Against the Gods (Web Novel)

Chapter 2029 - A Small World

Partially Edited Chapter - Rubble

Two hours…

Four hours…

Six hours passed, and finally Yun Che withdrew his arm and exhaled slightly.

It was only now that he noticed that his whole body was covered in blood-mixed sweat.

The Qilin light covering his body extinguished completely.

Without the qilin light to shield him, the abyssal qilin’s eyes shone with destructive light once more. However, it quickly faded away even before it released its destructive power.

“Withdraw,” Yun Che muttered weakly.

Yun Che was just a Divine Master and a human, but the abyssal Qilin God actually started withdrawing slowly. Then, it suddenly wheeled around and vanished into the thick fog.

Freed from his mental burden, his exhaustion abruptly magnified countless times. It was so exhausting that Yun Che collapsed to the ground.

A white light flickered before his eyes, and Li Suo’s dream-like silhouette appeared before him. She waved her hand slightly, and the Divine Miracle of Life slowly wrapped around his body.

His exhaustion immediately lifted and made him feel like he was in the clouds. Even his blurry senses quickly regained their clarity.

“You managed to take control of that abyssal Qilin God?” she whispered.

“About sixty percent, yes,” Yun Che answered while closing his eyes.

Just now, Yun Che had spent a total of nine hours to mark his soul imprint around sixty percent of the abyssal dust surrounding its Abyssal Core.

Even after a profound beast had been corrupted into an abyssal beast, it would maintain a certain measure of its nature and instincts. For example, they would roar when they suffered a huge blow, use familiar limbs when executing an attack, and travel through the sky or the land as they did before.

As for the Qilin God, everyone knew that his race was naturally gentle, and his protectiveness of his own kind was practically engraved to every drop of blood and marrow since he were born. Not even the abyssal dust was able to erase this instinct completely.

If it was any other Divine Limit Realm abyssal beast, Yun Che would’ve been flattened like a pancake unless he could control it in an instant. However, this abyssal Qilin God actually hung around for nine hours without moving a muscle, and it held no desire to destroy the qilin light surrounding him at all. There was only deep yearning for what it had lost.

Li Suo was still so broken that she was unable to manifest even the shape of her body, so her divine power was far from what it used to be. That said, the Divine Miracle of Life was a true miracle in the current universe.

His wounds were healing at a rate that utterly defied common sense. After he entered the Divine Master Realm, Li Suo’s soul was several times stronger than what it was before, and the amount of light profound energy she could release even more so.

In fact, Yun Che could vaguely tell that this was far from Li Suo’s limit. If she wanted to, she could heal him several times faster than what she was displaying right now. However, it would probably injure her.

Unfortunately, she was still blurry. Her silhouette was already beautiful enough to invoke countless fantasies, but her face was still completely hidden from view, and her body was untouchable.

“When do you think you can manifest your true appearance, Li Suo?” Yun Che asked suddenly.

“I am unsure,” Li Suo replied. “It could be a thousand years or ten thousand years, or it could happen in a single night due to the drastic change of your life and energy.”

Her answer was no different from before. Yun Che threw out another question, “Do you still remember your previous appearance? If you do, can you cast an image in my soul sea? All the records claimed that you are the pinnacle of a woman’s beauty, and I am very curious what this ‘pinnacle’ looks like.”

Li Suo replied indifferently, “My appearance is based on the mortal shell of countless beings, so in essence, I am no different from them. Beauty is but the most superficial interpretation of one’s mortal shell, and it holds no meaning whatsoever. As the bearer of Ni Xuan and the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor’s power, you should be above such superficial thoughts.”

“Oh no no no,” Yun Che rejected the idea instantly. “My nature is that of a perfectly mundane and secular person. There is nothing I enjoy more than superficial things. But even if that wasn’t the case, I would never believe that beauty was a superficial concept.”

“Take you for example. No offense, but your temperament is as cold and indifferent as a pool of dead water. We’ve been together for some time now, but I’ve never seen you laugh or get angry at anything I do or say. Half a year ago, when you met senior Ni Xuan’s soul shadow after so long, you should have been beyond words to see him. In reality, I've felt more emotions from yawning than you had that day.”

“As a woman, you are easily the most uninteresting woman I’ve ever met in my life. Medically speaking, we would say that you are afflicted with severe asexuality. On that note, why do you think that two Creation Gods fought to the death over you, and senior Ni Xuan was obsessed with you for at least tens of millions of years?”

“...” Li Suo couldn’t give him an answer.

“It's the nature of all living things to pursue beautiful things, be it an ordinary mortal or a Creation God, so how can you call that superficial? Of course, you are not an exception,” Yun Che declared with a tone that would accept no rebuke. “For example, if there is a method that will allow you to manifest your body ten thousand years earlier, but the price is that your body would mutate, and your face would turn dry and ugly. Surely you wouldn’t accept such a price?”

“Why wouldn’t I accept it?” Li Suo countered.

“...” Her answer was so unexpected that Yun Che couldn’t say anything for a time.

“Beautiful things…” Li Suo suddenly murmured as if she suddenly recalled a memory.

“Hmm?”

“In my memory, the one thing that triggers the word ‘beauty’ is a name,” Li Suo muttered as she tried her best to shed light on the memory. “I can no longer remember her appearance. I only know that there's been no one and nothing who was more beautiful than her from the moment I set my eyes on her. At least in terms of her appearance.”

Yun Che’s eyes widened in surprise as he stared at Li Suo, still reminiscing about the past.

Did I hear her right? The Creation God of Life, the most beautiful woman in the entire universe… thinks that there was someone whose beauty deserves such glowing praise from her?

Did such a person actually exist? Or is her concept of beauty much different from that of a normal person?

“What's her name?” Yun Che asked.

Li Suo did not answer immediately because she was still trying to clean the dust shrouding this particular piece of memory. When she finally succeeded, she realized that it was a name she already knew.

She slowly answered, “Her name… is Ni Jie.”

“Huh…?” Yun Che couldn’t help but blurt out.

It was because that was the name of Ni Xuan and Jie Yuan’s daughter!

She was also the one and only Half-God and Half-Devil in the world before she became Hong’er and You’er!

A bold guess suddenly surfaced in Yun Che’s mind.

Was Li Suo the one who separated Ni Jie into Hong’er and You’er?

The reason Ni Xuan and Jie Yuan named their daughter Ni Jie wasn’t just because it was a combination of their surnames, but also because they wished that she would be able to reverse the unimaginable tribulations and dangers that were sure to await her in the future. They prayed that she would be able to lead a peaceful, happy life.

Alas, in the end, she wasn’t able to defy her fate. She had split into Hong’er and You’er instead.

Or did she? In an era where both the gods and the devils were extinct, she alone had defied her fate and become reborn as Hong’er and You’er.

After Yun Che’s injuries were healed, and his consciousness no longer felt muddied, Yun che rose to his feet and gave the World Formation Core a quick check. After confirming that it was undamaged, he stopped lingering, concealed his aura with the abyssal dust, and traveled back whence he came.

As the concentration of abyssal dust decreased, the abyssal beasts in the vicinity grew less and less threatening to him. At some point, he abruptly sped up and entered the periphery of the Endless Fog.

It had been a while since he had come here, but it felt like he had entered a completely different world. The existence of the abyssal dust felt clearer and tamer. The Abyssal Cores of the abyssal beasts within his sensory range—especially the Divine Masters and Divine Sovereigns—felt so clear it was like they were right between his fingers. There was no need to inject a soul imprint. He could literally command them with a single thought.

He extended his arms and stared at his hands for a bit.

Somehow, he had profited from what should have been a deathly disaster and successfully taken partial control of the abyssal Qilin God. His mastery of abyssal dust seemed to have improved after the harrowing experience as well.

Thanks to his success, he couldn’t help but daydream a little: would he be able to control even abyssal beasts above the Divine Master Realm with such ease one day?

Would there be a day where he could command all abyssal beasts within his sensory range as he pleased?

Although the auras of abyssal beasts decreased drastically after he entered the periphery of the Endless Fog, there were a lot more profound practitioners’ auras. The Endless Fog was the perfect place to hone oneself because its horrific environment suppressed one’s spiritual perception and profound energy, and their opponents were abyssal beasts with no shred of mercy in their souls. Their endless thirst for destruction could easily drag a profound practitioner into a true crisis and danger, and crisis was what brought out one’s latent potential and created a miracle.

When someone fought with everything they had and overcame death again and again, their willpower and personality would be tempered over and over until they became as fine as steel. This experience was what allowed an unbreakable bottleneck to loosen until they could breach it in one go.

There were countless Abyssal profound practitioners who had achieved their breakthroughs in the Endless Fog. This was especially true for those who were stuck at Half-Step Divine Extinction Realm.

Those who never entered the Endless Fog might never enter the Divine Extinction Realm. It was why even an utter coward like Helian Jue had ventured into the Endless Fog before, though he didn’t go any further than the outermost edge. It was also how he knew that he would never be able to become a Divine Extinction Realm profound practitioner of his own accord, and why he lost his reason completely when he learned of the legendary Qilin Bone Spirit Orchid.

That said, honing oneself wasn’t the only reason most profound practitioners entered the Endless Fog. It was also to obtain abyssal stones and abyssal crystals.

Abyssal stones and abyssal crystals were somewhat common currencies in the Abyss, and they mattered to a profound practitioner of the Abyss about as much as a profound stone and profound crystal mattered to a profound practitioner of the Primal Chaos. But of course, the former existed at a much higher plane.

They were created from the mutations—or more accurately, the “death” of a pocket of abyssal dust, and they could appear anywhere and everywhere in the Endless Fog. While the power of the abyssal dust could never be mastered by a profound practitioner of the Abyss, the abyssal stones and abyssal crystals sat on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. Not only were their energies easily obtainable, the level of energy they provided was of high quality and amount. It was incredibly useful for cultivation purposes, and the construction of divine palaces and profound formations. It could even be used directly as the energy source of a profound vessel.

The density and level of the spirit energy in the Abyss was only part of the reason the profound practitioners of the Abyss cultivated very, very quickly. The abyssal stones and the abyssal crystals were the main reasons.

It was why countless profound practitioners ventured into the Endless Fog to procure abyssal stones and abyssal crystals every year.

Abyssal stones could be easily excavated on the periphery or even the outermost edge of the Endless Fog. However, abyssal crystals were much rarer because they were essentially fully purified abyssal stones. That was why they were rarely found in the periphery, and why they were far more valuable than an abyssal stone. To give a clear distinction, the conversion ratio between an abyssal crystal and an abyssal stone was over ten thousand.

It was also why a partner who had proven themselves to be reliable up until this point could suddenly turn into a backstabber in the next instant. It was usually because of an abyssal crystal.

On a related note, the vassal states of a Kingdom of God were required to submit a massive number of abyssal crystals as tribute every year.

The fastest way to obtain an abyssal crystal wasn’t to search around the Endless Fog endlessly, but to kill abyssal beasts.

Abyssal crystals could usually be found inside the bodies of abyssal beasts. The older and stronger the abyssal beast, the greater the chance it might contain an abyssal crystal.

For some extremely powerful abyssal beasts, they might even carry an unusual abyssal crystal, and its value and rarity far exceeded the imagination of a common profound practitioner. It usually only existed in legends and records.

Besides that, the Endless Fog had buried countless ancient gods and devils before the Abyss had taken its current form. Since the Abyss had already undergone a fundamental change at the time, some of their bodies, ancient artifacts and inheritances were preserved as a result. They could all be found in the Endless Fog.

Therefore, the Endless Fog also hid the Abyss’ greatest opportunities. Every once in a while, an ancient artifact would appear in the world and create varying degrees of waves in the Abyss.

Yun Che had long since gotten used to the sounds of battle at this point. That was why he didn’t even offer them a look.

Rumble!

A giant rock crumbled, and Yun Che saw the battle with his own eyes.

Two third level Divine Masters were attacking a first level Divine Master abyssal beast. They were both wearing black clothes that gave them the best level of concealment.

This was a two-versus-one battle where one side held the absolute advantage, but the two profound practitioners didn’t hold back their strength or relax their guard in the slightest because the opponent was an abyssal beast. An abyssal beast did not know fear, pain or restraint, and would never run away from a fight. Moreover, it was entirely possible that more abyssal beasts might emerge from the fog. That was why holding back and lowering one’s guard was the fastest way to dig one’s grave in the Endless fog.

Shred!!

A pair of blue sword beams cut the abyssal beast in half like a pair of howling storms, but the two halves of the body continued to flail wildly and emanate a shocking amount of destructive power.

The duo were used to this sight though. They rushed forward like a pair of lightning bolts and cut the abyssal beasts into countless shreds.

The shredded abyssal beast finally ceased moving, leaving behind only a thick cloud of rising fog… and a glimmer of gray.

“Is… is that!?”

The duo hurriedly rushed forward. A grayish crystal about half the size of a fist entered their view.

“An abyssal crystal!” The duo exclaimed with joy, although they hurriedly clamped their hands over their mouths.

“It’s gotta weigh at least three catties!” The older profound practitioner could barely conceal his excitement.

“This abyssal crystal alone is worth the trip,” the younger profound practitioner commented with a grin while putting the abyssal grin in his senior brother’s hand. “Put it away, senior brother. It would be bad if someone sees it.”

His senior brother pushed it back and said, “The crystal came from the portion of the body you destroyed. It rightfully belongs to you.”

“Senior brother!” The junior brother stubbornly pushed it back to his senior brother’s hands. “We killed the abyssal beast together, so it belongs to both of us. That said, this is the first crystal we've found since we came here, so since you’re my senior, it’s only right that you have it first. Trust me, I won’t relinquish the second one, and who knows, it might be ten times bigger than what you have.”

They both came from the same sect, and they shared a deep relationship with each other. This also wasn’t the first time they journeyed into the Endless Fog together. After all, what was even scarier than the abyssal beasts of the Endless Fog was humanity, and suspicion and greed must be curbed if anyone were to rely on each other in this place.

“Very well.” His senior brother smiled and accepted his junior brother’s kindness. He was just about to put the abyssal crystal away when suddenly, he saw someone out of the corner of his eyes.

He abruptly turned around and saw Yun Che passing through the area not far away from him.

He’s only a second level Divine Master, and he’s alone… His taut nerves immediately relaxed as he called out, “Are you alone, brother?”

Yun Che couldn’t sense any malice from the guy, so he replied, “Yeah.”

“Plenty of Divine Master Realm abyssal beasts roam this place, and your cultivation level is a little too low for this area. I would advise you to venture closer to the outermost periphery. Opportunities and tribulations are important, but nothing is more important than your—Hmm!?”

His advice was abruptly cut short, and his eyes widened to the max in an instant.

Yun Che frowned and turned around. He saw a stormy blue sword piercing through the older man’s body and ripping his internal organs into shreds. The attacker was none other than the junior brother he trusted the most.

He slowly turned around to stare at his junior brother in disbelief, “You… You…”

However, he quickly realized that his junior brother’s face was devoid of the savagery or triumph he expected to see. Instead, he looked dazed and out of sorts almost as if he was dreaming.

“Hahaha!” A wanton, playful voice rang from behind. “How does it feel to be betrayed by the companion you trusted the most? It must be pretty sublime, isn’t it? Tsk tsk.”

The voice caused Yun Che to pause in his footsteps. The owner of the voice slowly emerged from the fog.

He was handsome and wearing an evil smile on his face. His silver robe flowed like water and glittered like mercury in this grayish land.

He was none other than Meng Jianzhou!

I wasn’t expecting to see him here. MARKER

Unlike half a year ago, Meng Jianzhou’s left sleeve was clearly empty. He only had one arm, and his cultivation hadn’t improved in the slightest. He was still in the Half-Step Divine Extinction Realm.

It was at this moment the junior brother’s empty eyes regained their focus. He abruptly let go of his sword and started shaking like a leaf, “No! It wasn’t me… wasn’t me…”

“Tsk tsk!” Meng Jianzhou curled his lips as his eyes flashed with soul stealing silver, “You’re a man, aren’t you? How can you commit such an act and not take responsibility for it? If you really think you’ve let down your senior brother, then why don’t you atone by taking your own life?”

His words were casual and devilish. Then, the silver light flowing in Meng Jianzhou’s eyes abruptly appeared in the young profound practitioner’s eyes.

He slowly raised his hand and said woodenly, “I’m sorry… senior brother… I’ll atone for my sins… right now…”

Bang!!

He detonated his profound energy and destroyed his own heart and internal organs without a second thought. Blood pouring out of all of his orifices, he slowly collapsed to the ground and stopped breathing in just a matter of seconds. However, his eyes refused to close even in death.

“...” Yun Che slowly narrowed his eyes. The Dreamweaver Kingdom of God was famed for their soul energy, and he had already felt how powerful Meng Jianzhou’s soul energy was back when they first met.

“It’s you…” The senior brother was still alive despite his severe injuries. Face full of pain and despair, he raised a shuddering hand and pointed a finger at Meng Jianzhou. “It’s… you!”

“So noisy.” Meng Jianzhou casually strode over. “I took out your backstabber for you, and yet you’re glaring at me like I did you wrong. I’m so disappointed, and I see no reason to keep an ungrateful person alive.”

Bang—

It didn’t look like Meng Jianzhou was doing anything, but a tremendous energy hit the older profound practitioner in the chest and turned whatever remained of his internal organs to goo. His body was tossed into the distant fog, and he was gone just like that.

An abyssal crystal fell out of the man’s body, and Meng Jianzhou raised it into his hand using a wisp of profound energy. He held the abyssal crystal between two fingers and enjoyed its unique, grayish refraction with obvious delight.

As the son of a Divine Regent, the number of abyssal crystals he consumed for his cultivation was so great that it was unimaginable.

However… how could a hoard that was bestowed to him because of privilege possibly compare to the fruits of his own labor? Especially when it was taken from someone else’s cold, dead hands?

One moment they were in paradise, and the next they were in the darkest hell. Meng Jianzhou just couldn’t get enough of this intoxicating feeling of puppeteering a person’s life.

He slowly turned around and looked at the one other person still standing on the battlefield like he was examining a prey. “I'm surprised you didn’t run. You didn’t think I would… hmm?”

His gaze flickered with recognition when he saw Yun Che’s face, and his eyebrows immediately knitted together. “It’s you!?”

Author’s Notes: Remember the abyssal Qilin God and the abyssal horned dragon! They’ll be playing a big role!