Lin Yun looked at Tang Yan in deep thought as he entered the city. When he handed over thirty astral pellets, he noticed the indifferent expression of the other party. It looked like he was right, things weren’t as simple as they seemed.
When they entered the city, they could sense that the spiritual energy was a lot clearer. In fact, astral energy from the spiritual energy didn’t have any impurities or demonic aura. When Lin Yun looked around, he noticed a stone pillar at the center of the city. The stone pillar was engraved with a dracophant that emitted an ancient aura. From afar, it looked like a genuine dracophant was on the pillar.
The ancient stone pillar emitted a powerful aura that enveloped the city in a dome enveloping. The dome isolated the demonic aura outside and refined the astral energy in the atmosphere.
“What pure spiritual energy!”
“The spiritual energy here is a lot stronger than outside the city. It’s like the difference between heaven and earth.”
“Paying 30 astral pellets was worth it. We can refine that amount in just a few nights.” All the cultivators rejoiced when they entered the city. Right at this moment, cultivators looked at the newcomers through the windows of the houses. Some shook their heads while some sneered.
There were many houses in the city, so the Profound Amber Realm’s party soon found a residence.
Fang Shaoyu’s low spirits disappeared when he entered the house. “This is the beginning of the Heavenly Path. Right now, it’s important that we accumulate enough foundation to make a breakthrough to the Heavenly Soul Realm. Otherwise, it will be hard for us to compete for opportunities and treasures.”
Zhu Qingshan and Zhao Chen nodded their heads in agreement. This was also the reason why they didn’t make a breakthrough in the Profound Amber Realm. They wanted to accumulate their foundation in the Heavenly Path before making a breakthrough. The Heavenly Path had become a kind of heaven for them since the astral energy was unbelievably dense. Their plan was to absorb enough astral energy to make a breakthrough.
“Don’t start any conflicts with the Flamecloud Realm. Bear with the grievances…” When mentioning the Flamecloud Realm, Fang Shaoyu’s eyes flashed with a trace of fear. Clearly, he had suffered a huge impact after watching the fight on the city wall. The challenger wasn’t any weaker than him, but the challenger was instantly incinerated by Tang Yan.
“Lin Yun, you understand me, right?” Fang Shaoyu frowned and looked at Lin Yun. The others also turned to look at Lin Yun, especially Yu Haotian, who wore a playful expression.
Lin Yun was briefly stunned before he laughed inwardly. Fang Shaoyu was clearly afraid that he would go looking for trouble. Fang Shanyu was a really bizarre fellow. How could he be so timid as the Profound Domain’s champion? If he knew that Lin Yun was interested in learning Flamecloud Realm’s fortune martial technique, he would probably have a stroke.
Lin Yun didn’t reply to Fang Shaoyu and only said, “Did you guys see the strange looks that we got throughout the city?”
“Of course.”
“I neglected it earlier because I was shocked by the boundless spiritual energy in the city. But now that you mentioned it…” Zhu Qingshan and Zhao Chen’s faces changed when they heard that.
“It was a little weird. Qingshan, we’ll go find out more information. As for the rest of you, stay here,” said Fang Shaoyu. The group didn’t have to wait long before Fang Shaoyu and Zhu Qingshan returned. Fang Shaoyu came back with an ugly look on his face. Although no one could see Zhu Qingshan’s expression because of the mask, everyone could tell that their situation wasn’t simple from Fang Shaoyu’s face.
“What’s going on?” Zhao Chen asked.
Fang Shaoyu’s face paled as he tried to come up with the right words, but he couldn’t make a sound. Zhu Qingshan spoke up, “Those bastards are treating us as livestock. We have to submit 1,000 astral pellets if we want to leave. Otherwise, anyone who leaves without permission will be killed.”
Zhao Chen’s face changed as he sucked in a cold breath. It would take at least half a year to refine 1,000 astral pellets if he gave up cultivating. If he didn’t have a fortune martial technique, it would take even longer. Who knew how long it would take for them to accumulate enough to reach the Heavenly Soul Realm?
“We can’t stay here any longer. Let’s take the chance to leave at night,” said Zhao Chen.
Fang Shaoyu shook his head and sighed, “That’s impossible. The Flamecloud Realm is considered one of the strongest intermediate realms. They’re a lot stronger than our Profound Amber Realm. They have over thirty quotas for the Heavenly Path and they control about four to five cities. Tang Yan isn’t even the strongest person from the Flamecloud Realm.
“There’s a person by the name of Nangong He in the Dracophant Pillar. Most of the astral pellets go to him and no one knows how strong he is because he’s been in seclusion the whole time. He only made his move once. The strongest experts from ten different realms who had fortune martial techniques tried to kill him. They waited until they reached the Heavenly Soul Realm to make a move. However, all of them ended up dying and their corpses were hung on the city wall. After that, no one dared to try anything…”
According to Fang Shaoyu, the Flamecloud Realm didn’t suppress everyone. They happily absorbed some people as their lackeys. Unfortunately, this meant that the city wall was well guarded throughout the day and it would be impossible to sneak away. Anyone that tried to go up the city wall would be killed.
After hearing Fang Shaoyu’s explanation, everyone understood why his reaction was so bad. Lin Yun had already expected this, so he wasn’t surprised. Everyone else was just too naive.
The competition between the realms was brutal. Since there were no rules, the one with the biggest fist naturally had the ability to make the rules. With the silence, Lin Yun returned to his residence. The houses were forged with rocks, so they looked crude. However, there were some houses that were better, but those were occupied by the Flamecloud Realm and their lackeys.
The sky was dusky at night and a flawless full moon hung high in the sky. It emitted a demonic aura that could absorb one’s soul. In the room, Lil’ Red was practicing the cultivation technique given to him by Yue Weiwei. Ever since this little fellow started cultivating, it had become a lot more quiet as if it was undergoing a transformation. Lin Yun was excited to see how strong Lil’ Red would get.
With a flash, Lin Yun quietly left the room. He moved across the roofs while retracting his aura. It didn’t take long for him to approach the pillar at the center of the city. The dracophant coiling around the pillar was larger than he imagined and he saw someone seated on the dragon claw.
Lin Yun couldn’t get a clear look at the person because they were enveloped by the dragon claw. However, the person was definitely Nangong He, the terrifying existence that Fang Shaoyu talked about. No one had seen his true appearance before, but everyone knew his ferocious name, which planted a seed of fear in their hearts.
Fang Shaoyu and the rest couldn’t even defeat Tang Yan, not to mention someone more terrifying than Tang Yan. The location of the dragon claw wasn’t high, but there was a terrifying aura emitted out from it. Lin Yun instantly knew that this person was a lot stronger than Tang Yan.
Hmmm? Lin Yun was surprised because he realized that Nangong He was only in the quasi-Heavenly Soul Realm. With the amount of astral pellets he should have received, it was more than enough for Nangong He to reach the Heavenly Soul Realm.
Why is he only in the quasi-Heavenly Soul Realm? Lin Yun realized that Nangon He was trying to reach the limit of the quasi-Heavenly Soul Realm. It was hard for anyone to reach the limit as it required an astronomical sum of resources and patience.
Since Nangong He hadn’t made a breakthrough, his limit must far exceed others. But judging from the aura he was giving off, Nangong He should be reaching his limit soon. After absorbing many astral pellets, it was unimaginable how powerful he would become after making a breakthrough.
So what’s my limit? Lin Yun became indifferent and quietly returned to the house. He sat down and circulated his Azure Firmament Sword Sutra and Iris Sword Sutra. In the next second, boundless spiritual energy started pouring into his body.
He was probably the only one in the Heavenly Path who could practice two cultivation techniques at once, not to mention that the one was a greater fortune martial technique. Since he was practicing two cultivation techniques together, Lin Yun had no idea where his limit was, not to mention he still had the Azure Dragon Battle Physique. At the very least, Nangong He was definitely inferior to him.
Four days passed in the blink of an eye as a brilliant sword hum echoed from within Lin Yun’s body. His Azure Firmament Sword Sutra had finally reached the seventh stage as the tree in his violet palace grew to 21 branches. Every single one of the branches looked like a peerless sword.
When Lin Yun slowly opened his eyes, lightning started flashing through his pupils. Although he just made a breakthrough, the aura he gave off was akin to an ancient beast awakening. The azure origin energy coursed through his meridians like dense magma.
With a single thought, the boundless origin energy in his body started surging like galloping horses.
“After reaching the seventh stage, the Azure Firmament Sword Sutra has undergone a transformation. It’s time for me to comprehend the spiritual sword intent.” Lin Yun was satisfied with his breakthrough. At the same time, he was also terrifyingly calm.
The day they had to hand over a 1,000 astral pellets was coming, but an undercurrent was starting flow within the city.