Against the Gods - Volume 01 - Red-Colored Calamity

by Mars Gravity

  “What’s wrong with you?” Jasmine asked when she detected his abnormality in the Sky Poison Pearl.

  “Over there, something seems to be summoning me?” Yun Che said with a serene complexion, while looking toward the south.

  “Summoning?” Jasmine’s voice was filled with surprise.

  “It can’t be wrong, it’s right over there.” Yun Che’s eyebrows slightly knitted together: “In the end, what kind of thing is it? Is it some special kind of bewitching technique… That’s not right! Not only is the consciousness reacting, the Profound Veins are too! No…. I must go there and take a look!”

  The five people in mid air had already proceeded ahead. If he kept on advancing, any profound beast that jumped out could end his life. If the Burning Heaven Clan’s people discovered that he was still following, they may even think of him as a hinderance and kill him…

  After some hesitation, Yun Che clenched his teeth and took out the last Star Concealing Grass and gripped it in his left hand. After releasing the grip, it had already turned into a crystal clear Star Concealing Pellet.

  Swallowing down the Star Concealing Pellet, Yun Che’s body immediately disappeared, as if it had turned into mist. Without shadow or form, Yun Che took open strides, and quickly rushed forward.

  The minute he stepped into the “Scarlet Dragon Prohibited Region”, a wave of sweltering dry heat suddenly came across his face, making Yun Che lose his breath in an instant. Ahead, was a small mountain that didn’t look very tall. He hastily rushed up and stopped at the mountain top, and looked ahead with knitted brows.

  In his view, there appeared a large chunk of a scarlet-red colored region. In the middle of that region, was a nearly one hundred meter high gigantic cave, a barren environment without a single blade of growing grass. Strands of scorching white gas and ember spewed from the cracks in the ground and the caves from time to time, as if it had just been scorched by heavenly fire.

  The five from Burning Heaven Clan had also arrived above the top of the cave by now. The position Yun Che was now at, finally allowed him to clearly see the faces of those five people. Four out of the the five looked to be around fifty, with a red flame embroidered on their cloth robes. As for the person in the middle, his beard was already completely white, and his complexion was composed, but every part of his body was emitting a wave terrifying aura that made Yun Che suffocate.

  Five in the Sky Profound Realms…. The one in middle, was the supremely strong practitioner who was already half a step into the Emperor Profound Realm.

  For Burning Heaven Clan to send out such a shocking formation, it seemed like the Flame Dragon’s Profound Core, was indeed, critically important to them.

  “Looks like the information really was correct! Inside, there inhabits a humongous profound beast of the fire attribute!” The middle-aged man on the rightmost spoke with a stern look.

  “Don’t act carelessly. This cave may have some unpredictable mystery and traps; it should still better to lead this Flame Dragon out of the cave.”

  “Then let me do it!”

  The leftmost middle-aged man took a step forward and swung his right hand; then, a dark-gold blade that was more than three feet long appeared in his clenching hand. Burning Heaven Clan’s main weapon was a single-edge blade; hence, one of their major Profound Techniques was called the“Heavenly Burning Blade”. As the Heaven Burning Secret Art was channeled, the blade ignited flames; as flames followed the blade, its power was extremely shocking.

  (TL: Blade refers to the Chinese Dao - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dao_(sword))

  “HAAH!!”

  When the middle aged man lifted the long blade, the sword’s body was immediately lit up with a scorching flame as he ferociously cleaved downwards during his howl.

  Rumble……

  A solidly thick dragon-shaped flame flew out from the blade; accompanied by a scorching heatwave and the whistling of the wind, it charged toward the front of the gigantic cave. As it crashed onto the ground with a thundering bang, the dragon shaped flame suddenly exploded outwards. A crater over ten meters deep was instantly blown into the previously level ground, and a burnt aura dispersed in all four directions.

  Even the entirety of the gigantic cave, slightly trembled a bit.

  Chapter 50: Seed of the Evil God: Fire (3)

  TL Change:

  – Profound Beast Pellet -> Profound Beast Core

  Reason:

  – In the previous chapters, when I translated the word 丹, I sometimes used either pill or pellet because it was generally used with medicine. However, I have decided to change 玄丹 (Profound Pellet/Pill) into Profound Core to make things simpler for you guys because the 丹田 (Dantian) is considered to be the center of one’s life force or energy. What used to be Profound Beast Pellets will now be Profound Beast Cores. I’m hoping this change would make things easier for readers to understand that they’re not exactly extracting medicine from the beasts, but their “Cores”.

  Note:

  – Poll for 拼了!! (I translated it as YOLO, because I thought it sounded best..) If you don’t like any of the answers, leave your suggestion in the comments.. (It now has become ‘Screw it’ based on criticism and poll, Ranbow has triumphed!)

  * * *

  “ROOOOOOARR!!!!”

  Suddenly, a tremendously loud roar that was loud enough to cause the earth to quake and the heavens to tremble, came from inside the huge cave. Although Yun Che was quite a distance away, both his ears immediately went deaf after hearing this thunder-like sound.

  Along with the sound of the roar, suddenly came a blazing light from deep within the cave. It was subsequently followed by the appearance of a pillar of flame tens of meters thick that rushed towards the five in the sky. Miles of the surrounding area became filled with waves of scorching hot air. Yun Che’s face was immediately covered with a painful burning sensation; he was secretly surprised in his heart…. It seems that the legend of the Flame Dragon turned out to be true!! Even if it wasn’t a Dragon, it should be a Fire Profound Beast of a terrifying level!

  Only the lowest level profound beasts inhabited this inconspicuous Scarlet Dragon Mountain Range, but surprisingly, it actually harbored this type of frightening existence.

  “Move out of the way!!”

  The suddenly appearing pillar of flames had also surprised the five as they quickly dispersed in different directions while still in mid-air. The flame pillar slowly dissipated high up in the sky only after leaping up for several hundred of meters. By that time, in front of the cave, the colossal silhouette of a dragon came into view.

  With a height that reached a hundred feet and an entire body scarlet-red, like red-hot steel, its enormous wings and tail lit with a blazing fire. When the dragon lifted its head, its two scarlet-red eyes were full of prestige, and it actually spoke in human speech: “Audacious humans, to actually have the impertinence to dare offend and breach into this king’s territory!”

  Its voice was heavy and rough, but even more so emanated a dignity that made one’s heart palpate. The senior elder of Burning Heaven Clan stepped up, and said with pretension: “I didn’t expect that in this remote and no-name place, there actually resided a dragon…. nevertheless, a Flame Dragon! However, with your noble body and compelling power, residing in this sort of place is far too humble of you. After we take your Profound Core, we’ll definitely display your power at the pinnacle of Blue Wind Empire, what do you think?”

  Burning Heaven Clan’s senior elder Fen Moli had on an arrogant disposition. He didn’t chit-chat for even half a sentence and declared his aim. His demeanor more so demonstrated that he was determined to win, as if the Flame Dragon’s core was already in his pocket. From the profound energy the Flame Dragon was giving off, it should be a ninth level Sky Profound Beast, no different from the gathered intelligence. However he, Fen Moli, had already remained in the tenth level of Sky Profound Realm for seven years. As one who was half-a-step into the Emperor Profound Realm, it was
possible for him to strike down this flame dragon all by himself. And furthermore, there were four strong Sky Profound Realm practitioners from the same clan right beside him.

  At the same time, their clan’s profound art, the Heaven Burning Secret Arts, allowed them to be capable of suppressing profound beasts of the fire attribute.

  Fen Moli’s words thoroughly ignited the Flame Dragon’s temper at once. The flames from its wings and tail instantaneously burned with more vigor, and the temperature in the surrounding area sharply rose along with its rage: “Insatiable humans, you will pay the ultimate price for your arrogance and greed. This king will incinerate you all into dust!”

  As the furious Flame Dragon’s wings flapped, it’s humongous flaming body took off into the air and charged straight at the five people in mid air.

  “Fight!!”

  With the low roar from the senior elder, the five people hastily dispersed at once, respectively at five positions surrounding the Flame Dragon. When Flame Dragon violently roared, five scarlet-colored flames suddenly shot out from its body like a explosion, turning into five dragon-shaped flames and gnawed toward the respective five people. The sweltering heat made Yun Che sweat in suffocation even at a distance of over a thousand meters.

  With the exception of Fen Moli, the other four were blown away by the five dragon-shaped flames when they hit their protective profound energy. Fen Moli forcibly scattered the dragon-shaped flames with profound energy, and with a roar, his body became an afterimage as it instantly approached the Flame Dragon’s humongous frame in a flash. The long blade in his hands weaved numerous slashes that covered the sky as far, as the eye could see, to then make ear-shattering sounds of colliding metal as the slashes rained down onto the Flame Dragon’s body like a storm.

  The enraged Flame Dragon fiercely swung its body, and the enormous dragon’s tail smashed toward Fen Moli with destructive force. Fen Moli leaned backwards and in an instant erected protective profound energy to his front. With a heavy bang, the enormous dragon’s tail violently crashed into Fen Moli’s protective profound energy, and broke the resilient protective profound energy into pieces as if it were made of glass. Fen Moli rapidly retreated backwards with a ghastly face, and hastily yelled: “Its body is too tenacious, don’t come too near!!”

  As the other four Sky Profound Realm powerhouses heard the voice, they immediately stopped and a long blade appeared in everyone’s hands. Flames flared atop the body of their blades.

  “Heavenly Burning Blade —— Seafaring Flame Dragon!!”

  “Heavenly Burning Blade —— Thousand Scorching Suns!!”

  “Heavenly Burning Blade —— Field Burning Slash!!”

  “Heavenly Burning Blade —— Blazing Sun Burns Clouds!!”

  The four were of the same clan, and furthermore were blood-related brothers. They grew up together and trained in the profound together, and thus they were awfully familiar with each other and their minds were synchronized. They raised their long blades at almost the same time and slashed toward the Flame Dragon from tens of meters away. The terrifying blade aura clearly drew ripples in space and pressed directly toward the Flame Dragon; a slash from the right; a slash from the left; a slash from above; a slash from below; the slashes sealed all of the Flame Dragon’s possible paths of advancement and retreat.

  Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

  The Flame Dragon’s body was gigantic, making its movements not very nimble. The four blade auras all hacked onto its body, and left four lines of very light marks on the surface of its body, making it somewhat lose its balance. Fen Moli’s counterattack also all of a sudden, struck; no one knew when he appeared above the Flame Dragon, but a tremendously heavy slash collided with the Flame Dragon’s head.

  “ROOOOOARR!!!”

  The Flame Dragon that felt the pain let out an enraged roar and the surface of its body abruptly exploded with a huge ball of scorching flames. The instantaneous blistering heat wave pressed the five people back far far away. Although their Heaven Burning Secret Arts allowed them to have a certain amount of resistance against fire, they couldn’t resist all the fire. Not giving any breathing room for the Flame Dragon, they quickly pressed back after getting pushed away. The blade auras that seemed to even slash open space, ruthlessly fell downwards onto the Flame Dragon’s body again and again.

  Clang! Boom! Bang! Huu~~~~

  The sound of blade auras cutting through air, the sound of flames exploding, the ear-splitting sound of collision….. almost resounded across the entire Scarlet Dragon Mountain Range as the low level profound beasts in the surrounding areas ran amok in fear. Small hills were slashed into pieces one by one, and even the ground became filled with countless fissures.

  Yun Che hid on a hill far away and watched the Sky Profound Realm battle while holding his breath. This kind of formation and battle was rare even in the history of the Blue Wind Empire and at this time, was actually being watched by him, a mere fourth level of the Elementary Profound Realm.

  He didn’t dare to go closer, because either touching the Flame Dragon’s fire or the Burning Heaven Clan’s blade auras, or even the residue waves, could undoubtedly take his life.

  The battle became more and more fierce as the surrounding air temperature continued to rise. The Flame Dragon’s strength was unquestionable, but facing five opponents with similar levels of strength, it fell into a disadvantage from the very start. However, it still had the tenacious body that a human would never reach, so even if the Burning Heaven Clan’s five people held the advantageous position, it was fundamentally impossible for them to do anything within this short amount of time.

  “It seems that sooner or later, this Flame Dragon will be seized by them.” Yun Che muttered in a low voice.

  “Then you’ve truly underestimated dragons.” Jasmine said in an ice-cold voice: “Although it is a mere low level dragon, it nevertheless is a true dragon! Unlike false dragons such as the Flood Dragon and reptilian dragons, true dragons possess extremely high intelligence; they can even conceal their true strength to better protect themselves. These people are under the impression that it is merely a Sky Profound Beast; as a result, they only brought out a person who’s only half a step in the Emperor Profound Realm. But unfortunately, it’s nevertheless…. a genuine beast at the Emperor Profound Realm, through and through!”

  (TL: Flood Dragon - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiaolong: dragon of legends that brings rain and flood)

  Yun Che’s entire face was full of astonishment.

  “At the moment, it’s merely toying with its opponents in order to show weakness to the enemies, and then pull the opponents into a certain death match. The moment it bares its true fangs, these five people, with the person half-a-step in the Emperor Profound included…. should all not think of leaving this place alive.”

  As Yun Che heard this, his heart chilled. This dragon was unexpectedly this insidiously cunning!

  As the fight became increasingly intense, the battle shifted toward the south, drawing them further and further away from the cave. It was obvious that the Flame Dragon was deliberately doing this to prevent the battle’s repercussions from harming the cave it dwelled in….

  Eh? Cave?

  Yun Che’s unwavering gaze immediately fixed onto the cave.

  It was indeed a true dragon’s…. or even better, was the cave that a true Emperor Profound Dragon inhabited!

  It was not known for how long the name Scarlet Dragon Mountain Range came into existence, but it was unlikely to be as short as a mere hundred years. This implied that the Flame Dragon had lived inside this cave for no less than a century’s worth of time. Yet a dragon’s life span was far longer, so much that they may live a thousand years; it was not entirely improbable that they may even live past several millennia. A dragon was a noble type of profound beast, so there should be no way possible that one would willingly stay in such a common area. Perhaps there was a rare and exquisite treasure hidden inside this cave that made it unwilling to le
ave!

  Even if there weren’t any, since it had lived here for such a long time, it probably ought to have shedded a fair amount of dragon skin and scales? For anything that came off a dragon’s body, even if shedded, were all still treasures!

  The current him was at the fourth level of the Elementary Profound Realm, the resulting achievement he gained after a period of four months. Although that speed was sufficient enough to be astonishing, like before, his strength was still only situated at the bottom end of the Blue Wind Empire. If the inside of this cave actually contained some sort of rare and exquisite treasure, then it was inevitable that it would bring great benefits to his cultivation of the profound.

  After he took a quick glance at his current own invisible state, he suddenly clenched his teeth: Screw it! The largest amount of profit often are accompanied with the largest amount of risks. If one were to be afraid of the slightest thing, they would continuously let this opportunity that was at hand, slip away. It would be impossible for cowards to ever scale the summit to the top!

  In addition, he felt a one-of-a-kind, indescribable vague feeling…. that the thing beckoning him a while ago, seemed to be inside this very cave!

  “What’re trying to do?” The alert Jasmine asked when she saw Yun Che spring up all of a sudden, with a luminous gaze in his eyes, as he stared at the cave.

  “I’m about to infiltrate that cave to take a look! Since it is a dragon’s lair, perhaps there may be some good items.” Yun Che slowly reasoned.

  “Hmph. As expected, humans are all insatiable! Remnants of their battle are everywhere so if you even get touched by a little bit of it, you would be dead in a flash! Do you really not care about your own life?”

  “Rest assured, with the hiding capability of the Star Concealing Grass, even one at the Emperor Profound Realm wouldn’t know any better! The present location they’re fighting at, is now far away from the cave. As long as I take a long detour around them, I’m sure that it’s unlikely for me to be affected.”