Against the Gods

“Lord… Lord Sikong.”

The purple-robed old man’s face turned a shade whiter when he saw Sukong Hanzhao and his enforcers. He hurriedly stepped forward to greet the group, but Sukong Hanzhao waved him off and said coldly,

“No need to explain. I have already learned everything there is to learn about this matter.”

“Haha, Lord Sikong! Long time no see.” The leader of the dark profound practitioners let out a hearty laugh before walking up to the commander. “I have heard that the lord enforcer overseeing this realm is kin and an old friend, and I was planning to visit you some time later. To think that we would meet right now—” 

“Who are you calling your kin and friend?”

An angry cry froze the dark profound practitioner in his tracks. Glaring at the leader with anger, Sikong Hanzhao waved his arm and ordered, “Take them down!”

The enforcers rushed forward with irrefutable might. Caught off guard, the thirteen dark profound practitioners were suppressed before they could do anything.

Stunned and confused, the leader of the dark profound practitioners dared not resist overtly. Instead, he asked with widened eyes, “What… what are you doing, Lord Sikong?”

“Hmph!” Sikong Hanzhao said angrily, “On the day Emperor Yun was crowned, he decreed that the profound practitioners of the three divine regions AND the Northern Divine Region are to put their past behind them and treat each other as equals. You are all beneficiaries of Emperor Yun, and yet you disobey his decree and even smear his and our names in mud!? Unforgivable!”

“No! No! Emperor Yun is our heaven! We have all fought together with Emperor Yun back then. We would never disobey him!” Shocked by his accusation, the dark profound practitioners tried to defend themselves, “Lord… Lord Sikong, we are kin, and we have all suffered under the yoke of the three divine regions. Don’t you understand why we’re doing this!? How could—” 

“You dare defend yourself with twisted words!?” Sikong Hanzhao waved his arm and dropped a devastating blast of Divine Sovereign energy on the group.

Crack!!

“Uahhhhhhh!!”

The sound of shattering bones was so terrible that the profound practitioners of the Purple Profound Clan turned white with terror. The bloodcurdling screams especially felt like they were tangibly squeezing their hearts.

Sikong Hanzhao had shattered the leg bones of all thirteen dark profound practitioners with one palm strike.

After he lowered his arm, he declared firmly, “Emperor Yun’s decree applies to all no matter the class or race! Anyone who defies it will be punished!”

“Ah… Ahhhhh…” The groveling dark profound practitioners groaned piteously. The pain was so terrible that their clothes became drenched in sweat almost immediately. “Lord Sikong, we have seen the error of our ways, so please… for the origin that flows in our veins… mercy… mercy…”

“Break their limbs and hang them outside the enforcer bureau for nine days! Make it clear that anyone who begs for them will be subjected to the same punishment!”

Sikong Hanzhao ignored the begging and ordered a crueler punishment. The sound of breaking bones and bloodcurdling screams resounded once more, and the thirteen dark profound practitioners lost their arms as well.

Further back, the younger profound practitioners of the Purple Profound Clan had turned as pale as a sheet. At the beginning, their hatred for the thirteen dark profound practitioners ran bone-deep, but now? They actually felt pity for the offenders.

“Drag them away!” said Sikong Hanzhao while turning away.

“Yes sir!” Two enforcers tied up the utterly beaten dark profound practitioners with profound energies and began dragging them toward the place they would be hung.

For a time, an oppressive silence dominated the scene. Then beard shivering and heart shivering even harder, the purple-robed old man took a step forward and bowed deeply to Sikong Hanzhao. “Lord Sikong, thank you—” 

“Unnecessary!” Sikong Hanzhao cut him off with a raised hand and a cold voice. “We are simply fulfilling our duty.. It is the mission Emperor Yun has bestowed upon us.”

He proceeded to sweep his gaze across every man and woman before uttering, “You may war against whoever to the death, and the enforcers will not interfere with your business. We will ask you not to bother us with such nonsense either.”

“But if it involves Emperor Yun’s decrees… may the downfall of these villains be all the example you need!”

Sikong Hanzhao’s domineering attitude and heartless words should’ve invoked shock and terror, but the purple-robed old man actually let out a long sigh of relief instead. He bowed even deeper and said, “Emperor Yun’s saving of the world will never be forgotten. His unifying of the four divine regions is good fortune upon all of the Primal Chaos.”

“From here on out, the Purple Profound Clan will obey Emperor Yun’s decrees as if they came from heaven itself. If the enforcers ever has need of our service, we too will—” 

“Unnecessary!”

Sikong Hanzhao clasped his hands behind his back before taking off into the sky. He was gone in but the blink of an eye.

The enforcers’ work had been forceful, domineering, clean and efficient to the max.

It would be a long time before anyone would forget about them, if ever.

For a long time, the purple-robed old man stared at the horizon where the enforcers had vanished. Then, he spun around to face his people and shouted animatedly, “Did you see that? Did you see that!? Who dares say that the enforcers will prioritize their own after today? Who dares say that Emperor Yun will take the dark profound practitioners’ side!?”

A small group of people bowed their heads in shame.

“Yes… this junior was foolish and narrow-minded.”

“From now on, I will rebuke anyone who dares to challenge Emperor Yun and the enforcers’ fairness with all my heart.”

“Emperor Yun truly is the unparalleled emperor of the four divine regions! He truly is a man who is deserving of the worship of the entire Primal Chaos!”

………...

“These enforcers are so cool!”

Yun Wuxin exclaimed in admiration. She and Yun Che had arrived just in time to watch the whole thing from beginning to end. Suddenly, she changed her tune and said, “I can’t believe the nerve of those dark profound practitioners though! It is thanks to father that they got to enjoy everything they got to enjoy today! How dare they tarnish father’s reputation so!?”

Yun Che withdrew his spiritual perception from the distance before replying with a meaningful expression, “The enforcers have probably entered this star region just recently. In order to remove the denizens’ natural caution and rejection in the shortest amount of time possible, it is necessary to ‘kill the chicken to warn the monkeys’.” [1]

“Kill the chicken to… warn the monkeys?” Yun Wuxin turned to him in astonishment.

Yun Che continued to smile. “Correct. However, the monkeys are real, but the chicken is fake. Do you get what I’m saying?”

It took Yun Wuxin only a moment to realize his meaning. She looked in the direction the enforcers had disappeared to and exclaimed in shock, “You mean… those dark profound practitioners were… pretending the entire time?”

“That’s right.” While taking joy in the fact that his daughter was intelligent, Yun Che continued to explain, “Currently, we are pushing for both the dark profound practitioners and the profound practitioners of three divine regions to put the past behind them and treat each other as equals. To do this, the enforcers must choose between punishing a profound practitioner of the three divine regions in defense of a dark profound practitioner, or the other way around. You understand why the latter is far more effective even though fairness is ensured for both cases."

Yun Wuxin slowly but surely puzzled out the process Yun Che had explained to her.

The show allowed the enforcers to remind both races of the importance of living in harmony, establish the enforcers’ authority in the shortest amount of time possible, eliminate existing prejudices and the common belief that Emperor Yun would definitely take the dark profound practitioners’ side because he was the former Devil Master.

It was a move that killed many birds in one stone.

“Is this one of the secret measures you implemented, father? It’s… not bad,” Yun Wuxin praised with sparkling eyes. At the same time, her disgust for the thirteen “criminals” had turned from disgust to sympathy and respect.

The performance was fake, but there was no faking breaking bones and being hung in public.

“This is one of your Auntie Wuyao’s favorite tricks,” Yun Che explained. “Moreover, she understands deeply the foolishness of repeating the same trick twice, so she has developed thousands of scenarios for this one trick alone.”

Yun Wuxin’s respect for Chi Wuyao skyrocketed even as her lips parted in astonishment.

“Auntie Wuyao is amazing,” she murmured with a look of adoration. “Father, do you think I can visit Auntie Wuyao and ask for her guidance? She’s not too busy to entertain me, is she?”

“There’s no need.” However, Yun Che surprised her by shaking his head. “You won’t be able to learn her style anyway.”

“Ah?” Yun Wuxin didn’t understand his meaning.

Yun Che gazed to the distance again as he explained in a slightly melancholic tone, “The trick is ultimately secondary to the acumen. Only a person who has been through everything would know how to employ the right trick against the right person at the right time and under the right circumstances.”

“Wuyao’s life is one where she has met all the facades of humanity. It isn’t something any woman can hope to emulate or even imagine.”

“The life experience she must have gone through to become an empress who can rule the entire universe… it is my sincerest wish that you will never have to walk that path.”

“...” Yun Wuxin fell silent for a very long time. She thought she understood what her father was saying.

“Come. It is time we move to our next destination.” Yun Che took flight.

“Where to? Is it another star realm?” Yun Wuxin followed closely behind her father. She was already much faster than when she had first entered the God Realm.

Since their journey began, Yun Che had been assisting in her cultivation by tempering her body with the Great Way of the Buddha and the Divine Miracle of Life.

As a result, Yun Wuxin wasn’t trying particularly hard to progress her cultivation, but the speed at which she was progressing was still something no profound practitioner of an equal realm could ever hope to achieve.

Surprisingly, Yun Che didn’t fly long before coming to a stop.

They had stopped at the enforcer bureau of this star realm.

The thirteen dark profound practitioners whose limbs were shattered a moment ago were already hanging on the roof of the building.

Their divine king auras were a shock to anyone who was passing by the area. It showed them the consequences of disobeying Emperor Yun’s decree and the strength, fairness and strictness of the enforcer bureau. It told them that the law would be obeyed even if the criminal was a dark profound practitioner themselves.

It was a thousand times more effective than any speech or admonishment anyone could come up with.

The thirteen dark profound practitioners were suspended in midair by long, thin steel cables. It was so gruesome that it was unbearable to look at.

Their bones might have been broken, but they were still Divine Kings. They could’ve escaped any time they wanted to, but the onlookers believed they wouldn’t because of the fear of Emperor Yun the enforcers had put into their hearts.

Yun Che descended toward the thirteen dark profound practitioners but didn’t dispel his veil of invisibility. Then, he said, “Thank you. It cannot be easy.”

The thirteen suspended dark profound practitioners who looked like dead bodies from a distance widened their eyes in utter disbelief. Then, Yun Che’s figure appeared for a brief instant to affirm that they weren’t hallucinating.

He was only ten steps away from them.

Shock, excitement, disbelief… every cell in their bodies was shivering uncontrollably. Every drop of blood was boiling with emotion.

“Your Mag… Your Majesty!”

Personally, they preferred to address him as “Your Magnificence” or “Devil Master”.

It was because “Emperor Yun” and “Your Majesty” belonged to the four divine regions. Only “Your Magnificence” and “Devil Master” were for the Northern Divine Region and the dark profound practitioners.

“This is nothing… compared to what Your Majesty has done for us, this is nothing at all.”

The speaker was literally crying as he said this.

To be approached and even consoled by the Devil Master himself? Forget this bit of pain, he could die a million times now and still feel not a shred of regret.

“To sacrifice for Your Majesty and the Northern Divine Region will only ever be an honor, never a hardship,” another dark profound practitioner said with a tremor.

The dark profound practitioners’ loyalty and reverence for Yun Che might not ever be surpassed by anyone from the three divine regions.

Yun Che gave them one final nod before leaving the scene.

Forget the humiliation, the thirteen dark profound practitioners almost couldn’t feel the pain in their bodies anymore. When the excitement finally faded, what was left behind was an utter lack of regret and ceaseless pride for having served the Devil Master.

While Yun Wuxin was flying next to Yun Che, she kept glancing sideways at her father’s face again, and again, and again.

“Did you draw something on my face?” Yun Che suddenly met her gaze and asked.

Yun Wuxin’s eyebrows curled into crescents as she giggled. “No, I was just thinking how blessed I am to have a father that I can admire for the rest of my life.”

Her father had only made a brief appearance, but it was enough to move the dark profound practitioners to tears.

For the longest time, all she saw from Yun Che was his fatherly side. It was only when she began her journey that she realized little by little that her father was also a king who stood above all others.

“Well,” Yun Che replied approvingly, “I’m not going to tell you not to think of me like that. In fact, please do your best not to be disappointed in me too soon.”

“Heehee… so, where are we heading next, father?”

“Our next destination is the Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm, the southern region king realm I told you about before. It will be difficult to adapt to the atmosphere of a king realm, so you should—” 

“Oh I know! It’s the king realm where your Consort~ Grace lives!”

“...”

“As far as I’m aware, everyone who’s been made your consort is an incredible person. Take me there already, father! I want to meet her as soon as possible!”

1. (T/N: meaning to punish an individual as an example to others)