Against the Gods

Everytime a profound practitioner ascended to the next realm, their profound energy and aura would transform.

Every time a cultivator of the Great Way of the Buddha ascended to the next stage, their life aura would transform.

After Yun Che went through the nine stage lightning tribulation at the Conferred God Stage and entered the fifth stage of the Great Way of the Buddha, he wasn’t able to make any progress no matter what he tried.

But now, after the power of the True God had visited the world once more, the wall blocking the way to the sixth stage was gone.

Since he also had the Dragon God Bloodline and the Dragon God Marrow, his body was even tougher than Xisu’s!

Finally, he possessed light profound energy. This meant that the rate at which he regenerated himself and his profound energy was surpassed by no one.

That wasn’t even everything the flash of power had brought him.

When he broke the limit, he had unintentionally touched a deeper “nothingness”.

“Little Che, wake up! It’s time!”

“Ugh… it’s still so early. Let me sleep a little while longer.”

“Did you forget that you’re getting married to Miss Situ today? Time’s almost up, so get up already!”

…...

“Little Che, I made this porridge for you. You have a weak constitution, and it’s going to be a long morning, so… you should finish everything.”

“I got it, I got it.”

“Ah… you don’t have to drink it this quickly. There’s still some time.”

“Phew… I’m done. I wonder if I can still eat your meals after I get married, Little Aunt.”

“Hehe, don’t forget that the governor’s daughter is marrying into your family, not the other way around. If you want, I can prepare your meals everyday just like before… I’m sure we’ll have less time for each other after you get married though, Little Che.”

“Of course not! Didn’t I promise you yesterday that I’ll never forget about you even after I marry Situ Xuan? We’ll spend just as much time with each other as we used to, and I’ll always be there whenever you call for me!”

“Hehe, now that’s an obedient boy!”

“Yuanba! You’re surprisingly early today.”

“Hehe! It’s the day of your marriage, so how can I not be around to help out? Also, I have some good news for you. The day before yesterday, my father invited a friend of his—a teacher from New Moon Profound Palace—over to his house. He was hoping to ask for a favor and drop me into the New Moon Profound Palace. But after his friend saw me, he said that someone of my talent should just join the Blue Wind Profound Palace directly!”

“Oh! That’s amazing! That’s something the entire Floating Cloud City should celebrate!”

“Hehehe… I was so excited I haven’t slept for the past two days. When I join the Blue Wind Profound Palace and become even stronger than before, I’m sure no one will ever dare to bully you again!”

“But father said that this is best kept a secret to avoid unnecessary complications, so right now you’re the only one who knows about it… oh right! For the past two years, I heard a lot of malicious rumors about Governor Situ planning to cancel your engagement and marrying Situ Xuan to the son of your clan master, Xiao Yulong instead. I was really angry when I heard those rumors, but I didn’t tell you because I don’t want you to worry. Thankfully, the rumors have proven themselves to be nothing but falsehood.”

“Wind does not blow from an empty cave without reason. It’s fine, I’m used to it already. Frankly, I’m overjoyed that a cripple like me could have a friend like you, much less the daughter of the governor as my wife.”

“Che’er, the engagement between you and the governor’s daughter was set in stone a long time ago. When Ying’er saved Mayor Situ’s daughter from certain death, the man was so grateful that he swore an oath of brotherhood with your father immediately. He even declared that his daughter would repay her life debt by marrying the son of Xiao Ying.”

“This is not to mention that Ying’er’s exhausted most of his profound energy and vitality during that rescue… and an assassin took advantage of his moment of weakness and killed him.”

He was conscious, but for some reason he was unable to break out of the dream… in fact, the voices resounded chaotically inside his mind for a very long time.

These voices felt very familiar to him, but for some reason they carried a sense of unfamiliarity he couldn’t understand.

They were resounding right inside his head, but for some reason he felt like he could never reach them.

His half-conscious mind told him that this wasn’t the first time he had heard these familiar yet unfamiliar, near yet far voices in his dreams.

In this ridiculous dream… Xia Yuanba had a slender frame and shared a similar height to him. His handsomeness was only outmatched by his talent in the profound way.

In his dream, the woman he was about to marry wasn’t Xia Qingyue, but the daughter of the governor of the Floating Cloud City, Situ Xuan.

Even the baby Xiao Ying risked his life to save back then was Situ Xuan, not Xia Qingyue.

In his dreams, Xia Yuanba envied him for having a little aunt who would never abandon him. The reason behind his envy was because he didn’t have a brother or a sister.

Why… why am I having these ridiculous dreams again? And why are they running inside my head all at the same time...

…...

Yun Che started struggling to break free, but… his consciousness suddenly sank into a sea of violent, distorted whiteness.

A new, distorted voice reached his ears...

“Do you (I) really want this?”

“Do you (I) know how many years it took… how many cycles you (I) went through… to complete you?”

“You (I) will cease to exist… not in the true sense, at least… if you (I) give him all our origin power…”

“He… is ultimately just a mortal…”

“Alright… as you (I) wish… you are me, and I am you after all.”

“His fragile body won’t be able to withstand my (your) power, so I (you) cannot grant it to him directly. All I (you) can do, is to grant him the ‘Sacred Body’ made using the Law of Nothingness, the body that can contain all the power in the world…”

“That’s not enough?”

“No… fate is the one thing no one should ever interfere with.”

“Not even if I (you) am the one to change it.”

“Okay… if you (I) insist…”

“The karma of the entire world will be affected if fate is changed even a little, and the consequences are something no one can predict or control, not even you (me).”

“I (You) may just have enough origin power left to perform a karma fix…”

“But it will take a very long time… years, decades…”

“I (You) will be pausing the cycle of time of this world during this period… and I (you) will be restarting it only when I (you) am ready to send him to the world that has fully merged with my (your) origin power…”

“Ugh!”

Yun Che abruptly opened his eyes and sat up.

The chaotic and distorted voices in his head started blurring and fading despite his best attempts to hold on to them… until they vanished completely from his memory.

He wasn’t able to remember a single word.

“I’m finally awake.”

Yun Che looked up. Qianye Ying’er was leaning against the wall in front of him, her arms crossed across her chest and staring at him coldly.

Yun Che shook his head once, and he immediately noticed that his body had undergone a huge transformation.

His life cycle, his blood flow, his breathing pattern, his external senses… everything had changed completely.

His consciousness submerged into his body… and he saw that the slumbering pagoda had completely turned pure gold.

The transformation brought by his sudden advancement in the Great Way of the Buddha was greater than any transformation he had ever experienced in his life.

Jasmine once told him that the Great Way of the Buddha had twelve stages in total, and that six was the maximum limit a mortal could reach. Anything beyond that was the domain of gods that a mortal could never attain.

He raised his arms and checked his transformation quietly. With this new body, opening Hell Monarch would no longer damage his body, and he could keep it open for a very long time.

Once he became a Divine Master, he could even maintain Hell Monarch for an indefinite amount of time.

Bang!

Half of his new clothes suddenly suddenly burst into nothing.

He frowned a little before looking at Qianye Ying’er again. “Activate a barrier so that no one can enter.”

“...” Qianye Ying’er tightened her arms a little before snorting coldly. “There are two Witches right outside the door. You better control yourself!”

“I’m about to achieve a breakthrough. Guard me until I’m done!”

Yun Che withdrew his arms and started guiding the loose profound energy around him after saying that.

Qianye Ying’er looked visibly surprised, but she quickly rose to her feet and constructed a barrier around them. At the same time, she sent Chi Wuyao a message and told her to keep anyone from entering and any sound from exiting the room.

Yun Che’s breakthrough—even if it was just a leap to the next level—was nothing like what a normal profound practitioner experienced.

When a normal Divine Sovereign achieved a breakthrough, their profound energy was supposed to change drastically in quantity and slightly in quality. It should also be a long and quiet process. However, Yun Che’s breakthrough as a Divine Sovereign was a roar of profound energy that could annihilate one’s profound veins had it happened to a normal profound practitioner.

Earlier, his breakthroughs had happened in the Primordial Profound Ark. This time, he was making his breakthrough in the Soul Stealing Sacred Region. But for some reason, he felt a lot safer than before.

Inside the barrier, Qianye Ying’er watched Yun Che quietly as the air currents whipped against her golden hair and her sash. Her eyes never once strayed away from him.

At this point… even she noticed that she had changed.

She had transformed into a person the old her would never believe or accept; the kind of person she had disdained above anything else.

She knew that the driving force behind the change—or more accurately, the person who made her realize her own feelings and grow to accept it—wasn’t herself, but Chi Wuyao.

Even now, Chi Wuyao’s bizarre words continued to loop endlessly inside her mind. It had been like this since a few days ago.

About forty five minutes later, the storm surrounding Yun Che suddenly ceased with a bang.

He opened his eyes, and a darker gleam shone through his pupils.

His aura was that of a level eight Divine Sovereign.

This was just a small step in the profound way, but thanks to his unexpected progress in the Great Way of the Buddha, his power level was nothing like before.

After loosing four Star God origin powers in a row to activate “God Ash” for a paltry period of two breaths, he had thought he would wake up to some very serious consequences and injuries to his body. But instead, he had gained a profound level in the Divine Sovereign Realm and even entered the sixth stage of the Great Way of the Buddha.

But there was no joy or excitement in his eyes.

This was but a step he must take to accomplish his vengeance.

“Are you done?” Qianye Ying’er turned her waist slightly and pushed her hair behind her shoulders… it was all unconscious. She had never acted like this in front of Yun Che.

“You’re not crippled, you’re not dead, you even achieved a breakthrough after that crazy stunt you pulled! Hmph! I don’t even know what to say about your luck!”

Qianye Ying’er tried to cancel the barrier after she mocked Yun Che, but he raised an arm and stopped her. “What is the situation in the Burning Moon Realm?”

Qianye Ying’er replied, “Besides Fen Daojun and Fen Daozang, everyone else including the Moon Eaters and the Burning Moon Divine Envoy's has surrendered. Burning Moon Royal City is now under the Witches’ control.”

“Everyone!?” Yun Che’s frowned deeply all of a sudden.

“Why are you surprised? You know how good Chi Wuyao is.” Qianye Ying’er shot him a look. “Those Moon Eaters were already scared out of their wits thanks to you, but she still chose her words carefully and imbued them with her soul stealing powers, striking their hearts at their weakest spot. Long story short, she used the momentum you created yourself to take over Burning Moon Realm without spilling a drop of blood.”

“But this is good, isn’t it? It’s the best result we can hope for and a huge step in our conquest.”

“...” Yun Che didn’t say anything. In fact, his expression was positively ugly.

“What’s wrong? Do you think Chi Wuyao is too scary for your liking?” Qianye Ying’er asked.

Yun Che still didn’t say anything. His silence was itself a tacit admission.

He started replaying every act, every image, every word that was ever spoken since they had entered the Burning Moon Realm. His frown grew deeper and deeper.

“She wouldn’t be a worthy partner if she wasn’t this intelligent,” Qianye Ying’er said. “In any case, no matter how devious she is, don’t forget that we are the reason she’s able to do all this. At the very least, we currently share the same goal, and we don’t have a conflict of interest until much later. You need not worry too much.”

Yun Che looked her in the eye before saying slowly, “You’re defending her.”

“...” Qianye Ying’er froze for a second before admitting with a conflicted expression, “You’re… right. You don’t think… she has bewitched my soul, do you?”

Yun Che fell silent again. A long time later, he opened his palm and filled the space with an aura so pure that the very world itself seemed to have evolved into something better.

It was the Untamed World Pellet!

Back at the God Realm of Absolute Beginning, He Ling had created two Untamed World Pellets using the Untamed Divine Marrow and Divine Fruit of Absolute Beginning.

He had given one to Qianye Ying’er. Thanks to it, she was able to become a level eight Divine Master in just half a year.

He was going to consume the other Untamed World Pellet after he became a Divine Master.

But now… he chose to give it to Qianye Ying’er instead.

“Eat it.”

The Untamed World Pellet was the highest profound pellet known to the current world. It was an extinct object that not even a god emperor would dare to wish for. But all Qianye Ying’er did was frown at Yun Che and said in a chilly tone, “What is the meaning of this? Regret? Compensation? Pity?”

“No,” Yun Che said slowly. “It is true that Chi Wuyao is very reliant on my Eternal Calamity of Darkness, but truthfully speaking… we are still so much weaker compared to her. After this incident, I don’t like how precarious our position feels.”

“Your power… is the one power that belongs to me and me alone.”