Chapter 290: Double Breakthrough

Half a year had passed since Yun Che "fell," yet rumors and discussions about him still spread throughout the Azure Wind Nation. These accounts grew increasingly exaggerated, with some even compiled into books that sold incredibly well and were widely distributed.

The Azure Wind Emperor's condition worsened daily. The covert struggle between the First Prince and the Third Prince officially escalated into open warfare, involving all princes without exception. Yet, not one of them paid any mind to the Emperor, whose life force was steadily fading. Only Princess Cang Yue remained by his side.

The entire Azure Wind Imperial Family was enveloped by an increasingly dark and ominous cloud. Behind this cloud, the fangs of the Xiao Sect and Burning Heaven Clan were already bared. Caught in this immense vortex, driven jointly by the Xiao Sect and Burning Heaven Clan, the Azure Wind Imperial Family had almost no power to resist.

Heavenly Sword Villa remained silent, showing no signs of intervention. Ling Yuefeng had been severely affected by the incident involving Chu Yuechan half a year ago, perhaps leaving him disinclined to get involved. Meanwhile, the Frozen Cloud Asgard had completely sealed itself off, remaining unresponsive regardless of the tumultuous events outside.

Below the Sword-Wielding Terrace at Heavenly Sword Villa.

Yun Che sat cross-legged on the ground, Dragon Fault resting on his back. He had maintained this posture for over three hours. Above his head, wisps of profound energy transformed into visible white smoke, slowly rising.

"Oh... another breakthrough?" the Fiend whispered, observing the white smoke above Yun Che's head.

Yun Che appeared outwardly calm, but internally, a storm was brewing.

After practicing his sword until exhaustion, he sat cross-legged and circulated profound energy through hundreds of minor circulation cycles within his body. Simultaneously, he meditated on the image Jasmine had given him during the ranking tournament—an image depicting the activation of the Sirius's Second Sword. However, this image only showed the movement for unleashing the attack, lacking the crucial profound art. Moreover, the Sirius's Heavenly Prison Record was a divine profound art; even with the complete art in mind, it was impossible to comprehend the true essence of the Second Sword merely by analyzing the trajectory of a heavy sword's swing.

Yet, Yun Che never considered it "impossible." For the past six months, he had pondered intensely each day, replaying that image tens of thousands of times in his mind.

After his profound energy completed its two-hundredth circulation cycle within his body, all of it suddenly vanished without a trace.

Yun Che's entire body trembled. This shock was immense, causing cold sweat to instantly break out all over him. But he quickly regained his composure... What was happening? Could it be...

While his mind was still reeling from the sudden disappearance of his profound energy, his profound veins suddenly glowed with dazzling red and blue light, like stars. Following this, incredibly thick profound energy surged out from the depths of his profound veins, rushing like a flood through all the major meridians throughout his body. His profound veins began to expand rapidly, and his meridians contracted and relaxed with the influx of profound energy, as if dancing excitedly.

Below the Earth Profound Realm, profound energy was formless and colorless, detectable only by its fluctuating power when it flowed. Yet now, Yun Che clearly saw these surging profound energies appearing as a faint white! Like wisps of light smoke, their density was incomparably stronger than before!

The difference was simply incomparable!

The light from his profound veins also intensified; both the red and blue became more brilliant. Yun Che remained with his eyes closed, feeling the surge of profound energy within his profound veins, while his hands slowly stretched and opened, a joyous curve gradually forming on his lips.

He knew exactly what this meant.

It meant his profound strength had officially broken through the Spirit Profound Realm and entered the Earth Profound Realm!

In just half a year, he had advanced from Spirit Profound Realm Level One to Earth Profound Realm Level One!

Just six months!

Furthermore, because all his profound vein profound entrances were fully open, there was no bottleneck whatsoever from the Spirit Profound Realm to the Earth Profound Realm; the breakthrough was effortless and natural.

Such a breakthrough speed was unprecedented in the Azure Wind Empire!

Admittedly, the primary reason for his rapid profound strength improvement was his consumption of vast quantities of dragon meat and blood. By today, Yun Che had completely consumed the Blazing Dragon's entire massive tail, transforming it into his eternal power. However, to devour dragon meat and blood while in the Spirit Profound Realm without dying, and to absorb and refine it into one's own power, was in itself an outrageously abnormal ability.

The surge of profound energy within his body ceased. The sensation of overflowing power made Yun Che feel as comfortable as if he were floating in clouds. He opened his eyes, stood up, and stretched out his arms. With all his pores open, he fully perceived everything around him. Each major realm breakthrough brought with it a sublimation of the soul and a severalfold increase in perception. His spiritual sense could now extend to several times its previous range. He could even faintly hear the trajectories of various elements drifting through the air and the sounds of them interacting.

Excited, Yun Che grabbed Dragon Fault, letting out a joyous roar. His gaze suddenly fixed on the Fiend. With a flash in his eyes, he surged into the barrier like lightning, activating Burning Heart. He then swung his sword down, aiming straight for the Fiend's head.

When Burning Heart activated, there was no sensation of increased bodily burden whatsoever! This meant that, having reached the Earth Profound Realm, he could now fully adapt to the Burning Heart state, just like Evil Soul, and could maintain it effortlessly without any pressure during normal times!

When Yun Che was at the early Spirit Profound Realm, the Fiend had contemptuously met Yun Che's heavy sword with his own head.

However, facing Yun Che, who was now at the early Earth Profound Realm and once again striking directly at his crown, the Fiend no longer dared to meet it head-on. The aura from Yun Che had begun to exert a slight pressure on him... Though extremely subtle, it was undeniably real pressure!

"Breaking through to Earth Profound so quickly is indeed astonishing, but killing me is still a long way off!" the Fiend sneered, lunging to grab Dragon Fault. Yet, as his palm touched the sword, he found himself grasping only afterimages.

The real Dragon Fault, following Yun Che's bizarre movement, slammed heavily onto the Fiend's shoulder.

*Clang!*

The Meteorite Chain emitted a piercing clang. Yun Che's sword felt as if it had struck indestructible profound steel, leaving his arms numb from the impact. Yet, the Fiend's shoulder was not only unharmed, but even his delicate clothes, protected by his profound energy, showed no damage whatsoever.

Even after reaching the Earth Profound Realm, the disparity in strength between him and the Fiend was still vast.

The Fiend raised his hand, unleashing a powerful and unparalleled storm of profound energy that stirred up a terrifying tempest within the entire barrier. In but a single breath, Yun Che was flung a hundred zhang away, falling awkwardly to the ground. He immediately rose, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and declared fiercely, "One day, I will kill you!"

"When that day comes, then you can utter such arrogant words! For now, your claim to kill me is still just a joke," the Fiend scoffed.

"Whether it's a joke or not, that's not for you to decide!" Yun Che picked up Dragon Fault again, not bothering to heal on the spot. He suddenly charged forward once more, entering the barrier. Dragon Fault danced continuously, sending over a dozen Phoenix flames, accompanied by resounding phoenix cries, flying towards the Fiend.

Phoenix Break!

The Phoenix Flame, long dormant, had finally reawakened at this moment.

"Oh?" The Fiend had received Yun Che's profound fire before, but the flames rushing towards him now clearly carried immense heat and power. He flicked his palm, deflecting all dozen Phoenix Breaks, but his hand was scorched crimson, causing the Fiend to frown deeply.

At that moment, Yun Che, who was dozens of zhang away, suddenly surged forward, his entire body enveloped in intensely burning Phoenix flames.

"Phoenix Wing Extinction!"

*Boom!*

Dragon Fault slammed violently into the Fiend's chest, and a surge of wild Phoenix flame exploded against his chest. The intensely high temperature and the Phoenix's oppressive aura caused the powerful Fiend to momentarily gasp for air. Yun Che landed with a backflip, and behind him, a colossal azure wolf howled towards the sky. Dragon Fault descended, and a wolf's shadow sped forth, tearing through the air and directly striking the Fiend.

*Rip!*

The Sirius Slash struck the immovable Fiend with unerring precision, tearing a half-foot-long rip in the clothing over his chest before mercilessly impacting his heart area... A pinprick of pain registered. Although it was a mere faint prick, and only a red mark appeared on his chest without even breaking the skin, it was enough to profoundly astonish the Fiend.

He hadn't intentionally set up any profound energy defenses, but his naturally occurring profound energy defense was usually impenetrable even to a sneak attack from an early Sky Profound Realm expert. His clothing was also protected by this natural profound energy defense... Yet, Yun Che's single sword strike had torn a hole and caused him pain.

This clearly meant that, with the profound energy of the very early Earth Profound Realm, Yun Che had forcibly unleashed power typically associated with the Sky Profound Realm!

It wasn't uncommon for battle prowess to exceed profound strength in the Fiend's understanding. He had frequently seen practitioners at the Nascent Profound Realm display the battle strength of the True Profound Realm, and those at the True Profound Realm possess the strength of the Spirit Profound Realm. He had even witnessed many Spirit Profound Realm practitioners exhibiting Earth Profound Realm strength. However, as realms advanced, the power gap between major realms grew exponentially, and bottlenecks became increasingly difficult to surmount. While the transition from Spirit Profound Realm to Earth Profound Realm was considered the first formal bottleneck, it wasn't overly difficult to overcome. The leap from Earth Profound Realm to Sky Profound Realm, however, was hundreds, even thousands, of times harder than the Earth Profound Realm bottleneck. Likewise, it was almost impossible to unleash Sky Profound Realm battle strength with Earth Profound Realm power.

Yet, Yun Che was only at Earth Profound Realm Level One, but the power of this single sword strike was truly that of the Sky Profound Realm! Although this might have been Yun Che's most powerful strike, even for a mere instant, it was astonishing enough to shake the world.

In his shock, the Fiend suddenly felt a surge of anger... As a dignified Demon King, to have his clothes damaged by a junior who was merely at the Earth Profound Realm was an unimaginable humiliation. His eyes darkened, and his five fingers formed a claw. A massive, deep cyan palm suddenly appeared before Yun Che, then violently clawed towards Yun Che's chest... However, the moment the gigantic palm materialized, the Fiend suddenly regretted it, but it was too late to retract the strike. His furious, outstretched fingers slammed directly into Yun Che's chest.

It was as if a thunderclap had suddenly exploded within his chest. Yun Che's eyes bulged. He dropped Dragon Fault and pushed his palms forward with all his might, using the recoil to rapidly fly backward, landing outside the barrier. The moment he touched down, he had already closed his eyes, assumed a seated posture, and immediately began to rapidly circulate the Great Way of the Buddha.

The Fiend's strike was far more formidable than Yun Che had anticipated. He felt all his internal organs displaced, all his ribs broken, and over a dozen meridians severed... However, after a hundred "baptisms" by the Blazing Dragon's flesh and blood, what should have been an extremely severe injury was, to him, "nothing much."

As the Great Way of the Buddha circulated, the small silver pagoda reappeared above his head.

The Fiend retracted his palm and silently stared at Yun Che. After a while, he murmured to himself, "I don't know how this brat trained his body. That strike just now should have taken half the life of even a Sky Profound Realm practitioner, yet he can still sit steadily and heal!"

No sooner had the Fiend's voice faded than an anomaly occurred. A golden light suddenly flashed at the corner of the Fiend's eye. He instinctively looked up, and was startled to see the small pagoda above Yun Che's head, which had previously been silver, now transformed into a faint gold!