The first stick of incense burned to life.
Yun Jin smiled faintly and picked up the first jade slip.
This first slip had been offered by Liu Hua. Like the others, it contained a high-tier Earth-rank secret art. Such a technique was already extremely rare, even among the super sects.
As for Heaven-rank techniques, most super sects possessed only a single copy, a treasured legacy sealed away in the deepest vaults.
Those heirloom techniques were impossible to bring out for Yun Jin. After all, once given, the sect would be forced to share it with her. They would never be foolish enough to place their most precious inheritance in her hands.
So the highest-level manuals placed before her today were all Earth-rank high-tier.
Some lower-ranked sects could not even find a suitable Earth-rank high-tier manual. But after much effort, every sect had still presented at least an Earth-rank technique.
Yun Jin swept her gaze across the jade slip.
Last time, she had waited until the incense was nearly burned out before giving her modified result. This time, she only feigned a moment of contemplation. Then, without hesitation, she directly inscribed an improved version of the technique.
A breath of Heavenly Dao descended once more.
The next moment, a single enormous character appeared in the sky: "Success."
It had worked.
Again.
The entire arena erupted in a greater uproar. How could Yun Jin's mind work like this? This time, she had finished even faster than before! And this was also an Earth-rank high-tier technique.
Yun Jin moved on without hesitation, striding toward the second jade slip. The nearby judge rushed to light a second stick of incense, but Yun Jin stopped him with calm indifference.
"No need. One stick is enough."
Everyone froze.
One stick of incense was enough?
Yun Jin had just raised the stakes herself.
Her meaning was clear: She would finish improving all fourteen techniques within the time it took for a single stick of incense to burn.
But was that even possible?
Yun Jin had already picked up the second jade slip. She closed her eyes as if pondering deeply. A few breaths later, she opened them again. A jade slip etched with the new technique lay upon the platform.
"Success!" The Heavenly Dao's judgment fell a third time.
"Sect Master is invincible!"
"Our Sect Master reigns supreme!"
"Sect Master will rule the world for all eternity!"
The disciples of Wushuang Sect shouted with bullhorns, each louder than the last.
Everyone else was struck dumb, forced to watch the noisy spectacle.
Yun Jin glanced at her cheering disciples and, brimming with spirit, waved her hand. "Keep shouting. Don't stop."
"You got it!"
"Our Sect Master is strong, our Sect Master is mighty, our Sect Master is number one!"
"Sect Master, you are my god!"
Across the arena, the only sound left was the raucous cries of Wushuang Sect's disciples.
Yun Jin, meanwhile, carried herself as though she were not in the midst of a decisive gamble, but taking a leisurely stroll. Her expression was relaxed, her bearing arrogant.
If her disciples' shouting waned even slightly, she would go out of her way to encourage them to raise their voices again. She spent more time engaging with the crowd than she did improving the techniques.
Step by step, Yun Jin completed thirteen secret arts at a speed inconceivable to ordinary people.
At last, she stood before the final jade slip. This one had been presented by Lin Xiao.
In that instant, the entire arena fell silent.
Even Wushuang Sect's disciples grew tense, their cheering fading away.
Every gaze was fixed upon Yun Jin. This last jade slip would decide everything. Would she complete the wager, creating an unprecedented miracle?
Or would she fail and be forced to abolish her cultivation, falling from genius to crippled mortal?
The answer would be revealed now.
The incense lit at the start was still burning. Half its time remained.
Yun Jin smiled at Lin Xiao. "Pavilion Master Lin, have you thought about how you'll apologize? If your sincerity is lacking, I won't accept it."
Lin Xiao sneered. "Yun Jin, I admit you are a rare talent. But your arrogance is excessive. That arrogance is your road to ruin. Pitiful Wushuang Sect—finally given a chance to rise again, only for you to destroy it with your own hands. If the Wandao Saint knew, he would regret ever choosing you as his heir."
"Ah, Pavilion Master Lin, you've frightened me so." Yun Jin's voice held no trace of fear.
She lifted the final jade slip with a casual smile. She didn't even need the system to scan it. With a single glance, she understood the source of Lin Xiao's confidence.
This was no cultivation manual. It was a secret art of the demon race. Only demons could cultivate such techniques.
To improve a demon art, one had to be a demon. Cultivators lacked the very foundation needed to practice it. How could they possibly talk of improvement?
Yun Jin looked at Lin Xiao with a half-smile. "Pavilion Master Lin, it seems the jade slip you've brought out is a demon race manual."
A demon manual?
The crowd stiffened, their gazes toward Lin Xiao subtly shifting.
A demon manual!
None had expected Lin Xiao to resort to such a ploy. How could a human cultivator possibly improve a demon race technique?
No matter how gifted Yun Jin was, she was still human. By bringing forth a demon manual, Lin Xiao had sealed Yun Jin's defeat.
"Yes, it is a demon manual," Lin Xiao admitted without hesitation. "Yun Jin, you said yourself that all techniques beneath the heavens can be improved. You never specified human or demon."
He stared fixedly at her, waiting to see her collapse.
But Yun Jin remained unruffled. She nodded in mock admiration. "Pavilion Master Lin truly deserves his title, to think of such a troublesome tactic."
Yes, it was troublesome.
Shameless, even.
The crowd fell into uneasy silence.
In this world, humans and demons stood as enemies.
Though demons had once been suppressed, in recent years their movements had grown bolder. The human race had even formed the Demon-Slaying Alliance to oppose them.
For Lin Xiao to bring out a demon manual at this time struck many as distasteful.
Yun Jin, for all her arrogance, had never committed any unforgivable act. If she failed on her own, bearing the consequences of her gamble, so be it.
But she was on the cusp of victory, and Lin Xiao had deliberately sabotaged her by producing a demon manual.
Yun Jin herself was one of the staunchest voices for exterminating demons. Now, she was being forced into defeat by a demon technique. For reasons they could not explain, even those who disliked Yun Jin felt a pang of discomfort. Her fate should not be decided like this.
"So what if it is a demon manual? If blame must be assigned, it lies in your failure to set clear conditions," Liu Hua said coldly.
"That's right. Pavilion Master Lin is acting fully within the rules."
Several voices joined him.
But Yun Jin noticed that a few sect masters hesitated, their expressions wavering, saying nothing. She couldn't help but laugh softly.
So, it was true.
The human heart was the hardest thing to control. Even Lin Xiao, even after millennia of scheming, could not erase or assimilate it entirely.
"Yes, it is within the rules," Yun Jin said lightly. She casually picked up a blank jade slip, inscribed it swiftly, and set it upon the platform.
The crowd froze.
A demon manual. And Yun Jin dared to improve it?