[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-dragon-lies-hidden":3,"chapter-the-dragon-lies-hidden-the-dragon-lies-hidden-chapter-954":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Dragon Lies Hidden",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2290252,4477,"Chapter 954: The Fish Returns to the Abyss","the-dragon-lies-hidden-chapter-954",954,"\u003Cp>The boundary stone was planted, and the heavens and earth began to slowly shift; the fortress was preliminarily built, and transporting mortals could now be put on the agenda.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After planting the boundary stone, Cui Yu waited a moment at the teleportation array, and several Dao Foundation warriors emerged with Hule Gaoen, arriving before Cui Yu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cui Yu personally untied the Immortal-Binding Cords from Hule Gaoen’s hands, then said: “Your cultivation is too high—you must endure some inconvenience.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hule Gaoen understood, then followed Cui Yu out of the hall, and upon suddenly seeing the fully equipped fortress-city before him, he was left speechless with shock, asking: “Is this a human city? How long have you been building it?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cui Yu would not tell him the fortress had been constructed in only two months—only that its foundations had long existed. He then led Hule Gaoen out of the fortress and handed him a map: “This is the map of the surrounding region, to help you find your bearings. Have you made your decision?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hule Gaoen’s eyes flashed with resolve; he pulled out a jade tablet and said: “This is my people’s history. Read it after I’m gone. If I succeed in rescuing my kin, I will return to repay you. If I fail, my soul will return on its own and merge with the blood I leave behind. Then, find a common boundary stone as a seed, water it with my blood, and in three years it will ascend—this will be my repayment.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cui Yu reached out to pat his shoulder, but a bad memory flared instantly, and he withdrew his hand: “Then come back alive. A single boundary stone ascending isn’t enough repayment.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hule Gaoen sighed helplessly: “You’re truly insatiable!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cui Yu laughed heartily: “I know value when I see it. Go with peace—this journey should go smoothly.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hule Gaoen nodded and walked into the depths of the great mountains.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After seeing off Hule Gaoen, Cui Yu returned to the fortress and opened the materials he had left behind, reading them carefully.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the history of the Mountain Folk, there had once been a glorious past, giving rise to countless great city-states and nations, yet tribes constantly waged war against each other, conquering and killing in endless cycles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this time, a young Mountain Folk emerged from nowhere.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could cultivate spontaneously from birth; at ten, he manifested a Law Form—said to be a terrifying three-headed giant. By twenty, he had reached the Divine Landscape realm; his inner world was an immensely fertile rock mountain, where every scarce resource could be found, even long-extinct rare ores regenerating within it. He was instantly regarded by countless Mountain Folk artisans and craftsmen as their final hope.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He did not indulge in personal cultivation but saw the Mountain Folk’s fragmented state; he traveled far and wide, spreading his doctrine, calling all Mountain Folk to unite and expand outward together.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At thirty, he ascended to Immortality, shocking all Mountain Folk—even the most defiant ancient giants admitted he was truly favored by heaven and earth, and submitted to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Mountain Folk’s ancient faith was the primordial full moon; in his new doctrine, he himself was the one and only true god of heaven and earth, revered as the Stone Ancestor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Stone Ancestor, accompanied by his sixteen ancient giants, traversed the One Hundred Thousand Mountains, bringing each Mountain Folk tribe under his faith. Tribes that refused to convert were mercilessly erased.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After unifying the Mountain Folk realm, the Stone Ancestor formally founded the new religion, its totem still the moon—but to distinguish it from the primordial full moon, it was called the New Moon Sect, or simply the New Faith.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During the unification, the Stone Ancestor encountered many terrible foes and suffered hidden injuries, finally perishing at ten thousand years old. Before death, he lowered his inner world into the mortal realm, causing countless gems and minerals to rain upon the earth, making the Mountain Folk lands extraordinarily rich in ore. The Stone Ancestor himself transformed into the Dao.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But soon after the Stone Ancestor’s death, his designated successor, the new Patriarch Puge, mysteriously died. The vast New Moon Sect plunged into chaos: one faction supported Su Mei, the Stone Ancestor’s most outstanding disciple; the other backed Long Ji, the Stone Ancestor’s direct bloodline. The two factions’ struggle intensified, reaching an irreconcilable impasse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon after, Su Mei also mysteriously died. His death ignited the fury of all his followers, and his disciple Khalid inherited the Patriarch’s seat. But Khalid was an ordinary Mountain Folk, not a giant—so the bloodline faction felt insulted, and the two sides shattered completely, launching a prolonged, bloody war that drew in over twenty ancient giants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After this war, the New Faith split into the Bloodline Faction and the True Knowledge Faction, warring against each other for over a million years, viewing one another as the sole and eternal enemy, frequently committing entire-tribe massacres.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a million years, in the Golden Hammer Tribe of the True Knowledge Faction, Hule Gaoen was born.\u003C\u002Fp>",842,"2026-06-20T03:38:38.899Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","01466d6ab7459e3c356ee2ff0f8d26cedd567da08fb1ad07995fab7fd8ce676c","the-dragon-lies-hidden-chapter-955","the-dragon-lies-hidden-chapter-953",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-dragon-lies-hidden-cover.jpg"]