The Sovereign's Ascension

The interior of the Black Lotus Palace was complicated, which Lin Yun was experiencing firsthand. There were many secret chambers along the way, but they were all swept clean. In the end, the Sword Firmament Pavilion was too late.

But Lin Yun wasn’t in a hurry because he knew that the treasures that could be placed here weren’t that great. After all, effort and harvest had a direct correlation.

A brief moment later, Lin Yun heard a noise coming from up ahead. He followed the source of the noise and headed into a dark passage. At the end of the passage was a majestic hall, decorated with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.  

In addition to the passage that he came from, there were about four to five other passages that lead to this hall. The center of the hall had an azure lotus stage that glowed faintly. There were dozens of people gathered around the lotus stage, looking at it with anticipation in their eyes.

“This is the Treasure Lotus Stage. I heard that a treasure will appear before the entrance to the second stage opens.”

“I wonder what the treasure is. It must be something precious even if this is only the first level.”

“Why do you even care about it? Just quickly snatch it.”

Their discussion made Lin Yun fall into deep thought. He didn’t see any Sword Firmament Pavilion’s disciples in the hall. Could it be that they failed the test? But that’s impossible. The Sword Firmament Pavilion transcended the other sects. So it was impossible that the Sword Firmament Pavilion’s disciples failed to make it through the first test.

So there was only one possibility. They were either led to other halls or there was more than one path to the second level. Comparing the two possibilities, Lin Yun felt that the second one was more probable.

Lin Yun was spot on. There were nine lotus stages in the Black Lotus Palace and they were all separated. The lotus stages would gradually decrease as the levels proceeded, so there would only be one lotus stage on the ninth level.

Just as Lin Yun was thinking, a jade bottle appeared on the Treasure Lotus Stage.

“Pellets!”

“It must be pellets!”

The atmosphere in the hall exploded when the jade bottle appeared. Everyone immediately dashed for the jade bottle. Everyone who could enter the Demonlotus Realm were elites and their cultivation was, at the very least, in the eighth stage of the Profound Martial Realm.

Furthermore, since they made it into the Black Lotus Palace, this meant that most of them were in the ninth stage of the Profound Martial Realm. But Lin Yun didn’t pay any attention to them.

He pondered briefly and decided not to wait. Wielding the Flower Burial Sword, Lin Yun charged from out of the passage. 

The hall had about ten people and everyone was fighting intensely around the lotus stage. But their attention was soon diverted when a piercing sword intent suddenly appeared in the hall.

The sword intent instantly made everyone’s weapon start buzzing. Shortly after, a sword ray flashed out and left a terrifying wound on the bodies of those who failed to avoid the attack.

“Lin Yun!” Everyone’s faces changed when they saw the youth who attacked them. They all knew about Lin Yun’s name since his performance in the Princess Manor, not to mention that he fought Mu Xiuhan on the Black Lotus Lake and saved Chen Xuanjun from three core disciples of the Primal Origin Sect.

This enlightened all the disciples to what a real monstrous genius was. They instantly contemplated their situation, wondering if they should join forces to deal with Lin Yun first.

But before the sword ray dissipated, Lin Yun’s aura surged once more. When he performed the Aquaselenic Sword, it created wave after wave that instantly engulfed everyone. After ten-odd sword rays, everyone was lying on the ground.

They all looked at Lin Yun with fear in their eyes. They recognized that they weren’t on the same level as him. They couldn’t imagine how a youth in the eighth stage of the Profound Martial Realm was so powerful. Lin Yun had suppressed everyone by himself.

Lin Yun sheathed his sword and headed towards the Lotus Treasure Stage. He waved his hand and grabbed the jade bottle on the lotus stage. Just when he grabbed the jade bottle, a shadow suddenly appeared from the darkness and dashed at Lin Yun.

But Lin Yun seemed to have eyes on the back of his head. After grabbing the jade bottle, he turned around and drew his sword. This shocked the attacker. He was clearly the one who launched the attack, but Lin Yun’s Flower Burial Sword had pierced through his chest.

He didn’t even have the time to crush the jade slip and leave the Black Lotus Palace. When the Flower Burial Sword was pulled out of his body, he collapsed on the ground and his life was taken away from him.

Lin Yun swept a glance to look at everyone else hiding. His actions started those that were still hiding in the darkness. They felt like they had been seen by Lin Yun’s gaze.

Lin Yun paid no attention to them and sheathed his sword before looking at the jade bottle. When he opened it up, a medical fragrance wafted out from the bottle.

Lin Yun could be considered half an alchemist, so he could tell that the pellet in the jade bottle was a third grade pellet. It could only be refined by third grade alchemists. But there weren’t many third grade alchemists in the Great Qin Empire. Even the Sword Firmament Pavilion only had one third grade alchemist.

There were ten-odd pellets in the jade bottle, which wasn’t a little amount. Lin Yun hadn’t consumed any pellets after reaching the Profound Martial Realm. There wasn’t any taboo against it, but he just wanted to wait until he reached the ninth and tenth stage of the Profound Martial Realm to use them.

Lin Yun stored the jade bottle and climbed the lotus stage to enter the second stage. After he left, the suffocating atmosphere in the hall finally relaxed, and many people let out a breath of relief.

Many of them were prepared to crush the jade slip in their hands because they were afraid that Lin Yun might kill them. But it was fortunate that he didn’t do so.

On another Lotus Treasure Stage, the core disciple of the Heavenly Profound Sect led three disciples over. Their appearance instantly made everyone who were fighting over the treasure to stop.

But before they could even speak, a dragon and tiger roar echoed from Tang Yuan. He manifested a dragon on his right fist and a tiger on his left fist before throwing his punches out. After the two punches, everyone was blown away and slammed into the wall. They were all groaning out in pain when they fell onto the ground before they charged at Tang Yuan.

“Damn it! This damn baldie is actually so ruthless!”

“Don’t be afraid of him. Let’s go together!”

Facing everyone coming at them, the three disciples behind Tang Yuan all wore disdain on their faces.

“They’re just ants.” Tang Yuan’s face changed and a halo appeared behind his head. At the same time, a Buddhist aura spread out on his body.

Using the Undying Vajra Seal and Demon Vanquishing Seal, he combined them to form the Undying Vanquishing Seal and slammed his palm down. This made everyone feel as though they had slammed onto an invisible wall.

“Senior Brother, let’s make them hand over their interspatial pouches,” suggested a disciple of the Heavenly Profound Sect. They had the advantage, so they could naturally make the demand.

“No need. The Heavenly Profound Sect is the strongest sect in the Great Qin Empire. How can we lower ourselves to the level of these demonic cultivators? Let’s just make them hand over 10 three petal Demonlotus Cores each. Those who were unwilling can also crush their jade slips to leave,” replied Tang Yuan.

“Senior Brother is really generous.”

“Did you hear that? Why are you people still here?”

Everyone who was on the ground smiled bitterly. Even if they had any Demonlotus Cores, that amount would probably be at least one-third of their wealth. In the end, the so-called ‘generosity’ was bandit’s logic.

But they could either hand it over or leave. In the end, many people sucked it up and handed 10 three petal Demonlotus Cores over. After all, they could have a chance at turning the tables around as long as they remained in the Black Lotus Palace.

Someone quickly stepped forward to retrieve the box on the lotus stage. When he saw what was in the box, he exclaimed emotionally, “Senior Brother, it’s a Blood Ginseng. It’s at least 500 years old!”

“You can keep it. I don’t need it,” replied Tang Yuan.

“Thank you, Senior Brother.” The disciple didn’t know how to react from the sudden joy. This made the two other disciples envious.

However, Tang Yuan was indifferent about it because the treasure on the first level wouldn’t have any worth. His goal was both the ninth level that no one had ascended over the past thousand years and the legendary tenth level. The Black Lotus Palace’s core was in those two levels.

Not even all the treasures on the eighth level could compare to the ninth level. As for the tenth level, it was simply unimaginable. But a legend was still a legend.