Against the Gods

“Are you planning to stay in the Southern Divine Region, Your Magnificence?” Yan Tianxiao asked.

“The Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm should be a fine place,” Yun Che replied.

Yan Tianxiao frowned. “But Cang Shitian…”

“There is nothing to worry about. Feel free to act as you would in the Northern Divine Region,” Yun Che added, “Cang Shitian’s the one on thin ice, not us.”

“And the Devil Queen?”

“She can decide what to do with the Eastern Divine Region herself.” A tiny gleam appeared in Yun Che’s eyes as he said that. He had never doubted Chi Wuyao’s ability to collect and interpret intel, and even without notice he was sure she would learn of the events that had transpired in the Southern Divine Region, and his new objective.

Suddenly, Yun Che’s eyes turned steely, and he faced the northwestern sky.

A cold light was flying toward him from that direction. It had appeared from 500 kilometers away at least, and it was so fast that he saw it before he heard the sonic boom.

From a different point of view, it looked like the object had sliced a five hundred kilometer-wide space in half. It was moving terrifyingly fast considering the distance it had already traversed, but whoever did it barely exuded any aura at all. Even with his spiritual perception, he only caught a wisp of something before it dissipated entirely.

Qianye Ying’er rushed forward to intercept the light before it got close, but a heavy pressure stopped her dead in her tracks. Surprisingly, it was Caizhi who cut her off with her demonic pressure.

“Hmm?” Qianye Ying’er stared at Caizhi with curiosity, but she didn’t try to force the issue and lightly withdrew.

“...” Yun Che was also surprised by Caizhi’s reaction. First things first, he pulled the strange object into his palm.

He couldn’t detect the weak pulse of aura any longer.

Stealth ability wise, Yun Che didn’t believe that there was anyone in the world who was his equal or better. After all, he had eluded the three divine regions and escaped all the way to the Northern Divine Region while he was still a Divine King using Hidden Flowing Lightning and Moon Splitting Cascade.

And yet, the person who threw this object at him had barely exuded any aura at all, considering the power they must’ve used to throw it. They had disappeared—no, concealed—their aura so quickly that he wouldn’t have noticed them if they hadn’t intentionally imbued the object with a sheen of light… and even if he did, he wouldn’t have paid it any attention.

It meant that this person’s ability to conceal themselves was almost as good as his!

To his knowledge, the one person who barely came close to him in this regard was Hua Jin, and that was after her power was purified by Eternal Calamity of Darkness.

“Caizhi, who was that?” Yun Che looked at Caizhi curiously.

“They’re not an enemy,” Caizhi answered before withdrawing her aura and avoiding Yun Che’s gaze, “That’s all I’m going to say, so don’t ask.”

Yun Che relaxed. It would’ve taken an unimaginable amount of effort to hunt down someone like that.

“Sure, no problem,” Yun Che replied, “I always welcome pleasant surprises from you, Caizhi.”

It was probably another Dragon Emperor of Absolute Beginning-like expert from the God Realm of Absolute Beginning. That seemed like the most likely possibility anyway.

Was the Dragons of Absolute Beginning not the only gift the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor left behind for Caizhi… no, him?

“...” Caizhi didn’t say anything.

Putting the mysterious expert to the back of his mind, Yun Che opened his palm and inspected the ball of white light in his hand. The light was really a murky ball of Southern Sea divine energy meant to isolate the energy of its contents and keep it a secret. Someone had destroyed most of it and left only a layer behind.

Yun Che exhaled, and the white light dissipated completely.

A ray of golden light shone from the object immediately. It wasn’t particularly strong or piercing, but somehow its light traveled unhindered by Yun Che’s palm or everyone’s body. It shone like the sun and dyed even the distant space in gold.

It was a golden orb with all kinds of uneven, oddly-shaped divine runes engraved on it. All of them except one were glowing brightly.

“That’s… the Southern Sea Divine Pearl!” Qianye Ying’er muttered in shock.

This was hardly the first time Yun Che came into contact with the aura of a lost artifact. He knew that it was the Southern Sea’s artifact of inheritance and lifeline the moment it shone.

The Southern Sea Divine Pearl!

A total of twenty two divine runes were engraved on it… they represented the sixteen Sea Gods, four Sea Kings, Nan Wansheng and Nan Guizhong. Everything fit perfectly.

As expected of the strongest god realm of the Southern Divine Region, even their artifact of inheritance far exceeded that of the Star God Realm, Burning Moon Realm, and the Yama Devils.

The reason one rune remained dim was because the Sea God it gave its powers to was still alive… the last surviving Sea God, Nan Qianqiu.

“Congratulations, Your Magnificence! With this, the entire Southern Divine Region should fall beneath your feet in no time! It may even take mere days for the work to be done!”

It wasn’t mere praise. Yan Tianxiao was speaking from the bottom of his heart.

Behind him, the Yama Devils and Yama Ghosts had also dropped to their knees and stayed that way for a very long time.

They had come to the Southern Divine Region with the intention of scouting out its strength. Not even in their wildest dreams did they think that they would destroy the Southern Sea Realm in a single day, and scare the living shit out of the other three God Emperors.

…Yun Che himself hadn’t been expecting it.

For millions of years, the Northern Divine Region had suffered at the hands of the three divine regions. At the time, it felt like the shame would never depart their bodies and souls. Then Yun Che showed up, and their fates were turned around so quickly that they had to slap themselves to check whether they were dreaming. Even the promises he made on the day he became the Devil Master were being fulfilled at a comical speed.

Yan Tianxiao was the strongest god emperor of the Northern Divine Region. Today, he knelt before Yun Che and loathed the fact that he couldn’t bend more. Yun Che’s weight in his heart had long since surpassed the ancient devil gods the entire Northern Divine Region had worshipped since ancient times.

Yun Che closed his hand, and the Southern Sea Divine Pearl vanished without a sound. So long as the Southern Sea’s lifeline remained in his possession, they would never make a return.

“An expert who can kill Nan Wansheng in three breaths and conceal themselves to this extent…” Qianye Ying’er muttered before looking at Caizhi, “Little wolf, is this person a human, or some ancient being you recruited from the God Realm of Absolute Beginning?”

It was impossible not to be shaken by an expert like this.

But Caizhi gave her nothing. She couldn’t even be bothered to snort in disdain.

The Lady Goddess looked away after seeing that she wasn’t going to get an answer. If there was one thing she wanted to know more than this mysterious expert’s identity, it would be the reason behind Caizhi’s tight lips.

“Yun Che,” Caizhi suddenly broke her silence, “I want you to tell me the truth. How confident are you in your ability to destroy the Dragon God Realm?”

“I’ve never underestimated them, if that’s what you’re worrying about.” Yun Che didn’t want to lie to Caizhi. In fact, his stiff expression loosened dramatically when he spoke to her, even when he was in the presence of a crowd. “The Northern Divine Region is stronger than ever before with the addition of you and the Dragons of Absolute Beginning. However, destroying the Dragon God Realm is basically still an impossible task, and it only gets worse if you take the Western Divine Region and the other five realms into consideration.”

“That being said…” Yun Che suddenly changed his tune and let out a mirthless chuckle. “I am alive. And that is enough.”

In other words… it was almost impossible for the Northern Divine Region to destroy the Dragon God Realm even with all the power they had gathered today.

But he could!

Every man and woman’s heart started trembling uncontrollably. The declaration would’ve sounded like complete nonsense coming from another person’s mouth, but from Yun Che? A dark flame began burning in every Yama Devil’s eyes.

“I know about your special dragon soul, but is there really nothing else?” Caizhi asked while maintaining a stiff expression.

“You’ll know when the time comes.” Yun Che smiled lightly. “Don’t worry about me. I wouldn’t have stepped out of the Northern Divine Region to begin if I wasn’t certain of my chances.”

“Hmph.” Caizhi’s nose lifted visibly as she said, “Did you know that sister warned me to never trust you when you say ‘don’t worry about me’ a long time ago?”

“Er…” Yun Che unconsciously rubbed his own nose.

“What are you planning to do next?” Qianye Ying’er asked.

“We wait,” Yun Che replied simply. He was sure that Chi Wuyao would make the best decision and choice after she heard everything.

“Then… what do you want to do with him?” Qianye Ying’er shot Nan Qianqiu a sideways glance. “Need me to help out? I am better at torturing people than you.”

Nan Qianqiu’s limp body twitched almost as if he sensed something.

The gentleness on Yun Che’s face disappeared instantly. He grabbed Caizhi’s tiny hand and said, “Give me a moment.”

Whoosh!

A dark gale appeared, and he had Nan Qianqiu’s skull clutched in his palm. He then took off and vanished from everyone’s sight.

The Southern Sea Capital had dissolved completely into black rubble at this point. It was impossible to find any traces of its former prosperity even from the sky.

Yun Che flew a long way before he finally descended back to the ground. He then flung the Sea God hard against the ground.

Bang!

Nan Qianqiu hadn’t lost his divine powers, but his nerves were shattered, and his profound veins were gravely damaged by Yan One’s power. There was barely a sheet of natural energy protecting him. Therefore, the simple throw had spilled his blood and instantly broken an uncountable number of bones.

Nan Qianqiu finally regained some semblance of mobility now that no power was immobilizing him. The prince staggered to his feet, but he immediately slipped and collapsed like a puddle. A bunch of spasms later, he couldn’t even find the strength to stand up any longer.

Nan Qianqiu slowly turned his head until Yun Che’s grim figure entered his vision. The man towering over him was a true devil who had flattened the Southern Sea Realm beneath his feet and scared the living shit out of god emperors. To say that he felt like hell was standing in front of him would be the understatement of the century.

“Yun… Che…” He stuttered, “Your… your fate… will be thousands… no… tens of thousands worse than mine! The Dragon God Realm… will not stop until you’re dead…”

He didn’t beg despite his overwhelming fear and despair. He was scared to death and half-conscious, but even in this state he knew that Yun Che would never let him go free. He would only be humiliating himself if he begged for mercy.

He couldn’t understand why Yun Che gave him such “special” treatment, however. He had never met Yun Che until today, and his father should be the one he hated the most out of everyone in the Southern Sea Realm.

Not like he had the presence of mind to figure out the answer now.

Yun Che brought his foot down, and Nan Qianqiu’s spine snapped like a twig. He screamed. There was so much force behind the stomp that the ground beneath his body actually cracked. He curled like a prawn from the sheer amount of pain that was coursing through his body, and his blood quickly drenched the ground he was lying on.

Cold sweat drenched his body like he was running through a downpour. The contrast between his deathly pale skin and his bright red blood made him look like a long dead corpse. Every muscle in his body was twitching in pain, and the hoarse sounds exiting his throat could barely be considered human.

Hellish pain tormented him, and the only thing awaiting him after this was the abyss of death. But somehow—or maybe it was precisely because he had nothing left to lose—Nan Qianqiu mustered the greatest courage he had ever mustered in his life and refrained from begging for a swift death. In fact, he tried to look up at Yun Che again so he could curse him with the most venomous words he knew, right in the face.

When he finally succeeded, he saw a green girl standing next to Yun Che before he knew it.

Her countenance was as beautiful as a celestial’s, and her eyes were so pure that it couldn’t be sullied. And yet the gleam in her eyes was that of impossible pain and hatred.

A wood… spirit?

His spiritual perception was scattered, but he still could sense her unique aura.