The Sovereign's Ascension

Lin Yun was rather confident that his chances of learning the technique were similar to Guo Xu. At the very least, practicing the first two stages shouldn’t take too much time from him. Then again, it was an ancient martial technique, so there were some risks involved.

If he suffered the backlash from it, then he might have to give up on his exploration in the empyrean’s tomb, not to mention that he was only in the sixth level right now.

“I’ll rethink it after reaching the eighth trial.” Lin Yun quickly made his decision and stored the jade slip. He already had a harvest from the sixth level, so there was no need for him to waste his time here. As Lin Yun’s body flickered, he headed for the seventh level.

In another hall on the sixth level, Yang Fan was staring at a shortsword hovering above the stone pillar up ahead. The first time he caught a glance of the pillar, he could sense a chill down his spine that made him start trembling. But when he shifted his gaze away, the chill down his spine weakened.

“Interesting…” Yang Fan’s eyes glowed with dense interest filled in his eyes. Many whip users would carry a close-range weapon with them to prevent enemies from fighting close-combat or they would learn a fist technique like swordsmen did.

Coincidentally, Yang Fan was proficient in short weapons and he carried a dagger with him all the time. Furthermore, this short sword complemented his fire attributed whip.

A smile crept on Yang Fan’s face, but before he could do anything, a figure walked out of the tunnel.  “Finally, after spending so much time searching the sixth floor, I’ve found a cosmic artifact. At least my trip to the empyrean’s tomb won’t be a waste.”

The newcomer had a skinny frame with crimson eyes like a viper. Just like Yang Fan, he also used a whip as his weapon. The newcomer was Qin An, who was ranked fifty-eight on the Dragoncloud Ranking.

When Yang Fan saw Qin An, the smile on his face disappeared and was replaced with an ugly expression. There were only two people on the outer ranking that used a whip as their main weapon, him and Qin An. Whips were rarely used as weapons, so they would naturally compete among themselves.

But no matter what Yang Fan did, he couldn’t win against Qin An. Four years ago at the Draconic Banquet, he suffered a terrible loss in the hands of Qin An.

“Get lost. I have no interest in a loser. Furthermore, I believe you don’t wish to end your journey at the sixth level, right?” Qin An casually glanced at Yang Fan before he continued walking towards the stone pillar.

But when he took three steps forward, he noticed that Yang Fan wasn’t leaving. Qin An smiled and asked, “What’s the matter? You want to compete with me for the sword?”

“It doesn’t have an owner. So why can’t I?” Yang Fan replied with a dark expression. It had already been four years since they last fought, but that didn’t mean that he, Yang Fan, would lose.

Qin An sneered with disdain, “How courageous. Indeed, everyone can compete for a treasure that doesn’t have an owner, but not everyone has the qualification to compete with me. Especially you!”

“Then you can come and try!” Yang Fan retrieved his whip and swung it.

Qin An also retaliated with his whip. Their whips were like two vipers wrestling each other and the loser of this fight would suffer a terrible loss. After all, the loser would lose the cosmic artifact and their journey in the empyrean’s tomb would also come to an end.

After a while, Qin An gained the upper hand. Qin An had been traveling with Pei Yue in the Withernorth Sea, so he didn’t stand out much. But anyone who knew about his strength knew exactly how powerful he was.

Half an hour later, Bai Lixuan, who was searching the sixth level, bumped into someone unexpected. When he saw the appearance of the other party, Bai Lixuan immediately guarded himself because the other person was Guo Xu who was ranked seventy-eighth on the Dragoncloud Ranking.

Guo Xu was known as the Thunderbolt Palm because he had a deep attainment in the profundity of lightning. Furthermore, his fist technique was known to be domineering. He was an opponent who could pose some difficulty to Bai Lixuan. So if he could avoid the fight, Bai Lixuan naturally preferred not to fight.

But while he contemplated if he should avoid Guo Xu, his keen gaze saw the wound on Guo Xu’s chest. When he looked at Guo Xu even more clearly, he noticed that Guo Xu was covered with injuries all over his body and that the wounds were caused by a spear.

But Bai Lixuan could tell that the wounds were actually sword wounds, which made Bai Lixuan suck in a cold breath.

Looking at Bai Lixuan, Guo Xu spoke out clearly, “What is there to see? It’ll be fortunate if you can survive an encounter with the person who wounded me.”

“Not bad, at least you managed to survive. Who did this to you?” Bai Lixuan asked. He was curious who could inflict such injuries on Guo Xu aside from his senior brother, Xie Yunqiao.

“What has it got to do with you?” Guo Xu naturally didn’t want to reveal that he was defeated by Lin Yun.

“I’m just curious. You better be honest about it. I might not make things difficult for you if you’re truthful,” said Bai Lixuan with a threatening tone.

Guo Xu was stunned before he smiled bitterly. He was first defeated by Lin Yun, and now, he was being threatened by an upcoming genius from the Cloud Trigram Sect. Normally, these geniuses who weren’t on the ranking couldn’t even enter his gaze.

“Lin Yun,” said Guo Xu gloomily.

“Him…?” Bai Lixuan was stunned when he heard that. He didn’t expect it to be Lin Yun. Although Lin Yun took a palm from Ji Wuye, everyone could tell that Ji Wuye didn’t give it his all. Even he, Bai Lixuan, was confident in receiving that attack.

But looking at Guo Xu’s state, Bai Lixuan was thoroughly shocked. When he looked at Guo Xu’s injuries again, his lips began to tremble as he could tell that Lin Yun had the upper hand in his fight with Guo Xu.

Not only that, but Lin Yun had obtained a complete victory. In other words, Lin Yun had totally crushed Guo Xu, who was ranked seventy-eight on the Dragoncloud Ranking. Bai Lixuan had seen Guo Xu’s attacks. Even though he was confident that he could win, he knew that it wouldn’t come easily.

Just when he thought that he left Lin Yun behind, he realized that he was still chasing after Lin Yun.

Guo Xu sighed and gritted his teeth, “He’s more terrifying than I’d imagined. Furthermore, he didn’t even use his sword in the fight. He used a spear as a replacement for his sword to defeat me. Even now, I have no idea how much strength he held back…”

Using a spear as a replacement? He didn’t even use the Flower Burial Sword? Bai Lixuan’s heart sank when he heard that.

“That’s enough,” barked Bai Lixuan. His sudden roar startled Guo Xu as he had no idea why Bai Lixuan had reacted so greatly. Didn’t he ask me who injured me? Why is he flaring up for no reason?

“You can leave,” said Bai Lixuan after he took a long time to calm himself down.

Guo Xu had no idea what was wrong with Bai Lixuan, but he still left shaking his head. Clearly, his journey in the empyrean’s tomb had come to an end and he could only leave.

But just when he was about to leave, Bai Lixuan called out to him, “Hey, here’s a word of advice for you. If you cherish your life, don’t bother going after him when you recover from your injuries.”

When Bai Lixuan finished, he continued walking without turning around. Even if he couldn’t defeat Lin Yun, Bai Lixuan still wanted to see how strong Lin Yun had become. At the very least, he wanted to be able to see Lin Yun’s back. Otherwise, he would be too much of a failure. As for Guo Xu, he paused his footsteps briefly before he disappeared into the tunnel.

At the same time, there was an outcome to Yang Fan and Qin An’s fight. Qin An spoke coldly to Yang Fan, “You were already defeated by me four years ago. I never expected that you would still be so weak after four years. Get lost, I’m not interested in killing a piece of trash. But as punishment for wasting my time, take this whip of mine obediently.”

Qin An whipped Yang Fan’s face ruthlessly. This sent Yang Fan, who had just gotten back up on his feet, into the wall while vomiting blood.

If anyone saw this, they would understand the feelings pent up in Yang Fan’s heart from humiliation. When he turned back to look at Qin An, the resentment in his eyes grew even more terrifying than a ghost. However, Qin An didn’t seem to be bothered by Yang Fan’s gazes.

You’ll regret it! Yang Fan said coldly inwardly before he turned to leave.

“Why are you letting him live? You should’ve just killed him,” said Pei Yue as he walked in after Yang Fan left.

“It doesn’t matter,” smiled Qin An as he retrieved the short sword on the pillar, which had two ancient words engraved on it, Frost Moon. When he pulled the sword out, the blade was white as the snow.

“What a great sword!” Qin An looked at the sword with satisfaction before he sheathed it.