16: Chapter 16 The End of the Grand Elder

At this moment, his eyes held only Yun Che before him—this lowly human whose strength was merely at the Half-step Divine Destruction Realm.

Every extra moment Yun Che lived was a source of immense torture and punishment for him.

With the power of the Dragon Core bolstering him, Yun Che's aura was incredibly potent, comparable to an opponent in the mid-stage of the Divine Extreme Realm. Compared to the Grand Elder, whose cultivation was suppressed by the Dragon Soul Domain, he clearly held the upper hand.

Yun Che knew the Dragon Core's effects would last three to five breaths at most, so he gave the Grand Elder no chance to breathe. With a shift of his body, he swung the jietian demon emperor sword and lunged at the Grand Elder.

As he streaked through the air with all his might, the boundary between him and the jietian demon emperor sword blurred. He was the sword, and the sword was him—a true union of man and sword.

The pitiable Grand Elder couldn't afford to worry about his injuries. He could only wave his massive dragon claws and raise the taichu obsidian shield to resist with everything he had.

Now that their strengths were reversed, the Grand Elder's massive dragon form became a disadvantage. Exposed before Yun Che, he was like an oversized sausage that could be sliced at will.

In an instant, a dozen exchanges passed.

Yun Che's expression remained unchanged, growing more courageous as the battle progressed.

The Grand Elder, however, was in a wretched state. The wounds on his body grew more numerous and deeper, constantly tearing open. Fresh blood flowed incessantly, leaving pools of foul-smelling dragon blood on the ground.

As he lost more blood, the Grand Elder's aura grew weaker and weaker. Several times, facing Yun Che's overbearing and ferocious sword edge, he felt he lacked the strength to even raise the taichu obsidian shield. Several times, he himself didn't feel that his swinging dragon claws could pose any substantial threat to Yun Che.

The explosive fury in the Grand Elder's heart had slowly turned into a helpless sigh.

He had experienced countless battles in his life, but never had a war been so arduous; he had faced countless opponents, but never one as dangerously freakish as Yun Che. Every time he thought victory was within his grasp, a shocking reversal would occur. He never imagined that one day he would be beaten so helplessly by a human at the Half-step Divine Destruction Realm.

His attitude toward Yun Che had shifted from initial disdain and underestimation to cowardice and fear! He thought of fleeing, but his heart strongly resisted, unwilling to accept it.

Amidst his hesitation, Yun Che's jietian demon emperor sword struck again, adding several more wounds to his body.

Finally, a strong desire for survival triumphed over his troublesome vanity!

He desperately needed to recover and heal, and he also needed to wait for the effects of Yun Che's Dragon Core to wear off.

Reverting to his human form, he turned and flew into the long tunnel he had come from.

Close behind, Yun Che also took flight and gave chase!

————

The Grand Elder was far too familiar with this passage; over millions of years, he had passed through here countless times. He knew every piece of material in the tunnel perfectly.

He knew exactly how many steps it took to walk out from the deepest part and how long it took to fly. Even if he lost all his senses, as long as his feet remained, he could walk out without any possibility of getting lost or taking a wrong turn.

However, flying through this passage today, he had a different feeling.

As he fled frantically, rushing toward the exit at high speed, his figure suddenly jerked. An imperceptible ripple appeared in the space before him. Before he could understand what was happening, a sharp small blade had already pierced his chest at the location of his heart.

Panic filled the Grand Elder's mind. His divine sense scanned the area but saw no opponent, only sensing an extremely abnormal spatial distortion. Directly in front of him was Yun Che's 'Colorless Profound Handle,' an invisible, traceless, and colorless enemy.

"How can this be?"

"How can this be?"

Enduring the intense pain, he suddenly lashed out with a claw in a frenzy. The poor Colorless Profound Handle didn't even have time to groan before it was smashed to pieces, dissipating into the air. Only the sound butterfly blade remained in the Grand Elder's chest; any movement brought waves of flesh-grinding pain.

By now, the Grand Elder was near collapse. He was about to pull out the small blade and continue flying forward.

However, it was too late!

"Buzz—"

A sword's hum rang out behind him. He tried to lung forward with all his might to dodge the strike from behind, but the moment he was delayed by the Colorless Profound Handle had cost him his speed.

*Squelch— Squelch—*

He heard the sound of a blade cutting through his own body. He saw the jietian demon emperor sword piercing through his chest from behind, with half the blade exposed.

The blade was pitch black, with no blood on it, only enveloped in a layer of black flames—the Eternal Calamity Demon Flame!

He felt a massive ball of fire burning in the center of his chest. The firelight was black, without luster or temperature. The flames ruthlessly devoured his body; centered on his chest, his physical body was rapidly being annihilated, destroyed, and turned into void.

He wanted to turn his head to look one last time at the person who killed him, but his body was slowly disappearing and no longer obeyed his commands. He could no longer turn his head or body...

But he could still sense the figure behind him, so indifferent, watching his death without any expression!

Yun Che!

Less than an hour ago, he didn't even know this weak human at the Half-step Divine Destruction Realm!

Now, he had fallen under his sword!

His heart was filled with resentment and defiance.

If only he hadn't looked down on this human so much at the beginning...

If only one of his dragon claws hadn't been destroyed by that black flame...

If only he hadn't lost his mind in rage trying to deliver a fatal blow to Yun Che, only to be used by him to unleash [Moon Recalls Star Returns]...

If only he had paid a little more attention to the path ahead while escaping...

However, there are no 'ifs' in life. He had underestimated the enemy time and again, and made mistake after mistake, ending himself and fulfilling Yun Che.

For the first time in his life, he experienced the taste of death as his body burned in the Eternal Calamity Demon Flame...

Suddenly, Yun Che seemed to think of something. He quickly reached into the Eternal Calamity Demon Flame and pulled out a purple-gold ring—it was the Grand Elder's personal storage ring. Without time for a closer look, he threw it into the sky poison pearl first.

A breath later, the last piece of the Grand Elder's body was swallowed by the Eternal Calamity Demon Flame. Yun Che picked up the sound butterfly blade from the ground, along with the taichu obsidian shield left behind by the Grand Elder, and turned to fly deep into the passage.

Long Xi saw Yun Che from afar, an expression of disbelief appearing on her face as she asked:

"Father, you finished him?"

"You could say that!" Yun Che answered very calmly. He had killed too many powerful enemies in his life and had long grown used to it!

Meanwhile, Long Xi's mouth hung open in shock.

This was the Grand Elder!

An expert she had always felt was unfathomable!

The number two figure in the Dragon Race, second only to the Dragon Lord in status!

He had reached the peak of the Divine Extreme Realm a million years ago!

How powerful was his strength? Looking at the entire Abyss, besides the Emperor Yuan and the eleven True Gods, how many people could compete with him?

And he was killed just like that by her father so nonchalantly?!

Even though she had just witnessed the fight between her father and the Grand Elder, and she was psychologically prepared to believe her father could defeat the Grand Elder with his freakish cultivation and superb tactics, she still found it hard to believe that the Grand Elder didn't even have a chance to escape from her father's hands.

But looking at Yun Che's indifferent expression, he didn't seem to be lying at all; moreover, it looked as if he had killed higher-level opponents across realms more than once.

She couldn't help but secretly pray for those who were currently, or might in the future become, Yun Che's opponents.

"Never provoke my father, never!!!"

"Otherwise, you will never recover!!!"

————

"We only have half a quarter-hour left. Long Chixin has already started heading back and is estimated to be only a few hundred thousand miles from the city. And the Dragon Lord is also only a million miles away from Dragon City."

After Yun Che finished speaking, he flew to the front of a storehouse door.

He pushed hard, and the view before him suddenly opened up. Inside was a world like a dream, spanning about dozens of miles.

The small world in the garden was as picturesque as a painting. Silver waterfalls poured down from the clouds, splashing and making crisp, pleasant sounds. In the distance, continuous green mountains were shrouded under a thin veil of mist, hazy and poetic. A soft breeze brushed against his face, like the jade-like hand of a young girl stroking his cheek...

In this scene, Yun Che's entire soul seemed to be cleansed and sublimated.

Most importantly, this small space was filled with various rare spirit medicines, and a rich medicinal fragrance drifted in the air.

Yun Che closed his eyes and sensed carefully through his sense of smell: 200,000-year-old Azure Sky Spirit Grass, 500,000-year-old Phantom Color Spirit Hibiscus, 800,000-year-old Green Spirit Dragon Leaf Grass... there was even million-year-old Phantom Soul Spirit-Nourishing Grass... It was truly rare; many were mentioned in the "Heavenly Dao Medical Classic" but Yun Che had never seen them.

Long Xi, following behind, was also beyond astonished. She didn't expect that in a dilapidated place like the Abyssal World, there would be such a paradise-like scene with so many rare spirit medicines planted.

Yun Che remembered what the Qilin God and the Evil God's soul had said—this Abyssal World would definitely be completely destroyed before long. Thus, without any guilt, he reached out his large hand and swept the entire herb garden clean in a few moves, moving everything into the sky poison pearl.

He suddenly discovered with surprise that the medicinal effects and pharmacology of several spirit medicines in this garden were extremely similar to the raw materials of the Overlord Profound Pill and Sovereign Profound Pill he had once refined, only their grade and level were much higher. Back in the Cangyun Continent, he had once refined thousands of Overlord Profound Pills at once, directly raising the overall strength of the entire Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace by two major realms.

On a whim, he casually fashioned a few pills inside the sky poison pearl, handed them to Long Xi, and smiled: "You can try these pills; they should be useful for you to break through to the Divine Destruction Realm."

Long Xi looked at him with a bewildered expression, thinking to herself: "Aren't you also at the Half-step Divine Destruction Realm? Shouldn't you fashion a few for yourself to take first?"

Although she thought this, she still unhesitatingly accepted them, whispering under her breath:

"Father, you'd better help me refine some pills to recover blood and profound strength. I haven't cultivated the Great Dao Pagoda Art, nor do I understand any Law of Void. I really need those kinds of pills too."

Yun Che smiled without saying a word, his hand moving casually inside the sky poison pearl for a moment before several dozen small pills appeared in his hand. Handing them to Long Xi, he said gently:

"A small matter! Remember well, the reddish-brown pills are for recovering blood, and the dark green ones are for recovering profound strength."

Then, the father and daughter lightly left this herb garden and turned into another large door.

This warehouse was about one mile deep and five hundred meters wide. It was piled high with various cultivation resources, but only a small portion was the abyss crystals suitable for Yun Che and his daughter. Most were ordinary spirit stones, only suitable for low-level cultivators.

Yun Che waved his hand and said to Yun Xi:

"All the abyss crystals here are yours!"

"Thank you, Father!"

Yun Xi's happy face was like a flower in full bloom. Without hesitation, she swept through the entire storehouse like autumn leaves in the wind, clearing out all the abyss crystals and throwing them into her personal storage ring.

Just as Yun Che and his daughter walked into the next warehouse, Little Red's voice suddenly came from within the sky poison pearl:

"Yummy, yummy, so much yummy stuff, I want to come out!"

With a flash of red light, the childish-looking Little Red appeared before them. Seeing Little Red pop out suddenly, Long Xi was no longer surprised; in the few days she had been with her father, she had seen too many miracles. Even if dozens of Little Reds suddenly appeared, she wouldn't find it strange.

Little Red skipped over to a pile of stones as huge as mountains and grabbed a piece to munch on.

Yun Che looked closely and saw it was actually amethyst divine vein. Looking at this pile, there were at least several million tons.

There was nothing more to say; since Little Red loved to eat them, then take them all. Yun Che reached out his arms toward the air, and the mountain-like pile of amethyst divine vein entered the interior of the sky poison pearl.

At this time, if the Dragon Lord saw that the Purple Crystals were all gone, he would surely die on the spot. This was the energy substance that maintained the great barrier of the entire Dragon Domain! Without this pile of amethyst divine vein, it was estimated that in less than fifty years, the entire Dragon Domain would be swallowed and shrouded by abyssal dust, becoming uninhabitable, and the Dragon Race would face the fate of extinction.

Once the pile of Purple Divine Crystals was collected, the entire warehouse appeared empty.

Then Little Red suddenly became excited,

"Nine Sun Divine Jade, yummy, yummy!"

She had a new discovery—it was actually a pile of Nine Sun Jade, with several hundred pieces. Yun Che calculated in his mind that this much Nine Sun Jade was enough to power the primordial profound ark to run dozens of laps around the God Realm in all directions.

There was nothing to hesitate about; Yun Che swept them all into the sky poison pearl like a whirlwind.

Soon, Little Red made another surprising discovery. In a corner at the very back of the warehouse, a pile of crystals emitted a dazzling light, clearly no ordinary objects.

heavenly star jade, it was actually heavenly star jade. Back at the Profound God Convention, the top four—Yun Che, Luo Changsheng, Shui Meiyin, and Jun Xilei—had each received one piece.

And this small pile before him had at least dozens of pieces. Even Yun Che couldn't suppress his excitement; these were dozens of pieces of heavenly star jade.

Of course, the most excited was Little Red. Having followed Yun Che for so many years, she had only ever eaten one piece. With so many appearing at once, Little Red danced with joy, her expression of excitement and thrill beyond words.

After gathering the heavenly star jade, there were still a few piles of crystals left in the warehouse—some golden-yellow, some bright white, and some agate-red. Each pile wasn't large, and Yun Che didn't quite recognize them, but they clearly weren't ordinary.

Little Red grabbed a piece of each to taste,

"Yummy, yummy, so yummy!"

Since Little Red loved to eat them, he collected them all.

In the blink of an eye, the vast crystal warehouse had been swept clean.