"Are you sure?" Azure Dragon asked, confused. "If you bring her with you, not only will it increase the difficulty of the trial, she will only burden you."
"You sure don't use filters, huh?" Yun Che sighed, feeling a change in Yuechan's emotions in his hands.
Just the word "burden" was enough to cause extra damage to her already damaged mentality.
He thought this old man was not as gentle as he had thought him to be. He was using words to attack the poor girl in his hand.
'How cruel. As expected of the ancient spirit.'
"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing. Just start the trial already."
"... Very well."
Suddenly, everything in the surroundings changed and Yun Che found himself standing on dry land.
As far as the eye could reach, there was nothing but sand and barely any greenery. The air was dry and hot.
"Release… me…" Suddenly, a frail voice came from his hands, causing him to look down at Chu Yuechan.
Despite all the fighting, her veil was still intact in one piece, so he couldn't see anything but her eyes, which stared at him with complex emotions.
Yun Che realized that she hated men, so she must be uncomfortable in his arms.
Thinking, he waved his hand, and a big bed appeared on the land.
Walking to it, he gently laid her on the bed and said, "Just rest here while I'm done with the trial. Also, you are not allowed to think about committing suicide anymore. As you can tell from the talk before, I have an absolute way to heal your veins and let you regain your strength, even breakthrough from the previous bottleneck."
Seeing how she didn't seem to know how to react, he added, "Be a good girl and wait as I skim through this place."
This wasn't blind confidence.
He was afraid to use most of his skills in the past.
He didn't want the Ancestral Goddess to know about them, afraid she might deem him faulty and have him killed.
But he didn't care anymore.
It was all a game and shit until she decided to kill people around him just to push him further in the linear path she had ordained for him.
If before he was annoyed, right now he was absolutely pissed.
If she wanted him to follow the plot, then Yun Che decided to absolutely try his best to destroy the plot! With his powers, he was sure he could!
'I would love to see her expression right now. Sadly, there is no way.'
Meanwhile, Chu Yuechan had a weird expression on her face.
All her life, she had other people looking up to her, not the other way around. All her life, it was she who was taking care of her juniors, not them taking care of her.
Now listening to Yun Che, she didn't know what to feel.
The feeling of comradeship was still there, and even deeper than before, but now it was mixed with something unknown. Something which she didn't understand.
In the end, she decided to close her eyes and didn't respond to Yun Che's care. She had no idea what to reply, so she thought it was best to regain her strength instead.
{You sure have lots of guts giving my bed to another girl. Don't you care what I'll think about it?}
{Come on, Jasmine. We all are one big family now. What's yours is mine and what's mine is… mine. With your big and magnanimous heart, I'm sure you won't care.}
{Bha! Who is family!? Wait till this princess gets better! I'll see if you dare to talk to me this way then!}
{Oh, don't worry. By the time you are fully healed, I'm sure we will have a completely different relationship by then.}
{...}
Understanding what he meant, Jasmine didn't know how to reply.
As someone not eloquent in the ways of words, she grit her teeth in embarrassment.
{Humph! This princess is going to rest! After saving your little princess there, I do not have strength to fight once again. From here on, everything is up to you!} After a small pause, she softly added. {Don't die…}
Yun Che rolled his eyes.
'Obviously, you are worried about me. Is it that hard to express your genuine emotions? Want me to come and hug you? Though I'm sure she will only get violent if I do that…'
Deciding not to do it, he focused back on the trial.
Just then, the dignified voice of the Azure Dragon God resounded from above.
"Welcome to the Dragon God's trial grounds, two young humans. In this trial, there will be a total of three stages. Where you two are now, is where the first stage will be held. In front of you, is the only entrance to where the second stage will be held. Defeat all the Stone Dragon Warriors in this place, and the entrance will naturally open… I wish you two the best of luck."
As the voice disappeared, two yellow-dull lights appeared not far from Yun Che before they took the form of two half-human half-dragon constructs.
Each with the strength of the Fifth-Level True Profound Realm.
Seeing them, Yun Che's eyes gave a definite golden glow; an invisible pressure appeared all around the dry land.
Profound Energy Absorption kicked in, followed by Profound Energy Manipulation; Yun Che used telekinesis to its fullest potential, his energy reserve allowed!
The moment the duo of half-dragon and half-human took the first step towards him, their bodies suddenly constricted before they vanished into thin air!
Of course, they didn't vanish, but Yun Che squeezed them to the point where they became invisible to the naked eye!
"..." Jasmine, who was keeping an eye on Yue Che, was left speechless. No matter what she thought, she couldn't come up with an answer to what had just happened.
On the other hand, Yun Che smiled upon seeing this.
He knew he was going to enjoy Telekinesis more than anything.
Jumping, he sat beside Yuechan, causing her to open her eyes and look at him weirdly.
"Weren't you going to clear the trial? What are you doing sitting here?" Yun Che seemed to read through her eyes, making him chuckle.
Now that he was not holding back, he suddenly felt free.
With a thought, a barrier appeared around them, and Yun Che's attention went back to the Stone Warriors he had just destroyed.
He saw the same yellow light gathering there before four same warriors appeared this time.
Once again, his eyes shone golden, and all four of them vanished! He could feel a massive dent in his profound energy when he used Telekinesis to squeeze all four of them.
The moment he felt hollow, Profound Energy Absorption kicked in.
It greedily absorbed energy from the surroundings, and Profound Energy Manipulation adjusted all the energy within his veins, not allowing even a single strand of it to be wasted.
Light once again converged at the destruction of Stone Warriors, and four warriors appeared there once more.
'Only four?'
He didn't need to think much as his other skills kicked in, and he felt the presence of four dragon warriors behind him!
"It's useless," Yun Che stated. And in a blink, all four warriors vanished!
"..." Azure Dragon God was observing the trials.
Seeing the warriors vanishing the moment they appeared, he was stunned and speechless at the same time.
He had imagined he would get to see some blood-boiling determination as Yun Che fought through the Stone Dragon Warriors, but he didn't think all he would see was them vanishing into thin air.
He could tell that Yun Che was using some weird profound art to squeeze the Stone Warriors with immense pressure, killing them instantly.
But what he didn't understand was how he was able to absorb profound energy so fast from the world to refill his profound veins.
If this went on, he knew Yun Che would tire himself out sooner or later.
Yun Che, of course, knew this too. So after playing with the first eight stone warriors, he didn't use Telekinesis to make them disappear.
Instead, he used it to destroy them. Compared to before, it took less energy and mental power.
Light gathered, and eight warriors appeared in front, and eight appeared behind him, each holding a spear in their hands!
Still in a lotus position, he didn't seem to be in a hurry as profound energy bursts out of his body, turning into phoenix flames.
The flames started to converge above his head into small highly condensed balls.
One, two, three… eight, eleven, twenty, forty, sixty,..., a hundred! A hundred highly condensed balls of phoenix flames appeared above the bed!
Despite this, Yun Che didn't feel tired at all! Since the moment he spent his profound energy, it was refilled the next moment!
Yun Che made a contemplating expression and wondered what he should call this move.
He looked towards Yuechan and saw that she was staring at the hundred phoenix flames with a surprised gaze.
Seeing this, he smirked.
"Little Fairy, what do you think? Isn't it beautiful? Hm. I know it is." Without waiting for her to reply, which he knew she wouldn't, he nodded. "Well, I'll call it Rain of Annihilation! The more chunni, the better!"
The moment he finished speaking, the fire orbs above started to shine in bright light before they all vanished, leaving behind a trail of fire as they started to bombard the stone warriors!
The once-dry land was engulfed in heavy destruction, with explosions occurring everywhere and the temperature rising with each passing second.
Thick black dust from the explosions covered everything around them, making it difficult to see.
Yun Che raised his hand and his finger shone with the word "Tornado" appearing.
He flicked it and the word started to shine brightly, blinking and appearing above the dust.
Air started to gather around it, and soon a tornado appeared that blew away everything in its path, including the dust, sand, and spears.
It is estimated that after this, Azure Dragon's common sense will be broken. Like Jasmine, he will probably think that he lacked knowledge regarding the world.
...
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