The Sovereign’s Ascension

“What’s the origin of Saint Elder? No matter how strong she is, isn’t she only a Quasi-Saint?” Lin Yun probed.

“Saint Elder isn’t just a Quasi-Saint. Her martial cultivation is only at Quasi-Saint, but she could enter the Saint Realm anytime she wanted, since she was already a Saint Realm expert in other factors. Otherwise, why do you think Jiang Yu is so afraid of her?” Gu Jun smiled.

So she could enter the Saint Realm anytime she wanted? Lin Yun briefly pondered before asking, “How old is she?”

“How would I know? I only know she’s younger than me. Do you think I’ll ask her about it? Isn’t that the same as courting death?” Gu Jun rolled his eyes. After a brief pause, he continued, “Don’t bother trying to probe me. I can honestly tell you that Saint Elder’s martial cultivation is insignificant. Her true strength lies in her mental cultivation and music dao. She’s a genuine Heavenly Spiritualist, and her mental cultivation is already comparable to Saints. The Imperial Tone is divided into nine grades, and she’s at least in the third. I’m not sure whether she has other means.”

“What’s your mental cultivation, then?” Lin Yun asked after a brief pondering.

“Thirteenth-stage Saint Spiritualist.”

“That’s a surprise. You’re actually a pinnacle Saint Spiritualist and only one step from the Heavenly Spiritualist?” Lin Yun replied in a surprised tone. Saint Spiritualists were divided into thirteen grades, and the first ten grades were equivalent to the ninth-pulse Dragon Pulse Realm. The following three grades were comparable to the three stages in the Samsara Edict Realm.

When Lin Yun cultivated in the Nine Lotus Diagram, he could sense that the difficulty of him making any progress in his mental cultivation had increased after the tenth grade. The last three grades were harder than ascending the sky, and most people would be stuck at the tenth-grade Saint Spiritualist if they didn’t have any fortunate encounters in their life.

With the mental cultivation of the thirteenth-grade Saint Spiritualist and his martial cultivation, Gu Jun could face any Quasi-Saint head-on. He now knew where Gu Jun got his confidence from when they were on the streets facing Liu Chenxin.

“You’re really an outsider.” Gu Jun looked at Lin Yun as though he was looking at an idiot. “Making a breakthrough to the Heavenly Spiritualist is even harder than reaching the Saint Realm. I’ve been stuck in my cultivation for over a century. Do you have any idea how powerful a Heavenly Spiritualist is? With the Imperial Tone, it’s practically impossible to kill Saint Elder if a Great Saint doesn’t make a move.”

Lin Yun’s face changed when he heard that. Thanks to Gu Jun’s explanation, Lin Yun finally realized how strong Mu Xueling was, and he realized how lucky he was for not being killed when he teased her.

“Haha, you’re afraid now?” Gu Jun chuckled. “Do you know how terrified we were when you previously teased the Saint Elder? Your guts really have no limit. As for what happened after that and even teaching the Saint Elder how to play the Prairie Phoenix Fire, you’re lucky that the Saint Elder is generous. Otherwise, you wouldn’t even know how many times you’d have been killed.”

At this moment, Lin Yun could feel a chill run down his spine after realizing how many times he had brushed past death. He knew all along that Mu Xueling was strong, but he had no idea of how strong she was. This was because she looked young and rarely released her saint aura. Not to mention that she was usually indifferent and wouldn’t show any emotions.

Thus, this gave everyone a misperception. But after hearing what Gu Jun said, Mu Xueling’s strength was probably equivalent to the Sword Sect’s sect master, Mu Xuankong. Thinking about it, Lin Yun felt a little despair since if anyone dared to tease Mu Xuankong, they would probably be beaten to death.

Taking a deep breath, Lin Yun bitterly smiled, “So I really have brushed past death several times. Oh, how did she come to possess the Imperial Dragon Order?”

“I have no idea about that.” Gu Jun’s face changed, and he stroked his beard.

“You must have some speculations. Share them with me.” Lin Yun could tell with a glance that Gu Jun was lying.

Glaring at Lin Yun, Gu Jun replied, “I’ll just talk about it casually. It might be related to the Blue Dragon Record.”

Although Lin Yun had no changes in his facial expression, his heart was bellowing with waves.

“The Heavenly Fragrance Divine Mountain is fairly mysterious, and not even the Nine Emperors dare to carelessly intrude, even if they join hands.” Gu Jun sighed.

“You can leave now. I need time to digest all this information. Oh, I just need two random dragon tendons. It doesn’t have to be of the best quality.” Lin Yun said. The erhu was already powerful since it was forged with the Divine Mulberry Wood. As long as it could be played, there was no doubt it would be stronger than the Thunderstorm Zither.

But the erhu wasn’t as versatile as a zither and could only be considered a trump card. After all, he only undid the first seal on the Thunderstorm Zither, a commonly seen musical instrument. This also meant that there were ways to deal with it.

On the other hand, erhu’s techniques were long lost, and not even Mu Xueling knew them.

At night, when stars covered the sky, Lin Yun practiced his sword in a courtyard, fully unleashing his Heavenly Dome Sword Intent. Under his sword, the night sky became even eerier, and each of his footsteps was careful. The speed of his sword was terrifying, and the aura contained within the sword was massive.

When Lin Yun moved, he circulated the Divine Firefly Sword and focused entirely on it. Suddenly, he thrust his sword forth, and starlight bloomed in the nightscape like fireflies. As a powerful sword aura swept out from Lin Yun, it soared to the sky, wanting to tear the sky apart.

“It’s a success!” Lin Yun rejoiced.

But his smile soon froze on his face when the fireflies exploded like glass, and that sword aura instantly collapsed. When the backlash returned to his body, Lin Yun’s face paled, and he threw out a mouthful of blood.

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“How difficult…” Lin Yun wiped the blood off his lips, and his pupils became dim. This was because he failed again and couldn’t remember how many times he had failed. He would always fail whenever he came this far.

Logically speaking, with his cultivation reaching the late phase of the seventh-pulse Dragon Pulse Realm and even grasping the Heavenly Dome Sword Intent, he should be able to practice this sword technique. But he couldn’t enter the threshold, no matter how he tried, not to mention lesser mastery.

Did his master make a mistake, or was he too terrible? Lin Yun couldn’t help suspecting as he laid on the ground, looking at the stars in the sky, and his thoughts swiftly drifted back to the Sword Sect. He recalled how he trained in the sword with his master. He wouldn’t be so troubled if he was still in the Sword Sect.

It wasn’t easy for him to find a home in the Kunlun Realm, but he had to leave before he could settle down. He also began to wonder how his master was doing now. His master initially still had five years of lifespan left. Now that his master was forced to fight, how much lifespan was his master left with? Four years? Three years? Or two years?

It was all because of Tian Xuanzi; he had never felt so much hatred for someone. Killing intent began to flicker within his pupils, and he soon lost control of it and hammered his fist on the ground. As his facial expression became sinister, Lin Yun gritted his teeth, “I’ll kill you for sure!”

Standing up, Lin Yun’s eyes flickered, and he soon made up his mind.

An hour later, Lin Yun arrived on the mountain where Mu Xueling resides. Mu Xueling had an entire spiritual mountain in the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion as her residence. It was the Aquafrost Mountain. It was even colder than the snowy mountain, and this was a forbidden zone within the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion. No one dared to carelessly intrude on this mountain, aside from Yue Weiwei.

Taking a deep breath, Lin Yun began to climb the mountain and soon discovered that there wasn’t any restriction around this mountain, aside from being a little cold. This mountain was massive, and there were many palaces. But there was no one on it, making the entire mountain seem lonely.

“Does Mu Xueling really reside here?” Lin Yun muttered to himself because this place was a little too desolate.

The snowy mountain might be cold and dull, but Yue Weiwei had the company of Lin Wan and Luo Shuyi. There were also many disciples cultivating on the hillside, and it was pretty bustling since a saint vein was located there.

But the Aquafrost Mountain was a little too cold, and yet, initially, there should be people residing on this mountain. It’s just that they had all moved out now.

When he reached the summit of the mountain, no one was around. Just when Lin Yun wondered what he should do now since the Saint Elder couldn’t be found anywhere, he suddenly sensed something and looked down the mountain.

At the bottom of a cliff, someone was playing the lute by the waterfall lake. This was a serene valley, and the entire valley was shrouded in music.

Lin Yun was briefly stunned when he heard it because someone was playing the song he sang on the day the Exquisite Court came for a challenge, Smile of the Mortal World. But the voice needed a carefree artistic concept, so it sounded lonely, instead. The valley looked desolate, to begin with. So the song only made it even colder.

When he jumped down the valley, he waited for Mu Xueling to finish the song before he opened his mouth. But before he could say anything, Mu Xueling spoke first, “You’re here.”

Nodding his head, Lin Yun shared with Mu Xueling what was troubling him the past few days.

Mu Xueling showed no emotions, but there seemed to be a smear of disappointment flashing across her pupils when she heard Lin Yun. She said, “I initially thought you were here to enquire about music dao.”

“I’m ultimately a swordsman.” Lin Yun replied.

“It’s fine. They’re the same, so I can teach you.” Mu Xueling replied.

Just when Lin Yun was surprised she could really teach him, Mu Xueling waved her hand, and a longsword flew out from the lake before Lin Yun could say anything. “Lin Xiao, draw your sword and attack me with all your sword techniques. I will fight you with the same cultivation and martial intent.”

“Yes, Saint Elder.” Lin Yun didn’t hesitate to draw the Flower Burial Sword.

“Come on.”

“Yes!” Lin Yun unleashed his Heavenly Dome Sword Intent and thrust his sword towards Mu Xueling.

In response to his attack, Mu Xueling merely moved her sword. When the two swords clashed, Lin Yun could sense a bizarre energy suppressing his sword intent at the point of impact. Before he could pull his sword back, Mu Xueling’s sword already fell onto his neck.

“You lost.” Mu Xueling looked at Lin Yun. “Come again.”

Lin Yun had enveloped himself with his Heavenly Dome Sword Intent earlier, and he felt that it wouldn’t be easy for him to avoid that sword if Mu Xueling swung it. That sword from Mu Xueling was terrifying.

“Yes!” Lin Yun attacked again.

As sparks flew around in the serene valley, Lin Yun lost nine times in their fights. In his most successful attempt, he managed to block nine attacks from Mu Xueling.

“Your sword technique doesn’t look special…” Mu Xueling was confused, and she asked, “Are you really a disciple of the Radiant Sword Saint?”

Lin Yun lowered his head in shame when he heard that. After all, it was a little awkward to be looked down on by a musician. But no matter how they fought, Mu Xueling could detect the flaw in his sword technique, while her sword had none.

“No, I have no intentions of mocking you or the Radiant Sword Saint. I’m only curious about why you haven’t grasped the Sword Heart when your sword intent is so strong.” Mu Xueling said. “I only mimicked some techniques of the Sword Heart earlier.”

“What is the Sword Heart?” Lin Yun asked.

“It won’t be a huge problem, then. I’ll teach you how to grasp the Sword Heart. Come with me.” Mu Xueling casually tossed the sword into the lake and walked forth with Lin Yun closely following her.