Lin Yun held onto the Flower Burial Sword in the hall lit by candles.
“A mere swordsman in the seventh stage dares to attack me?” Feng Ye revealed a disdainful smile. He continued, “Don’t blame me for bullying you. I’ll let you go if you can take three attacks from me. Otherwise, kneel and offer me your treasures. Then, you’ll have to experience something worse than death!”
Feng Ye roared and his attitude changed drastically. His aura surged violently and his robust figure looked like a ferocious beast. When he stomped his foot, he left deep cracks on the ground. He might have a burly figure, but he was very agile. His speed wasn’t any inferior to Lin Yun’s Seven Profound Steps.
When the voice fell, his fist faced Lin Yun head-on. His fist might seem normal, but it was filled with power that could heavily injure a disciple in the ninth stage of the Profound Martial Realm. Lin Yun’s hair fluttered in the wind. Under this punch, Lin Yun was like a sapling.
But Lin Yun suddenly opened his eyes and drew his sword. Accompanied by a heavy sword buzz, the sword drew a long arc in the air like the moon. Even the gems embedded on the ceiling dimmed down under his sword.
When the tip of the sword came in contact with the punch, it produced lightning flickers. If Feng Ye’s punch was like a majestic mountain, then Lin Yun’s sword was like a bolt of lightning that shot down from the sky. It didn’t matter if there was a mountain in front of him because he would destroy it with his sword.
The two took several steps backwards after the clash. They both had shock in their eyes. Lin Yun’s right hand was trembling and he could feel his palms cracking. It hurt the moment he used a little strength in his hand, but he still grabbed onto the sword tightly.
Feng Ye’s punch had reached four cauldrons. He might even have five cauldrons worth of strength if he used his full power. Lin Yun had cultivated the Dracophant Battle Physique, so he knew how powerful five cauldrons worth of strength were. Then again, Feng Ye wasn’t exactly feeling great either.
Feng Ye was bleeding from his right hand. It was the masterpiece of Lin Yun’s quasi-xiantian sword intent. Although the bleeding might seem horrifying, it was just a small injury to Feng Ye. But the shock reflected in his eyes couldn’t be described. After all, Lin Yun was only in the seventh stage while he was in the ninth stage.
Furthermore, he wasn’t an ordinary cultivator in the ninth stage, he was a bonafide genius. He could kill an ordinary cultivator in the ninth stage within ten punches.
“I can’t let you leave alive. You’ll become a calamity sooner or later.” Feng Ye’s eyes flashed, “Come, take another punch of mine! Wild Rage!”
Feng Ye’s muscles bulged and he emitted the wild aura of a demonic beast.
Lin Yun also chose to face it head-on and swung his sword out, destroying everything within his path. His sword was like the reflecting moon on a lake that was full of torrential aura and unimaginable explosive power.
When the two attacks clashed, the two separated once more with a grave expression. Both of their palms cracked and they were riddled with pain. Lin Yun stood with his sword as he allowed the wind to blow on his clothes.
“Interesting…” Feng Ye laughed from the pain. But just when he was about to throw his third punch, out of nowhere, a cold breeze blew through the hall and sent a chill deep into his soul.
This made Feng Ye and Lin Yun shiver. Their faces immediately changed. But before they could even do anything, a torrential demonic miasma exploded in the hall and threw Feng Ye and Lin Yun into darkness. This sudden occurrence startled both of them.
There was someone else here? They couldn’t imagine who could conceal their aura from them.
“W-w-who broke my sword!” A hoarse voice rang out in the darkness that would send chills down anyone’s spine.
Plunged into boundless fear, Lin Yun roared in his heart and tore apart the surrounding demonic miasma with his quasi-xiantian sword intent. He was like a lighthouse in the darkness that shined brightly. In the next second, light returned to the hall.
Feng Ye looked at Lin Yun gratefully. After all, it was impressive that Lin Yun could still unleash his sword intent while being suppressed by the demonic miasma. When the light returned to the hall, the two looked around cautiously.
There was an additional person in the hall, someone who should be dead. The corpse’s hand suddenly fiddled around, trying to find something.
“Demonic corpse?” Lin Yun frowned. This old man was somewhat similar to the corpse he saw back in the riverbed. It came ‘alive’ after being infected by the demonic miasma. What was so terrifying about this old man was that he actually retained some of his memories from when he was alive.
The old man suddenly raised his hand and shot out two black beams from his eyes. The killing intent harboured in the beams was filled with violence and instantly enveloped Lin Yun.
“You!” The old man slammed his palms on the ground and charged over like a monkey.
“Sword!” Lin Yun gathered his sword intent and cut down all the negative emotions that enveloped him. He had the perseverance of a swordsman who wouldn’t cower before death.
When the demonic corpse charged over, Lin Yun swung his sword out at the old man. When his attack connected, he felt like he was hitting metal. The collision drew a long mark and an ear-piercing noise.
The Aquaselenic Sword’s aura rippled out from Lin Yun’s body. He no longer fought the demonic corpse head-on and poured his sword aura into the corpse’s body without any warning. He was agile and slippery like water, so the demonic corpse couldn’t do anything about it.
“Annihilation!” After dozens of swords, Lin Yun returned to the ground. The sword aura left in the corpse’s body suddenly converged together and exploded from within. With a mournful howl, the demonic corpse was blown away before falling onto the ground.
“It’s still not dead?” Lin Yun frowned. He wasn’t holding back when he attacked earlier, but he never expected that the demonic corpse would still be alive.
The demonic corpse roared and turned to Feng Ye. It turned into a black blur and dashed forward, stretching out his hand at Feng Ye.
When Feng Ye saw how easily Lin Yun dealt with the demonic corpse, he barked, “Get lost!”
His punch left a hole in the demonic corpse, but at the same time, the demonic corpse’s nails dug into his chest. Feng Ye would have his heart gouged if he was half a second late. Looking at the blood pouring out of his chest, Feng Ye’s face turned pale and beads of sweat rolled down his face.
He almost died there. Ever since he came to the Demonlotus Realm, he was the one who had done the killing. He had never had such a close encounter with death. This was something that he hadn’t expected. When he turned to look at Lin Yun, he looked at Lin Yun with a strange gaze. He couldn’t figure out how Lin Yun handled the demonic corpse so easily.
However, Lin Yun paid no attention to Feng Ye. When he saw the hole on the demonic corpse, he dashed forth with the Seven Profound Steps and swung his sword.
He left behind nine afterimages and each afterimage swung out eighty-one swords that pierced through the demonic corpse. When the demonic corpse exploded, it left behind a Demonlotus Core.
“Four petals?” Lin Yun’s eyes lit up and he grabbed onto the core. Four petals were rare and the energy they contained even tempted Lin Yun.
“Give it to me!” Feng Ye dashed forth with greed in his eyes.
Lin Yun executed the Seven Profound Steps to increase the distance between him and Feng Ye. This made Feng Ye furious when he missed his attack. At the same time, he became even more anxious when he looked at the four petals Demonlotus Core. He nearly had his heart gouged earlier, but he seemed fine from his injuries.
“Wait!” Lin Yun frowned. He didn’t want to fight with Feng Ye and he suggested, “You also contributed to killing the demonic corpse. I won’t take advantage of you. There’s still one more treasure here. You can have that.”
“What treasure?” Feng Ye’s interest was piqued when he heard it.
“The mat.” Lin Yun pointed at the mat that the demonic corpse had sat on.
“Are you messing with me? How can this garbage possibly be comparable to the four petals Demonlotus Core in your hand?” cursed Feng Ye.
Lin Yun was speechless when he heard that. How could a mat used to cultivate in ancient times be garbage? As long as the mat still had 10% of its effects left, it would be better than the Demonlotus Core in the long term.
Feng Ye might be strong, but he seemed to be lacking in his heart. It was fine if he was lacking in the head since Lin Yun could kill him. But Feng Ye was strong, which was the root of the problem.
Lin Y un fell into deep thoughts for a moment before he suggested, “Since that’s the case, then how about you have the Demonlotus Core, and I’ll have the mat? If you insist on having them both, then there’s no way we can continue our negotiation…”
Lin Yun still lacked resources to make his breakthrough and he desperately needed this Demonlotus Core. But he wouldn’t suffer a loss even if he took the mat.
Feng Ye fell into deep thoughts. It was naturally great if he could take both the core and mat. But he couldn’t help feeling fearful when he recalled Lin Yun’s sword aura. Lin Yun was like his nemesis. After all, the sword aura felt worse than fighting with one of the eight titles. He knew that he would have to pay a price if he wanted to kill Lin Yun.
“Okay. Deal, but I want the mat instead.” Feng Ye retracted his aura and grabbed the mat. Before he even had the time to look at it, a secret passage suddenly opened in the wall.
Lin Yun quickly guessed that it was due to the mat and he wasn’t surprised by it. This underground palace had many similar designs. The two of them didn’t think too much about what just happened and entered the secret passage. Very quickly, two paths appeared before them.
“You can have the first pick.” Lin Yun looked at Feng Ye. He had no idea where the passage would lead him and there might be more treasures up ahead. It was best for them to take each path alone rather than fighting again when they encounter more treasures.
Coincidentally, Feng Ye also had the same thoughts. He replied, “You pick first.”
Lin Yun examined the two passages briefly and headed to the right without any hesitation.
Right at this moment, Feng Ye’s eyes flashed with a cunning glow and he barked, “Get lost. This one is mine.”
Lin Yun smiled inwardly. He thought Feng Ye had suddenly become smart when he picked the mat instead of the core, but he now understood that Feng Ye was all brawl and no brain.
Feng Ye probably felt that Lin Yun would pick the best option around and snatched it over without hesitation. This was also the reason why he snatched the passage after Lin Yun made his pick.
“As you wish.” Lin Yun turned into a blur and disappeared into the left passage.
Looking at Lin Yun’s figure disappearing in the passage, Feng Ye’s face flashed with ferocity, “You’re too tender trying to trick me into the dangerous passage.”