Whoosh!
Tong Hu landed gracefully on the roof of a building near where the battle had taken place. He scanned the bodies anxiously but could not find Lin Yun anywhere. The carnage was astonishing.
“I’m sorry, my boy. I came quickly as I could, but that Yun Clan brat was faster than me,” Boss Tong said to himself. He wished he could apologize to Lin Yun in person, but this would have to do.
When Tong Hu heard that the Yun Clan were on their way to get revenge on Lin Yun, he had rushed over immediately. He had planned to help Lin Yun get out of the city and was even ready to fight if he had to, but he never expected that Lin Yun would already be gone when he arrived.
With a faint smile on his face, Tong Hu muttered, “It looks like I chose the right person to sell that Heavenly Origin Pellet to. The boy’s got potential.”
As he spoke, red smoke appeared in the sky above the Clear Water City in the shape of the Yun Clan’s emblem. A commotion rose all around him as local martial practitioners poured into the streets. Tong Hu shuddered. Unaware that Lin Yun had stolen the Dragon Blooded Horse, Boss Tong could only hope that Lin Yun could make it out of Clear Water City alive.
“Godspeed, boy.”
The Dragon Blooded Horse was as irritable as it was powerful. On flat ground, was as comparable to some flying beasts. By the time the smoke appeared above the skies of Clear Water City, Lin Yun had already left the city.
After riding the Dragon Blooded Horse for two days and two nights, Lin Yun let out a breath of relief when the sect came into view.
“Let’s take a break.”
Lin Yun was exhausted. The Dragon Blooded Horse, on the other hand, seemed perfectly fine. It was off trotting around playfully in the tall grass. As he watched the horse frolic, Lin Yun reflected on the last two days. Their ride had been incredible. The horse reached incredible speeds and did not break pace once. It could have kept going for some time too, from the looks of it.
As he rested, his thoughts shifted to his upcoming battle with Zhou Yun. Knowing Zhou Yun, there was a good chance he would cripple Lin Yun on the spot. But who could save him? Su Ziyao? That was out of the question. She would probably just treat him like dirt again and it would give the sect disciples more to talk about. The gossip didn’t bother him much, but Su Ziyao would inherently be dragged into it as well.
But above all else, Lin Yun did not want to be in someone’s debt, Su Ziyao or otherwise. His eyes flickered with determination as he said, “I have to grasp my own destiny.”
Boom!
It took only seconds for him to blow through the bottleneck he had reached last time. His Pure Yang Art had made it to the fourth stage. However, he did not stop circulating the art. He hadn't exchange for mid-grade spiritual stones just to reach the fourth stage. He wanted to go even further beyond. His goal was to bring his Pure Yang Art into the fifth stage, the pinnacle.
There wasn’t any trick or comprehension required for cultivating the Pure Yang Art. If you wanted to make progress, you would just have to pour resources into it. The more resources you had, the faster you would progress. His first breakthrough had been thanks to a natural treasure; the second occurred when he took the Blood Refining Pellets. Right now, he was trying to make a breakthrough with 10 mid-grade spiritual stones.
An hour later, the 2 mid-grade spiritual stones were completely emptied. Lin Yun stretched his hand out and 2 mid-grade spiritual stones were sucked into his palm before he could even reach them.
After reaching the fourth stage in the Pure Yang Art, Lin Yun’s hunger had only grown in intensity. He began to absorb the spiritual aura from the mid-grade spiritual stones greedily, while internal energy circulated within his body. The spiritual energy nourished his body and tempered Lin Yun’s internal organs. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Lin Yun popped the Heart Nourishing Pellet into his mouth. The pellet had barely made its way down his throat before the medicinal effect fused together with the spiritual aura from the mid-grade spiritual stones and merged into his chest.
BA-BUM! BA-BUM! BA-BUM!
Lin Yun’s chest throbbed more vigorously and more violently than before. The strength of Lin Yun’s heart rose quickly, and blood rushed through his veins. In return, the other organs were also being nourished. The aura emanating from Lin Yun was incredibly strong. Gentle wind formed around him and tousled his hair. He was swiftly making progress in his cultivation.
The effects of the Heart Nourishing Pellet had completely surpassed Lin Yun’s expectations, and it had matched well with the Pure Yang Art. Supplementing each other, they pushed his cultivation by leaps and bounds. When all 10 mid-grade spiritual stones were completely absorbed, Lin Yun began permeating a red light that burned brightly in contrast to the night sky.
When he opened his eyes, his pupils dilated with strength. After absorbing all 10 mid-grade spiritual stones along with the Heart Nurturing Pellet, Lin Yun’s Pure Yang Art had finally reached the pinnacle. Climbing to his feet, Lin Yun circulated his internal energy. He balled his fist and it began to glow red from the internal energy. The aura surrounding his fist danced and flickered in a brilliant display. From a distance, one might confuse it for fire. Lin Yun was mesmerized, but not surprised. He had guessed something like this to happen once his Pure Yang Art reached its pinnacle. He had seen something similar during the battle between Liu Yunfei and Bai Yufan back then. Liu Yunfei’s Violet Cloud Art had turned his fingers into jade whenever he sent out a strike.
SSsshhrnk!
Lin Yun pulled out his sword began pouring his internal energy into the sword. He was pleased to see that the sword, too, began to glow red, illuminating the night.
“This sword never ceases to amaze. There was absolutely no resistance when I poured my internal energy into it and it seems to be containing it perfectly,” Lin Yun praised. Even well made weapons were unable to take on this much spiritual energy without losing a little. Bringing his Pure Yang Art into the fifth stage finally put him on par with Zhou Yun in terms of internal energy. Unfortunately, he was still a step away from the seventh stage of the Martial Path. Cultivating the Pure Yang Art had helped dramatically, but it had only been able to bring him to the upper edge of the sixth stage of the Martial Path.
“That’s enough for now. I can’t expect everything to go my way,” Lin Yun sighed as he held his sword.
When he turned around, the Dragon Blooded Horse had disappeared. He looked around for a short while before seeing it in the distance. Upon getting closer, Lin Yun was shocked to find the Dragon Blooded Horse chewing on the corpse of another demonic beast. After riding together for two days and two nights, Lin Yun had not expected to be confronted by such pure brutality. The horse slowed mid-chew to look at Lin Yun with ferocious, dark eyes. It’s stare penetrated Lin Yun to his core, and he fully felt the power of the beast’s killing aura. It took real strength for Lin Yun to maintain eye contract while watching the horse shred and mash the flesh of another creature between its teeth. It didn’t help that it seemed to be chewing intentionally slow as it stared into his soul.
“Let’s go,” commanded Lin Yun. While there was no doubt that horse’s stare would haunt his dreams, he knew he had nothing to fear from it. All he had to do was to leak out a trace of the tiger’s might within his body to tame the Dragon Blooded Horse completely.
He mounted the horse and spurred it forward. The Dragon Blooded Horse gleamed threateningly as it galloped across the landscape.
Lin Yun got down from his horse when he reached the gates to the Azure Sky Sect.
“Senior Brother Lin, what are you doing way out here? The second round is about to start!” called one of the disciples on guard duty.
“What?!” Lin Yun’s face sank. Did he get the time wrong? After he made his breakthrough, he spent half a day rushing over with the Dragon Blooded Horse, and the elimination round should start tomorrow. He should have had plenty of time to get there.
“Get going quickly. You might be disqualified if you’re late!”
The guard didn’t seem to be lying. Lin Yun had to hurry.
Ah,… Damn it!
Lin Yun smacked himself in the head. He must’ve spent an entire day and night cultivating yesterday. The morning he opened his eyes to was a day later than he had thought.
“Thank you, Junior Brothers. HYA!” Lin Yun hopped back on the Dragon Blooded Horse and rode off, disappearing in the distance within a matter of seconds.