Chapter 20: Chapter 20
The awards for the tournament were distributed. Qingyue got the Dragonscale Armor and Yun Che got the Purple Veined Marrow Quenching Fluid.
Yun Che was fairly satisfied with how things had turned out. He had accomplished his three objectives – getting into the top 10 so that he could go to Heaven Basin Secret Realm and could watch the 'demon sealing ritual', strengthening the foundation of his relationship with Qingyue, and ensuring that Qingyue got the Dragonscale Armor while he got the Purple Veined Marrow Quenching Fluid.
Qingyue having the Dragonscale Armor would be useful in his short term plans, and he didn't actually need the Purple Veined Marrow Quenching Fluid, so he would use it for trade.
Both the finalists recovered to their peak and were enthusiastically congratulated by their teammates. Yun Che was congratulated for getting another precious treasure that could accelerate his cultivation speed even further and he realized that he had obtained yet another excuse to explain his talent.
Qingyue was congratulated for winning the tournament and her fellow disciples fussed over the Dragonscale Armor before returning it to her. Her status had increased even more in the sect. She smiled wistfully, 'If only they knew that Yun Che was holding back... I don't deserve this, not completely.'
Finally, it was time to visit the Heaven Basin Secret Realm. Fen Juecheng had initially planned to target Ling Jie in this event, but with the loss of Fen Juebi and the heavy security that Ling Jie had from the Heavenly Sword Villa, he gave up on that.
Everyone went to the northern section of the Heavenly Sword Mountain Range. The portal opened and everyone stepped into it one after another.
Upon entering the Secret Realm, Jasmine cried out in shock, "This... this kind of place is not what should exist in a lower realm! The profound energy of this realm is too concentrated; it is even higher than most places in the Realm of the Gods."
Yun Che replied, "Of course. This was made by the Evil God after all, and contains our next treasure." He separated from the Blue Wind Profound Palace members and went towards the Frozen Cloud Asgard. Qingyue also separated from the Frozen Cloud Asgard and met him halfway.
"Qingyue, are you feeling alright now?"
"I am alright. If you want I can give you the Dragonscale Armor; after all you would have won if you had used Phoenix Fire."
"No there's no need for that. You deserve it Qingyue. It will raise your status in your sect and that is enough to satisfy me."
"...Alright then, where should we go first?"
"Follow me; I have already discovered a precious treasure." Yun Che led her to where the Sky Poison Pearl was indicating, knowing that it was most likely the Emperor Awakening Heart Lotus.
They arrived there quickly enough and it was indeed, the Emperor Awakening Heart Lotus. Qingyue was shocked upon discovering this – it was a treasure that could help directly breakthrough to the Emperor Profound realm. The problem was, there was only one treasure but two people.
She turned to Yun Che, "You take this. I have already received many benefits from you and you were the one who found this. I cannot take this."
Jasmine also encouraged him, "An Emperor Awakening Heart Lotus! Is this the treasure you came here to find? Eat it then, the faster your cultivation increases the better. What are you hesitating about?"
Yun Che had a difficult face and stood there, as if contemplating and then made a decision, "Let's store it for now. We will decide later which of us should get it."
As soon as he had finished collecting the herb into his Sky Poison Pearl, the lake in front of them rumbled with waves, and a huge profound beast leapt out of it. It was an ice element Tyrant Profound beast.
Seeing this, Qingyue and Jasmine both panicked. Jasmine was panicking because she knew that Yun Che was not at a level where he could defeat a Tyrant Profound beast, even with all his trump cards.
She made a decision and said with determination, "Yun Che, I am coming out of the Pearl. I will deal with this beast myself."
Yun Che, who was strangely calm and even a bit excited, immediately shook his head, "No. Your months of recovery will go to waste if you make a move. Also, Qingyue is not yet ready to meet you."
From this statement, Jasmine understood that Yun Che did plan on introducing her and Qingyue sometime.
He continued, "I have a plan but not enough profound energy to implement it. You lend me some of your energy to get it to the peak of Earth Profound realm; that should cost you a few days of recovery. I will take care of the rest."
Jasmine was skeptical that he could beat a Tyrant Profound beast even at the peak of Earth Profound realm, but also curious about what the plan was. She decided that if this plan didn't work, she would indeed go out and make a move. Hesitantly, she nodded and lent some of her profound energy to Yun Che.
The Tyrant profound beast opened its huge maw and attempted to swallow Yun Che and Qingyue, who had put on her Dragonscale Armor, not that it could actually protect her.
'Is this how it's going to end? Is this the end of the road? Father, brother, I am sorry I couldn't spend more time with you. Mother, I am sorry I couldn't find you. Yun Che-'
At this moment when her life was flashing before her eyes, Yun Che suddenly turned and grabbed her tightly, turning his back to the incoming death and shielding her with his body. She was shocked and frozen at this turn of events, and Yun Che leapt off, directly into the jaw of death.
She didn't know, but Yun Che had, at that moment, used his Suppression ability of the Dragon Soul essence to reduce the cultivation level of the Tyrant Profound beast by an entire realm, to Emperor Profound realm. Still, this wasn't enough to guarantee their survival.
He next opened the second gate of the Evil God – Burning Heart – which he had never needed to do before. Finally, while jumping into the beast's jaw, he executed the associated Evil God's Secret Arts – Sealing Cloud Locking Sun.
This boosted his defensive capability and produced a barrier around Yun Che and Qingyue which was extremely dense and could easily take an Emperor Profound realm blow. However, its energy consumption was too high and couldn't be maintained for long.
The weakened Tyrant Profound beast closed its jaw and the defensive barrier was caught within its mouth. Thankfully, the barrier didn't break and the beast forcefully swallowed it. Yun Che had to spend almost all of his boosted profound energy to maintain the barrier and got extremely exhausted upon reaching the stomach.
Jasmine was impressed. Yun Che had used a combination of several trump cards – Evil God's Secret Arts, Dragon Soul Suppression, energy borrowed from her – to survive a being that was four realms above him. As expected, he wasn't actually able to kill the beast, but surviving was already commendable.
She was feeling exhausted herself and her pain increased slightly. She had lost around a week of recovery time through this stunt. Before she could go to sleep though, Yun Che sent her a spiritual message, "Jasmine, absorb the remaining profound energy within my body to restore your recovery. Make it so that I appear to be dying from the outside perspective."
She was bewildered, "Huh? Why should I do that? Is this another one of your crazy plans?" He simply replied, "Just trust me. It's important."
Shrugging, she proceeded to do as he had requested and drained the profound energy from his body. After all, if something went wrong she could always just lend back the drained profound energy to save him.
Qingyue was astonished and in an adrenaline rush from this turn of events. She was ready to die, but then her husband had used some defensive technique she had never seen before to protect both of them. Furthermore, he had... shielded her with his own body...
Thinking of this, she quickly turned to where he was lying, apparently unconscious, and could feel that the profound energy in his body was rapidly depleting. Alarmed, she 'realized' that the profound technique he had used was a forbidden technique, which consumed the life of its user.
He had essentially sacrificed himself to save her. Added on top of all the things he had done for her so far, she was finally moved to tears. "I am sorry. I couldn't be a good wife to you in this life. Qingyue will try to be a good wife to you next life... husband."
In her tumultuous state of mind, she had forgotten that Yun Che had told her that he could resurrect from death once every 20 years. This was a flaw in Yun Che's plan that thankfully was overlooked. Was it the doing of the Mirror of Samsara?
Jasmine was watching all of this with great interest, like watching a TV soap, and was contacted by Yun Che again, "Don't drain any energy if Qingyue pours it into me." She blankly nodded her head and saw that, Qingyue indeed started pouring all her profound energy into Yun Che.
With the energy she poured, she rapidly lost her own vitality, but Yun Che's vitality was restored. Finally, Yun Che had fully recovered, while Qingyue had now fallen unconscious, slowly dying herself.
Yun Che got up and looked at her for a few seconds in a daze. Although he had planned this all out, he still couldn't help but feel moved by her actions. He had been tricking and lying to people this entire time, and his wife had now been tricked by him into almost sacrificing herself for him.
An immense wave of guilt washed over him. He didn't regret anything he had done, but still felt guilty about it. Looking down into the sleeping Qingyue's face, he said with a resolved look, "From now on, I will also be a proper husband to you. Soon, I will tell you most of my secrets. Just wait for me."
Saying this, he took out the Emperor Awakening Heart Lotus and stuffed it into her mouth, to Jasmine's bewilderment. She asked, "Hey, wasn't that the treasure you had come here for? If you had not told me to drain your profound energy, you could still have it. What did you do that for?"
Yun Che finally stood up and replied, "When did I say I came here for that herb?"
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