Against the Gods (Web Novel)

“What is that?”

Shouts started to spread across the Conferred God Stage… The spectating profound practitioners from the various star realms were already used to the sight of heavenly tribulation lightning regions, but this scarlet lightning region... No one in the entire Eastern Divine Region, the entire God Realm in all of its history, had ever witnessed such a thing, nor recalled seeing records of such a phenomenon.

“This… What is…” The Heavenly Brahma God Emperor frowned.

“Could it be… the seventh stage of tribulation lightning?” Qianye Ying’er spoke.

“What?” Qianye Ying’er’s words sent waves through all the god emperors present.

At this moment the skies and the lightning region was now completely scarlet, with not a hint of purple light left. Within the scarlet lightning region hummed several flitting bolts of red lightning. They dyed the originally purple skies red and turned the entire world a shade of blood. The scarlet lightning clouds continued roiling, even more eye catching than the clouds reflecting a setting sun.

Everyone had yet to recover from the shock of the sixth stage of tribulation lightning and they were now met with another soul shocking sight. In the midst of the scarlet world, it was as if they had all descended into a dream-like illusion.

Boom boom boom boom…

The skies thundered as scarlet lights flashed. The scarlet lightning region reformed once more, changing the expressions of all the profound practitioners who had undergone their own lightning tribulations.

This was because right now they could feel the suppression from the heavenly law. It was even more fearsome than the purple lightning region, frighteningly strong and much heavier than before. Not just ten times stronger… it was several tens of times stronger!

Under this suppressive might, let alone profound practitioners in the Divine Tribulation or Divine Spirit Realm… Even Divine Kings trembled in fear at this power. They all felt as if they were but small little grains of sand… ants even, under such a suppression from the heavens. Beneath the fury of the heavenly law only an instant was needed for them to be erased from all existence.

Those below the level of Divine Sovereign were trembling uncontrollably. This type of inferiority and fear… what they were exhibiting, their state of mind… all this had nothing to do with their courage or insight. They were the most instinctive reactions that originated from their souls and body due to the might and excessive weightiness of the heavenly suppression. And these reactions showed just how fearsome and powerful the current heavenly law was.

Yet such power and fury was just for the sake of a human in the Divine Tribulation Realm.

“What in the world is happening? Why is this happening?”

Mu Huanzhi and the rest were terrified. Ever since the thick black clouds arrived, everything that had happened had surpassed their reasoning and everything they knew.

“Pah!!”

Huo Rulie gave himself a hard slap, as he continued staring blankly at the world in front of him, a world that was dyed a complete blood red… The pain from the slap could even be felt from his teeth to his tongue but he still hadn’t woken up from this “dream”.

“Is it really… the seventh stage of tribulation lightning?”

The Dragon Monarch raised his head towards the sky murmuring to himself.

Crackle!!!

Under the gazes of countless thunderstruck eyes, the scarlet lightning region slowly parted. An eye piercing scarlet radiance appeared at the heart of the region. In that moment, the sky encompassing red light immediately thickened severalfold. The originally terrifying heavenly suppression also multiplied at the time, firmly locked down the entire Conferred God Stage.

Only Yun Che was there on the Conferred God Stage. This told everyone watching of an undeniable yet world shocking fact...

“It’s… it’s… Don’t tell me it’s...”

“The seventh stage of tribulation lightning after the sixth stage!!?”

“What!? Is this for real? Isn’t six stages the limit? Why is there still a seventh stage?”

“A never before seen red lightning region, a never before seen seventh stage of tribulation lightning… We’re witnessing history in the making!”

Terror, shock, excitement, dumbfoundedness, joy, disbelief… The audience had already forgotten that they were in the Eternal Heaven God Realm, they had forgotten that this was the Conferred God Battle. Both their mental states and this current scene was immensely chaotic...

In all of the history of the Eternal Heaven’s Conferred God Battles, this was the one and only time where all hell had broken loose.

See above

But nobody of the Eternal Heaven Realm could control the situation at hand. Even the strict and heartless head adjudicator Honorable Quhui was intently looking at the scarlet red sky, his not daring to move away, as if he was very afraid of missing out on any detail.

Because right in front of them, was a true miracle in the making.

The red light in the heart of the lightning region slowly broke away… three meters, thirty meters, sixty... a hundred fifty… until finally, three hundred meters.

This red light was no longer a bolt of lightning like before, it was very obviously a frightening lightning sword that was an extreme compression of lightning energy!

Above the lightning sword, scarlet lightning hissed, its heavenly might vast and powerful. Suddenly, it seemed as if the crowd an ancient diety’s scarlet sword, one whose might threatened the mortal world.

As the three hundred meter lightning sword completely broke free from the lightning region, no longer did the skies roar with thunder and clap with lightning. The lightning sword came piercing straight down toward Yun Che.

CRACK

The lightning sword fell, piercing toward the heart of the Conferred God Stage… piercing toward Yun Che’s body. Red light instantly flashed throughout the sky and thunder once again roared to life filling the entire world and Conferred God Stage. The formerly purple sea of lightning had now become a scarlet sea of lightning, so brilliant that its light struck the countless eyes that were staring wide eyed at the sight.

The spectators lost the ability to speak in the midst of their bated breaths. Only the sound of lightning and thunder could be heard roaring between the heavens and the earth.

As the lightning sword slowly sunk, the scarlet sea of lightning became even more violent with each level of descent. Once the lightning sword finished descending, it filled the entire red sea of lightning with a terrifying aura of tribulation lightning when it dissipated. The aura was so strong that the even the experts among the audience were terrified, hearts racing.

This was the lightning tribulation from the heavens, and it was a never seen before scarlet tribulation lightning.

This was the first time in all the history of the God Realm that a seven stage lightning tribulation had appeared.

From the first to the sixth, each stage of lightning tribulation signified a multiplicative increase in the number and power of tribulation lightning.

But this seventh stage of tribulation lightning was of a completely different nature, it just was a single scarlet lightning sword, but its power was both mighty and fearsome. No longer was it double the thirty-two bolts of lightning… It was literally on a completely different and unfathomable level.

If it were to be said that the former six stages of tribulation lightning were but a test for mortals who cultivated in the divine way, then this completely different seventh stage that contained the fury and terror of the heavenly law was a scary devil god which spared no effort to extinguish a misfortunate world.

The red light reflected off everyone’s eyes and faces. Even after it had long dissipated, no one uttered a single sound.

Even Luo Shangchen, Jun Wuming, Shui Qianheng, and many others, their bodies were ramrod straight, as if they had lost their souls.

Six stages of lightning tribulation had sent their hearts into waves of shock.

And right now, seeing the arrival of the seven stage lightning tribulation had left them all reeling, feeling as if they were in an illusion. As the existences at the pinnacle of the Eastern Divine Region they could not fathom just how terrifying one’s talent had to be in order to cause seven stages of tribulation lightning to descend.

If he was still alive, his future… What heights would he achieve…

Yun Che, born from the lower realms, disciple of a middle star realm, whose age had not even reached thirty, what kind of a… monster was he!?

“Seven… stages… of… tribulation… lightning…” Shui Yingyue’s lips gently moved, every word spoken in a dreamlike state.

Shui Yinghen gulped. His lips a shade of blue as he struggled hard to speak, “He… he… is he.. still alive?”

“...” Shui Qianheng sucked in a deep breath of air, “That lightning sword is powerful enough to instantly annihilate a Divine King...”

“Ahh…” Shui Yinghen’s mouth dropped open.

“No, no… that can’t be…” Shui Meiyin gently shook her head and softly said, “Big Brother Yun Che is still alive, I can feel it… He’s definitely still alive!”

“...!?” Shui Qianheng fiercely turned his head. Heavenly tribulation lightning still covered the skies above the Conferred God Stage, its level of power far beyond what any normal being could bear. Even the Divine Masters present couldn’t sense anything beyond the heavenly tribulation lightning.

But Shui Meiyin’s Stainless Divine Soul, as well as the soul imprint that Yun Che had left deep in her soul, an imprint that she would never ever bear to erase… She would definitely be able to...

Could it be that Yun Che... was really still alive?

Yun Che was almost at death’s door when the six stages of tribulation lightning arrived, yet a full sixty-three bolts of tribulation lightning hadn’t blasted him to his demise. Before this heavenly lightning sword that could even wipe Divine Kings off the face of this realm… He was actually still alive!?

From the time the purple sea of lightning had transformed into that of a scarlet red one, Yun Che was not only alive, he was actually basking in, and relishing the entire experience.

As the scarlet lightning sword pierced down from up above, a thick and vast amount of heavenly spiritual energy and lightning energy more ten times that of before had crazily rushed into his entire body. Every hair and cell in his body was rejoicing and relishing that power.

The level of power contained within the purple colored tribulation lightning was already considered extremely high, but the scarlet one was of even greater level. Beneath the incomparably violent heavenly and elemental energies, Yun Che’s Rage God powers were thoroughly excited. Alongside the swift rotation of the Buddha pagoda, numerous streams of energy rushed through his entire body… The tribulation lightning was completely unable to harm Yun Che, and was actually being transformed into high level heavenly spiritual energy by the Rage God power, one that completely surged through his body and profound veins.

His originally severe injuries, whether they were internal or external, had now completely recovered.

His profound veins which were previously at a deficit were now completely filled with immensely dense profound energy. The strange thing was that the profound energy didn’t stay within his profound veins, but quickly dissipated just as they rushed through.

Within the depths of his profound veins, that mysterious aura still continued to struggle, struggling even more violently than before, and was gradually about to break free from its “cage”.

Red clouds continued to roil up in the skies. The scarlet lightning region still had yet to disappear. Instead, it suddenly began to swell at a rapid pace.

The originally glaring scarlet light immediately became even more dense as the suppression from the might of the heavenly law also came down much heavier than before. Several breaths later, the scarlet lightning region had enlarged almost tenfold, which then caused the heavenly suppression to also increase tenfold!

The whole world had now turned into a terrifying scarlet red. It was as if a layer of almost drying blood had been splashed across the land and skies.

“This… This is…”

This was the voice of the Eternal Heaven God Emperor. His voice was now shaking.

Another brilliant scarlet light appeared at the center of the expanded lightning region, resembling a calamitous star emitting world annihilating beams of light that pierced the soul.

“Eighth… stage…” The Dragon Monarch found himself speaking in a soft whisper that even seemed foreign to himself.

The silence in the entire world was now frightening. The entire Eastern Divine Region had never been as silent as this very moment. Everyone was speechless, no longer able to think. Within the depths of their eyes and souls, the only thing they knew and saw was that scarlet beam of annihilating light in the sky up above them.

The scarlet lightning beam started to grow amidst that deathly silence, slowly descending from the lightning region, three meters… thirty meters… three hundred meters… three kilometers!!

The power of the prior six stages of tribulation lightning always doubled every next level, but this was a nightmarish growth rate.

This lightning sword was a whole ten times larger than the previous one!

Eighth stage of tribulation lightning… The words rang inside the consciousness of everyone present, like a voice traversing throughout an entire dreamlike illusory realm.

Even if they had countless experiences and witnessed many things through the passage of time, none of the supreme experts of the God Realm could believe what was occurring before their very eyes.

CRACK

In this silent world, the heavenly lightning sword fell to the center of the Conferred God Stage. In the next instant, a beam of scarlet instantaneously shot up into the sky, reaching the very peak, looking as if it had pierced the vast gap between heaven and earth.

The vast Eternal Heaven Realm was an expanse of scarlet red, as if it had been dyed in the color of blood, not disappearing for a long long time.