Skyfire Avenue - Chapter 722

Chapter 722

Chapter 722: Chu Cheng Advances

When he saw the strike Lan Jue quietly nodded his head . He wasn’t the only one to advance, his companions were all getting stronger . For the Four Divine Monarchs, strength had always been a priority for each of them .

Ting! The ringing sound brought Lan Jue’s attention back to the fight .

Lan Qing had lifted his right hand and, with only his middle finger, flicked away Hades’ Falchion .

The Astrum responded with a low rumble and the whole body of the blade vibrated . Chu Cheng’s world of solemn gray grew dimmer and more obscure . In front of Lan Qing a single gray door appeared .

Another sword slash burst out from the door as it opened . From overhead Hades’ Falchion descended to join it . The two attacks supplemented each other as they raced for the center of Lan Qing’s chest .

Ting–! Lan Qing never flinched and fell back a step as his middle finger knocked the danger away . His body began to glow with a faint golden aura . The emanation of enlightenment and compassion swelled his oppressive aura at the same time .

Even from their vantage Hua Li and Lan Qing were finding it hard to breathe .

Such pressure! Hua Li even gasped audibly . What this big brother’s true strength?

Hades’ Falchion flitted through the air, coming at Lan Qing with blinding speed from every direction to try and flip passed his defenses . Lan Qing never counter-attacked, and simply flicked or slapped away the blade whenever it got close .

Still his aura strengthened . It swelled with every passing moment, rose with every breath to pulverize them in an indescribable power .

In the midst of that pressure the whole arena started to quake . Chu Cheng’s attacks had slowed as they tried to fight through the influence of Lan Qing’s emulsions .

Golden light shone brighter around Lan Qing until he was a blazing silhouette . Any time Hades’ Falchion got close it to the deathly aura it bore was dispersed . Its desperate efforts were only getting weaker .

This was clearly a one-sided contest .

“Just this and already you can’t keep up? Do you want to be a Paragon?” Lan Qing’s disdainful taunt rolled like thunder through the room .

A flash of light revealed Chu Cheng suspended in air . Lan Qing’s call had forced him to appear . His grey eyes had become a seething blood red, and he burned with pride and a thirst for victory that made his aura flare .

They all knew Lan Qing was their better, but deep in their hearts who didn’t want to put the soldier in his place?

The suffocating pressure collapsed . Chu Cheng threw his head back and released a wild scream into the air that summoned a majestic ashen aura . The influence of his power continued to spread through the area, and he slashes Hades’ Falchion held tight in his white-knuckle grip . Each vicious cut birthed a blinding flash and the shadow of strange archaic runes .

Chu Cheng himself was ripped apart . Splintering parts of himself were swallowed into the nine runes that hung in the air . As he vanished the runes overlapped one another, causing Hades’ Falchion to blaze with a staggering light before shooting ahead . A streak of burning power was left in its wake .

Lan Qing’s lips turned up in a smirk . He stamped a foot forward and punched his right hand . The surreal image of Vairochana appeared behind him . The Buddha’s resplendent light mingled with the glow of compassion from Lan Qing, and together they enveloped Hades’ Falchion .

The nine runes along the Astrum’s surface burned as it struggled against the light . Then, Lan Qing’s punch landed . First the falchion shook then thrown back . Its nine runes were shed and hung in the air .

Suddenly, everything stopped . The crushing pressure, Vairochana, Lan Qing… everything vanished without a trace . In the ensuing stillness the gray light from Hades’ Falchion bloomed . As though they were reawakened, the runes surged with pulsing waves of energy .

Chu Cheng appeared in the midst of those runes, seated cross-legged in mid-air with his eyes closed . All around him the world roiled in a state of flux . Sometimes the nightmarish image of the river Styx and its fetid, poison water prevailed . Sometimes it was a blazing sun ready to swallow the world . All throughout the gray fires of the underworld rose in staggering columns .

His powers were raging out of his control . Wild tempests of protogenia appeared and vanished in the same moment . But the period of calamity was short lived . Suddenly and with tremendous force, a pulse of pure protogenic effusion exploded through the arena . For a moment they were immersed in the underworld . Everything was drained of color, and a deathly stillness hung over everything .

Success! Lan Jue’s eyes lit up as he watched . He and Hua Li were protected beneath a shell of golden power – Lan Qing had joined them by their side .

Lan Qing had slowly built pressure since the fight’s outset . He urged on Chu Cheng’s fighting will and then – when the pressure was at its greatest – he removed it . With nothing to contend against Chu Cheng’s power gushed out to fill the vacuum and transformed him from an Adept into a Paragon .

Lan Jue smirked as he watched the dramatic display . “I’m the last one . I never thought that’d be the case . ”

Hua Li’s response was less than sympathetic . “So what? You’re not a Paragon but I still struggled against you . ”

Lan Jue’s chortling laughter responded . “Stop fussing . When I break through I’ll protect you!”

Hua Li stared at him . “So you say, but you better keep your word . You aren’t going to meditate on the changes in his protogenia?”

Lan Jue shook his head . “No need . My protogenia is solid and I know my path . I need no more guidance . ”

He wasn’t exaggerating, for with the addition of the immortal qi and all his experience with other Paragons, he knew precisely what he needed to do .

Humanity now had a new Paragon among them . This time it was the North who would celebrate their good fortune .

Chu Cheng’s ascension also marked the return of the Hades’ bloodline . First the Infernal Vanguard, now him . Unless things changed they had the power necessary to wrest the Dark Citadel from the hands of Satan .

The three Monarchs remained to look after Chu Cheng . The process of breaking through was sometimes long and sometimes short, it depended on the individual’s comprehension and protogenic control .

For Chu Cheng, he had many benefits in his favor contributing to his rise . The Clairvoyant’s gift of the Emberblossom pendant guided him . Recultivating at his peak had tempered his abilities further, culminating in the military training he’d undergone to lead his people . All of that helped push him to this point .

Lan Jue quietly informed the Gourmet, who then alerted his family . Before long the old patriarch of the Hades Bloodline, Chu Yun, appeared with the current head of the family, Chu Dong . Several other notable members of the clan had also come .

Chu Yun wept openly as he saw his grandson in the midst of his breakthrough . He had waited for more years than he could remember for this moment .

After two days and two nights Chu Cheng completed his transformation . Once it was done the North rang with trumpets and cheering cries . No good news had come to their Alliance since the defeat in the Shattered Starfields . But now they had a new Paragon to protect them in this dark hour; Hades!

He was placed at the bottom of the Paragon List .

Once the Chu Family took over their friend’s vigil, Lan Qing and Lan Jue left Luo and returned to Skyfire . There was much that required their attention .

Once they returned Lan Qing left almost immediately . Lan Jue didn’t know what business he had to attend to . As for Lan Jue, he didn’t need to ask the Avenue what was needed before receiving some bad news .

“Daddy, mommy wanted me to give this to you . ” Lan Jue looked at the small girl in his arms and felt his heart inexplicably seize .

Jun’er had come to see him shortly after he’d returned to Zeus’ Jewelry Shop . She’d come by herself . With the help of her psionic projection helmet Jun’er walked the streets like anyone else . A holodisk player was gripped in her tiny hands .

Lan Jue thought back to when the Pharmacist left them on Luo . He knew what it was even before looking at it .

“I’ll check it later . How about you and me go get some food . What do you think?” He spoke tenderly . He didn’t want to watch it with her, it would be too frightening and painful .

But the little soothsayer shook her head and smiled . “No! Mama said she wants me to watch it with you . She said there’s something for me, too, but that I had to wait for you daddy . I waited, am I a good girl?”

He pinched her pudgy white cheeks . “Yes you are . Alright, let’s see . ”

Lan Jue set up the projector and hit play . It spat forth a beam of light that painted an image in the air before them .

It was the Pharmacist .

As always she was garbed in traditional Chinese clothing; a silken qipao with intricately woven flowers scattered across a white backdrop . Her long hair was meticulously kept in a bun on top of her head without a single hair out of place .

“Lan Jue… I hope you don’t mind me using your name instead of your title . I’m sorry I deceived you . All the years of suffering came crashing back in that moment . Breaking through also released the barriers I’d built in my heart, and I was flooded with all the pain I’d hidden away . I thought for a long time… thought about everything he and I went through . We grew up together, learned together, fell in love . In the end we were the most important people in each other’s lives . ”

“Ever since I have fought my hardest to suppress these feelings . Jun’er gave me faith to keep going on . I fooled myself into thinking he’d just encountered some accident . But he was strong enough to make it . I can’t hold onto that lie anymore . ”

The image of the Pharmacist paused as she fought the sadness welling up within her .

“He’d dead . There’s no escaping that fact . There probably isn’t even anything left of him but my heart can’t take it . I can’t fight it anymore, I must find him . No matter the consequence… even if it means my death, I have to go . I know it’s a foolish choice and will end in failure, but I believe you understand what I’m feeling . I need to find anything that remains of the man I love . ”