“Lin Yun, what’s the matter?” asked the deacon.

“It’s nothing,” replied Lin Yun with a smile. But as he continued the journey, he kept wondering about the princess’ true identity.

A brief moment later, they both arrived in front of the main hall and the deacon cupped his hands together, “Go ahead. Guardian Plum has been waiting.”

Nodding his head, Lin Yun entered the hall. There was only one person standing in the majestic hall. Guardian Plum stood in front of the ancestor’s tablet and then he turned to Lin Yun with a smile, “Brat, I heard that you’re preparing to leave?”

“Yes,” replied Lin Yun.

Guardian Plum walked over with a smile, “You no longer have an opponent among the younger generations. I called you here for two things…”

Guardian Plum purposely paused his speech to build suspense.

“Aren’t you a little anxious? Fine, listen well. The first item to discuss are the rewards from the envoy. It arrived over a few days ago, but no one bothered you since you were cultivating,” said Guardian Plum as he handed a brocade box over.

Lin Yun took the box and his face changed. He could sense the incredible weight of the box and he opened it without any hesitation. When he opened it up, he narrowed his eyes into slits from the dazzling light. There were a total of ten third grade spiritual jades.

“This…” Lin Yun’s voice was trembling. “This doesn’t seem to be the reward.”

Lin Yun remembered that he was supposed to receive second grade spiritual jades. After all, third grade spiritual jades were incredibly precious. In the Profound Martial Realm, a third grade spiritual jade could form a profound vein.

“This is a special reward for you. After all, you made it through Hell Mode,” said Guardian Plum, proudly.

“I’m only going to keep half of it. You can have the rest,” replied Lin Yun.

“Hahaha, you owe me more than five third grade spiritual jades, but don’t worry about it. Keep it.” Guardian Plum waved his hand and a golden chainmail appeared in his hand. “This is a low rank cosmic artifact. It might be low rank, but defensive cosmic artifacts are rare to begin with. Its value isn’t any lower than your Scarletflame War Flag.”

Then, he took out a token and continued, “This is the Hidden Dragon Token. You’ll need it for the Draconic Banquet a year from now. So don’t lose it.” In addition to the token, Lin Yun also received 10,000 second grade spiritual jades.

“Alright, next.” The smile slowly disappeared from Guardian Plum’s face. “Lin Yun, do you remember what I promised you before? I’ll be giving you the full copy of the Overlord Sword now.”

Lin Yun’s heart clenched the moment Guardian Plum said that. The Overlord Sword only had one move, but its power had far exceeded Lin Yun’s imagination. One must know that he could reach a lesser mastery in an ordinary sword technique in half a month.

“I do. You once said that you’ll give me the full copy when my cultivation reaches your requirement,” replied Lin Yun.

“The Overlord Sword is an earth grade sword technique. It’s a rare sword technique, not only in the Great Qin Empire, but in the entire Ancient Southern Domain,” explained Guardian Plum.

Maybe in the Great Qin Empire, but I doubt that in the Ancient Southern Domain. Lin Yun muttered inwardly to himself.

“I know what you’re thinking. The ancestor, Jian Wuming’s name was famous throughout the Ancient Southern Domain and not just the Great Qin Empire. He’s one of the heirs of the Sword Sect and the Overlord Sword was one of the nine lineages from the Sword Sect,” smiled Guardian Plum.

“Sword Sect?” Lin Yun was puzzled. This was the first time he had ever heard of it.

“The Sword Sect was the most ancient sect in the Ancient Southern Domain. It was destroyed and only exists as the Horizon Sword Gate. However, the Horizon Sword Gate is barely one-tenth of the status of the Sword Sect. Even then, it’s still an overlord in the Ancient Southern Domain. Do you get it now?”

The Horizon Sword Gate was just one-tenth of the Sword Sect’s power, but it was still one of the nine overlords in the Ancient Southern Domain. Just how powerful was the Sword Sect? Lin Yun was shocked and he now knew why Guardian Plum said that the Overlord Sword was so powerful.

“Not only is the Overlord Sword powerful, but it also has a high threshold. Many people ran amok just trying to learn it and there weren’t many who could use it…” sighed Guardian Plum. He was sad that there weren’t many people who could practice this sword technique. Even he had tried it.

“You’ve learned the first form well, but be careful when you cultivate it. All our ancestors feel that there’s something lacking in this sword technique, which makes cultivating it more difficult,” said Guardian Plum with a grave expression as he handed a jade slip to Lin Yun.

Something lacking? To Lin Yun, this made sense because he could sense the same thing.

“The Overlord Sword has a total of nine moves,” explained Guardian Plum. “These moves can be used individually or they can be combined together. But don’t try to push it. If you run amok when practicing it, the backlash will be great.”

“I understand,” responded Lin Yun.

“Alright then. I’ll be waiting for you one year from now.” Guardian Plum revealed a warm smile, “I’m looking forward to seeing your performance in the Draconic Banquet.”

“I won’t embarrass the sect in the Draconic Banquet,” replied Lin Yun. He was looking forward to the unknown journey. The fact that the sect would hand such a precious sword technique to him didn’t just mean that they trusted him. It signified that Lin Yun was their hope.

Lin Yun didn’t know that two figures appeared in the hall after he left. The figures were Lord Thirteen and Jian Xuanhe, both of whom wore a grave expression.

“His talent is sufficient to practice the Overlord Sword since he grasped the xiantian sword intent before reaching the Violet Palace Realm.”

“But we both failed badly in the Draconic Banquet back then. I wonder how far he can go…”

“No one knows how brutal the competition is…”

When Lin Yun returned to the Locket Mountain, he wasn’t in a hurry to practice the Overlord Sword. He took out a third grade spiritual jade and began to circulate the Iris Sword Sutra to refine it. What he needed to do right now was to convert all of his origin energy into sword aura. The sword sutra wasn’t like other cultivation techniques. After all, the density of his origin energy was a lot stronger than other people’s origin energy.

Additionally, Lin Yun’s heart was ambitious. He wanted to refine all his origin energy into sword aura before reaching the Violet Palace Realm. It wasn’t an easy journey, but it would be unimaginable if he succeeded.

Three days later, Lin Yun slowly opened his eyes after completing a cycle. Beads of sweat fell from his forehead. He looked exhausted, but his pupils were sharp.

“Not bad. This third grade spiritual jade managed to convert one-tenth of my origin energy. What a surprise.” Lin Yun smiled as the third grade spiritual jade in his hand was reduced to ashes. But this was only the beginning. His speed wouldn’t be so fast the more he progressed.

“Well, it’s time to leave,” muttered Lin Yun.

He wasn’t willing to leave the Great Qin Empire, but he knew that he needed to leave to make more progress in his cultivation. Lin Yun sighed as he left a letter on the table. He was filled with complicated emotions, so he hoped that everyone could forgive him for his sudden departure.

“See you guys again in a year.” Lin Yun left after placing the letter on the table.

When he departed from the Locket Mountain, he rode on the Dragon Blooded Horse and sped away. But suddenly, a white horse appeared before him. It was as though the white horse had been waiting for a long time, which baffled Lin Yun.

There was a woman on the horse wearing a hood to cover her head. The woman was naturally Xin Yan.

“Senior Sister,” said Lin Yun.

“Junior Brother, did you tell any of us that you were leaving?” smiled Xin Yan.

“Senior Brother Lin Yun, let us send you off!” Suddenly, countless horses came out of nowhere from both sides of the streets.