Against the Gods

“Speaking of that… Xiao Che, I just remembered that it will be your eleventh birthday just six days from now. I haven’t even thought of what present to get you yet.”

Once Little Yuanba said this, he suddenly seemed to recall something. His eyes grew bright as he said, “Right! Right! I remember that you and that beautiful big sister from the Lord Governor’s house were betrothed at birth, and it was agreed that both of you would be married once you hit sixteen years of age. My father mentioned this to me so many times. But now that I think about it, there’s only five years left till then, time passes so fast.”

Little Xia Yuanba tilted his head as he spoke, it was as if he was imagining what Yun Che would look like after marriage.

When they spoke of this matter, Little Yun Che did not seem to express much excitement or expectation. On the contrary, he cut a rather despondent figure as he said, “Oh, her… I have this feeling that she practically hates me. Every time she sees me, there’ll be a very fierce look on her face and she will very quickly run really far away to hide somewhere.”

“Ah?” Little Yuanba said in a puzzled voice, “Could it be that she’s… being shy?”

“As if,” Little Yun Che said with a shake of his head. “Actually, I think I kinda know what’s happening. When she and I were betrothed at birth all those years ago, my father and mother were still around. Furthermore, at that time, not only was my grandfather really powerful, but my daddy was also super-duper powerful.”

“Mnn, mnn!” Little Xia Yuanba immediately nodded his head as he said, “I heard Father say many times that if Uncle Xiao was still alive, he would definitely have become the next family head of the Xiao Clan.”

“Mn. So at that time, the Lord Governor was very happy with this arrangement and he must have boasted about this thing to the public for a very long time… However, my father and mother soon passed away and it was discovered that I was a cripple… So everything is different now.”

“Moreover, just last month, I secretly heard Elder Xiao Gu from the infirmary say… say that the Lord Governor had been in constant communication with the Clan Master recently. It seems that he is thinking of… thinking of marrying her off to Big Brother Yulong instead and the Clan Master also seems to be in full agreement…”

Little Yun Che let out a soft sigh, his expression colored by melancholy and disappointment that did not suit his age.

“Hmph! So what!?” Little Xia Yuanba seethed in an indignant voice, “Your betrothal to the big sister from the Governor’s family is something that even I, a little kid, knows about! He is the governor, so if he doesn’t keep his word, the entire city will make him into a joke. After that, we’ll see if he still has the face to continue being governor!”

“Little Che! Little Che, where are you?”

The worried voice of a girl suddenly rang out in the distance. Upon hearing that voice, Little Yun Che immediately stood up and said in a rather panicked voice, “Oh crap, it’s Little Aunt! If she finds out I got bullied by other people, she will definitely become very angry.”

“Ah…” Little Xia Yuanba hurriedly got to his feet as well. A lightbulb suddenly went off in his head as he said, “Then… Then how about you say that you accidentally fell into a mud pit while you were playing with me and that’s why you look like this.”

“Oooh… then let’s go with that,” Little Yun Che said as he nodded his head. After that, he grabbed up his clothes and ran in the direction where the girl’s voice had come from as he said, “Yuanba, I’m heading back first. Let’s play again next time.”

…………

With a jolt, Yun Che was roused from the dream.

He was still sitting down on the floor of the Sacred Hall and an endless amount of flying snow quietly danced in the air outside.

Yun Che stretched out a hand and pressed it against his head…

Weird, how did I suddenly fall asleep just now?

Could it have been because he was in the Sacred Hall and his mind and heart were not guarded at all, so he became overly-relaxed and had fallen into a deep and peaceful slumber as a result?

Furthermore, he had even dreamed up quite the strange dream.

In his dream, he had seen a scene of when he and Xia Yuanba were still little… But what was strange was that the Xia Yuanba in his dream had a shockingly high aptitude in the profound way and he was even more talented than his big sister, Xia Qingyue. Furthermore, not only was his body not big and sturdy, it had been exceptionally skinny at that.

Other than that, he did not have any siblings… which also meant that Xia Qingyue had not existed in that dream.

What was even more ridiculous was that the person he had been betrothed to at birth had not been Xia Qingyue, it had been some “big sister from the governor's family” whose very name had been blurred out.

Yun Che shook his head as he unwittingly let out a laugh… He laughed at himself for actually being able to randomly have such a strange and absurd dream.

Furthermore, he could actually remember all too clearly every single scene of that dream, every single word that he had said.

In fact, his memories were so clear that it seemed as if those scenes had actually played out in real life.

However, since it was a dream, then any sort of absurd scenario could appear. Yun Che also did not have any time to waste on some ridiculous and random dream. His thoughts swiftly turned to the crimson calamity that was knocking on their doorstep and he once again entered a state of deep thought.

He was unable to tell how long he had slept for or how long he had been waiting in the Sacred Hall, but Mu Xuanyin still had not returned.

Under the impact of that terrifying truth and the unknowable future, even though Yun Che continuously sought to settle his heart and mind for a long time, they were still restless. In the end, he gave a sigh before he turned his gaze to the outside world. As he thought of the years he had spent in the Snow Song Realm, he finally could not help but get up and walk towards the outside.

When he had first arrived in the Snow Song Realm, Mu Bingyun had arranged for him to stay in the Freezing Snow Hall but she had been obstructed by Main Hall Master Mu Fengshu. He had forcefully broken through the examination, shocking everyone present and causing a string of disturbances to break out. Mu Bingyun had also been able to use this as a pretext to directly bring him into the Thirty-sixth Ice Phoenix Palace.

At that time, Mu Bingyun was not long for this world because of the poison that had afflicted her for a thousand years, so the Thirty-sixth Ice Phoenix Palace existed in name only and it only had Mu Xiaolan as a disciple, with Yun Che becoming the second one.

But today, following the recovery of Mu Bingyun’s power, her strength was second only to Mu Xuanyin in the entire Snow Song Realm, so she had officially become the Main Palace Master of all thirty-six Ice Phoenix Palaces.

Even though it was the starting point of his journey, he did not know how the Thirty-sixth Ice Phoenix Palace was doing now. It should be exceptionally bustling and lively, and it definitely should not be losing to any of the other Ice Phoenix Palaces, right?

As Yun Che thought of this, he had already unknowingly arrived in the air above the area which housed the Ice Phoenix Palaces.

The area which housed the Ice Phoenix Palaces was still as exceptionally quiet as it had been before and flying snow filled the air, just like in the region around the Sacred Hall. But it seemed as if… this silence was somewhat different from before.

In the distance, the figures of several Ice Phoenix disciples were rushing towards the east with obvious haste.

“Mn?” Yun Che’s brows twitched and he swiftly expanded his spiritual perception… Very quickly, in an area not too far east of him, he sensed a bunch of incomparably chaotic auras.

That was… in the direction of Mist End Valley!

Mist End Valley was a place within the Ice Phoenix Realm but it was not a training ground. Instead, it was a place where disciples who had committed unforgivable crimes were punished!

Back then, when he had fought with Mu Xuanyin, he had relied on the Dragon Soul Domain that had burst out in that instant and he had accidentally touched a part of her that he absolutely should not have touched… After that, Mu Xuanyin had thrown him into Mist End Valley.

As a result, he was deeply aware of how terrifying Mist End Valley was!

There were many species of profound beasts living in that place and they all lived in concentrated areas… At first, before he had accidentally managed to comprehend the Moon Splitting Cascade’s “invisibility”, every step he had taken in that place was a step filled with terror and he had very nearly thrown away his life on more than one occasion… and that was when he had been in the outer ring of Mist End Valley, where the profound beasts were the weakest.

This situation… Could it be that a large profound beast rampage had suddenly erupted in Mist End Valley?

It was clear that Mu Xuanyin and Mu Bingyun both were not around. Yun Che had no time to think any further. He increased his speed to its maximum, rushing for Mist End Valley.

Mist End Valley was in utter chaos as the roars of profound beasts and the shocked cries of Ice Phoenix disciples shook the air.

When the profound beast rampages had started occurring last year, the first thing Mu Xuanyin did was to order that a barrier be erected around Mist End Valley to seal it away. As a result, nothing had occurred in Mist End Valley for the past year.

But just now, the barrier that was exceptionally sturdy had suddenly collapsed without any warning and countless frenzied profound beasts rushed out of Mist End Valley like surging ocean tides.

Profound beast rampages were erupting everywhere in the Snow Song Realm and the Ice Phoenix Palaces were constantly sent out of the sect to suppress them, so not more than half of them remained to guard the sect at any one time. This coupled with the huge calamity that Luo Guxie had created upon her arrival meant that most of the Ice Phoenix Palace elders and disciples were out doing clean up duty.

However, there were still more than enough of them to quell the chaos that had erupted out of Mist End Valley after the barrier had collapsed.

When Yun Che arrived in the air above Mist End Valley, icy glints filled the air below him but the battlefield was not quite as big as he had first imagined. The barrier that sealed in Mist End Valley had not completely collapsed either. It was just that a large hole had been punched in it, and even though the beast tide surged out of it violently the Ice Phoenix disciples beat them back handily, wave after wave.

Furthermore, there were still three palace masters from the Ice Phoenix Palace.

Yun Che immediately grew relieved. After all, this place was the core location of the Snow Song Realm’s strongest sect. Even though the profound beasts of Mist End Valley were exceedingly terrifying, how could they truly harm the sect?

With three Ice Phoenix palace masters around, they could combine their strength to repair the barrier once they had exterminated the rampaging profound beasts. No wonder they only mobilized the Ice Phoenix Palace and they did not ask for any reinforcements from the Divine Hall elders or disciples. There were indeed enough forces to deal with the situation.

Yun Che’s gaze swept across the area and to his surprise, he discovered a familiar figure.

Mu Xiaolan!

It was clear that she had been working hard over the past few years and she had already broken into the Divine Soul Realm now. Furthermore, because she was Mu Bingyun’s only direct disciple, the Ice Phoenix God Investiture Canon that she displayed was several steps above the other Ice Phoenix Palace disciples.

Clearly, Mu Bingyun had bestowed upon her even more of the Ice Phoenix bloodline.

Even though he had not seen her for a few years, Mu Xiaolan’s appearance had basically remained the same… besides the fact that her chest had clearly swelled up by quite a bit, and that she had lost a lot of her simple nature and immaturity. Her eyes had also grown colder and more imposing than before and her icy sword danced with a vicious mercilessness as it nimbly dealt out death to one frenzied profound beast after the other.

When he recalled the times he had spent with her when he had first arrived in the Snow Song Realm, Yun Che’s heart was filled with gratitude. He did not show himself, and he was no longer worried either as he prepared to leave the area.

It was just when he had turned around that his brows suddenly twitched and he swiveled around again. He looked toward the depths of Mist End Valley and in the next instant, his eyebrows sank as he muttered in a low voice, “No wonder the barrier broke!”

In the end, the Ice Phoenix Palaces were made up of the elite disciples of the Ice Phoenix sect. Amidst the chaotic profound lights and the sounds of battle, the profound beast horde was being beaten back again and again. With the addition of three great palace masters, the Ice Phoenix disciples had not even suffered many casualties and the ground was littered with the bodies of various profound beasts, their blood dying the snow region red, the sight of it shocking and unpleasant to the eyes.

If it continued on like this, in another hour, the profound beast rampage that erupted out of Mist End Valley would be completely suppressed and after they resealed the barrier, there would not be any more eruptions in the foreseeable future.

However, it was just at this time that a strangely shocking roar suddenly rang out from the depths of Mist End Valley.

When the roar had first rung out, it had come from an extremely far distance. But when it fell on their ears now, it actually sounded like it was right next to them… Following that, another roar rang out and it was like a thunderclap that shook the air, causing the earth to move and the mountains to sway. The Ice Phoenix disciples, who were presently suppressing the profound beasts, felt their bodies shake violently. There was a ringing in their ears and as their vision went black for an instant, blood leaked out of all the orifices on their faces.

Looks of astonishment appeared on the faces of all three Ice Phoenix palace masters who stood at the forefront of the battle. After that, their expressions dramatically changed due to even more shock as they exclaimed, “Wild Snow Divine Apes!”

“That pair of Wild Snow Divine Apes had been tamed hundreds of years ago and they had been the guardian king beasts who had always guarded Mist End Valley in the years past. Could it be that even they have been…”

Amidst their shock and confusion, two huge figures bust out of the dense fog… Their eyes, which usually shone with an exceptionally calm light, were now filled with shocking malice and frenzy.

The Ice Phoenix palace master in the middle roared, “Wild Snow Divine Apes, both of you…”

Just as she spoke, an earth-shaking roar filled her ears. The two Wild Snow Divine Apes did not say a single word, they simply hurtled towards them while they roared. Two huge energy waves exploded in the air, each covering a fifty kilometer radius.

The nerves of the other two Ice Phoenix palace masters had long been drawn taut. Their expressions suddenly changed yet they reacted instantly. Their swords formed two formations which intertwined in midair as they met the two onrushing Wild Snow Divine Apes head on.

“Wait a minute! Don’t harm the disciples! The Ice Phoenix palace master in the middle cried out in alarm.

This yell caused the pupils of the two other Ice Phoenix palace masters to immediately constrict… The profound strength of all three people were at the Divine King Realm and these two Wild Snow Divine Apes were also powerful Divine King beasts. But around them, the majority of the Ice Phoenix disciples were only at the Divine Tribulation Realm at best.

If the powers of five Divine Kings were to directly clash with one another… The aftershocks would instantly eradicate countless Ice Phoenix disciples!