Against the Gods

Yun Che’s changes were very subtle. He Ling was able to clearly sense that something had changed, yet she was having great difficulty pinpointing that change. All she could tell was that it was a fantastic and mysterious sensation that seemed to indicate that Yun Che had become a higher level of existence.

While He Ling was looking at Yun Che with sparkling eyes, Yun Che’s gaze also fell on her and he spoke, “He Ling, do you still want to become my Sky Poison Poison Spirit?”

The words that Yun Che suddenly said immediately stunned He Ling and for a moment, she could scarcely believe her ears. Initially, he had been most resistant to this suggestion, and she also deeply understand just why he was so resistant to it. So for these reasons, she had never brought up the matter again and would not do so until the Brahma Soul Death-Wishing Mark had been completely purged from his body

Yet now, he was the first one to mention it. Furthemore, his gaze no longer contained any complicated feelings or resistance, there was only warmth and unswerving determination.

Perhaps, during these ten months, he had finally managed to convince himself to completely accept this matter. Or perhaps, the changes to his soul, that had happened when he became a Divine King, had also intangibly changed his understanding of the world as well.

“Please let me become the Sky Poison Poison Spirit.” He Ling nodded her head and she was still as sincere as the day she answered Shen Xi, “I will use everything that I have to help you, furthermore… furthermore, I will never ever try to urge you to bring me to the Brahma Monarch God Realm and no matter what happens in the future, I definitely won’t regret it.”

Even if a seed of darkness had been planted in her heart, her base nature was still incomparably pure and good. Even when she was going to lose her own personal freedom and her own existence, she still was unwilling to bind Yun Che in any way… She only begged for that one ray of hope.

“Alright,” Yun Che nodded his head. He walked a few steps closer to He Ling and looked her straight in the eyes as he said in a sincere voice, “I know just how unforgettable and deeply etched a desire for revenge can be when it is born from losing everything. It can only be released, and forcing you to let it go or accept it will only cause you to be in unbearable pain for the rest of your existence… thus, use everything that you have to take revenge then!”

Yun Che’s words caused He Ling’s beautiful eyes to shake excessively.

He stretched out a hand towards He Ling, “The Brahma Monarch God Realm are not only your opponents, they are mine as well. So, in the future you will not only be my poison spirit, you will also be the companion who has tied her destiny together with mine. This is my pledge to you. In the future, if we ever have enough power to go against them, then we must definitely make them pay ten times or even a hundred times what they owe us.”

Even though that goal was incomparably distant, even though no one had ever been able to do it in the entire history of the God Realm, and maybe no one had even dared to do so. But… at the very least, this was the vow that he made towards this wood spirit girl that did not hesitate to destroy her own existence in order to get revenge, a vow that she deserved.

But for He Ling, whose soul had been hovering inside a pitch-black abyss, there were no words in this universe that sounded more beautiful than the words she had just heard.

“...” She nodded her head vigorously, her lips trembling. She wanted to speak but before she could even form the words, tears had already started streaming down her face.

When she had found out that He Lin and all her closest kinsmen had died, what engulfed her was not only vengeance, there was also a desolate loneliness, as if she was free-floating duckweed. Yun Che’s words had caused her, a person who had sunk into a boundless dark abyss, to feel something with an incomparable clarity. They had caused her to feel like she was no longer alone, and to even feel… some sort of feeling of reliance...

As he looked at He Ling’s faintly trembling body, Shen Xi gave a faint smile. This is what she had always hoped to see… The scenario where Yun Che rescued He Ling.

“Since that is the case, then let’s do it now.” Even though the Brahma Soul Death-Wishing Mark in his body had not completely dissipated, it would only be an affair that would take two or three more days to resolve. Since his heart was set, then there was no need for the previous dithering. Yun Che took another step forward and his body was so close that it nearly pressed against He Ling’s body. After that he hesitated for a moment before turning around in an awkward manner and speaking in a sheepish voice, “Eh… Senior Shen Xi, just how exactly are we supposed to do this?”

Shen Xi arrived at the side of both of them, her palm that was like celestial jade lightly holding up Yun Che’s left hand, “Ling’er, once you have become the poison spirit, it will be nearly impossible to turn it around, are you… truly prepared for this?”

Yun Che’s brows faintly twitched… because Shen Xi had said “nearly impossible to turn it around”. She had not said it was “completely impossible”.

He Ling wiped away the tears on her face and nodded with no hesitation at all, “Ling’er was already prepared for this ten months ago.”

“Good,” Shen Xi gave a faint nod of her head. Her jade hand flipped and her fingers lightly touched against the palm of Yun Che’s hand, “Release the origin aura of the Sky Poison Pearl, just a single thread will do.”

Yun Che immediately did as he was told. With a single thought, a mossy-green light flashed in the center of his palm.

Shen Xi’s jade fingers made a subtle movement and immediately that bit of Sky Poison light was released under the direction of her fingers, then lightly touched the space between He Ling’s eyebrows.

“Ling’er, close your eyes and calm your heart. When you feel your spirit coming into contact with it and when it starts to blend with it, do not put up any resistance.”

He Ling closed her beautiful eyes and very soon, an approximately one inch wide green profound formation appeared where the Sky Poison light had been resting… At the same time, an identical green profound formation appeared on Yun Che’s palm. Both of the profound formations started to rotate at the same time, releasing a pure and flawless mossy-green light.

Shen Xi’s hand gesture changed again. A beam of profound light broke the skin of Yun Che’s finger, then carried away a drop of blood. The drop of blood was then sprinkled on the profound formation that had formed between He Ling’s brows before it instantly sank into her body.

The Sky Poison Pearl and Yun Che’s body had merged together as one. As a result, this was not only a ceremony to convert someone into a spirit, it was also a contract ceremony similar to the one he had formed with Hong’er.

But no matter whether it was a ceremony to convert someone into a spirit or a contract ceremony, the power to initiate everything did not lie in the hands of Yun Che nor did it lie in the hands of Shen Xi. Instead, everything was up to He Ling. During the entire process, if He Ling felt even one bit of regret or resistance, the ceremony would come to a halt.

Wanting to force someone to become a spirit was the same as trying to force a divine profound practitioner to accept a slave mark, it was a nearly-impossible feat to accomplish… it required the whole-hearted consent of the other party.

However, this was a moment that she had always been praying for, so why would she resist or reject it?

After the mossy-green profound formation that lay between her brows had revolved more than ten times, it suddenly released an incomparably dense green brilliance. Her entire body was bathed in this brilliant light, and her figure began to grow hollow before growing clearer… She saw a whole new world, a marvelous and strange dark-green dimension. She could sense that her soul and this dark-green world were gradually connecting, they were connecting tightly together like flesh and blood would…

Furthermore, this strange feeling did not just appear within He Ling. Yun Che had also started to feel He Ling’s aura gradually sinking into his own lifeforce… just like it had been with Hong’er all those years ago.

WAAH——

The brilliant light completely dissipated.

Within the silence, He Ling slowly opened her eyes. Yun Che and Shen Xi still stood in front of her and she was still surrounded by the world that she was familiar with. She was still the same as before, her figure and her clothes had not changed… But her aura and the way she sensed the world had become entirely different.

Besides her own wood spirit aura, an extremely weak but pure Sky Poison aura now flowed inside her body. Because the Sky Poison Pearl’s poison power had been in hibernation, right now, this thread of Sky Poison aura was composed of only purification energy.

Now that the ceremony had been completed, the current her was no longer just He Ling, she was also the Sky Poison Poison Spirit. It was also from this moment onward that the Sky Poison Pearl finally had a poison spirit once more and it was no longer in a vegetative state.

The Sky Poison Pearl that belonged to Yun Che had fused with his body and was unable to separate from him. That also meant that from today onwards, He Ling’s will, life, and freedom would all be under Yun Che’s control.

She knelt down and bent her body as she bowed to Yun Che, “Master.”

Yun Che hurriedly extended a hand and said, “There’s no need, no need for this. I already said, we are comrades.”

But He Ling stubbornly shook her head before turning to Shen Xi and bowing down again, “Master, Ling’er… will no longer be able to accompany you from now on. Your great mercy is something that Ling’er will never ever forget and if there is a next life, Ling’er is willing to be your servant for ten lives to repay you for everything.”

Shen Xi let go of Yun Che’s hand. He Ling had finally become the Sky Poison Poison Spirit in the end. This also resolved one of her worries and whether it was for Yun Che or He Ling, it was an extremely good outcome. Now that she had become the Sky Poison Poison Spirit, He Ling’s future would no longer be withered up and full of despair. Furthermore, now that he had He Ling, following the awakening of the Sky Poison Pearl’s poison power, Yun Che would be able to obtain a fearsome power that everyone would have no choice but to fear in the shortest amount of time.

“Ling’er, following him well would be the best form of repayment towards me,” Shen Xi said in a soft and gentle voice. “The current you has not lost your own existence, you have instead become an existence that exists on a higher plane. Vengeance is still important, but aside from that, I believe that the you who has received a new lease on life will discover many things that are more important than vengeance.”

“Yes, Ling’er will forever remember the words that Master has said,” He Ling said in a trembling voice while still addressing Shen Xi as “Master”.

“Yun Che,” Shen Xi said, “you have just entered the Divine King Realm, and not only is your profound energy unstable, you have also lost a large amount of yang energy. You are not to cultivate any more today. Go and take a good rest.”

“Eh… yes,” Yun Che replied in a rather sheepish voice.

“Ling’er, even though you have already become the Sky Poison Poison Spirit, you did not lose the abilities you have as a royal wood spirit. There exists a mysterious and fantastic world within the Sky Poison Pearl and the divine plants and spirit flowers in this place can also be grown inside the Sky Poison Pearl’s world. During the next few days, while you are getting used to your new life, also try to bring the divine plants and spirit flowers in this place into the Sky Poison Pearl’s world. So when you leave this place in the future, you can still help your new master refine jade pellets and spirit liquids every day.”

The spirit flowers and mysterious plants within the Forbidden Land of Samsara could only be grown in very pure environments and even though the Sky Poison Pearl’s strongest ability was its poison power, the Sky Poison dimension within it was also an extremely pure world… Because the most extreme poisons had always been some of the purest objects in the universe.

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After he had broken into the Divine King Realm, Yun Che was no longer in a rush to cultivate. Instead he spent every day stabilizing his new profound strength while he leisurely got rid of the originally extremely dreadful Brahma Soul Death-Wishing Mark. Very quickly, just like Shen Xi had said, the Brahma Soul Death-Wishing Mark had completely dissipated from Yun Che’s body in a short three days, and there was not a single trace of it left.

Furthermore, it had not even been a year since he had entered the Forbidden Land of Samsara.

Whether it was Xia Qingyue or Mu Xuanyin, the two people who knew about Yun Che getting afflicted by the Brahma Soul Death-Wishing Mark, neither of them would have thought that this dreadful curse would have completely vanished from Yun Che’s body at this time.

But Yun Che’s heart had become far more peaceful than it had been since the time he had entered the Forbidden Land of Samsara. At the very least, he appeared to be completely at ease and he did not feel any discontentment, bewilderment, or even his extreme hatred for Qianye Ying’er.

Even after he had gotten rid of the Brahma Soul Death-Wishing Mark, he had not mentioned that he had wanted to leave this place to Shen Xi. He had finally escaped his nightmare and become a Divine King. He also had gained a Sky Poison Poison Spirit and a new hope, and he had also just made a pledge to He Ling… So if he wanted to leave here in a rash moment of impulsiveness, he might very possibly be buried in a new hell all over again.

After all, even though he had become a Divine King, in front of people like Qianye, he was still a small and pathetic ant. Furthermore, since she had already shown him her fangs, she definitely would not let him go after this.

“Jasmine…” Yun Che leaned against the trunk of a spirit tree, his thoughts spinning. As he softly whispered that name, his finger lightly traced the ring he wore on his middle finger, as if he wanted to use this to communicate his thoughts and current situation to her, to let her know that she did not need to worry about him.

This was the marriage keepsake that Jasmine had forced Caizhi to give him.

While he was lost in thought, he did not notice that after his finger had touched it, the ring had suddenly begun to shine with a very faint azure light.