Against the Gods

At the center of the God Realm where the entrance to the God Realm of Absolute Beginning resided.

There was a violent distortion of space before seven abyssal shadows crossed over the edge and appeared in the massive realm known as the God Realm, Yun Che's dominion.

"God… Realm…"

Mo Beichen muttered as he slowly observed with his eyes and took in everything with his senses. The color within his eyes was fixed, so it was difficult to distinguish the emotions that were hidden behind them.

On the other hand, Nan Zhaoming's eyes were clearly shining with two-thirds excitement and one-third disdain. "Is this really the home of the old gods and devils? The laws are fragile and lowly, and the auras are filthy to say the least."

"When the Pope examined the wheel of time of this world, they said that it has only been a million years since the annihilation of gods and devils…" Mo Beichen closed his eyes as if he could not bear the sight of this realm. "To think it would decline this much in just a million years. It proves that the creatures of this world are both vile and cruel."

"The thought that these animals have not only plundered the gods' and devils' lands and inheritances for themselves, but also lived in a realm free of abyssal dust is… heh… hehehe…" The sound of Nan Zhaoguang's teeth fracturing under the extreme pressure they were subjected to reverberated in everyone's ears. "My hatred! My disgust! They're begging to be released into the world!"

It was clear that his words resonated deeply with his companions, for their auras too became tainted with barely suppressed fury and violence.

Mo Beichen spoke up, "His Majesty is a compassionate soul who has no tolerance for strife, bullying, and indiscriminate killing. It is thanks to his wisdom that the Abyss is at peace.

"This realm may be lowly, but it will eventually be part of His Majesty's dominion. I know of your resentment, but I am sure His Majesty would prefer to be welcomed with deference and obedience than bloody terror."

Mo Beichen side-eyed his companions before continuing, "The Pope is also of the same mind. We are pioneers, and every word and action we take will be recorded in history. Be it for His Majesty's sake or our own, we must keep ourselves in check and focus on accomplishing what needs to be accomplished."

All six men turned deadly serious at Mo Beichen's admonishment. Nan Zhaoming exhaled slightly before saying, "Now that the passage is formed, it should take His Majesty just fifty years to gather the power of the gods and grace this realm with his presence. Fifty years is short, but in a world where Divine Masters are the top of the food chain, it should take us several years at most to achieve complete dominance. Hence, there should be no harm in… letting loose a little."

However, Mo Beichen let out a cold hmph and said, "Fifty years? Have you forgotten about the 'Black Tide of Time'?"

Nan Zhaoming furrowed his brow. Then, he blanched when he recalled something, "Are you saying…"

Mo Beichen raised his hand and summoned a black wheel. "Every group of pioneers is granted a Time Wheel from the Pope to measure the time. Look."

The disc was covered in black lines that glowed a darkish light. Underneath the black lines was a time domain that operated on its own time.

A small ball of light could be seen swimming rapidly inside the time domain. It looked like a firefly that was caught by a storm.

"Ten times… the flow of time is ten times faster on the outside than it is inside…" Nan Zhaoming's expression turned serious. "So… we only have five years to do what needs to be done!?"

The black disc disappeared as Mo Beichen withdrew his palm. "There is one more thing I'd like all of you to etch into your memories."

Mo Beichen turned toward his subordinates. His gaze was cold and piercing as he said, "The Pope once said something most profound to me. 'We all share the same homeland as His Majesty, but the word 'homeland' carries a completely different connotation for His Majesty than it does for us'."

"I don't care how deep your resentment runs, or how lowly the creatures of this realm are. This is His Majesty's homeland, so you—will—not—cause—undue—damage—to—it! Understand?"

He could not have been clearer if he tried: there was a good chance the Abyssal Monarch cared about this realm more than He cared about the Abyss.

His harsh words finally extinguished the excitement and hostility that had gripped his six subordinates. Nan Zhaoming and Nan Zhaoguang had rapidly woken up from their bloodlust as well.

"We understand and thank you deeply for your warning, sir knight," Nan Zhaoguang responded, "So, what should we do now?"

Mo Beichen turned his gaze to the west. "It looks like the God Realm of Absolute Beginning is an independent realm. If I am not mistaken, the dragon we killed earlier is only the ruler of the God Realm of Absolute Beginning, not God Realm."

"According to the outsiders, the God Realm is ruled by the Western Divine Region, which in turn is ruled by the inheritors of the Dragon God's bloodline, the so-called Dragon God Realm. Their ruler is titled the Dragon Monarch to imply that they are the one true monarch of the entire God Realm."

"Monarch?"

All six men blanched as if a taboo of the highest degree had just been broken.

"He who dares to call themselves as the one true monarch while the Abyssal Monarch still lives…"

"Must die a million times over!" Nan Zhaoguang raged.

Mo Beichen continued coldly, "I shall head to the Western Divine Region to deal with this 'monarch' myself. I leave the East to the rest of you."

An instant later, the man was but a dot in the distant west, but his cold, ruthless voice continued to reverberate within his subordinates' souls like he was right next to them, "Remember that His Majesty seeks to rule these people, not to cleanse them! Those who bow to his will shall live, and those who do not shall die! You will not kill indiscriminately, and you will definitely not abuse the defenseless!"

"We are pioneers, and our glory will be remembered for a thousand generations. You will not let this supreme glory be tarnished by a fleeting impulse!"

"Do not disappoint me."

"Yes, sir!" All six men responded and bowed deeply toward the west. It wasn't until Mo Beichen's aura was completely gone that they finally straightened their backs once more.

…………

The starry space was so vast and radiant that it almost felt like an illusion. There was no life-devouring abyssal dust or black fog of residual souls anywhere to be found.

This was the normal state of things for all creatures who resided in the God Realm, but to Mo Beichen, it was a sight that only ever existed in his most beautiful dreams until now.

He did not realize he was slowing down more and more as he flew toward the west. Even as he spread his arms wide and felt every bit of space and every wisp of aura that passed through his fingers, he still could not bring himself to believe that he was in reality. What if he did, and he suddenly woke up and found himself covered in abyssal dust once more? He might not be able to recover from the despair.

It wasn't long before the Western Divine Region was within reach, and clusters of draconic auras entered his perception. But instead of pushing forward, he came to a complete stop.

His chilly gaze slowly melted into something indescribable as he stared quietly at the distant space. His shoulders trembled first, followed by his torso. Soon, his entire body was shaking violently.

"Zhen'er, Long'er…" A hoarse, raspy voice containing none of the steel from before slipped past his lips. "Can you see this? It's a world without even a speck of abyssal dust… daddy didn't lie… daddy really did it… can you see…"

"If only… I succeeded a few years earlier… if… only…"

The knight sobbed uncontrollably in the empty space.

…………

The reverberations that affected the entire God Realm finally stopped. For a moment, it almost seemed like everything had returned to normal.

That was untrue, of course. The gloom it left behind was so heavy that it was positively suffocating.

Yun Che was, in fact, not unfamiliar with this unnatural spatial tremor.

When he had sacrificed the origin power of four Star Gods to activate God Ash…

When the Titanic Sea God Cannon had unleashed its ancient power at the Southern Divine Region…

When the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor had made her comeback…

All of his experiences told him it could only be caused by a power that terrified the heavenly way; a power that exceeded the very limits of the universe itself.

.

It had mercilessly trampled their final sliver of optimism and ground it to dust.

"What do we do, big brother Yun Che?" Shui Meiyin asked while clutching Yun Che's wrist with one hand and holding the World Piercer with the other. The Heavenly Profound Treasure was already shining a crimson light and ready to take effect at a moment's notice.

"How many more times can the World Piercer perform a long-distance teleportation?" Chi Wuyao asked.

"It depends on how far we're teleporting," Shui Meiyin answered as quickly as she could. "If it's just a short cross-star region teleportation, then it has another twenty charges or so. However, if it's a long-distance teleportation involving a large number of individuals, it could run out of divine power in a few uses at most."

It went without saying that teleporting an entire planet to a different star region was no longer possible.

"..." Chi Wuyao did not say anything else. She merely waited for Yun Che to make his decision.

Everyone here knew exactly what type of person Yun Che was. They knew that he would never escape on his own.

Plus, he was Emperor Yun of the God Realm now. Was escape even a choice to begin with?

"Devil Queen," Yun Che finally spoke up, "Message all divine regions to monitor the enemy's movements. If contact is made, they are not to resist no matter what."

"Understood." Chi Wuyao bowed her head. She wasn't surprised by the order in the slightest.

"Besides that, there are two people we can no longer trust under these circumstances," added Yun Che.

Chi Wuyao said slowly, "Qi Tianli, Cang Shitian."

"Qi Tianli is a man who prioritizes self-preservation above all else. He will submit to whoever is the strongest. Cang Shitian… if this crisis had never occurred, I have no doubt that he would be our most devoted dog in the universe. But now? He will surely bite the hand that feeds him!"

Qi Tianli and the Qilin Realm was the leader of the Western Divine Region right now. Cang Shitian was the Chief Enforcer with his teeth and claws spanning the entire God Realm.

Chi Wuyao herself had bestowed upon them their power and responsibilities. This was hardly her fault, however. Who could have predicted that this would happen now of all times?

"Yun Che!?" Jun Xilei abruptly looked up. "You cannot be—!"

Yun Che stared calmly into her wet eyes and replied, "A calamity has occurred, and you want me, the emperor of all things, to escape without a fight? It would be a stain I could never remove for the rest of my life. My descendants and everyone I care about would suffer from my cowardice as well."

"No! No! No!" Jun Xilei denied while shaking her head strongly. Her fingers were pale white because of how strongly she was gripping Yun Che's hand. "Listen to me, Yun Che! I could do nothing when these people killed my master right before my eyes. Trust me when I say my hatred for them is a billion times greater than yours."

"However, even my hatred is not enough to blind me to the fact that they're not someone you can confront head on! There is no one in the universe who will blame you for fleeing from these people, not to mention that you're not really running away from them; you're just avoiding them until you've accumulated enough power to mount a counterattack! So please… please don't let your honor or dignity stop you from making the right decision… please…"

"..." Chi Wuyao shot Jun Xilei a glance and sighed internally. I knew it.

If the situation wasn't as dire as it was, the proud and stubborn Jun Xilei might never reveal such a vulnerable and emotional side to Yun Che, much less anyone else.

In stark contrast to the Little Sword Sovereign's mental breakdown, Yun Che looked eerily serene. He said while looking straight into Jun Xilei's eyes, "Calm down. Do I look like the type to commit suicide over something as stupid as my kingly dignity? These people may be scary, but I…"

He raised his head slightly while continuing in a chilly voice, "Am not as powerless as you think I am."

"Worse comes to worst, we can simply escape with the World Piercer," Chi Wuyao said calmly.

"... Mn." Shui Meiyin nodded her head as well. Yun Che had made up his mind, and Chi Wuyao had chosen to obey his decision. There was no point in wasting her breath any longer.

"Furthermore, I just realized that the situation may not be as bad as we thought."

Yun Che: "..."

"Why do you say that?" Caizhi asked.

"Outsiders? On the contrary, we are travelers who finally returned home after a long… long journey."

Chi Wuyao repeated the words spoken by the abyssal figure in Jun Xilei's memories before continuing, "Back when the gods and devils were still alive, they were so powerful that even the Primal Chaos at its prime wasn't able to withstand their power. Their war shattered heaven and earth, and the death of a True God was akin to a natural disaster of epic proportions, much less a greater one. That was why both races chose to punish their unforgivable sinners by dropping them into the Abyss of Nothingness. This way, the death of a True God would not cause undue harm to the Primal Chaos."

"If the Abyss of Nothingness had become abnormal since a long time ago, if it was no longer just a pure World of Extinction, then it would make sense that not all of the True Gods and True Devils who were dropped into the Abyss of Nothingness have perished. At least some of them must have survived and even populated the transformed Abyss with their descendants."

"From this, we can deduce that these people may not be native to the Abyss. They were, in fact, the descendants of the sinners who were dropped into the Abyss back then."

"In essence, the Abyss is a World of Extinction. Transformed it might be, there is no way it could be completely rid of the energy of Extinction, and I am almost certain that it is the 'abyssal dust' they mentioned time and again. From this, we can deduce that the Abyss must be an extremely harsh world to live in, which is why its denizens were desperate to punch through the Abyss of Nothingness and escape into a world where the power of Extinction did not exist; our world. And today, they have finally succeeded."

"These are just my guesses, of course. I believe they explain the seven foreigners' behavior nicely, however," Chi Wuyao ended.

"The descendants… of the ancient gods and devils?"

Chi Wuyao's theory caused everyone to begin recalling the strange foreigners' words.

"..." Her theory was exactly identical to Yun Che's as well.

Before the great war, most of the persecuted True Gods and True Devils were dropped into the Abyss of Nothingness. In fact, it was clearly stated in the Dragon God Secret Tome that the Heaven Punishing Divine Emperor, Mo E had personally dropped his son, Mo Su into the Abyss of Nothingness.

Today, multiple experts of impossible power had emerged from the Abyss of Nothingness where only death and nothingness should have existed. It was impossible not to put two and two together.

The Abyss that had been undergoing a silent transformation all this time had finally given birth to a most horrific calamity.

As if that wasn't bad enough, these seven people were just the vanguard; a prelude to the true calamity.

"Assuming they really think of this place as their homeland and or a paradise that is free of abyssal dust, then there is a high likelihood that they will not cause undue harm or destruction to this universe."

"However," Chi Wuyao looked at Yun Che, "this mercy unfortunately does not extend to you."

Suddenly, Yun Che turned a little to the side. The next second, a small profound sound transmission formation unfolded in front of him. Qianye Ying'er's voice came from the formation,

"What is that spatial anomaly, Yun Che? I don't know why, but it left me with an unshakeable sense of oppression."

"It's no big deal," Yun Che replied indifferently. "We just got a few uninvited visitors from the God Realm of Absolute Beginning is all. Stay at the Brahma Monarch God Realm and do not leave no matter what happens. I will be there in a moment."

He extinguished the formation before Qianye Ying'er could respond.

Yun Che lowered his arms and looked at the sky. His eyes were as cold as the abyss itself.

When I look back on life, I realize that every step I took toward heaven was paved by your blood and wounds. You brought me to the peak only to perish alone in the Abyss.

The very world I currently enjoy is the culmination of your life of blood, sweat, and tears. Knowing that…

How could I possibly allow anyone to trample over it?

BANG—

A tremendous shockwave erupted from Yun Che's body and kicked his black hair into the air. The entire Emperor Yun City fell as silent as death.