Against the Gods - Volume 01 - Red-Colored Calamity

by Mars Gravity

  “Yes, this junior will call for Elder Baicao to go with me to Black Moon Merchant Guild at once!”

  Even without Yun Che’s reminder, Xiao Tiannan knew that this was a matter best handled personally, and the more quiet and secretive this trip was, the better. If the news of New Moon City possessing an Emperor Profound Dragon Core were to spread, the repercussions would simply be unimaginable.

  Very quickly, Xiao Tiannan called for Xiao Baicao. The two men were preparing to leave when Yun Che paused them in their tracks, and said: “The distance from here to Black Moon Merchant Guild is quite far. Moreover, the matter of this Emperor Profound Core is important, so even if you managed to purchase it in the end, it would require you to spend a large amount of time. Within this duration, I have drop by your treasury sporadically based on Luocheng’s condition. Therefore, you should leave the keys to the treasury to someone you can trust.”

  “This…” After Xiao Tiannan and Xiao Baicao looked at each other, Xiao Baicao agilely pulled out the keys to the treasury, and said: “Senior, there are a total of two keys to the treasury, and they have always been with this junior and Sect Master. It has never been given to a third person, and we had never dared to do so in any way. When thinking about it, the only person we can currently pass the key onto would be you, Senior. If at any time, Senior needs to acquire herbs or any precious stones, you can enter with this key at any time.”

  Yun Che glared, then fiercely swung his hand away, and said unhappily: “What nonsense! The key to your treasury, how can it arbitrarily land in an outsider’s hands! Both of you are already near a century old; how can you still do things so irresponsibly!”

  Xiao Tiannan laughed, “This key to the treasury, must obviously not be simply given to anyone. However, even though I’ve only known Senior for a couple of days, Baicao and I hold the highest respect for your medical skills and noble character; we cannot feel more at ease leaving it in your hands. Other than Senior, we would definitely not dare to pass it to anyone else. Besides, for the duration we are gone, the condition of Luocheng’s injury may change at any moment. If that were to happen, we’d have to bother Senior to do more for us, but if there is a delay in treatment because you were unable to get anything from the traesury, that would be… So we must ask Senior to take this key.”

  Yun Che still had a difficult expression on his face, but after deliberating for a while, he finally heaved a quiet sigh and received the key from Xiao Baicao’s hands: “Alright. You two should try to leave early and come back as fast as possible. For that Emperor Profound Dragon Core, you should bring as much money as possible with you, it wouldn’t be too much to even to bring the entire sect’s fortune.”

  Filled with gratitude, Xiao Tiannan and Xiao Baicao departed. After they had left for a quarter of an hour, Yun Che stepped into the medicine hall. Following the route he had already memorized earlier on, he walked straight toward the treasury with his head held high and chest lifted up.

  He walked past the guards without any obstruction; not only did the guard not block him, he even received respectful greetings from them as he walked past. Reaching the door of the treasury, he brought out the key and consecutively opened three stone doors to step into the treasury that brimmed with cold air.

  Seeing the dazzling assortment of medicine, jade, crystals and weapons fill his vision… The corners of Yun Che’s mouth slowly lifted up bit by bit as he stood at the door of the treasury….

  After painstakingly acting for so many days, it was finally time to reap the rewards.

  A sect’s accumulations of a thousand years. How big this fortune must be, if it all vanished in a day; this entire sect branch would probably be halfway on the brink of collapse…

  Regrettably, that’s what happens when you provoke an ominous star like me!!

  If I didn’t have a trump card to play, the one who would be ruined wouldn’t be Xiao Luocheng, but me… Perhaps I would already be dead by now!

  Going back on your word and coming to New Moon Profound Palace to settle with me? Heh… Then let’s properly settle it right now! What you’ve amassed for a thousand years, I’ll just treat it as compensation for psychological distress… and accept it!!

  Yun Che quickly walked to the rows and rows of black wooded medicine shelves, pressed his hand on them and exerted a little strength, and mountains of medicinal herbs, along with the shelves, were absorbed into the Sky Poison Pearl. The absorption’s effect and capacity of the Sky Poison Pearl far exceeded, and was incomparable to that of ordinary spatial rings. Even if the shelves were extremely big, it wouldn’t take him much effort. Within thirty minutes, more than a thousand groups of medicinal shelves had disappeared right there. Soon afterwards, groups of cold jade followed suit…

  This treasury was pretty large but with the Sky Poison Pearl’s limitless capacity, even if this treasury were a hundred times bigger, if Yun Che was given enough time, he would still be able to absorb it all into the Sky Poison Pearl.

  Chapter 95: Poison Fire Rod

  In less than a quarter of an hour’s time, all of the precious crystals and precious jade contained in the treasury, including the Xiao Sect Branch Sect’s most valuable treasure – the piece of Purple Veined Heaven Crystal, were all absorbed by Yun Che into the Sky Poison Pearl. Immediately, Yun Che once again turned his attention to the thirty meter long weapon rack. Out of the weapons and armors that were qualified to be hung here, not a single one of them was commonplace, especially not the Tiger Soul Sword that hung in the middle. It exuded a proud and regal aura while being surrounded by several hundred weapons of the highest quality, which would make one unable to resist locking one’s gaze on it at the very first sight.

  Sword, dao, dagger, firearm, spear, halberd, whip……. Every kind of weapon that should be here was here and among these weapons, swords were in the majority. After all, Xiao Sect and the Heavenly Sword Villa were the alike; they relied mainly on the sword as a weapon. Yun Che tossed all of these weapons into the Sky Poison Pearl and then opened a considerably small metal chest placed underneath the weapon rack. The smothering smell of gunpowder immediately assaulted his nostrils, yet it was the thing contained within that slightly startled him.

  This metal chest contained three extremely short and oddly shaped weapons and there were also nine fist-sized iron bead shaped things that were placed separately. He picked up the weapon and sized it up with a puzzled face….. Judging from his touch, this odd shaped weapon should have been crafted from refined steel. The material couldn’t be considered precious and could even be considered unpresentable amongst all the weapons in the treasury, yet it gave Yun Che an extremely dangerous kind of feeling. Assuming a bent shape, it was roughly the extent of a grown man’s arm and felt heavy in his hands.

  Turning it over on the other side, Yun Che noticed a very small label.

  Poison Fire Rod!

  Rod?

  From what Yun Che knew, a rod should be referring to the eye of an axe’s handle, but here, it had instead appeared on this oddly shaped weapon’s name. It was Yun Che’s first time seeing this kind of weapon, and also his first time hearing this name. Seeds of doubts sprouted in his mind……….Don’t tell me this isn’t a weapon at all? But why would they place it below the weapon rack? If it was a weapon…… It seemed like there isn’t any attacking capability at all, but what’s going on? What is this dangerous feeling I’m sensing?

  At the turning point of the Poison Fire Rod, was a protruding piece of metal, and it seemed to even be able to move about. Yun Che probingly pressed down on it………

  BOOM!!!

  A loud noise sounded, and a flicker of flames fiercely shot out from the Fire Poison Rod’s opening. The huge power of its rebound made Yun Che fall on his buttocks. The Fire Poison Rod had been disposed of and was flung backwards to a considerable distance…. The Yun Che who sat on the floor opened his eyes wide and stared at a fist-sized hole that suddenly appeared on the wall in front of him. The black hole still disch
arged with smoke made him heavily choke down a mouthful of saliva.

  Th-Th-This… Could it be that it’s some kind of hidden weapon! The power was actually this terrifying!

  And judging by the smell, what was shot out earlier clearly also had an extremely toxic venom that would kill the moment it touched blood!

  Yun Che walked over to pick the Poison Fire Rod back up, and also picked up the metal balls inside the metal chest. They were extremely heavy in his hands, and three big words were shallowly etched onto the ball’s surface.

  Sky Tremor Bomb!

  Below the big words, there were also a line of small words: Use profound power to shatter the casing, then toss it out.

  The sense of danger emitted by this pitch black metal ball far surpassed the Poison Fire Rod; one could imagine how terrifying of a power was hidden within. Yun Che didn’t dare to test it. He returned it back into the chest and sighed in his heart…. Something this terrifying ought to be created by the Xiao Sect’s Artifact Sect. If one wasn’t familiar with the special properties of these two objects, and was suddenly caught off guard by an opponent using these, they would definitely die an extremely unjust death if they didn’t have enough power.

  However, they have now entered Yun Che’s Sky Poison Pearl, and became his valuable life-saving weapons.

  Yun Che stayed in the treasury for an entire four hours. He swept everything inside the treasury into Sky Poison Pearl and didn’t even leave a single strand of hair for Xiao Sect. After he finished looting, Yun Che clapped in satisfaction and walked toward the exit. However, he suddenly stopped when he was only one step away from the exit, and quietly muttered to himself: “To have hollowed out another’s family property without even making a sound, it indeed feels kind of unacceptable… I should at least leave them with something…”

  As he thought till here, Yun Che once again turned around. He randomly took out a weapon and carved an entire three lines of huge text. Only after examining his handiwork did he finally stride towards the three stone doors, closed them, and walked out of the treasury.

  As he expected, when he returned to the Medicine Hall, Xiao Tiannan and Xiao Baicao had not yet returned. Yun Che entered the pill refining room for a while and then came back carrying a bowl of medicinal soup. After waking up the slumbering Xiao Luocheng, he gently chuckled: “Come and drink this medicinal soup.”

  Due to his body’s injuries and “future prospects”, Xiao Luocheng was one hundred percent submissive to this “Grandpa”. Not asking what sort of medicine it was, he immediately held it up and gulped it down. After he finished drinking, he impatiently asked: “Grandpa, is my father still not back yet?”

  Yun Che answered with a beaming smile: “It is nearly time and they ought to return pretty soon. However, once they return, you ought to also have fallen asleep. After waking up tomorrow, your profound veins will also be completely crippled. Even if ten Huangfu Hes arrive, don’t even bother to think about being saved. Hehehehe.”

  Yun Che’s words caused Xiao Luocheng to become stupefied for a while. A sudden surge of unease spread in his heart as he forced a smile: “Grandpa, what…. What did you say? You’re…. playing a joke on me right?

  “Ah, I’ve always been joking around, but it’s only this time alone that I, your grandfather am not playing a joke on you.” Yun Che started to laugh, and his laugh was awfully dangerous. He extended his hand and softly rubbed his face. A layer of extremely thin skin was easily unmasked as he revealed his original face. His voice also resumed his original tone: “Good grandson, have a good look at who your grandpa is.”

  To Xiao Luocheng, seeing a face suddenly transform before his very eyes was like a having the misfortune of being struck by lightning. His pair of eyes exaggeratedly widen so fiercely that they almost bulged out. In that split second, he began to wonder if he was dreaming…. But even if he was dreaming, it was fundamentally impossible for him to have such an absurdly bizarre dream.

  “Yun…. Yun Che!!”

  “Mn?” Yun Che drew back the corners of his mouth to grin and then cynically smiled: “Xiao Luocheng, my good grandson, how did you suddenly become so uncultured, to actually dare to directly call out I, your grandpa’s great name.”

  “Impossible…. Impossible! How could it be you… Impossible!” Xiao Luocheng’s body huddled backwards as the expression on his face contorted to the extreme… Terror, shock, shame, dismay, incredulity; a pair of eyeballs even more so, continued to maintain an outwardly bulged state, as if they witnessed the most terrifying scene in this world. After a long time, he finally snapped out of something, and started shouting panic strickenly with a trembling and coarse voice: “Somebody… Somebody quick… Somebody come!””

  “It’s useless even if you yell your throat out. It’s not like you don’t know that in order to prevent my identity from leaking out, which would affect your injuries, your father had prevented anyone from coming near here. Tsk tsk, how meticulous of him.” Yun Che lifted his chin with his hand and smiled while looking at Xiao Luocheng, whose face was ghastly white with a completely frightened expression: “But you don’t need to be so scared, I won’t actually kill you; after all, you’ve called me grandpa so affectionately for a few days already and even vowed to be filial to me for your entire life… Heh heh, even a cruel tiger wouldn’t eat its offsprings; how could I, your grandpa, kill my good grandson. Grandpa will let you lay comfortably on your bed for your entire life, and let you reminisce your grandpa’s kindness for a lifetime.”

  The plot twist in front of his eyes, along with Yun Che’s words, almost completely collapsed Xiao Luocheng’s psychological defenses. Right now, his lips was pale to the point of not having the slightest hint of blood color. If he hadn’t seen and heard it personally, even if one killed him, he would still have never thought that this “Unrivaled Genius Doctor” would actually be Yun Che! They were two people of completely different realms, and shouldn’t have the slightest thing in common. This kind of psychological impact almost collapsed his entire view of the world. During these days, everyone had treated him as a god and served him like the previous Sect Master; he had also kneeled and kowtowed to him, and even called him grandpa for a few days. This kind of humiliation was enough to leave a lifelong mark in his soul.

  “Yun Che…. We have no past resentments, no recent animosity…. It was even you who seriously injured me first…. What exactly do you still want to do….” Xiao Luocheng asked in a heavily trembling and fearful tone of voice.

  “Heh heh,” Yun Che coldly smiled and answered as his complexion returned to indifference: “When we had first met, we indeed had no past resentments and no recent animosity. However, even though we had no resentments, you unexpectedly wanted to ruin me… Hah, you don’t need to quibble; the number of people who wanted to kill me, is even more than the number of people you’ve seen in your entire life. I clearly understood what you wanted to do to me at that time. As for your reason to ruin me, you yourself, understand that best. If it were anyone else, they ought to be ruined by you already. But it’s quite a pity, that you met me.”

  “I, as a person do not have many great merits; other than being extraordinarily handsome in appearance and phenomenal in disposition, the only thing left is repaying kindness tenfold, and taking revenge hundredfold. If you wants to destroy me, then I’ll destroy you first. Even though we had a pact earlier, your father still had personally come to New Moon Profound Palace to try to take my life. Because of that, I’ll just make your entire sect suffer through pandemonium that not even chickens and dogs would be left undisturbed!”

  Yun Che’s narrowed his eyes, his entire face was brimmed with aloofness and a cold sneer: “When you wake up tomorrow, tell your dad that it’s only a meager lesson this time. I am a natural born ominous star; if you continue to provoke me again, the next time won’t be as “gentle” as this! Perhaps, this entire sect of yours, would forever vanish from this Profound Sky Continent!”

  “You….” Xiao Luochen
g’s eyes opened wide as he unwaveringly fixed his gaze onto Yun Che. Before his eyes, the current Yun Che had undoubtedly become his worst nightmare. He only had enough time to spit out a single word before his vision turned black as his body heavily fell down backwards.

  Yun Che coldly laughed and stood up. He ruefully muttered: “In this situation, I could only use this sort of sneaky, underhanded, and shameless way. I don’t know when I’ll reach a state that would let me be completely unrestrained and brazenly crush clans whenever I want.”

  It was only due to the other party’s heartless cruelty that he crippled him, and then secretly stole the entire sect’s thousand year’s worth of accumulation. It was indeed a bit excessive and cruel. However, Yun Che wanted his strength to advance in the quickest speed possible, which meant that there was an urgent need for a great amount of high level medicinal ingredients…. And this Xiao Sect Branch Sect just happened to throw themselves onto the tip of his spear. That being the case, they had the complete and unfortunate luck of bringing trouble to themselves.

  Yun Che rubbed his face, gently patted it, and then once again resumed his appearance to that of “Huangfu He”. He didn’t immediately pat his bottom to leave because this Xiao Sect was too large, and was also on top of a mountain. If alone, he was bound to lose his way.

  Xiao Tiannan and Xiao Baicao had finally rushed back after another hour passed. Both of their faces were flushed red with excitement; clearly, they had already acquired the “Emperor Profound Dragon Core”.

  Chapter 96: Escape (1)

  “You’ve returned. And judging from your expressions, it seems as if you’ve already gotten a hold of the dragon core.” Yun Che said as he stood in front of them with a serene look on his face.

  But Xiao Tiannan and Xiao Baicao couldn’t remain calm no matter what. Xiao Tiannan said ardently: “What Senior had felt earlier was as expected not mistaken in the slightest. The Black Moon Merchant Guild really did possess a dragon core, and its quality had even reached that of the Emperor Profound! When I told them I wanted to buy a dragon core, they had entirely denied the dragon core’s existence. But when I took out the purple-gold card, their attitude completely changed; not only did they take out the dragon core themselves, they even gave us an extremely low price. However, we were required to not reveal the slightest bit of information about this dragon core.”