The Sovereign's Ascension

Standing on the back of the Profound Astral Bird, Luo Hua, who was wearing white, asked, “You’re not going to take a look at them?”

“I’m afraid that I won’t be able to hold myself back,” said Lin Yun after lowering the flute. His gaze was complicated, and he couldn’t maintain his composure. Over six months of interaction, Lin Yun had deep feelings for the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect, Wang Yuruo, Feng Zhang, and everyone else.

He didn’t have to turn back to know how sad Wang Yuruo must be right now, and how disappointed Feng Zhang and Liu Qingyan were. He only couldn’t guess what Ye Ziling’s thoughts were. Was she disappointed? Sad? Helpless?

Their relationship started as a misunderstanding before they gradually understood each other and became friends. Even if they didn’t like each other romantically, Lin Yun didn’t have many people in the world that he liked.

“Then are you not going to interact with that old geezer anymore?” Luo Hua asked.

Lin Yun paused briefly before he replied, “Not exactly. I just don’t want to owe him anything. It feels weird to have someone being so good to you, and I have no idea of his objective.”

“I know why he’s so good to you,” said Luo Hua.

“You do?” Lin Yun was surprised to hear that because there was a distance between him and the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect. After all, he didn’t understand the other party’s objective.

“You’ll know when you head to the Ancient Barren Domain after one year. He has the objective to ask you to go to the Sword Assembly, but it’s not for that sword. After all, it’s hard for you to obtain that sword with your current strength…” Luo Hua said.

“Oh? Regardless of cultivation, one must limit themselves to the Heavenly Soul Realm. Naturally, I won’t fear anyone,” said Lin Yun.

“It’s not that simple,” smiled Luo Hua.

“Young Master Luo, Lin Yun, we’re going to enter the first layer of heaven. It’ll be fast, so please be careful.” The Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect’s elder who was controlling the Profound Astral Bird spoke. When he was done, the Profound Astral Bird sped up and Lin Yun could feel a powerful wind current on the back of the Profound Astral Bird that hit his body like blades.

“What speed!” Lin Yun was shocked because not even an expert in the Elysium Core Realm could catch up to them. But fortunately, there was a layer of starlight emitted from the Profound Astral Bird that formed a barrier around them. Otherwise, Lin Yun would definitely be sent flying away from the wind current.

Then, a violent crack sounded out that Lin Yun was familiar with. It was the sound of the sky shattering. Despite being prepared for it, the high speed made his blood speed up, which caused him to feel dizzy.

This was the first layer of heaven? Lin Yun raised his head to see the constellations in the sky that covered the entire sky. Beneath the constellations were flames and lightning. There were also clouds shining brightly from the starlight.

The sea of clouds was massive and looked like a continent. But the Profound Astral Bird was too fast for Lin Yun to catch anything else. Not long later, the Profound Astral Bird broke through two more layers of heaven and reached the third layer of heaven.

The environment here was even more disastrous than in the second layer of heaven. When he raised his head, he couldn’t even see any starlight shining down. The only thing he could see was danger in the surroundings. After coming to the third layer of heaven, the Profound Astral Bird finally slowed down, allowing Lin Yun to examine the environment.

The environment wasn’t friendly to cultivators, and even the laws here are different. If they weren’t standing on the back of the Profound Astral Bird, who knew how dangerous it would be. But even so, Lin Yun could see many powerful cultivators in the clouds tumbling with flames and lightning to cultivate.

Suddenly, Lin Yun could sense a gaze piercing through the barrier enveloping the Profound Astral Bird to look at all of them. This made Lin Yun feel terrible, and even the sword cocoon in the center of his brows trembled lightly as if it were being threatened.

Lin Yun was alarmed because it was an expert in the Dragon Pulse Realm. The elder explained, “No need to worry. Those who can cultivate here are at least in the Dragon Pulse Realm, and they can’t stay here for long. Time is precious to them, so they won’t do anything to us. Although there might be demonic cultivators with bizarre personalities, they are rare.”

“What are they doing here?” Lin Yun asked curiously.

“Tempering the dragon pulses with flame and lightning. But real geniuses in the Dragon Pulse Realm are at the ninth layer of heaven,” said Luo Hua. The elder of the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect smiled bitterly when he heard that because he knew that it was impressive if an expert in the Dragon Pulse Realm could reach the fifth layer of heaven. As for the ninth layer of heaven, it was simply an act of courting death in his eyes.

“Elder Bai Ting, why are we in the third layer of heaven by the way?” Lin Yun glanced at the elder controlling the Profound Astral Bird.

“Traveling to the Azure Rock Hidden Sword Pavilion requires us to travel 3,000 miles, but we only need to travel a third of that distance in the third layer of heaven. The Profound Astral Bird can fully unleash its speed in the third layer of heaven,” smiled Elder Bai Ting.

This made Lin Yun wonder if he could travel through heaven next time if he wanted to travel. But he soon denied that because it was already tough for Dragon Pulse Realm experts to be here, not to mention him. Furthermore, there were many dangers here.

The fact that the Dragon Pulse Realm experts cultivated here was dangerous. Lin Yun carefully sensed the surroundings and could feel that the Profound Astral Bird was a lot faster. When they traveled in the third layer of heaven, Lin Yun could see many unbelievable scenes around him.

Three days later, they finally entered the Azure Rock County’s territory with Elder Bai Ting smiling, “We’re arriving soon.”

Right at this moment, the Profound Astral Bird let out a sharp cry as it destroyed the starlight surrounding it. The starlight was equivalent to a barrier, protecting Lin Yun and Luo Hua from being harmed by the third layer of heaven. But the sudden attack had created holes in the barrier.

This caught Lin Yun by surprise as he lost his footing. But right at this moment, Luo Hua’s hand grabbed his as she smiled, “It’s fine,”

Lin Yun squeezed out a smile and thanked her before filling his body with a sword intent to stabilize himself. Up ahead was an old man enveloped in demonic aura using the flame and lightning to refine his saint artifact. It was a crimson long blade that looked like the fangs of a primordial beast.

This scene made Bai Ting’s face twitch because he never expected that he would encounter a demonic cultivator. Furthermore, the demonic cultivator wore a smile and examined them.

“Senior, I’m from the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect in the Profound Azure Prefecture. We’re heading to partake in the Sword Assembly, and we have no intentions of alarming you,” said Elder Bai Ting.

“Never heard of it…” said the old man indifferently. Everyone knew about the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect in the Profound Azure Prefecture, but the sect didn’t have any fame beyond the Profound Azure Prefecture.

“It’s fate since we run into each other. Leave the Profound Astral Bird behind.” The old man’s eyes flickered as he was tempted by the Profound Astral Bird. As an astral beast born in the third layer of heaven, the value of a Profound Astral Bird was considerable.

“This…”Elder Bai Ting’s face became ugly when he heard that.

“You’re already in Azure Rock County, so I can send you guys down,” said the old man with a smile.

“Yan Tie, seventh guardian of the Sky Bale Pavilion in the Ancient Barren Domain’s Demon Domain.” Luo Hua’s voice sounded out at this moment, which caused the old man’s face to change.

As a dragon-shaped aura appeared behind the old man, the old man stared at Luo Hua and said, “Impressive. I didn’t expect someone from the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect to know my name.”

“What name do you have? I wouldn’t remember your name if it wasn’t for the Sky Bale Pavilion. Refine the saint artifact for your pavilion master obediently and don’t provoke those you shouldn’t. You don’t know about the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect, but what about the Ancient Barren Domain’s Sword Sect?” Luo Hua continued with her cold voice and continued with the domineering demeanor, “You still aren’t going to move aside? If you don’t get lost right now, not even the pavilion master can save you.”

Yan Tie’s face changed when he heard that. Even as an expert from the Dragon Pulse Realm, there were many existences in the world that he couldn’t provoke. Furthermore, it would be disastrous if the other party had any terrifying origin.”

“Haha, I’m just joking. I just remembered that the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect is an external force of the Sword Sect…” Yan Tie squinted his eyes with a smile and retracted his demonic aura.

This immediately alleviated the pressure on the Profound Astral Bird as it turned into a streak of light and left.

Lin Yun looked at Luo Hua beside him and fell into deep thoughts. He didn’t say anything, but Elder Bai Ting spoke with lingering fear, “That old geezer knew about the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect’s origin right from the start. He was just faking it because he doesn’t want to offend the Sword Sect. If it wasn’t for Young Master Luo, we'd definitely suffer greatly today.”

Lin Yun instantly figured it out. After all, that old geezer would’ve already killed them and seized the Profound Astral Bird instead of talking if the old geezer really didn’t know about the origin of the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect.

“All I did was see through his pitiful tricks,” said Luo Hua calmly. After this incident, the entire journey was smooth. When the Profound Astral Bird tore apart the third layer of heaven and returned to the ground, a massive territory appeared before Lin Yun.

It was the Azure Rock County, with a city more massive than the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect. He could even sense the massive sword aura in the city that made the sword cocoon in the center of his brows tremble. At this moment, he saw a massive sword ray that shouldn’t be visible with his naked eyes soaring into the sky.

“I suddenly recalled that the Sword Assembly seems to require an invitation. Does the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect have an invitation?” Lin Yun asked, instantly making Elder Bai Ting feel awkward.

Just when Lin Yun was feeling uneasy, Bai Ting’s words had confirmed it for him, “We didn’t receive an invitation.”