# Chapter 830: Gone and Come Back
"Brother... Brother Yun!"
Feng Xue'er was stunned, then rushed over like a madwoman. The moment she saw the wounds on his body—wounds that would be fatal by any measure—and his aura that had weakened to the point of near disappearance, she almost completely broke down. She fell to her knees before him, crying out in a hoarse, tearful voice: "Brother Yun... Brother Yun!! Brother Yun——"
"Who? Who did this!?"
Feng Zukui, Feng Tianwei, and Feng Hengkong all changed color drastically. Their profound energy erupted instantly as they shot into the air. But even as their profound energy swept across the area, they could not find the slightest trace of any suspicious presence... The power that had struck Yun Che seemed to have burst forth from the void itself.
And they could never have dreamed that the thing that attacked Yun Che was merely a strand of hair that had fallen to the ground!
"What coward skulks in the shadows and strikes with such venomous means? Show yourself!" Feng Zukui roared, and the skies above Phoenix City instantly blazed with flames.
Meanwhile, Feng Hengkong and Feng Tianwei had already descended rapidly to examine Yun Che's injuries. The moment they saw him, they both froze, then let out heavy sighs.
All five viscera were ruptured, every meridian and tendon was severed, and his heart and life pulse... were completely obliterated.
In such a state... he was already dead. There was no possibility of survival.
"Brother Yun... Brother Yun! Wake up... answer me!" Feng Xue'er's heart and soul had utterly collapsed under the immense pain and terror. She felt as though she had fallen off a cliff, plunging helplessly and hopelessly into an endless, pitch-black abyss...
"What is going on here? Who struck this deadly blow?" Feng Hengkong's heart felt as though it were being torn apart as he watched Feng Xue'er's agony. Feng Zukui was present. Feng Xue'er was right by Yun Che's side. And Yun Che's own cultivation was extremely high. Yet he had been fatally wounded without any warning or defense.
And looking at Feng Zukui's expression now, he clearly still had not found any trace of the attacker!
With Feng Zukui's strength at the ninth-level Emperor Lord realm, it should have been impossible for anyone on the Tian Xuan Continent to kill someone under his nose... especially someone like Yun Che.
"Grandfather, great-grandfather... please save Brother Yun! You must have a way to save him!"
Feng Xue'er lifted her tear-filled eyes, their gaze dark with despair and deep with entreaty... She had no choice but to despair. Her hands clutched tightly at Yun Che's body. She understood his injuries far better than Feng Hengkong and the others. His aura, already faint to the extreme, was rapidly and steadily fading away even now.
Although her spiritual sense clearly told her this hopeless truth, how could her soul ever accept it?
"Xue'er, calm down first." Feng Hengkong said with difficulty. "Yun Che... has already..."
"Has already died." Feng Tianwei spoke the two words that Feng Hengkong could not bring himself to say.
Feng Xue'er's entire body stiffened, then she shook her head frantically: "No! You're wrong... Brother Yun isn't dead! He still has... he still has breath... He won't die... He can't die!!"
"Alas." Feng Zukui, having found nothing, descended from the air and let out a heavy sigh. "All five viscera are ruptured, his life pulse and meridians are completely severed, and his heart is utterly destroyed. He is thoroughly dead. Even if a Golden Immortal descended to the mortal world... The reason his body still has some aura is only because he died moments ago, and the energy within his body has not yet had time to dissipate."
Feng Zukui knew that these words were far too cruel for Feng Xue'er, but this was the truth she had to face, no matter what.
"..." Feng Xue'er was as if paralyzed, kneeling motionless before Yun Che, tears streaming down her face like a river. The last trace of color drained from Yun Che's face as he lay quietly before her. His breath, once as thin as a gossamer thread, fell into complete stillness. Only the pool of blood beneath him continued to spread.
"Great-grandfather, grandfather, imperial father... what happened?"
Feng Ximing rushed over quickly. The moment he saw Yun Che on the ground, he stumbled back in shock and stammered: "Yun Che? He... he... is he dead?"
"You're lying!" In the midst of her stillness, Feng Xue'er suddenly cried out in a blood-choked sob: "Brother Yun isn't dead! He would never bear to leave me... He can't die... He absolutely can't die!!"
Flames erupted from Feng Xue'er's body, then gently wrapped around Yun Che. She picked up his blood-soaked, nearly lifeless body and flew toward the northwest, leaving a long trail of tears in her wake.
"Xue... Xue'er!!"
"Let her go." Feng Zukui raised a hand to stop Feng Ximing, who was about to chase after her.
"Xue'er is heading toward the secret grounds. She probably wants to use the Undying Flame left by the Phoenix God to forcibly heal Yun Che... Alas." Feng Tianwei closed his eyes and shook his head. The Undying Flame of the Phoenix Fire Langhuan Realm could indeed greatly assist those with Phoenix flame power in healing, but for Yun Che's injuries, even a hundred times that flame would be useless.
And he was not an injured person—he was already a dead man.
Feng Hengkong's brow was tightly furrowed. Then he gritted his teeth: "No. I have to go and see. Xue'er's feelings for Yun Che run too deep. Back at the Slay Moon Demon Cave, she said that if Yun Che didn't come out, she would wait for him for a lifetime. This time, she's completely lost her reason. She might do something extreme."
These words caused Feng Tianwei and Feng Zukui to change expression slightly. They both nodded simultaneously. Just as they were about to hastily head toward the Phoenix Fire Langhuan Realm, a sudden, untimely aura descended imposingly from above, making them stop in their tracks. Their hearts sank slightly.
This aura was a declaration of his arrival. Though he came alone, he was the most dangerous person on the entire Tian Xuan Continent!
Xuanyuan Wentian!!
His return did not come as too great a surprise. Yun Che himself had said that after the banquet guests had dispersed, there was a very good chance Xuanyuan Wentian would come back.
They just hadn't expected it to be this soon!
"It's Xuanyuan Wentian. He really did come back." Feng Tianwei's brow darkened.
"Let's send him off first. Don't show any weakness... and there's no need for excessive courtesy or empty words." Feng Zukui's expression and aura had already calmed. His gaze turned heavy and solemn.
Before long, a sword aura pierced the air. Xuanyuan Wentian's figure descended slowly from above. But he was alone. He had not brought Xuanyuan Wendao back with him.
Behind them, Feng Ximing's feet began to slowly back away. After a few steps, he stopped firmly in place. His expression kept shifting, his muscles twitching... sometimes with fear and anxiety, sometimes twisted and ferocious.
"So it's the Sword Master of Tian Wei. Why has Sword Master returned after leaving? Did you perhaps forget something important here?" Feng Hengkong said with a neither humble nor arrogant smile.
"Heh heh." Xuanyuan Wentian swept his gaze around, his smile quite ambiguous. "Why doesn't the Phoenix Sect Master take a guess?"
"No need to guess." Feng Zukui said in a deep, unceremonious voice. "Sword Master, I imagine a man of your stature wouldn't want to hear useless pleasantries. You've come back for Yun Che, haven't you? But unfortunately, he's already left. If you chase after him toward the Cang Feng Kingdom now, you might still catch him."
"Hahahaha." Xuanyuan Wentian laughed quite freely. "Elder Zukui's temper really hasn't changed at all—always so direct. But this time, Elder Zukui is wrong."
Xuanyuan Wentian's eyes narrowed. "Yun Che is no fool. On the contrary, he's far more clever than most. How could he not have anticipated that this Sword Master would come back to find him? So after I left, he naturally left early as well. Why would he obediently wait here? This visit to your sect is not for Yun Che. Rather, I have a request to make."
"Oh?" Feng Zukui showed surprise, but looking at Xuanyuan Wentian's expression, there was hardly anything 'request-like' about it. "Then what 'request' does Sword Master have? Please speak frankly."
"Excellent." Xuanyuan Wentian nodded with a smile. With Mo Li's departure, the Sword Master's arrogance, confidence, dignity, and cunning had all returned to him intact. "Nineteen days ago, the three of you brought many of your sect's experts to the Supreme Sea Palace to attend the Demon Sword Assembly. You naturally witnessed with your own eyes how that red-clothed demoness killed three Sword Attendants and over twenty elders of my Tian Wei Sword Domain. What's more, the Northern Domain—the most important part of my domain—was completely destroyed!"
Xuanyuan Wentian's tone was calm and his gaze arrogant... but when he mentioned the destruction of the Northern Domain, the corner of his eye still twitched uncontrollably.
Feng Zukui, Feng Tianwei, and Feng Hengkong all furrowed their brows deeply. That day, the Tian Wei Sword Domain had been utterly devastated, and Xuanyuan Wentian himself had been reduced to a state of the utmost wretchedness. Now, the one who had wrought that disaster had left, never to return. That humiliating and tragic history should have become the most untouchable scar of the Tian Wei Sword Domain. Yet here he was, bringing it up voluntarily in front of them.
"That day's events were an unprecedented catastrophe for my Tian Wei Sword Domain in the past ten thousand years. The losses are immeasurable! If this Sword Master were not still alive, I fear the Tian Wei Sword Domain would no longer have the right to call itself one of the Four Sacred Grounds." Xuanyuan Wentian raised his head slightly, his calm tone laced with hatred. "My Tian Wei Sword Domain flourished for ten thousand years, only to be set back by at least a thousand years in a single night by that demoness! If I do not find a way to make up for the loss, being squeezed out of the ranks of the Sacred Grounds by the other three is only a matter of time."
"Sword Master has come to ask for our help with this matter?" Feng Zukui shook his head with a faint smile. "Then Sword Master overestimates our Fenghuang God Sect. Although our sect is protected by the Phoenix God and blessed by the Heavenly Dao, our history is only five thousand years. In terms of strength and foundation, we are far inferior to your Sacred Ground. Moreover, with the constant turmoil in recent years, we can barely manage our own affairs. How could we possibly have the ability or spare resources to help with matters on the level of the Sacred Grounds?"
"No, no, no. Of course you do." Xuanyuan Wentian said with a beaming smile. "How would I, Xuanyuan Wentian, dare to trouble your sect with the affairs of my Tian Wei Sword Domain? It's simply that my domain currently needs to reorganize its strength and urgently requires a large amount of resources. So I've come to borrow some resources from you. That's all."
"Borrow resources?" Feng Hengkong's brow twitched as he suppressed his anger. "In terms of wealth, our Fenghuang God Sect cannot compare to your Sacred Ground. The resources your domain lacks are hardly something our Fenghuang God Sect has the ability to lend out. I'm afraid Sword Master will be disappointed."
"On that point, you needn't worry." Xuanyuan Wentian said with an unhurried air. "This Sword Master never forces others to do what they cannot. I would never demand something impossible of you. The items I wish to borrow are things you absolutely can provide—and can provide immediately."
Xuanyuan Wentian slowly raised one finger, his narrow eyes glinting with a cold, dangerous smile. "What I want is only this—one hundred jin of... Purple Vein Divine Crystal!"
——
[ Prison Girl: Hahahaha! Didn't see that coming, did you! Surprise! Unexpected! ]