The Sovereign’s Ascension

Everyone looked at Lin Yun and Chen Ling’s silhouettes with deep shock in their pupils. When they turned to Huangfu Yan, who was helped up, their faces became complicated. No one liked Huangfu Yan. His title as ‘Prince Yan’ was more of a sarcastic and mocking title rather than respect for him. But for some reason, they all looked at Huangfu Yan today with sympathy in their pupils.

Huangfu Yan was a little too miserable. Everyone thought that Huangfu Yan would teach Lin Yun a lesson, but it turned out that Huangfu Yan was the one who was stepped into the ground by Lin Yun and became humiliated, instead. They all knew that it would take a long time for the shock that was caused today to dissipate because Lin Yun had defeated someone in the top ten of the Earth Ranking.

Since Lin Yun defeated someone in the top ten, didn’t that mean that he also had the strength to be on the Earth Ranking? Just that thought alone was shocking. After all, Lin Yun had barely been in the Sword Sect for half a month, excluding the one month he was in the Saint Pool.

“Big Sister, do you want to chase after them and take a look? They haven’t gone too far!” Mu Qingqing turned to look at Mu Xueqin, who was beside her. She was also shocked by Lin Yun’s performance this time. When Lin Yun defeated Qin Cang at the Profound Wither Island, she guessed that he would be like a dragon returning to the ocean when he came to the Sword Sect. But she never expected Lin Yun to cause such an uproar in the Sword Sect in such a short period.

“You see those people?” Mu Xueqin didn’t answer her and pointed in a direction.

When Mu Qingqing directed her gaze over, she was shocked before she exclaimed, “That’s…”

There were nine people in the direction that Mu Xueqin pointed at. If Mu Xueqin didn’t point them out, Mu Qingqing wouldn’t have noticed them because those nine people were too deeply hidden.

“Senior Brother Ji and the others are amongst the crowd!” Mu Qingqing couldn’t conceal the shock in her pupils because the nine on the Earth Ranking were all there, especially when she saw Jin Xuanyi and Ji Shuxuan standing together. “It’s weird to see Senior Brother Ji and Jin Xuanyi standing together.”

“You should know better than me,” replied Mu Xueqin.

As Mu Qingqing lowered her head, she softly said, “Senior Brother Ji went to look for our father a few days ago and seems to have suffered a setback.”

“Let’s go.” Mu Xueqin turned around.

“Big Sister, you really don’t want to go and find Lin Yun? Perhaps he might be able to help you achieve the seventh stage in the Scarlet Firmament Sword Sutra!” Mu Qingqing asked.

“Go if you want, but let’s wait till the Five Peaks Competition is over. Those people won’t be convinced unless there’s an outcome, and I’m curious about how long he can last.” Mu Xueqin smiled. It had been a long time since the Sword Sect was so lively, and it was pretty good this way.

When Mu Qingqing looked at Lin Yun’s silhouette, she fell into a dilemma, but she ultimately chose not to chase after him.

Jin Xuanyi and Ji Shuxuan stood together in the clouds, and their expressions were quite hilarious. Even the seven people standing behind them had fallen into silence. They initially rushed over, wanting to see Lin Yun get beaten up by Huangfu Yan. Since they had reservations, they weren’t willing to take a shot at Lin Yun directly. So they were naturally happy to see Huangfu Yan stand out on his own, and Jin Xuanyi also didn’t stop him. He wanted to see Lin Yun suffer.

But it was a slap on Huangfu Yan and their faces instead, which made their faces ugly. Regardless if they liked it or not, the commotion with Lin Yun becoming a heaven direct disciple had died down for now.

“I’ll take my leave, first.” Ji Shuxuan glanced at Jin Xuanyi before leaving with his two fellow disciples from the Scarlet Firmament Peak.

Aside from Jin Xuanyi, the remaining people all wore awkward expressions because Huangfu Yan belonged to their faction. So, they were naturally more embarrassed when Lin Yun defeated Huangfu Yan.

“Senior Brother Jin, we can’t take this lying down!” Liu Yu, also from the Azure Firmament Peak, sighed with a grave expression.

“Since he won, we naturally have nothing to say. We’ll sort this out at the Five Peaks Competition. So you must suck it up for now, even if you’re unhappy. If he can’t make it into the top ten, the sect master won’t be able to favor him!” Jin Xuanyi calmly replied with a piercing light flashing in his pupils.

In front of the Cloud Soaring Peak, Lin Yun called out to Chen Ling before they parted, “Junior Brother Chen, keep the hundred thousand contribution points we got from Huangfu Yan. I don’t need any contribution points for the time being.”

Chen Ling was stumped when he heard that. Although he had some speculations, he still couldn’t believe it when he personally heard it from Lin Yun. He hesitated, “Is this appropriate?”

“What’s wrong with it? I defeated Huangfu Yan to make an example of him. As for his hundred thousand contribution points… Just take them. The Great Profound Palace is a great place, and it’s worth visiting.” Lin Yun smiled. He had a good impression of Chen Ling. So he naturally wanted to take care of him as a fellow disciple from the Divine Firmament Peak.

“Then I won’t hesitate any longer. But Senior Brother, this is only the beginning. The top ten of the Earth Ranking surely won’t let this matter rest so easily, especially Jin Xuanyi and Ji Shuxuan, known as the Twin Stars of the Earth Ranking.” Chen Ling smiled.

“Twin Stars of the Earth Ranking?”

Lin Yun smiled and bade his farewell to Chen Ling before returning to his residence.

He wasn’t surprised that he could defeat Huangfu Yan. If it was him before he entered the Great Profound Palace, Huangfu Yan might have been a challenging opponent, not to mention that he still had to be wary of the cauldron. But everything changed after he came out of the Great Profound Palace.

His Divine Firmament Sword Sutra reached the pinnacle of the second stage. Not only did the Netherflower suppress the Dragon-Phoenix World Annihilating Cauldron, it could also help him control it. Not only did Lin Yun resolve his greatest problem, it even became one of his greatest aids.

The power of the Divine Firmament Sword Sutra had exceeded his imagination. Compared to the cauldron, the netherflower was easier to control since it was a power that belonged to him. As for the cauldron’s soul, it didn’t seem to like him a lot. But it was different now because he could somewhat control the cauldron with the netherflower.

The two sword sutras gave Lin Yun boundless confidence. One day, even if the top ten of the Earth Ranking didn’t come to look for him, he would go look for them. Since the sect master had given him the status as a heaven direct disciple, he naturally had to convince everyone in the Sword Sect that he deserved it.

“The Twin Stars of the Earth Ranking? We’ll meet sooner or later.” Lin Yun said with his eyes flickering.

“Lin Yun, you’re a little too overconfident.” Lil’ Purple flew out of the sword box. She continued, “Lil’ Stone said that the Twin Stars of the Earth Ranking are both at the five-star Heavenly Elysium Core Realm, and their sword sutras have also reached the fifth stage.”

“Lil’ Stone knew about that as well?” Lin Yun’s heart fluctuated because dealing with those two wouldn’t be easy.

“Hmph. Lil’ Stone knows a lot. He told me many secrets of the Sword Sect when you’re cultivating.” Lil’ Purple said proudly.

But Lin Yun was just looking at Lil’ Purple with a playful smile. This soon made Lil’ Purple’s smile uncomfortable before she roared, “You scumbag, what are you looking at! Am I that good-looking?!”

“Well, you’re pretty adorable. But I recall someone saying that she won’t play with kids. I didn’t expect you two to get so well so quickly that even he told you the secrets of the Sword Sect.” Lin Yun smiled as he held onto his chin.

“Y-Y-You’re annoying!” Lil’ Purple glared at Lin Yun with her face flushing.

“Alright, alright. I’ll stop talking about it. So, what secrets did he tell you?” Lin Yun smiled curiously. The Sword Sect had a long history. So there must be many secrets, and Lin Yun was pretty curious about these secrets.

“Lil’ Stone told me how Yu Qingfeng sliced the two peaks three thousand years ago and the entire process of fighting the sect master, who was the Radiant Sword Saint’s master at that time.” Lil’ Purple sighed. “The Sword Emperor Yu Qingfeng is a figure, and I’ve previously underestimated the Nine Emperors.”

“Quick, tell me about them.” Lin Yun asked with his eyes lighting up.

“You don’t have to think about them and go into seclusion. The Divine Firmament Sword Sutra’s suppression of the cauldron is only temporary. The cauldron will become stronger as your strength grows, and it’ll break free from the suppression if you’re not hardworking enough. Give it enough time, and it’ll be even stronger than before.” Lil’ Purple snorted before she ignored Lin Yun.

This made Lin Yun smile bitterly because Lil’ Purple was really giving him the pressure. But she was right, he needed to reach the pinnacle of the third stage, at the very least. He needed to condense the Nether Sword Seed to enter the threshold of the Divine Firmament Sword Sutra.

He was already planning to go into seclusion, even without Lil’ Purple’s words. Not only the Divine Firmament Sword Sutra, he also needed to work on the Carefree 9 Swords and Aquaheaven Sword Technique.

His master, the Radiant Sword Saint, had left a deep impression on Lin Yun when he executed the entire Aquaheaven Sword Technique. He still had to reach the minuscule stage, which was above the manifestation stage. After reaching the minuscule stage, there was still the deification stage, which could only be regarded as the actual peak. If his master didn’t tell him about them, he would never have been able to figure them out for the rest of his life.