Against the Gods (Web Novel)

“Profound Handle?” Yun Che suddenly remembered when Ling Kun talked about the demon, he once mentioned that the demon had a special ability called the “Profound Handle”.

He never could have thought that the Profound Handle was such a powerful and weird thing. It seemed to apparently be a profound art, but it didn’t belong to any type of profound art Yun Che knew of. Through his battle with the Profound Handle just before and the demon’s simple explanation, the power of the Profound Handle could be said to be mystical and freakish. Its origin wasn’t just from the profound veins, it also came from one’s own lifeline. Just this fact was seemingly incomprehensible for people. It was obviously a form of energy, but it inconceivably had its own life force and it could exist independently, attack freely, and change into many different things. Even if the demon’s freedom had been restricted, his Profound Handle could move for him instead. Through combat with the demon… when he released the Profound Handle, it was undoubtedly equivalent to fighting two enemies at the same time!

In this huge world, there were indeed many mysteries! Ling Yun’s Sword Spirit Doppleganger was already astonishing, but the strength of this Profound Handle was several times more powerful than Sword Spirit Doppleganger!

If he could use this kind of Profound Handle himself, wouldn’t his own battle power achieve a great improvement!?

He probed: “Senior, you say this Profound Handle is an ability the heaven bestowed to only your family… so does that mean it’s your personal profound art that you guys can absolutely not teach others, or is it… your people’s own special innate ability that’s impossible for others to possess through cultivation?”

“Of course it’s the latter!” The demon… who was also named Yun Canghai, had a deep arrogance within his voice as he said: “Illusory Demon Realm has twelve large families protecting it and my Yun family is the strongest! And it’s precisely because of this innate Profound Handle! It doesn’t need any cultivation, and it’s naturally within our clan’s bloodline. When our profound strength breaks through into the Sky Profound Realm, it will immediately awaken.”

As the demon said that, his sealed left hand started to flicker with a cyan radiance: “In the records that the ancestors left behind, it once talked about our noble Yun Family being the descendant of some Primordial True God’s bloodline! And this Profound Handle, is precisely an ability that only a True God could possess!”

As he talked about the Profound Handle, Yun Canghai’s face displayed ample arrogance. Because in legends, this was an ability a True God bestowed onto them, and it was also the strongest reason they stood at the top of the Illusory Demon Realm. He slowly said: “The Profound Handle you see now is cyan, but for different people of my clan, the color of their profound handle is different based on whether or not their innate gifts are powerful enough. From weak to strong, the color of the profound handles are red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, and gold. The strength of the Profound Handle is determined when it awakens and this is an innate gift that will never change throughout your entire life. Within my clan, ninety percent of the clansman have red to yellow profound handles. Ones who awaken with a green profound handle would be a hard to comeby genius. With a green profound handle, one could display forty percent of their own battle power! And ones who awaken with a cyan colored Profound Handle...

Yun Canghai’s arms started to flicker with an arrogant cyan light: “In my family, it could be said that there isn’t one in ten thousand who could achieve it! For it could display fifty power their own battle power! I, for example, with my cyan profound handle, if compared to someone else with the same cultivation, who put in the same effort, consume the same resources, and stepped into the same realm, I would have more than fifty percent of their overall power just because I possess this cyan profound handle… This is the power that my clan’s Profound Handle possesses! Within the same level, the people of my clan could be said to be beyond compare! Even with the lowest level red profound handle, they could easily defeat an opponent of the same level!”

Yun Che’s heart shook… What Yun Canghai said was not wrong. The existence of the profound handle, allowed their total battle power to far surpass and crush others of the same level. This was the power of the Profound Handle; it was simply a golden finger given by god. Facing an opponent with the power of the profound handle, when you were clearly fighting one opponent, you would have to simultaneously deal with two people!

Yun Che’s heart was suddenly overcome with an unrestrainable envy… He possessed all kinds of secret abilities from gods and two divine beast’s blood so he could display battle power that far surpassed profound practitioners of the same level, but if he possesses this kind of divine handle himself, then let alone the same level, he’d reckon that even if the opponent possessed power that surpassed him by an entire realm, he would still be able to easily crush them.

Unfortunately, this was not an ability that could be obtained through cultivation, and existed within a bloodline.

“Then what about a blue profound handle? Is it even more powerful?” Yun Che asked.

“Naturally!” Yun Canghai nodded: “But to be able to awaken the blue profound handle, one had to be a genius among geniuses; it’s hard to find even one in a million. The blue profound handle, could display sixty percent of their original battle power! As far as being able to able to display the seventy percent purple profound handle, that is a mythical existence. In the history of my clan, only one would appear within eight thousand years on average. One who awakens the blue profound handle would naturally be considered the number one expert of the Illusory Demon Realm!”

“Then… what about the gold profound handle?” Yun Che asked.

A deep yearning appeared within the demon’s eyes. His voice lowered as he slowly said: “That’s a legend among legends. It is a divine profound handle that would never appear within my clan. The gold profound handle could display one hundred percent of one’s total power, and it is said that it possesses some special abilities that other profound handles do not have, but this profound handle was something that only the legendary Primordial True God possessed. It could only belong to the True God, and it could never awaken within the people of our clan. Therefore, that’s only just an extremely remote dream, a legend that could never be realized.”

“Oh…” Yun Che consciously nodded. It became completely different after eating, and in addition to Yun Che’s active friendship, the demon talked about all of this stuff with him non-stop. What he explained wasn’t just the power of the Illusionary Demon Realm’s Profound Handle, he also explained their pride in protecting the royal family. Yun Che thought for awhile and suddenly said: “Since you claim you are a human, then why do the people of the Mighty Sword Region call you ‘demon’? Why is the place you came from called the ‘Illusory Demon Realm’?”

"I am obviously human, but our Illusory Demon Realm is different from your Profound Sky Continent!” The demon faintly said: “As far as I know, in your Profound Sky Continent, forty percent are humans and sixty percent are beasts, and the combination of other species would not even account for one. However in my Illusory Demon Realm, thirty percent are humans, demons, and beasts. The ten other percent of the population are fairies. Included among the demons are all different kinds of flora, birds, fish, spirits and beasts. Humans and demons coexisted peacefully and never made any distinctions with each other. Even the discrimination between races were extremely dull. The two races were never scared or jealous of each other. In fact, apart from the Demon Emperor’s clan and newly formed Demon Spirits, it’s practically impossible to find a pure demon or pure human within the Illusory Demon Realm.

“The Illusory Demon Realm is ruled by the Demon Emperor and twelve clans existed for the sake of protecting the Demon Emperor’s noble family. There are six human clans and six demon clans and my Yun Family is the strongest within the twelve guardians. That place has never had any disputes before. Although I am human, I was born in the Illusory Demon Realm and had the honor of protecting the Demon Emperor’s bloodline my entire life. Calling me a demon is not inappropriate.”

In the Profound Sky Continent, “demon” would naturally have a negative connotation, and people who were called this would certainly be extremely uncomfortable. However, Yun Canghai showed no reactions towards being called that; on the contrary, he gave Yun Che a “it’s suppose to be like this” kind of feeling.

Before hearing rumors of “demons”, Yun Che had never heard the name “Illusory Demon Realm” and had never seen any records or legends regarding them. Clearly, that was an existence that one would only find out after reaching a certain level. But today, he vaguely knew what kind of world it was from the demon’s mouth. It seemed to be a neighbor of the Profound Sky Continent, but it was also separated by an immeasurable distance, and the composition of its life forms were also largely different from the Profound Sky Continent’s.

Then… what about the Azure Cloud Continent?

“Senior, I have something to ask you.” Turmoil began to fill the inside of Yun Che’s heart and his voice also contained an unsuppressable longing and nervousness: “Have you heard of… the Azure Cloud Continent?”

Yun Canghai looked at him and his expression made Yun Che’s heart bulge… Then, he heard him slowly say: “The planet that we are on is called ‘Blue Pole Star’. It is ninety seven percent water and three percent land, with three separate landmasses classified as three continents… The first is the Profound Sky Continent that we are on, the second is the Illusory Demon Realm, and the third, is precisely the Azure Cloud Continent that you just mentioned.”

Yun Che’s heart shook, because this was the first time in his life that he heard the name “Azure Cloud Continent” from someone else’s mouth. The demon’s words not only proved the existence of the Azure Cloud Continent, it had confirmed what Jasmine had said, that it existed within the same little world as the Profound Sky Continent. He immediately asked excitedly: “Then, do you know how to get to the Azure Cloud Continent?”

“Between these three continents, there are oceans that are greater than you can imagine separating them. However, relatively speaking, the Profound Sky Continent and the Illusory Demon Realm are very close. The peak level experts of both continents are clear about each other’s positions; therefore, with enough strength, they could traverse the ocean between these two continents. But as for the Azure Cloud Continent, I have only heard of its name. It existed within the ancient records of the Illusory Demon Realm. If the records aren’t wrong, it certainly exists, but I’ve never heard of anyone reaching that continent, and I have heard of even less people who knows where it is… because this world is truly too large. This boundless blue ocean would make anyone who tried to navigate it lose their bearings and exhaust all of their strength until they become a corpse. But what is certain is that its distance from the Illusory Demon Realm and the Profound Sky Continent is extremely far. Perhaps it is located in the most remote place within this little world.”

Yun Che’s excitement had suddenly been extinguished by a lot. This powerful Demon King from the Illusory Demon Realm knew about the existence of the Azure Cloud Continent… but he only knew of it, and even he, did not know where it was located.

“Why did you suddenly ask me about a place that exists only in legends?” Yun Canghai asked with a strange expression.

Yun Che was unable to openly answer and only said: “I have reasons that I must go there for.”

Yun Canghai did not question him anymore and expressionlessly said: “If you have enough power, let alone crossing a little world, you could even travel the vast and endless mysterious space at will. Whether a small world, big world, or a mysterious star world, you can travel back and forth at will… If you truly have that kind of reason, then become stronger. Life belongs to the world, and the world, belongs to the strong!”