Against the Gods (Web Novel)

The first strike took an arm and a spear. The second strike took three lives and shattered their bodies completely. It was only two sword strikes, but by the time reality finally registered in the star guards’ minds, three of their comrades were already dead.

These three star guards were no small fries. They didn’t even count among the “experts” that were normally known to the common folk. No, they were the star guards who were looked up to by trillions of cultivators in the entire God Realm! These three star guards had the lowest profound energy out of all their comrades, but even then they were level three Divine Sovereigns! However, Yun Che had torn them apart like they were no better than rotten wood!

Divine Sovereign level one?

There was no way this could possibly be the power of a level one Divine Sovereign!!

The star guards who were ready for action at first froze on the spot, all shaking like they were possessed. Xing Ling had just died a horrible death not long ago, and right after that three star guards were shattered in the blink of an eye. They, who possessed great status, strength, and glory just couldn’t believe that a star guard, an existence who was looked up to by all common folk could die so easily and so miserably, no matter what.

But Yun Che wouldn’t wait for them to recover from their shock. Covered in blood, he was already charging towards them while roaring a terrible roar that was worse than that of a wild beast in despair.

“What are you doing!?” Xing Mingzi was both shocked and furious when he saw the frightened star guards taking a subconscious step backwards, “You are the star guards of the Star God Realm! You would allow a mere junior from the lower realms to break your resolve!?”

His shout shook the frightened star guards to the core. Then, a man leaped out from behind the star guards and let out a loud roar. He was clad in golden armor and holding a sword that glowed brilliantly with starlight.

He was the commander of the Heavenly Wolf Star Guard, Xing Lou… a level nine Divine Sovereign who was even stronger than Xing Ling was! Moreover, he was holding the Star Sword the Star God Emperor had personally gifted him!

The moment Xing Lou had moved, the rest of the Heavenly Wolf Star Guards followed closely behind him… While it was true that Yun Che’s earlier remarks had left them both ashamed and humiliated, the bigger emotion that took hold of them was actually anger. It was an anger that was born from the exposure of one’s shame and the trampling of one’s pride… and of course, there was killing intent as well!

Unlike the rest of the star guards, Xing Lou’s eyes were especially icy. He didn’t look like he shared the fear of the rest of the star guards either. Charging towards Yun Che, he unleashed a terrible aura that rivaled the might of the heavens, enveloping Yun Che in its center while the Star Sword grew more and more dazzling.

Several Star God elders nodded slightly as they watched Xing Lou. One of them said, “Xing Lou possesses great talent and an extraordinary mind. He may be qualified to become an elder in a few thousand years.”

“Yun Che! For killing the star guards, your punishment is death!!” Xing Lou shouted as the light of the Star Sword suddenly grew to become several hundred meters long, rippling with terrifying, space affecting energy. He swept the weapon low, vowing to cut off both of Yun Che’s legs.

RIIIIPP!!

The sound of space being shredded apart was absolutely ear piercing. The Star Sword swept across Yun Che’s legs, but it turned out that it was nothing but a fragile, false shadow.

The unexpected outcome caught Xing Lou off guard. Then, he felt an iciness spreading from his back to his entire body… It was an indescribable terror, an unimaginable chill. It was a feeling that kicked him to the bottom of the abyss and distorted even his immovable heart and soul… It was fear and despair that Xing Lou endured before he died.

“Xing Lou!!”

Boom!!

There was an explosion of blood and light, and a blade struck Xing Lou directly in the back.

Crack!

The sound of Xing Lou’s spine snapping was impossibly deafening. It was so clear that it halted nearly everyone’s hearts. His vision turned black, and the world lost all color and noise forever… Xing Lou had been fearless when Yun Che had slaughtered Xing Ling and blasted three star guards to oblivion in a single strike. But he never imagined that he, a level nine Divine Sovereign... would be just as fragile.

The toughest, strongest spine of a Divine Sovereign had been broken in half by a single sword strike.

Xing Lou collapsed from the sky like a meteor, and by the time he hit the ground he was already drenched completely in blood. He lay on the ground, his widened eyes having lost almost all of their color… He was the commander of the Heavenly Wolf Star Guards and a ninth level Divine Sovereign who looked down on all living things below a Divine Master. To think that he would be struck down so badly by a first level Divine Sovereign!

All of his pride, all of his glory had been wiped out by that single sword strike. Even if he somehow survived this day, this shadow was sure to accompany him for eternity.

The shadow of death that had enveloped him didn’t fade away, however. Yun Che was falling down from above and swinging a Heaven Smiting Sword that was bloody enough to choke a ghost or a god without mercy.

“Xing Lou!!”

Terrified shouts rang from every direction. The few Heavenly Wolf Star Guards who had charged with Xing Lou threw their fear and shock to the back of their minds and fired six star god profound beams at Yun Che in haste, hoping to drive him away from their commander.

But Yun Che didn’t care about their attack at all. The only thing that was brimming from his body was infinite hatred and killing intent.

Boom!!

The ground shook, and Xing Lou carried his shattered belief to his grave as Yun Che’s merciless strike destroyed him just like Xing Ling. At the same time, the six star god profound beams slammed into Yun Che’s back and created six bloody explosions.

Yun Che turned around and stared at the six Heavenly Wolf Star Guards who had attacked him with bloodshot eyes, frightening them so much that their faces turned instantly pale. By the time they came to their senses, Yun Che was already charging towards them, roaring and swinging what seemed like a falling star… or a blood red sun.

Heavenly Wolf Third Sword Style, Heavenly Star Lamentation!

The Heavenly Wolf’s divine power was a power of hatred. When the wielder’s hatred had reached its peak, it could shake the world and frighten even ghosts or the gods themselves.

They were the Heavenly Wolf Star Guards, so of course the were very familiar with the attack. However, it only took the blood colored wolf and the sun slightly more than an instant to destroy their willpower completely… Although the attack’s power couldn’t compare to the Heavenly Wolf Star God’s at all, it actually seemed scarier in some other ways...

The star exploded, and a distorted space vortex appeared where the six star guards used to be, persisting for at least a couple of breaths’ time before it gradually vanished. The star guards who were caught in the attack were completely gone: their bodies, their weapons, their star god armor; everything had been wiped out so thoroughly by the impossibly terrifying attack that not a trace of them could be found.

Not one of the six star guards had moved prior to their deaths. They hadn’t tried to resist, attack or escape because their wills had already been destroyed prior to their deaths.

“...” The Star God Emperor was standing inside the barrier, eyes stretched so wide that his skin would start tearing apart. His shock was so great that he had almost forgotten that he was still amidst a ceremony.

Not only were the star guards as fragile as dead grass before Yun Che, that final attack…

It had only lasted for an instant, but there was no doubt that it had reached the level of a Divine Master!

It was shocking enough that Yun Che had ascended from a middle stage Divine Spirit to an early stage Divine King, but now, bathed completely in blood, the power that was erupting from Yun Che’s body actually rivaled that of a Divine Master’s!

A young man less than fifty years old from the lower realms was able to approach the level of a Divine Master without a king realm inheritance… even the Star God Emperor himself was suspecting that everything that had happened today was an utterly ridiculous dream.

Correction, he was a young man in his twenties who could somehow summon the power of a Divine Master despite having no “inheritance” whatsoever… Hehe, the sum of everything that was ridiculous in the entire history of God Realm wouldn’t even weigh a ten thousandth of this fact.

“UUAHHHHH!!”

The young man’s roars continued to shake the heaven and earth. By now, every single star guard had understood through the death of their commander and the instantaneous annihilation of their six comrades that Yun Che’s profound energy far defied common sense. His presence was still of that of a level one Divine Sovereign, but his strength had far, far exceeded even their wildest imagination.

It was at this moment that their so-called “reservation” and honor all turned into a joke. More than a hundred Heavenly Wolf Star Guards leaped into the air and charged towards Yun Che together!

The spectacle that was a hundred or so Heavenly Wolf Star Guards attacking just one person together was entirely unprecedented. The fact that their opponent was a junior who wasn’t even a hundredth their age only made it more bizarre… Even if Yun Che were to die right here and now, this battle still could never be registered in the Star God Divine Canon.

The explosion of power of more than a hundred Heavenly Wolf Star Guards at once had painted every corner of the Star God City in white. Not only were the overlapping powers so scary that they flooded everything in sight, they were pinning Yun Che down and devouring even the bloody light that was surrounding his body.

Yun Che and the Heaven Smiting Sword abruptly crashed down to earth. It looked like he was fully immobilized. But not only was Xing Mingzi gladdened by this, his face was as cold as ice… After all, none of this changed the fact that this was humiliation at the highest level!

“Don’t hold back. Cripple him!!” Roared Xing Mingzi in a deep voice.

Starlights flashed, and a hundred meteors flew straight towards Yun Che… until the young man looked up, and a blue flash suddenly passed through his eyes.

The dragon emerged and roared with pride.

Yun Che’s life and soul were burning due to the Other Shore Asura. The power exploding from his body was of the nature of abyssal despair. That was why the dragon cry he summoned was scarier than everything he had used prior to today… a dragon cry of despair!

The dragon cry caused every star guard charging towards Yun Che to feel like their very souls were falling into the abyss of fear. Their pupils lost their color, and their bodies fell from the sky like the rain. Then, Yun Che let out an animalistic roar, raised the Heaven Smiting Sword, surrounded it with mad purple lightning and swung out in one electrical, explosive strike.

CRACK!!

The space surrounding Yun Che instantly turned into a purgatory of thunder, and every nearby Heavenly Wolf Star Guard was caught in the blast. However, the purple lightning that was clinging to their bodies was completely different from any type of lightning they had known in their lives. Their defensive profound energy and star god armor were no stronger than paper before it...

“What… what’s going on?” Xing Mingzi had just exclaimed this when his pupils suddenly grew several times bigger...

It was because he was being treated to the scariest scene he had ever seen in his life.

When Yun Che’s sword had ended in a note of ear piercing thunder, all one hundred and seven electrocuted Heavenly Wolf Star Guards were forcibly torn in half by an eruption of lightning!

The screams that lasted for only an instant were so bone chilling that even the world itself was trembling slightly.

“What…” A tremble coursed through the Star God Emperor’s entire body. His eyes were widened so much that the skin had nearly torn itself apart.

There was no one who hadn’t turned pale with shock.

“Heavenly Law… Tribulation Lightning?” Tumi said, but his voice was so hoarse that the words were unclear. He could feel his heart beating wildly inside his chest. It was fear. His standing was tall, and his lifespan was at its end. So why was he, a man who had long forgotten the taste of fear, recalling fear all of a sudden!?

All Divine Sovereigns were exceptional existences. They wouldn’t die immediately even if their bodies had been torn in half. But today, their tenacity turned out to be the biggest misfortune of their lives. To watch one’s own body crumble in half right before one’s eyes, broken upper body on one side and bloody lower body on another, was a kind of fear and despair that exceeded all torture that had ever existed in this world. Even the pain was secondary to that.

At this moment, these star guards were star guards no longer, much less star guards with honor and glory. They were now just a bunch of evil spirits who couldn’t die as the despair of losing an entire half of their bodies drove them into screams and tears. The floor of blood and internal organs was a painting straight out of hell itself.

Standing at the center of hell was none other than Yun Che himself. He had the power to bury them all with ease, and yet he was simply standing still, enjoying their blood and tearful screams… It was the death they deserve after all, the worst kind of death!!