Chapter Summaries

Hou Niao learned from Yao He how Yinling’s Quanzhen forces were divided and why the district had become neglected, then heard why Fang Family Fort’s people distrusted the sect. Yao He revealed that Qian Chong had recently been caught exploiting young women, leaving Quanzhen’s reputation damaged.

• Hou Niao treated the injured Town Office disciples and became acquainted with the senior brothers, including Yao He.
• Yao He explained that Yinling’s dangerous conditions and the Quanzhen Sect’s inability to control the region had led the sect to give up trying to pacify it.
• Yao He described the divide between the comfortable Town Office Commissioner Faction and the Patrol Faction, whose members guarded Yinling’s settlements and hunted demons.
• Yao He said he had returned to Fang Family Fort after the Town Office faction was injured and Commissioner Guo summoned the Patrols for support.
• Hou Niao asked about Fang Family Fort’s hostility, and Yao He revealed that Qian Chong had been caught abusing his status to gather young women for his private pleasure.

Hou Niao descended into Western Saint Mountain’s sinkhole and followed a fissure to a cavern where he encountered three Guo Sect cultivators. Qu Wuhui welcomed him, suggesting his arrival was a matter of fate.

• Hou Niao agreed to investigate the sinkhole and climbed down Western Saint Mountain with a guide.
• Hou Niao descended through the sinkhole despite increasing gravity and searched its rocky bottom.
• Hou Niao found a narrow fissure and crawled through it toward a distant, flashing five-colored light.
• Hou Niao entered a cavern and discovered three cultivators meditating, including the Daoist he had seen above Blue Island.
• Qu Wuhui introduced himself as a Guo Sect Taiyi cultivator, and Hou Niao identified himself as being from Shanmen's Quanzhen.
• Qu Wuhui told Hou Niao that the cavern was not private property and that his arrival might be fated.

Hou Niao traveled home with the Thunder Falcon and used thunder to defend himself when three Guo Sect Taiyi Daoists pursued him. He killed one of them with a deceptive Flying Sword strike, while the remaining two faced another attack from the thundercloud.

• Hou Niao began his return journey with the Thunder Falcon, and his Law Power gradually recovered as the thunder's momentum traveled in a straight line.
• When three Guo Sect Taiyi Daoists pursued him, Hou Niao hid inside the thundercloud and used bolts of thunder to disrupt their Flying Sword attacks.
• The Sword Cultivator's Flying Sword feinted against the rear Daoist, then pierced him from behind and unleashed Sword Gang inside his body.
• The Thunder Falcon fought a Qing Bird in the thundercloud, disrupting the Taiyi Daoists' attempt to drive the Sword Cultivator out.
• Qu Wuhui warned the remaining Daoists that the Flying Sword was strange as it attacked again.

Qu Wuhui and his junior brother tried to escape Hou Niao’s strange flying sword, but its attacks killed the junior brother and drove Qu Wuhui far from Thundercloud. Qu Wuhui prepared a formation and weapons to stop the sword, only to discover Hou Niao had transformed into it and kill him.

• Qu Wuhui and his junior brother retreated from the flying sword, but it relentlessly harried them despite their thunder attacks.
• The junior brother barely escaped beyond three hundred zhang, then died when the sword exploited his momentary relaxation and pierced his head.
• Qu Wuhui fled with Thunder Escape, but the flying sword pursued him for more than a dozen li.
• Qu Wuhui stopped and prepared the Thunderbright Plastic Square Formation, the Thunder Magnetism Pearl, and the Thunder Prison Sword to counter the flying sword.
• The flying sword slowed before Qu Wuhui and revealed Hou Niao, who met his sword strike and cleaved him in two.
• Hou Niao told the dying Qu Wuhui that he had used the Ancient Method Flying Sword, then cut off his head.

Hou Niao returned to the Thunder Triangle after a year pursuing Thunder, but the journey had yielded no breakthrough. By studying the Guo Sect Taiyi Daoists’ insights, he discovered that the Heavenly Dao Thunder he had comprehended too early had become a restraint on his cultivation, leaving him trapped in a dead loop.

• Hou Niao returned to the thunderclouds as the Thunder Falcon fought the Qing Bird, and the falcon killed it and consumed its Demon Core.
• Hou Niao found the Magnetic Body cultivation technique among the three Guo Sect Taiyi Daoists’ possessions and continued following the Thunder’s course back toward the Thunder Triangle.
• After a year of pursuit, Hou Niao returned to the Thunder Triangle without gaining the insight he sought, while the Thunder Falcon departed after completing its own journey.
• Hou Niao reviewed his cultivation and confirmed that Thunder could break through his sea of consciousness, but he could not understand how to apply his new knowledge of magnetism.
• After months of study, Hou Niao learned that comprehending Heavenly Dao Thunder at a low realm had imposed an extra restraint that blocked his advancement.
• Hou Niao realized that Yu Shangque’s warning about a curse referred to the harm of encountering the Great Dao too early, which had left him unable to ascend or escape the restraint.

Hou Niao struggled to break through the Heavenly Dao barrier around his sea of consciousness, which had been strengthened by his experiences at the Yu Household. By tracing the thunder force’s routes on his nautical chart, he discovered an ancient Thunder Talisman and used it to open the barrier.

• Hou Niao tested the barrier with his sword and thunder, but none of his attempts produced a response.
• Hou Niao recalled that the thunder force had taken a winding route to Blue Island and a straight route back to the Thunder Triangle.
• Hou Niao drew both routes on his nautical chart and saw that they formed the character "吊."
• Hou Niao circulated thunder intent along the character’s path and discovered it was an ancient Thunder Talisman.
• Hou Niao used the Thunder Talisman to open his sea of consciousness without obstruction.

Hou Niao comprehended the ancient thunder talisman’s “hang” formula, completing his Spirit Sense breakthrough and balancing his three sword stances before returning to Mirage Tower City. There, Dugu Lan and Xiao Qiang faced the consequences of failing an assignment for the Prince of Martial Accomplishment’s Household.

• Hou Niao comprehended the “hang” formula hidden in the Thunder Triangle’s advancing thunder and realized that opening his sea of consciousness had strengthened his understanding and use of his abilities.
• Hou Niao consolidated his gains until the thunder season ended, then left the Thunder Triangle and returned to the deserted island, where he found Fang Yazi’s sign saying he had gone to seek an opportunity to ascend.
• Hou Niao checked the Canghai Pirates’ territory, found it unchanged, and headed for Mirage Tower City after more than a decade away.
• Dugu Lan and Xiao Qiang sat in an inn’s private room, weighed down by thirty years of struggle in the Profound Connection Realm and the pressures of their Lineage.
• The Dugu Household had offered Dugu Lan and Xiao Qiang as dao companions to Wu Weijiang, and the sisters had been assigned to manage business in the Lizhi Sea region.
• Dugu Lan and Xiao Qiang had botched their assignment for the Prince of Martial Accomplishment’s Household.

Dugu Lan and Xiao Qiang lost Prince of Martial Accomplishment's Household's shipload of medicinal herbs and spirit plants to pirates and rushed back to seek help recovering it. They found that Prince Wucheng's influence offered little leverage in the Lizhi Sea, leaving them without a clear way to avert blame.

• Dugu Lan and Xiao Qiang escorted the household's routine shipment from the Three Immortal Islands back toward the mainland.
• Pirates plundered the ship's entire cargo but left the sisters and crew unharmed.
• The sisters hurried back ahead of the ship, fearing they would be blamed for the household's lost resources and lose their standing.
• Dugu Lan and Xiao Qiang searched for Shanmen Sword Cultivators in Mirage Tower City but found no dedicated outpost.
• The Lihai Military Governor's Office dismissed the sisters' appeals despite their invoking Prince Wucheng's name.

Dugu Lan and Xiao Qiang struggled to find help recovering the herbs stolen by the Wind-Chasing Pirates, realizing the Prince of Martial Accomplishment's Household could not protect them outside its sphere of influence. They ended with Dugu Lan proposing they consult a reputed Know-It-All in Mirage Tower City.

• Dugu Lan complained that the Prince of Martial Accomplishment's Household had received no meaningful support, while Xiao Qiang explained its limited influence and the shortage of medicinal pills.
• Xiao Qiang said local rogue cultivators had refused to join their pursuit of the Wind-Chasing Pirates unless offered unaffordable rewards and conditions.
• The sisters reviewed the power of the Lizhi Sea's pirate bands and recognized that neither their household nor the local authorities could readily challenge them.
• Xiao Qiang revealed that a shopkeeper had directed her to Gushe Cottage, but Dugu Lan dismissed the secretive lead.
• Xiao Qiang warned Dugu Lan not to confuse herself with the prince's household, deepening the distance between the sisters.
• Dugu Lan suggested spending spirit stones to ask Mirage Tower City's Know-It-All for advice.

Dugu Lan and Xiao Qiang sought help in Mirage Tower to deal with the Wind-Chasing Pirates, then followed Know-It-All’s advice to Gushe Cottage. There they met Bai Qingqian, who welcomed them as allies through her husband’s ties to the Ke Sect Quanzhen.

• Dugu Lan and Xiao Qiang visited Know-It-All, who explained that the Wind-Chasing Pirates were difficult to confront without a Golden Core cultivator.
• After receiving twelve high-grade spirit stones, Know-It-All advised the sisters to seek help at Gushe Cottage.
• Dugu Lan and Xiao Qiang went to the secluded residence in western Mirage Tower and asked to meet its owner.
• Bai Qingqian received the sisters and said they were among their own because her husband belonged to the Ke Sect Quanzhen.
• Dugu Lan was surprised to learn Bai Qingqian was not herself from the Ke Sect.

The Dugu sisters told Bai Qingqian about the Wind-Chasing Pirates’ capture of their ship and cargo, and Hou Niao appeared as the Shanmen Quanzhen senior who would help them. He led them toward the pirates, leaving the sisters to realize he had reached the Natural Realm while they worried he might be outmatched.

• The Dugu sisters explained their predicament to Bai Qingqian, who said she would ask her husband to help recover their ship and cargo.
• While the sisters waited, Dugu Lan speculated that Bai Qingqian’s husband might not appear, and Hou Niao answered from outside.
• Hou Niao revealed himself as the sisters’ old acquaintance from thirty years earlier and told them to follow him to reclaim the ship and cargo.
• Hou Niao flew toward the sea with the sisters, and Xiao Qiang pointed out that he had reached the Natural Realm.
• Dugu Lan recognized the pirates’ many Natural Realm cultivators and questioned whether Hou Niao could fight them alone.

Hou Niao led Dugu Lan and Xiao Qiang toward the Wind-Chasing Pirates while the cousins speculated about his plans and discussed Bai Qingqian. As the three traveled, pirates began pursuing them, and the chapter left the cousins facing an expanding threat with no clear escape route.

• Hou Niao guided Dugu Lan and Xiao Qiang across the sea without explaining how he planned to recover their ship and cargo.
• On the third day, five cultivators pursued the group, and Hou Niao suggested waiting until they reached a large island before fighting.
• Dugu Lan and Xiao Qiang recognized the pursuers’ mixed techniques as signs that they were likely pirates.
• The group continued flying past a nearby island, while Dugu Lan worried that its stationed cultivators might not help them.
• Three more cultivators joined the pursuit, bringing the number of apparent pirates to eight and forcing the cousins to focus on escaping.

Hou Niao led Dugu Lan and Xiao Qiang toward the Wind-Chasing Pirates with nearly a hundred cultivators gathered behind them. As the procession halted before another powerful force, a banner revealed that Hou Niao had become the chief of the Canghai Pirates.

• Dugu Lan asked Hou Niao what to do about three more cultivators following them, and he joked that they should let everyone choose their own road.
• Over several days, cultivators joined the procession in groups until nearly a hundred people followed Hou Niao toward the Wind-Chasing Pirates' territory.
• Xiao Qiang spotted dozens of sword-riding cultivators from Shanmen Quanzhen among the followers, including Zhang Yifan from Jade Capital.
• Hou Niao raised his fist to slow the procession in unison as powerful cultivators approached from ahead.
• A cultivator unfurled a huge blue banner marked with white spray, and Xiao Qiang recognized it as the emblem of the Canghai Pirates.

The Canghai Pirates and the Wind-Chasing Pirates approached each other to settle which group would dominate the Lizhi Sea, with the Prince of Martial Accomplishment's cargo serving as the pretext. As both sides assessed the forces gathered for the confrontation, the Wind-Chasing leaders weighed the risks of an all-out battle.

• Hou Niao recognized that the confrontation would determine the pirates' rank, territory, and control of valuable waters along their shared boundary.
• The Wind-Chasing Pirates gathered their elite forces, nearly matching the Canghai Pirates in numbers, while Bao Wen questioned how quickly the Canghai Pirates had grown.
• Gao Tianqi and Shi Guangzu suspected that the Tiger Tooth Pirates had used the Anhe crisis to withdraw while preserving their core forces.
• Guo Yanping warned that a costly battle could benefit a third party, and the other Wind-Chasing leaders recognized the danger of an uncontrolled melee.

The Daoist Sect leaders planned to challenge Hou Du to a winner-holds-the-field duel, hoping to exhaust him and break apart the Canghai Pirates. As the two sides faced off, Hou Niao held his people back and prepared to answer Bao Wen, reassuring the Dugu sisters that the confrontation was not their fault.

• Bao Wen proposed exploiting the Canghai Pirates’ lack of a second-in-command by challenging Hou Du to a winner-holds-the-field contest.
• Gao Tianqi and the others agreed that successive opponents could wear Hou Du down and leave him vulnerable to a killing blow.
• The two pirate bands took positions two thousand zhang apart, and Bao Wen stepped forward to call for Chief Hou.
• Hou Niao ordered his people not to attack without his command, while Blood Sea Butcher and Zhang Bigmouth warned him about the dangers of the opposing strategy.
• Hou Niao reassured the Dugu sisters that the confrontation would have happened regardless and said he would do his best.

Hou Niao negotiated with Bao Wen to settle the conflict over Tiger Tooth's territory through a twelve-fighter arena contest instead of a melee. After both sides swore public oaths to honor the result, Hou Niao claimed the vanguard position for himself.

• Hou Niao weighed the risks of a melee, suspecting that the Canghai Pirates' ranks included unknown newcomers who could undermine them.
• Bao Wen and Hou Niao bargained over the contest format and settled on an arena battle with twelve fighters from each side, fought in succession.
• Hou Niao and Bao Wen swore public oaths that the losing side would withdraw from Tiger Tooth's territory and yield first in future encounters.
• Blood Sea Butcher and Zhang Bigmouth began preparing lists of potential fighters while the Canghai Pirates argued over who should take part.
• Hou Niao declared that he would fight first and told the others to prepare for victory.

Hou Niao stepped forward as the Canghai Pirates’ first fighter, hoping to test himself against the Wind-Chasing Pirates’ cultivators and build a reputation for his force. He defeated Yu Kuohai by repeatedly cutting through the bull shark manifestation’s defenses and then striking through its eye.

• Hou Niao chose to fight first so the Canghai Pirates could establish their strength through victory and so he could measure himself against powerful cultivators.
• The Wind-Chasing Pirates sent Yu Kuohai against Hou Niao, planning their strategy around the pirate chief.
• Yu Kuohai transformed into a bull shark and charged Hou Niao, whose Flying Sword carved a long wound into its thick, regenerative fat layer.
• Yu Kuohai attacked with a soundless wave and a sweeping tail strike, while Hou Niao evaded him and cut the same wound deeper.
• Hou Niao appeared beneath the bull shark and pierced its eye with his Flying Sword, causing Yu Kuohai’s manifestation to collapse.

Hou Niao defeated Yu Kuohai after resisting the Sea Demon’s manifestations and countering its illusory sound and electrical attacks. The Wind-Chasing Pirates recognized his strength and sent Qian Changqing to wear down his law power rather than risk an immediate victory.

• Hou Niao probed Yu Kuohai’s Bull Shark manifestation before Yu Kuohai transformed into a Great King Conch and revealed that he was a Sea Demon.
• Yu Kuohai used the conch’s illusory sound to draw Hou Niao back, then attacked as a lightning-wreathed Moray Eel.
• Hou Niao resisted the eel’s restraint and cut its body into pieces with a burst of sword light, then pursued and destroyed Yu Kuohai’s demon core.
• Gao Tianqi, Guo Yanzhi, and Shi Guangzu assessed the fight, while Bao Wen urged the Wind-Chasing Pirates to continue their plan to exhaust Hou Niao.
• Bao Wen sent Qian Changqing to drain at least thirty percent of Hou Niao’s law power and told him to withdraw if the fight became too dangerous.

Hou Niao fought Qian Changqing, the second challenger from the Wind-Chasing Pirates Group, while trying to conserve his strength for the remaining opponents. As Qian Changqing’s defensive formation and steady spellcasting prolonged the duel, Zhang Bigmouth rallied the Canghai Pirates to urge Hou Niao to finish the fight.

• Hou Niao reflected on improving his flying sword stance and decided to use it more often to strengthen it and conceal his other techniques.
• Qian Changqing challenged Hou Niao and used the Clear Wind Formation to bolster his defense and spells.
• Hou Niao tested Qian Changqing with varied flying sword attacks while Qian Changqing answered with a steady stream of five-element spells.
• Hou Niao appeared more likely to win the duel, but the fight threatened to drain his strength before the ten challengers still waiting.
• Dugu Lan criticized the Daoist Sect for prolonging the fight, while Zhang Bigmouth unfurled a mocking Pennant and led the Canghai Pirates in cheering Hou Niao on.

Hou Niao defeated Qian Changqing, whose earth defenses and formation could not stop the Sword Cultivator’s strengthening attacks and swift movement. Qian Changqing withdrew and left, while the Wind-Chasing Pirates planned to wear down Hou Niao’s Law Power through successive bouts.

• Hou Niao broke through Qian Changqing’s earth defenses and attacked him at close range, moving freely through the earth formation.
• Qian Changqing used a Substitute Talisman to retreat, conceded defeat, and warned the Wind-Chasing Pirates about Hou Niao’s accumulating sword power and command of the five elements.
• Qian Changqing told Bao Wen that he had learned from the fight and left, while Bao Wen claimed he had depleted some of Hou Niao’s cultivation.
• The Daoists calculated that repeated bouts could reduce Hou Niao’s Law Power before a final attack.
• Gao Tianqi told his junior brother to fight defensively and grind down the bandit chief’s Law Power.