![One Gaze, Ten Thousand Flaws [Xianxia; Progression Fantasy]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.royalroadcdn.com%2Fpublic%2Fcovers-large%2F181582-one-gaze-ten-thousand-flaws-xianxia-progression.jpg%3Ftime%3D1784547738&w=640&q=75)
by Drew Royston
To a master blacksmith, everything has a breaking point. Even the heavens. Tie Zhen was born to hammer metal, not defy the gods. An uncanny gift for seeing hidden flaws made him a skillful craftsman. He never dreamed he could use it to fight. Saving a dying cultivation master from an oppressive Order hurls Zhen into a world of flying swords and ancient bloodlines. As the Order's assassins and young masters come for him, his talent might just give him the edge he needs to survive. Guided by that eccentric master and accompanied by his surprisingly intelligent horse, Zhen must use his gift to forge his own cultivation path and flee the Order that is hunting him. One gaze. Ten thousand flaws. Let's see who breaks first. Book 1 complete No harem c. 2,000-word chapters Updates M-W-F Tournaments, crafting, young masters, secret master, BBEG, OP skills
#11
8/26/2026
Peak #50
0d
#10
8/11/2026
Peak #5
13d
#9
8/11/2026
Peak #1
29d
#8
8/11/2026
Peak #5
15d
#7
8/11/2026
Peak #4
13d
One state-enhanced oracle order, filtered by each list. Observed Royal Road ranks remain separate ground truth.
Rank updated 2 Oct 2026, 05:38 UTC
Entry forecast updated 2 Oct 2026, 05:38 UTC
Ranking model: rs-public-oracle-state-v1
Forecast model: rs-model-entry-v1
Chart history contains only this ranking model's runs; legacy points are not spliced in.
Coupled 14-day outlook
rs-joint-entry-copula-v1
Any eligible RS entry
17%
Two or more lists
4%
Likely threshold order: Drama → Action → Adventure → Fantasy → Main.
Leading bundle: Drama (13%).
Estimated from one fitted shared story path; category probabilities are not multiplied as if lists were independent.
Separate entry forecast; this probability does not enter the ranking score.
Overall Rising Stars Shadow RS rank
#3133 of 12,147 · 3083 below RS #50
By genre
beats 72% of similar stories
beats 14% of similar stories
beats 96% of similar stories
Firing on all cylinders
Traffic and conversion are both strong for a story this size. Readers are finding it and sticking — if Rising Stars is the goal, this is the moment to push.
Benchmarks: 8,060 active Royal Road stories, percentiles within the 20–49 chapters band, cohort of 2026-07-02. Conversion is measured as followers gained per 1,000 views over the recent window.
