The Sovereign’s Ascension

There were five stages on the plaza, which would host the five battles between the Heavenly Astral Pavilion and the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect.

“Let the battle begin!” When the prefecture lord gave his word, astral energy exploded out on five of the stages as the respective fights began.

Ye Ziling, Jiang Lichen, and the rest all charged toward their opponents while Lin Yun looked at Zhang He who was standing casually before him.

“Lin Yun of the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect!” Lin Yun cupped his hands together.

“Zhang He of the Heavenly Astral Pavilion,” said Zhang He. When he looked at Lin Yun’s forehead, surprise suddenly flashed through his pupils, and he smiled, “Interesting. It’s a pity for someone of your caliber to stay in the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect and get treated like the weakest. I was even fooled by your appearance.”

Lin Yun instantly knew that Zhang He had detected some of his secrets.

“But you’re unlucky to run into me. If you’re crippled later, you can only blame it on Flower Burial. Personally, I have nothing against you,” smiled Zhang He.

“Don’t be so sure about that,” smiled Lin Yun. Since Zhang He was here for Flower Burial, there was no need for him to go easy on the latter.

“Bring out your full strength then!” Zhang He roared. As the astral energy within his body exploded, the temperature on the vast stage suddenly became heated. Then, he charged towards Lin Yun.

Stomping his foot on the ground, Zhang He crossed a distance of a few hundred meters in the blink of an eye while afterimages appeared around Lin Yun. With each afterimage, the surrounding temperature rose even more.

A palm enveloped in crimson flames charged over Lin Yun, but Lin Yun was prepared for it and easily avoided it.

Then, a heat wave spread out while a palm almost brushed past Lin Yun’s chest. At this moment, Lin Yun felt like he was swimming in a pool of magma. However, he couldn’t figure out where Zhang He was.After he dodged, two more flaming palms flew at him.

Behind me? Lin Yun twisted his body to avoid the attack and raised his eye. In the next second, an outburst of sword aura exploded out of him and Lin Yun had circulated the Azure Dragon Saint Art. Purple-golden runes wriggled towards his right hand, turning his right hand into a dragon claw that grabbed the flaming palm.

“Come out!” Lin Yun grabbed onto Zhang He’s wrist while his vitality boiled like an ancient beast. When he took a step backward, a dragon roar exploded out of his body as he tugged Zhang He’s wrist.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye and Lin Yun broke out of the void before he tossed Zhang He out. Zhang He slammed into his afterimages, while countless sparks flew around.

“Not bad!” Zhang He took a deep breath and slammed his palm on the ground just when he was about to fall onto the ground. When the mark on his palm came in contact with the ground, his flame intent began to surge. As the astral energy within his body exploded, all the flame energy in the surrounding atmosphere began to pour towards his palm.

Then, Zhang He landed on one knee and raised his head to look at Lin Yun with a sinister smile on his lips. His pupils flashed with a crimson light as he displayed the nature of a demonic cult’s cultivator.

Lin Yun sensed that something wasn’t right. But the fire in his eyes hadn’t resided, and he didn’t stop charging toward Zhang He. Since he had gotten the initiative in the fight, he would naturally try his best to exploit his advantage.

“Ghost Fire Wall!” Zhang He suddenly snickered as a crimson flame wall appeared over the ground. However, Lin Yun’s sword ray pierced right through the wall of crimson flames.

Zhang He took three steps back. Seeing that Lin Yun wasn’t going to give up, Zhang He was surprised. He didn’t think that Lin Yun would rather be injured and insisted on fighting him physically. Did Lin Yun really think that his physique was invincible?

When he was sent flying out by Lin Yun, Zhang He could sense the power of Lin Yun’s physique. It was at a level that far exceeded those in the same generation. Wearing a mocking expression, Zhang He said, “ I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you.”

In the next second, his shirt burst open, revealing his skin that flickered with a metallic luster. Demonic runes were engraved on the surface of his body that emitted a black aura. His physique was giving off a bizarre yet devilish aura.

As Zhang He’s eyes blazed with flames, he had confidence written on his face. The demonic runes on the surface of his body began to emit a terrifying demonic light. He wanted to let Lin Yun know the strength of his Ghost Fire Battle Physique.

When Lin Yun charged over, his punch landed on Zhang He’s chest, causing a dull collision and Zhang He’s eyes wide open from the pain. However, he didn’t hesitate to counter with a punch.

When his punch landed on Lin Yun, it made the corner of his lips twitch because Lin Yun’s physique was too strong. On the other hand, Lin Yun had no changes to his face taking a punch from him head-on.

Then, the two of them unleashed a barrage of attacks at each other. Both of them could feel their blood boil as they released ferocious roars. At this moment, the two of them looked like two ancient beasts, which shocked the audience.

After a few hundred exchanges later, one person was sent flying away. When Zhang He fell onto the ground, he threw up a mouthful of blood with countless cracks appearing on the demonic runes on the surface of his body. He had completely lost to Lin Yun in the physical confrontation, and he couldn’t even put up a decent fight.

Lin Yun walked out from the cloud of dust with sword rays radiating from his body. At the same time, a dragon roar and sword hum were resonating together as he stood tall.

“The Azure Dragon Saint Physique!” Zhang He wiped the blood off the corner of his lips and his expression became grave. Lin Yun’s strength had surpassed his expectations. He didn’t think that Lin Yun’s physique was comparable to a saint artifact. Furthermore, the sight of the draconic runes on Lin Yun’s body made his scalp go numb because he knew that it wasn’t easy to inflict any injuries on Lin Yun.

This made him begin to wonder where a monster like Lin Yun came from. As the corner of his lips twitched, Zhang He was on the verge of cursing because this was just the ranking battle of the Profound Azure Prefecture. Why did so many monstrous geniuses show up?

Previously, he thought the Profound Azure Prefecture was a small place. So he didn’t think that there would be anyone who could threaten him among the same generation.

Meanwhile, on the other stages, the battles had come to an end. Ye Ziling had defeated her opponent while Jiang Lichen and Liu Qingyan lost. However, Feng Zhang managed to defeat his opponent.

Lin Yun had captured the outcome of the fights in his eyes, and even he was surprised by Feng Zhang’s performance. The sword technique that Feng Zhang used to defeat his opponent was the technique that Lin Yun had mastered in seven steps back then, and Feng Zhang had brought it to the manifestation stage.

This was also the reason why Feng Zhang could win after competing with his opponent with a holy spirit martial technique. But even if he won, the outcome of the four fights meant that the pressure was on him now.

“I’m sorry,” said Jiang Lichen and Liu Qingyan with their faces ashen.

“You guys don’t have to apologize. It’s good that you guys did your best,” replied Ye Ziling. Shortly after, she turned to look at Feng Zhang and smiled, “Junior Brother Feng has done well this time, reaching the manifestation stage with his sword technique.”

But when Feng Zhang heard that, he smiled bitterly, “I spent so much time to reach the manifestation stage when Junior Brother Lin achieved it in just seven steps. Mine is nothing compared to his… all our hope is on him now…”

“Are we going to lose?” Jiang Lichen said in a vexed tone because he wasn’t convinced about his loss. If he was more careful, he wouldn’t have lost the battle.

“Don’t be so sure about that. Lin Yun seems to be holding the advantage in the fight currently,” said Ye Ziling while she looked at the stage that belonged to Lin Yun and Zhang he.

“What?!”

“That’s impossible!” Feng Zhang and the rest were shocked, especially Jiang Lichen who immediately turned his head over. But shortly after, they were shocked to see Lin Yun standing while Zhang He’s face was pale with blood on the corner of his lips.

“This… why is Lin Yun so strong?” Jiang Lichen’s mouth was wide open.

Not only him, but everyone else who was paying attention to the fight was also dumbfounded. They couldn’t believe that the weakest in their eyes managed to deal heavy injuries to Zhang He and even suppressed the latter.

“Senior Brother Yun, go for it!” Wang Yuruo’s face had turned red with her fists tightly clenched together. At this moment, the entire hope of the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect was on the weakest link, Lin Yun.