Against the Gods

Feng Xian’er’s long and slender arm was wrapped around Yun Che’s waist as she floated into the air while carrying him. They avoided all the eyes of her clansmen as they flew toward the Phoenix’s trial grounds.

Yun Che’s weight was nearly completely pressed against Feng Xian’er. A mountain wind blew over. It was not very strong, yet it caused Yun Che to feel a stifling sensation that was difficult to endure. Feng Xian’er immediately sensed it and she hurriedly slowed down her already very slow flying speed.

To think that I would actually… grow this weak… Yun Che muttered bitterly in his heart.

However, this was definitely only temporary.

The Phoenix clan only had around two hundred people and their two strongest cultivators were Feng Zu’er and Feng Xian’er. So no one noticed when she quietly brought Yun Che to the place where the Phoenix God resided.

Feng Xian’er descended from the top of a very high mountain wall with Yun Che and in front of them stood the sealing formation in Yun Che’s memory.

“Big Brother Benefactor, we’re here.”

Feng Xian’er extended a finger and touched the sealing formation. A small point of scarlet flame flashed by and the sealing formation immediately vanished. A scarlet-black space that seemed endless then appeared in front of them.

Feng Xian’er supported Yun Che as she brought him forward. Once they had taken a single step inside, the world around them immediately changed and all light vanished as their world plunged into darkness.

Feng Xian’er knelt down and spoke in a pious and devout voice, “Phoenix descendant Feng Xian’er begs for an audience with Lord Phoenix God.”

Just as her voice fell, two long and narrow scarlet lights suddenly appeared in this pitch-black world. Following that, those two long and narrow scarlet lights slowly began to open, forming into a pair of phoenix eyes which seemed set into this world.

When Yun Che had come to this place all those years ago, the pair of phoenix eyes he had seen were a dazzling and sacred golden color.

But at this moment, those eyes were scarlet… and an obvious dimness had appeared in them.

“Yun Che, it’s been a long time since we last met.”

The voice that came from the Phoenix Spirit was still as intimidating and imposing as it was before, yet distinctively different from the voice in Yun Che’s memories… It clearly seemed to have grown weaker and older. But this was not what Yun Che was concerned with. He stared straight at those scarlet phoenix eyes, “Ah yes, it has been a very long time.”

“Xian’er, withdraw from this place first.”

“Yes,” Feng Xian’er replied. She released a thread of warm profound energy and focused it into a cluster of flowing energy that did not dissipate for a very long time. She softly wrapped it around Yun Che’s body before she left, worry and anxiety plaguing her mind.

“Yun Che.” After Feng Xian’er left, the tone with which the Phoenix Spirit spoke with had also noticeably changed, “Before the Phoenix Spirit in the Flame God Realm’s God Burying Inferno Prison dissipated, it sent all of its soul memories to this noble one. Contained within was a lot of news related to you.”

“I found out that you had obtained a Phoenix inheritance even further advanced than the one you had previously received and that you had cultivated the complete World Ode of the Phoenix. This noble one was extremely gratified by that news… But who would have thought that barely more than a year later, your fate would actually change in such a tragic way,” the Phoenix Spirit said with a sigh. “Perhaps, this is the jealousy of the heavens.”

As soul fragments left behind by the Phoenix, the divine spirits could transmit their memories to each other. This was something Yun Che had long been aware of, so he was not the least bit surprised to hear this. He regulated his unbearably weak aura before asking, “Phoenix Spirit, the Phoenix Clan elder and the rest told me that it was you who sent me to this place. What happened? Why… did I not die? And I even appeared in this place? I was clearly…”

Within his own memories, his body had died and his soul had been destroyed. He had well and truly been dead.

“No,” The Phoenix Spirit replied in a gentle voice, “Your memories and cognition of what had transpired are correct, you had already died… Even though this noble one is unaware of how you died.”

“...?” Yun Che was stunned by those words.

“The current you is the you who has been resurrected from death.”

“Resurrected… from death?” The words uttered by the Phoenix Spirit caused Yun Che to be even more confused.

Without a shadow of a doubt, if anyone had heard those words, they would have been struck dumb as well. If one died, one died. The so-called notion of resurrection from death had always been something that had belonged solely in dreams and fantasy. It was a divine miracle that was impossible to realize. Even if they had been the gods and devils who had been destroyed during the Era of Gods, none of them had the ability to resurrect. So if they had not been able to, how could the mortal creatures of the present era accomplish such a feat?

But if there was truly something like resurrection from death in this world, then perhaps it had only ever happened to Yun Che.

“Could it be… the Mirror of Samsara yet again?” he muttered in a dazed voice.

When he had still been in Floating Cloud’s Xiao Family, he had been poisoned to death by Xiao Yulong on the day he was supposed to marry Xia Qingyue, but he had been reborn in the Azure Cloud Continent because of the Mirror of Samsara. After that, he had committed suicide in the Azure Cloud Continent by jumping off Cloud’s End Cliff, but once again, he had been returned to this current life by the power of the Mirror of Samsara.

“No,” the Phoenix Spirit shut down his assumption, “even though this noble one does not know why the Mirror of Samsara would activate its power of reincarnation on you, every time the Mirror of Samsara’s powers activate, it will hibernate for the next twenty years.”

“...” The Mirror of Samsara would enter into hibernation for twenty years every time its power activated. Jasmine had also clearly told him such a thing before.

The Phoenix Spirit had read Yun Che’s memories before, so it naturally knew about the existence of the Mirror of Samsara in his possession, “However, it has only been thirteen years since the last time it allowed you to pass through the cycle of reincarnation. Furthermore, the power of the Mirror of Samsara allows one to ‘pass through Samsara’, it is not the power of resurrection.”

“Then how did it happen?” Yun Che was even more mystified now.

“Do you still remember what had happened after you finished inheriting the Phoenix divine power all those years ago? Do you remember that before this noble one sent you out of this place, I told you that I had given you a unique gift?”

“I… remember,” Yun Che nodded his head. He could indeed recall this with extreme clarity because it had been steeped in a thick aura of mystery. Thus, even though Yun Che had never found out what this “unique gift” was, he had never once forgotten about it.

…………

“Your time in this trial ground is reaching its end, and it’s time for me to send you out. However, before I do so, I should perhaps give you a special present.”

After the Phoenix Spirit’s voice had fallen all those years ago, a beam of golden firelight had shot out from the Phoenix God’s pupils before alighting on his forehead. He clearly remembered that the scarlet phoenix imprint on his forehead turned a dazzling gold after the beam of light had touched him, it had looked like a cluster of burning golden flames.

“This is a special power that I can only use once in my lifetime, but I never thought the day where I used it would actually come. However, as the one who carries the power of the Evil God, your future is destined to be extraordinary, and bestowing this power upon you is more than suitable. As to what kind of power this is, when the time of you using it comes, you will naturally know.”

…………

However, not only did the Phoenix Spirit not make clear what this unique and mysterious gift was, Jasmine, who also clearly knew what it was, had never been willing to tell him the answer. Furthermore, upon obtaining the Dragon God’s legacy, the Primordial Azure Dragon had also mentioned it. In the Illusory Demon Realm’s Golden Crow Lightning Flame Valley, the Golden Crow Spirit had also emphasized this point and due to its competitive nature, it had also given him a great gift as well.

The Phoenix Spirit, Jasmine, the Primordial Azure Dragon, the Golden Crow Spirit… All of them had known what this “present” was but in an act of incomparable unity, none of them had been willing to tell him. Instead everyone said something along the same lines, “If you ever have occasion to use it, you will naturally find out what it is.”

However, Jasmine had once said something which had held a very deep implication, “You had better pray that you never ever have to use it.”

“Phoe… nix… Nirv… ana!”

Within the dark space, the Phoenix Spirit’s scarlet eyes faintly flickered as it bestowed the answer upon Yun Che.

Those two words caused Yun Che’s eyes to fiercely jerk upwards as those words escaped his mouth, “Phoenix Nirvana!?”

These were two words that Yun Che was completely familiar with, or perhaps it would be better to say that they were two words that everyone under heaven would be familiar with.

No matter whether it was the lower realms or the God Realm, every place had their own distant myths and legends about the ancient gods or divine beasts. Some of these stories were based on reality but others were complete fabrications, and the vast majority of these stories belonged to the latter. After all, the age of the True Gods had ended long ago and real records that had been left behind were exceedingly rare. This was especially true in the lower realms as these sort of stories and legends were basically fabrications.

However, one legend concerning the Phoenix mentioned that it could be reborn in fire after it had died and this kind of divine miracle was known as the Phoenix Nirvana.

This was a legend that Yun Che had already heard when he was a kid in this life.

After that, on the day that Jasmine left, he had fallen victim to Heavenly Poison Star God Moonflower’s secret attack and he was bound to die due to the power of the Heavenly Poison. However, he had miraculously survived… and what had saved him had been Feng Xue’er’s Flames of Nirvana.

It was also at that time that he, someone who had possessed the Phoenix divine powers for many years, discovered that there was a flame known as the “Flames of Nirvana” among the Phoenix divine flames. Furthermore, it was a flame that could only be ignited once in a person’s life.

However, at that time, his understanding of the “Flames of Nirvana” was that it was merely a flame that possessed extremely strong cleansing powers. Feng Xue’er’s profound strength had not reached the divine way at that time, yet she was able to use these “Flames of Nirvana” that she could only ignite once in her life to cleanse his body of the Heavenly Poison’s divine power. One could very well imagine just how strong its power of cleansing was from that.

But he had never imagined...

“Could it be that the legend of the Phoenix Nirvana rebirth… was actually true?” Yun Che’s expression was filled with disbelief, this whole thing felt extremely unreal, so unreal that it felt as if he had been dropped into some legendary realm of myth and illusion.

But, he was still alive… He was still alive despite being torn apart and crushed, so this was the best testament to the fact that all of this was real.

“In the Ancient Era, the Evil God had done a great favor for the Phoenix clan before. Moreover, your body had inherited and contained the only Evil God legacy in this universe. The you at that time was still far too weak, so this noble one was afraid that you would die, thus severing the legacy of the Evil God’s power forever. This noble one could only bestow a cluster of Nirvanic divine flames upon you. This would allow you to be reborn in fire after you had met with calamity.”

Yun Che, “...”

“The reason why I did not tell you was because I was worried that once you had discovered this, you would subconsciously lose a degree of fear and reverence towards death.” The Phoenix Spirit sighed, “Once I had been informed of your accomplishments in the God Realm, this noble one prayed that there would never be a moment where you had to ignite these Flames of Nirvana. Yet I never imagined that this day would still come in the end, and it came so quickly at that.”

“The root of your Nirvanic divine flames originated from this place, so when you ignited the Flames of Nirvana, you were reborn here.”

“...” Yun Che remained silent for a very long time. He needed an adequate amount of time to process and accept this incomparably fantastical sequence of events.

The Flames of Nirvana that would allow a phoenix to be reborn in flames, a legendary myth that he had previously thought was mere fabrication, had actually been true!

Thirteen years ago, when the sixteen year old him had obtained the Phoenix divine power in this place, he had actually also obtained the most precious Flames of Nirvana from the Phoenix Spirit because he borne the Evil God’s powers.

This also meant that from that time onward, he already had a second life.

When his body had been torn apart and smashed to bits in the Star God Realm, he had indeed died at that time. But the instant he died, it ignited the Flames of Nirvana in his body, a power that he had not known existed in his body, and after that he was reborn in this place.

Furthermore, what had saved him from Moonflower’s Heavenly Poison divine power had not only been Feng Xue’er’s Flames of Nirvana, it had also been her second life!

“It’s just that…” The Phoenix Spirit’s voice sank at this moment. Even though the truth would be incomparably cruel to Yun Che, it was something it had to make clear in the end and it was also a reality that Yun Che would have to accept. “This noble one is merely a soul fragment left behind by the Phoenix and not the true Phoenix itself. The ‘Flames of Nirvana’ this noble one bestowed upon you cannot even begin to be compared with the ‘Flames of Nirvana’ produced by the Phoenix True God. In fact, it is not even worthy of being called the ‘Flames of Nirvana.”

“The true Flames of Nirvana will not only cause the Phoenix to be reborn in fire, but also cause its divine power to be even greater than before. However the Flames of Nirvana that ignited after you died indeed caused your resurrection, but the only thing it resurrected was your life.”

“...” Yun Che struggled with all his might, but his head lifted with an incomparable slowness, “What do… you mean?”

“You should have sensed this already.” The Phoenix Spirit spoke in an incomparably frank and honest voice, “Your current body is no longer the divine body that has been refined and tempered by divine blood and divine power, it is merely the body of a mortal, a body that could not be any weaker.”

“You are also unable to use any profound energy. Your spiritual senses and your soul have all returned to that of an ordinary man’s. You could even say… that you have been weakened into an ordinary man.”

Even though it was facing Yun Che’s gradually contracting pupils, the Phoenix Spirit’s cruel words did not halt. “In other words, the only thing that has been reborn under the Flames of Nirvana is your life. As for your divine power, divine body, divine soul, and divine senses…. All of those are already dead.”