Chapter 257 - Blue-Eyed, Tiger Smelling the Rose
The Flower Burial Sword had an extraordinary origin. It was forged with ancient wood that must have made it glorious back in its heyday. It was just that the Flower Burial Sword gradually lost its spiritual energy through the passage of time, being reduced to its current state.
Having been nurtured by Lin Yun, the Flower Burial Sword reached the level of mid-grade profound artifact. It had already been some time since Lin Yun received the sword, but it never moved on its own. Today was the first time the Flower Burial Sword showed such a response.
Lin Yun wore a grave expression and cautiously continued deeper into the valley. He followed the flower fragrance’s direction and continued twenty more miles. When he turned around, Bai Qiushui and the rest could no longer be seen.
“What fragrance!” There were all sorts of flower fragrances mixed together, so it was hard for Lin Yun to identify the particular fragrance. But he still remembered what the intoxicating fragrance smelled like. As long as he remembered something, he wouldn’t forget it in his lifetime.
The journey here hadn’t been easy. It was filled with poisonous wasps that threatened Lin Yun. They were the size of a baby’s fist and had a powerful defence. Even his sword energy couldn’t destroy them with one blow. He had to infuse his sword intent into his sword energy to destroy them.
There was also a type of bird that hovered around the valley and dove down to the ground fast. It was so fast that Lin Yun couldn’t see them with his eyes. He had to carefully use his Seven Profound Steps since he couldn’t relax. Lin Yun was on full alert throughout the journey. He didn’t even dare to breathe loudly.
But for some reason, he would feel relaxed whenever he smelled the fragrance. This made Lin Yun curious. Just what kind of fragrance could stand out from the crowd and suppress all the other flowers.
Suddenly, Lin Yun felt a dangerous aura and was stunned. The forty-two petaled Iris Flower in his Dantian blossomed while Lin Yun also circulated the Iris Sword Sutra. He could sense something unusual about the atmosphere. The valley might seem to be covered with flowers, but Lin Yun knew that there were also many demonic beasts living here. It wasn’t as quiet as it looked.
Using the Seven Profound Steps, Lin Yun soared into the sky and landed on a tree. He hid behind the leaves and looked between their small gaps. What he saw left him shocked.
There were three colossal demonic beasts ten miles away. One was an azure python that was a hundred meters long that looked like a small hill when it was coiled up. Another was a black ape about seventy meters tall that had demonic miasma around it. Finally, the last one was a crimson bear that had a lump of fire on its head and exuded violence.
The three demonic beasts were all in the sixth stage of the Profound Martial Realm and they also emitted faint King Aura. They were definitely not run-of-the-mill demonic beasts since only lord-rank demonic beasts could condense the King Aura. But Lin Yun’s shock didn’t end here.
What shocked him the most was that the three demonic beasts were all looking in the same direction. They seemed to fear something and didn’t dare to step forward. Just what made the three lord-rank demonic beasts so afraid?
Lin Yun poured his origin energy into his eyes and pushed his vision to the limit. He finally got a clear view of a golden tiger with soft fur closing its eyes as it smelled a crimson rose. It looked like a cat because it merged with the surrounding aura so perfectly.
The tiger was crouching there with its eyes closed, lacking any semblance of ferocity. But the three lord-rank demonic beasts stared at it in fear.
“Blood Rose?” Lin Yun’s eyes lit up when he saw the crimson rose. Roses were considered the king among flowers.
Right at this moment, the golden tiger opened its eyes, unleashing a terrifying wave of King Aura that swept into the distance. Even the clouds began to change from this. The tiger’s blue eyes radiated life and it was almost like nothing could be hidden from them.
Lin Yun was slightly startled. He had a feeling that this tiger wasn’t just your ordinary demonic beast. There was too much spirituality in its eyes. In fact, the spirituality in its eyes was much stronger than the three lord-rank demonic beasts.
Before Lin Yun could even recover from his shock, the three demonic beasts finally launched their attacks. The tiger’s body trembled and its aura began to soar. The golden tiger faced all three demonic beasts and their battle caused the ground to tremble. The ancient tree that Lin Yun was in began to sway and the leaves started to fall.
The three demonic beasts were all in the sixth stage of the Profound Martial Realm, while the tiger was only in the fifth stage of the Profound Martial Realm. However, the tiger was holding its ground against the three demonic beasts.
The battle between demonic beasts was extremely dangerous, so much so that it was more bloody than fights between cultivators. The current scene was like countless fireworks being released with the many explosions.
Although the scene was gorgeous, it couldn’t conceal how gory the battle was.
“Are they all fighting over that Blood Rose?” Lin Yun realized that the four demonic beasts were trampling the many flowers in their path, but the crimson rose remained untouched. The rose was like an audience member that was watching the battle between the four demonic beasts.
On the ancient tree, Lin Yun stared at the chaotic battle, not missing any details. The battle was simply too brilliant. The battle between demonic beasts might seem simple, but it wasn’t. Although they used primitive attacks, they had developed those attacks through countless years of evolution.
Many martial techniques also originated from demonic beasts. Lin Yun felt that Bu Chen’s Dragon Painting was incomplete and full of flaws. Most importantly, he couldn’t feel anything from Bu Chen’s attacks. But Lin Yun immediately gained insight when he saw the tiger fighting.
Dragon Painting might seem like a move that painted a dragon, but its key laid in the finishing touch. The punch required the essence of a ferocious tiger.
Lin Yun nodded his head inwardly while he simulated the Dragon Painting in his mind. The black ape and bear collapsed on the ground and died. They were both killed by the ferocious tiger.
Only the tiger and python were left, but the tiger was a lot weaker than before. Before the ape and bear died, they left behind terrifying wounds on the tiger. If they continued fighting, the tiger might not emerge victorious.
The python was slowly being defeated, but it suddenly pounced and bit down on the tiger’s neck. Blood started gushing out from the tiger’s neck.
Shit! Lin Yun yelled inwardly. He knew that the python would definitely devour the Blood Rose if it killed the tiger. Initially, Lin Yun wanted to wait for both sides to be injured before taking the Blood Rose away, but based on the current situation, he had to make his move now.
Lin Yun knew he would lose his life if he wasn’t careful, but he couldn’t be bothered with that right now. He jumped down from the ancient three and bolted through the flowers. He was pushing the Seven Profound Steps to the limit, leaving petals behind in the air when he ran.
In the blink of an eye, he traveled over a thousand meters. The commotion created by him was too great, so the python instantly sensed his existence. But before the python could react, Lin Yun roared and continued pushing the Seven Profound Steps to the limit.
His silhouette blurred as he soared into the sky and he ignited the origin energy within his body. He shined brightly like a Golden Crow. A brief moment later, he was only five hundred meters away from the python.
The sword box behind him opened up and the Flower Burial Sword shot out. Lin Yun waved his hand and grabbed onto the sword as a burst of sword intent exploded out from him. There wasn’t a trace of hesitation in his eyes.
With a flash, the Flower Burial Sword streaked past like transparent water. He poured his origin energy into the sword along with his boundless domineering aura. Then, the sword slashed down at the lord-rank demonic beast.
The python that was biting on the tiger suddenly felt a tingle of threat and immediately loosened its bite in order to leave. But just as it loosened its bite, the tiger bit the python and caused it to struggle painfully.
In the next second, Lin Yun swung the Overlord Sword down and chopped the python’s head right off. However, right before the python died, it whipped out its tail at Lin Yun.
Lin Yun spit up a mouthful of blood and fell onto the ground. His origin energy was exhausted. At the same time, a colossal figure walked over to Lin Yun. The tiger was ignoring its wounds and walking over.
Lin Yun trembled and soared into the sky, brushing past the ferocious tiger that was pouncing at him. If he was a half second late in his reaction, he would have been dead.
“You’re courting death!” Lin Yun was furious that the tiger actually attacked him even though it was breathing its last breath. Lin Yun ignored the intense pain in his body and descended. Then, he charged over with the Flower Burial Sword.
But the tiger suddenly turned around and let out a roar at Lin Yun. If Lin Yun was in his normal state, he could easily sweep the gale away. Instead, Lin Yun staggered from the roar and only managed to gain his footing right before he fell onto the ground.
Lin Yun and the tiger faced off with each other. The tiger’s size was colossal in comparison to the puny Lin Yun. Lin Yun’s gaze was cold as the sword intent in his body rippled fearlessly.
The tiger was still bleeding from its neck and would take its last breath any time now. But in its blue eyes, everything in the world seemed to be an illusion. The man and beast faced off, not daring to be careless. The Blood Rose stood some distance away, pridefully watching the battle.
In the end, the Blood Rose was the only audience of this battle.