Against the Gods

After he thought about it for a considerable amount of time, Yun Che’s brows had already unwittingly sunk to their lowest point… It seemed as if he had thought of something.

It was highly possible that the devilish energy leaking out of the Cloud’s End Abyss was not responsible for the profound beast disturbances. Rather, like the profound beast rampages, it had occurred due to that “same unknown reason”.

After he released his divine senses and confirmed that there were no living creatures in the surrounding region, he stretched out both of his hands, releasing the darkness profound energy within his profound veins and the devil origin orb simultaneously. His eyes immediately turned pitch-black and they began flickering with an extremely bizarre black light within this completely lightless and pitch-black abyss.

His entire body was also surrounded by a layer of dense black energy.

Darkness profound energy would amplify one’s negative emotions and it would even warp one’s heart and soul. Yun Che was well aware of this fact. However, he had complete mastery over darkness profound energy, so this sort of influence could also be contained by him. His brows knitted together tightly as the darkness profound energy he released with all the strength he could muster flowed down, toward the barrier of darkness below him.

This barrier had been forged from pure darkness energy and only darkness profound energy could repair it. If not, Jasmine would have already repaired it back then. The Yun Che at that time was not able to accomplish it, but now that he had attained the power of a Divine King, he could just about barely get it done.

Yun Che quietly and calmly focused as the darkness profound energy quickly melted into the barrier of darkness, firming and sealing up the places where it had loosened...

Darkness profound energy. He had only been in the God Realm for four short years but he was well aware of how just how taboo darkness profound energy was to the Eastern, Western, and Southern Divine Regions. He remembered every single detail of the reaction of the entire audience to Wei Hen’s erupting darkness profound energy during the Conferred God Battle.

It was not the least bit exaggerated to claim that the “devils" who possessed darkness profound energy were considered heretics that must be slaughtered to the last man by the three divine regions. Heretics who angered both god and man and could not be tolerated on heaven or earth.

Thus, during his four years in the God Realm, even though he had experienced many life and death situations, he had never once dared to use his darkness profound energy.

Even when he had forcefully opened Far Shore Asura at the end in the Star God Realm, thrusting himself into a situation where he was sure to die, he had not used any darkness profound energy at all. This was because he was afraid that after he became a devil person in the eyes of the world, he would be rejected and spurned by Shen Xi, by Mu Xuanyin… by all of the people who truly had care and concern for him. He was even more afraid that he would implicate the Snow Song Realm after his death.

But never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that the current him, the him who was enveloped in black light and releasing his darkness profound energy to its very limit, was clearly and fully seen by a single person.

At Mu Xuanyin’s level, darkness would no longer prove an impediment to one’s eyesight. Furthermore, at this very moment, she was extremely close to Yun Che. She was not even three hundred meters away from him, so she could see every single expression he made, every single change that occured in those expressions, very clearly.

Let alone his darkness profound energy, a darkness that was even deeper than the deep night before the dawn.

Mu Xuanyin’s pupils were contracting and they continued to contract for a very long time. That pair of icy eyes was completely filled by the black light that Yun Che’s body was radiating… She knew what this was, because she had killed many devils in her life and it was not the first time she had come into contact with darkness profound energy...

Yet she had never seen darkness energy that was this pure before.

Mu Xuanyin did not move for a long time and her entire person, from her gaze to her very aura, seemed to have been completely frozen in place. The world was dreadfully silent and the passing of every breath became interminably long.

Yun Che continued to release darkness profound energy with all of his might as tiny beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead. At this moment, he suddenly thought of something: It was extremely likely that when those four people who had come from the God Realm were passing by the Blue Pole Star, they just so happened to be near to where the Azure Cloud Continent was and it was only because they sensed the devilish energy leaking from Cloud’s End Abyss that they decided to descend to the Blue Pole Star.

But… why did they even come to the lower realms in the first place? Compared to the aura of the God Realm, the aura of the lower realms was not only thin but murky as well. If one stayed there for too long, it was even possible that one’s vitality and profound aura would be polluted in some way. This not only provided no benefits whatsoever to one’s cultivation, it even shortened one’s lifespan.

Even those profound practitioners who had “ascended” to the God Realm from the lower realms would rarely be willing to return to the lower realms. So why did those four people come to this place? It could not possibly for training, right?

One hour passed by...

Two hours passed by...

The black light radiating from Yun Che’s body finally started to dim before it faded away completely. He opened his eyes and stretched out a hand to wipe away the sweat on his brow before he gave a long sigh of relief.

This was a barrier that was left behind from the Era of the Gods. Even if he possessed the power of a Divine King, he could still only the make the smallest of repairs and it was absolutely impossible for him to restore the barrier completely.

Naturally, this sort of shallow repair would not last for too long. If he did not want the devilish energy to leak out, he had to come here every once in a while to repair it again.

At this moment, his movements suddenly grew sluggish and his head jerked up to stare at the space above him.

He was near the bottom of Cloud’s End Abyss, so no matter where he looked, there was only complete darkness. Yun Che could not detect any objects or auras, he could only detect darkness.

Yun Che withdrew his gaze before giving a self-deprecating laugh.

However, he did not leave after sealing away the leaking dark devil energy. Instead, he continued to descend once more, his body directly passing through the barrier as he sank straight toward the dark world below him.

In the air above Cloud’s End Cliff, Mu Xuanyin’s celestial figure slowly materialized. She still wore those blue robes, her appearance as icily beautiful and unstained as always.

She closed her eyes, her towering chest heaving with an incomparable intensity and it did not stop heaving for a very long time...

It was a full seven and half minutes later before she could finally open her icy eyes and glance at the pitch-black abyss below her. After that, she withdrew her gaze, turned around and left.

It was just that the aura radiating from her body had become incomparably disordered.

Before she left, her gaze even swept across the red-colored star in the eastern sky.

A year ago, she had only been able to see this red star from the Blue Pole Star.

But from half a year ago, some of the star realms in the Eastern Divine Region could also clearly see it.

And now, this “star” which radiated scarlet light was stamped in the eastern part of the Snow Song Realm.

…………

After he passed through the barrier of darkness, a huge tearing force assaulted him from below. However to the current Yun Che, even if he did not possess any darkness profound energy, this tearing force was no longer irresistible. He lightly floated downwards before his feet firmly pressed against the black icy-cold ground.

“AOOOOUUU!!”

Just as he set foot in this world, a deep and muffled roar suddenly rang out far in front of him.

When Yun Che had first come to this place all those years ago, he had been shaken so fiercely by those far-away roars that he had vomited blood. But it was only today that he truly understood just how dreadful those dark auras were… because those extremely distant roars made even the current Yun Che felt as if his chest was being fiercely smashed by a hammer, caused his internal organs to churn.

This also meant that even given his current level of power, the gigantic darkness beasts which prowled in this place could still threaten his life.

He did not have any doubts that if any single one of these gigantic darkness beasts in this place were to be let out, it could easily destroy the entire Blue Pole Star.

To think that such a dreadful world of darkness was actually hidden in this lower realm which possessed an incomparably inferior level of strength… what kind of secret was hidden within this place!?

“ROARR!!”

“HSSSS!!!”

The roaring sounds emanating from the gigantic darkness beasts kept incessantly ringing out in the distance. Yun Che surveyed his surroundings before raising a hand and he very quickly sensed that something was different.

The darkness aura in the place had clearly become far more active since the last time he had been here.

Furthermore, the roars of the gigantic darkness beasts ringing in his ears seemed to be even more agitated than they had been previously.

“The darkness aura in this place has more than doubled in activity,” Yun Che muttered to himself in a low voice, “No wonder…”

No wonder such a serious leakage of devilish energy had occurred.

As he regulated his breathing and his aura, Yun Che chose not to ponder the question further. He stood up and relied on his still clear memories as he flew in one particular direction.

In this world of darkness, even divine profound practitioners would very easily mix up their directions, but Yun Che, who possessed darkness profound energy, was clearly not one of them. He did not dare to release an aura that was too strong, so as to avoid startling one of the gigantic darkness beasts whose locations he was unaware of. As a result, he was not flying at a very fast speed but his flight did not deviate from its course.

As he pierced through the darkness, he quickly reached an incomparably quiet region of darkness. No gigantic darkness beasts lingered here and they did not dare to approach this place. Even sound seemed to be isolated from this place and Yun Che could no longer hear any of the roars made by the gigantic darkness beasts.

Gradually, as Yun Che’s speed slowed, a strangely brilliant purple light appeared in this world of darkness.

This was a gigantic purple sea of flowers and countless stalks of bizarre flowers swayed amidst the purple light. Demonic flowers proudly bloomed atop stems of deep purple and every single flower petal seemed to be made of lustrous and shiny purple jade. Each petal released a bright purple light and released a dull purple mist that seemed to come from the underworld itself.

The Netherworld Udumbara Flower.

In this world of darkness that could devour everything, the light that they exuded was not buried by the darkness in the slightest.

In the past, these Netherworld Udumbara Flowers could easily steal away Yun Che’s soul. But right now, he could only feel a slight tugging and pulling sensation on his soul and there was no longer any discomfort. He drew near to the sea of flowers and he finally managed to spy a small figure within it.

She was just as small and delicate as Hong’er and her feet did not touch the ground. She quietly floated amidst the lustrous sea of purple flowers and her long silver hair, hair which was as lustrous and brilliant as an entire galaxy of stars, surrounded her delicate body. Her long hair hung low, a long portion of it dragging against the icy-cold ground. A layer of lustrous white light covered a body and it seemed as if she wore no clothes beneath that layer of light. Her pair of small and slender snow-white legs were not covered by this white light and they were completely exposed, her tender legs hanging below her body like a pair of ice lotuses, each of her snow white toes glistening as though they were carved from jade.

There was also her eyes, that pair of eyes which were the most strange and bewitching eyes Yun Che had ever seen in both of his lives.

The top half of her right eye was pale yellow in color while the bottom half gradually turned a dark shade of green.

The top half of her left eye was a pale blue color while the bottom half gradually became deep purple.

Four different colors radiated from those eyes.

When Yun Che spotted her, he discovered that she was staring straight at him. After that, she left the sea of Netherworld Udumbara Flowers, her bright silver hair dragging against the ground. She soundlessly took to the air and arrived in front of Yun Che. She was very close to him and she looked up at him with those strange and bewitching four-colored eyes.

The light radiating from her eyes was exceptionally beautiful, it was just that those eyes had never displayed the color of any emotion before. However, Yun Che could faintly sense happiness from those eyes.

As he stood right next to her face, a face that that looked exactly like Hong’er’s, Yun Che felt his heart and soul deeply stir. A faint smile appeared on his face and he spoke in a very soft and gentle voice, “We meet yet again. The last time we parted, I said that I’d come to see you often, and I never thought that such a long time would pass before I could see you again.

The strange and bewitching girl’s lips parted softly before closing yet again… It was as if she wanted to try to say something, yet she could not make a single sound. Only those strange eyes remained fixed on him, they did not blink even once.

The last time, Yun Che ultimately could not figure out what was hidden in the depths of her colorful eyes and he still was not able to this time around. But he was very convinced about one thing and it was that this girl felt a very strange sort of intimacy towards him.

What was even more strange was that he always felt at ease when he was around this girl. Even though she only possessed a spirit body and was shrouded by countless enigmas and mysteries, he did not feel any caution or wariness towards her.

“Before I knew it, six years have already passed,” Yun Che said in a gentle voice. “I’ve only come to see you after these six years have passed. Are you angry with me because of that?”

The young girl gave a very gentle shake of her head.

Yun Che gave a faint smile and looked her in the eye, “Six years ago, you gave me the Darkness Seed, thus giving me the power to beat Xuanyuan Wentian. You not only saved me, you also saved this world. You are my, Yun Che’s, greatest benefactor.

“That’s right. The Netherworld Udumbara Flower you gave me back then, I’ve already given it to her.” Once he said that, the light in his eyes dimmed and the smile that curved his lips grew bitter, “It’s just that… I’ll never be able to see her again.”