The barren mountain was filled with a bleak atmosphere, and no one had expected that there would be a tomb here. A woman was standing before the tomb, and her silhouette looked pitiful before it.
No one could link this silhouette with the Bloody Rose who was so gallant in the Locket Mountain. She had always put up a strong front in front of others, but today, tears were welling up in her eyes. However, she bit on her teeth and didn’t let her tears roll down her cheeks.
“Xin Yan, don’t forget who you are!” What Wang Yan said three days ago was still resounding by her ears. Standing before the tomb, Xin Yan’s slender figure looked so fragile.
“Lass, what are you thinking about…” Xin Yan turned around to see Xin Jue walking over with a gentle smile. Xin Jue stepped forth and flicked her nose. “Why are you crying? Don’t you still have me?”
“I’m not crying.”
“Really?” Xin Jue smiled. He went up to caress the tomb and muttered to himself, “I know why you’re trying to protect him… He reminds you of yourself, don’t he? How he was bullied when he first came to the sect. Everyone comments on how ruthless you are, but I know that you have the softest heart around. Just like how you can’t bear to see the children of our servant suffering when you were young. You’ve changed over the years, but some things remained the same.”
Xin Yan looked at her brother’s back figure and cried out, “Big Brother…”
“Haha, I’m saying that you’ve gotten prettier. Don’t overthink.” Xin Jue turned around and smiled, “Just that you’ve become more fierce, and I’m worried if you can even get married in the future.”
“Big Brother!” Xin Yan blushed.
“Hahaha! Let’s go back.”
“Okay.” The two left, but Xin Jue turned around to look at the bleak tomb before he left: Tomb of the Great Qin Empire’s General, Ye Yuhan.
“Father, I promised you that I won’t let her suffer even the slightest grievance and protect her smile with my sword.” The smile on Xin Jue’s face disappeared when he looked at the tomb with his eyes filled with determination.
Lin Yun immediately started practicing the Seven Profound Steps when he got back. The Divine Sunchasing Art wasn’t just a movement technique, but it also had offensive techniques. The movement technique was only a small portion of it, and the Seven Profound Steps was derived from a small portion of that small portion.
It was a martial technique on the same level as Overlord Sword. He heard that the Violet Palace Realm’s version of the Seven Profound Steps was even more terrifying, but it was far from his reach. The Seven Profound Steps was also divided into four grades, initial, lesser, greater, and complete mastery.
The initial mastery was also known as entering the threshold, and you would need more practice to achieve lesser mastery. It had a high requirement on comprehension, and talented people could obtain lesser mastery with it in a day, and those with poorer comprehension would have to take half a month or even half a year.
But if you couldn’t achieve initial mastery with it no matter how long you tried, that means that your comprehension was lacking. With that said, since reaching the lesser mastery was so difficult, reaching greater mastery would only be more challenging.
You had to comprehend this technique’s true intent, and those without comprehension might spend five or ten years without any improvements. But the Seven Profound Steps would be brought to a whole new level upon reaching greater mastery. You would be like the Golden Crow spreading its wings with one step.
The Seven Profound Steps wasn’t weak, and even in lesser mastery, it was a lot stronger than many other movement techniques on the same level. For example, the Fierycloud Steps that caught Lin Yun’s attention previously were inferior to the initial master Seven Profound Steps even after greater mastery. This was the difference in their level.
Lin Yun spent the remaining days practicing in the Seven Profound Steps. He had to admit that entering this martial technique’s threshold took him ten days even with his comprehension. But this had only riled up his fighting spirit.
He also didn’t forget to cultivate the Iris Sword Sutra and Age Sutra, making steady progress in his cultivation in the second stage of the Profound Martial Realm. Aside from that, he also made progress in the Dragon-Tiger Fist by sparing with disciples in the Locket Mountain. Occasionally, he would also exchange moves with Xin Yan and listen to lectures from the elders.
After all, the elders were naturally more experienced. With him noticing, the chill in the mountain range had disappeared, replaced by the warm spring. Lin Yun had also spent half one and a half months on the Seven Profound Steps.
“It has already been three months since I joined the Sword Firmament Pavilion…” Sunlight shone through the gaps between leaves onto Lin Yun’s face as he looked at Li Wuyou’s residence. Li Wuyou kept to his word and stayed secluded until he made a breakthrough.
“Time passes quickly. But, fortunately, I managed to make full use of my time.” Lin Yun suddenly took a step forth and threw a punch without any signs beforehand, creating a bizarre scene. Lin Yun’s fist was actually hitting himself, and it turns out to be an afterimage left behind by Lin Yun.
Leaving afterimages wherever he goes was the sign of the Seven Profound Steps reaching lesser mastery. Lin Yun took a total of seven steps forth, leaving behind seven afterimages. But if you look at it closely, the afterimages only lasted for a second before they disappeared. However, his punches were unbelievably fast, and he could always manage to destroy his afterimages before they disappear.
“I’ve finally reached lesser mastery in the Seven Profound Steps in forty-five days.” Lin Yun let out a long breath. He wasn’t satisfied that he only managed to reach lesser mastery after spending such a long time. But he felt relieved when the Seven Profound Steps reached lesser mastery, and he could combine it with the Dragon-Tiger Fist.
I can now create an afterimage with every step, and I can take seven steps in the blink of an eye. Even Fu Lingtian will have to destroy my seven afterimages if he wants to hit me. And by the time he destroys my afterimages, I can choose to run or attack as I wish. Lin Yun fell into deep thoughts, recalling his meeting with Fu Lingtian, the Eight Vajra’s leader.
As for others, it would be a problem if they could differentiate him from the afterimages, and ordinary cultivators in the third stage of the Profound Martial Realm wouldn’t be able to last a single move.
“Lin Yun!” A familiar voice called out that woke Lin Yun up from his thoughts. When he turned around, he saw Huangfu Jingxuan walking over.
Lin Yun went up, and he smiled, “Brother Huangfu, it has been a long time since we met. Do you have anything to be looking for me?”
Huangfu Jingxuan began to examine Lin Yun, who realized that he couldn’t see through the latter anymore. He smiled, “The Contribution Hall is issuing missions to disciples in the Mortal Ranking today. I’m here to invite you to take a look with me, but you don’t seem interested.”
“The Contribution Hall’s mission?” Lin Yun recalled this, and he smiled, “I already had that intention a long time ago. Come, let’s go and take a look.”
After all, he couldn’t possibly stay in the Locket Mountain all the time. He needed actual improvements in the Seven Profound Steps, Dragon-Tiger Fist, and the Overlord Sword.