Against the Gods

Chapter 1123 - Returning to Snow Song

As he started to regain consciousness, Mu Xuanyin’s figure once again appeared clearly in his mind.

Master!

Yun Che felt a jolt in his soul and sat straight up.

“Ah!” A surprised exclamation rang out, a voice that belonged to a young woman cried out as she hurriedly ran towards him, “Yun Che, you’re awake!”

Looking at that blue dressed young woman in front of him, Yun Che was in quite a daze, “Senior Sister… Xiaolan?”

He was currently seated on an ice bed. Within sight were the familiar ice crystal embers. The breath coming from his nose felt that familiar pure and clean chilly air. In front of him, the girl that was all smiles was Mu Xiaolan, who he hadn’t seen in the longest time.

This was… the Snow Song Realm’s… Thirty-sixth Ice Phoenix Palace.

“This is great! When you arrived you were unconscious. I even thought you were injured, but then I noticed that you were completely fine,” Mu Xiaolan excitedly said, while staring at him with both her bright and clear eyes. “Where did you run off to all this time? Why were you unconscious? Master said that you went travelling outside to train. I thought you’d spend a few more good years before you’d bother to return.”

Mu Xiaolan was saying quite a lot of stuff. The still dazed Yun Che didn’t register what she was saying. He shook his head, trying to recall the scene before he fainted. He asked listlessly, “Where’s Master?”

“Oh… Sect Master hasn’t returned yet. It was Sect Master’s Saint Dragon that brought you back here.” Looking at Yun Che’s strange expression, Mu Xiaolan hesitated a little but she couldn’t contain her curiosity, “Yun Che, did something happen?”

Yun Che shook his head, unable to answer.

“Xiaolan, leave the room.”

A soft and gentle voice travelled in. Mu Bingyun slowly stepped in, her demeanor and gaze as cold as always.

“Yes.” Although she was curious, Mu Xiaolan still obediently left the room.

Mu Bingyun walked towards him, her gaze turning complicated as she continued looking at Yun Che.

Yun Che lowered his head, for the first time not daring to meet Mu Bingyun’s eyes. This was because he knew that he had committed a serious sin, she was his benefactor and more importantly, Mu Xuanyin’s younger sister.

“Where did your master find you?” Mu Bingyun asked, her voice familiar and gentle as ever.

“In the east. At the heart of the Illusory Sea Island there’s a secret realm called the Illusory Sea Ancient Realm,” Yun Che replied, head still lowered, his conscience still pricking him.

“As expected…”

Yun Che “...”

“Where’s your master? Why hasn’t she returned?” Mu Bingyun continued asking.

Yun Che shook his head, “I don’t know, I just saw Master and then I saw her getting angry… Next thing I know, I woke up here.”

“...” Mu Bingyun didn’t continue asking, but didn’t look worried. Afterall, with Mu Xuanyin’s power, regardless of where she went, there was no need to worry about her. Her gaze lifted off Yun Che’s body, her chest heaving a little, showing quite obviously that her heart wasn’t at rest. Her soft and gentle voice had an added tinge of coldness to it, “Yun Che, everything that you’ve done in the Flame God Realm… I know about it all… Apart from your master, I’m the only one who knows.”

Yun Che’s face darkened. “I know… my sin is unpardonable.”

“You’re indeed unpardonable.” Mu Bingyun’s voice had some fluctuation to it. She turned around, afraid that if her gaze stayed on Yun Che for too long, her heart that had been icy and cold for a thousand years would lose control. “The sect master isn’t only the Snow Song Realm King or the Divine Ice Phoenix Sect Master. She’s the most powerful person that the Snow Song Realm has ever seen in the last few hundred thousand years. Her status is well respected and she’s the strongest, a fact undisputed from ancient times until now. Even an emperor of a country would not dare to look directly at her, let alone be within a hundred feet of her. If he were to offend her with even half a sentence, he would not be spared the death sentence!”

“And she’s your master!”

“Yet you…”

Even though it was only her back that faced Yun Che, her voice still lost its calm. Her beautiful figure trembled and was only able to recover after a long while.

Although that incident happened a long while back, she was still unable to accept it and forgive Yun Che.

Even if she was the one that Yun Che had “sinned” against half a year ago, she wouldn’t be as disturbed as she was now.

Yun Che’s head was still kept down. He didn’t refute her… nor was he able to.

“The sect master was gravely injured and her body was poisoned by the horned dragon’s blood. There was no way she could save herself but you had already brought her away and fled. You could definitely have borrowed the strength of all three Flame Sect Masters and easily expelled the horned dragon’s blood from her, why did you still have to…”

“I don’t trust them!” Yun Che lifted his head and shouted, “I was afraid that they would take advantage of Master being injured and hurt her. I also didn’t want to have the possibility of negligence, of them making a mistake…”

He was resentful of the Yan Wancang trio who had selfishly refused to head out and save her. He hated them so much he even harbored some murderous intent, doubting their motives. Even if they were willing to go all out to save her, there would definitely have been skin contact. With Mu Xuanyin’s high and mighty personality, how would she be able to eventually accept it?

As he was speaking, halfway through, he found himself unable to continue.

It was because what he had done to Mu Xuanyin went far beyond ordinary negligence.

“Apart from borrowing the powers of those three sect masters, there’s another matter which you don’t know about,” Mu Bingyun replied. “The sect master’s body has a large amount of Ice Phoenix soul origin. Although she lost all her profound strength and became delirious, just the ancient horned dragon’s blood alone is not enough to threaten her soul or life.”

Yun Che lifted his head in shock.

“What you’ve committed is the most unforgivable sin in the history of the Snow Song Realm. However, it still must be said that before that, you had just saved the sect master’s life… Or else, she would have fallen within the Ancient God Burying Inferno Prison.”

Yun Che could only look at her back, unable to see her expression, but he could clearly sense the very complex emotions she was having inside.

“Even so, I am still unable to convince myself to forgive you.” Mu Bingyun gently sighed. “Your master… she’s extremely disappointed and angry at you.”

“I know,” Yun Che replied meekly, and then laughed a self-deprecating laugh. “Right now… I no longer have the qualifications to be her disciple. Palace Master Bingyun, you were the one who brought me to the Snow Song Realm, and it was you who then looked after me. I will never forget what you’ve done for me no matter what. It’s just that… I no longer have any chance to repay you.”

Mu Xuanyin… The difference between their statuses… Yun Che couldn’t even be considered a little ant compared to her.

It was like a wretched beggar soiling a great and majestic empress. He wouldn’t be able to redeem himself even if he underwent the punishment of death by a thousand cuts ten thousand times.

He had not only stained her sacred body, he had completely ruined her intact vital yin… needless to say, she was also his master, to whom he owed a huge debt.

He could feel the anger in Mu Xuanyin’s eyes at that time, and this time, he was readily prepared to bear a heavy punishment. He wasn’t going to run anymore.

Mu Bingyun stayed silent for a while and then said, “Do you know why Sect Master went to that place called Illusory Sea Island?”

“She should have sensed my aura,” Yun Che replied. He didn’t know how Mu Xuanyin found him. When he was in the Darkya Realm, Huo Rulie swore to keep his whereabouts a secret. In the Darkya Realm, he used the pseudonym, Ling Yun. The only one who knew he was “Yun Che” was only Ji Ruyan.

In order to prevent others from recognizing that he came from the Snow Song Realm, he did not use the Ice Phoenix God Investiture Canon. Even when he cultivated, he chose the deepest and most aura obscuring Black Soul Mountain Range.

“No.” Mu Bingyun slowly shook her head, “Even though she was looking for you this whole while, the God Realm is infinitely huge. She couldn't find any trace of you. The reason why she headed towards Illusory Sea Island was because she received news that the Immortal Emperor Grass had appeared. In order to prevent others from taking it away she chose to personally retrieve it. That's because it was absolutely necessary for helping you refine the Universe Penta Jade Pellet.”

“...!” Yun Che sat there in a daze.

She glanced at Yun Che one more time and then slowly walked off, her cold voice drifting, “Compared to the grave mistake you made, she’s even more disappointed and angry that you just up and went running away.”

Mu Bingyun left, leaving a frozen Yun Che behind. It was as if his soul had been sucked out of him. After a long while, he stretched his hand out and placed his palm on his chest. Something in there was violently churning, unable to rest.

“Master didn’t want to kill me… she went there… to help me look for the Immortal Emperor Grass…”

“For... me...”

Crack!!

Crack!!

Crack!!

Blue light ran amok within the ancient realm. Every phoenix cry and wolf howl triggered the onslaught of turbulent tremors throughout the world, practically turning it on its end.

This was an independent small world, a secret realm that had stood the test of time since the Era of Gods, yet it had now already transformed into a frosty, ruined purgatory. Space was being shattered constantly and living beings were perishing. Even the laws within seemed to be on the verge of collapsing.

The ancient realm being on the verge of collapse was something that Mu Xuanyin and Little Jasmine could feel, but their brutal battle still continued, fighting from the east of the world all the way to the west, and then to the end of the south, non-stop.

Mu Xuanyin was a powerful Divine Master, a well known person within the God Realm. The Snow Song Realm and their Flame God Realm neighbor knew more about her strength than anyone. But right now, be it Yun Che, or anyone else in the Divine Ice Phoenix Sect, or even the Flame God Realm’s three sect masters, should any of them witness this sight before them, they would never dare believe their eyes.

Although Yun Che had ignored the danger to his life and saved her during that battle in the Ancient God Burying Inferno Prison where Mu Xuanyin fell into the trap of the two ancient horned dragons, she still suffered severe injuries and her profound strength had been completely exhausted. Despite being under those conditions, she still managed to forcefully kill one horned dragon and then, using a large amount of blood essence, unleashed “Oblivion of Broken Moon”. It not only exacerbated her injuries, it caused her to lose a large amount of her cultivation and innate talent.

And after that, because of Yun Che, she had lost her Ice Phoenix vital yin...

Loss of profound strength, blood essence, innate talent, and vital yin, coupled with heavy injuries, the amount of catastrophic hits she took in every aspect imaginable, could be considered the maximum possible. Yun Che estimated that Mu Xuanyin would perhaps be in a coma for many months. As for recovering her profound strength, she’d need many years, perhaps even much longer.

Even if she made a recovery, she’d be weaker than before and might never progress in her cultivation ever in this life.

To someone at the pinnacle of the profound way, this was without a doubt, a bitter and cruel pill to swallow.

But this furious battle with Little Jasmine showed that she wasn’t even in a recovery state, and neither was her profound strength weak. This was fundamentally impossible.

What was even more shocking was that although her profound strength didn’t seem to be crippled in any way, she actually showed a greater fighting ability than when she had battled against the ancient horned dragons… and it was not just a minute increase in strength.

Every move she moved contained power terrifying enough to cause the vast ancient realm tremble. It was as if, even if she met two, or even three ancient horned dragons, she could easily exterminate them!

The Divine Master Realm, was a level that countless profound practitioners of the God Realm would never dare dream of reaching. And within the Divine Master Realm, every step forward required world shaking amounts of talent and incredible fate. It required eons of hard work that no ordinary person could imagine.

Half a year’s of time was nothing but the flick of a finger to a Divine Master, but it was in this half year that the heavily injured Mu Xuanyin made a complete recovery and seemed to even be several times stronger!

Not only was she uninjured, unharmed, it seemed that she had undergone a rebirth!

This change that completely overrode all common sense… even if it was a ruler of a king realm, an existence at the summit of the Primal Chaos, they wouldn’t believe it either.

Little Jasmine’s strength continued to increase, the power from every sword strike seemed to turn the secret realm upside down, yet it couldn’t suppress Mu Xuanyin at all. More and more shock emerged from her eyes. Finally an explosive scarlet-like blood light shone out from her eyes.

“Bloodmoon Immortal Slayer Sword!!”

The image of the Heavenly Wolf appeared once more, but it was no longer blue. It looked like it had risen out of a blood pool from hell. Its entire body was blood red, especially its furious wolfish pupils that looked like two bright bloody moons, which seemed like they could annihilate worlds with just their light alone.

Mu Xuanyin’s snowy dress was still fluttering in the wind, making her look like a celestial goddess that descended from the moon. Even if the entire world was turned upside down, not even a speck of dust would land on her. When the Snow Princess Sword pointed out, all beings froze in place. Nine ice rings formed and then overlapped, creating a large frosty formation that fell toward the bloody wolf image.

Ding…

In the blink of an eye, the entire world lost both luster and sound. Everything within the secret realm, from the large ocean to the vast plains, from boulders to even the smallest grain of sand, everything was completely sealed, turned into profound ice, before instantly shattering. An endless wave of dust blew all over the shattered world.

Crack… Crack… Crack…

Thousands of spatial tears started appearing all around, madly extending themselves, reaching into and combining with each other and then growing larger. Following the sound of complete destruction, the Illusory Sea Ancient Realm, which had held on thus far, had finally collapsed…