by Mars Gravity
“I am entirely clear headed, I am more clear headed than I have ever been in my life!” Yun Che said through gritted teeth. He was thinking with all his might a way to convince them that he was telling the truth.
Huo Rulie put an arm on his shoulder and said with a helpless look on his face, “Alright, alright, let us assume that what you say is true. Even if there is another horned dragon down there… oh, forget one, even if there are another two ancient horned dragons down there, they can hardly stop someone as powerful as your master from leaving safely, so just relax, okay? Puyun, why don’t you… take him away to get some rest, will you? The farther, the better.”
Huo Poyun was just about to say yes when Yun Che shouted, “It is not that simple! The fact that these two horned dragons managed to conceal themselves perfectly for six hundred thousand years even after one of them was hurt in the dragon fault proves just how deadly their patience and intelligence are! Therefore, this other horned dragon will only emerge at the best possible opportunity! My master has already used up most of her profound energy and if the other horned dragon were to attack her while she is completely defenseless… she will definitely suffer a grievous wound!”
“This is a trump card the two horned dragons will never use unless they literally have no other choice and the moment they do they will never give my master an opportunity to escape! If my master has to go all out just to deal with one ancient horned dragon and if she were to suffer a grievous wound at her currently depleted state, how can she possibly fight against two ancient horned dragons especially when one of them is still at full strength!?”
“Aaaaah, you kid.” Huo Rulie was close to blowing his top. If Yun Che hadn’t saved Huo Ye’s life, he would’ve lost his already miniscule patience and slapped the young man into unconsciousness, “If anything happens to your master I’ll pay you back with my life, alright!?”
No one believed him; no one would believe him even if he were to make another blood oath. Yun Che slapped Huo Rulie’s hand out of the way and rushed before Yan Wancang once more, “Sect Master Yan, you all can choose to think that I’m spouting nonsense and disbelieve my words. I won’t ask you to send a sound transmission to my master and tell her to escape but can you at least inform her of the possibility that another ancient horned dragon might be hiding in the Inferno Prison somewhere around her? Anything is fine as long as she’s alert… this is okay, right?”
“Impossible!” But Yan Wancang turned him down firmly without even thinking for a second, “The reason your master crushed her Sound Transmission Jade every time she fights against the horned dragon is because she’s afraid of any form of distraction during combat! If I were to send her a transmission now, she would absolutely be distracted!”
Yun Che said urgently, “My master now has all the advantage, while the ancient horned dragon is completely powerless. So what if the transmission did distract her? An instant of distraction can’t possibly affect the battle right now!”
“The distraction is hardly the only thing that’ll affect your master!” Yan Wancang forced himself to be patient, “If you master believes that there’s another horned dragon in the Inferno Prison, she will have to raise her guard consistently throughout the whole battle! Her opponent is an ancient horned dragon who has lived for at least hundreds of thousands of years and although it appears to be completely bloodied right now, none of its current wounds are serious enough to threaten its life! Worse, no one knows what kind of trump card the horned dragon still possesses, so it is entirely possible that your master may lose her advantage because she has to pay attention to something that doesn’t exist!”
“Do you know how long the Flame God Realm has toiled and waited for this day!? If your unreasonable tantrum were to destroy all of our efforts…” By now Yan Wangcang’s voice was incredibly severe, “The Flame God Realm won’t be the only party who won’t forgive your mistake! Your master too won’t forgive you after she learns of this!”
“Alright…” Yun Che’s lips were shaking. His fists were clenched so tight that they were crackling under pressure, “Then I’ll inform my master about this myself!”
Once he was done, he leaped into the air and charged straight toward the Inferno Prison.
“Yun Che!” Shocked, Huo Rulie reached out as quick as lightning and sent Yun Che falling to the ground next to him with overwhelming power. Then, Huo Rulie swiftly pinned him down while roaring, “Have you gone crazy!? With your puny body, you’ll be burned to literal nothing before you even got five hundred kilometers away from the battle site!”
“That’s still better than watching my master suffer a disaster while doing nothing!” Yun Che roared back.
“Yun Che!!” Yan Wancang let out a furious roar that shook everyone’s soul for a second. His eyebrows had sunk completely and his face was wrought with rare anger, “Do you know how important this horned dragon hunt is to the Flame God Realm? It’s not just some draconic treasure; it literally decides the future fate and status of our entire realm!”
“Now the hunt is just a fraction away from success and I will not allow any slip ups or accidents to happen no matter how miniscule they are!” Yan Wancang stared straight at Yun Che with sharp eyes, “If your master wasn’t the Snow Song Realm King, I would’ve killed you for your atrocious behavior during a momentous occasion like this! You either keep your mouth shut or… don’t blame me for being discourteous.”
Out of the three divine flames, the Vermillion Bird’s flame was considered to be the most gentle. As a result, Yan Wancang was also the most conservative and mild tempered cultivator out of all three sect masters. Even the elders of the Vermillion Bird Sect seldom saw him losing his temper. After all, the hunt of the horned dragon did involve far, far too much.
“...” Yun Che’s chest was heaving up and down fiercely but his eyes were slowly weakening under Yan Wancang’s stare. Even his voice had turned completely pitiful and begging, “Sect Master Yan, I may not have lived a long life but I seldom make oaths and beg even less… I swear again that nothing I said earlier is a lie or I will be punished by the heavens and die a horrible death! So I beg you, please send a sound transmission to my master… all I’m asking from you is to remind her to be on her guard, if just a little… please, Sect Master Yan. I owe a great debt to my master and if my master is saved, I, Yun Che, will never forget the kindness that you showed me today.”
“...” Yan Wancang turned around coldly and said nothing… Yun Che’s words didn’t move him at all.
“But. If something really does happen to my master…” His begging eyes turned ruthless and fierce in an instant and his voice turned hoarse, “Then I, Yun Che, will never let you go, Yan Wancang!!”
His words shocked everyone present.
“Absolutely disgraceful!” The great elder of the Vermillion Bird Sect scolded angrily before Yan Wancang could speak, “Who the hell do you think you are to call my sect master by his name? And how dare you threaten…”
“Shut up, shut up! You have no right to speak, you hear!” Huo Rulie shot him a fierce glare before wrinkling his eyebrows, “It looks like the heat has really gotten to his head. Just forget he ever said anything, Sect Master Yan. Poyun, get him to a cooler place quickly…”
Crack crack crack crack crack crack...
Suddenly, a deafening, freezing noise that nearly shattered everyone’s eardrums attracted everyone’s attention back to the Vermillion Bird projection.
A sheen of thick ice was spreading swiftly across the ancient horned dragon’s body. Despite the beast’s roars and struggles, the cracked ice kept reforming itself and grew thicker and thicker.
The ancient horned dragon’s furious roars and struggles kept weakening, however. This lasted until every part of its body was stuck in meters deep of ice. It could no longer break free.
“It’s… it’s sealed!!” Yan Juehai roared in mad pleasure.
Although Mu Xuanyin had tried many times before to freeze it in ice, the ancient horn
ed dragon would shake it off every time. This was the first time she managed to seal it for real. Although it was impossible for a seal like this to last a long time, it still created the perfect opportunity to kill the horned dragon.
Mu Xuanyin closed her eyes and spread her arms slightly. The image of an ice phoenix began to dance soundless around her as a diamond shaped ice crystal swiftly expanded from the tip of her finger.
One breath, two breaths, three breaths, four breaths...
The ice encasing the ancient horned dragon was now completely covered in cracks but the diamond shaped ice at Mu Xuanyin’s fingertip had also become several meters long. It was glowing with a deep bluish light that none had seen before.
Even through the Vermillion Bird projection, the blue light made everyone felt like their vision was plunging soundless into an endless sea. Once through the sea, they continued to fall towards a bottomless ice abyss.
What was an attack that took a Divine Master four full breaths to gather with full concentration?
Even at its peak the beast would’ve been severely damaged by the attack if it was hit. And now...
The moment it breaks out of the ice might very well be the moment it dies!
The air seemed to have become frozen as everyone held their breaths. They were all staring fixedly at the Vermillion Bird projection and waiting for that dreamy moment to arrive… everyone, except Yun Che. His eyes looked like they would break under pressure but he wasn’t able to move despite his struggles beneath Huo Rulie.
Oh no… oh no! Run, master… Run!!
Bang!!
The ice holding the horned dragon abruptly exploded.
Just when the ice diamond at Mu Xuanyin’s fingertip was about to fire, the inferno less than thirty meters behind her suddenly burst open. A fiery figure abruptly slammed down toward Mu Xuanyin while bearing world shattering might and space destroying power.
Mu Xuanyin’s power was completely concentrated at her fingertip and her mind was fully focused on the horned dragon before her. She was completely defenseless and the unseen attack was too close to her… she had already been struck when she finally noticed it. Her mind turned completely white.
Boom—————
The inferno within a one-and-a-half kilometer radius from the battle site boiled into a sky scorching wave that was tens of thousands of meters tall.
Chapter 1060: Helpless, Broken Moon Oblivion
“WAHHHH!!”
From the northern shore of the Inferno Prison, a roar filled with extreme dismay resounded. The space itself was trembling, the parched earth underneath their feet was filled to the brim with cracks, while the Inferno Prison in front was surging even more violently. If not for the obstruction of the various Flame God’s elders, everyone would’ve already been engulfed inside.
The might of that flame mirage was obvious from one’s imagination.
Clearly, it had been accumulating its power for a long time beneath the flame prison.
“MASTER!!!” Yun Che roared explosively, his eyes were opened wide and bloodshot. What he was most afraid of, actually happened so quickly… More so, it was much more wretched that the worst scenario he had imagined.
Not only was that a full power strike, charged up by the other ancient horned dragon, it was also during a situation where Mu Xuanyin was congealing all her power to slay the first ancient horned dragon, nearly without any defensive profound energy around her!
As though they were suddenly falling from heaven to hell, everyone’s heart almost burst apart from the shock. Yan Wancang retreated several steps, appalled, while Yan Juehai and Huo Rulie’s hair stood on end, their eyes wide to the point of breaking apart.
“A… Ahhh...”
“H...How can there be such a thing!?”
In that instant as though a stream of light flashing through, all three of the sect masters clearly saw that what heavily struck Mu Xuanyin, was clearly a dragon’s tail!!
The tail of a horned dragon!!
After the curtain of fire fell, within the Vermillion Bird’s Will Projection, to the side of the horned dragon who just escaped the ice seal atop the incessantly churning Inferno Prison...
An identical, yet unwounded ancient horned dragon had appeared!
While Mu Xuanyin’s figure had already disappeared, buried within the vast flame prison.
Before everyone had calmed down from the shock, the second horned dragon had already pounced forward amidst its roar.
BOOOM——
The wave of fire rushed to the skies, as the thousand miles of fire sea was violently thrown up… While an eye-grabbing white figure appeared within the shattered flames that filled the entire sky.
Seeing this white figure made Yun Che utter a shout in joy and surprise, “Master!”
But just as his voice left him, his joy immediately became terror.
She had never been injured even though she exhausted an enormous amount of power in her vicious battle against the ancient horned dragon which lasted over eight hours. However, at this moment, her snow-white clothing was soaked with blood everywhere, her hair of ice was scattered and messy, the tracks of blood by the corner of her mouth and eyes was crimson and glaring, and her snow-like skin had become dreadfully pale.
Her back, however, was entirely dyed in red.
The Snow Princess Sword was still being held in her hand but atop the tip of the sword, drops of blood slowly dripped.
The chilling aura that almost shrouded the entire flame prison before, was so weak and in chaos at this moment in time.
In the exact moment she was blasted away from the flame sea, the two horned dragon’s dragon flames had already swathed down from above, not giving her even a chance for a breather.
Mu Xuanyin retreated back rapidly, however, her flight path was unexpectedly unstable, as though she was a floating leaf atop enormous waves. The Snow Princess Sword swept out horizontally, freezing up ice all over the skies… but it was instantly engulfed by the flames and vanished...
Pfft!!
A huge puff of blood sprayed out in the skies and Mu Xuanyin once again fell into the endless sea of flames like a white sparrow that was shot down.
Yun Che’s mouth remained wide agape, yet he couldn’t even utter a sound. As his entire body felt cold, only intense hatred and helplessness was left.
His strength was merely at the beginning of the divine way, while the Mu Xuanyin and the horned dragon fighting her, lay at its pinnacle. It was two entirely different dimensions in terms of power. As the second horned dragon finally made its appearance, Mu Xuanyin didn’t even have the chance to react before being forced into a desperate strait, yet he couldn’t do anything at all… Let alone rushing to save her, he couldn’t even get a little bit closer.
Even if he really could get near… with his power, what use was there even if there existed tens or even a hundred thousand of him?
Even if he clearly knew the existence of another ancient horned dragon, he could not inform Mu Xuanyin… Amidst his worries, he hadn’t hesitated to vow and beg, yet no one believed him.
The only thing he could do, was to stand there and watch… watch with his eyes wide open.
Because, he was merely a petty and insignificant speck of dust… Even if he were to gamble his entire existence, he wouldn’t be able to stop the enormous wave that was about to swallow Mu Xuanyin. What was even more saddening, was that there was no way he would even have a chance to do so.
BOOM!! BOOM!!
Being continuously blasted down into the flame prison, Mu Xuanyin’s aura was becoming weaker and weaker. The traces of blood on her body quickly spread; under the attack of two ancient horned dragons, she could not even manage to seal her wounds.
Just as Yun Che said earlier, once the two horned dragons were forced to appear together, it would be a strike with absolute intent to kill, not leaving any chance for Mu Xuanyin to escape.
Greatly damaged profound energy, seriously injured and being closed in fr
om all sides… This was the dragons’ only chance! If she escaped today, they’ll never have the chance to kill Mu Xuanyin again—Hu Rulie wasn’t exaggerating at all. Mu Xuanyin might not be a match for two ancient horned dragon, but if she were only fleeing, let alone two, even three horned dragons wouldn’t be able to keep her from doing so.
The two ancient horned dragon’s attacks were like enormous storms and waves, without the slightest bit of stagnation. Forget about retaliating, Mu Xuanyin’s defense was actually getting gradually weaker. Every single time she escaped with difficulty after being blasted down into the God Burying Inferno Prison, her aura would grow a little weaker.
In addition to being unable to mind her wounds, having to channel all her power at the same time caused the conditions of her injuries to rapidly deteriorate… She was like a duckweed struggling within a storm, possibly shattering at any moment.
Yun Che looked on blankly and could only do so… What was flowing within his soul was the sorrow and helplessness of the weak, as well as hatred for his own powerlessness.
Why did I come to the God Realm… He painfully muttered in his heart. How nice was it in the lower realms; there was no one I couldn’t save, nothing that I couldn’t do, and I wouldn’t ever need to endure such helplessness and suffering.
Why did you have to be so good to me? If you were as strict and heartless to me like how you always are on the surface… I wouldn’t be so...
“There… There actually really are two horned dragons… How can it be… How can such thing happen!?” Yan Juehan’s pupils contracted. He was still frightened and was unable to believe the reality even now.
“It’s over… it’s all over…” Yan Wancang muttered, losing his wits.
Mu Xuanyin was done for… and their dream of raising a Divine Master, was also done for...
“We were actually… really fooled for so many years…” Huo Rulie’s body also wobbled, as the arm pressing onto Yun Che’s shoulders entirely lost its strength.