Against the Gods (Web Novel)

Chapter 747 – Complete Victory?

Clouds could not be seen for kilometers on end and the skies were completely clear. Yet anyone in Floating Cloud City would be able to see a heavy layer of darkness hovering in the skies to the east of them. It was so gloomy that it threatened to sink straight down, and if one were to look at it, it would cause that person’s chest to feel heavy and tight.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The never-ending sound of explosions rang out from the east, and each explosion sounded heavier than the last… One could even feel an incredibly intense and frenzied aura emanating from there.

“It started again.” Number One Under Heaven muttered under his breath as an astonished expression surfaced on his face once again.

“Xue’er!” Xiao Lingxi’s heart simply could not remain calm, and the explosions that continued to ring out were more than she could bear. Both of her hands tightly gripped Feng Xue’er’s snowy sleeve. “Hurry up and bring me there! They really can’t continue fighting any longer. I am the reason for their enmity. One of them is Little Che and the other one is the person who has saved me twice. If anything happens to either of them, I won’t be able to live it down for the rest of my life! Xue’er… I’m begging you, please bring me there. Please!”

“But… but… Feng Xue’er’s heart was also agitated and anxious, and she had nearly been seized by the impulse to rush out to the battleground more than ten times already.

“Xue’er, the reason why Little Che does not want me close by is that he is afraid that he might hurt me by accident. If Xue’er is there to protect me, then there won’t be a problem no matter how close I get. Furthermore… Xue’er, you’re also very worried for Little Che, right? Since they’ve already fought for so long, it has truly been enough already. If they continue to fight each other, what if… what if…”

Feng Xue’er’s already wavering resolve completely collapsed in that instant. Without even mentioning the need to protect Xiao Lingxi from the aftershocks of the clashes, if Yun Che and Fen Juechen combined their powers and attacked Xue’er, she would still be able to protect Xiao Lingxi given her current level of strength. “I… I understand. Little Aunt, you must remember to hold onto me tightly.”

Feng Xue’er gave a gentle wave of her snowy hand, causing Xiao Lingxi’s body to rise above the ground. A gust of fragrant wind blew as she shot towards the dark patch of sky in the east as quickly as possible.

“His aura suddenly started fluctuating, almost as if he lost some control over himself. It looks like the negative side-effect of forcibly merging with an exceedingly strong source of devil profound energy was more severe than I thought… or perhaps I thought too highly of him in the first place?”

Yun Che hauled the Heaven Smiting Sword behind him as he swiftly rushed toward Fen Juechen, who had been blasted far away. He had originally thought that, the moment he began to face Fen Juechen in direct combat, he would be drawn into a bitter, fierce battle. He never thought that he would gain such a huge advantage from the very beginning. For every clash after the first, Fen Juechen was not only completely suppressed, but his profound energy grew more and more chaotic. It also grew weaker and weaker. After he had endured more than ten sword blasts, he had sustained external and internal injuries throughout his body… and those injuries were definitely not superficial.

This entire series of events, and the subsequent result, was something that Yun Che had never expected to happen. He had even begun to feel that his previous caution and meticulous planning had been pointless.

“Don’t drop your guard. This definitely isn’t the full extent of his power! Devote all your strength to crippling him!” Jasmine yelled in a low voice.

At this moment, Yun Che was already within sixty meters of Fen Juechen. Bringing along a power that could capsize the heavens, the Heaven Smiting Sword smashed down toward Fen Juechen.

Fen Juechen’s gaze was still as crazed and ferocious as it had previously been, and the sinister black blood splattered across his face and body made him seem even more dreadful and tyrannical. As he faced Yun Che’s terrifying and peerless heavy sword blast once more, Fen Juechen chose not to forcefully take it head on. The black light surrounding his body flashed as he unexpectedly retreated backwards.

Fen Juechen’s speed could not match up to Yun Che’s in the first place. Now that his profound energy was in complete disarray and he was heavily injured, his speed had taken a huge hit. How would it be possible for him to easily dodge Yun Che’s attack? He barely managed to dodge Yun Che’s first strike, but the second strike directly smashed toward his chest. He had no choice but to circulate all of the profound energy in his body as he raised his black sword to block the blow.

Boom!!

Fen Juechen’s body shuddered violently as the space around him trembled. It was exactly the same as it was the last few times; the profound energy he had infused into his dark blade would receive a tremendous shock each time it came into contact with the Heaven Smiting Sword, and it would dissipate swiftly like a terrified spirit. This caused the might of the heavy sword, which originally could have been resisted, to smash downward… and as another huge explosion rang through the air, his body flew like a cannonball as it fiercely shot toward the waters below.

“UUAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!”

In the next instant, Fen Juechen was already rushing into the air as a huge pillar of water exploded out behind him. His gaze grew even more ferocious and violent. Most of the veins in his arms had exploded and his sword hand trembled so greatly that he could barely hold on to his pitch-black sword. His face, which was covered in blood, twisted as the black-colored profound energy that his body was releasing also began to twist. At this moment, the aura he released was like that of a berserk devil who had been completely consumed by fury, only being fueled by bone-cutting hatred.

“I… was actually… this pathetic…”

“How could I… how is it possible… that I lost… to you!!”

Fen Juechen let out a low moan. His voice was so hoarse and deep that it sounded like it belonged to a demon from hell.

“ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH… Night Devil Heaven Burial!!”

Fen Juechen roared mournfully as all of the black profound light surrounding his body abruptly exploded outward. A row of gigantic waves exploded toward the sky, carrying a darkness that could blot out the sky as they rushed towards Yun Che.

Night Devil Heaven Burial was a unique domain that operated on the concepts of darkness and devouring. When Fen Juechen had initially released it, Yun Che managed to struggle free of it. Now that Fen Juechen’s profound energy was in a state of disarray, and he had exhausted most of it, the power of the same Night Devil Heaven Burial had weakened by several magnitudes.

The world around Yun Che instantly turned pitch-black, but he was not the least bit flustered by this. The Heaven Smiting Sword in his hand began to burn with the glaring flames of the Golden Crow. He fiercely slashed the air around him, and as the Heaven Smiting Sword danced wildly in the air, scarlet trenches were being torn into the newly birthed domain of darkness. In the blink of an eye, it was already ripped to shreds.

Even though the scorching Golden Crow Flames were shredding layer after layer of this domain apart, it did not suppress the darkness which shrouded the heavens and the earth. At this moment, an ice-cold aura that seemed to originate from the very depths of the netherworld itself suddenly shot toward Yun Che’s back.

Fen Juechen had been covered by the Dark Domain, and he had even blended his aura with that of the domain, but it was still not enough to escape Yun Che’s spiritual perception. Yet Yun Che did not choose to flee. Instead, he shifted his vital organs slightly as he allowed the cold light to approach him…

Bang!!

A black sword that was completely shrouded in black light cut into Yun Che’s right shoulder. The sword easily sliced through his flesh, but the moment it hit his bones, an extremely deep, dull sound of metal striking bone could be heard. Fen Juechen felt as if he had smashed his sword against a boulder that was countless times stronger than refined steel. He had originally thought that he could take one of Yun Che’s arms with this sword strike, but now he actually could not even push his sword an inch further.

Yun Che’s bones were infused with the Dragon God’s Marrow and had been tempered by enduring the spatial storm for eighteen months. They could be considered the toughest and most resilient things in the entire Profound Sky Continent.

Furthermore, the Heaven Smiting Sword whistled through the darkness at the same time and it solidly smashed into Fen Juechen’s body. A strange red light that escaped Yun Che’s notice appeared on the vermilion sword as it burst into Fen Juechen’s body along with frenzied profound energy.

Boom!!!!

Even if it was a Fen Juechen that was at the peak of his powers, he would still sustain heavy injuries if he took a sword blast from Yun Che’s Heaven Smiting Sword at full strength. Amidst the explosions which caused the surface of the ocean to vibrate violently, more than ten bones in Fen Juechen’s chest were simultaneously shattered. His chest directly caved in as his entire person flew away like kite with a cut string and a miserable howl of pain spilled from his lips.

“UUAAAAAAAHHHHH!!”

The blood in Fen Juechen’s chest trashed about wildly and he briefly lost consciousness. When he came to, he felt an extremely painful sensation flooding his body and soul—it was so agonizing that he nearly wished he was dead.

Why… did his sword… have such a terrifying might…?

I only suffered a single blow from his sword… but why does it hurt so much… that it seems like my very soul is being ripped to shreds…

The extreme pain not only tore at Fen Juechen’s soul, but it also intensely agitated his primal instincts. He forcefully brought his tattered body to a stop. It seemed like he did not even care about the gaping wound in his chest as all of the black light surrounding his body surged and the black energy in the surrounding area crazily gushed toward him. They formed a deep and gloomy black vortex in front of his body that resembled a black hole.

“Yun… Che!” Fen Juechen’s hoarse voice was filled with so much pain that it no longer even resemble a human being’se.“I… will rip… you to shreds!!”

Fen Juechen howled wildly as he rushed toward Yun Che, carrying the black energy vortex along with him. He was using every last bit of strength he had to bury Yun Che in that merciless darkness forever.

Yun Che did not retreat from this attack. Instead, both his arms slowly rose in the air as the flames on the Heaven Smiting Sword suddenly intensified and changed color—from a scarlet red into an eye-catching and captivating pure gold!

“Golden Annihilation!”

Despite being engulfed by the darkness, the golden-colored flames still blazed with a glaring light and was not suppressed in the slightest.

The moment the golden sword beam collided with the black whirlpool, only an extremely soft, muffled explosion could be heard. A split second later, the sinister, frightening, void-like black whirlpool was completely cut in half by those golden flames, nearly dividing in two. It was reduced to two black currents which streamed to either side of Yun Che’s body while the golden sword beam still rocketed forward, smashing into Fen Juechen’s black sword.

The black sword was not bent by the impact this time, and the golden sword beam was only stopped for a fraction of a second before cutting through the body of the black sword and brutally smashing into Fen Juechen’s chest. Golden light immediately exploded outward crazily as the heavy sword energy and Golden Crow flames blasted mercilessly into Fen Juechen’s body.

“WARRGGHHHHH!!”

An incomparably shrill wail tore through the heavens. Fen Juechen became a figure shrouded in golden flames as he was flung far away. A large amount of blood sprayed through the air, scattering everywhere. It was a ghastly sight indeed.

Riiip…

Fen Juechen’s body fell into the sea and large amounts of steam erupted from where he fell. The patch of the ocean that was more than three hundred meters wide began to boil crazily, but the fires that were scouring Fen Juechen’s body still did not die out… The flames of the Golden Crow would not be so easily extinguished by mere sea water.

The two halves of the broken black sword also fell into the ocean almost at the same time, and in the blink of an eye, they disappeared as well.

Pain… Indescribable pain was eating away at Fen Juechen’s entire body at this moment. He felt like nearly every single cell in his body was being cut to pieces. This pain could even be compared to the pain he experienced all those years ago, during his forced absorption of the devil origin…

Despite the pain he was going through, Fen Juechen’s will refused to break and he desperately released all his power in an attempt to extinguish the Golden Crow flames. It was only when he had sunk more than hundreds of meters that the Golden Crow flames finally weakened, but his entire body had nearly been burned to a near at that point.

The physical pain he was experiencing was not even a fraction of the pain that his soul was suffering.

His body continued to sink into the ocean and his entire body hardly moved, as if it had become completely still. Yet his eyes were filled with pain, hatred, discontent and humiliation…

I clearly gained such incredible strength…

Why… am I still unable to kill him…

Why did I still lose in such an ugly, humiliating manner…

Why is it always like this…

Vengeance… the only reason for me to go on living… For the sake of vengeance, I went through hell… and paid the most disastrous price…

Could it be that I cannot even achieve… the only thing that I am living for now…

NO…

How could I… how could I… lose to him… How could I lose?!

Fen Juechen’s body continued to sink into the deep waters, but he finally began to move. His right arm began to slowly rise up as a bead of jet black blood rose up from his fingertip. His eyes focused on that bead of blood and he mumbled a few words as if he were talking in his sleep, “Daylight Devour… Lightless Eternal Night…”

On the surface of the waters, Yun Che had not retrieved the Fen Juechen who sunk deep into the ocean. Instead he stood there, staring quiety at the water. His face solemn and grave because he was beginning to feel that something was amiss with the whole situation.

To think that he could so easily injure Fen Juechen to such a serious extent.

Even the wound on his right shoulder was taken so that he could land a heavy blow onto Fen Juechen.

The entire process was so easy that it felt rather unnatural.

When he thought about it calmly, when he had been dodging and defending, Fen Juechen’s power, aura, and every single one of his dark attacks had all been peerless and terrifying. Yet the moment he had engaged Yun Che in hand to hand combat… his profound energy continuously grew weaker and more chaotic each time they clashed. The power of his dark attacks also continued to plunge as well.

Even if his profound energy was not stable, it should not have become this wild in such a short period of time.

So what exactly was going on?

“Be careful!!” Jasmine’s cold voice rang out all of the sudden, “There is no way that he would be defeated so easily. Even though the wounds he has suffered are considerably heavy, he still has a measure of strength left. Furthermore, it seems as if he is planning to release all of that strength in one shot.”

“Mn, I’ve noticed it as well.” Yun Che said, his gaze growing more and more intense as he stared at the waters below. The Heaven Smiting Sword in his hand blazed with flames once more.