Against the Gods

Cang Shuhe froze. Everyone froze.

“What… what are you saying, God Emperor?” A Sea God exclaimed in bewilderment. Although Cang Shitian was retired, he still called him “God Emperor” out of habit.

The flashes of the Deep Sea Divine Pearl grew unnaturally violent. It was like a wild animal who’d just been woken up from her slumber.

Cang Shitian gripped the Deep Sea Divine Pearl tightly while slowly moving it toward his solar plexus. His snarl grew more and more inhuman by the second.

“Yu Che isn’t the only one who could use a divine origin to generate power beyond the world’s limits.”

This time, no one could say anything in response to his words.

Cang Shuhe’s trembling eyes slowly lost their focus.

I knew it… I knew it…

She already had a vague premonition when he abruptly demanded the Deep Sea Divine Pearl from her.

It was because she knew her “only” relative too well.

Behind her, the Sea Gods blanched after their initial astonishment had passed.

They all recalled a certain page on the Deep Sea God Canon at the same time…

The most taboo page of them all!

They still couldn’t understand what was going on here though. The forbidden power could neve be realized because it required certain critical prerequisites to be fulfilled, and Cang Shitian was literally the last person who would ever fulfill those prerequisites.

Or so they thought.

The Sea Gods were just about to express their bewilderment when Cang Shitian did something that stunned them all to speechlessness.

He had thrust his left fist… into his own chest.

Bang!!

His entire left fist sank completely into his solar plexus.

Pssssh!

He proceeded to pull out his hand and caused a mad gush of blood.

His gaze pierced through the shattered flesh and bone and landed on his very own profound veins.

The former Deep Sea God Emperor had just inflicted an unbelievably cruel act onto himself, and yet the expression on his face wasn’t pain, but a wraith-like, spine-chilling grin.

The next moment, he slammed the Deep Sea Divine Pearl through the hole in his chest and into his profound veins.

If Cang Shitian’s act of self-harm only drained all the blood on the Sea Gods’ face earlier, now their eyes were shaking like a million dying stars.

It was a kind of fear that was a thousand times greater than even their fear toward Mo Beichen’s power.

“God… God Emperor…”

“Stop! Stop!!”

“Ahhhhhhhh!”

It was like the four Sea Gods had suddenly been pierced by ten thousand blades, and they were about to launch one final attack against their sworn enemy. They all rushed toward Cang Shitian while roaring the most fearful and desperate howls of their lives.

Cang Shuhe was the only one who stayed where she was. She didn’t even attempt to voice any discouragement.

It was because she knew how proud her brother was beneath that shameless exterior he intimidated the entire world with.

She knew even better that no one could stop him once he had made up his mind. No one.

A translucent tear slowly slid down her cheek.

Brother…

I leave… everything to you…

“Get lost!”

Cang Shitian responded to the Sea Gods’ maddened howls with a low growl of his own.

The divine light of Deep Sea radiated out of his person, and—

BOOM—

Bloodcurdling screams escaped the Sea Gods’ throats as they were thrown back like helpless bundles of wheat.

No matter how powerful the Sea Gods were, they were no match for their former God Emperor, Cang Shitian. However, it was equally impossible for Cang Shitian to have repelled them as easily as he did.

The sudden, unexpected commotion drew everyone’s gazes. Their souls quaked in shock when they realized what they were seeing.

The Deep Sea Divine Pearl was deeply embedded in Cang Shitian’s solar plexus. It clung tightly to his profound veins and bathed in his Deep Sea blood.

Suddenly, a halo of deep blue light so powerful that it enveloped everything within hundreds of kilometers shone out of Cang Shitian.

Originating from the center of his chest, the rays of light pierced through his skin, flesh, veins, blood, bones, and more. It slowly spread until his entire body—internal organs, fingernails, eyes and even his hair—were dyed completely blue.

In just the blink of an eye, Cang Shitian had transformed into a pure blue figure with bluish cracks all over his body, and eyes as deep as the sea itself.

What really paralyzed the spectators in speechless terror was the insane amount of energy gushing out of his body.

Cang Shitian was the former god emperor and the current Chief Enforcer. No one doubted that he was incredibly powerful. However, the power currently circulating throughout his body was way stronger than his absolute limit. In fact, it was slowly but surely tearing through the insurmountable power ceiling that was imposed on all Divine Masters of this world!

Not only that, the trembling deep blue profound light was still expanding non-stop.

“What… what… what is that!?”

Many people cried out involuntarily even as the battle between Yun Che and Mo Beichen was still going on.

To the outsiders, Cang Shitian’s sudden display of power was shocking beyond imagination. But to the four Sea Gods who knew the Deep Sea God Canon, they only felt absolute despair.

“Stop… stop!” A Sea God screamed hoarsely as he practically crawled his way toward Cang Shitian. He was trying to stop his former liege with all his might.

However, the aura gushing out of Cang Shitian now was such that he couldn’t even approach him.

In any world or plane, the price one must pay to obtain power beyond their absolute limit was usually quite terrible.

Right now, Cang Shitian was wielding such power, and the price he paid to obtain it was his life…

And the future of the Deep Sea bloodline!

“Have you gone insane, Cang Shitian!” A Sea God screamed his former liege’s name with bloodshot eyes. “Are you trying to become the eternal sinner of the Deep Sea lineage? The former god emperor and all your ancestors will murder you in the afterlife for this!”

“God Emperor, stop… stop! There’s still time to stop this madness!”

The most longest-lived and experienced Sea God of the four was literally crying at this point. He begged, “Why are you doing this, God Emperor… Yun Che is destined to be destroyed, and you’ve already secured yourself and the Deep Sea Realm by submitting to the Abyss… so why are you destroying our present and future with your own two hands!?”

By now, there wasn’t a hair on Cang Shitian’s body that wasn’t deep blue in color. His aura had become a raging sea storm.

He slowly looked back at his retinue before cracking a disdainful snarl on his literally cracked face:

“Me, submitting to the Abyss? Did you seriously just say that?”

“Hehehe…” He let out a nasty chuckle before continuing, “The God Realm is a million years old, and it took the Deep Sea Realm seven hundred thousand years to finally become what it is today.”

“And yet, Yun Che scaled the heavens and conquered the four divine regions when he was practically an infant in terms of cultivation age… not to mention he is the messiah who saved the Primal Chaos from a dark future!”

“He may be a lower realm denizen, but he is undeniably one of us and a living miracle of this world!”

“If I have to become someone’s dog, then I would rather it be him than anyone else! I wouldn’t even complain about it!”

“But…” His voice grew guttural and animalistic. “Who the fuck does that Mo Beichen think he is?”

“He’s a hyena who jumped out of the ass end of nowhere, and he thinks he can order the God Realm to surrender everything without a fight? He thinks he can order me to become his dog!?”

“Hahahaha! What a fucking joke… what a fucking joke!!”

His screams and mad laughter filled countless profound practitioners’ eardrums with blood.

But it was nothing compared to the shock in their souls.

Yun Che was a member of the Primal Chaos. He had subdued the Northern Divine Region via his own strength and flattened the three divine regions afterward. He had walked from the lowest low to the highest high, saved the world, and even been betrayed by it.

As Cang Shitian said, Yun Che was the indisputable emperor of the God Realm and living miracle of Primal Chaos.

That was why he did not mind becoming his dog.

Mo Beichen though? Not only was he an outsider, he literally came from a completely different universe.

He was, in the most literal sense of the word, an invader.

The Deep Sea Divine Pearl was shaking. Every inch of Cang Shitian’s body including his blood had turned deep blue in color.

By now, his aura had become so extraordinary that he caused even Yun Che and Mo Beichen to look away temporarily from their battle.

The four Sea Gods stretched their eyes to breaking point as they stared at Cang Shitian, their throats unable to make a single sound for a long, long time.

“If I must surrender the Deep Sea… to the Abyss…”

“Then I would rather end it once and for all…”

“By my own two hands!”

“UGH—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

BANG—

The Deep Sea Divine Pearl abruptly shattered into countless pieces. Its divine light winked out just like that.

Every divine origin within the artifact had been transferred into Cang Shitian’s profound veins, body and life. They shone with a powerful yet sorrowful light.

The result was a power and aura that were almost as strong as Mo Beichen’s.

The four Sea Gods shut their eyes in pain. It felt as if their hearts and souls had shattered alongside the container of the divine origins, the Deep Sea Divine Pearl.

The grayish sky of the God Realm of Absolute Beginning grew even more restless. The wind and sand stirred more violently than ever before.

It was because a third Half-God had emerged in this godless world.

The price, though…

The Deep Sea Realm that had stood strong in the Southern Divine Region for hundreds of thousands of years, the Deep Sea bloodline that had given birth to countless Sea Gods and legends…

… had finally come to an end.

“MO—BEI—CHEN—” Cang Shitian’s proud and maddened roar filled every inch of the collapsing world. “IN THE NAME OF ME… DIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

A literal sea of churning, deep blue energy that was huge enough to blot out the heaven and earth itself crashed down on Mo Beichen.

RUMBLE!

A thirty thousand meter long divide erupted across the gray sky as sword and shield clashed against one another. At the same time, Yun Che and Mo Beichen shot away from each other as fast as meteors.

Another golden light disappeared forever from this world, and six starlights were left in Yun Che’s body.

Mo Beichen was just spitting out a mouthful of smelly blood and getting ready to reform his boulder formation when suddenly, he felt the unnatural Half-God aura approaching him from behind.

The roar especially shook his eardrums so much that it resulted in an incessant, high-pitched ringing.

As Yun Che had just sent him flying away with his sword, his strength was spent, and he wasn’t able to gather himself in time before Cang Shitian could reach him.

More accurately, it was he who slammed back first into the former Deep Sea God Emperor.

BANG!

The impact caused a bit of deep blue blood—or rather, fragments of Deep Sea divine power—to scatter away from Cang Shitian’s body.

In fact, his physical body had been thoroughly disintegrated during the transformation.

Right now, he was just an energy body that was hosting a lingering consciousness.

The two men didn’t split up after the terrific impact because Cang Shitian had locked his deep blue arms around Mo Beichen’s neck, and his deep blue legs around his lower body the second they made contact with each other.

“Foolish cur!”

Mo Beichen detonated his aura without even looking back at Cang Shitian.

BOOM—

CRACK!

A dull-sounding explosion ripped Cang Shitian’s left arm away from Mo Beichen’s neck and snapped it like a twig… but it zipped right back to its original position just an instant later.

At the same time, the Deep Sea divine light poured out in earnest and filled the sky with endless rays of blue light. They wrapped around Mo Beichen’s body and locked him completely in place.

Not only that, the power soundlessly ate away at his boulder formation like mercury dissolving gold.

BANG!!

Another blast of energy struck Cang Shitian point blank, causing another splatter of blue fragments and dozens of cracks to erupt across his four limbs. However, not only did the blast fail to budge him in the slightest, the limbs dug deeper as if Cang Shitian was trying to crush him with his bare hands.

“Cang Shitian… you!!”

Mo Beichen was both shocked and furious, but both Cang Shitian’s limbs and the blue light clung to him like gangrene on his bones. He wasn’t able to move no matter how he struggled.

“YUN CHE!!”

His ears rang again as Cang Shitian howled on top of his lungs.

It was at this moment a black comet carrying six golden starlights in its body fell down from above… Mo Beichen’s pupils dilated as the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor Sword flew straight toward his solar plexus.

THANG—!

The boulder formation flashed, and hundreds of tiny cracks appeared all around the point of impact.

This was the worst damage it suffered since it had shown itself in this world.

Cang Shitian wasn’t just locking Mo Beichen in place. He was also spending a significant amount of damage to devour his protective energy.

Yun Che was bounced away from the boulder formation yet again, but he caught himself as soon as he could with God Ash, twisted around in mid-air, and sailed toward Mo Beichen once more. The tip of the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor Sword made contact with the boulder formation one more time.

CHI~~~~~~

This time, the boulder formation let out a shrill screech.

This time, the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor Sword stabbed into the boulder formation instead of being repelled!

New cracks immediately overlapped the old cracks that weren’t given the chance to heal.

The sight caused Mo Beichen’s pupils to contract into needle points.

A bright light had reignited in Yun Che’s grayish dark eyes. His body was on the verge of collapse, but somehow he found the strength to manifest a three-hundred meter tall pillar of devilish flames and poured them all to the tip of his sword.

CHICHICHICHICHICHICHI!!!

The miraculous eruption of power immediately pushed both Mo Beichen and Cang Shitian to the ground with unrelenting force.

Not only that, the Devil Flame of Eternal Calamity ate away layer after layer of stone energy until a thousand more cracks appeared on the boulder formation.

“Heh… hehe!”

Somehow, Cang Shitian found it in himself to laugh even as the three of them crashed toward the ground. He stared at Yun Che and spoke in a voice that no longer sounded anything like his human self. “Do you know why… I kidnapped your daughter… Yun Che?”

“…” Yun Che didn’t answer him. He was too busy concentrating all of his strength and willpower into the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor Sword and watching the tip inching ever closer toward Mo Beichen’s solar plexus.

“It was to force you out into the open, of course!”

Cang Shitian roared, “You are… the man I acknowledge… you can die in battle…”

“But you are not allowed… to be a craven turtle!!”

His eyes suddenly exploded with blue energy.

Somehow finding a new, impossible surge of strength within himself, Cang Shitian pushed Mo Beichen and himself toward Yun Che with everything he had.