Lin Yun sat on the eighth level for a long time before he opened his eyes. Although he didn’t suffer many injuries from his fight with Qin An and Pei Yue, the fight had exhausted a great deal of his strength. If the Flower Burial Sword hadn’t reached the level of a cosmic artifact, it wouldn’t be so easy for him to deal with them both.
But after resting for a bit, Lin Yun recovered his origin energy and healed his injuries. Then, he retrieved the Azure Dragon’s blood essence from his interspatial pouch.
The blood essence hovered before him and emitted an ancient and powerful aura. Lin Yun’s eyes flickered as he fell into deep thoughts. He had completed the first two stages of the Azure Dragon Enneaform and now he could barely use the Monoform. He had only reached the tip of the iceberg so far.
In terms of the wind and lightning energies, he still wasn’t proficient in them. So the Azure Dragon’s blood essence naturally came at the right time as it would save him a lot of time and effort.
However, Lin Yun came to a decision and chose not to refine this blood essence right now. He had a feeling that this wasn’t just some blood essence. The power contained in it was massive and he would need at least three to seven days just to refine it.
He didn’t have enough time to refine it right now and he had already wasted a lot of time recovering from his injuries and replenishing his energy. The others must’ve already started the ninth trial, which meant he was falling behind.
“I’ll revisit this in the future.” Lin Yun shook his head as he put the blood essence away. His gaze slowly shifted towards the tunnel in front of him.
He was finally headed for the ninth level. Initially, Lin Yun only participated because of the Profound Yin Water. However, he managed to come this far even after encountering strong opponents. He didn’t know what awaited him in the ninth trial, but he wouldn’t hesitate to give it a try.
When he passed through the tunnel, the scenery suddenly lit up with a vast space appearing before him. The hall only had three paintings on the wall. While Lin Yun was looking at them in confusion, a dragon roar sounded out and light shot towards him.
The beam of light was dazzling, but it also contained a trace of the dragon’s aura. The pressure that Lin Yun felt from the attack was equal to the pinnacle Yang stage. His eyes flashed coldly as he threw a punch out with his fist enveloped in the wind and lightning energies.
From the huge collision, Lin Yun let out a muffled sound as he took three steps back. But before he could stabilize his footing, two more beams shot over along with more dragon roars. He was placed in a bad position and his right fist was still numb from the collision.
But that wasn't all as more dragon roars rang out, along with beams that looked like colored ribbons criss-crossing together, creating a beautiful scene despite being dangerous. As the nine beams danced, Lin Yun continued to punch them.
Lin Yun was able to barely face them at his own pace and although he was retreating, his sword aura hadn’t weakened a bit. But before he could even react, the nine beams suddenly converged together into a dragon.
The dragon’s aura reached the Yin-Yang stage in the blink of an eye. This made Lin Yun raise his brow as he gathered all his sword intent with the Iris Flower blooming in his violet palace to resist the pressure.
“Is it finally starting?” Lin Yun smiled with fighting spirits blazing in his eyes. He came this far without taking a step back. He had already defeated Guo Xu, Qin An, and Pei Yue, so he was ready for this. The Flower Burial Sword started buzzing with fighting spirits as well.
When the dragon image converged into a golden armored puppet above Lin Yun, it raised its spear at Lin Yun.
Lin Yun initially thought that he would run into nine silver armored puppets on the ninth trial, but he never expected that they would combine with each other. This meant that it would be practically impossible for him to try and find a flaw. The dragon that he was fighting was even more terrifying than facing nine puppets at the same time.
Shock flashed in Lin Yun’s eyes while he took the Flower Burial Sword out of the sword box. When Lin Yun grabbed onto the sword, he unleashed an attack that he had been accumulating for a long time.
With a huge collision, cracks were left on the ground as Lin Yun was knocked a few dozen meters backwards.
“Moon Reflection!” Two radiating sword rays attacked the puppet’s spear. One was as bright as the moon in the sky and the other was like the perfect mirror image of a lake’s reflection.
When the sword and spear clashed, some fine cracks appeared on the puppet’s golden armor. Looking at this scene, Lin Yun felt a little relieved that the Flower Burial Sword could break through the enemy’s defences. This would save him a lot of energy. “Looks like the Flower Burial Sword is sharper than I imagined.”
While he was mid-air, his boundless silver sword ray landed on the puppet. But the puppet’s strength was comparable to the initial Yin-Yang stage, so it avoided his sword from a tricky angle. Then, it charged at Lin Yun with its spear leaving afterimages in the air.
Judging from the pressure it was giving off, it was actually stronger than Lin Yun’s sword aura. But Lin Yun was calm because he knew the puppet’s cultivation level was higher than his. However, neither he nor the Flower Burial Sword would go down without a fight.
“Heavenly Cloud Shatter!” A boundless sword ray formed a tornado that cut the air because of how sharp it was. When the tornado headed towards the puppet, the puppet retreated as it used its spear to resist the sword aura.
After the puppet took ten steps, it was sent flying with golden light flickering on its body. With another dragon roar, the puppet stabbed its spear and destroyed the tornado.
“It’s really terrifying that a lifeless puppet is able to achieve this, but this is as far as you go!” Lin Yun’s clothes fluttered in the wind as he swung his sword out once more like a thunderbolt descending from the sky. This attack had pierced through the puppet and reduced it to pieces on the ground.
Landing on the ground, Lin Yun gasped for breath while his eyes flashed. The puppet was terrifying and he might not have won if the Flower Burial Sword wasn’t able to damage its armor.
Right at this moment, a warm current from his violet palace spread throughout his body as his origin energy became even more refined than before. Clearly, this battle had allowed him to make his breakthrough to the greater Yang stage.
His cultivation was already in the pinnacle lesser Yang stage after refining the Infernal Flower. He had already shown signs of making a breakthrough in his fight with Qin An and Pei Yue. It took the ninth trial for him to finally take the next step.
“Greater Yang stage…” Lin Yun clenched his fist together to sense the surging energy within his body. He was only at the pinnacle Yin stage when he entered the Withernorth Sea and now he was in the greater Yang stage. Naturally, he had the Profound Yin Water, the Infernal Flower, and his experiences to thank.
Without this battle, he wouldn’t have made a breakthrough so easily. The treasures wouldn’t have even helped. After all, it was the battle that brought out the potential within his body.
Time to leave… Lin Yun collected his thoughts as he became anxious. He was finally going to the ninth level, but he had no idea what awaited him.