Against the Gods (Web Novel)
chapter-532

Chapter 532 – Outside Demon Imperial City

The Yun Family that had been noisy the entire day, finally quietened down, but every Yun family member’s state of mind was still at a hard-to-calm excited state. Night quietly fell. The quiet within Demon Imperial City’s night was still the same as ever, seeming to not have been affected by the “great matter” which happened in Yun Family.

Yet news of Yun Qinghong and his wife having fully recovered their profound strength had already spread throughout the entire Demon Imperial City in the evening, causing great waves to occur in all the great clans and powers.

From the second day onward, Yun Family’s gate became exceedingly lively as an endless stream of people came to express their wishes to pay Yun Qinghong a visit. And every single person who came was possessed of a startling pedigree, yet every single one of them were politely declined. They were informed that the Patriarch would not be entertaining any guests for three days.

And the Clan Assembly which was supposed to be convened on the second day was pushed to after the third day on orders from Yun Qinghong.

Because this was the period of three days where Yun Qinghong knelt by Yun Canghai’s body, watching over it. And for the entirety of three days, he did not eat nor drink; did not move nor sleep. And Mu Yurou was by his side, accompanying him in kneeling and watching over Yun Canghai’s body; she did not leave his side at any moment.

If it was not for the important matter at hand, Yun Qinghong would have knelt for a month… Or maybe even longer than that.

However, the fact that Yun Canghai’s remains had been returned was not made public. Besides the four of them, no one else knew. And three days later, the Coffin of Eternity which held Yun Canghai’s remains was retrieved by Yun Che and put into the Sky Poison Pearl. Yun Qinghong did not object, because even though he did not know what Yun Che wanted to do, he believed in Yun Che; he believed in his own son.

As for the Mirror of Samsara, upon Yun Che stating that he was not willing to return it to the Demon Emperor Clan, Yun Qinghong only had a brief moment of hesitation. After that, he simply handed the the Mirror of Samsara back to Yun Che. His son had recently returned and his joy, comfort and contentment, coupled with the guilt and the debt he felt he owed Yun Che for the past twenty-plus years… All of this manifested itself as him and Mu Yurou not being willing to reject anything Yun Che wanted, no matter how overboard he went; even if it was to the point of violating some of their own principles.

And as for the fact that Yun Che was actually a scion of the Yun Family, this was only known by the four of them as well. Because once this matter had spread out, it would invariably lead to people connecting matters to the ‘Profound Sky Continent’ and this would lead to unpredictable trouble or even danger for the Yun Che who had just arrived at this time.

They would rather the people who had marked Yun Che and went to check on his background come up with nothing, so their hearts would be filled with misgivings and apprehension, and they would act with caution and prudence so as to not cause unwarranted damage.

And as the person who had rendered extraordinary service to the Yun Family by eradicating the root of their impending calamity, coupled with his status as the Patriarch’s godson, Yun Che’s approval rating within the Yun Family had risen exponentially. Even if the elders of the Yun Family saw him, they would greet him with faint smiles and display expressions filled with praise; there were even some who lavished him with generous praise when they saw him.

The night deepened and all was silent.

In the past few days, Yun Che did not go out much; he spent the majority of his time in the training room, concentrating on cultivating the Extreme Mirage Lightning movement skill while getting used to the weight of the Heaven Smiting Devil Slayer Sword.

“It’s about time to see the fruits of my training.” Yun Che mumbled to himself.

Bang!

The Frozen End Illusory Mirror was shattered by him. Yun Che exhaled lightly and the aura of profound energy that was emanating from his body began to swiftly recede. In the blink of an eye, it seemed as if all the energy that had been emanating outwards had disappeared. Forget about profound energy field, even the sound of his breathing and the beating of his heart seemed to have completely disappeared. If a person had his back faced towards Yun Che, he would not even be able to detect his presence at all.

Upon the activation of the skill ‘Hidden Flowing Lightning’, a considerable amount of profound energy was used to rigidly lock up his aura within his body. When he let the skill persist, it required a set amount of profound energy to continue functioning, but this amount of profound energy was so small that it could not even catch up to Yun Che’s profound energy recovery rate that was boosted by the Great Way of the Buddha. He maintained the concealed state bestowed by Hidden Flowing Lightning and changed into a set of black clothes. He exited the practice room, jumped onto the rooftop, and started moving after he had randomly chosen a direction.

Moreover, his current status in the Yun Family had received a huge boost, so even if he was discovered by other people, it would not be a huge deal. But what filled him with joy was that even though he had flown through a good half of the Yun Family grounds, not a single person had noticed his presence!

And this place was not some random ramshackle slum. It was filled with a countless number of strong individuals who stood at the peak of power. Even if you randomly picked one of them, that person was a member of the Yun Clan who could send shockwaves through the entire Illusory Demon Realm. In normal circumstances, the aura of a Sky Profound Realm practitioner could not even be hidden from a Emperor Profound Realm practitioner, so it was needless to say that an Overlord could do so as well. Everywhere else, Overlords were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns, but in Demon Imperial City, they practically littered the streets. And especially in the Yun Family, they were a dime a dozen. Yet Yun Che had circled the entire Yun Family holdings and not a single person had discovered his presence.

Yun Che had been on the run countless of times and his ability to conceal his presence was already extremely strong. Now with the aid of Hidden Flowing Lightning, the results had exceeded even his own expectations. Because even if Yun Qinghong wanted to tour around the Yun Family holdings without being detected and without arousing any attention, it was practically impossible.

“If I had learned this Hidden Flowing Lightning when I was in the Azure Cloud Continent, I would not have had to endure the misery of having to constantly be on the run!” Yun Che vented within his mind. After that, he directly exited the Yun Family holdings and entered Demon Imperial City, which was shrouded in night.

Even though Yun Che had been in the Demon Imperial City for two months, he spent practically all of this time helping Yun Qinghong and Mu Yurou make a full recovery, so he had never actually properly visited Demon Imperial City.

Even within the pitch-black of night, it was naturally hard to affect the vision of a strong profound practitioner. As Yun Che travelled north, he did not move at too fast of a pace, so he could maintain the greatest degree of concealment. On the journey, he felt the presences of many strong individuals, but not one of these strong individuals had discovered him. And after he had run his eyes over the Demon Imperial City which was submerged in the curtain of night, Yun Che finally could not resist testing out the power of Extreme Mirage Lightning. He fiercely exhaled, not caring that this would very likely cause others to perceive him. His body instantly seemed to have morphed into a bolt of lightning and he flew forward at great speed. In the blink of an eye, he had completely disappeared into the night.

If you were to consider instantaneous movement speed, Extreme Mirage Lightning naturally could not compete with Star God’s Broken Shadow, but not many profound movement skills could compare with it anyways. However, in terms of continuous movement speed, Star God’s Broken Shadow was also definitively outclassed by Extreme Mirage Lightning. As he flew, it was really as if he had become the image of lightning itself. Before he could even react, he had already moved past more than three hundred fifty meters of distance.

And in comparison to the speed that Hua Minghai had displayed to him while running away, his current speed had actually surpassed the standard that had been set back then.

After all, Yun Che’s current profound energy was far richer than Hua Minghai’s profound energy at that time.

Yun Che could not help but think… Hua Minghai had relied on the two skills Extreme Mirage Lightning and Hidden Flowing Lightning to become known as the number one thief in the Profound Sky, so now the current him… had he not surpassed Hua Minghai to become the new number one thief… Hmm?! No that’s not right, I am definitely not some thief!

Even though Yun Che had been cultivating Extreme Mirage Lightning for more than a month, because he did not want to attract any attention while he was in the Yun Family before this, he did not dare act indiscriminately, so even if he had performed the skill, it was only within the confines of the practice room. Now that he wantonly displayed its full capability, he unexpectedly needed a good long while to get used to the extreme speed that was produced. But under this extreme speed, it was as though he had become a gale of wind. The feeling that he had left the entire world eating his dust was incomparably refreshing, so Yun Che unwittingly stirred his profound energy and kept increasing the speed at which he was moving.

Whoosh!!!

Under the blanket of darkness, an old man who was walking along the streets of Demon Imperial City suddenly heard the sound of a violently rushing wind echo in the skies above. He raised his head, but that sound had already trailed off into the distance; he did not even see hide nor hair of the person who had just passed by.

“What, what a fast speed… Could it be that it is a Monarch from one of the big families?” The old man breathed excitedly.

Not only was the speed displayed by Extreme Mirage Lightning shocking beyond compare, the expenditure of profound energy was also far less than what he had expected. Yun Che had unknowingly already travelled more than one hundred fifty kilometers, and this entire process was done under the fastest speed he could travel. However, he did not feel the least bit tired, nor was he even short of breath.

Yun Che had finally come to a stop, but just as he was about to return, he suddenly realized that what laid in front of him was actually the tall city gates of Demon Imperial City.

According to the direction he had flown… This place was actually the northern gates of Demon Imperial City?

After roughly estimating the current time, Yun Che had become somewhat flabbergasted. Just this little time and effort, and he was actually already at the outskirts of Demon Imperial City… The speed of Extreme Mirage Lightning was simply akin to that of galloping lightning; it was fast to the point of being incomprehensible. And his own profound energy level was only at the peak of the Sky Profound Realm. But to be able to rush from the Yun Family household all the way to the northern gates of the Demon Imperial City within such a short span of time, this feat was only achievable by someone who, at the very least, had to be at the peak of the Tyrant Profound Realm!

When he had come to Demon Imperial City, he entered from the southern gates. And this place was at the other end of Demon Imperial City. Yun Che lapsed into thought, and then decided to abandon the notion of returning home. He decided to continue flying forward, and very soon, he flew out of the city limits, leaving Demon Imperial City.

“Where are you going?” The moment Yun Che had activated Extreme Mirage Lightning to move as swiftly as lightning, Jasmine had been startled awake from her sleep.

“Whoaa… Where is this place? It’s so black!” Hong’er had also been jostled awake. But Hong’er’s ability to sleep was far greater than Jasmine’s. Jasmine, in order to suppress the devilish poison within her body, had to sleep for around ten hours each day. But Hong’er had to sleep for at least twenty hours a day, and if she wasn’t woken up by her hunger, she could even sleep the entire day away.

“Xiao Yun had mentioned before that Golden Crow Lightning Flame Valley was directly north of Demon Imperial City, so if I keep travelling north from here, I might even be able to catch a glimpse of that place.” Yun Che replied.

“You want to go to Golden Crow Lightning Flame Valley? That place is known as the most important location in the entire Illusory Demon Realm, and even the Twelve Guardian Families are not normally allowed to enter. There will definitely be extremely strong guardians or restrictions lying in wait, so even if you can find it, what can you do?”

“I am only curious as to what sort of place it is exactly. After Xiao Yun had described it as being so mystical, it being the reason that there is such a big gap between the young generation of the Yun Family and the rest of the Guardian Families, all because the Yun Family was barred from entering it for one hundred years… Ah, I am only speaking casually. I don’t really want to find out the location of that place, and even if I do find it, I will not try to enter…”

“Because even if I want to enter, I want to enter that place with my head held up high! And go in together with Father, Mother and Xiao Yun!”

As he was speaking, Yun Che had unexpectedly already traversed over fifty kilometers. The clouds in the night sky had already vanished without him noticing and a bright, shining half-moon hung in the night sky, with the radiance of the moonlight dispelling a good part of the darkness. Underneath Yun Che was a plain of rolling green grass and he could hardly sense the presence of any people, demons or beasts. When he looked ahead, he only saw a vast, spacious emptiness.

“Strange, this place isn’t too far from Demon Imperial City, it isn’t remote nor wild, yet there isn’t a single person or demon to be found? Yun Che said in a mystified voice. After that he came to a realization, “Could it be that because Golden Crow Lightning Flame Valley was in this direction, no one is allowed to be in the vicinity?”

After chewing on this for a while, it ended up seeming to be the most suitable explanation.

“Master! Quick, look, that place is shiny! Is there something nice to eat there?!”

Hong’er’s excited and coquettish voice rang out. Yun Che looked down, and below him was indeed something that sparkled brilliantly. He said with a helpless expression on his face, “That is a small lake, it’s not something shiny! And it’s definitely not something delicious for you to eat!”

The surface of the lake reflected the moonlight, and under the curtain of night, it shone with an exceptional brilliance… For Hong’er, there were only two types of food, one was swords and the other was precious stones which shone with all kinds of light. And after Hong’er understood just what kind of food she liked to eat, by her definition, anything that was shiny, was definitely something nice to eat!

“Small lake? Oh….” Hong’er’s voice fell and her previous excitement completely died down.

“Yun Che, go down there and take a look.” Jasmine said suddenly.