Against the Gods

As the sound on the wind flew into the distance, Yun Che stood there in a daze and the world seemed to spin and whirl before his very eyes.

“Big Brother Benefactor, what’s wrong?” Feng Xian’er hurriedly stopped in her tracks as well.

Yun Che stared at the empty air in front of him. His eyes were dazed and disoriented, as if all the blood in his body had completely stopped flowing, going limp and numb. He dazedly stammered out a few words, “Just now, did you... hear... a voice?”

“A voice? No I didn't,” Feng Xian’er shook her head. Besides the soft whistling of the blowing wind, she had not heard any other sound.

Yun Che’s current hearing ability was more than several levels worse than Feng Xian’er’s right now. If even Feng Xian’er had not heard that voice, then it could only be an auditory hallucination.

But Yun Che shook his head, he shook his head so hard that he was practically trembling. He turned around but the weakness that overtook his body made him sink to his knees in the next instant...

“Ah! You… What happened to you?” Feng Xian’er hurriedly helped him to his feet, but she was completely bewildered by his actions as well.

“No… It’s her voice… It’s her voice…” Yun Che’s vision gradually grew more and more blurry as blood chaotically surged and tossed throughout his entire body. Even though it had been more than a decade since they had been “separated forever by the heavens”, her fairy-like figure and voice would always be deeply engraved into the deepest part of his heart and soul, a place that could never be touched, a place which contained his deepest pain and his guilt.

His memories of her would not dim even until the day he died.

“Bring me over there… Bring me over there!” Yun Che stretched out a clawed hand in the direction of the bamboo hut, yet the weakness and trembling that had overtaken his entire body made it so that he could hardly stand.

“Ah… alright. Let’s… Let’s go over there… We’re going over there right now!”

Feng Xian’er could feel the trembling of Yun Che’s body with an incomparable clarity. An abnormal shade of scarlet now stained his skin and his expression looked so disoriented and messy that it seemed as if his very soul had been punctured… She was completely frightened by this and she panickedly nodded her head in assent. She could not longer be bothered about warning Yun Che about the dangers of the bamboo grove as she once again carried him towards that place.

At the same time, she circulated profound energy and used it to protect Yun Che’s body in her most careful and meticulous manner.

They flew toward the bamboo grove, and as their approaching auras neared the boundary of the forest, they caused the strangely vigilant Yun Wuxin to emerge from the forest with a “swoosh”. Upon seeing the two people she had just frightened into leaving return, the expression on her small face turned extremely ferocious as she shouted in a voice much louder than before, “Hey! Why did you two come back!? Leave immediately, if not…”

She stretched her hand out, “If you really don’t leave, then I’m really going to send the two of you flying this time.

Yun Che’s gaze swivelled wildly as if it wanted to pierce through the layers of bamboo. At this time, a dreamy voice softly rang out from the depths of the bamboo grove, “Xin’er, who are you talking to?”

ZZZZZNN————

That fairy-like voice was carried on the wind, as light and diaphanous as mist. In that instant, Yun Che felt as though his soul had exploded all at once. The world in front of him turned pale white and all the blood in his body crazily rushed to his head… He stood there stockstill. He had completely stopped breathing, unable to even feel his own heartbeat. In fact, he could not even feel the existence of his entire body, as if he had suddenly been plunged into an unreal and fantastical dream...

“Ah!” Feng Xian’er supported him once more. She felt Yun Che’s body completely leaning on her own. His body was trembling and his eyes had lost their light… it was like he had suddenly lost his entire soul.

“Little… Fairy…” He muttered as if he was sleep talking before he went out of control and tried to lunge forward, “Little Fairy… Is it you… Is it you… Little Fairy!!”

The form of address that only he used, the fairy-like figure that he thought he would never be able to see again, the fairy-like figure that was the only thing that could cause him to feel a lifetime of guilt...

Yun Che’s far too intense reaction and his out-of-control wailing had not only frightened Feng Xian’er, it had also frightened Yun Wuxing. Her eyes widened and her expression grew several degrees more anxious, “What… What’s wrong with him? It… it has nothing to do with me, right?”

“...” Feng Xian’er dazedly stared at Yun Che. She was not able to answer that question either.

The bamboo grove slightly parted and a figure slowly emerged from the midst of the bamboo grove. Her footsteps were very light and gentle. It was as if she was stepping on clouds or as if she was walking in a dream, and she still wore those white robes that she loved the most, robes that looked as pure as driven snow, as flawless as pearly jade. Her aura and disposition were still like they were in the past, her presence seemed to be misty and light, as if she had transcended this mundane world, as if she was a celestial being or a dream, as if she was a bundle of fireworks that had never been stained by the mortal realm.

It was just that she had grown a lot thinner and frailer compared to before and it looked as if she could barely endure the cold wind that blew through the bamboo grove. Just like Yun Che, there was not a single trace of the aura of the profound way emanating from her body. But compared to Yun Che’s swiftly aging looks, which were due to the gloom and depression that shrouded his heart and soul, it seemed as if the heavens favored her. Even if all of her profound strength was gone, time and a hard life had not left any marks on her face. She simply stood there quietly, yet all of the brilliant luster between heaven and earth was drawn to her.

Chu Yuechan.

She looked at Yun Che, Yun Che looked at her and the instant that their gazes met, it seemed as if the world had suddenly frozen in place. There was no color, no sound… There was only the reflected image of each other in their eyes, an image that was even more illusory than a dream.

“Mother!?” Yun Wuxin softly cried out. Her small and delicate body turned and she arrived at her side as a layer of warm and gentle profound energy urgently covered her body. She was only afraid that she would be injured by the cold wind, “The wind is very cold today, you can’t come out.”

“...” She did not respond to her daughter’s anxious words. She simply stared at Yun Che in a stupor, all the light in her beautiful eyes turning into a misty haziness. Words spilled out from her lips in such a soft murmur that it seemed like she was talking in her sleep, “Is… it… you…”

“...” Yun Che nodded his head but he had no strength to nod it any more vigorously. He wanted to step forward but his body simply refused to listen to any of his instructions. He opened his mouth again and again, and it took a very long time before he spoke in a voice that trembled so much that even he could not hear himself clearly, “Yes… I… It is I…”

“...” Chu Yuechan’s body lightly swayed in the wind and not another sound proceeded from her parted lips. The vicissitudes of life had left their mark on the looks of the man in front of her. Loss and despondency were writ large on his face, and those previously bright eyes had now also turned muddy and turbid, but… from the very first instant, she had known that it was him.

The man that had messed up the strings of her heart, had melted all her emotional defenses. The man who had cruelly left her forever after completely seizing body, heart, and soul...

Yet another gust of wind blew against her, causing her to slowly collapse in a daze...

“Ah! Mother… what’s wrong with you? D-don’t scare me,” Yun Wuxin hurriedly supported her. She looked at her mother first, then at Yun Che, her heart filled with bewilderment and panic.

“..." This gust of cold wind had finally started to rouse Yun Che from his reverie. He stretched out his hand as he slowly walked forward. It was just that he could not feel his own footsteps and it felt as if his body was being propped up by invisible clouds. Bit by bit, he approached the figure that he thought would only ever appear again in his dreams.

“...” Yun Wuxin did not move to block him… Even she did not know why she did not do anything. Even when Yun Che stood right in front of her mother, she still stood there absent-mindedly as she was left at a complete loss.

Chu Yuechan slowly extended a hand and she touched Yun Che’s face. The rough and coarse feeling of his skin was more real than anything else in the world, “You’re… still… alive…”

“I’m… still alive…” Yun Che nodded and every word seemed as faint and indistinct as a light mist, “You’re also… still… alive…”

The two people stood facing each other. He had thought he would never see her again and he would only be left with a lifetime of pain every time he thought of her. She had thought that she would never see him again, and that she would only be left with a lifetime of regret every time she thought of him… Destiny which always played cruel jokes on people could also be compassionate every once in a while. It was just that this act of compassion had come nearly twelve years late.

He held Chu Yuechan’s hand, that gentle sensation spreading from his palm to every corner of his heart and soul, telling him that all of this was not a dream. He was once again holding Little Fairy’s hand… and he never wanted to let it go again.

The amount of wild joy one would experience when finding something again corresponded directly to the amount of heartrending pain they experienced when losing that same thing. They had been “forever separated by heaven” for nearly twelve years and the thousand expressions and ten thousand words they wanted to say to each other all returned to silence. The face and figure of the person opposite them were sometimes clear and distinct and sometimes blurry, and the whole world seemed to be continuously revolving between reality and fantasy.

“Mother, what’s going on with you? Have you… fallen ill?” Yun Wuxin asked timidly as she looked at the interlocking hands of Yun Che and her mother, her small hands lightly grasping the corners of her clothes.

Her voice caused Yun Che to involuntarily swivel. He looked toward Yun Wuxin and in that moment, he was unable to divert his gaze. His already unbearably disordered heart and soul started to shake with even more intensity...

Her surname was Yun...

Eleven years of age...

Could it be… that she… that she was...

Chu Yuechan stretched out her other hand, grasping the girl’s small, tender, and delicate hand as she softly said, “Xin’er, he’s your daddy.”

“...” Yun Che’s body violently swayed and his vision had gone completely blurry once more.

Behind him, Feng Xian’er held both hands to her lips. Her beautiful eyes were opened wide and she had been shocked silly.

“...” Upon looking at her mother and then looking at Yun Che, Yun Wuxin’s lips slightly parted as she said timidly, “But, isn’t Daddy… supposed to be already… already gone from this world?”

Chu Yuechan shook her head, and the glimmering tears in the corners of her eyes were more flawless and sadly beautiful than the most resplendent starlight in the universe. “Mother tricked you. Not only is your daddy alive… he even managed to find us… Xin’er, from now onwards, you have a father… Are you happy?”

“...Dad…Daddy?” Yun Wuxin’s lips remained parted as she stared at Yun Che dumbly, her eyes so hazy that it seemed as if they were covered by a layer of undispellable watery mist.

“Wuxin… my daughter…” As he gazed upon this girl who was right in front of him, this girl who was connected to him by blood, the chaos and disorder in Yun Che’s heart had reached its limit. He stretched out a trembling hand to touch Yun Wuxin… His daughter, the continuation of his life...

Yun Wuxin did not dodge, but his hand stopped in midair before it was timidly retracted. He did not dare touch her, as if he was afraid that his rough and dirty fingers would sully her flawless and tender face. He was afraid that she would not be willing to accept the most useless father in this world. And he was even more afraid that all of this would suddenly shatter and pop like a bubble...

“Are.. you really my daddy?” A girlish voice rang in his ears. She was looking at him very seriously and he had never seen such a beautiful pair of eyes in his life. They surpassed all of the beautiful scenery he had seen in his life, surpassed all of the stars in the sky.

He nodded his head but he was too ashamed to admit it. This mother and daughter had been alone for twelve years… He had not witnessed her birth, had not accompanied her as she grew up. He had never done anything for her as her father, not for even a day, a moment, or even a single breath… So how could he be worthy of admitting that fact?

“Then…” the little girl said in a tremulous and insecure voice, “I was so fierce to Daddy just now, so will Daddy spank my butt because of that?”

Those soft words caused Yun Che to feel as if countless threads of warm air had exploded in every corner of his body and soul. His world had turned completely blurry and his body leaned forward while trembling as he hugged his own daughter. As he tightly hugged her, his tears instantly burst forth like water from a burst dam, drowning out all sound and thought, and in an instant, the little girl’s frail and weak looking shoulder had become completely drenched.

“Daddy… is actually a crybaby,” Yun Wuxin softly muttered to herself as she lay cradled in her father’s embrace and before she knew it, sparkling and translucent tears had also started soundless flowing down on her face.

She did not know just how precious her father’s tears truly were, because even when he was enduring the pain of his soul leaving his body, even when he struggled between the boundaries of life and death, he had never once shed a single tear.

But at this moment, his tears were crazily flooding out like water from a burst dam.

“Ssss… cough… cough…” He fiercely gritted his teeth as he desperately tried to stop his tears from flooding out, but he was simply unable to stop crying. In fact, he was not even able to say a complete sentence… a single word...

My Yuechan…

My daughter...

Our daughter...

He had been spending every single day in a depressing gloom ever since his revival, and he had asked himself time and again why he was still alive. He had even begun to hate and resent the fact that he was alive every now and then.

But at this moment, he felt incredibly fortunate and grateful to still be alive...

It was truly good to be alive...

Ah, yes. In this world, there’s nothing better than being alive...