The Sovereign's Ascension

No one imagined that someone would die after two hours of calmness. Aside from the eight elites from the various sects, there were also over thirty elite guards from the Gao Clan. The path was still far away, but they already suffered a casualty before they went deep into the Bloodbone Forest.

When Lin Yun arrived, he saw a person lying on the ground. The Heavenly Profound Sect’s Bu Chen and Demonic Moon Villa’s Xiao Ran were both examining the corpse. The victim was an elite from the Gao Clan, someone in the third stage of the Profound Martial Realm.

There was no way he would be considered weak in the Great Qin County, but he died just like that. Bai Qiushui locked her brows and a trace of concern filled her eyes. She had a feeling that this trip wouldn’t be smooth.

Lin Yun jumped off the horse and started examining the corpse. The face was black and the limbs were stiff. He had died of poison, but there was something unusual about the corpse. But before he could continue examining it, Bu Chen suddenly asked, “Do you have an opinion about the corpse?”

Both Bai Qiushui and Xiao Ran turned to look at Lin Yun. He had never been to the Bloodbone Forest, so he could only tell that the Gao clan elite had died from poison. He could tell that Bu Chen was targeting him on purpose.

Shaking his head, Lin Yun replied, “I can’t tell anything else aside from the cause of his death, which is poison.” Lin Yun shook his head.

Bai Qiushui turned around and asked, “I can’t tell either. Did you discover anything?”

“Lady Bai, this little fellow is the culprit.” Bu Chen opened his palm to reveal a black spider.

“Let me take a look at it.” Bai Qiushui walked over.

“Don’t. This is the Bloodbone Spider. There’s a trace of blood at the end of each leg and anyone who comes in contact with it will die. The appearance of this spider also means that we have gone deeper into the Bloodbone Forest.” Bu Chen raised his hand to stop Bai Qiushui from approaching and crushed the powder.

“You’re truthly worthy of your meticulous reputation. I have heard about the Bloodbone Spiders before. Their venom is extremely difficult to deal with because it feasts on blood and is immune to fire and water. I’m impressed that you can crush the spider in your hand.” The elites from the other sects looked at Bu Chen with reverence after hearing this.

The Demonic Moon Villa’s Xiao Ran smiled, “It’s not that simple. Please open up a path. Brother Bu Chen still has other discoveries.”

“What’s the matter?” Bai Qiushui asked.

“Lady Bai, you’ll know in a moment.” Bu Chen’s eyes flickered with confidence as he revealed a mysterious smile.

Lin Yun maintained composure, but he found it strange. Bu Chen found the spider and purposefully hid it in his hand before questioning Lin Yun. Lin Yun had no idea what Bu Chen was trying to do. Then, everyone retreated a hundred meters.

Bu Chen’s origin surged within his body and fluctuated with a violent aura. He gently barked and threw his punch at the corpse.

“No! You can’t!” Everyone exclaimed out. After all, it was rude to disrespect the dead.

The corpse suddenly exploded before anyone could finish objecting. Shortly after, an endless flow of spiders spread out into the surrounding. No one had expected that there would be so many Bloodbone Spiders hidden in the corpse. There were hundreds of thousands of them. The faces of the Gao Clan’s elites turned pale when they saw this.

“Hmph, bunch of weaklings. Die!” Bu Chen’s hands started to form seals. It was the Undying Vajra Seal. He pushed his hands forward, unleashing a ripple that eradicated all the spiders.

Bu Chen was basking in golden light while his hair fluttered in the wind.

“What power!”

“This is the Dragon-Tiger Fist? It’s purer than the one used by Young Master Lin the other day.”

“Young Master Lin enforces the Dragon-Tiger Fist with his sword intent, so it’s not orthodox after all.”

The team had shock in their eyes. Right at this moment, Bai Qiushui took a step forward and said, “Thank you for helping. The consequences would have been dire if the spiders had come out.”

“The spiders are too disgusting. They can actually burrow into the human body…”

“Who knows what would have happened if we brought the corpse along with us.”

“This is all thanks to Young Master Bu!”

Everyone was shocked by the spiders and immediately went up to express their gratitude.

Bu Chen waved his hand and replied, “There’s no need to thank me. After all, we’ve accepted the mission, so we must naturally do our job. If we’re poisoned, who knows what will happen.”

Bai Qiushui turned to look for Lin Yun, only to discover that Lin Yun was already gone. He had ridden away on the Dragon Blooded Horse.

“Let’s carry on.” Bai Qiushui bowed to Bu Chen and Xiao Ran before leading the group.

Xiao Ran looked at Bu Chen, “Brother Bu, you seem to have undergone a breakthrough last night. Your Dragon-Tiger Fist has improved.”

“Just a tiny bit.” Bu Chen replied.

Xiao Ran then looked at Lin Yun and said, “That Lin Yun seems to be avoiding you on purpose.”

Bu Chen looked disappointed and said, “I actually hoped that he would be as arrogant as he was yesterday so I could have an opportunity to show off my strength. We’re being low profile, but we can’t allow him to hog all the spotlight.”

Xiao Ran nodded, “That’s right. This Bai Qiushui seems mysterious and she has a chamber of commerce behind her. It’ll benefit us greatly if we can attract her attention.”

“I also want to do that, but we’re not in a rush. We still have a long way to go and there will be plenty of opportunities to show her what a genuine elite looks like!” Bu Chen’s eyes flashed with confidence.

The two got on their horses and went to the front to ride next to Bai Qiushui. It was just as Bu Chen had said, they were gradually leaving the Bloodbone Forest’s borders and moving deeper into the forest.

The surrounding scenery suddenly changed. It became more eerie and the aura became more threatening. The Bloodbone Forest was starting to reveal its terror. The party began to encounter several waves of demonic beasts along the way, each stronger than the previous.

Bu Chen and Xiao Ran were strong and unleashed their Dragon-Tiger Fist and Aquashadow Sword Art to reduce the number of casualties. Until now, Bai Qiushui hadn’t lost any of her men.

“Dragon Painting!” The fifth demonic beast wave included a group of Firerune Leopards that were all in the fifth stage of the Profound Martial Realm. There were a total of twenty of them.

The leopards were moving fast like a lump of fire speeding through the deathly forest. They caught the Gao Clan’s elites by surprise and instantly tore through their formation. But just when a few Firerune Leopards were reaching Bai Qiushui, Bu Chen roared and soared into the sky.

He was using his hands as brushes and the dragon and tiger aura was the ink. It was the Dragon-Tiger Fist’s Dragon Painting. Bu Chen landed on the ground and threw a punch out.

The surrounding aura accumulated into a ferocious dragon that bolted out. The terrifying aura swept out and took five leopards down in a single punch. The remaining Firerune Leopards were terrified when they saw this scene and immediately fled.

The guards let out a breath of relief when they saw this scene. When Lin Yun saw that the leopards had escaped, he dissipated the Flicking Divine Sword that he was going to execute. The Dragon-Tiger Fist had a total of nine moves. There was the Dragon-Tiger Might, Dragon-Tiger Steps, Flying Dragon, Leaping Tiger, Soaring Dragon, Crouching Tiger, Dragon Tail, Dragon Painting, Soaring Dragon, Hidden Dragon and Crouching Tiger, Myriad Beast Tidal, and Subduing Dragon-Tiger.

Every single form was powerful and they could be further empowered with the seals. Lin Yun paid great attention to the cultivation of the four seals, along with the combination of the Dragon-Tiger Fist and Seven Profound Steps. Aside from the first three forms, Lin Yun had cultivated the Dragon Tail.

The fifth form was the Dragon Painting, which Lin Yun barely knew about. His eyes lit up briefly when he saw Bu Chen using it, but he soon shook his head. The punch was powerful, but Bu Chen hadn’t grasped it fully. He was barely executing it, so he would be in trouble if he encountered a strong enemy.

There were too many flaws in it and Bu Chen was a little too rushed in trying to use it. But Lin Yun didn’t say anything since Bai Qiushui wasn’t in danger. He reached out to a Gao Clan’s guard and pulled him up.

“Hey, are you alright?” The Gao Clan’s guard had been bitten on his abdomen, but the injury was immediately dealt with. Despite having the wound bandaged, the guard still looked to be in pain, but he put up with it. The Gao Clan’s guard was shocked when he saw Lin Yun reaching out with his hand. He was shocked that this was a gesture from a disciple of the Sword Firmament Pavilion.

“Thank you.” The guard grabbed onto Lin Yun’s arm and got up on his feet.

“What’s your name?” asked Lin Yun.

“My name’s Gao Yu, a branch descendant of the Gao Clan,” he responded.

“Get on my horse. Your injuries aren’t serious, so you can still continue to travel. But walking will cause your wound to tear open.”

“Can I really do that?” Gao Yu clearly didn’t believe what he had just heard.

Lifting him up on the Dragon Blooded Horse, Lin Yun replied, “Don’t worry about it. But the horse is a little wild, so hold on tight.”

Gao Yu sat firmly on the horse and watched as Bu Chen and Xiao Ran tried to strike up a conversation with Bai Qiushui. This was especially so for Bu Chen. He had shocked everyone when he killed five Firerune Leopards with his fist earlier. His face was clearly filled with pride by his achievement.

“Young Master Lin, I have some words, but I have no idea if it’s appropriate for me to talk about them.” Gao Yu said hesitating for a long time.

“Go ahead,” said Lin Yun.

“I noticed that Bu Chen and Xiao Ran have been targeting you during our travels. Don’t you feel it?” asked Gao Yu.

“A little.” Lin Yun wasn’t stupid and he could naturally sense his surrounding well.

“I bet you have no idea, but not even my clan’s Patriarch dares to offend Lady Bai. She definitely has a significant background and she clearly has a good impression about you.” Gao Yu grew a little nervous and continued, “I’ve personally seen how Xiao Ran and Bu Chen’s faces changed last night.”

But Lin Yun couldn’t be bothered if it was just those two. So it turns out that it was because of Bai Qiushui. Gao Yu’s words had allowed him to sort out what was going on. But as they were chatting, Bai Qiushui, Bu Chen, and Xiao Ran came towards them.