Against the Gods

Fen Juecheng still had a faint smile on his face as he said: “I presented all these precious treasures and elixirs to display the sincerity of my Burning Heaven Clan. Of course, to someone who has such a dignified status as you, and even more so a frigid soul and an icy heart, it would be naturally impossible to be interested in these elixirs. But I wonder whether this thing here is enough to win Your Highness’ favor?”

While speaking, Fen Juecheng reached out with his hand and stroked on the spatial ring. All of a sudden, a transparent jade case emerged in his hand, with a strange nine-petaled flower blossoming within it. Every petal of the flower was of a different shape from another, but all of them, without exception, appeared similar to a burning flame. Even though it was sealed within the jade case, the flower still seemed to be blazing with life.

“So this is…… the Burning Soul Flower?” Looking at the blazing flower that was inside the jade case, Cang Yue’s eyes grew hazy for an instant.

“That’s right. It is one of the most precious treasures of my Burning Heaven Clan. However, if it’s something that the princess wishes for, let alone a Burning Soul Flower, I would not be reluctant to even part with half of my life.”

“…Give that flower to me, and I shall go with you.” After taking a light breath, Cang Yue reached out with her hand, and immediately took the case containing the sealed up Burning Soul Flower. All this while, Fen Juecheng showed no signs of stopping her, or withdrawing his hand, and let her take the jade case in her hand.

Cang Yue quickly turned around, and arrived before the old man surnamed Mu, who was a part of the Black Moon Merchant Guild. Before she even opened her mouth, the old man nodded his head in understanding, and said in an extremely low voice: “You don’t need to show it to me. I’ve once had the chance to see the Burning Soul Flower before, and can say it without any doubt that the one in your hand is a Burning Soul Flower. It’s just that I am not very confident in applying the Burning Soul Flower’s ‘Soul Detach’ ability. I can only try my best, but if that ends in a failure… sigh…”

“Senior Mu, I leave everything to you.I still request Senior Mu to eliminate the Soul Devouring Life Binding Parasite from my Royal Father’s body using the Burning Soul Flower today. Regardless of whether it ends in a success or not, Cang Yue will be always grateful to you for the rest of my life.” Cang Yue replied in an appreciative and imploring voice. Then, she turned around and came before Cang Wanhe’s imperial chariot. She lifted open the curtain, and placed the jade case onto his knee: “Royal Father, you need to properly take care of this jade box, and aside from Senior Mu of Black Moon Merchant Guild, you must not hand it over to anyone else… Yue’er may not be able to accompany you any longer by your side, so do make sure to take care of yourself… Uncle Dongfang, please protect my father at all costs.”

After she finished speaking, Cang Yue lowered the curtain without waiting for Cang Wanhe’s response, and directly went towards the magnificent palanquin for escorting the bride. She could hear a hurried voice calling “Yue’er” along with painful coughing sound coming from behind her.

Cang Yue slowly closed her eyes, and by the time she opened them again, they showed nothing but serenity. She stepped into the magnificent palanquin all by herself, without being supported by anyone else, and lowered the red curtain as she indifferently said: “Move.”

“Hahahaha!” Cang Shuo let out a laugh of satisfaction: “Although we didn’t hold any gorgeous ceremony, but one can see how eager she is to become a member of the Burning Heaven Clan. Young Clan Master Fen, from now on I can only entrust my Royal Sister’s happiness with you. See that no one bullies her.”

“Hehe, I ask Father and the third prince to be at ease. Being able to marry the princess as my wife, is already a blessing of three lifetimes for me, Fen Juecheng. So I’ll naturally treat her well.” Fen Juecheng said with a laugh. When addressing Cang Wanhe he still openly used “Father,” as if he had not heard Cang Wanhe’s previous “warning,” or simply never cared about it in the first place.

Fen Juecheng jumped up suddenly, and fell onto the horse back. Then, following the signal of his hand, the Burning Heaven Clan’s procession to escort the bride was set into motion again; grandiosely leaving the Moon Embracing Palace.

The marriage of the princess was originally a big enough event to be celebrated for days, and yet it was all done with such simplicity that it was really strange to think about. Neither a myriad of guests were invited, nor was a feast, with singing and dancing by performers, organized. The same went for the well wishes and blessings that should have been sent from each and every part of the empire on such a great and auspicious event. Even the performers for the lion dance, were brought by the Burning Heaven Clan itself. As for the Moon Embracing Palace, it was only decorated with lifeless lanterns and colored banners, and crowding with palace maids and eunuchs who had a worried expression on their faces. During the whole course of event, the exchange of words between the two sides happened so seldom that the situation could be reasonably called extremely pathetic.

When the Burning Heaven Clan’s procession, which brought about a huge oppressive power, had finally left the Moon Embracing Palace, Cang Wanhe’s imperial chariot was still motionless at its original place, without any sound of activity. Qin Wuyou let out a breath, and said with a sigh: “Who could have thought that things would turn out like this? The princess was absolutely not willing to marry Fen Juecheng, and Your Majesty could not have been able to force her to do so either. So just how did it come to this… sigh.”

“In this case, it’s indeed true that no one directly forced the princess. But that only means there was no direct pressure; it doesn’t imply that there wasn’t any indirect pressure on her. There is certainly nothing for Princess Cang Yue to gain from doing all this… and I can only hope that at least Fen Juecheng doesn’t mistreat her or anything. Sigh…” Qin Wushang closed his eyes with concern. Back then, in the Heavenly Sword Villa, he had looked on helplessly as the feelings between Yun Che and Cang Yue grew stronger day by day. On the ranking tournament field, Cang Yue heartstrings had been further tied to Yun Che’s body with every passing moment… Even if Yun Che came from a humble background, he was worthy enough of Cang Yue considering his innate talent and accomplishments. However, there was nothing that could be done about it now as he had ended up becoming yet another instance of the saying “those whom the Gods love die young”...

It was already ten in the morning by the time Burning Heaven Clan’s procession left the Moon Embracing Palace. Every main street in front of the Imperial Gate was jam-packed with crowds of people, which were bustling with noise and excitement, creating an atmosphere several times livelier than that of the ceremony before. The majority of them were only present there to enjoy watching all the hustle and bustle, but there were still a considerable number of them who came from every part of the empire to greet and congratulate the newly married couple; hoping to leave some impression behind on the Burning Heaven Clan.

“Congratulations, Young Clan Master Fen! Young Clan Master Fen and Princess Cang Yue are definitely a golden couple, who had their match made in heaven. Oh, it is indisputably the kind of beautiful fate that can make all the people of the world fill to the brim with envy.”

“I had already heard about the distinguished name of the Young Clan Master Fen, but today after seeing you with my own eyes, I realized that you’re even better than your fame. It’s truly a great luck for this lowly Golden Blade Clan’s Feng Zhiyi to be able to personally witness Young Clan Master Fen marrying Princess Cang Yue.”

“Ah, the Burning Heaven Clan is fortunate to have the princess marry into their clan, and it’s even more so for the Imperial Family to marry the princess off into the Burning Heaven Clan.”

………………

There were many prestigious individuals among the crowds moving toward the center of the empire, who were leaving no stone unturned with their flattery to please the Burning Heaven Clan. There were leaders of small sects, very powerful officers, governors, and even impressively famous lone practitioners. However, all these people didn’t have the qualification to be invited to take part in the wedding reception that was to be held three days later. Therefore, this was the only way left with them to try their chances at getting in touch with the Burning Heaven Clan. If they could even leave a little bit favorable impression on the Burning Heaven Clan, it would be sufficient to brag about for the next ten-odd years.

“Is that the legendary… Profound Floating Technique? My god! There are total eight of them… is this really happening?”

“Of course, it’s real. This is the Burning Heaven Clan after all!”

Out of the many excited people who had come to see the procession, nearly all of them were alarmed and flabbergasted by the experts floating in the sky. In every big city of the Blue Wind Empire, a person at the Earth Profound Realm was treated as a Master or a Supervisor level individual. But Sky Profound Realm was practically a legendary level to them, and the majority of the people could never get to see someone at the Sky Profound Realm in their lifetime. But today, seeing eight such people right before their eyes brought an incomparably huge shock to a great majority of people present here, and made them even more clear about the concept of the Four Major Sects.

“Look over there, that person is… the first genius doctor of our Blue Wind Empire… Medical Saint Gu Qiuhong!!”

As soon as several people cried out in fear, a lot of gazes filled with reverence were directed at a kind looking old man in a white garment, who was standing in front of more than ten people that were escorting him. Even Fen Juecheng showed a look of respect on his face as soon as he became aware of the old man’s existence. He at once called out “Great Master Gu,” and was about to dismount from the horse to make his salutations.

“No need for that!” Gu Qiuhong stepped forward as he promptly stopped him, and said while laughing: “Today is indeed a Golden Day when you’ll be escorting your bride to your clan, so you shouldn’t be dismounting from your horse with such nonchalance… Haha, this old me and your grandfather have a friendship of many decades, and at last the day of your marriage that we have always hoped for has arrived. Ah, I’m honestly very glad about this.”

Fen Juecheng cupped his hands and said: “Great Master Gu, this Juecheng can’t thank you enough to come in person to Juecheng’s bride escorting… I ask Great Master Gu to honor us with his presence in the great feast we are holding three days later.”

“Hoho, that’s only natural. I’ll be setting out for your clan this afternoon.” Gu Qiuhong said, laughing. For Fen Juecheng to be so courteous and deferential with him in the presence of everyone, had further brightened his face.

All the people who were racking their brains for good compliments and wanted to approach the Burning Heaven Clan to curry favor with it, exposed a look of envy when they heard Burning Heaven Clan inviting Gu Qiuhong… However, everyone knew how high level of an individual Gu Qiuhong was. As the first genius doctor of the Blue Wind Empire, inviting him as a distinguished guest was quite a normal thing to do.

The Burning Heaven Clan’s procession advanced in the Imperial City with an unhurried pace, and only reached one and half kilometers away from the Imperial Palace after moving for fifteen minutes. The crowd of people was also moving along with it, and more and more people joined it on the way. After all, each one of them reckoned that that this would be the only time in their life when they could get to see such a grand occasion.

At this time, suddenly an indistinct, long crying sound of a bird came from the southwestern sky.

“That… What is that thing? Look up at the sky!!”

In the distant blue sky, a black dot was rushing towards them at an extreme speed. In the blink of an eye, the black dot became as big as a fist, and in the next moment, it became clearer as the silhouette of a large bird appeared.

“It’s flying so fast! Could it be a Giant Snow Goose…? Wrong! It is a Fierce Storm Hawk… no… a Fierce Zephyr Bird!!”

“That high level Earth Profound Beast… the Fierce Zephyr Bird!?”

Among various kinds of tamable Profound Beasts that travelled by air, although it was extravagant to have a Giant Snow Goose, it was still regarded as something frequently seen. Having a Fierce Storm Hawk was considered even rarer. As for the Fierce Zephyr Bird, one of the aerial profound beasts, there were very few people in the entire Blue Wind Empire who had one. Not only was Fierce Zephyr Bird as fast as a Fierce Storm Hawk, it had many times more endurance than a Fierce Storm Hawk. However, as it was a high level Earth Profound Beast, let alone taming and making a contract, it was very difficult just to capture it alive.

Probably only those few powerful large sects could possibly have a Fierce Zephyr Bird as a Contracted Profound Beast.

Generally, profound beasts would not trespass a human race’s territory. But today, a Fierce Zephyr Bird was actually flying over the skies of Blue Wind Empire, and was evidently being controlled by some person. Everyone raised their head one by one, and watched the extremely rare and precious aerial profound beast in amazement… including the people from the Burning Heaven Clan.

The Fierce Zephyr Bird came flying increasingly near to them, and within a moment arrived right above the huge crowd. The people shouted out in surprise as a pitch-black human figure fell down from above the Fierce Zephyr Bird… Afterwards, the Fierce Zephyr Bird let out a long cry, and turned back moving in a circular motion in the sky, then flew back towards the direction of the Heavenly Sword Villa.

“S… someone fell down!”

“It’s not ‘fell down’. Someone ‘jumped down’ from that beast! With this much height… does he not fear falling to his death?!”

“Nonsense! How can someone who can control a Fierce Zephyr Bird possibly be a normal person? Jumping down from such a height may not be anything to him.”

“C’mon… quickly, get out of the way!”

The black figure was falling down at an extremely fast rate, and halfway through the fall, rays of light flashed within his hand. Instantly, an astonishingly huge sword appeared in his hands, followed by an oppressive might, as heavy as a mountain, pouring down from the sky and shrouding the whole area. The falling rate of the black figure also suddenly accelerated as soon as the huge sword appeared, and then he firmly landed ahead of the Burning Heaven Clan’s procession.

Boom!!!!

Without any doubt, it was just a person that had fallen down from the sky, yet this produced an earsplitting “boom” sound. Amidst the loud sound, a wide expanse of land immediately broke open with an explosion, and crushed stones and dust filled the sky. Subsequently, the earth trembled all of a sudden, and countless cracks frantically ran on the ground, spreading toward the surroundings; with the longest crack extending as far as dozens of meters away.

In contrast to this entire occurrence, the person who had fallen down… clearly resembled an enormous boulder that the sky pounded on the earth!