Against the Gods

Roar~

A soul-wrenching roar escaped the Azure Dragon God’s throat. The icy light looked beautiful, but it had blasted a three meter wide hole in his head and filled it up with more ice before his blood could even splatter out of the wound. The freezing energy would continue to seal more than half of his screaming soul.

Countless icy cracks began spreading from his soul. If he wasn’t a dragon god, if he was just a human at the same power level, his skull would’ve been blown to icy smithereens already.

Suddenly, a greater roar erupted from nearby. It was the Dragon Emperor of Absolute Beginning detonating its aura and blood, knocking away the nine Dragon Sovereigns who had been stunned silly by the sudden, drastic turn of events.

It wasted no time in pouncing toward the screaming Azure Dragon God, channelling his disastrous power into his talons, and hitting him squarely in the head.

Boom!

Boom!

BOOM!

At its peak, the freezing energy of the Ice Phoenix chilled not only the Azure Dragon God’s skull, but also his soul. His frozen thoughts became unusually sluggish, and not-yet-frozen thoughts were doing their best to chase away the chill. Therefore, he was completely defenseless when the Dragon Emperor of Absolute Beginning struck him again and again.

His skull, his cheek bones, and his neck cracked under the assault again and again. Soon, the icy cracks spread to his entire head like a spider web.

No one, not even Long Bai tried to rescue the despairing Azure Dragon God. It was because they were shocked by the sudden death of the Crimson Destruction Dragon God, and their eyeballs were fully stuck on the icy figure who had killed him.

In fact, all the battles that were taking place across the entire Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm—not counting the Dragon Emperor of Absolute Beginning ravaging the Azure Dragon God—had come to a sudden pause.

“Big… big… big brother…” the Sky Dragon God stuttered.

“Im… impossible…” For the first time, the White Rainbow Dragon God refused to believe her sight and spiritual perception no matter what.

The icy figure had taken her time to reveal herself. It was only now she fully appeared before everyone.

She was dressed in simple white, but she was so beautiful and graceful that she looked like a goddess who had descended from the heavens. Her eyes looked like icy ponds, her hair looked like dancing ice, her skin looked like fair snowflakes, and her lips looked like blooming cherry. She didn’t need to say a word or strike a pose. Her very existence was the perfect, dreamlike image of a proud ice queen.

There were many people who were familiar with her outline, her aura and her countenance. It was why she shocked them more than even the death of Long Fei.

Long Bai’s draconic aura surged wildly.

It was because the woman reflected in his pupils should be long gone.

She was Mu Xuanyin!

Ding!

The Snow Princess Sword returned to Mu Xuanyin’s hands with a soft ring. The pure, lustrous bits of ice surrounding her and her sword only added to her mysterious and phantasmal appearance.

The Qilin God Emperor froze. The Blue Dragon Emperor froze. The Dragon Gods looked like their eyeballs were about to fall out of their eye sockets, and Cang Shitian nearly lost control of himself and fell from the sky.

Even the half-mad Qianye Ying’er was staring at her in disbelief.

The terrible war came to a sudden pause. The northern region’s profound practitioners seized the moment to regain their breath and stare blankly at the fantastical ice goddess of war who had killed the Crimson Destruction Dragon God in an instant.

Chi Wuyao calmed her breathing and looked at Mu Xuanyin, the most familiar person in her life. She smiled. “I knew you wouldn’t disappoint me when you made your move.”

Of everyone present, she was the only one who had been aware of Mu Xuanyin from the beginning.

It was because she knew Mu Xuanyin’s body and soul far too well… so well that she could recreate every trace of her skin, and every wisp of her icy soul from memory. She knew her so well that, without any interaction at all, she could create the perfect opportunity for Mu Xuanyin to assassinate the Crimson Destruction Dragon God right as the latter was about to act.

“Who… is this woman?” Long Yi asked. Waves were riding behind his pupils, and a storm was raging inside his heart.

He was a Venerable Withered Dragon. The senses granted to him by his strong draconic soul was beyond powerful. And yet he had failed to detect even a trace of this woman.

The entire Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm was embroiled in battle right now. Everyone was throwing around their Divine Master power everywhere. To his knowledge, it should’ve been nearly impossible to conceal oneself perfectly in such an environment!

This was without mentioning that Long Fei was the current number one Dragon God of the Dragon God Realm. His power and soul were at least on the same level as the five Venerable Withered Dragons, and yet he never noticed that she was within thirty meters of him until it was too late… not even a million “impossible”s would be enough to describe their feelings.

At the very least, not one of the five Venerable Withered Dragons could perform such a feat despite having hundreds of thousands of years of experience under their belts.

Yun Che was the first person to master the Moon Splitting Cascade successfully. However, Mu Xuanyin was the one who pushed its stealth ability to the absolute limits.

When Yun Che inherited the Phoenix’s power of nirvana, it was through the soul fragments of the Phoenix Spirit. It revived Yun Che, but it was unable to awaken his old power and left him a cripple.

If it wasn’t for the Divine Miracle of Life and Yun Wuxin giving up her Heretic God talent permanently, he would still be crippled to this day.

However, the Ice Phoenix’s Rebirth Mu Xuanyin had undergone was a result of the primal divine power of nirvana granted to her by the Ice Phoenix Spirit herself. It was imperfect just like the one Yun Che had received, but it was ultimately a divine origin power. Not only did it grant Mu Xuanyin new life, it drastically increased her profound energy, her soul energy, and especially her mastery of the Ice Phoenix divine power.

One could even say that Mu Xuanyin was the Ice Phoenix since the old Ice Phoenix Spirit had passed away, and she had inherited both the Ice Phoenix Origin Power and Ice Phoenix Divine Soul.

“She is… Mu Xuanyin?” The Blue Dragon Emperor murmured.

“But didn’t she… die?” The Qilin God Emperor exclaimed in surprise.

Countless jaws hit the metaphorical floor at the same time.

A long time ago, many god emperors and realm kings had witnessed Mu Xuanyin defending Yun Che to the death outside Blue Pole Star.

In fact, Long Bai was the one who dealt the fatal blow himself. Everyone who had been present that day had felt her life aura dissipating completely into nothing. So… how was she still alive?

And how was her freezing aura several times stronger than it was before!?

Not only did this person who shouldn’t exist conceal herself so well that not a single god emperor in this realm had noticed her, but she had shattered the Crimson Destruction Dragon God himself in one hit… it was something they didn’t dare to believe even after witnessing it with their own eyes.

“My appearance may have worsened things instead of improving them,” Mu Xuanyin said in an emotionless voice while pointing her sword at Long Bai.

Long Bai and the Venerable Withered Dragons had been watching the battle from a distance up until this point, and they would’ve continued doing so if she hadn’t shown herself to save Caizhi.

“If fate must wound us like this, it doesn’t matter if it comes sooner or later,” replied Chi Wuyao.

Long Bai and the Venerable Withered Dragons might have stayed their hands if it was just a western region god emperor that she had killed. But the number one Dragon God, the Crimson Destruction Dragon God himself? The only thing that awaited them was a world of draconic rage.

“That being said, I would rather die with you than without you,” added Chi Wuyao with a smile.

“Ss… what a strange day today has been,” Cang Shitian said to himself. His eyes were bulging, and his teeth were bared in fear. After all, he was one of the people who had attacked Mu Xuanyin back then!

Wait a second!

He suddenly remembered something.

Is she the one behind the sudden deaths of the two Sea Gods!?

She has to be! She managed to kill even Crimson Destruction Dragon God in one hit! My two Sea Gods must have been as easy as pigs at the slaughter to her!

That also means… that the few times I felt a weird chill crawling up my spine… it wasn’t just my imagination!?

Cang Shitian couldn’t stop sweating when he thought up till this point. Come on! I may have attacked you that day, but I barely put any effort into it at all! How vengeful do you have to be to want to kill me over a token gesture!?

“How… is this possible?” Long San said with a frown.

“It’s the Moon Splitting Cascade,” Long Yi said. “The eastern ice phoenix has been declining as far as I can remember because its powers are difficult to pass down. To think that…”

“Fei…” Long Wu murmured while closing his eyes. He thought he had severed all his emotional ties to the world since the day he went into hibernation, so why did his son’s death still hurt him so?

“Hmph!” Long Bai pushed down his shock and unleashed his healing aura and his anger, causing the world to stand to attention immediately. “If one death isn’t enough to kill her, then two will be!”

He was about to march into the battlefield himself when a sigh sounded next to him. “Allow me.”

Long Wu’s figure vanished and reappeared before Mu Xuanyin. When he raised his arm, the dark clouds scattered, and it felt as if the heavens themselves were falling toward her. “You would’ve been unrivaled within the human race. You shouldn’t have angered the dragons.”

Mu Xuanyin simply brought the Snow Princess Sword to bear and dashed toward Long Wu using Moon Splitting Cascade, leaving behind a million icy afterimages behind her. When she stabbed at the Venerable Withered Dragon, a million ice lotuses erupted from her sword.

Chi Wuyao’s darkness profound energy followed her partner with perfect synchrony. The sudden darkening of the sky turned what should’ve been blue lotuses into black.

Their attributes and even their races were different, and yet the strange duo worked perfectly with one another. When the black lotuses erupted, Long Wu instantly fell into a cold and dark abyss.

“Long Si,” Long Bai said, “help Long Wu.”

Buzz!

Another Venerable Withered Dragon joined the fight.

Space itself shivered when Long Si unleashed his draconic aura. It was as if the combined weight of all the power battling at this part of the world was pushing it toward the brink of collapse.

It was Mu Xuanyin and Chi Wuyao versus two Venerable Withered Dragons. When Long Si joined the fray, the apocalyptic storm grew even bigger and pushed away all the Divine Masters within several hundred kilometers of the battle.

Although Long Bai didn’t attack Mu Xuanyin, he didn’t withdraw his draconic aura either. Instead, he looked at the Dragon Emperor of Absolute Beginning standing atop the Azure Dragon God.

Caizhi had vanished from her original spot. The Dragon Emperor of Absolute Beginning had put her back on its head and enveloped her with a protective barrier that was several times thicker than before. It didn’t take the Heavenly Wolf Devil Sword though.

The Azure Dragon God was utterly crushed. It was obvious that his spine was broken from how bent his body was.

Considering the Azure Dragon God’s strength, he shouldn’t have been beaten into this state even if he was no match for the Dragon Emperor of Absolute Beginning. However, the heavy blow that nearly shattered his entire skull and disintegrated over half of his consciousness was still affecting him. Even now, the freezing energy of Mu Xuanyin was ravaging his insides like a billion arctic needles.

Long Bai raised his arm and was about to send an imperious energy blast at the dragon emperor when suddenly, his eyes caught sight of something.

The war was so powerful that the world was literally crumbling away with every tiny moment. Almost ninety percent of the Deep Sea God Realm had collapsed, and the land beyond it had dissolved into dust a long, long time ago.

However, the royal palace at the center of the Deep Sea God Realm was only slightly affected by the attack. It was the only intact structure amidst a sea of ruins and dust.

Long Bai looked at his surroundings and began recalling everything that had happened since the start of the war. Suddenly, he realized that almost all the northern region’s profound practitioners were either fighting elsewhere or intentionally dragging their battle away from the royal palace.

Even when they were close to death, they would crawl away in the opposite direction.

Long Bai frowned and gathered his dragon’s soul. When his consciousness slipped into the royal palace, he was met with one, no, several incredibly high level barriers… and a faint aura of darkness.

It was the one Yama Ancestor who hadn’t shown his face all this time!

At the heart of the seven-layer barrier, Yan Two felt the Dragon Monarch’s soul touch and abruptly opened his eyes.

“Long San, we should act as well,” Long Yi said. “This girl is probably as strong as the Eternal Heaven lass in her prime, if not stronger. Long Wu may not be able to defeat her alone.”

“Wait!” Long Bai suddenly said and pointed at the royal palace. “Attack the palace!”