Chapter 300: Reborn into the Light

In the dim underground space, Yun Che knelt for three days and three nights.

For Yun Canghai, death was indeed a liberation. For a hundred years, he had yearned to die countless times, but couldn't because he carried important items and a great secret from the Illusory Demon Realm. Now, having entrusted everything to Yun Che, it was time for his release. Moreover, his liberation would also secure Yun Che's freedom.

Furthermore, this was not just about Yun Che gaining freedom, but also the only way to ensure his safety. Both the Heaven Punishing Sword and the Starfall Chain had soul imprints placed by the Heavenly Sword Villa. If Yun Che had forcibly escaped the Heaven Punishing Sword's suppression, the Heavenly Sword Villa would surely have detected it and investigated how he managed to break free. If he had fled with Yun Canghai, the consequences would have been unimaginable. With Yun Che's current strength, he was no more than an ant before the Heavenly Sword Villa. Only by Yun Canghai ending his own life, causing the Heaven Punishing Sword and Starfall Chain to retract their power due to the lack of a target, could Yun Che safely leave the area.

Yun Che understood all this, but it was incredibly cruel for him. Yun Canghai was the first true blood relative he had found in both his lives, and he hadn't even fully experienced the warmth and blood ties unique to family before Yun Canghai passed away forever right before his eyes.

Yun Che, who had initially been desperate to leave, chose not to depart immediately after gaining his freedom. Instead, he knelt before Yun Canghai for three full days, keeping vigil and using that time to calm all the sorrow and turmoil within him.

At the same time, a name was deeply etched into his heart during these three days.

Heavenly Sword Villa!!

Three days passed, and Yun Che finally stirred. He opened his eyes and slowly rose, carefully moving Yun Canghai's body into the Sky Poison Pearl. He softly murmured, "Grandpa, you've suffered for a hundred years and must long to return home. The day I'm capable of going to the Illusory Demon Realm, I will bring you back to the family you cherished and worried about, letting you rest peacefully in your homeland... And when I have children, I will bring my wife and children to visit you every year, so you won't be lonely..."

As he murmured, Yun Che stood up straight and looked towards the sky... Heavenly Sword Villa, regardless of whether you are righteous or evil, right or wrong, good or bad, just for forcing my grandfather to his death and killing Uncle Xiao, who saved me, the day I gain enough power, I will make you pay the most dreadful price to honor the spirits of my grandfather and Uncle Xiao!

Yun Che's resolve was extraordinary. After three days of endless grief, as Yun Canghai rested peacefully within the Sky Poison Pearl, his eyes became cold and clear, and his mind felt empty and serene. He looked up, took a shallow breath, and leaped.

Bang!!

With a resounding bang, Yun Che burst through the ground above, which was now devoid of suppressing power...

At the Heavenly Sword Villa's Sword Discourse Arena, it was just after dawn.

The sky had just begun to lighten, and Ling Jie, as usual, arrived early at the Sword Discourse Arena to begin his morning practice. However, these past few days, his mind often wandered during practice, preoccupied with the upcoming marriage of Fen Juecheng and Princess Cang Yue.

Whoosh!

The Heavenly Osprey Sword flew from his hand, creating wave-like overlapping streams of light in the air before swiftly returning to his grip. Just then, a strange noise suddenly came from diagonally below. This unusual sound made him stop instantly. As he was about to strain his ears to listen, the ground in front of the Heaven Punishing Sword suddenly cracked, and a black figure shot out from within.

"Ah!"

This sudden turn of events startled Ling Jie, making him stumble back in a surprised cry. The figure that shot out soared for dozens of feet before quickly falling back down, landing heavily in front of Ling Jie. Under the immense pressure from the Dragon Fault, the rocks beneath fractured extensively.

"You..." Ling Jie took another step back, instinctively holding the Heavenly Osprey Sword across his body. He had barely uttered a single word when his eyes suddenly widened, and he gasped in shock, "Boss... Boss!"

Ling Jie looked as if he had seen a ghost in broad daylight.

Someone who should have been dead for over a year suddenly emerging from underground right in front of him—what else could it be but a ghost? In that instant, Ling Jie genuinely believed he had encountered a legendary reanimated corpse.

"Little Jie?" Yun Che looked at him, slightly stunned. He hadn't expected Ling Jie to be the first person he saw after emerging. Having not seen him for sixteen months, Ling Jie had grown considerably. Though still showing a hint of youthfulness, his expression was now more like a sharp sword's edge.

Hearing Yun Che's voice and sensing his energy, Ling Jie awoke as if from a dream, his face lighting up with immense joy. He put away the Heavenly Osprey Sword, rushed forward, and excitedly exclaimed, "Boss, you... you... you're not dead? You're actually not dead... You're really not dead?"

"Nonsense, if I were dead, how could I be standing here?" Yun Che said with a smile, sighing inwardly. Undoubtedly, everyone had believed him dead all this time, and those who cared about him must have been heartbroken...

"But that day, you were struck by that demon and sealed underground with him; there was no hope of survival at all..." Ling Jie said. His senses instinctively swept towards the Heaven Punishing Sword, and he suddenly noticed that the invisible pressure it exerted had vanished. For days, he had felt something was off while practicing at the Sword Discourse Arena, but he had never thought to associate it with the Heaven Punishing Sword.

Ling Jie's eyes widened. "Could it be that you, despite suffering such severe injuries that day, didn't die, and the demon didn't attack you again... then you came back to life and even killed the demon yourself? Wah! Yes, that must be it! Only if the demon died could you escape the Heaven Punishing Sword's suppression! Boss, you're truly incredible... Ahh! As expected of my boss, Ling Jie, there's nothing in this world you can't do. I was so stupid to believe my boss would die so easily... Hahahaha! Boss, do you know? You're already an unparalleled legend in the Azure Cloud Empire, and once the news of you being alive spreads, you'll become an even greater legend!"

"I'm currently at the sixth level of the Earth Profound Realm... I didn't kill the demon; he severed his own heart脈 to grant me freedom," Yun Che said with extreme calmness.

"Earth Profound Realm... sixth level?" Ling Jie's eye twitched, and he swallowed hard. In just sixteen months, from the first level of the Spirit Profound Realm to the sixth level of the Earth Profound Realm, and that too underground with no resources—this was simply a mythical speed. Compared to this immense shock, Yun Che's latter words were practically irrelevant. He stared at Yun Che with wide eyes, dumbfounded, and said, "Boss, you're practically an omnipotent god. My admiration for you is beyond words... Even though I've worked incredibly hard this past year, I'm only at the tenth level of the Spirit Profound Realm now... Will you still accept me as your junior brother?"

At seventeen, reaching the tenth level of the Spirit Profound Realm, surpassing Ling Yun, who was once considered the top of the younger generation, had caused a sensation throughout the Heavenly Sword Villa and the Azure Cloud Empire. Ling Jie had once been quite proud of this achievement. But he now suddenly realized that his own accomplishments were mere crumbs compared to Yun Che, who had gone from the first level of the Spirit Profound Realm to the sixth level of the Earth Profound Realm in less than a year and a half.

Yun Che chuckled casually. "My reaching the Earth Profound Realm was due to a special method; it's nothing extraordinary, really. While I was suppressed, a lot must have happened in the Azure Cloud Empire, right..."

"Mmm-hmm!" Ling Jie nodded rapidly. "Boss, you don't know, after you died... ah, no, no, after that demon pulled you underground, your deeds spread throughout the entire Azure Cloud Empire. During that time, almost everywhere in the Azure Cloud Empire, people were talking about you, especially young profound practitioners without sect backing—they practically worshipped you. The Azure Cloud Imperial Family also gained immense glory because of you. It's said that this year, the number of disciples who enrolled in the Azure Cloud Profound Palace and its various branch palaces was seven or eight times more than in previous years. The small courtyard where you lived in the inner palace of the Azure Cloud Profound Palace has been specially protected, and in front of the Inner Palace's Grand Profound Hall, there's even a statue of you. I heard the inscription on the statue states that you are the most outstanding disciple in the history of the Azure Cloud Profound Palace. Even now, your legends are still everywhere in the Azure Cloud Empire. Anyway... Boss! You're absolutely amazing! How did you do all those things?"

Yun Che's face was bewildered. He had only achieved the top rank in the ranking tournament; a temporary sensation was normal, but could its impact really be this great?

He had no idea that while achieving the top rank in the tournament was a factor in causing such an empire-wide sensation, it was only a secondary reason. The primary reason was that he, a person with no backing and whose name was barely known before the tournament, had managed to marry Xia Qingyue, the empire's recognized number one beauty and the top talent of the younger generation. He had also gotten the 'Ice Cloud Fairy' Chu Yuechan, the beauty of that year whom countless sect masters could only dream of, pregnant. And he had secretly pledged his life to Princess Cang Yue, the Azure Cloud Empire's only princess and most noble woman...

Such a person could only be described as beyond belief!

Any man would either worship him utterly or be so jealous they wished he'd fall to the eighteen layers of hell after death.

"Is it really that exaggerated?" Yun Che murmured softly, then asked cautiously, "After I was suppressed by the Heaven Punishing Sword, what happened to Princess Cang Yue and Yuanba? What else transpired?"

When Yun Che mentioned Princess Cang Yue, Ling Jie's expression stiffened, and all his excitement immediately cooled. His change in expression made Yun Che's heart skip a beat, and he quickly asked, "What's wrong? What exactly happened after that?"

Ling Jie took a breath and stammered, "Boss, there's something... Uh... Please don't get angry after I tell you... That certainly wouldn't be Princess Sister's true wish... Um... Princess Sister... she... she... she's about to marry Fen Juecheng..."

"What... what?!" Yun Che's body visibly trembled, and his face instantly darkened.

"Boss, don't get agitated yet. That surely isn't Princess Sister's will. She might have been coerced, or there could be some other unavoidable reason—"

"Tell me, what is the time and location of their marriage?"

Yun Che coldly interrupted Ling Jie, his voice incredibly calm... so calm it sent a shiver down Ling Jie's spine. He replied almost instinctively, "The Burning Heaven Clan's procession has already set off for the Imperial City to escort the bride. They will arrive by Chen Shi (7:00-9:00 AM) tomorrow at the latest, and the wedding will be held four days later in the Burning Heaven Clan's Blazing Sun Hall..."

No sooner had Ling Jie finished speaking than Yun Che shot out like a gust of wind, covering dozens of feet in the blink of an eye.

"Wait! Boss!"

Ling Jie quickly caught up, extending his left hand. With a flash of light, a large bird over two zhang (approx. 6.6 meters) long, accompanied by a gust of wind, surged towards Yun Che. "This is my contracted profound beast, the Windstorm Bird. With its speed... perhaps you'll make it in time!"

The Windstorm Bird was a high-grade Earth Profound Beast. In terms of speed, it was no less than a Storm Hawk, and its endurance was dozens of times greater. Yun Che turned his head, leaped high, and landed on the Windstorm Bird's back. Then, with a long cry from the bird, they shot into the sky, flying directly towards the Azure Cloud Imperial City.

"Phew... You have to make it in time!" Ling Jie said, clenching his fists. Just then, he suddenly remembered that Chu Yuechan had been discovered to be pregnant sixteen months ago, and he quickly yelled, "Boss! Wait, there's something else very important—"

The Windstorm Bird was incredibly fast; by now, it was just a small black dot in the distance, and Ling Jie's voice could no longer reach them... And even if the frantic Yun Che had heard his voice at that moment, he would absolutely not have turned back.