Against the Gods (Web Novel)

Chapter 1978 - Soul, Fall

Partially Edited Chapter - Rubble

The world turned gray white when they entered the God Realm of Absolute Beginning.

It had only been a while since the battle against Mo Beichen, so the God Realm of Absolute Beginning was absolutely tattered with traces of that battle still. The purgatory Huo Poyun had created with his Golden Crow Flames especially had left an irremovable mark on this gray white world. From a distance, it looked like something had punched through the entire God Realm of Absolute Beginning itself, and went on for eternity.

One man had sacrificed himself and the future of the Deep Sea.

Another had burned himself so thoroughly they would never have a future even in death.

How could he ever let them down?

“Big brother Yun Che!”

A sweet, feminine voice suddenly called out to him in a hurry. Yun Che immediately stopped in his tracks and turned around. Soon, a cute girl in black and a gorgeous woman in fantastical blue showed up. They were none other than the two women who had not shown up during the farewell, Shui Meiyin and Cang Shuhe.

Chi Wuyao smiled. “Looks like they succeeded in the end after all.”

A hint of surprise flashed in Yun Che’s eyes. He looked at the two women and called out, “Meiyin, Shu He.”

Shui Meiyin was panting a little. It was clear she had flown here at her top speed instead of using the World Piercer.

When Meiyin got close, she held out her hands and presented him with two glowing red objects. Their lights were faint, but he still recognized them as the unique color of the World Piercer.

“What’s this?” Yun Che asked.

“It’s a spatial formation core and a spatial divine stone with the World Piercer’s power engraved into it.” Shui Meiyin looked like she was barely holding back tears. She was clearly doing her best to conceal her worry, fear, and unwillingness to part with him. “Just plant the World Formation Core in any location, and you can use this World Divine Stone to create a dimensional profound formation and teleport to it.”

“However, the World Formation Core cannot be moved once planted. We weren’t able to imprint too much power into the World Divine Stone either. That said, I’m sure big brother Yun Che will have plenty of ways to restore its spatial power on the other side.”

“Also,” Shui Meiyin added in a hurry, “there is an unknown teleportation distance limit between the World Formation Core and the World Divine Stone. If you exceed it, you won’t be able to connect a spatial tunnel and teleport back to the World Formation Core. I say unknown because the spatial laws of the Abyss must be much greater than our universe’s. The only way to know its true teleportation limit on the other side is for you to determine it yourself.”

Yun Che reached out and accepted the World Formation Core and the World Divine Stone with the utmost gentleness.

Yun Che was well aware that the World Piercer was almost depleted after the man-shaped tribulation that was Mo Beichen.

It must have cost Meiyin an unbelievable amount of energy and personal price to somehow create this World Formation Core and World Divine Stone with a depleted World Piercer.

In fact, she had invested an unbelievable amount of power and divine crystals to do it. The World Piercer was now completely unresponsive, and not even Meiyin, its owner, knew when it was going to awaken, if ever.

Next, Cang Shuhe stepped forward and gave him an aqua blue ring.

“This spatial ring is imbued with a special Deep Sea space. Unless the ring itself is destroyed, you need not worry if the item it holds is ever going to rot or wither.”

As Yun Che gently folded his fingers across the ring, Cang Shuhe pulled away and stared at him with eyes that resembled a pair of starry lakes. “Shuhe isn’t worried because she knows that husband will return safe and sound. But if you ever encounter a difficult problem, Shuhe will advise you to recall her advice that day. It may be of some minor help to you.”

“Yeah. I’ve not forgotten.”

After bidding Shui Meiyin and Cang Shuhe goodbye, Yun Che and Chi Wuyao resumed their journey and slowly approached the Abyss of Nothingness. Eventually, they came across a land where the earth was marked with innumerable scars. They were all created by swords.

At the center of the land of sword marks lay a single tombstone, and before the tombstone knelt a remarkably eye-catching woman in white dress. From a distance, Yun Che felt like he was looking at an ancient painting that was so beautiful that all colors beyond it had faded into nothing.

Yun Che’s gaze landed on the woman for a moment, but he soundlessly flew past her without disturbing her.

It wasn’t until his silhouette had completely faded into the horizon that Jun Xilei raised her head and stared in his direction.

The silent sword marks were her only witness as she murmured,

“I shall keep master company until the day you return.”

“That is why… you must return no matter what.”

…

The Abyss of Nothingness.

After a long, long period of mutation, what was once an all-consuming Abyss that turned everything into nothing had now transformed into the one and only passage connecting two separate universes.

“I leave everything to you.”

Standing at the edge of the abyss, Yun Che’s eyes slowly turned dark and murky as he examined the empty space beneath his feet.

“Show the Wood Spirit Realm the greatest benevolence and let the world know of He Ling’s sacrifice. It is the honor the Wood Spirit Race deserves.”

Chi Wuyao promised, “There is nothing on this side that you have to worry about.”

“Good. And I shall keep my three promises to you as well.” Yun Che slowly lowered his gaze. “I’m leaving now.”

He leaned forward. He was about to fall toward the gaping hole that looked like the maw of a Devil God when suddenly, he felt a great warmth and softness pressing against him from behind. Chi Wuyao had wrapped her arms around him and was slowly increasing her grip.

Yun Che stopped leaning forward and exhaled slowly.

Neither of them said a word to each other as it was unnecessary.

Chi Wuyao slowly lifted her arms and began caressing Yun Che’s face, her fingertips brushing against his features almost as if she was trying to engrave them one last time into her heart.

She touched his lips, his nose, his eyes, and finally his forehead.

Suddenly, something black flashed from behind Chi Wuyao’s pupils. In an instant, her eyes became as black and bottomless as the eternal abyss itself.

Yun Che’s half-lidded eyes abruptly fluttered wide open. “You!”

That was all he could do though. Forget moving a muscle, his words had been forcefully cut off in his throat.

It was because Chi Wuyao’s Nirvana Devi Soul was slowly entering his soul sea.

He figured out what Chi Wuyao was plotting immediately. He wanted nothing more than to stop her, but not only didn’t he dare to resist, he had to stay as silent as possible and suppress the turmoil in his soul sea just now.

It was because any resistance from his part would potentially damage Chi Wuyao’s soul roots. The only way he could protect her was to accept her “gift” without any resistance.

Right now, he could literally feel the Nirvana Devil Emperor Soul with his soul. It was slowly being extracted from Chi Wuyao’s soul and inserted into his soul sea. Ten percent… twenty percent… fifty percent… seventy percent…

Yun Che’s lips were trembling uncontrollably like he was about to scream at the Devil Queen, but still she didn’t stop. Her face was twisting with unbelievable pain.

It wasn’t until Chi Wuyao had inserted eighty percent of her Nirvana Devil Emperor Soul into Yun Che’s soul sea that she finally stopped.

When the devilish light in Chi Wuyao’s eyes abruptly ceased, Yun Che spun around like lightning and caught Chi Wuyao before she could collapse. While he was doing so, Chi Wuyao schooled her features in an instant so that Yun Che would not see her pain. There was no hiding her deathly pale complexion.

“Are you insane?!” Yun Che growled at her.

The Nirvana Devil Emperor Soul was, without exaggeration, Chi Wuyao’s greatest treasure. It was the reason she eventually became the Devil Queen and the core of her very existence. However, she had transferred eighty percent of that core to him.

“...”

A long time later, Chi Wuyao finally managed to muster the strength to pull out of Yun Che’s embrace. While shooting him a seductive smile that cut him deeper than the sharpest knife in the world, she said, “I have Xuanyin, Qianying, Yan Wu and the others. They will do just fine without my power, not to mention I haven’t given you everything.”

“But you won’t have anyone to rely on on the other side, and your safety and duty are worth any sacrifice to secure!”

The devilish light in her eyes was still present, but it was much fainter than it used to be.

Yun Che opened his mouth, but in the end, he did not order her to take back her Nirvana Devil Emperor Soul. It was because he knew that no one could change her mind once she had made it up.

Chi Wuyao continued, “I’m the only one the Nirvana Devil Emperor Soul acknowledges in this world, and it is not compatible with your soul. That is why you won’t be able to use it.”

“However, it was cut away and transferred to you by my own will, so it will not give you any trouble whatsoever… until you trigger it.”

“What will happen… when I trigger it?” Yun Che asked.

“It will be like a Devil God who is startled awake from its slumber,” Chi Wuyao described simply yet succinctly.

“You can only trigger it one time, however. It may be the Nirvana Devil Emperor’s… final show of rage in this world.”

Yun Che was shocked. Chi Wuyao was basically saying that the Nirvana Devil Emperor Soul would disappear forever if he triggered it.

A one-time soul counterattack that consisted of eighty percent of the Nirvana Devil Emperor Soul… not even Chi Wuyao herself knew how powerful it might be.

“... Very well.” Yun Che nodded solemnly. “I promise not to put myself in so much danger that I am forced to do the unthinkable. I promise to return the Nirvana Devil Emperor Soul to you as it is.”

Smiling, Chi Wuyao shook her head but did not say anything. Both her expression and her eyes were saying that his safety was worth ten thousand Nirvana Devil Emperor Souls.

“You should go now.” Chi Wuyao lay a caressing hand on Yun Che’s shoulder. “The sooner you go, the sooner you’re home, am I right?”

“You are the man I chose. It is not in your fate to end here.”

She pushed, and he fell into the Abyss.

Chi Wuyao vanished from his eyes, and every color in the world with it. He plummeted into the world below.

It took only an instant for the grayish white fog to swallow his silhouette. Even his aura was gone without a trace.

The moment Yun Che vanished from her world in every sense of the word, Chi Wuyao felt as if someone had gouged out her heart and collapsed to her feet. It wasn’t until a long, long time later that her eyes finally regained their focus.

Everyone was acting like they were okay, but the truth was that none of them were. Not even in the slightest.

He might be the unparalleled Emperor Yun in this world, but on the other side, the slightest misstep could potentially damn him for eternity.

They didn’t even know if he might survive the fall to the Abyss.

Many hours later, Chi Wuyao finally rose to her feet and left.

The Nine Witches were already waiting for her at the entrance of the God Realm of Absolute Beginning. As the women who understood Chi Wuyao the most, they knew better than anyone that the responsibility of the entire universe now fell on their master and their master alone.

Chi Wuyao’s expression looked the same as ever. The Witches had no idea her Nirvana Devil Emperor Soul had just suffered unprecedented damage.

Not wasting a single breath, Chi Wuyao ordered, “Chanyi, inform Yan Wu and Fen Daoqi to dispatch an army to secure the Abyss of Nothingness. No one, not even a fly is allowed to approach it until Emperor Yun returns!”

“And remember, this is a matter of life and death for Emperor Yun. I will not tolerate even a single mistake!”

Right now, the Abyss had no idea about the current state of Primal Chaos. This was one of the few major advantages Yun Che had against the Abyss.

But if a Divine Master were to fall into the Abyss of Nothingness during this time, and if they were lucky enough to reach the other side…

It might be an extremely unlikely possibility, but it was one possibility Chi Wuyao must guard against.

With that in mind, the ones guarding this place could only be from the Northern Divine Region.

“Yes, Your Majesty!” Nanhuang Chanyi responded solemnly.

“Ah, but do not disturb our little Sword Sovereign.” Chi Wuyao’s voice softened a little. “She will be his staunchest protector.”

“Qing Ying, Lan Yan, Yu Wu.” Chi Wuyao swept her gaze across three other Witches. “Starting now, you will drop everything you’re doing and return to the Northern Divine Region. You will do your best to scour the star realms for any and all records of the ancient era. I want ancient text, inscriptions, devilish marks… everything, no matter how trivial or inauthentic they might be!”

The three Witches looked very surprised. When Chi Wuyao addressed their names, they were sure that the task they were about to receive was of the utmost importance. They could not see how scouring the world for ancient relics and records was important.

Although they were confused, they did not question Chi Wuyao’s command. They quickly acknowledged her order and left.

With this, Emperor Yun was no longer in Primal Chaos, and the Devil Queen was the one true ruler left in this universe.

When the dust had settled, would the eternal Abyss be the one who came up on top, or…