Against the Gods - Volume 07 - Heaven Smiting Shakes the World

by Mars Gravity

  “That’s something I do know.” Yun Che said as he gave a small nod of his head, “But do you think that I can succeed?”

  “I don’t know.” Jasmine said without thinking but after that she doubled back on her words, “The so-called ‘ice flame’ that you hold in your hands is something that basically violates all the principles and laws of the world! I had never even heard of such a thing before this. Furthermore, I was always unable to sense what kind of principles of power it operated on, and its might is also something that I cannot fathom… Or perhaps, it does not even have anything that can be conceptualized as ‘power’. It is not possible to use conventional knowledge or common sense to predict what it can do.”

  “At Frozen Cloud Asgard half a year ago, that elder from the Sun Moon Divine Hall merely touched the ice flame but he could not even put up any resistance as was incinerated to the point where even his bones had melted away. That result was something that completely exceeded my expectations. Today, I am naturally completely unable to say anything conclusive, you will just have to find out by giving it a shot.”

  “Alright, let’s give it a shot then!” Before Yun Che’s arms drew back before he gently pushed them forward. This also pushed the ice flame against the isolation barrier.

  The destructive power of the ice flames were undoubtedly terrifying and Yun Che was convinced that they would even be able to seriously injure one of the Four Scared Masters if they came into contact with them. But creating the ice flame not only required him to be focused, it also required a lot of time. He also had to be extremely careful in handling them. He did not even dare use too much force when he flung it out. Therefore, while it was useful in assassinations, it was unusable in real combat.

  Otherwise, if the ice flame could be conjured as easily as all his other flames and flung out with full force, he could definitely trample all over the Sacred Grounds, roaming the Profound Sky Continent without a care in the world.

  The ice flame soundlessly started burning the moment they came into contact with the barrier.

  The burning of the ice flame had always been completely silent. This time was no exception. Under the remaining light, Yun Che witnessed the ice flame instantly burning a round hole into that incredibly resilient isolation barrier that had existed for an entire ten thousand years…

  It was as if a hole had been burned into a silk cloth.

  This hole was only about the size of his palm but as the ice flame continued to eat away at the barrier, that hole grew deeper and deeper. By the time the ice flame had completely dissipated, that hole was half a foot deep… But it was still not deep enough to pierce the barrier.

  Ssss!!

  The sound of sizzling lightning continuously rang out in the air as the blue light around the damaged barrier began to flash. Energy surged forth from all directions as the barrier began to ripple like water.

  One breath later, the ripples had died down and the hole that had been gouged out by the ice flame had completely disappeared. He could not even see a single trace of the damage that it had previously done.

  Yun Che, “…”

  Outside the barrier.

  “Xue’er, why don’t you return with royal father first… Royal father will definitely assign people to watch over this place twenty four hours a day. The moment there is any movement, I will immediately alert you. Is that okay?”

  Feng Hengkong looked at his daughter with pain in his eyes as he tried his best to reason with her. For the past three days, he would come once a day. He could see that Feng Xue’er was growing more wan and thin with each passing day. It was just that Feng Xue’er refused to budge, no matter what he said.

  Given his understanding of his own daughter, she was not an obstinate and stubborn person. On the contrary, she had always been obedient to him and the Phoenix God. She had always listened to what they had to say.

  But once it was something that concerned Yun Che, she would actually become this stubborn… or one could even call it resolute and determined.

  Before this, Yun Che had been the person he had hated the most in this world and he could barely contain his desire to personally and cruelly end his life… But right now, he was fervently praying with all his might that Yun Che was still alive, and he was even praying that he was completely unharmed at the moment.

  Because he was afraid that his daughter’s smile would be forever taken away if something really happened to Yun Che.

  “Royal Father, you don’t need to worry about me. Big Brother Yun will definitely be alright. Moreover, he cares for me so much that he definitely would not be willing to keep me waiting for long.” Feng Xue’er closed her eyes as she spoke softly, both her hands still placed on her chest.

  “Divine Phoenix Sect Master, stop trying to convince her. Tomorrow is the day of the Devil Sword Conference, so you definitely must be busy preparing a lot of things. You don’t need to worry about Little Sister Xue’er, leave it to me.” Xia Yuanba chose this moment to speak out.

  The sky had grown dark and it was dotted with stars. The curtain of night had already begun to fall over the blue sky and ocean. The moment this curtain of night was pierced by the light of the sun once more, it would signal the beginning of the Devil Sword Conference. All in all, it would only be ten to twelve hours before it began.

  On this exceedingly rare occasion, nearly all the top practitioners of the Profound Sky Continent would be gathered in one place. The meeting that was purportedly for the sake of comprehending “the mysteries of the Divine Profound” was an event that many of its attendees looked forward to with much anticipation.

  “Haah…” Feng Hengkong’s lips moved but in the end, he could only sigh. The fact that Yun Che had been sealed inside the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest had long ago spread through Supreme Ocean Palace, so all of the people who came to attend the Devil Sword Conference were well-aware of this fact. Initially, people kept coming to this place to see if Yun Che was truly capable of escaping from this place. But from the second day onwards, very few people came to investigate.

  From the third day, everyone thought that Yun Che was undoubtedly dead.

  Because this was the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest!!

  Even the Four Sacred Masters would not be able to last a day inside there.

  “Xue’er, if you truly believe that Yun Che will definitely return alive, then your royal father will also believe that as well… So your royal father will also come to visit this place every day.”

  Before he left, Feng Hengkong lightly patted Feng Xue’er’s shoulder as he gave a silent sigh and suppressed all the emotion in his heart.

  He was beginning to feel more and more that for the Divine Phoenix Sect to get entangled with this Yun Che… was the greatest calamity that had struck them in the past five thousand years!!

  Compared to Feng Xue’er, Xia Yuanba was far less worried about the current situation. Once his Tyrannical Emperor’s Divine Veins awakened, his temperament, mental state and will had all been affected by it. He was far more cool and composed than he was before. This coupled with the fact that he had absolute trust in Yun Che meant that despite three days having passed, he still firmly believed that Yun Che would definitely have enough confidence to escape if he was willing to stay behind in the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest.

  “Just what method can we use to blow a hole in this barrier…” Xia Yuanba stared at the barrier with furrowed brows, his mind tossing and turning as he rummaged his mind for an answer to this question.

  At this moment, Feng Xue’er’s delicate body suddenly shivered fiercely as her phoenix eyes sprung open and she asked in an agitated voice, “Bulky Big Brother, did you just hear a sound just now?”

  “A sound? What sound?” Xia Yuanba asked in a dazed voice, he had been deep in thought so he had not heard anything.

  “It came from the barrier!” Feng Xue’er’s body descended as she shouted in an extremely emotional voice, “Big Brother Yun, is that you… Big Brother Yun, it’s definitely you,
right!?”

  Within the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest.

  “Even though this barrier is a bit stronger than I had expected, in the end, it’s still possible to destroy it with the ice flame.”

  Although his first attempt had ended in failure, there was no sign of disappointment on Yun Che’s face. He took two steps back and stretched out both his arms once more. His left hand burned ablaze while icy energy congealed in his right hand… However this time, he did not care about any injury he might receive, he circulated his profound energy to its strongest. The flames on his left started to burn even more intensely while icy energy began to crazily gather at his right… Even after he had gathered those energies for more than ten breaths, he still had not stopped.

  “You want to conjure up a huge ice flame?” Jasmine, who had noticed what he intended to do, spoke in a serious tone, “You’re taking a completely needless risk right now! I won’t need more than one or two days to reconstitute my body! Can’t you even wait for this little bit of time!? To once again go as far as to… Your wounds aren’t even completely healed yet, your profound veins are still running on empty! So to attempt to forcibly create such a gigantic ice flame right now, you are basically gambling with your life!”

  “No!” Yun Che shook his head, an extremely confident expression on his face, “If it was before, I’d indeed be gambling with my life. But right now, I am nearly one hundred percent confident that I can pull this off.”

  “One hundred percent confident? Where is this confidence even coming from?” Jasmine asked suspiciously, “In the past, you have never even tried to conjure up such a huge ice flame! Let alone trying to do it in your present state!”

  “When I woke up just now, I discovered that not only was my mind not exhausted, it was actually extremely clear. I even feel like my mental strength has suddenly improved by leaps and bounds. When I conjured that first ball of ice flame just now, I found that I was not mistaken. Despite the serious injuries that I sustained and the current handicap on my profound strength, haven’t you realized that the time it took to create that ice flame was even faster than usual?”

  “…I also felt that it was strange that your head wasn’t feeling the least bit heavy after you woke up.” Jasmine said as she lapsed into thought for a moment. After that, she muttered to herself in a soft voice, “Could it be that after he endured that exceedingly torturous soul stealing power… his soul actually rose to a new level? Or is it… that the Dragon God Soul, Phoenix Soul and Golden Crow Soul were now even more tightly bonded with his soul?

  Or could it be that… both of these things had occurred!?

  “Whenever I tried to create a slightly larger ice flame in the past, self-doubt would unconsciously manifest in my heart while warning bells rang in my head. This caused me to feel like I had no chance of succeeding and that if I did try to force the issue, it would only lead to disastrous consequences for me. But this time, even though I am clearly still hurt, I am not feeling any sense of danger or any self-doubt. On the contrary, my heart is cool and composed.”

  Yun Che inhaled a deep breath before he drew back both of his hand as he slowly brought the extremely intense and strong fire and ice energies together and began to merge them…

  Fifteen minutes went by…

  Half an hour went by…

  This process had only finished once forty five minutes had passed. Yun Che opened his eyes and an icy blue flame that was a foot and a half tall silently burned in the center of his palm!

  “To think that…” Jasmine sucked in a small breath, “Not only did the Netherworld Udumbara Flower not cause any permanent harm to your soul, in the end, it actually gave it a huge boost of power. You truly are a freak.”

  Yun Che’s chest rose and fell rapidly. His forehead was matted in cold sweat but his expression was one of intense excitement.

  A flame that was only a foot and a half tall was completely insignificant and pathetic if these were normal profound flames we were talking about. But when it came to the ice flames, this was an exceedingly terrifying notion. Even though it was silently burning in the center of Yun Che’s palms, only Yun Che knew that even though he had just created this flame, he was already starting to lose control over them.

  “This time, I’m definitely going to be able to blow this barrier apart!” Yun Che muttered to himself as cautiously pushed his hands forward.

  Chapter 794: Jasmine Reconstructs Her Body

  The moment the ice flame touched the barrier, it continued its inexorable journey forward, not slowing in the slightest.

  The strongest isolating barrier in the entire Profound Sky Continent was being brushed aside like a weak curtain of water. It was as though an raging flame was touching cold ice, because in the blink of an eye, a huge hole had been melted in the barrier. As the ice flame bored in deeper and deeper, the hole was not only not repairing itself, it was actually slowly growing larger as the destructive power of the ice flame continued to eat away at it.

  A faint beam of light started to shine through from outside the barrier. Even though it was night in the outside world, the night sky of the Profound Sky Continent was like glaring sunlight compared to the absolute darkness of the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest… Without making a single sound, the ice flames had completely pierced through the isolating barrier.

  Furthermore, the hole that it had made was more than two feet wide!

  Even though Yun Che had been full of confidence, he had not expected his plan to go so swimmingly… because the barrier in front of him had been publicly acknowledged as the most powerful barrier in the entire Profound Sky Continent! To think that it was not even able to withstand a single strike from the ice flame! Before he had even withdrawn the hands that he had pushed out, a hole had already punched through the barrier.

  “Hurry up and go!” Jasmine exclaimed.

  Even though Yun Che’s heart was still in shock, his body reacted instantly. Just before the sizzling sound of the barrier repairing itself rang through the air, he had already activated Star God’s Broken Shadow as he flashed out of there like lightning.

  Riiip!!

  The speed at which the barrier repaired itself was incomparably fast. It was just after the instant he cleared the exit that he heard an ear-splitting thunderclap explode behind him. The hole that was made by the ice flames was swiftly closing and it looked like it was about to disappear altogether just a moment later. The only thing left in its wake were extremely fast-moving energy ripples.

  The world before his eyes was no longer cloaked in inky darkness, the air around him was no longer heavy and gloomy. The cool sea breeze caused Yun Che to feel extremely refreshed. Just as his body came to a halt, he felt himself being tightly hugged by a body as soft as cotton wool.

  Feng Xue’er gave a cry as she tightly hugged him, she started bawling her eyes out almost immediately after that.

  Yun Che froze there for a moment, but after that, he immediately took action… Feng Xue’er must have stayed here for the past few days waiting for his return… Just like what he saw in that dreamy wonderland.

  He hugged Feng Xue’er tightly as he softly whispered to her, “Xue’er, I’m sorry. I’ve made you worry for the past few days.”

  Feng Xue’er leaned against his chest as she sobbed and shook her head, “As long as Big Brother Yun is okay then that’s fine… I knew Big Brother Yun would definitely make it out in one piece…”

  “Brother-in-law… This is great.” Xia Yuanba had rushed over, his face flushed red with agitation and excitement. He was so emotional that he could barely speak. At this time, his expression suddenly changed as he shouted anxiously, “Brother-in-law, you’re hurt!?”

  Yun Che’s aura was thin and shallow and his face was white as a sheet! His aura was half as strong as it was normally and Xia Yuanba could clearly smell blood wafting off him! It was clear that he had sustained extremely serious internal and external injuries and had lost a lot of blood as well!

  “Ah?!” Fen
g Xue’er cried out in alarm, her petite face jerking up from Yun Che’s chest. It was only now that she noticed that his aura was weak and disordered and that his body was covered in wounds. She could even see quite a few wounds on his face that had not fully healed yet.

  “Big Brother Yun, you…”

  “Don’t worry.” Yun Che smiled as he waved his hand. His expression was completely relaxed and carefree as he continued, “I met with a few accidents in the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest, so I ended up suffering a few injuries. But the both of you should well know that I won’t be affected by injuries this light. It is only that my profound veins have been taxed strenuously, so I will need up to half a month for them to fully recover.”

  “Big Brother Yun, let… let’s return to Supreme Ocean Palace first. Your wounds will definitely get better immediately.”

  Tears shimmered in Feng Xue’er’s eyes, her heart in conflict between extreme joy and distress. She supported Yun Che as they flew at the most comfortable speed possible towards Supreme Ocean Palace. Xia Yuanba, who was behind them, wanted to remind her that Yun Che had absolutely no issue moving on his own but the moment the words came to his lips, he swallowed them back down instead. After thinking for a moment, he caught up to them and shouted, “Little Sister Xue’er, Brother-in-law needs to recuperate from his injuries, so we need to find a quiet and safe place for him to rest. Bring Brother-in-law to Venerable Cloud Palace. That is where the people from my Absolute Monarch Sanctuary are currently residing, so Brother-in-law will be absolutely safe there.”

  “Absolute Monarch Sanctuary?” Yun Che shook his head lightly, “I think it’s better if we don’t. I don’t want anyone to disturb me during this period.”

  “Brother-in-law, you don’t need to worry.” Xia Yuanba said solemnly as he slapped his chest, “I will explain it to Master and the rest of them so that no one will come and disturb Brother-in-law… and that includes even the Lord Saint Emperor himself.”