Against the Gods

Chapter 1068 - Departing for the Darkya Realm (2)

Huo Rulie took Yun Che to a faraway place that was completely out of everyone else’s perception range.

The second they landed, Huo Rulie immediately clutched Yun Che’s shoulder impatiently and half-roared, “What’s going on? How did you survive? I thought that you and your master were… was it a special dimensional escape? That can’t be right! There’s no way you had a chance to use it in that situation!”

Suddenly, Huo Rulie’s eyes turned round with astonishment, “What… what’s with your profound strength?”

He hadn’t noticed it before but he suddenly realized that the profound energy aura emanating from Yun Che’s body was at… Divine Soul Realm!?

Yun Che didn’t answer him. Instead, he waved his left hand and released a huge thing from his Sky Poison Pearl. The thing landed on the wilted land.

When a terrible stench surged towards his nostrils, Huo Rulie took a step backwards and let out an involuntary cry, “The ancient… horned dragon?”

The ancient horned dragon’s corpse was something the Flame God Realm had dreamed of for hundreds of thousands of years. Before this, they all thought that it was impossible to obtain the horned dragon’s corpse any longer because it fell into the God Burying Inferno Prison. They thought that their dreams had been burst like a bubble.

But now, the horned dragon had suddenly appeared just a few steps away from him.

The corpse was intact even though it was covered in wounds.

If this was in the past, someone of Huo Rulie’s temperament would’ve lost control and pounced towards the horned dragon corpse already, screaming in excitement. Now, despite bulging eyes he felt as if someone had nailed his feet to the ground. He wasn’t able to take a single step forward for a long time.

He didn’t feel that he deserved to touch it.

“After this horned dragon died, it did almost fall into the Inferno Prison like the first one. It’s something my master poured everything into and nearly died for, so I cannot let it go to waste just like that. Thankfully, I managed to secure its corpse.”

Yun Che answered with extraordinary calm. Accurately speaking, the horned dragon’s corpse was won by both him and Mu Xuanyin after they risked their lives.

“As agreed, the horned dragon shall be split fifty-fifty between the Snow Song Realm and Flame God Realm,” Yun Che said.

“Er…” Huo Rulie stared blankly at Yun Che and wasn’t able to say anything for a long time.

If there had been no surprises, they would’ve taken the other half of the ancient horned dragon after Mu Xuanyin had hunted it down without any qualms at all. After all, the hunt might’ve been carried out entirely by Mu Xuanyin alone but the ancient horned dragon was still the belonging of the Flame God Realm.

However, a terrible surprise befell them and because they didn’t believe Yun Che’s advice, because they ignored his blood oath and pleading in order to avoid “any miniscule slip ups or accidents”, they nearly lost Mu Xuanyin and Yun Che… they almost couldn’t believe that the two of them were still alive.

After that disaster, how could they dare demand half of the ancient horned dragon anymore?

Moreover, they all thought that both horned dragons had sunk beneath the God Burying Inferno Prison and were burned into nothingness. Yun Che could’ve taken the entire horned dragon for the Snow Song Realm and given them nothing. Even if they learned about it later, they could not fault him for his actions in any way.

“Are you… really… going to give us half of its body?” Huo Rulie asked shakily. He still couldn’t believe that Yun Che was really going to give him half its body.

“Of course. This is what we promised earlier,” Yun Che said.

“...” Huo Rulie sucked in a deep breath before pressing both hands heavily on Yun Che’s shoulder, “Yun boy, do you know what this horned dragon means to our Flame God Realm? I… I already can’t return your favor for saving Ye’er’s life and now… you deliver this thing right to our doorsteps. I can never repay this favor even if I were to give you my life.”

Yun Che smiled, “To be honest, if this was just about me then I would never have given you your share of the horned dragon. But this is between you all and my master and although you disappointed her and nearly caused her to die in the Inferno Prison, the Snow Song Realm never goes back on their promise! I am sure that Master will come to the same conclusion even after she wakes up… Please take these words back to the other two sect masters, Sect Master Huo.”

“...” Huo Rulie nodded strongly, “Alright.”

“Alright, I’ll be temporarily leaving the horned dragon’s body in your care, Sect Master Huo. Please return half of the body to the Snow Song Realm after you’ve taken the other half,” Yun Che continued.

A moment of surprise later, Huo Rulie asked in confusion, “You’re giving this to me? Shouldn’t you take it back to the Snow Song Realm and take your half of the share first?”

Yun Che’s eyes turned complicated but he didn’t answer Huo Rulie’s question. Instead, he said, “Sect Master Huo, there are three reasons I came to see you in person. If you may…”

“Please, speak!” Huo Rulie beckoned for Yun Che to speak without any hesitation, “I won’t even frown at anything you ask of me.”

Huo Rulie was a man who absolutely hated owing favors. After living for more than ten thousand years, Yun Che saving Huo Ye’s life and delivering the ancient horned dragon he dreamed of were the two biggest favors he had ever owed in his life. Therefore, he couldn’t be happier at the fact that Yun Che needed him for something.

That being said, he did notice that Yun Che was obviously very troubled about something.

Yun Che turned his gaze towards the horned dragon’s corpse, “Back then, the reason master suddenly asked for the entire horned dragon’s heart was for my sake. This junior has poor cultivation, so he is unable to cut open the horned dragon’s body. If you will, please extract the horned dragon’s heart for me.”

“That’s simple!”

Huo Rulie jumped towards the horned dragon’s corpse without asking a word. A flash of fiery light later, the dragon’s stomach was cut open.

Normally, the ancient horned dragon was so powerful that Huo Rulie would hardly be able to scratch it even if he were to attack it at full force but after it died and lost its dragon powers, it became much easier for Huo rulie to dismember its body.

While sealing away the dragon blood with immense profound energy, Huo Rulie quickly spotted the dragon’s heart after scanning around with his spirit perception. He easily extracted the dragon heart before he sealed up its disemboweled abdomen with profound energy too.

The horned dragon might be huge but its heart was unusually “delicate”. It wasn’t even three meters wide.

“Catch! And watch out for the dragon blood!”

Huo Rulie pushed the horned dragon’s heart towards Yun Che gently.

Yun Che immediately stretched out and caught the horned dragon’s heart. He then put it into the Sky Poison Pearl.

Now, he had obtained the Ice Qilin’s horn and the ancient dragon’s heart. All that remained to be found now was the Wood Spirit Orb, Divine Nine Star Buddha Jade and the Immortal Emperor Grass.

Although Mu Xuanyin’s impossibly powerful ice phoenix vital yin allowed him to break through to Divine Soul Realm in a single night, there were still only two years left before the Profound God Convention.

The ascension progress of the Divine Soul Realm was definitely going to be slower and more difficult than that of the Divine Origin Realm. Judging from how long it took to progress while he was at the Divine Origin Realm, it was basically impossible to reach the Divine Tribulation Realm in just two years even if he were to cultivate using the greatest resources in the Snow Song Realm and the spirit energy of the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake.

This goal would be even more impossible now that he was going to be heading out into the world, alone and without anyone to depend on.

Therefore, the one hope he had left was the Universe Penta Jade Pellet. Before the Profound God Convention happens, he could only rely on himself to search for the remaining three materials.

“Now, the second matter…” Yun Che said, “Sect Master Huo, I heard that you went to a star realm called the Darkya Realm many times to purchase a Wood Spirit Orb in the past thousand years, am I right?”

Huo Rulie’s eyebrows abruptly jumped but it soothed right after, “Poyun is the one who told you about this, isn’t it? Haah, about this… it’s hard for me to say this because… the creation of every Wood Spirit Orb involves a cruelly murdered wood spirit, you know? It’s the most bastardly thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

“I can understand why you did it, you had a son to save after all,” Yun Che said earnestly, “Sect Master Huo, is the dimensional profound formation headed towards the Darkya Realm still active, sect master Huo? I need to go to the Darkya Realm.”

A pause later, he revealed his objective honestly, “I want to find a Wood Spirit Orb!”

“Mn?” Huo Rulie looked astonished but he ultimately was the Golden Crow sect master. He came to immediate understanding as he wondered aloud, “So, you want to find a Wood Spirit Orb at the underground black market in that place?... Is it to treat your master’s wounds? Oh… that shouldn’t be it either.”

“Yun Che, “...”

“Ah, would you look at me and my mouth,” Huo Rulie hit his mouth once lightly and stopped all the questions. He said directly, “Don’t worry. Not only is the profound formation still around, it should have enough energy to complete a teleportation.”

“That’s good.” Yun Che hid a secret sigh of relief, “In that case, please give me the… sound transmission imprint of that underground merchant guild.”

“I…” Huo Rulie wore a troubled look on his face. He then said, “It’s not that I don’t want to give you the imprint but those underground merchant guilds only meet with the customers they can completely trust at fixed intervals. As for the sound transmission, it’s impossible for outsiders to send a message to them even if they obtained their sound transmission imprint.”

The order not to kill the wood spirit race was laid down by the Eternal Heaven God Realm itself. If they learned that someone was hunting down the wood spirit race, the consequences could only be severe. That was why all underground merchant guilds who sold the Wood Spirit Orbs acted with great caution… not to mention that there were things that were even more taboo than the Wood Spirit Orbs.

“So… what about their location?” Yun Che frowned.

“No underground merchant guild ever stays at one place…” Suddenly, Huo Rulie slapped himself in the head midway and said, “Oh! That’s it!”

When he was done saying this, he looked inside his portable space for a long time before he took out a black, round jade and a scarlet token at the same time.

“For the past few years, I bought at least a dozen or so Wood Spirit Orbs during my visits to the Darkya Realm. Since there were fewer and fewer wood spirits around these days and the act of hunting the wood spirits is considered an act against nature, the price of Wood Spirit Orbs was growing higher and higher due to the high risks involved. Because I spent a huge price to purchase a dozen or so wood spirits, I earned enough of a particular underground merchant guild’s trust to be given this black jade.”

“This black jade is completely useless everywhere else but the moment you step into Darkya City of the Darkya Realm, it will react and point you towards members of that underground merchant. However, every black jade belongs to a specific master, so even if you find that person there they will never bring you to their place… But it’ll be a different story if you can prove your authenticity with my sect master token.”

Once he said this, Huo Rulie pushed both the black jade and sect master token into Yun Che’s hands, “Naturally, there’s a reason why these underground merchant guilds have managed to survive for so many years. This is about the best I can do to help you. If it still doesn’t work, you can totally come and find me. I’ll bring you there myself and get you a Wood Spirit Orb.”

“Thank you for the offer, but I still think I should go there myself.” Yun Che withdrew the black jade and Golden Crow sect master token.

“Haha, good,” Huo Rulie laughed loudly. “Here I thought you needed me for something big but these are all little favors, are they not? What is the last matter? It should be something big this time, should it not?”

“This third matter… will definitely trouble you somewhat, Sect Master Huo,” Yun Che said.

Ho Rulie waved a hand in an impressive fashion, “If I feel troubled by your request then feel free to call me a bastard, Yun boy. Say it.”

Yun Che sighed softly as his expression turned complicated, “The last thing I wish to ask of you… is to lie to my master for my sake, Sect Master Huo.”

“You want me to… lie?” Huo Rulie was immediately flabbergasted.

“Due to a certain circumstance, I have no choice but to leave the Snow Song Realm temporarily. My trip to the Darkya Realm needs to be concealed from everyone too, especially my master… so please don’t tell my master or anyone from the Snow Song Realm where I’m going. Just say that I… headed north and disappeared.”

“This junior knows that Sect Master Huo is upright and outspoken and that lying is absolutely beneath you… but I beg you to promise me this, Sect Master Huo.”

Huo Rulie was silent for a long time. Finally, he said slowly, “I was wondering why you would give me the horned dragon first instead of taking it back to your sect. I was wondering even more why you wish to visit the Darkya Realm alone. If you really want a Wood Spirit Orb, there are plenty of people in your sect who will be better and safer choices to send there… But I see now. You intend to leave the Snow Song Realm.”

Yun Che, “...”

“Why?” Huo Rulie frowned deeply. He couldn’t understand Yun Che’s decision at all.

“It is for a compelling reason and a certain mission that I must accomplish. Please don’t ask me any further, Sect Master Huo.” There was no way he could tell him the real reason because it was related to Mu Xuanyin’s reputation and integrity.

“Hm…” Huo Rulie didn’t ask further but he seemed to figure out a little something on his own. He nodded slowly and put away the ancient horned dragon. Then, he carried Yun Che along with him and said, “Alright, let’s go!”

He didn’t greet either Yan Wancang or Mu Bingyun. In fact, he purposely stayed out of range of their spiritual perception and flew straight for the south.

Golden Crow Sect, Flame God Realm.

A small dimensional profound formation slowly lit up after Huo Rulie blasted a wisp of flame at it.

“As I thought, the remaining energy in this formation is enough for it to active once more.” Huo Rulie withdrew his palm, “Once you head in, you will be teleported to a random location above the Darkya Realm. However, this is a one-way teleportation formation, so you’ll have to find a different teleportation point if you wish to come back to the Flame God Realm or the Snow Song Realm. You will also have to spend a large amount of purple stones or purple crystals to do that.”

“... Unless my master finds me, I should not be returning in a short while,” Yun Che said as if he was speaking to himself. Then, he walked straight towards the teleportation formation.

“Wait!” Huo Rulie stopped him with a cry before taking out a jadestone glowing with brilliant, metallic light.

“The Jade of the Nine Suns.” Yun Che blurted out the object’s name. It was exactly the same as the one passed to him at Illusory Demon Realm by the Golden Crow Soul.

“Oh? You know its name.” Huo Rulie put it in Yun Che’s hand, “The Jade of the Nine Suns is its ancient title. These days it is commonly known as the Golden Crow Jade. It is of the same grade as the Vermillion Bird Jade you possess and it is the greatest energy jadestone the Flame God Realm possesses. That profound ark of yours is very… unusual, so you may need this.”

Yun Che didn’t turn down the offer. He gratefully accepted the gift.

“Yun boy, I have a question that I need you to answer.” Suddenly, Huo Rulie’s eyes turned incredibly serious.

“Please speak, Sect Master Huo.” Yun Che said.

“Did you… really reach the bottom of the God Burying Inferno Prison?”

When Huo Rulie asked this, he stared firmly at Yun Che’s eyes. There was an odd light behind Huo Rulie’s eyes that Yun Che couldn’t understand.

“...” Yun Che turned around and walked towards the dimensional profound formation, “I really want to say that I was lying because I was overly concerned for my master but… I don’t want to lie to you, Sect Master Huo. So please, forget about this, Sect Master Huo.”

When his final words reached Huo Rulie’s ears, Yun Che had stepped into the profound formation. A ray of dimensional profound light wrapped around him.

Yun Che’s words were without a doubt a silent acknowledgement. Huo Rulie’s brain turned blank for a second before he abruptly pounced forward and shouted loudly, “Yun boy, wait…”

Clang!!

The dimensions changed and Yun Che’s figure vanished along with the profound light.

Huo Rulie stood there blankly with a pair of eyes and a face that changed constantly. A long time later, he finally calmed down.

If he really did reach the bottom of the God Burying Inferno Prison, doesn’t that mean that...

Phew! Never mind. It would actually be a trouble for him if he saw that. But if one day he comes back to the Flame God Realm, then...

“He’s only about twenty years old but he has an elemental talent that far exceeds Poyun’s, medical skills good enough to treat Ye’er in just three days, and potential great enough to reach the Divine Soul Realm in just half a year… he even saved Mu Xuanyin from the ancient horned dragon that I couldn’t even get close to. This kid…” Huo Rulie sighed deeply in admiration, “His future is truly unimaginable.”

After Yun Che left the Flame God Realm and the Snow Song Realm he grown very attached to… he headed toward a star realm he knew nothing about called the Darkya Realm.

Despite being a denizen of a lower realm who had arrived at the God Realm in less than a year, he managed to obtain the kind of opportunity and protection even profound practitioners of the God Realm did not dare to dream about. In the Snow Song Realm, he enjoyed the highest quality of resources and was cared for by the world’s strongest patron. He only needed to focus on cultivating and didn’t need to fear or be on guard against anything.

But after he committed a terrible mistake, he had no choice but to leave this harbor that was built from ice and snow.

He, who had left the Snow Song Realm, was like a lonely duckweed floating toward the vast sea and the future of the God Realm. He could only face the shocking waves of the unknown ahead of him, alone.