Against the Gods (Web Novel)
chapter-567

Chapter 567 – Original Win

Not only was it the west wing, where the Yun Family was located, the whole hall was filled with the sound of people yelling for Yun Che to immediately abandon the competition. The whole world knew how terrifying Hui Ran was. Not only was his skill abnormally high, he was also extremely brutal and violent. People who faced him in the past were either killed or crippled; even a serious injury was considered as getting off easy.

No one would be willing to see a genius getting crippled under the hands of Hui Ran.

Those who knew about Duke Huai’s ambitions were extremely sure that if Hui Ran fought, he would definitely kill Yun Che right in the arena… now that Yun Che had almost used up all of his profound energy, he was half-kneeling on the ground. It would be impossible for him to even have any means to struggle.

The attitude Duke Huai had earlier, as if he was in control of everything, and his slight smile had already long disappeared. Since Yun Che won the third round, his expression had begun to look uneasy, and now it was even worse. The reason he suggested the competition between the east wing and west wing was to expel the Yun Family completely from the lineup of the Guardian Families, and at the same time step all over the momentum and dignity of the forces that were loyal to the Little Demon Empress.

After Su Zhizhan lost, he was laughing loudly in his heart, because everything was going just as he planned. This scenario of stomping all over his opponent had already made him picture himself becoming the Demon Illusory Emperor.

But now, he could laugh no longer.

The scenario of them enjoying the pleasure of torturing the other party and dominating was crushed single-handedly by Yun Che in an instant.

His Duke Huai Palace’s young duke and Duke Zhong Palace’s young duke used all of their powers and played all of their trump cards. However, not only were they unable to kill Yun Che as they wished, they all lost miserably, and were seriously injured by Yun Che.

Even though with Hui Ran on their side, their east wing would still win in the end, their goal of completely demolishing their opponent had completely failed; instead, they increased the other party’s momentum, and they even increased the Yun Family’s momentum. Duke Huai, who always had everything under control, failed completely this time, and he even felt regretful. If he had another chance, he would absolutely not instigate this competition.

While the whole audience was shouting for Yun Che to give up the last round, Duke Huai secretly gnashed his teeth. If they didn’t “accidentally” kill Yun Che in the arena today, where it would be “perfectly justifiable”, then it would be even harder to kill Yun Che with him standing with the Yun Family’s and with the Little Demon Empress’s most solid protection come tomorrow. By then, this Yun Che, whose talent and potential struck fear into even himself, Duke Huai, would certainly become a poisonous thorn in his heart. He wouldn’t be able to eat, sleep, or be calm for each day it still existed.

But no matter how much the whole audience yelled, there wasn’t any sign of Yun Che surrendering. After he violently gasped for breath for a while, he grabbed onto the handle of his sword and stood up slowly. He looked at the east wing, and said without rush, “Isn’t there still another person? Why hasn’t he come out yet? Did you guys run out of people qualified to be sent out?”

Once Yun Che’s words were spoken, everyone in the west wing was shocked. Even Su Xiangnan couldn’t care about anything else and started yelling loudly, “Yun Che, you have fought enough, don’t take on the last round.”

Greatest Ambition Under Heaven yelled directly at Yun Qinghong, “Qinghong, why haven’t you pulled that boy down from there?!”

However, Yun Qinghong did not speak.

The Little Demon Empress’ crescent brows slightly slanted, then she suddenly opened her mouth and said, “Yun Che, the skill of the last person on the other side who has yet to come out yet is much stronger than you imagine. You have already fought for five rounds in a row, have exhausted most of your profound energy, and have almost no strength to go on. Are you sure you still want to fight the last battle?”

Yun Che said without any hesitation, “Even though my strength was greatly exhausted, I haven’t lost yet. And since I haven’t lost yet, of course I will keep fighting! I, Yun Che, have lost before in this life, but I have never voluntarily surrendered before!”

The Little Demon Empress’ crescent eyebrows locked tightly, and her eyes deeply showed a sign of warning, “You think your persistence is noble? Hmph! A true man knows when to resist and when to yield, when to advance and when to retreat. There is no value at all in depending only on a rash persistence. Most of the time, it is only an action of a foolish death wish!”

The reminder in the Little Demon Empress’ words were clear enough, but Yun Che grinned and said, “I, Yun Che… have never thought of myself as a foolish person! Little Demon Empress, who are you to say that I will definitely lose my last round?”

Even with facing the Little Demon Empress watching him intently, Yun Che wouldn’t back off at all. The Little Demon Empress stopped saying anything else, silently gave Yun Qinghong a look, and said softly, “If you insist, then go on ahead.”

Duke Huai, whose heart was originally filled with hatred and annoyance, was relieved. He stared at Yun Che viciously, and started laughing coldly in silence, “This boy’s gifts and potential are really shocking, but he’s young and reckless after all. He doesn’t give up when there’s a way out… and deliberately courts death!”

Yun Che is, after all, from outside of Demon Imperial City. It is very likely for him to be unaware of how scary Hui Ran’s strength was, so he dreamed of using the last of his energy to make one last-ditch effort… Having thought of this, Duke Huai’s eyebrow’s twitched again… Why didn’t Yun Qinghong come forward and forcefully pull Yun Che from the fight?

Was it possible, that Yun Che still has a trump card?

Duke Huai locked his eyebrows and thought deeply. From the overall strength Yun Che had displayed in these five matches, to the changes in his breathing, to his exhausted state for which it was absolutely impossible to be an act, he thought for a good while, but still couldn’t think of any possibility for Yun Che to beat Hui Ran.

Unless the sky suddenly dropped a fierce lightning while the two of them were fighting and killed Hui Ran.

At this moment, he suddenly noticed Yun Qinghong’s tightly held left fist. Even though Yun Qinghong had sealed his profound energy tightly in his palms, after Duke Huai scouted with his mind congealing, he was still able to clearly feel an extremely high density of thunder profound energy.

That explained it. This Yun Che was too proud and arrogant, Yun Qinghong was afraid that if he forcefully pulled him out of the competition, it would hurt his dignity, and he would resent him, so he wanted to take action and rescue Yun Che the instant he was in danger fighting against Hui Ran…

Duke Huai immediately started laughing coldly. Since he knew about Yun Qinghong’s actions, he had absolute confidence that he would be able to stop him before he rescued Yun Che… He would be stopping him from taking the liberty of interfering with the competition, and stopping him would be perfectly justifiable!

“Ran’er… Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!!”

Duke Huai sending three consecutive “kill him” sound transmissions to Duke Hui Ran in a deep voice showed how strong his murderous intent was. As Duke Hui Ran’s father, he naturally knew best of Hui Ran’s temper… he was naturally cruel and brutal, his greatest pleasure came from torturing his opponent, but at the same time, he was also extremely arrogant. He almost never truly took anyone seriously, and because of this personality, when he faced Yun Che, it was very possible that he would arrogantly give him time to regain his strength, and disdain fighting against someone who was exhausted.

Therefore, he reminded him by saying “kill him” three times.

Hui Ran’s eyelids twitched when he received Duke Huai’s sound transmission. He scoffed lightly between his nostrils, and stood up slowly. Step by step, he walked towards the arena without a hurry.

From the moment that he stood up, he attracted everyone’s attention, and became the center of attention. He didn’t release any profound energy aura, but the people who were watching him clearly felt an extremely heavy pressure.

The expression of the people in the west wing who knew well of Hui Ran’s strength had all become stiff… However, up to when Hui Ran was standing right in front of Yun Che, Yun Che still hadn’t made any sign of surrendering as they had hoped. Instead, he was standing straight, and he gazed right into Hui Ran’s eyes.

“Please… do not get killed.” The several great Patriarchs could only sigh heavily in their hearts.

Hui Ran stood in front of Yun Che. His slightly narrowed eyes were flickering with an extremely dangerous light. His body was already unusually tall, on top of that, every single one of his muscle were popping out. Just his figure alone already imposed a fearful pressure. Even though he didn’t release his aura, there was an invisible pressure, and it had already heavily pressured on Yun Che’s heart and soul.

“This guy’s strength is no weaker than than that Number One Under Heaven from the elven race,” Jasmine said coldly. “You are far weaker than him. Even if you were in your best condition, there is no question that you would lose fighting against him, let alone now when you only have ten percent of profound energy and strength left.”

“I am indeed not as strong as him,” Yun Che replied while gasping for his breath, “But that doesn’t mean… I can’t beat him today!”

Jasmine scoffed softly and said, “Under the rule of leaving the arena would count as a loss, it is indeed possible for you to beat him… but you will need enough luck!”

“My luck has never been bad.”

“Hmph.” Duke Hui Ran scoffed softly in contempt and arrogance. He crossed his arms over his chest, and looked at Yun Che indifferently, “Since you were able to beat this duke’s younger brother, you barely qualify to be this duke’s opponent. This duke had always disdained fighting against someone who had already almost used up all of their profound energy, but you… are even more not worthy for this duke to waste time on.”

He didn’t take out a weapon, pointed at Yun Che with one finger, and ticked his finger in contempt, “You can attack now.”

“Heh,” Yun Che laughed coldly, laughing with even more scorn, “As expected, you Duke Huai Palace people are only a bunch of trash who are just talk. Even though now I only have less than ten percent of my profound energy, it is enough to beat trash like you.”

With Hui Ran’s strength and prestige, he had never had anyone say anything like that to him from birth to now. No one ever had the ability or the guts to be so presumptuous in front of him. Duke Hui Ran’s eyes slowly narrowed. He didn’t get mad, he just smiled lightly, as a cold glare of brutality flashed deep in his eyes, “With just you?”

Suddenly, Duke Huai’s sound transmission was sent to his ears, “Stop chitchatting with him and kill him immediately!”

“Yes! With just me!”

Followed by a “clang”, Yun Che pulled out his heavy sword from the ground. A type of heavy yet insolent might was instantly released, and it made Hui Ran twitch his eyebrows slightly… but it merely made him twitch his eyebrows, it was still followed by a contempt wry smile.

Yun Che seemed to have not realized entirely that his strength was not enough to threaten Hui Ran at all. He raised his heavy sword and roared deeply, “Let me see how long you can stand under the attack of my sword! Haah!!”

Yun Che took a step, swung his heavy sword, and his whole person was as like an arrow shooting towards Hui Ran. His movement also made the expressions of everyone in the west wing extremely stiff. The several great Patriarchs had all stood up, and everyone’s expression was incredibly nervous. Even though Yun Qinghong didn’t stand up, his left hand had already been quietly placed in a horizontal pose before his body.

A wave of raging storm came head on, causing Hui Ran’s clothes to flutter and make noise. Even though Yun Che had exhausted most of his strength, the power of the heavy sword was still extremely fierce. However, this didn’t make Hui Ran show any expression of concern. He raised his right arm without hurry, and spread his fingers… he was actually going to catch Yun Che’s heavy sword in his palms. The corner of his mouth showed a disdainful light smile, “Heh, you’re overestimating yourself.”

Everyone in the hall clearly saw just how scary Yun Che’s heavy sword was before, and were even frightened by it. But no one thought that Hui Ran’s actions which seemed extremely careless were made because Hui Ran had a death wish… because with Hui Ran’s powers, he really had the ability to do so.

Hui Ran’s actions made Yun Che slightly locked his eyebrows. While he was shifting his position in extreme speed, he was closing in on Hui Ran. In a blink of eye, there was only six meters left of distance between them. At this moment, Yun Che’s figure suddenly slowed down slightly, and his eyes immediately released a mysterious, azure light. An azure dragon’s silhouette appeared and flashed behind Yun Che, followed by a prestigic, domineering dragon roar that shook the entire universe as it came from the sky.

“Dragon Soul Domain!!”

To keep his mind’s energy consumption to the minimum, this Dragon Soul Domain only cover up to thirty-three meters, but that dragon god cry which came from the Primordial Azure Dragon still sounded throughout the entire Demon Imperial City, and violently shook the heart and soul of everyone in this hall.

Especially the demon race who bore the bloodlines of beasts, under the dragon god cry of the king of all beasts, every one of them were shocked, and their souls involuntarily trembled. As a race of true dragons, everyone from the Chiyang Family expressed panic on their faces. Their dragon souls were agitated; they almost wanted to kneel on the ground and begin worshiping.

“This… This… What is that!!”

“It’s… a dragon cry?!”

A pair of azure eyes that were as deep as the sky and as bright as the stars opened up three feet above Yun Che’s head. Under the dragon cry which shook the skies and the terrorizing strength of the dragon soul, Duke Hui Ran’s whole body was trembling. His expression instantly became stiff, then was followed by a strong feeling of fear. His pupil showed rapid shrinking, and even his body appeared to be trembling slightly…

Even if Yun Che’s strength was far weaker than Hui Ran’s; even if Yun Che was already extremely exhausted, this soul deterrence came from the soul of the Dragon God… With Hui Ran’s powers, even if he had mental resistance, it was still impossible for him to defend at all, let alone now, when he wasn’t on guard at all!

“Purgatory!!”

Facing the powerful Hui Ran, even if he was sunk within the Dragon Soul Domain, Yun Che still had to be cautious. He gathered all of his powers, and the silhouette of the phoenix flickered and appeared on his body. The phoenix’s cry hissed in the sky as it used speed and power that was several times stronger than before, and violently attacked towards Hui Ran.

“Get down there… Empyrean Dance of the Phoenix Wing!!”

In terms of strength, Hui Ran was hands down stronger than Yun Che, but when danger was approaching, he abruptly woken up a little as he reached out his arms difficulty, and blocked the front of his body… However, after thirty percent of him had woken up, the other seventy percents were of fear and the collapse of his faith. His defensive powers weren’t even at thirty percent of his usual. He was only able to brace himself for an instant, then got harshly knocked out under the violent shock of the Empyrean Dance of the Phoenix Wing…

Yun Che was knocked backwards from the aftershock, but before he even landed, the Heaven Smiting Sword had already swung out once more. An azure wolf with scarlet flames tore through space, and ruthlessly attacked Hui Ran, who was still upside down in the air.

“Phoenix Sky Wolf Slash!!”

Like a meteor flying through the enormous Demon Imperial Hall, the Empyrean Dance of the Phoenix Wing followed tightly by the Phoenix Sky Wolf Slash blew Duke Hui Ran’s whole body across half the Demon Imperial Hall, across the seats, causing him to crash severely into the eastern walls of the hall. Followed by a violent quake in the hall, Duke Hui Ran’s whole body was smashed into the east wall, as countless of cracks spread crazily.