Chapter 408: What Kind of Divine Being
After leaving the Luoyan Merchant Guild, Yun Che's figure was quickly swallowed by the flow of people on Shenhuang City's streets. He had already obtained the Phoenix Sunflower, so the next thing he needed to do was simple—find a quiet place where he wouldn't be disturbed.
Just then, as he was walking, Yun Che suddenly stopped, turning around like lightning. His sharp gaze swept behind him, but he found nothing unusual. Even the faint sensation he had felt a moment ago vanished without a trace.
Was it an illusion?
Impossible... How could I possibly have an illusion about something like this?
Just now, for an instant, he had sensed an abnormal gaze watching him. The same feeling had appeared earlier when he left the Luoyan Merchant Guild. And this feeling was not perceived through spiritual sense but through "instinct."
It was the instinct he had forged through countless pursuits, assassinations, and brushes with death!
If this feeling came from spiritual sense, it might still be an illusion, but coming from this "instinct," it absolutely could not be a mistake—because it had saved Yun Che's life countless times.
However, when Yun Che reacted like lightning and sought the source of this feeling, he found nothing.
If it wasn't a perception error, then it could only mean... the other party's concealment ability was terrifyingly superb. In all of Tian Xuan Continent, this was the first person Yun Che had encountered whom he could sense but completely fail to locate.
Who could it be... Why are they targeting me? In this Shenhuang City, there should only be a few people who know me.
"Mo Li, have you noticed anyone following me?" Yun Che said in a low voice.
"Mo Li?"
"I'm sleeping... Don't bother me!"
"..."
Yun Che rubbed his nose, withdrew his gaze, and walked straight ahead.
Less than twenty zhang behind Yun Che, an inconspicuous figure in the crowd slowly raised their head, a flicker of surprise flashing in their eyes.
Half an hour later, Yun Che returned to the inn where he had stayed the night before. In this already overcrowded Shenhuang City, finding a place to stay was indeed extremely difficult, but as long as one had money, even if the population doubled, it wouldn't be a problem. The room Yun Che was staying in had been bought from a scalper at thirty times the normal price.
"Welcome back, sir. Would you like to rest in your room or have a meal?"
As soon as Yun Che entered the inn, the sharp-featured waiter eagerly approached him. Anyone who could afford to stay in such a luxurious inn during this time was a money-god figure, so he naturally had to attend to them as thoroughly as possible.
"Prepare a late meal for me later and send it to my room before dark," Yun Che instructed.
"Yes, sir. Please rest well. Don't hesitate to call for anything you need," the waiter said attentively.
After returning to his room, Yun Che did not immediately begin refining the Tian Xuan Qiankun Dan as he had planned. Instead, he closed the door, climbed onto the bed, and fell asleep. He seemed very tired, and soon after lying down, soft snoring could be heard as he drifted into dreamland.
Yun Che slept straight from afternoon until dusk. Then, from the edge of the rear window of the room, a wisp of smoke—scentless, tasteless, and so faint that it was nearly invisible to the naked eye—drifted in quietly and mixed soundlessly into the air of the room. Yun Che remained asleep, snoring steadily, breathing evenly, completely unresponsive to all of this.
The smoke lasted for about a dozen breaths before stopping. Everything fell silent again, with no trace of its occurrence.
Half a quarter of an hour later, a knock came at Yun Che's door.
"Sir, your late meal is here."
Yun Che was still sound asleep, showing no reaction.
"Sir... sir? Are you inside?"
The waiter gently pushed the door. It was only latched and not locked, so it opened with a push. After hesitating for a moment, the waiter carefully opened the door and walked in carrying the tray.
The waiter's footsteps were slightly heavy, and the dishes on the tray occasionally clinked together, but Yun Che, lying on the bed, remained completely unresponsive, clearly dead asleep. The waiter set the tray on the table and, after gazing at Yun Che for a while, slowly approached him—but this time, his footsteps made no sound at all, and his eyes had shifted from their earlier respectful caution to a calm like still water.
Yun Che's breathing was steady, and he was sleeping extremely deeply, with no signs of any sensory activity. After confirming this, the waiter's cautious expression relaxed a little. He came to Yun Che's bedside and reached for the space ring on Yun Che's left hand.
Just as his fingers were about to touch Yun Che, Yun Che's hand suddenly shot out like lightning, grabbing the waiter's wrist. At the same time, his eyes, which had been closed all afternoon, snapped open.
Yun Che's grip was incredibly strong. Even if an Overlord were caught like this, they wouldn't be able to break free easily. But the moment Yun Che tightened his hold, he felt his hand slip—as if he had grabbed not a person's arm but a slippery fish! The arm that had been firmly in his grasp slid directly out of his palm. In the next instant, the waiter had leaped up with incredible speed, smashed through the bamboo window, and fled.
Yun Che intended to give chase, but after taking only one step, he stopped, staring blankly ahead for a moment... because this person's speed was too fast, almost inconceivable. In just a single instant, he had freed himself from Yun Che's grip and shot out, and in another instant, his figure had already turned into a small black dot on the horizon...
His profound energy fluctuations were not very strong—roughly at the mid-stage King Xuan level—but the speed he displayed was completely beyond the Heavenly Xuan level, several times faster than even the Snow Phoenix Beast... He was the fastest person Yun Che had ever seen on Tian Xuan Continent.
A flurry of hurried footsteps approached. Hearing the commotion, the inn's attendant pushed open the door and said in a panicked voice, "Sir, what happened?"
The attendant before him looked exactly the same as the one who had just fled, with almost no difference in expression or voice. Yun Che shook his head. "It's nothing. Have someone fix the window for me. I'll pay for the damage."
After sending the attendant away, Yun Che stood by the window and glanced at his space ring, falling into deep thought. His space ring was only meant to conceal the Heavenly Poison Pearl; there was nothing inside it. It seemed that the feeling of being followed earlier was indeed not an illusion. This person's abilities in tracking, concealment, disguise, voice mimicry, and even releasing knockout smoke were all at a level that could be called supreme. And his escape ability had even caught Yun Che off guard, with speed reaching an extreme...
Just who was this person? Why had he targeted him?
The first time Yun Che felt he was being watched was right when he was about to leave the Luoyan Merchant Guild. That meant this person had also been in the Luoyan Merchant Guild at the time, one of those present...
Yun Che's brows furrowed... Disguise, voice mimicry, knockout smoke, escape, speed... With these abilities combined, it clearly pointed to a master assassin! But why would an assassin of this level target him?
But wait... what about the drink he had just had at the Luoyan Merchant Guild? It was called "Drunken Fragrance Soul," a famous wine from the capital known for its thirst-quenching and refreshing qualities. Could it be that someone had already done something to it? However, if the goal was to drug him, the knockout smoke earlier would not have been necessary. Unless... they weren't sure about the effect of the drug in the wine and decided to use a double insurance.
Thinking of this, Yun Che's expression changed slightly. He immediately sat cross-legged and began circulating his profound energy, and sure enough, he sensed something within his body...
It was a colorless, odorless, and extremely obscure poison... The amount was so minimal that unless he deliberately probed with his profound energy, he would almost certainly never notice it. Moreover, this poison did not affect profound energy directly, but instead made one's senses go numb, gradually slowing the reaction speed of the five senses and the body. If it weren't for the knock-out smoke that had later seeped into the room triggering his alertness, he might never have discovered it.
Even the Heavenly Poison Pearl had not reacted! Although the Heavenly Poison Pearl could not yet sense or absorb high-level poisons, this poison's hidden nature was already incredible.
Yun Che was alarmed. In this Shenhuang City, who had a grudge against him? And who had the kind of skill to poison him so thoroughly...
At that moment, Yun Che suddenly had a thought... Could it be that the one who poisoned him was the same person who had been spying on him? But if so, then the one pretending to be the waiter just now was also that same person. That would mean he had been poisoned, a knockout smoke had been released, and he had come disguised as a waiter to steal his space ring... all of which indicated that he was definitely up to no good. Now that the attempt had failed, would he try a third time?
If he did try again, then... he would just have to let him come!
Yun Che's eyes flashed with a cold light. He had been working hard for so long; it was time to let his blood run a little wild.
From that day on, Yun Che stayed in his room all day, rarely going out. After the failed theft attempt, there was no sign of anyone stalking him, and the poison in his body had been quietly neutralized by the Heavenly Poison Pearl. What surprised him was that after the poison was neutralized, his body felt a slight change—it seemed to have a trace of resistance to poisons that he had never felt before. It was extremely faint, but it was indeed present. This indicated that the poison just now was at a very high grade. Because it required the Heavenly Poison Pearl to neutralize it, it gave him a certain degree of poison resistance.
Seven days passed quickly. During these seven days, Yun Che was not idle. He had completed a full refinement of the Tian Xuan Qiankun Dan, and then, under the "extreme guidance" of Mo Li and the Zhou Tian Pearl, at noon that day, he finally broke through the shackles of profound cultivation and stepped into the late stage of the Earth Xuan Realm!
After that, he refined the Phoenix Sunflower, absorbed the "Phoenix Spirit Origin," and merged it with his own power. Although he successfully fused the Phoenix Spirit Origin, the process consumed more than a full day and night. Afterward, he spent the remaining days stabilizing his newfound powers.
During these days, the cultivation resources provided by Mo Li had not diminished but had instead increased. The cultivation effects brought by the Zhou Tian Pearl were even more exaggerated than he had imagined.
Tonight was the last night before the battle for the divine title. Yun Che came out to take a walk and feel the atmosphere. But something completely unexpected happened...
At the end of an alley not far from the inn, Yun Che finally saw the person who had been spying on him and attempted to steal his ring. However, this time, this person was disguised as a young girl in her prime. Seeing her, Yun Che's heart tightened, and his face turned ugly. He pretended not to notice, but on the way back to the inn, he deliberately chose a remote alley, then suddenly turned around, his right palm quickly clenching—
"I've been searching all over for you, and now you've delivered yourself to me! Let's see where you can run this time!"
With this strike, the young girl had no chance of dodging.
Boom!!
But against his expectations, Yun Che's palm struck nothing but air.
A deafening explosion of air rang out, causing the surrounding space to tremble. The young girl before him had vanished, leaving only a fading afterimage. Her real body had, in that split second, appeared like teleportation at a distance of one zhang, then fled away like lightning.
Yun Che had already let him escape once, and this time he would not allow a second failure. The moment he felt his palm hit empty air, he reacted instantly...
"Dragon Soul Domain!!"
A dragon's roar shook the heavens. Within a radius of fifty zhang, the space was instantly enveloped by an irresistible dragon soul pressure. The swiftly fleeing "young girl" trembled all over, a look of terror on her face, and fell helplessly from midair... Just as she was about to hit the ground, Yun Che shot over and landed a solid Phoenix Strike on her chest.
Pfft!!
The protective garment on the "young girl" shattered instantly. A long stream of blood sprayed from her mouth as she crashed heavily to the ground. Yun Che's figure flickered, appearing at her side, and stomped firmly on the center of her profound veins, preventing her from circulating any profound energy.
"Who exactly are you? Why are you targeting me!" Yun Che asked coldly, though the turmoil in his heart would not calm. The sudden strike earlier—he believed that even he himself would have almost no chance of dodging under those circumstances—yet it hadn't even touched her clothes.
He had to admit that if it weren't for his heaven-defying Dragon Soul Domain, he would never have been able to capture this person, who moved like a ghost.
"Heh heh..."
The "young girl" spoke, but what came out was clearly a male voice. He showed no resentment, no rage; instead, he laughed, his eyes calm as still water: "In all my life... I've never been caught... Once, eight Overlords chased me for seven days and seven nights, and not one of them could touch a single hair on my head... And today, I've been caught by a kid only at the Earth Xuan Realm... I have to say, I'm impressed..."
Yun Che was secretly shocked—chased by eight Overlords for seven days and nights without a single scratch? How many people in all of Tian Xuan Continent could claim that? And for eight Overlords to join forces to hunt him... just who was this person beneath his feet?
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