“Friend Dong Jian, I have certainly heard your name before, though this is indeed the first time we meet. I have long admired you!” the pavilion master said with an enthusiastic smile on his face.
Dong Jian had lived in seclusion for many years and rarely appeared in public, so it was perfectly normal that the pavilion master had never met him. Still, he was renowned throughout the Ancestral Heart Realm for his swordsmanship.
After a brief moment of thought, Lin Yun used his divine sense to transmit a message directly to Dong Jian.
“Senior Dong Jian, it is I, Lin Yun. For certain reasons, I have altered my appearance and concealed my original identity. At present, I am going by the daoist title ‘Beichen’.”
When those words rang inside Dong Jian’s mind, he froze for an instant.
At that exact moment, the formation master Hongyuan turned his gaze toward Lin Yun. “Pavilion Master, who might this friend you have brought be?”
Dong Jian immediately rose with a smile. “This is Daoist Beichen, a friend of mine.”
The pavilion master, who had been about to make the introduction himself, was taken aback.
He had not expected Dong Jian and Lin Yun to know each other, let alone be friends.
Inwardly, he thought: Daoist Beichen’s background truly is extraordinary. Even Dong Jian knows him.
This only deepened his curiosity about Lin Yun’s true identity and connections.
“So he is a friend of Brother Dong Jian, and brought here personally by the pavilion master himself. Daoist Beichen must be no ordinary person. Welcome, welcome! Please, both of you, take a seat!” Hongyuan said warmly once he heard Lin Yun was Dong Jian’s friend.
After everyone had settled.
“Daoist Beichen, it has been a long time. Shall we test your current swordsmanship and strength?” Dong Jian asked with a broad, eager smile.
Lin Yun’s performance and talent during his last visit had left a deep impression on Dong Jian.
“Certainly,” Lin Yun agreed readily.
Dong Jian’s swordsmanship was exceptional. Sparring with him was an opportunity to learn.
“Haha, the moment you two meet you want to cross swords? Brother Dong Jian, you really are a sword maniac,” Hongyuan laughed.
Lin Yun and Dong Jian stepped out of the pavilion and walked to an open space in the rear courtyard.
The pavilion master looked rather expectant. He had always found Lin Yun mysterious, and he had never personally witnessed Lin Yun display his true strength.
This was the perfect chance to observe Lin Yun’s actual ability while he sparred with Dong Jian.
Once they reached the open ground, Lin Yun clearly remembered their last encounter at Dong Jian’s ancient mountain temple.
Back then, Dong Jian had taught him swordsmanship through actual combat.
At that time, Dong Jian had been in the Void Dao Realm while Lin Yun was only in the Heaven Connecting Realm. To keep things fair, Dong Jian had refrained from using internal energy. Even so, Lin Yun had been utterly overwhelmed and crushed.
Every detail of that fight remained vivid in his memory.
Dong Jian looked at Lin Yun and said, “I thought very highly of you back then. Today, let us see how much you have progressed over the years. To avoid bullying you, we will follow the old rules: neither of us will use internal energy.”
“Senior Dong Jian, this time there is no need to suppress your cultivation. We can have a proper spar,” Lin Yun replied with a smile.
“No suppression?” Dong Jian was momentarily stunned.
He remembered that during Lin Yun’s last visit, Lin Yun had only been at the second stage of the Heaven Connecting Realm. Although some years had passed, to a cultivator like Dong Jian that was not a long period.
“I am in the Void Dao Realm. If I do not suppress my cultivation, I would simply crush you with raw realm advantage. How could we then truly test our swordsmanship against each other?” Dong Jian explained.
“Senior, I too am now in the Void Dao Realm, and I have reached the second minor stage within it, the Dao Transformation stage,” Lin Yun said with a faint smile.
As his words fell, he immediately released the aura of his Dao Transformation cultivation.
“What!?”
“Dao… Dao Transformation!?”
Dong Jian, who had been perfectly calm a moment earlier, instantly filled with shock the moment he sensed that aura.
How long had it been since he last guided Lin Yun? Back then, the boy had only been at the second stage of the Heaven Connecting Realm.
In such a short span of time, this fellow had actually reached the Dao Transformation stage?
Waves of astonishment crashed through Dong Jian’s heart.
He had indeed held Lin Yun in very high regard, but he had never imagined that Lin Yun’s cultivation would advance at such a terrifying pace!
“It truly is ‘three days apart, and one must look anew’. I already considered you exceptional back then, but it seems I still underestimated your rate of growth. Remarkable. Truly remarkable!” Dong Jian exclaimed, his voice filled with awe and emotion.
