The Sovereign's Ascension

Lin Yun spent two days making preparations before he left the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect with Lil’ Purple and Lil’ Red. In the year 3301 of Kunlun Realm’s calendar, Lin Yun had finally started his journey in Kunlun Realm.

On a desolate island in the Fleeting Cloud Sea, a figure quietly descended. It was Lin Yun who had left the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect for a little over a year. He had dealt with all the easy people on the list and now he was left with the difficult ones.

He had arrived at an island with a secret underground palace to find his next target. Right now, a black-clothed middle-aged man was sitting on a throne while being served by a woman. There were ten experts on both sides of the palace who were in the pinnacle seventh soul Heavenly Soul Realm. They were only half a step away from reaching the Empyrean Realm.

In Kunlun Realm, everyone was born into the Xiantian Realm, so they would reach the Heavenly Soul Realm before the age of fifteen if they had some talent. But the Empyrean Realm was a threshold where more than 90% of the people failed.

Take the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect, for example, there were hundreds of millions of people within its territory, but there were less than 500 core disciples. From this alone, one could imagine how difficult it was for ordinary people to reach the Empyrean Realm.

The middle-aged man seated on the throne was in his fifties, and he had reached the pinnacle Star Stage. This meant that he was a lot stronger than most core disciples. Most importantly, the depth of his pupils was flickering with crimson light due to the strong baleful aura around him.

The man’s name was Huang Yong and he was an infamous person in the Profound Azure Manor. The four major sects sent core disciples to get rid of him multiple times, but he managed to escape all of their assaults. Huang Yong was enjoying music and dancing women in his palace as he drank with his subordinates.

“Big brother, when are we going to stop hiding? Isn’t it just Flower Burial? Why should we be afraid of him?” asked one of the ten quasi-empyrean unhappily.

Huang Yong merely drank wine and ignored his subordinate. In the past month, a person suddenly appeared in the Profound Azure Manor claiming to be Flower Burial. He slayed many demonic cultivators, which made Huang Yong feel uneasy. After all, the demonic cultivators who were killed so far had a grudge with the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect.

As a cautious person, he wanted to hide and wait for the commotion to disappear. After all, it was impossible for Flower Burial to spend all his time going after demonic cultivators. If that happened, Flower Burial wouldn’t have time to cultivate.

“Hehe, Old Seventh, this place has good things to play with as well as a hidden spiritual spring that we can use to go into seclusion. There’s no harm in hiding for a period of time.” Another demonic cultivator said, staring at the dancing women.

“I’m just afraid that Flower Burial will find us,” said another cautious person.

Throwing the cup in his hand, Huang Yong said coldly, “If he dares to come, I’ll make sure that he won’t be able to go back. I’m hiding not because I’m afraid of him, I just don’t want to cause any unnecessary troubles.”

Huang Yong spent a great deal of effort on this underground palace. In addition to being secluded, it had several layers of spiritual arrays. So he was confident that no one could barge in unless they were in the Astral Stage. As a demonic cultivator who could survive in the Profound Azure Manor for so many years, how could he not have methods to deal with trouble?

“Big brother, the Indigoflame Gold Lotus in the spiritual lake has matured!” A yellow-robed man ran into the hall in excitement with a box in his hands.

Hearing that, the eyes of all quasi-empyrean lit up because this was the reason why they were willing to follow Huang Yong. After all, if they could obtain a leaf from the Indigoflame Gold Lotus, they would be able to make a breakthrough into the Empyrean Realm.

“Back down!” Huang Yong’s eyelid twitched as he chased all the women away. Then, he appeared in front of the yellow-robed person, which left the latter shocked because Huang Yong was simply too fast. It seemed like ordinary empyreans wouldn’t even be able to pose a threat to his big brother, including the core disciples of the major sects. After all, Huang Yong had killed many core disciples over the years, especially two years ago where Huang Yong tortured four core disciples of the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect to death.

It was an incident that caused the entire Fleeting Cloud Sect Sect to tremble and dispatch their elders. But in the end, not even their elders could do anything to Huang Yong.

Grabbing the box, Huang Yong returned to his seat and opened it. When he saw the Indigoflame Gold Lotus in it, his eyes couldn’t help shining brightly. “Hahaha! We’ve been waiting for this lotus to mature for years. As long as I can refine the lotus heart, I’ll be able to make a breakthrough into the Galaxy Stage!”

“Congratulations, big brother!”

“With this treasure, big brother can make a breakthrough within three years!”

“Haha! Big Brother, this Indigoflame Goldlotus is a variant that has a wisp of demonic blood in the lotus heart. Not to mention the Astral Stage, but you might even be able to make it to the Elysium Core Realm within three years!” All the quasi-empyreans began to flatter their leader.

Although Huang Yong was someone who controlled his emotions well, he still couldn’t help revealing the excitement in his eyes. This lotus was truly a variant, but his talent wasn’t strong enough to take advantage of it. With this lotus, he might be able to make a breakthrough to the Astral Stage, but he knew that it was impossible for him to reach the Elysium Core Realm.

But he was already satisfied that he could reach the Astral Stage as it was a rare event in the Profound Azure Manor. Aside from the old geezers in the sects, no one would be able to deal with him.

“Don’t worry, I won’t treat you badly. This lotus has a total of thirteen leaves, so there’s enough for each one of you,” smiled Huang Yong.

“Thank you, big brother!”

“As long as Big Brother gives the word, we’ll cross a sea of flames for you!” Everyone’s eyes lit up with excitement when they heard that.

But Huang Yong sneered when he heard that because he knew how loyal these people were. As long as he was stronger than them, he wouldn’t need to worry when they would stab him in the back.

“An Indigoflame Gold Lotus with demonic blood on it? Interesting… I just so happen to be interested in that as well.” Right at this moment, a clear voice sounded out.

That voice instantly made the entire palace become quiet. Everyone’s face became cold, especially Huang Yong as he put the Indigoflame Gold Lotus away. “Since you're already here, why aren’t you showing yourself? There’s no meaning in hiding anymore.”

As long as the other party dared to show up, they were destined to die. The array in the palace was something that Huang Yong spent a great price on and it even took months to complete. In terms of Divine Astral Pellets alone, he had spent more than thousands of them.

However, he didn’t get a reply. The only thing that he could hear was the sound of a flute. Strangely, the music sounded like an army of horses galloping on the battlefield. Then, a series of explosions rang out from the runes on the wall as the Divine Astral Pellets shattered. Instantly, the array was broken.

The palace turned dark as there were only a few lamps flickering with feeble light now. At the same time, the hearts of Huang Yong’s subordinates sank because they knew that Flower Burial had come to kill them.

Flower Burial was rumored to have white hair, a mask covering half of his face, long silver robes, a flute, and a sword. There was even one time when he killed hundreds of people just to pursue one demonic cultivator. He was relentless and uprooted the demonic cultivator’s manor.

When Huang Yong realized who the visitor was, his face changed because he never expected that Flower Burial would come to his palace.

Silver light filled the entire palace as a figure stood at the entrance. He had the same silver hair, silver mask, and silver robes that all the rumors talked about. However, this was the first time that anyone had seen a silver sword box.

He was holding onto a long flute, and he had emitted immense pressure just by standing. It was enough to make everyone shiver in fear.

“Kill him!” commanded Huang Yong from his throne. But when he saw that no one was moving, his face instantly became ugly.

“If you want to live, get lost,” said Lin Yun with an arc on his lips.

“Thank you for sparing us, Flower Burial!” All of Huang Yong’s minions felt relieved as they quickly fled for their lives, leaving Lin Yun and Huang Yong all by themselves.

“I don’t believe I offended you. If you’re willing to spare me, I’m willing to give you the Indigoflame Gold Lotus!” Huang Yong said with a wisp of hope in his heart.

“You know what grudges we have,” replied Lin Yun while he looked at the other party coldly. Huang Yong had tortured four core disciples of the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect to death, sending the entire Profound Azure Manor into shock and greatly humiliated the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect.

The sect tried to take revenge on him several times, but they failed to find him. Even if they could find him, they didn’t dare to send out Elysium Core Realm elders in fear that they might spook him. However, sending a core disciple was basically the same as sending a disciple to die. This was the reason why the sect master gave Lin Yun the list of names, to handle the big fish that regular disciples couldn’t.

“So you’re really from the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect.” A smile appeared on Huang Yong’s lips as he looked more relaxed. “Based on your voice, you sound pretty young. I don’t think you’re an elder. Since you’re here, you can forget about leaving!”

Lin Yun had nothing to fear as long as he wasn’t facing an Elysium Core Realm expert. Even if the other party’s cultivation was higher than his cultivation, he was confident he could run. But a Star Stage didn’t matter since he had killed many Star Stage disciples so far.

When he was done, he unleashed the aura of an empyrean and charged toward Lin Yun. But Lin Yun simply raised his flute and began to play. When the music sounded out, Huang Yong’s speed visibly slowed as he sensed an invincible sword intent obstructing his movements.

Huang Yong snorted and pressed forward. Suddenly, Lin Yun’s flute music changed to the Thunderclap Sword Art and his hair began to flutter violently in the wind.

Huang Yong was covered in wounds as he approached Lin Yun with his blood soaked body. When he was one step away from Lin Yun, Huang Yong roared and vented out all the rage in his heart, “Die!”

But Lin Yun suddenly raised his eyebrow and his flute music soared into the sky. Before Huang Yong could even respond, he was devoured by a silver ray that was sliced into two. Reaching out, a suction force exploded from Lin Yun’s palm as he pulled a box over to him.

Then, without any hesitation, he left the blood splattered hall.