Against the Gods

Xiao Clan, at a different courtyard.

Yun Wuxin raised the Profound Imagery Stone Chi Wuyao gave her and poured a small amount of profound energy into it. A recording immediately appeared beneath the night sky.

It was dark. Judging from the speed at which the space in the background was moving in one direction, the recording was probably set on a speedy profound ark.

There was a dark figure curled up in a tight corner of the ship. He looked like he was weathering the bitterest cold of the night.

His complexion was ashen-gray, and his half-lidded eyes looked as murky and hopeless as pools of stagnant water. The barest tinge of light in his pupils was the only thing that suggested that he was conscious at all.

Besides that, the man was rubbing the three Glazed Sound Stones she had created by her own hands again and again. The movement was mechanical and unconscious.

His lips were also parting and closing repeatedly as if he was muttering something again and again. His lightless eyes somehow managed to convey a pain that could only be described as soul-wrenching.

Yun Wuxin froze and instinctively covered her mouth with her palm.

“This recording was taken during your eighteenth birthday.”

Chi Wuyao was standing beside her before she realized it. The now Empress said while watching the man in the projection, “That day, he had killed the son of the man he hated the most, Zhou Xuzi, and driven him to the brink of collapse. You could never imagine how terrifying and monstrous he looked. He would never want you to see that side of him.”

Yun Wuxin: “...”

“Whenever you crossed his mind though, that side of him would vanish… and be replaced by this pitiful man before you.”

Chi Wuyao exhaled slowly. “I know that you harbor a lot of resentment toward him. He has missed you all these years and broken his promise to you again and again after all. However…”

“Please believe that there is no one in this world who loves you as much as he does.”

“You and everyone else may have been tormented by the most unbearable worry and impatience, but he… was cooked by the worst imaginable pain and despair. After all, he had witnessed the death of what he had believed to be his homeworld from the start until the end… there was no one in the world who could claim that they shared his pain. No one.”

“That wasn’t the worst of it either. He wanted to die. He wanted to die so badly that the desire was barely held back by his thirst for vengeance and other… considerations. His mood and actions at the time can only be described… I’m too scared to recall those days.” Chi Wuyao slowly closed her eyes before continuing in a silent voice, “Even the blind could see that he was fully resolved to join you all on the other side once his vengeance was over. If what happened later hadn’t happened, I don’t think I would’ve had the power to dissuade him from it.” 

It was why Chi Wuyao had thanked a clearly hostile Qianye Ying’er from the bottom of her heart. “Well, I personally would like to thank you for all you did.”

“...” Yun Wuxin’s fingers tightened bit by bit. She was able to suppress her sobs, but she couldn’t stop her tears from pouring out of her eyes or her slender body from trembling uncontrollably.

Chi Wuyao continued, “Your father is a far greater man than you can imagine. His greatest achievement isn’t his saving of the God Realm or his conquering of the four Divine Regions, but his decision to forgive even after everything he has been through.”

“So please don’t resent him any longer. He has had to overcome the cruelest and hardest obstacles in the world to reunite with you all. Even now, there are still many deep and hidden wounds in his heart that remain unhealed; wounds that only you… can provide balm for.”

The projection ended, and Yun Wuxin abruptly faced a certain direction. A blink later, the girl had disappeared into the night.

“You dote on him like no one I’ve ever seen.”

A cool voice suddenly appeared from behind Chi Wuyao.

“Dote?” Chi Wuyao smiled and spun elegantly to face the newcomer. “That is an apt choice of words.”

Chu Yuechan kept silent.

Chi Wuyao stared at Chu Yuechan for a few seconds before smiling wider. “Be it in terms of appearance, presence or gaze, you really are quite similar to Feixue. No wonder…”

“Feixue?” Chu Yuechan frowned a little. “What do you mean?”

“Let’s just say you may meet her in the future.” Chi Wuyao smirked a bit. “Speaking of which, I have something I dearly need your help with.”

Chu Yuechan replied, “Please don’t say it like that. You are the Devil Queen of the Northern Divine Region and the Empress of the God Realm. I highly doubt that I can offer you any help at all.”

Everyone knows what the title of Empress meant. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that she was the first of all hiswives.

Not even a woman of Chu Yuechan’s temperament could disregard this completely.

“You are exaggerating, sister.” Chi Wuyao smiled. “We are both husband’s wives. Hence, we are as equal as any sisters in the world. Also, if I studied the customs of the Profound Sky Continent correctly, I believe I should be addressing you as ‘older sister’.”

“... that will be unnecessary.” The cool indifference in Chu Yuechan’s eyes melted a little. She couldn’t help but be impressed by Chi Wuyao’s readiness to lower herself to her level despite being Empress of the God Realm. “What is it that you wish to ask me about?”

“I want to know everything you know about her.” Chi Wuyao’s voice abruptly turned darker. “I want to know everything about Xia Qingyue.”

“Qingyue?” Chu Yuechan frowned a little.

“Yes,” Chi Wuyao confirmed. “To my knowledge, she joined Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace as Chu Yueli’s disciple, your younger sister. I know for a fact that you cared deeply for her because you had been looking for a way to help Xia Qingyue achieve her breakthrough. It was how you and Yun Che came to run into each other in the first place.”

“But why would you want to learn about her?”

“It’s because she sits in my heart like an unsolved puzzle.” Chi Wuyao let out a sigh. “You see, I have a habit that one might say is more bad than good. I am unable to let go of a puzzle until it is solved no matter how much time has passed. That is why I wish to learn more about her. If nothing else, I would know how I’ve come to misjudge her so thoroughly.”

Chu Yuechan’s frown deepened as a certain realization dawned upon her. She lowered her voice before asking, “Now that I think about it, he has not mentioned Qingyue even once since his return… what on earth happened to her?”

Chi Wuyao: “...”

“I can tell you everything.” Chu Yuechan looked Chi Wuyao directly in the eye. They looked like a pair of lofty crescents. “But you must tell me what happened to her as well. She was my disciple after all.”

“Very well.” Chi Wuyao nodded without hesitation. “However, I will need you to enlighten me with your knowledge first. Otherwise, your account will surely be twisted by what I have to tell you.”

“... ask away.”

Chi Wuyao had already set up a sound isolation barrier beforehand.

The name “Xia Qingyue” was such a taboo to Yun Che that he wasn’t even willing to hear it, much less say it. Naturally, she wouldn’t allow him to eavesdrop on what would most likely be a lengthy conversation regarding Xia Qingyue.

Chi Wuyao didn’t really believe that the conversation would provide her with much insight, however. Xia Qingyue was just a girl when she first joined Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace. Her mind might very well have not matured yet.

Still, she must try whatever she could. Her doubts had developed into a kind of defiance unlike anything she had ever experienced. An answer may not exist, but she couldn’t rest easy until she had exhausted all possibilities, and perhaps not even then.

………...

On a roof, Yun Che removed his gaze from the night sky and looked in a certain direction. It wasn’t long before a dainty, lively woman descended from the sky and landed next to him.

“Wuxin,” Yun Che called out softly while taking in his daughter’s features. She really had grown up to become as beautiful as her mother was.

Instead of answering, Yun Wuxin shot her father a long look before sitting beside him. She slowly leaned her head on his shoulder, wrapped her arms around his arm, and tightened her grip.

“...” His sorrow and other complicated emotions instantly dissolved into infinite warmth. He tilted his head slightly until strands of his daughter’s hair were tickling his nose before saying, “The night sky is definitely different after the Blue Pole Star was teleported from the Eastern Divine Region to the Southern Divine Region, but my feelings haven’t changed one bit.”

“This is my homeland. No world no matter how lofty can ever replace it.”

“Father,” Yun Wuxin said quietly, “When the time is right, would you take me to see the world you call the God Realm? I wish to see all the places you’ve traveled.”

“Sure!” A smiling Yun Che declared in a swaggering tone, “You may travel wherever you like! Right now, the entire universe is open to you and I. There is no place we father and daughter cannot travel to!”

“Heehee…” Yun Wuxin giggled and rubbed her head on Yun Che’s shoulder a little. For a moment, it was as if she had returned to that spoiled little girl she once was.

A long distance away, Qianye Ying’er was watching this scene from afar. She had been basking in the cold wind for a very long time, but she still didn’t approach the duo as she had originally intended to.

For some reason, even she couldn’t find it in her to disturb them.

“That damn daughtercon!” She huffed indignantly to herself. “If he likes daughters that much, I’ll just give birth to them until he’s sick of them! Hmph! These mortal women think they can compete against me!? Just you wait…”

She left after that to spare herself the frustration.

Back to Yun Che and Yun Wuxin, the latter was currently closing her eyes and enjoying a peaceful moment with her father. Her dainty nose trembled almost indiscernibly as she breathed.

Her aunts, her master and even her own mother would often duke it out secretly or openly to spend even a minute longer with her father. However, they never, ever tried to snatch away her quality time with her father. As a result, she became the biggest monopolizer of her father’s time, and she had long since memorized his scent.

It would be an understatement to say that Yun Che’s world had been turned upside down for the past couple of years or so. However, his scent had barely changed at all.

He had reached heights she couldn’t even begin to comprehend, and yet there wasn’t a single impurity to be found in his love for his homeland or his love for her.

Chi Wuyao’s words had been both stifling and painful. They also converted the last vestiges of her resentment into deep, warming pain.

“Father,” Yun Wuxin said in a small voice, “I love your birthday gift. I also have a gift for you.”

“Oh? Show me!” Yun Che’s eyes lit up like lanterns.

Yun Wuxin giggled before holding up her hands. A small and delicate jadestone was sitting in them.

The jade was icy white and pure in color. It glowed mysteriously under the faint moonlight and above the girl’s snow white skin.

“This Eternal Imagery Stone is...”

It was none other than the same Eternal Imagery Stone he had obtained from Mu Feixue and gifted to Yun Wuxin later.

The Eternal Imagery Stone was basically a superior version of the Profound Imagery Stone because it would never deteriorate on its own. Just the same, the recordings it held would never disappear.

Yun Wuxin gave the Eternal Imagery Stone a press, and a clear, distinct projection appeared in front of them both.

The background of the projection was the Yun Clan’s courtyard. In this recording, his daughter looked exactly the same as he remembered her.

“Daddy, it’s my fifteenth birthday today, and I received a lot of precious gifts from everyone. You didn’t come back on time though.”

He had dreamed of her face and her voice countless times in the past years. In this moment, an uncontrollable warmth spread across his heart and his eyes.

“It’s fine though. I’m sure it’s because daddy is bogged down by some very important business or something.” The girl’s smile had looked as pure and beautiful and an angel’s. “You’re not allowed to skip my birthday gift though! You better have it with you when you come back!”

“Also, a punishment is in order since you broke your promise. This is the proof, so you can’t say it never happened, heehee.”

The image changed. The girl in the projection had lost some of her childishness and became more adult, but she looked a lot prettier than before. Her features were dazzling, and her jet black hair cascaded to her waist like a waterfall. It had only been a year, but she looked like she had been reborn as a whole new person.

“I’m sixteen now, daddy. Why aren’t you home yet?”

“I’m much taller than I was last year. Grandpa, grandma, master and aunties all say that I have become as pretty as mom. I really want you to show you how big I’ve grown.”

“I’m really worried… but I know you’re the greatest man in the world. I’m sure nothing bad will happen to you. I’ll patiently wait for you to return home.”

The image changed again, and Wuxin became seventeen.

Her child-like features had completely faded by this point. All that was left was a long, slender body and a face too beautiful to look at directly. Her eyes and her facial features were starting to pick up bits and pieces of her mother’s aloofness as well.

“Daddy, this is how I look at seventeen years old… I’m recording this with the Eternal Imagery Stone you gave me because mom once said that missing my growth will definitely be the greatest regret of your life.”

“But… why aren’t you home yet… why have you been gone for so long…”

Yun Che: “...”

This time, the background of the projection turned into that of a snowy region. At eighteen years old, Yun Wuxin was practically the spitting image of her mother. She looked as proud and lonely as a snow lotus amidst the snow.

“My coming of age has passed, but you still aren’t home, father. You told me more than once that you couldn’t wait to see how I looked as a grown-up. Well, I’m all grown up now, but where are you…?”

“Everyone’s worried about you. Rumors of your demise have begun spreading on both the Profound Sky Continent and Illusory Demon Realm. I know the rumors are fake. You must be leading a peaceful life, right? I… I hope that is the case even if there is a chance… that you are too engrossed in the higher realms to return…” 

The snowy wind blew through the young woman’s hair. It was almost thigh length at this point. It was her birthday that day, and yet she was standing alone on a mountain of unknown height and gazing at a sky of unknown depth— 

“I want to travel to the God Realm to find you, but no one will agree to it. I don’t want to worry mother and everyone more than they already are either.”

“If you don’t come back, I swear I’ll hate you until you finally return…”

“Ah!”

Yun Wuxin let out a panicked cry as she turned off the recording prematurely. Her gaze was glued to her knees, and her fingers were clutching the hem of her skirt anxiously as she stuttered, “T-this one doesn’t count! I… I was just babbling nonsense… I don’t hate you.”

She thought that Yun Che would say something, but all she heard was dead silence. When she finally couldn’t wait any longer and peeked sideways, she noticed that he was biting his lips and tearing up a little.

She faced toward him and purposely asked in a small, teasing voice, “You… you’re not crying, are you father?”

Yun Che abruptly looked away and snorted. “I’m sorry? Your dad’s the great emperor of the God Realm, no, the master of the Primal Chaos itself! Like I would shed tears so easily!”

He was circulating profound energy to chase away the water in his eyes even if it was only a moment sooner.

Instead of teasing Yun Che further, Yun Wuxin leaned back on Yun Che’s shoulder again and whispered, “Auntie Qianye told me you’ve married a lot of consorts during your grand coronation ceremony. I’m sure you will have many more sons and daughters in the future. Will you still spoil me like this when the day arrives?”

“...” Yun Che turned a little red. “Don’t listen to her bullcrap. I… I didn’t marry that many consorts.”

“Really?” Yun Wuxin pinched Yun Che’s arm disapprovingly. “But auntie Chi told me that her ‘dowry’ alone amounts to nine Witches.”

“Ahem hem hem!” Yun Che turned even redder and said guiltily, “She did that all by herself! I had no idea it was going to happen until it did!”

“What about little Auntie Shui then? Auntie Qianye also said that she was engaged to you when she was just fifteen.”

“~！@#￥%...” Yun Che nearly spat out some imaginary water. The one hundred and eighty poses he was going to punish Qianye Ying’er with later flashed through his mind!

“Actually, now that I think about it…” Yun Wuxin tilted her head thoughtfully. “Why don’t I have a brother or a sister yet? I already had a lot of aunties before you left the God Realm, and now that number has practically doubled and more.”

“You… you don’t really have a weird problem, do you father?”

“OF COURSE NOT!!” Yun Che roared out like he was struck by lightning. With a mask of perfect calmness but a heartbeat that sounded like thunder, he declared, “I just don’t feel like it yet! Who do you think I am? It is as easy as snapping my finger if I really want to!”

“... besides, I already have the greatest daughter in the entire world. I don’t think I would regret it even if I never have another son or daughter in my lifetime,” he said half-seriously.

“Hmph! You truly are a natural-born ladykiller, father! You make up these lines with naught an effort at all! It’s too bad they’re no use against your daughter!” Yun Wuxin said playfully.

“...” Yun Che couldn’t refute this at all.

“Oh right!” Suddenly, Yun Wuxin exclaimed as if she recalled something. “Was the Blue Pole Star teleported to the Southern Divine Region on the tenth day of your departure, father?”

Yun Che thought for a second before answering, “That is correct… how do you know that?”

He didn’t recall being too specific about the time when he told everyone his story.

“I knew it.” Yun Wuxin said with a pleased expression, “It’s because a strange phenomenon overtook both the Profound Sky Continent and the Illusory Demon Realm when it happened. I even recorded it with the Eternal Imagery Stone. Take a look.”

The Eternal Imagery Stone released its special, icy light once more, and a projection appeared before Yun Che. 

In the projection, the blue sky and space itself were shaking unnaturally. The clouds were scattering to bits, and a red light had overtaken the entire sky in just the blink of an eye. It was also growing redder and redder by the second.

The red light was dimmer than expected, and it definitely wasn’t as piercing as the crimson crack had been. Yun Che still immediately recognized it as the unique light of the World Piercer.

It had been a planetary-scale teleportation from one divine region to another divine region. Maybe it would’ve been different if the World Piercer was fully charged, but it had still taken five to six breaths before the red light finally faded away into nothing. Of course, that amount of time meant nothing at all even to a mortal.

The spatial shock gradually came to an end.

Yun Che immediately noticed that the sky looked vastly different from how it used to. The denizens of the Blue Pole Star had much weaker spiritual perception and eyesight, however. He highly doubted many people would notice it even at night.

The projection disappeared there, and Yun Wuxin said, “At the time, many people guessed that it was caused by a never-before-seen earthquake that impacted both continents, or a giant meteor with extraordinarily rich fire element crashing against the Blue Pole Star.”

“However, the people forgot about it pretty quickly since it only lasted for a short moment, and the aftermath was mostly negligible.”

“Of course, no one thought that the entire planet itself had gone through a super long distance trip across space. The world truly is an amazing place where our imagination cannot hope to catch up to reality. This can only be described as a great miracle.”

“It is a miracle,” Yun Che said with a sigh.

If this miracle hadn’t happened, he could scarcely imagine what he or the God Realm would’ve become.

“Are the Eastern Divine Region and Southern Divine Region very, very far apart from each other?” Yun Wuxin asked.

“Very,” Yun Che replied. “They are so far apart that you can multiply the distance between the Profound Sky Continent and the Illusory Demon Realm by billions and still fall short.”

Yun Wuxin blinked as she tried to imagine the impossible distance inside her head. Then, she made a surprising comment, “Little Auntie Shui must be a really gentle woman then.”

“Hmm? Why do you say that?” Yun Che asked curiously.

Yun Wuxin had never had contact with Shui Meiyin. He hadn’t described her temperament when he told his story either.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Yun Wuxin explained smilingly, “The entire Blue Pole Star was teleported into a completely foreign divine region. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the planet had undergone a complete climate change.”

“However, as far as I’m aware, the seasons remained exactly the same after the teleportation occurred. Floating Cloud City was still a city of four springs, and the Snow Region of Extreme Ice remained as cold as ever.”

Yun Che: “...”

“It would’ve been a matter of great regret if Floating Cloud City was beset by winter, or if the ice and ice palaces in the Snow Region of Extreme Ice had melted into a sea. However, nothing has changed despite the super long distance spatial teleportation.”

“It must have been because little auntie Shui chose the best possible destination during the teleportation. Not only did she find a spatial environment that was near identical to the original, she even fine-tuned the location of the planet and the orientation of the continents to absolute perfection. It’s the only possible explanation.”

Yun Wuxin was looking a little starstruck at this point. “Not only did she save us all, her actions clearly showed that she is a gentle, good-hearted and attentive person. I can’t wait to meet her.”

“...” Yun Che blanked out for a moment before replying, “It could just be a coincidence.”

Shui Meiyin had never gone to the Blue Pole Star. There was no way she would know how to “fine-tune” the planet to preserve its wonders when she didn’t even know where Floating Cloud City or the Snow Region of Extreme Ice were.

“I believe in coincidences, but on this level? No way!” Yun Wuxin chuckled.

“...” Yun Che blanked out yet again.

An unknown amount of time later, Yun Wuxin was sound asleep on her father’s shoulder. She looked like she was wearing a robe made of moonlight and starlight beneath the night sky.

Her long eyelashes were curved, and a tiny smile was etched on her lips. Yun Che planted a light kiss on her forehead. He would protect this image for as long as he lived.