The Sovereign’s Ascension

Chapter 697

The skull emitted a dark light and all the cultivators cursed before they started fleeing. In the next second, the skull exploded and created a huge mushroom cloud in the sky. It spread out quickly and was followed by a dark light that soared into the sky.

In that split second, dozens of people from the various forces died. Although some of them managed to escape, they were still covered in wounds. Hardly anyone was unharmed as most were injured or dead.

In just one moment, they went from mocking Lin Yun for activating the trap to getting caught by the trap themselves. An immense energy fluctuation rippled out on the sand dune as the cultivators tried to brace themselves.

As for the Demonbone Wolves, they were in an even more terrible state as they were frightened by the explosion. Although there was no change to Lin Yun’s face, he was also shocked. At this moment, he felt fortunate that the skull didn’t explode by his foot. If he had been caught by the explosion, he would either be dead or close to it.

On the stone stage, the headless corpse was still in a seated position. But after losing the skull, the corpse started to decay, revealing a golden skeleton that emitted great pressure while the broken sword was still plunged into its chest.

It was this sword that killed the brutal empyrean. After all, the piles of skeletons on the ground seemed to belong to Sword Sect’s disciple, and all of them had died in the hand of this empyrean. Even though the empyrean was dead, Lin Yun still had to be cautious.

Sweeping his glance over, Lin Yun’s gaze was fixed at this corpse’s violet palace. There was a black bead hovering in the air. It was the Heavenly Astral Pearl.

“Sorry for this.” Lin Yun muttered before he stepped forward to retrieve the Heavenly Astral Pearl. Lin Yun didn’t have a good opinion of this empyrean, so he said this in a casual manner.

For a second, everyone looked at Lin Yun with killing intent surging in their pupils. After all, the Heavenly Astral Pearl was priceless, but it was going to be taken by Lin Yun. Because of that, many people felt reluctant.

But none of them dared to make a move, especially after what happened earlier. First, they were afraid of Lin Yun’s strength. Second, they were afraid that the deceased empyrean might have another trap.

But the skeleton suddenly moved as it grabbed onto Lin Yun’s wrist, catching Lin Yun by surprise. In the next second, the azure dragon energy surged from within Lin Yun’s body to break free. But no matter what he did, the empyrean’s skeleton was like a mountain rooted on the ground.

“Damn it!” Lin Yun was shocked to realize that he couldn’t break free of the grasp.

“Hahaha, a despicable seed in the Ancient Southern Domain wants my Heavenly Astral Pearl? Prepare to die!” A burst of laughter echoed in Lin Yun’s mind. Even after the empyrean’s death, its resentment still lingered and was filled with killing aura.

“Get lost!” Lin Yun was enraged by the empyrean’s words as he mobilized his sword intent to confront the will that intruded his mind.

“Haha, there’s nothing you can do. Accept death!” The will laughed as a painting suddenly unfolded behind the skeleton. It wasn’t a spiritual diagram, but a painting made of astral energy that only empyreans could create.

When the painting unfolded, a terrifying aura was unleashed as the black mist in the sand dune suddenly surged and grew. This startled all the cultivators and Demonbone Wolves greatly as they began to run for their lives.

“What the hell is this?”

“It’s not the Astral Constellation, right? I heard that empyreans could use the stars as their pen and their martial soul as their ink to draw a painting.”

“Isn’t this a little too terrifying? How can this empyrean still use its Astral Constellation after so many years?”

“The resentment in this deceased empyrean is too great. But it had died for so many years, so it probably has only a hundredth of its power left.”

“Even so, that’s not something Lin Yun can withstand.”

Everyone’s faces changed when they saw this scene. They really underestimated the empyrean’s corpse. Even after so many years, the empyrean’s corpse was still powerful. As for Lin Yun, they all looked at him with a complicated gaze.

With what happened earlier, no one dared to mock Lin Yun. But none of them thought that Lin Yun could survive this time. After all, what happened now was too terrifying as lines began to connect the stars in the painting. It didn’t take long for the outline of an aerial beast to appear.

Lin Yun’s wrist was grabbed by the skeleton, so he couldn’t budge. This made him wear a grave expression as the stars in the painting continued to revolve and emit immense pressure.

Sensing death approaching, Lin Yun began to feel regret. Thinking about it now, the empyrean back in the Withernorth Sea was too kind, which caused him to lower his guard this time around. He now knew that an empyrean wasn’t an existence that someone like him could contend with.

Knowing that he couldn’t allow the empyrean to unleash the painting fully, the eleven dragon runes began to squirm on the surface of his body. As he was enveloped by a veil of purple mist and his hair began to flutter in the wind with lightning, Lin Yun roared and tried to break free from the skeleton’s grasp. But he still wasn’t able to break free.

With a huge rumble, the ground began to tremble and cracks appeared on the ground. This left everyone shocked as Lin Yun lifted the empyrean’s skeleton off the ground by an inch. But in the next second, the skeleton fell back down, causing Lin Yun to throw up a mouthful of blood as his face turned pale.

“He failed.”

“Holy shit. For a second, I thought that he would be able to break free.”

“Lin Yun is finished.” This time, everyone was more cautious. They were shocked for a long time before they started smiling. Clearly, they knew that there was nothing Lin Yun could do now as the painting was about to unfold fully.

I failed? Lin Yun used nearly a hundred cauldrons worth of strength earlier, which was enough to lift a mountain. However, even with this, he wasn’t able to lift the skeleton.

“Hmph, how ignorant. If I was alive, I could kill you with a single glance. A despicable seed in the Ancient Southern Domain like you actually dares to touch my corpse. You can accept death now. I’ll let you know that no one can humiliate an empyrean!” The will sneered inwardly in Lin Yun’s mind. Although it was quickly destroyed by Lin Yun’s sword intent, the laughter still echoed within his mind.

No one can humiliate an empyrean? Lin Yun suddenly looked at the broken sword plunged in the empyrean’s corpse with his eyes lit up. This wasn’t a complete empyrean’s corpse and its flaw was in the sword. Otherwise, there was no way he could lift the skeleton up by an inch earlier.

Seeing that the painting was about to completely unfold, Lin Yun looked at the broken sword and recalled what happened back in Flamedragon Hill. When the Indigo Thunderdemon Dragonvulture was about to start a massacre, the Heavenly Soul Realm expert managed to use the sword intent lingering in the Lackdragon Slope to repel the Indigo Thunderdemon Dragonvulture.

“Ancient Southern Domain, Great Qin Empire, Sword Firmament Pavilion’s Lin Yun requires senior’s help!” Lin Yun decided to gamble as he flicked his finger and shot out one drop of his blood essence on the broken sword.

“What is he doing?”

“He must be insane.”

“What an idiot. The Sword Sect was destroyed a long time ago. There’s no one here to save him.”

“No matter how glorious the Sword Sect once was, it doesn’t change the fact that it was destroyed.”

“He has probably gone insane, betting it all on a bunch of ghosts.” Some were baffled, but most of them laughed at Lin Yun’s action. After all, they would be able to fight for the Heavenly Astral Pearl once Lin Yun died.

Just as everyone was waiting excitedly for Lin Yun to die, a miracle occurred. When Lin Yun’s blood essence containing his sword intent landed on the broken sword, the rust began to fall off the sword as an unparalleled sword intent exploded out from it.

In the next second, an aged voice echoed throughout the entire region, “Eight thousand years of reign with our halo enveloping ninety thousand miles. As long as the moon exists, the Sword Sect never dies!”