Against the Gods (Web Novel)

After all of his profound energy had leaked out of his body, Duan Heisha’s entire body became soaked in cold sweat and he resembled a drowning dog that had just been fished out of the water. His constantly twitching limbs and face showed that he was still alive.

After receiving just a single blow from Yun Che, Seven Stars Divine Palace’s Palace Chief Duan Heisha’s profound veins had become completely crippled and all of his profound energy had been reduced to nothing.

“Pa… Pal… Pala… Palace Chief…”

Those elders who were rushing over to Duan Heisha’s side all dumbly stood in place. Their eyeballs shook in their sockets as their legs went limp. There were even some who sank to their knees and did not come back to their senses for a long while.

Besides the members of Seven Stars Divine Palace, the gathered members of Heaven Thwarting Sect and Soaring Celestial Sword Sect had all been so shocked that their faces had turned white as a sheet while the pupils of their eyes completely dilated. Even Heaven Thwarting Sect’s Sect Master Zuo Hanshuo and the Soaring Celestial Sword Sect’s Sect Master Mu Yingchan had gone pale with shock; when Duan Heisha’s profound energy started wildly leaking into the air, Mu Yingchan was so shocked that he had actually taken a step back.

They had just witnessed with their own two eyes the crippling of Duan Heisha, a level nine Monarch; Palace Chief of Seven Stars Divine Palace; one of the three strongest people in the Azure Cloud Continent!!

Furthermore, this had been done a single blow… he was crippled in just a single blow!!

“Palace Chief… Palace Chief!!”

The great divine palace elders who were the nearest to Duan Heisha had all scrambled to his side. They stretched out trembling hands to probe Duan Heisha’s aura but they discovered that Duan Heisha’s body had become extremely soft. There was not even the slightest trace of profound energy remaining and even his profound veins had been reduced to paste.

He had not merely been crippled, he had been so thoroughly and completely crippled that he would not be able to restart his cultivation from the Elementary Profound Realm even if he wanted to.

Duan Heisha was not dead and he even still possessed some awareness but his eyes were gray and dark, empty holes that were no different from that of a dead man’s. All of the skin and muscles on his body could visibly be seen withering up too.

He had fallen from the pinnacle of the known world to a complete cripple in a matter of seconds. For a peerless profound practitioner, this was a fate that was millions of times crueler than dying in battle. Furthermore, this cruel series of events happened all too quickly and suddenly and perhaps Duan Heisha himself thought that he was currently in the middle of a nightmare.

“Duan Heisha, you must thank my master,” Yun Che coldly said as he turned his back to Duan Heisha. “If not for the presence of my master, I would not even leave an intact corpse behind, much less that useless life of yours!”

Yun Gu was a medical practitioner and he was a medical practitioner that was far too pure at that. That was also the reason he was able to become the “Medical Saint” who possessed medical skills which could snatch fate away from the heavens. Yun Che’s medical skills originated from Yun Gu and whether it was the Profound Sky Continent or the Illusory Demon Realm, they were unparalleled. Even if that was the case, Yun Che was aware that his medical skills were roughly only fifty to sixty percent of Yun Gu’s medical skills.

If one were to say that Yun Che’s medical skills could save lives then Yun Gu’s medical skills could be said to truly be able to “snatch fate away from the heavens.”

Furthermore, it was also because of his pureness of intent towards “saving lives,” that he had never killed and he had never been able to accept killing. Even the death of someone wicked would elicit a sigh of lament from him.

“You… you…” The divine palace elder that knelt by Duan Heisha’s side jerked his head upwards. Baleful energy swelled up in his body as he spoke but it faded away as swiftly as it had risen. After that, he spoke in a voice that clearly contained deep shock and fear, “You… Who exactly are you…”

Yun Che did not reply, his icy gaze piercing Zuo Hanshuo and Mu Yingchan. Both of them had completely different expressions on their faces at this moment. Yun Che said, “Now on to the both of you. Will the both of you do the deed yourselves or do I have to personally take action!?”

Under Yun Che’s gaze, both Mu Yingchan and Zuo Hanshuo instantly felt an icy coldness surge through every fiber of their beings. The feat of completely crippling Duan Heisha in one strike, this was a power that they could barely believe and they could not fathom. They had striven to rationalize this event using the explanation that Duan Heisha was caught unprepared. But if you gave this sort of explanation to an idiot, even that idiot would not believe you.

As the current hegemons of the Azure Cloud Continent, they were even more clear on the fact that completely crippling a level nine Monarch was ten times harder than actually killing him!

Much less crippling him in a single strike.

“You… Who exactly are… you!?” One could clearly hear the trembling in Mu Yingchan’s voice as he said these words.

“We have no grievances or resentments between us...Why are subjecting us to such a harsh judgement?” Zuo Hanshuo asked hurriedly. His words and the tone of his voice had clearly become much softer due to fear.

“No grievances or resentments against each other? This time, all of you people gathered together in the Country of Supwake so that you could steal something from my master. If I had not arrived, given my master’s nature, he would have once again been… he would definitely have been forced to his death by you lot! But right now, you’re trying to tell me that there are no grievances or resentments between us?”

Yun Che lightly ground his teeth together as the boundless hatred and enmity from all those years ago was faintly aroused once again.

“You are a disciple of the Medical Saintr Yun Gu?” Zuo Hanshuo said as he shook his head, “That’s not possible! None of us has ever heard of Yun Gu accepting any disciples! You… You are clearly thinking of obtaining the Sky Poison Pearl for yourself!”

Yun Che’s eyes faintly narrowed as he muttered words that only he could hear, “The debt that you owe my master, the debt that you owe Ling’er, and the debt that you owe me… Master does not approve of killing and Ling’er’s is soft-hearted and compassionate, so I’ll simply get some interest back from them…”

He extended three fingers towards Zuo Hanshuo and Mu Yingchan as he spoke in an incredibly apathetic and unsympathetic tone, “I will give the two of you three breaths. Don’t worry, I don’t want your lives either. So in the span of these three breaths, you will either cripple your own profound strength or I will personally cripple your entire bodies!”

“You…” Zuo Hanshuou and Mu Yingchan’s pupils contracted at the same time.

“One!” Yun Che folded the first finger.

“Two!” Yun Che folded the second finger and his aura, which was originally as tranquil as still water, started to fiercely rise.

Before the events of this day, if anyone had said that there was a time where both Zuo Hanshuo and Mu Yingchan were scared witless, there would be no one in the continent that would believe them and the person who said such things would become a huge joke himself. But right now, Duan Heisha, the only other person who could be grouped together with them a mere hundred breaths ago, was now a cripple who was lying on the ground like a dead dog. So when they faced Yun Che’s outstretched fingers, they were seized by a profound and heart-wrenching sense of terror.

“Three!”

Zuo Hanshuo and Mu Yingchan took to the skies at the same time as they soared backwards and roared loudly in unison, “Kill! Kill him! Everyone advance… kill him now!!”

The gathered elders and disciples of the three great sects could hear the palpable fear in Zuo Hanshuo’s and Mu Yingchan’s voices. But they were also seized by the same terror. A person that was able to instantly cripple a character like Duan Heisha; they could well imagine how terrifying a character they were facing right now. But the orders of the sect masters could not be defied, so the moment the two sect masters fled in panic, they had no choice but to summon up their courage and charge forward to attack Yun Che.

However, nearly half of them… especially the disciples who belong to Seven Stars Divine Palace, also turned around and fled like the two sect masters.

Yun Che eyed the direction where Zuo Hanshuo and Mu Yingchan were fleeing in but he did not give chase immediately. Instead, his body flashed as he instantly shifted to a spot that was more than three hundred meters above his previous location. After that, a blue light descended from above.

Crack, Crack, Crack, Crack, Crack, Crack...

The blue light spread amidst the sounds of ice congealing as it instantly sealed away tens of kilometers of space in ice. When the sound of ice congealing had stopped, the entire world seemed to have gone quiet in an instance as all of the sounds of people shouting had completely disappeared.

Besides the fleeing Zuo Hanshuo and Mu Yingchan, forty Monarchs and hundreds of disciples had all been solidly frozen inside thick layers of ice.

The surpassingly-strange noise caused Zuo Hanshuo and Mu Yingchan, both of whom had been fleeing with all their might, to subconsciously turn their heads back. After seeing the scene that had unfolded in front of them, both of them were so shocked that their souls had practically flown out of their bodies. But as their eyes swept the surrounding area, they did not catch a single trace of Yun Che’s figure.

Zuo Hanshuo’s heart became even more uneasy. He fiercely gritted his teeth as he raised his speed to the point where he nearly broke through his own limits. But the instant he turned around, he suddenly saw Yun Che standing in front of him in complete silence.

This startled Zuo Hanshuo so badly that his soul really threatened to leave his body and fly to heaven. Right now, he was rushing forward at full speed, so he did not even have the time to come to a halt, much less reverse directions and flee backwards. The terrified and shocked Zuo Hanshuo, who had been left with no path of escape, could only let out a wild roar as both of his arms thrust outwards and he desperately summoned forth all of the profound energy in his body. A bluish-purple profound formation swiftly formed in the space between his two hands as his palms exploded towards Yun Che’s chest.

Even though the profound formation that formed between Zuo Hanshuo’s hands was small, it was the top profound formation that anyone in the Azure Cloud Continent was aware of, the Heaven Thwarting Formation! It had enough might to sunder the heavens and the earth, yet Yun Che did not even pay any attention to it. He had an expressionless face as he simply sent a fist flying against the wind, smashing it toward Zuo Hanshuo’s chest.

BAAAANGG!!!!!

The resulting explosion sent vibrations through the air as Yun Che’s fist smashed through the Heaven Thwarting Formation that Zuo Hanshuo had formed with all his power. The huge force of the backlash neatly snapped the bones in Zuo Hanshuo’s arms but Yun Che’s fist still contained all of its original force as it exploded against Zuo Hanshuo’s chest. Amidst an explosive wail, a beam of fire violently burst out from Zuo Hanshuo’s back.

“Wu…” Zuo Hanshuo’s eyes bulged outwards. He had never ever dreamed that his power, a power that had not been rivalled during his lifetime, was actually so insignificant and inadequate in front of this person.

In that instant, he could no longer feel the existence of his own profound veins any longer.

“Just… who…exactly.. are… you…”

Zuo Hanshuo gasped out those words with much difficulty. His entire body had become just like Duan Heisha’s, it resembled a balloon that had been pierced by a million needles as the foundation of all of his profound strength leaked out into the air.

Similarly, Yun Che had spared his life… Even though death would have been considered a blessed release for a continental hegemon such as Zuo Hanshuo.

Yun Che flicked his arm, throwing Zuo Hanshuo tens of kilometers away. He just so happened to land at Duan Heisha’s side. After that, the fire light on Yun Che’s body flashed as he took off in hot pursuit of Mu Yingchan, who had fled in the other direction.

As Mu Yingchan was wildly fleeing, he sensed that Zuo Hanshuo had released the aura of the Heaven Thwarting Formation behind him. He breathed a small sigh of relief in his shocked and terrified heart at the same time. Because he and Zuo Hanshuo had fled in opposite directions, so if he pursued Zuo Hanshuo, he would not have the chance to chase after him.

But after a brief moment, he suddenly sensed that the aura of the Heaven Thwarting Formation had disappeared completely and following that, even Zuo Hanshuo’s aura began to rapidly weaken. Mu Yingchan unwittingly turned his head back and to his utter shock, he saw that Yun Che’s figure was not even five kilometers away.

“Wha… What!?”

Mu Yingchan’s body sank as his shocked face was instantly drained of all blood. He frantically raised his energy as he desperately surged forward. When he turned his head back once more, he discovered that Yun Che was actually less than one and a half kilometers behind him.

This time, Mu Yingchan was so shocked that his gall bladder nearly ruptured. He was moving at the full speed that a proper level nine Monarch could muster but in front of Yun Che, he was practically sitting still.

As he realized that continuing to flee would be absolutely meaningless, Mu Yingchan fiercely gritted his teeth before he abruptly wheeled about, a seven and a half foot long lustrous white longsword grasped in his hand. In an instant, a violently surging sword energy caused the surrounding space to fiercely tighten.

If Xuanyuan Wentian could be said to be the number one swordsman in the entire Profound Sky Continent, then Mu Yingchan was the emperor of the way of the sword in the Azure Cloud Continent. The 【White Jade Imperial Dragon Sword】 in his hand was the sword that reigned supreme over all the other swords in the Azure Cloud Continent. When profound energy was poured into it, a gentle sweep of its blade would produce dragon roars which would shake the heavens.

“HAAH!! Soaring Celestial Sword Formation!”

The White Jade Imperial Dragon Sword danced prettily in the air as a giant circle-shaped sword formation swiftly formed in the air. It was just as Mu Yingchan had performed three hundred and sixty consecutive sword strokes and was only left with six strokes to complete the Soaring Celestial Sword Formation that Yun Che, who was rushing right at him, suddenly disappeared.

The sword in Mu Yingchan’s hand also disappeared at the same time.

Mu Yingchan’s entire body froze in place as his mind went completely blank. It was still reasonable that he could not sense how Yun Che had suddenly disappeared. But he had no idea how the sword that was practically one with his body had suddenly disappeared from his hand as well.

It was as if it had been swallowed up by the empty air.

“This is truly a waste of time.”

A detached and apathetic voice coldly rang out from behind him. At the same time that voice fell, an enormous power that was too great to describe smashed into his back.

PUU!!

Blood streamed from Mu Yingchan’s seven orifices as his profound veins and consciousness collapsed at the same time and he was sent tumbling downwards.

__________

Author’s Note:

【Zuo Hanshuo + Duan Heisha + Mu Yingchan】The names Huangji Wuyu, Xuanyuan Wentian, Qu Fengyi, Ye Meixie of Profound Sky Continent all sound tyrannical, possess great disposition, and are not easily forgotten! Why do our names sound as if they were given on the spot, even though we’re similarly overlords of a continent!

【Mars】: Because they’re overlords of the main storyline, and have lived for several hundred chapters, while you three are but mere regular mobs found in dungeons that will only live for no more than three chapters! I spent an entire day and night to think of those four names, while I settled your three names in just ten seconds. What wishful thinking you guys have… I don’t even know what’s the meaning of the word ‘Ying(郢)’, how is it supposed to be read? It’s so troublesome to type it every single time.