Chapter 19

"Immortality? That's..." Qingyue was dumbfounded. She never knew that such an incredible ability existed.

Yun Che laughed and explained to her, "Of course it's not complete immortality; it has its limits too. This resurrection works only once every 20 years. So if I die twice within 20 years, I really will die."

She nodded in understanding, "I see. Still, even that is incredible."

He replied, "Yeah, it comes from a divine beast after all. And it's understandable that the ability has some restrictions. Wouldn't the real divine Phoenix still be alive otherwise?

Anyway, there's one more request I want to make."

She perked up. She had been somewhat dissatisfied with his first request, so she would gladly fulfil any other request as long as it wasn't too excessive.

"Do say it", she encouraged.

"I would like you to accompany me in the Heaven Basin Secret Realm. And by that I mean just the two of us, no one else. You see, I have a method to find heavenly treasures of all kinds and coming with me will be the most efficient way of finding treasures there."

She was surprised and curious about this method. Did it have something to do with his medicinal expertise? But she had a more pressing query, "Why can't anyone else come with us? Can't I bring the others from Frozen Cloud Asgard, and shouldn't you be doing this with the Blue Wind Profound Palace?"

He shook his head with a sigh, "You are the only one I trust with these secrets, Qingyue. If other people were to know of my... abilities, it would surely put me in jeopardy. For example, they could kidnap me and force me to use this method to find treasures for them. The less people who know, the better."

She frowned, "I understand, but with your current strength and cultivation speed, you could resist even the four major sects, right?"

"Don't forget the Heavenly Sword Region's elder", he reminded her. Her eyes widened from recollection and she let out a soft, "Oh."

"And don't forget what I said to you just before leaving Xiao clan. After this tournament is over, I will go to Frozen Cloud Asgard and solve everyone's cold qi problem there. And I might open the profound entrances of the sect mistress and the seven fairies as well."

She was a bit taken aback. She indeed remembered these words, but had expected it to take several years. Once again, she was reminded of her husband's abnormal cultivation speed.

"Alright, I will be waiting for you then", she gently told him, feeling a ripple of emotions the likes of which she had never felt before.

As he left, she looked at his departing back and her lips curled up slightly.

Jasmine saw this with her spiritual sense and was irritated for some reason, "You deceptive fellow. 'You are the only one I trust', huh?"

Yun Che was feeling unusually light hearted after his conversation with his wife, but was brought out of his trance by the tsundere's voice.

"Huh? No, of course not. You are the one I trust the most. I mean, it would be impossible for me not to trust you the most, since you see basically everything I experience."

"Hmm. That's the way it should be. Anyway, I was suspecting it before but can confirm it now. That girl doesn't only have the Nine Profound Exquisite Body. She has the Heart of Snow Glazed Glass as well."

"Heart of Snow Glazed Glass? What's that?"

"It's another divine physique, only it's mental instead of physical. When her Heart of Snow Glazed Glass is awakened, she will gain perfect clarity of mind and will be able to clearly think through everything."

Yun Che already knew this, but hearing it from Jasmine proved that Qingyue was indeed the idle partner for him. After all, he valued mental strength and clarity above everything else.

Jasmine continued, "Not one but two divine physiques. And her brother also has a divine physique. Their parents must really be extraordinary. Do you know anything about it?"

Yun Che took this chance to give her some more information, "Their father is nothing out of the ordinary; he is just a rich merchant in Floating Cloud city. Their mother however is unusual. She appeared wounded and with severe amnesia in Floating Cloud city. Their father took her in and married her, and then the both of them were born.

13 years ago, she suddenly recovered all her memories and left this place, saying it would be too dangerous for them if she remained here. She did say she was going to the Realm of the Gods.

Say Jasmine, do you know of any woman in the Realm of the Gods who disappeared for a few years, and then reappeared 13 years ago, who could give birth to such extraordinary children?"

Jasmine was stunned for a few moments and then replied, "I do know of one such person."

She then told him the story of Yue Wugou. Finally, they decided that Yue Wugou was probably indeed the mother and Jasmine gave an evil, sadistic laugh, "He he! I wonder if I will be able to show Yue Wugou's tryst with another man to the Moon God Emperor."

The next day, the final between the husband and wife was about to take place. Before that, Ling Jie directly forfeited the match to determine the 3rd place, so Ling Yun came third.

Everyone was watching the final with rapt attention, not wanting to miss anything. After all, it was going to be between the two greatest geniuses in the history of Blue Wind Empire. Regardless of the outcome of this round, the names of both Yun Che and Xia Qingyue would become well known throughout the empire.

The battle began and both the contestants took out their weapons – Yun Che took out the Dragon Fault and Qingyue took out the Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon. They engaged in an exchange of swords, trying to probe each other out.

Qingyue wrapped her Snowflower Ribbon around the Dragon Fault and tried to throw it away from Yun Che just like she had done to the Celestial Yuan sword against Ling Yun, but Yun Che forcefully disengaged it with his sheer strength.

She then recalled Yun Che's request the previous night and decided that she would indeed have to use her trump card if she wanted to win this round decisively. A cold wind blew from all four directions and the ice spirits around her began fluttering. She rose into air and a blue glow radiated from her body, filling the entire arena with a spiraling cold wind.

Her appearance changed dramatically, she was now like a fairy born from ice and snow, her entire skin jade in color. Ling Yuefeng stutteringly said, "Frozen Cloud Seventh Realm... Ice Body Jade Bones..."

Yun Che began to put in some more effort and struck with his heavy sword. This time, Qingyue did not retreat. With a small movement from her, the Ice Phoenix Snowflower Ribbon shot out at an incredible speed and clashed into the heavy sword.

Neither of the blades could push the other back, they both had an equivalent amount of strength. This was the first time someone had taken on Yun Che's heavy sword and not been pushed back. Not that he was giving it all his strength, but the point remained...

He decided to step up his game and executed a weakened Heavenly Wolf Slash. Qingyue immediately put up an ice barrier and it protected her from the extremely powerful attack, breaking in the process.

The audience was shocked, for two reasons – first, this was the first time someone had taken the Heavenly Wolf Slash and not immediately lost; second, the Heavenly Wolf Slash was powerful enough to break through the ice barrier of someone using Frozen Cloud Seventh Realm.

This then continued for a short time. Yun Che released many weakened versions of the Heavenly Wolf Slash, keeping them just strong enough to break Qingyue's ice barriers. Qingyue was put on the defensive and had to rapidly construct ice barriers to protect herself from the attacks.

Her stamina steadily dwindled and she began breathing heavily. Knowing that if this went on any longer, she would most likely lose, she decided to use her final trump card, which she had used to win the semifinal.

Releasing her domain, the temperature of the arena drastically dropped and when it cleared, everyone could see Yun Che encased in ice and unconscious. Of course, he could have easily dispersed the cold with his Phoenix flame and was just pretending to be unconscious, but the audience didn't know that.

"The winner is... Xia Qingyue!"

Qingyue showed a small smile on her face and toppled over, also unconscious.

Qingyue had won the round like Yun Che had planned, but the audience was also impressed by Yun Che himself. After all, he had fought Qingyue on par, who was not only at a higher cultivation level than him but had also mastered Frozen Cloud Seventh Realm and could use a domain.

The tournament was finally over.