Against the Gods

Chapter 109 – 《World Ode of the Phoenix · Fragments》 (4)

Yun Che felt like he had stepped into the purgatory. Unbeknownst to him, the sounds of churning magma next to him were actually the ferocious growls of the Purgatory Demon.

Purgatory Demon?

The Phoenix’s spirit had mentioned previously that the first stage was the Purgatory Flame Demon, yet only volcanoes and magma existed and there wasn’t even the slightest hint of life within his line of sight.

Yun Che trudged slowly ahead. Only within the flames of hell could Yun Che truly understand exactly how amazing his ability to withstand fire was. Others could barely hold out in this environment with their profound strength, but he simply didn’t feel any sort of discomfort. Unaffected by the high temperature or the flames, it wouldn’t be unfair in the slightest to say that this was a power which could rebel against the heavens.

It was at his tenth step when he suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked left towards a deep pool of lava. The red lava emanated a shockingly high temperature. The lava churned violently, rose higher and higher, and grew fiercer by the moment…. Suddenly, the pool overflowed and a large chunk of lava savagely broke loose with a deafening sound. A gigantic body covered in flames rose high from the lava and landed in front of Yun Che with an ear-shattering boom.

This was a flame giant whose entire body was on fire. It was a whole thirty-three meters tall, had a body that was burning entirely in red-hot flames, and had two ferocious eyes on either side of its head. Atop its head, there were also two horns of fire that were ten metres long and a golden mark that seemed to shine from the middle of these horns.

Yun Che quickly stepped back and looked up at the unreasonably tall flame giant…. Was this the Purgatory Flame Demon that the Phoenix spoke of?

“Jasmine? What level is this big fellow?” Yun Che asked quickly.

“It’s a high-level True Profound fire beast. In this sort of blazing environment, not only can it replenish its vitality and profound strength swiftly, the fire power it unleashes is also comparable to that of the Spirit Profound Realm!” Jasmine’s voice carried a tone of warning.

Originally, as a low ranker in the Nascent Profound Realm, Yun Che could not contend against a True Profound Realm that had strength comparable to the Spirit Profound Realm. However, if it was purely a fire beast, then this might not necessarily be the case!

The Purgatory Flame Demon gave a loud roar as its eyes locked onto Yun Che. Beneath its eyes was a gigantic mouth which hurled out a dozen super-sized fireballs as it screeched and flew towards him.

Yun Che stood where he was; unmoving, allowing the fireballs to land on him.

Poof, poof, poof, poof…

The fireballs exploded successively as they came into contact with Yun Che’s body. The flames’ force was violently released, but after it touched Yun Che’s body, they became like stones that sank to the bottom of the sea, and burned out without a sound without causing the slightest bit of harm to Yun Che. Within the explosive flashes of fire, Yun Che rushed towards the Purgatory Flame Demon, and appeared in front of it within a split second…. However, facing the Purgatory Flame Demon which was around a hundred feet, his body seemed far too miniscule and he could barely be considered to have reached the bottom of its foot. With a low growl, he activated “Evil Soul” and ruthlessly smashed condensed profound energy above its calf.

BAM!!

This heavy strike was similar to hitting a heavy ancient bronze bell, and the recoil caused great pain to the bones of Yun Che’s hands. However, the calf that had just been struck by the Purgatory Flame Demon was barely affected and only the flame there was snuffed out momentarily to then reignite a moment later.

What a tough body… Yun Che secretly gasped. After all, this Purgatory Flame Demon was a high-level True Profound Beast. Even with Evil Soul activated, his strongest all-out attack was fundamentally unable cause it much harm. If this was to continue, even if the Purgatory Flame Demon’s attacks might have no effect on him, his attacks wouldn’t cause it any harm either.

Since the palm couldn’t injure it, then…

Yun Che stroked his left hand and took out Xiao Sect Branch Sect’s most precious treasure, the unrivaled Earth Profound Artifact, the Tiger Soul Sword. Concentrating his profound energy, he stabbed ruthlessly at the Purgatory Flame Demon.

While he did not truly comprehend the concept of an Earth Profound Artifact, he knew that the level above an Earth Profound Artifact was a Sky Profound Artifact and throughout Blue Wind Empire, the number of Sky Profound Artifacts totalled to no more than ten. One could only imagine how precious and rare an Earth Profound Artifact, which was only one tier lower than a Sky Profound Artifact, must be. With this Earth Profound Artifact in hand, even if one didn’t apply any profound energy, even if the person wielding it was only a normal person, it could directly split open the defense of a Spirit Profound Realm practitioner.

Riiip~~~

In the split second the Tiger Soul Sword slashed onto the body of the Purgatory Flame Demon, Yun Che heard a tiger’s vague growl. A vast area of flames where the Purgatory Flame Demon had been struck were instantaneously extinguished for a moment to reveal its pitch black body. A large chunk of flesh had also been directly chopped by the Tiger Soul Sword; mixed with the flames, it flew far into the distance.

“ROAARRRRR!!!”

The pain that the Purgatory Flame Demon had eaten violently enraged its temper and it took a step towards Yun Che. Meanwhile, a sky full of flames rained densely with a wave of its claws, blanketing the area within a hundred-foot radius. Originally, a True Profound Beast shouldn’t have the capability of such a large area-of-effect fire attack, but the Purgatory Flame Demon’s firepower had been multiplied many times due to the fiery environment.

To Yun Che, this rain of fire was of no consequence. But the heavy step that the Purgatory Flame Demon took was something Yun Che could not easily endure. As a result, he was sent flying and landed a hundred feet away. However, the Purgatory Flame Demon’s lack of agility was fully displayed to Yun Che. Without waiting for his body to stabilize, he rushed back towards the rain of fire and meteorites. He increased his speed to the maximum, continually left afterimages with Star God’s Broken Shadow. Real and false shadows interlaced, causing confusion at the Purgatory Flame Demon’s feet as Yun Che landed hit after hit on its calf.

The Purgatory Flame Demon became increasingly violent after being injured again and again. It released its flames in a frenzy and the persistent force of the flames turned the surrounding area into an ocean of fire. Every step Yun Che took into a meter tall blaze was as if he was treading on level ground without the slightest trace of injury. The Purgatory Flame Demon had a large bulky frame so it moved slowly and every time it attacked with its limbs, Yun Che dodged with ease. Every time he turned illusory, he would slash at the Purgatory Flame Demon’s calf to carve off a large chunk of flesh.

RIIIIIIP!!

With another ruthless blow, the sword pierced deep into the sole of the Purgatory Flame Demon’s foot. The Purgatory Flame Demon let out an enraged, ear-splitting roar as the flames above its right fist suddenly surged before smashing at the ground.

A dangerous atmosphere came from above and Yun Che looked upwards. Immediately after, he backed away ten places with Star God’s Broken Shadow without any further thought.

BOOM!!

The Purgatory Flame Demon’s blazing descended and triggered a series of gigantic explosions. The noise was not inferior to the explosion of the Sky Tremor Bombs. Although Yun Che evaded it, he was still hit by the impact of the aftermath. The suffocating pressure made him take several steps backwards, and he stepped into the pool of lava behind him.

The edge of the pool of lava was very shallow and barely reached Yun Che’s calves. He did not rush up again, but held the Tiger Soul Sword and stood in the lava as he knitted his brow; he suddenly realized that despite slashing more than thirty wounds on the Purgatory Flame Demon’s body with his sword, they had completely vanished.

“This princess had already told you that it possessed extremely powerful recuperative abilities in this blazing environment. Not only are its flames unquenchable, even its normal injuries will heal within a short period of time. At most, it needs five to six breaths’ time to recover from the injuries you’ve caused. Even if you continue to proceed in this way for a hundred years, it is still fundamentally impossible to cause it any substantial harm.”

Jasmine spoke coldly, but after she finished speaking, she paused for quite a while and then suddenly shouted: “I’ve got it! Attack the gold mark on its head. That’s the location of its weak point.”

“Gold mark?” Yun Che lifted his head and saw the blinding golden dot between the middle of its horns.

“Its profound aura is the weakest at that area so that should be its weak point. Try attacking it there.”

Yun Che tilted his head, but still stood in place for a long time without doing anything. It was because this Purgatory Flame Demon was thirty-three meters tall. With his current profound strength, even under the effect of Evil Soul, the highest he could leap was only twenty to twenty five meters; he was definitely unable to touch its forehead.

“It seems that I have no other choice but to take a chance and give it a try!”

Yun Che clenched his teeth, and walked to the Purgatory Flame Demon’s front with slow steps. After contending with it for a long time, another sense of danger came from above his head. The Purgatory Flame Demon had already raised its right fist, and fiercely smashed toward Yun Che’s position.

This was the moment that Yun Che had been waiting for. With one Star God’s Broken Shadow, he moved to a distance of approximately ten paces back in an instant, and dodged the center of the Purgatory Flame Demon’s blazing fist assault. Immediately after, he took a deep breath just a moment before the fist landed and jumped with all his might, directly reaching a height of more than twenty meters.

BOOM!!

There was a loud crash below. Even in midair, he could still feel the shocking wave of energy from beneath his feet. As the Purgatory Flame Demon smashed its fist onto the ground, its body bent down and its forehead dropped to a height of around eighteen meters high… Which was diagonally beneath Yun Che.

While in mid-air, unless one had reached the Sky Profound Realm and could use their profound energy to become airborne, it was impossible to find leverage for one’s self in mid-air.. Let alone move in mid-air, even the direction one would fall was difficult to control. However, this was not the case for Yun Che. His body swayed, and activated the Star God’s Broken Shadow to suddenly shift around seven meters sideways in midair; precisely moving directly above the Purgatory Flame Demon’s head. His body fell straight down as he also tightly clutched the Tiger Soul Sword in his hands……

“Falling… Moon…. Sinking…. Star… HAAH!!”

The Tiger Soul Sword suddenly released an intense light as an incomparably loud and clear tiger’s growl resounded throughout this purgatory. Amidst the tiger’s roar and Yun Che’s battle cry, the Tiger Soul Sword pointed precisely at the spot of light on the Purgatory Flame Demon’s forehead while carrying the power of Falling Moon Sinking Star and pierced in as if slicing tofu…. The meter long sword’s body completely plunged in and even the hilt followed in right after under the extremely berserking power of the strike.

Yun Che fell onto the ground and quickly shut his Evil Soul Profound Gate as he gasped for breath. Yet the Purgatory Flame Demon’s body was already frozen in place. A moment later, it suddenly let out an incomparably anguished roar of despair. Its gigantic frame slowly fell forward and crashed onto the floor with an explosively loud sound.

The flames on its body extinguished quickly, until all that was left were a few small embers that revealed its large black body. Soon after, even its body began to disintegrate and everything dissipated as if made of vapor. On the red floor, only the Tiger Soul Sword that had killed it in one strike was left.

“Suc…. Success!” Yun Che picked up the Tiger Soul Sword and heaved a long sigh.

And at this time, the scenery before him suddenly distorted. In the midst of the distortion, it spun in a blur, and when everything had finally stabilized, the red land, volcanoes and pools of lava…. All of it disappeared. What replaced it was an expanse of nothingness, a wilderness so flat that there wasn’t any uneven land to be seen.

“Second stage of the trial: Arrows of the Phoenix.”