Against the Gods (Web Novel)
chapter-564

Chapter 564 – Duke Yuan Que

He defeated Jiufang Yu, defeated Xiao Donglai, defeated Chiyang Yanwu… and now, he had won once again, defeating Duke Hui Ye. In every single match, all those who were present were convinced of Yun Che’s imminent defeat. To be able to enter this Demon Imperial Hall, every person present had to first be at the summit of Illusory Demon Realm and every single one of them had an extremely high status and authority, especially those seniors who had already lived for a few hundred years, or even a few thousand years. All of them possessed great discernment and all of them had been through extensive experiences. But in the end, they made the wrong judgement again and again, and each time this happened, they went pale with shock.

Perhaps, in the entire history of the Illusory Demon Realm, Yun Che was the first person to accomplish such a thing.

Duke Hui Ye had fallen in defeat, so the opponent Yun Che should face next was Duke Yuan Que; the person that no one thought would even have the opportunity to take the stage.

“Father, Big Brother looks like he has exhausted a large amount of energy. The Under Heaven Family has a special Profound Recovering Pellet. I will immediately go get one from them,” Xiao Yun said as he stood up.

Yun Qinghong extended his arm and grabbed him while gently shaking his head, “The competition that takes place during a Demon Imperial/Emperor Ceremony has historically never allowed the use of any medical pellets.”

“Then… then what can we do now?” Xiao Yun’s expression turned anxious. Even though Yun Che still stood up straight as an arrow, anyone could see the sweat drenching his face. Moreover, his face was flushed red and his breathing was exceptionally rough. He had just won a big victory over Duke Hui Ye, but it was clear that he exhausted a lot of energy as well.

Yun Qinghong furrowed his brows in concentration; he knew that Xiao Yun was worried that Yun Che’s remaining strength was insufficient and that he would unwittingly be ensnared by his next opponent’s evil scheme. He gently said, “Relax, even though your big brother’s words and actions appear extremely arrogant, he is definitely not a reckless person. This is especially so in matters concerning his own life and death. The fact that he has chosen to remain in the arena shows that he still has an ace up his sleeve.”

A person descended from the air in front of Yun Che. He was dressed in wine-red battle attire and his face contained seven parts arrogance and three parts dignity. Facing the Yun Che who had seriously injured Duke Hui Ye, his heart could not help but quicken slightly, even though Yun Che had clearly exhausted a large amount of profound energy.

“Duke Yuan Que?” Yun Che’s brows jumped, and even though he faced a member of the Illusory Demon Seven Scions whose ranking surpassed Duke Hui Ye, his face did not show a single trace of anxiety. It was almost as if he was not aware that his profound energy had been depleted.

“Indeed, it is this duke!” Duke Yuan Que’s finger brushed across the spatial ring he was wearing and a silver-colored long spear appeared in his hand. His arm swept out and fire began to spread on the body of his spear, “Prepare to die!”

If you were to compare the arrogance and haughtiness of Duke Hui Ye and Duke Yuan Que, as both of them were Dukes and ranked within the top three of the Illusory Demon Seven Scions, Duke Yuan Que was definitely not inferior to Duke Hui Ye. In fact, if he had headed out to battle before Duke Hui Ye, he would likely have been even more arrogant in front of Yun Che than Duke Hui Ye had been. But after Hui Ye’s miserable defeat, it was impossible for him to not be deeply shocked, so there was no way he could still have the mood to display his arrogance.

But even more importantly, he did not dare waste any more time, as he did not want to give Yun Che time to recover… when comparing their strengths, even though he was superior to Duke Hui Ye, it was only by half a level. Duke Hui Ye’s miserable defeat and serious wounds made it so that he could not help but feel apprehensive now that he was facing Yun Che. Duke Hui Ye had already been reduced to Yun Che’s stepping stone on his path to glory… If, by chance, he was defeated as well, then he, too, would become yet another stepping stone for Yun Che.

As a duke of the Illusory Demon Royal Family, how could he tolerate such a thing happening to him?

Therefore, when Duke Yuan Que attacked, he did so with all of his might.

Duke Yuan Que let out a huge yell and flames flared up all around his body. An aura that felt as boundless as the ocean welled up and rushed forth without restraint. The fierceness of this aura caused countless powerful currents to form and surge violently within the great hall. These currents impacted the air and caused the space within the hall to violently reverberate.

All the profound practitioners within the great hall felt a dull pressure on their chests, as if a heavy iron plate had been laid on top of them, and they were unable to breathe for quite a while. Those who had a comparatively weaker profound strength had to hurriedly erect profound energy barriers as their eyes were filled shock and terror.

“What… What a fearsome aura.”

“He is indeed worthy to be ranked number two amongst the Illusory Demon Seven Scions. Just based on this profound energy aura alone, he is definitely superior to Duke Hui Ye.”

“Such a fearsome strength, Yun Che should… he should not be able to win again, right?”

The aura that Duke Yuan Que exuded as he unleashed his full power caused the hearts of all of the younger generation to tremble and be filled with fear. It caused the seniors who had great strength to be fiercely moved. However, not a single person dared to loudly assert that Yun Che was doomed to lose… Even in this case, where it was obvious that Yun Che had very clearly exhausted a lot of his profound strength.

Because Yun Che had caused them to be completely dumbfounded four times in a row, coupled with the two sword moves he had used to defeat Duke Hui Ye, this brought about a shock to their system which was simply too intense.

Yun Che was the one who was closest to Duke Yuan Que, so naturally he was the one who experienced the full weight of the pressure caused by Duke Yuan Que’s aura. However, the Yun Che that Duke Yuan Que was staring wore a calm expression on his face and he hardly seemed moved at all. Furthermore, the scarlet greatsword in front of Yun Che did not exude any aura at all, but it made Duke Yuan Que feel as if he was facing an unmoving and majestic mountain, whose peaks were too high to reach.

This feeling was caused an extremely unbearable feeling to manifest in Duke Yuan Que’s heart. He gave low yell and he took a step forward.

The incomparably hard and durable black profound stone was actually directly crushed underfoot. This single step seemed to step on the entire audience’s heart and it caused every single one of them to feel a jolt in their hearts.

“Purgatory Helix!”

Duke Yuan Que thrust his spear out and a column of spear energy that was thicker than three meters shot out, and it burned fiercely and carried a scorching hot storm which rent the air as it rushed towards Yun Che. Wherever this beam of spear energy passed, it would cause layer upon layer of cuts to appear on the black profound stone floor as it shaved off an inch of the black stone. If this were just ordinary earth, there would have been huge, deep trenches carved into the ground long ago .

Facing this spear thrust which exuded such a terrifying aura, Yun Che’s gaze grew concentrated and he grabbed up the Heaven Smiting Sword with both hands. The sword blade carried a tyrannical aura that it did not display before as it smashed down with a loud bang. This stroke of the sword, which did not look the least bit elegant, brought along a world-shaking energy explosion, and chaotic energy waves swept out and engulfed the arena as the floor beneath Yun Che’s feet instantly broke apart.

Booom…

The giant sword collided directly with the spear thrust and in an instant, all the sound in the world seemed to have been completely devoured and an extremely gigantic profound energy storm violently burst apart. A large area of the floor of Demon Imperial Hall broke apart and jade fragments swirled in the air.

Cries of alarm soon rang out and blanketed the area as the surrounding profound practitioners hurriedly shielded themselves with profound energy. There were a few people who received a heavy impact and were thrown out of their seats. There were also those who had weaker profound strengths, and this impact caused them internal injuries and they vomited blood on the spot.

The Little Demon Empress stood up as her brows sank, and with a flick of her voluminous grey sleeve, she immediately erected a wall of crimson flames taller than thirty-five meters that surrounded the arena. In the instance that the flames began to burn, the profound energy storm that was raging across the great hall was firmly confined within the circle of flames, and not even a trace of energy leaked out anymore.

The audience who were seated close to and around the arena recovered their calm, and once they turned back toward the arena, their gazes were filled with terror.

When Duke Yuan Que attacked, he had done so at full force. Even though his name had shaken the heavens for many years, the power that he displayed when he attacked was still beyond the imaginations of anyone who had witnessed it for the first time. This was especially so for the strong individuals from outside the Demon Imperial City, as they could scarcely believe this power had come from such a young person.

But even facing such an attack as this one… Yun Che could actually still met it!

Duke Yuan Que personally witnessed his own spear energy beam being destroyed with just one sword stroke from Yun Che… Only one sword stroke. Yun Che was still standing at his original position and his feet had not even retreated half a step. Before Duke Yuan Que even had the time to be shocked, a figure suddenly blurred into existence in front of him, and that vermillion greatsword had abruptly cleaved down right in front of him.

Duke Yuan Que’s pupils shrunk and the silver spear in his hand fiercely shot out, but before the spear could complete its movement, the spear slash had already collided with the Heaven Smiting Sword.

Scree!

To no one’s surprise, Duke Yuan Que’s spear beam was shattered by the Heaven Smiting Sword like so much thin glass, and it did not even create any resistance as the sword sailed through it with a loud explosion. Duke Yuan Que desperately poured all the profound energy in his body into the silver spear as he gritted his teeth and blocked the onrushing Heaving Smiting Sword.

Boom!!!

With a giant ring, the Heaven Smiting Sword heavily smashed into the horizontal section of the silver spear that was being held by Duke Yuan Que, and the silver spear immediately bent to a great degree. An incomparably violent heavy sword energy traveled from the silver spear directly into Duke Yuan Que’s body… In that instant, Duke Yuan Que’s gaze darkened, his entire body shook, and he felt as if all the bones in his body were going to shatter into fragments. He felt as if he was not receiving a blow from a sword, but instead a thirty thousand meter tall mountain had fiercely smashed into his body. He had been smashed with such force that he could only endure it for that instant and in the next moment, he fiercely shot through the air.

The boundaries of the arena had been set and once a competitor exceeded those boundaries, it would signal his defeat. The flying Duke Yuan Que widened his eyes and he let out a low roar that sounded like the howl of a wild beast. As he was flying, he thrust his spear towards the ground. The body of the spear sank deep into the ground and both his hands held onto the spear in a death grip while he forcibly slowed down the speed of his flying body. By the time his body had finally stopped, he was no further than one meter away from the boundary of the arena, and in front of him was an incomparably straight pitch black trench which stretched one hundred meters; the trench had been caused by his silver spear plowing into the ground.

That sword smash from Yun Che was so strong that he needed to fly at least five kilometers away before he could reduce the strength of that blow. Due to the fact that he could not leave the arena, he had to forcibly endure all of the energy of that attack, and it caused all the energy and blood in his body to fluctuate wildly. He calmed down his own agitated blood and energy flow, but his right hand, which held the silver spear, still trembled steadily, and his complexion looked incomparably awful.

Before this, he still had countless suspicions over how Yun Che had used a mere two sword moves to heavily injure Duke Hui Ye, given Duke Hui Ye’s power and his profound armor. Now that he had experienced the fearsomeness of Yun Che’s heavy sword, he had come to realize that Duke Hui Ye’s heavy injuries and crushing defeat were not the least bit unjustified. If not for the profound armor’s protection, it was highly possible that he could have just died miserably then and there.

Yun Che did not take advantage of the situation to pursue and attack his opponent; instead, his chest rose and fell violently. Today was the first day he had used truly used the Heaven Smiting Devil Slaying Sword in a real fight. The degree of strength it displayed had caused him to exclaim silently to himself in glee but the amount of physical and profound energy it took to handle this sword was more than ten times the amount he used to handle Dragon Fault. He came to the realization that even though he had shattered Duke Yuan Que’s spear energy with one slash and sent him flying with another, just these two slashes were enough to cause his body to experience a momentary feeling of emptiness… He was very clear that given his current physical and profound power, handling the Heaven Smiting Devil Slaying Sword was still a bit of a reach.

Even though it allowed him to display an incomparably huge and tyrannical might in the instant his sword struck, it also wore him down by a huge margin… it could completely be labeled as a form of disguised overdraft.

It looks like I still have to find a way to raise my profound strength as quickly as possible…. Yun Che thought silently.

Even though Yun Che was the clear winner of the last clash, he was also very aware that given his present condition, beating Duke Yuan Que would be no easy feat. After all, he was still at the peak of the sixth level of the Tyrant Profound Realm and his profound energy was extremely robust and solid. Even though he had been sent flying by Yun Che’s sword, the silver spear in his hand had resisted at least fifty percent of that blow’s strength, and that spear had never left his hand since the beginning.

Duke Yuan Que stood up and his complexion was extremely dark and gloomy. His eyes flashed for a moment, then, he suddenly grinded his teeth together. As if he had made some sort of resolution, he violently pulled the silver spear from the ground with his left hand while his right arm also made an abrupt flourish. Following a flash of black light, an entirely jet-black long spear appeared in his right hand.

“Ah? Two spears? Could it be that he wants to use two spears at the same time?”

Duke Yuan Que gave a huge roar and all the muscles in his body suddenly twitched strangely at the same time. The twitching began to increase in intensity, and following that, the sound of joints exploding rang through the air with a series of successive bangs and pops. At the same time, the already shocking aura that he exuded suddenly increased dramatically by several times.

An extremely intense profound energy flooded out to collide directly with him and this caused the charging Yun Che to take half a step backwards as his brows sank. The profound energy protecting his body began to make a series of chaotic popping and hissing noises… and it was just this explosive aura that nearly caused the profound energy protecting his body to be torn apart.

Duke Yuan Que’s aura still continued to rapidly strengthen, and at this moment, his forehead, the back of his hands, his arms, and his chest became layered with fine, dark gray scales; these scales looked like dragon scales.

Even though Duke Yuan Que had inherited a thin amount of the Demon Emperor’s bloodline, his biological mother was the Chiyang Clan’s current Patriarch’s, Chiyang Bailie’s, own sister, so he had ninety percent of the Scorching Sunfire Dragon bloodline. Based on the thickness of his bloodline alone, Duke Yuan Que’s main bloodline was not that of the Demon Emperor’s bloodline, but of the Scorching Sunfire Dragon’s instead!