As Cao Zhen left the stage, the competition finally came to an end. Those that were leaving were still deeply shocked from the battle. This battle would spread the name Flower Burial throughout the Nether Prefectural City.
As Lin Yun returned to the Heavenly Province Academy, all the disciples looked at him with respect. Tang Yu smiled as he cupped his hands together, “Thank you for your help. The Heavenly Province Academy will reward you handsomely.”
“It’s fine. You guys just have to let me observe the divine rune as promised,” said Lin Yun.
“Of course. All of us witnessed your contributions in this competition, so the academy won’t let you down. Just focus on healing up right now. You can observe it for however long you want when you’re done,” smiled Tang Yu as he stroked his beard.
Lin Yun’s eyes flashed with expectation when he heard that. His rose painting definitely held a great secret. That was the only explanation for the azure-clothed man’s origin and the ghosts that Senior Hong saw back then.
However, the one thing that Lin Yun knew was that the rose painting contained a terrifying sword technique. In fact, his sword technique would grow to terrifying heights as long as he could comprehend just a bit of it. He knew that the incomplete divine rune was the key to do this, so he was filled with anticipation.
Three days later, Lin Yun slowly opened his eyes. He had fully recovered from his injuries by relying on the Dracophant Battle Physique. In addition to recovering, Lin Yun also digested his experience from the competition. He benefited greatly from the fights, especially the last one.
Cao Zhen’s Absolutecloud Saber had left a deep impression on him. When he thought about it, he barely won the battle. Without a doubt, luck was involved in his victory.
If my swordsmanship can get stronger, I'll surely be able to beat him. Lin Yun pondered as his eyes flashed brightly. The Overlord Sword might be powerful, but it didn’t increase his swordsmanship. This was why he mostly used the Aquaselenic Sword or the Seven Slaughtering Fist in his battles.
However, he put that thought to the side because he was more concerned about when the Heavenly Province Academy would honor their promise. He also wasn’t sure if anything would happen in the meantime. After all, the incomplete divine rune was incredibly precious.
But he was worried for nothing. After knowing that he had recovered from his injuries, Mo Ling visited the next day and led him to a mysterious cave. The mysterious cave was a forbidden ground that was heavily guarded.
“This is the Qianyang Cave. This place contains all the spiritual runes the academy has collected and many of them were lost through time. As for why it’s called Qianyang, that’s because the name of the academy’s founder is Qianyang,” explained Mo Ling.
With Mo Ling leading Lin Yun, the elders standing guard naturally didn’t stop them. Many elders heard about the competition, so they looked at Lin Yun curiously with shock in their eyes. They couldn’t believe that Lin Yun was only eighteen and that he came from the Great Qin Empire.
Following behind Mo Ling, Lin Yun noticed many stone tablets everywhere. Each tablet was covered with all sorts of spiritual runes. But if one looked at them closely, they would notice that the spiritual runes weren’t disorderly. The spiritual runes were all engraved by fourth grade spiritualists.
“These are all third grade spiritual runes. There are many different types here – runes for refining artifacts, pellets, and even runes for arrays. Many of the spiritual runes here aren’t available to disciples, not even to the core disciples. Only elders who are loyal to the academy can have an opportunity to observe them,” said Mo Ling.
As they went further in, spiritual runes weren’t the only thing that Lin Yun saw. There were nine stone tablets and each one had a complete spiritual diagram recorded on it. When Lin Yun placed his foot down, he could sense the tense atmosphere.
When he walked to one of the stone tablets, he was surprised to see the Ablaze Phoenix Painting. He could even sense the terrifying power coming from it. The phoenix on the wall seemed like it could devour him whole and the only thing he could do was stare at it.
“It’s vastly different from the one I drew…” Lin Yun was shocked, but he quickly recovered. He could sense the soul energy fluctuation that was left behind by the creator.
“Nine out of the ten strongest third grade spiritual diagrams are here. All of them are complete and they were left behind by fourth grade spiritualists,” explained Mo Ling. Clearly, this wasn’t her first time here.
Lin Yun took a few glances at the other spiritual diagrams and he was shocked by the academy's foundation. The disciples of the academy had probably only come in contact with the surface of the academy’s foundation. After all, the path of a spiritualist was a dry one and only talented individuals could become third grade spiritualists before reaching middle age.
So only those elders who could endure that sort of boredom could accept the academy’s inheritance. Then again, a monstrous genius like Mo Ling definitely wasn’t like them. She wasn’t far from becoming a fourth grade spiritualist and she was an existence equivalent to the pinnacle Yang stage.
As they continued forward, Lin Yun could sense the surrounding aura gradually becoming mysterious. There seemed to be a thin fog covering the surroundings and he could also sense danger.
“ Spiritual array…” Lin Yun instantly figured out that he had entered a spiritual array. Therefore, he didn’t dare to move carelessly and followed Mo Ling closely.
“We’re here,” said Mo Ling.
But when Lin Yun raised his head, he didn’t see anything special about this place. But suddenly, he noticed starlight descending. The space above him had turned into a starry sky without him noticing.
Lin Yun shook his head. When he looked again, he noticed that it wasn’t really a starry sky, but a star diagram engraved on the walls. When he looked at it carefully, he noticed that the stars were actually spiritual runes.
“Those are all fourth grade spiritual runes and each of them are precious. You should know that a spiritualist is stronger with more spiritual runes formed in their profound palace. But fourth grade spiritual runes are rare and they happen to be the foundation of all the academies. No one will leak them willingly. We have a total of seventy-four. So, what do you think?” Mo Ling’s voice rang in Lin Yun’s ears.
“I didn’t expect that I would get the honor to see them when I’m only here for the incomplete divine rune.” Lin Yun smiled because this place had greatly widened his vision. He quickly went from being unfazed to shocked. He could sense that each spiritual rune contained a terrifying energy that could instantly destroy him.
“These are nothing compared to the incomplete divine rune. I believe that you’re getting impatient. Let’s hurry up and see it,” said Mo Ling as she continued forward.
Next, they came to a place filled with powerful spiritual treasures. When they arrived at the next place, Lin Yun was shocked. The entire area was filled with an army of armored puppets. Mo Ling even told him that a powerful fourth grade spiritualist could control a hundred of them and easily suppress anyone of the same cultivation. However, although they could be controlled, it wasn’t easy for a spiritualist of that level to create these many puppets.
It didn’t take long for Mo Ling to finally come to a stop. “We’re here,” she said.
“Where is it?” Lin Yun looked around, but he didn’t see the incomplete divine rune anywhere.
“Relax,” smiled Mo Ling as she retrieved a jade strip and poured her soul energy into it. In the next second, the ground began to tremble and a crack appeared before Lin Yun that lit up the entire place.
The light was too bright, but Lin Yun had to shield his eyes and squint to look forward. It didn’t take long for the ground to completely open up and for a flight of stairs to appear.
Going down the stairs, Lin Yun noticed that this was actually an underground palace. Then, he noticed an altar at the center of the room. An ancient parchment covered in flames hovered over the altar. A brilliant golden radiance was coming from the parchment.
“That must be it…” Lin Yun’s eyes lit up with stars as the pressure coming from the parchment was similar to the aura that the azure-clothed man emitted.