The Sovereign's Ascension

“Manager An, you know Feng Xuanzi?” Lin Yun looked at An Liuyan, surprised.

“He’s a famous Heavenly Spiritualist in the Ancient Barren Domain. Heavenly Spiritualists are comparable to saints and even rarer than saints.” An Liuyun smiled. “They’re all good stuff. There are swordsmen filled in the city with the test starting soon. So each of these can sell for a huge price.”

Although the other treasures were also precious, selling them was a little troublesome. But the saint swords were easier to deal with, and since Feng Xuanzi forged them, they would only sell for a higher price.

“Where did you get them?” An Liuyan wasn’t too assured. If these swords were stolen, it would be troublesome to get rid of them.

“Feng Xuanzi used ten saint swords in exchange for his grandson's life, and I gave two swords to my fellow martial brothers. Don’t worry about the origin of these swords. I challenged the three arrays on the Sword Assembly, so it shouldn’t be hard for you to inquire about that,” said Lin Yun.

Lin Yun challenged the three arrays on a Lesser Sword Assembly? An Liuyan was surprised as she looked at Lin Yun with splendor shining in her eyes.

Lin Yun slapped her, but his achievement was worthy of her respect. There weren’t many who could make it through the three rankings in recent years. This made her realize that the Heavenly Cauldron Pavilion’s intelligence network was still lacking. Then again, this was also because the intelligence network was too huge.

The reason why she was in Azureblack City wasn’t because of Lin Yun. She only tried to probe Lin Yun after recognizing him. If she had more information on him, she wouldn’t have tried to probe him. After all, even Feng Xuanzi could only resort to taking out ten saint swords to save his grandson, and Lin Yun didn’t seem like the type who would suffer a loss and suck it up.

“I have to handle this matter carefully. So I have to send someone to verify it with Feng Xuanzi. Then again, I naturally believe that these eight swords weren’t obtained through illegal means,” smiled An Liuyan.

“Make your offer, then.” Lin Yun had no complaints about that. As for the saint artifacts from the other sects, he could only deal with them as items of doubtful origin.

An Liuyan briefly pondered before she offered, “Everything for 4,500,000 Divine Astral Pellets then.”

Lin Yun’s brow trembled because he expected it would be a vast sum. But An Liuyan’s offer had startled him when he heard that. He asked, “Isn’t there a problem with this amount?”

“Is it too little?” An Liuyan briefly pondered before she continued, “If you can wait, then I can sell them one by one. The price might be higher, but another 500,000 Divine Astral Pellets would be the limit.”

“Your offer is too high,” said Lin Yun.

An Liuyan smiled when she heard that and replied, “I didn’t take any handling fee from you. The handling fee for most chambers of commerce would usually be 40%. As for items with a doubtful origin, it could go as high as 80%.”

But An Liuyan didn’t stop there and continued, “Consider this an act of goodwill from me to befriend you and my apology for what happened back there. From an exchange of blows, friendship grows.”

Despite what she said, she seemed to be the only one taking blows from him. Looking at An Liuyan’s offer for a handshake, Lin Yun wasn’t in a hurry to shake it. The moment he shook hands with her, this meant that he had acknowledged their friendship.

“You’re a cultivator from the Demon Domain, right?” Lin Yun asked. The Demon Domain was a gathering place for demonic cultivators, and their ruler was the Demon Emperor. Furthermore, Demon Domains could be found everywhere in the Kunlun Realm.

Every powerful force of a demonic path would have a branch everywhere in the Kunlun Realm. Their foundation wasn’t any weaker than powerful sects, and Lin Yun didn’t mind befriending them. But he was probing An Liuyan with his question. If An Liuyan admitted it, then he would acknowledge their friendship. But if she denies it, then there would be no need for them to have any interaction after this transaction.

An Liuyan’s face changed before she smiled, “Spot on. If we have a chance to work together in the future, I’ll tell you everything. But for the time being, I can’t share my identity with you. Furthermore, my intuition tells me we’ll work together in the future.”

“Maybe.” Lin Yun reached out and shook hands with An Liuyan.

Half an hour later, an attendant came in with a silver bracelet. An Liuyan took the silver bracelet and got the attendant to back down. “I noticed you’re still using interspatial pouches, so I bet you don’t have an interspatial bracelet. Consider this a gift for our first meeting, and your Divine Astral Pellets are all in there.”

Lin Yun first examined the bracelet before he wore it on his wrist. The interspatial bracelet was much more convenient than interspatial pouches, and the space inside was much bigger. He had only seen Yue Weiwei use an interspatial bracelet in the past. After coming to the Kunlun Realm, he noticed that an interspatial bracelet wasn’t as common as he thought, which meant this was an expensive gift.

“Young Master Lin, do you believe in my sincerity now?” An Liuyan smiled with a pitiful gaze.

Lin Yun was sure that An Liuyan had cultivated a terrifying demonic cultivation technique. Even when she didn’t circulate it, she was already passively emitting a menacing charm. Since they were now considered friends, Lin Yun no longer got polite with her and asked, “Can I borrow this place for a few days to cultivate?”

He wanted to refine another Dragon-Phoenix Sword Aura before the test, and this place was a lot better than the environment back in the inn.

“That’s for sure.” An Liuyan was happy to see that Lin Yun was straightforward with her. This meant that he was no longer holding it against her.

“But Young Master Lin, will you also participate in the test?” An Liuyan was curious because she thought Lin Yun had already been recruited into the sect through an internal quota. Since saints were taking in disciples in this test, the ten saint clans in the Ancient Barren Domain, aside from the Nether Divinity Clan, had sent their descendants over.

Furthermore, several fated transcendents not from the Ancient Barren Domain also came. Some even had their names on the Elysium Core Ranking under twenty-five.

“That’s right. I’ll leave before the test. So I won’t occupy this place for long.” Lin Yun chose to join the test because he wanted to spread the name of Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect, and he also wanted to face other experts.

He was invincible back on the Profound Wither Island, but that was still mainly between those on the Empyrean Ranking since everyone had just made their breakthrough to the Elysium Core Realm. So there was no way they could be compared to those fated transcendents on the Elysium Core Ranking.

But it was different after he went into seclusion for two months. He now had the confidence to face Greater, or even Heavenly Elysium Core Realm fated transcendents. Aside from that, Lin Yun also had a speculation. If his hypothesis was correct, he couldn’t be accepted internally and had to prove his strength to everyone.

“Then, I won’t disturb you. You can let me know if you need anything.” An Liuyan bowed. When she raised her head, she smiled before leaving.

“Tsk, tsk. You occupied her room when you were acquainted for the first day. It looks like this empress has underestimated you.” Lil’ Purple sourly said from the sword box.

“Do you want the True Dragon Saint Liquid under the lake?” Lin Yun asked.

“B-But you don’t have to sacrifice yourself for it,” muttered Lil’ Purple.

“What the hell are you thinking about?” Lin Yun was amused by Lil’ Purple. “Interest is what binds people together. She will need my help in the future, which goes the same for me. If we’re going to work together, everything can be negotiated, and we might have a chance at that cauldron of True Dragon Saint Liquid.

When An Liuyan came out of her room, she immediately saw the middle-aged man. This was the person who previously roared at Lin Yun. He had a violent temper with killing intent surging in his pupils. His cultivation was at the ninth transformation of the Dragon Pulse Realm. He was only half a step away from reaching the Samsara Edict Realm, and he could be considered an expert in the Ancient Barren Domain.

“Is he gone?” The middle-aged man asked. “He dares to hurt Missus. I can make him disappear without anyone knowing after he leaves the Heavenly Cauldron Pavilion.”

But An Liuyan glared at the middle-aged man before she coldly said, “Keep that thought of yours to yourself. Feng Jue secretly protected him on the Profound Wither Island, and I bet there’s also someone protecting him in Azureblack City. You’ll lose your life, instead.”

“B-But he slapped Missus. Are we just going to suck it up?” The middle-aged man asked.

“So what if he slapped me? At least he’s better than those hypocrites who are polite to me on the surface and only want to get me on their bed. Even if I let them slap me, they’ll only find ways to please me.” When she spoke, her eyes were filled with disdain. She then continued, “And he’s now a friend of mine. Your thoughts are dangerous, and I have a strong intuition that he’s my opportunity. He might be the key to me becoming the holy maiden in the cult, so I have to grab this chance well!”

The middle-aged man was dumbfounded when he heard that. He couldn’t believe that An Liuyan would befriend someone that slapped her.

When Lin Yun sat down in the room, he took out the Nine Profound Pellet from Jiang Tao. He planned to use it immediately. Originally, it didn’t belong to him, so he naturally wouldn’t feel any heartache over it. Within his violet palace was a saint core the size of an infant with the Golden Crow Saint Rune engraved on the surface of it.

There were four strands of golden Dragon-Phoenix Sword Aura over the ocean of astral energy, and each strand contained unimaginable power. Faintly, dragons and phoenixes could be seen flickering in the Dragon-Phoenix Sword Aura.

Lin Yun closed his eyes and circulated the first level sutra of the Dragon-Phoenix World Annihilating Sword Canon. This immediately caused a heavenly dragon and divine phoenix to appear in his violet palace, helping him refine the Nine Profound Pellet.

With the help of this Nine Profound Pellet, the spiritual energy on the mat he was sitting on, and the divine fragrance, Lin Yun’s cultivation speed was ten times faster than normal. He had to admit that the Nine Profound Pellet was a treasure.

Ten days later, his violet palace's ocean of astral energy expanded to three thousand feet, and the strands of Dragon-Phoenix Sword Aura had grown to seven. This also meant that he had reached the pinnacle of the first level of the Dragon-Phoenix World Annihilating Sword Canon and even stabilized it.

The heavenly dragon and divine phoenix were gradually fusing within his violet palace. If he had more time, he might be able to make a breakthrough and reach the second level of the Dragon-Phoenix World Annihilating Sword Canon. He was also curious about what the heavenly dragon and divine phoenix would fuse into after reaching the second level.

But it was a pity that today was the day of the test, and Lin Yun had no choice but to pause his cultivation. Bidding his farewell to An Liuyan, Lin Yun left for the inn before sunrise. When dawn shone on the city, Ye Ziling, Wang Yuruo, Feng Zhang, and Liu Qingyan all looked energetic.

Feng Zhang and Liu Qingyan were comparable to geniuses from prestigious clans. But with the Golden Dragon Bone Soup, the two even managed to surpass them. When they saw Lin Yun returning, their eyes lit up with surprise.

Old Liu, responsible for sending them to the testing ground, also looked at Lin Yun in surprise, “You’ve reached the Greater Elysium Core Realm?”

When everyone heard what Old Liu said, they were shocked that Lin Yun had made a breakthrough in just ten days, and this cultivating speed was a little shocking.

Lin Yun smiled. “Not yet. I only made a breakthrough in my cultivation technique and refined several more strands of my innate saint aura. I have to thank Jiang Tao for that.”

“Phew.” Everyone let out a sigh of relief. If Lin Yun reached the Greater Elysium Core Realm, it would strike a huge blow in them because that cultivating speed was too fast.

But Old Liu’s eyes flickered because he could tell that Lin Yun’s improvement wasn’t that simple. He then smiled and walked out of the courtyard. When he said with his eyes were glued to Lin Yun, “Let’s go. The test is held once every four years, and I’m looking forward to the performances of you four.”

Out of the four, he was optimistic about Lin Yun and Ye Ziling, especially Lin Yun, who he couldn’t see through.