Against the Gods (Web Novel)

“My mother, she… did you kill her?”

This sudden and exceptionally abrupt question caused Qianye Fantian’s eyes to instantly narrow. After that, he let out a soft sigh as he said, “It looks like I really missed something back then. After all, having no gaps at all is really a big gap in and of itself.”

Qianye Ying’er’s beautiful eyes suddenly focused as the last illusion within her shuddering heart and soul was completely shattered into oblivion. “It was really you… It was really you!!?”

“Heh heh,” Qianye Fantian gave a dry chuckle. “Since you already guessed it and sensed it a long time ago, why did you never ask about it or believe it to be true? Was it because you didn’t dare to? Or was it because you weren’t willing to?”

He had frankly admitted it and he was not the least bit worried about her finding out. One could even hear some disappointment and ridicule in his indifferent voice. Qianye Ying’er’s eyes started trembling even more intensely as her voice grew hoarse. “Why… Why did you kill her!?”

A big reason, perhaps it could even be said to be the biggest reason, why Qianye Fantian had become the only weakness in Qianye Ying’er’s heart was because he had been good to her mother. It was why she would be willing to sacrifice all of her dignity to save him.

Back when her mother had died, he had not only investigated her death himself but also personally executed both the god empress and the crown prince in a fit of rage. His actions had shaken the entire Brahma Monarch God Realm, but what was more important was that it had also deeply shaken Qianye Ying’er, who had always been resentful towards her father.

After that, he posthumously conferred her mother the title of god empress and also swore that she would be his last god empress, his only god empress.

This coupled with the trust, regard, and love that he showed her meant that it was only natural that the feelings she had for her mother would gradually be transferred to her father. Thus, he became the person she trusted the most in the world, the person who was closest to her, and the only source of warmth and intimacy in her life.

Even when she had those moments of doubt... she would firmly suppress those suspicions and think that they were doubts that she should not be having.

However, everything had suddenly changed.

Qianye Fantian’s tacit admission coupled with the few words he had said after, were a destructive impact on Qianye Ying’er’s soul. It was such a cruel blow that no one else would be able to imagine it or put themselves in her shoes.

“Why?” Qianye Fantian wore a tragic and sorrowful expression on his face. “Isn’t the answer already as clear as day? Of course it’s because of you.”

“Your innate talent did not only surpass all of my other children, no one in your generation in the entire Eastern Divine Region could match it either. This coupled with the viciousness, single-minded focus, and ambition I could see in your eyes made me feel as if I had witnessed the birth of the first female Brahma Heaven God Emperor. Compared to the successor that I had previously selected, your brilliance was far more dazzling.”

“But alas, the you back then had a fatal flaw, and that fatal flaw was… your excessive care for your mother! After that, I even found out that the most important reason for your fervency and ambition toward the profound way was actually because you wanted to obtain an even higher status for your mother. Heh… how pitiful that was, how laughable.”

Qianye Fantian shook his head and it was as if he still felt the pity and disappointment that he had felt back then. “Thus, for your sake, and for the sake of the future of the Brahma Monarch God Realm, I had no choice but to act. I would lavish you and your mother with my undisguised affection before intentionally letting slip that you would become my successor. This would consequently arouse jealousy and panic in the hearts of the god empress and the crown prince. From then on, their desire to kill you and your mother was only to be expected.”

Qianye Ying’er clenched her teeth tightly as her entire body shook.

“Your mother died by my hands. This was a grave matter that concerned the future of the Brahma Monarch God Realm, so I could only do it myself. After that, I personally executed both the god empress and the crown prince before posthumously conferring the title of god empress upon your mother.”

Qianye Fantian kept addressing them as “the god empress” and “the crown prince” and had not even mentioned their names once… because he had already forgotten their names. Even though they were once his personally chosen empress and crown prince, they seemed to be nothing more than two specks of dust that had been swept away, not even worthy of being remembered by him. “The reason why I had to go to such great lengths to orchestrate these events was because I was afraid that once your mother died, the feelings you had for her would have nowhere to go. I was even more afraid that you would lose your goal and ambition because of this. So I had no choice but to do what I did, causing the feelings you had for her to gradually migrate to me. You could even say that I put a lot of thought into your upbringing.”

“But what I never imagined was that the memory of your mother still refused to dim, even though so many years had already gone by.” Qianye Fantian shook his head as he gave a sigh of lament. “What a pity, what a pity. And what’s even more tragic is that you seem to think that I was the one who caused the death of your mother.”

“No,” Qianye Fantian said as he let out a sigh. “In fact, I can’t even remember her name or what she looked like. If it wasn’t for some special reason, why would I have stooped to personally dealing with a woman like that with my own two hands?”

“In the end, the one who caused the death of your mother wasn’t me. It was you. If you had not been so dazzling and had not valued her so much, she would not have died such an early death.”

Qianye Ying’er’s delicate head drooped inside that golden cage. Her body had not stopped shuddering for a single moment and underneath her golden mask, streams of tears swiftly flowed down her face.

Tears...

No one had ever seen the Brahma Monarch Goddess’ tears before and no one had ever imagined what it would look like to see the Brahma Monarch Goddess cry.

But at this moment, from the very moment the first tear started rolling down her face, her tears flowed uncontrollably, just like how her heart and soul had completely collapsed… She stubbornly refused to let out a single sob, but she was not able to stop the tears leaking from her eyes.

In her lifetime, she had witnessed countless deaths and seen more despair than she could even remember, but at this moment, it was the first time she had so clearly understood what despair was… This felt many times more cruel and painful than when Yun Che had planted the slave imprint on her.

She, Qianye Ying’er, the Brahma Monarch Goddess admired by the entire universe, the future Brahma Heaven God Emperor. Her background, cultivation, status, authority, and appearance; every single one of them stood at the highest peak of this universe. Only the Western Region’s Dragon Queen was worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as her.

She had undoubtedly stood at the pinnacle of this universe and she had always held the rest of the world in contempt. This was especially true for men, not a single one of them had ever truly caught her eye… even if that man was the number one god emperor in the Southern Divine Region.

When the profound practitioners of the God Realm mentioned the three words “Brahma Monarch Goddess”, the words that accompanied that title were “lofty and beyond one’s reach”.

But today, it was only today that she discovered that her life had actually been so tragic all of these years. No, practically her entire existence was a tragedy.

She thought that she was not only Qianye Fantian’s chosen successor, but also the daughter that he loved and trusted the most, and the latter was even more important to her than the former… But it was only today that her eyes were finally opened. It turned out that she was actually only a doll dancing along on his strings, and it had always been the case!

He did not just personally steal the most important thing in her life, he had even made her feel constant gratitude and respect towards him because of this… After she had used her own dignity to save him, she had instead become an abandoned child that he could not even be bothered to waste any effort on because of the sacrifice she had made.

“If I were to nurture you once more, it is true that you will be able to become the cornerstone of the Brahma Monarch God Realm once more. However, given our current situation, you have much more value as a gift to the Southern Sea God Emperor. You should rejoice in the fact that you, someone who has been stained and has been bereft of her Brahma Monarch divine powers, would still possess such great value.”

“Ah, but it’s such a pity…” Qianye Fantian said as he shook his head. “Now that it has come to this, I have no choice but to select a new successor again. On this particular point, I truly do envy Yue Wuya.”

As he looked at Qianye Ying’er, whose mind and spirit had completely collapsed, there was not even a trace of love or pity in his eyes. “Xia Qingyue doesn’t even have a tenth of your experience, but in order to wash away the stain on her reputation, she sought to take Yun Che’s life time and time again. She did not hesitate at all or leave behind any possible weaknesses to be exploited. She even destroyed her own birthplace. In comparison to her, you’re truly far too stupid so it’s no wonder that you actually fell into her trap.”

At this moment, how could Qianye Ying’er not come to realize that the real reason why Qianye Fantian had given her the Brahma Soul Bell after he had been poisoned was to push her to sacrifice herself to save his life… But today, it had become his reason for discarding and even crippling her.

What a farce.

At this moment, she thought of Yun Che for some odd reason.

The Yun Che who had immediately become a fugitive wanted by the entire universe after he had just saved the world.

Just a few moments ago, she had still been mocking his fate and pitying his current situation… But at this moment, what difference was there between her and Yun Che!?

In fact, her life was even more tragic than his.

At least, he still had someone who was willing to die to save him. At least, he still had the opportunity to escape.

As for her, with the sole exception of her father, she had only given this world mercilessness and indifference. And the person who had suddenly thrust her into an abyss of suffering and despair just had to be the father that she trusted and respected the most, the father who had been the only weakness in her heart.

She did not speak for a very long time as her profound energy continued to steadily flow out of her. However, the feeling of powerlessness that pervaded her entire body was even clearer and more intense than the loss of her profound energy. The world was very quickly turning ashen for her and after that, that gray world of hers was quickly becoming dark and lightless.

Qianye Fantian did not leave. The Southern Sea God Emperor would arrive very soon and he needed to personally hand Qianye Ying’er over to him. After all, one had to personally make sure that all accounts were settled when bargaining chips were involved. Just like he had said before, given the Southern Sea God Emperor’s rabid infatuation with Qianye Ying’er, he would not reject any requests that Qianye Fantian made in return.

Even though Qianye Ying’er’s profound strength had been crippled, she still possessed her face, a face which dazzled the world with its beauty, so he naturally had to exchange her for the greatest amount of value.

As he sensed Qianye Ying’er’s aura growing weaker and weaker and her soul that was on the verge of complete collapse, a strange light flashed in Qianye Fantian’s eyes before he finally took action and slowly extended his palm toward Qianye Ying’er.

There was one more thing he had to do and it was to take advantage of her mental breakdown and erase a portion of her memories. Because she knew far too many of the Brahma Monarch God Realm’s secrets, especially the one concerning...

Bzzz———

A faint sound suddenly rang from a distant underground sacred hall. At the same time, an aura which was incomparably unique and faint had also been sent out.

Even though it was very weak and faint, he could still feel it. Furthermore, it was this incomparably weak but unique aura that suddenly caused Qianye Fantian’s expression to change as he swiveled around.

After that moment of shock, extreme excitement and wild joy appeared on his face. Because that aura had clearly belonged to the Primordial Seal of Life and Death!

Could it be that they had finally found a way to activate the Primordial Seal of Life and Death’s power of 【Immortality】!?

The third-ranked Heavenly Profound Treasure—the Primordial Seal of Life and Death, was indeed hidden in the Brahma Monarch God Realm. Immortality… There was nothing that could drive a god emperor crazy like the chance at true immortality

His body suddenly shot forward without any hesitation or delay as he flew toward the source of the aura at the greatest possible speed.

Just after Qianye Fantian left, the space beside Qianye Ying’er suddenly split open and a hunched and withered gray figure swiftly shot out of it, a dark-gold disc in his hands.

It was Gu Zhu!

Gu Zhu’s hand curled into a claw and, immediately, the golden light that twined around Qianye Ying’er completely disappeared. She sank limply to the ground, her dull and muddy eyes staring at the elderly man in front of her as she mumbled in a lifeless voice, “Uncle… Gu…”

Clang!!

The dark-gold disc in Gu Zhu’s hand released a dense white light as a cluster of swiftly gathering spatial energy engulfed Qianye Ying’er. “Miss, run away. Run as far as you can, and never return… I hope that Miss will be able to live peacefully for the rest of her life.”

A spatial profound formation was formed from the white light as it spread out underneath Qianye Ying’er’s body. Following Gu Zhu’s words, a beam of light shot into the sky and disappeared along with Qianye Ying’er.

At nearly the same time, Qianye Fantian, who had just left, suddenly returned… Gu Zhu also turned around, the dark-gold disc in his hand directly cracking apart in his old and withered hand… destroying the possibility of using that spatial disc to teleport other people to its preset location.

“Gu Zhu, good, very good!” Qianye Fantian’s face darkened dramatically. He had never imagined that the person who was least likely to betray him would actually trick him… He had tricked him for a crippled and discarded Qianye Ying’er!

He could not be bothered with Gu Zhu as his hand fiercely shot out in the location where Qianye Ying’er had just been. There were still spatial traces that had still lingered in that area.

Gu Zhu had long been prepared for this. Just as Qianye Fantian was about to approach, he thrust out his palm and met Qianye Fantian head on.

Booom!!!

As space exploded, Qianye Fantian’s body was pushed far away. His face went completely dark as he said, “Gu Zhu… How dare you!!”

As he said that, golden light suddenly flashed through his eyes.

“Ugaaaah!”

In that instant, Gu Zhu’s hunched body violently convulsed as an incredibly hoarse and pained low groan came from his mouth. Furthermore, countless slender golden marks appeared on his body, covering every inch of it.

The Brahma Soul Death-Wishing Mark!

Qianye Fantian no longer bothered with his Gu Zhu as his body lunged down once more… However, Gu Zhu, who was currently being afflicted by the Brahma Soul Death-Wishing Mark, suddenly rushed at him as he firmly clung onto Qianye Fantian’s legs, obstructing him for an instant.

And it was at precisely this instant that the last spatial traces swiftly faded away, making it no longer possible for him to give chase.

“Miss… has lived her entire life… for you… I beg you… Let her off… This old slave is willing to work himself to the bone for the rest of his life as repayment… Please… let Miss go…”

Bang!!

Gu Zhu was blasted far away by that kick. Qianye Fantian’s expression was extremely ugly at the moment as he suddenly discovered that there were times when even he miscalculated.

There were two reasons for him instructing Gu Zhu to remain at Qianye Ying’er’s side. The first reason was so that he could guide her growth and ensure her safety. The second reason was so that he could keep an eye on her.

But he never would have thought that it would result in this.

However, he still could not kill Gu Zhu.

It was only several breaths later that Qianye Fantian’s rage finally simmered down. His brows sank as he sent out a sound transmission in a low voice, “Send this order out, do a full sweep the entire Eastern Divine Region to find traces of Ying’er’s whereabouts. The moment any of you find something, use every means possible to retrieve her… Remember, she must be taken alive.”

Given the spatial power of that disc, the energy that was gathered over that short amount of time would not be able to send someone too far away, so Qianye Ying’er was definitely still within the Eastern Divine Region!