Chapter 1457 - Nether Sword Seed

Lin Yun planned to hole up in his residence and ignore all external disturbances. Although he had caused a series of uproars when he joined the Sword Sect, he also greatly benefited from them. Whether it was his master’s teachings, the Saint Pool Baptism, or the Great Profound Palace, he needed time to digest them all.

After his battle with Huangfu Yan, he knew that those in the top ten of the Earth Ranking were strong. Just Huangfu Yan had forced him to use the cauldron, which meant the others would be more troublesome. As for the Twin Stars of the Earth Ranking, Lin Yun didn’t have much odds of winning, according to Lil’ Purple. Or, to put it blatantly, he had no chance at all.

He was only at the one-star Heavenly Elysium Core Realm. He had to use his firmament sword intent and thirty-thousand meter ocean of astral energy to fight Huangfu Yan, who was at the three-star Heavenly Elysium Core Realm. But those weren’t too effective against someone at the four-star Heavenly Elysium Core Realm, not to mention the Twin Stars of the Earth Ranking were at the five-star Heavenly Elysium Core Realm.

If Lin Yun faced them, he would be defeated in just three moves, at best; not to mention that they have both cultivated the sword sutras of their own peaks and have even reached the fifth stage in them.

“The tree wishes for tranquility, but the wind doesn’t stop…” Lin Yun muttered as he grabbed a fallen leaf in front of him. But wasn’t this also what he wanted? If he couldn’t get through this ordeal, why did he go from the Profound Azure Prefecture to the Ancient Barren Domain, then? There wouldn’t be any motivation if there was no pressure.

As a swordsman, he naturally had to fight against the impossible, like walking on thin ice to temper his heart as a swordsman.

“If the storm is unavoidable, let it come even more ferociously, then!” Lin Yun smiled and tossed the leaf out, causing a huge wave on the spiritual lake that reached nearly three thousand meters, looking like a sword under the sunlight. Even the surrounding atmosphere looked restricted under his aura.

Lin Yun wasn’t a fool. He knew that Huangfu Yan, who was tenth on the Earth Ranking, was only a chess piece sent out to test his strength. Since he didn’t fall under Huangfu Yan’s challenge, there would surely be a real storm waiting for him. Lin Yun gave them a surprise, but if they weren’t satisfied with that, then he wouldn’t mind giving them a bigger surprise.

“Let’s start with the Divine Firmament Sword Sutra, first.” Lin Yun took a deep breath and recollected his thoughts. He had a clear objective: Reach the pinnacle of the third stage in the Divine Firmament Sword Sutra, or he wouldn’t dare to cultivate the Dragon-Phoenix World Annihilating Sword Canon as he liked.

The sword sutra was his foundation, and he could only unleash the true power of the Aquaheaven Sword Technique and Heaven Sword Form with both of his sword sutras. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to unleash that much power, even if he reached the minuscule stage.

After gently tapping his foot on the ground, Lin Yun left behind afterimages before landed on the center of the spiritual lake. He took out the Bodhi Seed and slowly closed his eyes.

As the Nine-Petaled Netherflower released some black lights, the hundred and eight Dragon-Phoenix Sword Aura emitted a sacred power that dyed his ocean of astral energy in gold. As Lin Yun circulated the Divine Firmament Sword Sutra, a faint mist rose from the lake, and it didn’t take long for the fog to become heavy.

Lin Yun's cultivation speed was swift with the help of the Bodhi Seed, his dual sword souls, and the nether energy he devoured from the Great Profound Palace. The Divine firmament Sword Sutra was tough for others but wasn’t that hard for Lin Yun. At the very least, there weren’t any obstructions in the first three stages.

Seven days later, the mist on the lake was so heavy that Lin Yun was nowhere to be seen. When a sword vibration echoed from the fog, Lil’ Purple, who was sleeping on the pavilion's roof, woke up. But her eyes only opened a small fraction because her eyelids were too heavy, and she was too sleepy.

“Big Sister! Big Brother has reached the lesser third stage of the Divine Firmament Sword Sutra!” Lil’ Stone said in excitement.

“You sneaked out again!” Lil’ Purple wanted to glare at him, but she was so sleepy that she couldn’t open her eyes fully.

“Hehe. It’s too boring in the Great Profound Palace.” Lil’ Stone rubbed his head.

“Hmph. I can’t be bothered with you.” Lil’ Purple closed her eyes again. Ever since they became familiar with one another, Lil’ Stone would sneak out of the Great Profound Palace to play with her. According to Lil’ Stone, he could go anywhere he wanted in the Sword Sect, as long as there was no one in the Great Profound Palace.

Although Lil’ Purple slept most of the time, Lil’ Stone didn’t mind it. After all, he had finally met another ‘artifact spirit’ after a long time. So he was happy just to see Lil’ Purple. Despite his age, Lil’ Stone’s mentality was that of a child, which meant that he was naturally playful.

“Big Sister, you don’t seem to be surprised.” Lil’ Stone replied.

“Hmph, as this empress’ servant, how can he not have this much talent?” Lil’ Purple mumbled with her eyes closed.

Lil’ Stone was speechless as he looked at the mist with deep shock in his eyes. He could faintly see a Twelve-Petaled Netherflower, and the sword intent radiating from it was boundless. That was the power of death that could erode everything.

Ever since ancient times, no one had cultivated the Divine Firmament Sword Sutra as fast as Lin Yun in the history of the Sword Sect. The nether energy he devoured in the Great Profound Palace was also unprecedented.

Just like that, half a month passed in the blink of an eye. Lin Yun was seated in the mist with the Twelve-Petaled Netherflower emitting a terrifying sword aura behind him. The grey mist seemed to be able to erode everything in the world, and there were no signs of life within a hundred meter radius around Lin Yun.

When the sword ray suddenly surged from the surface of Lin Yun’s body, the sword aura that was being emitted by Lin Yun became denser and a black stamen slowly formed at the heart of the netherflower. This made Lin Yun sigh in relief because he knew that he had succeeded. His Divine Firmament Sword Sutra had reached the pinnacle of the third stage, and the black stamen was the Nether Sword Seed, condensed purely of nether energy.

When Lin Yun opened his eyes, they were shining with a black light. After opening his enclosed fist, surges of nether energy condensed into black sword rays that were radiating with horrifying power.

“Go!” Lin Yun waved his hand and the black sword ray in his hand turned into a pillar of a few hundred meters that streaked across the surface of the lake. In the path of that black beam, everything, including the spiritual energy in the atmosphere, was being eroded and formed a black hole before him.

“Sure enough, I have finally reached the entry-level of the Divine Firmament Sword Sutra by reaching the pinnacle of the third stage, grasping nether energy.” Lin Yun muttered to himself as he closed his palm. When the Divine Firmament Sword Sutra was at the pinnacle of the second stage, his control over the nether energy was still crude. He could only release it or barely empower his sword aura; he couldn’t fuse it into his sword technique.

“How powerful will the Divine Firmament Sword Sutra become after the sword seed breaks?” Lin Yun’s eyes flashed with anticipation. But he didn’t have to be in a hurry now. Since the Divine Firmament Sword Sutra had reached the pinnacle of the third stage, he could try to reach the fourth stage of the Dragon-Phoenix World Annihilating Sword Canon.

Lin Yun flipped his palm and took out the remaining two million Divine Astral Pellets. Cultivating the Dragon-Phoenix World Annihilating Sword Canon consumed a lot of resources, and he was only left with two million out of the five million he got from An Liuyan.

The moment he refined the remaining two million, he would return to being broke. When Lin Yun thought of An Liuyan, the first thing he thought of was the Divine Dragon Bone. An Liuyan had promised to keep an eye on any information related to Divine Dragon Bones, but there wasn’t any news even after a month.

This meant that Divine Dragon Bones were extremely rare, and it wasn’t something that could be found so easily. But Lin Yun believed that An Liuyan would do her best in this matter because she was an intelligent person, and she knew about his value because he was sure that she knew what he had done in the Sword Sect.

“Let’s give it a try. I have to reach the fourth stage, no matter what.” Lin Yun muttered while he looked at the remaining Divine Astral Pellets. The two sword sutras could be considered his greatest trump cards. The Dragon-Phoenix World Annihilating Sword Canon was naturally stronger out of the two sword sutras.

Taking a deep breath, Lin Yun closed his eyes and circulated the Dragon-Phoenix World Annihilating Sword Canon. As a Heavenly dragon and divine phoenix flew out of his body and coiled around him, they began to devour the surrounding Divine Astral Pellets. It didn’t take long for him to be filled with astral energy to the point that his body felt like it would blow apart the next moment.

The five thousand dragon runes engraved on his body began to appear, protecting his body from suffering any damage. He had to admit that the Azure Dragon Saint Art came in handy at times like this, which was why he had the confidence to take the risk.

Cultivating was boring with time slowly slipping by. The Heavenly dragon and divine phoenix had long formed into a vortex, devouring the two million Divine Astral Pellets. This time, the cauldron was suppressed in the ocean of astral energy, and most of the Divine Astral Pellets were absorbed by his physique and violet palace.

Three days later, when Lin Yun’s Dragon-Phoenix World Annihilating Sword Canon was about to reach the fourth stage, the golden ocean of astral energy emitted a dazzling golden light, indicating that the size of the ocean had reached a limit.

Countless starlight suddenly burst from his pores, dying him in gold. Before Lin Yun could react, the ocean of astral energy started to boil like magma, filling his entire body with power. The golden sparkles released from the ocean slowly formed into a dazzling star in the sky.

When Lin Yun opened his eyes, his golden astral energy surged to his palm, causing his eyes to shine even more brightly like fire. When he clenched his fist, the golden light and flames retracted into his fist. But Lin Yun could clearly sense the astral energy contained within.

When he threw his punch, everything within a ten mile radius began to tremble with a fluctuation spreading throughout the surroundings. When the ripples became even more violent and could no longer be seen with the naked eyes, a loud explosion occurred before Lin Yun.

“Two-star Heavenly Elysium Core Realm?” Lin Yun was surprised as he looked at the aftermath of his punch. He felt helpless because his cultivation made a breakthrough just when he was about to make a breakthrough with the Dragon-Phoenix World Annihilating Sword Canon.

“Urghhh, damn it!” Lin Yun sighed out in depression as he sat down. He had no choice but spend some time stabilizing his cultivation first since he had just made a breakthrough.

This meant that he could only put aside the Dragon-Phoenix World Annihilating Sword Canon, for now, not to mention that he had exhausted all of his resources. So there was nothing he could do, even if he wanted to make a breakthrough now. The only good news he had was that the Dragon-Phoenix World Annihilating Sword Canon was only one step away from making a breakthrough. So he didn’t need too many resources.

“Big Brother, didn’t you just make a breakthrough in your cultivation? Why are you not happy about it?” Lil’ Stone asked in a puzzled tone.

After sleeping for half a month, Lil’ Purple looked more energetic and the corner of her lip twitched while looking at Lin Yun. Lin Yun made a breakthrough in his cultivation level and technique, but he still didn’t seem too happy about it.

“This guy is a hypocrite. It’s no wonder why those in the top ten of the Earth Ranking want to give him a beating. Even this empress wants to beat him up now.” Lil’ Purple rolled her eyes while gritting her teeth.