The Sovereign's Ascension

Although Lei Yan escaped quickly, Lin Yun’s attack still caught up to him. When the sword reached Lei Yan, all the crimson sword intent around him was destroyed. Shortly after, the origin energy surrounding him was destroyed and his blood erupted like fireworks.

He was practically severed in two as he crashed into a hill.

“Vice-sect master!” The Ironblood Sword Gate’s disciples panicked at this scene as they rushed over to Lei Yan.

Sheathing his sword, Lin Yun landed on the ground. He had a headache as he was also injured by Lei Yan’s previous attack. However, his eyes were flashing brightly with excitement. After all, Lei Yan was someone in the complete Yin-Yang stage, while he was only in the pinnacle Yang stage. This battle had given him confidence as he had first-hand knowledge of his strength. After all, this wasn’t the full extent of his strength.

“Aside from those so-called geniuses, there should be no pressure for me to deal with those in the pinnacle Yang stage.” Lin Yun muttered to himself. Lei Yan was alive, but he was now crippled.

When everyone recovered from their shock, they turned to look at Lin Yun. They were all shocked by how ruthless Lin Yun was when he defeated Lei Yan. The moment Lin Yun drew his sword, Lei Yan was easily crushed.

How ruthless! Lin Yun’s insanity had allowed him to defeat an opponent in the complete Yin-Yang stage and only a swordsman had such guts. After all, anyone else in Lin Yun’s position would surely be terrified. They couldn’t help feeling conflicted as they thought of how great it would be if Lin Yun belonged to their Skymound City.

Although Lin Yun wasn’t comparable to the seven strongest geniuses right now, his potential and courage were shocking. Everyone knew that it was just a matter of time before Lin Yun’s reputation spread throughout the Ancient Southern Domain once again.

When Lin Yun landed on the ground, he flashed and disappeared. “He left?”

This left everyone briefly shocked before they quickly followed after Lin Yun. But they were immediately terrified when Lin Yun turned around to look at them. They knew that Lin Yun was injured, but none of them dared to take the chance.

Lei Yan was practically dead and they didn’t dare to risk their lives. Some of them were still shocked by Lin Yun’s guts and gave up on snatching the Heavenly Astral Pearl.

“I need to find a place to treat my injuries first,” muttered Lin Yun as he hid himself in the depths of a mountain and concealed his aura. He had exhausted a lot of his vitality in the previous battle, but his injuries weren’t heavy. After half a day of resting, the vitality in his body was just as lively as before. He was currently enveloped in a faint purple mist as he was relying on the powerful Azure Dragon Battle Physique.

It only took one night for Lin Yun to recover from all his injuries. He had also gained something valuable from the battle. He had a complete gauge of his strength, which was close to the level of the complete Yin-Yang stage. However, Lei Yan only lost to him because he had just reached the complete Yin-Yang stage. In fact, Lin Yun technically suffered a loss because his cultivation was too low. He only barely obtained a slight advantage thanks to the combination of his sword intent, sword sutra, and physique.

It was a battle between means and cultivation. If the difference between their cultivation was too great, it would be futile even if Lin Yun had the means. He needed a breakthrough in his cultivation, the Azure Dragon Enneaform, or the Iris Sword Sutra to drastically improve.

“I’ve spent too much time here. I wonder what the seven geniuses got so far…” Lin Yun muttered to himself. In the end, the treasures of the secret realm were located at the core region, especially in its depths. He could sense a terrifying existence over there that even made his sword intent tremble. Since there was danger, there was also naturally a huge opportunity waiting for him.

“But I have this.” Lin Yun retrieved the broken sword with his eyes flashing after sensing the sword intent within the sword. The sword intent in the broken sword might be disappearing, but it still existed. He believed that the sword intent could sense any opportunities in the core region. Based on that alone, he had another advantage over the others. 

“Time to get going.” Lin Yun soared into the sky and headed towards the core region. He didn’t want the sword intent to dissipate. Otherwise, his hard work would have been in vain.

In the core region of the secret realm, many corpses were strewn across the ground, which dyed it completely red. Without exception, all of the corpses belonged to wandering cultivators in the greater Yin-Yang stage.

At the center of this area, there was a bizarre fruit shrouded in a faint mist that made it look like a viper. It was the Dracoserpent Fruit, a rare treasure that was sought out by many people in the outside world. But right now, there was a wandering cultivator in the complete Yin-Yang stage that was looking at the fruit with a complicated gaze.

Because of the fruit, there were two youths present who were emitting a terrifying aura. They were the Jin Clan’s brothers, Jin Zhan and Jin Yi. They were part of the seven strongest geniuses, but unlike the others, they came from the same clan.

The Jin pair was strong and they usually traveled together. Furthermore, they had a good rapport with each other, so they were extremely terrifying to face. The Dracoserpent Fruit was initially found by a bunch of wandering cultivators before they appeared on the scene.

Once the brothers appeared, they killed everyone except for a single wandering cultivator. When that wandering cultivator saw how powerful the two brothers were, he instantly knew that he couldn’t defeat them. But he was also reluctant to give up the Dracoserpent Fruit just like that.

“Interesting. You want the Dracoserpent Fruit even though your life is at risk?” Jin Zhan looked at the wandering cultivator with a mocking smile.

“What did you say?!” The wandering cultivator’s eyes flashed coldly. So what if the two brothers were among the seven strongest geniuses? Even with the two of them working together, he was confident of leaving in one piece.

“I’m saying that you’re courting death!” Jin Zhan’s eyes flashed coldly as a flaming armor appeared on the surface of his body, giving off a metallic reflection. It was the Heavenly Flame Armor.

The wandering cultivator’s eyes flashed with fear when he saw the armor as it could only be formed after reaching the sixth stage of the Radiant Sun Scripture. The armor itself contained a wisp of heavenly flame.

In the next second, Jin Zhan threw a punch at the wandering cultivator and his fist made the entire ruin tremble.

The wandering cultivator retaliated with his palm before he took several steps back. But when he landed on the ground, another Heavenly Flame Armor came crashing down. This made the wandering cultivator throw up blood and go flying. Jin Yi had attacked the wandering cultivator by surprise.

“Damn it!” The wandering cultivator was enraged as the two brothers were too cunning. One attracted his attention while the other one caught him by surprise. Without a second thought, the wandering cultivator turned and ran for his life.

“An old dog dares to be so arrogant?” Jin Yi sneered as he didn’t seem embarrassed about ganging up on an opponent. Suddenly, Jin Yi retrieved a jade slip and placed it on his forehead, allowing the information to transmit to his mind. By the time he placed the jade slip down, his face had turned black.

“What’s going on?” Jin Zhan asked with his brows furrowed after retrieving the Dracoserpent Fruit.

Jin Yi spoke indifferently, “I just received information from the clan that the sword slave has entered. He showed up after we left. Not only that, but he even killed Lu Tong from the Skycloud Sect.”

“He’s courting death!” roared Jin Zhan. “We announced that we were going to kill him, but he slapped our faces instead.”

Jin Yi’s eyes flashed with killing aura as he spoke coldly, “He’s just a clown. He better hope that he doesn't run into us.”

At the same time in a nearly withered lake, dozens of wandering cultivators howled out in pain as they started running for their lives. All of them were using their trump cards to escape. Normally, wandering cultivators were a headache to the various forces disciples. However, today, the wandering cultivators were fleeing for their lives.

“You dared to come in knowing that we were here? You guys are really bold.”

“Awesome! Brother Qin, let’s compete to see who can kill them faster!” Two arrogant youth were chasing the wandering cultivators, releasing their terrifying aura. The youths were Qin Xu and Gu Yang of the seven geniuses.

Not even wandering cultivators in the greater Yin-Yang stage could take a single hit from them. They were in trouble now that they ran into these two fiendgods.

They were too terrifying. All of the seven strongest geniuses could fight those above their cultivation and they were practically invincible among the same realm.

A moment later, Qin Xu and Gu Yang stood in a pool of blood with their faces darkened. Both of them had just received information that Lin Yun had entered the secret realm.

“Brother Chen is right. That brat is courting death.”