Chapter 841: Between Life and Death
Xiao Yaohou's divine power was obtained at the cost of her life. The consequence of unleashing her flame force at full power was that her already scant remaining lifespan was further shortened. She would never choose this state unless absolutely necessary. But now, her killing intent and rage had reached a point where she was channeling her own source power to him—or rather, she was desperately transferring her own life force to him. But in his current state, he was utterly powerless to stop her. He slowly closed eyes that could no longer see clearly even when open, and said bitterly: "In the past… no matter how severe my injuries… as long as I still had a breath left… I was always certain I could survive…"
"But this time… I might… truly…"
"Brother Yun! You will be fine… you definitely will!" Feng Xue'er shook her head frantically, tears streaming as she interrupted him.
A faint layer of golden flame floated over Yun Che's body. Xiao Yaohou withdrew her hands and said softly: "Don't waste your energy by talking too much. While you're still conscious, summon the Primordial Mystic Ark immediately and return to the Fantasy Demon Realm with us. I'll take you to see the Golden Crow Sacred Spirit—it is an omnipotent deity and will surely find a way to save you."
"Alright..." If there was truly anything in this world that could save him, it could only be the Golden Crow Soul Spirit. Even if that weren't the case, he could no longer remain on the Tian Xuan Continent. "I need to bring… Grandfather and the others…"
Every word Yun Che spoke was extremely difficult. He concentrated his spirit, and with a ripple of spatial distortion, the Primordial Mystic Ark appeared. Under Yun Che's will, it drew the three of them into its inner world, then vanished.
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Huangji Wuyu and Qu Fengyi fled at full speed with Ye Meixie in tow. The three great Sacred Masters, like frightened birds, fled several hundred li without stopping. Only when they confirmed that Xiao Yaohou wasn't pursuing them did they finally slow down and stop, though they were still shaken.
"That person… was really Xiao Yaohou?" Qu Fengyi asked, her voice filled with uncertainty. Beside her, Ye Meixie sat cross-legged healing his injuries, his face twisted in agony. He still couldn't accept that he, who should have been invincible under heaven, had actually had an arm destroyed alive, becoming the One-Armed Heavenly Monarch.
"I find it hard to believe as well." Huangji Wuyu's face was dark. "But the flames she used were unmistakably the Golden Crow Flame. On this world, the only one capable of unleashing that level of Golden Crow Flame is Xiao Yaohou of the Fantasy Demon Realm! Hiss… a hundred years ago, the Demon Emperor who perished was supposed to be the strongest in the Fantasy Demon Realm, yet his strength was still slightly inferior to any one of us four. How did Xiao Yaohou's power become so terrifying?"
What he couldn't help but dread was that the strength Xiao Yaohou had suddenly erupted with at the end clearly surpassed that of the rampaging Ye Mufeng from a thousand years ago!
"No… it's definitely impossible." Qu Fengyi thought for a moment, then shook her head again. "My Sea Palace secretly kept eyes in Demon Emperor City a hundred years ago. According to the intelligence they sent back, Xiao Yaohou's profound strength at most didn't exceed the sixth level of the Lord Xuan Realm. That person absolutely cannot be Xiao Yaohou."
Then, Qu Fengyi suddenly thought of something and said in a low voice: "However, the last message our spy in Demon Emperor City sent back was a year and a half ago. Could it be that some enormous change occurred after that? No, that's not right either! Even if Xiao Yaohou's talent were ten times greater, there's no way her strength could have increased to this unnatural level in such a short time."
Huangji Wuyu pondered for a moment, then suddenly said: "It seems we should go ask Xuanyuan Wentian about this matter. Since he knows all of Yun Che's secrets so clearly, he should also know many other things. From his mouth, we should be able to directly determine whether that person is really Xiao Yaohou… But regardless of whether she is or isn't, we need to be careful."
"Hoo..." Huangji Wuyu let out a long sigh. "We've always prided ourselves on being invincible under heaven. Yet in this short span of just over ten days, first there was that red-clothed demoness, and now someone appears with terrifying Golden Crow Flame. It seems my several thousand years of cultivation have still made me nothing but a frog at the bottom of a well. But fortunately, she's different from that red-clothed demoness. If we gather the power of the Sacred Grounds, she shouldn't be impossible to deal with."
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The Primordial Mystic Ark did not head to the Fantasy Demon Realm. Instead, under the guidance of Yun Che's will, it traversed space to Liu Yun City.
"This is Liu Yun City, where Brother Yun was born." Carrying Yun Che out of the Primordial Mystic Ark, Feng Xue'er quietly introduced him to Xiao Yaohou. Regarding Xiao Yaohou, she had always had strong curiosity, and now she finally met her—but at the darkest moment of her mood. All her heart was focused on Yun Che, to the point where she didn't even take a good look at Xiao Yaohou.
"..." Xiao Yaohou's gaze swept gently across the surroundings. Immediately, a figure who sensed their arrival appeared in her line of sight—Tianxia Diyi.
The moment he saw Xiao Yaohou, Tianxia Diyi's pupils contracted. He was so startled he nearly fell from midair. In extreme shock and terror, he almost forgot how to fly, staggering through the air to arrive before Xiao Yaohou: "Tianxia Diyi welcomes the Little Dem—"
Before he could finish, the intense smell of blood made his gaze instinctively fall on Yun Che in Feng Xue'er's arms. In an instant, his expression changed drastically. Without even bothering to bow to Xiao Yaohou, he flashed forward: "Brother Yun! What happened to Brother Yun? What's going on!?"
"Brother Tianxia," Feng Xue'er said sorrowfully, "quickly call Uncle Xiao and his family. Brother Yun will take us back to that place called the Fantasy Demon Realm."
"Go quickly!" Xiao Yaohou commanded sternly.
"...I understand!" Tianxia Diyi asked no further questions and swiftly flashed back to the Xiao Sect courtyard.
By the time Feng Xue'er and Xiao Yaohou descended from the air, Tianxia Diyi had already rushed out with Xiao Lie, Xiao Lingxi, and Xiao Yun with his wife.
"Xiao Che… Xiao Che!!" Seeing the blood-soaked figure in Feng Xue'er's arms, Xiao Lingxi froze. Then, on the verge of emotional collapse, she wailed and threw herself forward.
"Don't come near him!" Xiao Yaohou swung her hand, a gust of forceful wind harshly knocking Xiao Lingxi aside. The Golden Crow Flame on Yun Che's body, used to seal his remaining vital energy, wouldn't harm Feng Xue'er, but it would absolutely be enough to kill Xiao Lingxi on contact.
"What happened… who… who injured big brother!" Xiao Yun's face was pale, his voice trembling.
"What exactly is going on? Right… where is Brother Yun's master?" Tianxia Diqi asked frantically.
"I don't know… I really don't know." Feng Xue'er shook her head tearfully. "I didn't even see who injured Brother Yun; it was like this all of a sudden…"
"Xue'er… Little Aunt… don't cry…" Yun Che, who was still conscious, uttered an extremely weak voice: "Come with me… back… to the Fantasy…"
Yun Che's voice gradually weakened, then fell completely silent. His eyes, which had been struggling to stay half-open, had also closed weakly.
"..." Xiao Yaohou's lips moved slightly. She saw that as Yun Che's consciousness faded, the Primordial Mystic Ark being manipulated by his will also vanished from where it was.
"Xiao Che!!" Yun Che's loss of voice made Xiao Lingxi's little face turn even paler with fear. In the past, Yun Che had faced countless dangers, even had news of his death, but she had only heard of them, never seen them herself. This time, watching Yun Che covered in blood, his entire chest completely shattered, she broke down crying loudly: "Xiao Che… wake up, wake up quickly… sob sob… I beg you, please don't let anything happen…"
"Shut up!!"
A cold, commanding shout instantly silenced Xiao Lingxi's cries. Xiao Yaohou's face remained icy, devoid of any emotional fluctuation. Her imperial majesty made even the group of Emperor Lords in Demon Emperor City tremble in fear, let alone others.
"Even if you cry yourself to death, it won't do the slightest bit of good for his injuries! If you have the energy to cry, you'd be better off thinking about how to save him." Xiao Yaohou's cold voice almost froze the air over all of Liu Yun City.
"I..." Xiao Lingxi bit her lip, her whole body trembling weakly.
Tianxia Diqi quickly supported Xiao Lingxi and comforted her softly: "Little Aunt, she is Xiao Yaohou, the one we often tell you about. In the Fantasy Demon Realm, she is practically a deity to everyone, and she is also Brother Yun's wife. She will surely find a way. Besides… I absolutely refuse to believe that Brother Yun, who could defeat even the terrifying Prince Huai, would fall like this."
"We must return to the Fantasy Demon Realm immediately." Xiao Yaohou looked ahead, seeming to talk to herself. Like Yun Che, the only hope she could think of was the Golden Crow Soul Spirit.
Xiao Yun scratched his head in agitation, then suddenly looked up and asked urgently: "Xiao Yaohou, did you come to the Tian Xuan Continent using the Space-Breaking Ring?"
As the former young master of the Yun Clan, Xiao Yun naturally understood the existence of the Space-Breaking Ring. Over twenty years ago, Yun Qinghong and his wife had relied on the Space-Breaking Ring to descend upon the Fantasy Demon Realm while evading the Four Sacred Grounds.
"Yes." Xiao Yaohou nodded slightly. "But I was in too much of a hurry to come here, so I only had the Yun Clan infuse enough power for the journey here, with no spare energy to return. I originally planned to return via Yun Che's ark, but his ark clearly relies on his consciousness. In his unconscious state, outsiders cannot use it."
"Then… what do we do?" Feng Xue'er asked in panic. Given the severity of Yun Che's injuries, every breath of delay was cutting away at the last hope.
The Golden Crow Flame floating over Yun Che's body fed back his physical condition to Xiao Yaohou, letting her know clearly that even surviving each breath with such terrifying injuries was a miracle defying all logic.
Maintaining that final thread of life in this state was already a difficult miracle. To regain consciousness before truly dying was truly harder than ascending to heaven.
Xiao Yaohou stood there silently, her vision blank. All colors and sounds in the world drifted outside her consciousness. This state persisted for a long time before she finally spoke: "Is there a place where fire elements, or ice elements, are extremely dense and pure?"
"This..." Xiao Yun scratched his head, thinking hard. But he had only returned to the Tian Xuan Continent for a short time and rarely left Liu Yun City. His understanding of the Tian Xuan Continent was basically limited to what Yun Che or Xiao Lie had told him. This question was too difficult for him. After pondering for a long time, he stammered: "Places where fire elements are active… should be volcanoes… but for purity…"
"I know a place!!" Feng Xue'er suddenly said. "At the Bing Yun Fairy Palace, there is an Ice Cloud Cold Pool. Brother Yun said it's located at the core vein of the Ice Extreme Snow Domain, the place with the heaviest cold energy in the Cang Feng Empire, perhaps even in the entire Tian Xuan Continent."
Xiao Yaohou turned her head, flicked her embroidered sleeve, and a not-so-gentle wind gust swept everyone into the air: "Tell me the direction immediately!!"
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