Against the Gods (Web Novel)

“Universe Penta Jade Pellet!” Mu Xuanyin slowly uttered a single name.

“Universe Penta Jade Pellet…” Yun Che muttered under his breath. This was clearly the name of some kind of medicine, but it actually had the word “universe” in its name, so one could well imagine that it was definitely extremely extraordinary. “Master, this is?”

Mu Xuanyin’s eyes faintly shone. “Since you have rejected the notion of using the Ice Phoenix vital yin to raise your profound strength, then I can only think of one method which would allow you to achieve the Divine Tribulation Realm before the Profound God Convention. That method is the Universe Penta Jade Pellet.”

Yun Che’s pupils contracted slightly as he said in disbelief, “Could it be that this Universe Penta Jade Pellet… could possibly allow my profound strength to reach the Divine Tribulation Realm in two years?”

“No,” Mu Xuanyin actually shook her head.

“It isn’t a case of whether it is possible or not, because it will definitely happen! Furthermore, it won’t even take two years. If you can obtain a Universe Penta Jade Pellet and successfully refine it within your body, then that single pellet will be sufficient enough to directly boost your profound strength into the Divine Tribulation Realm.”

“...” Yun Che’s mouth hung open but he did not get too excited. Instead, he spoke in a relaxed voice, “It should be extremely difficult to obtain a Universe Penta Jade Pellet, correct?”

A medicine which would allow someone in the Divine Origin Realm to directly step into the Divine Tribulation Realm. This would be considered a heaven defying item even in the God Realm, so how could it be something that was easily obtained… If that was the case, then Mu Xuanyin would not have chosen to first suggest the method which would sacrifice the majority of the Ice Phoenix vital yins they possessed.

“It is not merely extremely difficult. In fact, it is far more difficult and challenging than you can imagine. Even if you exhausted the entire power of the Snow Song Realm, finding one within the next two years would still be as difficult as scaling the heavens!”

Mu Xuanyin coldly uttered those words which did not surprise Yun Che in the slightest.

“Before one is able to refine the Universe Penta Jade Pellet, you would need to possess five extremely rare and hard to obtain items which each contain an entirely different kind of power. These five objects are the Qilin Horn, Ancient Dragon Heart, Wood Spirit Orb, Nine Star Divine Buddha Jade and the Immortal Emperor Grass!”

As the name implied, the Qilin horn referred to the horn of a Qilin. Other than this one item, Yun Che had not ever heard any of those other names, so he could not even begin to understand what they were. Furthermore, the mystical creature known as the Qilin was something that only existed in the annals of the Profound Sky Continent and the Illusory Demon Realm. No one knew if they truly ever existed before. But since Mu Xuanyin had named the Qilin horn, this at the very least proved that the Qilin was not merely a profound beast formed from a figment of imagination.

Mu Xuanyin unhurriedly continued from where she had left off, “The Ancient Dragon Heart is simply the heart of an ancient dragon. Furthermore, this ancient dragon needs to be a True Dragon who has lived for more than one hundred thousand years and the heart needs to be whole and complete.”

Yun Che’s head fiercely jerked upwards. “Master, the complete horned dragon heart that you requested from the Flame God Realm the other day, could it be for the sake of…”

The horned dragon that had lived in the Ancient God Burying Inferno Prison had not lived for a mere hundred thousand years.

“That is something you don’t need to bother about!” Mu Xuanyin coldly cut him off, “If it is just a heart of a horned dragon alone, even if we have successfully obtained one, it will be completely useless if you cannot find the other four materials!”

“...” Yun Che did not speak again but a slightly peculiar feeling arose in his heart.

“As for the Wood Spirit Orb, that is the life origin orb of the Wood Spirit Race, we can only obtain it from the body of someone belonging to the Wood Spirit Race.”

“Wood Spirit Race?” Yun Che was briefly stunned by those words. He instantly recalled that he had heard this name from Jasmine’s own mouth before and she also seemed to have mentioned that this race possessed very strong nature energy.

Mu Xuanyin glanced at him before continuing, “The Wood Spirit Race is a branch of the elven race. They possess nature energy that is unsurpassed in this world and they are also able to speed up the growth of spirit herbs and plants. But what does not match up with their extremely pure and special nature energy is the fact that the offensive power of said energy is extremely weak. Due to this fact, they were often taken as slaves who helped to cultivate spirit medicine. Moreover, not only does their life origin orb… which is also the Wood Spirit Orb, contain the purest form of natural energy, it could also be used as a high quality ingredient. Furthermore, it also has one other immense effect known to everyone.”

“As the quality of medicine increases, the difficulty of refining said medicines increases as well. Furthermore, the moment one fails, it would result in a huge loss. In fact, it’s possible that hundreds or even thousand of years worth of accumulated materials would be completely lost as well. But if you were to pour in the energy of a Wood Spirit Orb during the refining process, the rate of success will rise by a tremendous amount. The greater the spiritual energy within the Wood Spirit Orb, the easier it will be for that refining to succeed. Because of this, the people of the Wood Spirit Race have been cruelly enslaved and hunted down and there are very few of them left. Even though the enslaving or hunting of the Wood Spirit Race has now provoked the wrath of the righteous sects and no one dares to brazenly run wild anymore, the number of profound practitioners who have secretly sought or hunted the Wood Spirit Race has not decreased at all. As a result, the Wood Spirit Race has been on the brink of extinction since many years ago.”

“...As the possessors of the purest nature energy in the world, they should have been protected by the very heavens. But who would have thought that the extremely and obviously sacred nature energy within their bodies would turn out to be the source of their nightmares.” Yun Che muttered softly. One could well imagine that the price of the Wood Spirit Orbs would definitely soar as the Wood Spirit Race slowly dwindled and in turn, this would naturally cause those hunters to grow even more crazed and desperate.

“Even though hunting and killing the Wood Spirit Race is in violation of heaven’s laws, compared to the other four items, the Wood Spirit Orb is the easiest to obtain. As long as you are willing to pay a sufficient price, one would be able to purchase it in the black markets of the lower star realms. But if one wanted to find a Wood Spirit Orb composed of more than seventy percent spiritual energy… it would be a hundred times harder than usual!” Mu Xuanyin proclaimed as her brows knitted together.

“Why? Is it because it is very easy for the spiritual energy within the Wood Spirit Orb to dissipate?” Yun Che asked.

“You’re exactly right, the Wood Spirit Orb needs to be housed within black jade of the highest quality. However, the spiritual energy is usually not lost when the Wood Spirit Orb is being stored. It is lost when the Wood Spirit Orb is being extracted.”

Yun Che, “When it is being extracted?”

“The Wood Spirit will die the moment the Wood Spirit Orb is extracted. But because the energy contained within the Wood Spirit Orb is far too pure, the moment it leaves the Wood Spirit’s body, the energy within the orb will swiftly begin to dissipate. Furthermore, when a wood spirit knows that he is definitely going to die, he will destroy his own spirit orb. If that is the case, even preserving fifty percent of the spiritual energy will be extremely hard, much less seventy percent. So if one wants to obtain a Wood Spirit Orb which still has seventy percent or more of its spiritual energy, one needs to kill a Wood Spirit while they are still unawares and extract and store the Wood Spirit Orb within a black jade box at the greatest possible speed… Even in such a case, being able to preserve eighty percent of its spiritual energy is already the best possible scenario.”

“But… a Wood Spirit’s power grants them extremely keen powers of perception. As a result, they are also extremely sensitive to things like wicked intent, so trying to hunt and kill a Wood Spirit without them being aware of it is something that is incomparably difficult to accomplish.Since that is the case, Wood Spirit Orbs which still contain the majority of its spiritual energy are practically priceless.”

“There is also another scenario. One where a Wood Spirit willingly sacrifices his own life and extracts the Wood Spirit Orb from his body. Under these kind of circumstances, due to the fact that there will still be some connection with the Wood Spirit’s vitality, it will perfectly preserve all one hundred percent of the Wood Spirit Orb’s spiritual energy. However, this kind of scenario naturally almost never happens.”

Yun Che nodded his head as he earnestly listened to Mu Xuanyin’s words.

“As for the Nine Star Divine Buddha Jade and the Immortal Emperor Grass…” Mu Xuanyin’s brows knit together once more as she continued, “These are items which are extremely hard to find in the entire God Realm, rare treasures which not many people even know about! Their existence is not something the current you can even begin to understand. I have already sent others to look for them. Whether we can find them or not entirely depends on your good fortune!”

“Then… what about the Qilin horn?” Yun Che unwittingly asked. Because it was the only thing that Mu Xuanyin had not talked about.

“This is the task that I am going to entrust to you next.” Mu Xuanyin said.

Sudden comprehension washed over Yun Che. “Could it be that there is already news of a Qilin horn?”

“The Qilins in the Eastern Divine Region have long since gone extinct, so I sent people to search for them in the Western Divine Region. But after that, I managed to find out something completely by chance. What I found out was that there was still a complete Qilin horn somewhere in the Snow Song Realm.” Mu Xuanyin said emotionlessly, “It is in the northern part of the Snow Song Realm, a place called the Ice Wind Empire.”

“Ice Wind Empire?” Yun Che muttered under his breath. But after that, he immediately recalled something, “The Ice Wind Empire where Mu Hanyi was born?”

“That’s right.” Mu Xuanyin gave a slow nod of her head, “The Qilin horn we’re talking about is an Ice Qilin Horn and the Ice Wind Empire has passed it down for nearly one hundred thousand years. They have designated it as their halidom. Countless nations have risen and fallen in this Snow Song Realm but the Ice Wind Empire has been able to flourish for nearly one hundred thousand years. This is without a doubt due to the existence of their halidom. So it is definitely something that is held in extreme reverence and importance. So it will naturally be difficult to get them to hand it over.”

“Furthermore, it is soon going to be the one thousandth birthday of the current ruler of the Ice Wind Empire. So you should go together with Mu Hanyi to the Ice Wind Empire to obtain that Qilin horn and bring back. But this is something that even Mu Hanyi cannot know, much less the Ice Wind Empire. As to how you are going to obtain it… That will depend on your own ability.”

If Mu Xuanyin simply uttered a single word, the Ice Wind Empire would definitely run thousands of miles to offer it up without caring whether it was a halidom or not. They would not even dare to make a single fart, so how could it be “difficult”.

Yun Che immediately understood after that. This was clearly a test and a form of tempering that Mu Xuanyin wanted him to undergo. At the same time, it would also allow him to truly come into contact with the God Realm—After all, he had not taken a step outside of the Divine Ice Phoenix Sect ever since he had come to the God Realm.

“Understood.” Yun Che unhesitantly gave a heavy nod of his head. “This disciple definitely will not let Master down.”

After all, he was the direct disciple of the Snow Song Realm King. Once he presented his status, even the emperor of a country would have to treat him with deference and respect. Even if it was a halidom, it should not be too hard to obtain, right? After all, in this Snow Song Realm, who would dare not give any face to the Snow Song Realm King.

These thoughts whirled in Yun Che’s heart.

“Very good.” Mu Xuanyin slowly nodded her head, “When you go to the Ice Wind Empire this time, there will be no one around to protect you. So, you not only have to obtain the Qilin horn, you also have to accomplish one other thing.”

“Come back alive!”

Yun Che’s mouth fell open but after that his gaze sank, he nodded his head yet again. “Yes, disciple will engrave it in his heart.”

Mu Xuanyin’s hand stretched out and with a light swing of her hand, a white and red jade bottle gently flew out and landed in Yun Che’s hands.

“The white bottle contains the breath of a horned dragon.” Mu Xuanyin said, “Bingyun was struck by its poison one thousand years ago, so I have been researching it ever since as I hoped to find out a way to purge it. But now that the poison in Bingyun’s body has been completely cleansed, there is no point in keeping it any longer. As you have the Sky Poison Pearl on your person, it is naturally much easier for you to handle poisons, so I’m giving it to you.”

“As for the red bottle, it contains the blood of a horned dragon.”

The moment she mentioned ‘the blood of a horned dragon, Mu Xuanyin’s gaze grew unspeakably cold and not a single ripple appeared in them. It was as if she had never used this to scheme against Yun Che. “This is already useless to me. Hmph, perhaps you could find some use for it.”

Yun Che had personally experienced the dreadfulness of the horned dragon’s blood. The breath of the horned dragon was so poisonous that it caused Mu Bingyun, a powerhouse of the Divine Sovereign Realm, to nearly lose her life, so he could well imagine how dreadful it was. He carefully withdrew the two bottles before speaking. “Thank you, Master… Also, when should this disciple leave for the Ice Wind Empire?”

“Right now.” Mu Bingyun icily replied.

“Right now?” Yun Che said in a stunned voice.

“Mu Hanyi should already be in Ice Phoenix City. Besides him, there will still be one more person. You’ll find out who it is once you get there.” Her icy brows slanted slightly, “What? Could it be that you still need some time to prepare?”

“Eh… No, there’s no need for that.” Yun Che immediately shook his head, “This disciple will head out now.”

The barrier around the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake opened and Yun Che immediately left and barrelled straight towards Ice Phoenix City.