Lin Yun’s words caused an uproar in the square upon seeing how he was so straightforward in agreeing to Chen Ling’s challenge. Many disciples of the Divine Firmament Peak were shocked because Lin Yun was too decisive. He didn’t look like a new disciple at all.
“That’s some courage!”
“Now that I think about it, he only joined the Sword Sect three days ago, right? Chen Ling has been at the Divine Firmament Peak for nearly three years, so…”
“Three days versus three years?” Lin Yun’s decisiveness in accepting the challenge made many direct disciples look at him differently. Swordsmen were decisive people, and they were competitive. So they wore their emotions on their faces and had straightforward characters.
So it didn’t matter if Lin Yun could win because his straightforward personality had won over many people in the Divine Firmament Peak. But one must depend on their own strength if they wanted to be respected.
Chen Ling lightly squinted his eyes as he examined Lin Yun with shock flashing through his pupils. He was now at the two-star Heavenly Elysium Core Realm, but he could reach the third-star Heavenly Elysium Core Realm if he wanted. He was older than Lin Yun, but he couldn’t help wearing a grave expression when he sensed Lin Yun’s aura.
“Honestly, it’s disadvantageous for you because I have a higher cultivation. I’ll be convinced if you can take my attacks and remain undefeated.” Chen Ling said after a brief ponder. “But I have to tell you the truth. If you lose, please give up your status as a direct disciple.”
“Come at me, then.” Lin Yun replied as dragon runes appeared on his body surface. Chen Ling didn’t only have high cultivation, but he could also practice ghost spirit martial techniques in the Divine Firmament Peak. So there was no doubt that Chen Ling was stronger than Xiahou Yan.
“Sorry about this.” Lin Yun’s indifference made Chen Ling furious and he brought out his constellation right from the start. When the painting unfolded, a divine bird flew out with golden light shining from his body. This was a vivid-looking crimson-flaming phoenix, emitting a powerful pressure and covered half the sky with flames.
Chen Ling didn’t dare to underestimate Lin Yun. Xiahou Yan, Chen Bing, and Huang Yancheng were forced to summon their constellations after they were heavily injured. If they had brought out their constellations earlier, they wouldn’t have lost so terribly.
He could sense that Lin Yun’s constellation was powerful, but he could also feel that Lin Yun hadn’t completely fused with his constellation. So there was no way Lin Yun could compete with him in terms of control. As the flaming phoenix circled in the sky, it swooped down and landed on Chen Ling.
In the next moment, a pair of flaming wings with a length of three hundred meters appeared behind him. This greatly boosted Chen Ling’s flame intent to the point where it was close to the fourth rank.
“Firmament sword intent is strong, but it’s nothing before me!” Chen Ling hovered in the air as the flaming wings behind him flapped. Whenever the wings flapped, they would release flame ripples in the surroundings.
As he reached out, a saint sword appeared in his palm and his flame intent and sky sword intent perfectly merged with it, reaching the level of firmament sword intent or even stronger. The sword’s surface also blazed with golden flames, making many people’s hearts tremble.
Lin Yun’s face became solemn when he saw this scene, and he now knew where Chen Ling got the confidence to challenge him, especially after seeing how he defeated Xiahou Yan, Chen Bing, and Huang Yancheng. It turned out that Chen Ling was pretty strong.
When the phoenix wings flapped behind Chen Ling, he swung his sword, unleashing dozens of sword rays that cut through the air that were accompanied by flames and rumbled forth.
Facing such an attack, Lin Yun had no changes on his face while he unleashed his firmament sword intent. After he clenched his fist, he threw out a punch, executing the Heaven and Earth Unite and Dragon Sun and Moon Cauldron of the Divine Solar Lunar Fist.
His punch immediately dispersed Chen Ling’s attack upon collision before his punch manifested into a cauldron. When Chen Ling’s sword rays landed on the cauldron, they caused a series of explosions but dealt no damage to the cauldron.
After blocking Chen Ling’s attack, Lin Yun threw the idea of testing Chen Ling’s strength. Since he wanted to demonstrate his strength, he naturally had to end the fight quickly. He circulated the eighteen strands of Dragon-Phoenix Sword Aura and was enveloped in a golden mist. As the Golden Crow Wings unfolded behind him, Lin Yun soared to the sky and came to Chen Ling’s side.
“Azure Dragon Grasp!” As thunderstorms converged in his palm, he also poured his dragon runes and sword aura into his palm. Shortly after, a gigantic dragon claw appeared and flew toward Chen Ling.
“Innate saint aura?” Chen Ling was surprised because Lin Yun was only at the Greater Elysium Core Realm, but he had refined so much innate saint aura. This instantly put a grave expression on his face as he retreated with a flap of the phoenix wings while he swung his sword.
“Heavenly Incineration Shadow Sword!” Chen Ling had gathered the boundless astral energy of his two stars behind this sword ray, and the sword ray was so dazzling that it made Lin Yun close his eyes.
As the sword ray collided with the dragon claw, along with a destructive aura. The sword ray left cracks on the dragon claw before the claw began to crumble like a broken statue.
“Since this attack of yours is ineffective to Xiahou Yan, how can it possibly stop me?” Chen Ling charged forth, accompanied by torrential flames.
Two-star Heavenly Elysium Core Realm was much stronger than the one-star Heavenly Elysium Core Realm. But Lin Yun didn’t panic when facing Chen Ling’s attack. He summoned the Flying Serpent, Kunpeng, and Qiongqi constellation paintings with a single thought.
When the three primitive ominous beasts appeared, Lin Yun’s aura began to surge, and the aura he was giving off wasn’t any weaker than Chen Ling, who was at the two-star Heavenly Elysium Core Realm.
As crimson flames blazed, a golden light shone in Lin Yun’s pupils. The Blood Flame Divine Rune in his heart was ignited, causing the dragon runes to ignite simultaneously. This made the dragon runes come to life as they fused to form a gigantic azure dragon.
“It’s that dragon again!” An uproar broke out in the square. Many people had witnessed Lin Yun’s strength three days ago, but they still couldn’t help being shocked to see the azure dragon again. Back then, when Lin Yun summoned the azure dragon, he instantly grasped the upper hand and suppressed Xiahou Yan. Even when he was facing three opponents at the same time, he still firmly held the advantage.
When the azure dragon opened its eyes, a ferocious aura spread out and shook the heavens.
“You can’t stop me with that!” Chen Ling gritted his teeth with determination. Even if that azure dragon was a real dragon, he would cut it apart today, no matter what! He couldn’t accept that someone had snatched his three years of hard work.
His attacks ferociously landed on the azure dragon, accompanied by a desolate aura. But the azure dragon was too powerful. No matter how the sword rays landed on it, none of them could inflict any injuries. So the sword rays couldn’t stop the azure dragon’s momentum.
Ten-odd moves later, Chen Ling threw out a mouthful of blood before he was sent flying away when the azure dragon collided with him. When he flew out, the contrast between the Lin Yun standing on the azure dragon and Chen Ling with his phoenix wings made Chen Ling look tiny in comparison, and it looked as if the phoenix wings would be torn away from Chen Ling the next moment.
This made everyone wear a grave expression, but Chen Ling had no intention of admitting defeat. He was determined to become a direct disciple, no matter what. He had worked hard for three years and passed so many tests. So he really couldn’t accept it being taken away from him just like that.
Chen Ling’s back was covered in blood as he raised his head. The saint sword in his hand blazed with golden flames as black bolts of lightning exploded. Those golden flames looked sacred but gave off a withering and destructive aura.
“This is…” Everyone on the square had their faces changed. They recognized the martial technique that Chen Ling was going to execute. The secret technique belonged to the Divine Firmament Peak, and it was extremely hard to cultivate. But once someone managed to master it, their strength would undergo a drastic boost.
One of the phoenix’s wings finally couldn’t bear the burden and was torn off, covering Chen Ling’s back with blood.
This made Lin Yun surprised because Chen Ling was really persistent. Was this the style of the Sword Sect’s disciples? This moved Lin Yun, and this also sparked his fighting spirit. After Lin Yun stretched his hand out while standing on the azure dragon, the Flower Burial Sword flew into his hand.
Chen Ling had lost a wing, but it didn’t affect the martial technique he wanted to execute. As black lightning flashed from the golden flames, it turned into a black serpent that was enveloped in the aura of death, coiling around his saint sword.
“The Divine Firmament Secret Technique—Primordial Netherserpent Sword!” A cold voice came from Chen Ling as he slashed his sword down. In the path of his sword, everything began to wither at a visible speed, with an aura of death spreading out in the form of ripples.
Lin Yun could sense how dangerous this attack was, and his face became grave. But his pupils were blazing with fighting spirit as his sword aura began to rise while wielding the Flower Burial Sword. “This is a real ghost spirit martial technique. Xiahou Yan is nothing compared to you since he didn’t deserve it…”
Since Chen Ling was also a swordsman, they would speak with their swords. Win and loss no longer matter in this battle. When Lin Yun unleashed a sword ray, his firmament sword intent exploded with dual sword souls.
