Chapter 281 – Swordmist Core
The platform that they were standing on was forged after slicing a chunk off the peak. It could accommodate tens of thousands of people without feeling crowded. There were more people towards the Alliance-Union Battle, and you could only see a multitude of people ahead.
The best seats were naturally taken up by Guardian Plum, Sword-Bearing Elders, the four Hall Masters, Elders, Sky Ranking disciples, and the guests that were invited here. The guests consisted of the royal clan, prestigious clans, and elites from other sects.
When Lin Yun directed his gaze over, he actually saw an unexpected person, Liu Yue. Then again, it was natural that she could be seated there with her status as the commander of the Divine Guards’ beloved daughter. When he saw all the elders on the stage, he knew that this Alliance-Union Battle wouldn’t be simple.
Lin Yun casually sat on a stone chair in the corner and looked down at the dense forest. He could vaguely hear the beastial roars echoing from the forest. Lin Yun had heard about the demonic beasts in the Burial Sword Peak. It was rumored that it was hard for demonic beasts living in the Burial Sword Peak to form their beast core, but any demonic beasts who had successfully formed their beast cores would contain horrifying sword intent.
The beast core was also called the Swordcloud Core., which could strengthen one’s sword intent upon being refined, and they were more effective than the Myriad Sword Diagram. That was the target for many disciples participating in the Alliance-Union Battle. After all, obtaining a few Swordcloud Core. was a huge fortune even if they couldn’t become an inner disciple. Furthermore, they could also guarantee their safety if they stay hidden in the dark.
Just while the discussion continued on the platform, two figures descended along with their Sword Condors, releasing a powerful aura in the Violet Palace Realm. Their aura instantly caused everyone to become quiet.
When Lin Yun directed his gaze over, he noticed that the two were the two elders whom he was familiar with, Luo Feng and Bai Ting. Lin Yun frowned when he saw Bai Ting. This old fellow had been targeting him ever since he joined the Sword Firmament Pavilion, and even tried to kill him for Wang Yan.
“Luo Feng, Bai Ting, pays our greetings to Guardian Plum, the Sword-Bearing Elders, and Hall Masters. Guardian Plum, please announce the beginning of the Alliance-Union Battle!” The two gave a bow towards Guardian Plum’s direction on their Sword Condors.
Guardian Plum nodded his head, and he spoke out, “The Alliance-Union Battle is a grand event of our Sword Firmament Pavilion, and I’m honored by everyone’s presence. I won’t go on about the Alliance-Union Battle’s rules. The Alliance-Union Battle will be hosted by Elder Luo Feng and Elder Bai Ting. There will be death in the Alliance-Union Battle, and you will be signing a Life-Death Contract by participating in it. Killing and using all sorts of means aside from cosmic artifacts are allowed.”
Guardian Plum then sat down and stretched his hand out towards Luo Feng and Bai Ting, signaling the two that the Alliance-Battle Union could begin any time. Standing on the Sword Condor, Bai Ting first swept his glance around, and his voice echoed out, “Leaders of the various alliance-unions, please hand the jade plaques to the disciples who will be participating in the Alliance-Union Battle.”
“Junior Brother, Wuyou, take it.” Xin Yan took out two jade plaques when she saw them nodding their heads. The jade plaques had the Locket Mountain’s emblem on it, with a star flickering in it. Lin Yun and Li Wuyou were the only ones participating in the Alliance-Union Battle on behalf of the Locket Mountain.
Everyone else was afraid that those in the top ten on the Mortal Ranking would implicate them into their grudge with Lin Yun. The Burial Sword Peak might be tempting, but nothing was more important than their lives. Although there were some fearless disciples, they were still advised to withdraw by Xin Yan.
Everyone from Locket Mountain looked at Lin Yun and Li Wuyou with a complicated gaze, especially Lin Yun. The Locket Mountain’s reputation rose because of him, but he was also the one who pushed them to the edge of the cliff. This Alliance-Union Battle was crucial to them, and failure would strike them with a heavy blow.
While Lin Yun and Li Wuyou dropped their blood on the jade plaques to identify it, Wang Yan swept his gaze over noticeably. The killing was allowed in the Alliance-Union Battle, and Wang Yan wanted to see how Lin Yun would die after offending the top ten on the Mortal Ranking. After all, Wang Yan had a grudge against Lin Yun for killing Wang Ning and the punishment of his broken limbs.
Lin Yun noticed Wang Yan’s gaze, but he wasn’t bothered by it. After everyone kept their jade plaques, they then came to the platform where all the participating outer disciples were gathered. The numbers were larger than everyone had imagined. There were nearly five thousand participating disciples.
This was equivalent to one-sixth of the entire outer sect, and no one knew if there were any hidden experts aside from those ten on the Mortal Ranking.
“Go in. The Alliance-Union Battle will start immediately after that.” Luo Feng waved his hand.
“How are we going to go in?” Everyone was dumbfounded. But before they reacted, a bright light radiated from beneath his feet, which formed into a complicated array. When the array began to spin faster, Lin Yun only felt his vision becoming blurred, and he found himself in a dense forest when he reopened his eyes.
The surrounding was dark and cold, which permeated with a cold aura. Through the gaps between leaves, Lin Yun could see the rough outlines of the high platform where he was previously on. The Alliance-Union Battle had started before everyone was prepared.
They should be randomly transported, or he should be with Li Wuyou right now. The first round was to accumulate thirty stars in the jade plaque. This meant that he had to defeat thirty participants and seize their jade plaques. It wasn’t something challenging for Lin Yun.
He started checking out his surroundings. He wasn’t in a rush because he wanted to be familiar with the surroundings first. But before he went far, he noticed movements in his surroundings. He noticed a few gazes on him before they swiftly left. They knew that Lin Yun wasn’t a pushover, and they didn’t dare to attack him.
“The sword tomb!” No sunlight could penetrate into the dense forest, and the horrifying sword intent emitted from the sword tomb was like a lighthouse, pointing out a direction to everyone. The final battle would take place in the sword tomb, and everyone had to rush to the sword tomb regardless if they were willing.
“Let’s hope that I can find Wuyou before heading to the sword tomb.” The forest might be vast, but that didn’t mean it was impossible to find someone if he was determined. The forest already felt unrest, to begin with. The addition of thousands of outer disciples made the forest feel even more uneasy. Along the way, Lin Yun could hear the roars coming from various demonic beasts in the process, along with sharp cries.
He speculated that those cries must be from the disciples who fell into prey by the demonic beasts. Just like how cultivators would hunt demonic beasts for their beast cores, demonic beasts would also hunt cultivators for their flesh.
Lin Yun pressed on while he searched for Li Wuyou along the way. Li Wuyou practiced the Astral Star Art, and he would emit starlight when he executed his martial techniques. So it should be relatively easy for Lin Yun to find Li Wuyou here
Suddenly, three figures appeared before Lin Yun. But their faces changed before they could open their mouths when they saw Lin Yun. They exclaimed, “It’s Lin Yun!”
“Damn it. What kind of luck is this to encounter him for our first prey? Run!”
The three came and ran in the blink of an eye. Lin Yun couldn’t even take a closer look at their appearance before they were gone.
“This isn’t working… Not many will dare to attack upon identifying me.” Lin Yun rubbed his nose and patted on the interspatial pouch, retrieving the mask he obtained from Xue Feng. When he put on the mask, his temperament underwent a huge change and his aura became innate
“ there is no way for me to be identified now…” as for the sword box that he was carrying on his back, Lin Yun wasn’t too worried about it. After all, it was common for Sword Firmament Pavilion’s disciples to carry a sword box with them.
It didn’t take long for the stars in Lin Yun’s jade plaque to reach eight. It was easier for him to find opponents after wearing the mask, and he swiftly eliminated seven participants.
Suddenly, a violent gale brushed past Lin Yun. It was a leaf infused with buzzing sword intent. The leaf flew like a streak of light that plunged itself into the tree.
“What powerful sword intent!” Lin Yun fell into deep thoughts. He could hear the battles coming from ahead, carried over by the wind. He knew that someone must be lucky to encounter a demonic beast that had formed the Swordcloud Core. He had been ignoring the fights between disciples and demonic beasts along the way, but a demonic beast with a Swordcloud Core was naturally a different story.
Lin Yun spread his arms apart and leaped onto a tree branch before his figure flashed in the forest. It didn’t take long for him to arrive at a battlefield. The battle was taking place five hundred meters ago. There were five disciples fighting a demonic beast that was shrouded in flames. It was a Firecloud Leopard, a rare fourth stage of the Profound Martial Realm’s demonic beast that was rarely found in the outside world. But in this place, it needed five outer disciples in order to fight it.
If the blue-clothed youth leading the party didn’t have high cultivation, they might not have the upper-hand in the fight. The Firecloud Leopard was heavily wounded, and it was just a matter of time for them to take it down. The outcome went as Lin Yun had expected, it didn’t take long before the Firecloud Leopard collapsed onto the ground.
“It’s finally dead!”
“A fourth stage demonic beast is actually so powerful. It’s all thanks to Senior Brother Chen or we might not be able to defeat it.”
“It must have a Swordcloud Core, judging from its powerful sword intent!”
The party disregarded their injuries with excitement on their faces. The youth leading the party was also excited. But just when they were going to bisect the Firecloud Leopard to retrieve the Swordcloud Core, the blue-clothed youth’s face suddenly changed. He yelled out, “Wait!”
Right when he spoke, he turned around and saw Lin Yun standing on a tree branch.
“Who are you?!” Everyone else was also startled when they saw Lin Yun.
“I’m Chen Ling. Who are you, and what are you trying to do by hiding yourself?” The blue-clothed youth said with a wisp of murderous aura between his brows.
“Chen Ling who’s on the forty-eighth on the Mortal Ranking who’s famed for the Thundercloud Sword?” Lin Yun had an excellent memory, so he naturally remembered everyone in the top hundred on the Mortal Ranking.
“Why are you still here since you know my name?” Chen Ling said with a hint of arrogance radiating from his brows. He naturally stood out with his ranking in the forty-eighth on the Mortal Ranking among five thousand outer disciples.
“Because I’m also not a nobody myself.” Lin Yun smiled and dashed down. He appeared before Chen Ling in the blink of an eye and threw his punch forth.