Chapter 1216 - Smile
Liu Tianyi’s departure was abrupt as he didn’t bother staying a second longer. When he arrived, his sword ray lit up half the horizon and everyone in the Azure Rock County City knew that a great figure had arrived. Then, he introduced himself as an elder from the Sword Emperor’s lineage, which caused an uproar in the surroundings.
It was no wonder why Liu Tianyi’s sword aura was so strong. Three thousand years ago, the Sword Emperor had become a legendary figure, and everyone who came out of Skysolute City gained fame because of him.
Logically speaking, it shouldn’t be hard for Liu Tianyi to retrieve the Lightning Shadow Sword and Lin Yun would at least give him some face. But who knew that Liu Tianyi was greatly embarra.s.sed instead when he failed to draw the Lightning Shadow Sword that Lin Yun was casually able to draw it out. Now that they thought about it again, there was no reason for Liu Tianyi to stay for a sword that didn’t want him.
“Lin Yun, you!” Gongsun Yan gritted his teeth when he looked at Lin Yun. He was practically on the verge of throwing up blood because he had completely offended Liu Tianyi. This meant that it would be impossible for him to enter the Skysolute City in the future.
“Don’t misunderstand. I told him the truth that he couldn’t draw the sword,” said Lin Yun helplessly. After all, he did remind Liu Tianyi out of goodwill, and there was nothing he could do if the latter didn’t want to heed his words.
“You!” Gongsun Yan was fl.u.s.tered, but there was nothing he could do to refute Lin Yun’s words.
“Fine! We’ll definitely have a fight in the future. At that time, there will be no restriction and I’ll see what you can do before me!” Gongsun Yan said before he swung his arm and left.
“Hahaha! Great job, lad. You even slapped the face of an elder from the Skysolute City. I’m fully convinced!” Yan Tie laughed while giving Lin Yun a thumbs up.
Is the Skysolute City strong? Yan Tie could only behave himself before Liu Tianyi, so Lin Yun wasn’t sure how strong they were. After all, experts of the demonic cult would hesitate to submit when needed before experts.
“Elder Bai Ting, you can return to the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect first. I’ll be going to the Profound Azure Prefecture with Lin Yun, and we should be able to arrive in time,” said Luo Hua.
Hearing that, Bai Ting who was looking after the injured Profound Astral Bird nodded his head because he didn’t think that there was an issue with this arrangement.
“Lin Yun, I will definitely report your performance to the sect master.” Bai Ting looked at Lin Yun with joy flas.h.i.+ng in the depth of his pupils.
Listening to what Bai Ting said, Lin Yun had a feeling that it should be about the matter involving Liu Tianyi. Now that he looked at it again, there seems to be a deep grudge between the Sword Sect and the Sword Emperor’s lineage.
“How are we going to travel through the fourth layer of heaven?” Lin Yun asked curiously. Yan Tie didn’t have any astral beast around him, and it would be a problem for him to travel to the fourth layer of heaven.
“That’s simple,” grinned Yan Tie as he formed seals with his hands and the Blood Fang Blade hovered in the sky with saint runes being activated. When he was done forming seals, the blade expanded in size and he stood on it, “Get up here.”
Lin Yun was surprised, but the blade was pretty stable when he stood on it. He poured his astral energy into his feet according to Yan Tie’s instruction and immediately sensed that he had become one with the blade. But when he cut off the astral energy towards his feet, the connection immediately broke off.
“Let’s go!” Yan Tie laughed before he formed seals and disappeared with Lin Yun and Luo Hua.
After they left, everyone looked at the black dot disappearing into the horizon. With that, the Sword a.s.sembly was finished. With a demonic cult expert’s help, it was impossible for anyone to catch Lin Yun. Plus, Yan Tie had a thousand-rune saint artifact.
They all knew that Lin Yun’s journey would be smooth and there wouldn’t be any more troubles. But this made them even more curious about Luo Hua’s ident.i.ty to call an expert on the demonic cult so easily.
When heaven shattered, the Blood Fang Blade entered the fourth layer of heaven. The environment in the fourth layer of heaven was a lot more complicated with floating islands all around. The islands were comparable in size to continents with many beasts living on them. There were also various phenomena in the clouds where residences of experts could be seen.
“The fourth layer of heaven is already so beautiful. I wonder what the scenery beyond the fourth layer will look like,” Lin Yun exclaimed.
“The fifth and sixth layers are okay. Beyond that, there are the existences of astral realms. The astral realms are equivalent to a world, and they’re all ruins from the previous eras. The laws there are different from the Divine Dragon Era, and you can also find all sorts of treasures there. I heard that in some astral realms, there are even existences comparable to the Nine Emperors…” Yan Tie explained.
“What about beyond the thirty-sixth layer of heaven?” Lin Yun asked.
Hearing that, Yan Tie’s face became grave, “Beyond the thirty-six layer of heaven is dangerous and I heard that not even saints can survive there. With my strength, I can only travel up to the ninth layer. Beyond that is certain death for me. The starry sky is indeed beautiful, but it’s a pity that I can’t see it with my strength.”
Although it was far away from him, Lin Yun was pretty curious about the astral realm. The Blood Fang Blade traveled swiftly in the fourth layer of heaven, and there were too many scenes for Lin Yun to examine. Suddenly, Lin Yun thought of something and asked Lil’ Purple, who was in the sword box, a question, “Lil’ Purple, I should be able to enter the sword box now that I’m in the Empyrean Realm, right?”
“You can, but I can’t bring you in with Luo Hua around. Her ident.i.ty is too mysterious, and I can’t guarantee your safety if she’s tempted by the secret of the sword box,” said Lil’ Purple with a tone filled with fear for Luo Hua.
“I roughly know her ident.i.ty,” replied Lin Yun.
“Who is she?” asked Lil’ Purple.
“If she’s not willing to say it, then neither am I,” said Lin Yun. He had an idea about Luo Hua’s ident.i.ty and the events today practically confirmed it. But since Luo Hua wasn’t willing to disclose her ident.i.ty, he naturally wouldn’t reveal her ident.i.ty.
“Hmph, you sc.u.mbag.” Lil’ Purple snorted unhappily. Roughly half a day later, Yan Tie controlled the Blood Fang Blade to tear apart the heaven and descended down.
“We’re already here?” Lin Yun asked, seeing that they were exiting the fourth layer of heaven.
“It’s just down below. We’re already at the Profound Azure Manor.” Yan Tie didn’t enter the Profound Azure City directly and landed a hundred miles away.
Seeing that they were finally here, Lin Yun jumped off the Blood Fang Blade and turned to look at the Profound Azure City.
But Luo Hua didn’t leave the Blood Fang Blade and said, “This is the path everyone will have to pa.s.s if they want to enter the city. Ye Ziling and the rest should still be on the way, so you can just wait here.”
“You’re not coming along?” Lin Yun asked.
“It’s alright. I still have some matters to attend to and Yan Tie will be coming with me. Let us meet again in the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect,” said Luo Hua while she nodded her head. Since she didn’t want to talk about it, Lin Yun also didn’t ask about it. Instead, he promised to meet again in the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect.
When the Blood Fang Blade rose into the sky, Yan Tie looked at the woman beside him with doubt flas.h.i.+ng in his pupils. He couldn’t tell her ident.i.ty from the veil that covered her face. Generally speaking, his mission should be done after coming to the Profound Azure City, but the pavilion master also told him to listen to all the orders of this woman, so Yan Tie could only suppress the suspicion in his heart.
“Do you know the ident.i.ty of the nine experts who blocked our way outside the city?” Luo Hua asked.
“I naturally do. Do you have any instructions?” Yan Tie asked.
“Something you"re good at,” replied Luo Hua.
Her words made Yan Tie briefly stunned before he wore a sinister smile. After all, the only thing he was good at was killing.
With the ranking battle approaching, the path towards the Profound Azure City was bustling. Whenever someone walked past, they would look at Lin Yun because they could tell from his temperament that he wasn’t simple. But they couldn’t recognize Lin Yun nor did they know someone like him in the Profound Azure Manor.
Lin Yun sat on a huge rock and recalled his experience with the three arrays. He slowly and meticulously digested his insights. Regardless of the Hundred Ghost Sword Array, Azure Dragon Sword Array, or the Four Phase Sword Array, the three arrays left a deep impression on him. They helped him realize that even if he was at the limit of the Heavenly Soul Realm, he wasn’t invincible in the Heavenly Soul Realm.
“I’ve reached the manifestation stage in the Fleeting Cloud 13 Swords, but after summoning the azure sword and executing the Fleeting Cloud 13 Swords again, there’s more power that the sword can have. The manifestation stage reached a high stage in the sword technique. But does that mean that there’s another stage above the manifestation stage?”
When he summoned the azure sword back then, it instantly made the three elders blind and allowed him to turn the tables around. But he also didn’t have the opportunity to execute the Fleeting Cloud 13 Swords again. It was clear that the power of the sword technique would further increase after being empowered by the azure sword.
Sword techniques were separated into initial, lesser, greater, and complete mastery. The manifestation stage meant that he had successfully turned the sword technique into something that belonged to him. But this also meant that he was still drawing in the painting and hadn’t gone out of it.
Since there was the manifestation stage, there should be an even higher stage, and the azure sword could allow him to reach that level forcibly. This was also the logic behind the divine firmament sword intent. However, Lin Yun didn’t think about this before because his attainment in the sword wasn’t high enough. Back then, he was just someone standing beneath the clouds and no matter how he tried, he stayed within the boundaries that everyone else was in.
The divine firmament sword intent meant breaking through the clouds and this also meant breaking through the painting. When Lin Yun realized this, the sword coc.o.o.n in his forehead radiated and more cracks began to spread out with strands of golden aura. With that, his quasi-divine firmament sword intent got even stronger.
Opening his eyes, Lin Yun hopped off the rock and his eyes radiated brightly because he would benefit from his experience in the Sword a.s.sembly for a long time. He would definitely obtain more insights in the coming days.
Right at this moment, Lin Yun raised his head and saw a group of people appearing within his sight. The one leading was a woman donned in a purple dress, and she was naturally Ye Ziling. When they looked at each other, their hearts trembled and a smile appeared on their faces.