Chapter 593 - Life and Death Battle!
Yun Che shot like an arrow towards the entrance of Golden Crow Lightning Flame Valley, and suddenly the space in front of him distorted completely. Once the darkness had dissipated, what presented itself before his eyes was a world where scarlet fire and purple lightning wreaked complete havoc.
The outside world was completely enshrouded by the ink-black curtain of night, but there was not a hint of darkness here. Wherever he looked, he saw raging volcanoes and boiling lava. These volcanoes were grouped inconceivably tightly together, and while their heights differed wildly, each and every one of them burned with a bright red flame. There were some as tall as three thousand meters, and they seemed like huge flame devils which set the heavens ablaze.
The earth was so hot that it had turned red and every grain of sand released a shocking temperature. If a normal person came here, they would burn to cinders in the span of a few breaths. Yet the sky was a deep purple color, as storm clouds howled like furious devil gods, and every now and then the ground was struck with thunderbolts that shook the heavens and the earth.
Boom!!
A bolt of lightning that was several tens of meters thick exploded in front of Yun Che as it instantly cleaved a volcano in two. Countless volcanic rocks and magma flew through the air… This scene, which would terrify anyone who witnessed it, was instead extremely commonplace here.
“The degree of activity of the fire and lightning element in this place exceeds what I had anticipated. No wonder it was able to become the highest level training ground within Illusory Demon Realm,” Jasmine said in a bland voice as she observed the vibrations of the spirit energy around her. She let out a soft sigh and said in a seemingly disdainful, yet astonished voice, “The fire spirits and lightning spirits birthed in this place aren’t bad at all; at the very least, they are not of the lowest grade.”
Yun Che swept his eyes across the world in front of him and he did not let his guard down at all, but there was no indication that Hui Ran had run in after behind him. He turned around, and to his amazement, what he saw was the same boundless crimson world that he had seen in front of him… There was no trace of an exit, not even anything similar to a teleportation profound formation.
“What is going on?” Yun Che said as his brows furrowed, “Could it be that we can only enter from the entrance, but we cannot exit from the same place?”
“This place is the same as the Heaven Basin Secret Realm and the Primordial Profound Ark. It is a small world and its laws are not the same as those of the outside world, but neither of these laws interfere with each other. That entrance was only a spatial profound formation that was meant to send you into this world. As for exiting this place, if you do not have any special method, you can only wait for the energy field of this world to expel you from this place.”
“That is also the reason that Hui Ran person did not think of chasing you inside.”
After hearing Jasmine’s words, Yun Che suddenly recalled what Yun Qinghong had told him before. That one would be expelled from Golden Crow Lightning Flame Valley twenty-four hours after entering it, unless one died in this place… this condition was indeed exactly the same as the Heaven Basin Secret Realm and the Primordial Profound Ark.
The reason why Hui Ran did not follow him inside was because he was scared that even though it was easy to enter, he could not exit it as he pleased.
Yun Che did not let go of the energy that he had gathered. He soared into the sky and immediately pushed his speed to its limit as he rushed crazily towards the west amidst the interweaving gleam of fire and lightning...
A great number of fire and lightning spirits wandered and danced in front of him. Even though most of them were only as big as his palm, they released the aura of the Sky Profound Realm, and some even had an aura of the Emperor Profound Realm. Occasionally there would appear a high-grade spirit that would actually release the aura of the Tyrant Profound Realm.
If one were able to subdue and refine these fire and lightning spirits, then they could be directly converted into one’s own profound energy. Refining a low-grade Emperor profound fire spirit was equivalent to the result of many years of bitter cultivation for a normal Emperor Profound Realm practitioner!
In order for these spirits to be born, some extremely exacting conditions had to be met. It was only in an environment where an element was extremely active and pure did they have a possibility of appearing. An example of such an environment would be the heart of a glacier or the bottom of a lake of lava, and even then, the chance of a spirit appearing was extremely low. Thus, even a low-grade elemental spirit could be sold for an astronomical fortune.
But in this Golden Crow Lightning Valley, they appeared in groups and swarms.
No wonder the power levels of those who lived in Demon Imperial City were so shocking. It was not surprising that since the Yun Family had been barred entry to Golden Crow Lightning Flame Valley for one hundred years, its power had weakened to an astonishing degree.
However, Yun Che ignored all of these things and he tried his best to evade them instead, so he could avoid being attacked by them. Using the Extreme Mirage Lightning, before these lightning and fire spirits could approach, he was already long gone.
He needed to immediately find the Little Demon Empress!!
Before that happened… she must not die!
Rumble… rumble… rumble….
Yun Che had swiftly flown over hundreds of kilometers when he suddenly felt the air start to vibrate. This vibration did not happen every now and then; instead it steadily continued and it actually grew fiercer and fiercer as he pressed forward. His ears were barraged by the ceaseless explosions while thunderclouds above him stirred fiercely and in an agitated fashion.
Boom!!!
The sound came from an extremely distant location, yet an extremely heavy explosive sound reached all the way here. Yun Che focused his gaze towards the front… and in a faraway location of indeterminate distance, a scarlet-yellow cloud of smoke and a crimson-black cloud of smoke soared into the sky. Smoke filled the skies, and below the smoke were two clusters of unimaginably far but brilliant pinpricks of firelight which hurt the eyes.
That was….
Yun Che fiercely ground his teeth and his profound energy swelled as he pushed the Extreme Mirage Lightning to its limit. His whole person seemed to morph into a meteor which streaked across the horizon, and he was so fast that he barely even left any afterimages behind.
Boom!!
Two clusters of fire collided in midair, yet it made a terrifying sound, as if two mountains were colliding violently against each other. In an instant, heaven and earth turned dark and the ground frantically broke apart and was launched into the sky before being swiftly reduced into bits and specks of dust…. and the rocks here were definitely not normal rocks; they were high-grade profound stones which had not melted despite existing in Golden Crow Lightning Flame Valley for the last ten thousand years!
In the sky, the scarlet-yellow flames and crimson-black flames struggled to devour each other. Within the flames, two figures could be seen clashing against each other like two streaking bolts of lightning. Every collision caused the sky and the earth to howl.
The rocks below continued to break apart and volcanoes were being completely uprooted by the extremely terrifying energy that was being exerted. Fire and magma filled the sky as a bizarre red mist filled the sky and became thicker and thicker, to the point that a person would not even be able to see his own hand if he held out it in front of him.
On the ground, a huge crater that was over three hundred meters wide had long ago formed… and the surface of the crater was as sleek as a mirror.
This kind of power was much more fiercer than the explosion of any volcano.
Because this was a life and death battle between Monarchs!
Boom!!!
Yet another explosion ripped through the air.
The dazzling scarlet-yellow flames suddenly tore apart the seemingly demonic crimson-black flames and rushed forward explosively, instantly engulfing one of the figures and sending that flame-wreathed silhouette crashing into the ground.
For an instant, the earth trembled and the winds and clouds scattered as a fire pillar that was more than three hundred meters thick shot into the sky, traveling thousands of meters. In the distance, an immense mushroom cloud had risen into the sky and it did not dissipate for a long while.
Underneath the mushroom cloud, the Little Demon Empress calmly floated in midair. Her grey robes gently swayed in the air as her long hair splayed out behind her and her crystalline eyes were as dark and sinister as a death god’s.
In front of her, Duke Huai had flown up from the deep crater to meet her once more. Even though his expression was calm, and a faint cold smile still adorned his face, his appearance was extremely miserable. His embroidered clothes were riddled with thousands of holes and half of his hair had been completely scorched. His entire left hand had been severely burnt and two rivulets of blood flowed down the corners of his mouth.
In the sky far above, Duke Ming stood by idly, his eyes faintly open, his expression tranquil and content. It was as if he was simply enjoying some beautiful scenery.
“Duke Huai, if it were just you alone, you would still not be worthy of taking this empress’ life!” The Little Demon Empress voice was even deeper than the rumble of thunderclouds.
“Heh? Is that so?” Duke Huai wiped off the blood at the corners of his mouth and he flew even higher at an even pace. His expression was not the least bit resentful as he said, “Ah, the Little Demon Empress is indeed worthy of her reputation. Even though this duke had never believed that he was your opponent, I had never thought that you would actually be able to suppress me to such an extent! The late stages of the fifth level of the Sovereign Profound Realm. You’re no longer any inferior to the Yun Qinghong of twenty-five years ago; it truly brings tears of joy to this duke’s eyes.”
“Heh, Little Demon Empress, you are after all the last remaining member of the line of the Demon Emperor. If you simply died like this, it would be such a waste. So before you die, why don’t you let this duke play with you for a while… the longer you amuse me, the longer you’ll live! Hahahahaha!”
The Little Demon Empress’ Golden Crow bloodline was far purer than Duke Huai’s, so the Golden Crow flames that she released would have a great suppressive effect. Therefore, even though their profound strength was equal, if they went all out, Duke Huai would definitely not be the Little Demon Empress’ match… But the key qualifier was that the Little Demon Empress had to go all out!
As he laughed wildly, Duke Huai raised his hand and grasped a flaming longsword that had appeared out of nowhere. The flames that engulfed the body of the blade were definitely not the scarlet-yellow of the Golden Crow flames; instead the flames had the color of thick blood.
Devil Blood Sword!!
The blood flames spread over Duke Huai’s body, causing his aura to fluctuate violently, and even turning his face into something horrifying and sinister. He wildly brandished the Blood Demon Sword and every slash produced a huge swathe of crimson-black flames. These crimson-black flames congealed together in mid-air, finally forming a three hundred meter tall giant Flame Devil.
Duke Huai was the same as Hui Ye; he also cultivated the powerful Fallen Flame Devil Art. If Hui Ye could use the flame devils, then it was natural that Duke Huai could do so as well… and his flame devil was many, many times stronger than the flame devil of Hui Ye.
Duke Huai roared, and with a wave of his hand, the immense flame devil let out a gloomy and sinister wail that seemed to come from the depths of hell as it fiercely threw itself at the Little Demon Empress.
Just looking at that three hundred meter flame devil would cause one to be scared witless. But the Little Demon Empress expression was as cold and calm as a lake that had been sealed in ice, and not a single ripple appeared on her face. She raised her arm and her broad grey sleeves danced in the air, and in an instant all the fire, lava, and volcanic rocks in a three thousand kilometer radius seemed to come to life and converge together in front of her… In the next instant, it congealed into a three hundred meter tall, thirty meter wide fire greatsword. As more and more fire and rock congregated together, it grew bigger and bigger, and a majestic, blazing power seemed to completely envelop the sky and the earth.
Duke Ming had not yet made a single move; instead he wanted the ill-matched Duke Huai to exchange blows with her first. The Little Demon Empress was completely mystified by this… but at this late hour, she was finally alerted to Duke Ming’s terrifying intellect. As a person possessing such intellect, he naturally clearly understood the meaning of the phrase ‘a long delay gives rise to many hitches.’ He had come to take her life, an opportunity which would only come along once every blue moon. So the wisest thing to do would be for him to personally attack with all of his power, so that he could kill with her within the shortest amount of time….
He should have understood that the longer he delayed it, the more likely it was for an unforeseen event to occur! Once an accident occurred, not only would he lose this extremely rare opportunity, but he would also expose himself and be put on the defensive.
But Duke Ming was still doing what anyone would term as an extremely stupid action... He tasked Duke Huai with taking the Little Demon Empress life, while he just stood there idly watching, without even the slightest intention of taking action himself.
Even though the Little Demon Empress had her suspicions, she did not have any idle time to consider them. Because even though her power was greater than that of Duke Huai, she definitely could not relax. It was hard for her to devote her attention to anything else as she faced off against a Duke Huai who was going all-out.
Ssss!
The flame seal between the Little Demon Empress’ brows suddenly flashed with a golden-yellow light, and as she raised both her arms, the gigantic flame sword shot forward as it rent the sky apart… Even though it looked like it was moving at a slow speed, it had directly stepped across dimensions and bored into the body of the onrushing giant flame devil. The sword pierced through the Flame Devil’s body without the least bit of resistance as it bore the gigantic Fallen Flame Devil God aloft and drove it into the sky.
Boom…
The flaming greatsword which pierced the Fallen Flame Devil exploded and produced an extremely terrifying profound energy storm which descended with a huge explosion… The sound of the explosion was so huge that it sounded as if a star had exploded in mid-air.
The howls of the struggling Fallen Flame Devil echoed across the sky, but within the span of a few short breaths, the Fallen Flame Devil had been blown apart and was swiftly reduced to a countless number of fire fragments which filled the atmosphere.
The thunderclouds in the sky had disappeared… Or, it was more accurate to say that, one could no longer see the sky as it was completely filled with berserking Golden Crow Flames. Apprehension finally appeared on Duke Huai’s face as he retreated at the swiftest possible speed he could muster… Even though he had never thought that he was the Little Demon Empress’ match, he had also never thought that she would be quite this powerful.
At this time, Duke Ming, who had been standing by idly watching the show, revealed a sinister, cold smile as his eyes flashed. Before anyone could observe his movements, a wild gale blew and his entire person seemed to vanish from its original spot… An afterimage that moved so swiftly that the naked eye was unable to capture appeared behind the Little Demon Empress’ back.
Even though the Little Demon Empress had easily broken apart Duke Huai’s Flame Devil, she had put her all into that strike, not holding back in the slightest. Furthermore, Duke Ming’s profound strength was superior to hers by half a realm, so it was only when Duke Ming was within thirty meters of her that she detected his presence… But by then, it was far too late.
Bang!!!
An extremely ear-piercing shattering sound ripped through the air as the space around the Little Demon Empress fractured in an instant. The Demon Emperor’s Seal flew out, and under a strong attractive force, it instantly flew into Duke Ming’s hand… At the same time, an extremely violent windstorm smashed into the Little Demon Empress’ body. The Little Demon Empress gave a low groan as she was smashed a hundred meters away before finally coming to a halt.