Chapter 188 – Burning Heaven’s Young Master
While being hunted by countless profound beasts, he had to kill ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine profound beasts, and these profound beasts’ levels were all higher than his. This trial’s difficulty and troll level wasn’t even just cruel. It was practically at a crazy and unreasonable stage.
What made Yun Che the most angry was…… You might as well add one more to it to make it a round number, okay?! What’s the meaning of insisting on 99999!
The Primordial Azure Dragon’s voice fell, and the surrounding atmosphere suddenly turned from fresh to gloomy.
The howls of innumerable profound beasts sounded from far away. Surrounding Yun Che, the shadows of a dozen or so profound beasts also started to move. Their aura kept Yun Che firmly fixed, and then they all rushed towards where he was.
Out of all the profound auras these profound beasts were releasing, none of them were below the Spirit Profound Realm.
In the blink of an eye, Yun Che was already surrounded by a large number of profound beasts. The Primordial Azure Dragon’s voice said that the profound beasts here would actively move towards Yun Che under the guidance of its aura. When they discover him, they would then commence a do or die hunt. These words were obviously not said in jest!
Yun Che quickly drew out Dragon Fault with one hand and rushed towards these profound beasts. As Dragon Fault danced, it brought about waves of surging phoenix fire, causing the surrounding profound beasts to back away again and again. However, the strength of these profound beasts far outmatched the Stone Dragon Warriors he had defeated in the first stage of the trial. When ten of them charged over, the pressure far exceeded the attack from a few hundred Stone Dragon Warriors. Also, following Yun Che’s kills, the number of profound beasts did not decrease. Rather, they quickly increased. At every moment, there were large amounts of profound beasts rushing over from the surroundings.
In a few dozen breaths of time, the pressure on Yun Che was already enough to nearly cause him to suffocate. In another dozen breaths, he was already surrounded all around by peril. He firmly protected Chu Yuechan and beseeched Jasmine for help, “Jasmine, what do we do now!”
“There’s only one way.” Jasmine said calmly.
Yun Che’s spirit was roused, “What way?”
“Of course it’s to escape!” Jasmine got angry, “If you don’t want to escape, do you want to wait to die here! Did this princess teach you the Star God’s Broken Shadow just to set you up to fail!”
“…”
“Haah!!”
The flames on Yun Che’s body exploded and a scaled down version of the Star Scorching Demon Lotus blossomed layer by layer, forcing back the formidable crowd of profound beasts around him. Taking advantage of the flame’s cover, he leapt up high. Dashing for a distance with the Empyrean Dance of the Phoenix Wing, he then used the Star God’s Broken Shadow for a few times consecutively, and finally broke away from being encircled within the profound beasts. He withdrew Dragon Fault into the Sky Poison Pearl, and suddenly, his body became extremely light. Following which, he concentrated his profound energy into the bottom of his legs and rushed away madly; all while holding Chu Yuechan.
“The trial this time, be it the strength of the opponents, the level of danger, or the amount of time needed, it will all be far greater than the first stage of the trial.” Jasmine said with a heavy voice, “Even though you have to kill 99999 profound beasts to pass the trial this time, with the degree of scariness here, the moment you touch a single profound beast, it will alarm the rest of the profound beasts nearby. Then, you will fall into dangerous circumstances —— Besides, you’re also bringing a useless woman around! Therefore, most of the time you spend in here will not be on killing, but on escaping!”
“These few months, all your training has been concentrated on your heavy sword and the Great Way of the Buddha, but you haven’t attended to the Star God’s Broken Shadow I’d taught you! If you want to get past his trial, you’ll first have to ensure that you have the ability to survive. If you want to preserve your life in this dangerous place that’s filled with profound beasts, you’ll have to train your Star God’s Broken Shadow to the second stage, ‘Twin Shadows’, in the shortest amount of time possible!”
“I’ll give you a month’s time. Within this month, you have to stop at the safest place, and unless it’s absolutely necessary, do not attack any profound beasts. This way, you’ll at least, be much safer. Within this period of time, you have to train your Star God’s Broken Shadow to at least the second stage.”
“Since it was possible for you to reach the second stage for the Great Way of the Buddha in such a short time with your perception, it shouldn’t be too difficult for you! When you can fluctuate to form the second shadow, and be more capable of escaping and saving your own life, you can then begin to kill these profound beasts….. Do you understand!”
“….Understood.” Yun Che wasn’t opposed to Jasmine’s words in the least. After being surrounded by a dozen profound beasts, and feeling the immense pressure and danger he was in, it made him still have lingering fears even until now.
There was one line that Jasmine had spoken that wasn’t wrong at all….. If he wanted to pass this stage of the trial, the first thing he had to do was to protect his own life!
———————————————
Blue Wind Imperial City, Moon Embracing Palace.
Dressed in her finest clothes, Princess Cang Yue stood beside the Lotus Pond and stared at her own incomparably beautiful reflection. Her eyes were fixated, and nobody knew what she was thinking of.
A palace maid walked in quickly, bowing slightly while saying respectfully, “Princess, Blue Moon Profound Palace’s Palace Master Qin requests an audience.”
Cang Yue’s gaze moved from the water’s surface, “Bring him in.”
Not long after, Qin Wushang walked in by himself and bowed to Cang Yue, “Qin Wushang pays his respects to Your Highness.”
“Qin Wushang may spare the formalities…. Palace Chief Qin, did you come this time because you have information on Yun Che?” Cang Yue’s, who was also Lan Xueruo, voice was clearly urgent.
Qin Wushang shook his head slowly and then sighed, “Ashamedly, until today, I still have yet to find the least bit of information on him….. Sigh, Princess, please forgive my bluntness. The Wasteland of Death is a place even I would not casually step into. Five months ago, many people saw him enter, but since then, nobody has seen him come out. The number of geniuses who have died there is simply too many. Five whole months…… Sigh, princess, you should stop being so attached to him.”
“No….. Absolutely not! I believe that he’ll definitely be fine!” Cang Yue’s voice began to tremble slightly. Even though she had always been striving to repress them, she still lost control of her emotions and her eyes began to grow misty, “He promised me before….. He’s definitely be safe and sound…… He’ll definitely return within half a year…… He’ll definitely be fine….. It’s definitely because he doesn’t want to be found…. It must be…..”
Continuously, she said “definitely” six times with an additional “absolutely”. It wasn’t known if she was saying it to convince Qin Wushang, or to convince herself.
Not long after Yun Che had left, she became unable to contain her thoughts, and began to send Sound Transmissions to Yun Che. But whether it was from the Thousand Mile Sound Transmission Talisman, or the incomparably precious Ten Thousand Mile Sound Transmission Talisman, there was no reply. Later on, she finally scouted out Yun Che’s whereabouts…. In front of the Wasteland of Death, many saw a man of around sixteen to seventeen years old wander into the Wasteland of Death alone, carrying a large, pitch-black sword on his back. The shopkeeper at the inn he stayed at further affirmed this.
Yet nobody had seen him come out.
If she had known back then that Yun Che was going to the Wasteland of Death, she would never have let him leave no matter what. This was because that place was a place of nightmares which stank of death in all respects. Every year, the number of people who die in there was innumerable, including many talents who had reached their pinnacles and had absolute faith in their abilities.
This sort of news caused Cang Yue’s expression to be on the brink of crumbling apart….. Up until now, five months had already passed, but still, nobody had seen him walk out of there and even those expert teams that went deep into the Spirit Profound Beast territory had never seen him before.
To enter the Wasteland of Death for five months and not come out without a single trace, the only possibility was that his corpse had been buried within, or that his corpse had been destroyed, or was eaten by a profound beast.
Qin Wushang sighed silently in his heart. As for Yun Che’s death, he also felt extremely regretful. He immediately changed the topic, “Your Highness, I saw the emperor just now and I consulted with him about issues regarding the coming Blue Wind Ranking Tournament. The emperor has allowed me to discuss it directly with Your Highness. There’s only a month of time left to the start of the ranking tournament. We need to choose the practitioner who will represent the Blue Wind Imperial Family. May I know if Your Highness has already chosen a person, or will it be through choosing an inner palace disciple from a competition like what had been done in previous years?”
Cang Yue looked to the side. After she had finally calmed down somewhat, her eyes flashed and she said, “Palace Chief Qin, wait a little…. wait for half a month more. If…. If there is still no news of him, then we will choose from within the inner palace just like we had in former years.”
“But, if it’s that way, the timing would be…..” Speaking halfway, Qin Wushang saw the distressed expression on Cang Yue’s face and his heart lamented and he swallowed back the two words “too rushed”, respectfully saying instead, “I understand. Everything will be as Your Highness wishes. As for Yun Che, I hope Your Highness will be able to cheer up. Nowadays, the crown prince and the third prince are becoming more and more rampant. You are the emperor’s last pillar of support, so you must definitely take care of yourself…. Sigh, if I may be excused.”
As the Vice Palace Chief of Blue Wind Profound Palace, Qin Wushang was naturally not a fool. When Yun Che had just joined the Blue Wind Profound Palace, he could still see Cang Yue’s special care towards Yun Che as a respect to allow him to represent the imperial family to participate in the Blue Wind Ranking Tournament. However, later on, she would specially visit him in the inner palace every few days. Nobody else knew of these things, but as Palace Chief, he naturally could not have not known. Her reactions after finding out that Yun Che had died in the Wasteland of Death let Qin Wushang understand more and more that she had obviously fallen in love with Yun Che, and this wasn’t just a simply “valuing him”.
“…Take care, Palace Chief Qin.”
After watching Palace Chief Qin leave, Cang Yue turned around and slowly closed her eyes…
Junior brother Yun, why must you go to such a dangerous place… Are you really staying in that Wasteland of Death forever and never coming back…
The Blue Wind Ranking Tournament is about to begin. You once said that you wanted to directly participate in this round’s Blue Wind Ranking Tournament… But now, where are you… You’ve made me become used to your presence, made my originally undisturbed spirit depend on, have someone to return to and hate leaving. So why would you disappear from my world so hurriedly…
If you don’t appear in the Blue Wind Ranking Tournament this time…. Then, after my father’s wake, I will personally go into the Wasteland of Death to find you… If I can’t find you, then I’ll accompany you… and stay there forever… I won’t let you feel lonely…
Two delicate hands clenched quietly under the luxurious phoenix gown and coronet, as slivers of melancholy overflowed from her aura.
At this, a young man’s impudent voice floated over:
“Hahahaha, my imperial sister, you’re here indeed. Your imperial brother has come to see you. Quick, look. See who I’ve brought you from the palace.”
This voice made Cang Yue’s brows furrow slightly, and in a flash, the expression on her face changed from frigid to calm. She turned over and looked toward the person speaking, as well as those standing beside him. Her expression was steady, and her voice was all the more calm, “Third imperial brother, Young Master Fen, long time no see.”
The four words, “long time no see”, were as mild as a light breeze, and there wasn’t any surprise or happy mood that usually came with “reunion after a long separation”.
Third prince Cang Shuo looked to be about twenty seven or eight years old. The person beside him looked to be slightly younger and only looked twenty two or three. However, while standing abreast this imperial prince, he had an inherently grandiose and lofty bearing, so he did not lose to Cang Shuo in the least. Rather, he even surpassed him.
He took a step forward and bowed slightly. Adoration burned like a blaze within his eyes that looked towards Cang Yue and it was not concealed in the least, “Fen Juecheng of the Burning Heaven Clan pays his respects to the beautiful and elegant Princess Cang Yue. I’d heard that Your Highness had returned to the palace eight months ago, but during this period of time, Juecheng has been continually training within the Fierce Sunfire Region, and had only been released two days ago. I hope Your Highness will not blame me.”
“Hahahaha,” Cang Shuo laughed, “The moment Young Master Fen comes out, he eagerly travels day and night just to rush to meet my imperial sister. This great relationship is really touching and makes one envious.”