Chapter 399: Heart like the Sword

Lin Yun closed the Azure Transcript and started to form the seals once more. He crossed his fingers and started performing complicated hand signs. His focus was entirely on the Iris Flower in his dantian. With the previous failures, he was more proficient this time around.

He was like an artist as he used his origin energy and age energy as ink. The Blaze Runes, Thundercloud Runes, Agegold Runes, Windfeather Runes, and Coldcloud Runes were all perfectly inscribed runes that started to form within his body. They converged together and slowly unfolded as many spiritual runes linked together.

To the outside world, Lin Yun was calmly seated. However, he was inside his own world constructing a painting with spiritual runes, using the Thousand Converging Seal. Without the Thousand Converging Seal, there was no way he could form a painting by gathering so many unrelated spiritual runes together.

Time gradually passed and three days later, the age energy around the Iris Flower was so weak that it could be barely seen. That was because the age energy was nearly exhausted. When Lin Yun made the final stroke, he was finally done inscribing the painting.

The spiritual runes imprinted in his meridians shined like stars within his body. But if anyone looked at it carefully, they would be shocked to realize that the stars were actually a painting. It was a painting of a descending tiger palm that shattered a mountain. At last, Lin Yun had finally done creating the painting within his body.

“It’s time to test its power.” Lin Yun emitted a dazzling glow according to his will and his aura began to surge. It passed the ninth stage and tenth stage of the Profound Martial Realm. It pushed past the quasi-Violet Palace Realm and his aura didn’t stop until he reached the Violet Palace Realm.

A violet gale swept out along with a tiger’s roar. At the same time, it was accompanied by a huge tiger’s palm that descended down from the sky. When the tiger’s palm landed on the Repent Cliff, it caused the entire Repent Cliff to tremble. It felt as though that heaven and earth were shaking under this palm.

Seeing that the Repent Cliff was about to be destroyed under this attack, the spiritual array hidden in the cliff was activated and endured the palm’s attack.

In the sky, several deacons stood on their Sword Condors as they witnessed this scene in shock. “What a terrifying power. Just how did he manage to do that?”

“Didn’t he cripple his own profound vein?”

“This is simply unbelievable…”

All the gazes fell onto Lin Yun with shock. They couldn’t believe that someone in the eight stage could unleash such power and they couldn’t imagine how Lin Yun did it. A few of them stayed a little longer to observe and make sure that he wasn’t trying to escape before they left.

Lin Yun was also shocked at the power. It wasn’t any inferior to the Moon Reflection he used when he was in the pinnacle ninth stage of the Profound Martial Realm.

Most importantly, this attack didn’t consume any of his origin energy. He was naturally incapable of shattering the entire mountain at his current level, but it would be different if he was in the Violet Palace Realm or Heavenly Soul Realm.

After he recovered from the shock, Lin Yun calmed down and he started to investigate. He ultimately placed his thoughts on the spiritual runes. If he could unleash 100% of his origin energy in these attacks, then his origin energy after being refined by the age energy would be amplified.

It was like metal being forged into a sword, or like how crude jades would become priceless the moment they were done being carved.

Lin Yun closed his eyes and reviewed the spiritual runes within his body. He could sense that after he unleashed that attack, the spiritual runes that shined like stars had dimmed down. But he didn’t have to reconstruct the entire painting from scratch since he still had the foundation. This meant that he just had to wait for his age energy and origin energy to recover before using the Thousand Converging Seal to charge them up again.

“Just a spiritual rune by itself can’t kill anyone, but it’s a different question if the spiritual runes are made into paintings,” muttered Lin Yun with a domineering tone. A whole new door had opened to him. Now that he had witnessed the prowess of spiritual runes, he knew that spiritualists couldn’t be underestimated.

“Let’s try and improve the painting.” Lin Yun continued to observe the Azure Transcript. At this moment, his heart had calmed down and he was no longer as irritable as he was before. During the day, he would either observe the Azure Transcript, observe the clouds and listen to the rain, or practice his sword technique.

After reaching complete mastery in the Aquaselenic Sword, he could use it as easily as he wanted. The more he went into it, the more he felt that there was more potential to be excavated from the sword technique. He felt that it could be improved further and he could sense a faint gate standing in his way.

This meant that his sword technique has been tempered to an extreme level. A beggar would munch on buns thinking that an emperor wasn’t any different from him except that he ate buns with meat fillings. This was a crude example, but it was a perfect example of eyesight.

It was just that many people weren’t able to realize it. Sincethey couldn’t even eat the buns, why would they think about anything else? Lin Yun put away his ‘sword’ and started taking a stroll around the Repent Cliff. He was using a tree branch as his sword, but empowered it with his quasi-xiantian sword intent. Because of this, the tree branch wasn't inferior to any profound artifacts.

Where is my path? He wasn’t confused this time, but excited. His mentality was completely different this time. Right at this moment, the zither music sounded out once more and lingered around Lin Yun’s ears. This time, the music was peaceful and graceful.

The music never stopped ever since he came to the Repent Cliff and it had changed from demonic music to such graceful music. He knew that this was due to the change in his mentality.

“Who is it?” Lin Yun’s curiosity was piqued. Since this person was playing the zither in the Repent Cliff, they must have a high position in the sect. Otherwise, this person would’ve already been chased away by the deacons.

Is the music here because of me or has it always been here? Lin Yun came to the cliff and looked down at the abyss. Guardian Plum told him that anyone who tried to escape through the abyss was met with a terrible outcome.

Looking down at the pure darkness in the abyss, Lin Yun felt a chill run down his spine. He couldn’t help feeling afraid when he looked at the darkness. It felt as though there was a demon waiting for him at the bottom of the abyss.

Lin Yun slowly closed his eyes and a thought flashed through his mind. Where’s my path?

When Lin Yun opened his eyes, his eyes flashed with determination and his hair fluttered in the wind. His path was straight, just like his sword. He would never turn his back and would fearlessly charge forward.

He took a step forward and fell down the cliff.  Suddenly, the zither music sounded out once more, making Lin Yun’s eyes light up. Before Lin Yun realized it, he was on a lake and the zither music sounded out with killing intent.

Vaguely, Lin Yun saw an island in the lake and there was a blurred figure playing the zither on it. That was the origin of the killing intent. Before Lin Yun could think about anything else, several geysers shot at him.

Lin Yun raised his hand and threw out a punch that contained five cauldron’s worth of strength. When the geysers disappeared, they swept over like a wild beast wanting to devour him whole.

Lin Yun executed the Seven Profound Steps—Golden Crow Wings. He spread his arms apart and soared into the sky before using his fingers as his sword to unleash the Luminous Moon. His attack descended like a gigantic moon that came crashing down.

When Lin Yun landed on the ground, the Iris Sword Seal appeared on the back of his hand and he flickered his finger at the old man. The old man turned in mid-air to avoid the attack, which disrupted him from playing the zither. But when he landed back down, his fingers began to move once more.

Before the old man could regather his momentum, Lin Yun swiped his finger across his chest and a cold wave began to spread out on the lake, freezing everything within its path. It was naturally the Myriad Frost.

Although it had only frozen the lake in an instant, it was enough for Lin Yun to get onto the island. When Lin Yun arrived at the island, the ice behind him suddenly melted. The water that came crashing down created a huge wave.

The old man looked rather plump and his hair was completely white. Only his eyes remained shining like two gems that could pierce into someone’s heart.

“Mister, how long have you been waiting here?” asked Lin Yun.

“Ten years,” he replied

“Ten years? That’s rather long. What are you doing here then?” wondered Lin Yun.

“Observe the flower. The flower still blooms like how it was ten years ago, but it’s a pity I’m no longer the same as I was ten years ago,” sighed the old man.

Lin Yun walked over to the pavilion. He first examined the old man before he smiled, “I’m afraid that you weren’t handsome ten years ago either, right?”

“Do I need you to tell me that?” The old man’s face turned cold.

Lin Yun wasn’t in a hurry as he said calmly, “Observing the flowers for ten years. The flower still blooms like how it was before, but the person was no longer the same. The scar still remains on the forehead, and a few more wrinkles were added to the corner of the eye, but your clothes are loose.”

The old man was briefly stunned before he sneered, “People use that term to say that someone has slimmed down. Are you mocking me?”

“I’m not. But what is there to feel bad about being skinny? It’s natural to feel bad about being fat. Being fat as a ball and still being able to say that you don’t regret it is impressive,” smiled Lin Yun.

The old man stood up and he flipped the zither on the table. He sneered, “Aren’t you still saying that I’m fat?”

“Let me ask you a question then,” replied Lin Yun.

“Go ahead,” responded the old man. “Many people have come and gone over the ten years on the Repent Cliff. There were those who didn’t dare to jump and there were those who sank into the abyss. There were also those who died under my zither, but you’re the first one who arrived in front of me. I permit you to ask me a question.”