Against the Gods

Chapter 1366 – Hope

“These past few years have been hard on the two of you…” Yun Che said dispiritedly and absently. The only thing he could say were these incomparably shallow and pale words.

“It wasn’t bitter at all,” Chu Yuechan shook her head, “From when I was still in Frozen Cloud Asgard, I had already become accustomed to this kind of peace and quiet. What’s more, I also had Wuxin by my side.”

“Then have you… ever thought of leaving this place someday?” Yun Che asked.

Chu Yuechan still shook her head, but when she looked at her daughter, complex feelings faintly appeared in her eyes. “Xin’er is growing bigger by the day, and I can’t keep her by my side forever. She has to go out to the outside world eventually and find the life that belongs to her. But… her growth is simply too fast, so fast that it left me terrified.”

Yun Che, “...”

“When she was six, her body would naturally produce profound energy. As a result, I tried to guide her cultivation, and the result was that her profound strength grew at a terrifying speed. In a month, she reached the Nascent Profound Realm. In three months, she entered the True Profound Realm. In six months, she broke into the Spirit Profound Realm. By the time she was seven and a half, she had already reached the Earth Profound Realm, and at eight and a half, she had reached the Sky Profound Realm. Finally, before she reached her tenth year, she had already become a Throne… As of today, she is already at the ninth level of the Emperor Profound Realm, surpassing the founding ancestor of Frozen Cloud Asgard.”

“Furthermore, every time she stepped into a new realm, there were no signs of her having to break any bottleneck.”

Even though Yun Che had already seen Yun Wuxin in action, his heart still violently shook upon hearing those words… Moreover, if the words that Chu Yuechan had just said entered the ears of the profound practitioners of the Profound Sky Continent, they would definitely feel as if every single word had been spun out of fantasy.

Without the shadow of a doubt, Yun Wuxin’s speed of growth in the profound way was absolutely not normal.

“This situation, conversely, caused me even more worry and I did not dare let her leave this place.”

Chu Yuechan’s worries were absolutely normal and understandable.

She did not know what the outside world had become, but she did not doubt in the least that the appearance of a Throne who was only eleven years of age, and a late stage Throne at that, would definitely cause tremors that would immensely shake the entire profound world. Since she was alone and unaffiliated with anybody, her life would definitely be a troubled one.

“As if I want to go to the outside world, Mother. I want to accompany Mom always,” Yun Wuxin said cheerily as she snuggled against her mother. “Daddy, are you also going to accompany us from now on?”

Yun Che gave a faint smile, but he did not say anything.

Because he could see that when Yun Wuxin said these things, there was a light of yearning and longing in the depths of her eyes… She wanted to leave this place, she wanted to see the world outside, but even more than all of these things, she did not want to leave her mother all alone.

“How about you?” Chu Yuechan asked, “How did you end up surviving all those years ago? And why did you…”

The young man who had been so young and immature yet still shone with a light that was even more dazzling than the sun. When she finally saw him again, he had become so despondent and gloomy.

Yun Che faintly raised his head and his mind went back to the starting point of his life. As he quietly thought of everything, his heart suddenly became calm at this moment. “During the half year we spent in the Dragon God Trial Grounds, I spent every day saying countless things to you, telling countless stories to you, but I never told you who I truly was and where I had truly come from. In fact, I told you many lies, many vain boasts, and many jokes…”

Chu Yuechan, “...”

“And who would have thought that in the twelve years before I found you again, I would go through so many things. Most of them would sound absolutely fantastical and absurd if you heard them, but… I won’t deceive you again like I did all those years ago. This time, every single word I am about to say will be the unvarnished truth…”

He did not start his tale from the calamity that had struck him in Heavenly Sword Villa all those years ago. Instead he started from the point where his fate started to turn—he started from the point where he reincarnated back to the Profound Sky Continent from the Azure Cloud Continent.

He recounted his fated reincarnation, his meeting with Jasmine, and how he found out about his actual identity and origins underneath the Sword Management Terrace… he talked about his journey to the Illusory Demon Realm… and he also talked about how he destroyed Xuanyuan Wentian and saved the world… he recounted the drastic changes that happened to Frozen Cloud Asgard… and also told them about how he reached the God Realm, a place that was practically considered a myth and legend in the Profound Sky Continent...

He recounted his tale until the point where he had died in the Star God Realm slightly more than a month ago, before he came back to life in a most fantastical manner.

The sun had already almost set and stars filled the sky.

All of his experiences, all of his sorrows and joys, all of his secrets, he spoke about them all without reservation… To the Yuechan and Wuxin he had found after they had been lost, he hated that he could not give his whole world to them as recompense, so he did not hide anything from them nor did he hold anything back.

This was also the first time in his life that he had so openly and uninhibitedly shared whatever was on his mind.

Before he knew it, the stars had gone dim and the sun had started to rise in the east. Outside the bamboo forest, Feng Xian’er had not gone to disturb the reunion of this family, but she had not left either. Instead she quietly stood there, guarding that place.

Yun Wuxin had already fallen asleep at some point of time in Chu Yuechan’s embrace. She slept soundly and securely, the corners of her lips hooked up in a shallow smile that was nearly imperceptible.

She had not known that her own father was such a legend in this entire continent and she also had not known what sort of power she had really possessed.

As he looked at her peaceful face, the corner of Yun Che’s mouth unwittingly hooked up. He was unable to describe just what he was feeling at this moment… but the gloom that had shrouded him during this period of time, the deep abyss that his heart and mind had fallen into, an abyss he had perhaps thought would be hard to truly escape for his entire life, was actually so insignificant and weak in front of her smiling face. In fact, it had practically vanished without a trace.

He recalled the gaze which his mother always directed towards him, a gaze filled with a desire to love and pamper, a gaze that was so warm and gentle it could melt every and all things. He finally understood that feeling and he also understood the guilt she had endured for more than twenty years...

“No wonder Xin’er’s growth has been so startling,” Chu Yuechan said in a soft voice as she tightly hugged the daughter sleeping in her arms. Even though she no longer possessed any profound strength, to Yun Wuxin, she had always been the warmest and greatest pillar of support in the world. “As it turns out, she actually has a father who seemingly walked out of myth and legend.”

“Well, it’s too bad that her father’s legend has already ended,” Yun Che said with a faint smile and when he said those words, his heart, amazingly enough, did not feel even the slightest bit of loss. He had a faint inkling that Yun Wuxin’s abnormal talent and aptitude probably had something to do with him, but it was not only because she had inherited his Phoenix bloodline and his Dragon God bloodline, the abnormality of her profound veins was very likely also due… to some influence from his Evil God’s Profound Veins.

Even though he had lost all of his power, he was able to give his daughter an impressive and enviable natural aptitude, and as a result, the satisfaction in his heart surpassed everything else.

Chu Yuechan extended a hand and lightly brushed away some of the dirt on his forehead. “You haven’t been willing to leave this place despite staying here for so long. Is it because you don’t know how to face the rest of them?”

He had become so aged and despondent in such a short period of time, so one could well imagine what kind of abyss his heart and soul had fallen into.

Moreover, she had already been through the kind of abyss he had fallen into, so she understood what sort of despair he was going through. When she had exploded her own profound veins all those years ago, she only had death on her mind. It was Yun Che who had pulled her back from the depths of the abyss, and after that he had somehow miraculously saved her.

“...” Yun Che closed his eyes before giving a light nod of his head.

Chu Yuechan softly said, “Even though you dove through so many stormy waves and have seen countless worlds that others would not even be able to imagine, your nature remains completely unchanged. You’ve always been accustomed to protecting others, in fact, one could even call your drive to protect others overbearing. You always become other people’s pillar of support, yet you are unwilling to accept support from others… this is especially true to the people who are important to you. You are unable to accept that you have become a burden to them.”

Yun Che, “...”

“Thinking back to what happened all those years ago, I had been pushed into a desperate situation by those two Flood Dragons, and in order to kill them, I had no choice but to detonate my own profound veins and become a cripple.”

When she mentioned this event, her voice was calm and gentle, “At that time, I was unable to accept that I had become a cripple and I only wanted to die in order to end it all. Do you still remember how you dragged me out of that quagmire, pulled me away from my desire to die?”

“...” Yun Che’s lips moved slightly.

“In order to protect me, and even more to prove your determination to me, you carried me along with you as you entered the Dragon God trial grounds… As such, not only did the trial get more difficult, you also had to devote some attention to protecting me. At that time, did you blame me for being a burden to you?” she asked.

It was also during that period of time that he had protected her so devotedly that it had melted all of the solid ice in her heart and her desire to live had also been reignited because of him… To the point where even after he had “died”, she was willing to betray and leave her own sect in order to preserve his bloodline. She had never once regretted or resented that decision.

Yun Che shook his head with no hesitation at all, “How could I? How could you ever be a burden to me!?”

“Then, did you enjoy the feeling of protecting me and being relied upon by me? She asked him yet again.

Once again, Yun Che nodded his head without the slightest bit of hesitation.

“Since that is the case, then why are you not willing to rely on them?” Chu Yuechan said with a faint smile. “Your parents and your family, your friends, your wives… All of them love you, and they don’t love you because you are strong, they don’t love you because they can rely upon you. They love you because of who you are, and they will continue to love you because you’re living a safe and happy life together with them. To be able to rely on you is naturally a sort of happiness. But if they were able to be relied upon by you, if they could use their own strength to protect you, then to all of the people who love you, how could that also not be a form of happiness?

“Just as how you protected them, just as how they relied upon you.”

Yun Che was stunned by those words and it seemed as if something had soundlessly melted in his heart. He shook his head and gave a soft laugh, “I really am… a completely foolish person. To think that I could not even understand such a plain and obvious thing.”

Actually, if it was yesterday, and it was someone else who had said the exact same things that Chu Yuechan had said, his heart would still not have been able to escape the gloom that enshrouded it. Chu Yuechan’s words had only brushed aside the last barrier in his heart. What had truly changed was Yun Che’s own mindset.

“There’s also one more thing I have to say…. The words that you told me all those years ago, I still clearly remember them to this day, and I have not forgotten a single word of them,” Chu Yuechan softly said as she looked at Yun Che. “No matter what I’ve lost, as long as I do not lose my life, as long as I am still alive, then I will definitely be able to recover the hope that I have lost. Being alive is the greatest hope of all, being alive means that everything is still possible!”

“...!” Yun Che’s gaze went rigid… Those were the words that he had roared to Chu Yuechan all those years ago when she had detonated her own profound veins and became filled with the desire to die.

He tightly grasped Chu Yuechan’s hand and smiled. Even though he had clearly cried all of his tears dry, for some odd reason, the rims of his eyes had grown wet once again… He understood the meaning behind Chu Yuechan’s words. Not only had she wanted to wipe away all of the dark haze inside his heart, she also wanted him to cling to hope.

“Little Fairy,” he softly called out, “don’t you worry, I will continue to live well. Because I have you, I have Wuxin, I have a father and mother who regard me more dearly than their own lives. My wife is the Blue Wind Empress, my fiance is the number one goddess in the continent… I have so many people who love me, so what reason do I have to not have a happier life than anyone else?”

“Even if I no longer have profound strength for the rest of my life, I need to strive to live for a very long time, one hundred years… One thousand years… I will accompany Wuxin as she grows up… I will pay back everything I owe to both of you, mother and daughter… thousands of times over…”

The hands which were holding Chu Yuechan’s hand tightened bit by bit, and this time, he would never let this hand go.

“Fine.” As she gazed at his eyes, Chu Yuechan’s eyes also grew misty. “Remember what you just said. If you forget, I will repeat it to you word for word…”

Her voice suddenly stopped and her face grew extremely pale after that.

Yun Che suddenly felt a weird feeling wash over him, “Little Fairy, what’s wrong with…”

Pfffft——

A scarlet jet of blood sprayed across Yun Che’s body and it was as if millions of scarlet steel needles had been stabbed into Yun Che’s eyes, heart and soul.

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