Against the Gods

The beginning of the fires in the infirmary and Southern Courtyard were exceptionally strange. It was obviously a malicious arson, but the people in the vicinity unexpectedly didn’t even see a single suspicious shadow. Even the Xiao Clan guard who stood outside the infirmary door had not seen anyone enter or exit the infirmary.

But fortunately, the fire wasn’t too violent and was easily controlled. Xiao Yunhai quickly put it in order, and afterwards burned in anxiety as he yelled at Xiao Gu. He then once more hurriedly returned to Xiao Yulong’s little courtyard.

As he pushed open the door, Xiao Yunhai was about to shout Xiao Yulong’s name but instead, his entire body stilled, as if he had been struck by lightning. He had on a foolish expression as he blankly stood in place.

Xiao Yulong was no longer on top of the bed, but instead was trembling as he laid on his stomach, on the floor, like a dead dog. His entire body was covered in blood; both pairs of his wrists and ankles had the same thick scars, while his hands and feet were thoroughly twisted. His entire face was pasted with blood; on both sides of his ears, what remained were only two piles of flesh.. His nose and upper lip had entirely disappeared, as if they had went missing and he foamed bloody bubbles at the mouth. A stream of red, white, and black liquid alternatively followed one another from the middle of both his pitch-black eye sockets…. His lower body was even more completely covered in a bright scarlet red dye.

Xiao Gu’s entire body trembled until both his legs half-kneeled limply onto the floor. Throughout his entire medical career, he’d seen numerous amounts of major to minor injuries but had never seen such a cruel, bloody, and extremely tragic scene. As he looked at Xiao Yulong’s complexion, he could tell that Xiao Yulong was not dead…. and his lifespan had not weakened one bit… but this kind of horrifying condition was a hundred, a thousand times, more miserable than death.

Xiao Yunhai’s whole body trembled, as his heart shattered into pieces and his complexion became as white as death. As he felt someone getting closer, Xiao Yulong’s body twitched and a sandpaper-like coarse and hopeless whine was let out of his mouth that foamed with bloody bubbles.

Xiao Yunhai’s body flashed forward as he staggeringly advanced a step. He suddenly bellowed wildly, as if he was insane: “WHO IS IT!!! WHO IS IT!! WHO IS IT!!!”

“Get your ass out here right now! I want to hack you into a thousand pieces of mincemeat!! And suffer the death of a thousand lingering cuts!! To die without descendants!!”

Xiao Yuhai’s snarl contained an endless amount of resentment and madness that it seemed as if he’d suddenly become mad. He felt as if his chest had almost exploded, and that his blood vessels had ruptured. When he looked at his son’s completely crippled body lying face down on the ground, that didn’t seem to resemble anything human, he couldn’t bear it anymore and hated that he couldn’t loudly cry out forever. He furthermore hated the fact that he couldn’t genuinely become insane!

“Who! Who the hell did this! Get your ass out here right now!! Get your …. AHHHHH!!!!!”

Xiao Yunhai swiftly dashed two steps forward and completely shattered the rear window with his incomparably loud and mournful roar. At this moment, he unexpectedly discovered two rows of blood red characters on the wall beside his hand…. the characters were written using his son Xiao Yulong’s blood.

“Old piece of Xiao shit! This special present is to celebrate your b*tch ass son’s immediate ascension into the Xiao Sect. Please kindly accept it.”

“UUAAAAAAH!!”

Xiao Yunhai ferociously punched against the bloody characters written on the wall and split it open with a loud bang. His mournfully loud howl made a sudden arrow-like jet of blood spurt out of his mouth. After that, both his eyes rolled up as he heavily collapsed invertedly on the ground.

————————

After the tyrannical bullying of Xiao Yulong, Xiao Che returned to his own room to put the clothing that Xiao Lingxi had made for him and all his personal savings into the Sky Poison Pearl. His savings were only meager, altogether, a total of 1800 yellow profound coins.

Before leaving, he suddenly hesitated, and then also put the blanket that he and Xia Qingyue had slept under, into the Sky Poison Pearl.

“Sixteen years of living in this place…. In the future, it should be improbable that I’ll return a second time.”

Xiao Che had a sense of nostalgia as he looked around for a while…. his nostalgia was certainly not because of the Xiao Clan, but was instead because of the many memories of him and Xiao Lingxi in here. Before he turned eleven, this place was not only his room but was also Xiao Lingxi’s room. In those days, whether it was day or night, they were inseparable and were almost always together at all times.

After temporarily staying there for a quite a while, Xiao Che finally returned to the concealed state, climbed over the wall, and entered the rear mountain area.

The deadline of the Star Concealing Pill still had more than an hour left. The main reason why he used the Star Concealing Pill was to see Xiao Lie and Xiao Lingxi, to confirm their safety. A mere Xiao Yulong was unworthy of wasting a Star Concealing Pill. Although he had suddenly found two blades of Star Concealing Grass on the first day of his rebirth, he was certain that the Star Concealing Grass was a heavenly rare item, and in the entire Profound Sky Continent, its total may not necessarily exceed ten.

Torturing Xiao Yulong was only a convenience. It was only an interest for himself, even more for all of the hardships his grandfather and little aunt had suffered…. Just a little interest!!

The one he really wanted to kill was Xiao Kuangyun! However, even with the mystical power he had borrowed from the Star Concealing Grass, there was no way he could kill Xiao Kuangyun. Although he didn’t know the level of Xiao Kuangyun’s profound strength, despite being an idiot, Xiao Kuangyun was nonetheless from Xiao Sect, so his profound strength should be way higher than Xiao Yulong by many levels.

However even if he couldn’t do it now, he one day he would be able to.… This debt, he swore to demand it back a thousand folds!! He was no longer the weak and cowardly Xiao Che, the one taking a larger percentage of his will was the Yun Che that had looked down on everyone! After his master was hounded to death, he had sworn to bury all the clans involved, together with his master! As for those who had hurt his kin, he swore he would make Xiao Clan and Xiao Kuangyun, regret it for the rest of their lives.

The way he had tortured Xiao Yulong was incomparably brutal, so much that it would send shivers and continuous nightmares to many if they had witnessed it. However in his eyes, that was by no means cruel, but just the price one had to pay for going against him!!

By now, Xiao Clan was in a disarray and the piercing sounds of the alarms had been ringing non stop for a long time. This was exactly what Xiao Che had wanted… Other than torturing Xiao Yulong, setting Xiao Clan’s inner halls on fire was another reason that forced the Xiao Clan to issue the Clan Gathering Order… Under the Clan Gathering Order, all people guarding the rear mountains must also return as well.

As he had expected, he didn’t have to go far to see four Xiao Clan members impatiently charge straight ahead. Like the wind, they rushed past him, making a beeline in the general direction of the Xiao Clan.

Xiao Che sped up his footsteps and went straight towards rear mountain’s Reflection Gorge.

The Reflection Gorge was a tightly closed area that the Xiao Clan used in order to punish offenders within their clan. The interior was dark and humid; in the summer, it was parching hot and in the winter, it was as cold as ice. Fortunately, because of it’s narrow entrance, it was unlikely that an excessively violent Profound beast would intrude inside.

In Xiao Che’s memory, there weren’t many people who had been imprisoned in the Reflection Gorge and the longest period of imprisonment also was never more than two months. However, even when the members of Xiao Clan knew that Xiao Lingxi was framed, they still wanted to lock them up for fifteen years….

Fifteen years… How many fifteen years could one possibly have in this lifetime? As of now Xiao Lingxi was only fifteen years old. If she was always locked up inside, then the most beautiful period of her life would just be spent under this dark and cold loneliness… That was the actually cruel torture.

As he removed his concealed state, Xiao Che stared at the entrance of Reflection Gorge and clenched both of his hands tightly… How could he possibly allow grandfather and little aunt to continuously be locked up in this place… However, the him now, fundamentally did not have the ability to rescue them. He had no other choice to look on helplessly, endure, and hate…

Taking a deep breath, Xiao Che walked forward. Without his concealment, his advance naturally created the sound of footsteps. The sound of his footsteps aroused the attention of Xiao Lie in the Reflection Gorge who automatically looked outside in alert. The moment his gaze met with Xiao Che, he suddenly became startled and involuntarily cried out: “Che’er!!”

“Ah!”

A young girl startled voice also rang out, followed by flurry of rapid footsteps. The silhouette of Xiao Lingxi soon appeared beside Xiao Che; her complexion was slightly haggard and her hair was somewhat messy. After seeing Xiao Che, she covered her lips with her fingers and stood there in place. A split second later, huge amounts of teardrops began to well up in her eyes…

“Little Che!” As she shouted, she ferociously dashed forward and threw herself at Xiao Che’s chest. She used both her arms to tightly embrace him and cried out loudly. She was under the impression that since she was about to be imprisoned for fifteen years, and that since Xiao Che had been expelled from Xiao Clan, she would never again see him until at least fifteen years. She didn’t expect him to suddenly appear before her eyes, as if he was just an illusion.

Xiao Lie walked over and across his entire face was an emotionally stirred up expression: “Che’er…. How …. How are you here? Did the Xiao Clan allow you to return?”

Xiao Che shook his head and patted Xiao Lingxi on the back: “I secretly snuck back…. But rest assured grandfather, something major has happened in Xiao Clan so everyone had all been called to return. No one will discover me.”

“…..” Xiao Lie nodded. He didn’t even bother to ask what was happening to Xiao Clan. He had entrely given up on the Xiao Clan, so even if the Xiao Clan was being wiped out, there wouldn’t be a major change in his expression.

There were many caves in Reflection Gorge that were either deep or shallow. The decoration inside was extremely simple, and only a few cold stone tables could be seen with just a glance. Xiao Lingxi’s cry went into a state of chaos, Xiao Che didn’t stop her from continuous cry. He wanted her to release all her grievances, fears, anxiousness, and hesitation to her heart’s content; otherwise she may possibly fall into depression since she had stayed in here for quite a long time… After all, she was still only a small fifteen year old girl.

When Xiao Lingxi finally stopped, she had wept so hard that she was almost on the verge of fainting.

Xiao Che sat facing Xiao Lie in front of the stone table. Next to him, Xiao Lingxi’s hands both held tightly and clung onto his arms as her small head leaned against his shoulder. She didn’t care that Xiao Lie was also next to them and wasn’t willing to loosen her grip, as if afraid that he would yet again disappear from her world.

“After you’ve been imprisoned in here, did they do anything to you guys?” Xiao Che anxiously asked.

Xiao Lie shook his head and comfortably laughed: “Be at ease. The Frozen Cloud Asgard’s Chu fairy hinted that she would protect us to the Xiao Sect before she had departed. With the backing of this powerful force, how could they dare to injure me or Xi’er? After the Xiao Sect members leave, they would even more not dare to; after all, I do have the reputation of being Floating Cloud City’s number one expert here, heh heh.”

“That’s good.” Xiao Che nodded, as his heart felt a bit more grateful to Xia Qingyue’s master.

Xia Qingyue is a good wife; to the very end, she did not tear up the marriage certificate.” Xiao Lie said with a somewhat melancholy expression.

“……” Xiao Che silently nodded his head.

A period of sudden silence descended upon the three. After going through the calamities that had came today, their fate had undoubtedly turned upside down. Although they had a thousand words to say in their hearts, they didn’t exactly know where to start….

“Grandfather, I want to know….”

“You want to ask who your biological parents were, right?” Xiao Lie said as he immediately continued the sentence with a tranquil expression on his face.

“En,” Xiao Che nodded as his eyes solidly concentrated at Xiao Lie: “ I believe I wasn’t randomly picked up without good cause…. Grandfather, you do know something, right?”

Xiao Lingxi also raised her eyes as she stared in astonishment at Xiao Lie.

Xiao Lie silently watched Xiao Che for a long time until he lightly sighed, and slowly closed his eyes.

“I had originally thought that this secret would stay in my heart for an entire lifetime, and that a second person would never know of it…. Now that Xiao Clan cannot tolerate you, and that you have already grown up, knowing this could be considered a good thing; finding one’s original roots, is also the role of the offspring.”

“Your biological father; his surname is Yun….”