Against the Gods (Web Novel)

Yun Che’s tone of voice was light and casual, but it was clear enough for everyone to hear his words. But as if they were under some sort of spell, the people at the Conferred God Stage were absolutely silent—with only the sharp and clear sounds of jaws hitting the floor resounding continuously.

“Good! Good! Good!!”

God Emperor Shitian clapped hard while repeatedly roaring the word “good” thrice. There was an unusual light in his eyes, “Well done, boy! That divine skill of invisibility you displayed truly broadened the horizons of this king! Being able to witness such a divine skill alone is worth this king making the trip to the Divine Eastern Region!”

“It’s a pity that you’re from the Divine Eastern Region. If you were born in the Southern Divine Region, this king would have even vied with others for taking you in as a disciple, hahahaha!”

God Emperor Shitian laughed loudly. Each and every word of his sounded like a sudden thunderclap.

Words like “broadened this king’s horizons” and “vied with others for taking you in as a disciple,” carried unimaginable weight when spoken by the god emperor who was ranked second in the Southern Divine Region.

Earlier, Honorable Qu Hui had said harsh and insulting words about Yun Che’s master. God Emperor Shitian saying such words at this time was much more than a smack in the face to Honorable Qu Hui.

All the people present in this place had clearly seen Yun Che’s performance. Not only the realm kings of the thousands of star realms, but also the distinguished individuals watching the competition from the eastern seating area—the five great god emperors, star gods, moon gods, and the adjudicators—had a look of surprise on their faces.

“Divine skill… of invisibility?”

“Isn’t it the legendary movement skill of the divine way…? Is it truly possible for someone to have practiced it? Especially… is such a thing possible for a youngster who is only at the Divine Tribulation Realm?”

“There are indeed records of such a skill, but we have never heard of anyone successfully practicing it before. Could he be using some kind of… eye-deceiving art?”

“God Emperor Shitian said it himself. How can it be fake?”

“Does that mean this boy… has far more ability than what it seems?”

“Is him passing the round this way… not considered cheating? Don’t tell me that he… is now considered the first ranker in this round? Tha… That’s not going to happen, right?”

Yun Che passed the first two rounds of preliminaries, despite having the strength of the first level of Divine Tribulation Realm. As he stood on the Conferred God Stage, although it surprised everyone, soon after, they found it laughable instead. Yun Che employed “crooked means” this time again, which completely deviated from the original intention of arranging such an assessment. Moreover, all of them saw his entire journey from start to end with their own eyes.

But they didn’t find him contemptible and laughable due to him finishing the round in such a way, and instead were so shocked that they could not calm their emotions for a long while.

“What? Do you want to say that I cheated once again?” Looking at the stiff expression of Honorable Qui Hui, Yun Che let out a low laugh. Then, he said in a voice that was only audible to him, “There was no rule other than to reach Floor 300 first, and you announced it yourself. Could it be that Honorable Qu Hui, the one called as the most fair and strict person in the Eastern Divine Region, feels no hesitation in smacking his own face?”

Immediately, the face of Honorable Qu Hui contorted and his gaze turned slightly gloomy, but he still didn’t say anything.

As the leader of the adjudicators, how was it possible for him to be unaware of “invisibility,” the ultimate level of movement skills? Despite having lived for tens of thousands of years, it was only today that he had witnessed it for the first time… However, the one who had displayed such great skill actually turned out to be the junior he felt incomparable contempt for, the one that he loathed a lot.

He certainly said it himself… especially, to mock Yun Che. He put emphasis on words like “there are no restrictions on the means,” “there are no rules,” because he was sure that as everyone was separated from each other, and there was danger everywhere, with no place to flee in the Eternal Heaven Tower, it would be an idiotic dream to want to cheat in the third round.

He never expected that there was still the possibility of using such a method.

This “method” was something that even the five great god emperors couldn’t use, let alone him.

Honorable Qu Hui turned around to look at the Eternal Heaven God Emperor. After the two looked at each other, the latter gave him a slight nod.

“…” Qu Hui turned back to face Yun Che. His chest faintly moved up and down as he said in a solemn voice, “Yun Che of the Snow Song Realm, you have passed the third round of preliminaries, and have the qualification to enter the final ‘Conferred God Battle!’ You will have to stay here for now, and can only leave once the preliminaries come to an end!”

WAAAH——

The Conferred God Stage at once became boisterous.

Witnessing invisibility definitely deeply shocked the audience, but the profound way cultivation of Yun Che was only at the first level of Divine Tribulation Realm, after all. He only relied on “invisibility” and not his strength to be the first to pass the competition inside the Eternal Heaven Tower, and it was true strength which was required to enter the final “Conferred God Battle.”

It was already a huge joke for a “heaven chosen child” to be at the first level of Divine Tribulation Realm, and had angered even someone with self-restraint as great as the Eternal Heaven God Emperor.

Now, if he also entered the “Conferred God Battle,”… it would undoubtedly cause a tremendous disturbance and uproar in the Eastern Divine Region, and it would be laughed at by other divine regions without any reservations.

However, it was the decision of the Eternal Heaven Realm… A decision they could not help but make.

Yun Che turned a deaf ear to the reaction of the people in his surroundings. He calmly stood in place, as wave after wave of emotions surged within his heart.

The Conferred God Battle had been the final and most important event of the previous sessions of the Profound God Convention. He had heard that every fight of the Conferred God Battle was even displayed everywhere in the Eastern Divine Region via star tablets.

Looks like I’m really going to be well-known, huh…? He said inwardly in self-ridicule.

Jasmine, once you see me and hear my name, you’ll definitely come to look for me… You definitely will.

I didn’t think that to be able to meet you I would have to come across such ups and downs and hardships, but at this moment, it is only excitement that I can feel. I don’t feel the least bit of regret about what all I had to face to come so far… Even if I have to pay ten times the price for my actions to this point, or face ten times the consequences I have suffered. I will still not regret anything.

Sometimes, I myself felt bewildered too. Why was I able to so resolutely abandon everything I had on the Blue Pole Star, only to arrive at the completely unfamiliar God Realm, regardless of whatever might happen? Moreover, it was only for the sake of seeing you once… or even the possibility of being able to see you once.

But right now, the crazily surging emotions within my heart have answered my doubt…

That is because you are Jasmine.

You are the one who gave me a new life, and changed my fate as well. You are the one for whom I can willingly give away everything I have, even if means being damned for eternity.

Time quickly passed by. The competition inside the Eternal Heaven Tower was still going on, and becoming more and more intense.

The gazes of the audience finally shifted back to the Eternal Heaven Tower. It was only Yun Che who was standing quietly with closed eyes. He didn’t give another glance to the Eternal Heaven Tower. He clearly had a good opportunity to observe the powerful participants who were going to be his opponents in the “Conferred God Battle,” but he didn’t have any interest in doing so.

It was because he had already achieved his goal, and the “Conferred God Battle” had nothing to do with him any longer.

Furthermore, given his strength, he would suffer certain defeat at the hands of any expert strong enough to enter the Conferred God Battle.

The thing he was planning to do next, was to wait for Jasmine to come looking for him. After today, so long as Jasmine was present in the Eastern Divine Region, there should be no reason for her to not hear his name.

An unknown period of time passed when extremely excited voices began to resound beside his ear, “Luo Changsheng! It’s Luo Changsheng! He is just about to reach the top!”

Very soon, a white light flashed behind Yun Che, and an elegant figure slowly walked out of it.

The cheers from the people of the Holy Eaves Realm shook the sky… If not for the presence of an abnormal existence like Yun Che, their cheers would certainly have been even more elated.

Luo Changsheng came a few steps ahead when he suddenly caught sight of Yun Che, causing a faint startled look to surface in his eyes. But the change in his eyes only appeared for an instant, after which he shifted his gaze away from the other party and didn’t spare him another glance.

It was very obvious that in his opinion, or to be exact, in the opinion of anyone with a normally working brain, the sole possibility for Yun Che to appear here before him, was because of him voluntarily abandoning the competition.

Besides, it was only normal for someone like him to directly give up on the competition.

“Well done.” Honorable Qu Hui slightly nodded towards Luo Changsheng, as an extremely rare look of appreciation emerged on his face.

Yun Che also didn’t look at Luo Changsheng, either. These two people who had returned to the Conferred God Stage before the rest had no point of intersection between them, as if they were living in two separate worlds… Perhaps, in their hearts, they considered themselves to be an existence of a completely different world from each other’s.

Following Luo Changsheng, the second, the third, the fourth winner appeared… More and more people reached Floor 300 and returned to the Conferred God Stage. This first batch of people to clear the competition inside the Eternal Heaven Tower was, undoubtedly, the group of most topnotch existences in the entire Eastern Divine Region. Each one of them already had a great reputation in the Eastern Divine Region.

Their reactions upon seeing Yun Che were basically the same as Luo Changsheng’s.

Jun Xilei, in particular, had a deep look of contempt and disgust on her face when her gaze turned to him. The feelings of humiliation and hatred, which were buried in the depths of her heart, would also be roused every time she saw Yun Che.

At some point in time, there were already over twenty youngsters who had returned to the Conferred God Stage, and the remaining slots for the Conferred God Battle were also becoming fewer and fewer. It was at this time that Yun Che suddenly heard a name he was quite concerned about.

“That boy is… truly from the Flame God Realm?”

“How can someone from a middle star realm be so powerful!?”

Yun Che raised his head as his gaze very quickly locked onto a projection. The entire screen of the projection was filled with the faint golden light of flames. He could clearly hear the loud roar of Huo Poyun, as well as the painful and despairing growls of a large number of profound beasts that were located in the midst of Golden Crow flames.

Golden flames soared into the sky, as if they would burn through the Eternal Heaven Tower. Gradually, the growls of the profound beasts quieted, and Huo Poyun walked out of the light of flames that had filled the sky, his whole body dyed in blood. He was walking at a slow pace, but each of his steps were firm as iron. Within his blazing pupils, there was no sign of pain, and only his incomparably scorching hot and unswerving determination could be seen in them.

Leaving a long line of blood behind him, he stepped inside Floor 300 of the Eternal Heaven Tower.

Consequently, becoming the twenty-fifth person to enter the Conferred God Battle.

“…He is truly amazing,” Yun Che sighed in sincere admiration.

He ranked within the top two hundred in the very first round, and then, he placed among the top hundred… Right now, he was the twenty-fifth person to pass the competition inside the Eternal Heaven Tower, out of the thousand “heaven chosen children,” and successfully entered the Conferred God Battle.

Not only that, he was also the first young profound practitioner from a middle star realm to enter the Conferred God Battle.

He continuously shocked Yun Che with his performance, and gave tremendous pleasant surprises to the Flame God Realm time and time again.

“Conferred God Battle, it’s the Conferred God Battle, you know…” Huo Rulie said repeatedly, as if he was lost in a dream, and didn’t want to wake up.

“Who would have thought that Poyun could come so far? We completely underestimated his attainment in the flame element. After all, he has…” Speaking the first half of his words, a deep look of excitement and expectation surfaced on Yan Juehai’s face.

The gaze of the Eternal Heaven God Emperor paused on Huo Poyun for a long time. Afterwards, he turned to the people from the Flame God Realm, as he said with a faint smile, “Congratulations to the two sect masters of the Flame God Realm. It seems that the Flame God Realm will be promoted to the status of an upper star realm before long.”

Yan Juehai and Huo Rulie were feeling extremely flattered. They hurriedly greeted him back, as they felt extremely excited in their hearts.

As Huo Poyun walked out of the screen of light, there was still uncontrollable excitement on his face. The instant he turned to Huo Rulie to signal his greeting, he caught sight of Yun Che, and was taken aback immediately, “Brother Yun, you…”

Yun Che walked over to him, as he said with a faint smile, “Brother Poyun, now it’s simply impossible for you to not be famous in the world.”

“Ahahah, you…” Huo Poyun would act in an exceptionally fierce and cruel manner when fighting his opponents, but he was a quite a gentle person normally. He gave an embarrassed laugh, and was just about to ask Yun Che whether he withdrew from the competition voluntarily, but then he suddenly thought that it would definitely hurt Yun Che’s self-esteem, and promptly stopped himself from speaking any further. He lowered his voice, as he said, changing the topic, “Brother Yun, you almost scared me to death earlier… You actually dared to contradict Honorable Qu Hui… Phew! You don’t know how powerful an individual he is. Please make sure not to do such a thing again.”

However, Yun Che said with a calm and collected smile, “Don’t you worry, I’m safer than every one of you all. Even if that Honorable Qu Hui loses his mind and wants to launch a direct attack to kill me, I still have a means to render him unable to do so.”

“Eh?” Huo Poyun was stunned. Although he trusted Yun Che quite a lot, he found it difficult to believe these words of Yun Che’s.

“Quick, look over there… When did that little girl from the Glazed Light Realm overtake the others!?”

The majority of the gazes focused on the same projection. A lovely and exquisite girl was flying within it like a butterfly. There was a large group of profound beasts chasing after her, but surprisingly, the speed of these profound beasts slowed down little by little, until they finally came to a halt. They lifelessly watched the girl getting farther and farther away from them, but didn’t show any signs of pursuing her again.

Shui Meiyin!

“Ah? What’s going on?” Huo Poyun revealed surprise and incomprehension on his face. “All the profound beasts inside the Eternal Heaven Tower were endlessly chasing the participants like mad dogs. So why did they… stop chasing after her?”

“…It should be due to soul interference, and one that is extremely strong!” Yun Che frowned, as he said slowly.

This little girl had such a terrifying mental strength. She could actually interfere with the perception of so many profound beasts.

Could it be that his invisible state was easily sensed by her… because of her excessively powerful mental strength, too?

Yun Che himself had an extremely strong mental strength, but he had never tried to specifically train his mental strength. Therefore, the power of his mental strength was totally used in issuing simple and brutal mental attacks, and in providing him an extremely strong mental defense.

For example, the stun effect of Dragon Soul, and the soul-burning effect of Red Butterfly.

What Shui Meiyin had displayed was mental interference, something much more difficult and advanced than a simple mental attack.

With enough powerful interference, one could even be able to “control” the target.