Chapter: 22

"It's finally my turn." Yun Che muttered as he made his way at the top of the stage. He was busy trying to remember the plot when his name was called. He was relieved that he didn't need to wait for long.

Standing in front of Feng Yue, he did the compulsory bow and stated.

"Please take care of me."

Feng Yue had a weird glint in his eyes as he looked at Yun Che with a smirk.

"Are you the one with the name Yun Che?"

Yun Che suddenly felt deja vu but he still nodded.

"What a pity." Feng Yue sneered before pointing towards Yun Che. "Come."

Yun Che made a thoughtful expression.

The reason for this exam was for one to show his strength, but Yun Che was sure there was no need for it. As long as he performs well, he will be admitted within the Palace; primarily because of Cang Yue.

He looked at Feng Yue and knew that he had something brewing within his mind, but Yun Che didn't care. He was here for the entrance exam. As for other things… Well, he thought as long as they didn't explicitly target him, there was no need to go after them.

Unlike people here, Yun Che was from the modern era. Though he liked fighting, he himself was quite pacifist. He liked peace more. As long as he was left alone doing his own things and no one disturbed him, he was quite happy with that.

As such, despite knowing that Feng Yue definitely had bad thoughts about him, he didn't care.

'Let's just use one flashy technique and be done with it.'

He raised his hand and opened his palm. Suddenly, the temperature rose sharply around the stage as phoenix flames erupted out from his palm. A vortex of phoenix flames formed at the top of his palm before it became bigger and bigger.

As he had maxed his Profound Energy Manipulation, both in and out, his control over the profound energy was immaculate. It would not be wrong to say that his control was perfect over it. As such, Yun Che could produce devastating results only by using a small amount of profound energy.

And that was what was happening before everyone's stunned eyes.

Despite being at the Nascent Profound Realm, the heat which his phoenix flames produced could easily threaten those in True Profound Realm!

The vortex of flames above his palm suddenly inflated and formed a shape of phoenix. The fire phoenix screeched loudly, or at least performed the required motion for it, before it flew in the sky.

In front of the astonished and stunned gaze of everyone, after reaching a certain height, the phoenix dived down. It particularly blinked and appeared in front of wide-eyed Feng Yue!

"Shit!" Feng Yue cursed. He had thought that Yun Che was an easy target due to his lower strength than him, but who would have thought that he had such a destructive profound art! It scared the shit out of Feng Yue.

Feng Yue was known for his defensive techniques.

So the moment he knew that the coming phoenix was dangerous for his health, he built the strongest barrier around him.

A deafening boom resounded above the stage, shaking the profound barrier around him.

Everyone looked stunned as the cracks formed all over the stage.

Flames danced and sprayed everywhere.

Thankfully, the barrier around the stage stopped them from escaping and hurting other people around.

But that didn't hide the fear within the spectator's eyes.

Feng Yue was nowhere to be seen as flames had already covered him and his barrier completely.

Time passed and everyone stared with bated breath.

The phoenix flames finally died, revealing wounded and burnt Feng Yue.

A silence covered the whole stage before a calm and collected voice broke it, though people could definitely feel slight nervousness from it.

"Fifth Stage - Empyrean Dance of the Phoenix Wing…"

Everyone looked towards the initiator of the attack. He stood calmly at his place with his finger pointed at Feng Yue.

'I overdid it, didn't I? Shit! I only wanted to try Phoenix Arts. I even lowered my strength by a lot!'

{This princess is just… lost for words. There are so many questions swirling within this princess's mind, but let this princess ask this: when did your control over profound energy get so good? It was definitely not as good as this when the last time this princess saw it! You didn't need to use the Heretic God's Gates to defeat him! It doesn't make sense!}

{Hmmm…}

{What "hmmm"?! Answer this princess! Yun Che, this princess is serious right now. Tell, how did you get so good at manipulating profound energy all of sudden?}

Yun Che could feel the seriousness within Jasmine's voice. He wondered if he should go into the pearl and start head patting her. She sounded stressed.

On the other hand, he had no idea what to answer her with.

After thinking for a while, he replied.

{To tell you the truth, I upgraded it. I upgraded everything! My power is to upgrade everything!}

{...}

He knew she didn't believe what he said, quite enthusiastically at that. But he didn't bother explaining either. In a sense, he told her the truth. It was up to her to believe it or not.

Coming back to reality, he looked towards wounded and panting Feng Yue before turning his attention towards ugly faced Instructor Qi and asked.

"So… Did I pass?"

"Yun Che… This is a friendly spar, how can you be so vicious against your future senior brother?!" Instructor Qi asked furiously. He heavily favored Feng Yue, that's why he decided to take this site's Entrance Exam himself. Seeing Feng Yue barely standing on his legs, he hated Yun Che for hurting him.

"..."

'Does this world have a problem with me? No matter what I do, someone has something to say about it. Next thing I know I am offending people by just breathing. This is just absurd!'

"Instructor Qi, I think you have misunderstood. I have barely even used any of my strength. It's just that Senior Brother Feng is just too weak! Who would have thought that he wouldn't even be able to take a little strength from someone weaker than him!"

Feng Yue, who heard him, had his expression turn ugly; same with Instructor Qi. None of them could deny what Yun Che said. It indeed was the case. Feng Yue was stronger than Yun Che. Him getting this wounded after a single attack was nothing but humiliation.

It pained them to admit it, but Yun Che was right.

"... Pass!" Reluctant, Instructor Qi gritted his teeth and announced. He thought he would punish Yun Che at a later time. Right now, there were just too many witnesses. He didn't want to destroy his reputation just like that.

While everyone was still busy talking about Yun Che and how he was able to defeat someone stronger than him, a loud roar shocked everyone and all of them looked from where it came from.

"Which one of you is Yun Che?! Show yourself!"

"..."