Chapter 791: My Jasmine (Part 1)

Yun Che casually checked his injuries, then focused his mind and walked towards the Netherworld Udumbara Flower.

Its four petals radiated an extremely eerie, dreamlike purple light. As he approached within fifty yards, the sensation of his soul being pulled by an invisible hand became distinct. Yun Che stopped, took a deep breath, and calmly said, "Jasmine, don't worry. I'm not foolish enough to overestimate myself and die, especially since my life is tied to yours. The main reason I was nearly separated from my soul by the Netherworld Udumbara Flower earlier was that I hadn't experienced its terrifying power and wasn't sufficiently prepared."

"Now I roughly understand how it separates souls. And since it only has four petals left, it's far less formidable than before. If I give it my all, there might still be a chance of success. With the Sky Poison Pearl, if I can just get close to it, harvesting it will be simple."

"If it ultimately proves futile and I feel completely hopeless, I will give up."

"Hmph!" Jasmine huffed angrily. "It's useless for me to stop you anyway; I'm too lazy to bother with you anymore! When you're tormented to the point of begging for death later, don't blame me for not warning you multiple times!"

"I know," Yun Che replied.

Yun Che slowly clenched his fists, his brows furrowed so tightly they almost stood on end. He was certain he would never forget the terror of his soul being captured by the Netherworld Udumbara Flower; even now, recalling it made his entire soul tremble uncontrollably, and a strong fear began to grow within him.

If rare treasures, peerless profound artifacts, or ten thousand pounds of divine crystals lay before him, he would turn away without hesitation, not even glancing at them again. He would absolutely refuse to experience the pain of soul separation again.

But what lay before him was the Netherworld Udumbara Flower... the only one of its kind in this world.

"I will succeed!"

"Hah!!"

Yun Che muttered softly, then let out a low roar. His body erupted in flames, and he shot into the air, lunging with all his might towards the Netherworld Udumbara Flower.

Previously, when he approached the Netherworld Udumbara Flower and endured its soul-separating power, his entire body instantly lost all strength. So this time, he wanted to try using the momentum of extreme speed to instantly rush directly in front of the Netherworld Udumbara Flower.

The Netherworld purple light before his eyes magnified. The entire world suddenly fell silent. Then, countless icy steel needles furiously pierced his soul, and myriad chilling hands reached out from the depths of an abyss, desperately tearing at every corner of his soul.

*Thud!!*

Yun Che crashed heavily from the air. The flames on his body completely extinguished. The immense pain of his soul being torn and ripped away caused his facial features, limbs, and body to convulse entirely. Every cell, every strand of hair, trembled and twisted in agony.

He bit down on his teeth with all his might, stubbornly refusing to cry out. Under the immense pain, his vision blurred, but he could still clearly make out the exceptionally vibrant purple light, approximately fifteen yards away from him.

It was this purple light that fiercely supported his almost shattered will. He desperately propped himself up and moved one step towards the purple light...

Just this short step closer... In an instant, the thousand steel needles transformed into ten thousand blades...

"AHHHHHH!!!!"

Even after risking half his life to kill the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign, with his body severely injured to the point of near annihilation, Yun Che hadn't uttered a single cry of pain. Yet at this moment, Yun Che let out a blood-curdling shriek. That single step closer was like stepping from hell into the hell of hells. He felt his soul, along with his body, instantly torn into thousands, tens of thousands of pieces. The pain surpassed the limits Yun Che could endure, even exceeding his very understanding of pain...

And the immense terror that violently erupted from this agony!

Fear instantly swallowed all of Yun Che's will and courage to move forward. His twisted body reacted instinctively, scrambling backward.

With every inch he retreated, the pain of his soul being sliced and pulled away rapidly lessened. As his consciousness cleared, he naturally regained more control over his strength. Yun Che stumbled backward, then tumbled several times on the ground, finally retreating to a distance he could tolerate. He knelt on both knees, supporting himself with his arms on the ground, gasping for breath. Sweat poured from his head like rain, completely drenching the ground between his arms in an instant.

"Gasp... gasp... gasp..."

The violent gasping and full-body trembling continued for over ten breaths without stopping. At this moment, Yun Che was as if he had just endured a round of the world's cruelest torture... No! That pain was far, far more terrifying than any torture he could possibly imagine.

He turned his head, raising his paper-white face to look at the spot he had previously reached. That spot was only fifteen yards from the Netherworld Udumbara Flower, and there, he had felt the absolute limit of his endurance. Yet, one more step, just a tiny step... and he had been unable to bear it.

He simply couldn't imagine how much more terrifying the hell would be if he took another step forward. What kind of terrifying world lay within one step of the Netherworld Udumbara Flower?

Fifteen yards... normally, for him, it was an insignificant distance.

But here, it felt longer and more desperate than thousands of miles.

One step, one abyss... one step, one chasm!

"Are you... alright?" Jasmine's voice was filled with concern. But she seemed to realize this and immediately shifted to a cold snort: "Hmph! This is what happens when you overestimate yourself! I'll say it again, the Netherworld Udumbara Flower is not something someone at your level can approach! As for the pain of having your soul seized, you've experienced it a second time! Frankly, your not collapsing is already quite an impressive feat. Because this kind of pain, let alone you, even I... or even a legendary god, would find it hard to bear!"

After Jasmine finished speaking, Yun Che stood up again, then turned and looked once more in the direction of the Netherworld Udumbara Flower. Only this time, the steely resolve he'd had before was gone from his eyes, replaced by a profound fear.

Over the years, Yun Che had indeed experienced fear—unbearable pressure, the proximity of death, irresistible natural forces...

But for the first time, he was afraid because of "pain."

*Crack!*

Yun Che's left hand, the finger bones of two digits, were forcefully crushed by him. Yet, there wasn't a single twitch on his pale face, because compared to the agony of his soul being seized moments ago, this pain was less than a mosquito bite.

He lifted his feet, walking step by step towards the Netherworld Udumbara Flower.

"What are you doing?" His action greatly startled Jasmine. She knew how terrifying the pain Yun Che had just endured was, and she sensed the fear it had instilled in him. She had thought there was no way Yun Che would ever attempt to approach the Netherworld Udumbara Flower again... perhaps he wouldn't even dare to look at it, yet he was actually... approaching it once more!

"I... have not... failed yet!!" Yun Che said emphatically. The words he uttered still carried a slight tremor of fear!

"You... you're still not giving up!?" Jasmine roared in exasperation. "Are you someone who won't shed tears until you see your own coffin?!"

"This Netherworld Udumbara Flower... it's right before my eyes, only twenty yards away from me! If I lose the courage to even keep trying because of such a small obstacle, how will I... ever face you again?!"

"Me!?" Jasmine was suddenly stunned. "'Such a small obstacle?' That's hardly 'small'!" Bodily pain affects the soul, but the pain of the soul itself is incomparable to physical pain. Jasmine herself had experienced true soul-piercing agony when she received the Sky Poison Star's profound energy inheritance, so she understood what kind of pain that was! Even as powerful as she was, her soul trembled every time she recalled it, and she would absolutely never have the courage to endure it a second time in this life!

Yet Yun Che, for this incomplete Netherworld Udumbara Flower, was going to endure it a third time!

Without waiting for Jasmine's response, Yun Che let out a roar and, amidst Jasmine's subconscious gasp of alarm, charged once more towards the Netherworld Udumbara Flower.

Fifteen yards...

Still at this distance, Yun Che's body lost all its strength, and he collapsed to the ground in agony. He stared with eyes that seemed about to burst, gritted his teeth that felt on the verge of shattering, and roared as he lurched one large step forward.

"WAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!"

A heart-wrenching shriek echoed through every corner of the Moon Slaughter Devil Cave, so piercing that even the pebbles on the ground seemed to tremble. The soul-tearing pain of that instant was beyond Yun Che's ability to describe in any words, making him even entertain the horrifying thought of immediately killing himself to escape such agony.

His body, his remaining will, his lingering strength—all were focused on "escape"... escape at all costs! Amidst his continuous screams, Yun Che's body convulsed and rolled. By the time his consciousness cleared sufficiently, he had already rolled more than twenty yards away.

Yun Che's face became even paler, and his entire body curled up, trembling like a dying insect. Beneath him, a puddle of cold sweat slowly spread. He bit down hard on his teeth... This time, it took a full thirty breaths for his body to stop trembling.

"Enough, stop trying. How many times do I have to tell you? You can't succeed; you'll only suffer for nothing!" This time, Jasmine didn't scold him; her words carried a faint tremor. She had been absolutely certain that anyone, no matter how strong-willed, would be left with a lifelong nightmare and wouldn't even dare to recall the soul-seizing pain after experiencing it once. But Yun Che... had forcefully charged in again and again.

And he was fighting so desperately, even willing to repeatedly force himself into an abyss that even gods feared, not for his own selfish desires... but for her!

Back in the Primordial Profound Ark, during the spatial storm, Yun Che had endured extreme physical pain. Jasmine had admired his ability to withstand it but hadn't been overly surprised. However, physical pain compared to soul pain... that was an entirely different level!

Having one's soul forcibly stripped from the body... was thousands, tens of thousands of times more painful than having every bone and vein individually extracted from one's entire body!