The Sovereign's Ascension

Sword rays began to dance on the Nine Dragon Lake with the swords of the swordsmen in the audience. The swords were summoned by Fang Hanluo’s sword intent.

The swords of the Heavenly Demon Pavilion’s disciples that sat next to Lin Yun were flying away. The owners had shock written on their faces when they lost control of their swords. The fireflies around Fang Hanluo was proof that his sword intent had reached quasi-spiritual sword intent.

But Lin Yun wasn’t too surprised by this as he already sensed it when Fang Hanluo fought with Wu Xiaotian. According to his calculations, Fang Hanluo’s sword intent was probably at the same level as his prior to the beast tide. Fang Hanluo was only at the first stage and he was far from grasping the entire spiritual sword intent.

As for Lin Yun, not only did he completely grasp the spiritual sword intent, he even reached lesser mastery in it. Furthermore, his sword intent could exist for three days without extinguishing.

“Flawless!” yelled Fang Hanluo from the stage. Those words instantly piqued Lin Yun’s interest. Isn’t this Nangong Wanyu’s strongest attack? Lin Yun wasn’t the only one who was surprised by this scene. No one could believe that Fang Hanluo’s trump card was actually his quasi-spiritual sword intent and that he was using Nangong Wanyu’s strongest attack.

Yan Long’zi’s face changed and he quickly retreated. Fang Hanluo soared into the sky amidst the fireflies as over ten thousand swords shuttle across the Nine Dragon Lake. At this moment, a sharp sword streaked through the air, which everyone recognized. It was Flying Snow, Nangong Wanyu’s personal sword.

Fang Hanluo held onto the sword and his wounded body emitted a terrifying chill aura. Once he held Flying Snow, his aura became even more terrifying. His aura even sent shivers through the crowd.

“Flawless!” After accumulating his sword intent for some time, Fang Hanluo finally stabbed his sword out. A dazzling brilliance exploded on the stage and brightly lit up the sky. His sword was a lot stronger than when Nangong Wanyu used it, and was the genuine meaning of flawless.

The sword instantly reached Yan Long’zi, who had just stabilized himself while retreating. Seeing that he couldn’t avoid this attack, Yan Long’zi no longer held back and barked, “Damn it! Flame Dragon Vajra Physique!”

Yan Long’zi’s already robust figure grew bigger and his muscles looked like they were forged from metal. When the sword stabbed his chest, it caused a huge collision and a loud explosion. All sorts of phenomena flew around in the sky from this collision.

“What impressive quasi-spiritual sword intent. I finally figured out who you are. The Northern Snow Manor really knows how to hide itself. But I told you, everything is futile before absolute strength.” Yan Long’zi sneered as he was only pushed ten steps backwards.

“Frost Star Explosion!” Fang Hanluo’s eyes flickered and he changed his attack, executing a fist technique with the sword. When his sword collided with Yan Long’zi’s body, sparks flew everywhere.

“Terranean Blizzard!” Fang Hanluo gnashed his teeth and pushed his quasi-spiritual sword intent to the limit. But no matter how he attacked Yan Long’zi, he couldn’t leave a single injury on the latter’s body. The latter was impenetrable like a statue forged with metal.

“This is the end!” Yan Long’zi sneered before he barked, “Flame Dragon Vajra Physique⁠—Undying Heartshattering Seal!”

A golden dragon flickered as it coiled around Yan Long’zi’s body. He formed a seal and unleashed his attack. The seal turned into a dragon claw that clashed with Flying Snow’s tip. This instantly caused the sword to break into pieces as Fang Hanluo was sent flying before he fainted.

“Yan Long’zi wins!” The judge announced as everyone looked at Yan Long’zi with disbelief. No one could have imagined that Fang Hanluo couldn’t even leave a single injury on Yan Long’zi even after using his quasi-spiritual sword intent.

Although there were rumors that his physique was unparalleled in the Ancient Southern Domain, no one believed it until now. The three kings were terrifying once they brought out their trump cards.

“His physique is a little terrifying.”

“I can’t think of anyone capable of injuring him unless they use their cultivation to clash with him head-on.”

“Yu Haotian should be able to do it. Zhao Wuji also has a chance with his lightning cloud intent.”

“As for swordsmen, probably only those with spiritual sword intent are capable of injuring him.” The audience sighed when they said this. The difference between quasi-spiritual sword intent and spiritual sword intent was huge, and no one managed to grasp the spiritual sword intent before reaching the Heavenly Soul Realm. In fact, the age of those who grasped the spiritual sword intent were in the hundreds. It was impossible for anyone to grasp it for the banquet.

The Northern Snow Manor’s manor master and Nangong Wanyu rushed to the stage to check on Fang Hanluo’s injuries. When the crowd saw this, they were dumbfounded.

“You must be Mu Han…” said Yan Long’zi. After devouring half of the profound amber aura, he smiled and his eyes narrowed, “For a long time now, I’ve heard of a heaven-defying genius that was hidden by the Northern Snow Manor. This genius spent eighteen years nourishing his sword. I never would have expected that you would be so ruthless to yourself and lower your cultivation to find another path. It’s a shame that you ran into me.

Mu Han? Lower his cultivation to take another path? Everyone was shocked when they heard Yan Long’zi’s words. They finally understood how Fang Hanluo kept making breakthroughs in the banquet. So it turns out that he lowered his cultivation on purpose so that his foundation would be firmer. His goal was ambitious since he wanted to suppress those in the same realm as him.

It would have been an impossible task if it wasn’t for the Northern Snow Manor’s resources. Many people sucked in a cold breath of air because they realized that the Northern Snow Manor was really ruthless. After all, Fang Hanluo would have died if there were any mishaps.

It turned out that the Northern Snow Manor still had a disciple in the top ten despite Nangong Wanyu’s defeat. But it was a shame that Fang Hanluo ran into Yan Long’zi who had such a terrifying physique.

“This is a so-called swordsman? So what if you have the quasi-spiritual sword intent? There’s nothing you can do to me.” Yan Long’zi laughed before he returned to his seat. He noticed that Lin Yun had already left without him knowing and he sneered.

In the end, swordsmen were nothing in his eyes. Eventually, he would run into Lin Yun to show him how little he thought of swordsmen. However, Yan Long’zi’s obsession was one sided. Lin Yun didn’t want to bother with Yan Long’zi.

After Yan Long’zi’s battle, the judges gave the fighters a half hour rest before resuming the competition. The next battle was between Yu Haotian and Wu Xiaotian. Due to the huge gap between them, Yu Haotian didn’t even have to use his Overlord Fist to suppress Wu Xiaotian. He easily obtained a victory after ten moves.

The next fight was between Zhu Qingshan and Yue Weiwei, but Yue Weiwei gave up immediately. Her injuries were too serious to continue because of Yu Haotian. Fortunately, she already made the top ten.

The following fight was between Jiang Ziye and Mu Han, who was formerly known as Fang Hanluo. Both of them were heavily injured from the three kings. If it wasn’t for the half hour break, they wouldn’t have been able to fight.

The beginning of the battle was shocking because Fang Hanluo was the first to attack. He frantically unleashed all of his most powerful moves. Meanwhile, Jiang Ziye fought steadily, which caused Fang Hanluo’s aura to drop. Upon noticing this, everyone realized that Fang Hanluo’s injuries were too serious and that he wanted to end the battle quickly. Unfortunately, Jiang Ziye had more time to recover than he did, so she wasn’t giving him any opportunities.

Since Jiang Ziye was fearful of Yu Haotian’s quasi-spiritual sword intent, she fought cautiously. However, when he didn’t use his quasi-spiritual sword intent, she figured out that he was too injured to bring it out. So, she used her strongest attack to quickly end the battle.

One thing was clear after many battles had passed, the three kings were invincible. The only suspense that was left in the tournament was whether or not Lin Yun, Zhu Qingshan, or Jiang Ziye would come in fourth place.

Once again, Lin Yun was called to the stage. This time, his opponent was Bai Lixuan. The judge knew that both of them were from the Great Qin Empire and the same sect, so he was very interested in the fight. The crowd was also excited for this fight because Lin Yun had yet to defeat Bai Lixuan. As long as he defeated Bai Lixuan, he would still hold the title of the strongest swordsman.