Chapter 387 - Twists and Turns

But now, he felt that he had recovered from almost half of his injuries. Cultivators didn’t have any need for sleep. Instead they would meditate or cultivate. For cultivators, sleep was a luxury. Lin Yun didn’t catch a wink of sleep when he was in the Demonlotus Realm.

Lin Yun smiled because he knew that Xin Yan was being considerate to him. After he put on his clothes, he noticed that the group showed no signs of leaving. This meant that they would probably leave at noon. Because of this, Lin Yun wasn’t in a hurry to pack and he retrieved four items from his interspatial pouch.

He pulled out the bottle of Coldcloud Pellets, a jar of wine, a yellow gourd, and a saber. He had tons of treasures when he came out of the Demonlotus Realm, but he had handed them over to the sect. The sect suffered casualties to protect him, so he naturally had to do something to repay them.

Furthermore, he already benefited a lot back in the Demonlotus Realm. Back when the Sword-Bearing Elder told him to make his pick, he only took the Coldcloud Pellets, the jar of wine, and the Hiddensword Gourd. The saber was something that the elder had forcefully given to him.

Lin Yun smiled when he thought about it. He knew that the sect didn’t want him to suffer too much of a loss. Although no one used a saber in the Sword Firmament Pavilion, there was no question that this saber was very valuable.

Lin Yun knew that he wouldn’t be able to make any progress in his cultivation anytime soon. So it was useless for him to keep the other pellets. On the other hand, the Coldcloud Pellets might be able to help him make a breakthrough in the Iris Sword Sutra.

However, he was interested in the Hiddensword Gourd because it was a rare treasure. Treasures and artifacts weren’t the same. There were many treasures like rings, pagodas, mirrors, and cauldrons.

Lin Yun dropped his blood on the gourd to claim ownership of it. The Hiddensword Gourd was also called the Swordnourishing Gourd. It was a treasure that could nourish a sword and make it even more powerful.

When Lin Yun pulled out the cork, a sharp aura swept out from the gourd that created a gale in the tent. This wasn’t what Lin Yun imagined would happen. He had a feeling that he would need a lot of treasures if he wanted to make use of the gourd.

Without any hesitation, Lin Yun threw second grade spiritual jades into the gourd. But when the spiritual jades entered the gourd, they were crushed and then thrown back up.

When Lin Yun looked around, his gaze fell onto the jar of wine. An idea suddenly appeared in his mind and he poured the wine into the gourd. A faint glittering glow came from the gourd, making it even more translucent.

A fourth grade wine was more precious than spiritual jades. It turned out that the gourd was a wine gourd. When Lin Yun was done pouring the wine in, he could feel that the gourd had become heavier. But it still wasn’t enough because the wine barely filled one-tenth of the gourd.

After briefly pondering, Lin Yun took out a few jars of monkey wine. After he poured ten jars into the gourd, he had finally filled half of the Hiddensword Gourd.

“That’s it.” Lin Yun felt that he could nourish his sword this way. Aside from the Flower Burial Sword, he also had some profound artifacts in his interspatial pouch. They were mainly collected from enemies he slew.

Lin Yun gently patted on the interspatial pouch and retrieved seven longswords. They were all mid-ranked profound artifacts. They were decent swords even for disciples in the Sword Firmament Pavilion.

“Go!” Lin Yun poured his origin energy into the gourd. The gourd suddenly emitted a dazzling glow and unleashed a suction force on the seven swords. However, the swords merely buzzed a little before they stopped.

The ranking wasn’t enough? Lin Yun was baffled, but a powerful suction force swept out and sucked the saber into the gourd.

Lin Yun fell into deep thought when he saw this scene. This meant that the profound artifacts were too inferior for the gourd, but it could keep all kinds of cosmic artifacts as long as they were weapons. After Lin Yun corked the gourd, he could sense that the saber’s aura was gradually combining with the gourd.

There was a profound array in the gourd which controlled the wine and cleansed the saber repeatedly. But when Lin Yun tried to retrieve the saber, he realized that he couldn’t take it back out. This meant that the nourishing process wasn’t done.

Lin Yun couldn’t figure out the gourd right now. He had a feeling that this Hiddensword Gourd had a huge history and that he would gradually uncover it when he grew stronger.

Storing the Hiddensword Gourd, Lin Yun got on the Dragon Blooded Horse and followed behind the group. Unlike when they arrived, everyone in the Sword Firmament Pavilion’s party was covered with injuries. They had no choice but to be more cautious when they were passing through the Extermination Mountain Range.

The sky was covered in thunderclouds and they could hear ferocious beast roars echoing throughout the mountain range from time to time. The demonic beasts at the core of the Extermination Mountain Range were terrifying, so no one dared to be careless.

It was even normal to bump into demonic beasts in the Violet Palace Realm. The Sword Firmament Pavilion already suffered from huge casualties, so they couldn’t bear any more losses. The Sword-Bearing Elder led the group and he would draw the Firmament Sword whenever he felt that something was amiss.

Ten days later, the entire group arrived in a place covered in fog that cut off their path. The fog was poisonous and the roars coming from inside made them nervous.

Lin Yun frowned his brows because he had a deep impression about this place. It was home to a monarch-ranked demonic beast in the Violet Palace Realm. But they had to get through here if they wanted to return back to the sect. Otherwise, a detour would take too much time.

Therefore, the Sword-Bearing Elder used the Firmament Sword to force the monarch-ranked demonic beast to retreat. All the elders at the front of the group wore a grave expression because they knew that getting through here was the hardest challenge they had to get over.

“Why don’t we take a detour?” asked Luo Feng. He knew more than the others and he knew that the Sword-Bearing Elder also suffered injuries from the previous battle. The elder just didn’t want to show that he was injured.

The Sword-Bearing Elder had already drawn his sword numerous times to prevent casualties along the way, which meant he was a lot weaker now than when he was at his peak.

“We can’t afford to take a detour. That would take another half a month. I don’t have a good feeling right now, so it’s best if we return to the sect as soon as possible,” said the Sword-Bearing Elder.

However, the other elders had a different opinion. They still felt that taking a detour was a wise decision, even if it would consume more time.

In the back of the group, Tang Tong, Lin Yun, and everyone else also felt that something wasn’t right. Tang Tong asked, “Why did we stop?”

“There must be a difference of opinion up ahead,” replied Lin Yun. After all, this was a monarch-ranked demonic beast that they were facing, so it would cause huge casualties to the group if they couldn’t chase it away. Then again, Lin Yun had more thoughts on this matter because he knew the Sword-Bearing Elder was no longer in his strongest state.

Otherwise, there was no need for the other elders to dispute this matter. Gradually, an uneasy feeling started spreading among the deacons and disciples.

A resounding roar echoed out from the poisonous fog right at this moment and the ground began to tremble soon after. Before they could find out what was going on, a head popped out of the fog. It was a gigantic python head with a horn on its head. Its scarlet eyes swept through everyone and fixed onto the Sword-Bearing Elder.

Under the python’s aura, the group’s demonic beast horses began to feel uneasy and fear started to spread in everyone’s hearts. This python had recognized the Sword-Bearing Elder!