The Sovereign's Ascension

The spiritual energy contained in the crimson fruit was astonishing, and it seemed like a blazing crimson flame. But when Lin Yun looked at it carefully, he locked his brows together. He had no idea why the two wandering cultivators would come to possess this fruit. Logically speaking, it was more reasonable for this fruit to be with Mo Luo.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. I’ll put it away for now.” Lin Yun took out a box and carefully stored the fruit before putting it in his own interspatial pouch.

He then went on to sort out the other items. Aside from spiritual jades and pellets, there were many miscellaneous items. The martial techniques that were stolen didn’t catch Lin Yun’s attention. The profound artifacts were mostly common ones. However, there was a longbow that caught his attention.

“Whoa, this is heavy!” Lin Yun’s hand sank when he held onto the longbow. The bow was engraved with the words ‘Firecloud’ and seemed ancient. Upon closer inspection, there were also some broken runes along the bow’s body.

“Spiritual runes?” This was the first time Lin Yun saw spiritual runes engraved on a profound artifact. After all, it was harder to engrave spiritual runes on profound artifacts than it was to engrave them on pellets. Artifacts with spiritual runes were also known as cosmic artifacts.

Cosmic artifacts were powerful and priceless. An ordinary person couldn’t come to possess one. When Lin Yun examined the complexity of the spiritual runes and determined that they were in the second grade. It was a pity that the spiritual runes were damaged.

“It seems that this Flamecloud Bow has a special origin, but it was buried in the hands of this wandering cultivator.” Lin Yun stored it after toying with it briefly.

This longbow was now equivalent to a high-grade profound artifact and it was a decent treasure that might come in handy in the future. Lin Yun also found a hundred arrows dipped in poison as well as a jade bottle filled with poison.

This poison came from the black-clothed middle-aged man. One of them made poison while the other used a bow. They were a perfect match, but unfortunately they ran into Lin Yun. Neither of them held an advantage over Lin Yun and they didn’t even know how they died.

Then again, it was also a fluke that Lin Yun won. After sorting through the pouches, Lin Yun’s total harvest tallied to a total of 9,000 spiritual jades. About fifty miscellaneous items remained and could be sold for money. As for the rest, Lin Yun dumped them since they had no value.

Furthermore, there were also some blood essences, which fulfilled Lin Yun’s mission.

“This is the Bloodwolf King’s blood essence?” Lin Yun found three unique blood essences among the pile and one clearly had a much higher purity.

Lin Yun couldn’t help but doubt that the two wandering cultivators killed a Bloodwolf King, not to mention three of them. Lin Yun knew how difficult it was to accomplish such a feat.

“Weird,” muttered Lin Yun before moving on with his thoughts. A smile started to form as he said to himself, “I obtained an ample harvest from this trip, but I shouldn’t be in a rush to leave the Demoncloud Mountain Range.”

Lin Yun completed his mission, but he had a feeling that he could form his third profound vein at any time now. So he decided to train in the mountain range until he made his breakthrough.

Therefore, Lin Yun spent the next few days in the mountain range hunting demonic beasts while the Dragon Blooded Horse did the same. Both of their strengths progressed rapidly. During this time, Lin Yun would give all the beast cores that he harvested to the Dragon Blooded Horse. He could sense that the Dragon Blooded Horse had made bigger improvements than him during their mountain range experience. Looking back, the Thunder Charge that the Dragon Blooded Horse used on the wandering cultivator was terrifying.

Half a month later, Lin Yun was covered in filth and his hair was a mess. But there was a massive change to his temperament as his eyes radiated with confidence. He found a stream and took a quick bath to become comfortable and presentable again.

He sat topless on a rock while circulating the Iris Sword Sutra within his body. He was converting the surrounding spiritual energy into origin energy. At the same time, he was permeated with an aura in the third stage of the Profound Martial Realm.

Three days ago, when he fought a Flame Python, he successfully made his breakthrough into the third stage.

A sharp whistling sound rang out and Lin Yun opened his eyes helplessly. He looked as a crimson figure bolted over. It was a Bloodwolf King. In fact, there were a total of three of them.

“This is already the fourth wave, right?” Lin Yun muttered to himself. Over the last half month, he had been facing the assault of Bloodwolves. Although he killed many Bloodwolves during this time, it had no effect as long as the Bloodwolf King was alive.

But Lin Yun knew that the odds of winning against three Bloodwolf Kings weren’t very high. He might even be dragged into a tough battle. Due to this, he was relying on the Dragon Blooded Horse’s speed to avoid them.

“I won’t be playing with you guys anymore. Lil’ Red!” Lin Yun put on his clothes as the Dragon Blooded Horse dashed over. It emitted an aura in the fourth stage of the Profound Martial Realm along with a wisp of King Aura.

It was no longer faint like before. The King Aura that it had was much more powerful. Lin Yun rode horseback and relied on the Dragon Blooded Horse’s speed to break free of the Bloodwolves’ pursuit.

Lin Yun officially left the Demoncloud Mountain Range as the sun went down. Several Bloodwolf Kings sat at the border of the mountain range, looking at Lin Yun’s silhouette while they howled with rage in their eyes. But there was nothing they could do about it.

……

In Inkcloud City, the westernmost city located in the Great Qin County, Lin Yun was sitting near a window and eating at the Cloud Guesthouse.

After not eating for a month, Lin Yun’s appetite was especially good. He came here because his second mission was in this city. However, since it was still early, Lin Yun didn’t worry about starting the mission. After all, Inkcloud City could be considered a large-scale city and many cultivators were still walking in the streets.

Aside from Lin Yun, there were a few other cultivators on the third floor. “Did you guys hear? Mo Luo is dead!”

“Of course I heard about it. I heard that four titled figures ganged up on Mo Luo half a month ago and that this incident caused a great stir in the Great Qin Empire. Who doesn’t know about it?”

“Mo Luo has always been arrogant. He killed at least a thousand people and he even ran from cultivators in the Violet Palace Realm. Unfortunately, he died to a few juniors.”

“I heard that Mo Luo had already formed his tenth profound vein and he was only one step away from the Violet Palace Realm. If it wasn’t for the fact that the Sword Firmament Pavilion’s Xin Jue was also around that day, it’s uncertain if the four titled figures could defeat Mo Luo.”

Lin Yun could hear someone talking about the battle and immediately started to pay attention. After all, he had personally witnessed the battle, but he didn’t know what the outcome was.

So when they mentioned Xin Jue, he couldn’t help but pay attention. Especially since Xin Jue saved him twice. He had been hoping that nothing bad had happened to Xin Jue.

“Mo Luo was top ten in the Great Thief Rankings and ran amok for the past few decades. No one would have imagined that Xin Jue would kill him!”

“Xin Jue’s strength is definitely comparable to the titled figures. Honestly, if it weren’t for that incident, he would be one of the titled figures by now.”

“That goes without saying. Xin Jue is on the same level as the eight titles. Speaking of which, I wonder how their genius, Bai Lixuan, is doing. He seems to have disappeared for some time now.”

It seemed like Xin Jue was safe. When the cultivators in the guesthouse talked about the eight titles, their faces were filled with revere. Lin Yun was curious as he wondered what kind of appraisal these people had regarding the eight titled figures.

Suddenly, a mysterious cultivator said, “Do you guys know why Mo Luo was in the Bloodwolf Tribe?”

“Who knows. He’s known for having an odd behavior.”

“Hehe, Mo Luo was after the Dragonflame Fruit. He was trying to make a breakthrough into the Violet Palace Realm!” The mysterious cultivator instantly dropped a bomb in the guesthouse as everyone exclaimed.

“How’s that possible? The Dragonflame Fruit is in the Bloodwolf Tribe and the Bloodwolf Elder guards it. Only the future commander of the Bloodwolf Tribe can take it. Wasn’t Mo Luo courting death trying to snatch it?”

“The Dragonflame Fruit’s scent can be caught by a Bloodwolf King anywhere within five miles. Even if he obtained it, he wouldn’t be able to leave.”

The cultivator who spoke first smiled, “I received the news from a fellow wandering cultivator. It’s definitely credible. Mo Luo has been finding ways to deal with the Bloodwolf Tribe, so he must’ve found a method since he died there.”

“Does that mean that the Dragonflame Fruit is now in the hands of the four titled figures?”

“This is a huge matter! If any of the eight titled figures manages to breakthrough into the Violet Palace Realm, they’ll be the strongest among their generation in the Great Qin Empire!”

“It’s hard making a breakthrough into the Violet Palace Realm and the Dragonflame Fruit only boosts your chances slightly.”

“The titled figures are all worthy of their reputation, so perhaps this slight help can aid them!”

The cultivator who shared the news chuckled, “You guys are wrong. The eight titled figures and Xin Jue didn’t find the Dragonflame Fruit on Mo Luo. But the Dragonflame Fruit has genuinely disappeared and no one knows where it is right now.”

“What?” Everyone was shocked. They never expected that this would be the outcome.

The Dragonflame Fruit? Lin Yun’s heart trembled. Could the crimson fruit be the Dragonflame Fruit…?

You smell like blood. Mo Luo’s words echoed in Lin Yun’s mind. At that time, he thought that Mo Luo was referring to the blood of the two middle-aged men he killed. But thinking about it again, Mo Luo was probably referring to the Dragonflame Fruit.

If that crimson fruit really was the Dragonflame Fruit, Mo Luo must’ve left it with the black-clothed middle-aged man, fearing that the Bloodwolf Tribe might attack him. Mo Luo was probably trying up loose ends for the two wandering cultivators to leave the Democloud Mountain Range.

If the two wandering cultivators didn’t encounter him, they would’ve already left the mountain range. But in the end, the Dragonflame Fruit fell into Lin Yun’s hand.

Lin Yun placed his cup of wine down on the table. He finally understood why the Bloodwolf Kings came after him for half a month. “Let’s leave this place.”