The Great Zhou had been a dazzling spectacle of late.
One piece of news after another had spread across the land, leaving the martial world wide-eyed.
First, Li Fan, a disciple of the Dragon-Tiger Guild, had killed the Dao Profound Sect's chosen disciple in a duel and advanced to the rank of Outer Landscape grandmaster.
Then he challenged Fang Ye, the "Flower-Plucking Hand," who stood at the bottom of the Earth Rankings, only to meet an untimely death...
Only afterward did the All-Knowing Tower, which compiled the Heaven, Earth, and Human Rankings, reveal that "Fang Ye" had secretly concealed his strength. He was already a Celestial grandmaster.
This brought another Celestial grandmaster from the Dragon-Tiger Guild into the affair. He pursued Fang Ye for seven days and seven nights, only to die mysteriously beside the great river...
The Heaven Rankings changed accordingly, placing "Fang Ye" twenty-seventh!
In earlier times, a shift in the Heaven Rankings would have given the martial world something to talk about for years.
But this time, the excitement was soon swept away.
For the mysterious organization that had long lurked in the shadows—the Anomaly Investigation Bureau—had made its move!
Its first move wiped out the Ten Thousand Flowers Sword Sect, one of the nine great powers. Its leader, the grandmaster ranked first on the Celestial Rankings, then sent invitations across the land, announcing that he would attempt to break through beyond the Celestial realm at the sect's mountain headquarters and inviting the heroes of the world to witness it.
The fifteenth day of the eighth month. Ten Thousand Flowers Cliffs!
The sound of robes cutting through the air rang out one after another.
Martial experts climbed the mountains as though walking on level ground.
All had received the Anomaly Investigation Bureau Chief's invitation and come