Just when Lin Yun was feeling fidgety, the music became even more chaotic in his ears. It sounded even more horrible than crow cries. He couldn’t imagine how someone could play such horrible music. After all, even a beginner wouldn’t be this bad.
The music suddenly became weaker and this sudden change made Lin Yun feel even more terrible. It felt like a fly was buzzing around him, and he couldn’t kill it no matter how he tried. For the first time, a ferocious expression appeared on his usually composed face.
Soon, the ferocity turned into rage. When he felt rage, he could no longer keep it contained and it started brewing up even more. In the end, Lin Yun finally lost control of his rage and raised his leg. But just when he was about to jump, he suddenly regained his clarity. His face changed and he took several steps back.
He retreated to the cliff before he closed his eyes. But the music was still resounding in his ears and he couldn’t calm himself down no matter how he tried.
A long time later, he opened his eyes and he regained his composure. It wasn’t the music that made him run amok, but his heart. It was because his heart was already messy, to begin with. The loneliness for the past fifty days in the Repent Cliff had affected his mental state without him realizing it.
His profound vein was shattered, there was no progress in his sword technique, and there was no sign of him obtaining the complete xiantian sword intent. Although he made a breakthrough in the Age Sutra, what was he going to do with it? Could he draw spiritual runes to kill others? That was naturally impossible.
This meant that his heart was already messed up, to begin with. He has been making progress in his cultivation every day since he joined the Sword Firmament Pavilion. He reached the Profound Martial Realm, learned the Dragon-Tiger Fist, grasped the Overlord Sword, obtained the Bloodflame Fruit, and created a legend in the Demonlotus Realm.
His path had been too smooth. Every life and death he experienced allowed his strength to improve greatly. Without him realizing it, he had grown accustomed to constantly making progress in his cultivation. After all, everyone called him a genius, a monster.
This was the reason why he couldn’t accept having his cultivation slowed down, not to mention that he still had many things undone. The music was only a catalyst. Even without the music, he would still run amok sooner or later.
Undergo nirvana and be reborn? There was probably nirvana, but no rebirth. He was fortunate to wake up from his condition at the critical moment. Otherwise, he would sink into the abyss and his future would have been ruined. But where's the path for my sword?
Lin Yun looked at the sky confused. He had always given others a composed and confident impression, but he was still too young. He would still fall into confusion when he faced a dead-end.
Lin Yun took a deep breath and gradually calmed down. At this moment, the music didn’t seem as annoying as before.
Lin Yun took out the Azure Transcript a long time later. His Age Sutra had reached the second stage half a month ago and he also grasped many second grade spiritual runes in the process. He was too focused on strength and gave up on the spiritual runes just because he couldn’t use them to kill. Now that he thought about it again, he was a little too anxious.
“There’s no way a person’s path can always be smooth and it’s impossible to know everything. Let’s not think about it for now.” Lin Yun calmed himself down, no longer thinking about the music or his cultivation.
He leaned on the cliff, looking at the Azure Transcript under the clouds. The Azure Transcript had a total of thirty-six pages and every single page had paintings created with spiritual runes. It wasn’t an understatement to call it a ‘heavenly tomb.’
He should be able to gain some insight into it since the Age Sutra reached the second stage. He had made up his mind to gain something from the transcript, ignoring the background music.
Three days later, his gaze was still on the first page of the Azure Transcript. Compared to how he couldn’t comprehend anything in the beginning, he could finally see the spiritual runes hidden within it.
“This is the Blaze Rune… This is the Thundercloud Rune… This is the Sword Rune…? Interesting… It's actually made with three Blaze Runes and one Agegold Rune. The owner of this transcript is really impressive. No wonder I wasn’t able to read it previously. Back then, I didn't even know any second grade spiritual runes, not to mention using them to form an entirely new rune.”
Time gradually passed and Lin Yun was fully submerged in comprehending the Azure Transcript. He didn’t even realise that the painting on the first page was gradually clearing up.
He first saw a cracked mountain that was filled with an overwhelming sword aura. Shortly after, he saw a tiger fist. Actually, it was more accurate to call it the arm of a tiger that descended from the sky.
An unknown amount of time passed before a complete painting appeared. The palm in the painting did not belong to a human, but a tiger that shattered the mountain with its palm. There were countless rocks flying around in the painting.
“What a huge workload to draw a painting with just spiritual runes. Just who is the owner of this Azure Transcript?” Lin Yun was shocked by the painting. At the same time, information began to flow into his mind and his gaze gradually cleared up.
When he was done absorbing the information, he revealed an excited expression. He quickly closed his eyes and started to comprehend. At this moment, the profundity in the Azure Transcript was entirely within his grasp.
So the true profundity left behind by the owner of the transcript wasn’t how he drew a painting with spiritual runes, but imprinting a painting made with spiritual runes within his body. This was a secret technique that converted the origin energy within the body into spiritual runes and used them to draw a painting within the body. The painting could also be used in battles to kill enemies.
“Interesting…” Lin Yun’s eyes lit up. Ordinary people might not be able to replicate what was done in the painting even if they look through it countless times. But Lin Yun was different. He grasped the Age Sutra, and refined his origin energy with it. This was the reason why he could inscribe spiritual runes easily.
Furthermore, drawing the painting required time and patience, and no one would spend so much time putting their cultivation at risk. But Lin Yun was different. He was in the Repent Cliff and he had plenty of time and patience. Without any hesitation, he began to comprehend the painting.
Four days later, he grasped the painting in its entirety. He started forming seals with his hands and just when he was about to be done, his consciousness suddenly sank into the void. A miniature figure appeared in the Iris Flower located in his dantian that used his tiny figures to attract the eighteen runes.
The runes were manifested from age energy. As Lin Yun performed the seals, the age energy began to take form, and a painting was slowly being produced. When he was doing it for real, the difficulty had exceeded his imagination. It wasn’t as simple as inscribing a thousand spiritual runes but linking them together to form a painting. This meant the slightest mistake would equate to failure.
Lin Yun nearly succeeded several times, but he would make a mistake at the very end. This also meant his seven days of effort went down the drain.
“I failed again?” Lin Yun was exhausted after several attempts. He took out the Azure Transcript and observed it once more, not daring to miss out on the slightest detail. He was confident that he didn’t miss out on any detail. So what was the problem? Where did he fail?
Lin Yun looked at the painting for a long time before he finally found the problem. Although the painting only showed a tiger’s palm and not the entire tiger, the tiger’s aura could be found in every corner of the painting, not to mention its dominance as it shattered the mountain.
The dominance was the reason why Lin Yun failed. When he looked at it closely, he finally found some spiritual runes hidden in the painting. The spiritual runes couldn’t be found even if he felt it with his heart. He could only find it by comprehending the tiger itself.
Those hidden second grade spiritual runes were beyond profound and they filled every corner of the painting. When Lin Yun peeled everything off, he realized that they were everywhere.
Lin Yun closed the Azure Transcript and he fell into a deep silence. His admiration for the Azure Transcript’s owner was beyond what words could describe. The shock he felt made him feel another heavy setback.
“In the end, there’s always someone stronger in the world. The world is big and what I’ve seen so far is barely a small edge,” sighed Lin Yun. The Repent Cliff could imprison his body, but it couldn’t imprison his mind. At this moment, his mind had thoroughly walked out of the prison.
The exhaustion also disappeared from his eyes, replaced with radiating splendour. When the music sounded out this time, it was no longer as horrible as before. Perhaps it wasn’t the music that changed, but his heart.
Lin Yun ignored the music because he wanted to give it another attempt. This time, he was confident that he could create the painting.