The beast tide began to retreat after the Mountainshaking Demonic Ape was killed. Aside from some small-scaled beast tides, the remaining days were calm. But everyone knew that this too was just calm before the storm.
After all, the Heavenly Soul Realm demonic beasts had yet to appear on the battlefield. So the beast tide wasn’t coming to an end anytime soon.
In the next few days, the main topics of the city were Wu Xiaotian and Lin Yun, especially Wu Xiaotian’s strength who heavily injured an overlord demonic beast. His attack even tore the demonic clouds apart, which gave everyone a deep impression of him.
He had proven to everyone that even geniuses were separated into different categories, since he was a lot stronger than Zhao Feng, Qin Yang, and Xie Yu. As for Lin Yun, he was a dark horse because no one expected him to shine so brightly.
They might not have known his name before, but now they were very clear on his identity. Furthermore, people also found out that he was the one who slaughtered the seven geniuses of Skymound City, which gave them another shock. When they connected that news to the image of him killing ten quasi-Heavenly Soul Realm demonic beasts, they were in awe.
But the icing on the cake was when he killed Mountainshaking Demonic Ape that not even Qin Yang could. His heaven-defying talent in the sword path was simply too terrifying. But compared to Wu Xiaotian, there was still some controversy around Lin Yun. Many people said that if Qin Yang didn’t injure the Mountainshaking Demonic Ape, there was no way that Lin Yun could kill it. In the end, Lin Yun only managed to accomplish it because of Qin Yang, so his strength wasn’t as strong as everyone had imagined.
Qin Yang was especially unhappy with Lin Yun as he claimed that he should own at least half of the Mountainshaking Demonic Ape’s beast core. But magnanimously, he said that he would let Lin Yun keep it since Lin Yun was a junior. In the end, Lin Yun was a brilliant star among the newly risen talents with the power to fight against monstrous geniuses. Because of this, everyone was looking forward to seeing how Lin Yun would shine during the Draconic Banquet.
But Lin Yun didn’t know about that as he went into seclusion after returning to Swordmire City. Seven days later, when the light of dawn peaked through the demonic clouds and barely brought light to Swordmire City, Lin Yun slowly opened his eyes.
Underneath him was a brilliant flower that emanated an ancient aura. When Lin Yun opened his eyes, the silver Iris Flower slowly dissipated. He was also shrouded in fireflies that represented his quasi-spiritual sword intent.
Lin Yun let out a long breath as he looked out and saw a towering palace that stood like a sword in the city. This architecture was Swordmire City’s style and embodied the sword’s sharp aura.
“In just seven days, I managed to master Supreme Dominance and Terranean Destruction. But I still haven’t made any progress in my quasi-spiritual sword intent.” Lin Yun stood up and walked to the window. He had also made some progress in his greater Yin-Yang stage, along with the Azure Dragon Enneaform.
There was a clear improvement in his overall strength after fighting the beast tide aside from his sword intent. Right now, his sword intent felt like a gulf that he couldn’t cross. Simultaneously, he could feel that killing wouldn’t be useful to him anymore, so he made a decision to leave before the final battle.
After all, there was no need for him to stay here now that he reached his pinnacle. He had to find another path to make a breakthrough in his quasi-spiritual sword intent. But right at this moment, resounding beast roars echoed from outside the city as the roars sounded even more terrifying than the battle one week ago. Instantly, Swordmire City was shrouded in darkness.
“There’s more movement?” Lin Yun leaped out of the window and perched on the highest building nearby. There were dozens of black pillars condensed from demonic aura soaring into the sky. Each of them were pitch black.
More people also started to gather towards the city wall after Lin Yun left his courtyard. It didn’t take long for the crowds to fill the city wall completely. Compared to the previous battle when the atmosphere boiled with excitement, the crowd was much more grave.
“The beast king will probably come out, along with Heavenly Soul Realm demonic beasts,” muttered Lin Yun. From the terrifying fluctuation, this would probably be the final battle, which the Heavenly Soul Realm experts from Thunder Prefecture would have to participate in. This meant that his strength wouldn’t mean much on such a battlefield.
“Time to leave.” To many geniuses, this final battle was attractive. It was a chance for them to make a breakthrough if they fought with the beast king. Lin Yun, however, wasn’t tempted by this.
Just when Lin Yun was about to leave, two pairs of crimson gazes fell on him and in the blink of an eye two figures stood in front of Lin Yun. The figures were Wu Xiaotian and Ji Wuye who were both smiling at him. Although Ji Wuye was smiling, his gaze was complicated.
Why are these two looking for me? Lin Yun raised his head with caution.
“Lin Yun, we have no ill intentions. My senior brother wants to meet you,” explained Ji Wuye as he showed goodwill.
Wu Xiaotian revealed a sinister smile and raised his brow, “Brat, everyone is heading to the city wall, but you don’t seem interested. Are you trying to run from the battle?”
Lin Yun didn’t acknowledge his words, but he didn’t refute those words either. In terms of killing demonic beasts and saving ordinary people, Wu Xiaotian might not be better than him. So Wu Xiaotian had no qualification to say those words to him, but Lin Yun couldn’t be bothered to argue with him.
“You really want to leave?” Wu Xiaotian retracted the smile on his face. “Isn’t this too much of a pity? I heard that all the geniuses in Thunder Prefecture will gather today and someone among the three kings and seven elites might even show up. There are at least ten people in Thunder Prefecture who aren't any weaker than me. There are also a few monsters from the Indigomoon Elysium. Don’t you want to take a look at them?”
“I’m only interested in the three kings and seven geniuses, but it no longer matters now,” said Lin Yun. If someone from three kings and seven elites appeared, Lin Yun would definitely decide to stay. But he would only take a few glances at them at most.
“Not even me?” Wu Xiaotian looked at Lin Yun with a playful and sharp gaze. His gaze was filled with bloodlust and a blazing aura that could incinerate everything. This made Ji Wuye nervous as his senior brother promised that he wouldn’t make a move against Lin Yun.
Flame intent! Lin Yun instantly knew why Wu Xiaotian was so confident. So it turns out that he also possessed flame intent and was stronger than Qin Yang.
“Naturally not, but I’ve already seen you,” replied Lin Yun honestly.
“Haha, at least you’re honest.” Wu Xiaotian grinned as he retracted his aura. This made Ji Wuye feel relieved before he started cursing his senior brother for his abnormal temper.
“Have you already made up your mind? Bai Lixuan seems to be from the same sect as you and he should be coming here too. Don’t you want to meet him?” Wu Xiaotian tried to persuade Lin Yun.
“I already met him earlier.” Lin Yun replied with no ripples in his eyes. Bai Lixuan possessed the Saint Physique and his aptitude surpassed everyone in the Ancient Southern Domain, not to mention that he obtained the Azure Dragon Sword Art from the empyrean’s tomb.
“Since you’ve decided to leave, why don’t you spar with me first?” Wu Xiaotian finally revealed the reason why he came. He was a person fond of fighting and he became interested when he heard what Lin Yun did from Ji Wuye. He guessed that Lin Yun was in seclusion, which is why he waited for Lin Yun to show himself.
“Let me experience how terrifying your sword intent is.” Wu Xiaotian’s eyes blazed as he looked at Lin Yun.
“Senior brother.” Ji Wuye immediately called out.
“Don’t worry. It’s just a spar. I’ll suppress my cultivation in the spar. Flower Burial, do you mind sparring with me?” He mentioned Lin Yun’s title, giving Lin Yun respect.
“I don’t mind.” Lin Yun replied as his eyes flashed sharply. If someone showed him respect, he would respond with respect. After all, this had always been his guiding principle. Furthermore, he truly wanted to spar with someone.