Chapter Summaries

Cui Yunfan and the Five Clans of Guanzhong offered to fight the Yu Beichen Brothers, but used the dispute over Great Liang’s policies to seek access to the Soaring Cloud Great Hall. As Hou Zhantian faced pressure to accept, a familiar blue-robed figure stepped forward to take the fight instead.

• Cui Yunfan asked Hou Zhantian to let the Five Clans of Guanzhong fight for Great Liang, and Hou agreed.
• Yu Beichen reminded Cui Yunfan that he had once condemned Great Liang for excluding youths who cultivated abroad, while Cui claimed he remained loyal to Great Liang.
• Xie Kun and several other youths refused to fight, citing oaths not to fight for Great Liang unless its policies changed.
• Cui Yunfan asked for his junior brothers to enter the Soaring Cloud Great Hall if they won, and the spectators pressured Hou Zhantian to accept.
• As Hou Zhantian struggled with Cui Yunfan’s demand, Lin Chen’s side heard a blue-robed youth declare that the junior brothers could handle the Southern Sands Three Islands themselves.

Lin Chen entered the match against the Yu Beichen Brothers after gaining confidence from his time in the Soaring Cloud Great Hall. When the brothers injured Cao Fan and Liu Yuanlang with a surprise attack, Lin Chen faced them alone and asked whether weapons were allowed.

• Lin Chen accepted Hou Zhantian's decision to fight and joined Cao Fan and Liu Yuanlang in the arena.
• The Yu Beichen Brothers secretly used their Combined Attack Technique, sending Cao Fan and Liu Yuanlang flying and leaving them badly injured.
• Lin Chen told the two senior brothers to rest and advanced to face the three brothers alone.
• Lin Chen asked the referee whether weapons were allowed, and Yu Fei began to suspect what he intended.

Lin Chen defeated the Yu Beichen Brothers with three arrows, securing Great Liang’s victory and raising its prestige. News of his feat reached Kong Qifeng in the capital, lifting his spirits and sending him to challenge the imperial court’s scholars.

• Lin Chen drew the Dragon Shadow Bow, and the Yu Beichen Brothers charged with their Spirit Weapons to stop him from firing.
• Lin Chen’s first golden arrow pierced Yu Beichen’s spear arm, and his next two arrows pierced Yu Dongming and Yu Xingye’s spear arms.
• The Southern Sands Three Islands conceded, and Lin Chen thanked Cui Yunfan before leaving the Training Ground with his companions.
• Kong Qifeng heard that the Yu Beichen Brothers had been defeated and assumed the Five Clans of Guanzhong were responsible.
• Chu Zining told Kong Qifeng that Lin Chen had won with three arrows, and Kong Qifeng prepared to visit the Imperial Palace after eating.

Zhao Qianqiu faced pressure from four Golden Garden Elders to support changes to Great Liang’s martial arts policies, but news of Lin Chen’s victory over the Yu Beichen Brothers transformed their discussion. She left to meet Lin Chen and expected the Elders to fight for a higher Hidden Dragon Ranking for him.

• Four Golden Garden Elders urged Zhao Qianqiu to back changes to Great Liang’s policies ahead of the Hidden Dragon Ranking, while she defended the opportunities the current system had given Lin Chen and other ordinary youths.
• Zhang Shunan arrived with news that Great Liang had won the battle at Soaring Cloud Martial Arts Academy, and Zhao Qianqiu demanded to know how Lin Chen had been involved.
• Zhang Shunan explained that Lin Chen had defeated the Yu Beichen Brothers with three arrows after his two teammates were badly wounded.
• Zhao Qianqiu laughed at the Elders’ mistaken assumption that Lin Chen had merely served as a mascot, then went to see him.
• The four Elders agreed to argue for a higher ranking for Lin Chen, and Zhao Qianqiu recalled that he had tried several times to meet her.

Lin Chen told Hou Zhantian about his progress in the Soaring Cloud Great Hall, including reaching the fifth revolution of the Nine Revolutions True Blood Organ Refining. Hou Zhantian explained how Martial Arts Will worked and why Lin Chen remained in the Organ Refining Realm despite being Ranked in strength, then an elder from the Martial Garden arrived.

• Lin Chen recounted his cultivation in the Soaring Cloud Great Hall, and Hou Zhantian privately confirmed that he had reached the fifth revolution through the Soaring Cloud Power.
• Hou Zhantian explained how spirit and soul gave rise to Martial Arts Will and how Spirit Weapons helped ordinary martial artists form and advance theirs.
• Hou Zhantian told Lin Chen that he was Ranked in strength but still in the Organ Refining Realm because his Martial Arts Will could not yet be fully externalized.
• Hou Zhantian explained that Lin Chen could reveal an incomplete Martial Arts Will without exposing his cultivation method, and Lin Chen considered how his tiny humanoid will might appear in battle.
• A messenger reported that an elder from the Martial Garden had arrived, and Lin Chen hoped it might be Elder Zhao from Poyang County.

Zhao Qianqiu explained to Lin Chen and Hou Zhantian that the Nine Kingdoms had received martial arts from the Yan Imperial Dynasty and were nearing the end of its thousand-year period of protection. The Martial Garden had issued the Hidden Dragon Ranking to identify and support geniuses who could defend the Nine Kingdoms from powerful outside forces.

• Zhao Qianqiu arrived at the palace gates, and Lin Chen thanked her for the help she had given him through the Martial Garden.
• Zhao Qianqiu told Lin Chen and Hou Zhantian that Lin Chen had been ranked tenth on the Hidden Dragon Ranking before defeating the Yu Beichen Brothers.
• Zhao Qianqiu revealed that a Bamboo Slip from the Snow Region Secret Realm traced the martial arts of four ancient kingdoms to the Yan Imperial Dynasty.
• Zhao Qianqiu explained that the Yan Imperial Dynasty had designated the Nine Kingdoms a Desolate Land and allowed them a thousand years to develop martial arts independently.
• Hou Zhantian warned that forces from the Yan Imperial Dynasty could now enter the developed Nine Kingdoms, and said they needed to cultivate powerful geniuses.
• Zhao Qianqiu said the Martial Garden had created the Hidden Dragon Ranking to identify geniuses and provide them with abundant martial arts resources.

Zhao Qianqiu explained the Hidden Dragon Ranking and confirmed Lin Chen was first on the Human Ranking, while Lin Chen learned how Great Liang’s other martial artists had placed. Murong Yan gave Lin Chen a jade pendant containing a strand of her soul to help protect him from soul damage, then decided to return to Yan to investigate what had happened in the Snow Region.

• Zhao Qianqiu told Lin Chen and Hou Zhantian that the Martial Garden had ranked Lin Chen first on the Human Ranking and described the ranking rules and rewards.
• Lin Chen learned that six martial artists from Great Liang had made the Human Ranking, three had made the Earth Ranking, and one had made the Heaven Ranking.
• Meng Xing and the other junior brothers congratulated Lin Chen, and Lin Chen asked which Great Liang martial artists had made the rankings.
• Murong Yan told Lin Chen that his soul could be damaged by further pain, then gave him a jade pendant containing a strand of her soul and asked him to keep it safe.
• Murong Yan told Su Qin she planned to return to Yan the next day to ask her father what had happened in the Snow Region.

After the Hidden Dragon Ranking shook the Nine Kingdoms, Lin Chen visited Zhao Qianqiu, who offered to help him advance his Nine Revolutions technique and revealed the Martial Arts Garden’s ties to the Yan Imperial Dynasty. She warned that rival factions might exploit the kingdoms’ geniuses and urged Lin Chen to become strong enough to control his own fate.

• The Martial Arts Garden released the Hidden Dragon Ranking, and Lin Chen’s first-place Human Ranking was affirmed after his battle at Soaring Cloud Martial Arts Academy.
• Zhang Shunan escorted Lin Chen to meet Zhao Qianqiu at the Martial Arts Garden.
• Zhao Qianqiu confirmed that Lin Chen was cultivating the Nine Revolutions True Blood Organ Refining technique and promised a gift to help him reach the sixth revolution.
• Zhao Qianqiu revealed that the Garden Master and Great Liang’s Founding Emperor had been fellow disciples, and that the Garden Master had found a Bamboo Slip connected to the Yan Imperial Dynasty.
• Zhao Qianqiu warned Lin Chen that kingdoms might conceal other Bamboo Slips to gain an advantage when the Yan Imperial Dynasty arrived.
• Zhao Qianqiu told Lin Chen that he would need to surpass every genius in the Nine Kingdoms’ history to attract the Yan Imperial Dynasty’s attention and control his own fate.

Lin Chen prepared to leave Soaring Cloud City for home and Azure Ripple Martial Arts Academy, but Gao Mushan challenged him for first place on the Human Ranking. Lin Chen defeated Gao Mushan with a barehanded strike, leaving his status as the ranking’s strongest below the Grade Entry realm undisputed.

• Lin Chen said he was returning to Poyang County before heading back to Azure Ripple Martial Arts Academy, and urged Meng Xing, Yu Fei, and the others to keep cultivating.
• Gao Mushan, ranked second on the Human Ranking, challenged Lin Chen at the city gates, while Lin Chen’s companions explained the danger of Gao Mushan’s Profound Nether Ice Soul Art.
• Lin Chen refused to go to the Martial Park but agreed to fight at the gates after the Black Armored Guard warned them about damage to the city.
• Gao Mushan attacked with his ice-coated spear, but Lin Chen’s palm vaporized the frost, bent the spear, and sent Gao Mushan crashing into the city wall.
• A Zhao Kingdom martial artist declared Lin Chen deservedly first below the Grade Entry realm, while the Han Country youths said they would judge him again after he reached that realm.

After Lin Chen returned to Lakeside Village, Su Lingchuan visited Jia Nanzhu and offered to host Lin Chen’s welcome feast, while Lin Chen told his teacher about the Martial Garden’s sixth-rank resources and the political conflict behind the challenge in Soaring Cloud City. Jia Nanzhu urged Lin Chen to stop burdening himself with affairs beyond his influence and sent him to the Ancestral Hall to quiet his mind.

• Su Lingchuan arranged a five-hundred-tael reward for the Lin Family and traveled to Lakeside Village to meet Jia Nanzhu, while his aide delivered the silver.
• Lin Chen welcomed Su Lingchuan and He Ruyun, recounted his battles in Soaring Cloud City, and agreed to visit the martial arts hall when he entered the county city.
• Lin Chen told Jia Nanzhu that Elder Zhao had offered him sixth-rank resources and explained the Yan Imperial Dynasty’s connection to the challenge and the Martial Arts Administration Department dispute.
• Jia Nanzhu warned Lin Chen against worrying about matters he could not influence and told him to cultivate instead.
• Jia Nanzhu ordered Lin Chen to visit his parents and spend the night at the Ancestral Hall.

Lin Chen returned to Lakeside Village, named his unborn nephew or niece, and visited Still Water Martial Arts Hall and other local martial arts schools, where disciples celebrated his return. After hosting a banquet in Poyang County, he set out for Raozhou Prefecture to visit Instructor Yu and Jiang Manor.

• Lin Liang showed Lin Chen the costly gifts sent after his wedding, and Lin Chen told him to keep them.
• At Chen Ting and Mother Lin's request, Lin Chen named the unborn child Lin Xiao if a boy and Lin Zhao if a girl.
• Lin Chen visited Still Water Martial Arts Hall, invited Kong Yinglei and Hall Master Zeng to Su Lingchuan's banquet, and was mobbed by excited junior sisters.
• Lin Chen visited Town Yue Martial Arts Academy and Gale Martial Arts Hall, then hosted a banquet for local martial arts leaders and disciples.
• Lin Chen left for Raozhou Prefecture to visit Instructor Yu and Jiang Manor.

After returning to Raozhou Prefecture, Lin Chen visited Jiang Manor, received a mysterious flower token from Zhuang Min, and waited for news from Elder Zhao. The Martial Arts Garden then gave him ten thousand martial arts manuals from the other eight kingdoms and began his sixth revolution using the gentle essence of Zhao Kingdom’s Cloud Cauldron Mother Tree.

• Lin Chen learned Instructor Yu had gone to Hongdu Prefecture to attempt becoming a Ranked Martial Artist, then visited Jiang Manor and learned Senior Sister Jiang had returned to the Azure Ripple Martial Arts Academy.
• Zhuang Min gave Lin Chen the Flower Appraisal Jade and privately explained that she gave him the clan’s Flower Suppressing Token to protect him from Plant and Tree Spirits if the Yan Imperial Dynasty entered.
• Lin Chen visited Bu Wenbin, returned to Lakeside Village, and studied weapon techniques Jia Nanzhu had gathered while waiting for Elder Zhao’s message.
• Seven days later, Zhao Qianqiu brought Lin Chen ten thousand martial arts manuals from the other eight kingdoms, which he could read only at the Martial Arts Garden for three months.
• Lin Chen chose to complete his sixth revolution before studying the manuals, and Zhao Qianqiu placed him in a pool infused with Cloud Cauldron Mother Tree essence.
• Lin Chen absorbed the gentle emerald essence as the Nine Revolutions Organ Refining technique advanced his transformation.

Lin Chen completed the sixth revolution of Nine Revolutions Organ Refining with the help of the Cloud Cauldron Mother Tree leaves, then spent three months studying secret manuals in the Martial Garden. The bells rang twelve times, and Yan He'an warned him that grave, likely bad news had struck Great Liang.

• Zhao Qianqiu used four leaves of the Cloud Cauldron Mother Tree to help Lin Chen complete his sixth revolution, increasing his technique circulation speed and body-tempering intensity.
• Lin Chen told Jia Nanzhu about his breakthrough and the golden sun in his spiritual platform, and Jia Nanzhu speculated that the Martial Garden's ties to Zhao Kingdom explained Han Country's restraint.
• Lin Chen stayed in the Martial Garden, where Zhao Jingchuan told him Lu Yongfeng had entered seclusion to break through to the Aperture Opening Realm.
• Lin Chen read and comprehended three thousand secret manuals over three months, then prepared to burn the remaining manuals as Zhao Qianqiu had instructed.
• The bell rang twelve times, and Yan He'an told Lin Chen that the signal meant a major event, probably bad news, had occurred in Great Liang.

After the Northern Border Demon Race invaded Great Liang, Jia Nanzhu explained to Lin Chen how foreign kingdoms had previously prevented Great Liang from eradicating the demons and urged him to grow stronger. Lin Chen returned to Azure Ripple Martial Arts Academy, learned his junior brothers’ true identities, and was sent to pursue rapid cultivation before a coming opportunity in Ze Country.

• Jia Nanzhu told Lin Chen that the Northern Border Demon Race had launched a full invasion and that ten thousand Great Liang martial artists had died in one day.
• Jia Nanzhu explained that the Imperial Advisor of Han Country had once forced Great Liang to abandon its plan to destroy the Northern Border Demon Race by threatening trouble in the south.
• Lin Chen urged his junior brothers to trust Great Liang’s defenders and focus on becoming Ranked Martial Artists instead of rushing to the Northern Border.
• Fang Zhan told Lin Chen that Xiao Huohuo was really Xiao Yaojin, the Young Marquis of the Marquis Zhenbei’s residence, and revealed that he was Fang Funan’s grandson.
• Hua Qianwu sent Lin Chen to the Azure Ripple Mountain Range to reach the Seventh Revolution and told him that the top ten on the Earth Ranking would travel to Cloud Marsh Land in Ze Country in three months.

Lin Chen entered the Azure Ripple Mountain Range to cultivate in Azure Ripple Lake and break through to the Seventh Revolution. At the lake’s depths, he absorbed Azure Ripple Energy, but the Soaring Cloud Power and Mother Tree Essence inside him dispersed it before he could understand what had happened.

• Lin Chen learned from Jiang Qing that Azure Ripple Lake held far more Azure Ripple Energy than Three Pools Mountain, but was dangerously cold.
• Hua Qianwu brought Lin Chen to the lake and told him to remain there until he broke through; Qu Feng was tasked with explaining the lake’s conditions.
• Lin Chen entered Azure Ripple Lake and descended toward its deepest point, finding little change when he first tried to absorb its energy.
• At the lake’s bottom, Lin Chen circulated the Nine Revolutions True Blood Organ Refining technique and drew ice-blue Azure Ripple Energy into his body.
• The Azure Ripple Energy made Lin Chen’s qi and blood surge, but the Soaring Cloud Power and Mother Tree Essence in him resisted it and made it vanish.

Lin Chen discovered that Lingxiao Energy prevented him from absorbing much Azure Ripple Energy, but he endured three quarters of an hour at the lake’s bottom before returning safely. After Li Yuan tested his strength in a spar, he judged Lin Chen capable of reaching the top ten of the Earth Ranking, and Lin Chen learned that the lake’s energy would be denser during the next day’s flood tide.

• Lin Chen found that Lingxiao Energy drove Azure Ripple Energy out of his body and that a force from the lake’s center blocked him from going deeper.
• After Lin Chen stayed underwater for three quarters of an hour, Qu Feng and the others worried, and Li Yuan prepared to search for him until Lin Chen emerged unharmed.
• Li Yuan invited Lin Chen to spar, and their first exchange sent Lin Chen flying while exposing the icy force of Li Yuan’s Azure Ripple Strength.
• Lin Chen unleashed Palm Seven and forced Li Yuan to take a step back, prompting Li Yuan to say Lin Chen could enter the top ten of the Earth Ranking.
• Lin Chen asked why he could not absorb much Azure Ripple Energy, and Li Yuan explained that the lake’s center released far more energy during its daily flood tide.

Lin Chen was pulled into the Azure Ripple Abyss when Azure Ripple Lake erupted unexpectedly, prompting the academy to raise its alert and activate its protective formation. As he struggled to protect his spiritual platform, the jade pendant Murong Yan had given him brought her figure before him.

• Lin Chen entered Azure Ripple Lake during high tide and absorbed its surging Azure Ripple Energy while moving toward the lake's center.
• Instructors noticed a vortex accelerate and ordered the disciples ashore, but Li Yuan and Lin Chen were missing; Liu Ru rescued the unconscious Li Yuan.
• Hua Qianwu learned that Lin Chen had been sucked into the Azure Ripple Abyss and ordered the academy to enter Grade-A alert and activate its grand formation.
• The chapter revealed that a powerful suction had dragged Lin Chen toward the lake center, where Azure Ripple Energy overwhelmed him and threatened his spiritual platform.
• Murong Yan declined a banquet in Great Yan, then felt a reaction linked to Lin Chen's jade pendant; Su Qin told her maid to report that Murong Yan was unwell.

Lin Chen recovered beneath Azure Ripple Lake, absorbed its dense energy, and advanced to the Seventh Revolution before discovering a palace known as the Azure Ripple True Lord's Estate. Hidden nearby, he witnessed Qin Tian's companions betray him and learned the estate held an Azure Ripple Token that could lead to the Azure Ripple Sect.

• Lin Chen absorbed the Azure Ripple Energy clogging his meridians, recovered, and continued cultivating until his spiritual platform changed and he reached the Seventh Revolution.
• Lin Chen inspected his System Panel, saw that his Town Yue Manual had reached 4.0, and found an icy-blue palace beneath Azure Ripple Lake.
• Lin Chen hid beside the palace as Qin Tian and three young martial artists arrived and identified it as the Azure Ripple True Lord's Estate.
• Qin Tian's female companion and her senior brother poisoned and attacked Qin Tian, then tortured him for information about the estate.
• Qin Tian revealed that the estate held an Azure Ripple Token that could grant passage to the Azure Ripple Sect, and his companions turned on each other over it.
• Qin Tian's female companion distracted her senior brother, but he struck her with a bloody palm and declared that he would kill Qin Tian next.

Lin Chen killed Liu Hong and learned that Wu Country and the Azure Ripple Sea Demons had attacked Azure Ripple Martial Arts Academy to seize the Azure Ripple Token. After entering True Lord Azure Ripple’s palace, he received the Azure Ripple Finger technique and discovered it was required to qualify for Azure Ripple Sect.

• Liu Hong tortured Qin Tian for information, but Lin Chen ambushed Liu Hong with the Dragon Shadow Bow and killed him.
• Qin Tian told Lin Chen that Wu Country and the Azure Ripple Sea Demons had joined forces to attack Azure Ripple Martial Arts Academy, and asked him to avenge him by killing the Wu Country Prime Minister.
• Qin Tian revealed that the Azure Ripple Token could devour anyone who tried to take it without first mastering the secret technique, then asked Lin Chen to give him a quick death.
• Lin Chen killed Qin Tian and opened the palace doors by circulating Azure Ripple Energy.
• Lin Chen found the Azure Ripple Token and a scroll, which revealed the Azure Ripple Finger technique and sent its knowledge into his mind.

Lin Chen inherited the Azure Ripple Finger, received an Azure Ripple Token that bound him to the Azure Ripple Sect’s examination, and left the palace for the Azure Ripple Sea Race’s lair. He began searching the lair while the race’s Ranked fighters were away, and discovered a chamber piled with Azure Ripple Pearls.

• Lin Chen accepted the Azure Ripple Finger inheritance, endured its pressure with the help of three energies, and absorbed the complete martial arts technique.
• Lin Chen tested the Azure Ripple Finger and found that a single strike drained all his energy, though he believed it could surpass his Dragon Shadow Bow.
• Fei Fanyang’s phantom awarded Lin Chen the Azure Ripple Token and ordered him to reach the Azure Ripple Sect in the Yan Imperial Dynasty within five years, warning that token bearers could not join other sects.
• Lin Chen left the palace, found a vortex passage into the Azure Ripple Sea Race’s lair, and decided to raid it while its Ranked members attacked the Azure Ripple Martial Arts Academy.
• Lin Chen sneaked through the sea race’s caves and found a chamber containing more than a thousand Azure Ripple Pearls.