Chapter Summaries

Lin Tian followed the Broken Sword’s resonance to a charred stick at a stall in the Curio Workshop and traded a Gang Condensation Pill for the entire stall. Back at his residence, he discovered that the stick absorbed the Broken Sword’s power of space and began to sprout.

• The Broken Sword guided Lin Tian to a stall whose goods included a charred stick that resonated with it.
• Lin Tian offered the stallholder a Gang Condensation Pill for everything on the stall, and the stallholder accepted.
• Lin Tian and Hua Qianqian continued shopping in Ten Thousand Flowers Giant City, where Hua Qianqian bought many items before they returned to the Ten Thousand Flowers Sect.
• Lin Tian tested the charred stick at his residence and found that it reacted only when he drew on the Broken Sword’s power of space.
• The charred stick absorbed the power of space and produced a tender shoot, just as an abrupt change occurred.

Lin Tian’s Broken Sword poured Spatial Power into a charred stick, transforming it into a strange sapling that entered his mind and took root. Hua Qianqian then invited him to a gathering in Ten Thousand Flowers Giant City, and Lin Tian agreed after learning its host would offer an incomplete Peerless Combat Technique.

• The Broken Sword released Spatial Power that the charred stick absorbed, causing it to transform into a tender green tree marked with writing.
• The little tree flew into Lin Tian’s mind, where it took root; Lin Tian could sense it but could neither move nor remove it.
• Hua Qianqian delivered Lin Tian a letter from her Master inviting him to a gathering of geniuses from various factions in Ten Thousand Flowers Giant City.
• Hua Qianqian explained that the gathering’s host was offering an incomplete Peerless Combat Technique, which caught Lin Tian’s interest.
• Lin Tian agreed to attend the gathering.

Lin Tian and Hua Qianqian attended a gathering in Ten Thousand Flowers Giant City, where Prince Huangpu Jue greeted Lin Tian and explained how the imperial family had heard of him. Huangpu Jue revealed that Qingluan had told his third elder sister about Lin Tian, who had been bringing him up because he had spoiled her plans.

• Lin Tian and Hua Qianqian traveled to the central district of Ten Thousand Flowers Giant City and entered the gathering venue with their invitation.
• Prince Huangpu Jue approached Lin Tian, praised his reputation, and invited him to sit with him.
• People at the gathering discussed Lin Tian’s status as a Dao Origin Sect True Disciple, while members of the Unknown Tower offered to sell more information about him.
• Huangpu Jue told Lin Tian that the imperial family had heard about him through Qingluan, the Golden Guard commander he met in the Hundred Veins Land.
• Huangpu Jue said Qingluan had told his third elder sister about Lin Tian, and that she kept bringing him up because he had spoiled her plans.

Lin Tian met Huangpu Jue at a banquet in Ten Thousand Flowers Giant City and accepted a peerless spear technique from him. Their conversation revealed that Lin Tian’s actions in the Hundred Veins Land had cost the Third Imperial Princess most of her Sky Fire Marrow Crystals, and she might now resent him.

• Huangpu Jue explained that he had no ill will toward Lin Tian despite Lin Tian disrupting the imperial family’s affairs, then invited him to become acquainted.
• Lin Tian recognized Mu Hengtian, a hostile-looking One Dao Sect True Disciple who was also attending the banquet and competing in the Ten Thousand Flowers Grand Competition.
• Huangpu Jue gave Lin Tian the Imperial Ultimate Army-Breaking Spear, explaining that it came from the imperial family’s public technique library.
• Lin Tian accepted the spear technique and promised to return Huangpu Jue’s favor if he ever had the chance.
• Huangpu Jue told Lin Tian that the Third Imperial Princess had lost most of the Sky Fire Marrow Crystals she wanted at the Hundred Veins Land resource point and might now hold a grudge against him.

Lin Tian considered the risk of having offended the Third Imperial Princess, then refused an invitation from Mu Hengtian's companions to meet him upstairs. The five left to report Lin Tian's refusal, while one of them was angered by his rebuff.

• Huangpu Jue excused himself from Lin Tian to greet other guests at the banquet.
• Hua Qianqian asked Lin Tian whether Huangpu Jue was truly a prince, and Lin Tian said he should be genuine.
• Three men and two women approached Lin Tian and invited him upstairs to meet someone; Lin Tian refused, recognizing that Mu Hengtian was likely behind the invitation.
• One of the men challenged Lin Tian to spar, but Lin Tian told the group to scram.
• Su Tianbai stopped the angry man from provoking Lin Tian and led the group upstairs to report that Lin Tian had refused.

Lin Tian sensed Demon Sect members at Huangpu Jue’s gathering and stayed alert as Huangpu Jue presented an incomplete manual of a peerless cultivation technique. When Lin Tian and several other prodigies went forward to study it, he noticed the Demon Sect members had begun to move.

• Hua Qianqian asked Lin Tian whether the five people who had left wanted to target him, and Lin Tian said they had come to sound him out.
• Lin Tian sensed several Demon Sect members enter the pavilion and warned Hua Qianqian to stay within three steps of him.
• Huangpu Jue presented an incomplete manual of a peerless cultivation technique and promised a spiritual treasure or a fifty-year-old great medicine to anyone who could comprehend and complete part of it.
• Huangpu Jue invited several prepared prodigies to study the manual, and Lin Tian went forward with Hua Qianqian.
• Lin Tian noticed the Demon Sect members beginning to move after Huangpu Jue brought out the manual.

Lin Tian and Mu Hengtian studied an incomplete cultivation text at Huangpu Jue’s gathering, while Lin Tian feared the Demon Sect’s interest in it. Lin Tian discovered the text was a demonic technique, completed its first volume, and prepared to leave without drawing attention.

• Lin Tian noticed the Demon Sect’s movements and decided to comprehend the text quickly before leaving.
• Mu Hengtian stepped forward alongside Lin Tian, and Huangpu Jue allowed them to study the imperial family’s text together.
• Mu Hengtian warned Lin Tian not to act rashly, but Lin Tian ignored him and placed his hand on the text.
• Lin Tian’s Fate Grid identified the technique as the Nine Sons Heart Demon Record, a demonic cultivation technique, and he withdrew his hand.
• Lin Tian completed the first volume with the prepared paper and brush, hoping to uphold the Dao Origin Sect’s dignity without attracting notice.

Lin Tian completed the first volume of the Nine Sons Heart Demon Record, shocking Huangpu Jue and the Demon Sect, though he remained unaware of their reactions. Mu Hengtian managed only half a volume, and the gathering continued as the other geniuses took their turns.

• Lin Tian apologized to Huangpu Jue for being unable to offer more, then left the platform without noticing Huangpu Jue's astonishment at his completed volume.
• The Demon Sect's young master stopped an Elder from provoking trouble, saying they had come for the technique and should avoid complications until they obtained it.
• Lin Tian moved Hua Qianqian away from the scroll and watched Mu Hengtian finish contemplating it.
• Mu Hengtian wrote down his insights but completed only half of the first volume, disappointing the crowd and leaving him humiliated by the comparison with Lin Tian.
• Lin Tian noticed that the Nine Sons Heart Demon Record required 6,000 progress for its first level, then decided to look for a chance to leave.
• Mu Hengtian coldly returned to his place, and the remaining geniuses stepped forward to contemplate the fragmentary scroll.

Lin Tian left Huangpu Jue’s gathering after completing the cultivation technique and warned him about the Demon Sect presence in Ten Thousand Flowers Giant City. Three days later, Hua Qianqian revealed that the powerful Demon Sect expert Lin Tian had seen was one of the sect’s young masters, and told him the Ten Thousand Flowers Grand Competition date had been set.

• Lin Tian declined Huangpu Jue’s reward for now, bid him farewell, and privately shared information that made Huangpu Jue’s expression briefly freeze.
• Lin Tian told Hua Qianqian about the Demon Sect experts at the gathering and asked her to report their presence to the Ten Thousand Flowers Sect’s Sect Master.
• A battle broke out behind Lin Tian’s departing carriage, and he sensed the Demon Sect’s Blood Baleful Qi before the fighting abruptly stopped.
• Lin Tian returned to the Dao Origin Sect, while Hua Qianqian went to report details about the Demon Sect expert whose True Essence had undergone ten temperings.
• Lin Tian began studying the Nine Sons Heart Demon Record, and three days later Hua Qianqian told him the expert had been a Demon Sect young master and that the competition date had been set.

Lin Tian learned that the Ten Thousand Flowers Grand Competition would begin in three days and that the Demon Sect young master’s identity was uncertain, prompting him to worry about hidden threats and resolve to cultivate in seclusion afterward. When the competition began, he saw the factions divided on the platform and recalled his plan to win first place and help the Ten Thousand Flowers Sect break from its cooperation with them, then froze at the sight of the participating geniuses.

• Hua Qianqian told Lin Tian that the Ten Thousand Flowers Grand Competition would begin in three days and last three days, and that more geniuses than usual were expected.
• Hua Qianqian explained that the Demon Sect members had disappeared and that the young master Lin Tian had encountered could be one of eight known heirs to that title.
• Lin Tian worried that a Grandmaster might be accompanying the Demon Sect young master and decided to enter complete seclusion after returning to the Dao Origin Sect.
• Three days later, Lin Tian attended the competition and noticed that at least seven or eight Grandmasters had gathered on the raised platform, where visitors and the Ten Thousand Flowers Sect stood in separate factions.
• Lin Tian reaffirmed his plan to take first place and use it to help the Ten Thousand Flowers Sect end its cooperation with the other factions, then froze as he looked at the competing geniuses.

Lin Tian saw Mu Hengtian unite nearly all the competitors under his leadership, while the Ten Thousand Flowers Sect’s Sect Master confronted Elder Gu over the sect’s plan to become independent. The Sect Master declared that the sect would end its cooperation regardless of whether the factions agreed, leaving the two sides in open tension.

• Lin Tian saw Mu Hengtian leading the gathered competitors and wondered how the Ten Thousand Flowers Grand Competition could still be a fair contest.
• The Sect Master of the Ten Thousand Flowers Sect recognized Mu Hengtian’s gathering as a show of force by factions resisting the sect’s independence.
• Elder Gu claimed Mu Hengtian could not be stopped and offered to disperse the gathering if Sect Master Hua objected.
• Sect Master Hua said her sect could handle the matter itself and declared that it could govern itself.
• Elder Gu insisted the factions would never agree to the Ten Thousand Flowers Sect ending their cooperation.
• Sect Master Hua declared that the sect would become fully independent, stop providing resources and disciples, and would no longer be treated as a tool; the confrontation grew tense.

The Ten Thousand Flowers Sect's Sect Master agreed to a one-on-one gambling match with Elder Gu's faction, risking twenty years of resources in exchange for independence. After setting the match for three days later, she asked Lin Tian whether he could defeat the One Dao Sect's likely champion, Mu Hengtian.

• Elder Gu proposed a one-on-one match: if the Ten Thousand Flowers Sect won, his faction would demand no resources for twenty years, but if it lost, the sect would have to double its tribute for that period.
• The Ten Thousand Flowers Sect's Sect Master accepted the wager, deciding that the sect needed to risk everything rather than keep yielding to the factions.
• The Ten Thousand Flowers Sect's Sect Master delayed the match for three days, and Elder Gu agreed.
• The Ten Thousand Flowers Grand Competition ended early, and Lin Tian learned about the wager after returning to the Ten Thousand Flowers Sect.
• The Ten Thousand Flowers Sect's Sect Master told Lin Tian that the One Dao Sect would likely send Mu Hengtian and asked whether Lin Tian was confident he could win.