The Sovereign's Ascension

“It’s fine. I naturally have a reason why I want you to do this,” smiled Pavilion Master Plum upon seeing Lin Yun’s hesitation.

Oh? Lin Yun suddenly had a thought. Could it be that this sword can retract my aura and prevent the Azure Dragon Sword Aura from leaking? Lin Yun stopped hesitating and reached for the sword. However, he suddenly stopped when he was about to touch the sword. He suddenly remembered his ‘broken sword’ physique.

It had been a long time since he broke a sword, so he almost forgot about his unusual physique. He would commit a great sin if he accidentally destroyed Light Containment.

“No need to wield the sword. You’ll be able to sense it when you hold it,” smiled Pavilion Master Plum.

Sighing out of relief, Lin Yun held onto the sword hilt and slowly closed his eyes. The moment he came in contact with the sword hilt, a cold sensation spread throughout his body. Lin Yun could sense his temperature being devoured by this sword.

His entire body turned cold and he couldn’t stop shivering. By the time he opened his eyes, he noticed everyone giving him strange looks. The ferocious aura that he had a moment ago was completely gone. It was almost as if he turned into an ordinary person.

It was as though Lin Yun’s aura had been absorbed. When Lin Yun sensed this unusual sensation, he quickly released Light Containment. When he examined himself, he noticed that only his body temperature was returning to the way it was.

“What’s going on?” asked Lin Yun.

Sheathing the sword, Pavilion Master Plum explained, “This sword also goes by the name Frost Light. It is an ancient treasure that was discovered by Ancestor Jian Wuming. It has the ability to devour all of the light in the world so only its light is shown. That’s also the reason why it’s called Light Containment. You didn’t receive the acknowledgement of the sword, so it won’t be able to conceal your entire aura. However, it should be fine if it’s just for one day.”

Everyone else who heard that clicked their tongue inwardly. Clearly, this was the first time they heard Pavilion Master Plum’s explanation. It appeared that the Sword Firmament Pavilion had a lot of secrets that they were unaware of. As for Jian Wuming, he became even more legendary in their eyes.

“Let’s go. You don’t have to fight today so you can rest and observe the battles. The battle for the top ten will be brutal and they’re all inspirations for you to perfect your...secret art.” Pavilion Master Plum had no idea what Lin Yun comprehended, so he could only call it a secret art.

This was also what Lin Yun had in mind. After all, this was a golden opportunity to gain insights.

“Hehe, being seeded is great. You can watch everyone else fight while obtaining insights from said fights. Additionally, you will be able to see the flaws of your opponents. This banquet is really interesting,” chuckled Feng Ye.

Everyone wanted to be seeded. Otherwise, the fights from the fourth group wouldn’t have been so intense. Plus, Lin Tao wouldn’t have tried to humiliate Lin Yun in front of everyone. Right now, Lin Yun was benefiting from being seeded because he didn’t have to fight. So, the Great Qin Empire’s party was pretty relaxed as they headed towards the Nine Dragon Lake.

When they arrived at the Nine Dragon Lake, they found that the entire place was packed. As soon as the audience saw Lin Yun, they started cheering. At this point, Lin Yun’s fame had surpassed the three kings. It wasn’t because they thought that Lin Yun was stronger, but a performance like his was unheard of.

During the banquet, many people dug into Lin Yun’s past to figure out who he was. Lin Yun started out as a swords slave, won the Nether Prefectural City’s Five Adamies Competition, and faced a Heavenly Soul Realm expert in the Withernorth Sea. However, his most exciting accomplishment was slaughtering the seven geniuses of Skymound City.

Everyone who visited the Thunder Prefecture knew that the Thunder Prefecture wasn’t friendly to outsiders. Despite this, Lin Yun ran rampant, which was never seen before. These accomplishments elicited the cheers that continued even after Lin Yun sat in his seat. There were naturally those who were jealous of Lin Yun, like Yan Long’zi, whose face was dark amid the cheers.

Yan Long’zi sneered at Lin Yun in his heart. He wanted Lin Yun to rise even higher so that Lin Yun’s fall would be worse. Yan Long’zi was determined to trample Lin Yun in the most humiliating way possible. Most importantly, he wanted to do this in front of Yue Weiwei. When the uproar quieted, the judge landed on the stage to announce the events of the day.

At this moment, many people were focused on the stage. Although the four seeded participants weren’t fighting, the battle for the top ten would still be interesting. After all, sixteen people were competing for six positions. It didn’t matter if someone was an underdog, one of the seven elites, or an expert from the previous banquet like Wu Xiaotian, everyone had a chance.

In a nutshell, the remaining fighters weren’t weak. Furthermore, the underdogs like Zhu Qingshan, Fang Hanluo, Yue Weiwei, and Bai Lixuan were highly anticipated since they would be facing Li Mubai, Jiang Ziye, Jue Chen, and Yang Lie of the seven elites.

Before the banquet, the crowd thought the underdogs had no chance of making the top ten, but they weren’t so sure anymore. The first match of the day started with Zhu Qingshan and Li Mubai. Due to his defeat to Lin Yun, Li Mubai no longer had the same popularity as before. He wasn’t even on the same level of Nangong Wanyu anymore.

As for Nangong Wanyu, his popularity hovered around the same level, even with his loss to Lin Yun. After all, his battle with Lin Yun was so intense that no one thought he was a weakling. As for Li Mubai, everyone thought he was at the bottom of the seven elites.

“Damn it!” Li Mubai clearly sensed that the cheers were a lot weaker than before. In contrast, the cheers for Zhu Qingshan were quite high. His reputation as a madman who killed many geniuses generated many fans.

After the two bowed towards each other, their battle began. Zhu Qingshan’s performance was somewhat shocking because the commotion he caused was weaker than before. However, it was steadier than before. It didn’t take long for them to exchange over a hundred moves.

The fight was perilous, but neither of them could do a single thing. A hundred moves later, Zhu Qingshan’s fighting style started to reveal its ferocity as a black demonic aura enveloped him. His attacks suddenly formed a ‘鬼’ in the air, which placed Li Mubai under pressure. Ten moves later, Li Mubai’s sword was knocked out of his hands.

Zhu Qingshan’s blade was long and straight with spiritual runes engraved on it. The blade also flickered with a demonic aura that paired well with Zhu Qingshan. After losing his weapon, Li Mubai was quickly defeated by Zhu Qingshan.

It only took three attacks for the origin energy protecting Li Mubai to be torn apart. Zhu Qingshan left a huge gash on Li Mubai’s chest. Seeing that another blade was about to land on him, Li Mubai’s face contorted and he pushed his palm against the blade with all his might. However, his defense sent him flying, which caused him to yell, “I surrender.”

Under his hood that covered half of his face, Zhu Qingshan showed a disappointed look. After he devoured half of Li Mubai’s profound amber aura, he sneered, “Lin Yun was right. You’re a piece of garbage. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was holding back, you would have died in ten moves.”

When Li Mubai heard Zhu Qingshan’s comments, he vomited blood. His face turned pale, but he didn’t have the power to refute Zhu Qingshan. No matter how glorious he once was, he had to accept the humiliation.

Lin Yun was naturally paying attention to this battle as he was perfecting his Azure Dragon Sword Aura. Unfortunately, Zhu Qingshan was very cautious compared to his previous fights. Clearly, Zhu Qingshan didn’t want to reveal too much of his power.

Zhu Qingshan’s saber technique was truly formidable and his method of refining demonic aura was also weird. At the very least, it was very different from Ji Wuye and Wu Xiaotian. Lin Yun noticed this and began to wonder if Zhu Qingshan was even a denizen of the Ancient Southern Domain.

When the battle ended and before anyone could react, the second battle started. “Fang Hanluo VS Jue Chen!”

A burst of laughter was heard once the judge made his announcement. The crowd thought that this matchup was entertaining since Fang Hanluo made use of Jue Chen to make a breakthrough. He even defeated Jue Chen shortly after. At that time, Jue Chen’s face turned black from anger and humiliation. The crowd remembered that fight, which caused them to laugh.

“Hehe, Big Brother Jue Chen, we meet again. You have to be careful this time,” grinned Fang Hanluo.

When Jue Chen looked at Fang Hanluo, he became enraged. He didn’t believe in luck, and no one could keep making breakthroughs by walking between the borders of life and death. There was no way Jue Chen could do this.

On the other hand, Fang Hanluo made at least ten breakthroughs throughout this banquet. There was naturally something unusual about his situation.