Lin Yun opened his eyes the next morning and let out a long breath. When he did that, his pale face became more rosy. In just one night, he had recovered from almost 50% of his injuries. But he soon calmed down because if anyone was here, they would be shocked by the light in his eyes. After all, it was impossible for someone who wasn’t even in the Violet Palace Realm to possess such a pair of sharp gaze.

Not long after Lin Yun opened his eyes, the door was pushed open. Bai Yi’s head popped into the room and she spoke with her face blushed, “Big Brother Lin, you’re awake.”

She was carrying a basket that she handed over to Lin Yun, “Big Brother Lin, it must have been days since you last ate. I brought you breakfast.”

Cultivators might be able to live off the energy in the atmosphere, but eating was still beneficial to them, not to mention that Lin Yun had been wandering at the bottom of the river for half a month. In his case, food was a great source of replenishment for his body.

Lin Yun stared at Bai Yi and revealed a rare gentle smile all because of Bai Yi’s kindheart.

“Big Brother Lin, can you tell me how you got injured? Who is it that injured you so heavily?” asked Bai Yi.

Drinking a mouthful of congee, Lin Yun replied honestly, “I fought with a greater Yin stage wandering cultivator. Although I managed to kill him, I also got injured in the process.”

“You’re boasting,” said Bai Yi with her lips pouted. She clearly didn’t believe his words. “Even Senior Sister Liu is only in the lesser Yin stage. How can you possibly kill a greater Yin stage expert? Senior Sister Liu is considered a rare genius in the academy and she’s only ranked below core disciples.”

Only ranked below core disciples? This made Lin Yun even more interested. Liu Yunyan wasn’t even a core disciple despite her cultivation? If she was in the Great Qin Empire, she would be ranked above the eight titles. This meant that the Heavenly Province Academy had a huge origin.

The two chatted in the room briefly. Perhaps it was because Bai Yi wasn’t an extroverted person, but her voice was soft when she spoke. At the same time, Lin Yun had a whole new understanding of the Ancient Southern Domain through her.

She might be young, but her scope was bigger than his. The Ancient Southern Domain was divided into nine prefectures, the Nether, Azure, Wing, Cloud, Artifact, Wind, Lightning, Demonic, and Central. Each prefecture had an ancient city that occupied the Ancient Southern Domain’s dragon vein.

Powerful forces would set their base in the prefectural cities, using the dragon vein’s fortune to benefit their sect. The Great Qin Empire was located in the Nether Prefecture, but the empire could only be considered an intermediate force. It was insignificant in the eyes of genuine experts.

If the Nether Prefecture’s overlord was the Profound Yang Palace, the Ancient Southern Domain had eight other similar overlord forces. In addition to the Profound Yang Palace, the Nether Prefecture also had five quasi-overlord forces. They were the Heavenly Province Academy, Goldorigin Commerce, Threesolute Manor, Bloodwinged Pavilion, and Shattered Sword Pavilion.

The five forces might not be as powerful as the Profound Yang Palace, but they all ruled a section of the Nether Prefecture. This was why they were deemed quasi-overlord forces. Then again, there were also many forces in the prefecture with deep foundations that couldn’t be underestimated.

But Lin Yun was surprised when Bai Yi introduced the Heavenly Province Academy. So it turns out that the Heavenly Province Academy emphasized cultivation in spiritual runes. This meant that they had the strongest spiritualists in the entire prefecture. All of their disciples cultivated the art of spiritual runes. So the entry requirement for the academy was talent in spiritual runes.

“Hehe, Senior Sister Liu is a second grade spiritualist. Isn’t she great? She can already control second grade spiritual runes freely before the age of twenty-five…”

Second grade spiritualist? That was indeed impressive. All of the second grade spiritualists in the Sword Firmament Pavilion were old geezers.

Lin Yun was also rather proficient in the art of spiritual runes. The Age Sutra also had guidance on second grade spiritual runes and his talent in spiritual runes wasn't bad. However,he didn’t have any time to cultivate them.

When Bai Yi mentioned Liu Yunyan, her eyes were glowing with stars filled with admiration. Lin Yun could tell that Liu Yunyan must be Bai Yi’s idol, so Lin Yun’s impression of her wasn’t bad. At the very least, Liu Yunyan had helped him with his injuries. The only unhappiness he had with Liu Yunyan was that she gaveLu Siyin his sword for safekeeping. Then again, there was nothing he could do about it since they weren’t from the same sect.

“But Senior Sister Liu is under great pressure for this mission…” said Bai Yi with concern in her eyes.

“What mission?” asked Lin Yun.

“The academy received news that Indigoflame Goldlotuses appeared in the Bloodbone Mountain Range, and we’ve been tasked to bring back at least three. If everything goes smoothly, Senior Sister Liu will be promoted to a core disciple when we get back,” explained Bai Yi.

“Indigoflame Goldlotuses?” Lin Yun fell into deep thoughts before he asked, “Are you talking about the Indigoflame Goldlotuses that can aid in the breakthrough of the Violet Palace Realm?”

There were three treasures that could be found in nature that could aid in the breakthrough of the Violet Palace Realm. They were the Bloodflame Fruit, Earthorigin Fruit, and Indigoflame Goldlotus. Back then when Lin Yun chanced upon a Bloodflame Fruit, he even enquired about it.

But it was a pity that he had already refined the Bloodflame Fruit. Otherwise, it would have been easier for him to make a breakthrough into the Violet Palace Realm. But among the three treasures, the Bloodflame Fruit was the weakest and the Indigoflame Goldlotus was the greatest.

“That’s right.” Bai Yi nodded, “The Indigoflame Goldlotus is beneficial to quasi-Violet Palace Realm cultivators. As long as you’re not out of luck with a poor aptitude, it’s practically certain that you can form your violet palace by refining it. Legend has it that forming the violet palace with the Indigoflame Goldlotus can remove impurities with the indigoflame of the lotus.”

Lin Yun had also heard about it and was tempted by it. If he could refine an Indigoflame Goldlotus after he recovered from his injuries and converted all his origin energy, he would be able to reach the Violet Palace Realm.

Lin Yun had a deep impression of how strong the Violet Palace Realm was after his fight with the old man. In fact, Lin Yun had nearly died even with the xiantian sword intent. His aptitude wasn’t bad, so it would take him roughly a year to make a breakthrough into the Violet Palace Realm if he didn’t run into any opportunities.

But it was a whole new situation if he had the Indigoflame Goldlotus. The three treasures were hard to find. They couldn’t be found just anywhere.

“But we’re not the only ones who received the news. Many forces also know about it, so it’s not optimistic for us to obtain three of them given the many other forces…” Bai Yi expressed her concern.

“Yeah.” Lin Yun gradually calmed down. Since Liu Yunyan wasn’t confident in obtaining it, Lin Yun also wasn’t confident about it. Right now, he just had to focus on recovering from his injuries. After he recovered from his injuries, he would take back his treasures. So he was in no position to worry about the Heavenly Province Academy. If Bai Yi wanted it, he didn’t mind taking the risk to get one for her.

Bai Yi left reluctantly after Lin Yun finished breakfast.

Two days later, the Heavenly Province Academy’s disciples began to descend from the boat. They had to travel to the Indigoflame Goldlotus by foot, which is where things would get dangerous.

On the deck, Bai Yi begged a senior brother of hers to bring Lin Yun along. She was worried that Lin Yun might be bullied since he still hadn’t recovered from his injuries. There wasn't anyone that could take care of him. She wanted to bring him along so that she could take care of him at all times.

Lin Yun wasn’t too bothered by it because he had recovered from 70% of his injuries. At least now he could follow behind them sneakily without anyone noticing. But when he saw how Bai Yi begged her senior brother to bring him along, he felt some warmth in his heart.

“Do you think we’re out to play? Who is going to take care of him if we run into danger? He’ll just tie us down.” A voice sounded out right at this moment. It was Lu Siyin reprimanding Bai Yi.

Bai Yi was frightened by the voice and her face turned red, “You clearly stole Big Brother Lin’s sword, but you’re still being so harsh. Don’t you have any compassion?”

“You dare to reprimand me?” Lu Siyin’s face turned dark with rage flashing across her eyes. She immediately lifted her hand to slap Bai Yi.

Her action startled Bai Yi, but before she could slap Bai Yi, another hand came out of nowhere and grabbed onto her wrist. Lin Yun’s face turned cold and he spoke out, “Quite the temper you got there!”

“Let me go!” Lu Siyin couldn’t move her wrist from Lin Yun’s grab, which made her furious.

“What is a sword slave like you trying to do? Release Senior Sister Lu!” The other disciples who had a good relationship with Lu Siyin’s faces changed as they looked at Lin Yun coldly. In that split second, the atmosphere became tense.