritual power fluctuations in the storage pouch he had taken from Changbai Sect and suspected it had drawn a Golden Core cultivator's attention.
• Xiao Hua considered using a Fire Marrow Blazing Crystal to raise his cultivation but hesitated over the risk of dying.
• Xue Xue and Xun Shu arrived at East Ridge Medicine Garden, and Xue Xue told Xiao Hua she had come because she heard he had failed Foundation Establishment.
• Xue Xue led Xiao Hua aside and embraced him, telling him she had missed him terribly.

Xue Xue reassured Xiao Hua that she would stay by his side whether or not he established his foundation, then left with Xun Shu. Xiao Hua used the Fire Marrow Blazing Crystal again, enduring its flames as they strengthened his muscles and bones and accelerated his Dragon Transformation Art.

• Xue Xue told Xiao Hua that she would remain with him regardless of his cultivation and promised to seek a foundation-establishment remedy with her master.
• A communication talisman from Xun Shu summoned Xue Xue, and she left East Ridge with her senior sister after bidding Xiao Hua farewell.
• Xiao Hua returned to East Ridge, waited until dawn, and placed a Fire Marrow Blazing Crystal on his arm.
• The crystal's flames burned through Xiao Hua's muscles as his 132 million points absorbed them and the Great Vajra Dharma Body technique produced countless phantoms.
• The flames tempered Xiao Hua's bones, spreading their crimson threads across sixty percent of them, while the Dragon Transformation Art drew fire into his meridians.
• Xiao Hua refined the remaining flames into true qi, while his bones continued turning crimson and the phantoms began to emerge from his body.

Xiao Hua completed a hundred days of cultivation with the Fire Marrow Blazing Crystal, advancing his Qi Cultivation and strengthening his body. After discovering a mysterious command arrow hidden in a storage bag, he headed to the Library Pavilion to research it, unaware that an early Foundation Establishment cultivator was watching him.

• Xiao Hua endured ninety-nine days of flame tempering before the flames entered his body, leaving his bones mostly tempered and his virtual points formed into a powerful humanoid framework.
• Xiao Hua reached the middle stage of the thirteenth layer of Qi Cultivation and continued practicing the Prairie Fire Cultivation Method alongside the Exquisite Shell-Leaf Heart Sutra.
• Xiao Hua discovered that his storage bag contained a second hidden space and retrieved a mysterious, ancient-looking command arrow from it.
• Xiao Hua decided to consult the Library Pavilion’s records and left the East Ridge Medicine Garden using the Flying Technique.
• An early Foundation Establishment cultivator watched Xiao Hua depart and questioned why Fourth Senior Brother was being so cautious about him.