The Sovereign's Ascension

Looking at the parchment, Lin Yun became emotional for a long time. Then, with the energy of the nearby divine runes, the soul mark within Lin Yun’s profound palace began to absorb energy. 

Shortly after, Lin Yun could sense his soul mark growing and heat rising up within his body. It only took a split second for the heat to spread throughout his body.

“This…” Lin Yun was surprised as he clenched his fists together. He could sense his soul energy and origin energy growing. It had been a long time since he felt himself getting stronger after reaching the pinnacle Yin stage.

Mo Ling glanced at him briefly before she smiled, “You sensed it? The fire energy coming from the divine rune is extremely massive, just like the sun. You’ll benefit greatly here even if you do nothing.”

“It’s truly magical,” smiled Lin Yun.

“The divine rune might be powerful, but you should be able to sense that you can’t stay here for long before you get injured. Don’t try and get too close to it or you might even be burned to ashes. The divine rune is domineering and it attacks anyone who tries to get close,” said Mo Ling in a grave tone.

Lin Yun nodded his head as he could tell that Mo Ling wasn’t lying to him.

“Here, take this. You can observe the rune here. Don’t push yourself if you can’t hold on,” reminded Mo Ling before she left. Shortly after, Lin Yun was the only one present.

Looking at the flight of stairs leading up to the altar, Lin Yun wore a grave expression. When he placed his foot on a stair, he instantly felt a force pressing down on his body. It felt like a mountain was weighing down on him. He gnashed his teeth as it was difficult to take another step forward. In the end, Lin Yun resorted to pushing the Iris Sword Sutra to the limit in order to walk forward.

It took nearly half an hour for Lin Yun to travel a thousand meters. He was covered in sweat as he walked forward. Suddenly, the pressure weighing down on him increased and Lin Yun dropped to one knee.

When he looked around, he could see the divine rune’s energy floating around in the form of a yellow gas that contained unimaginable pressure. But this was still the border of the altar and Lin Yun estimated that he was still three thousand meters away from the altar. When he looked at the altar, he noticed that the yellow energy was condensed into a golden lake. The lake was in the last three hundred meters until the altar and would be the hardest stretch.

He now understood why Mo Ling said that he would be burned into ashes if he got close carelessly. The ancient divine rune was truly magical and it contained too many secrets. He couldn’t imagine how that era vanished.

Letting out a long breath, Lin Yun gritted his teeth as he got up on his feet with great difficulty. Throughout the entire process, his eyes were fixed on the parchment. “I can’t proceed any further and I only made it this far because of my physique. If someone else was in my position, they would have given up by now…”

Lin Yun stared at the golden rune on the parchment that looked cryptic. Suddenly, he sensed a destructive power rushing towards him. The mysterious rune looked like a golden flame as it tried to devour him whole. In the blink of an eye, Lin Yun reached his limit as he quickly closed his eyes.

After a long time passed, he opened his eyes. But this time, he didn’t dare to look at the altar. He frowned his brows as he sat down and an Iris Flower opened up beneath him as the surrounding energy gushed into his body. “This divine rune is similar to the attack of that azure-clothed man. If I can increase my resistance against this divine rune’s pressure, I might be able to unleash that sword from the painting. But for now, I should take it easy and refine my body with the energy here. I’ll give it a try again once my soul energy improves… ”

The boundless energy flowed into his body and coursed through his meridians and internal organs. His skin had turned red and Lin Yun could clearly sense his origin energy, soul energy, bones, and flesh greedily absorbing the energy.

At the same time, a burning pain spread throughout his body. He would feel pain even if he did nothing because he was absorbing the divine rune’s energy. Under the violent energy, the silver Iris Flower in his violet palace began to show cracks, showing signs of making a breakthrough.

Upon noticing that, Lin Yun rejoiced inwardly. The Iris Sword Sutra had been stuck in the pinnacle ninth stage for a long time now. Even after refining the Profound Yin Flower, he didn’t see any indicators of a breakthrough. But now, the Iris Flower was buzzing like a treasured sword. Lin Yun knew that if he could use this opportunity to make a breakthrough, his strength would be boosted exponentially.

But at the same time, Lin Yun recalled Mo Ling’s warning that it wasn’t wise for him to stay for too long. So if he became too focused on his cultivation, he would lose the concept of time.

In the end, Lin Yun decided to take the gamble. If he could make a breakthrough, he would be able to suppress the violent energy coming from the divine rune. Furthermore, his Dracophant Battle Physique had already reached the pinnacle, so his physique wasn’t as weak as a normal spiritualist’s physique.

He knew that he might not get this chance again if he missed it. The further he went in the Iris Sword Sutra, the more powerful it would get. At the pinnacle ninth stage, he could already contend with cultivators in the lesser Yang stage. So if he reached the tenth stage, he would be able to face greater Yang stage cultivators with more ease.

“I’m going to gamble on myself!” Lin Yun’s hesitation disappeared the moment he came to a decision. The Iris Flower in his violet palace bloomed and endlessly devoured the divine rune’s energy.

As he refined the fiery energy from the divine rune, Lin Yun’s body was submerged in a golden flame. He looked like a treasured sword getting tempered. Meanwhile, the Iris Flower in his violet palace was flickering incessantly.

The Iris Flower would flash like a glowing sword and every time this happened, it would emit a powerful aura. Under the cold flashes, the golden flames around the altar began to fluctuate.

A sword buzz rang out from the Iris Flower in his violet palace as he finally made a breakthrough. The Iris Flower grew to eighty-two petals. Although there might only be one additional petal, the aura coming from the Iris Flower had utterly changed. The chill aura that it emitted could even quench the golden flames rampaging within his body.

Lin Yun sighed in relief. He knew that his physique would reach its limit if the Iris Sword Sutra didn’t make a breakthrough. Empowered by the eighty-two petals, the silver origin energy within his violet palace had gotten stronger.

But that wasn’t the only thing that Lin Yun noticed. The origin energy he refined with the Yin-Yang Jadecloud Pellet was replenished by the divine rune’s energy. This made the foundation of his cultivation even stronger.

When he thought about it, he had only spent two months in the Violet Palace Realm so far. He had reached the pinnacle Yin stage unbelievably fast. Because of this, there were many hidden damages to his foundation even though he had the Iris Sword Sutra. After all, advancing recklessly was a taboo in the path of cultivation since it might cause one to run amok. But right now, all of the hidden damage was repaired.

If he were to reverse the circulation of his Iris Sword Sutra, he would now be able to do it at least eight times. Although he made improvements, it wasn’t quite enough for him to reach nine circulations. Lin Yun suddenly opened his eyes and two bright lights flickered in his pupils that tore the divine rune’s energy in the surroundings apart.

Although the light quickly dissipated, traces of it could still be seen in the depth of Lin Yun’s eyes. When Lin Yun slowly got up, he noticed that the surrounding pressure was a lot lighter. He could even hear a sword buzz coming from within his body. The buzz came from the Iris Flower in his violet palace and it caused his origin energy to boil.

“The Iris Sword Sutra really is powerful!” Lin Yun clenched his fist and he could sense the immense power flowing throughout his body. Not only did his breakthrough in the Iris Sword Sutra make his origin energy stronger, but it also improved the soul mark in his profound palace.

Now, Lin Yun stared at the parchment fearlessly. A brief moment later, the mysterious rune manifested a flaming hell that felt like it could burn souls. However, this time Lin Yun didn’t avoid it and looked directly at it.

In front of his sword aura, a crack appeared on the terrifying hell. This made Lin Yun smile as he walked towards the altar.