What do you mean by ‘do your best?’ Gu Beixuan was unhappy with Lin Yun’s attitude. That was a half-hearted reply. The fight for the Imperial Sword Herb was intense and brutal.
Right at this moment, Lin Qiushan spoke out, “Brother Zhong, you can’t afford to be careless. The battle for the seven Imperial Sword Herbs is intense, and I hope that you can listen to my command at that time.”
They knew that Lin Yun was powerful, but his cultivation was only in the fourth stage of the Profound Martial Realm. So there was no way he could be more powerful than the both of them combined. If it wasn’t for the intense battle for the Imperial Sword Herb, they wouldn’t have allowed Lin Yun to join them.
“Listen to your command?” Lin Yun doubted beneath the mask.
“Brother Zhong, I forgot to tell you about it before coming. We’ve already decided beforehand to listen to Lady Lin’s command in the mission,” smiled Chen Ling.
“What’s the matter? Does it feel that bad to listen to my elder sister? My elder sister practices the strongest profound cultivation technique, with her cultivation in the pinnacle fifth stage of the Profound Martial Realm. Not to mention that she’s even ranked in the thirty-ninth on the Mortal Ranking. Even Senior Brother Gu doesn’t have any complaints about that. Yet, a random person like you is…” But before she could even finish her words, Lin Yun directed his cold gaze over that sent a chill down her spine and instantly made her shut up. Lin Yan felt both enraged and ashamed. No one had ever treated her in this manner before.
“We’ll see when the time comes,” Lin Yun gave a vague reply. He didn’t think that Lin Qiushan had the ability to command him. They were only in a cooperative relationship, but a superior-subordinate relationship.
“Brother Zhong is rather aloof. I hope that you can stick with that when the battle comes.” Lin Qiushan gave a deep glance at Lin Yun and waved her hand for everyone to continue their journey. Lin Yan glanced at Lin Yun with deep resentment before she left with her anger suppressed.
“Impudent,” muttered Tian Fei before he immediately ran off timidly, chasing up to Lin Yan.
“I’m sorry about that, Brother Zhong.” Chen Ling apologized. Both Lin Qiushan and Gu Beixuan had no idea about Lin Yun’s strength, so they only felt that he was arrogant. But Chen Ling knew that Lin Yun was fully capable of rejecting Lin Qiushan.
“It’s fine as long as we can obtain the Imperial Sword Herb,” said Lin Yun. Lin Yun had no idea where the location of the Imperial Sword Herb, and he also didn’t want to reveal his identity. Otherwise, Lin Yun would’ve gone by himself.
Three days later, the intensity of the Alliance-Union Battle settled down. Those stronger disciples had already obtained the qualification to enter the second round on the first day, and most of those disciples who came trying to take advantage of the situation were eliminated.
There were no rules in the Alliance-Union Battle, and killing was allowed. So it was impossible for anyone to make it far without any strength. The remaining disciples weren’t weak, and they were used to the Burial Sword Peak’s environment and got more prudent. Along with that, the numbers of disciples being eliminated also began to decrease.
While the forest seemed calm, the observation stage outside was already in a commotion. Three days weren’t long. After all, going into seclusion was a lot longer as the time would usually be thirty days.
Disciples were sparring on the observation stage, while elders were playing with chess. The spiritual energy here was abundant, and it wasn’t any inferior compared to a treasured land. Cultivating here was more efficient. However, no one was cultivating judging from the rowdy atmosphere.
On the elders seat with Luo Feng and Bai Ting in the lead, an Elder spoke out, “It has already been three days, and I bet everyone participating in it already knows about the Imperial Sword Herb. I wonder who will obtain the first herb?”
“Isn’t it obvious? It’s clearly Chu Haoyu. He’s the first on the Mortal Ranking, so how could anyone possibly stop him?” Bai Ting replied.
“Don’t forget about Jiang Feng and Ye Xiu as well. They’ve hidden their strength.”
“It’s uncertain. The Imperial Sword Herb is dangerous, and it’ll be an intense fight if those three met up in the same Imperial Sword Herb.”
“How can there be such coincidence? But I agree with Bai Ting’s view. The first Imperial Sword Herb will definitely go to Chu Haoyu.”
Luo Feng placed the teacup down. He smiled with his eyes narrowed into slits, “I don’t think so. Who knows, the first Imperial Sword Herb might be obtained by Lin Yun.”
“Lin Yun?” Bai Ting’s heart sank when he heard that name. The other elders also became silent. Everyone knew that Bai Ting had a bone to pick with Lin Yun after the latter slew Wang Ning back in the Nine-Stars Contest. Bai Ting was in deep trouble because of that, and he was still furious about it right now.
“It’s already impressive if he can even survive the first round. He’d offended everyone on the top ten rankings, so how can he possibly survive through the first round? How can he snatch the Imperial Sword Herb if his life is in danger? Who knows, he might be hiding somewhere right now.” Bai Ting had no favorable impression of Lin Yun except resentment and killing intent. He didn’t even bother concealing it even with so many elders present.
“Why don’t we bet then? Let’s bet with 1,000 second-grade spiritual jade. You’re going with Chu Haoyu, while I’m going with Lin Yun,” smiled Luo Feng.
“Sure. Add another 1,000 spiritual jades to the bet,” smiled Bai Ting. His smile was sinister, and he was confident that Lin Yun wouldn’t dare to show himself to snatch the Imperial Sword Herb right now.
“So be it,” laughed Luo Feng. He was also confident in Lin Yun. He knew that Lin Yun would go after the Imperial Sword Herb if he knew about the miraculous effects of it. Lin Yun was someone who even dared to snatch the five star A-ranked missions, not to mention an Imperial Sword Herb.
Very quickly, the bet between Bai Ting and Luo Feng soon spread out. After all, the first round wasn’t just about eliminating disciples, but also the fight over Imperial Sword Herbs. It was without a question that the designated locations for the Imperial Sword Herbs would be drenched in blood.
The Imperial Sword Herb was perfect upon being used with the Swordcloud Core, and it was a temptation that no elites could resist. The outer disciples on the observation platform began discussing excitedly and someone even went as far as opening a bet for it.
“Come and bet who’ll obtain the first Imperial Sword Herb!”
“Isn’t that obvious? It’s definitely Chu Haoyu. I’ll place my bet on him!”
“The rate is too little for Chu Haoyu, and it’s meaningless to bet on him. I would rather bet on Jiang Feng and Ye Xiu.”
“Why don’t you say that the rates for other elites are higher?”
“Hehe, so what if the rates are high? Look at Lin Yun’s rate, it’s 1:10. But do you even dare to place your bet?”
“Who dares to bet? He hasn’t been seen for the past three days. The top ten on the Mortal Ranking are after him, and they’ll probably abandon the Imperial Sword Herb to go after him if he dares to show up.”
The disciples of the Locket Mountain’s faces were unsightly. Mo Cheng cursed, “These people are too much! I’ll go and speak with them. Junior Brother Lin is still alive, and they’re all cursing him.”
“It’s their mouth, so let them say whatever they want. Who’s the banker for the bet? Place 50,000 spiritual jades on my behalf,” smiled Xin Yan.
Mo Cheng’s face turned ugly. He then said with little confidence, “Senior Sister, is there a need for you to do that?”
“I’m confident in junior brother,” replied Xin Yan with a brilliant smile on her face.
In the end, Mo Cheng could only go and place the bet of 50,000 spiritual jades on Lin Yun helplessly. It was an astronomical sum, which startled everyone.
When the news of Xin Yan placing her bet on Lin Yun, Wang Yan swept his glance over, and he sneered, “You must be dreaming. Place a bet of 100,000 spiritual jades on Chu Haoyu. Make her lose everything!”
Xin Yan still probably had no idea that he had issued a bounty on Lin Yun. So how would he dare to show himself with so many eyes after him?
In the Lone-Star Alliance, Feng Chuan asked, “Are we going to bet on Ye Xiu?”
“Bet on Chu Haoyu. Ye Xiu probably won’t reveal much of his trump cards in the first round. And let’s not waste Xin Yan’s effort for wanting to give us money,” smiled Feng Chuan.
Something similar was taking place among the alliance-unions, and everyone’s attention on the Imperial Sword Herbs was unprecedented.
In the Burial Sword Peak, everyone gradually approached the respective designated locations for the Imperial Sword Herbs. Lin Qiushan’s party also started to face more difficult opponents. The difficulty also started to increase even with Lin Qiushan and Gu Beixuan making their moves.
Just when they were about to approach one Imperial Sword Herb’s designated location, three figures appeared before them without a sign. The three figures swept a glance at the group before they left swiftly.
“It’s the Gentlemen Union again. They’re really annoying. They’re practically everywhere looking for Lin Yun.”
“But there doesn’t seem to be any results judging from their progress.”
“Lin Yun must be hiding since there hasn’t been any news on him despite the heavy reward. I bet he won’t show up in the first round.” Everyone from the Will-o'-Wisp Alliance and Flamemoon Alliance casually chatted among themselves.
Everyone knew about the bounty the Gentlemen Union issued on Lin Yun. Tian Fei peeked at Lin Yun with a cold light flickering across his eyes before he whispered to Lin Yan, “Lin Yan, what do you think about the possibility of this fellow being Lin Yun?”
“Him?” Lin Yan looked at Lin Yun with disdain before she burst into laughter, “You must have an issue in your mind. He’s a nobody, so how can he possibly be compared to Lin Yun? Lin Yun killed Wang Ning when he joined the sect and rang the Phoenix Plum in barely half a year. How can a monstrous genius like him be compared to this person over here?”
Her tone contained her revere for Lin Yun. Then again, it wasn’t surprising because of how quickly Lin Yun rose up in the outer sect. He first flew Wang Ning before killing Ye Liuyun with the Overlord Sword.
Two months ago, he even rang the Phoenix Plum and embarrassed everyone in the top ten on the Mortal Ranking. For such a talent like Lin Yun, there were people looking up to him despite not uttering a single word. Her voice was loud, unlike Tian Fei, and it was heard by everyone in the three alliance-unions.
In the next second, everyone turned their gazes to Tian Fei, looking at him like an idiot. After all, how could Zhong Yunxiao possibly be Lin Yun? Lin Yun wasn’t even one-tenth comparable to Lin Yun. This made Tian Fei feel embarrassed and no longer dared to speak.
“The Imperial Sword Herb’s designated location is up ahead.” Lin Qiushan suddenly spoke out from the front and drew everyone’s attention over.