A Chaotic World

Without realising it, everyone had ended up staring wide-eyed at Grandmaster Dongkuang.

No, that's not it.

More specifically, they were staring at the dagger in his hands.

Certain members of the audience stood up in agitation, while others fell back limply into their chairs due to the shock.

The previously ever-disinterested Iron Fist Overlord opened his eyes for the first time.

The amiable Grandmaster Dongkuang looked at the dagger in his hands in surprise.

The arrogant Grandmaster Xilong had risen from his seat.

This seemingly insignificant dagger… just what kind of heaven defying secrets were contained within it?

"Is that the power of an Overlord?" Young Master Xuan Hao asked uncertainly.

Seated nearby, Taomie Lianhe remained silent. As much as she wanted to answer her son's question, at her current cultivation level of Ninth Cycle Origin Core realm, she was simply unable to tell for sure.

"That is indeed an attack at the level of an Overlord!" Elder Renhao confirmed, answering the question that was in many people's mind.

Hearing his confirmation, a feeling of awe swept over them once more.

To strike out with an attack at the level of an Overlord despite still being only at the Origin Core rank… that was a feat that few were capable of accomplishing.

They were truly lucky to have been able to witness something like that today!

"This… impossible…" Grandmaster Xiqin mumbled weakly from among the participants. "This doesn't make any sense!"

"For someone at the Third Cycle Origin Core realm to create an inscription with such power… this is beyond remarkable!" Grandmaster Dongkuang finally regained his senses and commented. "If this inscription is mass produced, it can instantly elevate an influence's combat power by an entire tier!"

"It is indeed an impressive inscription…" Grandmaster Xilong added begrudgingly.

Although he hated to admit it, this boost of power provided by the inscription skill was truly beyond anything he could create.

And that was despite the fact that he was a Nascent Core Overlord, someone who should possess means far beyond the likes of a Third Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist like Lu Tianzi!

"No, that's not it..."

Everyone present was surprised for a moment as their attention was drawn towards the Iron Fist Overlord.

This was the first time that he had spoken since the assessment began!

The Iron Fist Overlord had a serious look on his face as he spoke. "That power is not from the inscription alone."

Hmm...?

His words caught everyone by surprise.

That power was not from the inscription alone?

What did the Iron Fist Overlord mean by that?

Did Grandmaster Dongkuang tamper with the results?

Everyone's attention turned towards Grandmaster Dongkuang.

Their suspicions were only natural. After all, Grandmaster Dongkuang was the one who had released the inscription skill.

If anyone had a hand in influencing the results, it had to be him!

"Senior Iron Fist, this…" Grandmaster Dongkuang felt the corner of his lips twitch involuntarily.

Others might not know, but he knew for sure that he had activated the inscription skill just as it was. He definitely did not do anything special in the process!

In fact, even if he wanted to, how was he supposed to unleash an attack at the Overlord rank with his cultivation level at the Ninth Cycle Origin Core realm?

"It's... not you..." the Iron Fist Overlord said slowly. "It's... the city…"

The city?

Silence fell over the entire arena.

This time, nobody understood what he was saying.

Well, almost nobody.

"That inscription… what is its name?" Xuan Yongheng asked from his seat of honour.

He seemed to have spoken casually, but his voice was filled with a commanding aura that silenced the entire arena.

Xuan Yongheng might not be one of the three judges. But as the sect master of the Timeless Flame Sect, there was no one present who would dare question his authority.

Everyone could only shut their mouths and wait for the reply from the person he was talking to.

Lu Tianzi slowly opened his eyes, albeit slightly irritated by the interruption.

Nevertheless, the person talking to him was the sect master of the Timeless Flame Sect, one of the greatest characters in the central regions of the continent. No matter how much he wanted to just continue with his meditation, he could not afford to just ignore the other party.

"This is the first of its kind, so I have yet to give it a name," Lu Tianzi answered calmly despite the difference in their status. "If Senior is feeling generous, would you like to give it one?"

"The first of its kind? Interesting. So this is the first time you created this inscription," Xuan Yongheng rubbed his chin in contemplation. "Since you asked, how about naming it the Eternal Flame Inscription?"

A faint smile appeared on Lu Tianzi's face.

With that alone, he understood that Xuan Yongheng had definitely realised how the inscription worked.

As expected of the leader of the Timeless Flame Sect.

"Then let it be known as the Eternal Flame Inscription," Lu Tianzi nodded.

Everyone present watched on with mixed feelings.

A simple conversation like that determined the name of one of the most powerful inscriptions they had ever seen.

Some felt like it had been decided a little too easily, while some others felt jealous of Lu Tianzi to have his inscription named personally by Xuan Yongheng.

On top of that… Eternal Flame Inscription?

It was obvious that he had taken the name of the city itself. To bestow the name of the city onto an inscription, that alone was proof of how much he valued the inscription!

Watching from the side, Grandmaster Xiqin could not help but feel stifled.

"This is a very clever idea. Clever and difficult to pull off," Xuan Yongheng continued. "However, you do know that its intrinsic value is not as high as it seems, don't you?"

"That depends on how it is used," Lu Tianzi replied.

"No matter how it is used, the fact remains that it is only effective within Eternal Flame City," Xuan Yongheng disagreed. "Without the formations of the city supporting its activation, it will no longer be able to exhibit the strength from before. At that point, it will be nothing but a common inscription, not worthy of special mention."

This time, Xuan Yongheng's words caught everyone by surprise as it revealed certain facts previously unknown to them.

It is only effective within Eternal Flame City?

The formations of the city supports its activation?

Most people here were bewildered by Xuan Yongheng's words, but the quicker ones started to catch on.

Indeed, it was as Xuan Yongheng had said.

The Eternal Flame Inscription was the fruit of a culmination of both knowledge gained from Lu Tianzi's past experiences, as well as the experience from his stay at the Valley of Finesse.

Back at the Valley of Finesse, Lu Tianzi saw through how the numerous naturally-formed formations overlapped with one another to create varying effects. From there, he came up with the idea for this inscription.

In a way, Eternal Flame City was just like the Valley of Finesse, a place with numerous formations within, albeit these were all man-made and not naturally formed.

In fact, just the territory of the Timeless Flame Sect where they stood had multiple layers of formations stacked upon one another.

Thus with his accumulated knowledge and experience as a base, and the Limitless Mirror Eye as a guide, Lu Tianzi created this inscription – an inscription that tapped on the numerous formations within Eternal Flame City, drawing upon their energy to amplify its own by multiple fold.

That was how he created an inscription that seemed to be completely out of this world, something that by all reason, could not possibly be made.

The Eternal Flame Inscription.

As its name suggested, it was truly an inscription made solely for Eternal Flame City.

"So the inscription only works within Eternal Flame City?" Grandmaster Xiqin snorted in disdain. "I hate to say this, but isn't that cheating? If not for Sect Master's sharp eyes seeing through its tricks, this sham of an inscription would have truly fooled everyone present!"

Grandmaster Xiqin had been taken aback by the strength of Lu Tianzi's inscription earlier, and that had only been made worse when Xuan Yongheng personally named the inscription for Lu Tianzi.

Now that he finally understood that it was all a trick, how could he not immediately latch onto this chance to put Lu Tianzi down?

Thus, Grandmaster Xiqin deliberately spoke loud enough such that the entire arena could hear him.

If possible, he wanted the whole world to turn against Lu Tianzi!

His actions were not completely without effect either.

After hearing Grandmaster Xiqin, numerous small discussions started among the audience, and even the other participants revealed looks of contempt. Many of them were condemning Lu Tianzi for trying to trick everyone.

If Sect Master Xuan Yongheng had not clarified things, they would truly have thought that Lu Tianzi was already capable of creating inscriptions capable of giving users such a terrifying boost to their power!

But even when faced with such a situation, Lu Tianzi was not flustered.

"If Senior truly thinks so, then junior can only reluctantly accept the assessment," he answered Xuan Yongheng, completely ignoring Grandmaster Xiqin who had been babbling on beside him.

So what if it was only effective in Eternal Flame City?

After all, it remained a fact that he had created an inscription capable of giving users such a boost to their power.

Yes, there was a limit to its usable area.

However, this usable area just happened to be the location where multiple powerful influences were based. These influences would surely love to get their hands on it, so as to give their guards a great boost to their combat power and improve their defences.

Moreover, it was not something easy to create either.

Even Lu Tianzi, the creator, would find it difficult to pull off without the Limitless Mirror Eye, not to mention others.

Therefore, even if the value of the inscription would drop, it would not be by much!

Hearing the defiant tone in Lu Tianzi's voice, Xuan Yongheng unexpectedly let out a rare grin. "Newborn calves are not afraid of tigers. The courage of the young is truly admirable."

Seeing how Xuan Yongheng turned to start making conversation with those around him, Lu Tianzi similarly closed his eyes to continue his meditation.

The conversation between the two had ended, and Young Master Xuan Hao immediately wiped the sweat off his forehead while letting out a sigh of relief.

Speaking to their sect master in such a manner... apart from Lu Tianzi, probably only the elites of the White Tiger Immortal Sect would dare to do so!

By now, Grandmaster Dongkuang had already quietly returned to his seat.

"Ahem…" Grandmaster Xilong cleared his throat uncertainly.

Grandmaster Dongkuang had managed to do something as a judge, but what was he supposed to say?

He simply did not understand the inscription enough to comment much!

He had not been able to see through the intricacies that Sect Master Xuan Yongheng mentioned earlier. And even if he did, the sect master had already said everything, so what could he possibly add?

Things would be different if he could be given a few days to study the inscription, but he obviously did not have such a luxury of time right now.

Nevertheless, his pride prevented him from remaining quiet.

After fiddling with the dagger a little to pretend that he was examining it, Grandmaster Xilong placed it down and said solemnly with his arms crossed. "Good work, too bad for the fact that it can only be used in Eternal Flame City."

Yes, that should be enough.

It showed his appreciation for the inscription, but still hinted that this much was nothing to him.

"It can be used outside of Eternal Flame City too... just with a reduced effect..." the Iron Fist Overlord slowly corrected him.

Grandmaster Xilong felt the corner of his lips twitch. "Right, that was what I meant."

"All right, let's move on to the next submission…" Xuan Ziying regained her senses and quickly said.

At her signal, the assessment of the participants' submissions continued, but few in the audience could focus on the following submissions any longer.

It was not to say that the following submissions were all badly done. Quite a few of them came with their own inscription skills as well, their assessments becoming a display of various different skills.

However, when the members of the audience thought back to the overwhelming pressure from the ball of fire earlier, some of them could still feel their knees going weak despite the time that had passed.

Having witnessed such a flashy display, the following submissions only seemed far inferior in comparison, so how could they still be in the mood to watch the judges' assessments?

Time flew by.

Before anyone realised it, the assessment had come to an end.

Now, it was finally time for the judges to decide which participants would be proceeding to the next round.