Against the Gods

Chapter 315 - Phoenix’s Soul?

Like a firmament, the gigantic mouth of the Azure Dragon’s silhouette shrouded down. Instantly, the surrounding stars completely disappeared without a trace, and what replaced them was endless darkness.

Boom...

A rumble rang in Yun Che’s mind. His entire mental world seemingly collapsed in an instant from the impact. Although he had sufficient mental preparations, he still did not expect that this mental impact would actually be so frightening. Roaring loudly, he gathered up all his consciousness, and stimulated all the willpower he possessed… However, let alone subduing it, even defending against it, was basically impossible… He simply couldn’t stand his ground at all.

He had suffered countless of injuries in his two lives. However, his soul had never collapsed before, his willpower was even more so, as tough as steel. But under the impact of the Dragon God’s soul, in just the short time of a few breaths, he was already at the verge of collapse. He felt like he was a boat made out of thin wood, tumbling around in a stormy sea, and he might be completely swallowed by the waves in the next second.

He had initially thought that since the Primordial Azure Dragon allowed him to attempt to fuse with the Dragon God’s Soul, then this Dragon God’s Soul should be within the scope which he could merge with, only that the difficulty would be a little high. However, he now realized that he was absolutely wrong. The strength of this god’s soul, was countless times stronger than he had expected… Even though he had used his extremely strong willpower to overcome his fear under the absolute suppression, he was fundamentally powerless to contend against it. Just like how, even though a young rabbit was fearless, it wouldn’t be possible for it to actually beat an eagle.

Crack!

Yun Che’s entire upper body began to tremble, and at the part where his chest was, a clear shattering sound could be heard… His spirit was completely suppressed by the Dragon God’s Soul, and it was even about to be swallowed; it had also become impossible for him to divide his spirit to merge with the Dragon God’s Marrow. The Dragon God’s Marrow instantly broke through all of the suppression, and began to traverse at high speed within Yun Che’s bones… Yun Che’s complexion began to become even more pale as time went by, and the sweat on his forehead fell like the rain. Even the teeth which he had been clenching tightly, began to become powerless.

“Sigh…”

The Primordial Azure Dragon let out a very long sigh, and muttered to itself. “Could it be, that my perception was wrong? In his body, he possesses the Evil God’s profound veins, the Rage God’s profound arts, power of the Sky Wolf, the Phoenix’s bloodline… but did he not possess any divine soul? But then, why did I always faintly feel the presence of a divine soul in his body…”

“Perhaps, I really was mistaken.”

“With just the soul of a human, it’s entirely impossible for him to merge with the soul of a god, even if it is just a wisp of residual soul. For him to last an entire ten breaths with merely his own soul and yet not completely collapsing, can already be called a miracle. It seems like the aptitude of his soul strength, isn’t inferior to that of his profound strength. Since that’s the case, allow me to aid him in completing it after all…”

As the Primordial Azure Dragon murmured, a mass of azure colored light slowly descended from above. Just when the blue light was about to envelop Yun Che’s body, it suddenly froze right there. In the air, a soft “Oh” could be heard from the Primordial Azure Dragon.

On Yun Che’s forehead, the flame mark which belonged to the Phoenix’s bloodline suddenly appeared at this moment… That was a golden-colored flame mark, and this cluster of golden flames, was actually burning!! Even though it was just a mark, it was actually swaying with golden-colored flames that scorched one’s eyes.

“This… Could it be?” The voice of the Primordial Azure Dragon who was head of divine beasts, at this moment actually carried a clear hint of surprise.

The sea of consciousness on the verge of collapsing that Yun Che was currently residing in, had also suddenly ignited with endless flames at this moment. The “starry sky” which the Azure Dragon’s shadow had swallowed earlier, once again appeared. In Yun Che’s vicinity, a vast and boundless golden sea of flames appeared, and in the air above the sea of flames, a huge scarlet-gold giant bird spread out its wings and made a long cry. Its figure was tens of thousands of kilometers long, and did not seem to be smaller than the Azure Dragon’s silhouette. Its entire body was blazing with golden flames, and along with its long cry facing the heavens, the surrounding few dozens of stars also burned simultaneously, turning into scattering ashe in the blink of an eye.

Rooar!!

Screeech!!

The Azure Dragon’s silhouette and the huge golden-colored bird roared and cried at the same time, while the huge golden-colored bird’s voice was faintly even more tremoring than the voice of the Azure Dragon’s silhouette. It blasted out a scarlet-gold colored light, and terrifying flames soared towards the sky. The flames gushed out crazily, forming countless strokes of gigantic solar prominences which filled the entire starry sky, with every solar prominence being able to swallow a star… As the scarlet-gold wings flapped, all of the solar prominences flew towards the the Azure Dragon’s silhouette. Just when they were about to approach it, all of them gathered together, condensing into small-scaled “Sun” that was scorching hot to the extremity and blinding to the point where it could even pierce a soul, and completely swallowed the gigantic body of the Azure Dragon’s silhouette...

Roooo….aaarrr!!

The Azure Dragon’s silhouette was resisting and retaliating, yet, that small-scaled Sun was really too dreadful, and even this wisp of soul that came from a Dragon God was completely suppressed by it. Its resistance only lasted for less than thirty breaths of time, before it suddenly shattered as the roars died down, turning into blue colored stars that fluttered throughout the starry sky...

Yun Che’s body severely shook, and his entire body fell onto the ground at once, as his consciousness sunk into silence.

After Yun Che fainted, he did not wake up even after a long time, and the Phoenix’s mark on his forehead slowly faded away as well. After a long period of quietness, in the air above, the voice of the Primordial Azure Dragon once again resounded. “So actually, my perception was not wrong… Only, I did not expect, that the Phoenix’s soul would actually bestow you with such a big gift. Looks like, it is the same as me, and admired your aptitude and heart… Or maybe, it is the same as me, and had also seen that frightening thing…”

——————————————

“His speed definitely can’t be faster than ours. In these two days, we had basically searched through the entire western side. It seems like, he must have definitely hid himself in the east… We were fooled by him again!”

“If I don’t personally smash his corpse into countless of pieces, it will be hard for me to relieve my resentment in my entire life!” Fen Moli said as he clenched his teeth. Before he encountered Yun Che, he would have never believed that there would come a day in which his lungs would feel like exploding countless of times, all because of a junior.

He, as a practitioner at the half-step into the Emperor Realm, a pinnacle being who dominated the Blue Wind, was actually fooled in circles by a junior! And this last time, he was fooled for an entire two days before he realized it… If he could capture Yun Che, even if he were to crush him into meat paste, it might not be enough to vent out the hatred in his heart.

“What’s going on here?”

What appeared in front of the seven of them, was an open stretch of land. In this Wasteland of Death, the further one went, the more complicated the terrain would be, and the profound beasts were much stronger as well. However, the piece of land in front of them, was an odd stretch of emptiness. Looking around with a glance, not even half a profound beast’s shadow could be seen, and no roars of profound beasts could be heard either.

On the empty stretch of land, that small mountain and the cave below it was particularly eye-catching.

“This place was clearly formed by a battle, and the strengths of both sides, were at least at the peak of the Sky Profound Realm.” Fen Moli looked at the landscape. “But, this battle should have been happened one or two years ago. Looks like, someone had came here one or two years ago and clashed with a certain mighty profound beast that was here.”

Fen Moli’s gaze, fell upon on that eye-catching cave at this moment. Suddenly, his eyes narrowed, and his expression instantly turned somber. The faces of the other six people, had evidently revealed cold smiles as well.

“Yun Che, you sure have chosen a good burial ground for yourself… This time, let’s see where else you can run off to!”

——————————

The moment Yun Che’s consciousness returned, he shuddered and sat right up, then immediately went to inspect the sea of his soul.

With this inspection, he was entirely shocked speechless.

That was undoubtedly his own soul; it was incomparably familiar, and yet, incomparably unfamiliar as well. Because his soul sea, was as though it had turned from an ocean, into an actual starry sky! It was vast and powerful to the extent where he himself was unable to estimate its boundaries. The spiritual strength he could derive from it, seemed to be unable to be harmed at all even if he were to engulf all spiritual bodies that existed.

This… this was his own soul?

A soul like this, had fundamentally and entirely surpassed the extreme limits of humans, and simply should not appear on a human at all.

Another odd feeling came from his body. He quickly looked at this skeleton with inner vision, and discovered that the marrows that flowed within actually all turned golden! It made even the surface of his bones to faintly emit a golden brilliance! His originally fragile marrow, became as tough as an impregnable fortress; his initially incomparably hard bones refined under the Great Way of the Buddha and Dragon Blood, now even more so became several times stronger! It was strong to the point there he firmly believed that even if he struck at his arm using the heavy sword with all his might, it wouldn't be possible to break a single bone!

“You’re awake? It seems like, you’re very astonished.”

In Yun Che’s ears, the voice of the Primordial Azure Dragon resounded. Yun Che raised his head, and asked. “I succeeded? But, I clearly recall… clearly recall…”

Yun Che’s final soul memory, was seeing a gigantic fire bird suddenly appearing within his sea of consciousness, and then, with its monstrous flames, it drowned the Azure Dragon’s silhouette within...

What was that enormous fire bird? Why was it in his soul sea?

“That’s right, you succeeded. The Dragon God’s Marrow, and the Dragon’s Soul, has been completed integrated by you. The entire process, was much shorter than I predicted it to be.” The Primordial Azure Dragon slowly said. “And everything, was because of the Phoenix’s soul power that lies in your body.”

“Soul power… of the Phoenix?” Yun Che was shocked. He slightly frowned, and said. “But, why do I possess the soul power of the Phoenix in my body?”

Back then, in the Phoenix’s trial ground, he was bestowed three drops of Phoenix’s blood and a Divine Phoenix Pellet, and he had read the fragments of the 《World Ode of the Phoenix》 as well. However, these did not have any relations with Phoenix’s Soul at all… So why would there be the Phoenix’s soul in his body? And, if there was, why hadn’t he known about it?

“The Phoenix’s soul power had always existed in your body, however, it simply did not merge with your soul. Although it existed in your soul sea, it was also an independent existence. Two years ago, when I first met you, I had already noticed it, but I did not expect, that this hint of Phoenix’s soul left in your body, was actually the Phoenix’s most precious wisp of soul… Your reaction, tells me that you did not actually know of the existence of the Phoenix’s soul. It seems like, the Phoenix Spirit had secretly bestowed you with a huge gift.”

Yun Che slightly raised his head, and at this moment, his eyes moved, as he had suddenly recalled, before he left the Phoenix’s Realm of Trials, the Phoenix Spirit had shot out a ray of golden light at him. After that, the color of the mark on his forehead had also turned into a golden color...

“...Perhaps I should gift you with a special present... This is a special power that I can only use once in my lifetime, but I never thought the day where I used it would actually come. However, as the one who carries the power of the Evil God, your future is destined to be extraordinary, and bestowing this power upon you is more than suitable. As to what kind of power this is, when the time of you using it comes, you will naturally know…”

“Could it be, the gift it spoke about… was a wisp of the Phoenix’s soul that hid within the sea of my soul?” Yun Che softly muttered to himself.

“No!” The Primordial Azure Dragon said. “It’s indeed a wisp of the Phoenix’s soul, however, it’s not as simple as the Phoenix’s soul. It’s a type of heaven-bending ability that’s unique to Phoenixes, and even I, before it released its power on, was unable to truly discern its existence. It’s might, is much more than just a protecting the soul.”

“Then what exactly is this power?” Yun Che inquired.

“Haha…” The Primordial Azure Dragon laughed very faintly. “When the time of you using it comes, you will naturally know.”

These words from the Primordial Azure Dragon, was exactly the same as what the Phoenix’s soul had said back then.