The Sovereign’s Ascension

In just this brief moment, Lin Yun could sense that the other ‘him’ was already close in proximity with a powerful force trying to distort his body.

That was the Azure Dragon Grasp, one of Lin Yun’s strongest attacks. But Lin Yun tossed it to the back of his mind and circulated the Iris Sword Sutra, igniting all the Demonic Astral Flowers in his aura ocean.

When the Demonic Astral Flowers blazed, the astral energy filled in his violet palace began to boil and emitted a golden light. It didn’t take long for his astral energy to fill up his body with his aura reaching the Elysium Core Realm.

The pressure that was crashing down on him suddenly became light as a pair of golden wings unfolded behind Lin Yun, and he swiftly retreated. But when he took three steps back, the other ‘him’ also began to glow golden and ignited all the Demonic Astral Flowers as well to lighten the pressure that suppressed him.

When that palm descended, it manifested into a dragon claw with three thousand purple-golden dragon runes shining brightly. This placed Lin Yun in a disadvantageous position and his expression became grave. If he knew about this earlier, he would’ve brought out the Azure Dragon Grasp. This secret technique from the Azure Dragon Lord was too terrifying.

The moment someone who can use it gets close, those in the same generation would be immediately suppressed, and the weaker ones would be crushed. Logically speaking, Lin Yun should use it as an ultimate move because using it to deal with weaklings was a huge waste.

What the hell is this? Lin Yun was furious about why the Azure Dragon Lord had to create a secret technique like the Azure Dragon Grasp that left him in such a pathetic state. This also made him wonder if he would be killed by the other ‘him’.

As crackling sounds began to resound from his body, the purple-golden dragon runes all shrunk back and were suppressed. But that wasn’t all. A painting flew out from the other ‘him’. When it opened, it was the Aurora Dragon Painting.

This startled Lin Yun before he also summoned the Aurora Dragon Painting. But the other ‘him’ didn’t stop so easily and summoned three paintings in a row, Qiongqi, Winged Dragon, and Kunpeng Paintings.

Wiping the blood off the corner of his lips, Lin Yun also summoned four paintings and that was the current limit of his vitality. If he continued to summon more paintings, he would over-exhaust his vitality, and it wasn’t something he could swiftly recover from. It was so much so that he might even harm his aptitude.

But fortunately, the other ‘him’ only summoned four paintings. If he summoned another painting, then Lin Yun would be finished. Gritting his teeth, Lin Yun’s face distorted and his knees were bent. He couldn’t even remain standing on his feet right now.

“Kneel!” A roar suddenly echoed that sounded like rumbling lightning, nearly making Lin Yun fall to his knees. Kneeling to himself? Lin Yun nearly threw out a mouthful of blood because this Seven Treasured Glazed Tile Pagoda was a little too heaven-defying.

Right at this moment, Lin Yun could sense a terrifying aura. When he raised his head, he saw the purple mark on the other ‘him’ lighting up. This made Lin Yun wonder if the other ‘him’ had also grasped the firmament sword intent. When Lin Yun raised his head, he could sense a terrifying azure dragon aura exploding from the center of the other party’s forehead, along with a dazzling golden light.

This time, Lin Yun finally couldn’t hold back anymore and immediately cursed.

“Divine Azure Annihilation!”

“Divine Azure Annihilation!”

Two dazzling golden lights shone from the center of Lin Yun and the other ‘him’ and clashed together. Along with an explosion, Lin Yun threw out a mouthful of blood. But before he could gasp for air, the azure dragon aura from the other ‘him’ immediately slammed against him.

In the next second, a palm appeared on the ground and Lin Yun threw out another mouthful of blood. He was heavily injured, but thanks to that, it allowed him to break free from the Azure Dragon Grasp. Furthermore, Lin Yun noticed that the other ‘him’ didn’t have the Blood Flame Divine Rune empowering his dragon runes, and this meant that the Seven Treasured Glazed Tile Pagoda wasn’t omnipotent.

Without holding back, Lin Yun unleashed the full power of his firmament sword intent, unleashing a terrifying aura with his hair and clothes fluttering violently. The other ‘him’ also didn’t hesitate to bring out the firmament sword intent. Just like that, the two clashed with their firmament sword intents, unleashing sword vibrating noises to the surroundings, and images of swords could be seen clashing in mid-air.

Waving his hand, Lin Yun summoned the Lightning Shadow Sword and looked at the other ‘him’ coldly, “I bet you don’t have this, right?”

Indeed, the other ‘him’ didn’t have the Lightning Shadow Sword. But as the black and white aura converged, it swiftly formed into a sword in the hands of the other ‘him’. The sword was enveloped in black and white sacred light, one brimming with vitality and the other filled with a devastating deathly aura.

This made Lin Yun think about the life-death dao. This meant that that sword might not be any weaker than his Lightning Shadow Sword. The Flower Burial Sword was still devouring the Serene Night, and he didn’t want to disrupt the Flower Burial Sword’s upgrade if he had a choice.

As two figures clashed, Lin Yun was in a disadvantageous position because his injuries were more serious. After ten-odd moves, he was on the losing end. The other ‘him even used the Myriad Sword Condensation.

But Lin Yun could only clench his teeth to wait for an opportunity. But when the Lightning Shadow Sword began to tremble, Lin Yun’s face changed because he knew that the Lightning Shadow Sword could no longer bear the pressure from his ‘broken sword’ physique.

Even if the other ‘him’ had copied all his techniques and fighting habits, there was no way it would know about his ‘broken sword’ physique. Thinking about it here, Lin Yun allowed the Lightning Shadow Sword to be knocked away.

When the Lightning Shadow Sword flew away, the eyes of the other ‘him’ lit up and immediately got close, wanting to slash him. When the black and white sword swung down, the surrounding air was split apart and from that alone, Lin Yun could tell that the other ‘him’ was serious about wanting to kill him.

This made Lin Yun wear a cold smirk as he slanted to the side and ignited the Blood Flame Divine Rune in the Azure Dragon Mark.

“Die!” Raising his hand, Lin Yun gathered all the ignited purple-golden dragon runes to his palm and unleashed the Azure Dragon Grasp. Everything happened too quickly, and the other ‘him’ had already died the moment Lin Yun unleashed his attack.

As the other ‘him’ disappeared, only the black and white sword fell to the ground. This made Lin Yun take in several breaths and he wiped the sweat off his forehead. At this moment, he realized that his palms were covered in sweat, and he couldn’t help exclaiming, “So I turned out to be so strong…”

“You’re really shameless. I’ve never seen anyone praising themselves in this manner,” said Lil’ Purple with disdain.

“Why didn’t you help earlier?”

“If you can’t defeat a copy of yourself, then there’s nothing to say about being killed by yourself,” said Lil’ Purple.

When Lin Yun heard that, the corner of his lips twitched because it looked like Lil’ Purple needed a beating.

“Furthermore, if the Samsara Mirror detects me, my real body will appear and you’ll die in a single breath.” Lil’ Purple continued to mock.

The Samsara Mirror? Lin Yun raised his head and could see that there was a mirror in the mist at the other end of the passage.

“So, can we take it with us? This is obviously a divine artifact!” Lin Yun muttered.

“While this is a divine artifact, to begin with, it has long fused with the Seven Treasured Glazed Tile Pagoda, so you have to give up on it. The Nine Emperors of Kunlun aren’t simple, and the Southern Emperor can even kill the previous owner of this Seven Treasured Glazed Tile Pagoda…looks like they’re stronger than I’ve imagined.” Lil’ Purple said with shock in her voice.

She called herself the Supreme Heavenly Slaughtering Empress, so she initially held the nine emperors in disdain. But the more she learned about them, the more she realized that all nine of them weren’t simple.

“I bet the majority of the people will be eliminated in this round.” Lin Yun sighed because he knew that the test in the Seven Treasured Glazed Tile Pagoda wasn’t easy. They would naturally be stronger than their copy, but they might fall in a disadvantageous position if they failed. Once you fall in a disadvantageous position, it would be hard for you to turn the tables around.

Lin Yun was actually lucky in his victory. If his copy could even replicate the Blood Flame Divine Rune, then he would lose the chance to turn the tables around.

But in reality, it was even more devastating than he had imagined. In just an hour, about 70% of the people who entered the Seven Treasured Glazed Tile Pagoda were quickly eliminated. But those who were eliminated weren’t kicked out of the Seven Treasured Glazed Tile Pagoda, like he had imagined. Instead, they were all dead.

“I should be in the Seven Treasured Glazed Tile Pagoda by now…” Lin Yun passed through the mirror at the far end of the passage, and his vision expanded. When he entered the Seven Treasured Glazed Tile Pagoda, he could sense how massive the pagoda was. The interior of the pagoda was at least a few hundred times wider than it appeared in the outside world.

There were many palaces, and each palace looked like a majestic mountain. Some palaces were even made up of an entire mountain.

Quickening his pace, the passage before him disappeared, and Lin Yun entered a cold mist. The cloudy mist was so thick that he couldn’t see through it, but this was the path he had to walk on if he wanted to enter the depths of the Seven Treasured Glazed Tile Pagoda, and it was unavoidable for him to walk on this passage if he wanted to reach those palaces.

Without any hesitation, Lin Yun stepped into the cold mist. When he entered, he felt as though his entire body was frozen. At the same time, there was a terrifying force down below that felt like an abyss trying to drag him down.

“This place is really dangerous…” Lin Yun took in a deep breath and unleashed his sword intent. He then stomped his foot on the ground and a pair of golden wings unfolded behind him, instantly allowing him to break free from the suction force.

When he landed on the ground, Lin Yun turned back and saw that it wasn’t an abyss, but a pool of blood with countless corpses soaked in the blood lake. Furthermore, those corpses were rather fresh, and this meant that the people who had just died were in the blood lake. It appears that even if they made it through the first test, that didn’t mean that they would be absolutely safe.

Taking a few glances at those corpses, Lin Yun noticed that the vitality from those corpses was reduced to mist and fused into the surroundings.

Lin Yun instantly came up with a terrifying conclusion. This Seven Treasured Glazed Tile Pagoda devours people, and this conclusion made him feel a chill down his spine. He could feel that this opportunity wasn’t similar to ones he had in the past.

“Empress, you and Lil’ Red stay here. If Ye Ziling and the rest manage to arrive, inform them about the blood pool, so that they don’t get devoured by this pagoda.” Lin Yun said after summoning Lil’ Purple and Lil’ Red from the sword box.

Truth be told, Lin Yun didn’t have to worry about Su Ziyao and Ye Ziling. But he wasn’t too sure about Jiang Lichen and the rest. Since Lin Yun was pretty close with them, he didn’t want them to die in vain. If that happened, then he would definitely blame himself for it, not to mention that he was the one who asked them to enter the Seven Treasured Glazed Tile Pagoda.

“No. This empress wants to find the Great Saint Origin. The 108 palaces here are 108 mountains of treasures. There might be a lot of treasures, not to mention that those mountains are being nourished by the Great Saint Origin. So who knows how many saint elixirs are there. This empress doesn’t want to stay here!” Lil’ Purple looked at the palaces with her eyes glowing brightly. She was pretty familiar with this place, so she didn’t want to miss it.

“Even if there were many treasures, they’re probably taken away by the Southern Emperor already,” said Lin Yun. “Be good. Furthermore, if I obtain any treasures, isn’t it the same as you obtaining treasures as well?”

But Lil’ Purple was still very reluctant to stay behind, no matter how Lin Yun tried to persuade her. A long time later, Lil’ Purple lowered her head and softly said, “What if you run into Qin Cang and get yourself killed? With this empress around, you can at least have a chance of surviving.”

This made Lin Yun throw out a mouthful of blood and reply, “Don’t curse me with your accursed crow mouth!”

“This empress is a phoenix, not a crow!” Lil’ Purple glared at Lin Yun with her cheeks puffed up.

In the end, Lin Yun couldn’t win against her in an argument and could only leave Lil’ Red behind. Since Lil’ Red was previously injured, it wasn’t suitable for Lil’ Red to follow him now. So it was perfect for Lil’ Red to stay behind and wait for the rest from the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect.

“Remember, tell them not to split up and have them join up with me,” said Lin Yun while he looked at Lil’ Red.

“Lin Yun, stop dawdling! This empress wants to go and look for the Great Saint Origin, and I already can’t wait for it. This empress wants all the saint elixirs in the Seven Treasured Glazed Tile Pagoda! This empress also wants to excavate all of the Southern Emperor’s secrets!” Lil’ Purple urged.

Hearing that, Lin Yun no longer dawdled and quickly headed deep into the Seven Treasured Glazed Tile Pagoda. He knew that there were a lot of people who entered the pagoda ahead of him, so there might already be someone in those palaces and mountains.

But he was confident that no one had found the Great Saint Origin yet. After all, he still had the Profound Wither Key, and it still hadn’t shown any commotion.

In reality, it was just as Lin Yun had predicted. There were already fated transcendents who made it through the test and were looking around.