Not backing down, Hu Zifeng stared right back at Zhang Ye.After the disciples of the Mad Blade Sect left, the disciples of the Azure Sky Sect immediately went up to Hu Zifeng, surrounding him.

“Congratulations, Junior Brother Hu for comprehending a Xiantian Art.”

“Bravo, Junior Brother Hu!”

“If it wasn’t for you, I’m afraid that no one would be able to defeat those disciples from the Mad Blade Sect.”

“Yeah. The Young Sect Master of the Mad Blade Sect was scheming alright. His request of not using any weapons had indirectly crippled our strength by half.”

Sitting on his chair, Bai Yufan squeezed out a smile when he saw this scene.As his glance drifted, he saw Lin Yun, who was forgotten among the crowd and walked over with a smile, “Lin Yun, how have your injuries been healing?”

“Thank you for your concern, Young Sect Master. I’m fine now.”

Nodding his head, Bai Yufan pondered briefly before he replied, “What do you think about the strength of those Mad Blade Sect’s disciples?”

Shaking his head, Lin Yun replied, “I wasn’t able to see anything much, but Zhang Ye seems to have a hidden trump card as well, I have no idea why they came here.”

Listening to Lin Yun’s analysis, Bai Yufan’s eyes lit up as he patted on Lin Yun’s shoulder, “Your eyes are pretty keen.”

He then turned around to look at Hu Zifeng, “Junior Brother Hu, you’ve brought honor to the sect by defeating Zhang Ye today. So what would you like for your reward?”

Walking through the crowd, Hu Zifeng came before Bai Yufan and replied, “I would like one Heart Nourishing Pellet along with 5 mid-grade spiritual stones.”

When the other inner disciples heard his request, they were all shocked by Hu Zifeng’s demands.The Heart Nourishing Pellet aside, 5 mid-grade spiritual stones were equivalent to 5,000 low-grade spiritual stones!

With a calm expression, Bai Yufan replied, “That’s what you deserve. The Elder of the Administration Hall will deliver your rewards to you three days from now.”

“Thank you, Young Sect Master.”

Hu Zifeng did not even bother with pleasantries as his gaze fell on Lin Yun.As he was in the spotlight now, Hu Zifeng wore a playful smile as he looked at Lin Yun, “Junior Brother Lin, you have also comprehended a Xiantian Art, so why didn’t you stand up earlier?”

As he spoke, his gaze fell onto the other inner disciples.

“Yeah, Junior Brother Lin. With the courage you had back then when you faced Ma Tianyi, even if you’re not able to defeat Zhang Ye, you can at least injure him heavily and create an opportunity for us.”

“Haha. Or do you only know how to bully the weak and cower before the strong?”

“On the stage that day, all of us had witnessed how you defeated Ma Tianyi even at the cost of being heavily injured.”

“I think he only managed to execute his Xiantian Art back then because he was in desperate straits, and I don’t think he has grasped it completely.”

As the inner disciples did not like Lin Yun, to begin with, they immediately started criticizing him when they saw Hu Zifeng taking the start. But before Lin Yun had the chance to speak up, Bai Yufan spoke out for Lin Yun, “There’s no need for everyone to criticize Lin Yun. He was still injured, and I only called him here to gain some experience. Now let’s drop this topic and disperse. I have to go take a look at Feng Daoyu’s injuries.”

“Young Sect Master, we’ll come along with you.”

Very quickly, only Lin Yun was left in the Main Hall. With a bitter smile on his face, Lin Yun shook his head as he headed back to his wooden shack. He could already sense that no matter how hard he worked, he would always be a sword slave in the eyes of others.

In the past, he was only a puny sword slave who could only maintain swords for the inner disciples.

Although the Azure Sky Sect was massive, there wasn’t a place for him here.

Returning to his wooden shack, Lin Yun found a flower vase and planted the Pale Remnant Flower’s seed that he got from Tong Hu. The Pale Remnant Flower was the best among roses, and was extremely helpful in the maintenance of the Flower Burial Sword.

He already had plans of cultivating the Spiritual Convergence Art to groom the Pale Remnant Flower, just that he didn’t have the time to do so. So now that he was free, he naturally couldn’t allow this chance to pass.

Retrieving the Spiritual Convergence Art, Lin Yun began to read through it. In the beginning, he wasn’t too interested in it, but as time passed, he gradually became fascinated by it.

The Spiritual Convergence Art was a supportive cultivation technique meant for alchemists. Strictly speaking, it was something that alchemy apprentices would do. After all, alchemists wouldn’t have the luxury of time to spend on flowers or herbs. Hence, they would naturally hand it over to apprentices.

The essence of the Spiritual Convergence Art was to lure spiritual aura over to nourish the herbs. Albeit to how simple it looks, it was actually a complicated process. 

The spiritual aura that exists in heaven and earth was a broad concept, and it wasn’t  simple to lure  as there were many impurities. Even without impurities, the nature of spiritual aura was classified into different elements. Different spiritual herbs required different elements of spiritual aura. So, there were always problems with apprentices due to the fact that they weren’t proficient enough.But with Lin Yun’s comprehension, it was a piece of cake for him to grasp something like the Spiritual Convergence Art.

A brief moment later, Lin Yun had already gasped the crucial stage about the Spiritual Convergence Art. As he shifted his desk out of the room, he placed the vase on it and began practicing the art.

Stretching his palms apart, Lin Yun began to circulate the Spiritual Convergence Art as spiritual aura in the surrounding began to gather over. As Lin Yun comprehended with his eyes closed, he started separating them into categories by their elements as recorded in the book. But as he went on, his comprehension had opened him to a new world.

It turned out that the spiritual aura was classified into different categories, and the spiritual aura that he had been absorbing all along was the most primitive form of spiritual aura that didn’t consist of any elements. Aside from the primitive form of spiritual aura, it was also separated into metal, wood, water, fire, earth, and some special elements.

Take the thunder and ice elements. They could be used in different cultivation techniques. After pondering for a while, Lin Yun guided the wood and water elements' spiritual aura into the vase. However, the speed that he was guiding the spiritual aura wasn’t up to his satisfaction.

He had to slowly extract them from the vast spiritual aura, and he couldn’t just pour it all at once. It was just as Tong Hu had said, it was a dry process. In the end, Lin Yun spent a total of two hours before his spiritual aura was completely exhausted.

In the vase, he could see a tender bud that permeated a soft glow as it released a floral fragrance. Looking at the bud, Lin Yun rejoiced as his efforts finally paid off. If he didn’t have the Spiritual Convergence Art, it would have to take him at least half a month before he could have a result with the Pale Remnant Flower.

“Mhm? The internal energy of my Pure Yang Art seems to have become more refined…” Lin Yun was shocked when his internal energy began to recover. The replenished internal energy was more refined, and he could even see a faint yellow glow in them. As his internal energy slowly replenished, it was like pouring water back into the ocean.

Logically speaking, it wasn't possible for Lin Yun to make any progress in his Pure Yang Art since he had already cultivated it to the pinnacle. Did that mean that… this cultivation technique was comprehended from the fragmented Xiantian Art? If that was the case, it meant that the Pure Yang Art also had a fragmented Xiantian Art version of it.

“Now that’s a surprise. I actually managed to break the bottleneck of the Pure Yang Art.”

After all, no martial practitioners would practice the Spiritual Convergence Art meant for alchemists. And even if they tried practicing it, it wasn’t coincidental enough that their cultivation technique had also reached the pinnacle.

So, Lin Yun was certain that not many people would know about this secret.

“Haha. Look at how leisurely you are, and here I thought that you would be sulking. I came to visit you now that I’m free.” A voice belonging to the Young Sect Master, Bai Yufan sounded out , who was walking over with a smile.

“Young Sect Master.” Lin Yun immediately cupped his hands together.

“Now that we’re meeting privately, you don’t have to be so formal with your greetings.” Bai Yufan appeared casual as he had a sunny temperament, and it was easy for others to gain a good impression about him.

“This is the Pale Remnant Flower, the highest quality of rose available.” Lin Yun explained.

After a casual chat, Bai Yufan revealed his intentions for coming, “Don’t put the matter from before into your heart. Others couldn’t sense, but I could sense that you were about to stand out right before Hu Zifeng came.”

“It’s fine. It’s great that you understand. As for the rest, there’s no need for me to give any explanations. After all, people who hate you will always find an excuse. Furthermore… it was nothing compared to my past experience.” Lin Yun replied in a calm voice without any resentment on his face. But when Bai Yufan heard those words, he was startled and surprised.

Perhaps this was the reason why Lin Yun could slowly climb his way up as a sword slave, and perhaps this was also the reason why Su Ziyao would fall for Lin Yun out of so many disciples in the sect.

“I’m actually here to give you your rewards. This is the Heart Nourishing Pellet that my father had previously promised you, and this your reward from the sect for becoming an inner disciple. After all, it’s time for you to change your sword.” Bai Fan smiled as he handed a sword and a bottle over.

When Lin Yun saw the Heart Nourishing Pellet, he wasn’t too surprised. But when he saw the sword, he was inwardly shocked as he exclaimed out, “This is a profound artifact?!”

As he had maintained swords for many disciples in the sect, he could tell with a glance that this was a profound artifact.

“Pull it out and give it a try.” Bai Yufan smiled.

“There’s no hurry for that, thank you for your generosity.”

“Alright, I’ll take my leave first. Don’t leave the sect for a while as all the inner disciples will be heading to Clear Water City half a month from now.” Bai Yufan replied.

As for the reason? Lin Yun naturally knew that it was for the Four Sects Tournament.

After Bai Yufan left, Lin Yun placed his hand on the profound artifact.

Shrink!

As a cold light flashed, Lin Yun pulled out the sword as it was shrouded in races of cold aura. It was a sword with incredible sharp edges, and the Young Sect Master had treated him well by giving him such a good sword.

Crack!

But before he could even finish praising this sword in his heart, this expensive profound artifact broke into two.

The profound artifact actually broke!