Chapter 958: A Cornered Beast Will Fight Back
"He... is actually... this powerful?" Mu Xiaolan said in a daze. "But he's only at the Lord Xuan Realm, how could he..."
"His profound power, which hasn't even entered the Divine Way, can actually rival that of someone who has just entered the Divine Way at the Divine Origin Realm," Mu Sushan sighed in admiration. "Don't say you, even I have never heard of such a thing. I'm afraid that even in the history of our Yinxue Realm, such a thing has never occurred. This person your master brought back is truly an extraordinary fellow."
"With such unprecedented talent, I'm afraid even the Great Realm King will be alarmed."
Mu Xiaolan: "..."
Li Mingcheng was panting like an ox, and the varied gazes around him pierced into his body like countless sharp knives. He never dreamed that Yun Che's strength could actually reach such a level. Though clearly at the Lord Xuan Realm, he could face his power head-on without being defeated.
At this moment, no matter how shocked he was, he couldn't help but realize that during the previous assessment, Yun Che should not have cheated!
He had even intentionally held back in the Blizzard Realm.
He had waited all these years to take the assessment for the sake of the Yuluo Ice Soul Pill. He was determined to obtain it, but now, forcibly claiming that Yun Che had cheated was no longer possible, which meant that the Yuluo Ice Soul Pill would fall into Yun Che's hands.
After entering the Hanzue Hall, the first thing he planned to do was to quickly build up his reputation and prestige with his exceptional talent and his status as the nephew of the Chief Hall Master. But now, under the watchful eyes of countless people, not only had he failed to gain prestige, but he had lost all face and clearly become a stepping stone for Yun Che's rise in reputation!!
Li Mingcheng gritted his teeth, his whole body trembling slightly, almost bursting with anger. He had no time to be shocked by how a person with only Lord Xuan Realm profound power could possess such astonishing strength. He only wanted to do everything to trample over him and reclaim his own face and prestige!
"Hmph..." Li Mingcheng let out a low growl. "Yun Che, you have indeed surprised me. I admit I underestimated you, but with just you, you don't have the right to be arrogant and smug in front of me!!"
As he spoke, a faint blue light began to appear on his body and gradually grew denser. When the light became somewhat dazzling, a large number of ice spirits formed around him, rapidly circling and flying.
The temperature of the Hanzue Hall also dropped sharply at an astonishing rate.
Ding!
With a soft sound, like a drop of water falling onto an ice crystal, a plum blossom-shaped profound mark suddenly appeared behind Li Mingcheng. As the plum blossom mark emerged, the chilling aura spreading through the space suddenly surged. A bone-piercing coldness penetrated everyone's bodies, then stabbed straight into their hearts and souls, making their entire bodies tremble.
"This... is..."
"It's the Qinglin Formation! Li Mingcheng has actually cultivated the Qinglin Formation!" Ji Hanfeng exclaimed in shock. Having been in the Hanzue Hall for so many years, he had never heard of anyone being able to release the Qinglin Formation at the third level of the Divine Origin Realm.
The profound practitioners who were closer subconsciously stepped back in trembling. Just the aura alone was already so astonishing. One could imagine how terrifying the power of this "Qinglin Formation" was.
Everyone could see that Li Mingcheng couldn't accept the previous outcome and had been thoroughly enraged. It was very possible that he would directly kill Yun Che.
Li Mingcheng's continuously swelling aura even made Mu Xiaolan feel alarmed. She quickly shouted, "Yun Che, dodge quickly! Li Mingcheng, have you gone mad?!"
"Heh... Yun Che!" Li Mingcheng extended his hand, a ferocious sneer on his face. "If you have the guts, try taking this move of mine!!"
Amidst his roar, Li Mingcheng crossed his arms, about to release the Qinglin Formation. But at that moment, the light and shadow in front of him flickered, and Yun Che's face unexpectedly appeared before him.
Boom!!!!
Yun Che stepped on the Phantom Lightning Extreme, instantly crossing several dozen zhang like a ghostly shadow, appearing in front of Li Mingcheng. His elbow viciously slammed into his lower abdomen.
The collision of flesh produced a thunderous muffled sound.
Yun Che's physical strength was absolutely terrifying. This swift and fierce strike was like suddenly erupting out of the void to Li Mingcheng, giving him no defense at all. His originally straight body was instantly bent into a right angle, his lower abdomen completely sunken, his back protruding grotesquely, and the plum blossom-shaped profound mark that had just formed behind him directly dissipated. Then, his entire body flew out like a cannonball fired from a cannon.
Bang!!
Li Mingcheng instantly flew several dozen zhang, then heavily crashed into the hall pillar behind him. With a muffled sound, he bounced off and fell hard, his chin hitting the ground before his body, landing in a perfect dog-eats-dirt posture. Two bloody large teeth flew far out of his mouth, one of which coincidentally rolled to Yun Che's feet.
The main hall of Hanzue Hall fell into dead silence, broken only by the sound of countless jaws dropping to the ground.
"Ah... aah... aah..."
Li Mingcheng tightly clutched his abdomen, curled up on the ground like a shrimp, but didn't get up for a long time. Blood mixed with white foam continuously flowed from the corners of his mouth. Even his groans were exceptionally weak and pained.
Blank gazes fell on Li Mingcheng. Everyone, especially Li Mingcheng himself, couldn't believe that merely enduring one strike from Yun Che would leave him so utterly helpless.
The only possibility was that his strength not only surpassed Li Mingcheng's... but far surpassed it!
If it were anyone else, even if they suffered the same treatment, facing Li Mingcheng, the nephew of the Chief Hall Master, they wouldn't dare to strike him so heavily and make him so miserable. But the person he provoked was Yun Che, this figure of calamity. Li Mingcheng had repeatedly provoked him earlier and had even tried to strike him with severe or even lethal force several times. How could Yun Che let him off easy with someone like that?
Although he had warned himself countless times to keep a low profile in the God Realm, if a nature could be so easily curbed or changed, it wouldn't be called nature.
Ji Hanfeng was stunned for a full few breaths before he hurriedly rushed to Li Mingcheng's side, carefully propping up his upper body: "Junior Brother Mingcheng, are you all right?"
Although Li Mingcheng was in terrible pain, his aura hadn't weakened too much, and his internal injuries weren't too severe. Only then did Ji Hanfeng heave a heavy sigh of relief. Li Mingcheng was the direct nephew of Chief Hall Master Mu Fengshu, and she openly protected him quite a bit. If something serious really happened, even Ji Hanfeng would be in big trouble.
Yun Che stepped over Li Mingcheng's broken tooth, walked in front of Li Mingcheng and Ji Hanfeng, and said expressionlessly, "The five moves have been exhausted. Li Mingcheng, do you still want to say I cheated now?"
"You... ugh!" As soon as Li Mingcheng made a sound, a bloody white foam surged from the corner of his mouth, and his upper body curled up in pain again.
But how could the pain in his body compare to even a ten-thousandth of the humiliation in his soul?
For today, he had waited and trained so long. He thought today would be his rebirth, his soaring into the sky.
Unexpectedly, all of this was destroyed by someone from the lower realms, by someone whose profound power hadn't even entered the Divine Way, someone he had earlier regarded as even worse than a waste!
He would never attribute all of this to his own wrongdoing.
Yun Che no longer looked at him, not even a glance at Ji Hanfeng. He turned to face Mu Sushan and said, "Senior Sushan, I believe this is enough to prove that I did not cheat, right?"
As he spoke, he noticed Mu Xiaolan beside Mu Sushan, her starry eyes sparkling, her tender lips wide open, staring at him blankly as if she didn't recognize him at all. He couldn't help but think smugly, "This little girl now knows how formidable I am!"
"Hahaha," Mu Sushan let out a loud laugh, stroking his beard, his gaze profound. "To be honest, even I, though I never believed anyone could cheat in the Ice Profound Realm, also couldn't believe that a person could remain in the Ice Profound Realm for so long with profound power at the Lord Xuan Realm. It seems that my pride in my extensive knowledge is ultimately just the perspective of a frog at the bottom of a well."
"In your confrontation with Li Mingcheng, not only did you not lose in five moves, but you defeated him within just five moves, and it seems..." Mu Sushan's gaze flickered. "This is still not your full strength. The Ice Cloud Palace Master has brought back an extraordinary genius for our Bing Huang God Sect. Although this is only the first day we've met, I have lived for so many years, and this is the first time I've felt such an urgent desire to see what astonishing heights your future will reach."
Hearing Mu Sushan's extremely high praise of Yun Che, Mu Xiaolan's tender lips, which hadn't closed, parted even wider.
"...Thank you for the praise, Senior Sushan," Yun Che said with a faint wry smile. Once these words were out, forget about keeping a low profile in the Bing Huang God Sect from now on.
The world Yun Che had previously been in had no concept of the Divine Way, and today was only his first day in the God Realm. So he was completely unaware of how astonishing—or rather "heaven-defying"—it was to defeat a Divine Way profound practitioner with profound power that hadn't entered the Divine Way.
At the very least, none of the people present had ever heard of such a thing.
That was why no one believed that Yun Che could pass the Ice Profound Realm assessment with his own strength.
Mu Sushan held a very high position in the Hanzue Hall, above all hall masters and mentors, second only to Chief Hall Master Mu Fengshu. His words about Yun Che not only stunned the newly assessed profound practitioners but also the formal disciples of the Hanzue Hall, leaving them wide-eyed for a long time.
The gazes directed at Yun Che no longer held any contempt or mockery. Thinking of their earlier laughter, they could only blush.
"Hanfeng, give the Yuluo Ice Soul Pill to Yun Che, and then take Li Mingcheng to heal his injuries," Mu Sushan said indifferently, then extended his hand. "I haven't forgotten the promise I made earlier. Since you have proven you did not cheat, in addition to the Yuluo Ice Soul Pill, this Star Picking Stone is also awarded to you. It will certainly not be wasted on you."
"..." Li Mingcheng, though on the verge of death from Yun Che's strike, could still clearly hear the sounds around him. Yun Che's mocking words, Mu Sushan's praise and reward—he heard every single one. And he, who should have been the protagonist, was now utterly ignored, lying there like a dead dog with broken legs. He seemed to feel the crowd's sneers and pity, seeing himself as a joke throughout the Hanzue Hall from now on. As long as Yun Che lived, this shadow and shame would haunt him forever, never allowing him to lift his head again.
"Yun... Che..." Li Mingcheng's teeth chattered, his mind in chaos. Suddenly, with a beast-like roar, he broke free from Ji Hanfeng and, in a twisted posture, lunged at Yun Che, whose back was turned to him. A cold ice sword was grabbed by him, condensed with all the power of his madness, and thrust toward Yun Che's back with a furious roar.
This sudden turn of events caught everyone off guard. Not only was Yun Che facing away from Li Mingcheng, but the distance between them was less than five zhang. Mu Sushan's expression changed slightly, but at such a short distance, even he couldn't intervene in time. Mu Xiaolan could only let out a terrified scream.
"Ah——"
Before Li Mingcheng launched his attack, Yun Che had already clearly felt a growing rancor fixed firmly on him, and he was prepared. The moment Li Mingcheng struck, he twisted around like lightning, causing Li Mingcheng's maddened sword to pierce nothing but air. Then, Yun Che's elbow smashed backward heavily, layer by layer shattering Li Mingcheng's profound force field, viciously striking his chest.
At the moment his power exploded, Yun Che's gaze flickered, and he silently muttered, "Damn it."
Li Mingcheng's maddened sword had gathered all his strength and hatred, without any defensive force left. This strike, though not extremely heavy, would certainly cause severe injury to him in his current state...
"Waaahhhh..."
A piercingly miserable scream echoed through the hall. Li Mingcheng spewed a blood arrow over a zhang long in midair, flying horizontally like a torn blood bag, scattering blood everywhere. At the same time, a loud shout exploded in Yun Che's ear: "Stop!!"
Almost simultaneously with Yun Che's hit on Li Mingcheng, Ji Hanfeng, who had rushed over, suddenly struck out. A stream of icy profound power ruthlessly blasted onto Yun Che's back without any mercy.
No one had expected Li Mingcheng to suddenly attack Yun Che in his madness, and even fewer expected Ji Hanfeng to suddenly strike at Yun Che. Ji Hanfeng was a formal disciple of the Hanzue Hall who had already reached the mid-stage Divine Origin Realm, completely incomparable to Li Mingcheng, and far beyond what Yun Che could withstand.
Yun Che felt as if a mountain had crashed down upon him, his vision going black, and he was sent flying violently.
"Yun Che!"
Mu Xiaolan cried out in alarm, swiftly rising into the air to firmly catch the flying Yun Che, then quickly dispersing the residual force on his body. She was about to ask how badly he was injured, but suddenly felt that he seemed unharmed. She was momentarily stunned before asking weakly, "Are... you all right?"
Yun Che's entire body was in turmoil, blood and energy churning. He clenched his fists and abruptly turned his gaze toward Ji Hanfeng, a burst of ferocity surging to his head: "Ji... Han... Feng!!"
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(The chapter ends)