Against the Gods - Volume 02 - Blue Wind Conspiracy Read online

  Had Yun Che still been awake, he definitely would have told Lan Xueruo to kill all three of them. Deep within him, he knew that mercy did not often earn gratitude from the other party. Rather, it would only bring endless amount of unforeseen troubles. The trio had almost violated her previously, and were obviously tainted with a large amount of sin. To kill them was also helping the heavens mete out justice.

  But in the end, Lan Xueruo was not Yun Che. She was innately kind and soft; had never killed anyone in her entire life and never had any thoughts of killing either. She didn’t even harbor any thoughts of crippling their limbs as punishment either.

  In one breath, the three ran quite a distance. The horse-faced man grinded his teeth: “What horrible luck! The beauty was unsampled and we even had to release those two brats.”

  “Nevermind that, we should already be thanking the heavens that we still escaped with our lives intact. That woman’s profound strength was at the True Profound Realm!” As he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, the broadaxe man shuddered from the lingering fear. He just couldn’t understand it. Initially, he had obviously felt that the opponent was only in the eighth level of the Nascent Profound Realm, but the moment he had attacked, he suddenly felt an exponential increase in her profound strength. That level of profound strength, definitely did not pale in comparison to the True Profound Realm the three vice-captains had attained.

  “Whaa? True… True Profound Realm?” Both the horse-faced man and the sharp-mouthed man simultaneously stupefied: “A little beauty of only a dozen or more years, how could she possibly have stepped into the True Profound Realm! Our captain is nearing fifty this year, and is only at the third level of the True Profound Realm!”

  “Need you ask! That woman must have been a genius disciple of some super family! Those large families all have innumerable resources and sect profound skills; those below twenty that have been able to break into the True Profound Realm are too numerous to be counted! That was far too dangerous, we’re lucky the woman we’d met was mild-tempered. Had she been a bit feistier, the three of us would have been finished right here!”

  “Captain should be returning today. We originally wanted to take credit for kidnapping two hostages, but who would’ve thought we’d almost lose our lives today. It looks like we can only let Captain personally take charge, let’s return quickly!”

  ………………………………

  After chasing the three vile people away, Lan Xueruo heaved a small sigh of relief and reclasped the necklace around her neck. The profound energy that was released from our body immediately weakened. After two breaths, it had weakened back to the eighth level of the Nascent Profound Realm. In front of her, the two children who had just regained their freedom stared at her with wide eyes; their eyes glistened with unshed tears.

  Lan Xueruo walked over and bent down: “Little boy, little girl, don’t be afraid, it’s alright now. Are you two from the mountains? Why were you captured by those three men?”

  She had barely finished asking when the boy suddenly knelt before her and mournfully cried in his immature voice: “Big sister, I beg of you… Won’t you save my family? Those bad people have always been harming us. Big sister, you’re so powerful so you should definitely be able to send those bad people off with a beating.”

  Seeing the little boy kneel, the little girl also followed suit and knelt down. Holding the boy’s arm, she added in a teary voice: “Big sister, please save us…. Uuu Uuu, please save us….”

  Lan Xueruo was slightly shocked still for a moment before parting her hands to hold each of theirs with the intention of pulling them up from the ground: “Stand up, quickly… “

  Even though he was only a little boy of seven to eight years, he possessed a stubbornness that belied his age. He stared tearfully at Lan Xueruo as he refused to stand: “Big sister, I beg you, please, you must save us. If you don’t save us, our entire clan will definitely be killed by those bad people. Only you can save us. In future… in future, we will definitely repay your favor.”

  This little boy had previously shouted out to her twice in spite of the danger which proved that he had a kind soul. Now, he was kneeling in front of her with misty eyes filled with plea and slivers of hope… As if he had finally grabbed at the stalk of life-saving rice straw in the midst of his drowning.

  Her heart immediately softened. Seeing that Yun Che was still lying quietly behind, she slightly hesitated before lightly smiling: “Little boy, little girl. Stand first, then take me to meet your clan, alright?”

  The little boy’s eyes flashed with pleasant surprise. After wiping tears away from his face, he nodded vigorously.

  Lan Xueruo carefully picked up Yun Che and followed the two children towards the direction of their home. On the way, she found out that the little boy was named Feng Zu’er and the little girl was Feng Xian’er; they were twins of different genders. The surname “Feng” surprised Lan Xueruo some, as she knew it was the surname of the Divine Phoenix Empire’s imperial family. But the two children told her that their entire clan’s surname was “Feng” and that they’d been living in this mountain of wilderness since they were born, without ever leaving or ever interacting with outsiders. There were many violent profound beasts in the area, but for some reason, these profound beasts never approached the place where they resided. However, because of those concentrated number of scary profound beasts, they had never been able to leave. That was also the same reason why outsiders had never entered.

  That held true only until a few days ago when the Black Demon Mercenary Grouphad found where they lived after barging in through some unknown method. The group had also realized that theirs was actually a very small clan of guardians and thus, forced them to hand over their treasures they guarded. This was the reason why Feng Zu’er and Feng Xian’er were captured; in order for them to demand those treasures as ransom within a day or risk having the children killed.

  As they turned around a short hill, a small village appeared before their eyes. A few middle-aged adults dressed in rough clothing stood in the front of the village, wearing expressions of frustration and helplessness. A weeping married woman stood between them as she covered up her face…. and atop all their foreheads, was a flame-shaped imprint.

  “Father…. Mother!”

  In the midst of their cries, Feng Zu’er and Feng Xian’er threw themselves in the direction of the weeping woman. The woman suddenly lifted her head when she heard the voices of her children; she almost believed that she was dreaming as she stared in a daze and watched her children dash over. It was only until they had landed in her bosom, that she tightly embraced them while bawling in happy surprise.

  “Zu’er, Xian’er, how did you….” The middle-aged man on the side was visibly shocked and then was at a loss of what to say in his delight.

  “It’s that pretty big sister who fought off those bad people and saved us.” Feng Zu’er turned back and pointed at Lan Xueruo, “Not only is big sister pretty, she’s also really strong. She only needed a short while to fight off all three of the bad people.”

  “Mn. Mn.” Feng Xian’er nodded in agreement with a face full of adoration: “Also, big sister promised us that she’ll help us fight off those bad people.”

  All eyes turned to Lan Xueruo. The middle-aged man took a step forward, bowed deeply towards Lan Xueruo, and sincerely stated: “Miss, thank you for saving my two children. I truly do not know how I ought to repay you… My name is Feng Baichuan and I am the current clan head. This is my wife Feng Caiyun.”

  “It’s no problem at all. I just happened to pass by and it required little effort.” Lan Xueruo said politely. The man in front of her was thirty four years old; his appearance and the clothes he wore were humble and the space between his brows revealed a faint touch of elegance and calm. The flame imprint upon his forehead appeared to be especially clear.

  But as the head of the clan, his profound strength was only at the tenth level of the Elementary Profound Realm
. With respect to his age, this degree of profound strength was indeed too low. However, Lan Xueruo immediately noticed that everyone in front of her was at the tenth level of the Elementary Profound Realm as well; it was incomparably uniform in this aspect.

  “Thank you, truly, we are too grateful.” Feng Caiyun bowed gracefully towards Lan Xueruo, too thankful for words.

  “It is simply too wonderful that Zu’er and Xian’er managed to come back safely. However, those vicious thieves…. Sigh.” The bearded old man to the side heaved a sigh of relief to then take a lengthy sigh.

  “Big sister is very strong, she can definitely drive all the vicious thieves away.” Feng Zu’er, who had personally seen Lan Xueruo’s “invincible prowess”, clenched his fist and spoke with complete confidence.

  However, their worry could not be abated by his words alone. While they believed that her profound strength was truly amazing to have saved the two children from those three vicious thieves, she seemed like a young lady of just seventeen to eighteen years. Even if her profound strength was high, how high could it possibly be? The opponent was a notorious mercenary group that numbered around a hundred. Its captain and its three vice-captains were all in the True Profound Realm; it was hardly something that a young lady was capable of resisting.

  Chapter 103: Remnants of the Phoenix (3)

  Feng Baichuan’s gaze switched Lan Xueruo’s rear and said: “This little brother, your complexion looks to be quite terrible and you’re even being carried by this young lady. You must have received heavy injuries right? I, myself have learned a bit of medicine, perhaps I may be of help somehow.”

  “My name is Yun Che, I thank Clan Leader Feng for your good will.” Yun Che politely replied from Lan Xueruo’s back. His voice caused Lan Xueruo’s beautiful eyes to widen: “You’re…. you’re awake?”

  “Yes, I woke up when senior sister put me on your back.” Yun Che said with a happy smile. Even if his complexion looked terrible, his voice was finally no longer that weak. During his freefall, he used the Sky Poison Pearl and rapidly fused the Skyroot Grass, Flower Nectar, Mountain River Plant along with thirty different types of medicinal material to swiftly concoct a Heaven Returning Pill. Afterwards, he swallowed it. The amount and quality of the required medicinal material to refine this Heaven Returning Pill was exceedingly harsh. Moreover, the refining environment, the furnace, and the refining method were all strict to the extreme. Even if it was a high level pill refining master, the success rate of the refining wouldn’t exceed thirty percent. But with Xiao Sect Branch Sect’s enormous treasury and the Sky Poison Pearl, all of this was not an issue.

  “Then why…. then why didn’t you say anything, and made me carry you this far.” Lan Xueruo flushed in anger.

  “Because this is the first time in my life that I’ve been carried on a girl’s back. Not only was it very comfortable, the scent of Senior Sister’s body is very fragrant.” As he spoke to here, he originally wanted to lightly sniff the fragrance of Lan Xueruo’s body more, but his expression suddenly became sluggish as he blankly stared in place….

  Was it really…. his first time being carried by a girl?

  In this life, it was indeed…

  But, during his life in the Azure Cloud Continent… That girl… Every time he returned to her by using the last bit of his strength and knocked on the bamboo door, he fainted in front of that bamboo door. When he awakened, he was lying on top of a soft and warm bed… Although he had been unconscious, it seemed as if he was able to clearly feel her use her own delicate body to shoulder his bloodied body. Each of step she took was difficult and accompanying each step were specks of teardrops…

  Time and time again; maybe even tens of times, or perhaps even hundreds of times. The number of times were simply uncountable and he also didn’t bother to count it… The only thing he could remember was that even if he lived through two lives in two worlds, it was still impossible for it to make up for what he had owed her. Because heaven, no longer gave him that chance.

  Suddenly, the Lan Xueruo he was tightly hugging slowly turned into the figure that only appeared in his dreams…

  “You! If it weren’t for the fact that you’re injured, I would’ve tossed you aside!” Lan Xueruo said with a bit of indignance. Previously, when she had been carrying Yun Che, she was calm because she thought that Yun Che was unconscious. Now that he had awoken, that feeling of his body pressing against hers, and the indistinct male scent caused her ears to flush red as her heart pulsed even more erratically.

  “Clan Leader Feng, can you help me find a place to settle down my friend?” Lan Xueruo asked Feng Baichuan while facing him.

  “Of course, please follow me.”

  This small village was indeed a small village; there were a total of a dozen or so simple and crude houses. From Feng Baichuan, they learned that the whole clan was not more than two hundred people. In regards to the newly arrived Lan Xuero and Yun Che, the two outsiders, the people here were vigilant at first but afterwards, they revealed a good nature. Very quickly, Lan Xuero and Yun Che both realised a strange fact; every person they had met were all at the tenth level of the Elementary Profound Realm. Other than the children who have not yet started to cultivate profound energy, all of them were like this, without a single exception. It seemed as if the tenth level of the Elementary Profound Realm was their limit. But, after the Nascent Profound Realm, every time one stepped into another level, it was accompanied by a bottleneck that increasingly becomes difficult to breakthrough. But from the Elementary Profound Realm to the Nascent Profound Realm, there was basically no bottleneck to speak of; so long as enough profound energy was accumulated, one would naturally step into the Nascent Profound Realm.

  But the people here all stopped at the tenth level of the Elementary Profound Realm; this truly puzzled Yun Che and Lan Xueruo.

  “How could this place have the Phoenix’s essence?”

  Jasmine’s sudden voice surprised Yun Che: “Phoenix? The prehistoric divine beast, the phoenix of legends?”

  “Correct!” Jasmine’s voice slightly revealed a sense of exhaustion; she previously transferred a part of her own profound energy to Yun Che. Although it was a very brief couple of seconds, it still caused a certain amount of damage to her soul and Yun Che’s body: “Even though it’s very faint, it is definitely without a doubt, the Phoenix’s essence. How strange… Could it be that the phoenix had actually descended to this inferior plane before?”

  This lowly plane… these words made Yun Che’s heart stir, he suddenly made a terrifying guess as to Jasmine’s identity.

  “And the flame imprint on their foreheads, is also the mark that the phoenix bloodline bears! But this mark’s color and the color that this princess knows, are completely different. Additionally, the mark of the phoenix bloodline is normally hidden; only when using the phoenix’s power of fire would the mark forcibly appear, but the people here all bear the mark of the phoenix and it’s as if they can’t hide it. In short, this is too weird!”

  Feng Baichuan brought Lan Xuero and Yun Che to a clean hut: “You two, please rest easy here. We are just a small clan hidden. Everything we have cannot compare with the outside world, so we can only inconvenience you.”

  Lan Xuero carefully put Yun Che on top of the bed. Secretly letting out a sigh of relief in her heart, she turned around to say: “Clan Leader Feng is too courteous. We are already extremely grateful to have a place like this.”

  “Are you guys Pheonix Ruins’ guardian clan?”

  Yun Che suddenly asked at this time.

  Feng Baichuan, who was calm and dignified up until now, froze; his pupils distinctly contracted slightly. His expression rapidly fluctuated as he thought about how he could deny or avoid the question. But after a few breaths of time, his expression calmed down and a seemingly self-deprecating laugh arose: “The guardian clan? We aren’t worthy of that title. We are simply keeping away from the world while carrying this sin and curse. We are just a humble clan who have t
o atone for their sins, generation after generation. Although I don’t know where you learned that we have a relationship with the Phoenix, but it looks like… You came here in order to obtain the so-called ‘treasure’ that we’re guarding, right?”

  “Phoenix? The divine beast that the Divine Phoenix Empire worships?” As the flabbergasted Lan Xueruo looked at Yun Che and Feng Baichuan, her brain momentarily stopped working.

  “No, you misunderstood.” Yun Che took a breath. He wanted to sit up but his entire body was so weak that even the slightest of movements would cause a stabbing pain. He could only give up, and lay there as he answered: “The reason I was able to find out that you are possibly the clan that guards the phoenix’s remains, is because of the mark on your foreheads. I came into contact with a lot of rumors regarding the phoenix bloodline; aside from the color being slightly different, the shape of the mark on your foreheads and the shape of the mark that I know of, is exactly the same. My senior sister and I coming here, is due to an unintentional fall from a high altitude. I even sustained heavy injuries from my fall, so there is absolutely no other intention.”

  The injuries on Yun Che’s body wholeheartedly convinced Feng Baichuan. After all, no one would be crazy enough to come after their ‘treasure’ with such heavy injuries. Yun Che’s words baffled him for a while, and then he once more mockingly laughed at himself: “The Phoenix imprint… Different color… Yes, different color. The originally respected imprint that symbolized its power and bloodline has turned into a cursed mark of sorrow; our ancestors made a horrible mistake, but what kind of sin have we, the younger generation commit!?”

  Feng Baichuan’s words revealed a strong sense of sorrow; it seems as if Yun Che’s words thoroughly stabbed at his heart’s sore spot.

  A cursed mark? Yun Che’s heart pounded. The blood mark, how could it turn into a cursed mark? Wait wait, maybe the reason their profound cultivation was limited to the tenth level of the Elementary Profound Realm, was because of this “cursed mark” Feng Baichuan spoke of?