Chapter 289: Double Breakthrough
Unbeknownst to all, half a year had already passed since Yun Che's "fall", but various topics and rumors about him continued to spread throughout the Cang Feng Kingdom. There were even more and more exaggerated versions, and some busybodies had compiled them into books, which sold and spread like wildfire.
Emperor Cang Feng's condition worsened day by day. The covert struggle between the Crown Prince and the Third Prince had officially turned into an open conflict. All the princes were embroiled in it, none standing aloof. Yet not a single one paid any heed to the increasingly dimming flame of the Cang Feng Emperor's life. The only one by his side was Princess Cang Yue.
The entire Cang Feng Imperial Clan was shrouded in an increasingly dark and oppressive cloud. Behind this cloud were the fangs that the Xiao Sect and Fen Tian Gate had begun to reveal. Caught in this huge vortex pushed by both the Xiao Sect and Fen Tian Gate, the Cang Feng Imperial Clan had virtually no ability to resist.
Tian Jian Villa had remained silent, showing no signs of wanting to intervene. The matter with Chu Yuechan from half a year ago had dealt a heavy blow to Ling Yuefeng; perhaps he had no heart to meddle. Meanwhile, Bing Yun Fairy Palace had completely closed its doors, showing no reaction no matter how turbulent the outside world became.
Tian Jian Villa, below the Sword Control Platform. Yun Che, carrying Dragon Gate on his back, sat cross-legged on the ground. He had maintained this posture for over three hours, and at this moment, wisps of profound energy, visible as white smoke, slowly rose from the top of his head.
"Oh... breaking through again?" The Demon said softly, looking at the white smoke above his head.
Although Yun Che appeared utterly calm on the outside, inside him, waves were surging.
After practicing swordsmanship to the point of exhaustion, he sat cross-legged and cycled his profound energy through his body hundreds of small cycles. At the same time, he meditated on the image of the Second Sword of the Celestial Wolf that Mo Li had left him during the Ranking Battle. However, that image only showed the release movement of the Second Sword of the Celestial Wolf, without the most crucial profound art. Moreover, the Celestial Wolf Prison God Scripture was a divine profound technique. Even with the general formula in mind, it was fundamentally impossible to comprehend the true essence of the second sword solely from the trajectory of the heavy sword's swing.
But Yun Che never thought of it as "impossible". Over these six months, he pondered it daily, and that image had played out tens of thousands of times in his mind.
After the profound energy completed its two-hundredth cycle in his body, all of it suddenly vanished without a trace.
Yun Che's entire body trembled. This shock was no trivial matter; cold sweat broke out all over him in an instant. But immediately, he forced himself to calm down... What was this? Could it be...
While his mind was still dazed from the sudden disappearance of his profound energy, his profound veins suddenly flashed with brilliant red and blue light like stars. Then, streams of incredibly dense profound energy burst forth from the depths of his profound veins, rushing swiftly like a flood into all the major meridians of his body. His profound veins began to rapidly expand, and his meridians contracted and moved under the influx of profound energy, as if dancing in excitement.
Below the Earth Xuan Realm, profound energy was formless and colorless, only detectable through the force fluctuations during its flow. But at this moment, Yun Che clearly saw that the surging profound energy appeared as a thin white color! Like wisps of light smoke, its density was many times greater than before!
It was simply incomparable!
The light from his profound veins became even brighter, both the red and blue becoming more dazzling. Yun Che kept his eyes closed, feeling the surging profound energy in his veins, but his hands slowly stretched out and opened, and the corners of his mouth curled into a joyful arc.
He knew very well what this meant. It meant that his profound power had officially broken through the Spirit Xuan Realm and entered the Earth Xuan Realm!
In just half a year, he had advanced from Level 1 of the Spirit Xuan Realm to Level 1 of the Earth Xuan Realm!
Just six months! Just six months!
Moreover, because his profound veins and gates were fully open, there was no bottleneck at all from Spirit Xuan to Earth Xuan. It was just an effortless, natural breakthrough!
Such a breakthrough speed could be called unprecedented in the Cang Feng Empire!
Admittedly, the main reason for his profound power increasing so quickly was that he had eaten large amounts of dragon flesh and drunk large amounts of dragon blood. By now, the entire giant tail of the Flame Dragon had been completely devoured by Yun Che, turning into his eternal power. But on the other hand, being able to gorge on dragon flesh and blood at the Spirit Xuan Realm without dying, and even absorb and refine it into his own power—that in itself was a freakishly outrageous ability.
The surging of profound energy inside his body stopped at this moment. The feeling of being filled with power made Yun Che as comfortable as if he were floating in clouds. He opened his eyes, stood up, spread his arms, and opened all the pores on his body, fully sensing everything around him. Every breakthrough to a major realm was accompanied by a sublimation of the soul, and perception increased several times. The range of his spiritual perception could now extend several times farther than before. He could even faintly hear the trajectories of various elements moving in the air and the sounds of their interactions.
Yun Che excitedly grabbed Dragon Gate, let out a hearty shout, and suddenly fixed his gaze on the Demon. With a flash of his eyes, he charged like lightning into the barrier, activated Heart Incineration, and swung his sword down toward the Demon's head.
When Heart Incineration was activated, there was no feeling of burden on his body at all! This also meant that having reached the Earth Xuan Realm, he could now fully adapt to the state of Heart Incineration, just like Evil Soul, and could maintain the Heart Incineration state at will without any pressure!
Facing Yun Che at the initial Spirit Xuan Realm, the Demon had once contemptuously used his own head to meet Yun Che's heavy sword. But now, facing Yun Che, who was already at the initial Earth Xuan Realm and swinging a sword straight at his crown, the Demon no longer dared to use his head to block directly. Because the momentum coming from Yun Che had begun to give him a slight pressure... although extremely slight, it was still a tangible oppressive force!
"Breaking through to Earth Xuan so quickly is indeed astonishing, but to kill me, you're still far too early!" the Demon scoffed with a low growl, reaching a hand toward Dragon Gate. But when his palm touched Dragon Gate, he grabbed nothing but an illusory shadow.
Meanwhile, the real Dragon Gate, following Yun Che's strangely shifting position, slammed heavily onto the Demon's shoulder.
Clang!! The Star Meteor Chain let out a harsh clashing sound. Yun Che's sword struck as if hitting indestructible profound steel, shaking his arms numb. But not only was the Demon's shoulder uninjured, even the fragile clothes protected by his profound energy showed not the slightest damage.
Even though he had reached the Earth Xuan Realm, the gap between him and the Demon was still as vast as heaven and earth!
The Demon raised his hand, and a surging, unmatched storm of profound energy burst forth, stirring up a terrifying gale inside the entire barrier. In just a breath, Yun Che was flung hundreds of feet away by the profound energy storm, falling awkwardly to the ground. He immediately got up, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and said ferociously, "One day, I will kill you!"
"Wait until that day comes, then say such arrogant words! Claiming you will kill me now is still just a joke," the Demon said disdainfully.
"Whether it's a joke or not is not for you to decide!" Yun Che picked up Dragon Gate again. Without healing on the spot, he suddenly charged forward again, rushing into the barrier. Dragon Gate danced continuously, and over a dozen Phoenix flames flew toward the Demon with clear phoenix cries.
Phoenix Break! The Phoenix Flame, which had been dormant for so long, finally reawakened at this moment.
"Oh?" The Demon had not failed to perceive Yun Che's profound fire, but the flames rushing toward him now clearly carried an incomparable heat and momentum. He flicked his hand, sending all the Phoenix Breaks flying away, but the back of his hand was scorched red, which made the Demon frown deeply.
At this moment, Yun Che, who was over a hundred feet away, suddenly charged over in an instant, his body wrapped in scorching Phoenix flames.
"Phoenix Wing Firmament!!" Boom!! Dragon Gate slammed heavily into the Demon's chest, and a violent ball of Phoenix Flame exploded on his chest. The searing heat and phoenix pressure caused even the powerful Demon to choke for an instant. Yun Che did a backflip and landed. Behind him, a massive azure-blue wolf howled at the sky. As Dragon Gate came down, a wolf shadow shot forth, tearing through the air and charging straight at the Demon.
Rip!! The Heavenly Wolf Strike impacted precisely on the Demon, who could not move at all, tearing open a half-foot-long gash in the clothes on his chest. Then it ruthlessly struck his heart area... A needle-prick pain came through. Although it was only a slight pain like a needle poke, and only a red mark appeared on his chest without breaking the skin, it was enough to shock the Demon.
He had not deliberately set up a profound energy defense, but his naturally existing defensive profound energy would be difficult even for a Heavenly Xuan Realm initial-stage expert to break with a sneak attack. His clothing was also protected under this naturally existing profound energy defense... Yet Yun Che's sword had actually torn a hole and even made him feel pain.
This clearly meant that, with his Earth Xuan Realm initial-stage profound energy, he had forcibly unleashed power that only a Heavenly Xuan Realm would have!!
Combat power surpassing profound realm was not a rare thing in the Demon's knowledge. It was common to see a Xuan Entry Realm having the combat power of a True Xuan Realm, or a True Xuan Realm having that of a Spirit Xuan Realm. He had even seen many Spirit Xuan Realm with Earth Xuan combat power. However, as realms increased, the power gap between major realms grew geometrically, and the bottlenecks became harder to cross. The Spirit Xuan to Earth Xuan was the first formal bottleneck, but crossing it was not too difficult. But from Earth Xuan to Heavenly Xuan, crossing over was a hundred or a thousand times harder! Similarly, it was basically impossible to use Earth Xuan strength to exert Heavenly Xuan combat power.
Yet Yun Che, at just Level 1 Earth Xuan, had delivered a strike of true Heavenly Xuan might! Although this might have been Yun Che's most peak strike, even if only for an instant, it was enough to shock the world.
Shocked, the Demon also grew angry... He, a dignified Demon King, had his clothes damaged by a junior at the Earth Xuan Realm! This was a humiliation he had never imagined. His eyes darkened, his five fingers formed claws, and a massive, deep-green hand suddenly appeared in front of Yun Che, then fiercely grabbed toward his chest... But at the moment the giant hand appeared, the Demon suddenly regretted it, but it was too late to stop. The angrily splayed fingers struck Yun Che's chest in a straight line.
Boom!!! As if a thunderclap had suddenly exploded inside his chest, Yun Che's eyes bulged. He dropped Dragon Gate, pushed his hands forward with all his strength, and used the recoil to fly backward at extreme speed, landing outside the barrier. As soon as he landed, he closed his eyes, assumed a sitting posture, and immediately began circulating the Great Dao Pagoda Art with all speed.
This strike from the Demon was far more powerful than Yun Che expected. He felt that all his internal organs had been displaced, all his ribs broken, and over a dozen meridians severed... But after being "baptized" hundreds of times by the flesh and blood of the Flame Dragon, this injury, which should have been extremely severe, could be called "nothing much" to him.
As the Great Dao Pagoda Art circulated, the small silver pagoda on his head appeared again.
The Demon withdrew his hand and silently stared at Yun Che. After a long moment, he muttered to himself, "I don't know how this brat's body was trained. That attack just now—even a Heavenly Xuan Realm cultivator would have lost half a life, yet he can still sit steady and heal!"
As soon as the Demon's voice fell, a sudden change occurred. At the corner of the Demon's eye, a flash of golden light flickered. He instinctively looked up and was shocked to see that the small pagoda on Yun Che's head had actually changed from its previous silver color to a faint gold!
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