by Mars Gravity
“Brat, let’s see where you’ll run off to this time!”
Just as Jasmine’s voice fell, a loud angry roar resounded near Yun Che’s ears. This voice came from… up ahead.
Yun Che raised his head. Feng Chihuo stood on a low mountain top in front of him with both hands behind his back.. Even though there was a great difference between them, he could still sense the surging fury released from his body. At first, Feng Chihuo thought that sending him, a Throne at the eighth rank, to personally assassinate him was like killing chicken with a butcher knife for cows. It was simply an insult to his status and ability. If not for the fact that Feng Xichen had personally ordered him, he absolutely wouldn’t be willing to do so. However, once he found his target, such an extremely simple mission that insulted his rank had not gone smoothly at all. Instead, he had been dirtied by the other party’s Heaven Decimating Orb… Within these several hours, Feng Chihuo’s fury had not ceased. If not for the fact that his body was resilient, his chest would’ve burst open several tens of times due to his rage.
Yun Che was secretly shocked, if he had been overtaken by Feng Chihuo from behind, he would not be this shocked, because not only was Feng Chihuo’s speed faster than the Snow Phoenix’s, his familiarity with this Divine Phoenix region had far surpassed his. However, what shocked him was that Feng Chihuo appeared in front of him at such a close distance, but he had never detected him.
Jasmine knew what Yun Che was thinking, and said in a low voice: “Looks like there’s big trouble up ahead. This profound formation that’s at least eight thousand years old is not that simple.”
Yun Che’s brows sunk. Then, he clutched at the Snow Phoenix’s snowy feathers on its back and yelled: “Little Chan… Go!!”
The Snow Phoenix Beast rapidly turned around, changing into a streak of an extremely fast white silhouette as it wildly flew in the opposite direction. From behind, came Feng Chihuo’s loud roar: “You still want to flee! No matter where you go, even if you have a hundred lives, don’t even think about escaping!”
The Snow Phoenix’s speed reached its pinnacle as it quickly dove down, and the mountain range on the side quickly drew back, forming two long and narrow ravines.
Yun Che glanced backwards with clenched fists, urging the Snow Phoenix to suppress its aviation, to not fly higher than thirty meters. As they approached the ravine, he channeled Frozen End Divine Arts, instantly activating “Frozen End Illusory Mirror”. At the same time, it enveloped him and the Snow Phoenix within, isolating their auras to a great extent. Then, he extended an arm, and allowed the Profound Handle to fly off into the other ravine.
This was a trick he used to disorientate those who chased after him… it was well-tried and had never been defeated before.
Behind him, Feng Chihuo pursued with a speed that wasn’t too fast, and in front of him was a bizarre, slowly revolving, fire-red profound formation. A white dot slowly moved inside the profound formation. As he looked at this white dot, Feng Chihuo exposed a ridiculing sneer… Right at this moment, his brows suddenly moved, because he suddenly felt that the direction in which the white dot in the profound formation was moving, was not the direction that Yun Che’s aura went. A huge discrepancy had actually appeared…
“What happened? How could a discrepancy appear on the Great Phoenix Formation?”
Feng Chihuo stared blankly for a while. As he raised both his hands, the hovering red colored profound formation in front of him slowly enlarged. Along with the phoenix profound strength Feng Chihuo poured into the profound formation, it spun quickly. Then, two distinct scenes slowly appeared…
In one image was Yun Che flying really fast on a Snow Phoenix…
In the other, was shockingly… an extremely fast, flying orange yellow stream of light.
Yun Che’s aura Feng Chihuo sensed… had actually came from the stream of light. Its aura and Yun Che’s aura, were exactly the same!
Seeing the orange colored stream of light, Feng Chihuo was first stunned, then, his pupils slowly contracted as his face revealed an expression of deep shock and incredibility. After a while, two words containing deep astonishment came out of his mouth…
“Profound… Handle!!”
The Snow Phoenix quickly passed through the ravine. As he looked onward, the highest mountain peak was already before his eyes, it was no less than four thousand five hundred meters tall. Feng Chihuo did not chase over, but Yun Che still did not sigh in relief. Instead, he felt that something was fishy.
He felt as if a pair of eyes had continuously been staring at him all along… how could that be possible?
Was I wrong?
“Run, keep running, let me see how far you can run to.”
Feng Chihuo’s voice suddenly resounded, and it still came from up ahead. Yun Che’s complexion slightly changed as he raised his head… Not even ninety meters up ahead was a leisurely floating Feng Chihuo with an amused expression. However, Yun Che unexpectedly did not feel any killing intent from him, and even his anger had dissipated by a lot.
This time, Yun Che was completely certain that the feeling of being watched was not his misconception. The Feng Chihuo before him was obviously using some sort of method to lock onto his movements, and what helped him, was most likely the “profound formation” which covered the entire mountain range that Jasmine mentioned.
This time, Yun Che didn’t flee at once. He coldly stared at Feng Chihuo: “Are you using this place’s profound formation to track me?”
“Oh? You are actually able to sense the Great Phoenix Formation here? Oh… I almost forgot, you are also someone with the phoenix bloodline. Otherwise, you would not have been able to enter.” Feng Chihuo walked closer and laughed coldly: “Your concealment abilities were truly unexpected, to actually make me search for you without finding a single trace of your shadow until dawn. If you fled to some other place, you might have been able to escape me, but you just happened to rush here… I’ve lived for a hundred years, and have never seen such a perfect example of the saying ‘walking straight into a trap.’”
“Great Phoenix Formation? What exactly is this place?”
“This is Phoenix Mountain Range, a place Divine Phoenix Sect uses to evaluate disciples of the young generation.” Up till here, Feng Chihuo was no longer worried about Yun Che escaping the palms of his hand. He continued calmly: “And only those with the phoenix bloodline may enter. Other humans that approach would be repelled by the Great Phoenix Formation. Since it’s an appraisal ground, we obviously have to monitor each and every disciple’s movements. And I, just happen to be one of the supervisors of this Phoenix Mountain Range. With the help of the Great Phoenix Formation, I can control everything here, even so much that I can travel through the space here using the Great Phoenix Formation.”
Yun Che: “!!”
“I had already known where you were the exact instant you entered the Phoenix Mountain Range. It’s just that you were more crafty than I thought you were, so I didn’t immediately take action to avoid you fleeing the Phoenix Mountain Range. Instead, I allowed you to go deeper in… all the way to here.” Feng Chihuo gazed straight at Yun Che, then extended a palm: “You are now like a turtle in a jar, even if you dream about it, you should not think about escaping. But don’t you worry, I suddenly don’t feel like killing you anymore, because something that would greatly interest Sect Master, and even the Four Great Sacred Grounds has appeared on your body… I didn’t expect that not only are you a bastard of our phoenix bloodline, you’re also a demon from Illusory Demon Realm! I’ve clearly seen the profound handle you used earlier!”
“!!!” Yun Che’s expression immediately sunk as an extremely strong killing intent flashed through his eyes.
Yun Che’s overall strength had no doubt increased exponentially after awakening his profound handle, but he’d actually never used his profound handle in real combat before. Even when he had nearly been forced into a dire strait by Ling Tianni, he still did not think about using his profound h
andle. This was because while ordinary people might not recognize the profound handle, Heavenly Sword Villa, which was linked with Mighty Heavenly Sword Region in countless ways, might recognize it.
And the profound handle was a godly technique possessed only by Illusory Demon Realm’s Yun Family. As head of Illusory Demon Royal Families’ Twelve Guardian Families, the Yun Family was no doubt one of the Four Great Sacred Grounds’ greatest enemies. And Illusory Demon Realm had long been made into demons by the Four Great Sacred Grounds. Once the profound handle was exposed, not only would the Four Great Sacred Grounds come at him, everyone within the Seven Nations would regard him as a “demon”.
If that happens, there would not be a single place in the entire Profound Sky Continent that he could seek shelter.
The consequences were ten million times more grave than exposing his phoenix flame.
Both of Yun Che’s hands tightened as his eyes became bone-piercingly cold. Previously, he’d used all his might to escape, but now, he absolutely could not run anymore! This person, who recognized his profound handle… he had to die!
No matter what, no matter how large of a cost he had to pay, he had to kill him!
Chapter 414: Trading a Life for a Life
“Run, why aren’t you running? Have you resigned to your fate, or have you already been scared witless?” Feng Chihuo laughed wildly: “Forget it, I ought to end our game of cat chasing mouse by now. Even though I spent so much time on you, with such an unexpected harvest, I can’t say that I’ve suffered any losses. I’ve even heard that you’re the Blue Wind Emperor’s son-in-law… Tsk, tsk. If that damned emperor of Blue Wind Nation and the other inferior nations were to know that a mighty prince consort was a demon from Illusory Demon Realm, I’m not sure how marvelous of a reaction they would have… Haha…”
After laughing to his content, Feng Chihuo’s face suddenly became darkened: “Even though I’m not going to kill you, once I give you to Sect Master… I’ll make you live a life worse than death! The debts you incurred after playing tricks on me… I’ll properly calculate them now!”
Feng Chihuo suddenly swooped down from the sky. With a sudden wave of his arm, a six meter wide column of fire instantly shot downwards. Just as it was about to approach Yun Che, it changed into a fire phoenix that danced in midair. As the temperature boiled, it nearly melted the ground.
Yun Che was not the least bit afraid of phoenix fire, but the profound energy attack of a high level Throne was still within the flame. Yun Che’s complexion grew grim as he instantly raised Dragon Fault. With a loud roar, the heavy sword force swung upwards against the air, straight for the fire phoenix.
Whoosh!!
Phoenix flame and the heavy sword’s windstorm directly clashed head-on. Yun Che’s hair had been blown up by the chaos as a distorted expression appeared on his face. The heavy sword force only lasted for half a breath before it had been completely smashed apart. The fire phoenix crazily descended, charging at Yun Che and the Snow Phoenix.
The sound of phoenix fire exploding roiled like surging thunder, as the incomparably terrifying heat suddenly inflated the surrounding space. Yun Che’s groans and the Snow Phoenix’s mournful cries came from within the blaze. One was knocked to the east while the other was knocked to the west….
“Little Chan!”
The Snow Phoenix lost its balance, as though it was a dead leaf that was being swirled inside a gale, it fell several hundred meters away… Two stretches of ghastly blood red had quickly spread on the originally snow white pair of wings. After landing on the ground, it no longer made another sound. It was, after all, only a Sky Profound Beast, how could it withstand an attack from a high level Throne?
Bang!
Yun Che also heavily fell down, the fierce attack smashed two enormous holes on the ground. After he fell, the clothes on Yun Che’s entire body were broken into pieces, dyed all over with bloodstains. All four of his limbs twitched unceasingly, and it seemed as if he used all his strength to lift Dragon Fault. While struggling to finally stand, he panted with his mouth open in huge coarse breaths.
“Jasmine, with my current body, what is the maximum time I can maintain ‘Purgatory’?” Yun Che asked grimly.
Jasmine was also very clear that since Feng Chihuo recognized Yun Che’s profound handle, he had to die no matter what. If he wanted to kill Feng Chihuo, he had to forcibly open Purgatory’s gate. She said carefully: “Fifteen breaths… as for the most extreme limit, it cannot exceed twenty breaths. Otherwise, all the blood vessels in your body will rupture, even your Great Way of the Buddha won’t be able to save you!”
“Tsk tsk, not bad. No wonder our prince had specially sent me to kill you. You do have some ability, after receiving a move that contains thirty percent of my strength, you actually had not been beaten half dead, and can even stand up.”
Feng Chihuo casually dropped from midair toward Yun Che. The disdain in his eyes was as though he was looking at lamb about to be slaughtered. He moved his wrist, as malice flickered in his eyes: “You made quite a bit of blood flow from this arm of mine, there are even a few cracks that have appeared in my bones. In order to repay this favor of yours, tell me, should I snap every bone in your body, or pinch each and every one of them into pieces?”
Yun Che clenched his teeth and forcibly lifted the heavy sword as his entire body tottered on the verge of collapse: “Even if I die, even if I have to risk my life, I’m still going to… leave a few more injuries on your body!”
After he finished speaking, Yun Che roared. Swinging the heavy sword up, he smashed toward Feng Chihuo, who was only three steps away from him.
“Hahahaha!” The incoming heavy sword did not have the least bit of imposingness, rather, it seemed as if it was about to fall from Yun Che’s grasp any moment. Feng Chihuo laughed out loud as he extended a hand to grab at Dragon Fault: “You alone, can actually injure…”
Just as Feng Chihuo’s hand was about to touch Dragon Fault, Yun Che’s expression suddenly changed. “Purgatory” opened, and Yun Che, who was on the verge of collapse, seemed like a ferocious beast that had suddenly awakened from the abyss as his entire body bursted with a incredibly frightening strength.
“Falling Moon Sinking Star!!”
A sky tremoring dragon cry came from Dragon Fault as the ground beneath Yun Che’s feet suddenly shook. Cracks resembling spider webs crazily spread… this sudden variation greatly changed Feng Chihuo’s complexion. At such a close range, even if he was a deity, he would still not have time to react… That one strike brimming with all of Yun Che’s power ruthlessly smashed on his arm.
Boom!!
The cracking sound of bone disintegrating was drowned within a world-shaking explosion. The surrounding mountain stones were all twisted upwards by the heavy sword tornado, then, they were all crushed into the most minute of fragmented dust. Feng Chihuo’s left elbow bone had been directly smashed broken. Under the enormous attack, his entire person flew like a spinning top as he was smashed three hundred meters away, firmly ramming into a large mountain boulder, crushing it into smithereens.
With Yun Che’s strength, defeating Ling Tianni at the sixth level of the Emperor Profound Realm required the joint help of Xia Qingyue. In normal instances, prevailing over Feng Chihuo at the eighth level of the Emperor Profound Realm was something he had no chance of ever doing! If he was able to sustain Purgatory, he might be able to confront Feng Chihuo, but it was also near impossible… Besides, he could only maintain the Purgatory state for at most fifteen breaths. After fifteen breaths, he would be toying with fate, and after twenty breaths, he would be courting death.
And the only hope he had to kill Feng Chihuo… was to utilize all his strength and willpower, so much that he had to overdraft his life force! At the same time, he had to use any kind of tactics and tricks —— no matter how shameless and despicable they were.
With Yun Che’s current body strength, Feng Chihuo’s attack that contained thirty percent of his strength
was still a fire attribute attack, it was impossible to place him in too miserable of a state. Even the utterly tattered clothes and those numerous little wounds were all devised by him… they were all for this one moment. And the results were even better than what he had anticipated… directly crippling one of Feng Chihuo’s arms!
Facing Feng Chihuo, who only had one arm left, his chances had naturally gotten better!
Feng Chihuo got up from the crushed rocks with an extremely angry snarl. His entire left arm dangled, its shape appearing to be hideously twisted. His right arm grabbed onto it as he felt intolerable pain. With most of the bones in his left arm broken, he howled, as if insane: “Yun Che… I’m going to tear you into ten thousand pieces!!”
Feng Chihuo had lived for over one hundred years, his combat experience was incomparably rich, so he was definitely not one of those who were arrogant and condescending. On the contrary, even when facing an opponent weaker than himself, he would still be very cautious… However, Yun Che was just too weak. Earth Profound Realm was two great realms weaker than him, how could he possibly be on guard? A fierce tiger going up against a wounded wolf might be on guard, but how could a tiger be on guard against a wounded young rabbit?
The acute pain in his arm was unbearable, yet far beneath the shock in his heart… The power Yun Che suddenly exploded out with just a while ago was only a strength a high level Throne could put forth, how could it appear from a profound practitioner at the Earth Profound Realm?
Just as he let out a howl, the figure before him swayed, and Yun Che had already attacked again, bringing along an imposing force not weaker than before. His eyes especially, flickered with a blood red radiance.
“Die!!” Instantly submerging in his anger and hatred, Feng Chihuo roared as his right arm shot out. The palm he poured his berserking profound energy in directly grabbed at Yun Che’s chest… with the intent to immediately tear Yun Che’s heart into pieces. Due to the arm that had been smashed broken, why would he care whether or not Yun Che was a demon from Illusory Demon Realm? Under his extreme fury, he only wanted to tear him into pieces.