Against the Gods

NEW NOVEL: First and foremost, I'm delighted to announce that our long-time veteran translator littleshanks has finally launched his new novel, Rise!  Rise is a novel about the esports scene in Shanghai, the competitive gaming capital of China. It follows the story of Lin Feng, a boy who has just moved to the city for his last year of high school. He's a passionate gamer and dreams of being the best professional League of Legends player in the world. The twist? He almost achieved his dream, but failed at the...

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Chapter 560 - Fallen Flame Devil Art

“Be careful, the profound art this person cultivates seems a bit strange and the potency of his Golden Crow bloodline is one-fourth that of the Little Demon Empress. If you do not use your heavy sword, he will not be so easy for you to deal with,” Jasmine said out of the blue.

Jasmine was the one who was most clear about Yun Che’s true ability, so there was no way Yun Che would not take her warning seriously. Yun Che gave a gentle nod of his head in response.

After hearing Yun Che’s words, Duke Hui Ye gave a bland laugh, “This duke had always regarded himself as an arrogant man, but this is the first time in my life that I have ever seen someone that is actually more arrogant than I am. To think that this person would display such arrogance before this duke himself.”

Yun Che nodded his head and said in a most sincere voice, “I understand, I understand completely. Lord Hui Ye has probably never gone out of Demon Imperial City in his lifetime, so it is only natural that your knowledge and experience is narrow and shallow. There seems to be a few proverbs regarding this… they seem to be something along the lines of viewing the sky from the bottom of a well or having a ludicrous conceit as great as Yelang. These words simply fit you all too well. His Highness Hui Ye should learn some self-reflection and self-development, and after this, you should go out to see more of the world yourself. If not, even if you don’t mind being laughed at, the feeling of slapping your own face is really not a good feeling.”

If someone were to compare the experience between Yun Che and Hui Ye, Hui Ye would fall far short. In terms of his ability to scold or mock others, he would not even be able to touch the soles of Yun Che’s feet. The bland smile on his face stiffened instantly and a cold light flashed from his eyes as he said in a cold, disdainful voice, “If you had just remained an honest fool, this duke would not even deign to spare you a single glance. With your ability, you might be able to garner a bit of fame for yourself in the future. However, you insist on seeking your own death… and to continue speaking to a feckless fool such as yourself is simply a waste of my time and my breath… This duke is going to simply rip your mouth off!”

Duke Hui Ye’s right arm shot out with his hand in the shape of a claw as all the profound energy in his body surged. Before he had made any other movements, a cluster of reddish-black flames appeared in the air thirty-five meters in front of him and fiercely exploded towards Yun Che’s face.

The Golden Crow Flame was not an ordinary profound flame, so the color of its flames would not manifest the same changes that normal profound flames would as one’s profound strength rises. Low-grade Golden Crow Flames were the same as low-grade Phoenix Fire, as both would appear a scarlet red with some faint gold streaks mixed in it. The thicker one’s Golden Crow bloodline was, the thicker the gold color in the flames would be and the purest Golden Crow Flames were a pure golden color.

Duke Hui Ye possessed the Golden Crow bloodline, so he could naturally produce low-grade Golden Crow Flames, but the flames he had produced in this instant… were instead a strange crimson-black color! And it was the black color which was dominant. The flames speeding towards him did not cause Yun Che to feel a burning hot sensation; instead, they radiated a gloomy and sinister cold which pierced the bone and bored into the heart. Wherever those red-black flames landed, the incomparably tough and durable profound jade floor had instantly become charred black… This blackness was clearly not caused by scorching heat, but by corrosion!

Because the Illusory Demon Royal Family had the bloodline of the Golden Crow, they would all basically cultivate fire-based profound arts. So when Jasmine had previously warned Yun Che that the profound art that Duke Hui Ye cultivated was extremely strange… Right now, it looked like rather abnormal indeed.

“So this is the rumored Duke Huai Palace’s ‘Fallen Flame Devil Art’?”

“That is right! It is said that this Fallen Flame Devil Art is compatible with the Golden Crow Flames and its might is only inferior to the Golden Crow’s Record of the Burning World! Even though Duke Hui Ye is not yet thirty years old, it is reported that his rate of compatibility has reached a shocking seventy percent… And Duke Hui Ran has supposedly already reached a compatibility rate of ninety percent!”

Before the crimson-black flames had appeared, Yun Che had felt that there was an abnormal change in the airflow. Even though he experienced a moment of astonishment, his willpower did not waver in the slightest. Moreover, it was not the first time that he had seen flames of this color or felt such an aura. During the years he was being pursued by all the heroes of the Azure Cloud Continent, he had seen every kind of bizarre profound art. Forget about a crimson-black flame, he had even seen a pure black ghost flame, a blood-colored devouring flame and even a viridian poison flame quite a few times.

Yun Che thrust his palm out without hesitation and faced with the Frozen End Divine Arts, the crimson-black flames which were exploding towards him immediately came to a stop. After the flames struggled for less than half a breath, they were forcibly frozen over, and even the color of the flames was rapidly changing from red-black to crystal blue.

“Ah! Even Duke Hui Ye’s devil flames were sealed!” All of the people seated in the great hall gasped in astonishment.

Duke Hui Ye’s brows faintly moved and he subsequently gave a cold sneer. The crimson-black flames ignited all over his body and his extended five fingers spread out even wider. Immediately, an explosive roar which sounded like exploding thunder rang through the air and surging energy waves swelled up all around him. A cluster of raging crimson-black flames, which was a full three times larger than the previous cluster, flew through the air as it explosively rushed towards Yun Che. As the flames rippled and fluctuated, the cluster rapidly distorted into the shape of a gigantic skull. The skull opened its huge horrific mouth as it flew towards Yun Che, accompanied by a wretched hissing noise which sounded like the wailing of ghosts.

A cold and sinister aura instantly engulfed the entire great hall and those who had relatively weak profound strength felt their entire bodies tremble as even their eyes grew slack; it was as if their entire spirit had been brought into a sinister, cold hell.

“What… what is this profound art, it is truly dreadful!” Even though Xiao Yun had long ago heard of Duke Huai Palace’s ‘Fallen Flame Devil Art’, this was the first time that he had truly witnessed it. It gave off a gloomy and sinister sensation that should not be felt from any flame and it made him feel as if all the bones in his body were trembling. If just the aura of the flames alone was this dreadful, it would be hard for him to imagine how terrifyingly powerful these crimson-black flames really were.

The crimson-black fire skull did not only have an extremely strong burning and corrosive power, it could even directly invade your spirit. For an instant, Yun Che’s outlook turned ominous, but he immediately recovered his clarity and his brows slightly furrowed as his expression grew a shade more serious. He took a half step backwards, raised his hand, and pointed his finger in the air and a beam of blue light shot out to meet the onrushing flame skull. The crimson-black devilish flames formed an extremely clear contrast with the pure and spotless icy-blue light.

Crack...

The red-black sparks which were spread all around had begun to rapidly freeze over and the gigantic flame skull’s speed immediately became slower, gradually coming to a standstill. But this only lasted for half a breath. A noise that sounded like a devil’s cry abruptly surged and rang loudly in the air. The ice seal of the Frozen End Divine Arts was forcibly brushed aside as ice fragments filled the air. The skull emitted a sinister and gloomy roar which seemed to come from the depths of hell as it rushed directly at Yun Che’s face.

“Hahahaha!” Duke Hui Ye’s laughter rang through the air, “Your ice profound energy is indeed rather interesting, but if you want to seal this duke’s devil flames, you are simply delusional!”

As he faced the skull composed of devil flames which had broken through his Frozen End Divine Art, Yun Che’s eyes narrowed, but he did not retreat in a fluster. Instead, he shot his palm out and that palm thrust brought along an incomparably huge profound energy storm.

“Falling Moon Sinking Star!!”

Boom!!

The entire Demon Imperial Hall trembled fiercely as a profound energy storm exploded in the air and sent out violent surges of energy akin to a raging tsunami. If this was not the Demon Imperial Hall, but rather some normal hall, the aftershock of profound energy alone would have been enough to blast that place into complete rubble.

Under the raging profound energy storm, the flame skull which exuded that sinister aura completely burst apart. The red-black flames filled the air as they shot out, causing the roof and the floor of the hall to be riddled with a countless number of black scars due to the flames’ corrosive properties; the damaged areas resembled hornets’ nests.

Yun Che’s body had also been shot into the sky by the exploding flame skull and he flew for tens of meters before he landed on the ground stably. The clothes he was wearing had also become riddled with hundreds of holes of varying sizes, and the borders of these holes were all charred black. But no obvious wounds could be seen on his body; the only wound that was visible was a small spot of blackened flesh that appeared on the back of his right hand.

Given Yun Che’s ability to completely resist fire, with just a little more control, even the clothes on his body would not be destroyed by flames. However, Duke Hui Ye’s devil flames did not only consist of flames, it also contained a fearsome corrosive power. Even though he had destroyed the flame skull, he had also been hit by a large number of sparks. While these dispersed devil flames were not enough to harm him, they had reduced his clothes to tatters.

“He blocked it… Yun Che actually blocked it!”

The two combatants had only just started their fight, but the fearsomeness of the devil flames unleashed by Duke Hui Ye had caused many of the realm’s hegemons to pale in shock. But what caused the crowd to truly be flabbergasted was that the Yun Che who had created the miracle of three consecutive victories had actually managed to completely block such a fearsome flame!

Looking at the Yun Che, who looked almost completely unharmed despite being blasted away, a flash of alarm darted through the depths of Duke Hui Ye’s eyes. However, a cold sneer had appeared on his face instead, “Not bad, not bad. To actually be able to resist my devil flames at sixty percent of their power. It looks like this duke has truly underestimated you by quite a bit. However, seeing your current pathetic appearance, how much longer do you think you can still hold out?”

Red-black sparks were still falling to the ground, burning little holes in the floor with a hissing sound. Yun Che glanced at the black scar on the back of his hand and said in a bland voice, “The flames of the Golden Crow are the flames of a divine beast, but you actually fused it with such an evil and ominous devilish art. This is simply a profanity against the Golden Crow Flames. If I were your grand ancestor, the Golden Crow, I would definitely do some house cleaning!”

Duke Hui Ye was not enraged, but instead he gave a cold snort and said, “The flames of our Duke Huai Palace is not something that rubbish like you is worthy to discuss. The Fallen Devil Flame is a supreme profound art that is only inferior the Golden Crow’s Record of the Burning World in this realm. At this present time, the Golden Crow’s Record of the Burning World can no longer appear anymore. So my Duke Huai Palace’s Fallen Flame Devil Art combined with the Golden Crow Flames is already the strongest profound art in the Illusory Demon Realm. The strongest flames and the most unrivaled strength! In front of this duke’s flames, the only thing that you can do is to struggle and cry!”

“The strongest flame?” Yun Che laughed, “You think that your evil and devilish fire which has thoroughly sullied the Golden Crow Flames is worthy of being called the strongest flame?”

With soft grunt, Yun Che raised his arm and a scarlet-red phoenix fire started to burn brightly in his palm. With a fierce thrust of his palm, this phoenix fire morphed into a crimson arrow and this arrow let out the keen and splendorous cry of a phoenix as it shot towards Duke Hui Ye.

Yun Che’s body contained the Phoenix bloodline and the Phoenix Flames constituted a key part of his power. His heart also held a deep reverence and appreciation for the divine strength that was bestowed to him by the Phoenix Spirit. In front of him stood someone whose body contained a thin amount of the Golden Crow bloodline, yet this person had taken the Golden Crow Flame, which was at the same level as the Phoenix Flames, and combined it with a fiendish and sinister devil art; this caused an uncontrollable rage to be birthed in his heart.

“Fire? How… How can it be fire? Hasn’t Yun been using an ice-based profound art all this while, how can he suddenly ignite profound flames?”

“Could it be that Yun Che has also cultivated a fire-based profound art? This, this, this… Water and fire are two elements which completely restrain one another. To cultivate both fire-based and water-based profound arts at the same time, isn’t it highly likely to cause one’s profound energy to run wild, even cause extreme harm to one’s profound veins? Even if he has perfect control over both arts, only one profound art can be used at one time. Because not only is there no compatibility, there is also the danger that it may backfire at any time…”

When he saw that Yun Che had actually suddenly released profound fire, Duke Hui Ye’s first reaction was one of pure shock, but after that, he immediately began laughing wildly, “Hahahaha! To actually cultivate both ice-based and fire-based profound arts at the same time, to think that there was actually such a ridiculous fool that existed in this world! This duke’s eyes have truly been opened today… Moreover, your profound flame is a mere lowly red, yet you actually dare to display your incompetence in this duke’s presence.”

The lowest grade of profound flames were orange in color and the one which immediately followed was a scarlet-red. When most profound practitioners had reached the later stages of the Spirit Profound Realm, they could already ignite a blue-colored profound flame. So the red-colored flames released by Yun Che could not even amount to a joke in Duke Hui Ye’s eyes. As he wildly laughed, he casually extended his palm towards the scarlet-red flames which were streaking towards him...

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