Chapter 708 – Drawing Closer with Every Step
“You… what do you mean?”
“What do I mean? Could it be that you, the Divine Phoenix Sect Master, actually don’t understand?” Yun Che gave a cold smile as he continued to speak, “I had originally come with a benevolent heart, yet you stubbornly refused to recognize what was good for you. I gave you chance after chance, but you would rather destroy these chances even at the expense of your own sons’ life. Could you actually be so naive to believe that the me today would still be as compassionate as the me yesterday!?”
“You!!”
“Sect Master!” Feng Feilie swiftly spoke, “He has the lives of two princes in his hands right now! Thirteenth Prince and Fourteenth Prince have already lost their lives to his viciousness, so no matter what happens next, Ninth Prince and Eleventh Prince must definitely not come to any harm. Furthermore, his speed is something that even gods and demons cannot fathom. If we still continue to force the issue with him, not only will the lives of Ninth Prince and Eleventh Prince be forfeited, there might still be other princes who….”
The veins on Feng Hengkong’s forehead and arms throbbed so hard that they nearly burst as a low bone-piercing voice came from his mouth, “Then today… what must we do in order for you to let them go!!?”
“Oh?” Feng Hengkong’s response seemed to have caught Yun Che by surprise, but in the next moment, he immediately sneered, “It looks like our Divine Phoenix Sect Master is finally becoming a little smarter. But truth be told, even though our Divine Phoenix Sect Master is lower than a beast, in the end, he is still a human. So there has to be something that distinguishes him from a mad dog or a stupid pig.”
The compromise that Feng Hengkong had shown through his gnashing teeth was instead greeted with an extremely venomous insult from Yun Che, and just those few words would have caused the most common Divine Phoenix disciple to become so angry that their spleen would burst, much less their exalted Divine Phoenix Sect Master, Feng Hengkong. Yun Che casually extended his fingers and said with a face that was filled with benevolence, “Then let me give your Divine Phoenix Sect a third chance. If you can comply to my conditions, then the princes will get to live. Moreover, I would hardly want to stay in this disgusting place once my demands are met. Of course, you can refuse once again, I do not mind it at all. And honestly speaking, you caused my Blue Wind Nation to be filled with rivers of blood and mountains of corpses, yet I have only killed a mere ten over people from your side; I am truly letting you off far too lightly.
“The first condition.” The cold smile on Yun Che’s face turned colder still and his gaze pierced through Feng Hengkong like an icy dagger, “Within twenty days, get your entire Divine Phoenix Army to get the hell out of my Blue Wind Nation! No one is allowed to remain or violate our borders for the next three hundred years!
“The second condition is that you, Feng Hengkong, will personally issue an edict expressing your regret and remorse for your actions against my Blue Wind Nation and after that, you will announce it to the world! And once you do that, you will hang this edict on the gate of your Phoenix City for at least ten years!
“The third condition is to send thirty billion purple profound coins to our Blue Wind Nation as compensation!!
“The fourth condition is that you will cede the Red Jade Region that is located in the northeastern part of Divine Phoenix Nation to my Blue Wind Nation!”
“Yun Che!! Don’t take things too far!!” After Yun Che had stated each condition, Feng Hengkong’s face would grow a shade darker and the moment Yun Che had uttered his fourth condition, his chest had already exploded with anger and he began roaring furiously. The time he had to withdraw his troops were shorter while the time they were prohibited from entering had increased yet again. Not only did he have to make an edict and declare it to the entire world, now he even had to hang it on his city gate for a whole ten years! The amount of compensation had explosively increased yet again. And what was utterly intolerable was that… yesterday, he had only requested for his Divine Phoenix Empire’s Red Jade City, but today, he actually dared to say that he wanted the entire Red Jade Region!!
Even though the Red Jade Region was at the borders of Divine Phoenix Empire, it was one of the largest mass of land within their empire and just in terms of size alone, it was already a quarter of Blue Wind Nation!
“The fifth condition!” Yun Che disregarded Feng Hengkong’s howls of anger as he coldly shouted out yet another condition. He extended one finger and pointed towards Feng Ximing, who was at Feng Hengkong’s side, before continuing, “Your Divine Phoenix Empire’s Crown Prince… if I recall correctly, his name is Feng Ximing, right? Then the last condition will be much more simpler —— cripple his profound arts and let him follow me back to Blue Wind Imperial City as a guest for fifty years..”
“!!!”
The very last sentence that Yun Che had uttered caused all of the members of Divine Phoenix Sect to go insane with rage.
Withdrawing the troops, apologising for their actions, making reparations, ceding away territory… and now he even wanted a hostage! And to top it all off, he wanted the Crown Prince of their Divine Phoenix Empire as the hostage!
Furthermore, Yun Che wanted to destroy the profound arts that Feng Ximing had trained for a hundred years… and even wanted him to stay as a hostage for fifty long years!
If their Divine Phoenix Empire truly agreed to this, it would definitely cause all the previous Divine Phoenix ancestors and the five thousand year legacy of Divine Phoenix Sect to suffer the greatest disgrace and humiliation!
“Yun Che, cease your insanity!!” Feng Ximing had never expected to be suddenly targeted by Yun Che. As he originally already hated Yun Che to the very bone, this caused his entire body to shake in anger.
“Royal Father, this humble son is the scion of my royal father, and even if I were to die ten thousand times, I would definitely not be willing to suffer such disgrace! Because it is not merely this humble son’s disgrace, it would also be the disgrace of my royal father as well as our entire Divine Phoenix Empire! The Red Jade Region is not only an important territory to our Divine Phoenix Empire, it is also where our Divine Phoenix ancestor was born. So even if our Divine Phoenix Empire were to perish, we must definitely not cede it to another!!” Feng Ximing’s emotions grew more and more agitated as he spoke and he yelled the last few words out with all his strength.
“Sect Master, we must definitely never surrender our territory in such a humiliating and embarrassing manner!”
“But the two princes….”
“This Yun Che is clearly trying to humiliate our Divine Phoenix Empire! No matter what happens, we must definitely not reach a compromise with this person!”
Feng Hengkong’s face had turned completely red, his breathing had become extremely rough and heavy and the utmost limits of his patience were being tested like they had never been before. Two days ago, when Yun Che had first kidnapped a prince and stated his demands, he had nearly blown a gasket there and then.
But compared to today, the Yun Che of two days ago practically seemed to be Buddha reincarnate!
Yun Che’s face did not even twitch in the face of the full hatred and anger of the Divine Phoenix Sect. He instead continued in a slow and hurried manner, “Feng Hengkong, I will give you five breaths of time to consider my conditions. Either you obediently listen to me and immediately begin to honour these condition or the princes die. Do not even think about trying to haggle over the terms and definitely don’t try to buy more time, you only have five breaths of time… I will not wait an instant longer.”
“Five!” Once he had finished speaking, Yun Che immediately began his countdown.
“Four….
“Three….”
On one hand were the lives of the two princes, on the other hand was extraordinary shame and humiliation that they definitely could not assent to. And the time given to them to decide was only an incomparably short five breaths. This entire affair had undoubtedly thrown the entire Divine Phoenix Sect into the fire.
“Sect Master….” All eyes were focused on Feng Hengkong right now. On one hand were the lives of the princes, on the other was the complete and utter humiliation of their Divine Phoenix Empire. So not a single one of them dared to make the decisions and they did not even dare to utter any unnecessary words as well.
“Two….” Yun Che once more withdrew one of his extended fingers.
“Royal father… royal father!!” Feng Xilin and Feng Ximin futilely struggled as they let out wails of despair and terror.
“One….”
Blood was seeping out between Feng Hengkong’s fingers and his body had not stopped trembling since the start. Yesterday, Yun Che had already showed them to complete futility of making false promises and putting up pretences, but if he agreed to the five conditions that Yun Che had made, he would definitely be condemned as a great sinner in the history of Divine Phoenix Empire. Furthermore, Divine Phoenix Empire whose might shocked the world, would be reduced to the laughingstock of the seven nations… and after he died, he definitely would not be able to face the ancestors who had gone before him.
However if he did not agree, both his sons would definitely die… and Yun Che would return yet again. And given Yun Che’s speed that even the gods and demons could not fathom, he would kill even more people and there was a good possibility conditions that he would propose after this would become more and more cruel….
Three years ago, when he had sent troops to invade Blue Wind, he had considered the entire affair of annexing Blue Wind Nation to be a small and trifling one and he never dreamed that he would receive such retribution in return.
“Yun Che….” Feng Hengkong growled in a low voice, “If you dare to….”
At this time, Yun Che withdrew his last finger and a cruel and merciless smile appeared on his face, “Five breaths of time have passed. And to be completely honest, Divine Phoenix Sect Master, I am extremely overjoyed at your answer…. My two esteemed princes, it looks like your royal father does not regard your lives as much after all. I have given such kind and generous terms, but he still chose to send you to your deaths…. And since that is the case, then there is no longer any need to keep you two alive.”
Feng Hengkong and all the gathered Divine Phoenix elders went pale with shock as they shouted simultaneously, “Stop!!”
Boom!!
The only thing they received in response to their shouts were two eye-piercing pillars of fire. The Divine Phoenix princes, who were of most noble birth and lineage, were nothing more than lowly ants in the hands of Yun Che and he did not hesitate in the least when it came to squashing them to death. In the midst of fierce conflagration, Feng Xilin and Feng Ximin’s bodies were instantly disintegrated and not even a trace of their ashes was left behind.
“Lin’er… Min’er!!!’ Feng Hengkong let out a heart-rending wail and his entire body propelled towards Yun Che in a crazed rage, “Yun Che!! I, Feng Hengkong, and you… are absolutely irreconcilable!!!!”
“Hah, you aren’t even worthy!!” Yun Che said with a low and cold chuckle before he began to laugh wildly while soaring into the sky, “Feng Hengkong, even though four of them have died, you still have ten sons left… so do not worry, I will send each and every one of them to meet King Yama until you pay the required price! So just sit there patiently and wait!!”
Yun Che turned around and his entire figure flew towards the west as he shot out like an arrow that left its bowstring.
“Kill him!! No matter what, you have to kill him!!” Feng Feilie howled.
Amidst chaotic explosions of energy, three Divine Phoenix Elders, who were nearest to the direction that Yun Che fled towards, took to the air and met Yun Che head on. With three longswords blazing with Phoenix flames they fiercely stabbed towards Yun Che’s vitals….
Yun Che’s eyes faintly narrowed as a dangerous cold light shone out of them. As he met the three onrushing Divine Phoenix elders, his speed did not slow down in the slightest. Instead, he abruptly accelerated as a scarlet light flashed in his hand. All the profound energy in his body wildly erupted and the Heaven Smiting sword swept forward to meet his enemies.
Previously when Yun Che had been surrounded and attacked by Divine Phoenix Sect, the only thing that he had done was evade and flee. So this time, when three Divine Phoenix elders attacked at full strength, they unconsciously expected Yun Che to use his monstrous profound movement skill to evade their attacks before fleeing away rapidly….
However what they saw instead was a scarlet sword beam which swept towards them.
At first, the three Divine Phoenix elders were shocked, but this shock quickly turned into elation as all the profound energy in their body swelled up even more and many long trails of fire began to snake along their swords… if Yun Che wanted to escape, given his speed, they would be helpless to stop him. However if he wanted to directly clash with them, then as long as the three of them combined their strength, there was no reason why they could not heavily injured Yun Che… or perhaps even kill him on the spot.
But the joy on their face only remained for an instant before it was replaced by shock and fear that only grew deeper by the second… because the strength of the profound energy storm that was rushing towards them had exceeded their initial expectations by far too much. And when that huge, scarlet sword approached them, the Phoenix flames that were burning on their bodies were actually completely suppressed and extinguished akin to a lone candle that had been blown out by the wind and not even a single spark of flame remained. It was as if their bodies were being pushed down by a power that could cause the heavens to collapse and in the face of this power, they felt like their bodies, which were harder than the strongest steel, were as weak and frail as an ants….
“Falling Moon Sinking Star!!”
Boom!!!
As though a mountain had been split apart, a huge explosive shockwave caused the earth below them to burst open. All the people who were in hot pursuit of Yun Che could clearly see the swords of the three Divine Phoenix elders snap at the same time, and following that, at the moment the huge sword swept past, their bodies… had also been severed as well.
