# Chapter 599: Death Sea
"Oh? Little Demon Empress, you seem to be in a very bad state right now. Your heart meridian is severed, your five viscera are all injured—it must be very painful, isn't it?" Huai Wang said with a proud sneer. "This king hasn't been able to truly get the better of you for so many years, but with my father personally taking action, even if you are the Little Demon Empress, you are nothing but a single blow."
"Oh? Judging by your posture, could it be that you are still dreaming of escaping? Hahahaha..." Huai Wang laughed wildly. "This king thought you would stubbornly choose to end yourselves, not giving us the chance to kill you with our own hands. Never did I expect you to be having such a ridiculous daydream. Since you want to escape, then go ahead and escape! Let this king have a good look at where you can possibly flee to, hahahahaha!"
The speed at which Ming Wang appeared was far faster than Yun Che had anticipated. His gaze was cold and focused, his breathing becoming heavy. Huai Wang's wild laughter and arrogant words stirred his soul's fluctuations, and all of his mental energy was concentrated solely on Ming Wang.
"Hug me tight..."
Suddenly, Xiao Yaohou's heart and soul heard Yun Che's voice: "Hold me tight. No matter what happens later, do not let go, and do not make a move... As long as you still have a shred of consciousness, never let go under any circumstances!"
"This is our... only hope of escaping! Trust me!"
Xiao Yaohou was stunned.
What they now faced was a true dead end. Forget Ming Wang—even Huai Wang alone could easily put them to death. At this point, even if Yun Qinghong were present, there would be absolutely no path to survival.
As for Yun Che, in the face of such terrifying figures in the Huan Yao Realm, no one would believe he had any chance of escaping... Not even the slightest ability to struggle.
But almost involuntarily, Xiao Yaohou opened her arms, obeying Yun Che's words, and tightly wrapped them around his waist...
At the Yao Huang Ceremony, he had repeatedly turned what everyone believed impossible into the most shocking reality, transforming all their mockery and ridicule into stunned silence... He alone had restored the Yun Clan's prestige and shattered Huai Wang's seemingly assured plan... For the first time in her life, she had been deeply convinced by someone.
And now, she found herself involuntarily wanting to trust him.
Holding tightly to this man who was only twenty-two years old, weak in strength, yet had risked his life to rush in and protect her, she felt her heart and soul suddenly become much calmer. She was lost in this subtle, unfamiliar, and incomprehensible feeling, with only a vague voice drifting in the depths of her heart: So this is... the feeling of relying on someone...
Ming Wang raised his hands and looked up to the sky: "Princess Caiyi, your Yao Huang Royal Clan has ruled the Huan Yao Realm for ten thousand years. It is time for it to end. After today, there will be no more Yao Huang in this Huan Yao Realm. My son will no longer be Huai Wang but will soon ascend to the throne as Emperor Huai! As for your Yao Huang Clan, it won't be long before you are forgotten by the Huan Yao Realm. You, Princess Caiyi, are not only the last Yao Huang of the Yao Huang era but also the shameful end of that era. Unfortunately, you will no longer have the chance to see any of this."
"Father," Huai Wang spoke up. "Let me end them. These two desperate wretches are unworthy of you personally taking action. Especially Yun Che... If I do not kill him with my own hands, the hatred in my heart will never be appeased."
Ming Wang glanced sideways and said lowly: "You, a mid-stage Emperor Lord, someone about to become the emperor of the Huan Yao Realm, are actually volunteering—and so eagerly—to personally kill a man far younger and weaker than you. In front of him, you have already suffered a complete defeat."
Ming Wang's faint words caused Huai Wang's entire body to stiffen, and then he lowered his head in shame: "Your son is incompetent..."
"No, this king is not saying you are wrong." Ming Wang said slowly. "The first person in your life to throw you into chaos, make you lose control, and cause you to lose all face is actually a young man only in his twenties—it is naturally hard for you to let go. Perhaps you haven't even realized it yourself, but your heart and soul have already planted a demonic seed because of him... And only by personally killing Yun Che can you completely sever this demonic seed."
"Kill them!"
Huai Wang's head shot up, and he said lowly: "Yes!"
"And! When facing someone who must be killed, no matter how weak the opponent is, even if they are already a fish on your chopping board, never toy with them! If you want to kill, do it in the shortest time possible—uproot the weeds and eliminate the roots!"
"Your son will follow your teachings!"
With a flicker, Huai Wang appeared in front of Yun Che, an immense and oppressive aura descending to lock onto him firmly. Huai Wang smiled lightly, his leisurely and arrogant gaze like that of someone looking down on two pitiful larvae: "Yun Che, just a few hours ago, this king was still desperately thinking of the day I would personally tear you limb from limb to vent the hatred in my heart. But now, it no longer matters. This king will soon be the emperor of the Huan Yao. Speaking of which, you don't even have the qualification to make this king hate you, let alone to be worthy of my direct gaze. But at least you will have the Little Demon Empress as your burial companion when you die—not a bad deal at all."
"Then go to hell and continue guarding your Little Demon Empress!"
A flicker of ferocity crossed Ming Wang's face. He raised both arms, and amidst wild laughter, a skull-shaped pitch-black flame condensed atop his head. At the Heavenly Xuan Realm, even an Overlord Emperor would die upon touching it.
Xiao Yaohou's profound energy surged, and she was about to risk the consequences of her heart meridian shattering to defend, but Yun Che roared, "Don't move!!"
Yun Che's body retreated with all his might, his right arm firmly gripping Xiao Yaohou's waist. But under Huai Wang's oppressive pressure, his movements were extremely difficult, and the falling demon flame in his pupils grew closer and closer... Just as the falling demon flame was about to blast into his body, he suddenly turned around, letting the flame strike his back...
"Cloud-Sealing Sun-Locking!!"
BOOM!!
With a deafening explosion that shook heaven and earth, Huai Wang's falling demon flame erupted, instantly spreading across a space of dozens of miles. In a world that seemed to have turned into a fiery apocalypse, Yun Che was like a leaf swept up by a hurricane, flung dozens of miles away...
And when they saw the figure dozens of miles away, the smile on Huai Wang's face instantly froze. Even Ming Wang's expression changed markedly: "What!?"
A near-full-power strike from a mid-stage Emperor Lord—let alone a single Heavenly Xuan cultivator, even a hundred or ten thousand would be instantly annihilated into nothingness, leaving not a trace.
But Yun Che was blasted dozens of miles away, yet his body was still intact. His aura, though much weaker, still existed! His consciousness had clearly not dispersed... and he was even carrying Xiao Yaohou, flying north at a speed that completely belied his profound energy level.
"He... didn't die!?" Huai Wang's pupils remained dilated, unable to shrink back, refusing to believe his eyes and spiritual sense.
How could he possibly know that Yun Che possessed the body of a Dragon God, was protected by the Great Dao Pagoda Art, and had endured a full eighteen months of spatial storm tempering? Even without using profound energy to defend, an ordinary Overlord Emperor would find it hard to injure him.
Coupled with the protection of "Cloud-Sealing Sun-Locking" and its strong resistance to fire-based profound energy... even Huai Wang's full-force strike couldn't kill Yun Che!
"Hmph, though he didn't die, he is severely injured. At the very least, his five viscera have been completely displaced, and most of his meridians are severed." Ming Wang's voice was calm, but the shock in his eyes had not completely faded. A Heavenly Xuan cultivator had withstood a full-force strike from a mid-stage Emperor Lord and not died, still retaining the ability to flee... Even someone as strong as Ming Wang felt a momentary chill deep in his soul.
If this man does not die... when he grows up, how terrifying will he become!
Fortunately, he will die today without a doubt!
"Chase them immediately... kill them!" Ming Wang said lowly.
Yun Che pushed his Phantom Lightning Extreme to its limit. Under his severe injuries, his vision alternated between clarity and blurriness, but his speed never decreased in the slightest.
They had already been on the edge of the Jinwu Thunder Flame Valley, and now below them was a vast expanse of bloody red—a sea of lava that had been boiling for ten thousand years.
The three-thousand-mile Death Sea!
Warm liquid slowly flowed onto Xiao Yaohou's hands. She looked down at her palms... her two snow-white, delicate hands were now completely stained with scarlet blood, as if they had just been soaked in a pool of blood.
Xiao Yaohou's entire body trembled slightly.
She raised her head and happened to meet Yun Che's downward gaze. On his face, she saw no signs of pain; instead, under her gaze, he slowly smiled: "Don't worry, I'm fine."
His gentle voice and warm smile possessed an indescribable magic, profoundly touching the depths of Xiao Yaohou's soul, causing her to lose herself for a moment, forgetting how to speak.
"Don't you think... I'm amazing, hehe!" Yun Che grinned. They were going deeper and deeper into the Death Sea, and the air brushing past them was already dozens of times hotter than the limit an ordinary person could endure.
Xiao Yaohou: "..."
Behind them, Ming Wang and Huai Wang rapidly approached. In just a few breaths, they had halved the distance. But once above the Death Sea, their speed noticeably slowed—perhaps because they guessed what Yun Che intended to do, or because the Death Sea was too terrifying for even them to approach.
"He's actually going deeper into the Death Sea!" Huai Wang gritted his teeth. He clearly couldn't accept that his strike hadn't killed Yun Che.
"It seems he has chosen a violent death!" Ming Wang said indifferently. "Hmph! Fine, it saves us the trouble. If they died by our hands, the end result would still be them turning to ashes in this Death Sea."
Yun Che's speed also slowed until it completely stopped. He didn't turn back to see how close Ming Wang and Huai Wang were. Instead, he looked somewhat blankly at the endless sea of blood before him: "I don't know what the chances are that this choice will let you survive... but this is the only choice I can think of..."
"Hug me tight... close your eyes..."
Yun Che released his profound energy, and phoenix flames rose. The crimson fire enveloped himself and Xiao Yaohou's body, yet it brought no heat to her—only a warmth like a gentle breeze brushing against her.
Yun Che closed his eyes, took a deep breath, wrapped his arms around Xiao Yaohou, withdrew his floating profound energy, and together they fell... plummeting straight into the Death Sea below, silently sinking into the seemingly endless sea of blood.