Chapter 649: 物非人非

Millions of miles of space passed in an instant.

“Whoa! This is the inside of the Profound Ark… It’s so huge! Many times larger than the biggest Profound Ark in our family!”Standing in the center of the first floor of the ancient castle inside the Primordial Profound Ark, Seventh Under Heaven continuously turned around, looking in every direction, his mouth agape, letting out cries of astonishment.

“This is just one of the ancient castles within the Profound Ark,” Yun Che said mysteriously. “Beyond the castle, there’s an unimaginably vast space… it’s definitely much larger than you can imagine.” As the master of the Profound Ark, he was always aware of its internal conditions. With the infusion of the Nine Suns Jade’s power, the ark had revived from its dormancy, and its spatial laws began to operate. Outside the ancient castle, the formerly dry land had become lush and green over the past few months, with countless profound beasts roaming freely. Even more exotic flowers and creatures were growing and developing within.

“Such an enormous Profound Ark, yet one can’t feel any energy fluctuations, nor even perceive its movement,” First Under Heaven marveled. “Indeed, the world is vast and full of wonders; to think such a treasure exists.”

Although First Under Heaven was deeply astonished, he did not ask Yun Che about the ark’s origin, understanding that it was a sensitive topic. However, Yun Che proactively explained, “This Profound Ark likely dates back to ancient times; I acquired it by chance. It’s no ordinary ark; it forms its own world and possesses unique sentience. It has recognized me as its master, so no one can take it away. Still, I hope Brother Under Heaven will keep this a secret for me. While it can’t be stolen, being targeted by greedy individuals and harassed by ‘flies’ now and then would be quite annoying.”

“Haha, rest assured, Brother Yun,” First Under Heaven said heartily. “Since you’ve been so honest with me, how could I ever act like a petty villain?”

“Big Brother, how long until we reach the Azure Cloud Continent?” Xiao Yun asked excitedly.

“Oh, we’re already here,” Yun Che replied.

“Huh? We’re here?” The three of them were dumbfounded simultaneously.

“Yes… we arrived the third breath after entering the Profound Ark. We’ve been stopped for quite a while now,” Yun Che said with a calm expression, secretly enjoying their exaggerated reactions.

“This… this fast!?” Xiao Yun’s mouth hung open, and he stammered, “Father said the Azure Cloud Continent is millions of miles away from the Illusory Demon Realm, even with spatial travel… this speed is just too exaggerated! Millions of miles!”

“Let’s go out,” Yun Che said, his chest rising and falling slightly. *Azure Cloud Continent… Blue Wind Nation, I’m finally back… No matter what, you all must be safe and sound…*

He released his consciousness to check the Profound Ark’s energy consumption, and the result left him ecstatic. After instantly traversing millions of miles of space, the ark’s energy consumption wasn't even half a percent! It was many times less than he had anticipated!!At this rate of consumption, let alone returning to the Illusory Demon Realm… making dozens of round trips should be no problem at all!It wasn’t that the Primordial Profound Ark consumed little energy; rather, the power of the Nine Suns Jade was simply too immense! It was overwhelmingly powerful, far beyond Yun Che’s comprehension. After all, it was a divine jade from the divine beast, the Golden Crow!

Under the shroud of red light, the scene before them rapidly changed. A slightly dry and hot breeze, mixed with the scent of dust, blew across their faces. All around them was a vast mountainous area, but the vegetation was sparse and withered. The few trees that could be seen were mostly broken and lying on the ground. The air was filled with a heavy sense of desolation and loneliness.

Yun Che: “…”

“Here… are we already on the Azure Cloud Continent?” Seventh Under Heaven looked around, but saw no sign of human habitation, not even traces of profound beasts.

“It looks like we’ve arrived at a very desolate place,” Xiao Yun observed similarly.

“The elemental density is very thin; the profound energy level here must be very low,” First Under Heaven frowned. “Brother Yun, is this the ‘Blue Wind Nation’ you spoke of?”

“...It should be,” Yun Che said, his brows slightly furrowed. After looking around for a moment, he turned to First Under Heaven and Seventh Under Heaven. “I’m not sure exactly where in the Blue Wind Nation this is. However… Brother Under Heaven, Sister Seventh, do you have a way to conceal your ears and elven wings? Although there are records of the elven race on the Azure Cloud Continent, they haven’t appeared for thousands of years.”

First Under Heaven instantly understood Yun Che’s meaning and nodded, saying, “A trivial matter.”

With that, he channeled his profound energy. The translucent cicada wings behind him immediately retracted, disappearing beneath his clothes, and his long, pointed ears were enveloped in green light. When the light dissipated, they had transformed into ears identical to those of ordinary humans. This wasn’t a true transformation but a concealment facilitated by profound energy. Unless one’s profound strength far surpassed his and they concentrated on sensing, it would generally go unnoticed.

Seventh Under Heaven used the same method to conceal her cicada wings and ears.

“Big Brother, your expression… it looks very serious. Is something… wrong?” Xiao Yun probed. Returning to the Azure Cloud Continent had been Yun Che’s greatest wish recently; even inside the Profound Ark, he could clearly feel Yun Che’s overflowing excitement. Now that they had arrived on the continent, he should have been overjoyed… but instead, he was frowning deeply, without a trace of happiness.

Yun Che gazed ahead, his brows twitching slightly. “It’s nothing… I just have a faint feeling that something isn’t right. I’ll go up and confirm our location.”

Having said that, Yun Che leaped forcefully, soaring into the air. Before his body could even reach the clouds, a considerably large city appeared in the distant west. He hovered there, silently observing the city’s silhouette, and a name surfaced in his mind.

That was… New Moon City!!

Though New Moon City wasn’t a major city, it was one of the Blue Wind Nation’s primary cities. Its central location within the nation’s territory made it a pivotal hub, bustling with a large daily flow of people. And it was currently morning, the time when many who had stayed overnight would be leaving the city. From Yun Che’s vantage point, he should have seen crowds of people moving in all directions—east, west, south, and north…

Yet, a glance revealed almost no human presence. This central city of the Blue Wind Nation felt strangely lifeless to Yun Che at that moment… And from afar, it seemed shrouded in a dim mist.

Based on New Moon City’s location, Yun Che immediately recalled where he was standing. When he had left Floating Cloud City previously, training as he journeyed towards New Moon City, he had passed through here and even stayed a night. However, the place in his memory was clearly lush with vegetation, vibrant with life, and home to a dense population of low-level profound beasts. Now, it was barren and chaotic, as if scorched by a sea of fire and then trampled by a thousand armies.

What happened?

What exactly happened to New Moon City?

A strong sense of unease welled up in Yun Che’s heart. He descended quickly, his brow furrowed, and said, “Let’s go! We need to get to New Moon City quickly… The situation here seems quite wrong.”

“Ah, New Moon City?” Xiao Yun was about to ask when Seventh Under Heaven abruptly pulled him up. “Don’t ask so many questions, let’s go!!”

They all noticed Yun Che’s unusual expression. Back when he faced the forces of the Prince Regent’s Palace alone, he was full of spirit and laughed heartily… But now, Yun Che’s face was terrifyingly grim. As soon as he finished speaking, he dashed westward at full speed, and the other three quickly followed.

“The land here seems to have suffered widespread destruction. And the aura here feels excessively desolate,” First Under Heaven calmly stated. “Brother Yun, is New Moon City, which you just mentioned, your birthplace?”

“No,” Yun Che replied, his brows tightly knitted as he flew faster and faster. “I didn’t stay in New Moon City for very long, but it was the place where my destiny changed. Aside from the Imperial City, it should have been one of the most bustling cities in the Blue Wind Nation, but now it feels utterly lifeless. This place where we are now also looked nothing like this back then… What in the world happened here?!”

Yun Che bit his lip slightly, trying not to entertain one terrifying conjecture after another. Just then, he suddenly detected faint profound energy fluctuations a few miles ahead. His gaze shifted, and his speed immediately slowed as he flew toward the source of the fluctuations.

Several giant boulders, taller than a person, appeared in his sight. Behind the rocks, he sensed seventeen profound energy auras of varying strengths. The strongest of these auras was at the seventh level of the Spirit Profound Realm, while the weakest had just entered the True Profound Realm. They were hiding behind the boulders, doing their best to suppress their auras… but how could they possibly escape Yun Che’s spiritual perception?

Yun Che slowed his pace, approaching the boulders. When he was about ten steps away, a grayish-white figure suddenly burst out from behind the rocks, profound energy exploding from their body. A gleaming longsword thrust directly at Yun Che, accompanied by a roar filled with bitter hatred: “Divine Phoenix scoundrel, die!!”

The person who charged out first was the strongest among the seventeen. But with only profound energy at the seventh level of the Spirit Profound Realm, how could he possibly pose even the slightest threat to Yun Che? Without moving his feet, Yun Che casually waved a palm towards the attacking figure… In that instant, he clearly saw the person’s face. His expression immediately changed, and he desperately retracted the profound energy he had just begun to release. At the same time, he extended an arm, blocking First Under Heaven, who was about to charge forward. “Don’t attack!!”

Although Yun Che’s palm strike was merely a casual wave, and he had retracted over ninety percent of his profound energy, his current profound energy was incredibly dominant. Even a minuscule amount, negligible to him, was far more than the opponent could easily withstand. The longsword in the man’s hand instantly shattered and flew off, and he himself was sent tumbling backward, crashing violently against the large rock behind him. His face paled, and he slumped to the ground, his body convulsing in painful spasms, yet the resolve and hatred in his eyes remained undiminished.

“Instructor!!”“Instructor Situ!!”

All the people who had been about to seize the opportunity to surround and attack from behind the boulders were startled. They rushed to the man’s side, frantically checking his injuries. Yun Che took a few steps forward, looking at the figure he had sent sprawling to the ground. “Situ… Senior Brother Situ?”

The person before him was vastly different from his memory. His elegant long hair was gone, replaced by disheveled short hair. His robes, devoid of any splendor, were covered in tears and streaks of blood, both deep and shallow. His face, once as smooth as jade in Yun Che’s memory, was now etched with one shocking scar after another… one of them nearly reached his eye.

His gaze, even more, had undergone a drastic transformation from before… It had lost its gentleness, becoming fierce like that of a desperate jackal.

But his outline… clearly belonged to Situ Du, the one who had offered him a helping hand and given him many pointers when he first entered the Blue Wind Profound Palace!

As the words “Senior Brother Situ” left Yun Che’s mouth, the man’s eyes also turned towards him. Instantly, his entire body stiffened, his gaze fixed for a long time, and his pupils dilated violently in a flash. “Yun… Yun Che?”

The name “Yun Che” caused everyone surrounding the man to turn their heads towards Yun Che, staring at him blankly.

“Senior Brother Situ just called him… Yun Che? Which… which Yun Che?”

“He… he looks like the Yun Che from the Profound Palace’s portrait… No, he’s identical!”

“Impossible! Yun Che died three years ago; how could it be him?! And he’s wearing… huh? That doesn’t look like… a phoenix?” a young man muttered, looking at the Golden Crow emblem tattooed on Yun Che’s chest.

Having joined the Demon Emperor’s clan and being newly married for less than a month, Yun Che’s attire was generally adorned with Golden Crow and flame patterns. This was why he had been ambushed by these people… because from a distance, they had vaguely seen the golden bird and golden flames on his person and mistakenly thought they were phoenix and phoenix flame tattoos.

Yun Che quickly approached Situ Du, saying eagerly, “Senior Brother Situ, it’s me! You must have all thought I died three years ago… but I’ve returned alive! Back at the Blue Wind Profound Palace, you were the one who took me to the Sky Weapons Pavilion and watched me choose the Overlord’s Devil Sword! You also took me to the Grand Profound Hall and the Inner Palace… And when I wanted to go to the Burning Heaven Clan back then, you were the one who pointed me in the right direction!”

Yun Che’s words caused Situ Du’s eyes to tremble violently. He grabbed Yun Che’s arm, his entire body shaking with excitement. “Yun Che… It really is you… You’re not dead… You’re actually not dead!”

“Yes! I’m not dead!” Yun Che nodded forcefully. “Senior Brother Situ, what exactly happened? What happened to New Moon City? Weren’t you an instructor at the New Moon Profound Palace? How did you end up like this? What happened… tell me quickly!”