The Sovereign's Ascension

“It doesn’t matter.” Lin Yun closed his eyes and comforted everyone. After all, Lin Yun would fight soon and he couldn’t afford any mishaps. Lin Yun never expected that Nangong Wanyu had cultivated the frost sword intent to such a high level.

Li Mubai’s mountain river sword intent wasn’t weak either. However, he couldn’t compete with the sword intent of those with extraordinary talent. His talent wasn’t weak, but his control wasn’t up to par. He could easily deal with weaker cultivators, but his flaws would be revealed before an expert.

On the other hand, Nangong Wanyu had brought his frost sword intent to the manifestation stage and had gained complete control of it. He could combine it with his sword and cultivation techniques perfectly without any flaws. Lin Yun wasn’t happy with this, so he poured his spiritual sword intent into his eyes to find Nangong Wanyu’s flaws.

However, Nangong Wanyu’s last attack was simply too breathtaking and its brilliance was too dazzling. After pouring his spiritual sword intent into his eyes, every single detail of Nangong Wanyu’s attack was amplified ten-fold, which generated flames in his eyes. So one could imagine what Lin Yun felt from Nangong Wanyu’s last attack, which was like a bright sun.

Lin Yun was fortunate that he was able to find some flaws in Nangong Wanyu’s last attack. If he hadn’t, it would have been a waste.

Lin Yun slowly opened his eyes after some time had passed. With the Azure Dragon Enneaform, he could easily heal his injuries as long as he didn’t suffer any heavy injuries. While Lin Yun healed himself, Nangong Wanyu’s dragon projection grew to nearly thirty meters.

“What’s the name of the last sword?” Li Mubai wanted to know the name of the attack that defeated him.

“Majestic Shadow,” replied Nangong Wanyu.

Li Mubai muttered the name and fell into deep thoughts. He did see a majestic shadow in the last sword, but he couldn’t comprehend the attack. Perhaps this was the difference between them.

“No wonder you defeated me. There’s still a huge gap between us.” Li Mubai smiled. Then, the two flew off the stage. Although they were sparring, their battle was still brilliant, especially with Nangong Wanyu’s last attack. At the same time, there was a huge battle in the third group that attracted everyone’s gazes.

It was a battle between Fang Hanluo and Jue Chen. Jue Chen was ranked eighth during the previous banquet. Although he lost to Ji Feng, the strength he displayed was still breathtaking since his Azurewood Art was cultivated to a high level. Many underdogs were exhausted to death by him because of his boundless origin energy. Furthermore, he could also quickly recover from his injuries while he fought.

Everyone thought highly of Jue Chen. If his opponent couldn’t suppress him in ten moves, there was a high chance that they wouldn’t be able to beat him. Even the three kings would find it troublesome to compete with him in a battle of endurance. Without a doubt, this was a high evaluation.

Fang Hanluo and Jue Chen had no intention of competing for the seeded quota because they had already obtained the promotion quota. Generally speaking, this battle wouldn’t do anything for them. However, Fang Hanluo wouldn’t let Jue Chen go no matter what.

After a few hundred moves, Fang Hanluo’s face turned pale as blood dripped down from his lips. He was covered with injuries. There was no way Fang Hanluo could turn the tables around, but he wasn’t willing to admit defeat. He kept pushing himself to the border of death to seek a breakthrough.

Many people felt that he was a little too naive and that he would be killed by Jue Chen if this continued. It was mainly because he already had high cultivation, so it wouldn’t be easy to make a breakthrough. Furthermore, Jue Chen wasn’t an ordinary opponent, meaning the fight was brutal for Fang Hanluo.

Jue Chen, who seemed amicable on the surface, was cold when he attacked. The phenomenon behind him was a boundless ocean with a vague image of a towering divine tree. The branches of the tree continued to hit Fang Hanluo’s body, leaving terrifying injuries. Anytime that Fang Hanluo tried to counterattack, Jue Chen would dodge.

Fang Hanluo kept going as more and more attacks covered his body. Everyone thought he would collapse at any given moment. But just when Fang Hanluo was about to die, a terrifying aura suddenly exploded out of him and destroyed Jue Chen’s attack.

“Quasi-Heavenly Soul Realm!”

“Holy shit, he made a breakthrough again?”

“He actually managed to turn the tables around.” An uproar exploded from the crowd as Fang Hanluo did the impossible. Even Jue Chen was surprised by this development. But once he started to retreat, he discovered that there was a layer of frost on the ground.

The frost was slowly freezing his phenomenon and would eventually freeze him too. Fang Hanluo chuckled, “Hehe, I admit defeat.”

When Fang Hanluo surrendered, Jue Chen was enraged. He knew that Fang Hanluo used him to make a breakthrough in his cultivation and frost intent. If he had known Fang Hanluo’s motive, he would have slaughtered the latter at the very beginning.

“Haha, thanks for helping me make a breakthrough. Let’s meet again in the fight for the top twenty!” Fang Hanluo laughed as he left. He was covered in injuries, but he didn’t look pathetic. On the other hand, Jue Chen’s face was ugly despite winning. After all, Jue Chen knew that it would be troublesome to defeat Fang Hanluo the next time around.

“Fang Hanluo is kind of weird. Isn’t he a little too lucky?”

“It’s hard to say whether or not it’s luck, but it is weird that he nearly died several times already.”

“I’ve been observing him since the first round. In the beginning, his strength was only at the outer ranking, but now, he can actually make it into the top ten. What a monster.”

“I really can’t predict this banquet anymore.” The battle had caused quite a commotion because Fang Hanluo made a breakthrough. This increased his fame even higher than the likes of Zhu Qingshan. It didn’t take long for the second group to finish with Yan Long’zi being seeded.

No one dared to challenge Yan Long’zi as he sat in his chair. Everyone knew about the benefits of being seeded. However, the rules of the banquet made it more difficult for anyone to challenge the three kings.

So no one could say anything. After all, the seeded quota was obtained by pure strength. The third group also finished quickly with Yu Haotian obtaining the seeded quota. A while later, the first group finished with Zhao Wuji obtaining the seeded quota.

The three kings were so powerful that no one could measure up to them. At this point, only the fourth group was still active. The three kings weren’t in the fourth group, so no one would surrender easily.

“Lin Yun VS Li Mubai!” It didn’t take long for the next fight to get announced. Since the remaining two matches were related to Lin Yun, he was already prepared. When Lin Yun and Li Mubai landed on the ground, a sword hum echoed out of their bodies and their sword intents soared into the sky.

In that split second, the fourth group’s stage became the center of attention. Geniuses like Zhu Qingshan, Bai Lixuan, Jiang Ziye, Wu Xiaotian, and the three kings were paying close attention. This was a crucial battle. After all, if Lin Yun lost, Nangong Wanyu would basically obtain the seeded quota. But if Lin Yun won the battle, the conclusion wouldn’t be so cler.

For this battle, many people favored Li Mubai’s chances. Lin Yun had already revealed his Azure Dragon Enneaform against Lin Tao, not to mention that there were differences in their sword talents. Lin Yun was only at the complete mastery of the xiantian sword intent, while Li Mubai had combined his mountain river intent with sword intent.

Looking at Lin Yun, Li Mubai’s face turned grave. He clearly wasn’t looking down on his opponent, so he made a suggestion, “Shall we determine the fight with one attack?”

The crowd erupted when they heard this. After all, Li Mubai held the advantage, so there was no doubt that his suggestion would benefit Lin Yun.

“Are you sure?” Lin Yun wasn’t too bothered by it as he had already seen through Li Mubai’s sword techniques. It made no difference if it was one move or a hundred moves.

“If the outcome of our fight is already determined, isn’t it better to end it quickly? What do you say?” Li Mubai smiled. Suddenly, everyone understood what was going on. Since Li Mubai already lost to Nangong Wanyu, he had little interest in Lin Yun.

“Is it really good to be so conceited when we haven’t even fought?” Lin Yun asked. He was reminding Li Mubai not to be careless or there would be no meaning even if he won the battle.

Li Mubai shook his head and explained, “I’m not being conceited. There’s still a huge gap between us. I’m a cloud in the sky and you’re mud on the ground. I’m an eagle soaring through the vast sky and you’re a lowly ant crawling on the ground. This is the difference between us. The might of your physique doesn’t change the fact that you’re insignificant.”

“Lin Yun, we’re not the same.” Li Mubai looked at Lin Yun seriously, trying to get it into Lin Yun’s head. Although he was defeated by Nangong Wanyu, he was still on a completely different level than Lin Yun.

“That’s right. We’re not the same,” said Lin Yun calmly.

“It seems that you still don’t understand what I mean, but it doesn’t matter. You’ll understand what I mean soon enough,” smiled Li Mubai. When he finished his words, the two of them moved to opposite ends of the stage. Then, they began to accumulate their aura to prepare their one and only move.

When Li Mubai drew his sword, his sword ray lit up the entire stage. The mountain and rivers behind him overlapped as a city appeared from the ground. This was the majestic phenomenon created by his mountain river sword intent.

In front of his terrifying sword aura, the stage trembled violently and the entire sky seemed to bow down to his sword. Then Li Mubai started moving forward, causing his sword ray to become even more dazzling.

On the other hand, Lin Yun didn’t move. It looked like he was intimidated by the sword aura and couldn’t even draw his sword. Many people shook their heads because the difference between Lin Yun and Li Mubai was too great. It wasn’t that obvious in his fight with Lin Tao, but it was very apparent when he faced a swordsman like Li Mubai.

Li Mubai smiled as his mountain river sword intent grew to a terrifying height. Everyone could tell that he wanted to recover from his loss to Nangong Wanyu by suppressing Lin Yun completely. But just when his sword was about to reach Lin Yun, Lin Yun made a move.

Lin Yun didn’t even draw his sword, but used his sheath to stab at Li Mubai. There weren't any dazzling movements to his stab and he only pushed his xiantian sword intent to the limit of complete mastery. His sword’s focus was speed. Although it was as steady as a mountain, it was also as fast as lightning.

With a huge explosion, Lin Yun’s sword stabbed Li Mubai’s chest. Instantly, the majestic phenomenon behind Li Mubai crumbled into dust. At this point, Li Mubai’s sword was half an inch away from Lin Yun’s chest, but that inch seemed like an infinite amount of miles.

With the origin energy around him shattering, Li Mubai threw up a mouthful of blood before he was sent flying. When he hit the ground, he ended up rolling a few times. All of this happened too quickly. Just when everyone thought that Li Mubai had suppressed Lin Yun, Li Mubai was sent flying.

“How is this possible?” Everyone widened their eyes and looked at this scene with disbelief. This had caused a great shock in Li Mubai’s heart as he couldn’t believe that he failed.

“No, this didn’t count because you didn’t draw your sword!” Li Mubai collected himself and slammed his palm onto the ground before he got back up.

I didn’t draw my sword? Let me fulfill your wish then. Lin Yun drew his sword and poured his origin energy and sword intent into it. When a hum filled the air, the Flower Burial Sword roared like a ferocious dragon, unleashing boundless dominance.

Once Li Mubai got to his feet, his chest was pierced by the attack. This instantly caused his face to turn pale and fear filled his eyes. Li Mubai quickly tossed his sword away before grabbing onto the Flower Burial Sword. He was trying to prevent the sword from piercing through his chest any further.

Lin Yun’s attack was too ferocious as it sent Li Mubai flying off the stage in the blink of an eye. Eventually, he collided with the divine dragon statue as the Flower Burial Sword firmly pinned him.

Lin Yun looked at Li Mubai and said, “Like you said, we’re not the same. How can a piece of trash like you be the same as me?”

This was the first time Lin Yun showed his fangs and pride during the banquet. Donned in his azure clothes, his hair fluttered in the sky, sending chills down through the crowd.