The Sovereign's Ascension

The person who came out had a pale complexion with baleful aura brewing behind him that emitted a chill. He had a cultivation in the eighth stage and stood before Lin Yun with his arms folded. He looked pretty confident because Lin Yun had just used the cosmic artifact. In his mind, Lin Yun must have consumed quite a bit of his origin energy.

He was certain that Lin Yun was putting on a strong front to look composed.

“I admit that you’re pretty capable of detecting me while fighting. Judging from your appearance, it looks like killing the three disciples wasn't difficult for you, even without the cosmic artifact,” said the stranger while he examined Lin Yun.

Lin Yun glanced at the newcomer’s uniform and quickly thought about it before he asked, “You’re from the Demonflame Sect? You’re worthy of me drawing my sword.”

From Chen Xuanjun’s explanation, this robust youth came together with Bai Yue, who was an expert from the Demonflame Sect. In the previous Dragon Gate Competition, he could’ve made it into the top ten if he didn’t lose to Drifting Goblet.

This was the reason why Lin Yun had an impression of the Demonflame Sect.

Zhang Liang raised his brow and barked, “Then why are you still standing there? Why aren’t you putting down the cosmic artifact and getting the hell out of here since you know of the Demonflame Sect’s fame? If you bumped into Senior Brother Bai Yue instead of me, this wouldn’t be just a simple robbery.”

“The Demonflame Sect’s fame? You’re thinking too much. It’s just that my sword doesn’t slay nameless people.” Lin Yun waved his hand and summoned the Flower Burial Sword. Simultaneously, he unleashed his quasi-xiantian sword intent and his temperament underwent a drastic transformation.

“What a laughing…” Before Zhang Liang could even finish his words, his eyes were filled with fear. Zhang Liang didn’t even see move Lin Yun until he saw Lin Yun sheath his sword. In the end, Zhang Liang had no idea how he died.

The decapitated corpse fell onto the ground and the head was sent flying away. But Lin Yun wasn’t bothered about it as he merely swung his sword.

“It looks like cosmic artifacts are extremely valuable in the Demonlotus Realm. But this person must be stupid to try and rob me.” Cosmic artifacts brought from outside couldn’t be used, which made the demonized cosmic artifacts found here even more valuable.

Lin Yun took Zhang Liang’s interspatial pouch before he spread his arms apart and quietly left. In just one day into the Demonlotus Realm, the fighting had been nonstop. Some of the cultivators died to demonic beasts, but most of them died to fellow humans.

It was a brutal deathmatch. In a swamp shrouded with grey smoke, the ground was littered with fresh corpses. The remaining disciples were all on their knees, trembling as they looked at the blood-clothed youth standing on the pile of corpses.

The coldness coming from the youth was terrifying as he stood with blood dripping down from his sword. He was the Bloodbone Gate’s core disciple, Mu Xiuhan. Also known as the BLood Swordsman, he was ranked seventeenth in the previous Dragon Gate Competition and was famed for his swift sword.

There were disciples from several sects fighting over a fruit worth a few hundred second grade spiritual jades, but no one had expected Mu Xiuhan to suddenly barge in and kill whoever stood in his way.

All it took was about ten swords before all the disciples were on their knees, begging for mercy as they took out all the Demonlotus Cores that they had. The lotuses looked like demonic flowers that were raised with fresh blood.

“Mu Xiuhan, we’re willing to give you all our Demonlotus Cores. Please let us go alive.”

“Yeah. You can inspect our interspatial pouches if you don’t believe us.”

“Please, let us off.” All the disciples begged for their lives.

“Tsk, tsk.” Mu Xiuhan laughed with a flash of coldness in his eyes. “The Demonlotus Cores will still be mine after killing all of you. Since that’s the case, then why should I let you guys live?”

“Mu Xiuhan, don’t take it too far!”

“Let’s just fight with him!” No one expected that Mu Xiuhan would be so bloodthirsty. Since they were going to die anyway, they might as well die putting up a fight.

“Come. It’s boring to slaughter a bunch of lambs,” laughed Mu Xiuhan. He charged into the crowd with his sword. His baleful aura was perfectly fused into his sword, and the aura emitting from him made everyone feel uneasy.

With a cold roar, Mu Xiuhan started his one-sided massacre. His sword drew blood whenever it flashed and no one could stop him. A terrifying chill exploded from him and countless sword rays flashed out into the surroundings. Before the fleeing disciples could get far, they were devoured by the momentum of Mu Xiuhan’s sword.

There was no one standing when Mu Xiuhan sheathed his sword. His surroundings were covered in blood, which made the Demonlotus Cores around him even more bewitching. He laughed, “Hypocrite sects. Why do you need to remove the demonic miasma before refining the cores? Don’t you know that the demonic miasma is great nourishment?”

Mu Xiuhan opened his mouth and sucked all the Demonlotus Cores into his stomach. In the next second, his origin energy began to fluctuate and his cultivation soared. He was refining the Demonlotus Cores with his eyes closed.

When he reopened his eyes, his baleful aura got even stronger. He licked his lips, “The Demonlotus Realm is a really good place. I might be able to reach the tenth stage of the Profound Martial Realm here. It’ll be even better if I can gather some cultivation technique manuals and damaged cosmic artifacts.”

On a hill within the Demonlotus Realm, Tang Tong took a palm to his chest and furiously looked at the black-clothed youth standing before him. He recognized this youth because Chen Xuanjun had introduced him to Tang Tong before coming to the Demonlotus Realm.

This youth was from the Sevendespair Palace and had achieved nineteenth place in the previous Dragon Gate Competition when he was only sixteen years old. He was famed for his Sevendespair Saber, but he didn’t even need to use his saber to force Tang Tong to this spot.

“Jing Jue, is there a need for you to take it so far? You’ve already taken all my Demonlotus Cores!” Tang Tong glared at Jing Jue while clutching his chest.

“So what if I kill you? Since you came to the Demonlotus Realm, then you must be prepared to die. Are all the disciples from the Sword Firmament Pavilion like you, only knowing how to run your mouth?” Jing Jue spoke with indifference.

“Shut it!” Tang Tong was furious that his sect was being humiliated and charged over with his sword.

“You’re courting death!” Jing Jue’s eyes flashed with disdain. With a single clash, Tang Tong’s sword was knocked away from his hand. At the same time, a huge gash appeared on Tang Tong’s chest.

“Die!” Without any compassion in his eyes, Jing Jue took a step forward and hacked his sword at Tang Tong’s throat.

But just before Jing Jue’s sword was about to decapitate Tang Tong, a sword blazing with crimson flames charged over and blocked his sword. The newcomer was Xin Yan. She had stepped in to save Tang Tong.

Looking at Xin Yan, Jing Jue smiled, “Another one here to die?”

Jing Jue charged forward with the Sevendespair Saber. At the same time, Xin Yan executed the Bloodflame Sword. The two clashed more than a dozen times in the blink of an eye, but they were evenly matched.

“Interesting.” Jing Jue wore a cold smile. But just when he was about to charge forward, two figures dashed over in this direction. It was Yan Ding and Wang Zhen from the Sword Firmament Pavilion. Tang Tong was pretty lucky that reinforcements were nearby when Jing Jue targeted him.

Jing Jue hesitated briefly when he looked at the four people. He sheathed his saber and prepared to leave, saying, “At least not everyone from the Sword Firmament Pavilion is garbage. We’ll meet again.”

But just as Yan Ding and Wang Zhen were about to chase after Jing Jue, Xin Yan stopped them and said, “Don’t bother. We can’t stop him if he’s determined to leave. Let’s take a look at Junior Brother Tang’s injuries first.”

When they looked at the huge gash on Tang Tong’s chest, all of them sucked in a cold breath. The wound was serious, but it was fortunate that Xin Yan had the Aquamoon Martial Soul and managed to save Tang Tong’s life.

“Thank you, Senior Sister. I can’t imagine what would happen if you didn’t come in time,” said Tang Tong.

“The Demonlotus Realm is really terrifying. I’ve seen so many corpses along the way.”

“It’s too brutal. Some of them are disciples in the eighth stage of the Profound Martial Realm.” Wang Zhen and Yan Ding chatted and the expressions on their faces didn’t look good.

Tang Tong struggled to get on his feet and he added, “We should be fine now since the four of us are together. However, I have no idea where junior brother is… This place is too brutal to be alone.”

“You don’t have to worry about him. He might be young, but he’s more experienced than us. Even now, his sword intent is unfathomable to me. I’m afraid that we’ve all underestimated his actual strength,” smiled Xin Yan.

But Xin Yan failed to mention something else. It was possible that Lin Yun’s harvest in the Demonlotus Realm would be more than any of theirs.