Chapter Summaries

Chen Lin survived an attack by a dark-cloud creature and joined forces with Guan Shanyue and Nan Nuo as they investigated their trial tasks and the town’s shops. Their alliance was interrupted when a golden streak struck the town gate, shaking the entire town.

• A dark cloud sent raindrops that sprouted life-draining mushrooms on the trial takers, but Chen Lin used his rainbow energy to destroy the growth on his hand, and another swordsman’s attack drove the cloud away.
• Chen Lin left Gray Donkey to eat the mushrooms and search for his task item while he headed back toward town and met Guan Shanyue, who had a task to kill a Wanderer.
• Chen Lin and Guan Shanyue agreed to travel together, and Chen Lin suggested they meet other experts before leaving town to hunt a Wanderer.
• At the Carefree Tavern, Nan Nuo warned Guan Shanyue against Chen Lin, but Guan Shanyue declared that he and Chen Lin had formed an alliance and sided with him.
• Chen Lin agreed to let Nan Nuo join their alliance, but a golden streak then struck the town gate and made the town shake.

Chen Lin secured the command arrow and qualified for the Flag-Seizing Operation, then gathered trial takers to exchange information about the Third Trial. As he secretly listened to their voice transmissions, he learned about Wanderer Coins and a method for capturing Wanderers, while the information exchange continued.

• Gray Donkey brought Chen Lin a Golden Arrow, and Chen Lin suppressed it to obtain a Flag-Seizing Token and qualify for the Flag-Seizing Operation.
• Chen Lin invited the trial takers to exchange information, and Chu Liubai introduced himself as the former White Emperor and asked about the Flag-Seizing Operation.
• Chen Lin revealed that the town's shops were connected to Dandian Paradise and required Wanderer Coins and identity permissions.
• A masked trial taker traded a Wanderer-capturing method to Chu Liubai for a high-grade Secret Order under a Fair Contract, while Chen Lin secretly listened and memorized the method.
• An Alien Race youth challenged Chu Liubai for taking too much time, and Chen Lin agreed that the group should take turns exchanging information.

Chen Lin learned that Heavenly Martial Town was a detached attraction in Dandian Paradise, and that its arena selected representatives for the Flag-Seizing Operation. After ending the trading convention, he began assembling a team to capture Wanderers, but the masked man confronted him over using his secret and offered to join; Nan Nuo revealed that the man's face belonged to the rare Mask-Face Race.

• Chen Lin hosted the second round of trading, and Chu Liubai traded the secret of the Heavenly Martial Arena to Ye Li for a Divine-Grade Tyrant Sovereign Pill.
• Chu Liubai explained that Heavenly Martial Town had detached from Dandian Paradise, that its arena selected representatives for the Flag-Seizing Operation, and that a token might allow someone to control the town.
• Chen Lin refused Chu Liubai's offer, shared the secret with the masked person as a gesture of goodwill, and ended the four-hour trading convention.
• Back at the Kaiyuan Chen Residence, Chen Lin recruited Fu Tianzhou as an errand runner and proposed searching for the dueling arena and capturing Wanderers.
• The masked man confronted Chen Lin about using his Secret Method, then offered to join the team; Nan Nuo identified his face as belonging to the rare Mask-Face Race.

Chen Lin tried to use Azi’s Wanderer Coin to buy a bowl, but learned that his Heroes Gazette status granted a discount and access to a loan. The shop’s mysterious voice confirmed that the Gathering Treasure Bank in Floating Life City could accept repayment, leaving Chen Lin with a way to borrow without being trapped in the shop.

• Azi offered to share information about the dueling arena in exchange for first pick of the spoils, while Chen Lin tried to hand her leadership of the group and the others insisted he remain captain.
• Chen Lin persuaded Azi to lend him her single Wanderer Coin and took her and Nan Nuo to the Sun Xiaowan shop to test whether his hero status could help him buy an item.
• The shelf took Azi’s coin but demanded another within three breaths, and Chen Lin threatened it with the Heaven-Slaying Saber when the bowl remained inaccessible.
• A childlike voice from a small bowl revealed that heroes received a twenty-percent discount and could take out loans with monthly interest of ten percent, with partial years counted as full years.
• Chen Lin learned that he could repay the loan at the Gathering Treasure Bank and confirmed that the bank in Floating Life City was the same one the shopkeeper meant.
• Chen Lin suddenly thought of something and took out an item.

Chen Lin obtained the Egg-Yolk Bowl from a hidden exchange with Sun Xiaowan and discovered its powerful collection and replication abilities, though using it drained his transgressor origin essence. Azi revealed that the Dueling Arena entrance lay in a well at Chen Lin’s residence and warned him that other Trial Takers wanted his Flag-Seizing Token Arrow; Chen Lin asked whether she intended to take it.

• Chen Lin used Niuniu’s Grass Mandarin Duck to reach Sun Xiaowan’s shop, where he received permission to take the Egg-Yolk Bowl, but the conversation vanished like an illusion when he returned to himself.
• Chen Lin found that he alone could pass through the shop’s barrier and take the Egg-Yolk Bowl, then bound it with transgressor origin essence and learned it could collect and sometimes replicate objects.
• Chen Lin tested the bowl against a shop’s protective barrier, but his transgressor origin essence quickly ran out before he could break through; he concluded the bowl might still challenge Dandian Paradise’s rules.
• Chen Lin rejoined Azi and the others, and Azi said the Dueling Arena entrance was in a well at his Kaiyuan Chen Residence and that she had learned this by completing a task.
• Azi warned Chen Lin that other Trial Takers wanted his Flag-Seizing Token Arrow and could attack him, and Chen Lin asked whether she planned to take it for herself.

Chen Lin and his allies entered the Dueling Arena, where he learned that his task required earning a Silver Fighter Emblem through a thousand slaughters. After Ye Li entered the arena and was killed by a phantom challenger, a group of newcomers arrived and demanded the party’s treasures.

• Azi opened the door beneath the dry well, and Chen Lin and Ye Li received different arena tasks while Azi revealed that she wanted Chen Lin to help kill Wuchen in exchange for her complete secret art.
• Chen Lin learned that obtaining a Silver Fighter Emblem required a thousand slaughters, while Ye Li’s task required three consecutive victories.
• Ye Li entered the arena first, and a phantom spear overwhelmed and killed him in their first bout.
• Azi warned Chen Lin that only three people had ever obtained the Silver Fighter Emblem and offered to lure Trial Takers from town if he needed opponents.
• More than a dozen figures landed nearby and demanded that Chen Lin’s party hand over their treasures.

Chen Lin confronted Wang Dabao and his retainers after they appeared in the town, then entered the Dueling Arena when their dispute over Wang Dabao’s talent origin turned violent. He won three rounds and uncovered the group’s deception, but Wang Dabao revealed that the apparent mutation had been an act and ordered a direct attack.

• Chen Lin and his companions discovered the entrance had vanished, and Chen Lin wounded Wang Dabao by striking the talent origin between his brows with the Egg-Yolk Little Bowl.
• Elder Tan offered Chen Lin Rules Stones and asked him to return Wang Dabao’s talent origin, but Chen Lin refused and entered the Dueling Arena.
• Chen Lin’s Another Bowl ability replicated the origin, and he defeated the first challenger and then Gang Yi in the arena.
• Elder Tan sent what appeared to be Wang Dabao into the arena, but Chen Lin spotted and survived a concealed Huanling’s explosive attack before winning the third round.
• Elder Tan offered arena information and more Rules Stones for the origin, while Wang Dabao broke free of his restraints, admitted the mutation was a performance, and called for a direct attack.

Chen Lin survived Wang Dabao’s attack by summoning the Flower Goddess Phantom, then killed Chunhua and Qiuyue and advanced his challenge count. After Wang Dabao forcibly seized Nan Nuo, Chen Lin struck him again, and Wang Dabao charged into the arena as the grey-robed old man approached Nan Nuo.

• Wang Dabao used his Great King Order to send over a hundred Huanlings against Chen Lin and ordered his guards to attack as well.
• Azi, Guan Shanyue, and Nan Nuo held the guards back while Chen Lin fought the Huanlings, but Chunhua and Qiuyue entered the arena and joined the attack.
• Chen Lin summoned the Flower Goddess Phantom, whose falling petals destroyed the Huanlings, then killed Chunhua and Qiuyue with the Rainbow Slash and triggered triple challenge rewards.
• Chen Lin invited Azi and the others into the arena so he could face the guards and accumulate more matches, while Wang Dabao raged over the Flower Goddess Phantom and threatened the grey-robed old man.
• Wang Dabao abducted Nan Nuo and stripped away her outer garment, so Chen Lin struck him with the Egg-Yolk Little Bowl and gouged out his Talent Origin again.
• Wang Dabao charged toward the arena, while the grey-robed old man approached Nan Nuo and asked her to dance.

Chen Lin defeated Wang Dabao in the Dueling Arena and earned the embarrassing title Yellow Bowl King, but Wang Dabao escaped after stealing the meat balls. Chen Lin discovered that his trick had also apparently replicated a Talent Origin, leaving Wang Dabao furious as he disappeared.

• Chen Lin kept Wang Dabao from reclaiming his talent origin by presenting him with two indistinguishable meat balls while using the Egg-Yolk Little Bowl to attack the grey-robed elder dancing with Nan Nuo.
• Wang Dabao and the grey-robed elder revealed their apparent act and summoned over a hundred attackers, including a Golden Spear that destroyed the Flower Goddess Phantom and nearly killed Chen Lin.
• Chen Lin survived the Golden Spear with the shell over his brow, destroyed it with the Egg-Yolk Little Bowl, and used the Flower Goddess's Falling Flowers to defeat the remaining attackers.
• The Dueling Arena declared Chen Lin the winner of match three hundred and twenty-seven and awarded him the title Yellow Bowl King, while the Trial Task gave him one point.
• Wang Dabao admitted his task had failed, offered Chen Lin a place in his faction, then burned the proposed Contract Paper and departed with his revived companions.
• Wang Dabao took both meat balls and thanked Chen Lin for helping replicate a Talent Origin, then vanished in shock and fury after realizing Chen Lin had tricked him.

Chen Lin and the survivors left the Dueling Arena, where Azi helped Nan Nuo recover some clarity and Chen Lin gave her buns that soothed her condition. Back in Heavenly Martial Town, they found it transformed into a bustling town of residents, and Gray Donkey revealed that most Trial Takers had been killed or driven away; Chen Lin led the group toward the market to investigate.

• Chen Lin left the arena with Azi, Nan Nuo, Guan Shanyue, and Fu Tianzhou after Ye Li died in a match, and the gate vanished behind them.
• Azi temporarily suppressed Nan Nuo’s lingering mental affliction, and Chen Lin gave her special buns that calmed her.
• The group emerged to find Heavenly Martial Town filled with unfamiliar residents, and Chen Lin questioned Third Aunt about the town and its people.
• Gray Donkey told Chen Lin that residents had appeared throughout town, constables had killed nearly ninety percent of the Trial Takers, and Wanderers made the surrounding area dangerous.
• Gray Donkey said the shops had disappeared and a market had taken their place, where goods could be bought with ordinary copper coins.
• Chen Lin asked whether anyone had received a new task, then led the group to inspect the market and learn what had happened.

Chen Lin discovered that Liu Nanzhi was likely the target of his unfinished task, then clashed with Lu Xiaoxing and faced down Chief Constable Yang Yidao. After learning Liu had once been Heavenly Martial Town’s celebrated Fighter King, Chen Lin asked about her belongings and family, and the Official-Robed Man revealed that she still had a family member in town.

• Chen Lin found Liu Nanzhi’s statue in the market and sensed a connection to her through his transgressor origin essence.
• At the city gate, Lu Xiaoxing attacked Chen Lin, but Chen Lin defeated him before Yang Yidao intervened and demanded that Chen leave town.
• Chen Lin refused to leave until he could find Liu Nanzhi, and Yang Yidao returned with an Official-Robed Man who awarded Chen rewards for winning the Heavenly Martial Arena.
• The Official-Robed Man explained that Liu Nanzhi had once been the Southern King and that her departure had led to the town’s decline.
• Chen Lin asked about strange objects Liu might have left behind and whether she had family in town, and the Official-Robed Man confirmed that she did.

Chen Lin learned that Liu Nanzhi’s letter mentioned a mortal changing fate and Heaven’s mandate, then discovered her statue might contain the item needed for Task One. After Gray Donkey smashed the statue and handed Chen Lin the item, the task was completed, but the town’s guardian and residents confronted him, and a large yellow dog attacked as the crowd’s auras began to change.

• Chen Lin questioned Liu Nanzhi’s elderly descendant, who recalled two lines from a letter: “A mortal’s fate can change; Heaven’s mandate is hard to defy.”
• Yang Yidao explained that the Flag-Seizing Operation offered Battle Flags that could protect settlements and open a passage to the Central Area.
• Chen Lin met Fu Tingxue, Fu Xiaoge’s niece, and Gray Donkey reclaimed a golden waterskin she had obtained from Ma Laoba’s bundle.
• Gray Donkey smashed Liu Nanzhi’s statue and passed Chen Lin the hidden object, completing Task One and earning one point.
• Yang Yidao and the town guardian demanded that Chen Lin hand over Gray Donkey for destroying the statue, while the residents gathered and Azi warned that their auras showed signs of mutation.
• Chen Lin offered his Exemption Order to spare Gray Donkey, but the large yellow dog barked and fired a beam of yellow light at him.

After the Large Yellow Dog shattered Chen Lin’s body and destroyed his Devouring Heaven Pagoda, he suspected the dog had deliberately caused the Wooden Carving of his past-life self to merge into him. He prepared to investigate outside the city, but Fu Tingxue, Guan Shanyue, and Fu Tianzhou’s identical task prompts raised doubts about why they had entered the Third Trial.

• The Large Yellow Dog attacked Chen Lin, whose body re-formed, but Chen Lin’s Rainbow Slash and Egg-Yolk Little Bowl could not harm it; the Devouring Heaven Pagoda was destroyed.
• The Town Guardian explained that the dog had belonged to Miss Liu and persuaded it to leave, then promised to rebuild the statue and asked Chen Lin to calm the townspeople’s resentment.
• Chen Lin returned to the Chen Residence with Azi and the others, where he concluded that the Wooden Carving of his past-life self had likely merged into him during the attack.
• Chen Lin considered how the carving, his transmigration, and the trial tasks might be connected, then decided to strengthen his own abilities and tried unsuccessfully to contact Gray Donkey.
• Chen Lin prepared to leave the city to capture Wanderers and pay his debts, while Fu Tingxue revealed her task was to find someone and obtain what belonged to her.
• Guan Shanyue and Fu Tianzhou received the same task prompt as Fu Tingxue, prompting Fu Tianzhou to suspect they had not entered the Third Trial through their true strength.