The Iris Flower could now produce sword aura after the Iris Sword Sutra reached the seventh stage, so the sword gleam flicked out by Lin Yun was comparable to a profound artifact. That was the so-called condensing aura into a sword. However, even that failed to leave any damage on the devil mask, so Lin Yun couldn’t believe that there was nothing off about the mask.

Lin Yun fiddled with the devil mask briefly before putting it on his face. The instant he put the mask on, his aura and existence disappeared. If he hadn’t witnessed this personally, there’s no way he would have believed this.

“Interesting… This must be a cosmic artifact. No one will be able to recognize me if I put it on,” said Lin Yun. The mask should be the reason why Xue Feng was able to stay alive for so long despite being wanted.

Lin Yun stored the mask and finally turned his attention to Xue Feng’s decapitated head. This head alone was worth 50,000 spiritual jades.

He received a total of four missions - gather blood crystals, escort Bai Qiushui into the Bloodbone Forest, kill Xue Feng, and find the Goldflow Fruit that an elder in the Pellet Hall needed.

Escorting Bai Qiushui and killing Xue Feng were the harder missions. Killing Xue Feng was especially difficult. This mission was meant for the top ten on the Mortal Ranking to work together, but Lin Yun completed it by himself. He was now left with one more mission and he had plenty of time to complete it.

“It has been nearly three months since I left the sect. I should find the Goldflow Fruit quickly and return.” The missions were dangerous, but Lin Yun also benefited from them greatly. He made a breakthrough into the fourth stage, his Iris Sword Sutra reached the seventh stage, his Seven Profound Steps were in greater mastery, and he only had four more moves to learn in the Dragon-Tiger Fist.

Most importantly, Lin Yun’s temperament had undergone a huge change. His aura was more refined and innate. With just a glance, he could intimidate cultivators of the same cultivation.

About half a month later, the atmosphere in the Sword Firmament Pavilion grew intense because the Alliance-Union Battle that was held once a year was going to begin. The Sword Firmament Pavilion had hundreds of alliance-unions and the competition between them was intense. This went without saying for alliance-unions such as the Locket Mountain and Gentlemen Union. These two alliance-unions were practically mortal enemies.

There were also a few alliance-unions that kept a low-profile, but were incredibly powerful. Unlike the Gentlemen Union and Locket Mountain, those alliance-unions focused solely on their cultivation and they rarely came into contact with others. In fact, they rarely came into contact with the members of their own alliance-union. The Lone-Star Alliance that Huangfu Jingxuan belonged to was this type of alliance-union.

The Lone-Star Alliance didn’t have many members, but they couldn’t be underestimated. They were a bunch of powerful cultivation lunatics.

The Alliance-Union Battle was officially held by the sect. It was a competition between the many alliance-unions and based upon the results, each alliance-union would receive a ranking that represented the benefits they could receive from the sect. Those who could step into the top ten would receive ample rewards from the sect.

As for those who were already in the top ten, if they dropped from their ranking, the prestige of their alliance-union would be greatly affected. The drop in prestige might even cause them to disband. After all, no one would join an alliance-union that had no prospects. Naturally, everyone would want to join one of the stronger ones.

The Alliance-Union Battle had no rules, so killing was permitted. Only five people from each alliance-union could participate in the battle. However, they had to be outer disciples, which meant that the battles depended on those that were on the mortal ranking.

After all, the sect naturally wouldn’t place any importance in an alliance-union that couldn’t produce any talents. New talents represented hope and the future. The sect could only flourish with a constant flow of talent.

Furthermore, the sect had tens of thousands of disciples, with only a thousand inner disciples. Everyone in the Earth Ranking had practiced spiritual martial techniques, meaning that they were the sect’s foundation. Each of them was nurtured with an astronomical sum of resources, so losing any one of them would deal a great blow to the sect.

Since killing was permitted in the battle, the inner disciples weren’t permitted to participate. After all, it would be a pity if inner disciples died in the battle. Thus, only outer disciples could participate in the battle. Even though it was called the Alliance-Union Battle, it was no different than a competition between outer disciples.

Xin Yan was having a meeting with the Locket Mountain’s upper hierarchy at their headquarters. Xin Yan asked, “There’s still no news about Lin Yun?”

“None.”

“The latest news was half a month ago. Lin Yun participated in an escort mission contracted by the Gao Clan of Inkcloud City. However, there was something weird about this mission because many people returned except for Junior Brother Lin. When we asked if Junior Brother Lin had died on the mission, they strongly denied it. However, no one was willing to reveal anything more about the mission.”

“That’s right. The Gao Clan’s patriarch seems to have issued an order for everyone to seal their mouths. None of them are willing to share anything about the mission.”

“Someone even saw Heavenly Profound Sect’s Bu Chen and Demonic Moon Villa’s Xiao Ran, but their faces changed and they immediately ran when we mentioned Junior Brother Lin.”

Xin Yan furrowed her brows when she heard the reports. Not only were they unable to find out anything about Lin Yun’s current status, they couldn’t find out anything about the mission.

Only those who participated in the mission knew what was going on. After all, everyone turned against Lin Yun when the latter saved them, which forced them to beg for mercy in the end. How could anyone share something so embarrassing?

Furthermore, the Gao Clan’s patriarch ordered everyone to keep their mouths shut when he found out what happened. It made sense that the Locket Mountain’s disciples couldn’t obtain any information about the mission.

As for Bu Chen and Xiao Ran, they were traumatized by Lin Yun after kneeling in the valley for three whole days. They were also greatly humiliated by the Dragon Blooded Horse during this period. So it was only natural that their faces changed when they heard the name Lin Yun.

Xin Yan looked around before directing her attention at Mo Chen, “Mo Chen, is there anything else you want to say?”

“I do, but I’m not sure if it’s appropriate,” said Mo Chen after briefly hesitation.

“Speak,” said Xin Yan.

“I asked about it privately and a branch descendant of the Gao Clan revealed something to me. They ran into Bloodbone Wandering Cultivators in the Bloodbone Forest and he told me that his patriarch wanted to keep that a secret. Aside from that, he wouldn’t say anything no matter how much I asked.” Mo Chen sighed and finally revealed the terrible news he obtained.

“What?” Those words made everyone from Locket Mountain, including Xin Yan, change facial expressions. Bloodbone Wandering Cultivators were infamous for their brutality. Could it be that Lin Yun fought with them?

Xin Yan’s eyes turned watery with concern. Others wouldn’t know it, but she knew that Lin Yun also took the mission to kill Xue Feng. So there was a high possibility that Lin Yun would fight if he ran into those wandering cultivators.

She initially thought that Lin Yun had accepted the mission to kill Xue Feng by mistake and that he wouldn’t really go after Xue Feng. After all, Lin Yun would probably die if he ran into Xue Feng. Furthermore, it wouldn’t matter for him if he gave up on one mission after completing three other ones. But that might not be the case if he ran into Bloodbone Wandering Cultivators during the mission.

“What should we do now? No wonder none of them are willing to reveal anything. I’m afraid that Junior Brother Lin…”

“The Alliance-Union Battle will start in two months and our Locket Mountain has no odds of winning if Junior Brother Lin doesn’t come back…”

“I heard that Wang Yan came in contact with Chu Haoyu after he recovered from his injuries.”

“It wasn’t just Chu Haoyu that Junior Brother Lin offended. He offended all the disciples in the top ten by accepting so many five star A-rank missions on his own. They definitely won’t go easy on us if they run into our disciples.” The Locket Mountain’s upper hierarchy voiced their worry on this matter.

“Senior Sister Xin Yan, what do you think?” In the end, everyone turned to Xin Yan.

“Let’s just wait for now. Junior Brother Lin isn’t an impulsive person and I believe that he’s still alive.” Xin Yan massaged her forehead. Even though she had a headache because of Lin Yun, she still tried to comfort everyone else.

When everyone left, Xin Yan’s eyes became complicated. Winning or losing the Alliance-Union Battle didn’t matter to her because they could always fight again next year. However,it would be a pity if Lin Yun died.

“You must come back alive. Big Sister will be heartbroken if you died…” sighed Xin Yan. From the first time she met Lin Yun, his silhouette had been deeply imprinted in her heart. It wasn’t love. She just liked that little boy because the perseverance in his eyes was so much like hers back then.

At the same time, on another peak, there was another person who was ‘concerned’ about Lin Yun and his whereabouts. A blue-clothed youth stood coldly and unleashed a roar while shooting out a wisp of sword aura.

The sword gleam froze in the air before stabbing into the cliff and disappearing.

“Condensing aura into swords! Senior Brother Zhang, you’re really a genius to come this far with an advanced profound cultivation technique. I heard that the Earth Ranking’s disciples only managed to accomplish it after practicing spiritual cultivation techniques!” Someone praised Zhang Lei and clapped.

The blue-clothed youth was naturally Zhang Lei who got into conflict with Lin Yun in the Contribution Hall. Zhang Lei replied coldly, “So what? The Earth Ranking’s disciples only joined the sect earlier than us! Did you get what I wanted?”

“Lin Yun’s mission seems unsuccessful. He ran into Bloodbone Wandering Cultivators in the Bloodbone Forest. His life and death is still uncertain.” The person immediately gave his report to Zhang Lei.

A sinister smile rose on Zhang Lei’s face and he said, “He is just a piece of garbage who overestimated himself. It would be strange if the mission went smoothly for him. But it would be a pity if he died in the hands of wandering cultivators.”

“Do I still need to follow up on him?”

“Yes. After all, it’s only fun if he returns to the sect alive!” replied Zhang Lei with a hint of killing intent flickering through his eyes.