Chapter Summaries

Lin Heng visited Saint Ye, told him about Ye Tian and the Upper Realm cultivator who had nearly killed him, and questioned Saint Ye about his origins and motives. Saint Ye explained his long isolation inside the mirror and reassured Lin Heng, who then agreed to steal wine from Uncle Prison with him.

• Lin Heng tried to reassure Mu Liuxi and Duan Shuyun that he would make time for them, but both women rejected his promises.
• Lin Heng found Saint Ye in the bamboo grove and shared wine with him, and Saint Ye noticed that Lin Heng had broken through.
• Lin Heng described his fight with Ye Tian and revealed that Ye Tian had an Upper Realm cultivator advising him, surprising Saint Ye.
• Lin Heng asked Saint Ye why he lived inside the mirror and whether he had an ulterior purpose, and Saint Ye described the loneliness of his endless confinement.
• Saint Ye reassured Lin Heng that he meant him no harm, and the two headed to Uncle Prison's cellar to steal his stored wine.

Lin Heng visited Meng Yutong, who warned him that Dugu Zhengyuan would arrive the next morning and might make trouble for him because of an old family dispute. She advised Lin Heng to behave well and show off his talents so he could establish himself in Ten Directions Hall.

• Lin Heng sneaked into Meng Yutong's room and admired her before she caught him reaching for her skirt.
• Meng Yutong told Lin Heng that his New Year reward would have to wait three days and depend on certain conditions.
• Meng Yutong warned Lin Heng that Dugu Zhengyuan would arrive the next morning and might drive their household away because Lin Heng's father had once angered him.
• Meng Yutong urged Lin Heng to be polite and demonstrate his talent to Dugu Zhengyuan, while Lin Heng agreed to present himself as a peerless genius.

Lin Heng flirted with Meng Yutong, while Dugu Feng postponed having a child with Shen Yeting and discovered that Lin Heng had stolen wine from his cellar. Dugu Zhengyuan arrived at Ten Directions Hall, where the clan gathered to welcome him.

• Lin Heng stayed to kiss Meng Yutong, then teased her before dodging the club she threw at him.
• Shen Yeting proposed having a child, but Dugu Feng persuaded her to wait until they both reached Dao Integration.
• After spending the night together, Dugu Feng found two jars of rice agarwood wine missing and suspected Lin Heng and his Spiritual Lotus Root had stolen them.
• Dugu Feng prepared to welcome his Eldest Uncle as the Dugu Clan gathered outside Ten Directions Hall.
• Dugu Zhengyuan descended from his carriage, received Dugu Feng's greeting, and walked into Ten Directions Hall.

Dugu Zhengyuan challenged Lin Heng’s place in the Dugu Clan, unaware that Lin Heng had only recently been found after being lost for over twenty years. When Dugu Qiusheng proposed a harsh trial to test him, Meng Yutong defended her disciple and demanded that he compete alongside the other clan juniors instead.

• Dugu Zhengyuan questioned why Dugu Aotian was absent and learned that Lin Heng had injured him in a contest.
• Dugu Zhengyuan told Lin Heng that being Dugu Zixuan’s son did not make him a member of the Dugu Clan, and Shen Yeting argued that he should not be blamed for being lost.
• Dugu Feng revealed to Shen Yeting that he had not told the clan elders Lin Heng was missing for over twenty years.
• Dugu Qiusheng proposed a coming-of-age trial for Lin Heng, threatening to send him back to the Western Continent if he failed.
• Meng Yutong rejected a trial designed for Lin Heng alone and challenged the Dugu juniors to compete against him instead.

Dugu Zhengyuan turned Lin Heng’s proposed assessment into a challenge for all the Dugu Clan juniors, while granting Lin Heng a less demanding passing condition. The juniors reluctantly accepted, and Dugu Zhengyuan left with Dugu Feng to prepare the secret realm.

• Meng Yutong defended Lin Heng, and Dugu Qiusheng objected that the assessment should not involve the other juniors.
• Lin Heng boasted that he would clear the assessment while the others failed, and the clan noticed he had advanced to mid-stage Golden Core.
• Shen Yeting silenced the gossip, and Dugu Zhengyuan ordered every junior to enter a secret realm he would personally arrange.
• Dugu Zhengyuan said Lin Heng would pass if he reached the halfway point, though he expected only three juniors to do so.
• Dugu Feng accompanied Dugu Zhengyuan out of the hall, while Dugu Qiusheng and the others left unhappy about having to enter the secret realm.

Dugu Feng brought Dugu Zhengyuan to the side hall, where they discussed Dugu Dingyan’s absence, the threat from Eight Desolations Hall, and Dugu Dingyan’s search for an immortal opportunity. Dugu Feng then began to explain their nephew’s situation, but Dugu Zhengyuan warned that he would torment the boy in the secret realm if Dugu Feng tried to defend him.

• Dugu Feng served Dugu Zhengyuan tea and learned that Dugu Zhengyuan had expected Dugu Dingyan to arrive before him.
• Dugu Feng stopped Dugu Zhengyuan from scolding Dugu Zixuan, and Dugu Zhengyuan warned that Nine Dust Hall and Eight Desolations Hall might challenge Ten Directions Hall’s territory.
• Dugu Zhengyuan told Dugu Feng that Dugu Dingyan had left the Heavenly Profound Continent to seek an immortal opportunity, and ordered him to keep the news secret.
• Dugu Feng asked Dugu Zhengyuan to hear about their nephew, but Dugu Zhengyuan threatened to torment the boy in the secret realm if Dugu Feng pleaded for him.

Dugu Feng told Dugu Zhengyuan that Lin Heng had been lost in the wilderness for more than twenty years, changing the old man’s view of his grandnephew and prompting him to consider giving Lin Heng a chance in the secret realm. Meanwhile, Lin Heng teased Meng Yutong until she accidentally agreed to his request to call her his wife.

• Dugu Feng explained that Lin Heng had been taken to the Western Continent as a baby, lost, and found only after more than twenty years of searching.
• Dugu Zhengyuan felt guilty for criticizing Lin Heng and agreed to make the secret realm somewhat easier while giving him a hint.
• Dugu Feng urged Dugu Zhengyuan to compensate Lin Heng, praising his strength and completed Five Elements Body.
• As the Dugu Clan juniors prepared for the secret realm, Lin Heng repeatedly kissed Meng Yutong while she tried to resist.
• Meng Yutong reassured Lin Heng that only their family could bully him, and she accidentally said yes when he asked whether she accepted being his wife.

Lin Heng admitted that he resented the Dugu Clan’s treatment but planned to enter its secret realm before deciding whether to leave. He joined the clan disciples for Dugu Dingyan’s ancient Dynasty simulation and disappeared into the realm as the trial began.

• Lin Heng told Meng Yutong that he did not care about gaining the Dugu Clan’s recognition and was angry that Dugu Zhengyuan had humiliated him for his father’s actions.
• Lin Heng said he would use the secret realm to show off and make Dugu Zhengyuan regret looking down on him, and Meng Yutong supported his decision to leave the clan afterward.
• Lin Heng visited Saint Ye to gain experience before the next morning’s secret-realm trial.
• At Ten Directions Hall, Saint Ye criticized the secret realm while Lin Heng warned him that Dugu Zhengyuan could hear them, then accidentally clarified that he had called Saint Ye “Old Deng.”
• Dugu Zhengyuan explained the simulation’s rules, and Lin Heng vanished into the secret realm after his senior sisters wished him luck.

Lin Heng entered a simulated Age of Creation secret realm, where contestants had disguises and missions tied to competing artifact-forging factions. As the others learned the history behind Withered Hibernation and Startled Swan, they realized Lin Heng had no assigned faction, apparently by Dugu Zhengyuan’s design.

• Lin Heng entered the secret realm, found a cryptic mission slip, and discovered that the realm had changed his appearance.
• Dugu Qiusheng found himself disguised as a fat woman and abandoned his plan to target Lin Heng because the disguises made contestants hard to identify.
• Outside the secret realm, Dugu Zhengyuan explained the history of Withered Hibernation and Startled Swan and the sword domain’s ten-part division.
• The contestants discovered that their missions assigned them to five artifact-forging factions, while Lin Heng had no faction restriction.
• Leng Qingyun pointed out Lin Heng’s unusual mission, and Leng Qingqiu and Duan Shuyun urged her not to draw Dugu Zhengyuan’s attention to it.

In the secret realm, Lin Heng learned how the sword-ranking task worked and discovered that Dugu Qiusheng and several relatives were competing under different identities. After they resolved to stop Lin Heng from succeeding, one of them proposed a plan to expose him.

• Meng Yutong scolded her disciples for making a scene, while Saint Ye secretly assessed her Supreme Yin Dao Body.
• Lin Heng learned he could complete the task by finding Withered Hibernation and Startled Swan or by presenting a sword that ranked in the top ten.
• Dugu Qiusheng gathered five people to compare their assigned forces and tasks, but kept his own restricted task secret.
• Lin Heng recognized the gathered relatives and considered eliminating them, then rejected the idea because it would undermine the secret realm's purpose.
• Dugu Wenxiong joined Dugu Qiusheng's group, and the relatives agreed to focus on preventing Lin Heng from winning.
• One of the relatives claimed to have a plan that would force Lin Heng to reveal his identity.

Lin Heng used Dugu Wenxiong’s identity to persuade the Dugu clan group to search for him while focusing on their mission. Dugu Zhengyuan added a famous sword ranking reward, fracturing their unity as Meng Yutong anticipated Lin Heng’s next scheme.

• Lin Heng, disguised as Dugu Wenxiong, proposed planting informants in the five great gates to uncover where Lin Heng would hide.
• Dugu Qiusheng approved the plan, and Dugu Song took Lin Heng to make contact with Cosmic Pavilion.
• Dugu Zhengyuan added rewards for the top three on the famous sword ranking, including a Treasure Vault selection for first place.
• The new reward distracted the Dugu participants from hunting Lin Heng and stirred competition among them.
• Meng Yutong told Shen Yeting that Lin Heng was likely preparing to cause trouble.

Lin Heng accompanied Dugu Qiusheng to Cosmic Pavilion and used his assumed identity as Dugu Wenxiong to prepare for the gathering of its members. He left the twin brothers believing he was Dugu Qiusheng and that Lin Heng was upstairs, setting up a chance to mislead those seeking him.

• Lin Heng followed Dugu Qiusheng to Cosmic Pavilion, where Dugu Qiusheng negotiated with its manager about forging swords for the upcoming selection of the top ten famous weapons.
• Lin Heng considered how to make use of the secret realm’s rewards and asked Dugu Qiusheng about gathering Cosmic Pavilion’s members.
• Dugu Qiusheng revealed that he owned Spring Pavilion and gave Lin Heng a token to register the Cosmic Pavilion members arriving that night.
• Lin Heng intimidated the twin brothers, then claimed to be Dugu Qiusheng after they introduced themselves as Zhang Zhu and Zhang Zhu.
• The twins revealed their names as Dugu Hua and Dugu Zhengze, and Lin Heng told them that Lin Heng was upstairs before stopping them from rushing off to attack him.

Lin Heng impersonated Dugu Qiusheng and convinced Dugu Hua and Dugu Zhengze to help him stir up trouble while keeping their eyes on the Treasure Vault. Outside the secret realm, Meng Yutong restrained her bickering disciples as Dugu Zhengyuan watched the juniors being misled.

• Lin Heng told Dugu Hua and Dugu Zhengze that he was the Spring Tower boss impersonating Dugu Qiusheng and urged them to play along until the time was right to kill him.
• Lin Heng persuaded the two Dugu juniors to make him a scapegoat and focus on winning first place and entering the Treasure Vault.
• Yun Yao and the other senior sisters laughed at Lin Heng's deception, and Yun Yao teased Leng Qingyun for caring about his appearance.
• Leng Qingqiu and Yun Yao ganged up on Leng Qingyun until Meng Yutong scolded them and defended her.
• Dugu Zhengyuan watched the secret-realm scenes and worried that Lin Heng was making the Dugu juniors look foolish, then reminded himself that the boy's cleverness could be a good thing.

Lin Heng, disguised as Dugu Wenxiong and manipulating the juniors who believed he was Dugu Qiusheng, led them to seize nether iron from the Artisan Workshop’s mining site. After securing the ore and withdrawing, Lin Heng planned to frame the real Dugu Qiusheng and take the mine for himself.

• Dugu Qiusheng gathered the Cosmic Pavilion’s juniors and assigned them tasks, while Lin Heng’s planted suspicions made them distrust him.
• Lin Heng led Dugu Hua and the others to follow the Artisan Workshop’s miners into the mountains, where they found the hidden nether iron site.
• Lin Heng ordered an attack, and Dugu Hua forced the surviving miners to surrender the ore before letting them retreat.
• The group found a chest of nether iron, and Lin Heng urged them to withdraw rather than risk being surrounded.
• Lin Heng planned to set a trap for Dugu Qiusheng and claim the mine for himself.

Lin Heng stirred up conflict among the factions in Famous Artifacts Town and let suspicion fall on Dugu Qiusheng. As the factions turned against one another, Lin Heng went to seek help from the Peach Society and Righteousness Pavilion, leaving Dugu Nan's group to receive an unexpected visitor.

• Lin Heng told Dugu Hua to spread word that Cosmic Pavilion had dark iron and to investigate other factions in Lin Heng's name, intensifying the conflict while framing Lin Heng as the culprit.
• Over five days, the Three Dao Guan was stolen, a Peach Society forging master was ambushed, and the Artisan Workshop's dark-iron mine was looted, driving the factions into disputes.
• Dugu Nan accused Dugu Qiusheng of sabotaging the other factions, while Dugu Qiusheng denied ordering the attacks and suspected Lin Heng was behind them.
• Dugu Hua told Lin Heng that Dugu Qiusheng suspected he was not Wen Xiong, prompting Lin Heng to plan another safeguard and leave for Righteousness Pavilion and the Peach Society.
• Dugu Nan and the Peach Society members complained about their losses, then heard that someone had arrived.

Lin Heng infiltrated the Dugu factions by impersonating Dugu Qiusheng and blaming their troubles on an outsider, then encountered the rejected artifact forger Xiao Sheng. Recognizing Xiao Sheng’s ideas about unranked artifacts as the key to the secret realm simulation, Lin Heng hired him to forge a sword.

• Lin Heng disguised himself as Dugu Wenxiong and convinced Dugu Nan’s group that an outsider had impersonated Dugu Qiusheng and caused trouble.
• Lin Heng repeated his performance at Righteousness Pavilion, where Dugu Xia agreed to work with him against the supposed culprit.
• Xiao Sheng introduced himself as an artifact forger without grade or rank, but Righteousness Pavilion rejected him and threw him out.
• Lin Heng followed Xiao Sheng and tested his confidence by calling him a swindler and questioning his skill.
• Xiao Sheng explained that true famous swords should be without grade or rank, and Lin Heng recognized him as a key to the secret realm simulation.
• Lin Heng gave Xiao Sheng three hundred Spirit Stones and asked him to forge a sword.

Dugu Zhengyuan raged that the others had failed to recognize Xiao Yunzhi, a famed artifact-forging master, while Saint Ye privately mocked Meng Yutong’s masterly efforts. In the secret realm, Lin Heng learned more about objects formed by the Dao and wondered whether his Nine Heavens Sword had ever acknowledged him.

• Duan Shuyun explained that Xiao Yunzhi was a renowned artifact-forging master who had studied under Solitary Shadow Remnant Guest, the Startling Swan Sword Master.
• Dugu Zhengyuan scolded Dugu Feng and threatened to punish everyone if they failed to find the other two people meant to break the deadlock.
• Saint Ye’s quiet remark offended Meng Yutong, who decided to question him about his origins and possible dangers.
• Lin Heng gave the artifact-forging items he had stolen to Xiao Sheng, then learned that no-grade, no-rank objects were formed by the Dao.
• Lin Heng reasoned that his Nine Heavens Sword should have an artifact spirit and wondered whether it had ever acknowledged him as its master.

Lin Heng visited Xiao Sheng at his ironworks and learned how a forger’s emotions shaped a weapon as he ordered a sword named Nine Heavens. Dugu Qiusheng and Dugu Zhengze discovered his deception and planned to seize the sword, while Mu Liuxi and Yun Yao made a bet about Lin Heng’s return.

• Lin Heng visited Xiao Sheng and listened as he explained how a forger’s nature influenced a weapon’s form and spirit.
• Lin Heng named the sword Xiao Sheng was forging Nine Heavens and arranged to collect it three days later.
• After Lin Heng left, Dugu Qiusheng and Dugu Zhengze revealed that they had discovered he was an impostor and planned to take the sword and kill him.
• Mu Liuxi reassured the other women that Lin Heng still had allies, while Yun Yao worried he would be beaten and wanted to leave early.
• Mu Liuxi bet Yun Yao that Lin Heng would win, offering her the first moon-viewing night with him if he lost and requiring Yun Yao to work properly for a month if he won.
• Yun Yao accepted the bet after Mu Liuxi provoked her.

Lin Heng took the newly forged imitation Nine Heavens Sword and fought Dugu Qiusheng and his allies in the secret realm. After Dugu Nan mistook Dugu Qiusheng for an impostor and attacked him, Lin Heng helped turn the clash against Qiusheng’s group, while the fleeing Qiusheng headed to Dugu Xia for reinforcements.

• Lin Heng collected the sword from Wen Xiong and revealed Dugu Qiusheng and five others waiting to ambush him.
• Lin Heng mocked Dugu Qiusheng and the Dugu juniors, then fought off their attacks and eliminated one of them with his sword.
• Dugu Qiusheng trapped Lin Heng inside a shrinking Greenwood barrier, but Lin Heng’s companions watched as the battle took an unexpected turn.
• Dugu Nan arrived and attacked Dugu Qiusheng, believing Lin Heng’s claim that Qiusheng was an impostor.
• Lin Heng stoked the confusion as the groups fought, and Dugu Zhengze and the others were eliminated while Dugu Qiusheng escaped.
• Dugu Qiusheng went to seek Dugu Xia’s help, and she eagerly prepared to confront Lin Heng.

Lin Heng escaped the Secret Realm after Dugu Qiusheng was mistaken for him and defeated, while the people outside discussed the failed test. Meanwhile, Meng Yutong was forcibly brought to Saint Ye so he could teach her.

• Dugu Qiusheng sought Dugu Xia’s help, but she mistook him for Lin Heng and attacked him as Lin Heng and Dugu Nan’s group arrived.
• Dugu Xia sent Dugu Qiusheng flying, and the group discovered Lin Heng had disappeared from the pavilion.
• Lin Heng left the Secret Realm’s boundary, and Shen Yeting told Dugu Feng that he had never intended to take the test seriously.
• Meng Yutong learned that Xiao Heng would return when the Secret Realm ended, then agreed with her disciples to visit the main city the next day.
• Saint Ye invited Meng Yutong to speak with him, and Duan Shuyun and the other Rebel Disciples carried her to the South Side Tower so he could teach her.