The Sovereign's Ascension

The two of them discussed among themselves briefly before they went their separate ways. Li Wuyou was heading towards the Contribution Hall to find out how they could increase their Sword Firmament Token’s grades, while Lin Yun went to visit the Herbal Hall and Myriad Sword Platform.

Before they separated, Lin Yun told him to bring the Dragon Blooded Horse over when he returned. The two of them left on the Sword Condor in a hurry, so they didn’t bring the Dragon Blooded Horse along. As for the four guards, they were too terrified of Senior Sister Xin Yan and Liu Yue by herself couldn’t do anything to the Dragon Blooded Horse.

Honestly speaking, Lin Yun wasn’t too worried about the Dragon Blooded Horse’s safety. After being together with Li Wuyou for so long, the Dragon Blooded Horse adopted an unrestrained attitude in addition to its goofiness. Lin Yun was worried that it might cause trouble instead.

“Hehe, don’t worry about it. I would have done it even if you hadn’t asked.” Li Wuyou patted on his chest.

“You brat… Why am I feeling unconvinced?” Lin Yun smiled bitterly and went down the mountain.

The Sword Firmament Pavilion was filled with many sights. You could see disciples cultivating everywhere as elders taught lessons. The atmosphere around the sect was great.

Lin Yun had already removed the prisoner uniform on him and changed into the disciple uniform. But when he walked, he would occasionally draw the attention of others. From time to time, he could even hear people discussing what happened back in the Nine Stars Contest and how he killed Wang Ning.

The influence from that storm wasn’t small and it had instantly made Lin Yun into a famous person in the Sword Firmament Pavilion. He drew attention everywhere he went.

“Today, I will talk about cultivation!”

Lin Yun paused upon hearing that and directed his gaze over. He saw an old man donned in simple clothing seated under an ancient tree, with many disciples sitting on the mat before him. Lin Yun found that topic interesting and decided to listen in.

The old man did not start his talk instantly. Instead, he asked a question, “Can anyone tell me what it means to cultivate?”

“To cultivate is to absorb spiritual energy and to constantly refine yourself through pellets and cultivation techniques.” This question wasn’t difficult, so someone instantly stood up and answered with confidence.

With a smile, the old man signaled for that youth to sit down and asked again, “Then what’s spiritual energy?”

This time, the old man’s question had left everyone pondering deeply. Spiritual energy could be seen everywhere, but its density was different according to different places. When people cultivated, they would interact with spiritual energy, but they never really considered the spiritual energy’s existence.

Even Lin Yun couldn’t help falling into deep thought from that question.

“Spiritual energy is born from heaven and earth. It can only exist when there is heaven and earth. What is there in heaven? We have countless stars, the sunrise, and the sunset. They’re constantly changing and moving above us. Spiritual energy is the essence of the sun and moon. Simply put, it’s the starlight energy. That means that we’re also absorbing starlight energy when we absorb spiritual energy. Starlight energy is everywhere around us and everything we see has something to do with it. So strictly speaking, cultivation is a process of comprehending the starlight energy,” explained the old man. His explanation suddenly gave everyone a broader view about cultivation.

Even Lin Yun felt a sudden flash of insight. At this moment, he knew that the Sword Firmament Pavilion’s elders weren’t simple.

“This is the ultimate path of cultivating. It cannot be done overnight. Now, let’s talk about how we cultivate. Our physical body acts as the container for starlight energy and this container has limitless potential. No one knows how far the container can reach. The Martial Realm, the first realm we come in contact with, is also known as the Houtian Realm. This is a process where we temper our physique.”

“When we reach the Xiantian Realm, we will gradually uncover the potential in our seven orifices,” said the old man. “Many people feel that the Xiantian Realm is the end of cultivation, but that’s untrue. By unlocking the profound channel, it will bring our physique to a whole new level. In the ten stages of the Profound Martial Realm, we will condense ten profound veins. Each of the profound veins has hundreds of acupoints, which connects our limbs, bones, and internal organs. Every profound vein strengthens the power we received during the Xiantian Realm.”

“For example, the first vein will further enhance the eye orifice. Upon reaching that, the world will become clearer in your eyes. Simultaneously, the same sword technique you’ve been using will seem like it’s full of flaws. Let’s use another example. How about… the mouth orifice. After being strengthened, you can devour people’s soul and their blood essence.”

The old man’s words caused a huge commotion among the crowd. They were all shocked by the old man’s revelation.

With a smile, the old man continued, “Then again, these are just possibilities. You have a chance to obtain those abilities with the combination of your martial techniques and cultivation techniques. If you’re talented enough, you can even comprehend them yourself. Now, I’ll be going further into the realms above the Profound Martial Realm.”

The audience immediately became even more interested. After all, only the strong were respected in this world. So they were eager to understand more about the realms that they couldn’t reach.

“After forming the tenth profound vein, cultivators can try to condense their origin energy into liquid to establish a violet palace. This is called the Violet Palace Realm. The old man suddenly stretched his hand out and grabbed onto a falling leaf with two fingers.

With a flick of his fingers, the leaf shot out and destroyed a huge rock ten miles away. This scene left everyone shocked. They never expected that the leaf would be so powerful even after traveling such a long distance. There was no way they could accomplish that, not even if they used a small dagger because the power would gradually decrease as it traveled.

This scene made Lin Yun scrunch his brows. He noticed that the old man wasn’t using any sword intent, nor could he sense any sword intent in the leaf.

“This is the Violet Palace Realm. Your origin energy will be greatly strengthened after being liquified. With half a drop of origin energy, I can easily kill my enemy ten miles away from me,” said the old man.

“How powerful!” Everyone was filled with admiration as shock and expectation filled their eyes.

However, the Violet Palace Realm was still too far out of Lin Yun’s reach. He had no idea how long it would take for him to form the ten profound veins, not to mention that making a breakthrough by trying to liquify his origin energy wouldn’t be easy.

Among all the disciples here, barely 10% of them could have a chance to reach the Violet Palace Realm.

“Elder, what’s above the Violet Palace Realm?” Someone asked excitedly.

“That would be the Heavenly Soul Realm. Anyone who can reach that level in the Great Qin Empire will be considered a top-tier powerhouse. If you can reach the Heavenly Soul Realm, then you will be standing at the Great Qin Empire’s peak,” said the old man. He wore a complicated expression and continued, “But I have no idea if we have any Heavenly Soul Realm powerhouses within the empire.”

“Is our Pavilion Master not a Heavenly Soul Realm powerhouse?”

The old man smiled and did not reply to that question. The disciples had no idea what the Heavenly Soul Realm represented. The Heavenly Soul Realm powerhouses were existences that even the empire had to bow to!

It had been a long time since the Pavilion Master acted. So no one was sure if he had reached the Heavenly Soul Realm. There weren’t any Heavenly Soul Realm powerhouses in the past five decades for the three other sects and the imperial clan. It wasn’t easy to reach the Heavenly Soul Realm.

When Lin Yun heard that, his expression turned grave. The Violet Palace and Heavenly Soul Realms… He was only in the first stage of the Profound Martial Realm and he couldn’t even be compared to Wang Yan, who was in the sixth stage of the Profound Martial Realm.

“I need more resources.” Lin Yun’s eyes glowed. He needed more resources for the Iris Sword Sutra and Age Sutra. Without any resources, he wouldn’t be able to make any progress in his cultivation. But fortunately, the Sword Firmament Pavilion had given him an opportunity to earn resources.

“Let’s hope that the Age Sutra that I got will be useful. Otherwise, I have no idea where I can earn resources…” Lin Yun hurried over to the Pellet Hall after making his decision.

Not only could he cultivate age energy from the Age Sutra, but there were also many spiritual runes recorded in it. Grasping the spiritual runes would be his greatest reliance on earning resources. But he had no idea if he had any advantage compared to the other alchemists.

After all, he had only started practicing the runes recently, so he had no confidence. Half an hour later, a majestic hall appeared within Lin Yun’s vision. 

“The Pellet Hall is the richest of the Sword Firmament Pavilion’s halls.” After all, they would be rich because they had the Herbal Hall under them, not to mention that they had a stream of income. Collecting his emotions, Lin Yun walked into the Pellet Hall.