# Chapter 240: The Battle of Husband and Wife (2)
Yun Che straightened his upper body, bent his right leg forward, closed his eyes, and held his hands in a sword-gripping posture. He maintained this position for a long time before suddenly opening his eyes, letting out a low shout, and swinging his arms forward in a chopping motion...
However, this entire sequence of movements was purely mechanical, completely lacking in momentum.
"What are you doing?" Mo Li finally couldn't hold back her curiosity and spoke up.
Yun Che withdrew his hands, let out a slight breath, and said, "Mo Li, what do you think are my chances of defeating her in tomorrow's battle?"
"If it were anyone else with the exact same profound force and profound arts as you, then the possibility of defeating Xia Qingyue would be absolutely zero! Even going all out, you wouldn't last more than ten exchanges. But for you... there might be the tiniest sliver of possibility." Mo Li replied indifferently. "Because whenever you're about to lose, you always turn into a madman who can't afford to lose!"
"Hehe, thanks for the compliment." Yun Che laughed quite smugly.
"Compliment? That's an insult!" Mo Li corrected him seriously. "I can sense that you don't think you can beat Xia Qingyue either, but you absolutely refuse to allow yourself to lose. So when the time comes, even I can't predict what kind of reckless actions you might take. However, I must warn you: it's best not to try forcibly activating the third stage of the Evil God. In the Dragon God Trial Ground, when you forcibly activated the second stage, if your Great Dao Pagoda Art hadn't broken through just in time, you would have died there. Not every time will you have such good fortune!"
"...I'm not someone who can't accept defeat either. If tomorrow's opponent were Ling Yun, or even Ling Jie, losing to them wouldn't bother me at all. But Qingyue alone... I absolutely cannot lose! This isn't about winning or losing—it's about a man's dignity!"
"Man's dignity?"
"...This is something between adults. A child wouldn't understand." Yun Che bared his teeth.
"Child? Hmph! The things I know surpass yours by millions of times!" Mo Li snorted disdainfully. "You still haven't answered me—what were you gesturing about?"
"It's nothing, really. I was just trying to see if I could feel my way toward Celestial Wolf's Second Sword based on the general formula of the Celestial Wolf Prison God Scripture. But clearly, I was being too fanciful." Yun Che said helplessly. He had attempted this form of exploration many times before, each time without any results.
"Mo Li, do you really have no impression of Celestial Wolf's Second Sword at all?" Yun Che suddenly asked. Among all his offensive profound techniques, Celestial Wolf Strike had the greatest power. And Celestial Wolf Strike was only the first sword of the Celestial Wolf Prison God Scripture, yet it already possessed such power—the subsequent sword techniques must surely have even more astonishing divine might.
"Back then, I only casually skimmed through the Celestial Wolf Prison God Scripture while watching my brother practice swordsmanship. I only remembered the general formula and the first sword..." As she said this, Mo Li seemed to recall something. After a brief pause, a series of images suddenly appeared in Yun Che's mind... In the images, a young man with an upright and heroic bearing, whose face couldn't be clearly seen, was wielding a heavy sword even larger than his own body. Every swing of the heavy sword caused the wind and clouds to change color, the earth to shake, and the mountains to tremble...
"This... is..."
"This is the image of my brother practicing swordsmanship. Most of his heavy sword techniques come from the Celestial Wolf Prison God Scripture, but there are only movements, no profound formulas. And I can't guarantee that I haven't remembered these images incorrectly or missed any parts. Whether you can gain anything from them is up to you." Mo Li said irresponsibly.
Yun Che stopped speaking, calmed his mind, and silently observed the divine posture of the figure dancing with the heavy sword in his mind, over and over again...
The next day, at Tian Jian Villa's Sword Discussion Platform.
Before the sun had even risen, the Sword Discussion Platform was already packed to capacity. Today was the final day of this ranking battle, and the two parties facing off in the final match were, unprecedented, a pair of seventeen-year-old youths.
One was Yun Che, who had the lowest profound strength among all participating disciples but had continuously defeated opponents with far superior profound strength, miraculously making it to the finals. Every single one of his matches carried more or less a legendary quality. He was the first True Xuan Realm participant in the history of the ranking battle, and also the first True Xuan Realm competitor to ever reach the finals!
The other was Xia Qingyue, who had revealed her true strength yesterday, defeated Ling Yun, and stunned the entire audience. After yesterday's battle, she had become known as the greatest genius of the Cang Feng Empire in everyone's eyes, replacing Ling Yun as the number one figure among the younger generation. In the future, she would surely become an emperor-level powerhouse renowned throughout Cang Feng.
And Tian Jian Villa, which had always been the protagonist of this final battle, had now been reduced to mere spectators. Ling Yuefeng arrived early but sat silently in his seat without a word. Ling Yun, who had lost yesterday, also appeared beside Ling Yuefeng, equally silent, but his expression was calm. At least on the surface, he didn't seem to have been too greatly affected by yesterday's defeat.
After all, it wasn't that he was too weak, but that his opponent was overwhelmingly powerful, beyond everyone's expectations.
There were originally supposed to be two matches at today's Sword Discussion Platform. The first was the battle for third and fourth place, but this match ended directly when Ling Jie conceded before it even began. Ling Yun, originally expected to take first place, thus ended up in third. Before the ranking battle, there had been many guesses about the top three positions, and the only consensus was that first place would definitely belong to Ling Yun. If not for yesterday's battle between him and Xia Qingyue, no one would have imagined, let alone believed, such an outcome.
"...The final ranking battle of this tournament: Cang Feng Imperial Clan's Yun Che vs. Bing Yun Fairy Palace's Xia Qingyue. Please have both contestants ascend the Sword Discussion Platform!"
Ling Wugou announced loudly from the center of the Sword Discussion Platform.
"Junior Brother Yun, go for it!"
"Brother-in-law, go for it!"
Yun Che stood up and suddenly turned sideways to ask, "Yuanba, do you want me to win, or do you want your sister to win?"
"Uh..." Xia Yuanba was stumped. He scratched his head and said, "If my brother-in-law wins, of course I'll be happy. If my sister wins, I'll also be happy." As he spoke, Xia Yuanba's eyes blazed with excitement. "Wow! The ranking battle that used to only appear in my dreams is actually being contested by my sister and my brother-in-law for first place. It feels like a dream! But if I had to compare, I think... I think I'd rather have my brother-in-law win."
"Oh? Why?" Yun Che asked with a half-smile.
"Well, well... because my sister is a girl after all, and she's my brother-in-law's wife. It seems more reasonable for her to be defeated by my brother-in-law." Xia Yuanba said somewhat naively.
"Hahaha." Yun Che laughed. He reached out and patted Xia Yuanba on the shoulder. "Yuanba, well said. As a man, losing to others is one thing, but you absolutely, positively cannot lose to your own wife!! Whether she's a tigress or a phoenix, you must firmly... ahem, ride beneath you!!"
Xia Yuanba's eyes widened, and he nodded blankly. Although he hadn't fully digested everything Yun Che had said, he felt that it made a lot of sense.
Yun Che's twisted reasoning made Cang Yue smile gently, but she didn't scold him. Words filled with pride and male chauvinism would normally be off-putting to women, but coming from Yun Che's mouth, it didn't surprise her at all, nor did it repel her. Instead, it gave her a sense that this was simply part of his nature.
Under the gaze of thousands, Yun Che walked to the center of the Sword Discussion Platform and stood facing Xia Qingyue.
At this moment, Xia Qingyue's face was covered by an ice gauze, so even though he was very close, he couldn't see her features. But the fleeting glimpse he had caught yesterday was enough to etch her deeply into his memory. They stood silently facing each other... Except for a few people in the entire audience, no one would ever guess that these two, who seemed to have no possible connection, were truly husband and wife.
Thinking back to when he had gone to welcome the bride, performed the wedding ceremony, and shared the bridal chamber... Back then, she was the acknowledged heavenly daughter of Liu Yun City, already accepted as a disciple of the Bing Yun Fairy Palace, while he was nothing more than a crippled profound vein, despised by all, a useless piece of trash with no future. The gap between them was like heaven and earth. But in just a few short days together, Yun Che had managed to open a small crack in Xia Qingyue's cold and indifferent heart. Then came the sudden change that separated them prematurely... When they met again, both their life trajectories and their standing had been turned completely upside down.
Back then, she was a heavenly favored daughter, collecting the adoration of countless people. Now, she was even more blessed by heaven, standing at a level that left her peers in awe and beyond their reach.
And in Xia Qingyue's eyes, that weak, frail youth with a firm and profound gaze, who had even been somewhat audacious in front of her, had miraculously grown into a towering tree in less than two years back then, he could only be bullied by others, eventually ruthlessly cast out of his home. Now, he could stand proudly on the highest-level profound strength arena of the Cang Feng Empire, declaring his name to the peak powerhouses of the entire empire.
It was as if fate had made a wonderful arrangement. This husband and wife, who should never have crossed paths again, were both standing on this stage that symbolized the pinnacle, with each other as their final opponent.
"Qingyue, do you know why I came to participate in this ranking battle?" Yun Che spoke first, looking into Xia Qingyue's eyes with a smile.
Without waiting for Xia Qingyue to ask, Yun Che continued, "The first reason was to fulfill Senior Sister Xue'er's wish. I've already accomplished that. As for the second reason..."
Yun Che extended his right hand forward. Gray light flashed, and the hilt of the Dragon Gate sword appeared in his grip. The tip of the sword, adorned with a fierce dragon head, naturally fell, driving into the ground beneath him with a resounding boom. A heavy and domineering aura surged outward like a wave, spreading in all directions.
"After I defeat you, I'll tell you!"
As soon as the Dragon Gate appeared, unsurprisingly, the momentum of a Heavenly Xuan weapon immediately stunned the entire audience. In the Cang Feng Empire, it was well known that there were only seven Heavenly Xuan weapons in total. But this heavy sword was a Heavenly Xuan weapon that no one had ever seen before!
"This aura... it's a Heavenly Xuan artifact! And a high-grade Heavenly Xuan artifact!"
"Could the Cang Feng Empire really have such a Heavenly Xuan weapon? Why have I never heard of it? Could it be a hidden treasure kept by the Cang Feng Imperial Clan all along?"
"It looks like a heavy sword... A Heavenly Xuan heavy sword—I'm afraid even a Heavenly Xuan realm expert would find it hard to wield. Can he really handle it?"
"H-Heavenly Xuan heavy sword?" Ling Jie exclaimed, then gritted his teeth secretly. "No wonder he didn't even ask me to compensate him when that Earth Xuan heavy sword broke. So he actually had a Heavenly Xuan heavy sword all along... That means that in our match yesterday, he was still holding back and didn't use his full strength at all. Hmm? Father, what's wrong? Hey? Big Brother, your expression looks really strange too."
"Father, doesn't it look like that sword?" Ling Yun suddenly said.
Ling Yuefeng didn't answer. He quickly took an ancient tome from his space ring, flipped to the first few pages, stared for a moment, then looked up at the huge sword in Yun Che's hand and said in a low voice, "Based on the information we've gathered about Yun Che over the past few days, he went to the Death Wasteland some time ago and stayed there for a full five months before coming out?"
"Indeed." Ling Yun nodded.
"Then there's no mistake." Ling Yuefeng closed the tome and put it back into his space ring. "That sword is undoubtedly the Dragon Gate."
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