Against the Gods

“Fifteen minutes? Is it usually that long?” Mu Xiaolan said quietly to herself. Even though she had never participated in Freezing Snow Hall’s examination, she knew some things about it after all these years in Divine Ice Phoenix Sect.

“This is not important,” Mu Sushan said smilingly. “Maybe you should think about why he asked you that question specifically just now.”

“Eh?” Mu Xiaolan’s face was filled with confusion.

“The examination in the Snowstorm Realm is extremely energy consuming,” Mu Sushan said slowly. “Most of the profound practitioners, whether they passed or not, were all out of breath after the Snowstorm Realm closed. However, not only did Yun Che make it within the one thousand people at only Sovereign Profound Realm, his expression was very calm and casual and he did not seem to be catching his breath at all… hehe, this young fellow Palace Master Bingyun brought back from the lower realm is indeed not as simple as he looks. Perhaps there will be some kind of surprise later.”

“Ah?” Mu Xiaolan was even more confused.

Standing within the profound formation, Yun Che immediately saw the person named Feng Mo among the crowd. Not only did he pass the second round of examination, he seemed to have come in at the top of the ranking. Feeling someone watching him, Feng Mo also lifted his head and looked towards him but the expression revealed in his eyes was rather strange.

“The final examination… the Ice Profound Realm! Don’t die too quickly!”

As soon as Ji Hanfeng finished speaking, a blue light rose from the profound formation up in the sky and completely covered all the examinees within the formation.

The world around Yun Che suddenly became ice blue. Following that, he felt a change in the world around him and the aura of all the people around him disappeared in an instant. When the light surrounding him suddenly dispersed, a dimension built with ice crystals appeared before his eyes.

The world of the Ice Profound Realm!

This dimension was independent and sealed. It was especially narrow and small; the length, width, and height were less than three hundred meters and one could see towards the end and the edge of it in a single glance. This world was sealed with an ice layer formed by using an ice profound energy that was at an extremely high plane and it reflected a cold light that stung one’s soul.

Just when Yun Che got a good look at the world he was in, a freezing light flashed in front of him and the silhouette of a beast that was about three meters tall appeared quickly… Its entire body was snowy white, with claws that were like frozen blades and eyes that were blood red. It was a ice wolf releasing its bloodthirsty aura!

Yun Che was familiar with ice wolves because they could be seen everywhere in Snow Region of Extreme Ice. However, even if all the ice wolves in Snow Region of Extreme Ice added together, they could not be compared to a single hair of the one in front of him. The aura that it released was clearly scarier than Feng Xue’er and the Little Demon Empress.

This was a terrifying profound beast with the strength of the divine way! Its strength could be compared to a profound practitioner with the strength of early stage Divine Origin Realm!

The ice wolf instantly let loose a bloody roar when it appeared and immediately rushed toward him. Yun Che was a projection and the ice wolf was also a projection. The ice wolf didn’t have any emotions and the only goal of its existence was to do everything it could to tear apart the creature in front of it without giving it any chance to breathe.

“Purgatory!!”

Yun Che definitely could not go head-to-head against a profound beast with the strength of the divine way in his normal state. He instantly opened his Evil God’s gates and the profound strength in his body instantly rose as a result, but he still didn’t dare to take the attack directly. Instead, he quickly teleported using Star God’s Broken Shadow.

Sssss!

The ice wolf missed and right when its front claws touched the ground, it turned around lightning quick and immediately charged towards Yun Che again. At the same time, the temperature in the Ice Profound Realm suddenly fell as countless ice spikes infested the void sky and shot towards Yun Che with an incredibly sharp noise.

Wh… at!?

The speed of the ice wolf surprised Yun Che. He ducked and teleported again against the ground. He dodged below the ice wolf and instantly switched positions with it but in this narrow space, the ice spikes were already everywhere. Yun Che roared deeply, the profound energy in his body erupting forth. It burst all the ice spikes that were shooting towards him but the instant he exhausted his energy, a few dozen ice spikes got through the remaining waves of his power and ruthlessly stung his body.

Bang bang bang bang…

With the strength of Yun Che's body, it was extremely hard for him to be injured. However, the ice spikes that were hitting him at the moment had the power of divine way, much stronger than the plane of those in the Profound Sky Continent. His chest and back instantly spilled blood and the extreme pain made Yun Che knit his brows. He punched his own chest and the spikes that punctured his body were all shaken out, turning into ice powder.

What a terrifying profound beast… It was, after all, a profound beast from the God Realm.

The ice wolf had already turned around and attacked again after it missed a second time. Its snowy white body charged towards him and before it even got close, its claws were already out. An ice blade that was even larger than its body condensed, appeared, and horizontally slashed towards Yun Che.

“Senior Mu Sushan, this is the final round of examination… what exactly is in the Ice Profound Realm?” Mu Xiaolan asked Mu Sushan.

“Oh? You just started worrying about that kid?” Mu Sushan asked, a faint smile on his face.

“I can’t be bothered to worry about him,” Mu Xiaolan said as she turned her nose up. “I was just curious.”

“It’s the Winterfrost Direwolf,” Mu Sushan answered.

“Winterfrost Direwolf… the profound beast at the first level of the Divine Origin Realm?” Mu Xiaolan gasped softly.

“That’s right and there will be more than one.” Mu Sushan explained, “After the examinee enters the Ice Profound Realm, they will have toface one Winterfrost Direwolf. After that, more Winterfrost Direwolves will appear at regular intervals but it won’t be a single one that appears, it will be two, three, four… an increasing number every time.”

“Most of those who are participating the Freezing Snow Hall’s examination are at the initial stage of Divine Origin Realm. The outstanding examinees who could pass the second round of examination can easily handle one single Winterfrost Direwolf but it will be a little difficult to handle two at the same time. Handling three will put them in danger of dying and it is even more difficult to face four at the same time. Each Winterfrost Direwolf will appear at a specific time. For example, three Winterfrost Direwolves will appear at the third wave but if one is not able to kill all three before the fourth wave of Winterfrost Direwolves appears, then after the fourth wave, the examinee will have to face seven at the same time… Hehe, the result would of course be a certain death.”

“Winterfrost Direwolves… Even though their bodies are weaker, their offensive ability is almost the strongest among the profound beasts of the same level and they are also naturally aggressive. Yun Che... he… he…” Mu Xiaolan started stuttering while she talked, “He will definitely be torn into pieces immediately.”

“Ah!!!!”

Just as Mu Xiaolan finished talking, there was a scream. A silhouette flew out from within the profound formation and landed hardly on the ground.

The first profound practitioner who died in the Ice Profound Realm had been ejected.

“Hmph, garbage.” Ji Hanfeng who was supervising the examination snorted in disdain.

“Ah… Yun Che!!” Mu Xiaolan gasped subconsciously and hurriedly rushed towards the silhouette. The only result for Yun Che, whose profound strength was only at the fifth level of the Sovereign Profound Realm, would be to be torn apart in front of the brutal, terrifying Winterfrost Direwolf. The first one to die under the claws of Winterfrost Direwolf could only be him.

But before she even got close, she stopped where she was with her icy eyes widened… because the person who got thrown out to the ground was not Yun Che.

“Hn?” Ji Hanfeng who was on the other side also knitted his brows.

The first examinee that was kicked out of the profound formation was limp on the ground. His face was pale and couldn’t recover from the fear of his “death” at the moment. Because in the Ice Profound Realm, he clearly saw himself get ripped into pieces by a Winterfrost Direwolf.

……………………

Bang!!

The ice blade destroyed Yun Che’s phantom, slashed onto the ice wall behind and was stuck, nailed there.

The ice wolf’s scary attacks were all dodged by Yun Che using Star God’s Broken Shadow. However, he knew clearly in his mind that with the ice wolf’s horrifying speed and the narrowness of the space, it was definitely not a smart decision for him to deal with it like this. He had to go on offensive.

But this time, the ice wolf did not charge forward and instead opened its huge mouth and let out a gush of cold energy. A thick icy fog instantly spread throughout the Ice Profound Realm. The temperature in this space was already freezing but now it was decreasing at an alarming rate.

Cold energy!?

Yun Che’s eyes lit up and he actually faced the icy fog head-on and charged towards the ice wolf at lightning speed.

Even a Monarch would be frozen into an ice sculpture from touching the cold energy produced by an ice wolf. As the freezing fog spread, every existence in the Ice Profound Realm were all sealed in ice.

But this absolutely would not affect Yun Che.

Its power, sharp claws, ice spikes, ice blades; Yun Che didn’t dare to forcefully take any of them head on. But it using cold energy to attack Yun Che was an absolutely foolish move.

Releasing cold energy made the ice wolf reveal its weak point. Yun Che rushed directly to its side, condensed profound energy, and struck its body with a punch.

Ji Hanfeng said himself that no one would be able to use weapons in the Ice Profound Realm but Hong’er might be an exception… because she was technically not a weapon but an unique existence connected to his soul and willpower. However, he did not attempt to summon Hong’er, because he did not think it was worth the trouble to “cheat.”

The ice wolf shrieked and flew out under Yun Che’s strike, fiercely smashing against the icy wall. The shock made the entire space vibrate slightly. Yun Che looked at his fist that had just landed on the ice wolf and a flash of shock appeared in his eyes… because he clearly felt the bones of the ice wolf cracking in that punch just now.

The attack of the ice wolf was extremely terrifying and it made him felt like he was going to suffocate every single time but its body didn’t seem to be very tough.

The ice wolf stood up but its body was already wobbling slightly, proving that the bone cracking that Yun Che felt was not an illusion. The expression in Yun Che’s eyes turned from cautious to dangerous and he rushed towards the ice wolf himself.

“Aa… aoooo!!”

The injured direwolf became increasingly more aggressive and a murderous, bloodthirsty light was released from its eyes. It howled in anger, leaped about thirty meters, and charged towards Yun Che with a frantic ice-cold current of air. More than half of the Ice Profound Realm was instantly drawn into the icy wind storm.

Yun Che also leaped straight up to it. When he got close, his figure swayed and appeared above the ice wolf like a ghost. Using his hand as a sword, he struck downward.

“Falling Moon Sinking Star!!"

Bang!!

Crack!!

With a loud sound, Yun Che smashed his palm down with all of his power onto the back of the ice wolf. What followed after was a crisp, ear-splitting cracking sound.

Yun Che’s physical strength was incredible. Under this strike, the spine of the ice wolf was broken into several pieces. It howled in pain as it fell to the ground. After it rolled several times, it lay on the ground like a lump of mud and wasn’t able to stand up anymore. Not long after, it slowly disappeared in a ball of blue light.

Yun Che landed slowly, took a small breath and flicked his palm that was a little sore. He said in a low voice, “so it was merely this.”

“But, this is just the beginning. To be able to pass, I have to at least hang on for more than fifteen minutes. It will definitely become harder later on,” Yun Che said to himself. “I better conserve my strength.”

In the Profound Sky Continent, as Xuanyuan Wentian’s divine soul perished, there was no one else with the strength of the divine way. Therefore, even though Yun Che’s strength had increased at a tremendous speed, he couldn’t find anyone to compare his strength to.

Including when he was fighting against Xuanyuan Wentian, he didn’t know what plane his strength was on—after all, he didn’t know about the existence of the “Seven Divine Profound Realms” back then.

So, it wasn’t that the Winterfrost Direwolf was “merely this,” but that he didn’t know he had already reached a realm far beyond his expectations...