by Mars Gravity
But fortunately, due to being under the protection of Evil God barrier, he didn't suffer any injuries, even if his vision turned black because of the intense shock. He didn't dare stay any longer at the place. Gnashing his teeth, he escaped as far as possible by borrowing the power of the storm generated by the giant monkey and once again disappeared in the dense mist, in the blink of an eye.
A series of deafening roars could be heard from behind but as the giant monkey was clearly not enough fast, the voice quickly became more and more distant. Yun Che ran with all he had to a sufficiently safe distance but before he could gasp for breath, a storm which was followed by a screech, assaulted him all of a sudden from above his head.
Yun Che raised his head... The reflection of a giant hawk speedily enlarged in his eyes. Its opened snow-white wings were tens of meters long and dazzlingly magnificent. The cold gleam reflecting on its bent claws was so strong that it penetrated his eyes and directly pricked his soul.
"Hong’er!"
Yun Che's pupils shrank all of a sudden; he had basically no other choice left at this time. The Heaven Smiting Sword at once appeared in his hands, Golden Crow's Flames ignited around the blade and he launched a direct attack towards the giant hawk.
"Destroying Sky Decimating Earth!!"
Boom!!
As the golden flames burst into the sky, the giant hawk looking down from above let out a screech. It lost control on its white wings and was sent flying away into the sky because of the shock. A muffled sound escaped Yun Che's mouth. As though he had been hammered hard in the chest, he fell down along with the Heaven Smiting Sword and got heavily smashed on the ground. The impact of his fall was so great that it produced a booming sound.
Pfft...
Before he could even get up, Yun Che spit out a mouthful of blood. However, as someone possessing the Buddha Heart Divine Meridians, the profound energy in his body managed to still remain in an calm and ordered state. High in the sky, the giant hawk that had been shocked away by his attack kept on hovering for a short while. Its ice-cold eyes locked onto his position and rushed down like a shooting star. Its claws were precisely targeted at his heart, while flying rapidly to the ground and sweeping up a disastrous hailstorm behind it.
This truly is... a hellish place... I can't even take a breather...
Yun Che cursed in his heart as his body immediately reacted to the incoming assault. He no longer dared to confront it head-on and instantaneously moved out of the way with Moon Splitting Cascade. At the same time, he opened the Evil God barrier.
When he moved to a different location, a voice suddenly drifted into his ears...
The voice of a human!
"It's really a Fierce Blizzard Hawk!"
"It has landed on the ground... Let's make use of this opportunity and seal its movements, to obtain the profound core in its body!"
As the giant hawk's terrifying storm swept past the ground, it kicked up the ice and snow, causing the the whole sky to be covered with them. But it didn't show any signs of flying up into the sky once again, because its body had been firmly pierced by a blue light that quickly froze its huge body. Trying to struggle out of its predicament, the long cries it was letting out earlier had turned into mournful sounds now.
Yun Che escaped to a far away place, feeling startled in his heart. He just now experienced the terror of this giant hawk but it surprisingly ended up getting so easily sealed by someone else...
This aura... Could it be someone at the peak of Divine Soul Realm?
In the icy mist, two vague figures could be seen coming closer at a fast speed. The one in the front thrust his sword into the giant hawk and instantly pierced its body, which Yun Che wasn't able to hurt even after unleashing all his power against it. Following the eruption of the profound energy along the sword, the huge body of the hawk got enveloped in a thick layer of ice. It completely stopped struggling when the layer of ice spread throughout its body, which also lead to a rapid loss of its vitality.
"Oh great! I'd expect no less from Senior Brother Yizhou." The person in the back excitedly shouted as he quickly got near the frozen giant hawk. "This profound core can absolutely help us in surviving for a very long time..."
Senior Brother Yizhou?
Hearing this way of address, Yun Che immediately turned his head to the side. His gaze penetrated through the layers of dense mist and fell on the person in the front... whom he had actually seen before.
Mu Yizhou!!
Why is he here!?
As Yun Che got a clear look of him, the other party also caught sight of the him. His eyes suddenly widened and he turned around at once, not bothering about the Fierce Blizzard Hawk he had just hunted. After remaining in a state of shock for a long while, his face began to show various emotions, such as fury, hate, and excitement...
"Is it you... Yun Che? Yes—it's you!!!"
The abrupt change in his eyes and voice gave off an impression as though he had suddenly met an absolutely irreconcilable foe!
Chapter 1041: Arson is Fun
Mu Yizhou was the reason behind Yun Che’s and Mu Hanyi’s first meeting...
Yun Che frowned deeply. Mu Yizhou was the famous chief disciple of the First Palace, so how on earth did he end up in this place? Also, why was he staring at him with such weird eyes?
“What? Yun Che!?”
The person accompanying Mu Yiyou was obviously shocked to hear the name “Yun Che” too. In fact, he was so shocked that he abandoned the giant eagle’s profound pellet temporarily and walked up to Mu Yizhou, staring at Yun Che with a face full of disbelief.
Yun Che stood up but didn’t withdraw the Heaven Smiting Sword that was dragging on the ground. He smiled, “Hello… Junior Brother Yizhou. I didn’t expect to see you here. It would appears that we are tied together by fate.”
“Yun… Che!” Mu Yizhou’s lips and voice were obviously shaking and his eyes were sparkling with a shocking amount of hatred, “You despicable… shameless and vile creature!... I’ve thought of making mincemeat out of your body even in my dream but I never thought that… Heh… hehe… hahahaha… your sins have finally caught up with you! Who knew that you would be exiled to this place and fall right into my hands… this truly is retribution… ha… hahahaha…”
“???” Yun Che inquired with a half smile, “I don’t understand, Junior Brother Yizhou. While it is true that we’ve had a small disagreement with each other, that incident should be a thing of the past already. So I don’t understand where your hatred is coming from.”
Yun Che really was confused. It was true that he and Mu Yizhou had butted heads because of Feng Mo earlier but the conflict was cleverly resolved by Mu Hanyi. Although Mu Yizhou still hated him for it, he had made the promise not to pursue deeper into the matter right in front of Mu Hanyi. After that, the battle of the heavenly lake and Mu Xuanyin’s declaration that he was to become her direct disciple scared Mu Yizhou so much that he had waited shakily for Yun Che outside the heavenly lake. Once Yun Che had emerged from the heavenly lake, he hastily begged for forgiveness by kneeling and showering him with presents...
It should’ve been a small grudge that ended a long time ago. In fact, Yun Che had almost forgotten about the whole incident already.
However, Mu Yizhou’s current look of extreme hatred and ecstasy made Yun Che wonder if he somehow slept with Mu Yizhou’s wife and slaughtered his entire family without remembering it.
“How dare you feign ignorance even now, you despicable, vile creature!” Mu Yizhou roared, “You are the reason I was exiled to this place!”
“I… am?” Yun Che narrowed his eyes at once.
“Three months ago, after the sect master had declared you as her direct disciple, my palace master immediately found out that we had a disagreement in the past. Then, he unearthed every crime I’ve committed in the past in a few days’ time and gave me the cruelest punishment possible in the sect! In the end, he even threw me into this hellish place!”
Yun Che, “...”
Mu Yizhou panted heavily as he continued on with bone deep hatred in his voice, “It’s because of you… all because of you! There are only a few people who knew that we had a disagreement with each other. Luoqiu will never hurt me and Mu Xiaolan didn’t have a reason to do so. Neither Liu Cheng nor Feng Mo had the balls or the opportunity to do this, so the only person who could’ve done this… is you!”
Yun Che finally understood the entire situation after he was done. He sneered, “Have you never once thought that Mu Hanyi may be the culprit behind your downfall?”
“He has neither the reason nor the moral character to do something so shameless and despicable!” Mu Yizhou roared angrily.
“Hehehe,” Yun Che’s face was mocking, “You are the one who committed all those crimes and you should’ve been punished for them a long time ago. How dare you say it’s my fault?”
Yun Che wore a sneer on his face but in his mind he was swearing like a sailor: What the fuck!? That motherf*cking Mu Hanyi! I can’t believe he did something like this behind my back!
It was obvious that Mu Hanyi was trying to make Yun Che some enemies by setting Mu Yizhou up for a downfall... But he probably didn’t imagine that Mu Yizhou’s dirty deeds were so numerous that the man was exiled directly to Mist End Valley.
That being said, Mu Yizhou was still, without a doubt, the chief disciple of the First Ice Phoenix Palace. He was at the peak of the Divine Soul Realm and he was just a step away from Divine Tribulation Realm. Perhaps that was how he had survived three months in this place without dying.
“Heh, I’m amazed that you can laugh even at this moment. Three months ago you were the sect master’s direct disciple and no one dared to raise a hand against you, isn’t that so? But now… not only were you exiled to Mist End Valley, you even fell right into my hands.” Hatred twisted beneath Mu Yizhou’s visage, “Can guess how I’m going to deal with you later!?”
“Oh no no no, I think you have misunderstood something.” Yun Che beamed without a trace of fear on his face, “You guys are exiled but I’m not. I have been ordered to train here by my master, so I’ll be leaving in a couple of days. But you all? Your bones will probably be buried forever in this place.”
A unique ice blue aurora immediately appeared from the Ice Phoenix Engraved Jade around Yun Che’s left shoulder when he said this. The jade symbolized his identity as the sect master’s direct disciple.
“Senior Brother Yizhou, that’s… that’s…” The Ice Phoenix disciple next to Mu Yizhou turned pale with fear and alarm. They were exiled from their sect first before they were brought to this place, so naturally the Ice Phoenix Engraved Jades they once possessed were taken away from them. However, Yun Che didn’t lose his Ice Phoenix Engraved Jade. Worse, it was the one that only belonged to the sect master’s disciple!
This meant that Yun Che’s claim was very likely to be true.
Mu Yizhou’s pupils shrank for an instant but they quickly turned gloomy once more, “So what? We are all doomed to die here anyway, so what is there to be scared of! Also…”
Clang!!
Mu Yizhou made a grabbing motion and the sword stuck on the giant eagle’s body was immediately sucked back into his palm. Then, he slowly walked toward him, looking murderous. “Just now, you almost died under this fierce hawk’s claws. This means that you’re alone and that there are no hidden protectors behind you at all!”
Yun Che, “...”
“If I can tear you to pieces… I will be glad even if I die right after!”
Mu Yizhou stabbed his sword forward, causing profound energy and sword energy to rage all over the place. The Ice Phoenix disciple behind him immediately turned pale with fright, “You’ll draw the profound beasts like this!”
“Shut up!” Mu Yizhou swore angrily. Without changing his profound energy or sword force at all, he slashed madly, hatefully and grudgefully at Yun Che while raining down a torrent of ice blades. At this point Mu Yizhou didn’t give a damn about the profound beasts. All this time he had believed that Yun Che was the culprit behind all his misery but not even in his dreams did he dare to hope for the opportunity to take revenge against him. He was prepared to struggle and wait hatefully for his final moments to creep up to him. But now, the chance he didn’t dare dream of, had suddenly fallen right into his lap… If he could mutilate and kill Yun Che right now, he would laugh unto his final breath even if he were to die under the claws of a profound beast right after.
Instead of backing away from the attack, Yun Che actually charged forwards and zigzagged through the rain of ice blades. In the blink of an eye, he appeared before Mu Yizhou and slashed the Heaven Smiting Sword downwards.
“Suicidal fool!!”
He was the former chief disciple of the First Ice Phoenix Palace and he was at the peak of the tenth level of the Divine Soul Realm. His strength wasn’t something Yun Che could fight head on no matter what. But not only did he not try to escape from Mu Yizhou, he even charged forwards to meet him in a forceful clash. His would action seemed suicidal to anyone’s eyes.
Boom!
There was a bang so loud that it was like a thunderclap and Yun Che was thrown backwards immediately like a cannonball. The clash shook Mu Yizhou and bent his sword, causing great disbelief to rise up in his face.
He could sense clearly that Yun Che’s profound strength was only at the first level of thte Divine Origin Realm but the bastard was able to knock him half a step backwards, even though he was a peak Divine Soul Realm cultivator!
Still in shock, Mu Yizhou turned around only to notice suddenly that Yun Che had slipped deep into the mist and was departing from this place at an incredible speed.
“Bastard!” Realization finally struck Mu Yizhou in the head as he gritted his teeth tightly. Yun Che wasn’t trying to meet him in a suicidal clash, he was simply borrowing his strength to escape this place!
“You cannot escape!!”
Mu Yizhou locked onto Yun Che’s aura like his life depended on it, brought out his full power and chased after him like a madman. He no longer cared what kind of place he was in at all.
Yun Che continued to pass through the thick mist at full power. His eyes were fierce and his teeth were clenched tightly. He could scarcely imagine the size of the shitty luck he stepped on today to offend his master by accident, almost lose his life, get thrown into this place and as a result, have his threatened multiple times by a bunch of violent profound beasts and now a far scarier Mu Yizhou who had completely lost his mind...
He really, really should’ve checked the goddamn calendar before he started his day!!
Yun Che’s top speed far exceeded another cultivator at the same rank but his profound strength was just too far behind Mu Yizhou’s. Because he was nearly two great realms behind the enemy, Mu Yizhou continued to gain steadily onto him even though he wasn’t sparing any energy to escape.
On the other hand, Mu Yizhou was growing angrier and more shocked by the second. It should’ve taken him no effort at all to catch up to a first level Divine Origin Realm profound practitioner and yet he couldn’t catch a glimpse of Yun Che’s shadow even after he pushed his power to the max. The distance between them was shortening at an excruciatingly slow pace too.
Absolutely furious, he somehow managed to push his speed up another notch, “You cannot escape, Yun Che! I will make you wish, that you were dead!”
“This guy has gone completely bonkers.” Yun Che cast a backward glance as his teeth tightened up more and more.
No, this won’t work. If this goes on he’ll soon catch up to me.
He had no choice but to take a risk.
Yun Che gathered the Golden Crow’s flames in his palm and tossed it behind him suddenly.
“Burning Sun Rupture!”
Boom!!
The faint golden flame that erupted in this pale white world was incredibly eye catching. The aura lock lost track of him for an instant during the explosion and Yun Che immediately fired off a profound handle bearing hi
s aura to the right while concealing his entire presence using Hidden Flowing Lightning. He slipped behind a thick tree under the cover of the mist and stopped his breathing completely.
The fiery explosion immediately drew the long howls of multiple profound beasts. In this pale white world of ice, fire was without a doubt, the most offensive element to these profound beasts. But Yun Che didn’t have the luxury to worry about such things. This fact was proven when Mu Yizhou rushed past his hiding spot, just two breaths behind his profound handle, like a storm.
Yun Che immediately let out a quiet sigh of relief but he knew that the profound handle would soon vanish after it left his side. Not daring to stay, he was just about to move soundlessly from the place when two icy auras suddenly jumped on him from above.
Pupu!
Two snow white string snakes, that were as thin as a little finger, plunged their poisonous fangs into his shoulders. The poison was enough to kill even a divine soul beast. At the same time, a giant eagle drawn by the fiery light swooped down in Yun Che’s direction.
Yun Che swore on the inside and unleashed his profound energy, instantly breaking the two tiny snakes into pieces. At the same time, he raised both his arms and grabbed Heaven Smiting Sword in his hands, throwing a fire imbued Phoenix Sky Wolf Slash at the giant eagle swooping towards him.
Bang!!
The giant eagle was knocked off course and Yun Che’s own body was thrown far, far away by the shock. Naturally, the aura he spent so much effort to conceal was completely exposed. Deep inside the thick mist, Mu Yizhou’s utterly discomfited roar resounded furiously, “You dare play me!? Yun Che!”
Mu Yizhou immediately locked onto Yun Che’s aura once more and the giant eagle above him was obviously furious at being knocked away too. It looked like it was going to swoop down at Yun Che any second. Worse, dangerous auras were rushing swiftly to this place all around him.
Before he entered Mist End Valley, Mu Bingyun had advised again and again to avoid any contact if at all possible. However, the situation had spiralled into the absolute worst case scenario.