The Sovereign’s Ascension

Rustle!

A youth in blue carrying an ancient sword box rode horseback. When they broke from the woods, their vision suddenly blurred as the dazzling sun shone onto them.

The youth narrowed his eyes as he adjusted to the brightness. When he looked ahead, everything was in plain sight. There was a river splashing ten miles away with an endless range of mountains. The mountains were so tall that they pierced into the clouds.

“Phew… I’m finally off of the Horizon Cloud Mountain!” exclaimed Lin Yun.

When the Dragon Blooded Horse made the breakthrough, there was no longer any need for them to stay in the Horizon Cloud Mountain. After reaching the Xiantian Realm, the Dragon Blooded Horse’s speed was simply incredible.

Sizzle! Sizzle!

The Dragon Blooded Horse’s hooves were flickering with crimson lightning. Lin Yun unscrolled the map on the horse’s shoulders as he looked around, verifying the surrounding terrain. His gaze was focused on the river. “According to the map, I’m already within the Great Qin Empire’s territory.”

The woods where he fought with the Liu Clan hadn’t been within the Great Qin Empire territory. The Clear Serene City was only a tiny city in the borders, and it was unremarkable.

“This is Azure Sun County. This county is even larger than several nations combined. If I want to enter, I can either travel through the mountains or go down the river…” Lin Yun knitted his brows. Both options weren’t exactly good.

Since he had no better alternative, he could only go up to take a closer look.

As the hooves clopped against the ground, the Dragon Blooded Horse brought Lin Yun over to the shore in just a few breaths. “What a huge river!”

Lin Yun did not feel that the river was huge when he was in the distance. But when he approached, only then did he see the sheer size of the river. The river was as wide as a lake. Lin Yun had to strain his eyes just to vaguely make out the opposite shore. It was nearly a thousand meters away!

Lin Yun had never seen such a large river. His curiosity was piqued. It seems he would be abandoning the option of traveling through the mountain.

With his current movement technique, he could only travel three hundred meters in the air at best. As for the ancient sword box, he could travel a thousand miles with it by infusing his spiritual energy.

But a gale would blow occasionally at the center of the river, causing waves to surge. Although the ancient sword box could ferry him across, it would be unstable with the gale. It was too dangerous for him to travel through the river under such circumstances.

In the end, he turned back and made a simple wooden raft that ferried them across the river.

When the river slowed, Lin Yun would inject his spiritual energy into the raft to propel it. But it was too exhausting for him to control the wooden raft with his spiritual energy for long.

Fortunately, the raft would ride the current most of the time. So he didn’t have to manipulate the raft with his spiritual energy much. Although the wooden raft was carrying the weight of Lin Yun and the Dragon Blooded Horse, the speed did not slow down.

Lin Yun sat on the raft as he closed his eyes and cultivated. The orifice that was cleared up in his chest devoured the surrounding spiritual energy. He was absorbing spiritual energy at a rate much faster compared to when he was in Houtian Realm.

It felt incredible. Lin Yun couldn’t imagine how fast he would absorb the surrounding spiritual energy when he cleared up all seven orifices. After all, the differences between each orifice were akin to a gulf.

The Xiantian Realm was only the beginning of the martial dao. In the past, he had only been tempering his physique. Under the eleven petals of the Drought Golden Lotus, Lin Yun’s Xiantian Pure Yang Art had long since reached the third stage.

The spiritual energy within his body was robust and more refined than before. As his spiritual energy gushed through his veins, the noise produced matched the roar of the river.

When he opened his eyes, they glowed like the stars in the sky. When the sky gradually darkened to welcome the night, Lin Yun’s face was beaming with charm under the sunset’s glow.

As it was currently autumn, the leaves were all crimson. With the sunset’s glow matching the crimson leaves, the ambiance seemed rather depressing.

Lin Yun enjoyed the view but he couldn’t help having the strings of his emotion pulled. When the starry sky reflected in his eyes, there was a trace of concern.

He had spent more than ten days trying, but he still couldn’t summon his Martial Soul. He was even injured by a mysterious impact several times.

He wasn’t afraid that his Martial Soul was only a broken sword. He was afraid of it being a useless Martial Soul. That would be a death sentence for his martial dao and an immense blow to his ambitions.

Lin Yun retrieved the Flower Burial Sword from the sword box as he stood on at the head of the wooden raft.

Clang!

The limpid sword flashed before Lin Yun’s eyes. Looking at the sword in his hand before looking at the river, emotions welled up in Lin Yun’s heart.

All of a sudden, Lin Yun soared as he executed the Flowing Wind Sword.

Convergent Streams, Flowing Wind!

Lin Yun’s sword attracted a strong gale on the river as the stream matched well with his Flowing Wind Sword.

The complete mastery of the Flowing Wind Sword was absolutely perfect in Lin Yun’s hands. Every single stroke flowed smoothly without any flaws. When he was about to descend onto the river, his feet tapped against the surface of the water, and soared into the sky once more.

He was recalling back to how his sword clashed with Su Ziyao back then. Lin Yun had emptied his thoughts and was fully immersed in his sword. With the sword in his hand, he only had the gale and streaming river accompanying him.

Fwoosh!

All of a sudden, there was someone traveling through the lake. Her figure was like a phantom that passed through Lin Yun in the blink of an eye. In her path, she left behind only a faint fragrance.

“Mhm?” The phantom suddenly returned and exclaimed as she looked at Lin Yun swinging his sword.

That phantom was a young lady dressed in red. She had narrowed her eyes like two crescent moons in a way that made her look adorable. She was also permeating an ethereal aura that seemed like a fairy. On her delicate face, there were two sharp teeth that pulled her celestial temperament back to a mortal.

“A cultivator in the First Orifice of the Xiantian Realm actually possesses such a brilliant sword technique? That’s simply incredible. It probably won’t take long for him to wield Sword Intent. Right… Let me help you with that!” The young lady smiled as she tapped her feet and landed on a tree branch.

She took the flute on her waist and gently blew on it.

As Lin Yun was fully immersed in the Flowing Sword Art, he suddenly heard a piece of ethereal music. In the beginning, Lin Yun wasn’t too bothered about the music, but as time slowly passed, he began to feel shocked. The music was matching his sword technique well.

When he unleashed his move, the music echoed within his heart. The music was guiding his sword without him knowing. In the end, Lin Yun was shocked to discover that his sword momentum was gradually becoming more refined.

The sensation felt so wonderful that it was simply unbelievable. His sword momentum could actually be as refined as the spiritual energy?

Wind Assembling! Reflective Shadow! Traceless Wind!

When Lin Yun was finished in executing the three moves, his sword momentum condensed. In the next instance, the boundless sword momentum seemed as perfect as the river. He had reached an unprecedented fusion with the sword.

When he blinked, he could clearly see every single bead of water among the waves. He had become one with the sword, and everything in the world seemed to have frozen.

Crack!

The broken sword, his Martial Soul, was released by half an inch, giving birth to a gleam that shrouded the body of the sword.

As Lin Yun’s heart jolted, he retracted his sword and returned to the wooden raft. When he looked around, he saw a young lady standing on a branch by the shore.

“Nice sword technique, young man!” The young lady smiled, revealing her adorable tiger tooth. At that moment, all the scenery in the surrounding was blinded by her smile.

“Hey…” Lin Yun called out to the lady, but she paid no attention to him and disappeared within the mist.

Watching her silhouette disappear, Lin Yun shook his head in pity. He didn’t even have the time to call out to her before she disappeared; he had missed the opportunity to thank her for the help.

Lin Yun was overcome with emotion. His Martial Soul finally moved!

It meant that his Martial Soul wasn’t a broken sword. The body of the sword was only shrouded in darkness. It wasn’t that he couldn’t summon it, but he needed a deeper comprehension in sword dao.After all, the sword was pulled out by half an inch when he became one with his sword.

“What’s with that sword gleam?” he wondered. If he couldn’t summon his Martial Soul, did that mean that he could summon out that gleam of sword?

As that idea rose in his mind, Lin Yun swung his Flower Burial Sword.

Boom!