The Sovereign's Ascension

Without uttering a single word, Ma Kui came over with a cold face and began to search Lin Yun. The continually increasing crowd held their breath as they watched.

In the end, Ma Kui came up empty handed. He had searched Lin Yun’s arms, chest, back, and legs but found nothing.

Frustrated, Ma Kui demanded, “Take your clothes off!”

At Ma Kui’s request, Lin Yun removed his robes. But there was still nothing on Lin Yun. As Ma Kui looked through the clothes carefully, he couldn’t even find a wire, let alone hidden weapons.

His robust physique refined by internal energy glistened in the sunlight. Scars both new and old  could be seen scattered all over him. The intensity of his training was apparent.

“Sword slave, why the hell are you wearing that band for?!”

When Ma Kui found nothing on Lin Yun, he ripped the band off Lin Yun’s head out of anger.

In the end, it was just an ordinary band of cloth.

But when the band was removed, the purple slave mark on Lin Yun’s forehead was so striking that some frowned when they saw it. All of them wore disdain on their faces as this scene had caused some commotion.

Lin Yun’s closed eyes and calm demeanor stood in stark contrast to Ma Kui, who had fury blazing in his eyes.

Though you couldn’t tell by his expression, this situation brought back memories Lin Yun would have rather left buried.

“An inner disciple lost his sword in the Sword Cleaning Chamber. Speak up! Did you steal it?!”

Zhou Ping roared as he kicked the previous Lin Yun on the ground.

However, the previous Lin Yun could only panic inwardly as he sheepishly replied, “N-no. Senior Brother Zhou, please listen to me. I did not steal it!”

“You still dare to talk back to me?!”

Zhou Ping struck the previous Lin Yun on the back with his sword scabbard and roared, “If I said that you’re the one who stole it, then you’re the one who stole it! Since that sword couldn’t be found, you can only pay your debt with the pellets given to you by Su Ziyao. Otherwise, I’ll kick you out of the sect!”

“It must be him! He must be the one who stole it!”

“Who else aside from him would steal a sword!”

“He must be the culprit! I can tell that he’s not a good person with just a single glance!”

The surrounding odd-job workers all pointed their fingers at him.

“I-I didn’t steal it.”

The previous Lin Yun’s face contorted. He wanted to explain himself, but the pain was too intense.

Suddenly, he found himself in the dormitory of the odd-job workers.

Curling up on his bed by himself, Lin Yun caressed the mark on his forehead. Today was the day that he had chosen to stay behind in the Azure Sky Sect as a sword slave.

Despite feeling weary in his heart, the pain on his forehead kept him awake. It was only when he recalled a certain memory that he gradually fell asleep. 

His rest was short lived, though. In the middle of the night, he was suddenly thrown onto the ground outside, startling him awake.The pouring rain soaked Lin Yun to the bone. Dazed, he asked, “What are you guys trying to do?”

“Get lost! This is the dormitory for odd-job workers. It’s not for a sword slave like you!”

“You’ve already become a sword slave, and you still want to sleep together in the same room as us?”

Sensing the cold rain pouring on him, Lin Yun wiped his face as he looked at the dormitory and begged helplessly, “Can I at least stay until the rain stops? Just for the night, please!”

“Get lost! A sword slave like you has no qualification to stay with us!”

“Take your trash and get lost!”

Someone threw Lin Yun’s belongings out of the room before the room was shut.

It was just after midnight, and it was raining heavily.

In the end, the previous Lin Yun left, drenched by the rain as he hugged his belongings. As he struggled through the mud, loneliness devoured him.

As the flashbacks slowly faded, Lin Yun opened his eyes as he looked at Ma Kui, “Have you found it?”

“I…” Ma Kui couldn’t go on as he had found nothing on Lin Yun.

But all of a sudden, his eyes lit up when he saw the interspatial pouch hanging on Lin Yun’s waist, “Your interspatial pouch. Your hidden weapon must be hidden in your interspatial pouch!”

His words were simply ridiculous. After all, it was common knowledge that one needed time to retrieve anything from the interspatial pouch.

If he had taken anything out from his interspatial pouch, it would definitely be seen by everyone.

“If there’s nothing in my interspatial pouch, what will you do?” Lin Yun questioned as he looked at Ma Kui.

“If no hidden weapons are found in your interspatial pouch, I’ll get on my knees and apologize to you!”

Ma Kui knew he couldn't turn back and was getting anxious. He was absolutely certain that Lin Yun had hidden weapons with him. Otherwise, his injuries wouldn’t make any sense!

“As you wish!”

Lin Yun retrieved his Flower Burial Sword, which he held in his hand before he continued to take things out.

However, it was too troublesome for him to take them out individually. Hence, he directly poured everything in his interspatial pouch out.

Crash!

The countless treasures that poured out from the interspatial pouch shown so brilliantly in the sunlight portions of the crowd were forced to look away.

Aside from the treasure, there were also roughly 1,000 low-grade spiritual stones that stood out from the mass.

When all the outer disciples swallowed hard when they saw those spiritual stones. They had never imagined that Lin Yun would be so rich. Greed shown in their eyes.

Aside from money and spiritual stones, there were also other miscellaneous items such as pellets, clothes, and demonic beast materials.

However, there weren’t any of the hidden weapons that Ma Kui had expected to find.

“T-this is impossible!”

Ma Kui had gone insane. He hastily sifted through the pile of items, until his gaze became fixed on a painting.

“Stop!” Lin Yun barked with his brows raised.

“Haha! The hidden weapons must be in it!”

Ma Kui’s eyes lit up as he ignored Lin Yun’s words and opened the scroll.

Boom!

A strong gale blew as the Flower Burial Sword in Lin Yun’s hand began to rotate.

The sword bolted over, its scabbard hitting Ma Kui in the head when he had just turned around.

Pfffft!

Ma Kui spewed a mouthful of blood as he was sent flying, body limp like a sandbag. When he landed on the ground, he let out a few groans.

Lin Yun’s attack took place in an instant, and no one had expected that Lin Yun would suddenly make his move.

He had shocked everyone.

“The Flowing Wind Sword!”

“It’s really the offensive move of the Flowing Wind Sword — Wind Assembling!”

A burst of exclamation rang out as someone had recognized Lin Yun’s move.

Previously, all of them felt that the rumors that Lin Yun had learned the Flowing Wind Sword was fake.

“Lin Yun, do you mind if I check it without opening it up?” The judge asked as he picked up the scroll.

Lin Yun nodded his head in approval.

As the judge examined the scroll, he immediately made his judgement as he walked over to Ma Kui.

“This is an ordinary painting, and you can check it yourself if you don’t believe me.”

When Ma Kui received the painting, he carefully examined it with his touch.

As he did, his face sank. It was indeed an ordinary painting.

When his face turned pale, the painting dropped onto the ground.

Recalling what he had said before, he was terrified as he looked across the stage helplessly.

All those who were just criticizing Lin Yun earlier had lowered their heads in shame. None dared to make eye contact with Ma Kui.

At this moment, anyone who still dared to support Ma Kui would be stupid.

Despite the sun’s blazing heat beating down on him, Ma Kui shivered as he broke out in cold sweat.

“J-junior Brother Lin, I-I’m sorry for my false accusation. N-no, I mean Senior Brother Lin…” Ma Kui’s speech was incoherent and his expression unsightly.

Lin Yun turned his back to Ma Kui as he put on his clothes in silence. When he had finished, without turning around, he said, “Kneel down!”