The Sovereign's Ascension

When Lin Yun took out the rose painting from his interspatial pouch, he became nervous. It was rare for him to become anxious, but Lin Yun could still remember how powerful the Dustlight Sword Art was. Back then, he could use it to defeat three Violet Palace Realm experts, and there was no question that the following sword technique would be even stronger than the Fleeting Cloud 13 Swords.

But he had no idea what he would face if he unraveled the painting because it was also possible that the sword ray in the painting would kill him. Then again, the biggest possibility would be gaining nothing from the painting because he had no confidence in his attainment as a spiritualist, unlike his accomplishment in the sword.

He took a shortcut to become a Saint Spiritualist, unlike those who became a Saint Spiritualist by taking it step-by-step. So he couldn’t treat himself as a genuine Saint Spiritualist, or he would suffer a loss because of that sooner or later.

“f it doesn’t work, I can only try and brush up on my spiritual runes after joining the Sword Sect,” muttered Lin Yun. His foundation as a Saint Spiritualist was weak, but the benefits that came out of it were too shocking. Just his soul energy alone was able to form a radar with a radius of five hundred miles. It was enough to spark the envy of many.

If he could take it a step further with the spiritual runes, he would have ways to become stronger even without the rose painting.

When Lin Yun unraveled the painting, the familiar white tiger appeared before his eyes once more. Even now, Lin Yun could feel a tremendous pressure from the white tiger, even though he had become much stronger than when he first looked at it. He speculated that this white tiger might be a saint or divine beast. Otherwise, the rhyme that it possessed wouldn’t be so terrifying.

As the purple mark on his forehead glowed, Lin Yun had brought out his firmament sword intent. This enveloped him in a golden sword ray that resisted the pressure from the white tiger. Right at that moment, a familiar figure appeared once more and a fair hand appeared before the tiger, while the tiger closed its eyes and took a whiff of the rose.

As an aroma spread out, Lin Yun could even smell the fragrance coming from the rose. As the painting continued to flash, the Dustlight Sword Art appeared before him once more. When the Dustlight Sword Art was done, the picture in the painting suddenly collapsed and the world turned into fragments with a terrifying killing aura accumulating in the surroundings.

This instantly made Lin Yun nervous because he knew it was finally here, and his firmament sword intent could sense the strand of an extremely dangerous aura.

“Heaven!” Just when Lin Yun focused all of his attention, a voice suddenly resounded beside his ears. This instantly made Lin Yun throw out a mouthful of blood with his firmament sword intent about to instantaneously collapse.

“Earth!” This voice made Lin Yun throw out another mouthful of blood before he took three steps back.

“Heaven, Earth, Profound, Desolation, Wind, Fire, Lightning, and Ice!” When those words resounded, Lin Yun had already taken a hundred steps back with one knee on the ground, and his face had become ashen. He could feel his head splitting apart, and his face had become distorted from the pain.

As those words continued to echo and entered his profound palace, it placed Lin Yun in great pain. The pain was so great that it made him want to split his mind and get those words out of his head. At this moment, his various means were futile against the pain.

But in the crucial moment, the Golden Crow Saint Rune in his profound palace saved him. When the saint rune unleashed waves of saint aura, it slowly alleviated the pain that Lin Yun was feeling. When Lin Yun recovered, his eyes shone brightly and the blurred surroundings gradually cleared up.

“I see it!” Lin Yun’s eyes lit up as he quickly stood up. He could see that the shattered sceneries were swiftly fixing themselves, and the surroundings were undergoing a transformation. Countless saint runes and ink intertwined together.

“Carefree 9 Swords, a total of nine forms. They were divided into the Heaven, Earth, Profound, Desolation…and Ice Sword Form.” A voice resounded from the painting.

But when Lin Yun recited them, he only counted that there were eight words in Heaven, Earth, Profound, Desolation, Wind, Fire, Lightning, and Ice, so what was the ninth word? What was the ninth sword?

“There are thirty-six brushes in the Heaven Sword Form!” Before Lin Yun could figure out the ninth sword form, the Southern Emperor began to brandish his sword on the plain.

“First Heaven!”

“Second Heaven!”

“Third Heaven!”

“Fourth Heaven!”

……

“Fifteenth Heaven!” Like that, the Southern Emperor looked like he had a brush in his hand, and each brush stroke contained boundless power.

“Thirty-sixth Heaven!” When the Southern Emperor swung his sword the thirty-sixth time, the thirty-six sword rays began to overlap in the air and started to accumulate. Suddenly, the sky became dark and an ancient ‘Heaven’ word appeared. The split second the word was formed, it gave off a feeling as though everything in the world had bowed to that word.

This scene stumped Lin Yun because he had never seen such a sword technique before, nor did he think that there would be such a bizarre technique.

“As for earth…” As the azure-clothed Southern Emperor moved faster in the painting, his movements had reached a speed that even Lin Yun couldn’t follow with his firmament sword intent. Until Lin Yun couldn’t see everything clearly, and everything became blurred. Even the voice from the painting also became bits and pieces.

He could only see that when the eight words were formed, the mood behind the word ‘carefree’ was brought to a new height by the azure-clothed Southern Emperor. Each of his swords left cracks in the air. When the eight words were formed, the entire world began to spin, with the surrounding space starting to distort.

The eight words contained a carefree mood, and Lin Yun’s eyes were filled with reverence for the Carefree 8 Swords because this sword technique was simply breathtaking. Suddenly, Lin Yun recalled that this sword technique was called the Carefree 9 Swords, so there should be one more sword form after the eight.

A sorrowful yet furious roar tore the sky apart when Lin Yun felt uncertain. “But it’s hard to be carefree in the world!”

As Lin Yun’s face changed, he quickly waved his hand before the azure-clothed Southern Emperor could unleash the ninth sword. Following this, the rose painting closed up and returned to his hand.

“Phew, that was a close call.” This instantly relieved him because he felt that if the Southern Emperor performed the last sword, he might be killed, even if he was outside the painting.

The carefree mood in the eight words had reached an unimaginable limit, and he also understood what carefree meant from those words. But the last word had destroyed the carefree mood, filled with boundless sorrow, rage, and darkness.

“But it’s hard to be carefree in the world…” As Lin Yun muttered several times, he seemed to have figured out something. At the same time, he finally knew why he could feel a wisp of danger back then if he had unraveled the painting. If he didn’t have the Golden Crow Saint Rune in his profound palace now, he would probably lose his life when he unraveled his painting back then, and this realization instantly made him feel relieved that he wasn’t impulsive.

Stowing the rose painting, Lin Yun sat on the ground and began to digest what he had just comprehended. He knew that the Carefree 9 Swords didn’t just contain nine swords. Just the Heaven Sword Form alone had thirty-sixth swords, and the power behind each sword was terrifying because the mood contained in each sword was different.

It had nothing to do with heaven but carefree, carefree under heaven. But it was a pity because his current attainment in the spiritual runes was still lacking, so the Carefree 9 Swords wasn’t complete.

“Let’s take it at a step then. Let’s start with the Heaven Sword Form.” When Lin Yun opened his eyes, his complexion had improved a lot. As he recalled what he experienced in the painting, he circulated his astral energy. He began circulating it through his meridians according to the sword sutra he had obtained.

The azure-clothed Southern Emperor easily performed the Carefree 9 Swords. But when Lin Yun tried to use it, he realized it wasn’t as easy as it seemed. As long as he couldn’t comprehend the mood, he wouldn’t even be able to reach the initial stage with it. With just the Heaven Sword Form alone, the mood contained within it was like a boundless ocean.

Just like that, Lin Yun spent seven days before he barely brought the Heaven Sword Form to the initial stage, learning eighteen swords out of the thirty-six. But he was still far away from drawing the entire ‘Heaven’ word.

Even so, Lin Yun still felt excited because of it. Ever since he grasped the firmament sword intent, it wasn’t an issue for him to master a holy spirit sword technique with just a glance. As for those slightly more complicated ones, it would only take the time needed for a cup of tea to brew to grasp it.

But that wasn’t the case for Carefree 9 Swords because he couldn’t comprehend it completely, even with his firmament sword intent. Just like that, Lin Yun spent another seven days before he reached the twenty-three swords in the Heaven Sword Form before he was forced to stop as Lil’ Purple appeared while riding on Lil’ Red in its warhorse form.

“Lin Yun, time to take the Sovereign Divine Rune.” Lil’ Purple locked her brows together and said in an unhappy tone, “Have you trained so much that you’ve become dumb? You forgot what you promised this empress?”

Hearing what she said, Lin Yun smiled and stowed the Flower Burial Sword because he had already talked about it with Jian Jingtian. Jian Jingtian would undo the seal on the Sword Saint Mountain today, it’s just that he was too focused on learning the Heaven Sword Form that he nearly forgot about it. Knowing he was at fault, Lin Yun quickly changed the topic, “You’re here at the right time. I have something to ask you.”

“What is it?” Lil’ Purple asked in an uninterested tone. She had no interest in anything other than the Sovereign Divine Rune.

“What should I do with Qin Cang’s Golden Dragon Bone?” Lin Yun asked as he took out the dragon bone he dug out of Qin Cang. It wasn’t appropriate for him to give this to anyone because it would only bring them trouble if Qin Cang knew about it. But he also couldn’t use it himself because the attributes of the Golden Dragon Bone and Azure Dragon True Bone were too great.

Furthermore, the Golden Dragon Bone still contained Qin Cang’s aura. Since it was hard to completely get rid of Qin Cang’s aura, it wouldn’t be compatible with his Azure Dragon Saint Physique.

“Hehe. Lil’ Red is still growing. Why don’t you let Lil’ Red eat it? Don’t you know how to cook? You can make soup with it. Oh, I didn’t use the saint elixirs that you gave me, so you can cook using them together. It will be delicious!” Lil’ Purple became more excited the more she talked about it.

The corner of Lin Yun’s lips twitched when he heard what Lil’ Purple said. If Qin Cang knew what Lil’ Purple said, he would probably immediately die from the anger.