The Sovereign's Ascension

Chapter 1458 - Comprehending In The Woods

Three days later, at Cloud Soaring Peak, the fog above the spiritual lake dissipated as the morning sun shone onto the lake. When Lin Yun opened his eyes, he looked at the rising sun. He could feel that his state had never been better. He was twenty and no longer the youth he was back then. But he was still brimming with vitality and looked like the same person he was in the past.

“What a beautiful scene.” Lin Yun let out a breath as he spread his arms apart. After reaching the two-star Heavenly Elysium Core Realm, Lin Yun spent the past three days stabilizing his cultivation. Now that it has been stabilized, it felt incredibly comfortable.

Looking at the rising sun, Lin Yun couldn’t help smiling because the sun gave him a different feeling every time he looked at it. It was like his heart as a swordsman; every day was filled with hope, never giving up even in times of despair.

Gently tapping his foot on the lake's surface, Lin Yun took out a jar of wine and gulped it down while looking at the rising sun.

“Someone’s here?” Lin Yun suddenly sensed someone outside Cloud Soaring Peak and undid the restrictions with a wave of his hand. It didn’t take long for the visitor to show himself. It was Feng Luan, the chief disciple of the Divine Firmament Peak, carrying a sword box behind him while he was donned in an azure robe.

“Senior Brother.” Lin Yun smiled and stepped forth.

But when he got close, Feng Luan smiled. “Strictly speaking, I should address you as Martial Uncle since the peak master is my master.”

Lin Yun was briefly stunned when he heard that before he laughed. He now knew why the sect didn’t strictly enforce the seniority in the sect. Otherwise, there would be utter chaos in the sect in terms of seniority.

“How is it? Have you become used to this place?” Feng Luan asked.

“I’m absolutely satisfied!” Lin Yun nodded. That was the truth because it was hard to find such an excellent cultivating place in the Sword Sect, aside from the Saint Mountain. Even the Saint Pool Square couldn’t be compared to his Cloud Soaring Peak. After all, he had an entire spiritual lake here only for him.

Cultivating here was several times faster than at the Saint Pool Square. This was an entitlement given only to heaven direct disciples. Not even the Samsara Edict Realm elders had a floating peak to themselves.

After the two briefly chatted, Feng Luan soon got to the point, “The Five Peaks Competition is one and a half months away from now, and I’m here to inform you about it.”

Lin Yun fell into deep thoughts when he heard that. He did know about the Five Peaks Competition, since Chen Ling had mentioned it to him several times. Since he didn’t ask more about it back then, he immediately tried to find out more from Feng Luan.

As Feng Luan placed the cup of wine on the table, he smiled. “There are several grand events in the Sword Sect, the rotation of the Earth and Heaven Rankings that are held once every two years, and the Five Peaks Competition that’s held annually. All Elysium Core Realm disciples from the various peaks can participate in it. Other grand events are also occasionally held, but they’re slightly inferior to the two I just mentioned.”

“Only Elysium Core Realm disciples are allowed to participate in the Five Peaks Competition? Speaking of which, I don’t see any Dragon Pulse Realm disciples in the Sword Sect.” Lin Yun curiously asked.

“The Dragon Pulse Realm disciples are generally older, and there’s no meaning in them staying in the sect. So they would generally leave the sect to train themselves further. They’re also the core of the Sword Sect, and their authority isn’t any lower than the elders. They manage many of the sect’s affairs.” Feng Luan explained.

Lin Yun briefly pondered and found that it did make sense. Take Feng Luan, for example. He acted on behalf of the peak master in many cases.

“In the past, the Divine Firmament Peak ranked at the bottom, and my master also didn’t have much pressure. After all, the Divine Firmament Peak has been quiet for a long time.” Feng Luan wore a self-mocking smile before he continued, “But my master hopes that you can make it into the top ten, or he will be under great pressure.”

“What do you mean by that?” Lin Yun asked.

“Still pretending to be ignorant? The status of a heaven direct disciple given to you by the sect master has caused an uproar in the sect, not to mention that the sect master even gave you the Divine Golden Crow Iron.” Feng Luan glanced at Lin Yun and smiled, “Without mentioning those in the top ten, even I’m jealous of you. My master doesn’t actually care about that, but you’re fighting for yourself. If you can’t even make it into the top ten, you’ll become a joke of the Sword Sect. At that time, do you think you’ll still have a place here?”

“Looks like the Divine Golden Crow Iron is as much of a hot potato as I’ve expected.” Lin Yun said with a weak smile.

“What’s the matter? Do you regret it now?” Feng Luan smiled.

“I’m afraid that they’ll be regreting it.” Lin Yun smiled.

“The rules for every Five Peaks Competition aren’t the same. We only know that the location is at the Celestial Observing Stage.” Feng Luan replied.

“The Celestial Observing Stage? Where Yu Qingfeng left his sword ray?” That news attracted Lin Yun. If there was a place in the Sword Sect he was most interested in, it would be the Celestial Observing Stage.

“Yeah. Some restrictions will be lifted this time, and everyone will be able to see the sword ray that was left behind by Yu Qingfeng. This is a rare opportunity…” Feng Luan explained with a nod.

“What kind of existence is that sword ray?”

“Haha. You’ll know when the time comes. I can’t describe it to you well.” Feng Luan left Lin Yun in suspense, which successfully piqued Lin Yun’s interest.

After Feng Luan left, Lin Yun’s gaze flickered as he muttered, “There’s still one and a half months left. I should go out and walk around.”

He had stabilized his cultivation and was only left with his sword techniques. Even if he continued cultivating at Cloud Soaring Peak, it wouldn’t help him that much. The cultivation of swordsmanship required him to comprehend through actual combat, not to mention that he also needed some resources to make a breakthrough in the Dragon-Phoenix World Annihilating Sword Canon.

Since he was broke, he could only hunt demonic beasts for their beast cores. So a month should be enough for him to make a breakthrough in the Dragon-Phoenix World Annihilating Sword Canon.

There was a vast mountain range outside the inner section of the Sword Sect, called the Withered Mountain Range. This mountain range was pretty famous in the Ancient Barren Domain because the disciples of the other powerful sects could often be found in this mountain range.

The Withered Mountain Range stretches throughout the entire Ancient Barren Domain, so the disciples of the various sects would usually train themselves here, hunting demonic beasts, training their martial techniques, accumulating their killing intents, searching for ancient runes, and searching for treasures in the wilderness.

There were many legends and forbidden zones in the Withered Mountain Range, since it had been in existence since ancient times. Most disciples would choose to train themselves at the edge of the mountain range since it became more dangerous the deeper you went in. Even Samsara Edict Realm experts wouldn’t be safe in the deeper areas.

Above the mountain range was a massive patch of grey fog that enveloped the border of the mountain range. The grey fog was poisonous, and even Elysium Core Realm disciples had to be careful. So Lin Yun naturally went there when he heard of such a place.

He knew it was impossible to grasp all hundred and eight intents in the Aquaheaven Sword Technique by relying on seclusion. So he had to find somewhere to temper himself through actual combat to comprehend the sword technique. This was a better and quicker way of helping him comprehend the sword technique's profundities, and the Withered Mountain Range was a pretty good training option.

When he arrived at his destination, Lin Yun didn’t hesitate to enter the mountain range. In the blink of an eye, he stayed around the border of the mountain range for half a month, training the Aquaheaven Sword Technique every day and night.

He had already reached the manifestation stage in the Aquaheaven Sword Technique, grasping thirty-six different intents. But it was far from the one hundred and eight intents his master told him about, not to mention there was also the minuscule stage above the manifestation stage that he had no clues on. As for the legendary deification stage, it was way beyond his reach for now.

The minuscule stage was too hard for cultivators at the Elysium Core Realm, but this didn’t mean that Lin Yun had no harvest over the past fifteen days.

For most people, reaching complete mastery of a sword technique was already a great accomplishment, and the manifestation stage was beyond their reach. As for the minuscule stage and deification stage, 99% of people have never heard of them before.

Beneath a towering tree, the ground was dyed in blood with the stench enveloping a ten mile radius. This was because the corpses of three-star Heavenly Elysium Core Realm demonic beasts could be seen everywhere on the ground. Paired with the eerie environment in the woods, it only made this scene look like hell.

Beneath the ancient tree, Lin Yun was spotless, without a speck of dust or blood stains, making him look like an angel who descended in this purgatory.

“Endless Clouds, Moon Courting, Pricking Moon, Rising Clouds, Vast Aquasky, Serene Aquasky… Descending Heavenly River.” Lin Yun shut his eyes as he grabbed onto the Bodhi Seed. He had faintly grasped something in the sword technique.

The Aquaheaven Sword Technique might seem complicated and obscure, but the key to this sword technique was the clouds, water, moon, and heaven. Many of the hundred and eight intents revolved around those four words, and the order of those words couldn’t be changed.

Clouds contain water, the water reflects the moon, the moon hangs high in the sky, and dragons soar in the sky.

“My order should be correct.” Lin Yun muttered to himself as golden light dissipated around him. When the golden light disappeared, the woods became eerie, not to mention the corpses and blood that were all over the place.

Lin Yun had slaughtered all the demonic beasts within a hundred meter radius over the past fifteen days, but he couldn’t improve his sword technique until he his enlightenment at that moment. It felt like there were four gates before him, and he could see a vaster scenery behind each gate. He would grasp all one hundred and eight intents once he opened all four gates. At that time, he just had to return to the painting to reach the minuscule stage, grasping every single detail of this sword technique.

“Clouds, water, moon, and heaven… I should be right.” Lin Yun reaffirmed himself.

Right then, two ferocious roars echoed from the woods, so Lin Yun flew up and landed on a tree branch. When he looked in the direction the two roars came from, he could see two monarch demonic beasts that were fighting.

Demonic beasts usually fought for territory. The owner of this region was a monarch three-star Heavenly Elysium Core Realm, the Scarlet Dragon-Blooded Ape. But a monarch demonic wolf recently appeared, and would occasionally fight the ape.

In the beginning, when Lin Yun had just entered the Withered Mountain Range, he had to avoid running into the two monarch demonic beasts. But there was no longer a need for that, so a smile rose on his lips, “Let’s have you two test out my speculation!”

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