Against the Gods

A distant, transient sigh cut through a world of infinite gray:

“To think that the truth of everything… would hurt you so.”

Yun Che’s consciousness was falling and falling in the gray world. It felt like he would never reach the bottom.

“It’s… you.”

The distant voice of a woman gradually became familiar to him.

This wasn’t the first time he had heard her voice, but his memories vanished every time he left this strange soul world. He would only recall them when he returned to it.

“I shouldn’t have forced myself to manifest, but too many cracks have appeared in your heart. At this rate, the name ‘Xia Qingyue’ will become your eternal wound and suffering."

“She (I) can never accept that, and so your eternal wound will become her (my) eternal wound as well.”

“That is why I must interfere even when I shouldn’t.”

Qing… yue...

He didn’t expect to hear her name in this world.

The pain felt as raw as ever.

“Who are you, and… what do you mean?” He asked.

“You will know who I am. It is still too early, but there is probably no other way to save you besides showing you the whole truth… unless...”

“You are willing to let me wipe away your memories of her.”

“Xia Qingyue would forever vanish from your mind, and with it all of your sorrow, regrets, and hatred. You would not hurt or suffer if you didn’t remember her in the first place. You would be able to live the rest of your life happy and carefree.”

Forget Xia Qingyue… forever?

No...

No…

NO…

“Never… NEVER!!”

His roar was so terrible that he nearly knocked himself out.

“I will never forget her… I mustn’t!”

His soul’s struggle was so intense that the gray world itself was distorting slightly. “All I have left of her are these memories, and no one will take them away from me! No one!”

“The expected answer.”

The distant woman’s voice answered with a quiet sigh. “I have witnessed the bonds of the living for countless lifetimes, and still they remain as enigmatic as ever.”

“Then again, I hardly have the right to scorn another for their bonds when I’ve fallen into the same trap myself.”

“Yun Che,” she said his name, “I will tell you all of the karma that has bound the person named Xia Qingyue. I don’t know if it will be enough to heal the damage you’ve suffered, but at the very least, I hope it will stop you from plunging deeper into the abyss.”

“Otherwise, in the future, she (I) will never be able to forgive myself.”

Mad desire and hope rose from his chest as he asked, “You… you know everything… about Qingyue?”

“I can imprint the karma and the truth of everything to your soul right now, but I believe you would prefer to experience her unknown past via your own senses.”

“She possesses the mark of Nothingness just like you, although hers is nowhere as pure as yours. Still, it should be enough to perform one ‘Recollection of Nothingness’. You only need to find a possession that has become tinged with her aura of nothingness.”

“Now then. If you wish to live through her past with your own senses, then seek out a possession that has accompanied Qingyue for three years or more.”

“You will find it.”

…………

The voice faded away, and the gray world slowly dissipated like smoke.

Yun Che abruptly opened his eyes in the real world.

This time, the memories of that mysterious gray space and transient voice didn’t fade away from his mind.

He remembered every word as clear as day.

Seek out a possession that has accompanied Qingyue for three years...

A possession of Qingyue!!

He sat up before he could even identify his current location. However, a feminine cry of surprise temporarily caught his attention.

“You are…”

His mind clicked. He was currently at the center of the God Realm of Absolute Beginning. The Abyss of Nothingness was behind him, Jun Xilei was next to him… and Jun Wuming was looking in his direction a short distance away.

He didn’t have the time to explain even a single word, however. He lurched forward—his disorientation causing him to hit the ground hard before he staggered back to his feet—and took to the air. 

…………

A possession that has accompanied Qingyue for three years or more...

The words replayed themselves a bit disjointedly in his mind again and again.

He should probably wonder about the identity of the owner of the voice and why she knew everything. He just couldn’t spare the thought right now.

The Moon God Realm, the easiest place to find such an item had been annihilated by none other than himself.

It was the same for all the possessions of Xia Qingyue on his person. He had destroyed them in hate during his time at the Northern Divine Region.

A million regrets wouldn’t be enough to describe even one millionth of the regret he was feeling right now.

He rushed out of the God Realm of Absolute Beginning and traveled to the Southern Divine Region immediately.

His return to Emperor Yun City had been accompanied by a violent storm that scared all of its guards shitless. Before they could figure out what was going on, he had already passed through the dimensional formation linking Emperor Yun City to the Profound Sky Continent and teleported there.

Floating Cloud City, Xia residence.

After descending in the courtyard with a thump and sucking the nearest servant into his grip, he asked, “Which one of these rooms is Qingyue’s bedroom… tell me now!”

When he was younger, he often came here to play with Xia Yuanba… but for some reason, he couldn’t remember where young Xia Qingyue’s bedroom was at all.

The poor servant was of course scared out of his wits. For the second time (the first time being Chi Wuyao), he pointed a shivering finger toward the innermost bedroom.

He appeared in front of the room in a flash, but he caught himself and withdrew his aura to harmless levels. Then, he slowly pushed the door open with a trembling palm.

He found exactly what Chi Wuyao had found back then. All he found was the simplest of furnishings and not even a speck of Xia Qingyue anywhere.

He turned around and sucked the stunned servant into his grip again. He asked while breathing heavily, “Why is her room so empty? Where is all the stuff she left behind? Where is it!?”

“I…” The deathly pale servant opened and closed his mouth at least a dozen times before he finally remembered how to speak, “We… never touched… the miss’ room…”

After he swept the entire Xia residence a dozen or so times to no avail, he pushed the servant away and vanished into the spatial rift he tore.

Shred!!

At the Black Moon Merchants Guild, a rift suddenly appeared right in front of Xia Hongyi. Yun Che then stepped right out of it.

Before he could say a single word, a wild-looking Yun Che appeared right in front of him and said in a most urgent voice, “Uncle Xia, do you have any of Qingyue’s possessions with you?? Clothes, jewelry… anything?”

Yun Che was already doing his best to control himself, but he still looked absolutely shocking to Xia Hongyi. Thankfully, the old man quickly calmed himself and replied without thinking, “I don’t have anything of Qingyue with me.”

“Nothing? Not even one?” Yun Che asked in a disbelieving tone.

“No.” Xia Hongyi shook his head with great certainty. “You need to calm down, Che’er. What happened?”

He didn’t get a reply. It was because Yun Che was already gone. 

It’s fine, it’s fine...

There’s still Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace… she stayed there for years, she must’ve left something behind!

A spatial rift appeared at the Snow Region of Extreme Ice. The nearby wind and snow were immediately blown away. 

The unnatural disruption caused both Chu Yuechan and Chu Yueli to look up. It was Yun Che descending toward them.

“Why have you returned at this time?” Chu Yuechan frowned slightly. “Where’s Wuxin?”

There was no time for any of her questions. He grabbed her shoulders and asked hurriedly, “Yuechan, did Qingyue leave behind any possessions in Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace? Give them to me. Give me everything!”

Both Chu Yuechan and Chu Yueli were very astonished.

Chi Wuyao had made the almost same strange request when she first visited Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace.

Even more shocking was the fact that Yun Che was saying Xia Qingyue’s name in such an urgent, trembling tone when he had avoided it like a plague before.

Instead of asking Yun Che what happened, Chu Yuechan stared into his eyes and answered, “Did you forget? The old Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace was completely destroyed during the battle between Xuanyuan Wentian and the Little Demon Empress. Naturally, all of her possessions were destroyed.”

“This Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace is brand new. Of course we don’t have Xia Qingyue’s possessions here.”

“...” Yun Che turned stiff for a second, but he recalled something and turned to Chu Yueli next. “Yueli! You used to be Qingyue’s master, right? You must have something that she gifted you or whatever, right!?”

“Unfortunately, no.” Chu Yueli shook her head. “Not having a possession of her to remember her by is, in fact, one of the deepest regrets of my life.” 

“...” The color in Yun Che’s eyes faded away. His arms fell limply by his sides, and the breath he had been holding escaped through his lips. He then sat down powerlessly on the cold, icy snow beneath him.

Her home… Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace… the Moon God Realm...

These were the only three places Xia Qingyue had stayed for a long duration during her short life.

However, her house was empty, the Moon God Realm was destroyed by himself, and even Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace was...

It was as if nothing except the memories of her were left in this world.

No...

This cannot be… I must be missing something!

Calm down… calm down!

Chu Yueli looked back and forth between Yun Che and her older sister. She didn’t know what to say in this situation.

Chu Yuechan slowly crouched down in front of Yun Che and asked him, “Tell me what happened. Is it… related to Qingyue?”

Yun Che didn’t answer her. All of his thoughts were focused on clutching his own skull and calming himself down.

However, the chaotic thoughts in his mind were impossible to stop. Every cell in his body was screaming to find Xia Qingyue’s possessions as soon as possible.

It was at this moment a cute and delicate girl bounced up to them with a look of pure happiness on her face. She said in a childish voice, “Great Palace Master, look! It’s my very first Ice Mirror!”

The girl was a poor girl Chu Yueli had picked up from outside just three months ago. She had just begun practicing the Frozen Cloud Arts, and this was the first time she converted her profound energy into ice. To her, it was a memory that she could remember for a lifetime.

The girl’s naturally ethereal voice seeped into Yun Che’s confused soul and brought him a sliver of clarity.

Ice Mirror…

Mirror…

The mirror!!

It was like a lightning bolt had struck him, or a spirit light had pierced through his soul. Yun Che abruptly looked up and exploded toward the sky, leaving behind a storm of ice and a childish cry of surprise.

The bronze mirror!!

Yun Che was gone the second his mind made the connection, not pausing even to explain things to Chu Yuechan or Chu Yueli. The two women could only exchange stunned glances with each other, and it would be a long time before they finally regained their calm.