The Sovereign's Ascension

Chapter 1402 - Thirty-Six Intents

Chapter 1402 - Thirty-Six Intents

Bai Zhanli locked his brows together and said, “It won’t be easy. He grasped the firmament sword intent, which means his comprehension isn’t poor.”

Although Bai Zhanli was also unhappy with Lin Yun, he still had his rationale. When Jiang Tian wanted to recruit the Bai Saint Clan to deal with Lin Yun, Bai Zhanli ultimately refused it, even though the Great Saint Origin was tempting. This was because he felt that to have so many Saint Clans to join hands to deal with one Lin Yun was humiliating.

He never expected Lin Yun to be able to defeat the seven princes. This made the Saint Clans into a joke on this test. Bai Zhanli didn’t want to join forces with them, but he was still from a Saint Clan. So he stood on the same side as the Saint Clans. This meant he had no favorable impression of the Fleeting Cloud Sword Sect.

“So what if he has the firmament sword intent? We're competing in our comprehension this time, not sword intent. I came prepared, and I’ll beat him for sure. Since my big brother isn’t here, I’ll be the one to take the first ranking!” Xiahou Yun snickered.

Hovering behind the blank scroll, the grey-clothed elder continued, “The sword technique in this scroll is called the Aquaheaven Sword Technique, and this stage will last for two days. So no one is allowed to leave before the second stage ends. The one who ranks first place will obtain a high-grade saint pellet. The second and third rank will obtain a mid-grade saint pellet, and those in the top ten will obtain a low-grade saint pellet.”

Everyone became agitated when they heard that. Saint pellets were divided into high, mid, and low grades. There was still a legendary monarch-grade saint pellet above them, but only heavenly spiritualists could refine them.

Even low grade saint pellets were rare in the Ancient Barren Domain. The Nine Profound Pellet that Lin Yun consumed was a low-grade saint pellet, and it helped him immensely. The effects of a low-grade saint pellet were already so significant, not to mention mid-grade or high-grade saint pellets.

Saint pellets were a resource with demand and no supply on the market, and it wasn’t easy to obtain one, even in the Sword Sect. This was the reason why everyone became agitated when they heard that. Everyone was surprised and never expected that there would be a high-grade saint pellet as a reward in the second stage.

Even Lin Yun couldn’t help becoming agitated and realized that the Sword Sect's foundation was powerful. If he could obtain the high-grade saint pellet, he might be able to make a breakthrough in the Dragon-Phoenix World Annihilating Sword Canon, allowing the heavenly dragon and divine phoenix to merge. Even if he didn’t need it, he could give it to Ye Ziling.

So it looks like he had to become first, no matter what it takes. When Lin Yun raised his head, he couldn’t see anything from the blank scroll. But when he focused on it, he soon discovered something peculiar about it. After pouring his firmament sword intent into his pupils, a lake appeared on the blank scroll.

There were tiny golden words on the lake, and it was the sutra of a sword technique. Seeing this sword technique, Lin Yun was surprised, “That’s actually a high-grade holy spirit martial technique that’s not inferior to the Fleeting Cloud 13 Swords!”

With his attainment in the sword, just a glance was more than enough for him to remember the entire sutra. A brief moment later, a person appeared on the lake swinging his sword, and the scenes changed thirty-six times in the blink of an eye.

“This sword technique only has twelve forms but contains thirty-six intents. There must also be fakes mixed within, so I must differentiate them.”

“This is really difficult. I can’t confirm what the intent of the first form is…”

“But we only have to learn three forms to make it through the test. This stage isn’t that hard, but it’s hard to make it into the top ten. You must grasp at least seven forms to get into the top ten. So it looks like it’s not easy to get the saint pellets…”

Since everyone could make it through the first stage, none of them were pushovers. So they could naturally detect the peculiarity in the blank scroll, and everyone quickly started practicing this sword technique.

One day passed and Bai Zhanli opened his eyes, looking at Xiahou Yun beside him. “How many forms have you grasped?”

“Not many. Just nine forms.” smiled Xiahou Yun.

Bai Zhanli was surprised to hear that because he barely managed to grasp seven forms. When Xiahou Yun opened his palm, a black seed emitting a faint glow was revealed, and Bai Zhanli could see the smugness in Xiahou Yun’s eyes.

“Bodhi Seed?” Bai Zhanli’s face changed, and he lost his composure. The Bodhi Seed was the treasure of all Buddhist Sects, and only a Bodhi Flower reaching ten thousand years of age could produce a Bodhi Seed that contained spirituality.

The Bodhi Seed could enhance a person’s comprehension when comprehending a cultivation or sword technique. Xiahou Yun had a high comprehension, to begin with, not to mention that he possessed a Bodhi Seed. Bai Zhanli knew why Xiahou Yun didn’t place Lin Yun in his eyes right from the beginning.

“Tell me your comprehensions, and let me look at them with you,” said Xiahou Yun.

Bai Zhanli didn’t hide it and told Xiahou Yun all of his comprehensions. When Xiahou Yun heard that, he nodded, “Not bad. Although you only grasped seven forms, you managed to comprehend the unique parts. Complementing them into my comprehensions, the high-grade saint pellet is mine! Since my big brother isn’t participating in this stage, this means the first rank is mine!”

Hearing what Xiahou Yun said, Bai Zhanli didn’t say a word because he knew that Xiahou Yun was unhappy that people were comparing Lin Yun with his big brother. So Xiahou Yun naturally wanted to find an opportunity to turn Lin Yun into a stepping stone.

“I have to comprehend the tenth form before night arrives. At that time, I’ll reach the lesser mastery in this sword technique,” smiled Xiahou Yun. Comprehending a holy spirit martial technique to lesser mastery in two days might not be unprecedented. Still, it was enough for him to be proud of it in the Ancient Barren Domain.

While looking in Lin Yun’s direction, Bai Zhanli said, “He grasped the firmament sword intent, and his cultivation speed isn’t slow. So you can’t be careless.”

As Xiahou Yun’s eyes flashed with disdain, he mocked, “Brother Bai, isn’t your eye scope a little too low? The firmament sword intent isn’t invincible. No matter what, he’s only at the Lesser Elysium Core Realm and is twenty this year. He has only been in the Kunlun Realm for a year and is merely a country bumpkin.”

While the two chatted, Lin Yun opened his eyes and multiple afterimages walked out from him. Seven of the afterimages looked identical to him, each performing a different sword form. For a brief moment, when those afterimages returned to Lin Yun’s body, it was as though nothing had happened, and Lin Yun was still seated and hadn’t budged. All he did was open his eyes before closing them.

But Bai Zhanli and Xiahou Yun had clearly seen it. It’s just that Lin Yun was so fast that ordinary people couldn’t catch up with his movements and thought he was sitting the whole time. But they didn’t know that those after images were all Lin Yun.

“It looks like he didn’t even manage to grasp one sword form…” Bai Zhanli was feeling uncertain as he looked at Lin Yun. The sword technique performed by the seven afterimages didn’t look the same, but they were all the first form of the Aquaheaven Sword Technique—Endless Clouds.

“That’s the first form, but he didn’t grasp it completely. That fellow wants to reach greater mastery in the first form,” said Xiahou Yun with a grave expression. The proficiency of martial techniques was divided into initial, lesser, greater, complete masteries, and the legendary manifestation stage.

According to the Sword Sect’s requirements, everyone just had to reach initial mastery and perform the intent contained in the sword technique, that’s all. As for whether the intent was complete, if they grasped the critical point, or if they could control it as they wished, none of that mattered.

Otherwise, no one would make it through this stage at all, and achieving greater mastery in the three forms was practically impossible. Xiahou Yun was already heaven-defying since he could reach lesser mastery in nine forms.

“That fellow is biting more than what he can chew. He’s of no concern. If he wants to reach greater mastery in the first form, he can only grasp three forms at most when sun sets. On the other hand, I will have grasped ten forms, all reaching lesser mastery. In the end, I’m still the one who will win!” Xiahou Yun smiled.

Many people have already started their tests. Since they only had to grasp three forms, many people succeeded. This stage was easier than the first stage. But the grey-clothed elder responsible for testing the participants shook his head because there were rewards for this stage.

The main objective was to get everyone into the top ten by excavating all of their potential and not just passing the second stage. If he had known this earlier, he would’ve made this stage the same as the first. It would so that those who couldn’t achieve five forms would be eliminated.

But it didn’t matter either way because the main event was in the third stage. Half of the participants would be eliminated in the third stage.

Regardless of what others thought, Lin Yun was fully submerged in cultivation as the golden human performed a sword technique in his sword ocean. Next to the golden human was an azure dragon, and the golden human had already mastered all twelve forms at the greater mastery and wasn’t far from complete mastery.

This was a high-grade holy spirit martial technique. The reason why he tested it earlier was because of the doubt in his heart. He had mastered all twelve forms and nearly reached complete mastery, but the holy spirit was nowhere to be seen.

So he suspected that the thirty-six intents in the scroll might be real, and he could only bring out the holy spirit after mastering all thirty-six intents. When he tested it out earlier, it had verified his speculation, and this sword technique had thirty-six intents.

What Xiahou Yun said wasn’t wrong. The firmament sword intent wasn’t invincible, but Lin Yun possessed a dual sword soul firmament sword intent!