Against the Gods (Web Novel)

Whoosh!!

BOOM

Thousands of huge waves soared towards the heaven and spread across the boundless blue sea. The highest of those waves towered more than tens of thousands of meters in the air as they fiercely battered Supreme Ocean Palace.

The force carried by these huge waves was astonishing. Supreme Ocean Palace, which had floated on the surface of the ocean for ten thousand years, was being heavily battered. Amidst violent shaking, it was nearly swept three hundred meters away, inducing a chorus of alarmed shouts which rang across Supreme Ocean Palace.

Following that, the huge waves subsided and the surface of the ocean very quickly became tranquil once again. There were no longer any more great waves and even the previously persistent water ripples and the muffled rumbling sounds had completely faded away.

A long period passed but no further activity occurred.

Feng Xue’er had been looking at the surface of the ocean all this while. The long silence that persisted over the surface of the ocean caused heavier and heavier anxiety and unease to be birthed in her heart. She continued to chew on her lips before she could finally wait no longer. She turned around, taking a look at the members of Sun Moon Divine Hall and Mighty Heavenly Sword Region who had all hidden themselves at a great distance. She suddenly extended an arm, the scarlet red Phoenix flames scattering down from above before forming a gigantic flame barrier which engulfed everyone present within it.

“Xue’er, what are you going to do?” Feng Hengkong asked in a panicked voice after he seemed to realize something.

“I am going to go find Big Brother Yun.”

“You can’t! It’s too dangerous… Xue’er!!”

Feng Hengkong was not able to react fast enough to even attempt to stop Feng Xue’er. He could merely anxiously take a single step forward as he watched Feng Xue’er resolutely hop off Supreme Ocean Palace, directly descending toward the surface of the dreadlyfully calm blue ocean.

Beneath the blue ocean, following the scattering of Xuanyuan Wentian’s body into ashes, the last remaining bits of his devilish energy had also begun to grow duller and duller, to the point where it had completely disappeared.

Yun Che had no choice but to admit that Xuanyuan Wentian was an exceedingly dreadful man and he could even be said to be the most terrifying person Yun Che had ever met in his entire life. Whether it was in the Illusory Demon Realm or the Profound Sky Continent, he had included every single person in his calculations and everything he had attained had been done so by relying on strategy and schemes. If not for the fact that Yun Che had coincidentally obtained the Evil God’s Darkness Seed in the Azure Cloud Continent, then besides Fen Xue’er, who would need many years to fully awaken the power of the Phoenix God, no one else in this world would be able to stand up to him and both the Profound Sky Continent and the Illusory Demon Realm would have fallen under his dark shadow.

After he had rested at the bottom of the sea for a long period of time, Yun Che had finally managed to recover some of his vitality. He balanced his body, stretched out his hand and reached towards the dark depths.

Immediately, a black shadow flew towards him from far away as it was sucked into Yun Che’s hand.

The Eternal Night Devil Sword!

The flawless jet-black sword body no longer had that pair of wicked devil eyes. Even if the devil soul within the sword had not been devoured by Xuanyuan Wentian, it would have met its demise the moment Xuanyuan Wentian died.

Even though the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign had escaped the Evil God’s seal, he was unable to endure the light of the sun or the moon, so he could only hole up in the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest; he was not even able to plague humanity even if he so desired. Yet this sword which originated from him had caused such an enormous calamity in both the Profound Sky Continent and the Illusory Demon Realm. It helped found the Eternal Night Royal Family but it had also destroyed the Eternal Night Royal Family. It had led Xuanyuan Wentian to success but it had also led Xuanyuan Wentian to his downfall.

At the same time, it had also created a personal tragedy that spanned across two lives.

Bzzz...

The Eternal Night Devil Sword in his hand suddenly started vibrating irregularly. Even though the vibrations were very light but Yun Che could sense them very clearly. His eyebrows furrowed as he swiftly released the Eternal Night Devil Sword and slowly retreated several steps.

At this moment, a blurry image slowly appeared in the air above the Eternal Night Devil Sword.

Or perhaps, it would be better to say that this image could no longer be described as “blurry” as it was as thin as the morning fog, so thin that it was nearly impossible to sense at all. Even with Yun Che’s eyesight, he could only barely see the appearance of this image.

“Fen… Jue… Chen…” As he looked at that incredibly thin soul image, Yun Che muttered those words as an incredibly complex feeling was birthed in his heart.

“...” The thin and shallow soul image silently stared at him. It did not make a single sound, nor did it express any emotion.

Yun Che said, “When we last spoke in the Illusory Demon Realm, I promised you that as long I still lived, there would come a day where I would kill Xuanyuan Wentian. So today, I managed to live up to those words.”

“...Finally, I can die…” Fen Juechen softly muttered.

“...” Yun Che’s lips moved but he was unable to say anything for a long period of time.

Those four short words did not contain the slightest trace of emotion, yet Yun Che could clearly sense the pain and the sorrow that lay buried beneath them.

To Fen Juechen, death would have been an incomparably wonderful release. But after Xuanyuan Wentian had stolen his body, Fen Juechen, who had lost everything, desperately strove to “live” as he desperately willed his consciousness to continue existing. Even if there was incomparable pain and resentment. Even if every moment of this “life” was akin to existing inside a purgatory, he stubbornly refused to allow the last dredges of his consciousness to fade away.

Because he was not content with how things had turned out.

But today, he had personally witnessed Xuanyuan Wentian’s death. With the death of the evil devil who had turned his life into a tragedy, he could also finally die as well… and in doing so, he could finally be released from this life.

To him, death had always been such an extravagant desire.

After taking in a deep breath of air, Yun Che calmly said, “Aside from Xuanyuan Wentian, the person you should hate the most in your life is me. Yet, you still saved my life three times. Outside the Divine Phoenix City, you blocked Xuanyuan Wentian, giving Xue’er and I time to escape. In the Snow Region of Extreme Ice, you forced Xuanyuan Wentian away. And during that time in the Illusory Demon Realm, you were the only reason we were able to survive that calamity in the first place…”

“I did not do it for you,” Fen Juechen’s voice finally carried some emotion. “I did it for Lingxi. She previously told me this. If you died, she would die as well.”

“...Do you have any message that you want me to pass on to her?” Yun Che asked, his chest rising and falling heavily.

“Help me thank her,” Fen Juechen said, his voice becoming very soft. “It was she who helped me feel that this world was not such a cruel place after all. It was she who let me feel that I was still… alive…”

“I understand.” Yun Che said as he faintly nodded his head. He understood that the word “cruel” used by Fen Juechen contained an incredibly cruel hidden meaning.

“I remember that you should still have some things left in Floating Cloud City. I will bury them in Floating Cloud City for you… After all, Floating Cloud City can be considered your very last home.”

“Home…” Fen Juechen softly muttered that word.

Yun Che hesitated for a while, before finally speaking, “Do you… still have any desires that you still have yet to fulfill? Perhaps, I can help you fulfill them.”

Given Fen Juechen’s arrogant nature, Yun Che had thought that those words might hurt his pride. But to his surprise, Fen Juechen looked Yun Che straight in the eye before speaking in an incomparably slow and sincere voice, “Within one month, take Lingxi as your wife!”

“...” Yun Che was completely stunned.

“Her tears are because of you. Her smiles are also because of you. When she daydreams, it is because of you. The words that she spoke have all come from you. The reason she saved me was also because of you. But you… You only return to Floating Cloud City three times a month and more and more women keep appearing by your side but you have never…”

Fen Juechen’s words contained no small amount of fury. But after that, his voice slowly grew calm once more, “But only you are worthy of her. Nobody else is.”

Yun Che was left dazed for a good long while. But after that, a faint smile curled up at the corners of his lips as he said, “So does this count as… your acknowledgement of me?”

Fen Juechen, “...”

“All of your words are completely superfluous,” Yun Che said with a faint smile. “When she was still my Little Aunt, she was my Little Aunt alone. When I found out that she wasn’t my Little Aunt, then I had even less reason to allow her to belong to somebody else. Furthermore, now that this day has finally come…” Yun Che said as he tilted his head upwards, his eyes becoming exceptionally warm, “The promise that was made between the two of us has finally been fulfilled.”

“...” Fen Juechen silently observed him for a while. After that, he slowly turned around, his thin and shallow soul image starting to tremble.

Yun Che took a step forward, “Fen Juechen, you…”

“I no longer… hate you…”

Those five soft words were the last five words Fen Juechen spoke in his life. His soul image slowly dissipated into the air like a tendril of smoke that was being blown apart by a gentle wind.

“...” Yun Che felt as if his heart had been fiercely smashed by something. Yun Che froze in place as he stood there pondering this feeling. A heavy feeling? A sour and bitter feeling? A soothing feeling? A feeling that was so complex that Yun Che could not describe it chaotically rampaged about in Yun Che’s heart. His lips moved and his final words to Fen Juechen seemed to come from the very depths of his heart and soul...

“Thank you and… I… am … sorry…”

The ocean waters faintly rippled and it was at that moment that Fen Juechen’s soul image well and truly disappeared, not leaving even a single trace behind.

His body, his soul, his hatred, his sorrow, his worries. Everything that he had and was made up of had forever vanished from the heavens and the earth.

Perhaps, at the very end of life, he had heard the words “I am sorry” come out of Yun Che’s mouth.

Yun Che’s heart felt as if something had been stuffed into it and it did not go away for an extremely long time.

Fen Juechen was the same as him; both of them were people who had lived through two lives. But no matter the method or the destiny, there was a world of difference between the two of them. His lives were akin to extraordinary sagas spun from legend while Fen Juechen’s lives had been one long, drawn-out and cruel tragedy. The families he had in both lives were utterly destroyed, he had lost all of his kinsmen each time… The first time around, Fen Juechen’s family had been murdered by Xuanyuan Wentian’s vile and wicked scheme. The second time, they had been murdered by his fit of uncontrolled rage.

After that, Fen Juechen had found the remains of Ye Mufeng’s soul and recovered the memories of his past life. At first, he had thought he had finally found his last remaining relative. But he had never expected the vengeance-distorted soul of Ye Mufeng to bestow upon him hatred and vengeance instead of fatherly love.

All those years ago, Ye Mufeng and his wife had not spared any cost or effort in order to use the Eternal Night Forbidden Art to allow Fen Juechen to be reincarnated into the world once more. This was not only to preserve the bloodline of the Eternal Night Royal Family but it was also to allow their son to continue to live on. But when father and son finally reunited, Ye Mufeng forced him to become a tool of vengeance while also cruelly eliminating his last hope for any sort of familial relations.

He fell into the deep abyss of vengeance and hatred, forcing himself to fall and become a devil, enduring hellish pain night and day in order to obtain power… But from the start to the finish, he had been dancing in the palm of Xuanyuan Wentian’s hands, the power he had risked everything to obtain became a celebratory gift for Xuanyuan Wentian and even his own body had been stolen from him.

Thus, no one could understand or even imagine the cruelty and despair he had experienced.

Perhaps, the last bit of mercy life had shown him was allowing him to meet Xiao Lingxi.

“I hope that you can be free of all cares and worries in your next life,” Yun Che muttered in a rather despondent voice. But following that, his eyes grew dark and dim.

Because he suddenly recalled that Fen Juechen was the same as Xuanyuan Wentian. Both their bodies and souls had been destroyed, so even if he did not endure the forbidden reincarnation art, he was destined to never reincarnate ever again. He had forever and completely vanished from this world.

Yun Che picked up the Eternal Night Devil Sword, putting it into the Primordial Profound Ark. After all, it could be considered to be what remained of Fen Juechen.

Furthermore, it was also a genuine primordial devil sword. Even though it no longer contained a devil soul and did not exude a powerful aura, it could still be hiding some kind of extraordinary secret.