Chapter 293 - Rapid Progress Winter stealthily became spring. Along with the first wisps of warm breeze, another year had quietly passed by. Spring left and autumn arrived, and dead leaves have dried to become yellow. It had already been a full sixteen months since Yun Che’s “fall”. Even the brightest of sparkles would grow dim under the flow of time. Although Yun Che’s radiance was a cactus that bloomed only once, the influence it left behind was nevertheless long-lasting. Even though it couldn’t compare to the initial enthusiasm, the name “Yun Che” still echoed often within every corner of the Blue Wind Empire. And to those young profound practitioners without sectoral background, it was a beautiful fantasy. It was as if his existence had become a religion. Heavenly Sword Villa. At four in the morning, the sky had just begun to brighten. In the dim illumination, a youth attired in lightweight clothing stepped up onto the Sword Management Terrace. The moment his foot touched the Sword Management Terrace’s first brick, a captivating sword radiance was released as a longsword fell from the sky, landed in his hands, and danced gaily in the breeze. Ling Jie was now already a seventeen year old youth. There was less of an immaturity on his face and more of a resoluteness. His gaze that was as sharp as a sword had become even more sharper than before, and his profound strength was now at the ninth level of the Spirit Profound Realm, only one step away from the peak of the Spirit Profound Realm. As for his sword intent and sword mind, they were getting closer and closer to perfection. The Celestial Yang Sword drew chaotic flowing streams of light in his hands. Following the swinging movements of his arms, air currents that covered a large amount of space in his surroundings grew disordered. A notable change had also appeared in the trajectory of the flying swords above the Sword Management Terrace. It was publicly acknowledged that his innate talent surpassed Ling Yun’s. At the same time, he was even more hardworking that Ling Yun. After the ranking tournament, he had never left Heavenly Sword Villa. He started his everyday practicing the sword, and ended his everyday practicing the sword, and step by step, came closer to Ling Yun. By comparison, in this period of time, ever since he was trapped by his inner demons, his progress was very slight. As for his inner demons, a large half of that came from Xia Qingyue and a small half of that came from Yun Che. In the midst of the whistling sword energy, the sky above the Sword Management Terrace grew brighter and brighter, until finally, the first rays of sunlight shot came from the east. It was also at this time that the Celestial Yang Sword became a streak of burning light that broke through the sky, conjuring up a vacuum of more than thirty meters wide. Then, it rapidly flew down, falling into his scabbard. “Whoosh!” Ling Jie let out a long breath of air as he sat down onto the ground. He wiped away the sweat that filled his forehead, and as he looked at the Heaven’s Punishment Sword that shot straight into the sky, he immediately went into a daze. After a long while, he expelled a mouthful of turbid energy and casually spoke to himself: “Boss, for you to become that powerful when you weren’t a part of any sect, you must have worked unimaginably hard. I heard that before the ranking tournament, you were even in the extremely dangerous Wasteland of Death, and stayed there for a full half year... Sigh, after the ranking tournament, I originally wanted to secretly look for you. Even if you were being chased by the Burning Heaven Clan, I was willing to escape with you. That kind of experience would’ve definitely been really awesome, thrilling, and exciting. It could’ve even allowed me to truly grow up. I didn’t expect that right after I acknowledged you as my boss, I didn’t even have an opportunity to learn anything from you... Sigh! The gods are truly unfair.” Ling Jie turned his head around and said in a low voice while looking west towards Blue Wind Imperial City: “I wonder how Princess Sis is doing now...” Blue Wind Imperial City, Moon Embracing Palace. “Princess, word has been transmitted from Burning Heaven Clan’s side. Young Clan Master Fen Juecheng has already set a date for Your Highness’s engagement. In seven days at three quarters past eight in the morning, Young Clan Master Fen Juecheng shall come to the Moon Embracing Palace to escort the princess to the wedding ceremony. The third prince has already told people to begin the preparations.” Cang Yue motionlessly stood next to the lotus pond in the courtyard, and her beautiful eyes continued to stare at the withering lotus petals. At her side, a palace maid respectfully reported to her in a deferential manner. After the palace maid finished speaking, Cang Yue’s expression was still a field of calm. She nodded, and said faintly: “Alright, you may go now... Wait! The wedding date’s decision, does my royal father know of this yet?” “Reporting to Princess, the Emperor has not awakened yet, so he has not been informed yet.” “Don’t disturb my royal father, let him rest well. Tell me about it after he wakes up.” Cang Yue said in a soft voice. “Yes, this servant shall withdraw now.” After the palace maid left, a cheerful laughter sounded: “Hahahaha! My royal sister, congratulations, congratulations!” Cang Yue turned around and faintly smiled at Third Prince Cang Shuo, who was walking forward in a sloppy manner: “It seems as if you’re even happier than I am about the wedding between me and Fen Juecheng.” “That’s only natural!” Cang Shuo beamed while smiling: “Juecheng is completely worthy of being called a dragon amongst humans. Within the Blue Wind Empire, there are few that could compare to him. With your beauty that could overturn nations and exquisite body, you two could even be said to be a perfect match made by the heavens. Juecheng is my dear friend, and you are my only sister. I would naturally be really happy about a union between you two, hahahaha.” Cang Yue’s petal lips gently raised as she said with a slight smile: “Since you’re this happy about it, then I’ll let you handle the wedding matters here, I’d assume that elder brother would be thrilled to do so.” Since returning from Heavenly Sword Villa, there was an enormous change in Cang Yue’s personality, and everyone around her could distinctly feel this change. Yun Che’s death didn’t seem to have given her any psychological blows. After she returned to the palace, a large majority of her time was spent accompanying Cang Wanhe. As for how she acted, it was as if she had been switched with another person. No more did she retreat, escape, or try to compromise. In fact, she had become incomparably hard and decisive. She used Cang Wanhe’s name to forcibly gather a majority of the neutral parties against Cang Lin and Cang Shuo’s stirring movements. Even though she herself could not stop Cang Lin and Cang Shuo’s struggle and the ambitions of the Xiao Sect and Burning Heaven Clan, she had at least obstructed a large extent of the fighting within the Imperial Family. This, was already an extremely amazing outcome. During this more than just a year, Cang Yue’s character had become even more hard and unyielding. In fact, her gaze would sometimes bring about a cold light that caused one’s heart to palpitate. “Of course I have no objections!” Cang Shuo immediately replied. “Since that’s the face, then I’ll be troubling elder brother with everything... In addition, I’d like to ask elder brother to remind Fen Juecheng a few more times that the ‘Burning Soul Flower’ has to be within the betrothal gifts he brings on the day he comes to the imperial palace. Tell him that if I don’t see the Burning Soul Flower, he should not even think about me following him back to the Burning Heaven Clan.” Cang Yue’s delicate brows focused as she spoke with resolute determination. “You do not have to worry at all about this point. With the devotion Juecheng has for you, forget about a mere Burning Soul Flower, even if it’s all the stars in the sky, he would gladly give it to you without hesitation.” Cang Shuo said that as he gently chuckled. It seemed as if his mood was rather good today. “I hope everything is as you have said. I am about to go see father, if you are interested in this Moon Embracing Palace, you may stay around as long as you like.” After Cang Yue finished speaking, she didn’t bother to pay attention to Cang Shuo anymore, and directly walked out. After stepping out of the Moon Embracing Palace, Cang Yue’s footsteps slowed. She raised her head towards the sky with her hands covering her chest. The hard sharpness in her gaze immediately faded away to become as misty as fog. She lightly muttered to herself: “Junior Brother Yun, I am so sorry, to have let you be all alone by yourself for such a long time... Wait a few days for me, okay... after another seven days, I can go and accompany you...” —————————————————— Under Heavenly Sword Villa’s Sword Management Terrace, an intense battle was already approaching its conclusion. Boom! Bang! Ding! Clang! Slash... The sound of collisions, explosions, and slashes... Under this sealed space, each and every sound was deafening. The swings of Yun Che’s heavy sword were wide, and each rotation would conjure up an shocking profound energy storm. The sharpness of the ever changing cyan profound handle was incomparably endless, and the intensity of its attacks was no less inferior to that of Yun Che’s heavy sword. After more than a thousand collisions, Yun Che’s entire body had already been covered in injuries. But every time they fought, he became even more courageous, as if he was a fierce beast that had been excited. Yun Canghai had been watching Yun Che and the Profound Handle’s battle from the start. He unceasingly nodded with a gaze filled with amazement. In these sixteen months of being in here, Yun Che’s cultivation of profound strength had made rapid progress. At the moment, his profound strength had already reached the sixth level of the Earth Profound Realm! At that time, Ling Yun took two years to break through the Earth Profound Realm’s first level to the third. And this progress, had never been surpassed by anyone of the same age, aside from Xia Qingyue. And Yun Che had only used not even a year to go from the first level of the Earth Profound Realm to the third! If Ling Yun were to know of this, perhaps he would be so ashamed that he might even suicide on the spot. In terms of cultivation rate, Yun Che had fully surpassed Ling Yun by even more than ten times! Of course, the fundamental reason behind this growth was still the Flame Dragon’s blood and flesh. To the profound practitioners within Blue Wind Empire, even if it were profound practitioners at the highest peak, an Emperor Profound Dragon’s flesh was an heavenly grade treasure. Obtaining even a little piece of it would be extremely difficult. But for Yun Che, he had treated it like a normal meal! And he had eaten it for over a year. What Yun Che improved during this time was not just his profound strength. After knowing about Yun Canghai’s Profound Handle, Yun Che had spent at least twelve hours every day battling with the Profound Handle. His actual combat strength had also crazily soared during his close quarter combat. Yun Che had lived two lives, so his combat experience was already naturally plentiful, but no matter how plentiful it was, it was impossible for it to compare with Yun Canghai, who had lived for for several hundred years. Even though Yun Canghai was probably no match for Jasmine, just based experience alone, Jasmine simply could not compare to Yun Canghai. The few instructions he gave to Yun Che had all allowed him to benefit greatly from them. When Yun Che and the Profound Handle had first fought, Yun Canghai still defeated Yun Che even when he suppressed its power into one portion. But in not even a month’s worth of time, Yun Che had already tied with that portion of the profound handle’s power. As a result, he increased the profound handle’s strength by a second portion, then a third portion.... fourth... fifth... and now, Yun Che was currently facing up against his sixty percent of his profound handle’s power! Sixty percent of his profound handle’s power was comparable to the strength of a late stage Sky Profound Realm! And now, it had already been fought into a tie again by Yun Che. After several thousands of exchanges, he had still not yet defeated yet. “Haa!!” After a loud roar, Yun Che soared into the sky, and transformed into four silhouettes that looked exactly the same... That’s right! Four of them! Under the countless battles, his Star God’s Broken Shadow that had been used a countless number of times had also advanced into its third stage, where it could materialize three mirages! Forget about human perception and sight, the mirages that Star God’s Broken Shadow materializes could even confuse the Profound Handle into not knowing which was the true image. It was exactly this delayed response that gave Yun Che an opening to narrow his eyes and open Evil God Art’s third realm, “Purgatory”. Two streaks of scarlet colored brilliance covered Yun Che’s eyes. The profound energy aura on his body had also become incomparably berserk... During the ranking tournament, when he forcibly opened Purgatory, even though it was only a short instant, he still had almost lost half his life, and was unconsciousness for a good few days. With his current state now, forcibly opening Purgatory would naturally not have such a dire side effect anymore. However, it still felt extremely unpleasant, and if it were to only be activated for a few breaths of time, he could still manage to support that. “Sky Wolf Slash!” The azure wolf howled as its terrifying power completely enveloped the profound handle, blocking off all of its potential movements. Then, an enormous silhouette of a wolf emerged upon Dragon Fault’s long range assault, and ruthlessly struck the profound handle. The attack completely morphed it... and in the short period of a second, as if it was a dead leaf whipped up by a hurricane, the profound handle flew away, changed into a streak of cyan light, and flew into Yun Canghai’s arm. Crash!! Dragon Fault fell to the ground and Yun Che’s entire being had also met the ground. He heavily panted as sweat poured down all over his body. The long fierce battle had exhausted nearly all of his strength. Added with huge burden after his opening of “Purgatory”, he could only spare enough energy to pant heavily, and couldn’t even move a single little toe. “This little monster’s future accomplishments are simply unimaginable!” Yun Canghai lowly uttered. His profound handle that held back at sixty percent of its strength, had actually been defeated by him this quickly! Back then, when Yun Che had said that he would kill him within two years, he still thought that it was really funny. But now... his words from before were not excessive in the slightest!