Chapter 958 - Cornered Dog
“He… he’s actually this powerful?” Mu Xiaolan was stunned, “But he’s obviously just at the Sovereign Profound Realm, how could he…”
“Profound strength that has yet to reach the divine way is actually comparable to a Divine Origin Realm profound strength that has just entered the divine way,” Mu Sushan sighed. “Forget about you, even I have never heard about this before. I doubt this has ever happened in the entire history of our Snow Song Realm. The man your master brought back home is truly an impressive fellow.”
“I suspect that this unprecedented display of power may alarm even a Great Realm King.”
Mu Xiaolan, “...”
Li Mingcheng was panting heavily. The odd gazes that were directed at him felt like sharp blades that plunged into his body. Not even in his dreams had he thought that Yun Che would be this powerful. Although he was obviously at the Sovereign Profound Realm, he was able to meet his power directly and not lose.
By now he realized, even through his shock, that Yun Che most likely didn’t cheat in the previous exams.
In fact, he might even have goofed around back in the Snowstorm Realm!
The reason he waited so many years to partic.i.p.ate in this exam was for the Jadefallen Ice Soul Pellet. At first, he was sure that the prize might as well be in his pocket already but there was no way he could say that Yun Che was cheating now. This also meant that the Jadefallen Ice Soul Pellet was most likely going to fall into Yun Che’s hands.
After entering Freezing Snow Hall, the first thing he had wanted to do was to swiftly acc.u.mulate a considerable amount of fame through his outstanding talent and his status as the Main Hall Master’s nephew. Not only did he fail to show off his might, he was utterly humiliated before thousands of staring eyes. In fact, he had turned into Yun Che’s stepping stone instead!
Li Mingcheng clenched his teeth tightly and trembled all over. He felt like his lungs would burst from the fury he was feeling. He no longer had the patience to wonder how on earth Yun Che was able to unleash such unbelievable strength even though he was only at Sovereign Profound Realm. He only wanted to step over Yun Che’s body and regain the pride and fame he had lost with all his might!
“Heh…” Li Mingcheng let out a soft groan, “You have no doubt surprised me Yun Che, and I will admit that I’ve underestimated you. But you still don’t have the qualification to act all high and mighty before me!!”
While he said this, a blue glow suddenly appeared around his body. When the bluish light gradually turned thick and somewhat blinding, a large amount of ice spirits winked into existence and danced swiftly around him.
The temperature inside Freezing Snow Hall was dropping at a tremendous rate.
Ding!
There was a soft ring that sounded like water falling on an ice crystal. Suddenly, a plum-shaped profound seal appeared and caused the surrounding cold air to increase tremendously. A penetrating cold pierced through everyone’s body and stabbed into their minds, causing them to s.h.i.+ver all over.
“This… this is…”
“The Cold Blue Formation! Li Mingcheng has actually learned the Cold Blue Formation!!” Ji Hanfeng exclaimed in surprise. He had never heard of anyone who could unleash the Cold Blue Formation while they were still at the third level of the Divine Origin Realm despite spending many years in Freezing Snow Hall.
All the cultivators who stood a little too close to Li Mingcheng subconsciously backed away from him. One could imagine just how powerful this “Cold Blue Formation” was from its shocking aura alone.
Anyone could see that Li Mingcheng’s anger was completely ignited because he couldn’t accept the earlier outcome. In fact, he might actually attempt to kill Yun Che outright.
Li Mingcheng’s continuously swelling aura surprised even Mu Xiaolan. She hurriedly shouted, “Get out of the way, Yun Che! Have you gone crazy, Li Mingcheng?!”
“Heh… Yun Che!” Li Mingcheng pushed out his palm with a malevolent sneer on his face, “If you’re a man then try this!!”
Li Mingcheng roared and crossed his arms in an attempt to unleash the Blue Cold Formation. However, the s.p.a.ce before his eyes blurred as Yun Che’s face suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Yun Che executed Extreme Mirage Lightning and covered dozens of meters in an instant like a ghost. He appeared right in front of Li Mingcheng and slammed his elbow fiercely into the man’s stomach.
For whatever reason, the fleshy impact resulted in a boom that sounded much like a thunderclap.
Yun Che’s physical body was unbelievably frightning. His impossibly swift strike literally looked like it came out of thin air from Li Mingcheng’s point of view, so he wasn’t guarded against the blow in the slightest. His originally erect figure was instantly knocked into a right angle as his stomach caved in and his back bent outward in a ridiculous fas.h.i.+on. The plum-shaped profound seal Li Mingcheng had just formed behind him dissipated directly as he flew outward like an ejected cannonball.
Bang!!!
Li Mingcheng instantly flew back several dozen meters before he slammed heavily into the hall pillar at the back. He then bounced off the pillar and crashed fiercely onto the ground with a dull thud. Since his jaw hit the ground first, the fall turned out to be the perfect reproduction of the idiom “falling flat on one’s face.” Two b.l.o.o.d.y teeth flew out of his mouth and soared far, far away. One of them happened to roll and pause right next to Yun Che’s feet.
The entire Freezing Snow Main Hall was silent aside from the sounds of people’s jaws cras.h.i.+ng to the ground.
“Ah… aaah… ah…”
Li Mingcheng clutched his stomach with both arms and curled up on the ground like a dried shrimp. He wasn’t able to stand on his feet for a very, very long time. Blood and foam dripped out of the corner of his mouth non-stop and even his groans sounded exceptionally weak and painful.
Countless dull gazes were trained on Li Mingcheng’s fallen figure. n.o.body, especially Li Mingcheng himself, could believe that he would fall to such a state after receiving only a single blow from Yun Che.
The only possibility this could’ve happened was that Yun Che’s strength not only surpa.s.sed Li Mingcheng’s… they were not even comparable in the slightest!
If anyone else had been in Yun Che’s place, they wouldn’t have dared to deal such a heavy blow to Li Mingcheng, the Main Hall Master’s nephew himself, and beat him into the sorry state he currently was in. Unfortunately for him, the person he provoked was none other than the bringer of disaster, Yun Che. After being repeatedly taunted and attacked with the intention of severely injuring or even killing him, there was no chance in h.e.l.l that Yun Che was going to let him off easy.
Although he told himself countless times that he had to maintain a low profile in the G.o.d Realm, nature just wasn’t something that could be suppressed or changed easily. It wouldn’t be called nature otherwise.
Ji Hanfeng’s mind went blank for several breaths before he finally recovered himself and made his way towards Li Mingcheng’s fallen figure. He carefully lifted his upper body and asked, “Are you alright, Junior Brother Mingcheng?”
While Li Mingcheng might be racked with pain, his breathing wasn’t actually too weak, nor were his internal injuries too serious. It was only then that Ji Hanfeng let out a heavy sigh of relief. Li Mingcheng was the nephew of the Main Hall Master and Mu Fengshu had always taken his side unconditionally. Even he would have to suffer the consequences if something really were to happen to Li Mingcheng.
Yun Che stepped right past Li Mingcheng’s broken tooth and stopped in front of Li Mingcheng and Ji Hanfeng. He said expressionlessly, “We are past five moves. Now, are you still going to accuse me of cheating, Li Mingcheng?”
“You… Ngh!” A trail of b.l.o.o.d.y foam suddenly surged to the corner of his lips just as he started speaking. His upper body bent downward in pain once more.
But no matter how much pain his body was suffering right now, how could it possibly compare to even one ten-thousandth of the humiliation that was inflicted on his soul?
He had waited and cultivated hard and long for this day. He had thought that today would be the day he was reborn and lifted to glory.
He never imagined that a lower realm being whose profound strength hadn’t even reached the divine way, a person whom he thought was lower than trash, would destroy all of his future!
He never thought for a second that he had brought all of this on himself.
Yun Che looked away from him. In fact, he didn’t even deem to cast Ji Hanfeng a glance as he turned towards Mu Sushan and said, “Senior Sushan, this should be enough to prove that I haven’t cheated, right?”
While he was saying this, he noticed that Mu Xiaolan was staring at him with round eyes, she had a shocked look and an open mouth next to Mu Sushan. She looked like she didn’t recognize him at all. He immediately snorted proudly on the inside: Now you know how awesome I am, little girl?
“Hahahaha!” Mu Sushan laughed loudly before he stroked his beard with a meaningful look in his eyes. “To be honest, while I never believed that anyone could’ve cheated in the Ice Profound Realm, I still found it hard to believe that someone at Sovereign Profound Realm could stay inside the Ice Profound Realm for such a long time. It would seem that the great knowledge and experience I pride myself in are ultimately just my own narrow thoughts.”
“During your duel against Li Mingcheng, you didn’t lose to him in five moves. In fact, you actually beat him in five moves instead. Moreover…” Mu Sushan’s eyes glittered, “This still isn’t your full strength. It would seem that Palace Master Bingyun has brought back quite the genius for our Divine Ice Phoenix Sect. Although we’ve only met each other today, this is the first time I’ve felt so eager to know how far someone will go down the path of cultivation.”
Mu Xiaolan’s already gaping mouth opened even wider when she heard Mu Sushan’s unbelievably high praise of Yun Che.
“...Thank you for the praise, Senior Sushan.” A small wry smile sprung onto Yun Che’s lips. After those words, his hopes for a low profile in Divine Ice Phoenix Sect might as well be non-existent.
The concept of divine way didn’t exist in Yun Che’s world. Today was also the first day he arrived at the G.o.d Realm. That was why he had no idea how shocking—how absolutely unnatural—it was for a non-divine way cultivator to defeat a divine way cultivator.
At the very least, no one present in this place had ever heard of such a feat.
That was also why no one believed that Yun Che had pa.s.sed through the Profound Ice Realm’s exam with his own strength.
Mu Sushan’s status in Freezing Snow Hall was incredibly high. He was higher than all hall masters and instructors and he was second only to Main Hall Master Mu Fengshu. Forget the cultivators that had just pa.s.sed through the exam, his praise of Yun Che had stunned even the official Freezing Snow Hall disciples present in this area.
All the sneering and disdainful gazes that showered Yun Che earlier were gone. They could only blush in embarra.s.sment when they recalled their earlier laughter.
“Hanfeng, pa.s.s the Jadefallen Ice Soul Pellet to Yun Che and take Li Mingcheng away for treatment,” Mu Sushan said calmly and extended his hand. “I haven’t forgotten my earlier promise. Now that you’ve proven that you haven’t cheated, the Jadefallen Ice Soul Pellet and this Starpicker Stone belong to you as well. They will definitely not be wasted on you.”
“...” Li Mingcheng might be racked with terrible pain thanks to Yun Che’s attack but he could still hear the surrounding voices. He could hear Yun Che’s ridiculing words and Mo Sushan’s praise and award clearly. He was supposed to be the main character today but now no one paid any attention to him at all. As he lay on the ground like a dying dog whose leg had just been snapped, he felt as if everyone was laughing and sympathizing with him. He could already imagine himself becoming the joke of the entire Freezing Snow Hall in the future and he would suffer this humiliation and shadow for as long as Yun Che continued to live. He would never be able to lift his head again.
“Yun… Che…” Li Mingcheng’s teeth were chattering and his mind was a complete mess. Suddenly, he let out an animalistic groan and broke out of Ji Hanfeng’s grasp abruptly. He pounced towards Yun Che’s back in a twisted posture and grabbed an ice longsword, gathering all of his crazed fueled strength and stabbing it towards Yun Che’s heart while roaring.
No one had predicted this turn of events. Not only was Yun Che’s back facing towards Li Mingcheng, they were less than sixteen meters away from each other. Mu Sushan’s face changed slightly but he was already too late to stop him considering that they were so close to each other. Mu Xiaolan only managed to let out a frightful scream.
Before Li Mingchen had acted, Yun Che could already feel his near uncontrollable hatred locking onto his figure with impossible clarity. Therefore, he was guarded against the attack from the beginning. The second Li Mingcheng acted, he had already turned around like lightning, causing Li Mingcheng’s anger-fueled stab to hit only the air. Then, Yun Che swung his elbow fiercely to the back, shattering Li Mingcheng’s many layers of profound energy forcefield and striking his heart heavily.
The instant his strength had erupted, Yun Che’s eyes moved a little as he muttered inwardly: d.a.m.n.
In his madness, Li Mingcheng had gathered all of his strength and hatred into this one strike. He hadn’t saved any energy to protect his body at all. Therefore, the supposedly moderate blow was destined to wound Li Mingcheng seriously in his current state...
“UUAAAAGH…”
A bloodcurdling scream resounded inside the hall as Li Mingcheng spat out a trail of blood at least three meters long into the air. He flew horizontally across the ground like a pierced blood bag even as a loud roar exploded beside Yun Che, “Stop!!”
The charging Ji Hanfeng had actually attacked Yun Che almost at the same time as Yun Che had struck Li Mingcheng. A frigid profound energy slammed into Yun Che’s back without mercy.
No one knew that Li Mingcheng would suddenly lose his mind and ambush Yun Che. The fact that Ji Hanfeng had suddenly attacked Yun Che surprised them even more. Ji Hanfeng was at the middle stage the Divine Origin Realm and an official disciple of Freezing Snow Hall. His power was on a completely different level compared to Li Mingcheng. His attack wasn’t something Yun Che could endure at all.
Yun Che’s vision blackened as he felt like he was struck by a mountain in the head. The fierce attack blasted him towards the distance.
“Yun Che!”
Mu Xiaolan exclaimed in shock and swiftly charged forwards. She caught Yun Che firmly in midair and swiftly dispelled whatever energy still racked his body. She was just about to inquire about his injuries when she noticed that he actually looked uninjured. Her mind turned blank for a second before she finally asked a little weakly, “Are… are you alright?”
Yun Che’s entire body boiled up with fury as his hands clenched into tight fists. He abruptly turned to look at Ji Hanfeng as a savage atmosphere burst into existence. “Ji… Han… Feng!!”