Against the Gods

Mu Xuanyin withdrew the Snow Princess Sword and brushed her finger against the air. A moment later, the portable space Nan Wansheng no longer possessed the power to sustain exploded into a shower of unusual profound lights.

As the Southern Sea God Emperor, even the least valuable portable space Nan Wansheng carried contained the kind of treasures that a normal person could never imagine possessing in a million years. The light and the aura of the entire planet started changing drastically, and the earth started shaking like an earthquake. It was as if the planet couldn’t withstand the powerful aura of these treasures.

Mu Xuanyin cast her gaze at a golden light floating in midair. It wasn’t conspicuous compared to the rest of the treasures around it, but it was extremely pure and clearly the soul light of a soul origin.

Extracting a soul light from a soul origin damages it. There was only one item the Southern Sea God Emperor would sacrifice a portion of his soul to protect, and it was the Southern Sea’s lifeline, the artifact of inheritance of the Southern Sea divine power!

Mu Xuanyin extended her hand slowly and encased Nan Wansheng’s head and the artifact of inheritance in a block of shiny blue ice. Then, her figure started fading away into nothing.

At the end of it, not even a trace of cold air could be seen in the area anymore. It was as if she was never there.

————

The old Nan Guizhong withdrew his aura and closed his eyes to avoid looking at the hellish-looking capital city that was still being ravaged right now. It was as if he was at peace after igniting his life to send a grievously wounded Nan Wansheng away to safety.

He was an emperor for half a lifetime, and just now he had succeeded in preserving the Southern Sea’s last hope. With this, he had repaid his debt to his ancestors and the Southern Sea in full, and its future was all up to the fates now.

The two Sea Gods who were fighting the Yama Ancestors and saw how Nan Wansheng had escaped from start until the end, and the elders, Sea Guards, and profound practitioners who were fighting for their lives felt new strength flowing into their veins. It was a light in the darkness, an infinite hope where there was none a moment ago, and it was so encouraging that even their previously broken spirit had returned in full force.

“The Southern Sea is eternal! We may die, but another will inherit our powers and return to the world once more!” A heavily wounded Sea God shouted with all his might.

Another Sea God shouted, “The day our king returns will be the day you devils die!”

The Sea God had lost both his arms, but his voice was loud and spirited like never before. The words resonated in the hearts of every Southern Sea profound practitioner, reinvigorated their tired bodies and drove them to fight with everything they had.

That’s right. Hope. Considering the current state of the Southern Sea Realm, it was literally the biggest luxury they could afford right now.

Unfortunately for them, their hope only lasted a couple of breaths.

Creak…

It was the sound of something breaking sharply. It extinguished Nan Guizhong and the two Sea Gods’ tiny hope like a bucket of ice water.

Nan Wansheng’s soul crystal had shattered. It meant that the god emperor… was dead.

Nan Guizhong abruptly opened his eyes. This time though, the light in his eyes was so dim that it was almost the same color as his pupils.

The two Sea Gods also froze in midair. They shivered incessantly like they were enduring the deadly cold of the deepest, darkest hell of ice in the world.

Qianye Wugu and Qianye Bingzhu had landed in front of Nan Guizhong. They were confused when they saw the latter’s sudden change of expression.

Nan Guizhong lifted his head bit by bit as absolute despair colored his aged features. He pointed a shivering finger at Yun Che and barely spit out the words, “You… how…”

“Heh… hehe…” Nan Guizhong suddenly broke into a sorrowful laugh. “You turned our strongest weapon against us, and you laid a trap on our final escape path too? Devil Master… you truly are the master of devils…”

Yun Che: “...?”

“Oh?” A look of astonishment flashed across Qianye Ying’er’s face when she looked at Nan Guizhong and the two Sea Gods. She muttered to himself, “Could it be… is Nan Wansheng… dead!?”

Did someone intercept the Phantom Sea Four-Star Formation?

She shot a glance at the motionless Caizhi.

“In that case, allow me to free you from this mortal coil,” offered Qianye Bingzhu while extending a palm toward Nan Guizhong.

“No thanks. I can do it myself,” Nan Guizhong replied indifferently before looking down on the capital city one last time. The city was drenched in blood, and its prosperity and glory had all crumbled into dust. It was only now that he wished he had died all those years ago. At the very least, his memory would’ve stopped where the Southern Sea Realm was still the most magnificent king realm he helped to create.

“Flee.” His voice sounded as long and heavy as the bong of a rusted, millennium old gong. “Starting now, the Southern Sea no longer exists, and your will no longer belongs to the Southern Sea. So flee… flee… if nothing else, save yourselves from this doom.”

After that, he raised his palm, gathered the final vestiges of his power, and hit himself in the head.

BOOM—

The dull noise reverberated in every Southern Sea profound practitioners’ soul.

The last trace of murky light disappeared from Nan Guizhong’s pupils, and his body slowly collapsed to the ground… including the resurrected spirits of all the Southern Sea profound practitioners.

Despair was bad enough, but despair born from the destruction of hope… was even worse.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Nan Guizhong’s final words were clearly implying that the escaped Nan Wansheng, the final hope of the Southern Sea… had perished.

Their fighting spirit, their faith, and their willpower all crumbled completely. Their former god emperor had announced the demise of the Southern Sea himself, and they now belonged to no one. They no longer had any reason to keep resisting.

“If there is no Southern Sea… then the Sea God need not exist either…”

Two Sea Gods muttered the exact same words at the exact same time before exchanging a glance with each other. All they saw in each other’s eyes was empty, grayish despair.

Bang!!

There were two explosions, and two mini suns temporarily illuminated the sky. The two Sea Gods had used their final strength to kill themselves… it was probably the expression of their final dignity.

As for Nan Qianqiu... Yan One was still holding him by the skull. His head was lowered, his limbs were limp. He didn’t even have the choice to kill himself.

After their two god emperors were dead, and the two Sea Gods who had fought to the last moment chose to commit suicide, the blood-drenched Southern Sea profound practitioners and even the high-ranking elders and Sea Guards lost their final bit of faith. There was literally nothing holding them together anymore.

Shock, grief, despair… the Southern Sea profound practitioners were pretty disadvantaged to begin with, and now the rug was pulled out from under them. They started escaping with all their might because their own lives were literally the only things left that they could still protect.

The blood-drenched Dragons of Absolute Beginning buried countless Southern Sea profound practitioners with every sweep of the wing. The Yama Devils and Yama Ghosts were only more merciless than they were because they absolutely detested the Southern Sea God profound practitioners. Their victims’ cries of despair only fueled their pleasure, and despite their fewer numbers the amount of destruction they wreaked upon this realm was absolutely hellish.

The Southern Sea Capital had transformed into a true purgatory of blood, and the cries of despair echoed from every direction. However, just like the rest of the people of Yama, Yan Tianxiao didn’t feel a shred of pity or regret for his victims. If anything, he was absolutely pleased to sate the hatred his people had born toward all profound practitioners of the three realms for almost a million years.

“I knew it. That escape formation seemed fancy, but it is still within the Devil Master’s calculations.” Yan Tianxiao’s lips were etched into a sneer, but in reality he could barely control his still growing reverence for Yun Che. He appeared next to Devil Master, fell to his knees and bowed. “Your Magnificence, the enemies are numerous, but they have lost the will to fight and are escaping in every direction. Should we annihilate them all?”

The Dragons of Absolute Beginning were clearly slowing down now that the Southern Sea profound practitioners were escaping at full force. Qianye Wugu and Qianye Bingzhu were also guarding Nan Guizhong’s corpse without doing anything.

“Didn’t I say that the Southern Sea lineage must be completely exterminated?” Yun Che replied coldly, “Although it is unrealistic to ask you of this considering the number of people you brought.”

Yan Tianxiao had brought only the Yama Devils and Yama Ghosts in order to minimize the risk of their presences being revealed. They might all be terrifying Divine Masters, but it was unrealistic to ask them to wipe out every Southern Sea profound practitioner with their numbers.

“In that case…” Yan Tianxiao implored.

“Hunt them to the borders, but no need to go beyond that. Someone…” A terrifying gleam flashed in Yun Che’s eyes. “...will do the clean-up for us.”

————

Eastern Divine Region, Eternal Heaven God Realm.

Although Chi Wuyao hadn’t shown any outward worry after seeing Yun Che off to the Southern Divine Region, she couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was bothering her for the past couple days.

She was confident that she could clean up Yun Che’s mess no matter what kind of madness he wrought, but that was only if she was with him. Now that there was a vast gulf of space standing between her and Yun Che, it was simply impossible for her to completely calm down.

At least he wasn’t completely alone. Mu Xuanyin would be watching over him from the dark, and Qianye Ying’er had gone to his aid with the two Brahma Ancestors and Gu Zhu.

Suddenly, a fragrant wind stirred the air in front of Chi Wuyao, and Hua Jin appeared in a flash of rainbows. She said in a slightly urgent voice, “Master, the Southern Divine Region, he…”

“What happened?” Chi Wuyao rose to her feet immediately. She could only imagine the kind of madness that panicked Hua Jin so.

Hua Jin took a moment to calm down before giving her report, “The Devil Master tortured one of the nine Dragon Gods, the Ash Dragon God to death during the Southern Sea Crown Prince’s proclamation ceremony.”

It was a short report, but it did nothing to diminish its shock value. Hua Jin really didn’t have to emphasize the words “tortured” and “to death”.

“...” Chi Wuyao frowned a little but said nothing.

The Witch continued, “It is also clear that the Southern Sea Realm is helping to spread the news as quickly as possible. It won’t be long before all of Primal Chaos learns about this.”

“The Dragon Gods share a connection with each other. The other eight Dragon Gods will know of Ash Dragon God’s death. So why is he doing this?” Chi Wuyao muttered to herself, “This is hardly the time to provoke the Dragon God Realm…”

Then, realization dawned upon her. “Is he baiting the Southern Sea Realm into using the Titanic Sea God Cannon!?”

“Titanic Sea God Cannon? What’s that?” Hua Jin asked subconsciously as she looked up at her master.

“If it is true, then… I still underestimated his obsession with revenge.” Chi Wuyao closed her eyes and sighed. Her voice sounded forlorn and dazed. “I thought he would recover somewhat after that thing with Ying’er, but…”

Confused but not distracted from her duty, Hua Jin asked, “Master, the Dragon God Realm will be enraged by this. Even without the Dragon Monarch to command them, there is no way they will maintain their silence any longer. Please give me an order, master.”

Chi Wuyao fell silent for a moment. Then, she opened her dark, bottomless eyes and declared, “Tell Tian Muyi and Tian Guhu to mobilize all the troops garrisoned at the fifty star realms to the west of the Eastern Divine Region. I want them to escort our troops back to the Northern Divine Region. The faster and louder, the better!”

She needed to split the Dragon God Realm’s attention as much as possible and buy as much time to plot and prepare as possible.

“Yes!” Hua Jin was shocked, but she accepted the order without question. She was just about to leave when Chi Wuyao stopped her again.

“Wait!” Chi Wuyao’s arm froze in midair as if she just thought of something.

“My order is the same, but tell Tian Muyi and Tian Guwu to wait until I give them the signal.” Chi Wuyao muttered again seemingly to herself. “Give it a few hours. We might hear something pleasant from the Southern Divine Region later.”

“There is also the possibility…” She continued, “... that the Dragon Monarch might be able to sense the death of a Dragon God.”

If that was true, then the “missing” Dragon Monarch would be returning to the Dragon God Realm right away!