Against the Gods (Web Novel)
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chapter-410
Night gradually fell, Yun Che followed the man toward a place at the edge of Divine Phoenix City’s southern region.
“Why… Why are you helping me?” The man asked cautiously after being silent for a long period of time. Like Yun Che, he was a person who had been in innumerable life and death situations before, his perceptiveness and wariness were no less inferior to Yun Che. Thus, he could tell with a single glance if someone possessed evil intentions or was conspiring against him. However, he couldn’t find any trace of malice or conspiracy on Yun Che.
“Just treat it as my doctor’s heart suddenly reawakening after a long period of silence.” Yun Che said as he secretly sighed in his heart… Having a doctor’s heart that loved everything under the heavens and helped the people, that had made up his entire soul back then, and was the core part of what his Master had taught him. But once his Master had been forced to death, his doctor’s heart had been replaced by endless hatred. After that, he had never used his medical expertise to save anyone.
“Err…” This answer confused the man.
“You said that you had obtained half a stalk of Phoenix Helianthus?” Yun Che casually asked.“Yes.” The man nodded: “Every year, the quantity of Phoenix Helianthus that sprouts is already very few, and most are usually immediately seized by Divine Phoenix Sect, so I could only infiltrate one of Divine Phoenix Sect’s treasure halls. But many protective profound formations are littered everywhere there, just as soon as I went in, I accidentally touched one of them and had no choice but to escape… Luckily, before I escaped, I already had that half stalk of Phoenix Helianthus in hand. I believe the reason why I could so easily steal it, was because since that half stalk of Phoenix Helianthus had already lost too much of its medicinal force, it had been casually tossed on top of a jade cabinet.
Yun Che’s steps slowed as he said with shock: “You… infiltrated Divine Phoenix Sect?”
“Yeah.” Hearing the shock in Yun Che’s voice, the man slapped his chest while proudly nodding: “In this world, aside from the Four Great Sacred Grounds and Black Moon Merchant Guild, there has never been a place I have not snuck into. Even though they discovered me… Heh heh, they couldn't even manage to touch my butt before I disappeared from their sights without leaving even a trace.”
Yun Che: “...”
This man said that one of his ancestors had infiltrated Sun Moon Divine Hall, which had also shocked him, and the man himself beside him… He was about to steal into Divine Phoenix Sect, yet had escaped without a single injury after being discovered...
Who… the heck...
The man’s voice lowered, as he said with a distressed face: “When I stole into Divine Phoenix Sect, I originally wanted to secretly check out the legendary Princess Snow, but she just had to happen to not be there. I heard a few people discussing… and it seems like she had went to some Perching Phoenix Valley.”“Princess Snow?” Yun Che raised his brows: “One of Divine Phoenix Sect’s princesses, right?”
After Yun Che finished speaking, he saw the man’s eyes widen. That expression… was as if he was examining an alien.
“Could it be… that you don’t know Princess Snow?” The man said with wide eyes.
“Is this Princess Snow… really famous?” Yun Che asked back.
Yun Che’s unchanging expression did not have the least bit of falsehood. The man swept him up and down with his gaze, then used an extremely expression to once again size Yun Che up again. That gaze… was totally not a gaze that was looking at a living person: “Holy cow! You’re serious? You seriously don’t know Princess Snow? As expected, y-y-y-y-you’re not someone from Divine Phoenix Empire! Ah, no wait! Even if you’re not from Divine Phoenix Empire, even if you’re from a remote mountain region in another nation, it’s impossible for you to not know Princess Snow!”
Yun Che: “...”
This was indeed the first time he had ever heard of the name Princess Snow.
“Then… have you ever heard of the name ‘Hua Minghai’?” The man’s eyes flashed.
“Hua Minghao? Never heard of it before, is it another famous person?” Yun Che asked.
“Holy cow!!” The man hopped up and roared with bared teeth: “I-i-i-it’s whatever if you don’t know Princess Snow, but you actually have never heard of the great Hua Minghai! He’s the legendary ‘Ghost Mirage Sacred Hand’, the most awesome person in all of Profound Sky Continent… Cough cough, one of them. Let alone humans, even a fish in mud would know of this great name, how could there exist a person who has never heard of that name!!”
“Ghost Mirage Sacred Hand? What a terrible nickname.” Yun Che curled his lips.
“~！#￥%……” The muscles on the man’s face twitched, and looked as if he wanted to fight to the death with Yun Che: “You couldn’t have come here from another world, could you?”
Yun Che turned around, and nodded seriously: “You can believe that.”
“F*ck!”
“You can’t be… that ‘Ghost Mirage Sacred Hand’ Hua Minghai, could you?” Yun Che gave him a new measuring look.
“Right, that’s me!” Hua Minghai patted his chest, then the corner of his eyes twitched uncontrollably. Holy f*ck… this was the first time he had revealed his own name to someone… yet this person had actually never heard of him before!
“Oh, I understand.” Yun Che asked flatly: “Then should I call you Little Hua or Little Hai?”
“...Just call me Little Hai.” Hua Minghai was about to cry. No matter how you put it, I’m almost thirty years ago, and this kid’s obviously not even twenty years of age.
“Talk to me about Princess Snow, why is so so famous?” Yun Che asked with some curiosity.
“Cough cough, you don’t want to know about Ghost Mirage Sacred Hand’s past achievements first?”
“Nope.”
“！#￥%……” Hua Minghai sucked in a death breath. Only after using all of his willpower to finally calm down did he answer: “Princess Snow is Divine Phoenix Empire’s treasure, the Divine Phoenix Spirit’s darling, and the miracle the heavens have bestowed upon Divine Phoenix. These were all her previous nicknames, and no one had seen her before. In the year Princess Snow turned thirteen, she had appeared on top of Divine Phoenix City’s tower because of some ceremony. That year, the Divine Phoenix City that had never seen even a bit of snow had unexpectedly seen snow descend from the sky; Princess Snow appeared, and the entire place had become a field of silence. Everyone who had gaze upon her had become dazed on the spot, as if they had seen a fairy descend to the mortal realm… On the very next day, she had been dubbed as Profound Sky’s number one beauty. It was unprecedented, and even those who were qualified to be mentioned in the same breath as her did not exist.”
“Thirteen years old? Profound Sky’s number one beauty?”
“Yes, back then, Princess Snow was only thirteen years old. She ought to be sixteen this year, so her beauty definitely should have increased. Unfortunately, aside from her surfacing three years ago, she had never come out in front of others. Nobody knows how Princess Snow looks like now.” Hua Minghai said with a face full of yearning.
“You’ve seen her three years ago?” Yun Che asked.
“No, I’ve only heard it from people…”
Yun Che smirked: “Then how do you know she’s beautiful to such an extent? For women, if you’re talking about thirteen years old, let alone mature, she hasn’t even blossomed yet. No matter how good-looking she is, how beautiful could she possibly be?” When he spoke till here, Yun Ch paused, because he thought about Jasmine... The first time he had met Jasmine, she was only thirteen as well, and the blow she gave Yun Che had even surpassed Xia Qingyue…
But Jasmine was a completely different kind of category that couldn’t be examined based on this world’s standards. How could that so called “Princess Snow” possibly be mentioned in the same breath as her?
As far as snow descending from the sky, that’s even more nonsensical. Divine Phoenix City is summer all year round, where would snow come from? I’d reckon that the title of number one beauty and snowfall stuff were all fabricated from Divine Phoenix Sect to strengthen its prestige.”
“But, everyone all says that...”
“I only believe things that I see with my own eyes, not what I hear.” Yun Che said slowly: “If you were to say the number one beauty in the world, I think that only my wife deserves this title… Who doesn’t know how to self-proclaim stuff like that?”
“Hmph…” Hua Minghai snorted softly, then said: “I heard that in this Seven Nation Ranking Tournament, Princess Snow will appear. At that time, I’m definitely going to mix in with the crowd to check out how Princess Snow looks like, are you interested?”
“Not interested.”
“……”
In the very edge of one of Divine Phoenix City’s corners. Hua Minghai’s footsteps stopped in front of an abandoned looking little house. He stopped breathing, quickly surveyed the surroundings, and whispered: “It’s right here… follow me in.”
The door opened and a strong scent of medicine assaulted over. This place was obviously a temporary residence; its furnishing was very simple. Purple crystals were on top of the little bed on the side, flickering with purple light. These purple crystal lights were deep and illusory, and peacefully lying on top of the purple crystals was a thin woman. Once she heard the door open, the woman stirred, and let out a weak yet eager sound: “Husband… you’re… back…”
This voice made Hua Minghai tremble all over. He hastily rushed over, threw himself in front of the bed, and said emotionally: “Xiaoya, you’re awake… I’m so sorry that I wasn’t here by your side when you woke up, I must have scared you… How do you feel? Does it hurt a lot?”
Yun Che walked in with light steps and stood behind Hua Minghai as he looked at the woman’s face… She had been reduced to an extremely thin and weak state, her face was pale without color, her eyes were half opened, and exuded a misty gaze… This kind of gaze was one that could not see anything.
The most conspicuous thing on her face was on her forehead… there was an obvious deep dark blue seal there.
Seeing this dark blue color, Yun Che’s brows slightly wrinkled.
“No problem… I’ve only just woken up… I feel… a lot better…” The woman tried her best to smile. At this time, her eyes finally caught a vague human silhouette. She said softly: “Husband… do we have… a guest?”
Without waiting for Hua Minghai to speak, Yun Che had already answered: “Hello… My name is Ling Yun, I’m Hua Minghai’s friend.”
“Friend…”
Yun Che’s following words had actually made the woman’s eyes light up with a peculiar gleam. She said excitedly: “You’re really Husband’s friend? Husband… is he really… your friend?”
Yun Che was slightly stunned, but Hua Minghai knew why she was so moved. He nodded forcefully: “Mn! Xiaoya, he’s a friend I made outside… If he’s not a friend, how could he possible know that my name is Hua Minghai.”
“Friend… Husband’s friend…” She laughed, her smiling expression was pale yet blissful. She gently repeated: “Husband has a friend… Husband really has a friend…”
“...” Yun Che secretly heaved out a breath, and took a step forward: “Not only am I Little Hai’s friend, I’m also a doctor. The reason why I have come with Little Hai here is also to see if I can cure your illness… Little Hai, step aside first, let me see her condition.”
After hearing that, Hua Minghai quickly stepped aside, as both his eyes stared straight at Yun Che: “Big bro! Please, you have to use all your power to save Xiaoya. If you really can save her…”
In front of Xiaoya, Hua Minghai was unable to say the words that came next. Even though he knew that he was older than Yun Che by at least ten years, the word “big bro” came from his soul. If Yun Che truly could save her, let alone “big bro”, even if he had to call him “grandpa” his entire life, he would be perfectly willing. And he was already grateful that Yun Che was even willing to come here with him.
“Of course I’ll do all I can.” Yun Che said calmly. Then, he walked over to the front of the bed as his gaze fell upon her forehead… Manifested on the space between her brows was the terrifying dark blue cold poison that had infected her body. It was almost about to enter her brain.
All the purple colored crystals beneath her were priceless, because each one of them were the purest Purple Veined Heaven Crystals! Her body was extremely worn out, and the main reason why she had lived past so many years under the terrifying cold poison was because half her body was bundled with those Purple Veined Heaven Crystals.
“My name is… Ru Xiaoya, can I… also call you big bro?” As Yun Che gazed at her, she suddenly asked in a weak voice.
“...Mn.” Yun Che nodded in response.
“Thank you... Big bro…”
“Why are you thanking me?” Yun Che asked.
“Thank you… for becoming Little Hai’s friend.” Ru Xiaoya said with grateful sincerity: “These years… to extend my life… Husband did not hesitate to abandon the family doctrine of robbing the rich to help the poor… and went everywhere to steal many elixirs and Purple Veined Heaven Crystals… because of me… he doesn’t have any friends… and also could not… have any friends…”
“I don’t want to burden him anymore… but, I’m also scared of dying… because if I die… Husband will truly be alone… He finally… has… a… big brother… good…”
Ru Xiaoya’s voice grew increasingly softer, until she finally lost consciousness. She was too weak, and saying so many words had consumed an enormous amount of energy.
