The Sovereign’s Ascension

With the Draconic Banquet approaching, the disciples of the various forces also began to move out as they headed towards Dragoncloud City.

Back in the Sword Firmament Pavilion, Lin Yun opened his eyes and stretched his arms, “Time to get going.”

Just like that, he jumped a few thousand feet into the air and took six steps. Every step he took left a golden ripple in the sky. When he took his sixth step, he reached an unprecedented height and a dragon image appeared around him.

Although he hadn’t completed the Cloudsoaring Art, he wasn’t far from reaching the pinnacle as he was now capable of creating a dragon image. When he rushed to the sect, he realized that the other titled figures of the Great Qin Empire had arrived. Aquaselenic, Situ Yi, Feng Ye, and Yue Qing were here.

As for the remaining three titled figures, they weren’t present. After all, Qin Yu was dead, Cloudorigin was crippled, and Bai Lixuan joined the Cloud Trigram Sect. Although the Great Qin Empire had eight titled figures, only five were heading to the Draconic Banquet. But according to Pavilion Master Plum, there was still a test for them at Dragoncloud City, so it wasn’t certain if all of them would qualify.

“It’s been a long time.” Aquaselenic, Situ Yi, and the rest were still in shock. After all, they heard that Lin Yun killed Wen Yanbo with one punch once he came back to the Great Qin Empire. They knew that Lin Yun was on a completely different level than them. Realistically, they knew it was impossible for them to make it onto the Dragoncloud Ranking.

Shortly after, Pavilion Master Plum and the various sects’ elders arrived.

“Light Containment…” Lin Yun swept his glance at Pavilion Master Plum and saw the sword left behind by Ancestor Jian Wuming. Only Lin Yun knew that this was a transcendent cosmic artifact. Even when facing Qin Yang and the Profound Yang Palace’s elder, Pavilion Master Plum didn’t use this sword.

“It’s a long trip, so I need this to prevent any mishaps.” Pavilion Master Plum explained before he said, “Let’s go!”

With that, everyone took to the skies on the sword condors. However, when Feng Ye looked around, he noticed that Lin Yun wasn’t riding a sword condor. His confusion was instantly cleared up when the Indigothunder Dragonvulture appeared above them. With the Indigothunder Dragonvulture tagging along, they wouldn’t face any trouble. Along the way, they saw many people heading towards Dragoncloud City.

Half a month later, the group passed through several prefectures and came to an ancient ground. This place was enveloped with thick clouds that emitted a desolate aura. It was said that this place was the tenth prefecture in the Ancient Southern Domain, the Dragoncloud Prefecture.

However, it was normally sealed in a mysterious array, so no one could find it no matter how hard they looked for it. It would only reveal itself when the Draconic Banquet was starting. Upon arriving, no aerial demonic beasts could continue to travel in the air and the cultivators had to travel by foot.

When Lin Yun was bidding farewell to the Indigothunder Dragonvulture, he suddenly recalled something and called out, “Lil’ Purple.”

Lin Yun took the crimson cocoon out and asked the Indigothunder Dragonvulture what was with Lil’ Red’s current state. After all, the Indigothunder Dragonvulture had ancient memories engraved in its bloodline, so it might know many things that others didn’t know.

“This is a Dragon Cocoon. The little fellow still needs some time to wake up. But there’s something lacking with this Dragon Cocoon. It seems that it was forced into this state instead of happening naturally. If that’s the case, then its evolution might not be perfect,” said the Indigothunder Dragonvulture as it had instantly recognized Lil’ Red’s current state.

“Is there a way to fix it?” Lin Yun asked.

The Indigothunder Dragonvulture fell silent. It did have a way, but that required nourishing the Dragon Cocoon with its blood essence. However, the Indigothunder Dragonvulture made up its mind since it had the Azure Dragon Enneaform. Because of the Azure Dragon Enneaform, it was okay spending some blood essence. “Give it to me. Come and look for me when the Draconic Banquet comes to an end.”

“Okay.” Lin Yun rejoiced as he handed the cocoon over. When he looked at the Indigothunder Dragonvulture leaving with the cocoon, the knot in his heart was finally resolved.

The Dragoncloud Prefecture was larger than any other prefecture. The mountain ranges of the prefecture looked like a dragon that was laying on the ground. In the very depths of the mountain ranges was a massive barren land.

Dragoncloud City was situated in the center of the barren land. The massive city looked like the seal that suppressed the mountain ranges. Its immense size also gave a domineering aura.

There were a multitude of people gathered in the mountain range right now. But there seemed to be a restriction in the barren land as no one was taking a step forward. As for the towering Dragoncloud City, they could only look at the rough outline from where they were.

Compared to the Sword Firmament Pavilion, the majority of the sects came at an earlier time and had already set up their tents. When everyone from the Great Qin Empire arrived, they had to find a mountain with less people in order to set up their camp.

“Aren’t there a little too many people?” Feng Ye was dumbfounded as he looked out of the camp.

“This Draconic Banquet is extremely important.” Situ Yi was also surprised as he continued, “With just the Violet Palace Realm experts alone, there are nearly a hundred thousand. I suspect that all the Violet Palace Realms of the Ancient Southern Domain have gathered here. After all, no one would want to miss this Draconic Banquet even if they can’t participate.”

This was indeed the reason why everyone was here at this grand occasion. But even Pavilion Master Plum was surprised when he took a look, “This is too crazy.”

“There are at least ten times more people than the previous Draconic Banquet.” Pavilion Master Plum sighed, “I feel that as long as you guys can get through the test and participate in the Draconic Banquet, all of you will benefit greatly.”

“It shouldn’t be hard if it’s only a test, right?” asked Yue Qing uneasily. He was the weakest among the five and he was barely in the greater Yang stage. Therefore, he wasn’t too confident about the test.

Pavilion Master Plum and the rest didn’t say a word, but all of them could see how grave his expression was. With each passing day, more sects appeared, so the remote mountain that Lin Yun’s group occupied slowly became packed.

“The Dragoncloud Ranking’s geniuses are here!” This particular day became busy as the geniuses ranked in the top thirty on the Dragoncloud Ranking began to show up.

“That’s the Profound Yang Palace’s Zhao Feng. He was ranked thirty on the previous Dragoncloud Ranking. I heard that his performance wasn’t great during the beast tide.”

“Behind him is Azurewood Pavilion’s Xie Yu, also a genius, ranked in the top thirty.”

“That’s Wu Xiaotian and Ji Wuye! They’re genuine ruthless people and Wu Xiaotian nearly even entered the top ten on the previous Dragoncloud Ranking. I heard Wu Xiaotian obtained two monarch beast core!”

“……”

Everyone began to discuss among themselves on the mountain range, with the focus being on everyone’s performance during the beast tide. After all, it had been four years since the previous Dragoncloud Ranking.

Four years was enough for many geniuses to appear. Only those who could stay in the limelight could attract their attention. After all, the path of a cultivator was brutal. But no matter what, they were all monstrous geniuses who stood at the top of the pyramid. So they were instantly recognized the moment they appeared.

Yue Qing, Feng Ye, and the rest became emotional when they saw the appearance of those geniuses. After all, it was envious that they could receive so much attention. They even looked at Lin Yun secretly and compared him to them. In their eyes, Lin Yun seemed a little weaker.

Lin Yun’s name was famous in the Great Qin Empire, but not many people recognized him at a grand event like the Draconic Banquet. They only compared him to the geniuses because he was an important figure to them.

Right at this moment, the mountain range began to tremble as colossal demonic beasts began to appear. All of them were in the Heavenly Soul Realm. Upon seeing this scene, someone exclaimed, “The Cloud Trigram Sect is here! That’s Jiang Ziye and Bai Lixuan!”

“Zhao Wuji! The third king from the Violet Thunder Sect. Is he in the Heavenly Soul Realm now?”

“The Northern Snow Manor, Heavenly Demon Pavilion, and Indigomoon Elysium’s parties have also arrived!”

The overlord forces came riding on the Heavenly Soul Realm demonic beasts whose movements made the entire mountain range tremble. The legendary three kings and seven elites had arrived.

The mountain range clamored over the legends. No matter how much time passed, the top ten on the Dragoncloud Ranking would never be replaced in their hearts.

Jiang Ziye, Nangong Wanyu, Zhao Wuji, and Yan Long’zi.

Those geniuses stood at the mountain top as they looked at each other. Everyone could sense the sparks flying out of their eyes. There was no question that the three kings and seven geniuses were the center of attention.

The crowds were overwhelmed by this scene and they had no idea who to focus on. At the same time, they felt their blood boiling. There were so many geniuses that were gathered. They were wondering who would sink and who would swim.

“Yu Haotian, Qing Ruoyou.” These words silenced the entire mountain range as everyone turned their gazes to the Indigomoon Elysium’s direction. Even Lin Yun, who was meditating, raised his brow and looked over.