Against the Gods

“What are you going to do?” Qianye Ying’er asked in a deep voice.

They had used the Primordial Profound Ark to escape the pursuit of the two great Divine Masters, but the place they had teleported to was actually the Thousand Desolation Divine Sect. Furthermore, the very first thing Yun Che did was not to hide his aura and escape, it was to hold his devil sword aloft. This action was no different from forcefully thrusting them back into danger.

Yun Che did not answer but his Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor Sword radiated a black light that covered the sky. It was also at this time that the members of the Thousand Desolation Divine Sect discovered Yun Che’s location and started to swarm around him. Hundreds of pitch-black pillars of light soared into the air around the Thousand Desolation Divine Sect.

The darkness formation that engulfed the entire Thousand Desolation Divine Sect suddenly started to coalesce from those pillars of light, releasing a gloomy darkness profound light.

The instant this darkness profound formation appeared, startled shouts filled the air in the Thousand Desolation Divine Sect which had already been thrown into great chaos.

“This is the great… sect protecting formation?” Light abruptly shone in Qianye Ying’er’s eyes.

“No, right now, it’s the great sect destroying formation,” Yun Che said in a low and sinister voice.

“...Is this also the power of the Eternal Calamity of Darkness!?” Qianye Ying’er raised her eyes to look at the black light radiating from Yun Che’s sword, her golden pupils already dyed black by the light.

The Eternal Calamity of Darkness was the Creation God Art that belonged to the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor. This was a power of the highest order that belonged solely Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor Jie Yuan, so it was impossible for even the True Gods and other Creation Gods to control it, much less a mortal.

However, it was clearly manifesting a devilish might which grew more and more shocking as Yun Che used it, and his mastery of it was swiftly advancing.

A great sect protecting formation was a sect’s last ace in the hole. It would only be activated when the sect met with a truly hopeless situation. Its source of power was normally connected to the souls of the most prominent members of the sect, so another person trying to forcefully activate it was sheer fantasy.

But right now, she was personally witnessing Yun Che forcefully activating… the Thousand Desolation Divine Sect’s great sect protecting formation with incredible ease!

BOOOM————

All of the darkness power was completely released and it erupted violently. The great sect protecting formation had instantly been transformed into a peerlessly terrifying great sect destroying formation. The entire Thousand Desolation Divine Sect was swallowed up by the darkness. It was as if it had suddenly been plunged into the dark abyss of death. Countless miserable screams rent the air and combined to form a funeral dirge that caused even the heavens and earth to shudder.

“You’re becoming more and more like a proper villain,” Qianye Ying’er said as she looked at the scene below her… He had been able to use the Eternal Calamity of Darkness to forcefully activate a darkness profound formation controlled by someone else. This heaven-defying ability would become the stuff of nightmares for a countless amount of people in the future.

Yun Che put his sword away but he did not leave immediately. His gaze turned in the direction of the treasury that they had just raided. Black light flashed in his eyes and he tapped a finger between his eyebrows. In the instant that his finger left that spot, a tiny bit of faint black light flickered on the tip of his finger.

After he pointed his finger, that dot of black light gently floated toward the ground.

“What is that?” This was another ability of Yun Che’s that Qianye Ying’er had not seen before.

“It is a dark projection,” Yun Che said. “It can be counted amongst the most minor abilities of the Eternal Calamity of Darkness."

Their pursuers would definitely check on the Untamed Divine Marrow and they might very well discuss its origins.

“Minor?” Qianye Ying’er made a dull scoffing noise. “Even the most minor of a devil emperor’s abilities would be counted as an ability that could genuinely be called a  heaven-defying ability in the current era.”

The ability to project something was not new. When he had been in the Flame God Realm back then, Yun Che had witnessed Vermillion Bird Sect Master Yan Wancang borrow the power of the God Burying Inferno Prison to perform a super long-range Vermillion Bird Projection.

During the Profound God Convention, the Eternal Heaven Realm had projected all of the proceedings to every corner of the Eastern Divine Region.

The Dark Projection that Yun Che had just performed was indeed one of the powers belonging to the Eternal Calamity of Darkness and it truly was nothing more than a normal projection ability... but its uniqueness lay in the fact that its existence could not be detected by anyone from this era due to the extremely high level of the Eternal Calamity of Darkness.

“Change your aura and go!”

Not bothering to take a second glance, Yun Che swiftly fled south together with Qianye Ying’er.

Qianye Ying’er could borrow the Ni Yuan Stone’s power to change her aura whenever she wanted to while Yun Che possessed the Eternal Calamity of Darkness, so he could change the darkness aura that radiated from his body however he wanted. Now that they had escaped the spiritual perception of the two great Divine Masters, it would be even more difficult to find them again… Because even if the spiritual perception of the two great Divine Masters were to sweep the aura right now, it would only sweep past these two “completely unfamiliar” auras.

They left the Thousand Desolation Divine Sect and it was only after they had fled a great distance away that Yun Che and Qianye Ying’er’s speed started to slow.

Yun Che stopped using Extreme Mirage Lightning and suddenly shot a look at Qianye Ying’er. He said, “Put on your mask!”

“Oh that thing. I casually threw it away when you asked me to take it off.” Qianye Ying’er’s eyes coldly slanted. “Why, didn’t you notice?”

“...” Yun Che thrust out a hand and a piece of darkness profound crystal was held within it. Light flashed in his hand and the darkness profound crystal had already transformed into an ordinary mask. After that, he held it out to Qianye Ying’er and said, “Wear it!”

Qianye Ying’er did not stretch out a hand to take it. She'd even turned her face to the side as she said, “You can’t figure out why I threw it away? This is such a black and ugly thing, why don’t you just wear it yourself!”

Yun Che’s brows knit together. He flipped his hand and the darkness aura within the profound crystal was quickly dispersed. After he thought about it for a moment, the profound light in his hand subtly changed. He injected some Ice Phoenix divine power into the profound crystal, turning it a pure and lustrous ice-blue color. After that, he thought about it for a bit more before shaping the mask into a rather delicate pair of phoenix wings.

“That’s more like it.” Qianye Ying’er finally turned back. With a swipe of her jade hand, she took the mask from Yun Che’s hand and put it on, covering up most of her jade features once more.

“They really did end up going there,” Yun Che suddenly said at this moment. There was a cluster of peculiar black light flashing in his eyes.

“Materialize the image for me to see,” Qianye Ying’er said. It was hard for her to not to be interested in matters concerning the Untamed Divine Marrow, a divine artifact that would undoubtedly shock the world if its existence was revealed.

Yun Che did not refuse. His eyes flashed and a black mist floated up in front of him. The picture playing out in the middle of the black mist gradually grew larger. The two people captured in this picture were, shockingly enough, the two people who had just been pursuing them—the Thousand Desolation Sect Master and a middle-aged man who very likely came from the Burning Moon King Realm!

The targets they had been chasing had suddenly and bizarrely vanished without a trace. The two of them still had not recovered from their bewilderment before the commotion coming from the Thousand Desolation Mountain gave them an even greater shock. They hurriedly ran all the way back and everything they saw had undoubtedly shocked them to their very cores.

“What is going on!? What happened here!?”

The Thousand Desolation Sect Master felt his limbs grow cold as the scalp of his head went numb. He was on the verge of collapse. All of a sudden, he seemed to realize something and his pupils shrank. He muttered the words “Tian’er” and hurriedly started to descend.

But he felt someone grab his arm. He turned back only to discover that the middle-aged man’s expression was even more frightening than his own. “Forget about this Tian’er! The Immaculate Barrier… We need to hurry up and check on the Immaculate Barrier!”

The Thousand Desolation Sect Master quivered and his mind cleared up as he hurriedly replied, “Ninth Uncle, please don’t worry… Don’t worry, no one can raid the treasury. Furthermore, there is no way for anyone to find an existence like the Immaculate Barrier, no matter what they do.”

“Stop wasting your breath and hurry up… Hurry and go check!” To the middle-aged man, the Immaculate Barrier was far more important than the Thousand Desolation Divine Sect… No, it was far more important than one thousand Thousand Desolation Divine Sects!

The two people no longer bothered checking anything else as they quickly made their descent.

The forcefully activated great sect protecting formation had destroyed nearly thirty percent of the Thousand Desolation Divine Sect. Even though the treasury possessed protection that was of the highest level, it also just so happened to be in the heart of the great sect protecting formation. Thus, when that sect protecting power had been turned into a destructive force, it had undoubtedly received the most damage. Most of it had been destroyed.

When they saw the treasury that had been exposed to the sun, they also saw that it had been ransacked. The expression on the two people’s faces dramatically changed, and they rushed toward the corner where the Immaculate Barrier had been hidden. What they saw shocked them so greatly that their souls nearly left their bodies.

“The Immaculate… Barrier…” The middle-aged man stepped forward, his body turned ice-cold. He suddenly grabbed the Thousand Desolation Sect Master, his eyes bulging as he crazily roared, “Where is the Immaculate Barrier!? Where did it go!? Where did it go!!?”

“I… I… don’t know…” The Thousand Desolation Sect Master’s soul had already flown to the heavens. “Twelve hours ago, I even deliberately confirmed that it was still… This isn’t possible, this isn’t possible…”

“You… You…” The middle-aged man’s body shuddered. His face was as black as an evil spirit’s, and blood was very nearly exploding from the veins of fingers. “Do you know just how much our king values the object within the Immaculate Barrier!? Let me tell you! You won’t be able to pay for this grave sin... even if you have ten million lives!”

“Our king?” Qianye Ying’er’s expression changed slightly. She swept her eyes over the middle-aged man’s attire before she gave a soft snort and said, “This person really did turn out to be a Divine Envoy of the Burning Moon King Realm. That also means that this piece of Untamed Divine Marrow really was something that belonged to the Burning Moon King Realm!”

“But why didn’t the Burning Moon King Realm use it instead of hiding it in a place like this?” Qianye Ying’er muttered in a soft voice.

“It was those two!!” The Thousand Desolation Sect Master grasped onto this last thread of hope. “It’s definitely been taken by those two people! As long as we can catch them, we can retrieve the Immaculate Barrier as well. They… They’ve definitely not run very far.”

“Heh,” the Burning Moon Divine Envoy gave a cold laugh. “Why don’t you use your brain and think about why they would come all the way here, and why they were able to so accurately pinpoint the location of the Immaculate Barrier!?”

The Thousand Desolation Sect Master was stunned for a moment, but after that, his face changed and he said, “Could, could they be from…”

“The Soul Stealing Realm,” the Burning Moon Divine Envoy muttered in a low voice. “They are definitely people from the Soul Stealing Realm! The Immaculate Barrier is invisible and radiates no aura, so the only people who might be able to sense the location of the Immaculate Barrier are people from the Soul Stealing Realm.”

“...?” Both Yun Che and Qianye Ying’er were stunned by those words.

“Soul Stealing Realm? What does this piece of Untamed Divine Marrow have to do with the Soul Stealing Realm?” Qianye Ying’er muttered to herself.

She suddenly felt some unease creep into her heart.

The Burning Moon Divine Envoy did not speak any further. He released the Thousand Desolation Sect Master and soared into the sky. He pushed both arms forward and a darkness profound formation the shape of a full moon immediately shone to life in front of him. After that, the profound formation started to rotate, causing a blurry and shadowy image to slowly coalesce in the air.

Even though it was only a blurry image that roughly captured the image of a person, an image that did not even allow others to see the features of his face properly, it still soundlessly radiated an intimidating might that seemed to cover the skies.

As he faced this blurry image, the Burning Moon Divine Envoy bowed in midair. “I greet our king. For disturbing our king’s silent meditation, I deserve ten thousand deaths.”

When he heard those unexpected words, the Thousand Desolation Sect Master’s body fiercely shuddered and a paralyzing cold seeped into his very bone marrow. He sank to his knees on the ground in a heap and both his body and his voice trembled madly due to his extreme fear. “This humble… humble… humble… king… Thousand Desolation… greets… greets the Burning Moon God Emperor…”

“How exciting,” Qianye Ying’er muttered with narrowed eyes. “We really did end up alerting the Burning Moon God Emperor. Too bad we can’t see his face, because I really do want to see just what this god emperor belonging to the Northern Divine Region looks like.”

“What happened?” The Burning Moon God Emperor’s voice rang out from the profound formation, every word filled with a devilish might that shook the soul.

If nothing major had happened, how would a Burning Moon Divine Envoy dare to activate this formation. The Burning Moon Envoy cleared his throat and spoke with much difficulty, “Replying our king… the Immaculate Barrier that was hidden in the Thousand Desolation Realm has been… has been…”

The Burning Moon Divine Envoy’s voice stopped there and he was unable to continue. Because he very clearly felt an incomparably dreadful gaze nearly pierce through his trembling soul in that instant.

After a spell of incomparably dreadful silence, the Burning Moon God Emperor’s voice rang out in the air again and he only spoke three words, “Who… was it?”

The Burning Moon Divine Envoy’s gaze turned toward the Thousand Desolation Sect Master. A sudden realization pierced his fear-fogged mind and he suddenly shouted, “I… I remember now. One of those… one of those two people… his name is… Yun Che!”

The Burning Moon Divine Envoy’s head swiveled towards him. “What did you say? Are you sure it’s that name? I’ve never heard that the Soul Stealing Realm had someone with that name!”

“No, he shouldn’t be from the Soul Stealing Realm,” the Thousand Desolation Sect Master said in a fluster. “Just a few days ago, my sect’s chief enforcer Devotee Empty Mind went to the Heavenly Handle Yun Clan on some business, and he was killed by a person named ‘Yun Che’! And it was reported that the woman who was traveling alongside him possessed extremely rare golden hair.”

“Those two people just now… that woman also happened to have golden hair! I’ve been in the Thousand Desolation Realm for so many years and I’ve never seen a woman with golden hair here before. It definitely can’t be a coincidence.”

“...” Five hundred kilometers away, Yun Che slanted his eyes toward Qianye Ying’er and said in a cold voice, “Your hair is really a hindrance, why didn’t you hide it!?”

Even though she no longer possessed the power of a Brahma God, Qianye Ying’er, who hated Qianye Fantian to the bone, had not been willing to give up her hair color.

Qianye Ying’er said, “The profound arts of the Brahma Monarch God Realm will release golden-colored profound light and it can also turn one’s hair the color of shining gold. However, my hair color did not come from the Brahma God divine power that I used initially. It came from my mother.”

Yun Che, “...”

“It’s the one thing I can’t throw away.” Qianye Ying’er had not said those words coldly, she had said them with a calm determination.

“No one asked you to throw it away,” Yun Che ordered. “Hide it! Aren’t you the one who hates exposing fatal weaknesses? Let alone a weakness as obvious as this one!”

Qianye Ying’er gave a cold snort before black light flashed in her eyes. In a flash, black light curled and twined around her golden hair and turned it pitch-black, the color of night.

“Yun Che… Is he from the Sinful Yun Clan?” the Burning Moon Divine Envoy asked in a deep voice.

“No,” the Thousand Desolation Sect Master replied. “I did not personally pay a visit to the Sinful Yun Clan because I was busy preparing for a major event over the last few days. But I did manage to find out where Yun Che came from. He is not a member of the Sinful Yun Clan. Rather, he came from the Five Nether Ruins and he only just arrived in the Thousand Desolation Realm last month.”

“It looks like there are spies belonging to the Thousand Desolation Divine Sect hidden inside the Heavenly Handle Yun Clan,” Qianye Ying’er said.

“Isn’t that to be expected?” Yun Che replied icily.

The Thousand Desolation Sect Master’s voice turned anxious as he earnestly said, “Look into his background. Given the Burning Moon King Realm’s incredible power, there is no way he can escape. The Immaculate Barrier will surely return to Lord God Emperor’s hands at once.”

The Burning Moon God Emperor remained silent within that profound formation.

However, at this moment, a woman’s voice rang in the air. “Are you sure that person is called ‘Yun Che’?”

That voice was faint and indistinct, yet it sounded like it had come from very near them. The Burning Moon Divine Envoy and the Thousand Desolation Sect Master felt all of their hair stand on end as they whirled around...

A woman was quietly standing in midair. She was wearing bright and shimmery clothes and she was not even sixty meters away from them.

She had drawn so near, yet neither of the great Divine Masters had sensed her presence.