The Sovereign's Ascension

Lin Yun made a mental note about the key and focused on other things. He didn’t have the luxury of free time. Right now, he had to focus on reaching the limit of the Heavenly Soul Realm and becoming an empyrean as soon as possible. After all, wielding the flute as a sword wasn’t a permanent solution to his strength. Cultivation was the only way to actually improve.

If Lin Yun didn’t have a strong foundation, then it would be impossible to compete with genuine geniuses like those on the Empyrean Ranking. He would find himself in a disadvantageous position every time.

Of course, the noble tune was helpful for the time being, but it wouldn’t give him an advantage against geniuses on the Empyrean Ranking.

As time passed, all the discussions regarding Flower Burial gradually died down in the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect. Simultaneously, Lin Yun disappeared from the public eye.

He spent every day practicing the Azure Dragon Saint Art with the True Dragon Saint Liquid. Then, he would practice his Fleeting Cloud Sword Sutra and sword techniques at night. Occasionally, when he was free, he would play music with Luo Hua and chat. Once again, Lin Yun’s days in the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect were peaceful.

But whenever he was about to run out of True Dragon Saint Liquid, he would hunt down demonic cultivators on behalf of the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect as Flower Burial.

It was a worthwhile transaction for him to get more True Dragon Saint Liquid. However, as Flower Burial’s fame got bigger, it became harder for him to hunt demonic cultivators. His targets started to flee as soon as he encountered them, creating several failures. At times, he would also run into danger as every demonic cultivator knew that he had a saint artifact. So he faced several ambushes that he only escaped due to the Silver Moon Mask.

Lin Yun continued this repetitive cycle for three months. In the blink of an eye, he had already stayed in the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect for six months. It was a profitable time for him as he greatly improved his strength. He reached the tenth sword in the Fleeting Cloud 13 Swords. He also exhausted over 200 True Dragon Saint Liquid to reach the fifth stage in the Azure Dragon Saint Art.

The Azure Dragon Saint Art was an ancient body-refining technique that allowed him to compete with empyreans. Now, he only had one stage left before reaching the Azure Dragon Saint Physique.

The Azure Dragon Saint Physique would transform his physique into a saint physique. In Kunlun Realm, it was also called the acquired saint physique. It was definitely inferior to those monsters who were born with innate saint physiques, but both types of saint physiques had their own unique benefits.

In the massive Kunlun Realm, those who could convert their physique to a saint physique were rare. Lin Yun believed that he could reach the sixth stage of the Azure Dragon Saint Art to create his Azure Dragon Saint Physique. With this, he would be able to reach the limit of the Heavenly Soul Realm and undergo the last tribulation of the Heavenly Soul Realm.

After all, his bloodline would undergo a huge transformation with the Azure Dragon Saint Physique. It was a pity that he didn’t have the Azure Dragon True Bone anymore. He would have been able to change his bloodline to that of the dragon clan, which would have sped up the process of reaching the limit of the Heavenly Soul Realm. It was bound to happen since the true bone gifted by the Azure Dragon Lord was meant to allow him to reach the absolute limit.

However, he had given the true bone to Lil’ Purple and he also didn’t regret his choice. In his heart, Lin Yun felt sad for her. After all, despite how she looked, she had been in deep slumber for 100,000 years. He couldn’t imagine what kind of experience she had. Then again, he also wasn’t sure if she exaggerated the years.

Either way, the issue at hand was still Lin Yun’s cultivation. Being stuck in the Heavenly Soul Realm caused a bit of controversy in the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect. Lin Yun’s arrival greatly shocked the sect and it was weird that his cultivation didn’t improve even after six months.

Many people began to speak nasty about him, but Lin Yun didn’t care. Although he didn’t make a breakthrough in his cultivation, he knew that he was progressing. Even without using the flute, he was confident that he could defeat the majority of the core disciples with the Fleeting Cloud 13 Swords. If he coupled that with his sky sword intent, no one besides Ye Ziling could stand in his way.

“First Sword—Sun Concealing Clouds!”

“Second Sword—Storm Clouds and Wind!”

“Third Sword—Firmament Stirring Clouds!”

……

“Tenth Sword—Dispelling Clouds!”

Lin Yun wielded his sword and left behind golden flashes as he perfectly fused the Golden Crow Nine Transformations and Fleeting Cloud 13 Swords together. Every single time he swung his sword out, he would unleash an Azure Bird.

After the tenth sword, ten Azure Birds enveloped the mountain and emitted sharp cries. With ten saint spirits unleashed at the same time, Lin Yun’s sword aura had reached an unprecedented height. The sky was dark and his sword gave the feeling that it would break through the boundaries of heaven and earth.

As lightning bolts flashed through the horizon, a terrifying cold light shined from Lin Yun’s sword.

Sheathing his sword, Lin Yun emitted a terrifying aura that lingered in the surroundings for a long time. His presence was so mighty that he seemed like a colossal mountain.

“I am the Saint Sword Mountain!” Lin Yun muttered. Now that Lin Yun had reached the manifestation stage in the first ten swords, he could wield the attacks however he wished.

The sword technique was imprinted with Lin Yun’s mark as his sword aura because he could manifest a mountain like the Sword Saint Mountain at any time. No one else besides him could grasp the Sword Saint Mountain’s intent because the requirements were so strict. One needed a quasi-fourth grade sword intent and a physique comparable to an empyrean.

“I can fuse both the Golden Crow Nine Transformations and the Azure Dragon Saint Art into my sword dao. It’s not the worst thing to be stuck in the Heavenly Soul Realm for so long. I’m combining my martial techniques well,” muttered Lin Yun.

Lin Yun smiled as he began to think about the time he had left in the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect. He only had six more months to stay, which made him think about many happy experiences in the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect.

His life was good as he drank Luo Hua’s wine and goofed off with Wang Yuruo all the time. But there was also the matter of Ye Ziling. The Profound Azure Prefecture was a few months away, and Lin Yun wondered if Ye Ziling could bear it by herself. He heard from Wang Yuruo that Ye Ziling was trying to reach the Astral Stage as fast as possible.

When someone reached the Astral Stage, they could manifest the stars to paint their own constellation. While Lin Yun was thinking about Ye Ziling, he sensed a frail figure entering the scope of his sword intent. It was Feng Zhang, the core disciple that doubted Lin Yun’s qualifications.

Why is he here? Lin Yun couldn’t help smiling when he thought about Feng Zhang. If he wasn’t so shameless, I wouldn’t have been so hard on him.

Feng Zhang approached Lin Yun respectfully and started speaking, “Senior Brother Yun, you’ve improved in the attainment in your sword yet again…”

There were rumors going around in the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect recently that Lin Yun was only mediocre and that it was a pure coincidence for him to reach the summit. Otherwise, why would he still be in the Heavenly Soul Realm?

If it was Feng Zhang of the past, he would have thought that the rumors were true and would create trouble for Lin Yun. But he already suffered so much in the past that he didn’t dare to believe the rumors.

Everything went as Feng Zhang had expected. He could sense a terrifying sword aura lingering in the surroundings today, and he could feel immense pressure from the lingering sword aura.

“You’ve reached the Galaxy Stage?” Lin Yun asked. In just half a year, Feng Zhang made great improvements to go from the Star Stage to the Galaxy Stage.

“It’s just luck. I benefited greatly from you reaching the summit back then,” said Feng Zhang.

Seeing that Feng Zhang was so humble, Lin Yun smiled, “Do you have anything you need from me?”

“Junior Sister Yuruo wants to go out for training, and she asked you to go with her… Senior Sister Ye can’t make her change her mind and asked me to get your opinion,” said Feng Zhang with envy in his eyes.

Wang Yuruo was considered a beauty in the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect, not to mention that she had such an impressive figure. Most importantly, she was innocent and cheerful, which gave others a good impression. In the eyes of many disciples, she was even more attractive than Ye Ziling.

But for some reason, Wang Yuruo seemed to be close with Lin Yun and visited his residence from time to time. It made many people go insane with jealousy, and Feng Zhang was one of those people.

Lin Yun smiled because Wang Yuruo was finally going out to train.

“Senior Sister Ye said that there’s no need for you to take care of her if you’re busy,” continued Feng Zhang.

“I don’t mind,” smiled Lin Yun. Since Ye Ziling even stopped her attempt in reaching the Astral Stage, then there was nothing Lin Yun had to say. Not to mention that he had always been going out under the identity of Flower Burial and not as his actual identity, Lin Yun.