Against the Gods

Chapter 1085 - Black Soul Mountain

“Just now you said that you have a way to send me out of the Darkya Realm. In that case, do you have a way to send me to the Heavenly Mystery Realm?” Yun Che asked.

“Heavenly Mystery Realm?” Ji Ruyan said in a surprised voice. “Sir, could it be that you want to go there to seek some information or find something? If possible, can you tell Ruyan about it first? The strongest point of the Black Feather Merchant Guild is its information gathering ability. Perhaps… Ruyan might be able to help you in obtaining it without you having to leave for the distant Heavenly Mystery Realm.”

Yun Che slightly hesitated, before saying, “I want to find a Divine Nine Star Buddha Jade and an Immortal Emperor Grass.”

“...” A startled expression appeared on Ji Ruyan’s face. But the thing that Yun Che found unexpected was that she didn’t outright say anything along the lines of “that’s impossible,” and instead gave an actual reply after remaining silent for a short while. “Ruyan will try to find those two rare things but the chance of really finding them is almost negligible. If I fail to get any results, it’d be definitely be the best choice to go to the Heavenly Mystery Realm. However, since you are seeking such things, then you certainly need to return from the Black Soul Divine Sect alive… Ruyan still hopes that sir can be more reasonable and understand when to back down.”

“Is the Heavenly Mystery Realm truly such a mystical place?” Yun Che wrinkled his brows. That old man had told him before that once he arrived at the Heavenly Mystery Realm, he would definitely not return disappointed as long as he had enough profound stones.

“The ‘Heaven’s Mystery’ in the Heavenly Mystery Realm is absolutely isn’t an exaggeration,” Ji Ruyan said. “It’s also the sole star realm that is particularly revered by all the king realms.”

“Don’t tell me that its inhabitants can truly see through the mysteries of heaven?” Yun Che slightly curled his lips.

“The several great predictions made in the history of the Heavenly Mystery Realm have all come true,” Ji Ruyan said. “No matter the information you need, so long as it isn’t anything that violates basic morals and ethics and they’re willing to provide the information, you will get an accurate and errorless result. No one has ever heard of them giving any information that is simply false or deviates from reality.”

“Sir must know about the Profound God Convention that alarmed the entire God Realm and is going to be held in two years. The Heavenly Mystery Realm is the reason behind that, too.”

“...Hmm!?” Yun Che was quite shocked. “Because of the Heavenly Mystery Realm? Could it be due to some prediction made by the Heavenly Mystery Realm?”

“Exactly.” Ji Ruyan slowly nodded. “According to what Ruyan knows, the Heavenly Mystery Realm issued a prediction ten years ago that there’s an extremely high possibility of a great calamity befalling the Eastern Divine Region or even the entire God Realm within thirty years. Furthermore, the calamity seems to bring along unprecedented destructiveness. The four Great King Realms started to make preparations early because of this prediction and thus the grand event was planned to be held all of a sudden. Moreover, the mechanism of the Profound God Convention is going to be completely different from the past. The main objective of the event is to select a thousand young practitioners, with the best aptitude in the Eastern Divine Region and then, use up all the energy of the Eternal Heaven Pearl to help them grow rapidly, in order to deal with the great calamity that is likely to come in the future.”

Yun Che, however, said with an unchanged expression, “I have never believed in something like ‘heaven’s mystery.’ Furthermore, the prediction only mentioned a ‘possibility.’ Frankly speaking, they are just deliberately mystifying things to leave a way out for themselves. Besides, I didn’t get to hear about this prediction even when I was staying in a middle star realm, a higher level place than the Darkya Realm, so how come you know about it?”

“The two words ‘great calamity’ will definitely cause an enormous panic among people and thus, it was necessary to keep the prediction a secret… However, this time’s Profound God Convention is too unusual and actually, every place has a guess that’s not too far from the original prediction. Although the Black Feather Merchant Guild has meager power, our intelligence network is extremely vast. As we come into contact with so many people, the information gathering ability of the guild is likely even greater than what you might think. In addition, the theory of ‘heaven’s mystery’ sounds purely imaginary to anyone who hears of it but once you go to the Heavenly Mystery Realm, perhaps… it will change your point of view.”

Yun Che raised the corners of his brows and said with a nod, “Alright then. I’ll have to trouble you to use the information gathering ability of your Black Feather Merchant Guild to help me look for a Divine Nine Star Buddha Jade and an Immortal Emperor Grass. If you truly succeed in getting them, I’ll certainly provide an appropriate reward in return. As for whether I can come back alive, you don’t need to worry about it.”

“Ruyan will give it her all. About the reward,” Ji Ruyan shook her head, “No need for that. It’d be Ruyan’s fortune to be of help.”

“...” Yun Che raised his gaze a bit as he glanced at the figure of Ji Ruyan once again. His tone had clearly become a little softer than before, “Miss Ruyan, you already know that I am from the lower realm, alone, and an insignificant person. Since I have no means to assist the Black Feather Merchant Guild, why do you still want to help me?”

Ji Ruyan revealed a shallow smile, “Because it’s the Black Soul Divine Sect, the existence Ruyan hates the most, that sir wants to deal with even at the risk of your life. Moreover, Ruyan also extremely admires your moral and righteous nature.”

“Moral? Righteous?” Yun Che laughed in self-derision, before flying up into the air. “Like I said, I’m doing this because I owe a debt… that I must return at any cost!”

By the time his voice faded away, Yun Che’s figure had disappeared within the curtain of night.

————————————————

At the east of Darkya City, meandering mountains could be seen with no end in sight, even looking from high above, in the sky. As far as it was possible for the eyes to see, the entire mountain range was surrounded with dark gray fog, which made it appear very eerie.

The roars of beasts could be heard from distant places, causing people to walk timidly, in fear.

“The Black Soul Mountain Range!” Standing before the mountain range, Yun Che mumbled to himself.

“Black Soul Divine Sect isn’t that far from Darkya City. One thousand five hundred kilometers to the east of Darkya City, there’s a thousand kilometer long mountain range, called the Black Soul Mountain Range. The location of the Black Soul Divine Sect is right beyond the mountain range.”

“The Black Soul Mountain Range is an extremely dangerous place. Countless dangerous profound beasts lurk around there and especially, extremely dense gray fog spreads all over the mountain range from evening until the early morning of the next day. Even profound practitioners of the divine way would have their sights and spirit senses greatly restricted.”

“The western part of the Black Soul Mountain Range is visited by a lot of profound practitioners throughout the year to train themselves or look for opportunities. However, all those who dare to enter this place are experts, without any exception, and ordinary profound practitioners would absolutely not dare to get closer to this mountain range. The eastern part belongs to the Black Soul Divine Sect. Once someone rashly enters in there and gets sensed by a disciple of the Black Soul Divine Sect, they would have an extremely tragic end. Hence, no one dares to approach the eastern part… Extreme care is required when travelling through the mountain range.”

This was the information given to him by Ji Ruyan about the Black Soul Mountain Range.

In the face of the enormous Black Soul Divine Sect, Yun Che was as negligible of an existence as a broken stone at the foot of a mountain. It was absolutely impossible for him to have a head-on clash with it… but, he also had things that he could rely upon in such a situation.

“Black Soul Divine Sect, get ready to experience the fury of this insignificant person!” Yun Che gnashed his teeth, as he said in a low voice.

Yun Che descended from the sky and stepped into the Black Soul Mountain Range. Even though he held extreme hatred for the sect , he knew the difficulty and gravity of the thing he was planning to do and needed to be very careful in accomplishing his goal. A slight bit of carelessness could spell his doom.

At least, he now had a rough understanding of the surroundings, so he could use that knowledge to his advantage in a dangerous situation and escape.

As it was daytime, no dense fog could be seen in the Black Soul Mountain Range, but right after stepping into the place, he could clearly sense an eerie feeling.

Yun Che made his way straight to the depths of the mountain range. Here, profound practitioners with different auras and in various types of clothes could be seen everywhere. Just as Ji Ruyan had said, the ones who dared to enter the Black Soul Mountain Range were anything but ordinary profound practitioners. None of the people Yun Che came across had a cultivation level lower than the Divine Soul Realm. He would occasionally even meet experts of the Divine Tribulation Realm. Furthermore, all these people had companions and there were even those who had formed large groups. He didn’t meet anyone who was all by themselves like he was.

Although he was still in the peripheral region of the mountain range, the profound beasts that were wandering around were far more crowded together than the humans.

Having obtained the Royal Wood Spirit Orb from He Lin, Yun Che’s sight, hearing, and sense of smell had all gotten much, much better than before. He could even clearly sense the breathing of the trees and plants. In addition, he could call out the names and characteristics of all the flowers, plants, and trees in his field of vision with incomparable accuracy, without failing to recognize a single thing.

Evading the auras of the profound beasts, Yun Che looked over the surrounding landscape, while heading into the depths of the Black Soul Mountain Range at a steady pace. As he drew step by step nearer to the Black Soul Divine Sect, the look in his eyes also gradually turned gloomy and ruthless. All of a sudden, the corners of his brows raised slightly.

HISS!!

A black-striped snake abruptly shot out the crack in the withered tree on his right side. At the same time, another similar aura could be sensed from the left side, waiting to launch an attack at the right moment. Yun Che stretched out his hand with lightning speed and grabbed the black-striped snake at the weakest place on its body. A bit of profound energy was spat out and its internal organs shattered from the shock… In the same moment, the second black-striped snake pounced towards his neck like lightning.

“Watch your back!!”

No sooner had the voice reached his ears than a jade sword came flying over at a very fast speed and stabbed through the black striped snake in the air, with incomparable preciseness. Afterwards, the sword beautifully turned around in the air and flew back, while emitting a chilly sword aura. Black blood spilled out the the black-striped snake that was now cut into two and instantly turned all the grass and trees that came into contact with it pitch-black, which was a horrible sight to see.

Yun Che, “…”

The one who had killed the snake was a small and thin man in an ink-colored robe. Accompanying him was a big and tall man who was dressed in an identical robe and a young lady who was clearly a lot younger than the other two.

Judging from the aura, the small and thin man who “saved” him had a slightly higher cultivation level than him and should be at the third level of the Divine Soul Realm. The big and tall man was even stronger than him and must have already reached the fifth level of the Divine Soul Realm. As for the woman, she was evidently being protected by the two men and her profound power was only at the middle stage of the Divine Origin Realm.

The trio obviously belonged to the same sect and from the looks of it, they should be mainly practicing the way of the sword.

“Brother, are you alright?” As the three of them walked forward, the small and thin man said, “That was a Black Killer Snake, a notorious creature in the Black Soul Mountain Range. Not only it is sly, it also often hunts with another of its kind. Furthermore, it has a highly toxic poison, which poses the true danger when someone runs into it.”

Yun Che nodded his head. He gave them a glance, as he said with a slight laugh, “Thank you for the assistance.”

The big and tall man wrinkled his brows. It was obvious that he was quite displeased at Yun Che thanking them in such a manner. He said with a faint smile, “If my junior brother didn’t help you out just now, you’d be dead at this moment and even your corpse would’ve turned completely black. You’d better think of a way to repay us first.”

“Hehe, brother, my senior brother is only joking with you.” The small and thin man promptly smoothed things over. “Brother, why have you come alone to such a place? How about… you travel with us? That way we can look after each other, after all. It’s really too dangerous for a person to be all alone here.”

“Yeah, it’d be better to tag along with us,” the woman also said immediately. Yun Che’s appearance was extraordinary in the first place. Coupled with his domineering and indistinct noble aura, he evoked favorable feelings in a woman’s heart with extreme ease. She said quite proudly, “I am Gu Xiaolian and these are my Great Senior Brother and Third Senior Brother. Both of them are particularly powerful and very famous people, whose names you would definitely have heard.”

The big and tall man curled his lip, with a blatantly proud look on his face.

“No need.” Having finished his words, Yun Che didn’t say anything more and directly turned around to leave.

“Heh, this kid,” the big and tall man coldly snorted in disdain.

“Third Senior Brother, what is his cultivation level? Could it be that he is also at the Divine Soul Realm?” Gu Xiaolian asked curiously.

The thin and short man replied, “Hmm, the second level of the Divine Soul Realm.”

“Oh, so powerful.” Gu Xiaolian blinked her eyes. “Moreover, I feel that he should be almost the same age as me… or even younger.”

“How is that possible!?” The big and tall man pursed his lips. “Even the Black Soul Divine Sect doesn’t have anyone that has reached the Divine Soul Realm at around thirty, so how could he attain such success? But, if his age is under sixty, then he would certainly be called a genius. It’s a pity that he is an idiot who actually dared to come to the Black Soul Mountain Range alone. This might be his first time coming here, as he would absolutely not be alive to come here a second time.”

“Great Senior Brother!” Gu Xiaolian jumped in fright and promptly said, “Don’t say such things. He… he can hear us.”

“So what?” The Great Senior Brother smiled coldly in disdain. “No matter whether he hears my words or not, I’d still call him an idiot.”

While they were talking, two burly men appeared in their line of sight, who were dressed in similar black robes. Sensing the auras of the two black robed men, both of them felt a shiver in their hearts. The cold smile on the big and tall man’s face disappeared at once, too.

The bodies of the two black robed men were releasing auras of the late stage of the Divine Soul Realm!

The two black robed men also looked at them at the same time. Their pace immediately slowed down, after which the two men exchanged glances with each other and actually changed the direction they were heading in. They straightaway walked towards the trio, with their gazes fixed on Gu Xiaolian’s body.

When he sensed their gazes, the thin and short man said in a panicked voice, “They don’t seem to have good intentions. Let’s leave here quickly.”

“Hold it!” The moment they turned around, a thunderous voice resounded beside their ears, causing their entire bodies to tremble. They no longer dared to act rashly.

The trio slowly turned around and the small and thin man made his salutations, “This humble one is Luo Mu of the Jade Sword Sect. May I ask what advice the two seniors have for us?”

“Jade Sword Sect? What the hell is that?” The black robed person on the right asked.

“Hahahaha, like we give a sh*t about it. Anyways, it’s f*king nothing in the eyes of our Black Soul Divine Sect. We only care about fun stuff.” The black robed person on the left laughed wildly.

Black Soul Divine Sect… These four words made the three people feel greatly shocked in their hearts. It was at this time that they finally caught sight of the black snake marks on their bodies. The big and tall man said in shaking voice, “So seniors… are actually from the Black Soul Divine Sect. Do the two seniors have… some instruction for us?”

“Instruction? Hmph!” The face of the black-robed man on the right turned dark all of a sudden. “You damn things sure have some big guts. You actually dared to trespass on the territory of our Black Soul Divine Sect!? Could it be that you don’t know that the entire Black Soul Mountain Range is the domain of our sect?”

“About… that…” The thin and short man said in a flurry. “Junior absolutely wouldn’t dare do such a thing. Just… just that as far as junior knows, it’s the eastern part of the Black Soul Mountain that belongs to senior’s esteemed sect and not the western part…”

“Nonsense!” The black-robed man said in an angry voice. “Since it is called Black Soul Mountain, it’s naturally the possession of our Black Soul Divine Sect. Not only did you guys trespass on our territory, you even dare to quibble with us, huh. Well, let’s forget it. Our Black Soul Divine Sect is the ruling sect in the Darkya Realm after all, so it’s expected for us to be magnanimous. We won’t stoop to the level of you ignorant juniors.”

The trio felt joy in their hearts. They were just about to say their thanks when they saw that person pointing his finger towards Gu Xiaolian. He said with a repulsive and lewd smile on his face, “So long as we get to have some fun with this young girl, we’ll let bygones be bygones and forgive your crime of trespassing on our territory. If we feel sufficiently pleased after having our fun, we might even give you a great reward, hahahahaha!”

The expression of the two senior brothers abruptly changed, while Gu Xiaolian’s face turned ghastly pale in an instant. She suddenly got behind the two and said in a scared and trembling voice, “I.. I don’t want to…”

“Senior Brother,” The small and thin man clenched his hands. His whole body shivered as he used sound transmission while gritting his teeth, “Senior Brother, they’re going too far… Let’s just face them with our all might!”

“No way! Do you want to die?!” The big and tall man immediately replied. “They’re from the Black Soul Divine Sect! That’s the ‘Black Soul Divine Sect,’ you know! Besides, those two have such a high profound strength, so there’s no way they would have a low identity in the Black Soul Divine Sect… No matter what, we can’t be impulsive!”

“Senior Brother, save… save me,” Gu Xiaolian said in an imploring tone.

“Junior Sister Xiaolian,” The corners of the Great Senior Brother’s brows twitched. “They are… seniors from the Black Soul Divine Sect. So we can only… can only have you go through this suffering. Otherwise.. all three of us will die.”

“Great… Senior Brother…” Gu Xiaolian at once fell into a daze. Her face was as white as a sheet, unable to believe what she had just heard.

“Hahahaha, I guess you guys are sensible at least. Hurry up and get lost from here! Or is it that you also want to join in the fun?”

“No, no… we’ll at once get lost from here, we’ll get lost right away!” Hearing the words “get lost,” the Great Senior Brother not only didn’t feel humiliated, they even sounded to be coming from heaven to him. He grabbed the small and thin man, as he forcibly dragged him backwards to leave the place.

“...” Gu Xiaolian slowly sat paralyzed on the ground, with a look of despair on her face.

“Hahahaha…” The two black-robed men let out a wild laugh at the same time. “Tsk, tsk, what a pair of wussies. We were thinking that they’d be able to entertain us some more.”

It was at this moment that an utterly emotionless and ice-cold voice resounded beside their ears all of a sudden.

“You two are from the Black Soul Divine Sect?”