Against the Gods

Chapter 1929 - Real Dream

“In this life, her name… is Xiao Lingxi.”

Since the moment Yun Che realized that he was speaking with the Ancestral God herself, he had been treating her like the highest being in the entire universe, which she was. He hadn’t dared to release the spiritual pressure that he naturally imposed upon others in the norm, nor had he dared to interrupt her too many times.

He might be the unparalleled great emperor of the Primal Chaos, but he was smaller than an ant compared to the Ancestral God.

The world existed because the Ancestral God created it. The reason she went through a thousand reincarnations to come back to life was to eliminate a hidden threat to the Primal Chaos as well. Both her existence and her purpose deserved his greatest respect.

However, when the Ancestral God began talking about her final cycle of life, every sentence she spoke had invoked a sense of deja vu. The more she spoke, the stronger the feeling became until finally, when the name “Xiao Lingxi” resounded clearly inside his soul sea, the calm he just barely mustered was completely washed away into nothingness. He was so shocked that his soul sea world grew turbulent in response to his emotions.

Xiao… Ling… Xi…

It was the single most familiar name in his life.

Ling… Xi…

My Lingxi… she’s… the Ancestral God’s reincarnation…?

No…

She…

The Ancestral God!?

He might never feel this much shock again in his life. His soul sea had transformed into a storm made of towering sea waves and innumerable giant vortices. He felt like his consciousness was spun round and round in one of these vortices until he lost all ability to think completely.

He had grown up together with Xiao Lingxi. There was no one who knew her better or was closer to her than him.

She was sweet-tempered to the point of being weak, but that was only in regards to matters that didn’t involve him. Otherwise, she could be tough, bold, and even outright reckless at times. At the very least, no one would connect her with the word “mighty”.

Her profound talent was extremely mediocre. She cultivated hard to protect him when they were younger, but she quickly lost the motivation to continue after his profound veins regrew, and he reached a point where he no longer needed her protection. She had never had any interest in cultivating after all.

She would rather be a normal girl in a small city who, besides taking care of her father, Yongan and Yongning in the norm, quietly looked forward to his next return home.

Many times, she had compared herself to Yun Che’s harem of women and believed herself wanting.

In reality though… Yun Che could exaggerate his wildest delusion a thousand times over, and he still could never imagine that his childhood friend, Xiao Lingxi was the reincarnating Ancestral God herself…

The one God who created the Creation Gods, the Devil Emperors and even the Primal Chaos itself!

It was at this moment that an extraordinarily gentle soul energy wrapped around his person. It gradually quelled his soul sea and returned clarity to his mind.

“This is probably quite the difficult surprise for you to swallow,” the voice said in a mild tone. “You were her childhood friend, and now her official husband after you completed a wedding with her.”

“...” Yun Che still couldn’t form a coherent sentence.

As his mind became clear once more, he began to recall all the inexplicable happenings around Xiao Lingxi.

She could read the World-Defying Heaven Manual, a text that was written in the language created by the Ancestral God herself, the Divine Text of Absolute Beginning. The World-Defying Heaven Manual itself was the Ancestral Divine Art left behind by the Ancestral God.

The reason he could never truly consummate his marriage with her… was it because the level of their existences were so far apart that a union was simply impossible, or because the Ancestral God set up some sort of restriction that prevented anyone from contaminating her during her final cycle?

Xiao Lingxi…

The Ancestral God…

Yun Che was already trying his best, but he still couldn’t truly reconcile the true names.

Suddenly, he noticed something and asked that question that had fully formed in his mind a while ago, “You… are the Ancestral Will of the Ancestral God, right?”

“That is correct,” the woman’s voice replied.

“You said that the Ancestral Will and Memories will fall aslumber during the Ancestral God’s final reincarnation.” Yun Che forced his soul to calm down before continuing, “So why… are you awake right now? Lingxi is still present, so her cycle is still ongoing. Shouldn’t you be asleep right now? Why are you—”

His words suddenly caught in his throat. Despite being inside the soul world, he could clearly hear his heart’s wild beating.

He had a faint idea what the voice was going to say next.

“It’s because this last cycle has already ended in failure. Even the near-complete Ancestral Sacred Body has been greatly undone. The reason for that…” she said quietly and gently, “you have already guessed the answer.”

“Was it because of… me?” Yun Che murmured.

Not only did she fail her last cycle, her Ancestral Sacred Body was… greatly undone!?

“It all happened on the day you were getting married… on that day, she woke you up very early in the morning, dressed you in the wedding clothes she had sown herself, and watched you drink the morning porridge she had cooked herself…”

Before he knew it, when the woman’s voice grew so soft and distant that he couldn’t hear her anymore. Then, a new scene had unfolded inside his soul sea:

“Little Che, wake up! You need to get out of bed now!”

“Mm… it’s still so early. Just let me sleep in a little longer.”

“Little Che, wake up! Today’s the day you’re getting married to Miss Situ, and it’s almost time already! Quickly!”

…………

“Little Che, I made this porridge for you. You have a weak constitution, and it’s going to be a long morning, so… you should finish everything.”

“Phew, I’m done… I wonder if I can still eat your meals after I get married, Little Aunt.”

“Heehe, don’t forget that the governor’s daughter is marrying into your family, not the other way around. If you want, I can prepare your meals every day just like before.”

“Of course not! Didn’t I promise you yesterday that I’d never forget about you even after I marry Situ Xuan? We’ll spend just as much time with each other as we used to, and I’ll always be there whenever you call for me!”

“Good boy! Still… you’ve really become a big boy, haven’t you Little Che?”

…………

“Big brother! Big brother!! I’m here… wow, your wedding clothes are pretty impressive… So er... how does it feel to get married? Why do I feel like you’re not very excited?”

“To be honest, I am not excited. It was something my parents decided before I was born, and I’ve only met Situ Xuan a couple of times. I don’t even quite remember how she looks, which is why I barely care about the wedding at all… you on the other hand, are unusually excited given the time of the day. It’s not just because of my wedding, is it?”

“Hehe… I do have some good news to share. The day before yesterday, my father invited a friend of his—a teacher from New Moon Profound Palace—over to his house. He was hoping to ask for a favor and drop me into New Moon Profound Palace. But after his friend saw me, he said that someone of my talent should just join Blue Wind Profound Palace directly!”

“Oh! That’s amazing! That’s something the entire Floating Cloud City should celebrate!”

“Hehehe! I was so excited I haven’t slept for the past two days. When I join Blue Wind Profound Palace and become even stronger than before, I’m sure no one will ever dare to bully you again!”

“Your entrance to Blue Wind Profound Palace is what we really should celebrate. I bet the entire city will rejoice on the day you… officially enter… Blue Wind... Profound... Palace…”

…………

It was the “dream” he had seen many years ago. In this “dream”, the person he was getting married to wasn’t Xia Qingyue, but Situ Xuan. Moreover, Xia Yuanba had had a powerful body, extraordinary talent, and a pair of eyes that shone with divine light. And…

Why… why do these images and voices feel so real…

These memories…

Ugh…

Suddenly, his soul world began shaking violently. It looked like it might collapse into itself.

An infinite amount of images and voices intermingled chaotically in his mind, and his heart beat so hard and fast that it felt like it might implode at any moment. His consciousness was fading, and his memories were blurring. It felt like a billion sticks were stirring up his soul sea.

He wanted to scream and struggle, but he wasn’t able to make even a single sound.

Lingxi…

Yuanba…

Situ Xuan…

Xia Qingyue…

……

Qing… yue…

……

Suddenly, the turmoil in his soul sea came to a complete stop.

Then, his mind and his memories became clear like never before.

Even his dreams had become as clear as yesterday.

However, some things were growing the opposite. His old memories kept blurring more and more despite his mad struggles to keep them. In the end, he could only watch them depart his mind and even his soul completely.

He stared at the gray world in front of him blankly and unmoving.

“Do you recall them now?” The woman’s voice spoke once more. “The true memories that were hidden beneath the nothingness.”

“...” Yun Che couldn’t say a word. He felt like had suddenly fallen into an unwakeable dream.

“The baby your foster father, Xiao Ying did everything in his power to save wasn’t the daughter of Xia Hongyi, Xia Qingyue, but the daughter of the governor of Floating Cloud City, Situ Xuan.”

“Just the same, the man who was so grateful toward Xiao Ying that he publicly declared that his daughter would wed Xiao Ying’s son wasn’t Xia Hongyi, but Situ Nan… naturally, your fiance was also Situ Xuan, not Xia Qingyue.”

“The Xia Yuanba in your memories was his true appearance until an extraordinary change overtook him when you were sixteen years old.”

“Nngh…” Yun Che let out low moans from time to time. He was suffering not from pain, but a kind of confusion, separation, misalignment, and distortion that no word in his dictionary could properly describe. All he could say was that it felt absolutely unpleasant.

All of his memories regarding Xia Yuanba before he was sixteen had been altered. The Xia Yuanba in his memories now matched the Xia Yuanba in his dreams perfectly: a powerful physique, extraordinary talent, and a pair of eyes that seemed capable of seeing through one’s soul.

Just the same, all of his memories regarding Xia Qingyue before he was sixteen had been cut out from his mind completely. They were already unnaturally shallow in the first place, but now he remembered them like he would an unforgotten dream: unreal and prone to vanishing at any moment.

Moreover, memories of Situ Xuan had replaced them. The amount of times he met with Situ Xuan during the first sixteen years of his life could be counted on one hand, but each one was as clear and heart-wrenching as yesterday.

He could even remember every sneering word she said, every disdainful look she shot him, every playful bit of malice she wore on her face.

In every memory where Xiao Lie told him about the story of Xiao Ying saving a female baby, the baby had always been the governor’s daughter.

In his memories, Xia Yuanba didn’t just have a powerful build, but also a domineering behavior to match. He had feared nothing and no one.

And in his memories, Xia Yuanba… was the only child Xia Hongyi had ever had!

“Where’s Qingyue… where’s Qingyue!?!” He frantically searched through the absolute mess he called his memories, but no matter how hard he tried everything relating to her before he was sixteen… was just a transient, unforgotten dream.

“Don’t you understand yet?”

Yun Che’s appearance put a small sigh into the Ancestral Will’s voice. “Before you were sixteen, before your wedding day to be exact, Xia Qingyue… never existed.”