Against the Gods

Chapter 413 – Profound Handle Exposed

The Seven Nation Ranking Tournament was in more than ten days, and the influx of people coming in Divine Phoenix City could be said to be increasing day by day. At this time, how could the city gates suddenly be sealed off?

The greatest possibility was that Feng Chihuo was angry that he couldn’t find him through the entire night. Since he was angry to the point where he would have fainted and revived several times, he contacted Feng Xichen to pass down an order to temporarily seal off the city gates, allowing people to enter but not leave.

Yun Che moved two steps back. A few ideas quickly flashed through his mind, then, he suddenly accelerated, forcefully knocking the two city guards aside as he charged forward.

“Stop him!!”

Yun Che’s action was no different from poking a hornet’s nest. Several tens of city guards nearby immediately rushed over. Yun Che lifted Dragon Fault and swept across without even looking at his surroundings. The might of the berserk heavy sword was like a Doomsday windstorm that ruthlessly scattered the besieging city guards flying. They couldn’t get up for a long while, and even the weapons in their hands had been instantly destroyed.

The fact that the sky was only slightly bright, added to the fact that no one would dare be impetuous in Divine Phoenix City, meant that the city guards were relatively weak. Even though they had received the order to blockade the city, the city gates were still wide open, not shut. After Yun Che swept away the obstacles, without waiting for them to react, he had already rushed out of the city gates with an extremely fast speed. As he stepped outside the city, he summoned the Snow Phoenix, then flew off into the distance.

“Quick… notify Lord Chihuo.” A city guard yelled out with all his strength.

Fifteen minutes later, a current of heat hurtled above the city gates, directly chasing in the direction Yun Che had fled. It was precisely Feng Chihuo. The order Feng Xichen gave him was for him to assassinate Yun Che secretly. Not only was no one to know about it, he wasn’t suppose to leave behind any traces. But it was clear that Feng Chihuo was already muddled by his anger. In order to thoroughly kill Yun Che, he had even brought about such a commotion. After all, being played with by a mere Earth Profound junior to a battered and exhausted state was a humiliation he had never suffered before. If he didn’t kill Yun Che, it would be difficult for him to eliminate the hatred in his heart!

The Snow Phoenix Beast’s speed was naturally faster than Yun Che by several fold. Even if Feng Chihuo went searching in the right direction, it was impossible for him to catch up in a short while. However, Yun Che was completely unfamiliar with the terrain outside Divine Phoenix City. The map Cang Yue had prepared for him only contained the route from Blue Wind Imperial City to Divine Phoenix City, as well as Divine Phoenix City’s basic composition. There were no marks or anything about the topography outside Divine Phoenix City. Whether or not he was able to find a place to completely throw off Feng Chihuo was entirely left up to fate and luck.

And it was inevitable that Feng Chihuo, as a member of Divine Phoenix Sect, was extremely familiar with this region. At the same time, even though the Snow Phoenix’s speed was fast, wherever it went, it would leave behind a sliver of cold air that would very likely turn into a trail that could be followed.

Under Yun Che’s urging, the Snow Phoenix’s speed finally reached its peak. Like a streak of lightning, it rapidly flitted across the sky. In the blink of an eye, it was already several tens of kilometers away from Divine Phoenix City.

On the way forward, Yun Che’s expression was tranquil yet dark. Most of the space around Divine Phoenix City was spacious, it was hard to find somewhere to hide. After an hour, the feeling of being pursued still did not come from behind, but Yun Che did not relax at all. He was certain that Feng Chihuo would not give up in his chase. The reason why he had not been overtaken was because the Snow Phoenix was not slower than Feng Chihuo by much.

Yun Che couldn’t help but think of Hua Minghai… In terms of profound strength level, he could not amount to even one tenth of Feng Chihuo, however, in terms of speed, he was much more faster than Feng Chihuo. If he could cultivate that “Extreme Mirage Lightning”, he could effortlessly throw off Feng Chihuo.

The only profound movement skill he possessed was Star God’s Broken Shadow. Even though Star God’s Broken Shadow was incomparably mysterious, it was limited to combat. Its existence perfectly made up for the heavy sword’s largest flaw, allowing Yun Che to still wield a heavy sword that was several tens of thousands of kilograms in weight like a phantom. But Star God’s Broken Shadow’s activation was only an instantaneous short displacement, it was absolutely not used for normal high speed movements.

An endless range of mountains appeared on Yun Che’s southwest side. Inside the mountain range were innumerable mountain peaks, the highest mountain was at least three thousand meters high. His heart stirred as he changed direction, speeding toward the row of mountains. Soon enough, he charged into the mountain range like a shooting star.

Once he entered the mountain range, an abnormal scorching sensation blasted forward, startling a few birds, scattering them about… These birds were completely red in color, and their bodies released a fiery aura.

As soon as he entered the mountain range, what he should’ve seen was green grass everywhere while feeling a slightly cold mountain wind, but once Yun Che went deeper in, he’d actually sensed that the air had distinctively gotten hotter. Every sort of vegetation also grew everywhere, but most of the plants here were red in color. Furthermore, they all released the smell of ignited flame. Ninety percent of the profound beasts he encountered on the way, were also all fire attribute profound beasts.

Don’t tell me it’s because this place is close to Divine Phoenix City, and has something to do with the strong fire element within Divine Phoenix City?

After flying around for two hours, there still was no trace of Feng Chihuo coming from behind, as though he had completely thrown him off. Yun Che slowed down and the Snow Phoenix dropped from the sky, continuously descending until they were not even three hundred meters high, to hide in the many layers of mountains. Jasmine’s low voice suddenly resounded within Yun Che’s mind: “This place is somewhat different than usual.”

“Different from usual? Where are you talking about?” Yun Che immediately asked.

“I thought that this place’s heat came from the volcano nearby, or is from a high concentrated fire element zone. But when I probed earlier, I discovered that this place has exceptionally active fire elemental particles that actually come from an enormous, hidden profound formation that’s extremely deep underground… The entire mountain range is enveloped in this profound formation. If I’m not mistaken, this enormous profound formation ought to have been set up by Divine Phoenix Sect around eight thousand years ago. At the same time, it also means that this mountain range is Divine Phoenix Sect’s territory…”

“It seems like… you came to a place that you really shouldn’t have entered!”

“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 handle. 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 the Illusory Demon Royal Family’s 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!