“The Ling Clan? Ling Ruyu?” Lu Yun nodded. “I know you. You were one of the geniuses at the Dusk Tournament.”
During the tournament two years ago, the newcomer had proven himself to be a genius second only to the five youth sovereigns.
“The Dusk Tournament?” Derision passed through Ling Ruyu’s face. “Do you still fancy yourself the top youth sovereign and the greatest cultivator beneath the heavens?
“You, Lu Yun, have been eliminated by the times.” He flung open his arms in a grandiose manner as he spoke, unleashing a tremendous swell of power that seemed to contain the presence of the heavens and imbued him with the power of the land.
Shock and dismay crossed the faces of the immortals around him. This wasn’t a true show of power, but a mere display of his cultivation realm—the true realm of heaven and earth.
He could perceive the void with one’s nascent spirit!
With Mo Yi’s void realm method as a guide, numerous geniuses of the immortal world and many other worlds over had pioneered their own methods and broken through to the perceived void realm.
Wu Tulong, Zi Chen, and Mo Qitian had created their own methods and made their breakthroughs long ago, followed by Ling Ruyu and his peers.
Given that the Dao Flower yet remained, cultivators who ascended to the void realm could now not only create their own methods, but also gain the flower’s blessing, enabling them to understand the world a little bit better.
The later one ascended, the fewer benefits they’d gain from the flower.
Although Lu Yun had made several breakthroughs in a row and reached peak transformed spirit realm, Ling Ruyu felt that anyone who hadn’t ascended to the perceived void realm were obsolete relics, discarded by the times.
The previous foremost youth sovereign was now floundering in a vat of mediocrity, and those who hadn’t ascended to the void realm would never understand how great it was. The crowd of immortals around him were nothing but fake immortals, false bearers of the title.
“Two years ago, you made a striking debut in the Dusk Tournament and defeated all the young geniuses in the world of immortals, earning yourself the title of top cultivator.
“Half a year ago, you stunned the world by slaying unknown creatures to defend the Dao Flower… and now, you’re just an average nobody.” Pride tinged Lin Ruyu’s expression, colored by a hint of derision. “Refining items in the North Sea? Have you already noticed that you’ve fallen behind in cultivation, so you chose to focus on a supplemental path instead?
“You should surrender our ship if you know what’s good for you, Lu Yun!” exclaimed a golden immortal from behind Ling Ruyu. “Then Master Ling may be in a good enough mood to teach you a thing or two and help you ascend to the void realm!”
Thud!
Frowning, Lu Yun turned back and glanced at the Panorama Pavilion branch. With a wave of his hand, he manifested an extravagant fortress ship that was hundreds of meters long.
This wasn’t the ship he’d taken; that one had been shattered during his battle with Jiangchen Wushang and had later been renovated into the Divine Glory by Huangqing and Feinie. This was another fortress ship the two envoys had later refined.
“Oh? Isn’t Lu Yun the domineering sort, quick to fight back and even kill? He’s deciding to return the ship just like that?” It surprised many to see him return a high-class fortress ship to the Ling Clan.
Was Lu Yun… scared?
Back in Xiankan, Lu Yun had set up a Great Formation of Heavenly Fiends and slaughtered close to ten thousand immortals. But now that Ling Ruyu had shredded Lu Yun’s dignity and demanded him to return clan property, he was doing so without complaint?
“Not this ship! I want ours!” Ling Ruyu pointed at the even larger and far more opulent fortress ship at the harbor of Immortal Sky Island.
Lu Yun had docked it there instead of stowing it away. It’d become a representative signature of his. As soon as he dropped anchor, everyone knew that he was in residence on the island.
“Hahahaha!” a peal of hearty laughter sounded. A burly man with shoulders that spanned double the average width and arms as thick as the thighs of others emerged from the building. “What a fucking shameless idiot you are, Ling Ruyu!”
“Beicang Qiong!” Ling Ruyu’s expression darkened when he saw the young man, his eyes widening with disbelief.
The void realm!
The prince known for his troublemaking ways, who did nothing with his days other than start mess after mess and attract untold troubles to the Beicang Clan, had ascended to the void realm!
It was widely believed that the young man would’ve long been killed, if it weren’t for his influential father, grandfather, and friends from a similar background as him. Who would’ve thought that this absolutely good-for-nothing would make the leap forward as well?
It was a heavy blow to Ling Ruyu’s lofty ego.
“The Ling Clan doesn’t deserve the greatest battleship in the world of immortals,” snorted Beicang Qiong. “Senior brother Lu only gave you a ship for the Panorama Pavilion’s sake. He doesn’t want to start a fight and break their rules.”
Immortal Sky Island was the pavilion’s territory, and was a place for business. All fights were strictly prohibited here. Even immortals from the three most powerful factions here—the North Sea court, the Dark North Sword Sect, and Ingress Island—had to follow the rules.
It was then that realization dawned on the crowd of immortals. Lu Yun hadn’t clashed with Ling Ruyu out of consideration for the Panorama Pavilion. Everyone knew the young man had close ties with the merchant guild.
He’d refined a Heaven Descent Pill for them, and the guild had supported and protected Dusk Province and the Lu Clan during the fifteen months that Lu Yun had gone missing. He naturally wouldn’t break their rules here.
“What did a piece of trash like you eat for breakfast to ascend to the void realm, Beicang Qiong?!” Ling Ruyu snapped out with his eyes fixed on Beicang Qiong, paying no attention to the other’s words.
He was immensely proud to be among the first batch of cultivators to ascend to the void realm after Mo Yi, and couldn’t accept the fact that Beicang Qiong had achieved the same feat. His first reaction was thinking that the young man must’ve made the leap with outside help; a push from some precious natural ingredient, surely.
“I’ll tell you.” Beicang Qiong threw his head back proudly. “Senior brother Lu beat it into me!”
“What?!” Ling Ruyu paused in befuddlement.
“I said,” Beicang Qiong smiled with honest sincerity, “I ascended to the void realm after getting beat up by senior brother Lu.”