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

by Mars Gravity

  “Ever since this old one has settled down here, not a single person I have seen in these hundred years weren’t outstanding individuals, and I had believed that my evaluation on people and various affairs would never go wrong. But, only when it comes to you, this old one had never guessed the ending in the slightest. A youth of not even twenty years old with profound strength at the Earth Profound Realm actually dealt a crushing blow to Divine Phoenix Sect, rendering them powerless on their own turf. In these years, you are the only one who has made me miscalculate completely.

  “Divine Phoenix Sect had been established for five thousand years, and their roots are immensely deep. Even the Four Great Sacred Grounds find it hard to fathom their depths. Although your strength has greatly surpassed what it was three years ago, if you do not rely on the power of your respected master and head for a direct confrontation with only your own strength… If this was the first time we met, the only thing I can describe this situation as is ‘an egg hitting a stone.’ But now…” Zi Ji gently shook his head, as though he was deprecating himself. “I do not dare to jump to conclusions. Even though you’re only three feet away from me, it feels as though we’re separated by ten thousand miles. Hoho. I can’t see through you at all.”

  The tender mouths of the young girls who were standing at Yun Che’s sides widened at the same time. They, who were exerting great effort to maintain their beautiful and tender smiles on their faces, were unable to conceal their deep surprise at all. They were extremely clear of the kind of position Mister Zi had. This was the first time they had heard such words… and it was even towards a person of such a young age.

  “Hmph. The mere Divine Phoenix Sect still does not possess the qualifications to have my teacher make a move.” The corner of Yun Che’s brows rose, and a stern killing intent could be felt from his voice. “I won’t do much to them either. I merely want them… to pay at least ten times the debt they owe!”

  “Speaking of which…” Yun Che suddenly switched the subject of the conversation. “I heard from rumors that three years ago, after the disappearance of the Primordial Profound Ark, the Divine Phoenix of Divine Phoenix Sect made an appearance?”

  The appearance of the Divine Phoenix three years ago appeared in the memories of Sun Moon Divine Hall’s Ye Ziyi, and it similarly appeared in Feng Huwei’s memories as well… and he had even personally saw it! Not only did the Divine Phoenix appear, its overbearing strength and pressure had even coldly silenced the people of the Four Great Sacred Grounds and had even mercilessly punished Ye Xinghan in front of everyone.

  But… The Divine Phoenix had clearly already disappeared!

  “That’s right,” Zi Ji lightly nodded. “Three years ago, there had long been rumors about the Divine Phoenix’s depleted lifespan and its disappearance. We then found out, because of the Divine Phoenix’s disappearance, it would cause Divine Phoenix Sect to lose their strongest backing, and the moment this was exposed, there was a possibility of facing the crisis of extinction. Because of this, the Great Elder of Divine Phoenix Sect, Feng Feiyan, secretly surrendered to Sun Moon Divine Hall, and had even informed them of the disappearance of the Divine Phoenix. But, the descent of the Divine Phoenix three years ago, was personally witnessed by everyone in Divine Phoenix City, which clearly proved that its ‘disappearance’ was merely a test. What it was testing, was naturally people like Feng Feiyan who carried ulterior motives.”

  “I see.” Yun Che slightly frowned; his heart was still filled with doubts. The Divine Phoenix had already passed on, this was what Feng Xue’er personally told him. With Feng Xue’er’s heart, she definitely couldn’t have lied. And Feng Xue’er had even succeeded all of the Divine Phoenix’s source of power, soul energy, and even memories… If that’s the case, how could the Divine Phoenix possibly still be alive!?

  “There’s no need to doubt it, that Divine Phoenix spirit already died long ago,” Jasmine suddenly said with a cold tone.

  Yun Che was startled for a moment. “Then the one that appeared three years ago…”

  “Hmph. It’s merely a soul fragment which carried a little amount of power source,” Jasmine blandly said. “To leave behind a soul fragment which contains a bit of power is something a mortal isn’t capable of doing and isn’t something one would think of. But, the Divine Phoenix spirit is a cloned entity of the Phoenix’s soul, it’s an easy feat for it if it ever wants to do so! After it passed down all of its soul energy and origin power to Feng Xue’er, most likely, in order to guard against the appearance of people such as Feng Feiyan, it purposefully split a small part of itself and attached it within Feng Xue’er’s body. But, this detached soul fragment wouldn’t be able to exist for a long period of time, and by now, it should have completely dispersed. If it we are talking about it being alive… That’s absolutely impossible!”

  “… Is that so.” Yun Che roughly got the gist of it.

  “Mister Zi, in these three years, about Princess Snow of Divine Phoenix Sect… Do you have any news on her?” Yun Che asked.

  Zi Ji deeply glanced at Yun Che; his eyes carried a certain profound meaning. A short while after, he lightly smiled and said, “Three years ago, after the departure of the Primordial Profound Ark and before the appearance of the Divine Phoenix, Princess Snow had fallen unconscious… Then after, she had been in deep slumber, and for three whole years, no matter what methods were used, she was unable to awaken.”

  “What?” Yun Che’s expression greatly shook. “In deep slumber for three years? Three whole years?”

  “That’s right. If the information I received was not mistaken, it was only yesterday when Princess Snow finally woke up.”

  “…” For a moment, ripples surfaced in Yun Che’s heart. In Feng Huwei’s memories, he did not find any information regarding Feng Xue’er’s situation these three years. In these two days, he had been pondering and suspecting that, with Feng Xue’er’s heart and the pure feelings she had towards him, when the Divine Phoenix Empire invaded Blue Wind Empire, she should have definitely prevented it from happening! And Feng Hengkong had always extremely pampered her as well, complying with all her wishes… Blue Wind Empire shouldn’t have fallen into such dire straits.

  So… She had actually been in deep slumber, for a whole three years.

  Yun Che took a light breath and asked “Then Mister Zi, do you know why Princess Snow fell into deep slumber for such a long period of time? It shouldn’t be due to injuries, right?”

  “In regards to this point, I only have conjectures as well.” Zi Ji slowly said, “After Princess Snow fell into deep slumber, her entire body was enveloped in scarlet flames, burning endlessly. Within three feet, not a single person could approach her. And the place where she had slept for three years, was brought about by the Divine Phoenix which appeared three years ago. Thus, the Divine Phoenix should be refining her physique with phoenix flames, or bestowing her with even stronger phoenix flame abilities, aiding her in stepping into the Sovereign Realm from half-step from the Sovereign Profound… That’s most likely the case. Currently, Princess Snow has already awoken. If you’re concerned, you can try asking her about it directly. Hohoho.”

  Zi Ji smiled very meaningfully.

  It’s no wonder either. The reason why Yun Che would “lose his life” in the Primordial Profound Ark was known to seemingly everyone in the Profound Sky Continent, so how couldn’t Zi Ji know of it… As the core figure in Black Moon Merchant Guild, he could only know much more than others.

  Chapter 692: Lost Control

  Thinking about Feng Xue’er, Yun Che immediately became silent. It wasn’t that she didn’t stop them, but it was because she was in a coma and couldn’t stop them… this relieved a certain part of his heart. But when facing the Divine Phoenix Sect, how should he face the Feng Xue’er who had just woken up?

  Zi Ji also didn’t speak. He smiled, looked at Yun Che, and the light in his eyes were so condensed and solid that it seemed to be piercing through Yun Che’s heart and soul. At th
is moment, Yun Che lifted his head; the expression on his face and his eyes had calmed down. “Senior Zi, this junior is visiting your noble Merchant Guild once again because of several matters. Does Senior Zi still remember the ‘Netherworld Udumbara Flower’ that this junior asked you about three years ago?”

  “Oh? You are still looking for that item?” Zi Ji shook his head slowly. “These years, this old man has occasionally investigated whether or not the Netherworld Udumbara Flower still exists in this world. But unfortunately, there are already very few who knew about this flower, not to mention those who have seen it. These years, followed with more and more humans in the Profound Sky Continent, the yang energy in the continent has surpassed the yin. The Netherworld Udumbara Flower is an extremely yin, demonic, and evil item. It should have gone completely extinct on Profound Sky Continent thousands of years ago. Furthermore, with time moving forward, unless a calamity that destroys the world appears out of nowhere, the yang energy in Profound Sky Continent will only become stronger and stronger. In other words, the already extinct Netherworld Udumbara Flower will never appear ever again.

  “At least that is how it is in Profound Sky Continent.”

  Last time, Zi Ji’s answer was that the Netherworld Udumbara Flower had gone extinct and that it shouldn’t appear again. This time, the answer was the same… and he was even more sure of it. Yun Che showed disappointment on his face, but then asked immediately, “I remember that Senior Zi said last time that the last Netherworld Udumbara Flower sighting that was recorded in Profound Sky Continent was one thousand and three hundred years ago. Then… can Senior Zi tell me, where the last Netherworld Udumbara Flower was found back then?”

  The reason that Yun Che asked this question was obviously because he wanted to go check out the place that the last recorded Netherworld Udumbara Flower was found. Since the Netherworld Udumbara Flower was able to grow there, that meant that the place must be extremely yin and evil. Even though more than a thousand of years have passed, there… was a possibility that the environment might not have changed too much.

  Of course, the possibility of it was next to nothing. After all, with one thousand and three hundred years, this course of history was not a short one. Even the Blue Wind Imperial Family only had a thousand years of history. The reason he would ask was because he didn’t want to give up on even the most remote hope. But, what surprised him was that after he finished this sentence, he clearly saw that Zi Ji’s facial expression became stiff for a second, even the casual smile on his face disappeared.

  “…I cannot tell you,” Zi Ji shook his head slightly and said slowly.

  Zi Ji’s reaction caused Yun Che’s eyebrows to twitch. He placed his hand onto the stone table and said, “Very well! Then I will buy this information from Senior Zi! Senior Zi only needs to tell me the name of that place and where it is located! Name any price… as long as I can afford it!”

  “No!” Zi Ji still shook his head. “On this matter, I cannot tell you the answer, and I cannot sell it to you as information.”

  “Why? Could that place… have some exceptional hidden secret?” Yun Che asked aggressively.

  Zi Ji shut his eyes slightly and said, “Because that place, is a ‘secret ground.’ Since it’s a ‘secret ground,’ not mentioning entering, even the people who know about it, in this world, are as rare as phoenix feathers or qilin horns… At least in the Profound Sky Seven Nations, including the Divine Phoenix Sect, no one knows about it. Also, in that ‘secret ground’ now, there are no longer any Netherworld Udumbara Flowers.”

  Even the Divine Phoenix Sect didn’t know about it the “secret ground” Zi Ji was referring to, so it was naturally an absolutely unusual existence. Yun Che didn’t think that the Netherworld Udumbara Flower that he asked about with tiny hope would have him come across an incredibly mysterious… and even somewhat strange “secret ground.”

  Seeing Zi Ji’s attitude, Yun Che knew that no matter how he asked, he wouldn’t be able to find out the answer to it. He locked his eyebrows tight, stopped wasting his breath, and nodded in an especially calm manner. “I see… since it is such a ‘secret ground’, then this junior should not look into it.”

  But he kept what Zi Ji said before in his mind.

  “Then, three years ago, this junior asked for help to find Chu Yuechan… does Senior Zi have any information on that matter?”

  Yun Che spoke in a very calm manner, but when he was speaking, his fingers clenched uncontrollably, which revealed that his mind was definitely not as calm as he looked on the surface. Three years of time, searching for Chu Yuechan, who has very distinguishable traits… He believed that with Black Moon Merchant Guild’s information network that shrouds the Profound Sky, no matter what, there should be some news. Even if it was just traces of it.

  “Sigh…” But just as Yun Che finished speaking, he heard Zi Ji sigh softly, and his heart sank immediately.

  “Three years ago, not long after you asked my Black Moon to search for Chu Yuechan, you died on the Primordial Profound Ark. At that time, everyone thought you had no chance of surviving, so Black Moon didn’t continue to look for Chu Yuechan. Half a year later, Spiritual Master Gu Cang, from Absolute Monarch Sanctuary, suddenly came and asked me to look for Chu Yuechan… Searching for Chu Yuechan was secondary, but there was an extreme possibility that your descendant is by her side. The heart of his disciple, Xia Yuanba, was filled with anger and hatred because of your death, and it was long lasting. Cultivating under this mindset would cause him to easily have a fiendish rebound. After Gu Cang understood everything about your past, he hoped that he could find your descendant to resolve the hatred in Xia Yuanba’s heart. Because of this, I personally used Black Moon’s information network to find out Chu Yuechan’s whereabouts, and the search directly covered Profound Sky Seven Nations.”

  “And? Did you find her?!” Yun Che held his breath and asked.

  Zi Ji gave him a deep look and said, “Spiritual Master Gu Cang and I have been friends for a few hundred years, and I received his help multiple times. This was the first time he personally asked me for something, so of course I did everything I could. But, using all of Black Moon’s information gathering power which covers the entire Profound Sky Seven Nations, including Divine Phoenix, for a whole ten months, we still didn’t find anything. Therefore, the most likely possibility… is that she is already dead.”

  “What did you say?!!” Yun Che stood up suddenly, and following with a large exploding sound, a crack that was more than one feet long appeared on the stone table beneath his palm. His calm face turned ferocious, and his eyes were red like blood. “You’re saying that she… is dead?!”

  “I know better than you how strong the information gathering ability of the Black Moon Merchant Guild is. Chu Yuechan should be extremely easy to find, but no matter what we did, we couldn’t find any trace of her… Sigh, this is indeed the worst, but also the most likely, or even the only possible conclusion,” Zi Ji sighed and said.

  “You’re lying!!” Yun Che’s pupils dilated, he reached out suddenly, grabbed harshly onto Zi Ji’s collar and pulled him up from his stone chair, “You say she’s dead?! What evidence do you have to say she’s dead?! Do you know who Chu Yuechan is?! She is my, Yun Che’s, woman, the leader of the Frozen Cloud’s Seven Fairies, the most beautiful fairy in Blue Wind Nation! Anyone who sees her wouldn’t be able to forget her for the rest of their lives! Even though she gave up her profound arts, her profound strength still exists. In Blue Wind Nation, there is no one who could kill her!! What do you mean that she’s dead!”

  “Sir… Sir Master Yun!” Yun Che’s action surprised the three young girls in colorful clothes. Zi Ji’s position was so high that even when Feng Hengkong saw him, he would bow to him immediately. For anyone to dare to grab his collar so rude and violently… and even on Black Moon Merchant Guild’s territory.

  Zi Ji had lived for close to a thousand years, but there weren’t many people who would speak loudly to him, and no o
ne has ever dared to treat him like this. However, his expression was still calm, and he did not express anger at all. On the contrary, after momentary of surprise, he felt impressed deep down… Once a profound practitioner had reached a high level, they would be arrogant and cold to emotions, especially towards women. Not mentioning Overlords and Monarchs who looked down to the world, even Thrones who dominate a territory would see them as toys that they can have as much as they want. Even if they especially valued a certain woman, they could not be compared to the cultivation of profound way.

  But the young man in front of him who was hard to read and had deep eyes that even he couldn’t see through up close lost control of his emotions like this because of the news of the woman’s death.

  “With Chu Yuechan’s profound strength, it is indeed difficult for her to find an equal match in Blue Wind Nation. But, when Black Moon started searching for Chu Yuechan, Divine Phoenix’s invasion on Blue Wind had already been in progress for a few months. Blue Wind Nation was already a mess with disasters everywhere, and there were countless deceased. Each Divine Phoenix Army had at least a high level Throne or even an Overlord, so Chu Yuechan would not be a match for them. If she ran into the Divine Phoenix Army, it would be difficult for her to even escape. The only possibility that the branch could think of when Black Moon has searched for this long but wasn’t able to find anything was during those months…”

  “Shut up!!”

  BOOM!!

  The stone table exploded, and Zi Ji was pushed back several steps. Yun Che held his fist tightly while his whole body was trembling;his eyes were red like a vicious, blood-thirsty wolf. He pointed at Zi Ji and roared, “What Black Moon Merchant Guild! The reason you couldn’t find my little fairy is because of your own incapability. You made empty promises and even curse that she’s already dead… I’ll tell you, even if all of the people from Black Moon Merchant Guild are dead, she wouldn’t even be missing a hair!!”