Chapter Summaries

Lin Chen awakened and absorbed the Azure Dawn True Flame after his three Xiantian Fires broke through its seal in the Flame Repository Pagoda. He returned safely to Yin Yue and began refining the flame, while Hundred Refinement City investigated its escape and Li Qin moved to protect Xiao Yan from suspicion.

• Lin Chen realized the Azure Dawn True Flame lacked spirituality, then his three Xiantian Fires attacked the void surrounding its sealed true body until it awakened.
• The Azure Dawn True Flame broke its seal, destroyed the Flame Repository Pagoda, and escaped underground after Lin Chen summoned it toward Alchemy Room B4.
• Lord Zhao questioned the alchemists and ordered them to remain in Hundred Refinement City, while Lin Chen concealed his role and returned to Yin Yue.
• Li Qin told Li Chongshan to say she had offered Xiao Yan the pagoda spot herself and to keep his bet with the Li family secret.
• After confirming no one was watching, Lin Chen gathered the four Xiantian Fires in his dantian and began refining the Azure Dawn True Flame with the Undying Scripture.

Lin Chen fused the Azure Dawn True Flame with his other three Xiantian Fires and broke through to the Xiantian Third Realm. After thanking Yin Yue for her support, he accepted Li Qin’s suggestion to leave for Thousand Machine City early, where the disappearance of the Azure Dawn True Flame had drawn the Thousand Machine Sect’s attention.

• Lin Chen refined the Azure Dawn True Flame, which enveloped the other three Xiantian Fires and fused them into a four-colored flame.
• Lin Chen used the fused flame to condense Xiantian Crystals throughout his acupoints, then liquefied them and broke through to the Xiantian Third Realm.
• Yin Yue witnessed Lin Chen’s breakthrough and wondered whether he had created an extraordinary cultivation method with the Undying Scripture.
• Lin Chen thanked Yin Yue for the resources she had provided, while she said she had helped for her own purposes.
• Li Qin visited Lin Chen, congratulated him on his breakthrough, and urged him to head to Thousand Machine City before experts investigated the missing Azure Dawn True Flame.
• Lin Chen agreed to leave for Thousand Machine City with Li Qin.

Lin Chen arrived in Thousand Machine City with Li Qin and Yin Yue, learned about its scale and the founder’s failed attempt to find another path to the God level, and explored the evolved power of his Undying Scripture. The Li family’s elders then arranged an alchemy contest between Xiao Yan and Yuan Shengyao over a competition quota, while recognizing that Lin Chen had concealed his true cultivation realm.

• Li Qin brought Lin Chen and Yin Yue to Thousand Machine City and explained its hierarchy and the Li family's territory.
• Yin Yue told Lin Chen that the Thousand Machine Sect's founder may have sought an alternative path to the God level, and Lin Chen said he would not accept a road ahead being closed.
• Lin Chen practiced the evolved Undying Scripture, displaying greatly increased speed, vitality, and a more powerful Eye of Azure Ripple.
• Li Kai challenged Li Qin's use of competition quotas for Xiao Yan, and the elders decided Xiao Yan and Yuan Shengyao would compete for one.
• Third Elder Li He revealed that Xiao Yan was actually at the Xiantian Third Realm and ordered Li Kai to provide compensation if Xiao Yan lost.

Lin Chen faced Yuan Shengyao in an alchemy contest at the Li Family’s Alchemy Tower, where they agreed to see who could refine more Profound Soul Pills in three hours. After waiting until Yuan Shengyao had nearly finished his first batch, Lin Chen finally moved, leaving everyone stunned.

• Li Kai arranged for Yuan Shengyao to compete against Lin Chen after the Li Family elders decided the dispute over Xiao Yan’s place would be settled by an alchemy contest.
• Yuan Shengyao proposed that they refine Profound Soul Pills, and Lin Chen accepted despite realizing Yuan Shengyao was unusually skilled at making them.
• Yuan Shengyao began refining ten pills at once while Lin Chen stood aside and watched without bringing out his own furnace.
• After Yuan Shengyao completed the refining process and a faint fragrance emerged from his furnace, Lin Chen finally moved, astonishing the onlookers.

Lin Chen used the Xiantian Fire to refine twenty Profound Soul Pills, decisively defeating Yuan Shengyao and earning the Li Lineage’s respect. Li Hong promised him a choice of two top-tier soul cultivation arts if he placed in the final competition’s top ten, while the Li family began considering how to secure his loyalty.

• Lin Chen refined twenty Profound Soul Pills in a furnace made from Xiantian Fire, surpassing Yuan Shengyao and astonishing the Li Lineage.
• Li Qin called Lin Chen “Master Xiao,” and Third Elder Li He ordered the contest kept secret until the final competition ended.
• Li Hong apologized for underestimating Lin Chen and promised him a choice of two top-tier soul cultivation arts if he entered the final competition’s top ten.
• Lin Chen told Li Hong that he had only practiced alchemy for three years, prompting Li Hong to recognize his exceptional talent and consider him a future Alchemy Master.
• Li Hong urged Li Qin to tie Lin Chen to the Li family, while Li Kai gave Li Qin apology gifts for Lin Chen and her.
• Lin Chen accepted Li Kai’s gift, and Yin Yue explained that the Li family might try to make him a son-in-law; Lin Chen realized he had underestimated the marriage strategies of great clans.

Lin Chen watched the forging competition’s first round and decided to study at the Alchemy Tower to strengthen his alchemical knowledge before the later rounds. Meanwhile, Dongfang Canglang secured Jiang Yaoyan a competition slot and persuaded Xuan Jing to offer the Nine Revolutions Hunyuan Scripture as a reward, though his agreement left Dongfang Canglang wary.

• Lin Chen watched the first round of the finals’ forging competition, where the hundred fastest contestants advanced, and learned that Yuan Shengyao had ranked 493rd in the previous competition.
• After the round ended, Lin Chen said he would skip the coming events and study the Li Family’s alchemy notes and formulas in the Alchemy Tower.
• Dongfang Canglang arrived at Thousand Machine Sect by flying vessel, where Zhou Yan welcomed him and escorted him to meet Xuan Jing.
• Dongfang Canglang introduced Jiang Yaoyan, Medicine King Valley’s Young Valley Master, and asked Xuan Jing to grant him a contestant slot; Xuan Jing agreed.
• Dongfang Canglang proposed that Thousand Machine Sect offer the Nine Revolutions Hunyuan Scripture as the competition’s first-place reward, and Xuan Jing readily agreed.

Lin Chen learned that the Alchemy Competition’s first-place reward included two supreme alchemy methods and discovered they were parts of a single technique that could help him awaken a Martial Soul phenomenon. As the competition began, the Medicine King Valley’s Young Valley Master Jiang Yaoyan finished the first-round pill early, only to be joined moments later by another young alchemist.

• Li Qin told Lin Chen that the Thousand Machine Sect had expanded the competition rewards and opened the final competition to additional qualified alchemists, prompting Lin Chen to suspect the change served a particular contestant.
• Yin Yue agreed that the reward change likely involved powerful forces and warned Lin Chen against pursuing first place, while Lin Chen later read that the Nine Revolutions Hunyuan Scripture and Taiyi Qingling Record might be two volumes of one method.
• The System Panel identified the combined method as the Nine Revolutions Azure Spirit Record and said comprehending it could give Lin Chen a chance to obtain a Martial Soul phenomenon, convincing him to pursue first place.
• The array competition ended with Mo Qi taking first place after trapping and severely injuring a higher-realm martial artist, and the Alchemy Competition then opened with tens of thousands of contestants.
• Yin Yue reassured Li Qin that Lin Chen could reach the top hundred as the contestants began refining three-star Tide Listening Pills.
• Jiang Yaoyan completed his pill an hour early, and another young alchemist finished only ten breaths later.

Lin Chen qualified for the Alchemy Competition’s top hundred, then learned that Lu Zejia had reached the Tower of Ascension’s tenth floor and that its rewards came from the imperial dynasty’s divine seal. After Yin Yue urged him to enter the tower, Lin Chen agreed to pursue its opportunities.

• Lin Chen finished refining his pill just before the bell rang, securing a place among the Alchemy Competition’s top hundred and earning the Li family’s thanks.
• Dongfang Canglang heard that Jiang Yaoyan had placed first and dismissed the unknown black-clad alchemist as likely a Thousand Machine Sect disciple.
• The Li family gave Lin Chen one hundred thousand Yan Coins and pill materials, and Lin Chen said he would go all out in the next round.
• At the Tower of Ascension, Lu Zejia defeated a challenger with one strike and entered the tower while the crowd watched.
• Lu Zejia emerged after nearly two hours, ranked above Zuo Chuan after reaching the tenth floor, and explained that the first thirty floors adjusted to each challenger’s strength.
• Yin Yue told Lin Chen that the tower’s rewards came from the divine seal, and Lin Chen agreed that he should challenge it.

The second round of the Alchemy Competition began with contestants tasked with refining three difficult four-star pills. As the alchemists worked, Zhuang Lie and his disciples discussed Lin Chen’s exceptional talent and his earlier breakthrough into the Xiantian Second Realm.

• Li Hong attended the competition, where spectators anticipated that even more powerful experts would arrive for the next round.
• The white-haired elder announced that the contestants had to refine Xiantian Powder, Spirit Nourishing Pill, and Jade Dew Pill, with completion times within an hour treated as equal.
• Lin Chen thanked a Thousand Machine Sect Outer Disciple for delivering his ingredients, drawing mixed reactions from nearby contestants.
• At the sound of the bell, the contestants began refining pills, and a middle-aged alchemist was the first to use Xiantian Fire.
• Zhuang Lie identified the alchemist’s Spirit Devouring Fire as subdued rather than refined, then urged Zhao Haoyang to refine a second strand and compared his potential with Lin Chen’s.
• Zhuang Lie recalled that Lin Chen had refined three strands of Xiantian Fire and had already entered the Xiantian Second Realm during his battle with Sima Kong.

Lin Chen advanced to the Alchemy Competition’s top ten while Jiang Yaoyan stunned the audience by refining three batches at once. The final round was postponed for three days, and the Thousand Machine Sect’s leaders grew curious about Lin Chen and Wei Yang’s hidden strength and mysterious origins.

• Jiang Yaoyan provoked Jiang Chen by refining three batches of pills simultaneously, then produced forty pills and left the arena after revealing his result.
• Lin Chen noticed that Wei Yang had deliberately ruined six nearly finished Jade Dew Pills to conceal his ability to make more pills than Jiang Yaoyan.
• Jiang Chen completed forty pills, and Lin Chen finished with thirty-seven, securing a place among the top ten.
• Qiu Wangqiu announced that the final round would take place in three days and promised Thousand Machine Sect protection for the finalists.
• Li Qin told Lin Chen that the mysterious contestant was named Wei Yang and had no ties to any Thousand Machine Domain faction.
• Xuan Jing and Qiu Wangqiu discussed Lin Chen’s powerful divine soul and Wei Yang’s likely connection to another domain, suspecting both had entered for the competition’s rewards.

The Thousand Machine Sect used two soul techniques to test whether Xiao Yan had cultivated the Divine Control Record, and Yin Yue recognized the trap before he fell for it. As Xiao Yan planned to leave after the Alchemy Competition, the sect learned that Yin Yue had ties to an Ancient Remnant Clan, while its martial uncle ended the investigation into Xiao Yan after an astonishing divination.

• Qiu Wangqiu questioned the Li family patriarch about Xiao Yan and arranged for the Li family to deliver two top-tier soul techniques as a probe.
• Lin Chen recognized that the techniques were related to the Divine Control Record, and Yin Yue identified their true names and warned him that the Thousand Machine Sect was testing him.
• Lin Chen decided not to cultivate the techniques, planned to compete for first place, and arranged to meet Yin Yue in Thousand Hammer City after the competition.
• Yin Yue left Thousand Machine City under the protection of people from Thousand Hammer City, prompting Qiu Wangqiu to learn that she came from an Ancient Remnant Clan.
• Xuan Jing told Qiu Wangqiu that their martial uncle was overseeing the competition, then the martial uncle ordered them to stop investigating Xiao Yan after revealing that his divination had produced an astonishing result.

Lin Chen decided to challenge the Tower of Ascension despite the danger of exposing his rapid cultivation, and the news that he had reached the Xiantian Third Realm stunned martial artists and elders across the Yan Imperial Dynasty. The chapter ended with Du Xiaofeng learning that Lin Chen had entered the tower, while the Azure Ripple Sect elders reacted with envy and amazement.

• Lin Chen used the Martial Path Seal to enter the Tower of Ascension, revealing his true appearance and leaving a watching young man in the Liang Family Guest Compound.
• At the Thousand Machine Sect, Zeng Xi learned that Lin Chen had reached the Xiantian Third Realm and entered the tower, while Hu Yunhua set out to bring the news to Azure Ripple Hall.
• At Crimson Cloud Pass, Chai Daoqi argued with his ministers about fighting on the front lines until Liang Hanyang showed him the Martial Path Seal notification about Lin Chen.
• Zhao Yulin and the other elders told Du Xiaofeng that Lin Chen had reached the Xiantian Third Realm and begun challenging the Tower of Ascension, leaving Du Xiaofeng stunned.

Lin Chen entered the Tower of Ascension and defeated Xia Anbo of the Eight Desolations Sect with one move, revealing that he had reached the peak of the Xiantian Third Realm. As the Azure Ripple Sect celebrated, Qi Tingnan challenged Lin Chen and offered him the first move.

• Du Xiaofeng and the elders worried that Lin Chen’s Tower of Ascension challenge would invite dangerous challengers, but the sect could not prevent others from challenging him.
• Lin Chen appeared at the Tower of Ascension, where Azure Ripple Sect disciples gathered to discourage challengers, but Xia Anbo of the Eight Desolations Sect stepped forward.
• Lin Chen overwhelmed Xia Anbo’s Thunder Prison Demon Subduing Technique with the Azure Ripple Finger and knocked him from the Circular Altar in one move.
• Xu Xia reported Lin Chen’s victory to the Azure Ripple Sect, while Du Xiaofeng boasted that his disciple had prepared carefully; Qiao Yuan said Lin Chen’s growing strength would benefit the sect.
• Qi Tingnan decided to challenge Lin Chen, and Zhao Wuji assessed that Qi Tingnan could win; Qi Tingnan entered the Circular Altar and invited Lin Chen to strike first.

Lin Chen defeated Qi Tingnan with his Xiantian Fire, proving his strength at the peak of the Xiantian Third Realm. In Thousand Machine City, Dongfang Canglang heard of Lin Chen’s rise and ordered that he be brought to meet him once current matters were settled.

• Lin Chen’s Azure Ripple Finger missed Qi Tingnan, who used the perfected Star Illusion Art to evade it and launch a surprise attack.
• Lin Chen’s golden armor stopped Qi Tingnan’s starlight blade, then turned into Xiantian Fire that swallowed Qi Tingnan and left Lin Chen alone on the altar.
• Martial artists recognized Lin Chen as a peak Xiantian Third Realm talent, and Xu Xia reported his victory to the Azure Ripple Sect.
• A woman told Dongfang Canglang that Lin Chen had reached the peak of the Xiantian Third Realm in two years, and Dongfang ordered her to bring Lin Chen to meet him later.
• At the Li Family’s guest compound, a young man dismissed Lin Chen’s achievements as insufficient.

Lin Chen entered the Tower of Ascension after no one else dared challenge him, and the tower swiftly advanced him through its first twenty levels. It then set him a one-hour test of comprehension, leaving him to study ten difficult techniques.

• Lin Chen reflected on Qi Tingnan’s Phantom Star Technique and planned to learn it after the competition.
• The Tower of Ascension appeared, and Lin Chen entered as the gathered martial artists speculated about how many levels he would clear.
• Inside the tower, Lin Chen touched a glowing ball of light and watched its number rise to twenty without fighting.
• The tower explained that the first levels tested physical and divine-soul limits, then set ten techniques for Lin Chen to comprehend in one hour.
• Lin Chen began studying the first jade slip, and his Martial Arts Will started evolving among the stars in his dantian.

Lin Chen comprehended ten cultivation techniques in the Tower of Ascension and received its ultimate rewards, including the Nine Fire Scripture, a chance to deduce the Undying Scripture, and the third level of the Undying Body. As his achievement astonished the waiting Martial Artists, he completed his thunder-forged breakthrough and prepared to challenge the next level.

• Lin Chen comprehended the tenth technique, Heaven Splitting Slash, and the Tower of Ascension advanced him to the thirtieth level and granted him three rewards.
• Lin Chen received the Nine Fire Scripture and its vast collection of pill knowledge, then circulated the Undying Scripture as lightning struck and refined its circulation.
• Outside the tower, Martial Artists learned how its early levels tested physical strength and soul, while they debated how far Lin Chen might have progressed.
• As the trial continued, Lin Chen endured the thunder's tempering until his Undying Body reached its third level and his aura scattered the raging thunderclouds.
• Lin Chen told the Tower of Ascension that he wanted to begin the next-level challenge.

Lin Chen lost to the Unruly Swordsman on the Tower of Ascension’s thirtieth floor, but his record stunned the martial world and raised fears that the Eight Desolations Sect would target him. As the Alchemy Competition final began in Thousand Machine City, Lin Chen prepared to compete while Jiang Yaoyan challenged Jiang Chen’s standing.

• Lin Chen faced the Unruly Swordsman, was defeated after three saber slashes, and left the Tower of Ascension ranked first after clearing thirty floors.
• Lin Chen’s result shocked the crowd, and the young man in the Li Family guest compound recognized him as the variable in his divination before deciding to let events unfold.
• Du Xiaofeng warned Ji Cangtian that the Eight Desolations Sect might hunt Lin Chen, while Dongfang Canglang offered Lin Chen another chance to follow him after Lin Chen ignored his first invitation.
• The next day, martial artists across Thousand Machine City discussed Lin Chen’s achievement as they gathered for the Alchemy Competition final.
• In the waiting hall, Jiang Yaoyan taunted Jiang Chen about his chances of winning, and Lin Chen followed the contestants into the arena as the final was about to begin.

The Alchemy Competition finals began with contestants choosing their own pills, and Lin Chen stunned the crowd by selecting the exceptionally difficult Five Elements Creation Pill. After the other finalists revealed their choices, Jiang Yaoyan ignited a black flame that stirred Lin Chen’s fused Xiantian Fire, leaving the competition poised to begin.

• Gu Yunfeng announced that the finalists could choose any pill, with rankings based on pill quality and the finished pills belonging to their makers.
• Lin Chen chose the top-tier Fifth Rank Five Elements Creation Pill, provoking disbelief from Jiang Yaoyan, the contestants, and the spectators.
• Wei Yang selected the middle-tier Fifth Rank Yinyang Pill, while the remaining contestants chose top-tier Fourth Rank pills or middle-tier Fifth Rank pills.
• Jiang Chen chose the Glass Filth Pill, and Jiang Yaoyan chose the Myriad Beast Blood Soul Pill.
• Jiang Yaoyan snapped his fingers and summoned a black flame, making Lin Chen’s fused Xiantian Fire stir with hunger.

Jiang Yaoyan revealed Devouring Abyss Flame, unsettling the other contestants’ Xiantian Fires, but Wei Yang and Jiang Chen countered with Taiyin Nether Fire and Azure Spirit Fire. When Lin Chen finally summoned his own tiny flame, it surged and made every Xiantian Fire in the arena lose control, leaving its nature unknown.

• Jiang Yaoyan revealed Devouring Abyss Flame, which frightened the other contestants’ Xiantian Fires and disrupted their control.
• Zhuang Lie explained that Devouring Abyss Flame grew by devouring other Xiantian Fires, though powerful fires such as Child Fire could resist it.
• Wei Yang summoned a strand of Taiyin Nether Fire, which remained unaffected by Jiang Yaoyan’s flame.
• Jiang Chen revealed Azure Spirit Fire, and Lin Chen recognized that the three alchemists had chosen pills suited to their respective flames.
• Wei Yang asked Lin Chen to reveal the Xiantian Fire suited to his Five Elements Creation Pill, and Lin Chen raised a tiny flame that suddenly surged and made all the arena’s Xiantian Fires lose control.

At the Alchemy Competition, Lin Chen, disguised as Xiao Yan, revealed a Child Fire that overwhelmed the other contestants’ flames and intensified Elder Zhuang’s suspicions about his identity. The judges decided to separate the contestants, while Gu Yunfeng noted that Xiao Yan’s attempt to refine the Five Elements Creation Pill could settle first place regardless.

• Lin Chen released his Child Fire, which subdued Jiang Yaoyan’s Devouring Abyss Flame and weakened the other contestants’ Xiantian Fires.
• Elder Zhuang praised Xiao Yan’s talent, then suspected he might be Lin Chen because of his origins and the similarities between their Child Fires.
• The alchemists in the stands worried that Xiao Yan’s flame gave him an unfair advantage over the other contestants.
• Gu Yunfeng and the other elders debated whether to separate the ten contestants, and Gu decided that they would.
• Gu Yunfeng explained that if Xiao Yan refined the Five Elements Creation Pill, his first-place victory would be undisputed.