Against the Gods

Caizhi had yet to recover from the harrowing experience when she flew out of Stardust Palace, but she hadn’t forgotten Jasmine’s instructions. A sweep of spirit perception later, she locked onto Xing Ling’s location and flew straight towards him. Her mind was filled with puzzlement, however...

Strange, I can’t remember the last time sister asked someone to be brought to her Star God Palace of her own accord. Who on earth is that “Conferred God Number One”?

She arrived at Xing Ling’s location in just a few breaths’ time. The moment she landed and saw the person standing right next to Xing Ling, both her eyes and her mouth widened, “Brother-in—Oh!”

Luckily for her, she managed to cover her mouth before she blurted out the familiar nickname.

Back then, she had returned to her own Star God Palace and stayed there meekly the entire time after Jasmine had given her a stern lecture. As a result, she had no idea what had happened after that.

At the time the Conferred God Stage hadn’t started yet, and Yun Che’s strength was among the weakest of the weakest. So of course Caizhi didn’t realize that Yun Che was the “Conferred God Number One” Jasmine had mentioned.

Yun Che’s shock was greater than Caizhi’s though. He nearly thought that his eyes were playing tricks on him. “Little Jasmine!? Why… why are you here?”

He barely finished voicing his surprise when Xing Ling hurriedly bowed towards Caizhi. “Heavenly Slaughter Star Guard Xing Ling greets the little princess.”

“...” Yun Che’s mind turned blank for a moment. Then, his jaw hit the floor with a resounding crash.

Li… little princess!?

Yun Che was the definition of ignorance and inexperience when it came to the God Realm, but he had at least heard of the Star God Realm during the time he spent together with Jasmine. There were only two princesses in the Star God Realm, and they were both Star Gods in their own right. Jasmine was the older princess, and a girl named “Caizhi” was the younger princess and the new Heavenly Wolf Star God!

Are you telling me that willful, rash, unorthodox, and slightly crazy girl, who nearly caused him trouble multiple times, is the little princess of the Star God Realm… Heavenly Wolf Star God Caizhi!?

Yun Che might be suffering from a mild case of popping eyes syndrome and brain freeze, but Caizhi was faring even worse than he was. She pointed a finger at Yun Che and asked, “Is… is he that ‘Conferred God Number One’?”

Xing Ling answered, “Yes, little princess. Sir Yun Che is definitely the Conferred God Number One of this term’s Profound God Convention. The lord god emperor has brought him over to Star God Realm himself.”

The young man and woman stared at each other for several breaths before Caizhi finally zipped next to Yun Che and grabbed him, “You’ll come with me to the Star God Palace!”

“Little princess!” Xing Ling hurriedly said, “The god emperor has ordered me to accompany young master Yun Che while we wait for him here.”

Caizhi shot him a sideway glance. “My sister’s the one who ordered him to be taken away. Are you going to disobey her?”

Xing Ling trembled all over before he fell on his knees. “I… I dare not.”

“Hmph!” Caizhi snorted softly before pulling Yun Che. “Come on, let’s go!”

Xing Ling’s reaction seriously surprised Yun Che: why do I feel like his fear of Jasmine is greater than his fear of the Star God Emperor himself? Is Jasmine really that scary? Come on...

“Little Jasmine, you…”

“Be quiet!”

Caizhi stopped Yun Che before he could ask anything. She was incredibly quick, and it wasn’t long before they arrived at a Star God Palace… Jasmine’s Star God Palace no less.

Caizhi led Yun Che right past the main hall. After that, an unbelievable independent world appeared before Yun Che.

The sky was azure-colored, but it was filled with countless visible stars. At first glance, he spotted countless mountains, greeneries, rivers, and palaces… Some of these palaces were sitting on nothing but clouds, looking like some out-of-the-world palaces of immortals.

Occasionally, the faint roars of many profound beasts could be heard in the distance. When he looked up, spirit beasts he had never seen in his life flew across the blue dome of heaven.

Every Star God Palace was a world of its own. It wasn’t too big, but it was still several thousand kilometers wide.

Yun Che forgot where he was and simply stared at the beautiful scene before him. A short while later, he finally returned to himself and stared at the girl with mischievous eyes adorned in colorful clothing. Even now, his brain worked sluggishly like there were rusting parts somewhere.

“Are… are you really… the Princess Caizhi of… the Star God Realm?” It wasn’t a long sentence, but for some reason he couldn’t help but stammer all the way.

It was because he couldn’t reconcile the name “Little Jasmine” and the title “Heavenly Wolf Star God” in his mind no matter what.

“Hmph!” Little Jasmine held her nose high. “You really are a big dumb dumb.”

Yun Che, “！@#￥%……”

“Little Jasmine” is Caizhi… she’s also the Heavenly Wolf Star God… and Jasmine’s sister...

Caizhi had barely changed since the day they met two years ago. Yun Che stared at her blankly

for a very long time…

………………….

“Then it’s decided! My name shall be… Little Jasmine!!”

………………….

“So it’s like this eh… Ah… Jasmine is big brother’s wife, so Little Jasmine should be big brother’s… little sister-in-law! So along these lines, big brother is my brother-in-law… ah! Greetings brother-in-law!”

………………….

“Look here, Brother-in-law. Big Sister Jasmine is your wife and I’m Little Jasmine. That means Big Sis Jasmine’s little sister should be Little Jasmine, which makes me your little sister-in-law, which makes you my brother-in-law. This is absolutely logical.”

………………….

““She is Jasmine and I’m Little Jasmine, moreover, we’re both girls. So Jasmine naturally is Little Jasmine’s big sister and Little Jasmine naturally is Jasmine’s younger sister! The matter is so clear and yet you want to contradict me!?”

………………….

When he recalled her nonsensical words and logic back then, he finally understood what they all really meant.

The first time they met, she had called herself Jasmine to test his reaction. The reason she insisted that “Little Jasmine” was Jasmine’s “little sister” was because she was Jasmine’s younger sister in the first place… in fact, now that he thought about it, the way she swore at others was practically the same as Jasmine.

Hmm? Wait a second! Why did she want to test me in the first place? Not to mention all the weird things she did after that… we clearly hadn’t met until that point!

“Did you know… what happened between me and your sister?” As the second the question slipped out of Yun Che’s mouth, he felt like he had wasted his own breath.

“Of course! My sister’s the one who told me everything,” Caizhi said matter-of-factly. “My sister and I are the closest of sisters, so of course I know everything there is to know about her. I’m the only one though.”

She was right. Knowing Jasmine, she would never speak about herself unless the other party was someone who was very close to her. After basking in old memories for a moment, he asked another question, “How did you know that I was that… guy in your sister’s story?”

“You’re the one who told me yourself, of course!”

“I… I did?” Yun Che replied stupidly.

“Yeah, you did.” Caizhi beamed at him. “If you hadn’t scared those bad people off with the First Sword Style of the Heavenly Wolf Hell God's Tome, I might’ve fallen into their hands already. Hehehe, you’re so strong, brother-in-law.”

Her reply caused Yun Che’s head to turn blank. A second later, his face met the meat of his palm loudly.

It was only now that he recalled that he had used a fire empowered Heavenly Wolf Slash to “save” Little Jasmine...

He had used the First Sword Style of the Heavenly Wolf Hell God's Tome… to save the Heavenly Wolf Star God herself...

This was so embarrassing...

He might have empowered his attack with fire, but of course the Heavenly Wolf Star God wouldn’t fail to recognize the First Style of the Heavenly Wolf Hell God's Tome! After all, it was the Heavenly Wolf Star God’s own exclusive sword art!

Since his Heavenly Wolf Slash had been taught by Jasmine, he became the only person in the entire world who could execute this technique besides the Heavenly Wolf Star God herself… He now realized that that fearless, but absolutely odd look on “Little Jasmine’s” face back then was a look of suspicion. In that moment, she had clearly made the connection and suspected that he was the man her sister spoke of.

Everything she did after that, from calling herself “Jasmine” to committing a series of “innocent” acts was all to confirm his true identity.

Yun Che was surprised, amused, and rueful all at the same time… fate was truly a strange thing. To think that the girl he had accidentally rescued in the Darkya Realm, after he escaped from the Flame God Realm, would be Jasmine’s younger sister...

It was so strange it could almost be excused as absolute nonsense.

No wonder she was bold enough to strut around Black Soul Sect’s territory, no wonder he ran into her no matter where he went, no wonder she kept putting him in all sort of troubles and dangers…

In fact, now that he thought about it, he didn’t have to use Moon Star Restoration to “save” both himself and Caizhi that day! They would’ve been perfectly fine one way or another!

Worse, after they had barely escaped from Lei Qianfeng’s clutches that night... he had told Little Jasmine a lot of personal things while he was hovering on the line between consciousness and unconsciousness...

The Black Soul Sect... Lei Qianfeng...

Yun Che suddenly turned to look at Caizhi. “You’re the one who crippled the entire Black Soul Sect in one day, aren’t you?”

“I sure did!” Caizhi proceeded to complain, “I had to do it to stop a certain weak idiot from running to his death!”

“...” Yun Che’s mouth twitched. “Did you kill Lei Qianfeng as well?”

“Hmph, it wasn’t me!” Caizhi replied, “Sister told me not to kill anyone without good reason. That little turtle from the Divine Martial Realm’s the one who killed him! It must’ve been because his dirty deeds with Xiao Qingtong were exposed… Oh!!”

Caizhi hurriedly covered up her own mouth when she suddenly realized that she had revealed something she shouldn’t. Her black eyes looked completely innocent.

Yun Che instantly came to realization as he blurted, “So you were the one who made those two Profound Imagery Stones!... Did you leave behind that Divine Nine Star Buddha Jade and Void Illusion Stone as well?”

The two items had puzzled him deeply when he first discovered them. Both the Divine Nine Star Buddha Jade and Void Illusion Stone were things that a mere Lei Qianfeng couldn’t possess. There was no way he had the ability or the balls to record that damning footage of Wu Guike either.

Now, he finally realized that Caizhi was the one behind all of it!

She was the Heavenly Wolf Star God. Wu Guike could be followed by ten Divine Sovereigns at a time, and he still wouldn’t be able to detect her presence at all.

Caizhi’s starlike eyes twirled. Left with no choice, she admitted, “Yes, it was me! Neither the Divine Nine Star Buddha Jade nor Void Illusion Stone were my possession to begin with, but I swear I didn’t snatch them from that little turtle, okay? I traded for them fair and square using two Profound Imagery Stones, and it was completely voluntary from start to finish, so don’t you say that I was bullying him, okay!”

For a long time, Yun Che couldn’t shut his mouth.

“Oh right! I left you two Profound Imagery Stones, didn’t I? Hehehehe, you must’ve had a good time, didn’t you?” Caizhi said with a pleased look.

Yun Che, “...”

“Good times” aside, he could see from her face alone that Caizhi had no idea just how much the Profound Imagery Stones, that she had left behind purely because it was “fun”, had helped him… In fact, they were far more useful than the Divine Nine Star Buddha Jade and Void Illusion Stone had been.

Without those two Profound Imagery Stones, Yun Che wouldn’t have survived even the first preliminary round. Naturally, he wouldn’t have become the Conferred God Number One if that happened.

It was only now that did Yun Che realized that that wasn’t the first time Wu Guike had been blackmailed with those two Profound Imagery Stones… At first, Caizhi had blackmailed him—correction, traded him for one Divine Nine Star Buddha Jade and one Void Illusion Stone. He had to be puking blood already at the time. Then, he ran into Yun Che at the Profound God Convention...

The poor guy really hadn’t had it easy...

A surge of deep gratitude welled in Yun Che’s heart even as he let the revelations wash over him… If it wasn’t for Caizhi, he wouldn’t have passed the Profound God Convention’s preliminary round. He wouldn’t have obtained the Universe Penta Jade Pellet, entered the Eternal Heaven Realm or stood in the Star God Realm right now.

At first, he thought that it was fate which had blessed him to success. Now, he realized that it was this willful troublemaker who had been quietly laying his path to Jasmine all this time.

Back then, she was already calling him by the nickname “brother-in-law” without any reluctance.

“How strange. Are you really the Conferred God Number One?” Caizhi stared at Yun Che oddly until she finally noticed his profound strength. She let out an exaggerated exclamation, “Waaah!? Divine Spirit Realm already? But… you were just an early stage Divine Tribulation a month ago. Y-y-y-you… how on earth did you do it?”

“...It’s thanks to that Divine Nine Star Buddha Jade you left behind, of course.” Yun Che decided to speak a half-truth.

“Hmph, I did it for my sister and not for you, okay?” Caizhi looked away while pouting. Then, she said in a very quiet voice, “Sister even scolded me terribly because of that.”

“Where’s your sister right now?” Yun Che asked. “You said that she was the one who ordered you to bring me here, so… is she here right now?”

Yun Che’s tone obviously grew urgent when he mentioned Jasmine. Caizhi shot him a glance before a trace of worry squeezed her delicate eyebrows together, “Sister isn’t here right now. She did something terrible just now, and she may be… she…”

“She did something terrible?” Yun Che frowned. “What was it?”

“It’s all because of you!”

Caizhi thought fiercely inside her head. Now that she had met Yun Che, she finally knew why Jasmine had killed Moonflower at great risk to herself. Moonflower might be dead, but the consequences that would come from her death… were unpredictable to say the least.

“You… you stay here and don’t go anywhere. I’ll go look for Big Sister right now. If she chooses to come back with me, you’ll be able to meet her then.”

“One more thing! Don’t say I didn’t warn you, but Big Sis is very, very angry that you came to the God Realm. If she yells at you when she comes over, don’t blame me for not taking your side.”

“Alright.” Yun Che nodded. He looked calm on the outside, but only he knew how much he looked forward to this meeting.

Jasmine, I can finally see you again… For the past four years, everything has passed me by as quickly as the wind… everything, except my longing for you...

Caizhi teleported repeatedly until she arrived in front of the palace door. She was just about to push it open and head outside when she saw Jasmine floating over from the distance and landing in front of her.

“Sis!” Caizhi was both happy and worried to see Jasmine returning safely so quickly. “Moonflower…”

“No need to worry, that old villain will take care of it.” Jasmine’s tone was so indifferent it was as if the matter never bothered her in the slightest. “Where’s Yun Che?”

“He’s… inside the Star God Palace right now.”

Jasmine abruptly froze in place. It was clear that her breathing was erratic even though she was doing her best to suppress it.

“Abandoning his home and family just to see me, huh? How arrogant, how reckless, how rash! Heh, I bet he thinks he’s doing something special, when in reality he’s just being an absolute idiot!”

The sudden burst of anger shocked Caizhi greatly, “Big Sis, don’t… don’t be angry, he… he only did those things for you…”

“Hmph! For me? Did he consider my feelings before he came? Did he wonder whether I care to see him? Does he realize how hard it was to keep him alive during all those years? He just can’t stop himself from jumping to his death, can he!?” The more Jasmine said, the angrier she got. Her chest heaved with emotion as she continued, “All my teachings, all my advice, they all went in one ear and out the other! How dare he come see me after all this!?”

“Caizhi… you’ll not speak in favor of him even if I break both his legs, you hear me!”

“Got… got it,” Caizhi answered weakly before her furious sister.

The Heavenly Slaughter Star God Palace was Jasmine’s territory, so everything—including Yun Che’s presence—fell within her senses. Jasmine closed her eyes and waited until she calmed down a little. Finally, she spoke up again and said, “Take me to him.”

With Jasmine and Caizhi’s level of strength, a hundred miles was only a matter of an instant. But Jasmine flew slowly, and her face looked absolutely murderous. Naturally, Caizhi dared not speed up as she flew timidly behind Jasmine. She couldn’t predict what would happen when Jasmine and Yun Che finally met each other.

Past the main hall was a world covered in thick clouds. Right now, Yun Che was standing on one such cloud and staring at the dreamy world ahead of him.

Suddenly, he turned around as if he had sensed something. Then, their gazes locked onto each other as if attracted by an invisible magnet.

Just like in the past, she was clothed in her favorite red dress. Her red hair was still as ridiculously pretty as before. Her eyes were still as cold as a bloody blade, but for some reason he was never afraid of them, now and forever.

He had changed a lot since four years ago, but his Jasmine never seemed to change. It was as if they were together yesterday, and the separation from four years ago had never really happened.

Yun Che froze. Jasmine also froze. Basked in the warmth of starlight, their gazes passed through space and melted into each other. The picture froze. The world suddenly fell completely silent. Silent, until a quiet voice passed through Yun Che’s lips:

“Jas… mine…”

To Yun Che, there were no words he was more familiar with than this.

Jasmine had come in a murderous mood. Endless criticisms already prepped inside her head, she was going to make him realize exactly how terrible his mistakes were… Yun Che hadn’t been able to see her since the start of the Conferred God Battle, but she had been watching him from a distance all this time. She was confident that she could stay calm, or at least not lose control over her emotions when she finally saw him again.

But there were no outsiders here to keep her in check, no outside world to put her on her guard. Worse, Yun Che was right in front of her. As she stared at his face and trembling eyes, her own vision suddenly grew blurry. Her emotions, the words she kept in her heart, they all suddenly collapsed into a mess, leaving her with nothing but blankness.

Yun Che’s cry had slipped into the deepest parts of her soul. The words were weightless, but they had slammed into her heart and reawakened a dream she thought would never come true again.

Jasmine trembled. Suddenly, she flew down from the doorsteps and crashed straight into Yun Che.

“Yun… Che…”

She was beyond words by the time they made it out her mouth. Crying, she hugged Yun Che so tightly it was as if she wanted to squeeze herself into him, “You… idiot… you… big… idiot… Uu… Uaah…”

“Uaaaaaaah……”

Enveloped in Yun Che’s scent, Jasmine finally lost control completely, her restrained voice bursting into a full blown cry. She was physically incapable of letting out any other sound as she cried until the world felt like it would sunder beneath their feet.

Why did Yun Che discard everything to come to the God Realm… why did Yun Che force his way into the Eternal Heaven Realm by hook or by crook, why did Yun Che risk exposing his secrets after being forced into do-or-die situations again and again… why did Yun Che refuse to let go of his consciousness despite being pushed to the brink of death...

Why did Yun Che reject Brahma Monarch, Eternal Heaven, and the Dragon Monarch… why did Yun Che choose to come to theStar God Realm...

She knew… she knew everything… she knew better than anyone else in the entire world…

alyschu: I forgot to mention a term change that’s explained in the previous chapter

Prison God Sirius' Tome -> Heavenly Wolf Hell God's Tome