Against the Gods - Volume 01 - Red-Colored Calamity

by Mars Gravity

  Qin Wuyou clearly had the ability to control large occasions; the wine had gone through three rounds, and the entire banquet’s bustling atmosphere was extraordinary as all kinds of cheers, laughter, and talk unceasingly continued. Even Yun Che who did not drink, was heartily enjoying himself on the feast that accompanied the wine. There was a long lasting exchange of glances that passed between the disciples of the Profound Palace and disciples of the other sects. Following this exchange of glances, the atmosphere became increasingly hostile; even a random spark could happen any moment and trigger an explosive reaction.

  At that moment, Profound Heart Sect’s Head Elder Xuan Duanao stood up, with his wine cup in hand, and loudly announced: “This cup, is this old man’s toast to Palace Chief Qin, on behalf of Profound Heart Sect’s wish that he may soon lead New Moon Profond Palace, to send tremors throughout the four oceans.” After finishing, Xuan Ao drained his cup in one gulp, put the cup down, and continued: “However, the banquet up till now, even though there are many esteemed guests present, still feels as if it’s lacking something; it just isn’t lively enough. Since Palace Chief Qin has only been newly appointed, he ought to have not yet become familiar with New Moon Profound Palace, and in all likelihood, would want to know the current strength of the palace’s disciples. Actually, this old man has a suggestion; why don’t we let a few of our younger disciples of the same age range exchange pointers? It may even liven things up, deepen the relationship amongst them, and Palace Chief Qin would get to gauge the current strength of the palace’s disciples. Wouldn’t it be like getting three birds with one stone?”

  “Right! Elder Xuan’s suggestion is wonderful!”

  “What a great three birds with one stone!”

  “What a great idea! Then what are we waiting for, let’s begin right away; I believe Palace Chief Qin would certainly not be opposed to this.”

  As Xuan Ao’s voice was about to drop, loud applause and cheers unceasingly came ,one after another, from the seven sects side. As for the Great Elders of New Moon Profound Palace, they sighed in their hearts….. What is to come, nevertheless must come. A new Palace Chief was appointed in New Moon Profound Palace every five years, and every time this took place, the seven sects would come to display their strength; it has already gotten to the point that this became the typical norm.

  The seven great sects all responded alike as their disciples all stood up while rubbing their hands, eager for battle. Even if Qin Wuyou wanted to oppose, there was no way he could. However, he was clearly calm and collected; He stood up to smile, and nodded: “Elder Xuan’s suggestion is not bad. Then, how should we go about in exchanging pointers?”

  “That’s simple!” Xuan Ao laughed out loud and said: “Our little juniors are different from us as they are in the initial stages where a person’s age determines their step towards heaven; therefore, it’s only fair to use age as the factor in these exchanging of pointers. Of course, a younger person may challenge an older person; winning this way will only be even more brilliant, hahahaha.”

  Xuan Ao’s last statement coupled with his laughter clearly meant one thing: Even if our side is younger, we will still be able to beat those who are older on your side.

  “Since this idea was proposed by this old man, then we’ll start with my Profound Heart Sect… Xuan Yu, you’re up! Don’t forget to state your age.”

  “Yes, Elder!”

  The youngster who was called out from the Profound Heart Sect appeared to be sixteen or seventeen years old, and he was actually the youngest of the lot of Profound Heart Sect disciples that came; he had a thin, but well-toned body. With a rush of energy, he leapt high from his seat onto the center of the hall. With both hands cupped behind his back, he then swept his defiant eyes towards the seated New Moon Profound Palace disciples: “This one is Profound Heart Sect’s useless disciple Xuan Yu, sixteen years old. Who will come up and advise me?”

  Once Xuan Yu entered stepped onto the stage, all the elders from New Moon Profound Palace became silent.… This Xuan Yu was only really only sixteen years old, but he was already at second level of the Nascent Profound Realm! Being Elders, of course they knew of their own internal strength; in New Moon Profound Palace, the most powerful of the sixteen year olds were only at the first level of the Nascent Profound Realm. Moreover, these disciples from the seven sects had their own sect’s profound arts. Even if they were of the same rank, New Moon Profound Palace’s disciples basically had no chance of winning at all; therefore, don’t even bother to mention going against one with a lower rank.

  What was even harder to accept, was that this Xuan Yu, amongst all the seven sects’ disciples here today, would only be considered mid-tier and absolutely not their top-tier.

  Xuan Yu stood there for quite a while, but there was no response from New Moon Profound Palace’s side at all. The smile on Xuan Yu’s face had already changed into a sneer. The people from the seven sects also looked on with contempt. If the situation was to go on like this, there would not be even “exchanging of pointers”, but instead, New Moon Profound Palace would lose face to the utmost degree. Sikong Han waved his hand: “Li Hao, you’re up!”

  “Yes!”

  Li Hao, who was called out to action, leaped from the disciple seating area to stand in front of Xuan Yu, resolutely said: “New Moon Profound Palace Class One’s Li Hao, please advise me!”

  “Hehe, needless to say, I’ll properly give you some advice.” Xuan Yu laughed as he replied with obvious sarcasm. Since New Moon Profound Palace was oppressed by them, the disciples of the seven sects always felt superior than the disciples of New Moon Profound Palace. In turn, disciples of New Moon Profound Palace were able to be cocky in front of mid-tier sects, but in front of the seven sects, they could not even lift their heads.

  “Humph!” The contempt in Xuan Yu’s eyes angered Li Hao as he roared; he concentrated profound energy into his right arm and smashed towards Xuan Yu’s face with an ear-piercing sound.

  “Hehe, only at this level?”

  Xuan Yu smirked as he brought up his right hand, which suddenly flashed with a layer of purple light.

  “It’s Profound Heart Sect’s Profound Art —— Purple Sun Art!” One of the Elders of New Moon Profound Palace growled.

  New Moon Profound Palace and the seven sects did not just have a disparity in profound strength, but also in profound arts! The major sects spent centuries refining their profound arts, which have also been passed down through the generations. These profound arts were all secrets of their respective sects, and they would never be taught to an outsider. If the New Moon Profound Palace wanted to teach their disciples profound arts, they would have to create it first. In addition, New Moon Profound Palace’s profound skills were for the most part, low-tier, definitely inferior to those of the seven sects’.

  The purple energy in Xuan Yu’s palm boiled like hot water as he clasped his hand into a fist and struck straight towards Li Hao’s fist….. two simple fists, with no one using a profound skill.

  As the two fists collided, a purple light burst forth and there was only a sound of *ka-cha* as Li Hao’s fist became dislocated. He revealed a painful expression as his upper body was pushed back from the force. Xuan Yu let out an insidious laugh as his left fist suddenly stuck out; it had the same purple layer of light and ruthlessly smashed towards Li Hao’s abdomen; but this time, it was not just a simple fist, but rather, Profound Heart Sect’s most powerful profound skill…

  “Purple Cloud Palm!”

  *BANG!* The purple colored fist severely smashed deep into Li Hao’s abdomen. Li Hao’s complexion immediately became incomparably pale, barely letting out a groan as he was sent flying; he flipped several times in the air and violently crashed onto the floor. The blood in his chest rolled about and with a *pu* sound, he finally vomited out an arrow of blood. He laid face down on the floor with both hands clutching his stomach, and was already unable to stand back up.

  “Li Hao!”

  “Junior B
rother Li!!”

  Two disciples from the New Moon Profound Palace quickly rushed out to help support the defeated Li Hao back. All the disciples from the New Moon Profound Palace felt perturbed in their hearts. Li Hao and Xuan Yu were of similar ages; their profound strengths only differed by one rank. Even if he could not win, he should have at least been able to hold out for a while. However, just after the two faced off, Li Hao had been utterly crushed.

  When they heard what happened five years ago; when the disciples of the seven sects had beaten their senior brothers and sisters ten times in a row, they were discontent and refused to accept it in their hearts. But after the end of this first “exchange of pointers”, they all felt a chill in their hearts.

  “You let me win.” Xuan Yu smiled. In that earlier fight; from start to finish, he had not wasted a single bit of energy. Moreover, he still had not left the stage, but rather, just stood where he originally was. As he looked towards the disciples of the New Moon Profound Palace and said: “I wonder who would be the next friend from New Moon Profound Palace that’s coming to exchange some pointers?”

  “Tch, this kid seems like he’s addicted to being in the limelight.” A disciple of the Seven Deadly Sword Pavilion scoffed.

  “Alas, there’s no meaning in oppressing these rookies, this is just playing around.” Another person sneered.

  To be defeated this fiercely with only two maneuvers, it made all the sixteen years old disciples of New Moon Profound Palace nervous in their hearts; none of them dared to take the stage. This was because Li Hao was considered the most powerful out of the sixteen year olds in New Moon Profound Palace; if any other sixteen year old were to go up, they would only be inviting humiliation.

  “Huh? What’s going on? Don’t tell me friends from the New Moon Profound Palace are all a bunch of turtles?” Xuan Yu jeered, but had a sudden change in his facial expression and lightly slapped his own face: “Look at this mouth of mine, it really doesn’t know what it’s saying. This is the Profound Palace appointed by the magnificent Imperial Family; the disciples are supposed to be the best, how can they be turtles. It must be that it’s beneath them to advise this little brother? Now how should we handle this? Little brother here is going to be bold and pick someone to challenge. If I win, it’s naturally due to luck, but if I lose, I will immediately leave this stage, and everyone present won’t have to hear my jokes anymore.”

  The people from the seven sects’ side immediately all bursted into laughter.

  Without even waiting for a response from New Moon Profound Palace’s side, Xuan Yu extended his hand to point at a single person: “That big-framed senior brother over there, from the looks of it, you must be quite powerful. Please advise this little brother here for a bit.

  The person he had pointed to…. was none other than Xia Yuanba!

  Chapter 66: The Battle That Shook the City (3)

  As Li Hao, the strongest sixteen year old in the Profound Department got so easily beaten by an opponent of the same age, Xia Yuanba vigorously gritted his teeth in secret. He hated how his profound strength was meager; let alone recover face for Li Hao and New Moon Profound Palace, he didn’t even have the qualifications to challenge Xuan Yu. But he had never thought that Xuan Yu would actually direct the spear head at him. Looking at Xuan Yu’s fingertips, Xia Yuanba’s eyes widened, and instantly became stupefied.

  Also, this Xuan Yu actually called him “Big-framed Senior Brother”!

  All the gazes concentrated onto Yuanba’s body at once. All the elders in New Moon Profound Palace suddenly knitted their brows greatly, and the disciples were also struck dumb. None of them had expected that Xuan Yu would challenge Xia Yuanba, who was actually only fifteen years old, and only came to to spectate! Although, with that astonishing figure of Xia Yuanba, it really was impossible for people who wasn’t familiar with him to know that he was only fifteen. Even mistaking him as being eighteen or nineteen would be normal.

  Sikong Han spoke up: “This is my Palace disciple Xia Yuanba. However, you shouldn’t call him Senior Brother. Although his build is excessively burly, he’s still only fifteen this year, and is the youngest in my Palace.”

  “Fifteen… years old?” Many people from the seven profound sects almost sprayed out the tea in their mouth. Xuan Yu had also immediately became flabbergasted.

  “Yuanba, since this Profound Heart Sect disciple wants to spar with you, you should calmly accept the challenge.” Sikong Han turned around and said: “You are younger in age, so there is no need to be ashamed even if you lose, just do your best.”

  “Yes, Elder.” Xia Yuanba nodded and stood up. As the huge body that neared two meters and thirty centimeters stood up, many people in the palace were immediately taken aback. Yun Che tapped him once, and said in a low voice: “Be careful, don’t get injured.”

  “Hehe, don’t worry. Even though my profound strength is no good, my body is still really tough.” Xia Yuanba tapped his chest with confidence and walked to the center of the Main Palace. He stood in front of Xuan Yu and spoke: “My name is Xia Yuanba, from Profound Department Class One, fifteen this year, please give me your guidance.”

  Xuan Yu clearly had wanted to challenge someone older to show off, but didn’t expect the “giant” he chose that looked eighteen, was actually only fifteen years old! A sixteen year old fighting against a fifteen year old, there wouldn’t be any glory to talk about even if he had won. As he arbitrarily measured the opponent’s profound power, the corner of his mouth instantly twitched a bit…. Only the sixth level of the Elementary Profound Realm! Choosing an opponent like this, it was virtually degrading his social status.

  “That fool! I knew something would happen if he attended this banquet! If we let others know about that even someone at the sixth level of Elementary Profound Realm could enter as an elite disciple, wouldn’t we become a huge laughing stock! Hmph, what a disgrace!”

  A low disdainful sneer filled with contempt slowly traveled into Yun Che’s ears. Yun Che’s gaze peered off to the side, apathetically glanced at Murong Ye, then he retracted his gaze and concentrated onto Xia Yuanba’s figure.

  Murong Ye who had just shut his trap suddenly felt a chill, and his entire body violently shook a bit. He panickly turned around and checked the surroundings while his heart palpitated like crazy…. Just a moment ago, he felt as if he suddenly dropped into a extremely cold ice hole?, and also felt as if a terrifying viper had locked him down with its eyes. But no matter where he looked, he couldn’t find any abnormalities in his surroundings. The flash of that frightening feeling had also started to die down. Murong Ye touched the cold sweat on his forehead, that had been formed who knows when, and genuinely thought that he was just being paranoid.

  “HAAH! Cutting Mountains Splitting Boulders!

  Xia Yuanba struck first; with both of his hands clenched into fists, his enormous body leaped up and violently crashed down. Adding his body together with that intangible sense of pressure, it really had some kind of resemblance to “Cutting Mountains Splitting Boulders.”.

  “He actually had the face to show off such a trashy Profound Skill. If Xuan Yu lets him use more than three moves before defeating him, he’ll never have the face to meet anyone outside again!” Sneered a senior disciple of Profound Heart Sect.

  When faced with the enormous force of Xia Yuanba’s attack, Xuan Yu didn’t attempt to dodge at all, and didn’t even assume a Profound Skill’s pose. He simply raised his right arm horizontally while standing in place, and plainly blocked toward Xia Yuanba’s heavy strike that appeared to be extremely ferocious. The corner of his lips revealed a faint smile of disdain….

  With a dull sound, both of Xia Yuanba’s fists violently smashed onto Xuan Yu’s arm. Xuan Yu’s forearm sank a little, then suddenly flipped upwards like a snake that just had awoken, and immediately locked both of Xia Yuanba’s robust arms between his forearm and upper arm. Then, his profound energy abruptly flared up.

  *Ka-Cha!!*

  “UW
AAAA!!”

  “Yuanba!” Yun Che immediately stood up.

  In the wake of Xia Yuanba’s scream of agony, both of his arms were dislocated in an instant. Xuan Yu swung out his arm, and actually managed to throw Xia Yuanba’s body that weighed over one hundred seventy-five kilos upwards, for over a meter.

  Normally, a “spar” should have ended here. Xia Yuanba’s defeat after a single move, was a result that wasn’t out of anyone’s expectations. A powerful foundation, profound arts, and profound skills, allowed Xuan Yu to defeat someone who was only one level lower with just two maneuvers; not to mention Xia Yuanba who was only at the sixth level of Elementary Profound Realm. However, when Xia Yuanba’s body was still in the air and about to heavily fall to the ground, the corner of Xuan Yu’s mouth suddenly formed into a shady grin, as his right fist flashed with a purple light.

  Yun Che immediately detected Xuan Yu’s intent, and promptly shouted: “Stop!!”

  But how would Xuan Yu listen to him; an unrestrained Purple Cloud Palm violently smashed onto Xia Yuanba’s body that was just about to hit the ground.

  The sound of at least three ribs breaking clearly resounded.

  “Yuanba!!!!”

  Not caring about anything else, Yun Che jumped over next to Yuanba’s body with a single leap, and supported his falling body. As Xia Yuanba touched the ground, his complexion had already become ghastly white; blood flowed out from the corner of his mouth, and his face was twisted because of the intense pain. Although Xia Yuanba’s body appeared to be robust, his protective profound energy was still too weak; it was impossible for him to endure Xuan Yu’s heavy strike.

  Yun Che looked at Xuan Yu; his eyes filled with rage, as he spoke with a livid face: “This competition is only a sparring session, the match is finished when the victor is obvious. The victor was clear just now, why would you still strike him that heavily!”