It was still a dragon made of sword energy, but this time it looked like a real heavenly dragon, claws and all, rather than a manifestation of qi. Dragon roars ripped through the sky, churning the sword ocean into a mad froth.

“Well met!!” Brandishing a giant, black iron staff, Beicang Qiong leaped high into the air and threw himself at the incoming dragon like a cannonball.

Bam!

Clonk!

He hurtled backward through the air, knocking into the light barrier of the sparring area and sliding down like a hunk of battered meat. The battered meat squirmed and regained human shape, returning to an upright position.

“Among the six of us, Beicang Qiong is the strongest physically and possesses the greatest brute strength.” The Deaf Prince smacked his lips. “However, he can’t even take one hit from senior brother Lu. Tsk, the top youth sovereign exceeds his reputation!”

“Freaking hell, he’s strong!” Beicang Qiong breathed out deeply. “Again!” 

He rotated the staff into a black vortex and lunged at Lu Yun.

Wham!

The vast sword ocean around Lu Yun reared into another great wave to give way to a giant fish that transformed into a great 

peng

 bird after barreling out of the water. It unfurled its wings and took flight.

Peng of Kun! Soaring forty-five thousand kilometers into the sky!

Boom!

Clonk!

Again, Beicang Qiong ended up plastered on the barrier, but this time, Lu Yun didn’t give him time to recover. The sword ocean boiled as countless cerulean dragons rushed out and pounced on him.

“Holy!” Beicang Qiong shrieked. Not yet recovered from his flattened state, he bounced up from the ground and fled on two-dimensional legs. However, Lu Yun’s dragons were much faster. They caught up in an instant and flung his flat body into the air.

Terrified howls and wails rang through the courtyard as Beicang Qiong bounced up and down in torment. All of the spectators and the peerless immortal serving him looked away, wincing too hard to keep watching. However, Lu Yun stayed well within the limits of propriety and bore no trace of killing intent. He only made the scion experience what it was like to toe the fine line between life and death, tempering both his will and body.

Roughly an hour later, Lu Yun sheathed his sword and stood at the heart of the arena, while Beicang Qiong lay panting on the ground, his limbs extended and prone like a starfish.

“Need more convincing?” Lu Yun walked up to him, picking up the staff and sticking it firmly into the ground.

“No… no need!” Beicang Qiong was on the verge of tears. If he’d known Lu Yun was this unreasonably powerful, he wouldn’t have challenged the human.

“Good.” Lu Yun straightened his back and turned to the Deaf Prince, transmitting and shouting at the same time. “Want to spar, Your Royal Highness?”

“No, no, that’s alright!” The Deaf Prince shook his head rapidly. Even Beicang Qiong had ended up with bruises everywhere and several broken bones! His frail little form wouldn’t be able to take even one hit from Lu Yun.

“How merciless, how cruel!” A pouting Beicang Qiong sat on the ground and barely managed to restore his body, but couldn’t do anything about the bruises on his face. “My waist, my legs, my elbows… and my handsome face!”

“Senior brother Lu is an eminent, real genius who is wise and magnificent. I knew you wouldn’t be his match!” The Deaf Prince helped Beicang Qiong up. “He kept himself in check, however. In your current state, you should be able to ascend to the void realm after a period of closed door cultivation.”

“Hehehe...” Beicang Qiong cackled. “I’ve already found the doorway to perceive the void, I just didn’t exactly know how to do it. Getting beaten up by senior brother Lu has cleared my mind. I’ll definitely make a breakthrough after a bout of seclusion!”

Though many had found the door to the perceived void realm, they had no way of passing through it. Now that Mo Yi had achieved her breakthrough and created a methodology, cultivators would be able to learn from her and follow her example by studying the approach recorded in the Dao Flower.

However, it was a method Mo Yi had created for herself. It could act as a guide, but cultivators still had to probe their own way to progress on the path of cultivation.

Although Beicang Qiong had seen the hope of ascension with Mo Yi’s method, there was still an enormous barrier stopping him from finding his way. But the hearty beating from Lu Yun had shattered that final obstacle. As long as he kept cultivating, he’d be able to create his own way.

In this era, the Dao Flower was newly bloomed, and with it, the path of cultivation had taken shape. The cultivators of this generation were lucky. As long as they had enough talent, they’d be able to create their own void realm methods with the support of the Dao Flower.

Once the flower faded into the great dao and the path of cultivation fully became part of the immortal dao, only the foremost geniuses could invent their own methods. Most would have to borrow from others.

The Deaf Prince looked at Beicang Qiong with great envy and huffed, “Are you still coming to the ancient tomb under the palace with us?”

“Nah, I’m entering closed door cultivation!” Beicang Qiong laughed heartily. “If I can ascend to the void realm and repair my clan’s cultivation method, the overall strength of my clan will improve significantly. We won’t be left behind by the times!”

He dusted the dirt off his clothes and picked himself up, making a speedy exit. Not only might cultivators and immortals be left behind without void realm methods, well-established factions that had been around for eighty thousand years or more would be eliminated as well!

“Lucky bastard. I’m too physically weak to fight senior brother Lu Yun for now. If I do, it’s more likely that my cultivation will be knocked down a peg than pushed to the void realm.” Disappointment was writ large across the Deaf Prince’s face.

……

The ancient tomb of Levitating Island lay under the Kunpeng Palace. The floating island had been fractured and sent into the inner sea by the six veritable demons, the pearl-in-jade layout was broken, and the coiled mountains keeping the tomb protected had disintegrated as well. Not long after, the tomb would show itself to the world like the skydragon tomb.

Levitating Island was in utter shambles, though. No one cared if there was a tomb here. Accompanied by Qing Han, Miao, and the Deaf Prince, Lu Yun dove into the ocean and looked for the tomb.

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