The Shanhai Mirror has been upgraded.

The sages of the world all say that thunder arts cannot be brought to fruition, yet they do not know that this is only because the spiritual power of heaven and earth has ebbed away. Thunder arts must borrow the majesty of heaven and earth; the presence of spiritual energy scattered through creation is the prerequisite, and so thunder arts have lost the power they were meant to possess... In days of old, thunder was the force behind all righteous and upright energy, and it restrained every evil and demonic thing in the world.

Amid his rambling, a colossal projection of the Thunder God rose from Akino's body, swelling outward again and again until it reached a height of a thousand meters. Then it rapidly contracted, shrinking into a spark no larger than a finger, which darted into the center of his brow and vanished without a trace.

"Fool, what a fool!" Qiongqi burst into loud laughter, striking the ground repeatedly with his sharp claws as though the whole affair were absurdly amusing.

"The various races of the spirit realm all say that the Demon Emperor is a great fool. So it turns out it's not just the Demon Emperor— even the Thunder God is a fool. What, exactly, are you fools all doing this for? For those utterly irrelevant humans?" Qiongqi laughed until tears came to his eyes. His twisted face looked especially ferocious, and it was impossible to tell whether he was truly delighted or merely trying to conceal the sorrow in his heart.

"The ferocious beast Qiongqi?" Akino woke—no, at this moment he should be called Wu Ming. The instant Wu Ming obtained the Law of the Thunder God, all the negative effects on his body disappeared completely, and his memory was restored as well.

In the Classic of Divine Oddities, Western Wilderness Scroll: "In the northwest there is a beast, shaped like a tiger and able to fly with wings; it seizes and eats people, and understands human speech."

In the Classic of Mountains and Seas, Western Mountains Scroll: "Two hundred and sixty li westward lies Mount Gui. There is a beast there, shaped like an ox, with hedgehog-like fur. It is called Qiongqi, and its cry is like the barking of a vicious dog. It devours men. There is the Meng River, flowing south into the Yang River, where many yellow shells are found; and there is the Ying Fish, with a fish's body and bird's wings, whose cry is like a mandarin duck's. Wherever it appears, there will be great flooding in that city."

In the Classic of Mountains and Seas, Northern Seas Scroll: "Qiongqi is shaped like a tiger and has wings; it eats people, beginning with the head. The hair of those it eats is released. It is north of the Dog. Another says it begins with the feet."

In the Records of the Grand Historian, Basic Annals of the Five Emperors: "The son of the Shaohao line was worthless, he destroyed faith and detested loyalty, and gloried in evil speech; under heaven he was called Qiongqi."

At once, Wu Ming recalled the information he had once seen in the Daoist records of the Unified Vitality Sect. This Qiongqi seemed quite troublesome, not easy to deal with at all. However, he appeared to be in beast form; if the Mountains and Seas Mirror could take him in, then things would be much easier. After all, the mirror had the power to subdue beast-formed monsters and spirit-beasts. The only question was whether something this advanced could be subdued all at once.

"Indeed it is I, boy. Not bad eyes you have there!" Qiongqi sat on the ground and picked his teeth with the tip of a front claw.

"But don't imagine that merely recognizing me will save you. I won't eat you—not even for your flesh and bones that are like Tang Monk's. Just for the law power of that twisted old dragon-head Thunder God, I won't let you go!" Qiongqi paced slowly toward Wu Ming.

"You can't eat me. I am the head of the Unified Vitality Sect!"

"Look at you, the head of the Unified Vitality Sect? Then am I not the Three Pure Ones?" Qiongqi sneered, spitting on the ground as he spoke.

How can I make him believe I am the sect master of the Unified Vitality Sect? Wu Ming muttered to himself. The villain dies because he talks too much; he will definitely respond. He has to keep talking...

"Unless you can bring out your Unified Vitality Sect's Mountains and Seas Mirror and let me have a look!" Qiongqi seemed somewhat hesitant.

Ah, this fellow really knows the drill—he's biting so quickly without any need for cue lines. Absolutely perfect!

Wu Ming felt a thousand times more at ease. This was simply too cooperative.

"Do you recognize this thing?" Wu Ming raised the bronze mirror high. The birds, flowers, fish, and insects engraved upon it began to shimmer with a strange radiance and slowly turned. From the center of the pattern on the back of the mirror, a piece of emerald jade gradually protruded upward. It was unmistakably the jade ornament set into the back of the Time and Space Divine Mirror.

Wu Ming examined the patterns on the back of the Mountains and Seas Mirror carefully and realized that they had become even more intricate and delicate. He even saw the likeness of the Nine Infants among them. It seemed the Mountains and Seas Mirror was gradually perfecting itself and repairing its own damaged state. When he had time, he would have to ask the spirit within the mirror exactly what was going on.

"Could it be that the Mountains and Seas Mirror devoured and fused with the Time and Space Divine Mirror?" Wu Ming had never seen such a thing before. At first he had thought the Time and Space Divine Mirror had vanished in that previous accident, but now it seemed more likely that it had been absorbed into the Mountains and Seas Mirror as part of itself.

"Boy, are you done looking yet? Done, then toss it over and let me see whether it's the real thing! Move too slowly and I'll eat you!" Qiongqi fixed Wu Ming with a vicious glare.

"Let's go in together and take a look. Follow me!" Wu Ming pointed at the Mountains and Seas Mirror. A beam of white light immediately enveloped both Wu Ming and Qiongqi. Qiongqi did not struggle as Wu Ming had expected; instead, he cooperatively entered the white light cast by the mirror. As though afraid the mirror would be unable to draw in his enormous body, he even shrank himself slightly, then leaped into the Mountains and Seas Mirror.

A flash of white light passed. Wu Ming's eyes adjusted slightly to the environment within the mirror, and little by little he made out everything around him.

Inside the Mountains and Seas Mirror, a grand palace had appeared. It was made entirely of white jade. Though immense, every brick was a finely carved piece of Hetian jade. Wu Ming's mouth nearly watered at the sight. So much Hetian jade—if converted to money, it would probably be enough to buy the whole of America. This palace was truly extravagant.

Carefully, Wu Ming stepped up the jade stairs. He even took off his tattered outer robe and wrapped his feet in it with great care, simply unwilling to profane such a flawless work of art.

After ascending more than a dozen steps, he saw a familiar figure—no, rather, a familiar beast. The nine-headed dragon Nine Infants was crouched on a distant platform, all nine heads lowered until they nearly pressed to the ground.

"Welcome back, my lord. Your faithful servant Nine Infants humbly greets your return!"

Wu Ming felt extremely embarrassed by such a grand salute and awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

"Ah—please get up. And could you make yourself smaller, or better yet, take human form? The pressure from your true body is simply too much; it's impossible to bear."

"By your command, my lord. Nine Infants is at your service."

The instant Nine Infants finished speaking, she transformed into a bewitching woman. Strangely, nine strands of hair floated and moved on their own despite the lack of wind. Wu Ming knew that those nine strands were where her true heads lay. He even entertained a wicked thought: if Nine Infants ever went to a barbershop for a haircut, it would truly be a haircut rather than a trim of the hair—one careless snip and her heads might actually be cut away.

"Oh, right, Nine Infants. Last time, didn't the Mountains and Seas Mirror space say it could only tame non-human forms? Aren't you in human form now?" Wu Ming was a little puzzled.

"My lord, it is like this. By beast form, the Mountains and Seas Mirror refers to the form of the true beast. In general, as long as one is not of the human race or the divine race, one usually possesses a beast form. We, whether strange beasts, demon beasts, or other races, all possess beast forms. Only by revealing our original forms can our combat power reach its peak. In other words, under the might of the Mountains and Seas Mirror, as long as a being in battle manifests its true form, it can only be restrained and subdued by the mirror's power." Nine Infants said respectfully.