The Sovereign's Ascension

Chapter 1384 - Ancient Barren Domain’s Sword Sect

The speed of the Profound Azure Bird was shocking, especially after reaching the fourth layer of heaven. It only took half a day for them to fly away from Profound Azure Prefecture’s territory. Heaven had seven flights, and the fourth layer was the last layer of the first flight.

The environment would become dangerous, and the surroundings were covered with thunderclouds. Simultaneously, there were also many dangerous beasts here. But the Profound Azure Bird was a Samsara Edict Realm demonic beast. So when it flew, it enveloped everyone in starlight, making them feel like they stood on a steady floating island.

When everyone got out of the melancholy of leaving, they were filled with anticipation for the Ancient Barren Domain. Even Ye Ziling was excited because she grew up in the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect. Even if she had the opportunity to train outside the Profound Azure Prefecture, she had never been somewhere so far away from it.

On the Profound Azure Bird, everyone was going through the Ancient Barren Record that Feng Jue gave them. The book explained all the sects, clans, and territories of the Ancient Barren Domain.

Feng Zhang sighed when he looked through the Ancient Barren Record, “Although I know about the existence of the Divine Dragon Empire, Eastern Desolation, and the Ancient Barren Domain, I never imagined that the Kunlun Realm would be so vast. The Profound Azure Prefecture is just the tip of the iceberg of the Ancient Barren Domain, and it’s no different from a deserted land.”

The Feng Zhang, who once suffered a huge loss in Lin Yun’s hands, had grown a lot since then, and he had stowed the arrogance he once had away. He then continued, “The Ancient Heaven Domain, Ancient Earth Domain, Ancient Profound Domain, Ancient Barren Domain, Ancient Lightning Domain, Ancient Fire Domain, Ancient Ice Domain, Ancient Wind Domain, and the Ancient Saint Domain. There are nine ancient domains in the Kunlun Realm, and the Divine Dragon Empire occupies five. I never expected that the Divine Dragon Empire would be so powerful.”

Putting down the Ancient Barren Record in her hand, Ye Ziling said, “The core of the Divine Dragon Empire is the Ancient Saint Domain, and they’re in control of the Ancient Wind Domain, Ancient Fire Domain, Ancient Lightning Domain, and the Ancient Ice Domain directly. The Eastern Desolation on the east, the Western Desert on the west, the Southern Border on the south, and the Northern Ridge on the north.”

Regardless of the Eastern Desolation or the Western Desert, those two regions were so unbelievably huge that it would be hard for even saints to cross them with their strength. It wasn’t because it was vast, but because there were many forbidden areas in those two regions that contained unimaginable dangers.

The Ancient Heaven Domain was located in the Western Desert, the Ancient Profound Domain was situated in the Southern Border, the Ancient Earth Domain was found in the Northern Ridge, and the Ancient Barren Domain was located in the Eastern Desolation.

Anyone could tell that the Divine Dragon Empire wanted to use the four ancient domains to subdue the Eastern Desolation, Western Desert, Northern Ridge, and the Southern Border. But looking at it again now, it wasn’t realistic because only the four ancient domains were in the Divine Dragon Empire’s control.

The world might seem at peace, but chaos would break out at any moment with the undercurrent circulating throughout the Kunlun Realm. Lin Yun fell into silence as he held onto the Ancient Barren Record. He was surprised that the nine ancient domains would correspond to the Carefree 9 Swords except for the final sword form, which was ‘hard to be carefree in the world.’ Perhaps the ninth sword form should be the Saint Sword Form that corresponded to the Ancient Saint Domain, but it was changed for some reason.

Right then, Feng Jue suddenly spoke up on the Profound Azure Bird, “The Divine Dragon Empire doesn’t have much influence in the Ancient Barren Domain, so this is practically an isolated region filled with various sects and clans. Over there, only saints are standing at the top of the pyramid. The Ancient Barren Domain is a holy land for cultivators, and the Sword Sect was a holy land for all swordsmen.”

Feng Jue briefly paused before he continued, “Saints of the various peaks will take in disciples in this test, and this is a rare opportunity. The competition will be unprecedented, attracting many geniuses from the various saint clans. This means it’ll be even harder to enter the Sword Sect than it was in the past.”

When he spoke, Feng Jue looked at Lin Yun. He told Lin Yun that he could immediately enter the Sword Sect with his accomplishments on the Heavenly Path and Profound Wither Island. So there was no need for him to prove his talent. Most importantly, Lin Yun was still young and barely twenty this year.

But the threshold for this test was the age of twenty-five. This meant that everyone could participate as long as they didn’t exceed the age of twenty-five. To fated transcendents, the advantage in age was terrifying because that practically represented their advantage in their cultivation.

So it wouldn’t be surprising if Heavenly Elysium Core Realm geniuses joined this test. Or rather, it was inevitable that there would be Heavenly Elysium Core Realm geniuses. With the saint clan’s foundation in the Ancient Barren Domain, their descendants practically had no difficulty cultivating before they reached the Dragon Pulse Realm.

Lin Yun was strong, but the direct descendants from those saint clans wouldn’t be weak. In addition to the advantage of their age, they were terrifying. Some saint clans even possessed ghost spirit martial techniques that they would allow their direct descendants to comprehend when they were in the Empyrean Realm to ensure that they could start practicing the moment they reached the Elysium Core Realm.

Lin Yun didn’t know that the Radiant Sword Saint had already decided to take him as a disciple. He didn’t think much when he rejected Feng Jue’s offer because he wanted to take the test as a disciple from the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect.

He had deep feelings for the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect, for one. Secondly, he was confident in his strength, so he was confident that he would obtain a good ranking on the test.

“It’s that hard?” Feng Zhang and Liu Qingyan were shocked by what Feng Jue said.

Feng Jue glanced at the two and said, “You two drank the Golden Dragon Bone Soup, so it’s equivalent to refining the dragon blood, dragon essence, and the dragon marrow. Even descendants of the saint clan might not be comparable to the two of you. If it’s just entering the Sword Sect, the two of you are more than qualified.”

Hearing that allowed Feng Zhang and Liu Qingyan to let out a breath of relief. But they didn’t dare to relax because they knew the test wouldn’t be simple.

Due to the sheer size of the Eastern Desolation, it took them ten-odd days to reach the border of the Ancient Barren Domain, even if they were flying on the fourth layer of heaven. But they still had some distance to go to reach the Sword Sect.

The entire Ancient Barren Domain occupied nearly 30% of the Eastern Desolation. The scale was small but ancient, and there was plenty of spiritual energy. The Divine Dragon Empire might be the ruler in name, but they didn’t have any actual authority over the Ancient Barren Domain. The Ancient Barren Domain was a territory for the various sects, and many inheritances were left over there.

During this period, everyone was busy refining the Golden Dragon Bone Soup, aiming to become even stronger before Sword Sect’s test. As for Lin Yun and Ye Ziling, one was practicing the Dragon-Phoenix World Annihilating Sword Canon, and the other was practicing the Dragon Blood Sword Sutra.

Over the past ten-odd days, Lin Yun stabilized the Dragon-Phoenix World Annihilating Sword Canon in the first stage. The surface of the ocean of astral energy in his violet palace was covered in a golden mist that manifested into three strands of golden sword auras that gave off sacred auras.

The golden mists were the Dragon-Phoenix Sword Auras that Lin Yun had refined from his astral energy, and this was a higher quality of astral energy that everyone spoke of, also known as innate saint aura. Now that it was finally formed, its power was much stronger than when Lin Yun fought Qin Cang.

The golden mists from back then couldn’t even be compared to a strand of his current Dragon-Phoenix Sword Aura, not to mention if Lin Yun utilized all three strands of the Dragon-Phoenix Sword Aura.

When everyone finally felt a faint tremor on the back of the Profound Azure Bird, they opened their eyes with doubt. The Profound Azure Bird was fast, but the journey was firm without many tremors.

“We’ve arrived in the Ancient Barren Domain,” said Feng Jue. “The thirty-six layers of heavens are restricted above the Ancient Barren Domain, so we can only travel under the thirty-six layers of heaven.”

There were many forbidden zones in the thirty-six layers of heaven, so it was rare to find any coordinates and maps corresponding to the thirty-six layers. So it would be dangerous even for a Samsara Edict Realm expert if they barge in recklessly.

After a brief explanation from Feng Jue, he controlled the Profound Azure Bird to break three cracks in the air, and a vast ocean, along with massive mountains, appeared before them. This meant that they had finally arrived in the Ancient Barren Domain.

This was a place flourishing with various clans and sects. Every day, there would be a new sect emerging and a sect being destroyed. The killing had never stopped for a moment in this vast territory, and everyone was equivalent to ants as long as they didn’t step onto the saint path.

A clan or sect without a saint could be destroyed the next moment, not to mention that the Ancient Barren Domain wasn’t under the control of the Divine Dragon Empire. The rulers of this vast land were the eight powerful sects, the Sword Sect, Profound Valley, Heavenly Note Sect, Heavenly Blade Pavilion, Thunder Sect, Vajra Monastery, Emerald Jade Manor, and the Profound Sky Sect.

The eight sects had a long history of several thousand years. But even the eight powerful sects would face intense competition, such as the newly risen sects like the Azure Thunder Sect, Myriad Beast Gate, and Flame Phoenix Sects. Aside from that, many saint clans formed the intermediate forces in the Ancient Barren Domain.

In the northeast, there was a vast mountain range that stretched a few hundred thousand miles, and every single summit of the mountains had sword rays blooming, giving off a terrifying sword aura. Among the mountain ranges, seven mountains stood out the most because they were like swords that stabbed into the clouds.

That was where the Sword Sect was situated in the Ancient Barren Domain. Outside the gate of the Sword Sect was a massive city; it was a lot more grand than the Azurerock City that Lin Yun had seen before. The city was already filled with people who were all geniuses who came to participate in the test.

The test held once every four years had set off huge waves amongst the various clans in the ancient Barren Domain, with many swordsmen rushing over. Feng Jue settled everyone in an inn manned by an old man. He quickly introduced, “This is Old Liu. He’ll bring you guys over to take the test ten days from now.”

“Martial Uncle, you’re not coming together with us?” Feng Zhang was surprised. Old Liu was only at the Dragon Pulse Realm, and there was no way his status or strength could be compared to Feng Jue.

“Nah. There’s nothing I can do to help you guys in the test, and this city is within the protection of the Sword Sect. So you guys are safe here,” replied Feng Jue.

Even if Feng Jue spoke of it casually, Lin Yun knew that this was because Feng Jue was expelled from the Sword Sect and could no longer be considered a disciple of the Radiant Sword Saint. Though everyone knew it was all an act, Feng Jue couldn’t enter the Sword Sect publicly and could only sneak in.

“Ladies and gentlemen, come with me this way,” smiled Old Liu. “The city is filled with people, and it’s hard to find an empty inn. I still have to serve others, so please don’t take it to heart.”

The group naturally wouldn’t mind because they knew they would have to spend an astronomical sum of Divine Astral Pellets if they wanted to find a place to stay. But when they entered, they noticed that there were hundreds of people. They were all assigned to a building, so it wasn’t too packed for them.

“More people came?”

“There really are a lot of people…”

When Lin Yun’s group was led into the courtyard by Old Liu, the windows of the nearby buildings were opened with countless gazes staring at them. When their gazes fell onto Ye Ziling, their eyes were instantly glued to her, and they couldn’t turn their attention away.

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