Chapter 601: Ice Cloud Crisis
In the understanding of all profound practitioners, the ultimate place of flame was undoubtedly a volcano. A violent volcano would churn with magma, sometimes even surrounding a vast, endless sea of fire. Such extreme flame lands occasionally gave birth to rare fire-type spirit treasures, and they were also favored training grounds for high-level fire practitioners.
The Illusion Demon Realm and the Tian Xuan Continent both had numerous volcanic sites large and small, but it was no exaggeration to say that all the volcanic lands in the world combined could not compare to even a corner of this Death Sea.
Because even for a powerful Emperor Lord, it was a place of death that made them pale at the mere mention and dare not approach.
The activity level of the fire elements here far exceeded any limit a practitioner could imagine.
After examining Little Demon Queen's condition, Yun Che let out a long sigh of relief. Under normal circumstances, even if he fully mobilized the Great Dao Pagoda Art, he would find it difficult to suppress the loss of life in Little Demon Queen. But now, the tens of times denser heaven and earth energy was not only rapidly healing her injuries but also firmly protecting her life force... Although her lifeline was severed, as long as this heaven and earth energy of his continued, her final life aura would not fade away.
Now he no longer had to worry about whether he or Little Demon Queen could hold out, but he still couldn't leave the Death Sea for the time being, because Ming Wang and Huai Wang were very likely still waiting at the edge of the Death Sea. Yun Che began to focus his mind and sense his surroundings... He felt as though he had entered a world of pure flame, with nothing else around except dense, extremely active fire elements.
Possessing the Evil God's Mysterious Vein and the Fire Evil Seed, Yun Che had an extremely perfect affinity with fire elements. No matter how powerful the pure flame force, it could not harm him. Even the most profound fire-based profound arts could be mastered by him in a short time... However, this was the first time he had encountered such an extreme fire environment since obtaining the Evil God's Fire Seed.
To others, this was a Death Sea.
But to Yun Che, who had an extreme fire affinity, it was a near-dreamlike world.
Yun Che extended one hand, passing through the isolation barrier and into the sea of fire. Immediately, not only did the heaven and earth energy surge into him, but the extremely rich flame aura also flowed into his arm through his hand and his affinity for fire elements, rapidly converging toward his profound veins under the attraction of the Evil God's Mysterious Vein.
This was an extremely subtle feeling, almost impossible to describe in any language.
What amazed Yun Che was that the flame aura surging toward his profound veins did not dissipate or leak away. Instead, as if unwilling to leave, it slowly gathered within his profound veins and then directly merged into them, causing a slight... but clearly noticeable increase in his profound strength.
The flame aura here... could actually be absorbed... and directly converted into one's own profound strength!?
Refining and absorbing a fire spirit could increase one's profound strength. But regardless of the rarity of the fire spirit, a practitioner would have to expend a great deal of effort and resources, and even take considerable risks, to refine one. Yet Yun Che had only absorbed the flame aura here, and his profound strength had already increased... This was simply unbelievable! It was absolutely something no practitioner in this world could understand.
Moreover, there was no risk or side effect involved, not even the slightest pain or difficulty.
Yun Che directed the isolation force solely onto Little Demon Queen and immersed half his body into the sea of fire. Instantly, the dense flame aura, as if irresistibly attracted, surged into Yun Che's body from every part, flowing like thousands of streams through every meridian and every drop of his blood. He guided this flame aura throughout every corner of his body, and gradually, he felt his entire being — even his soul — wrapped and filled with an extremely gentle sensation, as if every drop of blood and every cell in his body had ignited.
It was as if his whole person had turned into a fire spirit.
In all his years since obtaining the Evil God's Fire Seed and the Phoenix Flame, he had never experienced such a subtle feeling.
Finally, these flame auras obediently surged toward his profound veins, where they swirled and merged...
Yun Che's mood at this moment was undoubtedly one of extreme joy. He allocated one part of his mind to isolate the flames from Little Demon Queen, one part to maintain the heaven and earth energy flowing into her body, and the remaining eight parts to absorb and guide the scorching, rich, and endless flame aura from this Death Sea...
This extremely high-level flame aura was a deadly force even for a powerful practitioner who looked down on the world, but now it had become the finest nourishment, greedily absorbed by Yun Che... Layers of flame auras began to circulate within his body a second time, then a third time. By the third cycle, Yun Che's profound strength had increased by a full ten percent, and he was completely immersed in it.
The increase in profound strength was secondary; Yun Che vaguely felt that his understanding of the laws of fire was also undergoing some subtle change.
Yun Che's actions and state naturally did not escape Mo Li's notice. She focused her mind to observe Yun Che at this moment, a flicker of astonishment deep in her eyes. After a long while, she murmured to herself, "The legends were indeed right... This Death Sea is an extreme place that should not exist in this plane. It has actually triggered this heaven-defying ability of the Evil God's Mysterious Vein..."
"It's simply the most shameless and enviable cultivation method in this world."
"The reason it wasn't triggered before was simply that the level of those flames wasn't high enough..."
"If one day he reaches the Yan Shen Realm and steps into the ancient Burial God Fire Prison..."
Mo Li did not disturb Yun Che with her voice but silently observed every change in his body... Yun Che, the Evil God — according to legends, the most special god of the ancient era of gods, belonging to no faction, bound by no god's control. He did not even place the ancient Divine Emperors in his eyes and was unwilling to follow the laws of chaos. The power he left behind was described as extremely illusory, and when his legacy power finally appeared in the world, countless people scrambled to seize it... eventually falling into her hands.
And it almost cost her life.
But in the end, it was passed on to Yun Che.
And in just a few short years, the power of the Evil God, along with its "heaven-defying" attribute that could ignore the laws of heaven and earth, had already begun to show initial signs — such as being able to completely nullify attribute-based power, being able to merge the two completely opposing forces of ice and fire, and now being able to directly absorb elemental force as his own power.
Perhaps the reason he could so easily bear the inheritance of so many divine powers was also due to this special ability of the Evil God to ignore laws!
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Tian Xuan Continent, northern Cang Feng Empire.
"This is the Ice Extreme Snow Domain?" A middle-aged man dressed in green, appearing to be about fifty years old, looked at the endless white snow-covered world before him. "The scenery isn't bad."
"This should be your first time in the Cang Feng Empire, right?" said a purple-clad old man beside him in a flat tone.
"Hmph!" The green-clad man snorted lightly, a deep arrogance and contempt flashing in his eyes. "If not for the Young Master's orders, why would I set foot in such a lowly land? But with scenery like this, it seems I haven't come entirely at a loss."
This was a group of twelve people, led by the green-clad man and the purple-clad old man. They were all dressed in identical form-fitting clothes, with no distinguishing features or insignias visible.
What was astonishing was that the profound force aura emanating from these twelve people was undeniably terrifying. Especially the green-clad man and the purple-clad old man — the aura they released was clearly that of the Overlord Xuan Realm... and it was already nearing the mid-stage of the Overlord Xuan Realm. Even the ten followers were all Thrones of the eighth level and above!
The strongest person in the Cang Feng Empire, Ling Tianni, was a sixth-level King Xuan, and any one of these twelve people surpassed Ling Tianni! Any one of them would be invincible across the entire Cang Feng Empire. As for those two Overlords, they were like terrifying beings akin to gods in Cang Feng, easily capable of overshadowing the entire Cangfeng Mystic Realm with a single hand.
"If you want to enjoy the scenery, there will be plenty of time after the mission is completed," the purple-clad old man said indifferently. "The Bing Yun Fairy Palace is located in this snowy domain. Find that woman named Xia Qingyue, and we can return to report to the Young Master."
The green-clad man gazed ahead, his line of sight pointing precisely toward the location of the Bing Yun Fairy Palace. The vast snowy domain was devoid of human traces. For someone at the Overlord Xuan Realm with such keen spiritual perception, locking onto the location of the Bing Yun Fairy Palace in such an open area was hardly difficult. He said with a grin, "I've heard that the Bing Yun Fairy Palace is one of the four major powers of the Cang Feng Empire, second only to the Tian Jian Villa. But it seems their strongest is only at the King Xuan Realm, and even then, at most two or three of them. A lowly land, after all. I really can't understand why the Young Master would send the two of us for such a trivial matter."
"Stop complaining," the purple-clad old man said seriously. "The Young Master made it very clear that the woman named Xia Qingyue is extremely important to him. If not for a sudden loosening in his demonic art's bottleneck requiring an immediate seclusion, the Young Master would have come personally. That just shows how seriously he takes this matter!"
"And this mission is far from as easy as you think!" The purple-clad old man's expression grew stern. "The Young Master only said that Xia Qingyue is twenty-two years old, with an appearance that looks like a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old, and is known as the number one beauty of Cang Feng. Other than that, we know nothing. The Bing Yun Fairy Palace has two to three thousand disciples, all said to be stunning beauties. If they insist on not telling us which one is Xia Qingyue, distinguishing her will be quite troublesome."
"Moreover, the Young Master strictly ordered that Xia Qingyue must be taken alive, preferably without even a scratch! If Xia Qingyue dies, we'll have to carry our heads back! Before we confirm which one is Xia Qingyue... we can't use heavy hands on any female disciple. That ties our hands."
"Hahaha!" The green-clad man burst into loud laughter. "A fierce tiger pouncing on a wolf still carries risk, but a fierce tiger catching sheep — how could it trip? If we can't touch the young ones, then start with the older ones. Kill the Palace Master and Elders one by one, and force Xia Qingyue to reveal herself. Simple enough. Worst case, knock them all unconscious and bring them back. Three thousand ice beauties — the Young Master will surely be delighted when he sees them."
"Speaking of which, I hear the Shenhuang Empire's army is less than a thousand li from the Cangfeng Imperial City. In a few months, the Cang Feng Empire will be completely finished. Hey, I wonder what got into the Shenhuang Kingdom — why would they go to all this trouble, rushing to conquer this low-level, resource-poor little country, while signing a non-aggression pact with the other five nations? Could it be that they were humiliated in the Seven Nations Ranking Battle by Cang Feng and are now throwing a tantrum?"
"That's none of our concern." The purple-clad old man wiped his face, and instantly, a layer of white mist veiled his features. "The Bing Yun Fairy Palace is within five hundred li ahead. Begin the operation. I'll say it again — do your best not to reveal your identities. That's also the Young Master's order."
"Yes!" the followers behind them responded in unison, then wiped their faces, using profound energy to conceal their appearances.
The green-clad man also covered his face, speaking with contempt, "I hope the Bing Yun Fairy Palace can at least give a little surprise — maybe offer up some treasure to mess up my clothes or something... Otherwise, this will be far too boring."
Before his voice faded, the twelve of them had already leaped into the air, heading straight for the Bing Yun Fairy Palace. Soon, they vanished into the boundless snow sea.
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[End of Chapter]