Against the Gods

Chapter 53 – Seed of the Evil God – Fire (6)

“Jasmine…. Jasmine….” While calling Jasmine’s name, Yun Che’s heart tightly cramped. The degree of severeness of this time’s deadly poison break-out was more than ten times stronger than the break-out four months ago. After all, last time, she only settled down two Spirit Profound Realms, and that already made her writhe in agony. This time however, she had dispatched a true dragon of the Emperor Profound Realm, in a flash! The intensity of the profound strength she had to utilize was simply as different as heaven and earth.

Jasmine couldn’t have not known the outcome of killing this Flame Dragon. But she had to strike, because if she didn’t, Yun Che would have died. And if Yun Che died, she would also definitely die as well.

Immense remorse made the inside of Yun Che’s heart experience a wave of prickling pain…. During the process of sneaking into the Flame Dragon’s cave, Jasmine had continuously dissuaded him thrice, and had also warned him that the true dragon’s treasure would undoubtedly have power imprints on them without exception; meaning that they weren’t all that easy to obtain. Yet he still continued on without hesitation…. He indeed had courage and boldness, but he may have had unknowingly forgotten one thing; he was no longer the Yun Che whose voice resounded throughout the continent before, but instead was only a trivial being that had only reached the fourth level of Elementary Profound Realm. What he was facing, however, was an extremely horrifying Emperor Profound Beast. With even the slightest hint of carelessness, he would lose his life and drag Jasmine into losing her life with him.

Yet this kind of outcome, still occurred in the end.

“I’m sorry Jasmine… I’m sorry…. I’m sorry…. I shouldn’t have not listened to you, I shouldn’t have been that reckless….” As his hands felt the changes within Jasmine’s body, Yun Che’s heart constricted more and more. He said sorry to Jasmine again and again…. But no matter how much he apologized and regretted at this point, it simply couldn’t restore the present situation.

Jasmine’s lips slightly moved, but the sound she gave off was too quiet to hear.

Her body became colder and colder, and had unwittingly, already changed into a semitransparent state.

Although Jasmine’s body was only a half ethereal form that depended on Yun Che’s life force, in the end, it was still the host of Jasmine’s soul. If this body disappeared, then Jasmine’s soul that had lost its host would disperse and completely disappear under the devourment of the deadly poison.

“Jasmine!! Jasmine!!”

Yun Che tightly clenched his teeth as his left hand desperately emitted the Sky Poison Pearl’s purification power. His right hand forcefully rocked her body, greedily hoping to rouse even the tiniest hint of her consciousness. Finally, he saw her ghastly white lips faintly open and close again. Yun Che froze for a moment, then hurriedly put his ears near her lips.

“I… don’t want… to die…….. Still haven’t… avenged… mother…. and brother……. Haven’t… killed… them all….. I don’t… want to… die…..”

(TL: Jasmine uses 母后 for mother. In English, I guess it would mean “my mother, the empress”, but its true meaning is “mother” and is generally only used by an imperial child.)

Jasmine’s voice was incredibly feeble and it was almost impossible to hear clearly even from this close. This feeble voice, however, made the inside of Yun Che’s heart violently surge.

When Jasmine first officially appeared in front of his eyes four months ago, he had already felt a kind of inexplicable sense of familiarity from her…. A kind of feeling that was very similar to himself during those days….. She was undoubtedly young and outrageously beautiful, and even calls herself a princess; she should have grown up showered with love from tens of thousands of people…. Yet, her beautiful eyes always brimmed with coldness and apathy. When killing people, her tender face didn’t carry the slightest hint of fear and sympathy, but instead held cruelty…. and an unchanging indifference.

This time, he finally understood what was so familiar about her that resembled him, during his previous days…

It was hatred!

In Azure Cloud Continent, when he was seventeen, he had lived under the shadow of his Master being hounded to death. That time, only hatred, bottomless hatred, overflowed from inside his heart…. During those days, the expression in his eyes; his apathy, his ruthlessness….. Perhaps, were extremely similar to the Jasmine he was looking at right now.

However, at that time, he was already seventeen and could at least be considered to be an adult. But Jasmine…. was only thirteen this year. He couldn’t imagine what kind of hatred it was that drove a girl, who originally should have been an angel, into an apathetic and cruel devil.

In her muttering just now, the way she referred to herself had turned into ‘I’, instead of ‘this princess’. This discovery also made the inside of Yun Che’s heart complicated. It was because the Jasmine right now had almost lost her awareness, so the words she said in this state were words that originated from the soul. This meant that the two words ‘this princess’ were actually not what she was accustomed to referring herself as, but was something that she had deliberately address herself as. It was as if using these words, she was continuously reminding herself about something.

A familiar feeling, as if they had suffered the same fate, was born from the depths of Yun Che’s heart, layered together with his immense feelings of guilt and remorse. He started to shake Jasmine’s body with even more force and loudly shouted: “Jasmine, wake up! You must not lose consciousness! Didn’t we make a deal? You gave me a new set of Profound Veins, but I haven’t accomplished what I had to do for you…. Are you willing to just leave like that!! Also… You’re my master, but you still haven’t taught me anything… As my master, you can’t just act incompetent like this! Wake up, please wake up!!”

But no matter how desperately Yun Che urged the Sky Poison Pearl and shook her, Jasmine no longer responded. Her petite face lost its last hint of color, and her body became more and more transparent. Although it was still possible to touch the entity that was her body, Yun Che could almost clearly see the sand that was below, on the ground, through her chest.

A wave of chilliness stemmed from inside Yun Che’s heart, and even his teeth were about to be crushed from clenching too hard. He violently smashed his fist on his forehead, but the feeling of acute pain did not ease the inside of his heart by even a little bit…. It’s your fault! Why didn’t you listen to Jasmine! Your life was not only yours, but also Jasmine’s life…. In the end, you even needed Jasmine to save you with her life! You’re the one who murdered her!!

Yun Che clenched his teeth and bitterly condemned himself. From the raw and bloody forehead that was hit by his fist, a drop of blood slowly dripped down and fell onto the sizzling ground. As he watched the drop of blood quickly dry up, Yun Che suddenly froze: “Blood… Right, my blood!!”

Jasmine sucked his blood to connect her life with his; the half ethereal body was also born from his blood, and his life force. At the same time, his body was fused with the Sky Poison Pearl; because of this, his blood may have acquired the trait of having extremely high poison resistance!

Promptly grabbing onto that glimmer of hope, Yun Che didn’t dare to hesitate for even a second. He extended his left arm and ferociously slashed it with the fingertips of his right hand, and broke open a long and deep laceration that instantly caused blood to gush out. Right away, he used his fingers to carefully opened Jasmine’s lips without the slightest hint of color, and allowed his own blood to flow into her lips, drop by drop. At the same, he used his hand and forcefully squeezed his shoulder in order to make the blood flow out faster.

Jasmine, I won’t let you die…. I definitely won’t!

Even if it was only for that promise I made in the past, that year….

Fresh blood quickly streamed down and fell into Jasmine’s open lips. However, beads of blood slowly overflowed from the corner of her mouth right after…. Jasmine was completely unconscious and was fundamentally incapable of swallowing by herself.

Yun Che tightly knitted his brow. After a brief period of hesitation, he lifted his own left arm, bit into the wound, and strenuously sucked. After he had sucked up a little less than half a mouthful, he lowered his body and again gently opened Jasmine’s lips with his hand: “If you’re can wake up, then no matter how you punish me after, I’ll take it willingly…..”

In the midst of his quiet mumble, Yun Che lowered his head, gently covered her lips with his, and carefully allowed the blood in his mouth to gradually crossover, drop by drop, into hers. Using a meticulous breath, he blew on his own blood, making it flow down from her mouth, into her body.

Although Jasmine’s mouth was extremely pale, it was still impeccably tender and smooth, which made Yun Che have an uncontrollable urge to stay like that for a while longer. Once a mouthful of blood was transferred over, Yun Che’s lips returned to the wound at once, and forcefully sucked again. After sucking up another mouthful, he again carefully transferred it into Jasmine’s mouth.

After repeating this a few times, the wound on his arm began to heal, making his blood sucking speed become much more slower. Yun Che immediately extended out his left hand and sliced open another deep laceration right beside the first wound; and fresh blood once more, trickled down like a stream….

Blood was continuously being transferred into Jasmine’s mouth. When the fifth line of scar appeared on Yun Che’s arm, approximately one fifth of the blood in his body had flowed into Jasmine’s body. A substantial feeling of dizziness emerged from Yun Che’s brain. However at this moment, he suddenly discovered that Jasmine’s body was already no longer turning illusory, and had started to become apparent little by little. The break-out of the deadly poison felt by the Sky Poison Pearl had also started to die down, like flames that had been showered in rain.

Success…. Did I succeed!!

A wave of pleasant surprise overcame Yun Che’s heart. Without the slightest hesitation, he extended his arm again, and sliced open the sixth stroke of laceration. His entire arm was already numb, yet the inside of his heart was nevertheless filled with a happy joy…. If his blood really was able to save her, then what was there to be stingy about?

If the human body loses more than one fifth of its blood volume in a short amount of time, it would lead to the failure of bodily functions; more than one third, it would lead to shock; more than one half, would lead to death…

Yun Che, who had an exceedingly high medical expertise, clearly was aware of this; but his movements, from beginning to end, did not have the slightest bit of sluggishness nor hesitation as he continued to add more cuts onto his arm, stroke by stroke.

When he finally was incapable of resisting the impossibly heavy dizziness in his brain, his vision became a field of white as he fainted while laying onto the rock wall behind him….

In the midst of his hazy consciousness, the silhouette of a girl that he had always tried to forget, slowly appeared…..

During the seven years he had lived in hatred, in order to obtain more power, he had desperately trained everyday until his entire body became tattered and was always close to death a countless number of times…. Every time, she would always gently treat his wounds, bring delicious food to him, fix his deteriorated clothing, and make the bed for him…. And on the next day, she would silently watch him leave….

During that period of time, she was the only warmth, and the only harbor he could soundly sleep in.

However, during that time, there was only hatred in his heart. Other than struggling back when covered all over with cuts and bruises, he had never given her any companionship, never bought her a single piece of hair ornament, and never made any promises with her; he even had never shown her a single smile….

Until that day she left him forever, while laying in his arms. At that time, the expression in her eyes and her voice, became a lifetime’s worth of unforgettable pain that drilled at his heart….

“…. In my heart, there are as many wounds…. as there are on your body…. But… I don’t regret…. becoming the girl that accompanied you when you were alone…. Even though it was painful…. it was also very blissful…..”

“….. Elder Brother Yun Che…. If later, when you’re lonely, and there’s a girl who’s willing to stay by your side…. Then she…. must be an angel sent to you by the heavens….. Don’t let her be hurt again…. okay…..?”