“Time to refine the Imperial Sword Herb.” Lin Yun crossed his legs and plucked a leaf before refining it with the Swordcloud Core. The Imperial Sword Herb and the Swordcloud Core were rare treasures, so refining them together would have a miraculous effect.

Lin Yun focused on circulating the Iris Sword Sutra to refine the Imperial Sword Herb and Swordcloud Core. When the two energies flowed into his body, they felt like two ferocious dragons as they wreaked havoc in his body.

The energies caused a huge wave within his body. Lin Yun could feel his internal organs shaking from the violent energy filling his body. It felt as if there was a surge of energy trying to find an exit to his body, which was difficult to bear with.

It was a whole lot more terrifying compared to when he first absorbed the Swordcloud Core. In the end, Lin Yun had to release 30% of the medicinal effects, otherwise there was no way he could carry on. After all, the herb and core not only contained spiritual energy, but also sword intent. Since Lin Yun practiced the Dracophant Battle Physique, he only needed to release 30% of the medicinal effects.

If other people were refining these two, they would have to release at least 50% of the medicinal effects. But with such a great loss of effects, everyone still fought over it. However, just as Lin Yun was about to release the medicinal effects, the Iris Flower in his Dantian suddenly trembled and swallowed the excess energy in an instant.

The Iris Flower buzzed in excitement and a comfortable sensation coursed through his body. The Iris Flower was picky when it came to eating, but the spiritual energy and sword intent produced from the herb and core definitely fits its taste. It was like a kid that was looking at its favorite toy.

It turned out that the Iris Sword Sutra’s fondness for the Imperial Sword Herb far exceeded Lin Yun’s expectations. All Lin Yun had to do was refine the energies within his body. He didn’t have to worry if his body could contain the energies. This made Lin Yun rejoice as he focused on circulating the Iris Sword Sutra.

Half an hour later, a sword buzz echoed out from Lin Yun’s body. He opened his eyes and clenched his fist, allowing his origin energy to pour into his hand. “I’m only one step away…”

With one Imperial Sword Herb leaf and one Swordcloud Core, Lin Yun was only able to reach the completed seventh stage. After all, cultivation techniques from the Golden Age were known to be tough and a tiny bit of improvement would exhaust an astronomical sum of resources.

However, Lin Yun smacked his lips in dissatisfaction. He had already reached the bottleneck. He honestly thought that he could make a breakthrough. But he never expected that he only improved from pinnacle to completion. What he wanted was to make a breakthrough into the eighth stage with the Iris Sword Sutra.

Even if Lin Yun bumped into opponents in the pinnacle fifth stage of the Profound Martial Realm, he wouldn’t be in a disadvantageous position from the origin energy produced by the Iris Sword Sutra. But his origin energy wouldn’t last long if he bumped into opponents in the sixth stage of the Profound Martial Realm and his flaws would gradually be revealed if he couldn’t defeat his opponent within a hundred moves.

There was no question that those who could reach the top three on the Mortal Ranking were elites of the outer sects, especially Chu Haoyu. That person was like a viper and Lin Yun couldn’t see through him.

His identity would be exposed in the second round and there was a possibility that he would be targeted by everyone on the top ten rankings. So Lin Yun needed the strength to ensure his survival. Furthermore, he wasn’t just aiming to survive the Alliance-Union Battle, but to shine brightly and obtain first place.

This meant that he needed the Iris Sword Sutra to reach the eighth stage and his cultivation to reach the fifth stage. Otherwise, his odds of winning wouldn’t even reach 50%. He couldn’t afford any failure.

Looking at the Imperial Sword Herb, Lin Yun squinted his eyes as madness flashed in the depths of his eyes. He took out the four remaining Swordcloud Cores and gnashed his teeth. He closed his eyes and started refining the Imperial Sword Herb along with the four Swordcloud Cores. “So what if it’s an ancient cultivation technique? I refuse to believe that I can’t break the bottleneck by refining four Swordcloud Cores and the Imperial Sword Herb!”

As Lin Yun circulated the Iris Sword Sutra, surges of origin energy exploded within his body. The energies rumbled within his body and the Iris Flower let out a buzz with a dominance that it had never shown before; it didn’t want to admit defeat.

Lin Yun’s body suddenly started trembling as he forcibly refined the energies within his body. This caused a huge gale in the forest. There seemed to be countless swords buzzing in the forest and Lin Yun was at the center of it, refining the Imperial Sword Herb and Swordcloud Cores. If there was an outsider here, they would surely be shocked by Lin Yun’s actions. After all, no one could refine four Swordcloud Cores without emitting any energy.

Time gradually passed and the sky turned dark before Lin Yun knew it. No demonic beasts dared to approach and they were trembling in fear when they heard the roaring gale. At the same time, the sword intent emitting from Lin Yun continued to grow stronger. However, the sword sutra still showed no signs of making a breakthrough.

This still isn’t enough? Fine, let’s take it even further! 

As if Lin Yun’s heart could sense his unwillingness, it throbbed as he circulated the Dracophant Battle Physique. The dracophant energy coursed through his body to tame the boundless sword intent and spiritual energy.

Lin Yun soon found his origin energy starting to boil. It felt like an erupting volcano from the pure origin energy that coursed through his veins. It soon turned into two separate flows of energy. One pure sword intent that contained the dominance of a sovereign and one flow that was like a violent dragon that converged into his Dantian.

Lin Yun’s body trembled violently when they clashed. The Iris Flower in his Dantian suddenly broke into pieces and the origin energy rushed towards his internal organs. At the same time, a crystalized Iris Flower was born. It had forty-eight petals, which signified that the Iris Sword Sutra had reached the eighth stage.

But that wasn’t all. When the crystallized Iris Flower was formed, Lin Yun’s origin energy instantly formed a new profound vein, which brought his cultivation to the fifth stage of the Profound Martial Realm. He had achieved a rise in both his cultivation and cultivation technique.

When the fifth profound vein was formed, Lin Yun could sense the origin energy within his body surging rapidly, reaching an unprecedented density. Sensing the origin energy filling his meridians, Lin Yun became emotional. He opened his eyes and they flickered with dense sword intent. His eyes glowed like a lighthouse in the darkness.

Now that my Iris Sword Sutra underwent a transformation, I should be able to make a full circulation, right?

 Lin Yun fell into deep thought. In the past, the Iris Sword Sutra was already so powerful even though he could only make half a circulation. He had been curious what it would be like when he could make a full circulation.

The crystallized Iris Flower looked more majestic than before and Lin Yun could sense the astronomical spiritual energy that was consumed when he moved the flower. He felt an unprecedented power as he circulated the flower and a terrifying aura surged throughout his body.

A boundless sword intent soon covered a thousand meter radius. When the Iris Flower made a full circulation, an Iris Flower suddenly appeared beneath his foot. With his hair fluttering in the sky, Lin Yun suddenly slammed his palm onto the ground.

A terrifying power surged from his palm, which instantly destroyed all the trees within a thousand meter radius. Lin Yun opened his eyes to look around and his lips twitched. He was startled by this scene.

A brief moment later, he smiled. He muttered to himself, “I finally have something that can be called a trump card. Let’s name it Dazzling Moment, and let this be my secret technique.”

He would fully exhaust his origin energy if he executed this. This also meant that he wouldn’t have any path of retreat. But sometimes he had to unleash the recklessness of being a youth.