Chapter 2364 - Ancient Demonspirit Tomb
The Heavenly Sword Pavilion had branches spanning hundreds of realms. When Lin Yun raised his head, he saw ten-odd swords piercing the clouds with a person standing on each sword. They looked extraordinary and instantly attracted everyone’s gazes.
When Lin Yun raised his head, he noticed that these people were all donned white taoist robes with purple threads embroidering a sword on their robes.
They descended and arrived on the stage, stowing their swords. There were thirteen of them, and they all radiated a powerful sword intent with golden light shining in their eyes, all grasping the Divine Light Sword Intent. Anyone could tell the difference between them and ordinary swordsmen.
Even in the Heavenly Barren Realm, there weren’t many who grasped the Divine Light Sword Intent, but these thirteen had grasped it. But there was one person with an extraordinary temperament who stood out.
“That’s the Heavenly Sword Pavilion’s chief disciple, Jiang Ziyao!”
“They’re all divine disciples, and it is no wonder why they can be exempted from the two stages.”
“Jiang Ziyao’s mastery of the sword can be considered the strongest amongst the younger generation, right?”
“But if he’s placed against Flower Burial...”
“Lin Yun? How is he going to rival him? Heavenly Book didn’t even place him in his eyes!” When Jiang Ziyao was recognized, a commotion broke out from the surroundings.
“Brother Jiang, it has been a long time since we last met.”
“We pay our greetings to Chief Jiang!” Many people came forth to greet Jiang Ziyao, and even Heavenly Book went over with a smile.
Jiang Ziyao wasn’t only the chief disciple of the Heavenly Sword Pavilion, but he was polite with others and had an extraordinary temperament. He was calm since he was already used to this situation.
Heavenly Book came over and smiled, “Brother Jiang, it looks like your sword intent has improved since we last met.”
Jiang Ziyao smiled in response, but he knew this person wasn’t weak since Heavenly Book had grasped the Great Solar Dao and was unfathomable. He went straight into the topic, “You’re here first, so did anyone catch your attention?”
There were only ten quotas for the Heavenly Barren Banquet, and those from the Heavenly Sword Pavilion who came first lured attention away from him. So, he didn’t have a competitive relationship with Heavenly Book, and they could even join forces.
Heavenly Book smiled, “There are many people here, but only three are worthy of your attention. One is the Dao Sect’s Qin Yun and the other is Tuoba Hong.”
“They’re old friends,” Jiang Ziyao smiled. The Dao Sect’s Qin Yun was ranked twenty-seventh on the Brandished Dragon Ranking, and the Dao Sect’s foundation wasn’t any weaker than the Heaven’s Gate with an Ancestral Stage expert. But the difficulty of becoming an ancestral deity’s disciple was high, and he came to the Heavenly Barren Realm. After all, becoming the disciple of an ancestral deity was better than becoming a holy son.
“It’s natural for them to be here. Qin Yun possesses the Natal Dao Physique, while Tuoba Hong is a primordial beast. It would be weird for them not to be here...” Jiang Ziyao said. He asked, “Who’s the third person?”
“I bet you don’t know the third person. He’s Lin Yun, rumored to be from the Kunlun Realm and known as Flower Burial,” Heavenly Book smiled. “No one knew about him in the past, but everyone now knows him after he found ten thousand phenomena in the second stage.”
Jiang Ziyao squinted upon hearing that. Unlike others, Jiang Ziyao didn’t judge the Kunlun Realm, not to mention that the Heavenly Sword Pavilion even had a relationship with the Blue Dragon Ancestral Deity in the past. He knew many things about the Kunlun Realm, and knew it wasn’t a barbaric realm. At its prime, the Kunlun Realm was famous amongst the other realms.
“Is that him?” Jiang Ziyao relied on his sword intent to find Lin Yun. As prodigy swordsmen, they could sense each other even if they didn’t release their sword intent.
“That’s him,” Heavenly Book said. “He's even grasped the Quasi-Bright Sun Sword Intent and has been in seclusion recently, reaching the seventh-stage Saint Lord.”
Jiang Ziyao’s face changed because this meant that Lin Yun had grasped the Quasi-Bright Sun Sword Intent when he was a sixth-stage Saint Lord.
“Indeed, he’s a genius... Why is she...” Jiang Ziyao’s face suddenly changed when he saw Lin Jiangxian.
“Chief, that seems to be Lin Jiangxian.”
“I heard a commotion when she first came to the headquarters with many deities wanting to take her in as their disciple.”
“I heard that she has the aptitude to become the holy maiden...”
“Why is she with an outsider?”
“Why isn’t she coming to greet us and staying with an outsider?” Not only Jiang Ziyao but the other disciples of the Heavenly Sword Pavilion noticed Lin Jiangxian.
“It’s pretty good,” Jiang Ziyao smiled after coming to his senses. Back then, Lin Jiangxian shone brightly when she came to the headquarters, with many deities paying attention to her. If she had stayed in the headquarters, she could even compete for the chief disciple’s position or even become the holy maiden.
But it was a pity that she was too stubborn and rejected everyone. Ultimately, she offended all the clans in the Heavenly Sword Pavilion and was ‘chased’ out.
Jiang Ziyao wasn’t the chief disciple back then, and he was rejected by Lin Jiangxian when he tried to get close. He still remembered it. He had become a chief disciple now, and so did she. But one was from the headquarters, while the other was from a branch. The gap between them was akin to heaven and earth.
“Brother Jiang, you saw an acquaintance?” Heavenly Book asked.
“I guess so,” Jiang Ziyao smiled. He examined Lin Yun and Lin Jiangxian before turning to Ji Zixi with a playful gaze. He didn’t expect the talented girl from back then to become someone’s concubine, a so-called “genius of the Kunlun Realm”, which was laughable in his eyes.
“Chief, should we get Lin Jiangxian to come over? She’s at least from the Heavenly Sword Pavilion’s branch, so it’s rude that she didn’t greet us,” a Heavenly Sword Pavilion disciple said unhappily.
“Let her be. She’ll beg us sooner or later,” Jiang Ziyao said.
When noon came, everyone had finally arrived, including the top ten geniuses on the Brandished Dragon Ranking. Qin Yun and Tuoba Hong also arrived, and their appearance drew everyone’s attention; they were not any weaker than Jiang Ziyao.
A brief moment later, a huge cauldron descended with Profound Sky Venerable standing on it.
“Finally...” Lin Yun heaved a sigh in relief upon seeing the cauldron. It was the Blue Dragon Divine Cauldron, and he was worried that it might not appear again.
“It’s time, so I will announce the third stage.” Profound Sky Venerable said. “The rules for this stage are simple. I will send you guys to a tomb later, an ancient tomb of the Demonspirit Clan. There are countless fake coffins, and you are to kill them to retrieve their spirit cores. Ten spirit cores will allow you to listen to the ancestral deity’s teachings. If you obtain a hundred, we will pick ten to participate in the Heavenly Barren Banquet. If you can kill a Golden-Eyed Demonspirit, you can immediately receive the qualification to go to the Heavenly Barren Banquet.”
Everyone was briefly stunned before they rejoiced after hearing what Profound Sky Venerable said. The spirit core was the vertical eye on their forehead, a treasure that cultivators could refine and extract saint daos from.
But those who were well-informed wore grave expressions. The Demonspirit Clan might not be dead in their coffins, but they would lose their lives if they weren’t careful. That place might not be the Heavenly Barren Realm but the territory of the Demonspirit Clan, and this meant that there were many uncertainties. Then again, it was tempting that they could listen to the ancestral deities’ teachings if they managed to get ten.
Lin Yun knew that this stage was different from the previous one since they were required to fight, and they would lose their lives if they weren’t careful. During the past two tests, fights on the Heavenly Barren Saint Mountain were restricted to digging out saint origins, at best.
Lin Yun interacted with the Demonspirit Clan a lot, so he knew how terrifying they were. They were why the Heavenly Path couldn’t be reforged in the Kunlun Realm.
When everyone became quiet, Profound Sky Venerable continued, “The tomb is beyond the Heavenly Barren Realm, and I will give you guys a medal. As long as you crush it, you can return anytime. But even with the medal, this stage will be dangerous. So you guys should consider it again.”
Many people were surprised by the third stage, since no one expected that they would have to go to the Demonspirit Clan’s territory.
Profound Sky Venerable gave everyone time to consider it and make a decision.
Lin Yun’s group also began to discuss amongst themselves before Ji Zixi turned to Xiong Tiannan. She asked, “What do you think? This is your forté.”
After all, Xiong Tiannan had a love for digging coffins, and he had many coffins with him.
Xiong Tiannan bitterly smiled, “I might boast that I even dared to dig a deity’s coffin, but I don’t have the guts. A Demonspirit Clan’s tomb is different because they might only be asleep. Let’s not force it at this stage since a hundred spirit cores is too difficult, and there will be people snatching spirit cores from others.”
Lin Yun nodded. The reason the Heaven’s Gate set up this test was probably to encourage competition.
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