After bidding farewell to Bai Yi, Lin Yun and Gong Ming returned to Spiritwood Peak. The two were guest deacons, so they had also gotten closer after the episode back in the Nightcloud Hall. Back when Lin Yun sat on Gu Teng’s ‘reserved’ seat, everyone laughed at him, excluding Bai Yi and Gong Ming.

Lin Yun benefited greatly from the fight with Gu Teng, especially Gu Teng’s Mountain Shatter Fist. He learned that the foundation of a quasi-overlord force could suppress his Dragon-Tiger Fist. This meant that if it was used by a core disciple, he would be completely suppressed.

This meant that the Heavenly Province Academy had a deep foundation and the resources core disciples could come in contact with were even more terrifying than he thought. So this meant that they were stronger than Gu Teng.

The Heavenly Province Academy was one of the weaker ones among the other quasi-overlord forces. So how terrifying would the other quasi-overlord forces and the Profound Yang Palace be? This showed Lin Yun that the world was vast. He still had one year until the Draconic Banquet, so he had to work even harder.

“Brother Gong, can I enquire about the experts in the Nether Prefectural City?” asked Lin Yun.

“There are many experts in the city, but probably only those monstrous geniuses on the Dragoncloud Ranking could catch your attention,” smiled Gong Ming.

“The Dragoncloud Ranking?” asked Lin Yun.

“Brother Lin, you don’t know about the Dragoncloud Ranking? It’s the ranking system based on the Draconic Banquet that’s held once every four years. There are only a hundred people on it in the entire Ancient southern Domain, so anyone who can make it in are absolute geniuses,” said Gong Ming with reverence in his eyes.

“In the Nether Prefectural City, the Bloodwing Pavilion’s Leng Haoyu is ranked eighty-seventh, Shattered Sword Pavilion’s Liu Chenyi is ranked eighty-ninth, Threesolute Manor’s Lin Zhiyuan is ranked ninety-third, and Mo Ling of our academy is ranked ninety-seventh. There might be a difference in their ranking, but they’re almost as strong as each other.”

Gong Ming had respect in his eyes as he continued, “The four are the geniuses of the Nether Prefectural City. Ignoring Senior Sister Mo, the other three are in the greater Yang stage. But Senior Sister Mo grasped a divine ability, plus she’s also a pinnacle third grade spiritualist.”

Lin Yun recited those names and was shocked that their cultivation was in the greater Yang stage. There was a huge gap between them because he was only in the lesser Yin stage. Suddenly, Lin Yun recalled something and asked, “Why aren't there any disciples from the Profound Yang Palace?”

It was a little weird that there weren’t any disciples from the Profound Yang Palace among them. Gong Ming smiled and sighed, “That’s because no one can be compared to the Profound Yang Palace. The heir of the Profound Yang Palace, Xue Yi is ranked tenth. How can they compare to each other? Furthermore, Xue Yi doesn’t stay in the Nether Prefecture. So everyone will only talk about the four if anyone mentioned the experts of the Nether Prefecture.”

Lin Yun was stunned when he heard that because the gap was too great.

“The Profound Yang Palace might be going downhill, but it’s still one of the nine overlord forces. Their history is even older than the Nether Prefectural City. You can’t imagine the distance between the quasi-overlord forces and actual overlord forces.” Gong Ming patted Lin Yun’s shoulder with a smile. He could understand Lin Yun’s shock because the overlord forces were stronger than he had imagined.

Rubbing his nose, Lin Yun smiled, “That’s surprising. Thanks for the information.”

“Haha, you’re considering too much now. The Dragoncloud Ranking is four years from now for you.”

“Is that so?” Lin Yun smiled, but he didn’t say anything about it.

Gong Ming wasn’t bothered by it and he didn’t notice the fighting spirit in Lin Yun’s eyes. He winked at Lin Yun, “Brother Lin, you should think about how to deal with Senior Sister Mo tomorrow. She’ll definitely make your life miserable in the academy if you don’t show up tomorrow.”

“I nearly forgot about that.” Lin Yun remembered how unsightly Mo Ling’s face was when she left. Returning to his residence, Lin Yun threw this matter to the back of his head and started practicing the Iris Sword Sutra. Cultivating a day here was equivalent to a month of his usual cultivation.

He could now understand why the three of the four monstrous geniuses were in the greater Yang stage. If he had enough time to cultivate here, he could even reach the Yin-Yang stage.

The next morning, when the first ray of dawn shined onto him, Lin Yun opened his eyes and the Iris Flower that enveloped him slowly returned back to his body. The depths of his eyes flashed coldly. The Iris Flower in his violet palace had grown to seventy-four petals.

The improvement of his cultivation was faster than he had expected. It was only a night, and he actually made another breakthrough. If it was possible, he really wanted to go into seclusion here for a month. But Mo Ling said that he had to be at the Nightcloud Hall. If he really got on her bad side, then even the elders couldn’t help him.

“Alright then. Let me see the grace of someone in the Dragoncloud Ranking.” A smile appeared on Lin Yun’s face. He dared to enter the den of a tiger, so why would he be afraid of a woman?

When he came out of his residence, he headed straight to the Nightcloud Hall without Gong Ming. Along the way, many inner disciples pointed their fingers at him in gosip. They were looking at him with reverence and curiosity. After all, he rose to fame following his defeat of Gu Teng yesterday.

Lin Yun merely smiled. No matter where he went, strength was the foundation to everything. When he gradually approached the Nightcloud Hall, the number of disciples he saw along the way decreased. In the end, there wasn’t even a single person left.

This was abnormal because Lin Yun saw many people here yesterday. Could it be that he was late? Lin Yun held some doubt as he stepped into the grounds of the Nightcloud Hall. Once he did that, he was shocked. This place was completely empty and only Mo Ling was present, sitting on the stage with her eyes closed.

She looked ethereal as sunlight shined on her body. While Lin Yun stood there stunned, Mo Ling suddenly opened her eyes. She pointed at the mat in front of her. “Sit.”

Lin Yun had no idea what was going on, but he still soared into the sky and sat on the mat. He asked, “It looks like I’m here early?”

“You’re not. Starting from today, I’ll be teaching you spiritual runes individually every morning,” said Mo Ling with a cold face.

“You? Teach me individually?” Lin Yun looked at Mo Ling with disbelief.

“What’s the matter? You think I’m not qualified?” Mo Ling said with an indifferent voice and a chilling aura quickly enveloped Lin Yun.

“It’s my honor to be taught by the only female among the four elites in the Nether Prefectural City, not to mention you’re someone who grasped the lesser divine ability,” replied Lin Yun. However, he still couldn’t believe Mo Ling’s words. He was wondering if Mo Ling was trying to teach him a lesson.

“It looks like you’ve looked into me. Since that’s the case, then you’re to be here every morning for the next fifteen days,” replied Mo Ling.

Fifteen days? This wasn’t funny. One day was fine and Lin Yun would suck it up if he was beaten up. At most, he would just get his revenge in the future. After all, his time was too precious to be wasted.

“I’m sorry, but I’m afraid that I can’t enjoy this fortune. I have something else to attend to, so I’ll be taking my leave first…” Lin Yun spread his arms apart and he soared into the sky. In the next moment, he was already at the entrance of the plaza. But when he raised his head, his face changed.

There was a silver feather pointed at the center of his forehead. The feather was engraved with complicated spiritual runes and the pressure it gave him prevented him from taking another step forward. It felt as if the feather would pierce through his forehead if he took another step forward.

He was wondering if he could avoid it with the Seven Profound Steps. In the end, he was only 50% confident that he could dodge it. This meant that there was another 50% that he would die. In just a moment, Lin Yun’s forehead was covered with sweat.

The silver feather suddenly buzzed and it flew forward. This made Lin Yun’s face change as he quickly retreated. It didn’t take long for Lin Yun to be forced back to the stage.

“Turn around,” said Mo Ling as she took a sip of her tea.

Lin Yun smiled bitterly and he turned around, but the silver feather was still on his forehead.

“Sit,” commanded Mo Ling.

Mo Ling waved her hand after Lin Yun sat down. The feather opened up into a silver fan in her hand, which looked magical.

“What is this?” Lin Yun asked as he felt relieved.

“Just a high rank cosmic artifact. But in the eyes of spiritualists, we prefer to call them spiritual artifacts as in artifacts that only spiritualists can use. Many cultivators also like to call them secret artifacts. But there are no secrets in the eyes of spiritualists,” said Mo Ling.

Controlling a high rank cosmic artifact so easily. Was this the power of a Dragoncloud Ranking’s monster? Lin Yun wore a grave expression as he behaved himself. He knew that Mo Ling could kill him with a thought if she wanted. But since she didn’t, there must be something else to this matter.